Barcelona!

On Saturday morning I took a 7:30 am train to Barcelona.  I really wanted to go and it was the last possible weekend I could use my Eurail Pass so essentially I had to go.  No one wanted to come with me so once again I was all on my own.  My train got into Barcelona at 10:30 am.  After getting a coffee and some money out of the ATM, I took the metro to my hostel.  When I got there I put my bags in the storage room and asked the girl at the front desk for suggestions on what to do.  She told me I should just go to the Gothic part of the city and explore. So that is exactly what I did.

The first thing I did was go to the Mercat de San Josep.  It was amazing. They literally had everything that you could ever imagine in terms of food there.  The seafood selection was incredible and they scaled and cut up the fish for you right in the market. My mom would have loved it.  I ate an amazing lunch of calamari and shrimp.  They were so delicious, I was pretty much the happiest person on earth.  I also had fresh squeezed Mango and Coconut juice.  It was more like a smoothie, but it was equally as good as my seafood.  

View of the cruise ships from my tour around the harbor.

After being in a fishy mood I decided to head down to the water.  While I was there I decided to enjoy it fully and took a 35 minute harbor cruise.  It was so nice. The weather was ridiculously nice and the water was so blue and beautiful, I felt right at home.  After my cruise I visited the floating mall.  I just strolled through since I didn't really want to do any shopping.  Then I went to try and see Sta. Maria del Mar but it was closed. So then I went to the Picasso museum.  I'm not a huge fan of good old Pablo, but it was still a cool museum (especially since it had a lot of his earlier work which is actually normal).  I then tried to go see the Cathedral, but that was also closed because the Pope was coming to visit the next day.  The Pope didn't even go to the Cathedral, he went to the Sagrada Familia Basilica, but the Cathedral was still closed (I think the Cathedral people were bitter the Pope wasn't coming to their church).  I saw some people protesting the Pope which doesn't really make sense to me.  If you don't like the Pope, don't be Catholic.  Or you can be Catholic and retain all the beliefs of the faith without agreeing with the Pope.  Protesting a religious figure seems a little unnecessary to me.

Gaudi's house.

 After that I walked to the area where Gaudi's house is.  I was going to go in and see it, but I didn't really want to spend 17€ on one tour.  So instead I went to the CaixaForum which is located in one of Gaudi's buildings.  It had a free art exhibit of works by Mariscal.  Google him. You'll probably recognize some of his cartoon characters.  I continued to walk around for a little bit longer after that.  I had some of the best chocolate gelato ever before I decided it was time to head back to my hostel for the night.  On the way there the metro train I was on broke down. So I got off and decided to explore the area which was the Plaza Espanya.  There's supposed to be a magical fountain in front of the Park Montjuïc, but of course it was under construction so there was no light show.  So I ended up walking in this huge circle for no reason.

CaixaForum #1

Finally I went back to the hostel and asked the guy at the desk for a restaurant suggestion in the area.  He gave me one and after resting a little while I went to check it out.  There was basically no one there; obviously not the restaurant I was looking for.  So I decided to walk around a little  bit and see what else I could find.  I found nothing.  So despite my tiredness I got back on the metro and decided to head back toward the center.  I walked down a street where earlier I had seen a bunch of restaurants.  After looking at a few menus I found one I thought I might like.  So I put my name on the waiting list and had a coke at the bar.  After about 15 minutes they called me in to be seated.  It was really weird having dinner alone, but I wanted some good food! I was so happy I had decided to go back to the center because I had an amazing meal.  For my first course I had a warm goat cheese salad with honey vinaigrette.  Then I had a piece of grilled cod over some ratatouille style veggies.  It was by far one of the best meals I've eaten in Spain.  Finally it was time to go back to the hostel for good.  Once there I took a quick shower and crashed.

Unfortunately I didn't sleep to well that night.  I stayed in a 10 person room, and the last person didn't get in until 1 am and the first person started leaving at 5 am.  Every single person was up and moving around going in and out of the door BEFORE 8 AM. I was not a very happy camper.  So by that point I knew I wasn't going to sleep anymore so I got up, packed my stuff, got ready to go out, checked out, and put my stuff in the luggage room.  I went to a little bakery across the street from the hostel and had an amazing pastry type thing.  Then I jumped on the metro and went back to Plaza Espanya.  I went to the other CaixaForum first.  I watched two short films, then saw two different free art exhibits.  The first was of modern Spanish painters.  It included some of Dahli and Picasso.  The other exhibit was of Miquel Barceló.  His paintings were somewhat abstract but very textured.

