Plane after plane after plane after plane....then a taxi.

I've finally got time to update, so here we go! Let's start with the adventure that brought me here...

So, the original plan was fly from SFO to London, wait two hours, and then fly to Madrid and spend the night at a hotel that I had already booked and then fly out to Granada the next morning and make it to the check-in place by 3pm, which was what they said was the latest we should arrive here. What actually happened was I got to SFO with Mom, Dad, and Elaine and they helped my get some Euros and waited a bit for my flight because I had probably 2 hours or so. Before they left me a huge group of French teenagers came into the airport, and so my mom told me to get through security now before I had to wait behind the huge group. So I left my family and went through security. It was so sad. Won't see my family for a year! =(
So as it turned out, those French people were on the same flight as me and it has made me realize that I don't like French people very much. Not only were there French people who came into the dining hall during the summer and they were VERY rude, but the people on the plane were just...not pleasant. It's probably just because they were all very young and immature, but I did not care for them at all. I sat next to one of the girls and she laid down to sleep during the flight (it was a 10 hour and 10 minute flight) and so her feet kept touching me! I was sooo grossed out! So when she was asleep...I PUSHED her legs away from me! hahahah, I know, not the most proper thing to do, but seriously. I don't like feet touching me. Especially gross, stinky, French feet....

Leaving America. *tear*

That's me! =)

I thought the dinner they served was so cute! It had this beef stew sort of thing, a salad, a chocolate cheesecake sort of thing, a bun with butter, and piece of candy, and a water bottle.

So for the first half of the flight, I was watching movies. I saw Meet the Robinsons and Fever Pitch. Both were very cute movies. They even had Shrek the Third and Spiderman 3! I would've watched it, but I wanted to take advantage of watching movies I hadn't seen yet. So after those two, I got pretty sleepy. It was probably 9pm or so by then, and there was still 6 hours to go. So I decided to go to sleep. [fyi: that's when the French girl started touching me with her feet, so the sleep wasn't that pleasant]. So I tried sleeping for about 4 hours, or so. And then I decided to watch Friends! [they had TV shows as an option for something to watch, too!] and it was the episode where Monica and Chandler meet the person who would decide if they are suitable parents so that they could adopt a child. It was also the one where Rachael is afraid of the swings and Ross takes her to the park to show her that swings aren't dangerous, and he ends up getting hurt. HILARIOUS =) Friends is always funny. So by the time I finished that episode, we were in London!

Hello, London! [It was very overcast, even raining a little]

Heathrow--London Airport

Me at the London Airport =)

So here's where things went ALL wrong! So remember, I was supposed to only have to wait 2 hours in London and be off to Madrid. We landed in London about 11am London time (which is about 3am in California) and so I was dead tired already. So then by 1pm London time they had us boarding, and so we all got into the plane. Then the captain decides that there's something wrong with the plane, so we drive over to where there are technicians and we have to wait for them to board the plane and check out what might be wrong. Then two hours later, they decide that the plane cannot be flown and they tell us that we will be moved to another plane, but that they still had to work out the logistics in how they would transport not just the passengers, but also the cabin members to the new plane. So an hour later, they put us into buses and make us go through security again, and then we wait for about half an hour for to board the new plane. BUT some dude comes out and he says that the flight has been CANCELED! I sorta freaked out, but then I figured that the airline had to fix this or they'd have a BUNCH of very unsatisfied customers. [it was Bristish Airways, by the way.] So then one of the workers was like, "If you follow me, I'll show you where to go to get your luggage and then where to go to get new flights." So we were all following in a huge group, and then suddenly, it was like, "Hey. Who are we following?" HAHA and everyone stopped, and some people were even like, "Is there a worker who's leading us somewhere?" And then we all saw an information desk, so we all gathered around that. Keep in mind, it's like, over a hundred of us....so then they told us where to go, and in order to get your luggage, you have to get your passport checked, and so there was a HUGE line for that. And for a while, I was even in the wrong line (because they separate the lines by what kind of passport you have...I was in the EU passport line....so then I got into the right line, and that line was waaay longer than the EU line, so I was sorta pissed about that. But then while I was in the line, at first I was behind this old couple, and somehow they got in front of me, so that I was inbetween the old couple and two asian ladies. Then the two Asian ladies seemed to be trying to get in front of me, too, but I was already pretty peeved, so I gave them dirty looks and wouldn't let them get in front of me =D And then I passed this dude (because the line snaked along, so the guy was ahead of me, but we passed each other because of the shape of the line) and I thought "HEY! Isn't that the other guy from UCLA who's going to Granada?" And I thought he showed signs of recognition, too, but I wasn't sure so I didn't want to make a butt of myself and ask him. So I just moved on. Finally, I got my luggage, and then we had to wait in ANOTHER line to get new flights. And since there were more than 100 people who needed new flights, this line was quite long as well =T But while in line, I noticed that on the floor above us, there were like, SNIPERS! Literally, guys all suit up with bullet-proof vests and everything holding sniper guns and watching over the people in the airport. It was kinda scary, but I guess they've got super high security over there because of the recent terrorist attacks. Also in line, I met a girl and she said she was going to Granada as well, but only for half a year. I also found out from her that the guy I thought was the guy from UCLA WAS the guy from UCLA. So that was good to know. So anyway, the airline was actually really nice. They booked us all new flights (mine was at 7:35 in the morning the next day, but it pushed my flight from Madrid to Granada back, so then I would be late to the 3pm meeting that I was supposed to make in Granada. I was a bit worried about that, but then I thought, eh. What can I do? I'd only be like, 3 hours late. I suppose that's not too bad. The only thing I was really worried about was that everyone would meet each other already and then it would be really hard to meet people because everyone would already know each other! That was my only worry at the moment. hahaha
So since my flight wasn't till the morning, they booked me in a hotel (a really nice one, too, with complementary dinner and breakfast), and that was pretty exciting. I looked on the door of my room and it said that it would've cost 209 pounds, which is like, $400! I was like, SCORE! =P So then I took a shower (it felt good to finally be clean!) and the shower was really weird. It had a seat right in the middle of the shower, so I guess British people sit when they shower. But I didn't want to sit because who know how many other dirty butts have sat there...And also, they had these red cords that hung down in the bathroom, and I was curious as to what it did. I thought it like, turned on a fan or something....so I pulled it. Suddenly a red light started blinking and I was like, CRAP! So I called the front desk and I asked them what the red line does and what I should do because I "accidentally" pulled it. HAHAH The guy (who, by the way, had a French accent, and reminded me very much so of Michelle from Gilmore Girls) said "Oh, I have never heard of that before. Let me transfer you to Maintenance. " So he did that, and the lady there told me that it means there's an emergency, and I said "oh. there's no emergency. How do you cancel it?" and she said she would cancel it for me. Whew! Close call! =P Then I went to dinner and it was buffet style, so I ate as much as I thought I should, though the food was not that great. It was a pretty fancy place, though. They had a good mango cake =D

