This week has already been stressful and it is only Tuesday! Two weeks ago today, I had my first test in my Spanish Culture and Civilization class. This test was based off of a PBS documentary we watched in class on Muslim influences in Spain. New testing methods, new professor, new country...what is there to lose? Like always I wanted to do my best, but, with it being the first test, I knew it probably wouldn't be the exact grade I wanted. It always takes a test or quiz to get adjusted to the new professor and in my eyes this was more of a quiz than a test, as it only counts for 10% of our grade.
Anyways, today was our midterm. In the first month of class we covered topics from 1.2 million BCE and the Homo Antecessors through 1975 and the death of dictator Francisco Franco. Our midterm was to basically memorize all of the dates (around 72, but who's counting?) and the names to go with them. Do you know how many Carlos', Felipes', and Fernandos' there are? There weren't as many Fernandos' as Carlos' and Felipes', but nevertheless, it was very easy to get them confused, especially when it jumped from Carlos I to Felipe II (who was the son of Carlos I and Felipe I was the father of Carlos I). Just writing about it gives me a headache! Needless to say, I studied, and I studied A LOT! Every time I looked over my notes I seemed to switch dates and names around and make everything a jumbled mess in my head. But, it's over and done now, and I actually think I did pretty well! I'm sure I messed a few dates up, but that was bound to happen. Hopefully getting the test out of the way will make the rest of my week easier and less stressful.
A small group of girls, Dale, Katerina, Kaycee, and myself, are taking a trip this weekend to Prague. I am SO excited. I plan on getting bread dumplings during one of our authentic Czech dinners, because what kind of trip would it be to go to the Czech Republic and not get dumplings?!? Not only are we going to Prague this weekend, but I booked my trip to Rome last night! Rome was one of my top places to visit during my time abroad. I am so glad I have the chance to go!
Stay tuned because I will definitely be posting pictures when we return on Sunday! Hope everyone has a fantastic week!
xoxo
Kelcey
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Friday, February 8, 2013
Weekend Adventures
Today Dale and I decided we would do a little exploring and shopping around Barcelona. We had originally planned to go on a day trip to Tarragona, a city built on the Mediterranean by the Romans, but we have both been suffering from headaches for the past few days and decided it would be in our better interest to sleep in and take the day fairly easy, little did we know that sleeping in wasn't in the cards for us!
Tomorrow marks the start of Carnival in Barcelona and the people have already begun celebrating! People are dressed in costumes and face paint and many other interesting ensembles. I haven't quite decided if I like it or not, but only time will tell! The Residencia is situated next to an elementary school and our rooms are right next to the play ground. We were awakened (not early, but early enough) by the sound of music (such as Gangnam Style...yes, it is a fad here too. I can't get rid of American music) and cheering from the kids next door. Don't get me wrong, hearing the laughter of the children is one of my favorite parts of the day, but seeing as I was fighting a headache, I was slightly annoyed today. Anyways, we decided we would head out about 1 and see what we could get into. We headed out to Glories which is un centro commercial or mall. We weren't really looking for much in particular. I knew I wanted a new pair of shoes (a girl can never have too many and I only packed 4 pairs) and a jacket that a girl in our program had. The first store we went in had the cutest clothes, but was a touch pricey. However, I had yet to purchase anything besides essentials in Barcelona so I felt I could splurge a bit. I bought a cute dark blue/possibly black jacket with brown leather trim and am so excited to wear it! After making our purchase, we decided it was time to eat lunch and ended up at a noodle restaurant where you could choose your type of noodle and sauce. It was pretty good! Next, we headed to an area called Diagonal so we could look for shoes. We came out of the wrong exit and ended up at the higher end shops that we couldn't afford, but could ogle at through the windows. After walking around for awhile we decided we would head to a different stop to try and find something to eat for dinner. Little did we know, the real adventure was about to begin!
