Hi all! The last few weeks have been kind of crazy with friends visiting and a bunch of midterms and presentations and thing for school. Sorry I've been bad at updating the last week or two!
I'm literally about to walk out the door to go on my fall break for 10 days. I'm traveling with my roomie Elizabeth and we're taking the train around Italy and to Amsterdam! We're going to Milan (1 day), Florence (3 days), Rome (2 days), Venice (1 day), and then off to Amsterdam for Halloween for 2 or 3 days, and I'm meeting up with some of my best friends there.
I'm sooooo excited! And I'll take tons of pictures and be sure to update when I get back!
Ciao!
Love,
Mary
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Traveling Spain!
Hello all,
Since I've last written, I spent one weekend in Madrid and another with my study abroad program traveling to Costa Brava! Both were really fun and I saw a LOT!
In Madrid I met up with two of my friends from high school who are also studying in Spain. Sierra is studying in Toledo, and Kat is in Granada. But we all randomly were going to be in Madrid at the same time (honestly...how weird?) and so I hung out with Sierra for a good portion of the weekend, and got to see Kat for dinner and drinks on Saturday. Madrid itself was pretty cool...not my favorite city, to be honest (it feels way smaller than Barcelona, so there's a lot less to see), but the people there were wonderfully nice and I had a great time with my friends and visiting two incredible art museums! I saw the Reina Sofia, which has a lot of contemporary art, like Picasso, Miro, and Dali (I got to see Picasso's Guernica and nearly fell over. INCREDIBLE!) with Sierra, and then went to the oh-so-famous Museo del Prado, which has more classical works (ie: Goya, Raphael, Titian, Velazquez's Las Meninas, Bosch, etc.). So, to say the least, Madrid was a success!
Plaza Mayor in Madrid
A pizza-fied version of Las Meninas. Only in Madrid....
I honestly don't know what this building is, but it's gorgeous!
Me and Yoda....just chillin in Madrid.
Kat, Me, and Sierra reunited in Madrid!
Then, this past weekend, I went to Costa Brava with my study abroad program. For those of you who don't know, Costa Brava is the northern coast of Spain, north of Barcelona, which extends a bit into France. We saw so much in 3 days, and the entire time I was lead around by my art history professor who is quite seriously the George Clooney of Spain (goooorgeous!), so that didn't hurt. Friday, we went to Girona and saw a beautiful cathedral and the jewish quarter, where we learned about the Spanish ghettos. Then went to Palamos, hung out on the beach there for a bit, and went to the fish museum (as riveting as it sounds...) and saw a fish market, which was pretty cool. We got to see the actual bidding of restaurant owners and everything, which looked like a mini stock market, pretty much.
Saturday was incredible!! We started out by going to Empuries to see the Greek and Roman ruins located there. We then went to the Dali museum in Figueres, which was honestly one of the most incredible museums I have ever been to. All of these European museums are putting the American ones to shame! So many pieces and all so intense and different...definitely a bit overwhelming. We then went to Cadaques, which is where I've decided I will retire to someday. It's the town that Dali grew up in, actually, but is absolutely beautiful. White buildings and houses with bright blue shutters right on the coast, plus extremely friendly people and a laid back atmosphere made for a great beer with my study abroad friends on the water :)
Sunday, we went to the South of France and visited the exile museum (dedicated to all of the Spaniards forced to flee the country during the spanish civil war in the 1930s...a very moving place to visit. no pun intended.). We then spent the rest of the day in Colliure, where we visited the grave of Antonia Machado, a famous Spanish poet who fled the country as well, and died in France. Colliure was another beautiful town on the water, and I had quite an interesting time trying to speak broken French and whatever Spanish I knew to order food and speak with people.
Girona
The fish market in Palamos
The greek and roman ruins in Empuries...how obvious is it that I was trying to get a picture of my art history professor?
The Dali museum!
A few friends I made on the trip in Cadaques (the middle one is my roomie, Elizabeth)
Cadaques...where I'm retiring to.
Elizabeth and I in Cadaques
Colliure, France
My spanish is actually getting much much better! I feel very comfortable walking around and can carry a fairly decent conversation at this point. Considering that I came here not having taken spanish in 2 years and with very little review, I'm pretty proud of how far I've come!
