Ahh sorry I am behind on updates...it has been a crazy and hectic few days here! The past few days have been really great and we have been trying to soak up Tarragona as a group before everyone except for 12 of us leave tomorrow.
I'll start with Thursday, June 6th! Thursday we had our las translation class and handed in our projects...whew it was so nice to have it turned in and all finished. After class, we had a break from 11am to 1pm before lunch, so Anne and I ended up walking to the historic district to find a coffee shop for us both to have some quiet time. We ended up finding this really cute place with a little room in the back that was completely empty! I ordered a cappuccino...yummy! We each grabbed our own table and I spent the entire time journaling and in prayer. It was so refreshing to spend the morning with God, just finding rest in that time and having time to refresh. It's been hard to find time like that to just sit without a time limit and rest in the Word and prayer. I haven't journaled that much in a long time and it was such a nice morning. We both had a ton of work to do on our presentation for Friday, but we knew that we both needed that time with the Lord to refresh and refocus on Him. I was reading in Jesus Calling, a devotional I'm going through, and talking about how God's presence is independent of our awareness of Him, because we are often blocked of that awareness by other things, such as worry. One of my favorite lines was "I am all around you, like a cocoon of Light." That was just super encouraging and reminded me that no matter where I am, God is with me and that is where my strength comes from. I don't need to worry because God is in charge of my life and always provides in every way for us. It was so great! After about 2 hours in the coffee shop, we headed back to campus for our last lunch at the URV. We were all a little sad because the food there is so delicious and that also meant our trip was wrapping up. For the rest of the afternoon, we headed to the mall to do a little shopping around. I finally bought a cell phone to use here because I figured for the extension it would be good to have one since I will be in a host family. It is literally the most basic phone, I feel like I'm in middle school again learning how to use my first phone! Back to T-9...definitely feeling a little spoiled by my iPhone right now!
Thursday night we went to a restaurant to have tapas...it was such a fail. For some reason, they thought that we were little French kids, so they served chicken fingers, fries, and water in the smallest cups ever. We actually loved the food, but it wasn't nearly enough and our professors were upset that the restaurant didn't serve us what we actually ordered. Our professors were so sweet and ordered us all sangria to drink. They brought out a few more tapas and then dessert...we were all still hungry though, not good! BUT after dinner we got to go see Flamenco dancing! Oh my goodness, it was so impressive and beautiful! Their art form is amazing and they make it look so easy! After performing, they invited us onstage to try and dance with them. Our group is so crazy, we each were trying and failing, but it was so much fun. We looked so silly, it was great. Then three of our guys stood up on stage with all the dancers and did a dance with them...we were dying laughing because it was so funny. After flamenco, we were going to head to a bar for a little bit before heading to our favorite discoteca, GreenBacks. It was Ally's 21st birthday, so we wanted to do something fun even though we all had our presentations the next morning. The bar we went to was pretty fun - we filled up the entire place, of course! After hanging there for a while, we went to GreenBacks. I wasn't too excited because I wanted to go over my presentation more but I ended up going for about an hour. It was pretty fun and we got some fun dancing in, so I can't complain!
Friday, June 8th was our last day of classes/presentations. I had my presentation for my culture and medicine class at 10:30. It was a 10 minute presentation and I was superrrr nervous! I volunteered to go first because I love getting it over with and I think I shocked Belkys that I wanted to be first. It went really well and I got good feedback from my professor, so I was happy! Thank goodness that is over! Then we had our last translation class at 12 for about an hour. At 2pm we were having a farewell lunch at one of the hotels in Tarragona. We had a 3 course meal - salad, seafood risotto, and a fruit tarte for dessert - delicious! After we were finished eating and all got some coffee, a couple of our students had prepared speeches to thank our professors and the university for their hard work. We each also got certificates for our participation in the program!
