Day 1: We left midday Thursday to Bilbao so we can catch our flight to Barcelona at 6:20pm! Since buses to Bilbao are limited, we all had to leave our schools at lunch. We had to take two different buses to get to the airport and it took longer than expected. Fortunately, we still had time to get a good meal at the airport and fly through security. By the time we make it to our gate, we had a 10 minute delay, which is nothing and we all were just thrilled to be on our way to Barcelona. While in line, we realized that some other TCU Education majors were in Barcelona and hoped we could meet up with them once or twice. Once we stepped off the plane, our moods automatically changed and we were ready to find our hostel. We had to take a train to our area and we all waited patiently for the train to arrive. The train was packed, but we all sat together joking around, making American's look crazy probably. Due to this, we missed our stop by three and were in a sketchy part of town. We immediately got off and walked to the other side of the station to take the same train back to our stop. We walked about 6 blocks before we found our hostel, generator hostel, which was super hip and very packed. We got settled and were starving. As a group, we began looking for places and since I am most picky, I was asked to find a place and I wanted Italian. However, my GPS lead us in the wrong direction and neighborhood. As we kept walking, we found many places that were about to close as it was close to 11pm. Fortunately, we found a Mexican restaurant that was ready for us. We all had yummy meals and were stuffed. Satisfied, we made our way back to our hostel to get a good night sleep before our exciting adventures that awaited.
Day 2: We were out the door by 9:30 so we could hit all the places we needed to for the day. Camila found a great place of brunch. We sat for a good amount of time just excited for the day. After, we began our walk to Sagrada Familia, which is the biggest catedral I have ever seen. We had tickets to get the audio recordings plus access into the church and a tower. Unfortunately, the tower we picked was closed for the day and we couldn't get into the other tower. We spent close to two hours walking around and in awe of the beauty around us. As we were walking, Ave Maria began to play. I was overcome with emotions and began to cry. Words cannot describe the beauty and the way I was impacted. We all were going through the church at different speeds, but I met up with Victor to look outside once again and look at the shop. Of course, I found things to remember this experience. We met up with the rest and found that there is a small school that schooled the workers of the Sagrada Familia. The inside was small, but had the same beauty as the church. I took too many pictures, but there is no picture that fully captured the beauty of the stain-glass windows and how powerful the sun shined through it. With the others, I made another trip into the gift shop and found more, oops. 
We all had to make sure we had great group shots of us before we left and found a guy who showed us how to take better pictures. I loved the history behind this architecture and how there has been continuous construction. The construction should be complete in 2026; thus, our group decided we will all meet in Barcelona then with our future families!
After the church, we had time to go back to our hostel so we did not have to carry our bags all day. As we made our way back, we found a Barcelona Futbol museum. Since many of us wanted to look at the stores, we realized we needed to keep moving and even find lunch. Once we put down our things, we decided to make our way closer to Park Guell where we had to go in around 4:30. We took a cab and the driver had many connections with Camila, such as living in Columbia. He took us to a great place for lunch where we all ate too much. I had some great pasta with pesto, which is a favorite of mine. We took our time and then finally made our way to the park. It was stunning from the outside so I was super excited to see what we were about to see. We had to wait a few minutes and were attacked by some birds. Once we walked in, there were too many places to look and take pictures. I was in awe of the beauty of the work and the views of the full city. We all were taking pictures of each other and took many group shots every single level and or famous place. Once inside, I could tell why this place has brought travelers so much attention and would have loved to stay longer. Since we were in contact with the other TCU students, we decided to meet a few of them here around 5:30.
To our surprise, we ran into two more TCU students than expected. The group from Denmark came, Kathyrn and Courtney, and two from the Netherlands group, Fallon and Amanda. We all discussed what we have been learning in our placements and how different it is from America. It was great catching up with them and see how their travels were going. Turns out, all the other groups got Fridays off to travel over the weekends plus a full week to travel. They were interested in what we had to say and were jealous that we have spent so much time in this country. As a group, we took great pictures. After the park, we all looked through some gift shops and ended up going our separate ways. Team Spain had reservations at a Taco place for dinner that had amazing reviews.
Day 3: We all were still exhausted from the day before, but we had a lot of places to go and people to see. We were up and ready to go by 9:30 again and took a train closer to the gothic area of town. We were planning on heading to a few major spots around this part of town. We walked through the quiet town and passed the famous street that really did not seem special in Winter here. The brunch place Andrea found was incredible. We all got stuffed and were ready to explore. We made our way through beautiful streets and saw many shops that were filled with people. Clearly, today was a great day to be walking. As we walked through the streets, we were able to visit the church of Barcelona: Cathdral of Barcelona. Part of this church is outside and it is stunning. From one side, it does not seem like a large church, but once inside, it is huge and spectacular. I walked around and paid for a few candles to light up in honor of certain disciples. We continued to walk around and look at shops. Of course, we had to stop for more ice cream and treats.
