we are still alive

Sorry for not posting lately. Things have been a little crazy. We are in Hamburg now with Tobias our friend who was an exchange student at Dartmouth. Ive also been hanging out with Mariana (my ex-girlfriend from years ago who was an exchange student from Brazil) and have been trying (unsuccessfully) to have a single conversation with her.
Its hard to articulate all of this surrounding Mariana because its such a long story, but...it sucks.
Luckily I have Wacken tomorrow - the world's largest heavy metal festival. I need it. Too many emotions right now for me - depression, sadness, anger, frustration - all while Im with friends in a great place when I should be enjoying myself. Tomorrow I'm just going to jump right in to the mosh pit with 80,000 Northern European kids and just let it all out. Metal has saved me from myself too many times in my life already and tomorrow is just going to be another example. My metal pilgrimage reaches its conclusion tomorrow in the tiny town of Wacken.
For now, though, I have to somehow pretend to have conversations with Mariana some more. I have such great luck with relationships/women
awesome

Luzern

After spending the night at our campground on the shore of Lake Luzern we head out into the most beautiful, quintessential Swiss town ever - Luzern. It would be perfect if it didnt cost 18 dollars for a hamburger, butim so glad were here. I feel like the poorest person in this city by at least 1000%, but it works for me - wouldnt have it any other way. I think Greg and I are going to go for a swim in the lake now. Ill update more later.
Tomorrow is Lake Lzugano then Lake Como, Italy

Swiss Alps

I forgot how incredibly beautiful this country was. Our train ride to Luzern today was incredible. We passed up, around, and through mountains with little Swiss villages dotting the sides of the mountains with snow covered peaks in the distance. Now were at a great campground outside of Luzern and are going to hnag here for 2 days before we go to Lake Como for 2 days. Everything would be great if this wasnt the most expensive country on Earth, but camping isnt expensive and were having fun. Ill update more about Luzern tomorrow.

Geneva camping

So we made it out of Lisbon alive somehow and are now at a campground literally right on the shore of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Lisbon was a great place, but we needed to relax and this has been great. Tomorrow well explore more of the city before we head to Luzern to camp there, via Interlaken. Everything is going great and were having a good time.

Lisboa

Greg and I had a good time in Porto and headed to Lisbon today which seems like a really great place. Were about ready to go out and explore to get some food, but it looks like its one of those Catholic cities that completely shuts down on Sundays. Dont really have much to add other than all is well and were having great time. Ill let you know more about what Lisbon is like later.

Sad to leave

Greg and I had an incredible time yesterday. We spent most of it talking and laughing with this girl from Canada that Greg met on the Camino and she and her friend were a lot of fun. We got yelled at in Spanish this morning by the hotel person for making too much noise, but she didn´t fine us, and I´ll never see her again for the rest of my life so all is well.
In a few hours Greg and I head back down to Porto Portugal which Im really looking forward to showing to Greg.
All in all Im sad to leave Santiago de Compostela which is an absolutely amazing place, but I´m feelin the travel itch and ready to go have some more adventures in far away lands. Tonight we´ll be eating roasted meats in Portuguese cafes. Cant wait!

Santiago reunion successful

I met Greg this morning in front of the cathedral and all is well. We had breakfast and went to mass and now are going to go and check in to our hotel for the night and enjoy this great city together. I´ll probably post more about our day later, but just wanted to let everyone know we met up and are having a blast in this incredible city!

Some great experiences...

