Barcelona 2010
Thursday, March 4th—
Finished up the first part of the semester with my Contemporary Irish Society final. It was pretty simple, finished first, which is always semi embarassing. Headed back to the room to make sure I had all of my things for the week. At 2 we had a meeting with Mark O’Brien, who is the academic director for the internship program. He basically told us about the portofolio and project that we have to do, which was pretty straightforward. From there, Amanda and I headed right to the airport for Spain! We got BK while we waited haha and it was much cheaper and better than the BK I got in City Center, which is kind of annoying. The flight itself was not bad at all, I actually kind of enjoyed it. We then met up with Amanda’s friend Cecilia in Girona and headed to our hostel there for the night. It was a pretty basic hostel, but had an amazing breafast included the next day, which was awesome.
Friday, March 5th—
After our free breakfast at the hostel, we headed to the train station where we hopped a train to Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona around 11:40 and headed to Las Ramblas to try to find our hostel. This was more difficult than we thought, but we ended up finding it on Ramblas de Catalunya, which was a pretty nice area. Once we were settled in, Mike and Ben met us there, which was awesome! It was so great seeing them; the whole time I didn’t even feel like we were in Spain, we could have been in DC or Worcester and had just as much fun, I loved it.
Once we met up with them, Mike walked us around the city. We saw the Cathedral, which was beautiful, but under construction, unfortunately.
After that, we made our way to Parc Guell, which we we didn’t really know how to get to, but we knew it was far. We walked anyways. It took a long time, and it was hot, so I was sweating up a storm. But it was worth it because we got to see the city and the park was really cool. One of the America’s Next Top Model runway shows was there, which was cool, and it was designed by Gaudi, which is also really cool.
After the park, we took a bus back to Mike’s neighborhood, where we bought some cheap white wine (only 2 euro a bottle!) and headed to the beach (Mediterranean Sea). MY DREAM COME TRUE. I brought a bathing suit, but I didn’t have it on me at the time, so I just went in up to my knees. It was pretty cold, but basically the same as it would be in Maine during the summer. It was so nice though, it’s going to be perfect in April and May I’m sure.
That night we got dinner at a restaurant near the beach. I wasn’t quite ready to try any legitimate Spanish food, so I just got a pizza…it was really good though. We got free sangria with our meal, though, which was great! I officially love sangria after this trip. From there we headed back to Mike’s building and hung out in the basement room until around 1, when we went to this awesome place that had pichers of AMAZING sangria for only 8.50 euro. It was basically like a giant dining hall, but with alcohol—so much fun. We played king’s and tumbler there, which was son fun!
Saturday, Marh 6th—
Saturday morning Keely met us at the hostel around 11am. Amanda, Keely, Cecilia and I then headed back to the Cathedral and walked around a bit, got an amazing pastry. From there we went to Sagrada Familia, which is this really cool church that Gaudi began building a while ago a died while it was still under constuction, and it still is today. It isn’t supposed to be finished until 2020 at least.
We ended up paying 10 euro to go inside, but it wasn’t cool at all. It’s under construction inside too, so it isn’t awesome at all, but I’m sure it will be when it’s finished. We did go up to the top, though, which cost another 2.50 for the elevator. That was cool though, there was a pretty good view.
Mike and Ben met us there that afternoon and all of us headed to the Olympic Park from 1992. That was really cool looking, more great views of the city and the sea.
Then I headed back to the hostel with the girls to shower and change, then went to Mike’s for dinner with him and Ben. They made an amazing salad with chicken and homemade crutons while I napped (all that sun made me feel so sick!). I helped out by doing the dishes. We just hung out and caught up for a bit before the girls met us there to pregame. That was really fun, we played cards for a longgg time. Then we went back to the sangria place, where I caught up with Mike and Ben more, which was really fun. Then we went to a club on the beach, which was pretty cool. They played only Spanish music, which was expected, but still kind of a downer. We all had fun dancing, even though Mike, Ben and I lost Amada and her friends! But Mike and Ben took me home. I got the worst blisters ever that night—I hate my flats!
Sunday, March 7th—
Sunday Amanda and her friends were gone, so I met Mike and Ben around 11. We hung out at Mike’s for most of the day, had a silly time. They had fun drawing silly pictures of me. We also made potatoes and crutons, both of which were delicious (and by we I totally mean Mike and Ben). That night it started to rain, but we walked around Las Ramblas anyways and got tapas and sangria, which was really good. We played cards at the hostel until they had to leave around 11:30 to make the metro.