Then I started my hike through park Montjuïc.  My destination was the Olympic stadium, but it took me a while to get there.  When I finally did I explored a bit and even went inside the stadium and saw the track.  Then I walked to the cable car so I could ride it up the mountain to the castle on the edge of the hill overlooking the water.  It was an amazing view so I just spent a while wandering around admiring the view.  I had a sandwich at a little outdoor cafe next to the castle.  After a while I took the cable car back down and started heading out of the park.

Street in Poble Espanyol.

My final destination was Poble Espanyol (Spanish Village) which was built for the 1929 International Exhibition.  The artists visited over 1600 spanish villages in order to recreate the different parts of Spain within this one little village.  It was pretty neat to see.  It's home to a bunch of artisan shops and delicatessens.  So of course I had to buy a few presents.  After walking around there I made my way back to the hostel picked up my bags and headed to the train station.  I was at the train station by 5 pm when my train didn't leave until 7:30 pm, but my legs could not have hauled my body around any more.  So I ended up doing home work at the train station and was able to watch a movie about the life of El Greco on the ride back.  It was a great two days in Barcelona. I really want to go back someday and explore some more!!

My 12th week in Spain

On Monday after vacation we had no classes because it was a Spanish national holiday.  It gave me an opportunity to recuperate from vacation, do homework and get back in school mode.

The googly eyed glasses I got from Sha, Liam, and CJ

On Tuesday everything changed at school. I had completely different teachers for grammar and discovered that we had been put in a higher level class! It was exciting.  Unfortunately I started to get a little stressed out this week because I had a lot of work to do and was trying to figure out what classes I want to take next semester.

All our classes proceeded as normal; grammar, art, literature. On Wednesday however we found out that on Thursday and Friday we were going to be having pronunciation classes. I was not happy about the suddenness of these classes and was angry we weren't given more notice about them.

Mikaela at Karaoke!

Thursday was the longest day ever. I had grammar from 9:00-10:30, then again from 10:45-12:15.  After that I had the pronunciation class from 12:30-2:00.  Fortunately Natalia let us out a bit early so we all ran over to VIPS to have some good old American food to get rid of some of our stress.  But the day was only half over.  We then had literature from 2:30-4:00.  Then Katie and I had to make up our art class so we met our teacher at the Reina Sofia from 5:00-6:15.  After that I went over to the train station to buy my ticket to Barcelona for Saturday.  I had to wait forever though because everyone and their mother wanted to buy tickets to go somewhere that day.  Finally I got to go after waiting for about 45 minutes.  When I finally got home it was 7:15.  I quickly did my homework, ate dinner, and showered so that I could be ready to go to our second round of Karaoke at 9. Despite my speediness, I didn't get to the Karaoke Bar until 9:45.  There weren't as many people there as last time, but it was still fun.  We sand Genie in a Bottle in Spanish as our first selection.  Then, Katie and I sang a duet of Summer Nights from Grease.  After that  we sang Poker Face as a group.  Then to finish off the night we sand Sober by Pink with one of our friends.  We plan on going to Karaoke at least one more time before we leave since it is our favorite activity.  Needless to say, I didn't get too much sleep that night, but it was worth it.

The package I got from Sha!!

On Friday we had grammar and then our pronunciation class.  After that I went home and legitimately lay in bed for hours, doing homework, watching Private Practice etc.  Finally I willed myself to get out of bed and start making myself look presentable to go out with some people from our class.  Katie and I met two people from our class in Plaza Santa Ana, then we went to a restaurant where you can pick your own little pinchos from the selection at the bar.  It was really good.  Then Katie, Sebastian (boy we went out with), and I attempted to go to Joy (a discoteca around the corner from my house).  I was on the list to get in for free. So the bouncers told us we had to wait until the man with the list came.  So we waited 20 minutes and the man didn't come. So we said screw it and thought about going to another discoteca, but Sebastian would have had to pay 12€ to get in which was ridiculous since we weren't going to be there for very long. So we decided just to call it a night which was a good idea since I still needed to pack my bag for Barcelona!

Italia Part Two!

