Madrid is wonderful. There is so much to do and see. The city is always alive and energetic. We are staying at the Hotel Principe Pio, which is quite near the royal palace or Palacio Real.
I was quite nervous when we got to the airport in Richmond as I had never flown before. I also didn't know what to expect or how to navigate through an airport and deal with security. When I arrived I was told that all of the class except for me, another student, and our professor had caught an earlier flight to Philly. This news made me even more anxious and unsure about the forthcoming trip. I didn't even know the other student (Easton) and had very brief and limited contact with the professor (Prof. MJB).
I then wheeled my bags all the way down to the terminal; stupid me. I then asked where I needed to go in order to check my bags and was told, "At the ticket counter," which was all the way back across the airport. I felt so dumb and stupid; I hated myself.
So I then trudged all the way back and checked my bags. My big one was 5.5 lbs. under the 50 lb. weight limit. I was relieved because I didn't want to pay the $80 charge for the extra weight. I was thankful that I had decided to divide my clothes between two suitcases. Prof. MJB, Easton, and I went to the gate to wait. During this time we all got to know each other better and I was feeling less anxious, although I was still nervous about flying for the first time.
We were to leave Richmond International Airport at 5:50 p.m. and were to board the Philadelphia to Madrid flight at 7:05 p.m. When we were alerted that our Richmond flight was delayed by a half hour, Prof. MJB became stressed. She called the other students who had already arrived at Philly to tell the airline (U.S. Airways) that they were not to allow the plane to leave.
The flight from RIA to Philly was AWESOME! I loved it more than I ever thought I would. It was so beautiful to see the cities between Richmond and Philadelphia lit up at night out my window. Easton and I were seated next to each other and we became fast friends.
The flight went smoothly, and after we deplaned the three of us had to haul ass all the way across the huge Philly airport. The airport is wonderful, and very clean and well kept. The stores it contained were amazing, and it was similar to a shopping mall. They even had a Harley Davidson store where you could buy motorcycles (in an airport?!).
We eventually made it to our gate and reunited with the rest of our group. Then Easton and I went for some food because we were famished.
It wasn't long before we boarded the international flight to Madrid. The plane was huge. There was the window, then two seats, then an aisle, then four seats, then an aisle, followed by two more seats. I was really excited to have another window seat. The plane was a little cramped, but it wasn't uncomfortable.
I was seated next to Franny, who I had briefly met before. We both began to read to occupy the time waiting for take off. When it did, the view was amazing and the 8 hour flight commenced. We were served dinner, which was okay, but not the greatest (I know "What do you expect? It's plane food!"). I had the pasta, and it was quite good except the sauce was spicy hot. I ate the cheese, bread and crackers, and decided that was enough. The movie that was being shown was "Invincible." It looked quite good, but I decided not to watch it because I was busy reading, sleeping and listening to my iPod in order to occupy myself.
I was awake when the sun began to shine through the clouds in the atmosphere. It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve seen in my lifetime. Seeing clouds at their level, and even being above them, was incredible. When we were closer to the ground, I could see the Spanish mountains and the windmills that were perched atop the ridges. The ground looked like a patch-work quilt of greens and browns with an occasional dark river winding in between. A few towns could be seen scattered about the land with buildings of white and brown.
When we arrived at Barajas Airport in Madrid, I found it quite sketchy. The day before I had learned that a parking garage there had be bombed by ETA and two Ecuadorian men were killed while sleeping in their car. I never actually saw where the parking garage used to exist, and everything appeared normal. I was very careful about watching my bags in the airport because Barajas has a reputation of luggage being stolen.
After all of our luggage had been claimed, we went to meet our tour guide. When we came face to face, she was a twenty-something Spanish woman named Inma. She dressed very stylish, yet bohemian at the same time.
We proceeded to drive to our hotel, the Hotel Principe Pio. Here waiting outside was another professor, Fernando. The hotel is quite close to the royal palace and gardens in a park-like setting are directly across the street. My roommates are Meghan and Diana, who I know the best out of everyone in our group. The room is small and contains three twin beds and a bathroom. Out our window we can see apartments, clotheslines and cats on top of roofs. There is also a large Middle-Eastern-looking dome which is very colorful.
I went to lunch at a Turkish restaurant chain with the majority of our group. I found the food to be quite unappetizing, and couldn't finish it.
After that I took a nice two and a half hour nap to recover slightly. We were supposed to visit a tourist site this afternoon (the Palacio Real, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, or the Museo Reina Sofia), but we voted to have the entire afternoon to ourselves.
I think Meghan, Diana, and I are going to go sightseeing with others from our group. I hope we have a great time and don't get lost.
