Although my host mom means well, she usually makes me pre-packaged and processed foods. I went to the store to get some fresh fruit and veg I'd been craving instead of wasting away on frozen pizza and meatballs. I made a lentil and sweet potato salad with garlic, thyme and cinnamon. YUM! Apparently my trip to the store was a hint to my host mom, and this weekend she's made me baked fish, zucchini soup, and some delicious salads. :)
On Friday night, I went to a birthday party at my new friend Lona's apartment. Her roommate, Jordi, was celebrating his birthday and had lots of friends over. He provided all the food (tortilla española, Iberian ham, manchego cheese...) and drinks for everyone. Very kind!
After hanging out at the birthday party for a while, I met up with some friends at Opium, a discoteca on the beach. I danced until after 5:00 in the morning! In this photo are Herman, Rowan, Jordan, and TJ.
Saturday morning (after only 3.5 hours of sleep since the discoteca) I met up with some other girls from my program to do a bus tour of Barcelona (Maria is next to me in this one). Our program coordinators gave us all a day pass to Barcelona's "Bus Turistic," which has a few routes throughout the city. With a ticket, you can get on and off the bus as many times as you want throughout the day. We got to see the Barca soccer stadium, the old Olympic stadium from the '92 Olympics, the marina, and so many other parts of the city that I've yet to explore.
Saturday night was more relaxed...Rowan and I went to the Barceloneta beach with a blanket and a bottle of wine. We swapped stories about life in the U.S. and life in the U.K. (she's from Bath). We also went to the beach on Sunday, which I have no pictures of. We went to a public beach that's further away from the tourist areas, so it was really calm and peaceful.
On Monday I went to Montserrat, a town about an hour north of Barcelona, with more girls from my internship program. This is me riding the cable car up to the town of Montserrat from the base of the mountain.
From left is Stephanie, Kristine, Jamie, and me. We made it to the highest point of Montserrat after hiking for about 3 hours on very steep inclines. Though it was a little cold at the top, we had a picnic up there to celebrate our accomplishment of the day!
Sant Jeroni, the highest peak at Montserrat. V for VICTORY!
Some of what we saw at the top.
Doing headstands on the mountaintop!
This is Santa Cova, a small chapel built around a cave that's been a holy site since the time of Christ. Fifty years after Jesus was born, St. Peter put an image of the Virgin Mary (carved by St. Luke) here in this cave. Though the icon was lost during the Moorish invasion in the 700s, it reappeared in 880 when something miraculous happened... Some shepherd children were playing in the mountains and they spotted "celestial lights" and heard heavenly music coming from a cave up in the mountains. Although their parents were skeptical when the children told them, they went along to see what the kids were talking about. Sure enough, the lights and music were still there and lasted a month. When someone finally found the cave, the image of the Virgin Mary had returned.
Now there is a Benedictine monastery next to the Santa Cova chapel. Though I'm not Catholic, I could feel in my heart how holy and sacred this place is and how much love and devotion are given in that small space. I feel lucky to have been able to visit. Apparently it is the pilgrimage center in Spain second only to Santiago de Compostela, one of the most famous pilgrimages in the world.
I'm very thankful that I got to spend today immersed in the mountains and the trees. Like I've said before, being constantly surrounded by concrete has been breaking me down a bit. The hike up to the highest peak and then the hike to the Santa Cova all ended up being almost 6.5 miles. It felt so great to get sweaty and grapple with the earth!
Thank you for taking the time to read about my adventures...next post will be about my everyday life here in Barcelona. Peace and Love to you all!
Now there is a Benedictine monastery next to the Santa Cova chapel. Though I'm not Catholic, I could feel in my heart how holy and sacred this place is and how much love and devotion are given in that small space. I feel lucky to have been able to visit. Apparently it is the pilgrimage center in Spain second only to Santiago de Compostela, one of the most famous pilgrimages in the world.
I'm very thankful that I got to spend today immersed in the mountains and the trees. Like I've said before, being constantly surrounded by concrete has been breaking me down a bit. The hike up to the highest peak and then the hike to the Santa Cova all ended up being almost 6.5 miles. It felt so great to get sweaty and grapple with the earth!
Thank you for taking the time to read about my adventures...next post will be about my everyday life here in Barcelona. Peace and Love to you all!
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