Yesterday afternoon I met up with my great friend Luke from Stuttgart and we walked all over Porto which is an amazingly beautiful city that is basically one giant hill with cobblestone streets and cathedrals everywhere. I cannot possibly explain how beautiful that city is...
Anyway, we were walking through this park when we ran into a group of really friendly Portuguese kids whop we wound up just hanging out with and talking to all day long and I will most likely see again when Greg and I go back to Porto on Saturday. It truly was one of the most incredible experiences of my life truly experiencing the culture of another country through interaction with people my age. To hear their thoughts on things and their life stories and hopes for the future was something I will remember the rest of my life. It truly was one of the best days Ive ever had.
Later in the evening we met up with Luke´s friends from the Camino who live in Porto and they brought us to an AMAZING restaurant where Luke and I ate the best roasted chicken Ive ever had in my entire life washing it down with Portuguese beer which is fantastic. After that we took a bus to the beach about 10 minutes away and saw a castle literally on the jagged rocks of the coast which, when translated, is called The Cheese Castle. It was sooo much fin and I didnt want to say goodbye to my great friends who I hope to see again, but I had to get back to my hostel bc my train was at 7:55 am in the morn.
One problem... my ipod which I have been relying on for a watch and an alarm clock ran out of batteries during the night and I wound up sleeping til about 8:30. The train was the only one the entire day so I either had to stay in Porto or find a bus. SInce I already have a room reserved in Santiago for the night I decided to get on a bus and I just now arrived in Santiago.
The bus ride was one of the most incredible expriences of my life (Ive been having alot). I had an inner struggle within myself for the whole 4 hours because I am reading the most incredible, life changing book Ive ever read called On the Road by Jack Kerouac and was so engrossed in it, but the secenery outside was breathtaking. The Portuguese coast is dotted with vineyards and beautiful mountain villages that are absolutely incredible. The sea was in the background as I looked across gren vineyard and red fields of wild flowers with small farmhopuses and their red tile roofs occasionally inteterspersed.
I absolutely loved Portugal, though, and cannot wait to go back, even though I am back in Santiago which Im in love with, as well.
SOme thoughts on Portugal...
Portugese food is amazing! All sorts of great roast meats for no money at all are everywhere and are incredible. They ahve this dish called francheszinnha or something like that, that almost brought me to tears. It is a piece of incredible bread ( a giant piece) with a steak on top of it, followed by a chicken breast, followed by a meat like cappicola, followed by sausage, covered in cheese, with a friend egg on top, and all covered in gravy. If a single dish could be a manifestation of all that I could ever want in life - it would be this.
Also noteworthy, it appeares mandatory that every Portuguese man over 40 have a mustache which I respect wholeheartedly.
Also, it appears mandatory that every Portuguese male under 25-28 have dreadlocks and wear sleeveless t-shirts.
Also, Portuguese people do not sweat. I´m not making this up. They really dont.
Overall, Portugal really agreed with me. I truly enjoyed the beauty of Porto and the Portuguese culture and am looking forward to seeing more of the country in a few days. Tomorrow, Greg finally arrives in Santiago and I will greet him at the cathedral as he finishes the Camino. Cant wait!

Things Ive seen so far in Portugal...

I simply walked down the street and saw roosters and chickens running all over the place
I saw a urinal standing alone in the middle of a small park at the intersection of 3 busy streets
Shade is a premium when its about 100 degrees outside and I saw two old guys fighting (literally) for a spot on a bench in the shade
Ive been to a grocery store where I saw, and bought, a 2 liter bottel of water for 23 cents. Just to put this in perspective... it would cost at least 1.50 euro in Barcelona and probably 4-5 euro in Paris
Ive met and talked already to people from my hostel from Canada, Australia, Italy, Portugal, Algeria, and the US
For whatever reason, there are soldiers EVERYWHERE walking around on the streets. I guess theyre there if theres a revolution or something - beats me. Theyre all very friendly though.
Im about to meet my friends I met yesterday in about half an hour and were gonna go to the beach.
So, in other words, Portugal is pretty cool. I would liken it to a Poor Mans Spain which works for me.
Tomorrow morning Im heading back to Santiago, though, where Ill spend the afternoon and evening alone, but then Greg is supposed to arrive the next day. My friend is going back to Germany tomorro morning, so it all works out well. Things are definitely on the up and up

Portugal

So I got in to Porto Portugal late last night and havent explored the city yet. I like it already though. Everything is half the price of everywhere else in Europe and its hot and suny with historic buildings and palm trees- nice.
I met a really cool German hippie guy named Luke from Stuttgart on the train from Santiago. We instantly became friends and were going to hang out today with his friends from the Camino who live in Porto who are going to give us the real tour. Things are going well though and Im meeting tons of really nice people. Just gotta figure out how to get some laundry done- down to my last clean clothes....
WOuld write more but the internet on this computer seems like it is about as fast as the 16th century Portuguese explorers ships to get from an american website and back. Will try to update later...
H

ahhh... much better...

