After 18 Short hours of travel...I am finally here

Hmmm, how to start off?

- the trip over here went pretty well. Woke up in the morning of my flight had some breakfast, finished packing my stuff, picked andrew up from water polo practice, and then left. The drive through LA went surprisingly smooth, and included a nice Chinese lunch with the the brothers (+Jeff) and Dad [unfortunately mom had a meeting for school so she couldn't come with]. Got to the airport and there was a huge security line that I had to in to get checked in. I ended up with a window seat so that was good for the flight...only a few issues with it...it was row 50 (THE BACK), and the two nice old ladies next to me slept the whole time so I couldn't get up and walk around or PEE! Arrived in London a little bit early, on very little sleep, maybe two hours, and took my time getting to the next terminal. Heathrow airport was pretty nice, and surprisingly the sun was out in London that day (what a surprise)! Getting to my flight for Madrid was not a problem, it was a quick flight only an 1:45min and I finally landed. It took a while to get my baggage at the airport but luckily it all arrived, and nothing was missing.

A friend of mine, Marc, from ASU picked me up with one of his Friends, Daniel, and we came here to Marc's family's house in the outskirts of Madrid. It is a beautiful house, not like in the states but it is quite spacious by European standards. After spending a couple hours of relaxing, we were off to have a dinner at Daniel's girlfriends house. We all picked up some food at different restaurants in the town they live in, Posuelo, and met at her place to eat and have a couple of beers. I barely made it to dinner...didn't realize why I was so hungry; I ate breakfast at 9 am in London and nothing until dinner at 10:30 (WAY TOO LATE)! It was nice meeting some of his friends but by like 12:30 I was falling asleep in my chair while they were all carrying on!

Today, the 20th of August, we had quite a busy day. we woke up at 10:30 (very early for a student in Madrid) and went downtown. To get there it was a short 10 minute walk from Marc's house to the bus stop, and then a 30 minute ride in. When we arrived we went to a housing agency for students and checked out some different apartments to see what there was out there and figure out how to go about renting one. Looks like there are plenty of options out there. After that we walked all around the city checking out the different barrios or neighborhoods, and had lunch at a little chain restaurant in Gran Via. Walking all around took it out of me...it must have been around or just above 95 degrees all day long. Finally, for dinner tonight Marc and I went out to a place called Tapas y Canas...another little chain, but we ate traditional Tapas from Spain and enjoyed the evening breeze on the patio outside.

Well hope that was not to dry! Everything is good here.

Until Next Time,

Phil

P.s. Photos to come