How do I even begin to attempt to portray the past two days in Barcelona? I feel like I’ve been here for such a long time because I am getting such a good feel of the city now. Yesterday, Amanda and I went out with a different group of friends to find somewhere to eat breakfast. We slept in until 1030 and missed breakfast on the ship by a good 2 hours. Oops. After wandering the streets for a while we finally found a place to eat some sandwiches. Our plan for the morning was to make it to La Sagrada Familia one more time because we wanted to see the inside of it. We had 8 people in our group (seven girls and one guy)… needless to say, the girls all wanted to shop and spend their time in the stores while we made absolutely no progress towards the church. Around 1430 we realized that we had only gone about 1 mile from the ship and we had about 7 more to walk before we would get to the church. So we started our journey swearing that we would not stop for anything. Did you know that if you buy a pair of shoes and wear them for the first time on an 8 mile walk you will most likely get blisters?? Needless to say… I stopped the group one last time to run into a store to buy some new shoes because I did not want to walk a roundtrip walk of 16 miles with a blister. We finally made it inside La Sagrada Familia. It was astounding. The detail in the inside was incredibly thoughtful and designed so intelligently. Arches towered towards the sky and stained glass painted the walls allowing just enough light inside the building. Spiraling staircases allowed guests (who paid an extra 3 Euros) to go up to the balcony of the church and just sit in amazement. Since Amanda and I had already been to the church before, we decided to head home early. We got back to the ship and took an amazing 2 hour nap before heading out again. That night we went out to La Rambla again and just walked around observing everyone. For dinner, we decided on an Italian restaurant in a main square outside of the city. Spain’s entire time schedule is so much different than ours in America. When you get to a restaurant, you order a drink and it comes about 10 minutes later. Appetizers are brought out about 30 minutes after you’ve been seated and the main meal comes about an hour to 75 minutes after you’ve arrived. It takes a lot of effort to sit back, relax and just enjoy being in the moment instead of rushing to chow down on food. A man sat down at the table next to ours and by the end of the night we had struck up a conversation together. He was from Holland and on a business trip to Barcelona. He told us story after story about his wife and his 3 boys back at home. We sat and talked with him about the government, soccer (futbol), football (futbol Americano) and so much more. After Amanda and I finished an entire pizza by ourselves… we ordered an espresso for dessert. The three of us just enjoyed each others company for the next hour or so and we ended up not leaving the restaurant until around 015. We said our goodbyes and then Amanda and I walked back to the ship for the night. It was such a pleasant night. I cannot begin to describe how much I love just sitting and talking with people at street cafes and restaurants.
Today, I went on a Semester at Sea field program trip to Tarragona and Montblanc. These are two Roman cities along the coast of Spain. Our bus left this morning at 900 and we headed out! Our tour guide took us to a rock quarry first to show us where the Romans got their materials to build these cities. It was so deep and so incredible to know that these people were able to literally harvest rocks out of the ground to use for buildings. When we got to the city a few miles later, you could see the same exact coloring in the buildings as you could see in the quarry. The correlation was amazing and something I had never thought of before. We took a tour of the city and then got 20 minutes of free time. I was so happy because I found a frozen yogurt store! I felt at home all over again and I enjoyed every minute of that treat! We then got back on the bus and traveled another hour to the next city: Montblanc.
This city was built 2300 years ago also by the Romans. The architecture was incredible. They did not use any cement or anything to hold their buildings together! When we got there, it was time for lunch at a local shop. We all sat down and got a salad, then chicken, then pulpo (octopus) and shrimp, next was a flan and then an espresso. The food, minus the octopus and shrimp, was really good! We then took the bus all the way back to the ship. One of my favorite things to do now that I am in this hot humid sticky weather is to shower! I am so glad that we have access to the ship while we are in port. Amanda and my friends are out right now, but they usually come back around 2000 to take a nap and then head back out for the night. I figured I would write you all a mini-book to read while I wait for them to come home.
We leave Barcelona tomorrow. I do not think I will be able to share any pictures with you until I get home. The internet here is so unreliable. I will be in Italy in two days! Tomorrow is going to consist of sleep, sleep and more sleep followed by a class and then more sleep. I am sad to be leaving Spain, but I have a feeling Italy is going to be fantastic… You are in my thoughts and prayers! Love you!!
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