Part 2: Wiener Schnitzel und Apfelstrudel

Part 2 of the Grand Adventure, at last!

Ahhh Vienna. Can't really say enough wonderful things about it :)

We left Munich, completely exhausted, and were expecting to get a nice rest on the train. The Eurail Pass is really awesome in that you can basically just hop on whichever train you want without a reservation. For some reason, we decided that we needed a reservation for this train- maybe we thought that there was going to be some mad Monday-evening rush to Vienna? Who knows? Anyways we made seat reservations, boarded the train, and walked back to our seats. We booked two window seats and ended up in facing each other with a table in between and a strange man next to Meredith. He was on his phone, with a laptop in front of him, and was dressed in a really nice suit. The rest of the train was fairly empty and we were quite irritated that the one time we made a reservation they happened to put us next to people. Except that man was not supposed to be there at all! When they came around to check tickets, he and his son- I think he said he was 12 or 13- had to purchase tickets. Despite the fact that there were people right next to him and hardly anywhere else, they didn't move. Needless to say we were extremely bitter. Then, the man started talking continuously on the phone and just disrupting any hopes we had of napping! 

After a while we abandoned the idea of sleeping or getting rest and I asked Meredith if she might want to play cards. I got my deck of cards and my uno cards out of my backpack and Meredith and I played a few games. After our first game of rummy, the man said something to his son who then asked me, in English, what the game was called. I responded and he smiled- apparently they have this game to! This got the conversation going and Meredith asked the man where they were from. His response? Iran! He then asked us if we'd like to see some card tricks. We said yes and then he proceeded to do a bunch of them! I was super skeptical. Card tricks? Great. Buuuut, I was actually really surprised when the first one worked and the rest were really fun to watch! Eventually the conversation started to flow and I asked them if they knew the game Uno. The little boy had played it before but not the dad, but he wanted to learn. So the next thing you know, Meredith and I are aboard a train from Munich to Vienna, playing Uno with Iranians! Life is so cool!!! 

We got into Vienna after 10 I think and went to find our hostel. It was pretty close to the train station so we had very little trouble finding it. The hostel was so nice, cozy, and warm! The hostel bar was full of exciting people and we knew it'd be a nice stay. When we got to the check-in, the woman started talking to us and said that we had booked a mixed dorm and was that what we meant. I said yes but then asked if they had any all female dorms (let's recall the last dorm with the butt incident...) She said that they were all full, but that she could Meredith and I a discounted price on a private room. It was too tempting to turn down and we ended up staying in this really nice, super clean, private room with our own bathroom! Our first decision, then, was to agree on a good night's sleep so that we could wake up refreshed and ready to take on Vienna the next day. We actually ended up booking a second night there instead of heading to Prague!

We got up fairly late in the morning but fully rested for the first time since probably Thursday. Our first order of business- Schonbrunn Palace! According to my always-handy Rick Steve's guidebook, it was the only palace in Europe to rival Versailles. As I am a huge fan of the latter, I had to see Schonbrunn. When we got there, I was impressed. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the inside, but we took a lot of the outside grounds. I'd say the Versailles gardens are much better, but the inside of Schonbrunn might have a slight edge on the Frenchies... at least half of the rooms :) 

The Schonbrunn Palace was the summer home of the Hapsburgs. You might recall them from ruling the vast majority of Europe in some way or another... Marie Antoinette herself lived in the rococo palace before moving to Versailles and enjoying French hospitality! 

By the fountains outside! This picture makes it look so cold because of the ice but really it was nice out!!

Meredith and the 'summer home'

I'm making my grand entrance :) 

View of part of the gardens from the palace

The palace tour took quite a long time, but it was worth it and the audioguide was actually helpful and worth the money! We were both starving after this trip, so we decided to head back into town and find somewhere to eat. We ended up in Vienna's main shopping district- dangerous, I know- but withheld from doing any damage because we were so hungry. We wandered around for quite sometime before settling on "Wienerwald" as our choice. I'd be lying if I said the name didn't have something to do with the choice... This was where I had my first true Austrian Apfelstrudel and it was delicious!!!!!! I decided I'd have to have at least one more before leaving (Don't worry, I did!!). We also decided that we still hadn't recovered from the Beer Challenge so we had Pepsis instead of beer. Pepsi. It was my first Pepsi since I left the United States. I remember Meredith commenting that even the word Pepsi seemed strange after so long of neither saying nor hearing it. 

Our next stop was the art museum and we only did a tiny bit of wandering around before we found it! IT was actually a 'twin building' of the natural history museum that is across from it. They are both really cool on the outside and the art museum was beautiful! We only had one major tourist site left on our short list of things to see- the St. Stephen's Cathedral- and we set out to see it as soon as the mildly grumpy Austrian museum people insisted that the museum was closing! We started walking down the street towards a cathedral looking object (great sight-seeing plan, I know) and actually came across the Vienna Rathaus, which is the town hall. After we figured out that it wasn't the cathedral, we were really excited by the fact that they had some pretty inexpensive ice skating going on around it! Though we were tempted to go ice skating, we decided to try and find the cathedral first!

Rathaus! Sooo pretty!!

We kept walking towards another cathedral shape...aaaand it wasn't the right one either! So, we headed back, unable to resist the temptation of ice skating! I think it was the novelty of saying we went ice skating in Vienna that really drove us to participate, because it was surely not because of our ability to ice skate well! I was definitely far superior to wall-hugger Meredith! -Sorry Meredith :) But just because I left the wall doesn't mean I was cruising along. The Austrians were crazy good at ice skating. People of all ages were zooming by, doing tricks, etc etc. Once I got a bit more courage in me, I ventured further out. I was going kind of fast, thinking about how awesome my day had been, how lucky I was to be doing this, and how great life is and then BAM. I fell. No, I didn't fall. I completely wiped out. I skidded forward on the ice right to the wall in front of onlookers that were cringing and laughing. Luckily, other people were falling too! It doesn't really matter that those other people were 5, right? Right? 

Yay ice skating!

Meredith zooming around the rink!

We didn't last too long ice skating, surprise surprise, but we definitely had a good time! We turned in our skates and then actually managed to find St. Stephen's Cathedral! It was pretty cool, but I wasn't overly impressed by it. Though, to be fair, a lot of it was hard to see due to construction. 

We made it back to the hostel just in time for happy hour! I guess our anti-beer thoughts had worn off at this point as we both enjoyed a half liter! We were in the lounge/bar area and ended up meeting this really nice guy from England who was traveling around alone and on his way to Istanbul! He was really friendly and wanted to know tons of things about the United States. It was funny to see his reactions to some of our answers! He ended up joining us when we ran out to get some Turkish food and bring it back to the hostel. After we ate he took off to go get some sleep, Meredith stayed in the lounge, and I went to the computer room. While I was there I met 3 Americans who were studying abroad in the Netherlands! It was really nice to talk to them. They said they had been to Prague (our next destination) and loved it, so I was quite excited to go!

We went to bed a little late, but it was a wonderful day full of great food, people, and places. All was going wonderfully until the next morning. As it turns out, our little Turkish food run didn't go so well for Meredith. She was sick and we ended up staying in Vienna a few extra hours to give her time to recover!  When Meredith was feeling better we packed up and headed to the train station! Destination: Prague!

Stayed turned for Part 3: Praha!

See you all in 49 days :)

Miss you and love you,

Liv

The Great Germanic/Bohemian Adventure: Part 1

Hello all! I know it has been quite some time since I updated, and I thought I would do the update about my crazy adventures into Germany-Austria-Czech Republic in parts so it won't be too too long!

Part 1:  Heidelberg & Munich

Our adventure began around 9pm or so when my new friend, Meredith, and I packed up our stuff and headed to Marseille. I was really excited about our overnight train to Strasbourg because I was convinced it would be just like Harry Potter- I'm referring to the Knight Bus for those of you uncultured beings!! Shame. Shame. Anyways we got to the train station and were starving. Our only food options were MacDo or a jambon-buerre sandwich. I went with my first MacDo in months. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't too good either! We encountered some fellow Americans that were headed on their break. It was about 5 or 6 girls traveling together and they were really loud and obnoxious... the kind of Americans that you just love representing all of America as they loudly parade down the streets! Yes. Anyways we got on the train and the bunks were hilarious and I loved them! It was just Meredith and me in the compartment and one random French girl. I slept decently throughout the ride and the next thing you know we were in Strasbourg. We then took a train from Strasbourg to Karlsruhe (I think?) and then from Karlsruhe to Heidelberg.

