THE END

Hola!

As we write this, we are spending our last night together in our apartment in Barcelona. We are so sad that this adventure has come to an end, but we're so excited to get back and tell you all about it!

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were our last days of school, which consisted of Spanish presentations and finals. We have returned to some of our favorite places and soaked up every last minute that we had left in Barcelona. As we look around the apartment, there are 6 suitcases stuffed with our lives and not all of them are making the 50 pound cut. We have taken down most of the decorations, and our final load of laundry is hanging on the drying rack. Yay for having a dryer in T-5/9 days!! Maggs was just disposed of in the dumpster because we can't leave her in the apartment. We had a moment of silence for her passing. There's a pizza in the oven and ice cream in the freezer, and we are about to begin reading all of our blogs from the semester and putting on 6 pounds each.

Looking back on the semester, we can all say it was the best one of our lives! From our days spent in Barcelona to the many weekends spent traveling, we never dreamed of all the places we would journey to this semester. 15 weeks. 106 days. 10 countries. 31 cities. 21 planes. 18 trains. More pictures than we can count. And memories that will last the rest of our lives.

Here are our favorites from each of the trips!
London: Borough Market and Wicked
Munich: Dachau and Hofbräuhaus
Salzburg: The Sound of Music Tour
San Sebastián: Pincho hopping with the locals
Paris: The Marais and The Eiffel Tower at night
Nice: Carnival Parade
Madrid: Retiro Park
Bastogne: Battle of the Bulge Tour
Amsterdam: Anne Frank House
Portugal: Western most point of Europe and Bairro Alto in Lisbon
Mykonos: Picturesque Grecian Streets
Athens: The Parthenon and Mars Rock
Rome: Vatican City on Easter
Venice: The Grand Canal
Verona: Juliet's Balcony
Cinque Terre: Hiking from village to village
Pisa: Holding up the leaning tower
Florence: Michelangelo's Square and dinner at Buca Mario
Arezzo: Getting to see OUA

As much as we absolutely loved traveling, Barcelona truly began to feel like our home. Coming back to our apartment each weekend and walking through the door truly brought a sense of peace and comfort. We fell in love with the little cafés, yummy restaurants, our cute neighbors, Barceloneta and many more places that we don't have time to name. The Spanish culture is one of a kind and will forever hold a special place in our hearts. Not only that, but this culture will continue to influence our lifestyle back home. We have learned to take our lives one day at a time and to truly live in the moment. This culture is not prompt and couldn't care less about planning ahead, which was a breath of fresh air for the three of us. Warm welcomes greeted us everywhere we went, and we will miss so many familiar smiling faces. This semester we have also greatly improved in our Spanish speaking abilities. None of us would answer yes to the question 'are you fluent?' However, we would confidently answer yes to the question 'do you know Spanish?'

Petit Pot and Pacific were two of our favorite cafés. Attending an FC Barcelona game is a must. A day trip to Montserrat with tennis shoes and water bottle in hand was one of our favorite days. Playa de la Barceloneta, which includes Maka Maka-our favorite burger shack and Paella everywhere you look, was one of our favorite areas. Of course, who wouldn't love Passeig de Gràcia with all of its shops and La Rambla with La Boquería market. Not to mention, living two streets away from La Sagrada Familia.

