Gracias a Señor Volcán de islandia...

Yes, thank you Mr. Volcano of Iceland for putting lots of ash into the air and canceling my flight to Ireland.  As the Spaniards say, "No pasa nada" which means something like "No big deal."

I found out at 12:00 P.M. during my break between classes that all the airports in the United Kingdom had been shut down due to a volcano eruption in Iceland.  So I frantically searched my flight and found that indeed it had been "delayed."  The website was unclear as to what to do, so my friend Nicole and I headed off to the airport to try to figure out what was going on and if we would be able to leave sometime this weekend/how we were going to get a refund on our tickets.

When we got to the airport, there was an extremely long line of people waiting to change/refund their flights.  Probably around 300 people and only 2 people working in the office.  Wonderful.  We waited in line for 3 and a half hours, and then a man said that we would be able to do it all on-line.  However, we were probably only 20 more minutes from being at the front of the line, so I looked at him and said that we had been waiting for almost 4 hours, and that 20 more minutes was nothing to me.  He looked a little shocked that I was speaking Spanish, but hey may as well practice while in Spain?  I think he was a little angry that we decided to stay, but honestly after 3 and a half hours of waiting, this was going to get done right.  So after 4 hours of waiting in line, we finally got to talk to the lady (in Spanish again) and we were refunded our money.  We were also refunded our hostels and bus tickets, which was huge relief.  But then again, "No pasa nada."

So while I am really disappointed that I'm not going to Ireland, I'm trying to make the best of the situation.  I'm going to Salamanca tomorrow for a day trip and my family is having another get together on Sunday.  And I have a bunch of homework that I really should be working on, so I'll be keeping busy.  But once again, "No pasa nada" (this phrase is probably said at least 10 times a day by any Spaniard).  And of course this weekend means more blogging to catch up on!