I say this every blog post, but I'm the worst! I literally have not updated my blog in ten days! BUT I have an excuse...I'm in Spain, enjoying myself, so who cares?! I've so so ridiculously busy over the past week and a half that I have literally not had time to sit down and write a blog post. But, the nice thing is that over the past week and a half I've been having so much fun and just enjoying life, traveling, Spain and friends. That being said...let's get to the blog!
When we left off last post I just got back from Lagos, Portugal and I think I posted that on a Monday night...OK so last week was filled with a lot of catch-up work and trying my best to get ahead on some homework so that when I left Thursday afternoon for Barcelona with Paige and Quinn I wouldn't have to do homework all weekend. It turns out that my Cervantes class is a lot of work. I remembered reading excerpts from Don Quijote in Middle or High School and thinking, this is pretty funny. I mean Don Quijote and his crazy antics, getting into trouble, Sancho trailing behind...what's not to like? Plus, two summer's ago I was in "Man of La Mancha" (A musical based on Don Quijote) at Flat Rock Playhouse...Well it turns out there's a lot more to it. While I Dale Wasserman would have included more of the content from Don Quijote into "Man of La Mancha" so I could understand the book more easily, I don't blame him. It is after all a about 1200 pages....
Anyway, that week seemed to fly by as I was so eager to get to Barcelona. Next thing I knew it was Thursday afternoon and we were in the airport frantically re-arranging our backpacks so that it fit Ryanair's crazy baggage requirement. For those of you who don't know Ryanair, it is an incredibly inexpensive airline that flies throughout Europe. The catch is that their baggage requirements are crazy (only one carry on per person, for the girls their purse has to fit within their carry on), no assigned seats, and they try to sell you stuff on the plane (Scratch cards, perfume, etc...) It was quite the experience but hey...they get you from one place to another and that is all I need!
We arrived in Barcelona and headed to our Hostel. We stayed at Urbany Hostel for two nights. I was actually kind of worried about staying in a hostel after seeing the movie "Hostel" and hearing Mary talk about some of her hostel experiences when backpacking through Europe after high school! BUT, it was surprisingly really nice. Paige, Quinn and I shared the room with two other girls from Long Island who planned to stay in London all semester. Their internship in London fell through, so they basically said "fuck it, let's travel" and are backpacking around for the semester! There was also a French-Canadian in the room with us too. Really nice, but a snorer...Good thing I got my tonsils out! I don't think anyone would want to share a room with me if I still snored! Sorry Katie....
We went out the first night and met up with Paige and Quinn's friend Gregg from Elon. I knew Gregg from my freshman year, we lived on the same floor in Smith and he was in my Elon 101 class. We had a great dinner...a little Americanized but I can't complain...good food is good food! From there we went to a club which seems like it's the typical thing to do in Barcelona. There I saw Hannah Berg and some other people from Westport and also ran into a friend of mine who I literally had not seen in maybe 6 years. CRAZY. It's amazing how small of a world we live in. The club thing wasn't really my scene but we had a lot of fun anyway and decided that the rest of the nights we kinda wanted to do something a little more relaxed.
The next day we walked around Las Ramblas which is a long street in Barcelona and huge tourist attraction. It has lots of cool little shops, street performers (the pic to the right is me helping a "genie" after she dropped her fan), people selling weird animals, AND the coolest food market. There are rows and rows of fresh food stands, from mushrooms to fish, the most amazing looking fruit to a literal pig head (not really fond of that, but you get the point.) AND LOTS OF OLIVES. We regretted our decision to eat before walking into the market because it would have been great place to try a bunch of different things. We literally could have spent hours in there but we swore to come back later in the weekend because it was time to head to the Picasso Museum! On the way, led by Paige and Quinn, we saw Gaudi's first Cathedral. Pretty damn cool.
