After a long day of traveling, we have finally made it to Mondragon, Spain! What a day!
So it all started with an early morning and a trip to the DFW airport. My wonderful Karl brought me to the airport. After hugs upon hugs, we parted ways to be reunited in just one short month.
We made it from DFW to Atlanta no problem. When we got to Atlanta, we were starving! We took a quick break to grab some food at the food court. Thinking we still had a lot of time before our flight, we took our time. As we walked up to the gate, no one was there. The gate attendants were frantically waving us forward! We realized that we were running late for our flight to Paris! Luckily, we made it just in time and settled in for the 8 hour flight from Atlanta to Paris.
When we got to Paris, I got my passport stamped! That's like a super big deal for me so yay! So exciting! We asked how to find our gate and were informed that we would not receive gate information until 30 minutes before departure. That meant more sitting and waiting. After waiting for what felt like days, we had our information and headed to our gate.
Flying over Spain!
Flat Stanley on our last flight to Spain!
The flight from Paris to Bilbao was quick and easy. Our checked bags came quickly as well. Everything was going great. Then we checked the bus schedule for the time of the next bus... it was in 2 hours! So more sitting and waiting. We got on the bus and took the hour ride to Mondragon.
Our views from the bus!
So here's where it gets fun... We get off the bus and find out that we have to walk to the dorms. The five of us and all our luggage hoof it up the steep uphill streets that make up the whole city. As we go, we realize that this walk seemed longer than we expected AND we were heading the wrong way. (Thanks Google Maps) We had to call our emergency contact to come save us. Unfortunately for us, our contact was 2 hours outside Mondragon, and we were already standing in front of the gates. Our luck turned for a minute as the security guard, Paul, noticed us and let us in. He helped us get checked in and find our rooms. We settled in and then decided to grab something to eat. We walk through the dorm and try to find the door. Our rooms are on the 4th floor so we went down to ground level. Almost every door we found was for emergencies only. We wandered around looking completely lost and the dorm was deserted! We probably walked around the dorm for 30 minutes trying to find a way out! Finally, Paul showed us where the door was and we hit the streets. But at 4:30 on a Sunday evening, nothing was open or serving food. We found a super market and decided to grab some snacks to tide us over until later in the night. After a poor selection of snacks, we head back outside and it starts raining! We hurry home through the rain, exhausted!
At least our walk had pretty views!
Me, Camila, and Jillian trying to find the dorm.
We got trapped outside the dorm!
Our home for the next month!
A little bit later, we met with one of our contacts for the trip, Tane. She showed us around the town and walked us to the bus stop we would be using. We got to see the town center which was really pretty. One of my favorite parts of walking around town was seeing all of the children. The kids get to play in the plazas and see their friends. The parents get to hang out with their friends at a bar or cafe near by. I love this part of their culture. Kids get so much time to play and explore! It's very cool to see.
Town center
For dinner, we went to a bar and had pinchos (northern Spain's version of tapas). When we were ordering, the woman behind the bar could definitely tell we were not from around here. We tried to order water and she was very confused. Apparently, people in Spain don't really drink water... So that will be fun! After much confusion, she finally gave us little water bottles! We each got small sandwiches and headed back home.
Pinchos! Actually very filling!
From Saturday morning to Sunday night, we slept only a few hours here and there. Finally, we laid down to sleep... and woke up 16 hours later! At least we are well rested!
So here I am blogging about my very first adventures in Europe. Definitely a memorable day, that's for sure!
Adios, Ms, Peachy
