1/4/13 – 1/5/13
U.S. - Madrid, Spain
These two days blended together, so I don’t think I can
separate the events out on here.
Flying for my first time alone went swimmingly. My first flight was delayed a
half-hour, but that was okay because I had a five hour layover. The first
flight was shorter than I expected, although I did get some reading done. I had a window seat with nobody sitting
next to me. It was cushy. My second flight was not as pleasant. However, don’t get me wrong, it could
have been worse. I had an isle seat and sat next to a man that didn’t have a
great sense of personal space and his daughter had to get up and pee about fifty
times. Now obviously it wasn’t fifty, but it seemed like it. Dinner was kind of yummy considering it
was on a plane. I got chicken with rice and vegetables (equaling about the size
of my hand altogether, no exaggeration), a small salad (small as in literally ten
pieces of lettuce), a roll, and a brownie. I watched one movie, started a
second, and fell asleep! Overall though, it was a good experience and I found
it very easy to figure everything out. Airports are sort-of idiot proof. Going through customs in Spain was also
very easy. All they did was stamp
my passport and send me on my way.
While looking for the meeting spot for my ISA group, I found two of the
girls that were actually in my group. We went to one of the airport cafés and
got food while we waited. This is where I tried my first “café con leche”
coffee with milk and loved it! I got an egg and pepper baguette as well… which
I didn’t love as much. Later, we met up with the rest of the group as well as
our director. I truly love all of them! We traveled to the hotel in Madrid via bus, got
our rooms, and we all passed out until the tour/meeting at 5:30. At 5:30, we took a guided bus tour.
BUT… it was really difficult to do since many of the roads were shut down. Why
you ask? Because it was a very special night… It was the last night of their
Christmas celebrations, which is the night that the three kings come to the
city to bring children gifts (like Santa)! Later that night, after the meeting, we had free time to
explore the city and get dinner. The streets were all lit up with Christmas
lights and everyone was buzzing around the city. It was magical, indescribable
with words, and even the pictures don’t do it justice. As a group of eleven, we
went to dinner at a restaurant that our director suggested. We ordered all the
“tapas”, which are basically appetizers, on the menu. I really can’t even
describe what I ate, sorry! I tried… not working. But I can tell you what we
drank. We ordered one bottle of wine and 3 pitchers of sangria. Best sangria
ever! And we only paid around ten Euros each! Anyways, everything was fantastic.
So fantastic that I was sure I would be sick from not being used to the food,
but I feel great! After dinner, we walked around, looked at the different
shops, and simply took in the whole atmosphere of a Spanish Christmas night. Again,
something I cant even put into words! Wow… and it’s only been two days!
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