Too much fun

The title of my post is the reason why I haven’t updated for a while!!! After not seeing my friends for almost three weeks (besides Gabi who I hadn’t seen in a week in a half) all I wanted to do was hang out with them and have fun all week :) The gorgeous weather made everything ten times as fun because we could actually be outside… wearing sandals…and no jacket! It’s a miracle!

So Tuesday was my first day of classes in what seemed like forever. I was seriously so giddy that day and excited to see my friends that I could hardly eat my breakfast, then they all made fun of me when I told them that. Obviously it’s going to be really sad when I have to go back to Iowa without them. I think they should just transfer to Iowa, but I’m not sure how well they would do surrounded by so many cornfields. Anyway… the first person I saw was my friend Tim! After my classes, we were eating lunch, and he suggested that we go to Frederiksberg Gardens because we heard it was really pretty and it was so nice outside! So I ditched my plans to go home and work out, and Tim and looked up the directions to the park.

Now you have to understand that Tim and I did not grow up in big cities, so neither of us are very good at finding things… even if that thing is a huge park in the middle of Copenhagen. When we got out of the metro stop supposedly near the gardens, we started walking in the direction we thought was the right one, then we turned around, then we turned around again, and again… until we realized we were not in Frederiksberg anymore, but we were in Norrebro, the “multi-cultural” neighborhood of Copenhagen. Oops. We were getting tired after walking for so long, so we took a break on the swing.

Then we kept walking… seriously we walked at least 4 miles looking for this park… then we finally found it! It was worth it. We found the closest green space by the little creek, laid in the grass, and chatted and caught up on the last three weeks for a couple of hours.

Afterwards we got McDonald’s ice cream :) Then Tim had to go to soccer practice and I had wine tasting! Unfortunately Gabi didn’t come because she had just gotten home from her 18 day jaunt around Europe, so I ended up talking to a few DIS students about the different things they did over break! Our wine tasting class was a blind tasting, so as a class, we had to guess what the different wines we were drinking were, how much they cost, what region/country they come from, and what they are rated. I only got one exactly right, which was obviously my favorite type of wine, Cabernet Sauvignon from the Bordeaux region of France. Now I want to live in France and work on a winery for a year… we’ll see. After wine tasting, I met up with my other friend Mark because I had not seen him in forever. We just got a beer and at a random bar and hung out. I was so happy to see all of my friends again :)

On Wednesday I had a field study at a mosque in Copenhagen for my Muslims in the West class. It was not at all what I pictured a mosque to look like. It looked just like a regular building, but the guy we talked to said they don’t have a lot of money because all of their money comes from members of the mosque and not any outside organizations. I think the most interesting thing to learn about was how much life has changed for Muslims in Denmark since the early 70’s when he had went to school. Immigration has become such a huge issue in Denmark, and it is talked about all of the time. It is so different than the US where there is so much diversity, but in Denmark, their welfare state depends on them being so much alike. I think Danes are just afraid and probably realizing that their welfare state cannot last forever.

Thursday I had my last public health class before my final where we just did a bunch of review, then I had Danish class where we are just giving presentations on “Danishness” for our final classes. My group is giving our presentation on Monday, and our topic is education in Denmark. I will talk more about it in my next post! In the afternoon, I did some homework, then I hung outside with some other friends that I also hadn’t seen for a long time. Then Gabi sat in gum…

Thursday night I just ate dinner with my host family and did a lot of my final projects and papers. Friday I had my two morning classes, Health Economics and Muslims in the West. In Health Econ we talked about a really interesting topic, the cancer drug Avastin. It’s a super expensive drug, but it can extend the life of a cancer patient by 4-5 months. Mainly there was a huge controversy in the UK and in Denmark about whether the government should pay for the drug because it is so expensive, but obviously patient groups and citizens argue that it is impossible to put a price on a life. However, the government also has to prioritize because they don’t have money to pay for everything. It is a very interesting and complex issue.

After class I went home and ran about 4 miles outside near my house because it was so nice out there was absolutely no way I was staying inside and doing homework. Then my host parents left for their summer house, so Gabi came over and we made tacos and she made guacamole!

We had to go to the store to buy the taco shells and some other ingredients, and when we went to the chip aisle to look for tortilla chips, we couldn’t find any! We were super sad until we stumbled upon the Mexican food section. I am not kidding… they had the tortillas, chips, salsa (or sauce as they call it in Denmark), and even taco “kits” all in one section. Danes really don’t eat Mexican food, so they need kits in order to make tacos. We just thought it was absolutely hilarious that everything was in one section. Anyway, our meal was delicious!

