Spain and I are in a fight.

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, Spain and I are in a fight. I still love it here and being abroad, but this week....Spain has decided to hate me. I'll recap things that have happened both good and bad recently.

Last weekend Linda and I had the apartment to ourselves because our new roommates Chelsea and Lindsey went to Geneva to ski and Anna got to spend the night in an igloo? I don't know it was something she'd always wanted to do. It was nice, we bummed a lot. I had a paper to work on and therefore didn't do much, but went and saw an authentic Spanish movie "La Dieta Mediterranea." All in Spanish...no subtitles and I understand most of it! Note: Spain has a lot less tolerance for violence and more tolerance for nudity. Not going to say much but there were several threesomes. It was weird. 

So, I wrote a paper, and then everyone we've talked to told us to go to Sitges, Spain for Carnival. Carnival is similar to Mardi Gras because it's the Tuesday before Lent and there' a parade and just overall craziness. Linda, John and I took a train around 3 pm to see Sitges because it's GORGEOUS and has really nice beaches. So, the craziness started around 8pm because the parade was starting at 9pm. It was really cool, almost like Halloween with all of the costumes and such. But, while watching the parade, my wallet and Spanish cell phone were taken from my purse. Awesome. So I called my Dad immediately to cancel my credit and debit cards and thank GOD that i cancelled in time so I know for sure they didn't charge anything on my debit card. But, it's so annoying. 

Yea, also with the theft, I had two midterms on Thursday while I was busy filing police reports and talking to IES to loan me money b/c i had none.  I was at IES on Thursday and at 2:45 I realized I had left my folder with my notes that we could use during my Intro to EU midterm at my apartment. I have barely enough change to catch the metro to my apt and then snuck on a bus without paying back to IES, 15 min late to my exam, out of breath....I don't think it went well even though I studied and had my notes. I just couldn't focus. Good thing my GPA doesn't transfer, but it's just frustrating.

So...yea. I went to the beach today with Mal, Amanda and Lorel to kind of unwind. I hope this whole Spain being mad at me ends soon. 

Lighter note, we have the week off classes. We have conferences Monday, Tuesday and WEdnesday about Spanish culture and we leave Thursday for Navarre for 3 days for IES field trip. So that'll be fun.

I miss you all even more right now!

Muchos Besos

Catherine

k!

So first time in 3 weeks that I was in Barcelona this weekend. It was half good and half bad. 

Friday night, Jess and I wanted to try to eat dinner on one of the various restaurants on our

block and came across "El Quete Pincho." It had opened very recently, and was very modern withblack and red and white decor. 

But, we just sat ourselves and looked around the restaurant confused really. When our waiter

finally came across to taking our order, we ordered a vodka limon drink. In which...we just got bottles of lemon even though vodka translates. I know this! Then when I tried to order the same thing as Jess, saying "El mismo, iqual, y tambien" The waiter looked at me like i was retarded even though I know those were correct! The entire menu was in catalan, but Jess and I managed to order some really great food: tortilla espanola (my favorite), croquettes, ensalada formatge, hamburquesa (so good) and shared a romantic chocolate mousse. 

We then went back to Jess's apt and met Amanda and Lorel's (her roommates) friend Miriam, who is spanish and super nice. She said my Spanish was good. Go figure! 

Due to unknown circumstances unbeknownst to me, my stomach did not agree with me, I went home and proceeded to puke my guts out for the next couple of hours. That was fun. But, Linda and Renana went to Anna (our RA's) hometown...I could not go with them, my stomach hurt. So i spent my valentines day in my bed watching Lost and The Office and other random videos. How romantic right?

Today, I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon with Jess, Mal and Lorel at Montjuic Parc. We got to see all the Olympic Stadiums from 1992, and everyone knows how much I love the Olympics. The museum was closed, but I'll go back. We explored the park, couldn't go on the cable cars to the top b/c they're closed for maintenance...booo. but found the fountain that has a stellar light display friday and saturday nights for future endeavors. We grabbed lunch/dinner and then watched some break dancers on Las Ramblas, until they started asking us for money....you're a street performer, just have a hat lying out, don't approach people and start begging, i think it makes street performers lose their cred.

K. that's it. 

muchos besos

-catherine

Lisbon

Sorry if this has taken a while to update. Other stuff has happened that I wasn't in a cheery mood to give Lisbon the right amount of awesome justice.

Even though Lisbon is the capital of Portugal, I didn't really know what to expect. But, the second we arrived, it was amazing! The weather was even better than Barcelona, the whole city is in the hills, making walking both fun...and exhausting. There was a beach and some really neat monuments.

Our hostel was AMAZING! Lisbon Poets Hostel. It was beautiful with orange and red decorations a lounge with bean bag chairs, free internet, a kitchen, free breakfast, a hammock a tv that played the Simpsons in Portuguese on loop. It was a quality establishment.

Torre de Belem: An old Bell Tower that was so much fun! Although, we couldn't find the bridge over the train tracks at first and got there by going underneath a highway. Whoops. It had about 5 stories that you took cool windy stairs up, beautiful views of the entire city. 

Christopher Columbus Monument: So CC left from Lisbon to you know, discover America and they have this MASSIVE monument in his honor. It was really neat. We were there at sundown and then took a bunch of fun pictures. 

Our hostel was located in Barrio Alto, or the Bar district, so we went out and explored the local bars. Beer was only about 2 euro each but we had been traveling since 5 am that morning, so we turned in early.

After the first day, I didn't know what else we could do to top them. I was wrong.

Flea Market: We went to this cool flea market where everything under the sun was being sold. The normal jewlery, Portugal futbol jerseys and pashminas. But also, camera chargers, old tvs, porn. Whatever. Also, Lisbon is known for their tiling. All the buildings had the coolest tiles so they were selling tiles here that dated back to 1890. I got a yellow pashimina for 3 euro and a cool guys fake rolex for 5 euro.

Castle St. Georges?: I think that's the name. Whatever, it was SO AMAZING. It was this huge castle I felt like a kid playing Princesses and was running all around this place. We took the coolest pictures climbing on things we probably shouldn't have. So much fun.

Our concierge told us about Fado music. It's apparently this really soulful, guitar music that Portugal is known for. Our concierge made it sound like it was a whole evening with dinner, music, wine and was really popular for about 20-25 euro. He was wrong. He made us reservations at this really expensive restaurant that had music. Everyone cleared out around 11:30 and it was just really strange. That was the only downside to Lisbon. 

But we still had all Sunday to finish exploring b/c our flight wasn't until 8:40 pm. You know that statue in Rio of Jesus on the mountain? Well, Lisbon has a replica. So we went. To get there we took the metro, to a boat, to a bus. It was raining. But still really cool. After, we didn't feel like doing much but we went to a museum for free and then packed and went home.

Lisbon, Portugal, highly recommended. I don't have enough time to write all of the amazing things, but remind me to tell you more about it in person!

Bonjour, Merci, Je'taime.

So today I returned from my first weekend trip away from Barcelona, and it was both enjoyable and successful! 

Day 1:

Left the apartment with Linda and her friend Renana who is studying in Barcelona with another program. Metro-Airport Bus-Plane-Airport Bus...and at the station where we land, we go down some stairs and Voila our Hotel is right in front of our eyes! Hotel Berlioz (highly recommended) was absolutely the cutest room I've ever experienced. 

Then, within about 30 minutes of exploring Lyon, we spy a guy about our age with a Canadian flag on his backpack and we almost squeal with excitement because very few people in Lyon speak any Englih or Spanish so meeting an English-speaker was awesome. BUT 1) We find out this guy has been studying in Lyon this semester and 2) He shares a mutual friend with Linda and 3) He speaks French and wants to explore the tourist Lyon today. So, we basically get a free translator/ travel guide for our first day. We visit Roman Ruins, Vieux Lyon which is a view of the entire city, a Cathedral (where I get to explain Catholicism to my two wonderful Jewish friends), a mini Eiffel Tower, grab a chocolate croissant, venture around the old city, explore tunnels, go on a Ferris Wheel ride in the largest square in Europe and enjoy a wonderful 3 course meal for 12 euros. Day 1 in Lyon= highly successful.

Day 2:

- Sleep in a tad from all the walking up large hills the day before. Grab a croissant sandwich on the street for breakfast. Eat among pigeons, wander around the city (along the beautiful rivers of Rhone and Sione (sp?) and explore two museums. The Museum of Deportation and Transportation which was very educational and depressing about the French involvement in WWII and the Holocaust. Also, experienced Museum of Textiles and Decorative Arts which was amazing to see how rooms were decorated with so few tools and so detailed. More wandering around, grab a baguette, see Opera house, wander around some more, look at shoes, go back to Hotel and nap a bit, wake up, have French crepes (eeee!), find a grocery store and buy wine, cheese, bread, tomatoes, and a bottle opener for a French feast and heart to heart back in our hotel room for a fraction of the cost!

Day 3: 

- No sleeping in, get up, grab our last French croissant :-( buy a postcard because I'm buying one in every city I go to starting now, hop on the airport bus back to the airport and fly home.

Lyon, France did not disappoint with spectacular views rivers, bridges, bread, cheese, cathedrals, and overall friendly hospitality! I highly recommend visiting at least once in your life...although probably more enjoyable in warmer weather, among most places.