WEEK 13: Spring Breakin Part II

Fammmmm was in town!

Wow, the weekend went by so fast but being able to show them around Barcelona was really fun. I have a busy week coming up (don't I say that every week?) so I'm going to give a few highlights and pictures so I don't ramble and make this too long!

Thursday

The fam arrived around lunchtime so they set their things down in the airBnb and we went to Flax and Kale for lunch! They loved it. We then ended up walking around the Gothic Quarter, around La Boqueria, stopped at Chok for some treats, walked Las Ramblas, the outside of my school, and walked up Passeig de Gracia before heading back to our airBnB. We napped before heading to dinner at Isabella's, an Italian restaurant near the Muntaner stop. We ended up meeting the owner Isabella and I told her how much I liked the Instagram account for her restaurant and about @collegegirleats. She was super nice and the food was also amazing. After, I wanted to take my family to Dow Jones, a bar that gives prices of drinks based on what people at the time are ordering...like the stock market. They loved the place and atmosphere and obviously my dad became best friends with the bartenders by the end of the night.

Friday

After getting a little slower start to the morning due to jet lag, we finally rolled out the door around 1pm to go to Surfhouse, a bar on the beach I have mentioned before. I wanted to show my family the beach and walk around but knew it was going to be packed because of the holiday weekend and all of the tourists. We ended up waiting a little while for a table but ordered drinks and it was so nice outside so it wasn't that big of a deal because the food was amazing, again. We hung out there, walked the beach, and then went to Parc Ciutadella and hung out there before walking up to the Arc de Triomf. That night we went to Nakashita, a sushi restaurant I had heard about recently, for dinner. It was a really small restaurant so I was glad I had made reservations, but the sushi was incredible and you could see the chefs preparing it right at the bar. We had dumplings, edamame, rolls, eel nigiri, and mochi, and everything tasted so fresh and flavorful. Definitely the best sushi I have had in Barcelona. I then wanted to take my dad to Bobby Gin, a bar that specializes in gin and tonics...his favorite drink. The bar was really cool. Definitely more of an upscale bar to get specialty drinks because they were pretty expensive but the bartenders definitely knew what they were doing and the menu was unique. 

Saturday

I was so excited to take my parents to Quimet y Quimet for lunch, one of the most famous tapas restaurants in Barcelona. (Also, one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite restaurants in Barcelona.) Well, of course they were closed because of the holiday weekend. So we made a quick backup plan and decided to go to Federal Cafe, a brunch spot that I raved about a couple weeks ago. Luckily, we got a table right away and all ordered eggs that everyone loved. From there, we walked to Placa de Espanya and spent some time there as well as looking at the different Olympic venues which was actually really cool. The 1992 Olympics were considered one of the most successful Olympics ever...which I didn't know. We went to a wine tasting at 5pm at the Moritz Beer Factory in Barcelona and had such a good time. We go to have cava, white, and red wine, and the red wine was probably the best wine I have ever tasted, no joke. (I made my parents buy a bottle for me.) We were sitting next to some girls form London who were visiting and talked with them for most of the time...and my dad somehow ended up inviting them to Thanksgiving? Don't know how that happened. That night, we went to Restaurante Barceloneta, a seafood restaurant near the beach. We started with the traditional pan de tomate, a traditional Spanish tapa and all ordered fish which we loved. Andrew and I both ended up looking at the dessert menu and got the best dessert I have ever tasted. We actually licked our plates clean haha it was soooooo good. We had coconut ice cream with catalan custard which is essentially creme brulee. Yeah, it was amazing. We then went to George Paynes, the quintessential study abroad student bar to watch the first half of the Michigan State/Kentucky game. Irish bars are always a fan favorite.

