Day 12- Barcelona to Cádiz, Spain

Today we had an early morning trying to get to the airport for our 11 am flight. Some of us had very little sleep so it was kind of a struggle. We grabbed some breakfast and headed out the door by 8:15. The metro station was really close so we took it to the central station and transferred to the train that goes to the airport. We checked in for our flight with a ton of other SAS kids and boarded the flight back to Cádiz. It’s only a little over an hour back but some girls were having a hard time because they were either still drunk or hungover from the night before. Sarah and I thought they were really dumb to get so drunk knowing they had a flight in the morning. The two girls spent most of the flight in the bathroom. Sarah and I just looked at the pretty Spanish men in the magazines.

 

I grabbed a cab from Jerez where the airport is to Cádiz with Brittney, Courtney (my roommate), and Lance (Courtney’s boyfriend). We returned to the port and got lunch at a place called San Francisco Uno. I had lentil soup, chicken and ham croquettas, and watermelon for dessert. It was a great last meal in Spain. Once we were done stuffing our faces we went back to the port and got on the ship. I put my stuff down and immediately took a shower. It was greatly needed. After unpacking I headed to dinner in the dining room. We were still in port so we got to watch the sun start to set over Spain for one last time. After dinner there were discussion groups from the beginning of the voyage that met to discuss our adventures in Spain. Our group had many interesting stories and different perspectives on what it was like traveling as a foreigner. I think our group was pretty successful compared to some other people. The group leader had to leave half way through the discussion because two girls got to the boat at 8:05 pm when we were supposed to be on by 6pm. They were more than two hours late which is about 24 hours of dock time in the next port. They are lucky they didn’t get left behind. The ship was supposed to leave at 8pm but a SAS trip was delayed by about 2 hours so the ship waited for them. I’m not sure what the girls’ punishment will be but I’m sure they will get in trouble.

 

I met up with Sam, Logan, Courtney (Logan’s roommate) Brooke, and Erik on deck 7 to try to camp out under the stars. We encountered security who told us we could stay but that someone comes to wash the deck at 4 am so we would have to move so we don’t get hosed. We decided not to sleep outside and just talked until we were too tired. We had some really soul-bearing conversations for just recently meeting each other but it was a really good experience. We stumbled into bed to face Global Studies at 9 am on a Sunday.

 

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I made it back safely from Barcelona without losing anything and with some truly amazing experiences.

 

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Harry Harris got mugged the last night in Barcelona while he was walking back from dropping another SAS girl off at her hostel. He wasn’t hurt and they didn’t get his money, only his phone. Sad but it could have been so much worse. His phone was broken anyway.

 

Also, I wrote postcards to Andrew and Mama II and Big Daddy but the post office was closed. You will get them much later when I get home because foreign post offices are so hard to figure out!

Parc Guell

 

Parc Guell

 

Day 11- Barcelona, Spain

Our first full day in Barcelona started with breakfast at the hostel. Breakfast consisted of bread, butter, jam, muffins, cereal, ham, and cheese. There was also coffee, hot tea, and hot milk to make hot chocolate with. After breakfast we broke into two groups to do our site seeing for the day. My group started off with a brisk walk down the street to the Picasso Museum. Surprisingly we only got lost once on the way there! We took our time wandering through the exhibit (a little too much time due to an uninvited straggler) and saw a ton of interesting pieces of art. The really big and famous Picasso pieces that most people would recognize are not in the Museum but there are still plenty of drawings and paintings that really represent his variety of styles. I really enjoyed seeing his artwork since it is a big part of what we studied in high school Spanish class. We visited the gift shop where my credit card was denied again and the cashier still asks me for a PIN number…I’m pretty sure I don’t need one but for now I’ll just rely on the Euros. After the gift shop we sat in a little coffee shop while we waited for the straggler, Anne. When she finally finished looking at every single thing we headed to a place called Bar Restaurant Lisa for lunch. I ordered gazpacho, grilled chicken, and a coke. It was all amazing. There was a piece of chicken on my plate that I wasn’t sure what part of the body it came from. I asked Nhesty who is from the Philippines and he said it was the neck. I tried a tiny bite and it tastes like regular chicken but there is not much meat on that part.

