mas fotos de suiza

Train up to the slopes


My Switzerland girls!


View from our hostel window

SUIZA! SWITZERLAND!

Switzerland...one of the best weekends of my life!

I traveled with three of my girlfriends from my program here..Ali, Katie, and Lawren. After a pretty unpleasant journey there, (flight getting delayed multiple times, a "night" slept in the tiny Geneva Airport, and two trains into Interlaken), we were so so excited to arrive at our hostel, Balmers Herberge, and to see how awesome of a set up we were about to have! The hostel was picturesque..dark wooden shingled with red shutters and red and white paint trim..right in the middle of a 360 degree view of the SWISS ALPS. Once inside and sitting by the fireplace after checking in, we were looking at brochures and discussing what activities we were going to sign up for, when...8 cute guys bust into the reception area and immediately theres introductions, shouting, claims of parties in their room...just an absolutely hilarious half hour. Turns out they are all army officers..all went to West Point together..and are staying in our hostel for the weekend as well. Uh-Oh. Needless to say, we hung out with them the entire weekend..went to the singular club in Interlaken with them both nights, and spent a whole day snowboarding with them. We've since kept in contact with all of them..and plan to visit with them once we're back in the states, (they are on Christmas break/leave for the next couple of weeks before all getting deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.. :[ ). This weekend was full of awesome life to-do list things, per usual for my recent trips! The hostel served us a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, pretty genuine, and we enjoyed it with a table full of Swiss people..such an interesting cultural experience. The Swiss are awesome! The four of us went to an authentic fondue restaurant as well, which was yummy, although not quite as good as The Melting Pot! Of course we sampled some swiss chocolate while we were there, and purchased some really awesome really warm knit Switzerland hats!


We decided to rent gear and clothing and hit the slopes for some snowboarding. I had never done any sort of winter sport up until this point...so this was QUITE the experience. I fell no less than 100 times..and when I say fall, I mean I really fell. Crashed may be the better word. Thankfully the army guys were up there, and one just happened to be a children's snowboard instructor..he was nice enough to take over an hour to just help me along and teach me everything..so that after that little session I was able to keep up with my friends! So awesome! This learning process may have been easier in a location equipped with bunny slopes..these were the Swiss Alps, aka no beginners area at all. All in all, amazing time.


The last half day we spent just hanging out in the hostel by the fireplace, just talking and having a great time with our new favorite group of guys ever. Actually pretty sad saying bye to them, we'd become pretty attached ;)

One of the guys, Mike, (there are actually 3 mikes haha), and I have kept in contact daily..you can read between the lines on that one. So as part of my long winter break I went to visit him, and got to see the rest of the guys there as well. So fun..to be continued...

more amsterdam!

the houses all look like doll houses!

Checking us in at our hostel, Flying Pig Downtown!

I AMSTERDAM...Museumplein park!


in the Heinken Factory!!

AMSTERDAM.

I. LOVE. AMSTERDAM. I'm just putting up some pictures for now..more to come later. Also, quite unfortunately, I left my camera at home here in BCN while I was in Amsterdam. Therefore, can't take credit for any of these pictures :(

Amsterdam is so so so gorgeous. It is a MUST see in anyone's lifetime. The canals, parks, streets, people..all exceptionally beautiful. The atmosphere is friendly, there are thousands and thousands of bikes everywhere, and the food is so great! (they are actually known for their Indonesian food??)

There are of course, Amsterdam's two most well known neighborhoods, the Red Light District and the Coffee Shop neighborhood. My hostel was in between both, and happened to be the best hostel ever, with some really friendly staff..I ended up meeting a lot of other travellers there as well!! These neighborhoods/areas, while fun and extremely interesting, (and obviously unique to Amsterdam), are wildly misunderstood by the rest of the world. I honestly didn't know much about the city or country before visiting it..and it is so much much much more than legalized prostitution or decriminalized marijuana. When walking down the streets of the red light district, for example, you can look up and see a breath taking cathedral while passing by the working women's windows. There are museums everywhere, the city was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and the tram, while already efficient, is actually free!

Chase and Danny from CofC were also there in the hostel with my roommates and I, so that was wonderful to see them again! We toured the entireee city as much as possible. We walked and explored all day every day. I went to the Van Gogh Museum, which really was a life to do list accomplishment for me, seeing as the first art piece I ever remember really loving and respecting was Starry Night, (Mom, i'm sure you remember that up in my middle school bedroom). The museum did a great job of telling the artist's life story, and I got to see some of his most famous paintings, like the Sunflowers, (Starry Night was in a museum in NYC, USA..how ironic, eh?).

My entire group of friends that I stayed with in the Flying Pig, our hostel, went together to the Heineken Factory! I've never particularly been a Heineken fan one way or the other, but this was such a fun tour and the guides were really loving their jobs! We got to be "in" the process with sort of brewing simulation ride, got to sample the hops and barley, etc etc, and picked up some good souvenirs, (Happy Xmas, Pat :) ).

More to come when I can steal some of Chase's photos :)

Paris continued

4. (on my continued life to do list accomplishments)- See the Eiffel Tower!!



















5. GO TO TOP OF EIFFEL TOWER! CHECKKK!















6. Have French Onion Soup IN FRANCE

:)

CREPES

OH YEAH

PARIS is for lovers..and shoppers..and foodies...and..todo el mundo!

Okay, so I wrote a very extensive, very detailed blog entry last night...and right as I finished my computer deleted the whole thing..without saving a bit of it.

Needless to say, I was a little upset, and this new post will be more pictures than written description simply because I am still a little bitter about blogspot's little mishap of yesterday :)

So..Paris. I'm going to organize this by the things I checked off of my life to do list, (or things that I didn't know until I did them that they should've been on there).

1. Went on a walk as soon as we got to Paris with two of my girlfriends..and happened upon the most beautiful park in the backside of Notre Dame & ate fresh streetside-made mushroom & cheese crepes there~




2. Went to THE LOURVE. and actually didn't think it was all that great :/ but I did see the MONA LISA & some pretty awesome sculptures~




3. Went to Musee d'Orsay..saw Renoir, Monet, Manet, Degas, VAN GOGH (but couldn't take pictures)

....to be continued...stealing internet at Starbucks right now!

Chase & Danny's Visit & Halloween en BCN!!

HAPPY (BELATED) HALLOWEEN!!!

Hope everyone had a good one!

This past weekend my good friends Chase and Danny, both from CofC as well, came to visit me here in Barcelona! Chase is studying in Nottingham, England, and Danny is currently studying in Grenada, also in Spain. They both arrived on Thursday, and the fun literally started right away! That night my roommates and guests and I hosted a fantastic halloween party, complete with decorations! My group of closet girlfriends and I were the seven dwarfs, ( I was Dopey :) ), and our friend happens to look like Snow White in real life, so she joined our disney family as well! I must say we did an excellent job!

The next couple of days, I showed Chase and Danny more around the city, and took them to Parc Guell, the Sagrada Familia, and Casa Batlló, just like when dad was here! I think Chase especially fell in love with Barcelona. As he wrote on my facebook, "Barcelona > the rest of the world." haha what a happy visitor.

Chase and I made it to a BARÇA (the futbol liga here) game for my first time!! We literally sat two rows from the last one, but it was absolutely awesome, and going to dinner and to the game with some girlfriends as well made it the best experience! we kept sneakers and gym shorts on and went straight to a club after the game to meet the rest of my friends. The club was having a halloween theme night and we blended right in as soccer players, while staying much more comfortable than anyone else dancing the night away there with us!

The next morning, Danny had to leave really early, so later on in the day some friends and I made a trek with Chase up to Montjuïc, a small mountain to the side of the city where all of the 1992 Olympic stadiums, tracks, pools, and open areas are. There is also a botanical garden and tons of walking paths, a castle with gardens surrounding it, and the best views of the city I've seen so far. We all walked up the mountain/giant hill along the paths, etc, and then took a cable car back down!! Such a good day..amazing views, great exercise, and fun people.

over all just great great weekend, accomplished so much every day and went out and had fun every single night as well...needless to say this past week has been rough! :)

Harlem Jazz Club

Just have to share a photo of one of my new favorite places in Barcelona, Harlem Jazz Club!


This picture really sums everything up...I've been twice and will almost certainly go again. I've been to funk jazz night and reggae night, heard some great Spanish and Spanglish live music, jammed my booty off for hours, and made cool spanish friends there.


Neen, I thought of you on Funk Jazz night, and I now finally understand your love of jazz and why its in your life! I'm enamored now myself :)

Dad's visit!!!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post!

