Wow. I cannot believe I am writing my last blog post. It is seriously surreal how fast time has flown here; it seems like just yesterday I was writing my first post. Everything that seemed so foreign and different back then now seems so comfortable, normal, and fits my life perfectly. I really cannot put my experience into words. It has been the most life-changing, eye-opening experience I never knew I would go through. I really do not know what to say, I am at a loss for words. I guess I will start by talking about my past two trips: Costa Brava and my roadtrip through southern Spain. I will leave all the sad stuff for the end.
Hoookay, so this past Wednesday and Thursday I organized a trip up Costa Brava with my friends. 7 people came on the trip, and I could not ask for a better group. My friends Sophie, Shirelle, Sean, Elliot, Taylor, adn Chelsea all came. We rented two cars and left Wednesday and started driving up the coast from Barcelona. Our main destination was Cadaqués, a small fishing village about 2 hours north of Barcelona. We first stopped at Cap de Crues, a national park right next to Cadaqués. We arrrived around lunchtime and started hiking in the national park. Cap de Creus was absolutely AMAZING!! It is a peninsula on the coast of Spain. There were all these extreme rock formations surrounding the whole hike. And the coast was SO rocky with huge waves crashing into the land. It was absolutely gorgeous. We got to see all down the coast of Spain and into southern France. We ended up climbing a bunch of rocks and just goofing around, but it was incredibly fun.
Then, we made our way to our hotel room later that afternoon in Cadaqués. We walked around Cadaqués for a while and ate a delicious meal. Cadaqués may be my favorite town I have ever seen. It is incredibly small and not a major tourist attraction, so it was somewhat desolate. It was absolutely gorgeous and on the coast, with the water completely light blue and see-through. It was breathtaking. Later that evening the 7 of us drank some wine and went back to the hotel room, where it seemed like a huge slumber party. The next day, we went swimming off of the cliffs of Cadaqués and hung out on the beaches, until we needed to head back to Barcelona around 3pm.
Early the next morning, I was back at the rental car company for my roadtrip to southern Spain! I literally got just back from this trip, and it may have been my favorite trip of the semester (although it has many amazing trips to compete with). So Friday morning, Nathalie, Dominique, Kim and I left down the coast of Spain, first stop: VALENCIA! We arrived in Valencia early afternoon and quickly started walking around the city. Valencia is absolutely adorable and gorgeous. They have beautiful parks and fountains randomly around the city, and we went to this art center (?). I was really confused with what it was, but it is famous in Valencia. It was basically a huge development that is full of water and they have laser shows and marine shows and fake dinosaurs everywhere. It was really strange (just look at the pictures to see). We then headed to a cathedral with beautiful views of the entire city. We were lost and so we asked this girl, and she was so sweet! She walked us to the cathedral, talking to us the whole time and just wanting to help. She also gave us a recommendation for dinner, which we went to later. But since being here I have noticed how NICE everyone is, if you ask for directions they will stop and help you! This was especially useful on the roads of Spain... I will explain later. But after the cathedral, where supposedly they had the holy grail (?), we went to dinner and had an AMAZING dinner of tapas, paella, and wine.
After dinner we drove about an hour to Alicante and found a spot on the street to sleep! We tried to save money this trip, so sleeping in the car was the #1 option! The only problem was that our car was the size of our Honda (Koala) so it was quite uncomfortable. I slept in the drivers sleep and woke up probably about 1000 times that night to people walking by and either laughing at us or knocking on the window or the garbageman in the morning. And occasionally I would move around and accidentely honk the horn. It was quite an interesting night. The next day we spent walking around Alicante. Alicante is a really cute beach town. After getting lunch in town, we went to the main beach and basically passed out for hours (since we barely got sleep the night before). It was SOOO sunny and the water was so warm!! It was sooo relaxing and so beautiful!! We then took showers under the little feet rinsers at the beach... it was quite a scene. That night we made our way to GRANADA!
Granada is inland in the south of Spain. It may be my favorite city in Spain (besides Barcelona obviously). We arrived Saturday night and met up with our friend from UCSB who is studying in Granada, Bingo. He already had visitors staying at his place but he let us sleep on his terrace (which was a million times better than the car). IT WAS SO HOT IN GRANADA. Like, no joke, you could not move without sweating. So it was actually really nice being able to sleep outside under the stars.
And Granada is amazing because when you order a beer or a drink at a restaurant, they automatically bring you tapas! So we literally spent 4 euros every night on 2 beers, and they would just bring out SO MUCH FOOD to you while you drank your beer. IT WAS AWESOME! The tapas were amazing and they were so much better knowing that they were free! The streets of Granada are also really interesting, it kind of reminded me of Greece (the small, narrow streets). It also has a very big Morrocan/Arabic influence, there were so many vendors on the streets. Also what I liked about Granada was that you could walk everywhere! It is not nearly as big as Barcelona so you literally walk from one side to the other in 10 minutes. Anyways, on the first day we walked around the city and went to a main viewpoint of the city, with the Alhambra in the background. It was so hott so we then went back to our terrace and tanned/passed out it was amazing.
The next day we woke up very early to go to the Alhambra. I read somewhere that "If you haven't seen the Alhambra, you have not lived" and I completely agree. It was absolutely INCREDIBLE. It was SO beautiful and so amazing how they built the whole thing. We spent about 6 hours walking around the Alhambra and absorbing everything it had to offer. It was AMAZING! (Look at the pics for details)
After the Alhambra we made our way back to Alicante in time to go to the beach and tan some more! (The sun does not go down until past 9pm...) We then had an amazing meal, walked along the beach, and then went back to our car to sleep. It had been an exhausting day, so sleeping in the car was not a problem. This morning we left Alicante and got back to Barcelona at 4pm! Oh and it was SO annoying, about 15 minutes outside of Barcelona a little pebble (or something, I didn't even see it) hit our windshield so there was a little crack, and the car rental company told us it would be about 450 euros in damage. We were SOO furious (especially because it happened 15 minutes before our trip ended and it was a friggin pebble, it was in no way our fault). So I talked to my credit card company that I charged the car on and they said that they cover any car rental insurance! So yay I just have to fill out a claim and that is dealt with!
OH MY GOSH driving in Spain is literally insane. First of all, there is a prostitute on the side of the road every 10 minutes (which made the roadtrip very entertaining). Like they are just chilling on a lawnchair on the side of the highway wearning almost nothing, it was ridiculous. Second of all, Spaniards do not believe in speed limits. Like NO ONE (not even the trucks) go the speed limit and they go so fast!!! And there are absolutely no cops on the side of the highway trying to catch people for speeding. It was actually really awesome. Also, they do not follow stoplights they literally go whenever they want. And the million roundabouts are SO confusing. But, we made it out alive with no damage! (besides that friggin pebble)
Ok, well I am about to pass out so maybe I will do a closing post later. Enjoy the pics!! BAHHHHH ONLY 3 MORE DAYS IN BARCELONA!!!!!! I am literally depressed. I can't believe I have to start packing!! Can't I just move here now?!?!! MER I DO NOT WANT TO GO. Okay, well hopefully I will have time in between packing to do a concluding post on my experience abroad. LOVE YOU ALL!
Granada, Spain
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
The Beginning of the End
Hola tios!
So I am writing this post sitting in my living room, procrastinating studying, and reflecting upon the most amazing weekend in Barcelona I just experienced. Although we are in the middle of finals, we managed to take the weekend off of studying and experience the wonderful areas Barcelona offers.
On Friday we headed to this secluded park on the top of a hill that basically no one has heard of. We hung out in the park all day, barbequed, and played beer pong! (This is the first time in Barcelona that I have played my favorite drinking game ever, my friend's dad sent him red cups from the states!) So that was incredibly fun, and I won as always. I also got to throw around the frisbee a lot with my friend who is on the Ultimate team in Merced and it was overall a very relaxing day with amazing people. The view was also amazing, and there was virtually nobody in the park.
I planned this big day hike on Saturday for everyone. We took a train about an hour south of Barcelona and hiked along a coastal trail on the bluffs of Spain. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It was only about 5 miles, but it was stunning. And the weather was perfect (we had been having June gloom in Barcelona, so some sun felt so nice). There was about 10 of us, so we hiked and picniced until we reached the beaches of Sitges. We arrived at the beaches around 3pm, and immediately got mojitos and layed out on the beach. The water was so warm so we played and splashed in the water and enjoyed the nice weather. My friend and I got to play frisbee again and we were diving in and out of the water in the sand... it was seriously SO MUCH FUN. After hanging out, drinking mojitos, and playing in the sand, we took the train back to Barcelona and arrived around 9, when I immediately passed out from the long day.
On Sunday we had a day packed of events. It was my good friend Justin's last day in Barcelona, so we took advantage of that. My friend Shirelle (Sara knows her from Davis) had a goodbye brunch at her apartment. It was potlach-style so we all brought different items and hung out on her terrace reminiscing on our experience in Barcelona. Afterwards, Justin led us to his favorite place in Barcelona. It is also a really remote area that no one knows about, but has STUNNING views of the city. We brought some bottles of cava to the top and hung out there for a couple hours starring at the beautful city of Barcelona and never wanted to leave. Our experience has flown by, it is hard to imagine that I will be leaving my new home in a couple weeks. After hanging out at the top of the mountain for a while, all of us headed to dinner at this fabulous restaurant. There were about 20 of us at dinner and just the company of all my best friends here made it absolutely amazing. Somehow, after everyone paid their end of the bill, we were 30 euros over the actual amount, so we all got ice cream and hung out in a plaza. I then said goodbye to Justin and headed home :(.
So that was my incredible weekend. It was full of parks, hiking, beaches, friends, views, cava, and Barcelona. It was absolutely wonderful. But now I have an economics test tomorrow and 2 essays to write :(.
I also planned another trip with all my friends (Char I think I have taken over your role and I am officially the planner of all activities amongst my friends). We are road-tripping to Costa Brava (north of Barcelona, south of France) this Wednesday and Thursday. We are leaving Wednesday morning and heading up the coast in two different cars (about 8 people going). Costa Brava is supposed to be the most amazing coast in Spain, with remote and beautiful fishing villages such as Cadaques, Lloret del Mar, Roses, and more. We are playing most of it by ear depending on where people want to go, but we will probably just sleep in the cars or squish everyone into a hotel room. It is going to be an amazing getaway from Barcelona and I have been waiting to see Costa Brava for a long time.
I planned another road trip for immediately after the Costa Brava trip. Since I only have two weeks left, I thought road-tripping through Spain is the best way to spend quality time with my best friends and explore different cities in Spain. Nathalie, Dom, Kim, and I leave Friday morning for our southern-Spain trip. We are driving down the coast and exploring the remote beaches and towns that most people rarely see. We are also exploring well-known areas, such as Valencia, Murcia, Granada (the Alhambra!), Cordoba, etc. We have 4.5 days so we are going to try to squish everything in. We are also on a tight budget so we will probably be either sleeping in the car or camping out on the beaches. Playing it by ear is the best thing to do!
Anyways, I am SOOOOO excited for both my road trips because I will be able to see the true beauty of the Spanish coast. I get back from my second road trip on Tuesday, and I leave Barcelona on Saturday! On that Friday there is a HUGE beach music festival called Sonar, so that will be my last hoo-rah. I am so excited for my last two weeks and excited that I have trips planned to occupy my time and keep my mind off of returning to the US :(.
I will try to update my blog when I return from my road trips but I will be very busy with packing and saying goodbye to my city, so we will see! Now I have to study for my last final :( and then gotta do two more essays then off to explore Spain! Love you all.
xooxo
-Kate
So I am writing this post sitting in my living room, procrastinating studying, and reflecting upon the most amazing weekend in Barcelona I just experienced. Although we are in the middle of finals, we managed to take the weekend off of studying and experience the wonderful areas Barcelona offers.
On Friday we headed to this secluded park on the top of a hill that basically no one has heard of. We hung out in the park all day, barbequed, and played beer pong! (This is the first time in Barcelona that I have played my favorite drinking game ever, my friend's dad sent him red cups from the states!) So that was incredibly fun, and I won as always. I also got to throw around the frisbee a lot with my friend who is on the Ultimate team in Merced and it was overall a very relaxing day with amazing people. The view was also amazing, and there was virtually nobody in the park.
