Category: Advice

Turn 21 They Said………

Published on by LshotkoskiLeave a comment

Imagine having the opportunity to spend your 21st birthday in the lively city of Barcelona after weeks of cloudy weather and living in the middle of Ireland. Sounds riveting, right?

Wrong. However, this is not my story. This is the story of my travel buddy and fellow Maynooth student, Victoria. Victoria wanted one thing for her birthday weekend, to spend her days on the beautiful playa (beach) of Barcelona and her nights dancing at the wonderful clubs. So it was settled, she would leave on November 3rd from Milan and stay until the 7th with myself and our Danish friend Sarah.

Upon Arriving in Barcelona each of us were incredibly sleep deprived. We had left Milan pretty early and just wanted to make it to our Airbnb, which happened to be right by main street of Barcelona, La Rambla. This street is a great place to walk down once and never go again, unless you really have a thing for wall to wall people and having to locate your belongings every 10 minutes to make sure nothing was stolen. Nevertheless we checked in to our Airbnb, while also simultaneously learning that renting your property through the app in Spain is actually illegal. So now we were just visiting the flat and were to not disturb the neighbors. This wasn’t a problem until one of us, potentially me, was absolutely dying of thirst and needed water. While Sara and Victoria got ready for our first day of exploring I was busy putting the wrong key in the lock and perhaps unsurprisingly got it stuck.

After trying get the key out for 20 minutes I started to panic, so Vic came down to help me. To start off her birthday weekend, Victoria got to try picking a lock, send the friend who got it stuck back to the store to buy oil, and text the host to let her know we were causing a scene and potentially breaking her whole buildings front security lock. In return she still couldn’t get the lock out, her friend brought back Micellar water, and the airbnb lady was just as panicked when she came back to see what we had done. So there we were, calling locksmiths that only spoke Spanish and having our host translate for us at a very loud volume. All taking place on maybe the busiest street in Barcelona, while simultaneously becoming street performers trying to get the key out of the lock by using absurd methods. The lock didn’t budge, and we spent our first two hours on vacation meditating, praying, and anxiously waiting for a locksmith.

When he did finally show up, he looked at us with the most disappointment I have ever seen. He then proceeded to comment on the strength at which the lock was forced in, and the depth at which it was forced to. Because his sentence was being translated for me I cannot say whether or not it was a compliment, but the look on his face led me to believe it was an insult. It didn’t matter, though, because he was able to get the key out without breaking the lock and putting one of us in bankruptcy. Four hours later we were ready to go, and by go I mean watch the sunset on the beach and go to a lovely tapas bar by our airbnb for dinner. We had tapas, we drank sangria, life was good…………

The next day started out promising. We saw many famous landmarks, then decided to check out Park Guell after being inspired the night before by Cheetah Girls 2. When we arrived we were greeted by a woman sitting down, not looking up, and on face-time with her friend. She told us we needed tickets to enter, but the park (that’s the same size as 42.5 football fields) was unfortunately sold out for the day. If the events of the trip beforehand had been different we may have found a way to get in, but because we didn’t feel like arguing with the clearly engaged security guard, we left. To end the afternoon we found a separate park that allowed more than just the freshman class at DU to enter freely.

Because we had enjoyed the cheap delicious tapas from the night before, we decided the same restaurant may be a perfect location to get the classic Spanish Paella as well. Unfortunately, the once friendly hostess had a change of heart. He greeted us by saying, “We’re full, BYE.” They were indeed full, but we were still too stunned to speak. Our next move was finding a new place in google maps, which led us to an absolute tourist trap of a restaurant. The new place was so quick to seat us only to then forget about our order. Finally they served us the blandest rice dish the kitchen could put together. Needless to say the start of trip was not going very well, but we still thought our luck was about to change, because we had tickets to one of the best nightclubs in town and were about to have a great 21st birthday celebration for Victoria at Razzmatazz.

To make a long story short, we lasted an hour at the club. I am not sure if Vic remembers falling down the stairs or even being there, but the bruises and headaches the morning after let her know how the night went. It was a rough morning, but a nice relaxing day at the beach was going to change that. It was sunny out, the beach wasn’t too crowded, and we could relax to the sweet sound of someone going, “MOJIITOO, SANGRIAAA, MASSASGEE” every three seconds. Victoria wanted a proper birthday dinner, and therefore picked out a restaurant beforehand so we didn’t have a repeat of the night before. We got dressed for the Barcelona FC game, and made our way to the restaurant.

One thing to note about restaurants in Spain is that many of them have someone standing outside catcalling people to try and get them to eat at their restaurant. They might as well just have a sign that says ‘Don’t Eat Here.’ But, there we were making our way to the restaurant for Vic’s birthday, not knowing they would try to usher us in when we were already going there. That should have been our first sign to turn around. When they brought out the starter salad with “the freshest local vegetables” I had to exercise all self control not to start laughing. They put three romaine leaves, three carrot sticks, and three cucumber sticks on a plate, and the cucumbers were cut to be just the middle part that’s usually thrown away. We also didn’t really get to order, the waiter just kind of decided for us. Then they kept bringing tapas after tapas with food that looked like it was cooked in an easy bake oven. It was a birthday dinner from hell, and coincidentally was our most expensive meal yet.

I could tell Vic was starting to feel down, and because there was not a chance we were going to order dessert from that restaurant, we decided to check out a bakery nearby to just have a simple birthday cake before going to end the night at a lovely soccer game for one of the most iconic teams in the world. This was just supposed to be a short, sweet stop………

It was anything but the sort. We went to the only bakery in the area, and were one of three groups in the entire bakery. We looked at the cases, and even let the owner know we needed a minute and she could help the people behind us first. In this time, we also found the fridge holding rows and rows of cakes. We were a bit confused because the refrigerator was on the customer’s side of things, and each cake was just sitting on a small piece of cardboard, but nevertheless, they looked perfect and we grabbed one and headed over to the register. The owner, who saw us opening and closing the freezer, looking in it for a good three minutes, and taking the cake over to the register, waited until we got there to start yelling at us in Spanish. The only one of us who understood Spanish was of course the birthday girl. Vic let us know that we were not supposed to touch the cakes in the freezer (that was unlocked and right by the entrance) and that even though we were paying for the cake, the owner wanted us out of the shop and would not give us utensils.

All the events of the weekend had boiled down to this point for Vic. She finally started to cry on the curb outside of the bakery when it occurred to us that we had no forks, and that our cake also happened to be rock solid. So, I did the only thing I could do to cheer her up in the moment, and found the only place that sold utensils nearby. A 7/11 with $1 plastic forks came to the rescue. The tears finally passed and it turned into laughter as we sat there eating what was essentially an accidental ice cream cake on a random street in a Barcelona suburb. We broke a fork every five minutes, and even considered going down to the subway to let it unthaw. However, the rest of the night went smoothly. We actually ended on a great note when we got to see the soccer game and make our way home without any hassle. The trip may not have gone the way we planned, but hey it makes a great story. Vic’s 21st birthday was definitely one to remember (most of it at least).

Livin’ Like We’re Renegades

Published on by Sydney HagenLeave a comment

During my Junior of High School I went on a Europe trip with juniors and seniors at my High School . We spent 10 days in Europe visiting Paris, Nice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome. It was an incredible trip, especially because it was my first time traveling outside of the United States. But returning to Europe three and a half years later, feels completely different. I think this is for several reasons. 1. I have grown so much and been through so much in the past three years, making me feel like a different person. 2. I am here with my friends and people I chose to come with, not my high school class filled with high school drama. 3. I have complete control over all planning including what we see but also how we see it (transportation, time management, dining, etc.). It is empowering and also intimidating, but overall it is incredibly exciting. Here is a small recap of our trips to Rome, Italy and Barcelona, Spain.

Roma, Italia

I went to Rome with my best friend and her boyfriend. We also met up with a friend who is studying abroad in Florence, Italy from Colorado State University. Getting to Rome was an adventure in itself.  We took a train from Glasgow to London to meet up with my best friend’s boyfriend. We were only in London for a brief 8 hours before getting up at 2am to Uber to the bus station, then take an hour bus ride to Stagnated Airport in London, and then flying to Rome. We had taken all forms of transportation within 24 hours, which besides the exhaustion was fairly impressive. Rome was terrific, we spent half the day Friday and all day Saturday exploring and seeing all the famous sites like the colosseum, pantheon, Trevi fountain, St. Peters Basilica, Spanish Steps, Altar of the Fatherland, and Piazza Navona. The architecture was beautiful. I think the Trevi Fountain was my favorite place but I was thrilled to see all the other sites as well. In High School, we were on a guided tour and had a group of 60 students and chaperones. Even though, it was an eye-opening experience, there was not much cultural interaction, so during this trip I noticed many more insightful cultural differences.

