I-Amsterdam

How does one talk about Amsterdam? I've been wrestling this one for days as I prepared for this entry. On the one hand I want to tell you all about it: Everything we saw, did and experienced but on the other hand Amsterdam is like the Las Vegas of Europe, you already know what we did because you know the reputation of the city.

Amsterdam is a contradictory city. In one sense it is the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah most exemplified by a walk through its famous red light district. On the other hand it is a staggeringly beautiful and clean city with tons of green space, quaint canals, and unique and colorful architecture. People ride bikes everywhere, the above-ground tram is fast and efficient and everyone speaks English as if it were the official language. But let me start from the beginning lest I lose my train of thought and go off on a tangent.

Looking out over a canal

We arrived in Amsterdam and our excitement to see the city made us forget to buy train tickets to our next stop in Berlin (this would come back to screw us 2 days later.) We hopped on the tram and, like Brussels, we could not figure out how to pay so we decided to take our chances and just ride it out. We got off at the "Museumsplein" stop and met our friend Ethan who had left Brussels a little earlier than us. He brought us to our hostel where we met my friend Jonathan Zuckerbrod who would be joining us for the rest of the trip.

Our three nights at the Inner Amsterdam Hostel were easily the most expensive for what was clearly the worst hostel of the entire trip. I guess it goes to show the popularity of the city. Our room consisted of three bunk beds with less than a person's width of floor space and a bathroom where the shower was not separated from the sink or toilet. As Jon pointed out, "You could easily take a shower while sitting on the toilet."

We threw our bags down and within 10 minutes of arriving we were out the door, led by Ethan who was eager to show us the places he had discovered in those few hours by himself. A 20-minute walk ended with our arrival in "Leidesplein" square, which, if you ever go to Amsterdam, is a super-touristy area that marks the "beginning" of the city.

Leidesplein Square with urinals in the middle

ASIDE: Amsterdam is shaped like a fan with ever expanding tiers starting at the Central Train Station and moving outwards. the next tier consists of the red light district and beyond that the coffee shops and shopping districts until you pass Leidesplein square and all the way to Vondel Park, where our hostel was located.

Our first stop was obviously the coffee shops but I was a little disappointed with the whole scene there. I had envisioned small and quiet cafes with ample seating where one could have a conversation in peace but this was not the case. Most places we went to were loud and noisy bars with little room to accommodate our group comfortably. The one exception was Barneys which I'll get to later.

The coolest part about most of the places was actually buying the marijuana or hash. Each shop would have its own menu with at least eight different strains to purchase varying in price depending on their strength. Certain shops would have even have descriptions like, "full bodied high, giggly and introspective." But let's face it, when you're getting that stoned none of the descriptions matter. Other places sold pre-rolled joints, space cakes, and offered its customers use of bongs and vaporizers to enjoy their purchases. We tried it all, but I left the city feeling like I hadn't experienced an authentic coffee shop. Maybe I had over-hyped it in my mind but the whole seen was very gimmicky and rushed. Not for me.

After our first coffee shop, the Bulldog Palace in Leidesplein square, we emerged from the sunken bar hungry, red-eyed and maladjusted to the bright sun outside. We decided to find some food and, speaking for our entire group here, Amsterdam did not disappoint. They had everything from pizza to shwarma, fast-food, automats, restaurants like the Pancake Corner and, our favorite, Wok to Walk. This amazing Chinese food restaurant (though a little overpriced as everything was in Amsterdam) became our go- to meal maybe two or three times during our few days there. I loved it so much I have since been back to their newest one in Lisbon and plan on going to one they have in downtown NYC this summer.

The group eating Walk to Wok (From right to left: Ethan, Evelyn, Jon, Brandon (with head turned), Amanda, Mark)

After eating and strolling around the city for a few hours (as well as a few more stops in various coffee shops) we found ourselves in the red light district. The red light district is a crazy crazy place filled with too many drunken British tourists, bars, coffee shops, peep and sex shows (yes, there is a difference), and various erotic museums. The craziest part of all is the prostitutes who stand in bikinis within see-through glass doors that look out on all the action outside. As you pass these doors, the prostitutes will try to make eye-contact with you and lure you inside. Snapping a picture of this madness is usually very difficult as the prostitutes will jump behind a curtain and give you the finger if they see you with your camera out. This happened to us many, many times.

The red light district at night

We wanted to see a "show" but the price was too high for something we knew we would lose interest in after 10 or so minutes. Instead we got more food and walked around some more because, despite its seediness, the red light district is beautiful at night, lit up by garish neon lights on both sides of a narrow canal.

Our 2nd day in Amsterdam was spent enjoying the beautiful Vondel Park for a few hours in the early afternoon before we moved on to the Van Gogh Museum. I can say with confidence I have never enjoyed looking at art more in my life. We were there until the museum closed, moving very slowly from piece to piece including one stop where (I kid you not) Mark, Amanda and I looked at a painting titled "In the Woods for a full 12 minutes . If there was one attraction I would recommend in Amsterdam it is that museum.

After the museum we attacked the famous "Iamsterdam" sign and got some great pictures of us climbing on the massive letters. The highlight though was the moment Ethan had climbed the lowercase "a" and couldn't figure out how to get down. Realizing the impending hilarity of the moment, Mark filmed a great video of Ethan attempting to get down, but instead falling and rolling to the floor. If he lets me, I will try to post the video here.

Evelyn, Mark, Brandon, Ethan, and Bruce on the I Amsterdam sign

The next day's highlight was going to breakfast at Barneys. Barneys is a coffee shop well known in Amsterdam for not only its high-quality product, but its partner restaurant called Barney's Uptown right across the street. At the behest of Ethan, we went to the coffee shop after waking up, bought a few joints between the group, and went for the most amazing (yet again overly expensive) breakfast I have eaten in my four months in Europe. By the time the waitress came to take our orders, we could have eaten anything and it would've tasted good, but my scrambled eggs wrapped in a Dutch pancake were nothing short of divine. By the time we paid our check, it was 3:00 pm. After breakfast we went to the train station to buy tickets to Berlin and were shocked to find they cost over 100 euro a piece compared to the 25 or so we spent getting to Amsterdam from Brussels. That was our punishment for not buying the tickets as soon as we arrived.

