Hello!! I told my mom I was going to post on here last night after I finished my homework but...then Emily and I spent at least an hour deciding what our new profile pictures on facebook should be and then when I looked at the clock it was 12:30 and I had taken some NyQuil so I thought it best to go to bed. So right now, I have an hour and a half before class and I'm going to try to finish this in that time. I'm all alone so there shouldn't be a lot of distractions which is good because this is a LONG story. Probably worthy of more than one post...I could leave like, a nice cliff hanger or something when I'm writing about my day ALONE in Spain but...we all already know that I made it back safe so it's not as suspenseful. Bummer. Anyway...on to my week in Spain!
During class on Tuesday, my teacher told me that she needed to talk to me after class and also that her husband needed to talk to me before we left. Well, what they have to say I'll never know because I forgot to talk to her and he was on the phone when I went to talk to him and I didn't see either of them again before I left. Oops! I finished packing my bag about 15 minutes before we left for the train station. Perfect timing, right? And, I didn't forget ANYTHING!! Everything I would need for my 7 day trip (that was supposed to be 5 days...) fit into my school backpack and I also had room for some homework! We left at 2:15 and walked down to the train station and got on the train and then when we got off in Paddington station, we decided it was too far to walk to Victoria station so we took the underground and made our other train with time to spare. We had dinner at the airport, which was nice, but our flight got delayed because there was a fire in the airport in Amsterdam and somehow that affected when our plane got there. We flew easy jet and apparently the rule for that airline is, first come first served; you fight for the seat you want! Well since I really don't care where I sit on planes it wasn't a big deal but people were getting crazy about cutting the line. Our flight was really short and when we got to the airport it was really deserted and we didn't know what to do! Finally, after standing outside for a while hoping to find a bus schedule or something, we went inside to the car rental place and asked the lady at the counter for help. She told us what bus to ride and where to get off and everything. So we did that, the bus ride was really long and I think we got off at the wrong stop because our hostel was NOT right down the street like that lady said. It was about 12:30 AM at this point and we were tired and only concerned about finding our hostel. So we walked around for a while, Audrey had a map and we were looking at that and trying to find our way and finally, we saw these two ladies and asked them for help. Kind of. I, being the Spanish speaker of the group, boldly walked up to this lady and said, "Hablo espanol?" Good one, Hannah. Her response was, "no". Hah! In the end, we got out our map and said our street name with the proper question inflection and she pointed and used tiny words we knew and we ended up at our hostel in no time! We got all checked in and went up to our room and there were people in our beds! Lame. There were enough beds though, so that was fine, but I guess people that were assigned to top bunks decided that they wanted bottom bunks instead and they just happened to be ours. Anyway, we slept in the next day because we were pretty tired and then when we woke up, we went to lunch at this restaurant down the street and they had great food! Oh, and if you ever go to Spain, remember that they charge you for bottles of water in EVERY restaurant. So that sucked. So, we ate and then decided we wanted to go see some of the sights so we walked to the Segrada familia which is a huge basilica in the city that they've been working on since 1882. It was designed by this man named Gaudi who also designed all these other crazy buildings in Barcelona that people thought were ugly but now they're considered beautiful landmarks. Go figure, another artist misunderstood during his own time. This Church was his baby though, and he put everything he had into it and it's predicted to be done in the year 2026. However, there are some specialists who doubt that it will ever be finished. It's taken them almost 100 years and they're not even half way done yet, but the foundations of the building weren't meant for something so big and right underneath it is the metro line and they're thinking about putting a train line down there too which means that the ground will be even less stable. I'll be really sad if it never gets finished. The outside, when you look at it from a distance, is really kind of ugly. It looks like molten stone and just, jagged rocks are covering the whole thing. But up close, every bit of the rock is carved into some shape or design and it's gorgeous. There are two sides complete now, one side depicts Jesus' birth and the other, his death and the styles of statue are so different it's incredible but it also flows so well. The inside is bigger than anything I've ever seen. There are stained glass windows everywhere and when the light shines in it turns the stone different colors and it looks beautiful! Oh, I could go on for hours probably about this building. It was so amazing. And unlike the Abby in Bath, I got pictures this time! I'll try to put them up someday.
