But It's 2 AM...Time to Go RAGE! Barcelona (Week 11: Nov. 10 - Nov. 16)

Nov. 11/12

Nothing too exciting happened this week until Wednesday when we had a home rugby match versus Sligo IT. Of course, in true Irish rugby fashion, it was a wet and muddy affair. While it did not start to downpour until the very end of the game, it was still a slip 'n slide of a pitch.

But all of the mud and rain was worth it because we won! I think the final score was somewhere around 24-0, a solid victory. After showering up and looking like a real person, I joined the team at Monroe's for a little celebration, complete with drinks and pizza. Well that celebration turned into a long (but fun) party complete with teaching American drinking games, pictures and great craic.

Well, like all good things must come to an end (ooh, did I really just use that cliché?), I had to leave the pub early (mind you, it was about 11 p.m. at this time), in order do get my stuff to go to Barcelona for the weekend! Weeee! But of course, I hit probably the biggest snag in all of my travels thus far.

When I got back to my flat, I had enough time to take a little nap before my 1:30 a.m. bus to the Dublin Airport. I had set my alarm for 12:45, NBD. Well...I didn't wake up in time and woke up in a panic at 3:45 a.m. instead. I rushed over to the bus station, but the next bus to the airport wasn't running until 5:00 a.m....(why have a bus at 1:30 a.m. but not at 4 a.m.?!) There would be no way in Hell that I could make it to the airport in time for my 6:40 a.m. flight to Barcelona...ugh. THE BIGGEST FAIL OF ALL TIME! So I came home, devastated and dejected (but the silver lining: I could sleep in a bed instead of in a bus seat...).

I had to buy another ticket to Barcelona (insert: Frustrating Irish Moment ofthe Day!), but luckily the return flight didn't get cancelled too. Woot woot! So, I just hung out and slept to prepare for my second attempt at going to Barcelona.

Nov. 13

Looks like Friday the 13th wasn't so scary for me! I was successful this time, and I even ran into some friends from NUI-G at the airport who were going to Paris. Landed in Barca at about 10 a.m. and took the train to the train station where I met up with Courtney! So excited to see her, especially since I hadn't seen her since Oktoberfest. We went to her apartment so I could drop off my stuff and then we headed into the city centre, most notably taking a route down Las Ramblas, the famous strip in Barcelona where there are tons of shops, café, and of course, street performers. After doing some shopping, Liz and Sloane joined us for lunch at one of the cafés, where we were informed that we had to order the patatas bravas, apparently a traditional dish in Barcelona. They were little potatoes served with two delicious sauces, definitely glad we got them!

After lunch, we walked around a little bit more and then met up with two Richmond boys who happened to be Barcelona in for the night. We then made our way up to Parc Guell for the sunset over the city. Parc Guell was amazing! So many mosaics, fountains and crazy architecture. Barcelona really celebrate Gaudi's work throughout the whole city. Though it wasn't as spectacular of a sunset as it could have been since it was a bit hazy out, it was still really cool to see the whole city from high above.

We invited the boys over for dinner (which wasn't going to be served until about 9:30 p.m., oh Spain), so we went back home to prepare for dinner and going out. Liz made a delicious penne a la vodka, and we also had salad and Sangria (which tasted like fruit juice...mmm). Liz and Courtney's other apartment mate, Fariz, had his friends from Belgium visiting this weekend too, so we all took part in learning some Belgian drinking games before we headed out to some bars. The first bar we went to was Dow Jones, a quirky bar where the drink prices are displayed on monitors like on Wall Street. Periodically, there will be a "stock market crash" and drink prices will fall drastically, which encourages people to order during this time. And what a good deal!

After Dow Jones (we left before another crash), we went on to the main event of the night: CHUPITOS! I think "chupito" means shot in Spanish? Regardless, we went to a chupitos bar where there were literally HUNDREDS of different concoctions. And all for 2 Euro? MONEY MAKER! We took a bunch of different chupitos, and they were delicious, fiery and cheap (probably the best part). The fiery shots were a little intimidating at first, but luckily no burned lips or singed eyebrows! After we got tired of trying to figure out which chupito to try next, we went back home (around 3:30 a.m....they stay out really late in Barcelona) to rest up for a big day of touring and shopping.

Nov. 14

Woke up a LOT later than I am used to (like around 1 p.m.!), but I guess that's the Spanish lifestyle. The four of us (Sloane, Courtney, Liz and I) got ready and headed out down Las Ramblas to check out the street performers, artisan booths and other shops. I may or may not have gotten some birthday prezzies from the cool jewelry makers on Las Ramblas...I'll let you be the judge.

