Monday "school" started again. Or I should really just call it the thing that makes me get up and waste time sitting in a room listening to a boring person talk. Although now that its nearing the end (huge tear rolling down my cheek) I actually have to start doing some work. Ugh.
So the week was pretty uneventful, other than the fact I had a slight touch of the flu, but it wasn't exiting via my mouth....you get the picture?
Mike's mom and brother came to visit him so since he had to meet my parents, I had to meet his. We met them at their hotel first. His mom was so sweet. She was like "Mike she's just as pretty as she is in the pictures you sent me." Which by the way I later found out are hanging on his fridge. Wow, guess his mom thinks we're dating or something. ;) I would soon find out that his brother and him are the exact same person and are so fun to be around to just observe them together. I felt really comfortable with them. We then headed to a restaurant. It was really cute inside and the food was amazing. Here's an embarrassing first-time-meeting-the-family story for ya...We all ordered this chicken dish and when it came out it was chicken on a skewer... great... how in the world are you supposed to politely eat that in front of people you are trying to impress?! So I start going at it with my knife and fork and I got half of the chicken off without a problem. Then I go to get more off.... so I'm working away at it and the whole kabob slides off my plate! SWEET! How embarrassing. His brother who was sitting across from me was the only one who saw and he kinda smiled at me and said "its ok, I didn't see anything." So I pick it back up and put it on my plate. Whew! Dodged that bullet. I attempt again. Within thirty seconds the piece of chicken flies off of the skewer and onto the floor!!! SWEETER! I, who does not get embarrassed very easily, wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. This time everyone saw what had just taken place. And the Mike, the wonderful person he is, gets up and takes a picture of my chicken lying on the floor...wow I picked a good one! They all just laughed about it and didn't seem to care, so that was good at least, but I was so embarrassed.
On Friday, I had a day trip to the place that's called The Forum. It was built in 2004 for the Universal Exhibition. It was just a huge place covered in cement where they had all their exhibitions. I have no idea why our professor thought it was appropriate to take up a Friday morning to show us cement. The only cool thing is that in one of the buildings there is a huge model of the entire city of Barcelona. So that was pretty cool to see actually. That night, Mike and I took his brother to Chupitos. A small bar that serves crazy shots. There are probably about 100-150 different shots you can choose from. My two favorites are The Harry Potter which is they take an orange, put sugar and cinnamon on top and light it on fire and then you take the shot and eat the orange. Delicious. The other favorite is the Boy Scout. This time they put alcohol on the bar and give you a marshmallow on a stick to roast over the burning alcohol and then you eat the marshmallow and take the shot. I have no idea what is in the shots but they are really good and not strong. His brother enjoyed it but it is always soooo packed, like can hardly move so we weren't there too long. We then headed to a new club that opened and it was so amazing. Probably my favorite one here. Very modern and it was a nice mix of American students and locals.
Last night I went out to dinner again with Mike and his mom and brother. I was glad they decided to take me out in public again after I threw chicken on the ground. We first went to the fountain/light show that I took my parents to and then went to a tapas bar. Dinner was great. They are so easy to get along with and his mom is so sweet. She likes when girls are around considering she raised three boys and a husband. (Yes, I know it sounds like I said she raised a husband, that's exactly what I wanted to say. I think husbands are just like children and need to be "raised". That's why I'm not getting married...) After dinner we got ice cream and then his mom and brother headed back to hotel because they had to get up early for their flight back to New Jersey.
Today, I HAVE to be a little productive and get a start on at least one of my papers that's going to be due in the next few weeks. I don't even know if I remember how to write a paper. I feel like its been so long since I did anything that I would consider to be true school work. My blog has been the closest thing to actually doing anything that requires a little bit of effort. So I'm going to stop procrastinating and get going on some of that.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Mis padres me visitaron!
Don't tell anyone, but I was super excited that my parents came to see me! SHHH!!!! Now you can't ever bring this up again....
They got here on Friday afternoon, I was lazy and ended up not meeting them at the airport and made them fend for themselves to find a taxi and get to their hotel. Finally around 4 I met up with them. It felt so good to have a hug from them. Once again, don't tell anyone. I can't be known as the mushy type. We decided to take it a little easy that day since they were tired from flying all night and mom was recovering from crapping her pants over their landing in Zurich - although she did have a legitimate reason to be scared because even Big D was scared! So I took them on the metro and we headed to Las Ramblas. Its a touristy pedestrian street and there are always street performers trying to make a few extra euros and its just fun to walk down. There were soooo many people there, it was ridiculous! Barcelona was full of tourists this weekend because it was Easter weekend, which is huge in Spain considering the strong influence of the Catholic church. So we pushed our way through the crowds, down Las Ramblas. I felt like a mom and I had to keep an eye on my parents to make sure they were right behind me, I didn't want them getting lost in this big city where they don't speak the language! Wow- role reversal for sure. I should have put one of those leashes around their wrists like they used to do to me when we would go to Disney World when I was young! Sweet revenge!
As we were walking down the street we noticed people starting to gather around the actual street where cars drive. I got super excited because for the past few weeks we've been hearing, from natives, about these Easter parades in Spain where a local Catholic church brings out all of their big decorative things ( I don't really know what, whatever Catholics use to decorate their churches and use during services and ceremonies) and put them on floats - except the floats aren't pulled by motorized vehicles, they are carried by about a dozen people. Its crazy! These people start training months in advance to be in good physical shape to carry these heavy floats. So we joined in with the people lining up along the street and waited for it to begin. It was worth the long wait. It took a while for them to get to where we were standing because they would walk about ten feet then stop for about 3 or 5 minutes so people could get a good look at the floats. The first one had Jesus carrying the cross and was lavishly decorated with lit candles and flowers. There were also a lot of people, who were part of the parade, dressed in all black carrying banners and incense, little kids too! -Who were adorable by the way. The second big float was one with Mary on it. It was also lavishly decorated and you could even see tears on her face! It was intense, but so cool to witness because its a huge part of their culture! People were throwing rose pedals on the floats and clapping and yelling things, so interesting!
So then we decided we were hungry, and my parents weren't on Spanish time yet because it was a little early to be eating dinner but oh well. So I took them to a restaurant on Las Ramblas that I heard was good, and it was! We all got salads, well kind of. Dad decided it would be a good idea to order scrambled eggs with ham as his salad, what a weirdo! I had a chicken dish, mom had fish and dad had veal and we all shared a bottle of wine. It was a good meal! None of us could clean our plates, which is odd for a Spanish meals and the normal small portions. Even though we didn't finish all of our food we had to get desert! Good parenting skills mom and dad! We all split a chocolate moose. After dinner I took my parents to see a flamenco show. It was a half hour set and the lady was a really good dancer. I think they enjoyed it! After the show, dad was ready to go get another beer but mom was about to fall asleep while she was walking so we hoped back on the metro and I made sure they got tucked in bed.
They got here on Friday afternoon, I was lazy and ended up not meeting them at the airport and made them fend for themselves to find a taxi and get to their hotel. Finally around 4 I met up with them. It felt so good to have a hug from them. Once again, don't tell anyone. I can't be known as the mushy type. We decided to take it a little easy that day since they were tired from flying all night and mom was recovering from crapping her pants over their landing in Zurich - although she did have a legitimate reason to be scared because even Big D was scared! So I took them on the metro and we headed to Las Ramblas. Its a touristy pedestrian street and there are always street performers trying to make a few extra euros and its just fun to walk down. There were soooo many people there, it was ridiculous! Barcelona was full of tourists this weekend because it was Easter weekend, which is huge in Spain considering the strong influence of the Catholic church. So we pushed our way through the crowds, down Las Ramblas. I felt like a mom and I had to keep an eye on my parents to make sure they were right behind me, I didn't want them getting lost in this big city where they don't speak the language! Wow- role reversal for sure. I should have put one of those leashes around their wrists like they used to do to me when we would go to Disney World when I was young! Sweet revenge!
