I'm here!

Whew! Its only been a few hours and it already feels like an adventure. It even started out crazy. My flight was originally at 9:55 but around 7:00am, the airline called my house and told me that the flight was delayed! And I was going to miss my connection to Madrid, which was clearly no good. So, they said, if we could get to the airport in time for an 8:30 – which of course, we said yes! So we ran like mad-people out of the house because now we were an hour and a half behind! Goodbye house! Goodbye puppy! I barely got to wave at them as my mom screeched out of the driveway.

We hurriedly said our goodbyes, though there was no time to linger – I had to make the flight! I got there just as they were about to start boarding… whew. The flight wasn’t too bad. I transferred in Dallas, got my last American meal (a cheeseburger and French fries from this grill place in the airport, yummm) and boarded the 9 hour flight to Madrid.

Long story short – I hate flying. It makes me sick and uncomfortable. Finally I took some sleeping pills and passed out, and when I woke up, we were flying over Spain!

This is the view from my seat! Look - Spain!

(Which looks surprisingly like San Jose, I think…at least from the airport, where I’m writing this.) Same type of weather, similar coloration. So that’s good, it already feels like home!

Anyways, we landed in Madrid and I was here! I managed to figure out how to get through Passport control and get my luggage and everything (which arrived safely, thank God!). I had to meet my friend Lauren in another Terminal, so I had to get on a bus carrying all my stuff and ride it around! Tha

t was a little scary because everything is in Spanish. I even had my first conversation in Spanish. There was a girl who looked like she was my age, traveling on the same bus, and it was really funny because she didn’t speak English very well, but I don’t speak Spanish very well and we were just laughing our heads off because we felt so silly trying to speak the other’s language. Why did all of my Spanish classes and vocabulary fly out of my head? I hope it comes back! Anyways, I missed the stop for the Terminal the first time around, so I had to ride the bus all the way around the whole airport again. I felt so silly. Plus, I’m lugging all of this baggage around – oy vey. At least the Madrid airport has free carts to put your luggage on, which is nice.

So yup, I’m here! I’ve arrived! I already called my mom to tell her I am alive and well, even though it is almost 4am there.

Then, I met my friend Lauren in the airport (thank God that whole situation worked out perfectly!) and then we took a cab to our hotel. We passed a store with this sign -- do you get why I took a picture of it?

(Hevia!)

OMG OUR HOTEL.

Here is a picture of our view from the window.

It is so incredible. We just ran into our hotel and started jumping on the bed with happiness and excitement! (And our bellhop was SO cute. He didn’t speak English, but that’s alright. Strong and silent type? Hahaha)

Me, all excited on our balcony!

Lauren, my partner-in-adventure looking quite refreshed!

We just rested and took showers and stuff to get refreshed and now we're heading down to the Plaza to get some food and explore. Sorry this is rushed and doesn't make much sense -- I wrote it really fast and all the pictures are weird sizes but I don't have time to fix it!

I’ll update again soon! Love you all!

<3 Kandace