My Semana Santa Travels

So it's been a while since I've updated, but that's because I've been traveling around Europe for the past 10 days! In Spain, "spring break" is actually Semana Santa, or Holy Week. I spent my 10 days traveling to 6 cities in 3 different countries! My trip included a mini-tour of Italy (Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Rome) and then visits to Berlin and Prague. I will post my favorite picture from each city.

I traveled to Italy with such a great group - 5 other girls from my program: Adar, Amanda, Carli, Claudia, and Jasmine. We landed in Venice Friday morning and spent the afternoon roaming the tiny winding streets and walking over the many bridges hovering the canals. It was exactly what I had pictured Italy to be like! After indulging in our secound round of pizza and gelato, we hung out at a bar in Sant Margarita Square.

Venice

Saturday morning we got on a train to Florence, only to realize that the tickets we booked were for the next day! With Adar's amazing fake tears, we were able to convince the conductor to let us stay on despite the fact that we didn't have valid tickets. Once in Florence we had lunch at the most delicious place inside a local market called Nerbone. Skeptically we all picked a beef and potatoes dish, but it turned out to be amazing! It reminded me of my mom's cooking from home. One of the workers came up to us afterwards and handed us all postcards with the restaurants name on it because we were such a "beautiful, multinational group". (<-- Haha actually very true!) Later that night we took bottles of Italian wine to the top of Piazza San Michelangelo and looked at over the beautiful city.

Florence

The next morning we were off on another train to Cinque Terre  - 5 coastal cities situated on the side of a mountain. We stayed in the first town, Riomaggiore. Stepping off the train was absolutely unreal. The city was literally next to the beautiful ocean. Our first day there we hiked the coastal path, Via dell' Amore. Just like in Paris, there were many love locks along the way. The next day we decided to hike one of the inner paths from Manarola to Corniglia. The hike was just under 3 hours and the trail literally took us through the little towns higher up in the mountain, across vineyards, through forestry, and along the side of a mountain. The view was stunning the entire way and every picture I took was as beautiful as the one before it. After a long hike, we hung out on the beach Monterosso until the sun started to go down.

Cinque Terre

Early the next morning, Adar, Jasmine, and I headed to Rome. Since Rome was my quickest turn around (I left that evening for Berlin), we got on the move as soon as we got there. Our first stop was Vatican city. We visited both the Vatican musuem and St. Peter's Basilica. It was unreal that I was in Vatican city, much less during Easter. It felt so special that I could be in such an important Catholic location during Holy Week. Afterwards we visited the Pantheon and then Trevi Fountain, where of course I made a wish! We also had the most delicious gelato ever at a place called Giolitti's. I got mango, lemon, and champagne! Eventually I had to head to the airport to make my way to Berlin to meet up with the boys (my roommates and other boys from the program) in Berlin.

Rome

After completing the adventure of finding my hostel in Berlin after midnight, I got a good night's rest and met up with the boys in the morning. We went on the Sandemans walking tour of the city and got to see remaining parts of the Berlin Wall, the location of Hitler's bunker, and Charlie's Checkpoint. Afterwards we went to the Pergamon musueum and saw the Babylonian gates of Ishtar (belive it or not, I actually had to ID those on an archaeology exam before). That night was Gilberto's birthday so we celebrated by watching the Barca-Madrid game. Although a disappointing loss, it was still a good night. The next day I met back up with Adar and Jasmine and visited the DDR Musuem. It was a very cool, interactive musuem that let you see how life was like in Berlin during the time when the wall was up.

Berlin

On Friday morning I hopped on another train to head to Prague. After arriving, the boys and I visited the Old Jewish Cemetery and then went on an Underground City tour - Prague was actually built on top of itself to prevent flooding. That evening we celebrated Marcus' 21st birthday by going on a Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl ended at a very cool 5 story club that had different music on every floor. The next day we visited the Castle across Charles Bridge and tried goulash for the first time. That night we celebrated MY 21st birthday at midnight! We went to a local bar/restaurant that had the most delicious schnitzel and apple beer. Afterwards we headed to another club with our hostel. Overall, a good evening!

Prague

The next morning we finally headed back to Barcelona. While every city was amazing, it felt great to be back "home". I went to the evening mass for Easter and then out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant called La Rosa Negra. After a few rounds of yummy mojitos and margaritas we headed to the large Irish pub here called George Payne's. Sunday night is karaoke night and I was ready to belt out some Spice Girls for my 21st. Unfortunately the list was too long and I couldn't show the bar my skills, but no worries, before I leave I will sing karaoke!

I truly had a great Semana Santa and wonderful 21st birthday. I now officially have less than a month here in Barcelona and I can't wait to make the most of it. Let's just get through this one more week of class!!



Paris and my upcoming adventures!

Hello, hello!

So it's currently 6:45am and I'm writing this entry in order to complete my pre-departure checklist. I leave this morning for Venice for what will be a 10 day speed tour through 6 cities! After Venice I venture on to Florence, Cinque Terre, Rome, Berlin, and Prague! But that's later...

Last weekend I met up with Amanda in Paris for a lovely weekend together. Amanda has been studying in London this semester and we both wanted to visit each other, but due to the fact that time flies we never actually made it to each others' cities. We knew we had to meet up together while we were in Europe, so we decided to meet in Paris. Originally Paris was not in my travel itinerary for the rest of my trip, but I am SO glad that I went. After spending the day again on the beach in Barcelona on Friday, I left Saturday morning for the equally beautiful weather in France.

After arriving, I had to quickly get my bearings with the metro so I could meet up with Amanda at the train station. My spanish phone does not work outside the country so it was an interesting experience "just meeting up" with someone in a foreign country without any means of communication. It went pretty smoothly and immediately from the train station we went to the Eiffel Tower. Seeing it was so surreal and I think both of us were pretty shocked at how big it actually was. After dinner, we returned to see the Eiffel Tower at night and it enjoyed equally as much.

On Sunday we had a very eventful day, hitting 3 must-dos of the city. Our first stop was the Louvre where I spent a considerable amount of time convincing the ticket worker that I did not create a fake Catalan ID to get into the Louvre for free and in fact that Barcelona (Catalunya) is the only place they speak Catalan so there's no way that you couldn't know the ID was from there. After successfully winning the battle, me and Amanda ventured the many rooms and of course saw the Mona Lisa. Afterwards we walked towards Notre Dame passing very cute bridges and street bridges. After walking through the church and a little lunch break, Me and Amanda dared to climb the 400 steps to the top of the Notre Dame towers. Following our workout of a climb, we hopped on the train to head to Chateau de Versailles. Although we got there about an hour too late to view the inside of the palace, we still got to wonder around the palace gardens. They were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Not only was the park huge, but every corner was beautifully kept and lush and full of color. I could have easily spent hours wondering those gardens.

We both left for our perspective cities on Monday and Amanda leaves London for good this Sunday. I can't believe she is already done her program but it made me realize I only have a little over a month left in mine! I will surely enjoy the next 10 days, but I can't wait to get the most out of Barcelona in that short time afterwards.

Until I return from my 10 day journey.... out of a backpack... ahhh!!!

Ireland: Dublin & Howth

This past weekend was the first time I left Spain during my exchange. Although I've done a bit of traveling, until this point it has only been to Spanish cities (of which I loved every second!)

My weekend trip was to Ireland with just me and the boys! They actually left for Edinburgh on Wednesday and then flew to Dublin on Friday. However, since I had classes on Thursday, I chose to meet up with them in Dublin on Saturday. This gave me all Friday in Barcelona to enjoy the beautiful weather we've been having! For the first time I was able to lay out on the beach in a bathing suit. The sun was much needed because I almost blinded myself with my pale legs as soon as I took my pants off! They haven't seen sunlight in a very long time! On Saturday morning I prepared to leave the beautiful weather for my first journey outside of Spain.

I made it to Dublin in the early evening and was greeted with much different weather than Barcelona. In fact as soon as I got off the airport bus in the city center, it began pouring and hailing. Never before have I been more thankful for packing an umbrella in my bag! It was an adventure trying to read a map and find my hostel while still holding my umbrella up. For those who know how coordinated I am, it was even funnier to watch. I finally made it to the hostel mostly still dry and met up with the boys. That night I got to experience the awesome bar life in Dublin. We went to the Temple Bar area that is known for its strip of bars and lively people. The first one we went to was called Farrington's and it had amazing live music! The guy had a beautiful voice and even played some songs that we knew including Sweet Caroline and Jason Mraz's I'm Yours (of course I was sold as soon as he started singing that one!)

The next day we toured around Dublin and got to walk around St. Stephen's Green and visit the Guinness Storehouse. St. Stephen's Green reminded me how little grass we have here in Barcelona and the Guinness Storehouse showed me how yummy Guinness actually is! In Ireland it actually tastes very smooth and light and goes down much easier than one would expect of a dark beer. Naturally, a pint of Guinness was my drink of choice when we went out. Another delicious discovery in Ireland was Bulmer's pear cider. I never had it before, but it practically tasted just like apple juice!

On our last day in Dublin, we decided to venture outside of the city and visit the fishing town of Howth that is about 25 minutes away. It was absolutely gorgeous and we were lucky to have good weather while we were there. After walking around the marina, we decided to do the cliff walk that literally was along the side of a cliff next to the ocean. Walking along the small path that was only feet from the edge of a cliff was so surreal and so amazing. I have never done anything like that before and it has convinced me that I will return to Ireland one day to visit more of the beautiful country side.

Well I must get back to school work. These next two weeks will actually be pretty busy because just after that I will be traveling for our 10 day spring break! Should be very exciting... until next time!