Then, in true American student abroad fashion, we were hungry for something cheap and familiar. Solution? SUBWAY! Ordering it in Spanglish was a bit troublesome, but in the end, GREAT SUCCESS! After scarfing (ha, perhaps an unintentional pun, since the typical American girl abroad is always sporting a scarf) down some delicious sweet onion chicken teriyaki, we headed on down to the Port and did a bit more sightseeing. We also got delicious waffles (who knew Spain did waffles?) as a lil snack.

We trekked back towards Liz and Courtney's apartment, while making a few more stops into different shops. We also happened to do a bit of cathedral hunting, coincidentally. Nothing like my typical go-to "oh snap a pic of dis cathedral, yo" picture to add to my Facebook albums. But they really are quite impressive, definitely nothing like them back in the States.

Since we clearly couldn't eat dinner anywhere near a "normal" time, what better way to pass the time than go to the fountain show at Montjuic? It was so cool to see. Instant fun? Have classical music blasting, epic light show AND JUST ADD WATER! After a mini photo-shoot, we headed back to prepare for a night out.

We had decided last night on the way to Dow Jones and/or chupitos that we were craving some Mexican like something fierce, so for dinner we had some fajitas. MMM. We then continued to get ready to try out a new club in Barcelona. Oh adventure! Liz and Courtney's friends from Bentley met up with us and then we were on our way. We raged and fist-pumped to Europe's greatest jamz (aka techno and David Guetta...my new love) at Ribelino's until about 5 a.m....wow, what a late night! It was definitely a great night to celebrate my 21st birthday, round 2. I'm still waiting for Round 3 when I get back home, so I can really appreciate being 21, ha ha. Went to bed around 6 a.m. and said bye to Sloane (though I'm seeing her for Thanksgiving in Ireland!), since she had an unfortunately early train out of Barcelona for Paris.

Nov. 15

Since Liz and Courtney had to do work (what's that?) since they were having even MORE visitors the following week, Courtney wrote me EXCELLENT directions to get to some places I had on my list. Their apartment is in a great location, virtually close to everything touristy. SCORE. I walked maybe five blocks to La Sagrada Familia, probably the mother of all cathedrals (aside from the Notre Dame). Yet the great thing about La Sagrada Familia is that it's been under construction since it's inception...back in 1882 by Gaudi (renowned Catalan architect of many of Barcelona's touristy hot-spots, like Parc Guell). It is not scheduled for completion until at least 2026! Luckily though, it's still b-e-a-utiful despite the scaffolding. Fortunately, parts are now open to the public for touring (complete with self-guided audio tours...WIN!), so that's one thing I did by myself.

The architecture was breathtaking. Describing it in words wouldn't do it justice. Even the pictures are a poor representation of seeing it up close and personal. Eh, you can't have it all I guess. After spending an ample amount of time at La Sagrada Familia, I whipped out the MetroCard, map and directions and headed over to the Picasso museum. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed in the museum, but it was a really cool museum! It was a little difficult to find because it blended in so well with the surrounding buildings. There was a special exhibit on his Japanese-influenced pieces, so that was interesting. After my typical dose of art history on a trip throughout Europe, I did a bit of postcard shopping and headed back to Liz and Courtney's.

One of Liz and Courtney's apartment mates, Telio, had his birthday this weekend and his parents were visiting from Toulouse, France. They cooked up a DELICIOUS meal for all of us: salad, pasta, meat and an interesting sauce. And for dessert, we had two different kinds of ice cream. It was nice to get a home cooked meal. Being abroad has been great and all, but I cannot wait until I don't have to cook/fend for myself on a regular basis.

After a delicious (and filling!) meal, it was off to bed since I had to make sure to catch my flight back home to Dublin en route to Galway! I had a great time in Barcelona! What a fabulous way to spend a weekend, you know, casually gallivanting about in Spain. The usual. But of course, like it happens to so many of us, there was one small casualty on the flight back. Don't worry, not like a fatality or anything (though I was a little devastated), I somehow lost my favorite sunglasses. My Ray-Ban wayfarers, which are normally around my neck on my Croakies, somehow fell out of my bag when I was going through security or something. Of course, I didn't notice they were gone until the sun was obnoxiously in my eyes on the bus ride home to Galway. FAIL. That's another birthday present that I'm willing to buy for myself...

I'm almost caught up! I'll catch up soon, I SWEAR! I'm only about 1 week behind...NBD.