Before, I get into how much I’m going to miss Barcelona, I guess I can update you all on what I have been up to during my last couple of weeks here. Well, as you all know, Ben was here for
Thanksgiving, so he decided to stay and travel with me to Seville and Granada last weekend. We had a good time together, although Ben and I have very different feelings when it comes to traveling. We eventually worked them out.
In Seville we stayed at one of the best hostels I have stayed at while in Europe. We met some very interesting people, such as a guy from Australia who decided to walk from France to Spain…no big deal. It was just a 400 km walk (he said). His next trip: he’s going to buy a donkey and go on a year-long hike through northern Spain. Crazy Ausies.
While in Seville, we visited the Cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried and climbed to the top of the bell tower. We also saw a flamenco show, visited Plaza España, explored the city, and shopped in the Christmas markets. We also met up with one of my friends from NMU who is studying in Seville. She took us out for a night on the town. Jess, I’m still mad at your for the shot! Vodka, Tequila, hot sauce, and pepper??? Gross.
One of my favorite memories from Seville was when Ben ordered his lunch. He order his meal and when he was finished he said, “con todo,” when he should have said “es todo” meaning, “that’s all.” The waiter understood, “con toro.” So…moments later, the waiter came out with a plate of food; meat to be exact. We were both shocked and had no idea what it was! We asked him and he said, “Es toro.” And that’s when I knew…Ben had ordered bull.
After spending a couple days in Seville and having a horrible night’s sleep thanks to the guy snoring all night, we traveled by bus to Granada. Granada was absolutely beautiful. Not to mention, we stayed in a hotel rather than a hostel because they were all booked. While in Granada, we visited the Cathedral where Ferdinand and Isabella are buried, the Alhambra, the markets, and explored the city.
We also had some really good Moroccan food at a local restaurant. I think my favorite thing about Granada was the free tapas you receive when you order a drink. It´s a beautiful thing and saves a lot of money.We returned to Barcelona on Monday night and Ben returned on Tuesday to Rome to then fly home to the States on Wednesday. I, of course, had school to go to on Wednesday and Thursday. Although the week went by really fast since we only had two days of classes that week. On Friday, I went to Montserrat with Elsa and her dad. I thought we were just going to be hiking around and visiting the touristy stuff up there. Boy was I wrong. Instead we went rock climbing. Yes, actually rock climbing. Let´s just say I am still sore. It was an awesome experience though with amazing views. That night, we went out to dinner with some friends as a going away dinner. We went to this place called Cheese Me. The food was amazing. I had this pasta with pear and cheese filling and with a mushroom, cava, and cheese sauce. Incredible. To top it off, I had a steak!!!!!!! I haven´t had one in forever! What a good way to end the evening.
On Saturday, Brittany and I went to Tarragona with plans to meet up with our Señora and Laura at their Grandma´s house in Calafell. We were in for quite the surprise. While in Tarragona, we saw a lot of Roman ruins. Our favorite was the Roman amphitheater. It was mainly because we were the only ones in there and got to play around in an ancient ruin!
Once we were done in Tarragona, we met our Señora and Laura at the train station. Our first hint that something was up was when we saw them wearing backpacks. Hmm….why are they wearing backpacks when we are just going over for dinner??? Well, maybe they brought some extra foods? Our next hint that something was up was when they asked us if we minded sleeping in bunk beds!!!! What?!?! Sleeping….here? Oh no…we were staying the night at Grandma’s house. When we arrived at Grandma’s house, which was really big and pretty, we began making Tortilla Espanola. We finally learned!! It’s not hard at all, although Brittany has a hard time cracking the eggs.
After dinner, we were getting ready for bed when Laura noticed we didn’t have pajamas. She asked us if we forgot our pajamas. Well…yes we did. Let’s see…that was probably because we didn’t know we were staying overnight! Ha ha. She said she would find us something and boy did her find us something. She came back with these ridiculous pajamas. We all started laughing. I’m pretty sure we were crying because they were so ridiculous.
Needless to say, we wore them. And we watched the Golden Girls in them. Even though it was our last Saturday night in Spain, we still have a good time playing cards and spending the night at Grandmas.And now for the part about how much I’m going to miss Barcelona….
I have no idea where the time went. If feels like just yesterday, I was meeting my Señora and moving into my room in Barcelona. How the time sure does fly by! It is such a bittersweet feeling to be leaving. I absolutely love it here and could defiantly see myself coming back here in the near future. Who knows…maybe I’ll find a job that has a partnership in Barcelona?
But really, I have had an amazing time here; words cannot even describe my feelings. Studying abroad in Spain was one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life and would never take it back! I have learned so much about life in general. I have gained appreciation for different cultures, met so many incredible people, and traveled to many amazing places. Barcelona has really become home for me. I feel so comfortable here and love everything about it. That is why it is going to be so hard to leave. My Señora and Laura (her daughter) have become family. 
I love the time we spend together, even though I can’t understand my Señora a good majority of the time because she speaks so darn fast! I’m going to miss her crazy surprises, like chocolate sandwiches and FC Barcelona wine glasses, her crazy stories and animation while telling them, and her YouTube obsession. Remember that one time, Brittany, when we watched cute babies on YouTube for about an hour? And when we watched Mr. Bean perform the imaginary drums? Ha ha.
I think the worst part about leaving is that I am going to have to leave all my friends here that I shared this experience with; most of them, I will probably never see again. It's a strange feeling to have all these memories with people who I might never even talk to again. It's going to seem like this was all a dream; as if it never existed becaues I won't see them everyday anymore. I guess I'll just have to make an effort to keep in touch with people so that this experience doesn't just disappear. With that being said, I hope you all don't get sick of me talking about my time here. Please, just bare with me :)
I don’t even know what else to say. I wish I could bring everyone to Barcelona to experience what I have experienced here.
Well, for one last time, here is my agenda for the rest of the week/time in Spain:
- Finals
- Packing
- Shopping for wine/olive oil
- GOING OUT FOR THE LAST TIME
- Flying home on Thursday
¡Adiós para la última vez de España! Besssitos!
La próxima día, we decided to go on a free walking tour of the city. This was one of my favorite things we did in Berlin. We started the tour in Pariser Platz at the Brandenburg Gate. When we arrived at the starting point for our tour, we were split up into different groups and then assigned a tour guide. Our tour guide was Barry. Barry was from Ireland and, at first, we thought he was going to be a horrible tour guide….yes, we judged by his looks. However, he was one of the best tour guides I have ever had. He was hilarious and was so knowledgeable. On our tour, we saw the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag (which was burned and then used by Hitler as an source of blame on the German communists), the location of Hitler’s bunker (now a very popular place to bring dogs to pee), the Holocaust Memorial, the Book Burning Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, Bebelplatz (which contained an opera house that was boomed twice that Hitler decided to rebuild during the war), Humboldt University, the balcony that Michael Jackson hung his child out of, and much more. Barry also told us the story of the fall of the Berlin wall. It was interesting to find out that it was basically a mistake by the speaker at the press conference.
We also did a little shopping, claro. Despues, we went to a famous chocolate shop. We spent quite a while in there and only bought a couple pieces of chocolate. Haha. We then returned to our hostel and got ready for a pubcrawl! The pubcrawl was a blast and ended with a shwarma (sp?). I doesn’t matter; it was the perfect way to end the night.
