Barcelona

Last weekend, I had the wonderful chance to travel to Barcelona! Barcelona is on the coast of Spain, near France. From Salamanca, unfortunately the cheapest way to get there is on an 11 hour train ride. Which actually wasn't all that bad. We got to see a lot of Spanish countryside, and took some pretty long siestas!

In Barcelona, we shopped some, drank some Starbucks (a privilege we don't get in Salamanca), walked on the beach, ate some really great food, and saw a lot of Gaudí architecture. He designed the famous Parque Guell, La Sagrada Familia, as well as two houses (really, they're more like apartment buildings). La Sagrada Familia was my favorite. It is a cathedral, but is really unique because it's still under construction. I found it really cool, too, because all of Gaudí's inspiration came from science and nature (the columns are all designed to look like tree trunks and branches).

At En Vivo, the staff are starting to pose some hard questions of the students. This Thursday, we talked about truth. What is it? Where do we find it? How do we discern for certain what IS really true? At our Tertulia charla series, the staff have been talking about the world. What does the world need from us as a privileged people? What does it need from Christians? Why does it even matter that there is suffering in the world? The goal is to pose all of these questions to students, make them think, and show them that the Bible can help them find answers, and that faith can lead them to truth and meaning in life.

Fun facts;

• In Cataluñia, the province of which Barcelona is the capital, the language is Catalán. It's kind of a mix between Spanish and French.

• Spanish candy bars are better than their American counterparts because the Europeans put more cocoa in their chocolate than American companies do.