Soooo to cover the travels since yesterday, January 14th, I'll go back and write HERE what I wrote in my journal on the plane coming over... plus a little more, I guess :)
(01/14) Friday
Catherine and I started my L O N G day by going to breakfast with Lauren Berkey at K&W around 7:15am. WAY too early for my liking! Mom stayed behind and finished my bags for me because the packing was horrendous! I ended up having two large, under the plane bags, a full book-bag and a carry on that wasn't exactly small. It was acutally pretty humorous watching me stand on the bathroom scale holding these 50lb+ bags while mom tried her best to get under me to see the weight! Ended up going over just a litttttllleee bit (okay 6 pounds!) but it worked!p.s. has anyone had their iSight camera on their mac stop working? because Apple decided to help me by replacing my screen and my computer came back without the functionality of the iSight camera... not my way of "fixing" a problem.
Dad tried to fix this problem while I finished packing up my book-bag and carry on. At 9:45 am Mom, Dad and I left to go to the airport where they got guest passes and walked me up to the gate. We arrived at the gate RIGHT when they were loading the plane so hugs and kisses were given... and then given again... and again :) and then I finally walked away, down the hallway and then onto the plane.
Flight plan for the day:
Myrtle Beach (dpt: 11:15) -- Charlotte (dpt: 2:35pm) -- Philidelphia (dpt: 6:35pm) -- Madrid (land at 7:45am)
In Charlotte I had a 2 hour layover, so before meeting up with Maryann, I went to Quiznos and got a salad. Has anyone had one of their salads before?! mmmmm soo delicious! Salad with Chieken and honey mustard sauce... and they give you pita bread to toss in with it! Got the salad to go and then went to gate B12 to sit, eat, and talk! MaryAnn showed up about an hour later and then Katie Wunder to give goodbye hugs (at least until we see each other somewhere random in Europe -- she's going to study in London for 4 months -- you can read her blog at http://thetravelingwunder.tumblr.com/ )! I actually slept on this next place to Philidelphia - thank goodness. I was exhausted and didn't sleep on the first flight at all. I just put in my headphones and MaryAnn said I was out every time she looked over at my seat.
We had a 2 hour layover in Philidelphia as well - but that turned more into a 3 hour layover because of technical difficulties with the plane.
Dang... that's something that I wanted to hear before getting onto a 7 to 8 hour flight. Ended up sitting next to this really sweet girl named Megan. She's a Spanish high school teacher in her mid 20s from Minneapolis studying in Spain for the year to earn her masters. We talked a lot, I watched The Social Network and wrote in my journal... but couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. The turbulence was terrible and it actually managed to scare me at times (probably the reason I couldn't sleep). Food wasn't too terrible -- but I'm sure y'all don't want to hear about airplane food.
Finally landed around 7:45 AM Madrid time ( 1:45am EST) and MaryAnn's cousin's wife, Mariana was waiting to pick us up. We took a brief stop by an ATM to get some Euros, went to a grocery store for road food, and then went to Mariana and Jota's (MaryAnn's cousins from Madrid) apartment so we could notify our parents that we were alive and safe. Shortly after that, we were on our way in a little van-type car on the five hour drive to Alicante. The cousins rented the van because their car was too small to hold all of our bags!
I took a funny picture of how we were sitting on the way home from the airport (above and to the left). Note: In the picture you can't see the trunk of the car, but it was SLAM packed!
It might be a terrible thing to say, but on the five hour drive, I probably slept four hours and thirty minutes. eesh! I did manage to get a few pictures of the city, the country side, and then the beach - AND - I took two videos: one of the city and the other the country. Spain is amazing, y'all. There were soooo many castles! It's like every time I woke up and looked out of the window, we were passing castle ruins. Makes me wonder what it might have been like hundreds of years ago........ do you ever get that feeling?!
