First off, I apologize for those of you who were anxiously checking my blog every 5 minutes for an update.....:). I forgot to bring my USB cable to Barcelona and my cell wasn´t working for half the trip. lo siento.
I´m all better as in not sick anymore which is great. The trip started with an 11 hour bus ride leaving Valladolid at 930pm and arriving to Barcelona at 830am. For those of you who have taken a bus ride will understand....on long rides you can not sleep comfortably. So we arrived tired and sore and we of course had no idea where we were...let the good times begin. Luckily, papa Joe brought his guide book and he bought a ¨walking tour¨book with the history. Although I was teased for being ¨that¨guy. If it wasn´t for me the rest of the group wouldn´t know what everything was or meant :) haha ah kids these days.
Here is a picture of our hostel and what you don´t see are the 14 other beds behind me...yeah it was like a jail cell..stinky and humid but for 20 euro a night I´ll take it. Now i´m not complaining, the fun part was meeting a variety of people from various places...like people from Israel, Holland, France, Ireland, and Japan...after getting situated we went out on the town, bought a map and started touring, and touring...and walking...and walking. Below is the Balcony in Park Guell which was designed by Gaudi...I swear everything was designed by Gaudi..I was a little Gaudied out by the end of the trip.
The city is very interesting, especially with the huge amount of culture and art all over the city...the area we were in (Las Ramblas) was very touristy, almost too touristy....everyone spoke english. Every day our basic schedule was to walk around during the day, shop in the afternoon, take a nap and then go out....it was great. Kendra and I went to a museum of the city which was fantastic...you get to take an elevator to the ¨old city¨ which is still preserved. Old city as in the original remains for Barcino, when the romans occupied the land. But I would say the Park Guell was the best place I visited.
Above is Me, Kendra, Bre, and Matt. There was another group here in barcelona but we never met up with them. Oh and just to clear things up before people start asking, kendra and I are friends and we hang out alot...fortunately she is one of the only people here who care and are somewhat intelligent.....that´s it :):) Overall, the trip was good...i´m looking forward to going back later this semester. If you want to view my photo albums.... go to http://photos.yahoo.com/mmjoe12 I have more pics from the trip.
Being back in Valladolid feels like home and I am having a blast still...i´m waiting for the moment when i´ll do anything to go home but hopefully i´ll skip that part of being abroad. I guess Kendra and Bre met some people who want help with english in exchange for spanish....so we are going to look into it. Anyways gotta cut this blog short due to time....i´ll lay down more thoughts later this week.....hope all are well....peace.