Gittin our tan on

Hi everyone! We are currently in beautiful Barcelona.  Here's our post for yesterday:

Wednesday, November 3rd

Hola, Erin here. Our mini beach vacation is treating us nicely. We started our day with one of the best buffet breakfasts we've had so far; fresh fruit, cereals, yogurt, breads, cooked meats, fried eggs, muffins, little donuts, even sugar wafers (my favorite! but I don't usually eat them for breakfast...) Afterwards, we walked along the beach and through town to a nearby track to do our workout. At first I was dispointed when it appeared that a track club, comprised of men, women, and children of all ages, was meeting at the same time that we showed up; I don't like to workout when people are staring at me the whole time. In fact, I'm quite tired of being stared at on this trip; I really can't wait to be a normal citizen again. I want to be able to walk into the grocery without my bike shoes on, I want a proper area to cook my dinner, and I want to rid myself of the feeling that someone is going to scold me everytime I try to sit down. Anyways, I was pleasantly surprised to realize our presence on the track was completely normal. Everyone else wore similar clothing and did their own workouts that were just as weird as ours. It was a very refreshing feeling. More refreshing, however, was our dip in the Mediteranean Sea after the workout. It felt like it was 85 degrees in the sun on the track (although it was cooler in town). The sand here is redder and much coarser than the sand in Maine; as much as I wanted to walk across the beach in my bare feet, the sand was so rough that I only lasted the walk down to the water and back, about 100 yards (and my feet are still much smoother on the bottom now than they were before). The water was cold, it felt like the Atlantic in the summertime.

We had a long break in the afternoon where we sat outside and read our books and journaled. I have a lot of trouble on days like these where I feel like I have nothing to do. I'm realizing how much I need/crave the feeling of accomplishing something everyday, be that doing my schoolwork, completing a long ride, learning something new, or simply getting my laundry and chores done. I thrive off of the feeling that I've done something productive or meaningful (sometimes I can convince myself that rest and relaxation are what I need to do that day, but not when I'm feeling refreshed). So I found myself wondering all afternoon, what am I doing here? If I could do anything right now what would I do? McKayla and I ended up going out for a short bike ride out on the winding, hilly road we rode in on yesterday. The ride reminded me why I want to be bike touring in Spain right now. Besides the perfect weather, we had view of the sea on one side and the mountains and cliffs on the other. Since we were riding without panniers we were able to fly up and down the hills, I felt really strong. Plus Amie lent me her iPod so I had a whole new selection of music to enjoy. I feel remotivated for our ride to Barcelona tomorrow. Amie and my freshman year roommate and good friend, Kelsey, is studying in Barcelona right now and we are excited to meet up with her. I hope she can show us around the city, she's already given us many helpful tips about the cities we've been to in Spain thus far.

This evening we cooked up a hearty veggie soup and veggie burgers on the beach under the setting sun. So many people stared at us...