I never fully understood Picasso until I went to the Picasso museum last Friday. The museum takes you from the start of Picasso's education as an artist to his death and you really see his progression and how he gets more and more experimental. But, you see this paintings in the first couple of rooms and you see the date they were painted and you think, no that can't be right...because some of these unbelievably complex and gorgeous pieces were painted when he was like twelve! It's mind boggling. As you move on from room to room you see his collection of blue paintings, his collection of pink paintings, and then my favorite part was this video screen that was at the end of the exhibit. It showed how Picasso took famous paintings and then interpreted them in so many different ways. The video monitor put one painting on top of another and showed how Picasso could interpret even one little section of a great, large painting, and make 4 new pieces out of it. His paintings are definitely an acquired taste... but the museum was so worth it.
The next morning we met up with Paige's parents who were staying in Barcelona! They were nice enough to let us stay in the hotel with them so we didn't have to stay in a hostel....Let's just say it was a pretty nice upgrade. The concierge made a joke to Paige and I saying "Going from a hostel to an ocean view apartment at the Ritz...not bad." NOT BAD AT ALL! I've been very lucky to have stayed in some wonderfully beautiful resorts and hotels, but this was easily the nicest. We didn't want to leave the hotel room! We just wanted to hang there all day...and we did for a couple of hours until we finally went to lunch/Las Ramblas again with Paige's family. After a great meal and catching up/meeting her parents, Paige, Quinn and I went to Park Guell garden complex designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí and built from 1900 to 1914. I find all of Gaudi's work to be so interesting. His building's are incredibly ornate and detailed. Parts of Park Guell made me feel like I was in a Dr. Seuss book!
The next day we took the Gondola up to
Montjuïc where we saw beautiful views of the city and of the Mediterranean. It was very serene and you could see the entire city! Riding up on the Gondola though made me think of skiing and got me very excited...even though I don't have any ski trips planned! I think part of the reason I was so happy in Barcelona, besides the great company, sights, city, etc... was that I ate like a king for the entire weekend. Everyone knows that I love food. But let me say it again... I love food and good thing Paige's dad went to culinary school because he knew what to order! We kept getting plate after plate, trying things I'd never tried before and I loved every second of it. Great champagne, great cheese, wine...everything. But even before we met up with Paige's parents Paige and I shared a bunch of dishes at this one restaurant and I could not have been happier... mushroom risotto, fresh pasta, artichokes, desserts...No complaints. Period.
We actually decided to stay in Barcelona an extra day... Partly because of the hotel, how amazing the shower was haha, how much fun we were having and partly because I screwed up my booking with my flight back to Seville...long story...don't want to get into it because I'm an idiot... anyway... We were so glad that we did because right before we left for the airport we went to La Sagrada Familia. It is Gaudi's master work of architecture and is a large, privately-funded Roman Catholic church that has been under construction in Barcelona since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until at least 2026. How crazy is that!? Well when you see it you understand why. It is the most ornate, elaborate piece of architecture that I have ever seen and think I will ever see. The inside just opened for public tours a couple of months ago and while you are there it is under construction. Everything he designed he designed for a reason. The beams holding up the inside, for example, look like trees and the ceiling like a sky. But some of the construction and architectural methods that he used are among the most complex of his and our time. It's not at all complete and they still have a lot of work to do, but you can just imagine what it would be like to attend a service there. Not even for the religious sense but for its sheer beauty.
After La Sagrada Familia we went back to the hotel, got our stuff, and went to the club lounge where we had champagne and ate lunch overlooking the Mediterranean. A perfect way to end our trip. I was so incredibly grateful for the generosity of Paige and her family, not to mention the wonderful company that I have found in Seville! Such fun people.
Here's a link for more pics from the weekend!
This afternoon I head to Madrid to meet Mom, Julie and Mimi who have already arrived and are ready to conquer Spain! I'm bummed that my Dad can't come, but I'm doing him proud with my adventuring, shmoozing, and loving every second of this opportunity I've been given!
Hasta que volvamos a ver!
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