The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Hola!

Finally it is Friday, the day that everyone looks forward. Not because it is the end of a long week, but because you all are so excited to read my blog...jk but I thank you for taking time out of your Friday, or what ever day you decide, to read my first post from Spain.

**WARNING: Because this was my first week, this is probably (hopefully) going to be the longest post so I will bold the parts I think you should read and the headings so you can get the gist of it.**

Although i have titled this blog The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, I feel I should start with the ugly and end with the good (who wants to end on a bad note?).

The Ugly:
When most people travel by plane, they probably think that when the ticket says they are going to land one place, that is where they are going to land. Furthermore, I do not think that people think about what they are going to do if they in fact land in a different place than they were expecting. If you do that, you are one step ahead of where I was when I boarded the plane to Alicante. Long story short, because of heavy cloud coverage my flight that was supposed to land in Alicante landed in Valencia. I was already nervous about going to Spain by myself. The original plan was that I was supposed to land in Alicnate, be picked up my a cab driver named Paco, driven to Murcia and get to my apartment by 9:00pm where my landlady would be waiting for me. However that is not what happened. Because we had to land in Valencia I had to wait two hours for a bus to Alicante that is two hours away, with all my luggage, then take a 45 minute taxi ride to my apartment in Murcia. BUT...because it was then around 3:00am my landlady was not waiting for me any longer and when I went to open my door it was locked with no hope of unlocking it so I got back in the cab and went to a nearby hotel. You better believe when I got into my hotel room I cried from being so nervous about being in a foreign country by myself and having to figure all this out on my own. At least I was alive right!?
*My Advice: Never follow a pre-made plan, without making a back-up plan of your own. Furthermore, Freak out after you have gotten through the hard stuff; focus on what needs to happen to get you where you need to go.*

The Bad:
Obviously, or maybe not so obviously for some (not judgement), it is impossible to take one flight from Charlotte, NC to Murcia, Spain; I had a few layovers here and there. I had a six hour layover in Minnesota and another six hour layover in Amsterdam. Nothing really happened in the layovers that made them bad, but they were a little bit boring. Of course I had my iPad and my cell phone but those can only be entertaining for so long. Luckily, when I got on the plane there was plenty to do like sleep, or watch movies, or even watch people watch movies; that was all fun but the in between not so much. I would have explored, but I am not a fan of exploring on my own. Although there were things to do on the plane, sometimes the people were not so fun. On the flight from Amsterdam 1. everyone including the flight attendants spoke some sort of dutch or German that I just flat out do not know, and 2. there were these three ladies who just would not stop pushing everyone around and getting frustrated with me when they would be trying to tell me things but obviously I did not understand so they would get visually frustrated with me and just push me around even more. I couldn't even tell them to stop properly because of our language barrier.
*My Advice: Always bring something to during during your layovers, and don't let other passengers get you down (or push you down)*

The Good:
Obviously, or maybe not I don't know, there can not be some bad without some good in between. 1. During the Ugly, when I was pacing the airport waiting to board the bus with my eyes huge and watery from holding back tears of frustration, the man who sat next to me on the plane noticed my distress and let me board the bus as his plus one so I would not get left behind or overlooked if the buses filled up (I didn't even get his name...but he gave me my first European Cheek Kisses). 2. When I got on the bus the man who sat next to me on the plane let me use his phone knowing that I had to call internationally to my parents with no hesitation once so ever and when I started to crack a bit he he said in his best English, "take it easy, we will be in Alicante soon" (which I appreciated more than he probably knows). 3. When I was on the phone with my dad, he knew I was nervous about my situation, so he encouraged me to stay strong and not to cry until I got to where I needed to go because tears would only make the situation worse (so true). 4. I was able to facetime with my family once I got into my hotel (more like cry to them but eventually we had a conversation). 5. Even though she knew I was really tired Carmen Aravena of Millikin, called to make sure that I was safe and sound for the night. 6. The cab driver only charged me for the ride from the airport to the apartment and drove me to the hotel for free and 7. When I got to my apartment, I was just in time for lunch and my roommates welcomed me with European Cheek Kisses and welcomes.
*My Advice: Always keep in mind that there are good people out there who will help you and remember that you have a support system and never be too overcome with emotion to reach out to them and ask for help and support (that is what they are there for).

Sorry this one was so long, but as I said, a lot has happened in this week. I didn't even get to say what I have been up after all of that went down! Oh well, if you really want to know, I guess you are going to have to wait until the next blog ;)

Abiento...oh wait that's French...Hasta Luego!