Before you start Im just warning you that this is pretty long, but i didn't want to leave anything out! ENJOY!!
Spain (September 5-8,2009)
We arrived in Spain on September 5 at 8 am. I had a flight to Barcelona at 2:50 so at about 9:00 my group (most of whom I’ve never met) got off of the ship to head for the bus station. Getting on land for the first time in 7 days felt great. It was nice to see civilization. We finally found the bus stop after walking around in the scorching heat for 35 minutes. We got on the bus and headed to the airport. We arrived really early so we all got some food to eat and some mini bottles of wine. Our flight wound up being about an hour delayed. We were all a bit disappointed, we wanted to get to Barcelona and start experiencing all the fun we were about to encounter. In the airport I met these two girls Kelly and Danielle they were friends from home and go to the University of Arizona. I instantly connected with them. They were visiting they’re friend from home who is studying in Barcelona for the semester. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be with them for the next three days. The people in my group were all very nice, but people I’ve never met, or seemed to have a connection with. I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t have the time I wanted to have.
We finally arrived in Barcelona around 6:00. It then took us another 2 hours to figure out what train/bus to take to get to La Rambla (the main street in Barcelona where our hostel was). After the long hot struggle of making sure all 13 people were together we finally got to Kabul (our hostel) I was surprised at how nice the hostel was (under hostel standards of course). In Italy I stayed in some gross ones, and this was decent. We had a big room with about 10 bunk beds.
Me and 4 of the other girls in the group decided to shower and get ready to go out to a nice dinner before we would go out to the bars. We asked the guy in the hostel were he recommended eating, and he gave us a name of a tapas place. We of course go lost, and had no idea in the world where we were going. I decided to take it into my own hands and went go into an Irish pub I saw to ask for directions, I wound up finding an Irish man from New York City who recommended another place to eat, after another 15 minutes of roaming around like a chicken with its head cut off we finally found the tapas place. It wasn’t the best food I’ve ever ate. I’m pretty sure I’ve had better tapas in New York City but the atmosphere was nice. We of course got some pitchers of sangria and it was amazing. We were still eating when the time turned about 12:30, next to the restaurant we saw a million people walk into this bar called chupitos. We decided to go in and see what was going on. It just so happens that Chupito means shots, and in this bar there were over 500 shots! It was insane they were all written on the wall. We decided to take the harry potter shot! (for you Amanda!) It was delicious they lit it on fire. We wound up bumping into this group of British and Spanish boys and hung out with them the rest of the night. The Spanish boys took us to a local bar they like to go to. Most of the people in there were people from town. We then proceeded to this club which just so happened to be right next to our hostel. It was already getting late and I decided if I wanted to do anything tomorrow I must go to bed, so I stepped outside and walked about 2 feet to the hostel. I was so happy to finally be sleeping after almost 24 hours of being awake.
The next day our plan of waking up at 8:00 am didn’t quite work out so well. At about 1130 we were all finally up and ready to head out to be tourists for the day. The same four girls and I decided it would be a smart idea to take a city bus tour so that way we could get on and off at the different stops all day and do what we please. Barcelona is a big city and there would have been no way to get around to the all the famous cites. The first stop on the bus loop was La Pedera. It was a beautiful building built by Antonia Gaudi. He was a famous architect in the 20th century. His stuff is absolutely amazing. It looks like a fairy tale building from the outside. I have tons of pictures that I will post to show the interesting architecture. We did an audio tour so we would actually understand and know what we were looking at. It explained why his creations were all so fun and imaginative. Gaudi liked to use designs that reminded him of nature whether it be animals plants or the ocean everything flowed into one another just like it belonged it was breath taking. On top of the building there was a terrace that was designed as if it was from the middle ages, the chimney and water pipes were all designed as beautiful pieces but all had functional purposes. The view was amazing and you could see a big chunck of the city. It was a hot day, but at that moment I was just blown away at what I was looking at that I didn’t even mind. After la Pedera we headed back to the bus and got off again at La Sagrada Familia which is a famous church built by Gaudi. We didn’t go inside because we were all starving and ready to eat, but I did take tons of pictures and it was beautiful. We then found a pace to eat on one of the side streets. It was a real authentic Spanish place, not one person spoke English in the entire place. I decided to order the sea bass. I was surprised when my dish came out of the kitchen. It looked as though the chef had just caught the fish from the ocean and placed it on my plate. It still had