lisbon/lagos

Sunday
Sunday we woke up and headed to the Seville airport to catch our flight to Lisbon. Things went well and we landed in Portugal around 2pm Sunday afternoon. We arrived at our hotel and decided to wander around. We strolled down the main area of town towards the water and grabbed some lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the port. Lunch lasted a couple hours as we enjoyed our food, drink (some delicious white wine sangria) and the weather. After lunch we wandered up into the old district of town and saw a couple museums and the cathedral. We were all pretty pooped from the travel day so we headed back to the hotel for a little rest time before we went to dinner. The three of us got all dolled up and headed to a late dinner at a restaurant called Sacramento. Dinner lasted til midnight or so and we headed back to the hotel to catch some shut-eye.

Monday
Our two goals for Monday were the beach and the Aquarium. So first we jumped on the train for a 45 minute ride to a town called Cascis. Here there was an absolutely gorgeous beach with lots of cliffs and rocks overlooking the crystal blue water. We laid out for a good couple hours just enjoying doing absolutely nothing. After baking in the sun we decided it was time to grab some lunch. We went to a cute little pizza/pasta joint and then headed back into Lisbon. Straight from the train station we took the metro up the coast to the Oceanarium. It is such a cool location right off of a walkway into the Atlantic. There we saw lots and lots of different fish and sharks (obviously) but also tons of different types of coral and sea plantation. My favorites were the jellyfish and seahorses. After the Aquarium we went back to the hotel to clean up before dinner. For dinner, Tess and I got all dolled up in our fancy dresses and the three of us went to dinner and then out on the town. The big party neighborhood is called Barrio Alto and is the highest neighborhood in the city. We found this quaint little Salsa-ish bar and spent the night dancing before taking a cab back to the hotel.

Tuesday
Tuesday we woke up and while Tess and I did a little shopping, Wade rented a car and we decided to drive down the coast to a beach town on the Mediterranean called Lagos. As we made our way down the coast we stopped in a couple coastal towns. We finally made it to Lagos as the sun was setting. We watched the sunset on the beach sharing a bottle of wine. The beaches were absolutely gorgeous and after the sunset, we grabbed a bite to eat and headed home.

Wednesday
Since our flight was later in the day on Wednesday we had plenty of time to wander around the city (and shop!) for a couple hours before heading to the airport. After some great final purchases, we grabbed all our luggage and made our way to the airport. We arrived back in Barcelona for the night and had one last dinner with our host family.

seville

Thursday

I had a super early flight to Seville on Thursday and landed around 9am. In the airport I met my friend from home Courney Baratz and her roommate Lauren. I was staying with them at a hotel a little bit outside the city (we had waited too long to make reservations and everything was booked because of the Feria) so we headed to the hotel. La Feria de Abril is a huge weeklong celebration in Seville. Everyone dresses up in traditional bright, colorful Flamenco dresses and celebrates with their respective families, schools and organizations. Each of these sponsors a tent at the festival where friends can go and eat, drink and celebrate. The rest of the fair is very similar to a fair in the US. Lots of rides, food stands and people wandering around. We took the bus into town and walked around to get a feel for the city. We went to the Cathedral which is absolutely HUGE. Apparently it’s the fourth largest one in Europe and its ridiculous how big it is. Then we strolled along to the river and sat and hung out/napped- we were all so tired from our early morning flights. After dinner we went back to the hotel, watched a movie and went to sleep.

Friday

Friday we woke up and headed into town. Because of the large amounts of people in town for the Feria, the buses were running slow and it took us awhile to get into town. We took the bus straight to the Feria and walked around the Fair for awhile. We ate some delicious chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered bananas. They were so yummy! After wandering around the fair for a couple hours and then walked back into the city center to grab some lunch. We found a really good sandwich place and sat in the sun for a long time just eating and chatting. It was really sunny and really hot out but we had bought tickets the day before for a Bull Fight so we headed to the stadium. The bullring was absolutely packed with people, most of who were still all dressed up from the Feria. Here we were wearing little sundresses and were so hot, I can’t imagine how hot it must have been for all those women in long dresses and men in full suits. The bull fight itself was horrific. I understand that it is a Spanish tradition and they embrace it for their cultural aspects, but the act itself is so sad. Here are like 5 matadors all distracting the bull and trying to confuse it. We could only stomach watching 4 bulls get slaughtered so we left before they could kill the rest. We were a little hot and bothered (and disturbed by what we had just seen) so we decided to head back to the little town that our hotel was in and grab some dinner, watch a movie and go to bed….see a pattern?

Saturday

We had a goal for Saturday and one goal only- get a tan. After grabbing a quick breakfast, we headed down to the river to lie out. A friend of mine from Miami, Chelsea, is studying abroad in Seville so she came down and met us down by the river. The group of us sat in the sun and chatted all afternoon (while getting quite sunburnt). After a couple hours Chelsea needed to leave so the rest of us walked down the river a bit and found a place where you could rent paddleboats. We thought this was a perfect way to end the day, so the three of us all climbed into the boat and traveled up and down the river for about an hour. Since I was flying to Portugal on Sunday with Tess and her Dad, I decided to spend the night with them at their family friends’ house so that we could all just go to their airport together the next morning. Their friends came and picked me up from the bus station and we headed back to their house just outside the city. We spent the night chatting, eating pizza and watching a movie. We called it an early night since we had to wake up relatively early the next morning to make our flight.

(Sunday continues in Lisbon post)

just a reminder!!

check out all my pictures

HERE!!!

thorpe's do barcelona/costa brava/san sebastian

Saturday
So the Thorpe clan (minus Megan) arrive in Barcelona Saturday afternoon and after meeting them at the airport we head to the hotel. After a quick unpack/organize at the hotel, we take a stroll around the Gracia neighborhood (where I live) and head down Passieg de Gracia towards Placa Catalunya. After showing them the layout of Placa Catalunya we head down Las Ramblas towards the Boqueria- a huge open market with every fruit, vegetable, fish, meat, candy, etc. one could ever imagine. After we had endured as much fish-stench as we could handle, we continued down Las Ramblas and took in the sites of the human statues and art vendors that line the populated street. When new finally reached the water, we watched the street vendors on the port. Since they are illegal selling their goods, they flee as soon as the cops get near. They’ve come up with a system to quickly gather up their product in order to avoid arrest. It’s actually a pretty funny scene to watch. After strolling up and down the boardwalk to the mall, we headed back and decided to take a boat tour of the coast. The boat took us from the Maremagnum mall all the way up past the Olympic Village. After about an hour we headed back to the port and docked. It was definitely neat to see the coastline from a different angle than I had seen before and nice to give the fam a brief idea of how the city is laid out. Since they we pretty exhausted from the travel day (and Dad was sick) so we decided to grab some dinner. I took them to a restaurant called Qu Qu for some tapas. After dinner we called it a night and took the metro back to the hotel.


