it's the future: wireless internet in flight.

Was anyone previously aware that wireless internet is available in flight, these days? Bizarre.

That would probably be the best thing that has happened to me today -- and that is a sad, sad statement about my day. To sum it up, I arrived from Madrid to NYC yesterday at 5:30 p.m. and sat on the runway for a solid hour after landing, just idle, doing nothing; then I missed my flight to LA because by the time I went through customs my flight had already taken off. Gone. No more flights left to LA all night, so I had to be put up in a hotel for the night and given a voucher ~ then I woke up this morning for my flight, but it turns out it took SO SO long to get through check in and security (not to mention the fact that I had to be randomly screened, for no reason), that I missed THAT flight, too. Aaaand then the whole day I had to keep waiting to be picked up from the standby list -- 6 times! And the agents who assist with the standby list were complete a-holes to me, until the time I was waiting for my 4th standby flight and I couldn't take it anymore and was near tears and the guy who was behind the counter managed to magically confirm a seat for me for a flight that was 2 hours out from that point in time.

Now I'm on said flight, but THIS flight, too, just sat on the god forsaken runway for TWO. HOURS. before we even took off. Now I have 5 hours left of my 6.5 hour flight....AHHHHHH.

/end of complaining.

I'm kind of sad to be out of Spain, even though I'll only be gone for 3 weeks. I had some sort of weird, reversed culture shock getting off the plane, yesterday, and looking at my American money, which also feels weird (texture) compared to euros. The FOOD, however, was something I had completely missed in the past 3 months I've been expatriated in España. Truth be told, I'm not the biggest fan of most Spanish food. I'm not a picky eater, or anything, but certain aspects of Spanish food freak me out (enormous pig legs always on display, fish with the heads always attached, everything bathed in olive oil because it's muy sano "very healthy," etc.).

While I'm home, I'm going to have to read El País, the newspaper, a lot while I'm home so I can keep up with my Spanish. Also, I'm planning on watching some Spanish movies -- I started watching some while I was waiting for my flight, today by the magic of netflix instant viewing. I did a bit of reading in Spanish on the flight, already, because for some reason there's a magazine in Spanish provided by the airline in the pocket thing in front of my seat.

Anyway...what did I do before I left Spain, since my last update? I went to the city of Córdoba, which is the capital of the province where I live, to get my NIE card. I've mentioned it before -- it's called NIE which means numero de identificación de extranjeros, or foreigner's number identification card. I also went to a Christmas dinner party with the faculty of my school, and got to witness a bunch of blitzed Spaniards, it was great. I, too, was feeling pretty piripi (tipsy) by the time I left. Unfortunately, I had to leave early in order to make it to Seville, since my flight was going to leave the next morning.

Cat, a girl I met in Seville during orientation, was my lovely hostess in Seville, and she was really generous about everything in her apartment and let me sleep in her bed and she went over to her boyfriend's apartment to sleep that night. I met her boyfriend, Kike (short for Enrique), and he is fluent in English, so that was cool. We spoke in Spanish almost the whole time, regardless, just because I want to practice it as much as I can.

Good news: some random guy named Pablo, who is my age, got in contact with the American girls in Cabra through his mom, who is an English teacher at one of the language academies, there. He met up with us the other night, and he, also, speaks pretty good English. I'm hoping when we get back that maybe he will hang out with us girls some more so I can get in more Spanish practice. Even though I'm living in Spain, I don't usually speak in Spanish for long periods of time, since I'm living with Americans. I am trying to speak Spanish a lot while I'm at school, more and more, and strike up conversations with the professors so I can get more experience. Hearing people speak and reading Spanish is all well and good, but speaking a foreign language often and perfecting it is the best way to actually learn it. I could read something in Italian right now and get the gist (I minored in Italian, fyi), but my speaking ability in Italian, at the moment, is abyssmal, unfortunately...don't use it, ya lose it, y'know.

I'll get back to España on January 12th. I'm not sure if I'll be traveling much in January, yet. Truth be told, I get a bit tired of the constant frenzy of deciding where to go every single weekend...sometimes I just enjoy being a bum at home and not having to pack and plan a commute and so on. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing new places, it's just the constant trip planning that can be a bit exhausting.

Speaking of upcoming travels, I do have one trip planned, already ~ I'll be heading to IRELAND in late February to meet my Irish relatives for the first time, and I'm thrilled. It should be a great experience. And I'll probably be heading to Italy in April for holy week, but other than that, no other plans yet.

Anyway, I'm gonna wrap it up for now...I'm fading. It's 5 a.m. in Spain right now and I'm all disoriented and exhausted after my long, ridiculous day. Well, two days, since I left yesterday morning, from Seville. Buenas noches.