At first I thought I was never going to make it there. It seemed like a string of bad luck was destined to keep Barcelona and I apart. It started with the time of my final being changed. No big deal? Wrong. It was changed to the time my flight was leaving. After a very panicked phone call to Allyse and EasyJet, all was right the world again. I would simply leave on a later flight and meet Allyse in Barcelona. Wednesday arrived, I took my final, panicked when I thought I had to stay the whole 2 1/2 hours of my final, turns out you can leave early, boarded my bus to the airport, arrived at the North terminal to find that it was closed due to "an unexplained item in the parking lot" (the bomb squad was there along with dozens of policemen), cue another panic mode, had to use a shuttle to get there, and then finally arrived at my terminal to board my plane that left 30 minutes late. Did I also mention my pants ripped along the way? Fabulous. Needless to say I was ready for this vacation.
The roughness didn't really stop there. After FINALLY making it to Barcelona, Allyse and I were so kindly woken up by a drill, sawing, hammering, and all sorts of other construction noise happening right outside our room. Thankfully our hostel moved us to a much nicer quieter room. (Until the garbage trucks arrived at 3:30 the next morning.) Whatever the noise may be nothing was keeping us from the beach. We put on our swimsuits, grabbed our towels, and spent the entire day laying on the beach working on our pale. It was perfect. Our only break was of course lunch & dinner. We went to a place called MakaMaka for dinner. It was there that I had the best burger I've ever eaten. Delicious!
My only downside to beach day was I may have gotten a tad sunburnt. (When I say tad I mean I fried my back.) Friday we decided to give our bodies a cool off and explore the city. We headed to La Sagrada Familia. Now this may seem like a good problem to have, but Allyse and I have been into tons of old cathedrals at this point, and we were skeptical of buying tickets because once you'd seen one you'd seen them all. La Sagrada Familia was unlike any church I have ever been inside though. It was amazing. Construction began on this place in 1882 and has yet to be completed. (It's supposed to be done by 2030.) The inside was just completed three years ago and had a huge dedication ceremony by the Pope. It was very modern looking and had beautiful stained glass windows that projected different colors along the walls and ceilings. It was well worth the 11 euros. From there we made our way to Park Guell. The architecture at the entrance looked like a gingerbread house and after hiking up a ways it offers views of the city that extend all the way to the beach. While it was packed with tourists, Allyse and I managed to find some lesser known parts of the park.
Saturday we made our way to a large food market and stuffed our faces with fresh fruit and calzones. We spent the rest of the day relaxing on the beach before our flight home. A big thank you to Allyse for being the best travel buddy this semester. We've had some great times and I'm so thankful we've been able to go to so many amazing places together.
May has sadly arrived and my return countdown may have begun for my mother but I refuse to accept the fact I'll be leaving. I plan to take full advantage of the beautiful weather and see as much of London as possible! Stay tuned :)
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