Denio Takes Barcelona

Finally updating about Amalfi

2011-09-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

After twelve hours of traveling yesterday we finally made it back to Munich. And now I have to study for two midterms and write a twelve page paper. But since I'm the worst blogger ever for not updating in weeks I will finally sit down and share all of the craziness I have been living.

I will pick up where I left off... The boat cruise was beyond breathtaking and I cannot even explain how lucky I feel to be seeing and doing all of this. We boated all the way around the Island of Capri, and towards the end we got to the rather well known site, the "Rock of Love." You're supposed to either kiss your boyfriend or girlfriend underneath the rock or make a wish about them. So I made a wish about my dog Junior. Tehe just kidding.

When we got back from the boat cruise we hiked up towards the center of the island and the views got even better if that is even possible.

There's me after hiking up the mountain sweating for half an hour!

Since we were sweating and starving to death after hiking for in 100 degree weather, we decided it was time for an authentic Italian lunch. Literally might have been the best pasta I've ever had. I'm drooling right now thinking about it. We shared a caprese salad and then I had gnocchi. Oh my god. Italian food is every bit as good as it is said to be.

So delicious.

After lunch we had to somehow get back down to the bottom of the mountain, and we had two options; pay more money than I had left to take a chair lift down.... or walk. Now, walking down a mountain might not seem that difficult. I assure you if you think this you are very wrong. Apparently this mountain is where Tiberius used to throw slaves off the top of the cliff during the days of the Roman Empire- or something like that. So yes, it was high. And terrifying. And very hard to walk down.

But I reverted back to a lesson from my dad- when we were in Israel we hiked up the Masada instead of taking a chair lift. It was a strenuous three hour hike, but it was a million times more rewarding in the end.

So we took the long way, which was much more rewarding, and got to see some of the best views on the Island. But even better than the views was our new friend Salvatore.

On the way down, there was an art gallery made by the cutest little man in the world. He showed us all of his favorite pieces, shared with us his letter signed by Prince Charles (that he was very proud of,) and whipped out his guitar and played a song for us that he wrote about leaving his heart in Capri. So precious.

Anyway, some more pictures of the view:

When we finally made it down, sweaty and disgusting, we went for a swim in the pee-temperature water and then passed out on the beach.

Later that night, we went for dinner at another small Italian restaurant in Sorrento. Dinner was comprised of wine and pasta... I could definitely get used to the life of an Italian. We went to an American bar afterwords with all the Bus2Alps kids. Too many shots of tequila later, we made it home. In the morning I looked on my camera and discovered this picture:

All in all, it was a successful day.

The wake up at 7 the next morning on the other hand was NOT so successful. But, off to the beautiful city of Positano we went.

If any of you have never heard of Positano (I hadn't before this trip...) it is a BEAUTIFUL little town embedded in the mountainside overlooking the Mediterranean. In order to get down to the beach you have to walk through narrow little alleyways filled with shops for souvenirs, unique little clothing boutiques, and lots of gelato. The sand is black and the floor of the water is covered with smooth black rocks.

Honestly, the views are breathtaking.

We went on another boat tour around the island. But before-hand we stocked up on wine and the best turkey sandwich of my LIFE with the freshest mozzarella and tomatoes and omg I'm drooling again.

This picture is just screaming perfection.

The boat was a major success. Wine flowing, hair blowing, okay this is getting corny but basically it was awesome. We ended up swimming around this area for a while and it was SO scary but sooooo so cool.

In the back left corner of this picture you might see a ledge to go cliff jumping off of. Obviously anyone that knows me knows I did NOT take part in any cliff jumping of any kind. However Barbara did, and I was very proud of her.

When we got back to shore we walked around the shops for a while--- and Mom, guess what? I found your chicken that was stolen off our front porch three years ago!

Here's a pretty picktcha:

(Yes, I went shopping. Sorry Mom.)

Later that night the four of us got all dolled up, only to sit and talk over a few bottles of Limoncello and not do anything until like 2 am. But eventually we made it up to the bar on top of the hostel (almost everyone was gone.) Actually, everyone else was gone. But there was one champ standing. I honestly couldn't tell you his name because I don't remember it at all. But he was an Australian guy who has literally spent the past six months of his life, and plans on spending another fourteen, traveling by himself throughout Europe. Talk about adventurous. His stories about traveling, people, places, how to avoid being a tourist, were extremely memorable, and thanks to him I scratched a few American-tourist spots off my travel list and will try to venture out elsewhere in Europe.

The next day was our last day, and before heading to the airport we stopped in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii. I was absolutely blown away by some of the information our tour guide gave us.

First of all, here is a picture of the known center of the city:

And now for some fun facts. Mt. Vesuvius is the large volcano seen in the background of the picture. It erupted in 79 AD and was the largest eruption known in history. It has erupted 106 times since then. Humans have began uncovering these ruins since the 1700s, but still to this day, there is about 50% STILL uncovered.

Before the volcano erupted, Pompeii was one of the most advanced Roman civilizations. The population was about 20,000 and it was a main Roman port because of how close it was to the sea.

Now, some pictures:

Creepy.

These guys used the 3rd dimension in their art way before 3rd dimension was around. What clever fellas.

Ok and now for the part that I was absolutely blown away by: How advanced Roman technology was over 2,000 years ago.

You see this little hole in the wall on the left side of the picture?

It was for insulating their walls to keep them warm.

