... I have more pictures and ...

Enjoy!

Robbie

... we're going to Italy and ...

Alright. We've left the beautiful city of Barcelona and it's time to give y'all the update. I'm still in love with this city. I've decided that I'm moving there. After my day orienting myself to the city proper, my friends and I decided to go to the beach. They called and woke me up and said we were going to the beach. Our ship is all of 2 miles from the beach, so I packed accordingly. Light. When I got off the ship, they informed me that we were not going to the Barcelona beach, but to a beach in a suburb called Sitges. In order to get there, we had to get on the metro, catch a train, change stations, then catch a real, electric train 45 minutes south of the city proper. And boy was it worth it. The city was beautiful, exactly like a small mediterranean beach town should look like, small winding streets, cafes on the beach, sailboats in the water, church and cathedral in the background. It couldn't have been prettier. By the time we got to Sitges, we were starving, so we ate at local cafe. I got vegetable paella, and it was legitimately DELICIOUS. I ate way more than I should considering I was going to the beach right after. Oh well. After lunch, we went to the beach and sat in the sun and soaked it all in. The weather was great, 80 degrees, with a breeze. I didn't even break a sweat sitting in the sunlight for 3 hours (and that's saying something). After sun bathing, we had to get back to the ship to have time for dinner. We took a nap, and left for dinner around 9:30 pm. We wanted to go to a place called Champagnaria but it was closed. So instead, we went to a supermerket and bought food there. Still delicious. Another discoteca, then a pub called Dow Jones, where the drinks' prices change based on demand, like a stock market. It was really, really cool. On the way home from the pub, I convinced some American kids, also on Semester at Sea, that I was a foreign exchange student from the north of spain. I told them I was from a small town called O'vella (see earlier post) and they completely believed me. Gracias Senora Jabbour!  It was hilarious. I had another great night!

The next morning, yesterday, I went on a FDP trip for one of my classes to a town in Spain about 2.5 hours away called Lleida. We went to a cathedral that from the outside look pretty boring. But the inside, the cloister, was fantastic. I've included some pictures. My friends and I split from the tour guide because he was boring and decided to explore. We found a door that was open and decided to climb the stairs inside. About 20 spiral steps in, we realized we were climbing the huge, beautiful bell tower. 238 steps later, we were on top of it, looking down at the town of Lleida and it's hilly, wheat farm land around it. Amazing. After the cathedral, we went to a Templar castle that was under renovation. Apparently the castle had been forgotten in the sands of time and teenagers had used it as a hang out, graffitying (sp?) all over. It was still visible while we were walking around. During our tour, we wore the same outfits that the knights templar did. It was really funny. I was a normal knight, but one of my friends, Brandon, was special and had to wear a suit of armor, all 25kg of it. He loved it though, he had a sword.   After the tours, we drove back to Barcelona, I met up with my other friends and we decided to go to just sleep more and grab a quick bite to eat at the nearby McDonalds on La Rambla. Even the chicken nuggets taste better here, haha. After dinner, we went to a club called Opium. After that, we left and made it safely back to the ship!

This morning, I got another phone call that woke me telling me that we were going sightseeing and boy am I glad I went. We went to the Olympic park and it was fantastic (AND FREE)! After the park, we went to the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) and went to the Picasso museum. SO COOL! They had easily 300 paintings by PIcasso, from age 8 to his death. It was crazy. He was a fantastic painter, he was great at cubism and modern art sure, but he was also incredible at realism and scenery. It was just unbelievable. After the museum, we went to the Plaza Catalun because there was a supermarket and I NEEDed to buy Diet Coke. There were people and protestors everywhere, which was cool. Don't worry Mom, we kept our distance. We walked the length of La Rambla, and took a taxi back to the ship. And so ended my Barcelona experience. AND I DIDN'T GET PICK-POCKETED!!!

All in all. I LOVE THIS PLACE. I hope you do too because I want you to enjoy your visits when you come see me.

Now we have one day of sea travel before we reach Italy and my crazy ride all over the Peninsula begins. I'm going to Venice, Verona, Pisa, Florence, and Rome. It's going to be crazy. I'm so excited. I hope y'all enjoyed the length of this blog post. I will do my best to keep this updated during Italy!

Robbie

...I'm out of touch and...

Getting in touch with me.

My email is rfcook@semesteratsea.net

My cell phone works over here, though it's expensive.

Other ways....

http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/staying-in-touch.php


Robbie

... and everything is so expensive and ...

Right now, the MV Explorer has stopped in Barcelona, Catalunya, Espana. And all I have to say is that I'm moving here when I grow up. It's beautiful. Everything about it. Yesterday I went on Architectural Tour of the city that took us all over. We went and saw the Barri Gotic (the Gothic Quarter) of the city and saw the medieval cathedral that was phenomenal. After that we walked around for a while and went to one of Anton Gaudi's apartment buildings, and the whole building felt like it was moving, really fluid, curving walls. It was really pretty. After the Gaudi building, went to lunch at a local bar. In Barcelona, all the restaurants are like bars with a few tables. They serve Tapas (small portions) of some delicious food and also drinks and beer. It's fantastic. After lunch, we went to the Sagrada Familia. And when I say I was awestruck, I mean, I was awestruck. This basilica that's been under construction for about 100 years is incredible. I've never been in a building so incredible spacious, and odd. The whole building was odd, it was this strange combination of modern and gothic and just crazy. I included some pictures below. One of my professors actually broke into tears, he teaches architecture and has never been inside the Sagrada Familia (it just opened in November of 2010, the Pope actually gave the first sermon inside). After a stop at the top of one of the mountains on the edge of town with panoramic views, we went back to the ship where I met up with my new friends. Most of them are from South Carolina, New England originally. After a 7pm dinner on the ship, we went to sleep, a nap really. At 10 o'clock we went out to the city. We went to a restaurant on La Rambla called Attic. It was delicious. I had duck. At first I saw the price, 13, and thought. Not bad at all. Then I realized, no 13 Euro. So 18 dollars. Plus the 3 Euro bottle of water and 1.50 Euro for bread. All in all, first dinner in Spain, (mind you, at 11pm), 20 Euro. But SO good! Delicious. Everything in Spain is delicious, but you pay for it. Haha then we went to a pub called La O'vella Negra (The Black Sheep in Catalan). After the pub we went to a discoteca and danced until 4am. Super fun night. Not bad for one day right? I'll update you later on what happened today. Talk to you soon.

Robbie

it's rocking back and forth and?

Hello friends,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write a post on this but life on the ship has been a little crazy. Here's the breakdown so far.
After visiting Cole in Atlanta, I took my flight to Nassau, all the while hoping they (Delta) wouldn't lose my baggage. When we landed in the bahamas we were immediately greeted by a thunderstorm and a 45 minute airport delay. Apparently the plane in our gate had a mechanical error so we had to wait so they could tow it out. After a while we finally made it to customs, which actually went very very quickly, faster than the last time I went through DFW's. I met a couple friends in the line so that was cool. After making it to the port, a $27 cab ride later, I got off and was immediately greeted by some one from Semester at Sea. After walking through the port's security, I saw it, my ship, which was actually fairly small compared to the 15 deck Carnival behemoth behind it. Anyway. I got on ship with the rest of the work study people and was surprised to find out that my room was not only on deck 4 (the highest deck for students), but also had a huge window. Essentially, I lucked out.  My roommate, Matthew, wasn't there yet so I got to pick the best bed and closet space, which was cool. Matthew and the rest of the students got on the next day and suddenly the ship got way more crowded. Oh well.

The next evening, the ship left port and after being docked for 2 days, the entire student body suddenly couldn't stand up straight. As we got out further into the ocean, the ship rocked more and more, and everyone onboard rushed for their Dramamine. But now that we're 5 days in, most people seem to have their sea legs. The real challenge has been learning to read while the ship is rocking back in forth, it makes you both sick and exhausted. Add to the exhaustion the fact that we are losing an hour of sleep almost every night and little access to caffeine, and you have a recipe for some seriously tired people. Me included. 8am classes really stink when it feels like 5am.  Work so far has been pretty straight forward, just busy-work, but it's not too incredibly boring.

We're only three or four days from Barcelona and the whole ship is bustling with excitement. People are making plans and it's stressing me out, but I'll get the hang of winging plans eventually… hopefully. It's time for me to go to work, but I'll try and update this more often, definitely after Barcelona. See y'all soon. I also apologize for grammatical and spelling errors in this, autocorrect and my exhaustion is making a bad combination. 

Robbie

Robbie Cook