 

After lunch we met back with Anne (she said couldn’t eat with us because they allowed smoking inside) and we caught the Barcela Turistica bus to La Sagrada Familia.  The tour bus costs 21 euros for a day pass and has routes all over the city. We can use our ticket on three different lines and get on and off at any stop. They have headphones that you listen to as you drive to hear about all the sites you are passing. Here are some things I learned:

 

-          Barcelona was originally a Roman colony

-          There was once a snow storm and people skied down the streets and used the metro as a ski lift back up the hill

 

We got off the bus right across the street from La Sagrada Familia which is a church designed by Gaudi. The Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Familia was created in 1874 by the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of St. Joseph as a church dedicated to the Holy family. In 1882 the foundation stone of the crypt was laid under direction of the architect Fancisco de P. del Villar. A year and a half later Antoni Gaudi took over and devoted forty three years of his life to this work. Later, a generous donation was anonymously given and Gaudi changed the direction of the architecture. Construction still continues to this day. At present the church has two facades dedicated to the Birth of Jesus (on the front) and the Passion of the Christ (on the back) When it is finished the third will be the Glory of Jesus resurrected. There will be 18 towers, 12 dedicated to the apostles, four to the evangelists, one to the Virgin Mary, and another to Jesus which will rise to 170 meters. There are over 300 people who work on the project. The interior is planned to be completed in 2010 for services. The outside will be completed in 2030. All of the designs used in the church are related to nature and Gaudi’s deep interest in religion and mysticism. This is another location in Barcelona that I studied in depth in high school and it blows my mind to see it in person and see how massive it is. We took an elevator up to the top of a tower and saw not only a great view of the city but the tiny details that go from the ground all the way to the top of each tower. We took the spiral stairs down and peeked out all the windows to see what sculpture was next to us.

 

During this whole time we are worrying because Anne disappeared when we went through the ticket line and we cant get in contact with her. I wont relate the details because they are so frustrating but I think we all learned that some people are not prepared to travel in groups or without a chaperone.

 

After La Sagrada Familia we hopped back on the tour bus and went to Parc Guell. We walked about 10 minutes from the bus stop to the hill where the park is situated. The park was originally made as a neighborhood where people would actually live. It never really caught on so there are a couple of houses and just some interesting architecture on the plaza and surrounding areas. There is also a natural area to walk down dirt paths and people were jogging around for exercise. The whole place is covered with mosaic tiles. The walls, ceilings, pillars, benches, and sculptures are all unique and colorful and handmade. This was yet another place I had learned about in Spanish class and my favorite thing that I have seen so far.

  

We headed back to the hostel around 6:30 pm so we could get ready to get dinner and go out for the night. We stopped by the market to get a snack; I got some really juicy cherries that were awesome. We snacked and napped until it was dinner time around 9:30. We headed to a place next to the hostel called Brasil. Only half our group went and ate upstairs, the other half headed to another place outside. We got a special with 2 tapas, paella, and sangria. The tapas were really interesting because we didn’t get to choose them with the special. We tried octopus, seafood salad, artichoke, olives, meatballs, and chicken. They were all really good. Gelato was a perfect conclusion to our meal. I had a double cone with banana and pistachio. My two favorites that I don’t think a single other person likes!

 

Back at the hostel we met up with everyone and made some plans for the night. We wanted to hit up this karaoke place but we weren’t sure where it was. We knew it was near the beach so we took some people who had been to the beach the night before and armed with an iphone GPS we started out. We walked past the harbor/port and towards something like a highway. It started looking sketchy so (after much arguing) we decided to head to the beach instead. Well, when we got to the beach that was scary too so we headed back to the hostel. On the road by the hostel I had my first up close experience with a prostitute. They were all over the street just looking for men to grab. Literally they were grabbing any guy who walked by. I grabbed the arm of the guy closest to me and we walked arm and arm to the hostel to avoid either of us getting assaulted. We arrived safely and a group of us sat in the plaza and chatted till the street cleaners came by with a fire hose to wash down the plaza. That was a strange experience; in America the streets and public areas are not cleaned on a nightly basis, or at all usually.

 

In the morning we have to catch a flight back to Cádiz so hopefully our use of public transportation goes much more smoothly.

 

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Seeing the most breathtaking views and the most beautiful architecture was a once in a lifetime experience. I would absolutely live in Barcelona if I had the opportunity.

 

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Our second night trying to party it up in Barcelona was also a bust. Interesting, but still a failure.

Day 10- Cádiz to Barcelona, Spain

Our group traveling to Barcelona met up at 6 am in Tymitz Square (on the 5th deck) to leave the ship and catch a cab to the airport in Jerez, which is about 45 minutes away. We pulled ourselves together at this early hour and made it to the airport with time to spare. We got some lovely airport food for breakfast and sat in the food court which had no air conditioning. I felt fine but Thomas was struggling and had to fan himself. He was also signing while fanning himself with his boarding pass so he reminded me of a big Baptist lady in church in the deep south. We finally got to check in and go through security about 40 minutes before our flight. Its really strange that you cant just check in when you get there, there is a certain time to begin checking in and a different time to go through security. Maybe because Jerez is such a small airport? The flight was fine, I tried to sleep most of the way.

 

Upon our arrival to Barcelona we made our way to the train station to attempt to navigate the public transportation system. We managed to follow some SAS kids who knew more Spanish than us so we made it on the train safely. It took a while but we finally made our transfers successfully and got off in the middle of the city in Plaza Catalunya. We walked down the famous street Las Ramblas, which is where our hostel is. There is a middle section with the street on either side where vendors, performers, and tons of shoppers and tourists crowd in together with the outdoor dining of the tapas bars that are so popular here. We took our time looking at everything on the street as we searched for Kabul Hostel in Plaza Real. We finally found it and checked in to our 10 person dorm room. There are 5 bunk beds in the room and each person gets a locker. All the doors and lockers are opened with a special magnetic key fob that we each got when we checked in. It even opens the front door to the hostel, much like a swipe card at usual hotels.

 

After checking in a seeing all the amenities of the hostel we went out in search of our 2 pm lunch. Some of us headed to Casa Joan Restaurant. I shared chicken paella with Sarah C. who is from outside Dallas. It was great for my first or many authentic Spanish meals. After our leisurely lunch we walked through the open market and saw fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, nuts, candies, and traditional meals. I saw so many items that I had never even seen or heard of before. Everything looked so good and it was hard not to buy some of everything. We did some shopping at the boutiques in the area and went to H&M even though they have that in every major city in the U.S. On the way back to the hostel, Harry, Katie and I ran into some SAS kids who invited us to the apartment they were renting down the street. We got some ice cream (which was amazing mint chocolate chip) and went to check out their place. The people across the way from them are growing weed that you can see from the window. Other than the possibility of drug dealing neighbors it seemed like a nice place! We chatted with them for a little then headed back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. We went to a place called Amatxu where I shared chicken paella with Tara. It was the same meal as my lunch but I really like paella and I like comparing the different flavors at different restaurants.

 

After dinner we had some drinks at happy hour at the hostel. We met some kids from Arkansas, Martin and Miles, who are just backpacking around Europe for the summer and played some card games with them. Marty is in the Air Force Reserve and just returned from a tour in Qitar. (sp?) The game was really entertaining and we were laughing louder than any other group in the room. That was about the time someone changed the tv channel so we could watch the news about Michael Jackson’s death. We didn’t believe it at first and a couple people were really upset. It seems so crazy because as strange as he is, he is such an icon and universally recognized. Also kind of strange is that Farrah Faucet died either the same day or the night before and she too was especially famous.

 

After we all paid tribute to the King of Pop we headed to the club called Razzmatazz. Its three stories tall with 10 different themed rooms. The hostel had worked out a deal that it would be free for the people staying there that night. We headed out about 1:45 am in cabs and found what was the sketchiest place I have seen so far. It was down a dark alley and there was only one bartender for about 150 hostel kids. We stayed for about 20 minutes and then caught a cab back to the hostel and went to sleep. It was neat to say I’ve been there but I don’t know if I would go back. On a regular night the cover charge is 25 euros which is more than my bed at the hostel with breakfast and dinner included! It was definitely an interesting experience but kind of a failure at the same time.

 

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The U.S. soccer team beat the Spanish soccer team 2-0 Wednesday night!

 

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I didn’t know you needed to bring a towel to a hostel so I had to shake dry after my shower. Good thing to know before the next one in Rome!

Day 9- Cádiz, Spain

Today I woke up at 6:45 and went out on Deck 5 to see the sunrise and my first view of Europe. I got to spend an amazing thirty minutes watching the sky change colors and the huge sun rise above the rooftops of homes, churches, office buildings, and castles. I actually picked the best place on the ship to watch the arrival into port. The port authorities send in a pilot to our ship to help steer it into our berth. The pilot ship, as I think its called, pulled alongside our ship and without tying on or slowing down the pilot jumped across the water and into the open door on our ship. The pilot ship then sped off leaving us to navigate the rest of the way. It was pretty funny to look straight down to the 2^nd deck and see a man jump from his boat to our ship while both were going about 17 mph (I think Dia told me it was mph but maybe she meant 17 knots? I don’t really know about that information)

 

The crew met for breakfast at 7:30 and got a good view of Cádiz from the aft deck. There is a huge cruise ship next to us that really makes our ship look tiny and boring with its many pools and balconies. We finally touched European/Spanish soil about 9:45 am. As soon as I stepped onto the ground I already felt wobbly. We all felt a little “land-sick” until we started walking down the narrow streets packed with shops of all kinds. We stopped at the ATM across from Lacoste on a side street made of cobble stones and lined with apartment balconies overflowing with flowers and laundry on clothes lines. Everything looks like something that is only seen in the movies, it’s all so quintessential. We headed to the train station for the kids who are going to Seville tomorrow on their own. The train station was packed with SASers trying to get their train tickets before exploring the city.

