Home stretch!

I´m now on my last of 5 days in Spain, and it´s been a blast. Because I had some problems with train booking, I ended up spending most of my time in Barcelona, and thank goodness for that - I had a blast in Barcelona, and Madrid has proved so far to be pretty dull. I loved everything about Barcelona (save for the heat). There were so many things to see during the days (the city is full of crazy modernistic architecture) and the nightlife is really busy - everyone stays out all night! The city is also beautiful in the dark, as it really lights up. My favourite part had to be the Sagrada Familia, an amazing cathedral designed by Gaudi that is still under construction today. Stay tuned for photos. Also, my hostel in Barcelona was amazing - a university residence-turned-hostel, all the rooms were private rooms with their own desk and shower! They sure know how to treat their students well...

View of part of the Sagrada Familia from inside one of the towers




One of Gaudi's crazy building designs, the Pedrera




In the Barcelona public market...




The "Magic Fountain"




The weirdest thing happened to me in Barcelona. While at the train station, an old Spanish man came up to me and asked to shake my hand. He looked amazed. I learned from his English-speaking daughter that he was from a small village and had never seen an Asian person before, and was totally wowed. How bizarre! Anyways, I told her to tell him that he would see plenty more over the course of his holiday in the city.

The coolest thing about Spain, that I didn´t know before, is that there are different provinces within the country that speak different languages. For instance, all the Spanish I learned last year at UBC was useless in Barcelona, since everyone there speaks Catalunyan (sp?), which to me seemed like a mesh of French and the Spanish that I know. However, in Madrid I´ve been coping alot better, since the language is more familiar.

Other miscellaneous thoughts...

I´ve decided that I could write a book on budget travelling. Yes, I know Rick Steves has a great one. But he doesn´t ever try to cheat the system or any of that fun stuff. Over the course of our trip, Aleesha and I have mastered which cities we can ride the bus for free (because no one checks tickets), how to work the Eurail system so as to avoid expensive reservation fees, and how to go about taking as much free stuff from hostels as we can (my most successful was in Barcelona, where I ran away with an armload of complimentary soaps, shampoos, kleenex, teabags, hot chocolate and crackers). I should be embarrassed, but sadly I am not!

I´ve also realized that my body has an amazing internal alarm clock. Only once over the past 5 weeks have I slept past 9am, and my eyes always pop open between 7:30 and 8. Even after the really late nights. It´s awesome!

Aleesha´s headed back to Canada now, and I´ll be meeting Melinda tonight in Dublin, and then will be on my own for a couple days in London. I actually don´t mind being alone - it´s nice to have some ¨me¨ time!

Anyways, off to hop on a plane to Ireland, and will try to blog once more before home!