Oh! The places you'll go (and we went!)

I'm thinking about writing a book....not really i guess, but with as much as we did these past two weeks, I'm sure i could fill at least a hundred or so pages. I already have a title. and i suppose i could throw the rest of this past semester in there also....who knows.

anyways, the point of this post is to just let you all know that i have returned safely from my two week vacation around the Mediterranean and that there will be more details to come later, hopefully soon.  Just thinking about organizing all my thoughts about what we did and saw and ate and who we met is giving me a headache.  im guessing it will be more or less a two or three part series. so be on the look out!

in other news, my parents are coming NEXT THURSDAY!!!! actually, they leave the states on wednesday night and get here the next morning....major jet lag. But, we only have a couple of days together before they have to go home again, so we'll have to make them full and worth it!  I'm so excited, and i'm pretty sure they are too.  and dont worry, i'll be sure to document my dad walking around barcelona with all the rest of its population, and also try to keep him out of trouble ;) love you and miss you all! only 44 days til i come HOME!

Oh Roma

Just a quick note tO let you know I'm safe in Rome,Italy. Getting here turned out to be a bit of an adventure, but we made it! After checking in at our hostel, we wandered around looking for something to eat, of course. And stopped at this cute little restaurant. We can now check eating pizza, pasta and some sort of Italian dessert off our lists! I felt like I was in the lady and the tramp with the live music playing in the background, and the atmosphere of the place. Getting up early tomorrow to walk around St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel! So excited! More updates soon! Love, Keri

great moments. are born. from great opportunities....

...at least that's what we're hoping.  sincerest apologies once again for my lack of updates. i realize it has been almost a whole month since my last post, and I've so rudely left you hanging on all the exciting things that are happening in my life.....okay so maybe there were a few exciting things, but i have to have SOME stories to tell when i get home :) anyways, this isn't going to be a novel, cuz my mom told me that all my posts dont have to be, but just a short farewell for now.  If you didn't know, today starts our spring break here in Barcelona, and this is the only day we will actually be IN Barcelona for break, in fact, we fly to Rome in a couple hours, so I dont think it actually counts as a real day.  We will be spending three nights in Rome, checking out all the sites, then flying early Monday morning to Catania, Italy to see my Aunt Faith, Uncle David and cousins.  Uncle David's gonna meet us in Catania and take us around there for the day, before we ferry our way back to Gozo and meet up with Aunt Faith and the boys.  We're staying in Malta for 4 nights, and we fly out on the 22nd at 4:55am headed for Athens.  We will spend that day walking around the city, hopefully after a little nap, and the next morning, we'll take a ferry to the island of Santorini.  After 4 nights there, we return to Athens late the night of the 27th.  We'll have the whole day the 28th to walk around again, hitting any touristy places we missed the first time, and then we head back to Barcelona on the 29th, midday.  I'm a little bit nervous for this break, only because its a whole two weeks long, and we're pretty much planning and traveling around by ourselves, not to mention neither of us really knows what there is to do in any of the places we're going, besides hitting the beach, of course ;) no worries. We'll be sure to hit the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Caldera and Oia in Santorini, and whatever else we happen upon in our journeys :) also, i have two sets of rechargeable batteries that i'm bringing with me and 8 GB of memory cards...overkill? Anyways, I'll try to check my email and facebook periodically through the trip, so if you wanna shoot me a message or anything, that would be lovely :) however, this message is once again turning into the novel style blog posts i am seemingly unable to avoid, so i will have to say goodbye for now.  Hasta luego, ciao, narak iktar tard (apparently thats maltese for see you later? im not so sure i believe it....this could be an interesting trip...)! love you and miss you all!

~Keri

THE SKY IS FALLING! : the day the world (almost) ended in Barcelona

So i know I haven't yet updated you about my weekend in Madrid with Andrea's family, or my rainy day trip to Tarragona, but after today's events, there are more important things to discuss, such as the end of the world...yes, I am now convinced that any day now, the world is going to end. I honestly felt like Chicken Little today. Let me explain:

This morning, i woke up and started getting ready for class like any other school day.  The forecast for this week had looked dreary, but when I looked out my windows, there was not a drop of rain in sight.  Sure, the sky was gray, so not the most beautiful of days, but there could be worse things (as I would soon find out).  So i threw on my staple jeans and t shirt outfit, my tall, brown leather boots (so my feet wouldn't get wet if it started to rain) and a blazer, it was light enough so i wouldn't die of heat exhaustion in class, but still would keep me warm outside.  At the last minute, i grabbed my umbrella (it had barely survived the torrential downpours of my Paris weekend and had definitely seen better days).  I walked to class (from the metro) and still, there wasn't a drop of rain.  "dumb weatherman. so much for the lluvia fuerte" i thought to myself (I really didn't think it in spanish, just thought it was a good opportunity for some more vocab...) and I walked into class.  About an hour later, the rain started coming down.  hard.  luckily, I had my trusty umbrella....by the end of class, it was pouring outside.  Unfortunately, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my classes aren't all at the university. I have to either walk 4 blocks or take the metro (and still walk about 2 blocks) to my afternoon art class.  Deciding that the dismal downpour had no intention of leaving the Barcelona area any time soon, my friends and I sprinted through the rain to the metro.  We were a little wet and uncomfortable, but at least we didn't have to walk the whole way in the rain.  But, when we got out of the metro, the weather had taken a turn for the worst. the very worst.  I pulled my umbrella out and prepared myself for what was ahead...I should have just dropped my umbrella in the trashcan, it would have been just as useful there.  As soon as we made it to the top of the stairs, the skies opened up. rain was pouring, not just down the sides, but THROUGH my umbrella.  I tried to run, but i couldn't, i had to swim...okay a bit of an exaggeration, but that's what my feet felt like.  so much for my boots keeping them dry...AND to make matters so much better, it started to hail. yep, thats right. little tiny white pebbles falling from the sky.  i never thought a little ball of snow could hurt that bad, but when it bounces off the motorcycle next to you and pegs you in the eyeball, you start to not like snow so much...with a block and a half to go, we decided to run for it.  I promise you, we looked like olympians hurdling the rivers that flowed down the sidewalks and streets, threatening to carry us off through the city if we dared set a foot in.  it was pure madness.  and of course when crossing the streets in Barcelona, you never come across a green walking man, its always the nasty red "HALT, DON'T GO" man. today he was laughing at us saying, "sucks to be you. Hey you're already wet, why not make you wait a little longer?"  thats just not nice.  when we finally made it to class, we were surprised to see that there were other kids there, figuring everyone would have just gotten so discouraged and gone home.  But, without fail, every single person in our class (all 11) showed up.  Even my teacher was impressed.  I mean, that didn't make sitting in a puddle, listening to the structure of the Sagrada Familia for an hour and a half any more worthwhile, it was just impressive.  Luckily by the time class was over, the skies had closed up again.  I'm hoping that's the end of the ordeal, because i'm leaving to go to the gym in a few minutes and have to walk 2 blocks, but the gray skies still threaten. and i supposed i owe an apology to the weatherman, but with a side note: next time we're supposed to get "lluvia fuerte" in Barcelona, please get rid of the sugar coating and just say "don't leave your house weather". that's much more helpful!

Look! Poisson! that means fish...

just a starting note, I always seem to be trying to catch up with myself and my days in these posts.  I'm gonna try to do a better job keeping everything up to date, aka a day or two after it happens, not a week or a few....but thanks for understanding so far... :D 

Anyways... (for everyone who thinks I'm not actually learning anything over here...)

Mission get to Paris and not get lost: success.  I was quite proud of myself for getting to the airport, getting on the right plane, the right bus and the right metro to make it to the Eiffel Tower to finally reunite with one of my best friends (who gets to say that?) I mean, she had only been waiting in the same spot with all of her luggage as an easy target for the annoying tourist attacking salesmen for about 2 and a half hours, but once I made it to the actual site, I spotted her bright red locks in no time!  After we took a few photos, we headed back up the direction I had come from, and sat on some benches in front of a building (probably some important building who's name I should remember), just eating lunch and chatting, with the Eiffel Tower in the distance. no big deal...after our snack, we ventured back under the tower, and wandered through the city for a while snapping pictures along the way, until we were allowed to check in at the hostel (my first hostel ever!).  We squished ourselves and our luggage into the tiny elevator and took it up to the 4th floor, room 45.  We stopped by the room long enough to drop our stuff off, notice that we would have two roommates, and plan a new route for more exploring that night.  We walked for a few minutes, stopped to check out a little vintage store and a cupcake shop, and kept on our way.  we walked around until we noticed a big cathedral-looking building in the near distance.  We walked up some stairs, and then down some stairs, only to find more stairs (we could have taken the "elevator" from the ground to the top of the mountain, but we decided it was healthier to walk...or we just didn't want to pay for it).  So we climbed the stairs, only about 150, to the top and in front of us sat a beautiful cathedral with a breath-taking view of the city.  We later came to find out that this was the Basilica of Sacré-Coeur and that it was at the same elevation as the top of the Eiffel Tower.  After stumbling upon such a cool site, and climbing the hundreds of stairs to get to it, we were feeling a bit tired, and a bit hungry, so dinner became our next stop.  We ate at a little restaurant close to our hostel called A Zebra in Montmartre (the neighborhood of Paris where we were staying.  It's known as the artist's district and home to attractions such as Picasso's apartment, Van Gogh's studio and The Moulin Rouge.)  After dinner, I was feeling quite tired from the day of traveling and exploring so we headed back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep.  I'm not ashamed to say that I was in bed, fast asleep by 8 o'clock that night.  

