A Few Days in Barca in a Nutshell

So as you can see I posted an update last night, but I was delirious while writing and I'm still kind of delirious now since I stayed up all night on Skype. But to any devoted blog follwers I will write this one for you:

Monday night was basically insanity. After dinner Kike told us we were going to a "bar" called Boulevard which in fact was not a bar at all but was actually a nightclub in the neighborhood of Las Ramblas and was ridiculousness with 2 awesome DJs. Kike hooked it up way more than he should have (thank you Kike,) via tables, champagne, shots, mixed drinks, etc etc, and had me and the eight other Northeastern girls way on the rougher side by the end of the night. It must have been all those tequila shots. 

 

I wish I had a before and after picture but these are my wonderful NU babes. Actually, it's probably for the best that there's only a before photo.

 

Actually, I do have a killer photo of Sarah but I'll spare you your dignity and keep it off of the internet.

(Sarah, Kike, Drew and I!)

We all ended up going to bed way later that we should have (we could basically see the sun rise,) and I ended up waking up at noon to my study abroad coordinator banging on my door waiting for me to go change my schedule with her (oops.) I was looking rough. Well, that is how the last post started out... So I guess I'll just skip the rest of that day since it was the most useless day ever and I was a couch potato, and I'll get to the more interesting stuff. And by interesting I mean I'm about to bore you with specifics about the classes I'm taking.

 

Oh wait, Sarah Mer Barb and I did actually manage to rally and go to dinner on the beach. So so pretty and I got this amazing chicken paella and this weird-ass watery salad that wasn't very good. 

 

Not a good photo but I swear it's pretty.

So...... yesterday, Wednesday, was my first day of classes. Andddd although it's a minor wake-up call that this semester won't be a drunken joke, I am excited about the courses I am taking while abroad.

By far the most interesting is a course called "Politics of the Developing World." Despite the 15 page research paper I have to write and the two 5-page discussion papers in store for me, I am looking forward to getting more diverse perspectives and a deeper background as far as reasons for inequality and poverty; and how politics affects this inequality. (Yes I am a geek.) We watched a documentary in class on the roots of inequality, which dates back to 13,000 years ago before civilizations began. The point the documentary made was that inequality in region's wealth and power in today's world can be reduced to cattle and wheat thousands of years ago, which basically stems from the luck of the draw geographical resources people had thousands of years ago. I won't bore you with any more details though.

 

 We also have a class trip to Morocco in November which I am definitely looking forward to. I had two other classes yesterday, Spanish Civilization and Culture; and Spanish History in the 20th Century, both courses I think I will enjoy since I believe that the state of the world today, for better or for worse- all roots back to history and how history shaped us.

After class ended it was siesta time. 

Barbara + Mer ventured to Tapa Tapa for my favorite 3 cheese risotto and a few mid-day brewskis. We wandered around Passaig de Gracias (the trendy street that I now know the name of but still can't pronounce.) While observing the incredibly fashionable people walking around I may or may not have been tempted to upgrade my wardrobe and may or may not have done so. Don't kill me Mom.

Drank some wine with the girls at our apartment before bed, went to bed, had my Spanish Contemporary Art class this morning (where I basically learned that Picasso is a weird man,) and I'm now sitting in bed exhausted and about to fall asleep. Hope you guys enjoyed my nutshell week in Barcelona, I'll update again if I am functioning tomorrow. But I probably won't be... going to see Armin Van Buuren tonight (apparently the #1 DJ that I've never heard of before this week.)

If anyone else is as musically challenged as I am, here is a link to the "#1 DJ" that I will be seeing tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvpctgU_s8&feature=relmfu 

Now I need a nap. Wish me luck. 

Hasta luego,

Yardenio

Barcelona: 1, Northeastern Girls: 0

Today, I had my first experience with Spanish bureaucracy. And it was every bit as slow and inefficient as I've been warned. But that's a story for later.

Right now, I feel as inefficient and slow as spanish bureaucracy. It is 4:47 in the afternoon and I just woke up from a five hour siesta. But that's also a story for later. 

Since I skipped a day of writing I guess I'll do a quick recap of Sunday. After waking up semi-late for the first time since arriving here, I grabbed lunch (nothing special) and gelato <3 and ended up going to this park with mis amigos. It was more a family-style park than anything historic or cool, but if you hike up a hill you can see this amazingly beautiful view of the city:

Me and my roomies!

