dublin and all sorts of other nonsense

So much has been going on for the past week or so. I keep meaning to blog in a more timely manner i swear. the weekend before last there was an extreme sports festival in barcelona. it felt like the tony hawk tour all over again. in the best way possible. pedro and his friends took me to the event because they knew some of the skaters and surfers so it was actually a pretty awesome time. there was a giant hill covered in snow that they brought just for the snowboarders and skiiers to be able to show off their tricks. I think that was my favorite part. because seriously, how often do you see snowboard tricks on the beach in the middle of an arena in october...come on. it ruled. and we watched a ton of skating contests. here are some pictures of the event.

















later on in the week, aka last thursday, there was a protest on via laietana. which is the street our school is on. So we had to walk through the protest in order to get home and i was so excited to feel like i was a part of the political struggle haha. ok so not really, but it was fun trying to figure out what everyone was yelling about in spanish. all we could figure out was that it had something to do with the police...as always. here are some pictures of the protest. and there was also some sort of box filled with fireworks that would explode every few minutes and make this loud annoying noise and blow smoke throughout the street...so hi tech i know haha.

angry protestors: pauline, pernille, bart (our new roomate) and wouter (who just moved out. very sad..no more little brother around the house)








and the most exciting news is how i went to ireland for the weekend. well not really the whole weekend but whatever. i went to go visit andy since i hadn't seen him in way too long. While he was working during the day, I went around Dublin and did the whole nerdy sightseeing thing by myself. i had never been in a foreign country by myself without a purpose of school or something like that. it was actually pretty fun. i went all around Dublin and saw so many amazing things and I even went to the Guinness Brewery and had a beer while i was on the phone with my mom. Hey, at least it didn't feel like i was a total creep drinking alone, since she was on the phone with me haha. After all my sightseeing, my phone ran out of minutes and i realized that i couldnt put more money in it until i was back in bcn so i was in ireland without a phone... thank god for this skype business because it saved my life. after the phone fiasco, i went to meet up with andy. the show was absolutely incredible. ive never seen so many kids sing along to everything haha. their set was great and i took a ton of pictures with my polaroid, digital and fish eye. Spending the weekend in ireland was one of the best times ive had since i left the US. easily top 3. but here are my pictures of ireland and the show. hopefully i'll be able to post videos soon.




oscar wilde park









st. paul's cathedral



st. paul's cathedral



the guinness brewery!









hey look, other native americans like guinness



see, guinness understands true beauty haha



view of dublin from the brewery



delish






museum of modern art



oldest jail in dublin. where they definitely kept a 5 yr old girl for breaking the law..nice one.



this park is twice the size of central park. insane.



city hall



river liffey



all hail the Larkin family. nbd.



the fob show:









the crowd





now im back in bcn. back to teaching.. oh idk if i forgot to mention. but im a teacher now. i teach english every mon and wednesday night for a couple hours. i teach adults after theyre off work. its pretty interesting. i love teaching english though. i get to teach spanish people how to speak like californians haha. ohh the power. anyway, im a working girl. making mad bills obviously haha. but im going to liverpool in 3 days to go visit claire. i cant wait to see her. and i cant wait to be in liverpool. i'll let you all know how everything goes.
oh and i have to do a special shout out of love to ALEXIS!! i got a letter in the mail today yesterday from alexis. all the way from canada. thats love. please send me letters, you have no idea how happy it makes me. love you all so much. and if any of you want to send me something im going to post my address one more time.

c/o: Kendra Larkin
Barcelona Plus
Via Laietana 15, 1A 2A 08003
Barcelona, Spain

peace&love.
xo.

I can't believe it's almost been a month!

A lot has happened in the past week and a half or so. La Merce is a huge festival that happens here in Barcelona and the entire city turns itself inside out and has games, parades and parties all day and night long for five days. I went to a couple concerts and caught some light shows and parades. Here are some pictures of the light show that was close to our school. They projected images of different things on this building and played music to go along with it- it was pretty entertaining.




















