España: Esto No Es La Vida Real: Barça Baby!

I think I might still be recovering from Barcelona! I had the most fun ever in Barca. I loved everything about that city. When choosing a place to study abroad, I was stuck between Barcelona and Sevilla. Clearly I chose Sevilla but I think I would have loved it just as much as I love Sevilla if I had chosen to go there instead. I left for Barcelona with my friend Meaghan right after class. We were lucky enough to experience a thrilling two hour delay for our 90 minute flight but in the end it all worked out. We got picked up at the bus stop by my friend Lily from UMass and she was nice enough to let us crash at her place for the weekend. It was so nice having our own little personal tour guide around the city. Thursday night we were both exhausted from staying out late the night before so we took it easy and rested up for the busy weekend we had ahead of us. One of my roommates from Amherst, Bettina, planned a spontaneous trip to Barca that weekend so I it was nice to see another familiar face after all this time.

Friday morning came and Lily had a service project with her program so I had the task of retrieving Bettina at the airport bus stop. All went according to plan and we were ready to tour the city. First stop was Montjuïc, essentially a hill in Barcelona but it had a castle on the top to frolic around and provided some breathtaking views of the city and the busy port below. After we wandered to Arc de Triompf. I loved this little area with the long green promenades lined with lanterns and palm trees. We grabbed lunch at a cute little outdoor cafe and just soaked up the beauty of Barca. We next made our way to Parc Güel.Everything about this place reminded me of Candyland the board game or a real life gingerbread house. Gaudi, the designer of the park had a very whimsical design to everything . It was all so fun and youthful and all was covered in amazing tile mosaics. To end the night, we went to this amazing, out of control, totally unbelievable night club that was on the beach called Opium. Turns out Lily happens tobe bestfriends with one of the biggest club promoters in all of Barcelona so we got in for free and were in the VIP section. This is how its done! We stayed there until they kicked us out at a mere 7am. We tried to stay up and watch the sun rise on the beach but never made it. We immediately crashed when we got back to Lily's and essentially took a nap and prepared for Saturday.

Saturday brought amazing weather and extreme exhaustion. We figured the perfect cure for this would be the beach! I lathered on my spf 85 and walked down to the beach. This was easily the most beautiful beach I have ever been to. It was crazy having the city in the background and the sparkling blue Mediterranean in front of me. The water was cold but nothing like Wellfleet in the height of summer. That night we went to this amazing fountain show that took place in front of a castle. It was essentially a light show and they set the fountain to music. So cool! After we walked around the new mall they opened. Bullfighting was banned in Catalunya (the region Barcelona is in) two years ago so they converted the old bull ring into a mall. It was gorgeous and so modern and such a good way to still incorporate part of their history in their future. Saturday night brought a fashion show at a club and more free drink! I don't think Lily's amazing lifestyle there will ever get old!

Sunday was our last day in Barcelona and that brought us to the Sagrada Familia. The line to get in was unreal, about an hour and a half so we passed on that and just walked around the little neighborhood instead. We grabbed paella for lunch then it was back to the apartment to grab our bags and head to the airport! I had a spectacular time in Barcelona and could honestly see myself living there in the future.