Catching Up!!

I cannot believe that is already the end of February!! Time really is flying. I'm pretty behind on posts, but pictures from my weekend in Geneva, Switzerland will be coming soon...

I've been spending a lot of time with friends that I've met here who also go to Penn State. Earlier in February, we all got together at an apartment before going out to find that we were all wearing blue! It must be that Penn State pride!




Later that night, we went to a club that is right on the beach called Opium Mar. It was a lot of fun, great music and dancing. We ended up meeting Dee Brown, a basketball player who graduated from Illinois, played in the NBA and is now playing internationally. The boys recognized him and were pretty excited. We talked to him for a little while, he wasn't very talkative but seemed like a pretty nice guy.








On Saturday, Val and I did some more sightseeing. We walked around La Sagrada Familia and then down a pedestrian-only street called Avenida Gaudi. It connects La Sagrada Familia with La Hospital de San Pau, which is in this picture. I had actually studied the architecture in one of my classes because the architect was from the Modernismo era, the same as Gaudi. The hospital takes up four city blocks and all of the buildings are very beautiful.





The class where I learn about the Modernismo period and Spain's famous architects is called Modernism in Architecture; A Comparative Perspective. We get to go on a few field studies throughout the course and a few weeks ago we visited a Gaudi house called Casa Batllo. We got to take a tour and it was really neat on the inside. Gaudi had a very distinct style that is mostly characterized by his use of curved surfaces and the organic feel of his work. The interior of the house always feels like it is alive and moving, it's a really cool effect. He designed everything on the inside of the house, from the furniture to the door knobs stair railings.







Last week my roommates and I treated ourselves to lunch at Crepes de Barcelona. I had a strawberry crepe and it was SO BIG! It was very yummy and a very cute restaurant. Later that day, we found a cafe that serves crepes along with a full menu that is right across the street from our apartment. I think that will be dangerous!

The weather has been great this whole week and the forecast for tomorrow is 64 and all sun! I'm very excited and hoping to spend a few hours on the beach.
Next week we don't have any classes. On Thursday until Saturday we are going on a study trip to the Navarre region of Spain and staying in Pamplona, the running of the bulls city. I am looking forward to it! The week-long break will be very nice. Right now I'm planning two more trips, one to Paris and another to two cities in southern Spain, Granada and Sevilla. I'm really looking forward to some crepes in Paris!!
If plans work out I will be visiting all three in March!
I really cannot believe how quickly the program is going, I will be back in the States before you know it!