Finally, Lady Luck has turned in my favor. Hopefully it will stay this way. Can´t even begin to tell you how much better I´m feeling about things right now.
So I took a night train from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela last night after heading from Barcelona to Madrid yesterday afternoon. Madrid seemed like a great city, but is so big, it semmed like it´d be hard for me to get too much out of it in such a short time so I really just hung out at the train station and ate a tortilla sandwich (tortilla = my favorite spanish food which = an awesome omellette with potatoes and cheese if you´re lucky).
Here´s another equation for you...
-(yesterday´s train experience) = the rest of my train experiences in Spain
The night train was great. I had a little 5.5 foot bed in a tiny little cabin with 4 bunks and immediately fell asleep at 11 pm until the conductor woke me up at 7 am. He took my railpass for the night when he checked the tickets when we got on board which I was not happy about and let him know it, but he came through and gave it back to me in the morning. I have no idea why they would need to do that, but I had horrible visions of him losing it which would have been disasterous.
So, anyway, I got in to Santiago de Compostela this mornign at 7 am and immediately walked to the Cathedral where St. James is supposedly buried and is the end of the Camino where I will be meeting Greg (hopefully?) on the 18th. It´s in this expansive plaza which is completely empty, surrounded by the cathedral on one side and beautiful gothic buildings on the other three sides. It was probably about 55 degrees and there was a fine mist in the air and the only things alive in the square were me and the birds flying overhead. It was really quite extraordinary and there definitely is something spiritual about that cathedral and this city. It really got me reflecting on a whole lot - my graduation, this trip, my misadventure in Ireland, my future. I was getting really deep into my thoughts when I had been there alone for about an hour until this German kid my age named Renker came and introduced himself. What a cool guy... Renker is 21 and a semi-pro soccer player from a town near Bremen in Germany and decided to do the whole Camino Frances - 39 days for him, by himself. We sat for an hour or so just telling stories of our travels. He had a difficult situation with a girl himself recently so we both lamented to each other haha.
Then his friend from the Camino, a Spanish girl named Leire came over and sat with us. She is from Madrid and was heading home today after about 3 weeks on the Camino, herself.
We then went to get breakfast together and I was introduced to the Spanish breakfast treat, churros con chocolate, which was delicious.
Sitting there talking to my new friends who just finished the Camino almost brought me to tears. I wish more than anything that I could do the Camino with Greg. It seems like such an incredible, life changing experience. I got really depressed when they left, but I keep trying to remind myself that things happen for a reason (ie. my knee). (sorry if this is turning too much into a diary)...
Theres somthing about this beautiful city that just really makes you want to reflect on things. I have no idea what I did to deserve my knee problems which have prevented me from playing football, doing the Camino, or even just being able to run and do things like play basketball for the rest of my life. I have no idea what I did to deserve being treated so badly by Lauren an that whole fiasco. But, you know what, I really don´t care. I´m so blessed to be here right now on this trip which is something I truly understand not many people can ever do. I feel truly blessed to ahve such wonderful family and friends. Despite my numerous health problems, I feel blessed to be alive and in relatively good health.
So, overall, I´m actually quite happy right now. More so than I´ve been in while.
I´m going to take advantage of my short time here in Santiago de Compostela and go to the Pilgrim´s Mass at the Cathedral in an hour. Then I´m actually going to go get my hair cut which is long overdue and the just enjoy the rest of the day here before I head to Porto, Portugal tonight where I´ll spend the enxt few days. Santiago is an amazing place, but is a place where one day is fully sufficient.
So, tomorrow I´ll be writing from Portugal, the land of inexpensive hostels, fine seafood, and a language I know about three words in. Right now though, I´m happy to say things are definitely looking up and I can´t wait for Greg to get here so we can have more adventures (the good kind) together before we head home in about 3 weeks.

Misadventures

Picasso museum was closed bc it´s a monday. That makes sense, right? So my count on the two museums I´ve actually attempted to see since Ive been here is 0-2 (Louvre was closed when I went to that, also).
My count in Barcelona of people that have treid to sell me hash or marijuana in a total of about 3 days here during this trip is approximately 17. Don´t know why, but, for some reason, the drug dealers in Barcelona are everywhere and are not afraid to get in your face and ask you in every language they know if you wnat what theyre selling. Everywhere else I´ve been, none of that. Don´t know why.
I actually had to knock the crap out of one of them today bc he went for my pockets after I turned him down when he asked me if I wanted hash. A Cop was right nearby and started screaming at the guy as he got off the ground and ran away.
So I´m back in the internet cafe now bc I feel like I´ve seen and done everything you can possibly do for free in this city. It´s quite beautiful, but is certainly tourist central. I´m looking forward to heading to Porto, Portugal tomorrow night bc it´s supposed to be a really cool town and isnt swarming with tourists aka not expensive. My misadventures have cost me much more than I wished they had, so I really have to be careful and live like a bum this next week. Shouldnt be too bad though. I got a cheap hostel which was rated very highly in Porto and I´ll just eat picnics from stuff I can get at the market there. Probably will head down to the beach and get sunburnt too. All in all, as long as I don´t have any trouble with the trains tonight, things are finally looking up and I can get this trip turned around again. I´m definitely looking forward to seeing Greg and going to Lisbon and exploring more of Portugal with him before we head back over to Switzerland, Italy, Germany (Wacken Open Air concert!!!), and the Netherlands.

