Barcelona, Spain

Hola! We arrived in Barcelona in one piece! We “trained” it from Maastricht to Charleroi and then we took a shuttle bus to the airport. We had to take a taxi from the airport to our hostel because we couldn’t figure out the bus system. When we got to our hostel we had to walk up the longest path up the steepest hill that we have encountered on this trip. Since we were all exhausted this trek did not help much. When we got in, the front desk, in this beautiful looking hostel, helped us a lot. We thought that we got lucky and booked the fanciest hostel that Spain had to offer, but we were wrong. They did not let any noise occur after 10 pm, but let children scream and run around at 6:30 in the morning.

The first night in Barcelona was one to remember. We went down the famous Las Rambalas Street only to find that it was covered with prostitutes and drug dealers after midnight. We thought that since Barcelona just won the European Cup that it would be the most exciting place in Europe, but it was sadly disappointed.

Things changed the next day, when we went on a walking tour of the city. We got to see how the city cleaned up a lot before they hosted the Olympics in 1992, and the place where Pablo Picasso was discovered. All of us were very surprised by how Barcelona had turned into such a fascinating destination.

After the tour we felt like relaxing so we all headed to the beach! This beach was not like any beach that we have ever been to because every 10 seconds someone is coming up to you trying to sell you beer, massages, flowers, or fruit. At first we found it convenient, but after awhile when you are trying to just lay down, it becomes annoying. After a day at the beach (Ryan it is time to get up now) and a nice dinner by the Mediterranean Sea, we were all ready to hit the hay.



The next day our group went home on a later flight that came in late and we missed the last train back to Maastricht. That night instead of being intelligent and getting a hostel to stay in, we decided to live like bums and stay the night in the train station. For most of us this seemed very uncomfortable, but we learned that we can survive and it gives us a great story to tell our friends. The next morning we came home, and thought that Barcelona was a fun city that was different culturally than any other place that we have been to.

PS. Mom, now we can cook!

Jackie, Sarah, Brenton, Jim, Ryan, Taisha, Jen, Basia, Jerelliah, Kyrie