Not such a bad weekend after all!

So the weekend kind of started badly, but it ended up being a lot of fun and I got to see some great things!

I met a really great catalan guy named Jordi who has bringing me around to some awesome local secrets. On Saturday he brought me up in the mountains near the beach castelldefers. The view of the ocean was magnificent! In the middle of the mountains was a small town with a monastery similar to the ones in Tibet. Jordi spent last summer studying in China and traveling in Tibet so he was excited to show me it. The monastery was really beautiful and it was such a relaxing break from the city.

Saturday night my roommates and I went to the Harlem Jazz Club in Barri Gotic to see a Cuban group. The group was absolutely amazing!!!! They didn't come on until 11:00 and ended around 2:00 so it was still a late night but it was such a refreshing break from the discos and the music was really quite impressive.

Yesterday was a great day as well! Jordi and I met up with his friend, Dosta, and his friends girlfriend, Merrii in their hometown Vic.  There was a medieval fair going on so we walked around through all of the various stands selling meat, cheese, jewelry, and other crafts. The town was small and old, and much more of a traditional catalan town.

After the fair we took a drive further into the mountains (we could see the Pyrenees!) to a lake where Dosta practices wake-boarding (He was the European wake-boarding champion this year!). We had lunch right by the lake and then went to Dosta's mountain house to say a quick hello to his family. The scenery was absolutely incredible!!! It was by far one of the most relaxing days I've had here and I didn't want to leave.

I realized that living here if you never really get to know the local people you are only going to see the main tourist attractions. But there is so much beauty beyond what the tourists see! One of my goals coming here was to make friends with locals and I'm proud that I have been able to do so. My only regret is that I didn't separate myself more from Americans, but everything here is truly a learning experience!

Can an easy button please appear?

Today was a pretty rough day. A girl in my class and I had decided this week that we would go to San Sebastian for the weekend. We don't have classes next week and everyone else had planned giant trips. We both had been last minute in planning (and my pocket was getting a little empty), so we thought going somewhere inside of the country would be easier. San Sebastian is supposed to be beautiful. It is a city located in the Basque country situated right on the Atlantic Ocean. Its a summer vacation city but also a lovely town in the winter with incredible food! It was my second choice study abroad city and sometimes I wonder if I would have been happier there than here in such a big cosmopolitan city.

We decided to be adventurous and rent a car because it was much cheaper than taking a train or bus and we thought it'd be fun to stop along the way and take pictures of the mountains and the scenery. Emily is over 21 so she can rent a car in Spain and it worked out perfectly. However, when we finally made it to the rent a car place today (after standing in line for over an hour I might add) they wouldn't let us rent it due to the fact that neither of us had an international license. We spent 5 hours in between the airport and the train station trying to find other rent a car companies that would let us rent cars. Other companies would let us but their prices were just to high. We finally made it to the train station and found a bus that was leaving in 45 minutes. We were ecstatic. But we should have knocked on wood - the bus was sold out!!!!

Finally around 5 pm we decided to give up and return to our apartments. Hollywood's movies make traveling around Europe seem like a piece of cake. In Eurotrip they wake up and say "hmm lets go here," and then they go there no problem. I guess real life isn't that easy?

We still really wanna make it to San Sebastian so I think we are gonna focus on getting some of our finals work done this weekend and go next week on Tuesday instead. Hopefully we will be more prepared this time!

Thanksgiving in BCN!

Last night I had my very first thanksgiving without my family. Our apartment decided that even though we weren't in the U.S., we would still celebrate thanksgiving the right way. I went to the butcher last week to order a turkey since they don't usually sell turkey's on a daily basis at the meat places. Biljana cooked the turkey. I am so impressed because I never would have known how to do it. I cooked the mashed potatoes, Katherine the corn, Natalie the salad and the vegetable dish, Sara the pan con tomate and alioli, and Mariam the lemon pie! In addition, we had our friend Katie over for dinner and Reuben who is visiting us from Sevilla for the weekend. It was such a spectacular dinner. We had so much fun together and it made me feel much better about not being in the U.S. for the holidays.

Of course I did skype my family - my cameria is now working!! I got to see my Mom, my Dad, Stephen, Sophia, Brian, Uncle Joey, and Uncle Jimmy. I am so excited to have a big family dinner when I get back to the states :)

This week has been wonderful. The first few days were rainy which made things difficult. But Katherine and I didn't let the rain stop us. We went to all the major sites and explored the prettiest neighborhoods. I finally went inside the Sagrada Familia, which was absolutely fascinating. As Gaudi died before it was finished, they continue to build it following his plans. It is nowhere near finished and I really hope I can come back and see it once it is done.

On Wednesday we took a daytrip to Tarragona, a large town on the coast south of Barcelona. It was a beautiful day and I really enjoyed getting out of the hustle and bustle of Barcelona for a little while. We saw a bunch of Roman ruins, including a Roman ampitheater built in 100 BC. Incredible to walk on the stands knowing people sat in that very same spot 2000 years ago. It was really a perfect day because we saw a lot of sites but also were able to relax and enjoy the small town.

Today is Katherine's last day. I think we are going to explore some of her favorite parts of the city and of course go out all night since it is her last chance to dance in the disco's before returning to the U.S!

Katherine arrived to Barcelona!

Katherine arrived to Barcelona yesterday in one piece!! :) She will be visiting Spain and staying with me for a week. I am super excited to have her hear because it means I will explore Barcelona and do tourist-y things all over again.

Yesterday we went to see the FC Barcelona game at Camp Nou. It was amazing to be watching the game in the stadium and not on TV. After seeing Messi on tv so many times during the world cup last year I was ecstatic to see him in real life on the field. We had a great view of the game. Barcelona won (of course) 4-0. I'm happy to say I've finally been to an FC Barca game.

Today we will explore the barri gotic and la rambla. The sun is out and shining so I'm happy I'm not home in New England freezing my butt off.

Lovely weekend in Barcelona

It was wonderful to spend a weekend in Barcelona without the stress of traveling somewhere. Last weekend we were here in Barcelona as well but we had visitors so we were busy most of the weekend showing them around. This weekend I had the freedom to explore Barcelona a bit. I also made a promise to myself that I wouldn't go to any discos this weekend. I kept my promise and it was nice to feel alive during the day instead of tired from the night before.

Thursday night I went with my catalan friend Laura to a giant festival in the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. It is a party that lasts all day and all night with various concerts and events. I felt like I was in the U.S. again because people were insanely drunk (Sorry America but I associate binge drinking with U.S. colleges) The reason they are able to have such a big festival on campus is that there is a law in Spain that police can not enter universities. This is in order to protect the freedom of students and of their education. The president of UAB does not condone the festival but he has no power to stop it due to this law. I can't imagine something like that in the U.S. The police are everywhere during our big pig roast event at Richmond.

Friday I decided to walk around and explore our neighborhood, Gracia. I found so many cute streets with bars, cafes, and little shops that I never even knew existed. It really made me appreciate our neighborhood because it is more relaxed than the rest of Barcelona. It is also a lot more local so you truly feel as though you are part of a community. I somewhat regret the fact that I haven't spent more time in Gracia. I always go from our apartment to school or to the center of the city. But the truth is Gracia has enough to offer in itself and I think I'm going to start spending a lot more time in this neighborhood.

As Natalie, Torrie, and I did not want to go to a disco Friday night we decided to go to a little neighborhood called El Born to bar hop. We had heard there was good nightlife there for young people. The neighborhood was definitely alive and vibrant and we really enjoyed ourselves, except we felt as though we were somewhat on the younger side of the crowd. It seemed more of a place we would want to go to if we were working in Barcelona and in our mid 20's, but the night was fun nonetheless. The highlight of my night was when I got in a fight in spanish with the bus driver. My card wasn't working in the machine so she was trying to make me pay for the bus ride. Having had two drinks and being the stubborn girl that I am, I refused to pay and was forced to get off the bus a few stops early...

On Saturday I decided to go to the Museo Nacional de Arte de Catalunya.  I saw such a variety of works starting in the 13th century and leading right up to the 20th century. I was really impressed by the collection there and learned a lot about the history of spain and barcelona. Not gonna lie, I felt pretty cultured and intelligent after my trip to the museum. In the afternoon I met for the first time with my language partner, Alaitz. Alaitz is majoring in translation and is going to meet with me to help me practice my spanish. She gave me a lot of useful corrections when I was speaking and I hope that meeting with her will really improve my spanish since I don't speak spanish as much as I'd like in the apartment.

