Barcelona-the close of a story

All good things come to an end right?

What are you supposed to write in your last blog post. As I have never written a blog before, I am not exactly sure how to end this splatter of my life that I have spilled upon the internet for whoever out there may or may not be reading. I guess I could talk about how I have changed for the better, or what new and bright prospects exist in my life. I could talk about every place I have gone and list off what it was that I took away from each of those experiences. I could talk about all of the friends that I have made while abroad and recount how much each and everyone of them mean to me. I could be really artistic and try to write a page long metaphor about how I am like a leaf just blowing in the wind (I know I actually thought about that...how desperate). I could even go so far as to leave a picture diary of the most meaningful events and images that have affected my life while I was here.

The fact of the matter is that in about 40 hours, I am going to the airport to meet my parents and pick them up in Barcelona. For three days I will show them around my home, then we will fly to Sevilla and that will be the last I see of this city that has taught me so much about myself. I just got out of my final exam for my European Integration and Economic and International Law class. On the last part of the final, a question was asked in which the teacher wrote, "Your personal opinion is what is most important." I think it is very well known by pretty much every student in the United States that this is the last thing that you would see on an Economics or Political Science exam. In my other class, the teacher had me ask myself my own question on the final exam and answer it as I saw fit, making sure that I include my personal opinion.

More than anything, Barcelona has taught me that-No matter how much I can learn through an education, none of it means anything if I do not comprehend it and spice it up with a little bit of Dan Driver. Coming back to the United States is definitely going to be what my program´s pamphlet describes as a "culture shock." I am not sure if I am ready to integrate myself back into the "system" where getting a job and attaining success are the most important things that I can do. Its ok to take some time to think about what we want to do with our lives. We are young and no matter what any authority figure may tell us about planning our future out and getting started young, it is okay to float around for a while. Don´t get too excited or anything-I am not gonna start a hippy movement and disappear off the face of the Earth. I am just not in a rush to prove myself to anyone anymore.

Studying abroad changes people. I know that before I left in my typical sarcastic manner I joked with my friends about how I definitely was going to do my best not to come back and embellish the already existing stereotype by saying that but unfortunately its true-i do feel that i have changed for the better. And yes, I hope that everyone who has read my blog considers going abroad again. I am not only talking to the students when I write that. Noone is too old to experience a piece of culture that they have not yet seen. DO IT!

To my friends in Barcelona- Thanks for all that we have shared

To my friends at home- Thanks for being there when I needed you

To my family at home- Thanks for allowing me this amazing opportunity

One picture should do the trick...San Diego or Barcelona...its all a blur to me too!

España es de puta madre. ¡Valle!

More stars than Hollywood´s walk of fame-guaranteed

After our time in Fes, we took a long bus ride out to the desert. On the way we stopped at an oasis that looked liked the grand canyon with a bunch of trees in it...pretty awesome if I might say so. We also saw monkeys in pine trees! I can honestly say that we went through some very diverse terrain. First we saw the coast, then we hit desert with shrubs everywhere, then we hit the forest which looked like NorCal, and then of course we hit the sandy dunes of the Sahara. It was a very long trip but, as always, well worth the time.

When we finally arrived in the desert we had to get off the bus and take a caravan of 4x4s into the dessert. There were 60 of us and each car fit 5 to 6 people...you do the math...there were lots of cars. Our campsite was literally out in the middle of the Sahara desert about 30 minutes walking from the nearest town. It was awesome. The first night we were there, the locals stayed up with us and watched the moon rise. Never in my life have I seen such a clear sky. Coming from Lake Tahoe, where we boast a pretty clean environment, the Sahara desert still absolutely blew me away. I wish I had brought some kind of star map, but instead I found myself content just looking for Orion´s belt continuously. We saw several shooting stars and just hung out on the dunes.

The most interesting thing about out time in the desert was that the locals followed us wherever we went. At any given time, they were willing to hang out with us, wander the dunes, dance, sing, and just have an awesome time. They also always were willing to sell us something, but understood if we weren´t interested in buying. At night, they would randomly light bushes on fire in the desert to keep warm...SO COOL!

