¡Barcelona!

Bridget and I travelled to the older, cooler, trendier sister of Madrid this past weekend. Wow, if I didn't love Alcalá so much, I wish I studied there. Think New York, mixed with Paris and Rome, minus the amount of graffiti I saw in Rome. I was extremely lucky to receive an email from my brother's friend, Zach, who spent a semester in Barcelona this past spring. He gave us a wide variety of things to do and sites to see. Thanks Zach!

So, woke up at six on Friday after five hours of sleep to run to meet Bridget at the commuter rail. Made it just in time. The train was full of business people and the like who had the train deal down pat. For most of my walk to the train, I was behind a man in a suit who knew how to cut even the smallest corners to be the most time efficient. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the hard core partiers off of one of the returning trains, but then remembered it was only Friday.
We got to Atocha, the big train station in Madrid to catch the line going to the airport, but accidentally got on a train too soon. Luckily, not a big mistake and we corrected ourselves with ease. SO PROUD! Although the first mistake was a little tonto, I only would have known how to fix it after living here for two months. Go us! And only had a minor freak out when I realized two seconds after the doors closed in Atocha that we were on the wrong one. My mom would be proud because we were early in order to leave room for such mistakes.

We got to the airport, and being so responsible the night before, we had already checked in. It was pretty smooth sailing. I even had time to eat my DELICIOUS tortilla bocadillo my host mom had prepared for me the night before. She is the nicest! Packed me a huge bocadillo, a chocolate croissant, a banana, a pear, and a juice box. Typical Pilar. Btw, terminal 4 of the Barajas airport is pretty nice! Waaay better than the delta terminal in New York. Think more of the Beijing airport. Big. Shiny. Also, the flight was only 50 minutes! WHOA! And, if you are thinking of traveling within Spain, use Vueling. Really nice for being cheap, and their good design made the small leg room very bearable.

First impressions from the plane: SO GREEN! It's been awhile since I have seen legit greenery, other than olive trees in Andalucia. And mountainous, and MEDITERRANEAN! WATER. We took the airport bus to Plaza Catalunya. Loved seeing things in Catalan. For those who don't know (I didn't know the extent of it before this semester), Spain is much more diverse than you think, so it was nice to see yet another region of the country. At times I couldn't tell if people were speaking French or Catalan, and we were in Spain!

We stayed at Mambo Tango Youth Hostel, the place where Jonny stayed in the spring. Great location, kinda cooky! Never stayed in a hostel before, so learned that towels and flip-flops are a must. Next time! Ended up not showering anyway. Didn't really have time. The day was running very smoothly. We went to lunch, recommended by the hostel. Not the greatest food, but that didn't matter. It wasn't very expensive.

We took the red hop on-hop off bus tour around the city, which was a really good choice because I wouldn't have had the energy to figure out how to get to the places and it took us to places I didn't even know about beforehand. Friday everything just seemed to line up. A perfect example of this is that the bus tour took us to the Olympic stadium, something I probably wouldn't have gone to, which was incredible! The complex is so beautiful, and because it was raining earlier, the clouds were gorgeous. A beautiful sunset over Barcelona. We spent a lot of time walking around there. We got back on the bus and got off at the next stop not really knowing what it was. There wasn't anything around, except for the museum that we thought was closed, so we almost got back on the next bus when we heard music! We decided to follow the music down some steps and came across the Magic Fountain, one of the recommended sites by Zach!!!! What a wonderful surprise! His description of the fountain was spot on "Most crucial: go to the Magic Fountains!!! It's a quick walk to Plaza Espanya from MamboTango and they do not disappoint. The fountains are lit up and dance to the most eclectic music ever (the transitions from 80s pop to opera to Disney are the weirdest). Get a spot high up the steps of the museum." There is a huge set of stairs leading down from the museum, which was beautifully lit with a fountain in the front, to the Magic Fountain. We were totally not expecting this at all. We made our way down to the Magic Fountain, and enormous fountain that is little up and illustrates all different types of music. Think Disney, but even bigger. I could have watched it for hours. And there were so many people watching!! I loved it! Another example was finding the Quatre Gats, also a recommended site. "For a historical drink, go to Quatre Gats (very close to the Palau), where Picasso and his artistic buds used to drink -- you'll pay a lot more for a bottle of wine (and some olives) than you would elsewhere, but it's worth it for the ambience (jazz piano included)." Well, we skipped out on the wine after our exhausting day and instead had coffee, tea, and two delicious chocolately desserts! Chocolate for dinner. Yum. We also passed by Bar London, famous for visits by Hemingway and Orwell.

The next day was even more packed. We lucked out again with the weather, having seen the forecast with rain. Took the bus again for the second day. Rough start getting stuck in touristy areas. Ended up being forced to eat a tourist place, but definitely the best deal. Saw a lot of incredible Gaudí. Made me love him even more. I had studied some of his work in my high school art history class, but really the magnitude, whimsy, and detail of his work cannot be fully experienced in a photo. Also, had no idea he died after being run over by a tram... They emphasized that at least four times on the bus tour. I hit a few hangry moments when we didn't stop for lunch, but we took a peaceful peanut break in Park Guell, site of both the Cheetah Girls 2 and the finale of a season of ANTM. Another one of my favorite stops we made was the Boqueria (yes, the same name of the tapas restaurant in New York City!! It all makes sense now!), an enormous food market. I don't think I have ever spent so much money on fruit in so little time. Also, I don't think I have ever eaten that much fruit in so little time. We had delicious fresh fruit juice (a combo of kiwi and mango being my favorite), fruit pops, and just plain old fresh fruit (really good figs!). Yum yum yum. That was our lunch. We then took a walk up La Rambla to Plaza Catalunya to experience the enormous Corte Ingles, and extremely popular department store+ in Spain. We came, saw and conquered the store in about 15 minutes. Too overwhelming, but that's all we wanted. We had planned our Saturday evening to be the night to explore the Barcelona night life, but after being exhausted from the day and not being able to find anything to suit our mood, we had an early night. I think I slept the most I've slept in one night since I've ben in Spain, especially with the hour change.

Our final day, after an extremely touristy boat tour, we planned to enjoy the city like Spaniards. WORST IDEA. Of course everything non touristy is closed in Spain on Sundays. How long have we been living here? So, we spent most of the day wandering, trying to find a legit place to sit and eat and relax, only to end up settling on one of the most touristy restaurants in Barcelona. Though we did get to touch the Mediterranean! Well, I guess you live and you learn. And the frustrating day did make me even more excited to return home to Pilar and Tania. We got to the airport extremely early (so unspanish), but oh well. It was another great airport, until I saw a lady let her dog poop in the middle of the floor. Oh Spanish people and their pets. Will they ever learn?

Although our last day wasn't the greatest, I am so proud that we could travel by ourselves and not get kidnapped and sold into the sex trade without being saved by Liam Niesson. We figured out the train system to get to the airport, the buses to get to and from the Barcelona airport, the metro! I realized, as much as I love having my mom with me to figure out where things are and how to get there, I now realize I can do these things myself (although definitely not with the same ease). Now I'm even more excited to travel elsewhere! I think the mentality I had going into this semester experience was that I was waiting for myself to have some life changing experience or waiting for my moment of growth to happen, when it actually already has happened. It snuck up on me somewhere, and this trip made me realize that I have grown and learned so much since I've been here. And this happened over time. It wasn't a specific moment. I'm more independent and confident, even more so than after spending two years away at college or living by myself for a month and a half in Philly. I can conquer the world with a little less fear than before. And, although I definitely could have gotten by only speaking English with all of the tourism in Barcelona, I was certainly very proud of myself when arriving at a ticket counter after other Americans and communicating with the person behind the glass in Spanish, instead of just assuming they know English.

I definitely will be back in Barcelona again, at the very least when the Sagrada Familia cathedral is finished.