My bags are packed to the brim. My room is dismally empty. My camera is full of thousands of pictures. My mind is rich with memories I'll carry for a lifetime.
But sadly, all good things must come to an end. I officially leave barcelona today (although it's technically the middle of the night because I can't sleep for the life of me) and I have so many mixed feelings I can't even begin to describe how happy, sad, excited, and depressed I am right now all at the same exact time.
I'm so happy to come home to a loving family, boyfriend, and friends who I haven't seen for months and can't wait to share everything I've done here with. The only problem with spending 4 months somewhere is that you put down roots, so although I'm coming back to all of you, I'm leaving another family behind. This, I think, is the hardest part of leaving. I have two spanish mothers, Angeles and Almudena, who, like my own mother, would do anything for me and have been so fantastic since I've been here. I have two sisters, Laia and Ana who have been so amazing and through them a group of great friends from the Pingree exchange. The Trinity group got very close by the end of the trip and although we'll all see each other back on campus next semester, not being together 24/7 will be extremely strange. Brianne said something very sad albeit very true last night: Another phase of our lives is over. I don't mean that to sound depressing or woe is me-ish (although I know it does) because this truly has been the best experience of my life and I never want to look back on it in sorrow. But it's true. We look forward to studying abroad throughout high school and through the first 2 years of college....and now that it's over, well, that's just it, it's over. But enough wallowing. I've cried enough tonight already and know I'll be a fountain tomorrow morning, so lets focus on the good.
When I first got here, I didn't know how I felt about being away from home. I didn't like being alone, I felt a bit abandoned and didn't know if I would end up having a good time. And although nothing is perfect and nothing ever will be, I'm happy to be feeling this "oh my god I don't want to leave" feeling, because at least that means that I've experienced something so amazing that I never want to forget it. So although I've been and will be a basket case until I'm on a plane home to the US tomorrow (wow, tomorrow...that is still so bizarre although it's so eminent) I can't wait to share everything I've experienced with you in person, to tell you al about the friendships I've made and how Angeles is already making plans for me to come back haha.
So to end this blog on a happy note, Barcelona has been one of the best things to ever happen to me. I've learned so much the city, culture, the language, but most importantly (and I know it's super cheesy, but deal) about myself. I've learned to be independent and to fend for myself, and I've also learned to not judge to quickly, and although things may seem less than perfect at the beginning, everything turns out great in the end. Most of all I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me throughout this journey:
To Almudena and Monica who listened to my horrible spanish and helped me through it, making me laugh so hard I cried and providing a warm and loving home.
To Laia, Ana, and Angeles for being my second home and always being there for me and for showing me a great time around the city.
To Agueda for putting together a great program. It couldn't have been easy to work with our group, especially during your first semester and I want you to know (if you read this) that we really do appreciate everything you've done for us.
To the Trinity group for showing me how to have some real fun :)
To my parents who listened to me stress and complain about my grades and everything else that wasn't fitting into my perfect little box here
To my friends back home who, despite 2,000 miles made the effort to keep in touch
To Nick for being so great throughout this long distance thing and being so supportive whenever I needed him
And to all of you for reading. I know I ramble a lot (like now) but I hope you've enjoyed what I've written and haven't gotten too bored! I know this was a long sappy one, but like I said I'm super sentimental and can't help it!
Anyways, I'm state side in t-8 hours...
get ready for me, America...I'm comin' home....
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The week of lasts :-(
Hey all
So I'm overly emotional right now and apologize in advance for the sappy nature of this post. I have emotions, so shoot me hahah
Anywaysss Friday Helena and I went to the Christmas Village in Barrio Gotico to buy some gifts and then we headed to the Montjuic area and went to the Fundació Joan Miró which is a beautiful gallery of modern art overlooking all of Barcelona. While Modern Art isn't always my favorite, Helena and I had a good time making up titles for the paintings (as they were all the same: Woman with Bird, Woman, Figure, etc. etc.) and trying to figure out the "deep meaning" of each piece. Almudena and I had dinner that night and we planned our excursion for the next morning!
Despite having lived in Barcelona for many years, Almudena and Laia had never been inside - in fact, I don't even know if Almudena had ever really seen it from the outside either! I took the two of them and Helena on a little tour, trying to remember as much as I could from my research and from the audio guide my family and I took when they were here to give a little bit of the history and content of what Sagrada Familia is. I think they had a good time and were at least very impressed by the architecture - I mean how can you not be, it's spectacular.
Helena and I went to Laia's house for a nice lunch with Angeles and then I went to grab some stuff to stay over Laia's that night. We went out for Saul's birthday with a bunch of the people from the Pingree exchange which was really nice that I got to see them once more before I left. I stayed at Laia's and woke up to Paella the next day! It was fantastic, I got so lucky with two host moms that cook really really well!! Then, as this is also the week of FOOD, I went home and taught Almudena how to make apple pie! It came out really well considering the lack of measuring cups, actual pie pans, rolling pins, etc. etc. haha Needless to say, I'm about ready to give up my Supreme Court dreams for pie making. I'm just that good.
Yesterday Almudena had Laia over for our (sniff sniff) last dinner together. We have a Trinity dinner tonight and she has a work party Wednesday, so this was our last time eating all together as a family. And I really do consider them a part of my family now. Almudena has been the best host mom anyone could ask for - she's kind, warm, helpful, caring, and is always willing to lend an ear. I never realized how close we had gotten until this past week when I realized I was leaving and wouldn't be seeing her and Mónica every day anymore. As much as I'm ready to get home and see you all, I'm getting a bit depressed about leaving to tell the truth. I've seen Barcelona, explored pretty much every part, and feel as though I can come away from this experience saying I've truly LIVED in Barcelona. So that part I won't miss so much. What I will miss is the PEOPLE I've made relationships with during these four months. Laia has become like my sister and has done so much for me and we've had so much fun together, and leaving a best friend isn't easy. Almudena is like a second mother, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I will miss having her in my daily life. I know I'll come back and visit, but ever since I left Barcelona the first time I always had the expectation I would study abroad here. Now with this experience almost over, there's nothing directly on the horizon to say "oh I'm coming back in a year or two years" or what have you.
That being said, we exchanged christmas gifts - I got a good luck charm for the new year and a beautiful book that I'm very excited to start reading. I gave Almudena a pie tin and a rolling pin so she can make her own pies and hopefully think of me when she does. Oo no here come the waterworks. She wrote me the most beautiful letter ("This better make you cry!" she said) and it definitely did. I'm not going to get to see her much over the next day or so which makes me sad that I feel like I didn't spend as much time with her as I could or whatever. The end of trips always make me super sentimental, and I know I'm going to be a mess Thursday morning all the way to the airport. Thank god I'll have Laia holding my hand haha.
Anyways, this is probably my second to last post on this Study Abroad Blog. I can't believe it's all over and, with a few adjustments, I wish I could do it all over again. I'll remember all the good times and try to keep it together when I think of how much I miss my new families here. But I know now for sure that I have a second home here in Barcelona, and that is something not many people can say....
So I'm overly emotional right now and apologize in advance for the sappy nature of this post. I have emotions, so shoot me hahah
Anywaysss Friday Helena and I went to the Christmas Village in Barrio Gotico to buy some gifts and then we headed to the Montjuic area and went to the Fundació Joan Miró which is a beautiful gallery of modern art overlooking all of Barcelona. While Modern Art isn't always my favorite, Helena and I had a good time making up titles for the paintings (as they were all the same: Woman with Bird, Woman, Figure, etc. etc.) and trying to figure out the "deep meaning" of each piece. Almudena and I had dinner that night and we planned our excursion for the next morning!
Despite having lived in Barcelona for many years, Almudena and Laia had never been inside - in fact, I don't even know if Almudena had ever really seen it from the outside either! I took the two of them and Helena on a little tour, trying to remember as much as I could from my research and from the audio guide my family and I took when they were here to give a little bit of the history and content of what Sagrada Familia is. I think they had a good time and were at least very impressed by the architecture - I mean how can you not be, it's spectacular.
Helena and I went to Laia's house for a nice lunch with Angeles and then I went to grab some stuff to stay over Laia's that night. We went out for Saul's birthday with a bunch of the people from the Pingree exchange which was really nice that I got to see them once more before I left. I stayed at Laia's and woke up to Paella the next day! It was fantastic, I got so lucky with two host moms that cook really really well!! Then, as this is also the week of FOOD, I went home and taught Almudena how to make apple pie! It came out really well considering the lack of measuring cups, actual pie pans, rolling pins, etc. etc. haha Needless to say, I'm about ready to give up my Supreme Court dreams for pie making. I'm just that good.
Yesterday Almudena had Laia over for our (sniff sniff) last dinner together. We have a Trinity dinner tonight and she has a work party Wednesday, so this was our last time eating all together as a family. And I really do consider them a part of my family now. Almudena has been the best host mom anyone could ask for - she's kind, warm, helpful, caring, and is always willing to lend an ear. I never realized how close we had gotten until this past week when I realized I was leaving and wouldn't be seeing her and Mónica every day anymore. As much as I'm ready to get home and see you all, I'm getting a bit depressed about leaving to tell the truth. I've seen Barcelona, explored pretty much every part, and feel as though I can come away from this experience saying I've truly LIVED in Barcelona. So that part I won't miss so much. What I will miss is the PEOPLE I've made relationships with during these four months. Laia has become like my sister and has done so much for me and we've had so much fun together, and leaving a best friend isn't easy. Almudena is like a second mother, and I can't even begin to tell you how much I will miss having her in my daily life. I know I'll come back and visit, but ever since I left Barcelona the first time I always had the expectation I would study abroad here. Now with this experience almost over, there's nothing directly on the horizon to say "oh I'm coming back in a year or two years" or what have you.
That being said, we exchanged christmas gifts - I got a good luck charm for the new year and a beautiful book that I'm very excited to start reading. I gave Almudena a pie tin and a rolling pin so she can make her own pies and hopefully think of me when she does. Oo no here come the waterworks. She wrote me the most beautiful letter ("This better make you cry!" she said) and it definitely did. I'm not going to get to see her much over the next day or so which makes me sad that I feel like I didn't spend as much time with her as I could or whatever. The end of trips always make me super sentimental, and I know I'm going to be a mess Thursday morning all the way to the airport. Thank god I'll have Laia holding my hand haha.
Anyways, this is probably my second to last post on this Study Abroad Blog. I can't believe it's all over and, with a few adjustments, I wish I could do it all over again. I'll remember all the good times and try to keep it together when I think of how much I miss my new families here. But I know now for sure that I have a second home here in Barcelona, and that is something not many people can say....
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Adieu Paris, bonjour les examens finaux
My last day in Paris was bittersweet, knowing I had just visited one of the most beautiful cities in the world but that I would have to leave and head back smack dab in the middle of exam week. Sigh.
We got up for some breakfast and saw Nora off to the train station as she had an early train and then Emily and I went to check out Notre Dame. I know I say that every place I go is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life, but this one also makes the list. With beautiful stained glass windows, sculptures, and just some fantastic architecture, I once again fell in love with another famous landmark over here on this amazing continent. We spent some time meandering around, all the while I wanted to reenact the scenes from Hunchback ( just to liiiiiiveee one DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY....ouuuuut therrrreeeee...so touching.) After a nice visit, we walked down to where the Louvre was again so Emily could see the glass pyramids and get some cute pics :-)
Then we grabbed a nice lunch and headed to our respective departure terminals to return t our respective countries and our respective lives. It's weird to think I won't see either of these lovely ladies for at least 2 months, they've been such great traveling companions and it'll be sad to live without them :-( But alas, life must go on and classes unfortunately don't cease according to my wishes....I think if I could have a super power, that'd be a contender....
Anyways I still had another three days off after my wonderful Paris trip which were unfortunately mostly spent studying and writing papers. But I did get to celebrate Almudena's birthday with her and her family which was very cute and I'm glad I got to meet them all before I left!
We're getting down to the wire here people. T-4 days until I'm state side! There's still a lot going on (Fundació Joan Miró and another visit to Sagrada are on the way) so stay with me for a few more days!!! Hope everyone's doing well, can't wait to get back to you all!
Besos!
We got up for some breakfast and saw Nora off to the train station as she had an early train and then Emily and I went to check out Notre Dame. I know I say that every place I go is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life, but this one also makes the list. With beautiful stained glass windows, sculptures, and just some fantastic architecture, I once again fell in love with another famous landmark over here on this amazing continent. We spent some time meandering around, all the while I wanted to reenact the scenes from Hunchback ( just to liiiiiiveee one DAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY....ouuuuut therrrreeeee...so touching.) After a nice visit, we walked down to where the Louvre was again so Emily could see the glass pyramids and get some cute pics :-)
Then we grabbed a nice lunch and headed to our respective departure terminals to return t our respective countries and our respective lives. It's weird to think I won't see either of these lovely ladies for at least 2 months, they've been such great traveling companions and it'll be sad to live without them :-( But alas, life must go on and classes unfortunately don't cease according to my wishes....I think if I could have a super power, that'd be a contender....
Anyways I still had another three days off after my wonderful Paris trip which were unfortunately mostly spent studying and writing papers. But I did get to celebrate Almudena's birthday with her and her family which was very cute and I'm glad I got to meet them all before I left!
We're getting down to the wire here people. T-4 days until I'm state side! There's still a lot going on (Fundació Joan Miró and another visit to Sagrada are on the way) so stay with me for a few more days!!! Hope everyone's doing well, can't wait to get back to you all!
Besos!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Puis je avoir un miche de pan?
I apologize for the slight hiatus, it's exam week (BLECK) and I've sort of dropped off the map for a bit haha but all is well, one left and it's a 10 question t/f test...no joke...makes up for the fact that I spent a full 24 hours studying for my Medieval History Final...*Shudders*
ANYWAYS
Paris Day 2: more epic epicness :-)
I saw my first snow of the year in Paris France. Really, does it get any better than that? It truly hit my how lucky I've been this semester to be able to visit all of these amazing places and make lasting memories that'll I'll carry with me forever. Sigh well that was my little sentimental bit for the day haha.
