On Terra Firma

I´m finally here in Barcelona, writing this post from my very tiny hostal room in the Raval area, with the TV airing some Spanish documentary in the background.

I still can´t believe I´m finally here.

A lot of people asked me before I left if I was excited yet.

Truth be told, now that I´m in town, I´m not sure if I´ve gotten excited yet. I think I´m still in a state of disbelief (along with fatigue, etc).

The flight to Paris went fine enough. Turns out there were a bunch of war vets flying to Dieppe for celebrations (which I think are taking place on Sunday). I didn´t really talk to anyone. My seatmate was this Chinese girl who got on in Montreal and only spoke French. And since my French is kinda deplorable, I couldn´t work up the nerve to speak to her. And I got the impression she didn´t want to be bothered, so we sat somewhat silently the entire trip.

I wasn´t sure how long I´d be able to take the cloistered nun´s silence. I think it had been something like nine hours until I was lucky enough to run into another Canadian taking the same flight as me to Barcelona. I just happened to be waiting in line behind her, and she was with her aunt and cousin, who came to see her off. It´s her first trip to Europe and Spain, too.

We were so glad to see each other (and I to just hear English again!) that we decided to change our seats so we could sit next to each other on the plane. That was nice.

We also managed to grab the Aerobus into town to the Plaça de Catalunya. She was supposed to call her friend who was in town, but her cellphone doesn´t work overseas. So after an hour of trying to figure out how to use the phonecards we bought at the airport at the payphones here, she made contact, and he came to get her.

She also saved our hides since she´s bilingual. (You know, I should really look into learning French again, as well continuing to learn Spanish.)

So we´re now at our respective hostels. I hope she´s doing all right. I think I´m doing okay. But I´m still trying to adjust to hearing Spanish and being by myself, more than anything else. I don´t think I´m lonely yet. Just a bit restless. But hopefully that evaporates soon.

If I can have the same luck meeting people the way I did Priscilla, I should be just fine.

Fingers crossed.