On Europe and Everything Else
I returned from my five-week Europe trip yesterday at 10:25 p.m. and got home an hour thereafter. But even before that, when I was in Chicago O'Hare International Airport for my connect flight, I began to miss Europe immensely. No longer did I hear the English accent or the Catalan Spanish dialect. That was the immediate moment that I realized I was back in the United States. Don't get me wrong--I was glad to be back where I could pay with bills instead of coins and where most merchandise prices were in the single or low double digits. But it was just strange. Because I had begun to feel that London was home, I felt farther away from home than ever when I was actually en route to Los Angeles, which has been home for my entire life.
It's safe to say that I love London like no other city in the world. Barcelona is a close second, but it'll always be London. An essential part of the reason it's so easy for London to feel like home is that everybody there speaks English. The only times I ever felt like a foreigner were the first moments that I had to pay for purchases in pounds. After I got a hang of it and became relatively acquainted with the underground (subway) system, after so many places and streets became familiar, I fell in love with London. I love the convenience of Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer when alloted only an hour and a small allowance for lunch, the variety of ethnic cuisines (Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, French, Mexican, etc.) down whatever street you meander, the brightness surrounding Black Friar's Bridge and just about everywhere else at night, the hustle bustle tone of the daytime, the calm and quiet of Sundays because businesses close for family time, the rush of topping up (adding money to) the Oyster Card (underground and bus card) while rushing to get onto the next subway... I love that cashiers and waiters say "Cheers" instead of "Thank you," that tip is not required when paying a restaurant bill, that passersby are more than happy to provide directions and take photos, that most museum admissions are free... London is a more refined, classier version of Los Angeles, to put it briefly but definitely not justly.
During the Shakespeare program, we had spent a week in London embedded between one and two weeks in Stratford-upon-Avon. Whereas I felt that I had thoroughly explored Stratford by foot in two days, I felt that I could never thoroughly absorb London. Stratford was tiny and quaint, pleasant and quiet; everything closed by 6 p.m. Meanwhile, London was grand and tremendous, exciting and loud; late nights were easy to find. We established that Stratford is a good retirement place, and London is a great living-the-life place. While I did enjoy Stratford, I couldn't love it. It just wasn't the city scene that London made me fall head over heels in love with.
On the note of the Shakespeare program, I wish I could say that I concluded the trip by having developed a deep fondness and understanding of Shakespeare. But I didn't. Don't get me wrong--I appreciate Shakespeare, hit wit, and his works. But I still do not feel compelled to read him if I am not academically required to. On the other hand, I loved all (but one) of the Royal Shakespeare Company's productions. Going to the theatre was one of my favorite aspects of the program. Each subsequent show made me feel increasingly cultured, which was exactly what I hoped to acquire in this trip. In that sense, this trip exceeded my expectations.
In acquiring culture (and knowledge because culture and knowledge are coexistent), my two post-program travel buddies and I learned a great deal of life lessons.
#1: Never allow a man to bring you to a taxi or even hail you a taxi. Taxis come to you. We came about the first as we exited the Paris Nord train station and allowed a man to take one of our luggage cases after he asked if we needed a taxi. This is while there was an entire assembly of vacant taxis outside of the station. We followed him down and across the street as he brought us to a taxi. I smelled something fishy (because this kind of thing had happened to me last summer in China), but we just went along... and ended up paying the dude 4 euros for his "services."
#2: Check in with only the number of people you are booking for.
We booked two hotels, both for two people even though there were three of us. In Paris, all three of us went in at the same time because we had forgotten there were supposed to be only two of us (according to paper). Subsequently, we had to pay 150 euros extra for the third person. And the hotel manager was so smug about it. But lesson learned in Barcelona! The two others went in and checked in with all the luggage while I waited at the Starbucks down the street. Although I'm sure the hotel staff noticed that we came downstairs and went upstairs in three every time, we paid for only two people.
#3: If a stranger offers you anything at all--even a picture--don't accept it.
En route to the Louvre (which was a 40-60 minute walk from our hotel), we passed by a park. At one point, I walked by a bench, and a man walking the opposite direction bent down and picked up something I thought that he had dropped. When I turned around to see if my travel buddies were behind me, I saw that the man was handing an obviously cheap ring to J, insisting that he had dropped it. When J insisted otherwise, the man just told him to keep it for "good fortune." J reluctantly took it, and the man proceeded to make conversation with us (asking where we're from, telling us where he is from, etc.). After a while, he offered to take a photo for us to capture the moment of "good fortune" for us. I was concerned that he would just take our camera and run with it, but after he took the photo, he asked for 2 euros. To make an even longer story short, he got mad that J gave him only 1 euro, and left with the money and the ring. A few minutes later, we saw another guy perform the exact same thing--with the exact same prop--to an older couple down the same road. Con-men and scams galore. Also, refer to #1.