Sunday
Sunday morning I met them at the hotel to establish a game plan for the day. Dad really felt awful and unfortunately couldn’t make it out for the day. So Mom and Tommy and I headed out. Since it was Palm Sunday there was a big Mass and celebration down at the Cathedral so we made our way down to see what it was all about. On our walk down, we were surprised to see that there was a HUGE marathon being held in the El Born neighborhood. It was too bad that Dad couldn’t be there because he probably would’ve jumped in and joined them. Down at the Cathedral we saw hoards of people with the most elaborately woven palms. We watched a little bit of the Mass and went in to see the inside of the Cathedral. When we got back outside there was a procession down into the square for another Palm Sunday Mass. After watching a little bit of the parade, we decided to go check out Monjuic, the highest point in the city. I had gone to the Olympic Museum for my Sports & Society class and loved it, so I thought Tommy would enjoy it too. We checked out the Museum, but unfortunately the stadium had already closed for the day, so we headed back down to find some lunch. We cabbed down to Port Vell to grab some lunch down on the beach. After lunch we walked back over to the mall on the Port and did a little shopping. Though unsuccessful at the mall, it is still so cool to shop in an open air mall overlooking the ocean. We then headed back to the hotel to check on Dad. He was in the same position we had left him in that morning so we decided to continue on without him. I took them over to the Arc de Triumph area and we walked around the Park de Citudella. To wrap up the day we tried to grab dinner at a couple of my favorite spots but they were all closed because of the holiday! So we ended up at a little Lebanese restaurant/café/pizzeria across from my apartment. After dinner, Mom & Tommy headed back to the hotel and I went home, agreeing to meet them in the morning.



Monday
Luckily, Monday morning Dad felt better and we all boarded the metro to go to the Barcelona Soccer Stadium- Camp Nou. It is an awesome tour that not only takes people through the stadium but also through the museum of the history of the Barca futbol club. After the tour I took them to lunch at one of my frequently visited lunch spots- the Bagel Shop (the only one in Barcelona). We then went to the candy store Happy Pills to get some presents to bring home. The concept of Happy Pills is that the candy is the medicine. So people fill up prescription-like bottle with different types of gummies, chocolates, nuts, etc and then pick out a prescription sticker to put on the front of the bottle. I then took them to IES Barcelona center to show them where I go to school. Lucky for us, one of my favorite teachers, Dawn, was in the office making emergency phone calls trying to track down everyone from the program visiting Italy for Spring Break (because of the Earthquakes there). After chatting with Dawn for awhile, we decided to re-visit Monjuic, but a different way this time. From the metro stop at the bottom of Monjuic, we took a funicular cable car up and then got into a gondola up to the Castle on top. We took about a million pictures from the top and strolled down to check out the Olympic Stadium which was open. Since we were feeling inspired by all the Olympic information, I then took them down to the Olympic Village. This is where a lot of the big clubs are as well as a beautiful beach. We walked along the beach for a while before heading back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. Tess joined us for dinner at a restaurant called Attic overlooking Las Ramblas. After a delicious dinner we headed to a Flamenco show in Placa Reial.

Tuesday
Tuesday we drove. We rented a car from the Barcelona airport and drove and drove—in the rain. We drove up Costa Brava and stopped in Figueres to check out the Dali Museum. We grabbed a quick lunch and stood in line (still in the rain) waiting to buy tickets to the museum. Though we waited forever and ever, the Dali Museum ended up being really really cool. Let’s just say Dali must have ben quite the character. After a couple hours in the museum, we got back in the car and headed towards our hotel. Hotel Aguia Blava was right on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The rocks and water was absolutely breathtaking. And even though it wasn’t warm enough to swim or go in the water, I would definitely recommend this hotel to anyone looking for an absolutely gorgeous place to stay on Costa Brava.

Wednesday
Wednesday we loaded our stuff back in the car and drove and drove and drove some more. We literally drove for the entire day. LOTS of family time in the car. After a horrible lunch stop, Mom decided to take the wheel. Lets just say it was quite the interesting ride. We finally arrived in San Sebastian around 8pm and then finally found our hotel- Hotel Nize after circling the city for a half hour or so. We walked around the old city for a little bit and grabbed some dinner before heading back to the hotel.

Thursday
Since the funicular up to Montjuic had been so cool, we decided to take another one up to the highest point in San Sebastian. On the way I introduced Dad to café con leche which he continued to guzzle down the rest of the trip. We finally found the funicular and took it up to the top. Once we were up to the top we saw that an amusement park had been built up there, along with paths circling the top. We took lots and lots of pictures while taking in the sites and trying some homemade potato chips before we decided to head back down. The rest of the day we spent strolling along the beach/boardwalk and around the old town. We ended the afternoon by laying in the sun (and me getting nicely sunburnt).
For dinner we attempted to go to some Tapas bars but everyplace we found was a little too interesting for our tastes- lots of cheese and seafood combos, a no go for Tommy, Mom & I. Sorry Dad! We ended up eating at a little pizza/pasta joint in our hotel and called it a night.

Friday
We woke up to rain on Friday and decided to head back to Barcelona earlier than we had initially planned. So we drove and drove some more. Luckily the ride back to Barcelona was shorter than the drive from Costa Brava so we ended back in Barcelona in the late afternoon. We checked into our hotel on Las Ramblas to find out that we hadn’t booked 2 rooms of 2 but rather one room with four beds- our Madeleine bedroom we called it. We headed out to dinner to find another procession to the Cathedral- this one for Good Friday. Since we’d done some food experimenting that week we decided to cop out and go for some good old American grub at the Hard Rock Café in Placa Catalunya. Obviously we were stuffed after the full meal and we made our way to see the Magic Fountain at Montjuic. At night, Montjuic puts on a light show to music that is absolutely amazing. We finished off the night walking around Las Ramblas watching the street performers and looking for some KinderBueno gelato for Tommy (we were unsuccessful).

Saturday
For their last day in Barcelona we headed for all the sites. First we headed up to Park Guell- the Gaudi park that overlooks the city. After wandering around for an hour or so in the sun we headed back down to visit the Gaudi church- the Sagrada Familia. We opted against taking the tour and instead went to the Picasso museum in the Born neighborhood. It was an awesome museum that featured most of Gaudi’s work while he was living in various parts of Spain, including Barcelona. After the museum we grabbed some lunch at a great little bar/restaurant where I had celebrated my 21st birthday called Princesa 23. Then we headed to the Chocolate Museum to buys some presents for people back home. After stopping for a little bit at the hotel we headed over to my apartment to have dinner with my host family. It was a great dinner and funny to watch everyone try to communicate in a mixed Spanglish but overall it went really well. Dinner went pretty late and since they had an early flight to catch in the morning, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

I sent them off to their airport early Sunday morning. It was great having the fam in town and show them around the city. Costa Brava and San Sebastian were both beautiful and would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a gorgeous vacation spot in Spain.

more soon! molly

dublin

Okay- so I realize that I am coming home on Wednesday (!!! I cannot believe the semester has gone by so fast!!!) but I am determined to complete my blog before my return home. So here goes, starting with Dublin!