After the low-light of getting train tickets (and realizing we had all spent way too much money in this city) we went to the Heineken factory which, in my opinion, was a complete waste of time and money. My dad and I did the Guinness factory tour in Dublin last summer and it was so much better than Heineken it nearly ruined the experience for me. Obviously it was fun to drink at the end but the tour was a waste. The coolest part was looking at the antique Heineken posters.

And that, dear readers, is a summary of all the major highlight from Amsterdam. Obviously there were more trips to the red light district, more coffee shops, and more eating but you get the picture. Amsterdam is beautiful and fun but in many ways it's too much of a good thing. Three days there was nearly more than enough and while I'm glad I made the trip I don't think I'll ever be going back.

The last morning we hopped on a 20-minute train to Hilversum, Netherlands before switching to another six-hour train to Berlin, where the real craziness of Spring Break began… I'm sorry it took so long for me to write this blog, but with the weather as nice as its been and the minimal class I've been having, the last thing I've wanted to do is sit inside on my computer. Trust me I will be better about writing in the near future as I still have to tell you about Berlin, Prague, and most recently Lisbon. Adios todos.

-Corey

Spanish phrase of the day:

Que sea lo que dios quiera- I've done all that I can do

Andalucia y el Principio de la Semana Santa (Amanda)

HI TEAM. It's been a while, like many many weeks, I know. How's it going, todo bien? Bueno. Good to hear. Well I obviously have so much to write about, I honestly don't even know where to begin. I feel like Corey covered a lot of what we've done in the past few weeks... our perspectives are probably pretty different but you get the general idea! Andalucia was great- I absolutely loved Sevilla and have definitely been considering going back there after I graduate to live for a little. I celebrated my birfday there (he cumplido 21 años! Felicitaciones!) which was really fun but not the typical 21st birthday celebration, which I was fine with because we were all so exhausted from the jam packed days that Maica planned for us. After the Flamenco show that night we went to a really cute outdoor cafe and drank wine and ate tapas for hours- it was great, and even though I didn't take 21 shots (I just typo-ed and wrote shits, which I almost kept but didn't... that definitely didn't happen either, sadly... I never poop in Spain, so 21 shits would have been lovely (I don't know who reads this blog but I assume it can't be more than 3 or 4 people, my parents included, so hopefully that was ok to say. I'm sure it's fine...)). ANYWAYS. At midnight, all I wanted to do was coger a McFlurry but they closed right as we were walking up so we had to settle with a shoddy Burger King one which was not nearly as satisfying. If I had my way, I would have eaten 21 McFlurries on my birthday instead of doing 21 shots, but as it turned out, I didn't do even 1 of either. Oh well, life is really really tough sometimes.

By the way, I think I had been to a fast food restaurant maybe 5 times in the past 5 years before I came to Spain.... Evelyn has converted me into a lover and I am so angry about it. We LOVE McD's here, especially the Toblerone McFlurries (yes, you read that correctly. TOBLERONE), and the euro cheeseburguesas are usually the cheapest and easiest option when hunger strikes/when I'm not hungry at all from stuffing my face with lomo and patatas but just feel like one.

So, yeah, Andalucia was great (sorry that was incredibly vague and I didn't really say anything about it... Corey's has more details) and everybody was really great about my birthday all weekend (Maica bought me cake and our big lunch together and everyone sang, it was so sweet)... so even though I didn't celebrate americano style, I considered the entire weekend an unforgettable birthday celebration. (Cordoba wasn't anything that great, but la mezquita was beautiful and Granada was MUY lindo, the Alhambra was incredible- the best tourist attraction I've been to, and Sevilla, well, I left part of my heart there.)

THEN, we had one day in Salamanca to prepare for our 3 week long (Corey's was 2 because he went back with everyone else a week before Evelyn and I) Semana Santa. This day was LOCO, chicos, let me tell you. First of all, I was running around all day trying to get everything together for the trip, had to drop off my laundry (which consisted of about 70% of my wardrobe), bought some shoes (sexay Converse to walk around in), had to go to class, had to spend time with Conchi before I left her for so long :(, etc. Funny story.... when I went to pick up my laundry, I was shocked to find out that place had closed. Before 8 pm. NOTHING closes in Spain before 8 pm. And even funnier, they didn't open until 10 am and my bus to Madrid was 9:30.

After panicking only slightly, selling Karen my bus ticket, trying to get a ticket for the 11 am bus with the boys, realizing they were all sold out, and then eating about 6 Principes to calm my nerves (they were necessary), Mark agreed to pick my laundry up for me in the morning and bring it to the airport. THANK GOODNESS. So the next day, I take the early bus with the girls, we get to the aiport, no pasa nada, then I get a call from Mark. "Hi. You're going to hate me...." As it turned out, he picked up my laundry no problem but accidentally left it on the bus. HA. Now it is really funny, but at the time I was about to go on a 3 week vacation with less than half of what I intended to bring, clotheswise, and worse, I was afraid I would never see the rest of my clothes again! Long story short (that's a lie, it's already been a long story), we called and email the bus station many times and finally, by the time we got to our hostel in Brussels, they said they'd send it back to Salamanca and Miguel ended up picking it up for me. It was a very stressful start to trip but turned out fine and the girls let me borrow clothes (and we went SHOPPING, claro).

Before I start talking about this adventure, I just have to say that this may have been the best collective three weeks I have ever had and as cliche as this sounds, I really think that these travels were lifechanging. I couldn't imagine our trip going any better, or, more importantly, spending that time with any other combination of people. We all got along so incredibly well, got so much closer, and had SO. MUCH. FUN.