Neither of us had been to this stop before so we chose an exit and decided we would wander around looking for cafe or restaurant. We found a place to eat that had Black Bean Paella, or that's what we thought it was. Dale and I always have a fun, yet awkward time, when we go to dinner together. We walked into the restaurant and sat at a table and began looking at the menu. The menu at the tables in the front, however, wasn't the official dinner menu. So when it came time to order and we asked for paella, the guy went further into the restaurant to grab the dinner menu. We ordered the black bean paella, patatas bravas (potatoes with hot sauce), and bread. The patatas bravas and bread were delicious! However, the black bean paella wasn't truly black bean paella; it ended up being paella with shrimp and some other unidentifiable sea creatures (I think octopus?) and some kind of black sauce on it. Dale is vegetarian so as soon as she scooped it out and noticed the shrimp she couldn't eat it. That left me to eat a huge pan of paella myself! Dale was asked repeatedly by the waiter if she liked the paella or not, and she replied with the usual "I'm full from the appetizers!" but I'm pretty sure he didn't believe her. I managed to eat her portion she had spooned out and my portion, but I was stuffed by the end of it! I have plenty of leftovers that I can hopefully share with some of the other students in the program. Dinner definitely got awkward when the man from the table behind us watched me scoop Dale's portion onto my plate because she wasn't going to eat it. The conversation that ensued between the waiter and the old man was pretty interesting. The main thing I caught was about la morena (which means brown hair), so after that we quickly paid and left. After dinner I had my first Spanish cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and it was delicious. Definitely don't want to make a habit of drinking them since I don't drink much caffeine normally. They will be a treat!
I hope everyone has had a great week and will have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
Kelcey
Tomorrow marks the start of Carnival in Barcelona and the people have already begun celebrating! People are dressed in costumes and face paint and many other interesting ensembles. I haven't quite decided if I like it or not, but only time will tell! The Residencia is situated next to an elementary school and our rooms are right next to the play ground. We were awakened (not early, but early enough) by the sound of music (such as Gangnam Style...yes, it is a fad here too. I can't get rid of American music) and cheering from the kids next door. Don't get me wrong, hearing the laughter of the children is one of my favorite parts of the day, but seeing as I was fighting a headache, I was slightly annoyed today. Anyways, we decided we would head out about 1 and see what we could get into. We headed out to Glories which is un centro commercial or mall. We weren't really looking for much in particular. I knew I wanted a new pair of shoes (a girl can never have too many and I only packed 4 pairs) and a jacket that a girl in our program had. The first store we went in had the cutest clothes, but was a touch pricey. However, I had yet to purchase anything besides essentials in Barcelona so I felt I could splurge a bit. I bought a cute dark blue/possibly black jacket with brown leather trim and am so excited to wear it! After making our purchase, we decided it was time to eat lunch and ended up at a noodle restaurant where you could choose your type of noodle and sauce. It was pretty good! Next, we headed to an area called Diagonal so we could look for shoes. We came out of the wrong exit and ended up at the higher end shops that we couldn't afford, but could ogle at through the windows. After walking around for awhile we decided we would head to a different stop to try and find something to eat for dinner. Little did we know, the real adventure was about to begin!
Neither of us had been to this stop before so we chose an exit and decided we would wander around looking for cafe or restaurant. We found a place to eat that had Black Bean Paella, or that's what we thought it was. Dale and I always have a fun, yet awkward time, when we go to dinner together. We walked into the restaurant and sat at a table and began looking at the menu. The menu at the tables in the front, however, wasn't the official dinner menu. So when it came time to order and we asked for paella, the guy went further into the restaurant to grab the dinner menu. We ordered the black bean paella, patatas bravas (potatoes with hot sauce), and bread. The patatas bravas and bread were delicious! However, the black bean paella wasn't truly black bean paella; it ended up being paella with shrimp and some other unidentifiable sea creatures (I think octopus?) and some kind of black sauce on it. Dale is vegetarian so as soon as she scooped it out and noticed the shrimp she couldn't eat it. That left me to eat a huge pan of paella myself! Dale was asked repeatedly by the waiter if she liked the paella or not, and she replied with the usual "I'm full from the appetizers!" but I'm pretty sure he didn't believe her. I managed to eat her portion she had spooned out and my portion, but I was stuffed by the end of it! I have plenty of leftovers that I can hopefully share with some of the other students in the program. Dinner definitely got awkward when the man from the table behind us watched me scoop Dale's portion onto my plate because she wasn't going to eat it. The conversation that ensued between the waiter and the old man was pretty interesting. The main thing I caught was about la morena (which means brown hair), so after that we quickly paid and left. After dinner I had my first Spanish cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and it was delicious. Definitely don't want to make a habit of drinking them since I don't drink much caffeine normally. They will be a treat!