Barcelona again

So I made it to Barcelona with little trouble. Well, sort of haha. I wound up sitting on the plane (an aer lingus one, again) with a beautiful blonde Irish girl. When she started trying to talk to me and ask me what I was doing that night, etc., I ignored her and pretended I was asleep a few times, but when that didnt work I told her I was meeting my ¨girlfriend.¨The last thing I need is to get involved with another beautiful blonde I just met on an Aer Lingus flight to a foreign country. She might have been the one - who knows? Right now I´m just too jaded and tired of dealing with women to even find out.
So, anyway, made it to my hotel where on the way an old lady hit me with her bag as I was walking down the street. Apparently I have the look of a Spanish mugger with my light brown hair and giant backpack on my back. Maybe she could just tell I was American and wanted to pretend I´m Geroge Bush like everyone else I´ve met in Spain seems to think. I never will understand why Americans, no one else, just Americans, are hated because of the acts of a single politician. Do I pretend everyone is the socialist wimp they elected after the Madrid train bombings bc the Spanish people would rather surrender to Islamic terrorism than face reality and stand up for their way of life and freedoms?? Anyway, I digress...
So I managed to get on a night train to Santiago de Compostela via Madrid tonight. Had to pay 43 euros bc they basically only give you discounts on tickets with your rail pass which is supposed to guaruntee you the right to board any train in Europe... sigh. I guess its not too bad though, bc I´ll be sleeping in a couchette on the train so it saves me from having to get a hostel or hotel.
So, I have about 4 hours before I need to make my way back to the train station, so I think I may go visit the Picasso museum and look at some wierd stuff.
Just pray for me that I somehow can make it in one hour and a half (if everything is on time) for my connection in Madrid from one Madrid station to another. I´m trying to be confident, but with my luck, I might be spending the evening in Madrid tonight. We´ll see.

Back to the Iberian

It's 1:35 pm here in Belfast and my plane to Barcelona leaves at 4:20 and the airport entrance is lterally about 75 yards away from my hotel so I'm just trying to waste time. Tonight I went ahead and booked a hotel room in Barcelona because I didnt want to get stranded by missing the last train that would have taken me to Santiago de Compostela which leaves exactly 2 hours after my plane lands. With my luck when it comes to Spanish trains (and just about everything else, lately), there'd be no way I'd get on it, and I'm tired of being stuck in Spanish train stations overnight. So, tomorrow I'm going to try to get on a train to Santiago where I'll hang out for a few days before Greg arrives. I'm looking forward to it, and am thinking I might do a few kilometers of the Camino myself if my knee is feeling good, which it really has been this past week (plus I'll leave my bag in my hostel or hotel room, so I wont have that added weight). Let's just pray things go a little more smoothly this time around when it comes to traveling in Spain! I went ahead and looked and will just get on a damn bus from Barcelona if the train people try to screw with me again. Spain, for whatever reason, makes you pay outrageous surcharges even with the railpass on basically every train, so it'll probably cost the same for a bus, just take twice as long, though.
Anyway, here are some thoughts on Belfast...
Little did I know that when I arrived, I happened to be arriving on this holiday here in Northern Ireland which amounts to basically "Kill the Protestant!" or "Kill the Catholic!" Day. Yesterday, it was cold (big surprise), so I wore my only jacket I have which is my green Dartmouth football windbreaker. Here's some advice for anyone traveling to Belfast on the weekend of July 12... Don't wear a green jacket in the protestant area of town. I had little kids running up and kicking me in my shins as well as hooligans screaming "F' the pope" and "F' Ireland" everywhere I turned. Quickly, I took off my jacket and yelled back at them "Long live the Queen" and "God bless King William III" bc that seemd to be what they were doing and I don't want to die just yet (believe it or not).
As for the city... Belfast is Dublin except...
it's clean
it's not half as crowded
it doesn't smell and isn't covered in garbage
and
it is actually quite beautiful.
I love architecture and the Victorian architecture of Belfast is really quite extraordinary.
So, I walked around for4 about 2 hours taking some pictures and I think I saw all there is to see of this city. It's actually quite nice, but I felt like there was as much to see as a tourist would visiting Hanover, NH - one afternoon is plenty.
I'm sure Ireland and Northern Ireland would be extraordinary because the secenery is incredible, but it is the antithesis of an ideal place for a 22 year old backpacker on a budget with a rail pass. If I had loads of money to spend and was on a tour around the country or even just had a rental car, I could imagine Ireland being an ideal place to vacation.
But...I'm back to Spain. Tonight I'll be back in my favorite Spanish city so far - Barcelona.
When I got to Ireland, I realized that Spain was actually pretty awesome except for our insane travel nightmares due to Spanish train people screwing us over bc we spoke with American Spanish accents. So, just pray that this time I can avoid that and actually enjoy Galicia and Santiago de Compostela before heading down the coast into Portugal which is a backpacker's paradise bc everything is cheap, beautiful, and the weather is great - or at least so I hear.
Pray for me.
H

My New Plans

ok so after writing that last post I came to a big conclusion...
I want to get off this God forsaken island.
Sooooo, after hours of searching and a call to Bank of America to get them to stop freezing my bank account for suspicious activity...
I bought a cheap ticket I found to Barcelona from here in Belfast for tomorrow afternoon.
I then am going to get on a train and make my way to Santiago de Compostela where I will meet Greg when he finishes the Camino and we can get things rolling again with better luck and hopefully turn around this past week or so.
So, tomorrow I head back to Spain and then I'll probably get stranded a bunch of times again, but I will make it to Santiago de Compostela and will have some time there until Greg arrives, then we should have 4 or five days until we take a flight from Lisbon to Geneva.
I feel better now just knowing what I'm going to do and that it doesnt involve having to be homeless in ireland for 5 days with nothing to do except look at sheep and be cold in the rain.

