Courage

Laying there in the clinic, not quite sure what the doctor's diagnosis meant for the near future, a flood of questions raced through my mind. Was I ever going to get better? Was I going to have to give up on my journey and go home? Was I going to let myself and everyone else down? Was I going to be in this much pain for a long time?

The view of the south of France from the train

It was as if the doctor could see the distress written all over my face and he could read the thoughts going through my head. He placed his hand on my shoulder, looked down at me, and said "Courage. Courage." And although this doctor didn't speak much English, that was one French word that I heard loud and clear. 

You see, ending up in a doctor's office in Switzerland wasn't exactly in my plans for my month long backpacking tour through Europe. When I first arrived in Switzerland, I thought that I was just exhausted from all of traveling I had done over the past two days.  

My one night in Nice

From Barcelona, I traveled 14 hours to Nice, France.  Although I really can't say much about Nice because I literally only spent 13 hours there.  I saw most of the south of France from the train. Really, the only thing that made it all worth it was the amazing hostel that I stayed in that night.  I had the room all to myself, an extremely comfortable bed, top notch security, and a private bathroom.

View of the Swiss Alps from Ed's grandparent's

After my one night in Nice, I left the next morning to meet up with Ed at his grandparent's house in Anzere, Switzerland.  I had so many setbacks along the way including being told that I wasn't going to make it to Switzerland that day, begging and crying to a conductor to let me on a train, and one of my trains breaking down in the middle of no where France.  All of this completely by myself.  I had never been so relieved to see another person as I was when I got off the train and saw Ed waiting for me at the Geneva train station.

The myriad of medicines that I had t take

Little did I know, it wasn't just exhaustion and stress that was making me feel not myself.  That night, I started having the worst pain in my stomach that I had ever felt.  I was getting sick at least once every hour during the night, having both sweats and chills, running a fever, and feeling pain literally all over my body. This went on for three days straight.  I was so weak from not being able to keep food in my stomach that I could barely move.

Ed and his grandparents did all that they could to help me and try to nurse me back to health, but it really was just out of our hands.  We were finally able to find a doctor in town that would see me, only to discover that I had a nasty stomach infection.  The lucky part was that it was bacterial so it could be treated by some antibiotics, a strict diet, and a lot of rest.

I didn't last long without having to rest :(

As you can imagine, this really didn't fit into my plans of going to Italy the next day. As much as I tried to convince myself that I was well enough to travel again, I knew deep down that I wasn't and I probably wouldn't be for awhile. So I made the decision to come back to England and allow myself to fully recover, despite how disappointed that I may feel.

So when it all comes down to it, I really have learned from this experience. Sometimes life doesn't go how you planned it. But those are the times that you have to trust that the Lord's plan is better than anything you could have thought of yourself. Where you are right now is exactly where you are supposed to be. It's not about the places you travel or the things you see, it's about the people you have by your side.

So incredibly blessed to have this boy in my life

I am so incredibly blessed that if this was going to happen, that it happened when it did.  The amount of love and kindness that Ed and his family have shown me is simply incredible to me.  And now that I am back in England, my mom is going to fly out here to spend Easter with me.  So although it seemed really bad at the time, I know that there is a positive side to everything. All you need is courage to find it. 

An "Ah-Ha!" Moment

Have you ever had one of those moments where all of the sudden something totally clicks and makes SO much sense? Maybe it's something you have never thought about before or maybe somethihng that you knew but never understood why.  But if there was a figurative lightbulb in the room, it would turn on the instant that you experience that "ah-ha!" moment? Well I had exactly that kind of moment this weekend in Barcelona, Spain.

Sagrada Familia

Barcelona is the home of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi and dozens of his most well know works.  His buildings are so outlandish and beyond anything conventional that the word "gaudy" descneded from the design of his work.  Gaudi...guady...get it?! Lightbulb, I know.

The altar in Sagrada Familia

When I saw Gaudi's most famous building, Sagrada Familia, it all made so much sense to me.  I have seen alot of churches and cathedrals during my time here in Europe, but absolutely nothing like that.  Gaudi was one strange guy, but genius nonetheless.

Outside Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia is actually still under construction, just as it has been for the past 100 years.  But I am keen to see what it looks like in 2020 when it will supposidely be completed.

Visiting Sagrada Familia and all of the other achritecture in Barcelona was just a small part of my trip to the Catalan region of Spain.  The best way I can describe the rest can be summed up in one word...walking. And a lot of it.  We estimated that we walked nearly 12 miles each day we were there, not even exaggerating.

Lots of walking!

Out right night got off to a pretty late start since Nathan's bag got lost sometime during his flight from London (he got it back the next day though, no worries!)  We ended up spending far too much time in our eerie quiet hostel.  At least there were some really cool girls from Marquette staying in my room so it made the wait a little more bearable.  We had an early end to the night too after we finished dinner so that we could recover from all the traveling hassles and make the most of our first full day in Barcelona.