So... Brussels was a really great city- I am glad we spent the least amount of time there and went there first because it was probably my least favorite place (which doesn't imply anything bad at all- it had really tough competition). We literally ate our way through this city. We did in every city actually, but our days revolved 100% around eating here. We had an ungodly amount of Belgian chocolates (really as good as you would imagine- I was thinking of you, dad, the entire time), a plethora of Belgian fries with their thick creamy sauces, many Belgian waffles (stop. just stop), and oh, maybe one or two Belgian beers. The beers were the best part, only because of Delirium. It is this very cool bar that has three levels (it's pretty huge) and over 2,000 beers on tap. We tried some pretty ridiculous beers. My favorite was this beer that was 11% alcohol but tasted great. We also tried some wheat beers, a few really fruity beers which were actually very delicious- my favorite of those was this coconut beer that tasted like heaven. Anyways, being at Delirium was very fun (we went a few times) and we met a lot of really cool people there. Also, I loved our little apartment that we had and we got to cook our own dinner one night FINALLY- yumzo. Overall, it was a good warmup for the rest of the trip...

So, as I am writing this, I am lying outside by the cathedral in the grass, the sun is shining, Jillian is eating an orange, Miguel is feeding me alimentacion at intervals, Mark is interjecting sexual inuendos at more frequent intervals, Corey is sharing his new speakers with the ENTIRE world, and Jackie is sitting on my butt giving me a back masssage. Life is WONDERFUL. I just wanted to paint you a little picture of what our life is like now that Cursos Internacionales is over. We still have Emory classes, but that is just one a day in the afternoon (Tuesdays my first class is 7:15 pm. No big deal). As excited as I am for this summer, I would be perfectly happy staying here for months. I am so so happy here. Yesterday I walked home from Cuatro Gatos (our favorite cafe that we spend maybe 5 days of the week at) listening to my music and I couldn't stop smiling. I would even start laughing sometimes thinking about something that happened during the day. I can't remember the last time, if ever, I was this euphoric.

Sitting by the cathedral on a beautiful sunny day. (Mark, Corey, Jillian, Jackie, and me)

Anyways, I have to go to class in a little and I have to do some work before it (I would complain right now but I haven't opened/touched/thought about a book for the past month. So I feel like that would be a little inappropriate). I will write about the rest of spring break and Portugal.... oh Portugal, the best weekend of the entire semester (I don't consider spring break as part of the normal semester) in a later post. Adios for now, I'll try to be more descriptive and post pictures in my next one. BUENAS TARDES todos, I hope everyone (all 3 or 4 of you) is doing well!

Besos,

Amanda

Brussels or Part 1/4 of the Spring Break Saga

Now begins part 1 of 4 of the spring break saga, also known as the glorious two weeks of traveling Europe. It's going to take a little while for me to go through the entire break because A) It's a 4 part series B) With the weather as nice as its been, I'm unmotivated to sit inside and write C) I'm going to Portugal on Thursday and will need to write about that as well.

Our trip begin, as all trips out of Salamanca do, with a bus ride to the Madrid airport, where we caught a flight to Charleroi Airport in Belgium. From there it was an hour shuttle ride to the Brussels main train station where we had to take the metro to our hostel.

ASIDE: Public transportation would be a comical motif of the entire trip as we discovered most cities do not have compulsory system for using the metro.

We bought tickets for the metro but found that there was nowhere that required you hand them in. Unlike New York City, you can just walk right up to the track without passing through any sort of turnstile machine. After that first time, we didn't buy a ticket for any public transport system until Prague, the last stop on our trip.

When we exited the subway, my first impression of Brussels was, "This looks surprisingly like Atlanta." Very modern buildings, wide highways, and lots of cars. Until I saw the above-ground tram darting though the streets, Brussels at night was indistinguishable from any modern city in the U.S.

We found our hostel, this would be my first hostel experience, and discovered instead of a typical room to share we had rented a full apartment with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and an upstairs loft where Brandon and I slept. There was plenty of room for the six of us.

A view of the city, before the Magritte museum

Our travel fatigue was soon overcome by the excitement of being in a new city for the "official" start of our vacation. Our hostel, we didn't realize until later, was a 15 minute walk from the center of the city but since it was late, we settled for the first restaurant we came upon and ate a late but delicious meal in an old square near where we were staying. I ate spaghetti Bolognese (since the menu was in French, it was the only thing I could understand.)

The next day we woke up early and after consulting a map, still managed to walk 45 minutes in the wrong direction, through Brussels' little Turkey before we found the right direction. The center of the city was small and bustling with quaint shops, crowded outdoor bars, and a plethora of French fries and chocolate fountains.

The group enjoying some french fries

We walked through the beautiful plaza in the center of the city took a self-guided, and not worth it, tour of the chocolate museum (despite all the free chocolate one could want and a chocolate making demonstration.) It was about that time we lost Brandon who wandered off on his own. We wouldn't see him for another four hours or so.

ASIDE: Brandon wandering off was another common theme of the trip

A view of the main plaza

After the museum, we saw the famous statue of the little boy peeing "Manneken Pis" before heading, with Mark's prodding, to the Magritte Museum. René Magritte was a surrealist artist during the 1st half of the 20th century who's most famous works include a man with an apple for a face wearing a bowler hat and a picture of a pipe with the words, "this is not a pipe," printed below. With a student discount, tickets were practically free and was definitely worth the trip inside despite the fact that his most famous works were not there.

After the museum, we met our friend Ethan, who had been studying with us in Salamanca, by a fountain in the park. We decided then to try and find the holy grail of bars known as Delirium. This bar, in the year 2004, held the Guinness world record for most variety of beers with 2004. It was a massive building, with three full floors, space for hundreds, and more beers on tap than you could count. The menu was like an encyclopedia with beers ranging from 2 euro to upwards of 40-50 euro for a single glass. That afternoon I tried Duff, Homer Simpson's brand, and Delirium Tremens, the bar's own brew that at one point was named best beer in the world. It wasn't that great.

The famous "Delirium Cafe"

We went back to the hostel, found Brandon, cooked some pasta for dinner, and decided we didn't want to go out too hard since we were leaving for Amsterdam the next day. Karen too was leaving in the middle of the night for Dublin and we didn't want to abandon her. In the end we went back to Delirium, drank some more, made some friends, and observed some obnoxious Americans singing songs. We tried to speak only in Spanish so the other people in the bar wouldn't look down on us. There is a large amount of anti-American sentiment in Europe an it's pretty easy to see why, although Obama has given our country more international credit that Bush ever did. We came back around 2:30 am and went to sleep knowing the next day we'd be taking a 12:18 train to the Mecca of most college students: Amsterdam.