Sincerely,
Eyes closing quickly
In Charlotte I had a 2 hour layover, so before meeting up with Maryann, I went to Quiznos and got a salad. Has anyone had one of their salads before?! mmmmm soo delicious! Salad with Chieken and honey mustard sauce... and they give you pita bread to toss in with it! Got the salad to go and then went to gate B12 to sit, eat, and talk! MaryAnn showed up about an hour later and then Katie Wunder to give goodbye hugs (at least until we see each other somewhere random in Europe -- she's going to study in London for 4 months -- you can read her blog at http://thetravelingwunder.tumblr.com/ )! I actually slept on this next place to Philidelphia - thank goodness. I was exhausted and didn't sleep on the first flight at all. I just put in my headphones and MaryAnn said I was out every time she looked over at my seat.
We had a 2 hour layover in Philidelphia as well - but that turned more into a 3 hour layover because of technical difficulties with the plane.
Dang... that's something that I wanted to hear before getting onto a 7 to 8 hour flight. Ended up sitting next to this really sweet girl named Megan. She's a Spanish high school teacher in her mid 20s from Minneapolis studying in Spain for the year to earn her masters. We talked a lot, I watched The Social Network and wrote in my journal... but couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. The turbulence was terrible and it actually managed to scare me at times (probably the reason I couldn't sleep). Food wasn't too terrible -- but I'm sure y'all don't want to hear about airplane food.Finally landed around 7:45 AM Madrid time ( 1:45am EST) and MaryAnn's cousin's wife, Mariana was waiting to pick us up. We took a brief stop by an ATM to get some Euros, went to a grocery store for road food, and then went to Mariana and Jota's (MaryAnn's cousins from Madrid) apartment so we could notify our parents that we were alive and safe. Shortly after that, we were on our way in a little van-type car on the five hour drive to Alicante. The cousins rented the van because their car was too small to hold all of our bags!
I took a funny picture of how we were sitting on the way home from the airport (above and to the left). Note: In the picture you can't see the trunk of the car, but it was SLAM packed!It might be a terrible thing to say, but on the five hour drive, I probably slept four hours and thirty minutes. eesh! I did manage to get a few pictures of the city, the country side, and then the beach - AND - I took two videos: one of the city and the other the country. Spain is amazing, y'all. There were soooo many castles! It's like every time I woke up and looked out of the window, we were passing castle ruins. Makes me wonder what it might have been like hundreds of years ago........ do you ever get that feeling?!
(1/15) Saturday
Okay so technically, landing in Madrid and driving to Alicante was the beginning of January 15, 2011, but it went along with the flight schedule too, so it stayed in the January 14th section of this post. We checked into a hotel called Hotel Mio Cid in San Juan - 5 to 10 minutes outside of Alicante. Brought a few bags up to the rooms, cleaned up, and then went out to see what we could see! Just like us, Marian and Jota hd never been to Alicante either... so it was an adventure for all of us. Walked up and down near the marina (the port), casino, 
boardwalk ( calle La Esplanada ), Plaza Rambla, and up and down a few other streets. Loved it! We walked in and out of a few cell phone stores, clothing stores, etc. Then went to a little sandwich shop called something Mondattos. The sandwiches were small but quite filling. On the way back to the parking garage, we passed some graffiti that read "Clmson Fvr" -- totally saying Clemson Fever... don't cha think?!
I fell asleep in the car on the 5-1o minute ride back. Now MaryAnn and I are in our hotel rooms, updating blogs, pictures, familiy, etc. on what we've been doing. Sleepy time! Tomorrow we meet up with the rest of the program and we get to move into our apartments!!!! BIG DAY AHEAD!!
boardwalk ( calle La Esplanada ), Plaza Rambla, and up and down a few other streets. Loved it! We walked in and out of a few cell phone stores, clothing stores, etc. Then went to a little sandwich shop called something Mondattos. The sandwiches were small but quite filling. On the way back to the parking garage, we passed some graffiti that read "Clmson Fvr" -- totally saying Clemson Fever... don't cha think?!Sincerely,
Eyes closing quickly
1 comment:
Um, i know you are busy and all enjoying Spain.......How about an update soon:) PLS PLS PLS!
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