INTERLAKEN, SWITZERLAND

So after coming back to Barcelona from Madrid, we had a week of classes and then last Thursday night we headed to Geneva, Switzerland!  There's a company in Europe called "Bus2Alps" and it does exactly what it advertises, it buses study abroad kids to the Alps and other hot vacation spots all over Europe, and offers them housing and discounted activities.  Earlier in the semester a Bus2Alps rep handed us some brochures about the trips, so my roommates and I thought it would be fun to do one of them.  We all agreed on Interlaken as none of us had been to Switzerland and wanted to ski as well.  So we impulsively booked the 160 euro trip and we're getting excited about our bus trip to Interlaken.

After about 45 minutes of soaking in the impulsive purchase we read over the confirmation email, and realized that our "bus to the alps" was arranged to pick us up from the Geneva airport at 11:30 pm on Thursday night.  We were really confused by this because we assumed that we would be taking a bus from Barcelona to Interlaken, as was advertised.  As the realization set in we discovered that not only would we be paying 160 euros for the hostel stay and activities, we would have to also purchase a ticket to Geneva, where the bus would then drive us to Interlaken.  (Interlaken is about a 2.5 hour drive from Geneva).

This was really frustrating at first, but there was nothing we could really do so we frantically started searching flights and thankfully found a decent 70 euro flight on Swiss air that got us into Geneva at the right time to meet the Bus2Alps.

First off, the flight to Geneva was incredible, Swiss air is an awesome airline.  Not only do they let you check a bag for free, but on the flight they offer complimentary beverage, sandwich, and swiss chocolates.  My friends and I couldn't believe how lucky we were.

So when we finally did get to Interaken, it was 2:30 am Friday morning and we were exhausted, but we had planned to get up bright and early only 5 hours later to ski, so we went straight to bed.

Interlaken was a charming and beautiful city beneath the mountains.  If you have never been, I STRONGLY recommend it!  This photo was taken right outside of our hostel, which was a really cute typical Swiss hostel, 3 of my roommates and I ended up sharing a room with 3 girls also studying abroad in Barcelona who all go to Penn State, they were all super nice and we spent most of the weekend hanging out with them as well.

So on Friday we got up early and walked next door to the ski/snowboard rental shop and got our skis rented (with Bus2Alps we got a slight discount on rentals) and got ready to head up the mountain.  The commute was somewhat long (we took a bus to the train station, hopped a train to another train station, took another train up the mountain, and then a gondola up to our ski location) but it was worth it because the views were amazingly beautiful.

Since I hadn't been skiing since Lake Tahoe in 2006, and my skiing abilities are not superb, I was a bit intimidated by the enormous Swiss Alps.  Two of my roommates, Michela and Julia were pretty seasoned skiers, and Charlotte had never skied before in her life, so were had a bunch of different levels of skiers.  The part of the mountain we were on had breathtaking views and the runs were really fun.  For lunch we had a really good (and expensive!) meal of sausage and french fries at the mountain lodge.

     After a day filled with skiing,  we had a casual dinner at the really good Thai restaurant next to our hostel, and because we were so exhausted we decided to call it a day.  The second day we decided to save our money and not do another activity (skiing alone cost around 250 US dollars!)  so we decided to explore a little more of Switzerland and chose to see the town of Murren.  It was another long commute up the mountain but it was an absolutely beautiful day so the price of the train ticket, and time spent on getting there was well worth it.  

If anyone is looking for their next vacation spot I would highly recommend Murren, Switzerland!  It literally looked like a storybook town in the mountains.  People would ski right up to the grocery store and around town, the lodging looked so nice/cozy, and the ski lifts are right in town.  I had such a great time just walking around taking in all parts of the beautiful town, and the views literally were nothing I had ever seen before.  My pictures truly don't do it justice, you must go see them for yourself!

When we were walking around in Murren we came across this little rec center that had an outdoor ice rink that let you rent skates, so me and some of the other girls decided to rent skates and skate around.  It was so nice just skating around, and really made me miss the times when I played ice hockey.

