I left Dundee around noon on Wed. 13 April with borrowed suitcase from Minna in hand and headed to Edinburgh via train to catch my flight to Barcelona! My flight went smoothly and before I knew it I was gazing at beautiful Spanish mountains as we descended into Barcelona. It was really cool because on one side of the plane were mountains and the city and the other side was the Mediterranean Sea.
Once I arrived to the Barcelona airport I was a little discombobulated. I think it was a mixture of realizing I was traveling alone and realizing that they really did not speak English here (I was just too shocked to break out my Spanish right away…). I had a hard time finding the buses into the city and I could not get a hold of my hostel to tell them I was on my way. In my frazzeled state, I did the only thing I could think of. I called Carly (my friend from Guilford who is studying in Italy and who I was meeting up with in Barcey) and told her I was there and I couldn’t get a hold of my hostel. She kept me calm and told me to take a taxi to where they were staying and I could stay with them for the night. It was such a relief to have friends who had already been in the city for a day who would take care of me until I got my hostel situation sorted. I decided the 30 euro taxi ride was well worth the assurance of my safety and mental well-being.
When I finally made it to the apartment where Carly and a few other Guilford people were staying I was so relieved! I don’t know if I have ever been that happy to see a friend! That night we mostly just hung out at their apartment, ate dinner, and caught up. One of Carly’s friends from home (who is studying in Barcelona) came over to take us out for the night. Now, when I say “night” I really mean early morning, as the bars and clubs do not open until about 2 am and then they stay open until about 5 or 6 in the morning! Needless to say, the first night we danced our little hearts out as we adjusted to “Spanish” time.
Thursday morning we all slept in quite a while and when we finally awoke, we decided it was time to explore. The group of us ventured out to try and find my hostel. Eventually Carly and I split up from the rest of the group and had an adventure of our own. It was really nice to talk to her about our adventures of studying abroad for the semester and share our concerns of going back to Guilford in the fall. We found my hostel, but nobody answered the buzzer so I just didn’t know what to do. Carly told me I could stay with them again, so that is what I did. I emailed the hostel and explained my situation and they were very understanding of everything.
After Carly and I got the hostel thing figured out we took the metro to la Sagrada Familia, which is a cathedral designed by Gaudî (I will elaborate more on this topic in the second installment of my Barcey adventure). We then wandered around the area near the cathedral and found some cool shops and a nice café to eat lunch/dinner (since it was about 5 pm!). We then made our way back to La Rambla (the area my hostel was in) and walked down it to the harbor. We then walked along the harbor until we made it back to their apartment.
That evening Carly and I embarked on yet another adventure, as we went out dancing again. It was a fun-filled night/morning and I did not go to bed until about 6 am! I was living by the motto “when in Barcelona do as the Spaniards do”
Friday morning I woke up at a decent hour despite my going to bed so late and actually made it to my hostel. After checking in I felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from my shoulders because I finally had a real place to stay and it did not appear too sketchy. I did a little exploring on my own for the first part of the day. I walked up La Rambla and then onto La Rambla Catalunya (these are the names of the streets). It was so nice to take in the city of Barcelona. I then continued walking and eventually made a big loop down to the park across from where Carly was staying.
Around 4 in the afternoon I finally made my way to their apartment and met up with Carly. We decided to go to the Barcelona Football Stadium. Using my newly acquired metro navigation skills, we successfully made it to the Stadium (after asking some friendly policemen for directions). The stadium is huge and very impressive…from the outside. We did not go in because it was ridiculously expensive, so we settled for looking at the outside and going in the gift shop.
The entrance to the Barcelona Stadium.
Carly outside the stadium.
We then made our way to the National Palace to see the magic fountain show. The giant fountain that by the national palace is pretty famous and we arrived just as the show was beginning. People were gathered watching a fountain move to the music. Carly made a good point saying that this was rather odd, and even though it was, it was pretty cool too. By the time we had enough of the fountain, we made out way back toward La Rambla so that I could meet up with Rachel!
Walking up to the National Palace.
The magic fountain behind me.
