The First Day

I am typing this in my hostel room that is probably 8x8 with two beds in it… haha

Heres my story of today:

I woke up this morning in the US at about 4 am to make my flight; of course there were still a couple things that needed to be finished first. My flight was scheduled to leave at about 6:50 so that means that I needed to be there at around 5. We ended up leaving around 5, so obviously I was slightly late. Anyway, I finally found Jenna (my travel and study partner) and we made it through the crazy baggage checking lines with no problems. As we made it to security, we said our “until we see each other again” ‘s and went our separate ways. Security was no problem, and we made it to our flight just in time for the call for all to board!

The flight from PDX to Newark was very uneventful; I talked with a man and his wife about their adventures, surprisingly in Barcelona also, around the world. They told me all kinds of cool things about Barcelona (none of which I remember now haha) and about his family in New York. As we were coming in the last 50 miles or so, I started looking outside at the clouds. They were amazing! There were cloud plumes that stuck out like mountains, valleys, flat areas, and everything the landscape has. It was a fantastic view. Anyway, when we landed, we made our way through the airport to the gate. Why they had to put us literally on the opposite side of the airport, I don’t know. As we were walking we found a diner and grabbed a sandwich and a slice of cheesecake because “You need to eat some good New York cheesecake” according to Jenna. It was weird to say the least. I don’t think it was a good representation of the cheesecake of NY. It was so rich it was like eating ice cream in the form of butter. Very thick.

Four hours later we board on the flight, 7:05 pm take off NY time, 4 pm west coast time. This flight was about 8 hours. Wow… that was a long flight. I tried sleeping but the seats sucked for that, so I resorted to looking out the window, watching a movie and reading my book, Dark Tower. Another uneventful flight, but the scenery once we got over Spain was very beautiful! As it was still dark, I will have to just guess what city we were over Valladolid, because it’s along the path. It’s very hard to describe, but try to imagine a sea of dark, then all the sudden seeing a ring of lights with lines coming out of it. It was so cool!

When we landed, we walked the long walk to customs and went through without a hitch at all and found our bags. It took us about 30 min to find a place to exchange our money at and talking to many people, but we did it. While Jenna was exchanging her money in the bank, I was watching the bags, and while I was grabbing money from the ATM she watched the bags. When I got back, she said that about 5 guys walked back and forth eyeing my laptop bag… the reality of it is scary that people would consider doing something like that in the middle of an airport. After we get our money, we go down to the aerobus which will take us (we hoped) to plaza catalunya. Oh my goodness these guys drive like maniacs. This bus is a regular good-sized bus and the driver whips it around like I do with my little civic! Mopeds and motorcycles are everywhere, weaving in and out of traffic, cars cutting each other off with maybe 3 feet of room, taxis swerving out if front of busses… gah. I’m glad they are not letting me drive here.

So we finally get off the bus,(keep in mind we are dragging our luggage around the town with us too) and it is pouring down rain. I chuckled when I saw how many people had umbrellas, probably 9/10 people have one. So we wander around for about another 40 min trying to find our hostel, and finally do. We got here and it looks like an apartment in NYC. At first I didn’t think this was the place, but then a French couple came out and were very nice and told us that this was indeed the place. He even helped jenna carry her bag up the stairs (70 lbs) and talked with us for a few min (keep in mind our Spanish is limited at the moment). We get inside and pay for our room. As he is showing it to us, we notice one minor flaw… theres one bed. Minor mistake in the reading skills of my compañera. So we end up paying a little more to get a room that has two beds in it.

As of now, that’s whats happened! I am still sitting on my bed listening to Jenna saw logs… or maybe I should call it jackhammering some concrete while she takes her “snap” (snore nap).

That’s all I have for now, so far its been good!

Until next time!

Hasta Luego

-Fuego