Andalucia, a Spring Break Warm-Up

I promised you two blogs today and lo and behold, here's number two for your viewing pleasure. Before I begin with my most recent trip I just want to take a moment to enjoy the scene unfolding before me. Today is the first day of our program where the Emory kids don't have morning classes and it was a pleasure sleeping in. Instead of a 7:45 am alarm, I set a noon alarm just in case I missed my first class of the day at 1:00 pm. Of course, I woke up much earlier, posted about Barcelona and attempted to organize myself before leaving tomorrow.

I am excited to say the least. Madrid to Brussels tomorrow, Brussels to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Berlin, Berlin to Prague, Prague to Paris, Paris to home. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

So I'm sitting at an outdoor café, it's 64 degrees and sunny I'm watching the unceasing tide of Spanish students walk between the Plaza and various buildings for their last day of classes before the start of everyone's "Semana Santa."

And even more good news! After a night of serious partying in Granada this weekend, I check my email at 1:30am to find out I got the internship I needed for this summer. So, in case you were wondering faithful readers, I will be in NYC this summer. Wait, does anyone besides my parents read this blog? Oh well, either way, huzzahs are in order.

So this weekend was our Andalucia trip which, when I tell people, usually engenders the reponse, "where/what is Andalucia?" I guess it’s a valid question to those not from Spain, but Andalucia generally refers to Southern Spain but constitutes the 7-8 different comunidades (the "states" of Spain) of Southern Spain.

Unfortunately, I have already visited the three cities (the last time I was in Spain) on our itinerary but it was a much different experience this time: Less rules, more touring, faster paced, and more temperate weather compared to averages highs of 90 degrees when I was there in July.

So let's get down to it

Our first stop was in Cordoba, a small, Arab influenced city in Southeastern Spain. From Salamanca, it was nearly a 7 hour bus drive, with two stops on the way.

ASIDE: Spain has a law that every bus or long-haul truck must stop to rest for something like 20 minutes every two hours, mandated by a timer on the vehicle's dashboard. The idea is to prevent accidents due to overtiredness. Actually a pretty cool idea though I think it's a conspiracy to include more "siestas" into every facet of Spanish life. For that reason every roadside stop has a fully equipped restaurant with a kitchen, a bar, and seating.

We got to Cordoba in the afternoon and went to the one main attraction there: La Mezquita de Cordoba. La Mezquita ("mosque" in english) was an Arab construction turned into a Catholic cathedral after the Spanish Christians expelled the Muslims from Spain during La Reconquista sometime during the 13th-15th century.

After no more than three hours in the city, we departed for Granada. Our group leader moved our hotel for some unknown reason to a location she had never been for and let me say, on her behalf, what a mistake that was. As we approached out hotel we saw what looked like an outdoor rave with no less than 3,000 people outside in a plaza drinking and partying. To Micah's (our group leader) horror, our hotel was THE CLOSEST BUILDING to the party. Our balconies looked right over the whole fiesta. All she could do was shake her head and remind us over and over that we were free to do what we wanted but our tour of La Alhambra the next day would be 4 hours long.

Thank Micah, but I think I'll choose the "world-is-coming-to-an-end-party" over the Muslim palace I've already seen.

ASIDE - DID YOU KNOW: La Alhambra is the most visited tourist attraction in the world? Maybe you can see why from these pictures.

The party was a blast, La Alhambra was great even for my 2nd visit, and with that we headed for Seville for our remaining two days.

My last time in Spain I lived in a hotel in Seville for a month taking classes, sneaking alcohol when I could and meeting my current girlfriend ("mi mujer" as they would say in Spanish) Nicole. After this 2nd visit I have sort of decided that I want to move to Seville for a long while, like maybe a year or so? I actually said to a friend while we were there, "this is paradise."

The weather was beautiful, sunny and in the 70's or 80's everyday, the people are friendly but difficult to understand (making it the ideal place to improve one's Spanish), and the city is immaculate.

On night one, we went to a well-know going out area across the river in the Triana district called "Calle Betis." I could've sworn it was like a 10-15 min walk from our hotel but with a small and inconvenient detour it took our group around 45 minutes to walk there.

The first place we entered was actually the first discotechque I had ever been to in Europe all those years ago (funny how things come full circle) and it was just as I had remembered: Small, hot and overpriced. But who am I to complain?

We stayed for a bit, danced, drank, some girls left for home, and the rest of us walked a little further until we found a bar called Big Ben. It had a cool atmosphere, a little less crowded so we were enjoying ourselves when my friend Laurie turns to me and says, "I think we're in a gay bar."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well there are street signs on the ceiling that say 'gay street' and 'fashion avenue.'"

Feeling tipsy, I told Laurie I would go to investigate and proceeded to do a lap around the place. No same sex make-outs, a little more guys than girls (but then again it wouldn't be a club if it weren't right?) As I was heading back to Laurie I heard a loud American say over my shoulder to a friend, "You know this is a gay bar right?"

Laurie had done some sleuthing herself: "I asked the bartender if this was a gay bar"

"What did he say."

"It's not a gay bar, but everyone in here is gay."

I couldn't tell if he had just imparted some gay wisdom or if he was just being a smart-ass (pardon the pun.)

The next day was some more walking, a visit to the cathedral, the Plaza Espana (where the palace for Star Wars I was filmed) and bike riding.

Seville has a great system (it's been introduced in a few cities around the world like Barcelona and Portland, Oregon) where you can rent a bike from a bike rack and drop it off at any other rack around the city. The rates are very reasonable (free from 0-30 mins, 1 euro from 30-1.5 hours) so Mark, Jillian and I rented some and explored the city.

I can safely say this was the wisest decision we could possibly have made, and the trip was ten times better because of it. Our idea caught on and after a tapas lunch of "rabo de toro" (bull tail) and fresh sea food, we had a group of five all on bikes exploring the city.

We rode down to the river where apparently all of the Sevillian youth goes to relax (think the great lawn or Sheep's Meadow in July) so we headed to the convenience store, bought some beer and chips and blended in with the locals, enjoying the perfect weather on the bank of the Guadalquivir River while we watched people picnic, smoke hookah, roll cigarettes, fish, bike ride, and sun-tan.

