FEWSH!
I’m in the airport right now waiting to board my flight to Athens. What a week it has been. There are so many things that could have gone wrong, but luckily, Alhamdulillah, everything has gone well. Let me explain:
1. Exams: I finished exams Tuesday morning and got 2 of 4 grades back. Both A’s. I just made it with a 93 and 94 in those classes. With the amount of studying I did this semester, that is quite a miracle. Fewsh.
2. Packing: Since I am going to Greece, which is an inter-Europe flight, I was limited to 28 kilos of luggage total. 20 for the checked and 8 for the carry on. I had to send some stuff home. I had three options: send a suitcase home with a friend, UPS or Correos (Spainish post). After checking all the prices, Correos told me it would be 115 Euros to send a 20 kilo box of stuff to the US, UPS told me 300 and United is $200 for an extra suitcase. I obviously went with Correos. I was stupid enough to put this task off until the day before I left just because I just didn’t want to deal with it. (One of the things about studying abroad that you realize is that if you don’t do it, no one else will do it for you). SO, I finally lugged all my winter clothes and shoes to the post office and after having to go in and out of line several times after being advised what to and what not to do, I finally got the dang box sent to good ol’ Oakview Dr. And although I had to pay 95 Euros, it was less than I expected. Fewsh.
3. Transportation Strike: Georgia’s mom sent Georgia an email yesterday telling her about the public transportation strike in Athens, of all days, today (Friday). So we had two issues to deal with. 1) Would our flight to Athens be canceled since it we are flying with a public Greek airline? And 2) How would we get from the airport to the apartment? Luckily, Georgia’s mom got in contact with her uncle who lives in Athens and he 1) called the airline for us this morning and then called Georgia to let us know that the flight was still on and 2) will be picking us up from the airport. Fewsh.
4. Luggage Weight: On the Olympic Air website, it says that for every kilo over the regulations, you have to pay 15 Euros. I looked high and low in the Resedencias and there was no scale to be found, so basically I was shitting my pants thinking I was going to have to pay upwards of 100 Euros in overweight fees. We get to the airport. I’m wearing 6 layers of shirt, one light sweater, a scarf and a spring jacket. And tennis shoes. I was obviously trying to wear as much as I could on my body so that it wouldn’t add to the weight of my suitcases. We get to the ticket counter. Put the bags on. JODERRRR, my big one was 24 kilos and the smaller one was 10 kilos. (and I had a purse with my computer and a huge book in it, which I was trying to hide behind the counter so that the airline people wouldn’t see). As I stand there sweating like a pig (not in any reference to swine flu, by the way), I get ready to pay (6 kilos x 15 Euros=) 90 Euros and then the man was like, “Well, here’s yalls tickets!” and then Georgia and I took our tickets, trying our best not to make eye contact with the people at the ticket counter. We walk around the corner and then jump up and down in celebration that we just saved 200 Euros. FA-YEWSH.
So its 2 hours later and we are now on the flight to Athens. Hasta luego, España! Que triste. Although Thursday was technically my last day, I celebrated the “despedida” on Wednesday. First of all, Jan, Lauren and I headed to Parque Retiro in Madrid to drink wine (which we later found out is highly illegal in el Parque Retiro) and take in some sun. There’s also a pond in the middle, so of course we had to rent a rowboat for a while. On our way back home, we passed El Prado (the famous art museum) and it occurred to Lauren that she had never seen Las Meninas before. It also just happened to be that it was 6:05 and the hours of free entry are from 6-8 pm every weekday. Jackpot!
We speed walked to the entrance, picked up our free ticket and ran to the entrance (we had to get home soon to prep the “cena de despedida.”) Before being able to enter, we had to pass our bags through a machine like they have at the airport. First, Lauren was stopped as the woman turned the screen around asked “What is this?”
Lauren answered “ Umm.. es para el vino,” as she wasn’t exactly sure how to say “It’s the corkscrew with the cork still on it.” Then they stopped Jan who was right behind her because there was a large object inside her bag. Jan pulls out an empty bottle, the woman security guard looks disgusted and the man just laughs and lets us though.
We booked it to the Las Meninas room and then back to the Atocha Renfe station to get back to Alcalá.
We’re about to land, must close laptop.
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