For our last weekend of the program a few of us decided to stay within the borders of Italy and specifically in the Veneto Region. On Thursday night, 5 of us (Mallory, Emily, Holden, Elizabeth and Me) decided to go to Asolo for dinner. Asolo is about 20 minutes from Paderno del Grappa by cab. It is also where the CIMBA Master's program is located. Before hitting up one of the pizzerias for dinner, we walked up a hill back to a bar we went to in January. The bartender makes the best mojitos with fresh mint from his garden outside the bar. So of course we had to come back for second servings of the mojitos! After enjoying our drinks and watching some of the sunset from their balcony, we wondered back down into the city center to the nearest pizzeria. There we had pizza and a glass of their house wine. I wish I was more exciting, but after dinner, we called it a night and went back to Paderno. On Friday and Saturday it rained literally all day, so there wasn't much to do. It was nice to sleep in and hang out for a day rather going the tourist route and sightseeing. All of us manage to be productive at some point in the day and got some studying/homework/project done, so that was a plus! Saturday night we went to the pizzeria. Emily, Elizabeth, Mallory and I were ready for a night out on the town with some of the locals. Right after we sat down in the pizzeria and had our first glass of wine, we turned into zombies. All of us were so tired(since we had done so much that day....not) and opted to finish our wine and go to bed early.
Streets of Asolo.
View from the Bar's balcony.
Me, Holden and Emily at dinner in Asolo.
Sunset in Paderno after all the rain.
Elizabeth and I at the pizzeria in Paderno.
Sunday is when everything started getting interesting... Our original plan was to go church, then go to Verona, skydive in the morning then see the city and return back to Paderno that night. We arrived in Verona, by train around a little after 12. The weather looked perfect right until we arrived in Verona. The four of us hopped in a cab and went over to SkyDive Verona center, to check in with the office and see if it was possible to jump today. They were skeptical of the weather and told us wait there and see if it would clear up. (This is the first time in the entire semester I have seen rain in Italy. Ironic that as we try to do something extreme, the weather would get in the way for the first time.) To make a long story short, we ended up not jumping that day and decided to go into town and explore Verona.
Right when we got into the city center, it began to rain and it even hailed for a little bit. Good thing we didn't jump out of a plane then! Anyways....The city isn't very big and there weren't a lot of tourist attractions, but there was great shopping and a cool market! The main attractions were Juliet's house and Verona Colosseum. We opted not to go into the colosseum since the weather was bad and the it isn't covered. After walking through the streets and window shopping for a bit, we headed over to Casa di Giuliett (Juliet's House). Before entering in the courtyard that has the statue of Juliet and the famous balcony, you have to walk through a short tunnel. In the tunnel, so many people had written their names on the wall. Some people even stuck a piece of gum on the walls and signed over it. As we walked through the tunnel, there was a mint aroma in the air due to all of the gum stuck on the walls. There was a big gate with love locks on it and stores surrounding the courtyard that sold Romeo& Juliet/romantic/cheesy Valentine souvenirs. I don't think I have ever seen so many hearts concentrated in one area before. Elizabeth, Mallory and I wanted to get our picture with the Juliet statue, so we waiting in line and jumped up to the statue the first chance we got! There were no letters to Juliet stuck to the brick wall like there was in the "Letters to Juliet" movie. Sadly I did not write a letter to Juliet, Sorry Mom!!
Verona Colosseum.
Walking through the streets of Verona.
Famous Romeo & Juliet balcony.
Posing with Juliet.
Gate with Love Locks.
After escaping from all of the tourist, we wondered around the town and window shopped. We also walked through a market that sold a lot of hand made and local goods. By then, the rain had finally stopped. For the rest of the evening we walked around the city before catching a cab back to the Skydiving center. The workers at the center felt bad that we had traveled so far away to skydive and didn't get to go that day. They let the four of us and two other study abroad students from Milan stay in their cabin for the night, so we didn't have to get a hotel room or travel all the way back to Paderno. Monday morning we woke up and were ready to jump out of the plane! The four of us were all suited up by 9:30 and Mallory and Elizabeth were getting ready to get on the plane! After watching the two of them take off in the plane and parachute back down, it was finally Emily and I's turn to make the jump!
