Finally! I'm here in Spain! I can't believe it!! I landed here around 2:45 Spain time and have to meet my professor with the bus at 6pm. I took about 2 hours to go through customs, get my baggage, find a bathroom to brush my teeth and then wander aroundnthenairport to find my way from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1. Luckily, I stumbled upon the ONLY 2 guys I know on this trip who are from my Spanish Compostition classes. Haha, I told them I've never been so happy to see them before.
So far, finding WiFi (they pronounce it "wee fee" here) is like a scavenger hunt and is only in secret areas of the airport. I hear the buses are a good place to find WiFi, but for right now I asked around and some guy told me to stand in this hallway and I will find free WiFi, but it's not guaranteed to stay on. I've been speaking Spanish to all the staff in the airport and they just respond in English anyway, if they know it (dang, I guess it's blatantly obvious that I'm an americana...). It's funny because every time they realize that started speaking English and they say "ohhh noooo, I'm so sorry you spoke to me in Spanish and I replied in English!!" And then they repeat everything they just said in Spanish. Haha yeah, I do need the practice, but right now I'm veryyyy tired and don't mind!! :)
The flight wasn't bad at all. I sat next to a nice middle aged woman from Palm Springs whose daughter is traveling on Study Abroad non-stop. She was actually coming to Europe to visit her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend in Prague since she just got done with a study abroad in Cameroon for 4 months. This woman has had some amazing stories of her daughter's adventures. I will admit, I'm a little jealous. She's not even 21-years-old and she's gone to Cameroon, Peru, Ecuador, some parts of the Amazon, and so many other places for study abroad. She's traveling the the Czech Republic and Germany over the summer and then starts her fall semester in Tunisia...lucky girl!! Her mom told me that her and her husband have been saving coins in 5 gallon water jugs periodically since their daughter was born, and on her 18th birthday, they added it all up and it was $4500 (for traveling only)! She says she still has $3500 left after all that traveling because her study a roads are so cheap: $500-$700. That girl is living the dream!
Anyway, just thought I would post something while I have WiFi for a minute...not sure when the next time I will find one will be. My professor should be here soon and we leave at 6 (in 50 minutes) for a 2 hour bus ride to Valladolid! There, our families will meet us and show us around and then walk us to class in the morning where we will get a tour of the school and city. Sounds like a good first day of class to me!! :) Hasta luego...
View flying into Madrid:
Thanks for posting so quickly! Sounds like a successful first day :) write again soon and make sure to take pictures.
ReplyDeleteI have some pictures, but can't post them because I haven't put the wifi password on my computer yet! I typed it wrong...oops :)
ReplyDeleteI added pictures to my other posts since I got to Spain...got my computer running!
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