Sunday

We woke up early Sunday and went to Farggi to get cappuccinos and croissants before going to church at Catedral de Barceloneta. Having mass in that church was one of the coolest experiences I've had here...even though the entire mass was in Catalan. It was packed with people visiting for the holidays and there were a lot of people out in the morning. We then went to Granja Petitbo for brunch. I had read about it on a couple of food blogs, so I wanted to try it while my family was in town and it didn't disappoint. We ordered a side of banana pancakes for the table which were really good too. After, we went to see La Sagrada Familia and then trekked up to Parc Guell to see one of the best views of the city. I then showed my parents my apartment and gave them a few things to take back with them. We ended up going to El Nacional for dinner which is a restaurant on Passeig de Gracia. Essentially, there are four restaurants within the place along with an oyster bar, meat and cheese bar, cocktail lounge, and wine and beer bar. We had drinks in the cocktail lounge before dinner and the mojito was so good. My mom also picked out some meats and cheeses for us which were really good too. Liz met us there and then we ended up eating at their fish restaurant inside called Llotja. After dinner, my dad was dying to go back to George Payne's so we went there for a little bit before calling it a night. 

Going to Lisbon this weekend with Snewt and Liz....superrr excited for some warm weather and my last trip before my program ends. That's depressing.

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

WEEK 7: Learning Curve

And when you don't think things could possibly get that worse...they do. This week has been of mistakes, learning, and also fun.

It all started on Monday when I got pick pocketed. Yep, it happened and it is a real thing. I had just been thinking earlier that day of how I have been pretty cautious and smart about keeping my personal belongings and then....boom I'm victim to it. I was on the metro in Catalunya which is probably one of the busiest metro stations in Barcelona. My friend Nick and I had just missed the train and were waiting for the next one about three minutes later. When we got on, it was really crowded so I put my phone in my front pocket for a split second, grabbed onto one of the railings, put my had back in my jacket pocket and it was gone. It happened so fast and I was so shocked I didn't even know what to do. Those bastards. Cried the whole metro ride home. 

So I'm currently phoneless. This can be a breath of fresh air, but it also sucks when you can't take pictures. Or make a grocery store list. Or text your friends. Or check Instagram. Or even have Google Maps because you don't exactly know your way around everywhere. Hopefully this week I can figure out a solution, but it isn't exactly easy having a phone shipped when you are in another country.

I also have a stress fracture. Because I haven't been used to running that much, putting a lot of stress on my ankle hasn't been good and I'm taking some time off to let it heal. This same thing happened to me in high school during swim season so hopefully just resting it and icing on and off will help it get better!

And......the cleaning lady threw away my Nikes. I had a bag of sweaty work out clothes and Nike shoes in a grocery bag that I was planning on washing and had been there for a while (gross, I know)......and the cleaning lady threw them away. Looks like I'm going to be out shopping for a new pair of shoes. Shout out to my parents and Liz for listening to me vent, cry, and figure out my life this week. Love you guys. 

Highlights!

duck and peppered beef

Liz and I went to an Asian tapas place in the Born district called Mosquito and it was really good! We had craft beers, a peppered beef dish, seasoned duck in a soy glaze, rice, and pork and shrimp dumplings! I really liked it and definitely want to go back during lunch to try the pho that I heard was amazing. The waitresses are helpful in explaining what is boiled, steamed, and fried as well as recommending different dishes and explaining the different kinds of meats. I would go back with more people and try a bunch of different things.

Arc de Triomf

On Friday, we woke up and walked down Passeig de Gracia just window shopping and also found some cute restaurants. Liz bought a new coat and we went to a spot for lunch. We then walked to a new area we hadn't really been around before and saw the Arc de Triomf which leads into the Parc de la Ciutadella and then the Zoo. We then headed back and went to the grocery store, made fajita bowls for dinner, and went to a bar called Le Cyrano. We had heard of this bar from tons of different people, but had never been because it's only open Thursday-Sunday and we were traveling the last couple of weekends. Essentially, you ask for a type of alcohol and a mixer and pour how much you want in. Well...almost how much you want. I had asked for Captain Morgan and Coke Zero (my favorite drink) and poured the entire glass with rum until the woman came over and poured about 1/4 of it into Liz's glass. Hahahahah at least I tried.

creme brulee cupcake and soymilk cappucino

On Saturday, my ankle was really bothering me so we laid low most of the morning just working on different stuff blog related and school related. About mid-afternoon we went to Cup & Cake. This may sound familiar because we went to Brunch & Cake a few weekends ago for turkey/avocado bagels and banana bread. They are both run under the same management but Cup & Cake is more of a coffee shop with decadent cupcakes, cakes, muffins, and a lighter menu for brunch. The space is more intimate and for people who want to relax, read, or work. We went and each got a cupcake and coffee (and went back for another cupcake to split......) and did homework for a little bit. They didn't have wifi which was kind of a bummer but we were still able to be somewhat productive. I also Skyped my dad for about an hour when I got home which was really fun. I feel like I haven't been able to catch up with him as much as I like. It can be really hard with the time change because when I am at school during the day, he is at work in the morning and then when I'm done, he is either out at lunch or in meetings. By the time he's leaving work, I am either out or asleep so we have been on completely different schedules.

