Before I go into my weekend, I thought I share what I did during the week. I had an assignment from my Spanish History class (taught by the talented Alex Fernandez de Castro) to visit the Museu D’Història De Catalunya. Before this class, I had no idea how complicated and how much hardship Spain has suffered to become what it is today. No idea about the Catalans and what the 2nd republic was and how that was linked to World War II. It’s all becoming so interesting to me and although I’m not a very political person, this class has become my favourite class in ESADE.

Sophia, Cherrie, and I went together to the museum and we had a list of questions to complete. I definitely recommend history enthusiast to come check it out! Also students get in for free with their student ID card (bonus!). It took us nearly 2 hours to search for all our answers because there was just so much to see and read. Afterwards, we got tired and started being silly around the displays. I had no idea if I was allowed to touch everything…but I did haha!

Now on to the weekend… although it wasn’t Spain’s Thanksgiving weekend (do they have one?), it was for Canada and that’s what matters. And even though, I’ve talked to my mum every week through WeChat, I still miss her, mostly the food and the benefit of not doing my own laundry and grocery shop. I miss having extra free time to just relax and watch movies and catch up on pop culture. Now, with taking 6 courses and going to school three days (Mon-Wed) a week and weekend for either homework or travels, I barely have time to work on this blog or shop!—but anywho enough complaining… This week Melissa, Erika, and Derek came to visit!

They are currently staying in Vienna right now for exchange (I’m going to visit in Dec) with my girl Claire and of course, I did what I could to show them around Barcelona and introduce them to the Spanish nightlife. I first met up with them at the beach (Port Olímpic) and we chilled with my good friend Don Simon (best sangria in a bottle!). Since it’s already October, the beach weather has come and gone (no more Mr. Sun for working up a tan). But the temperature was still warm enough for t-shirts and shorts. Melissa and Erika were brave enough to go into the ocean water and collected a bunch of shells and rocks—are they even allow to bring those on RyanAir?

After the beach, we went our separate ways and met up for dinner at L’Avia (second time going), because they were craving paella and cheap eats. We were so stuffed and of course we ordered way too much as usual (we had a whole chicken!). And like any good host would do, we went to Chupitos and pre-gamed with 2 euro shots. As usual, it was packed with exchange students and travellers. After they experienced having their shots on fire, we taxi’ed to Opium and made it in time for free cover (before 2am)! This was my second time at Opium and last time I was there, there weren’t any dancers or electro-violinist. It was so cool this time around!

The next day, I felt so lazy and I ended up just doing some laundry before meeting up with Melissa, Erika, and Derek for the Magic Fountain show in Plaça d’Espanya. This was  my first time seeing it up close and personal. The show only plays during the weekends (Fri – Sun) and during different time slots in the day. It reminded me a bit like the fountain show in front of the Bellagio in Vegas. There was music playing and different colour of lights shining at the water. I could see why couples would want to spend their romantic evening here.

For dinner, we went to La Fonda (recommended by Sophia, you can find her food blog here). The restaurant looks super fancy and you would think their prices must be outrageously expensive and afterwards, we would probably have to go to McDonald’s to stuff our faces. However, their prices are very reasonable and affordable for students. They had a great dinner deal. Order 1 paella per two people for 7.9 euros each person. We went with one seafood paella and one black rice paella. We also ordered a side dish of cod with this mustard sauce. The cod was kind of a let down, but the paella, wow it was good. I loved the black rice paella so much. It was super flavourful and the reason why it was black is because there’s squid ink in the dish. The portion was definitely shareable and still filling even for four people. However, the service was quite slow and since, they make their paellas fresh (they gotta boil the rice, etc), so it took some time before we got our food…and we were starving! (sorry, I totally forgot to take pictures before eating ahaha)

Instead of going out for the second night in a row, we went back to Mel’s hostel to pop open a bottle of champaign and sangria, and played cards. Their hostel was similar to a flat, shared washrooms, kitchen, and lounge, with a room full of bunk beds. The girl running the hostel was very friendly and she even sat down to play a round of cards with us. Almost 2am, I bid my good byes because they had a train to catch (back to Vienna) around 3am and I was beginning to fall asleep too.

On Sunday, I organized a Thanksgiving Dinner with Una, Sophia, and Cherrie. It was my first Thanksgiving in Spain, so I thought we should make it special, not your good ol’average Joe turkey and pumpkin pie dinner. It was a very cultural potluck and I made chicken chow mein and mixed veggie stirr-fry, while Una made baked salmon, rice, and salad. Cherrie made chicken wings (my fave~) and spicy hot and sour soup, and Sophia “attempted” to make desert crepes (good effort on her part, but…failed). Everybody did a great job making dinner happen. I was so full, I barely had room for desert (I ended up making my own crepe haha).

It felt super nice to have a homemade sit-down dinner with friends from UBC and new friends too. Also, I don’t normally cook back in Vancouver, let alone cook for other people (I’m lazy and once people know you can cook, they will ask you to cook for them all the time -_-;;). But nonetheless, I’m a great cook and I can take care of myself. So far, I haven’t had any complaints about my cooking yet, so I consider that a success story!

Anywho, I know this is a (pretty) late post about Thanksgiving, but I am curious, did you celebrate Thankgiving and what did you have?

Cheers,

Kevin