They had irrigation systems, LAUNDROMATS???, art work that was WAY ahead of its time, a Red Light District, Penises drawn on their sidewalks so sailors could find the way to the Red Light District (I swear I'm not making this up,) PIZZERIAS!, 60 bars throughout the city with wine cellars below-ground, absolutely beautiful architecture, etc etc. I was completely amazed by this.

This was in the living room of one of the villas. I wish my living room had artwork like this.

Our adorable little tour guide with one of the many fountains throughout the city.

The girls in front of the brick oven in the pizzeria!

The Red Light District aka Whore House

The "Menu" in the Whore House

Cheeeeeeeeseeee

There were two things I thought about a lot while in Pompeii. One was how interesting it is that the Romans were so advanced technologically, yet they conquered and killed unreasonable numbers of civilizations and peoples. And probably the only way they could have been the amazing Empire they were is because of this. I suppose that is just a reflection of their values- power over life?

The other thing was that as much as our world has changed, we still have SO many of the Roman technologies incorporated into our every day lives... that maybe things haven't changed all that much. I don't know... just some food for thought.

That's all for Pompeii folks.

..........

Ok so then after Pompeii we sat on a 90000 degree bus for four hours, finally got to the airport, decided we needed a drink, downed a bottle of Absolute Vodka, and that is that.

I hope you enjoyed my summarized weekend in the beautiful Amalfi Coast, because I sure as hell know that I did. I will try to update soon with an Oktoberfest post. But Thursday, I'm offffff to Ibiza. Such a jet-setter.

Now, wish me luck on the fourteen million hours of school work I'm about to do.

Miss you all, mi familia y mis amigos. Thinking about you always.

Xoxoxoxo,

Yarden

Our weekend adventure on the Amalfi Coast

2011-09-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Since I don't want to do the 40 pages of reading I have or study for my test tomorrow (aren't study abroad classes supposed to be easy???), I think that now is the perfect time to update everyone on the absolutelyyyy incredible weekend I had on the Amalfi Coast.

I will start out by saying that this place is absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. And now for my story:

Friday after class Barbara and I embarked on our adventure. I'll skip over the boring part about how we almost missed our flight because the trains were all broken down and were going slower than a turtle, but nonetheless we made our flight. When we got to "Rome" which really wasn't Rome but it was the shithole airport RyanAir tricks you into thinking is Rome, we sat there for like four hours waiting for the group to pick us up. While waiting, we ran into Dumbledore who apparently isn't really dead:

After looking for/waiting for the Bus2Alps bus find us for a few hours, they finally arrived. We then got onto a bus of 50 screaming biddies. Laura Hollis, you would have bashed your head against a window. They gave us a headache. The headache drove us to needing a beverage or 8.

After a four hour bus ride, we finally ended up in the city of Sorrento. It was unfortunately really late out so we couldn't see much of anything, but the lights around the coastline embedded into the mountainside was really a site to see. We got to the hostel finally, and discovered that Sarah Mer Barb and I would be sharing a room with 7 of the screaming biddies. (Biddie in this context=dumb girl for any old people reading this who don't know what it means.) Anyway, we woke up in the morning after 4 hours of sleep. It was time to head to Capri! We walked down to the dock in Sorrento to catch the boat....

At first I didn't think Capri could be more beautiful than Sorrento. It is such a charming city. But then we got to Capri and I was literally blown away. Here are some pictures of the dock area when you arrive:

Barbie and I

And thattt is the gorgeous view at the start of the 2 hour boat tour we took around the Island. I know I say this a lot but words and pictures really don't do it justice. For some reason being in such a peaceful and beautiful environment like this made me really pensive and I started thinking about when I was in Israel with my dad last December. It might have been some of the similarities in scenery that got me thinking, but regardless, I was thinking. So anyway, when I was in Israel, there were a few very valuable lessons he helped me learn/realize. 1. Take pictures of everything because that's the only way you can "capture the moment." 2. He and I are extremely alike in many ways and are 2 very adventurous people in every aspect of life- and especially when it comes to traveling. And.... 3. Always take the harder route in life and in travel because it is always more rewarding in the end.

So I took these lessons with me during this weekend excursion in the Amalfi Coast. And they proved to be just as important in Italy as they were for us in Israel.

I did as he said and took over 300 pictures this weekend, and now I'd like to share some of the many photos with you guys.

Let me continue on now that I've been sidetracked. The boat tour took us to one of the natural wonders of the world, The Blue Grotto. To be honest, I had never even heard of it before booking this trip but now I know it was worth all the hype I've been hearing to go see it.

It's a TINY little cave that the Romans used to go swimming inside. Here you can see Meredith almost hitting her head:

And once we were inside, it was an extremely dark cave with only a little light shining through from the tiny entrance, and that entrance illuminated the water to look like this:
(I swear to God I took this photo with NO flash and I didn't edit the picture either)

So beautiful. So blue.
And after that the driver of our little boat gave us the opportunity to jump into the water. Now, I may sound like a wussy right now but open water is pretty terrifying to me. And I didn't want to go in. And get cold. But I remembered back to when I was at the Dead Sea in Israel with my dad, and despite the fact that it was FREEZING cold, he basically forced me to go in- after all, "you're only at the Dead Sea once" according to him. So I listened to his little voice in my head and in I jumped, and it was worth every second of freezing-ness and scariness.

Post-swim in the blue grotto.

Here is a picture of the four girls post-swim:

So the boat ride continued and I swear I've never seen water so blue in my life.