For our concluding thoughts, here are some fun facts that we think everyone should know about our semester abroad.
-First and foremost, the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence will NEVER fail you. EVER. literally. -For clarification, there is a difference between a Trip Advisor sticker and the certificate of excellence sticker. You must find the latter because it will never fail you.
-If we have lung cancer in the near future, it's because of all the second hand smoke we've inhaled.
-A croissant a day keeps the doctor away.
-It is possible to pack for 10 days in a backpack.
-Never wear 3 pairs of bright tennis shoes when walking through European streets (unless you want some great stares).
-When in Paris, always walk with a French Baguette in hand while gnawing at the end.
-In Italy, gelato is never a bad idea. Even if you had it 10 minutes before. Yes, the workers will remember you, but its okay-it's a no judgement zone.
-When it rains, it pours, so call a taxi.
-It's a good thing we live in Norman because skipping class to go to the beach is always a good idea. Oops.
-Indian markets are your best friend. You can find Pringles, Cool Ranch Doritos, Dr. Pepper and popcorn.
-Milka bars are perfect for splitting between three people because they have 6 rows, and you each get two. We know this because we have probably had one every other night with dinner. Oops again.
-Get over your personal bubble because they do not exist here.
-Staring is also acceptable, and even if you stare back, they KEEP ON staring. Meagan found it's best to make a funny face.
-Cards and snacks are necessities for train rides through Italy.
-Don't worry about finding a gym membership because you will walk everywhere, literally.
-Don't walk in the apartment with your boots on or you will get mean letters from the people that live below you who used google translate to tell you that you sound like elephants.
-The first floor is really the second floor.
-When you see a large group Asian tourists, always look for the large iPads taking pictures of people holding up multiple peace signs.
-Get over your fear of PDA because it's not a thing here.
-Don't follow the walk signals, follow the locals.
-Everything in school here is a group project. We've all done more this semester than our entire schooling combined.
-When Barcelona beats Madrid, they shoot guns in the street, so don't be alarmed.
-Sleeping in a room with all three beds is way more fun.
-Italian hostels are NEVER a good idea. NEVER, we repeat.
-Don't be surprised when you're on Ryan Air and they land early. You will hear a nice jingle and the whole plane will break out in a round of applause.
-Vueling has the worst leg room in the entire history of planes.
-EasyJet has Orangina so they're number one in our hearts.
-Which brings us to this point: If you see a bottle of Orangina, buy the bottle of Orangina.
-Train stations are never a safe place. Especially La Spezia in the dark.
-You can decorate your entire apartment in under 20 euros.
-Mango and Zara will always have something that you will want. Always.
-European cappuccinos are the way to our hearts. FYI-Starbucks fails at cappuccinos.
-People on metros never look happy, but don't worry, once you start laughing, they'll lighten up.

Now that we've given you just a glimpse into our semester, it's time to say 'adios'. Thank you for all of the support and prayers while we've been away and for following us on this incredible journey. We are SO excited to see all of the familiar faces when we get home, and we are sure you will find us talking about this more than you care to.

Lots and lots of love from Barcelona for the last time,
Brynne, Katie & Meagan

ITALY [2]

Ciao again!

Picking up where left off, we hopped on a train from Verona toward Cinque Terre. However, it wasn’t just one train. We had 4 changes to make. However, the third train of the day made an unexpected stop. Confused and unable to understand a lick of Italian that was coming over the loud speaker, Brynne and Katie sprinted through the train while Meagan stood post with Maggs to figure out what the heck was going on. They figured out the train was now headed back to Florence (aka the opposite direction we wanted to go). Upon learning this news, they frantically sprinted the length of the train (through the train cars), and we all grabbed our stuff (chargers in the wall, cards on Maggs, starbursts in the seat, Maggs, 3 backpacks and 3 purses) and jumped off of the train. We finally found a new train to Cinque Terre that resulted in 2 more changes and arriving in the dark. Not thrilled about this new itinerary, we grabbed our stuff and waited on the platform for the new train to arrive. Naturally, the first train came late, so we missed the rest of them. Then came itinerary number 3 along with an hour wait in a sketchy train station with lots of stares. We were starving at this point, but the only edible dinner option was a Magnum bar. Annoyed and ready to get there, we finally got on, what was supposed to be, our second to last train of the day. There were about 10 of us on the entire train, it was pitch black outside and our destination was La Spezia Central. However, when we arrived, the only sign we saw said La Spezia, so we decided to hop off and catch our final train to Riomaggiore. We quickly found out that we got off at the wrong La Spezia stop and were standing on a deserted platform in the middle of Italy. There were not taxis nor people in sight, the buildings surrounding the train station looked like they were out of horror movie, and the only sounds we could hear were cargo trains flying by. Not to mention, there were no more trains from this station for the rest of the night and absolutely no hotels in sight. Luckily, after having a brief panic attack and lots of prayers, we found the control center at the station. The lights were already off and the workers were walking out of the door, but after seeing our horrified faces, they went into dad mode, called us a taxi and stayed with us until it arrived. Praise Jesus for people like them. Our taxi driver was a sweet older man that was only supposed to drive us to La Spezia Central (the train station where we were supposed to get off), but he happily took us to our hostel in Riomaggiore. The poor man was so stressed about the winding roads on the side of the mountain with cliffs heading straight to the ocean in the pitch black. However, we finally made it and thanked him graciously. We checked into our hostel to find out that we had to walk up a mountain to our hostel room. When we say mountain, we mean we were at the highest point in Riomaggiore. Don’t forget, we had Maggs. Fortunately, after such a fun day, the elevator was broken, so we got to take the stairs all the way to the top. Thankfully, the hostel owner helped carry Maggs, and we arrived to a refreshingly clean hostel. Compared to the last two, it was a 5 star in our book!