breakfast tacos

Sunday morning, we got to sleep in again which was amazing. This weekend was definitely a time to catch up on sleep and energy as we go into a week of midterms. We lounged around for a bit and then decided to go down to the beach to explore and get drinks at this place we found called Surfhouse and wow, did it exceed its expectations. This place is right on the beach and it was such a beautiful day out that you didn't even need a jacket. We sat outside and were immediately served the brunch and drink menu. We ordered their special mojito......and it was amazing. I needed a drink after figuring out the cleaning lady actually threw away my Nikes...how does that even happen? Anyway, Liz decided on the breakfast tacos (which looked amazing) and I got the turkey and cheese bagel breakfast sandwich. The place was filled with locals and I loved the atmosphere at the beach. I can't wait to go back. On our way back to the metro stop, we walked the other side of the road where there were different vendors set up with cheeses, olive oil, chocolate, churros, and more. We decided to get a little champagne glass filled with mixed cheeses to have before dinner tonight. We love cheese. Sooooooooooo now it's laundry and homework and chill time.



PARIS NEXT WEEKEND!

Keep on Running

I have never been a runner. I mean, I have run. I used to run as conditioning for swimming. I do run on the treadmill for cardio. But I have never been that person who is excited to go outside and go for a run to “clear my mind” just because. Well, Barcelona has made me a runner. At first, I was against it. Let me tell you, when running outside in Barcelona, people think you are absolutely crazy. No one is wearing leggings, work out tops, or headphones. Everyone stares. People think you’re nuts. I didn’t like that.

After settling into our apartment after the first couple weeks, I finally found a path that I was comfortable running. This spot that I found has a median in the middle of the road where people walk down. The street is called Gran Via. There is a bike lane too and people don’t think you are nearly as crazy and it isn’t that congested either It’s a win-win. So I have been running there, and enjoying it. It’s the perfect spot to just run and not look down at numbers on a treadmill or worry about how fast you are going, but you can actually see Barcelona and see other people and see things that you don’t see all the time. It’s really cool actually. And the thing is, I think I have been running faster and longer than I ever have before. I have no idea why. It’s pretty crazy actually, but I have been enjoying it and I feel like running is something that you can actually enjoy instead of just doing it to do it.

Sometimes, if I want to get off my normal path, I’ll run a little farther to the actual Plaza de Espana and run to the top where the view is incredible. It reminds me of bleachers and brings me back to high school swimming days. That stresses me out.

So Angie and I are supposed to run a 15K in Barcelona this Sunday. However, the past couple of days I have been having pain in my ankle, so I'm undecided if I'm going to do it or not yet. Regardless, Angie is and I'll be there to cheer her on!!!! If you told me I would be running a race, let alone a 15K in Barcelona while I was here, I would have laughed in your face. I didn’t even remotely think I was going to stay in shape while being here. It’s a little over nine miles….three miles over what I’ve ever done before. Hopefully I will be able to do it, but if not it's okay because I'd rather be able to run the rest of my time here than hurt it even more.

WEEK 4: Eating, Touring, and Eating.

Highlights from the week:

Liz and I actually made something other than chicken.

Okay that's a lie. We made chicken...but we made chicken lettuce wraps!!!! And they were really good. We bought soy sauce and everything and even made fill-ins for the wraps with shredded carrots, sauteed onions, olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, and squeezed clementine juice. They were actually really great that we made them two times this week. Go us. 

I went to an FC Barcelona game. 

