13 hours of pain (in spain)

The bus to Barcelona was about the worst bus I have ever taken (so far, anyways). It was in much better condition than most busses I took in Morocco, but the seats were built for spaniards (i was one of the tallest men in the country) and the foot rests for the row behind are connected to your chair, so if anybody put their feet on them, you feel it. To make it even worse, Spanish people are inconsiderate and all seem to hate each other, so they didn't care how much they kicked your seat and were constantly getting in to loud arguments, even at 5am. God I wish I had taken a train.

I slept through as much of the ride as I could, but I am sad to say that I saw the sun rise over the mediterranean, which, while beautiful, I would rather have dreamed about while sleeping than actually seen after such an awful night. When I finally arrived in Barcelona I was incredibly tired, but relieved to finally be only a few hours from actually sleeping. I had already arranged to rent an apartment with three friends from Ireland, and, as I was arriving first, it was my job to get it sorted out and call Francisco, our landlord.

Francisco was very nice (but his english was terrible) and finding the place was no problem. The apartment was fantastic: centrally located, affordable, clean, and very bright and airy. I was supposed to pay for the place and be repaid by my friends, but I needed 600 nazi dollars (that joke doesn't do very well in Europe for some reason) for the rent and 200 for the deposit, which is much more than visa would allow me to withdraw. I made a deal with Francisco to give him half the money now and half the next day, but I was still trying to withdraw more than visa allows in a day (they didn't tell me this, I had to run around to every ATM in the neighbourhood and call visa twice before I could get anything). Francisco agreed to return in the evening for the money, so I was left by myself, quietly wondering if my friends would actually make it to Barcelona (damn ash cloud) and planning my escape from the apartment if they did not. Before sleeping I went out and bought sandwich supplies and ate two delicious ham and cheeses.

After my nap I went around the block to call my Irish friends, who were, amazingly, just getting out of the cab infront of the apartment. I went around to meet them and they were all also suitably impressed with our fantastic apartment. Our plan was to stay here for five days and go to Primavera Sound from the 27th to the 29th of May

We did some quick grocery shopping and I made a delicious dinner before bed. Barcelona is a great place, a little more expensive than Granada, but the weather is great and lots of people speak english.