Its getting warmer! I love Spring and can't wait for the beautiful weather to continue...

So i've been really busy!  And finally have time to take a breather... and update this of course.

Last friday, I got up early and headed to the BCN airport to meet my parents.  They landed around 8:55, and finally came out of the terminal around 9:40.  They left the U.S. at about 9pm EST out of Newark after a very long day.  At 6am EST my dad headed into Philly because he lost his passport.  By about 12:30 he was given a new passport, and he headed back to Doylestown to pick up my mom and head to Newark airport.

So anyway, we finally reunited in BCN airport where we headed straight off to a car rental place, and jumped in the car to drive north.  It was great to see my parents (it felt like such a long time since I saw them even though I go way longer without seeing them in college park).

We started our journey off in a town called Llieda about an hour and half from Barcelona.  This town is still in Catalonia.  I feel like I haven't really explained anything about Catalonia so let me do that right now;

Barcelona is the biggest city and capital of the autonomous province of Catalonia.  Everyone here speaks both Catalan (a mixture of spanish and french) and Castilian (which is the Spain version of Spanish).  There are two other autonomous provinces in Spain; Galicia (they speak galician ) and the Basque country (they speak basque).

ANYWAY, So Lleida was nothing that special.  I don't even recommend stopping there if you're driving by...  We had lunch and it was delicious, but besides that the town really had nothing to offer.

The highlight of Lleida, it was part of the church and the oldest part of the city on the highest hill of the city.  The flags are the Catalan flag, Spanish Flag, and... I'm not sure what the third one is.

We hopped back in the car.  I offered to drive, but the cars are all manual and being a stupid American born in 1990 I have no idea how to drive stick shift... so i was excused from driving.  We drove for another hour and half, and we ended up in a city called Zaragoza.  This city was beautiful, small, and a really cool place to visit.

We dropped my dad off at a hotel to see how much it was and if we'd want to stay there.  Because there is very little parking in many of these European cities we drove around the block a few times before he came outside.  Finally he was waiting on the curb and we pulled over to let him in.  Meanwhile a cop was pulling out of his parking place and he slammed into our rental car.  He broke the tail light and left a lovely scrape.  Jeri and Henri were freaking out, but after the cop took the blame and starting writing a report I was cracking up.

They were good sports and took all of the blame!

We ate dinner a random restaurant called Sidecar where they provided us with a small grill and we were able to cook our own meat on it, it was really good! We also ordered Sangria and it was delicious.

We walked around a little bit the next morning, but headed back to the car where we continued to drive north.  Along the way we stopped in Pamplona for lunch.  We parked on the outskirts of the old city on green striped lines (remember this).  It was about 3:30 and the first three or four restaurants turned us away because they were closing the kitchen up.  In Spain stores close everyday from around 2-4.  The restaurants in Barcelona are usually open all day, but apparently in Pamplona which is a much smaller town this isn't the case everything shuts down around 4.

We finally found a restaurant that was willing to serve us so late.  The food was okay, but really nothing too special.  We walked down the street where the running of the bulls happens.  Too bad this event happens in the summer because it would have been awesome to see!

The street where the running of the bulls takes place.

We walked back to the car, but when we got there it wasn't there.  Of course my dad didn't even notice, and he said "which car is ours?" And I pointed to the empty space...

The note they left us.

We found a taxi and he asked where we were going and my dad showed him the towing sticker.  He kind of laughed ... my dad said that we parked on green lines which is usually pretty universal for meaning "Free or good."  When we got to the towing office they had no sympathy for us.  We had to pay 112 euros (About $140).  Of course if we were Spanish residents it would have only been 70 euros... Again we had to laugh at our bad luck.  My parents were ready to turn the car in, but instead we headed further north to San Sebastian.

San Sebastian is absolutely beautiful!  It is located in the Basque Country.  First of all let me say that basque is the weirdest language ever!.  "Euskal bitxienetariko hizkuntza da inoiz" (this is the google translated version so its not perfect, but you get the idea).  


San Sebasitan is in northern Spain touching the Atalntic Ocean.  Its about 10 minutes away from the France border, and it's the place where all the rich and famous people go for their summer vacations.  The beach is kind of like a cove with all of the city surrounding it.  It also hold one of the famous film festivals.  If you get a chance to go visit it!  We walked around the city and an amazing four cheese pizza with onions.  The onions were made with wine and sugar and were actually really delicious! one of the best pizzas i've ever had.  