The rest of the trip was a blast too but honestly nothing could compare to how perfect that afternoon was on the river. We ate some great meals, saw a flamenco show, took a tour of the bullfighting ring and even went biking some more.

Overall it was a great trip but I'm even more excited to be heading out on spring break tomorrow. I think this post has been long enough so I'll end it here. I look forward to regaling you readers with stories from what should be the best 15 days of my life. Ciao Ciao, hasta luego, y buenas noches.

-Corey

Words O' the day:

Hacer bici- To go bike riding

Pasear- To take a walk

Nadar- To swim

Oh Barcelona

It's certainly been a while since my last post, but, like usual, I have an excuse: Finals and a weeklong visit from Nicole. I'll start back on March 5th since that is when the busy times began. That Friday, Nicole (my girlfriend) made the journey from Atlanta to Salamanca for Emory's spring break. We stayed in Salamanca for a week, then travelled to Barcelona for the next weekend where she caught a Sunday morning flight back to Atlanta.

The week in Salamanca was great. Even with the inevitable setbacks (the weather was bad, her phone unexpectedly didn't work, I had to study for finals, we had to find a hotel for 3 nights) we had an amazing week seeing sights, partying with friends, eating some great food, and enjoying the city. But the real fun was our last weekend in Barcelona.

I had heard some great things, but I was completely blown away when we actually arrived there. It was in the top three of coolest cities I've ever seen in my life (maybe even number one.) Our journey began with a 6:40 am train from Salamanca to Zaragoza. Though it wasn't the Ave (the Spanish high speed train) it was super nice and comfortable for the 6 hours trip to Zaragoza where we switched to the high speed train for the remaining two hours to Barcelona. A long trip I know, but there 's no convenient way to get from Salamanca to Barcelona.

We arrived in Barcelona around 2:40 pm and within minutes we had figured out their metro system. With luggage and all it took us no more than 20 minutes to navigate ourselves to our hotel at the bottom of La Rambla.

ASIDE: As a city person, I am used to taking subways and trains, but I would rank the Barcelona metro as the #1 easiest subway system to use even, though the majority of the signs are written in Spanish or Catalan. ( Catalan is the peculiar, regional language spoken only in the Spanish region of Cataluña where Barcelona is the capital.)

Our hotel was right on the water in a great location five minutes from the Drassanes metro stop at the bottom of La Rambla. I better take the time to explain what "La Rambla" is since I've mentioned it now twice.

"La Rambla" is the main avenue, or strip that constitutes what most would consider the heart of Barcelona. It runs from the water (where our hotel was, a giant Christopher Columbus statue, a clubbing area, and a generally beautiful area) to Plaza Cataluña. La Rambla is divided into two lanes of traffic in opposite directions divided by a huge pedestrian area in the middle where there are street performers, vendors, and cafes with outdoors seating areas. And I forgot to mention it's absolutely gorgeous.

After arriving , we put our bags down and went sightseeing at our first stop Park Guell. Antoni Gaudi, the park's architect, may as well be the patron saint of Barcelona. His handiwork is seen everywhere in parks, buildings, houses, sculptures, and, most importantly, La Sagrada Familia (but I'll get to that later.)

The park is situated high above Barcelona and offers beautiful views of the city below. It's constructed like a labyrinth with winding and curvy paths, high foliage and unique houses. It's hard to describe his style but here are some pictures of the park and some houses within so you can get an idea of his work. After an hour in Barcelona, it becomes pretty easy to spot a Gaudi work.

After a stroll through the park, we took the metro to the center of town to La Sagrada Familia. La Sagrada Familia, I can safely say, is the most impressive and jaw-dropping structure I have ever seen in my life. La Sagrada Familia is a cathedral designed by Gaudi which began construction in 1882. To this day, it is unfinished and will not be completed until the earliest 2026. I'm already making plans to return to Barcelona when it's done. I can't even describe how amazing this building is is but you can look at my pictures and judge for yourself. I know this is kind of a cop-out, but I will attempt to describe it better in a later post since I have since planned two more trips to Barcelona before I head back to the U.S.

That night, we met my friend Jesse and his girlfriend Grace for a night out on the town. Jesse is studying in Barcelona for the semester and has a great apartment in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona right off La Rambla, 15 minutes away from our hotel.

First we went to an absinth bar which was fun even though absinth tastes like death mixed with black licorice. However, this was the first time I have ever drank absinth prepared the "correct" way so it actually tasted good. To prepare absinth correctly, you melt a sugar cube on a spoon and mix it into the iridescent green drink. Here's a picture of us preparing the drinks.

After that, we went to a crowded bar called nevermind with grafitti on the walls, unique seating and expensive drinks. Later we went to a seemingly cool Jazz bar with live music, but we got there at a bad time when they were switching between the early and super late sets so we headed home inebriated and satisfied despite not having seen live music.

The next day, Nicole and I had a busy day walking La Rambla. We first stumbled upon a cool exhibit which was an homage to Dalí. It was very surrealist, melting clocks and naked bodies and stuff, but we enjoyed it. Then we found the Mercat St. Josep which we both loved: An outdoor food market filled with raw fish, troves of candy, tons of people, and the best slice of pizza I've eaten in Spain yet. After the market, where most of our pictures were taken, we headed to the modern art museum (MACBA) which we decided we both hated. The building and the skateboarders outside were more interesting than the exhibits themselves. We then shopped around the Plaza Cataluña area and met Jesse again at night for a tour of the gothic quarter and a super late dinner at a cool Italian restaurant near an old opera house. We were too tired to go bar-hopping again.

The next morning was a sad goodbye as Nicole had to leave to catch her plane but at 9:30. It was so early in the morning I could barely get up to say goodbye, but I know she had a good time and will have a busy and fulfilling rest of the semester in school. Plus, she just got accepted to Birthright this summer so I know she'll be excited for that.

I departed with my luggage an hour later to see my other best friend Alex who has an apartment in Barcelona with five friends from his fraternity at Colgate. It was a quick and hurried reunion, but we enjoyed a great breakfast and I got to see his huge, but very dirty apartment.

