The first adventure...arriving.

WELCOME/BIENVENIDAS to my new blog. Firstly, the title of my blog, "las nuevas aventuras" means "the new adventures" in English. That's how I see my time in Spain right now, as a new adventure. Life after college. The "real" world. Ha. And so far, it has been adventure. So, I left from San Francisco at around 2:35pm on Sunday and arrived at 7:35pm in Madrid. Needless to say, it was a long, but ultimately not that bad of a flight. Since I got only about 5 hours of sleep the night before, I definitely slept for about half of the first leg of my flight.

I arrived in Dublin, Ireland and had a 7 and a half hour layover! So, I figured I might as well visit the city since I had so much time and had never visited my Irish homies before (I am part Irish, after all...) So I took a day trip pass (only 6 euros! yes!) into the city center. I was told I needed to see Trinity College, the Dublin Castle, the Spire, the Ha'pney (i think that's how you spell it) Bridge, etc (and no, I didn't try the Guinness. I would've..if only I liked beer..). So I'll post photos later! Like many might've guessed, Ireland is very GREEN nation. And I mean that in the literal sense of the word. The grass is bright green which is beautiful in contrast to the grey stone of the old buildings and I noticed lots of people wearing green. Ha ha. I didn't meet any other Kellys however, but I'm sure I was surrounded by them (who knows, we're probably all connected in some distant way..). Half of the experience however, was listening to people talk. I loved the Irish accents. Even though we both speak English, it's soooo very different. I had a hard time understanding people and vice versa! I ordered a cup of water at McDonald's and the woman looked at me like I was speaking another language..hahaha...so I had to repeat myself a couple times. I had a good time, but unfortunately couldn't get a hold of Kristin who is staying in Dublin! arrrrgh! Sorry, Kristin!

Well anyways..after Dublin I arrived in Madrid. I was REALLY happy I listened to my parents (thanks mom and dad!) about getting a taxi or some form of transportation other than the Metro (which I would normally take to the bus station) because 1. my bags were HEAVY (but don't worry mom and dad, I lifted them with my knees and not my back. :) ) and 2. the bus station that I usually used to travel to Salamanca didn't exist anymore! It closed and moved to a completely different Metro location in Madrid. So, I took a private shuttle to the train station where I THOUGHT I could get a train to go to Salamanca. WELL, as it turns out, there were only trains leaving to Southern Spain from that station, so I quickly had to grab a taxi to the other train station where my Salamanca-bound train was. By this time it was about 9pm. My train was at 9:30pm. I asked the taxi guy if he thought we could make it to the train on time, he shrugged and told me he wasn't sure. So I tried to tell him that if he thought I couldn't make the train that he should just take me to the bus station where there was a bus leaving at 10pm (and this was when I found out about the location change of the bus station), but I'm not sure if he understood me completely! Talk about language culture-shock once again!

So, I arrived at the station around 9:15 pm and had to buy a ticket. I stood in a line where this cute but SLOW couple were buying their tickets and saying their good-byes. I was getting very impatient because time was running out. This woman behind me looked impatient as well so I asked her what train she had. We were going on the same train, so she told me she'd buy my ticket for me while I tried to get my luggage to the platform downstairs! aaah! So by the time I got downstairs I rushed to put my luggage on the train while the girl arrived with my ticket just in time. She helped with my luggage and I gave her a big hug, telling her in broken Spanish that there was no possible way I would've made that train if it wasn't for her!

SO, needless to say, it was somewhat hectic, but (looking back) a fun adventure getting to Salamanca. My dear friend Jackie (who I met in Salamanca when I studied abroad) met me at the train station and my Salamanca adventure started there. I'm staying with her now and am still getting accustomed to the time zone (I slept until 2:30pm today!).

Well, this is the first of many blogs, but please remember I love personal emails as well and updates on what everyone is up to. I miss you guys, but am looking forward to this adventure.

Hasta la proxima vez...ciao. :)