Barcelona!

Last weekend I went to Barcelona!! It was WONDERFUL. The objective was to visit my Oxy roommate, Margaret, who is studying abroad in Granada. Since it's way cheaper for me to fly to Barcelona than Granada, and since it's a great city that she hadn't seen yet, we decided to meet up there. We stayed with my aunt and cousin. It was so wonderful to see them, too, and they were so generous and helpful.

Friday

I arrived in the airport and leapt from the arrivals gate into Margaret's arms. There were at least a couple tears. We found my fam and settled into their apartment. Raissa (my cousin) took us to a buffet. It was mostly Asian food (Chinese/Japanese) which was really exciting for me considering the dearth and priciness of such cuisine in Istanbul. They also had mint ice cream, which also seems to be absent in Turkey, and happens to be my favorite flavor ;) That night we just took it easy, caught up a lot while cuddling in a cozy bed :DDD

Saturday

We did a lot of walking around the city, went to the market selling all kinds of turron and snacks as well as every other kind of food you could be looking for. We went to the Picasso Museum as well. It was really nice. We also ate chocolate con churros which is AMAZING. And at night I got a bottle of Spanish horchata and was SO HAPPY. Barcelona is really beautiful and I feel like I got to appreciate it a lot more this time I visited. It helped that Margaret was so appreciative of it. Nevertheless, I have been there many times and really the greatest part about touring it was spending real quality time with my beloved roomie. At night we watched Harry Potter! It was great.

Sunday

Today was Gaudi day. We saw some his most important works, including, of course, La Sagrada Familia (the cathedral). I remember going there when I was really little and being blown away by its beauty, monumentality, and intricacy. I feel especially connected to it consequently, and its been really meaningful to me to return to it throughout the years and see how it changes as they continue construction. By now the interior is finished and it was incredible inside. The stained glass windows were in brilliant, gorgeous colors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_familia

After here we went to Parque Guell. It was also amazing, but unfortunately it was already getting dark so we didn't spend much time here. When we got home, considerably tuckered out, we watched Miss Potter (since aunt Marta had it) with some wine. At the Picasso Museum we had coincidentally met up with a girl who was on Margaret's program in Granada and happened to be at the exact same place at the exact same time as us in Barcelona. She told us she was going to be going out with some people she'd met at her hostel that night and invited us. We met them at an Irish pub. It was huge and over-stuffed with foreign students. It was also karaoke night. We didn't spend much time here before heading out to a club. It was really fun there. The group from Margaret's friend's hostel was great. There were a few Australians, a Dutch guy, an Irish girl, and a few others. It was loads of fun dancing with all of them. By the time we got in bed it was about 5:30 am.

Monday

Monday we took a walk with Raissa down to the water. Since I had to leave that afternoon we came back soon and ate lunch all together. Even Marta's mom made it to lunch which was really nice. And lunch was AMAZING. It was so nice to have home-cooked meals. I kinda had to rush off in the end. It was so hard to leave Margaret! :((( But I'm so glad I got the chance to see her for a bit.

Since then it's just been class and going out a bit. We went to Ortakoy for dinner one night and last night we went to a techno concert. Tonight there's a dubstep event in the city but I'm not sure if we'll go because everyone's pretty tired andddd.......IT'S SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow!!!! That's so crazy to me. I've been to the snow before and I've even been caught in snow storms but to have it be snowing in my living space seems like a whole different story and something I've never experienced. It's so beautiful!!