Day 1 Triumphs

I do believe that the trip to Ourense, and the first 24 hours there, can be marked by numerous triumphs. I'm proud of how much Anna (another Grinnell grad who was also placed in Ourense! We are partners in Galician crime) and I accomplished right away.

We arrived at el Aeropuerto de Vigo quite zombiefied. We picked up our excruciatingly heavy luggage and made our way to a taxi. We needed to get to the train station in order to get to Ourense. The taxi driver, though social and friendly, tried to swindle us into paying him 85 euros to take us all the way to Ourense. Since we are no fools, we declined! We ended up paying only 21 euros to get all the way to Ourense, via Renfe train. (TRIUMPH #1) The train ride was quite tranquil and pretty. Most of the track went right along el rio Miño, and it reminded me a bit of the Fox River back in St. Charles, expect wider and much less polluted and much nicer greenery in its surroundings.

U.S.             vs.           Spain

We had a ball trying to lug our suitcases down some stairs when we finally we got to the Ourense station. We hit up the bathroom right before we went off to find our CouchSurfing apartment. I will say I felt strangely comforted by the symbols they use here for the female bathrooms. Quite frankly, I find that I can empathize greater with the length of skirt that these females choose, as opposed to the matronly skirts found on the same symbols in the U.S.

As it turns out, Ourense is quite hilly. This was quite unfortunate for Anna and I, who are both directionally challenged, and who were hauling around 80lbs worth of luggage each. What should have been a 2 minute straight shot to our CouchSurfing apartment turned out to be a 25 minute, down hill, up hill ordeal. First workout in Ourense: complete.

After a short wait, we met our CouchSurfing host, who was immediately warm, friendly, and all around super welcoming. He essentially gave us his apartment keys and said he actually spends most nights at a different house, and during the day he’s at work. So. We had our own (temporary) apartment! NICE. (TRIUMPH #2).

The mall of my dreams

First task we had to complete that night was the acquisition of phones. So, we walked to the mall…where I immediately fell. in. love. Any European store I could have EVER wanted is IN this mall. (TRIUMPH #3)

PLUS?????????????????????????????

THEY HAVE FROZEN YOGURT.

 Right before I left Chicago I went on a tirade, eating a lot of stuff that I knew I couldn’t get in Europe: milkshakes, big fatty American burgers, frisco melts, bagels, tacos, etc. The saddest goodbye of them all may have been the one to FroYo. Alas, destiny wishes to not keep us apart! Hahaha to anyone interested, here is a link to the mall so you can see all the marvelous stores that are within 15 min of me. (click!) Man, once pay day rolls around, I am going to be contributing significantly to the Spanish economy by way of shopping at Ponte Vella...

Well, finding phones was relatively simple. Anna and I were quite proud of ourselves for obtaining them effortlessly. (TRIUMPH #4)  The task that followed was a bit more trying: using said phones to call Spanish inhabitants who were looking for room mates and also setting up appointments to see all of their places the next day. EEK! My first apartment search…Well, maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, but let me just say that 24 hours later, we had seen 5 different apartments, and had chosen one. (TRIUMPH #5). More details on that in the next post!