Weekend in Zaragoza!

To get to Zaragoza, I took a train to Madrid (Station Chamartín) and then I took another train from a different station (Atocha) to Zaragoza. I was a little bit nervous to have to switch stations because they are not exactly right next to each other, but the transportation system in Madrid is amazing. I didn´t even have to leave the station to get on a train to the other station. I had two hours to get to Atocha, and I made it in less than 20 minutes. I left Salamanca at 5:40, arrived in Madrid at 8:30, had a two hour layover, left Madrid at 10:30, and arrived in Zaragoza at 11:48. I did a very good job sleeping on all of my trains, which is something that I normally don´t do very well. The train from Atocha to Zaragoza was a high speed train (which goes over 280 km/hr!), so it only took a little over an hour to get to Zaragoza from Madrid. It was really cool.

When I got off the train, Paco and Angelines were there waiting for me. They were so cute and Paco refused to let me carry my backpack. At their house, Angelines made a delicious lunch and then I got to take a lovely siesta (I was pretty tired from the lack of sleep from the night before). I was so excited to be sleeping on a comfortable bed (the one at my senora's house is about 3 inches tall and too soft, so I sink into the bedboards underneath). When I woke up, Luis was home and then Becky called us on Skype! We got to see that cute little nephew of mine. Then we went to the pool in their neighborhood. It was so nice and relaxing and the weather was fantastic. After getting ready back at the house, we went into the city of Zaragoza to explore, walk around, and eat dinner. We ate at this bocadillo (sandwich) place and we each ordered a delicious sandwich and split them four ways. Each one was super tasty and then we got ice cream. I am so happy that coconut ice cream is at almost every ice cream shop so far in Europe, as it is my favorite kind and I can rarely ever find it at home. After exploring a little more, we went back home and went to bed.

The next morning we went to the pool again (after I ate a delicious breakfast) and hung out there for a while. Then when we went back home, we had a barbeque on there really cool grill that looks kind of like a chimney. The meat was so amazing. I always think that there will be one course for lunch, but at this house I am always wrong. We had one plate of different meats and a salad and then another plate of meat. I thought that was going to be it (because I was so full already), but then Luis and Angelines popped up and ran back to the barbeque to make some other meat. It was super good, so I really didn't have too much trouble making any room for it. Then Becky, Paco, and Ethan called and Ethan was crawling all over the place and being super funny. After the call, Luis left for the mountains to hang out with this camp that he used to go to before he started working. We went back to the pool for an hour and then we went downtown again to see a different part of the city and eat delicious tapas. It is nice going to eat tapas with people who know which ones are the best. Also, one of the cool things that we walked by was this ancient roman theatre that was just found underground about 30 years ago. I thought that was really awesome. We also got ice cream this night too, which was super good.

The next morning I had another amazing breakfast (jamón, bread, melon, juice, and jams). Afterwards, Paco showed me a book about Brussels because I am going to visit Maria next weekend and after looking at it, I am very excited to go! Then I walked with Angelines to go buy break at the store in their neighborhood and when we returned Paco took me to their next-door neighbors to talk for a bit.

Suddenly, it was time to go to the train station to drop me off. The weekend flew by! Paco and Angelines are so sweet and I had such a great time! Also, this weekend was probably the best experience to practice my Spanish, since that was the only language that I had in common with the whole time. It was really great because in Salamanca, the students in my program speak English all the time, which is a real pity, but oh well.

Anyway, I can't wait to see them again, and I know that they are super excited for Becky, Paco, and Ethan to visit in September!