Some Witty Title Goes Here

I don't really know what to say about today.

I got up, had a whole morning to do not much, ate breakfast (cereal again) and we had lunch.  We walked to the main drag in Triana and found a yummy looking Italian place, and we sat down.

I think we went there because we were really hungry yesterday and wanted to have a properly big lunch, so we went somewhere where we knew what we were getting.  I ordered some sort of pasta (the title was in Italian.  I don't know what all was in it) and my friends ordered a pizza and some pestoey pasta.

Did I say friends?  Yes.  After yesterday's trauma, we all got a little closer and I now actually like my roommates.  They still irritate me sometimes, but I feel a lot better about my situation now.  That makes me happy.  There is still one girl in the other girl group that bugs me to no end because she has one of those really whiney voices, but even she I consider a friend.  Sappy time over.  Back to lunch.

My pasta was better than anything I'd ever had in an "Italian" place before.  As I told Mom earlier, the tomatoes here are really really good.  The Spanish don't have the best ideas of meat (in my opinion) but they do fruits and veggies so well.  So well.  Anyway, my pasta was some tomato, garlic, something and cheese mix that was pretty spicy.  Which was refreshing, and I'd missed it quite a lot.

They had a lot of food left over, so they took it to go for lunch or breakfast tomorrow.  Our host mom is not the best cook (this might change, she's only been cooking "American" food for us so far... we asked her to please stop and to cook Spanish food.  That's why we're here!) so having leftovers is a security blanket of sorts.  Anywho.

We took our new fast route to school, and it shaved off about fifteen minutes from our hike.  Yay!~

In class, we talked about my least favorite subjects in grammer.  Ser vs. Estar.  If you took a Spanish class, you'll know exactly what I mean.  If not, let me explain really quickly.

In Spanish, there are two verbs for "to be."  They aren't interchangeable, and there are really confusing rules about when to use each verb.  Ser is typically for more permanent things (but not always) and Estar is for more conditional things (but not always).  It's a nightmare, and most teachers are absolutely bad at teaching this.  As in, it's extremely hard.  There are little pneumonics that you can try to learn, but they still aren't perfect solutions.  The best way is "what sounds best in this sentence," which will do the best in most situations.

Anyway, the first thing our teacher did was give us words.  We sit in pairs anyway, so my partner and I had the word Cielo (sky).  We were supposed to make little clues leading to the word using Ser and Estar, kinda like a riddle.  We did the best, even though our riddle was more of a poem about how beautiful, colorful and powerful the sky is.  :D  The others didn't guess it until the last clue.

Anyway, we were in class for four hours, like usual, and we talked about how to say cheers (chichíng, like the sound glasses make when clinking together), which cheek you kiss in greeting (your head goes to the left, kissing their right cheek first) when you pay for a dinner out with friends and how much (if you invited, you pay for all of it),  how to say "bless you" after someone sneezes (Salúd or Jesús), if you accept a drink offer immediately or refuse at first (they offer your drink, you politely say no, they insist, you say yes) and some other stuff.

Then we went to a gelato place, supposedly the best in the city.  I'm not much of a gelato finatic, but that was good gelato.  I had dark chocolate.  A cute British guy was in line after me, so I was reluctant to leave.  I'm a sucker for British accents, ok?!

And we walked the fastest way back, now I sit in my room.  The weather is nice today.  I have no complaints.

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Pickpocketers at the Tapas Shop

Did I take pictures today?  Hm.  No I didn't.  Odd.

Okay.  Today was the first day we could get up as late as we wanted, so naturally, I got up at 7:00.  It's hot at night!  Our host mom refuses to let us turn on the fans at night, and there is no A/C, so it's like 95 F all night long.  Yes, the windows are open, but Sevilla is not a windy place.  The air is completely still.  So, unfortunately, no breezes.

Last night, for example, I got up three times to turn the fan on for a minute and then turned it back off.  This morning, I was sweating, so it was uncomfy to sleep in.  So I got up and got dressed, refilled my water bottle, and did some lazy K work.  Like writing.

Anywho, our host mom has a job.  So she left at 6:30, but she left us out a breakfast (same as yesterday).  We ate it at the typical Spanish time (10:30) and then we made our way to the meeting place.

