Well, I'm back from Barcelona, safe and sound. It was SO much fun-Everyone needs to go there at least once in their life. What a great city!
We left at 5:00 on Friday morning, but little did we know what a morning it would be! So, the bus system in Ireland is...not great. Even the Irish don't like their bus system. Ashley, Ariel, Laura, Leah, Megan, and I waited in the dark at the bus stop for 30 minutes (did I mention that it is a BIT cold in Ireland now?), at which point we saw a figure running towards us. Seeing as we had just been over all of our self-defense moves, we felt confidant in our abilities to fight off any unwanted escorts. However, as the figure drew closer, we recognized it as one of our own FISPers! It turned out to be Ellie, who was en route to Germany to visit a friend. Apparently, her alarm didn't go off when it was supposed to, so she missed her original bus and wasn't sure if she could make her flight at this point in time. Laura decided to go with her to make sure that she got to the airport and to try to help her if she really did miss her flight. She told us she would meet up with us at the airport when we arrived. Off Laura ran to help Ellie, and the 5 of us were left to fend for ourselves. After waiting for the bus for another 10 minutes, our group trekked further up the road to wait for another bus that we would have to pay for. Finally, our original bus came to the wrong stop, 47 minutes late.
We were all slightly apprehensive on our bus ride (ask the family about the crazy Irish bus drivers), first because of the breakneck speed at which we were traveling, and second, because of how late we were. We arrived in Dublin, where it was (surprise, surprise!) POURING buckets of rain. We sprinted across Dublin to catch another bus, with our backpacks bouncing and our passport holders tucked safe inside our coats. We missed the bus we were aiming for by 2 minutes, then had to wait another 15 minutes for the next one to come. Wait in the rain, more precisely.
We got onto that bus and were headed for the airport. When we FINALLY arrived there, we decided to go straight through security. RyanAir must be chill about their security, because I felt COMPLETELY illegal going through the metal detector with my shoes, belt, and coat still ON me.
We arrived at our gate, and had about 12 minutes before the queue for the flight would start, so we fed a college student addiction: coffee. We met up with Laura, and then got onto our plane with no more troubles and were off to Barcelona. It was the first time in Spain for all of us!
(That was just Friday morning!)
We landed at 11:15, Barcelona time, to 60 degree weather and gorgeous sunshine. After getting on a bus to the city, we practiced our Spanish for an hour. We decided to be easy-going the first day, and see where the weekend lead from there. We walked under the "Triumphant Arch", which is uncannily similar to the arch of the same name in Paris. We then got bread, cheese, guava juice, and chips to eat in a park nearby. The park was the PERFECT picture of a lazy day in Spain-groups playing frisbee, people playing guitar, couples walking, families out with the kids, etc. The thing that struck me the most was how relaxed the Spanish are about life and work. They never rushed, there were no car horns blaring, no one had to dash to an appointment; they were just enjoying the life they have. It was super refreshing to be around them. We had a photo shoot in the park after our late lunch, and then went off to locate our hostel.
We found SeaPoint Hostel easily enough. It was a stones throw from the edge of the ocean, and the water was WARM! After swimming the Irish Sea quite a bit, and getting used to simply being numb during the swim, the warmth of this water was heavenly. I unashamedly ran into the sea with my shoes and socks on, quite aware that I was being secretly laughed at by the locals. I didn't care-Life was good.
Our hostel was AWESOME. There were six to a room, so our group took up our own. However, the walls weren't all the way to the ceiling, so we heard MANY conversations outside of our room. At one point in time we were trying to figure out what time we needed to be at the bus station for the return flight. Ariel was asking us what time 18:30 would be in not-military time, and a voice called over from another room "that'd be 6:30!". There's not much you can hide in an area that...open=)
Saturday was GREAT. We had breakfast and decided to try to find the "Saturday Market" that everyone talked about. Oh boy, did we! This market went on and on, for at least 2 and a half miles. Almost everyone picked up Christmas presents there, since Spain is SO MUCH cheaper than Ireland. We then stumbled upon a food market which was in a sort of three-sided shed, the size of the indoor arena. There was food galore and we splurged on fresh coconut, pineapple and guava smoothies, and chocolate of all kinds. That night, we walked up and down our beach for a good 2 miles. There was a huge ropes course/piece of modern art type thing that was on the beach-We couldn't decide what to do with it, so we climbed on it! For a long time. A very long time. It was incredibly entertaining.
Sunday morning involved mass...in Spanish (duh!)! I chose to sit by myself to truly "experience" the culture. And I was doing great until we were asked to, I'm assuming, greet our neighbor (I really only caught every other word, so I was guessing a lot). The woman in front of me turned to shake my hand and say (again, an assumption) "Christ be with you", at which point I shook her hand and said "Hola!" in my best Spanish accent. I repeated my greeting three times. These people CLEARLY knew I was a tourist-But I didn't know that I was one until after the service when I saw where all the tourists were SUPPOSED to sit. In the waaaaaaaaaay back. Oops. The rest of Sunday was spent getting lost on little back streets, having photo shoots on park benches, and looking at crazy architecture.
Our flight home would've been uneventful...minus the angry RyanAir costumer who crawled through the luggage conveyor belt, the EPIC turbulence (I just love turbulence-No, really), and my seat mates. I didn't bring a book or my i-pod, for both space and safety reasons. But I also wanted to learn how to be ok with being bored. WHAT a lesson I signed up for! On the 2ish hour flight home, I memorized the safety card, picked out all the inconsistencies on it, and mentally made up the life story for everyone sitting within four rows of me. I even picked out my soulmate, who was sitting two rows ahead of me in row 29, seat F.
All in all, it was a perfectly refreshing weekend and it was just what I needed to prepare for finals. I can now attack Art As An Experience with zest, Contemporary Ireland with passion, and Irish History with renewed curiosity. Perfection in a weekend.
Hope all is well with ya'll-I'll be seeing you soon=)
-Rinny (My new nickname, as dubbed by my roommies, Meggles and Rum)
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