During my run this morning along the streets of prague, i thought again how extremely surreal this is, as well as how blessed i am. a constant thought i'm having: ok, Lord. this is amazing. Things are going really well. i'm prepared at any given moment for something to go wrong. And i'll just roll with it...
It's funny when things go well. i long for that smooth sailing when in the midst of a crisis. but now that things are happening exactly as planned, if not way better, i don't know WHAT to do with it. it's just too good to be true. Barcelona rocked my world like Michael Jackson. Melanie and I stayed with 10 people in a rented apartment. I absolutely love our group. They were all from Swansea, and Americans. I don't know why I havent been hanging out with them the whole time. We went on a bike ride through the city, walked around, shopped, went to the beach, partied some. It was a blast. Melanie and I always feel so taken care of by the group of guys who were with us. Stephen Harris, Stephen Rose, Billy, Pat, and Ryan. They were precious. Most of the weekend was spent laughing hysterically. The first night I was in Barcelona, I stayed by myself with a couch-surfer in a section of town called "Bellaterra". It was beautiful. Ritzy part of town. I woke up the next morning to "the kiss" from the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack. that sort of made me laugh. As I looked outside at the gorgeous view, the climatic part of the song played. I went downstairs to find one of the spanish guys, whose room I had apparently been given (he was totally fine with this), working out on the patio and listening to the last of the mohicans soundtrack off his computer, propped in the window. I told him there's nothing like imagining Daniel Day Lewis climbing that mountain to pump you up while lifting weights. He didn't understand be because he's spanish. I resumed our conversation using only spanish. He (his name was joseph) graciously offered to take me to the airport. It threw me off that the car was a toyota suv, with the steering wheel on the left side of the car. Then driving on the left side of the road made me almost convinced the UK's driving system felt more natural. But as we drove, it felt more at home, and I missed America for a second. I took the Ferrocarril train back into Barcelona to meet my wonderful friends, billy and pat, at the apt. they had just come from dublin for st. patrick's day. they were tired and maaaaybe hungover. i was so excited to see familiar faces, but they crashed as soon as the apt owner let us in. so I went on a walk around the area where we were staying (called the Barrio Gotico region...very center of the city beside the big street, La Rambla). As I walked down La Rambla, I found bunnies and chickens for sale. I almost bought a bunny. Then I remembered I had a 4 week trip ahead of me with only a backpacking backpack. p.s. Philip, this has been amazing to have. It's just the right size for me to carry it on the plane and not have to check it. Although, I have tucked other purses/my camera under my jacket to sneak onto the plane, since we're only allowed one item of hand luggage under 10 kg.
The 4 days in Barc were amazing. My favorite part was riding bikes around the city. I took a picture of a guy and his dog asleep together on the side of the road. Well, I thought he was asleep. I noticed in the picture later that he had inconspicuously shown me his middle finger, while his eyes were closed. My friends told me he was homeless. THAT made me feel like an idiot...The weekend ended with a wonderful night sitting around the living room chatting. Our tipsy friends made melanie and I laugh so hard our tummys hurt and our eyes watered. Note: melanie and I were not tipsy. maybe that's why it was so funny. Quote one of our amazing friends who shall remain nameless: "Its just a really big pet peeve of mine when my room mates don't put my laundry in the dryer for me. No seriously. I text them from class and they're like asleep or something". My new name after the weekend is "steph-a-lephanie". It suits me.
Sigh. well, i took a break from writing, hung out around Prague today, and now i realize that this is what I was talking about when I mentioned the constant thought I've been having. I bought a ticket to austria for the wrong day, and so since its non-refundable, i tried to buy another one. clicking on the right day, i purchased it, and then. the ticket i printed off had the wrong day again!! i was so upset. i tried to call the czech railways help line. but no. the english speaking rep. did not speak english, and made me feel dumb. so i have now spent 58 euros in useless tickets. for the same exact train. I don't really know what to do. but I think the receptionist here at the hostel, who speaks czech, is going to call the station for me and help me out. I hate feeling helpless. the poor receptionist who saw me talking on the phone in a heated conversation looked at me very sadly as I began to cry. i hate crying when i'm mad. why is that the reaction? I MISS AMERICA RIGHT NOW.
I'm going back to the train station tomorrow to try to sort things out. i told melanie tonight that i may be forced to use a begging action, "look at me. have you ever been 21? have you ever made stupid mistakes? well this is mine. please have mercy on me and give me my money back." if that doesnt work, i'll go out with a bang and say "screw you"...not really. Did I mention I love traveling? I really really do. I also don't have a lot of patience sometimes. Melanie and I talked later after we were sufficiently stressed about the ticket/the end of our trip when I am going to be stuck in venice for 3 days with no where to stay because mel and lindsey are going to greece, and I don't fly out until april 12th to scotland. and it's 40 euro to change my flight. Anyway, so we talked, and she said, "we just need to let God be in control. He's going to take care of us." She's right. He has taken care of us so much already.
So tomorrow is our last day in Prague. Hopefully I can get a new ticket to salzburg for the day after tomorrow, and we'll be on our way to our next destination. I think i'm getting a cold. But I have a roll of toilet paper next to my bed.
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