Everything about this life is sweet. Waking up at whatever time I please... walking throughout the city taking in every breath one at a time... admiring the differences between people and places, which open my eyes to new and insightful things... and ending each day with my head on my pillow without a care in the world, is the sweetest thing of all.
After this past week, I truly feel like I need to start taking advantage of this incredible city I have at my fingertips. I know it seems as though I am doing a lot, but the days we waste at home on the internet or sleeping, we could easily be discovering a new part of the city or revisiting one of our favorites. Since last time, we have had quite an amazing week!
Tuesday began as usual, with class in the morning and trying to stay awake. We had made a promise that Tuesday was going to be our day to plan all of our trips and not let ourselves procrastinate any longer, because that seems to be one of our strong points. So we picked up lunch on the way home and locked ourselves in our apartment ALL DAY LONG and planned our trips. We are going to Italy for spring break (10 days), Valencia (with GSE), Interlaken, Switzerland & Vienna, Austria. We are also planning on taking trips just around Barcelona because there is so many things so close by that Jordan has told us we MUST see.
So we booked just about everything and we all feel less stressed. That night we went to dinner with some of our girlfriends in the program. Julia told us about this Mexican restaurant right by our house that was really good. So we ventured over to 'Aztec y Maya' and we were so excited because we have yet to have Mexican food since we've been to Spain. (This is coming from the girl who thought they served Mexican food as their main food in Spain). We were so excited to be ordering margaritas, guacamole and chips and all of our favorite Mexican food we'd been craving. It was a really fun and delicious dinner and we were glad we found this place.
After dinner, Ash, Dionne and I decided we were going to go out to a bar with the boys downstairs. Kyke was having an even at 'Pipperment' so we all took the metro there and were planning on making it an early night. Pipperment is known for having 1, 2 & 3 liter drinks you can order. You literally just order a drink and then share it with a ton of straws and however many people you'd like (sounds extremely sanitary, right?). So it was a lot of fun and we love hanging out with our boys because its always a good time. There were a ton of people from our school there so we ran into a lot of people we knew. By the time everyone was leaving to go to the nearby club, we were having second thoughts about making it an early night. With Kyke telling us we had to check it out, all the boys wanting us to go, a couple drinks in us and the obscene amount of good-looking guys, how could we not go out?
So we all walked over to this club called 'Up and Down' that we had heard a lot of good things about. We pretty much had the funnest night 'EVAH' and literally danced until 5 in the morning. We took a taxi home at 5 and could not stop talking about what a fun night that was. I can't even explain how good the music was and how cute the boys were (haha). The time just flew by... because we were having fun!
We literally did not get to sleep until 7 (after showering to get the sweat and smoke smell off of us... yuck!!!) so needless to say, being attentive for our classes on Wednesday was not the easiest thing in the world. We got through it (as we always seem to do) and that night we just hung out at home and got excited for Valentines Day.
Although none of us had valentines, except Dionne who has a boyfriend at home, we were really excited to celebrate Valentines Day together in Spain. After class on Thursday, we all picked up chocolate croissants and candy hearts to bring to Julia and Jordan at the office. We went over there and hung out with them for a while (which is always fun) and then we walked to Plaza Catalunya for a lovely day in the beautiful Gothic Quarter. If you remember from my previous entries, the Gothic Quarter is the oldest part of town, but definitely the most incredible. It is so culturally rich and filled with tons of shopping, cafes and chocolate shops... pretty much a perfect place to spend Valentines Day. We strolled around there for a couple of hours, just admiring the decorations, pastries and of course, clothes.
We were exhausted and went home for a siesta before we got ready for the night. Ashley and Dionne just finished the TV series 'DIRT' with Courtney Cox and Noelle and I had just began watching it, so we literally would make excuses to go home and watch it because it is soooo good. This was one of them. We layed around for a while until Ash's parents got here!!! They were only going to be in Barcelona for three days so we had planned on going all out while they were here.
Jordan planned a dinner for all of us that night at an INCREDIBLE restaurant called 'Dolso' which is known for its desserts but the food is absolutely incredible. So it was us four girls, Ash's parents, Jordan and Julia. The food was brilliantly put together and the combination of tastes were unlike anything I have ever had. The wine was flow-ing, and the amount of dessert courses were equal to the dinner courses (thats my kind of meal). It was such a quaint restaurant and the food and company were delightful. We went back to Ash's parents (Linda and Dave) hotel afterwards and it is sooo nice and right in the middle of everything. I even convinced my parents to stay there when they come. We took cabs to a bar across from the club we wanted to go to that night and just hung out there for a couple hours. We had been to this bar before so it was fun showing them what we do here all the time.
We went home fairly early (around 3) that night and woke up at about noon the next day for a long day of sightseeing. The four of us girls met Linda and Dave at their hotel and went to a restaurant called 'Tapa Tapa' for lunch. We had a huge variety of different... you guessed it... Tapas, and the most delicious cafe con leches we've had yet! The girls and I decided that Park Guell would be a fun place to take them, so we took the metro, and the long hike, up to the infamous Park Guell that we absolutely fell in love with when we came ourselves.
The Park was still as breathtaking as it was the first time and we went into the Gaudi Museum for the first time and got to see what Gaudi's house looked like on the inside from when he lived there. It was completely amazing and as intricately designed as the outside. We, once again, sat at the cafe on the top of the hill that overlooked the whole city and had pitchers of Sangria and enjoyed the beautiful view with the sun and breeze hitting our face on this beautiful day.
We wanted Linda and Dave to experience 'Champagneria' and all its magic, haha, but when we arrived there around six, we found a sign saying they were on vacation until the 17th. No bueno. Well I hope I can take my parents there, because besides being one of my favorite places in the city, it is quite an experience. We ended up just going back to their hotel, ordering a few tapas in the lounge and then calling it a night.
This was smart, although I was itching to go out that night, because we had a 10 a.m. bike tour with Jordan on Saturday morning. This was the same bike tour he had done with our entire GSE group but it was much more personal and easy with only 6 people. The bike tour opened my eyes, once again, to how absolutely stunning this city it is and how much it has to offer. I know for sure that I picked the right city to spend four months in. We stopped at a few more places than before and it was an absolutely incredible few hours.
Jordan had also planned a really nice lunch for us afterwards in the Gothic Quarter. The place was called '4 Gats' meaning four cats in Catalan, due to an old Catalan saying. It was a really historic and culturally rich restaurant with famous artwork and an antique feeling from the moment you walked in. The atmosphere was great and they had a 'menu del dia' which was two courses that you could choose from a list to get. I looked frighteningly at Jordan after he read us the list, seeing as everything was meaty, fishy and altogether scary. Everyone was telling me to go out on a limb and try it, so I held my breath and said, "ok." I ended up getting smoked salmon wrapped goat cheese topped with avocado for my first course (didn't go over too well), but i DID try it. The second course however, was a-ma-zing!!! It was some kind of cooked fish in a sauce with veggies on top of it and it was so good. Go me for trying things!!! We washed it all down with sparkling red wine and finished with platefuls of desserts, cafe con leches and a green tea shot (literally an alcoholic shot of green tea) to digest everthing.
Dave and Linda convinced Jordan to come with us to Sagrada Familia because there is no way us girls could possibly begin to explain the history behind it to them. He agreed, thank God, and we all went over to the infamous cathedral. Much like the first time we were there, Jordan explained everything in such fine detail while we all sat with our mouths wide open in awe at this unreal place in front of us.
We rested up before our big Saturday night out. Kyke was having a party at this club called 'Mirabe' or 'La Mansion' which is on top of this hill next to this castle called 'Tibidabo' overlooking the ENTIRE city. We called Kyke and reserved a private table for that night with a panoramic view of the city. We were determined to show Ash's parents a good time, so we knew a table was necessary, and this club was supposed to be one of the nicest in the city. We met them around 11 on La Rambla and went to our favorite 'Cervesaria' for Tapas and Sangria. The service there is so genuine and warm and they always make you feel like you have been going there for years. Not to mention the food and drinks are delicious!
After dinner, we walked up and down La Rambla just checking out all the people, bars and clubs. We finally took a cab around 1 to Mirabe which was way on the other side of the city. We were literally going to the very top, and it was gorgeous!!! When we got to the club, it wasn't that crowded yet but the club itself and the view were absolutely amazing!!! I wish I would have taken more pictures because I literally felt like I was in a dream. Ponds, trees, twinkle lights and the entire city of Barcelona lit up right in front of us. It was amazing. We found Kyke, got our table and the rest is history. We spent the whole night talking, drinking, laughing and dancing and didn't go home until 4 a.m. We had a hilarious cab ride home and lets just say we didn't get to sleep until waaay late. We had SUCH a blast with Ash's parents and thanked them over and over again for such a fun weekend. It was so good to have parents here, but it made me miss mine even more.
Sunday consisted of lots of sleep, waking up to eat and watch 'DIRT' going back to sleep and repeating that cycle over and over again. All of us have colds right now (I can't imagine why) so we were so tired on Monday morning and none of us wanted to wake up for class... so we didn't. All of our cell phone alarms were going off (dionne said it was like a musical in our house) and no one woke up because we all felt sick. So we missed our first class and woke up at 12:30 in time for Spanish. Now we are all home (after being locked out until Dionne got home) and Julia was just here after her and Noelle went to the doctor. She is amazing, we literally just sit here and laugh hysterically with her all the time! We love her!
Ashley and Dionne are spending the week in Paris with Ash's parents and leave tomorrow. Noelle and I are staying here and are going to sight see here because there are still so many things we have yet to see. I uploaded a ton of new pictures on here, so make sure you look at them!!!
This semester is flying by so fast and I want to hold on to every moment and never let it go. It sounds so cheesy, but I feel like I am living in a dream world, because it is all just way too good to be true. Until next time... Todo mi amor!
