SPRING BREAK
Heyy!
I really am going to be sad when I have to leave here, because its kind of becoming a way of life. It's going to be odd not to be able to go to a foreign country for a weekend, or to get up to the chickens and Mediterranean sun. It's sad that I am starting to take some of it for granted, but also amazing how fast I adapted to the Italian and European way of life.
I went on spring break last week with 5 other people and we rented an apartment in Barcelona Spain. It was amazing to say the least. We must have gotten really lucky and done a decent amount of research because we stayed in such an amazing location in a really fun and functional (yet CHEAP) apartment. I love Barcelona as a city, it is breathtaking and so different from Italy, epically Florence. The weather was amazing and
the sun seemed to shine at a high 60s to 70s everyday. I think that the set-up of the city made it feel a little more like home too, being that there were such things as main streets, (not just confusing as hell circular piazzas) and also a more thought out city arrangement. It was also refreshing to be able to decide on when and what we wanted to eat, being that we cooked for ourselves the entire week. We even had a Mexican night, and made chicken tacos and casadeias. I was able to locate some salsa and made guacamole too which made me very happy because I miss it like whoa! I even found a bagel shop, which
made my day (I found it necessary to take a picture. Look at the link at the bottom of the page, I uploaded around 100 of the 300 pictures I took that week and they are in the Barcelona folder on my yahoo photos account).
We went to the zoo one day, which was a fun experience being that they basically have no cages or barriers at all and my friend Dan even got into the elephant cage to feed one of the elephants. We went to the beach and layed on the sand, and saw a ton of Gaudhi's work, my favorites being the Casa Batilò, the Sangrada Famiala, and the Park Guell.
The shopping was amazing, and everything was so funky and cheap. I think that it helped a lot too being that we were staying in the main shopping and bar district too. The night life there is ridiculous, bars are open all day (and always filled with Irish and British men who have had a little too much to drink, and we tended to avoid) and the clubs don't open until 2 in the morning and the crazy Spanish dance until 6 or 7am! We tried to have spanish style nights by pushing back our dinners to 10 or 11pm but mostly that just created the need for 2 lunches and little sleep. I can't keep up with the Spanish and fall asleep way too early aparently.
All in all it was a great trip, and as I often find myself saying, I could spend a semester in Barcelona and be happy. The water, trees, grass, and the sun are obvisouly biasing my opinion but what can you do?
This weekend I am going to Milan with 2 other girls, and we are staying with my friend from U of M in her apartment. I have no idea where we will be sleeping though as it looks like the floor will be the only open space.
I am also looking into changing my flight back home so that I can travel with my best friend Marika who plans to be arriving around May 12-14th and will travel with me for 3 weeks, hopefully seeing London, Greece and France (possibly Rome) I want to switch my flight so that I can fly home with her the last week of May first week of June. STA is being very difficult though so I guess I'll have to wait and see!
Miss you all! xoxo
--Eden
pictures -> http://photos.yahoo.com/volleygal137
I really am going to be sad when I have to leave here, because its kind of becoming a way of life. It's going to be odd not to be able to go to a foreign country for a weekend, or to get up to the chickens and Mediterranean sun. It's sad that I am starting to take some of it for granted, but also amazing how fast I adapted to the Italian and European way of life.
I went on spring break last week with 5 other people and we rented an apartment in Barcelona Spain. It was amazing to say the least. We must have gotten really lucky and done a decent amount of research because we stayed in such an amazing location in a really fun and functional (yet CHEAP) apartment. I love Barcelona as a city, it is breathtaking and so different from Italy, epically Florence. The weather was amazing and
the sun seemed to shine at a high 60s to 70s everyday. I think that the set-up of the city made it feel a little more like home too, being that there were such things as main streets, (not just confusing as hell circular piazzas) and also a more thought out city arrangement. It was also refreshing to be able to decide on when and what we wanted to eat, being that we cooked for ourselves the entire week. We even had a Mexican night, and made chicken tacos and casadeias. I was able to locate some salsa and made guacamole too which made me very happy because I miss it like whoa! I even found a bagel shop, which
made my day (I found it necessary to take a picture. Look at the link at the bottom of the page, I uploaded around 100 of the 300 pictures I took that week and they are in the Barcelona folder on my yahoo photos account).
We went to the zoo one day, which was a fun experience being that they basically have no cages or barriers at all and my friend Dan even got into the elephant cage to feed one of the elephants. We went to the beach and layed on the sand, and saw a ton of Gaudhi's work, my favorites being the Casa Batilò, the Sangrada Famiala, and the Park Guell.
The shopping was amazing, and everything was so funky and cheap. I think that it helped a lot too being that we were staying in the main shopping and bar district too. The night life there is ridiculous, bars are open all day (and always filled with Irish and British men who have had a little too much to drink, and we tended to avoid) and the clubs don't open until 2 in the morning and the crazy Spanish dance until 6 or 7am! We tried to have spanish style nights by pushing back our dinners to 10 or 11pm but mostly that just created the need for 2 lunches and little sleep. I can't keep up with the Spanish and fall asleep way too early aparently.
All in all it was a great trip, and as I often find myself saying, I could spend a semester in Barcelona and be happy. The water, trees, grass, and the sun are obvisouly biasing my opinion but what can you do?
This weekend I am going to Milan with 2 other girls, and we are staying with my friend from U of M in her apartment. I have no idea where we will be sleeping though as it looks like the floor will be the only open space.
I am also looking into changing my flight back home so that I can travel with my best friend Marika who plans to be arriving around May 12-14th and will travel with me for 3 weeks, hopefully seeing London, Greece and France (possibly Rome) I want to switch my flight so that I can fly home with her the last week of May first week of June. STA is being very difficult though so I guess I'll have to wait and see!
Miss you all! xoxo
--Eden
pictures -> http://photos.yahoo.com/volleygal137