Life in Barcelona

Hola everyone! I’m so sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. I imagined I’d be soo good at keeping this up, but I guess not! Anyway, I have been so busy with midterms, projects, and lots of traveling, so this is a long one!

On March 1st, the program took us to Valencia for the day. It was a beautiful day, and Valencia is a gorgeous city, but to me, the trip wasn’t really worth it. It was a three-hour train ride each way, and I had so much work to do that weekend! But, it was still a nice city. We took a walking tour which included a church that claims to hold the actual Holy Grail (see picture), but I find that hard to believe! After the tour, we went to a place called La Ciudad de las Ciencias (Science City) where there was an aquarium and a museum. We didn’t go to the museum, but the aquarium was pretty legit (also in the pics).

The next week consisted of a lot of tests and papers (starting again this week and next week)! Then March 6th-9th, a bunch of us went to Amsterdam. I really loved the atmosphere there! We saw the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, and went on a boat tour of the canal. We also had lunch at a great falafel place called Maoz that Christine suggested! Overall, it was a really great trip!!

On March 12th, I left very early (on a Wednesday!) with my friends Katie M, Jen, and Dave for Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands for part 1 of our spring break! Our other friends, Katie S, Molly, Stephanie, Kayne, and Dan arrived Thursday night. We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel (we hadn’t had a lot of luck with hotels up until this point)! It was really nice and all-inclusive, so we got drinks all day, three meals, and two snacks! So amazing! There were like three or four different pools and it was only about a five-minute walk to the beach! We basically spent most of our six days laying by the pool after breakfast, eating lunch, walking to the beach and playing around there, coming back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night, eating dinner, sitting outside watching the entertainment at the hotel, and more than likely going and doing karaoke, our favorite activity of the week! Haha, the boys were sooo funny, especially our friend Dave who is normally extremely introverted but really took to that mic… we had so much fun!!!! A highlight of the trip was riding camels – seriously!! I don’t have any pictures but will send some as soon as I get them from my friends. It was so gross and so weird, but definitely a good experience! There is a video of me somewhere that shows the camel behind me kind of resting his head on my shoulder – soooo disgusting – and me saying, “oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, I HATE THIS!” Pretty comical. Anyway, the Canaries were amazing, always at least 80 degrees and sunny, and so relaxing!

We came back to Barcelona Tuesday night, the 18th and stayed there for the night. March 19th, we flew into Rome. It was my first experience in a hostel, so I was a little worried, but it ended up being pretty good! It was four of us – me, Katie S, Molly, and Jen in one room and we also had our own bathroom. That night, we just had a glass of wine at the bar in the hostel because we had a big day ahead of us! Thursday, we ended up taking a guided tour of the Vatican Museum to skip the three-hour line. (Why we went to Italy on Easter weekend, I’ll never know!) The Vatican was obviously beautiful, but I unfortunately got sick and barely made it to the Sistine Chapel before I needed to go back to the hostel. So, I missed the majority of the day, which I’m really disappointed about, but I guess I’ll just have to go back someday!... Friday, we did the Coliseum and the Foro Romano. All of it was really cool, and now I need to learn all about it (maybe after finals!). We also went to Plaza España in Rome and sat on the Spanish steps (also a picture) before we rushed to the train station to head to Florence. We took the slow train there to save some money, which was a good decision because we were in definite need of a nap! Once in Florence, we were again surprised by our hostel, but this time it was because they gave us pretty much a whole apartment to ourselves – seriously, there were two rooms with four beds each, a living room, a small kitchen, and a bathroom! It was a little weird, but we took it. We took it easy in Florence. Molly’s best friend is studying there, so we hung out with her a lot and Saturday she took us on a walking tour of the city. I loved it there.. it’s the only other place I could imagine living! I’m excited that my sorority sister, Katie M. and I are going back with our other sister Katie from Madrid to visit the other girls in Florence the first weekend in April!! Saturday night, Jen and I attempted to go to Mass at the Duomo (so pretty), but it was in Italian, obviously, and we were very confused – I think we went to half a Vigil and half a Mass, but we tried! Sunday morning, we left really early for Pisa, saw the tower and flew back to Barcelona, and I am so happy to be back and to get back into a semi-schedule.

Tonight, I’m taking a final, so one class will be finished! My best friend Lauren (the one who’s really good at Catch Phrase!) is coming from Florence on Thursday, and Kelly O’Connor, my good friend from high school is coming on Friday. Saturday, the program is taking us to a wine tasting in Penedés and a boat trip on Sunday, so I have a busy week and will have lots to write about, if I find the time! Until then, I love you all so much—only five short weeks until I get home!!!
Love, Kara