I’m not sure why, but for some reason this entry has been very difficult for me to write.  I think I’ve started writing about three or four times, and actually wrote a complete entry before I hit delete and decided to completely start over.  I think it’s because I’m trying to write about an experience that was so meaningful and exciting to me that I want to get it just right, and so far, nothing has been up to par.  Regardless, I want to write about it so at some point I guess I just have to be satisfied with what I have.

While traveling during two week break, one of the places that I had the greatest experience was in Barcelona.  One of the main reasons for this was due to the hostel that I stayed at.  Up to this point, I never really had the opportunity to meet people in the hostels that I have stayed at.  At Hostel One Paralelo in Barcelona, however, this was not the case.  Actually, the way the hostel was created made it quite impossible to not meet people.

When you walked into the hostel, you were met with an elevator and a sign on it that read that the doors on this side of the elevator were not in use because the staff wanted you to have to walk past reception so they could introduce themselves.  Soon after Rachel and I read this sign and walked around to the other doors, Gonsolo, the man working at the reception desk that day, hopped out of his chair, arm extended and introduced himself as well as invited us to cook dinner with him tonight.  Which is another point I haven’t mentioned.  Every night, the person working reception would cook dinner, for free, for everyone staying at the hostel.

We graciously accepted Gonsolo’s invitation and joined him in the kitchen to help him cook that evenings meal.  At first it was only us cooking, but within five minutes we were joined by Patrick who was from California and Alex who was from Australia.  Tor, who was from Norway, stood by and watched us as we cooked.  We began by making the salad, chopping the lettuce, tomatoes, onions, apples and cucumbers.  To put the amount of food that we were cutting into perspective, we were making enough for about 30-40 people.

After the salads were finally chopped and ready to go, Gonsolo asked Rachel, Alex and I to make a homemade vinaigrette salad dressing.  We hesitantly agreed, exchanging nervous and confused looks. We really had no idea how to make dressing by hand.  After standing around awkwardly looking at each other for a few minutes, Gonsolo took out oil, white vinegar, salt, pepper and oregano out of the cabinet and set it in front of us.  “Well, here goes nothing”, and we started making a mixture.  It took us about ten minutes to make the first bowl of salad dressing, taste testing it ever now and then but always coming to the same conclusion, it tasted like oil.

Rushing to get dinner on the table, Alex dumps the entire bowl of salad dressing on just one of the salads, the smaller bowl.  Of course this meant that we had to rush and make another bowl for the other huge salad in the pan.  Hurriedly, we made another bowl, without tasting it at all, and poured it onto the salad.  The entire process of making the salad dressing was hilarious.  Every so often Patrick would come over with a piece of lettuce and try some and so would Frenchie, another friend we made that night.  After dinner we poured out a third of a cup of the oil that was at the bottom of the first bowl.  Cooking dinner was the beginning of forming some great new friendships.

While eating our risotto, that was really more like a sticky brick that just sat in your stomach, we talked about how life is in the different countries we were from.  What working was like in Australia compared to Brazil, America and the UK.  It was crazy how much I learned about the different cultures and societies.  I met people from Portugal, Brazil, Italy, Australia, Norway, America, Ireland, and England.  For the rest of the night, we all talked and played card games, such as Egyptian Ratscrew, War and Spoons.

The next night, Vallencio, the owner of the hostel, made couscous for dinner.  Unfortunately, he was more prepared than Gonsolo and started cooking dinner early so we were not back in time to help him cook.  However, the dinner was delicious.  Once again, everyone joined together at dinner and we talked more about schooling and the cost of college tuition.  After dinner, Corey from California, brought out his guitar and played songs as we all sang along.  It was funny because the first few songs, only a select few people knew, but as soon as he started playing “Wonderwall” by Oasis, everyone in the room started singing.  There were about 12-15 of us there, representing 7 different countries and I don’t even know how many languages, but we all knew every word to that song.  Valle, sitting over at his desk smiled and sang along as well.  It was such a crazy experience.  After “Wonderwall”, Corey passed the guitar to Nilton who shocked us all playing “Snow” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers perfectly.  If you don’t know what song I’m talking about, take a minute to look it up on YouTube and imagine our jaw dropping reaction when we heard him play this song.  It was amazing, to say the least.

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have met people from so many different places and cultures and to be able to talk and learn from them.  I did not want to leave Barcelona Wednesday morning to say the least.  The entire train ride to Madrid, I just felt a sadness rush threw my body.  For a while I couldn’t figure out why it bothered me so much and finally, I think I figured it out.  While traveling, I spent the entire time, basically, with the same people.  Of course some people visited different cities and left for a few days and maybe we met up later, but mainly, I was with the same people the entire time, for 18 days straight.  It’s quite a long time to be with people 24/7 if you really think about it.  Meeting new people and being able to talk about something new, like life in Brazil or Australia, and making these connections with someone besides the eight people I have been traveling with, I think, is what I really didn’t want to leave.  Then, there is also the added idea that, realistically, I probably won’t have the opportunity to ever see them again.  There is a small chance, of course, in meeting up in London or maybe years and years down the road if I go visit their country or they mine, but, that’s really just a small percentage.  Luckily, Nilton happened to be going to Madrid as well and staying in our same hostel, so we did have the opportunity to spend a couple more days talking to him, but whether or not we will see him again after that is unknown.

All of the conversations and interactions both nights are almost too amazing to actually be able to put into words and have it correctly represent how I feel.  I do feel lucky enough to walk away and still have some great friends that I can message on Facebook and continue to talk to.  As recently as yesterday I messaged Alex asking him if Australia has ever fought in a war before, because we never learned about Australia’s history in school.  To my surprise, they have fought in quite a few wars.  I look forward to continue to talk to Alex and Nilton about their travels and trips and continue to fill them in on mine.  I hope one day to be able to visit both of their countries and be able to learn more now that I have a greater knowledge and interest for them.  To anyone who is going to  be studying abroad, I highly encourage you to get to know people from different cultures and countries because it is such a rewarding experience and you can learn more than you ever thought.