So I know I just posted about Barcelona a week ago...
...and I didn't originally plan to go back, but I didn't feel like I got enough time there, so I made the last minute decision to go back there with the group instead of going to Valencia. Let me just say, it was so worth it. Barcelona is an incredible city and if you ever get the chance to go, you must. I didn't say all this when I posted about it the first time, but it is somewhere I have wanted to go since studying it in high school, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.
The weekend was even more special since Ben came to visit me. Not totally crazy since he works for Delta and can fly for verrrry inexpensively, but I still am pretty thrilled that he was willing to fly 9 hours just to see me for a weekend. He could not possibly have been a better sport about everything, including jet-lag, lack of sleep, the weird late night schedule that they keep in Spain, 35,000 steps of walking on Friday, and tagging along with my group to various activities.
I can't say I mind that first my family and then my boyfriend decided to come to Barcelona to spend time with me (though I'm sure seeing the city was also a strong motive, I like to think I had something to do with it too). That city holds some pretty good memories for me now, and not just from sightseeing with my group like I will for the next few weekends, though that will be special too. There's something special about getting to share your experiences with your family. Speaking of which, it's also pretty special that I get to share this blog with all of you guys, and that you actually take the time to read it, comment on it, and notice when it disappears for a while because I'm busy. Basically, I'm pretty lucky to have such great people in my life. <3
Anyways, back to the actual trip. We left Thursday night for the MOST uncomfortable overnight bus ride, though of course I still managed to sleep as always. I was lucky. The others had a less easy time sleeping on the road. We got there, freshened up a bit, and went to get breakfast. Then we checked in, and I waited for Ben to get there from the airport. We explored a little bit down the Ramblas and around the area of where I stayed with my family, right by the Cathedral, before meeting up with the group. Then, we walked around on a self guided tour led by Mandy, and saw all kinds of things in the Gothic quarter, including some super cool Roman columns, a temple, and some historical buildings. Soon enough though, it was time for lunch, and afterwards we went to Sagrada Familia.
I went up into the Nativity tower and the view was astounding. If you don't know, Sagrada Familia is Gaudi's still unfinished masterpiece. Nativity is the only finished tower I believe.
I'm not gonna lie, this was an emotional experience for me. I have wanted to see this forever and it did not disappoint.
Next up, more walking. I am pretty sure we just went everywhere. We got home from Sagrada and only rested a little before walking all the way down Gran Via to get a bathing suit for Ben who forgot one. We passed la Perdrera and Casa Batlo as well as some other cool Gaudi architecture. When we finally got that done, we were to tired for much else other than dinner and some down time before the evening's adventures. The evening's adventures in this case involved a very fun club by the beach called Opium. It was crowded and busy but the music was good, lights were flashing, and the whole right by the beach thing really added a lot to it. We didn't make it home until about 4 am when I was just simply too tired to stay out any longer. It was so much fun to be together with all my friends, in Barcelona, dancing and enjoying ourselves.
Saturday
Since we walked 35,000 steps on Friday, me and Ben planned for Saturday to be a bit more relaxed. I also split off from the group with Ben to go to Poble Espanyol, an open air museum of architecture, shops, and food representing different parts of Spain. This wasn't in the other group's plans, since they wanted to climb Montjuic, and I wasn't really in the mood to climb things with the blisters on the bottom of my feet. We took the metro over to the Poble, which is right by the MNAC (seen below).
The museum was a little bit cheesy, but if you know me you know I don't necessarily mind cheesy things. I loved seeing all the buildings and miniatures towers, statues, etc., and going in shops like a glassblowing shop and one where they were selling chocolate, infused olive oil, sauces, sangrias, and salts. I got myself a bar of turron, which was fantastic.
Also, I actually got to see some parrots flying around, which I didn't see last time and was very disappointed about.
Outside the Museums, there was a motorcycle thing going on, so we ate some of the food they were selling there and walked through a little bit. It was pretty fun and unexpected. They had a band playing classic rock in Spanish, lots of food, lots of motorcycles, lots of leather, and lots of people.
After that we went back to Parc Guell, but we walked through from the wrong end of the park which turns out to be much larger than I thought. We could see the inside of the paid part from above, so we decided to not pay and go in. It was neat to see a different perspective, but it was more walking than we bargained for. Therefore, after that we went home, and on the way we bought cheap towels. We got home, grabbed our bathing suits, and headed to the beach! The sun was not down yet at 8:00 when we got there since it doesn't set till ten, but it was a bit too cool to go in the water, so we just stayed on the sand and relaxed for a while, then ate lunch near the beach before going back and getting ready for the Tove Lo concert.
Tove Lo was pretty good, but the concert was from 1 - 4 am so I was pretty exhausted. Sin embargo, it was a fun night. We got right up to the front, and everybody was so loud and excited that my ears were ringing for an hour after we got home. It was the least expensive concert other than the free Imagine Dragons a while back that I have ever been too, and it's cool because she's somebody that people actually know in America, not just a random artist.
I slept till noon on Sunday then got up and went to the Ciutadella Park and then the beach again.
It was a very relaxed day because at 6 we had to go back and get our luggage and leave. The train ride was much nicer than the bus ride there, and we definitely maximized our stay because we left at the last possible time to get home before midnight. I slept like a baby Sunday night, and still could barely get up for class the next day despite the full 8 hours of sleep I got. Luckily we went back to the Reina Sofia Museum yesterday, which I had already seen.
Reina Sofia and Churros
At the museum, I saw all the same things I saw with my family, but I walked around with our guide from the international house and she looked things up on her phone (she's a professor, not a museum tour guide) and we figured out some of the paintings together (or at least tried to). She feels about the same way I do about Picasso, which is, confused, but the Dali paintings were a bit more fun.
Today I am rather sick, luckily with a head cold and not a stomach thing. It may just be from allergies or from the salt water at the beach, but I stayed home from the excursion after class, which was the stadium. I'm sure it would have been very cool, but I wanted to rest and I'm not really a soccer person anyways. After dinner, I felt a tiny bit better and decided that I needed some dessert to cheer myself up, so Mandy and I walked to get churros and chocolate and San Gines. We ate up the churros then ate the chocolate sauce with a spoon. I'm glad she shares my beliefs on the important things in life like dessert.
This is my last week in Madrid, then we pack up for Granada. Tomorrow I have essay number 2 due and a short test in our guest professor's class (which he actually told us not to study for). Thursday we have our main test, and then a Flamenco lesson. This weekend we head to Pamplona for San Fermin (I'm not going to actually run with the bulls, nobody worry, I don't want to get gored) and then back on Sunday to go to Granada and meet our host families and the professor for the second class. I can't believe how fast this has all gone.
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