Las Fallas

This past weekend I went to a festival in Valencia called Las Fallas.  I am not really sure of the meanings behind Las Fallas but all I know is that people build amazing floats and then at the end of the weekend they burn them to the ground.  Sounds fun.  I also learned about it in Spanish class at UNH so I figured I had to check it out.

My friend was organizing a group of people to go with a bar called Stoke Travel Bar .  The site said that we would be sleeping in tents on the beach and you could pay 5 euros a day for unlimited beer and sangria.  It sounded like a good plan so I jumped on the opportunity to go.

I had to miss Spanish class on Friday and we left at noon on Friday.  We got to the campsite around 5 and people immediately started boozing it up.  The Stoke Travel Bar is led by a bunch of booze bag Australians but they were fun.  At first I was slightly surprised by the "camping" that they had.  the first disappointment was that it was not on the beach but the beach was only a 2 minute walk away.  The place was...well this picture explains a lot

You can't really see the pool but my friend called it a "lake pool."  I am all for pond water but that is when it is an actual pond and not just a dirty pool.  There were also a bunch of piles of rubble lying around which, in combination with bottomless alcohol, is pretty much a death trap.   These things didn't have any affect though and it was pretty cheap.  The one thing that disappointed me the most was that Valencia was about a 40 minute bus ride away from Pazul, the town we were in.  The beach made up for everything though.

The first night we left for Valencia at 9 at night and came back at 2 in the morning.  I thought it would be a parade and you would stand in one spot and watch some floats go by, but I was wrong.  The floats were giant, some 5 stories high, and most of them were entire scenes with 5 or 10 or even more characters and individual floats.  So these were just at the intersections of streets and you just walked around and looked at them.  There were 400 of them in the city.  Here are some pictures

As you can see these are amazing...and they burn them all except for the winning one each year.  So the first night we went and just walked around, had some paella that people were cooking in fires on the street, and watched some amazing fireworks.  I don't think fireworks will ever be the same again because these ones were so crazy.  There were also little kids running around with fire crackers that sounded like small sticks of dynamite, throwing them everywhere and probably blowing their hands off.  This festival could never happen in the USA.

On Saturday they gave us breakfast.  They gave us a piece of toast with a whole cut out of the middle and a fried egg in it.  I had never had one of those but they were pretty good.  That was only my second fried egg in Spain so I was extremely excited.  The only thing to do during the day was to either binge drink with the Australians or go to the beach.  I grabbed a few beers and went to the beach.  It was great we all just hung out, did a little swimming (although the water was freezing), and sleep.  I spent 6 straight hours on the beach from 11-5 and got a great tan.  I was a little burn at first but now it is tan.  I then took a nice shower, and had a few drinks before getting on the bus again at 9 to go into Valencia.  This was the exciting day because they burn the floats.

When a float gets lit on fire, they start with some fireworks to alert people where the float is.  Then they wire up a fuse with fire crackers and about 10 minutes after the fireworks they light the fuse and the rest is pretty much what you would expect but a lot bigger.  I tried to upload a video but it isn't working. It is on my facebook so you can check it out there if you want.

When it started to burn people started moving backwards.  We were standing pretty far away and the heat was very strong, so I can't imagine being much closer.  We eventually made it to a large plaza and saw some more amazing fireworks and another float get lit on fire.  These were some of the best fireworks I had ever seen and you could feel the explosions through your body.  Our bus left for the campsite at 3 and I just went to bed when I got back.

On Sunday we left to go back to Barcelona at 2 in the afternoon.  When we woke up we just did the same thing...breakfast and go to the beach.  That is about it for Sunday, just a few relaxing hours on the beach.  I had a nice nap on the way home too.

Overall I had a great time over the weekend.  It was fun, I got to hang out on the beach, meet some new people, and saw Las Fallas.  The only bad thing was that I didn't get to see as much of Las Fallas as I wanted to.  Out of the 400 floats I probably saw 20.  There is also a museum that has all of the winning floats that I wanted to check out too but I didn't get a chance to see it.  Lastly, I only saw one float burn from start to finish.  I saw everything you should see but not enough of it.

