Barcelona Day Tres!

 Today we woke up a bit earlier than yesterday but all got ready a lot slower.  I was one of the first to wake up and then had to go to the bathroom and though I was really quiet everyone else was awake by the time I got back. We did morning stuff and then went down to breakfast. We sat and ate and then I went up to take a shower. It was glorious. After that, I went and sat downstairs while the others got ready. I posted some photos to Facebook. I tagged a photo of Gina and then her mom added me. She wished me happy Halloween.

Gina and I went and told the main lady that our room had bed bugs because I was NOT sleeping in there again. She took it pretty seriously but didn't really sound like she believed us. She followed us upstairs to our room to check but because she didn't see anything she was like well our beds are made to not accept bugs. And in my head I was like okay lady our beds are a hunk of foam... She made it seem like we were wrong and there weren't bugs but we all have bites and found like four bugs. It was really gross. She moved us to a new room in not the same building which was bigger and nicer and actually on the Main Street of the area. We're on the fourth floor so it is cool to look out. The hostel lady told us to not tell anyone about the bugs but we were like uhhh... We already did. But we were like yeah okay we won't...

After that, we took off in the direction of the sailing place to see what time we wanted to go on the boats. We bought our tickets for four thirty and then headed to the market to get some fruit. We stopped at an ATM so I could take out more money and then after I did Patrick asked me to borrow more money again... After I had just taken it out and configured how much I would need for my two remaining days here... Sigh. Now he owes me a hundred euros, which I know he is good for but it's inconvenient and now I have to get more money out tomorrow.... We ate our delicious fruit in front of a museum and Jonny kept dropping all his on the ground. I had a fruit salad with dragon fruit and then some mangos. It was all really good.

Next we followed my directions to the metro (I bought an unlimited two day pass for tomorrow) to go to Park Güell where all of Gaudis most famous works are located. Including the gingerbread looking house, a bunch of columns, and the famous salamander mosaic sculpture. It was really cool there but it was really confusing to figure out which line was quickest to buy tickets and we were up this huge hill and potentially would of had to go back down a ton of stairs to turn around and go back up. LaSia offered to be in the scouting group with Sally so that I didn't have to make the trip unless I had to because of my vcd. I found that really nice of her. She is the first person to actually listen to me about that and take me into consideration. I told her later I really appreciated it. And I really did.  We then learned that the tickets worked like fast passes and you could only enter between certain times. We got the two o' clock time but then had forty minutes to kill. We went and sat down at a restaurant nearby to get food. To be honest, everyone seemed kind of crabby today... I don't know if it was because last night was pretty eventful or whether it was us getting sick of each other or what. I have been getting a little worn down but I'm trying to be on good terms with everyone. Do I feel like this group likes me? I feel like I fit in more than a lot of other groups...

Every trip I feel like you get sick of each other no matter how close you are. I wonder if couples trips are like that... Probably not. I think it is just because of the group aspect. We sat down and I ordered a sangria and nachos. The restaurant was really busy and didn't have a lot of waitstaff so it was a little hectic and stressful to be on a time crunch with that whole thing. We got our food in time though and wolfed it down. My nachos were really delicious. I would have eaten them again. My sangria was very Spanish and I drank it in honor of my mom and hearing her saying "you only get to drink sangria in Spain so often!"

We rushed out of the restaurant and then went into the park. It was pretty cool and had more of the colors that I was looking for in Barcelona but I'm not sure that it was worth the price or stress. I was really glad I got to see the lizard guy though. I thought it was really cool looking. When we got done with that after walking around the park for about an hour we rushed back to the metro in typical "hurry up and wait" fashion.

I got us back to the subway easy. I also didn't show anyone else the map because I decided the least amount of people trying to be the leader and arguing over which way and all that was just easier. This group has been really good at having leaders who bicker and have everyone be indecisive and then suddenly decisive at inopportune times. So, because I had the map, I didn't ever show it to anyone else. I think that worked the best. I got us back to the harbor quickly on the metro and then we got on the boat.

