Driving from France to Barcelona took 10 hours.
We arrived in the evening. We were told we would be walking 300 meters to our hostel, it was more like 3000. Actually, I don't know how long it took, but it was really far. And, we got to see some lovely Catalan prostitutes on our way. Yes, Rotary put us in a hostel that had to cross a sketchy street. (No one was killed in Barcelona, don't worry.) So we got all settled in out hostel (which actually was pretty nice, not including the location. or the bathrooms). Then we went with Rotary, just showing us the main drag near our hostel-ish. Then...free time! (Meaning, ditch your name tag asap.) I went with 3 other girls, just walking around for a bit. We had really good tapas for dinner, and of course we all shared. So we had calamari, mussels, clams, and mushrooms. Yum. Then we just continued being tourists, and turning down the invitations to go on pub crawls.
The next day, Rotary took us on a tour. We got to see the stadium, so all the Brasilians and Mexicans were super excited. Then we saw some other stuff, I don't remember exactly what. (I'll know [maybe] when I look through my pictures, but it was a while ago, and I saw a lot since then. Don't be hatin.) Then more free time (Can you say souvenirs?) and just hanging with everyone.
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| Gaudi House Roof |
Our second full day, we saw the Gaudi House in the morning, which was super cool. We had a tour of the Gothic section of Barcelona, and our tour guide was really really good. Rotary took us all to the beach, and turned us loose. (Note: Barcelona has some.. interesting...laws. Men cannot go around without a shirt on, but they can walk around naked. At the beach, it wasn't "tops optional" it was more like "if you're a girl and still wearing a top, you are the definite minority. And yes, I was part of that minority. Not all the other exchanges were, however. As some of them explained it to me, "How many times can you swim naked in Spain?" My answer, "You all have swum naked in Spain one too many times." But I digress.) I was with a small group of people. We only stayed for like an hour, then went to get dinner. Paella! Yum, it was so good. We had a ginormus plate of it that we all shared. Ice cream for dessert, and met up with Rotary.
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| Paella |
Back to the hostel to put on dry clothes, then out with different people. I got my name drawn with pictures for the letters at this one place, then I and another girl got charactatures. He wasn't very good. I think he just liked to draw teeth. We all headed to the pier after that. On the way, we were still getting invited to pub crawls, so we were thinking of different excuses to tell people. There was "we are 14", "Prepacte, nerozmiem", and my personal favorite (accompanied by fake crying): "This is our trip to celebrate, we just got out of AA!!!" At one point, I turned and saw we had an addition to our group. This creepy little lady (seriously, she was like 5 feet negative 7) in a bear suit was just standing there. I pointed her out, and one of my friends jumped about a foot and a half, and ran away screaming. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. The pier was uneventful, after the bear lady.
Our last day in Spain, I got up really early. A bunch of us went to the market. I got a loaf of bread, 2 apples, 2 peaches, and a chunk of mozzarella for under 8 euros. It was awesome. Then back to the hostel to pack. We loaded into the bus and went to a park-ish place. It was so pretty. The best part was watching the performers though. Just people singing, or painting, or selling stuff. After that, we went to the top of a hill, where the stadium was. We could either go to the "Spanish village", the main drag again, or the museum of modern art. I went to the museum. It was pretty cool, although bits were slightly too modern for me. After that, we just hung out talking. Everyone made it back on time, even after a group got lost and had to walk an extra hour. (They were a bit cranky.) We hopped on the bus, and drove to the ferry.
We arrived in the evening. We were told we would be walking 300 meters to our hostel, it was more like 3000. Actually, I don't know how long it took, but it was really far. And, we got to see some lovely Catalan prostitutes on our way. Yes, Rotary put us in a hostel that had to cross a sketchy street. (No one was killed in Barcelona, don't worry.) So we got all settled in out hostel (which actually was pretty nice, not including the location. or the bathrooms). Then we went with Rotary, just showing us the main drag near our hostel-ish. Then...free time! (Meaning, ditch your name tag asap.) I went with 3 other girls, just walking around for a bit. We had really good tapas for dinner, and of course we all shared. So we had calamari, mussels, clams, and mushrooms. Yum. Then we just continued being tourists, and turning down the invitations to go on pub crawls.
Our last day in Spain, I got up really early. A bunch of us went to the market. I got a loaf of bread, 2 apples, 2 peaches, and a chunk of mozzarella for under 8 euros. It was awesome. Then back to the hostel to pack. We loaded into the bus and went to a park-ish place. It was so pretty. The best part was watching the performers though. Just people singing, or painting, or selling stuff. After that, we went to the top of a hill, where the stadium was. We could either go to the "Spanish village", the main drag again, or the museum of modern art. I went to the museum. It was pretty cool, although bits were slightly too modern for me. After that, we just hung out talking. Everyone made it back on time, even after a group got lost and had to walk an extra hour. (They were a bit cranky.) We hopped on the bus, and drove to the ferry.
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