Barcelona...

So obviously I haven’t been as good about updating my blog in a timely manner, but I figure better late then never! So… Barcelona…. Where to start? It was my first self-planned trip with Franny, Jessica, and Jillian and I had no idea what to expect and what little obstacles to expect, but surprisingly everything went pretty smoothly. Our flight to Barcelona was at 7 in the morning so we had to wake up extremely early to catch the bus to the airport. I should have been tired, but I wasn’t since I was so excited. Then got on my flight, arrived in Barcelona a little over an hour later, caught a taxi to the hostel (at first the driver didn’t know where it was), and then tried to check in. However, we couldn’t check in for another few hours so we decided to make good use of our time and go to the Picasso museum right around the corner. It was a little museum that led you through Picasso’s work from the young age of 5 or 6 until his later more famous works. The coolest part was seeing Picasso’s different renditions of Velazquez’s Las Meninas. Just from looking at that one painting, there were at least 30 or 40 different versions of his interpretation. Unfortunately, just as with all art museums, I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but I found these online for your viewing pleasure.Valazquez's original Las Meninas

Then we quickly checked into the hostel and continued our sightseeing in the city. The hostel had a great location so we walkedtowards the famous strip, las Ramblas, to do a little shopping and get a bite to eat. On the way, we passed the cathedral of Barcelona, which was for the most part was being renovated, and it was not even worth taking a picture of it (especially compared to the cathedral of Sevilla). Then we went to La Sagrada Familia, an amazing cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi. It is still in the process of being built, but the main part that was completed was incredible! I have never seen any cathedral like it. Very impressive… and I hope to come back one day and see it when they have more of the inside completed. There was a little museum in it, which explained a lot about Gaudi and his work and how things in nature were the models for his architecture and designs.

The front of the new side of Sagrada Familia

Stained glass windows... perfect lighting too

Inside La Sagrada Familia... still under construction :(

The back/ older part of Sagrada Familia

After that we headed back the hostel and got ready for a night out. Barcelona apparently has the best nightlife in Spain, and from what I experienced, I definitely have to agree. The club we went to the first night was insane… so nice, so many people dancing, so many people in general, great DJ with euromusic, and it was right on the beach!

The next morning we got an early start, since we knew we had no time to waste, and hopped on the metro to go to Park Güell to see some more of Gaudi’s work and his house. My favorite part of the trip by far! It was at the top of a mountain, so we had a perfect view of the city with the Mediterranean in the background. The outlook in the park was completely surrounded by these benches that all had a different mosaic design on them. Everywhere I looked, there was some sort of new crazy artwork that was always more incredible than the last thing I had seen.

"You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person."

My favorite part was the mosaic designs on the ceiling of the area underneath the outlook. I now have an obsession with Gaudi and I wish I could live in a house that he designed. I need to blow up some of the pictures I took for my room when I get back.

There was so much to look at, plus the weather was perfect, so we ended up staying there longer than we had planned, but then were forced to leave when we realized it was way past lunchtime and our stomachs wouldn’t stop growling. We also managed to squeeze in a little walk to the beach and along the harbor before we had to go back to get ready before dinner. Jessica had a friend in Barcelona, so it was really nice that he could kind of show us around and took us out at night. We unfortunately had to wake up really early on Sunday morning to catch our flight… biggest struggle ever. Franny tried to wake me up after I had turned off my alarm, and I literally hit her (and I’m usually not hard to wake up). Luckily we all finally made it to get the bus to the airport and then were on our way. It was a short trip but I felt like I got a really good taste of Barcelona and saw quite a bit of the city within those 2 days. I still can’t believe I can just take a weekend trip to all of these amazing cities. “what did you do this weekend?” “oh not much… just went to Barcelona, no big deal.” Ha I’m so lucky! Coming to Spain is definitely the best decision I’ve ever made… I continue to love it here more and more everyday. Barcelona was amazing, but I am really happy I don’t live there. It would be too big and too touristy for a whole semester. Plus they speak Catalan there, which seems to be a mix of Spanish and French, so I have no idea how people are learning Spanish there. It felt good to come “home” to Sevilla :)

More pictures here!