Colegio

Well yesterday, (Friday) was our first official week in Spain, and it has been quite a week.
This time last week, Sabina and I were somewhere in terminal 3 at London Heathrow. *shudder*

School, as always, began on Monday, and I'm not gonna lie, it was a bit overwhelming...
I was still jet lagged and sleep deprived, and couldn't understand anything the teachers were trying to teach.

But the school is beautiful... ripe orange trees, clear blue sky, old Spanish architecture, a chicken coup, and if you stand at the right spot, you can see the view of the city. It's beautiful.

And everyone is so friendly! That whole awkward shy thing doesn't exist here...We're in a class of about 20 kids, and instead of the students rotating classes, the teachers rotate, so we never leave our desks.. except for breaks and lunch of course.

I joined a band! Or, kinda like the equivalent of a glee club, it's great. We play American songs (Alicia keys, etc) in the attic of the school.. some kids play guitar, others drums, and I, along with 5 other girls sing.

Anyways, school is going great and I'll post pictures soon!

A Night in Sevilla

European Duncan Donuts

Family Time

As soon as we got of the train, we were greeted by our host families, Louise (the coordinator) and the principal of the school, Almudena. Laura, my host sister was holding a sign that said "Welcome Allie"
I felt so loved.
We were kissed on both cheeks by like ten people, and had many names and faces thrown at us.. it was so overwhelming, but so nice...
It was good to know we had made it, and we were safe.
Sabina and I went our separate ways, and went to our new homes. I have my own room, and a bathrobe! courtesy of my family :)
The kitchen looks straight out of an ikea catalog, and they have a very sweet cat named Rayo.

I quickly learned that Ana, the mom is an exceptional cook, and I had fish and potatoes for dinner, it was amazing. Real food never tasted so good.

That night I slept like a rock, I didn't wake up til 2pm the next day, which wasn't a good idea.. as I'm still recovering from jet lag (I'm writing this on 1/9/12)

I obviously missed breakfast, but woke up just in time for almuerzo, or lunch, which is the main meal in Spain.
We had paella,which was pretty off the charts to die for delicious.

After some more lounging around, Laura and I headed out for Seville, where we met up with Sabina, and Laura Lopez (her host sister)

Madrid

^This was the view of Madrid form the airplane... so beautiful....

As soon as we got off the plain, we knew something was different.
It was warm, it was beautiful, and there were hardly any people.
Customs literally took 5 minutes, the guy just smiled, and chuckled at our passport pictures, and stamped us through...
We followed the "salir" signs and met up with Nacho, yes Nacho. My Dad's coworker, who took us to the train station. His car was small, a brand I didn't recognize, and as we drove, I got my first real look at Madrid, or Europe for that matter. It was beautiful... old architecture, far predating America, which is so young in comparison. Everyone was well dressed, and there where lots of people smoking... we arrived at the train station to realize we were 3 hours early!

^this was the train station, a huge old building with a botanical garden inside.

So, of course, we set back out for a better view of Madrid, we saw so many beautiful buildings....

Or at least Nacho and I did, I'm pretty sure Sabina passed out in the back.

The Mcdonalds here are green.. 

We arrived the day after a huge festival, the equivalent of Christmas, so there where left over decorations strung up in the streets..

Finally it was time to go back to the station, we thanked Nacho and got to the station, where unsurprisingly, we got on smoothly.

We sped along the Spanish country side... it was so beautiful...

I would have taken more pictures, but I fell asleep.. it was a long 2 days..

Terminal 3? 5? what??

So we were in London, customs were over with and we had 9 hours to kill. 
We decided to locate our flight gate, to play it safe. 
We walked
And walked
And walked.
NO INFORMATION DESKS WERE OPEN.
In fact, pretty much everything was closing!
What kind of airport closes at 9!? This triggered a list of why we hate Heathrow a few hours later...
All the restaurants and shops were closed, and the only people we could ask were the janitors, who spoke very poor English, and simply mumbled and pointed.

 Our ticket said American airlines, so we walked OUTSIDE in this crazy purple lit pathway to get to the departure section.


  We decided to stay near the bag check for American Airlines for the night... we found a bench. An aluminum bench. It was cold. And hard. But, that was all we had.

We realized we hadn't really eaten anything in 7 hours.. and THANK GOD for Sabina's Mom, who packed some food. We opened up our dinner, and dug in.

Hummus wheat thins, and peanut butter crackers. It was delicious.

Due to our... condition, we found it difficult to get comfortable, and didn't sleep. Instead, we took periodic walks around, went up the escalator, wrote in our journals, and refilled our water supplies in the airport bathroom.

We were at that "past tired" stage and were a little insane... nothing we did or said made much sense.

Luckily, I packed my book of comforting thoughts. Which unfortunately brought no comfort.

 I would have blogged then, but the Internet cost 10 euros, and I didn't feel like it.

So finally, at about 3:45-4 am, we  saw some people examining the flight board to much confusion. We found that the one man was on our flight, but the other woman who had booked her flight with a travel agent, was on a flight that didn't exist... we unofficially teamed up, and called the help desk. The women found out that our flight was in terminal 5, and we were in terminal 3.  This didn't sound too bad, she asked what the quickest way to get there was. Turned out, our only chance of making it in time was taking the cab, even that was a 10- 15 minute drive. On the highway. We'd forgotten Heathrow was one of the biggest airports in the world. 

We realized we had no English money, and the women simply handed us 20 pounds, without hesitation. Sabina handed her a $20. It was a beautiful moment, I wish I'd take a picture. We wished each other luck, and Sabina, the man, and I ran outside in search of a taxi at 4 am.

He was smoking a cigarette, had a lazy eye, and an old orange bag slung over his shoulder. Pretty much the person your parents tell you to avoid. But we were desperate. We found a cab who was waiting for someone else, but after we explained our situation, and realized no other cab was insight, he agreed to take us. That was one of the most stressful moments... he was from Brazil, and I wasn't sure if he would take us to terminal 5, or his basement. 

But we arrived, and Sabina and I ran off into the airport. We saw the flight board, and there it was. Flight BA456, which turned out to be through British airways, not American.  But then, we heard the man calling after us. I felt kinda nervous, but all he wanted to do was pay us for the cab. He handed us $10, and invited us to join him for some coffee. Against my better judgement I agreed. Sabina and I ordered some green tea, and we chatted a bit. Turned out he was from Slovakia, which explained his accent, and was on his way to Guatemala. We finished our drinks, which he payed for, against our will, and wished each other luck, and Sabina and I ran off for security. 

After running up very steep escalators, the airport trains, and dodging many people, we made it to terminal B34.  What luck. Had it not been for that man, and the lady, we never would have made it, we would still be in London.. I never got their names, but I wish I had. Thank you.

But we made it,and we where on our way to Madrid.