We left for Barcelona from Dulles Airport two days ago on Tuesday, January third. We arrived at the airport around 4 and our Flight was at 6:30pm est. It was approximately a 7-hour flight with a 2-hour layover in London, and then an additional 1-and-a-half hour flight to Barcelona. I didn’t sleep at all on either flight. I even tried drinking two complimentary mini wine bottles to knock me out on the way to London but it didn’t help too much. And, although I felt pretty terrible for the latter half of the flight to London, by the time we arrived I had a resurgence of energy and was ready to joke about not being able to read any of the signs written in “British.” It was cool walking around the London airport (Heathrow). The bathrooms and foreign snacks were cool. It was also cool to see the pound symbol(£) beneath all the snacks since I’m so accustomed to seeing the USD($). The most surprising thing about the London airport though was the wide selection of liquor. There was this one store near our gate that exclusively sold cologne, Liquor, and cigarettes. While we were waiting, I went to look at the fancy British vending machines and realized that two snacks were stuck leaning against the machine and about to fall out so Karthik and I attempted(successfully) to get two free bags of chips by gently nudging the machine. So, we got to try Chili Heatwave Doritos and Cheese and Onion Walkers potato chips(Walkers just looked like a British version of Lays) for free! The flight to Barcelona was pretty relaxing and went by pretty quick. There was more legroom and some beautiful scenic views.
After we arrived, I was walking through the airport and I saw two military/police officers, and one of them was holding a large assault rifle. This was something I didn’t see in Dulles or Heathrow. Then, we waited for our luggage and met up with my other friend Dan who was coming from Rhode Island. That was pretty much the travel experience. At this point, it had been roughly 12 hours of travel and I hadn’t slept all night. But this was our first day in Barcelona and we wanted to explore! We got to our apartment and checked in with the Airbnb guy whom we are renting from. He was nice. We then decided to meet up with my friend Matteus(Ma-tay-us) who flew in the day prior and is living in an apartment that he rented through the University. This gave us an opportunity to learn how to use the subway system and see the inner city! The subway was pretty simple. It reminded me of New York except that it was cleaner and had nicer people. We didn’t really interact with any of the people, I just got the impression they were kinder than the average New Yorker. We arrived at the “Diagonal” stop and got off. We were at the Paseo de Gracia – one of the main and most famous avenues in Barcelona (according to Wikipedia). There were lots of fancy stores – Gucci, Christian Louboutin, Balenciaga, etc. We decided to get food at a place called Cafe & Tapas. Dan and I split an order of the combo de entrantes – which was basically a platter of chicken wings, chicken fingers, fried cuttlefish, and chips and guac. It wasn’t bad. Then, we went home and talked for a bit before going to bed. I ended up getting around 10 hours of sleep. Then, we woke up this morning and attended our Information session style “Orientation” for our Maryland-in-Barcelona study abroad program. After, we explored the beach, saw my friend Matteus’ apartment, and got lunch and beers at another restaurant. I got some kind of potato dish that came with pieces of bread with tomatoes on top. Interesting and probably not something I would have ordered in the states but a local man recommended it to me so I was up for the experience! Now we are relaxing and most of my friends are taking a siesta before our night out to Opium (one of the more popular clubs here in Barcelona).
* Please excuse the finger in the top right corner. This kind man took our picture but didn’t realize his finger was partially covering the camera and then proceeded to drop my friend Karthik’s phone and crack his screen 😪 *
Nick Henderson
8:10pm
Barcelona, Spain