After getting suited up, they took us to the plane and we were ready for take off. (I'm getting nervous typing about this haha) It didn't really hit me that I was about to jump out of a perfectly working plane until after watching Emily jump out. I was the lucky one who got to watch everyone jump out of the plane and go last. The Italians could tell that Emily and I were a little nervous, so they were poking fun and messing with us the entire way up (over 12,000 feet). We calculated that as we were fee falling 150 feet per second! It was the weirdest and most wicked experience jumping out of the plane. My stomach didn't drop at all because my body just had no idea what was going on at the time. After free falling and spinning around for about 15 seconds, the instructor I jumped with pulled the parachute. For the rest of the time, we paragliding and gave me a tour of Verona. At one point he let me steer the parachute, which is way harder than it looks! After coasting in the sky for about 7 minutes, we made back to the skydiving center and manage a smooth landing. This was probably one of the most craziest things I have ever done. I can't even describe the feeling it was so weird! I won't bore you with any more explanations and show you the good stuff. I do have a video that is pretty funny to watch, but I can't load it on the blog from the DVD. Anyways, here are some pictures from my skydiving experience!
Emily and I before we took off!
Right before we jumped!
Air borne!
It was so cold that morning!
As you can tell, I was really excited.
View of Verona.
Landing.
Post Skydiving!
This week is our last week of school, which means finals! This week will included packing, studying and sleepless night, which every college student get excited about! (sarcasm) After school is over, Elizabeth and I are planning on returning to Barcelona and then visiting a couple friends in Seville. I still can't believe that my abroad experience is coming to an end. These past three months have been the best/amazing/eye opening experience of my life! I am so thankful that I had gotten to see parts of the world that I never thought I would see! Studying abroad has definitely changed my perspective on things and broaden my horizons. (Once again, cheesy/cliche ending sentence).
This week was our last week of regular classes before finals. I can't believe that the program is almost over! These last three months have flown by! I can't believe I am saying this, but I want to stay in school for a little bit longer. So, this week was not only a shorten week(due to our extend/Easter weekend), but we also had our last gourmet dinner and a watching party for the Jayhawks in the National Championship.
The National Championship was broadcasted to us at 3:30 am. After eating dinner and finishing up homework, we all headed over to the Sports Bar across the street. After being there for barely an hour, the owners closed the bar at it's usual 11pm. Since there was such a big crowd at the bar, we were hoping they would stay open later, but that wasn't the case for us. The funniest part was seeing the expressions of the local Italians. They were so confused to see so many "Americanos" dressed up in similar colors chanting the Rock Chalk KU chant. After we left the sports bar, we still had over 4 hours to kill. We grabbed our coats from our rooms and relocated our pre-game antics on the basketball court. Using the bed sheets from our rooms, we managed to create a KU flag with markers. It was pretty comical to watch since everyone wanted to give their input on how the flag looked. After singing the alma mater, yelling chants and listening to music from our laptops, it was finally time for tip-off. Being the dedicated fans that we are, the majority of the Kansas students stayed up the entire night and waiting for the game to start. I'll be honest, I dosed off for a bit during the game. That night all us were spoiled with PB&J sandwiches thanks to the Phi Beta Delta(international business honors society). Despite the fact that we lost the game and that we were not in Lawrence for the March Madness celebrations, I had a great time staying up all night with group of awesome friends who just so happen to love Jayhawk basketball as much as I do!
Some of the KU students at the Sports Bar.
The KU flag we made!
Molly, Laney, Sarah and I on the basketball courts.
