Onward and Upward to the North of Spain!

Starting off our adventure in the Sevilla airport

We started of our trip to Barcelona with some life experience. On the train from Airport to our hostel, I had my wallet stolen from me. Long story a short, a very well dressed man that had watched me take my wallet out and put it back in to tip a man that was playing the violin for tips on the train (we think they were working together), grabbed my wallet out of my purse on our way out of the train. When we were exiting, he was doing this thing that I thought was strange at the time, but not necessarily suspicious. As soon as the doors opened automatically, he started pressing the door close button to distract me, then when the doors actually started to close, he tried to open them forcibly with his hands, and got very close to me. I didn’t notice until after that my wallet was gone. After a few moments of freaking out that my passport, visa, driver’s license, 70 euros in cash, credit and debit cards and a few other miscellaneous things were gone, we sprang into action. We first stopped by my Spanish bank, Santander, where Victor couldn’t have been more helpful. Because I had no ID at all, he called the branch of Santander that I use in Sevilla, where Javier, the super sociable and friendly man at the desk that always helps me, remembered me and vouched for me so that I could withdraw cash from my account. Now that I had money and wasn’t stranded, we went to the police station for tourists (which says a lot that they need a police station exclusively for tourists) where I filed a report and cancelled all my credit cards. Then we took a train to the US Embassy (where it was SO nice to see an American Flag and talk to people from Texas and Colorado) where I got a replacement. All along the way, everybody was so helpful and nice. Everything went about as well as it could have gone for how bad the situation was. At the end of everything, I felt like the most self-sufficient person in the world and that I could truly handle anything that could be thrown at me. And actually, the next day, I was contacted by a random man named Rafael who found my abandoned wallet on the train, sans cash and credit cards of course, but with passport, driver’s license, metro card, App card, and all the other important things to me but not to a pickpocketer. Not to mention that I really like that wallet! Rafael called me and met me in the city center to give it back to me. It felt so nice to have it back in my hands. Rafael and all the other people that helped me along the way completely renewed my faith in people and may have even balanced out the fact that there are people in the world like the man that stole my wallet in the first place.
Moral of the story, if a well dressed person starts to try to open the doors with his arms that he just requested to be closed, he’s probably about to pickpocket you, but it will all work out because you can handle anything!

The rest of Barcelona was really exciting. We met a few people in the hostel that became part of our group and we explored the city together. I really loved the hostel environment. Everybody is in the same boat and just trying to meet people and experience a new place. We got really lucky with the hostel in Barcelona because it was such a sociable place (with really good free breakfast!) The first night, a group of us went to Parque Guell to see the sunset and the beautiful view of the city as it transformed from day to night. Barcelona is beautiful because it has the mountains, the city and the beach all in the same place, yet it still maintains a sense of charm. It’s kind of an anomaly actually. The next day was March 29th, which in Spain for the past 3 years, has been a day of a general strike. People in all types of professions and fields skip out on work and protest in the streets against unfair labor reforms that the protesters claim makes them slaves to their employers. For the most part and the parts that we saw, the protest was not violent. All of the protesting was confined to a part of the city that we avoided. When we got past the marching groups, the riot police, and the M-80’s, we forgot that there was even a protest going on. When we got to the historical part of the city, near the coast, it was beautiful and sunshiney. There were talented street performers playing the guitar and a strange instrument called the Hang, which is like a steel drum turned upside down and sounded beautiful. We spent the day being normal tourists, going to lunch and museums and stores. The entire time, we never felt threatened or in danger of any sort. It wasn’t until the next day that we saw the pictures and the news that we saw some of the things that happened. So don’t worry, family, Barcelona is a big city and we weren’t near any of the crazy things that you saw on the news. The day after the strike, we had some time to see La Sagrada Familia and the rest of Parque Guell, to get our Gaudi fix. We then made our way to the bus station, loaded up on the bus and headed for Zaragoza! We were happy to get out of Barcelona just to get away from Catalan, the language that they speak in all of Catalonia, the region where Barcelona is. Catalan is a strange mix between Spanish and French and Latin and uses a lot of x’s. Needless to say, we were lost. The good thing about being there, was that it gave us a reference point for our Spanish levels. When we suddenly found ourselves in a place where we didn’t speak the primary language, we were thrilled when we found somebody that we could speak Spanish with. It’s all about perspective…


It's hard to believe that these pictures were taken on the same afternoon when part of the city looked like this... 

 

...And the other part looked like this...

This is how the non-protesters spend the huelga day. I think they have the right idea!