As we were walking down the street we noticed people starting to gather around the actual street where cars drive. I got super excited because for the past few weeks we've been hearing, from natives, about these Easter parades in Spain where a local Catholic church brings out all of their big decorative things ( I don't really know what, whatever Catholics use to decorate their churches and use during services and ceremonies) and put them on floats - except the floats aren't pulled by motorized vehicles, they are carried by about a dozen people. Its crazy! These people start training months in advance to be in good physical shape to carry these heavy floats. So we joined in with the people lining up along the street and waited for it to begin. It was worth the long wait. It took a while for them to get to where we were standing because they would walk about ten feet then stop for about 3 or 5 minutes so people could get a good look at the floats. The first one had Jesus carrying the cross and was lavishly decorated with lit candles and flowers. There were also a lot of people, who were part of the parade, dressed in all black carrying banners and incense, little kids too! -Who were adorable by the way. The second big float was one with Mary on it. It was also lavishly decorated and you could even see tears on her face! It was intense, but so cool to witness because its a huge part of their culture! People were throwing rose pedals on the floats and clapping and yelling things, so interesting!
So then we decided we were hungry, and my parents weren't on Spanish time yet because it was a little early to be eating dinner but oh well. So I took them to a restaurant on Las Ramblas that I heard was good, and it was! We all got salads, well kind of. Dad decided it would be a good idea to order scrambled eggs with ham as his salad, what a weirdo! I had a chicken dish, mom had fish and dad had veal and we all shared a bottle of wine. It was a good meal! None of us could clean our plates, which is odd for a Spanish meals and the normal small portions. Even though we didn't finish all of our food we had to get desert! Good parenting skills mom and dad! We all split a chocolate moose. After dinner I took my parents to see a flamenco show. It was a half hour set and the lady was a really good dancer. I think they enjoyed it! After the show, dad was ready to go get another beer but mom was about to fall asleep while she was walking so we hoped back on the metro and I made sure they got tucked in bed.
The next morning I woke up early and got ready because we were supposed to meet at 10 for breakfast... well it was 10:15 and I still hadn't heard from them... so I called them and they were still sleeping! Glad I woke up early for nothing! So finally we got going around 11:30 and stopped at a nearby cafe for pastries and coffee. I had just planned on walking around the old part of Barcelona on Saturday so that's what we did. We just strolled around the narrow streets of the Gothic area and stopped in shops along the way. My parents really enjoyed seeing all the narrow, old streets with the European facades. For lunch I wanted to do traditional Spanish lunch so that meant paella and sangria. My mom and I had chicken paella and dad ordered a salad and a "Spanish ham" bocadillo (sandwich) and of course we finished a jar of Sangria among the three of us... we were all feeling a little buzzed. By this time it was about 3:30 so we decided to make our way back home. On the way I took them to La Boqueria, the market. It was packed! I have never seen so many tourists in Barcelona as I did this weekend. We also stopped in the official FC Barcelona (futbol team) store and got some jerseys. Then my parents went back to the hotel and I went back to my apartment where we relaxed for a while and got ready for dinner.
Before we went to dinner I took my parents to Plaza Espana where there is a fountain/light show to music. It was a lot of fun minus the fact that it was windy and cold - so weird for Barcelona! I think my parents brought the wonderful Indiana winter weather with them. Mike met us at the light show, yes, my parents met Mike.... I wasn't nervous for them to meet him, I knew they would like him and Mike is so outgoing I knew he wouldn't have a problem meeting them either. We then headed to dinner and since we did a big lunch I decided to take them to a dinner of tapas. I was told of this really good tapas restaurant that isn't as intense as the typical Spanish tapas bar where there are tons of people and standing room only - I didn't figure my parents would enjoy that so much. We ordered a bunch of different tapas and some wine and had a really good time. When we left the restaurant it was raining. Boo. There was a guy standing outside of the restaurant selling umbrellas for five euros. Dad, being the sucker that he is, threw down 10 euros and bought two, but they were well worth it because it started to pour. We made it up to a main street and caught a cab back. It was 11 and my parents were tired so I sent them to the hotel and Mike and I met up with some friends at a bar.
The next morning we went for breakfast and then headed to La Sagrada Familia, the big Gaudi church that still isn't finished after 100 years. It is absolutely unbelievably gorgeous. But once again there were a ton of tourists there so we had to wait in a long line to get in, but it went pretty fast. Once we were in we decided to take an audio tour which was so good and informative. We spent about two hours walking around the church and the museum in the basement. Mom was obsessed with the church and is now obsessed with Gaudi and that's all we heard about the rest of the trip. When we were finally able to drag mom out of Sagrada kicking and screaming (just kidding) we went for lunch at a restaurant nearby that has amazing goat cheese salads. After lunch, dad wanted to go back to Plaza Espana in daylight because he thought that one of the buildings was "so cool." So we headed back over there and walked around for a while. We then decided to go back to the apartment and chill out for a little bit because around 5 we were going to head to a Irish pub that I know of to watch the FC Barcelona game. We tried to get tickets but they were all sold out. So we went to the pub, but Chelsea (the Irish futbol team) was playing so they had that game on and not Barcelona - oh well. We still had fun. We ordered some appetizers and had some drinks. Mike met us again, he couldn't get enough of my parents I guess... haha. We had so much fun though. We were there for like four hours. I´m surprised they didn't kick us out. At 8 they started karaoke. I tried to get mom to do it with me but of course she wouldn't!
On Monday we once again met for breakfast and then went back to my apartment to pack a lunch for a picnic in Parc Guell, a Gaudi park. Mom was so excited. We made tomato and mozzarella sandwiches and took grapes and pears. We walked around Parc Guell for what seemed like forever had our picnic and then left. On the way back to the metro we had to stop at a Guadi souvenir shop for mom. It literally took her about 30 minutes to decide which campaign glasses she wanted to buy, my patience was running thin... imagine that! I wanted to show my parents the beach and the port but no one would make up their mind about when they wanted to see it, right after Parc Guell or later at night before dinner. Finally we just decided to go right after the park. So we walked around the beach and port for about an hour and by this time we were all really tired... or maybe it was just me? So we went back and took a long siesta. Very much needed.
For dinner we decided to just stick around the area near my apartment. There is an Italian restaurant two blocks away that we went to. It was really, really good. Since it was the last night they were there and my diet officially starts today, we all splurged. We all got salads, a meal and dessert! What fatties! It was a nice last dinner though. After dinner we went back to my apartment for a little but my parents had to get up early this morning for their flight so they went back to the hotel around 10.
I´m so glad that they fit me into their busy schedules and came to visit. We had a great weekend and I´ll always remember it. Thanks mom and dad! I love you!
First Cafe con leche in Spain
A store named after Grandma!
Enjoying some Sangria
True Tourists at La Sagrada Familia
All of us at the Irish pub
Our picnic at Parc Guell
At Parc Guell
First Cafe con leche in Spain
A store named after Grandma!
Enjoying some Sangria
True Tourists at La Sagrada Familia
All of us at the Irish pub
Our picnic at Parc Guell
At Parc Guell
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Praha
We got off the night train and were unpleasantly met by frigid temperatures. Considering it was only 6 in the morning we were hopeful that it would get warmer as the day went on... WRONG! We started walking to our hostel because we didn't want to pay for a cab and it was only about a 15 minute walk- but it was in the cold and it was early so the walk seemed like it took forever! I wasn't sure how I felt about Prague yet, the train station was in the shady part of town, I didn't really think I would fall in love with the city- boy was I wrong! I absolutely love Prague. It is a place that everyone should visit at least once in their life. When we finally got to the hostel we checked in and then decided we were hungry for breakfast. Luckily our hostel served free breakfast... ha! It was coffee, tea, jam, bread and cheese - typical hostel food, but I guess we were lucky they had anything at all. Because of this breakfast though I am now obsessed with eating bread with laughing cow cheese and jam. Its delicious. You should try it.
We were all exhausted from our wonderful night of sleep on the night train so we decided to lay down for a few hours since it was only 730 by the time we were done eating breakfast. We got up around noon and got ready. We headed first to eat lunch... you are probably thinking that all we do is eat.... well you're right. We had a good meal, I had a salad that was delicious, with really fresh vegetables. We decided that since we were practically running around Budapest the day before we would take the day easy and just walk around, shop and do whatever we happened to find. When we left the restaurant we were shocked to realize that it was SNOWING. Yes, SNOWING. I was so not prepared for the weather. I knew it would be colder than in Barcelona but I didn't have any idea it would snow! We started walking and would go in and out of shops to warm up. While we were walking, Amanda ran into a guy she went to highschool with- small world. He was there visiting a friend from college who is studying abroad in Prague. They exchanged numbers and we made plans to meet up with them for dinner and the night.
