So when I woke up Monday morning to go to the airport I had planned on taking the bus because it was the cheapest way for me to get to the airport - only 7 Euro. I woke up, packed up my things and headed downstairs to check out. It was around 4:15 in the morning so I was allowing 30 minutes to locate the right bus. Well, it just so happens that a guy was taking 2 other girls to the airport and as I was walking out the door he chased me down to ask if I just wanted to share a ride with them since he was going that way anyways. I reluctantly said yes thinking that it couldn't be more than 10 Euros and it was cold outside so I didn't really want to walk that far anyways. Inside the hostel it said on the "Options to the airport" page that a taxi was about 25 - 30 Euros. Well, I took the taxi and when we got out at the airport this guy said that it was 15 Euro each!!! I was pissed. How can a taxi ride to the airport seriously cost 45 Euro? We didn't even go as far as we would have from the center of Barcelona and it's about 30 Euro to the airport there! The other girls didn't even have enough money to give him and they said, "we thought that it would cost 20 Euro tops, can we give you pounds?" He looked hesitant so I handed him my 15 Euro reluctantly and just walked off quickly because I didn't want to get stuck paying the rest of the fare because they didn't have the money. I was really pissed off because I could have easily just taken the bus and saved 8 Euro. I didn't have enough money to even get something to eat at the airport. I tried not to let this ruin my day but I felt really ripped off and then because I was there so much earlier than planned, I had nothing to do in the airport and they obviously didn't have any heat in this place because it was freezing cold. I did buy a Cosmopolitan in English though and I got a free clutch and laundry softener sample so I was excited about this. I read that while I waited for my plane and let me just say that the British version is not the same as the American one so I was a little disappointed. We had to walk on the plane and the flight back was a little bumpy but it wasn't nearly as bad as the flight there. I had to sit behind two spoiled little brats and their british parents so I was annoyed for the majority of the flight. I just dislike children on planes altogether. There should be some type of medicine that you should be required to give them to knock them out! lol The decent into Barcelona wasn't the greatest considering a day later I still can't hear out of my left ear. My flight did come in 20 minutes ahead of schedule and in my head I was trying to remember the train schedule from the airport. There was a train at 10:08 and we landed at about 10 till. So, thankfully I was in seat 6B so I was one of the first people off of the plane and through passport security, which btw I FINALLY got a Spain stamp in my passport book!! :D Very exciting! I was practically running to the train and I ended up making it with 1 minute to spare! After I made it home I had to get a shower before I could go to school. I didn't know whether or not we had hot water so I had to wake up Alex to find out. Turns out, we still don't have hot water BUT, Alex had gotten the key back from John after locking it upstairs so I was able to get a hot shower. I took a long shower and decied that I was just going to be late for class because I was tired and wanted to unpack and start some laundry. I made it to school right as my group was presenting so I join in on the presentation and then shortly after the class was over! On break I met with my group and then I took a nap in the sun on a bench outside the school. It was such a nice day yesterday, a perfect day for just a light jacket and the sun felt so good! I've been thinking recently, it hardly ever rains here and when I walk to school everyday I realize how lucky I am to be here. The sun is constantly shining, and although Barcelona is stinky and kind of dirty at times, there are other things that make it beautiful and my walk to school always makes me appreciate this city. It's just perfect in it's own unique way. Our next class was so boring, we had more presentations, ours went good and then after school I headed home, Sam and I went to the Carrerfour (grocery store), and then he cooked this wonderful chicken dish and we showed each other pictures of our weekends. He liked my pictures from Ireland! After dinner I devoted all of my time to finishing my presentation for Wednesday and then I went to bed around midnight- early for me but I was 4 hours away from going on 24 hours! I was exhausted. I was a little upset last night before going to bed..It was just a hard, long day in general and I think the fact that yesterday marked the 30 day countdown to my return home was a little more than heart-wrenching. I miss my family and my friends but I honestly wouldn't mind never coming back. I'm also used to being away from the people I care most about now anyways so this doesn't really feel that much different, I'm just living a different life now. I like living here and although everyday is a challenge I enjoy it and I have fully embraced another culture and have learned how to live here. It's going to be hard being home at first, it will take some time for me to adjust back to life in America, believe it or not, and I'm just not looking forward to that hard transition OR that awful flight back.