After a long day, we decided to go for an authentic Swiss cheese fondue dinner.  Although the taste of the cheese fondue wasn't quite what we were expecting and not really to our liking, it was good to say we tried Swiss cheese fondue in Switzerland.

Our last day in Interlaken was unfortunately really cold and rainy, so not the best way to end the trip, but it was nonetheless one of my favorite places I've ever been, even though I was only there for a weekend.  It is an incredibly beautiful place with so many different things to do, I would strongly suggest visiting Switzerland at least once in your life.

MADRID

So I'm back writing on my blog, I was at first having a hard time keeping up and documenting all of my trips and such since I've never been good with a journal/diary or anything like this, but after being notified by my mom that I would be receiving financial compensation for each new post, I figured I would start up again. (I am a college kid studying abroad after all, I need the $$).

So two weekends ago was my first trip outside of Barcelona to the capital city of Madrid.  Our program arranged this trip so we took an "Ave" train which is one of their bullet trains that clocks up to like 150 mph.  We got to our hotel which was in a very centrally located area, and then decided to be tourists and do some site seeing.  We were only just a block from the Plaza Mayor (see pic above), which is Madrid's main square with tons of street performers and restaurants.  I had been recommended by another CEA student who had gone to Madrid the previous week that we had to visit "El Parque Retiro" which is kind of the "Central Park" of Madrid.  It was absolutely beautiful and she also recommended that we must do the boat rides on the lake.  It was only 4 euros so we gladly signed up.

After getting to know the city the first day we had one of the best meals I've had since being abroad at this little hole in the wall called "Doña Antonia" and I had a deliciously fresh chicken sandwich on a pita.  We loved this restaurant so much we went back the next night, and I had one of the best hamburgers I've ever had in my life.  But the second day we got up early to go on the guided bus/walking tour.  Madrid's architecture blew me away, and one can really feel the historical sense of the city from their buildings and architecture.

Feeling touristy and engulfed by the historical feeling of Madrid, one of my roommates Charlotte and I walked over El Museo de la Reina Sofia, which in English is the Queen Sofia Museum.  It's their museum of contemporary and modern art.  It was a striking building and an amazing experience seeing some of the world's most famous works.  It's definitely a privilege to say I got to see Picasso's masterpiece "Guernica" up close.

Later that night we decided to go out and experience Madrid's nightlife and our CEA chaperone recommended a local bar called "La Vía Láctea" which translates to "The Milky Way" in English.  It was definitely an experience as the bar was located on a dark alleyway and had posters of American 80s bands, and was playing tacky American 80s films, but nonetheless a fun one at that.

On our last day, since I had discovered that I really enjoyed museums, I knew I wasn't going to leave Madrid without seeing El Prado, one of the world's most famous and impressive art museums.  I couldn't take any pictures inside but the building on the outside was a work of art in itself. (See picture above).  The murals and masterpieces I saw on the inside totally affirmed my love for classic art.  I walked out of the museum extremely pleased that I had made sure to spend a few hours there, and would highly recommend anyone who visits Madrid must visit El Prado.

Overall, it was a quick but really educational/enlightening trip.  The fact that I got to see 2 of the world's most famous art museums was really exciting, and now I CANNOT wait for my trip to Paris to see some more world famous works of art!

All Moved In

So yesterday (Sunday) we moved into our apartment on this cute little street called Rita Bonnat.  We are in between 2 little restaurants, and yesterday morning after we moved in we stopped at a nearby café and grabbed some breakfast.  After settling in and taking much needed naps, we went to a really nice italian restaurant a block from our hotel and I had a really large and delicious helping of prosciutto/goat cheese pizza, which also served as my lunch and dinner today.

Today was the first day of classes, and I only had to go to one since our business classes start Wednesday.  It was actually very easy to get around the city via the metro.  We have about a 10-15 minute commute to the CEA campus.  Today I had my Cultural Visions through Spanish Cinema class at the CEA Global Campus.  Luckily, one of my roommates, Julia, is in my class and so far the class seems pretty interesting, as we are going to watch 3 Spanish movies.

First Full Day in Barca

So after hearing about my experiences before I even arrived in Barcelona, I thought I should share my experience of the first day once I finally got there.

The morning was very slow for me as jet lag was hitting me hard.  We took a bus to our hotel, the Catalonia Barcelona Plaza Hotel, where we would be staying for the weekend before arriving at our apartments.  I settled into my room and took a shower before my roommate, Ali, who is also one of my apartment-mates, arrived.  Once Ali arrived she and I, and another girl Alex, who Ali had met on her flight decided to get some lunch and explore Barcelona.

We decided to walk to Las Ramblas, which is a very popular hot spot for tourists.  It's a 2 mile long street filled with little cafés/restaurants, shopping carts, and really elaborate street performers.  We stopped at a little restaurant named Micky's and we all ordered "jamón y queso"sandwiches. (For all you non-Spanish speakers, jamón means ham, and queso means cheese)  The sandwiches were really good, especially the french baguette the meat and cheese was on.  After lunch we decided to walk around some more, and walked over to the marina, which was housing a rather large cruise ship, and off in the distance one could see the very new and fancy "W" hotel.

As we were walking up Las Ramblas to head back to our hotel, we came across a market hidden in a little side street.  Let me tell you, this was the first Spanish market I've seen, but it sets the bar extremely high.  The rows and rows of any food you could think of were amazing.  What was especially amazing was the expansive set up of chocolates and other sweets.

After our trip at the market we walked and walked (and after getting somewhat lost, took a cab) and arrived back to the hotel to relax in the room and grab dinner.

The first day was not too busy, but it was really fun finally getting to experience the city I've been waiting to see for months now.

The Boarding Blunder Before Barcelona

Hi Everyone,

This is my first time doing a blog, and I'm really excited to be updating you all on my travels.  So this morning at about 9 am Barcelona time, I landed in Barca after a nightmarish ordeal the night before.  So what happened was, I had had a connection in Newark but had not been assigned a seat for the connecting flight to Barcelona.  I didn't think much of it, as I figured I would just be assigned one at the gate before boarding.

Little did I know that Continental Airlines had oversold the plane by at least 5 seats, one of those seats being mine.  As panic and stress started to settle in with the thought I may not get on this flight, I patiently had to wait 45 minutes in line for the ticket agent to arrive at the gate.  I had been overhearing rumors that there might be 3 extra seats on the flight and as I was the second person in line at the ticket counter, in front of other students who didn't have seats, I was feeling a little better.

After the ticket agent arrived to the gate 45 mins later than we were told she would be, she said all she could do was to take our boarding passes and would call us if people would volunteer to give up their seats.  Now realizing I was at the mercy of other people, I slowly started to freak out more and more.  Seeing as my flight was 90% made up of college students studying abroad, I thought the chances of 5 people giving up their seats seemed impossible.

Meanwhile, the other CEA students and I who lost their seats were frantically trying to figure out if there were other flights available, and the ticket agent notified us that the next flight to Barcelona wasn't until 7:10 pm the next day.  We students became very frustrated at this as we were told by CEA that we had to arrive in Barcelona in the midmorning if we wanted transportation to our hotels.  Soon a Continental Airlines supervisor was called and he let us know that there were seats on a flight that connected in Lisbon, Portugal that would have us arrive in BCN at 4:30 pm.  To make a very long story short, as I was preparing to have to accept the fact I would probably have to fly to Lisbon, Portugal, the ticket agent started calling off names of the students and hands me a boarding pass for my original flight to Barcelona.

I wanted to post this first anecdote of my trip because for those who know me, I am a worrywart when things aren't in my control.  Dealing with this issue on my own, and not getting overly dramatic or frantic, was the first example of how the experience of traveling abroad makes one learn things about themselves they hadn't prior to the trip.