My train was at noon, so at 11:20 Alex pointed me in the direction of the closest metro stop and I left. A series of unfortunate events conspired against me to make what should've been a 15 minute trip a 38 minute trip and as I frantically ran through the train station to catch the one train that would get me home in time for my finals. I vowed to never be unprepared while traveling again. Finally, as the clock struck 12, I was in my seat, sweaty from running, heart racing, and out the 10 euro it cost to grab a cab from the metro stop I ran off of, to the train station.

I'm sorry for the rushed nature of the post, but I have one day to get all my affairs in order before I leave for spring break tomorrow morning. In addition, I travelled again this weekend to Andalucia and want to write about that too while the experience is fresh in my mind. Trust me, there will be a much more thorough Barcelona post when I go again in May, but for now I'm off to my last class for nearly 3 weeks. Expect the Andalucia post later today.

Ciao, ciao

-Corey

Spanish phrase of the day:

Esta de bote en bote- That place is full

Estoy hecho polvo- I'm dead tired

Estoy a dos velas- I'm broke

Wanna Fanta? (Amanda)

HOLA HOLA HOLA HOLA. I know I've been slacking on this blog like (as Loli would say in a really thick Spanish accent... it's ok, she's a profesora) a mother fucker . But here I am! And I'm ready to write pages and pages so prepare yourselves. We have much to catch up on!

First of all, since we have last spoken, I have had three major notable weekends. The first was Ciudad Rodrigo for Carnaval, the next was when Bonnie came to visit me, and the third and perhaps most epic (not that the other two weren't) was this past weekend when I went to Barcelona. But before I start talking about these adventures, I want to talk a little bit about life here in the Manc, if you will. I have to say that I have been pretty happy here for the most part until about a week or so ago, when I realized that I actually LOVE it here and am starting to actually feel pressured by time... less than 2 months until my classes end and less than 3 until I'm back in Colorado. Crazy.

I think the most notable change has been my relationship with mi madre. Recently, we have been spending a lot more time together- for example, last night, we sat at the dinner table together for almost an hour talking and laughing and making fun of Nomutaka (no way that spelling is anywhere near correct, but he is my Japanese housemate- he's great. He's super weird and Conchi (mi madre) and I always make fun of him but he loves it, we think). She has taught me how to cook a few things and once cursos ends (1 week!!!!) we have plans to bump up the music and do cooking classes in the afternoons. A dream come true. Music, Spanish, cooking, eating... 4 of my favorite things. I'll tell you how it goes once we start doing it. We invited Nomutaka but apparently "no hago este tipo de cosas". Fine, you are uninvited.

Today at lunch we tried to explain to him why he needs a Spanish girlfriend before he leaves and convinced him that it would be beneficial for his language acquisition. I told him that if he ever wants to learn English, I am available. He just smiled and nodded... I was kind of offended. It's great because he only understands about half of what Conchi says because she talks so fast, so either I restate it or we all just laugh (Conchi and I because it's funny, Nomutaka because he doesn't know what else to do). It sounds kind of mean, and maybe it is, but it's the Spanish way. People here don't really take others' feelings into account.

That's another thing I love- the culture is really starting to find a place in my heart. Political correctness doesn't really exist here, and people say things as they see them. Social norms are wayyy more lenient than in America- people are snogging/actually conceiving children all over the streets (at first it really caught me off guard because I'm so not used to PDA in America, especially at the Glen (ha), but now I find it really endearing and sweet that people feel like they can be affectionate in public). Apparently, since everybody lives with their parents practically until they are married because apartments are so expensive, the only place they really have to be affectionate is in public... and my grammar teacher told us that when they're not having sex on the streets/in cafes RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME (actually... I'm watching two people do things I've never seen before), they are utilizing their cars. Like, apparently everyone here has sex in their cars all the time. Interesting little fact for you. In case you ever get a Spanish boyfriend/girlfriend, now you know what is expected. And I highly suggest that you do.

Speaking of my grammar teacher, I LOVE her and that class in general. It is every morning from 9-11 (rough, I know) but all of the students in the class have become friends with each other and our teacher is constantly teaching us the most interesting/useful things about Spain and Spanish culture (and grammar, claro, which I actually don't mind at all. It's so different learning grammar and vocab here because we actually want to learn and can actually use it every day.) I love coming home to mi madre with a new colloquial phrase and when she looks surprised/impressed, I say, "que piensas, Conchi? Soy Española" (I say it every time, it never gets old to her... it's really easy to make her laugh, I think mainly because she thinks my accent is funny. I like to pretend she just thinks I'm funny). Anyways, my Spanish has improved exponentially and that is probably one of the other reasons I'm loving it so much here. I can't describe how exhilerating it is for me to be able to really truly communicate with people here. It makes me want to come back and live somewhere in Spain at some point in my life. Every day I find something new to love about this place.

Ohhh man what else what else. I have so much to say but I want to get on to the best part! If I think of more Salamanca-y things, I'll write them in the next post (so, like in a few months). OK. So... Carnaval. Hilarious. We all dressed up (I wore a dalmation costume that was made for a 7 year old boy. Can you say SEXY?) and took the hour bus ride to Ciudad Rodrigo on Saturday morning. We got there and walked around the markets for a little until the running of the bulls, during which we all got comfortably seated in the stadium and had our morning drinks. As the men (no women whatsoever) and the bulls entered the stadium, we were all a little disappointed in the lack of action, but it was still fun to watch. Then we went to a square where a bunch of little huts/houses had set up booths and were giving away food and alcohol. Somehow, we got invited into this man's house and had an INCREDIBLE time. There was a big table, a bunch of middle aged Spaniards, and a lotttt of delicious Spanish food. We were dancing (some of us on the tables... it's fine, I'm sure) and talking and eating and drinking. They had a jug that LITERALLY must have been moonshine. I've never tasted anything like it. They also lied and told us it was water because I was saying how thirsty I was and since I was the first to try, I started chugging it. Never have I ever wanted to die so much. Needless to say, the day took a turn for the best after that.

