Barcelona

Sorry it’s taken me so long to write a new blog post. Last weekend we went to Barcelona, since we were out of class Monday and Tuesday for Carnaval, and I’ve spent the last several days recovering and catching up on homework. During Carnaval, everyone dresses up in costumes and there are parades and parties for the several days leading up to Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

Barcelona was amazing! It’s definitely my favorite city that I’ve been to so far. It’s an artsy city with such a neat mix of old and new.  Plus, the weather was really nice. 

Streets of Barcelona 

A lot of interesting things happened in our weekend there, including a lot of firsts. Our flight there left at 6 a.m. so we spent the night in the airport the night before so we wouldn’t miss it (a first for me). When we arrived, we took a taxi to our hostel (another first for me-I’d never been in a taxi before). Our hostel was more on the outskirts of the city, so we had to take the metro to get into the downtown area of Barcelona, but that was fine because there was a metro station about a block from our hostel. Staying in a hostel was also a first for me. Ours was a really nice one though, so it was a good experience.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see the Sagrada Familia, which is a famous unfinished cathedral by the architect Gaudi. (He died while he was in the middle of building it) It was the most interesting church I’ve ever been in. There were beautiful stained glass windows and a lot of the structures in the church held some kind of symbolism. I’m so glad I got to see it!  

Stained glass window

Outside of the cathedral 

On Saturday night, one of the other girls, Annie, and I went to a discotheque. It was so much fun. People here love to dance (and they literally dance all night long!) We went home at 4:30 a.m. and they were still going strong J

On Sunday, we slept late and then took the metro back into the downtown to try to find a Picasso museum. When we got off the metro, we saw a café, so we decided to stop and grab something to eat first. We sat down and I set my purse down on the floor by my chair. We were all talking when this man tapped me on the shoulder and said “your bag.” I turned to look and this lady at the table next to me had picked up my bag and was trying to hide it in her skirt. I jumped up and snatched it back from her. I expected her to pull back, but she just let it go. It was crazy! If that man hadn’t noticed, I wouldn't have even realized it was gone until it was too late. Needless to say, I didn’t set my purse down again anymore the rest of the trip.

We found the Picasso museum, which ended up being free on Sunday afternoons. After learning about him in school, it was neat to see actual Picasso paintings.

On Monday we checked out of our hostel and then went back downtown to find Parc Güell, which is a park also designed by Gaudi. It was a beautiful day and it was fun to walk through the park. There was also an awesome view of the city of Barcelona.

That night we went to see the Mediterranean Sea before catching a train to the airport.

The girls I went to Barcelona with (Jenn, Annie, & Tressa)

We had taken the train earlier that day, so we were pretty sure we knew what we were doing. We bought our tickets, got on, and got settled in. Then the man came through checking tickets.  He took mine, looked at it and said “To the airport?” I said “yes,” and he said, “this train doesn’t go to the airport” At first we thought he was joking, but he then motioned me over and showed me where the train was going on the map. He said “it’s nonstop” and we realized he was serious. He grabbed his phone and walked off, while we were all trying not to panic. A few minutes later he came back with some other people (who had also gotten on the wrong train) and called us all over to the door. He told us that we needed to take another train back to the station and then get on the correct one to the airport. All of a sudden the train stops and he pries open the doors with his hands and we got off at this station in the middle of nowhere. Once we realized that we weren’t going to miss our flight, we realized how funny the situation was: a train had just made an emergency stop for us to get off!

Well, sorry this was so long! Barcelona was a really interesting city; it was a crazy, memorable experience.