Brave Goes Abroad: Week 4.0: Am I Spanish yet?

This week was a Barcelona week meaning no special trips planned. While a lot of our IES classmates left town for the weekend, Tori and I stayed behind for a long overdue visit to la Sagrada Familia and other places on our list. In just a few words, I would describe my week as one of sights and bites... lots of walking and lots of eating.

After classes wrapped up for us on Thursday, Tori and I decided to explore a new part of the city where we planned to have dinner. The restaurant, NAP, was a pizza place that we saw featured on a local Instagram account and from the pictures we were hoping and praying it would compare to Fort Worth's Cane Rosso. Lucky us, it did! Tori and I took suggestions from our waitress and ended up with bruschetta to start and a truffle pizza to split. The couple next to us ordered personal pizzas and I swear we almost put in a second order. After that we met up with some friends for drinks. At the bar that night, Tori and our other friend Laine were "sought out" by a group of Austrian men to give their buddy a birthday serenade. I say "sought out" because that actually didn't happen but the girls believed the story, left our table to give their congratulations, and came back with shots. Guess I actually helped them out with free drinks?

The next morning was an early one. Tori and I had service hours to complete for one of our classes and so at 9 am, we were off to the soup kitchen where I had no idea what to expect. In the small basement of a Franciscan church, Tori, myself, and four elder ladies compiled platters of pastries and sandwiches. My favorite part was meeting Father Miguel, who I almost asked to be my honorary Spanish grandfather. While washing used coffee pots, Father Miguel and I bonded over Cádiz, Spain, where I formerly studied and lived with a Spanish family. I think Tori and I plan on returning to the soup kitchen soon. I mean, what kind of honorary granddaughter would I be if I didn't pay another visit?

Our big touristy day came on Saturday where we took a guided tour at la Sagrada Familia, right after a filling brunch at Barcelona hotspot Brunch & Cake. At breakfast, I could have sworn I was in the U.S. with just how many English conversations I overheard. Tori and I then had the revelation that brunch is totally an American thing, but we were so fine with looking American if it meant we could binge on giant breakfast sandwich bagels and whipped cream-topped banana bread. PS- if you have plans to visit Barcelona, don't be fooled by the iced latte on the menu at Brunch & Cake. Not iced coffee.

Although I toured la Sagrada Familia on a previous visit to Barcelona, I still found the place to be as magical as I first found it to be. Let me tell you, nothing quite compares to Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece that is la Sagrada Familia or "the sacred family". Stain glass windows create a kaleidoscope of colors inside the church while the exterior practically mirrors a dripping sandcastle. See pictures below, one featuring the pink ribbon that permanently lives in my handbag.

We concluded our touristy weekend by attending an FC Barcelona game, where the boys brought home a 3-2 win over Villarreal. Of course, we did not stay until the bitter end to experience this win because Camp Nou became an arctic tundra and we were not down to freeze. We ran to the nearest metro station to head back towards the center of the city where we met friends to watch the Super Bowl. Go pats! Two wins in one night (although it should have been the Bengals).

Other highlights from this week:

-Bought platform booties with hopes of looking more Spanish
-Finished Scandal Season 2 on Netflix

-Found true love at Bo de B sandwich shop (Taylor Reisdorf, you are God)