Pamplona Day 1

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First day: PAMPLONA!

On Friday 8 of July Jillian, Raquel, and I headed to Pamplona. The bus ride from Segovia to the train station was about 20 minutes, and we were literally taken to the middle of nowhere..which mean the BFE of Segovia. I was convinced we were on the wrong bus headed to our death. We made it safely to the train station..but the station was an experience. We were in line to go to a bus, when a man saw our tickets for Madrid and told us (in spanish) that we were in the wrong line and to go that way..The other direction. The problem was that the direction we were headed was for the bathrooms. Clearly that was wrong. Turns out you can only go through "security" when your train is boarding. So, we finally safely boarded and went through "security."
Side Note: security = putting your luggage through a machine that the person kind of is looking at...but actually is watching the people walk through.
We boarded the train by successfully going through the "security." The seats were FANTASTIC! They had more room than our plane to Madrid. I wish that our plane was better with as much space and comfort as the train. We switched trains and headed to Pamplona. The Pamplona train was not as nice and less comfortable...sadly. The train from Segovia to Madrid was completely quiet..but from madrid to Segovia was loud and rowdy. Everyone was wearing white and red..it was great :] So exciting! Then not us, but other people were drinking on the train ride. We were sleeping from traveling.but it was awesome. The train gave us free hats for Pamplona.
When we arrived to Pamplona, we went looking for a cab..to find out 20 minutes later that there is a line for all cabs-which explains why no one would pick us up. Hmmm..oh learning the culture. I talked to our cab driver in spanish all the way to our hotel. Thank goodness he knew where our hotel was..because we were trying to figure out how to describe where our hotel was if he wouldn't have known.
The hotel was very nice. It is about a 10 minute bus ride from our hotel to the center of the festivities.
We arrived to the hotel around midnight..everything was closed but a "bar and restaurant" was across the street. We went across the street and a 50 year old man started talking to us. We had a hard time understanding him because 1. he was from Barcelona where they speak Catalan (a dialect of Spanish) 2. there was music blaring in this pub that was like 20x20ft. No reason for the blaring music when there are only 8 people in the pub.
Rachel said pasado to the old man which mean past..but he thought she said casado..which mean to get married. So the rest of our time at the bar was him talking about how he was playing games with her heart. Obviously we left as soon as we could.
At the hotel, you must put your card in a slot to turn on any light...they are very aware of using too much electricity. However, some of the lights and the tv are censored for when you walk by. It was 2am and I walked by the tv and what turned on? Spanish porn. I couldn't believe that the room was automatically turned to a station that shows porn. I yelled to Raquel that porn was on when she opened the door..but there were people outside who just looked at us like I was crazy. So interesting...
Side Note: the whole hotel wreaked of pot. More to come about that in the next day of Pamplona.

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