Prague!

What a wonderful weekend I had in Prague! Lindsay, Rikki and I took the first bus from Plaza Catalunya to the airport at a little past 5 a.m. Everything at the airport went perfectly smoothly--I hope it will stay that way for the rest of my trip! When we arrived at the airport in Prague, however, I found that my Spanish phone was not working. It is supposed to work internationally, and I was counting on it because all Becca and I had planned was to call each other and meet somewhere in the airport. I had written down her address, but had no idea of how to use the metro station or how to get in contact with her at all. Just when I started to really freak out, I saw her beautiful face and all was well again! She helped point Rikki and Lindsay in the right direction to meet their respective friends and then she and I went to meet a bunch of her friends for brunch. They were all really sweet and we had a great time. After brunch, Becca and I went to the Old Town Square and got delicious chocolate and biscuit crepes. They rival the strawberry and nutella ones I get here.

After that, Becca had her last four hours of intensive Czech language, so I got to meet up with Julie , who is also studying in Prague. We wanted to take a tour of the Jewish synagogues, but the tours were over for the day so we just bought tickets and walked around on our own. I actually found it comforting to be around Hebrew. I really haven't seen any of it in Barcelona. After seeing three of the synagogues and the graves, we went back to Julie's apartment for a bit and I got to meet her roommates. She had plans to go to the opera that night, so she walked me back to Old Town Square where I waited for Becca to get out of class. I was on my own for about half an hour and really had a moment by myself just taking in the beauty of Prague and realizing that these types of experiences are why I came abroad. Prague is breathtakingly, stunningly beautiful and I stood there looking around in awe. The first picture I posted is of Old Town Square at night.

That night, we went out to a club called Laverna, which has 80 and 90s music dance parties on Friday nights. It was fun. I don't think I've done the macarena since bar and bat mitzvahs!

Saturday morning we got up pretty early and went with Becca's best friend from home, Alex, to look for bagels. There are no bagels in Barcelona!! We wanted to eat at a place called Bohemia Bagel, but it was absolutely packed so we settled on a smaller place around the corner. After bagels, we headed across the Charles Bridge and onto the John Lennon wall. The wall is definitely a sight to see. I posted a picture of Becca and I in front of it at the top of the blog. After the wall, we went to the castle. It was beautiful but freezing. For dinner that night I had goulash, which is veal in a tomatey sauce with bread dumplings. Typical Czech food and delicious. We decided to have a more chill night, so we went to this small, authentic billiards bar nearby Becca's dorm and hung out, talked and played a really fun game called Nelson with a few of her good friends.

It is easy to imagine a lot of the historical events that took place in Prague because the city is so strikingly different. I obviously know I am abroad in Barcelona, but in Prague it really hits you. While Spanish is still hard for me, Czech is impossible! Not one word is identifiable. I was also not a fan of the snow or cold in Prague, but it should definitely warm up. I couldn't believe Becca and her friends were happy with the weather, but I guess compared to the freezing snow they had last week, it was better already!

Becca's friends were all really sweet and I thought it was great that they are all in the same dorm building. It felt like freshman year again! I definitely do prefer living in an apartment over a dorm, but I also feel really isolated at times. If I could go back again, I would definitely have picked a smaller study abroad program and would really consider living in a dorm. It is a great way to meet people and it is very social.

All in all, I had a great time with Becca and Julie. I am so grateful to Becca for taking me in and being such a great host. It is so nice to see familiar faces. Lucky for me, I am off to London on Thursday!

Yesterday, I got to have coffee with a girl named Denisse, who is in one of my business classes. She is from Mexico and is fluent in Spanish and I asked her if she would like to get together to practice Spanish and English. She happily agreed and it was great. She was very patient with me and really forced me to use Spanish. We set a once a week date on Mondays after class and I am so glad.

I also start my volunteering tomorrow. Wish me luck! I'm a little nervous, but I will just do my best.

Carnval in Sitges!

Last night I went to Carnval in Sitges, which is the beach town I went to on my day trip. It is about half hour from Barcelona and you would usually take the train to get there, but one of the club promoters organized charter buses, so we took those instead. It was insane!!!!! I don't really know how to describe it. I am going to try to post pictures later. It was basically like Mardi Gras x10000. Everyone was dressed up in bright, sparkly costumes. There was a huge parade that went on for hours and it was full of gay men in drag and women in neon feathers and sparkles and glitter. It was amazing. While the parade went on, the party moved to the beach, where a giant rave formed. We watched the parade for about an hour until we met up with some of our friends and moved to the beach. It was so cool to look around and see the water and hear the music and watch the parade. It is an experience I will never forget.

I also had my volunteering orientation yesterday. Starting in a week from today, I will be volunteering every week at the YMCA for a few hours. My orientation was entirely in Spanish!! I probably only understood about 50 percent of what the leaders were saying. It should certainly be an interesting experience. I can't wait to see the cute little kids!

On Friday, I will be waking up at around 4:30 a.m. to head off for freezing cold Prague. Steph sent me a great itinerary for what to while I am there. I will update again once I'm back!

Re and Lanz in Barcelona!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! Today I went for burgers at Pim Pam burgers, a place that uses fresh meat from the market with my roommates and friends Maggie and Raquel. Delish. And of course, crepes. Although Lindsay tried a waffle and that may have changed my life. It was SO GOOD! I just may have to get one next time. Then we went to see the movie Valentine’s Day in one of the English movie theatres around here. It was dumb, but cute. It was weird that the movie was in English, but had Spanish subtitles. I tried to read some of the Spanish and follow along for practice. I noticed that movies definitely don’t translate all that well. Certain jokes and expressions just don’t transfer from language to language. Tonight Jon and I are going to plan our Paris trip. And that is my Valentine’s Day.

This weekend Lindsay and Ilana came to visit me in Barcelona! We had such a great, busy and exhausting time. It feels so good to see your best friends. I missed Sherry so much though. It truly felt like someone was missing. They arrived Thursday afternoon, while I was still in class, but Rikki met up with them and took them back to our apartment. Then they had lunch somewhere on Passeig de Gracia and I met them at Zara as soon as my class ended. We went back to the apartment shortly after and caught up for a bit. That night we took them to Bubo Bar for delicious tapas for dinner, crepes and then Chuptios and the Dow Jones bar. I thought the Dow Jones bar was cool, but overrated. We decided to save the clubs for Friday because we wanted to do a lot during the day.

That turned out to be a very smart decision because what a busy Friday we had! We got up early and took the metro and Funicular up to Tibidabo an old amusement park that offers some of the best views of the city. Once there, we went on one of the rides that slowly brought you up about a hundred feet into the air. The view was spectacular. After Tibidabo, we got sandwiches, chocolate, cookies and water and took them to eat at Park Guell for a little picnic. I went to the park one of my first days here with CEA, but I was so exhausted that I didn’t fully appreciate it. It really is beautiful and I am excited to spend a day there with a book and my Ipod when it becomes warmer outside. Then we went to show Re and Lanz Sagrada Familia. At this point, we had been walking for hours so we came home for a siesta before dinner. We went to Paella for dinner at Siete Portes, which is located in one of the oldest buildings in Barcelona. It was a great meal. However, at the beginning of the meal the waiter brought a bowl of bread to the table. There were four of us and the bowl contained four very small pieces of bread and some different oils to dip. When we got our bill, we found that we were charged 2.40 euros per piece of bread! How ridiculous. The waiter never asked us if we wanted bread and it didn’t say anywhere on the menu that they would charge us for the bread. We argued with waiter and he finally agreed to only charge us for two pieces, but still. I found that very rude. I knew it was somewhat customary here to charge for bread, but I think that it at least should be noted on the menu. That night we went out to the clubs and Lindsay learned to salsa dance from a local guy there. The Carnival here is starting soon, so the club was all decked out with decorations and these two scary figures on stilts that were very inappropriate! We didn’t get home until past 5 a.m. but we wanted to wake up early again to make the most of their last day.

Friday morning we got up and went to the Boqueria. The gummy man was very nice and gave us great deals! We had been planning on renting bikes for a few hours, but it ended up being very cold and drizzly so instead we walked to El Raval and to the Born area. It is so nice having visitors because it forces me to be super productive and organized with my planning. I kind of liked being the tour guide and think I did a very good job. I was a little sad when they left and now but now I can’t wait to visit them in London! And Becca in Prague

Madrid

Another week gone by. Time is strange. So fast at times and slow at others. Last Sunday I went to the Picasso museum because it's free on Sundays. It was pretty amazing. They have sooo much of his artwork, including a lot of scrap drawings. It was interesting to see how his style evolved as time went on and how the different cities he lived in influenced his art.

Lindsay's friend from Maryland, Ryan, was also here visiting during the week. He is studying abroad for the year in England. His British friend, Will, also joined us for two nights. It was a lot of fun having guests. This week will make it three weeks in a row with friends! Tuesday night we went to dinner with my friend from my teen tour, Sam. I have so many weird connections here, it's strange. We ate at Taller de Tapas and it was very good. I like tapas because you get to try so many different foods.

Wednesday night Ryan and Will kindly took us out to dinner to thank us for having them over. It was very sweet. We went to a place called Mosquito Tapas in the Born district, so obviously we had to have crepes after. Yum. It was an asian fusion tapas place. Delish, but the food took an hour to come and I was starving!

On Friday morning, we left for Madrid for the weekend. It was so much fun. I really, really, really liked Madrid. It felt very different from Barcelona, much more metropolitan. We took a two and a half hour train there with CEA. Met some nice people at lunch and hung out with them for the rest of the day. We just walked around and explored. At night, we met up with Lindsay's friend Emily, who is studying abroad in Madrid through the Syracuse program. We went to a really fun bar/club called Sol and Sombra. I'd like to find that kind of place in Barcelona. It had a much more laid back vibe.

On Saturday, we made three new friends from CEA and we all went to the Parque del Retiro. It was stunning. We took a paddle boat out and had a great time. After that, we went to the Prado museum. It was huge. At night, we went to a pretty big club called Orange Cafe. There were a lot of locals there, which made it fun. I swear we met the Spanish Seth Rogan! I will post pictures soon.

Before we left today I got to meet up with Lara and we had chocolate covered churros. Very good, but nothing beats a strawberry and nutella crepe. Now I'm back in Barcelona, getting very excited for Lindsay and Ilana's visit on Thursday! I am also planning on booking the rest of my trips very soon. Barrie and I are now thinking of going to Budapest, Istanbul and Dubrovnik?! Traveling is exhausting, but I sure do love it.

February and March Travel Plans

My next two months:

2/5-2/7 Madrid with CEA

2/11-2/13 Re and Lanz in Barcelona and Carnival!

2/19-2/21 Visiting Becca in Prague!

2/25-2/28 London

3/5-3/7 San Sebastian with CEA

3/12-3/21 Jon in Barcelona for the week and Paris for the weekend

3/25-4/3 Sevilla, Granada and Barcelona with the fam

Life is good.

Now I need to book some trips for April and the first half of May before I go to Amsterdam for a few days to stay with Denice. I want to go to Budapest, Nice and possibly Turkey? I'm pretty open-minded. I just really want to go to places I haven't been before. Any suggestions?