Women's basketball travel day

Today was a travel day for the Cougar women’s basketball team. They departed on a bus from Bilbao at 10 in the morning and arrived in Barcelona at 6:30 p.m. BYU will finish its 10-day, four-game tour in Barcelona.

They are scheduled to play their final game on Monday night. BYU has won all three games it has played so far.

Barcelona, Spain (Saturday, Aug. 23, 2014)

Blog #8 
Today was a travel day for the Cougar women’s basketball team. The team left Bilbao on Saturday morningand arrived in Barcelona in the evening.

Morgan Bailey brings us up to date on the day’s events and then Kylie Maeda provides her perspective after spending a week in Spain.

Tell us about the bus ride …
Today was a traveling day … my favorite part of the trip. The bus ride was about eight hours from Bilbao to Barcelona, but it didn’t seem that long, to me anyway. We had a great group with no complainers, plus the mandatory Spaniard cigarette breaks for the bus driver every two hours, helped the trip smoothly glide by.

Tell us about the sightseeing you were able to do today … what did you see and like?
Looking outside my luxurious bus window I saw mountains for probably the first time this trip. It reminded me of home and how much I take the beauty of our happy valley mountains for granted. So that’s pretty cool! When we finally arrived in Barcelona our tour guides took us to this a main city square to scavenge for food. There are so many people in the streets of Spain and they all stare at us … Americans.

We are staying in a new hotel, what’s it like and how does it compare to the others we’ve stayed in? Which hotels do you like the best?
The new hotel we are staying is the closest resemblance to an American hotel. There’s more room, more privacy and I found one English channel on the TV, small victories! Although this is the most “American” hotel. My favorite is still the hotel in Bilbao. I don’t know why, it just is. We will see how breakfast is in the morning though. That most likely will sway the final decision.

What did you eat today? Was it hard to order what you wanted? Were you able to communicate with people?
Today for lunch we stopped at a unique restaurant/cafeteria/gas station. I had what I thought was breaded chicken but turned out to be pork and it was pretty good. I then made the poor decision to explore out of my comfort zone and I ordered these scary balls of mystery meat tossed in red sauce. First bite wasn’t bad, second bite I could tell something wasn’t right, third bite I found that the mysterious meat wasn’t for me. For dinner we went to Pans & Company, a little sandwich place. I figured sandwiches are a safe choice after my lunch experience. It was safe, it was good and I am satisfied.

Did you do any shopping or get any souvenirs?
Several of us are obsessed with a store called Pimkie. They have great clothes for very little Euros. I haven’t bought anything from there yet, but it is only a matter of time.

After a week in Spain, BYU’s Kylie Maeda gives us her perspective on her experiences so far.

Tell us about some of the things you’ve been able to do and see on the trip …
We’ve been able to do and see many different things on our trip so far. In Madrid, we were able to do a couple of walking tours and learned about the history and culture of the city.

In Bilbao we were able to experience the nightlife. We were able to see beautiful scenery in San Sebastian while also being able to enjoy the beaches.

What’s been your favorite place while sightseeing?
My favorite place sightseeing was in San Sebastian when we hiked up to see a statue. A group of us accidently came up the trail and decided to keep going. It was a workout getting to the top, but once we got there, the view was amazing. We had a bird’s eye view of the city of San Sebastian along with the beaches.

What’s your favorite food that you’ve tried so far?
My favorite food that I’ve eaten so far has been the different paella dishes. It includes rice with your choice of meat, vegetables or seafood.

What’s your favorite city so far that we’ve seen?
My favorite city so far has been San Sebastian. It was really nice to see the ocean again and be able to sit and relax on the beach.