Day 3

BARCELLONA! DAY 3 BABY- ALMOST TOO EXCITING!!! Everyone went out knowing what they wanted to do after two days of Barcelona under their belt. Man it was so exciting going into a city that you felt semi familiar with.

I went out with Tom, Chris, and John to a traditional Spanish meal: Tapas, Papya, El Pan the whole works. Regrettably I did not get Sangria, but that will come at a later point. We went to this local restaurant right of tourist center, Las Ramblas. The restaurant owner/s did not speak any english, what a surprise… but the food was amazing. Usually the family owned restaurants had the most traditional and the most authentic foods- so in this case it was true. Spain had just came home with a victory last night so the streets as the restaurant was not crowded at all. We go personal treatment.

We ordered of the “Menu del Dia” which is the Spanish lunch menu with all of the specials. You basically get bread, tapas (basically like a big appetizer or the direct translation “snack”), and a main dish. MMMMmmm Riiight up my ally! I thought just like the luncheon specials in chinese restaurants- perfect. Mind you that finding this restaurant took at least 40 minutes so we were starving. It had to be perfect -cheap, good, and cheap. But there is no such thing. Tom was like “EYYY we’re in barca… EYYYY WE ARE IN BARCELONA- LETS EAT! WHO cares about money- when are you going to be in Barcelona for TAPPAS>??” hah he was right

I ordered a papya con pescado which is like rice and fish as my taaapas. And for my main dish I got pollo con papas which is chicken with french fries. Couulllld not have got a better deal for 10 Euros. MMMmmHM! La comida muy bueno. Definitely go local.

Thinking it about it now I probably should have visited “La Sagrada Familia” with my friends Anna and Mitchelle = (. This is a beautiful church that I saw the first day I came to Barcelona but never went in… You just cant do it all . I liked.. .actually loved the first Gothic Church I went to so that had to be my only regret of Barcelona.Because when your with daa boys u get Squaaat Accomplished lol.

Anyway from the restaurant we split up. Chris and John went on one of those bus tours that show you around Barcelona and you can get off/ on the bus as you please. Well let me just say that they staid on and never came of lol – they didn’t even stay up for the thing!! Just goes to show you how our night went last night and how guys do squat.

But I had a mission.. a mission to get a fresh cut for the night. I know sounds weird but I wanted to get a traditional Spanish/ European hair cut. Soo with my newspaper in hand and Tom by my side we walked the side streets of Barcelona. Mission : Hair cut / shop. We stopped in a lot of entertaining shops to find where one was. No matter how many people you ask where something is… they always seem to say something different..

After going to a few shops- meaning like 10 -14 we finally found it. It was a real nice place. I entered the “Pelogria” or “Haircuttery” … sooo excited. They were the nicest people. I showed them a hair cut of a futbol player that I admired. Lol. For all of you guys in Jersey it looks like Anthony Gags. Hair cut.. I think you guys gave them crap about it but I’m not sure. Well certainly I did not care. I would never have an opportunity do this again- if you know me I love getting my hair cut. They gave us a hair wash, a message, and a cut- we were set. It was like a new head on my shoulders.

We walked around town with a new swagger. Looking sooo European. We ran into a few SAS people – talked to them. We then went home to regroup, take a nap, and get ready for the night.

Hmm I don’t know if you’re ready for the details and what this night consisted of. Unfortunately, our crew got seperated. Anna and Mitchelle had their own plans, but we wound up doing the same thing that they intended to do. Bummer.

John, Chris, and I went with a group of abooout 15 girls and a few other guys. We were on our way to the famous “ fountain show”. Now .. when I heard fountain show I thought of the cheezy one in Las Vegas in the Bologio. Wooooo Was I WRONG!!! Shww just take what your thinking of and multiply it by 110! It was the coolest thing that I saw on this TRIP! YES THE TRIP. Why didn’t I think it was going to be AWESOME.. of COURSE IT was because of the architecture of this city and … it was “gay pride day”. HAHAHAHAH NICE! At least we had some chicas bonitas with us.

We all got off the metro and right away we heard music bumping…. Alllll the way from the subway. Hmm ok so I started to feel it. Then we saw thouusands of people, tourists – gay- couples- families- police the works. The view I still am going to stubble on explaining because it was sooo incredible.

We walked up the stairs surround by people, music… and a VIEW. There was a set of steps at a distance that was 4 times the size ( height and width) of that in Philadelphia in the Rocky movie. And at the top sat an exquisite Castle… yes a castle with bright lights shooting out from the top as if it was the main attraction of the night. On the bottom of the steps there was the beautiful fountain that shot up 100’s of feet and showering over the sides. Small fountains surrounded the larger fountain with colors alternating through it.