After dinner we met Pat and Tim in the city, then we made them come with us to our favorite bar, Kulor Bar! They really didn’t want to come, but Gabi and I really wanted them to share the Kulor Bar experience with us since we go there every weekend. We ended up having a ton of fun, as always!

Today I am catching up on homework before I meet up with my friends again later tonight. It is so nice outside, but I have so much to do! If I work hard today though, then I can go to the beach tomorrow or to this huge worker’s demonstration that happens every May 1 at a park in Copenhagen. I’m not really sure what it is exactly, but I guess I will find out tomorrow!

So I come home in less than three weeks. Right now it just feels bitter, but I am sure it will feel sweet once I see my parents, my dogs, and my friends from home. Ok, I don’t even want to think about right now… time to read about user payments, the pharmaceutical industry, and evidence based medicine. Fun.

Hej hej!

Emily

“I thought Denmark was flat?”: A Weekend at the Sommerhus

My host family is awesome. I had the greatest time with them over this long weekend at their summer house in northern Zealand. It felt like I was hanging out with my own family, and the farms, nature, and cow/pig smells made it seem even more like being back home in Iowa! :)

Here is where their house is:

The pushpin on the right is where their normal house is located, and the pushpin on the left is the summer house. It only takes about an hour to drive there, so they go almost every weekend in the summer. I would too if I were them! It is beautiful and so relaxing! The picture below is the main room in the house. The hallway to the left is two bedrooms and a bathroom with a sauna! On the right is the kitchen, two more bedrooms, and another bathroom.

The picture below is showing the room from the other side. Danes are obsessed with windows! They have a really nice backyard though and a deck with two more big tables. We ate outside a lot, which was really nice.

Here is the kitchen…

and the bedroom I slept in

My host parents (Lasse and Karen), Kasper (my 19-year-old host brother that lives with me), Pierre (Lasse’s son who lives with his mom usually), and I arrived at the summer house Saturday around 11am. Karen’s two daughters, Ann and Katherine, and Katherine’s boyfriend were already there. We just relaxed a bit and laid out in the sun (it was in the low 70’s but the sun was hot!) until the other guests arrived. I think there were about 15 people in total, and most of them were Karen’s late husband’s family. Everyone just sat around and talked (mostly in Danish, but a lot of them talked to me in English too), then we went on a walk to the beach before we ate Easter lunch!

Easter lunch is really popular in Denmark, even though hardly any Danes go to church. It is mostly just an excuse to get everyone together and drink and eat. It is really typical to have different kinds of herring on rye bread, so that’s what I ate! I don’t really like pickled herring straight from the jar, but my host dad made different herring salads that were super delicious actually. Lunch lasted a long time, and they kept bringing out more and more food… chicken legs, little chicken pies, fried fish filets, whipped cream fruit salad, and strawberry pie! Afterwards, 8 of us played a game called Kings, which is a yard game where you throw wooden sticks and try to knock down these little wooden poles. We played boys vs. girls, and the girls won by a long shot! Typical Denmark.

Everyone hung around talking for a long time, and they were all curious to find out what I think about Denmark and Danish people. It’s so funny because that is always one of the first questions I get asked when I meet a Dane, but I never ask what they think of Americans haha. Once everyone left, Lasse, Pierre, and I went on a short bike ride to see a 5200-year-old grave that was used during Viking times! They are all over Denmark.

Entrance to the grave

Inside one of the rooms. This one had two different rooms.

View from on top of the mound

Pierre!

Later that night we grilled sausages for dinner, then I showed everyone my pictures from my trips and told them all of my stories from traveling. On Saturday, we woke up late and had brunch before Ann, Katherine, Katherine’s boyfriend, and Kasper went back home. I decided to stay until Monday because I was having so much fun there and it was such a nice area. After they left, Lasse, Karen, Pierre and I went on a short bike ride to the beach and around a lake. On the way back home, we stopped at an ice cream shop and got cones! It felt just like summer :)

Ever since I moved in with my host family, my host dad has been talking about these Viking graves by their summer house, so he promised to take me on a longer bike ride to see more of them in the afternoon. Pierre came with us too, and I think we ended up biking for almost 2 hours with a few breaks of course.

It was a GORGEOUS weekend, and we were so lucky to have perfect weather. I never thought I would be warm wearing shorts and a t-shirt in Denmark, but I was! Yay! Oh, and one other thing I discovered on this bike ride… Denmark is not all flat! My legs got a major workout because apparently we were in an area where glaciers pushed up the soil during the ice age. Great. I wish my host dad would have told me that before I agreed to go on this trip. Just kidding, I still would have went.

The first grave we visited is called a giant room because instead of 2 rooms, it is just 1 huge room. It was about 12 meters across, and it was used about 3000 years ago.

    

The second grave we saw is called a Dolmen, and it only held one casket instead of a hundred skeletons like the others. It is also the oldest of the three we saw.

After our bike ride, I watched t.v. and played Guess Who and Matador (aka Danish monopoly) with Pierre. I hadn’t played Guess Who in forever, and it had the same exact people and names that I remember from way back when :) Pierre is hilarious, and he is really good at English! His humor actually reminds me a lot of my brother, Jacob’s, so I was pretty entertained. Then we had family dinner (ham, fried potatoes, salad, and wine), and watched a movie, Kingdom of Heaven. Of course I fell asleep during the movie, like always, but my host parents assured me it was extremely gory and violent while Pierre claimed it was awesome.

Today (Monday), we had a nice brunch in the morning again, then I laid outside and got a little suntan (another thing I never thought would happen in Denmark!). Then we cleaned up the house and left after lunch. It was such a relaxing weekend, and I also got to spend a lot of time talking to my host parents and host siblings. I am so glad my travel plans worked out so I could go with them to the summer house! I wish I could stay in Denmark all summer so I can go to their every weekend! My host family said I could live with them all summer, but unfortunately my wallet wouldn’t like that too much (or my mom and dad either).

Once we got home to Glostrup, I laced up my running shoes and went on a glorious 5 mile run in the magnificent weather. Luckily there is a trail/park right behind my house, so that is a little motivator for me to get moving. Also, everything is turning green, and flowers are starting to bloom! Too bad I only have 3 more weeks in Denmark to enjoy the nice weather.

I can’t believe how close we are to the end of the semester. It is really starting to feel bittersweet, especially since I haven’t seen my DIS friends for over two weeks! I am really excited to see them tomorrow when we start classes again and find out what everyone did on their vacation! Plus, I have my last wine tasting class tomorrow night!

Hej hej!

Emily

Czech Trek

Well folks, I have been planning and anticipating travel break for the past three months, and just like that, it’s over! Obviously I had such an amazing time the first week traveling to big cities, but I am so glad I decided to do Czech Trek the second week. For one thing, it was wonderful to be away from herds of tourists and the hustle and bustle of a big city. Secondly, it is cool to see an alternative view of a country that a lot of tourists don’t get by just visiting the big cities. Thirdly, I didn’t have to plan it! That’s always a bonus… thanks DIS for doing all of the hard work for me :)

On Sunday, everyone who was going on the trip (40 DIS students total) met in the city around 6pm so we could take an overnight bus to the Czech Republic. It was nearly a 14 hour bus trip, but they put in a couple of movies to pass the time. Also, I have this amazing talent where I can pretty much sleep in any position, so I got a full nights sleep!

Day 1: Monday, April 18

We arrived at our hotel, Hruba Skala Castle, around 8:30am, then we ate a delicious breakfast before starting our activities for the day! Below is a picture of our hotel. It is built on the site of a castle from the 1300s, but the castle was rebuilt during the 1500s as a residential palace for some rich family.

Our big group of 40 students split into two groups each day, and on Monday, my group did archery first. I was really excited to try archery again because I used to be good back in good old days of Girl Scout camp! I think the last time I had done archery was at Camp Io-Dis-E-Ca when I was thirteen haha. My first few warm-up shots weren’t so hot. The picture on the right is just one amazing views we had from the grounds of our hotel.

    

Then we had a competition, and each person got to shoot 6 times. I ended up getting 4th place overall in my group, and I got the highest score out of all of the girls! I knew I still had it.

After archery, we had a break for lunch which was at the hotel, then we swapped activities with the other group and did ice breaker games, which were more like team building activities. I felt like I was at camp again :) It was seriously a ton of fun, and it was awesome getting to know a bunch of new students from DIS that I had never even seen before.

