Welcome back

Captain's Log.... It's been over 30 days of radio silence....Recon mission Spain has continued in hiding.....Now that it is becoming once again safe to transmit, updates concerning operation BARCO (BArrett ReCOn) (also "Boat" in Espanol) shall be reestablished.

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Ok, So really I'm just lazy and most days are the same with days of insanity sprinkled about. I'm going to run through a months worth of respectable stories in Chronological order, and I know you're thinking "holy crap this is gonna be insanely long" well it might but I'll do my best to hit the highlights.

1. "French Chick Teaches Southern Boy About Manners"
So I'm the first person in the house ready every morning, one day I accidentally sleep in but wake up at 8:00 when people normally leave. So I rush out of my room to get ready only to realize the roommates have left me without so much a knock on my door to see if I'm alive. I dress, grab a banana and run downstairs just in time to see them drive past so I chase them down yelling and hop in. The only explanation I get is from Hugo "It's only a 20 min walk.", "Well its only 2 seconds to knock on my door." Lame and ridiculous but I relax because I get a ride and don't have to make the 30 min walk to work. I get to work and briefly tell James about my quick morning, "Nice of them to wake you", "I know, right"....when from behind me I hear Camille saying something too me about knocking on my door and I think its some joke or something, but then realize she is yelling at me because I am so rude and she is not a taxi (she doesn't even drive, it's just her car) and I don't say thank you enough. I now walk to work every morning not because she told me to, but because I don't need some crazy French chick thinking I owe her something, plus I'm the only one in the house that makes it to work on time.

2. Someone Put the DPS in the American Embassy
So I'm coming up on 3 months here and we realize I don't have a proper visa so Ricard and I are going to the American embassy to see if I can get an extension. I'm actually really nervous about this because there is a chance if I screw this up I could get booted out of Spain real fast. So the morning of I wake up on the bright, shower, shave, put on nice clothes that I haven't worn in years only to find $71 in the pocket of one pair of pants! Ridiculous and Awesome all at the same time. So I leave way early to make sure I get there on time using crazy trains and a cab to meet Ricard at the Embassy. I get there half an hr early and wait till he gets there and then we go get a coffee and talk about everything I can and shouldn't say, which turns out to be I can say whatever I want because in their it's America and they aren't gonna kick me out of Spain and should help me with anything I need. I also found out that Ricard can't even get in the door because he's not American so I'm flying solo. Well it turns out this big meeting with the people at the Embassy is me going into a very nice complex, through very intense security and walking into a very small room that is the equivalent to a small DPS. And indeed the whole process is very much like getting a drivers licence, I wait in line to find out that they can't help me. Basically I am handed a piece of paper that has an overview of all the visas and the address of the Spanish consulate I can talk to. This all adds up to one thing, I'm going home for a little while! Which I'm actually very excited about as long as I get to come back to Spain.

3. There's No Place Like Home
So I get to come back to Texas which is great, I can't wait to see family and friends and have a week off of work. Unfortunately it's only a week so I'm gonna have to do alot of bouncing around to see everyone. Which I do, I spend the first half of the week bouncing around seeing friends while they are at work or lunch breaks, then going out with my parents and family friends at night which is great fun but after a few days I have a serious need for Austin food, the sailing team, and some Longhorn football. The night before I leave I drive up into Houston to meet up with Derek, Christian and Kristen and grab a drink and hang out. It was actually a great night, we hung out and told stories and just goofed off and they all reminded me how good of friends I made at school and that I have more than one family to come home to after Barcelona. I also found Derek can't come to Austin with me, ridiculous, and that you can buy tamales from some guy wandering around a bar at 1 am, awesome.
Austin is great, but tiring. The first night I drive over to Will's and never leave. Everyone has school in the morning so nothing big goin on this Thursday night (like that ever stopped them before) but Will, Sarah, Mike, and I had alot of fun hanging out drinkin and catching up on general craziness. The next day I get in a nice round of disk golf with Will before he takes off to sail in Fort Worth. Disk Golf.....amazing sport....best played with a bag of beer. After that I got picked up by Genessee who became my party planner for the rest of the weekend. Party that night: awesome, except allergies and falling asleep on the couch way early in the night only to find out the next morning that Neville was doing handstands above me for photo shoots...I'll find pictures. Next day was a trip to the greenbelt (beautiful) before tailgating and Longhorn game (amazing). All I could have wanted, just wished we could have gotten more friends organized to come play, but it was a great time and so amazing to be back in that stadium. Then it was off to downtown to party like a rockstar, which Genessee, her friend Phil, Neville and I did admirably. Ending with a delicious Best Wurst. The next day before I left I hung out with Sarah and tried to say adios to some people before I was gone.
Last Supper with the fam was great, birthday cake, pesto, family and friends and a slightly out of place serious discussion on world politics but its was great all the same. I think I may have even surprised a few people by knowing something about what goes on outside of Texas. The next day mom took me to the airport and sent me on my way. It was great to see everyone and I love you all. To those I didn't see I still love you, we just need to work on scheduling.

4. Sneaking into Spain, Just Like Sneaking into a Movie, just takes longer
So it turns out France (my plane destination) is not actually on the way to Spain. Here's the rundown on a 37+ hr adventure:

Planes are nice, but long layover in London is tiring and expensive. Marseilles is pretty enough but as soon as my bus get close to the train station it looks like the wrong side of the tracks. "Information guy" not funny with the "Sorry, I do not speak any English at all" remark before telling me how to get tickets. No direct train to Barca and have to wait about 2 hrs to leave Marseilles. Bathroom costs 50 cents. Sign above train doesn't actually tell you where you're going. I don't speak French. Have to get off at unexpected station because "we're on strike?" Lost in translation. Get on wrong, but much nicer car and hope no one finds me reading in my stolen private room. Exhausted. In Parpignon for the night, find weird small hotel across the street from train station. Have to take bath because there is no shower curtain. 5 Euro breakfast is croissant with a side of bread. I'm really early but can't figure out why no sign has a train going to Barcelona. Use tourist sign language and hope to god this the right train. Beautiful scenery, water on the left is a good sign. People get on that speak Spanish, another good sign. I'm in the wrong seat but don't care to move. Hope they don't check my passport too closely. They barely look at it. Finally make it back to Premia, back tot he flat. If I sleep now I'll never get on the right time. I walk to work.


So these are all my noteworthy adventures so far! I'll save birthday weekend for next time, you must be tired of reading and I'm getting hungry. The reason I haven't really been updating as often is because most days look like this:

6:30 am-7:30- wake-up, dress, eat, walk to work
8:00 am- 5:15 pm- work
5:30- 6:00 pm- lay down and stare at ceiling
6:00- 8:00- workout, run
8:00- 9:30- shower, cook, dinner
9:30- 1030- read
10:30 pm- 6:30 am- ZZZzzzzzZZZZzzzz

There ya go, you just got caught up on most days for the last month. In reality I've been meaning to do this for a long time but the only reason I did today, was because it's raining and I can't run so I had the time and extra energy, but I'll try to work this into the schedule when there is something to mention. Anyway, I hope everyone is doing great back home! And if anyone out there hasn't given up on me and still checks this thank you for believing I'm still alive.

Love you all,
Barrett