Recap.

March 31, 2009

The last time I wrote in my blog it was March 1st. Now, it is March 31st. The math tells you that this has NOT been my first priority. Sooooooooo much has happened in a month. The month of March really has flown by, but there were alot of fun and not-so-fun things that happened. Here goes in a nutshell.

March 1-Marquan and Jordan leave thus marking the end of Michigan spring break I had so much fun with my Michigan friends in town, but I was exhausted because we went out everynight. My roomated and I literally just hung around the house and went to class. Friday March 6th Breese and Nona went to San Sebastian, but Hannah and I decided to skip out on the excursion and get alot of things done. It turned out that two of Hannahs friends studying abroad in Italy came in town and while she hung out with them, I read Water for Elephants which was a great book. I really wanted to work on my literature paper, but the plot was so good I just HAD to finish it. So I did. Keep in mind that my New Year's Resolution is to read a book a month. So far so good.

March 9-

My friend Lauren Doroghazi came in town for her spring break/birthday. She is studying in D.C. for the semester, but also goes to Michigan. We ate out everyday when she was here. It was so fun trying new restaurants, but my wallet had never been so thin.Woo-Wee! Every good meal comes with a good price. Thursday was her birthday and we went to a fun Spanish club called Sutton and stayed there all night. Then the next day we went to the beach, but by the afternoon Jeanne had arrived. Remember Jeanne from the beginning? Yea, well she came back for round 2. We all went to the club on Friday and had a great time. Saturday we took the night off because on Sunday....Carmelle and Claire came! If you're thinking I have had a lot of visitors...it's because I have!!! Everyone's spring break was in March so every weekend someone was in town. It's funny because before I left my mom said "Robin, everyone who says they're going to come isn't really going to come". Turns out MORE people than I thought decided to come. The more the merrier right?

March 19

I was glad that Claire was able to come to Barcelona with Carmelle becuase I really left them to their own devices. I wanted to hang out, but I was so behind from all the other guests and I really needed to buckle down. We went to Lisbon, Portugal for the weekend and had a blast. It is my favorite place I have visited in Europe thus far. The people, the hostile, the city..everything was fabulous. It was also very cheap so that was good. Bank of America turned off my card because I tried to withdraw money from an ATM in Lisbon, but other than that everything went smoothly. Carmelle and Claire left on the 22nd.

March 31

Now it is Tuesday. I got back from Paris on Sunday morning and it is my NEW favorite place (sorry Lisbon). It was cold, but I LOVE that city. Everything is so luxurious and decadent. We went to museums, walked around, and ate alot of pastries. It actually was not as expensive as I thought. The hotel and cost of travel was the most expnsive, but once we were there we were SUCH tourists. Ofcourse, we did alot of window shopping, but we really just wanted to see the city. I could spend hours writing about Paris so I better not get started. Oh, and all of the Parisians I met were very friendly contrary to popular belief. Maybe Obama really is helping out world image :)

Ciao.

Spring Break already?

February 28, 2009

This week was one of the best I have had in Barcelona. It was Michigan's spring break so my friends Marquan and Jordan came in town. We did alot of touristy things and went out, basically, every night. This week was just a mix of nice dinners, VIP, and walking. They left this morning and I really wish they could have stayed longer. Tuesday night was the best because we went to a Mardi Gras carnival at Sitges. There was a huge parade and all these buses took the barcelona kids there. The buses left at 11 pm and brought us back at 5 am. Breakfast was served on the bus, but I did have class the next day. It actually wasn't bad because my art history class took a field trip to the Picasso museum and it was awesome. Today I think I will wind down and watch a movie.

Adeo

Have To Do Better

February 21, 2009

I have GOT to do better with these blogs. Last y'all heard I had booked my ticket to Sevilla and I actually returned from there last weekend. Kim came in town last weekend and I think she had a really good time. I hope she can come back again because she barely scratched the surface as far as things to do in the city. She did go with us to Sevilla, and she had fun there visiting Khaled with me. Kim treated me to so many dinners AND bought me groceries for the week so that was really nice! (she did eat alot of them though). It's so funny because Kim and I spend money so differently. She would rather have a nice meal and I would rather have a nice outfit. So when we went out she was ordering so much more than I EVER would, but I can't say I was ever hungry that week!

After kim left I went to class, finished reading my book Them, and relaxed. Now, it is Sunday and as I sit here typing one visitor has just left,Marquan is on the couch, and another is in a hotel. Sam Todd was visiting from Paris and he had a great time in Barcelona. It's hard not too. We went to Parc Guell, the beach, the marina, and took a walking tour of Barcelona. It is Michigan's Spring Break so Marquan and my other friend Jordan are visiting. They are going to Amsterdam wednesday through Friday,but they will be here for the rest of the time. Yesterday, we went to Parc Guell which is a very touristy park that overlooks the city. I was telling Marquan to be careful of the pickpocketers because they are always in groups of big people. It was so funny because Marquan said "pssssssh..I'm hip to the gypsies. Plus, I'm from Flint..I've seen worse people walk around than some pick pocketers!" He DID have a point and we all died laughing. Last night we went to club Lotus and we were VIP all night. Not a bad lifestyle eh?

Adeo

I'm Back

February 7, 2009

I know, I know, I have totally ignored my blog. I have been out the country, at clubs, at school (and not in that order). Anyway, it would take far too long to give details about everything so this time I will give quick "blog bullet points" of my last week.

• Geneva-cold, but fun. The town was small so there wasn't alot of nightlife, but it was cool to go to Switzerland. We were absolutely freezing so we ate..ALOT. Chocolate,crepes, more chocolate. Geneva is a very wealthy town so things were expensive. We stayed in the hostile for a night and it was clean, but kind of empty. We stayed on the France/Switzerland border so one morning we had breakfast in France and then walked around Geneva the rest of the day. Checkout was at 12:00 pm Saturday and our flight was at 7 am on Sunday so it was literally the longest day/night of my life. I will NEVER try to save money by shortchanging accomadations. That last night was miserable.


• Class- My classes are actually pretty hard. I don't know who let out the rumor that study abroad was easy because it is not. Well, all of my classes are in spanish except for one so that is kind of hard. My literature teacher must think we are native spaniards because she talks soooooo fast!!!


• Nightlife-Barcelona is the nightlife capital. Literally. Everynight there is something to do and everynight there is a swanky club to go to. Last night we went to a hotel party and the bar had all white couches and madonna music blaring. it was very trendy and fun. All of the Barcelona girls dress SO cute so ofcourse us atlanta girls try to catch up
• Visitors-Alex Johnson(a friend from highschool) is in town because she is studying abroad in Paris and wanted to see us for the weekend. Tomorrow Kim comes in for a week. Also in the future..Marquan,Lauren Doraghazi, and Carmelle will all be coming for a week. I can't wait!!
• Travel-Booked Sevilla this weekend with my friends and sister. We are going to stay with Khaled El-Sawi. Hannah and I booked Paris for the last week of March. We will also do Amsterdam, Prague, and spring break. I will have to see my Spanish family too, but one thing at a time.
• Food-INCREDIBLE. so many restaurants to choose from and Tapas galore. Tapas are perfect for me because I love the portions. Believe it or not, my roomates and I try to do Europe moderately. Everyone who visits wants to know how much money to bring, but it definately just varies on what you want to do/how you want to live. I mean there are girls here who eat out everynight, buy 13 dollar drinks, and travel like its going out of style. We do splurge sometimes, but I think we have been doing a great job of cooking meals here, finding affordable flights, and pre-gaming at our apartment.

I love it more here everyday. I don't want April to come :)

Adios,

Robin B.

The Ball Is Rollin...

Monday, January 26th

Well, it´s official...we have booked our first trip! We are going to Geneva, Switzerland this Friday until Sunday. When I say we, I mean Me,Hannah,Nona,Breese, and Adam Shapiro who went to Woodward with us. We are staying in a hostel for one night and leaving Sunday at 7 am so we are just going to stay out ALL night and then go to the airport early the next morning so we dont have to pay for 2 nights. It may sound cheap..but hey we´re college kids trying to see Europe so we can manage. Today was my first day of classes other than Spanish. I am in the library now and I just had my mass media class. It doesn´t seem like it will be hard and the teacher´s english isnt the best. It will be interesting though because we study the media in all of these different countries not just america and spain. It´s Jeanne´s birthday today, but she is in Sevilla. GET THIS...she is going to stay in Europe and be an au pair for a spanish family. She loves it and is deciding to stay in Europe versus try to find a job in America..which is hard right now. Right now my roomates and I are really into booking trips. One of my friends is going to moracco this weekend,others to London, some to Dublin....EVERYWHERE. We are trying to do it all, but reallistically I want to leave having gone to 1. Switzerland 2. Amsterdam 3. Paris 4. Sevilla and then a spring break trip. We´ll see how that goes.. Oh, and the cafeteria food here is really good and really cheap. You can get pizza, salad, a drink, a dessert, and bread for 5 euro. So i think I will start making my big meal be at school and then eat a light dinner. We´re doing literally everything to save money for trips..We LOVE It here still. In fact, Granny asked yesterday if I was trying to be a full time spaniard. haha. Well, off to my next class which is a political science course about the Spanish government. Sounds great right? ha..we´ll see.

Adeo!

What a Week

January 23, 2009

Today is Friday. I am in my bed blogging and all of my roommates are on a wine-tasting excursion in Torres. I am going tomorrow because I had class today. We watched a movie in Spanish today and it was actually pretty good. Yesterday was pretty productive. After class I came home thinking I would need to meet the internet man, but he took one look at that box and left. I don’t really think he knew what the problem was…but I’m actually doing fine without the internet. Sure, there are some emails I may need to read, but I think I can manage without facebook for a while. It’s kind of refreshing. My roommates, on the other hand, are freaking. Nona had to get one lady told on the phone and Breese’s mom is supposedly calling today so we’ll see. Of course I said “Nona don’t be mean to our advisor” and Nona was like “Robin, you must not have seen these girls in our program”. She does have a point…a lot of the girls on our program are DIVAS. They couldn’t last one hour without their internet and we have been pretty patient. Nona, Breese, and I went shopping yesterday but every time someone found something we would say…trip to Morocco or cool shirt? Needless to say we didn’t buy anything. After shopping we went to have dinner at this pub which would have been cool to drink at, but not to eat. It was way too dark and noisy for my liking. I wanted to have a cute little tapas dinner so you can imagine how I felt paying 10 euros for a huge bacon burger. We’re trying this thing where we eat at a new restaurant once a week so I’ll be sure to have a good place in mind when it’s my turn to choose. We went to a VERY cool club called Opium and it was huge. 5 bars, on the beach, white couches…just amazing. This boy would not leave me alone and kept telling me I looked like Rihanna. Now, if anyone can enjoy a compliment it’s me, but I wanted to say “Dude, what are YOU drinking!?” Because Rihanna is a stretch. We took a taxi home at 4:15 and fell STRAIGHT to sleep. Actually, I’m pretty sure Hannah was trying to talk to me, but I was out as soon as my head hit that polka-dot pillow. I’m sure she will repeat the story when she gets back from the wine country…
Hasta manana

Half Way Through

January 21, 2009
Today is Wednesday and I had a Spanish quiz. WOO-WEE was that thing long. Truth be told, it wasn’t easy either. I think I probably got a B plus though. I can’t complain because I didn’t really study for it. Last night, we all went to a café to use their internet access. We all had our laptops, microphone, ipods, EVERYTHING. Everybody was looking at us, but we didn’t really care. The cashier asked me to help him with English so I told him the name of some food items on the menu. O yeah, yesterday I watched the inauguration on CNN.com which was good enough. Hannah watched it too which was cool because she voted for McCain and all. We both thought it was really good. Okay so here’s the deal..I’m going to volunteer 4 hours a week at an organization (if I pass the interview process). There are so many interesting ones, but here are my top 3 in no particular order.
1. Hospital Sant Joan Deu- I work with sick kids at the hospital. There parents don’t have time to be with them all day so I would have to sit with them and distract them from their illness and just keep them company. I would read them books, take them to the hospital library, paint, draw, etc.
2. Casal d’Infants del Raval- I would work with underprivileged children by helping them with homework, dance lessons, and artwork. The children in this program belong to different ethnic backgrounds and I think a lot of them are immigrants.
3. Sisal- If I work with this organization, I work solely with senior citizens in Barcelona. Their project is called ‘A granddaughter/grandson for a grandmother/grandfather’. My job is to help my senior citizen with daily life which includes keeping them company, taking them for a stroll, helping them buy groceries, going to the pharmacy to pick up their prescriptions, and playing the occasional games of dominoes or cards. The idea is to make the senior citizens feel as if they have a granddaughter. (I guess they’re all pretty lonely)
What do y’all think I should do?
Adios
Hasta luego