From Paris to Sagunto.

Now that my lone traveling was done, it was time to go to school. Unfortunately, I read 15:40 as 5:40 on my plane ticket and didn't realize it til about 13:00 (1:00 p.m.). I barely made it to the airport in time, but fortunately the plane was delayed a little. After an hour-ish flight, I arrived in Barcelona, finally in Spain! I knew I had to hurry, as my train to Sagunto left in about an hour after leaving the plane. I found a train from the airport to the main train station. As I waited for the next one to come in, I strongly considered taking a taxi, which I really should have. But one finally arrived and I got on. I must have been looking at my watch every minute or two on the way there, as I was cutting it CLOSE. I finally got to the train station and began searching for my platform, but the place was HUGE. I was so sad when my watch hit 7:30 and I still didn't know where to go. Praying that it was delayed I finally found a help desk without a monstrous line. They told me it was too late and I'd need to buy another ticket.

*Sigh*

I've never missed a flight/train/deadline of this nature before. It was depressing, not only because I'd wasted $70, but because later I found out I COULD have made it in that narrow window of time, had I known where to go. I got in line and explained my situation. The guy told me I should go to Castellón as it was really close to Sagunto and the only other train heading in that direction this evening. So I spent another precious sum of funds and went to the platform, wondering how I would let the school know what happened. The train ride was a couple hours and very comfortable, but I was still worried. When I arrived in Castellón, I looked for a help counter, but found none open. I found a pay phone and called the school dorm where they told me I should find another ticket to Sagunto, as it was too far for a taxi. I found a ticket vending machine and literally as I was walking towards it, the screen went blank. I hoped it was just a screen saver, but it didn't respond to anything I did. This was about 11:55 p.m. I saw a sign with the next departure listed at 6:15 a.m. So now I'm stuck in a train station til morning. I found a bench and set up camp, which basically means I sat down. It wasn't two minutes til a security guard came up to me and started yelling in spanish. I didn't know what he was saying, but I understood I needed to leave. I walked out the front door just as all the lights shut off. Now what?





The scene of the, well, you know.



There was a small park nearby, more like a section of grass with some benches. I wasn't about to spend time and money looking for a hotel where I'd stay for less than six hours. So I sat down, popped in the ol' iPod and played the waiting game. It was a somewhat busy street. Cars came by every now and then. In front of me was a large apartment building with several windows open. Around 12:20, a man walked by, stopped, and looked at the building. I found out why when I pulled out an ear bud. We could distinctly hear some people, um, "having relations" in their room. He looked back at me and we both just started laughing. He walked on and I put back the ear bud, turned up the volume, and thought about how funny life can be.

Around one in the morning, a man came up to me asking about something in spanish. I told him I didn't speak the language. So he took it upon himself to teach me. His name was Mohammad and he started telling me all sorts of words and it turned into a nice little review. He ended up sitting on the bench with me and we chatted (or tried to) for nearly two hours. It was a great way to pass the time. We talked about where we were from and shared some music (he's a fan of African tunes). He told me he was 27, but he looked to be about twice that. Before he left, he offered me a cigarette (self-rolled!) and his number. I took the latter. I think I'm going to try to call him once I can speak the language a little better.

I was surprisingly sad when he left, as I still had three hours to go. It started to get pretty cold, so I put on another shirt from my bag and tried to sleep. I woke up even colder a little later and moved to the ground, since it was warmer there. I woke up a little later again with one section of my back being very cold. Apparently, there was a sprinkler system for the section of grass behind me and apparently it was not working very well. So I moved from the stream I was sleeping in back to the bench. I tried sleeping again but it just wasn't working. I think I slept for a total of around forty five minutes, but never more than fifteen minutes at a time. The lights in the station finally came back on and I went back inside. Luckily there was a desk open where I could easily get my ticket. I fell asleep on the train right away and missed my exit. Fortunately, there was a man checking tickets who woke me up and informed me I needed to get off at the next stop, get on the train going the other way to get to Sagunto. I finally arrived, asked the clerk to make sure I was in the right place, and then took a taxi to the school.

I found my room and slept all day and then all night, only waking up for dinner. I reconnected with some Union people and met some others as well. I also met my roommate, Daniel. He's from Germany and also wants to go into medicine. I think we'll get along well. I've taken the placement test and somehow ended up in the Advanced group. I'm not sure how that happened. I think I may have been guessing too well on the test as I do not feel ready for this level. I'll try it out for a few days and then decide if I need to drop down or stick with it. Well it's about time for bed. I'll add more posts once I get some pictures of this place.

