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 :)