I really hate to say this, but my internet is being so slow and it's taking about an hour to upload one picture (I feel like I'm back in the dial-up Dark Age.) I'm sick and I need to sleep and I have a flight tomorrow to Oktoberfest!!! So basically I will have to update this blog on Monday or Tuesday with pictures and details from the rest of the day in Capri, the rest of the weekend in Pompeii and Positano, and the weekend in Munich! (And Malaga, but that's a story for later.)
Apologies for being so terrible at updating this but I've been extremeeeelyyyy busy.

Greetings from Barcelona, hugs and kisses to my family and friends,
xoxo Yarden

NERD ALERT

2011-09-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

I was tired last night. I did not want to go clubbing with Barbara and Sarah and Meredith.

Instead, Sibley, Rex, Abby and I said we were going to get a few drinks and explore Las Ramblas for an hour or two, and call it an early night. Aka be back by around 2 am because we all had 9 am classes. I went over to the boys room at 11ish to have a drink before we went out. One drink turned into two, two turned into many, many turned into not going out at all, which turned into SB and Andrew joining in the drunkenness, which somehow evolved into a deep discussion on American politics and society and the state of the world today. Hmm.

If you know me semi-well, you should know that I am a little bit more multi-faceted than your typical party girl. One of my favorite topics of discussion is society and the world we live in today. (Thanks to me, this is my boyfriend, best friend Barbara's and brother Tom's least favorite topic of discussion because I like to ponder these things out loud way too often.) But anyway, what I'm trying to say is the conversation last night was right up my alley.

One of my biggest frustrations recently is the lack of interest us young Americans have when it comes to what is going on in the world. So when my four drunk guy friends wanted to have this conversation, I was naturally quite excited. Despite what their beliefs may or may not be, and regardless of if I agree or not (which I often do,) it is important to me to have different ideas and perspectives flowing (regardless of if drinks are involved.) We discussed the financial bailout, media censorship, etc etc nerd nerd nerd.

So, since I've already bored you all with these thoughts, I will continue to bore you by telling you about the stuff I'm learning in my classes.

The one class that is especially interesting to me is Politics of the Developing World. The professor is extremely intelligent, well-read and encourages discussion-based lectures. In the first class on Monday, we discussed two of the readings we had for homework- one arguing that we should view "development" as an ever-evolving process of expanding social, political, and economic freedoms and not just in the sense of a formula calculating GDP and increase of wealth per capita. From this perspective, even "first world countries" like the US are constantly developing, being that there are still people marginalized in our country and certain aspects of their freedoms are not being fulfilled to the fullest potential. The other reading we discussed is encouraging a society that is more engaged in the political realm and talks about different means of making it happen. This essay blames the lack of political action in the nature of the setup of our government- it redefines the term progressive to those taking a more radical approach in changing the nature of government.

We also watched a video today which was featured on Ted Talks. It was extremely interesting and discussed different statistics about the changes the world has seen in the past 30 years. If anyone is interesting in seeing it here is the link:
http://www.gapminder.org/videos/hans-rosling-ted-2006-debunking-myths-about-the-third-world

I apologize if I bored you guys with the details of my classes.

On another note, one thing I have been extremely appreciative of since I've been here is the outpouring of recommendations of things to do while in Europe that I've gotten from friends I haven't talked to in long periods of time. It means a lot to me that everyone is taking the time to share their favorite experiences from Barcelona and other European cities. I want to compile a list of these recommendations at a later date to keep a checklist of the things I want to see while I'm here and let you all see the progress I'm making when it comes to site seeing. I reallyyyyy really appreciate all the advice I've gotten from so many friends, it means a lot!

Anyway, the rest of today was very mellow and I felt tired and sick all night. Tomorrow, I am flying to Rome to spend the weekend on the Amalfi Coast :)
Cannnotttttttttt wait!!! I will update you guys Monday with a less intellectual blog post and a more exciting, picture filled one.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends- talk to you when I've experienced a taste of Italy!
Xoxoxo
Yarden

My fantasy football team won.

2011-09-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

It's almost 2 am and everyone else went to bed but I don't feel like sleeping so I'll finish adding anything else I may have had to add right now.

I've been told that after the initial excitement of moving into a new city and after everything starts to settle down you realize you miss home a little bit and start feeling some form of homesick. And yes, in every stereotypical sense of the term, I am feeling a little homesick. It initially started yesterday with what is supposed to be the most exciting Sunday of every September....

SUNDAY FOOTBALL!!! Yes! I was so excited!!!! Jets vs Cowboys! Giants are going to get humiliated by the Redskins! Steelers Ravens, going to be a diesel game!!! SO much to look forward to!!!

Only to realize that none of the boys here actually care about football. (Sorry D, Alex, Sibley... but you don't.) And only one bar in this whole city shows any games. And neither of those games were Jets games. So I was batting one and a thousand and really wanted to be eating nachos and drinking pitchers with my idiot friends at Baseball Tavern. Or sitting on my couch with my brothers yelling at each other about whose fantasy team sucks more. Either would do. But being in Barcelona, none of this is possible. Which is why, strangely enough, I am feeling homesick.

But that's ok. Life goes on.

.....................

