Keep on Running

I have never been a runner. I mean, I have run. I used to run as conditioning for swimming. I do run on the treadmill for cardio. But I have never been that person who is excited to go outside and go for a run to “clear my mind” just because. Well, Barcelona has made me a runner. At first, I was against it. Let me tell you, when running outside in Barcelona, people think you are absolutely crazy. No one is wearing leggings, work out tops, or headphones. Everyone stares. People think you’re nuts. I didn’t like that.

After settling into our apartment after the first couple weeks, I finally found a path that I was comfortable running. This spot that I found has a median in the middle of the road where people walk down. The street is called Gran Via. There is a bike lane too and people don’t think you are nearly as crazy and it isn’t that congested either It’s a win-win. So I have been running there, and enjoying it. It’s the perfect spot to just run and not look down at numbers on a treadmill or worry about how fast you are going, but you can actually see Barcelona and see other people and see things that you don’t see all the time. It’s really cool actually. And the thing is, I think I have been running faster and longer than I ever have before. I have no idea why. It’s pretty crazy actually, but I have been enjoying it and I feel like running is something that you can actually enjoy instead of just doing it to do it.

Sometimes, if I want to get off my normal path, I’ll run a little farther to the actual Plaza de Espana and run to the top where the view is incredible. It reminds me of bleachers and brings me back to high school swimming days. That stresses me out.

So Angie and I are supposed to run a 15K in Barcelona this Sunday. However, the past couple of days I have been having pain in my ankle, so I'm undecided if I'm going to do it or not yet. Regardless, Angie is and I'll be there to cheer her on!!!! If you told me I would be running a race, let alone a 15K in Barcelona while I was here, I would have laughed in your face. I didn’t even remotely think I was going to stay in shape while being here. It’s a little over nine miles….three miles over what I’ve ever done before. Hopefully I will be able to do it, but if not it's okay because I'd rather be able to run the rest of my time here than hurt it even more.

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. 

WEEK 4: Eating, Touring, and Eating.

Highlights from the week:

Liz and I actually made something other than chicken.

Okay that's a lie. We made chicken...but we made chicken lettuce wraps!!!! And they were really good. We bought soy sauce and everything and even made fill-ins for the wraps with shredded carrots, sauteed onions, olive oil, soy sauce, ginger, and squeezed clementine juice. They were actually really great that we made them two times this week. Go us. 

I went to an FC Barcelona game. 

We finally went to an FC Barcelona game! We had amazing seats (Thanks Liz!!!) and the stadium was enormous. For a game that wasn't even THAT big...it was still packed. Angie, Liz, and I went to an Irish Bar before and then took the blue line straight there. It was really easy to get to and Camp Nou's atmosphere was unbelievable. They were playing Villa Real and we had a ton of fun. Except...I actually think the stadium is a wind tunnel. All being Northerners, we like to consider ourselves people who are used to the cold. This game was FREEZING. I think I was the coldest I have ever been in my entire life. Okay, maybe that's pushing it, but it was close. Next time: wear 8 layers, gloves, a hat, and 2 pairs of socks. 

I ate some of the best meals of my life. 

Liz and I decided that we needed to treat ourselves this weekend because we were staying in Barcelona....so we ate really well. On Thursday night we went to NAP which I talked about in my last post. It was the best pizza I have had in Barcelona.

 On Friday after working at the food kitchen, Liz and I decided to seek out a place called Flax & Kale which we no joke thought was the best food we have ever tasted...including anything in the U.S. Bold statement, I know. We looked at the menu when we sat down and knew we had to go all out. To start, I got the Green Goddess juice which has spinach, apples, cucumber, celery, ginger, and lemon and Liz ordered a strawberry, almond butter and banana smoothie. Both tasted amazing. I want to go back and try every other drink they had. We then took recommendations from our waitress on what to order. She suggested the make-your-own tacos and the mini-salmon burgers that came with sweet potato fries. They were both incredible. The tacos didn't have any meat in them but the grilled mushrooms, peppers, and onions had a perfect seasoning along with the guacamole and pico de gallo. The mini-salmon burgers were served on a beet root bun (hence the red color) and were out of this world. We couldn't pass up dessert and again asked for a recommendation so we split a piece of the pear-walnut cake with white chocolate dusting on top. We will be back. 

