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.