Thursday

Tess, Kelly, Stacey & I take a late flight from Barcelona to Dublin and land around 10pm, along with half of the entire American study abroad crew from throughout Europe. You see, it seems as if we weren’t the only ones with the ingenious plan to visit Ireland the weekend before St. Patty’s Day. So after waiting in the customs line for what seemed like forever, we finally jumped in a cab and were on our way. We got to our hostel after a lovely chat with our cab driver- of all the cities I’ve now been to in Europe, I have found the Dublin cabbies to be the most pleasant and interesting of anywhere else. We ventured out for a little bit, stopping at an authentic Irish Pub or two, but since it was late and we’d had classes that morning, we made a plan for the next day and hit the hay.

Friday

We woke up refreshed on Friday (in our double-bunk hostel bedroom) and after a quick breakfast (it was a really nice hostel) we hit the road. Our first stop was to Trinity College. My first impression of Trinity College was that it was incredible. Though it was cold and windy in the city, the grass and trees on campus were a ridiculously perfect shade of green- so perfect for Ireland of course. Now, the whole time I’m thinking why the heck didn’t I know that I could go to college in Europe?! I pick a nowhere town in Ohio when I could be going to school in the heart of Dublin or the Swiss Alps- what was I thinking?! We then continued to stroll through the city to knock a few more sites off our list. After wandering around by the river and a little shopping we headed back in the direction of our hostel, the Temple Bar District. We wandered around for a little to get a feel for it during the day (and grab some lunch) but we figured that we’d be back when it was a little more festive at night :) Then, in the spirit of St. Patty’s Day, we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Now, the Cathedral was beautiful, but what really impressed me were the park/gardens in the back. Not only was the grass also an immaculate shade of green, but they had every color flower imaginable. We spent quite some time there taking pictures and enjoying all the colors. Then we headed to my favorite “museum” I’ve toured in all of Europe- The Guinness Storehouse & Museum. It was incredible! The entire museum is 7 stories high and not only includes the entire process of making the Guinness, but a “tasting lab”, packing center, marketing & advertising history section, an interactive quiz room, a HUGE giftstore and a gravity bar on the top level (with a complementary glass of Guinness). My favorite part was definitely the marketing and advertising history. It took you through all the different slogans, mascots and commercials that Guinness has EVER had. We spent probably an hour watching old Guinness commercials and laughing at all of the “my goodness, my Guinness” slogans. That night to wrap up our genuine Irish day, we went to a traditional Irish dinner show. We had a DELICIOUS meal of soup or salad, a beef/puff pastry mixture that was amazing and finally some dessert. While we were eating the cutest Irish band played traditional Irish jigs for the crowd (many of which were about the famous Molly Malone, which I will get to later). After the band played (and while we were eating dessert) a group of Irish dancers took the stage. Now don’t get me wrong, they were really good, but I find the whole Irish dance thing to be a bit goofy. After a good half hour forty minutes of Irish dance, another young Irish guy took the stage playing more contemporary songs on his guitar. We stayed and sang along for a bit, but we were wiped out from our long day so we headed back to the hostel which was conveniently next door and passed out.

Saturday

Saturday we woke up bright and early to take a bus tour into the hills outside the city. The Wild Wicklow tour started with a short City tour and then we headed to the coast. We drove through DunLaoghaire Harbour, Dalkey and Killiney, making sure to stop for some quick photo shoots. Our tour guides name was Wild Bill and he was the cutest little old Irish man you will ever meet. He was hilarious and added some spunk to what could have been a long time on a bus. We continued on through the Sally Gap- mountain lakes and boglands- made famous in Braveheart. Wild Bill then told us the story of how PS I Love You was filmed in those hills and he met (and kissed!) Hilary Swank. The wind was SO strong that there were times where I literally was afraid I was going to be blown into the cliffs/lake below me. After taking about a dozen pictures by the lake we boarded the bus once again. We then drove to Glendalough. We started out the stop with a “heart starter” as Wild Bill called it, aka a shot of Jameson Whiskey (made famously in Dublin). He then took us on a tour of a 6^th century settlement/cemetery and a walk up to the Upper Lake. Now it was FREEZING cold outside and none of us were dressed very properly so this led to some crabby, hungry girls by the time we got back to the bus. It was finally lunch time and we stopped at an authentic Irish pub in the hills and enjoyed a delicious traditional Irish meal. After lunch we headed back into the city and hung out in the hostel for awhile before grabbing some dinner and hitting the Temple Bar area. Seeing at is was the Saturday before St. Patty's Day, everyone was dressed up in hilarious green, orange and white costumes. We met up with another group of girls we knew from Barcelona (and MN) and ran into a friend of ours from Miami who is studying abroad in Florence for the semester. Small world. Overall- fun night, though I am not so much a fan of Guinness it was hard to choke down.

Sunday

Because our flight wasn’t until Sunday night, we had a very relaxing day doing what we do best- shopping. We strolled up and down Drafton Street (the main shopping strip in the heart of Dublin). We took pictures with the famous Molly Malone statue at the beginning of the street and sat and people watched for quite some time. After we were all shopped out, we headed back to the hostel, grabbed our luggage and headed for the airport. Our cabbie to the airport was a spunkie, bleach blonde thirty-something Irish women who insisted we were crazy for loving Dublin so much. She was a fan of New York and had a hard time understanding what we liked so much about the city and its people. We told her that she was a prime example- All the people were so incredibly nice and the city is so easy to navigate and figure out that it kind of felt like I knew the place already.