Riding our air taxi up to the top of the mountain

We walked up, down, and all around that city.  I think the only times we weren't walking were when we got an air taxi up to the top of the mountain, the short time we braved the cold wind of the beach, and when we were eating.  Other than that...we were crusin'!

High up overlooking the city

But it was definitely okay with me because we got to see a ridiculous amount for one day including La Rambla, the Christopher Columbus monument, the castle on top of the mountain, the Olympic Stadium, Port Vell, the art museum, the magic fountain, and the abundance of plazas and beaches.

Olympic Stadium

Thanks to our hometown hero, Joel, we didn't do as much walking the next day but we definitely saw just as much.  Joel studies with us in Reading but is from Barcelona so he showed us a whole different side of the city that we never would have done on our own.

The most delicious juice I have ever tasted

Joel took us to the coolest market I have ever seen.  There was absolutely everything you could want to eat, all in one place!

Loving the beach

He also took us down to back streets to the docks of Port Vell, to relax on the beach for a while, through the narrow streets of the Barcenoleta neighborhood, and to important Catalan buildings like the cathedral, Parliament, and the Arc de Triomf.  I loved getting to see both sides of Barcelona, the tourist side and the authentic side.

This is my new friend, Tommy....

And I definitely can't forget to mention how delicious the food was.  I discovered that one of my favorite dishes is the Spanish tortilla which is a mix of egg, potato, onion, and seasoning.  Boy, I am sure going to miss those! I also had some authentic Spanish paella and sangria...yummy!

Enjoying my last day in Barcelona

So I am guessing that you probably get the idea by now that I throughly enjoyed Barcelona much more than Madird.  But hey, you have to experience some of the not so great places so that you really appreciate the awesome ones!

Although it is going to be a very short stay for me, we are off to Nice, France. Goodbye beautiful Spain, Helloooo French Riviera!!

Four of Four

I know that this is probably going to make me sound like the biggest brat ever, but I have a confession to make. I really wasn't much of a fan of Madrid. I know that sounds awful because so many people would love to go there, but just something about it rubbed me the wrong way.

Retiro Park in downtown Madrid

Maybe it's because I was already spoiled from the beaches of San Sebastian, or I didn't like the big city feel, or maybe it was just the overall uncomfortable feeling that I had the whole time. Regardless of what it was, I think the Madrid was a nice place to stop while traveling from one coast of Spain to the other, but I don't think I would make a trip specifically to go there. It was more of a living and working city rather than a vacation tourist spot.

The most delicious sandwich ever

Don't get me wrong though, there were some really great parts to Madrid. It was so full of Spanish culture and history that were the hightlights of my trip.

The first thing we did after we got all settled in our new hostel was go grab some lunch. The reception guy sent us to a little cafe around the corner and said, "Get the house special...And try not to fall in love with me after you eat this sandwich." He wasn't kidding at all. I had no idea what to expect, but my "double-decker-everything-you-could-err-want" sandwich didn't disappoint.

We indulged in some more Spanish culture that night and went to a flamenco dance show. I had always heard about flamenco in my various Spanish and music classes, but it was crazy to actually see it in real life. It was amazing how talented the dancers were. They could keep perfect (and different!) rhythm with both their hands and feet, all while performing a beautiful dance at the same time.

La Almudena cathedral

Despite not getting any sleep the first night due to my beyond creepy male roommate from the Netherlands (ask me that story sometime...it's a good one), I madecit to the 3 hour walking tour the next morning. We covered alot of ground and a lot of history in 3 hours. Madrid has alot of interesting history behind it and has gone through a ton of changes, but I won't bore you with all that here!

La Plaza Mayor

After our tour, we were pretty worn out from all the walking and sun, but we decided to go to the Real Madrid soccer stadium. I really wanted to get the whole stadium tour, but it was ridiculously expensive so I just hawked at it from the outside and enjoyed looking at all the jerseys and cool stuff the official store had to offer. It was really awesome to be reminded of just how great this sport that was such a huge part of my life really is!

Real Madrid Stadium

We took a little siesta along with the rest of Madrid before heading out on a Tass tour with our hostel. They weren't as good as the pintxos that we had in San Sebastian but I had some really good drinks (including my first real spavin sangria...yummy!) and made some cool new American friends who are also studying in London!

Our new friend and us on the tapas tour

So even though it wasn't my favorite and probably the bottom of the list of the four cities that we have been to so far on this trip, Madrid wasn't all bad.

The end of the Spanish part of our trip is Barcelona which I am really looking forward to. Nathan is finally meeting up with us so it will be fun to start sharing this experience with him too!

I'm hoping for some sun tomorrow so I can finally have my day at the beach!!