The picture above was taken just shortly before everyone fell over. Below is a game we had to play where groups of 5 had to figure out a way to all be connected and have a certain number of hands and feet on the ground. In the round below we were supposed to have a total of 2 feet and 2 hands on the ground between the 5 of us!

We played a bunch of other fun games too, like a trust fall and a tight rope thing. Then we had a traditional Czech dinner at the hotel: dumplings and Svičková, a weird combination of meat with sauce and whipped cream. The dumplings look like big slices of bread, but I assure you they are not. They pretty much tasted like potato bread, but a little spongier. It was odd, but I ate most of it!

The rest of the night was free for us to just hang out. A bunch of us got some beers from the bar (SO CHEAP compared to Denmark!) and sat on the terrace. One of the girls borrowed a guitar that was randomly at the bar and we had a sing-along. All that was missing was the campfire!

Day 2: Tuesday, April 19

The second day started with rappelling and high rope bridging! We also got to do a zip line, which was definitely my favorite activity of the day because the view was amazing.

I’m the little tiny dot that you can barely see in the middle of the picture. I had my arms out like superman haha. We got to fly over this huge valley. Then after the zip line, we had to take a Barma bridge back to the other side. A Barma bridge is one of those tight rope bridges with two strings to hold onto with your hands. It was a little petrifying, but I just kept telling myself that I have a harness on, so I was safe!

I didn’t like repelling as much as the other activities, but it was still fun. The scariest part is leaning over the drop off!

But after that, it’s easy peasy from there. The harness was kind of digging into my rib cage, so I went as fast as I could. Also, I don’t think I liked it as much as the other two activities because I was just staring at the side of the rock wall instead of the beautiful valley behind me.

After lunch, we went trekking, aka hiking. I chose to do the afternoon hike because it was harder than the morning hike. Our instructor took us through the Cesky raj around our hotel and showed us a bunch of breath taking views. In the picture on the right below, you can see a rock climber in a blue shirt about a third of the way up the mountain. Scary!

    

We hiked for about 3 hours, and I was expecting it to be more intense. The trail was really well maintained, and it even had stairs. I was expecting a more rugged hike, but it was still fun!

The picture above is called the band because the rock in the middle is the band director, and the rocks in front of it are the musicians!

Then we had dinner at the hotel again (meat and potatoes, of course!), and later that night was a treasure hunt. We were separated into groups of 5, then we had to find clues in the dark by only using candlelight to find a message that would lead us to a key to unlock the highest tower in the castle. My team didn’t win, but the first prize was two bottles of wine, and other teams got a bunch of chocolate. It was a blast, and the instructors dressed up as ghosts and made this whole story to go along with it which was pretty hilarious.

Day 3: Wednesday, April 20

This was an early day! We had to meet for breakfast at 6:30am so we could take the bus to a nearby town for canoeing and rock climbing. I went canoeing first on the Jizera River because I had two pairs of shoes and a lot of the other students only brought one pair for the entire trip. Our guides were acting like it was inevitable that we would be getting wet, which seemed weird to me because I have been canoeing several times and never get wet!

When we were driving by the river, our guide pointed out this waterfall that we were going to be canoeing down. I laughed because I thought he was completely joking… but little did I know! I left my camera on the bus for canoeing because I didn’t want it to get wet and break, but there would have been some great pictures if I had a waterproof camera!

At first we got about 5 minutes to practice canoeing around a still part of the river, and the other girl I was with wanted to be in the front of the canoe. I had never been in the back before, and I was absolutely terrible at it! Then our practice time was cut off, and we had to canoe down this waterfall! There was a little ramp that we actually went down in the middle of the water fall, but it was super scary going down it especially because I couldn’t steer us very well! The first group to go was two boys, and they flipped their canoe and went in the water! My canoe went down just fine, but we still got soaked from the huge splash at the bottom! I don’t think anyone stayed dry! The one canoe with three people in it also flipped!

It took us about a half hour of spinning in circles and turning around in order to figure out how to make the canoe go straight, but once we did, it was a nice relaxing couple of hours. I really wish I had my camera because the area around the water was just gorgeous. There were a bunch of little farms and cottages, and the sun was shining. It was peaceful and just so pretty. I wish it was closer to my home in Iowa instead of on the other side of the ocean!

After canoeing, I luckily got to change my shoes, then we went to a nearby town for lunch at a traditional Czech pub. We had Czech goulash which was delicious! Then in the afternoon we went rock climbing and repelling!