Where do I begin?

It would be an understatement to say things haven't been working out exactly as I had hoped and/or imagined they would (at least ever since me left Germany). This would be an understatement on the past few days which quite possibly have been some of the worst (mostly emotionally) in my life. I'm going to get a little emo here so prepare yourself (if anyone still reads this thing)...
Right now I am sitting in the business center of a Belfast airport hotel. How did this begin...
A few days ago I left Greg in Bilbao, Spain at about 4:30 in the morning because I needed to catch a 6 am bus on the other side of the city to the Santander Airport about an hour away to get on a plane to Dublin.
Now why would I go to Dublin?
I messsed up my knee somehow when it randomly popped on a train about 2 weeks ago and decided that it would be impossible, or at least stupid, for me to attempt to do the Damino de Santiago with Greg...yah the one Ive had dreams about and have been looking forward to for about 9 months.
So I had to figure out what I was going to do for a week while Greg did the Camino. It didnt take long for me to immediately make the decision that I was going to go back and stay with Lauren in Dublin during that time. (we had met on the plane, hit it off like I never have before with another person in my life, talked about being together when we get home, she wanted me to come back and stay with her, blah, blah, blah).
So that's what I did. I, being the stupid, naive, psycopathic romantic, figured it was going to be one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Little did I know...
I got to Dublin with no problems at all. It was exactly how I left it: cold, dirty, and wet. I was supposed to meet Lauren at her work at 2 pm which she took off early from bc I was coming in. Problem was, I had about 2 hours once I trekked through the pouring rain to her office. Didnt have anything to do or anywhere to go, so I decided I would just wait and read under the overhang outside of her office. Apparently I look like a homeless drug addict, so they called the cops on me for loitering I guess. I just explained to the cop what I was doing though and he told the people in the office to shove it. All was still well...
Finally, Lauren came out. What can I say about this girl...great persoality, out of this world beautiful which can make a man (such as myself) blinded to reality, etc. Everything was great...
for a few hours...
She was acting a little strange, but I still though everything was fine. We had a nice time together and went out with some of her friends and it was an ok night, I guess just not quite like I miagined, but that was ok. The next day we woke up and decided to travel down on the train south of Dublin and go to the beach and visit some of the villages and see the beautiful scenery. Ok, everything still fine...
We get back and she had been acting a little (annoying?). Examples:
making fake baby crying noises whenever I didnt immediately cater to this girl's every whim
Completely ignore me and give me the shoulder when I would try to hug her or anything and then get mad at me if I didnt give her a hug, etc, when she wanted I guess
Sooo many more things...
Ok so at this point I guess I was a little disappointed bc this wasnt the same girl I had the best 24 hours of my life with a few weeks earlier, but I could deal with it and thought maybe things would get smoother the more time went by.
Then it happened.
She started crying about how she was homesick and got mad at me bc I didnt want to baby her and cry with her but told her "Lauren you gotta be more independent and just enjoy your time here and its only a few weeks til you go home, and take advantage of this amazing opportunity to be in Ireland, etc" (Please someone tell me what is so awful about that?)
Then she started crying about how amazing I am and how much she likes me and how I'm so different, BUT
She is so confused, doesnt know what she wants, I deserve better, blah blah blah
What the heck am I supposed to do now? I guess I had 2 options:
First option, tell her how I felt which was very sad for me but brutally honest... "You know what, I do deserve better. You've been an immature brat since Ive been here and I don't know how someone can completely change. Damn, I'm stupid for wasting my vacation time to come back here to a city I didnt particularly enjoy on a whim that maybe there is such as a thing as love at first sight and something may come of our whole encounter"
or option 2: practice damage control so maybe I wouldnt want to castrate myself for being so stupid to have come here in the first place and maybe salvage at least a somehwat enjoyable time out of the whole mess.
Stupidly, and if you know me well enough you would have already guessed, I chose option 2.
But guess what?? IT DIDNT WORK!!!
It took me a night of sleeping on a couch to figure out maybe I'm not doing the right thig and should just get the hell out of town, but I finally came to my senses.
When I woke up the next morning, I went o the computer and figured out where the hell I could go and how the hell to get there. I chose to come to Belfast, Northern Ireland bc it was the only destination I could really get from from the one train station I could get to.
After a few disgustingly fake " Oh I hope you come back and see me in a few days, call me, email me, I'll miss you...blah blah blah" lines from Lauren I turned and, without a word, left Griffith College in Dublin, Ireland.
So here I am, in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Thoughts on Belfast...
1. I was stupid enough (who would have thought?) to not realize that I was going in to the land of the British Pound, otherwise known as the Dollar Killer.
2. The only place I could find was a hotel at the airport which is actually really nice and inexpensive by Belfast standards, although I still will probably be broke at the end of this trip bc of the last 10 days.
3. The reason the only hotel I could get into is the one Im at at the airport is because July 12 happens to be the annual "KIll the Protestants" or "Kill the Catholics" holiday in Northern Ireland depending on your point of view. I thought that whole mess was over with, but little did I know that as I made my way to the airport I would have to travel around roadblocks created by protestant militant bondfires and have to take a detour bc a bomb squad car had to check out a threat. Needless to say, I was told it probably wouldnt be smart for me to venture out to the city last night bc usually there are at least a few people that get shot or blown up.
F me, right?
Good things about Belfast so far...
I got to my hotel about 4 pm, decided to watch some tv, fell asleep, and woke up at 10 am. This is good bc:
a: I obviously needed to sleep
b: I didnt spend any money
c: When I slept, I was able to forget about the emotional hell I had just been though.
Soooo, I booked this hotel again for the night but still have a huge problem. What the hell am I going to do and where the hell am I going t0 go until Thursday morning when I fly out of Dublin to Porto, Portugal to meet Greg. I have to go back to Ireland just for financial reasons as this place burns a hole through my wallet, but Ireland is not exactly an easy place to get around. Sure, I have my rail pass and Ireland has a decent train system, but every sight worth seeing is far from any rail station. Basically, I need a car, but dont have the money to rent one, or have the guts to attempt to drive through the rain on the opposite side of the road. So, basically, I'm stuck in Belfast, have to leave sometime tomorrow I guess, and have no idea where the hell I'm going to go or what the hell I'm going to do until Thursday when I can meet back up with Greg and maybe things can get back to normal and we can have a great time for the rest of our trip - the segment I've been most excited about from the beginning.
So, if anyone reads this thing still, feel free to give me some suggestions. I have no idea what to do. I guess, for right now at least, I'm going to go into town, eat for the first time in about 30 hours, take some pictures of smoldering cars, and then come back and try to sleep 20 hours again to waste time until next Thursday.
The funny thing is...I should have known this was going to happen. Maybe Ive actually learned my lesson. I strongly believe I just may become a hunter and gatherer and live in the woods the rest of my life.

