So Thursday was my Marketing and Italian midterm both which were very easy and required little studying. This week of midterms was the most stress-free thing ever. Amazing. Friday morning we were all up at 6 am to fly to Barcelona. Ali and Cassandra our suitemates other flight had got cancelled so they decided to fly with us on our Friday flight to Barcelona. The Italians had planned a strike later Friday afternoon so a lot of flights, trains, etc. got cancelled. Luckily we were out of Italy in time to avoid all of that. Our train left at 6:57 am to Pisa and then from Pisa centrale we had to transfer to the airport train to Pisa airport. I had a little trouble fitting my bag in the carry-on thing but luckily we managed to squish it in. Ryan air is a budget airline and they are ridiculous about everything and charge you for everything. So I only packed a carry-on for the whole 7 day spring break because I didnt want to pay a ridiculous luggage fee. My bag was slightly overpacked but Ryan-air makes these tiny little boxes that you have to fit your carry-on in and if doenst fit you have to check your bag for something ridiculous like 40 euro. Also you dont get a purse and a carry-on you can only have strictly one bag so you'll have to shove your purse in your carry-on . Regardless after a lot of effort we managed to get in so I didnt have to pay. Then of course the flight was delayed by like 30 min which actually wasnt that bad but it felt like forever. The flight went really well actually. I wrote in my journal most of the time. (I bought a new one from the leather market. :-) ) When we arrived we were actually in Girona, it's an airport outside the city where the budget air lines travel to. So then we had to catch a bus into Barcelona city center. On the bus Cassandra and I looked through all of our guide books and maps to figure out what we wanted to do in Barcelona which helped make the 75 min bus ride go a little bit faster. Finally by 2 pm we arrived in Barcelona. Unfortunately it was kind of cold but we were all excited to be in Spain. Ali and Cassandra went to go get food but the rest of us Vinh, Jesnie, Valentina and I went to meet Katie and Joe at the apartment. We rented an apartment for the 6 of us to stay in for the weekend. It was actually much cheaper than getting a hotel and the same price as a hostel. The man was waiting at the apartment with Kaite and Joe when the rest of us arrived to show us everything, to give us our keys and also to collect the money. I was a little worried about the apartment situation but it actually worked out really great. The pictures online definitely made it look a lot bigger and nicer than it actually was but it was perfect for what we needed. Well we were all starving and were excited to be in a big city with all the food chains and something other than Italian. Florence really only has pizza and pasta and you really can't find anything else. Sounds dumb to complain about but you do get sick of it. So Katie and Joe had already been in Barcelona for the day so they already knew where some stuff was and they led us to Hard Rock Cafe to get food. Yes, I know why would you eat at Hard Rock in Spain? When you dont get American food for 2.5 months you miss it. On the walk to Hard Rock we ran into Starbucks. I wish I had my reaction on camera, it was so exciting. Of course I made everyone stop because I was way too excited. Then we finally made it to Hard Rock where we had to wait forever and DFB met us there. It was very exciting for so many people to be in Barcelona. After Hard Rock we walked down La Rambla which is this crazy street where all these people dress in the strangest costumes and want you to pay them money to take pictures with. Also they sell all sorts of animals on the street. You can get rabbits, mice, pigeons (yeah or you could just take one walking down the street), chicks, hens, birds, fish..anything really. I heard you could get monkeys but I'm pretty sure that's a lie. After we walked down La Rambla we went to the market where they had all this amazing fresh fruit and other foods. We got fruit smoothies that were absolutely amazing. Then after the market we bought Dunkin Donuts which is called Dunkin Coffee in Spain(yes all we do is eat, we are ridiculous). The doughnuts were actually different which was disappointing but they also had a lot of amazing new flavors. Then DFB brought us back to his brother's apartment (his brother lives and works in Barcelona). We got to go out on the terrace which overlooks Barcelona it was really really pretty. Then the rest of us left to go back to our apartment and take a siesta. However, we never really ended up taking a nap just eating our doughnuts and relaxing in the living room. Then DFB walked over to our apartment and we met up with Ali and Cassandra again at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Yeah, I'm not exactly sure why we ate Mexican in Spain but it was fun nonetheless and the restaurant was decorated fun and had live musicians.
