Trunks and Trails: South Africa // Part 1

Good day, everyone :)
Summer is over, sad face. We're into September now which means back to reality and back to wading through college work and life and not being able to use the excuse "but it's summer" as a viable excuse to be a bit lazy 😂
September is also when I have my birthday. The 21st, to be exact. So I'll be looking forward to that and I'll be looking forward to going back to Sligo in a few days and getting out to Strandhill, Rosses Point and seeing friends again, so it'll be a pretty hectic month!
But on to the blog post!
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So at the start of the summer, right after I came back from Erasmus, it was a quick change over before I was on the road to the airport, heading to South Africa!
I returned to Ireland on the 7th of June, a Wednesday and on the 10th, a Saturday, I was packed up and ready, with my family, to head off again.

 Preparation

The preparation for South Africa began pretty much as soon as we were told about the trip. As this was a family holiday-style trip, amazingly paid for by my father, it was his idea to go there in the first place. So to get prepared for South Africa, it was a case of researching the areas we were going. Listing what we could go and see, what we would like to do and make sure we have all the necessary items, medicines and accessories for the trip.

1. One of the key things to get done before going to South Africa was to make sure that we were all appropriately and carefully medically checked and vaccinated. Things to get vaccinated against were tetanus, hepatitis and typhoid. Being in Spain, it was a bit of a task to find a place that would vaccinate against, basically, tropical diseases. For anyone travelling abroad to a place that may require vaccinations, check out this website to find a tropical medicine bureau/clinic near you: https://www.tmb.ie/
2. In the month that we travelled to South Africa, June. It was winter time in South Africa. Now once we got there, it was 30 degrees celsius, which for an Irish person, is far better than any day in our summer. So for me, the essentials needed for the trip were items such as shorts, t-shirts, sunglasses, caps and light shoes. Whilst there, we were treated to some odd looks from the locals. They were in body warmers and long pants, calling it cold.
3. Travel Agent documents/information. Travelling via a travel agent, as we did. Keeping an eye on your documents and making sure you have all times, dates and information correct, and it'll make for a less-stress time.

The Trip

Saturday, 10th of June. We left home in the early afternoon. The travel plan was to, instead of driving to Dublin, was to drive to Galway and take the bus from the Galway Bus Depot to the airport, direct. We took GoBus from Galway airport. I find GoBus to be a good, direct transport from the airport. It saves money for those driving and it also gets you to the door of the terminal building sufficiently and punctually. Our flight was leaving at around 15:45, we made it to Dublin airport just after 2:30 so we had enough time to check in the bags and get ourselves something to eat. We quickly made it through security and weren't waiting too long before our first flight was boarding. 

The first leg of the journey was a quick flight from Dublin to London Heathrow. What I love is that it takes about 45 minutes to fly from Dublin to London. Enough time for a powernap! For the first flight, we took an Aer Lingus flight. It was my first time flying with Aer Lingus, actually. For the flight over, I can't really review or say much about the service because I was already asleep before take off...

But 45 minutes later we were touching down at Heathrow Airport and shuffling through the transfer area to sit and wait a few hours before our next flight. Heathrow Airport is quite cool, I think. A bit pricey in some places, but it has a lot of stuff to see and a lot of restaurants, so when you're stuck in Heathrow on a layover, it isn't hard to find something to pass the time. It's worth going into WHSmith  and maybe pick up something to read because the next leg of the journey is the big one.
The next leg of the trip was from London Heathrow to Johannesberg Airport in South Africa. We boarded the aircraft, got everything settled and sorted. For

me, it was my first experience of a real long haul flight, so it was quite fun to see tv screens, blankets and food being served on the aircraft, I mean it made the trip feel a bit more luxurious. We weren't taxiing to the runway and setting off. Flight time- Just over 10 hours. The start of the trip is the amazement stage where we picked through the movies and music, ate our on-board meal and tried to sleep. We flew from London to South Africa with South African Airways who provided a nice service, a comfortable flight and the food was not too bad! Here is some advice for if you're going to do the long-haul trip:

