WEEK 14: Lisbon

Well, my last trip was a success.
I had been looking forward to going to Lisbon for a while but it always seemed so far out that I never really got excited for it. Well the last trip finally happened!!!! And it was an interesting one to say the least. Highlights: 

Day 1 was a disaster.

Let's just say it started with a 3:30am wake up call and a 6:30am flight. I don't know why we ever try and do that to ourselves? And food poisoning that started in the airport. We got to Lisbon at 8am and still felt sick so we decided to check into a hotel where we could sleep a little bot to try and feel better. Well we woke up at 2pm and decided to look for food and check into our hostel. We walked around a little but the weather wasn't too great so we decided to go get sangria and turn the day around so we went to Fabula's and ordered sparkling wine sangria which was amazing and sat outside. Liz still wasn't feeling great from the morning so we went back to the hostel...slept more (I know), got dinner, and eventually called it an early night. 

We became best friends with our hostel roommate.

So our hostel was awesome (s/o to Liz for booking it) and we had a 4 person room and that's where we met our roommate Jason...a 20-30 year old Chinese guy from Toronto. He was super friendly and just genuinely infatuated with Americans. He asked us everything from how much we paid for college to what cars we drove to if we were all Christian. It was so funny to see a different side of someone who knew nothing about Americans. He was traveling to another part of Portugal later that week. When we woke up on Sunday, we found a note from him saying how outgoing and friendly Americans were contrary to what he thought and that we should keep in touch because he wants to eventually work in Seattle. It was the most random/interesting encounter I've had traveling so far. 

Bring a bathing suit to the beach.

So we went to Cascais, a beach about 40 minutes outside of the city center on Saturday because we heard it was a must see. And it was beautiful. The weather was perfect and there was a little beach town with a really nice beach. Well, we came without a swim suit. I have no clue why...so we were on the beach in skinny jeans, sandals, and tshirts. Talk about feeling dumb. Thankfully the next day, Liz and I went again for a couple hours full prepared to lay out and enjoy the sun. 

Sangria and cream pastries are really the best things to get in Lisbon.

So we had sangria every day and it was really good. Even though Barcelona is known for having sangria, I never seem to order it when I'm out just because it can be really sweet but with the weather turning out so nice in Lisbon, sangria sounded amazing. The first day we had sparkling white sangria with passion fruit which was really amazing. Liz had read that Belem, a three stop train from Lisbon was known for their famous pastries called the pastel de nata. Essentially it is a cream pastry. Well right when we got there, we saw the line outside of Casa Pasteis de Belem and knew that had to be the place. I ended up waiting in line to get them and didn't even really think that I would like it. After a twenty minute wait.....t was so worth it. The little pastries were right out of the oven and the "cream" inside was essentially creme brulee and was amazingggggggg. I wanted like five more.

I'm never booking a late flight again.

Liz and I decided to book an 8:45pm flight home so that we could have the whole day in Lisbon on Sunday. We got to the airport relatively early and just hung out, got dinner and lounged for a while. After heading to our gate and waiting to board, we realized that we were delayed three hours....We went to the desk to get vouchers with money for the airport, but the line ended up being too long so we just went to a wine bar to try Vino Verde - a drink Lisbon is known for....and it was terrible. So then we got a different glass and the bartender hated us.

So now it's the last week of class and then we have finals and then I'm going to cry.

WEEK 12: Spring Breakin Part I

Berlin

So our trip started kind of rough. 6am flight..miscommunication with our Airbnb host, a confusing metro, expensive cabs...but we ended up making the most out of our time in Berlin. On Friday we did a pub crawl with some of our friends from Barcelona which was really fun. We met some other study abroad kids from New Zealand and it was interesting to hear how different their study abroad experience has been so far compared to ours. They also have really cool accents. We ended up at some club where we met up with Liz's friend from home, Ben, and his friends from Wisconsin who are all doing a big Euro spring break trip. Saturday got the best of us and we slept until 1pm....I know. I never sleep that late either but we were exhausted. We ended up getting up and finding an amazing place for brunch and coffee called Silo. Who knew Germany could have cute, trendy brunch places? We then did some sight seeing..saw the Berlin Wall, Hitler's bunkers, Check Point Charlie, and ended up at the Prater Bier Garten where we had dinner and beer. It's such a cool spot and I bet is really fun in the summer being able to sit outside with live music. We ended up going to Ben's AirBnB later that night and then to a club called Tresor.