We finally went to an FC Barcelona game! We had amazing seats (Thanks Liz!!!) and the stadium was enormous. For a game that wasn't even THAT big...it was still packed. Angie, Liz, and I went to an Irish Bar before and then took the blue line straight there. It was really easy to get to and Camp Nou's atmosphere was unbelievable. They were playing Villa Real and we had a ton of fun. Except...I actually think the stadium is a wind tunnel. All being Northerners, we like to consider ourselves people who are used to the cold. This game was FREEZING. I think I was the coldest I have ever been in my entire life. Okay, maybe that's pushing it, but it was close. Next time: wear 8 layers, gloves, a hat, and 2 pairs of socks. 

I ate some of the best meals of my life. 

Liz and I decided that we needed to treat ourselves this weekend because we were staying in Barcelona....so we ate really well. On Thursday night we went to NAP which I talked about in my last post. It was the best pizza I have had in Barcelona.

 On Friday after working at the food kitchen, Liz and I decided to seek out a place called Flax & Kale which we no joke thought was the best food we have ever tasted...including anything in the U.S. Bold statement, I know. We looked at the menu when we sat down and knew we had to go all out. To start, I got the Green Goddess juice which has spinach, apples, cucumber, celery, ginger, and lemon and Liz ordered a strawberry, almond butter and banana smoothie. Both tasted amazing. I want to go back and try every other drink they had. We then took recommendations from our waitress on what to order. She suggested the make-your-own tacos and the mini-salmon burgers that came with sweet potato fries. They were both incredible. The tacos didn't have any meat in them but the grilled mushrooms, peppers, and onions had a perfect seasoning along with the guacamole and pico de gallo. The mini-salmon burgers were served on a beet root bun (hence the red color) and were out of this world. We couldn't pass up dessert and again asked for a recommendation so we split a piece of the pear-walnut cake with white chocolate dusting on top. We will be back. 

On Saturday morning, Liz and I decided to get up and head to Brunch & Cake. It's a popular study abroad student restaurant and everyone raves about it. Spanish people don't really have the concept "brunch" but this place knows how to do it right. We arrived there around 11am because we heard that the place gets packed early afternoon (when hungover people start arriving) so were pumped to get a table pretty easily when we showed up. It is a lot smaller than I expected though...and not to my surprise, I heard mostly English conversations. Looking at the menu, we were overwhelmed. Savory? Sweet? Lunch? Breakfast? I ordered a large vanilla latte (!!) with soy milk and only half sweetened and they nailed it. I'm on a soy milk kick here for some reason...I can't get enough of it. Anyway, Liz and I decided to split the turkey/egg bagel sandwich with avocado and the chocolate banana bread with whipped cream and fruit. Yep, we got the best of both worlds. The banana bread was moist and decadent while the bagel sandwich was light but delicious with the addition of the avocado. I am so excited to take my parents here when they visit. 

I spent time in my city. 

Since I'm going to be traveling most of the other weekends during my time abroad, I wanted to explore and see more of Barcelona during my time this weekend. This included volunteering twice at a food kitchen for a total of five hours which was a really interesting and different experience. There are various bakeries in the area that donate pastries and other baked goods and volunteers come each morning to help serve these people. Each person who comes in is offered cafe con leche (essentially espresso with milk), a pastry, and a bocadillo (sandwich) which is either cheese, sweet ham, or salami. The volunteers are older Spanish people who are very nice and genuinely interested in getting to know the students who want to help out. If I didn't have class each morning that conflicted with the breakfast time, I would definitely want to help more often. On Friday, Liz and I went to la Sagrada Familia and did the guided tour. This church is beautiful. I had never been here before and I am so glad we had a guide to explain to us Gaudi's vision and his thoughts behind it. I also found a cheap nail place (!!), took advantage of the last rebajas and went on a run on Gran Villa.

We finally made it to Bo de B. 

The famous Bo de B. What is it? A little sandwich place near the marina area. But it's not just any sandwich place. It's run by a group of women who speak Moroccan (interesting right?) and is known to have a thirty minute line on any given day. It is probably one of the more well known spots in Barcelona and we knew that this weekend we had to go. On Sunday we slept in and decided to head to that area around 11:30am. Well we got there....and it wasn't open yet. Stupid Americans. Well if you can't tell already...we like to beat the lines. So we hung out for a little bit and walked around until they opened at 12pm. Before I came here, I was told that for the sandwiches you pick your meat and then ask for "everything" on the sandwich. Believe me, that is the way to do it. When first ordering, the woman asks you what meat you want. You tell them and then sit down and wait for them to grill it right in front of you. When it's finished, they open up a baguette, throw the meat inside and get to work. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you everything that was in it, but the sandwich was full of so many flavors, I was in love. It had a Mediterranean taste with the various sauces, sweet red peppers, corn, cucumber, lettuce, lentils, cabbage, and tomatoes. The garnish made the sandwich and I'm glad that I got it all. This "touristy" location was the perfect way to end our weekend and I can't wait to try the steak or tuna next time I come.   