Otherwise, Barcelona has been treating me very well! I'm planning on staying here for the next two weekends, since I feel like I've been traveling so much since I got here! I'm sure I'll write again soon!
Take care!!
Love,
Mary
ps~ If you want to see bigger pictures, I'm pretty sure that if you just click on the image, a large picture will load for you. Just fyi!
Since I've last written, I spent one weekend in Madrid and another with my study abroad program traveling to Costa Brava! Both were really fun and I saw a LOT!
In Madrid I met up with two of my friends from high school who are also studying in Spain. Sierra is studying in Toledo, and Kat is in Granada. But we all randomly were going to be in Madrid at the same time (honestly...how weird?) and so I hung out with Sierra for a good portion of the weekend, and got to see Kat for dinner and drinks on Saturday. Madrid itself was pretty cool...not my favorite city, to be honest (it feels way smaller than Barcelona, so there's a lot less to see), but the people there were wonderfully nice and I had a great time with my friends and visiting two incredible art museums! I saw the Reina Sofia, which has a lot of contemporary art, like Picasso, Miro, and Dali (I got to see Picasso's Guernica and nearly fell over. INCREDIBLE!) with Sierra, and then went to the oh-so-famous Museo del Prado, which has more classical works (ie: Goya, Raphael, Titian, Velazquez's Las Meninas, Bosch, etc.). So, to say the least, Madrid was a success!
Plaza Mayor in Madrid
A pizza-fied version of Las Meninas. Only in Madrid....
I honestly don't know what this building is, but it's gorgeous!
Me and Yoda....just chillin in Madrid.
Kat, Me, and Sierra reunited in Madrid!
Then, this past weekend, I went to Costa Brava with my study abroad program. For those of you who don't know, Costa Brava is the northern coast of Spain, north of Barcelona, which extends a bit into France. We saw so much in 3 days, and the entire time I was lead around by my art history professor who is quite seriously the George Clooney of Spain (goooorgeous!), so that didn't hurt. Friday, we went to Girona and saw a beautiful cathedral and the jewish quarter, where we learned about the Spanish ghettos. Then went to Palamos, hung out on the beach there for a bit, and went to the fish museum (as riveting as it sounds...) and saw a fish market, which was pretty cool. We got to see the actual bidding of restaurant owners and everything, which looked like a mini stock market, pretty much.
Saturday was incredible!! We started out by going to Empuries to see the Greek and Roman ruins located there. We then went to the Dali museum in Figueres, which was honestly one of the most incredible museums I have ever been to. All of these European museums are putting the American ones to shame! So many pieces and all so intense and different...definitely a bit overwhelming. We then went to Cadaques, which is where I've decided I will retire to someday. It's the town that Dali grew up in, actually, but is absolutely beautiful. White buildings and houses with bright blue shutters right on the coast, plus extremely friendly people and a laid back atmosphere made for a great beer with my study abroad friends on the water :)
Sunday, we went to the South of France and visited the exile museum (dedicated to all of the Spaniards forced to flee the country during the spanish civil war in the 1930s...a very moving place to visit. no pun intended.). We then spent the rest of the day in Colliure, where we visited the grave of Antonia Machado, a famous Spanish poet who fled the country as well, and died in France. Colliure was another beautiful town on the water, and I had quite an interesting time trying to speak broken French and whatever Spanish I knew to order food and speak with people.
Girona
The fish market in Palamos
The greek and roman ruins in Empuries...how obvious is it that I was trying to get a picture of my art history professor?
The Dali museum!
A few friends I made on the trip in Cadaques (the middle one is my roomie, Elizabeth)
Cadaques...where I'm retiring to.
Elizabeth and I in Cadaques
Colliure, France
My spanish is actually getting much much better! I feel very comfortable walking around and can carry a fairly decent conversation at this point. Considering that I came here not having taken spanish in 2 years and with very little review, I'm pretty proud of how far I've come!
Otherwise, Barcelona has been treating me very well! I'm planning on staying here for the next two weekends, since I feel like I've been traveling so much since I got here! I'm sure I'll write again soon!
Take care!!
Love,
Mary
ps~ If you want to see bigger pictures, I'm pretty sure that if you just click on the image, a large picture will load for you. Just fyi!
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