My Exeter Excursion: Sun and Sangria- Barcelona, Spain: March 31-April 3

Packing 5 weeks worth of stuff into a carry-on bag was an adventure in itself. I wish I had taken a picture of my bag initially – there was a pyramid of clothes about twice the size of my actual bag that I expected to be able to bring with me on the trip. Michelle and Alex were in my room removing random articles from clothing from my bag to try to make it all fit. Then, Alex had an epiphany: she was checking her bag and we were on the same flight. I packed my backpack with things, and the plan was for her to carry my backpack on the plane. We reached the airport and realized that there were 2 different flights to Barcelona leaving at the exact same time with Ryanair. Frantically, I shoved everything into my bag and somehow managed to fit it all. This, however, was when my hatred for Ryanair began. Although it all fit into my carry-on bag, I could not shove my bag into this little devil crate that is the supposed size of the overhead bins, so they tried charging me 50 pounds to check my bag (which was like 5 times the cost of my actual flight). Alex received a panicked phone call from me and tore through the airport to my gate. The two of us were throwing things into my backpack while passerbys stared, and then Alex took off with my bag running to her gate.

After the initial shock, I was finally able to calm down and clear my head. Upon arriving in Barcelona, I made my way to the hostel. It was then that the owner proceeded to tell me that our room was flooded, and he was moving us to a different hostel across the city. It was 11 o’ clock at night and Sarah and Margy were not getting there until midnight. I did not want to travel across this foreign city alone, so I asked to wait there for them. As I sat in the smoke-filled room with men twice my age attempting to speak to me in English, I questioned my decision to wait there. At one point, one of them told me he was from France. I replied and said I was really excited to visit. I’m pretty sure his response entailed something about being kicked out of the country and never being able to return again. Needless to say, I was attempting to contact Sarah and Margy every 5 minutes because I wanted to get the heck out of that room. Then, this skinny man that looked like Bob Marley managed to communicate with me and figure out that I was studying Sports Science. For the next hour, the two of us thumb wrestled (weird, I know...his idea!). After that, I was fortunate enough to be able to watch him make string necklaces (I really question what he was smoking) that he tried selling me one for more than the cost of the room. Sarah and Margy eventually showed up, and somehow a room miraculously opened for us and we were able to stay at the hostel.

The next day on our way to explore, Sarah realized that she forgot her wallet back at the room. We later discovered that she had been pickpocketed the previous night. Luckily she still had her traveler’s checks and her passport! After we sorted that all out, we made our way to lunch. We shoved our faces with paella and Margy and I enjoyed a pitcher of sangria. The sun and the sangria hit us while on our 3-hour walking tour which spiced things up a bit! The city of Barcelona is adorned with art everywhere and has such an interesting history. I was really glad we did the tour. After that we unsuccessfully searched for a Picasso museum and instead happened across a park filled with all sorts of interesting people. After watching grown people flail their bodies around, climb trees, and balance on ropes for a while we headed back to the hostel.

Sarah and Margy at lunch on Day 1!

The freedom of expression is on the walls.

GPhi picture with a crescent moon!

Our second day in Barcelona began at the boqueria. It’s this AMAZING market with fresh fruit everywhere. I was in heaven. After shoving our faces with food, we headed to Parc Guell. It was beautiful; there were guitarists around every corner and palm trees and spectacular views of the city. After meandering around for a while, we went to the Olympic stadium. I was speechless. It made me so excited to watch the Olympics this year! I have to go to the Olympics again before I die!!! Next we went to the harbor area. You could see giant fish through the blue ocean; it made me think of Gilly and her fishing skills! We ended our day with the most amazing chocolate gelato I have ever tasted! This is how I described it in a message to Megan that night: “it had every good element of hard ice cream and soft ice cream combined plus amazing chocolately flavor. You know the song heaven is a place on earth? Well I know what it's worth: $2.80."

La Boqueria

Parc Guell

I was obsessed with this old man...Obviously

Margy and I at the harbor!

The Olympic track reminded me of Drake -- going to miss cheering on Spencer this year!

Our last day in Barcelona was rainy, which was a bit of a let down because we really wanted to go to the beach that day. I was finally able to see La Sagrada Familia. It was one of the most beautiful churches I have ever stepped foot in. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before: it was so simple and complex at once and the stain glass and concrete combination was breathtaking. We went shopping around las Ramblas one last time before heading out. We were taking our sweet time to leave at the hostel because we had a while to catch our train when they basically kicked us out. It was perfect though because when we got there, I noticed something on the board and asked Sarah to double check what time we were supposed to leave… WE HAD FIVE MINUTES TO BOARD OUR TRAIN! We madly dashed toward the gate, and threw our bags on the security belt. We all ended up with a random assortment of each other’s bags. We were SPRINTING to our train and they kept telling us we had to go further down the cars. The train horn was tooting and we were all frantic. We actually got on the train, and then traveled for 16 hours to get to Florence…to be continued.