On Wednesday night, CIMBA hosted our third and final gourmet dinner. I mentioned the gourmet dinners in a blog post back in January, but for those who don't know...the gourmet dinners are where the students put their European etiquette skills to the test! We are all required to "dress our best" in business or cocktail attire. Each table has a "host" that they follow and there is also a series of course at the dinner. Each dinner has been slightly different. Our business law teacher, who is the founder of CIMBA, told us this venue we would be dinning at was known for it's atmosphere more so than its food. Throughout the dinner we tried various types of appetizers and pastas. By the time they served the entrees, I was about to pop I was so full! As we were all hunched over and overly full, one of the directors of CIMBA came by our table to check our manners. Last formal dinner, she called out Molly for not having her silver ware at the 4 o'clock angle when she was finished with her plate. Luckily she realized how full we were and let us off the hook for not having our wrists on the tables at all times. After taking pictures and watching the sparkling dessert come out, the DJ begin playing music. Despite all of the food we ate and the fullness we felt, all of the students were up for some dancing. Some of our professors even joined in and danced with us, which was a sight to see!
Me, Elizabeth, Sarah and Laney at our table.
The sparkling dessert!
CIMBA students busting moves on the dance floor.
Me, Katherine, Kelcee, Katy and Ella with Kirk, our Entrepreneur professor.
Last week, we had Friday off from school due to a field trip to Trieste, Italy, which is located on the north eastern border of Italy. I'm in a class called Business, Culture & Society that requires us to go on the trip to Trieste. As the buses drove us to Trieste, our class may a couple pit stops at popular venues. Our first stop of the day was the largest WWI monument in Italy in a town called Redipuglia. The memorial commemorates the site of 29 months of war. It is also the cemetery for 100,000 soldiers, that included one women. When you first walk into the monument, you notice large name plates on the ground. This is the list of officers,which they listed them in order of rank. As you walk into the the monument, there are 22 terraces that include the rest of the names of the soldiers. These soldiers were listed in alphabetical order. Some of the students I was with had Italian heritages, so it was fun to see them find their last name and see how many of their relatives were listed on the monument. After climbing to the top of the memorial and taking in all of the scenery, we climbed back down the memorial and walked through some of the bunkers that still remained. I was surprised to see how well conditioned these bunkers were. Here are some pictures from the monument!
View of the WWI monument.
One out of the 22 lists of soldiers.
View from the top of the monument.
Inside the bunkers.
The next stop we made was at the Castello di Miramare (Miramare Castle), which is right outside of Trieste. The castle sits right in the coastline and overlooks the Adriatic Sea. Apparently the castle is very iconic to Trieste. We were told the analogy that Miramare Castle is to Trieste as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris. It was built between 1856-1860 and the original residence of Maximilian von Hapsburg and his wife Charlotte for 4 years. Since then, various people have lived in this castle including the Duke of Aosta, who lived there for 60 years. There was also a garden attached to this castle. We took a glance into the garden, but nothing much has been done to it because the weather is just now getting warmer. After looking at the castle, Erin and I decided to kill some time and hand out near the beach. We sat on some rocks and enjoyed the sunny weather until the busses left for our final stop of the field trip.
Miramare Castle.
View from the Castle's balcony.
Erin and I enjoying the sunny weather.
The last stop of the day was in the town Trieste. This town sits on the border of Italy, Slovenia and Croatia. Our teachers and campus coordinators told us that this town was one of the "unsung" places of Italy that a lot of tourist find very cool. We had no particular agenda when we arrived in Trieste. Our teachers told us to explore the town and try some local gelato, since Trieste is known for having really good gelato. After eating gelato in the town square, we wondered around the town for a bit. We had to make sure and grab our bags from the bus because we were taking another bus to Porec, Croatia for the weekend. Porec is in northern Croatia and is about two hours away from Trieste. After collecting our bags, grabbing dinner we met our bus driver at the central train station. Then we were off to Porec!!
Main plaza in Trieste.
Marina in Trieste.
