Barcelona: Is it Spanish, is it French, where....IS it?

Hello again (I ran out of witty Spanish salutations, my apologies)!

My intensive period of classes have ended, meaning that, as of tomorrow, I have a brand new schedule. Lucky for me I'll be able to see many more Spanish hours of the day with 8:45am classes Monday through Thursday! Yikes.

But to celebrate nearly a month of being here (crazy isn't it) I spent the past weekend in Barcelona! This trip was especially fun because I got to reunite with a few of my friends from Muhlenberg who are also studying abroad and hear all about their European adventures, as well as share some together!! Before the fun was had, I had to actually GET to Barcelona and was traveling solo. Although my experiences in Spain have been overwhelmingly positive I have noted that when faced with navigating new areas alone, I lose any sort of intuition I may have and I find myself completely disoriented and confused. So, after a flight from Sevilla, a 10 minute shuttle ride to a new terminal, 20 minutes of searching for a connecting train to the city (at this point verging on tears), 30 minutes of waiting for said train (at least enough time to stop sweating), 25 minutes of train ride, and 10 minutes on the metro, I FINALLY found my friends! PHEW! At this point it is approximately midnight, and with all exhaustion that came from traveling, we were only up for having a couple of laughs and for planning for the rest of our weekend!

We were up at impressive (college student standards) at 9:30am psyched and ready to go on a nice three hour bike tour of the city. I would love to tell you how exhilarating this tour was.....if we had been able to get there on time. I know many of my loyal followers must be thinking, "Cait, I thought you would be able to figure things out by now, ESPECIALLY while still in Spain. Can't you SPEAK Spanish??" Well let me just qualify our Barcelona navigation troubles in saying that there is a completely different dialect utilized there, in addition to Spanish,  which is a sort of French and Spanish mix that is barely similar to the Castillian dialect I have been accustomed to. So there! In addition, as much as I would have liked to impress my friends with my knowledge, my good friend Jackie was enjoying her role of eager tourist and loved approaching ANYBODY on the street to ask for directions in her interpretation of Spanish. As much as we loved the enthusiasm, another friend pointed out that it usually went something like, "Perdón, dónde está....somewhere-we-can-eat?"
Regardless of our obvious foreign status, we eventually found ourselves at the Picasso Museum. This museum was filled with Picasso works from the very beginning of his artistic career until the end. For me, I appreciated being surrounded by such famous art, but I have also found that apart from the various paintings I am familiar with, it is tough for me to view painting after painting of "Portrait of an Unknown Man." I mean, come on. So it was time for bigger and better things for me.

Up next was the enormous, ornate Sagrada Familia Cathedral (pictures included). This staggeringly large cathedral still remains unfinished, but is beyond impressive look at! Following the architectural theme we hopped on the metro again. As a side note, we are now official experts of the extensive Barcelona metro system, as we spent the majority of our time underground riding it. Jill was even able to hold a full 3 minute conversation with a Barcelona native that solely consisted of shoulder shrugs and eyebrow raises (language barrier? No problem). We checked some more Gaudi-designed architecture, and finally settled in to have some authentic Spanish cuisine! Later that night we wanted to explore even more and were excited to view what was supposed to be a spectacular lit up building, but after yet another subway ride, we learned from a local that, oh- it's not lit up all the time, tight budget...!!! So not to be too disgruntled, we headed underground again to check out the nightlife along Barcelona's Mediterranean coastline. You would think free entry into a trendy club close to the beach would rejuvenate us, but as the techno beats pounded us into a weary stupor, we decided to head home and call it a night.

Jill and I in front of the Sagrada Familia

I don't know if this building is even important, but it's cool!

One of Gaudi's creations!

Just having a good time in Barcelona! I just loved the fun captured here.

A look down the beach at night

Sunday was my FAVORITE day of the trip, as we made one final excursion to Parc Guell (also designed by Gaudi). I think we climbed about two football field's worth of stairs to reach the top but it was more than worth it! The view of alllllll of Barcelona was incredible, and a short little walk led us to a busy square with mosaic buildings and benches. The designs were great and it was also fun to just sit and people watch. It was definitely a great way to end the trip! It was sad to have to say goodbye to my friends, but we have decided that another trip must be worked out before the semester ends!

IS THIS A REAL VIEW?

Cool tunnel (Used in an ANTM episode if anyone watches or remembers...)

NOT a gingerbread house, but rather building by Gaudi featuring mosaics

After a MUCH more tolerable journey home, I was glad to be back in Sevilla. Today there were no classes as it was a regional holiday, and I enjoyed a nice stroll through the streets, as well as a nice riverside sit underneath the Sevillano sun! It looks like the weather is going to continue to improve, although I can't say that too much needs to change as it has already been reaching the 70 degree mark!

If you have had the stamina to make it to the end of this post, thanks!