Hola everyone! It's been yet another amazing weekend in Spain...this place never ceases to amaze me.
On Friday, my program had a daytrip to Montserrat and Codorniu Winery. Montserrat is up in the mountains of Catalonia and is absolutely gorgeous! I was freaking out on the bus ride the whole way up because we were driving around a twisty road on the edge of a cliff, slowly getting higher. But, boy, was it worth it once we were at the top. The views were amazing!
We went on a little hike up to a cross at the top of the mountain, which was beautiful. Afterwards, we went to the monastery and walked around, then went into the church to see the daily 1pm performance of the boys' choir there. There is a school for boys joined to the monastery, and the choir there is the longest running boys choir in Europe. The songs were beautiful. After the mini-concert, we went for a delicious lunch at the restaurant next to the monastery, then hopped back on the bus to head to the Codorniu Winery.
The winery and vineyards were amazing. We got a tour of the premises, which included a lot of history about the company, which has been family-run for hundreds of years. We also got to go down in the cellars and see the millions of bottles of cava (Catalonian champagne) fermenting down there. The best part was riding what we dubbed "The Cava Express," a little train that drove through the tunnels of the cellars at shockingly fast speeds.
At the end of the tour, we of course got to taste some cava, which was delicious. We learned the proper way to hold a cava glass, which is using two fingers to hold the bottom of the cup, so that the warmth from your hand does not warm up the cava's perfect temperature!
After that, we headed home to Barcelona and I took an amazing nap on the bus. That night, a bunch of us decided to go out to a club and dance the night away. I was out until 4am, which I thought was bad, only to stay out until 6am the next night! Saturday night we went to a bar called Xix, which is a gin bar that makes a bazillion different kinds of gin and tonics. I'm not a huge fan of gin an tonics, so I just got a glass of wine, but it was still fun to see. Afterwards, we went back to one of my friends' apartments and hung out before decided to try out a club called Elephant. It was a Persian-themed club...they had a lot of outdoor seating in tents with pillows and blankets. It was a great atmosphere but there were not that many people there, so I feel like it could have been more fun than it was. We still had a great time.
I slept all day Sunday and then did homework (I feel like I write this same thing about every weekend!). Tomorrow I have a lot to do to prepare for my mom's visit this week! She gets here Tuesday morning bright and early, and I am so excited for her visit! We're going to be in Barcelona during the week and then we're going to Valencia for the weekend. I'm sure we'll be enjoying some fantastic paella, since Valencia is where it originated!
I'll keep you informed with our adventures, of course. I hope everything is going well in the States. I can't believe I'll be home in less than two months...this semester is flying by! Miss and love you all!
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