So first of all, LO SIENTO, LO SIENTO, LO SIENTO!! I’ve been a horrible blogger but I promise I have tres buenas excusas – Barcelona, Roma y examenes parciales.
Since my flight didn’t leave for Barcelona until Friday morning, Thursday afternoon after I finished class I headed to el Mercado de San Miguel with Kaitlin for lunch and una copa de sangria. El Mercado is right off of Plaza Mayor and its un edificio incredible that consists of windows on all sides so it gets great light and make for a fun atmosphere! There are at least twenty little stands that sell everything from manchego (queso) and jamon iberico to oysters and fresh pasta! After eating some manchego delicioso, Kaitlin acted as my tour guide and we walked around the Palace and more of Madrid that I hadn’t seen yet. It’s amazing how even when I feel like I really am getting to know the city, I find new places that make me love Madrid even more!
I woke up early Friday morning to head to Barcelona with Margaret and Adina. It worked out perfectly because we were all going to visit friends from school but were able to travel together. (With the exception of poor Marge on the way there - She had some passport woes and wasn’t able to get to Barcelona until Friday evening.) After landing safely in Barcelona and making it to the Aerobus, I finally got to see Charlotte and begin our fin de semana en Barca! We dropped my bag off and then headed to the IES center so I could see Char’s school. As Char and I were laughing over some pictures our new friend Miki had taken in Paris, I was surprise attacked by McCauley. You’d think we were locas the way I screamed and how happy we were to see each other. After lots of hugs and laughs, the three of us headed a la playa for lunch where we had delicious hamburgesas y patatas fritas. We spent the afternoon exploring Barca before heading back to the hostel to get ready for our night out! Prior to dinner at Princesa 23 where we had great tapas, Charlotte, Amy, and I went to the lights show a la fuente de Montjuic. It was really neat – the fountain changed colors to match the music which is different at every show. Ours was musica clasica which was interesting but it was a cool experience! We finished our night at some of the Barca girls’ favorite bars, including Kennedy’s – Charlotte’s American bar!
With Charlotte at Montjuic
The next morning we headed to Milk, un restaurante de desayuno by the beach, and then headed to Parque Guell por el dia. Despite our dreary weather, the park was beautiful and of course packed. It was cool to be able to see not only Gaudi’s art up close, but also to have an incredible visto de la ciudad. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city, seeing some different sights, and then went to Tapas Tapas for dinner and Dow Jones bar after! Dow Jones bar was really neat because the prices of the drinks are based off the stock market so when you buy a certain drink, el precio aumenta! And then the stock market crashes and all the drinks are really cheap for a few minutes. Who says college kids aren’t invested in the stock market?! (Just kidding Dad…) It was sad to leave las chicas de Barcelona Sunday morning but I knew it’d be just a few more days till I was back with my Wofford amigas en Roma!
Parque Guell
With Charlotte and McCauley!
Our entertainment of the day - "The spirit of rock is love"
Since I dedicated TODO mi tiempo durante the next week to studying and furthering my education (jaja), the week flew by and before I knew it, it was Jueves and time to fly to Roma! I left straight from my historia de mujeres class for the airport only to find out my flight had been delayed almost two hours due to technical problems. Luckily a boy from my program, Erick, was headed to Roma as well so we were able to keep each other company before finally boarding and flying to Roma! We managed to figure out el tren and took it from the airport to the Trastevere station where I was greeted with big hugs from Martha, Ellis, and Elizabeth! I think it’s pretty obvious how excited we are to see each other when we all scream with joy and run to hug each other whenever we see one another. Needless to say, we have all realized durante nuestro tiempo en Europa that we are blessed to have such an amazing group of friends! Due to my delayed flight, I didn’t get in until 10:30 so we headed back to the apartment where Claire and Virginia where waiting. After mas abrazos, I ate some cena that the girls had saved me and we spent the night catching up and enjoying some vino romano together.