My map is right there, so I'll take a picture real quick to put here...  Hang on...

Ok, see the house.  That's our street.  In order to get to the spot where that black smear points to, we have to cross the Puerte de Remedios.  And we have to go diagonally.  There is no good way to do that.  So, we've tried multiple ways and are told it's actually not that far, but it just takes forever.  moan complain complain but we've gotten to know this area pretty well.

Now, we knew how to get to the Puerte de Remedios.  We didn't know where the other bridges led to, so we took Remedios this morning, which was out of our way by about... half an hour.  Ugh.  We were going to the Plaza Nueva, which is in the center-north.  (not even on that part of the map, I don't think).  So we got lost again.  But we are learning!  After all, the best way to get to know a city is to get lost a lot.  (wink wink dad)

So we got there last, but only by one or two minutes.  We have gotten into the habit of leaving an hour early because we just get lost a lot.  The other two groups do not have this problem!  They live practically on the bridge.

Have I mentioned the bikers in this city?  They'll kill you!  Cars stop for traffic lights.  Cyclists will not.  They will flatten you if you stray in the minty green bike lanes.  The bike lanes are painted minty green, by the way.  The city has some pretty things, like the main avenue has bitter orange trees lining it.  Every spring they pick the oranges, jar it, and send it to England as bitter-sweet jam.  Neat, huh?

We tried to get our bike passes for the public cycles, but the thing is really confusing.  In English!  We have all morning tomorrow, so I'll go to the station around the corner to see if I can figure it out.

We also found a coffee-shop right down the street that has smoothies and teas.  And Spanish breads!  Yum yum!  I'll spend the rest of my morning in the coffee-shop.

Back to the Plaza.  We were going on a Tapas tour!  If you know Spain, you know Tapas.  If you don't, I'll explain what they are super quick.

A Tapas is like an appetizer.  Some places give them to you complementary when you buy a drink other than water, but some just offer them individually.  They're very small, smaller than American appetizers by far.  Spanish primeros, which are actually appetizers, are large enough to make a decent meal.  Tapas are not.  They're snacks, really.  Most of the time, they're seafood.  Shrimp, clams or octopus (or a combo of the three), and usually contain some vegetable.

We went to a place where we sat down and our guide, Maria, ordered us all Tapas.  I had avocado with a shrimp on top, and some sauce.  Maria didn't tell us the sauce intentionally, but it was kinda tasty.  And I found out that I'm not too fond of avocado.  It has an odd aftertaste.  The sauce was tasty, and I later found out it was mayonnaise and tomato.  The Spanish do mayo differently, it's much better than American mayo.  As in, someone can eat Spanish mayo without puking.

When we finished with that, we walked to the second of three Tapas spots.  This one was a place where you had to stand, and was on a much busier road.  She ordered some sandwich type thing and some pig something or another.  I tried the pig, and thought it surprisingly tasty, but the texture was really, really weird.  As in, it was super squishy.  Like mashed potatoes squishy.  Upon inquiry, I found out that it was pig cheeks.  That was the last I had of that Tapa.

Now, understand this.  In the tourist areas of Europe, pickpocketers are everywhere.  If you touch someone you don't know, check your purse.  If a stranger talks to you, check your purse.  If your purse moves slightly, check your purse.  If your purse is zipped, in front of you, and your hand is over the pocket, you're probably ok.  But, if you set anything down, it will never be seen again.

Maria, our guide, made this mistake.  After she told us two days ago never to set anything down.

Someone bumped into her, and three minutes later, she realized her phone was gone.  And our Tapas tour ended.

To make a long story short, no she did not catch the guy and no, she didn't find her phone.  We had some stuff to pick up at a Papeleíra (paper store, where you get school supplies and such) and class was in two hours, so we said our farewells and went on our way.

We got to the school in thirty minutes!  Be so proud of us!

We met our other professor today, and she was very nice.  We discussed introductory phrases and typical foods in Sevilla, and she was surprised that American dollars all are the same color.  I still have some from home, and she was horrified at how hard it is to quickly tell the differences between the bills.

Then we came back across the bridge, and all went different directions to try and find a good way back to the house that doesn't take twenty minutes in and of itself.  My way was not the best, but that's ok.  We know that now.