1. Travel Socks: You'd be quite surprised, as even I was skeptical about whether or not to wear travel socks, as in my head I was thinking "Damn, I'm not an old man, I don't need to wear travel socks". For me, a few hours into the flight and my legs started getting sore and the compression in the cabin was making my feet swell a bit but the socks kind of contained it and made the flight just that bit more comfortable. I'd recommend when doing the trip to pack a pair of travel socks, just in case.
2. Neck Pillow: One of the things that made the flight a whole lot nicer was the fact that I had brought my own travel neck pillow. When I sleep on a plane or bus or other transport, my neck really gets strained. A great investment for those long haul and even short haul flights is a travel neck pillow. I purchased my memory foam neck pillow from Primark/Penneys for only 4 euro. 4 euro well spent! For info on the Primark/Penneys neck pillow: https://www.primark.com/en-ie/product/memory-foam-travel-pillow,d1181102620150104
3. Download Movies/Shows: Although South African Airways provided almost up to date movies, music and tv shows, there was only limited selection. Don't be totally reliant on that, download a couple episodes of a show or a couple movies. I mean, for a 10 hour trip, you could definitely start and finish a season of Game of Thrones!

We arrived in Johannesberg like a bag of weasels. Tired, grumpy and hungry, thankfully we didn't have long to wait for our last connecting flight. After we collected our baggage, we moved through the Or Tambo Airport until we were greeted by a rep from Travelchoice, the travel agency we booked through. Helpfully, he guided us from gate to gate and gave us all the information and necessary ticketing we needed to pass through the airport. After getting through what felt like the 10th security check, we were then waiting for our next flight. Johannesberg to Nelspruit. The airline we flew with was the South African Airways subsidiary airline, AirLink. A jet sized aircraft was what was carrying us from Johannesberg to Nelspruit. Another 45 minute flight, the crew on-board treated us to a little gift, a luggage scale, from AirLink for their 25th anniversary. 

We landed in Nelspruit Airport and it was such a sight to see. The airport was basically a hut with a woven roof, tractors were pulling the luggage trailers and the warm air was awesome. We weren't long in the airport, we gathered our bags and moved through to meet our car transfer. Travelchoice's transfer drove us from Nelspruit Airport to Hazyview town, a good 1 hour drive.

Hippo Hollow

The layout of the vacation was to get the relaxation out of the way before we got on to the activity side of the trip. We got to our accommodation for the relaxation part of the trip, Hippo Hollow in Hazyview. Thatched roofs and huts surrounded the entrances, a couple of peacocks walking around the place and we were immediately greeted by the concierge as we got out of the car. The one thing that worried me was that when were getting the keys to our rooms, we signed a waiver basically saying that we are constantly surrounded by wild, dangerous animals so don't be stupid and get killed. 

We got to our rooms. Nice, airy huts with a small kitchen area, lots of bedroom space, a very nicely designed bathroom and access to the terrace/pool area as well as a barbecue area on the back porch. After getting our stuff sorted, changing clothes and showering, we were ready to check the place out and get food. Not sure what to expect on the menu, we were happy to see that they had regular food likes burgers, paninis, pizzas and other assorted foods like that on the menu. We sat on the patio which overlooked the river and also looked up to the hills where we could see elephants roaming around, having a jolly old time. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging in the bedrooms, regaining strength and energy. There wasn't even enough energy to go to the pool, to be honest.
In the evening, we went to the main reception where we were ushered to another part of the resort. Along the trail there was little bonfires lit and we were given a cup of some sort of beverage. Hoping it was alcohol, it was downed but however, it was not. It turned out to be some sort of banana pureé kind of drink that did not go down well. We entered this sand pit area where there were other guests seated in the audience area. We were given a bowl of spicy popcorn and waited.

Not too long after sitting down, loud drums started going off. A posse of dancers came out and started moving to the rhythm. Their dancing was mixed with some traditional singing. The dancing was very cool but also a bit out of the ordinary for us. A lot of shaking of bodily parts, legs flying everywhere, but it was very entertaining and a good welcome for us.
The rest of the stay in Hippo Hollow included a lot of eating and relaxing by the pool. But of course, we were in SOUTH AFRICA so we couldn't say no to a few activities during out relaxation time.

