"Wait, where did we get that wine??" BARCELONA!!

It's about 8:00pm on Saturday night here in Uppsala and part of me wishes I could still be enjoying the amazing sunshine and beautiful beach in Barcelona!! Before we left I had no idea what to expect from the city, all I knew was that it's about 20 degrees warmer than Sweden and let me just say, the weather did not disappoint! The city itself is truly like paradise, with palm trees everywhere and a beach to hang out on, I'd say this trip felt the most like vacation!!

I went with three other girls from my class and we had a blast!! We got there late Thursday night and took a taxi to the hostel. On our way, Serena asked me where the hostel was and I told her it looked like it was in an area called 'Las Ramblas.' She laughed and said 'uh oh, that's on the list I looked up of the top 5 places to avoid in Barcelona!' After that we were all a little skeptical of the hostel and were convinced we were headed for the ghetto of Barcelona haha. But once we got there, our pre-conceived notions of the area quickly changed! Not only is Las Ramblas one of the most hoppin tourist areas in Barcelona (for those of you in Boulder, I'd relate it to a giant Spanish version of Pearl Street), but our hostel was super nice! As we were checking in, the receptionist kindly informed us to try and avoid paying for anything with our credit cards, because all the shops in Barcelona charge an ADDITIONAL 7% fee on top of what the bank charges you for international transactions. Needless to say, an ATM was one of our first stops the next day!

Las Ramblas

We spent most of Friday exploring the city and just getting a feel for Spain's culture. We ended up buying a two-day pass for one of those tour buses that are double-decker style with an open deck on top to see the sights. Anytime people go to Europe in a movie, I feel like they always show them touring a city on one of these buses so I felt like such a typical European tourist, but loved every minute of it! Between Friday and Saturday the bus took us ALL OVER the city...

Camp Nou, where Barcelona's national soccer team plays!

After a full day touring, we stumbled across Barcelona's famous outdoor market. This market was amazing!! Not only was it huge, but it was filled with every type of fresh food you can imagine! Definitely something you don't just stumble across in the US haha. 

mmmm yummy!!

Soooo many gummies!!

For our first night, we set out to eat traditional Spanish food, so we were determined to find cheap tapas or churros. Due to our inability to make a decision as a group haha we failed at both, but did manage to drink the traditional Spanish beverage, Sangria (which I'm sure most of you are familiar with, but it's essentially a form of red wine juice) at Barcelona's very popular Fairy Cafe!

While we were there, it just so happened to be what is known as Barcelona's 'Carnival' weekend. After experiencing it, I'd pretty much say it's Spain's combination of halloween and a masquerade. In celebration of the weekend, Las Ramblas was filled with street performers...

Allyson and I gave this guy money for sitting like a no-headed statue, so he jumped up and took a picture with us!

bahahaha!

Saturday night was definitely the most eventful! We decided to go on a pub crawl organized by our hostel, which was a great deal because we went to 3 different pubs (with a free shot at each one) and then ended at a club without having to pay the minimum 20 euro (~$26) cover charge or wait in line! We decided to embrace the city's carnival spirit and got dressed up for the night! 

We had picked up a couple of cheap bottles of wine to enjoy while getting ready (people in Spain don't even start going out until 11pm or midnight and don't usually come home until the wee hours of the morning, so we figured why not kill time with some wine?!) Anyways, we were opening the second bottle when Michelle (yes, there was two of us on the trip!) says "wait, where did we get that wine??" After some initial confusion, we realized we had grabbed someone else's wine out of the hostel's refrigerator having mistaken it for our own. Turns out another group had bought the same type, but had labeled their bottle, which we failed to realize in time. This whole situation was pretty hilarious at the time, but quite possibly a 'had-to-be-there' kind of thing! Anyways, throughout the night, we discovered that random Spanish guys stand in the middle of the street trying to sell you single cans of beer, but turns out if you actually buy the beer from them it's just a cover up for the drugs they're selling. We also discovered that the main pick up line in Barcelona consists of two words: "Hola bitch!" Not exactly classy, but apparently it works for them. 

We spent the majority of the rest of the trip relaxing on the beach and soakin up the sunshine! It was a perfect girl's weekend and a type of Spanish paradise I'll never forget!

The International Gasque!

It's about 10:00pm on Wednesday night here in Uppsala and you're probably wondering what amazing trip I'm going to tell you about this time. Well surprisingly, I stayed in good ol' Uppsala for the weekend! As much as I'm loving the whole traveling thing, it's been nice to stay put for more than a couple days haha. Life in Uppsala has definitely picked up. I've been a little busier with school (weird right?!) and enjoying the warmer weather we've had this past week...finally got above zero degrees celsius! For those of you that are used to F (like me haha) that means that we finally got some weather above freezing temperatures!! It couldn't have come at a better time either because this weekend was the International Gasque (spelled just the way it sounds)!
Before I left for Sweden, they told us about these things called 'gasques' at my orientation. After now experiencing one for myself, I'd describe it as an upscaled Swedish version of prom. The night essentially consists of everyone getting dressed up (girls in formal dresses and guys in suits/tuxes), eating dinner, and then dancing the night away at the after party. Sounds pretty familiar right?? Well if I had to choose between the American Prom and a Swedish Gasque, I'd pick the gasque! The entire event is an elegant display of Swedish culture and tradition!
I started the night off by getting ready with a few other girls, you know the usual dress, hair, and make-up stuff!

The gasque was hosted by the V-Dala Nation, which is one of the larger nations in Uppsala. We got there at 5:30pm, but didn't actually sit down for dinner until around 6:30pm. They had free champagne for everyone to sip on while we waited to go upstairs for dinner. The room quickly filled up and by dinner time it was packed! Apparently there was about 400 of us international students at this gasque!

Everyone downstairs, drinking free champagne, waiting for dinner...

Finally around 6:30pm, the guy in charge of the gasque came downstairs, blew a horn (what would later be known as the drinking horn) and announced that dinner was ready! We headed upstairs to a giant ballroom, lined with about 15 long tables, all beautifully set for the night's meal...

After sitting down and getting settled, a bunch of waiters lined the room and gave every person a shot of Swedish Schnapps. Here began a long night of drinking! We were not allowed to take the shot in one gulp, but had to pace ourselves so that we took it in three different sips. This was because we sang Swedish songs in between, which all end by saying 'Skol!' (or 'Cheers!'). Basically the night consisted of singing, then drinking, then singing, then drinking, then singing, then drinking, and finally food...but only the appetizer. We were served reindeer and salad to begin with, which was surprisingly very tasty!

After the appetizer, we were given another shot of Schnapps and proceeded with more singing and drinking. For dinner they gave us moose meat with mashed potatoes and for desert we got this custard-like substance with raspberry sauce...all delicious!! By the end of the meal (which lasted until 10:30pm I might add) I'd consumed 2 shots of Schnapps, a beer, 2 glasses of wine, and 2 shots of baileys with dessert. Needless to say, everyone was drunk! In between the singing, drinking, and eating, we were also entertained by an orchestra, an all-boys acapella group, and a group of drummers. Here's the best group of the night!...A bunch of Swedish Boy-Scout look-alikes singing Backstreet Boys...

Once dinner was all said and done, they cleared the tables out of the ballroom and started the after party, which included a live band, open bar, and karaoke! We danced the night away, or at least a good chunk of it and I got home around 3am. Overall, the night was filled with good food (intertwined with lots of alcohol), good people, and a ton of Swedish culture and tradition. It was an experience completely unique to Uppsala and a night I'll never forget!