let me give you the skinny/scoop

This is completely random, but I'm actually obsessed with Trader Joe's Fat Free Spicy Black Bean Dip. With none of the salsas looking very appealing, I decided to go for the gold (or beans, rather). As the avid snacker that I am, it's the perfect compliment to my lifestyle; consuming a jar in its entirety (12 oz...) would top out at 360 calories. Not the worst thing in the world, considering I don't think I could even eat 3/4 of a pound of bean dip. Nom nom.


(don't worry - I'm not weird enough to have taken that photo myself. Google images provided the work of a creeper for me)

Summer in the City

After all of the travel turmoil I have settled into my summer home, New York. I've already started my internship, gym hopping and random adventures, so I'm pretty settled in. This past weekend's highlight: the Vueve Clicquot Polo Classic on Governors Island.

healthy habits

and it took us how long? www.choosemyplate.gov

anyway, no complaints!

American Tune

My semester in London ended faster than I could have imagined, but the journey home lasted way too long...

After an unannounced flight cancellation, too many hours in the airport, spending a night in Reading, leaving at 5:30 am for a flight at noon, running to an NC flight that got delayed 3 times, and all in all switching flights a total of 7 times, I am BACK.

As usual, Paul Simon knows how I feel...

Many's, the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
But I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
But it's all right, it's all right
We've lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the road
we're traveling on
I wonder what went wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what went wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
And I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hour
and sing an American tune
But it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest.

angry birds

I went to Borough Market (again) today. This is easily my favorite place in London. After many times of sampling chorizos, cheeses, truffle olive oil, fudge, candy coated nuts, chutneys and and everything else that I love, I decided to go for something new. I decided to have an ostrich burger for lunch.

Once you get past the complete ugliness of the animal (sorry guys) and smother on grainy mustard, cranberry sauce, salad (lettuce) and caramelized onions, you will find the perfect mix of a turkey and beef burger. Quite a burger, the ostrich burger.

Paris

Paris was the final destination of my semester-long travels. There were only 3 days spent in the city, but it was probably my favorite trip. I'm already anticipating my next visit...

{Musée du Louvre}

{Musée des Arts Decoratifs}

{Versailles}

{Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris}

{Eiffel Tower}

Lisbon

The final destination of our Spring Break trip was Lisbon, Portugal. We started the morning with a visit to Jeronimo's Monastery and the Tower of Belem, both located near the coast. We happened to come across the Monastery on a free visit day, so the experience was slightly less than spiritual, but that's tourism. A little ways down there is a cultural center with lots of random exhibits, but it was probably one of my favorite museums that I've been to in a while. A simple yet moving collection of worldwide artists' photograph series and rooms filled with maps representing literal and broader themes were a nice change from crowded museums of people looking at pieces solely because they feel that they have to.

After some exploring, we stopped at Pasteis de Belem, famous for their custard tarts. The bakery looked like a tiny, local spot from the outside, but the inside was literally like a large cafeteria - only filled with sweets. Wonderful.

On our last full day of vacation, we took a tour of Sintra. Our trip northwest of Lisbon was led by Nunu, the guide associated with our hostel. The four of us and four others hopped in a van and stopped first at Palacio de Pena. The weather wasn't too great to begin with, but being so high up (we drove at quite the angle for quite some time...) created an insane fog. We skirted around the palace's upper balcony. The fog made it appear as though the palace was housed in a space of complete nothingness.

After touring the palace, Nunu took us to lunch. At first sight, we found ourselves at a restaurant/gift shop, but the food was beyond most things that I've ever tried. Many of us had the traditional Portuguese pork on a bed of perfectly cooked potatoes and salad. Lunch was the best possible way to warm up for the next couple of legs of our journey.

We walked from the restaurant to Quinta da Regaleira, a palace with labyrinths and exotic gardens. Nunu handed us flashlights to guide us through the damp and pitch black tunnels. Spelunking wasn't exactly what I had imagined getting ourselves into, but I really enjoyed all of the hiking and tunneling, especially since I can't say that really happens in London.

On the way back to the hostel, we stopped at the beach and Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of Europe. The rocky coast, wildflowers, clear ocean and (verrrrry) powerful wind made it seem like a scene from a movie, but the purity of the nature is something that I don't think could be accurately depicted.

Madrid

On our final night in Barcelona, we took an overnight bus to Madrid. Upon arrival at the station, I was pretty wary about the trip (I never have high expectations for journeys like this, but the station was quite rank). Luckily, the bus itself was fine and we found ourselves in Madrid the next morning.



We immediately headed to Retiro Park, which was a close and peaceful walk from our hostel. Filled with whimsically groomed trees and shrubbery, the park was a scene out of Alice in Wonderland. We came across a random photorealism gallery and then enjoyed a rowboat ride in the park while the sun warmed up the afternoon.

