WEEK 9: Barca with the Best

Barca, I love you more and more every day. 

This weekend made me realize even more how much I love studying in Barcelona and the fact that I have only two months left here and basically only two weekends left actually in Barcelona because of traveling. Also, having my best friends here made this weekend so much fun..just being able to show them the city and the places we love. 

On Thursday Annie, Snewt, and Emma arrived around 3pm and right when they got in, we headed to one of our favorite places Flax & Kale for lunch. We wanted to keep it light because it was already late, so Annie and I split the salmon sashimi toast and tacos which were both amazing. Because they are studying in London, they don't have to deal with the language barrier so it was funny seeing them try to order in Spanish or ask for certain things (aka Wifi). They were also shocked at how SLOWWWWW the service was. Literally everywhere we went, the service was terrible this weekend because it's just the Spanish way of life. We are pretty used to it by now, but it can still be frustrating. I always tell Liz that I want to make a statement and leave a bad tip but you don't tip in Spain...so you can't even express how bad the service is. We then took them to our school so they could print out their Abroad Fest tickets and then we walked along Passeig de Gracia showing them the different shopping before heading to our airBnB. Because we live in an apartment through our school in Barcelona, our RA did not want us having guests so we rented an airBnB for the weekend so that we could all stay together. I know, paying to stay in our own city...absurd. We got them metro cards and then went to Gracia, bought a bottle of wine, and sat out on our balcony during the sunset just catching up and relaxing before getting ready for the night.

Because we wanted to show them traditional tapas, we went to Tapas 24 for dinner and it was PACKED. A Thursday night at 9:00pm and there was probably a 45 minute wait. It was crazy. I thought we were on the earlier side but apparently not. We met up with one of Annie's best friends from home who is studying in Barcelona and her roommates here. While waiting in line, we got a pitcher of sangria (the best) and talked which made the time fly by. We ordered the traditional patatas bravas, bread with tomato and olive oil, korean beef lettuce wraps, croquettes, lamb kebabs, bikinis (jamon & queso). We then took the metro to Ovella Negra, a huge bar where literally every college kid visiting went before the festivals were going on later that night. It kind of looks like a huge beer hall and there are wooden tables everywhere and people order jugs of beer and sangria. We hung out there for a few hours and we were able to introduce Annie and Snewt to a bunch of our friends from studying abroad. Literally everyone's friends were in town this weekend so it was fun meeting so many different people who are studying in Florence, Madrid, Rome, Dublin, London and others. From there we went to Razzmatazz, a huge venue where Abroad Fest was that night. 

On Friday, we slept in til about 11am before forcing ourselves up to "seize the day". We wanted to try a new brunch place and I had seen Federal Cafe all over the different Barcelona food Instagrams and had been dying to try it. It definitely lived up to the hype. I ordered two fried eggs with pesto and it was amazing. I also had a soy milk cappuccino (I'm obsessed). It was such a beautiful day so we sat there for a while (mostly because the service was slow) before heading out to explore. We wanted to show them the beach because 1) it was so nice out and 2) London is a little landlocked. We walked all the way down to the beach and hung out there for awhile along the boardwalk. We then walked along the beach and stopped at Surfhouse where Liz and I went a few weeks ago to get drinks. I love that place. We then walked back up Las Ramblas to show them the Boqueria and the Gothic Quarter area before heading back to Gracia. 

On Saturday we went to breakfast at The Juice House which was good but not great. I get so annoyed when a waiter doesn't write down your order and just tries to memorize it. Like I don't care if you have a pen and paper to write down my order...I just want it to be right. Of course, a couple things were messed up but I've learned in Barcelona just not to say anything and accept it. We then went to Placa de Espana which shows an amazing overview of the city. The girls loved it. Liz and I went here our first week in Barcelona and I have also mentioned how I like running in this area. We took a ton of pictures and walked all around before showing them our apartment. Throughout the weekend, Liz had been talking to someone we met in Cadiz who was also in town. He and his friends rented a yacht for the weekend and asked us if we wanted to hangout for the afternoon so we decided to spontaneously go and it was so much fun. Being on the water during the sunset is amazing especially with the weather getting really nice. Once it started getting a little later, we decided to get dinner at NAP, one of our favorite pizza places. And again, it was amazing.

It was such a fast weekend but I feel like we fit so much into it which I am happy about. Being able to show my friends our favorite places was my favorite part about the weekend. After seeI can't believe that we are already going to see them in a few days in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day weekend. Everyone and their mom is going to be there. I'm pumpedddddddddd.

Check out the EATS, DRINKS, & FINDS pages! Updated pictures for ya