I decided to consolidate the past two weeks into one action-packed blog. And action packed they were! I spent the long four day weekend in Barcelona, and I already want to go back. Me encanta Barcelona! First off, the city itself is huge! It has 68 different public parks, one of which I fell in love with: Park Güell. Antoni Gaudí, an architect genius extraordinaire, designed this massive and gorgeous park, and it’s FREE!
Having a picnic (and our favorite 2 euro cava) overlooking the city at sunset was a memory I will cherish forever. It was breathtaking, and the clouds looked straight out of a Pixar movie. We also ventured to the Sagrada Familia, a church also designed by Gaudí and is still under construction (They’ve only completed 8 of the 18 towers from the original plans). Imagine if Mother Nature and Tim Burton collaborated and made a cathedral. I felt like I was in a completely different world. You can literally look at just the outside of it for hours. The detail he put into it is extraordinary. If you decide to pay the 10 euro (the discount for students) to get in (TOTALLY WORTH IT), you will need to find a seat ASAP. You’ll be so blown away. The columns in that place seem to go up for days!
Inside, there is a museum that tells all about Gaudí’s inspiration. Let me tell you this man was more in tune with nature than any yoga instructor you will ever meet. He was pretty much a loner for his entire life, never got married, never had kids, never even had a girlfriend, but designed some of the dopest architecture I’ve ever seen (kudos to you, my new found friend).
As for the nightlife, if you are even somewhat of an insomniac you will enjoy every place you walk into. I am somewhat of an abuela, so I offered myself up as the jacket girl and sat on the side one of the nights, but I still enjoyed myself while I sipped my refreshing water and people watched. Our friend in Barcelona is amigos with a club promoter, so getting into all the beach front discotecas for free was lovely and very much in my price range. Overall, even if you only survive off bread and cheese for the weekend (which we did), saving that money for the museums is definitely worth it. I hope to see you again soon my wonderful Barcelona.
As far as school goes, it was similar to camp up until this point. Then, much to me and my classmates’ dismay, test time crept up on us. Wasn’t ready for that! Don’t worry, I studied a lot, stayed in one Friday night and pulled through in the end. This past Saturday I experienced a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I mean once-in-a-lifetime (in a sense that once was enough). Enter: CARNAVAL. They told us it is an all night festival and that we’d be bussed from Córdoba to Cadíz, the city where it would be taking place. No human could be fully mentally prepared for this event. Imagine Halloween on crack, thousands of costumed, drunken Spaniards roaming the streets, enjoying the festivities. I chose the ever sexy and much-warmer-than-everyone-else attire of a ninja (I thanked myself around 4 a.m.).
There are several different stages throughout the labyrinth of what I believe was the old part of the city. I think this day is when the majority of the Spanish male youth live out their cross-dressing fantasies; there were she-males galore! This is also where I learned I seriously cannot hang out (oh Spaniards and their all night, partial morning drinking binges). After arriving home at approximately 10:30 a.m., I received a warm welcome from my host mom, had a cup of hot chocolate, took a shower, changed my sheets, and knocked out…until lunch of course…then siesta part two. I would most likely skip next time and stick to the day parades with the old people and babies. In summary, I wouldn’t say it was good or bad, but it was definitely an experience. My advice: wear rain boots (They are puke-proof, pee-proof, Cadíz proof).
And I keep on, keepin on. Stay groovy!
Katie