always keep the faith

Perspective

Today was Google I/O, I got to see some cool new google stuff demoed, got to try google glass, got a chromebook pixel, blah blah blah. 

1. Ran into SOPHIE CHEN who I haven’t seen since I moved from Cupertino to San Diego. She is still the same, just less tan and longer hair. It was really fun reminiscing about the good old choir days :) She was with Kevin Zhang, who I met through Brenda when I went to visit her at Google. He still vividly remembers that we met at innout haha…

2. Planned meetings: Lily Bao, Elynn Lee, and Kalpana :)

3. Honestly the best part of this day was that I got to talk to my really close friend, Sam. He showed me his house and I got to talk to his friends who are all really funny. I noticed that I really like the group dynamic that really close bros have. It’s just soooo heartwarming (in a strange way) when you see them randomly cussing each other out for no reason, joking around and just laughing with each other. Sam showed me a lot of random videos that were all REALLY cool (I love music) and then later we played pool…haha and then Sam and I went to the roof and talked.

I always think it’s amazing that even though we don’t talk that often, every time we do talk, there’s such good vibes. It’s crazy how far we’ve both come since that first time we met when I was in … what 7th grade? Someone that I will always be thankful for; so glad that he walked into my life. God has a plan for both of us and I am SO excited for the future :)

Broken hearts

The worst feeling in the world. I hope my loved ones never have to feel that kind of pain. EVER.

Immersed

For our second day in Madrid, we went to a lot of different museums! The first museum we went to was Museo Reina Sofía. We went through a few exhibits and then we went to see Picasso´s Guernica. I tried to take a photo but then they were like ¡No photos por favor! so I stopped. Anyway it was a massive canvas. And it was a really unsettling painting…but I guess that´s Picasso for you! Afterwards we went to Museo Nacional del Prado where we saw Velazquez´s Las Meninas (Picasso did a study on this painting which we saw in Barcelona! whoaaaa) and Hieronymous Bosch´s Garden of Earthly Delights as well as Goya´s Third of May. There were so many other famous paintings that I saw as well but not going to list here LOL for fear of sounding like Trupe … my AP art history teacher haha. I feel like all that hard work in AP Art history literally just came to me recognizing paintings and the artists that did them. sigh. It was pretty cool though that I got to see all these famous works of art! 

Afterwards, we went to another museum called Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza which has works of mostly impressionist and more modernized art. I saw so many different paintings today LOL. I think I´m more attracted to the modernized art pieces as opposed to older styles of art, even though I recognize less of the modern pieces. I feel so cultured after today LOL we literally spent the entire day at various museums.

We also wanted to try going to a convent to get cookies. Apparently there is this convent that has nuns who bake cookies and sell them. It´s super secret almost like a speakeasy…you have to ring this unmarked door (the entrance to the convent) and they will give you cookies but you will never see the nuns. We heard about this from Joeyee so we wanted to try it haha! We walked into this sketchy looking area that had almost no one in the alley…rang this random doorbell and then someone answered in spanish! They opened the door and we walked into this area which was the convent, and then we got to this window which had a kind of rolly thing (similar to one of those circular rotating doors for some buildings, but a lot smaller and not transparent) and they rolled out a box of cookies…and then we put 10 euros and rolled it back to them. It was SO INTERESTING! but this bakery is super popular! When we got there they only had one kind of cookie left O_O

I seriously love the people that I´m traveling with! I think your mood seriously depends on the people that you surround yourself with. Everyone I´m with is always so happy and upbeat and excited which makes me even more so. I love being alive.

¡Madrid, España!

I love this Spanish keyboard haha. Our first day in Madrid, we met up with Joeyee and Tiffany to go to Palacio Real. Apparently, it is one of the largest palaces in the world. Something funny is that there was a side courtyard filled with statues…apparently these statues were supposed to be put onto the top of the palace, but they were too heavy so they were put randomly on the side instead LOL. We were really lucky because it was so sunny! Heidi and I bring the sun from San Diego haha. There was also a cathedral next to the palace…when the king was going to build a palace, they also decided to build a cathedral as soon as possible…but the cathedral took 100 years to build. Also, it was built by three different architects so each side of the cathedral looks really different from the others! We also walked through Plaza del Sol, which is like the ´Times Square´ of Madrid. There were so many street performers.

For lunch, we went to El Tigre, where we got a ton of different tapas (croquettes, chorizo, egg&peppers with patata, calamari) and they even gave us paella! After lunch we went to Plaza de Cibeles, this huge arch near a roundabout where we took a ton of jumping photos LOL, and Parque de Retira where we had a nice walk. There were so many people just strolling through the park since it was so sunny! There were also a ton of people selling random things on the side of the park like knockoff designer bags, sunglasses, candy and snacks, etc. It randomly started raining though and it got REALLY windy. I felt bad for some of the performers whose entire setups got blown over. Afterwards, we walked back to Mercado San Miguel, which is a pretty nice market but you can tell it´s geared towards tourists. There were a lot of people drinking wine and eating tapas. This market had a lot of food being sold like smoked salmon and other seafoods as well as alcoholic drink stands. It looked really nice inside and there were even heater stands for cold days hehe. After the market, we went to Plaza Mayor which is … a huge square with a statue in the middle. I´m really glad that we got to meet up with Tiffany and Joeyee before they left for Barcelona! It was fun being with so many people just walking around and exploring a new city. I love traveling :)

Gaudí for days

We saved the most famous Gaudí landmarks for our final day in Barcelona. In the morning, we went to Park Guell, which is a huge park that was designed by Gaudí. The architecture was so asymmetrical yet beautiful at the same time. His style is very flowy and curvy as opposed to straight columns like regular buildings. He also uses a lot of ceramic! Park Guell is located on a huge hill, but it wasn´t too hard of a climb since there were escalators leading up to the park, which was really nice! It was another super sunny day and it was so fun walking through the park taking photos (haha thanks to Heidi our awesome photographer…will post photos later!). We attempted to take a photo with the big ceramic mosaic lizard in the front of the park but there were SO MANY TOURISTS trying to take a photo (lol I say this as if I´m not a tourist …) so our photo turned out kind of strange but it´s okay!

Afterwards we went to La Sagrada Familia, which is another one of Gaudí´s most famous works in Barcelona. It literally looks like a decaying cathedral. La Sagrada Familia has been under construction for a very very long time. It was interesting because we ran into The Hangovers, which is an acapella group from Cornell! It was so funny because Heidi kept saying ¨I´m pretty sure that I know that guy…¨ and she did! When we finished checking out La Sagrada Familia, we saw The Hangovers doing a performance across from La Sagrada Familia! They attracted quite a crowd…I´d say that they attracted more attention than La Sagrada Familia. Basically, they performed different American pop songs (California Girls, Call Me Maybe, Tick Tock, etc.) with different movements, like in a musical almost! In some of their performances, they will specifically sing to one person…it was pretty embarassing but they serenaded me for one of their songs! Even though it was embarassing at the moment, I´ll definitely look back on that song with happiness haha. It was just such a fun and ridiculous moment, Heidi, Donna, Jenny, and Karina recording The Hangovers singing and us standing across from La Sagrada Familia and them randomly singing to me. I am seriously so blessed! God is so good to me (I definitely feel that sooooo much throughout this trip).

Later, we went back to La Boqueria Market because we love that market. I got some crema catalana from the market to bring back for my parents and Brenda to try! I´m not sure if they´ll like it since it´s pretty sweet. Oh well! I´m sure Brenda will like it LOL.

Our plane to Madrid was actually delayed for quite a bit (1.5-2 hours?) and it´s so apparent that this is uncommon in Europe. The airline gave us vouchers for free food on them (a ´snack´entailed a baguette or sandwich and a drink) and people that were waiting were SO mad and were legit reprimanding the airline staff. Honestly in America I´m so used to delays that I almost wasn´t surprised…but I think the Spanish people were pretty angry about it. Anyway, we got to Madrid around midnight :) Barcelona was amazing…I love Spain!

Let´s make this fleeting moment last forever

Our second day of Barcelona was a dream. 

We went to the beach (Barceloneta) and had our picnic! We had salami and cheese baguettes with cucumbers and smoked salmon on the side. So good! We literally just spent a lot of time at the beach just chilling…there was this red rope structure that we climbed up onto and the view from the top was so pretty. I felt so lucky just sitting up there, feeling the wind in my hair and looking at the beautiful beach and skyline in Barcelona. Heidi was playing music (I think specifically Justin Timberlake´s new song ¨Mirrors¨) and I just felt so relaxed and blessed. I wish I could take moments and capture EVERYTHING about that moment and relive it sometimes. But we can´t which is why these moments are even more precious…

Afterwards we walked along the boardwalk next to the beach and then made our way to Montjuic, which is a huge park that encompasses a lot of things like a castle and an art museum, etc. We walked up there and got an AMAZING view of Barcelona…we sat down at this restaraunt at the top, ordered paella and sangria and just relaxed, ate, and enjoyed the Barcelona skyline view. It literally felt like summer.