The rest of the day was just walking/dancing/singing in the streets, entering and exiting different bars, walking through the markets and the fair, and generally have an incredible time. The only thing was that it was SO incredibly cold and we were pretty much outside the whole time. So instead of staying all night until the 7:30 am bus, we took the last bus home at night and spent the rest of the night in Salamanca, which was also very fun. I met a few people at Carnaval who I have since met up with and really really enjoyed hanging out with. One of them was a guy from Brazil who I saw a few times and had a GREAT time with him- hilarious and soo fun AND even though we always spoke Spanish, he could speak Portugese, Spanish, English, French, and Deutsch. It makes me feel like an idiot for being so proud of my semi-proficient Spanish. Anyways, Carnaval was really fun and definitely worth the cold (AND we saw a killing of a bull which I did not like at all- I thought I would be able to handle it but it was one of the most heart-wrenching things I've ever witnessed. No me gustaba para nada).

A few weekends later, BONSON, one of my trainees from the summer, came to visit me. She is studying in Zaragosa and came for the weekend to stay in my house with me (I can't believe Conchi let her do that- it is strictly against the rules). We had a GREAT time. It was really short but we made the most of it. Friday we went out with all of my friends, which is always a good time. Bonnie really clicked with them all and I think she had a lot of fun too. Then Saturday we got up early and saw ALL of Salamanca- the cathedral, the university, the river, the museums. It was great. Then we went back and had lunch with Conchi and then took a 6 HOUR siesta. We thought we could go shopping por la tarde but we vastly underestimated our exhaustion. Then we woke up, went out for tapas and ended up going to a movie (not before getting giant bags of alimentacion. mmm/way way way too much). The movie was looong and pretty terrible but it was in Spanish (so that's cool?). Sunday morning we got up semi early and went on a long walk by the river and eventually made it to the Sunday morning market. It was my first time and I LOVED it. We were there for almost 3 hours and Bonnie and I both bought our fair share of underpriced (maybe stolen) goods. It was great to see her and shnuggle with her in my tiny tiny bed all weekend.

Are you ready for the clencher! (Are you still there by the way? If you are sleeping/have passed away from old age in the time it's taken you to get this far, I understand. If you still have some in you keep going because there's a prize at the end.) SO, I just got back on Sunday from Barcelona. Jackie, Evelyn, and I left on Thursday morning (waking up that morning was like waking up on Christmas morning- which is usually pretty normal for me, but I hear it's AWESOME for some people). We took the bus to Madrid, the plane from Madrid to Barcelona, met up with Becca in the aiport, walked through Plaza Catelanya and up La Rambla, and finally made it to, I am convinced, the greatest hostel in the world (Hello BCN) where we found our (still living) roommate Jessica. We each got these watch-type bracelets that let us into the hostels, our room, and our personal lockers. Not only were they fashionable, but if you ever wanted to know what time it was, it was more than the right thing to do to make a bad joke. We met up with one of Becca's friends who studies there who took us around the city and then we ended up at this great tapas restaurant, where Anne made her fashionably late and dramatic appearance out of a cab, had some jars of sangria and delicious food, and went back to the hotel to get ready for the night.

The first night out was definitely the most fun. We went to a small bar and then to a club called Opium. By far the craziest, most fun club I've ever been to (which isn't really saying much, but it really was pretty incredible). It backs up right to the beach, has many different areas and levels, and was full of people. There we met up with Adriana and Jon and some of their friends from Rome. We stayed there until about 6 am and after a little walk on the beach and some samosas, we went back to our hostel for the night. The next day was very chill... we just walked around La Rambla, went shopping (I randomly ran into Alyson Lamb at H and M... so crazy!), ate some Durum (claro), went to the market, and then bought some bread, sausage, cheese, and fruit to bring back to the hostel. We ate in the common room downstairs- it was perfect... cheap, delicious, and we met a bunch of other people staying in the hostel. That night we went to a club again, Choco, but were all SO tired from the night before. We all somehow ended up getting split up and taking cabs back without each other, and as we were getting into bed, Jessica called and said she was still at the club. She said she was getting into a cab and would be home in 15 minutes. We all passed out and the next morning we woke up to find that Jessica was not in her bad and none of us had any missed calls or texts from her.

At first we were pretty calm, trying to call her and figure out what had happened, but after she wouldn't answer/hung up on us/sounded like she was drugged/being kidnapped, we started to worry. She was saying things like "you weren't supposed to worry until 9:30" and "I'm fine....?" and "blaeghh I'm Jessica Jia" (maybe/maybe not). We felt terrible for not waiting up for her, but also were upset at her for not answering and VERY worried that we had lost her forever! After giving her until 10:30 am until we called the cops, we went downstairs for breakfast. Sure enough, 30 minutes later, she walked in. Apparently (we were told by our friends who we met later that night) the entire room saw her walk in wearing her clothes from the night before and all 6 of us yelling at her and then her walking shamefully up to the room. HA. SORRY JESS WE LOVE YOU. Anyways... after that it became the running joke of the trip and, if you would be so kind as to look at Anne's fbook album, you will see that. The rest of the trip... and still... we were making references to how Jessica was kidnapped/almost died/disappeared/is dead/etc. I hope you see the hilarity of it through my shoddy explanation, or maybe it just isn't really that funny to other people, but it was a defining point of our trip.

ANYWAYS, Sunday we walked to the pier and walked around there for a little and eventually hopped on the Bus Turistic, which is an unguided tour bus company that runs all over the city and has a bus at every stop about every 10 minutes. It was great- we were able to go where we wanted, when we wanted. The two best parts I would say were Sagrada Familia... which, when I first saw it from a few blocks away, made me actually gasp. (We were all gawking at it and Evelyn was looking the other way- "LOOK GUYS! There's a pizzeria!". Oh Evelina). Up close it was pretty awe-inspiring but not as great to look at because of all the construction everywhere. We ended up having lunch at Subway because we were so famished, then made our way to Parque Guell which was by far my favorite part. It was a beautiful beautiful day and the park was gorgeous. Also, a band from southern Spain that we had seen the other night was playing at the top of the park, and seeing them again made our day. We danced. We were merry. We then went shopping for Gaudi souvenirs and slowlllly made our way back home where we all passed out for a few hours before ordering some incredibl Italian pizza (sorry Jess and Adj) and getting ready for the night.

