WHEW! After a day of emotions due to fear of flying & leaving Damien I am finally on the first leg of my trip, on way to Houston. When I arrived at SFO (4:30am) I was amazed to find many many others . Who the heck flies to Houston at 6:00am on a Saturday? What? Several of us in line had a laugh or two about that. Apparently many do when it's because it's one of Continental's stops when you go to Europe. Now we get it.
After waiting a half hour in line to check baggage. I proceed to my gate then I hear that scary familiar sound and ask myself "is there a school ahead?". No, but there is 20+ Jr High students coming my way and then they pass me. Far out! They seem to be going in the opposite direction, they won't be on my flight. I pass through security with no problems except that I wasn't familiar with the laptop security rules. Go back Miss, please take out your laptop, place it in a bin by itself, thank you! Now I know. And also thank goodness I've been through security many times before because this girl's only got a tank top, leggings and a skirt on. Yup..almost naked. Makes it easy folks. And hey they get a good look at me in that fancy scanner of theirs. Sorry for the cellulite boys. ; ) So now I get to enjoy my leisurely stroll to Gate 88. But first a stop for a bagel and smoothie since I hadn't eaten in almost 36 hours. Nerves do that to me. I should fly and leave Damien more often because I'd be a size 7. NOT! I got to the gate & find it almost completely empty so I sit down to enjoy my bagel and smoothie..then OH NO! Those 20+ kids are coming my way. I just watch, breath and chant "they are headed to another flight" (over and over..you know what I mean fellow travelers or public transit riders). That didn't work because all of a sudden I was surrounded by teens and all I could hear was that piercing dolphin sound of teenage girls in packs screaming. Lord we sound awful at that age. It was deafening. And the boys...oh yes the boys they weren't much smoother. I must have heard "dooooood" over hundred times in just a few minutes. Also girls, you should hear what they say about us at that age. Apparently boobs are truly awesome! LOL. Anyway, I relax, let it go when "waaaaaa waaaaaa". The even more disturbing sound of a crying infant. Oh lord, now all I can do is pray I am not sitting near them. Ok, back to relaxing. My row is called and I board. There it is 32C...but guess who's in 32A & B? Yes, it's the mom, dad and baby. At that point all I could do was laugh out loud and people stared. Just as I was about to sit I hear the teen pack coming and sure enough their seats are all around me. I am tired and could be grumpy at this point but I am not 'cause I AM GOING TO SPAIN. As early as our flight was the baby, teens, me and most of the plane just slept deeply and soundly. It turned out just fine.
I arrived in Houston with an hour to spare so I just sat down and relaxed. Not eating, no shopping just relaxing. Uneventful. We board and now we're off to Newark (yes, I have a 3rd plane to board people). And no teens or baby this time. After almost a 4 hr flight again we land in Newark with only 30 mins. to spare. Thankfully we're in the same terminal so it's just a fast 15" walk for us. Right when I get to the gate, they're boarding. So it's finally off to Madrid we go. Yahoo!
7 hrs 20 min flight left and I will be in Spain. This time we got free directTV and movies, dinner and breakfast. Saved some $$. I watched two movies "Crazy Heart" & "Hangover" (both of which I'd seen before but just love) ate my delicious Sweet & Sour Beef w/rice and had a glass of Spanish wine. Then it was lights out. We were exhausted and we were flying over night. But then you think you're getting an overnight sleep when AAAAHHHH someone opens up one of the window blinds and there it is.. BRIGHT SUN! Yup..we didn't get much night since we left Newark at 8:40pm. Sun came up in a few hours and it sure wasn't morning to us from the States but it was according to the sun on that side of the pond. Oh well. They served us a yummy croissant w/fresh fruit and proceeded to talk endlessly for the next two hours before landing. Apparently they want to make sure you're awake and ready to go when they get there. I understand, can't have us all groggy looking like zombies walking off your plane can you? What a sight that would be.
I get to customs and the agent calls me up. I give him my passport and the necessary paperwork to enter Spain. He looks at my passport and at me, again then again then he finally says 'hablas espanol?'. I say 'hablas poquito'. That's when he picks up my passport puts it to the window and ooints at my name and says in a thick spanish accent 'but this is your surname?'. Oh man, sorry dude. I tell him that's why I am here, to learn the language. That's when I get the high 5 through the glass. I wanted to die laughing. I pick up my luggage and find the 'way out' (yes it really says that on their signs) to look for my driver. He's supposed to have a sign that says Don Quijote/Diana Carrasco and sure enough there he is. I walk up introduce myself and he asks me if I speak Spanish. This time I just said 'no, that's why I am attending Don Quijote'. He says with a thick accent pointing at the paper with my name on it 'but this is your surname?'. I just start laughing tell him in my very poor broken crappy Spanish what just happened with the agent. That's when he gives me a hug and says "Well, welcome home Diana Carrasco. Now learn to speak like you should". We both had another good laugh.
After picking up another student Erick (from Denmark) and Eduardo (from Portugal) we hit the road for a 2 hours drive to Salamanca. What a beautiful drive. The freeway is clean, smooth and beautiful here. It may be due to the fact they're toll roads here and it isn't cheap. The country side was rolling hills, yellow, green, then through a tunnel where a beautiful moutain range just appeared. I have no idea which one it was and I tried to ask but again...communication is an issue with all of us. I'll look it up on a map another time. The mountains fade into rolling green and yellow hills again. Every thing I saw reminded me of different parts of the US. It was beautiful. Sorry, no pics. First he wouldn't stop because they're on a schedule and I couldn't take pics through the window. You could hear the bugs splattering on the windshield like little raindrops as we drove. It was trippy. Not good for pictures. But I got the memories that will never leave.
Now here I am at my home for 7 weeks in Salamanca. My host person's name is Carmen, she's 56 single with grown kids and teaches pilates and ballet out of this apartment. She just laughs and smiles alot. I adore her mucho already. She took me for a walk to my school to show me how to get there. That was awesome because she doesn't speak english and I barely any spanish. But as we humans do across this planet...we communicated just fine. There's another student here too, her name is Barbara from Montana originally. She's 58 and going to a different school then me. She's only here for 4 weeks. She's finished one week of school and already is speaking what I would say 'great' spanish. But apparently it's not. Oh boy...what did I get myself in to.
So good night all...I am gonna enjoy the sounds of the thunder/lightning outside my window with a terrace that overlooks this lovely city I am calling home for 7 weeks... Salamanca.
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