The next day we woke up and got Starbucks obviously. Then we met Ali and Cassandra again at Sagrada Familia which is a famous church in Barcelona that is supposably is still being built. It is the only cathedral or something like that not finished. As you walk around the church you can see the different styles and depictions of Jesus and the apostles. We took pictures and then realized that it was actually really hot out so we left to drop off our jackets back in the apartment. Then we hopped back on the subway to Parc Guell which is this really gorgeous park up on the mountain. There are actually many sets of escalators that are installed into the side of the mountain so you can get to the park. They are outside so Im not exactly sure how that works in the rain but thank God they were there. The park was really really nice it had gorgeous views of Barcelona also there were live musicians. In the main part was this huge open circle surrounded by palm trees and these benches made of all mosaics were like built into the cliff. It was really stunning and we took a lot of pictures. There was also like cool caves and landscapes it was really enjoyable. Then we left to have lunch with Cassandra and Ali on La Rambla because they were leaving that night to go to southern spain. We finally ate traditional style Spanish food Tapas and Paella neither of which I liked. But we tried it so whatever. After lunch we headed over to the beach to see the Mediterranean and just walk around. It was too cold to lay out in our bathing suits so we just walked around and of course took more pictures. Then we went to Catedral which is the famous church in Barcelona. The inside is actually open and has trees, swans and a mini pond so it was really really pretty. I just kept saying how amazing it would be to have a wedding there. Then we walked around the area near the church until we found this churro place we had found on google. There was no room in the restaurant so we sat on the sidewalk with our churros and cup of chocolate and ate (again) like savages. Then we headed back over to La Rambla and bought more Dunkin Donuts for breakfast the next morning because Joe, Katie and Valentina all had early morning flights. We again tried to Siesta but ended up just wasting time until dinner. We went to this place near the beach and tried all different types of tapas. This tapas was in a less touristy area so it was much better than the kind we had had for lunch. Milena, Adrianna, and Nina had arrived in Barcelona that day so were waiting to meet up with them. But they were all super jet-lagged and decided to just sleep and meet up with us in the morning.
Sunday morning, Katie and Joe left to go back to Paris and Valentina went to Greece to meet up with some other friends. So in the morning it was just Vinh, Jesnie and I. Somehow we lost power so we had to call the landlord to come and fix it. All I had to do was flip a switch so I felt kinda retarded but whatever it was fine. Then of course we started our day with Starbucks and waited for DFB to meet us there. Then we went back near the beach to meet Adrianna, Milena, and Nina. It was exciting to see them and catch up on everything that is happening back in New York. We tried to take a cable car across the water but it was closed for some reason. So we took the bus across town to go over to the castle. It took us quite sometime to find it but it was worth it. We actually took a different cable car up to the castle and then got to see some really pretty views of Barcelona and the water. Of course we again took a bunch of pictures but then we all got really hungry. So we took the cable car back down and found a place in the main square Plaza Catalunya to get lunch. I was a little skeptical to eat on the square but it turned out to be really good and I had the most amazing goat cheese salad. After Vinh, Jesnie and I went back to the apartment and this time we really took a siesta. Then the girls stopped over to see our apartment and we all hung out for a little bit. We had had a really late lunch so we didnt hungry until late but because it was sunday everything was closed. So we ended up walking to McDonalds to get food. McDonalds menu is also slightly different in each country and this McDonalds had toblerone McFlurry which was delicious.
Vinh left early Monday morning so now it was just Jesnie and I in the apartment. We made sure everything was clean and put away and then waited for the landlord to come pick up the keys. He came a little earlier than expected but we were basically all packed. Then we went to Starbucks for breakfast (yes I'm obsessed). After Starbucks we went to meet DFB at his brother's apartment where we put our luggage for the day. Then the 3 of us went down to the beach area (Barceloneta) to rent bikes. It was absolutely gorgeous out and it was only 6 euro to rent the bikes for 2 hrs. So we rode all along the beach and then down over near the port. We tried to go near La Ramba but there were too many people. Then we had lunch outside and tried to tan lol. After Jesnie and I bought some souvenirs and headed back to DFB's brother's apartment. We got our suitcases and then headed to Plaza Catalunya to catch the bus. It was right there when we arrived so we said good bye really quick to DFB and were off. The bus only took like 20 min because we were flying out of the real Barcelona airport. The line was super short to check in but we got nervous because our bags were being weighed on this airline. Luckily the lady was super nice and let me go. I was 1 kg over the limit. :-/ Then we flew from Barcelona to Prauge the flight was 2 hrs and we landed around 11:30 pm. The metros in Prague and most of Europe close at midnight so we had to take a taxi from the airport to Sandhya and Kaitlyn's dorm. It was really nice to travel from main airport to main airport and with cabs instead of all these connecting buses and trains. It was very exciting to see everyone but we were all pretty tired by the time we got to Prague and they had midterms in the morning so we all just went to sleep.
Blog about Prague later! :-) All the Barcelona and Prague pictures are on facebook.
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