My Big Adventure Across Europe

So I know I haven't updated in a while, but I've been pretty busy traveling. At the moment, I'm on a 7 hour ferry from Santorini, back to Athens, and ran out of books to read. Therefore, I figured I'd update. The last trip I updated on was Morocco, which was the adventure of  lifetime, to say the least. However, I've seen a lot since then. After Morocco was finals, which although pretty sucky, were not nearly as bad as they would've been in the US. I passed all my classes (yay!) and then started my adventure with Katie. First stop, Ireland.  So we started off by flying into Belfast, which is in Northern Ireland. We thought maybe we could rent a car to drive down to Dublin, but of course, neither of us knew that Ireland is split in 2, and we'd have to pay a crossing international borders fee to do it. Good thing we asked. Belfast was nice, but kind of boring. We wandered around, saw some churches and pretty things, but overall, it wasn't one of my favorite places. Apparently though, it's an up and coming place. We walked to the Titanic shipyards, which were just big construction sights with little signs you could read, and to a market, which was pretty cool. My favorite was the botanical gardens, where I spent hours taking pictures and reading. That was nice.  Afterwards, we took a bus to Dublin. That place I really enjoyed.  It's a small enough city where you can get everywhere walking, and the people are great. We spent our first day there doing the sights, including going to the Guiness Factory. It was fun and interactive, and you end up getting a glass of the stuff at the end (I think it tasted like coffee breath, but that's just me... everyone just responded with "Yeah, it's an aquired taste). Then that night, because it was a Saturday night, we went to the Temple Bar area. It's a pretty touristy bar area, so everything is really expensive, and I don't think locals actually go there, but we had fun. We met some guys from England who bought us drinks and were hilarious. Then we moved onto another bar, where I practiced my Spanish with some Rugby players from Santander. We ended the night with the best loaded french fries of my life. The next day, we decided to do a tour of the countryside, which was full of old people, but we really enjoyed. Our bus driver/tour guide was great and sung songs throughout the ride, while providing us with those really corny jokes about the differenced between men and women. We ended up at these big Gardens, that were great for taking pictures and wandering through. That took up most of the day, and then we took a nap. We thought we'd tour a bar crawl that night, but we ended up being the only ones that went, plus our guide. He ended up going with us to 2 bars, and just hanging out. Not exactly the most successful bar crawl, but it was fun nonetheless.  Next stop, Lisbon, Portugal.  Portugal was really pretty, but we weren't actually there that long. The hostel was absolutely great. It was small, on one floor, clean, and didn't have many people staying there. It felt like an apartment. We spent the first day there doing more touristy stuff, the churches and the castle. The whole city is on a giant hill, so we spent most our time going uphill trying to find things. It was all pretty stuff, but you can only see so many churches in your life, before you lose interest.  We went out to a nice dinner and I got to watch a movie alone in the living room, curled up on the couch. The second day we were there (22nd), we decided to go to the beach. We took a train for about an hour to a nearby beach city, and spent the day laying and reading (the water was too cold). It was nice and relaxing after all the moving around we'd been doing. We spent the night in the hostel and cooked ourselves a healthy dinner for once.x The 23rd was Dia de San Jordi, so we flew back to Barcelona. 

Spring Break

So this past week was probably the most interesting week of my life.. Spring Break. It was the first Spring Break that I've actually gone anywhere so I don't actually have anything to compare it to, but it was pretty awesome.

The week started on Wednesday night, although classes weren't officially over until Thursday. We went to see La Bella y La Bestia on Barcelona's version of Broadway. It was great, even though I missed all the jokes Lumiere made in Spanish with a French accent.

On Thursday, me and Hannah met at the crack of dawn near the Arc to catch a taxi to the airport. When we got there, the airline I had to check into wasn't even open yet. I had a flight with Toni, who's in my ISA program so when we all got to Sevilla, we all stuck together. We were all pretty exhausted and kept getting lost, so we ended up sitting outside at a cafe for about 4 hours. When Katie finally met up with us and we all half delirious from exhaustion, we went on a search for our hostel. We took a nap and then headed out. We were looking for someplace to eat, but all we found was a buffet place. We ate there and by 8 we were laughing hysterically because we were all so tired.

Stuff I will explain later...

• Hookah
• Streaking
• Midnight Full Moon Cleansing Ritual
• Learning to Dance and Play the drums
• Watching the Sunrise
• Climbing Massive Sand Dune
• Henna
• Dirty Bathrooms
• Peeing in the Desert
• Peeing with the Monkeys
• rolling down the sand dunes
• Spandex Mafia
• Riding Camels
• Feeding the poor children
• Gangster Baby
• Fossil Dealers
• Haimas
• Hannah got electrocuted
• Dancing
  
• Oasis de Ziz
• People getting sick
• Spectacular with Drum Man and Toni getting married
• Rug Buying and Inspirational Speech
  
• Scarf Weaving
• Pottery Man
• Mint Tea
• Weird Hotel Club
• The Medina in Meknes and Fes
  
• Snorting Stuff with the Medicine Man
• Tannnery with Mint Protection
• Natural Makeup
• Haggling
• Mean Face
• Creepy Roommates and Monotone
• People getting sick
• J Poms
• Weird ISA Morocco Director
• Ken
• Kike Sevilla
• Bitchy Cuban Princess
• The Party Bus
• Jewels Vern aka 30
• People disappearing with Morocco Men aka Jewels and Molly
• Drinking Wine for Katies Birthday
• Arab Walmart
• Random Guy trying to talk to us
• Reading more books
• Dramamine and Passing out for days at a time
• Turban
• Berber Skiiing
• Rugs a second time
• Hannah's Boyfriend

Sevilla

• KKK References - "lynching later"
  
• Our Favorite Waiter
• sitting and watching parades for 6 hours
• taking turns
  
• random ampatheatre

Birthday Week: March 12th-18th with Tata and Denise

Thurs, 3/12: Dinner at Favorite Restaurant

Tata and Denis arrived on Thursday. After my class ended at 5, I walked over to their apartment to meet up with them. I took them to the port and wandered a bit with them. Then we went to the restaurant that Me and Jen had found while she was here. That restaurant soon became our favvorite.

Fri, 3/13: Montserrat

On Friday, Tata and I took the train to Montserrat, the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen. We had the intention of hiking them, but the trails proved a bit too terrifying for Tata's fear of heights. We took tons of pictures and then the cable car up the top of the mountains, where I took a trail by myself and found my way to the tip of a moutain peak. It was an amazing experience. up with Denise for dinner and found a restaurant somewhat near where they were staying and then met up with Hannah and Katie for Sangria at Oveja Negra. The Hannah, Katie and I went to Roxy for a while.

Sat, 3/14: Parc del Laberint d'Horta & Tibidabo

On Saturday, we had quite a productive day. We started off the day at the Park of the Layberinth in Barcelona. It was some random thing that we saw in other people's facebook pictures, and therefore decided to explore for ourselves. It was pretty cool. The park was beautiful, perfect for picnics and hiking, and ending with a huge maze that looks a lot easier to get around than it is. We weren't lost in it for that long, but it was confusing. We took some really nice pictures too.


Afterwards, we headed to Tibidabo, which is the mountain in Barcelona, and also the home to a carnival like place. We didn't go into the amusement park, but we did see the church outside of it and go to the top of that. The view from the top of the city was really nice, and took 3 modes of transportation to get to.

Sun, 3/15: La Rambla, Boqueria, Erotica Museum & Playa

On Sunday was more of a day to relax. I met Tata and Denise at their apartment and then we walked over the Rambla so that they could see it. I took them to the Boqueria and we bought a bunch of fruit and some juices. Then we went to the erotica museum because it was right there. That was a lot of fun. I got to watch porn that was made for the king back in the day. It was like watching a car wreck, it was so bad, but you couldn't help watching it. I also saw quite some disturbing things, but it was fun anyway. Then we went to relax on the beach for a little bit and read. I took a nap in the sun and woke up next to a topless woman, but whatever. It's kinda the norm here. Hannah and Katie met up with us after their horseback riding adventure. When it started to get chilly, Tata and Denise took a cab back to their apartment and we went to go get Churros and Chocolate, which was the best idea ever. Then I went back to my apartment, where I finished up my homework and stuff like that.

Mon, 3/16: Chupitos

Monday I had class all day, so Tata and Denise went off to do their own thing. They went to see
some churches and things along that line. We met up for dinner at our favorite restaurant once again and then grabbed a cab to Chupitos. Hannah and Katie met up with us. We ended up doing at least 8 shots a piece, and Tata made friends with the bartender. They even sung to me at midnight for my birthday and I got to blow out a candle. We did the finding nemo, Creme de la Creme, Boyscout, diablo, harry potter, Pop Rocks, Willy Wonka, and some more that I don't remember the name of. It was a lot of fun.

Tues, 3/17: Cuban Food and Irish Pub

Tuesday was my birthday, so I pretty much got to do whatever I wanted (I love that rule). I went to Spanish class, and then met up with Hannah and Katie in the library. For my birthday they gave me a really cute poem, my first legal beer, a Beauty and the Beast Pen, Cups for Beer, and a Chocolate Crossoint. It was one of my favorite gifts of all time. Then we went to the park to lay and read until Tata and Denise came and found us. Then we headed off to get my hair cut. For some reason, that is what I really wanted to do on my birthday, as well as take a nap and buy a birthday outfit. The haircut took longer than expected so the nap got cut out of my schedule but I did end up getting 3 dresses. Then we all met up to go out for Cuban food, something I had been craving for far too long. It was amazing and Katie and Hannah really liked their first Cuban food experience too. By the time we left, we decided that we were all pregnant with Cuban Food Babies. We all picked off each other's plates and ate tons of apetizers and desserts. It was really a great birthday dinner. Then we headed to an Irish pub, since it was St. Patrick's Day and all. I got to drink cider and just have a fun time. We ended the night pretty early, so I guess it wasn't the typical 21st birthday (I remember all of it), but it was a great one, especially considering I couldn't be home with my family.

Wed, 3/18: Dinner

Wednesday I had class again, so Tata and Denise did the rest of their tourist-y stuff. We met up for dinner at the restaurant for one last time. After dinner we walked to the gothic area because they wanted to do some last minute shopping, but their was a huge protest going on, so everything was closed. We grabbed a cab to my apartment and I finished packing my suitcase for them to take home. Then we said our goodbyes and I walked to school to use the internet, since we long the wireless in our house.

The City of Love

<3Paris: The City of Love <3
March 5th to 7th with Jen and Katie in Paris

Notes on Paris:

• Crêpes with Nutella are God's gift to Earth
• When you skip to the Eiffel Tower, tired is an understatement
• Bus Tours and audio guides are awesome
• When your with Jen, you'll meet someone you know
• The Eiffel tower glitters!
• When all else fails, use hand gestures
• Use the bathroom before you go through security at the airport, and be prepared to get felt up
• Paris is as full of sex images as everyone says
  

So we arrived on Thursday night, later than expected, after probably the worse flight ever. We flew easyjet (yes it's an actually airline, not just a website) and there were about 30 smelly French pre-teens on the plane with us who proceeded to yell and talk at super volume the entire time. When we finally arrived at the hostel, it was closed, with a note on the outside and a map of a hotel that we had to go to to pick up our key. When we got there, the man pretended not to understand English or know what the hell we were talking about. When we all looked like we were about to cry, he started laughing and handed over our key. There was apparently an overbooking or mistake, so we got a room for 5 to ourselves, with a bathroom.


On Friday for breakfast, they gave us each half of a bagette, nutella, butter, and jam. It was probably one of my favorite breakfasts ever. They also gave us coffee, which I was extremely thankful for. We started off our day at Notre Dame, which was extremely beautiful of course.

Then we grabbed the tour bus. We passed a lot of beautiful things, but we got off the bus at all the major things. We got off at the Arc de Triumph because we were pretty much numb. We grabbed some coffee to defrost, and then headed back to the bus. We stayed on it until the Eiffel Tower, which of course is when we got off to take the million and one retarded pictures in front of it. That was a lot of fun, other than me being really stressed about my housing situation.

After all that, we went back to the hostel so that I could charge my camera (it died) and eat lunch. Apparently Spain is the only place in Europe that eats so late, so we ended up missing lunch pretty much everywhere. We ended up eating a chinese resaurant, but it was really good food. Then we went to find an internet cafe before we went to the Louvre.