Seville coming soon! Stay tuned! xo Molly

pamplona/navarra

Okay, so I realize I am extremely late with this, but March has been quite the hectic month. It seems like we've had visitors every week, and trips on the weekends-not to mention a birthday celebration here and there. So March 5-7 the brave people in charge of IES Barcelona loaded 500+ college kids on 9 coach buses and crossed their fingers for the best. We were headed to the city of Pamplona and Navarra region in the North of central Spain- almost directly above Madrid near the French border. For all of you that don't know your Spanish cities, Pamplona is most famous for its tradition of the running of the bulls. We'll get to that later though :)

Thursday
So we all board the buses bright and early in Plaza Catalunya and went on our way. 8 hours and 2 dirty Spanish gas stations later bus 9 (my bus) is very crabby and ready to get to our hotel. The teachers on our bus string us along with the promise of wine tasting at our next stop at the Irache Vineyard and Monastery. When we finally arrive, we find out that the vineyard had in fact been turned into a museum and the only wine we got to taste was the watered down wine in the "wine drinking fountain". I'm not joking, you walk out to the back of the building and there is a faucet in this little courtyard and when turned on, wine comes out. Now bus 9 had some troublemakers who saw this and raced back to the bus to grab waterbottles to fillup with this free (really gross) wine. This didn't fly with the IES leaders. We all reboard the bus and drive another hour until we finally reach our hotel in Pamplona- where it is now snowing. The buses are all scattered between different hotels and bus 9 is the only at Hotel Leyre. I am introduced to my random, pre-assigned roommate (who actaully ended up being really cool) and we headed to dinner. IES took us to a restaurant down the street where we were served a set menu of spaghetti, chicken fingers, french fries and ice cream cake. By far the best part of the entire meal was the "free" water IES was paying for. I literally downed probably 10 glasses on my own, as did everyone around me. I'm sure the bill for the night was outrageous. After dinner bus 9 hung out in the pub under our hotel for a little bit and crashed pretty early due to our 7:30am wake up the next morning.

Friday
So we all roll out of bed the next morning and onto the bus where we immediately fall back asleep. An hour later, we wake up in Puente la Reina. Here we take a guided tour through the small town which is an important stop on the Camino de Santiago. Our guide tells us about the Camino de Santiago which was an extremely famous pilgrimage through Spain and parts of France. The bridge (which you can see in my pictures) is one of the most recognizable parts of the journey. After about an hour of strolling around this old town, we reload the bus and head towards the Castle of Javier. Its another hour and a half bus ride/nap to the castle but when we get there we are surrounded by snow capped moutains/hills with a lone castle standing in the middle. Though the tour of the castle wasn't all that interesting, climbing to the top tier of the castle was absolutely beautiful. We head back towards Pamplona for lunch and a walking tour of the city. Interestingly enough, I ended up eating at an Australian restaurant and it was one of the best meals I've had here so far- sad I know. So we were hesitant to go on the walking tour, because it was snowy and FREEZING outside, but it ended up being the best part of the entire trip. To start, we got a brief introduction to the layout of the city and basic info. Then we walked around the places that Ernest Hemingway made famous in his visits to Pamplona. It was in Pamplona that Hemingway wrote The Sun Also Rises. We visited the cafe he wrote in, as well as the hotel he stayed in and bars where he hung out. After the Hemingway portion of the tour, our guide walked up through the path of the running of the bulls: from the capitol down through the narrow streets to the bull ring. We were actually able to go into the bull ring and practice waving around the little flag. The little old Spanish caretaker of the ring was too cute and took the flag-waving very seriously. At the end of the tour, we met up with people on the other buses and walked around a little bit, shopping and wandering the city. We went back to the hotel for a bit before dinner (Salad with tuna, roast beef and mashed potatoes with gravy and yogurt). Not as good as the night before, but still, there was free water. I think half of the IES program all went to the same irish bar that night called O'Connell's and closed them down around 3am. My roommate and I then went into another club down the street. Soon after we entered we realized we were the ONLY non-Spanish people and not one other person in the bar spoke English. This was an issue because we are both in Beginner Spanish. We decided to call it a night a trudged back to our hotel in the pouring rain.

Saturday
So we wake up early on Saturday to board the bus to go home and as we are all loading the bus, it comes to the attention of our IES leaders that we are missing 2 kids. We will later find out that both are in the hospital for severe dehydration. About an hour into the drive we stop in Olite, a small town that used to be the capitol of the Navarra region. There we take an awesome tour of the Montasary and Castles there. They were both beautiful and by far one of the best tours I've taken since I've been here. The queen of the city insisted on the king building her a garden right outside her window- the only issue with this was that her bedroom was on the second story. So the kind hired some workers to construct a building with a courtyard on top of it to be built right next door to the queen's room. It was revolutionary for its time. So we load back on the bus after our tour and drive the 7 hours straight back to Barcelona. Its fair to say that I have never slept so much on a bus in my entire life. We literally spent half of the trip on the bus (in other words, sleeping).

The trip ended up not being as awful as we were all expecting it to be. The cold, snowy weather was a bummer, but if IES hadn't taken us to Pamplona, I probably wouldn't have gone on my own. The running of the bulls is such a famous event in Spain and it was really neat to see where it all takes place. Stay tuned for updates on Dublin!
xoxo molly

carnival

Carnival '09 in

Sitges- The Gay Capital of Spain!



Check out more pictures HERE!

Carnival was honestly unlike anything I have ever experienced before. We boarded the 5 buses headed for Sitges (about 45 minutes outside Barcelona) around 10pm with 500 of our closest American study abroad friends. They basically drop us off in the middle of the beach, hand us each a bottle of champagne, and send us on our way. There were sooooo many people in the most outrageous outfits. Everyone was decked out in bright colors, feathers and masks. Its like a giant block party with people all over, dancing in the streets, etc. We ran down to the water and took lots and lots of pictures! We finally arrive home around 5am, just enough time to grab a couple hours of sleep and head to class. I have never seen the IES classrooms so empty. My Media & Politics teacher called it the "Carnival Effect" and said that 15 people were absent from his earlier class (my class was missing about 10). I'm exhausted but it was definitely worth it! Well, I'm off to bed! Goodnight! Molly

switzerland

Hello again! Since I have a huge paper due tomorrow I thought this would be the best time to post about our trip to Switzerland last weekend! Here goes! Enjoy!

Thursday
So our flight out of Barcelona was at 11am and things went smoothly for the most part. We took the AeroBus from Placa Catalunya to the airport and except for a little delay at first, things went well and we landed in Geneva in just over an hour. So we converted our money into Swiss Francs and grabbed a cab for the hotel. We stayed right in the city center of Geneva in a nice little hotel right next to the trainstation and metro stop. After quick dropping our stuff off, we wandered around the city for a little and then headed to the Red Cross Museseum. Although the setup of the museum is a little confusing, it was an awesome experience to see. The museum has an extremely interactive approach to it and through videos, real-life displays and headphones, you really do get a feel for what kinds of things the Red Cross has accomplished in the past and still does today. One of my favorite parts was the makeshift bunker they had as part of the display. After you walked in the room with a squishy floor and surrounding you was all the equipment and supplies that a family needed in order to survive for one month in there. Some of the things I would have never even thought of. There was also a really neat display about the Geneva Convention and the signing of the agreement. After the museum we headed to dinner at a little pub/restaurant right by our hotel. The food in Geneva was to die for! We were exahusted from a long week and day of travel, so after dinner we headed to the hotel and took a sauna, watched some CNN (the only channel in english) and went to bed for an early day Friday.

