Barcelona, you have my heart.

Barcelona was absolutely wonderful. 

Our favorite thing to do was wander. Walking the narrow streets of the Barri Gotic. Seeing a cafe on a corner in the sunshine and stopping for a cafe con leche or a beer or a glass of sangria. Discovering a plaza or a fountain or the Arc de Triomf. Stopping to sit on the steps of a church to people watch for awhile. Seeking out delicious tapas or paella. 

My heart is already scheming up ways to go back to this city, but my head keeps telling me I won't be able to afford to travel for a long time after this trip.

Gaudi in Barcelona, like it or not?

Gaudi's architectural influence can be seen throughout Barcelona. Truth be told, I am not such a fan of Gaudi. I appreciate how he pushed traditional norms, but to me, his style is just a little too over the top. I liked it in the Park Guell, because the cartoon-like characteristics of his work made more sense to me in a park than on a church or a building in the midst of the city, but I suppose that Gaudi is famous after all because his designs really pushed the boundaries of fitting in and making sense.

His famous Sagrada Familia, which is still in the process of being built 120 years later.

It sits high above most other things in the city.

Other Gaudi architecture.

Park Guell, designed by Gaudi. Such a great view of the city. A perfect place for a picnic of wine, cheese, and a baguette.

Traveling in Spain, ten years later: an excerpt from a journal entry I wrote lying on a beach in Barcelona this fourth of July.

The summer after my first year of college, when I was eighteen, I studied abroad in Spain. It was my first experience with international travel, and I was so naive about life then. On that trip, I drank alcohol for the first time, stayed up all night dancing, traveled to northern and southern beaches and places in between like Pamplona during the running of the bulls (where I slept outside since we didn't have a hotel room). I felt lonely, inspired, and found a contentment unlike any I had known near home that came from a sense of spending time in a different culture, exploring, and learning more about others and myself in the process. That trip ignited a spark in me to see the world and to get to know as much of it as I could. Since then, I have traveled to six of the seven continents, seventeen countries and counting, and learned so much about myself and the world in the process.

Traveling taught me that I wanted to marry Matt, because being near him was so much better than being apart. I wanted to discover the world with him by my side. Traveling gave me the courage to quit my first teaching job and go back to school full time to get my master's in Peace and Justice Studies. During that year of school, traveling taught me that the most important job in the world for me was to be a high school teacher in San Diego in spite of how romantic it may seem to live in another country or do something else. And traveling has taught me the importance of a sense of home and community, because most of the time, life is extremely fulfilling just staying put and investing time into my community and friends and family. Friends and family provide a true sense of self that often can't be found in another country. 

Here I find myself, ten years later in that same country that caused me to fall in love with traveling in the first place, Spain. On that trip as an eighteen year old, I never made it to Barcelona, and it has been on my list ever since. Ten years later, here I am. In some ways so much the same and also completely different. I am older, wiser, more comfortable with who I am, and more content to live life as it comes instead of always seeking out that next adventure. 

(photos taken from our balcony where we stayed in Barcelona, a nice spot to drink a glass of wine)

Spain won the Euro Cup, and we were in Barcelona to see the excitement happen.

We watched Spain dominate Italy in the final game of the Euro Cup on our second night in Barcelona. It was pouring rain on and off all day, crazy thunderstorms and lighting, not quite normal weather for this city. Our host recommended a bar for us to watch the game at, and we think we found it in the pouring rain (he didn't know the name of it, just where it was located, so we found a bar in that direction). We watched the game with fans, who were all singing, cheering, and drinking. At the end, I got a champagne shower... not intentionally; the bar owner was a bit excited so he opened up two bottles of champagne and sprayed them everywhere. We headed out into the main square, Plaza Catalunya, with everyone to celebrate. People were climbing on statues, waving flags, and stopping traffic. It was a crazy, happy, excited mob of people. I almost got a beer shower, but luckily, I ran away in time to avoid it. There was such energy... a night to remember, for sure.