well well well

*sigh* okay, here´s what´s new. there are strikes in the train station in madrid (or something) and so we waited forever and a half to get to the window to reserve our tickets to paris, just to find out that the only seats available are the expensive sleeping car ones. new plan: fly directly to london and pay for at least one more night in madrid. new problem: expensive. cheapest flight found so far is $315. but it´s non-stop, only 2 1/2 hours. still looking though. we´re a bit aggravated, so i want to get that part out of the way before i start talking about our experiences in madrid thus far. it´s stressful at the moment, so blowing off steam and eating cookies is good. but money may be needed from home if we don´t figure something out.
*deep breaths* okay...
anyway, we got on the train from lisbon, talked to this really cool girl from California- Veronica. sat near her on the train, too, and had similar destinations so we were together awhile. the train was kinda sucky at first. we sat down, and our chairs moved. we tried to look out the window, and we weren´t next to one. the coach was full of people. but then the attendant guy came and fixed our seats, and as he left he almost got hit in the face by the door. our entire car erupted in laughter. the spanish lady behind us offered to spray us in the face with an unknown orange spritz, and it felt good. just for fresh air as opposed to train car stuffiness. then sleep. or something like it. slept more than usual, i guess, but it was a longer train. 10 hours. and kinda bumpy. and for awhile, we were stopped at a station for a very long time, for no apparent reason. but we made it. finding the hostel was fairly easy. it´s kinda tucked away and we almost passed it. actually, tucker did. it´s small, the bathrooms are rediculously tiny, but the atmosphere is incredible. the people are helpful, speak decent english, there are a lot of people our age here, a lot of americans, and they are all interesting people. met a guy from new zealand who is traveling the world in 6 months. he´s half done. a couple girls from canada. a couple from australia.
basically, tucker and i hung out in the tv room (where smoking is allowed, but there is a vent so it doesnt smell at all) all day watching movies with random people. then at about 12:30 am about 8 or 9 of us went out to a bar nearby. for some reason we got free shots of vodka and caramel. it was pretty good, and it was free. the people we were with aren´t the type of people i usually hang out with, but i´m glad i did. they were a blast! when the bar closed, we didn´t really want to go to bed, so we hung out at this tiny park (it had a 3 foot slide and some springy animal things) until almost 4 am. it was great. we named the rabbit springy Javier Pablo. we were with the candadians and the australians and a few people from the US so we compared/made fun of each other. talked a bit of politics. one girl from canada was into theatre, one guy from california loves street art and painting. mostly we laughed at nothing. people on the streets were selling beer, so others kept drinking. it was fun to watch them. i had the shot of and half a lemonade without spending a dime, so i was happy just to see the others get dizzy on the playground.
we haven´t even explored madrid yet, but it´s great. we may be here longer anyway, though, because of the whole travel thing. still working on it, though. it´s not working out so well. i´m getting a bit irritated.
paris is stupid. trains are stupid. tucker thinks it will be easier and cheaper to just go home. i´m not ready to give up! maybe we could continue backpacking like originally planned, and get or God help us figure this out!