Getting up this morning was really difficult. My alarm was
set for 5:15 and when it went off all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. But
I dragged myself up and packed, leaving my hostel around 5:45. I checked out
with the same guy when I checked in with, and he tried to cheat me out of my
key deposit. I was grumpy, and sure that I paid it, so I argued with him until
he gave it back. Then I dragged my suitcases over to Via Marsala, the road next
to the train station, and found the bus to the airport. I passed one that cost
8 euro, but the owner of my hostel said there was a 4 euro one. I found the
company he told me about, but it was 6 euro. I didn’t really have any options,
and this seemed to be the cheapest one, so I went with it. Upon arrival at the
airport, I went to Terminal 2 to check in with EasyJet. My bag was 22 kg, so
the guy had me move aside and more 2 kilos to my carry-on. I did that, I even
moved 3 kilos, so I didn’t have to pay an overweight fee. But then my carry-on
wouldn’t fit in their tiny little bin, because of the bar on the bottom, so I
had to pay 30 euros to check it. I am so sick of flying low cost airlines, I
want to be able to just take my luggage on the plane and not worry about it.
Now all I have is my purse and my laptop, so I am very glad this flight is only
3 hours. I don’t, however, have my computer charger, so I can’t watch a movie
because I only have 27% battery life. So I will be listening to music and
trying to sleep, I guess. I am not going to be landing in the US with too many
euros left, because of all of these surprise charges. I have tried to be
careful with the money I spend, but sometimes I can’t help what I get charged
for. Now I am sitting at my gate, and it’s 7:57, and I can start boarding at
8:20. Luckily that’s not too much time, so I can just get on the plane and
sleep and forget about this stupid baggage debacle.
The plane ride went well, and storing my luggage at the
airport is going to cost less than I expected. Yay! Bad news: there is an
airport cost for the metro that made my round trip ticket 14 euros instead of
around 2 euros. Regardless, I was not about to sit in the airport all day AND
all night, so off I went to the Acropolis. I grabbed lunch at a café once I got
off the metro, and had a Greek club sandwich. I have no idea what was on it,
except meat, tomato, and lettuce. The other ingredients were unknowns, but I
was just happy to find a place that spoke English. After lunch, I went to the
Acropolis museum. I figured the museum first made sense because then I would
actually understand the structures I was looking at. They actually have most of
the interesting artifacts in the museum, to preserve them, rather than up on
the “Sacred Hill” as it was called. I learned a lot about Greek mythology,
particularly Athena, which was really cool. I think I might try to get one of
my core credits by taking a mythology class, if that is at all possible. I
spent about 2 hours, maybe a little more, in the museum, and then went to the
ticket desk to ask about the entrance to the Acropolis. I didn’t want a repeat
of the Roman Forum. And it was a good thing that I did, because it turned out
the Acropolis closes at 3 pm. It was 3:30. I was disappointed that I didn’t get
to actually go up to the monument, but the lady at the ticket desk told me
about a cool hill where you can get a bird’s eye view of Athens. On my way up,
I did get to see the Theater of Dionysus, and I still got some pretty good
shots of the Pantheon and the other important buildings. The view from the hill
next to the Acropolis was amazing. I can’t compare it to the view from the
Acropolis since I didn’t go up, but I could see all of Athens, which is
beautiful from above. I was going to stay for the sunset, but it wasn’t for
another hour or so, and it was quite windy and cold up on the exposed hill. So
I headed out after about a half hour, and wandered around to find a grocery
store. I picked up some crackers and cheese, and Oreos, as my cheap dinner. I
didn’t want to have to pay airport prices, but I wasn’t hungry yet.
When I got back to the airport, the storage of my luggage
was even cheaper than what the man had told me when I checked them in. I was
super excited. I went upstairs to the departures area, and found myself my spot
for the night. It is near what I believe to be the Lufthansa check-in desk,
since they are my airline for my flight to Munich. I also have a wall plug, a
table, and a nearby bathroom. I still have to lug all of my belongings with me
when I go, but it’s not that bad of a walk. To occupy myself, I have watched
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of
Fire. As well as painted my nails, and ate my cheese, one bag of crackers, and
my Oreos. I don’t have Order of the Phoenix on my iTunes, so if I want to watch
that one next I have to find it online. For right now, it is almost midnight,
so I figure that I will post this on my blog, and conclude the rest of my
adventures when I get home tomorrow, or maybe from the Philly airport if I have
time and internet. My plan for the rest of the morning is movie watching, bag reorganization,
and most importantly, no sleep. I am going to reset my body to US time, and
that means going to bed on my first flight, and sleeping until about halfway
through my long flight. Hopefully my plan will work, because I have lots to do
before Christmas and I can’t spend my time sleeping at weird hours.
Reflection::
Since this is day 2 of annoying extra baggage fees, I
figured I would write about money and budgeting. About three weeks into my
semester, I made a budget for myself, for food, rent, metro passes, and a
couple other necessary fees. I gave the budget to my mom, and she wired me all
the money I was supposed to need. However, about two and a half weeks before I
was due to leave Madrid, I only had 80 euro in my bank account. I thought I had
budgeted well, but I think I still have much to learn. A lot of the money had
disappeared while my mom was visiting me, because I booked our flight, paid for
our hotel, and covered her surprise baggage fees all on my debit card. But it
still didn’t add up. I had a separate card that I used for traveling, bus
tickets, hostel deposits, etc., but what I didn’t think about is that when I
had to pay for a ticket or a hostel in cash, I just used my pocket money, which
was coming from the account that had my budgeted money in it. It’s difficult to
keep the money separate, for travel and for food, from my account and from my
parents, because it all ends up paying for something that I need/want. I
definitely think having a budget is really important, to keep track of how much
money I spend on food and entertainment weekly and monthly. It was nice to know
when I was under budget, and it allowed me to splurge some weeks when I wanted
to do something special.
Having my parents cover my rent, metro passes, and food
really helped me out this semester. I would never have had enough money to support
myself completely. They have been really supportive through this whole
experience, and not just financially. Back home in Maryland, they cover my
groceries, and that really helps out too. That’s why I think starting a budget
when I get back is such a good idea. Then I know just how much I am costing
them, and how much I am costing myself. I want to be putting money in my
savings account every month, to replace all that I spent this semester, but I
don’t want to be making my parents pay for everything. It is the beginning of
my being responsible with my money and theirs, since I learned this semester
how difficult it can be to do so.
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