Barcelona!

…and now back to reality. Fresh off the plane from Barcelona the only things I can think of are the insane events from the past weekend and not of the homework due in six hours. While rummaging through my purse I find things that remind me of my weekend in Cataluña.

First, I pull out all of the receipts and cards from restaurants and bars I grabbed and threw into my purse. A card from the restaurant, Foc, where we all had lunch by the beach. Their website is called Focyou.com (clever I know.) An empty candy bar wrapper which served as my ticket to the chocolate museum…yes the chocolate museum. They gave you a bar of chocolate when you pay to enter and you can enjoy it while you browse the museum. A card from the fairytale bar off of Las Ramblas where the inside is full of trees, fairies and drinks.  And then I found a ticket from a cable car ride we took over the city. You can see the entire city looking one way and the Mediterranean looking the other way. It was a breathtaking view.

When I reached back into my bag to find something else I come across something I hadn’t realized had gotten into my bag…sand. Escaping from the Mediterranean coast I found some grains of sand settled at the bottom of my bag and I can’t help but remember how amazing the weather was when we had a girl day at the beach. You get past all the old women going topless after seeing a couple. I remember how sweet the coconut tasted that we bought to snack on while lying in the sun and staring at the clear blue water. The beach is an advantage Barcelona has over Madrid. It was an amazingly relaxing day.

Next out of my bag was an orange peel. Without me saying I bet you would wonder why the hell I would have an orange peel in my purse…allow me to explain. There is a very well-known bar in Barcelona which is simply called “Chupitos” which simply means Shots. The bar is the size of my room in Spain, which is insanely small but up on the wall is a list of the 200 shots they offer. Some examples include: President, el ultimo, snoopy, tarzan, and lou lou. My first, obviously, was a Harry Potter shot. It consists of orange liquor and vodka. The bartender then puts an orange slice on top with some sugar then lights it on fire. The fire caramelizes the orange so when you eat it its warm and tastes like candy. I wanted a souvenir from the shot which carries the same title of my favorite books so I put the peel in my purse; I just forgot I’d done that. Oops.

Next on the list was a package of cookies which I stole from the hostel’s continental breakfast for sometime in the day. This was the first time I’ve ever stayed in a hostel so it was interesting. The 10 of us stayed in a 12-person suite with 2 other college kids traveling for the weekend. There were communal bathrooms and we had to buy a towel and sheets. There were lockers for us to lock our stuff in every time we left. In all honesty we weren’t in the hostel much so it worked out. It was a lot cleaner than I had thought and it had an amazing roof-top terrace which we sat and relaxed on during siesta time. I met a lot of other students doing the same thing we were doing: visiting Barcelona for the weekend. I met a girl who went to Conard high school on West Hartford and is studying in Italy. All in all the hostel was clean, in a great location and was pretty comfortable.

El Parque Guell

La Sagrada Familia

Together all those things make up my weekend in Barcelona. Some great food and cool sites like Sagrada Familia (cathedral designed by Gaudí) El Parque Guell (popular spot for tv shows and movies) occupied my days. My good friend from Marist is studying in Barcelona and was able to show us around. It worked out perfectly. Although Barcelona was great, it’s nice to be back in Madrid. Madrid isn’t as touristy as Barcelona-great for vacation, but not for school. I am happy with my choice to be in Madrid.

Hasta la próxima!