We just spent the afternoon walking around the Old Center Town, which is gorgeous. I love the look and feel of the city. It is a mixture of pretty, feminine and strong and masculine. It looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. Its absolutely amazing. We happened upon a Easter festival which was a lot of fun! They had a bunch of vendors and food stands set up and there was a stage for performances. There were little girls up on stage when we found it and they were doing traditional Czech dances. It was adorable. We walked around the festival for a while and I got a nutella filled crepe. So fat but so delicious! And besides I only had a salad for lunch! We then continued to walk around Old Center Town and head back towards our hostel. We walked passed a Thai massage place and decided that we all deserved massages, so we went in and made appointments for the next day. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.
We met up with Amanda's friend Max and his two friends, Jake and Jeremy. They were such cool guys we ended up having a ton of fun with them. Jake, the one studying in Prague took us to a good restaurant where I had possibly the best beer I've ever had. It was a Czech beer and it was dark but so sweet. I had a salad for dinner too because I was stuffed from the crepe I had earlier, and I was feeling a little guilty about it too. Our waiter during dinner was cute and he was kind of flirting with me through broken English. So you know me, of course I flirted back and asked him what he was doing after work. He said he didn't know and wanted to know what I was doing. I was just trying to be a little funny and flirt with a Czech native but he was serious. I said I didn't know. He told me that we are all beautiful ladies but I am the best... haha and then we exchanged names, his was Zdneck (it sounds like Zednick) and I figured that would be the end of that.
We went to a bar, I forget the name but it was cool. It was very modern and they had huge drinks to share with the group. So we got a huge mojito that lasted about five minutes among the eight of us. We then decided we needed to try Absinthe. Its basically a grain liquor that tastes awful but its supposed to make you see fairies... such a lie. It did nothing but taste like absolute crap. But oh well, I guess I can say I tried it at least once. We then left that bar because we were basically the only people there and headed to a club that Jake liked to go to. Well, the club was closed considering it was a Monday night but there was a bathroom and some of the girls had to pee. So we all were standing outside waiting for them and while we were waiting, guess who walks by.... yea Zdneck. My mouth literally hit the floor. He had a huge smile on his face and said "Ashley" with his little accent. Out of control. I couldn't believe that we ran into him. He wanted me to come into the bar next door with him and I said well my friends have to come too, because I wasn't about to go off alone with him, although he seemd very nice. He bought me a drink, who could say no to a free rum and coke? And we hung out for a while... I found out hes 24, works as a waiter and lives with his parents. Wow, I think I met my dream guy..... kidding. He was really nice though. He wanted to take me out to lunch the next day but I said no because we had so much to see. We stayed at the bar for about a half an hour and then decided it was time for bed... and I was getting a little creeped out because Mr. Zdneck kept asking for a kiss. N-O buddy!
The next morning we didn't get up till almost 12... lazy. But we didn't have a whole lot to see necessarily so we didn't mind. We were all hungry but we didn't want to waste time sitting down at a restaurant so we got sausages from a street vendor. Sooooo good and totally worth the 10328403984 calories I'm sure it had. It had mustard, mayo, ketchup, onions and sour crout on it. It was so good!
We then headed towards Charles Bridge. I just kept marveling at the beautiful buildings on the way. The view from Charles bridge was out of this world. So gorgeous. You are probably laughing at me right now because everytime I go to a new city I fall in love with it and I always say the views were gorgeous. But its always true! We crossed the bridge over the Danube again and on the other side was the palace. It was more like just a walled in area. It wasn't that cool to see other than the fact it was up on a hill so you could see so much from up there. We walked around that area for a while and then headed back down because we had massage appointments!
The massage was a unique experience. I've never had a Thai massage and it was definitely different. There was no rubbing, just pressing and stretching. It was funny having a little Asian lady crawl all over me, contorting and stretching my body in ways I didn't even know were possible. I felt good after it was over though. After our massage we were hungry for dinner. There was a Tex-Mex (or should I say Tex-Czech? Haha I crack myself up sometimes.....) across from our hostel that looked really good. And it was.
This was my last night of traveling over spring break. And Jesse's too, so we all decided that even though we had to get up early we would go to the bar next door and have a few brews. When in Eastern Europe..... The guys from the night before, Max, Jeremy, and Jake met up with us for a little bit but we were all in bed by about 12.
The next morning was bitter sweet. I was sad that my spring break was over, well at least the traveling part. But I was ready to get back to Barcelona and I was super excited for my parents to visit me! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go to the cities I did for spring break, who knows if I would have ever traveled to those cities if I wasn't here in Spain... I am so thankful to my parents for giving me this opportunity. Although on spring break I spent my own hard earned money and I definitely spent a lot of it... but I don't care because it was all worth it. You can't put a price on what I saw and experienced. It was such a good experience traveling to the different cities, having to navigate our way around the cities all alone, with different languages and monetary systems in each city - a trip I will never ever forget.
View from our hostel
Snow! WHAT?!
The delicious beer - Kozel
Bell Tower
Zdneck - The waiter!
View from Charles Bridge
From the Top - Artsy?
Don't worry - this will be going out in our Christmas cards.
We were all exhausted from our wonderful night of sleep on the night train so we decided to lay down for a few hours since it was only 730 by the time we were done eating breakfast. We got up around noon and got ready. We headed first to eat lunch... you are probably thinking that all we do is eat.... well you're right. We had a good meal, I had a salad that was delicious, with really fresh vegetables. We decided that since we were practically running around Budapest the day before we would take the day easy and just walk around, shop and do whatever we happened to find. When we left the restaurant we were shocked to realize that it was SNOWING. Yes, SNOWING. I was so not prepared for the weather. I knew it would be colder than in Barcelona but I didn't have any idea it would snow! We started walking and would go in and out of shops to warm up. While we were walking, Amanda ran into a guy she went to highschool with- small world. He was there visiting a friend from college who is studying abroad in Prague. They exchanged numbers and we made plans to meet up with them for dinner and the night.
We just spent the afternoon walking around the Old Center Town, which is gorgeous. I love the look and feel of the city. It is a mixture of pretty, feminine and strong and masculine. It looks like it belongs in a fairy tale. Its absolutely amazing. We happened upon a Easter festival which was a lot of fun! They had a bunch of vendors and food stands set up and there was a stage for performances. There were little girls up on stage when we found it and they were doing traditional Czech dances. It was adorable. We walked around the festival for a while and I got a nutella filled crepe. So fat but so delicious! And besides I only had a salad for lunch! We then continued to walk around Old Center Town and head back towards our hostel. We walked passed a Thai massage place and decided that we all deserved massages, so we went in and made appointments for the next day. We then went back to the hostel to get ready for dinner.
We met up with Amanda's friend Max and his two friends, Jake and Jeremy. They were such cool guys we ended up having a ton of fun with them. Jake, the one studying in Prague took us to a good restaurant where I had possibly the best beer I've ever had. It was a Czech beer and it was dark but so sweet. I had a salad for dinner too because I was stuffed from the crepe I had earlier, and I was feeling a little guilty about it too. Our waiter during dinner was cute and he was kind of flirting with me through broken English. So you know me, of course I flirted back and asked him what he was doing after work. He said he didn't know and wanted to know what I was doing. I was just trying to be a little funny and flirt with a Czech native but he was serious. I said I didn't know. He told me that we are all beautiful ladies but I am the best... haha and then we exchanged names, his was Zdneck (it sounds like Zednick) and I figured that would be the end of that.
