Barcelona!

Hi!

I would have to say that this may have been the best vacation so far! I think it is tied with last weekend! On Wednesday morning we drove for about two hours to Zaragoza. We were only in Zaragoza for an hour or so. We went into La Seo de Zaragoza. La Seo is a cathedral/temple of sorts. It was really actually refreshing because it was different from the other cathedrals from a structural standpoint. 

After La Seo, we drove for four hours to Barcelona! Once we got to Barcelona, we dropped our stuff in our hotel room (which I forgot to take a picture of :( ) and we went to dinner. We were able to get some sort of deal and actually ended up going there two nights in a row, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

Me and my friend Natalie:

Thursday morning- woke up and had breakfast. We then headed out and went to the Parque Guell. 

We were at the park and one of the craziest things that I have seen in Spain thus far happened.

Before:

After:

Here's what happened. One minute I am looking at an umbrella with earrings on it while listening to a man annoyingly yell prices at me. The next minute I hear some low grumblings of people's voices and I see some panicked looks. Rain. It is about to rain and no one knows what to do with all the things they are selling. I knew I should have been a detective or something. Except I was totally wrong. Thirty seconds after I hear the grumbling, I head yelling and motorcycles and all of the sudden everyone is throwing the things they are selling into bags and running for their lives. Five seconds later cops show up and start nabbing people right and left. These people were selling their "products" without a permit. The cops didn't negotiate one bit, they just took all of their "products" and drive away. Brutal but you gotta do what ya gotta do! It was incredible to watch though. Ten minutes later, the little plaza was filled with people illegally selling their things once again. Like a little kid that gets in trouble...and then goes right back to doing it again!

Here Bro...thought you would enjoy this. If a career in medicine doesn't work out, there is still hope. 

After the Parque Guell, we drove to La Sagrada Familia. We were let out of the bus to walk around it for about twenty minutes but then we had to get back on the bus and leave because the line was too long to go inside. We were then given an hour to go and grab some lunch. Me and some friends went to find a place to eat and we ended up at some sort of Spanish/American/Italian place. The funniest part was that we all ordered water and the waiter brought us a bottle to split between the five of us- that's it. So...we had to ration our water and we let Ben take control of dividing it between the five of us. So funny!

After lunch we were able to go back to La Sagrada Familia and go inside- which I was very happy about!  

So this is a picture of a digram of the outside of La Sagrada Familia. I am sorry that it probably isn't very clear. On the left side it says what each sculpture represents and what story it tells. It starts with the Last Supper and ends with the ascension. If you zoom in on the picture you can see it. 

Zoom in on the numbers...

Zoom in on the number for the ascension...

Numbers and what they represent...

Here are some of the pictures. I am sorry that they may not be in order, but I am going to try my best.

Number four:

Number three:

Number two:

Number eight:

Number ten:

Number ?

Number ?

Number ?

Number five:

Number 11:

I am sorry that I wasn't sure on some of those and I may have not gotten all of them. Anyway, I loved La Sagrada Familia. LOVED IT. 

Antonio Gaudí is known for his interest in la naturaleza. If you take out the "g" out of gaudí you get audi. If you take "uraleza" out of naturaleza you get nat. Like Audi Turley and Nat Castillo. Like so:

After La Sagrada Familia, we went to two different little museums. One was a Picasso and the other was Juan Miró. They were interesting but we were all very tired by the end of the day. Here are some pictures of me and some of my friends outside of the museum!

Me and my friend Carson:

Me and my friend Whitney:

Me and my friend Michael. Who picked me up out of no where with one arm and Whitney took a picture right as it happened. Hilarious. 

After that crazy day, we went back to the same place as the night before for dinner. I got some pasta, except there were only about five noodles. So me and my friend Kylie may or may not have gone to the mexican restaurant next door right after and ordered a quesadilla. :) That night, Kylie and I just chilled with some other friends and called it a night!

In the morning, we all got up and went to the two Gaudí houses. 

Notice the cute scarf I bought at the Parque Guell :)

The houses were really cool. Gaudí really is a genius. 

Bro, I saw this is one of the house museums. I thought of you :)

After the houses, we went to lunch and then we all met up and headed back to the hotel. Me and some friends actually ended up hoping of the bus before the hotel because we wanted to go to the beach. 

It was really beautiful and there weren't very many people there, which is always nice!