Before leaving the city we drove up the side of a mountain on the edge of the cove and looked out over San Sebastian.  One of the prettiest views ever!  Because it was sunday it was time to head back to Barcelona for a week of classes.

The drive back was awesome.  It took 7 or 8 hours but we drove back all the way through the Pyrenees mountains.  The roads were extra windy and very steep but the views were breath taking.  I didn't even really mind I was in the car until 5 hours later.  My mom would disagree as she was driving most of the way...

A very narrow two way bridge we crossed.

On the other side of this mountain a whole village was built but i couldn't get a good picture of that.

The week was a short one.  On Monday night my dad wasn't feeling well, so me my mom and Nikki went out to eat.  We went to a place called Hamburgesa where they had delcious gorument hamburgers and delicious hummus and guacamole.  Dinner was good!

On Tuesday Mom and Dad went to visit Sagrada Familia and Monjuic (which is a mountain overlooking all of Barcelona).  Later me and Nikki met with them to go out to dinner again.  We went to Las Ramblas (which is where all the tourists go... there is tons of shopping and many resturants).  We went to a Tappas resturant and we all order all you can eat tappas for 14.95 euros.  

So... story time. They had these things called Potatos Bravas and they had an orangish colored sauce on them.  So i tried them, and the potatoes were crunchy, and I thought the sauce was funky but kind of good...  After the meal my dad asked what they were and it turns out they had mayo in them.  I CANT BELIVE I DIDNT NOTICE.  After dinner I felt sick... my parents and nikki obviously think I'm crazy but I can't believe I ate them.  I will never fall for something like that again.  Also we got sangria and they totally ripped us off charging 40 euros for 1 Litro (think half a soda bottle) of Sangria.

Wednesday, we went out to lunch, did a little bit of shopping and I took my dad to the outdoor market on Las Ramblas.  It is a market that has a ton of fruit stands, meat, and fish.  Its a beautiful market and I recommend that everyone go to it.  My dad LOVED it.  Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I'll have to steal some of my dads pictures later.  Later I got a haircut, and they gave me really Spanish bangs... uhh hair grows back right?

Wednesday night was crazy.  We had to leave my apartment by 715 the next morning to catch an early flight, so I was busy finishing up my work and packing.  Around 9 pm I went on to the R.H. Smith School (business school) website to check something about my business school application.  A month or so ago I read that my application was due on June 1st for the priority deadline, so I knew I didn't have much to worry about while in Barcelona.  When I logged on on wednesday night, it now said application due March 1st.  As of wednesday that gave me 4 days to complete the application, but I was leaving for portugal early the next morning. 

I started to freak out because I had no idea how I was going to send my application and have it make it to the states on time.  My resume was finished but I still had to fill out the application, write a personal statement, find someone to write a recommendation, and fill out a couple of other forms and letters in order to have everything I needed.  I contacted my advisor but even she wasn't convinced that the date was March 1st, she thought there was a mistake.   I was on hold for over 20 minutes with the Maryland undergraduate department, and finally got through and they told me that yes, the application was due on March 1st.

Anyway tomorrow is the due date, and thankfully I finally got everything completed.  A special thanks to Meghan who is turning everything in for me.

On thursday morning we headed out early to our flight to Porto, Portugal.  When we arrived we once again rented a car and headed towards Lisbon (a three hour drive).  The weather was beautiful! About 68 degrees.  I started reading the Hunger Games (and actually finished it by sunday, its really good i recommend it).  We stopped in a small town called Mira for lunch. 

We ate at a small restaurant and the table next to us was four old men playing cards.  The atmosphere was wonderful, the men were yelling at each other, and one keep saying "Mentirioso" which means liar.  The owner who we think was one of their lives kept coming out to yell at them and tell them to be quiet because they were disturbing her guests, but we really enjoyed it.

We drove into Lisbon which has a beautiful old town and found an hotel.  The next day we walked around and decided to take the Lisbon bus tour.  If you ever go to Lisbon, this is a really good way to see the city I definitely recommend it.

We stopped at this monument:

The Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Lisbon, Portugal, celebrates Portuguese explorers. It is probably the coolest monument I've ever seen if you go to Lisbon make sure you see it.  

We also walked into a monastery that was beautiful.

I'm obsessed with ceilings...

Later we took a tram car up the tiny/steep streets of Lisbon up the mountain overlooking the whole city.  It was beautiful and exactly what I pictured before arriving in Lisbon.