In order to keep myself busy and not focus on all the negative things about missing home, I was forced to continue living the fake life I've been living. De Lis Group (love you guys) set me and las chicas up with some complimentary manicures/pedicures at the fabulous Pink Peony Salon on the trendy fashion-y street I always talk about that Morgan Brown is going to have a field day on. Since we were nursing hangovers from the night before, Drew and Pedro felt the need to provide us endless glasses of champagne at like 4 pm. Here is a photo of me and Barbara being pampered by the highly recommended salon Pink Peony:

(Notice my Jets shirt... tear)

On a side note, the owner of the salon was one of the NICEST women I have ever met... She grew up in the Philippines, moved to San Francisco, lived in NY<3 for a few years, and ended up in Barcelona with her salon. It seems like everyone that comes to Barcelona once always comes back- for good.

Anyway, this is Pedro looking fly as hell getting his manicure on:

Face of an angel.

After I left, feeling like a princess and whatnot, we went to watch our first NFL sunday at the Irish bar showing the football games- George Payne's. I have to say, it was a pretty cool bar and I enjoyed it very much..

No, it was not prime stadium seating bbqing and boozing with the Warwick boys; it was not a Sunday cleaning the lodge and discovering calculus; it was not a Sunday Funday bowling at Kings and watching the games; it was not spent eating wings at Baseball Tavern or Lir... and yes I miss doing these things all of my amazing friends back in beantown very very much. But, it was my very first NFL Sunday Funday in Barcelona and it was a pretty good one.

I ended up staying out with Alex and Sibley til like 2 am eating Spain's version of nachos and wings, and drinking Spanish beers. Waking up for class yesterday sucked. Majorly. And I almost fell asleep in Spanish Culture. But, you win some you lose some.

Conveniently last night in the midst of my homesick-ness, last night the boys decided it was time for a family dinner. Jordan made a delicious salad and (shockingly) Alex and Sibley cooked this unbelievable pasta with meat sauce sauteed with pepper onions garlic etc etc so good I stuffed my face. Can't believe they are more domesticated than I am. Well actually, yes I can technically believe it because I'm not very domesticated at all but maybe they can teach me.

I woke up this morning with two great surprises: 1- My fantasy football team won ! and 2- My Uncle Lutek is in Barcelona from Israel and I was going to get too see him! Woo!
I also woke up not homesick-ey anymore. It's a nice feeling when you get to see family members in unexpected parts of the world! Anyhow, I had a really great day enjoying the city in the quiet of my own company. After seeing my Uncle briefly I got myself lost and walked around the area of his hotel for a few hours; grabbed tapas outside on a side street and people watched; window shopped, etc. It was a peaceful and enjoyable day. It still amazes me how beautiful this city is.

I just woke up from a 2 hour siesta so I should really go do something productive. Maybe work out. Maybe read. Probably just sit here being useless though. Hasta luego people,
Yarden

PS. I told you all I'd tell you the story of how I became a Denio. Morgan pointed out that I forgot to write it. But now it's not coming naturally. So I'll ask her to write a brief explanation or something.

PPS. I really miss my puppies <3333

Yarden is trying to be a good person

2011-09-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

By this point, any of you that are actually following this blog have heard of the infamous Kike. He's a party animal and knows just about everyone in this city, and has been hooking it up for me since the day I've gotten here.

Butttt despite the fact that he's fun to go out with and what not, he's involved in a ton of things to try and make this world of ours a better place. And if you know me at all you know I'm a sucker for good causes.

SO basically, the project he's been working on recently is called The Simbal Project- Youth Helping Youth. The goal of this initiative is to connect young people across the world by raising money to build a Public Park for 2,000 children in a small town called Simbal in Peru, his home country.

Here is a shortened message from Kike and his brother Miguel:

	Letter to our friends; If you are reading this letter it is because at some point in your life you have had the opportunity to better yourself or seek a better life. But we all know and are all aware that there are many people in the world that do not have the same luck. Whether you have a connection to Simbal or not, have heard of Simbal or not, it is a beautiful town about 32 kilometers from Trujillo in Peru. We were always used to going there since we were little, and we have the most amazing memories from our childhood there. Presently we reside in Barcelona and we are truly very happy with the great people that we have met here throughout the years. We have always shared a common dream, and it is the power to provide a contribution for the improvement and progress of this beautiful town whose population is almost 40% children. On our end we will utilize our respective jobs as a platform in order to collect funds and be able to carry out the great dream of 2011: to construct a public children’s park in the Simbal District for the almost 2000 children that live in and around the town so that they can have a recreational space that currently does not exist anywhere. At the moment we are coordinating with the Simbal educational center in order to be able to make use of an area of 2000 squared meters where the children’s park can be built: THE SIMBAL PROJECT PARK (El Parque del Proyecto Simbal). The project is already underway with private funds that have been generously donated by a group of people that are already collaborating. But if some day you feel that you can help and become part of this special project, you can provide your contribution in the following way: there will be many rubber bracelets available for purchase with the slogan “BARCELONA LOVIN;” and the money that is raised from them will go entirely towards the construction and fulfillment of this project. Price: 2 Euros. Thank you so much for your time and best of luck with everything. Sincerely, Kike y Miguel Cedamanos

Letter to our friends;

If you are reading this letter it is because at some point in your life you have had the opportunity to better yourself or seek a better life. But we all know and are all aware that there are many people in the world that do not have the same luck.

Whether you have a connection to Simbal or not, have heard of Simbal or not, it is a beautiful town about 32 kilometers from Trujillo in Peru. We were always used to going there since we were little, and we have the most amazing memories from our childhood there.

Presently we reside in Barcelona and we are truly very happy with the great people that we have met here throughout the years. We have always shared a common dream, and it is the power to provide a contribution for the improvement and progress of this beautiful town whose population is almost 40% children.

On our end we will utilize our respective jobs as a platform in order to collect funds and be able to carry out the great dream of 2011: to construct a public children’s park in the Simbal District for the almost 2000 children that live in and around the town so that they can have a recreational space that currently does not exist anywhere.

At the moment we are coordinating with the Simbal educational center in order to be able to make use of an area of 2000 squared meters where the children’s park can be built: THE SIMBAL PROJECT PARK (El Parque del Proyecto Simbal).

The project is already underway with private funds that have been generously donated by a group of people that are already collaborating. But if some day you feel that you can help and become part of this special project, you can provide your contribution in the following way: there will be many rubber bracelets available for purchase with the slogan “BARCELONA LOVIN;” and the money that is raised from them will go entirely towards the construction and fulfillment of this project.

Price: 2 Euros.

Thank you so much for your time and best of luck with everything.

Sincerely,
Kike y Miguel Cedamanos

And now you guys can all see why I think these guys are so great. I'm trying to get the word out a bit about these bracelets, and anyone that has ever been to Barcelona should be repping one. And if you haven't been to Barcelona and you'd like to feel like you're a part of a good cause, you should also be repping one. I have not taken mine off since I got it :)

Anyway, if you are interested in purchasing one let me know!

Until next time....

Life Isn't Real

2011-09-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hellooooo again friends around the world. Apologies for my lack of blog updating but I have been very very busy. I will try to do a few posts today to write about all the madness I've been living since I wrote last Thursday.

I'm pretty sure the last thing I posted was about the DJ I knew nothing about but now love eternally. Apparently he's the number one DJ in the world, and basically we raged behind his booth all night long once again thanks to the De Lis Group, who is definitely too good to us! Oh and before we went to see Armin Van Buuren- Kike Drew Pedro and crew made us pregame in this shitty hotel room at the W with this shitty view of the city:

Hehe, just kidding, thank you boys!

Well here's a picture of us pre-Armin (my new favorite picture of the girls:)

Andddd a picture of barbara getting her arm signed by Armin... There he is giving us the eye ;)

Our shitty view from behind the DJ Booth....

Tough life I live...

It was a prettttyyy awesome night I must say. But, the highlight might have been when we all decided that the last shot of Jager fed to us was probably our downfall, and figured it was time to leave. But instead of doing the logical thing- going home- we went to the beach and went swimming in our underwear. Now, this might sound cliche and corny but there is something invigorating about swimming in the Mediterranean at 5 am with one of your best friends completely drunk under the pitch black sky filled of stars. Not to mention the water was like the temperature of pee. It was a very free feeling.

Here is a photo that depicts our happiness after our little swim:

We finally made it home at like 630 am or something, alive thankfully. Unfortunately for me my dumbness won and after going to bed with a wet head and sleeping like three hours I was sick the whole next day. I slept like a baby for about 14 hours the next night and didn't move from my bed all day Friday. I woke up Saturday at 2pm to Barb telling me to get the hell up. So I got up. I showered. I became a person again.

But before Barbara woke me up, she woke herself up. This is what she looked like:

Still in her dress, class act as always.

When we finally got our lives together we went on a bike tour around Barcelona with the amazinggg Bus2Alps student tours crew. It was a little comical watching me and Barbara attempt to ride bikes, and after a few minor mishaps we kind of (?) got the hang of it?? Maybe. I crashed into her once. I need to steal those pictures off her camera because I didn't bring mine but I'll put them in another blog post. The bike tour just confirmed how beautiful every single crack, crevice and small little alleyway is in this city. The charming-ness of it seriously amazes me every single day.

This blog is already filled with drunken stories and pictures so I guess it won't hurt to include Saturday night in this post too (I'll leave room in my next blog post for a little more intellectual and substance filled writing.) (I swear I'm doing more than just partying here Mom!)

Saturday night we went to BroadBar once again with Kike and crew (do you guys have enough shout outs in here yet?? haha) It was basically insanity and madness with 25 bottles, champagne being popped, etc etc, my life isn't real. I understand why everyone who comes here never wants to leave.

Here's a snapshot of the crewwwwww:

I made a few wonderful friends from Mexico City who are studying abroad in Paris but visited Barcelona for the weekend. Loved them!

I had enough writing about all the partying I've been doing. It's making my liver hurt all over again. And I'm having more fun sitting here listening to TJ tell me about the silent but deadly fart he just ripped and the girl next to him is choking on it.

Until next time mis amigos,

XOXO

Yarden

PS. Someone asked me what a Denio is. I'll explain in my next blog post in like an hour from now.

A Few Days in Barca in a Nutshell

2011-09-08T04:57:00.000-07:00

So as you can see I posted an update last night, but I was delirious while writing and I'm still kind of delirious now since I stayed up all night on Skype. But to any devoted blog follwers I will write this one for you:

Monday night was basically insanity. After dinner Kike told us we were going to a "bar" called Boulevard which in fact was not a bar at all but was actually a nightclub in the neighborhood of Las Ramblas and was ridiculousness with 2 awesome DJs. Kike hooked it up way more than he should have (thank you Kike,) via tables, champagne, shots, mixed drinks, etc etc, and had me and the eight other Northeastern girls way on the rougher side by the end of the night. It must have been all those tequila shots.

I wish I had a before and after picture but these are my wonderful NU babes. Actually, it's probably for the best that there's only a before photo.

Actually, I do have a killer photo of Sarah but I'll spare you your dignity and keep it off of the internet.

(Sarah, Kike, Drew and I!)

We all ended up going to bed way later that we should have (we could basically see the sun rise,) and I ended up waking up at noon to my study abroad coordinator banging on my door waiting for me to go change my schedule with her (oops.) I was looking rough. Well, that is how the last post started out... So I guess I'll just skip the rest of that day since it was the most useless day ever and I was a couch potato, and I'll get to the more interesting stuff. And by interesting I mean I'm about to bore you with specifics about the classes I'm taking.

Oh wait, Sarah Mer Barb and I did actually manage to rally and go to dinner on the beach. So so pretty and I got this amazing chicken paella and this weird-ass watery salad that wasn't very good.

Not a good photo but I swear it's pretty.

So...... yesterday, Wednesday, was my first day of classes. Andddd although it's a minor wake-up call that this semester won't be a drunken joke, I am excited about the courses I am taking while abroad.

By far the most interesting is a course called "Politics of the Developing World." Despite the 15 page research paper I have to write and the two 5-page discussion papers in store for me, I am looking forward to getting more diverse perspectives and a deeper background as far as reasons for inequality and poverty; and how politics affects this inequality. (Yes I am a geek.) We watched a documentary in class on the roots of inequality, which dates back to 13,000 years ago before civilizations began. The point the documentary made was that inequality in region's wealth and power in today's world can be reduced to cattle and wheat thousands of years ago, which basically stems from the luck of the draw geographical resources people had thousands of years ago. I won't bore you with any more details though.

We also have a class trip to Morocco in November which I am definitely looking forward to. I had two other classes yesterday, Spanish Civilization and Culture; and Spanish History in the 20th Century, both courses I think I will enjoy since I believe that the state of the world today, for better or for worse- all roots back to history and how history shaped us.

After class ended it was siesta time.

Barbara + Mer ventured to Tapa Tapa for my favorite 3 cheese risotto and a few mid-day brewskis. We wandered around Passaig de Gracias (the trendy street that I now know the name of but still can't pronounce.) While observing the incredibly fashionable people walking around I may or may not have been tempted to upgrade my wardrobe and may or may not have done so. Don't kill me Mom.

Drank some wine with the girls at our apartment before bed, went to bed, had my Spanish Contemporary Art class this morning (where I basically learned that Picasso is a weird man,) and I'm now sitting in bed exhausted and about to fall asleep. Hope you guys enjoyed my nutshell week in Barcelona, I'll update again if I am functioning tomorrow. But I probably won't be... going to see Armin Van Buuren tonight (apparently the #1 DJ that I've never heard of before this week.)

If anyone else is as musically challenged as I am, here is a link to the "#1 DJ" that I will be seeing tonight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvpctgU_s8&feature=relmfu

Now I need a nap. Wish me luck.

Hasta luego,

Yardenio

Barcelona: 1, Northeastern Girls: 0

2011-09-07T20:07:00.000-07:00

Today, I had my first experience with Spanish bureaucracy. And it was every bit as slow and inefficient as I've been warned. But that's a story for later.

Right now, I feel as inefficient and slow as spanish bureaucracy. It is 4:47 in the afternoon and I just woke up from a five hour siesta. But that's also a story for later.

Since I skipped a day of writing I guess I'll do a quick recap of Sunday. After waking up semi-late for the first time since arriving here, I grabbed lunch (nothing special) and gelato <3 and ended up going to this park with mis amigos. It was more a family-style park than anything historic or cool, but if you hike up a hill you can see this amazingly beautiful view of the city:

Me and my roomies!

After we were done with our hike we went home, and basically didn't leave until the next morning. It was quite a productive day.

Yesterday on the other hand was finally productive. After we had the world's most boring orientation at our school for 2 hours, Barb Jordan Sarah Mer and I went food-shopping, started planning out some of the trips we're going to take, convinced Sarah and Mer to come to the Amalfi Coast in 2 weeks with us (wooo!), and finally booked flights back from Oktoberfest (we decided it would be a bad idea to be stranded in Munich with no way of getting home.) After all of this strenuous work, it was Sangria time. At about 4:30 we ventured outside to all of 20 feet away from our apartment to our favorite Sangria spot. We shared 2 pitchers of happiness in a cup.

11 o'clock finally rolled around and it was time to meet our new friend Kike and Drew out for dinner. They took us to a DELICIOUS restaurant called la Flauta and the food was incredible. Kike ordered us a never ending array of Spanish dishes, ranging from Patatas Bravas, grilled vegetables, pineapple cheese, shrimp and calamari kebabs (which I actually tried... still not sold on it,) "bitched eggs" as our friend Pedro calls them, and probably ten other plates. SO good.

Anyhow, we all left dinner very satisfied.

And Monday night was for sure worth writing about, but I am too lazy to write about it at the moment. So tomorrow, I will update anyone interested on Monday night (the most insane night yet), Tuesday (if you are a geek like me you'll be interested in what I'm going to learn this semester) and Wednesday (I am getting confused at which day is which.)

Update y'all tomorrow (just kidding I didn't really say yall)

Adios amigos,

xox Yarden

PREVIEWS:

I am hungover: Day 3

2011-09-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

I have been up since 11:30 am, and I went to bed at 8 am. I am confused at how a person can function on this little sleep, but I am up and I am functioning. Semi-functioning.

