Well week two has come to a close and its been fantastic. I am
currently on a train speeding through the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain where
the group and I spent our long weekend. Going to the “playground of Europe” was
likely one of the best decisions we could have made for our four day weekend so
that’s what I’ll talk about in this blog.
The trip had a very rocky start, our train was canceled and we
didn’t figure this out until after we had run all over the train station
looking for the train to Barcelona, which was nonexistent, thanks SNCF. So
after tearing almost all of my hair out we went to the customer service window
and they got us tickets for the next train leaving the station with only one
connection to get to our beloved Barcelona. We thought the stress was over but
little did we know we would be on four trains and four different cities before
we finally got in, thanks to a few friendly people otherwise we probably would
have ended up in Chernobyl. When we finally arrived, 7 hours late, everyone was
in high spirits as we were about to put everything people had told us about
“Barca” to the test or maybe the infamous city was going to put us to the test,
either way we were excited.
After roughly a three kilometer walk we arrived at St.
Christopher’s Inn, a European hostel chain (which I highly recommend), we
started the check in process and met some really cool people from Alabama who
were on a backpacking trip across Europe. When I heard them speaking English
with a bit of a southern accent my face probably lit up I was so excited, we
talked to them for a bit but couldn’t get anything else planned due to conflicting
schedules. When we finally got to our rooms we all decided that there was no
time for naps (I’ll sleep when I’m dead has been the mentality so far) so we
changed clothes and got ready for our first night in the “playground”.
Once everyone was in the lobby we headed out to find a good
place to eat and stumbled upon a Tapas restaurant and the food was to die for,
everything I could have hoped for from our first meal in Spain. The next day
was a bit rainy so we toured the city with our umbrellas and rain coats, we
didn’t have a set plan so we just took off from our hostel and started walking.
It’s amazing what you can find just walking around like that! The day was full
of eating, drinking and taking pictures which I think was the best use of our day.
That night we ate some seafood and listened to a mariachi band that came
through the small restaurant we were eating at, the live music paired with the
good food has been one of my favorite things along with the long, drawn out
dining experiences. Saturday was a beach day since it was so beautiful outside
and everyone got a little darker. It still kind of shocking seeing naked men
and topless women walking along the beach but I guess that’s all part of the
European experience. We returned to Toulouse Sunday afternoon with a much
smoother train ride, we came direct from Barcelona and it was much less
stressful than the ride out there.
All in all I think the long weekend in Barcelona was among the
top weekends of my life time and I don’t know if I will ever get to experience
something like that again. It is seriously the city that never sleeps. Meeting
people from all over the world and getting to experience such a rich culture
was a very unique experience for me and the city itself was breathtaking. I would
strongly advise taking a trip there, even if it is just for a few days, as a
matter of fact I would highly recommend going to any city on the Mediterranean.
There is a different way of life down there and it’s something I hope to
experience again very soon.
Goodbye for now you 8th wonder of the world, I’ll
see you again soon and this time I will be prepared for everything you have to
throw at me.
Oh and on a horticulture note, the orchids were nice too.
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