Barcelona Day Four: I'm in a musical.

*** Again I am so sorry that it's been such a long time since I did my last post. I was in a good routine of posting every other day prior to my trip to Barca, now I'm getting swamped with work and just about everything else. Big kick up the bum to get back on track. Okay, back to business***

This morning I came down for breakfast, no surprise, without a sight of my Bristol lads. Considering the rather unimaginable amount of alcohol consumed the night before I wasn't particularly surprised. I can't claim to have felt all that amazing myself. But with it being my penultimate day in Barcelona, I dragged myself out of bed to make the most of it. Also it was a Sunday and I promised myself I would go to church.

I came down to find my lovely American friend Mike at breakfast, my room mate David and one of Mike's friends (this is the problem with writing this so late, I can't remember his name!). We had a good chat about all sorts, including our experiences of Barcelona and the various reactions we had received from everyone we met about where each of us was from. I barely managed to eat properly due to the horrendous hangover, and even tried to drink some tea but that was truly yuck. Sorry Spain, but your tea is totally pants. Lesson learnt, when travelling bring your own teabags.

Mike and I took off on a solo-adventure after breakfast to find some random dancers in a town square. With little more than a tip from a friend of Mike's that there would be dancing at this address, this time and that we would love it, we wondered through the streets with little idea of what we would find. We stumbled across the detailed town square, but there wasn't anything going on. We wondered around the area for a while, but next to everything was closed. It was around 11am to 12 lunchtime, and although we had heard of Siesta's, I was yet to see anything closed for it yet. Granted it was Sunday, but even in England most places tend to be open between 10am-4pm.

Anyway, disappointed from that we went to seek ice cream, as finding Gelato in Barcelona was on my to-do list. Despite having passed literally hundreds of ice cream places in the past 3 days, once actually in search of one it was near impossible to find a bakery or ice cream store anywhere. The only place we could find that was open within a couple of blocks was McDonalds, and even that was like a ghost town. We hung out there for a bit while Mike connected to the wi-fi (or wii fee as pronounced in Spain) to double check the time and address of the dancing, then headed back to check again.

Upon arriving back at the original address, it was a totally different scene. It felt just like walking into a musical, with American jazz music playing loud and everyone swing dancing in time with each other! The experience was surreal and Mike and I couldn't keep the smiles off our faces. Mike talked a young Spanish girl into teaching him a few steps, while I filmed and took many snaps. I restrained from learning, with my lack of rhythm I didn't have enough time left in Barca to learn the steps, but it has certainly inspired me to take up swing dancing back in the UK.

While waiting for Mike's friend to turn up a super terrifying drunk guy from another country (not to be given enough detail to identify here) came up to half threaten, and half befriend us in a very "I want to kill you and eat your insides" kind of scary way. After that, we made a pretty speedy escape. We discussed the Walking Dead some more and our zombie apocalypse plans. Once back at the hostel, I found the lads semi comatose on the bean bags in the hostel, and seeing as they claimed to not want to move for the rest of the day, left them there.

I went back to my room to take a nap and just generally relax for a while before we headed out for church that evening. I didn't end up taking the nap after all, as a lovely new arrival checked in. This is where I met the very sweet Dario from Argentina. We talked for literally three hours about just about everything (even with his TV learnt English and my complete lack of any other language) and I have to say he made a huge impact on my trip even having arrived so late just for being the most adorable person I met on my travels. Later in the afternoon, another newbie arrived from America (I'm really sorry I've forgotten your name!) and she seemed to settle in well too.

I suddenly realised that after spending so much time chatting with Dario, I may have missed the boys boarding for their flight. I rand downstairs, searching frantically for them, and fortunately managed to catch them. I said a brief but very sad goodbye to all my friends, taking comfort in the fact that aren't too far to ever see again! I got changed into something a little warmer as the temperature was now starting to drop, and even with Mike coming to collect me we ended up running late to church.

We power walked pretty much the whole way there, giving us a quick chance to talk more about our faith and how it came about for each of us, and what it actually meant for us as both rather modern Christians. When I got there, I realised I really didn't know much about this church we were going to, other than it was known for it's music. So I was expecting a lot of hymns, which is great for me as I love singing. What I discovered when I went inside was very different. Not only was it all young people, but there was stage with strobe lights and a projector with lyrics to sing along on top of some funky moving backgrounds that were almost rave worthy. This was Hillsong.