Friday
So we had the brilliant plan of waking up early on Friday to go to the United Nations and tour it on the early side in order to catch the train into the mountains early. So we get to the UN at around 9:30am and wait around for the tour at 10am. After about 45 minutes, we finally ask a security guard why the tours hadn't started yet and we were informed that they weren't allowing tours that day because of a demonstration that was scheduled for that afternoon. HUGE BUMMER. I was really excited to visit and was really disappointed when I learned that it wasn't going to happen. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to go back to visit :) So we shopped around a little bit and then went back to the hotel in order to make our check out time. We grabbed a quick lunch by the train station and hopped on the train to Sierre-Siders to visit a friend Diego. Okay so a little backgroud on Diego before I go any further. His family is from Mexico City and moved to Hopkins when he was 7. He went to Eisenhower/North/Benilde and then his family moved back to Mexico City right before our Junior Year. So he was friends with all my friend's from Hopkins as well as a lot of the people I know from Benilde. He goes to Hotel Management school in the Alps at the #1 Hotel Management school in the world- Les Roches. When he found out about everyone studying abroad in Europe, he gave and open invitation for anyone to come visit and stay with him. Kelly was good friends with him at Hopkins so he was really excited to have us come visit. So after the 2 hour train ride up into the mountains, Diego picked us up at the train station about 20 minutes outside of the town he lives in. Driving up through the mountains was amazing, not to mention gorgeous! We drove past his school and into the ski resort town he lives in Crans-Montana. He describes is as the "Aspen of Europe". He basically lives in a ski chalet and goes to school everyday overlooking the Swiss Alps. HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS SCHOOL BEFORE?!?! seriously! So after hanging out for a little Friday afternoon, Diego made us dinner (quesadillas) and took us out to a pub and club that everyone from his school goes to. It wasn't too late of a night (a night change from the nightlife here in Barcelona) and we went to bed with big plans on Saturday.

Saturday
So Tess really wanted to go skiing on Saturday so she woke up at the crack of dawn and busied herself until the rest of us woke up finally around 10:30am. After realizing that we had absolutely no ski clothes or equipment, her dream of skiing in the Alps slowly started to fade. We grabbed a delicious lunch at one of Diego's favorite restaurants and walked to the base of the mountain and bought gondola tickets up onto the mountain. There were so many people skiing and boarding but the four of us climbed into the gondola and oogled at the AMAZING sites. I seriously cannot get over the fact that thats where Diego goes to school. Like his "Oxford, OH" is a ski town in the Alps- how unfair! We spent a good half hour just sitting in silence at the mountain-top restaurant drinking hot cocoa and taking in the breathtaking views. We sat around for an hour or two and took SO MANY pictures. After we rode the gondola back down, Diego took us down to this school and showed us around and everything. The way his school works is really cool. Its run like a restaurant/hotel. So the first-years are the wait staff and "go to school" setting up the dining room and waiting on the other students. The second-years are the kitchen staff and work to prep the food and organize the kitchen. Lastly, the third-year (Diego's year) take management classes and act as the restaurant patrons. After we hung out at his school for a little bit, we went over to one of his friend's house and watched a movie (The Last King of Scotland) and made dinner (spaghetti). We went out to the bars again but had another pretty early night in order to wake up and catch the train back into Geneva the next morning.

Sunday
Our flight back to Barcelona wasn't until 4pm so we had time to kinda wander the airport (good thing because our gate was sooooo far away from anything). And we had an easy flight back and got back around 6pm- completely exhausted. Oh! Something I forgot to mention earlier about Switzerland is the AMAZING water. Its easily the best tap water I have ever experienced in my entire life. We would take turns standing at the sink and chugging glasses of the freezing cold, crisp water. So good! I'm getting thirsty just thinking about it. Anyways, Switzerland was absolutely amazing and I definitely could go back and spend some serious time there.

Stay tuned for a post about Carnival!!!
xoxo Molly

On a personal note

Dear Friends and Family,
My sincerest apologies for not writing in such a long time. You see, I find it difficult to articulate what it is I love about the time I have spent here in Barcelona. No list of activities or written description of recent occurrences can communicate well enough how I feel. I guess there is just something about being a young adult in Europe! In essence, I don’t feel like I am “on my study abroad experience” but rather I am living my life of choice. I have chosen to study in Barcelona during this time, I have chosen to live with a family, and everyday I chose how and with who I wish to spend my time. Five weeks into my stay here, I have developed some incredible new relationships as well as built on some old ones.
This past week, I found myself deep in self-reflection and universal thoughts. Perhaps this has something to do with the topics I study in class (archeology, art, history, and culture in Spain), the movies I have recently gone to see (Revolutionary Road, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), or just because this is something I do. Whatever the cause of these thoughts, I have concluded that in order to achieve a life I define as personally successful all I need is: to know and love good people, enjoy what I am given, feel a sense of independence, and work to make the changes (or maybe just one change) I wish to see in the world a reality! It has never been so clear nor seemed so simple to me. I strive to live according to these objectives during the rest of my time here and where ever I may venture in the future.
At this point- I consider myself very fortunate with the life I have lived!

Thank you for being a part of it <3
Tess

amsterdam (a little late!)

Okay so I got a little behind with this blog thing but I'll do my best to get you up-to-date. Be sure to check out my pictures from Amsterdam and all my travels HERE

Thursday

So since our flight on Friday was at 6am, and the airport we flew out of was an hour away, it was a pretttttty long travel night/day. I met up with some girls I went to high school with Melissa Zerin, Courtney Baratz & Lauren Scholder and their 3 roommates on Thursday night after dinner. We hung out and had a quite night until about 3am when we left to go to the bus station. We caught the 3:15am bus to the Girona aiport (about an hour outside of Barcelona). After a couple minutes of sleep on the bus, we arrived at the Girona airport and did the usual airport stuff until our flight started to board. Now maybe its because we are taking the cheap flight/airlines around Europe but I experienced something I have never experienced in my life- unassigned seats on the airplane. Now I'm sure you can imagine the type of chaos this leads to seeing as people literally RUN to the plane in order to get the best seats with the people they want to sit with. It was quite the experience to have at 6am on no sleep. The flight there was easy enough and we landed in just under and hour and a half. We didn't fly into the main Amsterdam airport, so we had to take another 2 hour bus ride from the airport into the city center of Amsterdam. By the time we got there is was 10-11am on Friday and our day was just beginning.