Tuesday morning, we woke up and grabbed breakfast at a local café. Just for clarification, Cinque Terre is on the coast of Italy and it consists of 5 separate villages. We decided to make our way to the next village but found out the coastal path was closed. Instead, we took the inland route, which literally consisted of walking OVER a mountain. After 680 massive steps to the top, the view made it all worth it. We made it down to the next village and enjoyed a refreshing lunch before catching the train to the farthest village, Monterosso. Once there, we got some gelato and relaxed on the rocks in the Mediterranean Sea. When we returned to Riomaggiore, we relaxed at a seaside café and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, we took the train back to Monterosso to book the remainder of our train tickets and enjoy a little more of the town. We had yummy milkshakes and sandwiches overlooking the sea and soaked in the sunny weather. After that, we climbed a rock out in the sea and then began the ‘coastal path’ to the next village. 

Let’s clarify coastal path. Coastal path does not mean a flat path on the edge of a mountain. Their version of a coastal path is being about to see the sea from all altitudes of the mountain. An hour and a half later, we made it to the next village and all wished we had on our short sleeve t-shirts again. We can’t complain too much though because we were hiking the coast of Italy… Vernazza was an adorable village that we enjoyed wandering around until our returning train to Riomaggiore. We went back to the same café as the night before to soak up our last coastal sunset.

Thursday morning, we got up early to catch a train to Pisa. We tried to find a yummy breakfast before leaving, but Riomaggiore is lacking in the breakfast department. Instead, we enjoyed goldfish for the 3^rd day of this trip. We arrived in Pisa an hour later and only expected to walk 700 meters to the leaning tower.  We quickly found that Google maps lied and instead got to drag Maggs all the way across the city. It was cool to see the leaning tower and we had fun taking our touristy pictures. We rolled Maggs back to the train station (just in time) and got on our train toward Florence with no lunch. The lack of lunch, however, paid off because after checking into our hotel we found the yummiest pizzeria. We all ordered our own pizza and left with happy stomachs. Our first stop was the leather market where we bargained and found some fun new Italian-made goods. From there, we wandered the streets, saw the Duomo and eventually made it to the palace. We enjoyed the atmosphere and found a cute café to complete our day.

Friday morning, we woke up and found bagels with cream cheese!! It was the perfect breakfast, and we hurried off for our date with David. We loved the intricacy of Michelangelo’s work and enjoyed bringing textbook pictures to life. We continued our day Michelangelo style by seeing the church where he was buried and visiting his square for the best view of the city. We café hopped throughout the day and finished with a concert on the steps of Michelangelo’s square. Katie’s parents visited Florence earlier this semester and fell in love with Buca Mario, a famous steakhouse in Florence. Since filets originated in Florence, they said we must go to this restaurant. Her parents treated us to a wonderful dinner of filets, potatoes, drinks and strawberries with cream. Feeling very full, we returned to our hostel and went to bed.

Saturday morning, we woke up and hopped on a train to Arezzo. It was raining when we arrived, but we got Maggs to OUA where they let us store our luggage for a few hours! We spent the rest of the morning seeing Katie’s favorite places from this summer and enjoying some yummy gelato at Cremi and Gnocchi at Ciao. Then, we took our final train to Rome! After checking in to our final hostel, we grabbed dinner in the Trastevere area then went back to Giolitti for gelato! It started pouring down rain, so we hopped in a taxi and went back to our hostel!

Sunday morning was Easter, so we got up early and headed for Vatican City. We got there just in time to make our way to the front of the crowd of 150,000 people!! The Pope told the Easter story in Italian and Spanish, which we completely understood!! We were so excited about that! It was an experience none of us will ever forget. We spent the rest of day eating gelato and pizza and people watching at the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Exhausted, we went back to our hostel early for a good night of sleep!

Today, we are headed back for our final week in Barcelona!

Our Italian adventure is over, but needless to say, we made many memories and will be telling these stories for the rest of our lives.

Here’s the video! http://youtu.be/fJqcnEm9gRg

Happy Easter and lots of love from Italia!

Brynne, Katie & Meagan

ITALY [1]

Ciao!