Since I got about 4 hours of sleep Thursday night, I was needing a siesta and slept for 2 hours before dinner...yesss! We had made plans to go to Barcelona for the night as our last hoorah! After dinner, we got ready and were going to take a train to Barcelona. Oh my gosh, me and 2 of my friends left a little later than everyone and ended up getting lost trying to find the train station in Tarragona. We were literally running for the train and I didn't think we were going to make it. We made it just in time (thank goodness the train was also a little late) and were sweating and tired from running. It was an eventful start to the night. Once we got to Barcelona, we had to take the Metro to the Plaza Catalunya, I was so proud of us for figuring it all out! We didn't get to the club we were trying to go to until 2:15 and then they weren't letting people under 23 in...bust. So me and a small group decided to head back towards the direction of the train station to find food and a free place to go to. What the heck, we thought places in Barcelona were open until at least 6 am. Wrong. We could not find any food places open and by that time it was around 3:45 and we were all pretty cranky. We ended up just kinda walking around and sight seeing the city, which was actually pretty cool at night. There were still a ton of people out, which really blew our minds, but we felt pretty European for being out. We ran into 2 other people from our group that couldn't get in anywhere either, so we ended up hanging outside talking for a little bit and then around 4:30 decided to head back to the train station because the first train back was at 6am. Along the way, we saw Gaudí's Casa Batlló...it was so cool, especially at night! We sat and looked at it for a little bit and then continued on our way. We got to the train station around 5am and literally sat down in the train station until the train came at 6am. I think we all passed out on the train ride back and we got back to the residence around 7:30am. We all went straight to bed and slept until 1:30ish. It was an interesting night, a little bit of a bust, but it was still fun to just hang out with people and experience the city of Barcelona at night. Today everyone is packing up to fly back to the states tomorrow. I'm just throwing my stuff in my bag and moving to my host family tomorrow sometime! I'm excited for the change and think that the next two weeks will be pretty relaxing with a smaller group of us. Sorry for the novel, I guess I better go pack a little bit!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Wednesday, June 6th
Today was rough, well at least this morning was. We all went to bed late last night and not to mention it was superrrrr hot in the dorms last night. I have seriously never been that hot in my life, I was just laying on top of my bed wishing I could stop sweating. We don't have AC here and we only have one window in our room that we always keep open, and last night there wasn't a breeze. For all you JMU people, it's like living in the Village with no fans. Not fun. The two medical classes had two conferences to attend, starting at 9:30 am this morning, each lasting an hour and a half. I think we were all struggling a little bit to stay awake and pay attention because not only were we tired, but the university is almost hotter than the dorm, which is hard to imagine. So with that combination, it was a difficult morning. The presenters were really nice and were talking about natural medicine, which is a huge part of the medical culture here. It was just a little difficult to follow their presentations because they were using very high vocabulary in Spanish aka words that we don't even know in English, but we managed to get through the day. It was an interesting topic to say the least, just a little hard to follow.
After having lunch at the campus (yay!), we had a surprise afternoon of "sports" set up for us and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! We had about a 30 minute bus ride and pulled up to this random house. It was such a sweet house, there was a huge patio, yard, and pool with an amazing view of the city. Our afternoon was filled with silly games and competitions, it felt a little like field day! We all looked so silly, but it was so much fun to have an afternoon to be crazy, let loose, and just have some fun. We were there for about 3 hours and then headed back to the residence to hang out until dinner! Nothing too much going on tonight, half of our group has presentations tomorrow so a lot of people are working on finishing those up!
I cannot believe that I have been here for almost a month and that most of our group leaves to go back to America on Sunday! It is crazy how this last week of classes is flying by and tomorrow is Thursday. My friend and I were saying how fast time is going by, it is blowing my mind! I will definitely be ready to come home in 2 and a half weeks. I am loving it here and learning so much, but I have learned there is nothing like home! It will be nice to have a change in routine this coming Sunday with moving into a host family and then starting my internship at the school next week. I am looking forward to it being a little more relaxed and chill time with a smaller group of people. It will also be so exciting to be working in the school with a speech pathologist. I really don't know what I will be doing or have many expectations for it, but I am just really excited to be doing something that I know I love and am passionate about. And being able to do it in another language that I absolutely love learning is literally my dream. Someone once asked me what my dream job would be and after thinking about it, I think it would be something like what I am going to be doing next week at the special education school, I would love to work as a speech-patholigst with Spanish speaking kiddos.