Friday

So the city center of Amsterdam is quite the quaint little town. There are tons of cute little shops and restaurants surrounded by beautiful canals and cobblestone streets. We were still hauling around all of our luggage so after walking around for a little and grabbing something to eat, we headed to our hotel to drop our stuff off and take a little nap after our long journey. Later that afternoon/evening we ventured over to the Anne Frank house to take the tour. It was an incredibly moving experience being able to be inside such an important part of world history. Though the annex was not large by any means, it was actaully a lot bigger than I had imagined it in my head. The part that struck me as the most shocking is how mundane and dreary the days must have been spending day after day in the dark rooms of this attic space, with blackout shades over the windows and unable to move around during work hours. It's unreal. After finishing the tour, the eight of us went to dinner at an amazing little italian restaurant and walked around for a little bit more before calling it a night and going to bed pretty early.

Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up on the early-ish side and headed towards a popular part of the city called Leidseplein. There we found so much good shopping as well as a popular place to stop and eat. After speading a couple hours wandering along the streets and canals of this little area we established a couple things. Though the shopping appeared good and we shopped for hours, none of us made one purchase clothingwise in Amsterdam. We also found a delicious bagel shop and muffin store which we returned to at least 3 times throughout the day on Saturday. They were LITERALLY the best muffin I have had in my whole entire life. The blueberry muffins weren't just yummy on top (like muffins normally are) but they were sugary and gooey and delicious all the way to the bottom. I think I made up for all the food I haven't been enjoying in Spain through at least 2 or 3 muffins in Amsterdam. Then we decided to go check out the museum district of the city. Its an adorable little square and courtyard in the wealthier part of the town with the ReiksMuseum and VanGogh Museum within 5 minutes walking distance of eachother. I could have spent the whole day in the courtyard with the I AMsterdam letters and skating rink and playground except that it was FREEZING cold out and we immediately decided to head to the Van Gogh gallery after snapping some pictures. After wandering around for another couple hours we headed to our dinner reservations. We ate a place called SupperClub Amsterdam and it was definitely an experience. The "tables" we actually like sofa/bed type things with a table sitting in the middle. The eight of us shared 2 tables and sat as costumed waiters served us a set menu which I actually enjoyed (except the fish, but hey I tried!) After dinner we headed back to the hotel for another early night (what can I say, travelling is tiring!) and prepared ourselves for the long trek back to Barcelona.

After taking my second travel weekend, I definitely had developed an appreciation for the city of Barcelona. I was overjoyed to return back even though I had an amazing experience in Amsterdam. Not only is the weather amazing here, but I am reaching a level of comfort that is so enjoyable to return to. My "routine" here varies enough from week to week that each weekend seems like its own little vacation, but without the hassle of group tavel and planes, trains and automobiles. Travelling in a group of eight was definitely an experience as well....if you catch my drift :) Sorry this post took so long to come to life. Stay tuned for my tales from Switzerland!!!

Besos! Molly

london

Okay, so it's not technically my turn to blog this week but I thought I'd give you guys a quick briefing on my trip to London this past weekend! I've uploaded all the pictures HERE so you can check those out too! London is one of my favorite cities so I thought it'd be the perfect place to take my first trip to. I'd been there twice before and my friends Kelly and Stacey had never been so I told them that we HAD to go because I love it so much and wanted them to be equally obsessed.

THURSDAY
So after a hectic morning on Thursday (Kelly slept through her alarm and then we missed the bus to the airport) we finally arrived at our gate just in time to catch the bus to our plane out on the tarmac. It was a relatively uneventful flight and nice that Kelly, Stacey and I were able to sit together. We landed at London Heathrow at about 4pm and took the Tube for about an hour into Russell Square (One of Stacey's friends from Colgate is studying abroad and lives there). We hung out for a little bit but were quickly informed that Kelly and I would NOT be able to spend the weekend at their apartment because some of the roommates were opposed to the idea of extra guests.... annoying but there wasn't really anything we could do about it. Luckily, there was a hostel close by and we booked the night there Thursday. Kelly and I stayed in a 4 person room with another random girl from Australia who was travelling around England and about to start a new job in London. So we met back up with Stacey and her Colgate friends and went to an authentic British Pub for dinner. It was a delicious dinner and kind of nice to have a menu in English and an idea of what I was ordering :) So everyone was pretty tired so they headed back to their apartment and Kelly and I went back to the hostel to find that it was karaoke night at the bar inside. We hung out for a little bit and laughed at all the funny American songs that people were picking and met some nice guys from Turkey. We finally worked up the courage to sing one ourselves. I have to admit that it was my first time singing karaoke and I think we did an okay job. After thoroughly embarrassing ourselves in front of the entire hostel, we headed upstairs to get a goodnight sleep for the long day we had planned on Friday.

FRIDAY
We woke up early on Friday and were extremely ready to check-out of the hostel. We figured we'd look around for different hotels and check out the prices before booking another night at the "Generator". So we walked over to meet Stacey and her friends Samantha at her apartment and we took a cab to Harrod's. We spent probably an hour or so walking around Harrod's and ooo-ing and ahh-ing at all the things we couldn't afford. After we left we walked down the street and did some more shopping on our way over to Hyde Park/Buckingham Palace. I bought an AWESOME leather jacket for about 40 pounds at TopShop and I am absolutely in love with it! We kept strolling and eventually hit Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament and Westminster Abbey before stopping for lunch at another pub. Luckily it was a beautiful day and not too cold out. Funny enough, we ran into another group of girls from IES Barcelona who were also in London for the weekend. Small world huh? After lunch we headed over to Covent Gardens to wrap up the sightseeing for the day. We sat at a super cute cupcake store and did some more shopping/looking at all the cute things wishing we had money to buy them. After Covent Gardens they headed back to Sam's apartment and Kelly and I went to the hotel we had booked. After a quick lay-down, Kelly and I got up and went to a delicious little Chinese resteraunt for dinner. It was soooo yummy (especially the banana fritter we had for dessert!). Friday night we went out to a couple bars/clubs and met some really cool people from all over. Some girls from Chile, Washington DC and some guys from France. I tried speaking French with them but my head is all jumbled up with Spanish now so I got a little confused but still managed to do quite well :)

SATURDAY
After our long day Friday, it was really nice to sleep in on Saturday. Kelly and I woke up around noon and took our time getting ready and everything in the morning. Stacey and Samantha really wanted to do Portabella Market, so they got up early to go do that while Kelly and I hung out and just chilled for a little. When we finally motivated ourselves to do something, we decided to go checkout Piccadilly Circus. Its AMAZING. The only thing I can compare it to is Time's Square. It's block upon blocks of shopping, restaurants, theaters, clubs and bright lights. So much fun! We pretty much spent the day wandering around until we decided to stop for dinner. After dinner we thought it'd be fun to go see a movie. We looked at a couple theaters until we picked Revolutionary Road. Both of us had wanted to see and so we thought why not? Let me say that the movie theaters in London are nothing like the ones in the States. Rather than little theaters, they are HUGE like auditorium theaters with balconies and a stage in front of the screen. The movie was good, kind of depressing but good, and then we headed back to meet up with Stacey and Samantha at their apartment. We made a game plan for the next day to meet up early and go to the London Eye and headed back to the hotel.

