Whirling Dervish

In the past three weeks, I’ve been to six European cities and the Madrid group is leaving Friday morning for Grenada, Spain. I’ve starting drinking coffee like a real person, not just Starbucks Java Chip Frappucinos. I’d imagine that my sleep schedule is akin to someone with a newborn, and I have the circles under my eyes to prove it. I’m exhausted – and I’m having the time of my life.

Let’s start with Amsterdam.

It was one of my favorite cities to visit thus far. The weekend we chose was sunny and crisp; the reflection of the quaint houses in the canals was breathtaking. Taking in the views of the city from a Ferris wheel and then a bicycle helped me appreciate the antiquated charm of the layout and architecture of the city, but walking by Woody Harrelson and friends smoking pot outside a coffee shop lent itself to the progressive culture that they enjoy. The highlights of the trip were giving big hugs to McCallen, Hannah, Kara and Betsy when they arrived, then spending quality time with them and some other Vanderbilt boys while exploring the Van Gogh Museum, the Anne Frank House and the Heineken Factory.

 

Feeling quite Dutch at this point

WeAreSterdam?

With Hannah, outside the Anne Frank Museum

Can you see why it was one of my favorites? 

It was back to Spain for a few days of class, then I was off again with my coat and boots to Copenhagen, Denmark! Betsy and Carlyn study there at the Danish Institute for Study Abroad, and they were great tour guides! Copenhagen is just as beautiful as Amsterdam, filled to the brim with bikes and blondes. I particularly loved the Stroget, the world’s longest pedestrian street with tons of stores and people. On Friday night, we went to an apartment packed with Vandy kids then a bar that was packed with Vandy kids. It was incredibly refreshing to see so many familiar faces! We spent Saturday shopping for supplies for Sensation White, a huge concert/dance party that tours around Europe. The eye makeup was definitely the highlight of the night.

Captivating Copenhagen

Ready for Sensation White!

Photo cred and makeup cred: McCallen

Sensational

With my four best girlfriends in tow, I was happy as a clam when we boarded the plane to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon after a delicious meal at a market in Copenhagen! We arrived in Barca just in time for paella and drinks at George Payne, an Irish bar. Monday morning found us having brunch, strolling along the docks, walking through the winding streets and taking a “break” for sangria. We signed up for classes that afternoon (which I did on my iPhone – success) and headed back out to the Mercat Boqueria where we assembled a mouthwatering picnic that we took to the Park Güell, the famous park designed by Gaudi. Despite the fact that we were in one of the most beautiful, original parks in the word, with a panoramic view of Barcelona, eating dates, figs and chocolate truffles, the part that brought me the most joy was laughing with my friends. Even though I haven’t seen them here as much I as I do at Vanderbilt (which is every day), I still feel that the time we have spent together in Europe has made us that much closer. Sharing the experience of travel with someone encapsulates more than just the picture that you took somewhere – it saves who you were in that moment, what your friendship was like and everything that you had to be thankful for and look forward to. Traveling, for me, has been about sharing moments of uncertainty with people that make your relationship more certain. When you say, “I don’t know how to speak Dutch” or “Are we being ripped off by this cab driver?” and someone else says, “I don’t really know either”, your bond is instantly strengthened. But I digress… back to Barca!

Monday night in Barcelona was filled with more friendship, as five of our guy friends at Vanderbilt are living in an apartment in Barcelona. After dinner at delicious Balthazar, we went to a hole-in-the-wall bar called Chupitos with outrageous shots. I’ve never seen so much alcohol on fire before. My favorite was the one where we “roasted” marshmallows! We did it up style at a Barcelona club called Opera later that night.

Boats in Barca!

Park Guell

Tri Delt - Beta swap?