Our first museum stop in Madrid was the Prado. The period of 1000 to 1850 has never really been of that much interest to me, so I can't say that this was a favorite. However, there were some great works by Goya that were fascinating (and disturbing) to see in person. After the museum, we explored the many plazas in our area. We went to Botin for dinner, the oldest restaurant in the world! I enjoyed a feast of artichokes (literally just a mountain of artichokes) sprinkled with Iberian ham. The first thing that I noticed upon our arrival in Spain was the artichoke fields, so I was glad that that came around full circle. Some medical school students caused a delightful interruption to dinner, performing songs of choice in traditional costumes.

The next day we visited Palacio Real. This may be one of my favorite palaces, as the rooms were very unique and styled in incredibly different manners. Unfortunately, you can rarely photograph palaces, so this will remain as images in my mind. We stopped for lunch, where I had my first enjoyable salad in Europe (and actually probably my only enjoyable one still…). Our next stop was the Reina Sofia, an art museum almost too modern for any understanding (or reason). The group went to La Lateral, a very nice tapas restaurant (but with really nice prices as well). While we were at dinner, Madrid defeated Barcelona in a big match, so we joined in on the celebrations in the street. There was so much energy throughout the city and certainly something worth experiencing.

On our final day in Madrid, we walked up many a hill to a site of an ancient Egyptian building. This seemed pretty random, but the Templo de Debod was moved from Egypt when a dam threatened the location of the temple. Torrential rain put a damper on the evening, but we ran from our hostel to Di Bocca, a really delicious Italian restaurant, for our final feast. After so much paella and tapas, it was a nice break. After all, there was still Lisbon to conquer.

Barcelona

Even though it seemed like we had to wait forever for our break to come, it couldn't have come at a more perfect time. With about 2 weeks of work left and summer in a month, spring break was perfectly positioned after the major hump of our program. The journey to Barcelona began at 3:15 am, which has been a general trend in my traveling. After passing out on the bus to the airport and the plane, we set foot in sunny Barca. The weather in London was great, but nothing compared to this.

Our first stop after checking bags into the hostel was La Boqueria, an impressive market off of the scenic path, La Rambla. So many things on my trip reminded me of Cleveland (...weird.) and La Boqueria was definitely the West Side Market, Euro style. After passing through aisles of temptingly vibrant fruits and terrifying fish (we witnessed the pre, during, and post phases of many decapitations and guttings), we arrived in Heaven.

I am obsessed with juice. I would even say weirdly devoted to it. Bliss was certainly achieved at the many stands of fresh exotic juices at La Boqueria. After gulping down a cup of raspberry (incredible beyond belief), I went straight for strawberry mango coconut. I would have only had juice the entire time in Barcelona if I could have.

Our next stop was lunch at a very strange cafe, and then to check out the Gothic architecture. One of my favorite parts of the day was the Picasso museum. Although I was disappointed that his series of animal sketches was nowhere to be found, I felt rather catchy humming "Blue Period Picasso" by Peter, Bjorn and John at the appropriate moment:

I'm a Blue Period Picasso
Stuck on a wall
In the middle of a hall
In barcelona...

(Yeah. It was like that.)

Anyway, one thing that I didn't get out of my Art History education was a look into Picasso's concentration on ceramics in his later years. Out of everything in the extensive collection, that was definitely my favorite part.

After the first of many daily siestas, we headed towards the coast to check out a massive fountain show. Outside of a beautifully constructed museum, water jets put on a show that was far from anything I'd ever seen. If the spray was enough to soak us a little, I can't imagine how powerful the fountain itself was.

The last stops of the night were for Paella (we broke out those dusty Spanish skills to make sure that we got mussels and chicken...) and Shoko, an awesome club so close to the water that you could step onto the beach in between dancing. We met some other kids from the B-School for the night and had a great time.

After getting off to a later start in the afternoon, we picked up sandwiches at a really cool streetside restaurant (basically Dave's Cosmic Subs goes to Barcelona). We took our lunches, packed with grilled meat, a garden of veggies and really ambiguous but delicious sauces to the beach. On the way, we ran into the guys that we hung out with the night before, and sat down to enjoy a music group performing right by the port. It's so strange that this wasn't the first time in Europe
that I randomly ran into people I knew. We hung out on the beach for the entire day, and then I met up with a good friend and her mom for dinner. That night, we went to a massive club that kept randomly opening new doors to create a seemingly endless space. Again, it was right on the beach, which was really awesome.

We finished our last day in Barcelona with more juice from La Boqueria and a day filled with Gaudi. He had always been the architect that interested me the most during school, but seeing his work in person cannot be described. The movement, color, detail and liveliness of his work certainly could not be replicated. We saw a couple of his apartment buildings, but decided on the Sagrada Familia to tour. We climbed to the highest tower and worked our way down, ensuring that we soaked in all of the details. The day ended with a tapas dinner in a beautiful square, a perfect farewell to Barcelona.

...and this is when I get lazy

The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind with work, more work and attempting to be a regular study abroad student, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

(oxford v. cambridge boat race)








(oxford in one day)








(the tower of london)