hanging with the British in Barcelona...

Even after all the trouble I had to go through to get a train ticket to and from Barcelona, it still exceeded my expectations—for the following reasons:

1.     I reunited with my best friend from 4^th-6^th grade, Laura. She’s the kind of friend that I only see once a year or once every two years. But she’s also the kind of friend that we pick up where we left off as if nothing has changed—including our maturity. (just kidding). But really, this was our best reunion to date! (Usually they include getting dinner at Hideaway or Goldie’s somewhere in Oklahoma.)

2.     One (of many) bonuses of my Barcelona reunion with Laura is that I got to see her husband (they just got married 6 months ago) again. I had met him before, but this was the first time I spent a significant amount of time with him. He’s British, a ginger, and pretty hilarious. It was cool to see them interact, because I got to see first-hand that Laura ended up with a really sweet, loving husband. She deserves it.

3.     Ali (Laura’s husband)’s parents and brother were there, also! So I got to meet her in-laws (who are, of course, also English). They were a fun, easy-going group to hang out with, not to mention their generosity and willingness to welcome me into their “family” for the weekend. I was afraid I would feel like an intruder on a family vacation, but they received me as one of their own. (Unfortunately, I was unable to pick up a legitimate British accent over such a short period of time… I still talk like an Oklahoman...) So it was also great to see that one of my childhood best friends has not only a great husband but in-laws as well!

4.     The hostel we stayed in (Laura and Ali had one room, I had my own; his family was staying in a nearby hotel) was small, but there were 3 advantages that made it even better than my familiar “home” in Alcalá. 1.) The bed was a full, not a twin.  2.) The bed had a body pillow that I enjoyed snuggling with. 3.) The room had a CEILING FAN!! It was the best 2 nights of sleep I’ve had in Spain.

5.     I got to see some beautiful, some historic sties! Although I didn’t see nearly everything that Barcelona has to offer, I did see the Barcelona football (soccer, that is, in the U.S.) stadium—from the outside, and the gift shop; it cost 19 Euro to get the official tour; 2 of Gaudí’s most famous structures: “Sagrada Familia” and “Casa Batlló”; AND of course I got to go to the beach!

6.     Saturday night for dinner we also ate some delicious paella! (which I tried in Valencia and ate in Cuenca as well, but this time I got to try 3 different flavors. One of them being “Fideuá”, which is made with little noodles instead of rice!) All of them were soooo good! (And Laura’s in-laws let me take care of the ordering that night, so I got to use my Spanish for a couple sentences! Haha)

There were also a few disadvantages:

1.     Too much to see! It was hard to decide where I wanted to visit in such a short amount of time. But I was happy with my choices!

2.     EVERYTHING is in Catalán!!! Sooo annoying. (Catalán is one of the 4 official languages of Spain. It’s kind of a mix between Spanish and French, and it was frustrating because as knowledgeable as I should be in speaking Castellano—the politically correct word for “Spanish”—I didn’t always understand what signs and certain words meant, because some Catalán words are completely different.

3.     When we weren’t deciphering Catalán, we were generally spoken to and communicated in English. Since Barcelona is apparently so touristy, pretty much all of the waiters, shop owners, helpful citizens who gave directions, etc. all speak English. I did get to talk to one shop owner for several minutes (while waiting to pick up Colin’s custom-made Barcelona jersey…but don’t tell him I have it yet. He doesn’t know. And he’s currently out of the country), and we talked in Spanish. He told me that the taxi drivers in Barcelona have to be able to speak at least 4 languages in order to get their license to drive a taxi! Crazy! But at least they’ll get you where you need to go…

4.     Let’s just say that Laura had a traumatizing encounter with a naked man in the hostel… all 3 of us had to walk past him to get down the stairs to go to the beach Sunday morning, but Laura was the one who turned the corner and saw it first. So Ali and I had fair warning and I luckily saw nothing but the floor and my water bottle which was blocking my face. (she may not have wanted me to share that story publicly, but I couldn’t leave it off the “disadvantages list”…)

I think that’s a pretty good summary for now. I will now sleep for about 3 hours, get up and go to the airport! When I get home, I will post an overall summary/conclusion of “Ashley’s Spain Adventures.”

(Also, I will now add captions to the pictures in my previous post, in case you’re interested in what they are!)

So, for the last time in Spain (until I come back and visit someday): ¡Buenas noches!