Anyhow, yesterday was another amazing day in Barcelona. You may get sick of reading about how amazing this place is, and if that's the case this blog isn't for you.

So, yesterday was our first free day so we decided to be productive and go exploring. Tammy, Lauren, Barb and I (I'm SO lucky to have such great roommates btw) were looking for good food and stumbled upon a Middle-eastern restaurant called Aladdin that serves Paella. (Below)

We sat outside for about 2 hours and enjoyed our first taste of authentic Spanish paella. We shared a vegetable paella, a fish paella (which I was too scared to try) and falafel. Wonderful meal.

Afterwards we ventured over to see the Sagrada Familia in daylight for the first time. On the way there I gave into temptation and stopped in a few stores to shop. This officially adds another thing to the long list of things I'm already in love with about Barcelona.... The fashion. Wow wow wow the clothing and styles and prices are too good to be true. I'm going to be 100% flat out broke after this semester but at least I'll have a happy closet. We first went to a store called Temptation (ironic?) and I loved basically everything in the store including a brown leather jacket. Fortunately for my bank account I didn't have enough cash on me, but I did get a cute beige over the shoulder bag (12$? yes please.) After a few more detours I managed to escape with minimal damage and a cute new outfit for going out last night:

Cost a total of 20 euro for that ensemble--- I am very proud of my bargain-shopper ways. Anyway, we finally made it to Sagrada Familia. I know I've obsessed over Gaudi in all my posts so far but after you see these photos you'll understand why:

Pictures truly don't do this work of art justice... It has been under construction for over 100 years with the original vision inspired by Gaudi, and it isn't expected to be finished until 2040... Crazy. But once again, if you look at the INSANE detail you will see why it's taken so long:

(I'm proud of my photography here)

That's just a glimpse of the Sagrada Familia. Hopefully I'll be able to go inside sometime after class within the next two weeks or so.

When we got back from Sagrada Familia we got an invite from my wonderful new friend Drew to a BBQ party at his friends beautiful house. The house party was equipped with a DJ and some sick equipment, the best barbeque-d food I've ever had (I'm pretty sure the burgers were like filet mignon burgers or something, and they were so delicious that I didn't even need ketchup,) and a serious abundance of alcohol:

By the end of the night, the house was filled with about 50 people from every single part of the world. It was soooo refreshing to be around so many happy, friendly, cultured, genuine people (I'm not used to that in Boston or New York.) Literally, everyone was from all over the world: Portugal, England, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Brazil, and all the way to South Africa... Quite an experience getting to interact with people with such diverse backgrounds over a glass of vodka orange.

After lots of chatting, trying to speak spanish, dancing, drinking, having champagne sprayed all over me, and pretending I was a DJ, we decided circa 3 am that it was time to head out. We went to the infamous Opium del Mar, which is hands down the COOLEST night club I've ever been to... I am starting to understand all the hype about Barcelona's night life. Our new friend Pasco from South Africa got us a table and we danced our butts off until 6 am. When we could almost see daylight we decided it was time to head home.

Below are some pictures from last night's adventures:

The girls with Drew!

Me and Barbie

Drew, me, Pasco, Jordan, Meredith and Barbara

And now for my favorite picture of the night.... drum roll please...

Hilarious.

And that's a wrap-up for today folks. It's time for a much needed shower. Hasta luego mis amigos!

Day Two: Jersey Shore style family dinner, Nightlife, and Naked men on roofdecks

2011-09-03T10:27:00.000-07:00

So I was just skyping with my boyfriend and I was ranting and raving about how much I love this city already. And he asked me a very good question: Is it better than New York???

This naturally proposed a slight dilemma for me because NY is where my heart is and it is basically my favorite place in the world. But if I wanted to be honest with him and with myself... the answer to the question is: Yes. (I will probably receive backlash from that statement when my brothers read it.)

Anyway, on to Day 2 of this adventure:

After waking up about 30 minutes before we had to be at our orientation, we rushed to get ready and took the Metro over to the fancy trendy street that I always forget the name of. Nothing too exciting during the 6 hour orientation other than the Boston Creme Pie style croissants we were given as a snack and my cool oldschool little cell phone:

The fun starts AFTER the orientation... We got out at around 2:30 and went to my new favorite restaurant in the world, Tapa Tapa. Fortunately for me it is directly down the street from my school.... so I have a feeling I will be a frequent customer. Anyway, we ordered a bunch of plates to share, but I had a three cheese risotto (SO good,) chicken teriyaki type thing and mozzarella tomato salad. Oh and sangria of course. God, I love Siesta.

After our lunch Barb, Jordan, Sarah, Meredith, D and I decided to go adventuring. (Side note: I decided the five miles of walking we did and walking up every flight of stairs I saw counts for working out for the week.) Oh, and we saw our first strike:

We adventured over to Park Guell, another surreal work of art by the amazing Gaudi. (Another side note: I can't wait to study Spanish art so I can learn all about his life and the influences in his art.) This park is somewhere every single person should go if they are ever anywhere near Europe. Aside from the surreal view of the city including the mountain range, the water, and the all the beautiful buildings, Gaudi's work is worth seeing, and that basically speaks for itself.

Pictures can't do it justice...

(Look at the detail!!!)

And here's a picture of Sarah and I standing with a man who I literally thought was a statue:

And last but not least a picture of Barb, Jordan and I:

Oh yeah, Mom if you ever read this... I know how much you love lizards or iguanas or whatever the hell they are:

I got you a miniature mosaic version of this lizard-y thing (I'm bad at keeping surprises.)

