Bah to Barcelona

I'm extremely ambivalent towards Barcelona at the moment. On the one hand, it's got all this culture and beauty, and on the other, it's full of sleazy guys, crowded streets and thieves. I got my bag stolen about 5 minutes before my bus departure time. I was really sick on my birthday, so I didn't get to do much, just lay in bed, and yesterday, I was still throwing up, and not able to eat or walk around much. Right before the bus left, I needed to throw up, so I told Melissa that I was going to the bathroom, left my stuff with her and ran off. When I came back, I sat down and realised my poor little leathery bag had gone. Melissa said she'd been reading and hadn't seen a thing, but that it was possible that someone had passed by and stolen it. At first I thought I must have left it in the bathroom, but I remember catching sight of myself as I walked in, thinking I looked kind of skeletal from not eating and being sick, and I didn't have a bag then. I went and checked though, and it was truly gone.

My passport, my wallet with my driver's license and student cards, my new camera and new glasses were all in there. And my mobile. With all the cute photos of Gryffin. And our bus tickets

I started bawling, because I was so tired and nauseous, and my head was spinning, and this was more than I could handle. But I got over it about 20 minutes later. Luckily our bus was delayed by half an hour, so we talked to the lady who worked there and she said it would be fine for us to still catch the bus. However, the bus driver wouldn't let us on without a ticket, and even though we told him the lady would be coming to explain the situation in a few minutes, he shut the doors and was about to reverse the bus. I got so angry then. I grabbed my stuff and stood behind the bus, refusing to let him leave without me on it. Finally someone came to explain and he let us on. He was mean though. A cranky unsympathetic bastard.

Barcelona is full of people who'll take advantage of you if you're not careful. Melissa kept getting accosted by sleazy guys because she was always so nice and friendly, and would smile and keep talking to them even though they were absolutely foul. I've decided it's safer just not to make eye contact with people, and if you have to, pick your nose and eat it while you're looking at them. There was one nice guy though, at the hostel we stayed at. He was an elderly Irishman, and when he saw I was sick, he gave me his natural herbal remedy to drink that was supposed to settle the stomach. Later he also bought me soy yoghurt and an energy bar to keep my energy levels up. I don't know how he knew I only drank soy. He said it helps that little bit more if you know someone cares. It was so sweet of him.

Saw the Sagrada Familia, el Poble Espanyol and the Museu Picasso amongst other things. Also went up the mountain to the Castell and caught a cable car down. It was pretty fun, but my memory of Barcelona will always be tainted with my memories of the last two days. I wish I'd been travelling with Allen. He's laidback enough not to care if we don't have a set itinerary but he's sensible enough to make sure everything's going all right. And he's fun. Plus I always miss him when I'm sick