Thursday

Today officially starts my journey to Spain! (Well, the past two days, my hours are all mixed up with the 6 hour time difference.) When my there was no record of my tickets on tuesday, I was afriad I wasn't going to be able to go to Spain, as last minute tickets cost upwards of 3 grand. Thankfully God provided us with a flight out of Chicago for only a couple hundred more that I originally "purchased" my last ticket for. So Wednesday we headed to the Chicago Airport, and I boarded my 8.5 hour flight to Düsseldorf, Germany. (So cool!- even from inside an airport). Thankfully I got a window seat, so I could see the beautiful sunrise and sunset. 4 crying babies, 1.5 square feet of room, dinner, and breakfast (at 1AM.....) later, I arrived at Düsseldorf, Germany! I have to say, seeing the world from way up high is AMAZING!

After navigating my way through countless of German shops and signs (thank goodness there were English subtitles!) I found my gate in the Düsseldorf Airport. With the poor Spanish I speak, I actually got to help a Hispanic family who was going ack to madrid too! (Because they didn't know English, and the signs were only in German and English) That was really cool, even though I probably sounded awful haha. Now that I found my gate, I did what anone else would do: look for food, and charge my phone. Well, okay, two minor problems. 1. They have different plugs than the US. and 2. I have not gotten my Euros, as I was planning on getting them in Spain... Oops! Well, at least I can fill my water bottle up at a drinking fountain somewhere. 

Me: "Excuse me, where is the nearest drinking fountain?"

Lady at info. desk: "A what" - (in a German accent)

Me: "A drinking fountain."

Lady: "What is a drinking fountain?"

Well apparently in Germany, there are no such things as drinking fountains... HAHA! Who knew...

Finally it is time to board, and luckly, the plane was so empty I got a who row to myself! (aka, I can sleep for an hour!) While I was putting my carry on in the top locker compartment, I hear this lady behind me ask me a question, I turn around- "What?", she says the same thing again. It finally dawns on me- nope, wait, not english, german, GERMAN, she is speaking german. DUH. LOL that happened another time too when I was waiting for the bathroom and a guy walks up behind me and asked twice in german if I was waiting for the bathroom. It is so funny, because it just catches you so offguard. Each time I just say I only speak English. I mean Spanish, English, German- so many languages are being spoken! The last 30 minutes of the flight was the worst experience ever. Because there was a story, and we were descending, I felt like I was on Shivering Timbers for an hour with the turbulance and the dropping of my stomach. I almost threw up- but I am glad I didn't.

 

Finally, I am home free in Madrid! Weeeell, not quite. I managed to stumble my way to the general AREA of baggage claim, but there weren't any signs, and KEEP OUT signs in Spain and green, AND red, not to mention that elevators are NO help, because when you press the button, they are suppose to stop at that floor not keep going forever and ever amen. The baggage claim signs aren't any help either, I found myself in Iberia's Baggage claim, (I needed BerlinAir), and in that airpot, once you go through a door, you can't go back out- you are stuck. So after finding an information lady who spoke English, I had to find a security guard who spoke english to let me out the way I came in. FEWF! I have my bags, now I have to find Marilyn (the person who I am staying with. Keep in mind, that this Airport is like HH Holm's Murder Hotel in Chicago: a complete labrynth. With 70 pounds of bags plus my backpack: around the termanial, through the throw, can't go out! around the baggage claim, to the eevator, nope those don't work, to the escaator, nope those don't work either, back to the information lady who tells me to go outside, where I FINALLY found Marilyn. 

Her house is quite nice! (minus the 6 daddy long legs that accompanied me in the shower tonight....) Her subdivision has a really nice view, and is a good distance (30 mins) away from Madrid. (She lives in Guadalahara). It has been a crazy/fun/stressful journey so far, and I have learned a lot about what it is like to travel alone. I also loved learning a little about the German culture! I have to say, experiencing culture, and learning from mistakes is far better that reading about it in a classroom. It is fanscinating what you can learn when you step outside of the Holland/Zeeland bubble. I can't wait to see what God has planned for me here, thanks for all the prayers and support. I'll update when I can! 

- Meredith 

*P.S. Views are 100X more beautiful in real life. 

Reminds me of Toy Story!! 

Goodbye Chicago!

I see you God!

Good Morning Düsseldorf!

A view from the subdivision. 

A view of part of the subdivision. 

Eye Spy.... wheat! ;)