Feb 18, 20156 min read

Barcelona

This last weekend in Barcelona was one of the craziest weekends of my life. It was a roller coaster to say in the least. I don’t know how I’m going to capture it all in a post, but here it goes…

We left after class on Friday and took a train to Barcelona. The adventure started with a guy in our group named Robert almost not getting on the train because of a ticket mixup. And another guy slept in too long and missed it. Oh well, at least I made it without any problems. The train took about 6 hours to get to Barcelona and from there, my group took a cab to our Air B&B. Cabs aren’t too bad if everyone splits the cost. I stayed with a group of 7 other girls while the other USAC students stayed in a Hostel. The first order of business after arriving was to get food and then meet up with the rest of the group to go out. The only thing we could find open this late was McDonald’s. But! I got to try something that I think only exists at McDonald’s in Spain (or maybe Europe). It’s soft-serve ice cream with coffee poured over it and it’s amazing.

After the soft-serve, we made our way to the beach area to meet up with the others. This is where most of the night life in Barcelona takes place. There are a couple things I learned about nightlife while staying in Barcelona. First, The key to getting into the clubs here, is who you talk to. There are a ton of promoters standing on the streets, handing out cards for each of the different clubs. While my initial reaction is to say “no thanks,” and keep walking, some of these cards are actually useful. A lot of clubs will let you in for free with a card if it’s before a certain time (usually midnight). The guy who helped out my group, wasn’t even promoting the bar we wanted to get into. After Jarryd said we were going to Opium, the guy told us to say we’re on the ‘Blanco List’ and that if anyone asked how, to say we saw it on Facebook. Sure enough, it worked and I was inside having an awesome time. The second thing I learned is to just get any drinking out of the way before going to the discotecas. Mixed drinks were about 15 euros inside.

Saturday

On Saturday, we walked to La Sagrada Familia, the unfinished, modern church designed by Antoni Gaudí. This was my second time visiting the church and I still haven’t gone inside, which is okay because it costs money and the line is long. Plus, I think it’s main draw is the architecture on the outside. From there, we bought tickets for a hop on-hop off bus that tours around the city.

La Segrada Familia by Antoni Gaudí

We took the tour bus to our next stop, Park Güell! This park is also designed by Gaudí and beautifully intertwines nature and architecture. Here I witnessed one of the strangest things I have ever seen: a line at least 6 feet long of caterpillars crawling single-file on a wall. I spent at least 10 minutes watching them.

Park Güell

Park Güell

What is happening?? Caterpillars, why?

View of Barcelona

After the park, our group got a little smaller because some people were taking too long with selfies and who knows what. In my group with Allison, Julissa, and Stephanie, we took the bus to Las Ramblas, the main shopping area of Barcelona. I wanted to visit a candy shop I remembered from my last visit to Barcelona called “Happy Pills.” Here you grab a 'pill bottle’ and fill it up with candy. Afterwards, you pick out a funny label in either Spanish of English. I think it’s really cute. Also, the sour wrenches (?) are the best.

Use in case of ninja attack

For dinner, by Kristen’s recommendation, we went to La Rosa Negra, a Mexican food restaurant! The food was AMAZING. I had enchiladas and I think they improved my mood tenfold.

My enchiladas :)

Enjoying margaritas with Julissa

Back at the Air B&B, we all got dressed up and ready for a night out. First we went to Ice Barcelona, a bar with a room made of ice! We had to pay a cover fee but it came with one drink, which was tropical and tasted delicious. Plus, it was a really cool experience. After that, we went to Razzmatazz, which was okay.

Me, Steph, Julissa, Allison before going out

Julissa, Allison, and I at Ice Bar, enjoying tropical drinks in ice cups

Me on my ice thrown

Sunday

On Sunday, Allison, Julissa, and I decided to go back to Park Güell to see the mosaic part of the park, which unfortunately costs about 7 euros. It was really pretty though and at least there weren’t many crowds.

Park Güell

Park Güell

Park Güell

View of Barcelona

The low part of my trip happened on Saturday afternoon. Here’s what happened… I bought tickets along with most of the other USACers to see Barcelona play. We showed up a little later than expected and ran into Stephanie outside of the stadium. She was in a panic saying she was looking for Jack who had her ticket and she had no phone to contact him. She had already made a full loop around the stadium. I told her I’d find him and tell him where to meet her. I went inside and found Jack and told him that Steph was waiting right outside the gate, but Jack is kind of the worst and said that I should give Steph the ticket because he was tired of running around trying to find her. I argued with him for a minute because it’s not my responsibility, in fact I shouldn’t have been involved at all. He was being a jerk though, so I finally said “screw it” and grabbed the ticket for Steph. I was in a hurry because I didn’t want to miss any more of the game so I just ran out the gate I had entered through. Steph was right there and I got her the ticket without any problems.

We walked back to the gate and I scanned my ticket but it beeped as I tried to reenter. Turns out, according to my ticket, I was still inside. I tried for at least 15 minutes to convince the guy working there that I wan’t trying to sneak into the game. He thought it was “impossible” for me to have exited the gate without getting a reentry paper. I almost convinced him to let me back in, but in the end, he was just doing his job, and I was having the worst luck ever. Steph waited with me outside and we both missed the game, which Barcelona won, by the way. Messi pulled a hat trick (scored 3 goals in one game) and everyone else had a great time.

After that, I got Mexican food again (to cheer me up) and went to bed early. Thank god for La Rosa Negra. I also finished my bottle of Happy Pills, hoping they’d do the trick.

Monday

In the morning, I walked to a place called Brunch & Cake with Allison and Steph. The food in Barcelona was the true savior of my disposition. I ordered a chai latte and the best French toast of my life. No, I didn’t eat the bananas, but I actually enjoyed the sauce from the berries on the right.

Best French toast ever

After that, I packed up my things and said goodbye to the Air B&B girls and walked over to the hostel where the others were staying. The plan was for me to move into the hostel for the night to go see Katy Perry! The show was great! There were a lot of costume changes, dancers, and cool lights. Katy really knows how to put on a good performance.