Sta. Maria Maggiore.

Dad in the Colosseum

On Saturday our first order of business was to go get a cannoli for breakfast. And that is exactly what we did. We got cannoli and cappuccino and were very content.  Then we wanted to go check out what time mass was on Sunday at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore.  When we got there we went in and looked around. It was, in my opinion, just as beautiful as St. Peter's in the Vatican.  After that we were going to head to the Colosseum but we took a wrong turn somewhere so we decided we might as well visit another basilica.  So we went to Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano.  We ended up seeing 4 out of the 9 basilicas in Rome. I think that's quite the accomplishment for a 5 day vacation. Finally we made it over to the Colosseum.  We decided to do an impromptu tour of the Colosseum and the Forum.  It was really cool to go inside these buildings that have been around for thousands of years.  In the Colosseum a season lasted about 10 days and over 5,000 animals were killed each season.  I think the Romans are the cause of extinction.  The Forum was also amazing.  After finishing our tour there we were pretty much exhausted so we went back to the hotel for a little bit.  After that we went to a special wine store so Dad could buy a bottle for Mom.  Then we went out to dinner at the same restaurant we went to the night before because we liked it so much.  I had the biggest plate of gnocchi ever. It was delicious.  The tiramisu was disappointing however. 
     

In the Roman Forum with the Colosseum in the background.

The next morning we finally ate breakfast at the hotel.  Then we checked out and left our bags in the storage room so we could go out for a little bit longer.  We went to the Latin Mass at Sta. Maria Maggiore.  It was long and had a lot of incense but it was interesting.  Then after that we went to the train station and bought our bus/train tickets to the airport.  After that we went to the Bernini Art Gallery and saw some ancient art.  After browsing the gallery for a while we got lunch at the same place that we had eaten cannoli at the morning before.  It was more expensive than we expected, but it was good nonetheless.  Then unfortunately we had to go back to the hotel, get our bags and start heading toward the train station.  We said a tearful goodbye and I got on the bus to go to the airport.  I was really sad to leave my dad but I had already made it more than halfway through the semester so I knew that the second half would be easier.  It was an all too short but amazing five days in Rome.

Italia Part One!

On Wednesday morning, October 27th, I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to go to Italy. I left the house at 6:45 and hopped on the metro. I left so early because I didn't know how long it was going to take to get to the airport via metro. It didn't take that long so by the time I had checked-in and gone through security I was 2 hours early for my flight.  I ate an overpriced apple-tart and juice and watched the sunrise while waiting for my plane to board.  The flight over was super easy.  I slept the majority of the way and when I woke up we were getting ready to land.  I made it to the hotel from the airport with ease.  I checked in and rested a bit since I was already tired.  Finally I decided that if I lay there any longer I would never get up. So I put on my coat and boots and headed out to explore a bit.

I walked around the majority of the center of town.  I saw the Colosseum, the Roman forum and other 2000 + year old buildings.  It was weird to think that these things have been around that long, especially since the area around the Colosseum is basically a traffic circle. Nonetheless I enjoyed walking around and breathing in some fresh Italian air.  I must have had my weirdo magnet on full power because some Indian guy who was living in Paris asked me a question then wouldn't leave me alone while he told me his life's story and confessed his love to me.  I finally managed to get rid of him when I gave him my telephone number, which I made up off the top of my head.  By that point it was getting dark and I had no desire to walk around a strange city alone in the dark so I headed back to the hotel to relax.  I didn't even eat dinner because I was so tired I just ended up falling asleep.  At midnight I got my first text from Dad saying his plane was having mechanical issues and it would be delayed.  I fell back asleep and at 3:30 am I woke up and realized I hadn't heard anything more from Dad.  So being so smart like I am, I pulled up flight tracker, and realized that when Dad's plane should have been over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean he was just leaving Canada, meaning he was not going to get in until 3 hours later than expected.  So I fell back asleep anxious for his arrival.


