My Bucket List...

I have recently learnt something that anyone who travels to Barcelona will be able to tell you: there is simply too much to do. I write this with just three days left in this wonderful city and time just seems to have escaped me! 

I've been so so lazy with the blog recently but am happy knowing that it's because I've been so so busy enjoying my last few weeks here. I wrote a bucket list a while ago and have actually been quite successful in ticking things off it - mainly because most of them were food-related, but ho hum, my stomach rules my life. 

My first stop was another Gaudí creation: La Pedrera. It was an apartment block that was designed for an aristocratic couple and is a stand-out building on Passeig de Gracia - very distinctly Gaudí. It was fascinating to wander around admiring the wacky design as well as learning about the engineering/architecture-y aspect of it from Daria's ever so knowledgeable sister.

The Parc del Laberint d'Horta was our next stop. The grounds of a former Catalan family's house, it consists of winding paths and various gardens with a sweet little maze in the middle of it. It was so nice to be amongst lots of greenery, as it's quite rare in the city.

I thought it looked like a really shocked house,
so I made Daria look really shocked too...

I then had my final visitor, my wonderful (honorary) big sis, Sarah, who has recently SMASHED her degree with an incredible grade so we had lots to celebrate.

We celebrated with food...

...and cocktails of course.

Oh hello breakfast.

Freshly-squeezed orange juice, so thick that the straw stood up on it's own.
And hello, who's that looker in the background?

One weekend, Daria and I travelled up the coast a little so that we could see what Catalunya was hiding outside of the city. We found a charming little town called Sant Pol de Mar.

And came home to sample the delights of Escriba, a renowned bakery on La Rambla.

I sometimes think BCN should be known as "Barcelona: city of wandering around and finding random stuff going on". It almost seems like they're allergic to schedules and advertising because we never know what's happening in the city but always manage to find something! Free performances in the Palau de la Música for instance...

Or traditional Catalan dancing...

What a babe. Having the time of his life.

Enraptured.

We also visited the Chocolate Museum, which took us a grand total of around 10 minutes to walk around. But hey, the ticket was chocolate, I ain't complaining.

Crazy happy? Or driven crazy by the tormenting birds?

I'm making the most of the beach for my last few days here. If there's one thing I've got to bring back from this year, it's a damn good tan.

It really is difficult to comprehend that my year abroad is coming to a close. I can't believe how quickly the year has gone, how much I've done and seen. I am obscenely excited to come home and see Ma and Pa, all my friends and enjoy the great British summer but still, it'll be such a wrench to leave Barca; it is just such a fascinating city that I could never, ever tire of.

Barcelona, te voy a echar de menos. Inglaterra, ya vengo.

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My High-Class Living (or not so much)...

The joy of a year abroad is it makes everything a little more accessible, it makes you a lot more spontaneous, and it brings about opportunities you don't normally have. Consequently, I've been lucky enough to go to places, see sights and do things I wouldn't necessarily have had the chance to do at home. In the past month, I've been to see The XX in an outdoor Spanish museum, followed by an impromptu dinner with three soldiers, showed the beautiful Em around this beautiful city including an educated visit to the Miró museum AND popped over to Paris to see my lovely Beth!

This concludes my high-class living. The 'not so much' part is the reason I haven't posted for so long. I had a run in with my laptop charger and spent a few days sin laptop. I hate how tech-dependent I am, but seriously, try a few days without internet. It's hard. Em and I also spent a day without electricity here which was pretty interesting. And this weekend I attempted to cook blondies (recipe by the fantastic blogger Lucy Burton) in the pre-caveman oven in my flat and failed horribly. Oh well, cake goo still tastes good.

Anywho, back to the good parts. Wow oh wow. If you haven't seen The XX live, even if you don't know them that well, for the love of Spain go and see them. This was the second time I was lucky enough to experience them and it was just chillingly good. As in, I still get goosebumps when I hear their music now. Minus a small disagreement between myself and a Spanish couple who believed it wasn't appropriate to cheer at the END of a song to show your appreciation. (¡¿QUE?!), the concert was so much fun that the night could have happily ended there. 

Joy.

