Friday, April 15, 2011
And in the end, it all comes down to one key takeaway...carpe diem
One month later...I'm back. This last month was filled with unforgettable adventures that I want to relive over and over again. Since I last posted, I went to Granada with the lovely Emily Grendon (missed flight #1, standard for me), went to Prague (and fell in love with the John Lennon graffiti wall) (missed flight #2, this one hurt the pocket a bit...but carpe diem), went to Rome on a whim (and jumped in the Trevi!), wrapped up my junior year (no I'm not ready to be a senior), celebrated our last two weeks of living la vida Euro. We had an epic pool party on our rooftop of our apartment building with everyone, went on a night boat cruise, hung out on the beach at night and danced the night away and all that jazz.
My last day in Barca brings forth a number of mixed emotions...it's hard to leave a place and group of people I now felt so comfortable around, but I'm beyond excited to go home to some of my favorite people in the whole world. There really are no words to describe this experience and I know that it will be something I carry with me forever. I'm not going to lie in saying it was always easy, because it wasn't. I hit a lot of points where I missed my friends and family more than anything, but at the end of the day...I loved every second of this experience. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me. I have discovered new weaknesses and strengths that I have, and have grown immensely from this discovery. I have learned to be flexible and adaptive and have learned to appreciate all types of people and personalities. No matter how different we may be, we all shared an amazing experience together and will have incredible memories to take away with us. I realized how much I appreciate things I sometimes take for granted at home. I was able to realize that there's some people I can count on for everything and anything, and I love and appreciate that more than anything.
I'm sad to leave this city (which is now alive with people and warmth) and the people I have met along the way, but I cannot wait see the 612 again. All I know is that youth is such a gift and I will make the best of every second that I am granted in this incredible phase of my life. If I could sum up everytihng I learned into one word, it would be...carpe diem. Because you only live once and life is too short and sweet to waste any part of it.
Forever Young.
John Lennon wall in Prague!
Last day!!
Roma with my girl Mel
The gang. one word: YOLO. (You only live once)
Hiking Montserrat. The world at our feet.
The Alhambra in Granada with Em
My last day in Barca brings forth a number of mixed emotions...it's hard to leave a place and group of people I now felt so comfortable around, but I'm beyond excited to go home to some of my favorite people in the whole world. There really are no words to describe this experience and I know that it will be something I carry with me forever. I'm not going to lie in saying it was always easy, because it wasn't. I hit a lot of points where I missed my friends and family more than anything, but at the end of the day...I loved every second of this experience. I have learned so much about myself and the world around me. I have discovered new weaknesses and strengths that I have, and have grown immensely from this discovery. I have learned to be flexible and adaptive and have learned to appreciate all types of people and personalities. No matter how different we may be, we all shared an amazing experience together and will have incredible memories to take away with us. I realized how much I appreciate things I sometimes take for granted at home. I was able to realize that there's some people I can count on for everything and anything, and I love and appreciate that more than anything.
I'm sad to leave this city (which is now alive with people and warmth) and the people I have met along the way, but I cannot wait see the 612 again. All I know is that youth is such a gift and I will make the best of every second that I am granted in this incredible phase of my life. If I could sum up everytihng I learned into one word, it would be...carpe diem. Because you only live once and life is too short and sweet to waste any part of it.
Forever Young.
John Lennon wall in Prague!
Last day!!
Roma with my girl Mel
The gang. one word: YOLO. (You only live once)
Hiking Montserrat. The world at our feet.
The Alhambra in Granada with EmMonday, March 21, 2011
Daily Dose of España...A visit to Mercadona (our version of Cub, H-E-B, or whatever you may have at home)
Here's the scoop on grocery shopping in Barce...
If you're a local you have these grocery bags on wheels (at least that's what I call them)...
If you're a non-local/tourist/have no idea what's going on (aka me up until a month ago), you don't have one of these, you also make fun of these bags on wheels, and you end up having to buy plastic grocery bags (which are about 2 cents here, I like the go-green effort)...and ultimately end up carrying about 30 lbs+ of groceries home.
And let me tell you...carrying all these groceries (I try to do two weeks worth in one trip) for 15 mins is DEATH. Worse than an arm workout at Life Time.
Moral of the story...I now understand why people have the 'once funny,' now 'completely rational' grocery bags on wheels. Joke's on me I guess... hah. :)
Embracing life as a Euro one experience at a time.
If you're a local you have these grocery bags on wheels (at least that's what I call them)...