We went to a bar, I forget the name but it was cool. It was very modern and they had huge drinks to share with the group. So we got a huge mojito that lasted about five minutes among the eight of us. We then decided we needed to try Absinthe. Its basically a grain liquor that tastes awful but its supposed to make you see fairies... such a lie. It did nothing but taste like absolute crap. But oh well, I guess I can say I tried it at least once. We then left that bar because we were basically the only people there and headed to a club that Jake liked to go to. Well, the club was closed considering it was a Monday night but there was a bathroom and some of the girls had to pee. So we all were standing outside waiting for them and while we were waiting, guess who walks by.... yea Zdneck. My mouth literally hit the floor. He had a huge smile on his face and said "Ashley" with his little accent. Out of control. I couldn't believe that we ran into him. He wanted me to come into the bar next door with him and I said well my friends have to come too, because I wasn't about to go off alone with him, although he seemd very nice. He bought me a drink, who could say no to a free rum and coke? And we hung out for a while... I found out hes 24, works as a waiter and lives with his parents. Wow, I think I met my dream guy..... kidding. He was really nice though. He wanted to take me out to lunch the next day but I said no because we had so much to see. We stayed at the bar for about a half an hour and then decided it was time for bed... and I was getting a little creeped out because Mr. Zdneck kept asking for a kiss. N-O buddy!
The next morning we didn't get up till almost 12... lazy. But we didn't have a whole lot to see necessarily so we didn't mind. We were all hungry but we didn't want to waste time sitting down at a restaurant so we got sausages from a street vendor. Sooooo good and totally worth the 10328403984 calories I'm sure it had. It had mustard, mayo, ketchup, onions and sour crout on it. It was so good!
We then headed towards Charles Bridge. I just kept marveling at the beautiful buildings on the way. The view from Charles bridge was out of this world. So gorgeous. You are probably laughing at me right now because everytime I go to a new city I fall in love with it and I always say the views were gorgeous. But its always true! We crossed the bridge over the Danube again and on the other side was the palace. It was more like just a walled in area. It wasn't that cool to see other than the fact it was up on a hill so you could see so much from up there. We walked around that area for a while and then headed back down because we had massage appointments!
The massage was a unique experience. I've never had a Thai massage and it was definitely different. There was no rubbing, just pressing and stretching. It was funny having a little Asian lady crawl all over me, contorting and stretching my body in ways I didn't even know were possible. I felt good after it was over though. After our massage we were hungry for dinner. There was a Tex-Mex (or should I say Tex-Czech? Haha I crack myself up sometimes.....) across from our hostel that looked really good. And it was.
This was my last night of traveling over spring break. And Jesse's too, so we all decided that even though we had to get up early we would go to the bar next door and have a few brews. When in Eastern Europe..... The guys from the night before, Max, Jeremy, and Jake met up with us for a little bit but we were all in bed by about 12.
The next morning was bitter sweet. I was sad that my spring break was over, well at least the traveling part. But I was ready to get back to Barcelona and I was super excited for my parents to visit me! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go to the cities I did for spring break, who knows if I would have ever traveled to those cities if I wasn't here in Spain... I am so thankful to my parents for giving me this opportunity. Although on spring break I spent my own hard earned money and I definitely spent a lot of it... but I don't care because it was all worth it. You can't put a price on what I saw and experienced. It was such a good experience traveling to the different cities, having to navigate our way around the cities all alone, with different languages and monetary systems in each city - a trip I will never ever forget.
View from our hostel
Snow! WHAT?!
The delicious beer - Kozel
Bell Tower
Zdneck - The waiter!
View from Charles Bridge
From the Top - Artsy?
Don't worry - this will be going out in our Christmas cards.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Budapest
Have you ever seen all the important sites of a foreign city in one day? I have! Be jealous. Actually don't it wasn't very fun. We were pretty much running around Budapest on Monday. Since we didn't do anything on our half day in Budapest but get our train ticket bought and eat dinner we had a lot to see the next day. We got up early well like 9 and were out the door by 10. We first headed to the Parliament building. It was beautiful. Right away I decided that Budapest and Vienna have two totally different looks and feels. Vienna is very clean, pretty, crisp look and feel where as Budapest has a very strong, masculine, "try to knock me down," dark feel. At least in my opinion. But both were beautiful in their own ways. We then headed to the Chain Bridge that crossed the Danube in to the Buda side of the city. It gave us some great views of the city and the Danube is so pretty. Once we got to the other side we saw that there was a cable car type thing that you could ride up to the top of the mountain. We decided to do it. It was so gorgeous looking out over the Danube and the Chain Bridge, but the ride literally lasted about 5 minutes and it cost us like 700 forints which is like 3 Euros which is like 5 dollars. Not really worth it...but oh well...
When we got done with our looonnnngggg (lots of sarcasm here people.) cable car ride we walked around on top and found a little market. We smelled something absolutely amazing so of course we had to check it out... I mean we all LOVE food! We found it right away and it was called a baumkuchen - or in English, funnel cake, so fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar. Delicious. We all shared one though don't worry, we were huge fatties. Then we headed to St. Ivan's basilica and walked around that area but there was a lot of construction on the basilica so we couldn't see a whole lot of the facade.
So after that we hopped on the metro. Lets discuss the metro. It looked like it was from about 1920, just like everything else in the city. They write out your metro tickets by hand because the city is so far behind the times its not even funny. It is so obvious that it was under communist rule for a long time and that it hasn't been too long since the rule ended. They are not technologically advanced at all. I hardly saw any type of computers or machines anywhere. The one thing that was advanced and fast paced in the city was the escalators in the metro though. It was funny it went so fast you had to get a running start to get on pretty much so you could make it and you had to be ready to run off so you wouldn't fall. haha We loved riding them and I of course had to make a scene and put my hands up in the air... Anyways.... back to getting on the metro from the 20's.... we headed to Hero's square. I don't really know the significance of it and I really don't know why we bothered to see it. It wasn't that cool... just a monument in an open plaza... but oh well... haha By this time we were all dragging so we HAD to find some coffee. After we got our caffeine fix we were good to go.
We then hopped back on the metro to go to the oldest Synagogue in Europe. I was super excited because I had never been in a Synagogue before and this was the oldest one. It was beautiful inside and it was a nice change from all the cathedrals with the same Virgin Mary's and crucifixes - don't worry I'm not converting I'm just stating a fact. (Grandma's schlecker would go 1000 miles a minute and probably jump out of her neck! haha) There was also a Jewish museum attached to the Synagogue. It was so interesting. It showed all the different Jewish holidays and what things are used and why to celebrate and then of course there was a section about the holocaust. Such a mood changer but so interesting. When we left it was pouring, but the restaurant we were planning on going to was within walking distance so we put our big girl panties on and rolled up our jeans and started walking.
Our hostel recommended the restaurant and it was delicious! It was called Fatal and it served traditional Hungarian dishes. I had beef goulash. So good. I couldn't eat it everyday or anything but it was really good. It was like potato/egg noodles with beef and beef sauce. We decided that we would all eat a huge meal since we were getting on the night train and wouldn't be able to eat later, so that's what we did. We then headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the station.
I was excited about being in Budapest because Joey's dad grew up there and yes we are broken up and we don't even talk anymore but I thought it was cool that I was there. So I wrote Joey an email saying that I was in Budapest the past two days and was really enjoying it blah blah blah... The whole time I was there I had an overwhelming sense of Joey's dad growing up there. It was weird. I could totally see him living there and being in the same streets that I was walking down. Well, a day later I got an email back from Joey that read: "I thought the email you sent me was a joke at first because I was in Budapest with my dad the exact same time you were." How freaking weird is that?! I guess my feeling of his dad being in Budapest was real! Crazy how small the world can be sometimes....
We grabbed the essentials - wine and candy and got to the train station with plenty of time. Of course our train ended up being delayed like 30 minutes but it was fine. I was so excited for the night train because I felt like a true Euro-tripper. Weird? So when we finally boarded and saw our room we were all wondering what we got ourselves into. It was pretty much a 6 x 7 room with six beds three on each side. It was definitely an experience. I of course got stuck on the top bunk because "I'm the smallest" - Thanks mom. We had a lot of fun though. We stayed up for about two hours eating candy and drinking our wine, getting enough of a buzz to put us to sleep. The train ride was ten hours but we all slept most of the way. When we woke up the next morning, at 6 am, we were in PRAGUE!! Sooooo exciting!
Praha (Prague) will have to wait... Sorry I'm tired and my parents are here so I have to actually get up early tomorrow and be productive, don't act so surprised. But at least you get some pictures since I have a computer that functions now!
I'm rich!
Basilica near our hostel
On the Chain Bridge
View from the Buda side
Pretty.
