Espana: Sitges

After spending 2 full days in Barcelona we decided to head south to escape the city and stay in an adorable and cheap beach town, Sitges. Here I experienced the softest sand I've ever felt, had the best and cheapest avocados, wandered by myself, tanned, and stayed at the smallest, cheapest, cutest hostel ever. We enjoyed our two nights in Sitges, it's only half an hour south of Barcelona, and super easy to get to. Great decision to leave the hustle and bustle of crowded Barcelona, and opt for a more relaxing beachy resort town. Again the pictures will do the talking.

Sandcastles in the sand
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg2egrCoFbE&feature=related)

Beach beach beach!!!

My toes-ies in the Mediterranean!!! 

I. Love. The. Sun.

Night walks to find kitties and work off ice cream

Sitges train station

I love when small towns are surprisingly perfect.

Espana: Barcelona

After finals from the first half of classes Allison and I spent 8 days in Spain! It was mostly amazing, and very relaxing. I even finished reading a whole book for the first time in ages! I loved it and it made me decide to learn Spanish. I could painfully describe every detail, but pictures are worth a thousand words right? I'm going to let them do the talking because Allison and I took hundreds.

Famous Arch/ Bridge in Barcelona

Lots of people did this for money, but these guys were the best at it

La Sagrada Familia! Famous unfinished church. Its really impressive. Very detailed.

Gaudi park. Very cool sculptures and benches and such

Gaudi is impressive.

Lovin' the sun! It was so warm in Barcelona, felt and looked like home with the sun and the palm trees.

Awesome band playing in Parc Guell with a great view of the city and ocean in the background

First paella experience. (A little salty... and by a little, I mean extreeeemely)

Our first Sangria!

Cool new pinky ring I got at this little flea market, where we also found super cool old stamps from lots of countries.

The Cathedral

It was Palm Sunday, and there was a live band and people doing a traditional Catalan dance outside the Cathedral, I tried to copy them but I looked like a fool falling over myself

Laying out at the beach! So so so lovely

The poor man's Tapas. Watching the sunset and eating bread and cheese, the perfect way to end the day

Jenny Castro Week

I had the greatest 21st Birthday I could ask for. Full of friends, food, and things I wanted to do, just like it should be :]

I started my birthday off by munching on chips, guac and salsa. A sorely missed favorite. Allison and I made it and friends came over to watch Anchorman and wait for midnight to strike.

YUM

Allison got me a bottle of Champagne (such a sweetheart) and at midnight we popped the bottle and toasted my 21st in style. Unfortunately I had early class the next day so typical 21st birthday partying was delayed.

Allison also decorated our room. Adorable.

I had class from 11-1 and 4-6 so during the break Tiffany, Erica, Kathleen and I went to our favorite lunch spot: Violent Kebab from the train station. (The reason why we call it Violent Kebab is a long story...) It is so delicious. Best falafel I've ever had. It was such a beautiful day we ate it along the river.

Continuing with the eating theme (I obviously need to eat all my favorite foods on my birthday...) Catherine had Nancy and me over for some sushi and mini birthday cakes! Nancy's birthday was 2 days after mine so we shared the glory and made it our birthday week instead of days.

Birthday princesses and delicious cake

Catherine was making sushi for a meeting she was having and she let us eat the rejects! She is a perfectionist when it comes to her sushi so there were plenty of rejects to our delight. It was so delicious and I had been craving sushi for ages.

Nancy and I eventually headed back to our room where we were surprised by all of our friends waiting for us to have fondue! Allison threw it all together and managed to keep it mostly a secret. What a great roommate. It was so cute. More delicious food! Success.

Then the real celebration began. We hopped around to all the bars that give you free drinks for your birthday.

Free Champagne!

 My birthday was a lot of fun and I was surrounded by great people. I love it here. I couldn't have hoped for anything better.

The Pest I Ever Had (Budapest Part 2)

On our second full day in Budapest we lazily woke up (read: the boys lazily woke up) and we were off to explore by around 1. Our only plan of the day was to relax in ultimate style at the Széchenyi Thermal Baths. Hungarians know how to relax in style. It was a lovely day. I haven't felt that relaxed in ages.

But first, Daniel wanted to see the huge synagogue, but me, not being Jewish or anything didn't want to pay the large sum to see it, so half of us got hummus for lunch instead. Yum! We eventually made it to the main city park where we ran into this awesome monument, called Hősök tere, or Heroes Square.

Heroes Square

And finally we were at the Baths, just in time for my massage appointment!

Beautiful building inside,

and out

It was honestly amazing. We quickly changed and I took a speedy dip before finding my massage place. Such a good massage. Definitely needed it after travelling for 2 months and sleeping in cheap hostel beds. After we just soaked in warm mineral water for hours. I never wanted to leave. Hungarians love their bath culture and there were people there from 3 to 93. It was like nothing I've experienced before, I wish it was more popular around the world. I could get used to it.

We eventually left due to hunger and dehydration pains, found some dinner and made our way back to the hostel to meet up with the other group.

All of us! (minus poor sick, sleeping Allison)

That night we tried to go out to this club we had heard about, but just our luck it was closed, despite checking online three times if it was open. It was a nice night walk regardless.

Again, our hostel was so cool. I would definitely recommend it, and definitely stay there again!

View from the top. I got vertigo every time I looked down

Our last morning we didn't have much time before having to leave for the airport, so we checked out the huge indoor market where they sell lots of fresh fruits veggies, meet, fish and bread on the bottom floor and souvenirs galore above. It was a nice last stop to try and use all of our Forints. Then we headed to the airport and made the long trek back to Maastricht. It really takes a ridiculous amount of time to get from the Airport in Belgium back home. None of the trains are timed right and we end up sitting around waiting half the time. But what can you do?

Market

I believe this captures our true essence

I really enjoyed Budapest. I was surprised and delighted. I would suggest checking it out!

Buda Buda Pest (Part 1)

(title meant to be read to the tune of the song You the Best by Drake... you da you da best.)

Well Budapest was forever ago, but oh what a journey it was!

On friday afternoon we biked super fast to the train station and almost missed our train. We were on a tight schedule. If we missed anything we were screwed and wouldn't make it to the airport in time! Talk about stressful to the max. Luckily we made everything and were at the terminal just as they started boarding. We left Friday with the first batch of people: Allison, Catherine and me (all from my Berkeley), and three new boys! Daniel (from Toronto, Canada), Adam (from Scotland), and Dave (from Australia)! Yay new people. I had orientation with Daniel, and had met Adam a few time, but I had never met Dave before. They all live on Catherine's floor and they decided to join us on this adventure. And an adventure we had. It was pretty easy to get from the airport to the hostel, and by the time we got there it was around 8 and we were all starving. Luckily (for the meat eaters) they had beef stew ready for everyone! How nice of them. But I was all, "great, what am I supposed to do?" But some really nice guy (who I later met for real, Jack) offered me his last vegetarian Spring Roll. It was delicious and exactly what I needed. Such a great first impression of the hostel! It was such a cool place. Very young person friendly. The people that were staying there were all very cool, and the staff were young and so nice. Made the trip extra great. After we were done eating, everyone in the hostel was going out to this old converted ruin bar, Szimpla. It was so cool, and we had so much fun.

Palinka! This is not what our faces looked like after...

I had no idea what to expect from Budapest, which I think was the best way to go into a trip. I knew nothing about Hungary, knew nothing about their crazy currency (and I still don't) and I knew nothing about their culture and traditions, but now I can say I got a glimpse, and learned a lot. We started the night with shots of a special Hungarian Brandy known as Palinka. It was... weird. Everything was so cheap though. Yay Eastern Europe. It was hard knowing how much money you were spending though since they don't have the Euro and all of their money has so many zeros in it. 900 Forints was about $3, but when something says 900, my immediate reaction is woah there buddy, thats so much! It was trippy.

We also tried mulled wine, which is like apple cider, but made with wine. Delicious!

Also tried Absinthe! It was on fire. Legit.

You only live once right? So we had to try everything. It was a lot of fun. We were with a big group of people and got to know people from Germany, England, and France. It was a great night.

Daniel and Dave after Absinthe.... haha.

The next morning I was up and ready to go, but the boys? Not so much. They were all so hungover. I laughed and opened the blinds and got their lazy butts out of bed to go exploring!

Our hostel, so cute

 They eventually made it outside, and we were on a mission to get lunch before we took a free walking tour. We found this cute little stand selling Hungarian Langos, which is like Hungarian pizza. It was so delicious. Like nothing I've ever tasted before. Yum.

Oven bake Langos.

The free walking tour was great. We saw so many things and the guides were a lot of fun. I also learned so much about Hungary, knowing nothing before I had a lot to learn. Their history is... tumultuous to say the least. It's pretty interesting to hear about because of all the transitions in rulers, but it's also very sad because of all the fatalities. They kept it pretty light hearted for most of the tour though.

Its good luck if you rub his belly, supposed to have a great meal... it didn't work.

Chain Bridge

View from Castle Hill

Budapest has a huge random hill on the other side of the river. Budapest is divided into the Buda side and the Pest side. Buda has the hill, Pest has the nightlife. We stayed on the Pest side, but the Buda side has beautiful hills and museums.

The whole Friday group, plus Edwin who joined us that morning. It was a little sunny...

Our tour guide and an... interesting statue

After the tour was over we walked and walked and walked trying to find this underground Hospital cave that sounded really cool but was one of the weirdest things I've ever done as a tourist. They didn't allow pictures and it's hard to explain. But it was a hospital that was built underground and is fully furbished, and now filled with creepy human like wax dolls to make it "feel alive". Creepy creepy creepy.

But when we left it was night and the area was all lit up and it was absolutely beautiful.

Fairytale land?

Then we went and got some authentic Hungarian dinner, and it was gross. Weird flavors, weird textures, weird.

But our desert was amazing!

Later that night we went back to Szimpla, but no pictures to prove it this time. Couldn't wait for more adventures the next day, but that's all for now!