And finally a random picture on the tram;

On the last night in lisbon we were looking for a place to eat when we came across Bamba.  He is about 40 years old and is from Dakar, Senegal.  He asked us where we were from and when we said the U.S. he got really excited.  He loves Obama, and was so excited that he gave us free bracelets for good luck.  (we gave him a euro or two...).

The next morning we drove back to Porto which is an old beautiful city build on the side of a river.  We did a boat tour and cruised up and down the river which was a perfect way to see the whole city.

That night i got NO sleep because my parents were having a contest of who could snore the loudest... let me tell you it was definitely a tie!

Now I'm back in Barcelona and trying to plan my three weeks of traveling after the semester ends.

So it's been a while since I posted anything.  

Last weekend Meera, Michelle, Kirstie, Kaylin, and Grace all came to visit.  They arrived in Placa Catalunya around 1:30 am and we headed back to the apartment.  Everyone was tired from traveling and we missed the free entry into the clubs so we decided to lay low and go to bed early.  

We woke up around 11 am, and headed back over to Placa Catalunya.  We were walking around the streets of the gothic quarter doing some random shopping and looking for a place to eat.  Finally, we found a restuarnt that looked good.  It included four courses and a drink for 10 euros. 

First they brought out bread and some kind of delicious oily dipping sauce . Then they brought out the soup of the day which was kind of a really plain potato soup.  After that i got hummus.  The hummus was really good!  The next course consisted of garlic chicken and potatoes.  And fianlly you got to pick a desert and I got spain's version of apple pie (it was nothing like American apple pie but still delicious).  After the meal we were stuffed!  But we had barely done any shopping so we continued on our journey. 

We got back to the apartment at around 8pm.  Everyone showered and got ready for the evening.  We headed to la Bolsa which is a stock market themed jobs.  The prices of drinks go up and down with supply and demand.  The drinks get more expensive when everyone orders the same one and less expensive when no one is ordering it.  The concept is really cool and exciting, however, it really wasn't that exciting when we were actually there.  After the bar we were going to Razzmatazz which is a very famous spanish club with five different floors.  Each floor has different types of music.  We got there around 130 am and paid 15 euros to get it.  Each club is free on a different night of the week (for Razzmatazz its usually wednesdays but the girls from Rome really wanted to go).  No one was at the club yet because it was too early.  We walked around and kind of danced for a while.  Around 3 am people were just starting to come.  Around 330 am we decided to leave because we were tired, the club still wasn't full, and we really didn't like the music very much.  However there were tons of locals which was a really cool mix up from the other american packed clubs we have been to thusfar.

On Saturday we started the day at La Rosa Negra which is our favorite mexican resturant with wonderful guacamole!  We then took the Roma girls to Parc Guell which I'm pretty sure I talked all about in a older post so I wont elaborate.  After the park we decided to go to the mall.  All the rome girls did a TON of shopping.  Apparently Barcelona is much cheaper than rome because each one went back with a few pairs of boots, some tops, leather jackets and various other items.  I bought a leather jacket and a dress (for 5 euros!).  I'm pretty proud of myself for not spluring on clothes because those are really the first things I bought.  I might have more of a problem in the summer because I love summer clothes.

After shopping we headed back to the apartment to again to rest and get ready for the evening.  I made everyone fried rice (we're all broke and fried rice is super cheap to make).  We headed to a bar called "chupitos" which translates to shots.  They have over 350 shots to chose from.  They have the "Harry Potter" that is lit on fire and sparks like a wand, they have "the boy scout" which is where they give you a marshmallow to roast on the fire, then you stick it in your shot then drink it, they have finding nemo where they put whip cream on top of a shot, and a little gummy fish in the whip cream, you have to find nemo in the whip cream, show and show the bartender the fish before you're allowed to take the shot.. and obviously many more.

After the bar we went to our apartment, but the girls had to pack up there stuff because they had a 630 am flight back to Rome on sunday morning.  Around 330 we left the apartment and took them back to Placa Catalunya so they could catch the night bus to the airport.  We departed around 445.  Because the metro doesn't run as frequently in the middle of the night on saturdays we didn't get home till 530 am so we crashed, and slept until about 2 on sunday afternoon.

The rest of the week was very boring and busy.  I had an exam in Cultures Without the State (which proved to be easier than i thought but unfortunately I only studied the harder material so we'll see how that goes) on wednesday and a presentation about Andy Warhol today. Finally those are over and I can relax!

