7-17 Excuses to Come Back

Location: Aloha Hostel, Paris

Listening to: La Mosca y La Sopa – Un Poco de Amor Frances

Ok, back to the present. So I can talk about the last two days. Whatever. The morning after the David Russell concert (Thursday), I took a bus to Granada. I understand taking a siesta down there – it was over 100 degrees F every day – but I really don't understand why the bus drivers needed one. There was a 3 hour gap between buses and the trains cost four times as much for about the same travel time, so I hung around in Cordoba until about 2 and then hopped on a 2.5 hour bus. By the time I made it to Granada, it was almost time for the third Spanish meal (often times they eat around six and again at about ten), so I just played some guitar with a few people in the hostel and waited for the cheap homemade paella. It was really good, and I met some pretty cool people over supper. Afterwords, we went out for a bit to a Turkish place and had some of the best tea (and hookah) I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. We stayed out fairly late, but I still managed to get up by about 7. That's when I realized just how little time I'd really left myself.

Trying to see Granada in 20 hours was one of the dumbest decisions I've made since coming to Europe, but not reserving a ticket to the Alhambra has to come in at a close second. I called up there to see whether I could walk in and get one at seven, but they said the line was already too long and I wouldn't get in. Even if I had, I would have only been there for about three hours. That sounds like a lot, but everyone I've talked to about it has said they left after five or six hours and wanted to stay longer. Instead, I walked up into the Albaicín, the ancient Moorish neighborhood across from La Alhambra. The views were incredible, including the one from the St. Nicholas Lookout. Check out the “Granada” folder on the Picasa page.

Not much else to report from Granada, except that I made friends with a street musician and bought a CD without realizing my netbook doesn't actually have a CD drive. Woops. I went back to Cordoba, ate a few tapas with my friends from the Guitar Festival, and headed back to Barcelona.

This morning went off without a hitch, in start contrast to Tuesday. I arrived at the hostel at about 4 and took a little nap while I waited for Emily. When she got here, we went out for supper and went to the Eiffel tower. We decided to wait on going up until tomorrow night, when I would remember my camera. I really ought to get to bed pretty soon, because we're going to have a long day tomorrow – Notre Dame, walking tour, Louvre, Versailles, and back to Tower. Emily needs some serious American culturing – there was a guy playing Wonderwall in the park next to the Tower today and she was surprised when I knew the words. We took a few pictures, tried to figure out the meaning of what seemed like war memorials, and walked back to the hostel.

That brings you up to speed, and I didn't even get all sappy about leaving Barcelona. I won't go too deep here, but here are a few things (people, really) I'll miss:

1. 
   
   Roser – My host mom was a fiery, energetic, and extremely Catalan woman. She put sliced baked potatoes in her salads and copious amounts of salt on everything, and always made sure I turned out the lights and remembered my keys.
2. 
   
   Juan – Even though he yelled strange things in Catalan at night and farted louder than any human being I've ever met (trust me, that's saying something coming from my house), he was always entertaining and you could tell he had a good heart under the scowl.
3. 
   
   The German Girls – If you haven't seen them, you haven't looked at any of my albums. I met them my first week in Barcelona and they were great friends until my last night there, and I look forward to seeing them again at the end of the month.
4. 
   
   Gaudi – There's something really cool about using recognized masterpieces of a national celebrity with an interesting history as landmarks when you give directions.
5. 
   
   The Mountains – Coming from Nebraska/Indiana, it was so refreshing to watch the sun set over Tibidabo and the mountains on which it sits every night. I had a great view from my balcony, and I'm sure this had something to do with the four songs I've written in the last five weeks.
6. 
   
   The other students at Kingsbrook – Alexis, Atsushi, the Polish guys, the Austrian girls, Pauline, even the Americans from Alicante that I never saw past my second Friday. It was fun learning the language and culture with all of you, and good luck in whatever you're doing in the near future.

That said, I'm excited for these next two weeks and maybe even more excited to come home. I haven't seen my NE friends since early May and Jess's wedding is going to be the week of a lifetime! I'm really happy for you guys and I can't wait to see you in MN! Ok, need to sleep. ¡Ciao!