Arrival in Spain

We´ll take a break from "Ya sahs" and instead say "Hola" for two weeks! After some crazy stuff, I arrived in Spain!

At first everything was just crashing around this trip: my bank deactivated my credit card so I couldn´t buy train or bus tickets, which meant I couldn´t book hostels, my chauffeur to the airport at 4:30 AM cancelled, and the Internet went down in my apartment. I kept waiting for my flight to get cancelled in order to go out with a bang.

But it didn´t, and I got my card reactivated (I TOLD them I was here, they weren´t supposed to do that) and all my tickets and hostels, and then I spent the night in the airport. I learned two things about spending nights in airports: number one, wear a thick scarf. Because if you have to sleep on the floor, you can at least fold it underneath your hipbone and hope for the best. Number two, wear a heavy coat. I sort of knew that airports were freezing, but I took it for granted until I slept on the floor of one.

I slept on the plane though. Unbelievable. I remember I saw the drink cart coming around and thought, "excellent, I´m thirsty," and the next thing I knew we were descending and I was still thirsty.

I was a little sad to leave Greece, even though it was driving me insane. I really do love it there, even if it drives me crazy. Funny how that works out, I know. I feel like this is going to be a short break and that when I return I can have a whole new outlook on it, like, now I´m prepared and now I can really live it up now that I (think I) understand it. In Barcelona, I had a few instances where I was confusing Spanish and Greek. I call that speaking "Spreek," trying to ask for stuff in Greek by accident.

So, Spain! Is still amazing. Everyone was really friendly, and I was so happy to be speaking a language I could get by with that I surprised myself with how well I spoke Spanish! It was really surreal to be walking around Barcelona again, especially since the last time it was overcast, and this time the weather was really nice. The sun stays out until 9 PM here. I saw the Placa again, las Ramblas, LA SAGRADA FAMILIA again...when the Sagrada Familia is completed I´m going to return to Barcelona to be there at the grand opening. It really changed my life last summer, made me look around more and appreciate how everyday things still make room for amazement. It will be one of the seven wonders of the modern world. I could barely bring myself to leave. But I realized, it´s okay to leave places, because you can come back to them. I´m not one of those people who lives like they will die tomorrow. I understand the notion, but I´m not dying tomorrow, so I don´t need to rush anything.

I also saw Parc Guell and the Gothic Cathedral for the first time. I read a blog once from a girl who backpacked around Europe, and she said something like, "We came across a beautiful cathedral that at first we thought was the Sagrada Familia," and I had thought, "Really??? How do you POSSIBLY confuse another cathedral with the Sagrada Familia?" But yeah...okay. It´s also a very very pretty church.

Overall, I believe that any city with personality has something to offer, and what Barcelona has to offer is imagination. It is not a city where you can get away with skipping things. When you walk down streets or catch the bus, you need to look at the buildings around you. Many of them are more than gorgeous, some are funky and some are elegant and some are just plain wild.

I stayed with Robert´s grandparents, which was also trippy...never thought I would be back there again. But, after sleeping on the floor of a freezing airport, I was just happy to have a bed in a safe place. I´ll be back there at the end of my trip, too, so I can go to the beach.

So begins my Spanish adventure. I am in Zaragoza now and I had a really good day in it. I will write about that tomorrow. I will post all of my Spain photos upon my return.

By the way. I GOT MY DRESS.