I'm in Madrid, my body has had enough and is on strike. I have the worst ear infection, which after a trip to the doctor turns out to be an intense ear infection of both ears and an inflammed throat! Not the funnest when your on the other side of the world.

So my bus arrived in Madrid after a long and hungover bus ride from Valencia. My ear had been getting worse and worse and now that the hang over had subdued it came out in full form. So I checked in at around 8.30 and annie convinced me to go to the hospital to get some medication and get the healing process on the way. We got directions and a map from the hostel receptionist and set off. Many hours, taxi rides, euros, Spanish direction and head aches later we were back in our hostel unsuccessful... The receptionist had given us completely wrong information! She had sent us off on a wild goose chase in the wrong direction... At least we got to see a bit of Madrid on our first night.

So next day after a terrible night sleep we went for plan B, this time resulting in us sitting in the waiting room of a very nearby doctors surgery. I was seen quickly and while the language barrier was quite hard I left with a prescription. The rest of the day we did a little bit of light exploring, had some lunch and did a lot of resting up! When we had a little strength back we organized a dinner date with about twelve random back packers I'd met along the way who happened to be in Madrid! Dinner was a Spanish style buffet and I loved it! After over eating, as you do, we headed back to the hostel rooftop bar for some sangria and beer. We had a great group and it was a good night but my ear got the better of me and took me too bed early with a strong head ache.

I woke up late this morning, ear still aching, nose running, throat a little sore. We had organized a bike ride and even with how s*** I was feeling I ended up being the only person A: keen and B: on time. So after waiting 30 mins for the interested but late group I left on an adventure of my own. It was a good day, I found and browsed my first vinnies in Europe, found a great little second hand English book shop and found an awsome place to spend the afternoon journaling and reading.

I was sat on a nice patch of grass, under the shade of some perfectly lined trees in front of the beautiful Madrid palace. I sat here for hours, reading my new "oneself" book, that I plan on commenting throughout and then giving to my new friend tash, now to be known as my sixty second soul mate. After a while of self reflection in my journal I was approached by a shy Spanish man who nervously introduced himself. He was in his early 20's and spoke little English. He told me he had spotted me reading and writing and thought I was "Bella" he said he was curios and had been walking up and down passed me trying to build the confidence to come a talk to me. The conversation was brief, I was very flattered. When he left he helped me to my feet and kissed me on both cheeks before leaving with a proud little smile on his face. It made my day!

Now I'm laying on my bed thinking of cheap ways to cook myself some dinner, maybe the free food shelf on the hostel will be involved! Annie is out meeting up with some contiki friends and we have organized a big group for some drinking games and a pub crawl tonight.... Will I ever learn. Hopefully this "oneself" book will have a chapter on resisting alcohol.