On Monday, I realized that I still didn’t have any plans for Semana Santa. Semana Santa is Holy Week and it includes Good Friday and Easter along with the week afterward. This is basically my spring break since I had to leave to come here the Monday of spring break at OU. We actually get a week and a half off though so it’s really nice, and of course I’m in Spain so it’s a little better than spring break in the States. Anyway, I love Pamplona, but I didn’t want to stay here for 10 days with nothing to do if I could be traveling and seeing more of Spain. I asked everyone about their plans and decided to go to Barcelona for 5 days/4 nights. I had the option to go to more cities for less time, but I remember how much I loved Barcelona last time I was in Europe and I didn’t want to spend the majority of my time on a bus. So, I’m going to Barcelona with Erin, Christina, and Samantha. The three of them had already booked their hostel so I just found the same one and booked my reservations. I probably won’t be in the same room as them, but I don’t plan on being in my room very much anyway. I am in a 10-person mixed room. I’ve never been in a hostel before, but I think it’s going to be a lot like a dorm with more people.
On Wednesday, the 4 of us went to the bus station to get our tickets. I went first and I was so happy when I understood everything and it seemed that everything had gone well. Of course that couldn’t be the end of the story. Simple things like buying a bus ticket always become more complicated here because there are always communication problems. I didn’t realize that I had bought the last return ticket and when the other girls tried to buy theirs, there were none left. It ended up being a big ordeal and we couldn’t understand what the lady was trying to tell us. Luckily, there was a really nice Spanish guy behind us who spoke English and he translated back and forth for us. We ended up having to go back the next day when there were more tickets for a different bus.
Of course, when we were meeting at the bus station the next day, I got lost. I took a different bus because someone told me it was better and I was by myself. I kept looking out the window, but I wasn’t sure where to get off. I realized that I had gone too far when we were leaving the city and entering one of the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city. I got off and asked someone for directions. I eventually made my way back to the bus station. Luckily, the same woman was working as the day before and she already knew what we needed to do. The girls bought their return tickets and I changed mine to the same bus as them so I think everything is good to go…that is of course unless I didn’t understand something correctly which happens all the time, so we’ll see…