 

In our foremost vision there were about 30 large fountains on each side of the road leading up to the Castle. People were every wheere – couples – homosexuals- girls – police – police – families – tourists … the whole city pretty much. Music was bumping the nights light was in the sky, the air was fresh and crisp.. I was feeling great. There was a huge stage that sat before the fountain with a much of men dancing on it… provocatively and two men on the sides shooting foam outta these foam blasters. Pshhh what a sight. All the girls were screaming in excitement… or was that me , definitely not.. Guys staired me DOWN pshh now I know how these girls feel. Mind you I just got a European Hair cut and I bought a European out fit = 0 woops! LOL We ran down the fountain dancing, fist pumping, snapping pictures for about a ¼ of a mile until we go to the stage.

That’s enough about that! We then took the Metro to a great bar to get drinks and meet the “locals”. Well you can read on if you want but for the family- it wont be for your best interest. Nothing bad just dancing, a few drinks, and ladies. Whhaaat I know.. Im in college. I am responsible and I have self descipline – don’t worry. I look out for my friends and their best interests. We stick together.

We stick together all the way to this bar were all the SAS people are at. Supposedly they have the best drinks. Man they were not kidding. It was about 22:00 so we were hungry, it was Dinner time. We grabbed lunch at the excused place. It was a lot like our lunch, so refer to that for a similar discription.

I met the owner of the bar outside on my way in. It was an older women with the kindest heart, her name was Teresa (lol).  It seemed she loved and had a passion for interacting with the younger crowd. She personalized everyones visit to her bar- she got to know everyone names and background. Very traditional. As soon as you walked in you could feel the vibe.

It was an AUTHENTIC Barcelona bar. No telvision, just conversation to carry and enrich the night. There were a lot of small stools that you can move around from table to table. Even in the bathroom hallway there were stools to sit. It was crowded. The drinks were self serve.. self SERve nnnever heard such a thing. I didn’t really drink that night so me and my friend split a drink… LOL split a drink. You basically got a whole bottle, a cup, and a chaser drink. You can fill the glass to whatever hieght you wanted with the bottle of liquor and poor the other drink as you pleased.

It was great.. the night was amazing. I talked to a lot of local people from all over the world, Razzmatazz was a bust so don’t go there if you are ever in Barcelona. It was a famous 6 floor night club that obliderated my expectations. This entry is particularly long- it was in all a great night. Great conversations, great food, and drinks. You could not ask for more… ohh and that fountain show = ).

Barcelona

Wow! Finally here in Barcelona. AND WOW!!! YOU HAVE TO BE HERE. Google Barcelona and you will see how beautiful it is here. Ive never been some place with such a rich culture. I mean everything from the museums to the food to the streets to the buildings are so nice. It would be something to live here.

Anyway its day 3 here in Barcelona. I’ve done a lot – so excited to be here but at the same time sad to be going tm = ( tonight’s the last night.

 

Day 1

Ok., So going into a foreign county is really something if you ve never done it before. I never really got the “culture shock” but I certainly got confused and overwhelmed. You would think they speak a little English, but they don’t- just Spanish. And my spanish is horrid.. On top of that their street and architectural design of the city is laid out so differently, transit is tough, and there is SO MUCH TO DO.

So what I did was I went on a “City Orientation”. Man it was cool. I went with my friend Jill Anderson. Great girl and a cutie. Then there was my “extended family” on the tour which is a family that I got paired up with to interact the students and family on board. The family has a member that teaches on the boat- talk about a family vacation huh! Back to the point- we went everywhere. We went up the mountain to see the view of the whole city of Barcelone. Gorgeous- google it. We saw the old Olympic sites and this “shopping center”. Called the Poble Espanyol. The reason its in quotes is because it was NOTHING like the US. Of course it was beautiful and architecturally artsy. The center was outside and the “stores “stood next  to each other that sold handmade thinngs like hand maid stained glass, handmade metal sculptures, paintings, etc. From there we went to flaca de Sant Juame, a eating center, Place Reial, Temple de la Sagrada Familia and then the santa maria del mar (Gothic Church). Let me tell you it was breathtaking. You can’t even compare it to the cathedrals in New York or at Saint Joe’s .

 

Another thing about traveling… be flexible. It was and still is SO hard to communicate without a cell phone. Im doing fine now but at first It was IMPOSSIBLE. First we didn’t know the language, second we didn’t know where anything was. How would we be able to find anything never mind meeting up with someone. There were a lot of meet ups that went unsuccessful. This was my night..