Sunday we woke up early to go to a coffeeshop that Liz read about on BuzzFeed as one of the top 25 coffee shops around the world you have to see before you die. It was called Bonanza and the coffee was amazing. They didn't really have a food menu but the place was quaint and the staff was super friendly. We then went to this outside market called Flohmarket au MauerPark. There stands selling everything from hot chocolate to records to vintage shoes. We walked around, had brats and hung out in the park before going back to the apartment to pack up our things. Our airBnB host, Ignacio, was there (highly recommend his apartment if you're staying in Berlin!) and we talked with him for a while before going to the bus station to head to Prague. 

Prague

We arrived a little after 10pm in Prague after having a super easy bus ride from Berlin. We were STARVING and had so much trouble flagging down a taxi. Apparently that isn't a thing and you have to call to get one. We finally got to the hostel and ran to put our stuff down so we could find somewhere to eat before everything closed. We forgot that we weren't on Spanish time and it was a Sunday so everything closes pretty early. We found a place close and had fish and chips and banana bread beer(!!!). Literally amazing. We then went and passed out after a long day of traveling. 

Monday we woke up and went to Bakeshop, a pretty famous bakery in Prague where we had cappuccinos and muffins. Soooooo good. I love when cafes make regular sized coffees instead of dinky small cups like in Barcelona. We then found a map and set out to see the city. Prague is seriously beautiful. The red roofs mixed with the castles and teal colors is amazing. We walked around Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, John Lennon Wall and a bunch of other smaller sites. We ended up going to Bottega de Finestra, a cafe Liz's friends who studied here last semester suggested. I got a mix of zucchini Parmesan and shrimp avocado salads and they were veryyyy good and filling too. After, we went to a Dali/Andy Warhol art exhibition which was interesting. I really don't know that much about art so it was cool to learn more about the two artists and see some of their work. We ended up going to "The Beer Museum" after which has 30 different beers on tap and got sampling trays of the different ones. Beer actually originated in the Czech Republic...which I didn't know. I feel like every country is known for beer.. Anyway we then got ready and went to a sushi place for dinner before going out. 


Liz and I woke up on Tuesday, got coffees (at Bakehouse, again), and then went to Old Town Square to get the famous cinnamon sugar pastries called trdelniks. We liked it but both agreed it was a little overrated. The weather was terrible (cold/rainy/windy) so we walked around a bit, went up into the tower in Old Town Square for pano pics, had lunch and then did a little shopping. I also got a pedicure...when in Prague right? We had reservations at a Mexican place called Agave that Liz had heard about and it was incredible. Upon arriving, we met the owner, Glenn, who brought us to our table and we immediately hit it off. Of course he had to be from Connecticut (Liz). We originally had a reservation for three because we though our friend Megan was staying another night so when we got to our table, we joked around with him about bringing two guys to sit with us. He told us that actually there were a group of college guys sitting at the front of the restaurant. He ended up bringing two older guys from Sweden over to sit with us and we all became fast friends. A couple minutes later, he brought two of the college kids over..gave us all tequila shots and we found out the guys were from studying abroad in Prague and we took down their numbers to maybe hang out before the bars. I told Glenn about @collegegirleats and he brought me back to the kitchen to take pictures with better lighting so I could feature it on Instagram. Because he owns a bunch of restaurants in Prague, I told him that he needed an Instagram to cater to younger people and to feature his brand better. He gave us two margaritas on the house and we ended up being there for a solid 2 1/2 hours eating, drinking and talking. 
Well now we're back in Barcelona and my family is visiting for Easter. I can't wait to show them around and give them the tour of Barcelona. Look for SB Part II on Monday!

WEEK 11: Brussels - City of Chocolate, Waffles, French Fries and Beer

Brussels, you were good to me.

