gone

Driving 2 hours with the top down in the Florida sun is a bad idea. Even though it was only 1030 when we left, I was a little sunburned by the time we got to the airport. Right as we were pulling into the terminal at the airport my Blackberry fell apart and now I have to be careful not to lose the The flights went smoothly and I met a bunch of people from our program along the way.

From the airport we navigated the metro to the train station for 2 euros. All of us were really tired and had to lug our bags all around Madrid for a few hours. In the train station we found a store that sells cell phones and all of us got a prepaid phone. I paid 11 euros for a phone with credit already on it. It was cheaper to get a new phone than to get a sim card for my old phone, go figure. The train finally came and it was only then that I fell asleep for the first time in almost 36 hours. The train ride was really smooth and except for a rambunctious toddler was really peaceful. We agreed the countryside of Extremadura is like that of western Texas.

From the train we caught a cab to the hostel, by which time there were 6 of us as we met more people in the train station and on the train. It was nice to get out of Madrid as everything was expensive and today there is a strike that is slowing down public transportation. Even though we were really tired, we all went out for tapas and drinks in Caceres our first night. The food was good and I think I’m going to have to drink more wine since it really is almost as cheap as water here. The little that we have seen of the town looks beautiful, but they are doing major construction in the town square right now.

The hostel we are staying has clean, nice rooms and is huge. Last night there was what sounded like a elementary school band practicing on one of the upper floors. They must be in town for a competition as there are buses in the parking lot.

I really don’t know what I’m doing here right now. After so much travel, nothing feels permanent. It’s like a vacation right now, hopefully soon it’ll start to feel like home. Also everything so far has been expensive, I need to find a place soon before I burn through all my money! My camera is broken from the Gators game, so hopefully it shouldn't cost too much to fix!