Barcelona

I apologize for the delay in blog updates. I have been incredibly busy the past few weeks, so busy I haven't even had time to keep up with the past few weeks of Grey's Anatomy! :P Anyway, 2 weekends ago we went to Barcelona for our 3-day President's weekend. When we got back Monday night I went right to bed, then woke up with an awful cold and no voice so I ended up staying home sick from school. Then, 3 days later we hopped back on a train and went to Berlin (blog post soon to follow)!

For those of you wondering, Barcelona is technically a part of Spain. However, if you ask someone who lives there it is NOT in Spain.... it is actually in an area called Catalonia.The people who live here wanted to be separated from Spain and actually don't even speak Spanish. They speak Catalonian, which is actually closer to French than Spanish. Don't worry, we didn't know ANY of this until our tour guide informed us.

We decided to go to Barcelona because we were just sick and tired of the cold and all of our cold weekend trips. The weather was PERFECT in Barcelona. It was in the high 50's the whole time! Which may not sound that warm, but after walking around all day in 20-30 degrees PLUS snow the past several trips, this weather was heavenly. You'll see in many pictures we don't even wear coats! :P

Here are some pictures from the trip:

La Rambla, which we found out should really be Las Ramblas, was our first stop on the walking tour we took our first day. It's one of the top places that travel sites say you must visit, for what reason no body knows. It's an area of the city that is simply famous for being famous.

There was some type of festival going on while we were there. We were never able to figure out what it was for, but we did notice that their costume choices were a little interesting....

This is the Barcelona Cathedral, located in the gothic area of Barcelona. Our walking tour took us all around the gothic area, a place I would have probably not thought to explore otherwise! But we were glad that we did.

This is one of Picasso's homes. It is located in what USED to be the red light district. The area was cleaned up when the Olympics were held in Barcelona :)

The moment the sun came out we went picture crazy! It got extra warm and sunny and immediately put us in good moods! Also, we suddenly noticed that there were palm trees everywhere!

At the end of the walking tour, our guide took us to a small bar where we were able to get beers for only 1 euro! Not too bad of a deal!

This is the famous Sagrada Familia. The unique thing about it is that it is still under construction. The artist who designed it, Gaudi, was killed by a train before it was completed so to this day it is still being worked on.

We were amazed at how different the front and the back of Sagrada Familia looked! In fact, when I saw the front I thought we were in the wrong place! It is just so unique, we have never seen anything like it. And of course, we thought it would be a good place to take our traditional Coug flag shot :)

Another tradition: Starbucks! And don't worry, I got my Barcelona mug too :)

Gaudi did a great amount of the architectural design in Barcelona. This is one of the houses he designed. There is no where else in the world I think you could find a style like his.

This was another one of Gaudi's creations.

Our second night we went and watched a Flamenco show! I think I got a little bit inspired and wanted to try out the moves that the dancers were doing :P

After the Flamenco show, we went and had unlimited Tapas and Sangria! This was included in the cost of our ticket. Don't worry, we made sure to get our money's worth!

While searching for a place to go dancing, we stumped upon the Mediterranean ocean! We decided to cross one more thing off of our bucket list and take a walk in the water. Even at 2 am the water wasn't too bad!

On our second full day we took a gondola ride to one of the highest points in Barcelona.

The view from the top was gorgeous! It's too bad that pictures do not do nearly enough justice of what it really looked like.

I think the sun got to us and we of course had to pose and take ridiculous pictures :P

Amazing view of Sagrada Familia. Once again, it is too bad that these pictures hardly do any justice for the view.

Couldn't have asked for better girls to be traveling with!

This was part of the park that Gaudi designed. His artwork is so unique. None of it is even a little bit similar.

This is part of a fountain that unfortunately was not running while we were there. This lizard is in almost every postcard of Barcelona.

We made a second trip to the beach during the day. It was SO beautiful! Unfortunately it was way too cold still to swim, but we got our feet wet and just enjoyed the site of it.

Carnival in Venice

Carnival, for those who do not know, is supposed to be like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. People dress up in extravagant costumes, huge parades go on, there is entertainment everywhere and the streets are crowded! We had the amazing opportunity to hop on a bus (for 10+ hours) to go for only half a day, and we were SO excited! Little did we know that it was going to POUR the entire time we were there. Leave it to the girls from WA to bring the rain! And of course, the entire week before and entire week after the forecast showed CLEAR and SUNNY skies. Go figure. However, we made the best of it and I am so happy I got to see Venice! It's definitely on my list of places to visit again. Maybe for a few days, that way even if we get a day of rain I have a couple more chances to really get to enjoy it for all it's worth :)

After we got to Italy, we had to take a water taxi to get onto the island. We could sort of see out of the fogged up windows, enough to tell that it was GORGEOUS in Venice before we had officially arrived.

Even though it was raining, we wore our masks all day. We wanted to get as much of the full experience of Carnival as we possibly could!

I bought a cheap umbrella for 5 euro the second we stepped off the bus, thanks to the kind vendor who tried selling to me before I had a chance to even fully get off the bus! I was desperate though since I had no umbrella and decided it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, the umbrella only last about half the day. The wind made it flip inside out and snap. So much for that.

This is St. Marco's Square. This is the main area for where Carnival festivities go on. Usually it would be PACKED with hardly any room to move. That wasn't so much the case today.

Did I mention it was REALLY rainy! This is me trying to enjoy myself, despite the fact that I was already SOAKED! 

Since it was so rainy, we decided to spend a lot of the time indoors. And I am a little embarrassed to admit, but yes we did go to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was warm, dry, and had good drinks and fun people. We met some locals and some other Americans here. Also note my new mask I purchased for 10 euro, I am in LOVE!

We were lucky to see some people in costumes! These were some of the more dressed up people. The majority of people had masks similar to ours, but the ones who are really dedicated go all out! Maybe next time :P

Even in the rain, Venice is BEAUTIFUL! I could tell right away this is a city I could fall in love with.

There were such pretty buildings with bright colors everywhere. I loved seeing all the channels, I've never been to a place like this before.

We chose not to do a gondola ride, I think you can figure out why, but when/if I come back for another visit, it will be the first thing on my list of things to do!

All in all, we definitely enjoyed ourselves. It was so much fun exploring the city, getting lost, getting drenched, and enjoying a little bit of the culture. 

Ciao!

"Home Sweet Home"

Due to popular demand (mainly from my father) Here are a few pictures of our apartment on base. Everything (furniture, bedding, dishes, etc.) was here when we got here!

This is the living room, you see it first thing when you walk through the door. It is VERY spacious and is where we spend the majority of our time when we are home.

Our kitchen is very nice. Unfortunately the dishwasher does not work so we have to wash everything by hand, which is fine. We are all good at cleaning up after ourselves here :)

The dining room, which also doubles as our hair station. I was told not to bring a hair dryer or straightener because even with an adapter the voltage would not work, so I planned on just buying one on base. One of the girls I live with brought hers anyway, and we were able to borrow a transformer from the supply guy at our school so we all share the hair tools! The transformer is huge and heavy so we keep it out here with the mirror to make it easier to use :)

The bathroom. (That's about all there is to say haha)

And my room! The twin sized bed is about as hard as a piece of plywood, but trust me, after a long day in the classroom or a weekend sleeping on a bus, it feels like sleeping on a cloud! No complaints here!

The other girls' rooms like pretty similar to mine, just different layout.

Not too shabby for only $5 a day right???!!!! ;)