Panoramic Tour

One of the things in our many list of things we wanted to do was do a panoramic tour of the surrounding areas. Nelspruit, where we were, was

surrounded by amazing viewpoints, waterfalls and scenery. Through our concierge, who booked the activities, we were set up with our driver who was going to take us on our day trip. 

The day of panoramic touring came and we were set up with a Mhangele Luxury Tours driver who was happy to greet us and take us on our way. The plan of attack was to start with one of the furthest landmarks and work our way back to Hazyview. We drove up to places like Graskop and Sabie to see some of the beautiful views. Graskop was our lunch place on the way back but first we went past Graskop

The first stop on our drive was up in the Blyde River Canyon. A place that looks down into deep forest and really amazing bodies of water that was just picture perfect. Not staying long in any of the places we stopped we moved along. In the Blyde River Canyon parking lot was a lot of souvenir stalls, and of course, being very bad with money, I bought a little wooden elephant. Along the tour we saw many waterfalls, forests and high looking points that looked all over Mpumalanga. Some of the places on our Panoramic Tour included:

• Lowveld View
• Berlin Falls
• Bourkes Potholes
• Lisbon Falls
• The Pinnacle 

Of course, one of the most beautiful viewpoints we got to see was God's

Window. Probably one of the most stunning views I have ever seen in my life. The air up there was so fresh and the view was like nothing I've seen before. The dense forest and the sun shining through the valley, the name was truly fitting. If anyone is going to Nelspruit, go and see God's Window. It's just fantastic.

On our way back to Hazyview, we stopped in Graskop for our well deserved lunch. Looking at the views can be very famishing work, let me tell you. And as you all know, I never decline food... We stopped at one of the best eateries in Graskop. Harrie's Pancakes. We sat out on the veranda with our drinks. The menu was incredible. All the pancakes and waffles you would want. Savory or Sweet, they had all the combinations you'd want. My sister and I ordered the white chocolate waffles and my father ordered a savory pancake. Reasonably priced, the food was very very tasty. Dutch bacon pancakes. White chocolate waffles. Ugh I was in

heaven. But alas, it didn't last forever and we made our way back to Hazyview. 

The only downside I can say is that the driver we had, it wasn't until after the tour was finished that he mentioned that he didn't have a card machine and gave us our bill. So, it was inconvenient to have to try and find an ATM. Other than that, really, it was a great experience.

For more on Mhangele Luxury Tours, you can contact them at: mhangele.tours@gmail.com

And to see Harrie's for yourself, check out: http://harriespancakes.com/

Elephant Whispers

As I mentioned above when we arrived at Hippo Hollow, we were having lunch and we could see elephants roaming around the hills. Well, adjoining Hippo Hollow is actually an elephant sanctuary which does deals with Hippo Hollow and allows guests to come up for a morning and see the elephants, so obviously we had to do it! 
We woke up excited to go and see the elephants. They're an animal I would

definitely associate with like, exotic and sub-Saharan holidays. If I dreamed of going on safari, elephants are definitely on the top of the list. Luckily my dream came true. Gulping down my bran muffin and croissants, we were led across the bridge that joins Hippo Hollow and Elephant Whispers by one of the Elephant Whispers' staff. 
We got to the main shop/office area and the first thing we saw was the fattest dog but probably one of the cutest dogs I've ever seen. A big loaf of bread laying in the shade. We went to the office area so we could sign the disclaimer saying that we'd be surrounded by elephants and we're responsible for our actions. We signed and waited for the guides to come and get us.
Shortly, a guide brought us to the main arena-like area where they had six elephants waiting to greet us. Literally such fascinating creatures. Hugely intelligent but also very friendly. I was surprised at how close we could get to

the elephants. They brought one or two of the elephants forward and laid them down so we could understand more about the physiology and life of an elephant in the wild. Absorbent skin, huge satellite ears, bristley hairs on them and really weird texture to their skin. My favorite elephant had to be Tembo. The 3.4 metre giant who weighed like 6 tonnes. We had our elephant pellets and were able to ask Tembo to do some commands. Lift his leg. Shake his trunk. Take the hat off your head. All in the name of food. An animal after my own heart, to be fair.
After the in-depth look at the elephants, we got what we all came for, a ride on the back of an elephant. It has to the one of the coolest things ever. Sitting and feeling the weird way the elephant walks. Seeing the area surrounding our resort on the back of an elephant. It was really really magnificent. We got to ride on the back of Tembo, so we were 3.4 metres off the ground and it was awesome! 
A little tip for riding a 6tonne x 3.4 metre elephant... Wear something you can be flexible in. It hurts.

