I’m writing this as I stroll around the neighborhood of Gràcia that has been my home away from home for the past nine weeks and I’m unable to hold back the tears. It’s a beautiful sunny day and I’m heartbroken by this terribly unexpected end to my time abroad. I have so many things that I want to say to you but I know I need to write them here because I don’t have the emotional strength to get through this aloud.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to travel throughout Europe all on my own. Thank you for supporting me financially, emotionally, and in every other way that you possibly could. Thank you for pushing me to be independent and believe in myself in ways that I never thought I could. Thank you Mom for the 5am FaceTime calls when I just needed to hear your voice. Thank you Dad for always answering every question or concern that I had no matter the time of day. I can’t even begin to explain how grateful I am for this experience and for always having you two behind me every step of the way. I was challenged by my time here to say the least, especially in it being cut short. But I’ve learned so much more than I ever thought possible and I will hold on to every single second of it for the rest of my life.
My little room in my little apartment on Carrer d’Hipòlit Lázaro is all packed up and I’m ready to come home. Despite the overwhelming mixed emotions that I feel now, I can’t help but smile when I think of all the amazing memories since I first touched down in Barcelona. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I’ll never be able to say it enough. But last, thank you for being the brightest source of love in my life today, yesterday, and always. See you soon.
As the days leading up to this trip went by I began to feel anxious and excited all at the same time. I woke up early on Thursday morning before my alarm because I had so much nervous energy building up inside. That’s when it hit me. Wow. I’m going to Africa today. Emma, Lily, and I had been talking for over a year about going on this trip, but something in me always doubted that we would actually make it there. On every flight that I take whether it’s from Tucson to San Jose or Prague to Barcelona, I can’t help but pass out for the duration of the flight. This time my nervous energy was not allowing any of that. I was anxious about going somewhere that was so culturally different than anything I had ever experienced before. Halfway through the flight, the attendants handed out papers that each person had to fill out. They read the “Kingdom of Morocco Public Health Passenger Form- Coronavirus.” With the current state of this pandemic, this definitely alarmed me a bit. The second that I stepped through the doors at the gate I immediately began to spot the cultural differences around me. I noticed the airport’s multiple prayer rooms and that the janitorial staff consisted of women wearing hijabs. That is when my anticipatory anxiety all went away as I was filled with excitement to explore Marrakech. For some reason, we were able to go through domestic customs instead of international which I assume had to do with the fact that Spain is so close to Morocco, but I really have no idea why. This saved us a ton of time and I was not mad about it because the international line was 10 times the size. I noticed that the customs in this airport was extremely strict. The agent looking at my passport questioned if the picture was me and then proceeded to say “No glasses is better for you. Welcome to Morocco.” This insulted me a tad bit but I laughed it off and carried on.
My friends and I also booked this trip through Bus2Alps and I wouldn’t have done it any other way. This time was much different from our trip to Interlaken because there we were off on our own the entire time other than the activities that we booked through them. This time, the staff had a full itinerary booked for us and because of this, I felt so safe the entire time. We were greeted by a driver at the airport that night to pick us up and drive us to the hostel. Little did we know when we had booked the trip that on Thursday Bus2Alps had nearly a full day of activities planned that day. Our flight didn’t land until 9pm so we were bummed that we missed out. After a short drive, the van pulled up to a corner to drop us off. I got out of the car, looked around and was confused as I didn’t see our hostel. Then we were greeted by another Bus2Alps staff who was there to guide us through the little streets that the van couldn’t drive down. While we were walking through the streets of old town Marrakech at night it was so surreal. All of the homes in the streets were connected and they looked like one large clay wall with several doors spread out. The Bus2Alps staff member told us that this was because in their culture they say “You should not harm your neighbor by showing your wealth.” This was definitely shown as we walked by some of the homes that had open doors. One looked dark and very impoverished, while the one next door was vibrant, bright, filled with colorful tiles and fancy furniture. When we reached our hostel we were relieved to see how beautiful it was. My friends and I were definitely nervous to see what our Moroccan hostel would be like but it was gorgeous! Our only complaint was that our room was much too small to have as many beds in it as it did. Throughout the weekend we had to take turns changing and getting ready because there was only enough room for one of us to do it at a time. This forced us to spend most of our time while we were at the hostel sitting on the lawn chairs by the pool or on the pretty colorful sofas in the patio. The weather was gorgeous at night. Nothing to complain about!
The next morning we got up bright and early to explore on our first day! Walking through the same small streets looked so different in the daylight. There were donkeys pulling trash, people riding motorcycles, and men setting up their stores in the Souks. They warned us about dressing conservatively on this trip, but not everyone did. They also told us that we needed to practice asking permission before taking pictures, but not everyone did. One man driving by on his motorcycle yelled, “Americans. No pictures.” At times it angered me how blatantly oblivious some of the college kids were in not respecting the cultural differences, but I tried to ignore it. From there we got on busses and went into the valley to a Berber village. The Berbers are the first indigenous tribe of Northern Africa, but the majority from Morocco. When we got off the bus, men ran up to us and tried to sell just silver and woven jewelry. Of course, they sensed that I was the weakest of my friend group and they pried on me. But I put on my sunglasses and just kept saying no thank you. When we were at the house we were led to a gorgeous patio in the home that has an amazing view of the valley. Then we got to watch one of the Berber women that lives there make us Moroccan mint tea with fresh spearmint. I typically don’t prefer sweet tea but I could not stop drinking it! The most interesting part of watching this was seeing her add the sugar. They keep their sugar in a giant cone and while making the tea the woman kept hacking off pieces to add in. Then, more of the women that work there brought us out flatbread with honey, butter, and oil. So so good! Then we were free to explore the huge house. In the backyard, they had chickens, sheep, and a donkey. Two little children of the home were running around laughing, screaming, and waking all of us with sticks.
From there we got back on the bus for a short ride to where we would be riding camels. Along the way we saw multiple people with small groups of camels just off the side of the road. Our guide told us that we were going to the person that has the largest group they could find, which was 8 camels. Being that there were more than 40 of us, we had to go in groups. While we waited we spent time with two baby camels that cried every time their moms left on a ride and a donkey. Our turn lasted about 10 minutes which was a perfect amount of time. The seat on the camel was not comfortable and mine was slightly slanted so that made it worse. Something that confused me was that the Bus2Alps crew encouraged us all to wear a pashmina on our head for a “camel pic.” Many people brought their own but they also had a few to share. This kind of rubbed me the wrong way, especially when people decided to wear them in a way that only showed their eyes. Keep in mind that it was 80 degrees outside and we were in the mountains, not the desert. The scarf wasn’t protecting their faces from sand but making them sweat. They kept asking my friends and me over and over if we wanted to use the dirty loaner scarves and we declined. They looked so filthy that they probably had lice or something. I personally just felt that they were walking into the steep waters of cultural appropriation here and I wasn’t comfortable with posing for a picture for that reason. After the ride was over and we said goodbye to our camel friends, we got back on the bus to get on with the rest of our day.
The next thing that was on the agenda for the day was a hike and lunch. We drove through the Ourika valley and a village there. On the way there the staff played Waka Waka by Shakira and Africa by Toto to get us excited. When we got off the bus we saw so many amazing shops and that got us excited to explore the souks later. Also, there was restaurant after restaurant on the river. We began our hike up to a pretty waterfall and it was more like rock climbing. Our guide helps us through it but the wet rocks and the steep climb was definitely not what I was expecting. Along the way, there were hundreds of shops and a handful of restaurants. I was confused by the elderly people who were up there that had completed the climb that was so extreme for me. On the way down we walked along the ridge and it had a beautiful view of the valley. Emmas said it wasn’t anything new for her as it kind of looked like Arizona. Along the way down the guide was trying to talk to us and we didn’t quite understand what he was saying. After a little back and forth he decided to show us what he was saying. “Hello!” he yelled and his voice echoed back. This reminded me of that scene in the Grinch when he is talking to himself in his cave and I couldn’t stop laughing. My friends thought I was such a weirdo. Also, on the way down the guide pointed out a very unsuspecting plant. He told us that it was juniper and they used it to make gin.
When the hike was over we went immediately to the restaurant for lunch. When leading us to our table they walked us through the restaurant, out the back patio, down some stairs, and we saw our table was in the middle of the river! We took off our shoes and socks and got into the river to reach our seats. The water was freezing cold because it was melted snow from the top of the mountains. We all rested our cold toes on a bar at the center of the table and enjoyed an amazing meal. We had vegetable purée soup, chicken with lemon and olives, orange slices with Moroccan spices on top, and mint tea of course! Everything was ridiculously good. When lunch was over we got back on the bus yet again to head back to the city center. The bus dropped us off at the big square which is called Jemaa el-Fnaa. This is the center of the main marketplace in the old city. This is where they have a ton of vendors, shops, restaurants, and street performers. I think that this is where the snake charmers are but thankfully we avoided that at all costs and I didn’t have to witness that at all the whole weekend. One terrible thing we did see was a monkey on a chain. At this point, I kept my head down because I did not want to see anything else like that. While we were walking back to our hostel it was our first time in the souks during the day. This was our first experience with the extreme catcalling. The men called us American girls Lady Gaga, Shakira, and Spice girls in order to get us to come to their shop, which never worked of course. That night we had dinner in the middle of the square, which I was not expecting. It was at one of the restaurants that had men outside yelling at people to come and eat there because there were a dozen of the same exact place within a block. We had chicken kabobs, olives, grilled vegetables, and mint tea. So far, I was extremely happy with the food that I was having through Bus2Alps, and that defiantly reigned true throughout the rest of the trip. After dinner our guide took us to one of the vendors who sold amazing cookies. We got to fill up a box with as many cookies as it could possibly fit for $5. That’s when we called it a night and headed back to our beautiful hostel to end an unreal first day in Africa!
The next day we had the choice between going to the spa or ATVing, and we picked the spa of course! We walked through the square to get there and the place was really pretty and serene. But boy, we had no idea what we were in for. We did a Hammam bath and massage. There was a steam room, mud, buckets of water, exfoliating, and lots of oil involved. I would not describe this experience relaxing at all, but a cultural experience to say the least. If you’re interested look up Hammam bath and you’ll have quite the laugh. After we finished up there we cleaned up a bit at the hostel. They recommended not to wash the oil off of your body or hair until the next day. During the massage, the woman had aggressively rubbed an obscene amount of oil in my hair but it just looked like I it gelled back so I decided to listen to their advice. We went back to the square to get a quick bite to eat before our walking tour. Along the way, Lily experienced some pretty aggressive catcalling and it made us all pretty uneasy. Then we grouped up and went out on a walking tour with our guide, named Ali. The first place that we went to was called Rosa Huile which was an herbalist and cosmetics store. We saw women making argan oil, which is an extremely long process, and then we were given a presentation about all of the spices, oils, teas, and creams that we could buy. They taught us what real saffron looks like and only three strands of it come from each flower. Next on the agenda was to go to the Bahia Palace which was converted into the Museum of Confluences. Interestingly enough this museum featured many pieces of the private collection of Patti Birch, an American philanthropist. Also in this museum, we saw a bunch of beautiful tiles and some of Yves Saint Laurent’s traditional Moroccan dresses.
At the end of the tour, Ali offered to take my friends and I around to all of the places that he took the rest of the group to that we had missed out on Thursday. These consisted of pashminas, straw bags, handmade leather shoes, spices, art, his wife’s handmade clothing shop, and the most fabulous rug store of course! The souks consisted of what seemed like a million of the same types of stores so it was so nice of him to show us the best ones. The rug shop was definitely my favorite. From the outside, you would have never known how big the place truly was. The owner showed us around, a woman showed us how they make the rugs, and then we were led upstairs. This turned into an hour-long ordeal of Lily bargaining with the owner. Two older men were non stop pulling out, opening up, stacking, and folding back up dozens of rugs for Lily to look at. At the end of it, she came out with a beautiful Moroccan rug! Unfortunately, she won’t see it until May because they packed it up so tightly so that she could carry it on the plane. At the end of a jam-packed day exploring the souks, we were exhausted from all the bargaining and ready for dinner!
Our last meal was at a beautiful rooftop restaurant at sunset. We had grey wine, Vin Gris, which is basically just rosé. For starters we had lots of olives and a caprese salad. For my meal I ordered the beef tanjia which was amazing! It had beef, candied lemon, cumin, and saffron. They told us that you can only get this meal prepared this way in Marrakech so I of course had to try it. The dish came in a clay container and the server poured it on my plate in front of me. It definitely was not very pretty but it was the best meal that I had the entire trip. To top it off, we had a raspberry cheesecake, a chocolate souffle, and saffron Crème brûlée.
That night we went back to our hostel, packed up, and took an hour-long nap because our time to meet up with the staff to go to the airport was at 2am. We connected in Casablanca, the capital of Morocco, and we were home in Barcelona by noon. My hair was the greasiest it had ever been my entire life and my body ached from the intense hike. After a borderline cold and lukewarm shower happy energy hit me like a ton of bricks. The weekend I had just had was so surreal. The beautiful country that I had seen, the magnificent culture that I had experienced, the delicious food that I had eaten, and the charming people that I had met filled my happy heart with extreme gratitude. This weekend in Morocco was definitely one that I will never forget.
I spent this past weekend in Madrid on a field trip with my school, CEA. The whole trip was included in my tuition so that was super nice. We got up bright and early on Valentine’s Day and headed to the train station. We were greeted by some of the teachers from our school and we were off! The trip took about 3 hours and the train was much nicer than the others I have been on so far. When we finally got to Madrid it was a beautiful sunny day. From there we walked 15 minutes to our hotel, the TRYP Madrid Achota Hotel, and were able to check in right away. Lily and I got our own room and Emma and Marissa’s was right next door.
Immediately after setting our bags down in the room we headed out for Takos al Pastor, one of the most highly recommended places to eat in Madrid. We got there right when it opened and still had to wait in a 25-minute line, but it was so worth it! The tacos were each one euro and the quesadillas were two. The place was tiny and within 5 minutes of ordering your food, it was at the table. Because this place always had a line out the door the workers cleaned up the plate off of the table just as you’ve picked up your last bite in order to keep the flow going. On the way back to our hotel we walked through Puerta Sol. I’d say that the biggest differences that I picked up on between Madrid and Barcelona are that Madrid has a larger amount of wider streets and plazas than Barcelona. I enjoyed walking around and looking at the pretty buildings.