The boat trip was probably my favorite thing that we did today because it was not as stressful. I talked a lot with Sally and Gina. It was really pretty. We went along the port and the shoreline of Barcelona which was really gorgeous. We got the later time because then we were able to see the sunset and it wasn't too hot. It was a really pretty orange. We also went between a bunch of cruise ships and we started waving to people. Pretty soon everyone on the boat started waving too. It was fun.

We met a couple who took our pictures and they said that we sounded Canadian!? We told them we were American and they didn't believe us. They were from Scotland and were really nice. Then too soon the boat ride was over but it was good because we were starving. We went to 'walk to wok' which was a very delicious wok place. They had stir fry noodles. They were super good. I had chicken, broccoli, and pineapple in mine. I think the pineapple was a really good touch. We came back to the hostel without Jonny or Sally because they were in the markets. I felt kind of bad leaving them...but they came back and weren't upset or anything. So that was good because I was a bit concerned they would have been waiting for us and then would have been pissed. But it was all good.

 

We finished eating and then the group got their stuff packed for Brussels because they are going to leave at 4am. I will have the room to myself and plan on taking a nice long shower. We went to the other hostel building to use the wifi. That is the downside of this building, that we have to walk to the wifi to use it now. I think it is worth it to not be eaten alive. I learned my iPod has either not been putting my pictures up or has been putting them up in a weird order so I don't know whether or not I have put certain ones up or not... That's annoying.

Then we went souvenir shopping again and I bought a couple things. I learned that my list of gifts and who I am buying souvenirs for and what I bought was erased off of my iPod so I am pretty bummed about that. So now I might forget what I bought and who I bought it for and who I haven't and want to buy for. Not so good... I am worried that all this souveniring is starting to add up but that is also a good thing because that means no more shopping for other people! Then I can shop for me! But to be honest, I haven't really been too turned onto anything here yet. I guess it just seems like I would rather spend more on myself to DO things rather than have a bunch of stuff. I'm here to make memories not to buy a bunch of crap. Pictures will suffice for me. Though I have found a few things I like and have bought. I found some cheap postcards. The souvenir guys would haggle though and also pester you in the shops which I hate. I yawned and one of the guys was like you need a redbull and I was like no I need some sleep! After poking around we came back to the hostel and chilled out until we fell asleep. At least that's what I am saying because that's what I'm going to do! Just kidding hen I ate a doughnut courtesy of Gina for Halloween. It had a gummy finger on it. Yummy! Buenos noches!

Barcelona Day Dos!

Last night we slept with the door open because it was so hot and as a result all got a lot of street noise. Some include screaming, bottle smashing, and more screaming all in different languages. It was a bit annoying but I slept pretty well regardless.

We got up around 8 and all kind of just woke up as a result of the noise. We decided to go get hostel breakfast of bread and muffins and juice/soda. Not juice or soda but it was like a strange combination of the two. It was odd but good. The bread was half stale but there was strawberry jelly which was really good. After that we came back up and got dressed. I chose to wear my black dress because it was supposed to be really hot. But the problem with that is humidity bumps on my inner thighs when I walk around because I forgot my longer shorts to put under it. That was kind of stupid of me. I wore my nike flip flops.

Once we were all ready we went and sat downstairs to wait until it was time to leave. I found out then that it was for an hour and that we were meeting in town at the bus place so I said well screw sitting around I can do that anywhere I'm going to walk around. So then everyone was like oh that's a good plan. So we just started walking and saw some cool buildings and stuff. We didn't really have a plan which was kind of the part of the day so far that I liked best. We took some group pictures in front of a cool arc thing and then looked at a flea market and looked at prices for a boat tour around the port. It was really pretty though.

After that we went to the buses to go on a city tour. The first place that we stopped was at a big church that looked over the city as well as near the Olympic park from the Summer games of 1992. Sally really wanted to see the arena so we ran up a bunch of stairs and rushed to get to see it in the twenty minutes that we had at this stop. We really kin of had to book it and only had a couple minutes at the site but it was still pretty cool. There were a bunch of gold columns and a big Olympic statue column thing. After that we ran to get back on the bus and I get scratched by a bush and it bled a bit but it was more annoying than anything else.

