Updates on Barcelona Happenings

Hey everyone, so I guess its time to update. I keep forgetting there could be stuff to say even when I don't go on a weekend trip! Since Amsterdam we have had a few weekends of trying to see Barcelona city and the things to do around here, knowing that most of us have so many trips planned and our weekend time in Barcelona is limited.

The weekend before this was Carnival in Spain. Carnival is k

ind of celebrated for the same reason as Mardi Gras, the weekend before lent to celebrate the beginning of a holy time. The streets are filled with people i

n costumes and there were parades. It was cute seeing all the little kids dressed up like you would see American kids on Halloween. To celebrate we decided to take this group trip to Sitges, a town about 45 minutes north where there is one of the largest gay communities in Europe and rumored to have quite elaborate parades and parties because

of it. We went to this thursday night... the place was a ghost town. It was hilarious

minus the fact that we paid a lot of money to go and there was no festival. (Currently still working on getting my money back. The company we went with promised it back that night but have yet to deliver. The guy I have been dealing with knows me now we have exchanged a lot of emails and phone calls...

I'm determined and think I might win!).

Realizing it was a total flop the tour took us back to Barcelona and dropped us off at a club. That wouldn't of been that bad had we not all been dressed like fools and covered in glitter. Not one of the best nights of my life, and I will leave it like that. HAHA.

Another week of school goes by. School all day and play all night. Study somewhere in between.

This past weekend was very fun. Friday morning (after a lovely 2.5 hours of sleep) we got up for a tour of La Pedrera, an apartment building built by Gaudi, a famous architect from Barcelona. Whom also designed the still unfinished Sagrada Famillia (which I have yet to visit). His architecture is all about natural lines and inspiration

from nature. His buildings are really cool. After this we headed to the beach on my, Sarah, and Alex's quest for a good pair of black boots... after finding the cutest pairs and

not having our sizes, we ended up hanging out at the beach for a few hours. After almost loosing our purses, phones, and cameras to a huge wa

ve we grabbed some food and boxes of sangria took some more pictures! Such a fun afternoon taking pictures and just enjoying the scenery.

After heading back to our neighborhood and checking out the boot stores there, about 30 stores later we called it a night and went home defeated by the black boots! Super tired after a full day we stayed in and planned for another adventurous day the following day.

This morning we got up and headed to Park Guell. A famous park in Barcelona where you can overlook the entire city with a great view of the Mediterranean and see more architecture from Gaudi. The park was super busy being a tourist destination and it

being a Saturday, but we got some good pictures an

d had a lot of fun seeing what Barcelona had to offer. On the walk back to the metro we stumbled upon another boot store and I finally found a pair of black boots! (Also Sarah and Alex both found a pair later that day).

The weekend ended with a fun night out and a day of relaxing and catching up on some studying... tis the week for mid terms and I have some classes to pass! However I do enjoy the lovely distraction of updating you all on my life in Spain!

PANNENKOEKENBOOT!

Amsterdam Feb 5-7, 2010

First trip out of Spain for the semester! And it was so hard to go back because I loved Amsterdam so much!

We woke up the morning of the 5th at about 3am (so basically took a small nap) to catch our flight. The flight was no problem and the airline was surprisingly nice. Justin, Alison, Adrianne, Clara, Kaelan, and I landed in Amsterdam and took a train to the central station which was about a 5 minute walk from our hostel. Which we found surprisingly fast given I didn't have the magical powers of my Iphone which has saved me so many times in Barcelona (crazy roaming fees in Amsterdam I didn't want to pay). We stayed at a place called the Globe which was surprisingly nice given it was the only one that was left to accommodate us since we planned the trip so last minute. We had a 6 person private room with our own bathroom. That was great for us given it was the first hostel for most of us... gave us a nice transition to ease into the experience.