After the Church, we decided to walk down to the beach. It was further than we though, but totally worth it in the end. There were these chairs made out of cement scattered over the sidewalk and there was all this free work out equipment and people were just working out and looking out at the Mediterranean sea like it was nothing! We sat there for a while and then decided to walk back to the hostel before it got too dark. We stopped for dinner in the restaurant run by a Chinese family and they didn't speak any English and hardly any Spanish. So that was interesting. Then we passed an ice cream shop on our way back and decided it was necessary to stop there. We walked to the train station just to be sure we wouldn't get lost on the way the next day when we were needing to use the train. Then we headed back to the hostel and turned in early because we were all going to be traveling the next day and we wanted to be rested. The plan was this: the rest of our group flew in to Girona on Wednesday evening/night and on Friday, Audrey and I were going to take a train to Girona and meet them before we all came back to Barcelona for the weekend. So, I woke up the next day, and there was a note next to my face from one of the other girls on the trip that had arrived the night before. I had no idea she was going to be there! So after Audrey and I got all ready, we found her and told her that we were going back to Girona and she wanted to go with us and so we waited for her and had to kind of rush to our train but when we got to the station to buy our tickets, the woman at the information desk told us that we were at the wrong station and to catch our train that left in 10 minutes, we would have to walk to anther station that was 10 minutes away. Great. And the next train wasn't for another hour or so and we were supposed to meet the other group at 12:30. So the new girl with us told us that she knew how to get to Girona from Barcelona by bus because that's what she'd done the night before and we followed her and went to the metro station and then the bus station and then another bus station and then we got turned around walking in Girona because the hostel was harder to find than we thought it was going to be! Finally, we made it and met up with everyone and had lunch and it was all great. We walked along this wall that surrounded the city and saw this incredible Cathedral. We couldn't do inside for some reason but the outside was just gorgeous and there were all these gardens around and beautiful views of the mountains and the city. It was just lovely. Then, we took our bus back and the other group took a train and they had to wait on us for about an hour in Barcelona before we showed up and they could get dinner. After dinner we searched and searched for a good dessert place but nothing was open! Then, we walked down this little side street and found something that was open and it had the best dessert ever! I got this thing that looked like a croissant log but on each end, it was dipped in chocolate and then it was filled with chocolate, which I did not know until I bit into it. It was seriously one of the best things I've ever had in my life. Mmm. After that, we went back to the hostel and there was this sort of concert thing going on in the kitchen/common room area and so I went down there with Andrew and we listened to the music. It was weird but cool. It sounded a bit like the Indian music with the vocal runs and not many words just kind of sounds but with great instrumental music. It was fantastic. These ladies in the front got up and started dancing and I noticed halfway through the song that one of them was about 8 months pregnant and she was just movin'! It was so funny!
The next day, we decided it would be fun to go on a fat tire bike tour around the city. We were right, it was fun. We rode all around the city and saw so many amazing things. The guides took us to this park that was out of this world gorgeous. There was a huge fountain with gold on it here and there and statues of people and water flowing over it and steps around it and trees all around. It was so beautiful. And we went back to the beach and had lunch and then after we finished, one of the guides was asking us where we were from, he was Australian so there was no language barrier, and we told him about our trip and he invited us out to kind of tell us more about what we should do in Barcelona and talk some more. It was super cool, he took us to this great little pub that was really more Australian than Spanish. Or, actually, I guess I should say Catalunyan. We were told on our tour that, sadly, we were NOT in Spain as we thought, but we were in Catalunya which is quite different. We still called it Spain, though. And surprisingly there were a TON of Australian people in Barcelona. I have no idea why. Anyway, we left there and went back to the hostel for a while just to get kind of rested and that night, we went with a group from the hostel on a sort of tour I guess of Tapas and Flamenco dancing. First, we went to a restaurant and got some Tapas which is like bread with different things on top. It was alright, nothing I'd want to eat on a regular basis. It might have been better if it was hot but I wouldn't know. Then, we went to this, I don't even know, It was like a little bar I guess. And we saw Flamenco dancing and it was amazing. Those ladies were crazy intense and they made it look easy but it is such an amazing style of dance. And then this little girl got up and started doing it and I was blown away! It was crazy.