Well, we have started Easter break with our journey through Italy! After round 1 of finals, we successfully packed for 11 days in one forty-pound suitcase and our backpacks.

Friday was our earliest morning yet with a 2:45 wake up call. Meagan, however, had been up since 12:45 enrolling for next semester. We got to the airport an hour and a half before our flight to find out that the line to check a suitcase was a mile long. We finally made it to the front only to find out we had to take out 3.5 kilograms from Maggs, the suitcase. We decided it was necessary to name her since she would be our traveling companion for the following 10 days. We finally got her checked and ran to security 12 minutes before our gate closed. We made it on the flight just in time and landed in Rome at 7:45 am. However, we didn’t make it to our hostel until 11:30. We got on the bus that was supposed to take us closest to our hostel, but we ended up 2 miles from our hostel with Maggs and 3 packed backpacks. Needless to say, it took a while. Then…we walked into our hostel and couldn’t believe our eyes. 

Or noses. It REAKED of body odor and looked like something out of a horror movie. We had planned on getting ready before heading out for the day. However, after the discovery of hostel hell, we decided against it. Instead, we hopped on the bus and arrived at the Colosseum.  Brynne and Katie were excited to see it for their second time, and Meagan had to no clue to expect when we walked inside. She felt like she was on the set of the real life version of the Hunger Games. From there, we went inside the Forum and headed to Vatican City. Keep in mind, at this point, we had been up for 12 hours and had only eaten yogurt and a croissant, so we decided to stop and grab a box of Ritz crackers for the walk. We know you’re proud, moms! After winding our way through the halls of art in the Vatican Museum, we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel where we stood in awe of Michelangelo’s famous art. Next, we went inside of St. Peter’s Basilica and got to enjoy a close view of the front of the church since it was cleared for Easter. The steps leading up to the church were covered in chairs and outside was decorated with palm branches for Palm Sunday. It was a very neat sight! After that, we grabbed our first gelato of the trip and loved every bite! We eventually made our way to Piazza Navona and ate our first Italian pizza. Then, we went to the Pantheon and got more gelato (we had to make up for our lack of lunch) and headed to the Trevi fountain to make a wish! We decided to continue on in order to avoid the hostel and went to the Spanish Steps. Unfortunately, we decided we had to go back and attempt to get some sleep and were greeted with the wonderful smell of body odor again. Our towels even smelled like it, so we decided to forego the shower. Once this decision was made, it took us two hours to decide how we were going to survive the night. We ended up sleeping in our rain jackets with the hoods on and inside of our coons (shout out to Sheri Stinson for the idea) without budging a bit. Watch the video for the getting in bed process.

Saturday, we woke up more excited than ever to leave the hostel, and we got on a train to Venice. Lucky Meagan got to sleep the whole way. We arrived in Venice and asked the ticket office which bus to take to our hostel. Once again, the bus people failed us. We were stranded in the middle of nowhere with absolutely NO taxis, so we just started walking…with Maggs. 

After a mile and a half, we finally ran into a hotel that called us a taxi for the home stretch. Already in bad moods, we walked into our second disgusting hostel. At this point, we began to question why we thought it was a good idea to save money. Gnats and a crazy lady welcomed us home for the next two nights. Anyway, we got on the correct bus this time and found out just how out of the way we went the first time. Despite the complicated start, the rest of the day was a blast adventuring through Venice. We ate yummy pizza, explored the quaint streets and enjoyed the atmosphere of the picturesque little island. We returned to our hostel for an awful night of sleep, but we did shower this time, no worries.

Sunday, we got out of the hostel as quick as possible and found the most fun fruit and yogurt bar called Frulalá for breakfast. After breakfast, we realized we were wandering around like zombies. Our lack of sleep was catching up to us and the weather was overcast until the afternoon. Once the sun came out, we headed to the Grand Canal to people watch, went to a cute café and sat by the water watching the boats go by. After our final sweep of the streets, we went back to Frulalá for dinner. As we walked to the bus station, Katie told Brynne and Meagan that her stomach was hurting. They soon found out that she was not kidding. Five minutes into the bus ride back to the hostel, Katie passed out. She fell to the ground with a loud thud and scared them half to death. Come to find out, they think she was dehydrated and on top of that, got some sort of food poisoning. Thankfully, she came to relatively quickly, and there were nice people on the bus who spoke English and gave Katie water. Finally, they got her back to the hostel, and she spent the rest of the night recovering.