On Saturday morning, Liz and I decided to get up and head to Brunch & Cake. It's a popular study abroad student restaurant and everyone raves about it. Spanish people don't really have the concept "brunch" but this place knows how to do it right. We arrived there around 11am because we heard that the place gets packed early afternoon (when hungover people start arriving) so were pumped to get a table pretty easily when we showed up. It is a lot smaller than I expected though...and not to my surprise, I heard mostly English conversations. Looking at the menu, we were overwhelmed. Savory? Sweet? Lunch? Breakfast? I ordered a large vanilla latte (!!) with soy milk and only half sweetened and they nailed it. I'm on a soy milk kick here for some reason...I can't get enough of it. Anyway, Liz and I decided to split the turkey/egg bagel sandwich with avocado and the chocolate banana bread with whipped cream and fruit. Yep, we got the best of both worlds. The banana bread was moist and decadent while the bagel sandwich was light but delicious with the addition of the avocado. I am so excited to take my parents here when they visit. 

I spent time in my city. 

Since I'm going to be traveling most of the other weekends during my time abroad, I wanted to explore and see more of Barcelona during my time this weekend. This included volunteering twice at a food kitchen for a total of five hours which was a really interesting and different experience. There are various bakeries in the area that donate pastries and other baked goods and volunteers come each morning to help serve these people. Each person who comes in is offered cafe con leche (essentially espresso with milk), a pastry, and a bocadillo (sandwich) which is either cheese, sweet ham, or salami. The volunteers are older Spanish people who are very nice and genuinely interested in getting to know the students who want to help out. If I didn't have class each morning that conflicted with the breakfast time, I would definitely want to help more often. On Friday, Liz and I went to la Sagrada Familia and did the guided tour. This church is beautiful. I had never been here before and I am so glad we had a guide to explain to us Gaudi's vision and his thoughts behind it. I also found a cheap nail place (!!), took advantage of the last rebajas and went on a run on Gran Villa.

We finally made it to Bo de B. 

The famous Bo de B. What is it? A little sandwich place near the marina area. But it's not just any sandwich place. It's run by a group of women who speak Moroccan (interesting right?) and is known to have a thirty minute line on any given day. It is probably one of the more well known spots in Barcelona and we knew that this weekend we had to go. On Sunday we slept in and decided to head to that area around 11:30am. Well we got there....and it wasn't open yet. Stupid Americans. Well if you can't tell already...we like to beat the lines. So we hung out for a little bit and walked around until they opened at 12pm. Before I came here, I was told that for the sandwiches you pick your meat and then ask for "everything" on the sandwich. Believe me, that is the way to do it. When first ordering, the woman asks you what meat you want. You tell them and then sit down and wait for them to grill it right in front of you. When it's finished, they open up a baguette, throw the meat inside and get to work. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you everything that was in it, but the sandwich was full of so many flavors, I was in love. It had a Mediterranean taste with the various sauces, sweet red peppers, corn, cucumber, lettuce, lentils, cabbage, and tomatoes. The garnish made the sandwich and I'm glad that I got it all. This "touristy" location was the perfect way to end our weekend and I can't wait to try the steak or tuna next time I come.   

Well now that I realize this post was all about food....I'll try to broaden my horizons for next week's post. This upcoming weekend we are headed to London. I am so excited to see my best friends and visit London for the first time!!!! Wooooooooooohoooooooooo

Also the EATS, DRINKS, and FINDS pages are updated!

NAP. Neapolitan Authentic Pizza

Well if the title doesn't intrigue you...then I don't know what will. You guys, Liz and I found the best pizza place. Ever. After first coming to Barcelona and trying the random "Italian" restaurant across from our apartment that had fake prosciutto, I was really turned off from pizza. Coming from Chicago, I had not found pizza I liked in Fort Worth at school until I tried Cane Rosso. Liz showed it to me last year and I have been there countless times since including parents weekend, my dad visiting in the summer, friends' birthdays, and random roomie dinner nights. So why am I talking about Cane Rosso? Well this place we found, NAP, is essentially Cane Rosso: Barcelona Edition. 

It started when I found this Instagram....called @bcndelicatessen. If you know me well, you know my best friend Sarah and I run an Instagram called @collegegirleats where we feature food we eat, make, or pictures sent by our friends. Well the other day I found this account and basically it features all of these restaurants in Barcelona (that all look amazing). l have had so many average meals in Barcelona that now I look up the place we are going before to make sure there are decent reviews, pictures, and somewhere I can get a price point. So I saw a couple places that looked really good and started looking them up. 

First one: 4 euro signs meaning expensive... 

Second one: Not open...

Third one: 40 minutes on the metro...

