¡Vamos a la playa! - Barcelona

One weekend in April, Casey, Elizabeth and I went to Barcelona. Thankfully we were able to take the AVE there, Spain’s fast-speed train, because it was always so much easier to travel by train than by plane. When we arrived, we inevitably got lost on our way to the hostel, and once we had checked in we headed out to explore a little bit and have dinner.

We walked up Las Ramblas, Barcelona’s main street, and looked at all the different shops along the way. There was a street shop that was selling rabbits and turtles, kind of strange. Eventually we ended up at Rosa Negra, a Mexican restaurant, to have gross margaritas and delicious burritos.

Liz, me, and Casey

Later that night we went to a local bar, L’Ascensor. The entrance was an old elevator and the decorations throughout were old-timey. There were two lamps at the bar that had rolled-up papers stuck all throughout them, and there were notes written on the papers. So I decided to write a note, too.

The next day we headed out on a walking tour of the Gothic neighborhood with our hostel. We saw Plaza Real, the Jewish Quarter, a couple cathedrals, and random squares along the way. It was really cool to get to hear some of the history of the area. At one plaza, our guide pointed out a space invader tile up on the wall. Apparently there is an artist that goes around the world and leaves his mark as little space invaders. It was pretty cool!

Later on in the day we headed to a lunch spot that had been recommended to us by a ton of friends, Bó de B. The sandwiches were cheap and stuffed with Mediterranean amazingness. Yum! Afterward we headed out to the beach for a quick siesta before more exploring. On the beaches in Barcelona, people come around trying to sell things constantly. ¿Mojito? ¿Cerveza? ¿Massagy? It was very obnoxious, but luckily canceled out by a group of guys nearby singing and playing the guitar.

Next we headed to a park and wandered around for a bit. The park was gorgeous and there was a giant fountain in it.

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering through a huge market full of fruits, fish, and candy, then heading to Plaza Real for tapas. 

That night we decided to find out what Barcelona’s nightlife was all about, complete with shots on fire and a club right on the beach. I have to say, it did all live up to its reputation.

The next day started off with a traditional American-style brunch off eggs benedict and coffee, followed by some more beach napping. After our siestas we headed out to see La Sagrada Familia, a church by architect Antoni Gaudí, followed by wandering through his Parc Güell. His architectural style is very cool, and it gives Barcelona a very unique vibe. 

La Sagrada Familia

Parc Güell

For dinner that night we went for Paella, which Casey and I were excited about since our host family is Argentinian and therefore never cooks Paella. 

For the evening activities, we went to a huge Sangria bar then hung out in Plaza Real chatting up some Spaniards. The Sangria bar was in a cave-like building and had a ton of character. I made the mistake of calling out ¡Hala Madrid! a few times, but other than that it was great. When we got back to our hostel for the night we met a few French guys and had terrible language barriers!

The last day we ventured over to Montjuïc and saw the Olympic Stadium and some great views of the city. Barcelona was fun and we met some of the most interesting people. I definitely see where all the tourism comes from, but I am so happy to have studied abroad in Madrid where normal (Castilian) Spanish is spoken, rather than Catalan, which is more of a mix between Spanish and French. 

The Sahara

The majority of my spring break this year was spent camping out in the Sahara, and it was incredible. After hours and hours on a bus, we finally arrived in a small town in Morocco on the border of the Sahara. From there, we took jeep 4x4's for about an hour into the desert. I lucked out and the driver for my group was willing to do some off-roading in the dunes while blasting spanish and moroccan music. It was a blast!

Our group with the jeep driver

The next morning we all woke up to watch the sunrise over the desert. I can easily say that this was one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. My friend Taylor and I walked out in the dunes with a Berber (a person that lives in the desert), and he lead us directly to what was apparently his favorite dune. I couldn't really tell the difference between the dunes... After the grand event we walked back to camp. Right as we got there, though, our new friend wanted to show us what he did for a living. So we were coaxed into buying some shell fossils from the desert!

