¡Adiós America, Hola España!

Where to begin?  This 30+ hour day has had a lot of stuff in it.  So, I should say that this all began with the arrival to the airport.

My loving parents went with me as far as they could- but security being what it is, they couldn't go all the way to the gate.

I went through TSA with a nice lady who forgot that she packed a sandwich and a water bottle in her carry-on, and TSA confiscated the water but not the sandwich.  Go figure.  I don't know where she was heading, but she was nice to me.

I got the the airport around three hours early, just to be safe.  Turns out, I was too early.  So I went back and forth, enjoying the delightful moving sidewalks.  Eventually, my backpack got a little heavy so I got myself a hot chocolate and sat in one of the many rocking chairs.  The fellow in the seat beside me was a very spiffy-looking pilot, who was sketching the starbucks (where I got my hot chocolate).  He was actually pretty good.

Eventually, after I got thoroughly bored, I made my way to the gate and found myself a seat.  I busied myself with trying to figure out who the other ISA person on my flight was (I guessed wrong, by the way) when I realized I had forgotten to fill my water bottle.  I hurried to do that.

By the way, the airport has lovely water fountains.  They have the typical push the button water squirts up faucet-things, but they also had a place where you could set your bottle and motion sensors would turn on a faucett, which would fill the bottle.  I took way more pleasure in this than I would have liked, and I honestly would have gotten a picture if I could.  There was a guy behind me that also wanted to enjoy the water fountain, and who was I to deprive him of glee?

I waited and waited.  I watched in horror as several Spaniard couples came by with small babies.  Small, screaming babies.  I counted six, I think.  Also, an old lady with a chihuahua showed up and sat down with us for a while before scurrying away again.

Finally, it was time to board.  The woman announcing the different boarding groups was so garbled that literally no one could understand her- (I felt sorry for the Spaniards) so I had to seek help with a different nice lady who pointed me in the right direction.  Yay!

I shuffled onto the plane and sat in my seat.  I wasn't expecting much, but the seat was surprisingly nice.  There was a very friendly (albeit very large) woman beside me from Costa Rica, who was going to spend the summer with family in... I don't even know.  Southern Spain.  The guy next to her was also very nice, and he had been assigned to work in Spain for a while.  He wasn't too excited, but he said and I quote: "At least its better than the time they put me in Greenland."

The seats, other than the people around me, were relatively nice.  A pillow and warm fleece blanket were waiting in the seat for me, and there were TV's on the backs of the seats in front of us.  You could pick whatever movie you wanted to watch!  From a small selection, of course, but for a 6-7 hour flight, I was extremely grateful for anything.

We took off without a problem, and they almost immediately served dinner. (this would be at about 5:00 EST, by the way) and we had a choice of pasta or chicken.  I ordered pasta, the lady beside me ordered chicken, but neither of us wanted what we ordered so we switched.  The chicken was gross but edible, and the bread that came with it tasteless.  But I ate it because I was hungry.  The lady next to me spilled her salad all over herself so she smelled like salad dressing for the whole flight.  Sigh.

Then the steward announced that it was "resting time" which translates to: shut the windows and shut the mouths.  The lights turned off, and people were left in the dark.  At 6:00.  Because the sun was setting.  (we were flying into darkness, time changes, ect.  Fun confusingness)

I watched Star Wars (the new one) because it was really long.  They had some other decent movies, but I didn't want to watch something I hadn't seen before, so I just watched Star Wars.   Not a bad way to pass a plane flight, by the way.

When it was over, I figured I'd try to sleep.  So I put down my tray and pillow, and flopped over the bundle school-desk-style.  I was starting to zone out when the plane started rocking.  Can you get seasick on an airplane?  I don't know, but when that started, pretty much everyone on the plane developed serious stomach pains, including me.  Gosh, my tummy still isn't feeling 100%.

I turned on another movie, played some chess with the tv (it also had backgammon and solitaire) and felt ABSOLUTELY FREEZING until breakfast.  There, they served some meh yogurt, a meh muffin, and some tea.  The tea was a godsend.  It was not good tea, but it had caffeine so I slurped it down.

When we landed, the sun was just rising over Madrid, which still was lit up with night-lights, and I admit it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  I wish I had gotten a picture.

When I got into Madrid's airport, it was deserted.  Silent.  Eerie.  I followed some Spaniards to a passport-stamping place where some guy I couldn't understand stamped my passport and sent me on my way.  I walked awkwardly down like thirty flights of stairs until I reached a small group.

They were waiting for the "train to come" that would lead them to the baggage claim spot.  I got on the crowded train and stood unbalanced as it sped down the tracks.

Let me mention something about the Madrid Airport in relation to the Charlotte Airport.  Charlotte is all connected, while Madrid is not.  There are around six different buildings (that I could see) and they are connected by roads and trains and footpaths.  Its big.  Its crazy.  It's a perfect representation of Spain, based off my observations.

I was lucky to find my bag really quickly, and I wheeled out to where I was supposed to meet the ISA lady.  She was a little late (we were early, so it's all good) and we got met up.  She took us on a bus where she gave me and the other girl that was on my plane a quick briefing.  She then told us to wait in a café section until everyone got assembled.

Five hours later, we were all assembled.

Some of my fellow people

I should say something about the people on my trip.  There are eight of us, not including our guide.  Three boys and two girls.  I like the boys, they're smart, nice, and eager to learn Spanish.  They also are polite Texan lads, whom I get along with.

The girls are nice, but they are a bit... airy.  I think they're here for the vacation, not for the education or life experience.  I mean, one of them had all of us going around Madrid for two hours because she wanted gelato.  Which is Italian.  But, they learned some valuable things.

Never eat at a restaurant if it doesn't have the prices easily visible.

They insisted, so we all had to go there (we aren't allowed to split up for the first few days) and I ordered an appetizer.  It was lunch, and I saw some of the things other people were eating.  Large plates.  I ordered ham, because how can you go wrong with ham?  The ISA lady kept saying how we should try calamari sandwich, and so they ordered one each.  They were HUGE, and the girls did not like calamari after all, they soon found out.

Oh!  The ham!  It is different!  I think it's like bacon that is not fried.  Strips of very thin meat, sliced off of pig that has been essentially fermenting for a few days.  It has a peculiar taste, that I did not initially enjoy, but it kinda grows on you and I know its decent so I'll eat it again if I can't find anything else.  I also tried the calamari, and it is absolutely revolting.  You were right, Dad.  Like pencil erasers.

Anyway, the girls saw the bill and hopefully wont be so careless again.  Eek.

Something else to say about Madrid that you don't hear about anywhere else.  The drivers are flipping insane.  I don't know if there are any traffic laws other than "go wherever and hope they don't hit you" which applies to pedestrians and motorists alike, but seriously.  There are no traffic lights, no round-a-bouts, no yield signs, no clear lanes, no clear markers on what a road is and what a footpath is... it's nuts!  You can walk, drive, bike, scooter, ride your HORSES wherever you want, because there don't seem to be traffic laws. 0.0

And the hills.  Madrid has mountains on one side, so the entire city is built on a very very steep slope.  Very steep.  So, you can find the city centre, Plaza del Sol, if you just go up the hill, and if you go down it, you see a thing that looks like a palace, might be a palace, we couldn't find signs.

We wandered our way back towards the Plaza after we accidentally stumbled upon a gorgeous place that my photo cannot capture fully, and we waited as the girl bought her gelato.  Finally.  

We had been under instructions from the lady to take a taxi back to the hotel so we'd know how Spanish taxis work, and so we did.  It was very relaxing, and all of us fell asleep.  We split four and four, and every single one of us.  Asleep.  The cabbie played such relaxing music as he careened through the "streets" of Madrid.

And now, here I am.  I did see some really cool stuff, and the city of Madrid is really really pretty.  And old!  And HOT!  

And none of the four adapters that I brought work.  I'll figure that out when I get to Sevilla.