Barcelona

This final leg of my Spring Break Eurotrip was Barcelona. Up until this point, I had been travelling with a big group, but on Thursday morning Erin and I boarded a flight to Barcelona El Prat. Just the two of us.



We arrived in Spain at around 4, and it was a little bit rainy but definitely warm! We checked in, and started to walk around the city. I was surprised that Barcelona was such a big, bustling city. I guess I had expected it to be a lot more tropical or rural.

Heeding the advice of Barcelona's number one criminal, Amanda Escobar, we ate dinner at Rosa Negra, a good mexican place. The food was amazing and after not eating much the day before in Venice, guacamole never tasted so good. After dinner we checked out the beach and the Port Olimpic area. We ordered a pitcher of sangria and drank it outside near the water. First day in Spain was relaxing and just what I needed.

The next day we woke up and checked into Hostel One Pareleo, where we would be staying for the next two nights. This hostel recieved a 98% approval rating on hostelworld, and I immediately saw why. They gave us free breakfast and treated us like kings when we showed up. This place also cooked dinners at night and encouraged all of the guests to drink and party together. They were definitely very nice, but the entire operation had this cult-like vibe to it. Very tough to explain, I think I finally witnessed what too nice can be like. 

After getting bombarded by compliments and city information, we took the metro to Catalunya to meet my friend Arturo who is studying abroad in Barcelona.  He took us to the Barcelona store to buy soccer tickets, us the food market, and then we all ate lunch together. After lunch, Arturo took us up to Montjuic, which is a huge hill that overlooks the city. We got some amazing views of Barcelona from up there, and I realized just how massive the city really is. On the walk down, we saw the 1992 Olympic stadium and caught a cool water show that happens every night.

Olympic Stadium

Magic Fountain, somehow not as impressive in the pouring rain

Top of Montjuic

After parting ways with Arturo we went back to the hostel and were fed a surprisingly good meal with all of our new hostel friends, namely two absolute country bumpkins from Kentucky. A Villanova friend John Veise invited us to go out to the clubs with him, but those of you know anything about John Veise can understand why we were in no form to hit the town with Veise after a week and a half of straight travel.

We woke up the next day with big plans to see a lot of the classic Barcelona tourist sights, after a much needed Starbucks breakfast. We started at the Cathedral, and moved on to see some of the Gaudi structures. Gaudi is an artist and architect whose presence is felt all over the city. His most famous work is La Sagrada Familia, which is a MASSIVE and elaborate church which is set to finish in 2026.

Gaudi

Gaudi

Sagrada Familia, still very much under construction

We sat in the park surrounding the Sagrada Familia and drank a pint of Estrella Damm, Barcelona's most popular beer. The sun was out and it was awesome to just sit there and marvel at such an intricate and weird building. We then went to a restaurant that the hostel recommended for some delicous real, home made paella.

After our late lunch we returned to the hostel, grabbed some jackets, grabbed a drink at the Dow Jones Bar, and took the metro to Camp Nou to watch FC Barcelona take on Mallorca. The Dow Jones bar is a bar where drink prices rise and fall as people buy them, Thomas would have loved this idea. This was absolutely the highlight of Spain for me. It was a perfect, literally PERFECT, night for a soccer game and Barcelona scored 5 goals. During the halftime we ate sausages on really amazing baguettes for only 3 euro. Everything worked out for us that night, and we even managed to grab a seat on the long metro ride home. Win.

Nosebleeds

 The next morning we checked out of the cult zone hostel and decided to head to the beach, as it was a gorgeous, 65 and sunny day. We stopped at Burger King for a morning soda and went to the beach. We sat on the beach and sat in the sand, soaking in the sun and the palm trees. I took a few pictures, and then OUT OF NOWHERE this seedy Arab man came and kneeled right next to me in the sand. He had a plastic garbage bag and started taking drugs out of it and showing us, asking if we wanted "weed or hashish, weed or hashish"? We said no about 5 times and he wouldn't leave. Then he started inching closer to us and finally I put my hands up and literally shooed the man (the fucker, I'm sorry) away. About 5 seconds after he left I realized that my Droid cell phone was gone, and by the time I turned around to pursue him he was lost in the crowds.

