David y Barca

My goodness it has been quite some time. A whole... what, three days? Well don't even worry, I have plenty to say. When last we left, David was on his way to Barcelona and I was out enjoying La Diada (which it turns out, had a PARADE that I missed! Sad! I'm always game for a parade).

After a very confusing series of events involving misleading text message "received" times, I waited at the train station for about an hour and a half, convinced I had arrived too late and David had decided to brave the city alone and find a cab to his hostel. Luckily this was not the case, and he got in right at midnight (after a mini-storm, complete with torrential rain for approximately 10 minutes and thunder and lightning for about 45). Unfortunately that's when the Metro closes, and we decided to brave it and walk. We walked what Google maps tells me is about 3 km, probably freaking David out just a little by the random streets and the fact that it was after midnight. Once he was all checked into his hostel though, the real scaring of David began.

We went to find a bar in the Barrio Gotico, but I didn't have any particular one in mind and thought it would be more fun to just wander and see what we could find. Well, we wandered around the Barrio Gotico, which is all tiny little medieval streets which aren't super well-lit, and since all the stores were closed as it was 1:30, David probably thought we were about to get stabbed or something. But there were always people around, and the chance of getting stabbed or anything more than pickpocketed in Barcelona is extremely small (just so you know, mom & dad - no worrying now). We ended up getting tired of wandering and just stopped in a random place and chatting for a while, but I think that David was pretty sketched out by his initial impression of Spain.

The next day was probably the busiest day I have had in Barcelona. We got some breakfast (coffee and pastries is a big difference from the British breakfasts David was getting) and then wandered down Las Ramblas, towards the ocean. We saw all of the funky street performers, and the pet shops, and went in La Boqueria, which is a big covered market. David got to see some whole skinned animals, and bought some weird pink juice that was coconut and something. Next we wandered around more of the Barrio Gotico, and slowly made our way down to the harbor, then to the beach. We walked down the beach (it turned out to be a gorgeous day, even though it began kind of cloudy), which wasn't busy or dirty or anything - so apparently Paula has been lying to me. Or she has very high standards for beaches. There are tons of little cafes and restaurants right there on the sand and on the street, and we wandered down to the Port Olimpic, and then around la Barceloneta. It was all so pretty and we had the perfect day to do it, with sun and a breeze and no plans! We had some sandwiches and sangria on the sand, then wandered back up through El Born. I think (or hope) that David really liked seeing all of the tiny medieval streets and the little plazas that pop out from nowhere. After that, we took the bus up to Parc Guell (where I could probably go everyday), and saw all of Gaudi's weird ass stone bridges and mosaic benches. We stopped for tapas in the Barrio Gotico (it's just too cool to not keep exploring) and then went to Danielle's apartment for dinner - we had 11 people (David being the lone man) for dinner, and it was FANTASTIC. Danielle made a bunch of tapas that were amazing, and then we had pasta with cheese and cinnamon! Sounds crazy, and it is, but it's delicious. After that we went out to a couple bars, and in general tried to show David a good Barcelona night.

The next day, we went to La Sagrada Familia and wandered around some more, and then spent the better part of the afternoon trying to get David's phone fixed or buy him an alarm clock so that he could get up and make his flight in the morning. It was a much less exciting day, but we ended it with dinner with my host family, which was really cool. David followed the Spanish as best as he could (and it seemed he did very well!) and Paula and Ana and I talked more than we usually do, which was great. The twins were at their dad's this weekend, so it was really nice to have a relaxed dinner, without any sibling craziness going on between the three. Also they talk really fast, so it was easier to follow conversation between just Paula and Ana.

Today classes started, but only IES classes - I have to wait another week for my UPF and UB classes to begin. So I had one class at 9 am and that's all - it was good though. It's for my Spanish class, and I like the teacher and it seems like it will be really helpful in ironing out the stupid mistakes I make on a day-to-day basis. After that, Cara and I planned our trip to Scotland over fall break(!!!) which was fun but a little stressful when I tried to figure out transportation from Berlin to Glasgow and then back to Barcelona. Speaking of which, I am SO SO excited to go to Berlin with my parents when they come. It will be so cool! I hope. Cara had been craving a bagel, so we found a bagel shop online and went to find it. It was good, but really weird to be eating bagels. It's weird that I have absolutely no desire to find the things I love from home here - other than nectarines. There's a Chicago-style pizza place, and this bagel shop, and other places that serve food atypical of the region, but I really don't want to go to them. I doubt I'll go back to the bagel place, unless I'm really craving it, but I guess it was cool to go once. I planned to go to the beach, as it was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day, about 75 with a nice breeze and not a cloud in the sky - but no one else could go with me at the time so instead I went to La Pedrera, another Gaudi building, and then wandered down Diagonal (a main street) until I found a cool-looking neighborhood, which I explored for a few hours. I found a park, out of nowhere, and sat and enjoyed the shade for a while, then went out to get tapas with Leslie. We wandered around El Raval after that, which was really cool, and now I'm just resting my feet after a solid 6 hours of walking. I mean, there was some intermittent sitting, but still. I came home to find out that Ana fell in the street today and maybe broke her knee! It's very stressful and I hate seeing her like this. Also I have no idea what we will do, as she is the backbone and the brain and the ruler and anything else which gives structure in the house.

Next post will actually be interesting, I plan on making some real observations about Barcelona rather than just cataloging the events of the day, but for now - this is what you get. I also took lots more pictures, so get excited!