I am a genius.... yup...

Well.... I made it! Helllloooooo Europe!!! But let me tell you, it was not as problem free as I had hoped. Seriously, I don´t get it. I can go to school and do super awesome on assignments and pull off fantabulous grades, but do you think I can read a plane ticket right?? Of course not.

So, problems started as soon as I got on plane number one. I had a REALLY short layover, which would have been totally fine cuz I didn´t need to recheck my bags or go through customs, butttt..... clearly it wasn´t long enough. We were sitting in the plane at the good old Edmonton International Airport and then the wonderful voice of our pilot comes onto the intercom saying that they need to move around some bags. I have NEVER heard of this happening before, but whatever, couldn´t take too long could it?? Oh wait, it could. So, twenty minutes later, we are finally taxi-ing out and then we stopped to get the ice off the wings, or something else that I couldn´t be angry about since it would probably save all of our lives, which of course took time. Long story short, before we had left the ground in Edmonton, I was already going to miss my plane in London. Haha! So, I planned ahead, got myself emotionally prepared for chaos and all that good stuff.

Dumb move number one. I never really figured out the whole time change thing. I knew it was eight hours but I didn´t really care enough to think it through to figure out which direction and when I would have to start dealing with it. So, on the plane I decided to watch movies until I was tired. I got through the Social Network (AWESOME!) and was about to start another when I looked at my watch.... 12:00.... maybe I should get a good nights rest I thought. So, I went to sleep (with four airplane blankets and four pillows!) and then a good, solid THREE hours later the lights went on in the cabin. Ohhhhhh.... this would be when the time zone change would slap me in the face.... AWESOME!

Flying into London was the most amazing thing ever!!! Seriously, I just wanted to stay there! I mean, I was way up in the air but I have already fallen in love with that city. I rushed off the plane and went straight to talk to the wonderful ladies of Iberia Airlines and lo and behold... I HADN´T MISSED MY PLANE!!! Yay! Turns out it was super delayed and I even had time to wander around and do whatever I wanted! Que bien! Problem was it didn´t have a gate assigned to it yet, so I had to watch the boards to find out when and where I would need to be to get on the plane.

Now, here comes my most biggest genius move of the day. So, I am sitting there trying not to die of exhaustion and I keep checking the boards or playing games or whatever. At one point, I looked up at the board and was like, huh.... they have changed the flight from 2:30 to 4:30.... that´s strange. I looked at my ticket again and read the EI31-something-something and went, yah, that matches. Oh well, guess we are delayed even further. Then, suddenly there is a gate on the flight! Yaya!! So, I go to the right gate and I am about to get in line when I realize that EI 3175 DOES NOT EQUAL EI3179. Hahahaha.... ooops.... My bad. In all honesty those signs have such small little numbers even if I had looked closer at my ticket, I probably still would have got it wrong. And who puts flights with such similar numbers sooooo close together! Seriously!! So, I am standing in line and hoping that maybe they won´t notice??? Haha! Well, they did. And OHHHHH did I get quite the loud lecture in front of everyone from this rather annoyed French stewardess. Haha! My bad....

So, I went back to the beginning again and begged them to help me get me on a flight. After enough worried looks and semi-forced tears it all worked out. I got on a plane, I made it to Madrid, and I am still alive. When I get to Madrid I pull out my confirmation for my hostel so I could get a cab to get me there when I realize...... my confirmation doesn´t have the address for my hostel on it. Hahahahahaha....... By this time all I could do was laugh. It was hilarious. I got into the cab and oh boy did he give me a strange look when I couldn´t tell him where I wanted to go. We made it there though and here I am! In Madrid! Living it up! Repressing all the feelings of panic and homesickness that seem to be taking over. Seriously, I hate change so much. I still have no idea why I do this to myself. Probably because it is TOTALLY worth it in the end.

Well, that´s all for now folks. Don´t miss me too much. Actually, do. And Skype me and Facebook me and email me allllllll the time.

Love yah!