Day 16 - Things That Suck

I've been told that bloggers should refrain from venting and unleashing on the internet. I understand that this is not some public forum where I can express my thoughts and frustrations. That's not what public forums are for.


Oh wait, yes it is. In that case here goes nothing.


Things that suck when you're in a foreign country:

• Losing your ATM card
• Food poisoning
• Homesickness (and the inaccessibility of all things home-y)

There are countless other things that could be worse: kidnapping, rape, death, family emergencies, etc. But at the same time, turning green and getting sick all up in a hotel room an a weekend school trip is no walk in the park. Neither is convincing the the 5th Indian customer service representative you've worked with in the past 4 hours that A) yes, you are studying in a foreign country, B) no, you cannot call from your cell phone, C) no, you cannot receive mail, and D) you MUST HAVE money for your expensive trip to Rome planned for the weekend.

I guess all is well that ends well. And it ended well! I am eating normal food, now have money, and realized that I should be enjoying my time in Barcelona, not thinking about how much easier the past week would have been at home.And to be completely honest, my Study Journey to the Northeastern coast of Spain, called Costa Brava (Brave Coast), started off swimmingly (Har har). I stayed in Girona both nights, but during the day I had some amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

Beautiful Girona!

On Friday, IES split the students up into two groups. One group went to the South of France, but my group went to Thetre Museum Dalí in Figueres. The Salvador Dalí museum was literally out of this world. The whole place was peppered with symbolic sculptures and some of the most amazing paintings I have ever seen. My personal favorite was the ceiling in his bedroom.

It would take me MONTHS to describe all the symbolism in this painting.

After the Dalí museum, we headed back to Girona for the night. Now... the next day was my birthday! My 20th birthday, was, hands down, the best birthday I have ever had. We started the day with a somber visit to Museo Memorial de l'Exili (Memorial Museum of the Exiled), a museum dedicated to personifying and preserving the history of the Spanish Civil War and, more specifically, the exile of the Republicans after losing to the hands of general Francisco Franco. It was a powerful museum.

Next, we took a short bus ride to Collioure, France, for a quick stop above the Spanish/Cataluñan border. It was here where we visitied the grave of Antonio Machado, a Spanish poet and unofficial representative of the Republican struggle during the Spanish Civil War. At this point I had almost five hours to spend in beautiful Southern France. I explored the city, laid on the beach, and, most importantly, I ate French food.


Seriously... it was the best food I've ever had. When someone tells you that French cuisine is the best, you listen. I had a fromage and Sardine panini with Crêpe Citron. Magnifique. I must've reminded myself to take a picture for the blog almost 1000 times, but by the time I went to take a picture, the food had mysteriously disappeared. Oops.

A for effort.

Birthday Guinness!

That night, some friends and I went out and had quite a bit of fun. I spent the night with good friends, in a beautiful vibrant city. In fact, I celebrated with a birthday Guinness! (Libby, I forgive you for losing my glass. :) )


The rest, is well, history. I got home, got horribly ill, and spent the next few days trying to orchestrate a trans-atlantic customer service fiasco whilst getting over a debilitating bout of food poisoning. It wasn't pretty.


................................................................
------------------------------------------------------ 


And here I am! Tomorrow, Me, Libby, Kyle, and Shaina all leave for Rome. We have plans to see the Vatican museums, St. Peter's Basilica, the Forum, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Galleria Borghese (home of the famous David)! Not to mention we might meet up with a friend and classmate of mine, David, who is studying in Rome this summer! 

From left to right: Kyle, Libby, Me, and Shaina.

Can't wait for an amazing weekend in Rome. Here's to eating whole food, paying with cash (for once), and figuring out how to live life in an unfamiliar world. Oh I almost forgot, my Spanish is getting much better!


.

I am a professional blogger!... kind of.

HEY YOU. Yea, you. IES (International Education of Students) is paying me to write a blog for their program. I guess that makes me a professional blogger or something. Not really, but you should definitely check it out.

My Mediterranean Summer

Enjoy!

Day 8 - The City

Well, as you can tell by my lack of posts for the past week, things have been kind of crazy. I have spent almost every waking moment either exploring a new part of the city, or spending time with my great roommate, Kyle, and two good friends, Shaina and Libby.


Since, I am trying to prepare for my day trip to Sitges, a beach area just outside the city, I give you a short list of the things I have done in the past week:

• Explored the Beachfront area... probably about 3 times.
• Thoroughly explored la Boqueria, the oldest and largest market in Barcelona.
• Explored el Gòtic, Barcelona's Gothic district.
• Took a 6 mile run through the Roman sector, the Gòtic district, and the Beachfront.
• Explored Las Ramblas, a touristy, but awestrikingly beautiful area of Barcelona.
• Saw the 4 Cats, a regular hangout of Picasso.
• Took part in the celebration after Barça won the Copa del Rey (It was CRAZY).

