Que Paso?

Whoop! Whoop! It's Barcelona time! Which means I only then have Paris, Rome and Florence to do before I'm all caught up on my travels. And I leave for home in about three days now, so it looks like there won't be any current posts, so I'll just have to keep writing about my travels even while I'm sitting at home enjoying summer break. This post will hopefully be shorter since I was only in Barcelona for two days, so let's get started shall we?

Luckily, I had no airline problems and flew in safely into the Barcelona airport where I then got into a cab (all by myself because I'm a big girl) and went to meet up with Amanda and her dad. They had been in Spain during the time I was in Amsterdam starting first in Granada and moving on to Barcelona. Her dad was nice enough to let me stay in their apartment for the two days before our voyage to Paris. I might have done some miscalculation and thought I was staying in Amsterdam for an extra two days, so Barcelona was like a little mini vacation surprise. I was super excited to go to Spain because it was suppose to be a happy and sunny little wonderland... and it was. It was so nice to go from Amsterdam, which was fairly chilly and I almost always needed my coat, to a place where the sun beat down and I could go around in just a cardigan. I like to call it sweater-weather (pronounced so both words rhyme), and it's my favorite climate. Anyway, the apartment we stayed in was my first experience with airbnb.com. If you're traveling on a budget, I highly recommend you check it out. We were in a three bedroom apartment with 1 1/2 bathrooms pretty much in the middle of Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia was basically in our back yard, and we really just walked everywhere.

After I put my bags down and breathed for two seconds, we walked right out the door to do some exploring. There's just so much neat architecture around the city so we basically just went wherever we wanted. I was just astounded by the ironwork that was everywhere. Each of the mini balconies had these intricate iron rails that I was in absolute love with. So we walked around a park and saw a triumphal arch (Europe sure is full of them). We then thought it would be nice to nip down to the beach and see the ocean. While the day started out nice and sunny, by the time we had eaten lunch and walked around a bit, it had started to rain. So we got to the beach with a few rain drops, like that's going to stop us. We then decided that an hour was long enough to wait before having dinner. So we sat outside in the sun again (way to go bipolar weather), drinking sangria and eating paella. It was really a perfectly Spanish day.

We then decided to go home and rest a bit to get ready for the next day. That is the nice thing about all this travel; we've always managed to find time for a little rest to give us that extra energy. I've never been too run-down or tired for an expedition. Anyway, we ended up staying in for the night and just talking and eating doner (don't fret, there were a lot of Donner Party jokes so everyone was having a good ol' fashion time).

Reunited and it feels so good.

The next day we got up and went exploring some more, but this time we went more in the direction of the Picasso Museum. Now I've been to the Musee Picasso in Paris (it was closed for renovation this time around) and I wanted to see how it compared. It dealt a lot with Pablo's time in Barcelona (duh) and showed a lot of things that I had never seen before. Like at the Van Gogh museum, it had a bunch of his earlier works. They were not the cubist pieces that people would recognize today, but you could definitely see his progression as an artist. Since he lived so long and had such a public, and risque, love life, I think he's  one of the most truly interesting artists. I might not always like his work, but I love him as a man.

After the Picasso Museum, we walked around, had some hot chocolate and churros, and headed into a cab over to the Park Guell. It might be a bit of a climb to see it all, but it was well worth it. It was like a mosaic shop drank too much LSD in the 60s and threw up all over the hills of Barcelona. Your eye never tired from all of the colors, mirrors, and shapes that surrounded the park. The higher you climbed, the better the view of Barcelona became. Everything was just layed out like a little jewel set against the ocean. After walking around the park a bit, we then decided to head out towards home so Amanda and I could finish packing before our flight for Paris the next morning.

