A Born Explorer

Well I’m not sure I deserve that title buuuuuuuut I have done quite a bit of exploring recently! It’s funny because I am the first person to go on the world’s most death defying theme park ride but when it comes to exploring a new/unknown city I am absolutely petrified! And it does not help that Madrid is ridiculously huuuuuuuuuuuuuge! Up to now I have had no trouble what so ever with Spanish! It seems I can ask just about anything and read the signs fairly well but the accents here are weird, the slang is different and people tend to talk at the speed of light! Hahha >.<

My first great feat. was braving the metro! (or subway) I wanted to book my bus ticket online to Murcia but the site woudn’t accept my card so I was like hmm I can either risk turning up on the day or I’ll go now and buy my ticket! So I had to make my way to the south city transport system and the easiest way seemed like taking the subway! and Holy Heck! It was like a flippin labyrinth down there! Soooo many connecting routes and levels and I was like ummm walked down there and was like how do I even get a ticket but I figured that out pretty quick and then was praying I was on the right train! Then I had to switch and I got on the train and realized I was going the wrong way and was like eeeeek! So I got off and was like how am I suppose to get to the otherside?!! But I got there in the end and arrived at the bus station! Long story short I am now an expert at navigating the Madrid metro! *cough cough not really*

I have to say it’s more like being in Mexico again simply because of the amount of people here! They are everywhere and the streets are crowded, just part of everyday here in Spain! I like it though!

 Palacio Real

 Tour Bus

 Home of Real Madrid

 Little Corona! lol

 Puerta del Sol

Moving on! Madrid is the most B-E-A-utiful city I have ever been in! I was blown away by the architecture in Mexico but here my mouth is literally open all the time! Buildings are all at least 4-5 stories here so it’s hard to get any bearings because you can’t see any further then the street you are on! Yesterday I went on the Madrid city tour and I say it was 20Euros well spent! Omgosh Madrid is magical! I took sooo many photos so believe me when I say it’s hard to choose which ones to put up here! I couldn’t remember where my friends recommended I go but some of the awesome places were El barrio Salamanca, Palacio Real (incredible!!!), Plaza mayor, Puerta del sol, Museo Reina Sofia, museo de esculturas and many more! If any1 comes to Spain we absolutely must do Madrid! :D I also went to the soccer stadium which is home to Real Madrid, evenone was sooo excited and I was like cool! XD I think it’s called the Bernabau? Someone may be able to tell me! ^^

Then this morning I moved hotels and am now staying in the the Hotel Convencion for my orientation with all the other conversation assistants, there are a lot more then I expected! Hahah I am sharing a room with 2 people! One called Sam who is really cool from England whose Spanish is not fantastic and another called Jordin who is French but doesn’t speak a word of English and is fluent in Spanish. 2moro I start my course which is to my surprise only 1 day and is probly going to be more like a series of information lectures. I’m not sure when I’ll next have internet! Seems like you have to pay ridiculous amounts for it here so I’m using my roomies internet XD and then the plan is to take a 6hour bus trip to Murcia on sat! wish me luck people!

Final note: The KFC here incredible! Finger Licking good! :D

New Beginnings - Madrid

Let's start with the Plane trip! so after being awake for about 15 hours already i embark on firstly a 14 hour flight, a 3 hour stop over and on to another 8 hour flight! Let me tell you right now! Long distance flying sucks! i hate it! it's great short distance but sitting in the same seat for that long is awful! i tried sleeping on my first flight but only got 3 hours worth =( i sat next to a nice and chatty english girl heading for london so that at least was good! sat next to a lady and her children who decided to scream, laugh and cry the whole way!!!!!

We'll go over some do's and don'ts of flying! Do's:walk around when you can, go to the toilet before liftoff, travel light (you'll regret lugging round stuff), try and sleep - it really is the best way to pass the time!, when arriving in a new time zone, no matter how tired you are always stay awake until night, it can be hard to adjust but do your best!
DON'TS!: Doo not take screaming young children on board with you! lol, do not ever wear shorts or t-shirt on a plane! no matter how hot it is where you get on or off, you will freeze on the plane! and time does not go by quickly! do not forget to take a pen with you! it is a handy thing!

Wow! Dubai airport is outta this world big! hahah we arrived there at 4 am and it was already 30C! hang! wasn't expecting that! XD anyways we got off the plane and onto a shuttle that drove for aaaaaaaages to drop us off! it was like a future sci fi movie and it all looked so alien! the airport was confusing and they didn't have my flight showing for a while so i just had to wait! then i got terminal 208!!! can u believe they have that many terminals! eek! thank goodness for conveyor belts at airports! :D on my plane trip to madrid i sat next to some random indian who couldn't speak a word of english or spanish >.<

Here's my plane just arrived in Madrid! Woooooooooo! getting round here was easy! we had to take a train just to get to our luggage but everything was in english! funny i didn't see anyone traveling alone, except some1 i meet later! when i finally got all my stuff i ran into a girl called Alicia! from NZ! who is also going to be a language assistant here! can you believe the chances! hahahah it was good to see some1 i knew! in the end we took a taxi together and split the cost!

