After the Storm... [Castelldefels]

Roadtrip: Aragon

Exams aren't too far away now, so I jumped at the opportunity when my friend Giselle invited me on a weekend away to Aragon to study. At 6pm on Friday afternoon, a minibus full of tennis racquets, food, suitcases and 7 girls set off, out of the neatly ordered grid system of Barcelona's Eixample and out onto the motorway. 3 hours later, having driven from the east to the west of Catalonia, we crossed the border into in Aragon and started driving up windy roads into the little town of Torreciudad to find the house we were going to stay in for the next couple of days. 

The main reason we went was to study, and we definitely did study! On Saturday we got up at 8am for breakfast and then did 5 hours of study before lunch. In the afternoon we headed over to the "santuario de Torreciudad" and we went on a small walk to a small church on a cliff from where we enjoyed stunning views of the lakes and the pyrenees in the distance. The beautiful colours of the water below us, the blues and turquoises reminded me of pirates of the caribbean or of Peter Pan. I'm sure the water would have been cold, but the warm blue colours of the lake made me want to jump in. 

April Showers in Ocata

The rain in Spain... Fell all weekend. 

Last weekend was campa Sed, the second GBU camp of the academic year. This time we all went away to a big house in Ocata, a 20 minute train ride up the coast from Barcelona. The rain kept us away from the beach, sheltered and warm with lots of things to do, eat yummy food, time to relax, read the Bible and time to hang out with friends.

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." - Ecclesiastes 3:11

A day at the lakes

Our adventure at the lakes started slightly late as we were tempted to look around the milanese markets beforehand. It took us one hour on the train from Milan Garibaldi to Como and then a peaceful walk down from the train station to the lakes through a small park.

Relaxing walks along the water, Italian lunch in a beautiful square, and a boat ride are the things I was expecting, and also what I'll remember. I'll probably forget that we got lost into the heart of industrial Como and found ourselves too late to have lunch in any restaurant, and ended up asking numerous locals where we might be able to find food. That was the slightly less relaxing part of the day, but I like to think that kilometres that we walked at 3pm on an exciting - and failed - pizza hunt made us deserve our lunch when we finally sat down!

After eating our picnic lunch, we were walking again by the side of the water and about to walk back up to the station when boat driver managed to convince us to go on a half an hour ferry ride. Trying to persuade us, he told us that a commentary about the history of the lake was included in the price of five euros. We checked our watches and we had time, so Zippy and I climbed aboard and chose our seats on the top deck of the small boat. The commentary was in Italian which, considering the majority of the guests were foreign, must have been useful. The volume was quiet, but Zippy and I learnt a few things, including where George Clooney has his holiday home!

Milanese Moments

Bella Italia

Easter seems weeks ago now, classes began quickly and everyone seems to be back in the swing of things. It's spring and the streets of Barcelona are full of colour, the pavements lined with green trees and lovely purply-pink blossom, the relaxing shade of which seems nice now, vital in summer. Ever since I got my bicing card to use the city bikes in December I have loved cycling downhill and along Gran Via to my University everyday, but now that the suns out and the temperature's beginning to warm the city, the commute's getting even better.

Despite the enchantment of this mediterranean beauty, I decided to abandon it for a long weekend and return to Italy, to visit my friend Zippy in Milan. Never having done it before, I can now confirm that booking plane tickets 4 days before flying is a wonderful feeling, and in all the spontaneity and excitement there was hardly any time to get stuff sorted. 4 days later - and coincidentally, exactly a year after I set off to begin my term abroad in Florence - I was back in Italy.

The one hour hop across the mediterranean clouds went quickly, but before I even got into the plane I had a sense of Italy already. The boarding gate for my flight appeared on the screen in the departure lounge, and the passengers were told to queue. I'm English, so by queue I understand a line of people of standing one behind the other. Obeying, I hurried over and stood behind the barrier. Something must have got misunderstood in translation though, because instead of a line, the thing in front of the boarding gate was more of a crowd, which squished itself slightly when the announcement was repeated that Easyjet wanted a single-file queue.

Applause from the Italian passengers signalled we'd landed safely, and after customs, the shuttle bus and the express train to Milan, I met up with Zippy in Cadorna train station...

(More posts and photos on their way - Internet's being slow this week!)

Becky

Fictional video about a girl called Becky who likes travelling.

Written and filmed by my friend Loida for a competition at her University.