london | borough market & covent garden

clockwise from the top left: andy, jamie, selina, alex, eunice, dan, tiffany, linde

the beauty of studying abroad for the first time transcends the travels & the novelty of it all.

rather, it is the people that make those experiences worth remembering and sharing

time and time again.

on a drizzly saturday morning,

eight of us met up near our first destination at the london bridge tube station.

eunice visited borough market earlier in the semester with a friend,

so my mind was preoccupied with thoughts of how delicious eunice kept saying the food was.

little did i know, borough market is actually one of the oldest markets in london

and showcases food from various places around the world.

you know, i can't say for sure why all of the pictures i took seem to have been of the more odd items.

i actually realized this as i reviewed the photos from the day

and thought to myself that i could have sworn 

i took some pictures of the miniature cheese squares & bite-sized cheesecakes.

au contraire.

after a bit of aimless meandering through rows of vendors,

we headed to the indoor part of the market, 

seeking out hot food to counteract the rain-spattering wind.

we walked by several food stands,

but i couldn't stop thinking about the first one that we passed.

call me unadventurous (i prefer nostalgic),

but i knew when i saw the oversized pan filled with the familiar rice + seafood dish from barcelona,

my heart was set.

after lunch and a brief visit to the gift shop at london tower bridge,

we went back underground and rode the tube to our next destination: covent garden.

i watched the holiday for the first time during my sophomore year of high school

and have always remembered the scene when kate winslet, under the spell of unrequited love,

presents rufus sewell with his christmas present - the first edition of a book,

which she found hidden in a little bookshop in covent garden.

the grand finale of the day was a post-thanksgiving dinner prepared by the group.

jamie headed a massive shopping trip to sainsbury's,

and with a divide-and-conquer plan of action, 

we managed to gather all of the necessary supplies in a relatively short amount of time.

i met four of the people in the first image of this post for the first time last fall.

we spent a mere one and a half days wandering the nooks and crannies of london,

but it was one of the most memorable weekends of my semester.

on a thanksgiving weekend away from home,

i was given much to be thankful for - delicious food, new friendships, & a lovely group of people to spend the very american holiday with in england.

barcelona | la sagrada familia

how do i even begin to describe the beauty that is 

antoni gaudi's sagrada familia?

this roman catholic church in catalonia is, without a doubt,

one of the most awe-inspiring structures that i encountered in my europe travels.

the construction of sagrada familia commenced in 1883,

and, in its early years, it was largely overseen by the brilliant architect antoni gaudi,

whose work was highly influenced by elements of geometry & nature.

studying abroad in england provided me the opportunity of traveling far & wide,

though, i often needed to bring my schoolwork along with me.

reading shakespeare's antony and cleopatra livened the long wait,

and it also gave me an excuse to ignore the men who were attempting to sell us 

ridiculously overpriced bottled water.

gaudi was so devoted to this project

that, towards the end of his life, he sold all of his property

& moved into the church to better oversee its design and construction.

when gaudi died in 1926, the church was only 15-20% complete.

as can be seen, it is currently still in the process of construction, 

with many of its greatest challenges still looming.

they hope to have everything completed by 2026 - the centennial of gaudi's death.

we rode a circular escalator to the top of one of the completed towers,

and the view was breathtaking.

being someone who is relatively fearful of great heights,

climbing the narrow staircases was a challenge,

but the view was well worth my many held breaths & skipped heartbeats.

i took this photograph after walking down the hundreds of stairs to the base of the tower.

here is a perfect example of gaudi's incorporation of the fibonacci sequence.

each of the columns is meant to resemble tree trunks growing up towards the ceiling.

the church's design intends for 3 façades: the nativity, the passion, & the glory.

i captured these photographs of the second, which faces the setting sun (indicative of Christ's death).

in contrast to the nativity façade, this one is much more simple and austere.

it is dedicated to the passion of Christ

and is carved with harsh straight lines to resemble a skeleton that has been reduced to bone.

furthermore, it is intended to portray the sins of man.

revisiting these pictures this past easter weekend was a perfect reminder of God's promise.

the suffering that Jesus took on to bear our sins 

is something i still have a hard time wrapping my head around.

at the end of the day, as dan was returning our audio guides to the office,

i found myself walking past this interesting cottage/house.

i'm not sure what it is currently used for,

but its topsy-turvy curves drew my attention.

so, this post concludes our barcelona visit.

next up - Paris.

i hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 
2 Corinthians 5:21