Travel much?

Hi again! So by now I have gotten to check out more beautiful parts of Spain, and every place I have visited has made me love this country more and MORE. There is so much to see in every city, and I won't get to all the places here that I wish I could see, but I'm definitely seeing as much as I can in España. So the latest trips I have taken have been to Barcelona (February 25-27) and then Malaga and Sevilla (March 5-8). I will have to talk about Malaga and Sevilla in my next blog. What lovely places! When I went to Barcelona, there was a group of 8 of us. Get ready to hear about a Spanish Excursion by Jan Byrd. ARE YOU READY???

Okay, so when I went to Barcelona, I really had no idea what I wanted to see there, but thankfully one of the girls in my group was COMPLETELY on top of things and she had totally mapped out two days of things to see in Barcelona. Talk about being prepared! She was such a rock star and I told her so. :-) She very much impressed me as soon as we were on the bus because she was explaining all that we were going to visit. We traveled by bus from Oviedo to the airport in Asturias which is only about an hour away and then flew on a PLANE to Barcelona. I was gushing with excitement because I hadn't been on a plane since we first got to Spain.We traveled in two different groups and left about 4 hours apart. I arrived to Barcelona after my plane ride with three other girls around 5:30pm. The flight was only about an hour and a half...and I made sure to get some zzzz's during that time. The airport was HUGE compared to the one in Asturias and we already knew that Barcelona was going to be a big deal. So after finding our way to the metro and choosing our seats on the bus, a man who was from Spain started talking to us in English because we were speaking in English with one another. Well he helped to verify where we needed to get off the bus, so that was really kind of him. Then, the girl I was sitting next to was actually from somewhere in Colorado, but I didn't know that at first and assumed she was a Spaniard. So when she started talking in English, I was caught by surprise. She is teaching English somewhere in Spain...possibly in Galicia, and she told us that we would LOVE Barcelona. I was so excited!!

Our evening in Barcelona on Friday consisted of us walking around the city for a little while in order to find our hostel which ended up being one of my favorite hostels so far!!

They have continued to get better and better, but I'm sure I will experience a bad hostel at some point...but for now, I'm enjoying the fact that every place I have stayed has been clean and cute in some way. So after we found our hostel, if any of you have seen the Lizzie McGuire Movie, I felt like we were staying in a hotel like she does in the movie because we rode in a super old fashioned-European lift. :-) It was sooooo fun and neat! One of the simple joys in life. I absolutely love my opportunities to take pictures of elevators in Spain.

Okay, so then we went to find a church where a concert was being put on. Some girls that went to Paris the week before had met a guy on the plane on their return trip and he told them that since we were going to be in Barcelona the following weekend, we should see if we could find the church where the concert would be. When we found the church, we were so excited. Now when searching for anything in a big city (especially in Spain) it is always rewarding to reach your end destination. So we made it just in the nick of time! We went in, sat down, and wondered what the concert would consist of. The guy, Francisco, played about 5 different songs on his acoustic guitar, and then after he was done, there was a group of junior high students that finished the rest of the concert. There were SEVERAL acoustic guitarists, 3 flute players, and possibly other instruments. The group was about 20 students I would guess. Even though they weren't professionals, it was lovely to listen to music in BARCELONA my first night in the city. I had so much fun and one again, rejoiced at the simple joy of attending a concert in a church...in Spain.

After our musical entertainment, the four of us girls waited to talk to Francisco and he was excited to see that we made it. He invited us to go out with him and some of his friends to watch a Colombian documentary about the indigenous people there because he is from Colombia. How in the world could we get so lucky?? I thought, "How amazing that we get to watch a documentary in Barcelona for FREE?" We wouldn't have known about it otherwise!! So after having that opportunity to practice listening to Spanish, we decided to head out as a big group and go chill in some cafe bar. I got to talking with one of the girls and she was so great. Three of us girls got 2 muffins to share between the three of us. Another girl and myself got a delicious chocolate muffin, and as the waiter walked away, he said to us in Spanish that we might want to work off the calories the next day!! I couldn't believe he made that joke, but I thought it was funny nevertheless because joking in Spanish is cool to experience.

To conclude our night out, we headed back to the hostel and met up with the other half of our group. They were already asleep, and so we got into our beds quietly in order to get a good nights sleep before Day 1 of sightseeing. Well, as I was reaching down from my top bunk to place my alarm clock on the futon perpendicular to me, I felt myself and my MATTRESS sliding off the top and all I could do was let myself fall off!! Thankfully it wasn't very high up at all, and it was a slow fall. It was really funny because I had no way of stopping myself from falling and after I did, all I could do was let myself stay in my funky position for a few moments. My bottom bunk mate laughed instantly (while most people were asleep so I had to shush her) and then one of the other girls who had been with us earlier in the night came to my rescue and helped me up from the floor. I didn't get hurt at all! The fall was in slow motion and after I explained that all I had been trying to do was put my alarm clock on the futon (through my hushed laughter) we all got into our beds and began counting sheep.