The next day was our day for touring.  We had picked up some brochures from the hostel that advertised a free walking tour of the city and decided that would be a great way to see a lot of the main attractions in Paris.  Even though it was raining, we didn't let the weather dampen our excitement to see the city.  We stopped in the metro to purchase a two day pass (best investment of the weekend) and headed off to meet the tour group at Place St. Miquel (home to a giant fountain with sculptures depicting the angel Michael throwing Satan out of Heaven).  We arrived a wee bit early (about 30 min.) so we spent some time browsing through the little tourist shops, each buying an umbrella just in case the rain became more of a problem (tied for second best investment of the weekend).  Promptly at 11, a line formed for the tours.  We were split into groups, english and spanish speakers (I figured I would be nice and take the english route for Jes' sake... ;) ) and headed off with our Australian guide, Jacq(eline).  First stop was on a bridge that crosses the Seine.  We got a teasing view of Notre Dame, took a few pictures, and headed down below to a street that ran alongside the river.  We went under a bridge, Pont Neuf, covered in the drunken (plastered) faces of King Henry the something, saw the burial grounds of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knight's Templar, the Samaritaine building where Jason Bourne (aka Matt Damon) is hiding behind the 'M' of the lettering in one of the Bourne movies, and kept walking.  From there we walked across Pont des Artes, a bridge covered in padlocks.  Some of them were little, some were big; some had names or dates scribbled in sharpie while others were engraved, but they all represented everlasting love....at least that's how it supposed to be.  I even witnessed the troll who lives under the bridge decide when the "everlasting love" was to be over...aka some guy off the streets picked a few locks and stole them right off the bridge.  Not so nice.  From there we made our way to the Louvre, one of the most famous art museums in the world, boasting treasures such as da Vinci's Mona Lisa and the statue Winged Victory, neither of which I saw because we didn't actually enter the museum.  BUT, we did take some pretty pictures outside by the failure of invisible pyramids; which, in my opinion, are still cool even if they're not reeeeally invisible like they were supposed to be. After that we saw the Palais Royal (today home to France's Conseil d'Etat), stopped for a quick break (most people went to Starbucks but that wasn't 'French' enough for Jes and I so we stopped for a bowl of veggie soup at a corner cafe), and made our way through through some very pretty gardens that lead to a ginormous ferris wheel and Champ Elysee, the main shopping street in Paris.  The tour ended at Le Gran Palais and Le Petit Palais, which are right across from each other.  Although it was a rainy start to the day, and walking for 3 hours in the cold and wet wasn't the best, the tour was well worth it!

After we left the group, we decided to head down Champ Elysee to see the Arc d'Triomphe up close and personal, and then take the metro back to Angelina's, a little cafe known for its amazing hot chocolate.  And after we drank our cup of deliciousness (literally a warm, melted chocolate bar), we headed over to Notre Dame, to get a closer look.  The inside of the church is just as impressive as the outside, and we were sure to take tons of photos (although the quality isn't great because the light is dim and they don't allow flash photography).  From there, we decided to grab the metro home.  Of course, still with a few blocks to walk, the rainy day suddenly turned into a hurricane and we were immediately drenched from head to toes, umbrellas bending inside out, and puddles in our shoes.  Not the most fun walk of my life, I'm not gonna lie.  But finally, we made it back to the metro. On our walk home, we decided to grab some dinner.  We stopped at a little cheese store and asked for something really french, and got that.  Then, we went into two different bakeries, buying one baguette at each.  The guys at the second store gave Jes a hard time about having a bag from another store, and as she tried to explain to them what had happened, I stood there with a dumb smile on my face (this was a bread store, not a fish store, so i had no idea what they were talking about). But by the time we left, they were all laughing too, so I joined in.  Once we were outside, Jes started to explain what they had been talking about, and then she stopped suddenly..."they asked if we were sisters, and I was trying to tell them no, we're friends but I think I accidentally told them you're my girlfriend..." we laughed as we headed back to our "french" dinner of bread, cheese and nutella (french dinner of poor traveling college students), and headed out to see the coolest thing in Paris, the Eiffel Tower lit up at night.  We got there a little before the hour so the anticipation of the sparkling would just about kill us, and then it happened.  We all "oohed" and "ahhed" (some more than others) took some photos and videos, and called it a night.  It really was a cool thing to see, and probably Jes' favorite.

Sunday we headed out to see more sights that the tour had missed.  On the agenda were the Opera, some Parisian flea markets, the catacombs and a stop for some souvenirs.  The opera was another cool thing to see, and definitely worth visiting, the flea markets....not so much. But, we did get our crepes with nutella, so it wasn't a total disappointment.  The catacombs were definitely the coolest part of the day.  Who knew that underneath such a modern, fashionable city like Paris, there are buried almost 6 million people.  Bones upon bones decorate this underground rock quarry-turned-graveyard not just in piles, but in carefully planned and quite artistic ways.  Yes, this is a bit creepy, and I did kind of get scared when I saw some doors that looked like jail cells with no night lights to speak of, just waiting for some old, decrepit hand to reach out and grab me, but i guess I was just overreacting, thanks to my years of watching CSI...(but how cool of a story would THAT have made!?)  After out date with the deceased(s?), we headed back in the direction of the hostel, exploring a bit more, and finally sitting down to eat dinner for Jes' birthday.  While standing outside trying to decide what the menu said, a guy (clearly eavesdropping) assured us that they spoke english inside, so we sat down at a table and looked at the menu.  The cheery old man came over to take our order and we politely asked what he recommended...lets just say, the eavesdropper was wrong. Apparently he thought i had ordered something, and scribbled it down on the paper.  I didnt know how to correct him, nor had the heart to tell him that i had no idea what he was saying (plus i'm not that picky) so i had no idea what my dinner actually would be, how exciting.... :) after our first course of french onion soup, our dinners arrived.  Jes had duck and mine was something i actually recognized and liked, scallops with pasta in a creamy sauce.  Both were simply delish and, after eating every last bite, we ventured home...but not before stopping for, of course, another birthday crepe with nutella.  What's a birthday without dessert, right? :) now thoroughly stuffed, as if we weren't before, we waddled back to the hostel to pack our things before we left early the next morning.  

At 6 am we headed out so I could catch my bus.  My sweet little Jessica, of course, accompanied me to the bus stop, even though her train didn't leave until 10.  It was sad to leave Paris after finally getting my bearings a bit, and still feeling like there was more to see, but it was definitely harder to leave my friend.  We had such a great weekend together and hopefully she'll decide to come visit me in Barcelona...actually I threatened to come kidnap her out of the Netherlands if Barcelona wasn't in her agenda...just kidding. Anyways, it was definitely so awesome to be able to be in Paris for a few days with one of my best friends, not a lot of people get to say that, and I definitely feel blessed to have these opportunities while I'm here for the semester! 

Upcoming: news from Madrid and a dreary day in Tarragona.

love and miss you all! ~Keri

Cathedrals, palaces and a little southern sun

Two weekends ago, we took our first real trip out of Barcelona.  I say real because we had to take a plane. Even though this was the first time back to the airport since arriving in Barça, we made it without getting lost! that's pretty impressive actually. anyways, we took off at 9am and landed in Sevilla about an hour and a half later.  From the airport, we took a bus to our hotel, dropped our stuff off in our rooms, and headed out for our first day of touristing.

Day 1: Sevilla 

(i just learned how to put pictures inside my post, so this one is going to be loaded. just warning you.  

This is the view from the top of La Giralda, explained later!)

The weather was beautiful as our group walked a couple of blocks to the Old neighborhood of Sevilla (yes, every city in Spain has one),  The guided tour of the historical area was very interesting, but also very long.  The first part of the tour was to get us a little bit more acclimated to our new surroundings, giving details not only about the history of the city, but also the best places to shop and eat, (Andalusia, the region of which Sevilla is the capital, is known for its delicious tapas!) of which we took full advantage :) after our lunch break, the second part of the tour consisted of 2 hours inside the Catedral de Sevilla (again, every Spanish city has one), the third largest cathedral in the world, after St. Peter's and St. Paul's.  It is the home to one of 4 tombs of Cristobal Colon (aka Christopher Columbus), and holds about 125 g of his ashes...so maybe an arm or a leg...The inside of the cathedral was more than impressive, and the history behind it was also very cool. We even got to see some royal treasure, including the keys to the city :)

Catedral de Sevilla from the back (la Giralda is the tower on the right)

After our cathedral tour, we were allowed to climb up La Giralda, a 12th century Arabic minaret that stands 343 ft tall.  Originally it was used to call the times of Muslim prayer, so instead of stairs, ramps were built so the guy could ride his horse cart up and down five times per day, instead of climbing the zillion stairs it would have taken to reach the top.  However, we still had to walk, even though horse carts lined the streets.  But the view from the top made it worth it!  From the top of the now bell tower you can see the entire city of Sevilla.  After our day of touring, we were pretty exhausted so we got dinner, and headed back to the hotel.

