Barcelona-ma prochaine maison

Barcelona is quite possibly the best city I have ever been to. I went this past weekend with 3 other girls in my program. We found an amazing apartment for super cheap on Airbnb (I highly recommend it) and went for 3 days to experience some Spanish culture.  Let me tell you it was very hard to leave. In fact we met a group of Spanish guys who had a boat in the harbor and told us to come sailing with them for a week instead of going back to the program...hard to refuse.
     Once in Barcelona the first thing we did was head to the beach which is so large you cannot see either side of it. Lining the beach are tons of shops, hotels, bars, clubs, restaurants, you name it. There were thousands of people there which while not ideal for relaxing but was still an awesome experience. People just came up to us whenever they pleased asking where we were from, what we were doing, and sharing their travel stories. It seemed to be the center for nomads and adventurers. For dinner we stopped by a massive market in the center of the city where there was every sort of edible thing imaginable. I saw sheep heads, brains, cow hearts, every fruit possible, veggies, tons of candy, the list goes on. That is one thing I really wish the US had: kick ass markets.
    We spent the next morning exploring some of Gaudi's architecture which can be found all over the city. Parc Guell was our first stop and we hiked up to the top and saw the entirety of Barcelona for miles and miles. The park is also filled with cool Gaudi structures, my favorite being some mosaic, life size ginger bread houses from Hansel and Gretal.
    Nights in Barcelona are even better than the day if one can believe it.  We went to several amazing clubs and bars and I had my fill of some way too good sangria.  People in Barcelona get up relatively early in the morning, go to the beach, then all evening people sleep in preparation for the night of festivities which usually don't end until 6 or 7am.  We weren't quite on that schedule but I will say we did not sleep much that weekend.
   Highlight of our last day was going to the Picasso museum in the city's Gothic quarter.  There were over 5000 Picasso pieces starting from when he was only 7 years old. It was amazing to see his work in a timeline manner and see how he progressed and changed as he got older. I have to say after seeing his younger work before cubism I am now a definitely Picasso fan.  After the museum we hitched a ride back to Arles from a young student in Toulouse using covoiturage (carpool) and made it home safe and sound that night.