Beef Goulash
When we got done with our looonnnngggg (lots of sarcasm here people.) cable car ride we walked around on top and found a little market. We smelled something absolutely amazing so of course we had to check it out... I mean we all LOVE food! We found it right away and it was called a baumkuchen - or in English, funnel cake, so fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar. Delicious. We all shared one though don't worry, we were huge fatties. Then we headed to St. Ivan's basilica and walked around that area but there was a lot of construction on the basilica so we couldn't see a whole lot of the facade.
So after that we hopped on the metro. Lets discuss the metro. It looked like it was from about 1920, just like everything else in the city. They write out your metro tickets by hand because the city is so far behind the times its not even funny. It is so obvious that it was under communist rule for a long time and that it hasn't been too long since the rule ended. They are not technologically advanced at all. I hardly saw any type of computers or machines anywhere. The one thing that was advanced and fast paced in the city was the escalators in the metro though. It was funny it went so fast you had to get a running start to get on pretty much so you could make it and you had to be ready to run off so you wouldn't fall. haha We loved riding them and I of course had to make a scene and put my hands up in the air... Anyways.... back to getting on the metro from the 20's.... we headed to Hero's square. I don't really know the significance of it and I really don't know why we bothered to see it. It wasn't that cool... just a monument in an open plaza... but oh well... haha By this time we were all dragging so we HAD to find some coffee. After we got our caffeine fix we were good to go.
We then hopped back on the metro to go to the oldest Synagogue in Europe. I was super excited because I had never been in a Synagogue before and this was the oldest one. It was beautiful inside and it was a nice change from all the cathedrals with the same Virgin Mary's and crucifixes - don't worry I'm not converting I'm just stating a fact. (Grandma's schlecker would go 1000 miles a minute and probably jump out of her neck! haha) There was also a Jewish museum attached to the Synagogue. It was so interesting. It showed all the different Jewish holidays and what things are used and why to celebrate and then of course there was a section about the holocaust. Such a mood changer but so interesting. When we left it was pouring, but the restaurant we were planning on going to was within walking distance so we put our big girl panties on and rolled up our jeans and started walking.
Our hostel recommended the restaurant and it was delicious! It was called Fatal and it served traditional Hungarian dishes. I had beef goulash. So good. I couldn't eat it everyday or anything but it was really good. It was like potato/egg noodles with beef and beef sauce. We decided that we would all eat a huge meal since we were getting on the night train and wouldn't be able to eat later, so that's what we did. We then headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the station.
I was excited about being in Budapest because Joey's dad grew up there and yes we are broken up and we don't even talk anymore but I thought it was cool that I was there. So I wrote Joey an email saying that I was in Budapest the past two days and was really enjoying it blah blah blah... The whole time I was there I had an overwhelming sense of Joey's dad growing up there. It was weird. I could totally see him living there and being in the same streets that I was walking down. Well, a day later I got an email back from Joey that read: "I thought the email you sent me was a joke at first because I was in Budapest with my dad the exact same time you were." How freaking weird is that?! I guess my feeling of his dad being in Budapest was real! Crazy how small the world can be sometimes....
We grabbed the essentials - wine and candy and got to the train station with plenty of time. Of course our train ended up being delayed like 30 minutes but it was fine. I was so excited for the night train because I felt like a true Euro-tripper. Weird? So when we finally boarded and saw our room we were all wondering what we got ourselves into. It was pretty much a 6 x 7 room with six beds three on each side. It was definitely an experience. I of course got stuck on the top bunk because "I'm the smallest" - Thanks mom. We had a lot of fun though. We stayed up for about two hours eating candy and drinking our wine, getting enough of a buzz to put us to sleep. The train ride was ten hours but we all slept most of the way. When we woke up the next morning, at 6 am, we were in PRAGUE!! Sooooo exciting!
Praha (Prague) will have to wait... Sorry I'm tired and my parents are here so I have to actually get up early tomorrow and be productive, don't act so surprised. But at least you get some pictures since I have a computer that functions now!
Basilica near our hostel
On the Chain Bridge
View from the Buda side
Pretty.
Beef Goulash
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Wien!
No, not half of the word wiener.....dirty minds..... Vienna! We left early on Friday morning. Ok, well it was like 8:30 when we left our apartment. And of course we left a little later than we should have so we literally just missed the free train to the airport. Its ok though because there is also a bus from the same metro station that goes to the airport, it just costs 4 euros. So we hopped on the bus but just barely because it was so freaking full. Literally not one more person would have been able to fit on the bus. It got really hot and I got really car sick. I thought we were never going to make it without me puking all over the lady standing next to me. So when we got to the airport (free of puke I might add) we noticed that our flight was a little delayed so we all just kinda hung out and got some coffee... then all of a sudden we realized that our flight was changed back to the normal time and was on the final boarding call! They didn't even announce it over the loud speaker! So we take off sprinting to the gate, because oh yea, they changed the gate on us too. We made it luckily. The flight was good but when we landed in Vienna it was a nasty rainy day. We took the bus to our hostel, which was really nice - The Wombat, and got settled in the room. Three of the girls were hungry for lunch but I wasn't so Zoe and I stayed back and took a nap... well the other girls were supposed to wake us up when they were done with lunch but they didn't so Zoe and I ended up sleeping until 7. It was a wonderful four hour nap but I wasted a whole day in Vienna! So then Zoe and I were hungry for dinner so we went to get some food. We found this restaurant that looked pretty authentic and it was pretty good! I got like a chef salad and a pretzel. Oh and of course can't forget the Austrian Beer called Stigle. It was still raining so after dinner we just headed back. I was being lazy so I laid down and ended up falling asleep for the night. So lame I know.
Then on Saturday, we didn't wake up until 10:30. We suck. We only had one full day and we slept in really late. Oops. But we got up and going and headed to the Hapsburg palace. We didn't go in or anything and I don't even think its really a palace anymore, its more just a bunch of nice buildings in on area with gardens and stuff... I don't really know but the buildings were pretty! And the city is so clean! We were walking around this area and we stumbled upon a St. Patrick's Day festival - with GREEN beer! So of course we had to join in! It made me so happy. I always say that Ireland was one of the best trips I've ever been on and I want to go back so drinking green beer and listening to Irish music made my day! It was so fun! We then headed to St. Stephen's Cathedral. I am absolutely sick of seeing Cathedrals and was not enthralled what-so-ever by this cathedral, in fact I thought it was ugly and dirty if I can be honest. haha While we were sitting by the Cathedral, this cute little lady started talking to us because she heard us speaking English. She is originally from Vienna but has lived in D.C. for a long time. We finally had to say "well, we should get going, we still have a lot to see today" or we would still be sitting in Vienna on that bench in front of the dirty Cathedral talking to that little old lady. So when we ditched her we went towards Mozart's house. I was actually pretty excited about seeing this because when I was in middle school I had to watch a movie on him and the whole time I was in Vienna I kept thinking of that movie and picturing Mozart just walking and hanging out in the streets that I was walking around in. The tour of his house was actually pretty lame and I didn't listen to most of the guided audio tour, but I can say that I walked around Mozart's house! So after Mozart's house we headed towards the Ferris wheel- its the oldest standing Ferris wheel in the world! We rode it when the sun was setting so we had beautiful views! After that we headed back towards the hostel and ate dinner. I ate old Vienna Soup. It was good but it was basically just noodles, vegetables, and beef in beef broth. We then went to the bar that was located right in our hostel - the WomBar. We were making fun of it all day but actually ended up having a good time there! The bartender was amazingly good looking! I didn't know Austrians looked like that! Vienna was really nice and I had a decent time I just wish we would have had more time there. I feel like we aren't spending enough time in these cities but I guess at least I get a taste of them all....
This morning was bad. We needed to catch a train to Budapest but we didn't exactly know how to do it so everyone was screaming at each other and it was just bad. The only good thing was that our hostel had a pretty decent all you can eat buffet for breakfast for only 3 euros. So of course we had to do that first. We finally got the train situation figured out and left at around noon. It was a two and a half hour ride and I slept most of the way but every now and then I would wake up and have the most gorgeous views out the window - rolling hills with small farm houses and windmills. It was so quaint and cute. We didn't see anything today in Budapest because when we arrived we decided to take care of our train stuff for tomorrow to go to Prague - a 10 hour over night train.... that should be tons of fun! (I forgot to bring my sleeping pills... wonderful.....) And then we headed to the hostel. One thing I've already noticed about Budapest is that it is not technologically advanced at all. For instance, when we bought our train tickets the lady had to write out all the tickets and then we went to take the metro and their one electronic ticket machine was out of order and so you had to go to the one window they had to by tickets from and that lady had to write out everything too. Come on Budapest! Get with the 21 century!
