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Halloween Weekend in Barcelona!

November 17th, 2011 secain13

First off, I’d like to apologize for my lack of updating this blog. I’ve been extremely busy the past few weeks with travelling and schoolwork. Ive got a lot of things to catch up on so I´ll start with my trip to Barcelona!

My trip to Barcelona was with a group of 50 other Erasmus students who are studying in León and it was organized by the university.  It was nice to have everything planned out and we were able to take advantage of the “puente”, the  long weekend due to all Saints day on Nov. 1st. Barcelona was a great city to visit but its very large and there are tons of tourists, so I could never see myself studying there. There was a ton of English and Catalán (the official language of the region) being spoken, which was something that really frustrated me because I’d like to practice my Spanish. However, the city was very pretty and we were able to see some of Antoni Gaudi’s architecture, including La Sagrada Familia, a basilica that is still being constructed today. I was absolutely in awe as I walked into the basilica; it was gorgeous and it was really interesting to it see amid the construction. The pictures really don´t do it justice! We also went to the Picasso museum; I really enjoyed this because the entire museum consisted of his art and we were able to see the many different styles that he experimented with throughout his lifetime. It was really interesting to me because I had learned about Picasso as well as Antoni Gaudí in my Montserrat class freshman year, which consisted of art, literature, and film of Spain. How suitable, right?

To get to Barcelona, we left on Friday night and traveled overnight by bus (trust me; it was an extremely long night on a less than comfortable bus). All of the different things that we did in the city were done as a large group and I now really appreciate travelling in a small group of people. Let’s just say that I am not the most patient person in the world, especially when it comes to waiting for other people who are running on “Spanish time” nonetheless. Despite having some flaws in the organization of the trip, it was nice to have the different tours because I really wouldn’t have known where to go and what to do otherwise.

On Monday, we had a free day to ourselves, so Brooke and I decided to visit Montserrat for the day because it is only about an hour outside of the city. As a Holy Cross student, I have heard the story of how St. Ignatius of Loyola went to Montserrat to lay down his sword countless times so needless to say I felt obliged to visit for the day. The scenery was absolutely beautiful! We visited the chapel, the museum, and walked around the mountain for a while. After hearing the story of Montserrat so many times, it felt pretty surreal that I was actually there. It was a really great day and a worthwhile trip.

On Tuesday, we headed back to León, and I feel like this trip was the perfect length of time. Even though there is so much to see in Barcelona, we had the chance to see a lot of different parts of the city and we had a lot of fun. We were even able to celebrate Halloween and we all dressed up as we went out at night!

During the weekend, we were also surprised by a couple of Holy Cross students who are currently studying in Coruña and Palma de Mallorca who were also visiting Barcelona. It was really great to see them and it was like a mini-Pamplona reunion. Overall, we all had a great weekend!

designed by Antoni Gaudí

by Antoni Gaudí

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