The One With Santa Eulalia and Montserrat

I spent this past week in Barcelona since classes were starting up again. It was the celebration of Saint Eulalia over the weekend which meant some pretty cool Catalan cultural festivities were taking place. There was a parade with giants and even a giant dance off that took place in the center of a gathering of people. One by one different characters took their turn dancing in the center of the ring. This celebration combined with the passion of the crowd really gave me a great sense of what Catalan pride is all about. One thing that I noticed while at the festivities was that Spaniards seem to be slightly shorter than Americans. I had absolutely no problem seeing over all the people in the crowd which is generally not the case.

I also explored Parc de la Ciutadella today, which was beautiful. In most guide books this park would not necessarily be one of the top couple of things to see in Barcelona, but you should absolutely take a couple hours to see it if you visit and it is a nice day. While I was here I was lucky enough to see a breakdancing show right past the Arc de Triomf. Overall the park just had a great vibe with all of the activities going on. If you are a fan of people watching, this is definitely one of the best places to do it in Barcelona.

This weekend we also spent a day hiking Montserrat, which I absolutely loved and will definitely be doing again. The mountain is about an hour and a half outside the city center of Barcelona which makes it an all-day event. This was actually the first real mountain that I have hiked and while it was difficult, it was definitely worth it. There is a beautiful Monastery situated half-way up the mountain and plenty of other cool sites along the hike as well. It is truly a great feeling when you get to the top because it feels like you really accomplished something. The views from the very top were incredible as well. The part we climbed up was off of the main path which meant that there was no protective railing at the top to prevent you from falling off the mountain which was a little nerve-racking but well worth the adventure.

The One With Southern Spain

Torres de Serranos at Sunset

         Valencia - Granada - Malaga - Sevilla

Torres de Serranos Overlooking Valencia

Preface: This post is pretty long so I completely understand if you give up on it part way through.

This past week I traveled along the coast of Southern Spain with a couple friends visiting the cities of Valencia, Granada, Malaga, and Sevilla. After class last Monday we hopped on a train and traveled a few hours to the city of Valencia. Valencia is actually the third largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, but you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell by walking around. I am not sure if it was just because we were visiting during the week, but Valencia seemed like a ghost town at night while we were there.

During the day though we were able to see a lot of great sites including the Historic Central Market, L'Oceanográfic, and Towers of Serrano. I would highly recommend seeing each of these attractions especially the Towers at sunset.

Historic Central Market

L'Oceanográfic: The largest oceanarium complex in Europe 

Buñuelos are Incredible

Buñuelos de Calabaza

We also ate a ton of great food in Valencia including the famous regional dish: Paella (pictured below). We found an authentic restaurant and while it was not my favorite dish, it was still really good and something that you must try while in Valencia. If you do go to Valencia, another food you absolutely must try are the buñuelos de calabaza (Spanish pumpkin fritters) from Moltto in Plaza de la Reina; it was definitely one of the best desserts I have ever had. I also tried rabbit for the first time while in Valencia, which was quite delicious. 

After Valencia, we took an overnight train to Granada which was quite a cool experience. The trip was an eight hour overnight train ride which sounds horrible, but the train departed at 1:00am which allowed me to sleep through the entire trip. When I awoke from my bed on the train, we were in the beautiful city of Granada! On our first day there we decided to go on a free walking tour that was set up by our hostel. It turned out to be more of a hiking tour than a walking tour, but the hike was well worth the effort because of the breathtaking views along the way. From the mountain we were climbing, we were able to clearly see the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Our guide explained that often times in the Spring people will go skiing in the mountains and then later that day go down to the beach where it is nice and warm. Along our hike we were also able to see how many people, including Gypsies, lived in the mountains in this area by digging caves into the mountain to create homes.

We spent a majority of the second day in Granada at Alhambra. The Alhambra is a gigantic Palace and Fortress situated on a mountain overlooking the city of Granada. It is truly an incredible specimen that is filled with history and culture. It is the top tourist attraction in Granada and was in consideration to become the 8th Wonder of the World at one point. Check it out:

Went out for drinks and tapas with friends from our hostel

The Stained Glass Entryway of the Central Market of Malaga

After Granada came the pretty beach city of Malaga. While Malaga does not necessarily have the major tourist attractions, it does possess a great culture and vibe. Malaga seems like the perfect place to spend a week at the beach during Spring Break. It's city center is great for anyone that enjoys shopping as well. While we were here, we stopped to get the famous Churros y Chocolate from Casa Aranda, which were to die for. Malaga is also the hometown of Pablo Picasso. While we did not go in the Picasso Museum, we did get to hang out with his statue that is situated at the location where he once lived in Malaga.

