Location: Barcelona, Spain

M: The day began with Sav, Po, Adam and I taking a leisurely walk to get some breakfast at a little cafe called Milk. What was supposed to be a 15 minute walk turned in to a 45 minute walk as we gazed at all the passing buildings. I love how relaxed and unhurried everything here is. It is such a nice way to get up and start the day!

At breakfast we looked at a few of Po’s photos from the day before. She is quite the photographer! I really enjoy watching her take photos because she gets shots from such unique perspectives and photographs subjects I wouldn’t think of photographing. And looking at her photos later is great too. She does a good job of capturing the feeling of the moment, which I find difficult to do!

Now that we were all fuelled up, we went over to the Sagrada Familia. I had seen pictures before so knew what to expect, but it still took me by surprise. It is very beautiful and also very weird. I can’t imagine what people thought of it when Gaudi designed it and started building it in the late 1890s!

S: I too had seen quite a few photos of Sagrada Familia, but had never looked closely at the details and therefore didn’t quite realize just how odd Gaudi’s designs were. I loved every second of the audio guide, and likely would have listened to it twice had there not been people with me. The outside was so impressive, with nature-inspired facades and geometric statues. The inside was a whole other story with pillars that rose up everywhere, mimicking an old growth forest. The ceiling let light in as though through an upper canopy of leaves, while bright stained glass let sunlight stream in in saturated colours. The one side of the church was built in a way that resembled ribs on top with muscles straining to connect the upper parapets to the outside ground. The whole thing felt otherworldly- like it belonged in a Marvel movie instead of on Earth. I was so impressed, and as Meag said I can’t quite picture what people thought of this back in the day.

M: Think Marvel movie, or Wizard of Oz, or Alice in Wonderland, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory…otherworldly is the perfect description. I have never seen anything like it in my life.

The Gaudi day continued as we went over to Park Guell, a park designed by Gaudi in 1900. We arrived just as the sun was going down so we could only take in a little of the park in the light. The structures we saw were so distinct, and again not like anything I’ve ever seen before. They reminded me of those sand castles you make by getting sand really wet then slowly dripping it layer after layer into a tower. It was so cool. We wound our way through the park, going up and up as the night got darker. We ended up at the high point of the park eventually, a hill with a big cross on top. From here we could look out over the entire city all lit up. It’s always special to see a city lit up at night, and tonight was no exception. Across the city we could see the church atop Mount Tibodabo completely lit up. It looked beautiful from where we were and was on an even higher hill, so we planned to go there another night. We had some fun too making jokes about studying abroad in Barcelona and climbing Mount Tibodabo (any Friends fans out there??).

We hear that Barcelona has a great nightlife but sadly our sickness needs to be dealt with once and for all! We will be back with a vengeance one day, ready to take on Barcelona’s parties. We instead cuddled up with some hot lemon and honey and watched movies in the common room.

S: The hot lemon and honey did wonders for my throat, and am happy to report we will be carrying a jar of honey around in our backpacks for the next week or so!

S&M