I planned this big day hike on Saturday for everyone. We took a train about an hour south of Barcelona and hiked along a coastal trail on the bluffs of Spain. IT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. It was only about 5 miles, but it was stunning. And the weather was perfect (we had been having June gloom in Barcelona, so some sun felt so nice). There was about 10 of us, so we hiked and picniced until we reached the beaches of Sitges. We arrived at the beaches around 3pm, and immediately got mojitos and layed out on the beach. The water was so warm so we played and splashed in the water and enjoyed the nice weather. My friend and I got to play frisbee again and we were diving in and out of the water in the sand... it was seriously SO MUCH FUN. After hanging out, drinking mojitos, and playing in the sand, we took the train back to Barcelona and arrived around 9, when I immediately passed out from the long day.
On Sunday we had a day packed of events. It was my good friend Justin's last day in Barcelona, so we took advantage of that. My friend Shirelle (Sara knows her from Davis) had a goodbye brunch at her apartment. It was potlach-style so we all brought different items and hung out on her terrace reminiscing on our experience in Barcelona. Afterwards, Justin led us to his favorite place in Barcelona. It is also a really remote area that no one knows about, but has STUNNING views of the city. We brought some bottles of cava to the top and hung out there for a couple hours starring at the beautful city of Barcelona and never wanted to leave. Our experience has flown by, it is hard to imagine that I will be leaving my new home in a couple weeks. After hanging out at the top of the mountain for a while, all of us headed to dinner at this fabulous restaurant. There were about 20 of us at dinner and just the company of all my best friends here made it absolutely amazing. Somehow, after everyone paid their end of the bill, we were 30 euros over the actual amount, so we all got ice cream and hung out in a plaza. I then said goodbye to Justin and headed home :(.
So that was my incredible weekend. It was full of parks, hiking, beaches, friends, views, cava, and Barcelona. It was absolutely wonderful. But now I have an economics test tomorrow and 2 essays to write :(.
I also planned another trip with all my friends (Char I think I have taken over your role and I am officially the planner of all activities amongst my friends). We are road-tripping to Costa Brava (north of Barcelona, south of France) this Wednesday and Thursday. We are leaving Wednesday morning and heading up the coast in two different cars (about 8 people going). Costa Brava is supposed to be the most amazing coast in Spain, with remote and beautiful fishing villages such as Cadaques, Lloret del Mar, Roses, and more. We are playing most of it by ear depending on where people want to go, but we will probably just sleep in the cars or squish everyone into a hotel room. It is going to be an amazing getaway from Barcelona and I have been waiting to see Costa Brava for a long time.
I planned another road trip for immediately after the Costa Brava trip. Since I only have two weeks left, I thought road-tripping through Spain is the best way to spend quality time with my best friends and explore different cities in Spain. Nathalie, Dom, Kim, and I leave Friday morning for our southern-Spain trip. We are driving down the coast and exploring the remote beaches and towns that most people rarely see. We are also exploring well-known areas, such as Valencia, Murcia, Granada (the Alhambra!), Cordoba, etc. We have 4.5 days so we are going to try to squish everything in. We are also on a tight budget so we will probably be either sleeping in the car or camping out on the beaches. Playing it by ear is the best thing to do!
Anyways, I am SOOOOO excited for both my road trips because I will be able to see the true beauty of the Spanish coast. I get back from my second road trip on Tuesday, and I leave Barcelona on Saturday! On that Friday there is a HUGE beach music festival called Sonar, so that will be my last hoo-rah. I am so excited for my last two weeks and excited that I have trips planned to occupy my time and keep my mind off of returning to the US :(.
I will try to update my blog when I return from my road trips but I will be very busy with packing and saying goodbye to my city, so we will see! Now I have to study for my last final :( and then gotta do two more essays then off to explore Spain! Love you all.
xooxo
-Kate
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Visca el Barça, Visca Catalunya!!!!
HOLA!!!
So since the Canary Islands, I have just been enjoying my life in Barcelona. I have no more trips planned, so I am able to chill and get work done in Barcelona. I am currently very depressed because I know I only have 1 month left here. Time seriously does FLY. I have never had 6 months go by so quickly. I remember the first day I arrived in Barcelona, and I am SO jealous of that day because I have my whole semester in front of me. Now, my time abroad is dwindling down. It is going to be such a culture shock going back to real life, to a schedule, to waking up early, to going to bed at a reasonable hour, to be surrounded completely by English. I love every aspect of Barcelona. Like seriously EVERYTHING. The culture, the food, the people, EVERYTHING. This is the life definitely meant for me. I am seriously considering moving back here after I graduate. If I end up taking a full-time job with PwC after graduation, I did some research and they have an office in Barcelona :). I cannot wait to move back here, knowing that I can stay for as long as I want! I know I say this with every post, but I have never been happier in my entire life. Being abroad has been such a valuable experience that I am lucky enough to have lived.
Alright well enough with that sentimental talk, what have I been up to for the past couple weeks? Barcelona has been having a lot of futbol games. They had the "Clasico" against Madrid (we hate Madrid here) which consisted of 5 games. So, all my friends and I have been going to a local bar and going loca for our players. We ended up winning the Clasico, which was amazing!!! There is a spot in the city where EVERYONE goes to celebrate any futbol win. IT IS LITERALLY INSANE. Like, I have never experienced anything like it. People are drunk dressed up in all Barcelona gear and it is literally like a riot. People are on top of lampposts, you can barely move in the ocean of people, fireworks are going off, bottles are being thrown everywhere, horns are going off, and everyone is chanting "Visca el Barça, Visca Catalunya!" It was so incredible to experience, and I got to show my Barcelona pride! I ended up with a huge Catalunya flag, so I was running around waving it everywhere, and at least 20 people stopped me and asked for a picture with me! So I guess I was one of those crazy Barcelona fans.
But then it got scary. All of a sudden people were screaming and running in every direction, so I look behind me and there are these guys with swords running at people (some say they were Madrid rebels, some say they were undercover police). So then the riot got broken up and everyone was screaming. So I ran away with my friends and started walking back to my apartment. Then, a stampede of people are running at me and I look behind and 2 SWAT trucks pull up, 6 people in each truck jump out, then they start chasing people and beating people. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was quite an experience. But, I got home safely, and have an amazing memory of Barcelona pride after beating Madrid. Cannot wait for the next riot when we play Manchester United in the championship!!!
Take a look of a couple videos of what it was like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-APgypHKRnA
And when it got broken up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN6SxikGxlw
Anyways, that was that. School is good. Oh my gosh, for those who don't know, my Economics professor died! We had a different teacher for a couple days, so I asked my friend and he told me! He had pancreatic cancer I guess, but so sad! He was not a very good teacher though, and our new professor is REALLY good (I am actually learning stuff). So yeah, that was quite a shock to me!
I am in a really big project for my psychology of sexuality class. I am working with other exchange students from Brasil and they are super nice! We ended up going out together one night and it was SO fun! In my teaching English class, Sophie and I asked our teacher if we could voluntarily do a presentation to the class. Everyone in that class is super nice to us and curious about the US, so we are doing a presentation encouraging everyone to study abroad. We are explaining how amazing our experience has been here, and giving them a presentation on UCSB and why it's amazing. Hopefully we will encourage at least one student to consider studying abroad at UCSB! My history of Catalunya class is good, we went cava tasting a couple weeks ago which was really fun. Now, I just have to write a big paper on changing economic policies during Franco's regime. Fun.
I have some exciting things coming up as well. There is a huge beach music festival the day before I leave, so I bought my ticket for that. There are some amazing DJ's coming (I guess, I don't really know DJ's) but it should be super fun, and a great last day before my dreadful arrival back to the US. Shakira is also coming to Barcelona, so I am going to buy my ticket for that with my friends. Also, David Guetta and 50 Cent are coming to my FAVORITE club, so I am going to buy tickets for that too.
I don't really know what else to share. The days and weeks and months fly by here. Still going out a lot but also getting into a regular exercise routine. Oh, and my Ultimate Frisbee team won Regionals, so now they are the 1 seed at Nationals!! I am so jealous, I want to be playing with them right now! And if they win Nationals this year I am going to be very upset, not going to lie. My apartment is great as always, love my roommates!
That is it for now, I will try to write more, but it is hard since I don't have trips to write about. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
So since the Canary Islands, I have just been enjoying my life in Barcelona. I have no more trips planned, so I am able to chill and get work done in Barcelona. I am currently very depressed because I know I only have 1 month left here. Time seriously does FLY. I have never had 6 months go by so quickly. I remember the first day I arrived in Barcelona, and I am SO jealous of that day because I have my whole semester in front of me. Now, my time abroad is dwindling down. It is going to be such a culture shock going back to real life, to a schedule, to waking up early, to going to bed at a reasonable hour, to be surrounded completely by English. I love every aspect of Barcelona. Like seriously EVERYTHING. The culture, the food, the people, EVERYTHING. This is the life definitely meant for me. I am seriously considering moving back here after I graduate. If I end up taking a full-time job with PwC after graduation, I did some research and they have an office in Barcelona :). I cannot wait to move back here, knowing that I can stay for as long as I want! I know I say this with every post, but I have never been happier in my entire life. Being abroad has been such a valuable experience that I am lucky enough to have lived.
Alright well enough with that sentimental talk, what have I been up to for the past couple weeks? Barcelona has been having a lot of futbol games. They had the "Clasico" against Madrid (we hate Madrid here) which consisted of 5 games. So, all my friends and I have been going to a local bar and going loca for our players. We ended up winning the Clasico, which was amazing!!! There is a spot in the city where EVERYONE goes to celebrate any futbol win. IT IS LITERALLY INSANE. Like, I have never experienced anything like it. People are drunk dressed up in all Barcelona gear and it is literally like a riot. People are on top of lampposts, you can barely move in the ocean of people, fireworks are going off, bottles are being thrown everywhere, horns are going off, and everyone is chanting "Visca el Barça, Visca Catalunya!" It was so incredible to experience, and I got to show my Barcelona pride! I ended up with a huge Catalunya flag, so I was running around waving it everywhere, and at least 20 people stopped me and asked for a picture with me! So I guess I was one of those crazy Barcelona fans.
But then it got scary. All of a sudden people were screaming and running in every direction, so I look behind me and there are these guys with swords running at people (some say they were Madrid rebels, some say they were undercover police). So then the riot got broken up and everyone was screaming. So I ran away with my friends and started walking back to my apartment. Then, a stampede of people are running at me and I look behind and 2 SWAT trucks pull up, 6 people in each truck jump out, then they start chasing people and beating people. I literally couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was quite an experience. But, I got home safely, and have an amazing memory of Barcelona pride after beating Madrid. Cannot wait for the next riot when we play Manchester United in the championship!!!
Take a look of a couple videos of what it was like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-APgypHKRnA
And when it got broken up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN6SxikGxlw
Anyways, that was that. School is good. Oh my gosh, for those who don't know, my Economics professor died! We had a different teacher for a couple days, so I asked my friend and he told me! He had pancreatic cancer I guess, but so sad! He was not a very good teacher though, and our new professor is REALLY good (I am actually learning stuff). So yeah, that was quite a shock to me!
I am in a really big project for my psychology of sexuality class. I am working with other exchange students from Brasil and they are super nice! We ended up going out together one night and it was SO fun! In my teaching English class, Sophie and I asked our teacher if we could voluntarily do a presentation to the class. Everyone in that class is super nice to us and curious about the US, so we are doing a presentation encouraging everyone to study abroad. We are explaining how amazing our experience has been here, and giving them a presentation on UCSB and why it's amazing. Hopefully we will encourage at least one student to consider studying abroad at UCSB! My history of Catalunya class is good, we went cava tasting a couple weeks ago which was really fun. Now, I just have to write a big paper on changing economic policies during Franco's regime. Fun.
I have some exciting things coming up as well. There is a huge beach music festival the day before I leave, so I bought my ticket for that. There are some amazing DJ's coming (I guess, I don't really know DJ's) but it should be super fun, and a great last day before my dreadful arrival back to the US. Shakira is also coming to Barcelona, so I am going to buy my ticket for that with my friends. Also, David Guetta and 50 Cent are coming to my FAVORITE club, so I am going to buy tickets for that too.
I don't really know what else to share. The days and weeks and months fly by here. Still going out a lot but also getting into a regular exercise routine. Oh, and my Ultimate Frisbee team won Regionals, so now they are the 1 seed at Nationals!! I am so jealous, I want to be playing with them right now! And if they win Nationals this year I am going to be very upset, not going to lie. My apartment is great as always, love my roommates!
That is it for now, I will try to write more, but it is hard since I don't have trips to write about. LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Canary Islands and Barcelona!
