I'll have an Estrella and patatas bravas, por favor. Again and again and again

Back to being solo in Barcelona, taking a bit of adjusting! Mack flew off on a jet plane this morning to Dublin and then Boston, bring back with him a new appreciation/obsession for patatas bravas, Estrella beer, and his suitcase stuffed with my winter jacket. After my exciting Thursday of quitting my job, we celebrated Thursday night by going to the Gracia neighborhood and having some beers with Sari in the cool bar that had old Casper cartoons on in the background. Strange.

Friday had be feeling extremely agitated for some reason and I couldn't quite place where it was coming from. Then I realized- I was having ridiculous wanderlust and needed to get out of Barcelona(why does this happen). Mack was game for an adventure so we packed a bag and headed to the train station and bought a ticket to the first destination heading to.. Tarragona!... yeah, me either. I had my trusty Lonely Planet Spain book which told us that Tarragona was a romanticish city an hour south of Barcelona on the coast and filled with random Roman ruins. Perfect! It was a slightly rainy day so climbing up the ridiculous hill once we got there wasn't the most fun, but then we had AMAZING pizza (hard to find decent pizza here, not that I'm biased or anything). We stumbled upon a slightly sketchy hostal about a frankfurt bar (?) and then roamed around the small city!
Some highlights: the huge food market that had lobsters so fresh, they were still moving!
-the german beer place called Bierwinkle with 90's American music playing and awesome beer
-the gorgeously old ruins scattered around the city that no one has touched and inside just incorporate it into buildings and such
-we found a cafe that served coffee with Bailey's that is socially acceptable to drink at all times of day and quickly became regulars. Even though we were there for less than 24 hours.
-really great overnight trip. Got to see another town with gorgeous views of the coast!

Saturday ( I apologize for the slightly boring day-day play, it helps me to remember all that we did!) we came back from Tarragona and immediately upon coming home, my roommates asked me if we were ready to go to the "going away bbq" for my roommate Marcelo who returned to Argentina on May 17th. Clearly this was something Marcelo had told me about but clearly there had been a translation problem on my end! We ended up going with my roommates to this wicked gorgeous rooftop deck in Gracia. My German roommate Sandra was wonderful and spoke English with Mack who was justifiably overwhelmed by all the rambling Catalan,Spanish, French and German being spoken! It was so much fun, even though it rained off and on all afternoon, but there were huge hunks of beef and endless bottles of wine, not to mention a really pretty view of the beach and Sagrada Familia in the distance. My head started hurting immensely from all the conversations, which I really loved as it meant I was switching back and forth a lot during the afternoon. It was also fun to hang out with my roommates, never have done that as a full group before!
After the barbeque we met up with my friend Lauren and found a kitchy 60's bar with fantastic cava and sangria, and then went to meet up with Sari and her mom who was visiting and Lauren's Catalan friend, Gregori. I really love random evenings! We hung out on this outdoor terrace at this nothing-special bar and Gregori started teaching me some Catalan which I soaked up, it's so beautiful, and just hung out. No discotecas for us, which I was kind of glad about.

Sunday was a lazy day in the morning so Mack and I went to my local bar for some cafes con leche and patatas bravas before checking out the Sagrada Familia and then going to meet up with everyone to watch the super important La Liga futbol game between Barca and some team beginning with a V (forgot, whoops). It was INSANE. Everyone was decked out in Barca scarves, Catalan flags and cheering like mad when Barca won, which meant they won the entire Spanish league championship, called La Liga! The entire city then streamed through the streets to the Placa Catalunya where there was live music, HORDES of people cheering, waving flags, and policemen everywhere with billy clubs?! Ridiculous! Mack got his finger cut and my toes were stomped on and the madness didn't die down until like 6 hours after the game, everyone was still honking and cheering and walking in the streets! So amazing to be here for that! And a football fan is born..

Monday Mack and I went to Parc Guell which was really lovely, especially in the parts high up where you get panoramic views of the city! We didn't stay long, just long enough to get a good feel for it, and beat it before it got really crowded. We got some paella and then went to the beach which was a bit windy but so great and relaxing. We ended the day with some tapas hopping in the Born area which is my new favourite discovery- never had been there before, and its chalk full of tiny little streets with hidden bars, plazas and we found some really cool places that had chorizo, manchego cheese, mini burgers and fantastic red wine!

Tuesday, aka "Touristy Tuesday" had us going up in the funicular to Montjuic- the mountain near Plaza Espana that has this old castle and THE best view of Barcelona. You can see all the way to Parc Guell, the coastline, all the mountains around Barcelona, its exquisite. We got blessed with some wonderful weather so after some patatas bravas and Estrella beer we went to La Rambla for some necessary shopping, got some gelato and after a brief rest we went back to the Gracia neighborhood for some drinks, then the beach which is so tranquil at night with only like 6 people around, and then went to a local place near my apartment for some last patatas bravas and Estrella (Mack might go through withdrawls)

So, it was a wonderful visit. Wonderful week. Adjusting today to making a new routine for myself, being alone and picked up a Catalan book to begin teaching myself. Good things!