WEEK 5: London...A Taste of Home

London rocks. From not having a language barrier to seeing some of my best friends from TCU, I definitely felt a little homesick after leaving London. Although it was very cold, I absolutely loved the city.

Some highlights from the weekend:

Can I go back already?!?!?!?!?

I loved London. Even though I was only there for three days and barely even got to see the city, it was incredible. It gave me the familiar feel of the United States, but was so different. I can't even imagine all the places there are to eat, see, and explore throughout the city. It seemed much more hustle and bustle compared to Barcelona's vibe and I could understand what people were saying!!!! This is definitely a place I want to go back with my parents and do more of the touristy things that I  was not able to do in just three short days.

I got to see my best friends!!!!

Coming to London, I didn't realize how much I miss my best friends (those abroad AND those at TCU). It was so great to see them and catch up and just HANG out. There are a lot of people doing the TCU London program who I am friends with so it was fun to talk about inside jokes and all be together for a weekend. We did a pub crawl and went to dinner with Annie's day who was in town and of course, was so much fun. My roomies and I were all reunited again and of course my lovely cofounder of @collegegirleats. Ugh, Snewts I missed you so much. I'm so happy that we were able to go visit the weekend before Annie's birthday. Although it wasn't the same as celebrating at TCU, I want to give my best friend a shout out on her 21st birthday and I hope you have an amazing day (Feb 10th!). You are an amazing person and I know that you have so much more left to explore and do with your life in London during next couple of months abroad. I can't wait to live with you this summer and be together at TCU senior year. Happy Birthday Annie!!!!!

I experienced Borough Market.

When the London crew kept posting pictures at Borough Market. I knew it was something I had to try when I was in London...and oh we did. The market is HUGE. It's outside with permanently set up tents with every kind of food that you could imagine. Sandwich shops, pasta stations, milkshakes, hot dogs, kebabs, juices, cookies, brownies, homemade chocolates, grilled cheese, potato dishes (don't get enough in Spain), every type of cheese imaginable, and SO much more. I was overwhelmed with what I wanted so we took a couple of laps trying basically everything. The paella was amazing, the cheeses melted in your mouth, and the chocolate was incredible. I eventually decided on the lamb skewer sandwich that was topped with greens and caramelized onions and a lemon garlic sauce and it was amazing. Others got the famous hot dogs, tomato and spinach tortellini, juices, and sweet potato fries and they were all amazing. Borough Market did not disappoint.

Undocumented highlights:

• Brunch at The Breakfast Club
• Dinner with Mr. Maguire and friends at Princi
• Walking on Brick Lane and learning about the brothers and their bagels
• BEING REALLY COLD
• Figuring out the airport to the shuttle to the train to the tube to their apartment.....
• Late night falafel (scarred for life)
• Shoreditch
• Double decker tour buses
• Going inside Harrod's and wanting everything

Sorry, had to keep this post short! Long week ahead and going to Cadiz, Spain this upcoming weekend for their Carnivale and to experience Liz's previous homestay experience. I'm excited to see another area of Spain and all it has to offer! 

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 3: I went to Switzerland

So I went to Interlaken, Switzerland this weekend and learned a couple of things.

You can OD from chocolate.

You guys. I ate so much chocolate this weekend. I'm actually kind of burnt out for a while i think. If you are good friends with me, you know that I am notorious for having a sweet tooth (and finishing friends' froyo while they are inside a grocery store). I don't crave pizza at 11pm or chicken nuggets or fries. If I am craving something, it's ice cream or s'mores bars or chocolate. Well Swiss chocolate really outdid itself. We went into random chocolate stores and got samples, had free chocolate on the plane courtesy of Swiss airlines, and bought chocolate bars at the nearby grocery store. Even though my favorite type is dark chocolate, Swiss chocolate is notorious for its milk chocolate and it was really good. I was kind of disappointed that we didn't have chocolate fondue, but you win some and lose some.

"Depends on weather conditions" is a real thing.

I was finally going to skydive. My friend Mary (top right) convinced me into doing it even though it was going to cost me my life because its the Alps and if you run a skydiving company in the Alps, they can charge whatever they want. I had it booked and I finally convinced myself to do it. Well, it got canceled three times because of the weather conditions being too foggy and each time the anticipation made me so anxious. Instead, we decided to the next best thing and went paragliding which was still amazing and the views were unreal. Freezing, yes. But the scenery was something I will never forget.

Switzerland took all my money.

I actually feel robbed from this weekend. How does Switzerland get away with charging whatever they want? I have no clue. Anyway, I was at the ATM a few times and learned that drinks are more expensive than you think. Overall, I convinced myself this was going to be the most expensive trip and decided not to think about it. Key to saving money...split everything and take advantage of happy hour prices when possible. Also, so disappointed in Swiss fondue. We thought it was going to be really good and ended up being so much money and so random.....Hence the picture on the bottom left. So cute Ang!!!!!!!

You CAN become a local within two days.

When in the town of Interlaken, you can only go to the Irish Pub so many times. When skydiving gets canceled...Irish Pub. When happy hour...Irish Pub. When waiting for friends to finish skiing....Irish Pub. When every cafe is closed on Sunday and your hostel made you check out at 10am...Irish Pub. We did have an amazing beer as a suggestion from the bartender called Grimbergen. Also, we became best friends with the owner of the chocolate shop who gave us free truffles samples. 

Hostels really aren't that bad.

Pictured below is the infamous Balmers hostel. Apparently it's ranked one of the "Top 49 Most Famous Hostels in Europe." Whatever that means. It wasn't actually that bad besides for the breakfast which consisted of bread and jelly. Literally that's it. And of course I managed to lose my room key within the first ten minutes of being there. Underneath the hostel, there was the "night club" where everyone went both nights and was actually a great time. They also had Wi-Fi, hot showers, and heating so that was a plus. There was a pizza place and Thai food restaurant next door...so the first hostel experience wasn't anything to complain about. 

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!

Milky Way Coffee & Bar

I decided that I wanted to do more than just the weekly observation post about my time in Barcelona, so I decided on doing a feature of either a new coffee shop, spot in Barcelona, restaurant, or store each week. Soooooo meet Milk Way Coffee & Bar!

So let me start with saying that I was not looking forward to the coffee situation in Europe. Every day for the past three years, I have started my morning with two brewed cups of coffee in the Keurig in a big mug heated up with piping hot milk. I like my coffee strong and really hot. Basically to the point where I burn my tongue each morning. I think it's the concept of just a hot beverage in the morning wakes me up...I don't know...I think it's psychological.  I also love iced coffee, but I can't make it at home (or haven't tried to) so I normally have to go out and get it which means getting in the car and spending money

Cappuccino at Milk Way 

Milk Way is a coffee shop and local restaurant across from the Hospital Clinic metro shop. Liz and I first saw it our first couple days in Barcelona and knew that we wanted to try it. If you don't know us, we are obsessed with coffee, specifically iced coffee. In Spain, it is called "café con hielo" which means coffee with ice. They give you a glass with ice in it and you are supposed to pour your coffee over it. Definitely not the same effect. So one day last week, we ventured out in search of finding it. 

Inside, you feel the trendy atmosphere of a local coffee shop with donuts, pastries, mini sandwiches, and cakes but not the overwhelming feel of a try-hard, hipster caf  that is normally found in the U.S. Your order at the bar and the owner (yes, he's always working) delivers it straight to your table. Not only do they have a coffee menu, but it's a wine bar and restaurant. So during lunch and dinner, they serve different pastas and sandwiches accompanied with wine. I definitely want to try that next time. 

Liz had heard the carrot cake was amazing, so we split a piece and ordered coffee as well. (Yeah it was incredible, thank you Yelpers). Liz and I talked there for about an hour observing the different Spanish students who came in for a snack or coffee around 5:30pm. For Americans, coffee is normally on the go and is rarely a time in the morning where people can relax and not feel rushed. The people in Spain, however, enjoy sitting down for a cup of coffee and talking with people, reading the newspaper or just observing. Hardly anyone carries coffee cups in the street or has one in class. This concept is a refreshing change of pace and something that allows you to be in the moment which I can really appreciate and value as I try to do that abroad. 

For us, finding the best coffee place in Barcelona is definitely on our list. We have seen a couple of Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks shops but refuse to go in (so far) because we are trying to embrace the Barcelona coffee experience as much as we can. Of course I can’t order my grande triple shot latte with two pumps of the sugar-free vanilla syrup extra hot like I normally do, but for now this coffee is perfecto. 

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.