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!