WOAH. Spring break was amazing.

Friday I went to school like a diligent student and had my last day with my professor, Claude.  I love him and I’ll miss him so much.  It was bitter, and not sweet.  For the last day he took his class, all 7 of us, to the open air market in town. We glanced at the local spices, fish, fruit, veggies, and anything else you can think of. Some of the students bought things but I just looked.  After that we headed back for lunch and got ready to take off for the airport. A friend and I took the bus which was only 1.50 euro but it did take 2 hours. There are quicker but more expensive options, but we had the time. Our first flight was to Barcelona.

Our hostel was incredible. It was so homey and hip. They were very accommodating as well. For example, we all had separate reservations but they managed to keep us all in the same rooms, with our own bathrooms. That’s right- no crusty men showering all around me. There was a “living” area in the lobby that had bean bags and a guitar where people our age, and older, were hanging out and drinking wine. It was real indie. For dinner we went to this Mexican, not Spanish, restaurant that other friends in our AIFS group recommended to us. It was really delicious, especially the margarita’s and mojito’s. It was rather late and we were all exhausted so we just headed back to the hostel for the night.

The next day, we woke up and had continental breakfast at the hostel. We took a “free” tour from the hostel but ended up tipping the guy since that’s how he makes his money. We had the choice to take the Gaudí tour or Gothic and we went with Gaudí. It was long and the tour guide just rambled on so I can’t say I learned all that much but I did get pictures of some of his buildings and work. Unfortunately when my friends went to La Sangrada Familia, his biggest and most famous architecture, I had already left for Athens, but that was later on. After that we all went and had lunch at some restaurant where I got this awful sandwich with nothing on it. Nice call Cass. Fortunately the Barca game was on right after so we went to a bar and had Sangria’s which were delicious. After sharing beautiful moments and laughter with some friends, we went back to the hostel to get ready for the night.

We headed to the fountains before going out to look at the fountain show, but for some reason they didn’t occur. I am unsure if we ever figured out why they didn’t happen but it was a bummer. For dinner we had tapas, which are not a type of food. It’s an idea kind of like brunch. They were just variations of appetizers. It took me so long to figure out they weren’t a type of food because every time I asked what it was, the response would be “they’re appetizers”. I was confused and scared to ask more times. They turned out to be really delicious though! After that, we headed to the lobby to go on a bar crawl. We paid a fee, which they never collected from me, and went to 3 different bars and a club. It was a lot of fun and wonderful I didn’t have to pay. It was a very successful first day of spring break.

The next day I had to check out because I was going to Athens, Greece early to visit my friend Elle. I accidentally slept in and didn’t check out on time but the hostel was wonderful and didn’t charge me. I had a flight at 9:00 pm so during the day a couple of the girls and I walked around Barcelona. We were going to check out the Picasso museum since it was free after 3:00 pm but the line was so long and would take 90 minutes so we decided against it. Nothing too exciting happened that day and eventually I took off for the airport. Bus, airplane and taxi later I arrived in Athens and reunited with my friend. It was glorious to see a familiar face, especially hers!

Soon to come is the rest of Athens and Santorini, there is just too much to fit it all in one blog!