Week in Barcelona!

Buenos Días!

Sorry that I haven't posted anything about this week, I have been very busy with projects and papers approaching. The week was a very eventful one, and of course flew by just like this semester has! I don't believe that I only have a month left out here, I wish I was able to stop the time.

I had the opportunity to meet with all of my intercambios this week, and also met a new one. Alexander, another Catalan, who has lived in Barcelona for her entire life. In my opinion, my local friends that I have met have been one of the best parts of my experience. I enjoy learning about each of my friends, and their lives...it is really interesting learning about the differences in our cultures. My American friends have a hard time understanding why I like meeting so many intercambios, but they all have a different experience in mind than I do. Unlike most of the people out here, I really wanted to come here to experience the culture..which includes meeting local people that live here, which I find so rewarding. It will be nice knowing that in the future I will have friends that will be in Barcelona, so that every time I return I can visit them, and vice versa if they every wish to visit the United States. Many of my friends talk about having a desire to visit the main cities...LA, New York, Chicago, Boston..but of course I have to talk up Chicago..because it is the best city in the US..haha in my opinion of course.

It was nice staying in Barcelona this weekend. I had the opportunity to experience some more of Barcelona's excellent night life down by the beach. Many of my friends here have had friends visiting the last week, which was fun meeting some new people from the US. My roommate went to Costa Brava this weekend with IES, I was alone this weekend. Friday night after I ate dinner, Anna, Casi and myself had a very interesting conversation about the differences in our cultural norms. We talked about the age restrictions here in Spain in terms of drinking, smoking, etc. 18 years old is the "legal" drinking age, smoking age, and driving age. However, the drinking and smoking ages are not that strict, one can drink in the presence of family in a restaurant without any problems at all. As I've mentioned, drinking here is such a cultural, and social activity. It is completely normal for children, 12 years old and up to have a small glass of champagne or cava in a special occasion, or even at dinner. I mean a small glass of whatever it may be, never to drink in excess. Another interesting difference is the legality of drugs, specifically marijuana, or "porros" as they call it here in Spain. With all of the recent speculations in the US about how legalizing marijuana would "help" our economy..I am indifferent on the legalization if it. In Spain, it is 'legal' to have an amount for individual use, and individual use only. By 'legal' I'm not sure if there is actually a law, but nothing ever happens if one is caught with an amount for individual use. If there is any intent to distribute then there are problems, but 'porros' really aren't looked down upon here. People will be smoking on the streets, futbol games, even on the metro I have witnessed it. Marijuana is really not looked down upon here, and individual use is not prohibited.

They became very interested about how it was in the United States. They had a very difficult time understanding how we are able to obtain a drivers license at the age of 16, legally buy tobacco at the age of 18, and enlist in the army at the age of 18 as well, but unable to legally drink alcohol until the age of 21. Anna and Casi previously were unaware of these laws, and were completely shocked by it. As we discussed, it simply is not logical that we are able to go to war but not 'legally' able to have a drink at a restaurant with our parents (depending on the state). It seems like the logical thing to do would be to have everything legal at the age of 18, the age of adulthood? It is very interesting because NOBODY that I have met here understands our laws at home. It really makes no sense to me whatsoever, but that explains the differences in our cultures. Although there are some speculations here in Spain because many teens have began to start drinking excessively, and drinking and driving has become a rising problem here in Spain, as it has been one in the US for a while now.

Well anyways, I thought that was one of the more interesting conversations that we have had.

I an unable to grasp the fact that I only have a month left here. My friends and I try not to talk about this, but it is becoming difficult to ignore the fact. We all feel like we have just gotten here, and it blows my mind that I have been here for three months. But then as I look back on my trip so far, I have had many amazing experiences and visited some awesome places!

Of course this weekend in Barcelona was rainy, and the weather has been the worst since I have been here....how convenient that it is the one weekend I have stayed in Barcelona in a while. At least Friday was pretty nice, but I had planned to be relaxing on the beach all weekend. I guess I can't really complain about one bad weekend..I hear Chicago is supposed to get 6-8 inches today? Oouch..I'll take the few days of raining haha.

Last week I met with an American woman that works for IES, Betsey about international experiences abroad. She gave me some very helpful insight on finding the right companies, or programs that offer internships, or even jobs abroad. From what I understand, it is very difficult to obtain a work permit in Spain, but there are companies, and even study abroad programs that offer them. I wouldn't mind interning in Barcelona for a summer? Haha that would be nice, and is definitely something I am going to research this summer, and next year. I would love to work out here, but as many people have told me..Spain is a place to come to in the end of your career, not the beginning. Right now finding a job in Spain is very difficult, and there have been many protests!

The protests, manifestaciones, as they call them here...have been very strong the last couple of weeks. Cataluña, historically has been very passionate about politics for centuries, especially during the civil war here, and during Francos rule. They are notorious for their protests here, and the last few weeks I have witnessed a few of them. By protests, I don't mean how we think of protests at home..at least in my experiences of recent US protests...we walk around with signs and megaphones..but they have to be organized, permitted, and peaceful as well. From what I have witnessed here, it is everything but that. The protesters must get permission to demonstrate, but they have gotten very, very violent. Recently there have been students protesting at the Universities, and professors as well..as the education system here is starting to be reformed, which has infuriated many people. Last Wednesday, I was going to meet one of my intercambios by a university because she had an architecture exposition that I wanted to see. Little did I know that there was a demonstration scheduled that same evening at UB, a university in the center of the city. I was about 15 minutes from there but there were police everywhere, directing traffic, etc. Once I got home that night, the demonstration as all over the news. Anna told me that it reminded her of the protests during the times of Franco. The police were literally beating the students, professors, journalists, and even tourists. On the news they showed police hitting tourists, a little 10 year old boy got hit in the face, and even camera men were getting beat. It was literally insane seeing all this on TV, and it was taking place by the UB campus, Plaza Catalunya, and even Las Ramblas. I could not believe how violent these protests were, and IES obviously advises us to stay clear of these protests..just crazy how bloody it was.

Well, it is almost time for spring break, and Dad will arrive on Friday. I'm looking forward to showing around Barcelona so he can see how I have been living for the last 3 months. I also cannot wait to go to ROME!! I finally will be able to practice my poor Italian, haha. Semana Santa (Holy Week) is HUGE here in Spain, Italy, and many other parts of Europe. The south of Spain, Sevilla in particular has awesome fiestas for Semana Santa, which I want to visit one day. Rome will be awesome though, we are staying very close to the Vatican, I cannot wait to finally have my first experience in Italy!

Well I believe that I must take advantage of this crummy Sunday. I have much work to do today, so I don't have to worry about it once I return from Rome. With only a month left, I must decide what else I would like to see. As I am running a little low on funds, I'm not sure if I will still be able to travel back to the south of Spain to Sevilla and Granada, but we will see. There is much more I want to see in Barcelona, and other parts of Catalunya, that are much cheaper, and just as rewarding. But I will definitely post again in a couple of days, and hopefully add some pictures as well!

Ciao!!

Zurich, Switzerland

Gruetzi!

Well my weekend in Switzerland was definitely an interesting one. Zurich was exactly how I imagined it to be. The architecture was amazing, much different than it is in Spain. The Swiss Alps were beautiful and the people were very nice!

We arrived in Zurich around 12 on Friday morning. We really had no idea where we were going which made the entire trip an adventure. The Zurich airport is literally a mall...it has some 80 shops inside of it. We went to the ticket booth and bought a weekend pass, and figured out which train we needed to get on to go to Zurich HB, which is the central station about 10 minutes from the airport or so. Once we arrived we walked around the station for a little bit, and looked at a few maps to get a general idea of where we were at. Then something crazy happened...something that I will never forget...

We were standing in the train station looking at a map and then this man, clearly of an African descent approached me and was very angry. He spoke very little English, but was telling me that I did something to me, and I still have no idea what he was saying. I tried ignoring him and walking away but he literally started following me and was swearing in the little English that he knew. He started grabbing my coat and was clearly trying to get my hands out of my pockets. I was pretty aware of what was going on..and it seemed pretty obvious that he was attempting to rob me. This man was making a huge scene, and there were a ton of people that were in the train station. Eventually people started coming up to us and tried helping because it was pretty clear that he was trying to rob me. A South African man then walked by and told me to keep my hands in my pockets because he was trying to rob me. After I thought it was over he came back up to me again..and grabbed my coat and ripped all of my buttons off. I shoved him with my shoulder because as much as I wanted to take my hands out of my pockets to push him, I really didn't want to get my items stolen. I had my passport, phone, camera, and sunglasses in my pockets so I figured that I would rather have him hit me than take all of my stuff. He wasn't that big of a man, but very intimidating. After some more people came up and started helping I finally was able to walk away. It was ridiculous that this man made the scene in public like that, but I was glad that nothing ended up happening. He was probably the craziest person I have encountered, and definitely started the trip off on the wrong foot!

This is inside the train station...very close to where I almost got robbed..




We walked to our hostel/hotel..which was literally a two minute walk from the train station which was extremely convenient! I'm really not sure if the place we stayed was considered a hostel, hotel, or bed and breakfast..but it was probably the weirdest place I have ever been to. The room was clean, as was the bathroom and rest of the place. It had been advertised that they spoke English, which they didn't, at all! Thankfully I had some recommendations of places to go from my Uncle Fred, otherwise I would have been pretty angry. They also advertised free wireless, which really meant 5 Swiss Francs for each half hour spent on the internet..which I wasn't happy about. I decided that I wanted to get online, so I went to pay and of course the internet didn't work..also made me pretty angry. iPR Guesthouse is the name of the place..kind of pricey..but I would probably return just because the location was excellent.




After we unpacked we decided to walk around and check out the city. At first we found it very difficult to communicate because everything was in Swiss-German. This was really the first time I was unable to communicate with people, which was frustrating. But eventually we encountered many people that spoke English.




Here are just a few photos from around Zurich!







We stopped at this little Italian pizzeria which was actually very good. It was run by Italians so of course the pizza was delicious. But after this meal I realized how expensive Zurich really is. The say that the quality of life in Switzerland is the best in the world, which is definitely true from my experience. They definitely know how to live out there, but everything sure is expensive!





A few pictures looking out onto Lake Zurich, it was pretty chilly the first day...but the weather ended up improving by Sunday.





We went out for a couple hours that night, but it was generally a pretty early night as we were exhausted from the day.

Saturday we decided that we wanted to go to Einsieldeln, which is located in the Canton of Schweiz which was about 1 hour on train.




These next few pictures are from the train ride, and I saw the best views in my life on this ride. I've always been told about how amazing it is to take the train through the Swiss Alps, but pictures can't even capture how awesome it really was.





Einsiedeln is located about 900 meters above sea level, which is almost 500 meters higher than Zurich. My Uncle Fred told me that this was a must see, so I really wanted to come here. Einsieldeln is most known for its monastery, The Benedictine Einsiedeln Abbey. The Abbey is one of the most important Roman Catholic pilgrimage sites in Europe. There are also many ski lifts, ski jumps, and ski tows as well.

Once we arrived we stopped at a very local cafe to grab something to eat. The lady who owned the place spoke very little English, but she was very nice. We at Pastelti, which is a meat pie and they were actually very good. We had no idea what we ordered because the menu was in German, but it ended up being great!




A couple of pictures from around the town..







After lunch we headed towards the Abbey which was just right around the corner.




We went inside for about an hour. The architecture inside the Abbey was amazing..definitely unlike any architecture I have ever seen before. Unfortunately, I was unable to take that many pictures inside. I did manage to take a few, but it was very difficult because there were a lot of people inside.





A few pictures outside the Abbey looking out to the town..






This monastery is also famous because of the Black Madonna which is there..





A picture of me in front of the Abbey..



After we left the Abbey we walked around the town some more. This next picture is of one of the chocolate shops we went into. Swiss chocolates are excellent, but it took us a while to find a shop at first.






These next couple of pictures are just around Einsiedeln






Haha well this would be the language I was attempting to learn and read. As you can see it was very tough to get around sometimes..





This entire town was awesome because it seemed to be relatively local. I know that the Abbey definitely attracts a large amount of tourism, but I really thought that is was really cool. I am very glad we decided to take this trip. The train ride through the alps was certainly something that I will never forget!

After we headed back to Zurich, I really wanted to eat at a restaurant called Zeughauskeller, which was one that my Uncle recommended. My Uncle definitely knows his food, so I ordered exactly what he told me I should order. I ordered the wiener schnitzel, which is veal cutlet, which was very good! The restaurant has an awesome atmosphere and was a lot of fun.








The following day our flight left around 5ish which was cool because we still had another full day to explore Zurich. We got up relatively late and went to walk around the city. Surprisingly around 11 there really wasn't much open. Similar to Spain, it seems like many shops close on Sundays.

I really wanted to visit St. Anton, which was the church that Father Fred was at for 10 years. It was a beautiful day outside so we figured that we would walk to the street Minervastrasse, and walk all the way down it until we found the church.




As soon as I saw this church, I knew that it was St. Anton..






This was the most meaningful part of my trip to Zurich. It truly was amazing to have the opportunity to visit the parish where my Uncle spent such a large part of his life. The inside of the church was beautiful and inside the choir was practicing. I wanted to stay for some time so I could talk to some of the choir to see if they possibly knew Father Fred.








After their were finished practicing, I approached the stage to speak with the pianist. However, he was relatively new to the parish, and directed me towards two women who had been at the parish for the longest. The first woman I spoke with was named Tess and as soon as I mentioned Father Fred's name, she quickly became very excited. Then another woman named Mila approached me and we all visited for about 15 minutes or so. They had some very kind words to say, and it was great having the opportunity to meet them.

After we returned back to the center of Zurich, we still had a few hours before we needed to be at the airport. We stopped and grabbed a Donner Kabob at a local shop which was located on Niederdorfstrasse, which I was later informed means "town down under". This street is where all of the good night life is located.











After we ate we just strolled around Zurich until it was time to head back to the airport. I bought a box of chocolates for my family back in Barcelona, and also a few souvenirs which was a must.

This next picture is of my friend Lizzy and I looking over the water..



An awesome view looking towards the Swiss alps..










I felt that my weekend in Zurich flew by extremely fast, but the entire semester has. I loved Switzerland and they really do have the "Best Quality of Living" there. I will certainly return to Zurich in the future because there are many more parts of the city that I would like to see. There is only so much that can be done in one weekend, but I feel like I accomplished a lot. I was very lucky because I had a much different experience than most people that travel to Switzerland, it was much more meaningful. This was a trip that I will never forget!

Widerluege