I hope everyone has had a great week and will have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
Kelcey
Saturday, February 2, 2013
El Museo de Dali
Today we visited the Salvador Dali museum in Figueras, which is the town where Dali grew up. Before he died he wanted to create something that would help the cities economy, and thus created his bizarre museum and theater. Dali was a rather odd man. He suffered from paranoia and it showed in some of his works. However, I don't think I took pictures of any of the pieces exhibiting it.
We didn't really get a chance to explore the town of Figueras as our time there was limited, but from the few hours that we spent, I can tell you one thing, it is VERY windy! Partly because Figueras is only 20 km or so from the Pyrenees Mountains, to which we have a trip in March. The drive to Figueras was beautiful! Tons of old stone homes and gardens.
Here are a few of his pieces:
It sure has been a long week since the last time I blogged! We returned home from Paris and I had my first test on Tuesday. At some point between the cold of Paris and the stress of a test I came down with a cold or virus of some sort. I am still working on getting over it, but it sure has put a damper on the weekend!
I hope everyone's week was wonderful and your weekend is equally as great!
xoxo
Kelcey
We didn't really get a chance to explore the town of Figueras as our time there was limited, but from the few hours that we spent, I can tell you one thing, it is VERY windy! Partly because Figueras is only 20 km or so from the Pyrenees Mountains, to which we have a trip in March. The drive to Figueras was beautiful! Tons of old stone homes and gardens.
Here are a few of his pieces:
The theater:
The Cadillac is made so when a coin is inserted, it rains on the inside.
The dome made to resemble a fly's eye.
Dali is buried in the museum.
A painting of his wife, Gala, which when looked at from 18 m away is also Abraham Lincoln. He chose Abraham Lincoln because Lincoln abolished slavery.
It sure has been a long week since the last time I blogged! We returned home from Paris and I had my first test on Tuesday. At some point between the cold of Paris and the stress of a test I came down with a cold or virus of some sort. I am still working on getting over it, but it sure has put a damper on the weekend!
I hope everyone's week was wonderful and your weekend is equally as great!
xoxo
Kelcey
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Passport to Paris
My weekend in Paris was absolutely amazing! Not only is the city beautiful, but filled with such rich history!
After waking up at 4:40 Friday morning, the 14 of us took the metro to the bus station to get a bus to the airport. We made it to the airport and after figuring out where to get our passports checked, made it through security in about 10 minutes. We then had an hour to waste, so we sat in a cafe and waited for our gate to appear on the screen. We used RyanAir, which is a low fare airline, but if you want anything additional you had to pay. This meant we weren't all guaranteed seats, luckily the flight wasn't overbooked and we all got seats. I guess one of the neat things about RyanAir is due to the additional cost associated with reserving seats, you can choose not to. This allows you to sit where you want and with whomever you want to.
We arrived in Paris around 1 PM and had no security checkpoint as we exited the airport. We then had to journey from the airport to the hostel, this meant taking a bus to the bus station and then the metro (with 2 transfers) to another stop and then walking the rest of the way. With all of that combined, it took about 2 hours to make it to the hostel. By this point we were all starving. After checking in and dropping our stuff off we decided to grab something to eat from a small cafe and then head back into the city to do some sightseeing and other things. The group split up and one group headed out to go sightseeing and the other did some shopping before going to see a few things.
My group decided to go to the Eiffel Tower first. We got there shortly before 6 PM and took some pictures before they turned the lights on and then more once they were turned on.
The four of us then decided to wander around the city for a while. We walked down by the river and through the streets of Paris. We passed lovely cafes and pastry shops, even a Tour Eiffel de Macarons (they looked delicious by the way; due to time constraints I wasn't able to get any this weekend). We then stopped at a lovely restaurant with delicious food and creme brulee!
Saturday we spent the majority of the day doing a walking tour around the city. We saw (but not up close and personal like we thought) the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triumph, and several other things. We ended at a little cafe where I had my first (and only) pastry of the weekend, (yes, I only had one. Hard to believe right?) a chocolate crepe! It was delicious, but it would have been so much better with strawberries or bananas, yum!
