Hola!
What a busy weekend I have had. My plane was scheduled to leave St. Louis at 2:15 on Friday. It was delayed until 3pm and I was getting worried that this would cause me to miss my connection in Chicago to Madrid. Luckily, the plane arrived just in time to board the next, and I began the 8 hour flight to Spain. I also was concerned that my bags wouldn't arrive with me but they did! I have never flown anywhere alone, and I've definitely never had to navigate an airport by myself! The first impression I had of Spain was walking onto the plane in Chicago. Of course not everyone was Spanish, but i could immediately tell I was too pale and lacking in my espanol! The plane was cramped and not as luxurious as my other international flight. We had a strange chicken meal, watched Here Comes the Boom as a group, and then after only three hours of sleep we were served breakfast and it was time to depart. Once in Madrid, I found an ATM and got my stash of euros and waited around for two hours until my next flight. On this flight I actually sat by someone who wanted to chat. He was from Miami but he was born in Venezuela, and had family in Palma. He told me that it was a bummer that I was arriving during the cold season (I'm like, dude, when I left Illinois there was snow and ice! It can't be that bad!!). I got off the plane and finally was able to locate my baggage (las maletas) and meet my new family. Juan (el padre) was there to pick me up, and he explained that we would be going to pick up Maria (la hija) at her friend's house (some famous folk singer of Spain, lived in a mansion so I was impressed!). Juan, Maria, and I stumbled through conversation. Juan and Maria are actually quite proficient in English. They make my Spanish speaking look pathetic! We arrived back at their casa to find Pilar (la madre) and Alvaro (el hijo). Pilar was staying home with Alvaro because he is sick. They showed me around the home, and we brought my stuff up to where I would stay. A nice room with a view of the pool (too bad it is too cold :/) In other rooms of their home you can see the ocean--which I think is epic! We had lunch together and we ate asparagus, some sort of bean stew?, bread, and cheese. (I need to ask Pilar to write down the names of what she serves because I forget!) I started to unpack and get connected to the Internet. The family invited me to go with them to the mall to shop for a birthday present for their cousin. At the mall we walked around and shopped, very similar to a big mall in the U.S. (although they told me it only has a few stores, it is like 4 times bigger then MTV mall! lol). When we returned to the house, we rested and then had dinner at 9:30 or so. I was exhausted so I took a shower and headed for bed.
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