The city known for waffles, chocolate, French fries and beer...and wow did we embrace that. Angie and I had planned Brussels back in January and really had not done any researching. We went into Brussels with a couple suggestions from friends and were pretty much open to seeing and doing anything. We flew in on Thursday night pretty late and after getting to the airport, we were ready to head to the hotel. The last train had already left for the night, so we hopped in a taxi and told our driver our hotel in the City Center. "You know that's not a good area," our taxi driver says. Wait what? "It's where the prostitutes are at night. With the red lights." A red light district? In Brussels? Angie and I looked at each other...very confused and as we approached our hotel, our driver pointed to the street behind it where there were windows with red and blue lights and girls posted up in the windows. How did we miss this when looking at the reviews for our hotel? Dear God. We contemplated switching hotels but knew that we wouldn't spend much time there and it would probably end up being a waste of money. It was a sketchy area though and definitely would not suggest getting a hotel there hahaha.

On Friday, we had plans to meet up with our friend Trevor from high school who is studying in Maastricht, a city in the Netherlands about an hour and a half train ride away. We slept in a little bit and ended up meeting him at Delirium Cafe around 11am. If you haven't heard of Delirium, it's a bar with over 3,000 beers, the most anywhere in the world. We caught up for a little bit until Angie and I decided to get Mango and Banana(!!!) beers which were so good and pretty strong. We had a quick bite to eat at a cafe and then Trevor showed us literally all of Brussels. We had waffles at Le Funambule and it was probably the best thing I've ever tasted....topped with bananas, chocolate and whipped cream...all of my favorite three things combined together on a waffle. We saw the Grand Palace, Manneken Pis, Cinquantenaire, the Royal Palace, the Town Hall and so much more. We definitely would not have been able to see all we did or known where to go without his help so it was so fun to hang out and catch up and hear about his study abroad experience. He left around 4pm to catch a train back and Angie and I walked around some of the shops a little bit before heading to Delirium because we heard that it gets really busy early. We ended up hanging out there for 3 1/2 hours....drinking the famous Tremens beer, meeting Italians in town for a wedding and hanging out before going to dinner at place called Hemgie's that had gourmet burgers and craft beers. After dinner, we went out to a couple bars in the area before calling it a night.

Saturday, we had plans to visit Bruges. Everyone person we told that we were going to Brussels insisted that we go to Bruges for a day. It was about an hour and fifteen minute train ride away, which was really easy. We had no expectations or plans at all so once we arrived, we followed the mass of people walking towards the town. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch because we needed to have french fries and we were STARVING. The restaurant had Wi-fi (Thank God) and we looked up different sites in Bruges that we wanted to see and map our directions while we had internet. We ended up going to the Frietmuseum (french fries) and Choco Story...a museum all about chocolate. We got chocolate to taste at the beginning of the museum, chocolate to take with us, and a hazelnut filled chocolate to try after they showed us a demo of how to fill chocolate. It was awesome. Apparently the type of chocolate that I should like best is Venezuelan chocolate after taking a quick test based on my preferences. We walked around some more, saw a couple churches, went into some shops, and eventually settled on stopping into a chocolate shop to purchase some because....when in Belgium, you need Belgian chocolate to bring back. They had everything from dark chocolate hazelnut to milk chocolate with pistachios and even had these chocolate blocks with spoons stuck inside them and they gave you hot milk for you to then stir the chocolate in for hot chocolate. We left stocked and headed to a bar in the area with live music before heading back to Brussels. We got back and headed straight to the City Center to see the different building with the lights at night and it was beautiful. We had waffles (again) and then went to a local pub to hang out after having a long, exhausting day.

We came back early Sunday morning to sleep, get homework done, do laundry and rest before El Clasico - the soccer match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. People in Spain go crazy over this game. It started at 9pm and we thought getting to a bar at 7pm would be fine.....no, it wasn't. Everywhere was PACKED. We ended up finding a place and having a good time and FCB won! So it was a good night. I'm just exhausted and have a pretty busy week finishing up things before Spring Break next week. I cannot believe it's already Spring Break. It's going wayyyyyyyyy too fast. I don't want to come home.

WEEK 10: Dublin - The Good and The Green

St. Patty's Day Weekend in Dublin. 

A weekend filled with beer, lots of green, and a bunch of Americans.

The beer. It's everywhere and it's good. Immediately after getting in on Thursday, we went to the Guinness beer factory tour which was actually really fun + you get free Guinness! I had tried Guinness before but wasn't sure if I actually liked it or not. I thought it tasted like a combination of chocolate and coffee and beer...I mean I like all three but not mixed together. Well, when I tried it again at the tour, I really liked it. It's definitely not something that I want everyday, but it's nice for sipping on and having on occasion. At the top of the Guinness building, there is basically an observation deck with a big bar that you can see the city from which was really cool. This weekend I also tried a Doolin beer which is a red ale lighter than a Guinness but still heavier than a blonde. I love beer. On Saturday we slept in (much needed), had brunch and got festive. Sarah, Angie and I bought green spray paint because why not? and spray painted the tips of our hair green to get into the St. Patty's day mood. We went over to our friends' airBnB and got ready before heading to this Irish Beer and Whiskey festival where there were stands filled with different types of beer (some dyed green!) and whiskey tastings. There were also different food vendors and people just hanging out. We met up with some people from TCU who were also there before going to a bar with some of our friends from Barcelona. 

The green. Early morning on Friday, we decided to do the Cliffs of Moher tour which involved an 8am departure and a 9:30pm return, but was so worth it. You can only sit at Irish pubs, drink, and eat for so long. So we decided to sign up for the tour to see another part of Ireland while we were here rather than just stay in Dublin the entire weekend. We made various stops along the way, seeing various castles, the baby cliffs and more of the countryside. It was beautiful. When we finally got to the actual cliffs, we were given an hour and a half to take pictures and walk around. There's something about nature that is absolutely breathtaking. I always love seeing famous monuments and architecture, but the Cliffs of Moher were really something else. Although it was a long day, we did have Wifi on the bus and a tour guide who made the ride back entertaining playing Backstreet Boys and joking around. 

The Americans. I'm pretty sure every single study abroad student was in Dublin this weekend. On our flight from Barcelona, there was actually one family. Even though there were so many Americans there, I didn't think it was overwhelming. Being able to hang out with friends from TCU who are studying in London and Florence as well as friends from Barcelona through my program was probably the best part about this trip and being in Dublin meshing your friends from college with friends that you have met while being abroad. A city can be so fun, but the people who you are with is what really makes it too. This was definitely one of my favorite weekends because I was able to see the city of Dublin, hang out with so many people and see a part of Ireland that I will probably never go to again.

I have a pretty busy week ahead...a couple of projects and a paper due before Spring Break. The fact that Spring Break is in two weeks is actually crazy. Ang and I are headed to Brussels this upcoming weekend. I'm excited for chocolate and waffles and more beer! See ya next week

WEEK 9: Barca with the Best

Barca, I love you more and more every day. 

This weekend made me realize even more how much I love studying in Barcelona and the fact that I have only two months left here and basically only two weekends left actually in Barcelona because of traveling. Also, having my best friends here made this weekend so much fun..just being able to show them the city and the places we love. 

On Thursday Annie, Snewt, and Emma arrived around 3pm and right when they got in, we headed to one of our favorite places Flax & Kale for lunch. We wanted to keep it light because it was already late, so Annie and I split the salmon sashimi toast and tacos which were both amazing. Because they are studying in London, they don't have to deal with the language barrier so it was funny seeing them try to order in Spanish or ask for certain things (aka Wifi). They were also shocked at how SLOWWWWW the service was. Literally everywhere we went, the service was terrible this weekend because it's just the Spanish way of life. We are pretty used to it by now, but it can still be frustrating. I always tell Liz that I want to make a statement and leave a bad tip but you don't tip in Spain...so you can't even express how bad the service is. We then took them to our school so they could print out their Abroad Fest tickets and then we walked along Passeig de Gracia showing them the different shopping before heading to our airBnB. Because we live in an apartment through our school in Barcelona, our RA did not want us having guests so we rented an airBnB for the weekend so that we could all stay together. I know, paying to stay in our own city...absurd. We got them metro cards and then went to Gracia, bought a bottle of wine, and sat out on our balcony during the sunset just catching up and relaxing before getting ready for the night.

Because we wanted to show them traditional tapas, we went to Tapas 24 for dinner and it was PACKED. A Thursday night at 9:00pm and there was probably a 45 minute wait. It was crazy. I thought we were on the earlier side but apparently not. We met up with one of Annie's best friends from home who is studying in Barcelona and her roommates here. While waiting in line, we got a pitcher of sangria (the best) and talked which made the time fly by. We ordered the traditional patatas bravas, bread with tomato and olive oil, korean beef lettuce wraps, croquettes, lamb kebabs, bikinis (jamon & queso). We then took the metro to Ovella Negra, a huge bar where literally every college kid visiting went before the festivals were going on later that night. It kind of looks like a huge beer hall and there are wooden tables everywhere and people order jugs of beer and sangria. We hung out there for a few hours and we were able to introduce Annie and Snewt to a bunch of our friends from studying abroad. Literally everyone's friends were in town this weekend so it was fun meeting so many different people who are studying in Florence, Madrid, Rome, Dublin, London and others. From there we went to Razzmatazz, a huge venue where Abroad Fest was that night. 

On Friday, we slept in til about 11am before forcing ourselves up to "seize the day". We wanted to try a new brunch place and I had seen Federal Cafe all over the different Barcelona food Instagrams and had been dying to try it. It definitely lived up to the hype. I ordered two fried eggs with pesto and it was amazing. I also had a soy milk cappuccino (I'm obsessed). It was such a beautiful day so we sat there for a while (mostly because the service was slow) before heading out to explore. We wanted to show them the beach because 1) it was so nice out and 2) London is a little landlocked. We walked all the way down to the beach and hung out there for awhile along the boardwalk. We then walked along the beach and stopped at Surfhouse where Liz and I went a few weeks ago to get drinks. I love that place. We then walked back up Las Ramblas to show them the Boqueria and the Gothic Quarter area before heading back to Gracia. 

On Saturday we went to breakfast at The Juice House which was good but not great. I get so annoyed when a waiter doesn't write down your order and just tries to memorize it. Like I don't care if you have a pen and paper to write down my order...I just want it to be right. Of course, a couple things were messed up but I've learned in Barcelona just not to say anything and accept it. We then went to Placa de Espana which shows an amazing overview of the city. The girls loved it. Liz and I went here our first week in Barcelona and I have also mentioned how I like running in this area. We took a ton of pictures and walked all around before showing them our apartment. Throughout the weekend, Liz had been talking to someone we met in Cadiz who was also in town. He and his friends rented a yacht for the weekend and asked us if we wanted to hangout for the afternoon so we decided to spontaneously go and it was so much fun. Being on the water during the sunset is amazing especially with the weather getting really nice. Once it started getting a little later, we decided to get dinner at NAP, one of our favorite pizza places. And again, it was amazing.

It was such a fast weekend but I feel like we fit so much into it which I am happy about. Being able to show my friends our favorite places was my favorite part about the weekend. After seeI can't believe that we are already going to see them in a few days in Dublin for St. Patrick's Day weekend. Everyone and their mom is going to be there. I'm pumpedddddddddd.

Check out the EATS, DRINKS, & FINDS pages! Updated pictures for ya

WEEK 8: Oui Oui I love Paris

Paris, I absolutely fell in love with you. 

When starting my study abroad journey, I knew there was a list of places that I definitely wanted to see and Paris was always high on my list. My parents and brother had visited three years ago and only raved about it. From other people, I had heard totally mixed reviews. The French are mean. Paris is expensive. There are way too many tourists. Well this weekend proved all of that wrong and I can honestly say that Paris has been my favorite city that I have visited so far. 