Crepes with Nutella.. hole in the wall outside the Internet Cafe


Trying to Survive the Cold by wrapping up in our scarves


The Louvre.. Love at First Sight

The Louvre is apparently free on Friday nights to youths under 26, so we instead spent our money on an audioguide, which was really high tech and by far, the best audio guide I've ever used. It showed you pictures of the artwork while it talked, and images of the corners you had to turn to get to different places. We took the Master's tour, which showed us the 3 most famous works of the museum: The Mona Lisa, The Venus de Milo, and the Victory of Samothrace. The tour is supposed to take an hour and a half, but of course took us longer because we kept getting lost. Afterwards, we just wandered, and when we came upon a painting with an audioguide number, we'd sit and listen to it. We were in the museum from 6pm-10pm and pretty much dilusional by the time we got out of there, since we'd been moving since 9am, and we still weren't done yet.

Once we were exhausted, we started imitating statues.

The Eiffel Tower glitters every hour for 10 minutes. We caught the end of it around 10, but decided we needed to get a closer look. We therefore thought it'd be a good idea to walk there. We made it about 5 minutes before the 11pm showing with some serious skipping involved. However, it was probably the most magical thing I've ever seen. However, it made me want to be kissing a boy.

If only this picture could really capture the beauty of it

Saturday, we didn't really do anything specific. We went sovenier shopping and wandering. We went into a lot of stores, drank coffee, ate cheese crepes, sent postcards, and then went back to the airport for the end of another great trip.

Saturday Calf Stretching

Time in Barcelona

March 3rd to 5th with Jen in Barcelona

We arrived at our hostel on Monday night. We stayed at the Albareda Youth Hostel, which was the nicest hostel I've stayed in yet. We were staying in a room of 4, so the first night, there were 2 boys sleeping in the room with us. When we got there, we checked out emails, because of course we were both going through withdrawl and then went to bed.

On Tuesday, I had class. Jen came with me to school and then I sent her off to the chocolate museum, which is close by, and then we were going to have lunch together. Of course, I didn't know that the museum was closed Tuesdays, so she ended up walking around for an hour and a half, waiting for me to get out of class. We then went to lunch at a "pizzeria" nearby and had delicious asparagus soup as well as a bunch of other stuff. We fell in love with fixed menus. Then we walked down to the beach, which is when Jen decided that she really understood why I never wanted to leave. After that, we had chocolate croissants, which of course, Jen loved. We also had some cafe con leche and made up a list of observations we had made about Barcelona thus far. I have to find it though. Then I had class again, so I gave Jen directions to the Sagrada Familia. She never found it, because she got off at the wrong place, and couldn't remember the name. She figured that asking for the "casa de jesus" wouldn't be very helpful. I had a final the next day, so we picked up gyro-like things near the school and spent the night in the library so that I could study.

On Wednesday, Jen went off on her own. She took the tourist bus so that she could see everything. After my class, we met back at the hostel hostel and went out to eat some more food. We went to Chupitos that night too, and had a bunch of shots I've never had before, including the pop rocks shot (you hold the shot in your mouth with poprocks and jump around) and the Chupitaz0 (Where you smoke the excess shot). It was a lot of fun, especially when we made asses of ourselves trying to get home on the bus because we couldn't figure out where and how to get on and off.

On Thursday, I had a presenation to give for my Spanish class. It was a walking tour of the different areas of Barcelona, so Jen tagged along to see some more stuff, and I did my best to translate. Then we went out to lunch and found the restaurant that is now my favorite (as well as Tata and Denise's favorite) and Jen tried Paella for the first time. It was hands down the best paella I've had in Barcelona, other than the home cooked one that my host mom made. Then I went to my other class and Jen went souvenier shopping. Afterwards, we met up to go pick up our backs at my apartment, since we had already checked out, and then headed to the airport to go to Paris.

This Past Weekend

This past weekend was pretty uneventful. On Friday, we decided to enjoy the last of the really hot weather for a while by going to Sitges. We left really early on Friday morning and spent the day lounging on the beach reading. I got sunburned. We went back home the same day and then went shopping. That night we went to a club, but I left early (3am) because I wasn’t really into the music.

Saturday, I didn’t really do anything all day. I slept till one, ate dinner with the family at 3ish, napped, watched a movie, and went to drink coffee with Hannah and Katie at night.

Today I felt crappy so I was in bed all day. I watched Maid in Manhattan in Spanish and then fell asleep for like 3 hours, so now I’m wide awake with nothing to do but try to update my blog a bit. I also went to the park for a little while.

Trying to Catch Up.. London

London with Matt and Jen Feb 28th to March 2nd

On Saturday, I went to pick up Jen at the airport, bright and early. She lost her luggage so I ended up waiting around for quite a while, and then we went off to breakfast. We then walked to my apartment to get my staff to travel, and headed back to the airport to go to London.
Of course, our plane was delayed and we were both exhausted, but it was so nice to have her there. The flight before ours was cancelled and therefore, the two flights were combined, so it was a mad rush to get on the plane, since there were no longer assigned seats. The flight was fine. We met Matt at the airport, after going through customs, which was pretty much an interrogation. It was so nice to be with such good friends in a country that actually spoke English.

We didn’t really have any trouble finding out hostel, other than the fact that it was pretty far from the airport. We stayed in Shepard Bush and our hostel was attached to a bar, which was just recently redone, so it was really nice. We stayed in a room for four, and the first night, the other woman in the room didn’t even sleep there, so it was pretty enjoyable. The first night, since it started so late, we decided to just stay in the immediate area. We went to the mall that was right by our hostel so that Jen could get some clothes and essentials, since she didn’t have anything with her. We were going to eat at the bar, but the kitchen had closed by the time we got down there. We decided to just walk around. We immediately ruled out Spanish or Italian, so we ended up at a Moroccan restaurant. The food was amazing, or as Jen would call it, a “food bliss”. By the time we were done, we decided to go to bed so that we could get an early start the next day.