I had never been rock climbing on anything but a rock climbing wall, and that was back at camp when I was thirteen (and I was terrible at it), so I was a little nervous! There were only two rock walls and one wall for repelling, so a lot of the time was spent cheering on everyone else and just chatting away with the other students in my group. I sat around for awhile and waited for the line to die down, then one of the girls talked me into trying the harder of the two climbing walls instead of the easy one!

    

I really had no idea what I was doing, and I got stuck in one spot for a little bit. It actually wasn’t that hard though, and I ended up loving it. Plus, the view at the top was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in my life. I didn’t have my camera while I was climbing obviously, but I don’t think a picture could have ever captured the beauty of the Czech countryside.

    

I had to repel down from the top, and my foot slipped and I almost flipped entirely upside down! That was pretty embarrassing, and I got a couple scrapes on my shin… I’m so graceful. I went repelling as well, but I didn’t like it nearly as much as rock climbing. I think all of the other students agreed with me, and we decided it’s because it’s basically guided falling, and you don’t really have a sense of accomplishment at the end like you do with climbing the side of a huge rock! It was still cool though don’t get me wrong, just not as great :)

After rock climbing, we had a final dinner at the hotel then everyone just hung out at the terrace and the hotel let us use the big dining room to listen to music, play games, and drink beer! It was a great night!

Day 4: Thursday, April 21

One of the reasons I was really excited about Czech Trek was that we got to spend one day in Prague! I have heard amazing things about the city, and I really wanted to visit while I was studying abroad this semester. We left our hotel around 8:30am, then I napped on the two hour ride into the city. The bus dropped us off pretty close to the main squares, and we were free to do whatever we wanted! I ended up walking around with a group of 4 other people, and after looking around for a bit, we went to find lunch. We wanted a traditional Czech meal, so we walked a little away from the main tourists areas until we found a menu with traditional Czech recipes that were handed down from the chefs grandmother. The restaurant also got all of their meat from a local area where one of the kings used to hunt a long time ago! How cool! On top of that, it was pretty cheap! I got a beer and my meal for about 11 USD.

We all decided to try something weird, so I got the deer ragou with dumplings. It was yummy!

Some of the others got wild boar or duck, and their food was also really tasty.

One weird thing they did in Prague was bring you baskets of bread, then charge you for it on the bill without us asking for it or without telling us we had to pay for it. It was cheap, but we still thought it was odd. I wonder what other cities do that.

After lunch we went on a walking tour that DIS paid for. It was three hours long, and I really liked it! I just love getting to know little back stories about all of the buildings and random history. We learned about the Czechoslovakia split, what it was like during WWII and the Soviet Union. We also got to see the main areas like Wenceslaus Square, Old Town Square, the Jewish area, and Prague castle!

View from Charles Bridge. You can see the castle just to the right of the statue in the distance.

View of Prague from the castle, which I realized I didn’t even take a picture of. It wasn’t really castle like, but more like a palace.

This is St. Vitus Cathedral, which is located on the castle grounds. It started being built in 1344, but wasn’t finished until 1929.

After the walking tour, we rested in the gardens nearby, then went to find some dinner. We were so tired from walking around all day, so we had a really long dinner. Then we met up with a bunch of the other students on our trip and hung out until we had to be at the bus at 9pm. I was absolutely exhausted, and fell asleep around 9:45pm. I slept pretty well the whole night, so it wasn’t too bad of trip. We got into Copenhagen around 10am, and I went back home and slept most of the afternoon and just relaxed.

I had a great time in Prague, but since it was Easter, there were so many tourists which made it difficult to see a lot of the sights. Plus, I only had one day, so I want to go back and see more! The buildings in Prague were all so unique, colorful, and had such interesting architecture. The entire time I was just staring up at all of the buildings! I had such a great 2 week break, and tomorrow morning I am heading to my host family’s summer house for Easter. It should be a great way to end vacation. We are going to have Easter lunch, and my host dad said we can go biking and he is going to show me a 5000-year-old Viking grave!

Now it is time for dinner with my host family, then I am going to watch a movie and take it easy tonight!

Hej hej!

Emily

Travel Break Part Tres: Barcelona

It’s the final leg of the blog posting marathon, and I have one hour until I leave for the Czech Republic… so here it goes!