Then we stopped at a spot that looked over the port. It was really pretty and there were a bunch of fountains and this weird but cool ring around the rosy statue. It was cool but I guess it was supposed to look like a Spanish dance but it really just looked like ring around the rosy. We took pictures of the city which was really cool to see but I am sure won't be as cool in pictures. We were all getting hungry and a bit cranky at that point.

After that we drove two miles in about an hour down a really crowded road at lunch hour rush down a road right next to the port. There were some cool statues and sculptures. One was a brass lobster with a happy face that I want to get a picture with tomorrow. We finally arrived closeish to the Sagrada Familia church. It was really pretty. We walked to around the outside which was gorgeous but we didn't have time today to go in it. I took lots of pictures of the outside which isn't finished being built yet. It started being built in 1880 and isn't projected to be done until 202(6?) ish. It looks amazing though and I kind of like the idea of creating a modern cathedral like that because when you think about it there aren't very many modern ones there are just lots of old ones. So I think it's cool that now they are making a new one.

We were all really cranky so after we walked around the church we went to go find some food. We ended up going to a restaurant and I got a ham and cheese hot sandwich which was really good. I put mustard on it to just give it some flavor. It was good and we also had to buy bottled water because the water here is not good to drink. We had lunch and churros and then we headed out to find the buses again.

We got a little lost finding the buses but then retraced our steps to find the way to the buses but then we ran into some other kids on the trip so we followed them. On the way I saw a lot of like scissor signs with cross out signs to say what I assume was no cutting on them. When we got back on the bus we passed the hospital Saint Paul which was really gorgeous but apparently is unenterable to the public. So that is sad. It was really pretty red brick though which I really liked.

The. We went by a big public garden which once had an albino white gorilla named Snowflake once lived. Now the gorilla is dead though so that is sad. We passed by the arc du triumph of Barcelona which was really cool and made of the same red brick. After that, we passed by the houses of Gaudi which our your guide pronounced very strangely. The houses were pretty cool and one of them reminded me of the egg Easter houses with the lights in them that I used to use as a night light. They were really cool and colorful.

That has been one of my biggest surprises about Barcelona so far is that it is not as beachy and not as colorful as I thought it would be. It is still super nice but just not really meeting up to expectations in the color aspect. Some things are but as a general atmosphere I am surprised that it is not more colorful. It is still a pretty awesome and monumental city though.

After that we got off the bus and then the rest of my group told her that they were leaving on Tuesday morning early so not to look for them. We left and went past our hostel and to a supermarket to buy some alcohol and juice to have a little party tonight. We brought that and some souvenirs back to the hostel and then decided to go out for dinner.

We walked along the main road and found a place that offered tapas and paella for cheaps. It turned out to all be seafood so I decided to skip it and get a pizza. I tried some of Sally's paella and it was pretty good but very seafoody. We also got some sangria which I found surprisingly delicious. I could have drank a lot of it because it was so delicious but it was alcoholic so I wouldn't.  We had dinner which was fun. We talked about everyone's spirit animal because Gina is into Wicken stuff. It was fun to talk about because I already knew mine from talking to Megan. She uses the idea of spirit animals for her theater stuff.

After that we came home after looking at souvenir shops on the way. We came back and I changed clothes to wear pants because from walking around my legs got huge red like welt on them... Grr. Annoying... It's times like this I wish I was one of those girls with a thigh gap... :-/

We came home and then my friends decided to go get ice for my thighs which I thought was really sweet of them. Then they came back and we played kings cup with modified rules and with wine. We played with a deck of cards I had bought. It was pretty fun and the whole night was pretty fun. We had bought a bottle of vodka and then juice and then had a bottle of red wine left over from last night. I didn't drink too much and know not to go past a limit which I never even got close to. So that was good. Some of my companions though were not so lucky and got sick. I think I did an okay job taking care of them. I went and got more toilet paper from downstairs where the guy who runs the desk was so bored he started talking to me about movies. I talked with him for a while but then in my head was like dude I just want the toilet paper. And then ended our chat and left.

