Ok folks, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. My first blog entry of the new school year. Ok, well maybe you were also waiting for all
the ones I haven’t written about last time, but we’ll cross that bridge when
the time comes. This one’s going to be a little wordy since I haven’t taken
many pictures yet, but bear with me. So
first things first, I made it. My
travels went really well for the most part, but I’ll give you a detailed break
down because there were definitely some interesting moments. My parents and best friend Bridget came with
me to the airport to bid me farewell. It
went a lot smoother than I thought…meaning there were less tears than I thought
there would be. They watched closely as
I made my way through security. I got the third degree on one of my carry-on
bags only to find out it was because I was carrying a candle in it. I guess they thought I could be carrying
dynamite or something. You know me,
trying to sneak dangerous items on planes is a thrilling hobby of mine…not.
Anyways, I sat down at a café and ordered some chicken gumbo in a bread bowl
and it was delicious. After about a half hour of waiting, I boarded the giant
Iberia plane and much to my delight, I discovered I had an aisle seat in a
section that only has two seats per row.
Ok, so technically my ticket said I had the window seat, but there was a
girl sitting in the window seat, and I certainly wasn’t going to fight her for
it. So, I kept my mouth shut and took my
seat. Keeping to my usual ways, I fell asleep almost instantly and slept
through the take-off. I did wake up,
however, for the delectable airplane dinner of beef and green beans with some
bread and brie cheese. I never touch the
shrimp salad that is a staple on Iberia flights, but I did enjoy the banana
cake. After the meal, I tried to fall
asleep, but wasn’t very successful. So,
I listened to music and anxiously waited to find out what movie they would show
on board. Drum roll please…Men in Black
3. Whoop dee doo. Since I couldn’t sleep, I ended up watching the whole movie,
which actually wasn’t that bad. However
about ¾ into the movie the plane hit some turbulence that scared the absolute
bejeesus out of me. (I have no idea how to spell bejeesus, but you get the
idea). Now you’d think with how many
flights I’ve been on in my life I could handle it, but this was no run of the
mill turbulence. Out of nowhere, it felt
like the plane was plummeting to the ground while simultaneously leaning
heavily to the left. I just about
crapped my pants. I couldn’t bring myself to look anyone else in the eye
because I was afraid that if other people looked scared, I would just lose
it. So I sat completely still clutching
the armrests, as if that would really do anything if the plane was actually
crashing. Then about 5 or 10 minutes later it subsided. I couldn’t really get myself to relax after
that even though the rest of the flight was pretty smooth.
Another thing that made the flight slightly
less than pleasant was the crying baby.
Now, I’m not going to bore you with the typical “How did I get stuck by
the only crying baby on the plane” spiel. Let’s be honest, that’s happened to
everyone who’s ever been on a plane at least once in their life. This was no ordinary crying baby. About every half hour or hour this baby would
start wailing out of nowhere and the sound was unlike anything I had ever
heard. The best I can do is to compare
it to a low-pitched squealing pig that sounds like it’s slowly being tortured,
and perhaps turned into some delicious bacon. Yummm. Anyways, it was so
alarming that every time it happened everyone in the proximity would perk up
and try to see where that horrendous noise was coming from. I started wondering if it was really that
strange or if I just forgot what crying babies sounded like. Then another baby started crying and I said,
OK, now that is what a normal baby cry sounds like. Needless to say I was happy to have my feet
back on the ground after that flight. Then I had a 3ish hour layover in Madrid. It was pretty boring, but it went by fast
enough.
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| They have this sign on all of the luggage carts in Madrid, and I always get a laugh at the first line. The Spanish part basically says Feel VIP for only 25 euros. But check out the translation - Feel yourself (VIP) for just 25 euros. They should hire a new translator for the marketing department if you ask me. |
My flight from Sevilla to Madrid
went fine. It’s so short I feel like by
the time we reach full altitude it’s time to start landing already. At around 1
pm Spanish time I landed in sunny Sevilla and made the trek down to get my
bags. I was trying to wrap my head
around how exactly I would get on and off the bus (which is typically packed
like sardines) with two suitcases and two backpacks, but I just didn’t want to
waste my money on a taxi. It ended up working
out perfectly because the bus was hardly crowded at all, and an airport
employee helped me get my bags on. After
the 25 minute bus ride I was back in the heart of Sevilla and my
friend/roommate Mary and her boyfriend Rafa were waiting for me. It was such a relief to see them after my
travels. But, I’m going to cut if off
here before I write a novel. Next time I’ll fill you in on my first week here
and the ridiculous encounters we had looking for an apartment.
My first glass of tinto de verano. So refreshing!
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| How's this for a view? |