heyooo Eiffel Tower

This weekend I travelled with Laine and Mary - two girls I met through my program who go to Penn State. We left early Friday morning. Like 6:30am flight early. We flew into Beauvais (never again) and took a bus into the city where we figured out the metro to our airBnB. Their metro system rocks. We met Sylvain, our host, who showed us our place and then we were off to explore really not having a plan or expectations for the weekend. We decided to first go to the Arc de Triomphe which is at the very end of Champs Elysses - the famous street known for restaurants and high-end shopping. We picked a place to eat and realized the name of it was literally "The Place to Eat". Are you kidding me? With a name like that, we weren't expecting much but ended up all ordering bagels with cream cheese and roasted veggies with French fries...surprising so good. We then went to the Arc which was massive. We got in free with our student visas (such a perk) and climbed to the top where we saw incredible views of the city from all directions. After taking a few pictures, we headed back down and walked the street where we saw the famous multi-story Louis Vuitton store, the garden Abercrombie & Fitch store with 16 year old models posing and stopped into Laduree for macaroons and coffee. The chocolate banana one one. Two of my favorite things sandwiched into one double decker macaroon. Ugh, amazing. We then walked about twenty minutes to the Eiffel Tower and took pictures in the park right behind it. It was a beautiful day out and the area around it was so quaint and pleasant. We then headed to a sushi place for dinner (I know..why in France I'm not sure) which was surprisingly pretty good and went out in the Bastille area that night which has strips of bars and restaurants. Laine became best friends with the bartender Hugo while Mary and I met random French guys who bought us beer and called us "rich bitches". No clue why.

Champs Elysses

Sylvain provided breakfast with us the next morning and for some reason we said we wanted it at 9am....so we got up, ate breakfast and headed straight to bed to catch up on sleep before starting Day 2. After showering and finally getting our act together a little after 1pm, we set out to a crepe place my roommate in Barcelona, Miranda, recommended. And. It. Was. Amazing. I'm not one for savory crepes especially after having a scarring experience in Austin, TX last year, but I ordered a crepe with prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil vinaigrette and it was the best thing I've ever eaten. After, we split a chocolate/banana/ice cream/whipped cream crepe...unreal. Pretty sure I'm in love with crepes. We then wanted to go to this shopping area called Le Marais and on the walk there, accidentally ran into the Notre Dame cathedral which was massive. Then, we looked across the water and happened to spot the Love Lock Bridge. The fact that we just accidentally saw them when we weren't even planning on it was pretty convenient and we knocked out two birds with one stone. We had to be touristy so we bought a lock and all initialed it with the date and locked it on, making our mark in Paris. There are actually two bridges now with locks because the first one was getting so heavy that they started boarding it up. We shopped, walked, and talked our way through the afternoon before stopping at a place in the Bastille area called Iguana Bar for happy hour drinks and wifi. After staying there a few hours, we decided to find a place for dinner. Well we walked down two streets and then headed straight back to Iguana Bar for dinner, more drinks and free shots courtesy of our new French friend James. We went out later in the same area and met some other kids who are studying in Barcelona. The night ended with us walking out into the pouring rain and desperately finding a McDonalds before waiting to hail a cab for 15 minutes.

Love Lock Bridge 

Sunday our plan was to see the Louvre solely for the Mona Lisa. We had heard from everyone that it was a let down because it was so small and you had to stand really far away. Plus the Louvre was free on Sundays. Well, we got there at 11am and I have never seen a more ridiculous line in my entire life. I expected a long line but nothing like this. There were thousands of people. Literally, the line never ended. We finally made it to the back and found out it was a three hour wait and decided it wasn't worth it. I know I'll be back to Paris, so we were all willing to skip out this time. We ended up going to a falafel place that Mary's friend recommended and it was the best pita I have ever had. Not kidding, Paris has the best food ever. (Do I say that about every city?) We walked around and then took the metro way North to see Montmartre which has an amazing view of the city and a huge church and cemetery that are both beautiful. Eventually we headed back, packed up and went to the airport. I definitely was not ready to leave. Everyone was so friendly and willing to help us with directions or whenever we had questions and the architecture on every single building is so intricate. The other girls and I agree that we definitely lucked out on weather and were busy the whole time in a good way. You can go to any part of the city and see something new and it doesn't feel overwhelmingly big at all. This weekend was definitely needed and I'm not ready to go back to school at all.

Snewt and Annie are visiting Barca this upcoming weekend!!!!!!!!

WEEK 6: Cadiz Carnaval

Plaza de Espana in Sevilla

Well, I never thought that I would be in the Malaga airport. Do you know where Malaga is? Or what Malaga is? Yeah, neither did I. So Liz and I were going to Cadiz this weekend, a small town in the south of Spain. It is known for its carnaval where people from all over Spain come and dress up in crazy costumes, eat, drink, sing, dance, and overall have a great time. Liz studied in Cadiz one summer about five years ago and was dying to go back to visit her Spanish parents, guy friends, and to see the city. I agreed to go with her and see what this place was that she talked about so frequently.

So back to Malaga. We had a flight Friday morning to Sevilla where we had bought train tickets to Cadiz from there. It seemed easy enough. After passing out on the plane for two hours, I woke up to a pilot saying that it was too cloudy to land in Sevilla so we were going to land in Malaga instead. Okay…then what? So this was our first experience on RyanAir. I had heard horror stories but I hadn’t experienced an airline that was so disorganized before. We landed, treated ourselves to Starbucks and headed to the RyanAir counter where no one was quite sure what was happening. About an hour later, they decided on bussing us all back to Sevilla. We figured we would just take the free bus and then get on a train to Cadiz once we got in. So we took the bus and finally made it to the Sevilla train station where we found out we couldn’t take the next train for six more hours because they were all filled. We didn’t want to take our chances on finding a bus that was open when we didn’t even know where the bus station was or what the timers were. So met up with one of our friends Julia who is studying in Sevilla for the semester. Eventually, we got on the 8pm train and arrived in Cadiz around 10pm, met up with Jose (we did air BnB) to get our keys and set out to meet Liz’s friend Maddie and her boyfriend Ryan. We found a local restaurant, ordered Sangria, and went out to the local Irish pub for beers, chupitos, and random Spanish conversations with people all over the street.

The next morning we woke up and set out to find Antonio’s, Liz’s favorite cafe to get orange juice. I don’t even really drink orange juice, but el zumo de naranja was incredible. We walked around a bit more and settled on finally getting cappuccinos and croissants before going up into Torre Tavira which is known for having one of the best 360 degree views of Cadiz, and the view was amazing. The city really is not that big but when looking out from this tower, it looks like it goes on forever. Some parts are worn down, some parts filled with people, and then you look out into the beach. After taking pictures and soaking it in, Liz, Maddie, Ryan, and I decided to go to the big market to pick up food and have a picnic on the beach. This market has everything from seafood to fresh fruit to prepared foods so we picked up Iberian ham, cheese, baguettes, fresh grapes and strawberries, ceviche, Crunch bars (they’re better here), and beers. It was a beautiful day and we walked a few minutes to one of the beaches where we made sandwiches and hung out just relaxing. It is such a change of pace even from Barcelona and the weather was perfect. Then, we decided to walk around a couple more shops and then head back to get changed for the night into our costumes (pirates!) and get ready for the big festival events. Before heading into the town, we got to meet up with Liz’s Spanish parents who were so friendly and easy to talk to. They filled us in on everything they have been up to, what to expect out of Cadiz’s Carnavale, and to be very safe because of all the people.

We first started at O’Connell’s, an Irish Pub that Liz and I went to the night before and one of Liz’s favorite places to go when she studied there. We love O’Connell’s and we love Irish pubs. Even in Barcelona, we always gravitate towards them. We met some other study abroad kids from Madrid and of course have mutual friends because this world is just so small. We hung out with them for a bit, spoke with other Spanish people visiting from all over and eventually went to the Plaza where there were just masses of people everywhere. AND, we did run into our TCU friends from Sevilla!!!!! It was so fun hanging out with other TCU people and seeing how they have liked studying abroad, where they have traveled and just catching up in general. We eventually went to La Punta – a club near the water and called it a night, but overall a successful Cadiz Carnaval experience.

It wasn’t a foodie weekend, but it was nice to get off the beaten path and visit a place that is really meaningful to Liz in so many different ways. Although we had a 15-hour travel day on Friday, I felt as though I got to experience this city more than I have anywhere else and am so glad that we were able to go. This upcoming Tuesday, we have Sitges Carnaval in Barcelona and I am apparently being a devil…I have no idea how it is even going to compare, but I am sure it is going to be interesting.