The group left early Wednesday morning for a 7 hour bus ride to Barcelona. On the way there we stopped in Zaragoza to visit the basilica there. It was interesting to be there because they had a service going on for ash Wednesday. It was funny trying to answer some of the girls’ questions about why they do it and what it means etc. The plaza the basilica was in was actually really pretty and we took some pictures on our 45 minute break.
We arrived in Barcelona at an awkward time – it was around 6pm. We all took our time getting settled in the hotel and decided to walk around for a bit to shop and find a place to eat. As we’ve traveled more and more we’ve realized that occasionally we spend too much money on food. So in preparation for this trip, we all brought our own fruits from the mercados, granola bars, and trail mix. The fruit here is incredibly cheap especially at the market in Alcala on Mondays. I can get 6 apples, 10 oranges, 4 bananas all for under 5 euros and that will last me for the week. Anyway, we went into the popular Euro stores (Mango, Zara, Blanco, and normally H&M). Then we found a pizza place where we could get a pizza for 4 euros. We finished watching “Life As We Know It” (best movie I have seen in a long time!) and went to bed fairly early.
I woke up early with Brooke and Jenny to go running and we found our way down to Las Ramblas. It was fun to point out to them where I stayed last time (which was a much better location than the hotel Antonio “hooked us up with.” I told Cynthia we would definitely be needing metro passes for the weekend.) We got ready and headed out with everyone to go on a tour to Park Guell which was fun to see a second time and the Sagrada Familia which was my favorite. Although it was the only nice day we were there, I loved the Sagrada Familia. It was named a minor basilica about a month ago and is still under construction. The planning began in 1822. The architecture of the basilica was incredible. One entrance has scenes from the New Testament sculpted all around the doors. The theme the architect played off of was nature. Inside the columns resembled trunks of trees that eventually expanded into the ceiling. The various openings in the ceiling to let light in is supposed to give off the similar effect of sun peaking through the branches of trees. I thought this idea was so unique. It was fascinating to me to watch a cathedral be under construction. I think the Sagrada Familia was definitely one of my favorites out of all I have seen because of this and also because it had a more modern feel to it because of the recent design (and the elevators).
After, we were let loose for the rest of the weekend. A group of us walked down Las Ramblas because we wanted to get to the beach as soon as possible. Some got distracted by ice cream and we went into a souvenir shop to get our awesome teal Barca jerseys. So the group ended up splitting, but nothing ever gets accomplished in a group with more than 5 people so it turned out to be fine. We stopped in a Subway to grab lunch to eat on the beach. What I learned last time is that the beach is a bit of a walk from Las Ramblas and it is quite deceiving. When you get to the end of Las Ramblas you think you’re there but you’e only at the port and you have to walk along the port for abut 25 minutes before you get to the beautiful beaches. It was a bit windy but we found ourselves a spot and took in the sun (wearing jackets though because it was definitely not that warm). There were countless vendors who came up to us and tried to sell us cover ups, coconuts, cerveza and massages. As sketchy as the last one sounds, Jenny, Carly, Alyssa and I all got 12 minute massages from this sweet Chinese lady for 3 euros. A massage…on the beach… in Barcelona – it just makes for an interesting story. When we started to get cold we walked further down the beach and found a group of guys around our age playing volleyball. Outgoing Jenny asks if we can play with them. They of course are Italian and speak little to no English or Spanish. It turns out that we were as good if not better than them at beach volleyball. We felt like we were hurting their egos so we asked, with a lot of hand signals and acting out, if they wanted to play soccer and they agreed. It was funny because apparently we were quite a hit and lots of people started watching from distances. If you ever want a fun and hard work out, definitely play soccer on the beach. It was such a blast. The Italians had more friends and they began subbing in and out. Two of the guys ripped their pants because their jeans were obviously too tight. AT around 6 we called it even and went our separate ways having learned a few Italian swears. I took the girls to the same kebab place Ashley and I got our first kebabs in Spain. It seems weird to me how that was my first weekend here abroad. It’s a strange combination of it having gone by so fast and it seeming so long ago because I have done so much since then. We figured out the metro system pretty quick to get us back to our inconveniently placed hotel. I was impressed with how much better we have gotten at figuring out transportation systems and understanding them. That’s something I’m really happy I have developed.
