Week 3 – Weekend

Week 3 Weekend

Our class departed for Barcelona on a 6:15 AM plane Friday morning and that meant getting out of bed by 3:30 AM to get to the bus transport by 4 AM. Yuk!!! We have one of these trips every 4 weeks where the travel costs are covered by the program as a “cultural exchange”. Anyway I was really looking forward to Barcelona but I can’t say I enjoyed it the way I thought I would. I probably made a bad decision at the outset when I decided to stay at the hostel with the other students just for the experience. I really thought I could do it until I stepped into the room for 8 people with 4 sets of bunk beds and one bathroom in a space that was probably 12’ x 24’! I wish I had taken a picture of it but I was in full panic mode at that point as I pulled out my iPhone and hit the ‘Hotel Tonight App’. In short order I was checking into my new and very comfortable quarters about 3 blocks away. That was a close call that shook me! Well, then there was the heat (middle 90’s and humid just like Charlotte) –  the weather was certainly different in Barcelona than Dublin, and I thought I would welcome the sun and the heat, but I must say I have become more comfortable in the climate of Ireland even with the regular rain or drizzle. I was sweating constantly and changing clothes several times per day. Then they put the fear of God into us about the pickpockets of Barcelona and how world class they are (two of our people lost wallets on the trip and one had a cell phone taken by a guy riding a scooter) so I was on high alert at all times. The official program had us visit Parc Guell designed by architect Gaudi on a high hill above the city (it looked like a scene out of the board game Candyland to me); go on a walking tour of the ancient Roman part of the city; visit a restaurant and learn how to make tapas; and attend a performance of Spanish dancers. Beyond that, I did manage to get to the beach, explore the city (lots of interesting architecture most notably by a famous architect named Gaudi), and do the nightclub scene on Saturday (but did not make it to the 2 -3 AM period when it really starts in earnest). So the trip was less than I had thought it would be but I take the blame for most of that. Having said that I did not hear any of my class singing Barcelona’s praises in any big way on the trip home or since.

I got some questions about why I am not talking about the young people I am studying with, other than in a very general way. It is tempting and would certainly add to the entertainment value of my blog, but I decided early on that since this blog was not password protected, and thus accessible by anyone, that I would keep it about me. I am concerned that if I told stories about the others and the wrong person somehow stumbled on to them it would be a serious breach of trust on my part. So enough said about that.

Oh one more thing, my Guinness consumption dropped dramatically over the weekend because I simply could not get it in Barcelona. So the counter did not move, but rest assured that I filled the void with other libations!

Irish language lesson:

Slagging someone = teasing or making fun of

‘Al you min e um’ = Aluminum

Stitched up = set up (like he was set up to take that fall

Pictures: Exterior of the Basilica La Famila Sarada(construction started in 1882 and is not yet completed), Interior of the Basilica,  Parc Guell (is the park I thought looked like a scene out of Candyland),  (down the hill in the distance is the Mediterranean Sea); narrow streets of the old roman city of Barcelona; The Barcelona Beach (that thing that looks like a big sail in the distance is a W Hotel.