This weekend our program took all the people who live in the apartments to Rome. Our program is about 140 people big so they split these longer trips up into to different groups.
We left Barcelona on friday morning at 4am. It was rather early, but we all made it to the buses on time. Once we got to the airport we had a little scare though. Kathleen was looking through her purse and couldnt find her wallet anywhere. She knew she had broughten it, she remembered looking at it on the way to the API office, but it was nowhere to be found now. Her wallet had all her money, cards, and passport. After searching the airport and calling the bus she was on, we found it!!!! It had fallen out of her purse on the bus. After that we got a small snack at the airport, boarded our plane and was off. I normally have a hard time flying and falling asleep, but I was out before we even took off and stayed asleep right until we landed.
When we landed in Rome the weather was absolutely terrible. It was so windy and pouring down rain. I thought if that is what it was going to be like all weekend I dont know if I would even make it out of our hotel room. Thankfully by the time we made it to our hotel it had all cleared up. The bus ride to the hotel took rather long because in Rome they were having a public transportation walk out until noon, so we got caught up right in the middle of it. Finally we arrived, checked in, got some food and coffee and then headed back to the buses for a bus tour of the town.
The bus tour was really cool! we went all over rome and saw a lot of cool things, and then they stopped the buses at Saint Peter´s Basillica. It was so amazing. So much better than any picture or book I have ever seen. When we went inside Saint P´s I was in awe. It took me about 5 minutes to actually just sit back and take everything in. It is one of the largest, most ornate churches I have ever been in. It was soo awesome!
After the bus tour, all my roommates were tired and wanted to take a nap, but I was way too wired off the coffee so I went with some other girls in my program and we walked down to the Spanish steps. They were way different than I have ever imagined. I thought they were brown and ugly and by the colliseum. When really they are white, broken up into 3 sections, and not by the colliseum at all. But the view from the top was really cool. Rome has no really tall buildings. Everything is pretty flat and you can see forever. I stayed there for awhile, but then I thought that I should head back because I didnt want my roommates to wake up and wonder where I was and I didnt want to see too much without them. I took a nice walk back to the hotel by myself and just took in being in Rome.
After they woke up, we got ready and went out to dinner with some of our friends in our program. Friday night we were doing the Spanish Steps pub crawl, so we needed to be done with dinner by 830 to get to the Steps by 845. Well you would think that in Rome there would be places to eat everywhere, but when we went to the Spanish Steps to look for a place to have dinner we couldnt find anywhere. We walked for about 15 20 minutes and finally found one. I got my first italian pizza. It was good, but not as good as I was expecting. But I was starving so I finished it all hah. We made it to the steps at a little after 9 and made it to the pub crawl at like 915. The first bar was all you can drink for an hour starting at 9, and the only way you would get a bew beer or glass of wine was to finish your first. Well by the time we actually got into the bar it was about 930 so we only had 30 minutes to drink for free, but we were all so full from stuffing our faces at dinner it made it rather hard to even think about drinking. They had one competition while we were at the first bar. It was a beer chugging competition and Erin Kathleen and I all partaked just for fun. Well I ended up winning and got a cool free shirt so that was fun. Dont worry mom I only had four beers all night long! hah We went to a few more bars after that, but I was so tired Kathleen and I came home at about 1 130 and went to bed.
Saturday morning we woke up, we had breakfast at our hotel which was great, and then our program was taking us to the Colliseum. If they wouldnt have taken us it would have been 28 euro to get in, so I was really happy they took us there. The colliseum was so awesome. To see it in person and look at everything was amazing. I still cant believe that they made all that from hand. Its so crazy. Its just so weird to think how old everything really is there. I have been hearing about all this stuff all my life in history class and then to finally see it was so cool. After the colliseum our program planned to take us to the Roman ruins, but you can see them everywhere, so we decided to head to the Sistine Chapel before it closed at 130.
