Barcelona, Spain

I went to Barcelona, Spain with my friends Helen from NYU and Traci from Miami. I got to meet up with Flan and was supposed to see my old roommate Erin but we got the dates mixed up.

We arrived in Barcelona at 11:50pm and had to take the subway to our Hostel. I thought since we were going to Spain they would speak Spanish and communicating wouldn't be that bad. I was very wrong...they spoke Catalonian and actually get offended when one speaks Spanish to them. The tickets were somewhat hard to figure out because I couldn't read it. And this old lady was lingering around very quietly obviously trying to find where our money was kept so she could pick pocket. Luckily we are such smart travellers and had already pulled out the exact amount beforehand. It was amazing how this lady had been standing right next to me the whole time and I hadn't noticed until I was done buying the ticket and waiting for Traci...it was like she was invisible! I tried to get through the gate with my ticket but each time failed later to notice that we had bought train tickets not subway!

Once we bought the SUBWAY tickets and arrived at our stop we were greeted by probably 10-15 prostitutes that stand on the street "Las Ramblas" all night. Making clicks whenever a man walks by...the area was extremely sketchy or as a Brit would say "dodgy."

The first day we went to La Sangrada Familia, Parc Guell, Casa Batllo, La Pedrera and the Picasso Museum. A lot of Barcelona is designed by a man named Gaudi who was inspired by nature and that shows in his architecture. La Sangrada Familia was built by him and is still under construction today. I found the architecture interesting because you could see his inspiration everywhere. The coloms like trees, windows like palm trees, etc. But I don't think that the architecture is beautiful just different and very funky.

Parc Guell was a lot of fun- designed also by Gaudi. Lots of sculptures and crazy areas to explore. At the top of the park a bunch of people laid out black market stuff to sell. One man had earrings placed on top of an umbrella. All of the sudden the man freaks out and said he would be back in fourteen minutes. I turned around and the entire market was gone....a total ghost town. I was like 'ooookay where are the police at?' Sure enough the police had come so everyone had to run. This is so impressive but not as hilarious as when it happened in Rome because they had to run over this huge hill to get away- now that was a sight!

I really enojoyed the Picasso Museum and liked to see how his art progressed over time. He went from being a very detailed artist to a crazy one. Some say he really did go crazy. I'm not sure I think maybe his friend Sarbetes inspired him since once he met him the art changed drastically.

For dinner we tried the Tapas- a Spanish meal. These are small, appetizer like meals and you order three to four for dinner. They are very tasty and some better than Italian food. But they didn't fill me up that much because I could only afford two at a time (usually running from 4-6 euros each). As the trip went on sometimes I had a hard time with the looks of the food. For example if you ordered paella (rice stirfry with seafood) then entire eels and crawfish would be in the dish. Or if you ordered a fried seafood tapa the eyes would still be entact...so awful. At one restuarant there was rows and rows of meat hanging from the ceiling...the hooves were still there!!!!

The next day we went up Montjuic, walked Port Vell, saw a Cathedral under construction and met up with my friend Flannery.

Saturday we spent walking Barcelona street markets and went to a Flamenco Show. I was not expecting this dance to be like this. Generally men sing while the spotlight is on a woman or man doing the dance...it is a tap dance. I loved how they would fire eachother up and cheer them on. The women would get so into it and get these crazy aggressive faces on. We were served a glass of Sangria during the show. Generally I really don't like wine but Sangria is tasty! It was served with ice and oranges inside...very sweet.

The last morning we spent at the Chocolate Museum. Spain invented chocolate back in the XVI Century. I learned a lot about the productions and uses of chocolate. There was multiple chocolate sculptures which were incredible. Once man was painting Audrey Hepburn in chocolate.

Each day we treated ourselves to a Spanish sweet. Its like I eat the food of the country when I am there and starve myself in Manchester otherwise I would look like a sumo wrestler! My favorite was churros and chocolata...its the spanish hot chocolate and is very thick and sweet and then churros (without the sugar all over it). You dip the churros into the hot chocolate and it is like heaven. One day I tried Spanish Gelatto which is not as good as Italian...after my fifth lick the entire scoop fell the to ground...I think it was God's way of telling me I've had enough Gelatto this semester....I just love it so much!

The Spanish men were a little bit of an issue but I must say that I prefer being harassed by Spanish men then Italian. The Spanish mens way of telling you they think your pretty is by hissing, barking or moaning sexually at you. Vs the Italian that would just say incredibly vulgar things. Oh the joys of being blonde in Europe.

Overall Spain was a blast...it didn't steal my heart like Italy but thats ok. And I didn't get fooled by any of the crazy shows and skeems I read about that happen on Las Ramblas to steal your money....but I did see others falling for them!

Three days until Paris!