The group of Penn Staters that I am with this summer love to travel. So far almost every weekend they have traveled somewhere. They all have the EuroPass, so tickets are cheap for them. I didn’t get a EuroPass, actually it didn’t even cross my mind. I had planned on visiting Montpellier, Paris, and possibly Toulouse, because I have friends there so I wouldn’t have to pay for hostels or hotels. But, if I wanted to go out of the country and visit somewhere, it was Barcelona, Spain! My friend in Montpellier has family over there, so she always visits and also has great party pictures on Facebook. Her party stories are also very entertaining. This summer I was able to visit Barcelona!

Monday, July 18th is my friend, Kia’s birthday and Saturday, July 23rd is my birthday. So the group decided to go to Barcelona the weekend before our birthdays to celebrate our 20th birthdays! The only word I can think of to describe our trip is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! We left Wednesday night, the 13th, and the 14th was France Independence Day, so we had no school, but we “faire le pont” and didn’t go to school on Friday.  Our train was at 11:34pm and we got to Spain at 9:23a.m. We then took another train to Barcelona around 10a.m and got there around 12-1p.m. We checked into our hostel and then went exploring. Our hostel was right next to Starbucks, McDonald’s, and KFC. The perfect location. We were situated right on Las Ramblas, which is a popular tourist strip in the downtown area. That night we went out to dinner and had, of course, Sangria with our meal.

In the afternoon we visited “La Boqueria” which is sort of like an outdoor marketplace. There were beautiful and tasty fruits, Popsicles, wines, sangria, etc. We also walked around the harbor area and took pictures. Right when we went about to cross the bridge, we were stopped because it was the top of the hour when the bridge goes up and allows the boats to pass. It was a really pretty sight. It was hard adjusting to speaking Spanish. We would be in a restaurant and say “merci” instead of “gracias.”

On Saturday we visited the Olympics Museum, where all of the greatest Olympics stars are on display. There is also a room that features just the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona. After visiting the museum, we visited the Olympics Stadium. We also visited the cathedral and the football stadium. We also saw this famous guy, but we only knew he was famous because we were looking at his picture on a large banner hanging in front of the stadium.

The nightlife in Barcelona is, hands down, the best I have ever experienced. The people are lively and energetic. It is suck a great atmosphere to be around. They just have this aura of fun and just love life. We partied until 5 a.m our last night there. It was the best time I have had in years. Barcelona is an amazing place. I would recommend anyone to visit there. You will have an amazing time.

Location: Barcelona, Spain