Wheel Chair Fun All Over Europe!!

This weekend has been by far the most interesting in the entire trip. This past Thursday we decided as a group to go to Barcelona. It was incredibly hard to find a hotel because there was a very important soccer game going and everyone was in Barcelona for it. We finally reserved a Holiday Inn Express outside of Barcelona in Molins de Rei. Friday morning I woke up about seven in the morning and took the tramp to Hector’s house in order to get him and his wheel chair to the main train station. We got on the bus and made it to the train station at about 1030. We grabbed some breakfast and rejoined our group. Our group was comprised of five girls and Hector, our resident temporarily handicapped guy. We got on to the TER train at 1130. We listened to music on the train and enjoyed seeing the sea go by. We made it to Port Bou which was the border between France and Spain. There we started reading signs in Spanish and Catalan. We passed the passport control very easily and got on the Spanish train. We took about six and a half hours to get to Barcelona and there is where the interesting wheel chair adventures begin. At the terminus stop of the Barcelona train Hector and three girls got off the train. My friend Edith was working on retrieving her suitcase while I wrestled with the wheel chair when the train door suddenly closed and the train started moving with us in it. We pushed the door open button and banged on the window, but it was useless. We were both trapped on the train going in the opposite direction along with two random backpacker guys. We eventually stopped and got off at a train station in a very shady neighborhood. I could not stop laughing because the situation was such an act of Karma because we had made fun of a group that got split up the same way we did. Eventually we made it back to the station wheel chair and all. We both decided that if our friend did not use the when chair after we had to wrestle it out of the train and up four flights of stairs, we were going to break his other foot. (We joked of course). After that we took a Taxi cab to the hotel where Hector, Edith, and I had to share a bed. It was interesting because I was the odd one out and had to sleep in the middle. It was interesting in every way that you look at it. The next morning after we helped Hector with his cast, we ate breakfast and decided to go to the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. We arrived and I was in awe of the beauty of the unfinished work. We went into the cathedral and were able to get a discount because of Hector’s wheel chair. After that we pretty much rolled Hector around the entire city, the Ramblas, the open air market, and by the street performers. After that day we became masters at carrying the wheel chair up and down stairs and escalators. The next day we spent at the beach. They day was interesting because of the culture shock that many people received. About twenty five percent of the women at the beach were topless. Many girls in our group were not used to that. I am open to it because I was born in Europe and that is part of my culture. In any case, we also had to use the wheel chair on the sand and help Hector into the ocean. Overall, I really appreciate the wheelchair accessibility in the United States. The last night we spent at a youth hostel called InOUt hostel located in the mountains of Barcelona. It was very nice, but up a very steep hill which we had to push the chair. I feel like I build a lot of muscles during this trip and learned the value of friendship. All of us came together to help a friend who was very kind and appreciative of us. I loved the relationships that we built that weekend.