My trip to Spain!

Park Guell

Most of the students at the University of Manchester had this week off for what they call 'Reading Week.' During this week, some of the students go home for the week, some students still have lectures, some spend the week catching up on missed work, and others go on holiday. My friend Helen, who is also a study abroad student, and I opted for the last option and decided to explore Barcelona. We left cold and cloudy Manchester on Sunday afternoon and had a two hour flight to the Barcelona airport where it was warmer, and there were palm trees outside! We got on the train to Sants Estacio in downtown Barcelona and from there we got on the metro to our hostel. We shared a room with two other people who were from Minnesota. The next day and Tuesday we toured the city of Barcelona on a hop on/hop off bus.
Sagrada Familia

My favorite sites were the Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, and Casa Batllo-all of which are works of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. Casa Batllo is a house that Gaudi designed for a family in Barcelona. We liked it because it was really colorful and had cool, curvy designs for windows, staircases, doors, etc. On the outside, there were beautiful mosaic tiles on the front facade, back garden and roof. When we visited Park Guell, I felt like I was in Candy Land! It had swirly roof tops and amazing tile work. Also, when we walked to the top of the park, we could see the entire city and the Mediterranean Sea. The Sagrada Familia was breathtaking as well. It was Gaudi's dream and he never finished it; in fact, it's still under construction right now. The inside of the church is meant to look like a forest and the tall ceilings, columns and windows add to that effect. Much of Gaudi's work was inspired by nature.

Along with seeing Gaudi's famous works, we got to tour most of the city of Barcelona. We took a 'teleferic' (which means cable car in Spanish)up to a cool castle right along the Sea. We saw the Barcelona football club stadium and the house where the Royal Spanish family used to live. It was fun to try traditional Spanish food as well, like paella, sangria, and tapas. The hostel took us to a fun bar and club in Barcelona and we walked along Las Ramblas a few times, where they have lots of shops and street performers. All in all, I really enjoyed Barcelona and hope to go back again one day. It was a great first European trip and I'm excited to do more travelling in the future!!!