On Sunday morning, we decided to get up at 7:00ish so that we could shower, eat breakfast and take the tube for the half an hour it takes to get the center of London. Matt woke us up at 6 because he turned his watch the wrong way when trying to account for the time difference, so we pretty much hit snooze about 30 times before we actually got up. Breakfast was included and I realized just how much American coffee tastes like water, since I’m so used to drinking Café con Leche. Afterwards, we headed into central London. We decided to take the tour bus so that we could see everything. It was a great idea. Since we spoke English, we were able to take the live tour and it was really interesting. We got off the bus at the tower of London and took that tour too. The tour was awesome. The tour guide was really funny and informative, and we got to see and learn a lot. After the tour we saw the crown jewels too. After that, we got back on the tour bus and went for lunch. We had fish and chips, while I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do about my money situation (my ATM card wasn’t working). I ended up borrowing money from Jen and then paying her back later. I think we pretty much saw everything work seeing and walked around a bit. I was kind of disappointed by Buckingham Palace though. I just pictured something completely different.

That night, we had decided to go out. That is, until we realized it was Sunday and everything closes early. We went out and had Tai food at a buffet really close by. Then we had cider at the bar, which is my new favorite beer-like drink. It’s like alcoholic apple juice. Matt made friends with our roommate because she was really into history and politics and me and Jen disappeared to have girl talk.

On Monday, since we didn’t have as much time, we decided to wander a bit and see the Churchhill museum, because Matt really wanted to. I insisted on the audio guide so that I wouldn’t get too bored, and ended up really liking it. We then took tons of pictures of random stuff and headed back to the airport, because Matt’s really anal about time. We were really early but we had tea, which I really wanted to do in London and shopped a little. I also had a bagel, which was actually a really highlight. Our flight was late, but it was nice to be with Jen.

So much new stuff...

Ok since I haven't updated since Switzerland, there is a lot that hasn't been told yet. I'll give you a general outline:

Tuesday, February 24th - Carnival
Saturday, February 28th- Jen Came to Visit!
Saturday, Feb. 28th to Monday, March 2nd- London with Jen and Matt
Thursday, March 5th to Saturday, March 7th- Paris with Jen and Katie
Sunday, March 8th- Jen Left

It's been pretty hectic, but I'll try to remember as many details as possible.

First of all is Carnvial, possibly one of the best highlights of my life. It's pretty much Mardi Gras on the beach, Spanish style. It's completely ridiculous, unmonitored, and so so so much fun. We left Plaza Catalunya at 11:30.. arrived at 12:30ish.. and left at 5am.. Yet, I had so many fun adventures.
Things I must always remember (and will probably be judged for):

• Man in leather shorts and whip in a tree dancing
• The Ridiculous amount of people
• All the crazy characters
  
• Man with Pearls who became my new best friend
• Falling over on the beach and having someone catch me and pick me back up
• Michelle peeing in front of a bank
• The Drag Queen
• Hannah making plans to meet a boy on the beach
• Katie actually being drunk
  
• Peeing in an alleyway
• A boy from Andorra giving me a bottle cap as a way to remember him
• Meeting the Incredibles (and stretch-man)
• Getting there and not seeing the party
• Dancing on the beach
• All the glitter and sparkles
• The random guy I gave part of my sandwich to

I'm sure there's much more.. but that is what I can think of at the moment.

Switzerland

So this past weekend we (Me, Hannah and Katie) went to Geneva, Switzerland. I liked it, but me and the country had a rocky start.


We left Friday morning. Our flight was at 8am so I got up around 5ish. We met up at the train station and went to the airport. They say you are supposed to be there at least 2 hours early, but we literally we were waiting at our terminal in under half an hour. We didn't have to wait online and security was kind of a joke. The plane ride was about a little over an hour and they gave us chocolate on the plane. When we arrived, we had to go to the train station part and take a train to the center of Geneva (about 6 min) and then we followed the Google Map directions I had written out to our hostel. The hostel was pretty nice and really big. We took up 3 out of the six beds in our particular bedroom. The 3 girls were from Chile, Brazil, and France. The only one who actually talked to us was the one from Brazil. She was a bit older. She said she was visiting on vacation, but had been there before for work. She was traveling to more than one place and only was there the first night. The hostel was pretty clean. The gave a douvet cover for the blanket, a fitted sheet for the bed, a pillow case, and a large locker that opened with one of those hotel type keys. We had a floor bathroom for girls that pretty much looked like any college floor bathroom.

After we saw our hostel, we left our stuff in the lockers and went out to find the United Nations. I stopped to grab a sandwich, which was about 9 franks (pretty close to dollars). We then made a note that we wouldn't be eating much in Switzerland. We walked for a while and then arrived at one of the tram stops. The tram coming said Nations, so we figured it would take us in the right direction. The hostel had given us a free pass for 2 days on the trains and buses in the immediate area, so we hopped on. We couldn't figure out where we were supposed to pay, and when we got off, we had never payed. From that point on, we watched people, and no one else seemed to either. However, there were ticket machines at every stop, so I'm still not sure how it works. When we got to the UN, we took some pictures and then went to the gate to take the tour. However, a guard told us it was closed due to special circumstances (They speak a lot of English there). The special circumstances, as it turns out, was that there was a huge protest about the genocide in Somalia. Katie was pretty freaked out by it, so we got away before the protest really started. We walked to a nice big park and went inside some museum that turned out to be the dullest museum I've ever been to. It was ceramics that were painted with floral designs from many time periods, and the place was huge. I was just glad it was free to get it. We then hopped back on the tram and took it for a while. We got off when we saw pretty things, including the huge geiser. However, after twenty minutes or so of walking towards it to take pictures, it shut off. We walked past some other nice buildings that of course all had construction going on in front of them to ruin the pictures. We ended up at starbucks to make us feel better. We ate a kebob place for dinner, because it was the only thing that was even reasonable, and ate gyros which were 10 a piece. We also went out looking for bars and clubs, only finding 2, one that was almost completely empty and the other ridiculously expensive. At that point, we were ready to get out of the country, and were seriously missing Barcelona.