Dad came to visit me two weekends ago, Oct 20-25th...and we had an absolute blast!!
I was so glad to have him here as my first visitor to Barcelona, and I'm pretty sure he fell in love with the city right away :)

Dad stayed at a really gorgeous hotel called Hotel Majestic, in a room equipped with an amazing view of Passeig de Gracia, one of the wealthiest streets in Barcelona and probably all of Spain! We got to do so many things while he was here, including some things I'd never done or seen myself. The first night we just grabbed some dinner in a tiny restaurant and walked around and caught up..I'm starting to realize I miss my family and home more than I expected!! The next few days we managed to hit some great tapas places, and Dad got a pretty extensive culinary "tour" of the normal tapas selections and eating hours here. There even happened to be a food festival, Mercat de Mercats, going on in front of my apartment that weekend! Dad generously invested in some high quality cheese rounds for me and my roommates!!

We went to the Picasso Museum, which was incredible. Only my second art gallery ever, (after Madrid!), and I'm really getting into them! We also toured one of Gaudí's houses on Passeig de Gracia called Casa Battló, which, for lack of a better description, we were obsessed with. The entire interior of the building is made to look as if it is underwater, and there are no edges in the building at all, only curves.
Its safe to say Dad was/is an instant Gaudí fan. Also got to take Dad up to Parc Güell, a mini park/town also designed by Gaudí, that consists of looping trails, amazing panoramic views of the, (my!), city, and covered with mosaics. We went on the most perfect day, sunny and cloudless! Dad and I also went to and toured the (unfinished) Sagrada Familia, Gaudí's final masterpiece that he actually died while working on. You literally could stare and observe and study the facade of the cathedral all day..it is absolutely massive and infinitely detailed. Dad's favorite part was a green tree covered with white doves, while mine were the giant stone snails inching down towers of the cathedral, (yes these along with bunches of fruit, huge colored letters, etc are all over the exterior and somehow still look dignified).



Overall just such a great great weekend with Dad! Miss you already IF you're reading this :)

Madrid!

Hola!

Just returned from Madrid last night, and had an amazing time, yet again! Every trip is so great, I'm so lucky! Got to see the giant palace there, (it has 2800 rooms), some crazy street performers that stay in the same sculpture poses for entire days, and went to El Prado museum, my first art museum experience! Having never been to an art gallery style museum, I was absolutely enthralled by everything, definitely the nerdiest one in the bunch. I got to see Las Meninas and some other works by Diego Velázquez, and some really breathtaking pieces by Goya. Seeing these paintings that I've always seen in textbooks in person was just incredible...especially the works done during his dark period.

Went out that night with some locals a friend had gotten to know during her time in Madrid last summer, and that was really fun to hang out with some real Spaniards and get to some local places!

The next day our whole program group went on a walking tour, hit El Rastro, a GIANT flea market in which you can buy literally anything of your wildest dreams, saw much of the central part of the city. After a much needed nap, we got some delish thai dinner with a great group of girls, and hit one of the most famous clubs in Madrid, Kapital, (it has SEVEN floors!!). Needless to say after hours of dancing, a couple of friends and I grabbed a quick but absolutely fantastic friend calamari sandwich for a late night snack before heading back to the hotel.

Finally, on the third and last day, the program toured a giant park that is in the middle of downtown Madrid, El Retiro. This was one of the times when I get to sit back and appreciate where I am in the world these day. I got to spend a big part of that sunny Sunday afternoon laying in the grass, in Madrid, Spain, no rush, not having to do anything, surrounded by a group of great girlfriends and swapping childhood stories and compiling a silly list of "what we've learned in Madrid." Just lovin life all around :)

A picture my friend Brittany took of me in Prague, I'm so in love with it!

:)

more PRAGUE.

Did some more touring of our own the next day, popping in and out of cafes, taverns, shops, and of course, sampling Prague street vendor food! So. Great. Fried cheese sandwiches with curry ketchup and giant sausages! We also went to a really great open air market, where I scored some cool souvenirs and a gorgeous scarf.

These pictures are of the cathedral that looks overlooks the city, and the stained glass is inside.
I was in complete awe of this building...we all laid on the ground to get the perfect shot, and I must've spent 15 full minutes just soaking in the stained glass of this window. It was that beautiful.

I LOVE PRAGUE 2

We went out to a locals club the first night and made Czech friends immediately! So friendly and the craziest dancers I have ever seen! Our first dinner in town was also amazing, in the little tavern on the first floor of our hostel. Authentic and absolutely fantastic.

The next day, we took a 6 hour tour or Prague that included walking with a guide, a riverboat ride, a 3 course czech meal, a tram up to the castle situated the top of this mountain/hill that overlooks the city...incredible! The tour even ended up taking almost 7 hours and we enjoyed every second of it. I was honestly never bored once the entire time and got to see some life changing views and cathedrals and architecture, all while having a blast with some great girls. Our guide was a crazy older czech woman, the lunch was great, and the weather was perfect. Such a great day.

