Why you shouldn't bring fruit from foreign countries...

On my second day in Spain, I come to the terrible realization that my laptop hard-drive has crashed. I try in vain to shut it down and restart it about 7 times, as if this will somehow magically awaken it. Needless to say, that didn't quite work. Which of course meant that I had to go fix it, which of course meant that I would have to speak to shopkeepers in Spanish, which of course meant that I put it off until today, Monday, 5 days after. So today I go to school, use their computers to write down 3 possible Apple stores, and start my adventure. Little did I know that a saga would ensue...

The first two are part of the popular Spanish department store, El Corte Ingles, and they apparently only sell Apple merchandise, but don't fix it. [Side note: usually I can't stand the amount that people get in your face and ask if they can help you, but of course the minute I need help and can't find anyone, I'm in Europe, where apparently no one does that.] The third place, FNAC, an electronics store, assures me that what I've described is indeed a failed hard-drive, and I must replace it upstairs. So I go upstairs and ask and they tell me to go back down. And again. So instead I go to the model laptops and look up yet another store, this one just an "authorized solution expert", whatever that means.

This store is in a very residential area, far from the upscale Times Square-esque streets closer to school, and as all reputable Apple stores are, this one is situated in the back of an alley, up a sketchy set of stairs that look like they belong to a fire escape. After waiting in line for 10 minutes, I ask if she can help me with a hard drive problem. She asks me to try and boot it up and while I am I explain, in my extremely eloquent Spanish, of course, that all that happens is the screen turns white and I get a file folder with a question mark blinking at me. Except I really say "the screen is white and I get a box with a question mark symbol", and she assures me that I have to replace the hard-drive, which I explain is annoying since I just replaced it ten days ago. Meanwhile, my computer starts completely normally and loads everything fine. Must be the magic of the Apple store vibes.

But I now have a working laptop AND an internet connection! So expect more adventures soon...