We got to the hotel by dinner time just in time to watch the sunset. We rented out these apartments for the weekend that were on the same property of a hotel. One thing we noticed was how active all of the guest and locals were in Porec. Everyone was riding their bikes through the town. I even saw a handful of cycling teams out on the paths. So, during our first night in Porec, we got settled into the apartment and watched the sunset. Then we headed over to the city center to find a bite to eat and a market to buy food with. All of our apartments had kitchens, so we decided take advantage of that and cook our meals. After getting a slice of pizza and making a trip to the grocery store, Erin, Kyle, Tony and I wandered back to the apartment and started to make dinner. Since Erin and I weren't the best chefs, Tony decided to cook for us. We ended up having scrambled eggs and toast, which was so yummy! I can't remember the last time that I have had scrambled eggs! By the time we finished dinner it was pretty late. Instead of engaging in the festivities with the other 20 friends that were with us, we cracked open a couple bottles of wine and watch CNN, which was the only English speaking channel on. The four of us ended up falling asleep on one couch even though we had two other beds in the apartment!
On Saturday, everyone slept in that morning. I can't remember the last time we slept in. Everyone always has to get up early for classes during the week and when we travel, the hostels usually kick us out at a certain time during the day. Needless to say, that was a great start to the day! Once we were ready to go, the four of us went by the beach area of the hotel. Our plan was to layout by the water and walk around the city, despite the over cast weather we were experiencing. Even though we didn't get as much sun as we expected, it was night to hang out by the water and watch the local boats drive by. By lunch time we were getting a little hungry, so Kyle, Erin, Tony and I wandered into town to find something to eat. There were rumors floating around amongst the 20 of us about a burger stand that was nearby. We found the burger stand, but it they were only serving drinks at the time since it was not prime lunch hours. After wandering around the marina, we found another restaurant that served something similar to a hamburger. It was meatloaf with french fries. At first I was skeptical about this meal, but it turned out being pretty good! The food was interesting along with our waiter. We had issues with the language barrier since we only spoke Croatian and German. Needless to say, all of us have become pretty good at charades while talking to people who don't speak English.
Sunset from first night in Porec.
Boats in the Marina.
View of the City Center from Hotel.
After lunch, we met up with the rest of our friends that we were traveling with at this random bridge near the marina. Before heading back to the apartment for an afternoon nap, Erin and I hung out the bridge and enjoyed the some what sunny weather. As we walked home, we walked by the beach area of the hotel. Some of the guys we were with had the brilliant idea (sarcasm) of jumping in the freezing cold water. After watching them jump into the water and seeing their priceless reactions, they begin to try and convince Erin and I to jump into the sea. Tony continued to say "When will you ever get to say you swam in the Adriatic Sea?" After listening to the guys ramble for a few minutes, I suck it up and decided to jump into the water. I made Kyle jump in with me just in case I instantly froze when I hit the water (sarcasm again). I thought I had swam in cold water before, but this didn't compare to anything in the least bit. After running back to the apartment and getting warmed up, we decided to by pass a nap and hang out on the porch with everybody. For the next few hours we enjoyed each others company and had a jam sesh. We all took turns playing assorted genres of music dating back to 1990's up until today. For dinner, we tested our skills in the pasta making department. Correction: Erin and I didn't make dinner, Kyle and Tony decided our cooking services were not needed that night. I guess they were trying to tell us that we couldn't cook? Anyways, the guys cooked another yummy meal and we hung out for the rest of the night drinking wine and beer and yet again more throwback music. Even though we didn't attempt to find the Porec nightlife, it was enjoyable to spend time with good friends and have good food. (Cheasy and cliche I know)
Some of the girls watching the sunset.
Some of the guys waiting for the sunset.
Second sunset in Porec.
This upcoming week was our last week in school before finals. Besides finishing final projects and tests, our week is filled with several events including watching the Jayhawks in the National Championship and our last gourmet dinner. We also have a four day weekend because of the Easter holiday, which is the biggest holiday for Italians. A few of us decided stay home in Paderno this weekend. We are planning on doing a day trip to Vernona, night in Asolo and climbing Mount Grappa. Until then Ciao!!
