Hello, hello!

I am definitely exhausted and am not quite sure how I'm even still up.  I slept for about 40 min. last night and have been traveling back to Wales from Madrid all day.

Now time for an extensive report of my Spanish weekend.  What an adventure it was - I don't think I would have been able to handle it a year ago.

Wednesday
12:15am - my bus leaves for London Gatwick airport (6 hour bus ride).  Despite the length, this was quite convenient because it took me directly to the airport.  Then I had a stress-free flight to Madrid (all my stuff fit in my backpack - I'm surprised I could do it).  Upon arriving in Madrid, I was SCARED OUT OF MY MIND.  Here I was, in a foreign non-English speaking country, alone.  I wanted to save money so I decided not to take a taxi and figure out public transportation.  I was extremely apprehensive to use my Spanish skills so I found people who could speak some English and asked where to go.  Without much difficulty, actually, I made it to the Avenida de America bus station, where I then waited for 2 hours before taking my 6-hour bus ride to San Sebastian.  All my friends from BC were not meeting up in Madrid until Friday, and because I didn't have class W/Th/F, I decided to go early to San Sebastian to visit my friend Robert, who is studying abroad there.  (San Sebastian is on the northeast coast of Spain, while Madrid is the geographical center).  Once I FINALLY arrived in San Sebastian, Robert, his friends, & I went out for tapas, though they are called something else in that region of Spain, and gelato.  I was unsurprisingly exhausted so I went to bed soon after that.

Thursday
 Because Robert had to work on a paper, he let me sleep in until 11:30am.  Although I kind of felt like I wasted the morning, it was actually really nice to get the sleep.  We then got some DELICIOUS pastries for breakfast and did a short hike up to an old fort with a huge statue of Jesus at the top.  The first 3 pictures were all taken from the fort.  We then walked around San Sebastian, which was beautiful, got lunch, walked around some more, made dinner back at his flat, watched TV, and went to sleep.  It was a pretty low-key day but very awesome indeed.

Friday
7:15am bus back to Madrid.  I purposefully booked an early bus so that I could have as much time as possible in Madrid.  I was unfortunately the first person to leave Madrid because the flight costs were so high later in the day on Sunday.  I got to Madrid around 1pm, and to the most pleasant surprise ever, my friends Bridget & Conor were waiting for me at the bus station.  I was then told that Bridget's passport/backpack had been stolen, which was so incredibly, extremely terrible.  I'm not even sure how people can be that sneaky.  So, basically, we spent the entire afternoon in the Madrid Police Station & U.S. Embassy.  After an unfortunate use of the afternoon - though, we did manage to get Bridget a new much-needed passport - we headed to the hostel where we met up with everyone else.  We then headed out for tapas.  In case you don't know, tapas are small meals that range from ham slices to rice patty type things to salmon on bread -- kind of random?  BUT SO SO GOOD.  I think my favorite part of the day was that night when we were all sitting outside what I believe was an Irish pub, eating our tapas, and watching the line of prostitutes that had formed in the street area across from us.  It was, of course, so sad to me to see all the prostitutes (kind of shocking, really), but we laughed, we analyzed, and we caught up.  After we got too cold - and by the way, it was around midnight by now - the Spanish meals are SO MUCH LATER than American meals - we walked around the city and went to a few bars/clubs.  They were kind of weird so we headed home after that.

Saturday  
I guess it's not surprising that with a large group, it really takes a while to get people moving.  We also slept in and basically did not get our day started until mid-day.  It was a bit frustrating, but after we sat down for breakfast at a lovely place in the middle of the bustling city, the day just got better and better.  After our breakfast, we walked around Madrid and saw the Palicio Real (famous banquets/royalty weddings/etc. happen here - last King to live there was in the early 1900s, I believe), the gardens next to it, the cathedral next to it, Plaza Mayor, a cool market where we got paellas, Puerta del Sol, and some awesomely busy streets of Madrid.  The city reminded me of a combination of Tokyo and NYC.  We continued to get tapas and ate at a great outdoor area in Plaza Mayor.  We then went back to the hostel around 7 and rested until 10ish, where we went out for tapas and drinks AGAIN.  We had such a lovely time and eventually made our way to a club called Joy at 1am. I then enjoyed great music, very cool Spanish nightlife, and a unbelievably fantastic time with my friends.  I've made great friends in Wales, but words cannot express how nice it was to be with my Shawmily (friends from my Shaw leadership program - we call ourselves family... aka Shawmily).  We left the club around 3, got back to the hostel around 3:45, allowing me to pack and sleep for about an hour before heading to the airport.  

Sunday
After an incredibly long day of traveling back to Wales, I'm back!
An awesome adventure indeed.

San Sebastian in the background

Robert & me with San Sebastian in the background

San Sebastian

BC friends in Madrid! -- garden area next to Palacio Real

Hannah & me (my sophomore year roommate, if you didn't know)

Palacio Real

Plaza Mayor

Statue in front of Palacio Real - this picture brings me so much joy

Cathedral next to Palacio Real

I'm off to Berlin this coming weekend!  Hopefully I don't get sick.  Traveling/no sleep really takes a lot out of a person!

Until next time, much love!