After a little bit of walking on the beach, we went and grabbed some dinner. After dinner, we got on the metro and went back to "Las Ramblas" which is one of the main hang out places in Barcelona. We just talked and hung out and I had some pineapple gelato that was divine. I almost got more- but I didn't. I had a really fun night! 

The next morning we got up and we got all packed up to start heading back. On our way, we stopped at a place called Montserrat. It is a monastery in the mountains. 

After the monastery, we headed back to Alcalá! Great trip! I can't believe I only have one trip left!

I can't wait to see my family in 12 days! :)

Love always,
Natalie Christine 

Córdoba, Granada & Sevilla

Long week but great week! Monday and Tuesday were full of running around, but they were great days! On Tuesday I actually got the change to go back to the temple again. I went with two other girls in my group and I had a great experience. I was in the Madrid temple (Spanish), and I was baptized and confirmed by a guy from Portugal in English, but he baptized and confirmed his friends in Portuguese but we were all baptized and confirmed for names from Germany! Talk about the gospel in action! It was so cool! Bright and early on Wednesday morning we started our journey. First stop: where Don Quijote fights the giants!

When Miguel de Cervantes writes this part of the book, this is the exact place that he is writing about! Also, the movie was filmed in the spot as well!

After we walked around there for a little bit, we got back on the bus and drove to Córdoba!

As soon as we got to Córdoba, we took a tour of La Mezquita.

This was probably one of my favorite sites that we have seen so far. We spent a lot a time in my 345 history class learning about the architecture of this building. The top arch is called an "arco de medio punto", which is literally just a half circle. The one directly below it is called "la herradura", which is an arch in the shape of a horseshoe.

We also walked through a little neighborhood after La Mezquita. Right now in Córdoba, a festival called  Concurso Popular de Patios. All of the little houses compete against each other to see who can have the best patio of flowers!

After La Mezquita, we drove three more hours into Sevilla.

On the drive, I noticed that there are fields and fields of sunflowers! It was incredible!

Once we got to our room...

...we dropped our stuff and we all went out to dinner. We went to a little restaurant where we had some appetizers and paella. They at least expected us so there was some organization which I appreciated :)

The next morning we had breakfast and hit the road! Before I went down to breakfast though, I took a couple shots of the view outside out window!

Beautiful, no?

First we went to the Real Alcázar- which is one of the last and best examples left of mudéjar architecture. It was like a Utopia.

Me and my friend, Claudia. 

Yeah, that's a PEACOCK!

Me and my friend, Whitney.

We also went to the biggest cathedral in Spain, fourth biggest in Europe. No big deal. It also has the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Again, no big deal.

The tomb of Christopher Columbus:

After we walked through the cathedral, we were able to walk to the top of the highest tower. 34 levels. The view, however, was well worth it.

After that, we had free time after that and went shopping and walked around for a while. At nine o'clock we met back at the hotel and we went as a group to a Flamanco dance performance! It was so cool and one of the guys that was singing and dancing was quite beautiful. To put it lightly. Don't worry, Hermana Stallings (the program director's wife) got a picture with all of us girls and him! :)

The next morning, after breakfast, we headed out to our next destination, Granada. However, before we left Sevilla we had to stop here:

Here is a picture off of google that is a little better:

This is the Plaza de España. It was built for a world fair and is now used for different offices. It is also known as...

Naboo, in episode II of Star Wars! I am sure Nicholas could fill you in more but I think I have it right!

When we got to Granada. We dropped our stuff in the hotel...

...not too shabby!

And then we went to La Alhambra. La Alhambra is the only Musulman castle left. Beautiful, beautiful and beautiful.

Me and my friends Eli and Hope:

After we ate dinner, we went to an Arab market! You can only imagine how much I loved it! I got a little mirror from here. It was a little scary but very cool as well!

We went home after that and we all went to bed. In the morning we woke up and got all packed up, breakfast and headed home. We stopped at the birthplace of Federico Garcia Lorca. He was the most famous poet of Spain. We were only there for about thirty minutes.

Then, we headed home on the five hour bus ride! Good thing I can sleep easily on buses.

Dad, this one's for you :)

 You belong here Dad!

This shirt got me laughing SO hard!

I had a great weekend!

I love my family and I miss them more than I ever thought possible- I am such a lucky girl to have them in my life!

Love always,
Natalie Christine