Maastricht and Barcelona!

My February break was a success! I had an amazing time in two great countries and there is so much to tell! First of all, I began my trip to Maastricht, the Netherlands by taking a 20 minute bus to the TGV (fast train) station halway between Aix and Marseille. I got there early because I had never been to the Aix station. I looked around, found out what I was supposed to do and waited. My train said that it was "en retard" (late) so I was thinking I would have to wait a bit before my train arrived. Without warning though, my train arrived, on time, and I just barely made it! But I got on the train and then attempted to find my seat. I was on the second level of the train but I found that an older woman was in my seat. I just let her sit there though and found another seat, with a better view that was empty! I enjoyed the scenery on my 3 hour train ride to Paris, where I knew I had to get off and switch stations. I got off and started to walk to the information center so I could find out where I had to go to get to the other station. I finally found the desk after 20 minutes and hurried to the metro. It took another 20 minutes to get my ticket and get on the metro the person at the information desk told me to get on. It was the wrong one, but I didn't know that until I was twenty minutes out of the way at the wrong stop. So I switched trains and finally got on the right one. I arrived at the station with twenty minutes to spare and got onto my train to Liege, Belgium.

Finally I arrived in Liege after 3 and a half hours, where I had an hour wait until my connecting train to Maastricht, the Netherlands. I arrived in Maastricht to be greeted by happy Carnival goers dressed in green, red and yellow. My friend Andy picked me up and we began the journey in the snow. Obviously, since the Netherlands are much further north than Aix, I had a lot of adjusting to do! The next few days were spent catching up with my roommate, Maggie, and meeting all the international students who live on her hall. We attended the Carnival festivities and it was tons of fun! The Dutch are such happy and enthusiastic people and I loved witnessing something that is so important to them. They are such a proud group of individuals! They also are very into dressing up for Carnival. I was told that unless I wore either a costume or the Carnival colors (red, green and yellow) I would be booed whenever I walked anywhere! So I bought a scarf with the right colors and attempted to dress up!

Maggie and I then took off for Barcelona! We got into Girona late on Wednesday night and took a shuttle to Barcelona! We managed to get to our hostel and slept soundly. We woke up and took off for our first day in Barcelona! We were both so excited to be in warmer weather and the sunshine! We took a free walking tour all around the Gothic quarter, which was gorgeous. We walked around, and Maggie was amazed at the warmth and sunshine that I am so used to now! We had the most delicious large lunch which consisted of cream of mushroom soup, paella with calamari, mussels, rabbit and sausage, and finally toffee cake. The next day, we went to Sagrada Familia, the church and building that Gaudi is most well known for! It was beautiful and so intricate (this is Maggie and me in front of it!). We then continued on to Parc Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. Gaudi was hired by wealthy families who wanted to show off their wealth. So for one family, he created Parc Guell. It was so gorgeous; with great views of the whole city, Sagrada Familia and the Mediterranean! Between the palm trees, bright colors, the view and the architecture, I was in complete awe. This was definitely my favorite spot in Barcelona and it was breathtakingly beautiful. We then returned to our hostel and prepared ourselves for the cooking class that we were going to later that night. We headed off to the meeting location and walked to the restaurant where we would make our own tapas, paella and sangria. Needless to say the meal was delicious and I was in gastronomic heaven! The paella had calamari, mussels, prawns and perch... amazing. The meal was also great becuase we we surrounded by people from different countries. There were some Germans, some Australians, some Belgian and others. It was so interesting and the discussions were always lively! The next and our last full day, we headed to Monjuic, where the Olympic stadium from the Barcelona 1992 Olympics was located! This little mountain offered great views of the city and was really pretty. We went to the stadium and the surrounding area and really enjoyed being in the sun! We took our time and wandered a bit until we found the MNAC (Muesem of National Art and Catalonia). We did not go inside, but the outside was beautiful and looked like a palace! We then decided it was time to go to the beaches.


Maggie luckily speaks a little Spanish, so when it came time for us to ask which bus to take to get somewhere, she was able to. We were told to take a certain bus, so we did. Turns out it was the wrong bus. We did not realize this until we passed Sagrada Familia, which is on the other side of the city and the opposite direction of where we wanted to go! We finally went to ask the bus driver where we were when we were told that this was the last stop and we needed to get off. Cool. So we laughed for a very long time about this and finally found someone to ask where exactly we were. We took out our map and asked her to show us where we were, and she laughed and pointed to an area... off the map. So we somehow managed to reach the outer city limits!!!! The bus driver came back from doing an errand and the woman kindly told him (in Spanish, she didn't speak any English!) that we were lost and needed to get to a certain stop. He told us to wait for a bit and he would show us exactly where we should go. He stopped the bus after 30 minutes or so and called us to the front. He then told us where to go! How nice!! So we finally found our way back to the hostel and managed to find lunch. We then went out to dinner with a friend from high school! Liz Pino is studying in Barcelona so she knew exactly where to take us and the restaurant was amazing! We had such a great time catching up and the waitstaff loved our table of four girls! Liz then took me out for a great night and we went to the beaches on Barcelona, while Maggie had to leave to go back to Maastricht! She had a really early morning flight and a shuttle from Barcelona at 3am... so she had to leave us early to gather her stuff at the hostel. We headed to the clubs that are on the beach and enjoyed the nice weather and the warmth!

I left the next day and began my 9 hour bus ride exhausted. I had to do some homework but managed to sleep a little bit. But I have come to a conclusion, I do NOT fit on European buses. My legs are too long and therefore it was a very uncomfortable 9 hour busride. But the views were amazing and we pretty much drove along the Mediterranean the whole time! Not only did I see tons of palm trees (my new obsession), but there were hundreds of wind turbines! I was so happy to see three of my favorite things (wind turbines, palm trees and the Mediterranean Sea)! We also drove through the Pyrenees Mountains, so that provided lots of really pretty views! Finally, I arrived home safely in Aix and was so excited to be home! All in all, it was a great vacation!!!!