We had a ham sandwich with peanut butter for dinner.  Our host mother doesn't seem to be the best cook.  Meanwhile, the other two groups get like three course dinners.  Meh.

Halfway through writing this, the eight of us ISA Sevilla people met up at a café and played fooseball.  Then we were going to show them our street, but ended up at the other end of Triana.  Somehow.  How on earth did we get so turned around?!

Well, with our Twilight Zone warp street, we found the fastest way to the home.  It is so much better.  So glad we got lost.

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Classes!

Sorry this is late.  See, I don't have Siesta time anymore because we are SO far away from our classes and we have to walk for an hour to get to them.  So no breaks for me!!!

Anyway, today was our first full day in Sevilla, and I have some things to report.

HOT.  BUGS.  SMELLY.

The city has a yellow glow, and I'm pretty sure the sun is brighter here.  I have four bug bites that I didn't have yesterday, and I smell just as bad as the city.  But, I see that this city is actually livable.  Toledo was a magical paradise, but I don't know how anyone lives in it.  (Quite happily, I imagine, but you get my point)  Madrid scared the bajeezes out of me.

Here is a picture of Sevilla from the district I'm living in.

See?  The city is YELLOW.

The big tower thing is the third largest cathedral in the world, by the way.  Behind the ones in the Vatican and London.  I'll go inside on Friday.  Ya!

Anyway, I got up at 7:00 so I'd have time to get ready for my busy, busy day.  Ísabel had prepared breakfast (cereal and a muffin) for us, so we ate another meal in awkward silence before following her to the meeting place.  Aaaaaaalll the way across the river (I crossed that river four times today, so don't get huffy.  Plus, the river is wide and there is no shade on a bridge).

We passed the street trolly and walked the entire length of the cathedral to get to Plaza Nueva, where we met with our guide Maria again.  We hadn't seen her since the train yesterday, so I was actually pleased.

Then we sweated through the tourist district of Sevilla.  I should note:  there are carriage tours everywhere.  More common even than in Charleston.  As a result, the entire city smells alternatively of sewage or horse poo.  It is not pleasant, especially with the heat.  

After walking past the Universidad de Sevilla, which is not the school I am attending but one in Sevilla nonetheless, we turned into a park.  Did I mention the nice parks in Spain?  This one is very nice.

And, as a bonus, it has part of the set for the second of the bad Star Wars movie in it.  It's called Plaza de Españal.  Here is it in the movie:

This is a real place.  It is gorgeous.

Recognise it?  We had to walk past it three times.  It was hot.  It was AMAZINGLY pretty, though, so that is the most pleasurable part of the hour-long hike to the school.

We kept going, and then Maria got us all distracted about something conversational and we didn't pay attention to where we were going.  Eventually, we ended up at the school.  

This is the outside.  So pretty, right?  I like the Toledo architecture more than the Sevillian, but this place has some real gems.

We took a quick tour around the school, and two of our group (who smartly requested to be led here last night, so they knew the route already) took us back.  The long, scenic route, but it wasn't blazingly hot yet so it was ok.

We took a quick break at a cute café, I had a nutella crepe and some tea, and we headed back.  Now, my two roommates and I live a good ten minutes farther than the rest of the group.  So we slogged back to the house where we took a quick break and had lunch.

Then, it was time to go back to the school.  All of our classes are at 4:00, so we are going to school in the heat of the day.  It was 100 F, direct sun, and buggy.  We found our way to the right bridge and crossed it.  We got through half of the park to Plaza de España, where we were sweating like pigs and had no idea where to go from there.  We were lost, my map was totally useless, and none of us knew who to call to help us.

We wandered around the area for fifteen minutes before we realized we were going the wrong way.

To make a long story short, we got to the school only three minutes late and we beat everyone else.  We gulped down water like we were dying, and took our placement test.

I don't know how well I did, but I like one of our two teachers quite a lot.  The random German kid from Frankfurt was going to do his whole speaking part of the placement test in German, but he chickened out and decided not to.  Pity, that would have been funny.

