Day 6 - The Many Gates Of Tedium

Hey everyone!
So, after a long and excruciating wait, here it finally is. The conclusion to my Madrid work experience diary! I won't waffle on too much, as I'm sure you're eager to get this over and done with so things can return to normality. Enjoy!

Today, our final day in Madrid, was also one of our busiest. After waking and making sure absolutely everything was packed (the usual "check under the beds, check in the shower, check on the balcony" routine), I met up with Vanessa and the teachers, and together we grabbed a bite to eat. As Maddy and Emily didn't have to work today, we allowed them a little time to lie in, and set off for the shop ourselves.
Not much had changed since our last visit, and again we were required to stock up the food shelves from the secret underground base. On top of this, we were also on the hunt for some non-edible bric-a-brac amid the myriad boxes and shelves. Eventually, with the help of another lady whose name I can't remember, we managed to recover most of the things on the list, and these we took to the displays upstairs. Having sorted this, we engaged in a few regular organising tasks again, like re-stacking their T-shirts in size order (the 4-year-old ones were so tiny!) and arranging some more books. That was quite satisfying, if not particularly action-packed.
After a little while, we were let out for a tea break! So we left the store, went 'round the corner to a cool little cafe, ordered drinks and sat outside and people-watched, all on our own! How's that for independence?! We even got mini blue cheese sandwiches and crisps to go with the drinks! So yeah, that was an experience. Some random builders were unloading some kind of metal framework from a lorry, so that was quite funny to watch. Builders are always funny.
So, having enjoyed a glass of Fanta Limon (they don't have proper Lemonade here, it's Sprite or Lemon Fanta), we made our way slowly back to the shop, and set about the task of finding photos to fit in all the shop's picture frames! It was quite good fun going through all the random magazines and cutting stuff up. The little things! So time flew by remarkably fast, and before we knew it we were being collected for the final time. Vanessa made some last-minute purchases, and I was inclined to do the same, but by now I had made up my mind to get a CD from the Fnac, and I was starting to get low on cash.
So we headed back to Sol, and returned to the buffet restaurant from the fourth (Chroniclers will correct me!) night. It was the same old spread, and I filled up knowing that this would probably count for lunch AND dinner. Having done so, and contributed my share to la cuenta, I disappeared into the toilet and returned ina superhero-like manner in a completely different set of clothes! HaHA! With a more relaxed outfit, I rejoined the others, and said goodbye to the twins, who were going to spend even longer in Spain with their family! Lucky people...
Anyway, that left Vanessa and I with enough time to hit the shops again, and though Vanessa managed to get a CD for her Dad, the music I'd had my sights on had gone! As it happens, this was probably just as well, as I Spotified the group when I got back and they weren't all that great after all! Instead, I compromised in buying an Avril Lavigne DVD of her live in Seoul, which you can't get in the UK, I don't think. It has a load of stuff from her second album, which is awesome.
Having completed our final shopping spree, we jumped on the metro which took us right into the heart of the airport! Things were fairly straightofrward, we got into Departures without any problems and managed to spend the last few euros on something to drink, some sweets and a newsaper. Perfect! So we settled down to wait for the plane and soon enough they told us which gate to go to. Well, anyway, when we got there, it was normal enough, only quarter of an hour later, they were still not letting anyone in! It was then that the TV screen decided to tell us that the gate had been swapped with another plane which was going to... somewhere in Germany, I think. So we walked briskly to our new gate, frustrated but otherwise OK.
Another fifteen minutes or so later, it turns out we now had to go to a different gate AGAIN! Not only that, but the new gate was right the way down the other end of the terminal!! Ironically, they had defibrilators stationed at regular points in the new section of the terminal (I think Madrid is the first airport to have them), and I imagine you'd need one if you'd just walked all the way from one end of the building to the other! So, once there, we formed an orderly but disgruntled queue to board the plane... which wasn't even there yet! So more and more time passed, and we got more and more tired, and outside it got darker and darker, until EVENTUALLY, the plane pulled in, calm as you like, and the passengers strolled off at a leisurely pace, and only THEN were we finally allowed to board.
Once free of the melee of boarding, we waited another fifteen minutes while the crew got their act together, and then we were cruising out onto the runway again. Safely in the air, Vanessa and I started watching Indiana Jones, but to be fair I don't think either of us was that interested. In fact, maybe part of it was to do with tiredness, but the middle hour or so of that movie is excruciatingly boring. Everything from the mildly intriguing chase through the university up to when Indy is forced to stare into the skull is just a load of Harrison Ford muttering to himself about some random legends. I mean, in essence, that's what Indy is, and if you've got the patience to persevere then I suppose it's fairly interesting, but it's not as "intense" as Bond or Iron Man. It's more like a Smartie, all the hard, crispy action at the beginning and the end, and just soft chocolate in the middle.
Anyway, as I say, we were both dead on our feet by that stage, and somehow we managed to drag ourselves off the plane and through customs. Through bleary eyes we were finally reunited with the faces of our families. Though everyone had enjoyed the week, I think we were all grateful to finally get a proper night's sleep!

So, there you go! Another adventure over. But fear not, for in just 24 hours, I will be in the beautiful city (town?) of Siena, Italy, beginning yet another diary for you to enjoy! This be a big, juicy beast of two whole weeks, so if I don't lose the plot halfway through, you can look forward to a double-whammy of adventure when I return in September! In the meantime, you should all listen to Muse's new song "Uprising" and "New York" by Paloma Faith (both absolute epics). Keep smiling, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!
See ya 'round!

Jack