Everything I've done Since July 5th

 Alright, so I haven't blogged in a while. Sorry. I got busy. But I went to Rome with Mom and Andy and it was a lot of fun. We also went to Pompeii, which was great and inspired me to take a class next semester on Pompeii. We saw and did everything you'd imagine in Rome, including the Vatican which was really cool. We also did a wine tasting that was spectacular, and came with delicious meats and cheeses. Best wine, cheese, and meat ever. Even the tuna was okay.

 This picture was Pompeii, the town that was completely destroyed (aka preserved perfectly) by Mt. Vesuvius erupting in 78AD and then was found totally accidentally a couple hundred years ago. It doesn't totally do it justice, but its a good one of the three of us. It was SO hot there! I actually thought I was going to faint, but luckily they turned one of the ruins into a cafeteria that sold bottled water.

This is us at the Vatican. Not really much to say except that the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica are awesome. Totally worthy of a guy who used to basically rule over all of Europe.

 Then they came to Barcelona and we did all of the touristy things. Sagrada Familia was awesome (this is a picture of the interior) and I would totally recommend it to anyone. We also went to the beach and other things like that, including the Rock Museum--which for the record is about music, not fossils. That week after they left I started my new internship at the IUEE (which stands for the University Insitute of European Studies in Catalan). The people are really nice, and I was sad I was only here for 11 days. While here I wrote a paper about the EU's Energy Roadmap 2050 that they published to their website! Here's a link to the article. If you don't want to read it I totally understand, but look at my name at the top all fancy!
http://www.iuee.eu/pdf-actuali​tat/512/eKBvIf6YcJjtGdNGbrhb.P​DF

 The last program of the trip was to Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava. Like any proper European location there is a giant castle, but we didn't have enough time to go. We did have enough time to buy a delicious lunch and sit on the beach. Alissa and I went swimming, so now I can say I've swam in the Mediterranean! The water was really nice, but the rocks they had instead of sand hurt my feet :(.

And of course like any proper redhead, I got pretty badly sunburnt even though I put sunscreen on every two hours and immediately after swimming! Luckily I'll spare you pictures of those.

Even so, it was totally worth it. The beach was beautiful and it was such a nice day.

The last weekend was a free weekend, and I didn't go anywhere. But we did go out and have a great time in Barcelona! We went to the Ice Bar, which is entirely made out of ice and pretty awesome. On Sunday, Lindsay and I took sailing lessons! To be honest, they didn't teach us anything so I'm glad I knew--they just let us take turns steering with the tiller.

Dad got here Monday, and tonight I'm moving out of Bellaterra and into his hotel. Then we're going to Stockholm! Hopefully I'll blog about Stockholm, but no guarantees apparently.


I've had such a great time in Barcelona and I can't believe I'm leaving! But I also am excited to go home, especially to see everyone!

France and Figueres

I went to France Saturday afternoon, and it was really cool. We just went to this really small town called Carcassonne, which was a fortified castle built in the 13th century. It was sort of like being at a Rennaissance fair, except that the stuff was real and no one was pretending to be living in the Rennaissance. I wish we'd been in France for longer than just an afternoon and an evening, but I had a great time for the few hours I was there. The tour was interesting and then exploring on our own was great. I tried Cassoulet, which is basically like a white bean stew with chicken or duck or something, and it was pretty good. But I also discovered that anything in France tastes delicious, even when its just hotel restaurant food. In other words, I'd just really like to go back to France.

On our way back, we stopped at Teatro Museu Dalí, which is a museum that Salvador Dalí designed himself. Its in his hometown in a destroyed theater. The whole museum is like an experiment in modern art, which totally makes sense if you know anything about Dalí. There are more pictures on facebook. That was pretty much it though. Other than that, I was on a bus.

But I leave for Rome tomorrow! Yay!