I am spending way to much time in Madrid. I put myself here for 2 weeks and I´m starting to get bored. Everyone says I should just pick up and leave but I don´t really have the money for another hostel so I´m just going to stick it out here and look forward to Cordoba next week.

So about Madrid: Madrid has one of the easiest metro systems to navigate (in my opinion). My first hostel was right off Puerta del Sol, which is the main city plaza. There's a lot of activity going on in the plaza including protests which seemed to be going on every day. My hostel was nice. I stayed at Hostel One Puerta del Sol so I was in the perfect location for keeping myself entertained. The first thing I loved to do when I got to a new hostel was take a shower because traveling has a way of making me feel sweaty, wrinkled and disgusting.

After my shower I began making friends. The first friend I made was a woman named Joy who was celebrating her last night overseas before returning to Canada. Celebrating included a pub crawl later that night. After Joy I met Aarron, a young British man booking a last minute flight to Venice to meet a girl he met in France, and Derryn, an Australian living and working in England. After meeting and chatting with these men I was invited to join the pub crawl with them later that night. The pub crawl was a blast. Way too many drinks, lots of dancing and really just bonding with my new foreign friends. Aarron and I hung out for the rest of the time that he was in Madrid (only about two more days), and after he left I spent a lot of time on my own or with a strange German man named Jonathan. Because I allotted myself so much time in Madrid, and I wasn't comfortable abandoning my itinerary, I got bored very quickly. If I had to do it over again I would have left for Granada to see the Alhambra, but I was still new to spontaneously traveling and I'm kicking myself for not leaving Madrid and seeing more of Spain. But everything happens for a reason and staying had some major benefits.

I stayed in two hostels in Madrid. One week in Hostel One. My second week I stayed in Malasaña Traveler's Hostel. Because I had already seen all of Madrid my first week, I was determined to make friends during my second week. At this point, most of my new friends are men. In fact, the only people I'm still in contact with are men. During my second week in Madrid I met Brian, but he is a story for another time.

Leaving Madrid was a relief for me. I was more then done with the city and excited to start a new adventure in a new city.

*From this point on my credit card stops working, and I am funding my trip by burning through my savings.