Some of our friends that we met in the hostel

La Sagrada Familia

The iconic benches of Parque Guell

Zaragoza, while still a city, was a nice break from huge Barcelona. The hostel was close the historical city center and a cool modern part of the city where the World Expo in 2008 was held. There are all kinds of modern building and sculptures. Zaragoza was a very eclectic city because on one side of the river was that, and then the other side of the river was the historic part of town, with cathedrals and Roman ruins. One of the main things we spent our time doing in Zaragoza was chasing pigeons and trying to capture the perfect picture of Ally chasing a huge flock of mid-flight pigeons. It didn’t work. There wasn’t a huge flock anywhere, and the most pigeons we could find all together were about 6. It was pretty amusing trying to attract them and hilariously pathetic when the best picture we got was Ally scaring 1 little bird. Also in Zaragoza, we started playing the “who can hold water in their mouth without spitting it out from laughing?” game. Sounds simple and lame, right? It’s actually very difficult and hilarious when it’s us playing. Another game we have been playing is the “have you ever thought about…” game. Examples: Have you ever thought about what monkeys think about? Have you ever thought about how many times you’ve farted in your sleep and not known? Have you ever thought about how many people have slept in that bed? (Relevant to our hostel-hopping), etc. We have plenty of mechanisms to pass the time or to cope with our travel stresses. We’ve begun saying comments that are so drenched in sarcasm that people around us probably actually think that we are serious when we say things like “I just wish this bus was a little more crowded” or “I was actually hoping that the bus would be late, that’s much more convenient”. I suppose it’s the sort of thing that you have to be us to understand, but it keeps our trip fun and light. I just hope that we can maintain this sense of light-heartedness when Trevor, Ally, Ally’s friend Jose and I embark on our 10-day Italy excursion in May. 

The winning pigeon picture. At least one was flying

Our next stop was Pamplona. Most of our traveling so far has been at nights, so that we have full days in each place. The only bad thing about that is that we are starving by the time we get to our next destination. Lucky for us, there was an awesome Mexican place right next to our apartment! Pamplona is a very small and relaxed city. To get to the city center from our apartment, we got to walk through two beautiful parks, one of which has a bunch of random animals in a moat. We were pretty confused by the deers, chickens, turkeys, geese, quail and ducks that were running around in the moat of an old fortress. Once we got bored feeding them muffins and watching them chase each other, we moved on to the actual city center and found ourselves at the start of where the infamous bull run of San Fermin happens every summer. We followed the whole path to the where it ends, which is the bullring. Because the city was so small, we had to do something to take up time, so we even spent some time pretending we were the bulls/ people running from bulls and continuing the “have you ever thought about?” game with Chuck’s question of “have you ever thought about if you can crack your neck too far so that it’s fatal?”. Well, have you?? Even though the day that we were in Pamplona was April Fool’s day, we make a truce among us not to torture each other. Probably a good idea, considering that the whole trip was pretty much a giant April Fool’s joke. We are constantly joking and making fun of each other, which is really the funnest way to be :)

The start of our Running of the Bulls simulation

...And the end

The line for people to receive money in return for recycling. So smart!

Amazing One Man Band!

 

San Sebastian might have been my favorite city of the trip. While our “hostel” (actually just an apartment converted into a hostel, with a bunch of bunkbeds in 3 different rooms, 2 baby bathrooms, and a baby kitchen) did have a strange atmosphere, we were in a great location, near lots of good restaurants and only about a 5 minute walk from the beach and city center. The city is built right up to the beach. It’s beautiful because in one photograph, you can see the mountains, the city and the beach. It had a very relaxed feel and I could just feel myself distressing with every step I took. One of the best things about being in the north of Spain cities is the food. Pinxtos (pronounced pinchos) are small bites of all types of food on a toothpick. They are all arranged on the bar, and you just go through with a plate and pick up whichever ones looks good to you. It’s super fun! 

I made a sand boat!

Chuck showing the bear who's boss

???

Trevor puts the "Fun" in "Funicular"

Wind Comb

 Our last day of our trip was in Santander. During our entire trip, we had been doing all our planning the day before. When we left, all we had booked was a a flight to Barcelona, a place to stay once we got there, and a flight back from Santander. From there, it was up to us get from Barcelona to Santander, budgeting our time in each city how we wished and booking our hostels and transportation the day before. This worked out just fine, up until Santander, where our accommodation options were limited and we ended up having to stay in a hotel off the side of the highway and way outside of the city center. But, because it’s us, we were able to just laugh at it and make the most of our last stop before heading home. Once we did make it into the city, we had a great time. Santander is a small city, surrounded by beaches. We spent most of the day on the Peninsula de la Magdalena, where there is a Palace, some beaches, a playground, and a little zoo. I had a small freakout moment when I discovered the penguins in their outside pen with an ocean/mountain view. Not too bad for penguins… The views from the peninsula were beautiful, with what we call “Inception rocks” (they look like the rocks from the movie, the waves crashing up through them), the palace, the lighthouse on its own little island, and the sandy beaches. We had a fun time channeling our inner children and played on all the playground equipment, including a slide that landed on the beach! We concluded our tour all over the north of Spain with a meal at a Japanese restaurant. I forgot how much I missed miso soup and the infamous white sauce. We then had to head for the airport to fly with the dreaded RyanAir again. We left plenty of time to get to the airport so that we could check our luggage and make sure it fit the carry-on requirement (they actually check AND enforce those requirments) and get a good spot in line (seats are first come, first serve). We had to do some luggage shuffling, including me wearing 4 scarves and Trevor stuffing two pairs of jeans in his jacket. We made it through and back to Sevilla without any issues! (other than being extremely exhausted!)

Overall, Ally, Chuck, Trevor and I had a great time on our adventure. We had some stressful moments but I think it’s safe to say that they were balanced out by all the amazing times that we had.  We learned what to do and what not to do for our upcoming trip to Italy after the semester is over. I can only hope that we will have as fun of a time as we did on this trip. We ended this trip with plenty of stories and jokes, a good attitude, and a newfound love for our homes in Sevilla.

On our way back home from the Sevilla airport!