Spain never sleeps, even though I do.

From Croatia, many of us traveled to Barcelona - It seems that when everyone was making plans to leave, someone found out about the cheap 30 euro flight to Barcelona and told the rest of the castle. In total, we had around 40 Emerson students on a single flight - some of whom were only flying to Barcelona in order to fly back to Italy.

Now, Geography class - If you were to fly to Italy from Croatia -a bordering country - why does it make sense to fly across europe twice? Because airlines hate making our lives easier.

Upon arriving in Barcelona around 6 PM, we took the metro to the Kabul Hostel and checked in - which, unfortunately, takes a LONG time with 20 people arriving at once. A group of us went out around 9 and explored the city at night, starting at La Rambla. Barcelona truly has a spirit of its own, unlike anything i've seen before. The party never seems to stop, and pop art decorates the streets everywhere. Whether its a giant statue of a lobster or a billboard-sized mural, The alternative style of Barcelona is clear anywhere you look.

Side note -  There was a point that I looked at a structure in Barcelona and remembered that I had seen it before - in a Tony Hawk game. It was an awesome realization and a little lame at the same time. 

We continued our walk, ending up at the beach, dancing on the sand. Something i've experienced over and over again is how amazing it is to be with your friends in a foreign country, doing the same things you would do anywhere else. Around 11 or 12, we arrived back at the hostel and crashed, ready for the next day of adventuring. 

Thursday consisted of lunch, fun in the sun,  and obscenely warm weather. Jacki, Deven and I traveled up to a park where Gaudi designed several statues and buildings in the morning, then got Paella on the way back to the beach. Squid ink is an AWESOME cooking tool. We lied out, then hung out at the hostel bar for a little, then went to a flamenco show. 

Friday involved more walking around in Barcelona, particularly in search of souvenirs before I hopped on a train to Madrid with Erin. We arrived in Madrid around 6 or 7 and headed straight to one of the fine art museums (for free, thanks to our student IDs), which promptly closed at 8 o'clock. From here, we walked onward to our hostels and met up again in Puerta del Sol - the city center.  Erin and I wandered in search of tapas, which ended up being cold meats and cheeses, but still pretty good. Afterward, we headed in early, planning to meet up again around 9 am. 

Now, thoughts on Madrid. I've been told that between Barcelona and Madrid, you like whichever city you go to first better than the second. I hate to fall into a trend, but it was true. However, Madrid certainly had its charm - its older and more conventional, but a beautiful city overall. I think its like comparing Washington DC to New York City - there's a distinct national feeling tying them together, but they remain completely separate entities. Neither can completely represent the country, but together they provide a nice overview.

 I had the Cliff Notes version of life in Spain.  

 

At 9, we met back up and headed to the museums again. We knew that we only had a few hours until we needed to meet up with another group of Emersonians at noon, so we didn't waste anytime. Unfortunately, we still got a little lost. As we made our way through what we thought was the botanical gardens, we realized we were not where we thought we were. 

wow, that was a doozy of a sentence to read. 

Anyways, we hit up the museum and the Botanical gardens, then walked back to Puerta del Sol to meet with Jake and Co. Then, after finding them we went BACK to where the museums were to a beautiful little pond/lake. They rented out row boats for 45 minutes, so we divvied up and rowed around. By the 30 minute mark, we were kinda just floating, soaking in the sun on the beautiful day. 

After Row-Row-Rowing around, we headed to the modern art museum, where i proceeded to overload on Picasso - seriously, some 200 hundred pieces by the guy in an exhibit is enough to drive anyone crazy. And of course, since I was now crazy, I moved on to my favorite painter - Dali. Ohhh Dali, how I love thee. 

From here, we all explored more of the city until around 9 pm when Jake and Co. went back to their hostel, while Erin and I played a game called "Kill 6 hours in Madrid!"

We spent the first half sleeping in her original hostel, since they were nice enough to let us hang out there for a couple hours. However, at 1 am we left and wandered the Spanish streets, which, if anything, were MORE alive than they had been at 9. The city truly never sleeps.

We wandered around, avoiding spending much money and at 3 am ended up back at Jake and Co.'s hostel, where we had planned to meet and taxi to the Airport. 

Fast forward about 5 hours and we landed in Frankfurt, Germany to find it SNOWING. Seriously Europe, get it together. Fast forward another 8 hours and we arrived at the castle, just in time to miss Dinner. Bummer.