To kick off our second week long break, we flew from Venice on Saturday morning to Brussels. Why did we go to Brussels you may ask? In a town called Hasslet, which was an hour train ride outside of Brussels, there was a concert/rave/party called Sensation White on Saturday. Besides buying a ticket to this event, you were required to dress in all white clothing in order to enter the venue. The event starts at 11pm and lasts through the night until 6am. Throughout the night various DJ's played mixes and there was light show to accompany the music. It is hard to just describe what Sensation actually is, so here is a YouTube video that will do better justice!
After the concert we fought through crowds to make it back to the hotel. The funniest part about returning into Brussels was getting off at the train station. As several people were getting off the train dressed in all white, people who were traveling, going work/church/etc. were dressed in normal attire and gave up the weirdest looks. Even though we spent most of our time in Brussels at Sensation, I still manage to try a Belgium waffle and their infamous french fries!
Amsterdam, Netherlands
On Sunday afternoon, we took a Eurolines bus from Brussels to Amsterdam. It ended up being a 4.5 hour long ride, which wasn't too bad compared to past bus trips I have been on. We arrived in Amsterdam early in the evening and met up with a few of our friends at a pub near the central train station. Despite our exhaustion from Sensation, we navigated our way to a boat house a few guys in our group had rented out for a couple nights. Apparently it is very difficult to find housing in Amsterdam, so that is why a lot of people choose to live in a house boast on the canals. One of our friend was celebrating his 21st birthday that day, so we decided to celebrate by going to dinner and exploring the city for a bit. To my surprise, I didn't know how many canals there were Amsterdam. The city is known as "the Venice of the North." We ended up eating at a Sports Bar that literally anything and everything on the menu. They served pancakes, pizza, ribs, nachos and even a full English breakfast! There were about 12 sitting at one table and throughout the entire meal everyone was silent. It was the weirdest yet most low key dinner I have had all semester. I think we were all still struggling from lack of sleep from Sensation. After dinner, Molly, Chris and I headed towards my friend's apartment. Jana is one of my good friends from Camp Longhorn that I have known for several years. She had been studying in Amsterdam this semester and mentioned that I could stay with her if I ever made it up to Amsterdam. After making to Jana's place and catching up for a bit, the night became fairly dull since we were in desperate need of sleep.
After catching up on sleep, we were ready to explore Amsterdam. We only had until the evening to see the city since we were catching an overnight bus to Paris that night. Jana guided us through the city for most of the day and gave us background history about different things. Before going to class she pointed us in the direction of Ann Frank's apartment. Inside we were able to walk around the apartment and view more things in the connecting museum. The apartment was very narrow and compacted. The stairs were also very steep within the different levels of the apartment. None of the rooms were furnished, but they provided pictures to show what the rooms actually looked like which was cool to see. The museum also displayed actual parts of Ann Frank's diary. She was planning on publishing her diary and had to rewrite her entries onto colored paper upon the request of the publishers.
Her penmanship was impeccable! It was better than any teacher's
handwriting I had seen! We were unable to take pictures in the
apartment, but I was able to grab a couple snapshots via iPhone.
The bookcase that disclosed the apartment.
Outside of Ann Frank's apartment.
Chris and I.
One of the Canals.
After visiting the apartment, Molly, Chris and I backtracked our way to Dam Square. The square was surrounded by beautiful buildings and the square was of course filled with street performers. There were people dressed up standing on boxes waiting for people to take pictures with them and we even ran into a guy who was juggling a machete and lighting things on fire. We also walked through a flea market that was near Jana's apartment. The vendors sold anything from tourist souvenirs, weed/smoking paraphernalia (since it is legal to smoke in Amsterdam) , vintage clothing, jewelry and bicycle equipment. I forgot to mention that every uses bicycles as their form of transportation here. All of the roads had bike lanes and there were some roads only open to bikes. After Jana was finished with class, she led us to the Museum Park. Obviously this was the area of town where the Van Gogh museum was along with the Natural History Museum and other exhibits. This park also had the infamous structure that spells out IAmsterdam. Being the tourists that we were, we all took pictures of ourselves with the letters.
