Palafrugell

For the past few days my vocabulary consists of hola, gracias, and si.  I’m not sure how much longer this can last.  Haha.  Well the good news is that if the Spaniards slow down a little and talk to me specifically, I have little trouble understanding what they are saying.  The problem comes when it is my turn to speak back.  I seem to freeze.  I have the ordering food thing down and the greeting people down, but other than that I am at a standstill.  I must know it if I can understand what they are saying, so I’m not too sure what’s wrong.  But it’ll come.  I hope. 

For the most part, I have found that people in Barcelona really aren’t that friendly.  No one smiles when they walk down the streets at all.  And I feel that if I smile they might just look at me funny.  My type of city?  Not so much.  But on the other hand, almost every person we have asked for help with directions or some sort have been really helpful.  (and most actually speak enough English to get by).  So maybe once you engage with them they become friendlier?  I’m not too sure yet.

We stayed the first couple days in Barcelona and this morning my mom and I journeyed up the coast to a small beach town called Palafrugell.  And when I say “journey,”  I mean journey.  We walked a mile to the metro (which is similar to the subway) and figured out how to buy an automated ticket and find our stop.  With the help of this cute Spaniard of course.  Then we walked for a while to find the bus station.  Definitely went the wrong direction and barely caught the 2 hour long bus.  Then took a lunch break and found a taxi to finally take us to our small, little hotel with only 10 rooms.  

Here, in Palafrugell, people are much more laid back than the people in Barcelona.  I almost feel like it’s a smaller version of Redondo Beach.  Every time we go walking around I expect people to start speaking English and then realize everyone’s still speaking Spanish and not gonna lie, I get a little disappointed inside. 

Well, the sun is about to set and mom should be waking up from her nap soon.  Time to hit up the beach nightlife!