Spain

Barcelona 

There are many beautiful sight seeing ventures that one will experience on the way to Spain. One of the most beautiful parts of this trip is a place called Plaça Catalunya it is a large central square in Barcelona. With just a simple look one can embrace the beauty of fountains, sculptures, and grass verges it is a very beautiful part of the city. Another place  we learned about and saw on the trip was a gothic church called La Sagrada Familia which means Church of the Holy Family.

 Since 1882 La Sagrada Familia has become an Emblematic landmark of the city .Each side of the church was been created and designed by a different artist and architect, each part is specifically designed to tell a specific part of the bible.



The exterior of La Sagrada Familia has two facades, one dedicated to the birth of Christ and one dedicated  to his death.  A third facade which will refer to Jesus resurrection  is not yet complete. When the cathedral is done it should have  18 towers ;12 dedicated to the apostles, 4 to the evangelists, one to the Virgin Mary, and the highest ,which will stand over 550 feet, to Jesus .This has got to be the most beautiful thing in Spain and one of the most interesting things to learn about. If you are from a religious background things like this will be great to see and learn about. Even if a person doesn't care about religion and just have a passion for beautiful architecture.  With just a glance at the La Sagrada Familia one can get lost in all the stories the architecture is trying to tell.

Many students who were on the trip often used free time to go shopping, in Spain  there was a big food market that everyone was encouraged  to check out.  They had everything from fruits of all  kind to any meat you could name. During this time we did a lot of  eating and shopping because there were a lot of street venders that sold great souvenirs for a cheap prices. For example, there were a lot of name brand stores; the shopping in Barcelona seemed endless.  Some students even found  time to go to the beach, the beach experience was a little different then America. In Barcelona the sun is hasrher than it is on American beaches. On the Barcelona beach to my surprise there were a lot of topless women tanning where in the U.S. this is rare.

While we were in Spain we used the Metro also known as the train as a source of  transportation. The trains in Spain put the ones in New York City to shame, The trains  in Europe come every three minutes and on time.  Their train stations are very clean which tells a lot about the culture. Compare to America we can be very dirty, we throw things on the train tracks ,the subways are rundown ,dirty, and infested with rats. In Spain the subways are very clean and instead of there being more seating space then standing space there is more space to stand.