All Around Insanity

Sorry for not posting the past few days. I havent had access to a computer...
So, we actually wound up making it to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. What can I say about Pamplona... it was like the worlds biggest outdoor frat party multiplied by 100000. I have never seen anything like that in my life. We met up with some awesome guys our age from Colorado and ran around the city meeting people from all over the world and everyone was drinking wine and dancing in the streets til the wee hours and it was absolutely insane.
Thats where the fun ended though. Greg somehow managed to seperate himself from everyone else even though me and one of the guys we were with were about at least 6 inches taller than the next tallest person and 10 seconds after we lost track of Greg who is still mad about the situation bc hye went off by himself to our meeting spot while we figured we´d wind up seeing him there in a few hours in the morning bc we had no idea where we were or how to get there after drinking way too much wine and being in the middle of half a million partiers.
Anyway, I wound up following these guys back to where they were going to crash for a few hours near their car at this park and immediately fell asleep. When I came to, I was somehow sleeping in a graveyard and it was 9 am, an hour after the running of the bulls started and 45 minutes after it ended. I then tried to find where Greg was at our ¨meeting spot¨ but, again, couldnt find it, and since it was 10 am then, decided to head to the bus station where we had an 11 am bus back to Vitoria. I waited there about half an hour and then Greg showed up and the nightmare was over. I had our passports, rail passes, and credit cards on me, so if he missed that bus, I dont know how he would have made it back to Vitoria.
A word on that.... Thank God for secret security wallets. I had a money clip with only about 10 euros in my pocket, which was stolen from me while I slept I guess. The guys I was with had their bags and just about everything other than their passports and credit cards which they hid under the spare tire of their car taken from them as they slept in that same car where their bags were. Greg had his wallet (with nothing important in it thankfully) literally cut out of his pocket while he slept on a bench and he unfortunately lost like 50 euros.
So Pamplona was pretty much a failure. It was hell trying to get there, we got robbed (unfortunately not too badly, though), and we both missed the actual Running of the Bulls because I was sleeping and Greg was waiting at our meeting spot I never wound up finding again.
Sooooo, yesterday we managed to make it back to Vitoria which was a great city in the middle of Basque country with noi tourists and an awesome cheap hotel that we spent the entire day recovering from Pamplona in. Today, we traveled to Bilbao where we are now. Bilbao seems like an awesome city and the primary language here is Basque, not Spanish, which makes things interesting. I wont be seeing much of Bilbao, though, because I have to get on a bus at 6 am to the airport in Santander which is like the budget airline airport for Bilbao and is an hour and a half away. I´m really, really excited to get back to Dublin and spend some time with Lauren. I´m going to give Dublin another chance and also travel to the Irish countryside which I´m sure I will love. Overall, I need a break from traveling and having a whole week in Dublin is going to be amazing and is exactly what I need.
Lets just pray something insane doesnt happen in my traveling between now and then like every time weve tried to travel somewhere in Spain so far.
I solemnly swear I will never set foot in this country again if I can help it. It may be beautiful, the food and climate may be great, but I have never had such bad luck, especially when everything was going so smoothly until we got here.
My favorite countries in order so far:
Germany
Czech Republic
France
Ireland
Belgium
Switzerland
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Spain