For dinner we decided that we wanted paella and sangria again so Amanda and I shared a pitcher of the heavenly nectar. After our super delicious dinner, we walked back around the Sagrada Familia at night time to take it in. I'm gonna go on a little rant here so sorry about that. It's an amazing building. All of the details put into it make it look very organic and full of life. With that being said...WHY IS IT TAKING SO LONG TO FINISH!!!!!!!??????? Really? You've been working on it for well over one hundred years and it's still not done. Yes it's a piece of art that is also being used daily as a worship site, but still. When people think of these grand cathedrals around Europe you know what's usually missing from their mental picture? Scaffolding and cranes. This is something the Basilica has more than enough of. You keep on wanting to take pictures of the thing, and there's just metal in the way! While I desperately want the cathedral finished, I feel like it's now a running joke so they can't finish it. If they do, the world might come to an end (hello it is 2012). Sorry, that's it. Do you have any thoughts about the slowest construction site ever? Especially with technology today! Phew. That felt good.

Let's sum it all up shall we. I loved Spain (especially the weather) and would love to spend more than just two days in Barcelona (and definitely Madrid with all of its museums). On the third morning (this was April 12th now) Amanda and I flew over to Paris to start a whole new adventure. That's the next large post I'll be putting up. Present-day Carly is actually leaving Italy in 2 days. I'm going home! I've had the time of my life while traveling, but I'm really ready to spend some time with friends and family back in the good old PA.

Not Baden-Baden

So after a tiring day of museum hopping in Paris, we're back in our apartment in Montmartre. I'm just chilling out reveling in my tiredness and listening to some wonderful music from the '60s which always puts me in a fantastic mood so I thought I would write a few blog posts so everyone can keep up to date on my comings and goings. First off we're going to take a little trip back in time to March 22 when I was whisked off to Germany to spend a long weekend with my step-mom Julie (Hi Julie!). Warning, this and the following posts are going to be long, and I apologize if I seem a bit winded.

So I actually flew Ryanair on the way in and was a little skeptical since I've heard my fair share of horror stories  about shoddy service on this airline. I was pleasantly surprised. I mean all the extra fees and fares can get you (it's like 70 bucks if you forget to print your boarding ticket before you get to the airport!) and makes it seem like any other airline instead of a "cheap" way of flying. To get on the plane was the same cluster-mess as say easy-jet, but once I got my window seat I began to inspect my surroundings. All of the seats were leather the plane felt newly detailed. I had plenty of leg room which is a huge must for me being an apparent giant at 5'8" tall. We took off and landed on time which hasn't happened to me in forever. I simply walked off the plane in Baden-Baden, got my checked bag, and got into Julie's car. Simple. My only complaint is that if you wanted to sleep, you really couldn't since there was a constant stream of Ryanair advertisements about what you could buy from the crew while you were flying thousands of feet above land. It was kind of ridiculous, but I was reading my book and just went with it.

Julie and I then went out to dinner where we shared some weiner schnitzel and this delicious type of German flat-bread called flammkuchen. It was basically just thick chunks of bacon, onions, and sour cream. Probably my dream food. We then drove back to the apartment her company rents out and basically crashed. The flat was just so cute! It felt like a German, beach house, cabin, from the 70s. There was wood everywhere as well as pretty kitchy sofas and needlepoint artwork. Kinda loved it.

source

The next day we went to the Carcalla baths right outside of the town of Baden-Baden for about three hours of awesome fun times. They were just these series of pools that were all set at a really nice temperature. There were these giant jets everywhere and it just made it for a very relaxing day. I know Julie loved the work the water did on her back. There was also these two pools where one was about hot tub temperature and next to it was a pool that was like 60 degrees. The idea was to submerge yourself in the cold water as a form of shock therapy before running (of course not running, we were at a pool!) to the warmer water before you froze. It's suppose to be a way of getting your body internally jump started, and I'm going to be honest: it felt great. There was also a steam room which I'd never tried before. It just felt so nice on my skin and felt like it opened me all up. At first it scared me a bit since the steam seemed (say that fast) to be too thick to breathe in and I couldn't comfortably open my eyes. I then relaxed and just let it pass over me. Delightful.