By the time we made it made to Jana's apartment, grabbed our bags and ate dinner at this amazing crepe place called The Pancake Corner, it was already time to head over to the bus station, which took about 30 minutes by metro from where we were coming from. Even though our stop in Amsterdam was brief, I enjoyed my time there! Thank you Jana for everything! It was great!
Dam Square.
In Museum Park.
Jana and I at Museum Park.
Paris, France
The overnight bus was an entire experience in its self! I sat next to a guy who was clearly doesn't understand the term personal space. He was sitting next to window and I was on the aisle. Throughout the bus ride, he would not only sleep in a position that would take up his seat, but he also managed to take up half of my seat as well. Talk about getting close and comfortable with a stranger! Throughout the night I would casually nudge him or make obvious remarks that he was taking up room than enough room. The poor guy couldn't take a hint!
Anyways Molly, Elizabeth, Ben, Laney, Chris and I made it to Paris by 6:30am. Just in time to catch the first round of metros in the city! When I looked at the metro map, I didn't know where to look first. There were so many stops and so many different lines to use! My distress may have been because it was so early in the morning and I was still waking up! After putting our navigation skills to the test, we made it to our hotel. Since it was so early, the rooms weren't ready. Chris and I decided to walk over to Notre Dame, since it was down the street from us. I don't think we could have timed it any better. We were able to walk inside Notre Dame and walk around the it before the mass crowds of tourists came. Right as we walked out of the cathedral, a huge tour group was about to go inside. We opted to not stick around the crowds and grabbed some coffee and croissants at a nearby cafe.
After checking for the second time to see if our rooms were ready(which they weren't), we decided to walk along the Sein River since it was down the street from the hotel. Chris and I walked along the river past Notre Dame. We went by the Palace of Justice, a few fountains and we came across this block of pet stores. We walked into a couple of the pet stores and they sold all types of animals. There were all kinds of breeds of dogs, cats, fish, birds and rodents. It was just so random coming across all these pet shops in the middle of Paris. We also walked across a couple bridges with deadbolt locks locked on them. I guess couples wanted to "lock their love" away in Paris on a random bridge....how clique! So for the rest of the afternoon we wondered around town and grab some fresh fruit from the market to settle our rumbling stomachs. By then, our hotel room was ready for us, so we took a afternoon nap! We were all still struggling from our sleepless night during Sensation.
By the time we woke up it was dinner time and we were decided what we should do for dinner. The manager of the hotel suggested us to go on a boat ride down the Seine River and see the city lit up at night. Being the tourists that we were, Chris and I decided go on the boat ride. We didn't want to stay in the hotel all night and we didn't want to explore the Paris nightlife since we had heard negative reviews about it. After taking a local bus to the marina, we hopped on the boat literally a minutes before the boat left. It was a 90 minute boat ride that took you down the river. We say the Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, French Institute and several other buildings. There were a lot of bridges that crossed over the river. Each bridge consisted of a different design, so it was cool to get a closer look at them.
Right after we finished up with the boat tour, the "plague" hit us. We figured we just ate some bad food and it would pass within 24 hours, but we ended up being sick for the rest of the week. (We started feeling sick on Tuesday night.) There were 6 of us who got sick. I will spare you the details of our illness, but it was the worst food poisoning that I have ever had.
Outside Notre Dame.
Some of the stain glass windows.
Front window of the cathedral.
Palace of Justice.
Bridge with Love Locks.
Seine River.
View from River Boat.
Eiffel Tower at Night.
On Wednesday, we spent our morning in the Louvre Museum. Even though we were still struggling from our food poisoning, we managed to bear the crowds and see the more popular works of art. We saw the Mona Lisa, Code of Hammurabi, Aphrodite, Napoleon's Apartments, The Wedding Feast and so many more. I uploaded just a few pictures from the Louvre. The rest are uploaded to a Facebook album.
Outside of the entrance to the Louvre.
Code of Hammurabi.
Aphrodite.
Mona Lisa.
