Day 2 January 3, 2009 Saturday

The flight from Heathrow to Barcelona was smooth and quick!

The sky was a gorgeous mix of reds, oranges and yellows the whole way! When I landed in Barcelona the culture shock set in. NO ONE SPOKE ENGLISH! I was naïve to think they would and I was so tired and frustrated. I couldn’t find a cab and had to take the city bus to town. That took me two hours to figure it out! I ended up in Plaza de Cataluña. We passed the presidential palace and all the fountains were glowing and it was the sight of a life time. It was gorgeous and was the way the welcome me to Barcelona. I sat at hard rock café with my HUGE suitcase, carry on, purse and backpacking backpack unsure what I was going to do! I could find Lainey at a hotel but I had no means of communications when I ran into Steve. We went to a Hostel on La Rambla. What I experienced in that 5 minutes was what the whole night was going to be like. Walking down the street with Steve I saw everything someone could imagine. La Rambla attracted 80 million a year. It is an intense party street and I was on it, tired and warn out. People were dressed up as figurines who touch you inappropriately
, beer and pot was everywhere! The lighting was gorgeous and so was the age of the buildings! We put my stuff in the hostel and it was so shitty, but we made it work! We had hostile pot smoking asians, and a shady room We walked around and Steve was my interpreter. I had an amazing night with him. He makes me happy and we can always have a great time! We laughed the whole time. We bought 40’s and went on a hunt for skateboarders! We failed, but went to the ghetto of the neighborhood! We walked around until 3. Saw spray painted everything and the cosmpopolitan skater scene
. It was so intense, but I just went with it! We talked about everything! He made the culture shock so much better. I am so thankful I had him! We saw Gaudi’s work and walked pretty much all of the downtown area! It was amazing! When we were failing asleep we listened to the Used at 4 am. And we just talked.
Steve made my first night in Barcelona amazing even though I was tired. Barcelona is beautiful and crazy! Perfect for me! I am ready to take it on and everything it brings to me!<3