pahree.
paris.
nights of new friends and wine by the seine river, flea markets, falafels, football obsessed frenchies….
my 3rd time and it was the charm.
me & ze eiffel.
notre dame.
Me and Nabeela who’s in Pahree for a summer program!
The amazingness of Parisian macaroons
At the Louvre!
My amazing Paris partner in crime: Melissa!
Parisian, eh?
plus, the mona lisa was more impressive the 2nd time around.
going back home to BCN….
next thing to conquer? FRENCH!
SPAIN>JAH-MANY>FRANCE.
3 countries in one day, and we are finally in ze citay ov pahh-ree.
spent the night at a french jazz/rap show+ french rosette by the seine river.
melissa and i could have sworn we were in some french youth movie. in the best way possible.
lisbon, portugal
just because my time is ending doesn’t mean it’s time to completely wrap up everything.
have passport. will travel.
sooo, i went to lisbon, portugal with my friend kathryn and loved everything about the city. i would say it’s smaller than barcelona but still very much full of the same city life. though i was very wrong in thinking i could probably get by with my spanish. portuguese was very different for me. i could read it, but hearing it was a completely different story. luckily so many people there speak english (very well) so in the end it was fine & the weather was beautiful! (and just little bit too hot at one point). ch-ch-check out the photos for more deets…
this is tram 28. lisbon’s public transportation system is all yellow. YES, YELLOW. only my favorite color.
the famous belem pastries. small, but very sweet.
Jeronimos Monastery!
amazing lisbon flea market we found. if you go, you must check it out & haggle.
cascais beach!
what can i say? lisbon brings out the colors in meee
also had an amazing hostel, played a bilingual game of kings with new friends from toledo, canada, and cali. a lot of fun and i officially can say lisbon is one of my top spot cities.
xoxo
question:
i know i can only declare 2 bottles of spanish cava going through customs upon my return to the states, but, is there a limit to how many jars of nutella i can cross through the border?
because let’s be honest, i need to stock up for at leassst a couple of months…
time is winding down and away
classes are done and exams are almost all finished. and some of my BCN favorites have left or are progressively leaving as the days go by. to know i’ve been here since january is crazy and confusing all at the same time. but before we all scattered back to the states to re-start our american lives, we had a final Advanced Liberal Arts Program dinner…
hot weather, food, unlimited wine…OF COURSE hilarity ensue….
GO ‘DORES!
SO MUCH LOVE?
masterworksssss
me: hi, my name is nikky
him: hi nice to meet you. where are you from?
me: united states
him: i love black people. especially rihanna
—a candy store encounter in which i believe the catalan guy meant well. i appreciate his fondness and appreciation for black people but i hope he knows that doesn’t necessarily mean i know ri-ri, or beyonce…or denzel washington…or halle berry. i felt bad explaining to him and seeing his little heart break. such is life.
Diada de Sant Jordi
As you can see, I’m catching up on my posts for the blog and the next catch up is La Diada de Sant Jordi that was April 23rd. Click here for the summary! (Thanks Wikipedia)
So if you’re an obedient blog reader then you know it’s all about roses, books, lovey dovey stuff, and more. It was awesome to walk through Las Ramblas with my friend Mere and see just how much of a festival it is in BCN. It’s like it’s very own version of Valentine’s Day.
Tres cute & cultural, si?
Cinque Terre
second part of my spring break back in april included one of the places i’ve been wanting to visit for forever. that is to say, ever since i looked into a national geographic traveler magazine when i was 14. (no lie, this isn’t some made-for-tv movie plot)
it was beautiful as expected and the train ride from rome was easy. and it was my first solo trip abroad. empowering, yo.
butttt, the hike through the 5 towns was a bit of hiking hell. yet, lets just say:
cinque terre. 5 hours. solo hike. got lost (go figure). legs aching (didn’t care)…i was so proud of myself. (then i knocked out and slept the entire night & morning)
enjoy the picturesss…
Made it!
Rainbow houses.
My love of laundry continues
The Boats of Cinque Terre you see in every picture…
Via Del’Amore!
Also got to stop in Pisa before heading back to BCN. Getting a picture holding it up was much harder when your solo, but I tried…
a veces, quisiera ser más vieja porque la juventud lleva en sí, la imperiosa, la implacable necesidad de relacionarlo todo con el amor.
—
elena poniatowska (el recado)
one of my favorite spanish quotes.
ROMA RO-MAMA, Italy
WAY BACK in april, i went for part of my spring break & by far, one of my favorite places i’ve ever travelled to!
beautiful people. beautiful sites. delicious food.
(i’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.)
Art is a lie that makes us realize truth.
—
-Pablo Picasso
(via marthaanne)
Speaking of Picasso, I have a 15 page Spanish essay due on his Blue Period (and I can’t find any inspiration to work on it.). Procrastination FTW.
family love & madrid.
moreee picturessss.
my aunt came and visited me way back in march and i had quite the lovely time showing her barcelona and showing off my spanish.
hah, riiiight. my spaaanish.
and i made her speak to me in igbo* the whole time. mostly because i still feel weird speaking english around town and because i didn’t want us to get robbed. (thank gosh i have yet to get pick-pocketed. KNOCK ON WOOD). it felt good to be done with midterms and then have family visit and let loose and do whatever and HAVE NICE DINNERS OUT THAT I DIDN’T HAVE TO SPLURGE ON. (fine wine in barcelona? check!)
AND also more pics from my spring break time in madrid! went with my aunt and her friend for a brief stint. as the capital, it was perfectly political, historical, and pretty.
(big flag. amazing street performers)
but i think i’ll always have something special barcelona.
i think i’m in love…
…with the channel 4 weatherman.
yes, he speaks in catalan so i can’t necessarily understand what he’s saying to me each night on the television screen, but i think he looks dapper in his snazzy denim and blazers.
and while i honestly could care less about his outfits, i think i’m more interested in hoping he brings me good weather in place of the dreary, rainy days that keep appearing.
and though it’s obvious that he has no power over the temperatures, clouds, and winds, i’m just hoping that my ability to understand a little catalan will translate into sunshine and clear skies.
quizás…quizás…
alicante
IT’S BEEN SO LONG. just trying to catch up with my travel photos. the following are from alicante where i got to visit with my friend elizabeth and her family that lives there. (waaay back in march.)so pretty.
and i’m trying to catch up with posts! my time in barcelona is winding dowwwwn…
nexttt up: MADRID.
Been learning about Dali in class.
let’s just say, he was quite an interesting man.
NIGHTNIGHT by DEDDY
