Hasta Luego, Barcelona

4/30/09

I am finally done with all of my school work YES. Now all I have left to do is pack and, IF I have no problems on the flight home, I should be back in los Estados Unidos on Saturday afternoon.

I have only just really started thinking about leaving, up until now I have had too many other things to worry about, but it’s starting to hit me as we do all of our ‘last’ things. Today we all went to the beach for a few hours and tonight we’re heading back up to the bar on Tibidabo that has a great view of the city and then going to dinner. It’s going to be so bittersweet to go back. On the one hand I am incredibly excited to be back in Chicago, to see my friends, to hang out with my family; but on the other hand I’m sad to leave my friends here, to say goodbye to Antonia and not know when/if I will see anyone again.

When I thought about it at the beginning, the 4 months seemed like a very long time, but it really just went SO FAST. Some kids have left themselves about a week to travel after classes but the consensus is that most would rather just be going straight home. I’m happy that I’m just going back, as great as traveling is, it’s also stressful and takes some planning and I’m just ready to be home again. It’s funny that I’ll be going home to summer because I really don’t feel like it’s been ‘school’. Not that it wasn’t a lot of work or I didn’t have class everyday, but there were just so many more exciting things going on as well that they overshadowed the school part.

Well, this will be my last post. One of our assignments for Travel Writing was to write that 20 page story and we shared parts of them out loud in class. I was the last to read and my class/teacher really liked the ending paragraph and said it was a good way to end the class, so I figured it would be a good way to end my blog as well, so below is an excerpt from my story:

As much as she liked being organized and planning ahead, she could admit that some of their best times and all of their best stories had come from mistakes, mishaps, and straying off course. And she knew that in a way, Sophia was right. In the end the journey isn’t about the amount of landmarks that you can check off a list of must-sees. It’s about missed flights and late night buses, warm milk and pig legs, it’s about waking up in a dirty hostel not knowing what kind of weirdo is making noises in the bed next to you. It’s about ordering things to eat that you don’t even know how to pronounce. It’s about getting lost and caught in the rain. It’s about talking to toddlers who can speak the language better than you. It’s about praying to God you won’t see that naked man that hangs out in the Parc again. It’s about learning and enjoying the exciting differences of a new culture while rediscovering an appreciation for the familiar. It’s about building new relationships and finding friends that help you find yourself.

Terraza

4/23/09

            Today is Saint Jordi’s day in Barcelona. Saint Jordi is one of the patron saints of Barcelona, whose myth involves slaying a dragon. In the myth a rose grew out of the dragons blood and so it’s traditional for men to give women roses. It is also the day that Shakespeare and Cervante’s both died, so it’s traditional for women to give men books. All over Plaza Catalunya, and really everywhere in the city there are stands up selling books and roses. There are book readings and live music and dancing all over, it’s really pretty, and the weather could not be better for it, sunny and warm.

            So of course I have been inside most of the day, working on my papers…

But I have significantly widdled down my to-do list so I feel productive at least.

Things left to do:

Finish a 20 page story

Write 2 take home finals

Take 2 other finals

Later in the day...

And now it is the NIGHT of Saint Jordi and I am rebelling and sitting out on our terrace. Antonia doesn’t want me to because my sickness isn’t going away and she thinks it will be too cold, but I had to put my foot down because it is a gorgeous night and the temperature is incredibly warm… so I waited for her to leave for work and now I’m outside.

            We’re going to a rooftop bar tonight, I’m celebrating getting so much work done/taking a breather before alllll of my work next week. I am, however, officially donezo with classes. Only finals are left. Only 9 days remain so we’re trying to hang out everyday and soak up each other’s awesomeness.

            Welp, Wilfred the Hairy AKA Antonia’s son just came over. (as he always does), so I bettah go back inside.

12 Days and Counting

The end is approaching.

Things I still have to accomplish:

Register for Iowa classes

Finish a 20 page story

Finish an 8 page paper

Finish another 8 page paper

Write a 4 page paper

Do 3 presentations

Write 2 take home finals

Take 2 other finals

Die.

I really don't have time to squeeze in any enjoyment of the last days... hopefully by the end of this week I will have finished at least a chunk of that stuff and then the very last week I might have a day or two of free time. 

I finished one presentation today and my Barcelona class teacher says my paper sounds like it's going to be interesting and enjoyable to read. I beg to differ.

And then things went horribly wrong.

4/13/09

            I realize I am shockingly far behind on updating this, but now that I have loads of work I need to do, it seems like the perfect time to write again.

            The rest of my mom’s trip went splendidly, despite the fact that we both got violently ill and I went deaf in one ear. Montserrat was beautiful, but on the tram down my ears popped so bad and because I was congested, one of them wouldn’t unpop… this problem still persists today. The train ride on the way back from Montserrat took forever and we almost got separated as we went to get on the last metro home and I jumped on the train before mom knew what was going on. We both quickly put our arms in the door to force it back open, which is quite risky I might add, as the Barcelona metro doors do NOT respond to that. But more people on the train were trying to help and the drivier noticed and opened the door. Mom got a little tsk tsk finger from one of the metro security guards. Always causing trouble.

My ear popped again on our flight to Sevilla which made our first night bittersweet as I just lazed in pain. But our hotel room was really cute and the weather cleared up from cloudy to sunny and we had a great time. We both really liked Sevilla, it was much more “Spanish” than Barcelona, it’s more what I pictured Spain to be. The people were great and the sites were really pretty. The favorite was probably the day we walked around Alcázar palace and through the gardens and saw the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world. We also went to see a Flamenco show that was really cool, we got some “free” drinks there, due to the fact that both the waitress and us failed to remember the bill, we didn’t realize until we were already on the way back to the hotel, and come on, at that point what are you gonna do? All in all Sevilla was one of my favorite trips.

            The last days in Barcelona were depressingly rainy and cold that went perfectly with our colds that were in full swing, but we made the best of it, took the bus turistíc that took us to some parts of Barcelona that I hadn’t even seen yet. Probably not the best idea for our cold to sit on top of a cold and windy bus, but we don’t let the weather ruin our plans. We also went and visited Parc Guell but there was NO naked man waiting for us in the bushes, what a disappointment, I think it might have been a little too chilly for him that day.

We had a fun last night, dinner and some cocktail del dia’s (that ended up matching our dinner bill) at a place near the B&B. I left mom on Thursday, and took off to Greece and she left on Friday with no problems.

            Greece was amazing. The weather in Athens was beautiful and prefect for walking around the Acropolis and through the Ancient Agora. The food was wonderfulll, we didn’t think we could order anything we wouldn’t like (I would later prove us wrong by ordering Bacalao, which is a fish served VERY different in Greece than Barcelona… more like a salt lick in Greece.)

Come to think of it… I kept Lauren and mom updated pretty much errday in Greece so I’ll post the excerpts from emails I sent them.

-- Today we set the alarm for 7:30... so we wake up around 9:30, which is good, we are both on the same page as far as the importance of relaxation on this journey compared to when we were in Rome. We went to the Acropolis today, actually we are totes following the guide book's "two days in Athens" suggestions... we really didnt start out meaning to but about halfway through the day we were reading the book and realized that we had been doing exactly what the guide says, so we decided to finish the day with their suggestions too. I didn't get a Parthenon burn, thanks to the large aerosol spray can of sunscreen that the Barcelona airport let me travel with. Thank you lax security. But I've already had to take a picture with an old greek man named yurgos who owned the restaurant we ate at, and I'm seeing them stray dogs everywhere. We booked our ferries today, we have decided not to do another island and just stay at Santorini. We went into Anek ferries but they were sold out for the days we wanted to we got bluestar... womp womp. But the travel agent insisted they were 'bery nice boats'. Our hostel for santorini looks amazing, like a second away from Perissa beach and its just the two of us in a room and theres a pool and free laundry and they pick you up and take you to the port for free and its all for just 12 euro a night, scizore. (oh and you can rent ATV's from them too. Scizore more). Funny things... today while walking down from the Acropolis this old lady just grabs my hand to help her down the stairs, no words were exchanged I dont know what language she spoke but we walked hand in hand down all the stairs and then she gave me a kiss on the hand and a tap on the bum for a thank you. She was a cutie. Also while standing in the hostel we heard this old greek couple and the lady was trying to tell the man the name of the guy at the front desk and she was like "jonathon" and he goes "shonoashoan" and she goes "No... Jonathon.. THON" and he tried again and this conversation must have gone on for 2-5 minutes and he never got it right and it was the cutest thing ever.