On Saturday, after borrowing a travel book to look at from the hostel and with a little more of a renewed sense of hope, we woke up to try again. We ate breakfast at the hostel, which included cereal bread and coffee. We got our money's worth by drinking a lot of coffee. We then took the tram to the Red Cross Museum. The museum was really nice and I felt very educated after walking through it. It was also kind of depressing with the more recent things they showed, including a room full of kids in pictures with numbers, all children not claimed after a genocide. We spent quite a few hours there, and saw everything there was to see. Afterwards, we found the chocolate store we had found the day before and bought presents for people. We also took a picture of the lady there, who we all fell in love with, because she was just such a cute old lady. We then went back to the geiser, which was still turned off. However, this time we walked along the lake until we found a dock that stretched pretty far into the water. We got closer to a pretty lighthouse and took some really nice pictures. We also almost froze to death. Then we found a supermarket and bought loaves of bread and cheese (Swiss cheese!). We also got some fruit. We then sat on a bench and ate our makeshift lunch outside of a laundrymat.

We then asked a guy in a tobacco shop for directions.
...not complete...

The Parents Came to Visit

So on Friday, my parents came to visit me! I was so excited, but very upset when their flight was really delayed and then they missed their connecting flight. It was actually kind of a nightmare because I had to go buy them a phone, meet some lady at their apartment to get the keys and then trek to the airport to wait for them. They arrived around 9ish. On the way to the apartment, Hannah and I stumbled upon an outdoor concert and then went back after we met the lady. It was a lot of fun. After I picked up my parents, they opted for the RENF/Metro route over a cab, so it was kind of an adventure in itself with all the luggage. When we finally arrived at the apartment, we didn't really do anything except spend some time together and go to sleep.

Saturday was a big more exciting. In the morning, we woke up around 8:30 and went to find breakfast. My dad was happy because they have real fresh squeezed orange juice here, but not so happy that breakfast was a crossoint. My mother enjoyed her first cafe con leche though. Afterwards, we went the cathedral, which was about a ten minute walk from their apartment. We payed to go up to roof and took some really nice scenic pictures. After the cathedral, we walked to the Rambla so they could see what all the hype is about. They got to see all the animals and the market and all the valentine's day stuff that was out. (They don't really celebrate Valentine's day though, its more April 23rd). Then we walked to the Pedrera to meet up with Katie and Hannah. We took the audio tour and actually got to the roof this time. It was so pretty, and so worth the second visit. Afterwards, we went to lunch (around 4pm) and I introduced to my parents to some tapas. They enjoyed them, and my father actually really liked one (pan con tomate). Then it was nap time! We ended up sleeping for like close to 3 hours I think and then headed out for a night in Barcelona. We started off the night at the Harlem Jazz Club, which was also super close to their apartment. The band that was playing was an Afro-Jazz band. It was pretty cool. Katie and Hannah got closer to take pictures and stuff, but me and my parents stayed farther back and just talked. Then we headed to the Oveja Negra, one of my favorite places. My dad bought us quite a bit of Sangria, and I think we were all pretty happy by that point. After, we headed to a club (around 2:30). We got free passes to City Hall, but when we asked the bouncer what kind of music it was, he told us it was house, so we voted against it. We eneded up walking home, hanging out at my parent's apartment for a while and then passing out around 5am. O and on the way home, some drug dealer /stoner huge black guy offered my dad a place to get some "nice pussy" and showed him some weed. My mother proceeded to get in the guys face and tell him that my dad was not interested.. you kind of had to be there, but I would've backed away too, as did this guy.



Another thing that happened, was the breaking of the shower. On Saturday morning, my dad got up first to take a shower and then someone knocked on the apartment door. It was our downstairs neighbor whose apartment had pretty much been flooded by the shower. The bathroom had just been completed and apparently, they forgot that pipes should not dump all the water out indoors. We had to call the owners and all that stuff, and we without a shower for the rest of the day and most of the next.

On Sunday, we went to the zoo, which made me really happy. Of course it isn't exactly the first thing people choose to do when they get to Barcelona, but I had never been, and my parents just wanted to spend time with me. I had a blast because I love the zoo. I turn into a little kid. Every animal turned their butt to me, which is why I have a facebook album completely dedicated to that. By the time we were done with the zoo, it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner (5:30-6), so we found a vegetarian place that would serve us. We had some pretty interesting food, and delicious vegetarian pizza. We then proceeded to take another siesta. Afterwards, Katie and Hannah came over to study, but we pretty much just ended up watching episodes of Two and Half Men before they had to catch the last metro. My parents and I then watched Gran Torino, we I thought was so good. We went to bed around 1.

On Monday, I had school for most of the day, so we were only able to meet up at lunch. We met my parents at the chocolate museum, which was really cute. It was a pretty quick tour, but it was fun to see all the sculptures and artwork created from the chocolate. After, we completely the chocolatey lunch hour by introducing my mom to the chocolate crossoints they have at school, which are the best things in existance, I'm pretty sure. Then they went off the beach and the Sagrada Familia, and I went to class. We met up after my classes ended at 7pm to find the Champagnery, which is a famous place that serves tapas with glasses of cava to go with them. When we got there, it was ridicously crouded. While standing still I was spooning with one guy, was pretty much on the phone with another, and could take a bite out of the sandwich of the girl in front of me. We decided not to stay and went to a small restaurant instead. The food wasn't that great, but what can ya do.

On Tuesday was the last full day my parents had. I didn't see them during the day because they went to Park Guell. After school, which ended at about 5pm, I walked to their apartment and me and my mom went shopping. I got my sister a birthday gift, but came up with nothing for my brother's. I have to buy him something online instead. Then we went to dinner at a place by the water, where we had really good paella. I had a Spanish exam the next day, so I wasn't able to take them to Chupitos, which was kind of disappointing, but I didn't have much of a choice. We went to bed not too late, because we had to get up at 6am for them to get to airport.