The last city on our trip was Sevilla, which in my opinion was the prettiest city of the four. I think that Sevilla possesses the perfect cultural yet modern city combination. Even though we did not have a ton of time in Sevilla, we still got to see a wide variety of sites. First we went to see the stunning Plaza España. I don't think my words can do it justice so instead just check out these pictures:

Tapas at Taberna Coloniales were Fantastic

After Plaza España we ran over to the Catedral de Sevilla and made it inside five minutes before it closed. The Sevilla Cathedral is the largest Gothic Cathedral and third largest church in the world. Once you go inside it is easy to see why, all you have to do is look up. This church also happens to be the burial site of Christopher Columbus. The bell tower of the church is called Giralda and instead of stairs, you take ramps up to the top. After looking through the cathedral, we went on a walking tour of the city with the most energetic tour guide ever. He literally had a story to tell about every single object in the city of Sevilla. While the tour was long though, he really did share some great stories with us that I otherwise never would have known. For example, there is still a debate over who was responsible for founding Sevilla between Hercules and Julius Caesar.

Deltasig sighting at the top of Giralda!

Overlooking Sevilla at the top of Giralda          

Flaming Shots!

Since our flight departed at 7:05am on Sunday morning, we decided that it would not be worth it to go to sleep. Instead we went out all night! Along the river in Sevilla there is a string of bars that goes on for what seems like a mile. We went from one bar to the next taking advantage of the special drink deals at each place. After the night was over we quickly went back to the hostel to grab our stuff before we left for the airport at 5:00am. To my surprise, we had no issues at all. I had been warned many times to expect the worst when taking RyanAir, however everything went smoothly.

Overall I really enjoyed my time visiting other cities in Spain. Every city is truly so unique which is why I loved the trip. Each city has something different to offer and brings new perspectives and adventures to your life. I would highly recommend traveling to all of these cities if you decide to visit Spain in the future.

Not sure if anyone actually reads this, so if you do feel free to leave a comment.

The Journey

The One With Patrick's Visit

This weekend has been pretty great with Patrick visiting for a few days, considering it is the only time all year we will see each other. It just so happened to work out perfectly that he had a free weekend before having to return to the cold and miserable Champaign. We went and saw so many great places this weekend including Park Guell, Camp Nou, Barceloneta, the Olympic Stadium, Montjuic, and the club Opium. Patrick's friend that also lives here in Catalonia joined us and helped show us the city through the eyes of a local which was awesome.

The Weekend In Pictures

The One With La Rambla

The first week in Barcelona has come to an end. I can't believe that it has only been a little over a week so far because it feels like I left a month ago. Getting ourselves situated has been a big stress relief. We now have an apartment, working cell phones, and know how to use the train system.

This semester I will be living with three girls, which will be quite interesting. One is from Canada which is really cool, one is from University of Minnesota, and the other is from Illinois as well. I am hoping that they will be able to improve my sense of style this semester in addition to helping me learn how to cook and dance. Speaking of cooking, we had a family dinner with our friends in the apartment above us where we all made tacos.

We did some shopping these last few days and since our apartment on La Rambla is right in the middle of everything, we have a lot of options close by. The Apple Store of Barcelona is actually right next to us which is a pretty awesome store. The largest department store in Barcelona called Corte Inglés is also right near us and it has every single thing you can think of, we even went food shopping there. Two things that I wanted to get so far were a FC Barcelona Messi jersey and a FC Barcelona flag. After exploring a bunch of local shops, I had fun negotiating prices in Spanish with each of the shop owners and was able to get a really good deal on both.

Freshly made candy at La Boqueria

There is also a great fresh food market right off our street called La Boqueria. It was really fun walking through it looking at all of the local fresh food options. Last night we went out for tapas and to a couple bars that were a lot of fun as well. We did not get home until after 4am again which still takes some getting used to. Late at night you can't walk 25 feet without being approached by someone selling beer on the street. Today we went to the Pablo Picasso Museum which was great to see as well. It actually houses the most complete collection of Pablo Picasso's works. All in all it was a pretty great week.

The One With The Apartment

It finally happened, we found our apartment for the semester! After a few days of searching all over Barcelona for the perfect apartment, we were able to find a great one. Our apartment is in the center of the center of the f***ing center according to our realtor. We live right off of La Rambla in downtown Barcelona right next to Plaza Catalunya, which is the heart of Barcelona. We are walking distance from nearly everything in Barcelona. The funny thing is that I will actually be paying more for my apartment next year in Champaign than for this one in the heart of Barcelona.

Olympic Stadium - Host site of the 1992 Olympic Games

After classes this week we have had a different exchange student event each day. Yesterday we got to take a free bus tour all over the city of Barcelona. It was pretty helpful in trying to learn the city and where everything is situated geographically. It was the first time that we were able to see some of the great museums, parks, views, and tourist attractions.

For dinner last night we went to a restaurant called Cien Monteditos based off of the fact that they have 100 different little sandwiches on their menu. Every Sunday and Wednesday every item on the menu is only one euro. That even includes the giant mugs of cervesa and sangria. Pretty cool place overall.





Here are pictures of our apartment from Altiro 2000. They are a great agency that I would highly recommend if you are a student looking for an apartment in Barcelona.

Here is my Bedroom:

Address: 

Bonsucces 10, Principal 2a

Barcelona, Spain 08001