Getting to Murcia was definately a challenge! Just like my hometown Prosser is a small town (6,000 people) and farther from major airports and cities, so is Murcia in Spain (people say it's a small town, but there's 450,000 people living here... crazy!). After a 3 hour drive to Seattle with my family (and getting there way too early so we stopped at a pet store for about an hour to keep ourselves entertained), I was finally ready to depart at the airport. 1 HUGE 50 lb suitcase checked in. A backpack stuffed to the max (so heavy) along with a large purse stuffed to the max (Probably even heavier) as my carry-ons. I said bye to my parents and went through security and off to find my traveling partner, Lauren (from Seattle and also going to study at Murcia), at the gate of our flight. Thank goodness I had someone else to travel with because I would have been a mess if I went alone. Seeing Lauren there waiting at the gate was the hugest relief. We got to know each other pretty well on the 9.5 hour flight to London. She had a window seat.. and I was supposed to sit by this rude woman wearing head to toe Dolce and Gabbana and a huge lengthy coat covered in long fur... ugh. Fortunately, the plastic was a little loose on her armrest so the airlines told her she was being moved to first class... too bad it wasn't ME that happened to, but I was glad we had an empty seat next to us. I didn't sleep much and my neck was very sore after that first flight. We finally landed in London the next day and were redirected to our next departure gate. The airport was ridiculously huge. I exchanged my U.S. dollars for Euros at a kiosk and got "bloody screwed" by the exchange rate. Oh well. I knew this would be an expensive journey. The flight to Madrid seemed like it was nothing, even though it was 2.5 hours. When we landed in Madrid, the REAL journey began.
We went to get our luggage... except my luggage never circulated the luggage belt. So we asked the only person we could see working there where we go... the janitor told us about a desk further down we could get it figured out at. The man told me my luggage was left somewhere in London but that they'd have it on a flight to Murcia and I'd have it by 2 o clock the next day. I thought, "hey, one less bag for me to lug around Madrid!". We asked a man at a "Madrid City Guide" kiosk for directions to the Metro station at the airport, and which lines to take to our hostel. He told us to take a Metro to a certain stop, then get onto a train which will take us to a new stop right next to our hostel. Boy was that wrong. We had an English man help us buy our tickets out of this machine. Then we watched people as they entered the metro gate, watch and learn at it's best. Lauren's luggage was too large and we thought she broke the door of the gate... so we scurried away quickly hoping nobody saw. We got on the metro and felt really awkward swaying around all over the place... it was like learning to surf when everyone around you was a pro. We got off at the station the man told us to, and figured out where the right train was. We watched and learned again as people bought tickets out of machines for the train and then entered the gates with their tickets. So we did it too. The gap between where we were standing and the actual trian or metro was so big that it would take both me and Lauren to lift up her bag and carry it onto the train or metro each time. Thank goodness I didn't have mine too! We never saw the station where the man told us to get off so we just got off at a random one and asked a stranger how to get to el estacion del Sol. We were VERY far off. We never needed to take a train, we were supposed to stay on the same metro as before. After lugging her suitcase up several flights of stairs, and then back down stairs, up stairs again, back down... we finally got on the right metro and made it to our station. When we emerged from underground, it was beautiful! The city was completely lit up with lights and filled with people. It was about 10 pm when we got into our hostel and settled in. It was small and cozy.. we were sweating a ton when we got in because we had to carry Lauren's 50 lb bag plus our carry ons up these tiny thin stairs with wavy wood, up about 3 1/2 flights. BUT our room was perfect. We left our luggage and immediately headed out to see the city a little bit. We had a yummy dinner including a small glass of beer, my first legal alcohol purchase. We walked around the city a bit longer before realizing that we stood out like sore thumbs. We went down some smaller streets and were pursued by almost every man, begging us to come into the bar they were working for. We pretended we didn't speak Spanish, but then they spoke English to us, so we just said "Lo siento, no no" over and over again. 
We finally went to our hostel and went to bed. In the morning, we woke up super early and headed straight to the metro. We went to the right stop to transfer to our train to Murcia. They tell you which exact train you take only 20 minutes before the train leaves. So we got down to the correct stop with 5 minutes to go and I found out I didn't have the correct ticket printed out. So needless to say I freaked out, was told I had to go to this distant booth to get it printed out, so I did, but there was a long line at the booth, I freaked out, thankfully one of employees could tell I was desperate and helped me print out the ticket. SO I sprinted back to my train and got on. I slept about an hour of the 4 hour train ride where we saw beautiful landscapes, some ancient homes built into mountains, and finally Murcia.
The taxi driver was almost impossible to understand, but he was able to drop Lauren off (at the wrong location.. poor girl) and then brought me to my apartment. I rang the doorbell several times and nobody answered. So I took my heavy carry ons with me onto the campus where I wandered around looking for theInternational Relations office where I was promised I would be given my keys. Well, the lady wasn't there..so I found a campus security booth where the men were extremely helpful. They called a ton of phone numbers. Unfortunately, they couldn’t reach the lady, and siesta time was approaching. They told me to go back to my apartment and try again. If nobody answered, to return. When I rang the doorbell this time, I had a speech in my head about what I was going to say when they answered the door “Hola, Yo soy la nueva companera de cuarto”. Well I rang the doorbell, a camera screen lit up and I heard “HEY! Are you the new person? Ok.. I’m opening the door”. I was in so much shock that they were speaking English I was just like, “Hola… uhh yo… nueva roommate”. The response, “umm you can come in, I opened the door. push it open”. I was met by one of the girls, Anna. She’s super tall and skinny and from Louisiana, an absolute sweetheart! She has already been here for 2 weeks because she’s in a different program than me. Michelle is from West Virginia, although she spent the first half of her life in Brazil. She’s feisty and fun, but also probably one of the nicest people I know. Brayan is from Mexico City, then lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is very funny and is going to teach us to dance Salsa, Meringue, techno dance, and how to DJ! The last roommate is a 35 year old woman from the Dominican Republic who is getting her master's degree. She doesn't speak English and has family in Seville, so she spends a lot of her time there, especially weekends. I know this has been a super long post but the adventure getting here was crazy!!
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