Hola Spain!

Finally made it to Spain! I haven't been able to have a steady internet connection, so I haven't been able to update everything, but I will catch you all up right now!

June 1: 

We arrived in Barcelona around 8am, which is 2am Indiana time. We waited at the airport for about 3 hours for another girl from the group to join us from London. After she arrived we made our way to the hostel, which was quite an adventure. We had to take the train to, but weren't sure how to get there. We finally figured it out and also figure out that it is really hard to travel in a group of 11 with lots of luggage! We got off at our stop in the city and had to walk to the hostel about 4 blocks, which wore us all out. Especially after such a long flight. Around 12pm we finally arrived at Casa Gracia. We checked in and made it to our rooms. Luckily, since there were so many of us we had two bedrooms to ourselves with communal bathrooms. At this point some of us showered and some went straight to lunch. I decided to shower since it was such a hike from the train station and a long plane ride. We finished getting ready and headed to lunch.

We headed to a local square nearby for lunch. The restaurant was called Bo's with traditional tapas and such. I have a chicken sandwich, which was pretty good. After lunch we grabbed gelato, which is so amazing! We decided to head back to the hostel because we were all pretty tired. At this point in the day it was about 3:30 which meant I had been awake for 26 hours with one hour of sleep. I napped for about 3 hours and woke to get ready for dinner around 7pm. We headed out as  group for dinner, but we couldn't agree on what to eat since there were so many of us. We split up and my group asked a local bar owner a good restaurant to eat at that was cheaper and close. He was very friendly and even walked outside to show us the way. The place was called Mussolo, which was a very cool place. When we walked in the waiter spoke to us to ask which language and then greeted us accordingly. Our waiter didn't speak much English, but was very friendly and helpful! For dinner I had chicken and chips, which was very delicious. For dessert I had cheesecake and coffee. The cheese might be the best I have ever had!

After dinner we went back to the hostel because they arrange events for people staying at the hostel every night. We met some new people from Australia, Germany, and others. Everyone was very cool and it was nice getting to talk to other people. Around midnight, we headed to a local Salsa Club. We were all a little confused and thought they would be teaching us to salsa, but that isn't how it worked. I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to learn to salsa, but it was very cool to watch everyone else. It's such a beautiful dance and I hope to learn some day. Around 1am, I headed back with some of the group. Everyone was pretty exhausted and most of my room was in bed by 2am.

June 2:

I woke up around 9:30 to head to breakfast. After breakfast, we prepared to head out for the day. Again we split the group since we were so large. My group headed to Sagrada Familia, which is a very large Basilica that they have been building since 1866 and won't be finished until 2026. It was designed by Antonio Gaudi, a famous architect in Spain. His work was so amazing. Every piece of artwork he created had so much character and detail. Gaudi died in 1926, by being struck by a bus, but they have enough of his paper work to finish his project. We toured the Basilica with a guide and the detail she gave us was incredible. Everything Gaudi did related to nature, so the inside was created like a forest. All the windows would eventually be stain glass to reflect the forest floor. After the tour we grabbed a quick lunch across the street at McDonald's. That wasn't the ideal lunch I had had, but it was neat to experience it from another country. Besides the inside of this McDonald's to be a lot nicer it was exactly the same. We then headed to another creation of Gaudi's called Park Guell. On our way to Guell park a gust of wind decided to make me look like Marilyn Monroe. I was so embrassed, but luckily there wasn't anyone around.

 Park Guell was very cool as well. There was so much architecture and beautiful art. Honestly, words cannot describe the beauty of the the two places we visited. From Park Guell you could see over a large part of Barcelona all the way to Balearic Sea. It was very beautiful! After spending a couple hours at the park, we decided to go to the beach. By this time, it was about 5pm, so I decided not to lay out. I did walk through the water and it was freezing. The weather was so beautiful in Barcelona I was surprised that the water was so cold. This didn't stop many people from going in. The water and the beach were packed. For a moment, I forgot I was in Europe until I saw some of the sites that are considered social acceptable at the beach. But it gave our group a good laugh. We were there about an hour when Josh and I decided to head back to the hostel. When we got back, we chilled and then got ready for our last evening in Barcelona. Once everyone was back we headed to dinner around 9pm, which is normal for the locals. They all eat every late. We found a small cafe and we each ordered tapas to share. I also had a salad, which was pretty delicious. One of my favorite parts about Spain is that the serving sizes are so small that it's just enough to fill you. After dinner, some of the group went to a club to go dancing and my group headed back to the hostel. Once we arrived there, our event coordinator from the hostel asked us to go grab dessert with him. We walked around the city and went to a small bar in a area that he considered Bohemian. It was very cool! We went back to the hostel around 2am and headed to bed. We were all pretty exhausted from walking all day and still a little jet legged. Also, some of us were leaving on the train at 7:35am, which meant we were up at 5:45.

Barcelona was pretty amazing. It was very beautiful and so many sites to see. The people were all very friendly and I would defiantly go back to visit. 

June 3:

We woke up and headed to the train around 6:50. We had some difficulty and were scared we were going to miss it, but we made it with a little time to kill. The train ride was about 4 hours and it was very beautiful ride. Even though I slept some of the way, I saw a lot of the country side between Barcelona and Pamplona. Once we arrived in Pamplona, we grabbed a taxi to the dorms. We got checked in and settled in. After getting settled, we went to grab lunch. I had a small chicken sandwich which was pretty delicious. We then came back to the hostel to chill. Most of us were pretty exhausted from lack of sleep so we each came to our rooms. I unpacked and took a nap. About 7pm we decided to go to dinner. We went to a close restaurant and I had a wrap. It was pretty good until I took a bite and there was fish in it. I really don't like fish, so I had to pick around it. After dinner we went to the gas station across the street from our dorms to grab some water. We came back to the dorms because it was around 9pm and I think everyone was ready for some alone time. I came back showered and to catch up on uploading photos to my computer and catch up this. When I got back I put my water in the window because the outside temperature was pretty cool and I wanted it to stay cool, next thing I know it's falling out the window because there aren't any screens, oops! I was so nervous when it fell because I am on the 5th floor, but luckily it's just rooftop between me and the building next to me. It's now about 1 am and it's time to head to bed. We start class tomorrow around 3pm, so I plan to go to the store to get snacks and water in the morning.

Pictures to come!!<3