Livin' la vida loca: Barcelona edition

For our third excursion of the epic semester abroad, Emily and I ventured down to the Mediterranean coast of Spain, in Barcelona!  Being a Spanish major, I was extremely excited to have a chance to test out my Spanish speaking skills with some locals, among other aspects of this trip we had to look forward to.  Usually in the Spanish classes I've taken back home throughout high school and college we've learned mostly about Mexican and South American language and culture.  This being said, I wasn't exactly sure of what "touristy" things Barcelona was going to have to offer.  I knew little of the history or even location within Spain, so when our plane landed literally in the mountains a red flag flew up...

We have been booking our flights through Ryan Air, an airline known for being very cheap, and also for charging you for every extra piece of lint you bring on the plane with you.  A minor downside to flying with Ryan Air is that we have to travel about 2 hours in total just to get to the airport the airline flies out of in the Netherlands.  For our trip to Dublin it took longer to get to the airport than it did to get to Ireland.  Anyway, sometimes (in Barcelona for instance) there are multiple airports to choose to arrive in.  So, knowing nothing about Spain or it's geography really, we naturally chose whichever flight was cheapest and ended up in what appeared to be a ghost town.  When we got off the plane we walked straight through the airport, didn't go through customs, didn't get our passports checked, and didn't have a clue where we were.  All we did know was that we were not in Barcelona.  We were in a city called Girona, about 75 minutes by bus outside of our destination.  After discovering that a cab to our hostel from the airport would be 135 Euros, we opted for the hour and fifteen minute bus ride through the mountains of Girona.

Once we arrived at the Lullaby Gardens hostel, we checked in, freshened up, and then ventured out into the city.  We had a group of friends from Butler, who are studying in Alcala, Spain this semester, who would also be in Barca for the weekend, so our plan was to eventually meet up with them to go out later Friday night.  As we walked the streets we became super confused.  There were no restaurants.  None.  No shops, no people, no nothing.  We had a little map that we used to find the general location of our friends' hotel, and then from there we eventually stopped at a "Café" where we ordered some authentic Spanish food, and a pitcher of handmade sangria.  Yum!

I had steak and eggs haha

 After dinner we met up with our fellow Bulldogs and went to a couple of bars, one was a Wall Street theme, and the other Chupitos.  At the first destination, all of the drinks were listed on a stock exchange menu, and depending on the trends of who was ordering what, the prices of the drinks went up or down.  It was a really neat concept, and every 15 minutes or so there would be a "Stock Market Crash" and all the drinks would go down drastically in price, an excellent marketing strategy.  We enjoyed a few drinks here and then headed to Chupitos, which means "shots" in Spanish.  Here they have hundreds of different kinds of shots to choose from, each only 2 euros (a price unheard of in Amsterdam).  They weren't very strong at all, but we tried one that involved roasting a marshmallow called "The Boy Scout" and one called the "Harry Potter" which also included some fire...

The Friday night crew

You can't see it here, but they put an orange slice on top of each glass, loaded it with sugar, and then lit it on fire, caramelizing the orange.  It was delicious!

 After turning in to our hostel around 1 or 2, early for Spaniards, Emily and I went off to bed eager to spend Saturday sight seeing and at the beach with our friends!  The weather was absolutely amazing, it was in the low 80's all weekend.  This temperate forecast mixed with the palm trees made it feel like we were on Spring Break, like we were on vacation.  It was AWESOME.  Saturday we spent the day going to an extremely crowded market, discovering the downtown "Ramblas" area, and finally reaching our ultimate destination: The Beach.  That's right folks, this weekend I went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, WITH I might add, tons of not so tiny fish.  Which if you know me, you know I'm not the biggest fan of large bodies of water, especially not those with fish.  But the crystal water cleared my mind and I just relaxed the afternoon away with salt in my hair and sand between my toes.

My first European Starbucks really hit the spot

Emily, Hayley, and I relaxing on the beach

We had to have sangria for the long walk back to the hostel, in retrospect I think it definitely inhibited my navigation abilities... but it was delicious!

Encants Vells market where we bought some presents for folks back home :)

Beautiful fountain in the park we found by accident

Looks like a stinkin' postcard!

