Barca: the rentals arrive!

Barcelona the week after Portugal was a blast. Exhausted from a fun weekend, I took it easy on Monday. Tuesday marked the difficult battle of FCB against Rubin Kazan at the famed Camp Nou. My old camp friend, Katie, and I headed to this local place, Snack 55, to grab some tapas and watch the game. Unfortunately, Barca lost (for the first time in a while) and depressed I headed home to take an early night and ponder whether or not this season would be as successful as the last. I woke up Wednesday morning revived and with a renewed faith in FCB. After class I headed to the ultimate fields again and unfortunately my team lost for another consecutive week but this time only by a small margin. Exhausted, I headed home and prepared for the arrival of my parents the next day. Fortunately, my class got cancelled that morning and I met up with them and had a really nice breakfast before we decided what to do for the day. We took the metro to Passeig de Gracia and walked up this main street in Barca before entering into La Pedrera, one of Gaudi’s most famous works. We spent a while there exploring the building and learning about Gaudi since it was pouring outside and we weren’t interested in getting drenched. Once we finished we left but unfortunately got stuck in a rain storm on the way to lunch and got soaked anyways. After lunch we headed back to our respective places and I ended up napping through my art seminar as I wasn’t able to brave the rain yet again. However, with much convincing from my friends I went to the museum visit that my next class was taking (and was definitely glad that I did). After a nice evening and dinner with the parents, I headed home and passed out after a long day. Friday class was cancelled again and so we went to visit La Sagrada Familia, another of Gaudi’s famous works in Barcelona. We spent a long time inside exploring and seeing the view from the top. It was my second time inside but it was just as incredible the second time. To see this magnificent cathedral being built while I am here is an odd yet endearing experience. We walked all the way back along Carrer de la Marina stopping in shops and exploring along the way. We rested for a bit before heading out for a delicious meal and turned in for an early night. Saturday was another big day as we hit the Picasso museum, walked down Las Ramblas and wandered through Mercat de la Boqueria and Placa Catalunya. Sunday was one of the most fun days by far as we went up to Montjuic to see the Miro Museum before heading over to Parc Guell where we took in the city and walked through the majestic park. At night we enjoyed tapas at Ciutat Condal and then my father and I headed to a Barca game together. The game was magnificent and definitely one of the highlights of my time here. We sneaked down to 5 rows at midfield behind the team benches and watched Barca destroy Real Zaragoza 6-1! It was incredible! To see the players work so hard for so long was truly an inspiration. Since then FCB has been playing well and hopefully will continue to dominate the other teams it faces. It was a fun yet exhausting weekend having the parents in town and I definitely felt a bit more like a tourist than a resident while they visited but nonetheless I got to see a ton of the most amazing sites the city has to offer.