Fragment #60 - Barcelona

We landed yesterday night in Barcelona. This morning we left the hostel at ten, after a nice breakfast of tea, toasts, butter and jam, and croissants - France isn’t so far away -. It’s been ages since I last slept at a youth hostel, and it feels refreshing. I feel free from my heavy adult life. No work, no shrink, no bills, for the next two weeks… It feels like a dream. Like one of those dreams I had of being on the road, of flying far away from the routine life. They come true, at least for a few days. I am lucky enough to be able to make this come true. It’s nice, once in a while, to feel in control of my life.
We are going to the city center by tram. I want to see the Sagrada family and the Casa Mila, I think Sarah is interested in looking for a restaurant for lunch, and Jack is willing to ask for the best bookshops in town. Sean is just enjoying his first visit ever to Spain, as he never left the USA before this year in Glasgow. I am sitting facing Sean and Sarah, looking closely at a city center map, their head close to each other. They are so cute. They are wearing jackets, and underneath Sean is just wearing a long sleeves t-shirt and jeans, and Sarah too. Holidays and summer clothes: it feels weird to us Scottish people, but it feels great. It feels like true holidays. I think I won’t miss the winter snow I usually had for Christmas in France: this is unusual and releasing tensions. I think Jack, day-dreaming next to me, is feeling the same way: he had a hard time at university, finishing his essays in time for the holidays. It feels good to be with them three and not feeling uncomfortable: they are roommates after all, Sarah and Sean had been together for almost three months now, I could feel like I don’t belong to this group: feeling alien is something I do really easily. But not this time: I guess I had too much pizza watching the Simpsons at their place. It’s comforting that they took me on holidays with them: I was dreading that having me around that much was only pity because I was depressed. But that doesn't seem to be sympathy, after all.
Sarah takes a city guide out of her hand bag, and obviously looks at the restaurants page. For her, holidays are about sleeping, eating and chilling out in pubs. She wants to find the best places in town to do so. How right she is.