{"id":3423,"date":"2019-01-05T15:54:48","date_gmt":"2019-01-05T15:54:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/?p=3423"},"modified":"2019-01-05T15:54:48","modified_gmt":"2019-01-05T15:54:48","slug":"y-viva-espana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/2019\/01\/05\/y-viva-espana\/","title":{"rendered":"Y Viva Espa\u00f1a"},"content":{"rendered":"

With 4th\u00a0<\/sup>Year off to a rapid start, it was not long till I eagerly awaited the Christmas break for some time off from the constant deadlines and 9 am lectures.<\/p>\n

For me, the best part of Christmas break, or any holiday in general is that I do not have to set an alarm for the next day! But on a serious note, it is always great to take a break and in this case, enjoy the festive atmosphere of Christmas.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for me, I decided not to go back home this Christmas break as I had obligations with regard to my Group Design Project. However that didn\u2019t stop me from going on a short vacation to step away from the chilly weather of UK.
\nHaving the map of Europe and the weather application on my phone side by side, we scanned through possible places to visit. With added priority given to the temperature, we decided that Barcelona, Spain would be the perfect spot to spend a few days.<\/p>\n

Similarly, in due course, all the necessary arrangements were made, and we were on our way!<\/p>\n

Personally, I was much more interested in getting my hands on some delicious Paella instead of going sight-seeing. But after being to these exceptional monuments and learning about the history behind each and every construction, it proved me wrong.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sunny Barcelona<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Furthermore, we made sure to try out some cuisine home to Barcelona together with some all-time Spanish essentials such as Chorizo and Sangria.
\nWith Barcelona being one of the cities with the freshest seafood\u00a0 in the country, whether it was a small restaurant or a 5-Star hotel, there was no disappointment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
‘Paella’ – a must have when in Spain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A delicious ‘tapas’ unique to Barcelona <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
‘Churros’ – another must try in Spain <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barcelona, home to a plethora of architectural marvels and age old traditions was an amazing experience. Despite being to Spain before, this was my first time in Barcelona and it was an absolute delight to experience the cultures and cuisine of both Spain and the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
‘La Boqueria’ – a traditional Spanish market with a plethora of local produce.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
‘Sagrada Familia’ – Without a doubt, the icon of Barcelona.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A closer look at the intricate designs of the monumental structure which is set to finish completion by 2026.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Majority of the building is lit with the help of natural light. An initiative brought forward by the man behind the marvel – Antoni Gaudi (who was the lead architect of the project till his demise in 1926)<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sunrise at ‘Park Guell’ – another one of Antoni Gaudi’s masterpieces.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

There were a countless number of activities for us to take part in, however time only permitted a selected few. Admiring architecture, enjoying the local cuisine, having a great time, next thing you know\u2026 it\u2019s time to get back.
\nWhile it was a relatively short vacation, it was nice to have our sunglasses out and enjoy a cold glass of lemonade overlooking the ocean.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Keeping fit even on vacation<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

As all good things must come to an end, so was our trip. After a exciting yet hectic 5 days, we were back home in Southampton.<\/p>\n

It did take few days to get back to work mode as December is never really a period for staying in your room and studying but instead a time for meeting up with friends and celebrating the festivities. However with exams in January, I hope I will re-calibrate soon and get back to university mode. But first, we\u2019ll have a New Year celebration now that Christmas is over, and raise a toast for an amazing year and most importantly our journey in graduating as Engineers. While wishing all the readers a very Happy and Prosperous New Year, I hope I’ll be able to re-unite with my mates someday to celebrate New Year once again, in Southampton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With 4th\u00a0Year off to a rapid start, it was not long till I eagerly awaited the Christmas break for some time off from the constant deadlines and 9 am lectures. For me, the best part of Christmas break, or any<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2193,"featured_media":3425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,6,3],"tags":[44,73,30,74],"class_list":["post-3423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-extra-curricular-and-social-activities","category-general","category-southampton-experience","tag-food","tag-spain","tag-travel","tag-vacation"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2019\/01\/IMG_5521-copy.jpg?fit=4032%2C3024&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7gHEG-Td","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2193"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3423\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/malaysiacampus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}