Traveling - Jaen -> Madrid -> Athens, Greece, Day 16

I finally woke up around 1:15 after about 5 and a half hours of sleep, and began to pack and had some breakfast. Finally around 2:45, I woke up Jenna who was still recovering. We said our goodbyes and then I was off. I walked down to the train station and caught the 4 hour train back to Madrid. Once back in Madrid, I found my way to the airport and before I knew it, was waiting past security for my flight.. 3 hours to go.. :(
So, I wandered through duty free looking for my "Black Vodka" that I'd been searching for throughout Spain. They didn't have the black that I was looking for, but they did have a red vodka that looked like it might be similar, so I grabbed a bottle of that! :)
I used some internet while I waited to check up on email and to jot down all the addresses of people I needed to send postcards to while in Greece. I ended up copying down 23 addresses, and that doesn't include addresses that I have memorized, like family members and a few close friends!! I had a lot of postcard writing ahead of me! We finally boarded our flight, and to my surprise, the plane was less than a quarter full! I had my whole row to myself, so I immediately sprawled out and passed out! Next stop, Greece!

Partying like rockstars - :) - Day 15

Again, I slept in quite late while Jenna got up at the crack of dawn to go to work. When I finally got myself out of bed, I headed out to try and get tickets to the Alhambra for later that day. But again, there was no luck. So when Jenna came home from school with the news that a friend of hers would be at the Feria later that night, we both forgot about the Alhambra. It's been around for hundreds of years.. what's another few?? So we took a nap when she got back from work, then went out to buy my train ticket back to Madrid for the next day and to visit an Arab restaurant for tea and crepes. These crepes were the most amazing tasting crepes I've ever tasted! They also had amazing milkshakes!
We then headed back to the apartment to make dinner, and start prepping for Feria. Tonight was especially important, as it was the last night of Feria AND because Jenna finally didn't have to work the next day!
Needless to say, we had an absolute blast at Feria, met up with Jenna's friend, and partied like rockstars until 6:30am! It was quite the final night in Spain!! :)

Jaen - For real this time! - Day 14

I woke up on around 1pm today... A bit of recovery was needed, not only from the night before, but also Santander and Germany! I was still trying to get over a cold I had caught in Germany!
Jenna got home around 2:30, and we decided to go up to the castle. Now I called this entry "Jaen - For real this time!" because last year (and it was almost 1 year exactly!) when I came to visit Jaen, we didn't make it to anything in the city that is really notable and worth seeing, such as the castle and cathedral! So we took a cab up to the top of the hill where the castle sits and enjoyed some really beautiful views of Jaen, the surrounding mountains, and neighboring pueblos. On the way back down from the castle, we stopped at the cathedral which was also very beautiful. We then walked back to the piso and took a nap for a little while.
We then looked for a travel agency to try and book a ticket for me for the Alhambra for the next day in Granada, but failed. So we decided to try for my last day at the Alhambra, and moved our priorities onto drinks for the night. We bought some drinks for the Feria and headed home for dinner. Dinner had an extreme likeness to last year's dinners... pasta and sauce. Total cost for two: about a euro!! While we were eating, we got a chance to talk with Victoria, Jenna's roommate, about her trip to the states and saw her photo albums. She went to odd places, like I find many tourists do.. St Louis and Missouri?? Anyways.. After dinner, it was off to night 2 at the feria. As we made our way through the crowds, we ran into the same friends that we were with the night before, and danced all night with them. Again, we stayed out until about 2ish! Keep in mind, Jenna had to work the next day around 9am each day! What a champ!
Oh, and don't forget the half an hour, uphill walk back to her apartment!

