Spain!

Hola mis amigos!

Well even more exciting than life on the ship is life in port! I am writing this from a bus in Morocco after riding camels through the Sahara this morning. More on that in a later email because this update is devoted to the incredible 4 days we had in Spain! We arrived in Cadiz at 8:00am on September 4th. So much excitement! Many of us headed straight to the train station conveniently located about five minutes from our port. It’s really an amazing thing—we literally got dropped off in Spain! We took the first train to Seville, our first via point with only a backpack. After arriving in Seville, we booked a night at Hostel de Luna. I was pleasantly surprised that many hostels offer private rooms and bathrooms, free wifi and breakfast, all for a fairly reasonable price. We walked around much of Seville (with a map in front of us at least half the time), toured Cathedals, shopped, ate paellas for dinner (chicken, rice, vegetables), and went to a Flamenco show! We ate ice cream after which wasn’t hard to find (along with Starbucks which were on every corner basically). I am going to mention here that Ana’s Spanish speaking ability was ever so helpful. All I did was smile and say “gracias,” and I’d throw in a “por favor” here and there. One thing I really noticed was how prevalent public displays of affection are between couples, family members, and friends. I found people to be very helpful, and many do speak English. They're pretty used to American tourists. I really enjoyed the small but beautiful city of Seville. I love the architecture. Every building is different which really adds more character and culture. It is also so convenient to walk everywhere (once we got rid of our backpacks…).

Our next destination—Barcelona! The next morning we were up at 5:30 to take the bus to the airport! We both slept on the plane, and got information at the tourist booth once we were there. After seeing a map we both realized Barcelona was much larger than Seville and tried to decide where to go. And over the next few days, we went everywhere. Basically we backpacked through Barcelona. We booked a hostel the first day right near the downtown area. Finally free from our backpacks (felt like we had walked for miles), we headed back out and got some food (priority numero uno, because I was famished, and not in a very good mood). After, we took the metro (which was very soon our best friend) to see the Sagrada Familia. It’s a huge cathedral that’s been under construction for a really long time. We took a few pictures, got back on the metro and went downtown to Las Ramblas street which was full of people, mostly tourists (oh, and we saw two butt naked men on the boardwalk, no big deal). We walked through another large cathedral; this one was the oldest cathedral in Barcelona. Beautiful windows and monuments on the inside. Our next stop on the metro was Placa Espanya, where the National Museum of art is. The highlight there was the fountain show, which I recommend if you ever go. The steps leading up to it were full of people and we both loved the water, lights, and music. We were both completely exhausted that night and slept til 9 the next morning, ate breakfast at the hostel, and prepared ourselves for a long day of walking. Lesson number one: I should have worn sneakers, no matter how much of a tourist it made me look like. Lesson number two: Today I needed to eat enough food so I wouldn’t be grumpy. Lesson three: Buy day passes on the metro. Our first stop was the beach! (Mostly because we wanted to delay our walking as much as possible). There we were, on a beach in Barcelona (in the minority because we were actually wearing bathing suit tops), lying on t-shirts (no room for beach towels), soaking up the sun and refusing to pay the Spanish women who kept offering us “masaje senorita! Mucho tiempo!” We had a delicious lunch at a beachside restaurant before making our way back to Placa Espanya where we saw the Olympic Stadium (hosted in 1992), and more amazing views of the city. The last thing on our agenda that day was seeing the FC Barcelona Stadium. We both got official jerseys and I picked up two more for Troy and Joelle. By this time our feet hurt and our backs hurt so we continued on to meet up with Deirdre and Jaclyn (two of our best friends from USD who are studying in Madrid this semester but who were also coming to Barcelona). Our reunion could not have been better! That night we had a delicious dinner of chicken kabobs, rice, and steamed vegetables. After, we went out to experience the crazy nightlife that Barcelona has to offer and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our last day there included some shopping, lunch at Sandwich and friends in the main plaza, and sneaking onto the USD buses for a free ride to Park Guell. This park was absolutely beautiful and displayed artwork/architecture by Gaudi. We trekked up a path with a guide named Pepe to stand by a monument of three crosses. The view was incredible! We really made some memories that will last forever. We never really ended the day as we went out again that night and only came back to the hotel to get our backpacks before catching our 6:00am flight. I’ve never done that before and it has definitely taken me a few days to recover. Well worth it though—we had such a fun night! After our flight to Seville, with several other SAS students, we took the first train we could back to Cadiz, where the MV Explorer was waiting to welcome us. Never thought the ship would feel so much like home. For the next few hours we took advantage of a wifi hotspot close to port. Unfortunately, it was pretty slow and difficult to upload pictures (hence, I still haven’t posted on my blog—these email updates are much easier). I will try to send pictures/post on Facebook when I have the opportunity. For now, my words (I give wonderful descriptions, I know) will have to suffice.

I hope this finds you all well. Stay tuned for a recap of Morocco in the next few days!

Hasta Luego,

Heather

PS- Since writing this, I was able to upload pictures onto Facebook. So here is the link to the album. I think you can still view it if you don’t have Facebook, but if not, find someone who does!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2050266&id=1512240018&l=96f174e69f