The Sistine Chapel was way different than I have ever imagined. First we walked through the Vatican museum, I thought it was going to be a museum about the church and everything, but it looked alot like what we saw in the Louvre so I was a little disappointed. Finally we made our way to the Chapel. It looked like just a large room with the famous painting. I thought it was going to be alot bigger and look like an actual Chapel. I was a little disappointed by the room/building, but no the art work. You werent suppose to take a picture but I managed to sneak one. We were all getting tired and hungry from the day, so we headed back towards the hotel. I needed food real bad so me and 3 of my friends went to go find a good sandwich place. Once again we walked and walked trying to find one and some how we ended up at the Colliseum. They had a few little sandwich places there, so we grabbed some lunch and ate outside the colliseum. Pretty awesome. I then just came home, took a shower and small nap, and then got ready for the night.
Some of Kathleens friends who went to Seattle prep and go to University of Washington are studying in Rome and so we went to campi de furri or whatever it is called and got some dinner and met up with them. Dinner was so great. we just sat around and enjoyed our last night in rome.
Sunday morning, we woke up at like 9 because we needed to be cheaked out by 930 and then we really wanted to see the pope so we wanted to get out early. Erin Tenessa and I hadnt seen the trevi fountain yet, so we walked there on our way to the Vatican. It was huge. I was no expecting that at all. and Its just in the middle of what seems like a neighborhood. I thought that it was in the middle of some square or street or something. After that we walked to the vatican and on the way there we ran into the Panthione or whatever. I dont really know what it is or was but it was cool to look at. after about a 30 40 minute walk we made it! Sunday was a beautiful day out and so we all just sat around in the square at the vatican and waited. Finally he came out. He said some prayer in italian and then said hello to everyone in different languages. It was so amazing! I am still in shock that I got to see the Pope. That has been one of my life long dreams. And just being there with everyone was amazing. There were a ton of nuns and priests and other religious people everywhere. When he first came out everyone started screaming and clapping.
All in all this was an amazing weekend and I am so grateful for every moment I share here. It is so amazing and I have never been so happy and have felt so blessed. Last night I went on my first run, yes a run, with erin and it was so good. It was so warm and there was barely anyone on the streets and we just ran around barcelona. Just saying that is still so weird to me hah.
well more to come soon! prague this weekend! miss you all!!!!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Carnival
In Europe there is this thing called carnival that goes on in all different cities throughout the month of february. The closest city to us that celebrates carnival was sitges and it is huge there.
The biggest day in Sitges is Tuesday because it is the last day that it happens, so all of us decided to go. We didnt know much other than that you have to wear a costume or mask and that it is a giant party on the beach. Well we were very surprised when we got there.
The day started when all my roommates and I met our friends Bonnie and Chrissy on La Rambla to go costume shopping. I wanted to be a nerd, but I couldnt find any good suspenders so me erin and chrissy decided to just get gold tinsel wigs and wild tights. We dont really know what we were, we were just crazy people hah. Kat and tenessa were cowgirls and some of our other friends wore masks, one was a fairy, one guy was a nun, and our other friend wore a rainbow wig and glasses that had beer mugs on them and boas. Yes he was a guy and yes Sitges is a gay community, he didnt realize that til after he bought his costume so it was a little interesting for him there.
When we went to Sitges with our program before we took a bus but this time we decided to take a train. It was 6 euros round trip which is really cheap. When we got to the train station there were people everywhere. Everyone was dressed up in customes and ready to party. The train ride was one large party. People being wild and noisy. When we were almost there this drag queen came down and got the crowd all riled up. it was really funny. Once we arrived in Sitges the streets were filled with people. Literally people were everywhere. We knew that there was parade that went on but we thought we missed, but when we made our way to the beach we realized it was still going on. It was one of the coolest parades I have ever seen. Everyone was lining the streets, dancing and having a great time. The floats were so cool and everyone on the floats were wild. I dont think i have ever seen so many drag queens in my entire life. Interesting to say the least hah.
