And So It Begins...

What better way to spend a month-long spring break that's meant to be for studying, then to go gallavanting across Europe? Wouldn't you know that I am doing exactly that. So here's how I'll lay out this last excursion: you'll get a day-by-day commentary with a few life lessons learned below.

Day 0: Airport Insomnia
Megan, Karissa and I left for Dublin Airport at 4:00 last Tuesday in order to get some free lodging before our 6:40 flight for Barcelona. Initially, we gathered on some very comfortable chairs near Starbucks to play a few hands of rummy before being kicked out to the cold, metal chairs in the waiting areas of check-in. I was not exactly looking forward to starting our excursion this way, as I'm kind of good at not-sleeping. Megan usually is the exact opposite, and can fall asleep anywhere, so I figured I would probably spend the night watching our stuff. It ended up being the other way around however! I definitely got a good night's rest stretched across a couple of chairs in the airport, whereas Megan and Karissa only got a few hours sleep. But regardless of how much sleep we got, we were headed for Barcelona in the morning, and we were all equally excited.
*Lesson #7: I would sleep in Dublin Airport again.
*Lesson #13: Always bring a deck of cards.

Day 1: Surfers and Sangria
The flight over to Barcelona went very smoothly. As soon as we arrived, we checked into our hostel. After dropping off our stuff, we meandered down the Passeig de Gracia in search of food. What an insane street! We stopped at a Starbucks to energize (you'll notice that Starbucks features in a lot of my blogs) right next to Dior. Just down the street was Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Burberry. Clearly we were strolling down one of the more expensive streets in Barcelona. The city is absolutely gorgeous and we even ran into our first Gaudi architecture. Our lunch was not that refined, however. We stopped and waited a ridiculously long time in a crowded, busy, slow and overpriced Burger King, before meeting up with Liz and Abby. After we had some food in our system, Karissa, Megan and I had to find the train station to reserve seats for our night train to Paris. Even though I have a Eurail pass, I still have to reserve a seat on a train, but only for 2 euro. After talking to a lot of different people who didn't speak a whole lot of English, we decided to come back early the next morning and try again. Megan and Karissa were feeling the effects of no sleep at this point, so they headed back to the hostel to get some sleep, while I met Liz and Abby. The three of us made our way down to the beach. Although it was pretty chilly and rainy that day, it made for some awesome surfing weather and we got to see some great waves. I loved putting my toes in the sand and imagining all the people back in Minnesota still shoveling their sidewalks. Sorry, I just had to rub it in...
After walking back up Las Ramblas, we met the other girls again and decided to take advantage of a super great deal at one of the cafes on Las Ramblas: 2 tapas, 1 paella and sangria for only 12 euro! We definitely took advantage of that. It was a wonderful girls' night out and the food was amazing. Not to mention some of the sights on Las Ramblas are quite unique.
*Lesson 62: Don't eat octopus after having a night of little sleep.
*Lesson 74: If you go to Barcelona, stay at the Sant Jordi Diagonal Hostel. It was probably the best hostel I've stayed in yet: super clean, safe, and in a great neighborhood.

Day 2: La Sagrada Familia and Chocolate
Unfortunately we weren't super lucky with the weather right away in Barcelona. It was pretty rainy right away, so we decided to hit up some of the indoor sights of Barcelona. First on the agenda was La Sagrada Familia. The cathedral was absolutely beautiful! The outside detail was incredible, and it was fun to learn about Gaudi's inspiration for the work. No wonder it has taken so long to build! As we tried to decide what else we should do for the afternoon, we perused a few souvenier shops and finally decided to hit up the Chocolate Museum. I had read about this museum in Megan's "Let's Go Europe" book and knew I had to go. The ticket to get into the museum was a chocolate bar! They had a bunch of sculptures made out of chocolate including a white chocolate guerilla and a guitar. The others seemed to appreciate my suggestion! Because it was raining, we decided to keep it a light day and turned in early. We spent the evening at our hostel with 2 bottles of wine, pizza, chips and salsa, and more games of rummy.
*Lesson #93: You can get wine for 87 cents a bottle in Spain.

Day 3: Montserrat
Since the five of us were spending quite a bit of time in Barcelona, we decided to take one day excursion outside of the city to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Several of Megan's Irish friends had recommended that we go to Montserrat: a monastery out in the mountains of the Spanish countryside. It was about an hour by train to get there, but well worth it! We took a cable-car to the monastery and decided right away to spend the first part of the day hiking to the tallest mountain in the region. It was a good hour hike, but the day was absolutely beautiful. We had lots of laughs up and down the hill and the view was incredible at the top. We purchased an all inclusive tickets for the day, so after a fabulous lunch, we spent the afternoon checking out the basilica, an art museum and the chapel where the Black Madonnna was found. I also got to experience my first thunderstorm in Europe--at the very top of the mountain! It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but it was enough to drench the five of us, and leave us ready to return back to Barcelona and the comfort of our hostels.
*Lesson #56: If you stay at Sant Jordi Hostel, make sure a blonde Brazilian by the name of Tomas serenades you with Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson.

Day 4: Olympic Stadium, Castles, and the Beach
Part of the reason I had such a great time in Barcelona is because several of my fellow Bennies and Johnnies were there. On Saturday we met up with 3 of our fellow Johnnies making us a crew of 8. After a quick jaunt through the National Art Gallery (we just perused the free section), we headed over to the Olympic Stadium. A few of us got a little crazy on the grass doing cartwheels and front handsprings, but it was a great time. We then walked over to a castle in the same area. I wish I had more background information, but I am completely clueless. The views were spectacular from the castle as well. After these two places, it was early afternoon, but the lot of us were crabby and ready for the beach. It was quite warm that day, so we headed to our hostels to pick up lunch and met up again at the beach. The beach was absolutely packed, but I got a good tan and it was fun to watch the few crazy people who thought it would be a good idea to go swimming in the ocean in April. After a long afternoon relaxing, we all went to a dinner at another cafe on Las Ramblas and ended the day with a cocktail.
*Lesson #17: Put sunscreen all over your face, not just on your nose and cheeks. I had a good sunburn that slowly faded down my face.
*Lesson #64: Travelling with 8 people gets a little crazy.

Day 5: Gaudi
The last day we had in Barcelona, we decided to spend at the Park Guell. This park was designed by Gaudi. Since the day was once again hot and sunny, the park was swarming with people. However the architecture was well worth it. The girls did a bit of shopping there too. Mostly we were tired and hot from travelling, so we took the day pretty easy. After the park we split from the boys to do a little bit more shopping in Barcelona and grab some food before leaving for the train station. Abby and Liz came with us to the train station to play cards until we got on our train and left for Paris. Overall, Barcelona was a wonderful, relaxing time.
*Lesson #48: Always double-check military time. In fact, have multiple people check it.

I know this was a very brief (and rough) overview, but to go into detail would take more time and room then I have. Send me emails though, and I'll send you more detail about anything that sounds interesting. Paris blog to be coming shortly...