Vacation in Spain

No need to worry....I am still alive and well! The past week we had a break from school and my friend and I took a trip to Barcelona and Madrid. Most people went to Italy, Paris, London, and other assorted cities in Europe but Liz and I wanted to explore Spain.
First, we went to Barcelona. We were there from Friday (2/8) to Monday (2/11). Liz has a friend that is studying in Barcelona and so she played tour guide for us. We saw so much of the city in two days. We saw many of the little neighborhoods of Barcelona (Barceloneta, Olympic village, and some assorted other places). We saw Gaudi's houses - we did not go inside for a lack of time and a desire to save some money. He seemed like an interesting guy (Gaudi). My favorite part of Barcelona was Park Guell - Gaudi's park that he designed. It is absolutely huge (over 70 acres) and is just a little piece of heaven. Most of the park is decorated with mosaics of colored glass. There is a great view of the city from the top of one of the platforms. There are also two little house/cottages in the park that look like gingerbread houses. It is hard to give it justice just describing it but if you ever have a chance to get to park guell - it's a definite must in Barcelona.
We also visited Sagrada Familia - Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece. It is absolutely monsterous - it takes up an entire block. We went to the FC Barcelona museum and it was fun. There was a lot of memorabilia from many years of the club's existence. We were able to go inside the stadium and look around and it was very cool.
Barcelona has a very metropolitan feel - almost like a mix of New York and Miami. The city is very spread out so we took the metro a lot and it was a very convenient way to get around. We were able to stay in Liz's friend's apartment and cooked our own food. It was very different from all of my home-cooked meals at my homestay.
After our stay in Barcelona, we took a flight to Madrid. We arrive Monday night and stayed in a hostel. It was very small but got the job done. We did a lot of museums in Madrid. We went to the Prado, Reina Sofia, and Thyssen-Bornemizsa. They were all very cool and I was glad that we went to all of them - but I don't really want to go to another art museum for a while! We also went to the Palacio Real, Palacio de Comunicaciones, Fuente de Cibeles, Plaza Mayor, Parque de Buen Retiro (a huge park in Madrid with some awesome things to see - definitely a must see if you go to Madrid), and we wandered by some other random places. Liz and I agreed that Madrid has the feeling of Washington D.C.
I really like both of the cities but was very happy to return to Granada (it is great because it seems like home now!) My classes at the University of Granada tomorrow. I am taking Sociology of Religion and Music of Al-Andalus. It should be interesting to see how they compare to classes at U of M. We only have four more weeks of class and then another break for Semana Santa (not that I am looking forward to another break already - haha!)
I am sorry it took me so long to update my blog. I will try to be better at it! I hope everyone is doing well!
Emily