After the parade everyone moves to the beach to have a giant dance party, tenessa and I decided to get ice cream and crepes instead of dancing hah. The train goes all night long which is really nice, so since we had class in the morning we headed home at like 330, but one of the girls we know stayed there til 8 am! i dont know how people do it.
It was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed and I am so happy we went! I almost didnt go because of class, but class is overrated obviously. but i did make to classes mom dont worry, i may have been half asleep during them but i was there!
The biggest day in Sitges is Tuesday because it is the last day that it happens, so all of us decided to go. We didnt know much other than that you have to wear a costume or mask and that it is a giant party on the beach. Well we were very surprised when we got there.
The day started when all my roommates and I met our friends Bonnie and Chrissy on La Rambla to go costume shopping. I wanted to be a nerd, but I couldnt find any good suspenders so me erin and chrissy decided to just get gold tinsel wigs and wild tights. We dont really know what we were, we were just crazy people hah. Kat and tenessa were cowgirls and some of our other friends wore masks, one was a fairy, one guy was a nun, and our other friend wore a rainbow wig and glasses that had beer mugs on them and boas. Yes he was a guy and yes Sitges is a gay community, he didnt realize that til after he bought his costume so it was a little interesting for him there.
When we went to Sitges with our program before we took a bus but this time we decided to take a train. It was 6 euros round trip which is really cheap. When we got to the train station there were people everywhere. Everyone was dressed up in customes and ready to party. The train ride was one large party. People being wild and noisy. When we were almost there this drag queen came down and got the crowd all riled up. it was really funny. Once we arrived in Sitges the streets were filled with people. Literally people were everywhere. We knew that there was parade that went on but we thought we missed, but when we made our way to the beach we realized it was still going on. It was one of the coolest parades I have ever seen. Everyone was lining the streets, dancing and having a great time. The floats were so cool and everyone on the floats were wild. I dont think i have ever seen so many drag queens in my entire life. Interesting to say the least hah.
After the parade everyone moves to the beach to have a giant dance party, tenessa and I decided to get ice cream and crepes instead of dancing hah. The train goes all night long which is really nice, so since we had class in the morning we headed home at like 330, but one of the girls we know stayed there til 8 am! i dont know how people do it.
It was one of the coolest things I have ever witnessed and I am so happy we went! I almost didnt go because of class, but class is overrated obviously. but i did make to classes mom dont worry, i may have been half asleep during them but i was there!
Monday, February 15, 2010
When they say there is a theft problem in barcelona they really mean it.
Sorry I havent updated this in awhile, I´m sure you all heard that we got robbed last saturday and so it has been really hard to communicate with the world outside of Barcelona.
well it all started last saturday. We had a day trip with our program to Sitges which an old fisherman town about 30 minutes by bus away from here. We left our apartment at about 8:45 to meet API and get on the road. We arrived in Sitges and it was absolutley beautiful. It was a little windy but the perfectly blue sky made up for al coldness. API sometimes thinks that we are in summer camp and made all of us do a scavenger hunt around the city for the first 2 hours. My group wasn´t to enthused though and just randomly walked around, but some how made it to all the points on the scavenger hunt by chance. We randomly made it down to the beach and was looking around when some ladies who were in charge asked what team we were, we told them team 8, and then all the sudden we were partaking in a scooter race up and down the pier.
When we were on the bus on the way to Sitges they told us not to get food that we were going to have a really big breakfast. Well when we got there there was no food but they still promised us breakfast. The first half of the hunt was to go buy some tomatoes and head to the first station. When we arrived we found tables with bread, oil, and some turkey and ham. This was our giant lunch. We had to cut the tomatoes up, rub their juices on our bread and then put oil and meat on it if you wanted to. If you ask me that is no giant breakfast, I was expecting eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, but no spain doesn´t really like breakfast.
After the scavenger hunt was over we had the rest of the day to just walk around and do whatever. We found a really good sushi place, drank some sangeria and sat in the sun. After lounging for a while we headed down to the beach and just hung out. Kat was the only daredevil and went swimming. I really wanted to but thinking about having wet jeans and it was still a little cold out, I bring myself to do it. Around 4 we headed back to the buses and was reading to come back to Barca. There was a soccer game that night and all of us planned to go home, get ready, by some jerseys and head to the game. Little did we know we were robbed.