Anyway, the next day we woke up early to watch the sunrise. I just happened to pick the one guide who felt like walking farther than everyone else, so we walked...about a mile in the desert to this extremely high dune and watched the sunrise together. His name was, of course, Muhammad...super common name over there. Afterwards, we ate breakfast and then mounted up on our troupe of camels. I must say that I never realized how high off the ground you are when on a camel haha. It was fun as well, although a little bit painful! During the day we went into a local town and walked around...they tried to make us buy rugs again!!...but i was resilient and stayed rug free. We walked back (little did we know the camel ride was a one way trip) to our campsite and hung out with the locals.

Sam, Caroline, David, and I got into a battle royal with all of the little kids that lasted the greater part of 15 minutes. They also got a hold of my camera and had a full on video and photo shoot. (Check facebook once I get home!) That night, we danced with the locals, had a great dinner and layed under the stars.

It was definitely the trip of a lifetime which I doubt I will ever be able to relive.

My journey through Fes with a man named Muhammad

Africa. The final frontier of my travels during my time abroad. Going to Morocco was of instant appeal to me when my program offered the trip up to us. What other opportunity would I have in my life to feel the sand of the Sahara beneath my feet, ride a camel to a local village, and taste the sweetest tea on Earth.

Between all of the travel of Morocco, my trip really had two main focal points. The first was the city of Fes. We arrived in the city late at night by bus and had a great dinner at our hotel. Afterwards we all just went to sleep because we were so tired from travelling all day long. In the morning, we proceeded to hop on our tour bus and meet our tour guide Muhammad. Throughout the rest of the day we would be his blind followers, going down random allyways that are only accesible by donkey in the famous Medina of Fes. Flecked with bits of cultural education, such as the fact that Morocco is composed of 97% peaceful and open-minded Sunni Muslims, we were taken to 5 shops that showcased the pride of the Moroccan market. The first was the rug store...let me just say right now that Moroccans are very VERY proud of their rugs. The owner of the store sat us all down and gave us a 10 minute presentation on all the different kinds of rugs that they have and gave us all tea. If I ever want a rug...I guess I will go back...but I definitely did not want a rug haha. Needless to say, they were really trying to reel us in and get all of our Dirham(Moroccan currency).

Afterwards, we proceeded to the tannery, which produces and dyes all of its own leather, the apothecary, the scarf shop, and the pottery district. In each of the areas, we either received personalized tours or in-depth demonstrations of products. Additionally, the entire time we were walking we picked up a pack of travelling salesmen that followed us wherever we went trying to sell necklaces. They would even go so far as to wait outside of shops until we came out and then would follow us throughout the Medina.

After the long day of shopping we headed back to our hotel and walked around the town in this area that had a little light up fountain secion. That night we went out to see a belly dancing show with the program which was pretty funny. By around 12 though, we were all ready for some well deserved sleep as we got ready to journey forth towards the SAHARA! And yes, we went into McDonalds to see what strange things they might have in Morocco...the McArabia and the Chicken Mythic!!

Vanessa Neag and Montserrat

I lied! I promised that my next post would be after Morocco, but I had a pretty cool weekend and I wanted to show you guys some of the pictures that I took! To start off the weekend, Vanessa was visiting Barcelona! We did some of the essentials here like looking at the Gaudi buildings, going to the open air market, and visiting Montjuic at night! It was an awesome time and I am definitely glad she stopped by. I realized
while she was here that I am definitely ready to go home and visit friends and that I am DEFINITELY in love with this city and not sure how I am going to cope when I get back haha.

Vanessa left on Sunday which was the day that I decided to head off to Mt. Serratt which is this giant mountain an hour outside of Barcelona with a Monastery on top of it. It was definitely a breathtaking view from the top. I was supposed to go with my roommate and another friend, but they chose sleep! haha its ok, it was an early morning after a late night. Anyway, I spent the afternoon on top of the mountain by myself. I took a gondola ride to the top over a giant drop -like any good gondola ride- and then hiked around for two hours. It definitely reminded me what it felt like to smell that fresh Tahoe air. It felt awesome to literally be in the clouds and watch the mist fly by. Also, what good mountain doesn´t have mountain goats? A herd of goats ran by on the side of the cliff...you would not believe how fast those guys can go on such a steep slope!