The next thing on the agenda was to go on a bus tour that the school organized to see the city. We had done one of these in Barcelona during orientation and enjoyed it, but this one was a disappointment. We really didn’t get to see much because the windows in the charter bus weren’t great and the tour guides went on and on about stuff that went right over my head. The only two things that I took away from it was seeing the Real Madrid stadium and learning that they have an underground parking lot that’s a mile long. Once we got to the Royal Palace of Madrid gardens and the guide said we weren’t going to walk five minutes to see the front of it, my friends and I ditched the tour and went off on our own to see it which was worth it.
After that, we got to walk through Plaza Mayor on our way back to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped Chocolatería San Ginés for some churros con chocolate. The chocolate was so piping hot that when I dripped some on my hand it really burned. The churros were way better than any I’ve ever had before and we ate them so fast that no one even stopped to take a picture. Next, we passed by a bakery called La Mallorquina and treated ourselves to some festive heart-shaped cookies. Sugar overload! That night we got all dressed up for a Galentine’s celebration and went to Mercado de San Idelfanso. On the way, it took us longer to taxi than it would have to walk. The streets were so packed all day and all night long. The place was two stories of different booths that sold all different kinds of foods from all around the world. There we shared a bottle of Cava, which is Spain’s sparkling wine. Then we went to another cocktail bar right next door called Harvey’s. All my friends ordered martini’s and I ordered a weird margarita of course. After that, we called it a night.
The next morning we got dressed and headed to Park Retiro. The park was huge and so beautiful as it belonged to the Spanish monarchy before it became public. In the park, there is an artificial lake that we waited in line to get on a rowboat. The line took 45 minutes but it was a gorgeous day so the time flew by while we were standing there and chatting. One thing that cramped my style was that I stepped in dog poop while waiting in line. I freaked out for a second, cleaned myself up and forgot about it. I don’t know what it is but this this the third time something like that has happened to me! One thing I’ve noticed about the Spanish cities is that you constantly see people walking their dogs on the streets but you need to be paying attention to where you’re stepping on the sidewalk because of it. The minor issue didn’t get in the way of the fun we had out on the lake it was the most amazing weather.
After leaving the park we decided to go to Círculo de Bellas Artes which has the coolest rooftop bar that I’ve been to so far in Europe. We hung out there for hours and drank sangria and mojitos with a beautiful view of the city. For dinner that night we went back to Takos al Pastor again. This time the wait was over an hour but it was so worth it considering all of the Mexican food we’ve had so far has been subpar. For dessert that night we had bubble waffles with ice cream at Mad Waffle. These things were on every corner in Madrid so we couldn’t resist. The next day our last stop before heading back to Barcelona was the glass market which is called Mercado de San Miguel. It was much fancier than the other markets I’ve been to in Spain so far. We had bruschetta, stuffed olives, and a fruit kabob. It was so fun to go around to all the different booths to grab a bite.
I’m happy to say that I have now explored the three largest cities in Spain all in different regions of the country. I’ve enjoyed my time in Valencia and Madrid but I can easily say that Barcelona has my heart.
On this trip, it was just Lily and me all on our own. We decided to hit two cities (and countries) in one weekend. Because of this we also decided to only take backpacks with us so all the traveling would be easier. This was totally a new concept for me, but I successfully managed. I’m so glad that we chose to pack super light because it made everything so much easier.
Friday morning we left for the airport at 5 am and when our taxi driver picked us up he got out of his car to open the trunk, something that happened to us more than once throughout the weekend, and seeing our light luggage quickly got back in since there was no need to put anything in there. We landed in Munich before 9 am and our first stop was the Dachau Concentration Camp. Seeing Dachau was our sole reason for visiting Munich and the whole experience was really surreal. It was bone-chilling in every aspect of the saying. The ground was icy and the wind felt like tiny needles when it hit my face. The front entrance to the camp seems small and worn down at first glance. At its center, it is closed off by an iron gate with the saying “Arbeit Macht Frei” which means “Work Sets You Free.” When you walk through the gate the camps true size is revealed. The large administrative building of the camp still stands as do two of the barracks. Behind them are the outlines of the 28 other barracks that were destroyed after the liberation of the camp in 1945.