the head and tail on and it wasn’t even opened to where the meat was. If any of you know me, you know I’m terrified of fish. I then proceeded to scream and made the boy next to me cut off the tail and head and open it so I could eat it. I was proud of myself that I still tried to eat, but it we just so fresh I could taste the fishiness. It was an interesting experience and one I certainly will never forget. Everyone got tons of other food so they let me help them out. After lunch it was already about 4:30 so we headed back on the bus and went to Park Guell which is a park full of Gaudi’s architecture. I’m not quite sure if these building have a purpose or if he was just given the area to spread his creative ideas, but either way it was the most interesting and beautiful park I have ever been in. Each sculpture and building had a life of its own. It was magical I felt like I was in a child’s story book. I tried to capture these things on film, but I don’t think that would do it justice. The colors and details and shapes were all just incredible I don’t know how one person could build and create such interesting and imaginative things. I wanted to spend more time in this park, but two girls I was with were leaving the next day and wanted to see other things. We got back on the bus and did the rest of the bus tour. I was exhausted and fell asleep the rest of the hour on the bus, but they said I didn’t miss much. We finally got back to the hostel at 8:30 and showered to get ready for dinner and another night out. We met up with Kelly and Danielle and their friend for dinner. I was happy that they came; we had a great dinner at this place right next to our hostel. I forget the name but it was a French restaurant which we were all very happy about. We had enough of Spanish food. The food was amazing and the sangria was even more delicious. It was about 1:00 when we finished dinner and then went back to the shot bar. We stayed there for a while and then headed back to the hostel. It was a Sunday so not many things were open which was kind of a bummer, we were hoping to go to some real fun club that lasted until 6 am, but I think we were all secretly happy that didn’t work out, we were exhausted. On the way back one of the boys wanted food and he stopped at the burger king were he got his meal and as his drink he got a soda cup filled with beer. It was hilarious how all the fast food places sell beer just like its soda (its cheaper then soda!)
The next day was our last day so me and the one girl that was left decided it’d be a great idea to go to the beach. The walk to the beach was beautiful and the beach itself was gorgeous. The water was so unbelievably blue it didn’t even look real. We lay out all day, and it was pretty much uneventful. Just a relaxing day that was much needed. When we got back to the hostel we decided it would be a good idea to take a siesta. Our flight was at 6:30 am and we were almost positive we would not be sleeping at all that night. As I was looking through my stuff I realized my IPod was missing. At the beach while I was passed out on my chair someone stole it. The first rule that my parents gave me before I left was to be mindful and don’t lose anything important! Well of course at the first port I disobeyed that rule. I also got my cell phone stolen later that night. It wasn’t fun but let’s all be thankful for the fact that I still have my passport!!!! (Knock on wood). When we woke up we finally had a delicious Spanish meal. We ate tons of tapas: meatballs, paella, cheese, chorizo, potatoes. It was amazing. We then spent the rest of the night chatting and drinking sangria until about 3:00 when we had to head for the airport.
We arrived at the airport, got on board, and landed in Seville. Some of our group was staying in Seville for the day, but I just wanted to get back and see my roommate and all the great friends I’ve already made. It had only been one week but I missed these girls so much, it was like I’ve known them my whole life. When I get back on the ship it was this weird feeling of excitement. This ship has become my home and it felt so amazing to be back home. I loved traveling, but I was glad to be back in one piece. I bumped into my friend Kelly and we decided to roam around the city of Cadiz and head to the beach where everyone else was. We took a long two hour stroll around and went into some shops and boutiques. Cadiz is a beautiful city, looking back I wish I would have spent more time there and less in Barcelona (I guess I have a reason to go back and visit). We finally got to the beach and found other SAS kids. Everyone was drinking big buckets of sangria on the beach and in the water. It felt like spring break all over again. We had a blast! It was definitely a day I will remember for the rest of my life. We then headed back to the ship because we were departing at 8 PM. I met back up with my roomie, friends, and we hung out and finally went to sleep.
All in all my adventures in Spain were great. If I could do it again I would be traveling with friends for an even better time, but I guess you learn. That’s the point of this trip, to grow and learn and to be put into situations that are out of your comfort zone. In Spain, it had not hit me yet that I’m on this amazing voyage. I felt like I was still in a place where I was used to, but Morocco was only a day away and I had no idea what to expect.
MV EXPLORER ( my new home )

friends leaving spain
friends leaving spain
Thursday, September 17, 2009
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