Barcelona

Day 1
After we landed in the beautiful city of Barcelona (which I have been to before but was really excited to see/ experience it all again with more of an adult eye), we were forced to endure a long long walk to the bus station while feeling like mules with all our bags and such tightly strapped to our backs, following the bus we discovered that out next leg, the metro, would be impossible as it had already closed so we had to walk what felt like miles from the bus station to our hostel. I am naturally a much slower walker when we meander around the cities because I like to relax and soak up what I am seeing, so my roommates were afraid that I'd fall behind on this walk and were constantly cracking jokes about it the entire way there. When we finally arrived at the hostel we were gobsmacked when we found sitting in the lobby 5 students from SLU Madrid, only then did one of the girls remind me that she had asked for our itinerary that I had created for our eurotrip so she could get ideas for her own Eurotrip, apparently she booked all the same hostels for any overlapping cities we had. After all that physical labor we rightfully passed out.
Day 2
We woke up the following morning to find that out MIA 8th roommate was an awesome Asian kid who has no hands or feet. This kid was so inspirational because he was more capable of doing anything than any of us probably are. And he had the best attitude, which someone in his situation would need to have in order to backpack through Europe on his own. This guy was so cool and helpful with giving us ideas as to what to do during out stay in Barcelona. After breakfast, bathing suit clad, we made our way to Las Ramblas which is bout 5 blocks of different themes on each... one is a pet market, one is an accessory market, one a flower market etc etc. Then we made our way to the biggest fresh food market I have ever seen, almost overwhelming. We all bought soooo much fruit and juices and some makings for a sandwich. Then on out way to the beach, walking down the sidewalk we
encountered a completely naked man walking in the opposite direction??? Hmmm. Gross. Once at the beach we snacked, had lunch, laid out (properly lathered in the proper sunburn-preventative lotions this time) and caught up on vacation reading. After that we took a
very long walk on the boardwalk before heading back to our hostel for dinner and collapsing into bed.
Day 3
The previous night all of my roommates went out to paint the town red but I decided to be a good best friend and sleep early so I would be well rested to get Annie from the airport in the early AM. Collecting by best friend was soooo exciting! I still cannot believe that we are in Europe together. When we got back to the hostel my other roommates decided to take a long train ride to go hiking just outside the city...something jet lagged Annie was not up for so we unwound, unpacked a bit, and then slipped into out bathing suits and made our way to the beach. However, I messed up the directions completely and so it took us 4 hours to get there since we wandered through the streets, a family festival, and then I talked Annie into going to the zoo that we stumbled upon. I, for some weird reason, love love love zoos, I could spend all my days at the zoo. We saw almost everything, avoiding the fish for Annie's sake (she has an unusual fear of water-bound creatures). Once we left we finally made our way to the beach, relaxed, giggles profusely, and each got a fake tattoo drawn onto our feet that lasts like a week... I got a vine with a butterfly (of course) and she got a sparrow (of course). When we got back, got cleaned up and reconnected with the rest of the group, we all made and ate dinner in the hostel kitchen. We tried to go out to a fairy wonderland-esque themed bar that night but due to laundry and lack of energy complications, that failed and we all just went to bed.
Day 4
On our last day in Barcelona, before flying out to Nice, we visited the Sagrada familia which is a cathedral designed by Gaudi that STILL is under construction. Once built it will be the largest cathedral in the world, probably. This is the most beautiful and unique piece of architecture I have ever seen. I want to move into it and live there
forever. We also took the elevator to the top to see the colors and external architecture and the rest of the city...then made our way down the bajillion steps of the spiral taircase. For lunch we went back to the fresh food market so Annie could see it before going to the Parque Guelle that was also designed by Gaudi before flying to Nice.