As this week is coming to a close, it is getting super crazy! Tomorrow night we are going to a restaurant to have tapas, of course, and then we are watching the Flamenco dancing which should be really exciting! It is also Ally's birthday tomorrow, so we'll probably be going out for a little bit after the Flamenco. Friday we have our presentations at 10 am (yuck) and then we have a farewell lunch, which should be really nice. We have all of Friday night and then all day Saturday for free time and then people who aren't staying for the extension leave Sunday at 5 am (I'm pretty sure they are staying up all night). It will be a busy couple days, but I know they will be so much fun! Now that I've written a novel, I should probably practice my presentation a little bit for Friday! Adios!
After having lunch at the campus (yay!), we had a surprise afternoon of "sports" set up for us and we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! We had about a 30 minute bus ride and pulled up to this random house. It was such a sweet house, there was a huge patio, yard, and pool with an amazing view of the city. Our afternoon was filled with silly games and competitions, it felt a little like field day! We all looked so silly, but it was so much fun to have an afternoon to be crazy, let loose, and just have some fun. We were there for about 3 hours and then headed back to the residence to hang out until dinner! Nothing too much going on tonight, half of our group has presentations tomorrow so a lot of people are working on finishing those up!
I cannot believe that I have been here for almost a month and that most of our group leaves to go back to America on Sunday! It is crazy how this last week of classes is flying by and tomorrow is Thursday. My friend and I were saying how fast time is going by, it is blowing my mind! I will definitely be ready to come home in 2 and a half weeks. I am loving it here and learning so much, but I have learned there is nothing like home! It will be nice to have a change in routine this coming Sunday with moving into a host family and then starting my internship at the school next week. I am looking forward to it being a little more relaxed and chill time with a smaller group of people. It will also be so exciting to be working in the school with a speech pathologist. I really don't know what I will be doing or have many expectations for it, but I am just really excited to be doing something that I know I love and am passionate about. And being able to do it in another language that I absolutely love learning is literally my dream. Someone once asked me what my dream job would be and after thinking about it, I think it would be something like what I am going to be doing next week at the special education school, I would love to work as a speech-patholigst with Spanish speaking kiddos.
As this week is coming to a close, it is getting super crazy! Tomorrow night we are going to a restaurant to have tapas, of course, and then we are watching the Flamenco dancing which should be really exciting! It is also Ally's birthday tomorrow, so we'll probably be going out for a little bit after the Flamenco. Friday we have our presentations at 10 am (yuck) and then we have a farewell lunch, which should be really nice. We have all of Friday night and then all day Saturday for free time and then people who aren't staying for the extension leave Sunday at 5 am (I'm pretty sure they are staying up all night). It will be a busy couple days, but I know they will be so much fun! Now that I've written a novel, I should probably practice my presentation a little bit for Friday! Adios!
Tuesday, June 5th
Tuesday was another day of no class, well technically. My translation class had a field trip to the Gaudi Center in Reus, which is the next town over from Tarragona. For our translation project, we had to translate a booklet that goes along with the Gaudi Center from Spanish to English. We used the field trip to check over our work and make sure our project was good to go. After walking around the Gaudi Center, we had some free time to explore the town of Reus. It was a really cute town with some boutiques and coffee shops. All the towns in Spain have these little squares with outdoor seating in the middle and little cafés or restaurants surrounding the seating, we are in love with them! We got some café and sat around chatting for a little while and then decided to shop around. We found some really cute stores and each of us found a little something to buy! We headed back to our bus and when we got back to Tarragona it was time for lunch and we were all starving.
