The second part of my spring break trip was Very different from the first week! That's not to say it wasn't fantastic, though! Admittedly, It did start off a little horrible and the ending wasn't so perfect either, but in between that, it was near perfection!
Once I got to Tangier, I had to catch a taxi (which was surprisingly difficult, but it ended up being very cheap, so it's ok haha) and take it to the port so I could catch a ferry over to the south of Spain. Once I got there, a man immediately came up to me and began helping me and directing me to where I needed to be. I had mixed emotions about this because the port was a bit confusing and I was glad for the help, but I knew I would have to pay him when he got me where I needed to go.. Anyways, we went over to the ticket booths and I found out that the ferries no longer go to Algeciras, which was the town I was taking a train from, but they only went to Tarifa with a free bus to Algeciras. This was the first of many omens that my day would not go as I had planned haha.
After I had my ticket, I got my passport stamped and went to wait for the ferry, which was pulling into port as I walked up. I thought this was a good sign and that maybe I would make my train at 3 (it was 1230 then) after all. Then, I realized that it takes over an hour and a half to unload and reload a ferry... Needless to say, I was standing around waiting for quite some time. The ferry ride itself was short and comfortable. They provided nice seats for walk ons and played Micheal Jackson most of the time haha. When we arrived, we waited in line to get our passports stamped again and headed to the bus. After everything, I finally arrived at the train station in Algeciras at 6pm instead of 3... So I spent the night in Algeciras!
All of the hotels that I had seen while I was looking for the station looked fairly expensive, so I had decided to stay in the train station overnight, since my train left a little after 7am anyways. I didn't really want to sit in the station all that time, though, so I explored a bit while there was still light. I had both my bags with me, so it was quite obvious that I was a traveler. It was even more obvious when I stopped to look at the first map I saw. Here, a man who was probably in his mid-30's came up and began speaking to me -- keep in mind that I don't speak any Spanish! Having French made it easier, but they are still two completely different languages!! With a lot of gesturing and repetition, though, we were able to understand each other (he, of course, only spoke Spanish). I told him I was spending the night in a hotel and he invited me (several times, despite my declinations) to spend the night at his house. He asked me about my family and friends and seemed so surprised that I was there alone. I decided it would be a safer idea to tell him my family was in France and I was meeting friends the next day in Madrid. I don't normally like lying, but in situations like these, I get over that discomfort quickly, especially because he was making me a bit uncomfortable. I did tell him that I was trying to find town center to look around, though, and instead of pointing it out on the map, he had me follow him there. I wish I had said no thank you, but I was tired and didn't think that much of it... (Have no fear, those of you who are getting nervous for me, nothing bad happened and he didn't try anything, he just made me quite uncomfortable for the next while.) We walked in silence all the way to the center, with me a few paces behind him. It turns out that I had already seen the center of town on my way to the train station (which made getting rid of him later easier haha) and when he stopped to point it out, we stood for 10 minutes miscommunicating. I tried my hardest to tell him that I had already seen the port but he just thought I still wanted to see it, so we walked down by the water and he kept asking if he could carry my bag for me, which I declined every time. We stopped at a bench and he pointed out the island that was nearby and then spent 15 minutes explaining what a semi was to me in Spanish... I was just nodding along by this point. When we stood up again, he grabbed my bag from the ground before I could pick it up. I tried to protest, but apparently machismo is more popular in Spain than I had thought.. He didn't run off with it, thankfully, so I just kept a really close eye on him and stayed within grabbing distance in case he decided to take off. We walked down the port, then up the main street by the shops (here, he jokingly [I think] suggested that we run away to Madrid together, even after I told him I had a boyfriend in France, which made me even more anxious to get away from him...). At the end of the main street was a hotel that I had seen. When we got there, I told him this was the hotel I was staying at and had to basically tug my bag out of his hand so he wouldn't come inside with me. When I got inside, I asked the man at the desk if I could sit in the back of the lobby for a few minutes until the man was gone, because he had begun talking to someone just outside the door of the hotel. The clerk didn't want to let me, at first, because the lobby was for guests only, but once he (finally) understood that there was a man outside that I was trying to get away from, he let me sit down out of sight. After a couple of minutes he actually went outside and made the man leave. When I left, he was no where to be seen, but I still wrapped my head and pretended I was on the phone, just in case. Too bad I couldn't cover up my bags too... On my way back to the train station (it was now a little after 9) I turned to cross a street and saw him sitting on a bench! X.x He saw me, too because he waved. I just turned, kept walking, and kept pretending I was on the phone. A few blocks later, I looked to cross another street and saw that he had started following me. When I could see the train station, I turned to check the last street that I needed to cross and saw that he was right behind me! He tried to get my attention again, but I ran across the street and into the train station. Thankfully, he didn't follow me in. I stayed there for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, the station closed at 10, but the overnight guard graciously let me sleep outside on the benches by the trains. It was cold, but the back area was fenced in and there was a guard on duty all night so I felt safe enough. In the morning, I took a 5 hour train to Madrid.