I made a video on top of the mountain that I plan on posting once I have an iternet connection that can support that option!

El Día de Acción de Gracias

Coming into Thanksgiving, I had very low expectations here in Spain. I have already written a few posts mentioning how I am not that wild about the food here. So when I signed up for the ISA dinner on Thanksgiving (which was free) I was definitely expecting a hodge podge of Spanish tapas, some use of jamón, which the Spanish love, and an incorporation of a bocadillo into my meal! I could not have been more wrong!

Thanksgiving day felt like any other day in Barcelona. I woke up, walked to school, went to class, walked home, watched some Walker Texas Ranger in Spanish, went over to a friend´s apartment, and got ready for dinner. ISA told us it was going to be at a restauraunt on the water which was the first surprise because those restaurants are usually pretty expensive. When we walked over, we found out that it was indeed at one of those nice restaurants and we had a section of it reserved just for us. There were about 60 people there in total and believe it or not, we were served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (no green been caserole or yams with marshmellows though!). We were served a salad, individual Turkey portions, mashed potatoes (no gravy though), this weird mixture of onions (low point), and for desert APPLE PIE! Sometimes its good to be catered to as an American as much as people complain about it. By the end of the meal, I was very full-the mark of a good Thanksgiving dinner- but still looking forward to coming home to a better Thanksgiving.

My next post will probably be about Morocco which I am leaving for on Wednesday and staying for an entire week. Yikes!

DD

A cold night and El Día de Acción de Gracias

During the first weeks that we came to Barcelona, Brent and I saw this bar on the beach and we knew that we had to go. The Ice Bar, or Ice Barcelona, is exactly what you think it is...and then some. At this bar, you are given a jacket and gloves when you arrive that you have to wear while you are inside. Of course in the outdoor terrace-which is ironically on the beach-they were screening the movie Ice Age in what I think must be a never-ending loop. I am sure the people working there know every line haha. In the actual bar, you are only allowed to stay for 45 minutes because it gets so cold(-8 C). ¡We payed 7.50€ to get in and get one drink! Not bad. Inside the actual bar, it is very small haha, but there are giant ice sculptures and a curtain made out of ice balls hanging on strings. It was pretty cool. The cups that we got our drinks in were made completely out of ice. One of our friend´s glasses was melting while we were in there! As far as Ice Bars go, I would reccomend them...but I would NOT recommend an ice hotel! After 45 minutes we were ready to bounce!

Amy and I being cold!

Roller Blading and Pumpkin Pie

This last weekend, I stayed in Barcelona as the majority of my "crew" was heading to Amsterdan to do you know what! However, it was a great weekend. The highlight was definitely Friday night. Every Friday, this rollerblading troupe goes in a 100-200 person mass through the city. We decided to join up with them through our program. Little did we realize that it was an 18 kilometer route or that everybody in the troupe would be going super fast. I will just put it this way. Our group lasted 1 minute as we had one person who had never bladed before and 3 girls that ran into eachother causing a massive traffic jam right at the start. Afterwards, we made our own route and still ended up blading pretty far. It was super fun!

O ya...and I found a giant palm frond and stuck it in my back so that I could lead the pack easily haha.

Additionally, as you all know, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Because I cannot celebrate with pounds of turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and family, my mom sent me my own pumpkin pie mix in a box. I told Conchita that we were cooking it so yesterday the plan went into effect. The first thing that I needed to do when I went to work was to pull the pie crust out of the tin. Let´s just say that the airplane flight did not do it any justice and within seconds I had a pile of grahm cracker pieces. Nevertheless we trecked on forward and made what I would have to call a pumpkin cake. WHATEVER! It was still good because my love for pumpkin pie triumphs all.

Thank you mom! And thank you ISA for having a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow...I have no idea what to expect!

If my pie had looked anything like this...it would have been a dream come true.

