Barceloca!

About twenty of us went to Barcelona for the Festival de San Juan holiday weekend, and to say it was crazy would be a vast understatement. We left Wednesday night at 11:30 for the 8-hour bus ride which, after popping a couple TPM (Tylenol P.M.’s), wasn’t bad at all. By the time I came to, it was 7:30 on Thursday morning and we were pulling into the bus station in Barca.
From there, we took the metro to our hostel. Now, if you’ve read my last post about my hostile hostel situation, you can bet I did some research on this one before committing. As it turns out, hostel numero dos was amazing; it had free breakfast, a pool, a workout center (not that I utilized that at all), clean rooms, cheap dinner, and friendly people. THANK YOU barcelonaurbany.com!!!!!

After dropping our bags at the hostel, 7 of us basically skipped to the beach with the sound of "Vamos a la Playa" playing in our happy brains. And what a beach it was. It was my first time swimming in the Mediterranean and, although the water was a bit chilly at first and there were men doing leg exercises in the nude, it was so refreshing to feel that salty breeze and relax under the sun.
After a few hours in the sand, we walked up the boardwalk and found a cute, outdoor restaurant that had a great deal on "Menu al Dia", a three course meal with free bread and wine. Sold. I ordered mussels, seafood paella, and a chocolate crepe. A very nice break from all the greasy fried food my house mom forces me to eat on a daily basis. Speaking of, my small intestine now visibly pulsates after every meal, and it's beginning to worry me. Help?

After lunch we went back to the hostel, changed, and took the metro to La Sagrada Familia, the most amazingly unique/weird/trippy church in the world. I literally gasped when I saw the huge Gothic towers and the intricate details of the architecture. Apparently the church has been under construction since 1883 and STILL is not finished! It's projected to be completed by 2026—the centennial of architect Antoni Gaudí's death.The pictures definitely don't do it justice.

We explored the city for a bit and then went back to the hostel to eat a 5 euro dinner of bbq meat and sangria. This hostel was the bees knees.
When we finished eating, we took the unbelievably crowded metro (complete with shoving and sweating) toward the beach for the Festival de San Juan. Apparently that's code for Festival of Dangerous Explosives That Everyone Should Throw At American Tourists. I can't tell you how many Roman Candles and popping firecrackers I had to dodge to avoid losing a limb. Thank you, Barcelona.
Anyway, there were probably 50,000 Spaniards on the beach, drinking, jumping fires, and being straight belligerent. I absolutely loved it! (On another note, one of the girls from our program got her iPhone stolen right out of her hand and another, her purse stolen. Beware.)

The next morning, Erin, Rachael and I went to Parque Guel, a fabulous Modern Hansel and Grettel-esque park designed by the same architect that constructed La Sagrada Familia. The trek to the park included a 20 minute hike up a hill, but it was totally worth it. I think "charming" is the perfect way to describe the park with it's exotic flowers, brightly tiled fountains, and interesting cottages.




On Saturday, basically the entire group took a gondola up to Montjuïc, a giant hill that overlooks the entire city. On top of the hill is a castle, a naval base, and the '92 Olympic Facilities! Being former athletes, Erin and I were all about seeing the Olympic Facilities, so we decided to find them on our own. Fast forward past a 30 minute walk and slipping down the steepest hill imaginable, and there we are, standing by the Olympic torch and taking pictures of the track and field, gymnastics arena, and swimming pool. The only problem was that there wasn't a diving well. I tried to mask my disappointment on the way back down the mountain when, incredibly, I spotted from the gondola Barcelona's very own diving well complete with platforms and a gorgeous view! I was so happy I found it!


Barcelona is an amazing city.

Buenos tardes amigos! What a weekend! On Saturday, the entire program took a day trip to Segovia, an enchanting city about an hour north of Madrid. It was without a doubt the most beautiful place I had ever been. The minute we stepped off the bus, i felt like I had been transported back to the days of the Roman Empire. The city was full of narrow, winding cobble stone streets, the architecture was like something out of a disney movie, and the outskirts of the village consisted of rolling hills, lush pastures and the outline of far away mountains. Incredible.
Our first stop was an old aqueduct that the Romans constructed at the end of the 1st century. It's made of 25,000 blocks of granite and stands 29 meters high, quite an engineering feat and a modern day marvel. I remember learning about aqueducts in 6th grade, never thought I would actually be standing in front of one!
Next, our tour guide, Rafa, took us through the entire city of Segovia, we saw cafes, churches, statues, bakeries, shops, and many many zapaterias (shoe stores!). Segovia is definitely the city of shoes. He explained the history of the city; how it has Jewish, Christian and Muslim ties and how these three cultures have influenced it's art and architecture. I'm kind of a nerd so I loved hearing all about the religious wars and historical information.

