Barcelona

First, I would like to inform you kind readers that I can (and do) read your comments, but because of the app I use to blog I cannot respond to them. I can (and do) read your comments, but because of the app I use to blog I cannot respond to them. There. You are informed.

Spanish horchata is disappointing. It tastes like plain yogurt in liquid form-not the cinnamony goodness I have come to know and love. I am going to give it a second chance because I am in denial. We bought a liter for the train (didn't get to it last night). This was perhaps fortunate, because we had a last minute oh crap we need reservations for this train. Fortunately, we were only delayed an hour.

Barcelona is basically Madrid, with a beach.

The good: there's a nearby plaza that attracts some rather impressive street musicians. Today there was a band of five horn players and a string bass. They were amazing. I have budgeted myself 3€ in tips to street musicians. Also, the hostel is bigger and more colorful. And the beach moonrise is pleasant. And the people in our hostel seem friendlier. I love the hostel system. Very conducive to self-sufficiency and talking to strangers.

The bad: our hostel is inferior to the last one. They close things early. They only offer 10 mins of free wifi per day (meaning my chatting prospects are out for this city)(this won't affect my blogging, because I do the writing offline)(although this has a perk: everyone else only has 10 minutes per day, too). They make it very difficult to store or consume delicious beverages*. Also, there's nothing I'm this city that quite measures up to el plaza mayor. And they don't predominantly speak Spanish here - they speak Catalan, although we can still get around on Spanish alone.

The ugly: Kunal Nagpal

Oh, and I got to ride on el ave! My Spanish teachers have been fawning over it for years and telling us how quick and smooth the ride is**. It was indeed fairly pleasant. I watched swing vote dubbed in Spanish. The movie wasn't amazing but it was fun to follow what was going on and then feel proud of myself.

Anyways, bedtime for me. Keep sending me fan mail, those of you that have been doing so. I'll do my best to respond within my limited Internet time.

*such as orange juice and calcium-fortiied milk.

**this was for deidre.