One Summer Away from Home...

This is a photo of the old gladiator rink. During an era when another religion came to conquer this town the priest was burnt alive at the center of this arena and so a church was built at the exact spot where he was tortured to death. You could sort of see the Roman style Cathedral. It was constructed from the materials that made the bleachers of the arena. Where the long bridge is is you can see one end of the cross. Let me know if you spot the cross layout! :)

You can see some photos with descriptions of what it is if you click on it.

July 14, 2016 (Magic fountain show.) I know it has been ages since I last blogged. As for now I will post my most recent event and go back and post everything from last week. It has been 4 days since my second session started. I am taking an architecture and dialogues course on Barcelona. I learned quite a lot about the history of the city and how it became such a great tourist attraction till this day. Anyways earlier in the night I went to see the fountain show near plaça espanya with some new friends I made in the program. Then we went to get pizza and gelato.

OPBSI, Sunflowers around the world. Sorry it has been a long time since I have blogged. I have been going through ups and downs the past week. Just a quick recap, I met up with my sorority sister and Dean Vanessa. We went to a Japanese restaurant near her place and caught up for a bit. Then we met up with Sharon and went shopping because of the summer sale happening in Barcelona. I bought a few items from Zara, including a T-shirt dress and a grey blue lace top.

The most beautiful sunset I have ever witness in my life.

I really felt like I was on top of the world that day.

Today was probably one of the best days I have had with the people in my program. The buddies planned a trip and picnic to this place called the "Bunkers" and it turned out so amazing! We were literally on top of one of the mountains at an old ruin probably from WW1. ( will have to do more research) we stopped by a market and bought cheese, wine, meat, olives, baguettes, crackers and other small snacks to eat at the site. The view was just absolutely amazing! You could see the entire city of Barcelona from up there. We also watched the sunset giving off this beautiful red-orange lighting right behind the forest green mountains. We then had decided to leave early because these little white flies came out of no where and kept bothering us. On our way back down to catch the bus, we saw the city lights turn on as the last drop of sunlight left the scenery. I must say besides people laughing at me for asking them to help clean up after our picnic, I had a blast. It was a truly genuine, positive, and happy experience. I hope we could end our program back at the bunkers for one final sunset together.

Interior of the church.

More of the exterior of La Sagrada Família plus my friend Jose.

I just love the effect of this natural lighting coming through these stain glass windows!! <3

Today I decided to go to La Sagrada Família with my friend Jose. Jose is also a student at Berkeley in a different program here in Barcelona. Anyways, I purchased the audio tour package which I really enjoyed because I got to walk around at my own pace. Jose and I stuck together for a bit at the audio tour and then I kind of did some exploring and photo taking of my own. I learned that each structure and even the layout and architect of la sagrada familia had some meaning connecting to the bible. Gaudí's wanted the building to be very tall but not any higher than what God has created. According to my audio tour, it said that he was buried somewhere beneath the church but I will have to look more into that later. After doing one round of the church I went on a second round. This time I skyped in my grandparents and showed them the outside and inside of the cathedral. I am pretty sure they enjoyed the little virtual tour. Overall, I had a really great experience somewhat touring on my own. On my way back home I got a bit lost at the train station and missed my train so I had to wait about 10 minutes for the next one to arrive.

Went to go eat tapas after. 1/2 places went too that night. At these tapa bar you take as much as you want and put the toothpick in a cup. Then the staff rings you up according to the color and amount of toothpicks.

A reptile fountain.