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James Barron
It's back to Spain for another great year overseas!!! :) Miss you guys!jjbstallion
Travel Blog Posts
Cabo de Gata
Published: November 12th 2010Europe » Spain » Andalusia » Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park
November 9th 2010
I took a trip with about 50 high school kids to San José and Cabo de Gata in Almería this past Friday. It is a natural park that was formed by a volcano thousands of years ago, and has one of the most spectacular and unique coasts in Andalucía. The trip was organized by a few professors and was used to inform the students about the natural beauty and protection of the park. It was a great chance to get out and hike through the outdoors, and we couldn’t have had a more perfect day to go for a walk. We boarded the bus around 8:30 in the morning and started the trip East to San José. It took about an hour and a half to get to the small tourist town. When we arrived we ... read more
February 27th 2010
Hey Everyone, I took a trip to the Sierra Nevada in Granada to do some skiing and it was very different from what I was used to in the United States. I am used to skiing down tree lined slopes that are well defined and narrow. At the Sierra Nevada there are no trees and the altitude is much higher than what I was used to. I caught a bus at 8:00 in the morning to the mountain and it was about 40º, but as the bus climbed the mountain slowly the temperature dropped to 0º. I arrived in a small skiing village at the base of the mountain and there were a lot of people renting skis and getting their passes in the town. I found a place to get some skis and got in ... read more
January 14th 2010
Hey Everyone! I had a great Christmas and New Year's (Spanish style) over here and I had the opportunity to meet the families of some of my friends. Spain has some interesting traditions for New Year's, but I'll try to explain it to you how it was explained to me. I have to say that the holidays were not the same without all of you, but I was thinking of you and appreciate everyone who sent me Christmas and New Year cards. You guys are the best! My Christmas vacation started on Dec. 22nd and I started it with a dinner for all the teachers at the institute at a nice restaurant. We dined on some traditional Spanish appetizers (pulpo, esalada, patatas envueltas, jamón con tomate). The dinner was great and we all went out to ... read more
October 21st 2009
Ok I know this is really long so if you want to skip down to the asterisks toward the bottom you will read more about my classes instead of my first weekend in Spain. I won’t be offended…go on…. I arrived in Spain on the 8th of October in Malaga after leaving from Boston. I stayed with my friend Kristina and she got me to the airport without any problem (Thank you Kristina!). When I arrived in Malaga, I had to get on a bus to get to Almeria which is a two hour bus trip without any stops (my bus had many stops so it took more than four hours). I was able to rest on the bus until I arrived in Almeria, then I walked the short distance to my hotel, with all my ... read more
Habitat for Humanity
Published: March 7th 2009Central America Caribbean » Guatemala » Western Highlands » Lago de Atitlán
March 6th 2009
Hello everyone! I recently went on a service trip with St. Camillus of Washington D.C. thanks to the friars here at Siena College and (I know you haven't heard from any of my travels in a while) I had an amazing time and an even more amazing experience. I cannot begin to thank the people of St. Camillus, the friars at Siena, Mike (our fearless leader), and the people of Guatemala for all of their hospitality and support during this trip. I could write a book about all of the things that we did in Guatemala while working for Habitat for Humanity, and all of the great friends that I made on the trip. I'll give you a quick recap of the highlights and a few small facts about Habitat Guatemala and the country as I ... read more
July 21st 2008
Hello Everyone! My last week in Spain was a whirlwind vacation through the Basque Country to see a little of Bilbao and to run with the bulls in Pamplona. I left Malaga on Tuesday afternoon (7/8) and got to Pamplona that evening. I had to travel with all of my luggage since I was leaving from Bilbao on Friday morning to go back to Syracuse, so I weaved my way through the streets and massive crowds of people of Pamplona and found the bus station. I couldn't find a place to stay in Pamplona for a decent price, so I had to catch a bus to Bilbao which took about an hour and a half that next morning. I got a little sleep on Wednesday, and did a self-tour through Bilbao. Bilbao is beautiful. The differences ... read more
June 3rd 2008
OK so Roma was a blast, and here is how it all went down… I caught a direct flight to Roma at 1:00 in the afternoon from Málaga and arrived in there at about 3:30. Alitalia is Italy’s “official” airline, and they were very accommodating (but still not better than SwissAir). When I arrived in the airport, the hostel which I was staying at picked me up and brought me to their site. Club Castelfusano is a small village of bungalows and camping grounds for this hostel and they offer free shuttles to the Metro station to bring you into the city. The hostel also has a bar and club, pool, hot-tub, 2 restaurants, and tennis courts that people can use…but I was more interested in Roma; so I passed on all of that stuff. Now ... read more
May 5th 2008
So Europe and the rest of the world (except the USA) had the day off Thursday due to the May holiday, and the University gave us Friday off too; so I decided that I would go to Switzerland for a long weekend. Málaga has direct flights to Geneva everyday so I hopped aboard the plane Thursday night and checked into my hotel. Geneva is situated on Lake Geneva (original, I know) and is bordered on both sides of the city by France and the Alps and Jura mountain ranges. My hotel was actually 10 meters over the border in France, so I caught the bus each morning in order to see the city. Geneva has a few recognizable sites to see such as the United Nations building and the fountain called Jet d’Eau. Furthermore, Switzerland is ... read more
March 27th 2008
Hello Everyone! I hope everyone had a great and relaxing Easter Holiday together. I can imagine that everyone was pretty busy having some great food, staring intently at their March Madness Brackets, and oh yeah, celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Spain does not have March Madness, but they do have an entire week dedicated to the last week of Christ’s life called: La Semana Santa (Holy Week). Maria and I had the opportunity to explore some of the biggest Semana Santa festivals in Andalusía during the week, and we were able to spend a few days in Madrid as well. We took a ton of photos and had an amazing time seeing the major sites of each city, experimenting with the Spanish cuisine, and following the processions around. The start of our trip ... read more
March 11th 2008
Ok, so it was Ronda one weekend, and then the following weekend I made a spur-of-the-moment trip to Morocco Africa with some of my IFSA-Butler friends. The trip was such a culture shock, and I would go back in a heart beat. Here is how it all went down: Our program director gave us the information for guided tours through Morocco so we would be safe and know where to go. The tour gave us 3 days in the cities of Tétouan, Tangier, and Chef-Chauquin (sp.). We took a tour bus from Málaga to Algeciras (1.5 hours) to catch a ferry to Ceuta (a spanish province in Africa). We left for Ceuta around 6:30 in the evening and it only took about 45 minutes on the boat. We saw dolphins, kind of cool, but the most ... read more
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