After lunch, some people headed to the beach for the afternoon but then the rest of us just hung out and needed to work on all the final projects and assignments that we have to complete for this week. I have a ten minute presentation for my culture and medicine class on Friday, so I was working on getting my powerpoint completed. Our work has been sneaking up on us and we are all trying to get it done so we can enjoy this week because it is our last week with the entire group...un día triste!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called "El Tiberi" which is a buffet with typical catalana food...oh man it was delicious! I am normally not a buffet girl, but the food was really fresh and everything was really delicious - ranging from chicken to a beef stew type dish to pasta. And for dessert, there were cream puffs, crepes, ice cream, and tons of different types of cake. It was so good. AND they gave us Sangria with our meal, of course! And then after dessert was café con leche...of course! I love how Spain drinks coffee literally all the time, it is my kind of place! I was seriously so stuffed after that meal, I could have gone to bed right then and there!
Tuesday night = salsa night and our two professors were coming with us tonight...hollaaa! Most of us headed straight from dinner to Highlands, which is the bar that we go to. I think a lot of us, including our professors, were pretty tired because we spent most of the night chatting in the bar area and didn't do too much dancing. We all danced to what we call the "zumba songs" because they are these line dances that everyone does together and they are super fun! After hanging around, we left around 1am to get some sleep. I was so wiped and ready to crawl into bed. All in all it was another great day in Tarragona.
After lunch, some people headed to the beach for the afternoon but then the rest of us just hung out and needed to work on all the final projects and assignments that we have to complete for this week. I have a ten minute presentation for my culture and medicine class on Friday, so I was working on getting my powerpoint completed. Our work has been sneaking up on us and we are all trying to get it done so we can enjoy this week because it is our last week with the entire group...un día triste!
For dinner, we went to a restaurant called "El Tiberi" which is a buffet with typical catalana food...oh man it was delicious! I am normally not a buffet girl, but the food was really fresh and everything was really delicious - ranging from chicken to a beef stew type dish to pasta. And for dessert, there were cream puffs, crepes, ice cream, and tons of different types of cake. It was so good. AND they gave us Sangria with our meal, of course! And then after dessert was café con leche...of course! I love how Spain drinks coffee literally all the time, it is my kind of place! I was seriously so stuffed after that meal, I could have gone to bed right then and there!
Tuesday night = salsa night and our two professors were coming with us tonight...hollaaa! Most of us headed straight from dinner to Highlands, which is the bar that we go to. I think a lot of us, including our professors, were pretty tired because we spent most of the night chatting in the bar area and didn't do too much dancing. We all danced to what we call the "zumba songs" because they are these line dances that everyone does together and they are super fun! After hanging around, we left around 1am to get some sleep. I was so wiped and ready to crawl into bed. All in all it was another great day in Tarragona.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Monday, June 4th
No class today because our professor wasn't feeling well...can't complain! It was the first day we had the day to ourselves with no obligations, which was really nice. I spent the morning journaling and reading my Bible, which was much needed. Then up until lunch I worked on my presentation that is on Friday for my culture and medicine class. It is our final and has to be 10 minutes long...ugh, but I'm ready to get it over with! I headed to lunch around 1ish and after eating, me and some friends went to Corte Ingles to pick up a few things and shop around. It was a good time killer and I bought a few things I needed, like laundry detergent because it is almost time for me to do some laundry here...bummer!