On Friday, Ellis, Martha, and Ruthie had a field trip for class so Elizabeth, Virginia, Claire, and I were on our own for the day (and Charlotte as well, but her flight didn’t get in until Friday afternoon). Yall should all be very impressed with Elizabeth and Virginia’s navigation skills because thanks to them, we were able to see some amazing sites and NOT get lost! Knowing we’d hit up the more famous sites with all the girls on Saturday, we spent our day at the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Campo de Fiori, the Trevi fountain, and of course, got our pizza for lunch! It was time for more hugs when we got Charlotte from la estacion del tren and then went to our hotel/the Roma girls’ apartment (conveniently located in the same building) to get ready for our big dinner at Da Gilda, one of los restaurantes favoritos de las chicas. Ruthie, Marion, and their friend Ellie came to the apartment before dinner and then we all headed to Da Gilda for a yummy pasta dinner!
St. Maria Trastevere
Piazza Navona with Claire, Virginia, and Elizabeth!
Pantheon
the Trevi fountain
Elizabeth and I at the Trevi
"Wedding Cake"
Before Da Gilda with Charlotte
Ellis, Eliz, and Mart
Ellie, Ru, and Marion
Because we had to get our pizza fix in, we started Saturday off with more pizza and then headed to the Coliseum where we had some extremely funny encounters with people from all over. It started with a fellow southerner hearing our accents and coming to talk to us – a sweet madre de Carlota en Carolina del Norte who was visiting her daughter from UNC that’s studying in Sevilla, Spain. Next we met some nice French ladies who Elizabeth struck up a conversation with, only to be interrupted by the group of Asians who were so fascinated by Martha’s rubia pelo y ojos azules that they asked to take pictures with us. (Well really her but to make it a little less weird, we all jumped in). We’re calling that incident “Grand Canyon: Round 2” which you’ll have to ask Mart about!
Roman ruins
At the Coliseum
Inside of the coliseum
Right before all of our funny encounters began!
"Grand Canyon: Round 2"
Still blown away by the fact that we were all just hanging out in Rome together, we started walking towards the Vatican where we got to see the beginning of a mass service. The singing was beautiful and made our experience there that much better. It was really neat for me to be back at the Vatican in a different setting than the first time when I was my family because not only was I blown away AGAIN by it, I was able to see aspects that I hadn’t noticed before. Unfortunately due to time, no pudimos ver the Sistine Chapel again and had to settle for some gelato instead.
We made our way back to Trastevere where we cooked dinner (well, really Virginia, Martha, and Ellis) and then finished our night at the Trevi fountain. Knowing it would be another set of hard goodbyes, we gave our hugs Saturday night since Elizabeth and Claire were leaving VERY early Sunday morning, and I was a few hours later.
Our dinner of salad, pesto pasta, chicken, and wine! Virginia made bruschetta for before but that didn't last until the pictures!
The Trevi at night
The Shipp girls minus A Spence! (We miss you!)
As for this past week, it’s been a bit stressful due to the start of midterms. Of course examenes parciales are always a little stressful, but considering they’re ALL in Spanish, it’s been a little more nervewracking. But luckily, one down, and four to go next week! Everyone took their grammar exam Thursday morning and then we have the rest of them next week. I have art on Monday, literature and film on Wednesday, and I finish up with history of women on Thursday before heading to Amsterdam for the weekend! Despues de mi examen y clase ayer, Marge, Kaitlin, and I decided to reward ourselves with lunch at el Mercado de San Miguel before a fun night out at Chupitos and Moondance! My Spanish bff, Pedro, brought some of his Spanish friends out with us which was a lot of fun! Needless to say, it is a lot easier to practice talking Spanish with people your own age and in a social setting rather than in a classroom. As for this weekend, It’s pretty gross weather here which is a blessing in disguise since it encourages us to study rather than be outside exploring Madrid! Unfortunamente, es tiempo for me to get back to studying before we head to our friends’ apartment to cook dinner tonight!
Our group dinner that Kaitlin and I cooked - bruschetta, pesto pasta, baked chicken with herbs and white wine, and roasted tomatoes. We have to say, it turned out pretty well!
