And you think snow shuts everything down in the US...

So I FINALLY made it to Bilbao, Spain. My flight went from Reagan to Boston and Boston to Madrid and then Madrid to Bilbao. Fortunately, in Reagan I met up with some more Mary Washington students who are all part of my program. So I had plenty of company and didn't have to go through the long flight alone. When we arrive in Madrid, there is a dense fog and its snowing. There is only about an inch on the ground but we heard people in Madrid saying this is the worst snow! We check the board to see where our gate is and all we see is red for cancellations and blue for delays (due to an inch of snow!!) Fortunately, our flight is not delayed nor canceled. We wait at our gate and get in some much needed sleep. Then our flight to Bilbao is delayed an hour, it was suppose to be leaving at 12:50 and now its pushed back to 1:30 then again to 2:30. Then at 3pm we find out that it is completely canceled! (This is after the weather has completely cleared and its sunny and the snow has been cleared) We are all freaking out and go to the Iberia Information Counter, however the line is about the length of half the terminal with over 500 people waiting in it.
All we can do is wait.... about an hour or two into the line, we have barely moved. It is almost 5pm and by this point we are all thinking that we're just going to end up spending the night in the airport. By stroke of luck, one of the girls in our group went to the bathroom and she came running back saying she saw a flight to Bilbao on the board but its a "last call" So we, now a group of 10, sprint to the other side of the terminal to try and catch this last flight to Bilbao for the day!! We get to the counter and the lady is very nice and is going to let us on. The first 6 get to go and see what seats are left, the 4 left have to wait to see if we will be able to fit... and we did!! So after traveling for 24 hours, having little to no sleep and not much food, I am on my way to Bilbao.
But what happened to our luggage? It didn't show up in Bilbao, well neither did half the people's luggage did. So we waited in the Iberia baggage help line for over an hour to claim it. They say it should be here in the morning and they will deliver it to us. My host was very kind to stay in all day and wait for the call that my luggage was coming to be delivered. I returned after a very long day at 8pm and still no luggage!! Fortunately, I have a few change of clothes that I can wear and deoderant and toothpaste. However, I would really like to have my clothes and everything!! So now I just have to wait some more.... hopefully it will arrive soon.

But all I have to say is that I hope the snow stops following me everywhere!! And that I can never complain about having things shut down after about 4 inches of snow because that is more reasonable than canceling everything after only 1 inch!! Also, I know how all those people who were stuck in airports felt that weekend we had 20 inches.