On Thursday morning I woke up early enough so that I could have breakfast in the hotel.  It was pretty basic but I was satisfied with my yogurt and croissant.  When I was finished I went back to the room to wait for Dad. I got ready to go out for the day etc, and when that was done I watched some TV.  Once 12pm rolled around I was beginning to wonder where Dad was.  So I checked again to make sure his plane had made it safely (it had).  All of a sudden there was a knock on the door. I bolted out of bed and opened it and there was Dad with the front-desk lady.  I was so happy I cried (a lot, and I had just done my makeup so I looked quite lovely if I do say so myself.)  After Dad settled in we went to meet our tour guide so we could do our 1st tour of the Catacombs and other mysterious places in Rome.  Our guide wasn't much older than me and he was definitely a history nerd because he told us a lot of things that we didn't necessarily need to know to enjoy the tour.  The first thing we did was go on a tour of the catacombs, or underground burial places on the outskirts of the city.  It was crazy underground there.  There was a maze of passageways and multiple levels.  You could easily get lost if you didn't have someone with you who knew what they were doing.  Most of the graves had been opened and robbed hundreds of years before, but there were still some closed ones which was kind of creepy.

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Next we went to a Capuchin monastery to see one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in my life.  The decorations for this monastery are human bones.  No, I am not lying.  The legend goes that the Capuchin monks were removed from their first monastery so they brought the bones of all their deceased with them.  Then one day a convict or refugee or someone of that sort from France sought refuge with the monks.  Apparently he was the one that began designing things with these bones.  Nonetheless it's pretty crazy to see.  They basically used every bone in the body as part of these murals.  It definitely something you have to go and see if you are ever in Rome.  After that we went to a church that was built in the 12th century, below that church was another church from the 4th century, and below the church was a house from the 2nd century.  It was crazy to compare the 12th century church in Rome to the one I saw in Salamanca.  They were so different!! Rome's was infinitely more ornate that that of Salamanca.  The 4th century church had some artifacts leftover from when it was a functioning church, but the house didn't have much more than the structure.  It was still an amazing thing.  They attribute this type of thing to the annual flooding of the river.  Before they put reinforced walls around the river it would flood the surrounding area and made buildings uninhabitable.  Instead of trying to rebuild everything that was destroyed, the Romans would simply cover everything up and build again on top.  That's why whenever they try to dig underground in Rome they find all of these ancient buildings and artifacts and they have to stop everything so archeologists can come in and see what they can recover (if it's worth it).

After our tour we were really hungry since we hadn't eaten much lunch.  Our tour guide recommended a place to eat dinner so we made a reservation for 7:15 when it opened.  It was only 6:20 though so we had some time to waste.  We went to another restaurant around the corner that was already open and had some wine while we split an antipasto that had the best ricotta cheese I've ever eaten on it.  Finally when we finished that it was time to go to the other restaurant for the rest of our dinner. We split some eggplant parmesan and then each had a main course.  I had some amazing pasta with shrimp.  Then we split dessert.  After that we were full, happy, and tired so we went back to the hotel, skyped with Mom and Carolyn for a bit, then went to bed.

Outside the Vatican Museum.

On Friday we had to get up early so that we could be at the Vatican for 9 am.  The woman at the front desk seems very distraught that we were not eating breakfast even though we assured her we'd be find and took a croissant to go.  Once at the Vatican we met up with our tour guide, Luca (who is probably the only red-headed Italian I'll ever meet).  Luca proceeded to give us a 4 1/2 hour tour of everything that is Vatican City.  It was pretty amazing I have to say.  However, there were tons of people and it made it difficult to walk around without bumping into people or thousand plus year old things.

Trevvi Fountain

 After we had finished with the tour Luca brought us to a local Italian deli.  It was Dad and I and this group of crazy middle-aged ladies who were unfortunately from the US.  So Dad and I did our best to try and ignore them.  We spit an antipasto of Italian meats and mozzarella cheese which was delicious.  Then we each had a homemade pasta dish.  All of this plus bread, and wine only cost €20. After that we walked to Piazza Novena where we ate original tartufo (accept not imitations!!!)  After eating dessert in the Piazza we went to the Pantheon and chilled out there a bit.  Then we went to Trevvi fountain.  After throwing a coin in the fountain for each of my family members, we were tired so we went back to the hotel and took short naps and rested a bit.  After resting we went out again and went to the Spanish steps (where some guy basically thrust some roses upon me and made Dad pay for them). Then we went to the Trevvi fountain again because Dad said at night it's all lit up, but it was too early and there was no way I was going to wait until then. So instead we went and got some dinner at this restaurant right around the corner from the house.  We both had pizza and wine.  It was delicious.  After that we called it a night.