After the beach, we headed back to Lullaby Gardens to shower and take a small siesta before dinner.  We had our first tapas experience Saturday evening.  Now by evening I'm talking about around 9 PM.  Everything seems to happen much later in Spain, than in the States for sure.  I think it's because of the 2-3 hour planned siesta that takes place every afternoon, and this must also be the reason the Spaniards can stay out so late!  Saturday night we hit the beach again and didn't make it home until nearly 5 AM.  What a night :)

Teriyaki Chicken, Risotto, and Sangria at dinner

Our group for the evening :)

Ice Barcelona

After our early (early) morning swim in the Mediterranean Sea

We groggily got out of bed around 10:30 Sunday morning, and quickly got ourselves ready for another day full of sight seeing.  On our list was La Sagrada Familia, a historically beautiful cathedral, and the Park Guell, an area with loads of incredible architecture and art by Gaudí.  When we arrived to La Sagrada Familia we were instantly let down.  Not at the sight, of course, but at the line.  Holy Cow.  We were gonna be waiting all day.  After about 15 minutes I crossed the street to grab a Coke from McDonald's, but before I could even make it through that line, Em called saying she was at the ticket station and that I needed to hurry back!  Phew!  We got our tickets and entered what was probably the most exquisite building I have ever set my eyes on.  First of all it was nice and cool inside, a major plus, but even though there were hundreds of people meandering around the cathedral, it was still eerily quiet.  It was so cool just to look up at the ceiling and just take in all the stained glass, sculptures, and history held inside this famous place.  Then, when we went outside to the other side of La Sagrada, my mind was blown again.  It is so hard to fathom how on earth, one, that someone had the creativity to come up with this plan, and two, that they physically could make it happen.  The only way I can do it justice is describing through photos.

La Sagrada from afar

On the wall just before entering

BAM! Look at that stained glass, breathtaking.

View from looking straight up

Like really?  This was not real life.

Each part of the cathedral has meaning behind it, the 18 towers each represent Biblical characters, there are Nativity scenes depicted all over the outside architecture, and underneath is a museum devoted to the creation and building of La Sagrada Familia.  All I have to say is that this Gaudí guy, yeah he's a genius.

After leaving, we headed what seemed to be 100 miles uphill at approximately a 89 degree angle trying to find this "Park Guell".  We were so tired, and it was so hot out, we were cracking jokes and just absolutely dying the entire walk until we struck gold.  Park Guell was incredible.  Where there weren't intricate sculptures made of rainbowrific mosaic, there were live bands playing, mountains to climb, and sculptures to gape at.  At one point in our afternoon of discovery we had to take a water break and laid down on a bench for a while.  And of course we had to take a sangria break before heading back home :)

Can you spot me!?

You can't really see the exquisite colors very well here, but it was incredible

On top of Barcelona

Water break, much needed.

I spy with my little eye... a Jessie!

Gaudí lizard

After the trek back to Lullaby I took a much needed shower, and we headed out for one last Spanish meal.  We had paella, a traditional Spanish dish of saffron rice, seafood, peas, and other mixin's.  Even though I think some of the shell fish might have still been swimmers, it was delicious.  We chased it down with, you guessed it... and had a delicious dessert, all for just 63 Euros!  I about pee'd my pants!  But hey, the motto of the weekend was YOBO (You're Only in Barca Once) so we laughed it off and went back to the hostel for a whopping 2 hours of sleep before an 8 hour non-stop travel back to Amsterdam.

Enough paella to feed a family of 12, don't worry, we didn't finish all of it!

Literally, best chocolate anything I've ever eaten.

Making it home around 11 AM I luckily have no classes on Monday so I was able to take a lengthy nap, while poor Emily did have 4 hours of class in the evening.  Her roommate made us traditional Chinese Beef Curry for dinner in exchange for a paper of hers we helped proofread the week before, and we shared laughs and stories of our adventure filled weekend.

Yesterday being my long day of class anyway, was very stressful.  I got some new information about classes and credits transferring that came as an unpleasant surprise, and was still so exhausted from our weekend that when it was time for bed I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.  Not before I had time to Skype some wonderful friends back home, and hear all about the formal with my sorority I had missed (which it turns out I didn't really miss out on anything, surprise surprise :)).

While yesterday wasn't the best day ever, I wouldn't trade the memories made this weekend for anything, and am excited to say that a few of the friends we visited with this weekend will be taking a trip to Amsterdam in late November!  It will be a great opportunity to get to show off our city and share some more time abroad with people from home.  It's always a nice refresher for me to meet people from America, whether I know them or not, just to have some really common ground with someone.  Not just to share the differences and struggles, but also to learn more about the many places in my home country that I still have yet to visit.  Each day is a surprise, and everything happens for a reason, I'm just trying to sit back, relax, and be thankful for the times I have had, and the ones yet to come.

Love from Amsterdam, xoxo