Barcelona en plus

So a volcano erupted in Iceland. Did you hear about it?

Most flights to and within Europe have been cancelled for the past few days, including my flight back to Nice. So inconvenient. Normally I would think, "extra days in Barcelona? No fear of retribution for missing work? Fewer days living in the dorms at CIV? Sign me up!!!"

But I've been traveling for over two weeks non-stop and I'm pretty tired, so I was ready to go back to France. Plus I have appointments this week and lots to do before Morocco--> Paris--> USA, so this is actually compacting an already busy week.

Oh well, c'est la vie, non? Things could be so much worse.

Yesterday was a tough day. Sam and I were really tired from traveling, staying out late and getting up early to see things. We got a little lost looking for the Gaudi park and gave up. Then we decided to go to the airport to talk to an actual human being about our flight status because Vueling's website and phone numbers are completely useless. Instead of taking the correct train to the airport, or any of the many airport buses, I managed to get us on a train going to some random suburb an hour away from Barcelona without any stops.

This was frustrating. We eventually made it to the airport, exhausted and disheartened, and were rebooked for a flight on Tuesday night. We won't be back at work until Thursday (for Sam) or Friday (for me), so basically I am only working one more day at my job ever. Weird. I'm also having to rearrange some tutoring for this week so I can see all of my pupils one last time before I bugger off to Africa and then America.

Anyway, Barcelona has been a good time aside from the past 24 hours. We enjoyed the beach, the Sagrada Familia Gaudi church, the Dali museum in Figueres (probably the highlight for me), some good international food and some weird Spanish food complete with the unnecessary and random addition of a fried egg. I can't complain. Today we have wild plans including doing laundry (I have no clean clothes and I stink), getting some good food and maybe even doing something fun with our stolen day in Spain. I am tempted to go shoe shopping, but will probably be able to placate myself with gelato or falafel instead to save my money for Morocco, The Land of Shoes and Slippers. Tomorrow we have pretty much all day to hang out too, so maybe something touristic then too. I understand there is an opera house on La Ramblas, nearish to our hostel, that does daily tours. That might be cool.

Aside from this little hiccup, which honestly could have been really catastrophic if it has happened last week, therefore screwing up ALL of my flights, etc, my trip has been epic. I have visited four countries in two weeks, five if you include that I started in France, met up with friends along the way and had solo experiences as well. It was a great balance of personal adventure and sharing with others. I keep flipping through the photos on my camera to remind myself all that I have seen and experienced in such a short period of time. I know I have been gone a while doing a lot of things because for the past week I have woken up each morning a little bit confused, wondering where I am and what my plans were for that day. I am essentially experiencing the existential life question of "why am I here?" on a very regular basis.

And we're not finished yet, folks! After a very short sejour in France I'm off to Fes for some more solo travel. Luckily I am sharing a private twin room with another solo traveler, so maybe we will hit it off and hang out a bit. This was set up through the Riad, kind of weird but very functional. Then it's Paris, again solo but couchsurfing which should be fun, and then America for the duration, but I'm already making more plans.

I think I will try to spend some time at German language school after my clerkship. I've always been curious about the language school experience and the ones in Germany have fairly cheap tuition. Plus I now LOVE Germany and want to see more of it. Who says you can't take a gap between jobs every year or so to do something amazing and learn something new? In fact, I would argue (in fact I will argue) that doing something like a language school can be seen in the same light as doing an internship or career training program. Being multilingual will make me more marketable to employers and more mobile as a professional.

I rest my case.