Update

Hello,

Everything is going well!! This past weekend I had two friends stay with me. They both go to BC but are currently studying in Greece. It was so nice brining them around, eating at new restaurants and enjoying our time together! We are even trying to arrange for a trip together in May, to wherever that might be!

Finals are approaching quickly (about 2 weeks from now) so I have been busy trying to write papers and complete homework assignments.

And... this Friday I am heading to Paris!!! So thrilled! I have always wanted to go! Better yet, my best friend's cousin lives near Paris so he will be showing us around the true Paris. I have heard such great things about Paris that I am afraid I might not ever want to leave!!

Well, I hope everyone is doing well. I am going to continue writing my essay.

Touring

Today in my Spanish class we went on a small field trip! My class, teacher and I met up in the city and gave we all gave pre-prepared tours of three of Barcelona's districts: El Born, El Barrio Gótico and El Raval. We talked about the history of each district, different monuments you can see within the district, and gave shops and restaurant recommendations.

I spoke about the Barrio Gótico which is the oldest section of Barcelona. It was founded by the Romans and back in the day it was surrounded by Roman walls. Today you can still see some of the ruins of the walls! Filled with medieval buildings, cobblestone streets, and beauty all around, this is probably one of my most favorite parts of Barcelona.

It was such a fun class! And I even got to try my first kebab in the up and coming district of El Raval!

Las Fallas

Yesterday morning, I headed to the south of Spain to Valencia (the third largest city in Spain) for the annual celebration of Las Fallas.

Las Fallas is a very distinct celebration that only happens in Valencia the week before the first day of spring. Huge puppet sculptures are the main attractions of the celebration. Thousands of dollars are spent on some of them and I can't imagine how long it takes to make them! Even stranger is that on the last night of the festival, all of Las Fallas are burnt except for one that is sent to the Fallas museum for eternity.

Here are a few of Las Fallas I saw to give you a better idea of how amazing these sculptures are:

Besides these stunning sculptures, the festival includes paella contests (paella has its origins in Valencia), people in traditional dress, la mascletá (a sound show of firecrackers) and the nit del foc (a fireworks show).

An Arc in the city

The fireworks show

On my visit I also saw la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias which is a huge complex for the arts and sciences. The architecture itself was mind-blowing (see below).

I remember last year in Spanish class I had a project to contact a pre-assigned native Spaniard and do a skype chat with them in order practice speaking Spanish. I remember that my skype partner was telling me all about Las Fallas and I had no idea what she was talking about at the time. Who would ever guess that I would be in Spain celebrating Las Fallas exactly a year later! What an amazing time I had! I can't wait to see more of the rest of Spain. There is so much to see and do! It is wonderful!

Rain is a Sign that Spring is Coming!

Today was probably the rainiest day of out my stay here in Barcelona yet. Walking the 15 minutes to class this morning left everything of mine completely soaked. Hopefully the weather will get a little bit warmer for my plans for Spring Break in April! Yesterday marked the last day of planning for my big trip to Italy... In 12 days 3 of my friends here and I are traveling by train throughout Italy to...

Rome

Vatican City

Naples

Pompei

Sorrento

Capri

Florence

Pisa

Venice

Milan

It will be my first time in Italy! If anyone has suggestions as to what I must see, restaurants I should go to (on a college budget) or even the best gelato shops (my favorite!!) please let me know!! I am super excited to go!

Okay so I am off to napping on this rainy day and then I will be starting a 15 page paper for my Spanish Literature class on Lazarillo de Tormes. Adios!

Las Vacas

I had a super busy week preparing for a film presentation on Julio Medem's Las Vacas. It follows three generations of two different families that live in rural Basque country in Spain. The families are rivalries even though they are only separated by a slope and a forest. It is a really thought-provoking film - there's a lot of symbolism, themes and surrealist images. I probably couldn't have been assigned a harder movie to do a presentation on! But all went well!

Here's the link for the trailer if you are interested in watching it one day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3uKKVaUUbw

Carnival!!

Heading to Sitges, Spain tomorrow. It is a small beach town about 35 minutes outside of Barcelona. There is a huge carnival that happens there every year and I just got my costume today! : )

Waka Waka

Hello everyone!!!

I am sorry I haven't written this weekend! I was away for the weekend in Seville, Spain (a beautiful city in the South) for about a day and then I was in Morocco, AFRICA for the rest of the weekend!! Read below for more!

After about 5 hours of traveling from Seville via bus and ferry we (myself and a few friends from BC in two tour buses filled with other college students studying in Spain) arrived in Tangiers (in Northern Morocco). We had a walking tour throughout the city through the souks (markets filled with spices, clothes, food, literally everything). The souks were so vibrant and filled with tons of people just hanging out and shopping. We got a lot of stares, which I guess is expected when you are traveling with so many young American students!

This is a sign from Tangiers- I have no idea what it means but I did pick up a few Arabic words while I was in Morocco. Waha= okay; La=no; Shukran= Thank you; Salam= Hello - It is not much but surprisingly mostly everyone I spoke to spoke either French, Spanish or English. And many of the signs in Morocco were in both French and Arabic.

Morocco is known for its spices, herbs and of course its mint tea - delicious!!! It was as if they used sugar water and just added a bunch of tea leaves, I am going to try this out with my mint from my mint garden when I get back home in August. Well anyways, we had a tour at the spice store and the sellers there explained to us different spices and herbs. Really interesting. There was even an herb for anti-snoring haha

Moroccan carpets!! We also got a tour of a carpet store and they explained to us different types of carpets made out of different fabrics and decorated so beautifully. This photo is of the carpet I would purchase if I had the space in my suitcase and my own home to put it in. One day I will come back for it.

In Chefchaouen, Morocco - everything was blue and white - exquisite. This was where many Jews and Moriscos came to sought refuge after the Spanish Reconquista. The city had canals of water running through it, markets everywhere and was gorgeous.

I wasn't kidding about the blue.

There I am riding a camel! And behind me is the Atlantic Ocean!! It was as if I was close to home, haha just on the other side of the ocean.

Hercules Cave in Tangier -- the legend goes that Hercules used to reside in these caves and it is believed that Hercules founded Tangiers and made the Straits of Gibraltar with one blow from his sword. Please also note the shape of the opening: it is the shape of the African continent.

Food; no we did not eat with our hands, but we did have couscous and meals with wonderful smells of spices and Africa.

What a great great weekend! I saw so much and learned a ton! I want to go back! Will write back soon!