to remember vacation:
The trip started off by standing in the cold and rain from 1-430 am in Bordeaux, cursing ourselves for using Eurolines again. Mary and I got to Madrid at 230 the next day, 7 hours later than we were supposed to...but it was okay. We stayed at Mad Hostel, which had a vending machine with Mountain Dew, the only Mountain Dew I've seen in Western Europe. We met Gustavo, a 20 year old drama major from Mexico, who came to Spain to follow his American ex-girlfriend. He didn't speak English, and its been 5 years since I've taken Spanish, but it was really fun to try to communicate.
Next day Bethany showed up. We went to lots of museums for free, at first I didn't like Madrid as a city, but after-all I think I liked it a lot. It just wasn't as different as I wanted Spain to be. Nothing too crazy happened in Madrid, except I met a kid in the hostel from Chittenango, crazy. Our roommate was an Australian woman, Colleen, who was really nice but talked a lot and snored. Our last day we met a Brazilian, Glauco, and an Argentin, Nicolas. We just hung out at the hostel because it was cold and rainy, but it was sweet.
Next we went to Granada. First off, I didn't get us lost but I could've and Mary made me feel bad about it. So I ended up feeling weird for a big chunk of that city. Granada was super pretty, we went to the Alhambra, and just walked around the city. There are lots of stray cats, but they seem healthy. On Christmas eve we went to midnight mass at the Cathedral, then went to an Irish pub and I did karaoke for the first time, it was a failure but fun. Christmas day itself was kinda depressing, not being at home, but it was okay. We met two Turkish boys and a Pakistani. Omar, Samet, and Khaled (?). There were many misunderstandings with the Turks (get late), and the one told us America was run by Jews. Our bus to Valencia was full, so we had to last minute find a hotel. We put 3 people in a 2 person room and at 230 in the night someone knocked at our door but we didn't answer. None of us slept well.
But we went to Valencia and Dylan and Alison met up with us. It was so so nice to see them. We walked around a bit and got vegan food (not just falafel!). It was nice to talk about Columbus, shows, language and Pat with them.
Next day we walked around the city, went to a vegan buffet, saw the beach, then got the bus to Barcelona. Barcelona was just full of anxiety. We hung out with Dylan and Alison again, and that was nice, but we all got freaked out by stories of people selling drugs and pick-pockets and we were staying in a sketchy part of town. Gaudi stuff is really really cool, I like it a lot. We saw his lamppost, an apartment, la Sagrada Familia, and a park. When Dylan and Alison left I was actually really sad. I was nervous to be with anxious (depressed?) people for New Years. It was kind of a shitty day, but then we met back up with the Turks, and 2 people from Chile and it ended up being hilarious and fun.
Then I went to Zaragoza to get a ride home from Emma and Gonzalo. It was awkward because I don't speak Spanish and I barely talked to anyone. It took us forever to get home, but it was much better and much cheaper than taking a bus or train and besides I really like them and want to be friends with them.
Overall, I it was a good vacation. It was a bit long, and I found it was hard to be away from home for Christmas. But I got lots of emails and texts from my family and Pat and I even talked to Pat on Christmas and New Years.
Now I have two more vacations of 2 weeks, with almost no plans. I need to get on that!
I miss home a lot, I miss friends and shows and Pat and cats. I need to find a way to make friends here and stop hating teaching. And I wish I was still excited about France. How stupid to be here and not be pumped about it!
Next day Bethany showed up. We went to lots of museums for free, at first I didn't like Madrid as a city, but after-all I think I liked it a lot. It just wasn't as different as I wanted Spain to be. Nothing too crazy happened in Madrid, except I met a kid in the hostel from Chittenango, crazy. Our roommate was an Australian woman, Colleen, who was really nice but talked a lot and snored. Our last day we met a Brazilian, Glauco, and an Argentin, Nicolas. We just hung out at the hostel because it was cold and rainy, but it was sweet.
Next we went to Granada. First off, I didn't get us lost but I could've and Mary made me feel bad about it. So I ended up feeling weird for a big chunk of that city. Granada was super pretty, we went to the Alhambra, and just walked around the city. There are lots of stray cats, but they seem healthy. On Christmas eve we went to midnight mass at the Cathedral, then went to an Irish pub and I did karaoke for the first time, it was a failure but fun. Christmas day itself was kinda depressing, not being at home, but it was okay. We met two Turkish boys and a Pakistani. Omar, Samet, and Khaled (?). There were many misunderstandings with the Turks (get late), and the one told us America was run by Jews. Our bus to Valencia was full, so we had to last minute find a hotel. We put 3 people in a 2 person room and at 230 in the night someone knocked at our door but we didn't answer. None of us slept well.
But we went to Valencia and Dylan and Alison met up with us. It was so so nice to see them. We walked around a bit and got vegan food (not just falafel!). It was nice to talk about Columbus, shows, language and Pat with them.
Next day we walked around the city, went to a vegan buffet, saw the beach, then got the bus to Barcelona. Barcelona was just full of anxiety. We hung out with Dylan and Alison again, and that was nice, but we all got freaked out by stories of people selling drugs and pick-pockets and we were staying in a sketchy part of town. Gaudi stuff is really really cool, I like it a lot. We saw his lamppost, an apartment, la Sagrada Familia, and a park. When Dylan and Alison left I was actually really sad. I was nervous to be with anxious (depressed?) people for New Years. It was kind of a shitty day, but then we met back up with the Turks, and 2 people from Chile and it ended up being hilarious and fun.
Then I went to Zaragoza to get a ride home from Emma and Gonzalo. It was awkward because I don't speak Spanish and I barely talked to anyone. It took us forever to get home, but it was much better and much cheaper than taking a bus or train and besides I really like them and want to be friends with them.
Overall, I it was a good vacation. It was a bit long, and I found it was hard to be away from home for Christmas. But I got lots of emails and texts from my family and Pat and I even talked to Pat on Christmas and New Years.
Now I have two more vacations of 2 weeks, with almost no plans. I need to get on that!
I miss home a lot, I miss friends and shows and Pat and cats. I need to find a way to make friends here and stop hating teaching. And I wish I was still excited about France. How stupid to be here and not be pumped about it!