So we stayed at a hotel/ resort on the beach that was ALL INCLUSIVE!!! (This is also what made the weekend great, because we are used to staying in cheap dirty hostels or couch surfing with random people) And let me tell you, we DEFINITELY took advantage of the all inclusive. We probably ate and drank enough for 4 all-inclusives. Everyday we woke up, ate, got beers and drank all day either at one of the 4 pools or on the beach. It was literally heaven. Then we would eat and drink SO much at dinner, then head to the hotel bar and drink gin and tonics late into the night. It was literally amazing. The only money we spent all weekend was transportation to and from the airport and the two pub crawls we did. The all-inclusive was probably one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Oh my gosh and one of the best moments of the entire trip was before it even began! We were waiting for the bus at the Canaria airport and I hear a familiar voice… who could it be?!?! I literally DIED when I turned around, it was Dana Hansen!! (best friend from high school, studying in Seville) Like seriously, we dropped all of our bags and jumped on each other, it was a really surreal moment. So, we ended up hanging out with Dana and her friends during the weekend. We did a pub crawl with them and just chilled during the day. It was such a great surprise, and we were so confused why we didn’t know we were going to be there at the same time, because we talk frequently. Anyways, that was a major highlight of the trip and I loved hanging out with Dana in the Canary Islands… so random!
And our hotel was FULL of old people. Like, I am not even kidding. Emily and I were probably the only people under the age of 70. No joke, it was hilarious. There was Bingo everyday at 3 (we obviously played everyday, but never won… those old people don’t fool around when it comes to Bingo!) and water aerobics everyday (which we obviously did as well). We made SO many friends with all the old Spanish grandmas and grandpas. We would walk around the pools and everyone knew who we were and would just start talking to us, telling us their life story. There were moments when people would stop and start talking to us, and we would be like “have we met them before?” Our favorite couple was an old Spanish couple who have been together for 50 years, and it was the grandma’s birthday. It was so adorable. And they said I could marry their grandchild J.
We also made friends with ALL the workers in the hotel. I think we were the youngest people they have seen in quite a while. It was kind of dangerous though because then all the bartenders (who we obviously saw about every hour getting another drink) made our drinks so strong because they loved us. We just make friends wherever we go!
As for the nightlife, let me just tell you that laying out all day with a beer in hand everyday definitely cured all our hangovers. The bars were SO much fun and we did 2 really really fun pub crawls. We made so many friends and just danced the night away as usual.
And the hotel had shows every night. They had these African dancers one night and it was really entertaining watching them. And they had a dance floor every night where all the old people would dance. So obviously Emily and I danced with them and they taught us some Spanish dances. Then, during the daytime all the old people we ran into would be like “I loved watching young people like you dance last night! Will you dance again tonight?” So once again, all the old people loved us.
So that was pretty much my wonderful weekend getaway. It was SOOOOO much fun and I got SO tan! The Canary Islands are off of the coast of Africa, so the sun was quite strong. But I did wear a lot of sunscreen everyday so I never got burned!!
And now I will talk a little bit about my crazy life in Spain. First of all, school is a joke. Seriously, the Spanish school system is so whack. I went to class this morning but the teacher just decided she didn’t want to have class, so everyone left. And for some reason we don’t have class all next week for my Psychology class. And tomorrow for my Culture of Catalonia class we are going cava tasting (cava is sparkling wine, really popular in Catalonia). So I will be off drinking cava all day tomorrow! Like seriously though, Spanish school is so easy it is literally a joke. But I do have to do a lot of work in May (all the work I have not done for the past 4 months).
Emily is leaving Barcelona tomorrow so go back to America L so last night we had a huge dinner party at my apartment. We made DELICIOUS fajitas and drank a lot of wine and cava. There were about 12 girls that came and it was so great. I can’t even describe my friendships I have made here, they are indescribable. We have a solid group of girls and we go out all together. I think when people are abroad, they get super SUPER close because you are out of your comfort zone. We are all different in so many ways but that is what makes it wonderful. They are all of my best friends and I cannot imagine going back to Santa Barbara without them, it is really sad to think about. But the dinner party last night made me realize how close we have gotten. We know absolutely EVERYTHING about each other and there is no shame between us. We don’t hide anything from each other I really cannot explain how close we are. And we have SOOO much fun together, when we all head out to the bars or clubs everyone better watch out! But seriously, I will probably cry for days when I go back to the US and don’t see them everyday.
There have also been so many Barcelona-Madrid soccer games, and I have been getting really into it! Every night there is a game, the huge group of girls head to a local bar and go crazy rooting for Barcelona. It is so much fun, there is a game tonight I cannot wait to get my Barca on!
And last Saturday was a huge holiday in Barcelona. It is called Dia de St. Jordi and I don’t really understand it. But basically the streets were CRAZY with people. EVERYONE AND THEIR MOMS WERE OUT. I have never seen anything like it. But girls give boys books and boys give girls roses (I do not understand)… so I collected a lot of roses that day!
My apartment is great at usual. I love my roommates so much, they are so fun and so nice. And the apartment itself is super nice and literally PERFECT location.
Hmmm what else is new? I am making a lot of Catalan friends! They are so great. Still going out a lot, I think I have learned how to run on 2 hours of sleep multiple days during the week. I figured I am young in Barcelona, when else am I going to live it up? Seriously, I have to take advantage of my time living in Europe and you are only young once, right? So I am living my life as usual. Life is great. I seriously wake everyday thinking how much I love my life and never want to leave. Why do I have to go back to real life?
Well that is all for now, folks. I love you all and miss you!!!!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Island hopping in Greece!!!
Hello to all!
I have so much to write about, get ready for a long post! Where do I even being? I guess I will start writing about my Spring Break in the Greek Islands, then after the past couple weeks in Barcelona. The vacation in the Greek islands was arguably the best vacation of my life. It was absolutely HILAROUS every second of the way (the girls I was with and I always seem to make each other laugh and be goof balls) and stunning. It was a perfect group and everything worked out perfectly.
So last Thursday, I headed to Athens with my three friends (Emily Wondolleck, Sophie, and Emily Bass). We flew through Prague (really out of the way, so it took about 7 hours to get to Athens) and arrived in Athens at about 3pm. Now, let me tell you, Athens is really scary. It was just really ghetto and dirty. I don’t know if that was only where our hostel was, but we were scared walking around. Some advice – if you ever go to the Greek islands go straight to the islands because Athens is so sketch.
But, the Acropolis is Athens is AMAZING. We went there on Thursday late afternoon as the sun was setting and it was absolutely incredible! It was so huge and it was crazy seeing it in real life after always seeing it in pictures. After hanging out at the Acropolis for a while, we headed to dinner in a cute part of the city. The waiters gave us free wine with dinner and we ate SOO much (lamb, moussaka, you name it!) Afterwards we walked around then headed back to our run-down hostel (no outlets, mirrors, or hot water) and got a good night sleep for our long ferry ride in the morning!
On Friday morning, we were on our way to Paros, where we stayed for two nights. Paros was probably my favorite island of the whole trip. It was the smallest island we went to, and not a very big tourist attraction. Also, we went to the islands before the big tourist season, so it was really great not being around a bunch of tourists. Also, during the main tourist season prices DOUBLE everywhere, so everything was relatively cheap to what we were expecting! We stayed at a studio apartment complex right in the heart of Paros a block from the beach. It was a PERFECT place – we had two rooms and a kitchen, so we ended up saving a LOT of money by cooking dinner and breakfast every day.
On the first day in Paros we got a delicious, cheap lunch on the water then headed to a secluded beach about 30 minutes away. It was absolutely gorgeous and we got to see a lot of the countryside. We made dinner then headed out to a couple bars. We met some great locals that showed us around that night and it was super fun bar hopping in Paros.
The next day we headed to a island off of Paros called Antiparos. This might have been my favorite day of the entire trip. We took a small ferry to this island. Antiparos is the picturesque town of Greece. All of the streets were small and narrow and gorgeous. People of the town were all on the streets painting the cobblestone and it was absolutely incredible. We walked around the town all day and hung out at the beach on Antiparos. We got back to Paros later that evening then headed out to the bars again, hanging out with our local friends we met the previous night.
We then made our way to Naxos. Naxos is similar to Paros (not very touristy) but a little bigger. The only downside to Naxos was that it was not very sunny there – it rained a couple times but otherwise it wasn’t too bad. Our studio apartment was also extremely close to the beach with its own kitchen and two rooms. The first day we had an AMAZING meal on the waterfront at a seafood place. It was soooooooo delicious! We then wondered around the town. It was like a maze; there were dozens of tiny streets you could take that all lead to the top of a hill where the church was. We explored all of the streets for a while then headed back to the apartment where we made dinner then passed out.
The next day we woke up early and rented ATVs for the day. We rode the ATVs around the mountainside of Naxos, following a route that the ATV man gave us. We were gone pretty much all day exploring the island. It was absolutely incredible and we had such a blast riding our ATVs. We saw lots of tiny towns and sites around the island that were absolutely incredible. We ended up meeting a bunch of locals later that afternoon, so we had a dinner party that night in our apartment. It was so much fun! We made a HUGE feast of pasta, chicken, greek salad, and wine. Our friends came over and we enjoyed our dinner together. We went to the bars in town after and it was great socializing with people that were from the islands.
We were then headed to the island of Santorini! Santorini is probably the most popular and touristy Greek island (and arguably the most beautiful). Santorini was absolutely stunning! We stayed at incredible villas in a perfect location. We ended up renting a car so that we could drive around the island during our stay. The first night we went to a small town of Oia that was on the end of the island, and known for its beautiful sunsets. Oia was AMAZING. We walked around the perfect little town for a long time, casually looking in shops and absorbing the incredible beauty of the town on the water. This is where I think all of the postcards from Greece are taken. We had a delicious Greek dinner as the sun was setting and headed back to the center of the island where our villa was late that night.
The next day we explored the island with our rental car. We went to amazing black and red beaches, went to a beautiful lighthouse, and explored the countryside. It was incredible (I know I say that a lot but literally I don’t know how else to explain the beauty of the island). We then walked around town and shopped (got a purse!) We went to an amazing dinner that our villa guy recommended. IT WAS TH E BEST DINNER OF THE TRIP!!!! The servers would not stop feeding us!!! We got free wine, free appetizers, and amazing entrée, free desert, and free lemon cellos! It was the best dinner and so authentic, and SOOO cheap for all the food we got. I literally could not move after though. But that never stops me! We then went bar hopping all night and watched the Barcelona – Madrid game at a couple bars (Barca lost L). We stayed out late that night to celebrate our last night in the islands and had an amazing time again meeting new people and running into people we saw in Athens, Paros, and Naxos!
We took a 9 hr ferry ride back to Athens the next day. It was actually a lot of fun because we ended up drinking a lot of wine and making tons of new friends! We played UNO with a bunch of Greek people and Belgium girls. I must say, it was the best 9-hr ferry ride I have ever taken!
The next morning we went back to the Acropolis and hung out there until our flight. Then we cried the whole way back L because our vacation was over.
I will write about the past couple weeks in Barcelona later because I am really tired and that was a really long post. But this weekend I am heading to the Canary Islands (Spanish islands off of the coast of Africa)!!!! We booked an all-inclusive hotel so that will be even more amazing!!!! Get ready to see a new shade of black when I return!!!!
LOVE YOU ALLLLLLLL
xooxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxo
P.S. the pictures of Greece do not do it justice!!!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
21 21 21 21 21 21 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hola a todos!
I AM 21 YEARS OF AGE!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! No more fake IDs or having someone else buy me beer!! WOOOOO I don't think people understand my excitement!!! I have been waiting for this moment for SOOO long I cannot even remember! I am soooooooo excited to return back to the states and hit up the bars! (not like I didn't do that before, but now I don't have to memorize every fact about a fake ID!!) WOOO
Okay now that my excitement is over, I can tell everyone about my big 21st birthday!! So I was in Amsterdam for my 21st and I am SOO happy I chose Amsterdam as my bday weekend excursion! Amsterdam is SOOOOOO beautiful! With all the canals and old buildings I felt like I was in heaven just walking down the street! And it is fully of pot-smoking hippies obviously, so that was quite fun to watch as well. Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start! It was honestly top 3 best weekends of my life, it was SOOO much fun!!!