Then I started craving pizza. I became desperate and started Google searching: best pizza place in Barcelona. Long story short, ten minutes later and Liz and I found this place. The pictures looked promising and we decided to go for it. We heard that they could get pretty busy later on so we wanted to go a little bit on the earlier side. 

The moment we sat down, I knew this place was going to be a winner. It was clean, not crowded, and the staff was friendly right from the start. The menu was simple and the prices were very reasonable (yes!). For the broke college students who have been taken advantage of multiple times, we were all for this. We are also people who go by recommendations so of course we asked our waitress what she liked best. She recommended the Speck pizza which was mozzarella, mushrooms, truffle oil, arugula, and olive oil. For us truffle oil lovers, we were sold. We also decided to go with one of the bruschettas which had mozzarella, mushrooms and tomatoes which was amazing. I took a picture of the sign pictured to the right and sent it to my mom because we share a love for burrata (a type of mozzarella) after getting it as an appetizer in New York this past Fall. 

The bruschetta came out immediately and we weren't disappointed. We almost ordered another one, but decided to hold off until our pizza came and I am so glad we did. I also ordered a Moritz (one of the more popular beers in Barcelona) and Liz had a Coke...what is it about Coke that makes it taste so much better in Europe???

This pizza was incredible. First, it came moments later because these pizzas are put in the oven for less than 90 seconds. The dough tasted exactly like Cane Rosso's, and the truffle oil gave it the perfect touch. It has to be eaten with a fork and knife because the crust is so thin, but never burns. Apparently there is some old, written down recipe for the dough...I still don't even understand it. Although this pizza was out of this world, next time I am excited to try another one of their bruschettas (with burrata!), a salad, and the Crudo Parma pizza which also caught my eye. Prosciutto on pizza makes everything better..right? Liz and I decided to order another beer and just sit and talk for a while. Within the next hour, the place was PACKED. I am glad we came early even though we are getting used to eating like locals at 10pm. This place was definitely a winner in our book and I think we are getting better at picking restaurants that are in our price point and have staff with the best recommendations. I am already looking forward to our next visit. If you are in Barcelona, you have to check this place out. It is a couple minute walk from the Jaume I stop.

WEEK 2: Bridge to Tarragona

Well good news and bad news.

Good news: the planned trip for our study abroad program actually ended up being really fun!

Bad news: classes started and I need to get in somewhat of a school mindset.

Tarragona

Tarragona. Our study abroad center had this trip planned from Friday to Saturday where we took buses to see different sites and spend the night in Tarragona with everyone from our program. Our buses were split up by Spanish classes and conveniently Liz and I were on the same bus. I wasn't exactly looking forward to the trip but it ended up being the most fun I have had so far. We met a lot of really cool people on our bus from Indiana, Virginia, University of Illinois, North Carolina, and UT. There are so many kids from the suburbs of Chicago and this world really is so small. I felt like I had at least a connection of knowing some person to almost everyone I talked to which was really cool. And Liz of course found a Connecticut crew.

On Friday night, after hours of touring and a scarring papas bravas experience at lunch, we could do basically whatever we wanted. In the small town of Tarragona, there was approximately one bar open. After a couple of GroupMe texts, 20 minutes later and all 400 study abroad kids were at this bar. It went from having one bartender and one room to opening up a night club downstairs…so random but so fun.

The next day we saw a monastery in Santes Creus which was really interesting. After, we drove to a restaurant and had a traditional “Spanish BBQ” which was a 2 ½ hour lunch where we were introduced to the baron and calçotada. A baron is essentially a bong that holds wine and you pour it into your mouth. I can work with that. A calçotada is a blackened leek that you dip into a sauce and eat…yeah. It was a pretty fun (and interesting) lunch and after we headed back to Barcelona. It is so weird to me that just being in Barcelona a few weeks, it feels nice to come “home” after only being gone for a day and a half.

So you guys. I had the best and worst sushi of my life this week. Liz and I were craving sushi after having bread, potatoes, chicken, and cheese for the past two weeks and decided to venture out to a sushi place we saw a couple days ago. It was terrible. I wondered why I ever thought sushi in Barcelona was okay in the first place. Well after we got back from Tarragona, Liz and I wanted something lighter for dinner and found a sushi place on Yelp with amazing reviews.So we convinced each other to bite the bullet and try it.

The location was awesome. It’s called Fishop and located right off the metro stop in Passeig de Gracia near the Nespresso building. You walk downstairs into a trendy, lively atmosphere and we were seated immediately. Lesson learned #1: look at prices before you go to a restaurant. I wasn’t looking to spend four euros on a single piece of nigiri, so Liz and I decided to get three rolls (that only consist of four pieces.......) and split it. Well that and two beers later and we were at 44 euros. How did that happen? I have no idea. Oh and we had to pay four euros for our table. Don’t get me wrong, the sushi was incredible and really fresh, but I can't justify spending 22 euros for six pieces. 