Day 2: Cadiz

On Saturday we boarded the bus bright and early to travel 2 hours southwest to the island of Cadiz.  This city is much smaller than Sevilla, which is much smaller than Barcelona.  Again we started the day with a tour, this time on a bus because it started to rain a bit.  Once again we ventured to the old neighborhood of the city...apparently this is always the coolest part of every city.  After about 20 minutes, we stopped at the only beach in this part of Cadiz, La Caleta.  It is situated between two 17th century castles, San Sebastian and Santa Catalina, the latter in which we actually walked around.  As the day went on, and the weather got nicer, we continued our tour on foot, hitting some major plazas and buildings of Cadiz (yes, this did include a cathedral, and another tower that we climbed).  For lunch we stopped at a place that served authentic Andalusian comida, all of which was fried and delicious!  After the tour was over, we walked around in smaller groups for a while, later ending up back at La Caleta to take some pictures in the sun.  All in all, it was a nice day on the little island!

Day 3: Sevilla (otra vez)

We spent our last day of the weekend back in Sevilla, exploring el Palacio Royal, where the king of Spain (yes, there is still a king of Spain) stays when he visits the area.  It was full of intricately designed rooms, hundred year old paintings and beautiful gardens, home even to a few colorful peacocks.  It was all gorgeous and the warm, summery sun made it that much better; I even wore shorts!  We spent a couple of hours walking around inside the palace and outside in the gardens, enjoying the lovely weather before we headed back to the hotel to grab a quick bite to eat and hop on the bus that would bring us back to the aeropuerto.  It was definitely great to get outside of Barcelona for a weekend and see what else Spain has to offer! 

Update to come soon (I hope!) from my weekend trip to Paris! Love you all!

The day I almost died in the metro.

Dear friends and family, sincerest apologies if any of you have been waiting in anticipation for my next blog. I thought i posted this last thursday, but I only saved it as a draft. however, its still a story worth sharing so...

Finally, I have another funny story to tell you. Today, I almost died. I know it doesn't really sound that funny,
but just wait. Technicalllllyyy, it was sort of my own fault, but i think its fair to blame them dumb metro control people who insist on checking passengers tickets to make sure no one is cheating the system.  It wouldnt have been bad, but the insistttt on doing so right as you get off the metro.  So here's the story, Andrea and I were heading to get lunch and instead of walking the 1/2 mile down the street, we decided to be lazy and take the metro.  As we're walking to get on to the train, we realized it was the wrong one. So we turned around to catch the right train, and were greeted by a line of metro police(the mall cops of the metro) asking to check the tickets of everyone on the platform.  It was a little annoying but not a big deal until I couldn't find my card, that was weird because I always put it in the same place in my bag.  I knelt down to dig through it, thinking I must have just shoved it in there somewhere when I went home to get some money for lunch.  As I was pulling everything out, the train behind us left, sending a strong gust of wind along the platform.  At that moment, I finally found my ticket; at the same time that the gust of metro wind found my 20E bill, so carefully thrown in my bag, on top of my school books.  I watched as the wind carried my money down the platform, in slow motion.  My first instinct, of course, was to run after it. so I did. until i realized jumping down on to the train tracks only to be greeted by the oncoming train, although daring and adventurous, probably wasn't worth it.  So there I stood, helpless and now 20E poorer. When the metro cops saw the look on my face, they asked what had happened, and after I explained my situation, they realized they had the chance to be heroes for the day.  And they all wanted in on it.  Literally 10 of them ran to the edge, searching intently from the platform for the prize. One of them spotted it while another ran to get the "dueno" of the station.  He came over, evaluated the situation and decided that, to the dismay of the hopeful faces gathered in the area, there was not enough time to grab the bill before the next train came, but if it was still there after the train left, he would go get it for me.  looked like i'd be 20E poorer after all.  30 seconds later, the next train pulled into the station at lightning speed, sending another gust of wind down the platform and covering the prize. time seemed to stop as the crowds moved on and off, the doors closed, and the train left.  everyone held their breath, while one brave soul peeked over the edge to see the damage.  he yelled in excitement, it was still there! the flimsy paper bill had withstood the violent gust from the enemy and hadn't moved at all, ni siquiera an inch! the manager of the station ran down the steps for the recovery, fumbled the ball twice, but finally returned the money safe into my hands...which i presently shoved right back where it had been before, just begging another metro tornado to rip it away from me once again (but thankfully that didnt happen).  Nowadays, i steer clear of the metro police, or just pretend i dont speak spanish when they ask me a question...

another update to come soon!

To Girona...and beyond!

This weekend, Andrea and I decided we needed to do something productive. So, instead of walking through all the shops in central Barcelona, we hopped on a train bound for Girona, a city about 100 km northeast of Barça.  It was our first time on the real train, RENFE (the metro doesn't count), and we were both a little nervous.  But we figured we were going the right direction when we started to see grass and gas stations, that's how you know you're leaving the city.  After about an hour and a half, we got off at the Girona station with zero sense of what to do next.  I had researched some attractions in the city and some neighboring areas, but conveniently left the list right on my desk next to my laptop on my way out the door.  So, we decided the best thing to do was get a map, yes, we are college students.  After ten minutes of contemplating between the tourist guide book (in french because there was no english) and the standard, un-foldable paper map, we decided the latter was the more economical and useful selection.  We purchased our map and were on our way into the city.

