barthelonaa

In a rush of unpacking, doing laundry (where Alyssa, when we couldn't get the washing machine doors closed, asked a nice old Italian man, "do you..slam?" - complete with "slamming" motion. HAHAHA still funny), & then packing again last week, I almost named my last post 'life in the fast lane'. Then we went to Barcelona. While our weekend could have been crazier by some people's standards, spending time with friends from home & taking in practically every inch of the beautiful Catalonian city made for a perfect & amazing weekend. Prepare for a long read; I don't think we could have fit more in if we tried. 

We woke up from what can only be considered a nap (only reoccurring theme of abroad) around 4am on Friday with a full morning of travel ahead of us. After a nice freezing & silent walk to the bus station, we took a 70 minute bus ride to Pisa for our first RyanAir experience. It really wasn't as bad as everyone has made it seem! Sure, they give you a small box that your suitcase must fit in (leading to switching around items with everyone else to make it all fit) & then proceed to herd you like cattle through a small cue, outside, & up onto the plane (regular sized, double the number of seats)... but we made it! After another bus ride from the airport to Barcelona, you could say tension was a little high, due to energy levels being very low. I made the rookie mistake of stopping for a quick latte. Let me just preface this by saying that it was 100% needed for my own sanity & I genuinely thought I was doing everyone a favor. Until the bus station didn't have to-go cups. I could feel the death stares & hear the scowls.. how dare I! I was almost really sorry until the anxiety of being shunned caused me to drink it really fast & burn my whole mouth. Worth it? Probably. 

After that fun situation, which is now openly funny, we took cabs closer to the girls' apartment. We realized it was our first time in a car since being here! (Maria Julia drag racing us up to the villa doesn't count because we had our eyes closed the entire time.) This was just the first of many American-esque experiences Barcelona had to offer. We couldn't get a hold of them, so we walked to Cafe de Alegria for our first Barcelonian meal - pizza. It was a long morning. 

Once we had our joyous reunion & tour of their awesome apartment, Nugget, Taylor, Anita, Sam, Jenna, & our favorite gal pal Al took us out into the city to take in the sights. The first stop was Park Guell, a huge garden complex on the hill of El Carmel. Taking random outdoor escalators was pretty cool, but not nearly as cool as the crazy paths & architecture. The park was designed by Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect who must have later inspired Dr. Seuss. It was so unusual & interesting to look at, providing for many photo opportunities. We later walked by his house, which was just as bizarre & fascinating. He also designed the Sagrada Familia, a massive basilica with the most intricate carvings you could ever imagine. It has been under construction since it was started, since Gaudi died when less than a quarter of it was finished. Although all of the cranes were not the most attractive, the construction almost made it more interesting. It's crazy to think of how it has been worked on with both the lack of technology in the past & the developments that have been made since it started in 1883.

group shot...walk...

another group shot...

finally! plants & (palm) trees!

amazing details & colors 

park guell

 thanks gal pal!

it was coming eventually...

julieson so talented!

pretty flowers & oranges around the park

 outside of gaudi's house; i think we could've been great friends

probably could have stared at the sagrada familia for hours

a gaudi tribute courtesy of thedailyflorentine

Post-stalking Gaudi, we walked along the main street of Barcelona, Las Ramblas. I wish I had counted the amount of times we said it felt like we were on Michigan Avenue. It had lots of stores, restaurants, & a long stretch at the end just for pedestrians. Our absolute favorite part was La Boqueria - the biggest, most amazing market one could ever dream of. I could spend hours in this place trying the fruit on steroids, juice of every color, hundreds of chocolates, nuts, meats, fish...It was mesmerizing!

la boqueria; of course caroline chooses meat & chocolate 

aisles & aisles & aisles of displays like these 

any combination you could ever think of!

Only one thing could have pulled us out of there - actual plans for more food. We had planned on going to a tapas restaurant for a real traditional Catalonian meal, but our group of 15 would have had to wait & that just wasn't (is never) an option. We decided to split up & the girls ate at a restaurant called Tromoia. Here we had an unhealthy amount of coca bread (tomato rubbed bread with parmesan that is everywhere in Spain), calamari, mussels, & really delicious artichoke/ricotta ravioli. We also started & finished our meal with stolen pieces of parmesan from a wheel that was the size of Nugget's whole body. They were really just asking for it with that one.

After dinner we went to a bar called Piperman's. Kelsey was there! Leg brace & all. After an extremely unfortunate skiing accident, followed by knee surgery just last Monday, Kelsey made Alyssa & I so happy (& impressed) to be able to hang out! 

you made it!! 

is this really a surprising picture to anyone?

We then made our way to Duvet, a popular discoteca being promoted that night. This basically means that a weird Spanish guy named Kyke tells all the study abroad students to say his name at the door & there's free cover. Sure, Kyke. We got a couple tables for ourselves & spent the night dancing on platforms, catching up, & almost feeling like we were back at Red Lion. Except not really because we got to Duvet 15 minutes before Red Lion would close & left probably 3 hours after that. 

one of the few pictures we thought to take

After taking Saturday morning to sleep in, we walked around the city even more. We spent what seemed like 2 hours trying to find an open place to eat lunch, settling for a random pita place on Las Ramblas. It was delicious & some even got a dessert of fries at McDonalds. (A perk of Barcelona: lots of places to indulge American cravings. Most frequented this weekend: Starbucks.) Then we went to the beach! Unfortunately all of Europe has been experiencing a deep freeze, leaving Barcelona at about 40 degrees the whole time. But it was sunny & there were sailboats, surfers, palm trees, & a man playing the saxophone. Life was great. The beach confirmed our thoughts that any open weekend in April may just have to be spent back in Barca.

