Exams and Barcelona

Last week was rough because I was studying nonstop for my 2 midterms from Sunday morning until Thursday morning. My classes are hard but I felt pretty confident coming out of the test. (And I defiantly felt better about it than other people) I got one back today and got a 90 so my studying totally paid off! Finals are only a week away and because there won’t be as much to study for that, the worst is over!

3 out of the 4 classes had an exam on Thursday and we did not have class on Friday, so there was an excursion planed by the program to snorkel in Tabarca (and island near by). There was not actually anything to see snorkeling, but we were on a Catamaran so the boat ride and swimming was fun. We had a lot of fun jumping off the boat (and taking pictures of this)

The next morning we got up early to get on a train to Barcelona. The ride there was fun because for the first half I read my Rick Steve’s Guidebook and made a plan for the weekend, and for the second half I chatted with the people around me. (Other kids on the program have endearingly nicknamed me “guidebook”)

We stayed in a Marriott by the airport instead of somewhere near the city because one if my friend’s dad could get a free room with accumulated point, and another friends mom works for Marriott so we got a good rate. It took us for ever to get to our hotel the first time and I was kind of upset it was so far away, but that changed when we got to the 5 star hotel and found out we had 24 hour access to free food and drinks in the “elite zone”.

Once settling in at the hotel we went back into the city and went to the Picasso Museum. He is my favorite artist so this made me really happy ☺. Afterwards we found a place to eat and had a really fun dinner because we made friends with our waiter. Next we went to the fountains at Moutjuic (Mt Jew literally though we can’t figure out why it is called that). It was like the Ballagio but 100 times better because it was all around one fountain and you were not so separate from it. For the second show Ben and I went right up to the edge of the fountain to watch. We got soaked but it was an epic view.

The next morning Beatrice and I got up super early to meet Lee and start our Gaudi day at Sagrada Familla at 9 (when it opens) and I’m so glad we did because it was great being there with out so many other people. The elevator often has a 1-2 hour wait but when we got there we though it was closed b/c there was not line but really there was just no one in front of us! Like the Picasso museum, it made me so happy to be around the work of such an ingenious artist. Next we got some food to eat as a picnic at Gaudi’s Parc Güell. After exploring this we went to the block of discord (a block with a Gaudi house and others of the style) and walked all the way down through Las Ramblas (the main drag in Barcelona with lots of mimes/ street performers, pet shop stands, and flower stands.

The next day we started off early again and wend to the Gothic neighborhood. On Sundays at new they do traditional Catalonian dancing in front of the cathedral so we watched for a little and then I joined in. We did not get to see the entire cathedral because there was mass going on but because it was Sunday we got to go into the very elaborate city hall. We grabbed a quick bit before heading back to the train station.

It was an extremely successful trip and it gave me confidence for traveling after. Now I know I will be able to put together good itineraries and make them happen (except for the fact that I won’t know the language in those countries…)