Barcelona Trip Part 1 (Day 1-2)

Alhamdulillah dah selamat sampai kembali ke pangkuan Hubs and Aisyah pada lewat mlm Khamis lepas, tp mmg x sempat2 nak menulis. A lot to ctach up with my own family first, especially menghandle kemanjaan berganda si Aisyah yg mungkin sbb kena tinggal berhari2 itu dan jg nak menyesuaikan diri balik dgn Aisyah yg dah fully weaned from the breasts skang, hakibat berjauhan 7 hari. Syukur lah Allah permudahkan isu ini, and it worked out just nice for all involved.

So inilah sket sebyk cerita dari negara Sepanyol, spjg almost a week there, aku potong2kan cerita into smaller chunks ikut kesempatan menulis. Kalo nak tggu karang abis kang, mmg x akan post2 la jawabnya entry Spain ni.

Day 1 - Plymouth --> Bristol
On Friday, 16 July, bertolak drpd Plymouth utk manaiki tren ke Bristol. I nearly choked holding back my tears jgk la sbb inilah julung2 kalinya berjauhan dgn Aisyah EVER. Masa bertolak naik teksi tu, Aisyah was crying, tp Hubs ckp lps tu dia OK. Bermalam smlman di rumah Che Fadh. Actually, aku gi Barcelona dgn beliau, but she went for the World Congress on Computational Intelligence conference there, whereas aku gi Sound & Music Computing Summer School. Walau pon venue nya berbeza, but both were held in the city of Barcelona and as we would have it, pada tarikh yg sama plak tu, so kitaorg gi la together2 :)

Ni kat Bristol Temple Meads, train station kat Bristol tgh tggu Che Fadh and family dtg jemput. Masa ni masih ada kudrat lg nak senyum2 kambing dkt kamera



Day 2 - Bristol --> Barcelona
Next morning kitaorg bertolak ke Barcelona. Disebabkan masalah2 yg x dpt dielakkan dan jg flight yg x abis2 delay (kitaorg naik RyanAir *cursing*), dah lps midnight baru sampai Barcelona. By the time jumpa hotel tu, mmg dah berpeluh2 (we didn't think there was another place as humid as Malaysia, tp ada u ols). Dari awal lg we knew it was gonna be a massive challenge di bumi Espana ni, antara halangan terbesar ialah bahasa perantaraan and also navigational matters. Even ada Google map print out di tgn pon x membantu sbb the streets were just so confusing, udah lah nama susah nak pronounce, jalan raya nya berselirat plak tu. Kitaorg siap berentikan kereta polis peronda nak tanya jalan, pastu ikut belakang sekumpulan pompuan nak gi clubbing. Nasib la ada sorg dlm group tu bole berckp English sket2, kalo x, camping tgh jalan dah aku dan Che Fadh. Ni kitaorg muka penat sgt x de mood nak bergedik2an di dpn kamera.


Macam kat Malaysia rasanya, complete dgn humidity yg tingginya, Carrefour nya, budi bahasa yg 'sopan' nya (mmg 2x5 lah Spain ni dgn negara terchenta ku, x payah beratur di mana2, main tolak aje, haa.. ni lah masanya nak tunjuk skill Malaysia kita tuh dan driver diorg jg x mempdeulikan zebra crossings utk pedestrian, ada berani kalu silalah cross, x mcm kat UK <--- ini bkn kutukan, just facts obtained from private observation). Tinggal org nya dan bahasa nya je lain mcm....


Alhamdulillah, finally at around 1 am baru la check in kat Residencia Melon District. Ini sbnarnya student accommodation, but for the summer diorg cuti, so byk bilik kosong. For 60 Euro a night dpt lah bilik with double bed, a desk, internet, ensuit toilet, aircond, TV, and the use of shared kitchen and common room. Sgt2 not bad, tp mmg kecik tekkk la kalo nak dicompare dgn mana2 hotel di Msia. Untungnya dkt dgn tram station and Metro. Ada jg roof top swimming pool, tp kenapa ye kita ngak cekidaut Che Fadh? Tu la alamatnya dah berumur, x de masa nak melagha.


Masuk2 bilik cari kettle x ada. Rupanya mmg kat Spain diorg x sediakan kettle eh. Kat kitchen pon x de. We later found out that they expected all guests to rebus air pakai microwave. Tu yg everyday mesti spend at least 2-3 Euros beli air mineral botol besar (sbb mcm x konfiden je nak minum air microwaved). On the first night tu, nasib baik la ada snack and drink machine kat bawah, bole la minum sebotol seorg air, tu pon terkial2 x tau air apa yg dibeli sbb x reti Spanish. A lot of good taking French GCSE paper and scoring all A's in my 4 semesters of language option at Uni did to me then huh?

Ok lah, time's up. Gotta go. Nanti sambung cerita ok... The best is yet to come, tunggu! ;P