Three weeks into the program, I was starting to feel more settled in Alcalá. Classes were in full swing, the town was familiar, and traveling in Spain was far less intimidating than when I arrived. I felt very comfortable and in control of navigating the country independently. I was also planning on visiting Málaga over the weekend with some other students in the program. We expected an easy train ride south to a gorgeous and unique city.
Until, we missed the train to Málaga.
After a miscommunication from the train station, we could see the train unmoving at the station, and were not allowed to board the train as we missed the final call by less than a minute. The train pulled away with our empty seats and I was suddenly stuck in Madrid with no way of getting to our final destination in Málaga. Initial reactions were emotional and difficult to deal with. We were upset and at a loss—the train had been right there and we couldn’t board it. The train station was closing for the night and we were still scrambling to come with a plan. What were we supposed to do in this situation? In the moment, it didn’t matter how we missed the train. It happened, and all we could do was look at our next steps going forward. We left the station exhausted, frustrated, and angry at the situation. We decided to take a local train back to our homes in Alcalá in order to regroup. Morale was low, but we decided to take the earliest train to Málaga the next day and still enjoy our remaining days in the city.
On the train back to Alcalá that night, there was a strong sense of gloom between everyone in the group. While we would get to Málaga the next day, we couldn’t get over our feelings of helplessness as our travel situation transformed around us. We started getting out of Madrid, and began talking and laughing as we shared a bar of chocolate on the train. We can’t change anything about our transportation error, but tried to power through our disappointment and look towards the good things waiting for us tomorrow. Flexibility is your greatest asset when travelling, and this moment personally confirmed that. All we could do was keep going and focus on the present moment—any energy spent worrying about past events was wasted.
I woke up before daylight the next morning, and we made our way back to the same Madrid train station we battled hours before. Sure to arrive as early as possible, we made it to Málaga without issue, and still enjoyed the rest of our weekend there. It took a couple tries, but we got to Málaga eventually and still were able to appreciate the towering mountains and beautiful city. Making the most of the situation definitely worked out in the end, despite the stress that the trip started with.