O well...it is not a big deal.  My parents are here now.  I have saved most of the touristy stuff for when they come so that I don't end up doing everything a bunch of times so I can't wait.

When in Rome

first of all, basically everywhere I go I use this expression...when in Barca, When in Paris etc.  But now I can actually use it correctly.  AWESOME. 

Rome was amazing.  4 days of nonstop sightseeing, some of the best pizza and pasta I have ever had if not THE BEST, and 410 pictures of pretty much everything I saw. 

I was looking at the pictures and I don't even know where to begin and what to include and not include but here is most of what I did, or at least the highlights

I just went with Jourdan but I knew of another girl from my IES who was going to be there, Ruthie, who we met up with, and another friend from Barcelona who we didn't end up seeing.  Jourdan also had a friend studying in Florence who came to Rome for the weekend and met up with us. 

To start the trip we had to take the nitbus to the airport at 3:30 in the morning.  We had a very easy trip and got there around 9.  Just for our arrival, the public transportation of Rome decided to go on strike on Friday so we were kind of stuck.  With all of our stuff (not that much) and a map, we decided what to do for the day before taking a cab to our hotel.  We basically just divided the map into 4 sections and tried to do everything.  We went to an old aquarium, Basillica di Santa Maria Maggiori, Chiese Parr. S. Maria Degli Angeli, the Spanish Steps, and some more stuff day 1 but this was the cooler stuff.  Here is a picture from the piazza Espedra

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After a good amount of walking around it was about 3:30 and we were exhausted.  We got a cab to the hotel and relaxed for a while before going to dinner nearby at 7:00.  We both got pizza and some Bruchetta that was delicious. 

We got free Wifi at the hotel so we sat down and figured out what to do the next day.  We decided on the Roman Forum and the area around it.

We also bought the Roma Pass.  For 25 euros you get free transportation for 3 days, 2 free museums, and your 3rd museum half off.  So it is a great deal.  We woke up pretty early on Saturday and went to the Treme di Caracalla.  These are ruins of Roman Baths.  It was pretty old and falling apart but I can't even imagine what this place looked like when it was in use.  Murals everywhere, high ceilings, sculptures, pillars...truly amazing.  Next we went to the Roman Forum which included the Colosseum.  We were there for a while and it is a very large area.  I have a ton of pictures and could explain everything in detail but instead here is a picture that came out very well

Inside the Colosseum was very cool.  I had always wanted to go there and we just walked around slightly following a few tour groups in English.  The coolest fact that we learned was that approximately 3 million people were killed in Gladiator fights and it was active for 300 years.  The 3 million number is just unimaginable and ridiculous.  But the 300 years...imagine if a stadium now was in use for 300 years?  I would have loved to go to the Colosseum in its prime to hear the roar of 70,000 people and see people fight to the death.  What a different world.

After that we wanted to get some lunch so we went to a place that looked really good, but it turned out to be a chain restaurant.  It was still really good and cheap but I would have rather not gone to a chain restaurant.  I got pizza, I didn't realize that I had gotten pizza at every meal, and Jourdan tried Gnocchi for the first time.  It wasn't the best but still good.  Our plan for the rest of the day was to go to 2 sites on the way to the Isola Tiberina.  The sites were the Vittorio Emanuele Monument

and Campidoglio, which is a very famous plaza.  I really like the Emanuele monument.  On the right side all of the statues are about war or fighting, etc.  and all of the statues on the left are about peace and love.  I thought it was a cool contrast.  Most Italians hate it though because it is huge and replaced a neighborhood.

While we were on the Isola Tiberina, Jourdan got a call from his friend who studies in Florence.  He took us to the Trevi Fountain and then we hung out at Campo de Fiori for a drink.  We got a liter of wine and some Buffalo Mozzarella with prosciutto.  Once again the food was amazing.  We hung out there for a while just talking about stuff.  He and Jourdan got the chance to catch up and I found out that his neighbor is one of my friends at school, Sean Upton...very random. 