 

After an hour of waiting in the station we finally embarked on our adventure. We first walked down the street past a beach where we had our first photo shoot of the day. We saw tons of churches, cathedrals, and convents along the way. We made it to the large Cathedral, Santa y Apostólica Iglesia Catedral de Cádiz. We ran into David Geis outside and he recommended going to the Cathedral and the tower. We bought our 3 euro tickets to the Cathedral and took a look at all the statues, altars and paintings. We also went into the crypt and looked at a fake corpse in a glass box. At least I hope it was fake. Then we checked out some souvenir shops before climbing the bell tower to get an awesome view of the whole city.

 

Torre de Poniente gives a 360 view of Cádiz with narration of all the landmarks that can be seen from its balconies. This was the location of photo shoot two for the day. After our climb back down we found a place for our late Spanish lunch called Bar Cafetería cada 2 por 3. We lunched on ham (really more like prosciutto)  and tomato (really a tomato spread) sandwiches and sangria. We ended up chatting with the British waiter and he brought us some potato chips for free. The other waiter later gave us all a free shot of what was supposedly caramel vodka. After we were stuffed we continued our walk to Parque Gevenes where we met some local high school kids in the cave by the waterfall. We finished our loop around the city in time to grab dinner on the ship. We must have gotten fresh produce because the lettuce was green again and there were some great plums. We quickly showered and headed down to the pier to see if we could squeeze on the flamenco trip that the rest of the group was going on. Since I sold my flamenco ticket for tomorrow I decided this would be a good alternative. We got on the bus and made our way to a small town outside Cádiz where we spent the evening.

 

We were greeted with a small glass of wine as we got off the bus in what resembled a ranch. The wine was not what anyone expected and we later learned it was sherry wine. We packed into a stadium of sorts to see the bull fighting. Unfortunately it was less than impressive because it was actually a cow, and a baby one at that. The bull fighting was preceded and followed by two flamenco dancers and a man with a horse that he trained to move like it was dancing with the women. This was fairly entertaining as I had never seen a horse do tricks like that before. After the show outside, we migrated into the “salon” where we were given more sherry and some appetizers. There was cured ham, bread, cheese, and oddly enough, corn nuts. We also tried their sangria which we suspect was non-alcoholic. There was another flamenco show inside with a guitar player, a singer, three female dancers, and one male dancer. As we watched I thought of all the things that we had talked about is music class and tried to count the beats of the music. It was a lot harder than I thought.

 

When we got back to the ship I went back to the room and packed for Barcelona while everyone else went out on the town. Should be interesting to see what fun they get into tonight!

 

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It took me 21 years, but I finally made it to Europe!

 

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I have to wake up at 5 am and it is currently 1 am!

 

“Welcome to Spain, eat a frickin churro”- direct quote from Gina, regarding what she expected people to say as we disembark

 

on that note, I had a churro. It was good but not like what they have at amusement parks.

 

Day 8- At Sea, Pre-port Spain

I woke up a little late and as I didn’t sign up to work out last night I went to breakfast before showering. Breakfast ends at 8:30 am but my class isn’t till 9:20 am so I have some extra time in between. However, I would rather sleep till 8:30 and get breakfast right before class so I’m not starving by lunch time at noon. Meal times on the ship are so strange so when we get to Spain we will be thrown off by their 10 pm dinner time. (We usually eat at 5:30 pm)

 

Ethnomusicology was the most exciting class today because we watched videos of flamenco (flaming-o as Prof. Jones’ son calls it) dancing and singing. He sang and imitated the female dancers for us. It was much more stimulating than whatever we talked about in Social Justice and Educational Theories today. (obviously because I can’t even remember what the topic was…maybe something about schools raising children to be socially responsible instead of the parents?) Erik was psyched about the fish sticks at lunch today. They were pretty good and the lima beans were great. I might have been the only one who actually really likes lima beans. I ate lunch with Matt who just graduated from Bentley right outside Boston and a professor named Jamie (?) who teaches Religion. She asked us so many questions about ourselves but very detailed ones which required me to pull up a bunch of audiology information that I learned almost two years ago when she asked me why people lose their hearing as they get older. It was a struggle but I think I gave a good explanation of how the different parts of the ear work and how different things can go wrong to cause hearing loss. It was kind of funny because I wanted to answer the question but at the same time I was thinking about why or if she even cared!

 

In our logistical Pre-port lecture we learned all about the do’s and don’ts of going into Spain. We learned all the emergency numbers, what constitutes an emergency, when to get on and off the ship etc. etc. It was all good information and got everyone REALLY excited for our first port. We spent the rest of the evening playing Rummy (I’m currently in second place of our running game) and talking about what we want to do in Cádiz tomorrow. We are probably going to explore the city before we all part ways on Thursday to see different parts of the country. The plan is to see the sunrise in the morning as the ship comes into the port and get our first sight of real land and Europe!

 

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We are going to be in Spain in less than 10 hours probably!

 

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I realized today that I didn’t bring a nail clipper. HUGE mistake there!