BARCA!

I sprung out of bed this morning full of excitement! I caught the metro and wheeled my red suitcase to class! Today's class was joint with 15 grad students from the US and I sat impatiently throughout the two back-to-back lectures from two different EU reps with my mind drifting every five seconds thinking about my new baby niece and the fact that I'd be reunited with my cousin again in a few hours time. I was itching to leave, so I snuck out and ditched the last part of class (shhh don't tell Gareth, he wasn't there). Hey, I had a plane to catch! Barcelona here I come!

I met up with my cousin Cristina, Mariola and the others from the Milan group (plus more) in Barcelona. Altogether it was the three guys from Barca, four flew in from Milan, one girl flew in from Rome, another from Paris, Madrid, me from Brussels plus the other people in the Barcelona program. The number from Milan to Barcelona grew from 8 to 13. We had such a fun time!

After getting lost for a good 45 minutes (no cell phone), I found the apartment. It was so great seeing Cristi and the rest of them again. That evening we went to "el show de agua" haha we didn't know the official term, but that's exactly what it was: " the water show" lol. When I got back to Brussels I was told the official name is "Las Fuentes de Montjuic." It's an enchanted fountain display of synchronized water motions, lights, colors and vibrant classical music. The castle/building in the background was lit up beautifully, the whole sight was spectacular! After the show, Ben Andrea and I (two Americans from Milan) strayed from the group and grabbed dinner and gelato before getting ready to go out.

With so many of us in town, it was hard to find everyone a place to stay/crash but we worked it out perfectly. One of the kids in the Barcelona program was out of town so Cristina and I stayed in his room sharing a twin sized bed again lol. It was more like the get-ready room for all the girls (poor guy). We pre-gamed at the pub downstairs then made the loooong walk towards the marina where the club was at. We picked up where we left off in Milan and danced the night away til the wee hours of the night! We had such a blast! In the "morning" Ben Andrea and I went to have "breakfast", we were eager to get the day started! I had the BEST tortilla española sandwich EVER! OMG how I loooooooove tortilla española!! It's sort of like kiesh, but not really -BETTER! The rest met up with us about an hour later. After they ate, we took off!


It was the longest walking day of my life. My gluteus maximus was literally sore for the next two days -no joke. We walked to Antoni Gaudi's famous Park Guell. A beautiful park overlooking all of Barcelona. But to get up there we had to climb a vertical, STEEP, hill and Erika was in heels...per usual (left). Let me tell you, we ALL broke out into a sweat -what a workout!!! Some of us thought "the hell with the park" lol, we thought the up hill climb was never going to end! But once we made it up there, we were loving it. The view was incredible: (from left to right) part ocean, part city, part mountain.

The park was HUGE! and to my surprise it's where they filmed both the runway show and the "Secret" commercial on America's Next Top Model! I recognized it immediately! It was SO cool! I also loved the famous windy colorful-tiled bench, and the famous salamander. The idea of that place is just so creative and unique, I loved it. Two thumbs up Gaudi -you're a genius, man! From there, we walked to the famous Las Rambals, the statue of Cristobal Colon, and walked all over la marina. It was so nice to smell the ocean, hear seagulls, and feel the breeze through my hair =]

The restaurant we wanted to go to didn't open until 8:30 so we had a snack by the marina at a cool cafe al aire libre (don't know how to say that in English) with these cool projector screens showing the Spanish futbol game. I had an ice cream cone (yep dessert before dinner) and the rest had crepes. We then walked about another hour to get to the stupid Cuban restaurant. Don't get me wrong, Cuban food is my favorite kind of food, but not when I'm in Spain. But Cuban is what everyone was craving so Cristina and I who were pro-Paella were in the minority. So finally, we get to the Cuban restaurant and it's reservation only. Haha suckas! So in the end, Cristina and I got our way, like we always did as kids! We shared a non-marisco paella since we both don't like seafood lol and it was mouthwatering! Absolutely delicious! =)

We went back to the dorm and got ready for Elephant Lounge. We got hooked up for cover and the ladies were given two free glasses of champagne ;). A creepy thing on stilts scared the shit out of us when we walked in. It caught us off guard and it didn't match the place at all but we took a picture with it lol. The lounge was a sophisticated mixture of Arabic, Hindu and Thai influences and was part indoor and part out in the terrace. Lots of bamboo, bronze sculptured elephants, outdoor gazebos with linens flowing in the breeze. Inside there was a nook filled with just pillows to lounge around. The music was awesome too. We went straight from Elephant Lounge to the airport with a pit stop to pick up our bags. The girl from Paris and the girls from Milan left at 6:45. My flight wasn't til 8 so I passed out at my gate in a deep sleep. Luckily the lady over the loud speaker woke me up with her high pitched voice as she announced the boarding of the flight. It was sad saying goodbye to Cristina and Mariola... gosh I love those girls! We always have such a good time. But I wasn't too sad cause they're coming to visit me soon! Weeee! Hasta la proxima!