Finalmente, puedo dormir... y mejor- voy a dormir en espana :)

Hola de Espana! Finalmente!

After a long day of traveling, we’ve made it to Madrid! Right now, I’m sitting in an café that has suck internet, so this probably won’t get posted until we can get into our room at the hostel.

Right. So I’ll start at the beginning. My mom, aunt, and I left the good old BC at ten this morning (I consider it today since I haven’t been to sleep yet, even though it’s 5 am US time) and picked up Ashley, the girl from the program that I am traveling with. We then drove to Chicago, took a shuttle to the airport, and checked in with Iberia. I said goodbye to my ma and aunt for nine weeks (crazy!), and we went to our gate and waited to board our flight.

The airplane ride went well! Praise the Lord for good weather! It was longer than any flight I’ve been on, but definitely not terrible. We got two meals- dinner reminded me of Chinese food –chicken and rice- with raisin cake and shrimp salad (just a shmorgasboard apparently), and for breakfast I got a croissant with cucumber, lettuce, and tomato. Those were the entire contents of the “sandwich.” Say whattttt?? I hope that's not an indication of how this trip is going to go... hehe. But our seats were really good- third row in economy. Quality viewing of Alice and Wonderland and Valentine’s Day.  I really didn’t sleep, which I didn’t expect, seeing as how I can never really get comfortable anywhere but my own bed. Hmm… perhaps a long two months ahead of me. Bring ittt J

Number one thing I was nervous for when I first arrived was to start to speak Spanish right away when I got off the plane. But I was prepared to talk to the taxi driver to get us to our hostel. What I WASN’T prepared for was the customs guy who wanted to chit chat. He’s lucky he is muy guapo. ;) We were warned to have an airport security worker direct us to a taxi so we wouln't get cheated out of our money. Welp, we did this and got majorly SCREWED anyway. Here begins the suckiest part of the day. First, he starts the meter with 2 euros on it already. I QUITE wanted to say something, but didn’t. It was just two girls, already in the car with este hombre. Bad news bears if I made him mad. So. He drops us off in a plaza and says walk there, pointing to a street. And then he charged us 8 euros more than the meter amount, and he basically kicked us out of the taxi. So out we go, completely jipped and not sure where to go. Yes- he lied to us about being in the right spot. And--- he could have driven us RIGHT where we needed to go. I gave him the address on paper and he put in his GPS. Soooo we walked around for a good 40 minutes WITH LUGGAGE, asking about 800 people where to go. We looked like gringas estupidas. We asked a couple la policia a couple of different times, and they led us in opposite directions. We finally stopped at another hostel, and they gave us a map and directions. Danggg--- so we found our hostal, which is on the fourth floor of a building, and it's super cute. We could drop our luggage off, but can’t officially get in until 1 pm here. So, now we’re just killing time until then, sitting in a  “pasteleria,” drinking lemon slushes and eating a pastry. I think we’re both ready for sleep J I’ll be sure to post this right before then!

Sorryyyyy this is so long, but I know my momma will want full details ASAP!

Update: After a long day of wandering the city with heavy backpacks and old men asking us to be their lovers, we are IN our roomy room rooms J G’night!

Abrazos y besos,

ME