The administrative building now serves as a museum for the camp. Dachau was the first concentration camp that was established by the Nazis in 1933 and it served as a model for all of the other camps that were later built. The museum shows lots of images of life and death that happened there. The artifacts in the museum that stuck out to me were a set of striped uniforms that belonged to one of the prisoners, a chess set that one of the prisoners had carved by hand with scraps, and a collection of wedding rings that they had confiscated. Being there and seeing these images of starvation, filth, and evil was really hard to wrap my head around. This piece of history has been something that I have studied and learned about my entire life but being there made it all less abstract. One image that really stuck with me was two Nazis smiling next to a pile of people’s gold teeth. The whole thing was just really eerie.
Next, we walked through the barracks that they had rebuilt for the purposes of the memorial site. Looking at the pictures of people jammed together in these wooden bunks with only hay beneath them was sickening. Inside the barrack was ice cold and I know it reached much lower temperatures at certain times of the year. The bathing and toilet areas were even worse, just humiliating and dehumanizing. Behind the two standing barracks, there are the outlines of the 28 others that were once there. It is crazy to think about the number of innocent people that were imprisoned in this camp and all the others.
From there we walked to the last thing to see at the camp, which was the crematorium. To get there you had to walk all the way down to the far end of the camp and leave through a barbed wire gate. The perimeter of the camp was guarded by several lookout towers where Nazis would shoot those who attempted to escape. As you get closer to the building they have created beautiful gardens and memorials all around it. Once inside you can walk through the various rooms: where they stored dead bodies, some filled with ovens that they hung prisoners in front of, where they prepped prisoners for “the showers,” and the gas chamber itself. There really aren’t enough words to describe it. Something that really irked me was throughout my time at Dachau there were large groups of German high school kids that were on field trips there. The entire time they were laughing, running around, and acting extremely disrespectful. Overall, I’m really grateful that I had this experience it was truly once in a lifetime.
Throughout the rest of the gloomy and chilly day, Lily and I felt weird after the heaviness of what we had just experienced. We took the train into Munich and checked into our hostel, Wombats City Hostel. From there we walked to the city center to explore. All down the main shopping center is vendor after vendor selling candied nuts. The smell amazing smell fills the streets every time you pass by and Lily and I could not resist! So good. That night we went to Hofbräuhaus for huge beers with lemonade, a huge pretzel, a gingerbread cookie, and a cheese plate. We also got a potato dumpling in gravy which was basically a big squishy ball of mashed potatoes. Very weird consistency and I wasn’t a big fan.
That night was our first time in a hostel that we shared the room with total strangers. It was a weird experience but we barely spent any time there so it was bearable. The next morning we got up again at 5 am and headed to the train station. We had time to grab a pastry and water before getting on the train, little did we know about the fiasco we were soon to endure. Once on the train, Lily and I had our own little cabin, reminded us of the train ride in Harry Potter. When the woman came to check our tickets, she spoke close to no English. The only thing we could understand was she was telling us that we needed to switch trains. We asked her when and she said that she didn’t know. We asked her what train and she said that she didn’t know. This alarmed us a little bit but we disregarded it because our tickets did not indicate any sort of change. Just to make sure I decided to call the company that we booked the train ticket with, Omio, and ask them. After a long conversation of the customer service agent not understanding what I was trying to ask, she said that I would need to call the actual train company to get the information that I needed. Lily and I now were in a panic. First of all, why don’t our tickets say we need to transfer trains at some point? Where do we get off? What if we get stranded in the middle of nowhere in Germany? What if this train really isn’t going to Prague? We were confused, stressed, and anxious all before 9 am. Within the hour, a man came into our cabin and just started speaking to us in German. At this point, we simply had no idea what was going on and it was only getting worse. Thankfully the man spoke much better English than the first person that we tried to communicate with. What he was able to tell us was that we needed to get off on the next stop because the train that we were on normally goes all the way to Prague, but of course that day it didn’t. We asked him what train we needed to get back on and he said he didn’t know. We grabbed our backpacks, waited by the train door, and the second it opened we jetted toward out to look for our next train. Turned out that most of the people on our train were transferring too and that calmed us down. When we were about an hour away from Prague the train made one of its last stops and a ton of people got on. This train, unlike the one we had been on before, had assigned seats. We were kicked out of where we were sitting by people who were yelling at us in Czech even though there were a ton of other open seats in that coach. When we finally got to Prague at 12:30pm we couldn’t stand to be on that train for a second longer. Moral of the story, it was a tough morning ride into Czechia, but it was well worth it.
We immediately went to drop off our backpacks at our hostel, The Czech Inn, and were pleasantly surprised that we were able to check-in;) two hours early. The place was pretty cute and basically like a hotel with a communal bathroom. We had our own room and you didn’t have to pay for towels! From there we took an Uber into the main city center, which was so cheap! Most everything in Prague was super cheap the entire weekend. The first thing that we did was walk across the St. Charles Bridge. The weather was gorgeous and the view was amazing. From there we couldn’t help but stop to get one of their most popular sweet treats! It’s basically a pastry that’s called Trdelník and you can fill with chocolate, ice cream, whipped cream, berries, candy, and so much more. They were so good and they haunted us everywhere because they sell them on literally every corner, so of course, we had to have two in the 24 hours that we were there. Next, we went to see the swans. Prague truly feels like you’re in a fairytale, but more specifically in the movie Shreck for perspective. And just my luck I got pooped on by a bird for the second time in a month, but I shrugged it off. That must mean double good luck for me, right?