SUNDAY
Sunday morning we work up early (like 9am) and headed straight to the London Eye to get there when it opened at 10 in order to avoid lines. It wasn't very clear out but we were still able to get some amazing views of the city. After the eye we wandered around for a little bit and then headed back to Samantha's apartment to go find some lunch. We went to this cute little crepe place for lunch that was super yummy! While we were eating it started BLIZZARDING outside. I'm sure as you all heard, London got their biggest snowstorm since 1991 on Sunday/Monday. Our flight was at 3:30pm so we headed back to catch the Tube to the airport. We finally arrived back in Barcelona around 8pm and were COMPLETELY exhausted. As much as I wanted to, I wasn't able to make it out to watch the SuperBowl on Sunday though. As much as I love London and traveling, it REALLY is exhausting!

Things here are crazy with the Al-Queda arrests in Barcelona too. Our program keeps sending out emails to everyone trying to keep us all informed and calm about the situation. Well.... next weekend I am headed to Amsterdam so I will keep you all updated when I get home from there too!!! Hope everything is well with everyone! I'm trying to send out some postcards in the next couple weeks so if you want one, make sure to email me your address!!! thorpeme@muohio.edu I would love to hear from you!
Adios! Molly

Week 2!!

This week we had our first full week of classes. Now that we have a set schedule, we're getting into the swing of things and establishing our own little routines. Classes are going well, though you can tell that the teacher's are serious about their jobs and expect students to put in just as much work as they do. Each of our classes require a "reader" which is a booklet of articles and readings that our teachers compile personally, rather than making us spend the hundreds of dollars we normally would spend on books. Its very interesting learning about the lifestyles and backgrounds of our professors too. My Media and Politics professor was born and raised in Barcelona but studied in England, so its cool hearing his different accents as well as his different opinions and views of international politics. Tess and I also are taking a Sports in Society class which is taught by a British woman who married a Spanish man and has lived here for 20+ years. She is kind of our "go to" person when it comes to trying to figure out Spanish culture because she's not Spanish and doesn't take our questions personally. Her answers are usually pretty entertaining! We also both had our first quizzes in our Spanish classes on Friday too! We've been hitting the books from the start! (kind of...)

On Friday night a bunch of us went out for drinks at a really fun bar named Pippermints. I'm not sure if that's a misspelling of the word Peppermint's or if the Spanish people just put their own little spin on it. We met a group of boys who were raised in Mexico, go to college at Arizona State University and are now studying abroad in Barcelona- quite the mix of people. But the bar is famous for serving drinks by the table. So a whole big group of us ordered a giant drink and had a really fun night just talking and getting to know all these people. Its funny how small even a big city like Barcelona can feel. Even knowing the small group of kids that I do, I feel like I am always running into people I've met before out at a club, or kids from my classes. Its kind of comforting knowing that even in a big city of strangers, I'm still kind of surrounded by some familiarity.

Saturday morning Tess and I rolled out of bed to meet up with some friends to do "the tourist thing". We boarded Barcelona Bus Touristic and rode a double-decker bus around the city getting on and off as we pleased. It was cool to get sort of an idea of where everything was and how to get there, even if we didn't go into every museum and site. By far, my favorite place we stopped was Montjuïc. Its located up on a hill to the Southwest of the city center and has breathtaking views of the city. We didn't dive too deep into the tours or anything because frankly, we were desperate to find something to eat :). But from the outside I could definitely go back and spend a whole day there. Montjuïc is home to the Olympic Stadium (which is famous for rejuvenating the city of Barcelona) as well as the Montjuïc Gardens and Castell de Montjuïc (an 18th century fortress). While we were walking around, we noticed a large trade show being taken down from last week's "Bread and Butter Tradeshow". In Barcelona, this past week has been a huge fashion week with many parties and specials at different stores. The tradeshow had been set up around the famous Magic Fountain which leads up the hill to Montjuïc. We finally ended up at Port de Barcelona and got ourselves a late lunch. It was beautiful down by the water but SO WINDY it was impossible to really enjoy ourselves. Once we got home we found out about the danger of the winds we were in. Up on Montjuïc and down by the water were apparently two of the places to avoid according to our program warnings...oops!


Here's a picture of some of us girls on Montjuïc!

Well, that's all for now folks! We're about to do some homework and dive into the week ahead of us! No classes on Friday so I'll be headed off to London and Tess is trying to plan a trip to Madrid! We'll be in touch!!
Adios! Molly & Tess


*****It takes a super long time to post pictures up on the site so I've uploaded more of mine to a different photo-sharing site. If you want to check them out here's the link. Enjoy!!!
http://picasaweb.google.com/mollythorpe88

Week 1

Update

Week one complete and we are still alive here in Barcelona! Since Molly’s last post our knowledge of the city, which is beginning to feel more like home, has expanded significantly. As time passes, it has become easier for us to assimilate into the Spanish culture. Of course we are holding on to the fragments of American culture that are dear to our hearts such as: Grey’s anatomy, Gossip Girl, Perez Hilton, and late night snacks. However, we have become accustom to the time schedule, portion size, and public transportation here in Espana!

Everyday last week, Molly and I had 1 ½ hours of Spanish class. This proved to be very helpful for Molly, being that she had never studied the language before. She is now learning basic verbs and the rules of conjugation which have enabled her to communicate some of her feelings in conversation. I am convinced that it was her Spanish of course paired with her dashing good looks that attracted a Spanish admirer. On that topic, of course we are acting responsibly and taking care of one another.

My Spanish class (Advanced 1) was very interesting and I was happy to meet a lot of unique new friends. Unfortunately, I decided I was a bit over my head in terms of my Spanish abilities because it has been over two years since I have taken a Spanish class. I willingly chose to change my level to Intermediate 2 in the hope that I will feel more comfortable and confident participating in class.