When I came back up things were not going as well as when I left. Some of my companions were not doing so well and one threw up over the trash can in our room and another I escorted to the bathroom where he stayed for a long while getting sick and then feeling better and then vice versa. It was not so good. But I think I did okay in helping remedy the situation. After that we sat around (those not sick) and talked a while. Luckily I was already in pajamas which was nice. Then I went to sleep.

Also we found bed bugs in our room which is really gross so I am going to be careful and inspect my clothes before I leave. Belch gross!

Welcome to Barcelona!

I woke up at 5:10 and was surprisingly awake. I think I had been so worried about over sleeping that I was on edge all night. I woke up at 430 too. But I woke up and put on clothes and went to the living room. Madame was up and Beebow was staring at me as he does in the mornings. Madame wished me a safe trip and hoped I would have a good time. She offered for me to take some food with me for the trip but I declined because I didn't really want to eat anything. I double checked I had all my stuff and then went out the door.

I got to the hotel whichever was a little scary walking alone when it was kind of dark still and all the drunk people were walking around. I put all my valuables on my person in case my bag got jacked. It was all good though. I got there and found Patrick and we got on the bus. Gina, Sally, LaSia and Jonny. They sat in front of us so we were all together.

We all passed out on the bus until about 8:50 when the bus stopped at a convenience store to take a bathroom/breakfast break. I bought a chocolate milk which didn't taste too bad so that was good. Also a baguette that I shared with the group. Gina, LaSia, and Jonny ate these little cheese things. They were really cute. I saw something finally that I could have bought for Thad but I didn't go for it... :-/ maybe I will find something better. They put on the first Sherlock Holmes movie on the

We watched a video of Barcelona which was cool. I guess some important guy wanted the government to build 60 cool houses but then they only built 2. After that they wanted to build a room with 100 columns and it is called the room with 100 columns but there are only 84! LOLs. After that the lady came in and asked who we wanted to room with. The six of us got a room together which the lady was hesitant about because we were mixing genders but it's not like we are going to be doing anything so it was fine I guess. We are adults.

We got to Barcelona and got off the bus to go get some lunch. We walked past the column with Christopher Columbus pointing to America and a bunch of lion statues. After that we walked along one of the major streets where there were a lot of tourist shop things. They had some cool looking stuff but we didn't really have enough time to look at them. We went to this little restaurant where the waiter wasn't the greatest. I had a plate of spaghetti and went against my better judgement to not get pizza which was a bit dumb. I should have gotten pizza.

After that we headed back to the bus to get our stuff. We got put back on the bus to get talked to and then after that got back off the bus to get our stuff and walk back the way we just were to go to to our hostel. It was kind of chaos getting everyone into rooms. But eventually we got it figured out. We got two room keys for our room and then we have our own bathroom between the six of us.  It's not too shabby. It's a dorm size room with four bunk beds and a set of lockers. Our bathroom is a shower with a single toilet so it's one room. It is our private bathroom though for the six of us so it is nice.

After we did that,  we left the hostel to go on a walking tour of the city. It was pretty cool but kind of chaotic and hard to stick together so by the end of it there were only like thirteen of us. We walked by the Barcelona Cathedral which took over 700 years to finish. That's a long time. Oh and I figured out the guy who wanted to make the 60 houses was Gaudi who is apparently a pretty big deal here... And his stuff is pretty cool. We walked around a lot and went by lots of cool shops. Lots of them were VERY expensive though.

After that my group went to the tourism office and I bought a map of Barcelona. I figure I can give it to mom when I'm done. After that we went to a big market. It reminded me a lot of the Spanish markets that I have been to. Oh wait... Duh that's probably why... I'm stupid sometimes. I bought some fruit cup and then a sliced mango and it was literally the best mango of my entire life. Yes. It was so good. After that we went to the grocery store to get some snacks. I tried to buy oranges but then after waiting twenty minutes in line I needed to have a barcode so I just said whatever. The group bought two bottles of wine to share later.

