So it’s been a while since I reminisced the exciting adventures that made up my summer, but I feel the need to continue this series for 2 reasons:

1. I haven’t described some of my favorite adventures.

2. I had my first croissant since being in France this morning and it made me miss Paris.

One of the greatest parts of the Viterbi Overseas Program is that classes run Monday through Thursday, making every weekend a three day weekend. For three of the weekends we had the chance to go with the program on day trips throughout France. The weekends without a day trip, however, were perfect opportunities to travel to neighboring countries. On my first free weekend I traveled to Barcelona with 4 of my friends. I had always wanted to visit Spain and was excited to be in a country where I was slightly more familiar with the language. Barcelona was beautiful – a wonderfully relaxing city with good food, colorful night life, and friendly people. We met great people at our hostel, the market, and even the Turkish restaurant that we stopped at multiple times for a late night snack. It was an adventurous weekend. The first night we had an encounter with a confused man sleeping nude in our hostel (awkward). Another night we missed the last metro home and had to walk back, but instead got lost and didn’t end up finding our way until nearly 6am. Our last night we spent in a quaint little town outside of Barcelona called Girona, where we stumbled upon a quality art museum, an annual music festival, and gardens with stunning views of the Catalonian countryside. It was definitely one of the highlights of my summer.

Fruit at the Barcelona market was incredible

More curious discoveries at the market

Walking down Las Ramblas, the main boulevard, which fills with street vendors and performers at night

Beach Day!

City views

Exploring the parks

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, a perpetual construction project

And, naturally, some shout outs to some of the great food we enjoyed:

Paella!

Churros con chocolate. AMAZING.

Well, that was a lovely trip down memory lane. Now it’s time to hit the sack and dream (in all likelihood) of churros dipped in molten chocolate.