Hola Barcelona!

After an eight hour bus ride, a train ride, a metro ride, and a car ride, we finally arrived at the No Worries Barcelona villa! Although not 100 percent what we expected, the villa is amazing! We have our own room (really a closet with bunkbeds), a chef, a swimming pool, tennis courts and a fridge full of food and alcohol. The people are great and we´re meeting people from all over the world. The villa can best be described as a colleg co-op with lots of parties and messes to clean up.

We´ve only had one day to explore Barcelona so far. The city is very different than Madrid in that it is an odd mixture of old city, new industry and funky art. It feels like a Spanish version of Orlando, Florida, although our impressions may change with time. We had a bit of an odd moment when we caught a pickpocketer in the midst of his art. Before even coming to Barcelona, we had been warned about 20 times from various people to watch out for pickpocketers and now we have a sense of what we´re up against. Although we aren´t familiar with the city, we´re still really eager to get to know the city that so many people rave about.

Fortunately, we arrived in Spain just in time to experience Carnival. Carnival is a week-long celebration prior to the Lenten season...like an extended Mardi Gras. With our pals from the villa, we took a train down to Sitges, a cute resort town south of Barcelona on the Meditterrean (forgive our spelling...we´re on a time limit!). Because it is known as the biggest Carnival party in Spain, we decided to go all out for our time in Sitges. Dressed in mismatched clothes and bright colors, we hardly compared to the amazing costumes and floats that we saw in the parade. It was definitely an all-night party.

We´re at an internet cafe with expiring time so we must head out!
Miss you all and we send our love,
Alex + Kirsty = 30 seconds left. bye!