On Thursday morning, I arrived in Madrid 2 hours later because we left 2 hours later in Philly due to---get ready---our plane getting STUCK on ice on the runway for close to an hour and 45 minutes. Don't worry, the pilot kept us informed saying we were just going to "stay put until the crew below figured out what they could possibly do." No biggie.
No joke when I got off the plane, I had to walk like 3 miles following people like cattle to the baggage claim. I felt like a zombie because I couldn't sleep on the plane at all. Too anxious I guess!
So once I realized I was standing waiting for my suitcases when not many bags were still on the belt, a short little Spanish lady came up and told me that there weren't any other bags. Fantastic. Out of my two suitcases, US Air lost one of them (of course they couldn't have lost the one with all my clothes for the warmer temperatures months from now). Luckily, due to lack of space and also just in case, I packed a couple days' worth of clothing in my carry-on bag. A group of us were missing luggage, and we waited in a customer service line for nearly an hour without moving at all. I gave the woman the address of my friend in Barcelona where I was going to be staying for a few days, and just hoped I would see my bag again one day.
Ok so fastforwarding to the part after getting groped and felt up by the security lady after setting off the alarms: the flight to Barcelona from Madrid. It was only about an hour long. I was really tired and irritable and felt so out of place to the point where I just thought about wanting to be home right then and there. I just kept thinking, "what the hell am I doing? I can't do this. I want to be home."... Especially after getting off the plane and not seeing my flight listed on any baggage claim belts. I was almost expecting them to lose my other bag at that point. I just wanted to cry lol. I was annoyed with myself at how weak I was being, but whatever. I guess the feeling of being overwhelmed is probably somewhat normal.
Needless to say, I was SO excited when my friend Merce found me in the airport. I was so tired/anxious/overwhelmed/frustrated/excited to see a familiar face that I started crying when I saw her! I felt so ridiculous haha but whatever. Oh and Merce is a friend that I met in New York when I was teaching at the EF international school of English in Tarrytown last summer. She is 4 years younger than I am, yet she was my student! She is an awesome person---definitely a friend and not just a student-- and even after getting to know each other during summer school, we have stayed in touch. She and her family are from Barcelona, and when I told her I would be starting my teaching gig here in Spain in January, she invited me to spend New Year's with her and her family. Very exciting!
Barcelona is very cool. I love the buildings and the architecture. One of the pictures below is a building near Merce's family's apartment. It's definitely one of the only known landmarks that I remember because the city is SO big. It's easy to remember because of the crazy painting on it.
I think it would take me years to figure out how to get around. All the streets look the same to me.
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