Unfortunately, this is the last little bit I will be writing in my blog for a while. My program is now over (so sad), and soon I will be moving out of my senora’s house and starting my adventure around Europe. I will have some internet along the way, but probably not a lot of time to use it. I am traveling with my friend Brittany, who also goes to CU, but who I didn’t know before this program. In June, my other friend, Niki, who is currently studying in France will meet up with us and we will travel together [View Full Entry]

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Sadly, this blog includes the activities that have occupied my last week in Barcelona with my program  . But it has been a fun one! Montserrat Last Saturday I went to Montserrat with my friend Brittany. It is a small town about an hour train ride away from Barcelona. It is known for its beautiful and unique mountains and its wonderful views. This tiny little town used to be occupied only by the monks who were part of the monastery, its main attraction. Now days, about 80 monks still practice there, but it has become a huge tourist destination. After [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I went with 4 of my friends to Portugal. First, we flew into Lisbon, the capital, and spent a night there. We stayed in this adorable little hostel right in the center of town. It had a room with internet, a room you could watch movies in, a room with beanbags and a stereo system that you could hook your own music up to, and a kitchen. We could use all these rooms whenever we wanted and for free. In the morning, they also served you free breakfast, which was amazing because you hardly find that at hostels. A [View Full Entry]

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My school planned a boat trip for the business and culture program where we got on a catamaran and sailed up the Costa Brava all day. La Costa Brava is the part on the northern most part of the east coast of Spain. Basically we sailed up the coast for 3 hours and then back down the coast for 3 hours. On the way, we stopped twice so that people could go swimming. Unfortunately, the water was VERY cold, but lots of the guys, and some of the girls jumped in. The expressions on their faces when they hit the water [View Full Entry]

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A few weeks ago (ya, I know I am doing this entry a little late), I went on a daytrip with my program to Penedes, Sitges, and Sant Piere. About 20 of us hopped on a greyhound at 8 am and headed to our first destination, Codorniu, a cava and wine vineyard in Penedes. This was about a 30 minutes bus ride from Barcelona. We started with a tour of the plantation and factory, and then we learned about how cava is made and went underground to check out the whole process. Cava is the spanish name for champagne. If it [View Full Entry]

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After our amazing excursion through Morocco, our spring break was still not over! We decided to spend the last 4 days of break in Sevilla, since we were already there. Sevilla is a lot smaller than Barcelona, and the people seem a little bit more laid back and relaxed. And it is a beautiful town, with cute little streets and hardly any cars. When we were there is rained a little bit the first two days, but then it got really warm and sunny for the rest of the trip. We saw all the important sites of the city, but it [View Full Entry]

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For spring break this year, I decided to be adventurous and go on an all-inclusive Moroccan excursion with two of my girl friends in my program, Brittany and Carli. Brittany’s friend from Colorado did this exact same excursion one year ago when she was studying abroad in Spain, and she said it was an absolute must, so we checked it out online and decided to go for it! We went through a company based in Sevilla called Discover Sevilla. They put on trips all throughout southern Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. The company is run by two guys, David and Eric. David [View Full Entry]

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I went to Rome for the weekend of February 21-25 with 17 other people in my program. It was not a trip organized through our program, so we borrowed guide books from our families and did research online to figure everything out. At first only about 6 of us were planning on going, but then when other people found out about it and how cheap the flights were (30 Euro), they decided to join us. That did make it a bit more difficult to coordinate the hostel and flights and buses and all that, but the more the merrier!!! By the [View Full Entry]

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This past monday night, as in yesterday, I went with 15 other people in my program to this thing called Cook and Taste. It is basically where you learn how to cook some of the most popular Spanish dishes, and then you get to eat it all!!! We walked about 15 minutes from our school down Las Ramblas and to this little flat that is only this huge kitchen. This lady is a professional cook and she has a business where people can come and learn how to cook basically whatever they want. She says it is very popular with study [View Full Entry]

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This past Saturday I went with some friends on a day trip to Penedes. Penedes is located in the wine-making region of Catalonia. We took about a 30 minute train ride to the town, and got there around 11 am, right in time for the last tour of Freixenet Wine and Cava Company. We only had to pay 5 Euros, which included a 10 minute video of the history of the company (in Spanish so we didn't quite understand it all), a guided tour (also in Spanish), and a glass of cava (which is what champagne is called if it is [View Full Entry]

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