Life, Love, & Law: Las vacaciones en España! (Spring Break in Spain!)

This year I spent my spring break in Spain and it was absolutely amazing! From the culture, to the nightlife, from the food and sangria to the scenery, everything thing about Spain was just fabulous.

My trip to Spain began in Barcelona on Friday. Because of an airline mishap, K & I didn't arrive in the city until evening and by the time we reached our hotel, it was late evening. After settling in, we planned to begin our evening in Plaza Reial-- "planned" being the operative word-- an area of the city which is home to a lot of bars. After Google Map searching directions from our hotel to the Plaza we began walking towards where we thought the Plaza was located. Along the way, we stopped at a tapas bar (they literally line the streets) for a bite to eat and some pre-bar drinks. Since I was in Spain, I felt it only right to indulge myself with a large glass of sangria. After some small talk with the owner of the bar who was impressed by my Spanish and the fact that we were studying law at Oxford (it's literally the Harvard of Europe), we continued on towards Plaza Reial-- just in the wrong direction. SMH! Everyone that we asked seemed to point us in the same direction, yet we ended up nearly back at the hotel where we started! Finally, at about 1:30 AM when were headed in the right direction, we encountered some club promoters who convinced us to ditch the bar that we planned to go to and head to their party instead. After some hesitation, we decided to get it a try... BEST DECISION EVER! The club felt like a little slice of Americana and OF COURSE, the fans loved us! The DJ played all of the best American party selections and the club didn't close until 6 AM! (Barcelonans love to party!)

Getting back to the hotel at nearly 6 AM, we set ourselves up for a long day on Saturday. Up and out of the hotel before noon, the first stop on our self-guided tour of Barcelona was Sagrada Familia (translated to "The Holy Family"). Construction of the temple began in 1882 and although it was never officially completed, Sagrada Familia is perhaps Spain's most famous landmark. Walking up to the temple, the first thing I noticed were the multitude of scaffolds and cranes surrounding the church which detracted from its grandeur. Inside the temple, however, was absolutely stunning. There were huge columns built to resemble the trees and branches of a forest, skylights, religious depictions and much more.

After visiting Sagrada Familia, we took the Metro to the Gothic Quarters where we visited the Picasso Museum. Like Sagrada Familia, Picasso was another subject that I had studied extensively during undergrad in my Spanish classes. Most of my studies focused on Picasso's cubism, rose, and blue periods, so I was surprised to see the vast number of works that conformed to none of those periods. (I'll include a picture of my favorite painting below-- I'm SO upset that I cannot remember its name!) Later that night, we met up with some fellow Law Dawgs who were also in Barcelona for the weekend. After a dinner of authentic paella accompanied by a few glasses of sangria, we went to a flamenco show. One word-- INCREDIBLE! The accompanying Spanish guitar and singing were great, but the flamenco dancing was perfection. The dancer performed for about 15 minutes straight without breaking a sweat or losing her breath. I've never seen anything like it!

After the flamenco show, we hopped on the metro and went to the world-famous Opium Nightclub on the beach. I say it's "world-famous" because nearly all of our friends who have had the chance to visit Barcelona told us to make sure we went there. The next morning before heading to the airport, we rented bikes and rode around the city, stopping at the Port D'Barcelona for pictures and tapas.

Late that night after hours of traveling, we arrived in Mallorca, Spain. The town we stayed in, Alcudia, was probably the most gorgeous place I've ever seen. The vast Mediterranean Sea juxtaposed with the mountains in the town was absolutely breathtaking. Alcudia is a quaint and quiet port town on the Mediterranean, so our time there was very low key. We did a lot of eating (some of the best food ever!), a lot bike riding through the town, and a lot of relaxing. Perfect ending to our Spanish vacation!