After a dropping our stuff off we headed out on the town, with only two days we didn't have much time to rest. I soon became the nap nazi (Justin soon reminded me maybe I shouldn't use this word in Amsterdam), so we could take full advantage of our short time there, despite the fact that I was ridiculously sick and just wanted to sleep all day. Sorry to everyone who I was with and all the coughing you had to put up with. So we bought something called a Holland Pass that a friend recommended that got us admission to a few different attractions and museums, and we got to cut the line at many of them. A really great deal, I would recommend it if you are going to visit Amsterdam. So that got us free admission onto a cruise of the canals. Amsterdam is covered in canals so it was a great way to get a quick panoramic view of the city and see all the different areas.

After this we did some walking around and shopping (Justin and I bought some sweet hats), grabbed some coffee to perk us up and saw the house the artist Rembrant grew up and worked in. We also went in the Sex Museum on a whim. That was hilarious... basically just a bunch of porn on the wall and penis statues. For dinner that night we went to an all you can eat dutch pancake dinner cruise with various toppings. I will let you ponder the amazingness of that for a moment....... That was for sure one of the highlights of the trip.

Day one was coming to an end and we all knew we didn't have the energy for a full night out on the town so we decided to walk around the red light district to see what that was all about then head to sleep early. Red light was interesting... nothing too shocking I guess but there were girls all in the windows looking for some clients, and sex shops and shows everywhere. We resisted going in any of them but we heard some interesting stories from other travelers about what goes on inside.

Up bright and early the next morning for a busy day. I was nice and chipper thanks to a good swig of cough medicine before bed so I wasn't kept up by the noisy neighbors. After turning up the wake up music we eventually all got out of bed and only a half hour behind schedule decided to stop for breakfast. I got a delicious cup of coffee and probably the most amazing breakfast sandwich I have ever had in my life! Holland has the best food.

First thing we did that day was head to the Anne Frank House, the place they hid and where the diary was written. We found the place pretty easy, (lovin' my map following skills) and beat the crowds which was cool and the museum was amazing. You get to walk through the whole office building below the annex, then behind the book case and into the annex where the eight people in hiding lived. Its amazing reading some of the quotes from the diaries then seeing the place they applied to. After the annex there was a room showing what happened after and a message from Anne's father, the one person who survived the concentration camps and the man who found Anne's diary and had it published. That was pretty emotional and amazing to see.

After the museum we took a cab over to the Van Gough Museum. We got to skip the line thanks to our holland pass and got in free. The museum was pretty clouded and they didn't have starry night on display so that was slightly disappointing, but learning about Van Gough's life was really interesting.

Then we headed over to the Heinekin Experience. And ran into the Iamsterdam statue on the way so stopped and did the tourist pictures... it was a must. I absolutely loved the Heinekin Experience. Got in free with the Holland Pass and took a self guided tour through the museum then saw how they brew beer, and did the Brew You ride... kind of like a virtual reality type ride where you are the beer. After this you get a sample and they tell you a little bit about the science of drinking it. This was probably the best Heinekin I have ever tasted.

At the end of the tour there is a bar where you use your drink tokens. Each person is given two. But most of our group wanted to get back to the hostel to freshen up for the rest of the night so Justin and I ended up with quite a few tokens and had a blast hanging out at Heinekin. Then the gift shop after made my day. We both got Heinekins with our name on them.

On the walk back to the hostel we wandered the streets a little and stopped to get the fries they sell on the street. Sooooo good. We even saved a few to give to the girls back at the hostel do double check that it wasn't just the Heinkeins talking.

Quick turnover, and 30 minutes later we we showered and back on the town. There are Argentinean steak houses all over the city so we decided to treat ourselves to a steak. After this we headed to a pub crawl we had looked into earlier. We were too late to make the better one so we went do a different less popular one. It was still pretty fun because free shot hour didn't have a crowd and we definitely got our money's worth!

Back to the hostel at about 3 or 4 am and in bed. 7 am we are up for our flight and make it to the airport in time to head back to Barcelona. I still don't want to leave! A few short hours later I am back in bed and sleep the whole day! Missed the superbowl but the 49ers weren't in it so nothing too tragic.