Later in the day we had another amazing adventure: this time, RIDING CAMELS! It was so cool, but also very uncomfortable and my camel was crazy. When I walked up to the line of about 80 camels or so, a berber lead me to mine, and it was bucking around and camel-screaming while foaming at the mouth. Perfect. I started to reject my camel, but the berbers forced me on him anyway. He stood up super fast and then was fine the rest of the ride, except for the possible rabies...

Me and Crol the Warrior King

Half-way through our ride we stopped at a HUGE sand dune, and climbed it. It was hard to do but the view was incredible. Also, keep in mind we were in the Sahara. Meaning it was a little toasty. At the end of our camel rides we walked into a nearby town and saw a couple shops. It was interesting to see the way of life there, which was much simpler than any place I've seen.

The rest of the day we had free time, so my friends and I took advantage of the sun and laid out for a little. Soon after though, a big group of berber kids came over to the camp. I was told that they would come and to bring candy, so I went and got a bag and they practically attacked me for it! It was cool seeing how happy they were with the candy.

After watching the sunset over the camp (also beautiful), we we greeted again by more berber kids who kept talking about their "salamanders." My friends and I played along and met they're salamanders, and someone told me they were just fake lizards. WRONG! The second they put one in my hand it started squirming around and I shreiked, so naturally all the little kids ran up to me with their lizards at once. It was fun playing with the kids, but the second lizards were involved I was out of there!

The next morning was our last, so we wandered around in the dunes for awhile, met another berber kid who had found a baby fox, and headed out in our jeeps. I will never forget Morocco, and especially the Sahara. It was gorgeous with orange sand and great people. I am so thankful to have had the experience!

Spring Break in Morocco: Fes

My Spring Break this year was spent in Morocco, Africa! It was a very cool trip spent learning about a culture much different than all the European cities I have visited so far, and it was an experience I will never forget. There was a ridiculous amount of travel time spent on the bus, from 6 hours to 24 hours at a time, but it was all completely worth it.

The trip started off with a robbery - this time my wallet on the metro on my way to the bus. The line that goes from my house to the city center is always packed and I had a ton of luggage, so I was struggling and my wallet was stolen. Sad times :( Luckily the jerk didn't get my passport, and my spending money for Morocco was with my program directors.

The bus into Morocco in total took about 24 hours, starting at 10pm in Madrid. The first 9 hours were spent in Spain, where we then took a ferry from Algeciras to Tanger. The ferry ride was miserable because we had to stand in a line that lasted forever to get our passports stamped, but we were all exhausted from the bus so it was probably the worst part of the journey all around. When it was time to head off of the ferry, my friends and I got a little lost. We were trying to find a short cut out of there to by pass the herds of people in line at the exit, and ended up down at the bottom of the ferry with all the busses and cars. Oops! Some man that worked on the ferry yelled at us when we were trying to find our way out...great start to Morocco!

Finally we were back on the bus IN AFRICA, and headed to Fes. We arrived at the hotel in the evening and immediately ate before going to bed super early. ISA warned everyone multiple times before the trip to be careful with the food in Morocco, and my host mom drilled into my head that if something isn't cooked, don't eat it. "¡No crudos!"

Hotel Lobby

Monday morning the group headed out to see the Royal Palace - at least, the front door of it. It was a gorgeous...door...and the surrounding area was beautiful! We had a Moroccan tour guide that stuck with us all day, and he told us all about the Palace.

Palace entrance

Collette, me, Taylor, Carly, and Maggie

Our next adventure of the day was to the Medina of Fes. The Medina has been around since around the year 900, and it is this huge maze of market streets that almost seems underground. The guides told us if we got lost, we probably would never be found. So that was reassuring.

The day was spent visiting authentic shops throughout the Medina, but walking from shop to shop was almost the best part. At one point the guide showed us a shop that sold snails. The snails were live in bags, but some had crawled out of the bags and up onto the ceiling. It was crazy! Another thing I saw all around the streets was chicken stores...they had cages of live chickens and a scale. When you want to buy chickens, you pick some from the cages, weigh them on the scale, then the shop keeper kills them right there for you. Convenient and fresh! It was awful.