Okay, so there was a total of 8 girls that went for the weekend. We looked into hostels but they were super expensive in Amsterdam so we decided to split up into groups of 2/3 and CouchSurf. Sophie, Emily, and I stayed with this guy names Thomas (we called him Tommy) who worked on this boatyard/dock thing so his house was literally on the water. It was so gorgeous and such a nice house. So on Thursday night he took us out to an AMAZING dinner and then we all chilled in the bar afterwards, got to know each other, then went to sleep fairly early because we were pretty exhausted from travelling. But Tommy bought us all dinner and at least 5 rounds of drinks each (as you will see later, Tommy is apparently very rich). It was so much fun and Tommy is super nice but kind of socially awkward so many times we were giggling at his awkwardness. But it was perfect because we got our own room and he worked all day. He would set up coffee and breakfast for us so we wouldn't even have to buy a bagel! It was perfect, and I definitely saved a LOT of money staying with him!
On Friday we got up fairly early and went into town and met up with the other 5 girls. We all went to the Anne Frank house and toured around. It was SOOO cold on Friday and we waited outside Anne Frank's house for about an hour I thought my hands were going to fall off. After the Anne Frank house, we went to a big square and sat at an outside bar for a while and people watched, laughed, giggled, etc. We walked all along the canals that weave throughout Amsterdam (IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL CITY!!!!!) and then headed back to our respective homes to get ready for the night.
On Friday night we decided to walk down the Red Light District. Now let me tell you, that was a culture shock!!! We walked down street after street literally in shock. I wish we could've gotten a picture of our faces and how shocked we were at what was in front of our eyes! Windows after windows were filled with girls in lingerie trying to lure guys into their "room". Some of the girls were cute and actually pretty and some were just hard to look at. But it was honestly so gross; we would watch guys go in and out of the windows, and I swear some of the guys were 14! It was so shocking walking around the Red Light District, and one prostitute even yelled at us for "blocking" her window. After that whole ordeal we went to a bar far away and tried to erase that from our memory. I took a shot of tequila at midnight and it was by far the best shot I had ever taken!!!!!!
Saturday was a beautiful day, not only because it was my birthday, but because the sun came out!!! We literally spent ALLLLLL day in this huge park in the center of Amsterdam. We drank some beer, had a picnic, sunbathed, listened to the live bands around us, chatted, napped, and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny day filled with haze of marijuana smoke. The park was PACKEDDDDDD so we mostly just drank and made friends. And people watched (obviously). It was such a relaxing a great day. I really can't describe how wonderful it was but it was basically a humongous festival in an amazingly large park.
For my birthday night, Tommy took all of us out to a club. He payed for all of our entrances (15euros each) and probably about 8 rounds of drinks for all 8 of us. (This is what I mean when I say that I think Tommy is really rich). It was really funny because he wore this kind of man-purse thing and would just pull out the 50's like they were nothing. The club was super fun and the DJ played the best music ever!! Basically I was dancing on the stage the whole night enjoying my birthday. We stayed out until the wee of the night then passed out at about 6am. It was a great bday night with all of my friends it literally could not have been better!
Hmmm what did we do Sunday? Oh! We went to the Van Gogh museum! Well, I didn't go. We all met outside of the museum and about half of the group went in and half stayed out. I didn't want to pay to go in when I knew I would want to leave right when I entered... it's not my fault I don't like art! Dad, I think when we were in Europe a couple years ago I filled up my museum capacity for an entire lifetime. Anyways, when they were out we went back to the wonderful park we fell in love with and layed out for a little bit more. Then, we continued to walk along the canals and wondered down random streets. We went to a flower huge flower market (Amsterdam is known for its Tulips) and gazed at the flowers (also, not my thing). We were exhausted by Sunday night, so we had a big dinner at Tommy's, then we all watched Black Swan and passed out.
Well, that was my bday weekend!!!! It was absolutely AMAZING and I wouldn't have asked for anything better!!! Well, I think I am getting carple tunnel for now so I am going to stop writing.
but here is a couple things coming up!:
All day in the town of Sitges (45 minutes south of Barcelona) on Friday! We have a big group of about 20 going to hang out on the beach, so hopefully we will make it into a party!
10k in Barcelona this Sunday!!
Island hopping in Greece!!!! I leave in one week!!!!
Canary islands end of April!!! (We booked an all-inclusive hotel on the beach!! aka hello sun, drinks, food, beach, and relaxation!! what else could a girl ask for?!?!?)
ok adios to all!! THANKS FOR ALL THE BDAY WISHES
xoox
I AM 21 YEARS OF AGE!!!!!! WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!! No more fake IDs or having someone else buy me beer!! WOOOOO I don't think people understand my excitement!!! I have been waiting for this moment for SOOO long I cannot even remember! I am soooooooo excited to return back to the states and hit up the bars! (not like I didn't do that before, but now I don't have to memorize every fact about a fake ID!!) WOOO
Okay now that my excitement is over, I can tell everyone about my big 21st birthday!! So I was in Amsterdam for my 21st and I am SOO happy I chose Amsterdam as my bday weekend excursion! Amsterdam is SOOOOOO beautiful! With all the canals and old buildings I felt like I was in heaven just walking down the street! And it is fully of pot-smoking hippies obviously, so that was quite fun to watch as well. Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to start! It was honestly top 3 best weekends of my life, it was SOOO much fun!!!
Okay, so there was a total of 8 girls that went for the weekend. We looked into hostels but they were super expensive in Amsterdam so we decided to split up into groups of 2/3 and CouchSurf. Sophie, Emily, and I stayed with this guy names Thomas (we called him Tommy) who worked on this boatyard/dock thing so his house was literally on the water. It was so gorgeous and such a nice house. So on Thursday night he took us out to an AMAZING dinner and then we all chilled in the bar afterwards, got to know each other, then went to sleep fairly early because we were pretty exhausted from travelling. But Tommy bought us all dinner and at least 5 rounds of drinks each (as you will see later, Tommy is apparently very rich). It was so much fun and Tommy is super nice but kind of socially awkward so many times we were giggling at his awkwardness. But it was perfect because we got our own room and he worked all day. He would set up coffee and breakfast for us so we wouldn't even have to buy a bagel! It was perfect, and I definitely saved a LOT of money staying with him!
On Friday we got up fairly early and went into town and met up with the other 5 girls. We all went to the Anne Frank house and toured around. It was SOOO cold on Friday and we waited outside Anne Frank's house for about an hour I thought my hands were going to fall off. After the Anne Frank house, we went to a big square and sat at an outside bar for a while and people watched, laughed, giggled, etc. We walked all along the canals that weave throughout Amsterdam (IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL CITY!!!!!) and then headed back to our respective homes to get ready for the night.
On Friday night we decided to walk down the Red Light District. Now let me tell you, that was a culture shock!!! We walked down street after street literally in shock. I wish we could've gotten a picture of our faces and how shocked we were at what was in front of our eyes! Windows after windows were filled with girls in lingerie trying to lure guys into their "room". Some of the girls were cute and actually pretty and some were just hard to look at. But it was honestly so gross; we would watch guys go in and out of the windows, and I swear some of the guys were 14! It was so shocking walking around the Red Light District, and one prostitute even yelled at us for "blocking" her window. After that whole ordeal we went to a bar far away and tried to erase that from our memory. I took a shot of tequila at midnight and it was by far the best shot I had ever taken!!!!!!
Saturday was a beautiful day, not only because it was my birthday, but because the sun came out!!! We literally spent ALLLLLL day in this huge park in the center of Amsterdam. We drank some beer, had a picnic, sunbathed, listened to the live bands around us, chatted, napped, and enjoyed a wonderfully sunny day filled with haze of marijuana smoke. The park was PACKEDDDDDD so we mostly just drank and made friends. And people watched (obviously). It was such a relaxing a great day. I really can't describe how wonderful it was but it was basically a humongous festival in an amazingly large park.
For my birthday night, Tommy took all of us out to a club. He payed for all of our entrances (15euros each) and probably about 8 rounds of drinks for all 8 of us. (This is what I mean when I say that I think Tommy is really rich). It was really funny because he wore this kind of man-purse thing and would just pull out the 50's like they were nothing. The club was super fun and the DJ played the best music ever!! Basically I was dancing on the stage the whole night enjoying my birthday. We stayed out until the wee of the night then passed out at about 6am. It was a great bday night with all of my friends it literally could not have been better!
Hmmm what did we do Sunday? Oh! We went to the Van Gogh museum! Well, I didn't go. We all met outside of the museum and about half of the group went in and half stayed out. I didn't want to pay to go in when I knew I would want to leave right when I entered... it's not my fault I don't like art! Dad, I think when we were in Europe a couple years ago I filled up my museum capacity for an entire lifetime. Anyways, when they were out we went back to the wonderful park we fell in love with and layed out for a little bit more. Then, we continued to walk along the canals and wondered down random streets. We went to a flower huge flower market (Amsterdam is known for its Tulips) and gazed at the flowers (also, not my thing). We were exhausted by Sunday night, so we had a big dinner at Tommy's, then we all watched Black Swan and passed out.
Well, that was my bday weekend!!!! It was absolutely AMAZING and I wouldn't have asked for anything better!!! Well, I think I am getting carple tunnel for now so I am going to stop writing.
but here is a couple things coming up!:
All day in the town of Sitges (45 minutes south of Barcelona) on Friday! We have a big group of about 20 going to hang out on the beach, so hopefully we will make it into a party!
10k in Barcelona this Sunday!!
Island hopping in Greece!!!! I leave in one week!!!!
Canary islands end of April!!! (We booked an all-inclusive hotel on the beach!! aka hello sun, drinks, food, beach, and relaxation!! what else could a girl ask for?!?!?)
ok adios to all!! THANKS FOR ALL THE BDAY WISHES
xoox
Monday, March 28, 2011
Anna's Weekend in Barcelona!
Hola a todos!!
This this past weekend was spent in Barcelona. On Monday of last week until Thursday morning, my friend from Santa Barbara, Carissa, stayed with me. Then Anna came on Thursday afternoon and left Monday morning. So this is the first time in a week I've had my room to myself! It was SO much fun having both of them in Barcelona and showing them around. Since Carissa came when I was busy with class, she kept herself busy during the day with her other friend she came with. Then, I was able to go to class and get my homework done, and then I hung out with her at night. It was a lot of fun and she really loved Barcelona!
So on Thursday afternoon Anna came with her family friend Stuart. Us three, Anna's friend from Brown who is also studying in Barcelona (Hannah), and my friend Emily all made dinner at my place. It was a lot of fun eating dinner with a big group and catching up. Anna and I did not go out Thursday night because we were exhausted. On Friday morning, Anna came with me to my gym and we had a great workout. Then, we packed lunches and headed to Parc Guell where we met up with a bunch of friends.
We enjoyed our sandwiches and wine with an amazing view of the city and great company. There was a great group of musical performers, so as usual, Anna and I got up and danced with each other to the music in front of the crowd. It was such an amazing picnic and such nice weather! We then proceeded to walk across the city (took about an hour and a half) towards the beach. We enjoyed gelato then headed home in the early evening.
On Saturday Anna and I got up early (at least by Barcelona standards: 9am) and headed towards mountains about an hour outside of the city. The Monsterrat mountains are known for their unique form and a monestary that lays on top. As the majority of people take a cable car up to the top of the mountain, Anna and I hiked up. It took about 1.5 hours and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE!! The views were stunning and the hike was challenging. I really cannot explain how beautiful it was, but as we ascended the views got better and better. It was so steep at some points Anna and I were basically rock climbing then climbing steep stairs.
When we got to the top, there was sort of a farmer's market. So, exhausted, we walked around and sampled loads of cheese and fruits, then enjoyed our packed sandwiches with outstanding views of the Spanish mountains and countryside. It was so great to get outside of the city and enjoy the majestic views of Barcelona, especially with Anners! After a couple hours, we climbed down then got back around 6pm. We went to a couple bars to enjoy some beer and socialize, then went to sleep pretty early.
On Sunday we went to mountains on the outskirts of Barcelona that have the "best views of Barcelona". It is called Tibidabo, and there is kind of a carnival there (hard to explain, but small rides with cotton candy and ice cream). We went up to the top of a church, which by far was the best view of Barcelona I have ever seen. It was such a beautiful day, so Anna and I literally just sat on top of the church for hours examining the city. Again, it was so great to relax and reflect on life with Anners. It was so relaxing. Alongside with the trip to Monsterrat, this day made this weekend my favorite weekend in Barcelona.
Now, I am just focused on school. I am keeping up with homework and studying (I have a midterm next week). And I am going to Amsterdam this weekend (21st birthday on Saturday!!!!!!). I cannot wait -- there is a group of 10 coming from across Europe! WOO HOOOOO and we are couch surfing and I cannot wait!!! Obviously, I think you can see my excitement for the weekend.
I signed up for a 10k race in Barcelona! It is April 10. I am doing it with my friend Nathalie and so we have been hitting up the treadmill the past couple weeks! I am really exciting for that, and I have never participated in a race before!
I booked a flight to the Canary Islands (off of Africa) in the end of April... get ready for a whole new shade of Kate!! (don't worry Charlotte, I will wear sunscreen!) Tomorrow I plan on booking a flight to Berlin in May, and Anna and I discussed going to Turkey in May as well.
Hmmm what else?!? Not much... and next time you hear from me I will be 21!! Watch out! (just kidding... kind of)
xoxo
This this past weekend was spent in Barcelona. On Monday of last week until Thursday morning, my friend from Santa Barbara, Carissa, stayed with me. Then Anna came on Thursday afternoon and left Monday morning. So this is the first time in a week I've had my room to myself! It was SO much fun having both of them in Barcelona and showing them around. Since Carissa came when I was busy with class, she kept herself busy during the day with her other friend she came with. Then, I was able to go to class and get my homework done, and then I hung out with her at night. It was a lot of fun and she really loved Barcelona!
So on Thursday afternoon Anna came with her family friend Stuart. Us three, Anna's friend from Brown who is also studying in Barcelona (Hannah), and my friend Emily all made dinner at my place. It was a lot of fun eating dinner with a big group and catching up. Anna and I did not go out Thursday night because we were exhausted. On Friday morning, Anna came with me to my gym and we had a great workout. Then, we packed lunches and headed to Parc Guell where we met up with a bunch of friends.
We enjoyed our sandwiches and wine with an amazing view of the city and great company. There was a great group of musical performers, so as usual, Anna and I got up and danced with each other to the music in front of the crowd. It was such an amazing picnic and such nice weather! We then proceeded to walk across the city (took about an hour and a half) towards the beach. We enjoyed gelato then headed home in the early evening.
On Saturday Anna and I got up early (at least by Barcelona standards: 9am) and headed towards mountains about an hour outside of the city. The Monsterrat mountains are known for their unique form and a monestary that lays on top. As the majority of people take a cable car up to the top of the mountain, Anna and I hiked up. It took about 1.5 hours and it was absolutely INCREDIBLE!! The views were stunning and the hike was challenging. I really cannot explain how beautiful it was, but as we ascended the views got better and better. It was so steep at some points Anna and I were basically rock climbing then climbing steep stairs.
When we got to the top, there was sort of a farmer's market. So, exhausted, we walked around and sampled loads of cheese and fruits, then enjoyed our packed sandwiches with outstanding views of the Spanish mountains and countryside. It was so great to get outside of the city and enjoy the majestic views of Barcelona, especially with Anners! After a couple hours, we climbed down then got back around 6pm. We went to a couple bars to enjoy some beer and socialize, then went to sleep pretty early.
On Sunday we went to mountains on the outskirts of Barcelona that have the "best views of Barcelona". It is called Tibidabo, and there is kind of a carnival there (hard to explain, but small rides with cotton candy and ice cream). We went up to the top of a church, which by far was the best view of Barcelona I have ever seen. It was such a beautiful day, so Anna and I literally just sat on top of the church for hours examining the city. Again, it was so great to relax and reflect on life with Anners. It was so relaxing. Alongside with the trip to Monsterrat, this day made this weekend my favorite weekend in Barcelona.
Now, I am just focused on school. I am keeping up with homework and studying (I have a midterm next week). And I am going to Amsterdam this weekend (21st birthday on Saturday!!!!!!). I cannot wait -- there is a group of 10 coming from across Europe! WOO HOOOOO and we are couch surfing and I cannot wait!!! Obviously, I think you can see my excitement for the weekend.
I signed up for a 10k race in Barcelona! It is April 10. I am doing it with my friend Nathalie and so we have been hitting up the treadmill the past couple weeks! I am really exciting for that, and I have never participated in a race before!
I booked a flight to the Canary Islands (off of Africa) in the end of April... get ready for a whole new shade of Kate!! (don't worry Charlotte, I will wear sunscreen!) Tomorrow I plan on booking a flight to Berlin in May, and Anna and I discussed going to Turkey in May as well.
Hmmm what else?!? Not much... and next time you hear from me I will be 21!! Watch out! (just kidding... kind of)
xoxo
Monday, March 21, 2011
Dublin, Ireland!
(more pics to come in a little)
So I just got back from Dublin, Ireland. I was there for the weekend celebrating St. Patrick's Day and it was absolutely amazing! It was SOOOOO much fun and I was with the best group of people. There was a group of 6 of us that went together. We are all best friends in Santa Barbara and are currently studying all throughout Europe, so this was our weekend where we were reunited. It was also my good friend Emily Wondolleck's birthday, so on top of celebrating St. Patty's day, we were also celebrating her birthday at the same time.
We arrived Thursday around noon, and by the time we got to our hostel it was around 3pm. After getting settled in our hostel, we started our celebrations! Oh, and Dublin is arguably the most expensive place in Europe, so prior to arriving we brought a bunch of food for the weekend and bought alcohol at the Barcelona airport (which was about half as cheap as everything they sold in Dublin), so we were very happy we did that to save money. Late Friday afternoon we got dressed in all our St. Patty's gear and headed out to the parade and the bars. It was absolutely crazy!!!! Everyone was dressed in ALL green (facepaint and everything) and people of ALL ages were out in the streets drinking. But let me tell you, the Irish girls are very unattractive, me and my friends were all in shock staring at them. No joke, they had a pound of foundation and makeup on and looked like prostitutes with fishnets and their stomachs hanging out. It was quite a culture shock.
Anyways, we celebrated St. Patty's day until late Friday night. There was one street with several bars, so we basically bar hopped around all the bars. It was SO much fun and definitely the best St. Patty's day I have had in a long time!
On Friday we woke up and started wondering around Dublin. We discovered they had a Forever 21 (!!!!!!) so we got distracted in there for a couple hours. Next, we walked about an hour around town to the Guinness Factory. We went in the storehouse and did a tour around, learning all about the process of making beer, and Guinness especially. At the end of the tour we got a free pint of Guinness, which we enjoyed on the top of the building with amazing views of the city. I think that was the first time I have ever had Guinness, so I was a little scared to try it at first but it was quite delicious! I could barely finish a glass, though, because it was so heavy.
One of the girls I was with has a best friend studying in Dublin. So, on Friday night we headed to his house, where he had a small party with other people studying in Dublin. We played drinking games all night and it was great just hanging out with a small group of people, rather than being so overwhelmed by hundreds of people at a bar or discoteca. So that was a great night, and so great to be there drinking with my best friends from Santa Barbara, some of whom I haven't seen since June!
Saturday was a long day. We woke up at 7am to take a bus to the Ireland countryside, a day trip that took all day. The main destination of the bus was the Cliffs of Moher (otherwise known as the Cliffs of Insanity in the Princess Bride)! But first, we saw a couple castles and ruins, and visited a couple small Irish towns. It was really quite beautiful, everything was SO green! The houses were so adorable as well and it was great to see some major castles and ruins in rural Ireland. Once we made it to the cliffs, we had a couple hours to hike on them and take pictures. Will - I was thinking of you the whole time because the Princess Bride is your favorite movie!! But the cliffs were absolutely STUNNING. It was SOO beautiful. It was about a mile of luscious green fields that suddenly dropped vertically into the ocean. Look at the pictures to see. But it was amazing and all I kept thinking was the Princess Bride!
After the long day trip to the countryside, we arrived back in Dublin at 8pm. We relaxed, ate dinner, then celebrated Emily's birthday night! (Her birthday was on Sunday, so Saturday was the main day we celebrated it) We drank at the hostel with a couple other people staying there (from Germany, Brasil, and Holland) and then headed into town! We went to a couple bars and had the best time ever!!! Everyone was buying Emily drinks for her birthday and we danced the night away! I ran into a couple friends that are studying with me in Barcelona, so it was great to see them as well. It was quite strange, though because the bars closed at 2. We are definitely not used to that here in Barcelona because they close here at 5am.
On Sunday we wondered around a little, got lunch, then got on our flight back to Barcelona! It was an AMAZING weekend that I will never forget! Oh, and let me tell you the hostel was very bad. First, we slept in the TV room because they were overbooked. There was one bathroom to be shared with the whole hostel (which often got clogged and wouldn't flush) and no mirrors anywhere! And let me tell you, girls need mirrors to get ready! Also, the hostel workers would just hang out and drink with us and wouldn't answer the phone when it rang. Quite strange, but at least it was cheap!
The weekend before last, Tori Dumont and Dana Hansen came to Barcelona! (Dana studying in Seville, and Tori came for her spring break from Arizona!) Dana, Emily, and I woke up SOOO early on Saturday to pick up Tori from the airport, and we made quite a scene when we reunited! It was too bad, however, because when Tori visited is when it rained. It rained literally the whole time she was here! But we still had an amazing time, showing her around Barcelona and taking her out on the town!
School is starting to pick up, and I actually find myself doing homework and studying! My Economics class is getting a little difficult, and my teacher is not a very nice Spanish man. All of the homeworks and quizzes are in Catalan, so every time I have to go up to him and have him translate it. Quite annoying.
This week I have many visitors! My friend Carissa from Santa Barbara, who is studying in Rome, is staying with me for three days. I am so excited to see her! (She is the one I ran into in a club in Prague, very random!) She comes today while I am in class, so her other friend is going to meet her from the airport. Then, Anna Heery is coming to Barcelona for the weekend! I had the best time with her when I went to Paris, so I cannot wait to see her again and I already have many things planned for us!
And I am about to book more trips for May and April! This is what I am literally a click away from booking:
-Berlin (sometime in June, I have to figure out my finals schedule)
-Canary Islands and Morocco (end of April, I plan on flying to the Canary Islands on a Thursday then stop in Morocco for a couple days on the way back because I really want to see Morocco!)
-A road trip around Spain to see Valencia and Granada (early May)
-Turkey (either Istanbul or Izmir, or maybe both!) in late May
Okay, that is about all I can write about right now. I gotta head to the gym before class! LOVE YOU ALL and I cannot wait for more adventures ahead! xoxo
So I just got back from Dublin, Ireland. I was there for the weekend celebrating St. Patrick's Day and it was absolutely amazing! It was SOOOOO much fun and I was with the best group of people. There was a group of 6 of us that went together. We are all best friends in Santa Barbara and are currently studying all throughout Europe, so this was our weekend where we were reunited. It was also my good friend Emily Wondolleck's birthday, so on top of celebrating St. Patty's day, we were also celebrating her birthday at the same time.
We arrived Thursday around noon, and by the time we got to our hostel it was around 3pm. After getting settled in our hostel, we started our celebrations! Oh, and Dublin is arguably the most expensive place in Europe, so prior to arriving we brought a bunch of food for the weekend and bought alcohol at the Barcelona airport (which was about half as cheap as everything they sold in Dublin), so we were very happy we did that to save money. Late Friday afternoon we got dressed in all our St. Patty's gear and headed out to the parade and the bars. It was absolutely crazy!!!! Everyone was dressed in ALL green (facepaint and everything) and people of ALL ages were out in the streets drinking. But let me tell you, the Irish girls are very unattractive, me and my friends were all in shock staring at them. No joke, they had a pound of foundation and makeup on and looked like prostitutes with fishnets and their stomachs hanging out. It was quite a culture shock.
Anyways, we celebrated St. Patty's day until late Friday night. There was one street with several bars, so we basically bar hopped around all the bars. It was SO much fun and definitely the best St. Patty's day I have had in a long time!
On Friday we woke up and started wondering around Dublin. We discovered they had a Forever 21 (!!!!!!) so we got distracted in there for a couple hours. Next, we walked about an hour around town to the Guinness Factory. We went in the storehouse and did a tour around, learning all about the process of making beer, and Guinness especially. At the end of the tour we got a free pint of Guinness, which we enjoyed on the top of the building with amazing views of the city. I think that was the first time I have ever had Guinness, so I was a little scared to try it at first but it was quite delicious! I could barely finish a glass, though, because it was so heavy.
One of the girls I was with has a best friend studying in Dublin. So, on Friday night we headed to his house, where he had a small party with other people studying in Dublin. We played drinking games all night and it was great just hanging out with a small group of people, rather than being so overwhelmed by hundreds of people at a bar or discoteca. So that was a great night, and so great to be there drinking with my best friends from Santa Barbara, some of whom I haven't seen since June!
Saturday was a long day. We woke up at 7am to take a bus to the Ireland countryside, a day trip that took all day. The main destination of the bus was the Cliffs of Moher (otherwise known as the Cliffs of Insanity in the Princess Bride)! But first, we saw a couple castles and ruins, and visited a couple small Irish towns. It was really quite beautiful, everything was SO green! The houses were so adorable as well and it was great to see some major castles and ruins in rural Ireland. Once we made it to the cliffs, we had a couple hours to hike on them and take pictures. Will - I was thinking of you the whole time because the Princess Bride is your favorite movie!! But the cliffs were absolutely STUNNING. It was SOO beautiful. It was about a mile of luscious green fields that suddenly dropped vertically into the ocean. Look at the pictures to see. But it was amazing and all I kept thinking was the Princess Bride!
After the long day trip to the countryside, we arrived back in Dublin at 8pm. We relaxed, ate dinner, then celebrated Emily's birthday night! (Her birthday was on Sunday, so Saturday was the main day we celebrated it) We drank at the hostel with a couple other people staying there (from Germany, Brasil, and Holland) and then headed into town! We went to a couple bars and had the best time ever!!! Everyone was buying Emily drinks for her birthday and we danced the night away! I ran into a couple friends that are studying with me in Barcelona, so it was great to see them as well. It was quite strange, though because the bars closed at 2. We are definitely not used to that here in Barcelona because they close here at 5am.
On Sunday we wondered around a little, got lunch, then got on our flight back to Barcelona! It was an AMAZING weekend that I will never forget! Oh, and let me tell you the hostel was very bad. First, we slept in the TV room because they were overbooked. There was one bathroom to be shared with the whole hostel (which often got clogged and wouldn't flush) and no mirrors anywhere! And let me tell you, girls need mirrors to get ready! Also, the hostel workers would just hang out and drink with us and wouldn't answer the phone when it rang. Quite strange, but at least it was cheap!
The weekend before last, Tori Dumont and Dana Hansen came to Barcelona! (Dana studying in Seville, and Tori came for her spring break from Arizona!) Dana, Emily, and I woke up SOOO early on Saturday to pick up Tori from the airport, and we made quite a scene when we reunited! It was too bad, however, because when Tori visited is when it rained. It rained literally the whole time she was here! But we still had an amazing time, showing her around Barcelona and taking her out on the town!
School is starting to pick up, and I actually find myself doing homework and studying! My Economics class is getting a little difficult, and my teacher is not a very nice Spanish man. All of the homeworks and quizzes are in Catalan, so every time I have to go up to him and have him translate it. Quite annoying.
This week I have many visitors! My friend Carissa from Santa Barbara, who is studying in Rome, is staying with me for three days. I am so excited to see her! (She is the one I ran into in a club in Prague, very random!) She comes today while I am in class, so her other friend is going to meet her from the airport. Then, Anna Heery is coming to Barcelona for the weekend! I had the best time with her when I went to Paris, so I cannot wait to see her again and I already have many things planned for us!
And I am about to book more trips for May and April! This is what I am literally a click away from booking:
-Berlin (sometime in June, I have to figure out my finals schedule)
-Canary Islands and Morocco (end of April, I plan on flying to the Canary Islands on a Thursday then stop in Morocco for a couple days on the way back because I really want to see Morocco!)
-A road trip around Spain to see Valencia and Granada (early May)
-Turkey (either Istanbul or Izmir, or maybe both!) in late May
Okay, that is about all I can write about right now. I gotta head to the gym before class! LOVE YOU ALL and I cannot wait for more adventures ahead! xoxo
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
What a Weekend!
Oh my gosh, where do I start?!!? I had such an amazing weekend in the south of Spain. On Thursday morning (literally woke up at 3am to catch my flight) a group of 10 of us headed to Seville. We arrived and got situated at the hostel and then started walking around town. Seville is SOOSOOOOSOOOOO pretty! It was honestly gorgeous, every street it lined with orange trees and beautiful cathedrals. We headed to a cafe near the river and had a great lunch. we ordered pitchers of margaritas, sex on the beach, and long island iced teas. The sun came out so after a few rounds of pitchers we literally basically just sat and soaked up the sun. It was a perfect afternoon! Afterwards, we did a free walking tour around Seville and then we met up with one of my best friends from high school, Dana Hansen. She is studying in Seville for the semester, so we walked around with her and got some ice cream by the river. It was so great to see her! At night, we did a tapas tour (a big group from the hostel went to 3 tapas bar and got a LOT of food for a set price) and then headed to a Flamenco show, where Dana met us again. The Flamenco show was so cool (and free)!! Those dancers can really dance!
Friday morning the group of us took a 2 hr bus ride to Cadiz. Me and two others couch surfed, so we headed straight to their place. Our couch surfers were so cool!!!! Their names are Pol and David and they used to live in Barcelona. Their apartment was literally on the beach. So for a couple hours, we talked to them on the balcony with an amazing ocean view. It was such a gorgeous day and great to get to know them. Us three even had our own room and own bathroom! There were about 10 other couchsurfers from all over Europe that arrived throughout the day, and EVERYONE was so great! We then met up with our friends at night and wondered around town and went to a couple bars. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of friends!
So we went to Cadiz mainly for Carnival. It is an incredibly popular holiday in Europe and Cadiz has the biggest party in all of Europe for it. It is basically like Halloween where everyone gets dressed up in extravagent costumes. Everyone of all age groups (literally toddlers to grandmas) wonders the street all day in costume. So on Saturday we woke up and started getting ready for the festivities! Me, Sophie, and Kim (the girls couch surfing with me) basically just wore crazy wigs, bright colors, facepaint, and everything silly we could find). We started drinking with our couch surfers and hosts around 3pm then headed into town around 5ish. IT WAS SO CRAZY!!! Oh my gosh, I thought Halloween in Santa Barbara was crazy, but Europeans surely know how to party! Every street in Cadiz was PACKED with people dressed up and drinking beer. It was so crazy and SO MUCH FUN!!! Maybe one of the funnest days of my life, possibly. Oh, but I lost my camera which really sucks because I had at least 100 pictures. But oh well, life goes on!
Sunday was our traveling day. We woke up and caught a bus back to Seville, then flew out of Seville. It was such a great weekend! And so gorgeous in the south of Spain! And then on Monday I officially moved into my new apartment! I had some friends help me move and I am officially settled in. I live with two Italian girls and one Philipino guy. They are all SOOO great and my apartment is SOOO nice and perfectly located! It is so great and I don't even have enough clothes to fill my closet! And we have an adorable cat named Guidi... I am obsessed with him.
It was Guilia's (one of the Italians) birthday when I moved in so she invited me to her birthday dinner. It was a very nice place with a set price that included unlimited beer, wine, coffee, etc. About 30 of Guilia's friends came to the dinner and it was SO MUCH FUN! I got to meet so many people and everyone was so nice! Everyone knew me as "the new flatmate from California" and everyone that I met asked me that. All of her friends were from all over: Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Costa Rica, France, Philipines! So it was quite a diverse group! It was such a great dinner and I am so happy I made new friends!
Hallie Swan (my cousin) was in Barcelona for a couple days with her boyfriend for her Spring Break, so I got to see her yesterday! It was SOOO good to see her, as we haven't seen each other in years! We talked for about 3 hours and then headed to a bar and got a couple drinks. It was so much fun showing her around Barcelona and catching up on each other's lives.
Okay, what else is new? I feel like I have so much to blog about recently! Tori Dumont (friend from high school) is coming to Barcelona for her Spring break from Arizona! She arrives on Saturday and departs on Thursday. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! So, when I was in Seville I convinced Dana Hansen to buy a ticket to Barcelona for the weekend to see Tori. So, this weekend Tori, Dana, and I will be reunited! I CANNOT WAIT!!! It is going to be so much fun and I will get to be their tour guide!
Okay I think that is enough to write about for now. School is the same. Life is AMAZING/WONDERFUL/EXCITING/GREAT/INTERESTING as usual! I couldn't be happier! Literally, I have never been more happy in my entire life I am loving every moment of my experience.. I can't even explain my love for Barcelona and life here in words.
LOVE YOU ALL
Friday morning the group of us took a 2 hr bus ride to Cadiz. Me and two others couch surfed, so we headed straight to their place. Our couch surfers were so cool!!!! Their names are Pol and David and they used to live in Barcelona. Their apartment was literally on the beach. So for a couple hours, we talked to them on the balcony with an amazing ocean view. It was such a gorgeous day and great to get to know them. Us three even had our own room and own bathroom! There were about 10 other couchsurfers from all over Europe that arrived throughout the day, and EVERYONE was so great! We then met up with our friends at night and wondered around town and went to a couple bars. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of friends!
So we went to Cadiz mainly for Carnival. It is an incredibly popular holiday in Europe and Cadiz has the biggest party in all of Europe for it. It is basically like Halloween where everyone gets dressed up in extravagent costumes. Everyone of all age groups (literally toddlers to grandmas) wonders the street all day in costume. So on Saturday we woke up and started getting ready for the festivities! Me, Sophie, and Kim (the girls couch surfing with me) basically just wore crazy wigs, bright colors, facepaint, and everything silly we could find). We started drinking with our couch surfers and hosts around 3pm then headed into town around 5ish. IT WAS SO CRAZY!!! Oh my gosh, I thought Halloween in Santa Barbara was crazy, but Europeans surely know how to party! Every street in Cadiz was PACKED with people dressed up and drinking beer. It was so crazy and SO MUCH FUN!!! Maybe one of the funnest days of my life, possibly. Oh, but I lost my camera which really sucks because I had at least 100 pictures. But oh well, life goes on!
Sunday was our traveling day. We woke up and caught a bus back to Seville, then flew out of Seville. It was such a great weekend! And so gorgeous in the south of Spain! And then on Monday I officially moved into my new apartment! I had some friends help me move and I am officially settled in. I live with two Italian girls and one Philipino guy. They are all SOOO great and my apartment is SOOO nice and perfectly located! It is so great and I don't even have enough clothes to fill my closet! And we have an adorable cat named Guidi... I am obsessed with him.
It was Guilia's (one of the Italians) birthday when I moved in so she invited me to her birthday dinner. It was a very nice place with a set price that included unlimited beer, wine, coffee, etc. About 30 of Guilia's friends came to the dinner and it was SO MUCH FUN! I got to meet so many people and everyone was so nice! Everyone knew me as "the new flatmate from California" and everyone that I met asked me that. All of her friends were from all over: Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Costa Rica, France, Philipines! So it was quite a diverse group! It was such a great dinner and I am so happy I made new friends!
Hallie Swan (my cousin) was in Barcelona for a couple days with her boyfriend for her Spring Break, so I got to see her yesterday! It was SOOO good to see her, as we haven't seen each other in years! We talked for about 3 hours and then headed to a bar and got a couple drinks. It was so much fun showing her around Barcelona and catching up on each other's lives.
Okay, what else is new? I feel like I have so much to blog about recently! Tori Dumont (friend from high school) is coming to Barcelona for her Spring break from Arizona! She arrives on Saturday and departs on Thursday. I CANNOT WAIT!!!!! So, when I was in Seville I convinced Dana Hansen to buy a ticket to Barcelona for the weekend to see Tori. So, this weekend Tori, Dana, and I will be reunited! I CANNOT WAIT!!! It is going to be so much fun and I will get to be their tour guide!
Okay I think that is enough to write about for now. School is the same. Life is AMAZING/WONDERFUL/EXCITING/GREAT/INTERESTING as usual! I couldn't be happier! Literally, I have never been more happy in my entire life I am loving every moment of my experience.. I can't even explain my love for Barcelona and life here in words.
LOVE YOU ALL
Monday, February 28, 2011
Back from Paris!
Hello Friends and Family!!
So I just got back from Paris this weekend! It was absolutely amazing; Paris is so beautiful. I went with three other girls in my program (from UC Santa Cruz and UC Davis) but stayed with one of my best friends since childhood, Anna Heery. She is studying in Paris for the semester and her roommate was gone all weekend so Anna and I got to share the apartment alone. Anna was with me last time I went to Paris in high school, so it was super fun being with her again, especially because she knew they city and where to take me and because we were constantly reminded of funny moments during our last trip to Paris.
I left Barcelona early Thursday morning and arrived when Anna was in class. So, I took a nap on her bed and she jumped on me when she got home and woke me up. We were SOOOO happy so see each other it was one of the happiest moments of the whole trip! We then walked around different neighborhoods in Paris and talked for HOURS, catching each other up on our lives! It was SO great to be with her, it was a friendly reminder of home and it was so comfortable. We went shopping for a little and then went grocery shopping for the weekend. Since we are both so cheap, we did not even go out to eat and saved a lot of money by just buying a lot of food at the store for the weekend. Thursday evening we went to a club called Duplex and it was a lot of fun! We met up with some of her friends who were also visiting for the weekend.
