La Última Semana

Hello, hello!

So sorry for the delay! It's been one crazy week to say the least! First thing is first, I'm typing this post in the comfort of my own kitchen with my Dunkin' coffee to my right, and my dog Haylee in my lap. I arrived home late last saturday night. But let's wrap up my last week in Barcelona first...

My last week in Barcelona was definitely one of the best! I was busy each and every day which is just how I like it -if you haven't noticed, I don't do well sitting still.

On Monday night I said goodbye to one of my friends, Nathan, who was out in Barcelona doing research. We went to a delicious tapas restaurant and filled our tummies with as many patatas bravas as we could fit!

On Tuesday night, I fulfilled another one of my must-do's in Barcelona by visiting Dow Jones, the stock market bar. It's a popular bar that is modeled after the NY stock exchange. I've heard of it before, as its very popular among American tourists, but have never actually had the chance to check it out. The concept is so cool. Each drink is listed on a monitor, and the price rises and falls with consumer demand. Eventually, as more people keep buying drinks, the stock market "crashes"and everyone rushes to the bar to get their drinks at their lowest price. I think this concept for a bar is so cool, but the bar could take the idea a lot further!

On Wednesday we had a farewell lunch for my roommate Zach and I. We went to one of the delicious restaurants atop Las Arenas (the old bullfighting ring, turned shopping mall). It was delicious! I had actually dined there previously for my 21st birthday last time I was there! We had a great meal, and enjoyed each other's company; I can't tell you how wonderful these people are. Later that day, my co-worker Elena promised she'd take me for a ride on her moto. I've been wanting to ride one since I first stepped foot on European soil, so I'm so happy to have finally fulfilled my wish! It was so much fun, I felt so free, and not to mention European!

Clara, my supervisor and favorite person ever!

Later that night, my roommate Zach and I were planning on checking out the open-air cinema on top of Montjüic. It's basically like a drive-in movie, except its on top of Barcelona's famous hill and it takes place inside a castle. Its definitely a highlight of the summer here! I wanted to go that night because Grease was playing, and I'm a sucker for a good sing-along. Unfortunately, the movie sold out (which was the first time this has ever happened of course). As a result, I was super bummed that I wouldn't get to experience Sala Montjüic -but this just leaves me something to accomplish for next time ;) Instead, we headed over to one of our favorite bars to check off a different must-do: snag the giant beer mugs from L'Ovella Negra ;) Already armed with my backpack, our mission was a success.

That next day, I had taken my last personal day to start to say goodbye to the city. My roommate Gee and I went and got fish pedicures because I promised her I'd accompany her before we left. She was so cute laughing as the little fish bit our toes -it tickled just as much as last time!

That Thursday, my roommates and I all went to our good friend Mònica's going-away party. Mònica is a local Catalan/ co-worker who quickly became our close friend. She was hosting a farewell party as she and her roommates were all moving out of their apartment. It was extremely cool to go to a Catalan house party -we met so many cool people. The best part was, every guest brought some sort of food or drink! There was tons of delicious food, and more beverages than we knew what to do with! At one point, the Catalans all started teaching us Catalan dances and we Americans showed them dances like The Cupid Shuffle. I love how friendly and warm they were towards us, it was definitely a more welcoming dynamic than American house parties. They even dedicated a human-tower to the Bobs at one point as some castellers were at the party!!

Casteller tower dedicated to Los Bobs!

On Friday, I spent the day picking up last minute gifts and such around town and packing. We headed to the office in the morning to present a farwell gift to our co-workers. Us Bobs created a video depicting each of our co-workers in a very funny, satirical way. I can't tell if we had more fun watching the video or filming it! Everybody loved the video. They gave the boy Bobs FCB water bottles and Gee and I makeup bags from Desigual as thank you gifts.

That night, I was ecstatic to meet up with my friend Taylor who became one of my best friends during study abroad. Originally, we were going to just miss each other as she wasn't arriving until right after I left. Her trip got moved around a bit, and we were able to reunite! I was so happy to meet up with her and catch up. She's such a beautiful person inside and out.

Starting on Wednesday, I came to the quick realization that Barcelona was not ready to let me go. It all started when I was walking down the street and smacked my toe into a set of cement steps. My face instantly drained of blood, which is probably due to the fact that it was now all coming out of my toe. I ended up slicing the bottom of my toe pretty good, and limped around the city for the rest of the day! That night, I was frying some croquettes on the stovetop and decided to check if they were ready. They were indeed ready, but scalding hot, so the second I touched it I threw it right at myself. I gave myself a nasty burn on my chest. It doesn't end there though, on Thursday, I woke up with an itchy leg. I assumed I had a mosquito bite until I looked in the mirror and saw a million tiny red spots engulfing the back of my upper thighs. I figured they were hives. They progressively got itchier and redder, and I realized I must have had an allergic reaction to god only knows what from sitting on the metro. I almost don't want to know...

