Welcome to Interlaken and Balmers...

We landed in Geneva at 1:30 and met up with the boys to take the bus to Interlaken.  We booked our flights on Easyjet.com and then the rest of the trip was booked through Bus2Alps (definitely the way to go).  We got lucky by using Easyjet.com because those who booked through e-dreams.com were either bumped off their flight or had to wait two hours for us to arrive! We all passed out on the bus ride and before we knew it, we had arrived at the beautiful Balmers Hostel.  Not knowing what to expect (and a bit anxious) I bbmed Katie Samuels to see what the conditions were like and if she said it was ok, then I knew I would be okay =).  

We checked into our rooms and Riana and I were put in a room with Morgan and a few Indiana boys.  After finally checking in, we went down the street to Interlaken Outdoors to pick up some snow gear for night sledding.  Trying on the outfits at the store, we literally tried to put together the ugliest outfits. After an hour in the store, we successfully picked out the ugliest outfits and headed out for night sledding.  First, Riana, Morgan, and I stopped in the pizza place to grab a quick bite.  On the bus ride over to night sledding, I was kind of freaking out because I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  Katie met us on the bus and when we finally got to the mountain, it was pitch black.  We were handed a red flashing light and a sled.  We took the gondola up the mountain and I was finally dying.  I waited to go in the second group and off I was -- honestly, it was the most fun I ever had.  To say that I went night sledding in the Swiss Alps was pretty cool.  We finally made it to the bottom (safe and sound) and we had a cheese fondu "dinner" ... was not a huge fan, so Riana and I went for a late night snack when we got back.  We were told the bar at our hostel, Metro, was the best bar in town.  I would agree that it was the best bar in town, but definitely not the best bar ever.  It reminded me of a crowded night at Harrys.  I was exhausted and went to bed early.  Yes, falling asleep was difficult.  Five guys and three girls in a room...oh, and the beds were a little iffy, but THANK YOU CHARLOTTE EDELSON (yes you get a shout out) for coming with me to EMS to buy a sleep sack.  It was definitely the best call of abroad so far.  

The next morning, we set our alarms for 7am but did not get out of bed until 830.  Mattie, Rott, Carly, and I went snow shoeing.  When I signed up for it, I thought it would be a nice walk, on a nice trail, but I was wrong...very wrong.  This was snow shoeing off a beaten path up the Swiss Alps.  Lets just say I was not a happy camper, and would have preferred to go skiing or boarding instead.  Riana definitely had the right idea to board the Swiss Alps.  Yes it was beautiful up there, but I think I would have been happier skiing or boarding.  

We got back to Balmers and "napped" for a little bit before heading out to the Irish Pub for dinner.  After dinner we sat on the floor and pregamed before going back to the lovely bar.  When we got there, everyone's face coming up from the bar was miserable, so I actually never went down there.  Riana and I went home by 12 and could not have been happier.  

Sunday...the last and final day, we got up early and walked around Interlaken.  Before walking around, we stopped in Utopia for some fresh bagels (tasted like New York, maybe because the owner was from New York).  Nothing was really open in town, but we stopped in a store to pick up some Swiss chocolate before heading home.  

I really loved Interlaken...but it is good to be back in Barcelona.  

Pre Interlaken Departure

We leave for Interlaken tomorrow... and I thought that I would help everyone out with how to pack.  In Barcelona, the weather is usually in the mid 50's, but in Interlaken that is not the case.  We had to get all of our sweaters together and pack for this weekend.  We packed for warmth, not for fashion.

For during the day we are packing leggings, sweaters, and layers to keep warm.  At night, we all decided that sweaters were the way to go.  We also decided to pack some waterproof gear for night sledding.  Mattie and I decided to choose the snow-shoeing option for during the day and thought that leggings and sweaters would be the appropriate choice, while Riana (the adventurous one) decided to sign up for sky-diving! I will definitely check back in Sunday night to fill you in on if we were right for packing.  I also highly suggest packing in a duffel bag -- the Lesportac bag has worked for me these past two weekends.

Nothing else to really report about Barcelona except that this past week Riana and I went to La Boqueria, the food markets, and indulged in some candy, nuts, and chocolate.  A side note about Barcelona... you really have to be careful with which cab driver you get.  Last night, on the way to Rott's, we had the worst cab driver who took us in circles and eventually shut off the meter because he knew he messed up.  We just have to be more careful.  We got to watch the Barcelona vs. Madrid futbol game at Princesa 23 which was fun ... we tried to blend in, but it did not really work out too well.  Oh, and Riana and I finally made it to Bo de B -- OBSESSED! This is definitely going on my 'Guide to Barcelona' because it is a must.