For dinner tonight we got to make paella! We were all together, including the host family people, and were split into 4 groups. We cut up all the vegetables and chicken and then were given instructions step by step what to do! We made a mixed paella with vegetables, chicken, and seafood! Mhmm it was so delicious. Our professors did a taste test of their favorite...and my table won! Hollaaaa, it was so delicious! After dinner, Ally, Anne, and I went to go grab a coffee together and catch up. We went to our favorite cappuccino place on la rambla and Ally and I got cappuccino's, which were so delicious. They put so much whip cream on them, I was in heaven! The three of us were just chatting away about the trip and other things when we realized it was already 10:30 and we should probably head back to get some of our work done so we can have fun the rest of the week! This is everyone who isn't doing the extension's last week, so everyone is trying to fit lots of activities in before they go. I'm sad that everyone is leaving, but it will also be so great to have a smaller group for the last 2 weeks. I have a feeling the last 2 weeks are going to be pretty chill and fun, so I'm pretty pumped! I've just been working on my presentation and am probably headed to bed soon. We have a field trip tomorrow at 9:30 am, which should be interesting, at least I hope! Also, I finally updated my pictures on Facebook, so feel free to look at those too :)
For dinner tonight we got to make paella! We were all together, including the host family people, and were split into 4 groups. We cut up all the vegetables and chicken and then were given instructions step by step what to do! We made a mixed paella with vegetables, chicken, and seafood! Mhmm it was so delicious. Our professors did a taste test of their favorite...and my table won! Hollaaaa, it was so delicious! After dinner, Ally, Anne, and I went to go grab a coffee together and catch up. We went to our favorite cappuccino place on la rambla and Ally and I got cappuccino's, which were so delicious. They put so much whip cream on them, I was in heaven! The three of us were just chatting away about the trip and other things when we realized it was already 10:30 and we should probably head back to get some of our work done so we can have fun the rest of the week! This is everyone who isn't doing the extension's last week, so everyone is trying to fit lots of activities in before they go. I'm sad that everyone is leaving, but it will also be so great to have a smaller group for the last 2 weeks. I have a feeling the last 2 weeks are going to be pretty chill and fun, so I'm pretty pumped! I've just been working on my presentation and am probably headed to bed soon. We have a field trip tomorrow at 9:30 am, which should be interesting, at least I hope! Also, I finally updated my pictures on Facebook, so feel free to look at those too :)
Collioure, France: June 2nd-3rd
Okay, Collioure, France is officially the most beautiful, quant town I have seen. It is right on the water and everything about it is absolutely amazing. We left Saturday morning at 9:30 am and arrived at 1:30ish pm after our bus driver took a wrong turn causing us to be an hour later than we should have been. We were all pretty cranky and hungry, but as soon as we got to the town and got our lunch we were feeling better. Then we realized, none of us speak French and we are in France. Problem? Possibly, but we were still in Catalunya so we were hoping some people would speak Spanish, or maybe even English?!
After checking out our hotel and dropping our stuff off, we got a tour of a French castle! It was right on the water and was beautiful. The stones and architecture were so amazing to look at, how cool would it have been to live there?! We were all talking about how much culture there is in all the places we are visiting and how we don't see things that this in the states.
After the castle, we headed to visit the gravesite of Antonio Machado, a famous Spanish poet. Our professors had each of us write a poem about either family, nature, love, etc. and we each read our poems at the gravesite and laid them on the tomb. It was a really nice gesture and even though most of our poems weren't too great and were pretty elementary, it was still a good experience for us.
Then we headed for a tour of the town on the "petit train" which is basically a little train that takes tourists around. We finally had this tour in English, except it was British English so it was really formal and actually really funny to listen to! The town was so beautiful - literally we were surrounded by wine vineyards and the Mediterranean Sea. It didn't feel like real life!
We had the rest of the night to explore the town, get dinner, and do whatever we wanted to! We walked around and shopped for a bit before dinner. We found a great chocolate store and I got literally the best chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. I spent 10 euros on a bag of chocolate and it was totally worth it, I have never been so satisfied in my life. I promise I'm not exaggerating! We headed back to the hotel to change and we also picked up some wine, a baguette, and cheese to share after dinner...I mean, we were in France so we felt it was appropriate! We headed back out to find a place for dinner - me, Ally, and Anne found a great little café in one of the side streets and got paninis with grilled potatoes. Oh man, it was such a great meal and definitely hit the spot! Then it was time for crepes, again, when in France...we just had to for dessert! I got a chocolate and banana crepe, Anne got a nutella crepe, and Ally got a carmel, almond, and vanilla ice cream crepe. We all shared with each other, and I'm not exaggerating it was the best crepes I have ever had! I thought I was going to explode from all the food, but it was SO worth it! We headed back to hang out at the hotel for a little bit and catch up with the rest of our group. We had some of our wine, bread, and cheese and then went back out to join the group. We all ended up at this outside bar and were just having drinks and hanging out. It was a really fun night and was just really relaxing.