Well now that I realize this post was all about food....I'll try to broaden my horizons for next week's post. This upcoming weekend we are headed to London. I am so excited to see my best friends and visit London for the first time!!!! Wooooooooooohoooooooooo

Also the EATS, DRINKS, and FINDS pages are updated!

NAP. Neapolitan Authentic Pizza

Well if the title doesn't intrigue you...then I don't know what will. You guys, Liz and I found the best pizza place. Ever. After first coming to Barcelona and trying the random "Italian" restaurant across from our apartment that had fake prosciutto, I was really turned off from pizza. Coming from Chicago, I had not found pizza I liked in Fort Worth at school until I tried Cane Rosso. Liz showed it to me last year and I have been there countless times since including parents weekend, my dad visiting in the summer, friends' birthdays, and random roomie dinner nights. So why am I talking about Cane Rosso? Well this place we found, NAP, is essentially Cane Rosso: Barcelona Edition. 

It started when I found this Instagram....called @bcndelicatessen. If you know me well, you know my best friend Sarah and I run an Instagram called @collegegirleats where we feature food we eat, make, or pictures sent by our friends. Well the other day I found this account and basically it features all of these restaurants in Barcelona (that all look amazing). l have had so many average meals in Barcelona that now I look up the place we are going before to make sure there are decent reviews, pictures, and somewhere I can get a price point. So I saw a couple places that looked really good and started looking them up. 

First one: 4 euro signs meaning expensive... 

Second one: Not open...

Third one: 40 minutes on the metro...

Then I started craving pizza. I became desperate and started Google searching: best pizza place in Barcelona. Long story short, ten minutes later and Liz and I found this place. The pictures looked promising and we decided to go for it. We heard that they could get pretty busy later on so we wanted to go a little bit on the earlier side. 

The moment we sat down, I knew this place was going to be a winner. It was clean, not crowded, and the staff was friendly right from the start. The menu was simple and the prices were very reasonable (yes!). For the broke college students who have been taken advantage of multiple times, we were all for this. We are also people who go by recommendations so of course we asked our waitress what she liked best. She recommended the Speck pizza which was mozzarella, mushrooms, truffle oil, arugula, and olive oil. For us truffle oil lovers, we were sold. We also decided to go with one of the bruschettas which had mozzarella, mushrooms and tomatoes which was amazing. I took a picture of the sign pictured to the right and sent it to my mom because we share a love for burrata (a type of mozzarella) after getting it as an appetizer in New York this past Fall. 

The bruschetta came out immediately and we weren't disappointed. We almost ordered another one, but decided to hold off until our pizza came and I am so glad we did. I also ordered a Moritz (one of the more popular beers in Barcelona) and Liz had a Coke...what is it about Coke that makes it taste so much better in Europe???

This pizza was incredible. First, it came moments later because these pizzas are put in the oven for less than 90 seconds. The dough tasted exactly like Cane Rosso's, and the truffle oil gave it the perfect touch. It has to be eaten with a fork and knife because the crust is so thin, but never burns. Apparently there is some old, written down recipe for the dough...I still don't even understand it. Although this pizza was out of this world, next time I am excited to try another one of their bruschettas (with burrata!), a salad, and the Crudo Parma pizza which also caught my eye. Prosciutto on pizza makes everything better..right? Liz and I decided to order another beer and just sit and talk for a while. Within the next hour, the place was PACKED. I am glad we came early even though we are getting used to eating like locals at 10pm. This place was definitely a winner in our book and I think we are getting better at picking restaurants that are in our price point and have staff with the best recommendations. I am already looking forward to our next visit. If you are in Barcelona, you have to check this place out. It is a couple minute walk from the Jaume I stop.

WEEK 2: Bridge to Tarragona

Well good news and bad news.

