Spring Break Part 2: Barcelona

The next day, we met up with Tiara, Annie, and Caitlin's best friend who studies in Barcelona: Natalie. 

It was really good to see them together because I feel like it let me know Caitlin a little better. 

The first thing we did was go out to eat. I was excited to eat some authentic Spanish food! The sangria was to die for. It was also extremely strong. I kind of had to chug water during lunch because I felt like I took about three shots. I am pretty sure I wasn't the only one though. 

After that we went to Starbucks. I know that is super random and very American of me, but I had to do it. I hadn't been able to have it in months. 

From there Natalie showed us around. We took the metro to the beach. The metro reminded me of the one in Washington D.C.- just more trams and much bigger. The set up was somewhat the same though. 

The beach was very pretty. I hadn't seen one in so long, it was weird to be by a tropical like beach on the coast of Spain all of a sudden. It was also weird because it looked like an average beach to me. Not necessarily on the Stoney Beach level, but it was a very small coast, and felt a bit like Lake St. Clair. =X

Alex Caitlin Annie and I

Seeing that it was St. Patricks Day- we all stopped at an Irish Pub to drink some Guinness and get awesome leprechaun hats which I preceded to rock the rest of the day. 

From that point we went back to the hostel to get ready for the night. The walls in our hostel were covered in weird cartoon characters that were entirely too entertaining for us. 

  

That night we went to my first ever European football game! (Lisa Harris when I got the tickets I thought about how much you would love this). Yes we went to see the FCBarcelona Team! It was very exciting. It was a lot different than I thought it would be too. The fans are very serious during the game. They are sitting the entire time and very quite unless something good or bad happens. It is definitely not like the American sporting events. Beer was not needed- which was a new concept for me. 

The game was a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am so happy I got to do that with my friends. 

After we got back to the hostel, we had a beer at the bar which was having a celebration, but we were all so tired so we went to bed a bit early that night. 

The next day was my favorite day in Barcelona. 

We walked everywhere! I am not sure if you can tell, but to me Barcelona was a very modern city. I didn't really feel like I was in Spain until we went up to the skyline and I saw it from above the city. It was so warm and sunny thought- I loved the weather and it was such a nice change. 

for lunch we actually went to a Greek place. I figured I was not going to make it out there this semester so I was pretty happy about this decision. I got a little wild and had grape leaves for the first time. They were INCREDIBLE. Love them. I also got saginaki- something that none of my friends had heard of? I was excited for them to see the cheese aflame and the "OPA!" presentation. I am sad to say that there was none of that. Not even a little flame. I just got a large block of cheese. It was less than thrilling, yet still good. 

Later on we went to see the Sagrada Familia. This is a church that they have been trying to build for 100 years now and it will not be done until 2018. It was nuts! It looked like a sculpture made out of melted candle wax. I can only imagine what it will look like when it is done. 

The main architect in Barcelona was named Gaudi. He is known for this church, Park Guell, and mosaics. His creations are so obscure and loud. I love how different they are from everything else. I asked a few people, and I am still unsure of the answer, but I wonder if that is where the term "gaudi" is derived from. It would make sense seeing what his designs look like.

The Park Guell was my favorite hands down. We climbed to the top and saw the whole skyline.

 I was on top of the world. 

I could not take enough pictures of this. It was insanely windy up there- Annie and I had to hold onto each other for dear life so we didn't fall off the cliff.

Please note the man who looks like Billy the Exterminator. He was up at the highest point just playing his awful music and growing at people. It was the weirdest most disturbing thing I have seen in a while. It was hilarious at the same time. 

After the long hike back down the park, we got to head to the oldest part of Barcelona. This was the Gothic part and it was my favorite. There was good food, good shopping, and best of all, good chocolate!

GARGOYLES

We spent the majority of our night here. We got to go to a chocolate museum which was really cool to see. The ticket was literally a dark chocolate bar. I felt like I was Charlie from Willie Wonka and I had found the golden ticket. Mine was gone by the time we got to the first exhibit. =]

For dinner that night we ate Paella which is spanish rice with different things. mine had shrimp, scallops, mussels and this new thing called conc.

 Conc: the inside creature living in those spiral shells you put up to your ear to hear the ocean. 

First of all, I had NO IDEA something lived in that other than the occasional fish or something. Secondly, I find the word hilarious. Thirdly, if you are wondering what it looks like, it resembles the shell it lived in exactly. It basically looks like that shell but in soft edible form. 

mind.blown.

Anyway, it was amazing - I am the only one it did not make sick so I think I am the only one who would eat it again.

That night we went attempted to go to a club. Barcelona is so big that we had to take a taxi there only to find out there was a 15 euro cover. So we went to another club which was 20 euros. THEN we went to a third one on the beach which was free, yet had expensive drinks, creepy men and awful music. Somehow we still had fun. It was interesting to say the least.

The next day it was just me and Caitlin as Annie, Tiara, and Alex went jet sailing to Paris. 

They had a fabulous time saw fabulous scenes and ate fabulous food. It was also ridiculously expensive.

Caitlin and I stayed and did our shopping. We explored a little more then headed out for the second half of our adventures to the location of...