First Couple of Days!

The first couple days of my trip:

The flight from DIA to Frankfurt seemed to take forever.  10 hours on a plane is not my idea of a good time, nor anyone’s idea of a good time for a matter of fact.  I said goodbye to my parents, went through security, and then was on my way.  Note to any travelers: If you fly Luftsansa, it would be a good thing if you could speak German.  Many times thoroughout the flight, I found myself scratching my head in confusion because directions were only given in German and the flight attendants only spoke broken English, at best.  I decided to spend most of my time reading, as well as watching any movies that they had provided us.  Since we were on a big ass airbus, every seat had its own personal TV, like you see in the back of a lot of SUVs nowadays.  The movies on there left something to be desired.  I believe they were: Leatherheads, What Happens in Vegas, Kung Fu Panda, and Drillbit Taylor, all of which were edited.  Those were the English movies.  Exploring the menu a little bit more, I found the German section (go figure) of the movies, where I watched this movie called Falco (think Der Kommersar and Rock Me Amadeus): Goddammit We’re Still Alive.  In German, of course, but I was able to find English subtitles so I could figure out what was going on.  Much to my surprise, they served two meals, a dinner consisting of salad, a roll, lasagna, and tiramisu for dessert, and a breakfast that resembled a Denver omlet.  What cracked me up was that they kept on offering me complimentary red and white wine, as well as beer throughout the flight. I can’t sleep very well on planes, so when they turned the lights off at around 1 in the morning Mountain Time, I just shut my eyes and listened to music.  The lights came back on at 3 Mountain Time because they served us breakfast.  It was very bizarre to see the sun up at a time where I’m normally not used to seeing it.
The Frankfurt airport is rather confusing, with German signs everywhere, and not a whole lot of English to go around.  I managed to get some Euros from an ATM, so I bought a couple of German drinks, one of which was called, I shit you not, “Happy Love Drink”.  With a name like that it has to be delicious.  And it was.  I went through security, and waited out for the next flight, which was Frankfurt to Madrid, a four hour flight that dragged on and on, with my only solace being that someone from the US was sitting next to me, meaning I could speak English for once (and I’ve only been gone for 14 hours at this point, this does not bode well).  Upon arriving in Madrid, I realize that my boarding pass to Vigo doesn’t have my gate number on it, so I sprinted from place to place trying to find someone who could help me.  I eventually was successful, but I had to book it in order to make my flight, a one hour flight that flew right by.  Not how I want to spend my day of travelling.

Thus, I have arrived in my final point of destination for the next 9 months.  Vigo, Spain.  It’s a nice place, but one thing that does strike me is the amount of graffiti that is seemingly on every spare inch of vacant wall. Also, I’m disappointed because the family doesn’t own a bike, and based on the streets I’ve seen so far, I would probably get killed trying to ride around here everything is that crazy. Hopefully I’ll have some pictures up in a week or so.  I was met at the airport by some of my host family, and I’ve decided that they are really nice.  Juan Antonio, the son, speaks a fair amount of English, so it’s nice to have him around to serve as a translator of sorts for me and the rest of the family.  Attention all people who are in Spanish class: You don’t know real Spanish, don’t even act like you know what’s going on.  Half the time it sounds like they are talking in Swedish or something, they go so fast and annunciate in all these weird places.  The apartment in Vigo is rather tiny, actually.  My room resembles more of a walk in closet as opposed to a room, but I know that it could be worse.  At least I have my own room.  When we got to the house, Juan Antonio told me that I should start unpacking all of my clothes.  It took me no longer than ten minutes to put everything in its place in the room.  2 days of almost straight packing, 10 minutes to unpack! Oh yeah.  I was just starting to get settled in when Juan told me that I would be going to A Coruna, another city in northern Spain, with his mom and his dad, but that he couldn’t come because he has September exams for college.  I have pieced together this so far: Juan Sr. is the head of an insurance company.  They have two offices, one in Vigo, and one in A Coruna, about a hour and a half drive away from Vigo.  The family owns two houses, once again in A Coruna and Vigo because sometimes Juan doesn’t feel like driving back to Vigo at night.  Currently, I’m at the house in A Coruna.  This house puts the one in Vigo to shame, and I find myself wondering why they don’t live here instead.  We went out for dinner at 11:45 tonight, and I ate a Spanish Tortilla (egg and potato) as well as this Steak/Fries/Oil combination which is wreaking havoc on my stomach at the moment.  I’m going to be here for two days, and then I’ll be heading to Madrid to visit Juan Sr.’s parents for five days? I’m not too sure on this one.  I’ll just have to wing it, and see where I end up, but I’ll keep you updated.  I know that I start school middle of the month, which I’m actually looking forward to because it will give me something to do!

Right now I am tired, it being 1 in the morning (but my host parents are still up!) having not slept on the plane last night/this morning, and I’m just running on straight adrenaline and excitement.  I’ve been gone from my family/friends for about 24 hours now, and I realize that this will be a very hard thing for me to do, as I miss them already.  However, I think that as long as I keep a positive attitude I’ll be okay.

Peace and I love you all.