Wow what a long day. I left Toronto around 7pm for a 7 hour and 50 minute plane ride to Barcelona. It was one of those older crappier planes with no tv in front of you. That was fine, I had Tucker Max to keep me company for a while. And Kl, I know what kinda jokes you're are in to now...

When I arrived at the airport in Barcelona there was some kind of protest (surprising for a European country right?) but no cops so no violence. I walked around the airport looking for a bus to take. Luckily there was just enough English for me to understand where the public transit was (I was also creepily stalking other people).

I got the hostel about 2 hours later than I expected because of a combination of delayed flight, no map, and no road signs. I dropped off my stuff, did some paper work, then the hostess went on to explain everything I should see in Barcelona. The people who run the hostel are a lot more friendly than I thought they would be. I went out to explore the neighbourhood and get lunch and guess where I went? At least I ate it in front of my fav architect's, Antoni Gaudi, Battlo house. It's the curvy house in the background.

Went to the Sagrada Familia after that, which is basically the reason I wanted to come to Barcelona in the first place. Cost me 13 euros to get in but I totally made it worth it. I think I spent a total of 2 hours walking, sitting, and leaning inside the cathedral. I promise myself I will come back when it is finished.

A little background info on the Sagrada Familia: It was a project that Gaudi spent his last 40 years constructing it. It was a cathedral began 130 years ago. It took so long due to a series of money shortages and wars that stopped its construction. It will be the largest, and in my opinion, the most unique, cathedral built in Europe when it is done. I think Gaudi was around 70 when he died. He was hit by a bus.


When I got back to the hostel I took a nap. Woke up and went to the beach where I uploaded that picture on fb. Walked around more and ate dinner at this place beside the hostel. The owner was Chinese... didn´t speak a word of English only Spanish and mandarin. So guess what language I had to speak to her in??? I got tested on my Mandarin skills in Spain and I horribly failed. She asked me a few things and I told her the only thing I am confident to say in Mandarin, "Sorry my Mandarin is really bad, I can speak Cantonese". No Cantonese. So I was forced to remember everything I learned from school and told her a few things she wanted to know. This was yesterday... I still need to find a time to catch up with today´s adventure... crap I am not gonna keep you guys updated afterall

The End

Today is my last day in Toronto. I'm finally starting to feel very anxious. And I made a video this afternoon! I must say that making a video is not my favourite thing. It's so awkward talking to myself walking down the street while holding a tablet... I guess it's better than a camera? Don't worry guys it's not another video of me and my friends having a conversation this time. Give me a break I'm still in trial mode right now. http://youtu.be/ldj7gCdC0Ek
I talk about my weekend in the vid but in case you don't wanna ever waste another 5 mins listening to my annoying voice here it is in writing:

Thursday you all should have known by now that I was hanging out with Kl and Mei. I don't think I need to recap that again.

Friday I took a tour of my future school, which actually scared me a little because the reality of having to move away is slowly creeping up on me. After the tour I walked around the area for a good hour before it was too hot and I head back to Kl's room to take a nap. Half an hour later Kl came back for lunch and we watched tv for a bit and then his friend Lisa joined us. After lunch I went out for another walk around downtown. Went to Much Music and walked down University (street? road? I don't know I'm no geographer)... you know what? This day wasn't too eventful. In short, I mingled with Kl's awesome friends, we drank, I got happy drunk, night kinda flopped at 2am because everyone was pretty tired.

Saturday came and Jessie came to see me! We went out for lunch at Congee Queen and no I didn't get the bbq pork on rice this time mom, I got it in noodles =). She then tolk me to the "Exposure Show" where I go my "loner stick". Wink wink nudge nudge. That night we predrank with Kl's flatmates til 12 and headed down to the Madison House. Awesome pub with live music and super duper crowded. That is where I got drenched in beer because of drunk dancing people with beer in a mug. But hey, I didn't care. I was too busy singing along to Sam's Town with the Pianoman.

Sunday morning Jessie came by to convince me to use one giant bag instead of two medium bags. Hope that is a good choice. At around noon Kl, Paul, Jose, and I went to Canada's Wonderland. I was tired and hungover but it was great! Not too many lineups and good weather. We met Kl's friend Amanda and her cousin there. We stayed there til closing time at 8 and I was totally exhausted.

Today, I am getting ready to leave Canada for 6 weeks and embark on a journey that will forever scar me mentally and physically. My flight is at 5:55pm tonight. Wish me luck and keep reading my future updates!

This will be my pre-trip blog. I finally got this damn thing working after a couple days of figuring out what the domain name should be. Jmakadventure... real creative. But I think it's more suitable than ANTICLIMATIC MASOCHISM! Not going to name who suggested that... Anyway I think I should recap my awesome airport experience before I get onto anything else. Hopefully it will not be a foreshadow for the rest of my trip. I'm going to write down what I wrote down during the flight in my notebook to see if the emotions can be read through it.

May 24, 2012 16:09 Central time

First trip on my own, but not first flight. Got to YVR at 8:20 to catch the 9:00 flight to Toronto. I was so rushed that I forgot to put a nametag on my luggage. Woops. As I watched the conveyor belt take it away, my heart sank. From there everything went South. I was dumb enough to opt for the electronic boarding pass where I have to use my trusty cell phone to get past the gates and board... which was running out of batteries because the worthless not-so-smart phone decided it didn't want to charge last night. Then I realized I was so worried about my phone I didn't listen to the Air Canada clerk when she told me which gate my flight was at. My heart was racing now as I thought of all the mistakes I made while lining up to pass security. Luckily, the airport is actually equipped with televisions to remind us what flight is at which gate. Silly me getting so worried. It is now 8:35 and I'm racing (well, speed walking) to my designated gate, C51 by the way, to find a large group of people crowding around it. I take it as a good sign that it is boarding late. Next I quickly found an electrical outlet to charge my phone just enough to show the flight attendant my sooo convenient electronic boarding pass. 8:45 now and everything is starting to look good. I got through the gate no problem and went to my seat, which was awesome! Lots of leg room! The only problem now was that my bag was way too big to fit in the overhead compartment. Or so I thought. I quickly took a couple things out and continued to force my bag in the compartment, crushing all innocent bystanding bags, because no way in hell am I paying for a second checked bag. I sat down and used the remaining breaths of my phone to send out a few reassuring texts, stretching the truth a little about everything going smoothly, and my phone dies. Another great thing about my seat was that there was an electrical outlet. Only my seat had it muahahaha! The flight departured at 9:30 Pacific time. I bought a rock sandwich and drank a coke while being accompanied by Sherlock Holmes and a man seated behind me who claimed to have played George of the Jungle. 4 hours later my phone sits now at a smart 87%. W. T. F. I'm throwing the phone out once we land.

Great story right? Moral of the story? Kill trees if not killing them is going to stress you out this much. Anyway I uploaded a video last night which recaps what I did when I got to Toronto. You can watch this awkward conversation at http://youtu.be/RuQud9P0iBg and if you believe I will have enough time to upload more you can subscribe. See you guys soon! If I survived the first day then the rest of the trip should be a breeze right? Awesome.