This is the picture of the last time I sat on my bed in Spain.Almost 40,000 words have been included in this blog, and I know some of you read every one. thank you all for your support throughout my travels and I'm glad you enjoyed my writing!
Day 108 – December 14th – Sunday – 5 days left
I woke up today after a good night sleep at about noon. I sat around until lunch and then went over to school to write my dreaded paper. I had it in my mind to finish it today, and thats what I did. Its definitely not my best work ever, but its not that bad. It took me long enough, four hours or so, but I still have tomorrow to revise and edit it before its due. I think tomorrow may also be my last day with my bike. I need to go to a few places to figure out what the best way to sent it is. Fernando has recommended a few places. hopefully it wont get banged up this time. I went home for dinner of pizza and then studied for Catalán until I went to bed. Tomorrow is my last day of school, pretty much, although I do still have one trip on Wednesday with Catalán to the Christmas market and I'm supposed to go to Film class as well to turn in my paper. We've finally entered the last week, I can't believe it.
Day 109 – December 15th – Monday
Today was unofficially my last day of school. I got up early, well, at the normal time for Spanish, to study for Catalán. In the end, I don't know how much any of my studying helped. The test was pretty hard, but at least it was over pretty quick. I don't think I did bad, but I didn't do amazing either. Now we just have to wait and see how hard she grades them. After that, I went over to the ISA office to proofread and print off my paper for Film class. Today was my last day with my bike, as I am going to send it out tomorrow and of course it was pouring rain most of the day. Matt and I got our last Döner Kebab, which was delicious, and then I went to Film class. I handed in my paper at the end because, after all, I had it done and I didn't really want to have to come back just to hand it in on Wednesday. I rode home, through the rain, for the last time and then disassembled my bike and packed it up. Since I was in the packing mood, I kept going and now I have about two-thirds of all my stuff in my suitcases. All the beautiful presents for you all are packed away and waiting for their last trip. We ate dinner and then went out to meet up with a few other fellow students who were also done with classes and had a few beers. We left when the bar closed and headed back. The only thing I have to do tomorrow is send away my bike. I'm hoping it will be kind of cheap because I really don't have that much money left. I am going to send it to the bike shop, of course, but I'm pretty sure that I will get home before it gets there, so I'll be waiting for it.
Day 110 – December 16th – Tuesday
Well, I had a nice little adventure searching for prices for my bike today. Got to use my Spanish quite a bit and I thought I did quite well. The first place I went, SEUR, which is like UPS, told me it would be right around 800€ for airmail. That is obviously ridiculous, and thats what I told him. My best option is going to be through the post office, which is how it got here in the first place. So I went to the Correos office and they had good news, and bad news. More bad than good. First they told me that they can't send it by plane because it is more than 100cm in length. It is 110cm. Then they said that they could send it by boat, where the restrictions are less so, but that of course it would take longer. About two months. However, that appears to be my only option and it was only about 70€, so I suppose thats what I'll do. Luckily, I have a few other bikes that will have missed being ridden in the meantime. After that ordeal, i went over to ISA and just sat around and watched a movie online. When ISA closed, I went home and took a nap before dinner then we went out for a while. We went to Oveja Negra first and met up with a bunch of other students who also had the same plans as us. After the Black Sheep, we went to a club called City Hall. We got there around one and left at 3:30 or so, just as it was getting packed. It was pretty cool. Two floors with different kinds of music. There was a random break dance competition in the middle of the dance floor for like 15 minutes that was kinda cool. I had no trouble going to sleep when I got home.
Day 111 – December 17th – Wednesday
I woke up today around noon and went to meet with my Catalán class to tour the Mercat de Santa Lucía, which is a Christmas market. They had pretty much everything you could want as far as traditional Christmas decorations and nativity figures. Most of it was kinda junky, but I got my Caganer, so thats all I needed. We also saw the big, life-size, nativity scene in the Plaça de Sant Jaume, which is where the government buildings are. We walked around there for a little while and then I went home for lunch. After eating, Matt and I walked over to the post office with my huge box and shipped my bike back home. 81€ in total, which is about how much it cost to send it over here in the first place, but it is by boat, so they say it will take about two months to get home. I hope they just say that and then it takes like a month. Oh well, I'll just ride one of the other four bikes I have in the meantime. After coming back home, I headed over to the ISA office again. Its a nice day, but I really have nowhere else to go in the city, so I'll just watch another movie. When ISA closed, I headed home and tried to take a little nap, but couldn't really fall asleep. I got up to go to the bathroom and then ended up talking to Fernando for like a half hour about Spain and America and the global economic crisis. He said he hopes he's wrong, but that the true crisis comes in 2009 and that it will probably end in another world war. We had a nice dinner of soup and tortilla and then I met up with Nick, Ana, Filip and Tony and we went to Gato Negro for the last time and then to some skater bar that I'd never been to before. We said our goodbyes, with promises to visit and then headed out. To mine and Matt's luck, there were some Bicing (public use) bikes outside the bar, so we just hopped on them and got home a lot faster and with style. We even stopped at some monuments on the way and snapped some pictures. We decided that we should keep them overnight and then use them tomorrow to get around. We hauled them up to out room and then went to bed. Tomorrow is our last day!
