The Sleep-Deprived Solitary Spain Scout
8-12-08 3 p.m.ish CEST
Turns out the room I booked at Hotel Felipe II was occupied when I arrived. I was an exhausted sweaty mess from walking around Barcelona with my luggage. I missed the Sants stop and ended up at the train station Gracias de Franca. The man behind the counter looked like he hated his life. His striped white and grey button down shirt and green tie dehumanized him, empowering him to be a Babagadouche. He mocked me when I didn’t know the difference between the Metro and the Train with deep belly laughter. How was I to know? The cars are identical. I’ve never done public transportation. I’ve always had a car. I thought the Metro took me here. Why can’t it take me to Verdaguer? Lame sauce. No sympathy for the American tourist. Why be a dick in such a gorgeous train station?
I’m not sure how I’m continuing to interact and do things after pulling the second all night in a row. I looked at the map for what seemed like way too long to process a map outside the train station in 90-something degree weather until I found a pretty close Metro stop with the line that would take me to Verdaguer. Not much ventilation down there. The only winds are the ones that came off the subway cars; and, those were hot. I’m glad I only brought one bag with rollers, ‘cos I had to lug that thing up way too many stairs. I wonder if it’s being a grown up that kept me calm, or the lack of sleep and coffee. I like the growing up one.
Maybe next year you can stay in Spain free!
http://www.vaughanvillage.com/
“Various groups will host English-speaking people in foreign countries in return for simply speaking English. Silvana Clark of Bellingham, Wash., raves about Vaughan Village, which hosted Clark and her husband for a week at a village in Spain, fed them “gourmet meals” and picked them up at the airport in return for spending a week speaking their language at an “English camp.”
Thanks for the link. I’d love to return to Spain. However, I’m not sure about the English camp.