  • Traffic and Driving in Rome: I have one word for driving in Rome: Terrifying. We took Ubers to and from the city center since our hotel was too far from the center to walk. The traffic near main sites like the colosseum and trevi fountain was insane. You have no idea what cars are going where, there is no direction, just people turning wherever they want, cutting each other off, and honking anytime a car hesitates for any reason. We got stuck in so many traffic jams which did not bother us but our Uber driver was not happy with the congestion. I could never imagine driving in a city like Rome because I a so used to American roads with traffic signs.signals at every intersection, marked lanes, and wide streets. In America, it is rude to switch lanes without a turn signal or speed up around someone if they are going slow, but in Rome it would be weird to not drive in that manner. I’m sure those drivers are used to it, but I was glad to just be a passenger with no driving responsibility.
  • Eating later and reservations: Restaurants in Italy are not lacking in any way. There is a pasta and pizza place every couple shops down the streets, especially near the main sites like the Trevi Fountain and Colosseum. However, us Americans who are used to being able to stop into a restaurant at 4pm or 5pm for an early dinner were shocked when most restaurants don’t open until 7 or 7:30. The ones that do are typically booked full with reservations making it difficult for us spontaneous tourists to just walk into any restaurant that looked good. We were advised to get to restaurants early if we wanted to steal a table before the rush of reservations which was definitely worth it after eating authentic Italian pasta and drinking homemade limoncello.
  • Finishing Food at Restaurants: I did not know about this cultural difference until I saw it in action. On our last evening in Rome, my friend was very full from her lunch and only ate about two-thirds of her dinner. The waiter came by the table after we had already gotten our food and been eating for about 45 minutes and when he saw my friend’s plate he was shocked. “You don’t like it? Your food is cold!” He seemed so concerned about her plate, but she calmly laughed and said she was just very full and could not finish the dish. He looked at her like she was crazy because in Italian culture you always finish your food. It is considered rude not to finish your food and the only reason you would not clean the plate is if you did not care for your meal. It took a little more explaining before the waiter accepted her answer and took our dishes away. In America, as a server people rarely clear their plates. Americans are know for large portion sizes and there are even times I see people barely touch their food. I rarely ask people why they did not finish their food, because it seems rude to interrogate the guest about their meal and Americans have no problem telling the server if they do not like their plate and want something different, so this interaction was very interesting to me.

Food and souvenirs in Rome are cheap compared to Glasgow and London. They are not the cheapest in the world but, the cheapest I have seen so far. We went to fancy dinners, ordered drinks and appetizers for four people, but the bill did not break the bank, making Rome one of the lest costly adventures in my travels.

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Fontana di Trevi, Rome, Italy
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Colosseum, Rome, Italy
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Meat and Cheese Board with Bottle of Red Wine at Restaurant: Pizza In Trevi

Barcelona, España

Our trip to Spain consisted of two nights. We spent time wandering around the city, walking along the beach, eating incredible seafood, and admiring Gaudí’s architecture. Ubers were not very popular in Spain. It is more efficient and easier to flag a taxi from the side of the road than wait for an Uber with your phone. This was new to us since, getting Ubers and Taxis through the Uber app had been our main form of transportation in the united Kingdom and Rome. 

The most notable cultural observations I made were regarding speaking English versus Spanish. I have basic Spanish speaking skills. I can hold a basic conversation. However, I found my skills very challenged in Spain. First, I am used to Latin America Spanish which is different form the Spanish spoken in Spain. I did not think there would be as much of a difference as there was. I also get very shy when speaking Spanish because I feel like my pronunciation and grammar is not perfect. In America when I try to speak Spanish to people I feel embarrassed and have even been mocked for trying. So, my hesitancy in Spain combined with my Latin America-based Spanish made for more language barriers than I anticipated. This was different from when I travelled to Mexico last May. In Mexico I was reserved at first with my Spanish skills however, once people say I had a basic knowledge of their language they were so excited and wanted to talk to me in Spanish and teach me new words. I had so much fun speaking Spanish in Mexico, but in Spain when I tried to speak Spanish the people would talk back to me very quickly and when they saw my confusion or surprise, they immediately gave up and started speaking English. Barcelona is a tourist hot spot so I was not surprised that many people in Spain, especially restaurant workers knew basic English. But, I felt disappointed that I could not put my Spanish skills to work as much as I wanted to. One of my friends from DU is studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain and she told me English is hardly spoken there. Clearly the English and Spanish speaking norms are different in different areas, but Barcelona was not what I expected. This did not deter the trip at all, I fell in love with Barcelona and cannot wait to travel back one day. 

Another notable cultural difference is similar to Spain in the way that everything happens later. Restaurants open later and clubs/bar stay open later than 2am (closing time in America). I actually saw that some restaurants that are open for lunch and dinner close for a few hours from 4:30pm to 8pm. Originally, I thought I was going to study abroad in Spain and when I was researching the culture I learned they have siesta hours in the afternoon where restaurants and shops close for the workers to take breaks. They can go home and take naps (siestas), run errands, or really do anything, but it is very common in Spain culture. Sometimes, I feel sad I did not study abroad in Spain, but I have a feeling I am right where I am supposed to be in Glasgow. When I left Spain and returned to my Glasgow flat, I remember being exhausted form the busy weekend and thinking to myself that I was so glad to be home. I never thought I would call a place other than Colorado home, but I have made my own little home in Glasgow and I can’t put into words the feelings of pride, joy, and comfort that brings me. I think I will be ready to go home in December, but for now I like my home here.

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Streets of Barcelona
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Spanish Ceviche