Yesterday was another early morning as we got on another train for Verona. It was a cute little town full of Romeo and Juliet movie sites. We enjoyed the adorable streets and Italian atmosphere. We’re excited to see what the rest of our adventure has to bring.

Here’s the video: http://youtu.be/OJSP3DnRZ78

We’ll keep you updated as the week goes on, so look for another blog soon!

XOXO,

Brynne, Katie & Meagan

GREECE

γειά σου! Apparently that means hello in Greek…

This weekend started a little early with a Thursday morning flight to Athens. Normally our flights take off on time, but this week we took off an hour and 30 minutes later than planned.  Luckily, we had time to spare and neighbors to keep us entertained. We got split up on this flight and each ended up in the middle of a row. This flight was our first taste of Grecian hospitality. Katie learned all about Mykonos from her seat mate. Brynne learned about Greek history, specific spots in Athens and the guy's whole life history. Meagan also learned all about her seat mate's life and some specifics about Athens. Needless to say, we were well informed before we even took off, and Brynne continued to have a three hour conversation about the guy's life.

When we finally landed in Athens, we had to take a taxi to the port. For the ride, we found the most delicious fresh Greek chocolate milk and hopped in a taxi. Our driver was another great example of Grecian hospitality and we enjoyed learning about his favorite spots in Greece. We don't know what we were expecting, but when we arrived at the port and saw cars driving onto the ferry, we were a tad bit surprised. It was a miniature cruise ship. We spent the next five hours learning even more about each other's lives and dreams if you think thats possible… Late Thursday night, we arrived to Mykonos, which is one of the Greek Isles. The sweet hostel owner picked us up from the port and took us to our hostel, which was a typical white Grecian building with blue doors. Exhausted from our day of traveling, we went to bed and woke up ready for a day of exploring.

Friday morning, we had our first view of the city. From the window of our hostel, we could see the ocean and all the beautiful white buildings. We walked to the seaside and ate breakfast at a local café along the water. Then, we decided to browse down the shopping street of Mykonos.
Our first stop was in a ceramic shop with locally painted pottery. The owner invited us in and proceeded to give us life lessons for the next 20 minutes. It's an experience we will never forget and a wonderful example of how welcoming the Grecians were to us. From there, we continued to wander the streets, but everything was pretty pricy. We found jewelry, but that was the extent. When we reached the end of the street, we followed the path toward the ocean, and we picked up a new friend along the way-a dog. He followed us all the way to the ocean and explored the coast with us. It was nice to have a 'pet' with us for a while. Brynne also made friends with every cat on that island, and let us tell you, there were a lot of cats on that island.

We eventually made it to Venice Beach, but sadly, the shops and restaurants  were shut down for remodeling, so we continued on to the windmills. At this point, we were hungry, so we went back to the ocean-front cafés and ordered Greek salads in Greece, in case you forgot where we were. We enjoyed the rest of our day exploring the island, eating another Greek salad and finished our night by watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. For those of you who don't know, this movie takes place in Greece and we loved watching it while having the same views right outside of our window.

Saturday morning began with the most delicious croissants you could ever imagine. Following breakfast, we went to Mykonos' beach that is famous for its 24-hour parties during the summer. However, it was deserted because tourist season has not started yet. Our time in Mykonos came to an end and the hostel owner took us back to the port. This island was full of the most hospitable people and one of the most welcoming places we have been all semester! Our 5 hour ferry ride back to Athens was interesting to say the least. We started with an empty ferry to ourselves, but at the first stop, picked up many new Grecian 'friends'. They do not have a personal bubble AT ALL and invaded our space while we tried to study for our finals. See picture for proof. They also ate disgusting smelling food and smacked in our ears. for. four. hours. However, we were very productive and finally arrived in Athens where we got on a bus to the city center and arrived at our hostel, which more like a hotel. As we drove past the original Olympic Stadium, we also got our first view of the Parthenon. We were in complete shock and had no clue it was going to be on a huge hill in the middle of the city. We spent the night in a famous square and on popular streets enjoying the energy and eating gyros. The nightlife was lively with people enjoying the night on every street.

Sunday began with more yummy croissants on our way to Melissino's-The Poet Sandalmaker. He has made sandals for Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Jackie O and Bob Saget. We each bought a handmade pair of Grecian leather sandals that they custom fit to our feet. From there, we got on our hop-on-hop-off tour bus, which took us to the Acropolis.