Cravings

The people of Barcelona are very proud of their food...I am however not so sure what they are that proud of as they lack certain staples in my diet...which are Cheeze ITs...Mexican food...and of course Hamburgers! I cannot wait until I get home and am able to go to the store and buy a box of those crunchy reduced fat cheeze its...they are the best. Thenf for lunch I am going to go to an In n Out Burger and get a double double with grilled onions. After that, for dinner, I am going to go out to ANY Mexican restauraunt and get either shrimp tacos or a chicken burrito...or Enchiladas! No more bocadillos! (the spanish sandwhich)

When in Rome...I had to say it.

On Saturday, we got up a little bit later due to the late night that we had just experienced. We headed straight over to the Vatican museum. If I had to choose one word to describe this place, it would be Overwhelming. It would have been really nice to have hired/found a tour guide in this place...but I am definitely running low on money. I decided I would just have to check Wikipedia when I got back from Rome. After the Vatican museum, we headed over to the Colosseum after eating lunch. We got there too late to go inside which was unfortunate...but we still had some time to walk around. We also found this ruin with a cat in it and Mikel spent ten minutes leading the cat around the ruin with a laser light. It was awesome. That night, we went out to a nice Italian restauraunt for dinner and I got the homemade lasagna which was, of course, magnificent. We all decided to stay in that night due to the havoc that we had wreaked the night before.

The next morning, most of the group headed home, but those of us that remained started the morning off by heading down to the Colloseum and going inside. The most interesting area of the Colloseum is definitely the center where they had all of these trap doors and such that were used to bring tigers and various other animals up to fight the gladiators. The Colloseum was constructed in 80 AD...and we are still walking on it...that is dannng old. Afterwards, we rushed to St. Peter´s square to see none ohther than the Pontificus Maximus himself. The Pope was giving a speech, and St. Peter´s square was absolutly packed. It was awesome to see him in person. He spoke in 6 or 7 different languages and his accent was amazing in all of them!

After that, the group had dwindled to just Kelsey and I as we had the latest flight out of everyone. We went back to the Roman Forum and checked out the ruins. Luckily, we ran into a free tour that lasted over an hour. We learned all about Ceaser´s altar in the ruins, how Rome had been flooded for a thousand of years, about the lives of the Vestal Virgins, and why all roads lead to Rome. It was definitely a great way to end the trip...although Kelsey and I agreed that we wish we would have found that guy sooner.

We had one last gelatto and then headed to the airport for yet one more uncomfortable flight back to Barcelona (there should really be a maximum height requirement for sitting in the middle seat). Barcelona now for the next couple weeks...then MOROCCO!

As far as the pictures go...yes, the one with two people touching is in the Sistine Chapel, where you are not allowed to take pictures. The blue Jesus was in the Modern Catholic Art section. I thought it was very interesting. The beautiful sunset was right outside of the Colloseum and the Forum. The ruined area is the forum, the ruined stadium is the colloseum, the mass amounts of people were there for the Pope´s speech and the ice cream is the best that I have ever tasted in my life.

DD out!

The Long Haul

On the first Friday that we were in Rome, we got up to make a walking tour that started at 11 on the Spanish steps. We of course, like any good group of college students, did not make it in time and were forced to make our own walking tour. We started the day by heading to the Trevi fountain and throwing in our coins so that we would one day Return to Rome...I realized that I had thrown a coin in that fountain before when I was in 6th grade...IT WORKED! Afterwards, we headed to the Pantheon...which was of course amazing. It was crazy to see such a remarkably old building still in tact. I was at first worried about how they managed rain with the giant hole in the ceiling...I quickly realized that it was covered with glass.

After thePantheon, we checked out one of the major Squares in Rome and then headed over to the Vatican. We got there around 2 o clock and went in to check out St. Peter´s Basillica. I definitely felt pretty cool as a Catholic while we were in there. It was remarkable how you could see the rays of light shining through the windows into certain areas of the church as it contrasted with the darker areas of the church around it. The Basillica is absolutely enormous! It is definitely a place that I would reccomend all to visit. We attempted to go to the Vatican museum afterwards, but did not have much success as it closed at 4 o clock. We headed back to our hostel afterwards which turned out to take a couple hours due to metro construction and all of the public transportation being piled full of people.

That night we went out on a pub crawl. I drank a little too much. We won´t get into too many details but I will say that I did win a free shirt!