It's been quite an experince getting to school here. There's been some hitches and some positive things. But I believe every major event has its purpose. I will continue to trust in God to lead me where I need to go, as he did from London to here. Post comments below, it's great to hear from people!

Paris. Woot.

Friday morning, I checked out and left later than I should have, as it took me longer to find the bus stop than I expected. But I made it with a few minutes to spare. After about two hours of driving, we got to where we would transfer into France. For some reason, our bus was not on the list, so we had to wait quite a while before moving again. I thought we would be driving through the Chunnel to get there, but that wasn't the case. We actually drove onto a train with a bunch of other vehicles which then took us through the Chunnel. It was really weird; we drove into a loooong narrow tunnel, parked, then forty-ish minutes later drove out into France. I hardly felt us moving. After the train, we drove another five-ish hours and then were in Paris. It was already a little late, so I just focused on getting to the hostel. Luckily, the metro wasn't too hard to figure out. I reached the place, finally got some internet and went to bed.

I got up early enough for the free continental breakfast which consisted of rolls, orange juice, and...other rolls. Not a lot of selection. But it was free. I started my day with the Arc de Triomphe, a huge stone archway in the middle of an intersection where twelve roads meet. I climbed to the top and was immediately enjoying myself more than I was in London. After some spectacular views, I climbed down and strolled down the Champs-Élysées, one of Paris' grandest boulevards. The road ended at the Tuileries Garden, which leads to the Louvre, where I spent most of the day. I saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo along with the other thousands of statues and paintings. At this point, I decided the Louvre was the coolest building I'd ever seen. I stayed until closing and then decided to check out Notre Dame, as it was not very far. Luckily, it was still open. I walked inside and instantly no longer thought the Louvre was the coolest building I'd ever seen. Notre Dame is just plain epic. There was an evening mass going on so I just sat in the back to take it all in, even though I couldn't understand the language. Notre Dame's organ makes College View's about as awesome as an unplugged keytar. Okay, it wasn't that much better, but it sure was fun listening to that thing. It was an all-around amazing experience and a good way to spend the first day.

I know, I need a new pose. And shirt.

I spent Sunday at the château de Versailles. Unfortunately, it took a while to get there and I did not have enough time to explore the whole place, even though I spent six-ish hours there. The building itself was pretty neat, although there were WAY too many tourists inside. The gardens were much more amazing. Everywhere you'd go, there'd be classical music playing from hidden speakers, or from hidden orchestras spread throughout, I never did find either. This was probably my priciest day, but I'd do it again if I made it earlier in the day.

You can probably guess where I spent my last day in Paris. I'll give you a hint: It starts with an E and rhymes with iffel tower. Give up? I was at the Eiffel Tower. I know, that was a hard one, my bad. I hadn't looked at prices beforehand so I was worried it'd be too much. I found two options when I got there. You could ride up to the first and second levels for around ten euros, or you could walk for less than four. I decided to get some exercise (the ride to the very top was another five, no matter what). That tower is HUGE. The first level is equivalent to walking 21 flights of stairs and the second is equivalent to 43 flights. I was tired. But the view and the price more than made up for it. I couldn't stop there of course. I continued to the top and took plenty more pictures. You could see for miles and miles (and even more kilometers!) I was extremely satisfied with my visit to Paris and would love to go back, but only with other people though.



Second level of the Eiffel

Yay! I got pictures working!  :D

London. Meh.

Well, I guess it's about that time again. I finally have a little free time in which to post a second blog. Right now I'm at my new home in Spain where I'll be living for the next 9-ish months. Let me tell you a little about how I got here.

I got to Omaha as planned and flew out to Chicago where I waited for an hour or so for my next flight. Nothing too exciting. The flight to London wasn't too bad; I slept a little and watched Iron Man 2 again. It was about when I landed that the whole idea of this trip finally hit me. When the plane hit the ground, I thought to myself, "Whoa! I'm in Europe! This is neat." However, it got much less neat when I got in the customs line, as it was rather long. There was a family in front of me as well as behind me, both with some very unhappy children. And they were letting everyone else know it. Some airport staff eventually pulled them out of line and into a different one, where they got to go straight to a customs official and then into London. This was probably the first time I've wished I had a kid. That thought quickly diminished (sorry, Grandma) as soon as I finally got to the front. After that, I walked right pass the baggage claim as I cheered to myself (I had just one carry-on bag) while everyone else from the plane was waiting again and proudly walked out of the airport into London. And then I embarrassingly walked back in to ask how I get to the Tube. Apparently, there was a station right underneath me.

