The REAL beginning of my year in Barcelona

Saying good-bye to Anne in London was very difficult, we had had such an amazing weekend and I did not want to go back to Barcelona.  The flight went smoothly, I knew not to make the same mistake with trying to get on Ryanair with two bags; I just checked it right away.  I then took the Aerobus back to the city center and grabbed a cab to the new apartment.  The apartment was not exactly what I was imagining or predicted; it was quite a distance away from the city and it was a host situation.

Maria was the host, meaning we lived with her and not that she was just the landlord.  At first I thought it was not at all the situation I wanted and that I wanted my own apartment to have freedom to do whatever.  Well I was proven wrong when I was in Barcelona for four nights by myself; Maria turned out to be a great friend and kept me sane.  It was a blessing to have someone around that could help me get around the city and to talk to.  Maria does not know any English, so I had some excellent practice with Spanish and she was very tolerant with me.

My first four nights in Barcelona were not too exciting because I did not know anyone and I did not want to venture to the city at night by myself because it was a far bus ride back.  So, I spent a lot of time at Parc Guell which is a 5 minute was from the apartment; I did a lot of jogging and walking around there.  Parc Guell has a great view of the city and while the four days were very lonely and made me very homesick; I enjoyed having me time.

 I did all the tourist sightseeing and saw the Sagrada Familia and went on a 4.5 hour bus tour of the entire city.  It was great to get a better feel of the city and learn about the history of Barcelona.  By the time class started I could be the tour guide for everyone that had just gotten to Barcelona!

Thursday night Maria and I went to the beach for an amazing lunch/dinner at a seafood restaurant.  It is crazy how in Spain they eat so much for lunch and then a snack for dinner.  So around 4pm we ordered a larger family-style salad, seafood paella, crème Barcelona (crème brulee) and a bottle of wine.  It made me laughed when Maria said we HAD to get the crème Barcelona because it was THEIR dessert and very special to the area; it was crème brulee, plain and simple.  It tasted just like at home, the only thing I have had yet that I can compare to home.  The food is so different here and I am still trying to decide if by different I mean good or bad. The food was delicious, however, my stomach does not really agree with it.

After a large lunch we needed to walk around and ended up walking all the way down the beach.  It was great to get a feel of where the good beaches were and where to avoid.  Maria was very informative of where the tourists were and where to go for cleaner water and less people.  Along the beach there are different stops that looked like playgrounds, however, they turned out to be playgrounds for adults!  People were doing work outs; squats, pushups, lifting rocks from the beach etc., it was hilarious to see and seemed very primitive.

Friday came around and that was when my roommate was going to arrive!  Yes! Someone to go out with and explore what the city has to offer.  Since I had such a hard time when I first got here I decided to meet her at the airport and help her get to the apartment with all her bags; I had been in Barcelona for about 1.5 weeks now and knew my way around pretty well.  When Nicolle got here it was such a relief to speak English to someone and have someone from around your home.  She is from Canada and seems to have a lot in common with me when it comes to friends and family; we clicked right away.  Yes, I compared Canada being close to home!

We decided to go out for tapas for our first night as roommates in Barcelona, and we found the bar with the biggest sangria glasses around. We sat and ate and talked about our families and friends and found out how much in common we had.  I am happy to hear someone else misses their family and friends as much as I do.  We promised each other we would put the homesick feeling aside for at least a month and give Barcelona a chance. We were crazy to think this was going to be an easy transition! We ended up having an amazing night sitting on a terrace along La Rambla; good way to start out the year!