On the way up to the Acropolis, we found the rock where Paul preached to the ancient Greeks about the new Christian faith, and we were in awe that we were standing right where Paul had once stood. As we continued on, we saw the Theater of Dionysus where theater began. Then, we went up the hill to the Acropolis and Parthenon. This view of the city was breathtaking, and it was very surreal to be within the columns of the Parthenon.

We quickly descended in order to catch our bus to head to the original Olympic Stadium. As you've probably picked up by now, we are all so intrigued by the Olympics, so we loved this site! We got to walk the entire stadium, run on the track, hear the history and even see the old locker rooms which now hold all of the Olympic torches! After this stop, we got back on the bus and enjoyed listening to the history of all the famous sights we passed. We returned to our favorite square from the night before and got frozen Greek yogurt in Greece, in case you forgot where we were. We wandered the streets looking at the numerous jewelry and sandal shops. It started pouring down rain, so we had to dodge from awning to awning because we were too stubborn to buy umbrellas from the men selling them on the streets. The rain eventually stopped, and we made it back to the hostel to grab our backpacks and take the train to the airport. Luckily, our flight wasn't full, so we moved and got sufficient room to sleep and work on some homework before arriving back in Barcelona at 12:25 a.m.

It's officially finals week, so we are studying like crazy! Our time here is winding down, and we are getting very sentimental with every step we take. However, we are very excited to see all the familiar faces back home!

Here's the video! http://youtu.be/eFAPgqdmvdo

We love you all!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan

PORTUGAL

Olá!

This weekend was spent in Portugal with Brynne's Grandmother! It was a calm trip before the storm of finals hit! On Monday, Meagan finally gave in and cut her hair!! It was an adventure to communicate what she wanted at the hair salon, but we had so much fun experiencing a local taste of Barcelona! Then, on Wednesday, we found our first Mexican restaurant since Oklahoma-Rosa Negra. We ate a yummy dinner before heading to the airport to pick up Brynne's Grandmother. We took her to her hotel where she got upgraded to a suite and enjoyed filling her in on our Barcelona life!
Thursday, Brynne showed her Grandmother Park Guell, Sagrada Familia and Passeig de Gracia while Katie and Meagan did homework. That night, Brynne's Grandmother took us all to Tapas where we tried yummy cheese and finally tasted Sangria! Then, we headed back for our weekly Thursday night packing and headed to bed.

Friday morning came a little later than usual with an 8:00 flight to Madrid. However, we had a slight issue. The computer hadn't let us check in online during the week but told us to go to the counter before our flight. When we got to the counter, they informed us that we were on standby. Luckily, there were JUST enough seats on the plane for the four of us to board! We landed in Madrid and returned to a yummy café for lunch. The rest of our day in Madrid was spent seeing the famous sights and relaxing in Retiro Park. Before we left, we got our favorite frozen yogurt one last time and hopped on the bus to the airport. We flew Easy Jet for the first time and surprisingly loved it! We got the exit row AND they had Orangina! What could be better? We landed in Portugal, got a cheap taxi ride to the hotel and headed out to find some dinner. We landed at a Portuguese family-owned restaurant where we enjoyed their spin on pasta. We returned to our hotel and fell asleep very quickly!

Saturday morning began with a fun surprise-a delicious breakfast! We got to have warm cappuccinos, yogurt with granola, lots of fresh fruit, eggs and pastries. Needless to say, we were very happy! That morning we got to explore Bairro Alto, a famous neighborhood in Lisbon-known for their colorful buildings and cobblestone streets. We had fun looking at all the different architecture and finally making our way to the ocean. From our view of the ocean, we could see the suspension bridge
that was designed by the same architect as the Golden Gate Bridge. We wandered down a famous street in the city center and grabbed some lunch. Then, we met our tour to Sintra and the coast. Sintra was an adorable town with two palaces, shops with homemade goods and yummy snacks! We enjoyed the nice weather and spent a couple of hours exploring the town. Our next stop was the western most point of continental Europe. The view was breathtaking with the only currently working lighthouse in Europe and the famous Portugal cliffs lining the coast. We were even lucky enough to be there as the sun was setting over the Atlantic Ocean. Next, we went to Cascais where we got to quickly see the port and adorable town. We returned to Lisbon in time for dinner and went back to the hotel exhausted.

Sunday also began with a yummy breakfast! Brynne's Grandmother did a hop on hop off tour while we explored the famous park and the 12-story El Cortes Inglés while the storm passed. We met Brynne's Grandmother in the afternoon for lunch. We tried the Portuguese version of a hot dog and surprisingly liked it! Then, we headed to the botanical gardens and felt like we had entered a rain forest. We saw a butterfly garden and many different types of trees. For our afternoon snack, we found a picturesque tea room. We got FRESH raspberry lemonade, and the owner even gave us free macaroons as a Portuguese gift! For the remainder of a our time in Lisbon, we wandered Bairro Alto, relaxed in a square where a guy was playing music and shopped a little as we went. We made it to the airport early, and we found a Pizza Hut for dinner!! We have never been that excited to eat Pizza Hut, but it sure did hit the spot! We're missing American food a little bit, if you can't tell. We safely made it back to Barcelona at 12:15 am and fell asleep very quickly!

Monday consisted of studying and a test. Brynne took her Grandmother to the famous market for lunch, and we all went to dinner down by the beach. The food was wonderful, but the service…not so wonderful. Late last night, we lost our running water for about 12 hours. No worries, it's back now, and thankfully we had wifi the whole time! haha.

Sadly, Brynne's Grandmother left us this morning to go back home! We loved having some company and a little taste of home!

We're looking forward to this weekend but not so much the studying that comes with the next two weeks.

Here's the video! http://youtu.be/jUq0GOt4oA0

Lots and lots of love from Barcelona!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan

BARCELONA

Hola!

This was a fun week in Barcelona even though the tourists are beginning to invade! We started Monday off by skipping our Spanish class for the first time and going to the famous Plaça España. Here, we explored the former bull-fighting arena, which is now a shopping mall. We didn't
buy anything, but we enjoyed fresh sushi overlooking Plaça España. On the way out, Meagan got the dead skin eaten off of her feet by fish. Brynne and Katie are too ticklish. After that, we headed to class and stayed at our school to get wifi since we still didn't have it at our apartment. To end the night, we watched the Bachelor finale and made spicy pretzels.



Tuesday, we got our wifi back and had a very productive day catching up! That night we cooked spaghetti, and Wednesday we made tacos! Since the weather has warmed up, we decided to take advantage of it and head to the beach on Thursday. We stopped at a breakfast restaurant called Milk and ordered delicious pancakes and mimosas. Then, we spent the day laying out on the beach!

Friday, we went on a day trip with other students to Girona and Besalú. In Girona, we went on a city tour and saw the ancient city established by the Romans. For once, we hated our meal at lunch, so we decided to get dessert at a yummy frozen yogurt place instead. We hopped on the bus and went to Besalú for the afternoon. Here, we toured the medieval city that is surrounded by an ancient wall. We even had to enter over a bridge. We enjoyed getting to see the last standing Jewish bath in all of Spain. Friday was full of lots of history and learning!

Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Tibidabo. After finally finding our way there, we discovered the amusement park costs 29 euros, and it wasn't even that good. Instead, we walked into the church and headed right back down the hill. When we finally made it back to the heart of the city, we realized that our stomachs were about to implode, so we set off to find some food. After looking in many disappointing restaurants, we found a gem-Pacific Café. Our stomachs were finally full, so we decided to explore some new streets in Barcelona. We found some adorable stores and hid out from the rain shower by drinking a smoothie. We had a relaxing evening and enjoyed watching a movie together over no-bake cookies on our last Saturday in Barcelona!

Sunday, we took advantage of the nice weather and wandered around the Gothic Quarter of the city. We tried Spain's 2012 #1 croissant, which did not live up to its name. Apparently, we have become croissant snobs.



From there, we went to the Sunday market and walked in the famous Westin hotel on the beach. That did live up to its name. We stopped in McDonald's for some free wifi on our way to the Picasso Museum. However, the line at the museum was sooooo long, so we decided we would return another day.

We ended our day at a new restaurant that had been recommended to us-La Luna. We ordered salads and nachos, and it definitely lived up to its recommendation! Sunday night was also the Barcelona vs. Real Madrid fútbol game, which took place in Barcelona. We would've gone, but the tickets are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Instead, we watched their version of ESPN. It was an exciting game resulting in a Barcelona win by a PK in the final minutes. Apparently, Barcelona's way of celebrating a Real Madrid defeat is by shooting off guns in the streets. It took us by surprise to say the least, but we loved feeling like a part of the celebration!