I was LIVID. We had been so careful and aware of pickpockets the entire time in Spain, and everywhere else for that matter. Of course the one time I finally relax and unwind on the beach this sort of thing happens. I was just so flustered and caught off guard y this man that I didn't think to hold onto all of my belongings. We left the beach and went back to the hostel to grab all of our stuff. After I called home I calmed down a lot, and thank God that I had Erin there to distract me and calm my nerves so that I didn't punch myself in the face again (Thomas, Scott).

Better a phone than a passport or a wallet, I always say!!

If there was one thing in the world to make me feel even slightly better after the phone horror of 2013, we absolutely found it. Escobar proved herself again by suggesting Bo De B for lunch. This was literally a window near the beach where they make some of the best sandwiches I've ever had. It's freshly grilled chicken on awesome bread with 4 magical sauces and basically every fresh veggie you can imagine. Suddenly I was feeling better.

Bo De B patatas bravas

What phone?

After a life saving lunch, we took the metro up to Park Guell, which is Gaudi's famous park on top of a hill that overlooks the entire city. This was a very strange, yet fascinating park. I can't say if I got it. Or if there is even anything to get, but I'll let you decide.

Great views of Barcelona, nonetheless

That night we went to a tapas restaurant called Caramba. This was a tripadvisor suggestion and it worked out so well. I ordered a much needed mojito and we shared 4 insane tapas. Sausage, fries with eggs and chorizo, egg omelette, cream cheese with apples and jam. Stop.

We met up with friends from Galway at Caramba and then went out together, the 6 of us. We went to Chupitos which is a fun shot bar, and then Dow Jones Bar again because our friends hadn't been yet. WHAT?! You didn't go to Opium and rage your face off??!!!?!?!? You did it ALL WRONG, dude. Relax, guys.

Can you believe that we had yet another day in Barcelona? Not bad, eh?

Our final day was an absolute "treat yoself day." Since we had done everyting that we wanted in Barcelona, we just frimmed around this beautiful city and went where the wind took us. Some of you may cringe when you hear this day's itinerary, but here goes nothing.....

(PLEASE WATCH. And please watch this show)

Ate the "World's Best Sandwich" according to a New York Times food critic. Basically a ham sandwich, but it was pretty awesome.

Went to a Subway and ate cookies/drank sodas.

Went to a Burger King and drank more sodas.

Ate gelato and on some important building.

Bought churros and dipped them in chocolate.

Walked to the beach.

Walked to a movie theatre in Port Olimpic and watched The Croods, starring Nick Cage. Actually a great movie, go see it. Eh, maybe not.

Went out to dinner and ordered 4 tapas, drank some champagne.

Were still hungry so walked to yet another tapas restaurant called Tapa Tapa and ordered 4 more tapas.

Went to sleep.

TREAT YO SELF.

The next day we woke up early, caught an Aerobus back to the airport, and flew back to Ireland. It was tough to adjust to the rain and cold back in Ireland, although honestly it never felt so good. 

The past 13 days that I have spent an entire Sunday describing were without a doubt the best of my abroad experience, and life?, yes life, to date. I saw so many amazing things and experienced three distinct cultures, all with some of my favorite people. It was certainly very tiring, and there were a few speed bumps along the way, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Spain was the perfect way to end this trip and it was certainly one of my favorite places. 

I hope you enjoyed reading about my Spring Break, and if you made it through all of these posts I thank you so much. I may have gone into too much detail, although I'm sure Mom you're thinking not nearly enough.

If I still had my phone I could have added a lot more pictures, so I'll admit that I borrowed most of these from Erin and Jacqueline Selter's facebook. 

It is great to be back in Galway and I forgot how much I love this town and Ireland as a whole. The next few weeks will be insanely busy studying for finals, but I am definitely eager for the challenge.

So that's it, you'll hear from me after Springfest on the 26th, which will be my final trip. 

So long gay boys!

Venice

One Wednesday morning we went to the station in Florence and booked trains to Venice. The ride was only an hour or so. I was surprised to watch out the train window and realize that Venice is literally an isolated island. The weather was a bit cloudy but still very warm.

We checked into our hostel and the woman gave us a set of three keys and an address to our room for the night. We had to walk across the entire city to get to our room. Really?



Mind you, Venice is hardly bigger than the size of South Brunswick High School's campus, but still it's the principle. We found our room and dropped off our luggage, ready to make the most of our one day in this city.

