Barcelona

We were back in Barcelona (where we had previously been stuck a week or so prior for 4 hours) and it was the final leg in our European tour.
Our first full day in Barcelona (April 18th), Michelle and I went to the Picasso Museum, which was quite nice, and saw a church and some random old people dancing in the square outside it.



We spent much of the rest of our day exploring Barcelona. It was good we were becoming familiar with the city, because this happened:



So... we knew we were going to be seeing a lot more of Barcelona than we had originally intended as our flight would most likely be canceled (though we held out hope that we just might make it back to Lancaster on time).

April 19th was Michelle's 21st birthday, so we went to her favorite place on Earth...
the beach!







Lori, a Beloiter we met in Sevilla, was also staying in Barcelona so we met up with her for dinner and went out for Chinese food... again. It was really good and I was my usual gluttonous self. :)



I also got an email from my host family, so that cheered me up a quite a bit and did I ever need cheering up, because the next day our flight back to the United Kingdom was canceled because of all the volcanic ash in the air.

The Icelandic volcano mishap did cause us to bond a little bit with some of our fellow travelers in our hostel who were also stuck. You know you're having a real study abroad experience when you're in Barcelona playing spoons with two Brits (one of whom is an English lord), an Australian, and a college student studying in the Czech Republic.

Michelle and I had quite a bit of extra time in Barcelona, (I was leaving on the 27th, and she the 26th.) so we didn't have to worry about trying to pack our days full of activities. Just by leisurely exploring Barcelona over the next week, we saw a whole heck of a lot.

The Olympic stadium


On top of Castle Montjuic


Tibidabo theme park (for my 21st birthday)


Park Guell


And much, much more. Suffice it to say, we really became familiar with getting around Barcelona and by the end of it, were no longer newbies at navigating the Barcelona metro system.

While it was nice to see pretty much everything there is to see (for a tourist) in Barcelona, I was happy to get back to Lancaster and relax. (Well, I didn't do much relaxing because I had my portfolio and dissertation due almost as soon as I returned to Lancaster!)

Although traveling was tiresome at times and wore me out, it was a fantastic experience getting to see places I never thought I would step foot in (and places I never knew existed!). But seeing all the cities and places I did only made me realize how little I've actually seen of Europe and has really made me want to come back here one day and see a little more.