Continuación de Mi Primera Adventura

Tarragona


My favorite place thus far! On our way back from Valencia we stopped here to tour the city and get a traditional Spanish lunch.  Tarragona is a city that was first inhabited by the Romans.  The Romans built a the city of Tarragona inside these tall brick walls known as the "Roman Walls" (how original) to protect the Roman soldiers.  Inside the Roman Walls are palaces, the Circus (chariot racing stadium) and various plazas.  After the fall of the Romans, the city was built on top of and if visited today this is what you mainly see.  Arcs of the Circus are actually built into homes and many of the original walls are built into the modern day buildings.  Although the old city was built on top of, it is possible for people to go underground and see the Circus.  I thought that this was the coolest thing! We were under the city and you could clearly recreate how the stadium looked while you were down there! There are also parts of the old city that are uncovered that you do not need to go underground to look at.

The layout of Tarragona (you can see the Roman Walls built around a part of the city)

The Roman Walls and the path we took around the city

Going underground to see the Circus

A part of the Circus underground

A part of the Circus above ground

Outside of the Roman Walls is the Roman Amphitheater which was served as a place of entertainment, sacrifice and to house a church.  This is much like what you would see in the Gladiator.  It was situated on the hill so that it only required 1/2 of the architecture work as usual.  Its location is what made it really cool for me because you were able to walk down into the Amphitheater and it just so happened to overlook the Mediterranean Sea! Absolutely gorgeous on a nice sunny day!

The view that I fell in love with

Looking down into the amphitheater 

On top of the amphitheater

After our walking tour we went for a traditional Spanish lunch where we were able to try calcotadas which are a type of onion that is grilled and dipped in salsa and served as a first plate much like an appetizer.  They are a been there done that kind of thing...it was very cool to try them but they were extremely messy and not worth all the effort I had to put into them!  The other food was sub-par nothing to write home about...Spanish cuisine isn't the best of Europe so I literally have been living off of their fresh fruit and peanut M & Ms lol such a health nut! 

Literally had to wear bibs so that the salsa wouldn't stain our clothes...so attractive

Our mess we made trying to eat the Calcotadas

How you are supposed to eat the Calcotada

Overall the trip was a great experience! I made so many new friends and got a mini history lesson along the way! I would totally recommend going to Tarragona out of all the places I visited during this weekend trip, make sure to go on a nice sunny day because lets be honest, everything is better with a little sunshine!  Definitely try calcotadas...maybe you will enjoy them but even if you don't it is all about the experience.  

Buenosnoches <3

Mi Primera Aventura

Sorry I have been seriously slacking on keeping everybody updated! I have been so busy lately doing school work and such! Yes you read that correctly I actually do school work here! My classes are not very difficult and the workload is fairly light, but my Spanish class is intense...we have to tweet in spanish 10 times a week (it is actually hilarious so follow me @bri_mcnees), make you-tube videos and podcasts and this week I am giving a tour of a part of Barcelona with historical monuments, tourist attractions, bars and cafes along the way all in Spanish!  Although it does not sound very appealing to me at the time I am really excited to practice my Spanish more and improve my speaking! Maybe I will be able to say I am fluent by the time I am home :) The biggest thing that I have noticed about school here is that they are very modern and up on the latest teaching and technology trends.  Profs make use of all the latest resources and chooses topics that are interesting to learn about and are easy for students to relate to...for instance I am doing a semester long research project on Hooliganism in Spanish football leagues and a presentation on marketing Lady Gaga! I really can't complain about school because it is interesting, but it is really hard to get yourself to sit down and not get distracted by other things and do your work! But this week I am crackin down and getting things done because I am traveling a lot the next couple weeks and have midterms already :( ughh Talk about a reality check!

With that being said Kiersten and I are trying to prepare ourselves for our upcoming trip this weekend to Interlaken, Switzerland!  We may sound crazy but we are actually excited to go play in the snow and go skiing! It is supposed to be warm when we go which is 29 degrees :) But of course we have absolutely no warm clothes so we are getting creative and asking friends/renting gear/buying the bare essentials/layering on the plane so everything can fit in our tiny little backpacks that we are allowed on the plane! This is actually going to be impossible....I mean come on I took 3 suitcases here...obviously I am not a light packer! So far we don't have any activities set in stone for Interlaken but we want to for sure ski a day, maybe go to Zurich to shop, ice skate, hot tub, bungee jump, chocolate tour and the list goes on and on!  This should definitely be a cool experience because it is seriously unlike any vacation I have ever taken!

Following Interlaken is London! Which I am SO EXCITED for!  Not only do they speak English and the town is unreal to see...they have a Chipotle and if anyone knows me...they know that I am obsessed with Chipotle! Like actually eat it every week so I am PUMPED to get some there!

Last weekend we went to Torres Vineyard, Valencia and Tarragona on a program wide field trip!  It was a great trip! I was able to meet so many different people and make so many new friends within my program so I would say that was a success in itself!

Torres Vineyard


Definitely was interesting to learn more about the wine making process but because I am in the advanced Spanish classes my ENTIRE 1.5 hour tour was in Spanish so I am not quite sure how much I really understood but I think I got the gist of it!  We were really bummed though because the day we toured the vineyard it was cold and rainy and grapes are not really in season right now so it was NOTHING like the pictures you normally see of vineyards and was not very fun to look at.  So the trip basically consisted of us on a tram bundled up secretively listening to the English translation through headphones on the tour trolley lol but still overall a great experience! I mean come on I was on a vineyard!

Inside the cellars

On the trolley for our tour...as you can see the weather was dreary :( 

A wine tour would not be complete without a taste test <3

Valencia

Was definitely cool to explore a new city, but it seemed a lot different than Barcelona.  The city was split into what it seemed like two parts.  Old Valencia had a lot of the same architecture that I see in Barcelona and had historical significance.  Whereas the other part of the city was more modern and did not have too many things that were interesting to check out.  Our hotel was situated in the more modern area so we were kind of bummed we didn't get to stay down in the middle of everything, but as always we still had a great time!  We got to explore the City of the Science and the Arts which was VERY cool! We went into the aquarium part of the city and got to see all types of animals and watch a dolphin show! We walked through the rest of the city and took some great pics!  At night we hit up the local bars and had a blast we literally were the ONLY Americans in the entire place and just danced the night away with locals! (mainly over 30 lol) Probably one of the best nights I have had in Europe!  We also did a walking tour of Old Valencia and of course Kier and I found Valencia Cupcakes! We were in heaven!

Kier and I in the City of the Arts and Sciences

More of the City of the Arts and Sciences (such cool modern architecture)

In the City of the Arts and Sciences

Our local bar we visited (definitely my fav) with our local friend haha

A little bit of Old Valencia Architecture 

Okay so don't mean to leave everyone hanging but it is 3:30 am and my 9:00 am class is going to come real early so I will finish up the updating tomorrow! :) 

Check out facebook for more pics and don't forget to follow my Spanish twitter :)