On Friday we went to a couple museums (yes, Anna managed to drag me to museums) and walked throughout the whole city. We went to some gardens and had a picnic and it was a wonderful and relaxing day. Friday night we had a dinner party at her apartment and cooked for her friends. We ate dinner and chatted with all of her friends and drank a lot of wine. We then met up with my friends I came with and drank some more wine by Notre Dam on the river. It felt like a true Paris experience!
On Saturday Anna went with her friend to the French countryside and had dinner with her friend’s grandmother. I met up with my friends from Barcelona and we did more touristy things. We walked around to all the major tourist spots in Paris and then ate DELICIOUS falafels in the Jewish neighborhood of Paris. I returned to Anna’s after and Anna and I then took a little nap. We then met up with Anna’s friends and went to a very suave bar/lounge. There was a burlesque show which was very interesting! We then headed to a street with tons of bars and went bar hopping, which was super fun.
On Sunday Anna and I made it to the Eiffel Tower and walked around Paris more. We got some coffee and lunch with her friends, then headed back to her place. We relaxed for a while then decided to go to happy hour at a bar close by. We drank beer and cocktails for a couple hours then I had to head to the airport.
It was a truly FABULOUS weekend! I loved spending time with Anna, and I cannot wait for her to come to Barcelona in three weeks!!!! But it was really one of the best weekends and the whole time Anna and I were just laughing at EVERYTHING and sharing stories and remembering funny times last time we were in Europe together.
This week is very busy for me. I have to move into my new apartment on Wednesday! So, I have to pack and get all my stuff together before I move. I head to the south of Spain next weekend! I fly into Seville (where one of my best friends Dana Hansen is studying) Thursday morning, then head to Cadiz on Friday morning. There is a big group of 8 of us going for the weekend, so it is going to be crazy! This weekend is a Spanish festival called “Carnival” in Cadiz, which is basically a huge parade/street party where people get dressed up and go crazy. So it is going to be super fun and I cannot wait!
I will update my blog after my travels to the South of Spain next weekend!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Paris this Weekend!
Hello All!!
So for the past week or so I have basically just been finalizing my class schedule and figuring out logistical stuff. I have class Monday-Thursday and these are the classes I am taking: Psychology of Sexuality, History of Catalonia, Teaching English, and Advanced Microeconomics.
My teaching English class is a joke. It is literally so easy but also very interesting as well. I am taking that class with Sophie, my good friend here in Barcelona.
Psychology of Sexuality is extremely interesting, but also difficult because the teacher talks super fast so it is hard for me to understand everything. Luckily, she posts the slides online so I can always review those and look up the words I do not know. But so far we have learned a lot about homosexuality v. heterosexuality and debates for/against gay marriage. I really enjoy that class, but the Psychology campus is in the outskirts of Barcelona so it takes me about 45 minutes to get there via Metro. One other girl from my program is taking that class so we can study together. We met a girl in the class who is super friendly, and studied in the US for a semester so she helps us understand some of what the professor is saying. She has a car and offered to take us to her vacation house about an hour outside of Barcelona for a weekend! That would be super fun and great to hang out with a local. Oh and the first day of class I came late (could not find the classroom for the life of me!) and so I literally had to crawl over people to a desk that was in the far corner. So embarrassing!
I haven't had History of Catalonia yet. It is once a week for 3 hours and last week the professor didn't show up. Apparently that isn't a big deal here in Spain and it happens often. So, hopefully she will show up tomorrow!
Advanced Microeconomics is not as bad as I thought it would be. So far, it has been mostly review of what I have already learned. And it is easier to understand him than in other classes because he draws diagrams/graphs while he talks, so you can get a sense of what he is saying (more or less). This guy in my program is taking it with me and we met a Spanish girl who we always sits next to. She doesn't speak any English but offered to let us copy her notes and always asks us if we understand what is going on, which is super nice!
Let's see what else is new... Oh, I joined a gym the other day! I realized that I would probably blow up if I didn't work out so me and my friend Nathalie Urroz joined it together and have so far gone everyday and taken some aerobics classes/gone on the treadmill. It is a super nice gym with 10 locations throughout Barcelona, one of them right across the street from my apartment I am moving into next month.
Right now I live with 2 guys on the Barcelona handball team. They are SUPER nice and I absolutely love living with them. They have training twice a day so I hardly see them in the daytime (since I have class as well) but I am excited to go to one of their matches. Juan's girlfriend came over one night and cooked dinner for the four of us. It was really fun and we all chatted for hours and ate delicious food! It felt really home-like. I haven't gone out with them yet because February is their "intensive training month" but they said once I move out and they have a more flexible schedule they want to take me out and meet all their friends. I am excited for that because I want to hang out with more locals! I am, however, really excited to move into my new apartment in the beginning of March. It is more centrally located so it won't take me too long to get to the various campuses.
I AM GOING TO PARIS THIS WEEKEND! I am SO excited! I leave Thursday morning and come back Sunday night. I am going with 3 close friends in my program but I am staying with Anna Heery (Me and Sara's best friend since middle school). I cannot wait to see her and for her to show me around Paris! It is going to be an amazing weekend and I am just excited to see someone I know from home! I will update my blog when I get back!
Tori Dumont (friend from high school) is coming to Barcelona for her Spring Break! I cannot wait to show her around and have an amazing time with her! It is going to be amazing and I cannot wait! AND my friend Emily Bass (graduated from UCSB last year, was on the Ultimate Frisbee team with me) is coming to visit as well! She is coming with me and my friends for our Spring Break around the Greece islands and then staying with me in Barcelona for a week! It is going to be so incredibly fun. I cannot believe Tori and Emily both booked their tickets, I didn't think they actually would!
Oh, and I booked my ticket to Amsterdam for my birthday weekend! So far there is a group of around 6-10 of us (not everyone has booked their ticket yet) but it is going to be SOOSOSOOOOOO fun! I cannot wait for that weekend! And I want to book a ticket to Munich/Berlin soon, can't decide which one. Any suggestions?
Okay, that is all for now! Still loving life in Barcelona and enjoying every second of my experience! Dewey, I know you are loving all these exclamation marks!!!! Oh, and I am jealous that Sara, Charlotte, and Mom are all traveling around Chile together. Someone from my family come visit me in Barcelona!!
LOVE YOU ALL
xoxox
So for the past week or so I have basically just been finalizing my class schedule and figuring out logistical stuff. I have class Monday-Thursday and these are the classes I am taking: Psychology of Sexuality, History of Catalonia, Teaching English, and Advanced Microeconomics.
My teaching English class is a joke. It is literally so easy but also very interesting as well. I am taking that class with Sophie, my good friend here in Barcelona.
Psychology of Sexuality is extremely interesting, but also difficult because the teacher talks super fast so it is hard for me to understand everything. Luckily, she posts the slides online so I can always review those and look up the words I do not know. But so far we have learned a lot about homosexuality v. heterosexuality and debates for/against gay marriage. I really enjoy that class, but the Psychology campus is in the outskirts of Barcelona so it takes me about 45 minutes to get there via Metro. One other girl from my program is taking that class so we can study together. We met a girl in the class who is super friendly, and studied in the US for a semester so she helps us understand some of what the professor is saying. She has a car and offered to take us to her vacation house about an hour outside of Barcelona for a weekend! That would be super fun and great to hang out with a local. Oh and the first day of class I came late (could not find the classroom for the life of me!) and so I literally had to crawl over people to a desk that was in the far corner. So embarrassing!
I haven't had History of Catalonia yet. It is once a week for 3 hours and last week the professor didn't show up. Apparently that isn't a big deal here in Spain and it happens often. So, hopefully she will show up tomorrow!
Advanced Microeconomics is not as bad as I thought it would be. So far, it has been mostly review of what I have already learned. And it is easier to understand him than in other classes because he draws diagrams/graphs while he talks, so you can get a sense of what he is saying (more or less). This guy in my program is taking it with me and we met a Spanish girl who we always sits next to. She doesn't speak any English but offered to let us copy her notes and always asks us if we understand what is going on, which is super nice!
Let's see what else is new... Oh, I joined a gym the other day! I realized that I would probably blow up if I didn't work out so me and my friend Nathalie Urroz joined it together and have so far gone everyday and taken some aerobics classes/gone on the treadmill. It is a super nice gym with 10 locations throughout Barcelona, one of them right across the street from my apartment I am moving into next month.
Right now I live with 2 guys on the Barcelona handball team. They are SUPER nice and I absolutely love living with them. They have training twice a day so I hardly see them in the daytime (since I have class as well) but I am excited to go to one of their matches. Juan's girlfriend came over one night and cooked dinner for the four of us. It was really fun and we all chatted for hours and ate delicious food! It felt really home-like. I haven't gone out with them yet because February is their "intensive training month" but they said once I move out and they have a more flexible schedule they want to take me out and meet all their friends. I am excited for that because I want to hang out with more locals! I am, however, really excited to move into my new apartment in the beginning of March. It is more centrally located so it won't take me too long to get to the various campuses.
I AM GOING TO PARIS THIS WEEKEND! I am SO excited! I leave Thursday morning and come back Sunday night. I am going with 3 close friends in my program but I am staying with Anna Heery (Me and Sara's best friend since middle school). I cannot wait to see her and for her to show me around Paris! It is going to be an amazing weekend and I am just excited to see someone I know from home! I will update my blog when I get back!
Tori Dumont (friend from high school) is coming to Barcelona for her Spring Break! I cannot wait to show her around and have an amazing time with her! It is going to be amazing and I cannot wait! AND my friend Emily Bass (graduated from UCSB last year, was on the Ultimate Frisbee team with me) is coming to visit as well! She is coming with me and my friends for our Spring Break around the Greece islands and then staying with me in Barcelona for a week! It is going to be so incredibly fun. I cannot believe Tori and Emily both booked their tickets, I didn't think they actually would!
Oh, and I booked my ticket to Amsterdam for my birthday weekend! So far there is a group of around 6-10 of us (not everyone has booked their ticket yet) but it is going to be SOOSOSOOOOOO fun! I cannot wait for that weekend! And I want to book a ticket to Munich/Berlin soon, can't decide which one. Any suggestions?
Okay, that is all for now! Still loving life in Barcelona and enjoying every second of my experience! Dewey, I know you are loving all these exclamation marks!!!! Oh, and I am jealous that Sara, Charlotte, and Mom are all traveling around Chile together. Someone from my family come visit me in Barcelona!!
LOVE YOU ALL
xoxox
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Prague!!!!
Hello Everybody!!!!
So I just got back from an amazing weekend in Prague! Prague is so incredibly beautiful with stunning architecture and landscape. It was such an amazing weekend and a HUGE success as my first trip outside of Barcelona!
So I went with my two friends in my program, Sophie (from UCSB) and Anna (from UCSC). We arrived in Prague Friday around 5pm. We stayed at a hostel in the heart of Prague and shared a room with 9 others (12 people total). When we arrived, we immediately started chatting with two Bosnian girls that were in Prague for the weekend as well. We ended up talking for about 3 hours with them and it was super interesting because we did not know much about Bosnia before talking to them. One of the girls lived underground in a bomb shelter for five years when the Bosnian Wars were occurring! It was crazy talking to them because they were children when the wars were going on, and they enlightened us about their life and struggles living through the war. They also played some Bosnian music with us and further discussed Bosnian culture.
We also started talking to a group of 5 German guys staying in the hostel. They were so crazy, I actually think that they were drunk the whole weekend. But they were a lot of fun, and also discussed major German cultural aspects. All 10 of us (Bosnians and Germans) drank some beer and played some drinking games from the various countries. Our huge group then headed to a club in central Prague that is the biggest club in central Europe! It was a ton of fun, with 6 floors all playing different types of music. I actually ran into my friend Carissa from school who is studying in Rome. It was so crazy to see her because we did not know we would both be in Prague! So we literally were freaking out in the middle of the club and probably caused a scene.
The next day, Anna, Sophie, and I went to the main tourist attractions in Prague. We saw Old Town Square, the Astrological Clock, the Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall, and the Prague Castle. Everything was SO beautiful! Just walking down the street, every building was special with a different style. The views were incredible from the Prague Castle; you could see all of Prague and the rivers. It was an incredible day that really exposed major cultural aspects of Prague.