We did a quick lesson with the teacher, where she cleverly introduced some more obscure grammar rules (y-e and o-u, o vs. ni, ect.  If you're a spanish student, that should make sense).  Then we had paella as a welcome dinner.  The rice in paella is delicious, but I'm not a fan of shrimp so that was less than fantastic.  Only then did the wind actually start.  Sigh.

We found our way home somehow.  Here I am now, about to go to bed.  ¡Buenos noche!

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In Sevilla!

I don't have pictures.  Lo siento.

Well, today, I woke up and enjoyed a breakfast that was very American.  The hotel in Madrid had better breakfasts, even though this one was more comfy.

We finished breakfast and packed, returning to the lobby where we piled into a taxi.  The taxi took us to the train station, where we waited.

Europe has some nice train systems.  Spain has one of these systems.  We took a 300 kph bullet train to Madrid (taking about twenty minutes) and waited for our second train.  I bought some tea from a cafe so I could sit in its chairs.  The tea was actually pretty good.

Around this time, the Sevilla train came into the station, so we hurried to catch it.  My seat was apparently right next to a weird Spanish lady, who, to my American perspective, was way too close.  Anyway.  We traveled through the country, and I saw a lot of the same stuff.

I lied.  I do have a picture!!

Behold.  85% of the country.

Also, I saw what looked like a ruined castle on a hill...?  It's impossible to tell at 200 mph, but I think that's what it was.  And I saw cows.  I don't think Spain gets a lot of rain.

Anyway, we stopped once for some smallish town, and then we stopped in Sevilla.  And my host family is awesome!  Their names are Ísabel and Mariano.  They're sweet and the house is adorable.  Cute?  Quaint?  I have my own room, so I get to wake up whensomever I want to!!! *parties in Kaileytown*

And my name is still officially Katherine.  Just saying.  See, Spaniards don't really pronounce the letter "L" so they can't pronounce Kailey.  So I go by Katherine, which they find much easier.

So I am here at Siesta time again, after a nice little lunch.  The adaptors actually do work, I just was being to careful.  Two of them work fine, and I don't need more than two.

Since this post is kinda short, I have some things to say that I've just noticed.  One, poor Generic Sign Guy has the best adventures in Spain.  In the US, the worst thing he does is bust his skull in a pool.  I don't have a lot of pictures, but I'll keep my eye open for Generic Sign Guy.  Here's my favorite, and they're everywhere.  It means Exit.

He looks so frantic!!

I have to continue to unpack now, so I'll see you tomorrow.  My classes start!

Oh yeah.  My Spanish is saving my roommate's bums.  The parents speak no English, and my roommates don't understand Spanish.  I am the translator now.  Yay me!

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Literally Rohan

Madrid was pretty, but it was also big, busy, and somewhat scary.  Toledo is gorgeous.

Be mindful, this post will have lots of pictures.

Ok, so we woke up too late and rushed through breakfast.  We took a bus through the boring, boring countryside of Spain (which is brown and flat.  I assume Kansas looks something like it) until we came upon some more hills.  These were taller than the ones in Madrid, and at the top of the tallest one, you could see some buildings.

The driver took us to the top of the adjacent hill, where we could see this view.  

This is Toledo.

In the center, there is an absolutely beautiful cathedral.  It has a name, but I can't remember it.  On the far right, sorta cut off, there is the old castle of the Spanish monarchs, from when Toledo was the capitol.  Why isn't it still?  Well...

Toledo is surrounded on three sides by a river.  It doesn't have room to spread, and a capitol needs room.  So they moved from Toledo to Madrid in about... the 1800's?  Anyway.

We picked up the single most hyperactive tour-guide ever (even more so than the last one) and he just zipped from place to place, while we followed.

It must be a trend in Spain to build your cities onto the sides of cliffs.  Toledo is even more vertical than Madrid... but for some reason, it didn't bother me as much.  One other thing to note is that there are no major roads in Toledo.  It is almost exclusively footpaths.  Instead of a subway, there is a parking deck where you can leave your car, and you go up to the surface where you walk.  Yes, there are some cars up there, but very, very few.

This is the hall outside of the main... room,
where I wasn't allowed to take pictures.

We followed Mario (that was his name) to an old synagogue, built back when the Arabs occupied Spain.  It is now a church, I think.  But anyway, it's beautiful.

