valencia and my last moments with bcn.

Day 36:
Somehow woke up after one hour of sleep and made my way to work just fine.  Daydreamed about Armin until I got off work, then met Cherilyn up at Plaza Catalunya for some *us* time :).  Gelato always fixes everything!  Later that night, I went out to dinner with Montse, Toni, and Andreu for a nice dinner together near the water.  We talked about the most random things and I came to realize how comforting it was to have them around this whole time in Barcelona.  Then I knocked out in the car ride home, packed my bags for Valencia, got ready for yet another weekend trip.

Day 37:

Cherilyn, Donny, the Garcias, and I arrived in Valencia and found our hotel, which was in a bit of a sketch area, but the hotel itself was quaint.  Valencia immediately surprised me.  I had no idea what the atmosphere of the city would be.. and I'm not sure what I even expected.  But I also immediately loved the old city!  It was full of baroque architecture and little nooks and corners to discover.

Agua de Valencia.  Basically just watered down orange juice..

Later on, we were wandering to find the nightlife zone, but got caught in a huge thunderstorm.  We acted like ninjas and ran from shelter to shelter and finally just settled for a random cerveceria along the road.  Of course it stopped raining completely when we got there.  Just one example of my bad luck here in Spain.

Day 38:

Spent the entire day at La Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias!  It was a strange place, I have to say.  It was kind of in the middle of nowhere and seriously was kind of like a city of its own.  Of course I was mostly there just to *experience* the architecture, so I wasn't too surprised that the content within the museums weren't so fab.  The aquarium was alright - kind of like a run-down marine world..but I liked the beluga whales!  So peaceful to watch them swim around.  And also kind of depressing.  Save the animals! :(  Later that night we went on a prowl for horchata and had a pretty funny night..ha!  I'm really sad I didn't get to catch the museum by night though.  Missed a good photo opp :(

Day 39:

Woke up at 8 to take look at the beach!  Didn't get much time, the sand was amazing!  I wish I had more time to spend there.. afterwards went back to explore the old town and tried 100 Mondaditos (thanks Nicole!!).  SO CHEAP!  A good idea for a restaurant.  Later took a bus back home and arrived with a sore throat.

Day 40:

The 20th Annual European Athletic Championships Opening Ceremony was held in Barcelona this year!  I was sick and didn't feel like going at all, but I'm glad I ended up being a part of yet another huge event in the city.  Montjuic is so beautiful, and I'm sad I wasn't able to get a seat up-close to the fountain but I'm sure it was amazinggg.  It was also cool to run into more stoods people!

Day 41:

Finally visited the Sagrada Família again.  It doesn't look like it has changed since the last time I visited (2 years ago..).  The completion year is approximately 2040..How ridiculous.

Also visited La Biblioteca de la Sagrada Família.  It was a nice library but I didn't like the design of the interior very much.

---

OKAY.  I am missing a few days.  Will finish later when I have uploaded all my photos.  And when I have time.  The past few days have been way too hectic for me.  I'm extremely exhausted and tired, mentally and physically.  But I am alive.  No matter how much bad luck I have here (don't even want to talk about it), I just have to keep going.  More later, folks.