The rest of the afternoon, we spent time in the park outside of the Louvre calledJardin des Tuileries. As we walked through the park, we took time to hang out and relax near the fountains. There were a bunch of lawn chair that surrounded these fountains. A lot of locals and tourists sat around the fountains and enjoyed their lunch break there. After hanging out in the park we made our way towards the Arch de Triumph. Fun Fact: Insurance companies in Paris do not cover their clients in this roundabout because of the high number of car accidents there. It has been said that every 15 minutes there a wreck in the roundabout. That policy does not surprise me at all because as we sat across the street to take pictures of the arc, we witnessed almost three wrecks in under five minutes. Since the Eiffel Tower was in sight, Chris and I decided to venture over there and hang out on the lawn in front of the tower. On our walk over to the lawn, we walked by a bunch of embassies including Egypt, Switzerland, Iran and the French Financial Union. There were some French policemen and security guards surrounding the outside of the Iran Embassy. Needless to say we got some death stares as we walked by the embassy from the police force. Before it started to get dark, we sat on the lawn in front of the Effiel Tower and enjoyed the weather. We thought about going up to the top of the tower, but there was a three hour wait. By this point in the day the two of us were struggling due to our food poisoning and the only thing I wanted to do was lay in bed. I think I set a record that night as I was in bed and asleep by 7 o'clock that night.
Fountain in the Gardin deTuileries.
Chris hanging out near the fountain.
Arch de Triumph.
Eiffel Tower.
Getting to the airport the next morning was an epidemic in itself. Out of the five of us that were leaving from the hotel at that time, four of us were still sick with food poisoning. I will make this long story short, but basically we went to multiple subway stops just to get on the right line to the airport, ran into a protest near Notre Dame, Holden threw up in a subway station and the metro tickets we bought did not work in the subway station, so we had to become friendly with the locals and use their metro passes. The good news is that all of us made it to the airport with plenty of time before our flight.
Barcelona, Spain
On Thursday afternoon the nine of us (Holden, Sarah and Kyle met up with us in Paris) flew from Paris to Barcelona using EasyJet Airlines, which is one of the discount airlines most travelers use in Europe. We arrived in Barcelona around 3 and grabbed a cab from the airport to the hostel. The original plan was to check in at the hostel and start exploring the city. Things changed quickly after we landed in Barcelona and a wave of stomach cramps, nausea, headaches and fevers came over the four of us (Chris, Sarah, Holden and Me). After making a trip to a nearby grocery and stocking up on water, gatorade and crackers, we thought after sleeping for a bit, we would all be cured. Sadly, we all still felt sick, but that did not stop us from trying local tapas and sangria. We learned that a lot of tapas places have a rule about the number of tapas you order. The place we ate required you to order at least two tapas places unless you were ordering a full entree.
The next morning we got up ready to explore the city. Our first stop was Sagrada La Familia, which is the iconic church located in the heart of Barcelona. Unfortunately we did not beat the crowds at this popular sightseeing spot. Along with the other 100 tourists wanting to go inside the church, Sarah and I had to wait in line for about half an hour which wasn't too bad. As we waited outside we could admire the all the details of the church. The church was also on construction and had been for quite some time now. It was fun to see the workers climb up to different points of the church and watch them work on the church's exterior. The inside of the La Familia was breathe taking! It was unlike any other church I'd seen before. It was much more modern and abstract compared to the traditional/standard Catholic Church. The stain glass windows were very colorful and the arches in the ceiling had the coolest angles and designs in them. I won't try to explain the church anymore and just upload some pictures I took!
Front of La Familia.
One of the stain glass windows.
Looking at the alter.
Ceiling.
Backside of La Familia.