The next day, we took the metro up the this beautiful park sort of on the outskirts of the city. It was so beautiful! Walking up there sucked though. It was like Bath all over again. This hill we had to walk up was like a straight up incline and it went on forever! We made it though, and it was worth it. There was all this beautiful scenery and the mountains were clear and it was a beautiful day and the buildings we saw were incredible! It was more Gaudi. Apparently, he was paid by some rich people to build these houses and when he did, they hated them and so the government bought them and no one ever lived in them but now they're a huge tourist attraction which is great for us because they were legit. They're called the gingerbread houses because they really do look like actual houses made to look like a gingerbread house. They're so fun! After we'd seen all of Gaudi that we could stand for the day, we took the metro back to the beach and had a late lunch and then walked along the beach. We found these carts on the sidewalk that sell waffles with toppings on them and we had to stop. We had to. I got one topped with dark chocolate and white chocolate. Holy cow! Seriously, I know I just said this about that pastry two paragraphs ago, but it was the best thing I've ever eaten! It was so deliciously unhealthy. Mmm!! I couldn't eat dinner that night though because it made me so full I couldn't even think of food without feeling like I was going to throw up. Worth it. That night the group flying out of Girona took the train back there and I stayed in Barcelona with a few of the other girls. Two of them flew out super early in the morning and the other was flying out of Girona later in the afternoon on Sunday.
So, Sunday morning, I met the other girl for breakfast (I realize it's awkward that I don't use names all the time but I feel like it's confusing enough not using names that I don't want to throw them out there. Plus I don't know how these people would feel knowing that I'm putting their name on the web.) and I took extra food, because breakfast was free, and stuffed it in my backpack. I'd run out of money the day before and one of the girls lent me some, but I was determined not to spend it if I didn't have to. So this food was going to last me until Monday sometime when I got to eat a real meal. At about 10, we decided to go back to the beautiful park with the fountain from the bike tour. So we took the metro back there and basically sat next to the lake for a few hours and just hung out and took pictures. So beautiful! Then, she had to leave to catch her bus to the airport and I was all alone. Well Emily and I were joking around the night before and she told me that she wanted me to keep a little hourly diary of what I was doing in Spain by myself and take pictures to go along with it. So I did! It's really legit. I titled it, "I'm in Barce-ALONE-a". Get it? I thought it was clever. I tried to make it interesting but basically I was just sitting around doing nothing all day/night and there was nothing really interesting to write about! My original plan was to kind of walk around the city until 8:00 then catch the train to the airport and then hang out there all night. Well, at around 4 it started raining a little bit. So I felt like I could either sit there and hope it stopped and then didn't start raining harder, or I could just make my way to the airport. So that's what I did. I wasn't really in any hurry so I walked to the train and then once at the airport I accidentally got on the wrong bus to the wrong terminal and had to take a different bus and then once I got to that terminal I was supposed to go to a different building and I tried to check in but I wasn't allowed because it was too early so I just sat in the terminal and then at like 1:00 AM a police officer told me that that specific building was closed so I had to walk back to a different building and I sat there for a long time. My building was supposed to open again at 5:30. So I waited. My phone, all week, was on London time which is an hour behind Barcelona time. So all week I was having to add an hour to my phone time. Well, at 4:30 (on my phone) I packed all my homework away and walked back to the other building. It was so cold outside and I stood out there for about 10 minutes and was starting to get frustrated when I noticed a clock on the wall in the building that said 4:30. So I guess at some point during that day, my phone had decided it was time to finally change to Barcelona time, but I don't know when that happened so I was living my life an hour ahead of when it actually was for I don't even know how long. Fantastic. So I just went back to the other building and hung out for an hour.
I finally got to check in and I was the first one. So that meant I was the first one to go through security also. Normally, I don't like going through security at airports because I feel like the security people are just so unhappy. Except at Gatwick! Oh, the security people at Gatwick airport are some of the friendliest people I've ever met! They stand there and give you the tubs that you need and they remind you of all the things you need to take off and to check your pockets. Lovely people. Barcelona airport security...not so much. If I thought it was uncomfortable to go through security when it was crowded, it's so much more uncomfortable to go through security ALONE! I walked up, and the rope thing was there to direct the line, but there was no line, and there were 8 security people just standing around talking and I was up there alone. So I didn't know if I was allowed to go through yet but I couldn't just turn around so I walked forward into the line and kind of...walked slowly, pretending I was reading signs on the wall, and when they security people didn't say anything to me I moved forward a little more and it went on like that for a long time. Then, this guy walked up and he went through the line so I figured it was alright. So I started to put my stuff in tubs and everything and then when I turned around to look at the guy, HE WAS ANOTHER SECURITY GUY! So, then I was still the only one up there. They had to turn the conveyor belt on for me to go through. It was super awkward. I probably made it more awkward. Emily said that's my super power because I can take the most normal things and make them super awkward. At least she said it's a funny awkward, so she feels like she can laugh without feeling like she's laughing at someone who's totally pathetic ans socially awkward. Good! Well, after I made it through security, I didn't know where my gate was so I walked around and I ended up walking around the entire building, only to walk back in front of the security people and in the opposite direction I had gone at first. I finally made it to the passport guy and he looked at it and then got out his stamp and was about to stamp it and then he stopped and I almost had a heart attack. Then it turned out that he only wanted to tell me that there wasn't a place to get food after I passed them. So I thought that was really sweet! I just told him to go ahead and stamp it though. I ran out of the food I took from the hostel at 3:30...so I was still kinda full from that.
My plane ride was boring. I fell asleep while the safety instructions were being explained and then woke up about 20 minutes before we landed. I found the train that would take me to the underground and then I took the underground to another train station and I was freaking out because I thought I was going to miss my second train but I ended up being 20 minutes early for my train and I just stood around in the station. My train came into Oxford at 12:20, I speed walked the 2 miles from the train station to my house, made it here in 20 minutes and had time to jump in the shower before class and I was one minute early for my 1:00 class. Skill! Then between that class and my poetry class I walked to the sandwich shop and got some lunch and then later that night I did laundry. I ended up being awake, minus my little plane nap, for over 37 hours and it was not great. I was loopy and hyper and...yeah. But Erika thought it was really funny. And I started to get a little cold on Saturday. I'm pretty sure it's just a stress cold because it's going away now that I'm back to what I know and in a normal routine but being in Spain a lone was a stressful thing and getting back in time for class was stressful. I had to treat myself to a milkshake yesterday made with a Ben's cookie. It was, as one of the guys here said, "life changing". Truly. And I had Ali's on Monday night but someone picked it up for me and I forgot to tell them what all I wanted on it so it wasn't like I remembered...which was sad. But it was still good. I'm not going to eat out again this week unless I have to though, because as much as I loved Spain it was not good for my wallet! Worth it.
So that was my trip to Spain! It's now 5:00...I had to break for class about halfway through this post. Sorry you just read a novel that had no real content. Maybe later if I finish all my homework again I'll do a bonus post that's just everything I wrote in my hourly journal/diary and I might even include pictures! WOO!! So stay tuned for that...
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