After we were done with our hike we went home, and basically didn't leave until the next morning. It was quite a productive day.

Yesterday on the other hand was finally productive. After we had the world's most boring orientation at our school for 2 hours, Barb Jordan Sarah Mer and I went food-shopping, started planning out some of the trips we're going to take, convinced Sarah and Mer to come to the Amalfi Coast in 2 weeks with us (wooo!), and finally booked flights back from Oktoberfest (we decided it would be a bad idea to be stranded in Munich with no way of getting home.) After all of this strenuous work, it was Sangria time. At about 4:30 we ventured outside to all of 20 feet away from our apartment to our favorite Sangria spot. We shared 2 pitchers of happiness in a cup.

11 o'clock finally rolled around and it was time to meet our new friend Kike and Drew out for dinner. They took us to a DELICIOUS restaurant called la Flauta and the food was incredible. Kike ordered us a never ending array of Spanish dishes, ranging from Patatas Bravas, grilled vegetables, pineapple cheese, shrimp and calamari kebabs (which I actually tried... still not sold on it,) "bitched eggs" as our friend Pedro calls them, and probably ten other plates. SO good.

Anyhow, we all left dinner very satisfied. 

And Monday night was for sure worth writing about, but I am too lazy to write about it at the moment. So tomorrow, I will update anyone interested on Monday night (the most insane night yet), Tuesday (if you are a geek like me you'll be interested in what I'm going to learn this semester) and Wednesday (I am getting confused at which day is which.)

Update y'all tomorrow (just kidding I didn't really say yall) 

Adios amigos,

xox Yarden

PREVIEWS:

I am hungover: Day 3

I have been up since 11:30 am, and I went to bed at 8 am. I am confused at how a person can function on this little sleep, but I am up and I am functioning. Semi-functioning. 

Anyhow, yesterday was another amazing day in Barcelona. You may get sick of reading about how amazing this place is, and if that's the case this blog isn't for you. 

So, yesterday was our first free day so we decided to be productive and go exploring. Tammy, Lauren, Barb and I (I'm SO lucky to have such great roommates btw) were looking for good food and stumbled upon a Middle-eastern restaurant called Aladdin that serves Paella. (Below)

We sat outside for about 2 hours and enjoyed our first taste of authentic Spanish paella. We shared a vegetable paella, a fish paella (which I was too scared to try) and falafel. Wonderful meal. 

Afterwards we ventured over to see the Sagrada Familia in daylight for the first time. On the way there I gave into temptation and stopped in a few stores to shop. This officially adds another thing to the long list of things I'm already in love with about Barcelona.... The fashion. Wow wow wow the clothing and styles and prices are too good to be true. I'm going to be 100% flat out broke after this semester but at least I'll have a happy closet. We first went to a store called Temptation (ironic?) and I loved basically everything in the store including a brown leather jacket. Fortunately for my bank account I didn't have enough cash on me, but I did get a cute beige over the shoulder bag (12$? yes please.) After a few more detours I managed to escape with minimal damage and a cute new outfit for going out last night:

Cost a total of 20 euro for that ensemble--- I am very proud of my bargain-shopper ways. Anyway, we finally made it to Sagrada Familia. I know I've obsessed over Gaudi in all my posts so far but after you see these photos you'll understand why:

Pictures truly don't do this work of art justice... It has been under construction for over 100 years with the original vision inspired by Gaudi, and it isn't expected to be finished until 2040... Crazy. But once again, if you look at the INSANE detail you will see why it's taken so long:

 (I'm proud of my photography here)

That's just a glimpse of the Sagrada Familia. Hopefully I'll be able to go inside sometime after class within the next two weeks or so.

When we got back from Sagrada Familia we got an invite from my wonderful new friend Drew to a BBQ party at his friends beautiful house. The house party was equipped with a DJ and some sick equipment, the best barbeque-d food I've ever had (I'm pretty sure the burgers were like filet mignon burgers or something, and they were so delicious that I didn't even need ketchup,) and a serious abundance of alcohol:

By the end of the night, the house was filled with about 50 people from every single part of the world. It was soooo refreshing to be around so many happy, friendly, cultured, genuine people (I'm not used to that in Boston or New York.) Literally, everyone was from all over the world: Portugal, England, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Brazil, and all the way to South Africa... Quite an experience getting to interact with people with such diverse backgrounds over a glass of vodka orange. 

After lots of chatting, trying to speak spanish, dancing, drinking, having champagne sprayed all over me, and pretending I was a DJ, we decided circa 3 am that it was time to head out. We went to the infamous Opium del Mar, which is hands down the COOLEST night club I've ever been to... I am starting to understand all the hype about Barcelona's night life. Our new friend Pasco from South Africa got us a table and we danced our butts off until 6 am. When we could almost see daylight we decided it was time to head home. 

Below are some pictures from last night's adventures:

The girls with Drew!

 Me and Barbie

 Drew, me, Pasco, Jordan, Meredith and Barbara


And now for my favorite picture of the night.... drum roll please...

Hilarious.

And that's a wrap-up for today folks. It's time for a much needed shower. Hasta luego mis amigos!

Day Two: Jersey Shore style family dinner, Nightlife, and Naked men on roofdecks

So I was just skyping with my boyfriend and I was ranting and raving about how much I love this city already. And he asked me a very good question: Is it better than New York??? 

This naturally proposed a slight dilemma for me because NY is where my heart is and it is basically my favorite place in the world. But if I wanted to be honest with him and with myself... the answer to the question is: Yes. (I will probably receive backlash from that statement when my brothers read it.)

Anyway, on to Day 2 of this adventure:

After waking up about 30 minutes before we had to be at our orientation, we rushed to get ready and took the Metro over to the fancy trendy street that I always forget the name of. Nothing too exciting during the 6 hour orientation other than the Boston Creme Pie style croissants we were given as a snack and my cool oldschool little cell phone:

 

The fun starts AFTER the orientation... We got out at around 2:30 and went to my new favorite restaurant in the world, Tapa Tapa. Fortunately for me it is directly down the street from my school.... so I have a feeling I will be a frequent customer. Anyway, we ordered a bunch of plates to share, but I had a three cheese risotto (SO good,) chicken teriyaki type thing and mozzarella tomato salad. Oh and sangria of course. God, I love Siesta. 

After our lunch Barb, Jordan, Sarah, Meredith, D and I decided to go adventuring. (Side note: I decided the five miles of walking we did and walking up every flight of stairs I saw counts for working out for the week.) Oh, and we saw our first strike:

We adventured over to Park Guell, another surreal work of art by the amazing Gaudi. (Another side note: I can't wait to study Spanish art so I can learn all about his life and the influences in his art.) This park is somewhere every single person should go if they are ever anywhere near Europe. Aside from the surreal view of the city including the mountain range, the water, and the all the beautiful buildings, Gaudi's work is worth seeing, and that basically speaks for itself. 

 Pictures can't do it justice...

 (Look at the detail!!!)

And here's a picture of Sarah and I standing with a man who I literally thought was a statue:

And last but not least a picture of Barb, Jordan and I:

Oh yeah, Mom if you ever read this... I know how much you love lizards or iguanas or whatever the hell they are:

 I got you a miniature mosaic version of this lizard-y thing (I'm bad at keeping surprises.)

ANYWAY this post is getting really long... Once again I need to shower so I'll speed the rest of this up.

After we walked for like ten hours we finally made it back to our apartment where we prepared for our very first Study abroad Family Dinners. Jordan made these INCREDIBLE stuffed peppers:

And here's a picture of the girlssss before going out-

We went to a club called Shoko last night. It was a great first taste of Barcelona nightlife. I had my first taste of creepy European men, drank Jack Daniels straight out of a large glass (am I becoming a man?) and somehow we were convinced to go back to a "penthouse roof deck" which was not actually a penthouse or a roofdeck at all... I'll leave specifics out so I don't worry my mother- but we left shortly after to say the least. The cab dropped us off at Sagrada familia again (it's farther than I thought when wearing heels, not a fun walk home. At all.)

Went to bed circa 8 am. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you guys find this mildly entertaining. 

And here's a preview of Day 3... Now, I must depart. I'm off to a BBQ at a mansion. Pray for me. 

Welcome to Barcelona !