We walked for about ten minutes before deciding we actually might want to consult the map we had just purchased.  But of course it wouldn't really be a trip with Andrea and Keri without getting a little lost. Personally I think it makes things interesting, Andrea doesn't necessarily agree...side note...if someone asks us for directions to a certain place, we usually start with..."oh yeah. we passed it that one time we got lost. no, not that time, the time after that."...anyways, we sat down with our map for a few minutes, figured out where we were, planned a route and headed towards the Barrio Vell ('Old Neighborhood' in Catalan) in search of las murallas.  On the way, we encountered a river, lined with bright colored buildings, and of course had to stop on the bridge to snap a couple photos.  After a bit more walking, we found our way to la muralla de Girona.  The muralla is a stone wall, constructed between the 9th and 15th centuries, that surrounds the old part of the city.  We climbed the stairs and walked on the wall for about 40 minutes.  From the top you could see all of Girona.  It was such a nice day and it was really cool to get an aerial view of where we had just walked.  When we came down from the wall, we walked around aimlessly for a minute or two (because we had no idea where we were) before happening upon the Catedral de Girona, quite an impressive building.  We had been able to see it from the wall, along with the Torre de Girona, but up-close and personal was a much cooler view.

From the catedral we walked back down into the city area, grabbing lunch and some dessert on the way.  By the time we got back to the train station, we were exhausted and Andrea slept most of the train ride home.  All in all, it was a really great day trip!  Next weekend is Sevilla and Cadiz with CIEE so that should be fun! love and miss everyone at home! Love, Keri

PS. I put up about 100 new pictures from Girona.  If you want explanation of anything, just lemme know! :)

Dear Barcelona...love your beaches. Your fitness centers, not so much.

This, I admit, is not entirely true.  But let me explain. During CIEE orientation we were each given a card for a fitness center, The Holmes Place, that included a free trial AND a special CIEE student rate, 162 E for Jan-Apr., which seemed kind of steep for a special student discount.  However, Andrea and I decided to visit considering we had a free trial, and we might as well use it.  So we went to the gym to work out one night, and fell in love with it. It was such a nice facility, very classy, and had everything you could want in a gym.  But we decided that, since we would be missing out on our membership for all of January and half of April (when we have vacation), it really was too expensive for 2 and a half months.  So instead we thought we would look for other gyms to try...well, we had good intentions to anyways.  But on Sunday, after church and una 'cena fraternal', we decided to visit the beach.  It was a beautiful day, and the beach was more than impressive. we took tons of pictures and walked around for over an hour, taking our shoes off and walking in the sand.  I was in love...momentarily scarred by the very tanned naked man casually strolling along the shore, yes, but even that unfortunate event wouldn't deter me from returning to this beautiful place when the weather got warmer.  And then we realized, the weather is already starting to get warmer.  Spring would be upon us in no time, and we both decided it might be a good idea to hit the gym once or twice before pulling out the old bathing suits.  So, after classes today, (well. class. I was supposed to have 2 but the first one got canceled, 2nd canceled class in two days, and it's only the second day of classes. I think i like how they do school here in Spain... :D ) Andrea and I started looking for another gym to try.  I found one online that looked really nice and was advertising a whole month for free without promise of membership! just to be sure I called to get the details and see if we could try it out...yes mom, I called. and even spoke to the women in Spanish.  Sadly, their advertising wasn't quite accurate and the free month was only for people who were going to register.  So back to the drawing boards.  After a few quick searches, I found another gym that is apparently very impressive.  I plugged in a bit of info and got a quote for prices.  When i saw 13.62 E for the ONE package, i was excited.  However, after further investigation, we figured out that it meant you could go once a month, for 13.62 each month.  But after plugging in names and email addresses, we were awarded with a free pass for the gym.  Considering we had nothing else to do, and once again had a free pass, we figured why not try this gym too.  So we hopped on the metro and in no time were at DiR Barcelona.  It looked nice, not as chique as Holmes Place, but good enough for free.  Right after walking through the doors, we were greeted by an enthusiastic, fancy Spanish man, David (dah-VEED).  He pulled us over to the counter, explaining the memberships and everything about the gym, pulling out brochures with all kinds of information.  Then he wanted to know which one we wanted.  We were a little confused.  We told him we wanted to see the gym before we actually made our decision, thinking we could use our free passes and that would be that.  However, we were sadly mistaken.  Yes, David showed us the gym, we got a grand old tour all the way through. and then out. back to the counter again. without even breaking a sweat.  You see, the "free pass" we had received for the gym meant that the registration fee was waived for this month, making the registration for February only 47E.  Neither of us were prepared to, nor really wanted to, become members of the gym, but David insisted, telling us it was such a great offer.  Andrea wanted to know why, because we couldnt really see the wonderful offer, and he explained that usually the registration fee is 130E, so THAT'S what was free this month. but not next month...or the one after.  After trying to let him down gently, not refusing to become members, but insisting we would first have to talk to our parents about it, we booked it out of there, not turning back for fear that David might be crying.  So that ended up being a fail.  But, I had seen online that if you wanted to go to Holmes Place for one day, instead of getting a monthly membership, it was 15E.  It ends up being much more expensive paying that way, of course, if you go a lot, but we figured we just wanted to go to the gym and 15E was better than David and his 130+47E, any day. Plus, Holmes Place is on the next street over from DiR Barcelona.  So we hurried over there to get in even an hour of working out before it would be time for dinner.  We walked in and asked the receptionist how much it would cost for one day, just to make sure, and she confirmed the 15E...PERO, (there's always a pero) you have to get it for 5 days, not just one. There's a big difference between 15 and 75. at that point, we were just so fed up, we decided our exercise for the night was skipping the metro and walking home.  So, I was sitting here in my room, contemplating doing jumping jacks on my balcony and sit ups on my tile floor, when i remembered the Parc de la Ciutadella that we visited a couple weeks ago.  So now, we will finally get our exercise.  Tomorrow we're going for a run through the park at 8:30 am, that is, unless the metro randomly stops working or the park ends up being closed for the day.  But with our luck, who knows.  More exciting stories later. 