This week begins the preparations for the end of school with many projects, papers and tests. However, we are looking forward to having Brynne's grandmother arrive and are soaking in our lasts weeks in Barcelona.

Adios Amigos!
Brynne, Katie & Meagan

BELGIUM & THE NETHERLANDS

Hallo! (Hello in Dutch)

We spent this weekend in Belgium and The Netherlands! Before arriving in Spain, we never thought that these two countries would be a stop along the way, but due to an unexpected open weekend, we thought-what the heck?

Friday morning came at 4:00 am. If you haven’t noticed, we don’t ever sleep in on Friday’s, but the early mornings pay off. We flew into Brussels and took a bus to Bastogne for our Battle of the Bulge/WWII tour. Katie’s mom and brother went there last summer and had a wonderful tour guide that they recommended to us. His name was Henri, and he picked us up at our bus stop. Henri made this tour so special because he was 9 years old when the battle took place in his hometown. The first hand accounts made the stories come to life. First of all, you need to understand that Bastogne is only a city because of the United States help. There are American flags everywhere showing their appreciation, and one might think that they are more patriotic than America, haha. 

In the Bastogne City Square, Henri began our tour at the American tank, which stands there to show their appreciation. From there, we saw Patton Square (Patton was the American general in charge of this operation), the Bastogne Cathedral where the bells ring the first three notes of the Star Spangled Banner on the half-hour and the Bastogne Barracks where we saw the headquarters of the American troops and tanks from many countries that participated in WWII. Sorry, that was the longest sentence ever. After that, we went to the American monument and the crypt that overlooks the city.  This monument remembers the many American lives given for their city. The rest of the day was spent at the American Fox Holes surrounding Bastogne, the German cemetery and the 26 trees planted by the children of Bastogne in honor of the kids who lost their lives in the Sandy Hook shooting. They really do love America that much. Then, Henri took us to the bus stop, and we took the bus and two trains and finally arrived in Amsterdam. We got to our hostel ready to experience our first 18-girl room. Let’s just say, we’ll be doing private rooms for the rest of our semester.

Saturday morning, we woke up and headed down one of the main streets in Amsterdam. We found a place called Cup-a-la-Cake and had a yummy breakfast of smoothies and muffins. After that, we wandered down the shopping streets and ended up in the Red Light District. We knew going into it what it was and what to expect, but nothing could prepare our hearts and eyes for what we saw. As we walked down the street, the windows were full of women. Each window had a prostitute trying to lure a man into her room. We are so sad that these women do not see that they are worth more than that. With heavy hearts, we continued to explore Amsterdam. On our way to the ‘I Amsterdam’ letters, there was a new canal to see around every corner. After battling our way through the tourists, we finally got our pictures with the letters and headed off to lunch. 

We found a delicious café called Bagels & Beans where we got tasty hot chocolate, chai tea lattes and bagels with cream cheese.  Our taste buds definitely thanked us for that meal. The afternoon was spent wandering through Waterloo Market, a flower market and many random shops down the streets of Amsterdam. We should probably mention the consistent smell of weed as we walked through the streets. The coffee shops in Amsterdam should probably be called weed shops. It’s EVERYWHERE. We eventually caved and bought fries at the number one fry stand in Holland. They served them to us in cones with Mayonnaise and Ketchup…we declined on the Mayo offer. We headed back to our hostel and decided to shower before the troops returned to flood the bathroom. Then, we had a variety of food for dinner and ended up at a coffee shop (that only sold coffee) and met some Thetas from Colorado College!

Sunday morning was our favorite part of the weekend. We got to tour the Anne Frank House! It was incredible to say the least. We walked through the Secret Annex and saw where they hid for two years. It was a moving experience, and it was crazy to finally bring her diary to life and put real-life images in our heads. In a hurry, we ran by Bagels & Beans and took off toward the train station. 

Three hours later, we arrived in Brussels where we got to see the original Godiva store, try real Belgian Waffles, see the Royal Palace of Brussels, go to Brussels Park and eat some yummy Wok for dinner. Before leaving, we relaxed in the square where the Flower Carpet is constructed each August. Exhausted and ready for a shower, we trained to the airport and took off for Barcelona! When we got back to our apartment, we found out that we still. have. no. wifi.

Here is the video! Sorry it's a short one! http://youtu.be/y4N001vIres

Hope everyone is having a great Spring Break!

Love,

Brynne, Katie & Meagan