Barcelona Bliss!

This past weekend I made my first solo trip abroad to visit all my Cal Poly friends in Barcelona, Spain! This trip couldn't have come at a more perfect time because I definitely needed a little time with my friends from SLO!  

On Thursday night, I took a flight from Florence to Barcelona!  Then Friday, the exploring began!  One of the first places, all the Barcelona girls (Kelly, Bianca, Ashley, & Mary) took me was to an amazing sandwich place called Bo De B's!  It reminded me of a better version of Chipotle.  Everything was so fresh and delicious.  They literally grill the meat right in front of you and add all the freshest vegetables to your sandwich!  I also tried Bravas (yummy potato bites) for the first time and I was in heaven! 

Then we went to this amazing indoor market.  It definitely reminded me a little of the Mercato Centrale in Florence, but an even better version!  There was tons of fruit, chocolate, fish, vegetables, meat and sweet treats!  My favorite part of the market was the amazing juices.  Only one euro for basically any fruit combination you could possibly dream of!  I got the strawberry banana and it was delicious!

I'm already craving another one of these!  They were so fresh and tasty! 

After going to the market, Kelly and I headed to the famous Parc Guell in Barcelona! This was such a beautiful place and provided us with the most incredible view of the city! Everything was so green and lush!

So excited to be reunited together!  Once Kelly and I are done with our semester abroad, we will be living together in our cute apartment in SLO!  This will be put up somewhere in our apartment for sure!

After Parc Guell, we headed back to Kelly's apartment, but stopped at the Arc de Trimof!  I didn't even know Spain had one until I saw it on one of the metro stops!  It was definitely not as big as the one in Paris, but still was cool to see.

For my next day in Spain, Kelly, Ashley, & I went to visit La Sagrada Familia!  This was by far the most beautiful place in Barcelona!  My jaw literally dropped.  I was so amazed at how big and detailed it was.  Gaudi is an absolute genius in designing it!

Inside was just as gorgeous as the outside.  It was so white, clean, and open.  The glass windows were spectacular as well!  This place literally took my breath away.

Kelly, Ash, and I decided to climb to the top of La Sagrada Familia!  It was so beautiful and such a great experience to be up so high looking down on the city!

Later that day, I was lucky enough to go with everyone to the Barcelona soccer game!  I never imagined I would get to that, so it was definitely one of the highlights of my trip!  Kelly was nice enough to reserve me a ticket through her school, so I was able to go to the game and be with all my friends!  I can't even explain the energy that was in the stadium.  Spain loves its soccer team and the fans sure know how to roar!  There were thousands and thousands of people out there to support the team, which was so amazing!

Luckily our seats were pretty good!  It was so much fun to watch the Barcelona team play and WIN the game! Woohoo!

Kelly & Me cheering in the stands!

 All of the girls & Grant! Go Barca!

Me, Bianca, & Kelly!

The soccer game was such a blast and definitely an added bonus to my amazing Barcelona trip!  I had so much fun visiting this incredible city.  Besides the crazy and insane nightlife, Barcelona has so much to offer! There is so much history and beauty within the city.  Barcelona is definitely much bigger than I initially anticipated and I'm thankful I had my friends to show me around.  I'm so happy I was able to see so much and spend time with all my SLO friends.  At times, I miss Cal Poly and all my friends there, so it was nice feeling like I had a little piece of home with me. This was definitely a weekend I will never forget!