Washingtondcdublinmadrid: or what the hell time is it?

Well, my stomach just woke me up at 1:30 in the morning (that woud be 6:30 pm in Chicago I think) and said, "That was a nice aternoon nap. Where´s dinner?" However, if I´m ever going to get back on track the most I´m willing to give to my poor beleaguered stomach is a midnight snack and a blog entry.

Yesterday evening I completed the epic mulitstop journey from Chicago to Spain. First, I stopped in D.C. to visit Ross. Higlights include: visiting a hipstery bar in a gentrifying neighborhood, getting proselytized by Evangelicals, trying Yuengling (America´s oldest beer), getting proselytized by Scientologists, and playing kickball on the Mall in sight of the Washington Monument. Plus a lot of hauling my entire life all over the place and clinging nervously to my passport.

Then Sunday evening I got on a redeye to Dublin, and barely slept a wink, but I had an 8 hour layover so of course i had to explore. I Stumbled out of the airport, tried to understand the bus system for a second, and then just gave up, took a deep breath and got on the bus everyone else was getting on. On the way back into the airport, I noticed the friendly person in the clearly marked bus information kiosk, but oh well the blindly following strategy worked and got me downtown where I wanted to be. Highlights include: the really old and beautiful Old Library at Trinity College and a cool little cafe I found with my lonely planet (thanks for the lonely planet, Grace). Then back to the airport for the two hour flight to Spain, at which point too much worrying and coffee and too little food and sleep had turned my stomach into a pit of acid.

But yay! I finally made it to Spain. I´m staying with Jose Antonio, the previously mentioned friend of a co-worker at least for the time being, but it´s looking more and more like I´ll stay here long term. I slept an incredible fourteen hours last night, and then Jose Antonio showed around the neighborhood and the downtown area by car.