Insanity insanity

alright, so I said I'd update this frequently, but that became a little diffult. What with paying out the ass at hostels and internet cafes and the difficult foreign keyboards its been hard to actually sit down and write. Internet is free here. So, I guess I'll start with Barcelona.

Barcelona: I arrived in Barcelona in the late evening just when the sun was setting and had a hellish time getting to the baggage claim. Not speaking Spanish also put me in an odd situation because NO ONE there speaks english. If they do, it's hello, goodbye, and thats pretty much it. I finally found my hostel, in which no one spoke english, and couldn't locate my friend Heather whom I had traveled so far to meet. I had a bit of a breakdown in The Ramblas and Catalunyas, pacing back and forth in hysterics and calling Mike in incomprehensible sobs. I ended up finding two Alaskan guys who calmed me down, took me out to find food, as I hadn't eaten in over 10 hours, and a beer. Getting back to the hostel I was planning on leaving the next morning to anywhere that I could speak English or French. Barcelona is also pretty sketchy at night. The next morning, I found Heather at breakfast. I showered, ate, and we met up with her friend Caitlin to tour around the city a little. That night, we ended up going out with a huge group of people from the hostel. 2 girls from Colorado, an Argentinian, 2 girls from SUNY New Paltz, a frnech guy, and the three of us. We went to dinner, bought cheap wine and pregamed at the hostel. After, we went to The Black Sheep and order some very large spanish beers. Sitting down, i ended up talking to a guy from France, a Mexican, and an Irish guy who were there together. At 3am the bar closed, and we all returned to the hostel in a drunken clusterfuck. I was locked in coversation with the french guy, Charles, and Heather had assumed that we were flirting. It was completely in French, because he spoke very little English, and when she listened closely she realized that I was talking passionately about Mike, and he about his girlfriend. We talked about love, romance, the difference in other countries, and what true affection was. We stayed up till 5h30 chain smoking and drinking. The next morning was hangover day. A little bittle of tourism and an early night to catch a train to Montpelier, a train to Marseilles, and a bus to Aix where our mutual friend Rebecca is studying and Heather's friend Misty met us there.
Aix En Provence: Our hostel was nearly a campsite, 20min from the town walking. After a night there we booked a hotel room for the three of us for the same price. Well, the first hotel, I lugged Mistys large suitcase and my Backpack up a flight of stairs and checked in under the pretense that it was just me. Im the most obvious looking. We had a method of going in and out that got the three of us sleeping in one bed. Aix En Provence was AMAZING. Its this small, beautiful little city in the south. Things were decently cheap, and everyone was so nice. Beautiful weather that prompted us to walk around for hours and for me to retire to a cafe in Place de Hotel de Ville to read and sip my espresso for hours. I was truely content. In the hotel the first, and only night, I climbed out the window for a cigarette and to call Mike. When I climbed back in, Heather and Misty had found free porn on TV. Naturally, we watched it. We were laughing hysterically, joking, goofing around, and we hadn't realized that it was past 1am and french hotels have walls that are paper thin. After turning off the TV, an hour at least of porn swelling in our heads as the three of us then had to sleep in one small bed, and turning off the lights we were still giggling. Then, a rapid knock on the door. We instantly quieted and froze in fear of being kicked out of our hotel. It was a woman staying there, who was trying to sleep. The next morning we knew we couldn't stay another night. Heather and Misty booked it with the large suitcase and I stayed behind for a few minutes. When I cooly emerged for checkout, the concierge glared at me and interogated me about how many people were staying in the room. As I attempted to lie, as its insanely difficult to do in a foreign language, she yelled at me for a few minutes and made me pay 10 Euros more. Phew. The next hotel room, Heather and I booked it for the two of us, a lesbian couple, and Misty played the role of our friend who WASNT staying with us. It all worked out just fine. We spent 2 nights there without a problem and came back each time when a different concierge was there. In Aix, at a bar, Heather and Misty picked up a group of guys for the soul purpose of flirting and free drinks. Not really my cup of tea, but I had to play along. Having talked about Mike fucking non stop they were worried I'd blurt something out and we'd lose out free drinks. I ended up saying something at the second bar, when a band was playing and I didn't want anyone to be under the pretense that I'd be going home with them. The guy I said something to sighed with relief because he was in the same situation and his friends were playing the same game with mine. That ended up being a 6h30 am night. The next day, I was inclined to just sit and read, as we'd woken up late. That night, they went to a bar and stayed till 4am while I slept soundly. After just an hours sleep for them, we woke up to catch a bus and two trains to Brussels where Heather had a friend we could stay with. In Lyon, where we caught the train to Brussels, my train was an hour earlier so I'd wait for them there. I waited in hour in Brussels till 8pm, and called them. Heather had texted me, which didn't go through, that their train never showed up and that they were in Paris on the way to Le Mans where they're studying. 8h30 at this point, and I was FUCKED. I had no where to stay, no idea where anything was, and it was getting to be really late. I could only think of one place to go. Ann's. I had no number to call her with, and no internet. I just hopped on a train to Paris.
Paris: Once I got to Paris I had to wait till 6h30, a total of 8 hours for a train to Bayeux. The station Gare St. Lazare is fucking sketchy as hell. I found an insanely expensive cafe and held out there for an hour, filthy, and exhausted after over 12 hours of non stop travel, and finally had to leave. I stayed in the station where all the cops were clustered. The station was clearing out, and I remembered that things actually close down in Paris. I'm a major target with all my shit out on the streets. When a group of cops approached me to tell me the station was closing, I began to cry hysterically. I explained, in sobs of broken French, that I had no where to go, what had happened, and they told me to wait a few minutes and they walked away. When they returned, I was still blubbering in fear when they asked me to come with them. They put my suitcase in security, and closed down the train station. They then explained to me that they were setting up an empty train in the station for me to sleep in. They found m a car with long benches, made sure I was safe, and that I wasn't hungry. The train was cold because the heat was off, no lights either, but I was safe and I'd packed a blanket. This was at 1am. At 5h30, a really nice guy woke me up and helped me get my things. He informed me that there wasn't a train till 9am. Then, he took me to an office that was warm and cozy and I could smoke inside. He made sure I was okay, and that I knew exactly where i was going. At 9h, I boarded a train to Bayeux.
Bayeux: I arrived, beaten, battered, exhausted and smelling so horrible that people leaned away. I remembered her address and took a taxi there. Knocked on the door, rang the doorbell. No answer. Again, with the water works. I sat on her stoop for an hour. Walked around to the place I thought she might bed. No where to be found. I lost it again. 30 hours of traveling chaos. Eventually, her neighbors across the street who had remembered me from last year, came to me. They took me inside, where I thanked them endlessly, and called Anns family, everyone in her family, to get in touch with her and her brother. Now, at this point Ann had returned home from a dance class to find a note from me taped on her door that I was looking for her. In shock, she was driving around town looking for me while I sat across the street. Finally, she found me. I showered, ate, did laundry, and was so relieved to be somewhere familiar where I'd spent a week last January. We spent the night talking, drinking, eating. It was so comforting. She had to leave this afternoon for her brothers motorbike race, so I took a train to Paris. Again. From Paris I took a train to Nice where I am now. I was ready to travel again, with fresh everything.

will update on Nice later.

Mike, I love you.