You can see more about Elephant Whispers here: http://www.seasonsinafrica.com/adventure-activities-in-south-africa/lowveld-activities/elephant-whispers/


The rest of our time in Hippo Hollow was spent eating, drinking and lounging. But after our activities, it wasn't long until we were onto the next stage of our African adventure!

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Be sure to stay tuned for the next part of the African Adventure!

Pacheco, Woyzeck and a Whole Lot Of Driftwood

Good evening, lovely people. How's everything going for you all? My last post wrapped up my Roadtrip Saga. Such fun times on Erasmus, let me tell you. And wrapping up that awesome trip was really fun and now, after writing those posts, it's fun to read them and look back and for everyone involved on the trip to reminisce about the awesome roadtrip.

So since that roadtrip, bits and pieces have happened. Finished up my Spanish experience and in a whirlwind of travelling bliss, was up and travelling again to South Africa less than 72 hours later. More on that later in some follow up blogs. So by the end of this summer I'll be uploading and trying not to brag about the awesome experiences in Spain and South Africa.

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Beginning this entry, I currently find myself sitting in the center of Galway City surrounded by art, merchandise and a lot of cool people.

At the beginning of this month, I found myself in a situation where I didn't have a job, was searching for a job and trying to find something to occupy my time rather than sitting around doing nothing. One of the many things I pondered and researched was the Galway International Arts Festival. Something that I have visited in the past, been meaning to get involved in for years and from a touristic point of view, was drawn to. 

The week before the festival began, whilst I looked around for a job, I made the decision to just go for it and apply for a volunteer position with the festival. Thinking I wouldn't be accepted for whatever I wanted to apply for, I ended up applying for a lot of different things within the festival including, visual arts, theater and box office positions. The first position I was drawn to and had the strongest inclination to work in was as a merchandising officer. Luckily, I was contacted not long after my application process by the wonderful volunteer co-ordination manager, Carly, who told me I had been accepted for the merchandise position, I had to show up at the festival HQ and be introduced to my job.

The introduction process took place on the 12th of July and was a quick briefing, That night I signed myself up for the following nights show and got to work with, and still get to work with my Hub/Black Box team. Shout out to Lea, Joe, Aoife, Juley, Vincent, Kady, Yvonne, Camila, Jess, Celine... I legit could list everyone who I want to shout out, maybe at the end! And that's briefly how I got involved as a volunteer for the Galway Arts Festival. 

Unlike my other posts, I'm not gonna drag on with a tale of whats been going on, Instead, I'm going to detail what I saw, what I thought of it and for the weekend coming up, what I'd recommend going to see.

Ana María Pacheco/Ailbhe Ní Bhriain/John Beard

One of the luckiest things I think I got to be able to do as part of the GIAF team for 2017 was to be able to work my merchandise job from inside the main Festival Gallery on Market Street.
In this Gallery, which I highly recommend going to see over this coming weekend, contains two interesting and contrasting artists. Being involved and working for merchandise means that in the mornings and evenings I am surrounded by some pretty complex and impressive pieces of art that I could only dream of creating.

Ana María Pacheco:
My first visit into the Gallery, I can honestly say that the work of this artist left me feeling slightly down and the initial impression I got from the artwork was a

feeling of both amazement but also a slight negative feeling towards the art. It's not that the work was bad, it's just my initial introduction to the art was accompanied by slight misunderstanding of the art, the background of the artist and how much work, detail and effort went into creating such, and I can honestly say, masterpieces.
Given the nature of the jobs I was doing within the Festival Hub/Gallery, I spent most mornings walking in and around the work of Ana María Pacheco. Pieces like The Longest Journey, a piece so large and eye catching; Dark Night of the Soul, a masterpiece of myth and history and a plethora of prints which would definitely leave you feeling impressed, inspired, depressed... But would leave you with a striking emotion.
Ana María Pacheco's exhibition ran for the entirety of the Galway International

