Finishing Madrid - On to San Sebastian

I met some really cool people in Madrid, once again. It is amazing how in pretty much every place I stop I am able to find some really genuine people to hang out with, enjoy conversation with, and just get to know pretty well during our few days together. Putting myself out there and getting to know complete strangers is something I would hardly ever do before I left on this trip. Its pretty cool. I have really appreciated not having a computer or phone for this long as well, and considering how much I am on the computer at home, its pretty incredible.

Anyway thanks to a few recommendations from a friend of mine I found some cool places to hang out at in Madrid. I took my new friends there and they all enjoyed them as well. One of the people I was spending time with works 6 months of the year as a tour guide taking people all throughout Europe on busses. The more we talked about it the more it sounded like a great opportunity and it is something that I am thinking about applying for, and since she has worked for the company for 4 years Im sure that her recommendation would get me the job. We´ll see how that works out though, because I am not sure if I want to do that right now. The next opening would be a year and a half from now anyway.

I am still not sure what I want to do when I get home, in terms of school, work, traveling, etc. but I do have a lot more options going through my head, which is good. I think it would be awesome to move somewhere exciting and just get a job doing who knows what. I think I was too concentrated on looking for something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life before I left. Its a pretty American idea to start your career right after you finish school. Not saying that is a bad thing. I got a new book called ¨Whats so great about America¨ which is by, who is becoming my favourite author, Dinesh Dsouza. He is the guy that wrote ¨Whats so great about Christianity¨which I loved so much. This book is just as good and just as easy to read, Ill probably finish it quite soon. Especially considering the train rides I have coming up. San Sebastian took 5.5 hours, to Paris will take about 8 (hopefully at night) and to London will take 3 on the super fast train. During the flight I think Ill get up to date on all the movies I havent seen. Its weird not watching TV or a movie for this long.

San Sebastian is a nice city. Small enough to walk everywhere. The weather today was unfortunately not beach worthy, so instead I went on a hike to the castle of San Sebastian where there is a giant statue of Jesus that they have in the middle of the city, above the castle, on a mountain. It was pretty cool. This whole part of the country is really cool. Really green, lots of hills, some mountains, there is ocean, it rains a good amount, its sunny and warm usually.. all together its pretty neat.

Apparently San Sebastian has more bars and restaurants per square meter than any other city in the world. They have some of the best rated restaurants in the world as well. I think there are 2 Michelin 3 star restaurants here which is incredible. I looked at the menu and I could get a 12 course meal for 140 Euros including wine paired with each dish. Maybe one day.

The pintxos which are tapas in the Basque region are amazing. By far the best Ive had. I got here last night and just wandered around the old town looking for places that were crowded, would have a tiny beer and a pintxo and move on. They charge you by the pintxo and they are usually about 2-3 euros each. All of them are delicious.

So it looks like Im just going to chill in San Sebastian a couple more days and then go back to Paris. There are a couple more hikes I can do here, but Im hoping for some beach weather.

CIAO

-Kyle