We then walked to Font Mágica (Magic fountain in Montjuic), and the area surrounding it was breathtaking. There was this HUGE fountain in the middle, and then there were four massive columns flanked by two staircases, all leading up to more staircases that framed the art museum. It was so beautiful and grand. We were actually waiting for the fountain show, so we sat on the bases of the huge columns and had a really good view for the fountain show! The fountain was so pretty when the show started…the waters changing designs (it´s like an infinitely prettier version of the bellagio fountain show), the songs playing with the water designs, and finally they added changing colours to the show! They had some amazing effects that they used on the fountain…there was one effect where the water literally looked like clouds surrounding the fountain. We ended up walking up to the fountain and we were standing right next to this beautiful fountain, looking at the changing colours and designs….and then the beginning of ¨Titanium¨ started playing…There is seriously no way to describe how we felt at that moment. I was standing next to Heidi and we were both just SO EXCITED and happy and seriously just high on life. IT IS SO GOOD TO BE ALIVE. I wish I could make that fleeting moment last forever…because in that moment, I swear we were infinite.

¡Hola de Barcelona!

I am actually using a spanish keyboard right now since I´m posting this in madrid. They have a specific key dedicated to ñ. ññññññññ hahaha so fun to type!!

I LOVE BARCELONA. The first city on my trip through Spain and Italy! Something interesting is that in Barcelona, they speak primarily Catalan, not Spanish. The first day, we walked through the city to get to a famous tapas place that Helen recommended we try. While we were walking there, we happened to see Casa Battló! It´s one of Gaudi´s famous works of architecture. The windows look a bit like Venetian masks. The entire time we were walking to Catalana cerveseria (our lunch destination), I kept stopping just to take in the beauty of the city. I don´t know why but I seriously felt that every single place I looked was so picturesque and I just wished I could capture everything that my eyes saw. We finally got to Catalana cerveseria and ordered the mixed plate tapas since none of us really knew what tapas were good…Our waiter was super nice to us! He didn´t really speak English and he kept trying to tell us something. Eventually he went inside, and he came back out with a paper and written on it was ¨watch out for your belongings.¨ SO CUTE and so nice of him! He also suggested we get some traditional Barcelona appetizer bread, which is essentially toasted bread with a hint of fresh tomato on it. For our mixed plate tapas, we got come croquettes (which are essentially potatoes crushed and deep fried…so good), shrimp, peppers (which were to be eaten whole), grilled mushrooms (these were steeped in some sort of flavoured oil, which tasted amazing), calamari, and clams. Everything tasted so good. For dessert, we got pumpkin cake with sweet wine, which tasted AMAZING!! The wine came in a separate shot glass and you ate the cake by dipping it into the sweet wine. SO GOOD.

After lunch, we went to Las Ramblas which is one of the main streets in Barcelona. There were so many waffle and gelato stands on the road, as well as tourist-souvenir shops. They also had flower stands and even stands selling pets! I saw some turtles being sold for 70 euros and there were also hamsters, gerbils, parakeets, etc. Off of Las Ramblas was Boqueria Market, which was a HUGE market selling various things ranging from fruits to Catalan chocolate to smoked meats like chorizo to crema catalan (a traditional Barcelona dessert). I got xocolat con churros, which is a traditional Spanish dessert (or snack?). You basically just have regular churros, but they give you a cup of melted chocolate and you dip the churros into the chocolate and eat it like that! It was SO GOOD!! I love chocolate and I love churros so you can´t go wrong with both…lol.

After the market, we walked through a lot of small, beautiful side streets to get to Museu Picasso. We went through Museu Picasso and looked at all of the paintings…there was one that I really liked called Dona amb Mantellina (I think it´s also called La Salchichona). Surprisingly, Picasso was amazing at painting realistic paintings as well! I got so excited when we got to his work on Las Meninas haha.. the effects of AP Art History 4 years later.

While walking back from Museu Picasso, I stopped to get a gofre, which is a traditional Belgium waffle (there is sugar on the inside…and it caramelizes when the waffle is made!). We went to La Seu, which is a huge cathedral in Barcelona. We actually ran into these girls that we met on the coach to Stansted airport (Lizzie, McKayla, and Marissa hehe I remember their names)! The world is so small…the interior of La Seu is breathtaking. I literally always feel amazed whenever I enter a huge cathedral…they are just so beautiful and holy. There was also an antique market near the cathedral which was selling some vintage goods. Outside of La Seu, there were also these three amazing street performers who were singing some random american songs. It was so peaceful and just sitting there with Heidi, next to La Seu, listening to music and people watching, seemed so surreal. Like, is this really life right now?

Afterwards, we walked to Mirador a colom, which is a huge column at the end of Las Ramblas (somewhat like the column in Trafalgar Square) and then walked along the side of the beach. It was SO PRETTY! I will always be a California girl and so will Heidi. We got SO excited when we saw the beach haha. Later we went back to the market and since it was closing, they were selling things at a bargain. We got some fruit smoothies (kiwi banana coconut YUM!) and they gave us a free one too! They said we were guapas hehe! So nice of them…we then took the metro back to the hostel area and then went to the supermarket to buy food for our picnic at la playa Barceloneta for the next day! 