--Today we went to the National Archeological museum and then to watch the changing of the guards. The weather continues to be beautiful, sunny and clear and in the 70's. I got a little red today, but nothing obnox, should be gone tomorrow.

--Santorini is just so beautiful. Today we did the volcano tour, I swam in the hot springs, Tejas didnt have trunks - WHATEV he totally could have gone in his shorts. Then we rode badonk a donk donkeys back up. HAWesome! It was real sunny all day today. Ill look for Panos' tomorrow because I think I am going to rent the ATV again (this time by myself so I don't have Tejas all up ons) And he doesn’t want to go cause I think he was really uncomfortable on the back the whole time - I had my big backpack on LoLZzZ!

-- I met Panos today! I ATVed out to Oia again and found the hotel. He was super nice and made me some tea and we sat and chatted for a while. He was a cutie. I went to the "Red Beach" today, which was beautiful, and I laid out and read my book for my class, still not looking forward to the MOUNTAINS of work I have to do when I get back

to Barcelona. Tonight is the last night in Santorini, back to Athens tomorrow

AND THEN THINGS WENT HORRIBLY WRONG.

Due to ridiculous Greek trains taking us in all kinds of wrong directions into the middle of nowhere with no cabs to be found OR called, we ended up waiting for/ traveling on trains for SIX HOURS on what should have been a 50 minute trip to the airport, missing both of our flights, having to drop many euros on new plane tickets and wait about 8 MORE hours in the airport for our 2:30am flight which was then DELAYED 2 hours. We didn’t fly home until 5am, and I got back to my apartment at about 9am, making it 24 full hours of traveling…

            But whatev, I had the best spring break. I can’t complain.

MOM'S VISIT photo album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018613&id=1149720713&l=5c8fe69153

GREECE photo albums

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018637&id=1149720713&l=e0261f1301

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018634&id=1149720713&l=9fac3feaee

Madre

3/24/09

My moms is here yay! We are having a great time.

She got here on Sunday afternoon which was the day after the concert (which by the way I felt like I was going to be trampled to death in, but was still fun when we moved to the back of the crowd). I left late, ended up taking a cab, couldn’t get into where I said I would meet her, it was a lupe fiasco but we ended up spotting each other through the arrival gate doors just like in them movies and had a teary embrace.

On Sunday we just brought all of her stuff and found the B&B (mistake on my part to take the train and metro which left us hauling the luggage up and down flights of stairs). We found the place right away though, and it’s a really cute apartment run by 2 guys (A couple? I think yes) Kiku and John : Kiku is nice and funny and helpful : We heard John puking last night. Guess which one we like more.

On Monday after my classes we met up and went to lunch at the restaurant with the culinary students that has a nice menu and atmosphere but is still inexpensive because we are the guinea pigs from the students work. I’ll give ours an A+. After that we walked down La Rambla and went to the Boqueria market, a lot of it was closing already, but we saw a lot and bought some fruit from one of the stands. Then I gave mom a little walking tour of the Gothic Quarter (I had just had to give a tour with a group for my Spanish class so I had the info.).

That night Antonia had us over for dinner back at my apartment. Mom actually understood a lot of what Antonia was saying, (that high school Spanish pays off.) and I interpreted the rest. Antonia made the traditional stuff – tortilla de patatas, pan con tomate, fried calamari and a fruit salad. We sat in the living room and chatted and I gave mom the tour of the apartment. (She mentioned my room looked bigger in pictures/on the webcam… so if you thought my room looked small before… it’s smaller). I also introduced mom to Maria on the way to dinner (my friend, the dancer who works at the store on my block) and Marta (the sweet little cleaning lady). Both of them, and Antonia and Chessie said right away that we look a lot alike, especially in the eyes. What a great compliment to my mom.

As we left Antonia told mom some nice things about me (of course who wouldn’t) And I went with mom back to the B and B. Today we walked to La Sagrada Familia, which is incredibly close to the bed and breakfast, and then walked down to the Picasso museum (which is not so close). We had some great Tapas tonight at a little bar, from Kiku’s recommendation. Tomorrow we are heading for a pretty big trek at Montserrat, I have never been there before, but I hear it’s beautiful.