If you're a non-local/tourist/have no idea what's going on (aka me up until a month ago), you don't have one of these, you also make fun of these bags on wheels, and you end up having to buy plastic grocery bags (which are about 2 cents here, I like the go-green effort)...and ultimately end up carrying about 30 lbs+ of groceries home.
And let me tell you...carrying all these groceries (I try to do two weeks worth in one trip) for 15 mins is DEATH. Worse than an arm workout at Life Time.
Moral of the story...I now understand why people have the 'once funny,' now 'completely rational' grocery bags on wheels. Joke's on me I guess... hah. :)
Embracing life as a Euro one experience at a time.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Updates on vida...
Went to Athens last weekend...what I learned...
-"In Greece it's all about who you know" This is what I learned from our new Athenian friend, Notis, whom I met through my aunt. He was great and toured us around Athens and the coast. This was the definite highlight of my trip because we got to do and see things that tourists usually don't get to see. And, we got the inside scoop on life in Athens...hence the lesson...in Greece it's about who you know. We got to celebrate Carnival in Athens in Plaka, which is super cute! Great weekend!
Stayed in Barcelona this weekend and visited the Dali museum...EPIC. He is one cooky fella, but it makes me love him and his art that much more. My favorite museum by far. Dad...this is the one and only museum I would actually take as long as you do to see ;) Here's what we concluded: its where a kid's museum meets maturity, if that makes sense. Props Dali, your stuff is great.
Photos to come...
Went to Athens last weekend...what I learned...
-"In Greece it's all about who you know" This is what I learned from our new Athenian friend, Notis, whom I met through my aunt. He was great and toured us around Athens and the coast. This was the definite highlight of my trip because we got to do and see things that tourists usually don't get to see. And, we got the inside scoop on life in Athens...hence the lesson...in Greece it's about who you know. We got to celebrate Carnival in Athens in Plaka, which is super cute! Great weekend!
Stayed in Barcelona this weekend and visited the Dali museum...EPIC. He is one cooky fella, but it makes me love him and his art that much more. My favorite museum by far. Dad...this is the one and only museum I would actually take as long as you do to see ;) Here's what we concluded: its where a kid's museum meets maturity, if that makes sense. Props Dali, your stuff is great.
Photos to come...
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Daily Dose of España...one of my favorite sights
Let me just start by saying that in Barcelona (and other cities I've seen in Spain), there are PIDGEONS everywhere. I'm not talking your few random wanderers, I'm talking hundreds of pigeons. You would think that the pigeon is the national bird...in case you are wondering though, its actually the Crested Caracara. Feel free to Wikipedia it for more random knowledge. Anyway, something I have noticed over the last two moths is that these winged friends are fearless of humans, much to my surprise. They barely flinch whey you walk by. Ladies and gents, that's operant conditioning at its best (at least, I think that's what I remember from Psychology 1001).
The main plaza here, Plaza Catalunya, is inundated with pigeons.So I guess I have to rephrase what I said...USUALLY, when 5 years olds aren't running at the pigeons they stay put. In a non-creepy way, this is one of my favorite things to see while people watching...kids running at pigeons. It is incredible how overwhelmed with joy they get when running at the birds. Wish I was still this easily amused.
The main plaza here, Plaza Catalunya, is inundated with pigeons.So I guess I have to rephrase what I said...USUALLY, when 5 years olds aren't running at the pigeons they stay put. In a non-creepy way, this is one of my favorite things to see while people watching...kids running at pigeons. It is incredible how overwhelmed with joy they get when running at the birds. Wish I was still this easily amused.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Daily Dose of Morocco...a shift in perspectives
One of my favorite things about traveling is meeting all the people that come from different places and backgrounds, bringing unique life stories to the table. On our camel tour, we met an awesome man from Amsterdam (now living in Belgium) who works for the European Union. Couple things about this man (hope he doesn't mind I'm writing about him, but I imagine the chances of him stumbling upon this blog are pretty much non-existent)
-He is one of the smartest and most culturally intelligent people I have ever met
-He has traveled all over the world and has awesome stories (He has made me develop an urge to go sand surfing in Africa)
-He has an awesome job
-He had some pretty inspiring and interesting conversations with all of us
One of the conversations that stuck with me related to immigration, both in the past and present. We were talking about how immigration is such a debated topic (this stemmed from talking about gypsy immigration in Europe which I learned about in Spanish class...yea Spanish class...I know...) and how in an overall sense, people are very much against immigration. He spun it in such an interesting way that I was able to discover a new perspective. Here's the gist of what he said:
Nowadays, we have a fear for newcomers to invade our land and to put their own mark on our culture. This happens everywhere...US, Europe, etc. We are so focused on all the things that could change and ruin the status quo that we don't realize that immigration is a part of the evolution of our societies and world. Think back to the Middle Ages or even previous to that when Muslims invaded parts of Spain and other European regions. At that time, this was the worst thing that could happen...but now looking back, it was a blessing in disguise. These people that immigrated into Europe brought incredible knowledge to Europe, such as mathematics, science and medicine, languages, etc. If it wasn't for this immigration, Europe might not have acquired these nuggets of information that sparked a wave of knowledge and social development. Had this immigration not occurred, things might have evolved very differently (and maybe in a negative manner, who knows). If we look at the present, we can see how diversity has fueled great innovation and development of knowledge across the world. We have begun to cross borders, not only physically but intellectually as well, and this has allowed societies to learn from each other and work to become more open minded and intelligent.
