When I got into Madrid, I was surprised by how normal everything felt. I was so happy to be back in Spain! (And still am!) My bags were pretty much the first ones off of the belt (lifetime first!), and within a few minutes, I was in a taxi and on my way to Atocha. I decided to take the train, because, well, after traveling for 15 hours, the last thing I want to do is sit on a bus for another hour. But the train thing didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Because it was a Saturday morning, and a whole slew of German tourists were excited about spending their day in Toledo, I had to wait 3 hours at the train station until the next available train. Uggggh. All I wanted to do was sleep, but I had to be vigilant of my belongings. Aside from the wait though, the trip was fine. I fell asleep before we left the platform, I believe, and I woke up to the "Bienvenidos a Toledo" message over the speakers.
My days in Toledo were nice. I didn't have to be worrying about apartments yet. I was still pretty relaxed, and just generally excited to be there. I have deep love for Toledo. I will surely miss it! Perhaps the most productive aspect of my short stay there was that I was able to get my extranjería papers in order. I spent my whole summer waiting for a letter to come from them, and I found out upon my return to Toledo that the notice for the letter showed up THE DAY I LEFT! 2 HOURS AFTER I LEFT! Whaaat! It was intercepted and left in my apartment, and my neighbor never saw it. She was the one that I gave the special instructions to! So I decided to try to get a hold of this letter on Monday before leaving Toledo. I spent my whole morning (8:30am-1:00pm) running around to sort it out. I finally got what I needed done, after visiting the post office, a random government office that I was directed to, waiting 3 hours at the extranjería, and then going to the bank. I was able to pay my taxes, and now I just have to wait -- for about 3 more months! It was a pain, but I am so glad that I got things sorted out as best as I could. Obviously, this put a delay on our departure time to Sevilla. We wanted to leave around 11am, but since I only got back after 1pm, and the car rental office closed at 1:30 for siesta, we had to wait until 4:30 for it to reopen. So that's what we did. And by about 5pm we were on our way!
OH The journey!
As most of you probably know, I only learned to drive a stick LAST WEEK. That does not make me an expert by any means. After my second lesson, I was much more comfortable with it -- but transport me to another continent, and that confidence whittled into cowardice. Driving on the highway was, for the most part, totally fine. Aside from the city driving, the mountains, exit ramps, construction traffic, and Spain being generally more hilly than I remember it being, it wasn't so bad. But those are a lot of "asides". I'm happy to report that we were totally fine. There weren't any major problems, aside from stalling on the highway in construction traffic, going up a mountain, with a large truck honking behind me -- but we made it out without a scratch! (Bailey, feel free to comment on your perceived level of security. I have to admit that I was a little nervous myself!) Let's just say, I'm proud of myself for doing it, but I have no plans on making that journey again anytime soon. The €35 bus between Sevilla and Madrid is looking even better these days.
BUT HERE I AM! Sevilla! I'm excited to be here! I can't wait to get my sea legs back, and to kick this jet-lag's butt as hard as it has been kicking mine. Now is where I begin apartment hunting in full force. Not very fun or exciting, but it's a necessary evil. Pray that I find something soon!
And I'll do my best to keep you posted!
So totally awesome Rachel! I'm so happy for you! Hey, remember when we bought those terrible Beatles CDs in Sevilla? Good times.
ReplyDeletehahah! Yes! At Opencor! Those were terrible CDs.... such a pity!
ReplyDeleteWow! Good for you... I can't imagine driving down to Seville having just learned to drive stick. You go girl!
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