Tarragona, Eric, Pink eye, etc.

Eyescream

AH so much has happened since the last time I updated my blog. I feel the need to backtrack about 2 weeks to when Mara, Becca, and I went to the beach after class. It was a nice day outside and we wanted to just lay and relax. On our way to the beach we came across “Eyescream and Friends”. This gelato place was SO cool. We got to pick our gelato flavor (I chose cheesecake) and two toppings. They shaved the gelato and then put two candy eyes on top. It was so cute. Honestly, the gelato was pretty mediocre, but it was adorable and I’m glad I got my eyescream hehehe.

The following Friday we had our program trip to Tarragona. I was excited because I learned about Tarragona in my Spanish Culture/Civilization class and it was the capital of Spain when Rome occupied Spain. We had a guided walking tour of the city and saw a lot of the Roman ruins, including the Anfiteatre, a Roman circus, and part of the remaining Roman wall that once surrounded the city. We also got to see some great views of Tarragona. After our tour we had a classy lunch in a private room for our group. We were served some small tapas, grilled vegetables in romesco sauce (YUM), the best seafood paella I have had so far in Spain, and cheesecake (that was not actually cheesecake…).

Tarragona

After lunch we walked around Tarragona (fairly tipsy) and found a cool shop with whimsical hand-made jewelry. We spent a while in there, and then a small group of us decided to stay in the city, get a bottle of wine, and sit on the beach. Finding our way to the beach was a little bit of a struggle, but once we made it there we were loving life. The weather was great and we just chilled while listening to Hunter Hayes. Our wonderful beach time came to a crashing halt when we thought we were going to miss our train home and drunkenly sprinted all the way to the train station. We ended up at the station about 20 minutes early…definitely not worth the sprint.

The next morning I made my way to the airport to pick up Eric WOOO! He survived his first international flight, but needed to take a long nap to recover. Once he woke up we walked around my neighborhood and went to Sol Solar for his first tapas meal. I was excited for him to have his first patatas bravas experience ~it’s life changing~

The next morning did not start off as we anticipated…Eric woke up with pink eye (this would happen to us). The worst part was that it was a Sunday, which in Spain means that EVERYTHING is closed. We walked around for a while until we finally found a 24-hour pharmacy. They sent us to a medical clinic, which then tried to send us to an eye specialist, which was totally unnecessary. Also, please remember I was communicating to all of these people in Spanish, which was far from easy. We were a little defeated because no one could help us, but we were determined to salvage the day. I took him to Bo D Be (aka the amazing sandwich place) and we enjoyed our sandwiches outside by the port. We then hung out on the beach for a while and I took him to Park Cuitadella.

The next day we went straight to a medical clinic to get this whole pink eye situation under control. Luckily, it didn’t take too long, it was not too difficult to communicate with the nurses, and we got an English-speaking doctor. We got the prescription for the antibiotic, picked up the medicine, and moved on with our lives. It was pretty hilarious—I can honestly say that I was not expecting to spend our first couple of days in Spain at the doctor’s office.

From there we headed to Pim Pams for amazing burgers, walked around El Born and the Gothic area, went to the Boqueria (and bought fun chocolates), had hot chocolate and churros, and went inside the Barcelona Cathedral. It was a lot of fun to go back and do a lot of Barcelona-things that I haven’t done since January.  We also went to Opium that night so Eric could have the whole clubbing experience, and it was also Dan’s birthday! All-in-all it was a BIG day.

Parc Guell

Tuesday was one of my favorite days because it was beautiful outside (and we didn’t have to run around trying to find a doctor!!). We went to Parc Guell and it was my first time on the terrace. Last time I went to Parc Guell I was underwhelmed, but this time I LOVED it! I think the weather made all of the difference. We walked around the park, sat outside at a café, and walked around Gracia. It was also St. Patrick’s Day so we went to George Payne’s, which is a popular Irish Bar. Our cover got us a free drink and a fun fat. I loved having a Guinness (felt like I was back in Ireland) and some chicken fingers to munch on. The night got aggressive as we ordered a pitcher of beer, tequila shots, and Irish car bombs. It was a fun night to say the least.

St. Patty's Day

On Wednesday we went to La Sagrada Familia. Man, that place continues to amaze me. For dinner we went to Elisabets and had a yummy ham plate with manchego cheese (the best). We met some more people at O’vella Negra to watch the Man City/Barcelona game. We tried “Panther’s Milk” which is a combination of milk, condensed milk, gin, and brandy. It sounds pretty heinous, but it was so good.

Thursday was a little bit of a bummer because I had class all day, but Eric and I still went to the market on my street and bought some amazing cheese. We had more tapas (can never get enough) for dinner and went to Le Cyrano for some dranks that night.

Top of Mt. Tibidabo

Friday was a big day. We went to Brunch and Cake (THE BEST PLACE) and also went to Casa Batllo (another one of my favorite places in Barcelona). Afterwards we went to Mt. Tibidabo, which is something I had not done yet. Getting up the mountain was a little confusing…we got lost trying to find the funicular, and then the funicular closed just as we found it. We had to taxi up the mountain, but it was definitely worth it because the views were AMAZING! We went to the top of the church and had great views of the entire city

Saturday was Eric’s last day in Barcelona, so we went to Camp Nou. I was sad that he wasn’t able to see a FC Barcelona game in person, but visiting the stadium was still really cool. After going through the museum and touring the stadium, we went back to the Gothic area to go to this cute little tea and dessert place called “Caelum”. We had some drinks and split a slice of cheesecake ('twas so cute). Then we relaxed until we had our final meal at Silvestre, which was so delicious. We decided to ball-out and be super fancy. Everything we ordered was so good, but the highlights were the truffle risotto, the boneless lamb shoulder, and the apple pie. Mmmm mmmmm mmmmm.

Early Saturday Eric had to leave for his flight, which was sad, but we had an awesome week. I’m now pretty exhausted from so many activities and ready to re-group before going to ITALY for spring break on Friday. EEEEK!

Also I just watched Barcelona beat Madrid at Dunnes. BARCA BARCA BARCA (still working on learning the chant…)

Camp Nou Stadium