I wrote this post earlier this month before the protests and demonstrations began. By the time I was ready to post it, it didn’t feel right to put up a post about celebrations when we had a day off school because we weren’t sure if busses would be able to make it to school. It felt a bit disrespectful to post about parties and celebrations when there was so much unrest. There are still protests and demonstrations but as things have begun to calm down a bit and it is in fact another holiday, Halloween, I think it’s safe to […]
Dress It Up
Loungewear is not a thing here. An everyday yoga pant is not something you see sauntering down the street. You want to run out and throw out your trash? You better be wearing something presentable and have a full face on. Running to the store real quick to pick something up? Leave the oversized sweatshirt at home. The people of Barcelona are always dressed to the nines. For someone who had totally embraced the yoga pants are real pants movement back home, this has been a real wake up call. No, yoga pants are not acceptable to wear unless you […]
A Few Favorites: Life in Barcelona
Clinking coffee cups, the chatter of locals and the alluring smell of fresh brewed coffee waft through my living room windows when I pull them open in the morning. Living next to a bakery certainly has its perks. As tempting as those smells are, I also plan on continuing to fit into my clothes, so I have settled on a nice compromise with myself. Each Saturday, I select one treat and a coffee from downstairs to indulge in. While I could enjoy the ambiance of the shop, I have made it a habit now to take my coffee llevar (to […]
Settling In
So much happens in a week. Just last week at this time I felt lost and confused, as my last post talked about. This week, things are starting to look familiar. I walk in the correct direction before I pull up Google Maps. I’ve started to make it to the bus stop in time without having to watch the bus I wanted pull away as I walk down the street. And I’ve started to get to know other new teachers from my school as we do different activities together. Barcelona is slowly but surely starting to feel more like home. […]
Lost and Confused: First Week in Barcelona
Is that the street I want? Wait, have I walked too far? No, I haven’t walked far enough? Why didn’t I just keep my cellphone plan so I could use Google Maps?! Just a few of the thousand of thoughts that have crossed my mind in the last week. My first week living in Barcelona. But before I jump into that you should know a few things about me. 1. I like to be early to things 2. New things/situations/people way stress me out 3. I do not enjoy being lost, ever Wait, wait, wait you’re thinking. Katy, you chose […]
New Adventures in Barcelona, Spain
This has been years in the making. Anyone who knows me has without a doubt at one time or another heard me prattle on about how one day I wanted to live abroad. It’s one thing to talk and dream about one day strolling cobblestone streets everyday heading to a local coffee shop in a quaint European town, it’s quite another thing to actually do something about it. But here I am, doing something about it. I still can’t quite believe I will be moving this August to Barcelona, Spain to teach at the American School of Barcelona. I will […]
Sagrada Familía- Classroom Connection
Happy Friday! Before we jump into another weekend I thought I’d share a fun travel teachable moment from this week in my classroom. I could not have asked for a better connection to my recent trip to Spain. This past weekend in the Sunday Boston Globe, there was an article in the travel section about La Sagrada Familía. Thanks to my mum and dad (who still reads a print paper these days?!) I was made aware of this perfect connection to my recent trip to Spain. Thanks mum! Big color pictures of the famous basilica and a short article filled an […]
Las Ramblas and the Boqueria
Happy Friday! I can’t believe it was now two weeks ago that I was in Spain. Today I thought it would be fun to take a little walk down memory lane to our last day of the trip. We ended our time in Barcelona and after a full day of sightseeing it was perfect to enjoy a few hours to strolling down Las Ramblas, a hustle and bustle pedestrian street lined with shops and restaurants. Here were some of my favorite moments from those few uninterrupted hours. 1.Eating paella with friends. I was bound and determined to try some paella […]
Tapas and More
Talking about my trip to Spain would not be complete without a post about the food. As someone who has eaten the same breakfast everyday for the last 3 years, and easy find myself in a food rut, it may surprise you that while traveling I throw all caution to the wind and will eat just about anything. My feeling is I may not have the chance to have camel (Australia), guinea pig (Peru) or blood sausage (Spain) again, so I might as well give it a try! Spain did not disappoint as far as new foods were concerned. Everywhere […]
I Biked Barcelona!
One of my all time favorite activities I did while in Spain last week was biking through Barcelona. Although I was exhausted from an early wake up call to travel from Madrid on the high speed train, I was excited to bike around. My recent experience biking in Copenhagen had me pumped to see the city in a different way. We started in the Gothic Quarter and walked down to our bike rental shop, Green Bikes. Our tour brought us down quaint, cobble stone ally ways down to the waterfront in the Olympic Park area. I loved when we reached […]