The beauty of the falling snow made me forget a very important part about said snow: It's friggen cold. Simple enough I know, but when you've been living in a city with a truly beautiful climate (may I add that it's December 14th and it's still 50 degrees here? yeah. I love Barcelona weather.) you forget these simple and chilling truths. Needless to say Paris is not so lucky with it's temperatures and It was like 100 below zero...my nose fell like it was going to fall off. I hadn't been that cold in a very long time and forgot how truly awful it is....this shall be the one thing I'll not be looking forward to coming home - boston in the middle of winter is friggen ANTARCTICA. *shudders again*
Regardless of my coldness, we braved the storm and went up to Monmart which is a beautiful little artists colony (although all of the artists were hiding....in WARMTH) and saw the Basilica de Sacre Coure which was absolutely gorgeous!!! There was a service going on and it was all decorated for Christmas which was beautiful. After finally regaining the feeling in my fingers, we ventured back out into the blizzard to try to find the Moulin Rouge. This was sort of a let down unfortunately. We walked in to this restaurant called the Moulin de la Galete and were like "Hey where's the Moulin Rouge" and they were like "Hey you're inside it. It's right on top." So we walk outside and there's a lame little windmill on top and we were like wow, we would have NEVER picked that out as the Moulin Rouge....but cool! Haha It was still interesting to see, but Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman and a singing moon would have made it a lot cooler haha.
We found a metro stop (after asking like 100 people and trying to figure out their french directions) and made our way down to the Museé d'Orsay which is a smaller museum with a great collection of impressionist and other paintings. We got to see the self-portrait of Van Gogh which was really impressive along with some fantastic Manet's and Monet's. We museumed ourselves out and decided to get some lunch at a cute cafe we found (also we had to unfreeze ourselves because I'm pretty sure I turned into an icicle).
We decided that it would be a good idea to do a walking tour of the Chanselise which had an entire section full of little temporary shops set up for christmas (it was called the Christmas Village!!!). We walked all up one side, stopping to buy some christmas gifts as we went. Then we decided that we wanted bread wine and cheese for dinner, so we found a bread and cheese stand and tried to buy some. Nora and I were trying to decide whether or not to get the small or large loaf - and of course decided on the large - which ended up weighing like 10 pounds, NO JOKE. And I had to carry it in my bag because it was the only one big enough. Needless to say I got some weird looks when I went through the security at the Eiffel Tower. But more on that later.
After treking through all of the mud and people, we finally made it to the Arc d' Triomph which was also a really spectacular site, especially all lit up at night. We tried to take some cool pictures in front of it, but cars kept getting in the way haha. Oh well, it was still a must see and I'm glad we made it there!
The eternal walking tour resumed and we made our way to the Eiffel Tower, attempting to navigate our way to it by using the pretty lights as our guide. When we finally made it, we took about a billion pictures in front of it and then got in the surprisingly short line (everyone else was inside drinking hot chocolate and eating croissants I bet.) to go up. Now, I'm usually ok with relatively small heights. But the Eiffle Tower is FRIGGEN HUGE. So needless to say, the trip up to the top was a bit nervewracking for me - I think I closed my eyes most of the time. But we made it!!! It was really cool although I could swear I felt the tower moving with the incredible force of the wind outside. Nora and Em assured me I was crazy but I'm still sticking to my guns on that one....
After taking some more pictures and finding which way (according to cool little signs on the top of the tower) was home (both in the US and Barcelona which has now become a second home) we went down and made our way back to the hotel for our long awaited bread and cheese dining spectacular!!!
last but not least: DAY 3 next time :-)
ANYWAYS
Paris Day 2: more epic epicness :-)
I saw my first snow of the year in Paris France. Really, does it get any better than that? It truly hit my how lucky I've been this semester to be able to visit all of these amazing places and make lasting memories that'll I'll carry with me forever. Sigh well that was my little sentimental bit for the day haha.
The beauty of the falling snow made me forget a very important part about said snow: It's friggen cold. Simple enough I know, but when you've been living in a city with a truly beautiful climate (may I add that it's December 14th and it's still 50 degrees here? yeah. I love Barcelona weather.) you forget these simple and chilling truths. Needless to say Paris is not so lucky with it's temperatures and It was like 100 below zero...my nose fell like it was going to fall off. I hadn't been that cold in a very long time and forgot how truly awful it is....this shall be the one thing I'll not be looking forward to coming home - boston in the middle of winter is friggen ANTARCTICA. *shudders again*
Regardless of my coldness, we braved the storm and went up to Monmart which is a beautiful little artists colony (although all of the artists were hiding....in WARMTH) and saw the Basilica de Sacre Coure which was absolutely gorgeous!!! There was a service going on and it was all decorated for Christmas which was beautiful. After finally regaining the feeling in my fingers, we ventured back out into the blizzard to try to find the Moulin Rouge. This was sort of a let down unfortunately. We walked in to this restaurant called the Moulin de la Galete and were like "Hey where's the Moulin Rouge" and they were like "Hey you're inside it. It's right on top." So we walk outside and there's a lame little windmill on top and we were like wow, we would have NEVER picked that out as the Moulin Rouge....but cool! Haha It was still interesting to see, but Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman and a singing moon would have made it a lot cooler haha.
We found a metro stop (after asking like 100 people and trying to figure out their french directions) and made our way down to the Museé d'Orsay which is a smaller museum with a great collection of impressionist and other paintings. We got to see the self-portrait of Van Gogh which was really impressive along with some fantastic Manet's and Monet's. We museumed ourselves out and decided to get some lunch at a cute cafe we found (also we had to unfreeze ourselves because I'm pretty sure I turned into an icicle).
We decided that it would be a good idea to do a walking tour of the Chanselise which had an entire section full of little temporary shops set up for christmas (it was called the Christmas Village!!!). We walked all up one side, stopping to buy some christmas gifts as we went. Then we decided that we wanted bread wine and cheese for dinner, so we found a bread and cheese stand and tried to buy some. Nora and I were trying to decide whether or not to get the small or large loaf - and of course decided on the large - which ended up weighing like 10 pounds, NO JOKE. And I had to carry it in my bag because it was the only one big enough. Needless to say I got some weird looks when I went through the security at the Eiffel Tower. But more on that later.
After treking through all of the mud and people, we finally made it to the Arc d' Triomph which was also a really spectacular site, especially all lit up at night. We tried to take some cool pictures in front of it, but cars kept getting in the way haha. Oh well, it was still a must see and I'm glad we made it there!
The eternal walking tour resumed and we made our way to the Eiffel Tower, attempting to navigate our way to it by using the pretty lights as our guide. When we finally made it, we took about a billion pictures in front of it and then got in the surprisingly short line (everyone else was inside drinking hot chocolate and eating croissants I bet.) to go up. Now, I'm usually ok with relatively small heights. But the Eiffle Tower is FRIGGEN HUGE. So needless to say, the trip up to the top was a bit nervewracking for me - I think I closed my eyes most of the time. But we made it!!! It was really cool although I could swear I felt the tower moving with the incredible force of the wind outside. Nora and Em assured me I was crazy but I'm still sticking to my guns on that one....
After taking some more pictures and finding which way (according to cool little signs on the top of the tower) was home (both in the US and Barcelona which has now become a second home) we went down and made our way back to the hotel for our long awaited bread and cheese dining spectacular!!!
last but not least: DAY 3 next time :-)
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Paree Holds the Key to Your 'eartttttttt
Ah Paris. After waiting for you for 3 months, you finally arrived this past weekend, and what a trip it was.
So I have this nasty little habit of buying my flight tickets for SUPER EARLY IN THE MORNING...like 7 am early....never fully realizing that that means I have to get up at 4 am to make said super early flight. Smart one Amanda. Smart one.
Anyways this time it actually turned out to be lucky I chose the SUPER EARLY flight because had my flight been about 4 or 5 hours later, I would have been Barcelona bound for the weekend due to a mass strike that left hundreds of thousands of people stranded. So needless to say I wasn't that bothered by waking up at 4 when I heard that. haha
I got to Paris around 9 and by the time I figured out how to get to my hotel (all the while attempting to use broken French spoken with a truly terrible accent) I checked in and went exploring for a little bit before Nora and Emily's train arrived.
First stop: The Louvre. For just 9 euro you get to enter this truly ENORMOUS museum and see some of the most famous works of arts in the history of man kind. Pretty good deal eh? So I get in and of course join the mob of people on their way to go see the Mona Lisa because I know that's where I'm going to want to end up anyways so why not cut to the chase and do that first, right? They have all of their galleries set up by theme (Italian and Spanish Painters) and then in chronological order, so on the way I got to see some other extremely beautiful and famous works including frescos by Boticelli, a Velazquez (although that was technically placed after Mona but whatevs) and some famous portraits by Goya. It's a pretty dec collection I guess haha. Then came the main attraction: MONAAAAAA. She is quite small as everyone says and it's behind like bullet and missile proof glass or something and you can't get within 30 feet of it, but it's still really cool to just stand there and say "I'm looking at the Mona Lisa. This is SO EFFING COOL!" Which is exactly what I did for about 15 minutes.
I wandered around the museum for a little while longer when the girls called me (mom don't hate me haha didn't want you to be worried) and said their trains were delayed a few hours...sooo with time to kill I got a sandwich and ate it in the courtyard with a beautiful view of the eiffel tower in the background and the famous glass pyramids in front of me. Really couldn't get any better than that.
Then I headed over to Saint Chappell which is supposed to have one of the most spectacular stained glass window displays ever. They were really beautiful but half of them were under renovation so I couldn't see the full effect which was a bummer, but it was still really beautiful!
After that I decided to take a little walk back to the Tulerie which was unfortunately mostly dead (the flowers I mean) but the statues were still cool and the Ferris Wheel at the end was all lit up and super pretty. I could see the Eiffel Tower so I was just like "Oh it can't be that far, I'm just going to walk over there. It's a beautiful day, I'll walk down the Seine and be truly Parisian and just meander on down. Shouldn't take too long."
WRONG. Longest walk of my life. Yeah, the Tulerie and the Eiffle Tower? SO NOT CLOSE. haha but it was still a nice walk and I got to see the Eiffel Tower which is truly one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my entire life. Really it is a must see like Sagrada Familia, you will be awestruck.
The girls finally got in and we met for dinner at this cute place near the hotel for some traditional French foods: French onion soup (which is officially amazing) escargot (surprisingly good) and they got duck confit. Then we headed back to the hotel for a nice night of catching up and laughs :-)
I'm going to break Paris up into a few different posts since we did so much, so enjoy Day #1!!
~Amanda
So I have this nasty little habit of buying my flight tickets for SUPER EARLY IN THE MORNING...like 7 am early....never fully realizing that that means I have to get up at 4 am to make said super early flight. Smart one Amanda. Smart one.
Anyways this time it actually turned out to be lucky I chose the SUPER EARLY flight because had my flight been about 4 or 5 hours later, I would have been Barcelona bound for the weekend due to a mass strike that left hundreds of thousands of people stranded. So needless to say I wasn't that bothered by waking up at 4 when I heard that. haha
I got to Paris around 9 and by the time I figured out how to get to my hotel (all the while attempting to use broken French spoken with a truly terrible accent) I checked in and went exploring for a little bit before Nora and Emily's train arrived.
First stop: The Louvre. For just 9 euro you get to enter this truly ENORMOUS museum and see some of the most famous works of arts in the history of man kind. Pretty good deal eh? So I get in and of course join the mob of people on their way to go see the Mona Lisa because I know that's where I'm going to want to end up anyways so why not cut to the chase and do that first, right? They have all of their galleries set up by theme (Italian and Spanish Painters) and then in chronological order, so on the way I got to see some other extremely beautiful and famous works including frescos by Boticelli, a Velazquez (although that was technically placed after Mona but whatevs) and some famous portraits by Goya. It's a pretty dec collection I guess haha. Then came the main attraction: MONAAAAAA. She is quite small as everyone says and it's behind like bullet and missile proof glass or something and you can't get within 30 feet of it, but it's still really cool to just stand there and say "I'm looking at the Mona Lisa. This is SO EFFING COOL!" Which is exactly what I did for about 15 minutes.
I wandered around the museum for a little while longer when the girls called me (mom don't hate me haha didn't want you to be worried) and said their trains were delayed a few hours...sooo with time to kill I got a sandwich and ate it in the courtyard with a beautiful view of the eiffel tower in the background and the famous glass pyramids in front of me. Really couldn't get any better than that.
Then I headed over to Saint Chappell which is supposed to have one of the most spectacular stained glass window displays ever. They were really beautiful but half of them were under renovation so I couldn't see the full effect which was a bummer, but it was still really beautiful!
After that I decided to take a little walk back to the Tulerie which was unfortunately mostly dead (the flowers I mean) but the statues were still cool and the Ferris Wheel at the end was all lit up and super pretty. I could see the Eiffel Tower so I was just like "Oh it can't be that far, I'm just going to walk over there. It's a beautiful day, I'll walk down the Seine and be truly Parisian and just meander on down. Shouldn't take too long."
WRONG. Longest walk of my life. Yeah, the Tulerie and the Eiffle Tower? SO NOT CLOSE. haha but it was still a nice walk and I got to see the Eiffel Tower which is truly one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen in my entire life. Really it is a must see like Sagrada Familia, you will be awestruck.
The girls finally got in and we met for dinner at this cute place near the hotel for some traditional French foods: French onion soup (which is officially amazing) escargot (surprisingly good) and they got duck confit. Then we headed back to the hotel for a nice night of catching up and laughs :-)
I'm going to break Paris up into a few different posts since we did so much, so enjoy Day #1!!
~Amanda
The Gang's All Here! And I mean EVERYONE!
So when I got back on Sunday morning from London I was also highly anticipating the arrival of my parental units :-) luckily I convinced them to come over thanksgiving so I wouldn't have to be alone Spain on this very american holiday haha. They called me when they got to their hotel and I came over, making my way up to room 431 (or something) to where my parents told me their room was....little did I know, my GRANDPARENTS would be hiding behind that door! haha they flew all the way over to see me with my parents and I was pretty durn excited to say the least!
After getting over the shock of thinking my grandmother was a cleaning lady in my parents room (sorry Nonnie!) and then quickly realizing who it was, my parents came upstairs from their room and we had a big loud italian family reunion (kind of like My Big Fat Greek Wedding without the cake...)
We decided to make the most of what was left of the day and headed out to La Rambla to show the abuelos around a bit! Grabbed some lunch and did some walking (much to the dismay of my grandfather who's favorite thing to do was grab taxis haha) down La Rambla and to Mare Magnum for some window shopping! My parents and I got a drink at a local bar after the g-pa's went back to the hotel until I had officially overwalked my mother to the point of exhaustion and had to get the old folks home ;-) hehe
The next day I didn't have class so I took the fam to Monserrat which, as you remember, is the gorgeous mountain with the monastery and the church over looking the beautiful valleys and all. I like to think they were pretty pleased with the trip, and I even got to explore some of the places I hadn't gotten to see while I was there the last time I had been there, so it was a very nice day spent with my beautiful family. That night we also met Almudena and Monica for dinner in La Raval and had quite a funny time trying to translate back and forth between english, spanish, and italian (which my grandfather was convinced was the same as spanish...emmmm not so much haha). Good times had by all despite the messages lost in translation haha.