 

Aimlessly walking around to fine a cheap place was an experience, a painful one. Waiting for literally 30 minutes at a not so busy place for a waiter to even come  out of the back. Never go to eat when your hugry, go a little before. But that must have been a bad experience because I haven’t had much trouble lately. So we walked around “site seeing”  or “trying to find our friends / Ice bar”… whatever you want to call it. “Porto Olypico” was the area that it was at. However there was also a villa Olympica, and this olympica, and that Olympico- so many moderations with the word Olympico. So … funny thing .. when we asked someone where “Porto Olympico” they would point us left. Then I would go left for 2 seconds and then verify by asking another person which way is “Porto Olympico”. They pointed right- that pattern happed for the whole night 8 – 12 am = ( we finally gave up. Night one = unsuccessful . Still a great day. And the people we were supposed to meet up with on this Journey (Anna and Mitchell) never wound up going. That’s great.

Ohh I forgot to mention how the night started off.  After my tour my feet were about to fall off but I still managed to get to the teachers’ lounge on the boat  (more like a reception area its really nice) to go to this event I was invited to. It was like a “donor’s dinner” for people who invest and donate money to Semester at Sea (SAS). I got invited through my friend John, only 3 students were there. The rest were teachers and doners. John’s grandfather has been doing these trips for over 10 years as a medical doctor! Wow- so Chris knows a lot of the facilty and he was asked to make a speech at this reception. Just a little about him and his grandfather’s involvement / impact with SAS. Chris brought John and myself. It was great- all of these donors were loaded! There just so happened to be a ship called “The World” docked next to us in Barcelona. My gosh- that ship goes AROUND the world 24-7-365! People live on it! An apartment costs like 1 mill a year or something rediculous like that. I don’t know about you but I love to network. So I talked it up with a lot with the donors and made some connections- great way to start off what turned up to be an OK night.

Day 2

Hmmm Day 2. Seemed like this happened 2 hours ago. Sleep has been rare on this ship but its getting better. I went on another tour at 9 am (bummer not a morning person) with the same cutie Jill. Just so happened that we were next to each other when signing up for the field programs… and there were hardly any left soo that’s the way the the ball rolled. But this tour I hung out with this nice girl name Kait. We went to the Picasso Musuem- mind you I had learned a lot from the first day. 1. ) bought a map 2. ) did not talk (as much- you know me) so I could here what the tour guide was saying. Hmm I think I actually learned a lot ! 3.) Have food on hand 4.) STAY CLOSE TO THE TOUR GUIDE. My god they travel fast. Never mind us trying to take pictures and absorb every moment of that site and being aware of the infamous pick pocketers we had to stay unbelievable close to the tour guide. Hated that buttt she did have a lot of good stuff to say. The Picasso museum was awesome. I never thought there were so many artifacts/ painting that were gathered for him. Fascinating guy with some crazy thoughts. There were papers of his sketches and little articles of his mentality. Each room describe a different “era of picasso” . You could really see the transformation.

Anyway – we went to a chocolate “café”. They have a Lot of these – they are basically like starbucks surprisingly they don’t sell to much chocolate, mainly just coffee snacks and ice cream. We went back to the Santa Maria del Mar Gothic Church- again I was amazed. We walked around a little bit then I met up with John and Chris. We were sick of doing nothing so we ventured on our second voyage to find the Gandola ride. It was called the Releferic de Montjuic. It went from the top of the mountain across to this fortress on the top of a desolate mountain called Castell de Montjuic. The view was spectacular – you could see the whole city of Barcelona from up there – WOW! Breathtaking. You got on the gondola and you can turn 360 around and see all of the houses next to each other then the famous buildings and monuments like the Monestat, the  Temple de la Sagrade Familia, The mirar de colomn, everything! The fort was awesome it had a draw bridge that went acroos beautiful gardens down below. We walked up stairs to see the Greatest view of Barcelona. The ocean was glisteng with a beatiful blue, unlike the Jersey Shore, then there were many scattered sail boats and cruise ships. There was historic stuff from the old fortress used to protect spain back in the 1800. They are going to change it into a war museaum in a few years. I can go on but that would bore, it was REALLY NICE. Haha

 

That night- curious. Spain vs Chile was on , the city was going CRAZY! Funny thing is we didn’t watch it ! Insead Chris, John, Abby, Brenedett, Anna, Michelle, and I were on the beach. Mingling and enjoying each others conversations. We did peak our heads in every once in while to see the score and watch. THEY Went absolutely bezerk when they scored OMG. They would even do cheers to “Rally Back” when they got scored on. They set off fire works like every 10 minutes- it was nNUTs. Lastly we went to this club at 12 – 4. There was some great music – we danced from 12 -4 mann we had a blast. I even wipped out the fist pump which was unfamiliar to them. Haha