Things to Do While in Europe

(x) Touch the Pyrinese Mountains
(x) Pedreda
(x) Park Güell
(x) Sagrada Familia
(x) Sangria
(x) Flaming Shots
( ) Picasso Museum
(x) Dali Museum
(x) Cathedral
(x) Switzerland
( ) Germany
(x) Paris
(x) The Louvre
(x) Eiffel Tower
(x) Crepes
(x) London
(x) See the Alps
( ) Swim in the Mediterranean
( ) Morraco
( ) Random Country
(x) Andorra
( ) Make Spanish Friends
( ) See the Sunrise in the desert
( ) Ride a camel
(x) Flamenco Show
(x) See a soccer game
(x) Gelato
(x) Montjuïc
(x) Cafe con Leche
(x) Tapas
( ) kalimotxo
( ) Ireland
( ) Churros and Chocolate
(x) Carnival
( ) Become Fluent
(x) Swiss Chocolate
(x) Hostel

Some Picture Updates

Our First McDonalds Experience

Hannah found 20€ and treated us to dinner

Andorra has really cheap wine

I was a bit excited when I saw this

The Bus Driver Almost Left Us

Our First Soccer Game

At the Flamenco Show

Abuela Doing her 1st Shot of the Night

Los Padres

My parents are coming tomorrow!!

New Adventures.. a visit to the smallest country ever

Ok so this was my last week...

On Monday, I went to Chupitos with Abuela and Abuelo. Abuela Ana did 2 shots with me: the Bob Marley and the Boyscout. Abuelo did some random with me and then sipped on a glass of straight vodka for the rest of the night. We stayed there for a little while, and then we trekked back to the hotel in the rain. Afterwards, we had our first McDonalds experience in Spain, which I'm not proud of, but it was wet and cold out, and it was the only thing open. Then we had our first night bus experience, which was not as tramatizing as Katie and Hannah's. It actually dropped us off right in front of our house. It was probably one of the highlights of my night to not have to walk at all.

On Tuesday, we went to the cathedral with Abuelo and Abuelo. They really liked it. Then we walked them to the Picasso museum and wandered around and shopped. I found 2 cute dresses that are very Spanish, so I was excited.

On Wednesday, we went to the Flamenco show. It was good. I wasn't really the biggest fan, but there was a really good cute singer, so at least it was something to distract me when the really bad lady singer had her turns. Abuela and Abuelo really liked it and my favorite moment was when Abuela said "he really is cute.. I might be old, but I'm not blind". Then we said goodnight and goodbye.

On Thursday we say Barca play against Mallorca. They won 2-0. It was so much fun, especially considering I don't like soccer. We all bought jerseys and chanted with the crowd to songs we didn't know. We also did the wave! That was a highlight and we practically got high off all the weed everyone was smoking, since they don't serve liquor at games.

On Friday, we stayed in because we were leaving super early to Andorra, which if you didn't know, is a country.
So we met up at the airport to take the shuttle to Andorra at 8:30am. The bus was a little van that we only had to share with 2 other people, one of which was some older man that made friends with Katie.

Andorra was beautiful. Well it was this ugly town that's known for its ridiculous amount of stores, surrounded by absolutely beautiful mountains. When we arrived, we tried to situate ourselves, and then find this cheap hotel we read about in my guidebook. When we finally found it, they were completely booked for the night, and so we went to the hotel next door, which was only a few euro higher. We would've stayed in a hostel, but the difference was only a few euro, and the hotel included breakfast and our room and bathroom. We dropped off our bags and decided to head out for a little adventure. I, of course, forgot my camera so I was not exactly the happiest person, but what can you do. We tried to get higher into the mountain so that the pictures would be nicer. We found these fenced walkways that zigzagged up the mountain and followed them until it started getting dark. On the way up, Hannah found 20 euro laying on the ground and so we decided to have a nice dinner. After we got back, we were pretty much numb from all the snow and the lack of any warmth in the air. We found a little cafe that was really cute and sat in there drinking coffee and eating croissants with chocolate for like 3 hours. Then we looked into some shops and meandered around a book store for quite a bit. Katie found Goodnight Moon, the children's book, in Spanish and read it to us. We also found some other interesting books, including "The Big Penis Book". Now I had assumed that it was just a title, but low and behold, when I opened it, it was really just huge pictures of huge penises... go figure. We were pretty entertained with books for a while. After we had wandered enough, we went to get tapas, because we weren't that hungry. We found a place that was in the guide book and ordered a bunch of tapas and some beers. We ended up only paying about 3 euro a piece for dinner with the money Hannah had found. It was great. We also bought 69 cent wine and sprite afterwards. After dinner, we went back to our hotel room, drank the bottle of wine, and talked. We also looked through the guidebook to pick other countries we want to go to. We still have a few weekends empty, but we already bought plane tickets to go to Geneva, Switzerland in 2 weeks.

On Sunday, we took a bus up to the mountain, because we had seen really nice pictures in postcards. However, when we got there, I was less than impressed. The area has been destroyed by construction, so we didn't stay for very long. When we got back down to the hotel, we checked out, wandered some more, and wen back to a coffee shop to talk for quite some time. Eventually, it was time to leave, and we found our bus. We were supposed to leave at 3:15, but we ended up leaving at 4. It was supposed to take 3.25 hours to get back. It took 6. It didn't really bother me because I slept most of the time, but I feel bad for people who had to catch a plane at the airport. Overall, it was quite a relaxing weekend, and I can't wait for more adventures.

Success!!

I got Abuela to do two shots with me!! Pictures and details to come!

The Abuelos...

So I haven't updated in a few days, but I guess since my grandparents are here, I should. They arrived on Wednesday morning. I was super excited to see them, because it's been a month since I've seen family, which is kind of depressing. I went to see them in between classes at their hotel. We had a quick lunch and then I showed them to El Corte Ingles, which is a place they've wanted to see since they always see commercials for it on the Spanish channel they watch back home. It's like this huge superstore, that has everything you could ever think of. Each of them is about the size of a small mall. Anyway, that day I had class until 7pm, so I didn't get to see them again, but what can you do.

