MolsonGirl

Well I was hesitant to post this but I want people to learn from my experiences.

I had been in Barcelona for 2 nights with my friend in a great little hostel which is mentioned in another post but that night my travelling companion was heading back to London (he works at Meryll Lynch and couldn't get Monday off) This meant that I had to move from our private room to a hostel that had dorms... Having heard of the great Hostel Kabul I decided to make the trek at 7am to get my name on the waiting list for the day to get a bed there... the walk between my hostel and Kabul was only 6 minutes so when my alarm went off I tossed on my board shorts, t-shirt and Billabong Hoodie and headed out the door, carrying no money or anything. I was no more than 5 steps out of my door when I knew there was someone behind me on the street, and this wasn't even a small alley, it connected directly to Las Ramblas and always had shopkeepers and delivery men on it. It took about 10 meters for the gui to catch up to me, I slowed down slightly hoping that he would just blow past me... no luck. Next thing I knew he was right beside me asking me all sorts of questions, I just kept my head down saying no thanks, and slyly looking for escape routes or people I could run to incase he tried anything. He was asking things like my name, if I spoke spanish and if I was travelling alone. He didn't smell drunk which actually made me more frightened cause that meant it was going to be harder to blow him off.. after a block or two he reached out to either touch my shoulder or my hair (wasn't gonna wait around to find out which) ... I slapped his hand away and told him to never touch me again. With that he became enfuriated... he started going off on a rant "Ohhh you stupid american slut ( I suppose he's never me a Canadian LOL) I have a girlfriend here who's better than you, why don't you go home and sell yourself like the cheap whore you are" at that point he spat on me. This is when I decided that perhaps if I showed him I was strong and not hungover like every other person normally on the street at that time he might leave me alone... I yelled back at him explaining that if he touched me or said another word I would make him regret it.. We all make choices in life, this one... i may have chose wrong... He went balistic on me.. grabbing my arms and pulling me around. No joke I thought I was gonna have to fight him to to be raped or killed ( as I know I had no money on me) I kept yelling and pushing him off me... as I continued to look for ways out of this jam I noticed two police men walking towards us... and i stopped fighting and looked at them... My attacker did the same... as soon as he let go I ran over to the officers and stood by them saying "ayuda me" (help me in Spanish) my attacker walked off.. and the officers walked me to and from Kabul and made sure I was ok. other than that they didn't do anything to the attacker, I suppose cause they know it happens often and as long as I was safe was that all they felt needed to be done.

I suppose the purpose of this post is to warn females not to walk around Barcelona alone in the early hours of the morning... and I'm not talking 3 or 4 cause everyone is still in the streets partying at that time. I'm talking about 6-8 am when people know that everyone is either drunk or hungover and vulnerable and nobody but the locals are on the streets. My attacker probably assumed I was an easy target. Female, alone, tired, possibly drunk or hungover (luckily I was not) Apart from that 15-20 mins I had an amazing time in Barcelona, no pickpockets... friendly people... amazing sunshine... so please go and visit (especially the zoo they have great dolphins) But just take extra caution when walking in the early hours of the morning!

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