Host Time

After traveling for the past two weekends I decided to remain in Barcelona this past weekend. Luckily Lee, Kathy, and a couple of their friends from Granada were able to come visit. Instead of learning about foreign lands and peoples, this time I had the opportunity to show off my 'home'.

Thursday evening Lee arrived with a slew of visitors-himself, Kathy, one guy friend, and 4 other girls...all to stay at my apartment. I immediately knew it was going to be an interesting weekend. After just barely missing the last Metro (at midnight) 'the Granada crew' as I will refer to them, finally arrived. They put down their things and, after hanging out at my apartment for about an hour, we went to a nearby bar to relax and get to know one another.

Friday morning I woke up at 9:00 for my Spanish test. Just as I shut the door and was about to go down the elevator with my roommate Austin (also in my Spanish class) our neighbors door opened. An elderly lady in a bath robe came out- I thought it'd be a good chance to get to meet our neighbor. I was wrong. She immediately started screaming at us in Spanish- rambling on and on. Apparently we had been noisy when we were leaving the night before and had woken her. The doorman came up and heard what was going on. As I apologized profusely I was actually very pleased with myself- I understood almost everything she was yelling. At least I received some good practice for my Spanish test. I later spoke with the doorman and my RA, both of whom told me not to worry too much- that the kids in our apartment last semester were way worse than us and she is now overly sensitive to anything that disrupts her.

After finishing my test I met the crew and Matt in Plaza Catalunya where we began our excursion for the day. We first walked down La Rambla and in some of the old areas of the city- Barri Gotic, el Born, etc. After a quick bite to eat we went to the Santa Maria del Mar; unfortunately the large church was closed and we could only look from at it from the outside. We then hopped on the Metro to head over to Montjuic and show our guests the Olympic Stadium area. When we arrived the road from the Metro stop to go up to the stadium area had a large convention set up along it- disallowing any visitor from cutting through. 2/2 on closed. We walked all the way around the other side of the mountain and then cut back up to the stadium area; at least we had a nice view of the city along the way.

Tangent: It is extremely interesting to see everyone's first impressions of tourist sites that you have already seen. I love the look of awe and curiousity when people first see something they have heard about or wanted to experience for some time. This look only intensified in my visitors' eyes as the day went on.

After making the long trek back down Montjuic we hopped back on the Metro (which most of my visitors successfully snuck onto without paying) and headed towards Gaudi's Parc Guell. I found the long series of escalators up to the top just fine but, upon reaching the top, surprise suprise: the entrance was closed. Apparently the huge wind storms a couple of weeks ago had knocked down many trees in the top area of the parc and it was now closed for safety/cleaning reasons. Fortunately a nice elderly couple pointed us in the direction of the main, front entrance. We walked down around this mountain and eventually found where we could enter. Again, that look of excitement and awe struck my visitors faces as we walked around Gaudi's magical creation. Atop the terrace in Parc Guell could possibly be my favorite place in this city- though that is not definite yet.

We wandered around Parc Guell for a couple of hours and then headed back. As I got off the Metro I began talking to Ben about plans for dinner and going out that night. I never thought I could lose a group of people walking 6 blocks-straight- I was wrong. Apparently we were walking too quickly and they fell behind. 45 minutes later they figured it out (I think they also stopped for ice cream on the way). I then gave up my bathroom for the next hour as the 5 girls and Lee (who, lets be honest, takes about as long as a girl to get ready) prepared for the evening.

That night we all went to Piper's for dinner (Ben and my 'date' restaurant). We hung out at Ben's apartment for a while after that and met up with some other friends. Then we headed to Black Sheep. I think they had fun seeing what the Barcelona night life was like. Unfortunately, no free tapas when you order a beer, as they said it is in Granada, however.

Saturday morning it took a little bit longer to get going than on Friday. Once we finally got going we headed to the Sagrada Familia. I had already seen it and didn't want to pay to re-enter, so I walked around the area as Ben and one of their friends studying in Barcelona walked around inside with them. It was nice to have an hour or so to relax and think. I thought about how incredible it is to be half way around the world with a couple of great friends- how much more developed our friendship is than just 'roommates' or 'fraternity brothers'.

Sagrada Familia done: next stop=Tibidabo. I was especially excited for this excursion as I had not yet ventured up Tibidabo, the third main mountaintop attraction surrounding the city of Barcelona. While there was some confusion as to which train we needed to take or where exactly we needed to go we eventually made it up. On top of Tibidabo there is a small theme park, which is actually still closed for the winter, along with a castle-like chapel. The view from on top is incredible. I quickly located some main streets and was able to geographically organize the entire city, a proud feeling.

On the way back from Tibidabo we stopped at El Corte Ingles so the girls could pick up some food to make appetizers. We took a quick siesta and then they began to cook. Appetizers turned into about a 2 hour affair in which a couple other friends, roommates, friends roommates, etc. met up with us. At around 11:30 we realized that we should really get dinner. Ben and I found a good restaurant only about a block from my apartment that was happy to accomodate the large crew. There is no translation to Spanish for trying to eat a quick dinner. After about 1 1/2 hours we were finally done and ready to head out for the night. We started out by walking to Peppermint, a bar famous for its incredibly large drinks- 13L to be exact. It was quite a site, but we definitely had a large enough group to finish...2. After Peppermint we unsuccessfully attempted to get into two different clubs before calling it a night. I've never had trouble getting into a club like that. Something else 'closed' to us for the weekend? I sense a theme.

Sunday we had time to tour a bit before they had to get ready for their flight. We decided to go to the Pedrera- the apartment building that Gaudi built. Again, I was excited for this tour as I had not yet ventured in. The building was exquisite. It was especially interesting seeing all of these Gaudi creations with Lee. I think he has a unique appreciation for the architecture and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing his take on the creations. For example, one famous aspect of the apartment building is that it is created with no load bearing walls anywhere (except the structure). Hearing Lee explain how this works and why it is so incredible allowed me to appreciate Gaudi's genious even more.

We finally all finished the Pedrera and it was time to pack up and head home. Unfortunately I did not know that they were flying out of the Girona aiport instead of El Pratt, where they had come in. This made the packing process quite rushed and I was informed that they were extremely late getting to the airport. Luckily they made it back to Granada in one piece and it seemed like they had a good time (even if some of them had to sleep on the floor).

It was quite weird showing friends around this city and here them talk about Granada. The short time in which we become accustomed to a new living situation is remarkable- everyone referred to their European city of residence as home.

Sunday night I saw Benjamin Button with Ben- probably not a good idea considering our exhausted state. It was cool to see a movie in English (with Spanish subtitles) in Spain, though. I plan to attend some more throughout the coming weeks. After tests Thursday and Friday I had homework due in 2 classes on Monday; its as if I'm actually attending school.

Originally when I thought about travel plans I thought I'd travel about every other weekend and try to stay in Barcelona the rest, I was very wrong: I now have travel plans for every weekend until the third weekend in April...let the marathon that has been this semester continue.

Next stop: Carnaval in Cadiz!