A Weekend in Costa Brava

Hola a todos! Sorry for the absence this weekend, but as I mentioned on Thursday, I was on the IES Study Journey to the towns of Costa Brava and Girona. I also mentioned that I was a little bummed that Sarah and I would be in different groups, and while that was definitely a bummer, it was still a pretty fun weekend! I found a fellow UT student, Chase, to pal around with and we had a good time exploring the coast of southern Spain, eating some interesting (but still delicious) food, and climbing to the top of a pretty cool castle in France. It was definitely worth two euros for the views that we got from this castle!

Anyway, Friday started early as we begrudgingly got out of bed when our 6:00am alarms went off so that we would be ready to meet the rest of our dorm mates at 6:40am in the lobby. We were to meet at the Hard Rock Cafe in Placa Catalunya by 7:30am for an 8:00am departure. We only ended up getting about six hours of sleep that night so I fell asleep for the majority of the hour-and-a-half bus ride to our first destination: the Salvador Dali museum. This museum was, interesting, to say the least. As was to be expected, there were plenty of naked women, which really isn't my thing, but there were also just some very bizarre pieces of art. Art has never really been my forte, but Chase and I found ourselves questioning who decides which piece of art "makes the cut" for museums. I feel like I could splatter some paint around and call it art, but hey, what do I know! Anyway, the coolest thing about that museum was a picture that looked completely different when you looked at it through a camera from when you just looked at it. That is my kind of art!

After the Dali museum, and a little bit of exploring the town of Figueres, we headed back to the bus for a short drive to Port Iligat, a beautiful little town on the coast of Spain. I was so excited to see the water - it HAD to mean I would get some good tanning time, right? Wrong. As we got closer to the water, we saw that it was not sand that we saw, but rocks. Rocks and the water. I mean, really! It ended up being okay because by the time we got some lunch and explored the town, there was not a lot of time left for tanning anyway.

One thing about meals in Spain, they are a very social thing, so they often last at least an hour, but most of the time much longer than that. You have to ask the waiter for the bill, and even then it comes at a very leisurely pace. It is so different from the hustle and bustle of the States!

After lunch we wandered around the town in search of some coconut gelato for Chase (we found it!) and to enjoy the beautiful mediterranean. The water was so clear that I could not resist taking some cheesy pictures in it and of it!

Salvador Dali himself 

Nutella is everywhere!

Around 4:30 we got back on the buses (all of this time time led me to start and finish another book on my Kindle over the course of these three days!) and headed over to our hotel. Y'all. Our hotel was amazing. Air conditioning, huge beds, fluffy pillows, and power showers. We were living in luxury. And I haven't even mentioned the food, which was also incredible. I am pretty sure I ate my bodyweight in food, and do I regret it? No. It was so delicious! We walk everywhere anyway, so it is hard to feel too bad about eating a lot! We had about two hours of free time (most of us took naps in our rooms or just sat around relaxing) before meeting in the lobby to head down to dinner. I think 30 hungry college students overwhelmed the poor workers but they did a great job quenching our hunger with salad, chicken, fish, vegetables, and pasta. All of it tasted so good and I went to bed with a happy stomach. My two roommates (who happen to live in the dorms with me!) went out to a pub that night but seeing as I am not the biggest party animal, I stayed in and enjoyed an early night. That of course meant I woke up extremely early so I decided to explore the area in which we were staying and I discovered a  little park to walk around as I enjoyed the cool morning weather. After a shower, I was ready for some breakfast, and apparently breakfast was ready for me. I could not wipe the grin off of my face when I saw the breakfast spread in front of me -- they had everything from eggs to sausage to fruit to yogurt to pastries, and more! I loaded up on the fruit, ham, and probably what I consider to be my favorite breakfast in Spain: the egg and potato tortilla. It is so simple, yet so, so good. I cannot wait to recreate it when I get back to the States! Meanwhile, I will enjoy the authentic Spanish breakfast for as long as I can!

After breakfast, we got on the bus yet again and made our way over to La Jonquera to take a self-guided tour through the Exile Museum. Now, I am really not a museum person, but this one was actually pretty interesting. It talked a lot about World War II and the Holocaust which actually manages to hold my attention, but I did only last about an hour before getting restless and going on a hunt for a water bottle or something to hold me over until we made it to the small town of Collioure in France. We knew that there was going to be a beach, but the big question was whether it would be a beach or a "beach." The verdict? A "beach." Though some people did go into the water this time, Chase and I elected to explore the castle after an interesting "American" lunch. We wanted to eat at this delicious-looking restaurant, but neither of us had any idea what was on the menu so we decided to forgo that restaurant in favor of somewhere that had a menu that we could somewhat understand. We found an "American" restaurant that had burgers, fries, and hotdogs, among other things. I was hesitant to order a burger from France, so I went with something called "Steak Hache," which ended up being simple enough: meat and bread. It tasted pretty good, but it did not compare to the real thing. I have to give them credit for trying though!

After lunch we were ready to explore the castle, as it was essentially the only thing to really do in this little town. It may have been the only thing to do, but it sure was fun! We gladly paid two euros for an adventure that took us down dark passageways and eventually up to the top of the castle, which gave us some pretty great views of the city of Collioure. I really wanted to go explore this other castle on top of a hill, but there was probably not enough time for that, and we just enjoyed relaxing at the top of the castle, me reading my Kindle, Chase attempting to understand the French written on our guide. After heading back down and finding some more coconut gelato, we were about ready to head back to the hotel. Luckily, we only had about half an hour left in this city, so we waited by the buses, glad for the excuse to sit down!

Back at the hotel, we again had about two hours of free time, so I used that time to upload pictures to Facebook and (unfortunately) do a little bit of homework. Such a downer! I managed to finish most of it just in time for dinner, which while still good, was just not quite as good as the night before. I had a random assortment of things -- some delicious meat sauce, salad toppings, bread, and vegetables. I ended up feeling pretty full from it though, so I guess it had a little something to it! Chase and I still went out to find something else to eat and happened across another "American" restaurant. He ordered a hotdog and fries which he claimed were good, but just not the real thing. I think everyone is starting to miss American food!

The rest of the night consisted of Facebook, email, uploading pictures, and reading before going to bed a little bit before midnight. Our wake-up call wasn't until 8:30am on Sunday morning so I knew that I would be getting plenty of sleep. I awoke to the same feast as I did the previous morning and I once again took major advantage of it, eating way more than I probably needed to eat, but we were about to embark on a two-hour walking tour of Girona, so I used that to justify taking the second potato and egg tortilla!

The walking tour was pretty interesting, well, it wasn't actually that interesting to me but we did get to walk across something that resembled the Great Wall of China that provided us with a great view of the city, and we also got to venture into the largest single room Cathedral in the world during an actual service. Though I could not understand one word, it was still really cool to see! After our tour, we were supposed to all meet up to leave for the beach, but the forecast called for a 90% chance of rain so we ix-nayed la playa! That seemed to be okay with everyone - we were all pretty worn out and had work to do back in Barcelona. The bus ride was quick and we were back in our dorms by 4:15pm - with plenty of time to do laundry, homework, and map out our trip to London! More to come on that soon! Sorry for this novel of a blog post, I had quite a bit of catching up to do!