At first I thought Budapest seemed dirty and not safe but that's just because of the are that the train station was in. Our hostel is in a really clean, nice part of town and what I did see on our way to the hostel and to dinner tonight looked very pretty. We went and ate dinner at a Lugar's, a restaurant that the hostel recommended to us. It was delicious! And the nice thing about Budapest is that its pretty cheap! We had so much food and in euros it was under 50 for five people, which in Spain would never happen for the amount of food we got. I had chicken with cheese and spinach. Delicious. That brings up another subject though, Budapest is not on the Euro. They have their own money which is called the Forint. Its so weird and driving us all nuts! Literally tonight at dinner it took us about 20 minutes just to figure out how to pay for our meals because they use numbers in the thousands and hundreds. Like for instance, I exchanged 50 euros when I got here and I received a 10,000 forint bill, I felt rich! Or at least the money looked like I was rich. And my glass of wine at dinner was 390 forints. Expensive wine, not. So cheap.
Anyways, tomorrow we have a busy day planned so we are all just hanging out in our hostel and going to bed early so we can get up and see everything. Then we have to get on our over night train so I won't be able to write for another day or two. Don't miss me too much! But just know I am having fun trekking across Eastern Europe!
Then on Saturday, we didn't wake up until 10:30. We suck. We only had one full day and we slept in really late. Oops. But we got up and going and headed to the Hapsburg palace. We didn't go in or anything and I don't even think its really a palace anymore, its more just a bunch of nice buildings in on area with gardens and stuff... I don't really know but the buildings were pretty! And the city is so clean! We were walking around this area and we stumbled upon a St. Patrick's Day festival - with GREEN beer! So of course we had to join in! It made me so happy. I always say that Ireland was one of the best trips I've ever been on and I want to go back so drinking green beer and listening to Irish music made my day! It was so fun! We then headed to St. Stephen's Cathedral. I am absolutely sick of seeing Cathedrals and was not enthralled what-so-ever by this cathedral, in fact I thought it was ugly and dirty if I can be honest. haha While we were sitting by the Cathedral, this cute little lady started talking to us because she heard us speaking English. She is originally from Vienna but has lived in D.C. for a long time. We finally had to say "well, we should get going, we still have a lot to see today" or we would still be sitting in Vienna on that bench in front of the dirty Cathedral talking to that little old lady. So when we ditched her we went towards Mozart's house. I was actually pretty excited about seeing this because when I was in middle school I had to watch a movie on him and the whole time I was in Vienna I kept thinking of that movie and picturing Mozart just walking and hanging out in the streets that I was walking around in. The tour of his house was actually pretty lame and I didn't listen to most of the guided audio tour, but I can say that I walked around Mozart's house! So after Mozart's house we headed towards the Ferris wheel- its the oldest standing Ferris wheel in the world! We rode it when the sun was setting so we had beautiful views! After that we headed back towards the hostel and ate dinner. I ate old Vienna Soup. It was good but it was basically just noodles, vegetables, and beef in beef broth. We then went to the bar that was located right in our hostel - the WomBar. We were making fun of it all day but actually ended up having a good time there! The bartender was amazingly good looking! I didn't know Austrians looked like that! Vienna was really nice and I had a decent time I just wish we would have had more time there. I feel like we aren't spending enough time in these cities but I guess at least I get a taste of them all....
This morning was bad. We needed to catch a train to Budapest but we didn't exactly know how to do it so everyone was screaming at each other and it was just bad. The only good thing was that our hostel had a pretty decent all you can eat buffet for breakfast for only 3 euros. So of course we had to do that first. We finally got the train situation figured out and left at around noon. It was a two and a half hour ride and I slept most of the way but every now and then I would wake up and have the most gorgeous views out the window - rolling hills with small farm houses and windmills. It was so quaint and cute. We didn't see anything today in Budapest because when we arrived we decided to take care of our train stuff for tomorrow to go to Prague - a 10 hour over night train.... that should be tons of fun! (I forgot to bring my sleeping pills... wonderful.....) And then we headed to the hostel. One thing I've already noticed about Budapest is that it is not technologically advanced at all. For instance, when we bought our train tickets the lady had to write out all the tickets and then we went to take the metro and their one electronic ticket machine was out of order and so you had to go to the one window they had to by tickets from and that lady had to write out everything too. Come on Budapest! Get with the 21 century!
At first I thought Budapest seemed dirty and not safe but that's just because of the are that the train station was in. Our hostel is in a really clean, nice part of town and what I did see on our way to the hostel and to dinner tonight looked very pretty. We went and ate dinner at a Lugar's, a restaurant that the hostel recommended to us. It was delicious! And the nice thing about Budapest is that its pretty cheap! We had so much food and in euros it was under 50 for five people, which in Spain would never happen for the amount of food we got. I had chicken with cheese and spinach. Delicious. That brings up another subject though, Budapest is not on the Euro. They have their own money which is called the Forint. Its so weird and driving us all nuts! Literally tonight at dinner it took us about 20 minutes just to figure out how to pay for our meals because they use numbers in the thousands and hundreds. Like for instance, I exchanged 50 euros when I got here and I received a 10,000 forint bill, I felt rich! Or at least the money looked like I was rich. And my glass of wine at dinner was 390 forints. Expensive wine, not. So cheap.
Anyways, tomorrow we have a busy day planned so we are all just hanging out in our hostel and going to bed early so we can get up and see everything. Then we have to get on our over night train so I won't be able to write for another day or two. Don't miss me too much! But just know I am having fun trekking across Eastern Europe!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
"Top of the World, looking down on creation..."
I'm still computer-less. My dad sent me one that was lying around Jayco last week. But this time he decided to mark it as $1000 value instead of $500, thinking that they would be extra careful with it. Well, that also means it became a customs issue. So it's been stuck in customs since last Friday. Sweet. That's why I haven't blogged because I had to wait until I had time to make it to our schools computer lab. Who knows if I'll ever have a computer while I'm over here.
So last weekend I was in Barcelona. It was a fun and productive weekend. On Friday night my roomies and I decided to make "family dinner" as we like to call it. I was the main chef and made the main course. I made pasta with tomatoes, onions, green olives cooked in white wine for the sauce. Its delicious. You should try it! We also had brochette and salad and then gillato for dessert. It was so good. After dinner we went to the Ice BARcelona. Its like the ice bar that we went to in Australia. It was a pretty good time but since I had already been to one it wasn't that exciting.
Saturday we all actually got up early (Your mouth just hit the floor, I know.) and caught the train to Montserrat. Montserrat is a monastery on top of a mountain about an hour outside of Barcelona. When you are up there you can basically see all of Spain - or at least that's what if felt like. The weather was perfect for a hike in the mountains - yes I know, your mouth probably hit the floor again with the word hike and yes I did hike a mountain and I enjoyed it. We just started walking on one of the trails and we ended up hiking for about three hours. It was gorgeous. The sky was so clear that we could see all the way to the Pyrenees Mountains. It was incredible. We stopped for lunch about half way through and ate the food we had packed. Then on the way back down I fell. Yes, Miss Graceful fell. And I am still sore from it! I have a huge, dark bruise on the side of my left thigh and I still can't sleep on that side at night. We left around 4 and we were all exhausted! I came back to the apartment and passed out for about three hours. It was glorious.
Sunday some of my roomies and I walked to La Sagrada Familia. Its one of the biggest attractions in Barcelona and I hadn't seen it yet....! It is a Guadi (The architect that is basically responsible for most of the city of Barcelona) cathedral that is still not done after more than hundred years because Gaudi died while in the process of building it and so the people working on it now are trying to figure out where he was going with his crazy designs. Its pretty amazing.
This week has been pretty low key other than the fact that I have a Spanish mid-term in about an hour. (Yes I should be studying right now, but who studies in Barcelona?!)
