Weekend trip to Barcelona right before midterms. Good idea? Por supuesto!

Midterms week. This is one of two weeks dreaded every semester. But I'm having a difficult time interpreting how it is supposed to be handled in Spain. On the one hand, my professors keep telling us how easy it will be and not to worry. On the other hand there are classes where I only have 2 grades. And one of them will be determined in the next two days. Ugh, vamos a ver.

Currently, I'm taking a break between studying the rather lengthy construction of la Mezquita Mayor de Córdoba and the traditional characteristics of male and female flamenco to give you a brief update on Barcelona. How lucky you all are, I must like you or something ;)

Barcelona
Who: Graciella and I, Molly and her boyfriend Michael
What: Explored Barcelona without getting pick-pocketed! Success!
When: Left our houses at 5:30 AM on Friday morning, returned at 8:45 Monday morning. Talk about early flights.

The girls :)

Barcelona is right on the water, thus I got to see the Mediterranean Sea! This picture was taken at the port that was built for the 1992 Olympics for all the water events. We wandered around here on Friday afternoon after eating some lunch and before visiting the Picasso museum.

The Picasso museum was pretty neat, it had an entire section dedicated to Picasso's study of Las Meninas (Velázquz), which I studied for a significant amount of time in one of my high school Spanish classes. I had seen the original Las Meninas in el Prado when I was in Madrid with my high school trip. Thus, it was really cool to see that exhibit and also the development of Picasso's style, from training on. There was also a special exhibit comparing works of Degas and Picasso at the same stages of their lives, which was neat. I may have liked it because there were lots of dancers :)

Saturday morning Grace and I wandered around and found the food market. Amazing.

Fresh seafood. Oh wait its moving... really fresh seafood.

Fresh squeezed juice. I had Mango Papaya Strawberry and Coconut Guava Vanilla. Mmmmm.

Then we continued on to la Sagrada Familia with Molly and Michael. This is one of Gaudi's masterpieces that has been under construction for over a 100 years and is supposed to be finished by 2040. The modern architecture is amazing and its cool to see after having been around so many old churches this semester.

Outside, under construction

Ceiling inside la Sagrada Familia

Nativity above the entrance

Sunday Grace and I wandered around Gaudi's park and saw la Casa Batlló, both of which were amazing. All the Gaudi buildings form another World Heritage site... second one this semester!

Center of park

View of Barcelona from top of park

Entrance of park

Casa Batlló, facade

The opening in the center of the building for ventilation and natural light. The glass creates the perception that you are underwater. Que guay :)

Ceiling. If you haven't noticed yet, everything in the building is inspired by nature.

Just your typical chimney.

So overall, the trip was fantastic. We ate at a culinary students' restaurant, wandered up and down la Rambla (the main shopping street) and enjoyed a weekend in the city. We had a little problem the first morning when our entire block had lost water (oops!) but we were able to walk across the street and use the showers in another hostel, no pasa nada. Also I learned the value of 50 cent earplugs when some 50 year old man with some serious snoring issues decided to stay in the the Alternative Youth Hostel. Oh the adventures of studying abroad.

Well now I really must go. Sorry for the high picture to explanation ratio, I'll update you better on my life when midterms are over!