(Barcelona, Spain) - Weed & The Mediterranean

Two nights ago after I finally recovered from the transatlantic flight and the delays caused by the french air traffic control strike, some of the guys from the flat invited me to come with them to Park Guell. It's a really famous park here in Barcelona. It was closed but my flatmates knew a way to sneak in after dark. We got to the park and it reminded me of the Blair Witch Project. We were running around with very little light amongst all this old architecture. There was a ledge the jutted out from the rock and apparently Guell decided this would be a good place to build a balcony. So we sat there with an elevated view of all of Barcelona at night. My silly self thought we were going up there to admire the spectacular views. Yeah right. They were going up there to smoke weed. LOL

(This is where we walked but it was dark)

Now you have to understand that I'm officially (by citizenship Jordanian). I had to move heaven and earth to get my visa to come here. What could possibly happen? Yeah…..you guessed it…..the cops showed up! I'm thinking "This is NOT GOOD". One of the Mexicans that was with us started speaking Spanish to the cop. And then I saw one of the cops motion expressionlesslywith his hand for us to follow him. The four of us walked behind Ricardo (the Mexican) I tried to ask one of the other girls who speaks Spanish what was going on and she just said wait. I had no idea where we were walking. We walked through the dark with the cops for a few minutes, me not sure if we were going to jail or not? Finally, we got to the gate and they let us out. Relieved, we made our way back to a more well lit area. I looked at Ricardo and felt really glad that he talked to the cops while it was dark b/c his eyes were as red as the wolfpack. The cops were nice though apparently they even told Ricardo the directions to get home.

Oh Barcelona. I wish I could articulate how beautiful this place is. Who knows maybe I feel this way just because it's all new but I try to take pictures of the amazing architecture and landscape but it's everywhere and my battery ends up dying before I can capture a fraction of it. I find myself overwhelmed by the history around me.

They say the best way to explore this place is on foot so this morning I got up and went for a jog. I knew that the beach was south so I just ran that direction. Before I knew it I was in the main city square, Placa Catalunya. My dad had taken a picture 35 years ago feeding the pigeons in the center of this same square. The pigeons literally swarm the in the center of it; 35 years later some things had changed, but the pigeons are still here. And I will be feeding them don't worry.

I kept running south towards the beach (I hoped) and I found myself running in Barri Gotic (the old city).The passage ways were narrow and weaving between the old gothic buildings from around 1000 years ago. With no room for cars, it's just people walking and I almost tripped ten times from having my head looking up at all the carvings on the buildings around me.

Finally the Gothic Quarter broke into the Port and without realizing it, the ocean was in front of me. I made my way to the beach. Hot and sweaty, I was looking forward to taking a dip. As I got closer, I saw this guy in speedos laying on the beach tanning. "Haha, Europeans!" I thought to myself. This dude had something unusual about his chest anatomy though, until I got closer and realized it was a topless woman. WTF? LOL I looked around and couldn't believe it. I saw more naked bodies today than in 304 Macnider(Anatomy lab). This is normal here. I still don't know how to feel about this. C'est la vie! (or maybe I'll save that for France).

Welcome to Barcelona. Everyone from the flat is going out tonight, but I'm going to lay low and plan the rest of my summer travels. More to come.