Brave Goes Abroad: Week 9.0: Reunited

So this past week, two of my best friends from TCU, Annie and Sarah, came to visit and I think they loved Barcelona just as much as Tori and I do. While it feels like it has been a long time since I've left town, I would say this was one of my better spent weeks in Barcelona.

First off, I got to start the week by handing in a considerable amount of midterm papers for my classes at IES. With this load off of my shoulders and feeling more energetic than ever (no longer being sick), I decided to treat myself by doing a little shopping, trying some new restaurants, having a girls night out for drinks, and so on. Well, I guess I started to celebrate my good health a little too soon because here I am sipping on an english breakfast tea doctored up with milk and honey, still a little bit heated that the farmacía won't fill my second prescription for a Z-pack from Dr. Saval. I'm going to have to give "grandfather" Saval a call because being sick while abroad is a new level of misery. Anyway... I swear this was still one of my favorite weeks to date.

On Thursday afternoon, Tori and I anxiously awaited our friends arrival in Plaza de Catalunya where a 5 euro shuttle to and from the airport drops off every couple of minutes. I guess we were a little too excited to see Annie and Sarah because we probably sat and watched 20 buses come and go before our friends actually arrived. Seeing as it was already 3 pm when we finally met up, we picked a place in the area to have lunch and then headed uptown to settle into our airbnb. If you are thinking it seems odd that we'd have to settle into an airbnb this weekend, why yes... we agree that this was both odd and annoying. Since our program in Barcelona does not allow for overnight guests in our apartment, Tori, Sarah, Annie and myself became temporary residents of the neighborhood Gracia, situated above the city's center. That afternoon as the sun set over the city, us girls enjoyed red wine from the patio of our rented apartment before heading off to a traditional Spanish tapas meal. After that, we wrapped up the day at AbroadFest music festival down by the beach. I'd say we covered a lot of land that day... but not as much as Friday!

Quickly, I'd like to ask who doesn't love a good brunch? Finding great places for breakfast and brunch is definitely a favorite pastime for Tori and I. On Friday of this past weekend, we got to try a place we've had our eyes on for a while, Federal Café. The four of us got lucky and arrived just 5 or 10 minutes before the brunch menu was ending and even snagged a great table on the roof! I died over banana french toast and the other girls loved their various egg-based dishes too. Sometimes I read these blogs back to make sure I'm not speaking Spanglish and end up laughing at how much I go into detail about the food we eat over here. For your information, Tori is one of the biggest foodies there ever was so I blame her! Side note- check out Tori's blog Talk Tapas To Me because it's pretty great. And isn't that blog title clever? Thanks people... all me!

Back to Friday. From brunch, we migrated down to the water to show our land-locked London friends the beach. There we sat for a while, enjoying the great weather, rejecting foot massages and mojitos from strange men (you laugh but this happens a lot). Before returning to Gracia, Tori and I walked our friends up Las Ramblas, an infamously touristy street where people complain about pick pockets. Our tour of Las Ramblas led us into one of the local markets and then the Gothic Quarter for a quick peak at the cathedral. Day #2 ended with an amazing sushi dinner and drinks at our favorite Irish bar. Another successful day covering lots of land.

Sadly, yesterday was the girls' last day in sunny and warm Barcelona. Feeling like there was still so much to show them, we got up, found another place for brunch, walked around Plaza de España and hiked a little ways up Montjuic for the view. Since Tori and my apartment isn't too far from the mountain, we gave our friends a little tour of our neighborhood and briefly stopped at home to kick off our shoes after all the walking. If you've been keeping up with Brave Goes Abroad, you may remember that a couple weeks back I visited Cádiz, Spain, for carnaval. In Cádiz, Tori and I met some students from Madrid who planned on visiting Barcelona this same weekend (for AbroadFest) and we ended up hearing from them later that day when they invited us to hang out on their yacht. Casual... we know. So of course we took them up on this offer and UGH why can't I have a boat?

Anyway... last night upon leaving the marina, we experienced the coolest sunset EVER. After spending the past three-ish years in Texas, I didn't think there was anything better than a lonestar state sunset. Well, the Mediterranean wins. Wouldn't you say?

From the "boardwalk" (if that is even what it's called here), we grabbed dinner at our favorite pizza place followed by ice cream at Eyescream and Friends. I know it's a cliché college girl thing to say but... I'm seriously detoxing after this past weekend, especially with Dublin coming up. Well, that's all for me this week. If anyone knows why the states "sprung forward" this weekend but Spain didn't... give me a shout because I'm still trying to figure this one out.

The pics part: