Barcelona

21 de Junio
5:24pm

Buenos tardes!

He volvido de Barcelona. I have returned from Barcelona!
The weekend in Barcelona was the best weekend I have had since being in Spain.

We arrived in Barcelona at 10:30pm by airplane on Thursday. Once we took the aerobus into the city, we were not familiar with the transportation to arrive at our hostel. The bus from the airport took us to the incorrect stop and we walked across the populated street called Las Ramblas. This street is known to be a bit peligroso (dangerous) due to the large amounts of robberies. We were a bit nervous but followed the advice of mi madre and walked with an attitude. We found our way to the metro stop and met two girls on our train who were staying in our same hostel. They showed us the way.

When we arrived at our hostel, we thought we made a huge mistake in staying here, as we had never stayed in a place with bunk beds, lockers, and people smoking in the common room. After we got over the initial shock of the hostel, we went to the common room. Within five minutes, a nice guy from Virginia asked us to join him and his friends for a game. We met his friend, a guy from Germany, and a lady backpacking across Europe solo. Melanie told me the night unfolded very similar to the movie “Hostel” with the guys showing us a store near our place; however, they did not abduct us.Nonetheless, by the time we left the hostel, we felt very comfortable with the accommodations and enjoyed the community atmosphere. I met people from Germany, England, Brazil, China, New Zealand, and many cities in the US while in the hostel for only three nights. It is fascinating learning about other people’s culture.

Thursday night we ate at the Hard Rock Café in Barcelona. I didn’t think I missed American food until I had two heads (literally) of romaine lettuce with chicken that tasted better than chocolate cake.. I love Spain, but it will be nice to have cold milk and food that stays in the fridge a bit more often when I return to the States. J

The hostel provided breakfast for us every morning, which consisted of instant coffee, three types of cereals, and bread. During the rest of the day they had an open kitchen where many people would gather and cook meals. We cooked pasta on Friday night in order to save some money.

On Friday, we visited the Sagrada Familia, the unfinished cathedral by the modernist and innovative artist, Antonio Gaudi. Gaudi died in a train accident and his plans for the cathedral were also destroyed; therefore, it was under construction when we visited it and will be completed by 2026. Gaudi is famous for many of his art creations in Barcelona.

After the Sagrada Familia, we visited the beaches of Barcelona to watch the USA game. The beaches were immaculate, a bit windy, and filled with those both clothed and nude - a different atmosphere for me. Yet, it is normal to see women without tops in Europe and no one but tourists are caught looking in awe or disgust. Also on the beach, there were many al fresco style restaurants with flat screen TVs. We sat down next to a few girls from Texas and a group of guys in their mid 20’s who graduated from Notre Dame in order to watch the game.

After the US tied 2-2, we explored the shoreline. The sand was coarser than the gulf beaches; however, the water was blue, oil free, and chilly. We did not overcome the initial chill and resided on the shore when a man selling henna tattoos approached us. I bartered for a butterfly tattoo on my ankle from 7 to 2 euro. People sell everything everywhere from tattoos to beer. The man gave me the tattoo on the beach only feet from the shore. When we were sitting down watching the game, a lady began massaging my shoulder trying to sell me a massage. People with roses and sunglasses visited our table numerous times trying to obtain money from excited tourists.

After the beach, we headed back to the hostel for our homemade dinner. The guys we met from ND called us later that night to see if we were interested in seeing the town with them and a girl they met the day before. One of my good friends, Julia, and I acted on a whim and a bit irresponsible by trusting these guys we met earlier that day. Nonetheless, we met them at a bar later in the night along with a charismatic and extremely intelligent 21-year-old girl named Irene. She knows 7 languages and is studying Physics. I can only hope to be as accomplished as her one day.

The night ended up being one to remember as Julia and I saw the non-tourist nightlife in Barcelona, interacted with locals, and made some new friends. At a few bars in Spain, when you order a drink, you mix it yourself. Thus, you can put as little or as much alcohol in the drink as you would like. A bit dangerous for some, yet no one complains they don’t get their moneys worth. After the bar, meeting Irene’s friends, and eyes a bit glazed over by the smoke, we headed to a local discoteca.

At the disco, people supposedly break their glass drink bottles on the wall or floor in Spain and there were small pieces of glass near our feet. We were fortunate to keep all our toes J. As many of you know, dancing is something I could do all night no matter my energy level. We danced until 6:30am!! I am still trying to catch up on sleep. However, we were able to take the metro back home as it stopped running at 1am and began again at 5am. The night turned out to be one of my best nights since being in Spain and one I will remember for years to come. I love the discos in Spain and hope to find at least one in the states, but will not get my hopes up…

The next day we visited the Picasso Museum. Each room told a different story of his life in chronological order. Picasso’s style was not always the cubism-Guernica-outlandish style that initially comes to mind. He once painted flowers and people! I enjoyed most the room on Picasso’s version of the Velazquez painting, Las Mecenas where you see his rendition of the same image depicted in a less realistic form.

A friend of mine, Kelly, and I walked the streets of Las Ramblas after lunch and visited the street vendors’ booths. We kept our hands on our purses and later found out that one of our friends had her iPhone stolen here. The streets were crowed with shoppers, street performers, and vendors.

Later Saturday night we watched the magic fountain in front of the Barcelona capital. The fountain was coordinated to music and is similar to the fountain in Vegas. I will attempt to attach the video of the fountain for you to see. On the same street as the fountain, there was a Harley-Davidson Barcelona event. Seeing people dressed in leather, helmets on and speaking Spanish was an oxymoron for me. However, bikes here must be just as popular as in the states. Included in this event was a very good Bon Jovi cover band. All the songs were in English but the singer spoke in between songs in Spanish. It constantly amazes me the English influences here in music and fashion. (there is the show Glee in Spanish here – songs in English, words in Spanish!)

We left on Sunday morning and arrived back home safely. What a trip to remember! I hope to return to Barcelona one day to see more work from Guadi and explore what the city has to offer. The city is beautiful, has an extremely efficient metro, and shopping galore! Adios!

Kristina