Andrea's father's cousin owns a restaurant in another part of town. We took a large taxi to take us there. When we arrived, it was clear we were under-dressed. We were greeted by the aunt and she was very nice. She sat us down in our own room, that was eventually filled. She told Andrea that they were packed for the evening, but were glad we were able to stop by. Before we knew it, the waiter was just placing plate after plate on our table. They brought us three appetizers and by then we were already stuffed. Next, the waiter came into the room with a 2 foot wide pan filled with paella. All the shrimp were not cut open; thus, they all had the eyes and I might have been freaking out. However, the rice was delicious and I was obsessed. We got a plate full of four different kinds of desserts as well. In addition, our whole table went through 12 bottles of water! We all gave great thanks to Andrea's aunt and uncle, Pepe. Since we were full, we decided no matter how long the walk was, we were going to walk to the beach.
As we made our way to the beach, we passed a carnival and beautiful views. As per usual, we all had to take obligatory pictures for us to remember the beauty by the water. When we kept walking, there were thousands of people walking through the streets. They were holding blue signs and capes. We do no know what they said, but we heard that there was going to be a protest against Donald Trump. Spain wants to make it clear that they will take refugees if the United States won't. The crowds were overwhelming and we had to find a good place to walk through without being stuck. Finally, we made it to the beach where we all walked on the sand and watch the locals with their families. It seemed as though the whole town was enjoying this wonderful Saturday evening. We began to become too cold; thus, it was time to head back to the hostel.
We were ready to take a bus; however, the protest made it impossible for certain buses to get to our area. All of us walked 40 minutes to see the Parc de la Ciutadella. It was super dark outside; thus, we weren't able to see much, but we made our way through it. At one end, there is the Arc de Triomphe. It had so many people around it hanging out with their friends and family. Once again, we all were starving and ready to eat. If any of my friends know me well, they know I LOVE bagels. Well, here in Spain, there are no bagels. Fortunately, there was a Barcelona Bagel store by our hostel that was open at weird times. Since we were out late, we were able to go to this place and I was in heaven. I had two. Melissa and Victor both have fitbits and we all had walked over 27,000 steps this day. My body was sore when I went to bed.
Day 4: With our bodies tired, we all woke up later until we had to check out. Melissa and I have had friends that have studied abroad here before and told us we needed to go to a place that sells cake for breakfast. We found a popular place and had to go to the second shop due to our group size. The food was very interesting, but I only had some oreo cake that was incredible. I couldn't even finish the cake for breakfast. Our flight was at 4:30; thus, we had only a few hours to explore. Victor found the Picasso museum that was free for students. Once again, we all had to walk awhile to get to the area, but it was worth it. We saw a few of the creator of Park Guell's buildings on the way. In the museum, it had Picasso's works of arts from when he was only 12-14 and sketches throughout his schooling before he developed his signature style. We spent a good hour walking around and looking at his different phases in life. I would recommend this museum to anyone visiting Barcelona.Finding our way back to the airport was a struggle, which is normal for our Spain group. We had to walk 6 blocks to the nearest train station that had a direct train to the airport. Once in the station, we had 10 minutes until our train, but the same number train came before. A few of us got on, but a couple yelled at me to not go and I got the others off. Everyone around us had suitcases and were waiting anxiously for this train. Turns out, the train was just late and we all rushed the train. When we got off, our group began running so we could beat most of these people through security because the line was already huge. Apparently, this was the time to fly. Luckily, we got through security quite fast and we were able to get some food. By the time we got to our gate, it was clear that our flight was not going to leave on time. We did not board the plane until ten minutes after our initial flight time. Once on the plane, we were delayed for over an hour. Good thing my mother gave me the gift of being able to sleep anywhere and anytime. I was asleep until we landed in Bilbao.
We all had to run off the plane to attempt to grab the 7:15 bus; thus, 10 minutes to get there. We grabbed our bags and ended up finding the direct bus by the Grace of God. We all know that we have people looking out for us because we somehow always make the right buses. After over an hour bus ride, we all were tired and hungry. Melissa, Victor, and I ended up going to dinner for about 2 hours. It was a great end to the weekend!
We miss you, Barcelona!
Until next post,
Jillian
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