So basically can't wait for the next trips! We have an ISA trip to Valencia at the end of February, and Sarah and I just booked tickets to Rome for the following weekend! We will be booking Paris and Dublin soon I'm sure. And maybe Greece and Germany! And Morocco over spring break! Ah so many places! Hopefully the funds hold out. I am trying to be good!

Love and miss you all!! Don't forget to skype me!

Bestie convinced me to start the blog... here is the catch up

Now that I have been in Europe for almost a whole month (whoah it so does not feel like it has been that long!) its time to start a blog so all you people out there can creep my life from my point of view rather than what you see on facebook!

So lets flash back to week one:

We landed in Madrid after a red eye flight... that was brutal. We had the day to relax but they told us not to sleep so we could adjust to the time... Sarah and I were out like a light within the hour and I got up fo

r a panoramic bus tour... stayed awake

for about 10 minutes of it then slept for the rest of it. The next day still jet lagged we saw some museums... Reina sofia, a modern museum, and another one whose name I cant remember anymore that had a lot of classic art from Velasquez and Picasso among others... Its cool to see but I'm not a huge art fan so full days at the museum wasn't t

he most fun. All thought the day we were meeting a bunch of the other ISA Barcelona students, making some good friends and also being annoyed by some of the ... personalities.. there with us.

After a nap that night Sarah, Justin, and I met up with Shannon who is studying in Madrid for the semester and saw a little bit of the nightlife. Had my first Guiness in Europe ( don't worry I should be enjoying one in Ireland soon), but we didn't stay out too late because we had an early morning bus ride to Toledo.

Toledo was such a cute town, way different from Madrid, small alley streets, tons of old churches (something like over 50 in one s

quare mile...), and good views. We had a lot of time to kill after the guided tour so we had fun getting lost in the windy streets. T

hat ni

ght we checked into a nice hotel and had every intention of going out on the town after a short nap but soon enough Sarah and I woke up at 2am to a wild party in the room next door. That was fun. We felt lame because we should really be living it up at this point but were cranky instead. Stupid jet lag.

The next morning we woke up to a nice breakfast and got on busses to head off to Barcelona. 9 long hours later we arrived!

Barcelona:

Yay! We are home! Sarah, Alison, and I are so excited to be at our apartment! It is going to be so cute and we get to meet Lauren soon and go explore the city! We get to the door... so close... the key doesn't work. Many phone calls and many hours later, after ISA treats us to dinner and a bottle of wine we finally get in!! The apartment is adorable. We feel like we are in an Ikea ad. We meet our building owner, Marta, she doesn't speak much english but says she is going to be our Spanish mom. We have seen her a lot since (so many problems with water, etc.).

So the next day we have orientation for school. Ya that part... no one cares about school so I won't bore you with it. But I will say there are super long days, classes are easy, but all I think about is what to

explore next! (if this is my mom or dad reading this, that part was a lie. I work very hard in class and they are challenging but in a good way, yay school!).

The next few days are good. Lauren gets here and starts showing us around (she was here the semester previous as well). Before her I thought I didn't like the

food and that would be good for me and not eating like a lazy college student, but now we know where to go sooo yeah.

Lost of stuff has happened since then, here are some bullets:

•Went so some discotheques... stayed out till 5am... sooo late for me.

•Met some spanish people, tried to talk in spanish = Embarassment

•Played bingo at a bar. won a sweet trumpet and water gun.

•Figured out the metro like a boss

•Oddly haven't seen too many barcelona sights (look for updates on this)

•Fell in love with something called corquettas from docetrece. HEAVEN

•Visited Girona (a city), the Dali museum (melted clocks guy), Picasso Museum, and the gothic quarter.

•Saw some crazy things and met some crazy people.....

I promise I will keep more updated blogs from now on and will remember things so I can give you more detail than that!

Anyway just got back from Amsterdam yesterday... blog about that one will be up soon... if not later tonight!