From a 4-yr olds damp foot to un sorbete de limón

I have survived my first, and almost second day in Madrid and let me tell you it has not been easy. I definitely have not experienced the whole jet lag or culture shock just yet, but the airport was a nightmare! Once we finally boarded the plane in Chicago, which was delayed because of the bad weather (Sarah we must be cursed when we travel abroad... maybe it's a genetic thing), I was so excited to get started and was even more excited when I found out that I got the aisle seat in the middle row and was sitting next to one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen. Kayla, which I soon found out is her name, was I'm guessing about 4 and she was sitting next to her brother Gaby, probably 2 and their mom. Before the flight even took off, the two kids fell asleep and I thought to myself that this sitting situation was a miracle since kids can get annoying, it seemed like they would just sleep the entire flight. Well... long did I know that I would be awoken to a 4 yr-old kicking me with her shoeless foot. Worst of all it was her damp, warm foot, the kind where you have just taken your shoe off and it's warm and damp from being enclosed in your shoe for so long and the air hasn't dried it yet. I mean as cute as her pink Dora the Explorer socks were, anyone who knows me knows that I have a foot thing, where I really don't like people's feet on or near me. If they have shoes on that's different, but otherwise it's just gross. And Kayla was no exception I don't care how cute she was.

Once we finally landed an hour after we were supposed to, I exited the plane and walked up the walkway which was gorgeous and all glass, no like the one's in the U.S. that are enclosed tunnels leading to the plane. I wish no that I had taken a picture, but I didn't want to be "that tourist" just yet. As I walked out into the airport, which seemed never ending and has high high ceilings, I followed the signs for the baggage claim. The walk took maybe 20 min. in and of itself, yes, it's one of those airports that make you walk and walk to get to baggage claim and then make you wait and wait for the conveyor belt to start. I mean honestly, you would think that if they made you walk that much to get to baggage claim, they would compensate by already having the bags going. Anyway, I finally got my bags and found out that I had to take a bus to get to Terminal 1 to meet up with the program director and the rest of the group. Not only was the shuttle bus packed, but I couldn't take the luggage cart with me so I pulled my two 50 pound bags up on the bus, was sweating all over and had to hold on to them as the bus took fast twists and turns.

I finally got off at Terminal 1 and went inside to start looking for Maggie, one of the girls in my group who said we could meet up and go to the hotel together. I walked from one end of Terminal 1 to the next and back again and then went back once more to make sure I didn't miss her. Finally, I decided to ask the Information Desk, and as I walked up and asked the guy if he knew where Arcadia University students might meet, he told me that i probably wanted to go down to the arrivals, not the departures where there was a meeting point. Not only was I exhausted, I felt like my arm was gonna to fall off because my bags were so heavy and I had just found out that I had spent probably 15 minutes walking back and forth. All I could think of was thank God I can speak the language, it was the only comforting thing I could think of at the moment. Well, I did go down one floor and continued to walk back and forth trying to find Maggie or someone with an Arcadia sign or t-shirt. None. So I asked the new information desk, who had no idea where Arcadia students were and so I just stood there waiting right underneath the sign that read "Meeting Point," "Lugar de Encuentro" hoping and wishing that I would not have to take a Taxi all by myself to the hotel. Finally, I say this man in the distance looking around and walking towards me and I looked down at his folder and it said Arcadia University. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Ok, that was definitely an exaggeration, but a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders... or it might have been that I finally took my 10+ pound carry-on purse off my shoulder. After the introductions the two of us walked out of Terminal 1 and got into a taxi and like the air that you can't feel unless it's windy, the exhaustion hit me. I was so tired from not getting enough sleep the night before I left, to not sleeping much on the plane, to the airport nightmare all I could think of was going straight to the hotel and passing out.
My journey does not end there, however. Right when you thought there was a happy ending, there's more. Once I got to the hotel, I was the second to last one to arrive, Cliff (one of the program directors) and I were getting my room key from the front desk and the room that they assigned me and Amanda seemed to have been taken by mistake, so I was given a different one. Once I got my bags into the 5 ft by 5 ft crammed elevator and down the narrow corridors to the hotel room, I finally had free time to relax and nap. Before I even closed the door though, the room phone rang and it was the front desk explaining that Amanda was in the room they had previously assigned to us and I had to go back and return the key, and take my bags down one floor. Greeeaaat I thought. Just my luck.

Anyway, turns out Amanda and all of the other kids in my group (there's 7 of us including me), are all fun and we've all gotten along at least so far. So my "free" time was really a attempt to catch up on sleep. And then we went out to dinner and had what they call raciones, which are just family style orders so that we got to pass around and try a bunch of different things. We had una ensalada mixta, eggplant tempura, some kind of queso (sorry I forgot what it's called), torta española, chorizo (which I did not have, and I am still a vegetarian even though meat is HUGE here, and plan to stay that way... ahem Sarah), and I also had a vino tinto de verano which is red wine with club soda. Very, very good. There were a few other things we tried, that I cannot remember, but everything was very good.

And then came dessert.
Or postre as it is called in Spanish.
Me and Jamie were the only ones who ordered a postre, and as I was looking on the menu, I wanted something different.
Definitely got something different.
I ordered a sorbete de limón thinking that it would sorbet.
Well... not sorbet. What I did get was a tall skinny glass with a lemon flavored beverage that had some kind of alcohol.
It's safe to say that I was definitely tipsy leaving dinner. I mean with the jet lag, lack of sleep and wine and a lemon liquor it was bound to happen.
The night ended well, with six of us being "those Americans" at the bars and clubs at 11pm when everyone else is eating dinner, and the Irish pubs on top of that, which we learned from Cliff the next day that was the typical American tourist thing to do.
Definitely learned our lesson there.

All in all, the first day was kind of a surreal blur, where I caught myself smiling because I couldn't believe I was finally here.

And, we didn't even pay for one drink the entire night. Not bad for touristy Americans.
Anyway, until my next post, which will have pictures I promise!

xoxo
D