Once La Merce was over, there were some problems in my apt. My old roommate brought bed bugs into our apt and a few of us girls were covered from head to toe in bites. It was so annoying for a while, but no worries everyone, I am fine. I don’t have any more bites and the apt was fumigated so problem solved. Normally I wouldn’t say anything about the fact that I had really attractive bites all over my arms, but this blog is supposed to be about everything that happens to me in Barcelona. So I’m not holding anything back.

One night last week Julia and I went exploring around the city and ended up at a really awesome little carnival by the marina. We went on some insane ride and the best part was that you get to see Barcelona while spinning all around and upside down. So I get to say ive seen Barcelona in a whole new light haha. After the carnival and some crepes we went down past Barceloneta and walked along the beach at night.











Last Tuesday night there was a free concert at Arc de Triomf. It was a drum and bass concert, so unless you’re Avtar and you enjoy that kind of mess, it was like putting needles into my eardrums. Sorry to all fans, but I just can’t vibe with the whole house and drum and bass thing. But to everyone in my apt, it was a huge deal since Goldie and a bunch of other really famous artists were performing for free. It was soo crowded and fun being able to participate in something that’s honestly so different from the type of concerts I normally attend.








Last week I also went to the Picasso museum and snuck a few pictures…shh. The museum was incredible and I can’t wait to go check out some more museums around the city.










gaudi building!




I also finally got a chance to get to the beach. I’ve been spending a lot of my free time at the beach just because it’s so calm down there and I can ride my bike around the coast since it’s not as crowded. Here are some pictures of the beach.







look at those tan lines...




And yes, that’s right- I got a bike!!! I love my bike so much. I’ve been riding so much. My body wasn’t ready to ride for 4 hours a day, but now its all whipped into shape. Julia and I spent 4 hours riding around trying to see La Sagrada Familia and couldn’t find it, but we did find our school, an elephant boneyard and an Ikea…













school




On Saturday night I was fortunate enough to get tickets to the BCN vs. Madrid Atletico futbol game. It was so amazing and even though our seats were up in the very top section, we had a perfect view! The game was held in the biggest stadium in all of Europe, so clearly I took tons of pictures. And if you don’t follow futbol, then I’d like to brag that Barcelona won 6-1. They scored the first 5 points in the first 20 minutes of the game, it was honestly unbelievable. Here are some pictures of the game and the stadium.




the beginning of the game












fcbarcelona




Now that I’m a bike owner (take that Brooklyn), I have been doing a lot more sightseeing by myself. On Monday I headed down to the marina and went to the Aquarium. Apparently I am the only person to have found the area with the penguins and the sting- ray tank so I’m pretty stoked to be the only one in this apt to have seen them. Cherish these pictures haha. After the aquarium, I went to see Torre Agbar and was pretty let down. From all of the postcards, I was expecting to see this gorgeous, tall building with shiny lights all over it. However, when I arrived, I discovered an old beat down building with windows missing. I’m sure in its time, it was just as beautiful as the postcards claim, but as of today, that building is pretty shoddy. After this I went to La Sagrada Familia, which was not a let down at all. It was completely breathtaking and I wanted to take a million pictures from every possible angle, but I realize that you guys probably don’t want to see all of that haha. So here are a few pictures of La Sagrada Familia and Torre Agbar.







can someone please tell me what this fish is?


















torre agbar



la sagrada familia
















Yesterday I rode my bike up to the mountains and went to Castle Montjuic, the giant garden that’s on the top of the mountain and the Olympic Stadium. I had to park my bike at the base, trek halfway up, then take a cable car to the top of the mountain. It was well worth the trip because the castle was gorgeous and you have the perfect view of the city when youre at the top. The Olympic stadium was also pretty cool and I had no idea that the Olympics happened in Barcelona in 1992…doesn’t that sound like it wa forever ago…geez Here are some pictures of the cable car ride because I am fascinated by these things and I had a blast being able to soar through the sky on the wings of an eagle...more or less. And more pictures of the Olympic stadium and Castle Montjuic.

castle montjuic




































jail






olympic stadium



















So this post has been incredibly long. Now that I’ve found an internet café where I can bring my laptop, I’m hoping to update more frequently so you guys don’t have to read all of these long posts. I hope you’ve all made it to the bottom of this post. Breathe easy kids, I’m done writing. I hope youre all doing well. Peace!