Red, White, and Barcelona

Happy 4th from across the pond! Obviously, the folks here in Europe don't celebrate our independence, so I'm sure your're wondering where your American Amigo went to watch fireworks... Well, no fireworks here (and we certainly weren't going to set any off) so my classmates and I went to the park near our residence for a little 4th of July picnic. We ate "the most genuine hot dog in America" - apparently they love Oscar Meyer here- and rented paddle boats on a pond in the park. Just about as American as it gets:

Los Americanos

Aventuras de Barcelona

So as I mentioned in my previous blog, I traveled with several of my classmates to Barcelona this past weekend and it. was. INCREDIBLE. So beautiful, very interesting city and architecture, plus lots of delicious food.

Just to give you some background: Barcelona is in the province of Cataluña and the people of Cataluña speak both Spanish and a language called Catalán. It is similar to Spanish somewhat, so if you can speak Spanish you can understand writing for the most part, but it is pretty hard to understand someone speaking. Most of the signs are in Catalán so learning the metro system in Barcelona was un poco interestante. Also, if you are in to politics at all I would highly recommend reading up on the news in Spain in Cataluña, because a lot of people in the province want independence from Spain- pretty interesting stuff. All in all, there’s an immense of culture and history packed into this city so walking the streets could be considered an attraction in and of itself. We were only in Barca for 2ish days so we had to pack our days full of activities (lots of water and comfortable shoes = major key).

We stayed in a beautiful apartment in the city right by the metro station, close to a couple really cool hole-in-the-wall type tapas places and restaurants. My favorite (s/o to Megan Kurey for the recommendation) was El Rincon de Cava, where the owner posts pictures of all of his customers up on the walls inside the store- great lobster empanadas.

After experiencing my first high-speed train, my friends and I set off for some intense site-seeing:

Basílica de la Sagrada Familia

In 1883, Antoni Gaudí took on designing this temple and working on it until he died in 1926. I learned that it is estimated to be complete in 2026. As you can imagine, a structure that takes hundreds of years to build is easily one of the most incredible places I will ever see in my lifetime. Religious or not- you absolutely have to travel to this place. Gaudí designed it with such detail and symbolism, that from far away it almost looks like a drip sandcastle you would make at the beach, but up close, every inch of this massive structure is carved and decorated with extreme detail.

 The inside is GIANT and covered in beautiful stain-glass windows so the entire place is filled with different shades of color. If you haven’t heard of it, definitely worth some research because it is stunning. I had chills throughout my entire visit (and Barcelona isn’t cold, let me tell you).

Park Güell

Gaudí also designed a park that he intended to be a neighborhood of high-tech (at the time) homes. He created structures with a similar vision and use of glass and natural looking structures as la Sagrada Familia. It’s famous for its beautiful detail, as well as views of the city and the ocean. Lucky for you all, we (Kyle) took a lot of pictures:

Be sure to check out my Photo Album b/c we seriously took a lot of pictures.

El Mercado de la Boqueria

Couldn't leave Barca without stopping by the infamous Mercado de la Boqueria. It’s packed with rows and rows of stands that sell any type of fresh produce you can imagine: fruits and veggies, live seafood, meats (like pig heads and stomachs too… gross!), and all the sweets and candies you could ever want. Very fun walking around and taking it all in, and even more fun trying to talk to the locals.

Ice Barcelona

Where my Star Wars fans at?! I found really cool spot in Barcelona with a patio overlooking the water called Ice Barcelona. It has a room inside completely made of ice. The theme for the room this year is… STAR WARS – Dios Mio. There are lights and fun songs and ice sculptures of movie characters in a room at -15˚C (5˚F, so pretty cold). They provide jackets and gloves at the entrance, but I threw some socks in my purse and wore them under my sandals, my mom taught me well . Basically the highlight of my trip:

La fuerza es fuente con este

Barcelona was beautiful with tons of culture and so many people, but I am very happy to be back in my little slice of home: Madrid.

I should probably go do some homework now (oh yeah, I'm here for school), but you folks back at home enjoy your holiday week!

¡Chao!