Day 1 consisted of finding a market so we could buy something to munch on for breakfast and lunch. First we walked down Las Ramblas, which is one of the most well-known streets in Barcelona where venders come to sell their merchandise. I saw things like flowers, postcards and memorabilia of Barcelona and even books. There was a lot to look at, but it was a nice place to walk too. In Spain, there also tend to be lots of people who are constantly asking for money, and one creative way of doing this is by dressing up as a statue and holding a position in order that people will leave money. Also, if you take a picture of them, it is common courtesy that one would leave them something in the form of income because this almost seems to be their occupation. Sometimes people take their picture and don't leave the people anything though. People take time to paint their faces and wear some creative costume. I actually got a picture way back in the beginning of the semester with a guy in Oviedo who was dressed up like Edward Scissorhands.

He was kind of scary looking, but when he walked over to myself and some other friends, he talked to us in English, and since I wasn't expecting that, he then said to me with a smile, "you speak English don't you?" I laughed and said, "Ahh si si." So funny!! He is one of the only people I have actually given money too because he was really nice and I was feeling generous since he let me take a picture with him. :-)

Back to Barcelona. We went to THE cathedral and I really enjoyed that. (There is normally one well-known cathedral in whatever Spanish city we visit.) There was an inner garden and there were even geese walking around in that area. One of the girls was like, "Can I pet it?" and as she reached her hand through the iron fence I exclaimed, "No you can't pet it!!" I was thinking to myself, "don't you realize that those things bite people?" We convinced her that it wasn't the best choice.

Later we visited two famous buildings that were designed by the artist, Antonio Gaudi. He is a very creative artist and I loved EVERYTHING that we saw that was his work. I was only able to take pictures of one of the buildings though because my camera battery had died. This was the best building though! And to be honest, I don't really remember what the other building looks like.

We went to a park known as Park Guell that was also designed by him, and it provides a beautiful view of the city the whole way up to it. You have to hike up some pretty steep hills in the city, and check this out...there were a few escalators outdoors because the road was soooooooooo steep.

Lots of pictures were taken at this park because there were several great spots to look at and admire.

My favorite place that we visited was a church known as La Sagrada Familia. It is also another work of Gaudi that is ongoing and that is absolutely worth your money to go inside and for a visit. Talk about BREATHTAKINGLY beautiful. I was so stunned as soon as I walked inside and felt like I was in love with this creation that God gave someone. The line of people was so long in order to enter into the Cathedral, but after we completed our visit there, I was thinking, "that was worth every single euro." For students it was only about 10.50 euros. So it might seem like a lot to just see a church, but this really was a work of art (DUH!!) and gorgeous!!

Later that night we walked for probably about 40 minutes in order to watch a water and light show that happens Thursday-Sunday nights once an hour on the half hour mark. Once again...BEAUTIFUL!! It is a free outdoor show that people can enjoy as music plays. The water is sprayed in different ways throughout the 15 minutes that it goes on and then the colors change with it as well. I couldn't help but thank God for the moment He was allowing me to enjoy in Barcelona that night with other friends from UNI. It was such a sweet experience. :-) We took some more pictures afterward of other fountains and then we just sat and talked for a little bit. Then we knew it was time to go and get some food, so we began our trek back toward the direction we had come from and went to a Donor Kebab place. I like donor kebabs A LOT and hopefully have mentioned them in another blog before this one.

Then when 5 of the 8 of our group went out for the night to hang out, I hung back with two other girls and just had time to relax and spend time NOT walking for the rest of the night. It was fun to just spend time praying and reading God's word and then spending time just talking for a little while. My bed was nice to enjoy for a few hours before we started Day 2 of sight seeing before leaving the city to go home. I went back to Park Guell with two girls because they liked it so much and wanted to see it again and buy some jewelry there. Also, my camera had died the day before, so I had to charge it for a few hours during the night and then wanted to take pictures of the park on my own camera. It was fun to have my camera to take pictures! (My pictures above are from the second time that we went to the park. It was a good thing I thought to bring my camera charger!!)

Finally, after shopping a little bit more on Las Ramblas, we left and made our way to the metro so as to get a ride to the airport. My experience in Barcelona was so much fun and the people I spent the weekend with were such a great bunch. We had a blast together, and then I got to look forward to seeing my host family at the airport in Asturias when our plane landed. It was so exciting to see Albi and to greet her with dos besitos (two kisses) and then tell her, and Miguel, and David about my weekend. It was nice to it share with them and to experience what it is like to ride in a car on the interstate for about an hour.

Here is a picture of Barcelona the night we headed back home on the plane!

Lots of great memories from my time in Barcelona! Yay for travel!!

Hasta luego...