Our first stop was the Piazza San Marco. This was probably the most European thing I have ever seen. It was a huge open square that surrounds a beautiful Basilica. There were tons of outdoor restaurants with butlers serving at the tables, as well as jazz bands playing in the square.

Megan and Erin ordered a few slices of pizza which I sampled. It later came to my attention that instead of chicken, the pizza was topped with tuna fish. This news, along with my already queezy stomach from what I can only assume was food poisoning from Florence, made me quite nauseous.  You'll see why I shared this information in just a little bit.

Venice was extremely small, and aside form seeing San Marco there really wasn't much else to see besides admire all of the canals and bridges. My favorite bridge was the Rialto Bridge. We went back to our hostel for a few hours to relax and unwind, a week of straight travelling had started to catch up.

After napping and Jeff throwing up in the hostel, we all met up for dinner. Dinner. OK. So where should we eat while in ITALY? The Hard Rock Cafe, that's right!! What all of you may be thinking:



C'mon, there's only so much pasta a person can handle and you're not NOT going to eat at a Hard Rock when given the chance. Anyway, on the way to the restaurant I suddenly got so nauseous and I had nowhere to turn, so naturally I leaned over a railing and blew chunks into a canal in Venice. Star. I now have a fun fact to share on the first day of class.

Moving on. We asked for a table for the 8 of us, but then realized that the gondola's stop running at 10pm. Erin and I bailed on the Hard Rock, we would be back, and found a nice guy to take us out. The weather was a little bit chilly on the water, but still way warmer than Ireland. Also, there was literally one other boat out the entire time. It was so silent and peaceful and such a clear night. Not to mention that the swaying of the boat calmed my stomach down a lot. I'm so glad we did that. Definitely the highlight of the entire Venice trip for me.



After the gondola finished up, we went back and met everyone at the HRC. I was finally able to eat something after throwing up in the Hard Rock bathroom. Well actually on the door of the bathroom. Another  fun fact. This kid is such a joke.

Venice was definitely not my favorite city, I will be honest. If I felt better I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more. The weather was still gorgeous that day and when I look back through pictures and think of the day, I've come to realize that it was definitely one of the coolest places that I have ever seen. It was amazing architecture and mind blowing to think of how they built an entire city on the water like that. I really wish I was feeling better because I'm sure I would have enjoyed the city much more. Just look at this place!! Look at it. LOOK AT IT. Just look at it sir....

Would you look at that? Not real life. Also, If you look close enough you can see something lurking in the waters.

Florence

My Spring Break journey continues in Florence, Italy.

We left Sean's apartment in Rome at around 11:00 on Monday morning. We made it to the train station and bought tickets to Florence. I bought a sandwich for lunch in the station and before I knew it I was in Florence. The view of Tuscany from the train was gorgeous and the train moved so fast, it felt like as soon as I sat down we were arriving in Florence.



Our first order of business was to check into our hostel, PLUS Florence. This was without a doubt the nicest hostel (possibly hotel) that I have ever stayed in. That's a joke, but my standards have been set very low from all of these hostels. This place had 2 pools, a bar, free wifi, and huge rooms. After scoping out the hostel, we decided to check out the city.

On our way towards the Duomo, we walked through the famous Florence leather market. This whole street is full of vendors selling all sorts of belts, purses, wallets; all in leather. Once we made it through the market we came upon the most famous area of the city, the Piazza del Duomo. This entire part of the city was gorgeous, and the Duomo definitely rivals St. Peter's in Rome. The building is beautiful, both inside and out.

Leather market

Inside the Duomo

After the Duomo, Erin and I went on the prowl to find dinner. She had heard of an awesome pizza place on Tripadvisor, but they didn't open until 7pm. We killed some time by listening to a street performer, and were sitting down for pizza by 7:05. We ordered two pizzas to share, and they were even better than my Roman ones. One was ham and gorgonzola, and the other had pears, walnuts, and honey. Both were amazing. After dinner we walked back to the hostel in a torrential downpour, and then all just hung out in the hostel and swam in the indoor pool at night. A highlight of this night was seeing an Indian man swim in the pool in uncomfortably tight underwear, leave the pool, dry off, put on a bathing suit, and leave. Legend.