Thursday, I had classes again. Afterwards, I went to see the grandparents and I showed them La Rambla. We were basically just wasting time before dinner. We ended up walking for like an hour though. We walked down the center where they sell animals and paintings, and there are the live statues and stuff. They said parts reminded them of Cuba. Then I showed them the big outdoor market, where they sell fruits, nuts, meat, fish, and a bunch of other food. We got gelato and just explored for a while. Then we kept walking down the Rambla, which ends at the port. I asked them if they wanted to see it, and they said yes, so we walked across the big bridge on the port. Once on the other side, we walked through the mall that is there, and then kind of around. At that point, I was lost, but I didn't exactly wanna freak them out, so I just kept walking like I had a purpose. Once it turned 8, I said that we could go into a restaurant, but I didn't have anything in particular in mind. Everything I thought looked like fun, they thought looked kinda creepy. I dunno. Around that area, all the buildings look like that, and then the inside is the nice part, but whatever. We finally found a place and sat down to eat. The food was pretty good. Then we kept walking until I saw a sign for the Rambla. When we got there, I asked them if they wanted to take the metro back to the hotel, but I think Abuela was scared of it, so they told me they'd rather walk. Then I wanted to take them to a Jazz club, but they didn't really seem interested, so they told me they were tired. I hung out with them in their room for a while and then my friends met me at Plaza Catalunya, which is a few blocks from there.

We met up and decided to go back to the Oveja Negra and have Sangria. After 3 pitchers between 3 people, we were all a bit tipsy. It was pretty entertaining to walk to the club. We were all excited because the club where we had found the good Spanish music was having a college night, so we headed over. However, when we got there, we found out that the Spanish floor was closed for the night. Therefore, we decided to leave after a little bit and head back to the Rambla. We didn't find anything good and it being a week day, the metro was already closed. Since we didn't have a place in mind, we decided to go home. Michelle hadn't come out that night and no one thought it was a good idea for me to walk home at 3am, so I took a taxi, still drunk, back home. Hanna and Katie decided to take the night bus, and had quite an adventure with that. They apparently tried to push the button for the bus to stop, but it was actually an alarm, and yeah..they caused a bit of chaos. Then they thought the bus had stopped but really the bus driver had just stopped to say hi to another bus stop. Hanna jumped off and then Katie got stuck on the bus. It was a mess.

Friday, I went with my grandparents on the Tourist bus to see La Sagrada Familia. That was an interesting experience. We waited on line for half an hour to take the elevator up to the top. They told us it was worth the trip to walk down. However, the elevator definately didn't give away how much exactly we were going to have to walk. If you look at the pictures, you'll understand, but I think we walked down stairs for at least a half hour, no joke. Abuelo's knees gave out at the end, and it was kinda scary. Plus, the bottom part is very dark and he couldn't see where he was going. I felt horrible, but they were good sports about it. Now I know never to recommend that to anyone who has really bad knees. Anyway, we went to lunch aftwards, and then took the tourist bus around the rest of the route, but didn't get off anywhere. They went back to their hotel room and I went off to meet my Intercambio partner.

My partner's name is Gemma. She's a 26 year old teacher from Barcelona. She's really nice, and a lot of fun to talk to. We spoke in Spanish for about an hour, and then English for another, and then walked to a bookstore speaking both. It was really interesting, and I think it should be really helpful in the long run. We won't always be able to meet because we have very conflicting schedules, but the plan is at least once every other week for about the same amount of time. I love it.

Girona and Figueres

Ok so Saturday, we went to Girona and Figueres. Girona is supposed to be like one of the prettiest cities in Spain, but it was raining, so it kinda sucked. We did the tour and then stayed in an Italian restaurant for all of our free time. Then we went to Figueres, which is where the Dali museum is. I didn't think I'd like it, but it was pretty awesome. There was some great work in the museum. I took tons of pictures. On Saturday night, I had a migrane so I didn't go out, but Michelle and Hannah did and found boys. O well.

Familia!!

My grandparents are coming tomorrow!! I'm super excited, but also super nervous that I don't have enough things planned for them to do. I set up 2 bus tours, 2 walking tours, and made reservations for a Flamenco show. The rest I guess we'll just play be ear.. I'm so excited to see family.. and it probably doesn't hurt that I'll be getting some serious Spanish practice in.

P.S. We're taking Abuelo and Abuelo to chupitos!! I'm getting Abuela to do a flaming shot.. don't worry!

Newest Updates

So I haven't written in a few days, but I have some updates...

Today was my first day of actual classes. I had 2 other than my Spanish class: Society and Communication in Spain (in Spanish) and Barcelona: The City and its History (in English). I was planning on switching to the Spanish version of the history class, but it seems really interesting, and I just can't see how I would get as much out of the Spanish version since it would be simplified to accomodate all the American students. Therefore, I think I'm gonna stay in it. There are a bunch of field trips and a lot of reading, but it seems like good stuff. For extra credit I get to read a novel on a list and write a paper. I can't complain. The Communications class also sounds pretty fun. We get to learn about propoganda, the media, and forms of communication in Spain. We get to go to the radio station and watch tv and stuff like that. I have one more tomorrow.

So Thursday night we went to Chupitos, which is the shots bar, again. That was a lot of fun, because we got there early enough that we could still move and hear ourselves talk. We did a bunch of shots: Diablo (on fire, and sipped through a straw), Green Giant (another fire straw one) and the Bob Marley (green, red and yellow in layers and tasted like candy). We also had another liter of some mixed drink. We were enjoying ourselves quite a bit by the time we left. We then trecked over to Sutton, which is a club that wasn't too far. It was about a 15 minute walk. The party was for Bread and Butter, which was fashion week this year in Barcelona. We would've loved to go to the shows, but you have to be invited. The club was really nice but the music was all house, and not very good house music, so we left after about an hour. We took taxis home and ended the night pretty early, around 3am.

On Friday night, we opted to stay in because we were all tired from the night before and everyone was still kind of sick.

On Saturday during the day, we did the tourist thing. We went to Park Güell, which is a park that was designed by Gaudi during his life. His original intention was to build a bunch of houses and make it kind of a small city in itself. He ended up being the only one to live there, but built some really cool structures in the process. We took tons of pictures and just wandered for a while. Getting there was quite interesting. We got off at the nearest metro stop, which wasn't exactly close and then pretty much trecked up a mountain to get there. The street was so steep that there was actually an escalator for a part of it. Of course when we got to the top of the mountain to the escalator, that side of the park was closed off and we had to walk about half a mile to get to the other entrance. It made for some good pictures though.

After the park, we went to Montjuïc which is where the Olympics took place. We climbed up another mountain and took a bunch of escalators. The view was amazing. We took tons of pictures, saw the Art Museum (but we didn't actually go in) and where the Olympic ring was. We looked for the Olympic pool but couldn't find it, so we figured we'd leave it for another day.

