Barcelona!

I thought that after six years of taking Spanish, I'd use it more than I have. I thought this past weekend in Barcelona would put my skills to the test. But, just like my experiences in Guatemala, people in Spain speak dialects and my Spanish is not their kind of Spanish. They speak Catalan - mix of Spanish and French. They have different terms for simple terms. So, all I could master was simple Hola, Adios, Gracias, Si, No, Comer, etc.

Barcelona is beautiful but a different beauty than places in Itaky like Florence. I personally thought Barcelona resembled more of Paris than anything else. Wide streets. Huge, wide plazas and avenues for restaurants. Large beige buildings that all resemble one another. It was much newer than I expected it to be.

Barcelona seemed very modern in architecture, restaurant interior, and fashion. Women were exceptionally dressed. There was a lot of shopping there, and, of course I was there during the number one sale week of the year.

We stayed in a pretty nice hostel on Valencia street. It is called Tierra Azul. It was my first hostel experience and it wasn't bad at all! All those horror stories I've heard were freaking me out. I slept with my purse just to be on the safe side, but for this particular hostel, that wasn't really necessary. For 66 euros for three nights, it was a good deal.

Hostel Tierra Azul

We arrived in Barcelona late Friday night. I went to Pisa during the day on Friday and flew out of the Pisa airport. We arrived in Girona. We then took a bus from the airport to the bus station in Barcelona Arc de Trimof. Then,we bought a ten use (T 10) pass for the metro to take to our district of Barcelona which was called Catalunya.

Sarah

Sarah and Cody wearing their backpacks in front 

cause they were afraid of getting pick pocketed.

My backpack was a little too big haha

We went to see The Sagrada Familia during our first morning in Barcelona. It was designed my artist and architect Antoni Gaudi. The cathedral is only about a hundred years old, but was never finished. Within the next few years, however, it is expected to be finished. This is the weirdest looking church I have ever seen. It looks like something out of a disney movie or Chronicles of Narnia. The outside is pretty ugly, but up close it looks really cool because it is so ornate. The inside is supposed to resemble a forest. I don't really know why, but that was the idea behind the giant columns and ruffled column tops.

Sarah and I

Cody and I

Inside of The Sagrada Familia

Outside of The Sagrada Familia

After seeing the Sagrada Familia, we took the metro to Parc Guell - also designed by Gaudi. There were some great views from this park of the city of Barcelona and the beach. The park is most famous for Gaudi's mosasics.

For dinner we ate at a restaurant called Qu Qu on one of the main streets in Barcelona. There was a ton of great people watching there! Our waiter wasn't very patient or friendly, and the restaurant as a whole was pretty bad. There were menus in different languages. The dishes on the English menu costed more than the dishes on the Spanish menu. It turned out to be a pricy dinner, and the Paella and Spanish Omelette weren't too good. There were six of us in Barcelona and at dinner. Beth and Leanna (roommates with Morgan in Florence) ordered a pitcher of Sangria which was $30. Pricy!

Seafood Paella

Churros with Chocolate!

We ate these everyday

On Sunday, we went to a great breakfast place right next to our hostel called Dolso. I loved our waiter there. She was an old Argentinian woman named Daniella. She was very kind to us unlike our waiter from the night before. I ordered eggs, frankfurt (hot dog apparently), tomato bread (yum!), and orange juice. All of the juice in Spain is freshly squeezed/pure fruit!

Fresh squeezed orange juice

Delicious breakfast!

Yummy eggs and tomato bread!

Sarah, Cody, and I went to the beach after breakfast. We took the metro to a farther beach, hoping to miss the crowds. There were lounge chairs just laying out on the beach so we took three. We were expecting to have to pay something for them, but no one came. After two hours, when three very handsome Spanish boys needed chairs, the rental guy walks over and asks 6 euros from each of us. We just got up and left. It was very a very strange incident. I didn't even know if that guy actually owned the chairs. He looked pretty sketch. Maybe I should have just walked around with a fanny pack and asked for 6 euros from anyone sitting in a chair. haha.

Beach!

Harbor

Sangria on the beach!

The weather was beautiful that day at the beach. It was 77 degrees - perfect! The boardwalk was really nice to walk along, so we laid on the beach and walked the boardwalk for most of the afternoon. I noticed that guys don't wear as many speedos in Spain as they do in Italy, but plenty of women were topless. It was kind of gross, actually. For some reason, and I don't have a clue, the fattest and oldest women choose to go topless the most. They let it all hang out. We saw some American girls topless as well. You can tell who isn't Spanish by the boob tan lines haha. Sarah, Cody, and I considered giving topless a try, but we figured that would only draw more attention to us.

Boardwalk

Monday was a shopping day and market day. We had fruit juice for breakfast and a really awesome lunch! I don't know what I ordered for lunch. It was a plate of a bunch of rice, beggies, pita bread, and some other stuff.

Fresh fruit :)

Gummies! These were everywhere in Barcelona.

Sarah and Cody were obsessed.

Juice for 1 euro!

So...the Italian boys adore me. The Spanish guys couldn't care less about me. It's very interesting, actually. I guess my blonde hair  isn't as appealing to the Spanish guys as it is to the Italian guys. It's crazy how many guys stop me in the market and on the streets in Florence and tell me that I have "the most beautiful hair." (I mean, I do, but it's still sort of weird to be stopped for that :p) Blondes definitely have more fun! But, too much attention is getting pretty annoying. Especially at the clubs at night. The people in my group have started making bets about who will get hit on first. 9 out of 10 times, it's me. And it's not my exceptional dance moves (cause we all know I can't dance at all) or hot ass (haha) that draws their attention; it's the hair. Old guys. Young guys. Hot guys with the best accents. Guys who smell horribly of BO. I get them all. This week I started wearing that fake engagement ring I bought. I wear it on a normal finger during the day, but when I go out and someone is being creepy, I immediately switch it to the ring finger. It totally works! After a couple of minutes, the guy just saunters away. There are some major creepers at these clubs, especially on random nights like Monday. Don't ask me why we go to a club on a Monday so that we are sick the rest of the week. I don't understand it either.

Tonight is probably going to be a crazy night. A lot of people are leaving this weekend because they were only here for the 3 or 4 week programs. That means Morgan, Jenna, Mallorie, Steph, and Nick are leaving me! I'm going to miss them all so much. I've really enjoyed the time I've had with all of these wonderful people.

I've probably grown closest to Morgan. We've had some girl dinner nights together where we've talked about our schools, boyfriends, families, etc. She is leaving Saturday and heading to Amsterdam for a two week session. Then, she is going to Newcastle, England for an Ole Miss program for 3 weeks. Whoa! Busy girl.

Morgan

I went to dinner at Gatto last night through the bus2alps program. It costed 15 euros for unlimited pasta (3 different types), bruschetta, cheese, meats, and wine. I sat next to Steph and Nick and talked to them most of the time. We laugh at each other when we say a word or talk about American tradition that they do not have in Canada. Apparently, they don't have fun funions in Canada. Who knew?

Anyway, so tonight we are celebrating two birthdays: Steph and Ashton. Ashton is turning 20 I think and Steph is turning 18 (which is a very important birthday in Canada. 18 is their 21.) I can't believe Steph is turning 18. I thought she was like 22. She is gorgeous! She is a model and works out everyday, but still. She's making us all look bad!

Ciao Bella!

Nick and Steph... The Canadians

4 years together already! Such a cute couple!

I'll let you all know how my last night with all these people goes! I leave tomorrow night at 9 pm for Croatia. It's a twelve hour bus ride through the night. Darcy, Emily, and Livia will be going with me. Madison (my Florence roommate) is visiting a friend in Rome for the weekend. Vince and Joey are going to Prague. And the others are leaving! We're all separated this weekend. I'm going to miss everybody, but Croatia will be awesome! I've just signed up to do a Boat Island Hopping Tour on Friday and White Water Rafting on Saturday. Looking forward to it!

I get back really late Sunday night. Monday, my roommates and I may go to Lucca with this guy named Francesco. Madison has been going on a few dates with him. He seems nice. Sarah and Cody went to Lucca went week for the afternoon and rented bikes for 3 euros. Sounds like fun!

Hope you all are well and enjoying your summer! Write me comments!