Tuesday I had a boat load of class but I still managed to meet the fam for a bit and we went to Sagrada Familia. I had been there 2 years ago and hadn't really expected anything to change - to be honest last time I was a bit disappointed because there really wasn't all that much to see because it was under heavy construction. When I ever walked into that building that day, I thought my jaw would drop to the floor. They've completely finished the inside of the church (which is now actually a Basilica thanks to the Papa - no not the potato, the pope) and it is one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen in my entire life! It's so colorful and the architecture is phenomenal with amazing columns and stained glass and ceilings - it is a sight to behold, everyone must go there before they die. Anyways I ran to class again and met the folks for dinner and we called it a pretty early night.
Wednesdayyyyy I didn't get to see them until the afternoon but they went to Parc Guell which is of course my favorite place in the city, so I was glad they got to see that. My mom and I went shopping for a bit, although unsuccessfully, and then we met Laia and her mom and sister for a lovely dinner at a beautiful restaurant near my parents hotel. We had another raucous night of translations, laughs, and good conversation and I was really glad my parents and grandparents got to see Laia again and meet her family (in the case of my grandparents)!! Side note. The look on my grandfather's face when the brought him his salmon (which was the size of a small cell phone - aka tiny) was priceless. Almost as priceless as the face he made when they brought him his equally small dessert. Bahahahahah so great.
Thursday was thanksgiving! I skipped my afternoon class and we went to Sitges for a little while and walked around on the beach and around the church there which was very pretty :-) We all met up for out last meal together later at Milk and had fajitas and mojitos for Thanksgiving dinner...not quite traditional, but at least I was with family :-) Plus we're planning our new holiday Thankschristmas (original, I know) which will be sweeping the nation before you know it. Watch out people. It'll be a phenomenon.
The next morning they had to leave super duper early but I was at least able to say goodbye and see them off! It was really good to see them all and now I only have a few short weeks until we're reunited again!
Next up: PARIS!
After getting over the shock of thinking my grandmother was a cleaning lady in my parents room (sorry Nonnie!) and then quickly realizing who it was, my parents came upstairs from their room and we had a big loud italian family reunion (kind of like My Big Fat Greek Wedding without the cake...)
We decided to make the most of what was left of the day and headed out to La Rambla to show the abuelos around a bit! Grabbed some lunch and did some walking (much to the dismay of my grandfather who's favorite thing to do was grab taxis haha) down La Rambla and to Mare Magnum for some window shopping! My parents and I got a drink at a local bar after the g-pa's went back to the hotel until I had officially overwalked my mother to the point of exhaustion and had to get the old folks home ;-) hehe
The next day I didn't have class so I took the fam to Monserrat which, as you remember, is the gorgeous mountain with the monastery and the church over looking the beautiful valleys and all. I like to think they were pretty pleased with the trip, and I even got to explore some of the places I hadn't gotten to see while I was there the last time I had been there, so it was a very nice day spent with my beautiful family. That night we also met Almudena and Monica for dinner in La Raval and had quite a funny time trying to translate back and forth between english, spanish, and italian (which my grandfather was convinced was the same as spanish...emmmm not so much haha). Good times had by all despite the messages lost in translation haha.
Tuesday I had a boat load of class but I still managed to meet the fam for a bit and we went to Sagrada Familia. I had been there 2 years ago and hadn't really expected anything to change - to be honest last time I was a bit disappointed because there really wasn't all that much to see because it was under heavy construction. When I ever walked into that building that day, I thought my jaw would drop to the floor. They've completely finished the inside of the church (which is now actually a Basilica thanks to the Papa - no not the potato, the pope) and it is one of the most spectacular things I've ever seen in my entire life! It's so colorful and the architecture is phenomenal with amazing columns and stained glass and ceilings - it is a sight to behold, everyone must go there before they die. Anyways I ran to class again and met the folks for dinner and we called it a pretty early night.
Wednesdayyyyy I didn't get to see them until the afternoon but they went to Parc Guell which is of course my favorite place in the city, so I was glad they got to see that. My mom and I went shopping for a bit, although unsuccessfully, and then we met Laia and her mom and sister for a lovely dinner at a beautiful restaurant near my parents hotel. We had another raucous night of translations, laughs, and good conversation and I was really glad my parents and grandparents got to see Laia again and meet her family (in the case of my grandparents)!! Side note. The look on my grandfather's face when the brought him his salmon (which was the size of a small cell phone - aka tiny) was priceless. Almost as priceless as the face he made when they brought him his equally small dessert. Bahahahahah so great.
Thursday was thanksgiving! I skipped my afternoon class and we went to Sitges for a little while and walked around on the beach and around the church there which was very pretty :-) We all met up for out last meal together later at Milk and had fajitas and mojitos for Thanksgiving dinner...not quite traditional, but at least I was with family :-) Plus we're planning our new holiday Thankschristmas (original, I know) which will be sweeping the nation before you know it. Watch out people. It'll be a phenomenon.
The next morning they had to leave super duper early but I was at least able to say goodbye and see them off! It was really good to see them all and now I only have a few short weeks until we're reunited again!
Next up: PARIS!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Got Hermione's wand...she's the best witch, watchin' Harry Potter feelin' fly like it's Quidditch...aka London
Haha so for those of you who aren't familiar with the reference in my post title, please click here for what is possibly the most clever harry potter parody I've ever come across: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXIgNnB_oq4
Anyways, thursday the 18th I went to LONDONTOWN! Hopped a plane after my afternoon class and met Nora at around 11:30 and headed back to her dorm at NYU London! She lives in a really nice area near a mall and all of the shwanky apartment buildings so it was super nice despite the fact that we had to walk through a creepy hedge lined passageway to get there....but whatevs haha Her room was also super nice, NYU sure does know how to do their study abroad accommodations! Because I got there so late, thursday night was kind of a wasted one, but after a good nights sleep we were ready and rarin' to go Friday morning!
We decided to start our day at Westminster Abbey which has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Not to mention that it's immediately across from Big Ben and Parliament which are also gorgeous and it was a beautiful sunny day...basically it was pretty perfect haha. We decided to ignore the fact that we're poor college students and paid the admission to go inside, which was the best 12 pounds I've ever spent. The architecture was fantastic and the amount of history contained in that one building alone was awe-inspiring. We saw the tombs of great kings and queens, of poets and musicians, of the unknown soldier, and many more. I'm pretty sure we spent about 2 and a half hours taking the tour and I don't regret a single minute of it. Truly, if you ever get to go, it is well worth a visit!
After a lovely visit to Westminster, we walked down to Trafalgar Square and grabbed a nice lunch on our way! Saw some Trinity people in Trafalgar which was super weird considering how large of a city it is, but it just goes to show you how small the world really is! After Trafalgar we went to Covent Gardens which is a really adorable shopping area that was all decorated for christmas. We went into this HUGE tea shop and I bought some delicious caramel tea to bring home with me :) We walked around being ridiculous for a little while and then shared a pasty (which are QUITE delicious if I do say so myself) before going to meet Em for our Jack the Ripper tour.
The Jack the Ripper tour was totally not what I expected but was super cool. I thought it would be like a haunted house type tour where people jumped out and scared you and whatnot but instead, our tour guide took us on a walk through the city showing us the spots where the infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper committed his atrocious murders. I know, it sounds super weird and creepy, but it was actually really interesting and pretty cool to do! I was also kind of scared because I'm a baby and it was at night and I'm easily scared...so that made it even more authentic haha. After that we went to check into our Hostel, which was alright although I'm pretty sure our roommates hated us because we woke them up at like midnight, but seriously, you're in London, what are you doing in bed so early? haha annnywayssss
Saturday was another packed day! We went first to the London Eye and went for a lovely ride on one of the largest Ferris Wheels I've ever seen! You get to see the entire city and can take fantastic birds-eye view fotos of all of the major London attractions which was really cool!
After a lovely ride, I got my SUPER geek on and went on a HARRY POTTER WALKING TOUR! It was kind of sad to realize that a lot of the landmarks used in the films aren't really commemorated as such (like the Leaky Cauldron which is now an optometrists office) but it was still really cool to see where everything was done! Plus our tour guide was super geeky and cute, so that added to the fun (sorry hon ;-) hehehe) I got my picture taken trying to get into platform 9 3/4 which has been my dream ever since reading the first book, so needless to say my inner nerd was satisfied :)
To round out the all HP weekend, we went to see the 7th movie that night!!!!!!!! We got to watch it in the theater where they hold the London Premire every year which was really awesome and I must say it was my favorite out of all of the movies they've made so far, despite the gripes I still have with it hahah
We got back to the hostel around 2 (again, our roommates hated us) and after 2 hours of sleep, I had to get up and run to the airport to catch an early flight back to BCN to meet the PADRES!!!!!!
Side note: London was one of the most amazing cities I've visited so far. I can definitely see why people study there and would love to do so myself someday! A great weekend with great friends, great food, and, of course, HARRY POTTER! yessssss
Anyways, thursday the 18th I went to LONDONTOWN! Hopped a plane after my afternoon class and met Nora at around 11:30 and headed back to her dorm at NYU London! She lives in a really nice area near a mall and all of the shwanky apartment buildings so it was super nice despite the fact that we had to walk through a creepy hedge lined passageway to get there....but whatevs haha Her room was also super nice, NYU sure does know how to do their study abroad accommodations! Because I got there so late, thursday night was kind of a wasted one, but after a good nights sleep we were ready and rarin' to go Friday morning!
We decided to start our day at Westminster Abbey which has to be one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Not to mention that it's immediately across from Big Ben and Parliament which are also gorgeous and it was a beautiful sunny day...basically it was pretty perfect haha. We decided to ignore the fact that we're poor college students and paid the admission to go inside, which was the best 12 pounds I've ever spent. The architecture was fantastic and the amount of history contained in that one building alone was awe-inspiring. We saw the tombs of great kings and queens, of poets and musicians, of the unknown soldier, and many more. I'm pretty sure we spent about 2 and a half hours taking the tour and I don't regret a single minute of it. Truly, if you ever get to go, it is well worth a visit!
After a lovely visit to Westminster, we walked down to Trafalgar Square and grabbed a nice lunch on our way! Saw some Trinity people in Trafalgar which was super weird considering how large of a city it is, but it just goes to show you how small the world really is! After Trafalgar we went to Covent Gardens which is a really adorable shopping area that was all decorated for christmas. We went into this HUGE tea shop and I bought some delicious caramel tea to bring home with me :) We walked around being ridiculous for a little while and then shared a pasty (which are QUITE delicious if I do say so myself) before going to meet Em for our Jack the Ripper tour.
The Jack the Ripper tour was totally not what I expected but was super cool. I thought it would be like a haunted house type tour where people jumped out and scared you and whatnot but instead, our tour guide took us on a walk through the city showing us the spots where the infamous serial killer known as Jack the Ripper committed his atrocious murders. I know, it sounds super weird and creepy, but it was actually really interesting and pretty cool to do! I was also kind of scared because I'm a baby and it was at night and I'm easily scared...so that made it even more authentic haha. After that we went to check into our Hostel, which was alright although I'm pretty sure our roommates hated us because we woke them up at like midnight, but seriously, you're in London, what are you doing in bed so early? haha annnywayssss
Saturday was another packed day! We went first to the London Eye and went for a lovely ride on one of the largest Ferris Wheels I've ever seen! You get to see the entire city and can take fantastic birds-eye view fotos of all of the major London attractions which was really cool!
After a lovely ride, I got my SUPER geek on and went on a HARRY POTTER WALKING TOUR! It was kind of sad to realize that a lot of the landmarks used in the films aren't really commemorated as such (like the Leaky Cauldron which is now an optometrists office) but it was still really cool to see where everything was done! Plus our tour guide was super geeky and cute, so that added to the fun (sorry hon ;-) hehehe) I got my picture taken trying to get into platform 9 3/4 which has been my dream ever since reading the first book, so needless to say my inner nerd was satisfied :)
To round out the all HP weekend, we went to see the 7th movie that night!!!!!!!! We got to watch it in the theater where they hold the London Premire every year which was really awesome and I must say it was my favorite out of all of the movies they've made so far, despite the gripes I still have with it hahah
We got back to the hostel around 2 (again, our roommates hated us) and after 2 hours of sleep, I had to get up and run to the airport to catch an early flight back to BCN to meet the PADRES!!!!!!
Side note: London was one of the most amazing cities I've visited so far. I can definitely see why people study there and would love to do so myself someday! A great weekend with great friends, great food, and, of course, HARRY POTTER! yessssss
These are a few of my favorite...foods?
Hello all! It's getting down to the end of my study abroad experience (sad :-( sniff sniff) and therefore I have to catch up on my blogging about my life!! Prepare for a wave of posts people. It'll be epic.
Monday Nov. 15th we went to a restaurant in Barrio Gótico called "Cook and Taste" in which a chef teaches you how to make typical spanish foods! Needless to say, I was the first in line for this event. Our menu was ambitious: Gazpacho, Tortilla Española, Paella, and Crema Catalana all in just a few short hours, but we managed, with the help of our skilled chef, to get it all done in a delicious fashion.
The cool part about the meal was that we all got to help make the food we were eating. I helped make the Crema Catalana and Pan con Tomate (which I think I may have over garliqued but oh well haha) and got to watch all of the Trinity kids pitch in to make a truly delicious meal. I don't think I've eaten that much in a long time, and it was quite fantastic. We had Valencian Paella (just veggies and chicken) which was amazing and the tortilla, although a little undercooked for my liking, was still extremely delicious.
Needless to say we had a pretty good time and all left there with our belts a few notches looser....
Good food and wine had by all! Nothing better than a great meal with a great group of people :)
Monday Nov. 15th we went to a restaurant in Barrio Gótico called "Cook and Taste" in which a chef teaches you how to make typical spanish foods! Needless to say, I was the first in line for this event. Our menu was ambitious: Gazpacho, Tortilla Española, Paella, and Crema Catalana all in just a few short hours, but we managed, with the help of our skilled chef, to get it all done in a delicious fashion.
The cool part about the meal was that we all got to help make the food we were eating. I helped make the Crema Catalana and Pan con Tomate (which I think I may have over garliqued but oh well haha) and got to watch all of the Trinity kids pitch in to make a truly delicious meal. I don't think I've eaten that much in a long time, and it was quite fantastic. We had Valencian Paella (just veggies and chicken) which was amazing and the tortilla, although a little undercooked for my liking, was still extremely delicious.
Needless to say we had a pretty good time and all left there with our belts a few notches looser....
Good food and wine had by all! Nothing better than a great meal with a great group of people :)
Monday, November 29, 2010
BARCA, BARCA, BAAAAAAAARCA!