While I was in Madrid, I had an absolutely amazing time!! I found the hostel (for those of you who don't know, a hostel is like a hotel but you can choose to have a private room or sleep in a room with a few other people. There are also common areas like computers and a kitchen that everyone can use) with little difficulty just after 4pm and got settled in. The staff there was super friendly and they all spoke English, which was awesome after spending a day not being able to communicate haha. The hostel itself was really nice and cozy. I hung out on the couches in the common room for a while and met a lot of really great people who were staying there and chatted for a couple hours. One girl was named Mira -- not Finnish Mira from Caen, haha this Mira was from Austria and she was really funny and nice. I met a Spanish guy named Alex, who was very fun to talk to - we had a lot in common and the subject jumped around a lot haha. I also met a couple guys from England and a guy from Australia that I ended up hanging out with for most of the night. At about 10pm, the hostel had arranged to take anyone who wanted to go out to two famous bars in Madrid. The first was the best (yet still fairly cheap) place in town to get sangria and it was delicious! The place kind of felt like a well decorated cave and there was a man playing the piano for most of the night. I amazed everyone with my sword tattoo and stories from my martial arts haha. The next bar was a sidra (cidre) bar that was really good, too! We learned the "proper" way to pour sidra, which involves cutting certain chunks out of the cork and holding the bottle high above your head for maximum splash out of the glass haha. The sidra was yummy; it was a little stronger than Normandy cidre. We left there around 2-230am and headed to an Irish pub, because most people weren't ready to go back yet, though we did lose a few people. The pub was nice but I had decided not to drink anymore because I had run out of cash, first of all and second: I didn't want to have any trouble waking up the next morning. I did get three offers (from all different guys, though one offered twice haha) to buy me a beer that night! I was also pumped for information on how to pick up chicks...which was a little odd, but it was fun all the same! Some of the others tried to go to a lesbian bar after that (it was, sadly, closed) but I went back to the hostel because I was exhausted!
In the morning, I slept in, which was really nice, then I went on a free 3 hour walking tour of Madrid!! The tour guide was absolutely fantastic!!! As a speechy and tour guide myself, this guy blew my socks off!! He didn't just point out landmarks, he told stories of their histories and his personal experiences, he kept us interested and on our toes... I couldn't stop smiling while he was talking!! haha His name is O.D. (because his friends O.D. on his music, apparently haha) and he's from Israel. Here's a picture of him:
I made my way, slowly, back to the hostel. It was only about 6pm so I didn't really want to go back, but I also didn't have a whole lot of energy left - I had been walking for 7 hours! I ducked in and out of interesting shops and finally arrived back at the hostel to rest and check my messages online. One of the guys that had been out with the group the last night was there, so I chatted with him a bit, too. Around 730-8, Mark - the guy who works for the hostel and took us all out drinking the first night, he was also the one to offer to buy me a drink more than once at the Irish pub haha - came around and asked if anyone would like to go check out a cool market-type place with him. I took him up on the offer and it ended up being a mini-date (his words!) because everyone else declined. We chatted while we walked and he told me stories of his experiences in the places we passed. The market was a really cool place - on the first level was a market with almost everything you could want, and upstairs were lots of nice restaurants. You could, if you wanted, buy food in the market and send it upstairs for them to cook it in the restaurants! You could also just order from their menu haha. We walked around and checked everything out and Mark developed a sudden craving for oysters. The market didn't sell any so we went upstairs to see if any of the restaurants had something good. Turns out one of them did have oysters and he ordered a few! I told him I was a vegetarian and that I didn't normally eat seafood and he was disappointed because he had meant to order a sampler for us to share. After a mental debate, I told him I would try one or two and he was so excited!! Haha it was adorable, he even took a picture to commemorate the event! While they were shucking the oysters, he told me about the way they grow and how they get their different tastes. It was very interesting! When it finally came time to try one, I was a little nervous, but I did it and the oyster was actually pretty good!! It won't ever be my favorite food but it was definitely a lot better than I thought it would be! After that, we walked around a bit more, got some yummy fruit smoothy/juice things and some gourmet pizza (all of which was surprisingly cheap) then headed back to the hostel. It was a really fantastic day and Madrid is now tied with Donore, Ireland for my favorite place that I've visited thus far!
I went to bed around 10 that night because I had to be at the airport by 8 the next morning for my flight at 930. I made it there really easily, which was nice, but after I got there my flight was delayed 11 hours!!!!! At first, it was a technical difficulty with the plane so they were trying to fix it and figured a couple of hours max. Then, they couldn't fix it so they had to call London to send another plane to pick us up, which was another 3-4 hours, supposedly but really turned out to be more like 5 hours. Then, once we were on the plane, the air pressure changed and we had to switch runways, during which, one of the wheels got stuck!! So we waited about 45 minutes to be freed. After that, everyone was upset and many people wanted to get off, so we had to wait for them to disembark and find all their luggage and after THAT we had to refuel the plane!!! All of this for a 1 and a half hour flight to Paris!!!! I had expected to be home around 3pm on Wednesday, but we didn't land in Paris until just after 10pm! I ended up sleeping in the airport because the trains to Caen don't leave that late... The airport was much more comfortable than the train station though! I found a heater and curled up next to it so that I was warm all night haha. I got on a train at 630 the next morning and finally made it home just before 10am on Thursday!!
I've been rejuvinating in my room since then, not really getting out of bed if I don't have to haha. Tomorrow, however, I have to go back to class... I'm not really looking forward to that, but I will get to have dinner with Mira (from Finland) who I've missed!! I will also have to get back into homework mode....oy...this is going to be a tough week, especially since we have finals coming up soon!! Ahhhhh!!! My time here is slipping through my fingers!!! I have such mixed emotions right now, because I'm so very very homesick for the people back in the States, but I don't ever want to leave the friends I've made here in France!!!! (It was kind of difficult leaving the friends I had made in Madrid, and I'd only known them two days!) I don't know what to do... I'm just going to make the most of my time here while I have it, I guess. Wish me luck!!
Gros
bisous à tout le monde!
À
bientôt!
Morgan
P.S. Don't forget to read the one above this, as it comes before this chronologically! (I will post that one tomorrow as it's fairly late right now...) <3
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