After finishing lunch at the cafe, we decided to backtrack and hit the Louvre again before meeting the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower at 5. We did a drive by of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, stopped by The Kiss, and saw several other statues and paintings along the way. I would definitely love to go back and spend more time in the museum!
We then went back to the Eiffel Tower so we could wait in line to go to the top. There were a few complications and I wasn't able to make it, (I definitely will one day!) so the next set of photos are courtesy of my stand-in photographer Alex.
Alex, Felicia, Kaycee, and I then rushed to make it to the Notre Dame. The other group had seen it the night before, but we had chosen to go to the Eiffel Tower instead. The Notre Dame is beautiful! We weren't able to walk around the whole thing, but we did get to hear some amazing organ music!
After hitting up the Notre Dame, the four of us then made our way to the Arc de Triumph. We learned during our walking tour on Saturday that there are 9 lanes of traffic surrounding the Arc and that there are technically no lanes. Can you even imagine? The tour guide said based on statistics that if you stand at the Arc for 17 minutes you will most likely see an accident occur. We weren't there for 17 minutes and we didn't see an accident, but it sure was close a couple of times!
It sure was a whirlwind of a weekend in Paris, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I had so much fun and got to see a ton; pretty much everything I wanted to see in only 1 and 1/2 days!
I hope you all enjoy the pictures! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
Kelcey
After waking up at 4:40 Friday morning, the 14 of us took the metro to the bus station to get a bus to the airport. We made it to the airport and after figuring out where to get our passports checked, made it through security in about 10 minutes. We then had an hour to waste, so we sat in a cafe and waited for our gate to appear on the screen. We used RyanAir, which is a low fare airline, but if you want anything additional you had to pay. This meant we weren't all guaranteed seats, luckily the flight wasn't overbooked and we all got seats. I guess one of the neat things about RyanAir is due to the additional cost associated with reserving seats, you can choose not to. This allows you to sit where you want and with whomever you want to.
We arrived in Paris around 1 PM and had no security checkpoint as we exited the airport. We then had to journey from the airport to the hostel, this meant taking a bus to the bus station and then the metro (with 2 transfers) to another stop and then walking the rest of the way. With all of that combined, it took about 2 hours to make it to the hostel. By this point we were all starving. After checking in and dropping our stuff off we decided to grab something to eat from a small cafe and then head back into the city to do some sightseeing and other things. The group split up and one group headed out to go sightseeing and the other did some shopping before going to see a few things.
My group decided to go to the Eiffel Tower first. We got there shortly before 6 PM and took some pictures before they turned the lights on and then more once they were turned on.
Saturday we spent the majority of the day doing a walking tour around the city. We saw (but not up close and personal like we thought) the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triumph, and several other things. We ended at a little cafe where I had my first (and only) pastry of the weekend, (yes, I only had one. Hard to believe right?) a chocolate crepe! It was delicious, but it would have been so much better with strawberries or bananas, yum!
After finishing lunch at the cafe, we decided to backtrack and hit the Louvre again before meeting the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower at 5. We did a drive by of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, stopped by The Kiss, and saw several other statues and paintings along the way. I would definitely love to go back and spend more time in the museum!
We then went back to the Eiffel Tower so we could wait in line to go to the top. There were a few complications and I wasn't able to make it, (I definitely will one day!) so the next set of photos are courtesy of my stand-in photographer Alex.
Everyone say hi to Alex! Didn't she do a wonderful job? Thanks Alex, it feels as if I was there :)
Alex, Felicia, Kaycee, and I then rushed to make it to the Notre Dame. The other group had seen it the night before, but we had chosen to go to the Eiffel Tower instead. The Notre Dame is beautiful! We weren't able to walk around the whole thing, but we did get to hear some amazing organ music!
After hitting up the Notre Dame, the four of us then made our way to the Arc de Triumph. We learned during our walking tour on Saturday that there are 9 lanes of traffic surrounding the Arc and that there are technically no lanes. Can you even imagine? The tour guide said based on statistics that if you stand at the Arc for 17 minutes you will most likely see an accident occur. We weren't there for 17 minutes and we didn't see an accident, but it sure was close a couple of times!
It sure was a whirlwind of a weekend in Paris, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I had so much fun and got to see a ton; pretty much everything I wanted to see in only 1 and 1/2 days!
I hope you all enjoy the pictures! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
xoxo
Kelcey
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