So I'm sitting at my internship....boss left and I have to read the Civil Code of Spain...which is a little tough to say the least. So what do I do instead? BLOG! yay! hahah enjoy:
Wednesday the 10th the Trinity program treated us to a night at Camp Nou, the ever-famous soccer (fútbol) stadium in Barcelona! It was Barca v. Ceuta which apparently wasn't a very big game - only about 1/3 of the stadium was filled (which was still nothing to scoff at considering the amount of people that actually is haha). This also is in comparison to the game tonight which is Barca-Madrid - needless to say I'm pretty sure all of Barcelona is going to shut down around 10 pm tonight because everyone will be glued to the television.
ANYWAY. We met at this little bar near Les Corts and got some tapas before braving the cold and heading out to the game! It didn't even start until 10 pm, which for me was crazy! It was quite funny to see people trying to sneak in with beers and food from the outside - one guy literally tried to jump the turnstyle with the guard right in front of him...epic fail. haha
We managed to score better seats in the front row of the first balcony which was super cool and we were right in front of the Ceuta goal, so we had a pretty good view of everything that was going on. Within the first 5 minutes, Barca scored, and that was pretty much it for Ceuta. They scored once but Barca kind of buried them 4-1. It was a really fun game, there were fans right below us who came SUPER prepared with flags and drums and all that stuff, and at times they were more entertaining to watch than the game haha.
Barca won (obviously) and everyone was quite happy leaving the stadium...except me. Because before my eyes I saw thousands of people running to the metro and knew it was going to be a COMPLETE mad house...but with not other option, I braved the crowds and somehow pushed my way into the sardine can that was the metro car and made it home by 1 am. On a school night. I was dead the next morning.
Hahah anyways, it was quite a good time despite the crazy metro! Hope to get back there before I leave :)
Next up: Cook and Taste!
Wednesday the 10th the Trinity program treated us to a night at Camp Nou, the ever-famous soccer (fútbol) stadium in Barcelona! It was Barca v. Ceuta which apparently wasn't a very big game - only about 1/3 of the stadium was filled (which was still nothing to scoff at considering the amount of people that actually is haha). This also is in comparison to the game tonight which is Barca-Madrid - needless to say I'm pretty sure all of Barcelona is going to shut down around 10 pm tonight because everyone will be glued to the television.
ANYWAY. We met at this little bar near Les Corts and got some tapas before braving the cold and heading out to the game! It didn't even start until 10 pm, which for me was crazy! It was quite funny to see people trying to sneak in with beers and food from the outside - one guy literally tried to jump the turnstyle with the guard right in front of him...epic fail. haha
We managed to score better seats in the front row of the first balcony which was super cool and we were right in front of the Ceuta goal, so we had a pretty good view of everything that was going on. Within the first 5 minutes, Barca scored, and that was pretty much it for Ceuta. They scored once but Barca kind of buried them 4-1. It was a really fun game, there were fans right below us who came SUPER prepared with flags and drums and all that stuff, and at times they were more entertaining to watch than the game haha.
Barca won (obviously) and everyone was quite happy leaving the stadium...except me. Because before my eyes I saw thousands of people running to the metro and knew it was going to be a COMPLETE mad house...but with not other option, I braved the crowds and somehow pushed my way into the sardine can that was the metro car and made it home by 1 am. On a school night. I was dead the next morning.
Hahah anyways, it was quite a good time despite the crazy metro! Hope to get back there before I leave :)
Next up: Cook and Taste!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
But I will still tell you one thing we're better together
So for those of you gagged at the cuteness of the title...I stick my tongue out at you :-P. For those of who awed, two thumbs up :-) haha
Nick came to visit!!!! I got to the airport like an hour and a half before his flight came in because I was too excited...haha :) After getting him checked into his hotel, I sadly had to go to class, but it was probably for the best because I'm pretty sure he would have fallen over from exhaustion haha.
That night was Laia's birthday!! We met her, Ana, Irene, Carla, and Irene at this cute little restaurant called La Flauta and had a fun time making nick try spanish foods. Quite entertaining :)
The next day was our Gaudi themed day. We went to Casa Milá (La Pedrera) and got to see all of the amazing rooftop structures he built for the Milá family. There's also a little Gaudi Museum in the house which shows details about how he designed all of his buildings and where he got his inspiration, so as a Gaudi fan, that was pretty cool! After that, we made the treck up to Parc Güell (and it is quite a treck) much to the protests of our aching feet. But alas, the beauty of the park and being able to show Nick my favorite place ever in the world superseded mundane foot pains haha. We walked around and explored parts of the park that I had actually never been to, which was really cool! That night we went to a nice Italian restaurant and celebrated our anniversary :)
Saturday we went to Montjuic, a beautiful mountain with a fortress on top that has beautiful views of the city. We walked around there for a while taking lots of pictures (much to his dismay haha) and enjoying the scenery. Then we took the gondola down and headed to La Rambla where we made fun of the crazy street performers and walked around La Boqueria too! We walked down to the beach and grabbed some lunch on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean; it was a GORGEOUS day! The weather the entire time he was here was INSANE. A few days before, it had been freezing (I was wearing my antarctica mittens) and then he gets here and it's 70 and I'm wearing a tank top on the beach. insane.
THE POPE CAME SUNDAY! It was crazy. The entire city shut down and you couldn't even get on some metro stops because of his visit. We had decided to go to Barrio Gotico that day, but, as always, I forgot that Sundays here are barren wastelands because everyone just closes up shop and doesn't work...soo that made shopping in Barrio Gotico a bit difficult for us, but we made the best of it and enjoyed the day. We met Almudena for coffee and then had a truly american dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Let me tell you, I needed a true burger and fries like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, this trip wasn't the best for my diet...but oh well, it was delicious :-)
Monday we went back to look for some gifts in Barrio Gotico and also went and visited the outside of Sagrada Familia. We would have gone in, but the line wrapped around the block, and there was NO way we were doing that...but that's cool! I had class for a bit but then we met Laia and Eduard to go KARTING! It was crazy, you get dressed up in these cool suits and helmets and drive around in this tiny car around this winding track - it was awesome haha. Then we had an amazing dinner, care of Angeles, and stuffed ourselves silly until we basically couldn't move.
Tuesday I was a mess and all but held on to his ankles so he wouldn't leave. But all good things must come to an end (oh yeah, and we both have classes...) soooo I had to let him get on the plane against my better judgement.
And so I went back to my daily life here in Barcelona, writing papers about Spanish philosophy and learning about Spanish parliament, all the while wishing I had a time machine to go back just a few days...
yeah I see all you non-romantics rollin' your eyes. :-P haha
Next Up: BARCA
Nick came to visit!!!! I got to the airport like an hour and a half before his flight came in because I was too excited...haha :) After getting him checked into his hotel, I sadly had to go to class, but it was probably for the best because I'm pretty sure he would have fallen over from exhaustion haha.
That night was Laia's birthday!! We met her, Ana, Irene, Carla, and Irene at this cute little restaurant called La Flauta and had a fun time making nick try spanish foods. Quite entertaining :)
The next day was our Gaudi themed day. We went to Casa Milá (La Pedrera) and got to see all of the amazing rooftop structures he built for the Milá family. There's also a little Gaudi Museum in the house which shows details about how he designed all of his buildings and where he got his inspiration, so as a Gaudi fan, that was pretty cool! After that, we made the treck up to Parc Güell (and it is quite a treck) much to the protests of our aching feet. But alas, the beauty of the park and being able to show Nick my favorite place ever in the world superseded mundane foot pains haha. We walked around and explored parts of the park that I had actually never been to, which was really cool! That night we went to a nice Italian restaurant and celebrated our anniversary :)
Saturday we went to Montjuic, a beautiful mountain with a fortress on top that has beautiful views of the city. We walked around there for a while taking lots of pictures (much to his dismay haha) and enjoying the scenery. Then we took the gondola down and headed to La Rambla where we made fun of the crazy street performers and walked around La Boqueria too! We walked down to the beach and grabbed some lunch on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean; it was a GORGEOUS day! The weather the entire time he was here was INSANE. A few days before, it had been freezing (I was wearing my antarctica mittens) and then he gets here and it's 70 and I'm wearing a tank top on the beach. insane.
THE POPE CAME SUNDAY! It was crazy. The entire city shut down and you couldn't even get on some metro stops because of his visit. We had decided to go to Barrio Gotico that day, but, as always, I forgot that Sundays here are barren wastelands because everyone just closes up shop and doesn't work...soo that made shopping in Barrio Gotico a bit difficult for us, but we made the best of it and enjoyed the day. We met Almudena for coffee and then had a truly american dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. Let me tell you, I needed a true burger and fries like you wouldn't believe. Needless to say, this trip wasn't the best for my diet...but oh well, it was delicious :-)
Monday we went back to look for some gifts in Barrio Gotico and also went and visited the outside of Sagrada Familia. We would have gone in, but the line wrapped around the block, and there was NO way we were doing that...but that's cool! I had class for a bit but then we met Laia and Eduard to go KARTING! It was crazy, you get dressed up in these cool suits and helmets and drive around in this tiny car around this winding track - it was awesome haha. Then we had an amazing dinner, care of Angeles, and stuffed ourselves silly until we basically couldn't move.
Tuesday I was a mess and all but held on to his ankles so he wouldn't leave. But all good things must come to an end (oh yeah, and we both have classes...) soooo I had to let him get on the plane against my better judgement.
And so I went back to my daily life here in Barcelona, writing papers about Spanish philosophy and learning about Spanish parliament, all the while wishing I had a time machine to go back just a few days...
yeah I see all you non-romantics rollin' your eyes. :-P haha
Next Up: BARCA
Friday, November 26, 2010
Effin' Brugge - Planes, trains, and automobiles
Sorry guys! I've been crazy this past month with midterms, visits, and traveling that I haven't had a whole lot of time to post! Don't worry though, I promise to catch up this weekend so I can chronicle my last month here (EEP) and try not to forget anything!!
SO this post shall be about Brugge, Belgium. For those of you who haven't seen the Colin Farrel movie, you won't get the reference in the title, but don't worry, just know I'm not swearing without a purpose haha!
Alrighty where to begin. So I had to get up freakishly early on Friday morning to make a 6:45 am flight to Brussels from Barcelona. This entailed getting a cab and then getting on a night bus for over an hour to make it on time, so needless to say, I was up at four. Not fun. But alas, I got there safely and started wandering around the airport trying to figure out how on EARTH I was going to find Nora because a) our phones didn't work in Brussels and b) even if they did, I didn't have her number. Good planning? I think so. haha
Luckily I waited by the arrivals gate and jumped up an down like an idiot when I saw her so she pretty much couldn't miss me. We hopped on a train to Brugge and spent another hour catching up while admiring the Belgian countryside.
When we got to Brugge, we checked in at the Hotel Nicolas which was actually a surprisingly nice hotel for what we paid. We had our own room (always nice and so much better than a hostel) and free breakfast every morning, so we were pretty pumped. After dumping our bags, we had to get lunch because neither of us had eaten and we were pretty much eating ourselves. We went to the main market square (which was GORGEOUS) and found a restaraunt that served mussels which are apparently very typically Belgian with, of course, FRENCH FRIES. Had a lovely lunch and then made our way to De Halve Maan Brewery where we had a lovely (albeit very cramped) tour of the brewery and had a nice belgian beer (the best in the world if I had to elect one). There were all of these funny signs throughout the tour telling you to go backwards down these tiny flights of stairs because they were too steep to go down normally. It was quite a laugh. We also got to see a gorgeous view of Brugge from the top of the brewery which was a gorgeous picture opportunity.
After some delicious beer, we went on a boat tour along the Bruggian canals (bruggian? is that a word? haha well it is now!) which was beautiful and took you around to all the major tourist sites in the town (the Church of our Lady, the old Hospital, the nunnery, etc.). After freezing down to our bones, we got some true belgian hot chocolate. It was possibly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. They literally give you a huge saucer of hot milk and pure dark chocolate chips and a whisk and you make it yourself. It was FANTASTIC! haha
That night we walked around the square and had a nice dinner and called it an early night.
The next morning we decided to go up to the belltower...366 steps up to the top and no elevator....it was a climb to say the least. The stairs were so narrow that you had to stop and let people come down before you went up and visa versa...it was very tiny haha but the view from the top was beautiful and it's one of those things you can't go to Brugge without doing.
Next we made our way to the Church of our Lady which has one of the only Michael Angelo's that left Italy. It was a beautiful statue of the virgin mary and Jesus and the church itself was quite beautiful too. Then we made our way to the nunnery which had beautiful leaf covered grounds and a gorgeous church as well. We took some pictures by the canals and enjoyed the nice fall day in the nunnery.
After a nice holy visit, what better to do than, of course, GET MORE BEER! haha clearly. Are you seeing a pattern yet? After a nice healthy lunch of belgian beer and french fries (yep, that was lunch haha) we went to the Groening Museum which was supposed to house what the call the "Flemish Primatives," major artwork from famous Medieval painters from Belgium. While the paintings were beautiful, they all depicted religious scenes (every...single...one of them....) and we were pretty holy-ed out by that point.
So we decided to take a nap. I know it's lame because we were in a new place and we should have been out exploring, but we were exhausted. We had another nice dinner and then called it a night. Yeah, call us lame, but we had fun so there :-P
Our last day in Brugge (tear :-( haha) we went to see the windmills which, apparently to Nora, were a bit of a disappointment. we walked to the outskirts of the city to see them and apparently they weren't old or cool enough for her haha. I thought they were pretty nice, but we'll move on.
Then we went to the two most historically relevant and socially necessary museums in the city: THE CHOCOLATE AND FRIES MUSEUMS. Yes, they have both and yes, we visited both. They both showed the process of making each product and then gave you a free sample at the end, which was a lovely way to end our trip to Brugge.
We got on the bus to take us to the train station and then made our way to the airport to go our separate ways. After an 15 minute bus right, and hour train ride, a 2 hour flight, another hour bus ride, a half hour on the metro, and a 5 minute walk, I FINALLY made it home and crashed after a great weekend with one of my favorite people.
So there's Brugge!!! Next up: NICK'S VISIT :-D
SO this post shall be about Brugge, Belgium. For those of you who haven't seen the Colin Farrel movie, you won't get the reference in the title, but don't worry, just know I'm not swearing without a purpose haha!
Alrighty where to begin. So I had to get up freakishly early on Friday morning to make a 6:45 am flight to Brussels from Barcelona. This entailed getting a cab and then getting on a night bus for over an hour to make it on time, so needless to say, I was up at four. Not fun. But alas, I got there safely and started wandering around the airport trying to figure out how on EARTH I was going to find Nora because a) our phones didn't work in Brussels and b) even if they did, I didn't have her number. Good planning? I think so. haha
Luckily I waited by the arrivals gate and jumped up an down like an idiot when I saw her so she pretty much couldn't miss me. We hopped on a train to Brugge and spent another hour catching up while admiring the Belgian countryside.
When we got to Brugge, we checked in at the Hotel Nicolas which was actually a surprisingly nice hotel for what we paid. We had our own room (always nice and so much better than a hostel) and free breakfast every morning, so we were pretty pumped. After dumping our bags, we had to get lunch because neither of us had eaten and we were pretty much eating ourselves. We went to the main market square (which was GORGEOUS) and found a restaraunt that served mussels which are apparently very typically Belgian with, of course, FRENCH FRIES. Had a lovely lunch and then made our way to De Halve Maan Brewery where we had a lovely (albeit very cramped) tour of the brewery and had a nice belgian beer (the best in the world if I had to elect one). There were all of these funny signs throughout the tour telling you to go backwards down these tiny flights of stairs because they were too steep to go down normally. It was quite a laugh. We also got to see a gorgeous view of Brugge from the top of the brewery which was a gorgeous picture opportunity.
After some delicious beer, we went on a boat tour along the Bruggian canals (bruggian? is that a word? haha well it is now!) which was beautiful and took you around to all the major tourist sites in the town (the Church of our Lady, the old Hospital, the nunnery, etc.). After freezing down to our bones, we got some true belgian hot chocolate. It was possibly the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. They literally give you a huge saucer of hot milk and pure dark chocolate chips and a whisk and you make it yourself. It was FANTASTIC! haha
That night we walked around the square and had a nice dinner and called it an early night.
The next morning we decided to go up to the belltower...366 steps up to the top and no elevator....it was a climb to say the least. The stairs were so narrow that you had to stop and let people come down before you went up and visa versa...it was very tiny haha but the view from the top was beautiful and it's one of those things you can't go to Brugge without doing.
Next we made our way to the Church of our Lady which has one of the only Michael Angelo's that left Italy. It was a beautiful statue of the virgin mary and Jesus and the church itself was quite beautiful too. Then we made our way to the nunnery which had beautiful leaf covered grounds and a gorgeous church as well. We took some pictures by the canals and enjoyed the nice fall day in the nunnery.
After a nice holy visit, what better to do than, of course, GET MORE BEER! haha clearly. Are you seeing a pattern yet? After a nice healthy lunch of belgian beer and french fries (yep, that was lunch haha) we went to the Groening Museum which was supposed to house what the call the "Flemish Primatives," major artwork from famous Medieval painters from Belgium. While the paintings were beautiful, they all depicted religious scenes (every...single...one of them....) and we were pretty holy-ed out by that point.
So we decided to take a nap. I know it's lame because we were in a new place and we should have been out exploring, but we were exhausted. We had another nice dinner and then called it a night. Yeah, call us lame, but we had fun so there :-P
Our last day in Brugge (tear :-( haha) we went to see the windmills which, apparently to Nora, were a bit of a disappointment. we walked to the outskirts of the city to see them and apparently they weren't old or cool enough for her haha. I thought they were pretty nice, but we'll move on.
Then we went to the two most historically relevant and socially necessary museums in the city: THE CHOCOLATE AND FRIES MUSEUMS. Yes, they have both and yes, we visited both. They both showed the process of making each product and then gave you a free sample at the end, which was a lovely way to end our trip to Brugge.
We got on the bus to take us to the train station and then made our way to the airport to go our separate ways. After an 15 minute bus right, and hour train ride, a 2 hour flight, another hour bus ride, a half hour on the metro, and a 5 minute walk, I FINALLY made it home and crashed after a great weekend with one of my favorite people.
So there's Brugge!!! Next up: NICK'S VISIT :-D
Monday, November 1, 2010
Long Time No Post...eep!
Hey all,
So so SO sorry I haven't posted (it's been 15 days according to Emily M) which is way too long! There wasn't too much to post about before but now there's a cornicopia of tellings to impart onto all my readers!!!! annnd awayyyy we gooooooo!
Sooo last weekend we went to Montserrat which has to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Spain. We took a train up the mountain to where there are hundreds of spectacular rock formations which have been widdled away by the rain over the years. They all have names and look like different shapes: one's an elephant, another a giant, etc. etc. The mountain is home to the Virgen of Montserrat who was apparently discovered in a cave on the mountain and is now the protector of the mountain. A monastery was built on top of the mountain and still exists today, although you can't visit because it's against monastic law.
After a bit of a setback, we took a tour of the beautiful church and saw a short exhibit on how the monks live their lives on Montserrat. There's a school up there as well where young boys (yes I know it sounds creepy but it's not I promise) go to learn different types of music, most particularly singing. Each day they sing the song of the Virgen of Montserrat to the congregation and it's apparently very beautiful although we weren't lucky enough to hear it.
The tour was really beautiful and the only thing that could have made it better was...um, duh, FOOD. We went to this restaurant overlooking the valley and had a spectacular meal which was a fantastic end to the day. Then we walked back and saw our train arriving and had to try and run on full stomachs to try and catch it...needless to say we failed haha.
We took another train halfway down and then walked to another trainstation and then switched to another train and...ugh it was a long long way home, but we finally made it and it was definitely worth it!!! I had a fantastic time and will definitely be taking the padres back!
Coming up next, BRUGGE (aka paradise.)
love you all!
So so SO sorry I haven't posted (it's been 15 days according to Emily M) which is way too long! There wasn't too much to post about before but now there's a cornicopia of tellings to impart onto all my readers!!!! annnd awayyyy we gooooooo!
Sooo last weekend we went to Montserrat which has to be one of the most beautiful places in all of Spain. We took a train up the mountain to where there are hundreds of spectacular rock formations which have been widdled away by the rain over the years. They all have names and look like different shapes: one's an elephant, another a giant, etc. etc. The mountain is home to the Virgen of Montserrat who was apparently discovered in a cave on the mountain and is now the protector of the mountain. A monastery was built on top of the mountain and still exists today, although you can't visit because it's against monastic law.
After a bit of a setback, we took a tour of the beautiful church and saw a short exhibit on how the monks live their lives on Montserrat. There's a school up there as well where young boys (yes I know it sounds creepy but it's not I promise) go to learn different types of music, most particularly singing. Each day they sing the song of the Virgen of Montserrat to the congregation and it's apparently very beautiful although we weren't lucky enough to hear it.
The tour was really beautiful and the only thing that could have made it better was...um, duh, FOOD. We went to this restaurant overlooking the valley and had a spectacular meal which was a fantastic end to the day. Then we walked back and saw our train arriving and had to try and run on full stomachs to try and catch it...needless to say we failed haha.
We took another train halfway down and then walked to another trainstation and then switched to another train and...ugh it was a long long way home, but we finally made it and it was definitely worth it!!! I had a fantastic time and will definitely be taking the padres back!
Coming up next, BRUGGE (aka paradise.)
love you all!
Friday, October 15, 2010
This is applause that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends...
Helllooooooo!
I've had some coffee and I'm a little hyper, so bear with me! haha
Alrighty, CHOCOLATE MUSEUM TIME! Helena and I met up Tuesday for our excursion to God's gift to earth and it was awesome. Here's a list of all the awesomeness that went down that day.
1. I had no cash so I had to pay with a card, but to do that, I had to spend more than 10 euro. Which meant I HAD to buy chocolate so I could get into the museum. It was necessary. Sigh, poor me :-)
2. Our ticket was a chocolate bar. Enough said.
3. They had Don Quijote made out of chocolate.
4. They had the Pieta made of chocolate.
5. Most impressive and best of all? UP made of chocolate. Yep. It was fantastic.
We spent about an hour meandering the little museum and took lots of crazy pictures with things made out of chocolate. All in all, a success I should say. Then we grabbed some falafal and called it a trip :-)
Yesterday (Thursday) we went to see a concert at the Palau de la Musica. The ensemble performed pieces by Mozart and Hayden and it was a really beautiful concert. The only problem was that the people WOULDN'T STOP CLAPPING! I mean it. It was insane, we were all looking at each other like "why is everyone still clapping? It's over..." But it wasn't. They did about 3 encores (which were beautiful, but long) and I'm pretty sure we all wanted to yell "STOP CLAPPING!" by the end haha. But I digress, it was a really nice night and we had a lovely cultural experience that was definitely worth the incessant applause haha.
Today, we went to Montjuic (or sort of went to Montjuic...). Essentially, we got there, realized we had all already been to the castle, and decided to meander our way down the mountain instead of spending more money to see it again haha. We ended up walking through this trippy cactus garden that lead us down the mountain and out on to the main street. From there, we headed to La Rambla and went to buy some snacks at La Boqueria which is always so much fun to visit :-) After some delicious chocolates and fruit, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which was very strange, but pretty cool. I'm still undecided as to whether or not I actually LIKE modern art. I can definitely appreciate it and take it in cordially, but to me, drawing a line on a piece of paper and putting it an frame doesn't realllllly count as art. Just sayin.
Anyways, we started to head back to the Metro when we stumbled across the most fantastic bakery ever. We shared an encimada (a pastry that was this time, but isn't always, filled with pumpkin and covered in powdered sugar, aka HEAVEN) and gushed over the fantastic find we just encountered. Great times had by all. After that, I hopped on the metro and made it home for dinner :-) A very long but productive and fun day!
Well now I'm FINALLY caught up on my life! I hope you guys enjoyed! :-) Miss everyone, hope you're reading haha
Love y'all!
~Amanda
I've had some coffee and I'm a little hyper, so bear with me! haha
Alrighty, CHOCOLATE MUSEUM TIME! Helena and I met up Tuesday for our excursion to God's gift to earth and it was awesome. Here's a list of all the awesomeness that went down that day.
1. I had no cash so I had to pay with a card, but to do that, I had to spend more than 10 euro. Which meant I HAD to buy chocolate so I could get into the museum. It was necessary. Sigh, poor me :-)
2. Our ticket was a chocolate bar. Enough said.
3. They had Don Quijote made out of chocolate.
4. They had the Pieta made of chocolate.
5. Most impressive and best of all? UP made of chocolate. Yep. It was fantastic.
We spent about an hour meandering the little museum and took lots of crazy pictures with things made out of chocolate. All in all, a success I should say. Then we grabbed some falafal and called it a trip :-)
Yesterday (Thursday) we went to see a concert at the Palau de la Musica. The ensemble performed pieces by Mozart and Hayden and it was a really beautiful concert. The only problem was that the people WOULDN'T STOP CLAPPING! I mean it. It was insane, we were all looking at each other like "why is everyone still clapping? It's over..." But it wasn't. They did about 3 encores (which were beautiful, but long) and I'm pretty sure we all wanted to yell "STOP CLAPPING!" by the end haha. But I digress, it was a really nice night and we had a lovely cultural experience that was definitely worth the incessant applause haha.
Today, we went to Montjuic (or sort of went to Montjuic...). Essentially, we got there, realized we had all already been to the castle, and decided to meander our way down the mountain instead of spending more money to see it again haha. We ended up walking through this trippy cactus garden that lead us down the mountain and out on to the main street. From there, we headed to La Rambla and went to buy some snacks at La Boqueria which is always so much fun to visit :-) After some delicious chocolates and fruit, we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art which was very strange, but pretty cool. I'm still undecided as to whether or not I actually LIKE modern art. I can definitely appreciate it and take it in cordially, but to me, drawing a line on a piece of paper and putting it an frame doesn't realllllly count as art. Just sayin.
Anyways, we started to head back to the Metro when we stumbled across the most fantastic bakery ever. We shared an encimada (a pastry that was this time, but isn't always, filled with pumpkin and covered in powdered sugar, aka HEAVEN) and gushed over the fantastic find we just encountered. Great times had by all. After that, I hopped on the metro and made it home for dinner :-) A very long but productive and fun day!
Well now I'm FINALLY caught up on my life! I hope you guys enjoyed! :-) Miss everyone, hope you're reading haha
Love y'all!
~Amanda
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Catch-up Time! FIJAROS - es muy dificil para entender.
Hey guys!
Sorry it's been a while! After Madrid, I needed a few days to recover, and then once I did school started getting crazy and I just completely forgot to write! So bear with me, I'm going to do a few posts a little late haha...
This one shall be about Toledo and our final day in Madrid....enjoy yourselves :-)
Alrighty soooo Friday night we went to an AMAZING flamenco show at this little bar a little ways from our hotel. They served fantastic food and we got to sit right in front of this little stage where all throughout dinner dancers and singers performed for us. The dancing was INCREDIBLE, kind of like tap dancing but with more arm work. Those ladies were jacked man. It made me feel pretty terrible about my flabby chicken arms. Anywho...
That night we went out to a club near the hotel which was pretty fun. The dance floor was packed and every now and then a huge cold blast of fog would come down from the ceiling. It was pretty crazy but a really good time!
The next morning we got up for another wonderful breakfast at the hotel (I'm telling you guys, it was spectacular haha) and got on a train to Toledo. Unfortunately for us, it was pouring rain. Helena and I made a mad dash to Corte Ingles (Spanish Macy's essentially) so I could get a sweater and an umbrella. After a nice half-hour train ride, we arrived in Toledo to more rain. We made our way to the old part of the city, which was spectacular despite the lousy weather, and went toooooo (you guessed it) A RESTAURANT. Seems like that's all we do, huh? But really, we don't...ok we kind of do, but whatever, we like being fatty fatty fat kids, ok? (no really, that's just me :-) haha) Had another fantastic meal full of way too much food and the best desserts I've had in Spain. So great.
After a lovely lunch, we met up with our tour guide who's name escapes me but who we'll call FIJAROS because that's ALL he said all day. No joke, every other word was FIJAROS (concentrate, look at this, etc.). Also, I think he thought we were stupid because he kept saying "Es muy dificil para entender" ("it's very difficult to understand") that these buildings could be thousands of years old....uh, no FIJAROS, it's not that difficult, pretty sure we can wrap our heads around that one. Haha anyways, we made our way through the city which is very old and full of history. The streets look like something out of a movie, it's really gorgeous. We got to see the Cathedral which was really breathtaking (I took some pictures even though we weren't supposed to ;-) haha) and had a ton of paintings from famous artists like Velazquez, El Greco, etc. which amazed me because although Toledo is famous, it's a pretty small town that you wouldn't expect to be harboring such famous works.
After the Cathedral, we made our way to the Synagogue (it was a very religiously diverse weekend) which had once been a Mosque. All throughout the city there are stores selling swords and figures of Don Quijote (who has become my best and most present friend these past couple of weeks) because Toledo is what was known as La Mancha (aka, Don Quijote de La Mancha?...yeah). So that was cool to sort of relate everything back to what I'm learning in class and all haha.
After the Synagogue, it really started coming down on us. We walked around a little more, exploring and getting to see beautiful views of the city, but it got to the point where our shoes became sinking boats and we had to call it quits. After a cold and wet ride home, we made it back to the Hotel for a nice hot shower and a much needed nap.
Helena and I decided to find the creperia that we went to our first night in Madrid so that we could get some delicious crepes for dinner. We went to Placa del Sol (one of the main plazas) where we (mostly I) thought we knew where we were going. Lets just say I was wrong. So wrong. Sorry again Helena. But anyways, after walking around in the rain for about an hour or so, we FINALLY found it! YAY! Hahah we had Nutella and walnut crepes (yes, for dinner, that's right, you're jealous) and had a fantastic time taking pictures of our glorious victory.
The next day (after a bit of a long night...) we got up groggily and decided to explore the city before our train left at 3. We walked around Plaza del Sol, got lost and somehow found our way back to a main street, and ended up grabbing tapas at this really cute place near our hotel. All in all, a beautiful relaxing day in Madrid. After that lovely stroll, none of us wanted to leave Madrid (although Barcelona rocks ahaha) because we felt like we had so much more to see! But alas, our train was calling and we had to be on it. So away we went, back to BCN our lovely home for a nice Sunday evening en casa.
Stay tuned, tomorrow: Chocolate Museum and Palau de Musica!
Love you all :-) adios chicos!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Artsy Fartsy Time
Hey Y'all!
Greetings from Madrid, the center of Spain and cultural mecca of all things art! We arrived yesterday via train around 6 o'clock and went "bar hopping" for tapas in a bunch of cool restaruants around Madrid. Had some chill time and called it a relatively "early" night so that we could get up for breakfast this morning.
Holy. Crap. I missed Continental Breakfast. I mean don't get me wrong, I love me my cereal,but sometimes a girl just needs some GD EGGS in the morning. Which is exactly what I had, along with an assortment of other goodies :-) Magic in breakfast form.
Anyways, after a wonderful start to the day, we went to the Museo del Prado which is THE art museum in Spain. We walked around for a good 3 hours, seeing famous works by Goya, Miró, and, my personal favorite, Diego Velazquez. I saw Las Meninas and was amazed. I remember learning about it with Señora Rogers in junior year and ever since I´ve wanted to go see it in person. His technique is a lot stranger than I remember, but the detail in the faces and the subtle meanings and messages hidden in the painting were so amazing to see in person. Needless to say, it was a truly amazing experience.
After that, we had a wonderful lunch in this little place called La Comunista which is apparently really really popular here. The food was fantastic and I was once again a very happy camper :-)Then we made our way back to the hotel for a quick nap before La Reina Sofía at 4 o'clock.
Let me preface my experience at the Reina Sofía by saying that I'm not a big fan of cubist art. I know it's impressive and a different style and paved the way for other artists and all, but to me, I just don't really see the appeal. But I must say, Guernica is one of the most stunning works I have ever seen in my life. This mural is ENORMOUS and really really powerful to behold. It depicts the bombing of Guernica by the German Lufftwaffe that was APPROVED by Franco which ended up killing hundreds of innocent people. Pablo Picasso, through strange images and metaphoric symbols, shows the horror of the event in pure black and white, and the effect is stunning. I have pictures that I'll post when I get back to Barcelona. Really amazing.
We also got to see some more Dalí and some other very famous pieces that are all jumbled in my head right now because I´m exhausted. But anyways
I have like 2 minutes left on the internet, so I must say adeiu, but I'll try to post more tomorrow!
Love you all! MWAH!
Greetings from Madrid, the center of Spain and cultural mecca of all things art! We arrived yesterday via train around 6 o'clock and went "bar hopping" for tapas in a bunch of cool restaruants around Madrid. Had some chill time and called it a relatively "early" night so that we could get up for breakfast this morning.
Holy. Crap. I missed Continental Breakfast. I mean don't get me wrong, I love me my cereal,but sometimes a girl just needs some GD EGGS in the morning. Which is exactly what I had, along with an assortment of other goodies :-) Magic in breakfast form.
Anyways, after a wonderful start to the day, we went to the Museo del Prado which is THE art museum in Spain. We walked around for a good 3 hours, seeing famous works by Goya, Miró, and, my personal favorite, Diego Velazquez. I saw Las Meninas and was amazed. I remember learning about it with Señora Rogers in junior year and ever since I´ve wanted to go see it in person. His technique is a lot stranger than I remember, but the detail in the faces and the subtle meanings and messages hidden in the painting were so amazing to see in person. Needless to say, it was a truly amazing experience.
After that, we had a wonderful lunch in this little place called La Comunista which is apparently really really popular here. The food was fantastic and I was once again a very happy camper :-)Then we made our way back to the hotel for a quick nap before La Reina Sofía at 4 o'clock.
Let me preface my experience at the Reina Sofía by saying that I'm not a big fan of cubist art. I know it's impressive and a different style and paved the way for other artists and all, but to me, I just don't really see the appeal. But I must say, Guernica is one of the most stunning works I have ever seen in my life. This mural is ENORMOUS and really really powerful to behold. It depicts the bombing of Guernica by the German Lufftwaffe that was APPROVED by Franco which ended up killing hundreds of innocent people. Pablo Picasso, through strange images and metaphoric symbols, shows the horror of the event in pure black and white, and the effect is stunning. I have pictures that I'll post when I get back to Barcelona. Really amazing.
We also got to see some more Dalí and some other very famous pieces that are all jumbled in my head right now because I´m exhausted. But anyways
I have like 2 minutes left on the internet, so I must say adeiu, but I'll try to post more tomorrow!
Love you all! MWAH!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Breath in and Breath Out
Wow, didn't realize how long it had been since I last posted! haha. Everything here has started to quick in to full gear, so I haven't had a whole lot of time to write, but expect updates this weekend, I'll be in Madrid!!
Not too much to say in this blog, but I figured while I waited for my coffee to brew and the latest episode of GLEE to load (I miss american TV like WOAH), I'd share a few of my thoughts :-)
It's been a pretty low key week in terms of trips and stuff, so not much to report on that front. However, this week as definitely been a lesson in cultural adaptation, one that I never really thought would be a problem. Barcelona is a relatively large city. Everyone's used to making use of its resources and getting what they need relatively easily. However, for a neurotic and overstressed girl from the boonies, it's been a bit trying for me to say the least haha. My main problem: books. If you've talked to me recently, you know this is a sore subject for me (don't worry mom and dad, it's FINALLY all figured out.) Hokay so. At Trinity, as university of approximately 2,400 students, we have a relatively large book store. Everything is labeled by class with exactly what books you need for each one, and the information concerning books is made aware to the students before classes even start. While I'm LOVING (and I mean really loving, it's fantastic) UPF, there book store is the size of a broom closet, and for me, that's just a tragedy, especially when there are about 10,000 students that attend the university. You don't know what books you need for class until you're officially registered (which for me and for most exchange students meant 2 days ago...meanwhile classes started the 27th...) and when you finally do find out, they're usually aren't any left in the book store to buy. This, to me, is amazing. The university students in Barcelona are so much more independent and resourceful than we are - hell, we're practically handed the books when we walk in the door. So anyways, needless to say it's been a trying few days, walking to different book stores to find that they don't have what I need, blah blah wah wah poor me. haha
Luckily, after looking for a good 2 hours, I finally found what I needed online and it should be being shipped as we speak. (as I type? haha weird.) I was talking to my host mom, Almudena, about this the other day, telling her about my "little box" that I like to live in where everything goes right and everything has it's place and where I HAVE ALL OF MY GODDAMN BOOKS. She laughed at me. Haha, no not maliciously, because she too says she likes her life in a little box that she can manage. But she did say something that made a lot of sense. "Amanda. First, calm down. Everything will work out. Second, get rid of your little box. (Me: BUT I LIKE MY LITTLE BOX) This is an opportunity to get out side of that square and, maybe you'll actually learn something on the way."
So with those pearls of wisdom, I leave you, only to add that she was right, my little box needs a little break and I'm trying (really...I am...sort of) to follow her advice.
Love you all :-)
Not too much to say in this blog, but I figured while I waited for my coffee to brew and the latest episode of GLEE to load (I miss american TV like WOAH), I'd share a few of my thoughts :-)
It's been a pretty low key week in terms of trips and stuff, so not much to report on that front. However, this week as definitely been a lesson in cultural adaptation, one that I never really thought would be a problem. Barcelona is a relatively large city. Everyone's used to making use of its resources and getting what they need relatively easily. However, for a neurotic and overstressed girl from the boonies, it's been a bit trying for me to say the least haha. My main problem: books. If you've talked to me recently, you know this is a sore subject for me (don't worry mom and dad, it's FINALLY all figured out.) Hokay so. At Trinity, as university of approximately 2,400 students, we have a relatively large book store. Everything is labeled by class with exactly what books you need for each one, and the information concerning books is made aware to the students before classes even start. While I'm LOVING (and I mean really loving, it's fantastic) UPF, there book store is the size of a broom closet, and for me, that's just a tragedy, especially when there are about 10,000 students that attend the university. You don't know what books you need for class until you're officially registered (which for me and for most exchange students meant 2 days ago...meanwhile classes started the 27th...) and when you finally do find out, they're usually aren't any left in the book store to buy. This, to me, is amazing. The university students in Barcelona are so much more independent and resourceful than we are - hell, we're practically handed the books when we walk in the door. So anyways, needless to say it's been a trying few days, walking to different book stores to find that they don't have what I need, blah blah wah wah poor me. haha
Luckily, after looking for a good 2 hours, I finally found what I needed online and it should be being shipped as we speak. (as I type? haha weird.) I was talking to my host mom, Almudena, about this the other day, telling her about my "little box" that I like to live in where everything goes right and everything has it's place and where I HAVE ALL OF MY GODDAMN BOOKS. She laughed at me. Haha, no not maliciously, because she too says she likes her life in a little box that she can manage. But she did say something that made a lot of sense. "Amanda. First, calm down. Everything will work out. Second, get rid of your little box. (Me: BUT I LIKE MY LITTLE BOX) This is an opportunity to get out side of that square and, maybe you'll actually learn something on the way."
So with those pearls of wisdom, I leave you, only to add that she was right, my little box needs a little break and I'm trying (really...I am...sort of) to follow her advice.
Love you all :-)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE! STRIKE!
Soooo today there was (is) a general strike going on in Barcelona due to the lowering of salaries and government changes to the work force. Basically, what this meant for me was that the entire city was shut down as well as all forms of transportation. So what did I try to do? Go to the bookstore, of course. What better to do on a day with no metro than try to walk an hour and a half to find school books? Wrong.
The way there was gorgeous. I had a loverly walk through sections of the city with beautiful architecture, saw a gorgeous garden/parkish thing, and generally had a lovely hour + walk to La Central. Plus I got there without getting lost, so I was pretty pumped when I walked through the doors of the store.
I walked around for a few minutes trying to find the books on my own, but quickly gave up when I realized that I was never going to be able to find what I wanted as quickly as the nice people working at La Central. So I ask the nice lady sitting behind the counter where I can find the 6 books on my list. Answer? NOT HERE.
No joke. I wanted to cry. Not ONE of the books I wanted was in this book store which supposedly has everything. They were all at the OTHER La Central in La Raval. Can I go get them at La Raval now? Answer? NO. Why? effin' strike. So while it was fantastic not to have class today, the strike made it impossible for me to do anything productive. IMPOSSIBLE!
The best part was getting lost on the way home haha. But I got to pass Sagrada Familia (even though I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to pass it haha) and miraculously found my way back to where I needed to be walking.
Despite my initial frustration with my lack of success on this visit, I realized I had a nice walk through the city and saw some places that I definitely want to visit again that aren't that far from my apartment. Plus, now I know where NOT to go for books haha.
Anyways, I'm off to the gym!
Enjoy the stories of my epic fails :-)
Hahah bye all!!
The way there was gorgeous. I had a loverly walk through sections of the city with beautiful architecture, saw a gorgeous garden/parkish thing, and generally had a lovely hour + walk to La Central. Plus I got there without getting lost, so I was pretty pumped when I walked through the doors of the store.
I walked around for a few minutes trying to find the books on my own, but quickly gave up when I realized that I was never going to be able to find what I wanted as quickly as the nice people working at La Central. So I ask the nice lady sitting behind the counter where I can find the 6 books on my list. Answer? NOT HERE.
No joke. I wanted to cry. Not ONE of the books I wanted was in this book store which supposedly has everything. They were all at the OTHER La Central in La Raval. Can I go get them at La Raval now? Answer? NO. Why? effin' strike. So while it was fantastic not to have class today, the strike made it impossible for me to do anything productive. IMPOSSIBLE!
The best part was getting lost on the way home haha. But I got to pass Sagrada Familia (even though I'm pretty sure I wasn't supposed to pass it haha) and miraculously found my way back to where I needed to be walking.
Despite my initial frustration with my lack of success on this visit, I realized I had a nice walk through the city and saw some places that I definitely want to visit again that aren't that far from my apartment. Plus, now I know where NOT to go for books haha.
Anyways, I'm off to the gym!
Enjoy the stories of my epic fails :-)
Hahah bye all!!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Some Things Just Must Be Discussed
Ok, So I know I already posted today, but I've been meaning to write a blog on this topic for a few days now and I MUST do it now.
Topic: Dogs that look like their Owners...or visa versa.
Seriously, it's crazy here. Maybe I just don't notice it in the US, but EVERY ONE HAS A DOG THAT LOOKS LIKE THEM HERE. The dogs even ACT like their owners. Today, I saw two elderly women coming back from the gym. One had white white hair slicked back into a pony tail. On a leash next to her?: a snow white dog with slicked back fur. Said woman was talking to another woman with light red hair with white spots. On her leash? You guessed it, a dog with fluffy light read hair and white spots. Even better? The women were arguing while their dogs were barking at each other. Seriously. No joke.
The other day I saw a woman with osteoperosis walking her dog who looked like it had one of the McDonald's arches implanted in its back.
It's crazy. I can't stop comparing people to their dogs now.
Anyways....that had nothing whatsoever to do with my life here in Barcelona, but enjoy anyways.
Topic: Dogs that look like their Owners...or visa versa.
Seriously, it's crazy here. Maybe I just don't notice it in the US, but EVERY ONE HAS A DOG THAT LOOKS LIKE THEM HERE. The dogs even ACT like their owners. Today, I saw two elderly women coming back from the gym. One had white white hair slicked back into a pony tail. On a leash next to her?: a snow white dog with slicked back fur. Said woman was talking to another woman with light red hair with white spots. On her leash? You guessed it, a dog with fluffy light read hair and white spots. Even better? The women were arguing while their dogs were barking at each other. Seriously. No joke.
The other day I saw a woman with osteoperosis walking her dog who looked like it had one of the McDonald's arches implanted in its back.
It's crazy. I can't stop comparing people to their dogs now.
Anyways....that had nothing whatsoever to do with my life here in Barcelona, but enjoy anyways.
OOOOO VIVA LA FIESTA!
Hola a todos!
For those of you who understood the S Club 7 reference, 10 gold stars. Also, we´re solemates.
Anywayssss this weekend has been carazayyyyy. But let´s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, if you ask me ;-) haha)
Thursday I had my first Medieval History class at UPF and it was so amazing! The teacher was so funny and spoke slowly enough so that I could understand him without being completely lost! SUCCESS! haha. Trin had a pizza party for the end of Spanish classes (YESSSSS) and then I had a lovely night in sleeping. Always good.
Fridayyyy...Oh yeah. Ok So we went with Eulaulia to see Castelles (human towers) in Plaça Sant Jaume as part of the start of Merçe (which is the huge party celebrating Barcelona...bascially a 4 day fiesta for the entire city...pretty good deal right?). The Plaza was SO SO full of people, it was a little claustrophobic. But that´s ok, the human towers were SO cool (although a bit terrifying) and we got to see a lot of catalan culture with the parade of giants and all.
Friday night I went with Laia and a bunch of kids from the Pingree exchange (YAY!) to see a concert in Plaça Espanya which was so so cool. We all met up and walked over together and had a great night dancing and hanging out despite the rain. The only downfall: going to bed at 4 and having to get up at 9 is never a good thing.
Saturday I had to drag myself out of bed at 9 to go to Sitges with the Trinity grouppp. To be honest, I was kind of dreading it at first because our schedule was so full and I was dead on my feet, but it ended up being SO SO fun. We walked around for a bit and looked at pretty houses and then...we went...to the Bacardi House.
Ok so the museum of Bacardi wasn´t the most enthralling thing in the world. BUT. At the end, they taught us how to make the original and TRUE Mojito! First they showed us how, and we were like oh cool, mojitos. THEN they started putting ingredients out in front of us and we got to make our own! Holy crap they were so good. I have tasted heaven, and it comes in the form of a true Bacardi mojito. sooo the trip was a success, to say the least haha.
No, but really, after that we walked around, had a great lunch at this pizzaria, ate way too much, saw beautiful churches and buildings, and went to the beach for a while. In all, it was a really gorgeous day.
Helena and I came back to Barcelona and went to see the Correfoc which is a tradition of Merçe when people run through the streets dressed as demons with fire because...well we don´t really know why. But everyone was dressed up with sweatshirts and scarves covering their mouths and protective eye gear and I´m standing there in a dress...sooo we got a little scared and decided to leave before we got burnt to a crisp.
Instead, we went to see OK GO! (the only american band at Merçe haha) which was really fun. I left to go meet up with Laia again and we walked back to Plaça Espanya to go to MAXIMUM, the biggest party of Merçe. And when I say biggest, I am NOT kidding. Holy crap, there were SO many people there. We tried to get in and dance, but it was literally impossible. I got pushed and pulled in so many directions, it was unbelivable. So instead of subjecting ourselves to torture, we decided it wasn´t worth it and hung out where there weren´t so many people. Again, walking back at 3 am with 5 hours of sleep under my belt was pretty tough, but it was all worth it when I fell into bed and slept until noon today (which, as you all know, is EXTREMELY strange and rare for me). And now I´m just chilling with Laia until I have to go home and do homework and go to the gym because I can´t stop eating here because the food is TOO DAMN GOOD. urgh.
Anyways, that´s my life up to date! I don´t have a list for today because I´m too tired to try to be witty, but I´ll try and do one next timeeee
Love you all!
For those of you who understood the S Club 7 reference, 10 gold stars. Also, we´re solemates.
Anywayssss this weekend has been carazayyyyy. But let´s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start, if you ask me ;-) haha)
Thursday I had my first Medieval History class at UPF and it was so amazing! The teacher was so funny and spoke slowly enough so that I could understand him without being completely lost! SUCCESS! haha. Trin had a pizza party for the end of Spanish classes (YESSSSS) and then I had a lovely night in sleeping. Always good.
Fridayyyy...Oh yeah. Ok So we went with Eulaulia to see Castelles (human towers) in Plaça Sant Jaume as part of the start of Merçe (which is the huge party celebrating Barcelona...bascially a 4 day fiesta for the entire city...pretty good deal right?). The Plaza was SO SO full of people, it was a little claustrophobic. But that´s ok, the human towers were SO cool (although a bit terrifying) and we got to see a lot of catalan culture with the parade of giants and all.
Friday night I went with Laia and a bunch of kids from the Pingree exchange (YAY!) to see a concert in Plaça Espanya which was so so cool. We all met up and walked over together and had a great night dancing and hanging out despite the rain. The only downfall: going to bed at 4 and having to get up at 9 is never a good thing.
Saturday I had to drag myself out of bed at 9 to go to Sitges with the Trinity grouppp. To be honest, I was kind of dreading it at first because our schedule was so full and I was dead on my feet, but it ended up being SO SO fun. We walked around for a bit and looked at pretty houses and then...we went...to the Bacardi House.
Ok so the museum of Bacardi wasn´t the most enthralling thing in the world. BUT. At the end, they taught us how to make the original and TRUE Mojito! First they showed us how, and we were like oh cool, mojitos. THEN they started putting ingredients out in front of us and we got to make our own! Holy crap they were so good. I have tasted heaven, and it comes in the form of a true Bacardi mojito. sooo the trip was a success, to say the least haha.
No, but really, after that we walked around, had a great lunch at this pizzaria, ate way too much, saw beautiful churches and buildings, and went to the beach for a while. In all, it was a really gorgeous day.
Helena and I came back to Barcelona and went to see the Correfoc which is a tradition of Merçe when people run through the streets dressed as demons with fire because...well we don´t really know why. But everyone was dressed up with sweatshirts and scarves covering their mouths and protective eye gear and I´m standing there in a dress...sooo we got a little scared and decided to leave before we got burnt to a crisp.
Instead, we went to see OK GO! (the only american band at Merçe haha) which was really fun. I left to go meet up with Laia again and we walked back to Plaça Espanya to go to MAXIMUM, the biggest party of Merçe. And when I say biggest, I am NOT kidding. Holy crap, there were SO many people there. We tried to get in and dance, but it was literally impossible. I got pushed and pulled in so many directions, it was unbelivable. So instead of subjecting ourselves to torture, we decided it wasn´t worth it and hung out where there weren´t so many people. Again, walking back at 3 am with 5 hours of sleep under my belt was pretty tough, but it was all worth it when I fell into bed and slept until noon today (which, as you all know, is EXTREMELY strange and rare for me). And now I´m just chilling with Laia until I have to go home and do homework and go to the gym because I can´t stop eating here because the food is TOO DAMN GOOD. urgh.
Anyways, that´s my life up to date! I don´t have a list for today because I´m too tired to try to be witty, but I´ll try and do one next timeeee
Love you all!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
It's been a long night in Barcelona...
Hey all!
Long time no blog! I know, I'm sorry!!! But I'm back, no worries.
This past weekend was so nice! Friday I had a lovely lazy night in after a stressful week, so it was nice to catch up on sleep and rest a bit!
Saturday was Monica's birthday, so Almudena and I traveled to Sitges, a beach town about a half hour away from the city, to have a nice lunch at her Dad's apartment. Javier cooks really really really well, and we had some delicious ribs with potatoes :-) plus there was a giant brownie. Really can't get any better than that.
After we got back to the city, I called Laia and met up with her around 8:30. We had a lovely dinner with her mom and sister and then we touched ourselves up so we could go out for drinks. We went to the Hotel La Florida which is up in the mountains and has the most AMAZING view of Barcelona. I couldn't take pictures because I forgot my camera and it was super dark anyways, but it was fantastic. I got to meet a bunch of Laia's friends (and reunite with some of the Pingree exchange students) and all in all just had a really nice time hanging out with a bunch of great people!
I stayed a Laia's (I have my own pull out bed there haha) and we spent Sunday watching YouTube videos of SYTYCD and Fama (Which is the spanish equivalent). So nice to just hang out :-)
After so many great meals, I had to force myself to go to the gym which I did. Unfortunately, the gym didn't want me for long, because they turned the TV's and the lights off on me a half hour before I thought it was closing...oh well haha
Since then it's been pretty routine: Class, study, class, gym, homework, bed. haha
BUT this weekend is FIESTAAAA!!! woot! And I think we're going to sitges again with Trinity, so that'll be fun too!
Anyways, that's a little bit of what's going on with me!
I'm going to start doing lists, because it seems to be the thing to do on blogs haha
Here are the 5 things (silly things haha) that I miss about the US
1. Refills. Seriously, a diet coke here is like 1,15 euros and it's TINY and they don't give free refills. So. Sad.
2. Eggs for breakfast. They apparently just don't do that here?
3. Foliage. I mean, there's some, but there's nothing like in MA or NH
4. ORBIT SWEET MINT GUM. You have no idea how terrible withdrawl from orbit is...
5. My coche. I love me some metro, but when it's raining and I have to run soaking wet through the streets, I really miss my cancerous mercedes haha
and here are 5 things I wish I could transfer to the US from Barcelona
1. The climate. Right now, it's still 70 degrees and sunny which is beautiful :-)
2. The fruit. well, send this to Trinity, at least, because good fruit doesn't exist in college.
3. Jamon serrano. Brilliant. Genius.
4. The pace of life. Everyone walks a little bit slower here. I'd like to take a look around once in a while back home...
5. Tortilla espanola. Gods gift to man kind. I'm serious people, try it.
Yes, I realize that the majority of those things are food related, but hey, I like to eat, what can I say :-)
ok, bed time for Mioooo
love you all!
Long time no blog! I know, I'm sorry!!! But I'm back, no worries.
This past weekend was so nice! Friday I had a lovely lazy night in after a stressful week, so it was nice to catch up on sleep and rest a bit!
Saturday was Monica's birthday, so Almudena and I traveled to Sitges, a beach town about a half hour away from the city, to have a nice lunch at her Dad's apartment. Javier cooks really really really well, and we had some delicious ribs with potatoes :-) plus there was a giant brownie. Really can't get any better than that.
After we got back to the city, I called Laia and met up with her around 8:30. We had a lovely dinner with her mom and sister and then we touched ourselves up so we could go out for drinks. We went to the Hotel La Florida which is up in the mountains and has the most AMAZING view of Barcelona. I couldn't take pictures because I forgot my camera and it was super dark anyways, but it was fantastic. I got to meet a bunch of Laia's friends (and reunite with some of the Pingree exchange students) and all in all just had a really nice time hanging out with a bunch of great people!
I stayed a Laia's (I have my own pull out bed there haha) and we spent Sunday watching YouTube videos of SYTYCD and Fama (Which is the spanish equivalent). So nice to just hang out :-)
After so many great meals, I had to force myself to go to the gym which I did. Unfortunately, the gym didn't want me for long, because they turned the TV's and the lights off on me a half hour before I thought it was closing...oh well haha
Since then it's been pretty routine: Class, study, class, gym, homework, bed. haha
BUT this weekend is FIESTAAAA!!! woot! And I think we're going to sitges again with Trinity, so that'll be fun too!
Anyways, that's a little bit of what's going on with me!
I'm going to start doing lists, because it seems to be the thing to do on blogs haha
Here are the 5 things (silly things haha) that I miss about the US
1. Refills. Seriously, a diet coke here is like 1,15 euros and it's TINY and they don't give free refills. So. Sad.
2. Eggs for breakfast. They apparently just don't do that here?
3. Foliage. I mean, there's some, but there's nothing like in MA or NH
4. ORBIT SWEET MINT GUM. You have no idea how terrible withdrawl from orbit is...
5. My coche. I love me some metro, but when it's raining and I have to run soaking wet through the streets, I really miss my cancerous mercedes haha
and here are 5 things I wish I could transfer to the US from Barcelona
1. The climate. Right now, it's still 70 degrees and sunny which is beautiful :-)
2. The fruit. well, send this to Trinity, at least, because good fruit doesn't exist in college.
3. Jamon serrano. Brilliant. Genius.
4. The pace of life. Everyone walks a little bit slower here. I'd like to take a look around once in a while back home...
5. Tortilla espanola. Gods gift to man kind. I'm serious people, try it.
Yes, I realize that the majority of those things are food related, but hey, I like to eat, what can I say :-)
ok, bed time for Mioooo
love you all!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Estudiar es mejorarse
Blah, so much spanish class. I can't take doing one more group activity haha! Just teach me some grammar and get on with it!
Anywayssss, Tuesday nothing extremely interesting happened, except that I went to a yoga class at the gym and wanted to cry. This guy was doing hand stands and acrobatics and I was sitting there thinking AHHHH! what the HELL have I gotten myself into. Anyways.
Wednesday I had class and later in the day some of the trinity group went with Carlota to a jazz/salsa/rock/flamenco club called Jazzsi. It was this tiny whole in the wall that you wouldn't be able to find in broad daylight with signs pointing you straight to it. But the music was AMAZING. They played the classics like "Sing Sing Sing" and "Cry Me A River" (NOT the Justin Timberlake one haha) and then they played some other ones I had never heard (although that's not saying much considering I don't know a whole lot about jazz, except that I like it :-) haha). The singer was amazing and sounded like a mix between Judy Garland and Sara Bareilles (who you all know I'm completely obsessed with). She was Catalan but sang like an american, so it was quite funny and entertaining and all around just a good time. Will definitely make a trip back.
After the concert we went to get tapas where we demolished about 15 different plates...I'm pretty sure the waiter was getting tired of us asking for more hummus...
Today was fairly ordinary, had class, went food shopping. and...went to a belly dancing class? Yep. I'm cool. Hahaha It was quite fun, although not so much exercise as me trying not to look like a fool haha.
Other than that, things are pretty quiet here in Barcelona, but not to worry, tomorrow's friday and all that will change :-)
besos y abrazos :-)
Anywayssss, Tuesday nothing extremely interesting happened, except that I went to a yoga class at the gym and wanted to cry. This guy was doing hand stands and acrobatics and I was sitting there thinking AHHHH! what the HELL have I gotten myself into. Anyways.
Wednesday I had class and later in the day some of the trinity group went with Carlota to a jazz/salsa/rock/flamenco club called Jazzsi. It was this tiny whole in the wall that you wouldn't be able to find in broad daylight with signs pointing you straight to it. But the music was AMAZING. They played the classics like "Sing Sing Sing" and "Cry Me A River" (NOT the Justin Timberlake one haha) and then they played some other ones I had never heard (although that's not saying much considering I don't know a whole lot about jazz, except that I like it :-) haha). The singer was amazing and sounded like a mix between Judy Garland and Sara Bareilles (who you all know I'm completely obsessed with). She was Catalan but sang like an american, so it was quite funny and entertaining and all around just a good time. Will definitely make a trip back.
After the concert we went to get tapas where we demolished about 15 different plates...I'm pretty sure the waiter was getting tired of us asking for more hummus...
Today was fairly ordinary, had class, went food shopping. and...went to a belly dancing class? Yep. I'm cool. Hahaha It was quite fun, although not so much exercise as me trying not to look like a fool haha.
Other than that, things are pretty quiet here in Barcelona, but not to worry, tomorrow's friday and all that will change :-)
besos y abrazos :-)
Monday, September 13, 2010
Summertime and the livin' is easy...
So it's still around 80 degree's here every day which is so wonderful! I talked to my parents yesterday and my mom was in a sweater. Part of me is definitely going to miss New England fall, but at the same time, it was WONDERFUL to be able to go to the beach this weekend.
Saturday (I forget if I already wrote this, so bear with me haha) was el Dia de Catalunya which is actually kind of a strange day haha. Apart from the fact that I felt really weird celebrating something on September 11th, the day actually commemorates a Catalunian defeat rather than a victory...Apparently, it's to commemorate the defeat of the siege of Barcelona when all things Catalan were banned, so there are a bunch of festivals celebrating Catalan writing, music, etc. The political groups put flowers on statutes of famous war heros and there's basically a whole lot of hooplah. It was very cool to see, everyone was wearing the Catalan flag and we got to see 3 human towers (castelles) which are so fun to see! so that was cool, and then Helena and I went to lunch and had really bad food....so now we know not to go there again haha.
Sunday I went to the beach with Almudena and just had a very relaxing day sleeping and reading. It was DELIghtful.
Today, I had a double session of classes. Not terrible, but one of the classes was right SMACK dab in the middle of my nap time. How rude, right? I know, I was pretty upset too.
But good news! I joined a DIR gym today near the apartment! It's SO nice, I think I'm in love. Took a spin class today and am very pumped. haha
Anyways, that's a little update! hope everyone's doing well!
miss you all!!
~Amanda
Saturday (I forget if I already wrote this, so bear with me haha) was el Dia de Catalunya which is actually kind of a strange day haha. Apart from the fact that I felt really weird celebrating something on September 11th, the day actually commemorates a Catalunian defeat rather than a victory...Apparently, it's to commemorate the defeat of the siege of Barcelona when all things Catalan were banned, so there are a bunch of festivals celebrating Catalan writing, music, etc. The political groups put flowers on statutes of famous war heros and there's basically a whole lot of hooplah. It was very cool to see, everyone was wearing the Catalan flag and we got to see 3 human towers (castelles) which are so fun to see! so that was cool, and then Helena and I went to lunch and had really bad food....so now we know not to go there again haha.
Sunday I went to the beach with Almudena and just had a very relaxing day sleeping and reading. It was DELIghtful.
Today, I had a double session of classes. Not terrible, but one of the classes was right SMACK dab in the middle of my nap time. How rude, right? I know, I was pretty upset too.
But good news! I joined a DIR gym today near the apartment! It's SO nice, I think I'm in love. Took a spin class today and am very pumped. haha
Anyways, that's a little update! hope everyone's doing well!
miss you all!!
~Amanda
Friday, September 10, 2010
Well that's sad!
So I tried to post about 3 days ago but blogger wasn't having it so I saved what I wrote but apparently it got lost somewhere. Sad :-(
Anyways, where was I? hmm ok well Tuesday we discovered the neighborhood that the Trinity space is in, going to restaurants and grocery stores in the area to get ourselves familiar with the place. After that, we had a nice lunch at this buffet style place which was surprisingly good.
After that, I decided that I didn't want to just hang around the apartment on a beautiful day in a beautiful city, so I hopped on the metro and made my way to Parc Guell, my absolute favorite place in the entire world. I don't know why, but the architecture and the atmosphere are just so amazing and I keep going back. I spent some time reading the paper and listening to the sounds of Barcelona in one of Gaudi's ergonomically designed benches. It was magical :-)
Wednesday we had our spanish test (EEP) and visited La Pedrera, another one of Gaudi's famous works. The building was SO amazing, I had never seen it from the inside, but it was even more impressive than from the outside! The roof really is a magical place, with fantastic views of the city and amazing chimneys and undulating staircases everywhere. Seriously worth a visit if you're ever in the city. If anyone wants to come visit me I promise I'll take you there!
Thursday we had Orientation at UPF and found out our spanish class for today (Friday). That means I actually have to do work....weird...
Anyways then I officially mailed my first package today! The whole transaction en espanol (although in very broken and bad spanish haha), but nevertheless I was proud haha. After this major stepping stone, I met up with the trinity group for a bike tour of the city. We peddled in a make way for duckling's type formation around the city and I'm pretty sure I almost ran down about 5 people. It was really fun though, and the ride through Barceloneta beach was beautiful!
Today I had my first spanish class which was actually quite fun. The teacher is super young and nice and we're going to be learning a bunch of new things which I'm excited about :-) (sigh, ok now you can make fun of me for being a nerd.)
Also went to my new bookstore today (I've decided it's my new bookstore solely because it's the ONLY bookstore I've come across so far....haha) and bought the Lost Symbol in Spanish (El Simbolo Perdido) so that I can look like I'm spanish on the Metro...yes, I think about these things and do ridiculous things like this haha.
Now I'm getting ready for a night out on the town (it's friday afterall), so I hope you enjoyed this brief recap!
Miss everyone!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Costa Brava
Sorry it's been a few days! I've been on the coast cut off from civilization for the weekend, but not to worry, I'm BACK.
Sooooo lets see, where to begin. Friday was orientation which was pretty standard. We went for a visit at UPF (the university we're studying at) and had a nice lunch. After that we all went to the beach for a little bit and hung out as a group. That night, I went with a few girls to some clubs by the beach and had a great night enjoying the night life of Barcelona! The only problem: getting 2 hours of sleep before having to jump on a train to Costa Brava and go on a million tours was a little rough. Needless to say I passed the train ride sleeping in a coma like state. I don't do well without sleep.... haha
So we got to Costa Brava around 1 o'clock and went to lunch at this really fancy place. I decided to be adventurous and get a whole fish (scales and all) for my meal. When in Rome right? I ended up eating more scales and bones than fish I think....but it was pretty good, although too much effort for my taste. After lunch we went to the Dali museum which was so cool but SO weird. He's a very strange artist and is obsessed with fallic symbols, so the museum was definitely a little out there haha. I have a bunch of pictures which I'll post soon! There was one room (the living room) where he created a couch in the shape of a woman's lips, a fire place in the shape of a nose, and had two large pictures of eyes. When you stood up on a platform and looked through a glass, the whole effect was a portrayal of May West's face. It was pretty epic.
After spending time in Figueres (where Dali was born) we went to our Casa Rural (rural house) to put our stuff away and take a nap. Then we had a delicious dinner prepared by the owners of the house and played a few games before calling it a night.
Sunday we went north near the border between Spain and France and visited the Museum of Exiles which gave a history of all those who were forced from Spain during WWII and Franco's regime. It was very interesting but also a bit sad. After a quick visit, we went to San Marti de Empuries which is a small coastal town with beautiful beaches. After soaking in the sun for a few hours (I now have an even BETTER tan than when I left :-) hahaha) we went to visit the ruins of the first Greek city in Spain called Empuries. There was also Roman ruins that we visited. The site was amazing and quite well preserved considering. It was like a smaller version of Pompeii in some ways. The Roman ruins, while not was well excavated, showed some amazing history. They had complete tile floors that were preserved under years of debris that I just found spectacular. Roman and Greek culture has always fascinated me, so this trip was really great, and we went around 6 pm so the weather was cooling off and the lighting was FANTASTIC for taking pictures. Again, I have a billion and will put them up asap!
Monday we got up early and traveled to Girona, the capital of the Girona province of Spain (of which there are four, Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona, anddddd....one more, I forget...dammit...anyways). The city is famous for its bridges and it's amazing Cathedral which was built on top of pagan temples. It was a beautiful work of architecture and I spent most of the day snapping pictures of the gothic building. Apparently I wasn't supposed to take photos inside, but I got a few before I was told to knock it off so you can see a little bit of the inside too. After a nice lunch, we caught a train back to Barcelona where I spent the rest of the day with my host family.
I finally got to meet Monica! She's so sweet and really really really funny! The two of them together are hilarious. She calls her mother "chica" and it makes me laugh so hard! haha. They're really great and make me feel at home!
Anyways, I need to go make myself presentable as I have to meet people to take a tour of the neighborhood where the Trinity Space is! Hope you enjoyed this entry!! I'll be writing more regularly now that I'm back in Barcelona!!!
Miss you all :-)
~Amanda
Friday, September 3, 2010
The Beginning
Hello all :-)
So yesterday was the first official day of the program with Trinity! My life has been kind of a mess these past couple of days because apparently when I landed, someone was supposed to give me a bag full of information telling me where to go, at what time, etc. you know, the important stuff that if you were in a foreign country, you'd probably like to know? Apparently, the guy who was supposed to drop mine off decided I was better off without it. Cool right? naht.
My host mother told me the night before that I was supposed to meet up with the group at Cafe Zurich at 4:30 the next day. She left me a note in the morning and a metro card and there I was...
Thank god she drew me a map of how to get there because I would have been walking around Barcelona for hours. As it was I still wandered lost for a good fifteen minutes, although apparently I looked like I knew where I was going because a couple tried to ask me for directions. Yeah, ok people, ask the girl that's lost to tell you where to go. Good judge of character.
Haha anyways, we finally managed to meet up and went on a bus tour of Barcelona with our student mentor Eulalia. We ended the day with a lovely pizza dinner at Veronica and I successfully managed to take the metro home without getting lost! Go me! haha
I have to leave in a few for Orientation but I'll post more about today tomorrow!
I also have some pictures, but I broke my fotobucket gadget somehow and have to get Nick to fix it :-)
Anyways, love you all :-)
~Amanda
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
UPC, meeting the new majra, and more
hey all :-)
Earlier today I went with Laia to see her University which is about 20 minutes from her house. It's called UPC (Universitat Polytecnica de Catalunya) and it's very modern and cool looking! She's studying a type of engineering and has to take tons of science and math classes that you couldn't pay me to take. I envy her intelligence haha! Math was never my strong suit.
Anyways, we had a lovely walk through the city and through her university and now we're back in her apartment chilling with Irene and waiting for 6:30 when I'll meet my new host mother! I'm really nervous, but also excited. Laia and her family know me and are very patient with my spanish skills, and I hope my host mother doesn't think I'm slow in the head hahahah We'll see I suppose. But Laia is convinced that she's very nice. She said that after reading her email to me, she's sure that she's a lovely woman haha! We'll see!
Sigh, well I'll update later when I've met the new fam and have something new to say! For now, Adios y hasta luego!
~Amanda
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Barcelona!
Laia, Eduard, and I came back to Barcelona around 7:30 today and I'm staying in Laia's apartment in the city for a night before I meet my host family! We had a great time in Coma Ruga relaxing by the pool and on the beach, playing games, and just chilling out for a while. My spanish skills are slowly (VERY slowly) improving, but I guess that will come with time (at least I hope haha). I am so excited but so nervous to start the Trinity program and see if everyone else is better than I am at speaking spanish hahaha. I suppose we shall see!
Anyways, not much to update on today, except that I now have regular access to the internet and will be posting more frequently now!
besos
~Amanda
He Llegado!
I have arrived! It is a beautiful 89º in Barcelona and it couldn’t be more perfect J I made it through both flights and a connection in Dublin and managed to keep my carry-on’s and find my luggage at the end of the road! (I was very proud of myself…so try not to judge my ego-boosting statements too too much haha). Laia and her boyfriend, Eduard, picked me up at the airport and after an epic battle with my 75 lb suitcase (again, no judging…) we were on the road! Laia’s beach house is so precious! It’s beautifully decorated and has great views as well! There’s a pool in the complex and the apartment is about a 10 minute walk from the beach. We managed to lug all of my stuff up stairs (Thank GOD for elevators) and I settled into my temporary home for the next few days J We went to get some fruit at a nearby market and picked up some various lunch items to munch on as well. Then, as every college kid should expect, I took a nap. It was glorious. And rejuvenating. I’m trying really hard to make it to at least 11pm so that I can acclimatize my body to the time change as quickly and painlessly as possible, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a struggle. Another siesta is looking mighty tempting and I’m not sure how much longer I can hold off! But alas, I shall try to stay strong.
Laia and Eduard are being very patient with my terrible Spanish skills and I can’t thank them enough, because it is much more difficult than you would think to just turn on the Spanish switch and start chattin’ it up. But I’m working hard and also trying to give myself a bit of a break as I have only been here for 10 hours so… haha
We’re off to get crepes for dinner in a minute so I should head out but enjoy reading about day 1! Miss everyone already!
~Amanda
Friday, August 27, 2010
And so it begins...
My bag weighs approximately 5000 lbs. I have enough shirts, jeans, shorts, dresses, and shoes to clothe an army. I've checked, rechecked, and triple checked my flight info. And now all there is to do is wait for my 6:20 p.m. flight to Barcelona, Spain! I've got my stock of books and a pack of peanut M&M's for the trip and I'm really hoping I won't get stuck next to a screaming child or a person who doesn't shower for 8 hours. Because I'm pretty sure that would be awful.
The parentals, Nick and I are going into Boston for the day to keep everyone's mind off of the fact that I'm leaving, because being sedentary for too long in my house automatically translates into a waterfall of tears (cough cough mom) and no one wants that! Then I'll get on a plane for Dublin, transfer to a flight to Barcelona and will arrive, tired and gross, in beautiful Catalunya! I'm excited to be reunited with some great friends in the city and spend some time with them before I start the Trinity program on September 2nd!
So this is my farewell to 6 o'clock dinners, giant sodas, peanut butter, and English, because I'm off! :-)
Adios a todos! Muchos besos :-)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Last of the Double Digit Days....
10 days and counting...
Figured I'd start this blog up before I left for Barcelona just to get things rolling! I'll officially be starting my semester abroad in Barcelona on August 27th and hope to fill this blog with all of my European adventures! Keep reading to track my trip!
Bon Voyage...to me? haha y'all come back now :-)
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