Arts Festival. The best part about working so close to the work of this artist, is the interesting reactions, ideals and comments the general public had about the pieces. The different themes they thought of and their willingness to let their mind wander whilst looking at the art, which in turn, painted many different concepts in my mind.
The second day the exhibit was open, the Gallery was treated to a special visit by the artist. Ana Maria Pacheco visited the Gallery with Colin Wiggins, the former curator of the National Gallery of London. Their main reason for visiting the Gallery was to partake in a "Conversation with the Artist". For 45 minutes, Ana sat and discussed the methodology behind her work. The techniques. Ideas. Formats and ideologies

she considered when constructing and creating her work. Being within earshot, it was fascinating to look and hear a woman of 73 years of age telling the gallery she still makes huge sculptures and the precision in her work. 
After her talk, she fielded some audience questions before I got the pleasure to greet her and sign some of her programmes. A very humble woman and very open about greeting the public. It was interesting to hear and speak to a woman of such stature within the art world.

Galway International Arts Festival was the latest in a wide selection of exhibitions of Ana María Pacheco. Her work has been on display in places like Oslo, New York, Boston, Kyiv and London. After doing some research, it's not clear when and where her work will be exhibited in the future. Personally, I would be interested in seeing more of her work. So I recommend keeping up to date with Pratt Contemporary Art's website: http://www.prattcontemporaryart.co.uk/ana-maria-pacheco-2/

Ailbhe Ní Bhriain
"Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is a Cork-based artist who works with film and photography" this quote is extracted from the website of the Galway International Arts Festival. The work of Ailbhe Ní Bhriain's work has been and is something that I would consider to be "complex pieces of art". It's something that goes beyond my thinking, I think. The "Inscriptions" exhibit was and has been the one piece from the Arts Festival that has still left me puzzled. 

In an age where images can or cannot be true, in terms of digital remastering, retouching, photoshopping, editing... all forms of photo and technological works to recreate and shape an image to how we want, the work of Ailbhe Ní Bhriain is a complex and artistic way to digitally remaster and reconfigure an image in a way that stretches the mind beyond comprehension and makes you look past the obvious. Either that, or I haven't gotten the grasp of the art...
The inspiration behind the art pieces on display the the GIAF arts gallery was the early text of Samuel Quiccheberg, the German writer who had the earliest cognition of "museology" or the categorization of pieces, in a way to create what we now know as a museum. His piece "Inscriptions of the Immense Theatre" was the power behind the exhibition. The work on display was difficult to make sense of, and unfortunately, I couldn't attend the talk given by Ailbhe Ní Bhriain

which may have shed a light on the artwork. 
The fact that the work had and still leaves me puzzled is kind of what intrigues me more about the art work and kind of inspires me to go and see more of her work, to see how it compares or could it be contrasting pieces of art.

Apart from the Galway International Arts Festival, Ailbhe's work has been on exhibition in places like Paris, Rennes, London and most recently, Carrick-On-Shannon at the Docks. I would recommend going to see Ailbhe's work, if you're into complex, digitally remastered pieces of art. For more: http://ailbhenibhriain.com/works

John Beard
On my last day of the festival, being surrounded by the works of Ana María Pacheco and Ailbhe Ní Bhriain, to see more art was on my list, as when would I get a chance to see it. So knowing that there was a strong art exhibition down in The Shed, on the Docks. On my break I walked down to The Shed to see what kind of exhibition John Beard had on display.
The Raft of Medusa, painted by Théodore Géricault in the early 1800's was an oil painting that depicted the shipwreck of the French vessel, Medusé. A ship bound for Senegal where the British colonists were to return the ownership of Senegal to the French. This was a huge diplomatic and essential power move on behalf of the French Monarchy, who had just overcome the Napolean defeat.

