Barcelona!

Why hello readers, it's been crazy that today we finally made it to Spain, our final country. Do you know what I love more than early morning trains? Early morning flights! And not just any flight- the delux and luxurious Ryan Air!! So yeah this is my written confession of mistakenly thinking that an 8:30 flight to Barcelona was a good idea.. We woke up at a whopping 3:30 am to make the trekk from the cab to the shuttle to the airport, then back in the cab and to the youth hostel. Fortunately, one look outside the airplane window was enough to keep us alert and ready all day: water! Once we arrived and dropped our bags off, we immediately set out again to the downtown beach area where we enjoyed a beautiful walk on the coast which led us to a popular beach. Those of you who know Ruby and I well are well aware of the fact that all we need to entertain ourselves is a place to sit and a good book. Throw in the Mediterranean Sea and a clear blue sky and you will have us lost in our own worlds for days. Nature literally had to snap us back into reality with a sudden storm, so we made it out just in time to miss the rain. It was actually insane once we entered the metro because the storm had everyone ducking for cover. We didn't even make it down the stairs without getting caught in a tangle of tourists. After coming back to the hostel yet again, we showered and made another quick turnaround to meet Laia, the Spanish assistant student from last year. She lives here in Barcelona and graciously took time out of her busy day to walk us around the city and show us the main historic and modern areas. On our way through the town, we found a nice restaurant to enjoy our first tapas meal. We desperately tried to eat at a normal Spanish time, but in our attempts, we ended up devouring our dishes way too quickly. In the short time we had to digest our meals, sleepiness had struck us, and it struck us hard. Wandering around the plaza at night, we had some ice cream and watched the streets transform into a lively night life setting. However, we were running on a few hours of sleep and had been nonstop moving all day. We headed back to the hostel in the hopes of rejuvenating our energy for another day in Barcelona tomorrow.