SpRiNg BrEaK 2008 WoOoO HoOoO! Part 1-

Friday April 11^th

I awoke at the break of dawn and took the bus to the train station where I found Tessa already in the middle of a conversation with a woman she had never met. The woman was quite nice and she shared with us her anger about the fact that to get to Toulouse from Clermont you have to take 3 trains and 6 hours. Once we got on the train, our ride was uneventful. We got to Lyon and caught the TGV (really fast train) to Montpellier where we ran from one platform to another only to find that our next train was late. The train from Montpellier to Port Bou, Spain went through some beautiful country-side and along the coast of the Mediterranean which was very pretty despite the fact that it was cloudy and raining. We spent two hours in Port Bou sitting in the station and listening to other tourists complain. Then we finally got on the train to Barcelona. This two-hour ride was made more interesting by the fact that we sat next to a group of three American girls also on study abroad. I immensely enjoyed eavesdropping on their conversation. It was kind of like watching MTV. I had forgotten that people say “like” so much.

We finally arrived in Barcelona and got on the Metro (side note: both Madrid and Barcelona have had fantastically nice Metros) and found our hostel which was actually a bunch of apartments in a very nice residential neighborhood. We then decided to go for a walk in the rain and we found the Sagrada Familia cathedral which was beautifully illuminated. Then we bought some food and some juice at a convenience store and ate at the hostel and went to bed. We were tired.

Saturday April 12^th

We got up early and went back to the Sagrada Familia so that we could see it in the day light. It is a cathedral that was designed by Antonio Gaudi and was not finished before his death and is still under construction. Gaudi’s style is pretty much impossible to describe. It’s weird and beautiful and thought-provoking. The inside of the cathedral was a little disappointing because it was extremely crowded and full of construction stuff. But there was a cool little museum that had some of Gaudi’s drawing and explained how he made a model of the cathedral upside down with weights so that he could design the lightest structure. (Or something like that. The explanation was a little technical. I’m not sure I understood entirely.)

Then we walked around and looked at Gaudi’s other buildings and they were also very interesting/strange/cool. Barcelona, in general, is a really nice city to walk around in. There are big trees everywhere and all the buildings are interesting and there are bike paths. The fact that it was gorgeously sunny out probably helped. We finally wandered down to the Gothic Quarter where there were lots of cool narrow streets and shops. We got kicked out of the cathedral (with all of the other tourists) for reasons that I don’t really understand because the security guards said it in Catalan. But there were nuns and priests scurrying around so there was probably going to be a Mass or something.

Then we got some lunch. Delicious ham and cheese sandwich. Then we walked down to the port and sat in the sun and watched the other tourists. We bought some ice cream (mango = dangerous!). We wanted to go to the aquarium but it cost 14 euros, even with the student discount, so we decided it wasn’t worth it. So we sat some more in the sun and watched a band. Then we took the funicular up the mountain/hill thing on the edge of the city. There was a really nice park at the top that was built in 1992 when Barcelona hosted the Olympics. There was pretty plants and fun structures to play on and a great view of Barcelona. Then we walked down the mountain thing and sat and watched some skateboarders get chased around by the police. Finally we walked back towards the hostel along La Rambla (big famous street) and watched street performers and people selling goldfish and tourists. We got some tapas for dinner and they were delicious and we finally walked all the way back to the hostel. In case you missed it, we did a lot of walking. Probably about 10 miles. But we slept really well.

Sunday April 13^th

We got up and to the Metro to the train station where we almost got on the wrong train but eventually made our way to the airport and got on our plane which we soon discovered was full of Spanish retirees. I was the youngest person on the plane. And, in case you forgot, it was my 21^st birthday. But happily they were all in good health and we arrived in Dubrovnik without incidence. Ante (the guy who we rented the apartment from) was supposed to meet us at the airport but when we got to the airport he wasn’t there. I tried to call him but my phone wasn’t working with his number. We decided to take a taxi to the apartment.

[Lengthy side note: It is important to note that we almost did not go to Croatia because of safety concerns. We heard a (false!) rumor that NATO was going to bomb Serbia which we decided to ignore. Also, right before we left, we heard (from a credible source- a person who works for the State Department) that Croatia is a wonderful country but that it has a bit of a problem with female tourists being kidnapped and sold in to sex slavery. Keep this in mind as I continue the story. Spoiler: We were not kidnapped. Nor were we sold in to sex slavery. I continue…]

So we picked a taxi that looked like it was unlikely to be a kidnap vehicle and gave the driver the address. He turned out to be very nice and friendly and called Ante to tell him that we were coming and he found out that Ante was in fact at the airport waiting for us. Upon arriving at the apartment we found Ante (who somehow managed to beat us back) and realized that we had just missed him at the airport. But he turned out to be a really nice guy and it all worked out. He showed us the apartment, including a balcony with a stunning view and a kitchen and he pulled out a map and proceeded to give us a 20 minute lecture on where we were, what buses we should take, where to find out about boats, where were the grocery stores, what restaurants we should go to so that we wouldn’t get ripped off, and all sorts of other helpful things. It was very helpful. Then he gave us a thing of juice as a gift and went off to go on a walk with his two young daughters. So we sat in our room for a while, staring at the view and pinching ourselves. Then we walked down to the Old City, which was about a 30 minute walk, and explored a little. On our way home we stopped at Tommy (the local grocery store) and bought some food and more juice (juice was a theme for this trip). Then we made dinner in our nice little kitchen. We attempted to make tacos but there was no appropriate cheese so they just turned out to be mashed beans with “Mexican spices” and some salsa wrapped in a tortilla. They were delicious.

An odd thing happened while we were eating dinner. We were discovering that our neighborhood (lots of cement steps) had very good acoustics and that we could heard everyone who walked down the street as if they were just outside our door. We heard a noise that sounded kind of like someone entering our apartment hallway but we figured that it was just an outside noise. Nonetheless I decided to go lock our door so that I wouldn’t forget to do it later. When I got out in to the hallway I was extremely surprised to see a man standing there. “Hello? I am looking for the jdjfasdlfjcroatiankjflsdkfj” he said to me. I was so surprised that all I could say was, “Nnnnoo!”. Then Tessa came out in to the hall and said, “It’s downstairs.” “Downstairs?” “Yeah, downstairs.” “Ok, Thank you. Good night.” And he walked out and left. And we promptly locked the door. The best we can figure out, he was a homeless guy who wandered in and… spoke English? Very well? It was very strange. But it turned out to be harmless. So after watching some satellite TV we went to bed. Not a bad birthday.