Barcelona

Brooke told me about a UNC guy studying in Barcelona this semester whose first Facebook album of the experience is titled “BARS-elona.” Clever, huh? I’m getting really sick of the “Party in Europe” study abroad stereotype. I realize that’s how many people feel they can maximize their time here (with a run-on stream of wild nights they barely remember and mornings they slept through?). Every weekend I feel the pressure to do that, too. But I simply have different values. My kind of fun is waking up early with lots of energy and without a hint of a hangover so that I can walk for miles through one of the world’s most vibrant and beautiful cities. And not one tiny bit of me feels like I’m doing it wrong.

So anyway, I visited Barcelona this weekend. It’s potentially my favorite city so far.

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Another hike yay!

This Saturday I went on another excursion with the Club Montaña. We left Pamplona in a big bus early in the morning, drove 2.5 hours, hiked 10 miles, explored a castle, and then drove back home. My kind of day — I didn’t even mind the cold rain we walked through all morning.

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The Setting of the Story

Now that the exciting newness of everything I’m doing is slowing down, I want to take a moment to give a decent description of where I am. Here’s the backdrop for all these blog posts:

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Seaside Hikes and Barside Bites

The highlight of my weekend — which I largely spent sleeping in late and journaling in cafés — was the 10-mile hike Brooke and I embarked on Sunday. We took an early bus from Pamplona to San Sebastián (which I have learned that locals call by its Basque name Donostia). My Lonely Planet guide book had made me aware of a seaside hiking trail that runs 8k from San Sebastián/Donostia to its neighbor Pasajes — but the book failed to adequately describe the breathtaking cliff-top views over the ocean and the deep serenity of the quiet moss-covered woods through which the path took us.

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