Barcelona.

Another thing to cross off: seeing the Mediterranean. Barcelona is quite the city. It had the big city feel, minus the feeling that I was ever going to get lost. The only real downfall is that we could not ask anyone for directions (when we needed them) because it literally was a struggle to find someone on the streets that we were on that was not a tourist.

We arrived in Barcelona Thursday night and checked into our hostel. It was a pretty nice place, we were in a room of twelve, so we had 7 roommates—not the quietest bunch, but I sleep like a log so I was not affected thankfully. Also, it had a pretty sweet free breakfast lined up in the mornings as well, which was always worth it. Though, we did have to stop at Dunkin Donuts once (or twice...) simply due to the fact that it was here, and I rarely see them outside New England.

Friday was our first day of sightseeing. We weaved through the crowds and street performers on La Rambla (most famous street in the city). We found a huge market of fruits, meats, desserts, breads, the works. We decided to return the following day to get goodies for our picnic lunch that we would have at Gaudi’s park. For those of you who do not know who Gaudi is, he is awesome. He was an architect with a rather intricate imagination. His work resembles a mix between Van Gogh’s paintings and Dr. Seuss books. It really is quite fascinating. We ended up seeing his park, La Pedrera and the Sagrada Familia, all thoroughly enjoyed. We arrived at La Pedrera well before it opened (impressive I know) so we actually bypassed seeing that. What’s nice is that since he is an architect, you can see his work from the streets, as the attractions are the buildings themselves. The Sagrada Familia will be a work in progress for a few more decades. Gaudi left plans for them to be finished, but no one can agree or carry through the masterpiece that he began, so sadly, it is currently a construction site.

Aside from Gaudi (whom you should look up his work if you don’t know about him) we still managed to enjoy ourselves. We toured the ports and beaches, and actually ended up hanging out at the beach one night for a few hours. Incredible. Since it was the weekend, the streets were filled with markets of every kind, foods, crafts, medicines, anything you could need, more than you would want. Markets however, are always an incredible time, because there are generally free samples and entertaining people to talk to.

Our first night out, we met up with friends who were visiting Barcelona, as well as some that were studying there for the semester. Our hosts showed us two great places to hang out for the night, one being an Irish Pub with a pool table (apparently the only one in Barcelona) and then a bar that was decorated like a forest, waterfalls and all. Both were very enjoyable. The second night we went to a bar that simulated the stock market, it was called the Dow Jones bar. Every hour the price of drinks changed based on how the stock market was doing, it was quite comical to see the floods of orders on the hours.

The last night was my favorite. We decided that since we were in Barcelona, and their fútbol team is rather good, that we should watch a game. We went to the stadium, purchased our tickets, then got dinner in a café while waiting for the game. Come game time we were thoroughly disappointed as we were passed by hoards of people going in the opposite direction. We bought tickets for the wrong game. Fantastic. The stadiums are directly across the street from each other, and we apparently purchased tickets for the junior match. Though it was good, no one was in the stadium as they were all at the “real game”. Oh well, it was fun. Barcelona won (both games).

Then after the Barcelona match we were walking on one of the main streets and saw the Patriots game in a sports bar. Of course we popped in to watch the tail end of the slaughter against the Redskins. This night turned entirely into a sports night, as the Red Sox were going to play their fourth (and final) game of the World Series. Mind you, we are six hours ahead of Eastern Time, and therefore the game didn’t start until 1am. This however did not particularly phase us, as we had to be up at 4:30 anyways for our flight, we stuck it out and stayed up all night watching the Red Sox capture their second World Series victory in my lifetime. Great way to end the weekend. Classes today were a bit rough after no sleep, but hey, I’m in Spain. I don’t need to sleep every day.