source

After our three hours were up, we went back to the flat to get ready for dinner. Julie originally wanted to take me to this castle (or schloss in German) on the top of the hill. So we drove the whole way up there to find it very crowded and just plain confusing to figure out where we could go to eat a nice dinner. So we quickly ran our American booties out of there. We decided to stop by a Greek restaurant she'd been to before. The food was so good, but we might have had too many appetizers and didn't have much room for our actual dinner so I took it home with us. We finished the night off with some great conversation and a shot of ouzo, which again, I'd never had. I didn't quite care for it since it just tasted like liquefied licorice and I'm not a big supporter of the stuff. It was just nice to finish off a Greek meal with a Greek drink.

The next day was going to be our busy day since we would also have to travel to Frankfurt before the day was through. We decided to first go into Baden-Baden and just walk around which seems simple enough right? Wrong. Even with the gps's "help" it took us about thirty minutes to finally get into the city-center. We kept going in and out of these wooded black forest areas and passing signs that just said Baden-Baden with a cross through it signaling that we were in fact not in Baden-Baden. It was almost to hilarious to be frustrated in. Finally, by some luck, we wound up in a parking garage and were able to get out and walk around. It was such a quaint little town and I couldn't help but sing a lot of Beauty and the Beast while walking around (and yes I realize that BnB takes place in France, but everything was just so quaint!). We stopped in some shoppes (yeah Olde English) and waltzed around the park with our ice cream before deciding that we best be heading off since our plan was to get to Hidelberg before nightfall so that we could go up and see the Schloss there. We thought we could just leave the city and get onto the highway without any of the trouble we had before. Wrong again. It took us another thirty minutes through the same backroads until we finally found the highway. We passed more and more Not Baden-Baden signs. They pretty much looked like this...

But with a red line through them. They kept cracking Julie and I up as we slowly slipped into insanity. Anyway, we were on the highway and off to Hidelberg. Yeah Autobahns! It was such a blast to just be sailing along so quickly and still having people speed past you like you were nothing. We eventually got to Hidelberg with good timing and parked at the bottom of the Schloss. It was just so great to be around that much history. I know I'm a bit of a dork, but there's something about being around a building that's older than the establishment of my home country that just sends chills up my spine. We don't have anything like these castles back home. Which is kind of a bummer. Maybe we should. Monarchy anyone? No? Well we'll discuss it later I guess. Back to the Schloss (which might be the best word in the German language).

It was a pretty grueling task to climb the whole way to the top, but I'm so glad we did. It was beautiful! We also went into the castle to see the little Museum of Pharmacy they had set up for some unknown reason. We then decided we were hungry and climbed back down to grab a bite to eat. This was what I ordered that night.

How glorious is that. It's called schweinhaxe. Now I'm going to get a little graphic here, but it is quite literally a pig's knuckle. I've had it before on a trip to Lyon, France and I've missed it. The meat is so tender and so flavorful. I'm a bit of what you would call an adventurous eater (except for peppers) and this meal was right up my alley. This is what my plate looked like after I finished.

We then drove the rest of the way to Frankfurt since we decided to stay at the hotel at the airport since our flights were fairly early the next morning and we really didn't want to have to drive that early. Julie took a few of my clothes and things back home to help with my packing at the end of the semester and then we called it a night. The next morning we had to switch our clocks one hour ahead (since day light saving's time is at a different time in Europe), but that went fairly smoothly and Julie boarded her plane back to the States as I returned to London. It was such a wonderful little excursion. I was actually just thinking that we haven't had to much one-on-one time and it was nice to have an entire weekend for girl time.

Ok. Germany done. If you're my friend on facebook, you've probably already seen these pictures and I apologize for showing some repeats, but you know how it goes. Stay tune for more of Carly's Travels: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris, Rome, Florence, Venice, HOME!!!!! Phew! That was a lot, I should listen to the 60s more often since I seem to be in the productive mood.

They're Here...

source

I know I might sound a bit melodramatic, but those "cute" bugs that you always see in your garden are starting to really freak me out. It's probably because of the fact that they are really the only creatures in London that have done me any emotional harm. Seriously, they are out for blood. It feels like one of the plagues in my bedroom. The other night we had the window open because it was a little stuffy, and they apparently don't believe in screens for our flat so apparently things get in. I was lying in bed when I look up and there are like six ladybugs on our ceiling light. I'm pretty sure I saw two getting it on and trying to start their own colony. This would usually only be a little odd. What was weirder though is their obsession with me. I've woken up at least three times to a ladybug crawling on my bed mere centimeters from my face. I usually just flick them out the window and can handle them in small numbers. But this larger group of bugs seemed almost too biblical for me to bother with. I just didn't walk directly below the lamp and tried desperately to sleep with my mouth closed (for fear of an adventurous one finding it's way down my esophagus). Amanda was equally freaked out. We have now not opened our window for a few days (it may smell a bit like death in our stuffy room) and all of the ladybugs have since died. There might be warmth in our flat, but there's also a surprising lack of aphids. It's really morbid to find their crispy little bodies fallen on the floor. At the same time I'm glad I don't have to deal with anymore live ones. I don't really love insects, but I prefer ones that climb. Once you add the flying element, they are infinitely more terrifying. I'm told these bugs bring good luck, but they seem more ominous than anything. They also kind of bring to mind a pact I have with my mother about a certain ladybug tattoo, which again is creepy. I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid. You think? Well you don't have to deal the onslaught so there!

Also, ladybugs here are slightly different since they are more black with red spots. Like so.

source

A Letter (filled with both love and hate) to LUSH

source

Hey LUSH,

Why you gotta be like that? Why do you have to be something that I've known about for centuries and yet have just stumbled upon recently? Why do you have to smell so good and make me feel all bubbly on the inside? But I think the most important question is: why must you have a store in my train station that I have to pass on my way home from work?! I hate you LUSH. A hate that could only be because of my love for you. I had my first excursion into the fragrant shoppe last Thursday after work before I took the tube home. I honestly went in there for a specific reason/need. It's getting to be a little colder here and my little cuticles needed some intense cream for them. I went in and the friendly salesperson immediately brought me to this lovely cream called Lemony Flutter cuticle butter. I've been using it every night ever since. It's got such a nice, playful aroma of lemons and it really gets down into my skin so that I have what I like to call "old lady hands." You know how soft your grandmother's hands can get? Well I managed to achieve this softness while still having wrinkle-free and spot-free skin. I use it on both my hands and feet with great success.I know we have them in the states, but they aren't readily accessible in good old Lancaster, PA, and I like supporting such a good British company. And it's good for the environment as well as the skin so that's a plus! I spent most of the day Friday looking at their website trying to decide some of their other products that I "need." In no particular order, the goodies I'm craving are:

• All of these bath bombs (and possibly some melts)
• This funky  foot mask
• This luxurious hair treatment
• Any of these fresh face masks
• This all purpose ultrabalm would be great for traveling
• Once my cleanser runs out I would love trying this new cleanser
• This lovely exfoliator  
• Just to name a few...

Obviously, I have a problem. It's slowly turning into an obsession, and I'm afraid that it might be the death of me while studying abroad here. If you could not be so enticing that would be lovely. I don't have the money to spend on this habit, although it might hurt me so. I'll just have to keep walking past the shoppe with my head held high and my eyes straight forward. Way to go LUSH. You're too awesome for me to function in normal society. Well done. 

Sincerely,

Carly B.

source

London Ho!

source

So I've been in London now a couple of days, but it feels like so much longer. This is the first time that I really feel I have time to sit back and relax! I'm only going to start out with the first day and slowly work my way through to the other days in other posts. This wasn't meant to be a travel blog, but I think since I'm living in London now there might be more posts about where I've been and where I want to go. And isn't that what documenting your life is all about? Enough existential musings.  Wowzers so much has happened. Let's start with the very beginning.

Amanda and I decided to get here a day earlier so we wouldn't have to worry about being jet lagged and exhausted when everyone else showed up. I raced to finish packing before we had to leave for our 6 o'clock plane. I finally got to the airport, said my tearful goodbye to my dad, and met Amanda and her family. Obstacle number one: I'm checking my bags at the counter and the lady informs me that I need to purchase a return ticket if I was going to London for three months. My heart literally stopped because I was really not ready to drop any serious money on another ticket. Luckily that sorted itself out since I had a visa already and could prove that I was leaving. I really turned into a day where everything worked out but in the most inconvenient way. Obstacle 2: Amanda accidentally had a tiny swiss army knife in her backpack that set off the security alarms. It definitely was not hers and they handed her bag back to her sans knife without too much worry. And then there was the plane flight itself. I'm one to pride myself on my sleeping abilities, and I can pretty much sleep anywhere. There was just something about the placement of the windows and where my head would lean against that did not mesh well. I was going to have to turn into a Tetris piece to get comfy. When I did manage to fall asleep, they would turn the lights on and it was time to eat breakfast. In my sleep deprived brain, I came up with this really great analogy comparing a plane ride to prison where everyone has to be on the same schedule in a cramped space without any real exercise outlet. But I digress.

We landed in Heathrow ahead of schedule at 6:30 am. Which would have been great if I didn't have to wait to go through immigration for the next two hours. I was so hot and miserable and uncomfortable, and cranky. I feel for Amanda in those first two hours. I was not a happy camper and she managed not to beat me senseless. Luckily we made friends with an awesome red headed american who was in front of us. We didn't get her name which is unfortunate because it would have been pretty neat to run into her and just hang. There was also this guy in line with one single dread lock and a brightly colored belt. Later that day, Amanda and I would run into him three more times in a completely different part of London. Tres bizarre. Anyway we finally made our way up to the immigration desks when news flash! We needed these papers saying that we could study abroad. Neither of us knew about such documents and we started freaking out and thinking they wouldn't let us into the country. The man I was dealing with wasn't very nice although I did flash him my best friendly smile. I guess the charm didn't work on him.

source

We finally got out of the airport after some pleading and paid a taxi to take us all the way into Bloomsbury where we were living. 70 pounds later, we were in front of the housing people's office and ready to walk inside and check in. When we entered, they looked at us like we were monsters (truthfully I felt like one). Apparently the two rooms we had booked earlier (and paid for) were not on record. That quickly blew over and they said that we could be in our flat by 2 pm that day. While I was happy to have a roof over my head, it was only 9:30 in the morning and all I wanted to do was shower and sleep. Instead we were forced to walk around our neighborhood. Now I would have originally loved a good walk to familiarize myself, but there's something about you not having a choice or say in the matter that made it seem like a chore. I was also still in my rain boots (which I wore on the plane so I didn't have to pack them). They're very comfortable, but not something I wanted to walk around in all day. Especially since I was wearing puffy short socks instead of the tall ones I should have been wearing. We started walking around Tottenham Court Road looking for a cafe and phone store so we could at least be connected. We found a Cafe Nero and hunkered down with some tea for the next half hour, but how slowly time moved. We then found our way to Oxford street which was very lively and had a whole bunch of great shops, but I was so tired by that point that I didn't want to do anything.

After some time we decided that it was probably time for us to have lunch although neither of us was hungry for food. We stopped by a pub to buy some sandwiches that neither of us really ate. By this point my rain boots were rubbing my calves raw and I was in so much pain. As we sat there the time ticked away until it was finally 2. We went to pick up our luggage, which luckily the office was holding for us until we could get into our room. They then gave us our key and we were off on the last leg of our journey. After struggling with the locks (which turn to the left here, not to the right) for a few minutes we climbed with all of our luggage up some very steep steps up to the third floor of the building where our flat was. There's also another flight of stairs in our flat, but we decided that sleep was more important than moving in. When we went up to our rooms, our beds weren't made. Not only were they not made (because I'm a big girl and can make my own bed), but there weren't any linens. This was about the time that I almost lost it. I just couldn't believe I was in a new city and all I wanted to do was feel clean and nap, and I was robbed of that liberty. I fortunately held it together and walked down to the office to ask for the linens. The man on duty said that the cleaning crew would be around shortly and do it. I just wanted the freaking linens! I would do it myself if it meant I could sleep faster. Instead I went home and luckily had a small pack towel on me (thanks daddy!) so I was able to hop in the shower and start to feel like a human being again. When I was done, the people came and made our bed. Then started the most epic nap of my life.

I slept from 4 until 11 that night. Amanda woke up and went out with our friend Kate and her boyfriend went out for drinks and I just kept sleeping. When I did eventually wake up, Amanda was downstairs and we chatted a bit before heading up to bed again. Now you might think that I wouldn't be able to sleep, but you would be sorely mistaken. I read a bit (Game of Thrones) and by 1 am I was ready to sleep for the night. We then woke up at 10 to screaming in our flat as the rest of the girls eagerly and excitedly discovered the ins and outs of our flat. There are six girls in the flat. Three from Clark, the other three from Sienna. It would have been very exciting to chat with them, but because of all of the struggle the day before, I had not consumed enough water and was severely de-hydrated. Some water fixed that, and the day started looking up.

(silly tired Amanda after our day of ordeal)

Although that first day was a big tranny hot mess, the rest of my days have been nothing but adventure and wonder. I'm almost thankful I got my worst day out of the way in the beginning of the trip so I can just enjoy all London has to offer now. This weekend we went on a few touristy trips and I even met up with a friend I haven't seen in two years. Those adventures will have to wait for another post. Sorry for all the words, but I needed to get that day out of my system. I'm just excited to experience school and my internship in this great city!

Update: I know, I know...

Hey guys! I know it's been like two months since my last post, but I guess you now know how my procrastination tends to runaway with me. There's been a lot of stuff going on in my life which I'll talk about more when there's actual time to update everything. But here's a little list of what's going down.

1. My first semester of junior year is coming to an end! Monday is my last day of classes and I only have an art history paper and final before I'm home free! I should be studying/writing/cleaning, but I figured a little me time on this here blog is well deserved.
2. The Holidays are right around the corner. I'm lucky enough to be a part of a family where half celebrates Christmas and the other half celebrates Hanukkah. I'm really excited because for the last two years, Hanukkah has been while I was still in school, 340 miles away from home. My friends here have been great and for all eight nights we would gather in my room where we "light" an LED Menorah I bought and sing the prayers before I open a little present sent from my family. It's been a nice little tradition, and I'm more than ecstatic to share a something culturally different (although my friend Simona is also Jewish). But there's really nothing like lighting the candles with your family and eating your body weight in latkes and brisket. Then there's the magic of Christmas! My mom's home right now decorating our tree with the ornaments from our childhood and I'm so excited to just bask in its awesomeness. I also know some of the gifts I'm getting and I am very excited for them.
3. Lastly is probably the biggest thing going on in my life right now. Next semester I will be studying abroad in LONDON!!!!!!!!! It gets closer and closer with each passing day and I just get more stressed/excited. I've never been to the UK and getting the chance to live and intern over there is something that I couldn't have imagined. It's been a very stressful roller coaster of applying for the program, getting in, and recently having to lay down a large amount of dough for a visa. My loverly friend Amanda is joining me on this adventure and we are going to tear it up. Besides living and working in the city across the pond (yeah cliches!), but we're also hopefully taking 20 days after the semesters done to travel to Paris and all around Italy. I'm currently looking for deals on a trans-European pass so if anyone out there knows about any student deals and would like to share that information that would be great

     

source

Lots of really exciting things happening over here at Camp Babione and I promise to be a little more up on my posting, especially when I'm abroad. Wish me luck!