The next morning, we were served a breakfast of croissants and baguettes - so much bread! After breakfast, we headed to the bus to go back to Tarragona. On our way back, we stopped in Figueres, a town in Spain where the Dalí museum is. We got to spend about 2 and a half hours touring and exploring the Dalí museum, which was so cool. Dalí was a crazy genius, his artwork is so intricate and detailed and you will never understand everything about it. I think that is why it is so intriguing because he had so many thoughts and genius ideas, it blows my mind. After the museum, we headed to a lunch of bread and then the main course was an assortment of meats. It was pretty good, just different because they cook their meats different over here! But it was good all in the same! Then it was time to head back to Tarragona after a long day of traveling! We all passed out on the bus! It was such a great weekend though. I loved the town of Collioure and would love to go back one day. Southern France is gorgeous and I miss it already!
After checking out our hotel and dropping our stuff off, we got a tour of a French castle! It was right on the water and was beautiful. The stones and architecture were so amazing to look at, how cool would it have been to live there?! We were all talking about how much culture there is in all the places we are visiting and how we don't see things that this in the states.
After the castle, we headed to visit the gravesite of Antonio Machado, a famous Spanish poet. Our professors had each of us write a poem about either family, nature, love, etc. and we each read our poems at the gravesite and laid them on the tomb. It was a really nice gesture and even though most of our poems weren't too great and were pretty elementary, it was still a good experience for us.
Then we headed for a tour of the town on the "petit train" which is basically a little train that takes tourists around. We finally had this tour in English, except it was British English so it was really formal and actually really funny to listen to! The town was so beautiful - literally we were surrounded by wine vineyards and the Mediterranean Sea. It didn't feel like real life!
We had the rest of the night to explore the town, get dinner, and do whatever we wanted to! We walked around and shopped for a bit before dinner. We found a great chocolate store and I got literally the best chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. I spent 10 euros on a bag of chocolate and it was totally worth it, I have never been so satisfied in my life. I promise I'm not exaggerating! We headed back to the hotel to change and we also picked up some wine, a baguette, and cheese to share after dinner...I mean, we were in France so we felt it was appropriate! We headed back out to find a place for dinner - me, Ally, and Anne found a great little café in one of the side streets and got paninis with grilled potatoes. Oh man, it was such a great meal and definitely hit the spot! Then it was time for crepes, again, when in France...we just had to for dessert! I got a chocolate and banana crepe, Anne got a nutella crepe, and Ally got a carmel, almond, and vanilla ice cream crepe. We all shared with each other, and I'm not exaggerating it was the best crepes I have ever had! I thought I was going to explode from all the food, but it was SO worth it! We headed back to hang out at the hotel for a little bit and catch up with the rest of our group. We had some of our wine, bread, and cheese and then went back out to join the group. We all ended up at this outside bar and were just having drinks and hanging out. It was a really fun night and was just really relaxing.
The next morning, we were served a breakfast of croissants and baguettes - so much bread! After breakfast, we headed to the bus to go back to Tarragona. On our way back, we stopped in Figueres, a town in Spain where the Dalí museum is. We got to spend about 2 and a half hours touring and exploring the Dalí museum, which was so cool. Dalí was a crazy genius, his artwork is so intricate and detailed and you will never understand everything about it. I think that is why it is so intriguing because he had so many thoughts and genius ideas, it blows my mind. After the museum, we headed to a lunch of bread and then the main course was an assortment of meats. It was pretty good, just different because they cook their meats different over here! But it was good all in the same! Then it was time to head back to Tarragona after a long day of traveling! We all passed out on the bus! It was such a great weekend though. I loved the town of Collioure and would love to go back one day. Southern France is gorgeous and I miss it already!
Friday, June 1, 2012
Friday, June 1st!
Woah, it is June already?! When did that happen?! Time is seriously flying by...it's hard to believed I've already been here for 3 weeks and most of our group minus 12 of us will be flying back to the US in a week from Sunday. It is literally blowing my mind!
Today was such a fun, and another active day! We went on a bike ride along the beach in a town called Cambrils. We rode for almost 2 hours and it was beautiful! Most of us hadn't ridden bikes in awhile, so it was pretty amusing trying to get used to it again. But once we did, it was so relaxing. We were biking on a path alongside the beach just enjoying the scenery. I think all of us are going to be pretty sore tomorrow though, especially with all of the water sports we did yesterday! But, hey when in Spain you gotta go all out!
After the bike ride, we had 3 and a half hours to explore the town and hang out on the beach. Cambrils is pretty much a touristy town, so it reminded a lot of us of beaches in the US. There were stores and ice cream places and such all along the beach. A bunch of us stopped at a little store that had some pretty neat souvenirs to shop for friends and family back home. After looking in a few shops, we were ready for some ice cream of course! I loveeee ice cream and could eat it at any hour of the day, no joke! We found a gelato place that also sold drinks, so a bunch of us at outside together. I got vanilla cookie and bailey's flavored ice cream, and was actually sadly disappointed! I mean, it didn't taste terrible but it definitely wasn't worth the money that I spent, which was a sad day. But I still got my ice cream, so I can't really complain. After walking around and getting ice cream, Ally, Anne, and I decided to hit the beach for about an hour before the bus was coming back. We all laid down and immediately passed out. It was the best nap EVER, I love the feeling of waking up on the beach and feeling refreshed.
Everyone is coming to the restaurant tonight for paella, which should be really fun! And then I think there is a wine festival happening on la rambla, so we may check that out for a little bit and then head to bed early because we have to be on the bus tomorrow at 9am! We are going to France this weekend, which will be so exciting! So much is going on and time is flying! It should be a great weekend!
Today was such a fun, and another active day! We went on a bike ride along the beach in a town called Cambrils. We rode for almost 2 hours and it was beautiful! Most of us hadn't ridden bikes in awhile, so it was pretty amusing trying to get used to it again. But once we did, it was so relaxing. We were biking on a path alongside the beach just enjoying the scenery. I think all of us are going to be pretty sore tomorrow though, especially with all of the water sports we did yesterday! But, hey when in Spain you gotta go all out!
After the bike ride, we had 3 and a half hours to explore the town and hang out on the beach. Cambrils is pretty much a touristy town, so it reminded a lot of us of beaches in the US. There were stores and ice cream places and such all along the beach. A bunch of us stopped at a little store that had some pretty neat souvenirs to shop for friends and family back home. After looking in a few shops, we were ready for some ice cream of course! I loveeee ice cream and could eat it at any hour of the day, no joke! We found a gelato place that also sold drinks, so a bunch of us at outside together. I got vanilla cookie and bailey's flavored ice cream, and was actually sadly disappointed! I mean, it didn't taste terrible but it definitely wasn't worth the money that I spent, which was a sad day. But I still got my ice cream, so I can't really complain. After walking around and getting ice cream, Ally, Anne, and I decided to hit the beach for about an hour before the bus was coming back. We all laid down and immediately passed out. It was the best nap EVER, I love the feeling of waking up on the beach and feeling refreshed.
Everyone is coming to the restaurant tonight for paella, which should be really fun! And then I think there is a wine festival happening on la rambla, so we may check that out for a little bit and then head to bed early because we have to be on the bus tomorrow at 9am! We are going to France this weekend, which will be so exciting! So much is going on and time is flying! It should be a great weekend!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Thursday, May 31st
I feel like I say this everyday, but today was so awesome! I had my translation class this morning at 9:30, which wasn't too bad. Class ended at 11 and lunch wasn't until 1, so we had a little free time. I headed back to the dorm to work on a little homework, but mostly hung out and chilled for a little bit. After lunch at the university, we had to catch the bus at 2:30 to one of the beaches. This afternoon our excursion was learning a bunch of water sports/activities at one of the beaches.
