Spagna, Spagna!

I finally made it to Spain. It was magnificent! The Barcelona airport was beautiful and big, and although it was lightly raining when I arrived I couldn’t help but smile when I walked outside and breathed in Spanish air. For those of you who know me, Spain has always been a place I have wanted to travel. So this for me was a dream come true.





My flights were actually on time, thank you Meridiana! I will definitely fly with them again in the future. That was my first indication that I was leaving Italy. That and there was leg room on the plane. I also loved how the instructions on the plane were spoken in 3 languages.

I emerged from the subway to a busy Passeig de Gracia. Across the street I immediately saw Casa Batllò, the house of bones designed by Gaudì. I had seen this house on Samantha Brown’s Passport to Europe before but had no idea it was so central. Then I realized that Gaudì’s work and influence was everywhere in the city. You didn’t have to go into museums to see how much the city loves him. I also saw his other architectural masterpiece called La Pedrera, from the outside.

I immediately went in search of La Sagrada Familia. It was quite a walk but when I finally found it, it was worth it. The church is huge, and I heard that the towers that are currently constructed are the smaller ones, and it still hasn’t been finished. It’s going on over 100 years of construction or something. And I thought Oregon Public Works took forever… I took the elevator to the top for a spectacular view of Barcelona close to sunset. Then I descended down the windy staircase which is not for the claustrophobic mind you.


On my way back to my hostel, I stopped at the Fundaciò Antonì Tapiès. He’s a modern artist, very strange works. They also had some other exhibits there from other artists. There were dark rooms showing independent films and there was also this one room that had black walls and loud noise. After standing in there for a minute or so you feel uneasy because the noises were kind of creepy.

That night I sampled tapas at this great place called Txapela. I would order 2 tapas then tell the bartender to order one for me to get a better taste of Spain.

Saturday I spent all day walking around the city. I walked down Las Ramblas and went to the local market, which was insane! I walked past the Christopher Columbus monument, to the waterfront and back up into the Gothic Quarter. There I visited the Pablo Picasso museum, which was really cool. Unfortunately they didn’t allow photography. I also visited a couple of churches. Just being in the Gothic Quarter on a busy Saturday was an experience in itself. After lunch I hit up a place that my book recommended for good hot chocolate. And it was good, like a melted candy bar. So delicious that I scraped the cup with the spoon I was given, and when I handed it back to the bartender he looked inside and said with a smile, “you didn’t like it did you?”

I had an early night and woke up early the next day to head to Montjuic before having to catch my plane back to Catania. Montjuic is a small “hill” that has parks, museums, and a cool castle at the top. The Teleferic, the cable car that takes you up the steep hill, was down for renovations, so I hiked up the hill. Once I got up there it was amazing. You had a 360 degree view of the city. I didn’t realize just how big Barcelona was until looking at it from there. I had spent all my time in the city center, which didn’t seem as large as I thought it would be. Now I know where everyone in Barcelona lives.


Besides the sights I got a taste of reality. I have recently come to learn that the world is learning English, and if you can speak English, you can go just about anywhere you want. This makes me sad yet grateful at the same time. Sad because I think it’s important to learn another language, but grateful that I am a native speaker of the one language that is most spoken. Another funny thing I realized was that when I spoke Spanish to someone, they would either reply to me in English or Italian. Apparently I have picked up an Italian accent when I now attempt to speak Spanish. I was even asked by a man at a ticket counter if I was Italian as he handed me a guide in Italian. But Barcelona doesn’t really speak Spanish anyways, practically everything is in Catalàn.

It was a great weekend and the weather was nice. It wasn’t warm but at least the sun was out. When I flew back to Catania, we went over Mt. Etna, which is still erupting like crazy. I know I’ve said this before, but if you can find a good web cam of Etna at night, take a look and you will see what I can see from my balcony. This is the first time I’ve ever seen an eruption where you can actually see the lava.

When in Rome...

It’s true what they say. Rome is fantastic!! I loved it.

I arrived at Fiumicino in the early afternoon and took the Leonardo Express to Termini train station. On the train ride to Termini a gentleman with a gun started talking to me. He was very nice and friendly and though I attempted at first to hint that I was busy reading my travel book, I decided to engage in conversation with him. He actually works for airport security, thus the gun (I hope). Anyways we parted ways at the station. The best part about traveling alone is the fact that you can just start a conversation with anyone at anytime and they are intrigued that you are a foreigner (usually, I tried to spark up a conversation with a woman who was reading a Spanish book and she gave me the cold shoulder-whateva!).

Ten minutes into walking around in Rome trying to find a Hostel I was almost pick pocketed by a 12 year old boy who just laughed when I turned around and looked at him. I suppose I could have used some of the “important” Italian words I knew, but I figured it was best just to leave it be.




I met up with Thorsten, my AIESEC friend from Oregon, who is actually from Germany and now living in Munich, at the nearby McDonald’s. It was so nice to see a familiar face from home, even though he really isn’t from home.



After getting settled into our hostel, we met up with Dhiren, one of the other interns/trainees that I met at the conference in Naples. Dhiren (who is from London) is doing his internship in Rome with Nema, the Canadian. We took the Metro and were dropped off right in front of the Coliseum. How incredible of a sight it was to emerge from the musty train station to see the Coliseum illuminated at night. It took me back a bit, the mere size of it was astounding. We took pictures, or at least tried to figure out how to use the night function on our cameras. We went to this awesome pizza place that was packed. It was so packed that although we wanted to order more food they wouldn’t allow us. After that we ventured to Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, then to Piazza Navona to meet up with some of Dhiren’s friends. I was glad to see some of the famous sights at night, in fact I think I almost prefer them at night versus daytime. Piazza Navona is a happenin’ place at night time. We walked through some of the alleys and there were people everywhere eating and drinking at midnight.


On Saturday I went to the Coliseum and waited in line for forever to get inside. I didn’t get a guided tour but was able to listen in on some of the other tours going on. I kept thinking about Gladiator whenever I tried to picture what the Coliseum must have looked like in its prime. The rest of the afternoon was spent on Palatine Hill and walking through the Roman Forum. I loved the Forum! It was awesome to stroll through and see the ruins, but even more impressive was when you get to the end and climb up the stairs, you can look down and view the whole length of it at once. It’s easier to visualize what it looked like this way because when you are standing next to a bunch of rocks, they’re just rocks. But from far away they form a building. Deep huh?

Sunday morning I went to see the Pope, but he wasn’t in. I only visited Piazza San Pietro because the line to get into the museum or the basilica was massive. It was the last Sunday of the month, which meant admission was free. So although it was a good idea to come on this day to save some cash, everyone else also thought this. Plus I had limited time to see the museum before I had to head back to the station to catch my plane, so I didn’t go. Next time I am in Rome, and I will be coming back with Nate in December, I will see some of the things that I didn’t get a chance to this time. I really want to see the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, and the Vatican Museums. Plus I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the other sites again.

I returned home to a more empty house than usual. Carla left to return to Switzerland because her internship had finished. It’s going to be rough without her here there because she was so much fun. Truly a bittersweet weekend.