When I arrived back in the states, I went to the doctor to try to get a fast-acting prescription to get rid of the nasty allergic reaction as my sister was getting married that Friday. It was a bit unnerving as the doctor was not sure what they were right away and proceeded to call other doctors in the area to tell them about it. She put me on steroid pills and cream, but they were not gone for the wedding. Luckily my dress covered them! The makeup artist was also able to airbrush my burn ;)

So, I'm back in the US of A, trying to get back into a regular sleep pattern again. This past week has been insane since my sister got married on Friday in New Hampshire -hence the delay on blog posts! My flights home were fine, I even was able to fall asleep for a bit! Since the Nyquil didn't work on the way there, I decided to take a different route -wine. I threw back 2 complementary glasses of wine and knocked out for a bit. Customs was super annoying as always, and my back was just about ready to fall off since I had every heavy item I owned in my backpack.

It's great to be back home and reunited with my family, friends and pets. I miss my roommates, my co-workers and my city though. It wasn't as difficult to leave this time because I already know that I'll be back! I'm also anxious to start my life by finishing school and getting back out there in the world!

So what's next for me? I'm back in the states ready to finish school. I've got one semester left and then student teaching in the Spring. Then, I'll be looking into international teaching jobs to hopefully get me back out into the world of adventure. I'm leaning towards going somewhere new this time, I will always have a love affair with Barcelona, but its time for me to push my limits and see what else is out there. I'm so grateful for the experiences I've had and the doors Barcelona has opened for me. I will without a doubt, be back very soon -perhaps even next summer! I have no idea where I'll end up, and I find this notion just as exciting as it is beautiful!

And finally, I'd like to congratulate my sister and new brother-in-law on their marriage!! Heres to a lifetime of love and happiness!

Thank you all for following my journey, I will be back within no time! XO

La Semana Final y Valencia

Hola chicos!

We’re getting down to the final days in Barcelona L On Monday night we hosted a farewell dinner for Gee’s best friend Krystal. She was with us in Barcelona for a long time and became an honorary BOB roommate. That night I cooked for everyone. I made fettuccine Alfredo with bacon and chicken, garlic roasted asparagus and of course pan con tomate.

We were also celebrating her 21st birthday for next month

On Tuesday I decided to use one of my personal days and take the day off. I got to sleep in and then headed down to the beach. It was so relaxing! Afterwards, I explored a mall I’d never been to before, and then headed home. That night I had a tapas dinner planned with my mentees. I have about 9 mentees that I meet with to hear about their experiences, answer any questions and provide them with recommendations. The dinner was delicious and a lot of them showed up! We had tortilla patata, croquetas, pan con tomate, patatas bravas and ice cream.

Wednesday, we had an all-day staff workshop. It was awesome because our entire staff was there, which is rare since we’re all so busy and we work in two separate offices. The meeting was held behind the University of Barcelona in a beautiful church’s office building. We had to laugh because while we were working we noticed there were pictures of the popes along the wall. We spent the day brainstorming ideas to improve the company and creating solutions to existing problems. We had a delicious lunch at a fancy restaurant on the company. My first course was peas, egg and pork and my second dish was a juicy steak with roasted green peppers and potatoes and for dessert we had vanilla gelato with peaches. Needless to say we were stuffed and our stomachs were very satisfied. It was awesome because we spent about 45 minutes getting breakfast and coffee before the meeting, worked for about 2 hours, and then had a two hour lunch. So we literally spent half the day eating –why can’t every day be like this?! And the working wasn’t bad either since I was in such good company.

On Thursday I trekked outside of the city center a bit to take pictures of one of our interns at her placement. She was working at for an architectural company. I had to take the train to get there, but it didn’t take too long. The area was beautiful and was very close the the famous labyrinth park Raquel took me to last time I was here. Afterwards, I found a beautiful park and decided to check it out for a couple minutes. At one point I was literally hiking through the woods, off the path in my dress and flip-flops because I wanted to see the cactuses –they were really cool. The view from the top was incredible! It was situated right next to Tibidabo –one of Barcelona’s two mountains.

Tibidabo 

VALENCIA

This weekend I had a lot of options to choose from. Originally, my roommates and I were all planning on renting a car and heading to Pamplona to see the running of the bulls. Our friend Mònica invited us to her village just North of Barcelona and very close to Andorra. Our third option was to go with some of the staff to Valencia on a weekend excursion with our students. Gee and I chose option 3 since it was the most cost effective –seeing as it was free! Although I was really excited to go to the running of the bulls, part of me was happy since I don’t really agree with the tradition because I see it more from an animal rights perspective –I’m quite the catalan ;)

On Friday morning we woke up bright and early and headed to the office to meet the students. We had just about 60 students and 5 staff members. Gee, Claire and I were assigned to group 2. It took us about 5 hours to arrive in Valencia by bus but the drive was beautiful since we drove along the coast the whole way. Once we arrived at the hotel, we checked in and hung out for a bit before taking the bus to the gardens and the Fillas museum.