From there we hiked up what seemed like a million stairs to the Prague castle. Considering the fact that all we had in our stomachs was pastries and ice cream that definitely wasn’t helping. The castle is huge and beautiful, very well worth the climb. Next, we went to see the Lennon Wall. I loved the art and graffiti but it was nearly impossible to see over the crowds of social media crazed people taking photoshoots in front of it. The picture below took a good 10 minutes to get because you had to dart out in front of Lennon’s face before someone else beat you to it. After that it was over with we walked to the old town square and let me tell you, so beautiful. The entire walk there we were in awe of how cute everything is in that city. The best part about it though was definitely the mini castle in the square that was what Disney was inspired by in creating the animation of Sleeping Beauty’s castle, so cool!
The next day we went on a tour of Klementenum which is a historic complex and we got to see the Baroque library, which is stunning, and the Astronomical tower that has an amazing view of the city. Outside of the library was a replica of the first book that was written in the country. It was huge and had cool calligraphy and pretty illustrations inside. This totally reminded me of the book in Shreck! Next, we went into one of Prague’s amazing candy stores and got another Trdelník with icecream, sugar overload but what’s new? We had a super late flight that night so to kill some time we decided to go to the Ice Bar. We paid $8 to freeze trapped in there for 15 minutes and have a mini cocktail in a cup made out of ice. It was fun and unpleasant all at the same time. Then we went into the robot bar right next door and it was a pretty cool set up. You sat down at a bench that was a kiosk where you picked and paid for your drink. Then you got to watch the robot arms make it. The last thing we wasted our money on there was a vapor shot of rum in a balloon. The last thing we did was walk to a cute little street market next to the St. Charles bridge and have some chicken kabobs.
This trip, just like this post, was jammed packed with activity. I really don’t have much more to say other than, wow. This was yet another amazing weekend. Each one makes my grateful heart so darn full.
Next stop: Switzerland! I was so incredibly excited about this trip and so eager to get on the plane. My friends and I planned our trip through a program called Bus2Alps. The whole experience was super seamless and we were really happy with the staff and the company as a whole. When we arrived at the Geneva airport we were greeted by the staff and they split us, and the gobs of other college kids, into groups. We got on massive charter buses for the 2.5-hour drive to Interlaken. While en route the staff told us that the weather in Interlaken is completely unpredictable and they warned us to be flexible with our activities that we had pre-booked. The weather app on my phone said that it was predicted to rain the entire weekend, so I kept my fingers cross and an open mind. When we finally arrived at our hostel, very simply called Youth Hostel, it was nearly 3 am so we went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up early and hit the ground running.
The first activity that we chose to do was going up into the Swiss Alps for snowshoeing, sledding, and a fondue lunch. A van took us up for about a 20-minute drive to a gondola where we collected our snowshoes and sleds and took them up the mountain. After that, we abandoned our sleds at the sole establishment up there, which was a restaurant at the gondola’s end. From there, our guide showed us how to put on our snowshoes, gave us a brief safety talk, and also some tips on how to snowshoe efficiently. I didn’t expect snowshoeing to be easy but I also was totally unprepared for how difficult our climb would be. When I had imagined this activity I thought we would be taken all the way to the top of the mountain to explore and walk around, but I was very wrong. What we did was an intense hike (keep in mind that I am indeed out of shape) up the mountain for about an hour. On the way up most of us took off our jackets and gloves because the sun was beating down on our backs. When we finally reached the peak of our hike, I was finally able to take a look around and I was overwhelmed. It was a beautiful sunny day in the middle of January and I felt so lucky, so happy, and so sweaty! It could have easily been snowing or raining or foggy, but it wasn’t. We lucked out with the best possible conditions to go snowshoeing up in the mountains. All my friends and I kept saying was “Best day ever!!”
Another thing that surprised me was that we would be snowshoeing down toward the restaurant too. I found that with each step down the steep decline the fresh snow was coming up to my knees. It was very easy to slip, and I did, many times. I even got stuck so badly that the guide had to hike back up to where I was and yank my leg out of the snow. (He was thoroughly annoyed with me)! This was super difficult but so much fun. The whole group was smiling and laughing while slipping, sliding, and falling all at the same time. When we reached our starting point where we had left our sleds we took off our snowshoes and sat down for a traditional Swiss lunch. The lunch consisted of hot tea, cheese fondue, bread and potatoes to dip. The food was amazing and the view made everything taste even better.
