I have a crush on Barcelona

As more regular as I would like to keep this blog, it just doesn’t happen. I’m not really a blogger, I guess. I have a couple friends to whom I’d give the title, but not this girl. I hope, however, that the few blogs and updates I do post make people somewhat happy.

I spent the last few days in Barcelona. I absolutely loved it; the perfect blend between this energetic atmosphere of people roaming down the ever-busy La Rambla, to that laidback flow of sunset rollerbladers and bicyclists down the boardwalk and beach goers basking in the the Barcelona breeze with their guitars and volleyballs. 

I didn’t go into any museums, I didn’t sightsee like crazy, because in Barcelona, you can just be.

Being happy in the city took a few hours, though. Remember my boost of street ego after spending four days in Madrid? I predicted a decline, maybe even back down to point zero. Self-made discovery: it’s very possible to be on a negative slope, at least in my world of navigation.

After a little over eight hours on a bus, I got to Barcelona just before 9 pm. A tiny part of me was worried about finding my hostel at night—knowing how well I find them in broad daylight—but only that tiny part, because in Spain, cities come alive at night. I would be fine.

I started at the station, trying hard to follow an old man’s Spanish directions to the metro.  I knew I didn’t understand, and why I didn’t stop to ask someone else is beyond me. It was nearing 9, though, and people would start filling the streets, coming out for dinner and nightly socializing. I kept telling myself this would work out, and I think it would have… if it hadn’t started pouring. As if wandering around aimlessly and far from anything wasn’t enough, the further blows of shopkeepers pulling down their gridded doors and waiters stacking up outdoor chairs and tables screamed, “You’re on your own, kid.” I was exhausted, aching, and now drenched.  And I was very, very lost. I could have cried. The situation, I feel, definitely warranted that. I told myself, though, that if I was the kind of girl who cried every time I was lost, or even incredibly lost in a dark city struggling with my luggage and a useless map in the rain, I wouldn’t be the kind of girl to up and leave for Europe on her own. I wasn’t going to cry.

After sitting down with a friendly Spanish man sipping wine under the shelter of a small café, he told me my hostel was nine blocks to the left. Looking me over with my wet hair, towering backpack, and sodden map, he told me to take the bus. I’d been walking around for over an hour now. Nine blocks was nothing, and I was not about to let the possibility of the wrong bus take me further away. I told him I would walk, thanked him for his help, and wondered what he was thinking as he watched me saunter off, counting my streets in the night.

The rain stopped just as I reached my hostel. Suddenly the past couple hours, or my entirely long day, didn’t matter anymore. I’d made it, and I was happy enough for that.

When I got to my room of fourteen dorm beds, I met my first two American girls since I’ve been traveling: Rosie and Thea. They’d just arrived that day, too, and they were about to get ready to go on a pub crawl. They told me to come, followed by a number of convincing reasons: it was Saturday night in Barcelona, our first night, it’d be fun, if it made me feel any better, they were tired too. Persuaded, I took a shower, and we left around 11:30.  

Day one quickly rolled into day two in Barcelona as we pored into our dorm beds around 5 am. I slept through noon and declared that afternoon a beach day. 

The rest of my days were a mixture of exploring the streets, marveling at Gaudi’s work, beach bumming, dining with new friends, and falling in love with colorful Barcelona.

I've met some really great people...

Thea and Rosie. I miss them <3

After dinner with Adam, Rosie, Thea, and Alex

 Had some really delicious food...

Chicken curry. So good.

Not very Spanish, but one of the coolest things I've seen: a rotating sushi bar.

Seen some really amazing things...

 

La Sagrada Familia

Inside the cathedral

At the top of Park Güell

Gaudi's Casa Batllo, where I will live some day. 

Roamed through the coolest markets...

Mercat de la Boqueria

 And enjoyed some really nice beaches...

I hope to maybe stop back in Barcelona before my trip ends. It's strange to think that it's half over already. I took an overnight ferry to the island of Majorca a couple days ago and have been reveling in the sun and calm of it all, but more on that later.

Barcelona's city lights from the ferry

P.S. Someone should give me a Blogging for Dummies book, because I can't make anything look like how I want it to. 

P.P.S. Nobody actually get me one, please, cause I won't read it.