Bologna, Milan, & Barcelona!

Hey yall! I am struggling finding time for this blog in the middle of all my last assignments and recovering from a long week! So I apologize if this is not as detailed as it probably should be...

I couldn't have been happier to see my nook yesterday! It has truly become like home to me and traveling for 10 days is very long. As you might know, I got back from Switzerland on the 3rd (at 10 pm) and then had to be ready to leave for Bologna at 6 am the next morning... so surprise... I didn't sleep! But it's okay because I successfully unpacked, repacked, showered, and skyped my mom all in time. For obvious reasons, I slept the entire bus ride to Bologna. We arrived around lunch time and were given free time to eat and walk around. Bologna is the location of the first university in the world. Yes, world. So it is filled with college students, which is always fun.

Bologna's main square.

Our visit to Bologna was very brief... the next day we checked out early and were headed to Milan! On the way we stopped in Maranello to visit the Ferrari Museum and a local balsamic vinegar factory, Acetaia del Cristo. We had a guided tour around the Ferrari museum and got to see Ferrari's from many different years. Italian's love Ferrari's... so we tried to act just as interested! After the tour we were allowed to test drive one of the cars for 10 minutes (for 40 euro)... I was tempted... but quickly reminded that I'm broke :)

Galleria Ferrari

Racecars

Custom models.

The balsamic vinegar farm was more my idea of fun... we have visited many wine/olive oil farms with tastings so it was great to throw in a balsamic tour too! [We use a lot of balsamic while cooking here!]

The farm!

One room of barrels! The vinegar stays there for at least 15 years... and some have been fermenting for 200 years!!! Crazy! Each barrel has a hole on top but it covered by a film (like above). The oldest vinegars are extremely thick because they have had more time to evaporate.

Tasting time! I like the strawberry vinegar the best!

... and by dinner time we had finally made it to Milan!! The fashion and design capital of the world!!

The Duomo!

The Galleria Victorio Emmanuele

Spinning on the bull (3 times) in the Gallery for good luck!! 

Later that night, the program treated us to an "Appertivo" with yummy spritz drinks!

Oh.. and then [beautiful/delicious] Pina Coladas!!! 

On Wednesday we met Max! Max is a professor in Milan who works at the Portaluppi Foundation. He gave us a lesson on "Modern Milan" then spent the rest of the day taking us to exhibits to see awesome designs and Italian showrooms!

A couch!

Bird's nest chair?

Octopus comfy chair!

We took a break for a JAPANESE lunch! This made my day week!

Teriyaki Chicken, Rice, Seaweed Salad, Egg rolls! :)

Back to the art... This is on the side of the Duomo... essentially a huge pile of salt with horses.
Kinda strange if you ask me.

Picasso

How incredible is the Duomo?

Art? I don't get it... :)

These 8 panels were done entirely with a blue ball point pen!

This was a painting a guy was working on inside the museum. After it was done he took all the squares a part and people held them to form the picture. He made a movie out of it and we got to participate! I didn't get pictures but it was really cool!

Unique flower vases.

Love this furniture. So fun.

Appertivo for the 2nd night as well! How can you resist those drinks??

Our few days in Milan flew by and before we knew it we were getting on a plane to Barcelona, Spain!! This trip was definitely one I had been looking forward to.. all 20 of us decided to go together for the weekend and I had heard so many great things about the city! Well... they were all right! Barcelona was so much fun and beautiful. The city is so clean and easy to get around. The only downside was there are very sketchy men wandering around at night... good thing we were in a big group! and I thought the Italian men were bad... nope, Spain wins.

Of course the first place we went was.. the beach!!  It was 80 degrees and fantastic. I'll admit it took some time to get used to the topless women and occasional butt naked men but besides that I was very content!

Me and Rae!

My favorite part about the beach is that these little Asian women walk around giving massages. 15 minutes for 5 euro!! Can't beat it! That might have been the best 5 euro I have spent since I've been abroad... and Yes, I know I am white as paper. 

Susanna, Mary, Rae, Me

Danielle, Jamie, Me, Laura, Susanna

Beautiful!

After a few hot hours at the beach some of us decided we better site see a little. We didn't want to visit a country to only say we laid on the beach the whole time! This was good for my poor skin anyways... the sun has never been my friend.

I love Spain for it's culture. Music and dancing in the sunshine!

Gaudi Park!

View from the top!

Love these purple flowers. 

The beautiful mosaics of Park Guell!

More Gaudi style buildings!

Haha how cute is he?

La Sagrada Familia!

The construction for La Sagrada Familia was started in 1883 and is still NOT finished!!!! The church was designed by Antoni Gaudi. He devoted his life to it but died in 1926, only getting to see 1/4 of the finished product! The completion date is 2026- the centennial of Gaudi's death!

KFC for lunch and proud of it!

Agbar Tower!
A 38 story building that marks the gateway to the technological district of Barcelona.

War Eagle, Hey!

... and back to the beach the next day! with Kacey!

Our sangria by the beach was interrupted by a Bachelor party! You can't tell but he is wearing "Michaelangelo's David" swim shorts... while trying to sit on my lap! haha

The best Sangria!

I wish I could be back now...

We spent out last evening enjoying a great 'Tapas' dinner!
Trying not to eat Subway and KFC for every meal :)

Because we are poor college students and will do anything to save money, therefore we booked a 5:55 AM flight home [the first flight out of the entire airport that day]. In order to make sure all 20 of us made the flight we had to pack up and head for the airport around 2 AM! We looked ridiculous! All of us in a line, hauling luggage, down the streets of Barcelona at 2 in the morning... and it was not a short walk. We got to the airport around 3 and all made the flight! Success! Kinda... Our flight was supposed to land around 7:30 am so when I woke up and saw that it was 8, I got concerned. The pilot tells us over the intercom that there is too much fog over Ciampino to land so he has just been circling until it was safe to go through. Well... after an hour he decides it's safe and says we will be landing in 10 minutes. So we start going down.. rather quickly... and from the window I can see than we are almost there when suddenly the plane jolts upward again at full speed! Everyone on the plane is scared for their lives at this point and very confused to why we were going back up. Turns out.. it wasn't safe. Great. We ended up having to land at Fiumicino [the other airport in Italy]. What a disaster! 

For those of you who have not experienced the airline, Ryanair, lucky you. They are the "cheap" flight of Europe... and what we have used to fly everywhere. Flights are around 30 euro round trip... but you certainly get what you pay for! haha They never leave on time... sell smokeless cigarettes and cellphones down the aisles the entire flight... and everyone cheers when you land! I know.. this doesn't even sound real... but believe me, it is. So as sad as it is that my time abroad is coming to an end I am happy I can say I never have to fly with Ryanair again! but also very thankful that they did get us back safely after all. The cheering after that last flight was very necessary. We made it back to our nooks around 1 pm due to the delay and everyone crashed from being up all night!!! So happy and thankful to be back in Ariccia!

So today is Monday and I know I should have posted a cooking blog :/ buttt you see I am behind with work and sweet Mary Lou's friend passed away so she was unable to be at cooking class... Cinzia and Tommy improvised and made a really yummy artichoke pasta for us though because it is artichoke season! I was too busy working on my resume and other big girl stuff to take pictures.. so I just ate :) But if anyone is really disappointed [and I'm sure many of you are] I would be happy to make Artichoke Pasta with you when I return to make up for it!! Please don't hate me! 

xoxo

Britt

P.s. - I will be home in 12 days! What?!