We were a little early so we spent some quality time in H&M and Zara (another cool European clothing store). We also went to Sephora and decided to come back later to get our make-up done. We then went to the plaza to try and find Rachel, but we waited and waited and did not find her. I was rather worried, but I figured she would call if she had any problems. So, Carly and I went back to Sephora and had our faces done…definitely need to do that again because it was very fun.
We then decided to make a quick stop at the hostel in case Rachel was there or to leave her a note of how to find us. But things worked out once again because as soon as I opened the door to our hostel who should I find standing there? RACHEL!! It was another epic reunion of Seyb Cousins! After getting settled in, the three of us headed down to Carly’s to decide what to do for the rest of the night. At first we thought we would go dancing, but I was exhausted and so was Rachel because it was her third country of the day (she had been in Austria for a week and a brief stop in Lichtenstein with a class trip), so we decided to go to bed instead. I said my goodbyes to Carly and the rest of the Guilford gang. It was so nice to see a little bit of home (Both of my homes…Iowa and Guilford).
Saturday Rachel and I slept in for a while and then finally got ready for our first day together in Barcelona. It was nice that I had been there for a few days already so I knew how to navigate around the area a little and had figured out the metro. We started the day off by walking down La Rambla toward the harbor and then explored the leisure area near the water. We then made our way back up La Rambla, stopping at a candy store and in the market for a lunch of fresh fruit and baguettes. We found a nice bench on la Plaza Catalunya and ate our delicious food. We then met up with two of Rachel’s friends (Natalia and Mandy) from Knox who have been studying in Barcelona since September.
Once we were united with them we headed on a walk toward another part of the city. We stopped for some coffee and then made our way to a giant mall. Now this mall is not like any you would find in any other part of the world because it was an old Bullfighting arena that had been transformed into a mall within the last year, after it had been sitting empty for many years since bullfighting had been outlawed in Catalunya. What was really cool about this mall is that you can go up to the roof and look out over the city of Barcelona. It was very beautiful and such an enjoyable sight!
View from the Bull Arena Mall.
Looking out over the city.
Saturday evening Rachel and I met up with Natalia and Mandy once again and headed to a local bar to watch the Barcelona vs Real Madrid football match. A fun time was had by all, however the end result of the game was kind of anti-climatic when it ended in a tie. After the game was over we went on a quest to find a salsa-dancing club. However, it was kind of a bust because none of us had out id’s with us when we got there and they wouldn’t let us in L So we headed off to find another locations that would allow us to show off our killer dance moves. We ended up having a great time having a makeshift dance party in a bar that was closing for the night.
Sunday morning Rachel and I were awoken by drumming in the streets. We peered out of our window and saw that there were parades going on. It took us a minute to realize that it was Palm Sunday, but then it all made sense. We went outside just in time to see a lovely Jesus float go down the street followed by priests and other member of the church. After this excitement, we got some sandwhiches from Subway for lunch and ate them at La Plaza Catalunya (our favorite eating location). We then headed up the street in search of some architecture by Gaudí. Fortunately the buildings we were looking for were not that far away. We saw La Padrera and Casa Batllo. We decided to come back at a later time to go in them because the lines were ridiculously long.
Casa Batllo by Gaudí
That afternoon we met Natalia and Mandy and went to Parc Güell, which is designed by none other than Gaudí! The park was amazing! We wandered around and took lots of wonderful pictures…which I will let them speak on behalf of the park.
Park Güell.
This is a very famous lizard statue. It was pretty cool.
Beautiful Barcelona!
Really cool tiles that were on the benches around the plaza at Park Güell.
Wonderful Seyb Cousins at Park Güell.
After the park we had to go meet up with another friend of Rachel’s from Knox. After we met up with him we decided to have tapas for dinner. We went to a nice restaurant that Natalia and Mandy had been to before and had a lovely dinner of various foods, like garlic sautéed mushrooms, fried potatoes, chorizo sausages, and artichoke fries. We finished the evening with some waffles (which are a specialty apparently). Rachel and I shared one with nutella and one with honey and sugar. It was a sweet end to a sweet day!
Well, that is enough for now on my Barcelona adventure! I will write about the second half of my trip at a later date!
Cheers!
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