Author Archives: aem5165

Weekend trip to Medieval Rupit

Hola,

This weekend, on June 12, was a one day trip that was sponsored by our program and we traveled to Rupit, which is about an hour north of Barcelona I believe. There was a bus of about 40 students from the program and we all had to meet bright and early to get our day started. We got to Rupit around 11 am and then it was time to start our hike, or Catalan Nature Walk as they called it. There was a cute town when we first pulled up and we crossed a hanging bridge to the “center of the town” which was more like 4 stores and an intersection of roads. We hiked through the mountains for about an hour and a half and it  was really pretty. There were 4 tour guides who were all really nice and one girl who spoke Catalan, Spanish, and English who was the translator for the other tour guides the whole time. The guys who were showing us the way also were trying to practice their English with us and got so excited when we could understand them! We walked passed a couple of waterfalls and finally came to the top of one of the mountains and saw an amazing view.

After the first part of the hike was pretty much over, we had another 15 minute walk to where we were having lunch and everyone was very excited for that. We ate at a place called Sant Joan de Fabregues, which was a small, Medieval castle looking place with a banquet room and outside area to eat and enjoy the view. They already had food on the table and place setting on the table for all of us when we arrived and it was so nicely set up! First, what we though was our whole meal but ended up being just the appetizers, we had a salad, huge platters of different kinds of meats, bread with tomatoe (very popular in Spain) and they also served us wine. We all filled up on all of this because we thought that was all they were giving us, then about 15 minutes later they came out with huge bowls of all assorted girlled meat! They had chicken, sausage, bacon, and other meats that looked delicious. I only had room for a piece of chicken though since I had already eaten about 12 pieces os bread. After that, when we all thought there couldn’t possible be more, they brought out treys of french fries. And finally, cake that was sooo good and coffee for dessert. It was the heartiest lunch ever! All of the people who worked there were so nice and there were a couple of kids working who were so helpful and knew some english and brought us whatever we wanted. After we ate there was some free time where we hung out outside and some of the tour guides were dancing for us. Sort of jokingly, one of my friends asked for a to go box for all the leftover meat because she didn’t want them throwing it all away and before we left they came out with a huge bag of meat for her!

Then we began our trek back to Rupit. There was about an hour longer of walking until we got back to town. It was really cool to see all of the buildings when we got closer and also all the trees and mountains that were in the distance. When we returned to town, we had about 20 minutes to wrap up the tour and go in the gift shop and just hang out until we headed back to Barcelona. All around it was a fun one day trip and something to do outside of Barcelona!

 

Adios,

Ali

 

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Location: Rupit, Spain

Weekend Study Journey to Costa Brava

Hola,

 

This past weekend, June 4th-6th, was our mandatory study journey to Costa Brava. There was a total of 3 busses from the IES program who went and we all stayed in the same 2 hotels. It was nice to all be together and I got to meet a lot of new people in the program. Here’s a little of what we all did and saw, all together it was a really fun weekend! And the places we went were so pretty. I’m glad they planned it all out for us and made us take a trip together!

Friday

We had to meet Friday morning at 7:30 am so it was a very early wake up call! The first pace we went was a town called Figueres, where we visited the Dali Museum. Dali was a really cool artist and there were so many crazy sculptures/paintings. The museum was packed so it was a little hard to get around, but we saw a lot. The town was also really cute and it was nice to not have to be so cautious about pick-pocketing for once! After the museum we took a bus ride all the way to the top of a huge mountain to a place called Port-lligat, where Dali lived for most of his life. The ride up the moutain was so scary! The roads were so thin and we were in this huge bus going around corners it felt like we were gonna topple right over! I have a slight fear of heights but my roomate Erin did almost have a heart attack haha The views on the way up and at the top though were really unbelievable. From the Port we saw Dali’s house on the water, which they said was small but it was gigantic and pretty, we walked to a town called Cadaques. I love walking through the tiny streets and alleys in Spain because all the houses are so cute and built so nice. When we got there we had a delicious lunch in town and then we had about 2 hours to hang out which was really nice and we had a big group of us on the beach we had a lot of fun 🙂 After that we headed to Girona where we checked into our hotel and had some time to get ready for dinner. There were 2 hotels and unfortunately I got seperated from most of my friends becasue they ran out of room, but I roomed with a girl named Kallie from my spanish class and shes really nice. Dinner was a buffet style both nights at the hotel and I thought it was all great, of course I’ll eat anything. And our hotels were surprisingly big and nice as well! After dinner me and a bunch of friends met up and went to have some drinks at a bar and then there was a discoteca sort of thing in a forrest we went to. It was crazy it was just 2 stages set up in the middle of a park with 2 huge bars and dance floors. And I thought we were just in a little cute town outside of Barcelona without many people. Think again.

 

Saturday

We had a buffet breakfast at the hotels and met up around 10 am to depart to La Jinquera in France. We all had to make sure we had our passports because there was a chance our bus could be stopped at the border, but they never ended stopping us. In southern France some people still speak Catalan like they do in Barcelona, but it was weird to see and hear everything in French becasue they only thing I know is Merci and wi wi haha the first place in France we went to was an exile Museum where there were lots of pictures and tour about the exile in Spain during the Spanish civil war. It was the largest exile in history, about half a million people, and it was interesting becasue we were never really taught anything about this in history classes. Our tour guide was really nice and you could tell he was very knowledgeable, I just wish he didn’t speak in the microphone the whole hour bus ride there. After that we went to a place called Collioure where we visited Antonio Machados’s grave and got to see what a cemetary in France looks like. It was so nice and huge and there were little buildings for some of the people. Lots of flowers and letters people put on the graves and it was just a really gorgeous place! After that we had lunch outside on a cute street with lots of shops and then we had time to explore and go on the beach. The coast we were at looked like it belonged on a post card. There were also rocks there to climb and get a good view of the Sea. The view was amazing and it was such a nice day out I couldn’t stop taking pictures. After our free time we headed back to Girona and had dinner and went out again with friends.

Sunday

Another early wake up call! This time we had a guided visit of Girona city where we saw a huge cathedral and Jewish museum and city walls. Not my particular part of the trip because I was so tired and it was a rainy, drowsy day. And the tour part was pretty boring. Our last destination was a beach called Palamos which is about an hour and a half outside of Barcelona. The beach looked nice and the city was also cute, but it was raining! So we basically just drove there to have lunch and walk around a little. And NOTHING is open on Sundays here! So very little shopping (window shopping that is). Now I’m back in Barcelona and we just had dinner with Fransisca and it was so good! Happy to be home I think she missed us 🙂

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Location: Costa Brava, Spain

First week in Barcelona!

Hola! This is my first entry from Barcelona, Spain J I’ve been so busy getting to know the city and settling in, but I would like to write a breakdown of my first couple days in Europe! A lot has gone on so it may be pretty long!

I left for my trip Monday, May 25 and my flight left JFK at 6:25 pm, landing in Barcelona around 8:45 am. I was pretty lucky to be able to find a direct flight right into Barcelona. Getting to the airport, I could tell my Mom was getting more and more nervous sending me off to a foreign country for 6 weeks. I’ve never been so far away from home for so long by myself. I was sad to leave my Mom especially because she started to get teary eyed! But I was all set with my luggage and ready to go, I will miss my family a lot though I wish they could all experience this with me! I am so lucky to have my parents work so hard in order for me to go on this trip and be able to study in Spain for 6 weeks which is a chance of a lifetime. I saw a group of kids at the airport who looked as if they were in my program, but I didn’t get the chance to ask until I was actually in Barcelona. The flight was not bad at all, just a quick 8 hours and I got probably a total of 4 hours of sleep. When I got there I was happy to find a couple more girls in my position to find the area we were supposed to be in. Then my best friend, Erin, who is staying with me arrived a couple hours later while we were waiting and I was so happy to see her! IN SPAIN!

We finally got to our homestay, which is a cute little apartment building outside the central city part of Barcelona. We were expecting an actual house, but it looks more like a flat. Our homestay mother is 63 years old and she does not speak one word of English! She greeted us at the door and showed us around our new little home. We both have our own room on one end of the apartment and she has her own bathroom and room on the other side. The living room is so nicely decorated and the kitchen is very tiny! We unpacked our stuff in our huge closets she gave us and into our desks which are nice as well. Then, she showed us how to get to the metro station from our apartment and how to buy a ticket then we were on our way to the city. I cannot tell you guys how lost we got on our first trip to the city! For almost 2 hours we were looking all over for our program building which we needed to be at the next morning for orientation. There are no street signs here and so many streets! The metro system is not too hard to understand, but there are a lot of lines and directions to go so thank god for maps! Finally we gave up, got a drink and headed home because we were so exhausted!

The next day we had an hour and a half orientation where we got some info on the city and what to look out for. Afterward, we met some girls in our class and went out for lunch in Las Ramblas which is the main street in the city and it is so pretty to walk through! Also filled with many interesting people, some dressed in costumes that don’t move until you put money in their jar! Our program also had a welcome party for us at a really nice hotel so we could eat a little and mingle and meet some new people. It was definitely an adventure navigating through the city the first couple days. I just like to follow the group because I’m so bad with directions! Tuesday was also the first night we went out. It was a lot of fun and we also met some more people in our program!

Thursday and Friday we only had one language class each day, which is a beginner level Spanish class, and our teacher seems awesome. She is very funny and it does not seem like it is going to be that hard. I haven’t been here a week yet and I already feel that my Spanish is getting better! Having dinner with our senora, Francisca, is tough because there is so many things we would like to ask, but we forget how to say a lot of things! It’s a lot like playing charades and pointing to everything, but she is great at trying to understand us and she likes to talk a lot! Communicating with her is going to be a so helpful when trying to learn the language and culture, so I am very happy with my decision to stay in a home of a local Barcelonian. Francisca has 2 sons that are 25 and 26 and do not live very close, but she says they visit her sometimes. She has been having American students living with her for years now! I can’t believe she hasn’t picked up any English, but I told her that by July I will be able to speak better Spanish. Also, I think me and Erin are the first girls she’s ever had! She is always so surprised when everything she has cooked isn’t finished at dinner! She can’t believe how little we eat, even though I think I can eat a lot of food. She also always has dessert which is very normal in Europe. She is a great cook and I’ve liked everything she’s made for us so far. She has cereal and fruit for us in the morning, we are on our own for lunch, and we always have dinner together, just the 3 of us, our nuestra familia J

Thursday we also went to the local supermarcado right down the street from our apartment. This was experience considering we couldn’t read anything on the labels! Even though our madre has most of our food for us, we wanted to get a couple things for ourselves because she is letting us have some room in the refrigerator. We picked up some yogurt, fruit, and bread for toast in the morning. The eating schedule is very different over here. They eat much smaller portioned breakfasts and lunches and usually a big dinner. They also have shops in town and everywhere around the city with little meals called tapas, which are similar to appetizers in the US and they have them for midday snacks sometimes. I’ve enjoyed many tapas so far including bread with tomato, fried asparagus, grilled onions and artichokes, and mixed grilled veggies. Then dinner is usually big with a starter, main meal, and dessert or coffee afterward. Over here, they eat dinner much later, around 8:30-10pm and they also take their time while eating and enjoying the company of family or friends who they are with, which I like a lot instead of always eating on the go at home.

Friday after class we had a tour called “Be a Gourmet in Barcelona” where our tour guide took us all around the city and showed us famous restaurants, good places to eat, local markets, and a little bit of history of food in Barcelona. I learned they invented the lollipop and the company Dannon was discovered here! We had a tiny sound system to carry around with us and earphones in so we could hear the tour guide, I felt like such an American tourist! After that, we also had a Sunset sea cruise where we took a boat ride for about an hour and a half around the harbor. The weather wasn’t that great, but it was definitely fun to be on the water and see the sights.

Friday night we stayed in and I slept for almost 14 hours! I don’t remember the last time I slept that long, I guess I really needed to catch up to the time change. Saturday we headed to the beach for the first time which was awesome, very pretty and I can’t believe I can say I’ve dipped my toes in the Mediterranean Sea! While down by the beach, we saw 2 men walking around completely naked, which was definitely very surprising! Apparently in Barcelona it’s legal to be naked on the streets and topless on the beaches, which may take some getting used to! Saturday was a vey fun night we got to go out to a couple different restaurants, bars, and clubs. We didn’t get home until almost 6 in the morning! The metro was packed with people going home from going out and I couldn’t believe it. At home the bars close at 2 a.m. and here that’s when the party gets started!

Tonight, which is Sunday, me and Erin walked around the opposite part of town near our homestay which we haven’t ventured to before.  It is actually a very cute neighborhood with lots of stores and little restaurants and small parks for kids to go to. We figured out a route so we can go on runs through this part of the city and I think it will be fun to run in such a pretty city. We also met our R.A. for the first time along with a bunch of other girls living in homestays. This was a good way to meet people because we’re all so spread out can’t really go out with each other at night because we’re all at different metro stops. We all went out to eat along Las Ramblas, it was a lot of fun and I had my first Paella dish which was very good!

I have my first week of classes starting tomorrow at 9 a.m. so I need to sleep it is getting late here! I have a lot of pictures to share in the next entry I do so I’ll try and update soon!

Adios,

Ali

 


Location: Barcelona, Spain

My First Entry

Hi everyone! My name is Alexandra Meringer, I go by Ali, and I am currently finishing up my junior year at Penn State University. I am 21 years old and my major is Communication Sciences and Disorders. This week is the last week of spring classes and I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone by. This summer, beginning May 25, I will be traveling to Barcelona, Spain for 6 weeks with the IES program. I am extremely excited and cannot wait to begin my education abroad experience. I have never traveled to Europe or anywhere far before and I hope to share all of my new experiences with you as I go along. My trip is quickly approaching and I cannot wait to start getting everything ready and begin my summer in Spain! I will be traveling with one of my best friends and also hope to meet many new people and students while I am over there. Hopefully, my best friend and I will be placed in a home stay location and will be living with a great family, who I cannot wait to meet. I will be taking 6 credits in this summer program and the classes I hope to take include a beginner level Spanish course and a course on the history of Barcelona. I have previously taken 4 years of Spanish in high school and 1 semester here at Penn State. I hope to have some time to practice my Spanish speaking skills before I leave and to learn a lot about the language when I am over there!

I am beyond excited to be able to write and share my experiences with my family and fellow abroad students and hope to have many future entries that will help me to remember and document every experience! I hope to include many pictures and insight about the shock of living, studying, and traveling in a new country. I will also try to include some entries in Spanish 🙂

I will most likely be making an entry very soon about packing, getting ready to leave, and the nerves I will be having flying to Europe by myself!


Location: State College, Pennsylvania