We had lots of tapas while we were there, and I enjoyed all of them! They were: pan con tomate (bread with tomato), [tortilla española,] patatas bravas con salsa de queso (like tater tots or french fries with cheese sauce), calamar fritas (onion ring-style squid!), and alioli & salsa romesco (oil & garlic sauces). 
Lunch was fideua (oil, pasta, seafood, peppers) & arroz negro (black rice with seafood, oil, & peppers... all black because of squid ink!). 
Dessert = tarta/aljadre de mango (mango, powdered sugar, tart) & crema catalana (crema, caramelized sugar, eggs, milk). 
Not everyone did, but I enjoyed everything, even the fried squid (there was a tentacle one, too... it tasted the same) & the squid-inked rice mixture. We were all full by the time our actual lunch was served, so we didn't eat much of it. However, the dessert was pretty much devoured. Once we finished up at the restaurant, we travelled to another part of the port. We met up with our tour guide and went on a boat! (I was on a boat, Mamma Jamma!) We took a tour through Tarragona's port and saw lots of ships, with coal on the coast & many cargo containers, as well. It reminded me of the boattrip that Mom, Ben, and I took in the Norfolk harbor (last summer?). We all sat on the top deck of the boat, took pictures, and fought the wind (and won). 
After the boat, we went to the museum and learned a little more about Tarragona's acquatic past. We didn't stay long, but long enough to take a couple of pictures with a big captain's wheel!
Everyone went their own ways from there. Some had been planning on going somewhere outside of Tarragana to see how sangria is made & have dinner, but that idea was rejected. So everyone did different things. I went back to the apartment with the other girls here, but stopped along the way at the supermarket to buy corn flakes cereal to munch on. Back at the apartment, I was on the computer talking to people, blogging, & putting pictures on Facebook. We went to dinner at the residence, where I had bread (duh), french fries, salad with balsalmic vinaigrette, and chicken. I took coconut yogurt & a pear home to eat this morning with breakfast. From dinner we went to La Rambla for gelato and/or coffee. Can you guess which one I got? Hello gelato, my love! This time I tried apple pie gelato... it was so good! Add that to my list of favorites. It was really nice sitting outside of the Cappuccino shop, talking and enjoying each other's company. 
That's my kind of environment... not so much the party scene. (Although, I do love a good dance party!) We left around 10:30pm and walked back to the apartment. Once here, I was on the computer for a while and eventually went to sleep.I finally awoke / got up this morning at 7:20 and got ready for our day in Barcelona! The hot water here is a guest just passing through, so I have a feeling that showering will become a much shorter adventure. I had a few handfuls of corn flakes and my coconut yogurt for breakfast. Nutritious! :) We all met up downstairs & walked to Portal de Roser, where we met Gerard and our bus. We received bag lunches the residencia prepared for us, and we were surprised to see Belkys & Kevin stay behind when we left. No professors today! I slept for most of the hour-long bus ride, but ate my granola bar I brought & the glazed doughnut from the packed lunch. I figured I'd complete my breakfast some. The first place was the Fútbol Club Barcelona stadium & store. We couldn't go in the stadium, but we roamed the store and took some fun pictures. Some bought things, and I enjoyed the experience! It's really cool how much of a family that team seems to be. "Més que un Club." ["More than a Club."]
Then we went close to the top of a mountain [Montjuic], overlooking all the buildings of Barcelona. It was such a cool scene! We could see La Sagrada Familia very easily - it stuck out far from all the others. Also featured at this place was a skyrail kind of thing, where you ride in a car along a line for a certain distance above the town. How cool would that be? There was a pretty waterfall area where more pictures were taken. 
That is also where my camera scared me! It told me to change the battery pack, meaning that the battery had died. What?! It had JUST had 2 battery bars. I was so bummed out. However... it worked again after taking the battery out & putting it back in. Back to 2 battery bars, but it soon went down tto one... so I was careful the rest of the day. I had been really bummed that I wasn't going to be able to take pictures the rest of the day because after that park we went to La Sagrada Familia! Designed by Gaudí, what a spectacular creation. There is still a lot of construction happening on it, trying to build the last towers. It was started in the 1800s. On the exterior, there is a Gaudí side and a side where a different sculptor created it. They are different styles, but both are beautiful in their own way. The holy family was represented in a nativity scene on the front of the building, and that was probably my favorite part of the whole thing. 
We saw the outside & also went inside for a little while and experienced the museum part of it. There is one model of how Gaudí designed the building - there are bags of sand hung at different lengths & gathered strategically... all to represent the Sagrada Familia as it would look like upside-down. So creative.
After we left there, we went to Parc Güell to eat lunch. I had been munching on my egg sandwich for a while & finished that on the bus, so I ate part of my turkey sandwich & my apple. It was a cool park that contained street musicians, a great view of the city, a restroom built into the stone like a cave, a museum dedicated to Gaudí, and a long, tiled wall & bench to sit and do things like eat lunch... convenient. 
From there we went to a main part of the city by a different park & parked the bus. We had a walking tour planned, but no one felt like doing it, so we went straight into free time instead. Shopping! Grant, Laura, Jillian, Jordin, & I spent our time walking down La Rambla (Barcelona has one, too!), stopping in souvenir shopts and street vendors along the way. There were many live statues - some creepy, some neat. 
The place was really crowded, but I guess that's any Saturday in Barcelona. In many stores we went to, the employees would make deals with us for the products we were interested in or seemed to be interested in. It's great getting good deals, but awkward being followed around the small stores sometimes. Also on La Rambla, we stopped by a huge fruit, vegetable, & meat market. It was super crowded so we didn't walk through it, but I got a coconut pineapple smoothie. Yum! 
We all met back up at the bus with our leader Paco and headed back to Tarragona. I slept for part of the way back... pretty refreshing :) I also finished my turkey sandwich in that time. We were dropped off at the apartments (thank goodness) before they continued to the dorm, and now I'm sitting on our porch, overlooking the sun shining behind some clouds over mountains and part of the city. 
We're going to leave for dinner & gelato soon. I could get used to this. :)
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