The music started and I have to say it was the craziest experience of worship I have ever known. Everyone was dancing with their arms in the air, some of the music was almost dubsteppy, and there were tons of live musicians on the stage. In the quieter, more toned down moments, there was no doubting it was church as the music slowed and everyone held their hands up and whispered prayers. It felt like nothing I had experienced before, a level of passion and belief that was so alive and inspiring that it made my heart feel swelled. Even I could fully believe there, with all the new incredible things I had been allowed to experience on this trip, that I was in the right place at the right time. The performers were truly amazing and the church showed some great talent that night. The preacher was probably the strangest I had ever seen in skinny jeans and a hoodie, but also the most passionate. This man had faith pouring out of his veins, and even though I was listening to a translation, most of which I couldn't even understand anyway, I felt so inspired by his love for God.

From left to right, my room mate David, me, my lovely American Mike and my room mate Andre :)

That night, we returned to find the hostel the emptiest we had seen it yet, with maybe 3 or 4 guests and the staff hanging out. We decided to gather up the last of our food and wine, collect all the bean bags and plug in to Mike's laptop to catch up on the Walking Dead. It took a few trips back and forth to our rooms to collect everything, and a lot of luck with finding somewhere online to watch it, but we got there in the end! It may not have been an exhilarating last night, and I may not have made it out on the town in Barcelona at all, but I wouldn't have traded that cosy evening in with my lovely new friend for the world. We said an emotional goodbye that night, as Mike was leaving very early in the morning, and I went to bed with a smile, especially as even though it was late, Dario was still sat in bed reading when I went back to my room! Cheers bud, you made me smile just after saying goodbye to my friend!

And so, I have only one day left of the most life-changing trip I have yet experienced.

Puddy <3

P.S Found another Barcelona collectable!

Barcelona Day Two: Solo exploration.

Today I woke up in a shared room of a hostel. Fortunately the other two girls were already up and we all snuck around trying not to wake the very drunk guy who reappeared at some point during the night (thank the earplugs, I heard nothing!). I got ready and hurried downstairs for breakfast. The selection was awesome, we had lots of fresh real Spanish chorizo (yummy!) which was more than little bit exciting for me as I love it. I know, I have a simple mind. I loaded up my plate and joined the girls on the sofa. They were chatting to an American guy called Mike about where to go on his travels across Europe, and to be honest I didn't really feel like I had any input into the conversation as it was my first real experience of travelling. So I just sat and listened to their conversation while I ate my breakfast.

Once breakfast was over and everyone went their own separate ways, I finished packing my stuff up and got out my list of attractions I wanted to see. I chose to primarily head for Park Guell and also stop at a tourist information point as I was interested in the tour bus as I thought it would be pretty cool to film my journey around Barcelona. When I got to tourist information, they told me it was like 40 euros or something ridiculous, and I had only budgeted around 100 euros spending money for the whole trip, so that idea went straight out the window! Instead I decided to go straight to Park Guell as I wasn't sure how much time that would take, and then to re-consult my list after.

I took the tube to the designated stop, and then just followed the occasional tourist friendly sign to the Park. I noticed I was starting to go up a rather steep hill, and have to admit I was a little worried for my lack of fitness. All of a sudden, I turned into a street of only stairs, and dead in the middle right outside in the open, were endless steep escalators. It seems so bizarre! On the way up, I saw my car! Or another one rather not mine, but still it was very exciting.

After a surprisingly long journey upwards, I finally reached the entrance to Park Guell, which actually had me walk a little further upwards. I emerged from the fenced area and the view literally took my breath away. I don't think I realised quite how high up I had gone, and I certainly didn't research enough into the park to know it was on a mountain.  I could see the whole of Barcelona! I've never seen anything like it with own eyes, and the feeling up there was indescribably serene. It was especially strange for me as I am sickly afraid of heights, and it was yet another thing I never would of thought I would be able to do. I'm so glad I didn't know about it advance, as maybe I would have thought twice about going, and then I would have missed all of this.

Park Guell itself was also very beautiful, with lots of wonderful artwork, however I have to say the views of the city from the highest point were definitely the best part of the attraction. I got to the very top of the mountain and saw a very rickety looking stone column, maybe 2 metres wide with several crosses, and people standing on it.

 Usually, my brain would absolutely deny me the right to go anywhere near it, but I was still running on my "I am superwoman" adrenaline for getting to Barcelona alone, and I didn't even think twice before getting up there with my camera. The view was incredible, the air was fresh and it was so much warmer than England has been for a long time. Up there, I felt like I could do anything. I think being up there, on that tiny wobbly column looking over the whole of Barcelona clicked something in my brain that has lasted even to now. But we'll come back to that in my final post ;) I took a few snaps and a lovely British couple took a picture of me which I was very thankful for.