Getting ready for dinner now ... La Xina or Matsuri?

xoxo

London Calling

I guess we really missed our Syracuse friends, because our first trip was to London, home of 30 Aephi girls.  We arrived in London at 9am Friday morning and literally did not stop moving until Sunday afternoon when we returned back to Barce.

The flight from Barce to London was really easy.  We hopped on Easy Jets and slept the not even two hour flight, and before we knew it, we were in London.  We arrived in London where everything is much easier than Spain.  However, when it came time to go through Passport Control, we asked the woman which line should we be in... she heard our AMERICAN accents, but still told us the wrong line.  When they told us we had to switch lines, us Americans, thought it would be perfectly fine to cut the entire line and just wait in the front until the next available agent.  London, a place where everyone is polite, was not okay with our American mentality and told us to move to the back of the line.  After waiting for about 20 minutes, we finally got to the agent and I took charge and answered all of the questions (we were told that they were very strict at passport control).  Luckily, we got a nice guy, who even teased us, when he said to Mattie, "you look like Snooki" or to me, "do you answer all of their questions" and then to Riana, "oh, so you do know how to speak back there."  After passport control, we hopped in a cab and were off to our friends' flats.

Walking into Cally, Carly, Perri, and Hayley's apartments, Riana and I immediately freaked out.  We were having major apartment envy.  It is funny because they think that we have the most BEAUTIFUL apartment based on our pictures, but I really do not think they know what they are in for when they visit us in two weeks.  We dropped our stuff off, grabbed a quick lunch, and then we were off to Harrods and TopShop.  I went to London a few years ago with my dad so I remembered everything, but every time you walk into Harrods, it is hard not to be impressed.  We killed a few hours in Harrods, Harvey Nichols and TopShop and then went home to order in dinner and get ready to go out.  Going out in London is much different than going out in Barcelona.  We walked into the club (Cafe d'Paris) and we knew everyone.  Syracuse people took over our own little table, and it was comfortable because it felt like a night out at a Syracuse bar, or summer nights in the city. Getting home at 2am was also a plus, because it meant that I was able to get more than four hours of sleep because I knew that Saturday was going to be a long day.

It was 9am and Carly woke Riana and me up.  It took us so long to realize that we actually needed to start moving because we had a lot to do.  We decided to be sooooooo touristy and see all of the sights, take pictures, and walk the city.  We started off at Buckingham Palace, however, we were unable to see the changing of the guards.  After Buckingham Palace, we walked to the London Eye and then on the way we saw Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben.  It was only 1230 and we had already done all of this, but we wanted to spend the afternoon at the markets.  We made our way to Portobello Market (and tried to look for the street my dad lived on when he was abroad) and walked around and had lunch at a little cafe in an antique shop.  For those of you who really know me, know that I am pretty responsible and also known as the 'Mom' of my group of friends, so you will be surprised to hear that I somehow left my wallet at lunch because when I went to pay for a shirt and realized it was not in my bag, I went into panic mode and sprinted out of the store and darted up the street for my wallet.  The chef (who we made friends with before) was laughing as he heard me run up the stairs and he said to me, "You ditzy American." I did not even care because all I cared at that moment was that my wallet was back in my hands (Mom, do not worry, my lesson was learned and I am happy that it happened then because now, knock on wood, it will not happen again).  We walked around a little more and then went to Hilary's apartment to join the rest of the girls for dinner.

Sunday morning we met up with everyone and had a nice (close to American) breakfast at Canteen.  After breakfast we wanted to go to Abbey Road and take some pictures.  We took the tube from Baker Street to the Abbey Road stop and literally stopped traffic to take the famous picture.  We could not have been more touristy at that moment.  Can you imagine nine American girls walking back and forth trying to take the picture?  Needless to say we were probably so annoying, but we did not care because after awhile we finally got the picture.

I am glad that we started off abroad with a trip to London!

xoxo

Our Experiences from Corte Ingles...

The first time we went into Corte Ingles was a disaster, but we thought we would try again.  When we arrived in Barcelona the first day, we set out to Corte Ingles to purchase some new bedding and towels.  No one spoke a word of English, and I still needed to brush up on my Spanish...needless to say, I was speaking broken Spanish to the employees.  After about an hour there (just to buy a blanket and towels) we finally got out of there.