There was also a lovely garden courtyard thing, where they had orange trees.  Orange trees!  I took a picture of one, but the glare was bad so it didn't work right.

But here it is anyway...


Ok.
 Then we walked across the street to the even older synagogue (we were in the Jewish Quarter) which has been converted into a museum type thing.  It had nice arches.

It had apparently also been built by the Arabs, but the style was Arabian as opposed to the gothic style of the church.

I learned a lot about Spaniards today.  One, they have a totally different view of personal space.  They talk with their hands, and if your having a conversation, its perfectly ok to touch the other person.  For example, the nice lady who is our guide likes to stroke our hair.  It's weird to Americans, but its normal for Spaniards.  Another thing is that Spaniards seem to be, across the board, very racist.  They just are, it's their culture

And my irritating roommates don't seem to understand that.  So, when the lady left us to lunch, they wouldn't stop laughing at how racist and rude the Spanish are.  It bugs me, ok, how American these people are!!!

After that, we walked to the cathedral.  It was on the other side of the city, but it was a surprisingly short walk.  And we got this absolutely stunning view.

Look at this.  LOOK AT THIS.

When I went into the cathedral, my jaw dropped.  I had never been in one before.  I am not at all Catholic, but this cathedral makes me rethink my distaste for the religion.

Again, most of the time, I wasn't allowed to take pictures.  But.  Around behind the gold-plated altar, there was a newer installment from the Baroque era.  (The cathedral is pre-baroque).

I could have cried.  A lot.  If I had had time to properly enjoy the cathedral, I would have.  But Hyperactive Mario zoomed us right through.

When we were done ooing and ahing at the pretty gold cathedral, we went to the main square to fend for ourselves at lunch.

We stumbled over to a quaint little café (if I hear the word "cute" one more time, I swear, I will kill some poor Spaniard.  Spain is not cute.  Pretty, yes.  Sexy, possibly.  Not cute.)  and we ate some food.  I ordered some cheese and toast, which was good, but I would have liked something else to balance out the overwhelmingly cheesy taste.

The other people can't read menus, and didn't see the line at the bottom that said "Weekends: add 2 dollars", so they ordered something 12€.  Which is a little pricey.

So the total was staggering.  Not for me, though!  I can read a menu.  It was even in English!  They have no excuse.  Not only that, they had the nerve to complain about the Americanized food they ordered.  Saying the steak was too fatty or the pasta too sweet.  I hate rich private school kids.  I want to get to Seville so I can ditch them.  I just wish that we had more time to stay in Toledo, so I could wander and fall even more in love with the city.

As for why this post is titled "Literally Rohan."  It looks just like the city of Rohan from Lord of the Rings, with the castle at the top of the hill and houses lining the slope down.  Just a bit more modernized.  But I can guess where the designers of Rohan got their inspiration... this place is unique and I'm never leaving.

Now I'm sitting in the fancy pants hotel room while my roommates moan about how they left their stuff in the safe.  Because they didn't think to check to see if they'd left anything.  Meanwhile, the boys are down enjoying the pool.  I would be down, but I wanted to write my post.  And now that this is written, I might go down.  These girls aren't going to swim, so I don't want to be the awkward lone person in the pool.  Eh, my problem, not yours.  See you tomorrow at Siesta time!

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Not as Hot, Just as Vertical

Hello again!  It's siesta time, so I'm writing in.  I doubt I'll have the energy to do it later.

Today I have some things to report.  One:  Spanish Breakfasts.  They're good.  American breakfasts are very meaty, greasy, and pretty crummy for you.  Not the same at all as Spanish breakfasts, which are light and delicious.  Firstly, it's mostly made of bread and fruits.  I prefer that for breakfast anyways, and they had so much good stuff!  Spanish pastries are divine, and there were some French pastries too, but you could get any type of bread you can think of.  Except wheat bread.  They don't really have that here.

As for the fruits.  In the United States, your fruits are limited to bananas, apples, oranges, and maybe a melon.  Here in Spain, you can get all of those, but also pineapples, kiwis, strawberries, and some other stuff which I unfortunately forgot.  In addition to that, you also can get a dozen different types of juices, all of which are freshly squeezed because in Spain, they don't load their yummies with corn syrup or preservatives.  Why would you need to?

