Sangria and Soccer and Wet-Suits, Oh My!

Hola from España!

My, oh my, how I’ve missed this country. We docked in Barcelona Thursday morning at about 8, and I’ve been crazy busy ever since! We had a diplomatic brief while all 1000 or so of us were being cleared through customs. By ten, we were off the ship. I headed over to Las Ramblas (a super long street with all these vendors and cute places to eat) with a few friends, and we walked around for a couple of hours before we had to be back to the ship for our first trip.

Before we went back, Brianna and I stopped for lunch since we hadn’t eaten yet. And of course, it being 11:30 in the morning, it was imperative that we get our first doses of sangria in. So, we each ordered pizza and a small sangria. Next thing I know, the waiter is bringing us both these HUGE glasses of sangria, in mugs that were about 2x the size of a typical beer mug, claiming that these were the smallest they offered. So, obviously we couldn’t turn them down and started drinking away. After we ate, we asked for the check…and realized that the huge sangrias came with even bigger prices. 15 euros for each enormously large drink…aka 20 bucks. For one drink. That wouldn’t be a bad bar tab to have after a few hours of drinking…but for a ‘let’s just get a quick bite to eat’ kinda thing, it didn’t exactly fly. Note to self: ask for the drink prices before you order, idiot.

After recovering from the mild heart attack that accompanied my midday alcohol intake, we headed back to the ship where those of us who signed up for it went on an orientation of Barcelona. It gave us a chance to see the highlights of the city so we could go back to them on our own time if we wanted. Although I’d already seen a lot of it, it was a nice chance to refresh my memory…and our tour guide was quite a hoot. He had a horrible English accent and a slight lisp, so listening to him tell us about the wonders of Barcelona was something like… “Ah, we have some of ze most beeeeuuuutifullll bitches in all ze world. I recommend zat you visit one of ze many bitches zat our coastline has to offer.”… “If you look up on ze right, you will see Cheesus and his apostles.”… “If you enjoy ze hiking, I sink you would really enjoy going to ze Peeeeenis (Pyrenees) Mountains.  You can really see a beeeeuuuutifulll view of Barcelona from ze Peeeeenis.”  Suffice it to say, he really challenged my maturity level. Turns out, I’m about as mature as a 6th grader learning about the ‘beauty of the reproductive system” or whatever crap our teachers used to call it.

While I was doing my best not to giggle uncontrollably at our tour guide, I ran into Saudi Arabia Boy #1 who was also on the tour. After chatting for a bit, I asked him to take a picture of me and a couple of my friends in front of La Sagrada Familia (this big unfinished church by Gaudi). He did so happily…and then, as if he’d read my mind, he asked if I wanted to be in a picture with him! I replied with a cool, ‘yea, sure’…but inside I was thinking ‘YESSSSSS! My friends are gonna love to see SAB #1!’ So, for all of you who have a vested interest in my budding friendship with SAB #1, you will now get to put a face to the three-lettered, one-numbered nickname. Get excited.

After the orientation, I went to this placed called El Palacio del Flamenco to have dinner and watch a flamenco performance. It was really fun! When we got back, Brianna and I were still not ready to call it a night, so we grabbed a cab and told the driver to take us to his favorite, non-touristy place in the city for tapas and drinks.  At first, I wasn’t sure if that was the right call, but when I saw where he took us, I was glad we trusted him. He dropped us off by a little narrow pathway that led to a bunch of cute cobblestone pedestrian streets that were filled with bars and restaurants and vendors. Brianna and I walked around for a bit and then picked a place to sit outside. We ordered some tapas and a pitcher of sangria (we asked for the prices first this time). It turned out to be a really fun, chill night.

Yesterday morning I had to be up early to go to an FDP (faculty-directed practicum) for my biology class.  For every class, 20% of our grade is based on attending these trips and writing a paper about what we learned from them.  My professor decided to take us snorkeling at the Medes Islands, which are off the northern coast of Spain.  It was about a two hour drive from Barcelona, but it was totally worth it. When we got there, we listened to a little presentation about the marine reserve. After that, we headed over to pick up our snorkeling gear. I got my snorkel, goggles, and fins and started to walk away when the lady told me to hold on and proceeded to hand me a wet-suit. Yes, a WET-SUIT…aka the MOST unflattering piece of nautical attire ever invented. Stubbornly, I thought to myself, there is NO WAY I’m wearing this thing. I asked if it was optional and the lady told me that the water would be very, very cold and that they didn’t want to risk any of us getting hypothermia. Great. What a nice gesture.

We all got onto the boat to take us to the islands, and everyone started putting on their super fashionable outfits. We were all equally thrilled about the prospect of wearing a wet-suit in front of a bunch of people we didn’t know. Grudgingly, I waited till the very last minute before I put on the dreaded turquoise ensemble and zipped it up. Apparently, these things weren’t made for people who enjoy the luxury of breathing. And lucky girl that I am, I was one of the few whose wetsuit was equipped with an oh-so-sexy HOOD! YES! As if these full-body spanx weren’t unflattering enough, I also got the pleasure of covering my entire head. Thank you, wetsuit-picker-outter lady. How on earth did you know that I’ve always dreamed of looking like a turquoise banana?

I jumped into the water…and okay, they were right…it was FREEZING. And despite the fact that my head looked like a buoy, I was warm!…unlike cold, hoodless counterparts.  THANK YOU, wetsuit-picker-outer lady! I might look like shit, but at least I’m doing it with a substantially higher body temperature than all those other kids!

After my snorkeling extravaganza (and octopus sighting!), we headed back to Barcelona where I met up with a bunch of girls to go watch the Spain/Chile World Cup game.  One of our deans, Lynnette, was heading to meet her kids and her husband, Mark, to watch the game, so we tagged along. All of the faculty and administrators get to bring along their families on the voyage, so there are tons of kids and spouses on the ship along with the students. We had dinner and drinks at a sports bar, cleverly named ‘Sports Bar,’ while we watched Spain beat Chile 2-1. After the game, we grabbed a couple taxis and went to the Magic Fountain which is this huge fountain that does a dancing water show every night. There were tons of people there, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with Lynnette and her family.

Today, I didn’t have any trips planned, so I explored the city with my friend Erin. I had brought my computer along, so we stopped at a McDonalds and used their free internet to get in some precious Facebook time. After we got our fix, we went to this huge market that we’d heard about called La Boqueria that has a ton of vendors selling fresh fish, meats, breads, fruits, veggies, candies, cheeses, and basically anything else you could imagine. I got a small baguette to eat as we walked, and it was mouthwatering. After the market, we walked over to some areas that had a bunch of tents set up with people selling all kinds of things. Four pairs of earrings, three bangles, two shot glasses, and one magnet later, I was one happy girl. We had some time to kill before we met up with our friends who were coming back from a trip, so we decided to take a speedboat tour of the harbor. I was a little hesitant about it at first because the last thing I wanted was to be on the water again, but I’m glad Erin pushed me to do it because it was so refreshing. After 5 hours of walking around outside in the Barcelona heat (which actually isn’t as bad as I expected it to be for this time of the year), it was a nice change.

Off to dinner now! Adios!