Tapas, Ice, & Gaudi ~ Livin' the life in Barcelona

This should say:
I BARELY survived IceBarcelona

After the near-crisis of accidently buying my plane ticket from Madrid to Barcelona for November 7th instead of October 24th (whoops), I made it to my second Spanish destination just in time to meet my friends,
Cally & Emily, for dinner and Sangria. They had been in Barcelona for a few days so over dinner, we traded stories about our fall break adventures and prepared for the next part of our vacation. After dinner, we met up with some guys from our Florence program at IceBarcelona, the only Ice bar located on the beach in the entire
world. Walking into the bar, I was immediately handed thick gloves and a jacket that made me look like a giant silver marshmallow. Inside, we found nothing but ice... From the chairs to the bar to the glasses we drank out of, everything was ice and very. very. cold.. My favorite part was that the cartoon movie "Ice Age" was playing in the background. After about 15 minutes, I needed to escape this Winter Wonderland. As I clung tightly to a fire pit, we all talked for a couple minutes as well thawed out and then parted ways, returning to
our warm hotel room.

Casa Batllo

The next morning, Emily left for Sevilla and Cally and I enjoyed a delicious breakfast at Starbucks. After that, I went to Casa Batllo, the apartment re-designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi. Inside, I was in awe of every single detail of the house which has no trace of a straight line, as the entire design was inspired by nature from the ocean to pre-historic animals. Gaudi's attention to detail, use of colors, and practicality (window hinges and banisters were designed in the shape of the human hand) were genius and I felt so lucky to be able to see his work in person. 

Dinosaur spine staircase

I wish I had this on my rooftop!

And this!

Gaudi used different hues of blue for the upper and lower tiles
in relation to their distance from the sun shining
through the sun-roof

After roaming the street , we came upon the Sagrada Familia, which is easily the biggest church I have ever seen and will being even bigger in 20 years (when construction is "supposed" to be finished). The church was designed by Gaudi (of course) about 100 years ago and work continues to be done on this impressive building that is unlike anything I have ever seen. The plans are so immense that it is rumored that the surrounding apartments may be knocked down to make room for the plan. Completing our Gauldi pilgrimage, Cally and I went to Park Guell, enjoying the unique structures, fountains, and mosaics while overlooking the city and Sagrada Familia.

Another apartment designed by Gaudi

La Sagrada Familia

Just two of the incredible designs found on Sagrada Familia

Cally & I sitting in Park Guell

Beautiful Mosaics

Tapas. The Spanish meal that is more like a food fiesta than an ordinary meal. The tapas menu includes just about anything you could ever want from fried calamari and caesar salad to mini hamburgers and
tortilla chips with guacamole to traditional dishes like papas fritas. We enjoyed tapas two nights in a row and made sure to try the whole spectrum of dishes, all of which were so delicious! 

Meeting up with my high school friend, Mallory, at her
favorite tapas restaurant. She is studying in Barcelona this
semester and loving every minute!

- The Dow Jones Bar -
where the drink market goes up & down and
then CRASHES every half hour

With Lindsay, a friend from USD, at Down Jones
She is also studying in Barcelona.

I was also fortunate enough to visit the Picasso Museum 
which had a special exhibit on Edgar Degas, one of my 
favorite artists. Seeing everything from his early training 
works to the Blue Period to his more abstract pieces, 
Picasso's paintings were incredible and definitely 
strengthened my appreciation for his work.
 

Degas' Little Dancer Aged Fourteen
The center-piece of the exhibit

Reflecting on my enjoyable time in Spain, I couldn't believe it was already time to pack up and head to CROATIA!!!

Fall break 2010 - 1st stop: MADRID!

Despite the fact that I may have the worst Spanish accent in the world and haven’t studied the language for 7 years, a little voice in the back of kept telling me to take a trip to Spain. I’m pretty sure that this was the voice of my best friend, Meghan, who is studying in Madrid and was kind enough to let me stay with her, her senora, and her senora’s parrot “Cuco”.

Traveling to Madrid was an experience in itself... from the 7AM train out of Florence, to the bus driver who instinctively knew I was flying EasyJet (a cheap airline often used by students), to searching the inner depths of my brain to find the minimal amounts of Spanish I still know, this trip was off to an adventurous start before I even met up with my friends.

Being the proud American that I am, the first stop I made when I got to this wonderful city was... Starbucks. Although I sound like any other nineteen-year-old coffee-addicted girl, I can not tell you how happy I was to find a little taste of home in my grande Mocha. I sat in the upstairs area of the Starbucks and observed the people as they walked by, trying to absorb the culture and realize that I was in Spain! Seeing Meghan walk towards me was such an exciting moment and after hearing more about her time in Madrid, I knew I was in for an exciting few days...

with Meghan & Ally

Churros con chocolate

Having heard mixed reviews about Madrid, I wasn’t expecting much, but I ended up loving every experience in this vibrant and crowded city. The hustle and bustle of Madrid was a bit overwhelming, but all of that couldn't take away from the beauty and serenity of Parque Ritiro. This massive park, complete with a Crystal Palace and 20 lbs ducks, was the perfect place to spend the afternoon with my amazing Theta sisters. Over a delicious lunch of bagguettes, chex mix, and sangria, we all caught up on life and about our semesters abroad. I never thought a park could make me so happy, but something between reuniting with my wonderful friends and sharing so many laughs while testing our

paddle-boat skills, I realized that I was absolutely in love with Ritiro!

Theta reunion in Ritiro! 

These ducks really need to work out

View from our paddle boat

        

Beautiful day in Madrid!

The next day, my highly-qualified tour guides, Meghan and Ally, took me all around the city. After nearly being run over by a police car going at 90 mph, we made our way past the Palace and Cathedral to Mercato San Miguel. Inside, we found everything from flowers to sushi to frozen yogurt to traditional Spanish tapas. Unfortunately though, we didn't get anything because we were on our way to a MEXICAN restaurant, where we found a little taste of San Diego in our chips & guacamole :)

The Palace

EVERYONE loves Mercato San Miguel...

and this is why... YUM

Kodak moment before braving the Kapital kraziness

To finish my time in Madrid on happy note, my friends  decided to take me to Kapital, a 7-story club.... yes, SEVEN stories.  I knew I was in for a crazy night and that my Kapital experience would be one of the most memorable parts of my fall break.  After waiting in a line of about fifty people to check out coats, it was time to dance. I was given a quick tour of the entire club, but then we headed back down to first floor - the techno floor.  With some of my best friends and other USD friends by my side, I quickly picked up on the Kapital energy and was ready to dance the night away... and dance the night away, we did. After numerous “ice showers” (surprise blasts of freezing cold air  and fog that fill the club) and too many techno songs to count, I started to get a little tired, only to realize that it was 6:00 AM.  I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever do such a thing, but I was so happy to be with my friends for one last night, that I didn’t even think about the time. Before you get too worried about us leaving a club at 6:00 AM, you should know that this is the 

exact time that the METRO opens up! Leaving the club at the 

perfect time, we caught the first METRO back to Meghan’s 

house and slept soundly until it was time to get up, head to the airport, 

and fly off to BARCELONA!