Barcelona: Més que una Ciutat

This past week, the Fundación took us on a trip to Barcelona. It's hard to know where to begin, after a week packed full of amazing sights and experiences. I'd have to say that Barcelona was my favorite place yet. From its unique culture, to its appealing tourist attractions, to the relaxing moments I spent near the Mediterranean, I have one great memory after another of my time in Barcelona.

We started the week on a school trip. It was wonderful to hear the professors explain aspects of the sights and the Catalan culture that I never would have known. Barcelona is located in one of Spain's autonomous regions, and has its own language (Catalan, as opposed to the Castellano Spanish I've been learning), history, and political culture. I loved learning all of this, although the touristy nature of our trip made it more difficult to be submersed in culture and really experience all of these things. We stayed in a nice hotel for the first half of the week, and after the school trip ended, some of us decided to stay through the weekend, so I had my first experience in a hostel as well. Overall, it was a pretty nice place, and being in the city with all my friends from school made for some awesome memories.

I took over three hundred pictures on the trip, so it goes without saying that we saw amazing things. The works of Gaud í, a famous modern architect, were a theme throughout the trip. We saw his Iglesia Sagrada Familia, a beautiful church, as well as two houses he designed, and Parque Güell, all in his very unique style. He used inspiration from nature, the sea, and light in most of his works. He also often featured mosaics and amazing stylistic and functional details. Picasso and Dalí were also influential in Barcelona, and we saw a Picasso museum and ate lunch at Picasso's favorite cafe, Cuatro Gatos.

We also took a trip through the city's beautiful Gothic neighborhood, saw the Cathedral and another beautiful church, great parks, and a Roman excavation site. Other highlights included a tour of the Frexienet Cavas vineyard, Spain's biggest sparkling wine producer. We had fun seeing the special traditional facilities and getting free samples of the cava. Also, because Barcelona hosted the Olympics in '92, we saw the stadium and experienced beautiful views from the mountaintop near the Olympic museum.The city seemed more open and clean than Madrid in places, but above all, I loved having the chance to be on the edge of the Mediterranean. We went to the beach, picnicked on the port with fruit from the enormous Boquería (fruit market), and even took a boat tour of the coast. We also got to witness a tradition that happens each Sunday in Barcelona. Locals meet in the square outside the Cathedral, and perform a group dance called Sardanes to live music.

One more cultural experience that we had was the chance to go to a futbol game. F.C.Barcelona is Spain's other big team. Although they have an enormous rivalry with Real Madrid, I couldn't quite pass up the opportunity to see a pro soccer game for only 18 euro. Don't worry, though, Mark... I'll still be wearing my Real Madrid jersey with pride. Most Spaniards would call this insanity, based on the political and cultural implications the teams have. Spaniards really pour all their passion into their teams. The motto for Barcelona is actually "Més que un club," which means "more than a club" in Catalan. On the other hand, I just called it a very fun time. It was great to see Barça beat Mallorca 2-0, and get into cheering along with the rest of the crowd.

All in all, the week off from classes, exploring the city and growing closer to my friends, was a welcome break. I loved Barcelona, and I'm even more excited for future travels now. We head to Paris on Thursday. It's still hard to believe that this is really my life this semester. My memories of Barcelona will always be great-- es más que una ciudad.