Sincerely,
Fitness Failure

Wind in the sails

So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain

at the moment, I am feeling like quite the world traveler, although I still have yet to go anywhere of great merit.  Don't get me wrong, coming to Barcelona to study so far has been more than what I imagined, but everything was planned for me, all the details taken care of, which was a great thing for me, being not so detailed-oriented.  But when I bought the plane tickets for my first real viaje while being abroad, I felt like I could conquer the world.  Yes, i know this seems a bit dramatic, i mean all i did was pick a day, time and airport from which to leave and to return, but once I clicked the button to purchase the tickets, there was no turning back.  Now I have to figure out my own details.  I have to do the planning, and i'm not going to lie, that kind of scares me.  Now most of you know that I tend to be a little bit disorganized, and at times more than a little bit, and to be able to figure out all the details for these trips that we're planning, i'm going to need to be on my A-game.  

So, for this first excursion, the wind is blowing me in the direction of France...Paris, to be exact.  I will be spending three nights and four days in Paris with Jes and her friend Francesca for Jes' birthday.  They will take the train down from Maastricht and I will fly in from BCN, all three of us foreigners making our entrance into Paris at 10 am on Friday the 25th of February.  The plan is to meet at the Eiffel Tower (cliché I know, but hey, when in Paris...) and from there go exploring through the city.  I'm hoping since my French is a liiiiittle bit rusty (I know the alphabet, how to count to three and say fish...thanks to the little mermaid) that I can count on my trusty pal to translate for me.  We will be staying at Plug-inn Hostel, upon the recommendation of Francesca, since she has stayed there before.  

Although its still three weeks away, even the idea of going on this trip is making me nervous, I feel like a little kid on their first day of kindergarten: pretty excited, and glad to be going, but ready to pee my pants or burst into tears at the hint of any obstacle I might encounter (hopefully none of which will happen...however if it did, i'd have another story to add to the collection...and let's be real, its hard to not be entertained by the unfortunate, humiliating mishaps of a novice traveler such as myself).  

But alas, it is time for me to say buenas noches and get some sleep before my final tomorrow.  Hope all is going well for everyone, and that i haven't been boring you too much.  Feel free to leave suggestions at the bottom of the page. Besos. ~Keri

Caminata y Calçotadas

Took my first exam on Friday, and I think it went pretty well  :) I have a paper, presentation and final exam this week so lots of work to do before I finish this intensive class and finally start semester classes.

Saturday was a break from schoolwork and studying for another group outing, this time up a mountain, Tibidabo.  The day started out beautiful and only got better as we hiked, uphill, for about an hour and a half, to a little restaurant on the mountain.  There we ate a typical Catalan meal, starting with calçots, charred leeks that you peel and dip in some mystery sauce before eating them above your head. needless to say it was quite the scene. The meal consisted of calçots, pa amb tomacat (bread with tomato), salads, potato tortilla, grilled potatoes, grilled veggies, some sort of meat, and a lemon custard cake for dessert.  I then realized the point of the hour and a half walk prior to the meal was to make us hungry enough to be able to eat it all!  luckily, we took the ferrocarriles back to the city center. 

