A new semester begins, complete with airport horror story

helllooo,
So i did it, I made it to Spain for the second semester, still can't believe it actually happened but here I am! So here we go, a new semester of adventures, and blogging. Hopefully the process of getting here isn't indicative of how the semester's going to go! Wednesday (the day before I was scheduled to leave), I woke up feeling nauteous, complete with a slight headache and overall nasty feeling. It was all to familiar, just like how I was feeling my last night in Paris, where I spent several days puking my guts out and other such unpleasant things. So the rumbling in my tummy was very unwelcoming, and I spent my last day or so at home feeling pretty terrible, eating almost nothing and staying close to the bathroom. Thursday morning I woke up still feeling sick, but it was time to go. No problems at RDU, everything went smoothly and quickly, my bags were checked to Santiago de Compostela (SDC) so I wouldn't have to deal with them, so I got myself a frappacino and settled down to wait. The flight was fine, and I got to Chicago, where I had a four-hour layover. It was funny, I guess everyone was leaving for there various study abroad programs that day, so there were lots of college kids milling about, finding people from there upcoming programs in Rome, Madrid, etc. I sat by myself for a while, plugged in to my Ipod and annoyed by the constant chatter coming from some preppy girls sitting around me,until finally the huge group of students heading to Rome left to board. A few minutes later, who should I see, but Sam! I ran over and surprised her, and we sat together and caught up a bit while waiting for our flight. Eventually we boarded, and I ended up being in what must have been the Business class or something, definitely not first class, but I had a bigger seat and more room than what most have been Economy class. Also, the seat next to me never filled, so Sam and I got to sit together on our way to London, yay! We arrived at around 9:45, and my flight to Madrid was scheduled to leave at 10:55. Of course, I had to transfer to a different terminal, got through security, and all that, so I was pretty worried I was going to miss my flight (Sam was scheduled for the later flight, at 12:15, so she wasn't worried). Me and a few other hurriedly made our way to our terminal, pretty much running the whole way, only to find that all Madrid flights were delayed. By this time a group of six of us had met up, two of which were on my program, from KU-Becca, and Chris, both of which were sporting Jayhawk sweatshirts. There was also this guy Mike, who was on his way to Alicante via Madrid to study abroad, as well as a girl named Jess? (i'm not sure about that), who was teaching English in Madrid. They were all really nice, and we banded together in our collective frustration. We went to find more information, and learned that Madrid was having snow problems, and was CLOSED! So basically we couldn't do anything except wait, so the six of us went off to find some breakfast. To make a long story short, we ended up being in the airport for hours, and made friends with some other people stranded as well. They cancelled the 12:15 flight altogether, transferring those people to our flight (which was perpetually delayed). We set up camp in a small-ish waiting area, people lying on the ground and sleeping, we were pretty pathetic. After several hours of waiting, Chris and Becca were called to the desk, and given the "good news" that there was a flight that they could catch to La Coruna, a city in Northern Spain about an hours drive from SDC. The three of us contacted one of the program coordinators, and made the decision to take that flight (at no extra charge). By this time they had figured out I was in the same situation, and had given me the green light as well. We still had a few hours of waiting, but at least we weren't going to have to spend the night in London. Meanwhile, Sam called me via security, as she was outside the terminal seeing our friend Ryan Lloyd, and learned of the new plans. So eventually we made it to La Coruna at around 9pm, I had no problems getting through with my British passport, and the four of us made our way to baggage claim...where we waited, watched everyone else get there bags, and then went off to find someone to help us. I nice woman working at the aiport came and helped us, and took us to another room where some bags were. Fortunately, Chris and Becca found both there bags, although I was missing one, and Sam was missing both. :(. We gave the woman all the information she needed to get us our bags, and then went off to find a bus. The bus to the main bus station in La Coruna came every 30 hour, so we waited outside about 20 minutes for the bus. It finally came, and took us to the station, where we bought tickets for another bus that would take us to SDC. We had about a two hour wait, of course, and headed outside to wait, only realizing that we should have waited a while inside before dragging all our stuff down and out for no real reason...whoops. It was pretty cold, and after awhile Sam and I went back in to find some food, as by this point I was starving (I hadn't eaten much at all in the past 48 hours or so, as my stomoach was upset). I got a tortilla, which in Spain is more like quiche, basically a slice of egg, cheese, and potatoes; very tasty. Then it was back in the cold to wait, and to find our bus among the many buses that were continuously pulling in and out of the station area. After incorrectly trying to get on another one, we eventually found ours, stowing our heavy bags underneath and got on the bus for the hour ride to SDC. It was a pretty ride, obviously dark at this point, but I still got to see parts of the landscape and the lights of the city. We finally made it to SDC, and found a couple taxis to take us to our hostel, getting in at around midnight. Sam and I are together, Becca is next door, and Chris is just down the hall, so we said our good nights and stumbled into bed. The Group was apparently stuck in Madrid for the night, so it was just the four of us, I guess going separately actually worked out for us. This morning we slept until almost 2pm, and then Sam and I got up and wandered out to find a bite to eat and do a bit of exploring. There's a little cafe right next to our hostel where we got tortillas (which ended up being egg, ham, and cheese on a baguette-style sandwich, so we're still not sure what a "tortilla" is, as we now have three different definitions, but they are all tasty so it's okay with me). We haven't seen much of the city, but honestly what I've seen today hasn't been all that impressive, just lots of little stores in a kind of run down area, but like I said we only saw a little bit, and none of the areas Santiago is known for, so I'm not worried. Since we arrived here, however, I have realized just how rusty my Spanish is. I'm having a really hard time understanding and communicating, so this semester will by much more language-centered one than the last one, where I understand and could communicate with ease. It's going to be tough, that's for sure, but I will definitely improve, I've already started learning new words and adding to my vocabulary. In terms of the other people on my program, we have only met Chris, Becca, and I just met momentarily another guy named Taylor. I'm not sure when the group got in, but our orientation meeting for the day was cancelled so I'm guessing they just got in pretty recently and are all passed out in there rooms. We are still having a group dinner tonight, though, so I should meet more people then. In any case, there's the update, I'm safe and sound, didn't get stranded in Madrid (just in London, but didn't have to spend the night), so all is well. I miss you guys at home, it was so good to be home for a while, wish I could have been there longer. Love you all, big kiss :), will keep this thing updated,
Brit