Cultural Observations

Although we have only been here for approximately 10 days, each day we have learned something new about Spanish culture. One of the most prominent differences we observed between Spanish and American culture is the lack of attention that is paid to the service industry here. This is because, unlike America’s independent mentality, the Spanish culture is interdependent. Some might even call it socialist. This means that each profession has a minimum salary that will allow the individual to provide for themself. Therefore waiters are not motivated to please their customers the same way they are in the states. We were also quick to notice that people bring their dogs with them everywhere they go. Not only that, but the dogs are not on leashes. It’s a good thing Molly and I are not afraid of dogs or we would be living in constant fear. Another important cultural aspect to note is the emphasis Spanish people place on being environmentally mindful. This includes everything from turning off lights one is not directly using, keeping shower time minimal, buying fresh food from local markets, and utilizing public transportation. The green movement is indeed discussed in the U.S. but not translated into action the way it is here in Spain. In response to Tim’s question, everyone here is very excited about Obama being selected as our new president! In fact, there was an Obama poster on our bedroom door when we arrived here.

Family Life

Molly and I each consider ourselves very lucky to be living with such a warm, welcoming, yet easy going family. Ana (our host mother) has been sensitive to our needs and helpful in our learning of Spanish language and culture. We recently learned that she is a sociology professor at the University of Barcelona. Perhaps this provides some indication of her personality and interest in hosting foreign students. She is usually gone most of the day but always home in time to prepare a fresh cooked dinner. Speaking of which, last night she made a lentil soup for us. This was not any ordinary soup though, a few of its main ingredients include the meat from a pig’s ear and foot. This meat is apparently common for Spanish people to eat. However, Ana knew that it would be strange for Molly and I so she put it on the side. During dinner we have had many interesting conversations, which Molly is beginning to understand. Last night a conversation about bull fighting arose after our discussion about the pig ear. Alba (our sister) told us that it is no longer a popular sport here in the Catalan region but it is still a large part of Spanish culture elsewhere, especially in the south. We learned the grading scale (0-3) and customs of the audience. For those who are interested in knowing the details: 0 is equal to nothing/failure, 1 means the matador removed one of the bulls ears, 2 signifies the removal of both ears, and 3 is achieved when the bull is left without any ears or tail! Ayyy dios mio. Alba said she does not personally enjoy the sport because it is very violent and makes her feel sad for the bull. Molly and I anticipate that we will feel the same way but we expect to learn more about the ins and outs of bullfighting in our sports and society class.

I hope this has given you some insight into our lives here. Please feel free to post suggestions or questions you might have for us in the future. Hope life is great back in the states!

Hasta luego,

Tess & Molly

We're here!!!

So after hours of travel and not so many hours of sleep we have finally arrived in Barcelona! We've only been here a couple of days, but I'll try to give you a quick idea of what life is like in Barca.

Housing
We live about a 25 minute walk/5 minute metro ride directly north of downtown Barcelona in the Gracia neighborhood. The architecture around Barcelona is beautiful and full of history. Our street Carrer D'astúries is off of a major road with lots of nightlife but our street is quite quaint with many little shops and cafes. Its located right on a plaza in Gracia so there is no street for cars to drive on, just a little cobblestone walk/plaza. Tess and I live in an apartment with a family of 3. They have an adorable apartment and gave us our own little area in the basement. There is a small family room/game room in the basement along with our bedroom and bathroom.

Family
Our host family is extremely nice and so far we have gotten along wonderfully. They've hosted students for a number of years now alternating between boys and girls each semester. Our host mother's name is Ana and she speaks very little English. Tess understands Spanish quite well so she has been acting as my personal translator though I am starting to get used to picking out pieces of conversation. We also have a 17 year old sister named Alba. She is a senior in high school and speaks fluent Spanish, Catalan, English and French. She is just starting to learn Arabic and wants to go to University to study to be a translator. Though she has been quite busy with school work she is excited to take us around to show us "her Barcelona" rather than the more tourist-y stuff. We then have a 10 year old brother named Oriole or Ori for short. He is the cutest little boy imaginable and is often playing Wii in the basement. He likes having host-brothers rather than sisters but he's managing. The kids have been in and out because they both live with their Dads sometimes so its hard to know who's coming and going. Ana is dating a guy named Paul. He had been super nice and also speaks a little bit of English as well.

School

Actual classes don't start for another week but we've been having mini orientation things and Spanish classes start tomorrow (Monday). We are about a 20-25 minute walk/5 minute metro ride from school. Yesterday we went on a field trip as a group (approx. 450 kids) to Vic and Besalu. It was pouring rain and about 35 degrees all day so it was a bit difficult to enjoy but both places were full of history and would have been quite enjoyable in different weather. Both are Medieval towns from the Gothic era in Spain. Vic had a large outdoor market (in the rain...) and we toured a beautiful church and had lunch. Besalu reminded me a little of the Tower of London and was its own little town built of brick and cobblestone. So starting tomorrow we have Spanish class everyday for an hour and a half and then more orientation things like a scavenger hunt around the city and stuff. The entrance at Besalu

Food
So both of us were a little bit apprehensive about the food situation here because Tess is a vegetarian and I'm a little bit of a picky eater but so far things have worked out well. Ana serves us breakfast and dinner everyday (though I've not been awake for breakfast yet...). Dinner is usually served around 9:30 each night though last night we went out to dinner and ate from 11pm-1am. The food has been good so far with only a few strange encounters. We've had chicken (not Tess) and broiled artichokes, spaghetti with cream sauce, and an interesting pea dish. The other night they convinced me to try melon with ham on it. Not my favorite but I'm getting quite adventurous when it comes to trying new food. Tess and I ate at a little Istanbul cafe across the street from our apartment and a Lebonese Pizza place down the road. We're quite good at making friends with the waiters too.

Nightlife
We're still trying to get adjusted to the new time zone and lifestyle differences but Tess and I have managed to go out twice to sort of get a feel for the nightlife here in Barcelona. On Friday night we went out just the two of us and just stayed within a 10 minute walk of our apartment. We went to 3 different little places to get a taste of what was around. Since we had to be up early the next day we headed home around 1:30/2 am. Last night we were a bit more adventurous and after the long fieldtrip we were ready to blow off some steam. Tess and I met up with one of my friends from Hopkins, Kelly, and her roommate Stacey. We went to dinner from 11pm-1am and met 2 Spanish guys who took us to a discothèque in downtown Barca. They told us it was a typical Spanish scene and not so tourist. It was a little pricey so us girls decided to go meet up with some other people from our program. We took a cab to another club called Elephante. It was super cool and decorated with an India/Elephant theme. There were lots of Americans there from our program and other ones too. Tess and I ran into another girl from Miami on our program as well. Finally at about 4/4:30am we decided to go home. It was definitely interesting to compare the 2 different environments. A boy I know from high school studied here for a year in high school and is back for the year this year so we are trying to meet up with him to get another different view of Barcelona nightlife.

Well that's all I've got for now. I'm going to try to take some pictures of our apartment and family and stuff and get those posted here. Hasta luego!!!

Molly & Tess