Snails

Kitties looking at the chicken scale

So there were snails, chickens, camel heads, spices, fruits, really any food possible you would picture in an African market. On top of the food, there were shoe shops, lamp shops, toy stores, leather stores, and again, anything you can imagine. This place was huge! And most of the shops were tiny, but stuffed to the brim.

Camel head

A couple more things about the Medina - cats are basically the African equivalent to pigeons and squirrels. They were everywhere! I much prefer cats to pigeons, so it was kinda cool. The roads of the Medina are so small that cars are not allowed inside, so the people have to use donkeys and carts to transport things. Each time one of these came down a road, people would yell "Balak!" meaning "Watch out, there's a donkey that is about to run you over!"

Typical Donkey

Men with carts outside of the Medina

Our first stop was at a pharmacy. This place was very cool; the shop keeper had us all sit around his pharmacy and then proceeded to basically put on a show for us of all his products. He was selling us green lipstick which when you put it on it turns pink, eye liner in the form of a powder with a stick applicator, argan oil used for your hair, lotion that apparently works wonders, some strange plant that when you smell it it fixes all cold symptoms and headaches..., mint tea, and spices. This guy was all up on his selling game. He had crowd participation and little helper men giving out samples to everyone - he was not joking around. Since he is so respected by ISA and it was a pharmacy, we were told not to haggle the prices down. I walked away with lipstick, argan oil, and tea.

Carly, me, Taylor, and Maggie at the Pharmacy

Next we headed to a rug store. This place was HUGE and just covered in rugs. Again, the shop keeper put on a big display for us and gave everyone a glass of mint tea, what the locals call Moroccan Whiskey. It was so good, and I was happy to realize that the rest of the trip would be spent sippin on Moroccan Whiskey. A few people bought rugs here, after haggling them down by a huge percentile, then we moved on to the next place.

Rug store

A silver/jewelry store was next. Here, I realized that after all, I suck at haggling. I looked at some bracelets and rings but wasn't able to get them down low enough so I pissed off the guys working there each time I walked away from our haggling. One of their tactics was to light the rings on fire to show that they were real gems and nice silver. It was strange. After giving up on the super expensive jewelry, I noticed that they were also selling tea pots. The kind that looks like it came straight from Aladdin. So I was able, finally, to haggle down to a reasonable price and got a Moroccan silver tea pot!! Yay!! Then I attempted to get some cheap glasses to go with it, and apparently offended the man with my starting price so much that he kicked me out. Oopsie...

Tea cups that got me kicked out

Our fourth shop was a tannery - a leather products making place. The shop keepers led us upstairs to a lookout point, and as we walked onto the lookout they handed us mint leaves to smell. Those were a preventative to not pass out over the nasty leather/dead camel/dead animal smells going on down below. It was a crazy sight; there were buckets and buckets used for dying, stripping, and making the leather that would then be made into jackets, bags, wallets, shoes, etc. We then went inside and I bought a wallet, this time without offending any workers. I figured it would be good to replace what I lost back in Madrid...

Tannery

The final stop before lunch was at a traditional clothing and fabrics store. The shop keepers had two volunteers try on the traditional arabic outfits and then we all got to wander around trying them on. It was a super stylish store, to say the least. Downstairs they sold tons of scarves, and they showed us how they are all made. I was able to get a really pretty pashmina for a reasonable price, and my shopping was done for the day.

The Madrid Ladies!

Makin some scarves like it ain't no thang

Lunch consisted of pita breadish things, couscous, some meat and cooked veggies, and oranges. This meal was repeated multiple times throughout the trip. We were all wary to not eat the raw veggies, and realized at the end of the meal that our African diet had started.

The last shop of the day was outside of the Medina at a ceramics store. We had a tour of the place consisting of how they make the clay, form it, cook it, paint it, and so on. It was really cool to be able to see every step in the process as well as the final products. Also, we saw kittens in one of the rooms, and they were adorable! The end of the tour was conveniently situated at their store, and I window shopped some fancy fountains that I will eventually custom order for my home when I become a gazillionaire ;)

My future fountains

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a great panoramic view of the city. It was a day well spent in the Medina, and it was such a crazy culture shock to Europe.