I had, for my breakfast, a croissant, a banana, some pineapple, and some absolutely delicious strawberry-plum juice.  Sounds weird?  Nah, it was amazing.

Then we, as a group, took the Metro to La Plaza Del Orient, which is a pretty little garden-thing in front of the Royal Palace.  That pretty place we accidentally found yesterday?  That was the palace, it's not used or anything, though.

At the Plaza, we met up with a nice tour-guide who would lead us up and down Madrid.  Quickly.

We got to see some very old things, including the Arab Quarter of Madrid, which is one of the oldest sections of the city that dated back to... the 12th century?  No sé.  Anywho, we eventually ended up in a market, where we had some time to wander.  It was 11:00 at this point, which is about three hours too early for lunch (in Spain), so I went to the fruit stand.

There were some really cool fruits, including some I doubt you've ever heard of, like mangosteen.  There was one I don't have the foggiest idea of what it is, it's in the middle of the picture between the cherries and oranges, and looked like a squat peach.

I got myself some guava juice (since they didn't have just plain guavas) and I was very very happy.  Very happy.  It was delicious.

Then, we went to El Museo del Prado, which is a very famous art museum.  It had de Goya and Velazquez paintings, and many, many others, but I can't remember all of their names.  I also couldn't take any pictures, but most of them wouldn't have looked right in photos.  Some paintings can only be viewed from a particular angle, you know?  One of them could only be seen properly from very far away, one only from the very far right, one from below, ect.  It was neat.

We said goodbye to our friendly tour guide and went for lunch to a place he recommended.  The guys had gone back to their rooms for a very early siesta, and I was hungry so I went to the restaurant with the girls.  It was expensive, so I ordered an appetizer.  Glad I did, too!  It was huge!  They had Spanish escargot!  I don't remember what the actual name was, so I'm just calling it Spanish escargot.

 It came in the shells.  I was a little surprised, since all of the escargot I'd had before came unshelled in green garlicky goodness.  This was still in the shells, and I was supposed to suck it out.  They provided toothpicks, though, so I happily wrestled with the snails to avoid sucking them out.  As much as I adore escargot, I have to draw the line.

It was the most delicious thing I'd ever put in my mouth.  Just saying.  I would have eaten the whole plate if the group hadn't finished before me.  Also, the last snail I ate was bad, so I stopped.  Anyway, it came in a garlic and tomato sauce with some other stuff, some Spanish spices (probably paprika?  is that the spice they use?) and it was ever so slightly spicy.  Just enough to add more flavor.  It was good.

After my utterly pleasurable meal, the girls decided to go to the park right up the way (emphasis on up, it's always up) and we walked.  it was a lovely park!  Through the forest!  Over pretty creeks!  We saw a group of people playing soccer, some guy was practicing his viola (and sounded very nice), and a pretty rose garden.

They really wanted to see the lake that was supposedly in the park, so we got lost.  Very lost.  Did I mention how absolutely huge this park is?  It's big.  And as we tried to get un-lost, we discovered a museum-thing, and it confused me.  It had signs in French, German, and English that were intentionally written in contrasting colors.  It was something about color-blindness, I think, but all I know is that if you look at the signs long enough, you'll go color-blind.

We kept walking until we saw the lake, and it was ok.  I guess.  You could rent paddle-boats to row around it, but the lake was small and man-made, so I don't really know why you'd want to.  We saw adorable ducklings and fish.

We wanted to then return to the hotel for our siesta time, at around 3:30.  We were very far, so we decided to take the metro.  Madrid has a metro, it is complicated.  As are all metros, I guess?  They're cheaper and simpler than taxis, which we took last night.  Anyways, we changed trains all by ourselves and felt very proud.

Then we walked the short distance from the metro stop to the hotel, passing a toilet gallery to get here.  I went straight on to the room because my feet hurt, and they wanted to see if they could get onto the roof.  Seeing as it's been like an hour, and they haven't come back... I guess they found something else they'd like to do.  I wonder where they went.  Sigh.  I'll be fine.

Toodleoo, people!  See you tomorrow!

PS: Apparently my name is Katherine, no matter how many times I introduce myself as Kailey.  Well, this will be fun.

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¡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.

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