By the time we got home, I had injured my foot from walking in flats for 8 hours. I guess it was the lack of support, but it feels like a pulled a muscle in my foot, and it hurts a lot to walk.

We decided to go out for Sangria, because we hadn't had any since we had been in Spain. I found a place that was supposedly very popular among erasmus (international) students and backpackers, so we decided to check it out. It was really cool. It pretty much looked like a really big basement and had longs of picnic benches and pool tables and you just sat down with your pitcher of beer or sangria and made friends. We met this couple from England who was on vacation for the week. The husband was apparently in fashion, although we didn't find out exactly how, and were here for Bread and Butter. They were really nice.

Then we decided to go to a club we had gotten free passes for when walking around. That was around 1:30, because the pass was only good until 2. The pass said there was salsa and Spanish music, so we were intrigued. When we got there though, it was house music. It was pretty good, but we got bored after a while, and decided to leave around 3. However, when we were leaving, we saw a bunch of people in a corner and we decided to check it out. It turned out to be stairs to a downstairs floor with Spanish music. We were so excited that we couldn't help but go down and check it out. We ended up staying until 5 and the party was still going when we left. We also made friends, and some guy was trying to hook me up with his friend.

And that's all for now...

The Inauguration

So, at Tio Andy's request, I'm writing about the Inauguration that happened yesterday. I didn't see it. I saw the recap on the Spanish news, but I know a bunch of people who went to bars to watch it. The country, as well pretty much all of Europe was very excited about it. People are happy to see the change happening. A bunch of people have asked, upon finding out me and my friends are American, whether we voted for Obama, so I guess that's a good sign. Anyway, that was pretty much it.

I have an exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Sometimes you just need Taquitos...

So on Saturday night, Hannah and I went out. Michelle (my roommate) and Katie (her roommate) were sick, but we were too bored to stay home. We decided we were gonna go to some club that was free that we've never been to before. We met up at a metro stop that apparently had like 4 exits on completely different blocks and it took us about 20 minutes to find each other. Then we decided to wander for a while since it was only 12am (early for clubs).

We went to a bar and had some beers and found a bunch of lounge places. When we passed them, we got a bunch of free passes so we meandered a bit and went to one called the love factory. It was kinda boring because no one was dancing and the drinks were just ridiculously priced so we moved on. Then someone handed us a flier for Chupitos, which was actually somewhere we had wanted to go and we followed the mini map to get there.

For anyone I didn't explain this to yet, Chupitos is a shot bar. Basically, there are over 500 names of shots on a big sign, and you pick something, tell the bar tender, and cross your fingers. Some of the shots get kind of ridiculous. For instance, we saw one that a group of girls was doing, although I have no idea what the name was. The bartender poured some liquor into a giant penis and then they proceeded to jerk the penis off until foam came out the top and that was the shot that had to take out of it. Another one involved the guy being dressed up like a soldier and getting yelled at and ordered around by the bartender who was dressed like an army drill instructor. We saw some other one with oranges and fire and another one where they lit the shots on fire and then they had to drink the shot out while it was still on fire.

We were pretty close to the front and the bartender asked what we wanted, but we had no idea. He asked us if we wanted something strong or light, and then if we wanted something sweet. We said light and sweet and then he asked us if we liked marshmallows. We said sure and he came back with two sticks for us, with marshmallows on them. Then he lit the bar on fire and we had to roast our marshmallows. When they were sufficiently on fire, we had to put the fire out in our shotglasses, eat the marshmallows, and then do the shot. It was delicious. Then we split a liter of a mixed drink. I have no idea what we drank, but it was wonderful. The bar closed at 3, so then we wandered off to find the original club we had intended to go to.

Once slightly tipsy, we wandered enthusiastically toward the club called Mary's place. When we got there though, the whole block had lost power and so everyone was just hanging out outside. We went to another bar to use the bathroom and then just wandered toward the metro because we didn't know of any other clubs that were around there. The metro trip was interesting because it was really hard to stay awake, but I got home around 5ish, made myself a grilled cheese, and went to sleep.

Sunday I got up around 12 and went to the beach to read, but it was really windy, so I got some hot chocolate and spent most of the day watching episodes of House online. Today I went to school and then the park to read, and now I'm being boring again, because all my friends got whatever it was that I had. Hopefully everyone will be healthy again in a few days.

Pictures from Week 1 & 2

Barcelona Pictures- Week 1

Barcelona Pictures- Week 2

The Ocean Ate My Ipod

So today I decided to go to beach to read and relax. I went around 11:30 and it was really nice out. I went back out to the rocks where I went the first time and was sitting there listening to my Ipod. Then I heard some talking behind me, so being the nosy person I am, turned to see who the people were. As I did, the Ipod flipped out of my pocket, bounced onto the rock I was sitting on, bounced off, bounced onto another rock and so on (about 7 rocks) and then will a little clunk, fell into the ocean, never to be seen again.. I was in a fairly shallow area so I tried reaching in, but no luck... figures.

Other than that, my day was pretty uneventful. I saw some like 11 year old practicing bike bouncing (i have no idea what its actually called) from rock to rock, some model posing by the ocean, and some old people swimming topless in the water. I also played fetch with some woman's dog...and yeah, thats about it so far today, but I plan on going out later..hopefully.

The Stupid Flu...

So I've been sick these past couple of days, with like a flu/really bad cold. I went to the doctor's yesterday and I had a fever. They gave me a bunch of medications and I'm starting to feel better finally. I've just been sleeping most of the time, so I'll update the blog again when I do something interesting. Until then, my life is going to be pretty boring.

First Day of Class

So yesterday was my first Spanish class. It was pretty good. We didn´t really do anything that amazing, just getting to know each other. We also learned common phrases used here and how to respond. It was actually one of the most useful Spanish classes I´ve had so far. Today we learned spanish alcoholic beverages, and what is common in Barcelona.

Yesterday I also decided to bake banana bread. The supermarket was quite interesting and it took me an hour to find everything. It could have been seen as quite comical to watch me.

I woke up sick today so it´s been a pretty miserable day, but hopefully I´ll be better by tomorrow. My host brother was sick when we got to Barcelona, so I probably caught whatever it was that he had.