We again had dinner at the hotel, then headed out to see an authentic belly dancing show! We went to this place that serves dinner and a show, and we got some free mint tea and lemon cookies as we watched three different belly dancers perform with crowd participation. There was this one man at one of the tables that was not with ISA that was just way too excited to dance with the belly dancers - he was picked every time! At one point a drum trio plus a man playing scissors as kind of a tambourine came out. This part was super cool because they did all kinds of tricks with their instruments and the scissors guy kept freaking people out pretending to cut things. At the end, there was a show with one of the ISA directors dressed up in traditional clothes and it looked like a wedding. We all got up and formed somewhat of a conga line to "celebrate their wedding"...it was strange.

Belly Dancer

Band

Fes was a very very cool place, the Medina was awesome and the haggling was tough. The next morning we began the bus ride out to the Sahara!!!

Mussels in Brussels

This post is LONG over due, so I'll keep it fairly short. After the weekend in Amsterdam, my friends and I took a late bus to Brussels, Belgium for a couple days. It was interesting going from dutch to french in just a few hours, and the city was much more than we had expected.

Our hostel was pretty small but it was right around the corner from Grand Place, a square with a lot of magnificent buildings surrounding it. The way our room was designed, I ended up sleeping in a loft with a window and my own little light. It was cool!

Sunday we started the day off right - with some Belgian waffles. They were scrumptious and covered in chocolate and icecream! We then decided to wander around the city to find a few big monuments. First, on the way to the Cathedral, we found a cute little street market typical of all European towns. There were a couple stands with bird noise makers and tons of art. The Cathedral was very pretty, and at the time we went mass was about to start so we heard the organ!

Bird Noise Makers

Me, Taylor, and Carly in front of the Cathedral

Afterwards, we got lost looking for the famous Manneken Pis, a little statue of a boy peeing. We wandered around the city for awhile and somehow found the little bitty guy in a corner, surrounded by people. It was St. Patrick's Day, so he was all dressed up in proper attire.

Festive Manneken Pis

Clearly our next stop was to find some amazing Belgian chocolate. Our hostel had told us about some random street that had stores from all the main brands, so we went and sampled our way through the chocolate of Brussels. It's true - Belgian chocolate really is amazing!! There were cheap brands like Godiva and Leonidas, and extremely expensive brands like Neuhaus and Pierre Marcolini. Basically this part of the day was like walking through dream land.

Chocolate shop!

Towards the end of the afternoon it started to rain a little, so we found shelter in Little Delirium, a bar full of Belgian beers, like Delirium. We spent a few hours here getting cultured on Belgian beer before we left when creeped on by some Croatian balding men.

We ended the day with some fries - also largely known to be great in Belgium for their wide selection of sauces. As we walked home the little Manneken Pis guy was naked, stripped from his Irish attire.

Monday morning Taylor and Carly left, and I stuck around to spend the day with my friend Nicole, who is studying in Louvain-la-Neuve, a college town about 45 minutes outside of Brussels. The day was spent wandering around the city and catching up on our study abroad experiences, and ended with some delicious mussels! The mussels in Brussels for some reason are known to be fantastic - and they were! Nomz.

Nicole and I at Manneken Pis

Brussels was a very gastronomic city and very quaint. I kept thinking how weird the culture is; it's this small little country that speaks french with people that could be from anywhere. It was definitely an interesting place to visit! If I ever find myself back in Belgium, it will probably only be for a few hours - just enough time to grab a waffle and some mussels!

Mussels!!

Amsterdam, My Home Land

This past Monday we had the day off from classes, a puente, so I was able to take a 5 day trip to Amsterdam and Brussels with two of my good ISA friends, Taylor and Carly. There were a lot of modes of transportation used to cut the cost, which made for a big adventure!

Thursday morning we headed out to Barajas airport to fly into Eindhoven, Holland. Eindhoven is just about 2 hours driving from Amsterdam, so when we arrived we jumped on a bus to get there. When we finally got to Amsterdam, we navigated our way to our hostel and started to explore the city.

First we wandered around the street our hostel was on, which was conveniently located right by the main plaza. After, we took a canal boat tour of the city and got a real feel for this Dutch place. All the buildings are not very wide yet very tall, because everyone wants canal-front property. Since they are small and tall, the stairs within them are super steep, and kind of scary! The buildings also tilted forward with levies at the top to aid with moving. A lot of people also live in house boats that are stationed in the canals. We could kind of see into some of them, and they looked so cool!

Canal Tour

Next we got our priorities straight and headed to get some extraordinarily delicious pannenkoeken. We searched for awhile but realized that Holland isn't on Spanish time, and restaurants weren't open as we were looking for dinner around 9. We finally found a cute hole in the wall place and proceeded to devour the best meal of my life - Dutch style banana pancakes. For dessert we got dutch style fries and a beer back at our hostel's bar, then went to bed early.

Pannenkoeken place #1

Friday, after Carly's near death encounter with the hostel lockers, we headed out to a 3-hour free walking tour through New Europe tours. The moment the tour started, it began to snow. I honestly don't think I have ever experienced weather so cold in my life. Taylor and Carly are from Chicago and New York, and they felt the same way. So it wasn't just me being a Texan pansy! The tour was awesome - we stuck it out and learned so much about Amsterdam and the Dutch.

During the tour, we walked through Red Light District where we saw streets of ladies in windows. Apparently the windows cost 100€ per hour to rent, and the ladies earn about 50€ for every 15 minutes of service. It was a very weird concept, since their business is legal and they pay taxes and everything. Within Red Light District there is a huge church, which was built after the area had its rep. I'm not sure about now, but they used to charge people to go in and confess their sins. Another interesting concept! We also passed by multiple mary jane shops and museums, one of Amsterdam's main tourist attractions.

The guide told us so many interesting facts - from outdoor toilets and ladies peeing on a bridge, to the history of Anne Frank. Amsterdam is known for being huge on bicycling; there is even a parking garage just for bikes that is three stories by the central station! The guide also said that since a lot of people have a lot of bikes, a ton end up in the canals every year and there are cranes that fish them out, and each year there are a couple cars in there, too! The tour ended at the Anne Frank house, so we spent some time in there as well. It was amazing seeing the actual place that Anne and her family hid for four years; it was a very moving place.

Typical street in Amsterdam

For lunch we got more pannenkoeken at the Pancake Bakery, this time banana bacon. YUM.

NOMZ

To finish off the day, we headed over to the Heineken Brewery to take a self guided tour and have a few free samples at the end. Throughout the tour, there were different rooms that either displayed tons of Heineken ads or helped you become your own Heineken ad - it was hilarious! I was taken back to my advertising major self! We met a few of the workers and ended up with more heineken at a bar across the street when they were done working. It was really interesting getting to know Dutch people and hear about living in Amsterdam.

Ad Room

Carly, Leonard, me and Taylor!

Side note - I have decided that my true roots are in Holland. All the people there were extremely tall, pale, blonde, and blue-eyed. I finally found my people after living in Spain and visiting Italy, sticking out like a sore thumb!

Total Gingerbread Houses

Saturday was spent wandering around the city some more on our own. Our first stop was the Van Gogh exhibit, but we got a little lost along the way. Dutch is a very interesting language. We couldn't make any of the words out and each time we tried we sounded like absolute fools. The only words I left knowing are pannenkoeken and proost, which means cheers. While lost, we found a cute little street market and bought some really attractive hats to help us get through the cold, then went on with our search for Vincent. The museum was awesome, and now I can't wait to go to the Louvre in Paris to see the Starry Night.

Stylin' with Carly

Snoek-whaaaat?

After the museum, we found a tiny little café and had delicious sandwiches and hot chocolate. Water was the most expensive in Holland and Brussels out of any place we have visited, so most of the time we opted for the cheaper hot chocolate or beer. Next was our quest for the I amsterdam sign. We were miserably lost and kept ending up by the Heineken brewery, until finally we found it and took our obligatory pictures.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and shopping until we had to leave for Brussels. I learned from this trip that Amsterdam is a LOT more than the stereotypes, and most of the Dutch just put up with them. The culture is awesome and the people are great, so I would love to return to Holland some day!