When we got home kat noticed that all her clothes that were in one of her suitcases had been dunped onto the bed. She thought it was a little strange, but our room wasnt at its cleanest so she didnt really think twice. It wasnt until she couldnt find her suitcase or any of our computers that it hit her that we had been robbed. I came walking through the door about 5 minutes after she realized this. We were all in shock. We didnt really know what to do or think. I of course called my mom and started crying. the feeling that someone was in our apartment touching my stuff, going through my drawers just really freaked me out.
We called API but they didnt answer our calls, so that was really frustrating. Finally we got a hold of the police and they sent over two men to come help us out. The theives had broken into our apartmen and the one below us. When the police arrived they spoke absolutley no english and of coure we know no spanish, so it was like the blind leading the blind. One of the girls on the first floor thankfully hid her computer before she left and so we used google translator to communicate back and forth with the police. After about a half hour 3 more police officers came over. They lady cop, who reminded us of someone off CSI, knew some english. We were all thinking that the way they got into our apartment was by our deck. She walked out on our deck. Looked at how high we were, how close our neighbors were, our doors and immediatly knew this wasnt how they got in. She walked to our front door, looked at it for maybe 30 seconds and told us that was how. They had used a credit card to open our door. Stupid americans right.
Well when our door shut you couldnt open it. The only way to get back in was by using a key and our handle didnt turn so we figured that it was locked. Since in american you have like a seperate spot for the dead bolt, and normally when a door is shut and you cant open it is locked. What we didnt know was that we had to dead bolt our door. They never mentioned it to us or showed us how to do that so we were all shocked when we found that out. It really wasnt the most ideal situation but we are making it work. Thankfully our program had a laptop and they are allowing us to use it until we figure out if and how we are going to get knew computers. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon, I have a 1o page paper coming up that i really need a computer for!
This weekend we just stayed in Barcelona. One of my friends from home, Erik Running, was visiting so we just showed him around a little and just hung out here. It was really realzing considering last weekend was so stressful.
Yesterday for valentines day, kat, erin, tenessa, our friend bonnie and I bought wine, nutella, strawberries, bread, cheese, made guacamole, got chips and cookies and sat around all day and ate and drank together. All of us dont believe in this holiday and since we had no boys to share it with we were eachothers valentines. It was very nice and eating chocolate all day was wonderful hah. Unfortunately spain has their own valentines day. It is called Saint Jordi, and its on April 23. So not only do we have to celebrate the American holiday, in two months we get to do it all over again!
This weekend we are off to Rome with our program. Hopefully I will have a computer soon so I can add pictures on to my blog. Miss all you guys! and dont worry we know how to dead bolt our door now!
well it all started last saturday. We had a day trip with our program to Sitges which an old fisherman town about 30 minutes by bus away from here. We left our apartment at about 8:45 to meet API and get on the road. We arrived in Sitges and it was absolutley beautiful. It was a little windy but the perfectly blue sky made up for al coldness. API sometimes thinks that we are in summer camp and made all of us do a scavenger hunt around the city for the first 2 hours. My group wasn´t to enthused though and just randomly walked around, but some how made it to all the points on the scavenger hunt by chance. We randomly made it down to the beach and was looking around when some ladies who were in charge asked what team we were, we told them team 8, and then all the sudden we were partaking in a scooter race up and down the pier.
When we were on the bus on the way to Sitges they told us not to get food that we were going to have a really big breakfast. Well when we got there there was no food but they still promised us breakfast. The first half of the hunt was to go buy some tomatoes and head to the first station. When we arrived we found tables with bread, oil, and some turkey and ham. This was our giant lunch. We had to cut the tomatoes up, rub their juices on our bread and then put oil and meat on it if you wanted to. If you ask me that is no giant breakfast, I was expecting eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, but no spain doesn´t really like breakfast.
After the scavenger hunt was over we had the rest of the day to just walk around and do whatever. We found a really good sushi place, drank some sangeria and sat in the sun. After lounging for a while we headed down to the beach and just hung out. Kat was the only daredevil and went swimming. I really wanted to but thinking about having wet jeans and it was still a little cold out, I bring myself to do it. Around 4 we headed back to the buses and was reading to come back to Barca. There was a soccer game that night and all of us planned to go home, get ready, by some jerseys and head to the game. Little did we know we were robbed.
When we got home kat noticed that all her clothes that were in one of her suitcases had been dunped onto the bed. She thought it was a little strange, but our room wasnt at its cleanest so she didnt really think twice. It wasnt until she couldnt find her suitcase or any of our computers that it hit her that we had been robbed. I came walking through the door about 5 minutes after she realized this. We were all in shock. We didnt really know what to do or think. I of course called my mom and started crying. the feeling that someone was in our apartment touching my stuff, going through my drawers just really freaked me out.
We called API but they didnt answer our calls, so that was really frustrating. Finally we got a hold of the police and they sent over two men to come help us out. The theives had broken into our apartmen and the one below us. When the police arrived they spoke absolutley no english and of coure we know no spanish, so it was like the blind leading the blind. One of the girls on the first floor thankfully hid her computer before she left and so we used google translator to communicate back and forth with the police. After about a half hour 3 more police officers came over. They lady cop, who reminded us of someone off CSI, knew some english. We were all thinking that the way they got into our apartment was by our deck. She walked out on our deck. Looked at how high we were, how close our neighbors were, our doors and immediatly knew this wasnt how they got in. She walked to our front door, looked at it for maybe 30 seconds and told us that was how. They had used a credit card to open our door. Stupid americans right.
Well when our door shut you couldnt open it. The only way to get back in was by using a key and our handle didnt turn so we figured that it was locked. Since in american you have like a seperate spot for the dead bolt, and normally when a door is shut and you cant open it is locked. What we didnt know was that we had to dead bolt our door. They never mentioned it to us or showed us how to do that so we were all shocked when we found that out. It really wasnt the most ideal situation but we are making it work. Thankfully our program had a laptop and they are allowing us to use it until we figure out if and how we are going to get knew computers. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon, I have a 1o page paper coming up that i really need a computer for!
This weekend we just stayed in Barcelona. One of my friends from home, Erik Running, was visiting so we just showed him around a little and just hung out here. It was really realzing considering last weekend was so stressful.
Yesterday for valentines day, kat, erin, tenessa, our friend bonnie and I bought wine, nutella, strawberries, bread, cheese, made guacamole, got chips and cookies and sat around all day and ate and drank together. All of us dont believe in this holiday and since we had no boys to share it with we were eachothers valentines. It was very nice and eating chocolate all day was wonderful hah. Unfortunately spain has their own valentines day. It is called Saint Jordi, and its on April 23. So not only do we have to celebrate the American holiday, in two months we get to do it all over again!
This weekend we are off to Rome with our program. Hopefully I will have a computer soon so I can add pictures on to my blog. Miss all you guys! and dont worry we know how to dead bolt our door now!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
PARIS DAY TWO
On Saturday we woke up early again, a little later than on Friday, got some breakfast at the hotel and was out the door at 10. We headed off to Versailles. It was one of the coolest places I have ever been. The palace itself is huge and then you go into the gardens which are just amazing. Saturday it was a clear day but absolutely freezing. While we were inside the palace it snowed a little. We were inside for probably like an hour or so and then headed out into the gardens. It was absolutely freezing so we didn't explore that much but it was really cool what we did see. We walked all the way down to where the fountain with the horses is coming out. I really want to go back in the spring and see everything in bloom.
Chapel inside the palace.
Hall of mirrors
Marie Antoinette's bed.
Couldn't even fit the whole Palace into one picture. It is so big!