Day 6: Thursday, April 14

We got up bright an early in Paris, and left our hotel by 6:45am to take the metro across the city to catch a bus to the airport. We flew Ryanair to Barcelona, which is great because it is so cheap, but they have so many other issues. From now on, I will be paying a little more to fly a better airline. First of all, they only fly to small airports in the middle of nowhere, so we paid 15 euro to take an 80 minute bus ride to the airport. Then, I had to pay extra to check my bag, which is carry on size for every other airline except Ryanair which makes their weight and size restrictions ridiculous. Also, even though we were at an extremely tiny airport, we had to wait 45 minutes in security because everyone ahead of us apparently didn’t get the memo that razors, huge bottles of liquids, and knives aren’t allowed on carry-on luggage. Ok, the knife part may be an exaggeration, but seriously I don’t think anyone on our flight had ever been in a plane before. Needless to say, Gabi and I were getting quite annoyed, but after awhile, it was just hilarious that they were so ignorant.

The flight was only an hour and a half though, and luckily they flew into the main airport in Barcelona, so once we got to Barcelona we just hopped on a train that took 20 minutes then took the metro two stops to our hostel! Our hostel was AMAZING! It is called Hostel One Sants, and I highly recommend it to everyone! As soon as we checked in, the woman at the desk pulled out a huge map and circled all of the cool places we need to see and told us how to get there! It was also really colorful, clean, had free computers with internet, free activities at night, and a kitchen that you could use and store your food in!

After checking in, we met up with Jackson who is our friend from DIS and also happened to be traveling in Barcelona and staying in our hostel!! On the way to the metro, we walked by a fruit stand that had amazing looking strawberries, so we bought a whole kilogram of them for 2.50 euro! Then we ate the entire container within the next three hours haha. They were huge and delicious!!!

We met up with Jackson at Parc Guell, the park designed by the famous architect Gaudi.

His architecture is so whimsical and weird. It reminded me of Candyland.

The main area was crowded with tourists, but there was a lot of hiking trails that were less crowded. There were also a lot of spots that had amazing views of the entire city!

I wish Copenhagen had at least a hill I could climb to see the city from above like this!

I was really reminded of being in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico with the design of the buildings and the city. Also, there were palm trees… ahh summer! Jackson told us he had plans for us for dinner that night… a cooking class on how to make paella and sangria! We met at a place called Travel Bar, and 2 other girls from DIS who happened to be in Barcelona were there too! There were also four other people who we didn’t know, but had a great time talking to throughout the night. SUPER WEIRD COINCIDENCE: One woman who was there grew up in a town, Stanwood, about 45 minutes from my hometown, and she went to North Cedar who we played in high school! Such a small, small world. Oh and even weirder… she was staying at our hostel! I love when things like that happen!

So once everyone was together at the Travel Bar, our chef took us to a local market to buy the ingredients for the paella!

Those crabs and lobster were alive!

Calamari that we bought for our dinner!

We headed over to a different Travel Bar (they have three in the city) for the class. When we got there, they had tapas ready for us to eat and sangria for us to drink! We enjoyed them for about an hour maybe and talked a bunch while he prepared the ingredients in the kitchen.

The things on the left are Spanish tortillas, which I now know how to make thanks to my hostel’s cooking class! I also learned how to make Spanish tapas:

1) Rub a tomato on the little slices of bread so that the red juice covers the top

2) Drizzle a little olive oil on top

3) Layer a piece of cheese and a piece of meat on the bread

4) Drizzle a little more olive oil and add a dash of spicy paprika

5) Add an olive and enjoy!

Then the chef made paella for us and told us all of the steps! It seems really difficult and you need a flat pan (not a wok) so that it heats evenly the entire time. You also add each new ingredient to the center, and you don’t stir the rice like risotto! It’s not supposed to be creamy.

   

While the rice cooked, we learned how to make sangria from the bartender! He gave us the directions and made us one jug, then we had to make two more. I was the brave soul who stepped up and made the first one! It was fun, and now I know I can make it! This is the classic recipe he gave us:

1) Put some slices of fruit into a jug (we used limes and oranges, but you can also use apples)

2) Add two big spoonfuls of sugar for one jug

2) Add 1/3 jug of red wine (or white wine), 1/3 jug of orange juice, and a 1/3 jug of apples juice

3) Put in about 8-10 counts of Brandy

4) Stir and enjoy!

We had seafood paella, but you can also make chicken or vegetable paella. Too bad seafood is so expensive around us!

