Sangria in Spain

Over Thanksgiving Break, Jessica and I took a trip to Barcelona, Spain. We were lucky enough to get to stay with her old friend, who was very hospitable and gave us a lot of information on how to see as much of the city as possible in just three days. Barcelona was most certainly beautiful, but far from what I had expected. First of all, it’s a lot bigger than I thought! The locals there claim that it’s a small city, but coming from a true small town, having multiple different subways to get from place to place doesn’t really classify as a “small” place in the least bit. I was mostly surprised at how modern it was; in a lot of the areas of the city, I felt like I could have been in any other city in America. The port reminded me very much of San Diego, and the beaches that they had were accompanied by giant modern architecture buildings that were lined up the whole coast. My favorite part of the trip was going to Park Guell, which was up on top of a hill where you could overlook the entire city. The path through the park was pleasant, for it had exotic plants and cactuses, as well as architecture that looked like it was naturally formed and not man-made. We climbed to the top of a rock monument and overlooked all of Barcelona, which was absolutely breath taking! You could see everything from downtown to the coastline to the rolling hills behind it all. To accompany the view, there were live performers that were playing music to set a mood which could take you off into your own world. I particularly enjoyed all the architecture made of the rocks in the park, and the mosaic buildings that I saw in pictures before actually going to Barcelona. Downtown, there were many really unique and beautiful buildings that were placed in the middle of all the modern ones which gave the city more character. 

 I was able to meet up with an old foreign exchange student friend of mine from high school...it's so awesome to be able to cross paths once again with friends from around the world :)

I also had Sangria for my first time, since I was saving it for Spain- it was definitely worth it! It was so fruity and delightful, although they would always look at us weird when we ate the fruit after we finished it…guess that’s really not a social convention there. We could care less, call us tourists…the Sangria coated lemons and oranges were like eating a fortune cookie at the end of eating a Chinese meal- you just can’t go without it. 

The other popular Spanish foods that we were addicted to while there were Patatas Bravas and Tortillas. Patatas Bravas were pretty much just fried potatoes with ketchup and mayonnaise on them, so maybe it just reminded us of home….either way they were really fucking good. The Spanish tortillas are like an omelet, just egg with vegetables in it usually served in slices and eaten more commonly at dinner. I firmly believe that in order to truly experience a place, you have to experience the food as well. J The only other touristy thing we really did was go to see the famous Sagrada Familia, probably one of the most unique cathedrals in the world. We didn’t go inside because it cost too much, however from the outside I feel like a got a pretty good perspective of its peculiarity. There’s no distinct pattern to this building; it honestly looks like a giant sandcastle with numerous different designs and patterns all over it. They are in the process of renovating it, so parts of it were newer than others. What I found interesting was that they had topped parts of the columns with different sculptures of fruits. I really have to do more research on the building because I really just couldn’t make sense of it! Every building is a piece of art in their own special way, so I definitely was able to appreciate it for that. And now, I can say that I have seen it J

Going to Barcelona, I knew that it was a part of the region of Catalonia and that they speak their own dialect there, but I literally had no clue at how intense the separation from Spain really was! I found that the locals in Barcelona mostly only speak Catalan...but it’s not only that. The signs inside of restaurants, stores, and on the street, the tv channels, and news stations were mostly in Catalan. Immediately I saw a distinct separation, so I began to ask our host questions about why it was so drastic. Well it turns out that during the time that we were there, they were having elections within Catalonia to determine whether it would become separate from Spain. We got to hear two different sides of the story, especially the side against it since we have three Spanish roommates from another region. We learned that Catalonia had been separate from Spain years and years ago, and the people that lived there continued to carry on their Catalan traditions even after it became a part of Spain. Many locals that live there don’t even consider themselves Spanish, and are looking to have their own independence so that they can categorize themselves as “Catalan” once again. The ones that are against it are so enraged that these people want to be separate from the rest of the country, because they want to keep their unity as Spain and many can’t stand the people who consider themselves to be part of another country. This is the idea that I got from talking with a few different people, and hearing what they had to say. Basically, I could tell that there is a lot of hostility that I didn’t even know existed!

Barcelona and Catalan pride!

Overall, we had a great trip to Spain. Next time I go, I would definitely like to visit Madrid and Granada, since I hear that they are absolutely beautiful as well. Nos vemos pronto España!