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:
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.
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