#4: When in a foreign country, ask for an English menu. If a restaurant doesn't have an English menu, don't sit down.
We sat down at a cafe, hoping to get breakfast. But the menu was entirely in French. The waiter said he could translate a few things for us, but then walked away. We sat there for a while, debating whether to just go somewhere with an English menu. We did because we didn't want to get something that we wouldn't have wanted to eat.
#5: If you want breakfast, you have to wake up early.
At most of the places we went to, breakfast ended well before 11 a.m. Out of eight mornings, we made breakfast only three times, and twice was because it was provided by the hotel until 10 a.m. Once was because we got lost and ended up at a cafe right before lunchtime.
#6: Don't wait until 2 a.m. to go out.
We thought that "the party starts at 1 a.m.!" in Barcelona, and just drank in the hotel room until 2:30 a.m. deciding where to go. Not only did we end up failing to get anywhere, but we also attracted a creepy stalker, which led us to take a taxi back down the street to the hotel. Even though I still think Paris is the shadiest city, I recognize and point out that there are shady people everywhere, so you must constantly be aware of your surroundings.
#7: If being followed, just stop until follower passes or disappears.
Related to #6, don't walk toward wherever you're staying. If anything, just spend the money on a taxi so you lose the follower. We tried stopping and just sitting down in an open area to wait for the stalker to lose us or just give up. We initially didn't see him, but when we got up and walked a few steps, we spotted him sitting in a chair right behind a tree, where he knew we couldn't see him but where he could definitely see us. I guess here, stopping didn't help. So we just moved, but in an easy-to-lose-stalker way. Regardless, it was frightening. In Paris, we had a follower while walking back to the hotel. He was half a block behind us for about two or three blocks. At one point, after we crossed the street, we decided to just stop and wait for him to pass. I looked back and noticed that he had just stopped at the other side of the crosswalk even though the light was green. The next time we turned around, he had disappeared.
#8: Spanish omelettes aren't actually eggs with ham and cheese.
In actuality, they're like yellow slices of hard pie. From what I've heard, it's quite dry and bland. I haven't tried it. I have, however, tried the meat pie, which is, regrettably, the most amazing pie I have ever eaten. I say regrettably because I regret not having tried it earlier. I allowed Barnaby's steak and kidney pie to hinder me from trying another pie. Although I can't vouch for the deliciousness of Spanish omelets, I can definitely advocate the meat pie (below).
#9: Ham and cheese sandwiches in Spain are the absolute best.
They lack in the American omelet department, but they certainly excel in the ham and cheese sandwich aisle. I don't know how they do it and I don't know what type of ham, cheese, or bread they use, but both times I had ham and cheese, my inner fatty begged for more. I don't even like ham and cheese here in the States, but I lust for it in Spain.
#10: Don't take EasyJet.
It ain't so easy. It seems cheap compared to other airlines. And it is--before you pay for luggage (per piece you check in), for a second carry-on piece, for beverages and snacks during the flight... Our flight from Paris to Barcelona was supposed to be about 73 euros each, but then each piece of check-in luggage cost 15 euros. When we got to the check-in point, we were told we had to pay 234 euros for overweight luggage (each person is allowed only 20 kg) and extra carry-on (each person is allowed only one, every piece thereafter costs 30 euros). We ended up just opening all of our stuff and rearranging, shuffling, and WEARING everything, in desperation to avoid paying the hefty (no pun intended) fees. We were in the clear after this heated process, but while in line to board, a stupid lady picked us to have our carry-on weighed, and determined that we had to pay 50 euros extra for its size. I don't understand why she charged us 50 euros for that when the lady at check-in said it would have cost 30. And then, on the plane, there were no assigned seats. EasyJet overbooks and doesn't assign seats so that you can sit wherever, and if you don't get a seat, you don't fly. On top of that, you have to pay for every single thing on the flight. They don't even provide water. I asked for ice cubes, and the lady gave me a dirty glare and meticulously filled a plastic cup with three...tiny...ice cubes. Oh, and the flight was delayed by half an hour, but nobody bothered to announce it. So when the plane finally came in and the passengers unloaded, we were let on right away, which means that they didn't even clean the darn vehicle between flights. SHADYJET--don't do it.
