I stayed in Raposeira, Portugal long enough for the hostel owners to start saying, "Mr. James, you are growing roots out of your feet, yes!?" I figured that was my cue to start leaving. I had been there long enough to see several groups come and go, except for one German girl who left the same day I did. That's one of the weird things about staying in one place for too long... It's hard to go from city to city because sometimes you don't feel like meeting new people, but it's even harder to stay in the same place and see the people you know leave.
While in Portugal, I met a Spanish girl named Nancy who offered for me to stay at her place in Sevilla for a night and to go see a concert, so naturally I accepted. The night I got back into Sevilla, we went to the Texas Lone Star Saloon at my request and to a small concert in a monastery across the river. Like everyone else I've stayed with on this trip, she hooked me up and I had a blast getting to do something I wouldn't have done had I stayed at a hostel. I stayed in Sevilla another night before taking another 7 hour bus ride to Madrid. I went back to the hostel I had stayed at a week before; the weird old lady had finally moved out and me and one of the employees watched Fresh Prince in Spanish for a little bit. Another great day in Sevilla.
Like I said, another 7 hour bus ride and now I'm in Madrid. I'm really glad that this city is really cool, otherwise I would have a rough last few days. Most hostels do a free breakfast, which usually includes toast with jam and nutella and some drip coffee. Like a good American, I carry around with me a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter and usually throw it into the toast mix. This morning while eating, there was a super hung over Kiwi girl who kept saying, "all I want right now is some peanut butter... all I want..." so I handed her the jar and she almost started crying she was so happy. I knew it was going to be a good day. So I walked around a bit , took a nap in a park, found a real quality coffee shop, then played poker with some total bros from LA. I opted out of going to the pub crawl with them, citing that pub crawls "aren't my scene" and are "kind of my seventh circle of hell." They understood, without really understanding. But I was right, it was a good day.
I'm realizing that this whole thing really is coming to an end pretty soon and I want to make the most of the days I have left. Correction: the day I have left. I'm flying to Boston tomorrow to hang out with my parents for a few days, but that hardly counts as traveling. Until then, I'm just wiling away my time remembering the best and worst parts of my trip, reflecting on how much God has really blessed and taught me in the last 6 months. I fly tomorrow, and it still hasn't hit me that I'll be home in just a few days.
I was bored the other day, so I made a list of every city I've been do, rated them on a scale of 1 to 9 of how much I would like to live there; 8 being like Austin, 6 like Dallas, 4 like Houston, and 2 like College Station. Then ranked all of those from best to worst, then nerded out and threw in some pivot tables and vlookups on excel. I guess I'll post that spreadsheet and updates travel statistics once I'm home, hopefully in what will be the last post of this blog.
While in Portugal, I met a Spanish girl named Nancy who offered for me to stay at her place in Sevilla for a night and to go see a concert, so naturally I accepted. The night I got back into Sevilla, we went to the Texas Lone Star Saloon at my request and to a small concert in a monastery across the river. Like everyone else I've stayed with on this trip, she hooked me up and I had a blast getting to do something I wouldn't have done had I stayed at a hostel. I stayed in Sevilla another night before taking another 7 hour bus ride to Madrid. I went back to the hostel I had stayed at a week before; the weird old lady had finally moved out and me and one of the employees watched Fresh Prince in Spanish for a little bit. Another great day in Sevilla.
Pajaro
Nancy
Like I said, another 7 hour bus ride and now I'm in Madrid. I'm really glad that this city is really cool, otherwise I would have a rough last few days. Most hostels do a free breakfast, which usually includes toast with jam and nutella and some drip coffee. Like a good American, I carry around with me a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter and usually throw it into the toast mix. This morning while eating, there was a super hung over Kiwi girl who kept saying, "all I want right now is some peanut butter... all I want..." so I handed her the jar and she almost started crying she was so happy. I knew it was going to be a good day. So I walked around a bit , took a nap in a park, found a real quality coffee shop, then played poker with some total bros from LA. I opted out of going to the pub crawl with them, citing that pub crawls "aren't my scene" and are "kind of my seventh circle of hell." They understood, without really understanding. But I was right, it was a good day.
My hero
I don't know what this is called, but I took a nap behind it
Good parenting
The hostel book swap has some real page turners
I'm realizing that this whole thing really is coming to an end pretty soon and I want to make the most of the days I have left. Correction: the day I have left. I'm flying to Boston tomorrow to hang out with my parents for a few days, but that hardly counts as traveling. Until then, I'm just wiling away my time remembering the best and worst parts of my trip, reflecting on how much God has really blessed and taught me in the last 6 months. I fly tomorrow, and it still hasn't hit me that I'll be home in just a few days.
I was bored the other day, so I made a list of every city I've been do, rated them on a scale of 1 to 9 of how much I would like to live there; 8 being like Austin, 6 like Dallas, 4 like Houston, and 2 like College Station. Then ranked all of those from best to worst, then nerded out and threw in some pivot tables and vlookups on excel. I guess I'll post that spreadsheet and updates travel statistics once I'm home, hopefully in what will be the last post of this blog.
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