Next week is spring break! YAY! So tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Vienna. We are spending a day and a half in Vienna, a day and a half in Budapest and three days in Prague! I'm sooo excited! I feel like these cities are cities I probably wouldn't have traveled to coming from the U.S. and only since I'm here in Europe am I going. It should be a really good time! Then I come back to Barcelona on Thursday because my parents are coming! And I'm super excited about that too! Who knew that I would be so excited to see them?! (Just kidding mom, you know I love you!) I have a full four days planned out for them so they better be ready to live like I've been living.
Anyways, I'll try to blog some over spring break as long as the hostals we are staying in have computers, which many times they do. I should go study a little for my Spanish mid-term so I can at least pull a C. (Over achiever, I know.)
So last weekend I was in Barcelona. It was a fun and productive weekend. On Friday night my roomies and I decided to make "family dinner" as we like to call it. I was the main chef and made the main course. I made pasta with tomatoes, onions, green olives cooked in white wine for the sauce. Its delicious. You should try it! We also had brochette and salad and then gillato for dessert. It was so good. After dinner we went to the Ice BARcelona. Its like the ice bar that we went to in Australia. It was a pretty good time but since I had already been to one it wasn't that exciting.
Saturday we all actually got up early (Your mouth just hit the floor, I know.) and caught the train to Montserrat. Montserrat is a monastery on top of a mountain about an hour outside of Barcelona. When you are up there you can basically see all of Spain - or at least that's what if felt like. The weather was perfect for a hike in the mountains - yes I know, your mouth probably hit the floor again with the word hike and yes I did hike a mountain and I enjoyed it. We just started walking on one of the trails and we ended up hiking for about three hours. It was gorgeous. The sky was so clear that we could see all the way to the Pyrenees Mountains. It was incredible. We stopped for lunch about half way through and ate the food we had packed. Then on the way back down I fell. Yes, Miss Graceful fell. And I am still sore from it! I have a huge, dark bruise on the side of my left thigh and I still can't sleep on that side at night. We left around 4 and we were all exhausted! I came back to the apartment and passed out for about three hours. It was glorious.
Sunday some of my roomies and I walked to La Sagrada Familia. Its one of the biggest attractions in Barcelona and I hadn't seen it yet....! It is a Guadi (The architect that is basically responsible for most of the city of Barcelona) cathedral that is still not done after more than hundred years because Gaudi died while in the process of building it and so the people working on it now are trying to figure out where he was going with his crazy designs. Its pretty amazing.
This week has been pretty low key other than the fact that I have a Spanish mid-term in about an hour. (Yes I should be studying right now, but who studies in Barcelona?!)
Next week is spring break! YAY! So tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Vienna. We are spending a day and a half in Vienna, a day and a half in Budapest and three days in Prague! I'm sooo excited! I feel like these cities are cities I probably wouldn't have traveled to coming from the U.S. and only since I'm here in Europe am I going. It should be a really good time! Then I come back to Barcelona on Thursday because my parents are coming! And I'm super excited about that too! Who knew that I would be so excited to see them?! (Just kidding mom, you know I love you!) I have a full four days planned out for them so they better be ready to live like I've been living.
Anyways, I'll try to blog some over spring break as long as the hostals we are staying in have computers, which many times they do. I should go study a little for my Spanish mid-term so I can at least pull a C. (Over achiever, I know.)
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Palm Trees and Mountains
So, now that you all know I am alive and well I have a few minutes to fill you in on my life. This past weekend, my roommates Jesse, Zoe, Amanda and our friend from upstairs, Laura went to Granada with our program. Granada is a city in the south of Spain, in the Mountains. It is an important city because it was the last city that the Muslims occupied in Spain back in the day. So needless to say there is a lot of Muslim influence in the city as far as the feel and look of the city.
So, on Friday we had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch the free train to the airport. Of course our flight was delayed once we got there, but only like 45 minutes so it wasn't too bad. I had a window seat in the plane and the view out the window as we got close to Granada was gorgeous. I could see the mountains and some of them were topped with snow. We got to the hotel (A five star hotel! It was so nice, the nicest I've stayed in since I´ve been in Spain. Good thing it was on dad´s credit card. haha) and we had free time for lunch before we started our tour around the city. We walked and found a restaurant and I had the menu del dia, which is a set menu with a few options with a starter, main course, and dessert that restaurants here do for a set price. It is usually a really good deal. I had a delicious meal of a Spanish omelet (eggs and potatoes) this beef stuff with rice and then an orange for dessert. Delicious. Then we met back up with the group to start our walking tour of the city. We went to see the Cathedral. It was really pretty and a lot different than the others we have seen. It was all white and it was huge! We had the best tour guide too! He was so cool and nice so it made him cute. His name was Nacho. We made friends with him, I think he enjoyed us. Or at least we hope he did, but I mean who wouldn't? So after our tour we had the rest of the night to ourselves. We walked and found a tea shop, which is very Muslim. You drink tea and smoke hookah. It was so fun. Two of my favorite things. We were at the tea shop for a while and then went back to get ready for dinner. We found a nice tapas bar for dinner and stuffed ourselves with tapas and wine. We called it an early night because we had to get up the next morning to visit the Alhambra!
In the morning breakfast was included with our room. We were all soooo excited for this! It was an all you can eat buffet! SWEET! We completely stuffed our faces and then even shoved apples and oranges in our purses. We didn't want to have to buy lunch so we took full advantage of the fact that it was all you can eat (or take with you...) Anyways after being ready to about throw up because we were so full from our breakfast of pancakes covered in melted chocolate and eggs and toast we left for the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a gigantic Arabian palace - it took 200 years to complete it. Wikipedia it. Its gorgeous. We had to walk up the mountain to get there, I was sweating, shock. But it was a nice little walk. We toured the whole palace with Nacho, who taught us the appropriate greeting when meeting with a Muslim King back in the olden days. It was honestly one of the most gorgeous palaces I've seen and it is pretty well preserved. Its Muslim, so its not like the royal palaces many of us think of and it was on the mountain so it had gorgeous views. The detail that was used in the palace was unbelievable, the Muslims always use geometry in their designs and every piece used in the design was cut precisely to fit with the other pieces like a puzzle. After the Alhambra we had the rest of the day to ourselves. So, of course, we all chose a day of pampering. One thing that was big in ancient Muslim communities was baths and they still have a few around today. It is like a spa as we know it today, kind of. There were six hot baths that you just sit and relax in for like 10 or 15 minutes and then you go and sit in a cold bath too cool back down and then head back to the hot baths. It was fun! I didn't expect it to really be that relaxing or be able to tell a difference when I left but I did. Going from the hot to the cold was such a weird feeling, it heightened your senses and then you went back to the hot to relax again. We also got a fifteen minute massage, which was nothing too spectacular but hey it was still a massage! It was a really cool experience! We definitely enjoyed ourselves. We then went back to the hotel and got ready to go to dinner. For dinner we heard of this place that had a free flamenco show (the traditional dance here in Spain that we also saw in Seville). I wasn't that hungry so I just had a crepe with bananas and strawberries but it was so good. The Flamenco was absolutely amazing. It was just one lady dancing and then a guy with a guitar but the lady was so good and got really into it. And she danced basically right on top of us because it was a small restaurant. It was fun. We were all tired after our long day of walking around the Alhambra so we went back early and passed out.
On Sunday we had another walking tour, this time of the part of the city that is considered the old Muslim part. It was of course a walk up the mountain so we were all huffing and puffing and getting sweaty. Unfortunately, Nacho wasn't able to be our tour guide this day so we had a new lady, she wasn't as cool. haha She took us to this church and we went in to find nuns, dressed completely in white, from head to toe, literally, even their face was covered. These type of nuns are really dedicated, they only leave the church once a year to see their families and stuff and they spend all of their time worshiping and praying to God because they feel that they need to pray for everyone in the world who is not praying. That's intense. It was really cool to witness though. So we continued on our journey and the tour guide kept talking about this square we were walking to... all I knew is that I was tired, hot (because the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Not a cloud in the sky and around 70 degrees) and thirsty. So finally we are almost to the square, she stops us to talk a little about the square and a Mosque that was in the square before we actually walked into the square. When we finally got to the square we had to turn a corner and there was the most gorgeous view I have ever seen in my entire life - wow. It was out of this world. My breath literally caught in my chest. I can´t even begin to describe it with words. When you walked into the square you saw the Sierra Nevada mountains and all of Alhambra. A-mazing. We then made our way back down the mountain and then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Since it was so nice out we decided to find a little cafe, get some wine and just relax. It was nice. Then we decided we wanted ice cream so we found some of that and sat in a plaza for a while. I actually got a little sun! I was excited, I was looking a little pasty and gross. We still had a long time before we had to be back to the hotel to head to the airport... we were all getting a little bored and ready to leave but there was nothing we could do about it. So we decided to walk around and shop a little bit. We ended up back in another tea house for some tea and hookah and then about that time it was time to go to the hotel. We finally left for the airport to once again find our flight delayed.... of course. So we finally left around 11 p.m. When we finally got back to the apartment everyone was so tired and I literally fell asleep in like five minutes. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend. The trip was so fun and I´m so glad that I got to experience it with tour guides because I don´t think that I would have gotten as much out of it if my friends and I would have gone on our own.