After La Familia, we hopped on the subway to Las Ramblas, which is a huge market run by locals. There was variety of types of stands including souvenirs, flowers, soccer jerseys, snacks, chocolate, herbs. Off the main road there was an entrance to the main market that sold more fruits, vegetables, smoothies and other products you could either eat or cook with. We walked all the way through Las Ramblas and ended at one of the marinas. For most of the day I felt fine and thought I had finally over come my food poisoning, but right when we finished walking through Las Ramblas, I had the chills and felt like I had a fever. After getting medicine from a nearby pharmacy, I went back to the hostel to sleep while the rest of the group walked around the beach. By the time I woke up it was dinner time. I felt better than earlier that afternoon and I was ready to go to dinner and experience Barcelona's nightlife. This time Chris had a fever and not much of an appetite, so he skipped dinner and slept. The four of us (Kyle, Sarah, Holden and me) went to another nearby tapas restaurant. The placed was packed with locals, so we were sure that the food was fairly decent.
After a delicious dinner( grilled chicken with cous cous and vegetables), Kyle and I headed over towards this bar that reminded us of the Sandbar back in Lawrence, KS. The bar was decorated with strands of Christmas lights and tropical votives. At this point, Chris met up with us since he felt better after his nap. Aside from sangria, mojitos are another drink that Barcelona is known for. So the three of us sampled the local mojitos and tried a local beer called Estrella. Both drinks were very tasty, but I stuck with a beer since the mojitos were a little on the sugary side. After spending a couple hours at the bar, we were ready to move on to another place. As we were walking back to the main road, yet again I felt nauseous, light headed and had the chills. Perfect timing right? Initially, I though I could though it out and enjoy the nightlife, but it got worse as time passed. By that point I felt like I needed to go to bed, so I left Chris and Kyle and returned to the hostel. I think the weirdest thing about Barcelona's night life is that the locals go out so late. We went to dinner at 10pm and went to the tropical bar around 12am and I was in bed by 2am. We were told that most clubs in Barcelona don't even open until 2-3am.
Las Ramblas.
The Market entrance.
Sarah and I at the tapas restaurant.
The next morning(Saturday), I woke up to stories of Chris and Kyle making up to the VIP club in the W Hotel. Of all people that I have traveled with this semester, Kyle always randomly manages to get into VIP areas of clubs and bars without paying a bouncer. The original agenda for the morning was to walk over to the peninsula and ride the cable cars over the bay to this castle. After walking over the the cable cars, we quickly found out that the carts to the castle were closed for the day. As we walked over to the cable car station, we passed several stores that offered bike/roller blades/vespa/four wheeler/go cart rentals. Kyle was in the "renting mood" so the two of us decided to rent a vespa and drive it on the streets of Barcelona. Yes, we thought this was a dumb idea at first and we were nervous driving in the streets with other traffic around us, but the store manager said that we would be fine! Luckily I did not drive the vespa. Kyle drove and we navigated our way to the peninsula and drove down streets parallel to the beach. While we were at a stop light, a couple of police officers pulled up next to us. We were terrified because we thought they would ask us for our international driver's license, which neither of us have. They noticed I had my iPhone in my hand and t offered to take our picture on the vespa which was pretty funny. Sadly, they couldn't take a picture of us since the traffic light turned green and we scooted off on the vespa!
After returning the vespa in one piece, we looked into taking a catamaran ride along the coast line that afternoon. Kyle and I woke up Chris at the hostel and went back over to the marina. After buying our tickets and a couple of Estrella beers, we boarded the catamaran and began our tour along the coast. We were able to see a bunch of sights from the coast including La Familia, W Hotel, the castle and other big modern buildings. The weather was perfect too, so the catamaran ride turned out really well. After finishing our boat ride and investigating the option of taking a helicopter tour(Kyle was really wanting to do one) it was time for dinner. Kyle, Chris, Sarah, Holden and I had been reunited and decided to make dinner at the hostel since they had an open kitchen. The easy thing and the only thing our stomachs would keep down was pasta, so Chris and I went made pasta with some tomato and basil sauce. We wanted to go out and enjoy Barcelona's nightlife, but all of us had early flights the next morning and it was day light savings. We were all paranoid missing our flights since the time shifted one hour ahead. Even though we were all sick, I loved my time in Barcelona. Next time I'm back I'll be sure to be healthy and well rested, so I can explore the city even more!