Valencia used to have a large river than ran through it but due to large floods, they decided to drain the river. In it’s place, they created a beautiful garden park complete with jogging paths, picnic areas, playgrounds and much more. It’s very beautiful since the bridges that once crossed over the river are still in place. It would take over 2 hours to walk the entire length of the garden/ river route! There was also this awesome playground modeled after Gulliver’s Travels with an actual GIANT where kids, and adults could feel like the tiny people from the story. There were slides off his legs and you could climb his hair etc.

The Opera

After the garden tour we headed over to the Fillas museum. Valencia is known for it’s Fillas festivals that take place in March. Basically, for centuries, the people of Valencia have been holding these festivals where they burn large statues on a specific day of the year. The statues were very satirical responses to scandals within the community, the government and even celebrities. Every year artists come in and create these gigantic statues to be burned. The statues are extravagant and truly a sight to see. They are constructed from cardboard, wax and styrofoam. Each year, one Fillas is “saved” from the flames and placed in the Fillas museum. The figures within the museum date back to the turn of the century. It was fascinating to walk through and see how the artistic styles emerged due to equipment, engineering and technology.

My favorite Filla

Each year a girl is selected to represent the Filla -similar to a beauty pageant 

The oldest filla from 1934

Afterwards, we had free time. We ate a delicious dinner and shared a big jar of Valencian water –which is not water. It was orange juice, gin, cava and vodka. Valencia is known for their oranges which are considered to be some of the best in Spain. They make delicious marmalade and orange juice.

 

The wonderful oranges of Valencia

Agua de Valencia

The next day we took a guided tour around the city. Valencia is quite small but has a lot of history. We explored the cathedral and learned that their saint in Valencia is the Saint of the handicapped and helpless –as a special education teacher, this made me happy. We also learned that Valencia is home to what some suspect is the holy grail! It has not been proven, but under the Aragon crown, the holy grail ended up in Spain. Two of the Popes have held masses here in Valencia and have drank from the grail. I couldn’t rap my head around this, how crazy!

If you follow this path, you can see all of the historical sites

Orxata, a refreshing and sweet milk-like drink that is very typical of Valencia

tiger nuts are crushed and made into orxata

Afterwards, we took the busses down to the beach for a paella lunch. It was probably the best paella I’ve ever had! Valencia is also known for their paella, and specifically for their rice. After lunch we spent the rest of the day at the beach. The sand was so fine and soft that I almost didn’t like it! It sort of felt like I was walking in dirt and the dust kept sticking to everything. The waves were a lot bigger than in Barcelona and we had a blast jumping in them. That night, I had a delicious tapas dinner with the staff complete with Valencian hard cider.

Our strange room we had dinner in

We stumbled upon a street party with swing dancers. It felt like I was in the 1940's and I was so okay with it.

Today we checked out of the hotel and headed over to the Hemisferic and Museo de Ciencias. We started off by watching a fascinating IMAX movie on the last coral reef. We grabbed the wrong headsets so I listened to the movie in Spanish, but I understood the majority of the movie. Afterwards we had some free time to explore the beautiful buildings before our guided tour.

Gee and I had to try the hamster balls even though we were wearing dresses. They were a lot harder than you would expect! Every time I would try to stand up, I would fall on my face! It was also strange because nobody could hear me so I was literally laughing to myself inside of a gigantic bubble. All of our students were amused by us, and I’m pretty sure they got a great view of my undies. Towards the end, we got so tired and so hot. Since our bodies were heating up, the ball got steamy and slippery inside. We only stayed inside for about 15 minutes but that was plenty of time. The guide said that 5 minutes inside of the ball was equivalent to an hour of intense workout! The balls were designed by NASA for the astronauts to practice controlling their movements. Best 5€ I’ve ever spent!

We then went on a guided tour of the Museo de las Ciencias. We all had a blast! Many of the exhibits were interactive such as the electric shock ones. We got to create clouds, touch a tornado, try a candy that triggered different nerves and much more. The students loved it and were so pleased! After that we had a picnic lunch and made our way back to Barcelona.

A tornado!

The left globe felt like how the earth should feel, and the right felt like how the earth feels with greenhouse gases

I’m so glad I chose Valencia this weekend. I had an incredible hotel room with the best view ever. Gee and I were given the matrimonial suite :P and after two months of showering in a shower equivalent to a shoebox, I was happy to shower in a normal sized shower! I got to know the staff a lot better and even some of the students. Plus I think I spent a total of 20€ for the entire weekend!

The view from our window

I have one more personal day tomorrow to spend back in Barcelona. We’re getting down to the wire here folks, but unlike last time, I’m more content about leaving. I think because I have a lot more to look forward to at home this time. My sister is getting married right when I get home! I’m also just excited to get home so I can start my life. I want to get back so I can finish school and then get out into the world again!

I'm featured on the staff page on the Barcelona SAE website!

I'm very happy to be back in Barcelona, I always get "homesick"when I'm away for a bit.