Pitstop in Madrid, Day 13

The bus ride to Madrid might have been the worst one yet. The bus driver had the heaviest lead foot I've ever known. And that was a bit scary driving through the mountains that separate the north of Spain from Madrid and the center. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much, and again, the guy next to me didn't understand the idea of "personal space".
So, after the bus ride with very little sleep, I arrived in Madrid. I took the metro to the station Chamartin to drop off my backpack for the day and to buy my train ticket to Jaen, and had an awesome, totally Spanish breakfast while there of chocolate con churros and cafe con leche. After, I topped it off with a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. I then headed to the Prado. Halfway there, I finally found the section on the Prado, and the part that said it was closed on Mondays...Like the rest of the museums.. :(
So I ended up watching the sunrise and people watching for a while in Retiro park. I love that park. Somehow, everytime I make it to Madrid, I end up spending some time there!
The time finally came to get back to the station to catch my train south to visit Jenna.. The train ride was eventless. No one sat next to me so I was able to sleep and relax. The landscape was shocking, as it always is. Barren and deserted in many places.
I finally arrived in Jaen, where Jenna met me at the train station. We headed to her apartment to drop off my bags, then it was out to Tapas bar hopping. She took me to a few of her favorites, which I thoroughly enjoyed. One of the really great things about tapas in Jaen is that they are free if you order a drink. So Jenna and I would order two Canas, or small beers for about a euro each, and enjoy finger food to last through the drink. It's a great idea!
We finally arrived at the Feria, or the fair that they hold in her city once a year. It's basically Oktoberfest, but in Spain! :) We drank away, met up with some of Jenna's roommate's friends, and just had an overall good time. Finally, around 2am, we headed back, stopping at a churros and chocolate stand on the way back.. It was great!

Relaxing day in Santander, Day 11

Today, I woke up at about 2PM. I was so tired from last night! I just relaxed until about 3PM, when I met up with Elodie to go to Decathalon to buy some new shoes. I found a great pair for 20 euros! Then, we passed by the jackets on the way to checkout, and I found a great jacket to replace the one I forgot at home! And just in time too! It started to get chilly in Santander that night!
On the way back from Decathalon, we decided to have dinner at Elodie's apartment, so I stopped at the Carrefour Express grocery store to buy some salmon, some veggies and pasta. See Mom, I really can cook here!
Then I returned to Katy's apartment to watch my Mom's performance. It was great! They were about a half hour behind, but that was okay. While we were waiting for the performance, Sarah, Katie, JP and I all were in a chatroom talking about the show so far and how things were going. It was nice to be able to talk with all them at once.
After the show, I headed over to Elodie's and we made dinner. I definitely made too many vegetables, but the salmon turned out great as did the pasta! It was delicious, and we ate it while watching Men in Black 2, in Spanish!
After dinner, I headed back to Katy's apartment, and called it an early night... finally!

Santander, Day 10

So after the crazy first night in Santander, I slept in half the day on Friday. I finally got myself out of bed around 12 because I knew that I had to say goodbye to Esther at the train station at 12:45! So I got down there, said my goodbyes to her, and was off to Elodie's apartment. We had made arrangements the night before that she was going to bring me to the seafood neighborhood in Santander and I was going to have "real" paella for the first time (a year after my original arrival, more or less! so sad!!)! We made our way over to the restaurant and had AMAZING paella. Now I'm just kicking myself for not going sooner! For 10 euros, we got a paella appetizer, I had a really good, typical pork dish for my main plate and then a desert! Oh so good..
Later, I found out that Mom had made it into the finals in her competition in Calgary, Canada! That must've been exciting for her. I also met up with one of my students from Bezana, Lia. She loves traveling to Ireland to practice her English. She wants to eventually go to the U.S., but when you can hop over to Ireland for under 100 euro, and a ticket to the states would cost about 500 euro, do you blame her?
That night, I went out with Katy and met up with Elodie for another awesome night out in Santander. When we were in Plaza canadio, Katy met up and introduced me to all the new English teachers for this year (our replacements! :( ). When she first introduced me, they thought I was Spanish!! :)
We met up with Katy's Spanish friend Chechu, who later, I taught to dance like an American, which he enjoyed a lot! We stayed out again until about 4AM, even after Elodie said it was going to be an early night for her! :) Obviously a great night!