I apologize for the randomness in this post. Please enjoy the pictures for the past few days. Since I didn't have my camera during the Barça riots, I don't have any pictures, but I have posted a picture of my friend, Shaina, at the riots instead.

The beach! (It was a nude beach, and took me
forever to find a picture without indecencies)

One of the many beautiful alleyways
in Barcelona!

Las Ramblas

 

Shaina at the Barça riot!

Catedral de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia         

A cool little plaza we stumbled across while exploring
Las Ramblas.

The 4 Cats!

My roommate, Kyle, and I in front of Catedral
de la Santa Cruz y Santa Eulalia

¡Vamos a la playa de Sitges! Time for a day of exploring the outskirts of the city. 

.

Day 2 - Las Ramblas, La Marcat de Boqueria, y primer día de clases

I feel like I have already settled into to my new home for the next 6 weeks. The past two days have been a blur of new food, new language and new culture.

Martes

The first day I was here, I had orientation. Jet lag snuck up on me, so I didn't get to run in the park in the morning like I wanted to. I barely got to my orientation on time. After orientation, some friends and I went and got Paella and pints from a street vendor on Las Ramblas. Soon after we'd finished, we walked South sightseeing and came across the most amazing public market I have ever seen, la Boqueria. 

Friends and I wandering around the market

The market! There was so much fish

The coolest candy store I have ever seen.

After doing some research, I realized that this market is almost 800 years old! It won the award for "best market in the world" in 2005. It was unbelievable. 

Martes noches

After that, my friends and I grabbed tapas, and hung out in my apartment until about 11. We then went to a really cool bar called the Dow Jones bar, where the prices of the drinks varied based on the current "stock" of the drink at the time. At one point, the market "crashed" and the prices of the drinks plummeted. Sirens went off and people started calling for the bartender, hoping to get a drink before the stock went back up. It was a lot of fun! We were there until about 3 am!

Dow Jones bar, the computer screens were the drink "stocks."

Miercoles

Let me reiterate... jet lag sucks. I slept through my alarm and woke up just in time to get to my first class, Intermediate Spanish. The class is conversation based, so we'll see how well I do. My grammar is not as good as some others in the class, but I am able to openly converse much easier than they do. Looking forward to the summer classes!

Day 0

Wing shot: Swiss Air over France

Well, after 15 hours of travel, I've have landed in Barcelona. I flew Swiss Air to Zurich, then to Barcelona. I am pretty tired, but I couldn't stop smiling as I walked to my new apartment. Barcelona is everything and more than what I expected.

My apartment off of Gran
Via de les Corts Catalanes

I live just off of Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, in a beautiful apartment. The building I live in is pretty old, but the apartment is nice. The building has a old manual lift, which, I have to admit, I was scared to use at first. But I used it, and it saved me a lot of effort, rickety as it was. But now I am in my room, relaxing and trying to get my bearings.

Later, I will go to the store and pick up all the amenities I need - food, toiletries, etc., etc. - and just come back and relax. I plan on going out for tapas and dinner later.

I have orientation tomorrow at 9 am. I am looking forward to going to class and experiencing this amazing city. However , I need to be cautious tomorrow. Apparently, there is going to be a protest in the afternoon and I don't want to get mixed up in anything violent. God knows that getting arrested would ruin my trip before it even started.

Regardless, I still can't believe I am in Barcelona! Here's to the next 6 weeks.

.

Departure!

Today I leave for Barcelona! At 3:30, a cab is going to pick me up outside of my apartment and take me to O'Hare International Airport. I am a little worried that the NATO Summit will cause some delays, but I've think I've set aside enough time to make it through security on time.

Here's to the next six weeks in Barna! I couldn't be more excited.

Preparació...

La Segrada Familia in Barcelona

Well, It's almost here. In six days, I leave for my six-week stint in Barcelona... and I could NOT be any more excited! Now that I have moved into my new apartment, I've come to the realization that I will be spending half of my summer in Barcelona! In one week, I'll be landing in Barcelona, thrusting myself into a completely new culture and into new experiences.


Not to mention, I will spend the two days prior to my flight singing my butt off, raising money for Loyolacappella's new CD in Minnesota. I've got busy weeks ahead of me. 

Nevertheless, this summer is going to rock.

Bona sort a mi!

...