It was so cold that we couldn't really stand to be outside any longer. We wandered the gardens for maybe an hour if that and then headed back to where the train we needed to catch was. We got a quick bite to eat and then headed back into Paris. When we got to Paris we went to the Eiffel Tower because we wanted to go all the way to the top, but there were so many people there it was unreal. When we went to the Eiffel Tower on friday there was barely anyone there since it was such a grummy day, but the top level of it was closed because of the weather.
We were still absolutely freezing so we headed to Galaries Lafayette, which is a giant shopping center. It is like a Nordstrom but 100 times larger and
100 times more disorganized. Every where in Europe are having really big sales since it is
after christmas, so there were so many people every where you could barely even more. It was
miserable so we didn't last long there. I still really wanted to head up to the top of the Arc de
Triumph, so after we stopped at H&M to see if they had any good clothes we went to the Arc de
Triumph. It was so cool, the city was all light up and the moon was so huge and orange. We got
up there just in time to watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle again.
The winding stairs that take you to the top!
Champs Elysees. All streets lead to the Arc de Triumph so it was really neat to see them all lit up at night.
I think that that building by the moon is up in Bastille but in not really sure. But the moon was hugggeee that night and super orange. Perfect ending to a perfect trip.
'PARIS
This last weekend we went to Paris and met Courtney there. It was one of the most amazing places I have ever been to.
We arrived Thursday night and thanks to the directions that Jeff gave me before we took the metro and got straight to our Hotel. Courtney was waiting for us there. After we got settled in we went out to explore the area a little. It was probably a little after midnight though so we were all pretty tired and didn't want to stay out that late. Our hotel was right by the Moulin Rouge so we went and saw that and then got a beer. The beer was 8.90 euro which was extremely expensive. After that drink we all got our first crepe. Mine was nutella and bananas, really good but extremely rich. After crepes we headed back and went to bed.
The next morning we woke up at 8 am had breakfast at our hotel. They gave us the best croissants and baguettes and then we could choose between coffee or tea. I don't really like coffee, but I got up rather early and knew we had a long day so I had my first real cup of coffee, but it had a ton of milk and two cubes of sugar.
Tenessa and I in front of our hotel.
After breakfast we took the metro to the Arc de Triumph. From there we walked down the Champs Elysees. We walked all the way to the Louvre in the pouring rain. The Louvre was absolutely huge and we probably were there for almost 3 hours. We got lost a few times, but we finally made it out. After the Louvre we headed across the river, got a bite to eat, and then went to Notre Dame.
Inside the Louvre.
Mona Lisa
Notre Dame was so cool! It was so huge and it was just cool to be there because I have heard so much about it.
After Notre Dame we headed to Musee D'orsay. This museum has a ton of Monet and Vangough works. To actually see these works, like Monet's garden, in person was really amazing. It was a really cool museum because it was inside an old train station. Way different that the Louvre.
VanGough
Monet's Garden
The inside of the Museum. It was a long hallway and then on the sides is where all the paintings were. It was really neat and I liked the way it was set up because you could go look at whatever you wanted however you wanted. No real plan. There was an upstairs but we never went up there. I think it was sculptures or something but I guess i'll never know ha
Then we headed to the Eiffel Tower. This was probably one of my highlights. I was mesmerized. I think I took 70 pictures of the Eiffel tower the entire weekend and three video clips hah. You could say I was a little obsessed.
After we saw the Eiffel Tower we went home, rested a little, got some dinner, got some drinks and then headed back to the Eiffel Tower so we could see it twinkle. Right when we got off the metro we sprinted to it and it was right when it was twinkling. We were a little tipsy and so everyone started screaming with excitement. Needless to say we were those stupid annoying americans hah.
After looking at the Eiffel Tower for awhile we headed back towards our hotel. Right down the street from us there was a little Irish pub that plays live music so we stopped by there for a little bit but we were exhausted from the day and had to get up early the next day so we didn't stay too long and then headed home to bed.
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