Barcelona!

Barcelona was amazing! Everything about it was wonderful. The architecture, the markets, the nightlife...it's definitely a city that everyone should visit at some point in their lives. The drive to Barcelona was beautiful. One one side of us were mountains, and on the other, the Mediterranean for the entire trip. When we arrived mid afternoon we had the entire day to do whatever we wanted. A group of us went to visit the nearby Sagrada Familia, the intricate cathedral designed by Gaudi. Words cannot describe how amazing it was. It's so unlike any building you've ever seen. Every part was incredibly intricate and beautiful. I couldn't stop taking pictures, but I realized there's no way to capture its magnificence. You simply have to stand in front of it and stare. We walked around and checked out a few stores before getting some bread and cheese for dinner. That night, we went to the "Dow Jones" Bar. It had tv screens around the bar that told you the prices of drinks. The prices would fluctuate with supply and demand. So, if you bought a beer, you would watch the price of that particular beer go up. If a drink wasn't bought for a while it would start to drop in price. It was so fun! And every once in a while the stock market would crash and all prices would plummet for a short time. It was definitely one of the most interesting bars I've ever been to.
The second day, we got a tour around the older part of the city that included a very old cathedral and columns from a 2000 year old Roman temple that used to be there. The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous on the inside. All of the carvings, vaulted ceilings, and stained glass were jaw-dropping. It was just gorgeous. The Roman columns were left over from when the Romans had taken over Spain. In modern times, building was built over them to help preserve them. They're so old! Standing in front of them I felt a profound need to learn more about the ancient world. I want to understand more about different cultures, how they created such beautiful things without our modern tools, but mostly I want to know the stories of all the humans who lived and died long before me. I can't really describe it, that just sounded kind of cheesy, but seeing something that old is powerful. The world has changed so much. What will it be like in another 2000 years? What will the world know about me?
Later on that day, a group of us girls walked along Las Ramblas, a street with a huge market. It was really cool, and the venders were really friendly. There were also lots of performers doing strange things like pretending to be statues, making strange sounds, or pretending that their head was disconnected from their bodies. It was very strange, but quite fascinating. That night we went out with a large group of ISA students to a couple bars. The first was technically supposed to be a Lord of the Rings bar, which made a number of us very excited. However, it turned out just to be fantasy themed, with lots of trees and waterfalls. It was very different from anything I've seen before. After that we went to a bar called Chupitos, which means shots in Spanish. They had over 100 shots with random names. We ordered Harry Potter shots and to our delight, watched them set on fire. Then the bartender sprinkled some "magical" powder over top of them and the fire burst up! It was amazing! Barcelona definitely has the most exciting nightlife I've ever experienced.
Sunday morning we went to visit Parc Guell, a park designed by Gaudi. Everything was gorgeous. His architecture is ingenious. Everything flows together rather than having harsh lines, and he uses so much color. He also recycled broken cups and plates and such to make up his tiling. It was awesome. After that we visited a couple of houses in the city that he designed. I wish we had been able to go inside, but we didn't. We all met up at a really tall statue of Christopher Columbus (cristobol colon en espanol), which was covered in what I considered ironic pictures and statues of him helping the natives. Overall, Barcelona was an amazing city to spend a weekend in, but I think I prefer Valencia. It isn't quite as insane and touristy, but it's just as beautiful. I'll write again soon!