Having Fun With William and Kate: BarTHelona!

For our open travel week, we were allowed to go wherever we wanted with a group of friends... I had originally wanted to go to Italy, but that wasn't working out so easily so we decided to go to Barcelona, Spain. Going to Spain has been something that I had always wanted to do- I'm not exactly sure what my fascination with Spain is- but it was something that I HAD to do before I die. And I LOVED it. The name "Cisneros" is a Spanish name... although we are Mexican haha. We haven't done the family history yet, but we're pretty sure that my great-grandpa had some Spanish blood in him.... So going to Spain was basically like me going home... right? :)

Barcelona was absolutely beautiful. It was like a scaled-up, classier version of Mexico; hence why I was so obsessed with it!
Our flight left at 6:15 am from Stansted Airport which is about an hour drive away... so we left the London Centre at 3:30 in the morning. And of course I was up half the night packing and getting everything ready to go, so I got... hmmm... maybe 3 hours of sleep? But everything went smoothly in the morning and we got to Spain without a hitch. But once we got into Barcelona, that was a bit of a different story.

We arrived there around 10 in the morning and couldn't check into our apartment (yes, we rented a apartment for the days we were there... it was great) until 2. So we had to lug all our bags around the city until then. And it was freezing. We had all planned on Barcelona being nice and warm... so I only brought light jackets and my sperrys. But the first day was frigid. We were walking around the streets of Barcelona with all our bags, freezing, not knowing where to go, what to see, or where to eat. Needless to say, the first day was a BIT stressful. It doesn't help when you're the only one that semi-speaks Spanish in the group. Oh, and half the people in Barcelona speak Catalan, which is nothing like Spanish, so half the signs are in Catalan.

Something else that was a bit of a culture shock, was that all the restaurants close between the hours of 4-8. We didn't realize this the first day... we ate our lunch around 11, and then weren't able to get dinner until 8. We were so overwhelmed by everything: the language, the weather, the restaurants closing, and our lack of sleep, that we were too stressed to try to figure out Spanish cuisine. So we ended up at a pizza place for dinner. Our waiter came to our table and asked us what we would like to order; only he wasn't speaking English, he was speaking Spanish. Very quickly. So the whole group turns and stares at me and without a moment's hesitation I respond back: in Spanish! The whole conversation came really naturally; I didn't even have to think about what I was trying to say, it just came out fluently! I didn't really realize what had happened until after he leaves and all my friends stare at me and go "Woaaahhh! That was awesome!" It was actually really cool, because I had never really used my Spanish before, only in class when I was talking to other students or the teacher. But this was a real life situation where I had to use Spanish, and it worked! It was definitely a blessing after a super rough day :)

The next few days, after we got sleep, and figured out the city were absolutely amazing. Gaudi was this crazy, yet amazing, modern architect who built these spectacular buildings and sculptures throughout Barcelona and we went to see them all.

La Sagrada Familia:

La Casa Mila:

And Park Guell:

This one was my favorite. I love love LOVED Park Guell. This park was inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel and has beautifully vivid colors, crazy designs, and wonderful Spanish landscapes.
This is the serpentine bench that encircles a huge courtyard and overlooks the city. It has these amazing mosaics all around and is SO colorful!