On Tuesday, I flew back to Madrid, did my homework and slept for as long as I could. The next morning I went to class and the girls flew in from Barcelona right as I finished! We had a late Spanish lunch then went back to our hostel for a nap. I decided to have a little stay-cation in my own city so I checked into the hostel with them for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Wednesday night we were joined by Kara, Annie and Taylor who are studying in Florence. We took on rainy Madrid by going to Lateral, Cave Bar, Gabana AND (for McCallen, Betsy, Carlyn and I), Pacha. I went to class the next morning (decidedly exhausted) while the girls slept in. We met up at El Mercado San Miguel for lunch then I was delighted to take them back to my house to meet my family. Cuca, Ana, Maria and Alberto were all there to confuse McCallen with rapid-fire Spanish (Just kidding. But seriously, she was really confused.) That night, we took on the rain yet again with a showing at Udon, El Tigre, Fontina de Oro, Dubliners and Kapital. Saturday started with (surprise) another trip to Mercado San Miguel then we sauntered to the Prado. Shopping and chocolate con churros took up the afternoon, then Carlyn met up with some friends while McCallen, Betsy and I went to see Contagion. It was the first movie I’ve seen in English since this summer and McCallen used the perfect word to describe our emotion for our relatively average activity: giddy.

Friendship in Plaza Mayor!

Out and about

Museo de Prado

I was sad to see my friends go on Saturday morning, but I spent the rest of the weekend doing homework, lounging around and catching up on sleep. We had three midterms this past week. In Nashville, that would mean days of wringing my hands and going from library to library in search of the perfect study spot, but here, I reviewed my notes at a café down the street and instantly felt prepared. Here’s hoping that my grades reflect that! Besides the midterms, we had a few cultural experiences this week – going out with a big group of international students on Tuesday night and seeing El Perro de Hortelano, a play by Lope de Vega.

On Friday morning at 6 am, the tornado that is my life picked up again and headed for Brussels, Belgium. Sara, Mary Jordan and I spent Friday wandering around the gorgeous city, sampling waffles, chocolate, mussels, fries and fruit beers along the way. On Saturday, we took an hour-long train ride to Bruges, “the Venice of the North.” It’s absolutely charming, complete with canals, cathedrals, churches, a monastery, a bell tower and all the chocolate you could ever want. The highlights of the day were the views from our canal tour and dinner at a cozy little restaurant near the canal. We went back to Brussels, bought chocolates at Leonidas and wine at the grocery store, then had a girls’ night in the hotel while watching Pretty Woman in French. I'm getting school credit for this? 

First of several Belgian waffles

Not sure what these gardens were,
but there was something picturesque around every corner! 

Grand Place at night

Mussels in Brussels! (Complete with fries)

Gorgeous Bruges

The city center

More gorgeous buildings... not sure how else to caption these

On our canal tour. Yes, that's a hot air balloon

Incredible

Perfect ending to the weekend! 

Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels and Bruges, all in less than a month. Yes, I’m worn out; yes, I am burning the candle at both ends; no, I am probably not getting enough sleep. But I am living with such a carpe diem attitude that I don’t even really notice the down side. Taking every opportunity to see how someone else lives is what brings out the whirling dervish and the jet lag and the calendar crunch, but sharing those resulting moments in incredible cities with people that I care about is the deep breath and the prayer of gratitude. Sigh. Real life may be just around the corner, but knowing that I went all out while I had the chance will make it a bit more bearable.

Lucky 21

The gelato store should just leave it on this date.

Some say that sixteen is super sweet, but I’m going to put all the chips in for 21. Gambling may not be my thing, but I’m willing to bet that I had the best birthday weekend of my life, possibly in the history of the world. I hit the pack-your-bags-kids-we’re-moving-to-a-private-island jackpot. And that island was Capri.

To recap my 21^st birthday weekend, with much emphasis on trains, planes and automobiles (and boats): I flew into Naples on September 29 where I met McCallen, Annie and Kara, three friends from Vanderbilt who are studying in Florence. We took a rickety train from Naples to Sorrento, where our gorgeous, two story, glass floored hotel room had been waiting our arrival. That night, I started my love affair with Italian wine, food, limoncello, and gelato, in that order. (Pretty much every meal we ate consisted of those four elements, so I’ll save the details of each meal, all of which I remember every bite. If you are so inclined for a play-by-play of all the food we ate, I’d be happy to give it to you over the phone, but it might take two hours and I would probably cry at the end for how much I miss it.)