 Our apartment is falling apart.  The internet does not work, and we have to try to feed off of other people's unsecured networks (this is proving to be very difficult because there internet doesn't work either).  on monday i decided to do my laundry.  When i finished the wash i opened the washer but it was still completely full of water, so all the water came rushing out and went down the balcony.  (since i'm on the six floor it soaked everyone's clothes on the way down.  I had to attempt to let out the rest of the water into a bucket, and then I had to ring out my clothes one by one and hang them on my drying rack... fun times.

Oh! I have a Skype interview on Monday with a prospective internship for the summer!  Wish me luck, I've never did a virtual interview before... this should be interesting.

And finally my parents are arriving in Barcelona tomorrow morning!  I am very excited to see them (and i especially can't wait for the free/delicous meals that come along with =] )   Thats all for now!

This weekend was one of my favorite weekends yet.  I ate way too much food, saw practically every touristy thing in Rome, and hung out with Meera, Michelle, and all of their rome friends.

Nikki, Cindy and I started our tripped at around 430, when we left the apartment.  We took the metro to the train station, then the train to the airport.  We took Ryan Air which is cheap but actually sucks.  You're only allowed to bring one carry on (but you can't even have like a purse or something like that, literally one bag) and it really cant be much bigger than a backpack.  Its a good thing we were visiting Michelle and Meera because we used their clothes all weekend.  Anyway, Ryan Air was 40 minutes late (for no reason), and we finally arrived in rome at about 10:15.

When we got off the plane we found a kiosk for the bus we needed to take into the city.  I felt like such an idiot because I realized that I didn't know a single word of Italian.  Literally nothing... I walked up to the kiosk and asked if she spoke english.  She gave me a dirty look and rudely said yes.  So we bought our tickets.

I turned my phone on so I could call Michelle.  We were planning on meeting at the Nike store Termini Station which is the central bus and train area in Rome.  When I turned on my phone it asked me for my PIN number.  Trouble is i have no idea what my pin was because I have never turned my phone off before.  I use my phone so infrequently here that I only have to charge it once every week and half.  I was freaking out because we were 40 minutes late, my phone didn't work, we didn't have michelle's number, we didn't have their address, we had nothing.  40 minutes later we finally got to Termini, and luckily found them near Nike so all was well.

We took a bus back to their apartment which is on the edge of the city (kind of far away) but in a pretty neighborhood.  Their apartment was HUGE.  We put our bags down and met their friends.  After about 20 mintues we decided to go out to a bar called Scholars.  It is an Irish pub.  It should really be called American Exchange Students because that would apply to about 90% of the people there.  But it was fun.

We woke up around 10 the next morning to go out and explore Rome.  Meera made me a sandwhich with some kind of red pesto, tomato, mozzarella and basil it was delicious.  We headed out into the city by bus and tram.  After being spoiled with Barce's wonderful public transportation I can honestly say that Rome's system SUCKS.  You can wait up to 30 minutes for a bus to come, and there really is no way to know when to catch it.

Once we got into the city we first went to the Pantheon.  Kelly was quite knowledgeable and told me that the pantheon is made of marble and other materials from all over Italy.  It has the biggest dome in Rome, and I realized that I really like the architecture of domes.  Fun fact; when Michael Angelo was designing the Dome for Saint Peter's Basillica he wanted it to be the best of the best.  He frequently went to the Pantheon to study it.   When it came time to make the Basilica's dome he decided that he loved and admired the pantheon so much that he couldn't bring himself to make the basilica's dome bigger... so its 4 meters smaller in diameter.

Anyway after this we ate a big lunch.  We got wine, bruschetta (which was the best I've ever had) and pasta for 11 euros.  I was actually really disappointed in my spaghetti carbonara but ohh well.

We headed to the trevi fountain where we made wishes and through our coins in.  Of course me and nikki want to watch the Lizzie McGuire movie because we've been to Rome now. We finished out the day at the Spanish steps.

We all headed home on the awesome bus system where everyone took naps because we were all exhausted.  Later we decided we were going to go to a club, but we never made it there because we couldn't find it. We stopped to ask for directions in a little pizza shop and of course had to try some of the food.  Me and michelle split a tomato mozzarella and basil pizza, and i got supple which was delicious.  I I really cannot describe whats in it so I'm not even going to try. We went to the Drunken Ship but it was over crowded and everyone was wasted so instead we decided to head home.

