Lunes Sucio

Unfortunately, my writing time has gotten away from me. My days have been packed with activities and my mind kept busy on other things, as traveling tends to do to you. I had started to write a post about Barcelona so I suppose now is as good a time as ever to finish it! I have arrived in Barcelona! I wish I was as excited as that sounds, but unfortunately it is pouring rain. I had planned numerous site seeing adventures today so my heart was broken when I attempted and failed to enjoy them in the rain. I didn’t want to loose an entire day of exploring, but my feet were soaked to the bone and my arms were curled up in my jacket for warmth. I scanned the street pavement instead of the buildings to prevent rain from falling into my eyes as I scurried through the city. I finally caved and purchased an umbrella. About 5 minutes later, a large gust of wind hit me just right and broke one of the umbrellas rods right in half. I fought with the piece of plastic for approximately 10 minutes before I abandoned it. Eventually I had to admit to myself that my attempt to save this day was just turning into a progressively worse nightmare. Defeatedly, I escaped the rain and hunkered down in a café. Once I let myself breath, I decided it was a good time to call my mom and check in. We chatted for a little and I realized I hadn’t actually held a conversation with someone in over 5 days. Although traveling alone is great for a million reasons, conversation is not one of them. I realized I was getting just a little lonely now that my mind was slowed and not focused on “the next thing to see”. When I returned to my hostel, a lot of people were gathered in the common area and I forced myself to sit there instead of hide away in my room as I usually did at the end of the day. Once I sat down, a girl with a strong Austrian accent introduced herself to me as “Seff-ON-AY.” I quickly realized I was starved for human contact because Stefanie and I talked for 3 hours. Although we were across the world from each other, it turned out we had a lot in common. We had similar break ups in our past which we ended by rolling our eyes and saying “boys” (universal understanding). We discussed our cultural take on food, traveling, politics, etc. It was so interesting to hear her stories and compare them to mine, finding they were both very different yet extremely similar. Later on in the night I found myself talking to many other people in the hostel. I met a few girls from England as well as some boys from Australia. There were even people from turkey, Canada, and Sweden! Around 10pm, dinner was served. Yes, you read that right. It is custom in Spain to eat dinner around 9:30-10:00. If you know me, you know that is VERY late for me but I wanted to eat with everyone so I somehow forced my stomach to wait. As we ate, we laughed and shared stories and even began to play games. One of the girls had heard about a local place holding an event called “lunes sucio” or “Dirty Monday’s”. Apparently it was a place to drink and dance (I have no idea why Monday’s were “dirty” but I kind of wanted to find out). Long night in a short story; what a blast. I danced with my new friends to Spanish music until sweat ran down my face. My cheeks hurt from smiling and my voice was hoarse from singing/screaming along to the American songs. Turns out a “dirty Monday” can go from a truly dirty/rainy day to a fun and forever memorable night. The rest of my time in Barcelona was filled with amazing weather and amazing sites. I saw the Sagrada Familia, famous for being designed by Gandhi. I walked high and low to see Barcelona from multiple overlooks, basking in awe of its birds eye beauty. I toured markets full of empanadas and drank sangria on the beach. All the while, I was never alone. My new friends joined me on every adventure filling each site with even more memories. I was truly thankful to have met them; friends in only minutes. 

I guess that’s why I didn’t blog; I was present in each and every second. I never thought about the past or the future, but instead I was fully enthralled with the here and now. It just goes to show that reflecting and investing time in yourself is (of course) so important, but only friends can turn a dirty Monday into a Monday to remember.