No Habla Español!

I'll admit it, I completely underestimated how much I would enjoy being in Spain. Of course it's warm, and gorgeous, and has really interesting things to see, but just hadn't made it to the top of my list of places to see. That being said, I am SO glad I was able to get there, and it looks like I'll go back before I leave. For all the difficulties that the French university system has thrown my way, I must say they make up for it by giving us completely random breaks: 2 weeks in February and 2 weeks in April (right over my 22nd birthday!). So for this first break I was able to go to Barcelona and Alicante Spain and was lucky enough to spend 4 days in both! Be prepared for a long blog-- I have lots to share :)


In preparing to go to Barcelona I was pretty anxious. People kept telling me, "Oh, I LOVE Barcelona... but pickpocketing is common!" Needless to say, I was determined to cover all my bases and hope that nothing would happen. In the end, nothing did, and I had a wonderful experience in Barcelona. Jade and I had found what seemed to be a good hostel online, after some extensive researching, but still weren't entirely sure what to expect from the experience. When we got there we immediately paid and were brought up to this perfect little room. We even had our own little terrace, which we didn't end up using at all because it was SO unbearably cold at night. The hostel also had 12 computers, wifi, a fully loaded kitchen (which we used!), and even a bar in the basement! This first hostel definitely left high expectations for my future hostel visits, but it was a very pleasant first time. After getting settled in, we took a somewhat late siesta since we had only gotten about 1 hour worth of sleep the night before. Lucky for us, our hostel ended up being more centrally located than we had realized and there was even a metro stop 2 blocks from us, along with the Arc de Triomf-- no big deal. I have to say, I was very impressed with the efficiency of the metro system and it definitely put Chicago to shame. They were easy to navigate, for the most part, and ended up being a really nice way to get around town stress free.


After getting some rest, we spent the next few days going non stop trying to fit in as much of the city and experiences as we could. My good friend Janie had been nice enough to put us into contact with her good friend Gilly, who is living and working in Barcelona, and we were able to meet up multiple time. Gilly and her friends were
absolutely wonderful and incredibly welcoming, and thanks to her we definitely saw a different side of the city! Our first adventure with Gilly led us to a large plaza where she had told me there would be "Human Towers"-- she wasn't kidding! Apparently, teams get together to compete to build the highest and most complicated human tower. We were stunned when we saw how agile and obviously strong these people must be. The base of these towers consists of the biggest men standing in a circle and on the outside of them there tons of other people pushing these men in order to help steady the growing tower. From there, there are more men, then a layer of women, and finally on top: children! Apparently it's a very big honor to be a part of this competition, but I was terrified of seeing one of those kids fall from so high up! After we spent some time here we went and grabbed food at an American-ish brunch place. I have always loved breakfast foods, but you never realize how much until they aren't easy to come by! Once we had finished we walked back outside and down some streets only to find that there was a parade right next to us. The best feature of this parade were the random costumes  of animals: lizard, rat-thing, squirrel, and crow. None of us had ANY idea what was going on or why, but it was fun to be able to see something so out of the ordinary. Later we went to see the free Picasso museum and I was definitely impressed with the size of the collection they had to display. It's also interesting to see the shift of his normal, realistic paintings, to the dramatic abstract paintings.

My favorite site we saw, by far, was Park Guell which featured Gaudi's incredible designs. It is truly a site that I can not do justice by writing about or even by showing pictures, so if you ever get the chance-- GO! It's free and truly stunning. I look forward to going back this summer because it really is such a huge park, I am sure there is way more to explore outside the tourist zones.

Later we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction for the foreseeable future, but it still looks incredible. We did not go in this time because Jade and I both plan to come back and wanted to save something!

 We also went to Barcelona's Chocolate Museum. Yes, it talks about the history of chocolate and fun facts, but all I could focus on was the smell of chocolate and the insanely intricate sculptures made OF chocolate.

Being able to go to Barcelona was really a great experience, and I am looking forward to getting to explore it even more! I feel that the second time I'm there I'll have a better grasp of how to get around, and neighborhoods to go to. I was really impressed with the architecture in the city, and I know there's more to find, so I am going to end the Barcelona part of this post with some wonderful buildings :) Alicante comes after!

Like I said, this is going to be a long post because now I have Alicante to share :) We took another train from Barcelona to Alicante to go spend a few days with some of Jade's close friends. They were so sweet and let us stay with them while we visited and it was really such a fun time being with them! I even met another Chi Omega there, which was a great surprise. Alicante is this pretty smaller city right on the water and during tourist season, the beaches are a very popular destination. Their apartment was actually situated right across from the water and only a 5 minute walk to the beach, and they obviously had a stunning view. This was the more relaxed part of our trip. With Barcelona it was hectic because we were trying to fit in all the sites, but with Alicante we had more time to wander around and just take it all in. There was actually an old castle on top of a hill that overlooked the entire city, and we spent an afternoon climbing up the various paths and parks it took to get to the top! From there we were able to see an absolutely incredible view of the city and water. It was a perfect sunny day, so the pictures came out really well!

We also happened to be in Alicante for Carnaval, which showed us that even though Alicante is smaller than Barcelona, they still know how to go all out. The nightlife in Alicante is pretty impressive and it seemed there were an endless amount of bars to go to, which I found surprising. The biggest difference I saw with the bars in Alicante was that they basically paid you to come in by offering free drinks-- nearly every bar we went to had this offer. This is something Barcelona definitely did not do. Also, this city was incredibly walkable so it was really easy to get around both during the day and at night. Carnaval was an experience I will not forget any time soon. Think Halloween, but then picture  whole streets being LEGALLY shut down for all night long celebrations, and adults dressed in costumes, and bands playing, and late night food and drink stands. Like I said, I was impressed! I will end this post with a few more pictures showing how charming and unique Alicante proved to be, and there are definitely more on Facebook so check those out too! I am currently in the planning stages for a few more pretty big trips (Italy, anyone?) and am going to visit Carcassonne this Saturday with my exchange group! Time is flying, but I am determined to see and do as much as possible.

Things I learned about while in Spain:

• Hot chocolate is not drinkable. It is more like pudding, or what would happen if you melt a chocolate bar. Delish, I know, but you definitely need a croissant, a doughnut or the Spanish favorite: Churros to help eat it!
• Catalan and Spanish are two completely different languages-- but when you don't speak either? They sound the exact same. Catalan is easier to read because of my French background, though.
• I love patatas bravas, tazaki sauce, chicken kebabs the size of my face, caramelized onions, macaroons, gelato and casserole. I am getting used to mushrooms and guacamole. I do not like raspberries. Slowly conquering my unwillingness to try new foods, one country at a time :)
• Being able to cook in the hostels is really handy, and saves a lot of money.
• When it says "spicy" on a menu, it never turned out to be spicy, just tangy.
• Don't let people come up and put bracelets on you for "free"-- it's a scam.
• Buy orthopedic shoes for trips with lots of walking. Pretty sure I pinched a nerve in my foot :(
• Eating Tapas is usually really inexpensive, but not always that filling. 
• Trains in Spain leave when they say they will-- that definitely differs from France and we found that out the hard way when we got to the train station in Barcelona two minutes after the scheduled departure.
• The scheduled sales are the same in Spain as they are in France. This is something none of us needed to learn.
• Sangria is labeled as a tourist drink, as delicious as it is.