Spring Break Day 12: April 15, 2007

I woke up REALLY early at 5:25 A.M. and was checked out of my hostel by 5:45. I got some free bread, which was good, from the desk worker. And with my bread, I headed for Termini to hop the 6:30 A.M. bus to Ciampino airport.

I made it to Ciampino and checked in and went through security for my flight all by 8 A.M.

Then I waited 2 hours before boarding. At first I had the idea to get a cappucino and muffin. But, after I waited in a line of 3 people for 20 minutes, I was fed up with Italia being ridiculously slow and incompetent at practically everything and I decided the calories were not worth the wait.

When my EasyJet flight to Madrid Barajas began boarding at 10:00 A.M. I met this really nice guy in line, Dave. Dave and I became travel companions for the day and sat together on the plane talking about Spain and Italy and Poland mostly.

Once in Madrid, I got overwhelmed with the giant airport (I got so used to small ones in Europe I forgot what big airports were like even though I've been to Barajas before). It took my entire flight like 15 minutes to find the luggage carousel because there is construction going on and Madrid's airport is not the most organized.

Once I retrieved my backpack, Dave and I manuevered the metro system to the bus station.

On the metro, I met 2 Sigma Kappas from Illinois Wesleyan University who saw my bag and made a point to say hi and talk to me. They were really nice and one was from Wheeling. I love meeting Northwest suburb kids.

Once we got to the station we went to the ticket counter and I asked to have my ticket moved from the 5 P.M. bus to the 4 P.M. so I didn't have to wait in the nasty bus station 2 hours.

We got lunch...tapas. God bless tapas and Spanish. I was so happy to speak it again.

Then I bid Dave farewell as he left for his bus, I called my parents, and then I hopped on my bus at 4.

I love the ride from Madrid to San Sebastian. I think it is so beautiful. Snow capped moutains, forests, herds of cattle, sheep, deer...cute houses. The driver played 2 movies too. One was Meet the Parents and the other was The Majestic, which were both dubbed, but I still enjoyed them a lot.

We made it back to San Sebastain around 10:30 P.M. and it was actually a nice warm, rain-free night here! I came home to the convention center decorated like a cow, and was so proud of myself that I survived spring break with out anything bad happeneing. If only everyone else was as lucky as me...

San Sebastian convention center decorated for Kaiku brand milk convention: