Bienvenidos a Barcelona

 After breaking my ankle (in two places), surgery, and a postponement of my flight, the time has finally come.  Barcelona is here!

It was a long day on the 9th, leaving for the airport at 430 in the morning and being in between countries for 21 hours, but I made it.  My journey started in Seattle with a 4 hour trip to Chicago.  I had to get off the plane, be wheeled to my next gate and was sent on my way to Dulles in D.C.  After arriving there, I once again was wheeled out of my gate, had to collect my luggage and then check in to Air France.  The stewardists on both my flights became my bestfriends to say the least.  Shout out to Beverly, Gigi, and Joanne!  There was plenty room for conversation as I needed countless things with a broken leg.  It's interesting to see the different people you meet.

When I was dropped off in Paris, I was wheeled around to several different check points before making it to my gate, and was surrounded by people who only spoke French.  I had to trust that they knew where I was supposed to go. They did a fine job though as I was plopped in my gate next to a cute pair of australian ladies who had taken 2 months off to travel the world.  They had just come from Malaysia, and were leaving Paris to visit Barcelona next.  It was interesting to hear their stories, and actually be able to talk to someone in my own language again.  We chatted for an hour before take off and then it was Barcelona time!

It was a huge relief to finally arrive Barcelona.  I hadn't slept a wink my whole trip and the day had started to drag on to feeling like a year, so you can imagine how relieved I was when I was propped into a taxi on the way to my house.  I had no idea what to expect about where I lived and when I did finally arrive I was a little taken back by the exterior. Once inside though, my first impression cooled off.  The apartment here is small and quaint, very homey feeling.  The bedroom size took a day to adjust to, sharing it with a roommate and it being it smaller than my own bedroom at home, but we seem to have made it work.  The only thing I'm not a fan of: the shower.  The water pressure is as strong as a dripping faucet and in order for the hot water to work you have to run it in the sink first, and even then it doesn't stay hot!

my apartment (the black doors)

My Apartment

My Bedroom

School Neighborhood

Bus Stop to School

I unpacked, moved into my space and then literally passed out for 4 hours.  Jet lag kicked my butt.  I work up that night at 10pm, 7 hours after arrival, just in time for dinner.  My host mom (we call her madre) made bomb turkey burgers and salad, a super healthy meal that was surprisingly not spanish at all.  My madre is super nice, talks only in Spanish and speaks super fast so it's been entertaining trying to keep up with her sometimes. Unfortunately Spanglish doesn't work here so I'll have to buff out my spanish a bit.

The next day was school.  My roommate and I took the bus with our madre and I met with all the people in charge about arrangements for my leg and classes.  It looks like everything will go smoothly so far.  I had my first spanish class and met a lot of different people from all over the U.S.  Everyone had just gone out to a club the night before and it wasn't hard to see the majority of the class was a bit hungover.  We learned useful phrases to use in the city and practiced using them.  It was a pretty laid back first day of class.

Later that day we met up with our RA, Flor, and a bunch of girls that live near us and went out for dinner at this local pizzeria.  The pizza was to die for as I ate the whole thing ( I had also been starving from crutching around all day) and the shop was cute.  The kitchen was downstairs and the restaurant up, which was unfortunate for me in my position, but I managed to get up and down without falling.

The girls at dinner all talked about their trip so far and about the planned trip to Tarragona for the program.  It was a two day trip to different cities near Barcelona and unfortunately I couldn't go because of my leg. I instead decided to spend the weekend crutching around Las Ramblas.

Workin the Crutches

Along Las Ramblas

First Bar Stop (Las Ramblas)

 Las Ramblas was packed with people when I went on Saturday, and full of life.  There were several newspaper stands selling countless trinkets and souvenirs and everything was decked out in FC Barcelona wear. If any of my yellow jacket homies are reading this, you can bet I'll have some cool stuff for you guys when I get back.

After a half hour of looking around I decided to stop at a local bar and order my first drink, a mojito! It was in this cute little side bar near an alley off of Las Ramblas and gave me the liquid courage I needed to take on the rest of Las Ramblas.

One of the many alley ways

First Drink: Mojito!

There were many alleys with shops, bars and restaurants, and people selling everything from food to pets on the street.  I decided to take a stop and visit the local wax museum.  It was filled with different figures prominent  to the Spanish culture along with some movie characters I recognized.  Unfortunately for me, there were more stairs than wax figures so it ended up being more of a work out than a tour.

Visiting the Wax Museum

La Bouqueria

Baby Bunnies 4 Sale On Las Ramblas

Spanish Pinocchio

Wax Alice in Wonderland

I took a nice long rest along the street before continuing on and by the time I got to the Port at the end of Las Ramblas I was wiped out. I sat along the water for a while to catch my breath and let everything sink in, and it finally hit me.  I live in this city.  I'm going to see these people everyday, selling trinkets and bunnies, offering food and tourist services, performing on the streets, and I love that.  This city is such a wild place, so alive and full of life and I'm lucky enough to live here. It started to feel a little more like home.

As I got up to head back home, I was hit with another realization, my arms and left leg were dead.  There was no way I was going to be able to crutch all the way back down Las Ramblas to the bus stop.  I tried but didn't get more than 50 feet before calling a cab.  I came home that day and passed out for several hours.

Best Bakery in Barcelona (so far)

Port de Barcelona

Colon de Barcelona

Sunday was a little less eventful.  I tried to make my way back to Las Ramblas to visit the alleys with all the shops and restaurants, but everything was closed.  What's more was that my arms were killing me from the day before and my energy level was cut in half.  Most of you know how slow of a walker I am, so imagine my normal pace and cut it in half, and then cut it in half again and you've got my travel speed.  A cat with two legs could have walked faster than me.  Even the grandmas and grandpa's with their canes were passing me!  

It started to rain and I decided to call it quits.  One, because I didn't have a rain jacket,  and two, because I knew if I tried to go any farther I would get stuck and I preferred not to be immobile the next day.  It's been a challenge to say the least.  Being on crutches has definitely affected my ability to go around and explore and has cut my energy level in half.  I feel more like my arms and left foot are broken rather than my ankle, but only two more weeks to go.  My roommate and I are already planning a bunch of activities for when I get my boot off so I have some motivation to power through until then.  

It's only been three days in the city and I already feel like I've been here a lifetime.  With classes starting today I'll only have more to add to my lifestyle.  So much has happened already and yet the adventures have only just begun.