Luckily four of my roommates left before I did this morning and the other one was already awake, so I could turn on the light and not worry about being quiet while showering and packing up.
I got to the Atocha station an hour early, because I'm cool like that. I sat by the little rainforest they have in there and watched the water turtles swim and putz around. I want a turtle someday. A land one though. Too bad I can't import/smuggle the ones we have at home in Brasil.
Once they displayed the platform my train was leaving from I headed to find it upstairs. For the record there are ticket vending machines around the station, I just didn't see them the first day. I also probably needed to talk to someone cause I had several questions so it all worked out.
Anyways, they make you put your bags through a conveyor belt xray machine. But you don't have to walk through a metal detector. That I don't really understand. One item that was listed as not allowed is a pocket knife. They luckily didn't notice or didn't care about my swiss army knife - it has been so handy this trip. Shout out to dad who bought it for me on one of his business trips a super long time ago (thanks dad!). I might put it in my pocket the next time I train travel, just in case they want to confiscate it from my bag.
The train was swanky and very comfortable. Each seat had earphones where you could watch a movie, today's feature was Toy Story 3. I decided to stare out at the beautiful countryside instead. Also played hearts on my netbook. We only made one stop before getting to Barcelona. At the stop I was admiring an adorable little boy out the window. Adorable until he sat behind me. Luckily my iPod was fully charged. Someone kept farting as well, am pretty sure it was the guy sitting next to me. Never fun.
I managed to stay awake all 3 hours - proud Jenna?! For those of you who have never had the pleasure of taking a plane, train, or bus trip with me - I tend to pass out quite quickly. Not very good company in that regard. Other than that I'm perfect. :)
I also wore my retainer the whole trip. Yes, I am the proud new owner of a retainer. It's bright green. I wanted to fix the movement my teeth had done since I had braces in middle school, and keep it that way. While I feel like everyone is staring at me sometimes, let them stare. I'll never see these fools again, I'll have pretty teeth, AND my orthodontist won't give me a lecture when I have my appointment the day after I get back to San Francisco.
I just checked into my first Barcelona hostel, a quick metro ride from the train station. I asked them to let me know if there are any cancellations for Saturday night, so that I only have to move hostels once. I'm not too hopeful seeing that it's the night before Easter Sunday.
I'm in a 4 bed mixed dorm, and there is only one other person in there at the moment so I scored a bottom bunk. I'm going to do some laundry before I start exploring. Why you might ask? I definitely don't need to yet, but a) I'm here for 4 nights so plenty of time for drying (every other stop after this is ~2 nights until I get to Lisbon), b) I have a bottom bunk so I can hook up my cool new clothesline, c) I have a sink in my room, and d) I just want to use my clothesline.
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