Barcelona

It's been too long for an apology so instead of wasting time with one, I'll get right to telling you about the end of my semester abroad a la Barcelona, Athens and Greece and maybe I'll even dazzle you with some kind of conclusion, you know what I learned over there or something like that. However, this might be coming to you in installments seeing as its already 12:20. And with that, I quit procrastinating.

BARCELONA--
We last left off on Friday morning as my friends and I journeyed to Barcelona. Arriving smack dab in the middle of siesta, we spent the afternoon in the hotel. To be honest, I was bored, really bored. However, by 830, Siesta was over so we headed over to the the tapas bar across the street, which we had conveniently been watching all afternoon and it looked good. Upon walking in, we immediately befriended the waitor who was quick to bring over the sangria and his English speaking self to help us decipher the menu and direct us on what we should order. Within 15 minutes, different plates of delicious tapas, which Hannah correctly taught me to pronounce, were slowly being placed in front of us: Goat Cheese in Philo, Fried Calamari, Eggplant Crisps, Grilled Scallions with a delicious sauce, croquettes and more. While it seemed almost unimaginable, we consumed it all and loved every bite of it.
The next morning, we slept in. With not a lot on our agenda, we left the hotel around 12 to get some lunch and walk around the port. We went to a restaurant down near the port, which the hotel suggested. While on the pricey side, Paella was on the menu and this was a must-do for my Barcelona Agenda. We then walked home via the port stopping for pictures and market stands and of course street crepes (this one had white chocolate...my favorite!). We then were back in time again for siesta where we hit the roof top of our hotel for naps then again via window watching picked another restaurant for dinner, an Italian restaurant across the street.
After a not so busy day, I was antsy for adventure. So we decided to head down to Las Ramblas, where we conveniently bumped into 2 of the boys from Palace Court, who joined us for lunch, more tapas, and to explore Barcelona. With their map, and Hannah's friends studying abroad in Barcelona, we were on the subway and off to Parc Guell, Sangrada Familia and more of the Guadia Architecture. We had certainly earned our siesta today but planned to meet up with the boys again for the light show and the infamous Barcelona club scene. So, after our naps, we were off again to Bar La Pepa, our favorite restaurant across the street with our favorite waiter. Then hoped in cabs to take us over to the Magic Fountains, a light show which is done to music, both classical and modern. We sat in awe and also wondering, what does one major in to become a magic fountain engineer? designer? who knows! Then we were read to hit the Dow Jones Bar, a bar suggested to us by others studying abroad with us in London who made it to Barcelona before us. This bar was of course set up to resemble the stock market, as demand changed for the drinks--so did the prices! Also, Hannah would probably want me to tell you, she took a shot on fire.

While maybe it's because I've never taken a single spanish class and I never really had any interest in Spain, I wouldn't call Barcelona my favorite city. While beautiful with architecture so unique, which I've decided is beginning to probably sound not unique to all of you, because what city did I not find so different than everything else?! The things we did see did have that wow factor, there was just a lot of down time and if you know me, you know I dont do well with down time. Anyway, our time there was short and by Monday morning, we were on yet another plane headed this time to Athens.

More later on the land of Dolmas, Feta and more Dolmas, really I think we ate half the dolmas in the country!