Gelato on our first night in Sorrento

The next morning, we woke up, pinched ourselves to be sure we were still vacationing on the Amalfi Coast and walked down the cliffs of Sorrento to a large dock, which is essentially Sorrento’s version of a beach. We swam in the Mediterranean, rented a paddleboat and talked for hours in the sunshine as cruise ships and fishing boats went past. That night, we had another delicious meal and went to a bar that apparently every American in Sorrento knew about, and thank goodness – I’ve discovered that going to a bar full of Italians wouldn’t be that fun. The men there don’t often understand (or choose to understand) the words “no”, “stop” or “I am not interested.”

Walking down the cliffs in Sorrento to the "beach"

The next day, October 1, rivaled all of the days in my 21 years as the best day of my life. We arrived in Capri by boat that morning, and after quite a long time waiting for a shuttle to take us to the hotel, checking in, and getting on a bus back down to the main area, we were a bit hungry and tired. Luckily, the house was in our favor because when we decided to rent a boat to take us around the island, we had no idea the amazing afternoon we were in for. I think the pictures speak for themselves. Capri is absolutely breathtaking. If there was ever a lull in the conversation as we relaxed on the boat while drinking our wine and eating grapes, crackers and cheese, inevitably one of the girls would say, “Wait. We are on a private boat off the coast of Italy.” Naturally, we would delightfully squeal in response and discuss how lucky we were. I would guess that this happened about 30 times, but that could be a gross underestimation.

Happy birthday to meeee

Leaving the dock

One of the many beautiful views from our boat tour

After the amazing boat ride, we went back to the hotel, still discussing our lucky lives. We went into town for dinner, but we stumbled upon a store where one Antonio Viva was making customized sandals. After a day in Italy on a boat drinking wine, what more could four college girls desire but a pair of shoes made especially for them? Naturally, we all invested in a pair.

Antonio crafting my new sandals! 

Caprese salad... in Capri. 

Off to Naples! 

After waking up the next day and pinching ourselves again, we took a commuter boat from Capri to Naples, where we stopped for pizza in what was probably a mafia headquarters. The excitement of all the organized crime made the outstanding pizza that much better.

The best pizza I've ever had... someone was probably killed upstairs while I ate it. 

Then we went back to Florence to be reunited with my other dear friend Hannah, who is living with McCallen, and Hannah’s boyfriend Drew, who is studying with me in Madrid. We walked up a hill to the Piazza de Michelangelo for a gorgeous view of Florence at night and went to La Beppa Fioraia for my Italian birthday dinner. We walked around Florence, drank wine in the Piazza Republica, and at midnight, McCallen bought me a celebratory shot at Shots Café. (As I’m writing this, I can’t believe all of this happened. It feels like a dream, but I have the pictures to prove it!)

The Duomo in Florence

Fried pizza rolls and prosciutto for a birthday appetizer. 

My best friends! (Oh, and Florence in the background)

Before Drew and I went back to Madrid on my actual birthday, we ate the most delicious sandwiches I’ve ever had at Pino’s with McCallen and Hannah. Then it was on to Bologna where our flight was slightly delayed. Unfortunately, I missed the delicious birthday dinner my Spanish host family had prepared for me, but Mary Jordan told me they enjoyed it, so I felt like I had enjoyed it too.

That week, we celebrated two birthdays! Jennifer, running superstar, turned 21 on Wednesday, October 5, so we went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant on Wednesday and went out to a discoteca on Thursday! We started Thursday night at El Tigre, a bar that houses the biggest mojitos and most delicious free tapas in all of Madrid. We’ve been back three times since then.

Birthday celebration #1 (in Madrid, that is)

Birthday celebration #2

That Saturday, we took a day trip to the lovely Toledo where we consulted our pal Rick Steve’s guide to Spain and learned everything we needed to know about the Catedral de Toledo and El Greco’s famous paintings there. (Amusing moment: we quickly abandoned our self-guided tour when we heard what we thought was a parade outside the church. Turns out it was a protest of the education system, and we couldn’t get back inside. Only in Spain would a protest sound as fun as a street festival.)

The family 

Gorgeous altar in El Catedral de Toledo

I've been known to take an artsy pic or two in my day.

Since then, we’ve been in Madrid! We’ve explored new neighborhoods, gone to a parade, went to an amusement park, made new friends and had an amazing time. I do miss the comforts of home (driving a car, Target, queso) but I know that I am so lucky to be here. I’ve played my cards right thus far – I can only hope that my luck here in Europe continues.