His idea in a nutshell was...maybe immigration is just part of human evolution, maybe its inevitable...a part of human destiny...and for the own good of our communities and humanity in general.
I never had seen it this way. This big picture makes sense to me though...and I am going to carry forth with it and see things from that viewpoint as well to understand why history occurs the way it does.
So, thank you EU man for sharing some very interesting thoughts with us youngens. This, to me is one of the beauties of trekking the world...learning from people and gaining new perspectives on the paths that are around us and the foundation of our existence.
Oh and props to him for hanging out with 10 twenty year olds ;)
-He is one of the smartest and most culturally intelligent people I have ever met
-He has traveled all over the world and has awesome stories (He has made me develop an urge to go sand surfing in Africa)
-He has an awesome job
-He had some pretty inspiring and interesting conversations with all of us
One of the conversations that stuck with me related to immigration, both in the past and present. We were talking about how immigration is such a debated topic (this stemmed from talking about gypsy immigration in Europe which I learned about in Spanish class...yea Spanish class...I know...) and how in an overall sense, people are very much against immigration. He spun it in such an interesting way that I was able to discover a new perspective. Here's the gist of what he said:
Nowadays, we have a fear for newcomers to invade our land and to put their own mark on our culture. This happens everywhere...US, Europe, etc. We are so focused on all the things that could change and ruin the status quo that we don't realize that immigration is a part of the evolution of our societies and world. Think back to the Middle Ages or even previous to that when Muslims invaded parts of Spain and other European regions. At that time, this was the worst thing that could happen...but now looking back, it was a blessing in disguise. These people that immigrated into Europe brought incredible knowledge to Europe, such as mathematics, science and medicine, languages, etc. If it wasn't for this immigration, Europe might not have acquired these nuggets of information that sparked a wave of knowledge and social development. Had this immigration not occurred, things might have evolved very differently (and maybe in a negative manner, who knows). If we look at the present, we can see how diversity has fueled great innovation and development of knowledge across the world. We have begun to cross borders, not only physically but intellectually as well, and this has allowed societies to learn from each other and work to become more open minded and intelligent.
His idea in a nutshell was...maybe immigration is just part of human evolution, maybe its inevitable...a part of human destiny...and for the own good of our communities and humanity in general.
I never had seen it this way. This big picture makes sense to me though...and I am going to carry forth with it and see things from that viewpoint as well to understand why history occurs the way it does.
So, thank you EU man for sharing some very interesting thoughts with us youngens. This, to me is one of the beauties of trekking the world...learning from people and gaining new perspectives on the paths that are around us and the foundation of our existence.
Oh and props to him for hanging out with 10 twenty year olds ;)
Thursday, February 24, 2011
The beauty of living the unknown and unfamiliar: Marrakesh, Morocco
This previous weekend I embarked on a weekend trip with around 10 others to none other than...Marrakesh, Morocco. I'll preface the rest of this post by saying that everyone should visit Morocco once in their lives, it was and I'm sure will continue to be( for a long time) one of the best experiences of my life. My intent in studying abroad was to explore the unknown and unfamiliar; a life 100% different from what I am used to and one that would open my eyes to what the rest of the world has to offer. This experience did it. As "abroad" as Barcelona is, I am often surrounded by a bubble of tourism and the inability to fully immerse myself in the culture. It's not as easy to get a legitimate feeling for being a Spaniard when you are on study abroad program with 100 other people coming from the same place with all classes, but one, in a building that is solely for our program. This is why Morocco was a breath of fresh air. It was everything I expected and more. I met incredible people, saw landscapes and a lifestyle that contrasts my own and really got to understand a lot more about the culture of the people living in this area.