24 hours of hell

Where do I begin...
We couldnt get on the night train we wanted bc the Spanish rail workers went on strike for the day which prevented us from being able to reserve our seats all the way through from Barcelona to Bayonne. So, I found that if we took the night train to this city called Zaragoza in the middle of nowehere and we sle`t at the station a few hours, then we could get on a train to a small town called Caltayude and then from there to Bayonne - no problem. Only problem was, the rail website and the people at the ticket counter told us we didnt need reservations with our rail passes from Zaragoza to Calatayude and then to Bayonne, and they were wrong. First we had to pay 12 euro to travel the 20 minutes to Calatayude (after having to pay 30 for the stupid night train already - so much for rail passes in Spain). Once we got to Calatayude which is the sleepiest little town Ive ever seen in my life and we had to rely completely on our Spanish, we were told that the train to Bayonne is full and we had to have reservations...awesome. We asked what we could do and the guy told us we could go back to Zaragoza at 4 in the afternoon and then take a train the next day (it was 7:30 am and we hardly slept on the 5 hour night train to Zaragoza). So we were screwed. We walked into town and founf there was a bus we could take at noon to Madrid for 10 euros. We figured that was our best shot and even considered renting a car in Madrid if the trains from there failed (we desperately wnated to get to Bayonne bc we hadnt slept and we have a hotel there tonight that they will charge us for even if we had cancelled bc it is within 24 hours). SO we bought tickets for that bus and then decided to walk back to the train station to see if the guy could go ahead and book us from Madrid to somewhere remotely close to Bayonne off of the damn high speed rail lines that we have to pay a fortune and reserve bc for some reason Spain doesnt like to acknowledge our 1000 dollar rail passes that are perfectly fine in every other European country.
Once we got back to the train station and tried talking to the ticket guy in our Spanglish, we figured out that he could go and book us to Pamplona back through Zaragoza and then we can get on a train to Hendaye 40 kilometers from Bayonne on the French-Spanish border. He couldnt get us a ticket from Hendaye to Bayonne bc the Spanish rail system is retarded and based on 1957 Soviet technology and service procedures.
So now we are in Pamplona where we are going to come back to tomorrow, waiting in an internet cafe until our train to Hendaye leaves at 6:46 pm (its 4 pm and weve been here for 3 hours). Once we get to Hendaye we have an hour until the last train to Bayonne which will get us in about 11 pm except we have to reserve the seat for that and pay even more so we´re just praying that we can somehow get on that train and its not full. If it is, I´m seriosuly considering just having a taxi drive us the 40 kilometers and pay him the fortune it will cost.
So, all in all, from Bayonne to Barcelona has cost us about 60 euros each so far and we arent even there yet. Best case scenario it will have taken about 25.5 hours to get from Barcelona to Bayonne which is probably about a 4-5 hour drive. Bottom line, I felt like I was in a more orderly, civilized country when I was in Istanbul Turkey than in the western European nation of Spain. I would vote to kick this ¨country¨out of the EU and adopt the Islamic state of Turkey in its place.
I´m really just looking to heading back to ireland in a few days and then getting on with our trip in Portugal for a few days and the back to civilization in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, then the UK.
This whole Running of the Bulls thing better be worth it. So far, I don´t get it though. It starts tomorrow and Pamplona is an absolute ghost town with a tiny rail station about 2 miles away from the actual center. Ive seen about 10 people in this entire city, so I really dont understand the whole logistics of this party that is supposed to be one of the biggest and best in the entire world.
Hopefully, I can write my next blog from Bayonne or back here in Pamplona tomorrow after Ive had a night´s sleep in Bayonne.
God bless the USA.

Barcelona and Spanish people...

Barcelona is an AMAZING city. The architecture is incredible, the weather gorgeous, the food great...everything is amazing except...the people haha. Every negative stereotype about the Frenhc you hear all the time never came to be for us while we were in France. However, Spanish people are exactly the way the French are characterized. They all are rude and cold towards Americans and always give you these arrogant ¨holier than thou¨ looks. Also, they like to congregate directly in the middle of the busiest walking paths like annoying Dartmouth kids with absolutely no respect or consideration for anyone trying to walk by (Greg and I termed this horrible condition ¨Dartmouth Syndrome¨ years ago to describe kids at Dartmouth who always seem to get in our way bc most of them were socially retarded.
However, today we saw some amazing sights like Gaudi´s house, the Sagrada Familia cathedral which was amazing, and also Parque Guall designed by Gaudi also.
Anyway, I still love Spain and am excited to see more of the country and get out of the big city. Tonight, Greg and I are taking a night train to Bayonne France right near San Sebastion Spain where we´ll spend the next few days before the infamous running of the bulls in Pamplona.

