Like almost everything about this European excursion, things last night were a whirlwind – and even whirlwind is, I deem, woefully inadequate as a description; it cannot emphasize enough the fun, the adventure, the confusion, the excitement, the fear, and the drunkenness that ensued.
Grace and I spent the day having a casual wander around Barcelona. We decided to end our day a little early, five-ish, and head back to the hostel for siesta. Grace decided to nap and I took that opportunity to use the internet, and to meet new people. There’s a good place to start. People. I do love them after all…
I met a lot of people, however, those who are familiar with my fantastic ability to forget almost everything will not even raise a brow when I say I remember only a handful of names. What I do remember is where people are from; I associate them to their country. The following ‘people’ are in order that I met them.
The smoking room was a very popular place; the amount of smokers in Rome and Barcelona is astonishing compared to Bristol and Seattle. Recognizing that fact, I spent a good amount of time there and to blend in I went out and got some mini Cuban cigars which were… so very good. Though I’m not big into smoking, a nice cigar occasionally is a nice little cancer causing treat.
It was in the smoking room that I met Luigi, he was born in Spain, lived in Italy, his father was German, so naturally, he spoke all those languages. As if that wasn’t enough, he also spoke English and French! I was amazed. He would often help me speak to the French guy I met in there, or the German gal that spoke German, French, and English (a little). She helped me talk to two German guys that showed up, then a gal from LA showed up and Grace and she had a little party. Continuing, I met more people from LA and his posse, we met a guy from Miami, two Canadians from Toronto, a guy from Vancouver Canada named Ali who’s 30 and started his own business that has something to do with oil imports to Canada, or maybe distribution.
I also met a couple from Australia who are living in Edinburgh together but were here for the holidays. Kim was her name, Jez was his I believe. But it was the French that inundated the hostel. There must have been 30 of them, not kidding. They were the ones I spoke with the most and the ones that we eventually went out with on New Year’s Eve. I don’t remember all their names, many I couldn’t pronounce, but I do remember Chip, Beuh, Jeleela, and Helen. Helen was incredibly cute and I have a sneaking suspicion that Chip was gay and trying to hit on me.
It should be said that a language barrier could assist in flirtation, as long as both people trust each other. The way that correlates to Chip and Me has to do with the Metro (that’s the subway in Europe). He was telling me about his jacket; it was covered in some white spots. I thought he was telling me to touch the white spots... but it seemed like an odd thing to do so I kept asking to make sure I understood him correctly. So after a while I touched the white spots on upper back. “No, no, no!” he said in that stereotypical French accent that we all hear in our heads. He then tried to get me to touch the white spots lower on his coat… then it kind of clicked, I laughed… we all laughed, then I went over to Grace just to make sure he got the idea. Later that night he asked me if I like girls, I said yes. But he was an upstanding guy, he even helped inquire whether Helen has a boyfriend, which she did. Unless Chip was just telling me that so I wouldn’t go for her… haha oh well.
The point is: we met a lot of people.
So then we went out. I’ll separate our group into three groups: Crazy French, LA, and our French. The Crazy French are crazy because they started drinking at 7 at night. Actually, we all started drinking around that time, nearer to 8 though. Lots of talking followed, I had some really great conversations, and we finally left at about 10. That began the craziness. We got on the Metro but no one seemed to know where we were going. Some people wanted food, others wanted to get to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona. We found this plaza with a fountain and some bars, it was just off the street but it was great there! We went into the bar and found ourselves some drinks with about 10 minutes till the new year. We went outside, bells tolled, people shouted, and kisses were had. I had no specific kiss sadly, but as we were with some French people, I got a kiss per cheek from everyone there, so lots of kisses, ladies and gents alike! The rest of the night is a haze. That last drink threw me over the top, I wasn’t sick I just didn’t bother to ask where we were going anymore. I was just enjoying the people, the sights, the sounds, it was so much fun!
It was around two that we got lost. We spent a lot of time getting on and off the metro, looking at maps, and having a nice joy ride around the underground of Barcelona. It was on the metro that we lost Chip and Beuh; they got off randomly. Then Grace and I got separated from the rest of our group, so about three we went home. It’s not the ideal way to end the night, but I don’t mind because we had a great time.
Now our entire hostel has vacated and filled up again with a different group of people! So I get to do it all over again tonight!
Z
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