FINAL FIELD TRIP...ITALY!

So, I left Barcelona and headed to Rome to meet up with my tour group. The tour group I joined was for 18-35 year olds - so I just made it! :o) The group has tours all over Europe and several in the States as well. Mine was a two-week tour of Italy that started and ended in Italy. We saw it all, including Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Pompeii, Tuscan Hills, Venice, Pisa, Milan, Sorrento, La Spezia, Capri and Verona. It was a whirlwind! It gave a nice overview of Italy. Now I can go back and spend more time in the parts that I loved - which is ALL OF IT! But, if I had to pick I'd say Florence and Rome were my favorite.

On the first day of the tour we had a 6:00pm orientation meeting at our hotel. I go into a room of strangers and my mind starts racing "What was I thinking? I should have stayed in Barcelona!" It took me back to my junior high school days - going into a classroom, not knowing anyone, worried you won't click with anyone, worried it will be the worst experience ever and it's for 13 freakin' days! But, luckily, those thoughts were all wrong and I ended up having a great time and meeting some great people! My main hanging buddy was also my roommate. She was from New Zealand but works as a physical therapist in Saudi Arabia. Very interesting and a lot of fun!

There were 36 of us on the tour. About half the group was from Australia and the other half from the U.S. We also had one woman from Singapore, 3 folks from Canada and my New Zealand buddy

We had a Tour Manager who kept us very organized and gave us a complete itinerary each day. She also coordinated our very early wake up calls - usually around 7am! Which doesn't sound extremely early, but when you don't go to bed until about 2am, it's early! And we had a very grumpy, non-English speaking Italian bus driver. We mainly got around by bus and a couple times by train. I lucked out and had two seats to myself for most of the trip.

One thing I noticed in Italy compared to Barcelona was the large amount of American tourists. I rarely encountered any in Barcelona, whereas in Italy they were everywhere! Being an American you'd think I'd welcome this......uh...no...because many of them were so annoying! And the one thing that I truly appreciate about my experience in Barcelona is that I wasn't surrounded by tourists since I was more living there. But with Italy, we were in each city for such a short period of time, trying to hit all the landmarks, that you can't escape the tourists. Some of my most enjoyable moments in Italy were when we were hanging out in a small neighborhood, or doing our laundry at the local laundromat - no tourists! It was wonderful! Who knew doing laundry could be so rewarding?

We all enjoyed the food, though many of my traveling buddies grew tired of pasta and pizza. I can't say I left there thinking this was the best food I've ever had though. Interesting, huh? But I guess you get used to your American version of Italian that when it's different you almost think they are doing it wrong. But, I did have some good meals and some good pasta. I think we all ODed on carbs. One meal we had started with pasta and then had pizza as the second course! Dr. Atkins would not have approved.

So, this would become the longest blog in history if I went day by day detailing our adventures. Instead, I'll just leave you with some photos. So, this is my last entry, but stay tuned for future blogs, who knows what's to come....BackpackingInNYC, LivingLargeInItalianVillaWithMillionaire, WonTheLotteryMovedToTheCanaryIslands...anything is possible! Thank you again for reading my blog! Happy to hear that you have enjoyed it

CAPRI

FLORENCE

SORRENTO

TUSCAN HILLS

POMPEII

MILAN

PISA

Hilarious watching everyone trying to get that perfect "I'm holding up the Leaning Tower" pose.

LA SPEZIA & CINQUE TORRE

These are called Turkish Toilets - you just stand and squat. No worries...I didn't actually use it. Just couldn't go there.

VENICE

VATICAN CITY



















































































ROME

MY LAST DAYS IN BARCELONA...

I only have two days left in Barcelona and then I'm off to Italy for 2 weeks. I'm excited about my trip to Italy, but I'm really sad to leave Barcelona. It's been an amazing experience!

So, I decided to make my last week and a half a true vacation - so no more classes! I spent most of my days out at the beach and walking my favorite neighborhoods. The beach has been quite an entertaining experience. From topless women and hairy armpits, from a man dropping his drawers just 10 feet in front of me to change into his swim trunks to a drug deal just 2 feet from me! What an experience! Never a dull moment!

There's so much activity at the beach. Women walk around offering you a 15 minute massage for 5 euros. Nice service! And at times it feels like I'm at a baseball game with men roaming around calling out the goods they are selling - CERVEZA! AGUA! CHIPS! I think we need to add these added services to our beaches. It's so convenient!

When I first arrived to Barcelona, there were so many things that I missed about the States. But the more time I've spent here, I've created an even bigger list of all that I'm going to miss in Barcelona.

What I'll Miss Most:

1. Beach in walking distance

2. Coffee served in real china cups and saucer - no paper products here! Except at Starbucks, of course!

3. Hundreds of cafes with plenty of outdoor seating
4. Freshly squeezed OJ served at nearly every cafe and restaurant

5. Cafe con helado dessert at McDonald's

6. Rarely having to wait for a seat at a restaurant

7. Being able to linger at a restaurant for as long as you'd like and not feeling rushed

8. Sandwiches of jamon y queso (ham and cheese) served at corner stores on fresh baked baguettes - and for only 2 bucks!

9. Being able to walk nearly everywhere - the city is the perfect size!

10. Not waking up to the depressing morning news of the latest murder victim - there's very little violent crime here

11. Learning Spanish

What I Won't Miss:

1. Lack of grassy areas for dogs to pee and poop in. AND lack of people picking up after their pups!

2. Pickpocketers!

3. Extra work at restaurants - having to ask for more water, for the bill, another drink, etc. (though it's nice that they don't bother you)

4. Learning Spanish :o)

It's been great looking back to my first week in Spain and comparing it to my last. I definitely feel more comfortable with my Spanish-speaking skills. I no longer care that I may or may not be butchering their language when I'm speaking - as long as they know what I'm talking about I'm happy! It's a great feeling of accomplishment.

So, I leave you with a few more photos from my time in Barcelona. Enjoy! Hopefully I'll return one day.

One more thing I'll miss - spotting Americans with their bright white sneakers and white socks.

One more thing I WON'T miss is the comeback of the tail and mullet - I hope this does not make its way back to the States!

I finally got a chance to see the "castellers." I had seen this years ago on the very educational MTV program "The Road Rules." It's a tradition in the Catalunya region of Spain - of which Barcelona is a part of. I came upon them one day while walking around the city. The castellers form human pyramids. The ones I saw were at least 3 stories high. It's fascinating, yet terrifying, to watch - especially when the little boy or girl climbs to the very top to finish the pyramid!

Here are my and my classmate, Katie's, coffee cups at Starbucks. Somehow when I said Debora (pronounced DAY-BOHR-AH - it's easier to just give the Spanish version of my name vs. Debbie) and Katie said her name, it came out as below. Ha! Too funny! No idea what happened there.

My favorite flatmate!

FIELD TRIP #2...GERMANY!

So, I thought I´d try to fit another field trip in to my very busy Euro schedule and headed to Germany to visit my long-time friend, YiYi (and before you get a chance to butcher her name it´s pronounced GiGi). YiYi is from Puerto Rico and we met back in 1986 when she lived with her cousins who lived next door to me. She has since married a wonderful German guy, has two of the cutest boys and lives in Trier, Germany. I hadn´t seen her since her wedding 9 years ago!

Trier is just an hour and 40 minute flight from Barcelona, but when you want to travel Euro-cheap it becomes a bit more complicated. It was like a scene from ´´Planes, Trains, & Automobiles.´´ I flew Ryanair which is like Southwest Airlines on crack. It doesn´t fly out of Barcelona. So, I metroed it to the bus station, took an hour-long bus ride to Girona and arrived at the airport to find at least 10 different check-in lines based on your destination, with each line being 75 to 100 people deep. After standing in line for about an hour, I finally checked in, but wait..there´s more. I had to go to a separate counter to pay a special 5 euro tax, and then return to the check-in counter to finally receive my boarding pass. So I go pay the tax and also paid another 5 euros for a priority pass which is semi-VIP. It allows you on the plane before the masses. After getting through Security, I then had to stand in line Southwest-style at the boarding gate.

Once I finally arrived in Germany, YiYi´s lovely husband picked me up from the airport and we made the hour-long trek to their house. Whew! It makes me tired just thnking about it again.

But, it was all worth it! It was great to see YiYi and see this cute town her new German-Rican family call home. In between re-living our junior high memories of ´´Dirty Dancing,´´ ´´Pretty in Pink,´´ and ´´The Breakfast Club,´´ I got to experience this cute, semi-little town of Trier. It´s located in the southwestern portion of Germany near the French border. It has a population of 100,000 and some very, very sad looking people. We think it may be because of the cold winters and lack of sunshine. I´m not sure if these people know how to smile. It was fascinating!

While there I learned that Germans like to tell it like it is. They are very straightforward and to the point. For example, we call it a ´´refrigerator,´´ they call it the ´´cold closet.´´ ´´Gloves´´ are ´´hand shoes´´ and ´´envelopes´´ are ´´letter covers.´´ It´s so simple! And movie titles are hilarious. For my fellow 80s lovers, you know ´´Say Anything...´´ Why give it such an obscure title when you can call it ´´Teen Lover.´´ Or how about ´´Prime.´´ For those of you who haven´t seen it, you may not know it´s about a woman and her therapist. But, in Germany, they want you to know what you´re getting into beforehand and call it ´´Couch Talk.´´ So simple! Why complicate things when you don´t have to?

While in Trier, I also got a chance to see the EuroCup 2008 soccer games kick-off. YiYi and I caught a game at ´´Louisiana´´ - their take on American cuisine. I had a cheeseburger...it was interesting... Anyway, it was Portugal vs. Turkey. I learned that many Germans are not fans of the Turks and I´m sure the feeling may be mutual. So the entire restaurant was cheering for Portugal except for this one table of about seven Turkish twenty-somethings. Whenever Portugal did well, the entire restaurant cheered, but when the Turkish team was on the up-and-up the restaurant fell a bit quiet except for this one table...can we say awkward.... I was secretly wishing for the Turkish team to win as well, but worried a bit about what might happen if they won. Yikes!

My last day in Germany brought me back to my espanola roots. Once a month YiYi has brunch with about 7 or 8 fellow Hispanic friends who all live in Germany. It´s a nice network of friends for YiYi and was a great opportunity for me to practice my espanol - which was a good thing considering I had been skipping class. During this ´´practice session,´´ I discovered that I´m good for about an hour, but after that you lose me and English translation is definitely needed. I guess I have Spanish ADD!

Saw this poster posted in a restaurant...hmmmm...don´t seem to be big fans of ours either...

These bronze plates were located in front of the house below. It´s in memory of a father and son who were killed in a concentration camp. Very sad, but a nice way to honor them.