I LOVE PRAGUE.

>This is the currency in the Czech Republic! In the European Union, but they don't use the Euro. 25 Crowns = Euro? Rollin in the dough, it was obviously the perfect photo op! This is me & one of my roommates, Danielle!

So, Prague. If you've been, then you know. If you haven't, you NEED to go! I completely fell in love with the city within hours of being there. I went this past weekend with my 7 best friends from here in Bcn, and we had the kind of trip you remember for the rest of your life. :)

Some more pictures from Montserrat...it was a super cloudy day and we were literally IN the clouds :)

Montserrat!

I have gotten so behind in my blogging! This past week was a madhouse with 2 Int'l Business papers due Wednesday, a huge presentation in my Civ & Culture class and a midterm in the same class two days later! So, two weekends ago we went on a day trip to Montserrat, a program included trip! Montserrat is just a moderately short bus ride from Barcelona, and is an ancient cathedral in the mountains, where monks still live and some exclusive boys choirs live and practice. It is absolutely breathtaking and we got a chance to do a little bit of hiking..had yet another great time with friends in my program and got to take some amazing pictures!

Picnic during La Mercé weekend with some friends at Parc Ciudatella!

more photos from La Merce!

This and the next photo are from the Correfoc night of La Mercé. The arbor like thing sprays fire and teams of people from different neighborhoods of the city pull dragons, etc through that also spray fire, and then the people themselves carry wands that spray sparks into the crowds as well. It is AMAZING. and of course crazy. Spain.

Vaga General!

September 29th there was a nationwide protest in Spain, and obviously Barcelona participated in a huge way. All over the city, all day people were throwing things into the street, making sure all shops were closed, (the labor unions and groups asked all businesses to close for the entire day, including restaurants, metros, everything.), and taking in megaphones, etc. People spray painted huge messages on banks and literally filled the streets and plazas. This picture was taken around 7pm, right in front of my apartment. From this point on, the protest became more and more intense until it was undoubtedly a riot instead of a peaceful protest. yes, i did go outside to take this photo, but we were back inside before the real action started. From our amazing apt view, we saw thousands of people, some throwing rocks at armored police vans, (which were everywhere and literally charged at people), some starting small fires with trash, breaking glass of a storefront across the street, and running around and general yelling. it. was. crazy. I don't think I'll ever see anything like this maybe ever again in my life, so, it was definitely an experience. These weren't just "hellions" or whatever that were protesting. There were whole families..and the entire city seemed to be participating. Im not quite sure of all of the causes they were fighting for, but I do know that one was about reducing the retirement age, and another was to create more free public services.

Spanish Tourism Vid

Being a touri major obviously, i LOVE this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ68EQSaU4E

:)

View from our apartment this past weekend!

concert on our street! heard music the entire weekend!

my roommate Melissa and I in Parc Ciudatella..former military zone, now beautiful park!

La Mercé!

hola!

This past weekend was the festival weekend for the patron saint of Barcelona, La Mercé. It started thursday night and went until early hours monday morning! What a fantastic weekend. Definitely one of the best of my entire life for sure.

Every single day and night there were concerts outside of my apartment! The 2nd night there was a giant reggae concert in our street and my friends and I pushed our way to the front row and just completely rockedddddd out. The band was from Senegal..this was intense reggae...and during the last song it started pouring..such an experience. So so so fun. People were at our apartment every afternoon and night because of our amazing view of the concert below and the fact that there were two other nearby plazas having concerts as well!

During the days there were many traditional activities going on..the picture in this post is of a castell. The castelles are human towers done by teams that represent different neighborhoods/areas of the city. The teams actually race each other and the two top people are very young children! They even wear helmets!

There was also a fire parade/procession during one of the evenings called a Correfoc. Correfoc is the night when teams run through arbors of fire and hold spray torches that are lit and run into the watching crowds, each team representing a different devil, the evil representation of each of the neighborhoods. Its so hard to explain, but its just amazing. Everyone fills the streets for eaach theatrical stage, every concert, parade everywhere in the city. Americans need to learn to let go and celebrate as well as Spaniards.

more pictures to follow this post!

:) Clare

This is the Paella from our cooking demonstration! Rice, shrimp, mussels, peppers, onions, tomatoes, lemon slices, etc cooked in a seafood broth i believe?? it was good, a little tiny bit fishy though haha