K E L L Y L U K E R: Spring Break Part I: Barcelona

My absolute favorite building by Gaudi. The roof is supposed to resemble dragon scales

Parc Güell

After giving a presentation on the Italian province of Abruzzo in italian as my oral midterm, 5 friends and I began our spring break adventures. First stop, Barcelona.

the face of Barcelona by Roy Lichtenstein

The closest airport to Siena is Pisa, so we start our trip with a 3 hour train ride to Pisa, switching trains twice. As mentioned before, I hate RyanAir, but what other options are there for a college student budget? Well, we finally arrive in Barcelona at the Girona airport, (another airport an hour away from the city….) and make it to our apartment a little after midnight. Of course, the city is very much alive at this hour. It’s Barcelona. Our apartment is right off Las Ramblas, the main drag of the city center that runs all the way down to the port. Ashley, Brenna, and Annabelle are all tired, so Kristina, Veronica and I decide to check out the Barcelona night scene ourselves.

We simply start walking down Las Ramblas and so many different people are handing us “tickets” for free entry into clubs. At one point we are escorted up to a semi-fancy bar, drink some free champagne, and chill. Given exclusive passes to a club, we head out to another bar. At this point it is 2 am. Now, on Barcelona time, they eat dinner from 10 to midnight, then go out to the bars midnight to 3:30 am, then go to the clubs 3:30 to 6. While it was not our intention to follow this nightlife code, we find ourselves at another bar, chatting with some German pilots (I swear we met so many pilots on spring break). Eventually we find the club, and man, this club is baller. At some point, we are pretty close to the stage and the guy that is in charge (named Jamal. He was wearing a really awesome 80’s esque costume too. Great guy, just looking out for us American girls) brings Kristina, Veronica and I onto the private stage area so we can dance without having the sketch Barcelona dudes creeping on us. Every time a guy would try to come past the ropes, a huge security guy would push them out. VIP STATUS WASSSUPPP. Oh yeah, and a flow of free drinks. Umm…. I’m not sure how it ended up being the next time I looked at my watch it was 6:30….. We were just dancing into tomorrow I guess. Don’t worry mom, I was just trying to get the full Barcelona experience.

Plaça de Catalunya

I love all the sculptures

We spend all day Saturday sightseeing via the big red bus (seems like all the cities are copying London). I am literally obsessed with the architecture. Actually, Gaudí is my new artistic inspiration. His work is just so interesting and intriguing, I love it. I am also in love with Parc Güell (pronounced gway), a beautiful park designed by Gaudí, overlooking the city, offering a fantastic view. We finish our day of sightseeing in the park, which was a great choice, being able to point out different landmarks we saw earlier.

With all intentions to go out Saturday night, we decide to take a “nap”, since they don’t go to the clubs until 3:30 am anyways… FAIL. I guess we were too exhausted. I was happy for the sleep though.

Parc Guell

Entrance to Parc Guell

To finish off the weekend and enjoy the beautiful weather, we lay on the beach all day Sunday, one of my favorite pastimes. Despite the very cold water at this time of year, the Barcelona beach is gorgeous. I honestly could see myself living in Barcelona. It has everything I love: the beach, the city, and the mountains, all in one. Also, I love Hispanic music (I was SO PUMPED to be hearing so much Latin music in the club). Also, while Italy is very culturally “artistic”, Barcelona is very modernly “artsy”. Modern day Italy is saturated in history, while Barcelona has a neat and quaint twist of history and modern day life. I kind of hold Italy on a pedestal, but Barcelona seems very tangible to me. It also has a lot of Virginia Beach vibes to it. I was SHOCKED to see so much surfbrand clothing, but it made me so happy. Some of the kids I saw at the beach, I could have picked them up and dropped them in VB and you wouldn’t know the difference (except that they were speaking Catalan of course). I am so happy to have visited Barcelona, it was a nice change of pace and a different taste from the Italian culture, although the whole time all I wanted was gelato.

Next stop: Capri!