Un fin de semana en Barcelona

       Two weekends ago, I had one of the best weekends ever in Barcelona.  First, I was able to finally meet up with Simona, the Romanian lady from the church I visited.  I was extremely blessed by the meeting and was very glad it worked out.  We had a great conversation about traveling, family, being true to our faith, and the hope we have in God.  At end of our coffee session, she gave me a book by C.S. Lewis with a beautiful note written on the inside cover.
     That Saturday,  I participated in the IES hike to Collserola.  Collserola is a mountain range surrounding Barcelona and the weather was beautiful and the view was beautiful.  We hiked up the hill and back down the other side.  Because of the change in humidity on either side of the mountain, you could tell a difference in the plant life on each side.  On the other side, we visited a small "suburb" of Barcelona where we got coffee and ice cream before taking the train back to Barcelona.
     Sunday was a day jam packed with spur of the moment activities.  First, I ran in el Curso del Corte Ingles.  It is a huge race that happens every year and everyone, literally everyone, participates in it.  There were over 55,000 people of all ages and their pets.  There was a little old lady wearing a complete Barca uniform, people pushing strollers, kids, and hard core runners.  The course took us through the Olympic Stadium which was really neat!
     Next, I visited Tibidabo with a bunch of my friends.  Tibidabo is a church on top of a mountain.  It was neat to see because it is something you see all the time in the distance when you are down in the city.  Looking out over the city is also something I can never get tired of doing!
    To end it all, a friend of mine had told me there was a pillow fight happening in Plaza Catalunya, so of course I had to get in on that! I ran home and asked my host mom if she had a pillow she didn't mind me using.  Luckily she did! :D  It was absolute craziness with feathers flying everywhere!

Catch-up

It's been a crazy awesome, fun-filled few weeks so I am going to try and catch up as best as I can.  First of all, 2 weeks ago was Semana Santa.  My friends and I travelled to Mallorca, Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla.  We were in Mallorca for only a few days and there weren't many people on the island since it was the off season.  It was very beautiful and the weather was nice overall if only slightly chilly.  We rode bikes and explored along the coast, ate gelato, laid on the beach and took silly pictures, took a boat tour, and ate seafood.  There was a huge basilica that we visited that was beautiful at night when it was all lit up.

La Catedral de Mallorca

Next, we visited Valencia for a few hours while waiting for our flight to Sevilla.  We didn't get to see very much, but it was enough to see that it was a very different city than Barcelona!

In Sevilla, the weather was really iffy and it rained every day we were there except for one.  Besides that, it was an amazing experience.  I loved our hostel, the people we met, and Sevilla.  At first, we were unsure about our hostel.  When we arrived, it was dark and their was a procession going on right in front of the door so we couldn't get in.  Then there was people everywhere in the lobby and it was slightly overwhelming.  However, the hostel was really nice, and it was like a college dorm with people from all over the world.  We met and made friends with people from the U.S., England, Australia, Portugal, Finland, and other parts of Spain.  There was a little bar on the top floor where we could get breakfast every morning and you could sit on the roof and meet people in the evenings.  There was even a night where a guy taught a mini session on flamenco out on the roof.  There were also 2 free tours offered through the hostel.  We were able to go on one and it was really neat to learn more about the history of the area and to see the things I've been studying in class.  One our own, we visited some of the main sights including Plaza Espanya, El Torre de Oro, Palacio de Alcázar, la Seta, The cathedral, and the Plaza de Toros.  The processions for semana santa in Sevilla were crazy!  The outfits were slightly creepy at first since they are in the style of the KKK robes but in many different colors.  Everyone was wearing them from the elderly to really little kids.  The music was beautiful and eerie and the floats were incredible and very intricate.  Whenever there was a procession going on, there would be people everywhere so that you could hardly move.

Plaza Espanya en Sevilla

While we were in Sevilla, we took a day trip to Granada.  We had planned to see La Alhambra, but the tickets sold out at 7:00am! Instead, we took a tour a neighborhood up on a hill where we could get a good view of La Alhambra.  I learned even more about the history and culture, and we saw las cuevas were the gypsies of Granada live.  On the way back to the bus, a procession started keeping the buses from coming so we had to take a taxi.

The procession in Granada

We came back to Barcelona on Saturday a few days before classes started so we could rest and get some homework done.  My host family asked me to go to the mass with them on Easter Sunday.  It meant a lot to me to be included and I met some of the family too.  On Monday, all the family came over because Monday is considered Easter here.  I knew they were coming but didn't know if I was expected to be a part of it. I was hanging out with some friends and came back in the middle of everyone being here.  Apparently my host mom had been wondering where i was and had bout me a chocolate egg.  She was introducing my as her daughter, giving me food and chocolate, and the whole family included me.  I met aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  It meant so much to me to be included completely into the family on Easter.