My bed at the hotel.

My room at the Hotel.

So I had told my family that I'd have an email out to them by Thursday morning for them (which would be Thursday night for me) because I SHOULD have been in my hotel in Madrid by then and that hotel was supposed to have free WiFi internet. But it was already like, 8pm London time (12pm California time) and at THIS hotel, the internet wasn't free, but I figured it was worth it, since the room was free. But for some reason it didn't work, so I tried asking the front desk and everything, but they said they would call me back, and they never did. [FYI: the hotel was called The Renaissance (pronounced Reh-neigh-sance by the British), so if you're ever in London, I don't highly suggest that hotel as it is both expensive and does not include complimentary internet...]. So then I went to bed, and I kept waking up every couple of hours, both because it was hot and because I was worried I wouldn't wake up in time for my morning flight. For some reason, I woke up at 2 am and thought that I should get ready so then I got up and went to the bathroom and then I thought about it and realized that I didn't need to be up for another 3 hours! So I went back to sleep.
In the morning, I skipped breakfast so that I could get to the airport early. Ended up having 2 extra hours. I was starving by the time we got on the plane. It's a good thing they gave us a "light breakfast," which consisted of an egg and bacon sandwich and a small smoothie.
Finally in Madrid around 12pm Madrid time, I had about 3 and a half hours to kill before my flight to Granada, so I wandered around, and I noticed that there were various "WiFi Hot Spots." I thought, finally! Free internet! As it turned out, the internet cost money, but I didn't care. I needed to email people. So I paid for that internet and I finally wrote emails to my family and whatnot as well as an email to the study center in Granada telling them that I would be late.

While waiting for my final plane, I got really hungry, so I went to the McDonald's there and ordered in SPANISH! I was so proud of myself..hahah I ordered "Patatas fritas y una hamberguesa" which translates to french fries and a hamburger =D

Madrid Airport

"Telefonos"! Everything was in Spanish. =D

Finally, I was on my way to Granada, and once we landed, it was about 5pm Granada time and it was soooo hot. In Madrid, it was pretty cold, kinda rainy, too...so then it was quite a change. So I got my luggage....and then called the study center to tell them that I had just landed. They told me to get to La Residencia (where I would be staying) and then the pay phone got cut off. HAHA so sad. I was like, Nooooooo. So I got a taxi. I asked the lady at the tourist booth what the best way to get there would be and she said two buses which would only cost 3 euros, whereas a taxi would cost 30. But I thought, "eh...I have all this luggage, and it's my first time, I don't want to get lost...I'll take a taxi." So after watching how other people hail a taxi, I followed suit and finally got to my destination.

The lady who checked me in only spoke Spanish and I didn't know that, so I thought she was just testing me. I found out later that she didn't speak Spanish. And so she showed me to my room and told me all this stuff that I got the jist of but only fully understood it when I read the paper she gave me. My room, as it would turn out, is my own! With my own bathroom, too! I was really excited to see that. AND they provided a refrigerator and a microwave for us! Pretty sweet! =)

I was dead tired, so I pretty much crashed the moment I got to the room. It was about 6pm and that's about 9am California time. I hadn't had a good night's rest in like, three days. But when I laid down, I noticed that my pillow smelled like BO. ughh. so I didn't use the pillow. But yes. My room is quite nice. I'll put up pictures later =)