Farewell London

On Monday, I left Cambridge early in the morning to go to Heidi´s place since I had to leave my dorm by Sunday night (haha I talked to the head porter and he let me stay for an extra night)…got to her place sometime in the afternoon (seriously a herculean effort to lug my two huge suitcases up and down the stairs of the London tube) and we made soda bread together! It was a surprisingly simple recipe and the bread was SO GOOD. I just love fresh bread lol…probably a bit too much…Afterwards, Heidi was super nice and helped me bring my two huge luggages to Petr´s place near Kensington since he is being super nice and letting me store my stuff at his place while I travel around Spain and Italy! Heidi is so nice to me hehe…seriously so blessed to have her in London the same time I was studying abroad in Cambridge.

On the way back, we stopped by Primark to get Heidi a travel suitcase for our upcoming trip! Walked back to her place and then she made me stir fry noodles and tuna salad…she is so good at cooking even though she doesn´t say so hehe. (by the way I´m posting this at a hostel in Madrid which is why I don´t understand the keyboard at all, sorry for random typos that I don´t catch)

On Tuesday, Heidi had class so I decided to go to Greenwich to explore the area for a bit! To get there I had to take the central line to Bank, and then take the DLR from there to Cutty Sark station. It took way longer than I expected sigh. Anyway, I went to the Royal Naval Academy and went into the Painted Hall which Heidi recommended! It had such a beautiful interior. I really wish I was more eloquent and could describe it better…it was really cool because they had mirrors so that the tour guides could point out portions of the paintings on the ceilings. Pretty cool! I also went into the Chapel which was super pretty as well. HAHA my vocabulary shrank so much since high school. I also checked out the Queen´s House and the National Maritime Museum. Apple, cranberry, and elderflower juice is suprisingly refreshing! (also i can´t tell if any of my words are spelled correcly since this spanish computer literally red underlines all my words). I also saw Cutty Sark and the Greenwich Market (which is SUPER tiny compared to all the other markets I´ve been to) and then I had to get back onto the DLR and take the tube to meet Crystall once more before I went on my trip!

We went to Kuaáina, some random Hawaiian themed restaraunt to get lunch since we were both hungry haha!! I got a really good sandwich (which I´m going to try to duplicate when I get back to Cali…avocado, tomato, onion, and lettuce hehe) and Crystall got a burger without the bun…they made it into a salad for her! We were so proud of being healthy at a burger place HAHA. Crystall is so cute! We took a lot of touristy photos haha and selfies. After lunch we passed by Ben´s cookies so we got some! They price the cookies by weight, which is really interesting…I tried a milk chocolate orange cookie which was DELICIOUS! I get why people dish out money for these cookies haha. We then went to the apple store to try to get Crystall´s computer fixed…but the queue was so long haha. FInally we got to talk to an attendant and we scheduled an appointment for her! I had to leave, but I´m super glad that I got to meet up with Crystall in England. Really made me cherish longtime friendships that much more.

After going back to Heidi´s place, Heidi and I decided to go to Abbey Road, which is where the Beatles took their iconic photo of them crossing the street. The way there was seriously an ordeal. The tube was SUPER crowded it was almost funny to me. I couldn´t stop laughing for some reason when we were so crowded in the tube. I literally did not have to hold onto anything since there were so many people squished around me. Abbey Road is pretty interesting…it is literally just a regular zebra crossing. Except there are a ton of people trying to take a picture of themselves crossing it. We saw some guys literally stand in the middle of the road to get a good angle of their group crossing the Abbey Road crossing. I almost felt bad for the cars trying to drive across since they literally had to stop every time people wanted to take photos. Heidi, Helen, and I got some photos walking (haha Heidi skipped across becuase she felt bad for the cars LOL) across the zebra crossing…

We went back to Heidi´s place and then Tiffany, Joeyee, and their friend Grace came over and we played ring of fire haha! Then Tiffany said that there was this club called Mahiki which was offering free entrance for girls before 11pm…haha we ended up going to another club (which was super small and sketchy imo) near Covent Garden called los locos (HAHA sketchiness is self explanatory)…one good thing about that club though is that they played ¨Clarity¨…Heidi and I got SUPER excited and literally just ran to the dance floor and just sang the entire song haha!! got home super late and passed out. I can´t believe Helen was able to wake up early enough to make it to class the next day…

I´m going to miss London despite its moodiness in the weather…I´m going to miss people saying ¨cheers!¨ in response to anything, people driving on opposite sides of the road, cars having steering wheels on the right hand side instead of left hand side, PRIMARK, etc…I am so blessed to have had the chance to spend a quarter abroad. It went by way too fast! I will post photos later, since right now I´m in Madrid! I will post about Barcelona and Madrid later! besos ;)