DULCE...

Barcelona trip rocked! The metropolitan city was just what I needed…and after last weekend, I decided I could definitely live (short-term) there.
Around 15-20 other students went to Barcelona; however I spent most of my weekend with my friend Maggie, her boyfriend-Matt (visiting from the states), and Maggie’s friend (who is studying at the University of Barcelona), David.

Maggie, Matt, and I stayed in the best location possible: Las Ramblas. The main campus of the University of Barcelona rests at one end of the street, while the other end has a marina port. (If any of you go to Barcelona- every travel guide will urge you to visit Las Ramblas!) This neighborhood has a huge food market: all kinds of fresh fruit, bread, seafood, ect…one morning we hit up the market for breakfast. Las Ramblas is also known for its entertainment. Street performers lined the road-these actors were hilarious! The best description of these people would be mimes wearing extreme Halloween costumes- BUT these actors were definitely not clowns and they didn’t have the basic black and white-mime attire.

Anyways, these street performers would not move until money/change was dropped into their tin cup. So these mime-Halloween costumed-street performers would be as still as a statue! It was crazy. (I wish I had a video camera with me). I saw a so many but a few of the most memorable were the following: a guy from the gold rush; a devil (he poked a dad in the butt with his pitchfork and the dad squealed-I started laughing because the son-of the dad was giggling uncontrollably), a mermaid, a tree, and a saloon lady (from the Wild West). When I reached the marina port there were tons of giant statues-perfect for taking goofy pictures!

Right away Friday, Maggie’s friend started being host. The whole weekend he brought us all around the city to parks, monuments, and cheap restaurants! We ate doners “shwam” (it looked like a chipotle with a middle eastern style ingredients) at a family style restaurant---very local and hidden…perfect. Friday night ended with the Ben Harper and Innocent Criminals concert. I seriously love live music! The concert was in some stadium where the 1992 (or some old year) Olympic basketball teams played.

Saturday we did a ton of site-seeing. My favorites include the Gaudi works. Gaudi is a famous architect from the late 1800s-early 1900s. He created a park, an apartment complex, church, and a few other buildings. His works revolutionalized architecture-forever…and you can only see his work in Barcelona. I loved it. In fact, I ended up touring one apartment called La Pedrera. At the Gaudi park Maggie, Matt, David, and I had a picnic---it was great!

Other major things I walked by or visited were the following: (short tour of) the University of Barcelona, Basilica de Santa Maria del Mar, Picasso Museum, Parc de la Ciutadella, Monumenta Colon, Vila Olympic…

Saturday night ended up being the highlight of the trip. David brought Maggie and I to an awesome jazz venue called Harlem Jazz Club. There was live music, AGAIN! This Brazilian-Porteguese band played awesome jazz! The place was packed and we rocked the night away- bailando, fumando, y bebiendo…

Sunday was an adventure! After Maggie dealt with some airline mix-ups, we decided to meet up with David again. The three of us (and now David’s friend, Emily) decided to hike up with huge hill. We decided to ditch the road and be extreme by bush-wacking our way to the top…we weren’t very successful (hahaha). Maggie and I had to turn three-forths of our way from the top-to make it on time for our flight. Unfortunately, my camera went dead by this time-otherwise I would have awesome pictures!

Barcelona is amazing. The culture (about 25% of the people speak a language called Catalun-mix of French & Spanish), architecture, the arts, the history, and the metropolitan feel…seriously make my heart soar. Plus, the people there were a lot nicer (than the Sevillans)…

Until my next post, sending lots of love and prayers

MaLeah