Barcelona!!!

Sorry it's taken so long to get this post up, I had a busy week at school with a midterm in my Honors class.  Also, sorry there are no pictures, my camera is basically broken and only stays on for about a minute at a time now, so Elizabeth took all our Barcelona pictures.  When I get them from her, I will put some up.  

Well, as expected, Elizabeth and I had an amazing weekend in Barcelona!  It got off to a rough start at the airport though because we both flew in late Thursday night and planned to meet in the arrivals area.  Little did we know that the Barcelona airport is huge and has two terminals that are a 15 minute bus ride away from each other, and of course we each arrived at a different terminal.  So at 12:30 in the morning I finally found Elizabeth after freaking out for a bit, then figuring out there were two terminals and then getting myself to the one she was at.  Then we went to the guest house we were staying at, wandered around for a while trying to find someplace with food that was still open, then got some much needed sleep.

Friday we started the day by walking down probably the most famous street in Barcelona, Las Ramblas.  It's a huge pedestrian walkway with roads for the cars on either side.  There are restaurants, souvenir stands, stands selling pets (such as fish, turtles, bunnies) and most famously "living statues" all the way down Las Ramblas.  The "living statues" are people dressed in costumes or painted to look like characters, similar to the ones that are in big cities in America.  There were a huge variety of "living statues" here, ranging from funny to borderline scary to unbelievable.  The unbelievable one I'm thinking of was a "levitating" man.  I don't know how it worked, but I swear it looked like he was floating in the air.  We got a picture with him, so I'll be sure to put it up later.  There's also a huge food market called the Boqueria Market off of Las Ramblas, which we walked through.  I couldn't believe the variety of seafood and produce.  If you buy seafood there you get the whole animal, or you could buy a pig head or other gross-looking meat if that's your preference.  I'm going to try to find some good food markets like this back in Chicago, because it is really cool to see all the food, and it's fresher than most of the food you can buy at the grocery stores.  At the end of Las Ramblas we started walking along the harbor and saw the Mediterranean.  We really lucked out with the weather, it was gorgeous while we were there!  Next we went to the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, also known as Barcelona Cathedral.  We were able to take an elevator to this walkway on the roof of the church, which was so cool.  From the roof we saw awesome views of Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea.  Then we walked back to our guest house for the "siesta" that is so popular in Spain, which I could definitely get used to.  That night after dinner we walked along the beach to this area with a lot of nightlife, where the clubs and bars have patios that open up onto the beach.  It was a fun night!

Saturday we started the day by walking to the north side of the city and going to Park Guell, which was one of the projects of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi.  It's a very nice park, with great views of the city/sea.  There is a lot of mosaic work on the terraces and there is a mosaic "dragon" at the entrance, which you may have seen pictures of before.  Next we went to Sagrada Familia, which is a huge basilica also designed by Gaudi.  At the time of Gaudi's death in 1926, less than a quarter of the church was completed, and they're still working on it today.  It is scheduled to be finished in 2026.  The exterior is very unique, but the interior even more so.  It's almost all white on the inside, and it looks surprisingly modern, with angular designs on the ceiling that kind of look like flowers.  For a late lunch, we walked back to the Boqueria Market and bought bread, brie, and fruit juice, and sat on a bench on Las Ramblas, eating and people-watching.  It was a perfect simple meal!  After a siesta, we had a traditional Spanish dinner, eating at a restaurant that had an outdoor patio on Las Ramblas.  We had paella and sangria, and it was delicious!  That night we did a pub crawl, which took us to a few bars and a club.  Once again, another fun night!  We were sad to leave Barcelona and each other on Sunday, but it was such a great weekend and I would love to go back to Barcelona some day!


I keep forgetting to tell you guys about my tutoring job!  I tutor two little Italian girls in English once a week.  There names are Benedetta and Diletta and they're seven and eight-years-old.  Unfortunately, there's quite a language barrier because they are only in their first year of English in school and I don't know very much Italian, but it's working out.  I had no idea how much English they would know, so after meeting them the first week I now find worksheets and materials online for them that work on vocabulary and reading.  It's a lot harder than I thought it would be since we really don't have a common language and it's hard to tell how much they are actually comprehending.  It's great experience though, and a good way to interact with Italians while earning some spending money, so I'm definitely glad I'm doing it!

Today we were going to take a day trip somewhere, but decided against it since for 12 out of the next 36 hours we'll be on trains to/from Venice.  But I didn't want to waste this beautiful day, so while my friends slept I decided to go out and explore Rome, by myself and without a map (I'm feeling adventurous today I guess!).  I went to the Capuchin Crypt, which is a collection of rooms/chapels beneath a church.  The crypt is "decorated" with the bones of over 4,000 monks.  The bones are stacked in piles, attached to the walls in patterns, and are even put together to make the light fixtures.  Cameras aren't allowed, so I don't have pictures, but you should Google it just to get an idea, because it's one of the strangest things I've ever seen.  I thought it was really creepy being surrounded by the skulls and bones of dead people.  Then I walked around looking for food and got a panino (side note: "panino" is the singular form, I don't know why everyone in America calls it a "panini" when they're only talking about one sandwich, because that's incorrect!).  I was just wandering around with my panino when I stumbled upon the Spanish Steps, so I sat on them and ate/people-watched.  Then I walked around for a while, exploring and shopping, then got gelato and took the bus home.  I'm proud of myself for not getting lost or anything, and I had a great time in the beautiful weather that we're having lately.  Tonight my friends and I leave for Venice, because Carnevale, the celebration that is basically like Mardi Gras, starts tomorrow.  We're taking an overnight train to Venice tonight, staying for the day tomorrow, then taking an overnight train back home tomorrow night.  It should be really fun, and I'm excited to see all the costumes and masks that Carnevale is known for.  I'll update you all about it next week (hopefully with pictures).  Thanks for reading!

Ciao,
Allison