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.