So, as many of you know I am studying abroad in Barcelona this semester. I wanted to give my family and friends a glimpse of what I am experiencing, so I decided to make this blog. 

I've been here less than two days and I can already say this city is the most beautiful one I've ever been to and possibly the most amazing in the world... Completely in love with it already. 

My favorite parts so far (aside from the ridiculously cheap alcohol) is the combination of the much more laid back culture and the amazingggg food: Siesta. The culture allows you to ENJOY yourself instead of eating lunch at your desk or stressed out at work all day. It's quite a concept and I think American culture can take something from it. We had lunch today at the restaurant Tapa Tapa anad we all shared a bunch of delicious mini plates. (Another beautiful thing about eating here is you don't stuff your face you just have a taste of everything until you're kind of satisfied.) 

Okay, enough with this insightful BS, onto Day 1 of my trip in Barcelona. 

Day 1: So... flight sucked naturally. I took a sleeping pill and instead of getting knocked out I was semi- delirious for the duration of the flight. We transferred in Berlin; after landing there an hour late we almost missed last call for the flight to Barcelona... thanks to the customs guy who claimed he saw scissors in the bottom of my bag. After searching every crack, crevice, zipper, wallet, etc, (and somehow picking up my mace spray and not saying anything) he discovered a small pair of scissors in my sewing kit (that I didn't know I had). Anyway, thank God for the Irish guy in Customs. He saved us all and confiscated them.

After we landed, we took a bus to our absolutely AMAZING apartment. We live 5 seconds from our school in a cute little area in mid-Barcelona and two Metro stops away from the Sagrada Familia ( the most amazingly gorgeous church in the world.) After lugging my 90 pound suitcases into the elevator, we uncovered our wonderful bachelorette pad (just kidding TJ.) I live with four other very cool (thankfully) girls. The apartment has one single bedroom right when you walk in (my room) and then you walk down the hall and on the right side is a bathroom, Jordan's room, our kitchen and patio, and then our living room with a balcony overlooking the road. Attached to the living room is Barbara's room, and Tammy and Lauren's room. I'll take pictures of it later for a more detailed description, but here are some stolen from Barbara.

The worst part about this place is the fact that there's a cleaning lady that comes once a week. We all know how much I love cleaning, so I'm really upset I have to skip that part of my day :(

After unwinding for about five minutes, we were all STARVING so went outside approximately 20 feet to our new favorite hole in the wall restaurant. Sangria pitchers are ...... (drumroll) $7.50. And after three shot sized glasses of the wonderful sangria I was on the drunker side (superb might I add.) The cheapness of the booze here might be one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen.

After showering and whatnot we had a 7 PM walking tour. We explored Las Ramblas and the very chic and trendy road that I can't remember the name of at the moment. (My roommate just informed me that it's called Passevig de Gracia). The main thing I gathered from that street is that I will not be able to afford to shop there.

Only kidding, the city is seriously SO beautiful. The architecture of EVERY single building is unique and as a whole the city charming and beautiful and everything good in the world.

Apologies for my lack of good photography. The first two buildings are work the work of the amazing artist Gaudi. The third is an absolutely beautiful building in the middle of the city... and I was surprised to learn that it's actually the Argentinean Consulate.  I have a feeling I am really going to learn to appreciate art during these next four months. 

Anyway, I really need to shower so the rest of this post is going to be a little more summarized. After we were done with our walking tour and went for Tapas with the group (I love Tapas) we decided we were going to go home because we were all jet-lagged and running on 2 hours of sleep. Naturally that ended up with us going to pizza and beer (mugs for 2.50$, yes please) and ended up at Happy Hour with free shots promos at the Lir of Barcelona. We cannot escape Lir. 

(Benio and Denio at Lir)

Finally made it back to the Metro at around midnight, got lost on the metro for a while, and ended up getting off at Gaudi's absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful masterpiece the Sagrada Familia. We meandered around the neighborhood lost for a while and ended up at a bar until it closed. Drunk, lost, we finally made it home. Jordan was awake so we decided to get more wine. The wine store was closed. Everything was closed. We found a mexican looking man on a bike and asking him if he knew where the grocery store was. It was too far. We decided to end our quest.

That is all for day one. Day two coming soon.

Preview for Day two: