The canary Islands and Barcelona

As the end of the semester is coming so close to an end, my mind wonders to what will happen this summer. What kind of people will I meet. I'm expecting the summer kids to be crazy wild just because this is Spain and it will be summer. I'm really looking forward to only spending a few hours a day in class and then going to the beach with my friends to sunbathe and drink and not have many worries. The weather has been nice here, although today it is very humid and actually a little chilly. I have been working on papers and have been studying for my finals that I have at the end of this week and Monday and Tuesday of next week. Next Wednesday is the farewell lunch and then that Friday I am leaving with a group of friends to go to Amsterdam and Greece for a week before I meet up with my mom and brother in Rome to spend a week or so with them.

Now, about two weeks ago I went to Tenerife with Colin for the weekend. Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands. We stayed in a nice hotel that was super cheap and about a 5 minute walk from the beach. We arrived late Thursday night and the following morning we decided to sleep in. I got up before Colin did and went out onto the balcony. It was so beautiful. I was able to see the mountains to the right and the ocean to the left. I just sat outside and loved every second of it. Once we were all dressed and ready to go we walked to the market and got breakfast as well as lunch and some alcohol to drink on the beach. Then we stopped at a gift shop and bought towels because we didn't have any. After that we made our way to the beach and baked for a long time. At one point I decided that I was way to burnt and needed to head back. Plus it was getting windy and there was sand everywhere and I was done with the beach. That was my girly self coming out and I told Colin that I had had enough. So we walked back to the hostel, took showers and napped for a few hours. Then we enjoyed our nice balcony view before heading for the market for dinner. We had decided before going to Tenerife that we would not go out that often because we are dirt poor from all of the traveling that we have already done. After a quick meal of none other than a peanut butter sandwich for me and chorizo and cheese sandwich for Colin, we were off to bed. We were getting up early to go to the Volcano.

Going to the volcano was something that I thought would be fun but didn't have that much interest in. Colin on the other hand was extremely excited to ride up the lift and go to the very top of the volcano. So we woke up at 7:45, got dressed grabbed delicious spinach pastries from the bakery next door and then went to the bus station. The tickets were 7 euros to get to the volcano. I thought that was really cheap considering and we hopped on. It was an hour long bus ride. I was a little mad at Colin because I told him to plan the Volcano trip and he didn't. So with that being said, once we got to the volcano he looked at me and asked how do we get to the top. I was a little irritated because I had no idea. So we went and asked someone. Well because it was too wind we weren't able to go to the top. I felt so bad for Colin, it was the only thing he really wanted to do. But we walked around the park for a little bit and then grabbed food at the little cafe there and then went to find out when the bus would return. It was about 12:30 at this point. The next bus didn't leave until 4:00. So after he apologized to me repeatedly, although I was really okay with it. He just felt bad because he knew I would have rather been on the beach but it was no biggie. We walked along some more trails and then I grabbed a diet coke and we sat for an hour and waited for the bus. Once the bus came I hopped on and after an hour we were back at the hostel. We took showers and grabbed a snack because we didn't really eat lunch. I ate celery with cream cheese and he ate a loaf of bread with cream cheese. Well I helped with that loaf of bread but it wasn't that big (I know what you are thinking). Then later we dressed up kind of nice and Colin took me out on a date. We went to a small touristy place on the beach and we split a half bottle of wine. I had mussels and Colin ate some type of pasta that he really like. We pretended to only speak spanish and the people, I felt like, were very very nice to us. We got some dessert that consisted of creme brûlée and I think Colin got tiramisu but I don't really remember. The following day was our last day and we got up at nine and went to the beach for a few hours. Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy and we weren't able to catch any rays but we went back to our hotel to shower and check out. We still had a few hours to kill and found an open market with all kinds of stuff for sale. Neither of us bought anything but it was a fun way to spend a few hours in the afternoon before heading back to the bus stop to wait and go back to the airport.

Here are a few pictures of the canaries...

 

As we arrived back to Valencia, I was exhausted and sunburnt but I had to unpack and then repack for the morning because the study center was  headed to Barcelona. This was the second time that I had been in Barcelona. I went last semester after the study center went to Jaca. Well the bus ride was long and tiring like it always is but the room where I stayed was nice. Galen, Abby and I roomed together and when we arrived we all gathered ourselves and headed to Park Guell. It's an amazing park that overlooks the city and is full of Mosaic tiling and the famous lizard. I hope you know what I am talking about. After the park visit we were free for the day. I took a nap and then went to dinner with a few friends. Eric had made himself busy with the alcohol early in the day and by dinner time he was heavily intoxicated. It was Colin, Abby, Galen, Eric, Megan, Kevin and I and we set off for a hike across town for some tex-mex. Once we got to the place we sat down and ordered some frozen margaritas (except for Colin who was lame and ordered water). These were the strongest margaritas I have ever tasted. Honestly, I couldn't even drink it, it just didn't taste good. But it was still a very fun evening especially since we had Eric who not only was very drunk but dared the cook to make the soup he ordered the hottest soup he had ever made. It was really hot. I love spicy food and it was too hot for me to eat. But he ate it all. After dinner we met the rest of the program at a bar called Dow Jones. The bar runs like the stock market. When someone buys a drink, the price of the drink goes up. When a drink isn't being bought it's price goes down. And the best part was there were crashes and that's when the drinks were super cheap. So after the bar I went home and the next day we wet a few hours drive north of Barcelona.

We went to see the Dalí museum. Tuesday was my favorite day. The tour guide was great and I really enjoyed the paintings and just the entire day. After the tour we had free time for lunch and so a group of us went to a burger place. There was nothing vegetarian on the menu so I had some tea and ate some almonds that I had brought with me. Then we went back to the Hotel in Barcelona and I took a nap, again. That night it was my turn to find a restaurant and I wanted indian food. We found a place right off la Rambla. It was so yummy. And it was pretty cheap. I had cauliflower and peas in a spicy sauce with naan and a samosa. Yum yum yum. I really miss my favorite indian restaurant back home, raja india. I miss going there with my dad and my friends and just gossiping and talking about life. I'm seeing all these new seniors announcing where they are going to college and it makes me miss high school. which is weird for me because I hated high school, except for senior year. Anyway after dinner, I passed out on Colin's bed and he went out with some friends to a bar. The next day was when we went on a walking tour through the old part of Barcelona. I went on a walking tour very similar to that one when I went to Barcelona before, but the weather was actually very nice and I really enjoyed this tour. After the tour we hopped on the buses and headed for La Sagrada familia. Last semester we also went to la sagrada Familia but we didn't pay 11 euros to go in so I was excited to see the inside. When we got there we went on another tour that was just great. The guy was hilarious and I really learned a lot. La Sagrada Familia is unlike any other church I have ever seen. It is so modern and beautiful and I felt like I was under water (although the tour guide promised me I was supposed to be in a forest). After exiting the church we went back to the Hotel. Colin, Alex and I went shopping for a few hours. I needed a jacket because I was cold. Then a group of eight of us went to dinner and I had a delicious glass of vino tinto and some vegetable lasagna. The next morning we headed for Valencia but we first stopped in a beautiful beach town called Peninscola. Or something like that. We ate lunch right on the beach and then we had the option of going to the top of the castle and going on a tour or staying down by the beach and wondering. I chose to wonder with my roommate Alex. After finding yummy smoothies we headed back for the bus and finally made it home to Valencia.

Here are pictures of Barcelona and the last one is peninscola.