We arrived in Barcelona on Sunday evening, November 30th. We found our youth hostel on the Passeig de Gracia (Barcelona's Fifth Avenue) right across the street from Cartier's. Bill's student and my office mate and friend at the Center, Sarah Hall, also had wanted to visit Barcelona. She had flown out on Thanksgiving Day so we agreed to meet that Sunday night at 9:00 pm at the Centric Point Hostel. Her own hostel was just a few blocks away. In addition, Cassie Kordsmeier, Bill's student from the first Rome group and my fellow classmate and friend, had learned that we were heading to Barcelona where her cousin Natalie lives; Natalie, too, joined us.
I must take a little detour from my story to comment on running into friends in countries other than where you first make their acquaintance. It's kind of exciting. I guess it's my version of being a "jet-setter," although that term may be antiquated by now. Indeed, there's just a little extra kick when you say, "Fancy meeting you here" and you find yourself saying that in a foreign country. Even making the arrangements with Natalie was a little interesting since she didn't know us. Not knowing beforehand what the neighborhood of our hostel would be like, I wanted to give Natalie some idea of who she was meeting so I directed her to my blogspot so that she would be able to recognize Sarah, Bill, and myself from pictures in the blog. In addition, our arrangements were made via Facebook and gmail. It's so cool to live in a computer age.
Bill has studied 11 languages at last count but most of them are dead languages so he's virtually of little or no help when it comes to actually communicating in another language with the living. However, Bill has NEVER studied Spanish, and I've only taken enough Spanish to mess up my Italian. Also, Barcelona is in Catalonia where Catalan is the first language. What can I say, Bill and I were like Dante in The Divine Comedy in serious need of either a Vergil or Beatrice as a guide. Sarah and Natalie were our lovely guides, and I'm so grateful to them and happy that they could join us for a brief while.
We had decided to go to a Tapas bar for dinner. The first one was so busy that we couldn't get in so we found another one nearby. A Spanish Tapas bar and an Italian in piedi party are somewhat similar. In both instances only one item is presented on a plate. Also, there is a succession of tidbits. The waiter may deliver a couple of the items and as you finish those plates they are replaced with new ones. Spaniards can recognize the items by name and can place their orders without having to point. We simply walked with the waiter and pointed to what we wanted and then pointed to our table. Add a crisp white wine and you have a lovely dinner. Also, the food in Barcelona is not only delicious but amazingly affordable.
In case the blogs on Barcelona encourage my readers to go right out and purchase a ticket for Barcelona (something I highly recommend), do watch out at the crosswalks. This was Natalie's first lesson for us. There is no "amber man." So when you see the green man start to flash green, STOP. The green man will turn to red VERY quickly.
We had a lovely evening together. Natalie is a charming, warm person. I've included her picture which is a little fuzzy because I didn't want to use my flash. I've also included Cassie's picture because were it not for her we would not have met Natalie. We will revisit Natalie in a later blog for reasons which will become apparent at the time. Natalie is the blond and Cassie is the redhead. For a good picture of Sarah, I refer you back to the group picture with Diane in the blog entitled "Voici Diane." Sarah is in the center, next to Diane wearing a cream, green, and brown plaid jacket with short, curly brown hair.
Along the lines of "fancy meeting you here," last evening as we were returning from a faculty member's home, we passed a young man on Wedington Road who looked like Adam, Megan Blankenship's boyfriend. We met him in Roma when he came to visit Megan. Not only is it nice to see friends we've made here in Roma but it's also good to see friends we've made in Roma here. And it's nice to make new friends through our student contacts.
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