Sunday was another opportunity for cultural experience.  Andrea and I got up early to go with her host mother to the CaixaForum, a social cultural center in Barcelona that, at the moment, has exhibitions of artwork by Picasso and Dali.  I really liked the exhibit called Rutas de Arabia, which included at least 300 pieces of ancient art from Saudi Arabia.  They also played some documentaries about Bolivia and Colombia, all very interesting stuff. 

Today, we took a field trip with the program to Poble Sec, a barrio just south of my apartment.  We had been talking about the Spanish civil war in class and got to watch a great movie called El Lengua de las Mariposas.  But the point of the field trip was to see what the bomb shelters, bomberos, were like in Barcelona during the 30's.  It was a really cool tour of one of the shelters that was constructed into the side of the other Barcelona mountain, Monjuic.  

However, you will be surprised to know that I think I have been cured of the 'rebajas' disease.  After shopping with Andrea and my host mother in the rain last night, and again today for a couple hours, although today in the sun, I have been frustrated with the shopping scene one too many times to actually enjoy it now.  I'm guessing this is just a phase, and might not last long, but for now, i can't even look at another price tag or sale sign. 

well that's the update for now, and since all that unsuccessful shopping made me exhausted, I think it's time for a siesta! :) love you and miss you all!

a deiu!
~Keri

Vroom, vroooooom!

I have recently decided that I must become a biker chick...no, not the kind of leather-clad, covered head to toe in tattoos kind of biker chick...a classy European biker chick.  Whilst once again perusing the racks in H&M, i noticed a girl near me, about the same age, carrying her purchases in a shiny white motorcycle helmet. she just had this look going for her, skinny jeans, leather jacket, nose pierced.  I don't know why this struck me as especially cool, nor why i decided that it must be the motorcycle that gave her such a fashionable appearance, but it did.   Thus, my new-found desire for a street bike upon return stateside (because if i tried to drive around here i'd either die or kill someone, so better to wait and do it in my own backyard...)  And now, since my car has been getting into a little bit of trouble since my departure, i'm thinking motorcycle could definitely be a possibility.... :) hopefully at least a matter up for discussion...

 I have almost finished week one of intensive classes with CIEE, and Friday will be our midterm exam.  I'm really enjoying the class, although it is 4 hours long....the break in the middle for coffee and chocolate croissants helps to make the last two hours go by pretty fast (you know what they say about a spoonful of sugar!)  Saturday is our first cultural experience outing as a group.  We will be going for a hike on a nearby mountain, and dining at some restaurant along the way.  The food is the cultural part...we will be eating "calçots", or cooked leeks drenched in some sort of special sauce.  Maria tells me to wear clothes i dont particularly like because the stains are bad and the smell is worse...sounds like a great time to me!  hope you all are enjoying the snow back home, and the sun in other parts of the country/world! hopefully the weather perks up soon here. i'm anxious to visit the beach!  hopefully talk to you soon! love and miss you all, ~Keri


PS. my address, for anyone who wants it, is:

Maria Hidalgo
Compte Borell 56
Barcelona, Spain 08015

just write my name on the envelope somewhere and it will be delivered to me! :)

Rebajas!

Here in Barcelona, January is el mes de rebajas, a whole month dedicated to discounts!  And believe me, everything can, and is, on sale.  What qualifies as "on sale" for some people however, chopping the price of a shirt from Custo Barcelona from 180€ to a much lower 135€, doesn't necessarily work for poor college students like me.  But have no fear, in the city, there are stores for everyone, and the rebajas are especially hard to avoid.  Boots for 15€, accessories for 2, dresses for 6€ (I now have two), everything is on sale and easily catches the eye.  So this is the daily schedule that I have been following for the past week or so: get up and go to class until 2, eat lunch with a few program kids til about 3, then, with intentions of running a few quick errands, spend 4 hours walking around the streets of Barcelona, unable to pass by a Mango, or Zara or H&M without taking a "quick" look around.  But I have to say, I have done pretty good for myself, keeping my purchases mostly below 10€, and only for the most essential items, of course. And with the amount of walking that shopping in this city takes, who needs the gym? after a waffle covered in melted Nutella, or a little cup of coffee gelatto, a walk around the stores is all it takes, and you're good as new...maybe even ending up with a cute scarf or something. sounds like quite the deal to me! Alas, I realize my back account isn't exactly bottomless [unless Mom and Dad are feeling generous] so I must cut down to the bare essentials, lunch and metro passes, because the 2 minute ride to school on the metro beats the 10 minute walk on the cold streets, any day (plus it gives me a little more sleeping time). 

Don't yet know what the plans for this week might be, besides doing some cultural thing with onions on Saturday...but I suppose we shall find out soon enough!

Much love to all!