BARCELONA

Hola!

This was a fun week in Barcelona even though the tourists are beginning to invade! We started Monday off by skipping our Spanish class for the first time and going to the famous Plaça España. Here, we explored the former bull-fighting arena, which is now a shopping mall. We didn't
buy anything, but we enjoyed fresh sushi overlooking Plaça España. On the way out, Meagan got the dead skin eaten off of her feet by fish. Brynne and Katie are too ticklish. After that, we headed to class and stayed at our school to get wifi since we still didn't have it at our apartment. To end the night, we watched the Bachelor finale and made spicy pretzels.



Tuesday, we got our wifi back and had a very productive day catching up! That night we cooked spaghetti, and Wednesday we made tacos! Since the weather has warmed up, we decided to take advantage of it and head to the beach on Thursday. We stopped at a breakfast restaurant called Milk and ordered delicious pancakes and mimosas. Then, we spent the day laying out on the beach!

Friday, we went on a day trip with other students to Girona and Besalú. In Girona, we went on a city tour and saw the ancient city established by the Romans. For once, we hated our meal at lunch, so we decided to get dessert at a yummy frozen yogurt place instead. We hopped on the bus and went to Besalú for the afternoon. Here, we toured the medieval city that is surrounded by an ancient wall. We even had to enter over a bridge. We enjoyed getting to see the last standing Jewish bath in all of Spain. Friday was full of lots of history and learning!

Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Tibidabo. After finally finding our way there, we discovered the amusement park costs 29 euros, and it wasn't even that good. Instead, we walked into the church and headed right back down the hill. When we finally made it back to the heart of the city, we realized that our stomachs were about to implode, so we set off to find some food. After looking in many disappointing restaurants, we found a gem-Pacific Café. Our stomachs were finally full, so we decided to explore some new streets in Barcelona. We found some adorable stores and hid out from the rain shower by drinking a smoothie. We had a relaxing evening and enjoyed watching a movie together over no-bake cookies on our last Saturday in Barcelona!

Sunday, we took advantage of the nice weather and wandered around the Gothic Quarter of the city. We tried Spain's 2012 #1 croissant, which did not live up to its name. Apparently, we have become croissant snobs.



From there, we went to the Sunday market and walked in the famous Westin hotel on the beach. That did live up to its name. We stopped in McDonald's for some free wifi on our way to the Picasso Museum. However, the line at the museum was sooooo long, so we decided we would return another day.

We ended our day at a new restaurant that had been recommended to us-La Luna. We ordered salads and nachos, and it definitely lived up to its recommendation! Sunday night was also the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid fútbol game, which took place in Barcelona. We would've gone, but the tickets are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Instead, we watched their version of ESPN. It was an exciting game resulting in a Barcelona win by a PK in the final minutes. Apparently, Barcelona's way of celebrating a Real Madrid defeat is by shooting off guns in the streets. It took us by surprise to say the least, but we loved feeling like a part of the celebration!


This week begins the preparations for the end of school with many projects, papers and tests. However, we are looking forward to having Brynne's grandmother arrive and are soaking in our lasts weeks in Barcelona.

Adios Amigos!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan