Tour Guide

Between Monday and Wednesday I got my first visitor here in Barcelona, my friend Greg Meehan.  He is a friend from UNH and he was on Spring Break from his London program at Regents College.  So Sunday night I went to sleep at 9 in the morning and then I got a call from Greg on Monday around 12:15.  I couldn't let him venture off by himself so I got myself up and took him for a walk around the city.  We went to Las Ramblas because I wanted to take him to La Boqueria but it was closed.  We didn't have class on Monday because of a bank holiday so a bunch of stuff was closed.  I am not too familiar with the food scene for a good tapas place (because my food at my home stay is amazing) so we just walked around and eventually found some food in El Raval.  After that I took him through the Gothic area to look at the sites and act as a tour guide, explaining the history and importance of various buildings and sections.  He was impressed with my knowledge of the city.  Then I took him to Barceloneta and walked along the beach to some of the night clubs.  It was strange seeing them in the day because I have only been there at night and they were surprisingly full of people eating lunch.  It was also a beautiful day.  We then split up and planned to go to my favorite bar L'Ovella Negra for a drink later that night.  We split a large jug of Sangria, talked about everything, and called our friend because it was his birthday.

The next day 3 girls from his program also came to Barcelona, one of whom I knew from UNH.  I slept in because I was losing my mind and then had an exam in Oceanography.  It was 20 questions and multiple choice and one of the easiest exams of my life.  I finished in about 20 minutes and then took all four of them to an organic marketplace for lunch.  I think I talked about it in another blog but you go to a station and order food and can customize it the way you want.  They all loved it so in my mind it was a success.  That night we tried to go to the Futbol game.  It was Barcelona vs. Arsenol (the team from London) and in London the games are over 100 pounds so when I told him it would be about 70 euros minimum he wanted to go.  We tried to scalp tickets but were very unsuccessful so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to watch the second half.  Barcelona won 3-1.

The last day Greg was here I wanted to take them all to my favorite lunch spot Bo De B.  They also loved this place and here is a picture of everyone grubbing out on sandwiches.  I also invited two other girls from IES who had attempted to find it and failed.

I had to rush back to class but that night two more of their friends, both from UNH, were also coming to Barcelona.  Greg was also meeting up with his friend from home who he hadn't seen in 4 years and he just happened to be going to L'Ovella Negra so I go to show them all this great bar.  We were 7 people and this is what we ordered

When we ordered 3 3.5 liter jugs of Sangria the waiter was slightly confused but he brought them for us. After that I took them to a club called Broad Bar where we stayed until it closed and then went to end the night at the beach.  It was a long night and ended at 6:30.  I ended up missing my class the next day but we can have three absences.

Overall Being a tour guide is a lot of fun and I can't wait for my parents to come here.  I will take them to some amazing restaurants, see the touristy stuff, and test my knowledge of the city.