Fantastic Weekend in the Sun!

The sun is shining and I am loving life.

This weekend has been so long and packed, but so fun and with a taste of spring weather! The last week or so has been in the high 60s, every day a little warmer, and today was about 75, which made for a great day on the beach! Let's recap the last few days, shall we?

First, Joanna's friends were visiting this week, so we took them out a few nights to see some different areas. We went to a fun tapas bar in Gracia called "Shh...no se lo digas a nadie" where we ordered sangria and all shared plates of mushroom quiche, patatas bravas (fried potatoes with a mayo/ketchup dipping sauce), and couscous with vegetables. Here they are in Gracia!

Then on Friday, as an excursion with my EAP group, we hired a bus and drove the hour and a half to a town called Poblet. First, we went to a restaurant in town, where they fed us breakfast. The dining room was beautiful and the tables where so nicely set-up. Our breakfast was two generously portioned sandwich-halves, each with a different topping. One side was ham and cheese and the other all different types of sausage on pan con tomate. 

They also decided to put a porron of red wine on our table for breakfast. Let's not forget that we are college students here, and regardless of whether or not that was meant to be consumed at 9am, we had ourselves some tasty breakfast wine. 

We left the restaurant, purple teeth and all, and headed by bus to the Poblet monastery. Although it was beautiful and I'm sure packed with a stimulating historical past, we were guided by my 90 year-old Art History professor who not only speaks by basically whispering, but also has no ability to maintain a train of thought. When taking us through the monastery, he told us all about his life, his wife, how he's been in jail, went blind, tried to commit suicide, but then took a minute to get a coffee and found the meaning of life in a Beethoven number playing at the cafe. While this is all very fascinating, I ended up taking tons of photos in a giant historic building that I knew nothing about. Just as I would catch the word "monasterio" in his speech, and get ready for some factual info, my hopes were again dashed by the story of his herniated back. 

Anyways, here are some photos from the monastery. Make up you own facts and figures, they will be just as accurate as what I would be able to tell you.

After our tour, we headed back to the restaurant for lunch. This was the main draw of the excursion, because what we were about to try is known only in Catalonia, and only at this time of the year. They are...the calçots!!!

So there is a ton of hype around this veggie treat. Basically, it is in the onion family. Maybe like a nephew or brother-in-law of the leek as well. To grow it, you plant the bulb, and as it grows, you continue to pack more and more soil around the stem, so that the white part grows much longer. To prepare, they grill hundreds of them on a BBQ, and then take them off and role them in newspaper and put then in a box, so that they steam themselves. Then, you peel off the burnt part, and dip the stem into the "Romanesco" sauce which is basically tomato, oil, pine nuts and lots of garlic. Here is a play-by-play:

Bibs on. Ready to roll.

Life supply of Calçots and our individual  Romanesco dipping sauces

Goodbye to the charred part. Joanna was convinced that the burnt part was meant to be eaten but after she took a huge bite of burnt calçot, she decided maybe everyone else's way wasn't so bad.

A careful dip.

Fancy, eh? It was actually quite good. Nothing spectacular, but the calçots were really soft and kinda creamy-ish but not really. 

Then, they brought the porron out again.

Improper porron technique, but you get the idea.

People were getting all kinds of crazy with this thing, and those with the most porron-skillz could hold it arms distance away and shoot it into their mouth without spilling. I tried and...well, lets just say I'm glad I had a bib.

Even though we were stuffed, the calçots were only course one of four! We headed back inside the restaurant.

Bread and wine.

Next course: a sausage soup. It was basically like Campbell's chicken noodle soup, but someone had chucked in a couple hunks of discolored sausage links.

Be jealous.

Next course: Surprise! More sausage. 

Yum?

For dessert, we all had birthday cake for our program organizer, Kirsten's birthday.

Yum.

So basically the excursion was all about being served ridiculous amounts of sausage, but at least we had a beautiful sunny day, and plenty of wine to go around.

The next day, Alyssa, Joanna and I, met at the top of Montjuic for a picnic in the sun. 

It was a beautiful day, and after we picnicked, we walked all over the mountain. We found an area of really stunning gardens, filled with water fountains and little cafe areas. 

It was so clear that we could watch the sun set across the whole city, and as we did, we settled down in front of the art museum and listened to a man passionately play Spanish guitar.

Today, we decided to go to the beach, to enjoy this warm and sunny weather. We took the metro down to the Barcelonetta beach, and walked a while to find a perfect spot. 

Joanna!

Alyssa!

We all laid down for a while on the sand to soak up the sun, and just relax.

After a bit, we walked around the beach area, and along a pier that stretches far out into the water and is covered with adorable restaurants and happy customers enjoying their paella in the sun.

There were so many people out today, and street vendors and performers all over. 

The weather has been so amazing, and you can just feel the high energy in the air around here. I hope it lasts!

Tomorrow I start my Catalan class, which will be for 2 hours every night across town until 9pm. I am excited for it though, I've always loved language classes, and it will be fun to really get comfortable speaking Catalan. 

On a whim, Alyssa and I decided to go to Switzerland next weekend! We booked our tickets, and will be staying in Geneva for 4 days, and use couchsurfers for a place to stay. (It's a website where people surf and provide couches all over the world. It's totally free, safe, and a great way to get the onside scoop on wherever you may be!) We will be so close to France, so we are planning to cross the border for a day trip, and maybe a few more to near-by cities or into the mountains. I can't wait to see it, from what I have seen, the landscapes are just breathtaking. Once I get back I am headed to Istanbul, Turkey in a few short weeks too! I hope you are all doing very well!

Much love, 

Meg