The next morning we woke up and went directly to the famous food market in Florence which is near the leather market. I ordered a slice of pizza for breakfast and shared a canoli. After breakfast we went and got some sodas at Burger King. After BK, yes that happened, we went along to water to Ponte Vecchio, which is the famous shopping district in Florence. All of these high end stores are built on a bridge and we got some of the best views from here.

Ponte Vecchio

Ponte Vecchio

It was getting around lunch time, thank God. My friend Meg Reilly had studied abroad in Florence during the fall semester and she recommended a few places to eat. The remainder of day 2 in Florence was essentially the Meg Reilly Florence Food Tour. Leggo.



The first place we went to was a sandwich shop called Pino's. I went half and half with Erin on two sandwiches. One had turkey, pesto, spinach, peppers, and cheese. The other had pork, hot sauce, potatoes, and cheese, both on fresh focaccia bread. I am not exaggerating a bit when I say that these sandwiches were the best thing that I have eaten while abroad. We ate them in the middle of a square in the sunshine and I have never been more content.

Scene of the Pino's sandwich massacre

Continuing our tour, we went to grab gelato at Meg's favorite gelato place. This was the best gelato that I had on my trip, hands down. How many times can this clown say gelato in one sentence? Gelato. Meg: Thank you so much for the tips! Your culinary pallet is mature beyond your years!

That night we walked up to Michaelangelo Park for some of the best views of Florence and the surrounding area. The view was amazing, and got even better at night. 

We met up with Matt and Jacqueline's friends at the park and then all headed to dinner together. We waited for a long time for a table and ended up having a great meal. The food wasn't up to the caliber that Sean showed us in Rome, but it was still better than most of the Italian I've tried at home. As the waiter was clearing the plates off the table, he identically hit Erin in the head. This was unfortunate of course, but she wasn't injured and we got three free desserts out of the scuffle. Win.

After dinner we went to Matt's friends apartment for a while but it was too late to go out so we just went back to our beautiful hostel and got a good nights sleep before Venice the next day.

I kept thinking of this song when I was in Florence. If I had to pick a study abroad theme song, this would absolutely be it.

Rome

Our train arrived at Roma Termini station at around 11:30 on Saturday morning. I stepped off the train and for the first time abroad I actually felt warm, a welcomed sensation. We had a tour planned for 1pm, so we were on a very tight schedule.

We took the Metro to Sean Hudgins' apartment on the outskirts of the city. Sean and I went to HS together, and now we're both at Villanova. His roommates were all travelling for the weekend, so he had an empty apartment that he was nice enough to share with Me, Erin, Megan, and Matt. This was certainly not the end of Sean's courtesies. We quickly dropped our bags off at his place and then caught a metro and sprinted through Rome to the Vatican for our "Skip The Line Vatican Walking Tour," just making it on time.



The tour was about 30 euro and it allowed you to skip all of the lines at the Varican Museum, St. Peter's Basilica, and the Sistene Chapel. Because it was Easter weekend and expected to be packed (it was) we thought that this tour would be a good idea (it was). We had a hilarious Italian tour guide who explained everything to us and really knew his stuff. It was awesome to hear about the history of the Vatican and the role that the Pope has played over the years. The highlight of this tour was definitely seeing the Sistene Chapel, which is famous for Michaelangelo's ceiling. Without a guide the painting definitely would not have made so much sense nor would I have appreciated it as much. It was also incredible to stand in the room where no more than a month ago the conclave met to select the new Pope. Unlike the Mona Lisa, this blew me away.

Sistene Chepel, not much from the outside

Can't take pictures of Michaelangelo's ceiling, but this gives you an idea

After the tour was over, we walked around to St. Peter's Square to see the Basilica.This had been the one place that I wanted to see while abroad, and it certainly lived up to my years of expectations. The square is massive, as is the Basilica itself, which is easily the most striking and beautiful building I have ever seen abroad or in my life. Pictures or video cannot even capture how immense it is. Because of the Easter holiday nobody was allowed inside, but seeing it from the outside was good enough.

We grabbed a drink and then waited for Sean to meet us in the Square so that he could take us to dinner. It was awesome to have Sean take us out to an authentic Italian restaurant because left to our own devices we most likely would have fallen for a total tourist trap. The restaurant was called Da Gildo and it was an amazing meal. I got carbonara pasta for my first plate and then veal with lemon for my meat dish. Real Italian. After seeing the Vatican and eating an Italian feast, I was pretty content with calling it a day, a life actually. Sean decided he's give us a little Rome night walking tour, and I was in for one of the coolest nights of my whole life.



The first stop on our tour was what looked like a barren vacant lot, but it was actually ancient ruins. Literally in the middle of a bustling part of Rome they had excavated the remains of an old city. Sean pointed us to a staircase which is believed to be the location that Julius Ceasar was assassinated. So cool.

From here we moved on to see the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, and then the Roman Forum and the Colossuum. All along this tour Sean told us stories and gave us background on each of the sights. I seriously would have paid hundred of dollars for a tour like this and I never expected to see all of those sights in one night.

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Colosseum

Roman Forum, at night

After walking about 17 miles across ancient Rome and eating some genuine Italian gelato, we arrived at Sean's apartment. It was a long and exhausting day and I went to sleep knowing that tomorrow, if everything worked out according to plan, I would see Easter Mass at the Vatican. CAN'T WAIT.



So Italy does daylight savings time the night before Easter Sunday. This generally confused all of our alarms and long story short, we woke up an hour later than we had budgeted for. We left Sean's place at around 9:00, mass starts at 10:30. We arrived to St. Peter's square and we managed to grab a spot along a railing just outside of the square. We didn't pick up our tickets the day before because we had to rush onto our tour, so I figured we would be stuck on the outside looking in. At around 10:00 they opened a gate that was right near where we were standing and against all odds we managed to get inside the square for mass. This picture says it all:



To give you an idea of where I was standing. The green circle is the altar. The red x is where we were standing before they opened the gate. And the blue x is approximately where we were standing, right in the thick of all the action!

The mass itself was primarily in Italian but I could still generally follow along with what was happening. At the end of the mass Pope Francis got on a cart and rode around the crowds and because I was tall enough (thanks Hubba) I was able to catch a glimpse.

After Mass, the four of us went to Sean's favorite pizza place called Dar Poeta. We ordered four different pizzas and shared them amongst ourselves. This was some of the best pizza I have ever eaten without a doubt. After lunch we went towards the Colosseum. For 12 euro, we got access to the Palatine, the Roman Forum, and the Colosseum. The Palatine was an ancient city and garden, and the Forum was essentially a plaza where all of the ancient government buildings were housed. It also served as a marketplace and the center of Roman public life. The history here was unbelievable and I was so surprised that any of these buildings were still standing after thousands of years. THOUSANDS of years. I thought it was so cool to walk around the same grounds where the likes of Augustus, Mark Antony, and Constantine lived and ruled.

After Megan belched so loudly in a temple that the foundatin was rocked, we headed over to the Colosseum. Here we met up with the rest of the Villanova crew. Erin, Matt, Megan, and I sprung for a guided audio tour of the Colosseum which ended up being a great idea, again to give the site some more context and to understand what I was looking at better. Also, since the floor had been removed, you could see all of the different rooms and corridors below where they would hold the wild beasts or gladiators. Again like most things, a picture doesn't seem to do justice.

We left the Colosseum and met Sean again for another delicious Italian dinner. On the way to meet Sean we got an incredible sunset view of the Vatican and stopped at the Spanish Steps, another iconic Roman monument. 

Spanish Steps

 For dinner I got some magic pasta that was essentially mac and cheese, and me and Sean shared some lamb. Another amazing meal. After dinner we went to the Trevi fountain and drank champagne (sparkling wine again) in one of the most beautiful parts of the city. We kept saying how unreal our lives are, so lucky. While we were there we met up with Erin's friend from high school and saw a guy propose to his girlfriend. A pretty awesome hour. After the Trevi we went to a couple of bars, ending up at an Irish karaoke bar called Scholar's with all of our Villanova friends.

This was without a doubt the best Easter of my life, and the highlight trip of abroad for me. We had great weather, an incredible host, and Rome itself is such an awesome city. I can't thank Sean enough for everything, dude you really made this such an incredible couple of days. I definitely missed my family on Easter and would have loved watching some Patriot league baseball but this was a weekend I will certainly never forget!

One of my favorite songs ever.