I got down into the park, paid my fee and marvelled at the awesome Gaudi sculptures and buildings. While I was there, I found these bizarre sellers. They laid all their stock out on these big white sheets, which I didn't really get at first. This one dude even had a whole bunch of earrings displayed on an umbrella! Later I understood when a cop came past and they quickly turned the sheet into a bag and ran up the mountain to avoid him! Well not even ran, maybe fast walked at most. It was so weird, the cop could easily have arrested them if he wanted, but he just stood there and watched them run off. Then ten minutes later or so he would do the same again! I totally thought he was messing with them, but mum points out it may just be his job to move them on, rather than going through the effort of arresting them. I have to admit, I didn't stay in the actual monumental area for long, just enough to get shots of everything and by then I was hungry, hot and kind of done with the mountain. I know, I'm so cultural.

Anyway, I headed down the mountain and got thoroughly lost looking for the Metro. I asked for directions to the Gothic Quarter, as although I had written it on my list of places to go, and given the Spanish translations, I had provided myself with no directions and address to it. I got off at the stop I had been advised, and got my first view of Las Ramblas, the main tourist strip.

I wondered around for an hour looking for a specific restaurant that was on the guide hostel world had emailed me, as it said I could get a meal for 1 euro. After asking for directions easily 10 times and being sent in every other direction, I eventually did find the place and was relieved to find an English waitress/bartender. It turns out they did not have 1 euro meals, but at this point I was way too exhausted to give a damn, so I settled for a good old English lasagne and a beer. I know beer at lunch, what a loser but hey I'm on holiday. After my meal I went and introduced myself to a nice group of English students who were lovely enough to let me tag along with them for a few hours. If you guys are reading, you are totally awesome and thanks for letting me crash your trip! After a few hours of wondering around with them, and being shown the Gothic cathedral (and finally actually making it to the Gothic Quarter, which I forgot to take photos or video of in the end!) I headed back to the hostel.

I needed to be back before 5 to book on to Tapas night and after the amount of faffing around just to find somewhere to eat already today, I was more than ready to just come downstairs and be served a meal. I went back to my room and had a quick siesta. Or not so quick. I overslept majorly and had to rush all of my getting ready, even going down for food with wet hair! While I was relaxing in my room, two new guys arrived from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, David and Andre who were both lovely and bless them tried their best to converse with me in English!! During this trip I must admit regret that I didn't bother to learn even a little bit of Spanish! Live and learn I guess.

I went back downstairs to meet some people and ended up stumbling onto some free to use computers in the back corner of the communal area, which was very exciting. I wrote my mum a long email about my adventures and checked Facebook. I happened to find my room mate Lina on the pc beside me which was awesome luck :) I decided at this point that I would go on the bar crawl as I didn't know anyone yet and this seemed wise, so I ran back up to the room for a quick costume change (sorry for scaring you David and Andre for my whirlwind of energy as I tried to pick a dress!). I went back downstairs and Lina introduced me to a few guys out in the terrace, Cam and Brendon [Who was a model and I must say VERY nice to look at as well as talk to ;)] from Australia, and Alex the guy from our room who I finally got a chance to actually meet. They were all really lovely and great company. The terrace shuts at 11 and I then got introduced (I actually can't remember how, maybe one of you can remember?) to a bunch of students from Bristol. These guys became my travel family and I can't tell you how much they made my trip!! Shoutout to the boys Will, Greg, Ellis, and Matt (Hi guys!!).

We gathered all the alcohol we could find and spent the night making as much as noise as possible and just generally getting in trouble. I felt a little overdressed in a tiny dress and big heels, so ran back upstairs to change back into my leggings and shirt. At this point, another new room mate arrived, Peter from America :) I had a quick chat with him before hurrying back downstairs. As I remember, I wouldn't let the boys go to bed until 4.30am!! By this time we were the last people on the sofas in the communal areas, and the guys from bar crawl arrived home and joined us. Here I first got to properly know Mike, and we talked about Walking Dead while he teased my accent. Instant friendship right there! He called me mystical as I asked "So Mike, where are you going on your journey?" telling me that I sounded like something from Lord of the Rings!! I don't think I'll ever forget that :) The guys very graciously invited me to join them on their trip to the Sagrada Familia the next day, which was already one of the places on my list, and as I had enjoyed their company so much I snapped up the offer!

Peter and I stumbled back up to the room for some much needed sleep and I went to bed smiling for the first time in a long while :) I'm still smiling now!

Puddy <3