Today I missed my Catalan class because my alarm didn't go off at the right time or something. I feel like I remember it going off and then maybe I turned it off, I'm not sure I was so tired I couldn't recall exactly what had happened. lol I decided that I would take the opportunity to sleep in a little bit longer, get up, get ready, and then go to class refreshed and in a better mood. I haven't missed one language class yet so I didn't really feel that guilty for missing. I went early to meet with my group on break, I showed them our powerpoint and some of the pictures were missing. A lot of us are having this problem with our presentations and movies. It's annoying that our computers aren't compatible. So I'll have to fix that tomorrow morning. After break we went to class and in Marta's class she told us that they will be having a visit to the Dali museum in Figures next friday. I can't go because I'm going to Madrid and many other people can't go either because they have also booked things because it is a long weekend. Many people that are from other countries are going home to see their families and everyone, except Alex, from America is traveling somewhere because we have 5 days off from school! So, she wasn't very smart in planning this visit. After that news, on a happier note we got to go to the top of the school to look out onto Barcelona and identify as many things as possible. Really I think this was more for us just to see the city from the top of the school, something we've all been wanting to do since day one. Our school is absolutely beautiful and i got some good photos while I was up there. It was fun. After class I meet with Outi in the library and worked on our project, our other two group members didn't show up so we had to compromise and make some decisions on our own. I left school around 3:30 because I had to go to the tourist information point at Plaza Jaume to get a brochure for our presentation that I accidentally lost this week. I got my brochures and then I decided to walk down our street one more time. We have a street that used to be in the Old Jewish Quarter of medieval Barcelona until the Inquisition in the 13th century. Well, after much research on the Jewish Quarter last night I wanted to find the Synagogue that I keep hearing about. So, I took the brochure, read through it, and wandered around the Jewish Quarter. The history in this area is amazing, this part of the city is so old and I'm sure if the walls could talk, they would tell so many stories. I found the Synagogue and decided to go inside to find out if I could find any information on our street. The woman inside spoke fluent English and was happy to answer my questions, she gave me a lot of valuable information and let me take pictures of the Synagogue. It was a great experience and I would recommend anyone coming to Barcelona to check out the Jewish Quarter, very interesting. After this I headed down to the Maritime museum to check it out. We have a presentation due next Monday on the Barcelona Port: Past, Present, and Future and I thought that the museum might have some good information for me. It was only 1.25 for me to visit with my student ID. Turns out, as soon as I walked in they had an exhibit on the Port - the past, the present, and what they are doing for the future, I thought this must be my lucky day! I took pictures of everything and then I checked out the museum itself. It's under construction right now but they stuff that they did have available to see was pretty cool. There was this large replica of a Spanish ship that you could actually walk up into. It was a little on the boring side but the exhibition that they had was very interesting, it was about the history of deep sea exploration around the world and I learned some interesting facts. It emptied into the gift shop of course, where I purchased 2 cool pencils. After the museum I headed over to the Christopher Columbus monument and took the elevator up to the top. I got some great views of Barcelona at night and the ticket was only 2.50! Very nice. After this I headed back up the Ramblas, tonight is the Barcelona vs. Milan game so there are many fans out tonight singing and chanting in the streets. I made a stop at the Boqueria, the market, to pick up something green for dinner. Sam bought a live lobster at the market earlier so we are having the salmon that I bought yesterday at the store and lobster for dinner. I ended up having two fruit juice smoothies and I bought some persimmons for dessert instead! After the market I came home and I'm going to work on presentations all evening after dinner. My friend that I met in Amsterdam is getting in tonight around 8, I'm not sure how long they are staying but I might grab a drink or tapas with them later.
With only 29 days left here in Barcelona, 5 of which will be spent in Madrid, I have a lot to do and see, I'm so sad that I'm going to be leaving soon but I'm looking forward to meatballs Christmas Eve. BTW If anyone wants to give me an advancement of my Christmas gifts, it'd be nice.
Tomorrow we have our big street presentation so wish me luck! :D
Hasta luego!
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