FRIDAY:
I got to Barcelona on Friday, but nothing exciting to write because I just found my hostel (Gothic Equity Point- great location but the beds are dungeons) and went to bed. I was exhausted from the hectic last few days in Prague, packing, and traveling. Laura was at a concert, anyways, so I just had a relaxing night to myself. I have found that since I have traveled so much around Europe, it has become so easy to navigate a new city. Figuring out maps and public transportation at the beginning of the term was such a challenge for me, but now its all a piece of cake.
SATURDAY:
Saturday was an early start. After Laura and I screamed and hugged each other (we spent way to long apart), we walked to the University that she is studying at in Barcelona and met up with all the other kids on the Dartmouth Barcelona LSA trip for a field trip. All in Spanish! To my surprise, I was able to understand mostly everything the tour guide was saying. Lindsey, Julia, and Dana- you are going to absolutely love studying here in the fall.
I had the perfect timing to tag along on the LSA field trip because it was a bus tour around the city to see all of the Gaudi architecture! Just what I wanted to see in Barcelona anyways. First we visited La Pedrera and saw how all of Gaudi's work is inspired by nature- the seaweed-like railings for the balconies, the hexagonal floor tiles like honeycombs, and the dragon scale roof of Casa Batallo down the street on Pg. de Gracia.
Next, we saw the enormous Sagrada Familia which is under construction but is Gaudi's most famous work and is the most visited attraction in all of Barcelona. Gaudi devoted his last 19 years of his life to it, but then when he died, construction was halted and the plans were even destroyed by Franco. Now, the city has restarted the construction and is slated to be finished around 2030. The structure was truly breathtaking and reminded me of the Aya Sofia in Istanbul- except that Sagrada Familia will be a 1000 years newer.
The next stop on our Gaudi tour was Park Guell at the north of the city. The park is filled with colorful benches and has a beautiful view of the entire city looking out to the ocean.
Lastly on our tour, we visited Montjuic and saw the Olympic complex from when Barcelona hosted the Olympics in 1992. Read on to find out more about my next visit to the Olympic Stadium....
Then everyone parted ways to go home and take their afternoon siesta at their host family's house, and we all met up again for dinner at a great cheap restaurant off of La Rambla. We all ordered paella so they brought out this HUGE pan for our table. The rice mixed with meats and seafood was delicious. And of course, we drank sangria as a perfect complement our meal. I love Spanish food and it is certainly refreshing to eat after so much heavy and hearty Czech food. At dinner, it was fun to hear more about the Barcelona LSA and all of the experiences they have been having. I find it amazing to travel around Europe and be able to meet up with all of these Dartmouth students studying in different locations- we had met up with some of them in Berlin earlier and had students from Leon visit us in Prague. Quite the Dartmouth network.SUNDAY:
We ran EL CURSO! I joined in with a bunch of the LSA to run this 10.9 km race around Barcelona. It was awesome! It was definitely the farthest I have ever run and I don't think I have ever run a race before, so it was a cool experience to have in this foreign city. After we spent the first kilometer dogging around the walkers and crowds of people, Laura and I broke into our stride and stayed together the entire time to keep each other occupied and motivated. The race started in Pl. de Catalunya and did a loop up to Montjuic and back. The killer part was when we hit that 5 km mark and had to go up the hill of Montjic to the Olypmic Stadium. Oh, I never thought that hill was going to end. BUT it was so worth it because the course took us into the Olympic stadium to do a lap around the track! That was my favorite part of the race and everyone was cheering when we went through the tunnel to get into the stadium. From there on, it was downhill and to the finish line. It was so satisfying to run through the finish line and I'm impressed with our time. Great experience all around. Maybe I will turn into a world class runner? Hmm yeah that's doubtful. But I do have a piece of the Olympic track (what we got when we signed up for the race) as a souvenir!
After we all found each other amidst the crowd of people at the finish line (John and Chris attempted to ice Will at the finish line but it didn't work out because he was too far away), we loaded up on the free water and headed across town to this local human pyramid competition. That's right. Groups of people competing to have the best human pyramid. I wish I had pictures to show you because it was SO COOL. They were stacking up to six people- standing straight up!- on top of each other and then a little kid would climb up, like a monkey, to go over the top of the stack and climb back down. It was a beautiful display of human strength and required so much teamwork at the bottom to be able to support. We left before the competition was over, but I wonder what team won!
All of the Dartmouth Barcelona kids then went home/ to the library to work on their Spanish compositions, and I hit the Barceloneta beach for a couple hours before Heather, Anny, and Ana arrived! I can't even begin to tell you how nice it is to finally be in the sun after the straight clouds and rain of Prague.
Once Heather, Anny, and Ana got settled into their dungeon rooms in the hostel, we hit up Barri Gotic to find a tasty restaurant. We ate at a place of Laura's recommendation and guess what we got?! PAELLA AND SANGRIA. Surprise, surprise. Actually, I have now had that meal 3 times while being here. At this point I will have memorized the ingredients and will be cooking paella for everyone in Redbarn this summer. So get excited- all visitors welcome.
It was early to bed on Sunday because Heather, Anny, and Ana were wiped from Sensation. But we are absolutely loving Barcelona. So relaxing and enjoyable. A perfect way to spend our last week of our European adventures. We have now been in Europe for 75 days (according to my iCal). And, wow, we have done a lot.
Miss you all at home and SO EXCITED to get home to see you!
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