My first visitor!

I woke up early Sunday morning (that's a rare occurrence) to go and pick up Christopher from the Barcelona airport.  He came to see me Sunday through Wednesday and headed back home on Thursday morning.  It was a bit crazy because he had just finished his winter quarter and therefore was on spring break, whereas I was in the process of completing my last week of class before spring break, with a lovely final exam on Wednesday night.  But I am happy to say that with that final I am done with one class already (Catalán), I got to see my boyfriend in Barcelona, and in a few hours I will head to Italy for spring break, followed by Greece the second week of April.

On Sunday, I took Christopher to everyone's favorite sandwich shop, "Bo de B," and we walked around by the port.  Luckily, Barcelona had beautiful weather this week, unlike the cloudy/drizzly mist it experienced last week.

Later that afternoon, we met up with Heidy in an attempt to see the fountain shows at Plaza Espanya, but I think it may have been too early in the season since spring has barely started.  However, we walked through the Venetian towers and climbed the stairs/escalators to get to el Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC), from which we had a nice view of the city.

At night, we went to Dow Jones.  Akansha and Gabby P. also had friends visiting, so we all got together to chat over some drinks.

On Monday, we met up with Chris's mom and aunt for lunch at their hotel off of La Rambla.  Afterwards, Chris and I joined my friends to walk around El Borne with a nice guided tour by history major and year-long EAP student, Ben (haha).  Thanks to Jackie for being my photographer for the day!

Excited tour guide.

Excited tour goers.

Next stop: churros con chocolate, because everyone has to have it at least once.  

Heidy demonstrating how delicious this Spanish treat is.

At night, I decided to take Chris on a walk to see some of the famous sites in my neighborhood, close to my apartment.

La Sagrada Familia y el Arco de Triunfo

Funny graffiti.

Parc Ciutadella at night.

Tuesday was a lazy day.  On Wednesday, Christopher's last day in Barcelona, we went to Parc Guell.  We first grabbed some breakfast at a café close to me, where Christopher got a taste of some traditional Spanish food: a ham and cheese sandwich, pan con tomate, and Spanish tortilla.

Then it was off to my favorite place in Barcelona: Gaudí's Parc Guell!

That night, we went to Heidy's birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant in El Borne.  Thanks for coming to see me, Christopher!  Hope you enjoyed Barcelona.

Tonight, I am beginning my 2 week spring break adventure with Heidy, Jackie, Danisha, and Kevin.  We will be heading to Italy, starting in Pisa and making our way down to Pompeii.  The second week of April, we will fly to Athens, Greece and make our way to the island of Santorini!  

And with that, this marks the halfway point of my time here in Europe.