YUM! You can see it steaming! It was absolutely delicious! We hung out, ate, and drank for a couple hours, then decided to go on the pub crawl the bar was hosting that night. We had to run home first and change though, and I decided to leave my camera at home because… well I am not known for taking care of my camera and Barcelona is known for pickpockets! We went to 5 bars… the coolest one was a place that had 600 different shots! We took one called the boy scout where the bartender lit the bar on fire, and we  lit a little marshmallow on fire over it, dipped the marshmallow in the shot to put out the flame, ate the marshmallow, then took the shot. It was so cool! We also did one called the Harry Potter where he put a shot of something in a glass, put an orange slice and sugar on top, lit it all on fire, then you eat the orange slice and take the shot. It was so cool looking!

After the bars, the final stop on the pub crawl as a dance club! They don’t go out to the dance clubs until 2am!! We only stayed about an hour and a half because we were super tired and Jackson had to be up at 6am for his early train to Valencia! Once we got back to our room, I climbed right into bed and passed out within 2 seconds!

Day 7: Friday, April 15

Gabi and I had a late start this day… for obvious reasons! We didn’t end up leaving the hostel until 11am, and our first stop was Sagrada Familia, a famous church by Gaudi that still hasn’t been finished for 200 years. There were a ton of tourists around, and honestly, I thought it was weird and ugly. It could have just been because of all the construction around it… or the weird tourists.

    

    

Then we walked to the main street to see Gaudi’s house he built. The architecture is so odd!

    

It was so nice outside though! And Barcelona is gorgeous with all of the trees! Plus I could actually understand a little of the language, at least what was in Spanish and not Catalan! I actually remember some stuff from Spanish class!

We pretty much did what we did in the other two cities, just walked around! We got lunch and some ice cream, and decided to head over to the beach!

    

It was only about 70 degrees, but that didn’t stop some people from wearing their bikinis! We ended up laying on the beach for about an hour and taking a nap :) At that point I was wishing I didn’t put on a skirt because it was so windy! That’s when we decided to head back to the hostel before dinner to put on some pants!

This is why our hostel rocks: rooftop terrace with a hammock. BLISS! After relaxing a bit more, we got a bite to eat for dinner then went to a light/fountain show that the hostel staff told us we had to see! We are so glad we went! It was in front of the art museum, and they had the fountains spraying to the beat of different songs! We saw three shows, and our favorite was the first one. They played funny music, like I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston.

    

Then we climbed up to the museum to get a view of the city!

The show was great! It was so warm outside, and humid!! I missed humidity so much! After the show, we went back to our hostel for a Spanish tortilla making class! I am going to make them when I get home! It was fun hanging out with people from the hostel, and the staff there are so nice and funny. Oh also, I am impressed by how many people were cooking their own delicious looking food. I seriously need to start learning how to make good dishes! They were cooking for just themselves and it looked amazing! When Gabi and I go to Berlin, our hostel has a kitchen, so I think we should cook for ourselves… cheap and good! We ended up going to bed around midnight because the next day was my last day :( Oh yeah, and before bed, I realized I got a sunburn! Even though it was only 70 degrees, the sun was still hot!

Day 8: Saturday, April 16

We started the day by heading to the city park, which was absolutely gorgeous and had hardly any tourists! It smelled so great, and there were people playing ping pong and doing yoga just like the hostel staff said!

We walked around the park for awhile then we stumbled upon a hippie market with stuff about alternative medicine, yoga, meditation, food, crafts, organic random hippie things. It was really interesting and Gabi bought some awesome jewelry!

Then we walked around the city some more to explore a new area and ended up walking right back to the main area, La Rambla which as a bunch of street performers, caricature artists, cafes, and tourists! We looked around forever trying to find a cheap sandwich (because obviously the tourists area is overpriced). We ended up finding a sweet and cheap deal, then we ate in the sun by a gorgeous church and people watched. Then we unfortunately had to head back to the hostel so I could get my bags and take the train to the airport. I had such a great time! Barcelona was gorgeous, and every city we went to was so unique. My favorite part was the cooking classes!! They were awesome, and now I have a new dish I can cook!

Now it is off to the Czech Republic! I am excited to get out of a big city for awhile and be around nature! Then I get a day to explore Prague. What a difficult life I live ;)

Hej Hej!

Emily

PS. I will update when I return on Friday!