There's always prostitution...

This past week, I got a little taste of home, as my roommate at KU, Kelly, came to visit me in Santiago. Kelly's studying in Ireland, at the university in Cork, and had a month off for "studying" before finals, AKA a month solid of traveling. I was her last stop on the way home. Needless to say, she was a little weary of sight seeing, causing me to constantly remind her "KEL! Camera OUT!" Kelly had the joy of staying at Hotel Allison, my comfy hardwood floor with a sleeping bag.

About halfway into her stay, we were discussing how she was going to get home, as she had not booked that yet. Her roommates at Cork were going to be in Barcelona that weekend, she found a cheap flight out, that combined with her flight from Santiago would equal flying straight there. I had never been to Barcelona, and wasn't going to have a chance to go before leaving for the States. So, before I knew it, I was heading to Barcelona for the weekend, booking my flight 2 days before I left. God bless RyanAir, worst airline in the world, but the cheapest around...

I loved Barcelona. The city was so alive, although there were a few too many American frat boys for my taste. Kelly and I were surrounded one day at the beach by a huge group of loud, high American frat boys. Then, we heard them yelling about KU. And noticed their KU apparel. We fled, literally, before they could realize that we went to KU, and, yes, we ARE in sororities. The world can be too small sometimes.

The weather was amazing, hot enough for the beach in swimsuits. We would sight-see in the mornings, then pack a picnic and go to the beach in the afternoons. I went to see "La Sagrada Familia", a cathedral designed by Gaudi, but still under construction. We also went to a fountain show at the Catalunyan art museum, where they timed their huge fountains to booming classical music, sort of like a fireworks show.

Barcelona is famous for its night life, but what I wasn't warned about was the incredible amount of prostitutes! Kelly, her friends and I were out at a bar one night and were talking to 2 nice English guys. They commented on the scary amount of prostitutes, shuddering about being cornered in a dark alley by a particularly aggressive one who wouldn't take no for an answer. Being girls, we had never been hit up by prostitutes, and therefore had never noticed them. We decided to make them prove this.

We sent out one of the guys, a skinny beanpole of a guy, Darren, as our bait. The rest of the group lagged behind as we walked through the shopping/eating district, abandoning Darren by himself, throwing panicked looks over his shoulder, the scared antelope with the lions closing in. He had been out solo for less than 30 seconds when a woman walked up to him, grabbed his arm and started telling him how much she cost. Darren frantically began gesturing towards us, spluttering out lies, "My girlfriend!! My girlfriend's here!!" We reluctantly sent Kelly to save him, although it was quite a show.

It's nice to know that, although my career is sort of uncertain at the moment for lack of internships, there is one business for women that is booming. I'll just move to Barcelona!

I come home in 3 weeks, which is entirely too surreal. I don't feel like I've been here for a very long amount of time at all, but I am very excited for US food: chicken fingers, burgers that look like there's a good chance they actually came from a cow, Mexican, Chinese take-out, Italian...I HAVE TO STOP.

Until later...