Basketball Reunion In Spain!!

Hello everyone! I just got back from an amazing weekend in Spain with Caroline Sweeney and her brother, Johnny! It was so great to see a familiar face.

Anyways, this was my weekend! Thursday morning I woke up at 6:00 AM and headed to the bus stop. After a little confusion on where it was, I found it and arrived safely to the airport. I was only about 3 hours early. Haha, but, I was worried about being late so atleast I knew I would be on time. The flight was only about an hour but I was nervous about finding my way to the hostel. I hoped on a bus and asked the driver how to get to the metro. Luckily, he was very helpful and showed me where to get off, what to do, ect. I had to lug my bag down and up a bunch of stairs in the underground metro which reminded me of when my mom and I were in Chicago! Ha, never fun but I survived. I finally got to my hostel, but not without a couple stops to ask for help. I then checked into my room and waited for Caroline and Johnny to arrive.

They arrived about an hour after me and we walked around the city for the afternoon. It is so much bigger than Alicante! But, it is a beautiful city with a huge city center. Right there in their main plaza there were probably about 200 pigeons. It was so nasty! After some walking up and down Las Ramblas, we went to a grocery store and I introduced Caroline and Johnny to Don Simone, the cheap box wine. They loved it! Ha, then, we headed back to the hostel to get ready to go grab some dinner.

We had a very small world situation because Johnny and Caroline kept talking about their friend's sister's boyfriend who is from Barcelona. He had given them this list of stuff to do. We went to a couple of the restaurants and had so much fun! I then asked them who it was and it turned out to be Jill McCaffery's boyfriend. I played soccer and basketball with in high school and middle school. Such a small world! Anyways, the first night we went to this wine bar that he had suggested. It was really cool and we had an awesome view of The Cathedral there. But, the tapas were pretty dainty and we hadn't really eaten all day. So, afterwards, we went to another place to eat and drink some more wine!

The next day we woke up early and went to La Sagrada Familia. It is a church designed and constructed by Antoni Gaudí. He began construction in 1882, but he died before it could be finished. It is expected to be completed in 2026. It was the most extravagant thing that I have ever seen. It was just amazing and there were so many people there. After that, we went to the 1992 Olympic center. They had an awesome museum and we were able to watch old film from the 1992 Olympic Dream Basketball Team from the USA. Plus, they had a pair of Michael Jordan shoes, so, I thought that was pretty sweet. We were able to see the stadium, the course and even the huge Olympic torch. It was at the top of a hill so we saw a really cool view of the city. After that, we went back to the hostel again to clean up for dinner. We found a place in the travel book that we wanted to try, but after about 45 minutes of searching we gave up. So then, we decided that for dinner, I would show Caroline and Johnny how to eat dinner Spanish style - just tapas! We went to two different restaurants and ate a little. While tapas are fun, they sure don't fill you up! Afterwards, we went to this bar called Dow Jones. It was so much fun and I think we need to build one in KC. The idea is that the drink prices are like the stock market. So, if everyone is drinking a certain type of beer or alcohol, the price is high. The not so popular drinks are then priced low. Plus, there is a "trading" period where all the prices go down so everyone runs to try and get their order in. We met a lot of students who are studying abroad in Barcelona so it was just a great night!

The next day we kind of laid low. We did some shopping on La Rambla and walked around the boardwalk by the ocean. It was a cold, dreary day so we didn't have much motivation to go exploring. For dinner we wanted something a little more filling. We found a restaurant that looked promising. Although our waitress was not the nicest lady in the world, the food was awesome and so was the sangria. Plus, we made some friends at the table next to ours, an older couple that was very cute and very excited to have someone to talk to. Caroline and Johnny's flight the next morning was at like 8 AM and they had to leave around 4 AM so we decided to just hang out in the hostel for the night. We walked back to our hostel, bought some Don Simone on the way and decided to play some cards before bed. While we were playing cards an older gentleman came out and was sitting in the common room. So, we invited him to play with us. His name was Michael from Germany. He was probably about 50 years old and was in town with some colleagues for a convention. Anyways, he played with us for awhile and it was a lot of fun! Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my travel buddies, Caroline and Johnny, before bed!

The next morning I woke up, all alone in Barcelona and checked out of the hostel. My flight wasn't until 4 so I went to a Starbucks near the center of the city. I got my Carmel Light Frapp and was as happy as ever! I hung out at Starbucks for a couple hours, reading and emailing and then headed to the airport. It was very strange to completely travel by myself. I was about to board my plane and I saw the Barcelona soccer team! It was very exciting! They were all in their matching sweat suit outfits and many of them were with their wives and children. Everyone was looking at them in awe, haha. It was pretty neat.

After a fun but tiring weekend I am successfully back in Alicante! This week I don't have much going on but I leave for Morocco on Saturday! Plus, Caroline decided she is going to come visit me in Alicante! Yay! I love my visitors! That is all for now! I can't believe I have been here for over a month. It is going by so fast, but slow at the same time. Haha, I don't know how to explain it.

Love and miss you all!

Love, Me.