Monday, March 8th—
Mike had class monday morning, so Ben met me around 9 for breakfast. First we went to the store for bandaids for my blisters, then to find a Vodaphone store since my phone ran out of credit. We found one, but they said they could only top up Spanish Vodaphones, which I think is pretty dumb. Anyways, we ended up at this place called American Soda on Las Ramblas for breakfast. We both got eggs, bacon, toast and a croissant. The croissant was absolutely amazing. It was a really fun breakfast, Ben’s such an awesome person.
Mike’s second class ended up getting cancelled, so he met up with us there and we headed to his apartment. I figured out how to top up my phone online, so I did that then got in touch with Amy, who arrived around 1:30. Mike had class again at 2:30, but Amy, Ben and I played cards in the lounge in the basement for a few hours, which was really fun. I think Amy, Mike and Ben all got along really well, which was great.
After hanging out there for a bit, Amy and I headed to the hostel to get ready for the night. Then we went back to Mike’s where they made tacos! They were so good, and it’s so much cheaper than going out to eat, which is awesome. Then we pregamed and played cards for a bit, before heading out to a club. There was a 12 euro cover, whch sucked, but that included one drink, so it wasn’t too bad. I ordered vodka cranberry, but apparently in Spain that means vodka and Monster haha so that was funny. It was a really fun night though, Ben is the silliest dancer I have ever seen—I love it! We all danced together and had a great time, they even played “Fat Bottomed Girls’—only my FAVORITE Queen song ever! haha so good. Oh also, it SNOWED on Monday! In Spain! So insane. All the Spainards were freaking out because it NEVER snows in Barcelona.
Tuesday, March 9th—
Tuesday morning Amy and I went to the market on Las Ramblas. It was so cool! They had so much amazing looking fruit and candy, and also some crazy looking meet. We ended up getting food from “Organic is Orgasmic,” which was an organic Spanish food stall. It was amazing! I don’t really know what we ate…it was called a taco, and there was paella, and some pasta. I’m not sure, but it was so good and a little spicy, but not too much.
We walked around a bit and looked at the bunnys and birds they sell on the street there. Then we got ice cream from the market! It was really good. I then fell like an idiot on the street, murdering my knee. But don’t worry—I didn’t spill my ice cream.
After our fun morning experience, Amy and I met up with Ben and went back to Parc Guell, this time on the metro. Not so great this time because I was wearing flip flops and nice it snowed so much the sand was basically like quicksand. Needless to say, my feet have never been more dirty.
We then went to Sagrada Familia again, then walked to the Cathedral, where Ben went back to meet Mike and Amy and I went to the Picasso Museum, which was amazing! They didn’t have Guernica, though, which was kind of sad, but all the art was still so amazing!
From there we went towards Mike’s, but stopped for a bit to watch some fun old men play Bocci; they were too adorable. We relaxed at Mike’s for a bit, ate out leftovers from the morning and a potato pancake, before heading to the hostel to get ready for the night. That night we played cards at the hostel before heading out to Chupitos, a shot bar.
All the shots there are 2 euro, and they’re all so fun! Ben and I ranked up a pretty impressive tab, but it was worth it—such a good time! We had a Harry Potter shot (picture above, Ben and I), Finding Nemo (blue with whipped cream and a hidden m&m that you had to find with your tongue, Mike, Ben and I), devil’s advocate (red shot with a flaming cross on the bar, all four of us), sex (basically a shot of sex on the beach, Ben and I), monica lewinsky (just Amy and I), absinthe (Ben and I), one where you set your thumb on fire, put it out with your mouth then take the shot (all of us), one with a lollypop (Mike, Ben and I), there was at least one more but I can’t remember. It was so much fun though, such a cool place, I wish we had one in Boston!
After that, we went to a club with some of Ben’s Paris friends who were also in Barcelona. It was so fun! They only played American music, so we had so much fun singing along and dancing. We somehow snuck into the VIP section, which was super fun. Ben had a dance battle with a silly old man, which was pretty epic. Basically, it was an amazing time, the most fun I’ve ever had going out, probably. Had to say bye to Mike that night, sadly, as he had class in the morning before I left.
Wednesday, March 10th—
Said bye to Amy around 9:30, as she was heading to Rome with Amanda. My flight was at 2:20, so I had time to meet Ben for an early lunch around 11. That was a really fun time, we definitely enjoyed looking at all of the silly pictures from the night before. Said bye around 12:10 and hopped a bus to Barcelona airport on my way to London!