We were planning on going to this restaurant called Perilli near the Roman Forum but when we got there it happened to be full for the night.  I somehow had a conversation with the host in Italian and he recommended a place down the street.  I got Salmon with a cream sauce that turned out to be very good.  After that we just went back to the hotel and planned out the next day once again.  I also got a call from our friend on our program in Barcelona, Ruthie.  She wanted to know what we were up to and we planned on meeting the next day

On Sunday the first place we went to was the San Giovanni in Laterano.  This was the first public Catholic church in Rome and it was just as grand as you would imagine.  There was a service going on so we weren't there for too long.  I noticed some people talking into some pillars and realized that the sound was bouncing off of one to the other.  We tried it and you could whisper and clearly hear the other person about 30 feet away.

Our next destination was to go to the Piazza del Popolo.  We went to an overlook and listened to a tour guide.  We found out that this is where people entered Rome when coming from the North.  Martin Luther came through this plaza when he came to Rome. 

After seeing that we made our way down to Piazza Navona to get some lunch.  I had pesto.  This might have been the best pesto that I had ever had.  I can't explain it but it was that good.  My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. 

We then met up with Ruthie and her friend studying in Rome Katie.  They both go to IC.  We got Galato and went to the Pantheon with them and planned on meeting up for dinner because they were going home and going to the Colosseum.  We also went to some shop where they gave out free samples of wine, sauces, and cheese.  I got some gifts there but it is a secret. 

Jourdan and I went to the Castle Sant Angelo while we were waiting.  There was not much there other than a good view of the city.  We planned on meeting at Trastevere for dinner which is where Katie lives and is the oldest section of Rome.  On our way there Jourdan and I passed a tiny hole in the wall pizzaria and felt that we had to go inside.  It turned out to be some of the best pizza I have ever had.  I know I have said this a lot but I really think that this food is some of the best food I had ever eaten.  We also took a picture with the chef

We met up with the girls for dinner and Katie took us to her favorite place.  I forget the name but we got a liter of wine for the table, a fried artichoke (roman specialty), and some Gnocci.  Once again the food blew me away. 

To top it off, after dinner we went out for a chocolate shot. 

It was a chocolate cup with Whisky, Bailys, whipped cream, and chocolate flakes on top.  It was also called the one night stand in Italian.  Some of the other shots were called the 69, the G spot, and the orgasm.  It was also a book store which was a very interesting mix.  We just went back to the hotel and caught the last metro at 11:15. 


In the morning we woke up a little later and had reservations for the Vatican Museum at 11:30.  The Vatican was pretty mind blowing.  Then we made it to the Sistine Chapel.  They didn't allow photos but I managed to get this one

This room was just so amazing.  My favorite part was the creation of the world in 7 days.  There was a picture of each day and the most famous one pictured here is when God made man.

We wanted to go to St. Peters Cathedral but there was a huge line and we also wanted to go to the Da Vinci Museum before we left.  The Da Vinci Museum was small and really cool because you could play with everything.  It was very hands on and we saw everything in about 30 minutes. 

We also wanted to make our way back to the Trevi Fountain for some more pictures so we went there and then went to get a last bite to eat before taking the bus back to the airport

After such a great weekend in Rome, our trip back was awful.  We had to take a 45 minute bus to the airport but the bus company had the crappiest system and we had to wait for a while and then rush to get onto the bus.  We left Rome at 6:10.  Then we got to the airport and had to wait in a long line to check in, and then the long security line.  For some reason you couldn't actually go to the seating until your gate was called so there are just hundreds of people sitting on the ground and waiting.  Finally at 9:30 we went through the gate and took off around 10:10.  We wanted to take the train home from the airport but the last one was at 11:30 and we landed at 11:50 so we had to take the nitbus home which took an hour and a half.  I finally went to sleep at 2 in the morning and had to wake up at 8 for class.

I didn't let a bad ending ruin my trip though.  Rome was incredible and there is just way too much to do.  I feel like you could spend a week there and not get bored.  I will miss the amazing Italian food but luckily my food is great here.  We also have a German student who just moved into our home stay, but she is only here for 1 week. 

