Week 14: Filling My Last Few Weeks to the Max

Such an active week this was! I did something exciting every single day. Starting with…

Midnight Runners Barcelona

The first exciting thing that I did this week was join a running club. A friend that I met through my neighbors posted a video on Instagram of him participating in a run with the running club and I knew it was something I had to do. So on Monday, I got my running shoes on and went with him and another one of our friends. I died a little bit, but a 10k plus some extra leg and ab workouts later, I finished and felt so accomplished. I also recruited three more friends from my program who want to do it too, so next Monday it will be even more fun. I think a running club is such a great way to meet new people and up my running game. I plan on continuing with this one while here and then joining one in San Diego once I’m back. 

Montserrat

My self-date of the week was a day trip to Montserrat. This was a pretty extensive day adventure and really my first time doing something this big alone but it went really well and I’m happy that I pushed myself to do it. Montserrat is a monastery located about an hour’s drive from Barcelona. It has wonderful views because of its location on a mountain and there are a lot of hikes surrounding it that most people choose to participate in. Instead of hiking, I went to the Basilica and visited the Museo de Montserrat. I got really lucky too because the tickets to listen to the boys’ choir were sold out, but I guess I went to the church at the perfect time and stayed long enough so that I was still there for the performance. I had been too worried about my church etiquette to leave because no one else was leaving which in the end made me sit there long enough to see the choir. A fortuitous turn of social anxiety. The choir was amazing!

Casa Amattler 

I went on a field trip with my class to Casa Amatller which is directly next to Casa Batllo. The house has been kept up so well, we even had to wear covers over our shoes. I loved learning the history of the owners of the house. Mr. Amatller owned the chocolate company, Amatller, which his grandfather started. There were many symbols throughout the house that represented different things about the family. For example, Amatller means almond tree so there are many almond tree symbols throughout the house. 

MNAC

Remember when I went to the National Museum of Catalonia Art weeks ago and said I hoped I’d get a chance to go again? Well, I did but this time on a field trip with my class. My favorite teacher was our tour guide and she did an excellent job. We went into the Romanesque art exhibit which I hadn’t gone in on my first trip to the museum. They took out many pieces of walls from Roman churches and put them in the museum which was really cool. I wasn’t sure whether they were originals or replicas, but regardless they were super interesting to see and learn about. Because we had my teacher there, we could really pick apart all of the different images in each piece and analyze the meanings. 

Dublin!!

Our Dublin weekend began with an interesting start. First, we had a super early morning flight and the night before was Thanksgiving, so we had attended a dinner that our program put on and didn’t get home until late. Because we arrived so early our room wasn’t ready and we were exhausted. So, we crashed on the couches in the lobby while our room was being prepared  Shoes off and each one of us spread out on our own couch. For an hour. After we got into our room (yes, a real hotel this time instead of a hostel. The Skylon was a lovely change) and slept a little more, we headed over to the burrito shop across from our hotel while we waited for the bus that would take us into City Center to arrive. Here’s where things took a turn. The man at the burrito shop informed us of riots that had been taking place in the City Center the night before and advised us not to go. This put a huge damper on our day and our plans for the rest of the trip. 

Howth

We ended up taking a short trip over to Howth, a cute countryside town with pretty “mini” cliffs of Moher and yummy fish and chips. While we didn’t spend that much time here, it was pretty to see and walk around and grab our first pint! 

John Summit

That night we went to see one of my favorite EDM artists, John Summit! I’ve seen him before but it was more of an intimate setting in the club Index which was super fun to experience. More pushing, but we were so close to the front so I’d say the pushing was worth it. 

City Center

On Saturday, we actually did make it into the City Center. We watched the news carefully and asked some locals if they thought it was safe and after a group discussion, we decided it was safe to go. The City Center is filled with fun pubs, good shopping, and lovely parks. We took a nice stroll through St. Stephens Green and it was really fun watching the swans. We stopped for lunch at Bestseller which had a delicious chicken toasty. It was the perfect chicken panini with yummy melted cheese. We loved Bestseller so much that we also went on Sunday and I got a scone the second time around. The best dinner that we had was at Diwali, an Indian restaurant, and it was fabulous. The restaurant was very busy but in a fun way and it was in a great location so we could hit a few pubs before and after. Our favorite pub spots were Divetts, Ryan’s, and Flannery’s.

Guinness Storehouse

On Sunday we got a chance to tour the Guinness Storehouse. The tour was great because we really did learn how beer is made. I’ve done a few other tours about how products are made such as the chocolate and cheese ones in Switzerland and the wine tour in Porto, and I thought this went the most in-depth about the making process. Plus, we learned about the marketing and got two beers included. One with our faces printed onto the foam! The building was also super fun and had cool decorations. Definitely a great experience all around.

HUGE shoutout to my friend, Lulu, for creating an itinerary for the weekend for my roommates and me. We got to check out her school, Trinity, and I can see why she loves Trinity and Dublin so much 🙂