Second/Third Days. :)

We've done so much these past two days it seems like I've walked from Sevilla to London.  Good thing I started to work out before I left for Spain!  Or else I never would have made it.

We went to the Catedral de Sevilla and O.M.G. Amazing.  There are no other words for it.  I'm not much of a church go-er myself, but the moment we stepped into that place I literally had my breath taken away by all it's beauty.  The ceilings were taller than anything I've ever seen, the marble floors were incredible with intricate designs, and best of all it's been this way since 1401.  Fun facts about the Cathedral:  it's the largest Gothic cathedral in Europe and 3rd largest in the world.  Pretty cool right?  I thought so.  AND FRICKEN CHRISTOPHER COLOMBUS was there!!! Or at least his bones were!! The man that pretty much started the whole race to the new world, 5 ft away from me.  WOW.  Idk it might just be me, but I think that kind of historical stuff is neat. :)

On to the next event.  We toured Sevilla on a bus, walked around, got lost a few times, asked for directions, and at the end of the afternoon (here in Spain time that means like 8:00 PM) we went to meet my host family.  They live in an apartment style building with 3 floors, 2 families on each floor.  First door I knocked on wasn't them..embarrassing...but the nice old man said it was the door right next to him.  Finally after ringing the right door we were greeted by an older man and a women and then bombarded with kisses.  My host mother told me, "In Spain it's always two kisses on the cheek, no matter who you are."  (in spanish of course) :)  We talked for a long time.  For like 2 hours!  And by talk I mean I translated for my mom, Barb, Amparo (the host mom), and Fermin (the husband).  Yep.  They don't speak much English...actually any really.  They know certain words, to have a conversation it had to be conducted in Spanish.  I personally don't mind bc this will force me to use my spanish more than I've prolly ever used it before.  They are amazing ppl none the less and I can't wait to get to know them even more.

Tomorrow we leave for Madrid to meet up with my ISA group and tour the capital.  So far Sevilla has had a great effect on me.  The streets are two way with barely any room for even one car much less two, the shops open and close when they feel like it, no hours needed, everyone seems to understand my Spanish pretty well, and best of all Ke$ha can be heard here as well.  Indeed it seems I can't escape her where ever I go.  Got into a taxi cab today after walking around Cadiz (another old Spanish town) and her song was on, along with some country and other american songs.  Not sure if these songs are new for them, but if they are it looks like I'll be stuck with the same music for another 4 months. lol

3 days down, 119 to go.

First Day

Oh goodness. So we finally get to Sevilla after seriously 24 hours of travel. 

First problem occurred right as we got to the PHX airport.  Our Phx/London flight was delayed by 2 hours..so long connection flights.  But thankfully British Airways rebooked us on other airline when we got to London so that all of our problems were taken care of.  Or so we thought.  We get to London and go to the Airline we are supposed to fly, “Vueling”.  Well apparently they don’t accept rebookings of any kind from any airline.  We had no ticket.  AWESOME.  So we run over to the Brit Air table and tell them what happened in PHX.  He’s trying to find us a flight from London to Sevilla or Madrid and he’s saying “I’m sorry ladies I can’t get you to Spain til Monday morning.”  All this is currently happening Sunday, DAY.  That was just not gonna cut it.  It might have been bc of the fact that I was really tired from the long haul flight, but I was not gonna take no for an answer.  My mom and Barb stood back and let me handle the BA guy.  I don’t wanna say I was mean….But it was bad.  Lol I told him he needed to get us to Sevilla THAT NIGHT.  No excuse.  After some words, he “magically” finds a flight that leaves in an hour for Madrid and then onto Sevilla.  Shocker.  We get actual tickets for that flight, but before we leave he “can’t guarantee” that our bags will make it since we only have one hour to catch the plane.  How that’s not enough time idk.  But the only thing we care about now is just getting to Sevilla.  So we get on the Madrid bound plane (also delayed about an hour after we got our tickets) from London and arrive there 2 hours later.  It’s now 10:00 at night.  From that flight we must go to another flight to Sevilla.  Surprise surprise, that flight is late too.  At 11:47 we get on the flight to Sevilla and get there around 1 A.M.  Walk to baggage claim, wait for bags…no bags.  Even with all the delays they still didn’t make it.  We fill out the form our lost bags and find out from the tracking number that they are at least in Madrid…LAME.  The lady at the desk tells us they should be on the first flight out of Madrid to Sevilla and should be there at our hotel around noon.  Skip to next day.  We go to the Cathedral and do some sight seeing, come back around 1:00..not there. We call the airport to find out where the hell they are aaaaaaaaaaaaand they’re still in Madrid.  Just sittin there.  They say call around 5.  We call at 5.  STILL IN MADRID.  Then they say they won’t be here at the hotel til at the earliest 10:00 P.M.  Finally around 11:30 they are waiting for us in the lobby. Thank. God.  I was convinced they would get to Sevilla the day we left to go back to Madrid.

Needless to say, I’m glad I packed those two extra outfits in my carry on just in case “something” were to happen to my luggage.  Oh Spanish time…you fluster me sometimes.