So anyways, that was my weekend and this week hasn't brought anything too exciting except for that there was a big futbol game between Barcelona and Celtics - there were a ton of Scottish people hanging around here the past few days. Barcelona won. But yea, other than a mid term and a presentation there really hasn't been anything going on. I´ll be around here this weekend which I´m excited about. We have a list of things we want to accomplish this weekend so I will be busy but I´ll find time to blog about my weekend I´m sure.
So, on Friday we had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch the free train to the airport. Of course our flight was delayed once we got there, but only like 45 minutes so it wasn't too bad. I had a window seat in the plane and the view out the window as we got close to Granada was gorgeous. I could see the mountains and some of them were topped with snow. We got to the hotel (A five star hotel! It was so nice, the nicest I've stayed in since I´ve been in Spain. Good thing it was on dad´s credit card. haha) and we had free time for lunch before we started our tour around the city. We walked and found a restaurant and I had the menu del dia, which is a set menu with a few options with a starter, main course, and dessert that restaurants here do for a set price. It is usually a really good deal. I had a delicious meal of a Spanish omelet (eggs and potatoes) this beef stuff with rice and then an orange for dessert. Delicious. Then we met back up with the group to start our walking tour of the city. We went to see the Cathedral. It was really pretty and a lot different than the others we have seen. It was all white and it was huge! We had the best tour guide too! He was so cool and nice so it made him cute. His name was Nacho. We made friends with him, I think he enjoyed us. Or at least we hope he did, but I mean who wouldn't? So after our tour we had the rest of the night to ourselves. We walked and found a tea shop, which is very Muslim. You drink tea and smoke hookah. It was so fun. Two of my favorite things. We were at the tea shop for a while and then went back to get ready for dinner. We found a nice tapas bar for dinner and stuffed ourselves with tapas and wine. We called it an early night because we had to get up the next morning to visit the Alhambra!
In the morning breakfast was included with our room. We were all soooo excited for this! It was an all you can eat buffet! SWEET! We completely stuffed our faces and then even shoved apples and oranges in our purses. We didn't want to have to buy lunch so we took full advantage of the fact that it was all you can eat (or take with you...) Anyways after being ready to about throw up because we were so full from our breakfast of pancakes covered in melted chocolate and eggs and toast we left for the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a gigantic Arabian palace - it took 200 years to complete it. Wikipedia it. Its gorgeous. We had to walk up the mountain to get there, I was sweating, shock. But it was a nice little walk. We toured the whole palace with Nacho, who taught us the appropriate greeting when meeting with a Muslim King back in the olden days. It was honestly one of the most gorgeous palaces I've seen and it is pretty well preserved. Its Muslim, so its not like the royal palaces many of us think of and it was on the mountain so it had gorgeous views. The detail that was used in the palace was unbelievable, the Muslims always use geometry in their designs and every piece used in the design was cut precisely to fit with the other pieces like a puzzle. After the Alhambra we had the rest of the day to ourselves. So, of course, we all chose a day of pampering. One thing that was big in ancient Muslim communities was baths and they still have a few around today. It is like a spa as we know it today, kind of. There were six hot baths that you just sit and relax in for like 10 or 15 minutes and then you go and sit in a cold bath too cool back down and then head back to the hot baths. It was fun! I didn't expect it to really be that relaxing or be able to tell a difference when I left but I did. Going from the hot to the cold was such a weird feeling, it heightened your senses and then you went back to the hot to relax again. We also got a fifteen minute massage, which was nothing too spectacular but hey it was still a massage! It was a really cool experience! We definitely enjoyed ourselves. We then went back to the hotel and got ready to go to dinner. For dinner we heard of this place that had a free flamenco show (the traditional dance here in Spain that we also saw in Seville). I wasn't that hungry so I just had a crepe with bananas and strawberries but it was so good. The Flamenco was absolutely amazing. It was just one lady dancing and then a guy with a guitar but the lady was so good and got really into it. And she danced basically right on top of us because it was a small restaurant. It was fun. We were all tired after our long day of walking around the Alhambra so we went back early and passed out.
On Sunday we had another walking tour, this time of the part of the city that is considered the old Muslim part. It was of course a walk up the mountain so we were all huffing and puffing and getting sweaty. Unfortunately, Nacho wasn't able to be our tour guide this day so we had a new lady, she wasn't as cool. haha She took us to this church and we went in to find nuns, dressed completely in white, from head to toe, literally, even their face was covered. These type of nuns are really dedicated, they only leave the church once a year to see their families and stuff and they spend all of their time worshiping and praying to God because they feel that they need to pray for everyone in the world who is not praying. That's intense. It was really cool to witness though. So we continued on our journey and the tour guide kept talking about this square we were walking to... all I knew is that I was tired, hot (because the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Not a cloud in the sky and around 70 degrees) and thirsty. So finally we are almost to the square, she stops us to talk a little about the square and a Mosque that was in the square before we actually walked into the square. When we finally got to the square we had to turn a corner and there was the most gorgeous view I have ever seen in my entire life - wow. It was out of this world. My breath literally caught in my chest. I can´t even begin to describe it with words. When you walked into the square you saw the Sierra Nevada mountains and all of Alhambra. A-mazing. We then made our way back down the mountain and then had the rest of the day to ourselves. Since it was so nice out we decided to find a little cafe, get some wine and just relax. It was nice. Then we decided we wanted ice cream so we found some of that and sat in a plaza for a while. I actually got a little sun! I was excited, I was looking a little pasty and gross. We still had a long time before we had to be back to the hotel to head to the airport... we were all getting a little bored and ready to leave but there was nothing we could do about it. So we decided to walk around and shop a little bit. We ended up back in another tea house for some tea and hookah and then about that time it was time to go to the hotel. We finally left for the airport to once again find our flight delayed.... of course. So we finally left around 11 p.m. When we finally got back to the apartment everyone was so tired and I literally fell asleep in like five minutes. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend. The trip was so fun and I´m so glad that I got to experience it with tour guides because I don´t think that I would have gotten as much out of it if my friends and I would have gone on our own.
So anyways, that was my weekend and this week hasn't brought anything too exciting except for that there was a big futbol game between Barcelona and Celtics - there were a ton of Scottish people hanging around here the past few days. Barcelona won. But yea, other than a mid term and a presentation there really hasn't been anything going on. I´ll be around here this weekend which I´m excited about. We have a list of things we want to accomplish this weekend so I will be busy but I´ll find time to blog about my weekend I´m sure.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
I'm still alive...
For all of you who were lying awake at night worrying if I was still alive or not or because I didn't write in my blog that day and you needed my words to calm you and gently put you to sleep (Pathetic.....) I just wanted to say, I'm alive and well and sorry but I have been super busy lately with traveling and midterms and projects. Oh and I was patiently waiting the arrival of my computer to write in my blog but of course it gets back to Spain for the second time and doesn't work again... No one knows what's going on anymore and at this point its just straight up funny. Nothing else but funny. So yes, as soon as I get a moment to breath and scratch my butt I will write about my marvelous life here in Espana. Maybe even include a few juicy details. So here I go off to start a project that is due tomorrow. Yes, I, Ashley Nicole Bontrager, said the words start, project and tomorrow in the same sentence... what studying abroad does to you - procrastination and a lot of slacking off. I love it.
Sleep better and stop revolving your world around me - although you know that I absolutely love it! :)
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