Leaving on a Jet Plane

I was so surprised…that Caroline and I are actually in Europe!

After a rough night’s sleep, we rose early yesterday morning and headed for the airport. Separately, of course, since she lives in Phoenix and I do not. Strangely enough, we showed up at almost the exact same time, meeting by chance in the ticketing line, with me just one person behind her.

Just so you know, I stuffed all of my monthly belongings into one suitcase, weighing in at exactly 48 pounds (the limit for a free checked bag is 50!), and Caroline has two suitcases. Typical.

So anyway, we had a fairly uneventful flight to Minneapolis—my “homeland.” We hustled to the next gate, with just an hour before we shipped off for Amsterdam, and had to wait in a very long, very stupid line to try to change our seats. (Apparently reserving seats through KLM when you’re flying Delta doesn’t work?) After waiting behind some woman that would not give up on her own problem, we eventually had to board and hope that Caroline’s seat buddy would trade me.

After a lot of waiting for someone to show up, then just stealing the seat, finally redirecting its owner, and eventually switching to the two furthest back seats possible to let a husband and wife sit together, we got situated.

And now we’ve completed our flight to Amsterdam, enjoying a hearty lunch, several snacks, and a strangely spicy breakfast on the way. Once we got here, however, it was amazing. First, we got to watch a very red sunrise over the ocean. Gorgeous. Especially since we saw the crescent moon glowing the same, magnificent red only a few hours before (cause we seriously saw only a few hours of nighttime). Second, we landed in the foggy farmlands. Awesome. And third, we found out the Amsterdam airport is like a giant Ikea. Seriously. It’s insane. Caroline went on a rampage and took pictures of everything. And then she made me walk up a scary spiral staircase and into a glass room full of art. We also found a casino and a library inside. Craziest airport ever.

I indulged in some McDonalds, being that I’m pretty sure we missed a meal somewhere in the 2923476 hours of flight time, while Caroline ate a Lunchable. We sat in strange, colorful chairs, watched some birds flying around inside, and then hustled to go through security. We got to the other side and voila! A normal airport, complete with black furnishings and white walls. What a letdown. We’ll see what Madrid has to offer once we get there, but for now it’s time to chill in the boring part of Amsterdam airport.

The Adventure...Has Yet to Begin...

I was so surprised...to realize that we are actually going to be spending an entire month in Spain this summer! 

In case you were wondering about the title of this blog, here's the inspiration. Caroline and I watched a lot of Mythbusters our sophomore year, and fell in love with this guy, turning "I was so surprised" (and its variants) into a joke we use constantly. This guy truly looks so surprised about 1 minute into this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KsdMuhYJPw. Wanting to make the title personal, I dug deep for something clever...and came up with a surprise. Our trip to Spain will most likely be full of surprising things, so I thought it would be appropriate. Just go with it. :]

Well, Bree asked me to create a blog to document the adventures that Giana, Caroline, and I are going to be having this June in Salamanca, Spain. Sooo I made one. Now, it's May 21, so there're still 8 days until I even hop on a plane with Caroline toward Madrid. Needless to say, I'm getting a little anxious. 

Don't worry, this will be my only post before we head off, so you won't have to deal with me rambling about my excitement. What I will give you right now, however, is a little basic information about our trip. 

We will be leaving Phoenix on May 29th, and arriving in Madrid the 30th, and then traveling by bus for about 3 hours to Salamanca. There, Caroline, Giana, and I will be sharing a host family, who will meet us at the shuttle site. :] All we know at this point is that the woman of the family is Yolanda González Hernández. I'm not quite sure how Spanish addresses work, but I did find out that we will be here, if you want to send us mail or Google how far we are from the Universidad de Salamanca:

Calle de Víctor Pradera 10, 2oD    37007 Salamanca, Spain

We will be staying in Salamanca until June 29th, when we'll be shuttling it back to Madrid and taking off for the States again. Um, in an effort to cut myself off and stop rambling, I'll leave you with this information. :]

Ooh, also, my Skype name is brandikaye01, Caroline's is aqua_kitty, and Giana's is gianabana. Woops, I hope they wanted to share those. ;] I will be signing in to mine whenever we have some downtime, probably, so feel free to add me and Skype me whenever. Who knows about the other two--you can ask them if you want.  Remember that we'll be 9 hours ahead over there, so plan accordingly.

If you have any questions about our trip at all, feel free to ask (me, specifically, since Caroline and Giana just expect me to know everything for them, generally). ;] 

Don't be too surprised!