Spicy Tuna

Highlight: We’re going to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend. We’re staying with Angie (one of our best friends from TCU), her roommates and their friends from college. We’re planning on doing a pub crawl, hiking, and exploring so I think it will be a really fun weekend. This is also probably going to be our only winter trip so I’m glad that we decided to do it. I’m excited because so far, all the traveling we have planned is to new cities in Europe.

Oh and Liz and I attempted to make pasta with meat sauce this week to get out of our chicken and vegetable rut that we've done probably three times. Lesson learned #2: tomato paste is not the same as tomato sauce. Liz accidentally bought tomato paste instead of sauce and it was to say the least...disgusting. We ended up straining it, saving the meat and concocting a red wine sauce that we made by sautéeing leftover red wine, olive oil, pepper, garlic salt, spinach, onions, and diced tomatoes. It ended up being surprisingly good…need to get creative in this European city of ours. We added mahón cheese on top which is AMAZING. One of my teachers recommended it to me and it comes from the island off of Minorca which is on the Mediterranean cost of Spain. It is more of a sharp, buttery taste with a hint of sweetness. I’m obsessed. I put it on everything.

Goals accomplished: get my Spanish SIM card to work (hallelujah), spend an absurd amount of money at the bar, switch out of one of my 9am classes, meet new friends and lose six pairs of socks already.

Goals for this week: get school supplies, go to Park Guell, make more dinners instead of eating out every meal, not crave and spend money on a cappuccino each morning (they know my order…I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or bad thing), and try something new.

Liz, Angie and me

See you later this week!

WEEK 1: Syllabus week?

WE MADE IT! 

After a whole semester of talking about studying abroad and being in Barcelona, I can't believe that it is finally here. There was always the constant struggle of not wanting to leave behind my friends at TCU for a semester but also wanting to do something different and explore a new country to get out of my comfort zone. My family has gone on a few trips to Europe and other places around the world, but to change my whole routine and way of life living in a new country was definitely something I wanted to try. 

So far, Barcelona has been amazing. Liz and I are living in an apartment with two other girls and our RA, Claudia, who is from a village about two hours from here. Going into this, I was expecting a small, beat-down apartment with no space, so I was shocked when I came into a spacious, fully-furnished apartment with kitchen amenities, a nice dining room table, TV, and spacious rooms. This first week we have been focused on getting settled into the apartment (Liz and I share a room and a connected bathroom) and getting used to the slight cultural differences. We are about a 25 minute metro ride from our school, which hasn't been too bad considering we are close to a metro stop and have quickly figured out our way to get there.

View from the top of Placa de Espana

Accomplishments: broil toast in the oven (because we don't have a toaster), successfully find the wine opener, cook our first meal, locate the dumpster outside, take less than three minute showers to conserve hot water, realize wedges have to come off before stepping foot in the apartment to not wake residents below us, find a good running path, that not tipping is okay, and that you need to bring your own bag to carry home groceries. 

Still figuring out: how to successfully brew a pot of coffee, use the correct functions on the washing machine, wake up before 11am, where to buy refrigerated milk, live without air conditioning, use a Spanish SIM card correctly, the purpose of "x" in Catalan's vocabulary, and why there are more Zara stores than cafes. 

As someone who considers herself a morning person, getting used to Barcelona time has been very different. Most of the time we have dinner around 9 or even 10 and then go out after that so the days are much longer than we are used to at home. We have only had Spanish classes start so far so I am excited to meet more people when our full load of classes start tomorrow. At first I was really excited about having 9am classes so I could have the rest of the day to explore and now I am slightly regretting it...but I'm sure once we get in the routine of classes, it will be a lot easier waking up. 

So why am I doing this blog? Of course I was against it at first because it seems like a typical study abroad student just blogging about her time abroad and all the interesting places she's traveled or things she's discovered. Liz convinced me into doing this to share my semester abroad with my family and friends, so I thought I would give it a try. The purpose of Talk Tapas to Me is to share my eats, drinks, and finds throughout the city of Barcelona and other places I travel. My goal is to find the best tapas in Barcelona, see every coffee shop there is, and be able to talk my dad's ear off about Spanish wines when he visits during Easter. So join me as I learn more about this incredible city and everything that it has to offer.