#11: (related to previous one) If you have overweight luggage, just take out the heavy stuff and wear/ hold it.
We took out the jeans and stuffed them into J's messenger bag; took out the jackets, sweaters, and coats and wore them on top of our clothes, wrapped them around our necks, tied them around our waists; took out the books and just held them; took everything out of the extra carry-on backpack and redistributed its contents into two different carry-on bags, then stuffed the backpack into one of the latter. I even took off my running shoes and switched them for the heavy pink rainboots from my luggage, then stuffed a pair of flip-flops into the boots because I had no place else to put them. We were quite a sight, wearing layer after layer of clothing in 80+ degree weather. But we averted the 234 euro fee, so yay for us.
#12: If you ever get the chance to, fly British Airways.
Leather seats, unlimited beverages and delicious sandwiches... for a darn two-hour flight! Just imagine what they provide during day-long flights... BA is easily the best airline I have taken.
I know there were so many more lessons along the way, but those are the main ones I remember now. Some that I learned on my own were:
#1: Drink a lot of water after drinking a lot of alcohol.
The first night I got drunk, I thought I was okay after an hour or so, so I just went to sleep. For the next six hours, I slept uncomfortably, acutely aware of the discomfort in my stomach and the pain in my head. When I finally got up in the morning, my head was pounding. Breakfast helped, but after a while, the pain returned, and I had to take two Tylenols and drink more water for everything to subside.
#2: Don't pack what you know you won't wear.
I ended up with an entire stack and a half of clothes that I didn't even consider wearing while abroad. The clothes I did wear, I wore a few times because I handwashed them. Traveling lightly is traveling smartly. Should have done that last time, will try to do it next time. Also, you have to consider traveling from airport/ train station to hotel and vice versa. Lugging 50 pounds of clothes is not fun when getting from subway to subway to train to hotel. Not fun at all.
#3: All you have to do is ask.
I needed to call Citibank to remind them that I was abroad in order to be able to make credit card transactions. Hotels charge for phone calls (even for toll-free numbers), but when I asked the Holiday Inn if I could make a phone call free of charge, the concierge really tried to help me. She even spent time on the computer looking up how to dial a US number, and when it didn't work, she went to a manager for assistance. The manager proceeded to hand me a hotel cell phone after having dialed the number for me. I spent 17 minutes on that phone, and she was perfectly nice about it.
...et cetera.
I've talked a lot about London and mentioned a little about Paris and Barcelona. For the past few days, I have been telling my friends that I like to gloss over the fact that I was in Paris. First of all, we were there for only two nights, which was hardly enough time to really get to enjoy everything. Secondly, I just didn't like it--plain and simple. Sure, I loved visiting the Louvre and I loved going up the Tour Eiffel, but I never felt safe walking around. I couldn't shake off the looming shadiness of the area. One of my friends describe Paris as bright and pretty on the surface, but beyond that, it's one of the darkest cities in the world. And it really is. Based on our experiences, I have recognized that particularly there, you really can't trust anybody. And I hate that feeling of constant distrust and constant suspicion. I wish I could say that that's just unjustified paranoia, but there are just too many scams and cons going on to ignore. The view from the top of the Tower was breathtaking, the works inside the Louvre were astounding, and the sunset from the Lover's Bridge was beautiful, but beyond those surfaces, I couldn't comfortably settle into the city.
On the other hand, I did easily settle in Barcelona. With a Starbucks just around the corner from the hotel, I immediately felt at home. I hate to admit it, but that's the first bias I had. But more seriously speaking, I loved that I could roam around the city at 1 a.m. and not have to worry at all about somebody stalking us or stealing from us. There was that one night with that crazy creep, though... Other than that incident, I felt secure in Barcelona. There were always people walking around--albeit not always soberly--always something to do (you just have to find it). I loved the fruity sangria, the fresh seafood; the calm beach, the pink sunset; the aged cathedrals, the enormous parks... I loved that there was the Boqueria and the Picasso Museum, neither of which I got to experience but truly appreciate anyway. Barcelona was just as easy as London to fall in love with.
One difficult thing about the city, though, was the language. The language they speak there is a Spanish, but it's Catalan, a different dialect from the one that I have learned. Not only is the language spoken differently, it is also written differently. While I typically can understand most of a menu or conversation, the former was just impossible and the latter extremely difficult for me in Barcelona. Fortunately, many people there speak (broken, accented) English, so we were able to get around relatively okay.
Another difficulty was the streets. Either the city is just naturally difficult to navigate, or I'm just an idiot with directions. Every time we tried to go somewhere via screenshot directions on my phone, we failed and ended up going someplace entirely different. The street signs were sometimes unbelievably obscure, and there were so many times that I wished they would just have American-style street signs for the sake of clarity.
This might sound terrible, but although I was gone for five weeks (exactly 35 days), there were few moments that I missed home or something from home. I think I could have stayed another month and not been homesick because I was just that happy traveling, especially in London. This isn't to say that I wasn't starting to have financial concerns, because those began two weeks before post-program travels. But I just loved roaming around and exploring every day. I loved not having to think about school or having school nights. I loved going to a restaurant based on its sangria litre price.
I miss it all immensely.
It's safe to say that I love London like no other city in the world. Barcelona is a close second, but it'll always be London. An essential part of the reason it's so easy for London to feel like home is that everybody there speaks English. The only times I ever felt like a foreigner were the first moments that I had to pay for purchases in pounds. After I got a hang of it and became relatively acquainted with the underground (subway) system, after so many places and streets became familiar, I fell in love with London. I love the convenience of Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer when alloted only an hour and a small allowance for lunch, the variety of ethnic cuisines (Lebanese, Indian, Chinese, French, Mexican, etc.) down whatever street you meander, the brightness surrounding Black Friar's Bridge and just about everywhere else at night, the hustle bustle tone of the daytime, the calm and quiet of Sundays because businesses close for family time, the rush of topping up (adding money to) the Oyster Card (underground and bus card) while rushing to get onto the next subway... I love that cashiers and waiters say "Cheers" instead of "Thank you," that tip is not required when paying a restaurant bill, that passersby are more than happy to provide directions and take photos, that most museum admissions are free... London is a more refined, classier version of Los Angeles, to put it briefly but definitely not justly.
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| I had NO IDEA what "Big Ben" was until about an hour after we got there... |
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| Outside of Westminster Abbey |
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| Contrary to the childhood song, the London Bridge is NOT falling down, FYI. |
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| First alcoholic cider--I was SO confused by the concept. |
In acquiring culture (and knowledge because culture and knowledge are coexistent), my two post-program travel buddies and I learned a great deal of life lessons.
#1: Never allow a man to bring you to a taxi or even hail you a taxi. Taxis come to you. We came about the first as we exited the Paris Nord train station and allowed a man to take one of our luggage cases after he asked if we needed a taxi. This is while there was an entire assembly of vacant taxis outside of the station. We followed him down and across the street as he brought us to a taxi. I smelled something fishy (because this kind of thing had happened to me last summer in China), but we just went along... and ended up paying the dude 4 euros for his "services."
#2: Check in with only the number of people you are booking for.
We booked two hotels, both for two people even though there were three of us. In Paris, all three of us went in at the same time because we had forgotten there were supposed to be only two of us (according to paper). Subsequently, we had to pay 150 euros extra for the third person. And the hotel manager was so smug about it. But lesson learned in Barcelona! The two others went in and checked in with all the luggage while I waited at the Starbucks down the street. Although I'm sure the hotel staff noticed that we came downstairs and went upstairs in three every time, we paid for only two people.
#3: If a stranger offers you anything at all--even a picture--don't accept it.
En route to the Louvre (which was a 40-60 minute walk from our hotel), we passed by a park. At one point, I walked by a bench, and a man walking the opposite direction bent down and picked up something I thought that he had dropped. When I turned around to see if my travel buddies were behind me, I saw that the man was handing an obviously cheap ring to J, insisting that he had dropped it. When J insisted otherwise, the man just told him to keep it for "good fortune." J reluctantly took it, and the man proceeded to make conversation with us (asking where we're from, telling us where he is from, etc.). After a while, he offered to take a photo for us to capture the moment of "good fortune" for us. I was concerned that he would just take our camera and run with it, but after he took the photo, he asked for 2 euros. To make an even longer story short, he got mad that J gave him only 1 euro, and left with the money and the ring. A few minutes later, we saw another guy perform the exact same thing--with the exact same prop--to an older couple down the same road. Con-men and scams galore. Also, refer to #1.
#4: When in a foreign country, ask for an English menu. If a restaurant doesn't have an English menu, don't sit down.
We sat down at a cafe, hoping to get breakfast. But the menu was entirely in French. The waiter said he could translate a few things for us, but then walked away. We sat there for a while, debating whether to just go somewhere with an English menu. We did because we didn't want to get something that we wouldn't have wanted to eat.
#5: If you want breakfast, you have to wake up early.
At most of the places we went to, breakfast ended well before 11 a.m. Out of eight mornings, we made breakfast only three times, and twice was because it was provided by the hotel until 10 a.m. Once was because we got lost and ended up at a cafe right before lunchtime.
#6: Don't wait until 2 a.m. to go out.
We thought that "the party starts at 1 a.m.!" in Barcelona, and just drank in the hotel room until 2:30 a.m. deciding where to go. Not only did we end up failing to get anywhere, but we also attracted a creepy stalker, which led us to take a taxi back down the street to the hotel. Even though I still think Paris is the shadiest city, I recognize and point out that there are shady people everywhere, so you must constantly be aware of your surroundings.
#7: If being followed, just stop until follower passes or disappears.
Related to #6, don't walk toward wherever you're staying. If anything, just spend the money on a taxi so you lose the follower. We tried stopping and just sitting down in an open area to wait for the stalker to lose us or just give up. We initially didn't see him, but when we got up and walked a few steps, we spotted him sitting in a chair right behind a tree, where he knew we couldn't see him but where he could definitely see us. I guess here, stopping didn't help. So we just moved, but in an easy-to-lose-stalker way. Regardless, it was frightening. In Paris, we had a follower while walking back to the hotel. He was half a block behind us for about two or three blocks. At one point, after we crossed the street, we decided to just stop and wait for him to pass. I looked back and noticed that he had just stopped at the other side of the crosswalk even though the light was green. The next time we turned around, he had disappeared.
#8: Spanish omelettes aren't actually eggs with ham and cheese.
In actuality, they're like yellow slices of hard pie. From what I've heard, it's quite dry and bland. I haven't tried it. I have, however, tried the meat pie, which is, regrettably, the most amazing pie I have ever eaten. I say regrettably because I regret not having tried it earlier. I allowed Barnaby's steak and kidney pie to hinder me from trying another pie. Although I can't vouch for the deliciousness of Spanish omelets, I can definitely advocate the meat pie (below).
#9: Ham and cheese sandwiches in Spain are the absolute best.
They lack in the American omelet department, but they certainly excel in the ham and cheese sandwich aisle. I don't know how they do it and I don't know what type of ham, cheese, or bread they use, but both times I had ham and cheese, my inner fatty begged for more. I don't even like ham and cheese here in the States, but I lust for it in Spain.
#10: Don't take EasyJet.
It ain't so easy. It seems cheap compared to other airlines. And it is--before you pay for luggage (per piece you check in), for a second carry-on piece, for beverages and snacks during the flight... Our flight from Paris to Barcelona was supposed to be about 73 euros each, but then each piece of check-in luggage cost 15 euros. When we got to the check-in point, we were told we had to pay 234 euros for overweight luggage (each person is allowed only 20 kg) and extra carry-on (each person is allowed only one, every piece thereafter costs 30 euros). We ended up just opening all of our stuff and rearranging, shuffling, and WEARING everything, in desperation to avoid paying the hefty (no pun intended) fees. We were in the clear after this heated process, but while in line to board, a stupid lady picked us to have our carry-on weighed, and determined that we had to pay 50 euros extra for its size. I don't understand why she charged us 50 euros for that when the lady at check-in said it would have cost 30. And then, on the plane, there were no assigned seats. EasyJet overbooks and doesn't assign seats so that you can sit wherever, and if you don't get a seat, you don't fly. On top of that, you have to pay for every single thing on the flight. They don't even provide water. I asked for ice cubes, and the lady gave me a dirty glare and meticulously filled a plastic cup with three...tiny...ice cubes. Oh, and the flight was delayed by half an hour, but nobody bothered to announce it. So when the plane finally came in and the passengers unloaded, we were let on right away, which means that they didn't even clean the darn vehicle between flights. SHADYJET--don't do it.
#11: (related to previous one) If you have overweight luggage, just take out the heavy stuff and wear/ hold it.
We took out the jeans and stuffed them into J's messenger bag; took out the jackets, sweaters, and coats and wore them on top of our clothes, wrapped them around our necks, tied them around our waists; took out the books and just held them; took everything out of the extra carry-on backpack and redistributed its contents into two different carry-on bags, then stuffed the backpack into one of the latter. I even took off my running shoes and switched them for the heavy pink rainboots from my luggage, then stuffed a pair of flip-flops into the boots because I had no place else to put them. We were quite a sight, wearing layer after layer of clothing in 80+ degree weather. But we averted the 234 euro fee, so yay for us.
Leather seats, unlimited beverages and delicious sandwiches... for a darn two-hour flight! Just imagine what they provide during day-long flights... BA is easily the best airline I have taken.
I know there were so many more lessons along the way, but those are the main ones I remember now. Some that I learned on my own were:
#1: Drink a lot of water after drinking a lot of alcohol.
The first night I got drunk, I thought I was okay after an hour or so, so I just went to sleep. For the next six hours, I slept uncomfortably, acutely aware of the discomfort in my stomach and the pain in my head. When I finally got up in the morning, my head was pounding. Breakfast helped, but after a while, the pain returned, and I had to take two Tylenols and drink more water for everything to subside.
#2: Don't pack what you know you won't wear.
I ended up with an entire stack and a half of clothes that I didn't even consider wearing while abroad. The clothes I did wear, I wore a few times because I handwashed them. Traveling lightly is traveling smartly. Should have done that last time, will try to do it next time. Also, you have to consider traveling from airport/ train station to hotel and vice versa. Lugging 50 pounds of clothes is not fun when getting from subway to subway to train to hotel. Not fun at all.
#3: All you have to do is ask.
I needed to call Citibank to remind them that I was abroad in order to be able to make credit card transactions. Hotels charge for phone calls (even for toll-free numbers), but when I asked the Holiday Inn if I could make a phone call free of charge, the concierge really tried to help me. She even spent time on the computer looking up how to dial a US number, and when it didn't work, she went to a manager for assistance. The manager proceeded to hand me a hotel cell phone after having dialed the number for me. I spent 17 minutes on that phone, and she was perfectly nice about it.
...et cetera.
I've talked a lot about London and mentioned a little about Paris and Barcelona. For the past few days, I have been telling my friends that I like to gloss over the fact that I was in Paris. First of all, we were there for only two nights, which was hardly enough time to really get to enjoy everything. Secondly, I just didn't like it--plain and simple. Sure, I loved visiting the Louvre and I loved going up the Tour Eiffel, but I never felt safe walking around. I couldn't shake off the looming shadiness of the area. One of my friends describe Paris as bright and pretty on the surface, but beyond that, it's one of the darkest cities in the world. And it really is. Based on our experiences, I have recognized that particularly there, you really can't trust anybody. And I hate that feeling of constant distrust and constant suspicion. I wish I could say that that's just unjustified paranoia, but there are just too many scams and cons going on to ignore. The view from the top of the Tower was breathtaking, the works inside the Louvre were astounding, and the sunset from the Lover's Bridge was beautiful, but beyond those surfaces, I couldn't comfortably settle into the city.
On the other hand, I did easily settle in Barcelona. With a Starbucks just around the corner from the hotel, I immediately felt at home. I hate to admit it, but that's the first bias I had. But more seriously speaking, I loved that I could roam around the city at 1 a.m. and not have to worry at all about somebody stalking us or stealing from us. There was that one night with that crazy creep, though... Other than that incident, I felt secure in Barcelona. There were always people walking around--albeit not always soberly--always something to do (you just have to find it). I loved the fruity sangria, the fresh seafood; the calm beach, the pink sunset; the aged cathedrals, the enormous parks... I loved that there was the Boqueria and the Picasso Museum, neither of which I got to experience but truly appreciate anyway. Barcelona was just as easy as London to fall in love with.
One difficult thing about the city, though, was the language. The language they speak there is a Spanish, but it's Catalan, a different dialect from the one that I have learned. Not only is the language spoken differently, it is also written differently. While I typically can understand most of a menu or conversation, the former was just impossible and the latter extremely difficult for me in Barcelona. Fortunately, many people there speak (broken, accented) English, so we were able to get around relatively okay.
Another difficulty was the streets. Either the city is just naturally difficult to navigate, or I'm just an idiot with directions. Every time we tried to go somewhere via screenshot directions on my phone, we failed and ended up going someplace entirely different. The street signs were sometimes unbelievably obscure, and there were so many times that I wished they would just have American-style street signs for the sake of clarity.
This might sound terrible, but although I was gone for five weeks (exactly 35 days), there were few moments that I missed home or something from home. I think I could have stayed another month and not been homesick because I was just that happy traveling, especially in London. This isn't to say that I wasn't starting to have financial concerns, because those began two weeks before post-program travels. But I just loved roaming around and exploring every day. I loved not having to think about school or having school nights. I loved going to a restaurant based on its sangria litre price.
I miss it all immensely.
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