I decided to first go to my hostel to drop off my bag. I found it easily enough, left my bag in the luggage room, forced myself to not worry about it and headed off to do some sightseeing. I picked up a visit-London booklet and headed to the River Thames. I got some nice pictures of Big Ben and the London Eye as well as the river itself. Right next to the eye, I got approached by a young guy who talked me into visiting the London film museum. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was really surprised at what I found. They had all kinds of original costumes and props from big movies, such as the original suit from Batman Begins. There were also a lot of original props like the lightsabers used in the Star Wars films and the guns used by James Bond in some 007 movies. They also had a whole exhibit dedicated to Charlie Chaplan, which included his original hat and cane. Very neat! I am firmly convinced I need to see some of his movies after visiting that exhibit.

I left, got some curry from a street vendor for lunch and continued my walk. After some more picture taking, I begin to feel the effects of sleeping so little overnight. I forced myself to keep going though, hoping to acclimate to the new time zone. It began to rain, which I guess happens in London once and a while, and started to get rather cold. Still being at the river, here weren't many places to find cover. So now I was wet, cold, dead tired, and beginning to feel miserable. I decided to head back. At my hostel, I was in a room with about twenty other guys. But each bunk was it's own little cave, so it was still private. I fell asleep as soon as I was down and even slept in a little in the morning.

I felt a bit refreshed the next day, despite missing breakfast. But I made up for it at a supermarket. Then I went to the British museum and spent way too long and took way too many pictures. I wasn't particularly interested in a lot of the stuff there, but they did have the Rosetta Stone, which was awesome to see in person.

After the museum, I went to the tower of London, but decided not to go in after seeing the price. The outside was still nice to see. It was about here that I realized I needed a picture or two of myself. When I got bored there, I went to Buckingham Palace, but it was too late to go inside. So yet again, I wandered around, taking more pictures of what I could. Once it got later, I began to just wander the downtown area. There's a lot of cool stuff to see, but there's not a whole lot to do by yourself. So I went back to the hostel for bed. I guess I wasn't too excited about London. Or maybe I just wasn't willing to spend enough money. I'll have to go back. For more than two days. And not by myself.

For some reason, I can't but any pictures in the blog. I'll try more in future posts. But I may just rely on facebook for pics.

In the beginning, Derek learned to blog. And when he looked at what he had done, he saw that he had made jokes.

If you can read this, it means I'm finally figuring out how this blogging thing works. It's pretty neat. I think, given enough time, it may just catch on. And if you can't read this then you're a liar. Yeah, I said it. Anywho, this will be my official blog/public-journal/vulgar-rant-page for while I'm studying broads in Spa-I mean studying abroad in Spain.

Those of you that know my cousin Tristinn probably know that she went to Spain two years ago and that she also had a blog. This is good news for me because on those days when I'm feeling lazy I can just waltz on over to her page, give it the ol' copy & paste and BOOM: Instant Blog. It's so genious that I'm in awe of me. Now, I've yet to ask her for permission to do this, so nobody tell her.

I don't have a guaranteed time that I will be updating this. It will most likely be once every whenever-I-feel-like-it, which will hopefully be often enough to keep you satisfied. Also, I shall have pictures on here in the future.

So it's about 3:30 in the morning on the day I fly out right now. I am just about all packed and ready to head out in the morn.I fly out at about 3:00 p.m. to Chicago, and then I go from there to London. I've booked two nights at a hostel there, giving me just enough time to see much less than I'd like to. Friday morning, I will take a bus from London through the Chunnel to Paris. I will be in Paris for four nights in which I will do as many French clichés as possible. Then on Tuesday afternoon, I take a short plane ride to Barcelona where I'll taxi my way to the train station to get to Sagunto. Hopefully, they'll still pick me up at 10:30 p.m.

So that's the beginning of my journey. Make sure to check back here when you can. And make sure to leave comments, so I know who to buy gifts* for.







*Gifts include, and are probably limited to: hugs, links to non-related websites, permission to facebook poke me, and other things that cost €0.00 (That's just under actual money in American dollars!).