Day 112 – December 18th – Thursday – The Final Day
We woke up around noon today and made a paella for the family. Teresa was very excited to see us in the kitchen cooking. It actually turned out very very good. I'm confident that I can make it in the states now, though I doubt the ingredients will be as fresh. After lunch, we said goodbye to Paquita, who was also there, and took a few pictures. Then Matt and I took a little bike tour. We went down to the Palace and took a few pictures and then rode up the coastline to school. Matt stayed there and I kept riding around for a while, seeing random places and things that I had, for the most part, seen before. I was actually out riding for over two hours and only headed home when it was getting dark. I finished up what little packing remained before dinner and then again tried to take a little nap. After all, the taxi is picking me up at 4:00am tomorrow, so I won't be sleeping much tonight. We had a nice last supper and then watched Cuéntame for the last time. I hope to find it somewhere on the internet. Maybe its on iTunes. After that, I went over to my friend Mike's house to say bye to him and also to Xavi, who was there as well. Hopefully, I will see them both again. I went home early, as there was really no point in staying out late, unless to try and sleep the whole way home. Time to travel for a long time.
Day 113 – December 19th – Friday
As ISA was thoughtful enough to arrange for a taxi, I was picked up by a Mercedes taxi at 4:30am in order to head to the airport for my 7:30am flight from Barcelona to Madrid, then a 12:30 flight from there to Philadelphia. My final connector from there to Columbus was scheduled for 5:30pm. So, right from the get go, I knew I was in for a big trip. So, after getting to the airport, to fly with Vueling, which is kind of a Spanglish word for “flying,” I ran into my first hiccup. I was tremendously early for my flight, which is fine, but I wanted to make things go smoothly, so I started checking in and all that junk. I even recognized a few other students in the terminal. Upon checking in, I got my first wiff of bad news. It seems that the maximum weight for luggage was a mere twenty kilos. I happened to have close to fifty, putting me at more than twice the allowable weight. Of course, this wasn't really a problem because I could just pay for all the weight that I was over, at ten Euros a kilo. So when I was asked for over 300€, close to $500, not only did I tell them it was outrageous, but I couldn't have even paid if I wanted to. I just didn't have that much money left after four months abroad. So here I am, at 7:30 in the morning, trying to argue, in Spanish, to get myself, with all of my things, on the plane. The nice girl at the desk was full of help. She told me to ship stuff home, which I told here was a dumb idea because that was also expensive and took forever and if I took the time to do that, I'd miss my flight. Her next advice was to pack the over weight into my carry-on, which was over the weight limit for carry-ons already. However, it was pretty obvious that no matter how hard I tried, there was no way to get thirty kilos into my bag. Its big, but its not a suitcase. After pleading with them for a while, and I guess working my charm a little bit, she gave in and only charged me for eight kilos, about $80. I was satisfied with this compromise and told the girl thank you and that I loved her, and she told me not to miss my flight. Of course, I didn't and soon I was well on my way to America. Arriving in Madrid, I had to get my bags and then check then again for my international flight. This was very easy compared with last time, just a few hours prior. Word of advice: do not joke about having drugs or anything questionable in your bag. These people will not put up with it. There was a kid in line in front of me who was nervous, and when asked why he said, “Because planes crash. No, just kidding, because I have heroin in my bag. Just kidding.” Bad idea. He was promptly screened more thoroughly and a note was put on his name to have his bag searched upon arrival state-side. I had no problem answering questions about my bag, even though I did have to get a few questionable items, like tulip bulbs, back with me. As I hadn't really slept yet, I passed out for a few hours during my layover and then grabbed a bite to eat with my last few euros and hopped on a flight to America. I was seated by a nice lady from Costa Rica, who lived in D.C. We talked for a while in Spanish about what else than soccer. I had a Barcelona jersey on and she said her son would have loved it. I tried my best to sleep the whole time, as the television selections seemed to favor the feminine population of the passengers. I took two melatonin pills, but they didn't really work. Instead, I sat there listening to classical music and fading in and out of sleep. The night before, we had become aware of a storm system that would be moving through the New England area, so I was even skeptical that we would take off from Madrid, but we did. When we got to Philly, the weather was horrible, but they can only keep you in the air for so long. We did have to circle for a little while while the runways were consolidated, during which one of the grossest sandwiches, served to me about an hour before, which I ate out of sheer hunger, got to my stomach, and I had to reach for the barf bag. I gave them their disgusting sandwich back, liquefied. Upon arrival, I had to get my bags one more time and go through customs. It turns out that if you don't declare anything, they don't check you. And since the cute little drug dog didn't smell my heroin (just kidding), I was free to pass. The flight to Columbus was pretty relaxing. We flew out of the storm, so everything settled down and we landed without a problem. I walked through the airport with a smile, overjoyed to be back, especially after such taxing travel. I saw my mom waving to me from the other side of the security checkpoint and I knew I was home. It had been the trip of a lifetime, but Dorothy was right, there's no place like home.