Everything is sooo different here! i was beginning to feel real upset about it all yesterday when i arrived and this morning! the people at the reception don't seem very friendly and i had to keep going back down all the time to sort out the internet! which is finally working! have to pay 10euro a day for it! crazy ay! but i tell you it's so good having it and just being able to contact people!

Buuuuuuut i am feeling alot better now! my room is small but it has a beautiful bed to sleep on and airconditioning! it's on the top floor and so it gets mental hot here! i went out this morning to hunt me some breakfast and it was sooooooo cold out side! then later i decided to go out to explore! ad it was super hot and here's me with my sweatshirt on >.< when will i learn? but you'd be so proud of me! i walked for aaaaaaaaaaaaages! and got extremely tired! Madrid is huge! and easy to get lost! but everything is so pretty! i just want to stop and take a piture of every single building! hahah XD

that top picture is my hotel by the way!

Hahahhaha i don't think Madrid is quite ready for my awesome spanish! i now have a new number after visiting the vodafone store! eeeeek! wat a mish that was! >.< but i'm certain now i got the right deal! prepared plan with 8c/min calling and 8c per sms! if you can afford to send me overseas texts my number is - +34663488174

And yes! i've already had my first spanish BK! wasn't that great! silly lady gave me pepsi!

right now i'm very tired! it's getting late here and my body clock is all out of sync but am desperately trying to get things written out for ya'll b4 this internet cuts out >.< busy days ahead! hope to do a site seeing tour 2moro! wish me luck!

Oooooh and by the way i am really glad to be using spanish again, even if it may appear otherwise! :D no chances to speak english here! well i probly could but every likes spanish! XD

A week in Brisbane

Heeeeeeey!

SO i had such an awesome time in Brisbane! was absolutely amazing catching up with my brother again! and man was it awesome to have my dad there! i tell you it's so much nicer traveling and doing things with people you know!

Anyways let's start off at the beginning! it was a cold miserable day in NZ (no offense) and thank to my good friend anthony we got to the airport (making a pit stop or 2 on the way XD) then we jumped on a plane and 3 hours later we were in sunny oz! although it wasn't very sunny because it was night! Hoooooooooly heck! it was soooo good to actually be meet at the airport and not only that but by some1 with a car! man that made life sooo much easier!! XD

So the next day we went to Dreamworld! had soooooo much fun! got to be my fav of all the theme parks! and was stoked to get to ride on every ride! they had just opened a new ride called the buzz saw! which was very fun! i had to wait over an hour (by myself cause every1 else chickened out) in the blistering hot heat! we somehow managed our trip to oz to coincide with the first week of school holidays! thank goodness there were no queues! don't know why but i'm not gona get upset XD

sadly i can't recall what we did everyday but i'll highlight some of the main things that were really cool! one day we did a tour of brisbane city where we drove around everywhere and caught the ferry! got to see my cool friends university! we also went to south bank to see the man made beach! i'm not sure why but beaches never really do it for me! i guess i just take them for granted! we're sooooo lucky to have world class beaches here in NZ! We went out to dinner a couple of times! firstly to Hungry Jack's! which we know as BK! and also went to the Hog's Breath Cafe! gotta love that place! Alex had the most amazing rocky road dessert! absolutely huuuuuuuuuuge! it's amazing he got through so much of it! XD

Before i forget i must put in one of my absolute biggest highlights of our time in Australia! a Trip to Allan's Music World! Laaaaaaaaaa! was soooo good! for those of you who don't know i went to get sheet music! we have a terrible range of it in NZ and when you do find it it's like $50+ for simple things! anyways i had a field day in there! could hardly make up my mind on what to get! after 4 or 5 books i was like come on chris! you have to start saying no! so i limited myself to only 3 more XD i don't dare say how much i spent on it! only thing is i will have to wait a year before i can play it all cause my dad took it back to NZ with him! =(

Finally the last couple things we did was a trip to some malls and the movies to see cowboys and aliens! (which by the way is not such a bad movie), a trip to Bribie island - we had a car and tried using a GPS, after a while we heard it say "you have reached your destination" and we looked at each other and were like ummm no! hahah turned out we had programmed in Port of Brisabane and not Bribie island XD hahahhaha no wonder there were soo many trucks! XD then there was a trip to Byron bay! was really cool! super busy but had some very cool scenery! we chilled there and went to the lighthouse! oooooooooh and they had this amazing sand sculpture of a dragon on the beach! kudos to those who made it! :D come sunday dad flew back to NZ (super early) and that night i headed to the airport myself ready to start my next adventure!

Thanks so much to the peeps in Australia for making it such an awesome time! was very cool and will def miss it alot! but as they say in Oz, no Dramas! or Too easy! XD