Good news: the planned trip for our study abroad program actually ended up being really fun!

Bad news: classes started and I need to get in somewhat of a school mindset.

Tarragona

Tarragona. Our study abroad center had this trip planned from Friday to Saturday where we took buses to see different sites and spend the night in Tarragona with everyone from our program. Our buses were split up by Spanish classes and conveniently Liz and I were on the same bus. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the trip but it ended up being the most fun I have had so far. We met a lot of really cool people on our bus from Indiana, Virginia, University of Illinois, North Carolina, and UT. There are so many kids from the suburbs of Chicago and this world really is so small. I felt like I had at least a connection of knowing some person to almost everyone I talked to which was really cool. And Liz of course found a Connecticut crew.

On Friday night, after hours of touring and a scarring papas bravas experience at lunch, we could do basically whatever we wanted. In the small town of Tarragona, there was approximately one bar open. After a couple of GroupMe texts, 20 minutes later and all 400 study abroad kids were at this bar. It went from having one bartender and one room to opening up a night club downstairs…so random but so fun.

The next day we saw a monastery in Santes Creus which was really interesting. After, we drove to a restaurant and had a traditional “Spanish BBQ” which was a 2 ½ hour lunch where we were introduced to the baron and calçotada. A baron is essentially a bong that holds wine and you pour it into your mouth. I can work with that. A calçotada is a blackened leek that you dip into a sauce and eat…yeah. It was a pretty fun (and interesting) lunch and after we headed back to Barcelona. It is so weird to me that just being in Barcelona a few weeks, it feels nice to come “home” after only being gone for a day and a half.

So you guys. I had the best and worst sushi of my life this week. Liz and I were craving sushi after having bread, potatoes, chicken, and cheese for the past two weeks and decided to venture out to a sushi place we saw a couple days ago. It was terrible. I wondered why I ever thought sushi in Barcelona was okay in the first place. Well after we got back from Tarragona, Liz and I wanted something lighter for dinner and found a sushi place on Yelp with amazing reviews.So we convinced each other to bite the bullet and try it.

The location was awesome. It’s called Fishop and located right off the metro stop in Passeig de Gracia near the Nespresso building. You walk downstairs into a trendy, lively atmosphere and we were seated immediately. Lesson learned #1: look at prices before you go to a restaurant. I wasn’t looking to spend four euros on a single piece of nigiri, so Liz and I decided to get three rolls (that only consist of four pieces.......) and split it. Well that and two beers later and we were at 44 euros. How did that happen? I have no idea. Oh and we had to pay four euros for our table. Don’t get me wrong, the sushi was incredible and really fresh, but I can't justify spending 22 euros for six pieces. 

Spicy Tuna

Highlight: We’re going to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend. We’re staying with Angie (one of our best friends from TCU), her roommates and their friends from college. We’re planning on doing a pub crawl, hiking, and exploring so I think it will be a really fun weekend. This is also probably going to be our only winter trip so I’m glad that we decided to do it. I’m excited because so far, all the traveling we have planned is to new cities in Europe.

Oh and Liz and I attempted to make pasta with meat sauce this week to get out of our chicken and vegetable rut that we've done probably three times. Lesson learned #2: tomato paste is not the same as tomato sauce. Liz accidentally bought tomato paste instead of sauce and it was to say the least...disgusting. We ended up straining it, saving the meat and concocting a red wine sauce that we made by sautéeing leftover red wine, olive oil, pepper, garlic salt, spinach, onions, and diced tomatoes. It ended up being surprisingly good…need to get creative in this European city of ours. We added mahón cheese on top which is AMAZING. One of my teachers recommended it to me and it comes from the island off of Minorca which is on the Mediterranean cost of Spain. It is more of a sharp, buttery taste with a hint of sweetness. I’m obsessed. I put it on everything.

Goals accomplished: get my Spanish SIM card to work (hallelujah), spend an absurd amount of money at the bar, switch out of one of my 9am classes, meet new friends and lose six pairs of socks already.

Goals for this week: get school supplies, go to Park Guell, make more dinners instead of eating out every meal, not crave and spend money on a cappuccino each morning (they know my order…I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or bad thing), and try something new.

Liz, Angie and me

See you later this week!