Dear Mom,

Here are photos, as promised!

Priscilla and me-- we've graduated!  Just kidding.  Just finished our 10-day course, and they gave us "diplomas."  With a red ribbon and everything!

Now, for Barcelona!

 (Our hostel-- I slept on the top bunk, Priscilla slept on the bottom.  The hostel was huge-- 430 beds!-- and very clean.)

Beautiful alleyways.

 Barcelona is filled with Catalonians, who are just as proud as the Basque.  They speak their own language, Catalan, and the flag you see in the picture above is the flag representing those who want their own country, separate from Spain.  The Basque have their own version of a flag that represents the separatists who want their own country as well.

I swear, the entire country does not want to be part of Spain.  From what I've heard, the only people who want to remain part of Spain are those in Madrid . . .  Haha.  There's a region where a fourth language is spoken, too: Galician.  Kind of crazy, no?

Speaking of which-- to my brothers:  remember Asterix and Obelix?  I think that the Gauls = the Basque.  Possibly, no?

 Thought of Jeff when I saw this.  :D

 La Rambla is the street for tourists.  Shopping, food, shows, peddlers, etc.  Everything is on this street.  Unfortunately, that includes pick pockets and thieves and thugs.  Priscilla and I were very careful, though, and we had no problems.  In fact, we had a ton of fun.

 Jon, it's you!  But... cuter!

St. Josep Mercat:

A huge street market, we were lucky to catch the tail end of this place on Friday.  There was a fiesta (read: holiday) that weekend, so it was closed on Saturday and Sunday.  Boo!

The Spanish like their pork, by the way.  Sorry, Jeffkun.  Check it out:

And they also LOVE their sweets.  CHOCOLATE, MAN.  Boys, this would be your heaven.  They had other candies, too, but there is a VERY high amount of chocolate.  Like below:

 (ok, so this one is not chocolate-- it's marzipan).

And, of course, seafood!  My friend, Guio, was super excited to see this one.  She says it's delicious.  I have absolutely no idea what it is:

 Check out that tuna head.  And that knife.  Woh.

It made me really want some sashimi.  YUMMMMM...

There were generally a very large number of people.

And more candy.  This is a delicious piece of torron (aka, nougat).  YUM.

 See??  Proof that I was there.  :D

FIGS.

You guys know I can't resist my french macarons.  And the ones here are DELICIOUS.

Then we finished our first day with a few pics...

DAY TWO-- Barcelona:

 LOOK, MA!  I AM WEARING A DRESS.  OH EM GEEEEEEE....

I've been having a strange penchant for interesting doorways . . .

From the Fundacio Joan Miro (the Joan Miro Fundation-- look him up-- his artwork is a bit crazy)

Because the Mercat was closed, our plans for lunch were thrown askew.  Until we found a cute little woman named Montserrat ("Like the Mountain," she said), who directed us to this restaurant with "authentic Catalunyan food."  It was delightful.  The two of us 20-year-olds eating some absolutely fabulous Catalonian food amongst a bunch of 60+ year old locals who clearly knew what's up.

 There was a mini lobster in our food.  I decided to take a picture with him before I ate him.  It may have been a crawdad.  Not sure.

 Montserrat, the lady who recommended the restaurant, turned out to be waitress there!  Haha, nice!

A photo of the outside of that restaurant.  I will def recommend this restaurant to anyone going to Barcelona.  :D

While wandering in our hunger, we found this adorable truck.  Whee!

Can one go to Spain without trying flan?  No!  While we waited for the aforementioned restaurant to open at 1:30 for lunch, we had a snack of flan and orange juice.

(Seriously, how have I not gained 20 lbs already??)

 This was on the way back from the Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia (Gaudi) that morning.  Yay Barca.  Dunno why that guy is staring at me.  Is he check us out, or does he think I'm checking him out while I'm taking my photo?  Hah!

Yes, I am a camera whore.  Love it.

La Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia:

Day THREE:


By the end of our Barcelona Trip, Priscilla and I must have walked over 20 miles.  We started in the East, walked to the West, then went from the North down to the beach in the South.  And in between, we circled and rounded around as we got lost, refound, and lost again.  I loved it.  This is the best way to explore a city-- by talking to locals and finding out what to really try and experience.

Speaking of which, I've noticed that people in Spain are extremely nice and friendly.  Especially if you smile a lot and make attempts to speak to them in Spanish.  I don't know if it was because two cute, Asian girls who were butchering Spanish were trying to ask for directions, but almost everyone stops, smiles, and points us in the right direction.  Or, in many instances, they tell us "oh, no no, you cannot go there because it's for tourists.  You want to go here . . . "  And then they proceed to point us in a new direction, writing down their favorite restaurants or sights or places.

Plus, it helps, I think, that Priscilla and I are quite open minded.  We're willing to try new cuisines and talk with the locals.  We've made it a point to talk to locals all around us.  I met a bunch of kids from the UK who speak only English-English, and they make no attempt whatsoever to enjoy the local traditions, life, etc.  For example, pork is HUGE in Spain.  So when you go to Spain, unless you have some religious reason or dietary problem that restricts your eating habits, you know what I'd recommend?  EATING PORK.  Or, at least, trying it.  If it disagrees with you, then move on.  But not without first trying it.  The girls from the UK would just look at a dish and refuse it vehemently.

Maybe that's why they're so skinny.

And weak.

WAHAA.

(Don't get me wrong-- I love them to death-- it's just their eating habits that drove me nuts).

Anyway, more pictures.

Gaudi:


Our last day, we went to the Parc Guell, where Gaudi designed a park (do you guys remember the pictures from our Spanish books in middle school?)

 I want to send you some of this guy's music.  It reminds me of . . . Gerudo Valley from the Zelda Games.  :D  Tee hee.

Palau Guell-- unfortunately, it was not open.  This picture is from outside. We actually stopped by our first day in Barcelona.

Casa Battlo.  It was right next to our hostel.

La Pedrera, a block down from our hostel: 

Parc Guell:  More pictures.

Other random photos:

Bikes for rent

And of course our trip wouldn't be complete if there wasn't a guy on the train back to the airport playing the accordian.  :D

That's basically it.  I don't have any photos from the beach and part of our Day 3 adventures loaded on my computer yet.  They're in my little camera.  So there are definitely more to come!