Sunday, Paella Day

Sundays in Spain, as they are traditionally known, are for making paella. For those of you unfamiliar with this Spanish dish, it is perhaps the most well-known and best tasting cuisine you could really ask for in Spain. It consists of a delicious mixture of seafood, rice, vegetables and sometimes (although not this time) rabbit. For those …

Spring Break in Barcelona

Bon dia! Over spring break I visited Spain for the first time. Our spring break lasted from March 16 – March 19 (basically the length of fall break at Hope) so I had a short time to visit as much of the city as possible. This was a popular travel weekend. Flight prices were getting …

Shredding the Pyrenees

From the beach one day to the mountains the next, Catalonia is full of surprises. Earlier this week I travelled north to La Masella, a Catalonian-Pyrenees Alp that stands just above 8,000 feet tall. With bluebird skies, stunning panoramic views, and solid company to ride with, this trip could not be any better… Then again, …

Fútbol, Football, Soccer

Camp Nou. The vibrance erupting through the stadium, the echo’s of yelling fans, the articulate yet free flowing style of Barcelona football, is all simply magnificent. A few days ago I had the pleasure of experiencing this firsthand as Barcelona FC played Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal. Barcelona triumphed Bilbao 3-1, winning …

Week Two Complete! Park Güell, Tarragona, and so much more

Hello everyone! Week number two is complete here in Barcelona and I could not be more excited to share my recent adventures with you. Just yesterday, I visited Park Güell, a masterpiece of the famous Catalonian architect, Antoni Gaudí. His work primarily was created around the early 1900’s, when Barcelona was flourishing after expanding rapidly through …

Morocco – a Country in Transition

Three weeks ago, I traveled with a great trip organized by my study –abroad program to Morocco. I have waited to write about it for this long so I could process the trip a bit more before sharing it with y’all. The reason it was so great was because they were very focused on us …

Spain Surprises

My parents visited me here in Spain, and there are a few things that surprised/entertained/ shocked them, so I thought all y’all might be interested too: Wee- fee: This is how Spainards say wifi. In the eloquent words of my mother, “It sounds like pee pee!” Table heater:  Because of the lack of central heating, …

A Cross Section of Class (Part Two)

Antropología de la Diferenciación y la Estratificación Social (in Spanish at Universidad de Granada): This is by far my most intimidating class. I can say without a doubt, I have the lowest level of Spanish of anyone in the class. However, I am keeping up and learning a ton. As you can tell by the name …

Grazzie and Gracias

I know it has been a while since I posted anything but I have a good reason for it. In the past ten days I was on a study trip to probably few of the biggest and finest cities in Europe; Rome, Madrid, and Barcelona. Even though it was a “study trip” we had a …

A Cross Section of Classes (Part One)

So far I am loving the classes I am taking here, so I thought I would share a short summary of what I am taking and why I love them in. This will be in two parts, because apparently I love them more than one post can contain. Spanish Class (in Spanish): Before coming to …