We met up with some guys who are studying in Sevilla that we met in the hostel and went to Chupitos, a bar that has all sorts of crazy shots. Anne did the "Monica Lewinsky" which consisted of a beer bottle, a dildo, and whipped cream. Some other ones we did were boyscout (marshmallows that you could roast in a fire on the bar and a delicious shot that you put the marshmallow out in), Finding Nemo (blue shot, green M and M, whipped cream), a Kiwi shot that was on fire (that was the most descriptive Evelyn could get), and various others. We had a great time, then made our way back to the hostel because Jess and Adriana had to leave :(. The next day the rest of us went to the aiport and although we made it back to Madrid just fine, Jackie, Evelyn, and I were stuck in the Madrid airport for about 4 hours before we could get on a bus back to Salamanca. It ended up actually being really fun and the three of us had some great conversations over coffee, sandwiches, doughnuts, and bread stolen from people's leftovers. Finally we made it back and had to face the harsh reality of another full week of cursos.

It was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time and seeing all of those girls was much needed and so incredibly refreshing. I really have felt rejuvinated since being back and I owe that to Barcelona, of course, but mainly to the people I was with. Not everybody was best friends or even friends at all, but the 7 of us got along SO well and I think the group dynamic really made the trip for everyone. Plus, I got to see my wonderful wonderful suitemates whom, I have realized, it is actually a crime to live without.

YOU MADE IT! Almost over. Finals for cursos are this and next week, then we go to Andalucia (we'll be in Sevilla on my birfday!), then we come back and I have literally two days in Salamanca before leaving for my 3 week spring break. YIKES. I was pooped after 4 days in Barcelona, I can't imagine what this is going to be like. But I am extremely excited and ready to spend every last euro that I have (and by ready I mean I'm starting to look for places on the street I can build my cardboard box house). I will try to write more often so that my next entry isn't one giant blob (it's been fun though, at least a little, right?)

So about the prize... I'm waiting for confirmation from a special someone as to whether or not I can post it... SORRY I'M A TERRIBLE PERSON. You'll have to come back later for the prize. I didn't mean to trick you but I guess now you have incentive to come back again! For now I'll just give you a REALLY BIG SMOOCH (which should be a good enough prize in itself, you greedy bastards).

Pues, hasta la proxima vez. I hope that everyone's semesters/lives are going well and that wherever you are in the world you are happy, healthy, and safe. Keep in touch!

Besos,

Amanda

P.S. I forgot the best part of everything ever. When Enrique says anything in English it is the funniest... one day he said a few sentences of his lecture in English and he had this ridiculous look on his face like he was trying to imitate los americanos (ouch) and Jackie and I didn't stop laughing the entire class. But a few days ago, he was trying to explain something about eggs (I have no idea what, he talks about the weirdest stuff at the most random times/at all times) and nobody understood because it was so random (not because we didn't know the word "huevo") but he thought he needed to translate anyway and said "Echh" (like a throaty sound). He said it about 10 times which confused us all more until we realized that he was saying "Egg" but in Spanish they pronounce "g" as "hhhh", or like the Hebrew "chh". The image of him saying it and the sound he was making is just too much. Hilarious. Anyways, any time I'm ever sad I think of that and it instantly brightens my day. Maybe it will do the same for you.

Ya es el 4 de Marzo? Joder... (Corey)

This post might seem a little all over the place but without a trip in the last 3 weeks it seems like I have less to write about.

This is not true of course; I'm just getting lazy, and the life I'm growing accustomed to here doesn't seem so strange anymore. School is early and often, class is easy, nights end late and the concept of a 8-hour work day is non-existent. Ocho horas? Cada dia? Estás loco?

The other day I was watching The Simpsons during lunch with my host family and realized how hard it is to translate humor into other languages. Humor relies so much on tone of voice, irony, a knowledge of local norms, and a deep understanding of the language. Even when I know the lines in the episode, I still find myself not laughing because of the strange and awkward ways the language demands you reconstruct the phrase from English to Spanish. The best thing about The Simpsons here is how they translate the name of Bart's nemesis: Sideshow Bob. "Sideshow" does not translate to Spanish so cleanly. There is no single word that conveys the same meaning as sideshow as a sort of diversion to the main act. So whenever Sideshow Bob appears in an episode, every single character refers to him as Actor secundario Bob. How great is that?

So Amanda hasn't posted in a while so I figured I would pick up the slack for her. She's on her way to Barcelona for the weekend along with about 5-6 other girls. Some other people flew to the Canaries for some sun and hopefully no floods. It has been flooding there recently.

I have been making an effort to watch Spanish movies without subtitles and have a new and profound appreciation for Spanish cinema. Specifically a director named Alejandro Amenabar who makes some great films. He directed Abre los Ojos which was the basis for Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. He also directed The Others and I just watched his first movie called Tesis. Very very good, I highly recommend it to all of you. Also, the movie Celda 211 (not by Amenabar) just won best picture at the Spanish oscars (the goyas) and it was an awesome movie about a real life prison riot in Spain.

What else….

So our classes at Cursos Internacionales are almost over (finals a week from Monay), meaning the Emory group will no longer be having Spanish lessons every day from 9am-2pm. This also means though that the time is flying by and I wish I were as good at Spanish as I thought I'd be by now. Not to say I'm bad, certainly not, but I did have high expectations for myself. I'm meeting a 24-year-old architecture student I became friends with last week for a drink to practice my Spanish and his English. Since the city is full of students, it's pretty normal thing (called an intercambio) and not at all as gay as it sounds. The place we're going is called Birdland and it is by far one of my favorite bars in the city.

Right now it's 54 degrees and sunny, this is the first good weather we've had in a week where every day rain is forecasted.

I forgot that I have to watch Lost so my friends and I can discuss it and analyze it to death. It just finished downloading and I have some time to kill before doing homework. Hasta Luego mis lectores leales.

-Corey

Words of the day:

Faro- Lighthouse

Naufragio- Shipwreck

La Madrugada- The dawn

Payaso- Clown