So long Rome, so long saying, and maybe we will meet again some day. Chao!!
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Tour Guide

Between Monday and Wednesday I got my first visitor here in Barcelona, my friend Greg Meehan.  He is a friend from UNH and he was on Spring Break from his London program at Regents College.  So Sunday night I went to sleep at 9 in the morning and then I got a call from Greg on Monday around 12:15.  I couldn't let him venture off by himself so I got myself up and took him for a walk around the city.  We went to Las Ramblas because I wanted to take him to La Boqueria but it was closed.  We didn't have class on Monday because of a bank holiday so a bunch of stuff was closed.  I am not too familiar with the food scene for a good tapas place (because my food at my home stay is amazing) so we just walked around and eventually found some food in El Raval.  After that I took him through the Gothic area to look at the sites and act as a tour guide, explaining the history and importance of various buildings and sections.  He was impressed with my knowledge of the city.  Then I took him to Barceloneta and walked along the beach to some of the night clubs.  It was strange seeing them in the day because I have only been there at night and they were surprisingly full of people eating lunch.  It was also a beautiful day.  We then split up and planned to go to my favorite bar L'Ovella Negra for a drink later that night.  We split a large jug of Sangria, talked about everything, and called our friend because it was his birthday.

The next day 3 girls from his program also came to Barcelona, one of whom I knew from UNH.  I slept in because I was losing my mind and then had an exam in Oceanography.  It was 20 questions and multiple choice and one of the easiest exams of my life.  I finished in about 20 minutes and then took all four of them to an organic marketplace for lunch.  I think I talked about it in another blog but you go to a station and order food and can customize it the way you want.  They all loved it so in my mind it was a success.  That night we tried to go to the Futbol game.  It was Barcelona vs. Arsenol (the team from London) and in London the games are over 100 pounds so when I told him it would be about 70 euros minimum he wanted to go.  We tried to scalp tickets but were very unsuccessful so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe to watch the second half.  Barcelona won 3-1.

The last day Greg was here I wanted to take them all to my favorite lunch spot Bo De B.  They also loved this place and here is a picture of everyone grubbing out on sandwiches.  I also invited two other girls from IES who had attempted to find it and failed.

I had to rush back to class but that night two more of their friends, both from UNH, were also coming to Barcelona.  Greg was also meeting up with his friend from home who he hadn't seen in 4 years and he just happened to be going to L'Ovella Negra so I go to show them all this great bar.  We were 7 people and this is what we ordered

When we ordered 3 3.5 liter jugs of Sangria the waiter was slightly confused but he brought them for us. After that I took them to a club called Broad Bar where we stayed until it closed and then went to end the night at the beach.  It was a long night and ended at 6:30.  I ended up missing my class the next day but we can have three absences.

Overall Being a tour guide is a lot of fun and I can't wait for my parents to come here.  I will take them to some amazing restaurants, see the touristy stuff, and test my knowledge of the city.

3 Long nights, Afrojack, Clubs, and Carnival

It was a very long weekend.

On Thursday night a very famous DJ came to Barcelona named Afrojack.  I had never really seen a famous DJ and I didn't expect too much but it turned out to be pretty fun and he was really talented and knew what he was doing.  You wouldn't expect everyone to try and get close to the stage like in a normal concert but everyone was pushing to get up front.  I was very happy to stay back a little and have my room.  We stayed for a while and left around 5:30 in the morning and caught the metro when it opened up for the morning. 

The next night I was planning on only going out for a few drinks and then going home.  I met up with some friends in Gracia, which is where a lot of younger Spanish people go out for the night.  I ended up getting 2 gin and tonics and then a beer and wanted to join them for going to the club.  We went to a place called Shoko where we could get in for free.  I ended up staying, again, until about 5 in the morning.  It was a lot of fun.  I actually had more fun on Friday night just because it wasn't s crowded.

Saturday during the day I slept in and relaxed.  I planned on going to Jourdan's soccer game with some friends at 5.  We only stayed for the first half and the score was 1-1.  Their goal was actually pretty sweet and it was on a free kick.  The kid curved it right into the corner.  We were taping the game too and you can hear me in the background say something like Wow did that just happen.  It was probably one of the nicest soccer goals I had ever seen, not professionally of course.  I didn't do anything that night though because we planned on going to Tibidabo in the morning, which is a large church on top of a hill with a 360 view

This is a view of Barcelona, on the right is Montjuic and left is Barceloneta on the ocean

This is the curch

And this is Montserrat on the opposite side of the mountain. 

The view was pretty amazing and once again it would have been amazing to have a good camera because the pictures would be much clearer.

After eating some lunch looking out over the city we took the tram down to the city.  Right near the bottom of the tram was the Museum of Science.  The special exhibit was Dinosaurs of the Gobi Desert.  We went in to check it out and see if it was cheap but it just happened to be the first Sunday of the month and all museums are free that day. 

The museum was pretty cool with a lot of hands on stuff.  This is why I like science museums much more than art museums.  They are kind of fun and you can play with some cool stuff, in an art museum you can only look.  The museum had a ton of random stuff on the first floor, then a rain forest section, and the Gobi exhibit

Sunday night we planned on going to Sitges for Carnival.  Everyone has said that Sitges is the place to go for Carnival and one of the top destinations in all of Europe for Carnival.  It is about a 45 minute train ride to a small beach town with half of a million people partying on the streets in costumes.  Here is a picture with some of our friends we hung out with there

Jourdan and I bought some cheap masks and used face paint to create our own designs and they turned out really well.  Mine was the mask with the red lips and his is the orange and purple one.  We also decided to paint our faces a little for when we were not wearing our masks and for an extension of our mask.

There was also a huge parade from 11 to around 2 with some very elaborate costumes and floats.  Here is one of the better floats and costumes

Also every float was pretty much a moving bar for the dancers on the floats.  It seemed like everyone had a cigarette in one hand and a drink in the other

This was the superhero float with a bar. 

After the Parade we went to a bar for a while and then chilled on the beach until about 7 when we wanted to go home.  The scene was unreal after we left the beach.  I had never seen so much trash, broken bottles, drunk people having sex on the beach, and other people still partying at the clubs...and this was almost 7 in the morning.  The train back was long and I just wanted to be back in bed.  Luckily we had seats (6 people in 3 seats) but there was a guy with a whistle who would not shut up for 45 minutes.  Have you ever herd someone with a whistle in a closed space...it sucks, and especially if you are tired and slightly drunk.  If I spoke fluent Spanish I would have yelled at him but I did not want to start a scene so I kept my mouth shut.  The view, however, was very nice

This was the sun rising over the Mediterranean. 


After a very long night I went home and needed to shower because I had purple hair dye and face paint on and I eventually went to sleep at 9 in the morning.  My friend Greg from school was also coming to Barcelona around 11 the next day and I woke up at 12:15 and gave him a nice tour of Barcelona.

I am going to put his visit in my next blog post though.  It was a very fun weekend and I am very sleep deprived.  Now I have a test in about an hour. 

Hasta Luego..."until later" in Spanish...more like see you later though

The memories of Marika Joy Warden will not be forgotten

For the past few years a girl I grew up with has been battling Leukemia.  On March 4th she peacefully passed away.  Even though I had lost touch with her since elementary school it is very painful to hear that such a wonderful person had her life cut short.  I read her Facebook wall and many of her friends have been posting stories and experiences with her and they have brought me to tears.  Marika was a great person and if more people were like her this would would be a much better place.  Some of my memories of her are from when we were younger.  She was on a soccer team called the Skunks which many of my friends were on, she was always a leading role in the school plays, she was a good student, a good friend, and I don't think I have ever herd a bad thing about her.  It really breaks my heart to see someone like that go.

Leukemia takes way too many young people.  I am in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at UNH and the summer before I got there there was a very similar story.  Taylor Trudeau was a little older than Marika and I never got the pleasure of meeting him but all the stories I have herd were of him making people smile and being an honest, hardworking, and friendly human being. 

Last year Marika got the opportunity to travel abroad and she chose to go to Australia.  I never got to talk to her about it but I herd from my friend that she had an amazing time...as I think basically everyone does while abroad.  I wish all the best for her family, her friends, and her legacy will last forever.

Life is short and needs to be cherished because it can end in the blink of an eye.  One of my favorite quotes is from a Sim Redmond Band song called Pink Guitar

People say don't live in the past
And live each day like its your last
But you should try it in reverse
Live each day like its your first
I believe this is precious time
I believe you are one of a kind

Catalan Culture Studies, El Raval and Shipyards

Last Wednesday was our second field trip.  The first place we went to was the MACBA Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona.  I have yet to go inside of the Museum but our professor mentioned that this area used to be really bad.  There were a lot of drugs and no one went here so Barcelona tried to get younger, wealthier people in the area by adding a museum.  And it worked.  While we were passing through there were a ton of people skateboarding and a lot of young people as you can see pictured below.

The funny thing about this is, well I am pretty sure, that skateboarding is illegal to do in Barcelona.  Someone told me that they had a lot of problems after the Olympics of people skateboarding everywhere and Barcelona became the skateboarding capital of Europe.

The next area we went to was a place where you could see the skyline of Barcelona.  At first I was skeptical because there is no hill in this area and I thought we might go to the top of some building.  But instead our professor took us to this building

The top of the building was slanted at an angle so that it would act as a mirror.  Apparently on a nice day you can see the ocean in the distance.  Then we walked past this sign

Since this was an area with a lot of crime and poor people, this sign was probably added to educate some people.  Raval is the name of the area and it is a verb but Google translate can not translate the word and I can not either.  This is quite a disappointment because I was curious of the meaning but I can ask my teachers.  This is also in Catalan because the I form is Jo not yo and the he is Ell not El. 

The next area we went to was the Medieval Hospital.  We only walked past the door and it is across the street from a library but it is where Gaudí died.  I think I mentioned how he died when I first learned about it but I will refresh your memory.  He dressed like a poor man and one day he got hit by a tram.  No one recognized him and he eventually got taken by a cab driver to this hospital.  It is a poor public hospital.  A few days later someone finally recognized him and he was rushed into care.  They offered him, Barcelona's hero, full treatment but he said No, I want to die here with the poor people.  I am very fascinated with this story and it shows a lot about the kind of person Gaudí is. 

We then walked to Rambla Del Raval where the street opens up and there is a central walkway like on Las Ramblas.  This was the first time I had been on this street and it is very nice.  There were lots of trees, cool shops, and what looked like some good food.

There was also this big mural on one of the buildings.  My host dad was talking about this one night at dinner and Xavi, our professor, kind of clarified what I was confused about when I first herd about it.  Apparently some buildings in this area are abandoned and squatters live in them without paying anyone.  This is where I got confused because it sounded like my host dad was saying squarters and people live there and don't pay.  Anyway, the squatters painted the mural since they live there and no one has kicked them out.

 

At the ocean side of this street were the shipyards.  They are now a museum but it was closed for some reason.  The shipyards used to be on the beach but now the port was built in front of them so the buildings are quite far from the water, but they are huge stone buildings held up by arches and big enough to build ships in.  Out front of the museum is also the first ever submarine.  

It was built by a Catalan man, whose name I forget, but he didn't have enough money and couldn't get a grant so he sold the idea to a rich person from London.  Here is a replica of the original submarine.  I thought this was pretty cool.  

We went into the museum entrance where they had a model of what the port looked like in the 1700's.  Xavi talked about the shipyards and why they were so important for a little bit and then the class was over and we went home.  The tour was actually quite interesting and I learned a lot.  I think it is cool when you can learn something in class and then go on an hour walk and see exactly what you had just learned about.  This is one amazing thing about Barcelona, that there is so much history and every building has a story to tell.  I have never studied in a city so this whole concept is new to me.  I enjoy it though.

On another note, I found an organic market where I ate lunch yesterday.  It is set up like the Wegmans dining section and the food was really good.  It was no Wegmans but it was good enough and moderately priced so I think I will be going back maybe once a week or so.