After our lunch was over we sledded down to our original starting point, which was the distance that we had taken the gondola up. This, yet again, highlighted my nonathletic abilities but I still enjoyed every second. Throughout the course of sledding down our guide often stopped the group to let us all catch up. The group consisted of 8 college kids and 2 Korean women. Each time the group would meet up again the last person tagging behind was either me or one of the Korean ladies. We all were in the same boat as far as our athletic abilities. The other reason why the group stopped multiple times throughout our trail down the mountain was the large number of spots that the snow had melted and the bare pavement road was exposed. At one of these stopping points, our guide took the time to point out the glaciers and say that if they continue to shrink at the rate that they are now, they won’t be there in 10 years. I felt so lucky to be experiencing something that climate change is destroying. So surreal! Also on our way down, there was an avalanche on one of the neighboring mountains. That was pretty scary to see but we weren’t close to it at all.
After it was all over we all couldn’t stop smiling. The next thing that we did was go to our hostel to freshen up a bit and then we walked to Lake Brienz. It was about a 15-minute walk through the cute town. We got to the lake at perfecting timing right before sunset. The mountains looked golden as the afternoon sun beamed on them and the sky turned cotton candy pink. We had just enough sunlight to snap a few pictures and enjoy its beauty. All we kept saying was, “Best day ever!” over and over again.
From there we walked to around downtown Interlaken. Even after the sun had set we weren’t cold at all. I never even needed to use my big scarf at all during the trip. We topped off the day with ridiculously good chocolate-covered strawberries from Funky Chocolate.
Our activity for the next day was to go kayaking on Lake Brienz. We first got all strapped up in heavy-duty dry suits, we got our paddles, and picked out our boats. Our guide Maria was the most amazing teacher. At first, I had a really hard time with the kayaking. I was trailing behind the group, per usual and positive that I was bound to fall in the ice cold water. But Maria came back to where I was, gave me a little lesson on technique, and I was able to get the hang of it. After kayaking past cool rock formations and a waterfall we beached our boats and walked up to a mini “castle”. Maria surprised us with the amazing view, berry tea, and oatmeal cookies. So fun! When we got back in our kayaks and started to head back to shore, it started to rain. Yet again, I felt so incredibly lucky for the weather conditions that we had during all of our activities that weekend.
That night was filled with more Funky chocolate-covered strawberries, passion fruit apple cider at Husi, and another traditional meal at Hotel Krebs, so so good! We had wine and cheese fondue of course but my favorite thing that we had was a dish called Potato Rosti. It is hash browns with bacon, cheese, and a fried egg, and crispy onions on top. Best way to end our trip! “Best weekend ever!” is truly the only reason that I could describe it. This trip is going to be hard to beat.
For my second weekend trip, my friends and I were really unsure of where to go. As tropical storm Gloria swept through the region, flights were pretty expensive so we decided to book a train ticket to Valencia for the weekend. We found a super cute and cheap Airbnb right by the water. The three-hour train ride down the coast of Spain was so beautiful. After checking into our Airbnb we walked to the beach and it was odd that it was almost deserted on such a sunny day. Later we found out that the storm hit that area pretty hard and we were lucky that our Airbnb didn’t cancel on us. We got super lucky with the sunny weather only a couple of days after that crazy storm.
Next, we went to the city center to explore and we saw the old Silk Exchange building. From there we drank sangria at a bar nearby. That night we headed back toward our Airbnb for dinner. We had amazing tapas and wine at Montaña’s wine bar. We ate patatas bravas, of course, Jamón, and tomato bread with goat cheese, so yum!
The next morning we headed back to the city center to go to Mercado Central which is a huge market full of vendors that sell a huge variety of things from fruits and vegetables, to meats and candy. There I had some traditional Valencian orxata. It’s really different from the Mexican horchata that I’m used to because it is made out of tiger nuts. Also at the market, we tried Valencian orange juice and churros con chocolate.
Right outside the market, there are a ton of outdoor terrace restaurants. At one of these, we had Jugo de Valencia, which is basically sangria with orange juice, and seafood paella. I learned that Valencia is the birthplace of paella but their typical version of the dish often includes rabbit, chicken, and sometimes duck. While enjoying our lunch next to the market there was a street performer singing American rock and country songs, so fun! From there we headed to the Aquarium, one of Valencia’s top attractions. The jellyfish were my favorite, as always.
This trip was my first time ever exploring on the bus. It was the cheapest way for us to get around the city and it was super easy to figure out with Google Maps. We took the bus almost everywhere for 1.50 euros each way. The first time we got on the bus we were in a group of people so it was totally simple. But, the second time we were waiting at a bus stop we saw the bus approaching at a pretty fast speed. The bus got closer and closer and it wasn’t slowing down at all. Next thing we knew the bus had blown past us and we were extremely confused. Next time we picked up on the fact that we had been sitting down on the bench instead of waiting on the curb. The next time the bus came by we practically waved it down to make sure we didn’t miss it again, you could definitely tell we were new at this!
