This week wasn't very exciting and you don't want to hear about post-midterm classes do you? Well we will tell you a little just in case. We had a project due in our Environmental Politics class and we rocked it. We knew the answers to all the questions people asked and even had a nice back and forth conversation with the class at the end of our presentation.
This weekend we took a group trip planned by a local travel company in Aix. It was very affordable and it included a bus to and from Barcelona, housing while in Barcelona and a bus tour of Barcelona. We would later come to find out why this was so affordable.
On Friday, we awoke early to catch a 6:00 AM but to Barcelona. The bus ride was long and uneventful. We stopped at a small bus station to get a snack and continued on our way; all the while wondering what the accommodations were to be and what was included in the cost of our trip. We arrived in Barcelona around 1:00 PM still with no clue as to where we would be staying. We got off the bus and walked with our group of about 50 people to a small youth hostel. We were given keys to our room and we were told to meet tomorrow at 10 AM for a bus tour of the city. We got to our room and met our three roommates Alex, Lan and Sandra. We were eager to explore Barcelona and immediately took off. We left the hostel into beautiful sunshine. We saw an ice cream stand and, of course, got some. Jeff suggested that we go to the beach so we began in that direction. It took about twenty minutes to get there and when we arrived we couldn't have been happier. We sat for about an hour at the beach until our hunger overtook our joy of the sun. We got some lunch at a restaurant near the beach; the food was delicious! After our meal, we headed back to the hostel where we met up with our roommates. After chatting with them in the room for a while, we discovered that they were all students studying abroad in Aix too! Alex was from Italy, Sandra from Montreal and Lan from the Netherlands. They were very nice and we quickly became friends. Lan then told us that she had a friend from home who was studying in Barcelona for the seamster and she invited us to go meet up with him and tour Barcelona a little more. We wandered around a little bit with them and afterwards, got pizza for dinner.
The next day we awoke in time to get our breakfast which, in the end, left a lot to be desired. Our breakfast turned out to be two pieces of hard-as-a-rock bread, with some jam. After we forced down our breakfast we headed towards the bus. We boarded the bus five minutes before 10, like we were told. However, the second-in-command, Thomas, was no where to be found and we "could not leave without him". So, we waited for about 30 minutes before he finally showed up and our bus tour could commence. On our bus tour, we saw Plaza de España, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, La Font, the Olympic Stadium and La Sagrada Família. We were also supposed to see Gaudi's houses and Parc Güell but the bus driver could not figure out how to get there and so the tour guide decided that we didn't need to see those and ended the tour there. So, our group of five went back to the hostel to relax for a while. After, we went to the fountain again to see the fountain show. We stayed for a couple hours and decided it was time for dinner. We went back to the main street where we sat outside and ate our dinner. Carly had a chicken paella and Jeff had pizza. Once we finished dinner, we found out that Sandra and Carly had never had churros before. Jeff thought that to be unacceptable since we were in Barcelona so we set out in search of good churros...and we found them! We walked into the small restaurant and ordered churros for all five of us. They were delicious!! They had just been cut and cooked and the chocolate that we had with them was so good. After our delicious meal and dessert, we headed back to the hostel to go to sleep.
Sunday, we awoke early with Sandra to go to Parc Güell since we didn't get to see it on our bus tour. We took the metro and arrived at the Parc. We enjoyed the beginning of our day there wandering around and admiring the architecture. When we had seen all we could at the parc, we decided it was time to leave. We found out that Sandra had never been to the beach in Barcelona before so we spent the rest of our day relaxing in the sand and sun. Around 4:00 PM we went back to the hostel, got our bags and boarded the bus to go back to Aix.
Link to pictures from Barcelona: http://imgur.com/a/Iv4Yo
Adios,
Carly and Jeff
On Friday, we awoke early to catch a 6:00 AM but to Barcelona. The bus ride was long and uneventful. We stopped at a small bus station to get a snack and continued on our way; all the while wondering what the accommodations were to be and what was included in the cost of our trip. We arrived in Barcelona around 1:00 PM still with no clue as to where we would be staying. We got off the bus and walked with our group of about 50 people to a small youth hostel. We were given keys to our room and we were told to meet tomorrow at 10 AM for a bus tour of the city. We got to our room and met our three roommates Alex, Lan and Sandra. We were eager to explore Barcelona and immediately took off. We left the hostel into beautiful sunshine. We saw an ice cream stand and, of course, got some. Jeff suggested that we go to the beach so we began in that direction. It took about twenty minutes to get there and when we arrived we couldn't have been happier. We sat for about an hour at the beach until our hunger overtook our joy of the sun. We got some lunch at a restaurant near the beach; the food was delicious! After our meal, we headed back to the hostel where we met up with our roommates. After chatting with them in the room for a while, we discovered that they were all students studying abroad in Aix too! Alex was from Italy, Sandra from Montreal and Lan from the Netherlands. They were very nice and we quickly became friends. Lan then told us that she had a friend from home who was studying in Barcelona for the seamster and she invited us to go meet up with him and tour Barcelona a little more. We wandered around a little bit with them and afterwards, got pizza for dinner.
The next day we awoke in time to get our breakfast which, in the end, left a lot to be desired. Our breakfast turned out to be two pieces of hard-as-a-rock bread, with some jam. After we forced down our breakfast we headed towards the bus. We boarded the bus five minutes before 10, like we were told. However, the second-in-command, Thomas, was no where to be found and we "could not leave without him". So, we waited for about 30 minutes before he finally showed up and our bus tour could commence. On our bus tour, we saw Plaza de España, Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, La Font, the Olympic Stadium and La Sagrada Família. We were also supposed to see Gaudi's houses and Parc Güell but the bus driver could not figure out how to get there and so the tour guide decided that we didn't need to see those and ended the tour there. So, our group of five went back to the hostel to relax for a while. After, we went to the fountain again to see the fountain show. We stayed for a couple hours and decided it was time for dinner. We went back to the main street where we sat outside and ate our dinner. Carly had a chicken paella and Jeff had pizza. Once we finished dinner, we found out that Sandra and Carly had never had churros before. Jeff thought that to be unacceptable since we were in Barcelona so we set out in search of good churros...and we found them! We walked into the small restaurant and ordered churros for all five of us. They were delicious!! They had just been cut and cooked and the chocolate that we had with them was so good. After our delicious meal and dessert, we headed back to the hostel to go to sleep.
Sunday, we awoke early with Sandra to go to Parc Güell since we didn't get to see it on our bus tour. We took the metro and arrived at the Parc. We enjoyed the beginning of our day there wandering around and admiring the architecture. When we had seen all we could at the parc, we decided it was time to leave. We found out that Sandra had never been to the beach in Barcelona before so we spent the rest of our day relaxing in the sand and sun. Around 4:00 PM we went back to the hostel, got our bags and boarded the bus to go back to Aix.
Link to pictures from Barcelona: http://imgur.com/a/Iv4Yo
Adios,
Carly and Jeff
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