This time we thought we would go in and buy some school supplies.  One thing about Corte Ingles that differs from American stores is that you have to purchase your items based on what section you are in.  If you are buying dishwasher soap and detergent, you have to pay for it in one section, and then when you want to buy school supplies you have to purchase them in another section.  I mean g-d forbid something would be easy around here, especially when all of these things were on the same floor.  Well, not knowing that we needed to do this, we walked around with our shopping carts grabbing things from all different sections, we finally walked into the school supplies section.  Let me first say, why are all of the notebooks graph paper and not lined paper?  We got passed this issue and started putting our supplies into our shopping cart, then this grumpy old man started yelling at us in Spanish, and then this cute French guy helped us.  He tried explaining to the man that we did not know, however, this guy did not care and started signaling handcuffs towards us and told us that we would be arrested!  We did not know what to do, so we purchased our notebooks and then we got yelled at again! We ran out of the school supply section hoping not to get caught and ran towards the supermarket.  The man followed us and started yelling at us again...he watched us pay for everything and I overheard him saying to another employee 'watch them to make sure they do not steal'.

I just really hope that from now on our experiences at Corte Ingles will be much more enjoyable, because so far we have not been impressed.

London trip is booked for this weekend...stay tuned for our trip to London.  I will tell you how we traveled there, how to pack, and what we saw, ate, and more!

Update: Day 5

Hola! Here is an update so far on restaurants, sights, and parties.  After a few days here, my friends and I have compiled a list of our favorite restaurants and sights (so far) and taken a million photos (shout out to Riana Bauman).  Restaurants that we have liked so far: Margarita Blue (really cute in an alley way, colorful drinks, and amazing guac!) & CDLC.  I also really cannot complain about the nightlife either.  If you are looking for a place to grab a few drinks to go out, well then Dow Jones is a great little place.  Yes it is small, but the drinks work like the stock market...make sure you get those drinks before the prices go up! We also have been to a lot of the clubs so far like Bling Bling, Shoko, Opium, Sutton, and Duvet!  Honestly, if you like house music and remixes, then clubbing in Barce is for you.

Enough about the nightlife...I guess I will move onto the culture too (do not worry Mom & Dad).  Yesterday, Mattie, Riana, and I walked over to the Arc and just started walking all of the way down until we reached "Zoo de Barcelona".  I kind of love those days that you stumble upon things you were not expecting to find.  In fact, we originally walked over to the Arc to find "Happy Pills" a cute little candy store that we still have not found.  We looked at each other and thought why not go to the zoo.  So, the three of us spent three hours at the Zoo!  I honestly felt like I was eight years old at the zoo.  Even though I was on safari in Africa, I still got excited by everything we saw.  We even turned the corner looking for the Gorilla, but only to find a kangaroo sprawled out like a human.  Today, we were hoping to all go to the Boqueria, only to find that it was closed because it was Sunday.  However, the day was not lost on us, as Mattie, Riana, Rachel, Jordan, and myself walked down Las Ramblas all the way down to the water.  We snapped a lot of photos and had a great brunch (at 3:45 pm) at DosTrece.

Adios!

Hola!

Bienvenidos a Barcelona!  It is 7pm and we landed 12 hours ago.  In just 12 short hours, we were able to accomplish so much.  The minute we walked into our apartment, the space was cute, but we wanted to make the rooms our own (and a little bit cleaner).  After having the brilliant idea of going to IKEA, we soon realized, that maybe we were a bit tired and that this was in fact, not the brightest idea.  Instead, we went to Cortez Ingles and picked out new bedding and sheets for our new rooms (pictures to come soon).  We bought a few more hangers, our straighteners, blow dryers and we were all set to head back and begin unpacking.

As the three of us started unpacking, we all sort of laugh because we realized that we did overpack.  After arriving in Barcelona and unpacking, I NOW realized that I did not need as much as I thought I did, but at this point, it is only advice that I can now pass along to the next person.  We all purchased the 31inch duffle suitcases from ASAKS.com and I highly recommend them.  They are so light to begin with and can fit everything, well almost everything.  Packing for four months into two suitcases was a challenge, but if the three of us can make it work...well I have faith in pretty much anyone.  

This afternoon, we found a little Italian pizzeria a block away from our apartment.  Maybe I was missing Melissa Saul too much (Ciao in Rome!) and needed the comfort of a good salad.  After the three of us laughed our way through lunch with the waiters (one even gave us his number to Whatsapp him!) we returned back to the apartments for nap time.  Needless to say, it has been a very eventful first day and we have not even gone out yet...

Until the next post... ADIOS!

xox

Welcome!

In exactly one week I will be sitting on a plane and on my way to Barcelona.  I wanted to create this blog for those who care about what I am doing abroad (hi mom!) and for those who will be going abroad in the future and will need the perfect guide for abroad.  I know everyone has passed around the "JAP" guide to abroad, however, I am hoping to make this more updated, as well as, give my readers a new take on abroad.  ENJOY.  I will check back in a few days when I am trying to fit four months of clothing into two suitcases, so stay tuned for a guide on how to pack for abroad!

xoxo, sam