#weekendexcursions

Like many study abroad students can probably agree, there comes a point in time where you have a weekend excursion that was just so amazing and you can't stop thinking about it. But then school lurks over you demanding attention and you finally admit to the fact that yes, you should study for that Deformable Bodies test instead of posting pictures on Facebook. 

Barcelona was one of those weekends. So now that my test is OVER. I must, as Anaïs Nin once put it, write to taste life twice! Life just tastes so yummy right now! :D

This weekend was girl's weekend and I traveled with 2 of my very close girlfriends. We arrived Friday morning and were instantly pleased with the fact that we could finally understand the local language. #hispanicnotproblems... Once we found our hostel we promptly took the metro and joined a free tour in which our tour guide Miguel who took us through a lot of cool spots ending in the very the gorgeous Parc de la Ciutadella (fountain pictured below). Scattered with couples, groups of friends, and random street-er-park performers, it made a nice spot to spend Día de la Amistad (Feb 14). Once we realized how hungry we were we backtracked to Plaça del Pi to have the BEST tapas and Sangria EVER. The cheese, tomatoes and olives were dressed with a simple homemade vinaigrette but the freshness was what really kicked it up a notch and I was torn between drinking the sangria slowly to savor it or at a normal pace to keep the ice from watering it down. QUE DELICIA

We were going to go out that night but we later ran into a group of fellow explorers at the hostel. They were sitting around, talking, drinking wine so we joined them and made new friends. Long story short that night ended up in all of us dancing at the beach to Latin music because why not?

For the sake of brevity I will now sum up this post in a quasi-list of events (because if I go into details it will reach novel-length-level).

Saturday (15 de febrero)

Morning: go to the beach, see nudists, feel awkward, go the other way, freeze in the water, bask in the sun because Metz doesn't have that in February

Afternoon: visit Parc Güell (but just the forest part), pass by La Pedrera, chase pigeons in Plaza Catalunya, walk through Las Ramblas, feel like tourists, eat beautifully fresh fruit at La Boqueria Market

Evening: Run back to Parc Güell because it's free after 6 and we're cheap, recreate one of my favorite all-time childhood pictures next to the lizard (below), rush to the FC Barcelona game at Camp Nou where FCB they KILLED it against Raye Vallecano (6-0), obsess about the fact that we just saw one of the best futbol clubs play. 

Night: Go back to the hostel, freshen up, eat more tapas (patatas y torta española), visit a bumpin beach club.

Sunday (16 de febrero)

Morning: Have free hostel breakfast and exchange Facebook names with our new friends, see the fountain of Montjuic and Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, lay on the grass at the Olympic Park, chill by the Stadium, get lost in Montjuic's numerous gardens

Afternoon: have more tapas (notice a trend?), pick up backpacks from hostel and say goodbye to our foreign friends, oggle at Sagrada Familia, make a note to come back in 2026 (Gaudi's 100th anniversary) when they lay down the last brick, cry a little because I have to leave and La Sagrada Familia makes me think of my own familia that I miss dearly, buy my obligatory postcard at the train station, hop on my train and venture back to Metz.