Barcelona

A crazy cool fountain we found randomly in
the Central Park
Before I even came to Spain, I purchased a ticket to Abroadfest in Barcelona. I thought it would be cool to go to a music festival in Spain and it was. I was a little nervous because a group of my friends had gone the weekend before and had a weird pickpocket/stalking experience.

For starters, EVERYONE at Abroadfest was an American studying abroad. It's not a requirement but it does target students who are abroad, hence the name. It was supposed to be outside but ended up getting moved to two different clubs. 

We got to Barcelona late on Thursday night, got dressed, and went straight to the club. It was called Razzmatazz, had three levels, and was super cool. The crowd was awful but the music was good.

A pond with row boats to rent
We all woke up the next morning to go explore Barcelona. We saw the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and a few historical buildings in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia was gorgeous as usual and Park Guell was well worth the walk. What was crazy to me was when I was standing at the bottom of the Sagrada Familia I remember four years ago I was standing in the same spot thinking, "How cool would it be to study abroad here?" and here I am living the dreams 16 year old me thought were so impossible. Park Guell was gorgeous and much busier than I remember. We walked around for a while and stopped to see various musicians play in the park. We tried to explore as much as   we could during the day even though we were exhausted from the concert. The next night was at a club on the beach and it was so fun. We spent sometime on the beach at the end of the night and found a group of musicians playing music on a little island near the club.

Sagrada Familia Part 1
The next morning we visited Las Ramblas, Arc de Triomf, La Mercat, their "central park" and la catedral de Barcelona. A parade for Carnival was marching through the city center and we got the chance to stop and watch that as well. People were dressed in crazy costumes (almost like our Halloween) and they mad a drum line in the middle of it. My favorite was central park because it was just an open expanse of plants and paths with a large pond in the middle. The group decided to take row boats out onto the pond and after a few minutes of almost capsizing the boat, we managed to stay afloat and had a fun time. When we walked aimlessly thought the park, we stumbled upon some monuments that I didn't even know existed, and that I don't remember the name of. All I remember was they were gorgeous.

Sagrada Familia Part 2
This trip was my first time traveling by train to another city and I think I liked it. We used the company Renfe because they had the best prices and easiest booking. The train was not even close to full for the way there and the way back which was extremely nice. I couldn't get myself to fall asleep which is strange for me, but it was cool to see the parts of Spain we passed through out the window. Security was minimal which was nice because I didn't have to dump out liquids or take out electronics. Overall I think I recommend traveling by train.

Luckily, no one in the group was pick pocketed. Barcelona has a very different feel compared to Valencia, not bad, just different. Barcelona has more of a tourist feel. The streets are wider, there are more people and cars, and everything is well, bigger there. I do not like it as much as I do here and I am so glad to call Valencia home.




Park Guell




Arc de Triomf



The Cathedral of Barcelona


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