ANYWAY this post is getting really long... Once again I need to shower so I'll speed the rest of this up.

After we walked for like ten hours we finally made it back to our apartment where we prepared for our very first Study abroad Family Dinners. Jordan made these INCREDIBLE stuffed peppers:

And here's a picture of the girlssss before going out-

We went to a club called Shoko last night. It was a great first taste of Barcelona nightlife. I had my first taste of creepy European men, drank Jack Daniels straight out of a large glass (am I becoming a man?) and somehow we were convinced to go back to a "penthouse roof deck" which was not actually a penthouse or a roofdeck at all... I'll leave specifics out so I don't worry my mother- but we left shortly after to say the least. The cab dropped us off at Sagrada familia again (it's farther than I thought when wearing heels, not a fun walk home. At all.)

Went to bed circa 8 am. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Thanks for reading! Hope you guys find this mildly entertaining.

And here's a preview of Day 3... Now, I must depart. I'm off to a BBQ at a mansion. Pray for me.

Welcome to Barcelona !

2011-09-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

So, as many of you know I am studying abroad in Barcelona this semester. I wanted to give my family and friends a glimpse of what I am experiencing, so I decided to make this blog.

I've been here less than two days and I can already say this city is the most beautiful one I've ever been to and possibly the most amazing in the world... Completely in love with it already.

My favorite parts so far (aside from the ridiculously cheap alcohol) is the combination of the much more laid back culture and the amazingggg food: Siesta. The culture allows you to ENJOY yourself instead of eating lunch at your desk or stressed out at work all day. It's quite a concept and I think American culture can take something from it. We had lunch today at the restaurant Tapa Tapa anad we all shared a bunch of delicious mini plates. (Another beautiful thing about eating here is you don't stuff your face you just have a taste of everything until you're kind of satisfied.)

Okay, enough with this insightful BS, onto Day 1 of my trip in Barcelona.

Day 1: So... flight sucked naturally. I took a sleeping pill and instead of getting knocked out I was semi- delirious for the duration of the flight. We transferred in Berlin; after landing there an hour late we almost missed last call for the flight to Barcelona... thanks to the customs guy who claimed he saw scissors in the bottom of my bag. After searching every crack, crevice, zipper, wallet, etc, (and somehow picking up my mace spray and not saying anything) he discovered a small pair of scissors in my sewing kit (that I didn't know I had). Anyway, thank God for the Irish guy in Customs. He saved us all and confiscated them.

After we landed, we took a bus to our absolutely AMAZING apartment. We live 5 seconds from our school in a cute little area in mid-Barcelona and two Metro stops away from the Sagrada Familia ( the most amazingly gorgeous church in the world.) After lugging my 90 pound suitcases into the elevator, we uncovered our wonderful bachelorette pad (just kidding TJ.) I live with four other very cool (thankfully) girls. The apartment has one single bedroom right when you walk in (my room) and then you walk down the hall and on the right side is a bathroom, Jordan's room, our kitchen and patio, and then our living room with a balcony overlooking the road. Attached to the living room is Barbara's room, and Tammy and Lauren's room. I'll take pictures of it later for a more detailed description, but here are some stolen from Barbara.

The worst part about this place is the fact that there's a cleaning lady that comes once a week. We all know how much I love cleaning, so I'm really upset I have to skip that part of my day :(

After unwinding for about five minutes, we were all STARVING so went outside approximately 20 feet to our new favorite hole in the wall restaurant. Sangria pitchers are ...... (drumroll) $7.50. And after three shot sized glasses of the wonderful sangria I was on the drunker side (superb might I add.) The cheapness of the booze here might be one of the most fascinating things I've ever seen.

After showering and whatnot we had a 7 PM walking tour. We explored Las Ramblas and the very chic and trendy road that I can't remember the name of at the moment. (My roommate just informed me that it's called Passevig de Gracia). The main thing I gathered from that street is that I will not be able to afford to shop there.

Only kidding, the city is seriously SO beautiful. The architecture of EVERY single building is unique and as a whole the city charming and beautiful and everything good in the world.

Apologies for my lack of good photography. The first two buildings are work the work of the amazing artist Gaudi. The third is an absolutely beautiful building in the middle of the city... and I was surprised to learn that it's actually the Argentinean Consulate. I have a feeling I am really going to learn to appreciate art during these next four months.

Anyway, I really need to shower so the rest of this post is going to be a little more summarized. After we were done with our walking tour and went for Tapas with the group (I love Tapas) we decided we were going to go home because we were all jet-lagged and running on 2 hours of sleep. Naturally that ended up with us going to pizza and beer (mugs for 2.50$, yes please) and ended up at Happy Hour with free shots promos at the Lir of Barcelona. We cannot escape Lir.

(Benio and Denio at Lir)

Finally made it back to the Metro at around midnight, got lost on the metro for a while, and ended up getting off at Gaudi's absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful masterpiece the Sagrada Familia. We meandered around the neighborhood lost for a while and ended up at a bar until it closed. Drunk, lost, we finally made it home. Jordan was awake so we decided to get more wine. The wine store was closed. Everything was closed. We found a mexican looking man on a bike and asking him if he knew where the grocery store was. It was too far. We decided to end our quest.

That is all for day one. Day two coming soon.

Preview for Day two: