11.16.22 shopping and ramen!
K and I had been planning to go shopping for weeks now because we were wanting to buy clothing you could layer or keep warm in. This included looser pants to fit leggings under and turtlenecks. Since we are going to Munich and Prague in December we figured keeping warm there would be difficult given we packed for a Valencia winter (50 degrees F lowest during the day). After shopping, we did our roomie dinner date that we started doing once a week so that we could try different types of restaurants. This week was Buga Ramen. We ordered gyoza, edamame, and ramen. It was delicious but I’m not sure we will go back since we want to try a different restaurant each week.
11.17.22 school!
Thursdays are my longest day of classes with Spanish at 10:30am, followed by Biochemistry, and then Spanish culture ending at 7pm. I’m always exhausted after a day of classes and walking but I am also excited after Thursdays because that usually means we have a trip coming up and we did. K and I got ice cream after our last class before heading home to pack our bags for Barcelona!
11.18.22 to 11.20.22 Barcelona!
Day 1! K and I took a train out of Joaquin Sorolla at 6:55am and arrived in Barcelona a little before 10:00am. Our Airbnb was right next to Sagrada Familia, less than 5 minutes, so perfect location, but an hour walk from Barcelona Sants train station. I found a cute little brunch place halfway between the two and we stopped there for two hours while waiting to check into the airbnb and drop our bags off. We walked by the Sagrada Familia on the way to our airbnb and took a couple pictures of it with the cloudy sky.
We headed in the direction of her dad’s hotel but we had 3 or 4 hours to kill so we explored the shops and the different streets. After walking and window shopping for a bit we stopped at one of those restaurants with bread and toppings where you pay by the slice of bread. It’s a style very common in the north of Spain and this restaurant had “Bilbao ” in the name. It was delicious and the perfect use of time while we waited for her dad to get all checked in!
For dinner, we met up with her dad and his friend at a Vietnamese restaurant and ate amazing Pho. Since we had been up since 6:00am, we headed for an early night. We did pass the Sagrada Familia again in the dark!
Day 2!! One of the most constant struggles K and I have had literally in Spain, is how to unlock the doors. It took us 40 minutes this morning to unlock and open the front door of the airbnb so that we could go meet her dad at the Sagrada Familia. We had planned to eat a full breakfast before going but we didn’t have time to so we stopped at 365 cafe and ordered lattes and croissants. We were still on time to meet up with her dad, thank goodness.
We had a 9:00am entry ticket to the Sagrada Familia and 9:45am entry to the Nativity Tower. The outside of the basilica was amazing, the height of the towers, the intricate designs of the stonework, you couldn’t capture it all in one photo. But, my favorite part was the interior ceiling of the church. It had the tops of the tree pillars, stained glass, and beautiful arches. The walls of the building were covered in stained glass, but the inside had only 3 or 4 statues which was a lot less compared to the exterior surfaces. We accidentally missed the huge overlook of the Nativity Tower. Nonetheless, we were able to look out the tiny windows on the staircase and see the whole city and the statues way up there! The ticket price was extremely worth it and I think this is a must see location in Spain.
After touring the Sagrada Familia, we all headed to a brunch place nearby. I ordered the breakfast taco without cheese and it was amazing. The side of guac and hot sauce reminded me of my breakfasts back home this summer. Next up, we headed to a busy street to see two more buildings designed by GaudÃ. These two were Casa Milà y Casa Battló . Gaudà definitely was brilliant but personally, I would not want to live inside either of those buildings because of his interior design ideas.
We spent hours just walking around the city. K and I ate gyoza and chocolate covered strawberries at the BoquerÃa and drank coffee in a square. I truly believe the best thing to do in any city is to just wander around, walk in random places, and try new things. I also bought jeans at Zara that are super cute and comfortable. K and her dad shopped around for a coat for a bit before returning to his hotel so we could all rest a little before dinner. We met up at a smaller tapas place with some of his friends. It was amazing and I couldn’t even tell you all the different things we tried there. K and I were exhausted from a long day of walking and exploring so we returned back to our Airbnb to study for 30 minutes before calling it a night.
Day 3!! K and I had a 1:00pm train out of Barcelona Sants so we were able to explore a little more of the city this morning. We headed to Cafe 365 near our airbnb before starting a 35 minute walk to Park Guell. We definitely entered on the wrong side and exited too early, but it was okay because we were still able to see the huge Dragon staircase entrance, just from the outside. While on the inside, though, we were able to see the gardens, the viaducts, the laundry room, and the nature square. After wandering in the park for an hour we started the hour-long hike to the train station. We stopped near the end of our walk for coffee and sandwiches before heading to the correct dock for our train to Valencia Nord. Overall, an amazing trip and definitely made some of my top memories here.
11.21.22 and 11.22.22 studying and classes!
Monday and Tuesday were normal days with classes and lots of studying for my upcoming presentation and test. Overall week 12 was amazing, but I can not wait to go home!
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