ESPANA!!!!!!!

Wow, things have been interesting since that last post.
First, even though several different eurail websites on the internet all said there was a night train to Barcelona, from Nice, the train station ticket guy was adamant that next one was at 6 am and we had to wait for that one. So being true Bavarian soldiers (having been told this by our Bavarian soldier friends), we decided to be homeless for the night rather than pay some ridiculous 50 euro for a Nice hostel to get a few hours of sleep. So Greg and I decided the best spot to hang out for the night was the beach, and it all worked out well. We met this girl who told us the most magical story about how she saw God in Amsterdam, and followed him around the city because he was playing the cello for her and apparently looked like an old Jewish guy. We also met a girl from Nashville who goes to Ole Miss and immediately remembered why we dont live in Nashville anymore.
We wound up getting about 2 hours of sleep lying on the rock beach of Nice on top of our bags so nothing would get stolen and then boarded the train for Barcelpna yesterday morning at 6.
Until we got to the beautiful Spanish border city of Port Bou, we had about 8 hours, of which I slept at least 7, so it all surprisingly worked out well.
The train went along the Spanish coast overlooking vineyards and cliffs at the sea and was BEAUTIFUL! Also, just being able to speak a good amount of Spanish is great u8nlike ion France where we never knew what was going on.
Last night we finally got to Barcelona where we immediately felt so much more comfortable. The city is BEAUTIFUL, and, on a tip from this guy at out hostel, we went to this Spanish greasy spoon diner place and had one of the biggest and most satisfying meals of our lives for about 10 euros and ate so much that the Spanish guys around us were getting scared. Today were going to do some more sightseeing and then are going to take a night train to Bayonne, France near San Sebastion, Spain where well spend a few days before the running of the bulls in Pamplona where i will watch Greg get gored from afar.
By the way, if you put your money on me heading back to Ireland, youd be a rich man, because Im all set to go back and stay with Lauren and I leave from Bilbao Spain on July 9 and then fly back to Porto, Portugal where Ill meet Greg after he finishes the Camino on July 17.
This time I plan on visiting alot of the Irish countryside, and, if you havent guessed already, Lauren is kind of special to me, and Im thinking this might turn into something.
Tomorrow Ill be posting from Bayonne France. Wish us Luck!
Harrison

Hi Nice...Bye Nice!!!

This has certainly been an interesting day. We took a flight from Berlin to Nice on EZJet which should be renamed the Screaming Baby Express, got on a bus to Nice city center and immediately we both wanted to leave. Nice is Panama City Florida but 10,000 times more expensive with nothing but Euro Kids dancing around to techno music while North African Halal butchers give you death stares that send shivers down your spine. Since we didnt have a room booked or anything we decided to get on the next train out of the French Riviera which will be at 6 am to Barcelona tomorrow which Im really excited about seeing.
Additionally, Ive come to the conclusion that my knee is not going to be able to cut it on our 150 mile Camino De Santiago trek in Northern Spain a week and a half from now. Greg still wants to do the hike even though I cant, so I have to decide what to do. If i were a betting man I would put money on my going and spending some time in Dublin with Lauren. Well see what happens though... stay tuned.

The Two Berlins

I#ve really enjoyed my time in Berlin, but never would have thought that I would be turned off so much by West berlin and truly love East Berlin. Our hostel is in the über eastern section of the city. It's a little ghetto, but it's also really charming, the people are real, and everything is amazingly inexpensive. Greg and I have been living like kings for about 30 dollars a day, which, if you let it happen, you could spend by simply buying a beer and a sandwich in Paris.
Anyway, today Greg and I were dying to work out so we made our way over to the East Berlin Gold's Gym and killed ourselves which I did not realize how much I've needed. After that, we headed west to see some sights like the Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall, and the former headquarters of the Nazi SS which was another surreal and frightening experience. West Berlin is really amazing, but it feels like the upper-east side of New York with nothing but pretentious cafes and everyone drives a mercedes, Porsche, or BMW. All in all, not my cup of tea, and we actually felt relieved when we made it back to our bombed out train station on the east side of town. It's hard to explain, but imaginedilapidated Soviet structures covered in graffiti with roofs caving in and none of the guys wear shirts for some reason. Past the train station, though, it's kind of like a less crazy part of the village in NYC and everyone seems to be about our age. All in all, I truly have enjoyed my time here, and it will have been good for us before we head on our 30 dollar budget flight to Nice tomorrow which I imagine will be about the exact opposite of East berlin in just about every way, but great in its own right. Tonight we're just gonna take it easy and eat some more Turkish food which we've been living on bc it's really great, you can have an entire meal for about 4 dollars and be full, and its probably the most protein in a single meal you can find in Europe.
Tomorrow I'll be posting from the French Riviera!