We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and then we went to a place for dinner. Tonight was a soccer game between Barcelona and Real Madrid so everyone was watching the game. The tv was on so we watched it too. Barcelona won so people have been celebrating tonight. I ordered a chicken and pineapple salad which had shrimp in it so but I just ate it anyways. We also got desserts and I got pastilleroz maybe that's how you spell it. It was cream puffs with chocolate on it. It was very good. I also tried Jonnys Cuddlefish and Ginas creme Catalan which was pretty good but not as good as creme brûlée according to the group. I was the only one who got not the creme Catalan. It was good though.

After that we came home and I learned we don't get towels so I decided to go buy an expensive but cute Barcelona towel. The group came too and I finally found something (lame but cute) for Thad. I also got something for Spencer and eyed something for mom so I can get it later.

We came home and popped open a bottle of wine and I took a shower. Literally the best shower I've had in 2 months. I was in heaven. I can't wait to take another one. We just chilled in the hostel for the rest of the time and talked. It was really nice and I liked it. :-)

We only get internet in the ground floor of the hostel so I will say bye for now! :-) Love you all!

Lazy Friday before Barcelona

Ce matin I woke up at 8 thanks to the constant and loud BANGING next door. It was so obnoxious. I yelled at them in my head and then knowing they weren’t going to stop I put in earplugs and shut all the doors. That helped a bit. After that I slept for another hour and then woke up and took a quick shower. Ha. They are all quick in my book. I got dressed and then had breakfast before heading out to the school to hang out for the day.

When I got there we sat for a while and LaSia seemed a bit annoyed because Patrick wasn’t checking his phone and they were trying to iron out their plans for the break and he was absent so that was frustrating I can imagine. We sat around and I went and printed my Paris Pass voucher for Paris which I had almost forgotten to do. Then after that I watched Spencers videos and then we decided to head out. We went to Claires and then over to the shopping centers and I bought some minutes for my phone so now I have it up and working again. I figured that was pretty important for my trip.

Cassandra and I went to Monprix where I bought apple juice, pizza goldfish, speculoos, and some cheap colored pencils. So no one sent me any! After that we went and got a pizza and then went and ate it in the cave and then killed time until 5. I colored and drew while Cassandra played on her iPad. Then we went to the bank and when we came back hit up the bathroom at the school just before they closed it. Then we went to Woohoo to celebrate finishing midterms and starting our break. Patrick met us there and we told him he was supposed to check his email and he seemed a little miffed a us that we told him that. But we were just doing what we were told. We got drinks and talked about stuff from Senior year of highschool and what everyones classes did and what trips their school took them on. I didn’t really talk much about that because their schools like sent them to Disneyworld or they put alarm clocks all over the school to go off at certain times. It was fun to listen to but I didn’t really have much to add. But that’s fine with me.

After that I went home and packed for Barcelona and then went downstairs. Apparently Paul is sick though so we sat on the other sie of the room as him. I hope I don’t get sick. That would really suck. But he played on my iPod and I talked with Madame about Barcelona and my plans and stuff like that. I told her I do not want to eat breakfast in the morning. She said she understood. After that Laurence came home and they talked about Paul. She told me some cool places in Barcelona I could check out and some foods I could try. After that Paul started another game but we were supposed to leave so I stayed til he finished though he started another immediately. But then I won anyways because the iPod died. He was not very happy but I said that’s what you get for not following directions. Then I went upstairs.

We had chicken nuggets and fries for dinner because we thought Paul was going to eat with us but then he was sick. So we ate it anyways and it was good. After that I tried to Skype Thad but the internet was not having it. After 20 minutes I stopped (sort of) trying to get it to work. I was really bummed though because now I might not be able to talk to him at all until next week… :-/ That’s a sucky concept… I hope that isn’t true.

Today is 5 months that we have been together and two of those have been with me gone. But I feel comfortable. We are pretty solid so that is helpful in all this.

Then Madame and I watched Masterchef and I went to bed early because I have to be at the hotel to leave for Barcelona tomorrow at 6am! Gross! But I am excited!