We woke up and went to the Vatican.  Some tour guides almost swindled us into pay 30 dollars each for a guided tour.  This also included the admission for the museum and skipped any lines.  The man told us that it was originally 50 but because we were a group of 10 it was 40. Then he said he would give it to us for 30 because we were students.  We almost did the tour but at the last minute we decided to bail.  You could tell the tourguide was pissed, but oh well.  

Instead of going into the Vatican we obviously decided to eat first.  We got delicious Pizza once again.  We then headed into the Vatican where we did not have to wait in line (because there was none).  The admission to the Vatican was 15 euro, but we only paid 8 because we are students.  

The vatican is huge! The museum is tons of rooms with tons of amazing paintings and sculptors and all other kinds of art.  We finally made it into the Sistine Chapel....

(shh don't tell anyone i wasn't supposed to take a picture of this).  Honestly they ceiling of the sistine chapel kind of disappointed me.  Don't get me wrong it was amazing, but after spending the whole day in the Vatican museum and seeing ceiling after ceiling painted better than I've ever seen before, the chapel didn't have the WOAH affect it would have had, if it was the first ceiling I saw.  

After the musem we headed over to Saint Peter's Basilica. It is absolutely enormous and beautiful! On normal days you can go to the dome at the top and look out over the city of rome but for some reason this day it was closed. 

To give you an idea of how big the basilica is the letters written on the building are 8 feet tall!

(Look at nikki and michelle posing in the background hahah...)

We headed back to the apartment, and got ready for dinner.  We went to a resturant that is owned by a professor at American University of Rome (where Michelle and Meera study) so he offers a discount to students.  For 10 euro you get bruschetta, pasta dish, wine, and a desert.  The meal was delicious!  We were so full at the end of it but it was really worth it.  

We went back home because we were exhausted and knew we had a long day on Sunday.  Sunday was slow moving to get out of the apartment but when we finally did we headed to the Coliseum.  It was awesome!  We paid 16 euros for a guided tour and entrance fee.  It was worth it because we learned all about it.  For example, the animals were kept in the basement and were brought to the stadium using elevators made of wood, ropes, and pulleys.  The coliseum was probably my favorite site that we saw all weekend.  

After our tour we said goodbye to Kelly, Kirstie, Kaylin, and Grace.  We headed to a resturant where we got pizza and more suple for 4 euros!  And went back to pack and go to the airport.  50 minutes later when we were almost at the apartment Michelle realized she didn't have here key.  The rest of the girls were out shopping so we didn't know if Nikki and Cindy were gonna be able to get into the apartment to get their stuff (my stuff was in Meera's apartment).  Finally we got in contact with one of the other roommates and luckily they were at the apartment. 

Our ride home was uneventful.  The flight was 45 minutes late (I don't know if we're unlucky or this is typical of Ryan Air).  I dropped my boarding pass on the ground, but luckily 10 minutes later it was still were i left it... oops!  

We arrived back in Barcelona and were finally home by about 2 am.  I was so happy to return to Spain because I spent the entire weekend having no idea how to communicate with anyone.  I didn't know a word of Italian, and it was really nice to go back to Spain where I could talk to most people and ask them simple questions.  I did however realize I love the way Italian is spoken its really cool!

It was really fun weekend, but I ate way too much!  I am really glad I'm not studying in Italy because I would come back 50 pounds heavier!

This is gonna be a short one;

This week has gone by much faster than I expected.  I got an 84 on my 5 page paper that I wrote the second week of class (and considering I'm in Barcelona, and this paper definitely was not even close to one of my better ones AT ALL, I'll take the 84).

On Monday, I went shopping.  Thank god I'm cheap because I only bought a purse. There are clothes, and shoes, and accessories everywhere, I'm glad that I have self control and can stop myself from shopping! I have already spent a lot of money so I need to be careful!  Also the Euro just went from 1.33 to 1.37 so now things are even more expensive!

Tomorrow I am going to Rome!  I will be visiting Michelle and Meera, and the beautiful city :).  I could not be more excited!!!  I'll be updating about that next week.

So by the end of March the Maryland-in-Barcelona program is having a photo contest among all the students and the winner will win 50 euros!  There are three categories; best photo, funniest photo, and best cultural photo... so keep a look out at my pictures and let me know which ones you think I should pick... I have until March so I will remind you.

Thats all for now!