florentines at the beach!

a huge riot was going on with swat men in black suits lining the streets. we happily took the opportunity to take a picture in the middle of the street 

because how could you not

For dinner we went to a really cool Irish restaurant, George Payne's. It was such a treat to have BBQ pizza! Really really good BBQ pizza. It was also fun to be there during a home futbol game! It wasn't a very important game but there was lots of Barcelona pride nonetheless.

the only picture we have implies that alyssa & i went on a date to george payne's.. that didn't happen

After dinner, we decided to go back to the apartment to change & gain more energy before going out. Instead, we lost track of time sitting in the heat, catching up even more, & finally resting our legs. Julie, Mullen, Alex, & I eventually decided to go out (at 2:30am, yay Barcelona!) to a club called Opium that we had seen earlier on the beach. Cool is the only word I can think of to describe it well! It had a dance floor, tons of couches & awesome lighting around the wide open space, & the best part: a room that walked out onto the beach. The whole club just blends into the sand in warmer weather - another confirmation to our decision to go back. We spent a couple hours taking pictures of ourselves, laughing at Al, & dancing to remixes of really American songs like Your Love is My Drug & In My Head...until we realized we should just go meet up with the rest of the guys instead. They told us later Opium wasn't letting anyone (boys) under 23 years old in. This made sense in hindsight, as Julie & I recalled spending a lot of time laughing & avoiding foreigners. It was good to see the boys' apartment, regardless of the strict rules on being silent. Strict meaning no shoes, nothing above whispering, not even laughter. Surprisingly, Julie & I stayed for about 5 minutes & then went back to the apartment. 

julie & i found it really amusing to mimic the dancers in sequin dresses dancing oddly slow

have to go back when the roof & walls are gone!

Sunday meant only one thing: finally eating at Bo de B. We had been promised huge sandwiches full of an array fresh ingredients, & after unsuccessfully attempting to go on Saturday (a 1.5 hour line?!), we arrived as soon as it opened. There was no line & we even got to sit down inside! (Restaurants in Barcelona are unbelievably small. Some of them are literally the size of hallways, leading to really awkward situations just trying to leave. It's probably to fit more restaurants in the city, yet there were still a handful of places that everyone seemed to want to go to.) Our high expectations of Bo de B were beyond met. The sandwiches were delicious & when I asked for avocado sauce, I must have said a magic word & pulled out fresh avocado that hadn't been on display! We also got patatas bravas - a traditional Spanish tapa made with chunks of potatoes with lots of different sauces. After we left & had walked about 3 blocks, we walked past a crepe place. Everyone slowed down & immediately walked backwards; I'm not sure words were even spoken. But we finally tried a banana + nutella crepe & it was incredible! I unfortunately didn't take a picture of the crepes; we just couldn't wait! We may have already started looking for recipes.. 

just as good as they look 

i'm thinking we're going to have to make our own bo de b station

After plenty of food, we went up to the top of Montjuic! This required many metros & busses, another major component of Barcelona. The metro is taken to get almost anywhere & everywhere. There are so many underground stops & different lines & transfers; the five of us were helpless. Thankfully, we had everyone to lead us around smoothly & we were able to take in the beautiful sights of the huge hill. We stopped at the Montjuic Castle, which is an old military fortress close to the water. We had an amazing view of the entire city & of course stopped to take lots of pictures. 

first solo shot of the trip.. just for you mom & dad

playing in cannons with nug.. unfortunately no one could reach the hole to put her in it

blurry seesters at the castle

Tempted to go back home & warm up, we decided to keep walking to see the Olympic Stadium. Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics & we kept hearing from everyone there how much that changed the city for the better. The stadium complex was massive & I could tell how the cleanliness & design of it went on to influence a lot of the rest of the city. We were lucky to have Taylor (real Olympic offspring!) there to provide us with lots of facts & trivia! 

front of the olympic stadium 

& inside

another shot of the outside

principessa & friends on another outdoor escalator

oh & we also saw where the cheetah girls was filmed.. i know, right!?

I'll spare everyone the rest of Sunday night details, although napping & eating half a box of Rice Krispies for dinner doesn't provide very many. But we did decide to go to a bar called Farenheit to watch the Superbowl! At first it made us really miss America. But after the bar full of American students stood & sang the National Anthem, complete with a USA chant at the end, we realized it was a pretty unique experience. Plus, not everyone could call it Super Bowl Monday!

we found a tiny box & each sat on a corner - front row seats!

Unfortunately, we had to leave right after the Halftime Show. More unfortunately, it was because we had to begin our journey home... Again, I'll skip the details of our mostly silent & sleep-deprived travels. It was rough. But after another bus, flight, & bus, we arrived home in typical Barcelona fashion - red eyed, watching the moon set & the sun rise. 

finally learning how to sleep on the go... stop copying me

ryanair nicely let us wait in the cold before we got on so we could watch the moon set! 

cause why would i want to sleep on our 640am flight? 

just can't pass up a good sunrise

Continental Congress update: Although the weekend was a blast & I hope a warmer weekend takes us back to Barca, it's good to be home in Firenze. I had decided the single room wasn't as scary as it was the day we got here (not like we were ever really that scared, of course..), & that we all needed a little more space. I am now the lucky owner of my own room! It doubles as a Skyping/phone room, which is definitely nice for everyone. & now Alyssa won't get woken up by my fun new habit of sleep-talking! Win win for all!