So I took a plane over to Barcelona this past weekend (planes are wayyy cheaper than trains or buses, which is probably not a good sign for the environment, and airports are super stressful) to see some good friends (and celebrate a 21st birthday!)
I arrived there Thursday afternoon and spent a few hours exploring. Bought some food and some drinks for the night- I love how cheap alcohol is in Europe! For less than 5 euros I bought apple liquor, tinto wine, sprite and pineapple juice. The tinto wine and Sprite was used to make Tinto de Verano, which I think is my new favorite drink (but I think if I ordered it in a bar in the States I would get weird looks?) Dinner was super cheap, too, just getting a warm baguette and dipping it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Catalan is the commonly spoke language in Catalonia, or "Catalunya". It's pretty much like a combination of Spanish and French, and fairly easy to understand. And Catalonians like Americans a lot more than they like people from Madrid! Apparently there's tension between Catalonians and the rest of Spain... (see the terrorist acts of the ETA, I guess.)
On Thursday night we went to the Chupitos Bar (called Esprit?) and ordered numerous weirdly named shots. One shot, the "Harry Potter", was an orange lit on fire on top of a shot of triple sec. The group favorite, I think, as displayed below, was the "Boy Scout", which required the bar to be lit on fire, we (the bar-goers) roasted the marshmallows over the fire, took the shot of triple sec (I think?) and ate the marshmallow. I want to do this back at college but fear my aversion to lighting things on fire might be an obstacle difficult to overcome...
Friday morning I explored the Sagrada Familia while my friends all had class. Gaudi's artwork for the Sagrada Familia is beautiful and unique from everything else in Barcelona. He uses a lot of spirals and nature-inspired pieces. There are huge scenes from Jesus' life with beautifully done faces, and the shapes of the people are great (though the centurions at Jesus' crucifixion look very similar to the cylons in Battlestar Galactica).
On Saturday evening we went exploring the parks of Barcelona, starting with the Parque de Laberinto de Horta which was beautiful and had a labyrinth in the center. Then we went to Parque Guell, which Gaudi designed a lot of (the bridge and what not). From the top of the mountain you can see all of Barcelona, we really lucked out with the weather ;)
Finally on Saturday night we went to a bar called "Dow Jones"(near Diagonal) which has a super unique theme. Drinks are priced at a certain level and the price fluctuates based on demand. Once an hour there is a "crack" (I think it's supposed to be "crash") where the drink prices "plummet" (really they go down to a normal price, like 2 euros for a Heineken or 5 euros for a Sex on the Beach).
Overall, Barcelona was a great experience, especially the company and the outings. I definitely plan to go there again, though I'll wait for swim suit season. At least I got good weather though! The day after I left there was a bunch of snow; I guess the city misses me.........
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