When we got there it was pretty hot, but the sun still felt good. The instructors told us that we were going to be wind surfing, sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and some other cool stuff. We were all so pumped...4 hours of beach time! My group got to go sailing first! It was a smaller sailboat, one of the ones where you can put your feet in the water (I don't know anything about sailing, can you tell?!) but nonetheless, it was really cool. We were sitting on the edge with our back to the water. And then the instructor let us jump off and hang out in the Mediterranean for a couple minutes. The water was cold, but it felt so good because it was pretty hot out. After our sailboat ride, we got to learn how to wind surf. Oh dear lord, everyone knows I am not the most graceful person so I knew I was going to be terrible at balancing a board on water! We got in partners and to practice balancing, we would stand up on the board together and try to stay up on the board. Everyone looked so silly because they would be fine and then the next minute loose their balance and fall into the water. My partner Katie and I actually got pretty good and had a fun time with it! Oh and side note, the beach where we were at had all these dead jellyfish floating in the water (weird) and right as I was telling my friend Anne about my bad experience with jellyfish last summer, Ally put one down my bathing suit bottoms! I thought she was just tucking my tag in, but nope she put a jellyfish in my bottoms. Of course I freaked out and screamed so loud because I was so shocked. After the wind surfing, it was our turn to kayak. I'm not really great at kayaking, but I figured when in Spain I should take the adventure! Well we kayaked to a nude beach. Yep, we have been seeing topless women on the beach we go to, but this was a completely nude beach. It was a new experience that's for sure. We hung out there for a couple minutes and then turned around and headed back to our beach. It was a long kayak ride and my arms were definitely getting tired. I'm thinking I may be a little sore tomorrow! Then I just laid on the beach and took a nap until it was time to go around 7:30. It was a long and fun afternoon!
We had dinner at 8:30 and we all seriously ate so fast because we were starving! I literally thought I was going to pass out from hunger and being thirsty too! Now, I am in the process of attempting to get motivated to get ready to go out tonight. I think we are going to one of the discotecas down by the port, it should be fun! Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride and to a wine festival! Adios!
When we got there it was pretty hot, but the sun still felt good. The instructors told us that we were going to be wind surfing, sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and some other cool stuff. We were all so pumped...4 hours of beach time! My group got to go sailing first! It was a smaller sailboat, one of the ones where you can put your feet in the water (I don't know anything about sailing, can you tell?!) but nonetheless, it was really cool. We were sitting on the edge with our back to the water. And then the instructor let us jump off and hang out in the Mediterranean for a couple minutes. The water was cold, but it felt so good because it was pretty hot out. After our sailboat ride, we got to learn how to wind surf. Oh dear lord, everyone knows I am not the most graceful person so I knew I was going to be terrible at balancing a board on water! We got in partners and to practice balancing, we would stand up on the board together and try to stay up on the board. Everyone looked so silly because they would be fine and then the next minute loose their balance and fall into the water. My partner Katie and I actually got pretty good and had a fun time with it! Oh and side note, the beach where we were at had all these dead jellyfish floating in the water (weird) and right as I was telling my friend Anne about my bad experience with jellyfish last summer, Ally put one down my bathing suit bottoms! I thought she was just tucking my tag in, but nope she put a jellyfish in my bottoms. Of course I freaked out and screamed so loud because I was so shocked. After the wind surfing, it was our turn to kayak. I'm not really great at kayaking, but I figured when in Spain I should take the adventure! Well we kayaked to a nude beach. Yep, we have been seeing topless women on the beach we go to, but this was a completely nude beach. It was a new experience that's for sure. We hung out there for a couple minutes and then turned around and headed back to our beach. It was a long kayak ride and my arms were definitely getting tired. I'm thinking I may be a little sore tomorrow! Then I just laid on the beach and took a nap until it was time to go around 7:30. It was a long and fun afternoon!
We had dinner at 8:30 and we all seriously ate so fast because we were starving! I literally thought I was going to pass out from hunger and being thirsty too! Now, I am in the process of attempting to get motivated to get ready to go out tonight. I think we are going to one of the discotecas down by the port, it should be fun! Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride and to a wine festival! Adios!
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