Welcome to my second blog post! Right now I am showered and cozy, snuggled into my hotel bed with my laptop. But it has definitely been a crazy travel day!
The flight to Madrid was 11 whole hours and the seats weren’t very comfortable, but I sat next to a nice lady named Bethany. Bethany was about 26 years old and worked for Teach for America, and she was taking a two week European vacation with her friends from high school. She told me that she was going to watch 3 FIFA Women’s World Cup games for only 50 Euro. “Perk’s of no-one caring about women’s sports.” she said, chuckling.
I slept and read The DOs: Osteopathic Medicine in America by Norman Gevitz on my Kindle, and eventually the plane landed and I began my next challenge of navigating through the Madrid airport. Before going to baggage claim, we were funneled into two lines — Europeans and Non-Europeans — before handing our passports to the security guards and getting a nice little stamp in our booklets. The security guard who stamped my passport was deep in conversation with the guard next to him, I don’t think he even looked at me or the passport before stamping and sending me on my way. I wanted to know what they were discussing, but they were talking way to fast for me to eavesdrop.
I made it to baggage claim and found my bag, and then decided to go ask the information desk about where to find my bus to get to Valladolid. Using the best Spanish accent I could managed, I walked up confidently and said: Tengo una reservación por este autobús, pointing to a piece of paper showing my reservation information. I must have sounded like a real Spaniard because the information guy started spewing syllables faster than I could register the words he was saying. The good thing was that he used hand gestures while he was talking so I understood the general direction that he was pointing me in.
I found my bus and rode it for another 2 hours as we drove north. This is when I discovered that Madrid looks a lot like Phoenix. The sky was bright blue and clear with the outlines of small rocky mountains in the distance, the ground was brown and dusty, and the plants consisted of small shrub-looking desert trees. The only difference was the lack of Saguaro cacti. As we continued to drive, the scenery changed and we were surrounded by fields of wheat and the occasional orchard. I must have fallen asleep again because the next thing I knew, we were in a bustling city with hundreds honking cars and pedestrians. The bus stopped and I got a taxi to my hotel.
The hotel is impressive, they even have one of those weird European butt-fountains in the bathroom. Plus they have a whole wine bar downstairs with frequent wine tastings for customers. After relaxing for a bit in my room and Facetiming my sister and my dog, I called room service to bring me dinner. In Spain, dinner is eaten around 9:00pm, which is around the time I called. I got a delicious chicken sandwich with tomatoes, cheese, onions, and egg on a ciabatta bun. I then decided it was time to shower and hit the sack, and that’s where I am now! It’s getting late though, I will be sure to update tomorrow about what I decide to explore! Buenas noches!
Anna-phylactic Shock 