En España

My dear readers (all 3 or 4 of you), another miracle has occurred and I survived the night train from Paris to Barcelona. It's not so much that it was dangerous to me as I was to it and myself. Let me provide you with a few words of wisdom: if you ever have two options of traveling on the same train, one costing more than the other, but not sounding that much better, go for the more expensive one. Trust me. I won't get into details, but I opted for saving 20 euros and got a reclining chair in a train cart instead of a bed in a small train room of 6 beds. Again, sparing you the gory details, it was a HUGE mistake. Also, if you have a child under the age of 4 or 5, or whatever age you can tell your child to shut up and they actually do, and you actually think about traveling with them overnight, in a train, when you clearly have other options that cost about the same, let me make this an easy decision for you: DON'T!

So as you can see, and with very few details, I am surprised I didn't hurt myself or someone else on the train ride. Needless to say, I think that was quite possibly the last time I will choose to travel on the night train.

But, I made it to Barcelona, and then took a train to Valencia, where I am staying with a friend. He's been very generous in letting me stay with him and showing me a good time. I, of course, appreciate that he is being a great host and letting me crash with him while here, but what I appreciate even more is that he told me to come in the middle of this past week instead of the beginning. You see, there was a festival going on in Valencia this past week, falles, and things get, oh just a little crazy, and it's a nonstop party all over the city with fireworks and firecrackers, which I discovered are also nonstop. So he advised that I come in the middle of the week to catch the last two days of the festival then enjoy Valencia in its normal state. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I listened to him. The first two days here were a lot of fun, and I met a lot of lovely people, but the noise, the firecrackers going off everywhere, unexpectedly, and the possible hearing loss I have suffered, are just a few reasons I am looking forward to a normal Valencia. But I am very glad I was also able to catch some of the festival and the burning of the monuments or falles. And maybe some day in the future I will come back for the whole week of partying and noise. But I am not sure what the would have done to my system had I done it the first time around.

But if I somehow forget to get back to Paris and to Chicago, and somehow unexpectedly get stuck here and never leave, don't be surprised. The Spanish are people after my own heart, and after all, I do need to work on Spanish, because I did not know how bad my Spanish (and how good my French is) until I came to Spain. I can't imagine that this will be my last time in Spain, so I might as well start working on the language.