We met up with the rest of the girls at the hotel and had some down time, got some ice cream. I was feeling a bit tired and was ready for another night in because I was figuring out flights and all sorts of things for spring semester. However, everyone came into Carly and my room ready for a night on the town. I was surprised to see everyone excited to go while I was still in leggings and my hair in a bun – normally it’s the other way around! So I quickly got ready and all 9 of us grabbed 3 cabs down to the beach again to a club called Opium. The problem with going to a club early is that you can most likely get in for free, but then you have to wait a while for everyone to arrive and for it to be fun. I can’t decide which way is better because Kapital (in Madrid) has robbed me of 17 euros when I have gotten there between 1:30 and 2:30. At Opium, the wait wasn’t too bad. It was a much smaller club than the ones I have been to in Madrid but it was very “classy.” During the day, it’s a restaurant that has a beautiful area outside by the beach. We all sat on the couches and talked for a bit before dancing. We met some kids from Notredame and the funniest kids were from University of Arizona who grabbed Jenny, Brooke and I and asked us for an interview for their footage for a reality tv show they were starting about study abroads. They said they were planning on sending it into MTV as an idea – which is funny because I had the same idea about a week ago and thought it would be hysterical. So obviously we did the interview for “Once Abroad” and they told us to meet them at GoCar (literally go-carting around Barcelona in these yellow three-wheeled cars) at 12:30 on Friday. At first we thought it was so cool and legitimate because of the camera and everything, but as we began to think more about it, we were pretty sure we were at the end of their spring break joke. I mean, it would be pretty funny to go on spring break in Barcelona and carry around a camera saying you were getting footage for a reality show – girls would get camera happy. So anyway, we stayed for a bit and Ashley ran into our friend Jon who is studying in Madrid with us which was so random. We got back to the hotel at around 4:30 and I was so dead. We agreed to all wake up and meet at 9:30 the next morning.
As soon as my alarm went off, I knew it was going to be a bad day. My stomach hurt so bad and my head was pounding. I was almost tempted to sleep in and just meet up with everyone later but as soon as I thought about how that would play out, I knew I wouldn’t see them all day. We all got up slowly and took our time eating breakfast and getting ready. We headed to Las Ramblas again and walked around. Jenny and I actually wanted to go cart and the rest of the girls preferred not to spend their money on that so we booked it to meet our “friends” at 12:30. We wandered around looking everywhere and it turned out to be on this most random side street in Gothic Quarters. We were fifteen minutes late and when we walked in we didn’t see them – we weren’t all that surprised. We considered doing it on our own, talked to the sales person for a bit and decided to wait for a little bit to see if they would show up. Only about 2 minutes later did our U of A friends walk in the door and I just started busting out laughing – I seriously could not contain myself. Anyway, we reminisced a bit about the night and they told us they were doing the go-carts for the whole day and we couldn’t do that because we were meeting up with the other girls at the cable car. So we exchanged info because they were going to an ice bar that night which sounded sweet. Jenny and I walked around and I seriously began to not feel well at all. I actually couldn’t see straight and my stomach was killing. I toughed it out until we met up with everyone at the cable cars which was quite the process – we needed cash which we all didn’t have, we all needed to use the bathroom, we needed to walk all the way around to where the beaches were and we had to wait for quite a while. Ashley told us how her bag was stolen and she chased down the guy. Barcelona is really well known for its theft. We were told countless times by the locals to always be holding onto our bags. We finally got to the top of the cable cars (the same as like a gondala, but going over the port in Barcelona up into the hills). I made it clear I was not feeling well and was basically rambling on and on about the most random things if I was even talking at all. I’m surprised one of them didn’t punch me in the face. Thankfully there was a seat in the cable car and we crammed about 15 people into it which made for a really claustrophobic situation. But it was pretty cool. We all started laughing uncontrollably when we realized that it took us only partly up the hills. It lasted about 8 minutes. On the bright side, we got some pretty awesome views. We walked around and then went inside the hotel right at the top because it was so windy. Jenny and I split a tapa because I was feeling incredibly light-headed. It was so funny how worn out we all were from the night before. We were all so slap-happy.
When we finally got back to the hotel, I decided to stay in because I felt like I ha a fever. All the students went out to dinner with our director at the restaurant Ashley and I recommended from our first visit. I was sad I couldn’t go but it was nice to just have some down time – and watch Arthur in Spanish?
This morning we packed up and headed out and spent pretty much the entire day on the bus. I always feel so unproductive on the bus rides just listening to music because I can’t read or do much of anything without getting some motion sickness. It also would have been much better if we traveled during the night to and from Barcelona because we would have so much more time! Either way, it was a fantastic time.
This was our last major travel weekend as a big group! So crazy I can’t believe it. Time is going by way too fast. I have one month left before I’m on a plane back to the U.S. and I am slightly beside myself. I am excited to go back home and see my family and be with them but I am sad to leave all my adventures behind. It just means I’ll have to be making more of my own adventures when I get home!
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