The restless race of the traveler's heart before the journey begins, when anxiety and anticipation are tangled together; wanderlust.

I jumped on the train to Valencia and arrived at my Airbnb in the evening. The next day it was raining so hard and there was no umbrella in the house so I was stuck for the whole morning. I finally got out and had some breakfast quickly and had to fix the nose stud that I just got before the trip which fell off when I was in the shower that morning. The girl in the tattoo shop couldn’t fix it so she gave me a temporary nose ring. I'd never had anything like that. I had always found nose rings silly, so it felt so bizzare to have one. Due to the weather conditions and little time I had, I didn't get to see the famous beach and the science museum in Valencia. That was a pity.

Next stop: Madrid. Though it wasn’t my first time to Madrid, this time I had someone I wanted to see. That was Guille, who I met a year ago online when I was making a Spanish Challenge series on my podcast. I was so happy that I finally met him in person. He was a slim and good looking guy. To my surprise, he was wearing the same nose ring as me! He wore it very well, needless to say! That evening Guille treated me to dinner and we had a really lovely and deep conversation. Guille said he wanted to thank me for the advice I gave him for his online business. I remember the beautiful procession of vegan meals just kept coming one after another. They not only looked like art but tasted like it too! Now Guille is traveling in his van all over Spain. He said he was inspired by my lifestyle, and I felt so glad to have spread the joy of travelling to another. That was touching.

Seville was 20 degrees warmer than Madrid. My host was Daniel and he didn’t speak any English but was super friendly. He took me to many places and my favorite was Spanish Square. Just like he said, it is definitely the most beautiful Spanish Square in Spain. The next day I was walking around the old town and was amazed by the huge cathedral and the warm weather. At sunset, Daniel picked me up and took me to a tapas place. Tapas is a typically Spanish collection of different dishes like mini breadsticks, cheese slices, and sausages eaten together and almost always good company and good drinks. He told me many interesting stories about Seville and even took me to the tree where he had his first kiss when he was younger. It was very adorable. Through my broken Spanish, I showed Daniel how to make dumplings for dinner and the evening progressed to singing Karaoke in his living room which was hilarious. Daniel was a fun and respectful host. He took me to many interesting places, showed me the food culture and made me feel very welcome in his house. He took me to the airport the next day so that I could fly to Barcelona and even gave me a poem he wrote as a goodbye present. That was romantic.

Stay tuned...there’s much more to come! 

In the next episode I’ll be sharing an uncomfortable Couchsurfing experience that took place in Nice, France.

****本系列会将中英的版本分开录制，想要进行更深入的英语听力学习或训练，可以听伴随在中文版本的下一集。

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