The view on the way home to Barcelona on Sunday was just as beautiful as the way there. The new places and experiences that I am having make me fall in love with Europe more and more every day.
On my first weekend trip of the semester, I went to London! We flew into the Gatwick airport and got on a train into the city. We dumped our luggage off at the Victoria station and immediately walked to Buckingham Palace. As we were walking closer to the palace we could see large crowds of people because we had gotten there in perfect timing to see the changing of the guard. You could barely see over the crowds of people with their phones in the air, but I’m really glad that we made it in time to see it.
From there we walked to Oxford street and went shopping at TopShop. The store is massive and it is kind of like a department store because they sell their brand, all different other brands, accessories, cupcakes, and so much more. I didn’t do too much damage there, which is quite out of character for me, but I didn’t have much room in my weekender bag to bring a ton of stuff back to Barcelona so that kept me from splurging. One thing I did get through was a scarf because it was so cold! After popping in a couple other stores we walked back toward the palace through Green Park, so beautiful! At this moment it felt so surreal that I was actually back in this city that I loved so much.
That night we ate fish and chips for dinner and drank raspberry beer, so good! I forced Lily to have a bite of my fish and chips because she had never tried fish before and she was not a fan.
The next morning we got on the tube and went to Nodding Hill to see the Portabello Market and the famous pastel-colored houses. This was definitely my favorite thing that we did the entire weekend. The market had endless vendors of great food, cool antiques, art, touristy trinkets, and so much more. The thrift stores on this street were really cool and I definitely could have spent all day there because there was just so much to see.
Next we went to the Tower of London to see the crown jewels, the ravens, the white tower, the line of kings and their armor, the bloody tower, the medieval palace, the royal beasts, the torture in the tower, and the imprisionment in the tower. From there we saw the Tower bridge of course.
After we went to Peggy Porschen Cakes which was the cutest bakery ever! Right up my alley. Then walked to Harrods, always so much fun to explore that place. Every time I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of things to see there.
Later that night we went to Sketch… the worst Instagram trap ever! This place is somewhere that I’ve seen a ton of girls go and post pictures while in London. We were super excited to go because this place is known for having a bunch of different rooms with elaborate themes and cool art. We made a reservation a week in advance to be in the pink room which is called the “Parlour.” Even that far in advance, the only time we could get in was 10pm and I had to put down my credit card information. This didn’t alarm me as it is pretty common for nicer places to do this. We knew it was expensive and the menu wasn’t very appealing we had a cheap Italian dinner first and we wanted to have drinks and dessert after at Sketch, but boy were we wrong. When we showed up we checked in our coats and as I looked around, I noticed that we were very underdressed. I went up to the host and told them my name and I asked if we could squeeze one more person. He very rudely said if we have one extra person we would all have to leave. Which sucked! From there we went in and sat down and there was definitely room at our table for one more person because it was a booth, so annoying. The place was so cool though. The whole room was light pink, and all of the seats were the same color in a pretty velvet fabric. After we sat down and opened up the menus, #1 we had no idea what any of the food was and #2 what we could understand sounded terrible. On top of that, the prices were ridiculous. We very quickly found out that our initial plan would not be possible. When we asked for the dessert menu the waiter informed us that we would be able to see it after we all ordered a starter and an entree. This made us all super nervous because we were afraid that if we just up and left, or if they kicked us out, they would charge my credit card 35pounds per person. After some back and forth with the waiter we ordered a random assortment of starters, sides, drinks, and a dessert and he let us go. And to top it off everything that we ordered, other than the drinks, royally sucked! Everything was so bad and so not worth the price. As we were sitting at the table Emma pulled out Yelp and started reading Sketch’s reviews. They all said the same thing, “this place is the worst!!!!” At the end of the day, we all got out of there with some cool pictures of the Parlor and the egg bathrooms, but never will I step foot in that place ever again.
The next day we went to Camden Market which was a maze of foods from all around the world, art, and lots of tourist junk. While we were walking around I got pooped on by a pigeon on the top of my head. I started to freak out a little but I took a deep breath. Marissa helped me clean up a little and I decided I wasn’t going to let that ruin my day, even though I was super grossed out. After some cider and a burrito, I had totally forgotten about it at all. After that, we got on the tube and went to see the London Eye and street performers there to wrap up our trip.
At the end of the long day of traveling, I took a lukewarm shower and shampooed my hair three times. But when I laid down in my little bed in my little apartment in Barcelona, as cheesy as it sounds, I couldn’t help but smile: thinking back on how much fun I had this past weekend, looking forward to my future trips to come, and being so grateful for the amazing life that I’m living.
Nicole Danigelis 