Saturday night we did a pub crawl that is really famous in Prague. My friend Sarah was also in Prague that weekend so she did the pub crawl as well, and we got to hang out all night! We started at a local bar "The Drunken Monkey" where drinks were unlimited and there was a ton of young people. We then left that bar and made it to 3 others in the crawl. It was SUPER fun and we got to see a lot of the local Prague bars. There were a lot of college kids doing the crawl, so I met a bunch of people from all over the US studying in various European cities.
On Sunday, we first headed to the Communist Museum. It was very interesting because the communist regime is such a major part of Prague's history and has an incredible influence on Prague's culture to this day. After the interesting museum, we saw a beautiful synagogue and then headed to a tower that overlooked the whole city. It was quite a trek to the tower, and we found ourself in a forestry area with views of the castle to the right. The views from the top of the tower were absolutely stunning, and it was starting to get dark so you could see all the city lights. Afterwards, we went to a local Czech brewery close by. We had no idea what to order (it was all in Czech) so we just asked the waitress to bring her favorite beer and food. The food was questionable and quite hard to eat (cheese with actual fungi on it and questionable meat) and the beer literally tasted like a banana dipped in cinnamon. So that dinner was a failure, but at least we got to try local Czech food!
We got home and found a very drunk group of the Germans. They persuaded us to head to a bar with them, so we drank a little beer with them before then headed to the bar. It was really fun and we met some local Czechs. We were exhausted from the whole weekend, so we called it a night early.
On Monday, Anna and Sophie left around noon for their flight but mine wasn't until 9pm. So, I roamed the city be myself and it was beautiful. I strolled across the torture museum, and went in. It was not a good idea to go in by myself, it was so scary and freaky!! After walking around for a couple hours, I returned to the hostel where I met a girl from NY and a guy from Australia. They were teaching English in Paris. All three of us went to a brewery and got a couple beers. They were really interesting, and we ended up talking for hours. They are coming to Barcelona soon, so they told me they will let me know when they come! I then headed to the airport and made it back to Barcelona safely!
Well, that was my weekend in Prague! It was actually amazing and made me realize how much I want to travel when I am here. Oh, and I booked a ticket to Amsterdam for my birthday weekend! I am about to book a ticket to Munich for the end of April and am looking into Berlin!
That is it for now, I will update soon! Thanks for following meeeeee! Love you all!
P.S: See bottom of blog for more pics!
xoxo
So I just got back from an amazing weekend in Prague! Prague is so incredibly beautiful with stunning architecture and landscape. It was such an amazing weekend and a HUGE success as my first trip outside of Barcelona!
So I went with my two friends in my program, Sophie (from UCSB) and Anna (from UCSC). We arrived in Prague Friday around 5pm. We stayed at a hostel in the heart of Prague and shared a room with 9 others (12 people total). When we arrived, we immediately started chatting with two Bosnian girls that were in Prague for the weekend as well. We ended up talking for about 3 hours with them and it was super interesting because we did not know much about Bosnia before talking to them. One of the girls lived underground in a bomb shelter for five years when the Bosnian Wars were occurring! It was crazy talking to them because they were children when the wars were going on, and they enlightened us about their life and struggles living through the war. They also played some Bosnian music with us and further discussed Bosnian culture.
We also started talking to a group of 5 German guys staying in the hostel. They were so crazy, I actually think that they were drunk the whole weekend. But they were a lot of fun, and also discussed major German cultural aspects. All 10 of us (Bosnians and Germans) drank some beer and played some drinking games from the various countries. Our huge group then headed to a club in central Prague that is the biggest club in central Europe! It was a ton of fun, with 6 floors all playing different types of music. I actually ran into my friend Carissa from school who is studying in Rome. It was so crazy to see her because we did not know we would both be in Prague! So we literally were freaking out in the middle of the club and probably caused a scene.
The next day, Anna, Sophie, and I went to the main tourist attractions in Prague. We saw Old Town Square, the Astrological Clock, the Charles Bridge, the Lennon Wall, and the Prague Castle. Everything was SO beautiful! Just walking down the street, every building was special with a different style. The views were incredible from the Prague Castle; you could see all of Prague and the rivers. It was an incredible day that really exposed major cultural aspects of Prague.
Saturday night we did a pub crawl that is really famous in Prague. My friend Sarah was also in Prague that weekend so she did the pub crawl as well, and we got to hang out all night! We started at a local bar "The Drunken Monkey" where drinks were unlimited and there was a ton of young people. We then left that bar and made it to 3 others in the crawl. It was SUPER fun and we got to see a lot of the local Prague bars. There were a lot of college kids doing the crawl, so I met a bunch of people from all over the US studying in various European cities.
On Sunday, we first headed to the Communist Museum. It was very interesting because the communist regime is such a major part of Prague's history and has an incredible influence on Prague's culture to this day. After the interesting museum, we saw a beautiful synagogue and then headed to a tower that overlooked the whole city. It was quite a trek to the tower, and we found ourself in a forestry area with views of the castle to the right. The views from the top of the tower were absolutely stunning, and it was starting to get dark so you could see all the city lights. Afterwards, we went to a local Czech brewery close by. We had no idea what to order (it was all in Czech) so we just asked the waitress to bring her favorite beer and food. The food was questionable and quite hard to eat (cheese with actual fungi on it and questionable meat) and the beer literally tasted like a banana dipped in cinnamon. So that dinner was a failure, but at least we got to try local Czech food!
We got home and found a very drunk group of the Germans. They persuaded us to head to a bar with them, so we drank a little beer with them before then headed to the bar. It was really fun and we met some local Czechs. We were exhausted from the whole weekend, so we called it a night early.
On Monday, Anna and Sophie left around noon for their flight but mine wasn't until 9pm. So, I roamed the city be myself and it was beautiful. I strolled across the torture museum, and went in. It was not a good idea to go in by myself, it was so scary and freaky!! After walking around for a couple hours, I returned to the hostel where I met a girl from NY and a guy from Australia. They were teaching English in Paris. All three of us went to a brewery and got a couple beers. They were really interesting, and we ended up talking for hours. They are coming to Barcelona soon, so they told me they will let me know when they come! I then headed to the airport and made it back to Barcelona safely!
Well, that was my weekend in Prague! It was actually amazing and made me realize how much I want to travel when I am here. Oh, and I booked a ticket to Amsterdam for my birthday weekend! I am about to book a ticket to Munich for the end of April and am looking into Berlin!
That is it for now, I will update soon! Thanks for following meeeeee! Love you all!
P.S: See bottom of blog for more pics!
xoxo
Monday, February 7, 2011
Hola from Barcelona!
Hello Everyone!!!
Sorry I started a blog so late, but I got tired of repeating myself over and over in emails! So here, you can find out everything that is going on in my new Spanish life.
Okay, so where do I even start?!?! BARCELONA IS AMAZING!!!! I am absolutely in love, with the culture, food, people, the language, Europe... everything! I have been here for about a month and feel like I have been here for a year; I feel completely at home. I am completely familiar with the city and know how to navigate around the metro system, which is excellent. So the first two weeks was the Intensive Language Program, which consisted of Spanish Grammar, Conversation, Culture and History, and an Introduction to Catalan. I learned a ton in ILP; we got to visit 3 museums in Barcelona and it was a great way to meet other students in my program. However, it was also very tedious and exhausting, especially because me and my friends were out at the discotecas/bars several times a week!
The nightlife in Barcelona is crazy. Actually insane... in a good way. My friends and I don't leave to go out until 2am and return anywhere from 7-8am! Then we would sleep until 9am, get up, go to classes, then take a siesta in the afternoon, and do it all over again! The discotecas are so much fun and they are always packed! I have met a bunch of international people from all over and it is really great learning about everyone's different culture.
The food is also great here. I LOVE getting tapas and Sangria! It is so much fun to duck into a little restaurant and each a bunch of Spanish cuisine while also meeting some locals. And let me tell you, the Spanish love their wine and Sangria! They drink it with everything (including breakfast), here wine is cheaper than bottled water! So that has been a huge culture shock, but a great one! But the food is amazing and love heading out to dinner at 10pm.
So for the first two weeks, I lived in a home-stay. I absolutely loved my senora! She would cook all three meals for me and Sophie (one of my best friends here in Barca), do our laundry, and wouldn't judge us when we came home at 8am (hopefully..)! The first two weeks were very stressful, however, because I had to go on the Spanish "craigslist" and find an apartment, or "piso" for myself. Everyday, I would go look at 3-5 pisos, and it was extremely exhausting. But I finally found two perfect ones! The one I am living in now is only for the month of February. It is with two guys from the professional Barcelona handball team! They are GREAT! I only speak to them in Spanish and I have learned so much about their culture just by living with them. They give me advice about Barcelona, where to travel, and LOVE hearing about California. It is quite funny, everyone here wants to know everything about America.
The piso I am moving into for the rest of the semester is with two Italian girls and one Phillipino guy, all students. I am very excited to move in with them because they are SUPER nice and I love the piso!
I am so excited to travel all around Europe! This is what I have booked so far this semester:
Prague (this weekend!)
Cádiz (south of Spain for Cárnival: a huge Spanish fiesta!)
Dublin (for St. Patty's day)
Paris
Greece islands (island hopping for Spring Break)
And this is what I am going to book in the near future:
Amsterdam
Munich or Berlin (can't decide which one)
Croatia (closer to the summertime)
All over Spain
Canary Islands
Italy
Vienna
Hopefully I will have time to go to all of those places!
Well, I obviously have a TON more to say but I figured this entry is already very long since it covers the past month. I will be updating continuously with more news! Love you all!
PS: Barcelona is the best place ever. I am absolutely in love. I never really wanna come home...
Sorry I started a blog so late, but I got tired of repeating myself over and over in emails! So here, you can find out everything that is going on in my new Spanish life.
Okay, so where do I even start?!?! BARCELONA IS AMAZING!!!! I am absolutely in love, with the culture, food, people, the language, Europe... everything! I have been here for about a month and feel like I have been here for a year; I feel completely at home. I am completely familiar with the city and know how to navigate around the metro system, which is excellent. So the first two weeks was the Intensive Language Program, which consisted of Spanish Grammar, Conversation, Culture and History, and an Introduction to Catalan. I learned a ton in ILP; we got to visit 3 museums in Barcelona and it was a great way to meet other students in my program. However, it was also very tedious and exhausting, especially because me and my friends were out at the discotecas/bars several times a week!
The nightlife in Barcelona is crazy. Actually insane... in a good way. My friends and I don't leave to go out until 2am and return anywhere from 7-8am! Then we would sleep until 9am, get up, go to classes, then take a siesta in the afternoon, and do it all over again! The discotecas are so much fun and they are always packed! I have met a bunch of international people from all over and it is really great learning about everyone's different culture.
The food is also great here. I LOVE getting tapas and Sangria! It is so much fun to duck into a little restaurant and each a bunch of Spanish cuisine while also meeting some locals. And let me tell you, the Spanish love their wine and Sangria! They drink it with everything (including breakfast), here wine is cheaper than bottled water! So that has been a huge culture shock, but a great one! But the food is amazing and love heading out to dinner at 10pm.
So for the first two weeks, I lived in a home-stay. I absolutely loved my senora! She would cook all three meals for me and Sophie (one of my best friends here in Barca), do our laundry, and wouldn't judge us when we came home at 8am (hopefully..)! The first two weeks were very stressful, however, because I had to go on the Spanish "craigslist" and find an apartment, or "piso" for myself. Everyday, I would go look at 3-5 pisos, and it was extremely exhausting. But I finally found two perfect ones! The one I am living in now is only for the month of February. It is with two guys from the professional Barcelona handball team! They are GREAT! I only speak to them in Spanish and I have learned so much about their culture just by living with them. They give me advice about Barcelona, where to travel, and LOVE hearing about California. It is quite funny, everyone here wants to know everything about America.
The piso I am moving into for the rest of the semester is with two Italian girls and one Phillipino guy, all students. I am very excited to move in with them because they are SUPER nice and I love the piso!
I am so excited to travel all around Europe! This is what I have booked so far this semester:
Prague (this weekend!)
Cádiz (south of Spain for Cárnival: a huge Spanish fiesta!)
Dublin (for St. Patty's day)
Paris
Greece islands (island hopping for Spring Break)
And this is what I am going to book in the near future:
Amsterdam
Munich or Berlin (can't decide which one)
Croatia (closer to the summertime)
All over Spain
Canary Islands
Italy
Vienna
Hopefully I will have time to go to all of those places!
Well, I obviously have a TON more to say but I figured this entry is already very long since it covers the past month. I will be updating continuously with more news! Love you all!
PS: Barcelona is the best place ever. I am absolutely in love. I never really wanna come home...
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