The group I traveled with was awesome, everyone was adventurous and very open to the cultural experience. In Morocco, there is no escaping the culture...their version of touristy is pretty much the option of finding a Coca-Cola, aside from that, even touristy things like the snake charmers and street vendors are an incredible experience that teach us a lot about the Moroccan culture. We ventured around Marrakesh, making our way in and out of alleys, spoke to the people and learned from their life experiences and present situation (more on this later), went on a camel tour in the Atlas mountains where we also met a Berber family (traditional people of Morocco), ate authentic food the entire time (and avoided getting sick!)...and so much more.
Fri: arrived, open-eyed to a new language, lifestyle, surroundings, etc and explored the city
Sat: camel trek into the mountains with hike to a waterfall and dinner at a restaurant with an amaaaazing view... Here it is...the white thing in the back is snowy mountains...in Africa, next to desert mountains. True story...
Here's my friend Imad...
Moral of the story, there really aren't words to describe the experience, but it was awesome and I highly recommend it to people (even if its not Morocco, try going somewhere completely out of your usual comfort zone, try learning from the people and really appreciating the diversity that our world has to offer.
In the days to come I'll post Morocco-isms/funny moments we encountered by being newbs to their form of life and a blurb about a new perspective on immigration I gained from a world traveler I met on the camel tour!
Top five, all time.
We heard the prayer call five times a day! Here is the mosque.
Tea Ceremony upon arrival to riad. They drink a mint tea which is amazing! Imported from China hah.
Our room in the riad.
the inside of our room!
Snake charmers. That's the closest I ever got and I was sneaky taking the picture otherwise they run to you and put the snake on your neck until you pay.
haha
One of the palaces.
Random but I liked it. I felt artsy hah
The Big Square: Djemaa el Fna
Us girls had a slight shopping problem here...
The food market on the Big Square at night
Breakfast! Thick tortilla type pastry with molasses!
Berber family up in the mountains
Typical.
Making friends...
The group I traveled with was awesome, everyone was adventurous and very open to the cultural experience. In Morocco, there is no escaping the culture...their version of touristy is pretty much the option of finding a Coca-Cola, aside from that, even touristy things like the snake charmers and street vendors are an incredible experience that teach us a lot about the Moroccan culture. We ventured around Marrakesh, making our way in and out of alleys, spoke to the people and learned from their life experiences and present situation (more on this later), went on a camel tour in the Atlas mountains where we also met a Berber family (traditional people of Morocco), ate authentic food the entire time (and avoided getting sick!)...and so much more.
Fri: arrived, open-eyed to a new language, lifestyle, surroundings, etc and explored the city
Sat: camel trek into the mountains with hike to a waterfall and dinner at a restaurant with an amaaaazing view... Here it is...the white thing in the back is snowy mountains...in Africa, next to desert mountains. True story...
Sunday: explored all day and got to see the riots that started up at night! I have inside connections ;) One of the friends we made was a young man named Imad who worked at our riad (which was super nice and had awesome breakfast). He participated in the riots that Sunday morning, so we were loving hearing his story. His insights was incredible...hearing it first-hand is powerful. They don't have anything against the king, its more about the rest of the government and the poor standard of living they are faced with: no jobs, expensive to live there, etc.
We asked him if he was scared to riot...I like what he said in respect to it..."Scared, no why? I have one life and this is the present of it." I thought it was kind of moving seeing how some people have the ability to live for the moment and their happiness in that point in time, which in turn, unfolds into a better future...instead I often find myself trying to focus only on the future and controlling that...which as we all know, you really can't do. So I learned something from Imad that I will carry forth with me.
Here's my friend Imad...
Moral of the story, there really aren't words to describe the experience, but it was awesome and I highly recommend it to people (even if its not Morocco, try going somewhere completely out of your usual comfort zone, try learning from the people and really appreciating the diversity that our world has to offer.
In the days to come I'll post Morocco-isms/funny moments we encountered by being newbs to their form of life and a blurb about a new perspective on immigration I gained from a world traveler I met on the camel tour!
Top five, all time.
We heard the prayer call five times a day! Here is the mosque.
Tea Ceremony upon arrival to riad. They drink a mint tea which is amazing! Imported from China hah.
Our room in the riad.
the inside of our room!
Snake charmers. That's the closest I ever got and I was sneaky taking the picture otherwise they run to you and put the snake on your neck until you pay.
haha
One of the palaces.
Random but I liked it. I felt artsy hah
The Big Square: Djemaa el Fna
Us girls had a slight shopping problem here...
The food market on the Big Square at night
Breakfast! Thick tortilla type pastry with molasses!
Berber family up in the mountains
Typical.
Making friends...
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