Rafa took us to the Castilla de Segovia, an enormous castle on top of a hill. WOW. It was breathtaking. (Oh! and it's rumored to be the castle that Walt Disney got his inspiration for Magic Kingdom!!) Generations of kings and queens have lived in the palace, and it is now used as a museum for tourists and an archive for the Segovian Military. Inside was so beautiful; the ceilings were made of gold and the art and weaponry rooms were buenisimo!
After we toured the palace, we went to the famous Catedral de Segovia, the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain and known as the "Lady of Cathedrals". Annnd what a lady she was! It's hard to believe that monuments like these were constructed hundreds of years ago without machinery or today's technology... Really makes you feel inadequate. Here are some pictures of the cathedral!



After lunch, the group had free time to shop and explore. A few hours later, we went to a small but very famous church that held secret military meetings during the Crusades. Outside the church, soldiers are burried but hundreds of years of rain has begun to expose the bodies and you can sometimes find bones in the courtyard... I found a tooth! and yes I kept it. People thought it was gross but I think it's awesome. The end!

Vale! On Thursday we had our first class in the Prado Museum. Unfortunately, Erin, Rachael and I got completely lost (we decided to walk there) and showed up fifteen minutes late to the museum. We had no idea where our class was when we arrived, but we knew that we'd be viewing the paintings of El Greco, so we located his exhibit and just waited for the rest of our group. FIfteen minutes later, we finally reunited with our class and learned all about El Greco and his uncanny fascination with painting Jesus. There were paintings of Jesus' birth, Jesus' baptism, Jesus' crucifixion, Jesus' resurrection, and one of Jesus just hanging out in heaven. That's a whole lot of Jesus. It was exhausting.

That night, a huge group of us went to El Kapital, un discotecha that was formerly an Opera house (turned club) and had 7 floors. I had never seen anything like it, and except for the 15 euro cover charge, it was really fun. A couple of us stayed out until 6 am when the metro started back up, and I really hope I never do that again because I wanted to kill myself the next day.

Friday was pretty uneventful. I accidentally signed up for a tour of El Teatro Real which is Madrid's biggest, most elaborate theater and, for some reason unbeknownst to me, we saw everything in the building except for the theater. Not complaining though, I wanted my sleep.
That night Erin and I mimicked a Shakira video for exercise purposes. It wasn't pretty, but it was a good work out!

Manana... SEGOVIA!!

Buenos días! Yesterday was un día buenísimo! I had my art class at 11:30... Not gonna lie, I didn't understand half of what Senora Marina was talking about (but neither did the rest of the class, which is encouraging). It's funny because she expects us to know so much about European history but the entire class goes completely silent when she asks a question about the Byzantine Empire or Spanish monarchy. I took world history in 9th grade, lady! But if you'd like to know details about the American Revolution, ask away! After class my roommates and I took the metro home and had Spain's most famous dish for lunch: paella! It's a mix of rice, peas, red peppers, meat or seafood or both, and some kind of sauce. Our paella had chicken and chorizo in it. Favorite meal thus far!


After a short nap, We headed to the Opera station for our second class: Spanish food and culture which, as it turns out, is basically just a two-hour guided tour of Madrid's most renown restaurants and historical streets. We strolled around the old, cobble stone calles of Madrid and observed the quaint outdoor cafes and cute shops. It was so beautiful and made me feel super European :)
Our professor Ana brought us to Mercado de San Miguel, an indoor market that sells everything from vino to sushi to chocolate cake to fresh squeezed orange juice. I am DEFINITELY returning there to taste their famous smoothies!

After arriving back home and eating dinner, a bunch of us met up in downtown and went to a tapas bar called El Tigre. It was a very tiny but very popular establishment with a great environment and interesting decor (pig heads were mounted on the walls!). With every drink you order, you get a plate of overflowing tapas. Our tapas were sliced potatoes, bruschetta, pork, jamon, fried balls of something (?), and chicken wings. We left about 4 plates of food untouched. Lo siento, Espana.