¡Listo!

As we were switching terminals in Madrid, I mentioned that all of the travel we had undertaken and all of the sights we were seeing (even just going across the humongous airport) felt very similar to all other kinds of travel and all other kinds of sights I had seen, but it still felt a little different.  One of my compatriots in this adventure mentioned that that was the feeling she got from Europe.  Everything is similar, but just a slight bit off.

Or it can just be completely strange.  As my friend Elizabeth said coming back from dinner tonight:

On our way there, I thought I saw a dead guy being dragged out of a restaurant.

So it could be completely different.

Anyway, our travel experience was a doozy.  After having our flight from Raleigh (UGH) to Philadelphia be delayed not because of the weather, but because they couldn't get the cargo bay door open, we managed to get from Philadelphia to Madrid without a hitch.  So the scary (and surprisingly short) flight across the ocean was over and done with and we were waiting for our connecting flight to Sevilla from Madrid.  (In short, we went Raleigh > Philly > Madrid > Sevilla.)  For all intents and purposes, this was going to be easy-peezy because we had something like a 5-hr. layover in the Madrid airport, which, albeit confusing, is really, really cool.  Some pics:



Really cool, right?  At least the ceiling was.  The rest was, too.  They had this crazy gate-numbering system, and the terminal went on for at least a mile.  Or a few kilometers.  Guess I'll have to get used to that here.

But I'm off-track.  The point is: the airport was really neat, except that on top of the 5-hr. layover we already had, our 11:50 a.m. flight was first pushed back an hour and a half and then cancelled altogether.  Much scrambling ensued and we were eventually able to get on the next flight (which involved another 3 hrs. or so of waiting) and get to Sevilla in time.

The strange thing was, though, that despite the fact that most of us were really angry and agitated that the flight got cancelled -- us being extremely tired didn't help matters -- most of the Europeans that were on the same flight were comparatively chill about the whole thing.  I was looking at the departure time screens, and a few Spaniards on either side of me both kind of groaned and walked away to the Iberia Airways help desk without much more of a fuss.  In fact, they seemed almost complacent about the whole thing, which really surprised me.

But at the same time, it didn't.  Americans as a whole put a huge amount of effort into being punctual, efficient, and maintaining a high level of productivity.  Yes, I am sure that nobody wants to be stuck at an airport longer than they have to be, but there was really no reason for us to be as angry as we were about the flight cancellation.  We were always going to make it to Sevilla eventually, and since half of our program was on our flight, it's not like being late would have mattered.  Also, we found out about the cancellation relatively soon after it was posted, so we were able to beat the mad rush of people to the help desk and, as such, were able to secure tickets on the next flight out.

It all put things into perspective.  Behaviorally, these people were much the same as everything else: similar, but slightly different in the way that makes you stand back and say, "Whoa, that's something I've never noticed/thought of before."

All in all, we did make it to Sevilla.  Meagan and I survived our nerve-racking cab ride over here and we managed to be able to walk around a bit since the cab driver dropped us off about six blocks from where our hotel was.  It was cool.  And I'm really thankful we did get here.  Because, while beautiful, the Madrid runway was not as appetizing visually as, say, the Hotel Alcázar (complete with naranjos!) or the jardines right across the street.

(Y ahora voy a dormir porque no he dormido nada durante las 32 horas pasadas.)


Chao,

Nick