WEEK 8: The week leading up to my five days in Barcelona and Lisbon made me realize one thing... London seems way less exciting now that I've traveled around a bit. You'd think that it would be super exciting to be in a different country and all that, but after a little bit of time you just stop noticing all of the awesome things and it just seems like I'm walking down a street I see all the time (which is true).
I still love London, and I'm really glad that it's beginning to feel like home, but it's a weird feeling to be in a foreign country and feel at home. This doesn't mean I'm not incredibly anxious to be in the grand US of A once again, but I have enjoyed not seeing all of the political ads. Oh, and for Halloween I was an old man. All it took was hairspray and absolutely no makeup. And now for the time in Barcelona and Lisbon.
WEDNESDAY: We left for the airport at 4:30 in the morning, which was quite the thrill because I love waking up early so much. So much so actually that I stayed up all night so that I didn't have to wait for the feeling. Yeah, that's my explanation for it. But I slept on the three hour flight to Barcelona and in no time at all (except for the three hours of course) we were in Spain.
We spent the first day on a walking tour that took us around to see quite a few of the interesting cathedrals and monuments. After the tour all of the drinks at the bar cost only a euro since we took the tour so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to try some "grape juice" with fruit in it. It was pretty good. Had a slightly funny aftertaste though. Grape juice.
THURSDAY: On Thursday we decided it would be really nice to see what the coast was like in Barcelona. I must say that the coast in Barcelona reminded me a whole lot of the coast in San Diego. The weather too actually. 24 and sunny the whole trip (that's in Celcius, in case you didn't notice. I wanted to be authentic).
I skipped stones, which made four different countries I've skipped stones in while abroad, I've decided it's gonna be a thing. Mom would also be proud of me. I ate fajitas, but I didn't take out all of the peppers and onions. I actually ate everything together. That's not to say I liked it, but I did it, and that says something. I also had some more grape juice with fruit that night, which was much better than the grape juice from the day before. Grape juice.
FRIDAY: We left Barcelona at 5 in the morning and were in our hostel in Lisbon, Portugal, and were at our hostel by 10:30. The hostel could possibly have been the highlight of Lisbon, or Lisboa. The man who ran the hostel was absolutely hilarious. His sense of humor was amazing. Dry, sarcastic, stone faced, though maybe slightly more appealing with his accent.
He had a policy of free tea all day, so I had about 15 to 20 cups of tea over the course of two days. Not to shabby, not too healthy. Pedro (the manager of the hostel) also was a great story teller. Someday he hopes to be one in Argentina, hopefully he'll pass me on his way there. Lisbon itself was a great city, quite similar to San Francisco, but with cobblestone streets. I had swordfish for dinner. It was very tasty.
SATURDAY: Saturday was more of the same for Lisbon. Drank a lot more tea, talked with Pedro the hostel manager, walked around the city. I did end up skipping stones in Lisbon as well, bumping my total up to five countries now. I'm so proud. It's a very weird thing to be proud of, skipping stones, but I don't think it's a thing that just anyone chooses to do.
Only those of us who don't have better things to do. Saturday night we all sat around and listened to Pedro as he told us stories, sometimes stories we'd heard before, and other times just coming up with brand new interesting stuff to talk about. If I ever write a screenplay about being abroad he will most certainly be in it. In a good way.
SUNDAY: As I left Portugal there was one grand thing that I'll always be able to look back upon. Being offered marijuana by eleven different people when no one else around me got offered any: zero dollars. Having two of them walk with me and offer me other drugs, like cocaine: zero dollars. Saving money and braincells by turning them all down: Priceless. And now the sun has set on my time in Spain and Portugal, in a few weeks it shall be France. Here's to the future that seems like it will never come.
