Barca II

Sit down for this one - it's long. :)

Friday in Barcelona:
We left the apartment at 6:20 AM for the bus stop. We caught the shuttle and made it for the 8:30 AM flight, which actually left early? I am very much tired of going through security. Taking off sooooo many items such as my belt, watch, necklace, shoes, etc. you get it. I was surprised to learn that Ryanair actually has the best on-time service for European airlines at 90% - while also being the low-fare airline. We technically did not fly to Barca, but Reus, an airport about 1.5 hours outside the city. (There's a reason why this flight round trip totaled 10.6 Euros). We got in at about 10 and took a 10:30 bus that actually came at about 11:10. Secondly, the bus was full by the time I got on, so four of us had to sit on the stairs near the rear exit. Originally she wasn't even going to let us on, but I pleaded with her. This bus is specifically sent for our flight - so why have a bus with less space than the airplane? Although somehow I actually slept most of the way. We bought an unlimited two-day pass for the metro (best decision ever) and took it to our hostal. Our hostal is actually located pretty far northwest of the city, to the point that its in a national forest and we couldn't see Barcelona. Oh, and on top of a huge hill. But the facilities were really nice and we only paid 12 euros for one night - so you can't beat that.

After dropping off our stuff we went to see some Gaudy buildings, starting with Sagrada Familia, a HUGE church (I think it's a church). There was a lot of construction going on so we opted not to pay to go inside. We then found two of his other creations in the midst of the city - they are so beautiful and they clearly stand out. We then walked along La Ramba - a 2 km street full of markets and street performers including gymnasts, artists, painters, most likely pick-pocketers and those fake statue people. Nothing has been stolen! We wondered into a food market and Phil and I capitalized on a 2 for 1 euro fruit smoothie deal. I went with the extravegant coconut pineapple. We then went down to the sea front as it was now dark - walking accross a bridge to one of Barca's ports. We went through the mall to warm up and then headed over to a fountain-light show (see video) which was really cool. Rob, Maureen and I then met a man named Duane from Orlando who didn't know anyone or any Spanish who seemed a bit lost + lonely. We invited him to join us on Saturday but he said he overslept. Believe me, he really did - I know he was anxious to join us. Rob is in the top bunk across from me for our one night in the hostal, and wouldn't you know it he breaks his safety railing climbing into bed haha.

Saturday in Barcelona:
Breakfast was great in the hostal. It is a nonprofit organization and I noted that there are many people with mental disabilities working there. I saw cereal in a huge container and asked the woman where the bowls were. She said "We don't have any bowls." I said "What should I use?" She told me to use a coffee cup as if it was a very normal thing... Maureen, Rob, Reagan and Kyle joined me to tour Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona soccer stadium. It was REALLY awesome. There was some kind of small church inside the stadium, we saw the field up close, the press room, and a museum of the awards and past players, as well as a video library of goals and great FC Barcelona moments. We then went to Barrio Gothic where another Cathedral is as well as other architecture. I got a new camera case, which Rob was nice enough to buy me for 3 euros, works great! So on Friday night he lost it while borrowing my camera to take 2 photos. He returned with my camera a minute later and the case was nowhere to be found. We had a good laugh. Rob also would often wander off and nobody would know where he went. It's tough when you're in a big city and you lose somebody... After the Barrio Gothic we went to the sandy beaches area. While I was in McDonald's getting a cheap cone and using the bathroom, I hear I missed out on two nude men walking along the shore. Aparently it's legal in Barcelona? After the beach we went to see this egg-shaped building on our way to see Parc Guall.

On the way to Parc Guall, some sketchy things went down. There were 6 of us now (Lauren had joined us). You know an area of Barcelona, a huge city, is sketchy when its completely deserted at 4 in the afternoon. There was a guy standing in front of a warehouse, just then two men run out of the building. The four girls were ahead of us by about half a block, and Rob was completely oblivious to the whole ordeal. Then the guy standing watch yells inside for another guy to come out. As I continue walking, I glance over to the building and see a pair of eyes looking back at me through a crack in the wall. As I finally fully pass the building, a policeman is just around the corner on the phone. Even though Rob was by my side, I had to explain all of this to him afte we were at a safe distance.

How should I feel about people speaking english to me after I ask them a question in Spanish? I take it as somewhat of an insult. They are basically saying, "Listen, my english is better than your spanish so I am going to switch the conversation into English."

We made it to Parc Guall with about 1 hour before sunset. We went to the top of a peak with a huge cross. We then came down a bit to see more Guady architecture in the Parc. Finally, when the sun was nearly down we climbed way up the mountain/hill to get a great view of the city. We were beat. During the whole day the hostal was nice enough to keep our backpacks in their hostal even though we wouldn't be spending Saturday night there and we checked out at 9 AM. so we trekked back to our hostal to get them. Kind of dangerous - basically we just walked into an unlocked room and grabbed our bags - no questions asked. Honor system I guess - anyone could have stolen our bags during the last 12 hours. We had about 5 more hours until our bus would leave at 3:45 AM from Barcelona to Reus for our 6:40 flight out of Reus. We opted to go see the 11:00 PM showing of Avatar to pass the time. Reagan and Maureen went to some other movie, and Kyle, Micah, Rob and me went to Avatar. All 6 of us slept through the majority of our respective movies. After Avatar ended at about 2 AM we spent about 20 minutes just slap-happy tired and out of it. I was so out of it that I went to the bathroom in the women's room without noticing. I should say that three people (Amy Phil and Lauren) went out to some bars and had us lug around their bags - so out of 6 Americans walking together we had 9 bags. Thank you God for not letting us get robbed at 3 AM. We took the metro and made it back to the airport and flew back to Seville! I slept from about 10 AM to 4 PM on Sunday and used the rest of the day to either procrastinate or study. This is officially my longest post ever, hope you enjoy!

Some updates from around Seville:
1. The rain has not stopped. The weatherman finally predicted no rain for today, but oh yeah it rained.
2. I had my first two mnidterms today. They went pretty well. It's very different from the Carlson culture - I've never taken midterms that were so straightforward like these exams. Don't get me wrong - I appreciate easy exams. But at Carlson we are always preparing by understanding general concepts to apply them to problems that we have never seen. I prepared in this manner for these exams not expecting that some of the examples were EXACT COPIES from our notes - so I may not have done as well as some other students. I'm trying to not let grades and exams become stressful because that's not why I am here - I am here to experience the Spanish culture and to see Europe. :)
3. I'm still very tired from the Barca weekend and will try to catch up on sleep whenever possible (right after this blog post).
4. Gustavo and Anabel went to Alicante for Monday and Tuesday for Gustavo's work. I will be going there on Friday so I am excited to hear how it was.
5. There was a blizzard in Barcelona the day after we left!