Saturday night I hosted my very first dinner party!! I made chicken cordon bleu with mashed potatoes, corn, and salad. Natalie and I invited Laura, Gerard, and Gerard's roommates over for the dinner. The food actually tasted great! I was really proud of myself and am now excited to have an apartment after college and cook for my friends without burning the house down :) After dinner we did a little bar hopping and after considering the thought of going to a disco we decided to come home and get some sleep. All in all it was a wonderful and relaxing weekend and I was very happy to spend time with my catalan friends.

Part 2: Sevilla

Wow, it took me almost a week to update the second part of my trip last weekend. We had visitors this weekend so we were quite busy!

Sevilla was a wonderful and beautiful spanish city. It had a much greater spanish feel to it than Barcelona. I love Barcelona but sometimes I wonder if I would have enjoyed studying somewhere like Sevilla more because I would have been immersed in the culture at a much greater level.

While in Sevilla we went on a free walking tour and saw most of the major sites of the city. We also had a chance to enter the Cathedral, which is the largest in the world, and the Alcazar, a famous muslim palace and set of gardens, which was absolutely beautiful.

We went to some amazing tapas bars. The portions were bigger and the prices were cheaper than in Barcelona so its fair to say we were quite satisfied. My favorite tapa of the weekend, which I ordered multiple times, was solomillo al whisky, a tapa of steak covered in a rich whisky sauce.

The first night we went out we went to a disco which had a live band playing spanish music. All of the locals were dancing a version of the "sevillanas," the famous flamenco-like dance of Andalucia. I was really impressed by so many young people dancing in such a traditional fashion and having so much fun with it. It seemed to be a much more special experience than the type of grinding we do at American parties.

All in all I really fell in love with Andalucia. Now that my parents are coming to visit Spain for Christmas we have decided to visit the south of spain for at least a few days! I am very excited to go back and experience the culture for another time.

Granada

Wow! I just got back from my holiday weekend trip to Granada and Sevilla and it was amazing! I'm going to break up the trip into two posts - one for Granada and one for Sevilla.

We arrived to our hostel in Granada around 10 am Friday morning and immediately saw on the chalkboard a free walking tour of the city schedule for 11 am. The walking tour was exactly what we needed. There were only five of us on the tour and our guide was super enthusiastic and willing to answer any questions. We walked mostly through the Albazin, the historic part of the city. It was quite a picturesque neighborhood with all small winding streets and white houses. As we walked further and further up the hill we got to see some amazing views of the Albazin as well as the old famous muslim palace the Alhambra.

I am in love with the hostel lifestyle. Everyone is super friendly and a lot of people are traveling around Europe alone and are eager to make new friends and find fun things to do and see. On our walking tour we made friends with two boys, one from Australia and one from Argentina. The boy from Australia is traveling around all of Europe for 6 months because he doesn't have to start work until then. He doesn't have his trip entirely planned out so he goes from place to place depending on how he feels and what he wants to see. Such a cool lifestlye!! I am hoping I can do this at some point after graduating and before starting a real career.

After our tour, we ate a delicious and relaxing lunch with the boys and walked to the gypsy neighborhood of Sacromonto where many of the houses are built into the caves along the hill. Next we walked along the Moroccan street which is close to our hostel. All of the stores on this street were full of spices, moroccan clothing, jewelry, and hookahs. I felt like I was back in Morocco! Friday night we went on a tapas "crawl" since in Granada with the purchase of a drink you get a free tapa. After tapas we attended a flamenco tableau. I had never attended a real flamenco show before and I was so impressed by both the musicians and the dancer. It was truly a lovely evening.

Saturday morning before leaving Granada Natalie and I went on a 3 hour guided tour of the Alhambra, the famous muslim palace and fortress that was built starting in the 11th century. Seeing the Alhambra was so interesting for me because after traveling to various places around Europe I have seen many old christian/roman cathedrals, castles, palaces, and so on. But never have I seen an old building with such muslim influence. The architecture is a lot different. The plaster on the walls is covered with incredible detail. The spanish muslims loved to use colorful tiles in all of their rooms as well as outdoor patios and terraces. The Alhambra was truly a relaxing and peaceful palace and I can see why spanish rulers (muslim and christian alike) wanted to stay there.

Sadly we had to leave Granada on Saturday to head to Sevilla but I was really content with the amount of history and culture we were able to see in such a short amount of time.