"Umm... I feel uncomfortable hearing so much English..."

---

This is how my friends and I felt while in Barcelona over the weekend! And not only so much English, but so much "Americano" at that. It felt very odd to hear and be able to understand everything around us, and to be honest, we didn't much like it haha.
We had a 4 day weekend last week for St. Joseph so a few girls and I went to Barcelona. We stayed in a hostel right off Las Ramblas and had SUCH a great time. We arrived Thursday afternoon and spent that night exploring Las Ramblas. Friday morning we woke up early to catch the metro to La Sagrada Familia which took my breath away. Everyone says that it's not worth paying to enter... but I beg to differ. We paid to get in and for an audioguide tour (not expensive with student discounts) and it was fascinating to learn about the history, significance and work that went into each facade and each element of the church. After a few hours, we made our way over to Parque Guell, another fabulous work by Gaudi, and ate our lunch there while exploring and enjoying the beautiful Catalonian sun. We finally made it back to our hostel around 10:30pm and another girl that's studying in San Seb happened to be in Barcelona with her friends visiting from the States, so we decided to go out for a Barcelona night on the town. There were 2 guys in our hostel room from Argentina and one from Germany (who spoke Spanish) who came out with us as well, so we got to practice Spanish all night - Thank God! We went down to the port where there's a long stretch of bars and discotecas and danced the night away until the wee hours of the night. The Argentineans gave my friend Carrie and I dancing lessons latin american style ;-) and it was so much fun! We made it back to our hostel and took a "nap" until we had to be checked out from the hostel in the morning. We spent Saturday on a walking tour of the Gothic Center and had "MEXICAN FOOD" for the first time since leaving the U.S. It was good, but I can't wait to have an authentic Mexican meal upon returning.... mmmmm I can taste it now... we wondered around the rest of the day until it was time to catch the overnight bus back to good ol' San Seb. I fell in love with Barcelona and would return any minute if I could, I hope to come back again one day!
Um, a couple of weeks ago my friend's host mom took us on a driving tour of France and I found the town I someday want to have a summer home in! It's the French Basque town of Sare and it's classic Basque houses amongst rolling green hills with fields of ovejitas (little sheep) at the base of the Pyrenees Mtns.... HEAVEN.
This week I'm just getting a lot of school whatnot done before Spring Break, which is going to be amazing. Only about 2 more months left here =( Just going to keep living every minute to the fullest!
Hope you're all well y contentos =)
Besos

---

Photos

Edward Scissorhands
while walking las ramblas

=O
he started clipping away at my hair, don't believe that face of innocence for a minute

Open air market
filled with none other than jamon ;-)

The inside
still under construction after 150 years

the passion facade
the whole front of the cathedral tells the story of Jesus crucification

Nativity Facade
BLEW ME AWAY. I almost had a heart attack when I walked outside due to the detail

Nativity Facade
I could have sat there starring at this for an hour, and still feel as if I'd missed something

Lunch
Las guapas with our bocadillos & beers in Parque Guell

Parque Guell
on top

Shaggy
from Scooby Doo was working for a dolla

the entrance
we didn't find the main entrance we wanted to enter through until after 3 hours in the park haha

Guadi
his first public work

Political demonstration
in front of city hall

Columbus Statue
the thing behind me, not the lion =P