I just got back from a surreal, “pinch me is this actually real” week of travel in Spain. It was so beautiful, and we did so much, that I don’t really know where to start. I was lucky enough to have my parents fly all the way to Europe to meet me, which merits a whole paragraph of gratitude and appreciation in itself. Top it off with the actual places we visited, namely Barcelona, Girona, and Cadeques, and there’s far too much beauty and gushing to be done in one simple blog post. So I’m going to leave you with lots of pictures.
This was definitely a vacation, although definitely more of an intellectual vacation than days spent lying on the beach. (Although if it wasn’t so windy on the coast, I would have done that too.) There was a lot of architecture and a lot of art. I saw Gaudi’s masterful Sagrada Familia, the most beautiful building I have ever set foot in, as well as his earlier work La Pedrera. I even went to Gaudi’s home and saw his toilet, which launched me into deep thought about the nature of idolizing creative genius. I saw nearly a hundred Picasso paintings in a single morning. I sat in Salvador Dali’s olive garden overlooking the Mediterranean sea while lavender waved in the distance. I took a selfie in Dali’s bathroom mirror.
Sagrada Familia, inside. Loved how the angles of the ceiling reflected the stained glass light
Just chilling on the roof of La Padrera
The view from Dali’s olive garden
There was a fair share of adventure as well. We took the scenic route along the Costa Brava and learned it was called “Brava” for a reason- you have to be brave to go there. The roads were like something out of Mario Kart, tight winding turns and with mountainside drops on one side. We spent the night in the medieval town of Girona and spent a terrifying time navigating skinny stone walled roads growing increasingly narrower. We went to the local wildlife refuge, and I saw some Black-Legged Stilts (birds) and knew they were stilts like the giant biology nerd I am. And I even had a passible conversation in Spanish, despite the fact that the region speaks mostly Catalan dialect and I haven’t practiced much since I fulfilled my language requirement first year. Shout out to Wellesley for that language requirement, though, because I got a haircut speaking what I wanted entirely in Spanish, a pretty risky thing to do…and it actually looks good!
Finally, I just wanted to say congrats to the newly admitted class of 2021! So lucky to have you joining the Wellesley community! Take some time to appreciate your achievement and savor where you are right now, and get ready for your own adventures. You’ll do just fine.
Ever lovely yours,
Eleanor