However, it didn't. Somehow we found ourselves sitting outside a little tapas bar, tankards full of beer, with three American soldiers! Yes, this is my life. I really haven't laughed so much in one night; they were a right giggle and really showed the good stereotypes of Americans - they were AWESOME. My high opinion of them was further enhanced when we discovered one of them had casually taken care of the bill, no questions asked. I need to find me an American man if they're all like these boys were.

Cut to a few weeks later and my fabulous uni chum Em came out to spend six whole days here which was just glorious. It's so nice to not be in a rush showing someone around the city. 

We tried to be cultural and visited the Modern Art Museum as well as the Miró museum. In the latter we ended up using the phrase 'I could have done that' more times than Miró probably would have liked. That and pointing out boobs in every painting. It's safe to say we're not art connoisseurs. We were far better food critics and visited a few of my favourite spots to test the cuisine, over and over again.

From one wonderful friend to another, I said goodbye to Em one day and was hopping on a plane to Charles de Gaulle the next! The jet set lifestyle is becoming ever so comfortable. I had a whirlwind stay in Paris with just two nights there but it was still such a perfect weekend. We ate more than our body weight and then some of delicious French food. In my previous trips to Paris I've managed to tick off the main sights, so we were able to do a bit more wandering around and just soaking up the culture. And when I say soaking up the culture I mean serving it up on a plate and eating it. Boy was it good.

Brunch o'clock.

150 years of sheer, heavenly joy.

And the obligatory whatshisface tower photo.

And in other news:

My street seems to get smellier and more vermin-filled every day; I'm not sure it passes as 'authentic' and 'quirky' anymore.

I recently discovered that some of Vicky Cristina Barcelona was filmed near my flat, although I need to see the film to confirm. The reason I know this is that in the local fruit & veg shop there is a picture of the young, frantic but always smiling girl who works there with...Woody Allen. I almost dropped my spuds when I saw it.

Lastly, a huge, HUGE congratulations to all of my amigos who have finished uni for good! It absolutely terrifies me to think you are all grown-ups now, but I'm sure it terrifies you more so we'll leave it at that.

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My Extra Little Treat For You...

My boss found an article about living abroad and this was just a nice little snippet of it:

Even just going to the grocery store — when in an exciting new place, when all by yourself, when in a new language — is a thrilling activity. And having to start from zero and rebuild everything, having to re-learn how to live and carry out every day activities like a child, fundamentally alters you. Yes, the country and its people will have their own effect on who you are and what you think, but few things are more profound than just starting over with the basics and relying on yourself to build a life again. I have yet to meet a person who I didn’t find calmed by the experience. There is a certain amount of comfort and confidence that you gain with yourself when you go to this new place and start all over again, and a knowledge that — come what may in the rest of your life — you were capable of taking that leap and landing softly at least once.

To live in a new place is a beautiful, thrilling thing, and it can show you that you can be whoever you want — on your own terms. It can give you the gift of freedom, of new beginnings, of curiosity and excitement. 

Just thought it could make nice reading for those of us abroad. 

And for those of you at home, you can have a chuckle at my silly, silly friends.

Click here for the article.

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My Three Amigos(as)...

Having friends is nice. Having friends who visit you at uni is really nice. Having friends who tear themselves away from the joys of revision and fly out to Barcelona to see you is BLOODY NICE.

Here they are REALLY TINY.

 I won't bore you with a "we went here and we did this" post as they can become tiresome; but I can say, we went places and we did fun things. And it was just glorious.

 

We ate some good food...

...including burgers that weighed the same as a baby elephant.

And the Spanish lifestyle was a bit tiring for some...

I really had to pinch myself multiple times whilst they were out here - my three crackers Eddy, Aimée and Millie - as it did just seem too good to be true. If only life could forever be four pals in a city as fab as Barcelona. 

Going on a year abroad has been a big old rollercoaster of emotions, events, places and people, and so essentially, the only thing that stays constant are your friends and family back home. As horrible as it is that I've now fallen into the cliché trap, I have to say, it really does make you appreciate just how lucky you are to have great people in your life.

And what's even better is being able to show off how wonderful your new adopted home is. It makes something twice as good when you share it, does it not?

Better still, being able to revert to my primal state of weirdness was just bliss. After all, we really bring it out of each other...

Sorry girls, had to be done.

So, short though this post may be, it is really just to say a big ol' gracias to the gals for coming out to visit and a reminder to all those currently year-abroading that we are pretty damn lucky.

Thanks Erasmus.

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