When we got to Heidelberg our first task- after the inevitable bathroom break- was to find my longtime penpal Chris. He called my phone and said he was waiting outside the train station for whenever we got there. The time had come to find out if he was a murderer/stalker or simply a nice penpal that I'd had for about three years now! Luckily it was the latter and the three of us set off towards Altstadt- Old Town.

Before setting off on this journey I checked out TripAdvisor for some ideas for food. One place- Schnitzelbank- caught my eye. I'll admit the name was a huge part of the attraction, but the reviews were quite good. Despite the fact that nearly all reviews said it was difficult to find, I decided that I did not need to write down any directions of any kind. When we set off to find this restaurant, everyone was a little less than impressed with my planning skills. I wasn't really concerned, I knew that I'd find Schnitzelbank!! I had Chris ask a few random people if they knew of it or where it was and no one seemed to know. Not exactly a good sign... but I wasn't deterred. I was sure I knew where I was going. As we kept on walking down the main street Meredith and Chris were growing tired of the search and just as they wanted to abandon the quest I looked to my left and shouted "Ha! Schnitzelbank! In your face!" There it was on a lonely alleyway right where I knew it would be... I had a feeling the whole time!! No one could believe that I managed to find this place, and we went inside to eat. It was amazing. The start of a wonderful German-food eating extravaganza that I happily participated in for the rest of the week. HUGE proportions, tons of meat, sauce with spices and interesting flavors, and don't forget the tall glass of cold beer!!! Ah. Deutschland =D

After we stuffed our faces and learned a little bit about some German beer drinking culture - everyone is apparently supposed to finish their beers at the same time or girls finish them first? Obviously I paid attention... Our next task was to walk to the Heidelberg Castle! We could see it from where we were and it was really, really awesome. The only non-awesome thing was the hike up the extremely steep hill after eating more food than I have had all semester. Once we finally got to the top of the hill, I was so so so out of breath! Luckily everyone else was too so I didn't feel quite as ridiculous. The castle was really neat and parts of it were being restored while others were left in ruins. We walked around the grounds a little bit and got some great views of the city. We actually encountered quite a few Americans there. I guess it is quite a hotspot for American military families to visit on weekends.

View of the river and the city from the Castle.

The Castle!!! The part being renovated is what crumbled and fell down a while back. 

After all of that walking around we decided that nothing could be better than some delicious gelato! We first walked down the hill and over the bridges and things. There were some amazing views and a crazy guy kayaking on the super cold water! After that we went back to the main area in search of ice cream! We found this little place and ducked inside. I got cookies and chocolate as my two flavors and they were both delicious. We left the ice cream place and were then in search of a bar/pub to watch my favorite team Bayern Munich play Dortmund. Just as we walked outside I heard this massive thud and turned around to see poor Meredith on the ground!! (***Please note that falling will be a common theme throughout this great adventure!!***). We got Meredith off the ground okay and then set out. Here is a fun fact about pubs in Germany: When in search of a bar, the best place to look is by a church! That is where we found the pub and settled in to watch the greatest team ever!!!!! We only got to stay for a little bit- long enough for me to see Franck Ribbery score yeeeeeeeah- because we had to catch a train to Munich. We left the pub and made a sort of mad dash to the train station to get on whichever train came next! 

The train ride to Munich was uneventful and there was hardly anyone else on the train. We did sit across the aisle from this unfortunate young man that apparently only has one techno song on his iPod that he decided to play on repeat for about an hour or so. That was fun!! When we got to Munich it was late and raining and, essentially, we had no idea where we were going. My broken German could only get us so far and it was only a matter of time before we hopped in a cab. The cab ride totaled about 6 euros... we were super close to the hostel and had no idea. Grrreat. We got to our hostel, checked in, and took our stuff upstairs. It was a mixed dorm with 8 beds and that turned out to be quite the interesting experience. After we had settled in and found out some things to do for the next day we went back to the room to get some sleep. There were two guys asleep in the bunk on the far side of the room and at about 2:50am or so we were just about to go to bed when the door to the room flies open and a bunch of really drunk Brits come stumbling into the room. They all had really heavy accents- from Liverpool we found out later- and were just constantly talking and shouting and making noise. They must have asked where we were from about 10 times and one of them was quite insistent that we were from Kentucky. Meredith and I kept exchanging glances and I felt realllly bad for the poor guys asleep in the room. Just as I was about to turn over and go to bed, one of the Brits decides that clothing was just unnecessary. As you can imagine, he gave no warning and I turned my head and there was a butt!!!! I looked wide-eyed at Meredith and we decided it was definitely time to sleep.. and also time to rethink the mixed dorm for the future.

We woke up bright and early the next morning and headed to Marienplatz to meet a tour group that was headed to the Dachau Concentration Camp. We knew it wouldn't be some sort of pleasant trip or anything, but a worthwhile experience that we both thought we needed to have. After grabbing some amazing German coffee and pastries, we met the group and headed to the metro. Ironically enough, when the guide was asking people where they were from, one guy said Indiana! Turns out that this guy, Trevor, goes to Butler and knows several people that went to high school with either Meredith or myself! Even crazier- in the bathroom before the tour started, Meredith saw a random woman that she talked to while her flight was delayed. This woman happened to be on the same flight as Meredith because she was going to go teach English somewhere in Germany (not Munich). She just happened to be in Munich on the same weekend as us, on the same tour as us, and in the bathroom at the same time as us! Crazy!!

The tour of the concentration camp was really intense. It was the longest running of all of the camps. While it was more of a work camp than a death camp, thousands of people perished at Dachau. The whole place was really eery. The grounds were immaculately kept- apparently it was the same way during the time of the war- and there was a really stark contrast between the grassy outside areas and the grim, gravel areas where the prisoners were kept. While most of the barracks have been razed, they rebuilt a few of them when the site became a national museum of sorts. They show the evolution of the barracks from separated bunks to just a massive wooden box for hundreds of people. The tour included the shower areas as well as some of the areas where the Nazis would torture the prisoners. It was all really grim. The most intense of all of these places was the end- the gas chamber and crematorium. Above the doors to the gas chamber there is a sign that reads "Showers" in German. The inmates believed that they were finally getting a shower, not headed to their deaths. While this place was nuts, it kind of just seemed like a big empty room. It was difficult to imagine what might have happened there. The next room, the crematorium, was different. That was the one of the most gut-wrenching places I have ever been. As crazy as it sounds I felt like I could sense the horrors in that room. Seeing the ovens was too much and I couldn't really stay in that room too long. Everyone else felt the same way. If any of you ever have the opportunity to visit a camp, I would highly recommend going so that you can try and better understand the horrific events that took place. It is really worthwhile. Here are a few pictures, but I didn't really take a lot while I was there. It felt weird..

 This is one of the monuments in the main square where they used to do the roll calls. It is supposed to represent the bodies that would get caught in the gates surrounding Dachau. Guards used to do sick things like take a prisoners hat, throw it in the grass, and command them to go get the hat. The catch? If you step on the grass, they tower guards shoot you. If you don't follow orders, the guards beat you.

This is the famous gate that leads into Dachau. It translates to "Works set you free". This originally gave false hope to prisoners that believed if they followed orders and did the work they would be set free.









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As you can imagine, after a day like this, we were in desperate need of much lighter, more enjoyable evening. Ironically the same company that offers these tours also offers a "Beer Challenge" a few hours after the Dachau tour ends. Meredith and I grabbed some Turkish food at the train station, freshened up at the hostel, and headed out for a night of fun! When we got to the meeting point- Berlin Central Station- the first thing the guides did was hand out beers to everyone. What?? In the train station? Everyone could SEE us?!?!? This must be illegal, right? Apparently as a rule of thumb in Germany, anywhere you can eat bread, you can drink beer. The metro is no exception! We were instructed that we had to finish these beers before arriving at the first Beer Hall, which meant we had to drink them on the metro. I had this intrinsic desire to hide my beer the entire time. I felt like such an alcoholic. I kept wondering if people were staring at me because I had a beer on the metro at 6:30pm! Meredith and I were even sitting across from some nicely dressed couple. Talk about culture shock!! Our first stop was the famous Hofbrauhaus and before entering we were taught the great folksy tune that all the locals sing when prompted by the awesome little band. Essentially it has to do with having a good time and drinking and at the end you yell "1, 2, 3... CHUG!" Excellent. We went inside and it was everything I had always hoped it would be and much much more! The waitresses were wearing traditional attire and tables were a great mix of locals and wide-eyed tourists like me. The funniest thing was when I walked in and saw an elderly woman of about 90 or so with two hands on her huge 1 liter jug of beer just downing it. So funny!!! We got to our table and it was 5 of us from the tour and some locals. I was too much of a wimp to order the full liter of beer so I went with the 1/2 liter of the Hofbrauhaus wheat beer. We also ordered some pretzels and bread to go with it. They had a great polka band and I happily snapped photos of the tuba player. After my liquid courage was in full force, I decided to make friends with the German woman sitting next to me. The conversation was a hilarious combination of broken English and broken German. We understood each other for the most part and it was a lot of fun! My German improved (sort of) as we spoke and she was happy to get to practice her English. She and her boyfriend taught as about the importance of eye contact and cheersing with the bottom of the glass- there really is a lot to remember about German beer drinking! 

TUBA! He was great and I took a ton of pictures of him. He waved when he walked by my table!!! .. probably because I waved first but still :) :)










Just some beers for the table!! Mine is the tall skinny one in the middle. Definitely wasn't up for the whole liter!

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We left there around 9pm and headed to the next place. We went to a total of 3 beer halls and 1 bar. The crazy Brits from our hostel were actually on the tour and we got to know them a little better. Turns out they were only half as irritating and douchey as we thought! We met some great friends from all over the place and definitely enjoyed ourselves. Somehow this night- which was supposed to be over at 10pm- was dramatically delayed. The short version is that after we left the bar at 3am, we met a woman outside who asked if we had a lighter. I said no and then she started to talk to me and, for some reason,  was totally happy to chat. The resemblance between this woman- who was at least 40- to Cruella Deville is uncanny. It is how I will refer to her from now on (I swear she never told me her real name). 

Somehow Cruella convinced Meredith, our new friend David, and me to go with her to a Milch Bar- whatever that is. We followed her around Munich for a while and she rambled to me about Switzerland, her son in Germany, her passion for hot air balloons, and a bunch of crap I don't remember. It was certainly entertaining because we spoke to each other in German, French, and English. Not quite sure when or why we switched from language to language, but I think I just kept going with Cruella because it was too funny to pass up. When the Milch Bar was closed, she took us to this 24 hour Turkish restaurant and proceeded to buy us all falafels and fries! Amazing!! Then we all went across the street to some random bar and thought that shots of tequila were in order. Oh boy. After about 15 minutes or so I decided it was time to go. I was getting really tired and surely it was late! We said our goodbyes to Cruella (who was having a smoke outside) and wandered off. Sadly I have no pictures of Cruella, but she will live on forever in my heart!! 

Once outside the bar there was a big question to be answered.. where were we? No clue! We must have asked 5 people or so on the way back to the hostel which way we were going but no one was particularly helpful. We finally made it back to the hostel around 5:45AM. OHHHH my goodness. I was so shocked when I saw the time! Checkout was at 10am! Luckily we could pay for late checkout and we did so promptly. We went back upstairs and climbed into bed after quite a long day. 

We woke up kind of late- hard to believe, I know- showered, and headed out for the day. We decided to go healthy with our meal choice and ate some much needed subway. Then we set out to find and visit Allianz Arena, home of Bayern Munich! We took the metro for what seemed like a really, really long time until we got to the outskirts of Munich. There was really nothing around at all until we got out of the station and saw a GIANT stadium. It kind of looks like a huge (and amazing) white tire! The area around it is totally empty and flat so it was really windy as we walked up to it. Unfortunately the tour of the stadium is only offered in English once a day- 11am- and thanks to the Beer Challenge that was sort of impossible. We did get to see the field, walk around the stadium itself, and experience the 4 or 5 room gift shop! I managed to spend about 50 euros in that place... don't judge!! They were the only souvenirs I bought all trip (minus post cards which do not count... and minus a t-shirt I got Steve in Prague). Considering all of the useless stuff I wanted to buy, the fact that I limited myself to 50 euros is actually impressive. It is, I promise :)

After the stadium we took the metro back and decided to wander around Munich a bit. We saw some really neat buildings and monuments. As we were walking, we saw this one monument that had tons of photos and flowers all over it. We decided to go over it to get a better look at it and figure out who this guy was that was still so popular. When we got close enough to make out the pictures, it was none other than Michael Jackson. Somehow, someway, a random Michael Jackson memorial was started on the base of the monument of some random Bavarian dude. It was so strange. See for yourself:

Sadly we had no random flowers of our own to add to this strange monument, so we simply paid our respects and headed to the train station. We had a 5 hour train ride ahead of us to get to Munich, and we decided it was in our best interest to get some food for the journey. So, what did we get? Well, 16 euros worth of candy is the answer! The best part? It turned out to be all be pretty terrible! Oops. There's a life lesson! 

Stay tuned for Part 2: Vienna!!

Hope you are all doing well. See you in 57 days =D

Love you and miss you,

Olivia 

The Roller Coaster of Barcelona

It's been a crazy few weeks here in Europe!

I met my friends Nathan and Chen, this time in Barcelona, Spain, for another great weekend. But first, I'll talk about school so that I can prove to you nay-sayers that I do, occasionally, attend class! 

Last week was one of the scariest academic weeks for me outside of the week where I had to turn in my 30 page history paper... or maybe when I had three 10 page papers due on the same day? Anyways this was way worse because, as I am in France, all this crap is in French! Bah! In my history of France in the 19th century class I had to do what they call a "fiche de travail"- sort of a 2-page essay/report on a topic- as well as a 25 minute oral presentation on a really boring document, which I think I mentioned in the previous post. For those of you who are unaware, the professor-student relationship in France is quite different from America. When you give a presentation, it is extremely common for the professor to simply stop you in the middle of it and tell you that you should have done more research, said something stupid, etc. At the end of the presentation, the prof proceeds to ask you a ton of questions that are difficult to answer or are worded in a really condescending way. Well my roommate and I worked tirelessly reading and organizing our presentation, finding relevant maps, and making notecards. We went to class that day and the prof kind of put our group on the spot and made us talk about our fiche. Much to my amazement, he didn't insult the information we gave him! Nice. But then it was our turn for the presentation...

Marley and I had been getting really, really nervous throughout the entire class. Of course we had to give the presentation at the end of class, which meant we were super antsy the entire time and staring at the clock. When it was our turn, we walked up to the front of the class and put our stuff on the table. We both took a deep breath and began. During the presentation, whenever Marley was talking, I looked at the prof and I swear every face he made was of disdain or absolute confusion. Despite this, we kept going and then wait for the worst part- the questions! He was brutal!! He asked us so many questions (and I was so terrified) that I can barely remember what he asked. I do know that either myself or Marley had a plausible answer for all but one question. Then he hit us with another question. We tried desperately to answer, guess after guess. Even the French students looked confused. So what was up? The prof decided that a trick question was necessary. Cruel and unusual punishment. After he finally admitted there was no real answer, we got to go sit down and finally breathe again. Everyone told us we did well, but after that torture, Marley and I were less sure. 

The French grading scale goes from 1-20. You will never get a 20. Actually 17-20 are sort of off-limits to anyone. 15-16 are considered exception, 14 really good, etc etc. IU curves the French grades so that a 14 is an A. Thank god, because today we found out that despite the attacks and questions at the end, we got a 14!!!! !!!!!  !!!!!! 

Alright that's super boring on to the next thing. BARCELONA! 

Chen got to Aix on Tuesday evening and stayed with me to rest up and do internship applications, laundry etc. Thursday night I took her to the bus stop and she rode to Barcelona to meet Nathan. I took the very same bus the next day, except my experience was totally different!!! When I dropped Chen off there were several other students from Aix getting on the bus. She also boarded promptly on time and headed to Spain. When I got to the stop the next day, there was not a single other person there! Then, the bus was 45 minutes late. Considering that I got to the stop 30 minutes ahead of time like the ticket says, I had been outside waiting for quite some time. I was freaking out and freezing. By the time the bus came I was so exhausted from trying to think of how in the world this was happening to me that I was content to just sit and relax on the bus. I was in and out the entire way and got to Barca at 5 am. I hopped off the bus and onto the metro and made it to the hostel around 5:30. They finally let me check-in at 6:30am and I went to bed... for 2 hours. 

When I got up to see if Chen was in the lobby, I actually found Nathan checking in! Luckily his room was in the same dorm as Chen's so we went in and woke her up. After Chen was finally ready to go, we headed out for our first day on the town! Our first stop was La Rambla where we ducked into the markets. They were so amazing. It was kind of a labyrinth of stands and people shouting in Catalan. We were all drawn straight to the beautiful fruit stands. Nathan bought this big thing of freshly cut strawberries for a euro, and the rest of us bought these amazing fruit juices. Mine was pineapple/cocunut. It was sooo good. After that we walked around for a while trying to find this sculpture garden or something like that, and when it ended up being a fail we just decided to eat! Yay! We went to a tapas restaurant.. Tapas, in Spain? How original :) But they were pretty yummy. Chen and I had some delicious sangria too! I was adventurous and tried the eel. Sick. Chen likes eel and she said that particular kind was bad so maybe there is hope for eel in my future? Or not.

Anyways feast your eyes:

Our next stop was this history museum that I wanted to see, and it ended up being pretty cool. It was kind of a massive museum and the guys were getting really sleepy, so we decided to leave after a while. Then we decided to take a walk towards the beach. On the way we stopped and got the BEST gelato I have ever had. So so so so good. I think I had dark chocolate and dulce de leche? Not sure, but it was a good choice! After a brief stop at the beach we decided to head back to the hostel for some rest and to figure out our evening plans. We decided on a general location to get food and then, more importantly, which night-life to attend! 

On the way to the restaurant we saw a protest! Well, we heard it first because there were these really loud explosions going off. Apparently the firefighters were protesting at city hall or something. All of the Barcelona riot police were out. It was a good time :) We had a nice dinner- I had lamb!! Yummy!- and then decided to find the famous, or infamous, Chupitos shots bar! Though we doubted Chen at first, she finally got us there and it was such a great experience.

The place was packed. It is basically the size of a big galley kitchen, with basically no sitting space, only squeezing through crowd space. All of the shots have some sort of dazzling effect to them- anywhere from setting the bar on fire to just really cool color combinations. We started off the the "Harry Potter" and there was no stopping us from there! I took some pictures of the particularly cool or tasty ones!

***Please keep in mind that I am over 21 and all beverages were enjoyed as responsibly as possible*** 

This shot was called the "Boy Scout". It was recommended to us by a fellow IU Hoosier that we met at the bar. He is studying abroad in Barcelona and apparently frequents Chupitos!

Roast mallow on the fire on the bar, drunk mallow into the shot, drink the shot, eat the mallow, enjoy responsibly!! 

Ahh the "Harry Potter". This was our first Chupitos experience! First they put the orange slice on top of... whatever was in the shot... and cover the slice in sugar. Then they light it all on fire and throw more sugar into the flames! Quite the spectacle!! :)

The "Bob Marley". I think this shot is really pretty! It was also quite delicious! I think it was strawberry, banana, and lime? Not really sure but I enjoyed it (responsibly).










As I mentioned, we happened to meet a guy who goes to IU and is studying abroad in Barcelona. He and his friend invited us to join them at a really swanky club in Barcelona called Sutton. The guys were no match for us girls at the bar, so they went home before we departed for the club! We walked and talked with our new friends on the way. They told us that we had to tell the bouncers that we were on "Chaz's list"... no idea who Chaz is, but that is no matter! We got to the club and there was a massive line all the way around the building. My first thought was that there was absolutely no way we were getting in. Then the group we were with told us to just start cutting the line! Cutting???? How rude! But we did it anyways and when we the group got to the front, Chen and I were sort of huddling in the back. The bouncers turned them all away and somehow Chen and I did not get included in that group. We were randomly in the front of the line and a girl we came with whispered "Chaz's List" to us, so when they asked that it is what I said. They let us in! We couldn't believe it- especially when we got inside and it was so unbelievably chic! We checked our coats and then went out on to the already-packed dance floor!

Until about 3:30am, it was a great night. That's when things turned around. Chen and I decided to head back to the hostel because we were tired and had a lot to do the next day. She started looking in her bag for our coat check receipts and discovered that her wallet was missing!!! We were both pretty frantic right away. Barcelona is notorious for thefts. We retraced her steps to find the wallet and there was no sign. I got back in line to get our coats and ask the coat check people if anyone had turned it in. No one had. Chen didn't find the wallet. All she found were little receipts and things on the floor that had been in zipper pockets of her wallet. Eek! We had one of our new friends help us talk to the club employees (neither Chen nor I know Spanish) and she left her Barcelona address and number with them in case the wallet turned up. Chen and I headed home to call her parents to have them cancel her cards.

The end? Ha. We were really, really far north in Barcelona. We had absolutely no idea where we were and it was nearly 4:30 at this point. We asked for directions to the nearest metro and didn't really find it. We found a bus stop and then when the bus came we just decided to hop on and see if we went the right way. We asked the driver (in English) and he responded (in Spanish). Surely whatever he said had to have meant, "Sure, hop on! Next stop- metro station!!!" Thankfully, it kind of did! We made it to the same metro stop that was next to our dinner location. We went down into the metro and all was well!

Until we got to the actual platform. We heard a lot of commotion going on and figured it was just some people coming home from the clubs. It ended up being one of the scariest/most intense things I had ever seen. Someone was being beaten up, kicked, and harassed by a group of 5 or 6 guys. We looked closer and it was a girl! She was screaming madly at some of the guys and then attacking them. They would throw her to the ground and then start stomping on her. We were TERRIFIED. Chen and I backed away next to this French girl and didn't know what to do. Other people on the platform were on their cell phones calling the police. Men on the platform across the tracks were screaming at and threatening the guys on our side. It was completely insane. It seemed like it took days for the police and the train to arrive. When they did everyone scattered, but I'll never forget what I saw.

We did finally make it back to the hostel safe and sound, but certainly freaking out! We both called the US really quickly to make ourselves feel better and cancel Chen's cards. Then we went to bed... for 3 hours.

The next day we ventured to this crazy cathedral by Gaudi and a few other architects. Chen did the tour of the inside while Nathan, Bob, and I went across town to see the park that he created. Both were incredible and ornate.

This is the cathedral from the front! Notice the Christmas tree on it. It is supposed to tell the story of Christ's life on the outside. 

The star of the show! The back is very different from the front, as you can see! It's a really great cathedral, and is still under construction.

We met back up with Chen and then headed down to the beach for more Vioko! Woo! That place was great. I think I had cheesecake and chocolate that time. We ate our gelato while we walked to this cable car lift that would take us up to Mont juic, the mountain! The ride was really great and the view was spectacular! The mountain also had great views and we sat there for quite some time just taking it all in. Enjoy :) 

All in all the trip was a lot of fun. We saw some really neat things, ate wonderful food, and definitely enjoyed each other's company. I found the Spanish people extremely nice, and enjoyed the laid back lifestyle they had. We saw people just singing in the streets and then others would start dancing. It was a really neat cultural experience! Bad stuff aside, we all agreed that Barca was great!! 

Miss you and love you,

 Liv