the solo adventure begins!

6/23: so, like i mentioned, my dads plan to have the nicest hotel at the end just made my transition to hostel-jumping all that more difficult. nonetheless, i was really excited for it all to begin! after they left i stayed at the hotel until about 2 oclock, sucking up my last bit of pure luxury and free food and drink. but by then i was anxious to cross town and get settled into my 10-person dorm room at Centric Point, a huge 400-person hostel. everybody was out when i got there so i dropped my bag, locked up my valuables, and headed out. i had some errands to run to finish preparing for my back-packing trip... i had a get new lock for my locker (i had forgotten mine), a new water bottle (also forgot it, and i CANNOT travel/live without one), a satchel, and an all-inclusive European travel book. after finding a lock and bottle at an outdoors store, the bag at a cute store in El Born, and "Europe on a Shoestring - big trip on small budget" Lonely Planet guide in a small book shop, i headed back to the hostel. still, nobody was there, so i headed up to the terrace on the 7th floor which i had yet to check out. wow. it was really sweet up there! my hostel was in a great location, on a main road and in the middle of a bunch of gaudi architecture - you could see much of his stuff from the roof! and their was a bar and tables and chairs and even a place to lay out and catch some rays! so i sat down and read for a while while sipping on a sangria.
that night was the festival of san juan, the reason that i had decided to stay an extra day... so i headed to the beach with two girls from the room, sara and su. it was absolutely packed all night long, with fireworks going off continuously and music playing on the boardwalk, and of course, guys walking around selling 1 euro beers. all in all, a really fun time.

ps. i had realized soon after my parents left, that my Eurail pass had returned with them to the states. bummer. looks like i might be in barcelona a night or two longer than expected...