Life in Spain: Day 3

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April 9, 2009
Today we got off to a later start than we would have liked, but that’s ok. We are on vacation! Today we wanted to go the Aquarium or the Museum, do some shopping and then the beach. Sydney, did not want to do that, so she went off on her own. I think she needed to do that…everyone needs there own personal space.
She went off by herself and myself, Geneva and Sarah planned what we were going to do. We looked it up online and realized that the zoo and the aquarium were SUPER expensive, so that was out. We decided to find the beach, so we were off and wandered about. We had maps, but thought it would be good not to use them for once. We weren’t in hurry and it was a gorgeous day, so it felt good to go without direction. We wandered up a hill and found the Gondola rides and this BEAUTIFUL café that overlooked the city. We were able to drink cappuccino, on a rooftop, in the sun, in Barcelona. It was marvelous. It was a short ride, but I thought it was fun…way too over priced, but I rode in a Gondola!
We took pictures and then instead of going back, decided to go down because we were closer to the beach. If we wanted to later we could go back up, but didn’t want to waste any time.
When we got down, once again we wandered in the direction of the beach…we could see it from our on top of the city view, and stumbled upon this huge flee market. We weaved in and out of the tables that were just full of antiques and old fun stuff. One of the first tables I came upon I found an Elvis record that has a Spanish Album cover. It was only 5 Euro and Brian Schabow said that it would be cool for me to get something from my travels, and this was the first thing that I found and it was perfect! Geneva volunteered to carry it in her checked bag because it won’t fit in my backpack. Otherwise I wouldn’t have bought it because it won’t fit in my backpack.
We continued to wander and ended up getting lunch at subway. I would have preferred to do a little café, but the area that we were in was super expensive and we were eating good tonight. I found a little souvenir shop that had spoons. I have been collecting them from every country I’ve been too so far, except Sardinia…I think??? We walk in this store and the guys that work there are all over me! This one guy was calling me beautiful, and asking if I had a boyfriend, and wanting me to give Nate’s ring that I wear around my neck to him and it was just funny. I asked in Spanish, (proud of myself), if they had spoons. They wanted 5.70 for them! I bought all the spoons so far for around 3 or 4. He wanted to drop it to 4.50 and I said 4. He said no, and then I started to leave, and he gave it to me for 4. I’m getting good at this!
We ended up not going to the beach and were going to save that for tomorrow. We had to wander back because we had a Spanish cooking class at 6 and we had to meet at the Travel Bar at 5:45. . As we wandered back, we came across one of the numerous little dress shops that have SUPER cute, Spanish looking dresses. We looked in there before and kept going, but I really wanted a little cute dress to hopefully be able to wear to the beach in Barcelona or in Athens. Sarah and I both found dresses that we liked and did a little barter with the owner. The dresses were 15 a piece, but we got both of them for 25 euro. He was super nice and was very willing to help…one of the nicest shop owners I have come across on my travels!
We headed back to the hostel where I got to talk to Nate with Skype for the second time that day. I called him early in the morning and talked for a bit. It was sooooo good to see him and talk to him! We headed for the Travel Bar and met Sydney there at 5.45…amazingly. One of the guys who worked there brought us to the Travel Port where we would be cooking our dinner of Paella and enjoying Tapas and Sangria. When we took the tour of the city, I met a girl from Germany named Rike. (Pronounced Reeka). She was there with her sister for the cooking class and I sat next to them. We talked pretty much the whole dinner and had a good time. It was SOO funny because when I was trying to talk with them, Geneva would CONSTANTLY interrupt. I secretly told Christine…Rike’s sister, that she talks a lot! A couple of minutes later, Rike told Christine in German that Geneva talks a lot! Christine laughed and said “Lauren just said that!!!” SO FUNNY! They understood that we were traveling together and that Geneva ALWAYS has to get the last word in and likes to talk a lot. They just laughed. We exchanged numbers and such and were hoping to do something tomorrow night.
During this cooking class, we were taught how to make Sangria, and Paella. We were able to make the Sangria, but instructor made the Paella! We sat and watched! I was hoping to get in there and cook, but that didn’t happen. Oh well. She was filling in for someone and was getting nervous because this guy, who happens to sleep in the bunk underneath me constantly filming everything she did. CREEPER! We drank a lot Sangria and had some delicious paella and the instructor made us tapas as well. It was fun! Rike and Chrisine headed out to meet up with some friends, and we went to the front of the restaurant where the bartender said he could give us a 2 for 1 deal. DEAL! I spent 1.25 on drink that got me more tipsy than I should have been. Whoooooooooops. We all walked back to the hostel together, which was quite scary. A lot of guys were hitting on us and cat calling and just wouldn't leave us alone. Our goal was just to get there safe, and we did. I pretty much went right to bed, after enjoying some crackers and nutella/ vanilla mix, called Duo, that we bought the first day we were here. Good night!

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