The Medusé vessel had the newly appointed French Governor and his family on board the ship. The ship hit a sandbank and began to crumble. With 400 people on board, there was enough room on the lifeboats for 250. In an attempt at survival, the remaining people built a raft and drifted on the water with nothing but 1 pack of biscuits, 2 cases of water and numerous casks of wine. Because save the wine and not the food, right? The people on board the raft turned to cannibalism and after 13 days at sea, were rescued.
Théodore Géricault, after the events of the Raft of Medusa, it was a controversial painting in the French Romantic era. Mostly due to the political scandal involved due to the fact that the Captain of the Medusa was incompetent and reflected back on King Louis XVIII. The Raft of Medusa painting went on to inspire many of the great French artists like Delacroix. The Raft of Medusa, as I believe, is on display at the Louvre.
John Beard's recreation of the Raft of Medusa, named "After the Raft of Medusa" was something to behold. Thinking that the Guernica was an art piece to see, the size of John Beard's work... wow, it was impressive. On one side of the hanger was the "After the Raft of Medusa" piece but on the opposite wall was a mirrored image on a black slate-like wall. The look of both pieces as you stood in the middle was super intriguing. His work has invoked my desire to see the original Géricault picture. Unfortunately, I didn't work at the Gallery where this piece was on display nor did I get to meet John Beard but my impression of the art work... Just wow. The history behind it, it makes for a more fascinating piece knowing that it was a scandalous piece... I mean, DRAMA!

John Beards work has been on display in many galleries worldwide in places like Sydney, London, Lisbon and of course, Galway. And his work can be seen on exhibition in places like the Tate Gallery and with some collections all over the world. For more: http://johnbeardart.com/

Woyzeck in Winter

A musical/drama piece brought to the Arts Festival this year by Landmark Productions and GIAF, Woyzeck in Winter made it's worldwide premiere in Galway at this years festival. A combination of two separate but not wholly different pieces, Conall Morrison and a creative team re imagined and combined the two old pieces of Woyzeck and Die Winterreise both made between 1825 and 1840. These two pieces, one musical and one a dramatic piece, gelled to become what we now know as "Woyzeck in Winter"
I had the pleasure of going to see Woyzeck in Winter before the opening of the festival, during the previews of the show. It was a piece I'm glad I got to see. It was melodramatic. Cold. Energetic. Vocally strong. The only fault was in the actual storyline. A bit of tweaking to make the story stronger would have

worked really well and have one, and not three or four themes running through the story. However, the talent of the show really made up for it. Featuring strong vocalists like Camille O'Sullivan, the show featured other acting greats like Peter Coonan (Fran from Love/Hate) and Rosaleen Linehan. The show's talent shone through and made for a really good performance.
The piece had different themes. Mental health. Human experimentation. Love. Loss. Betrayal. Mistrust. All the key things needed for a melodramatic masterpiece, right?
Jamie Vartan designed the set. The set was outstanding. Broken pianos everywhere. Snow fallings. Beautiful set arrangements. It was very well laid out.

Words can only relay so much of a visual piece. And watching it in theater that didn't allow videos etc. I can only recommend going to see it, which you should do! For more: https://woyzeckinwinter.com/performances/

The Second Violinist

A show I had to go and see twice. An uneven set. Subtitles. A huge screen displaying games, texts and emojis. Running around. Drama. Bloodshed. 

A modern opera that left me wanting to go and see it again. Aaron Monaghan stars as Matthew/Martin. A Carlo Gesualdo lover and a violinist struggling with his demons. A lot goes on in this piece. A lot of things happen on stage and you have to keep your eyes peeled to all corners of the stage to be in full awareness

and submersion of the piece. The composition of the music score compliments the action so well and leaves you on the edge of your seat and also left me bemused at the actions of the conductor!

An Enda Walsh directed piece. Enda Walsh, for those who don't know, is a Tony Award winning director and play write who is a friend of the Galway International Arts Festival, previously bringing pieces like Arlington, Ballyturk and Misterman to the Festival, bringing the acting talents of Aaron Monaghan, Stephen Rea and Cillian Murphy to the festival. His continued success and sheer genius as a play write was evident in The Second Violinist. The piece is Enda's second opera piece. Penned alongside composer Donnacha Dennehy. On both occasions I saw the show, it concluded with a standing ovation, truly deserved. 

Aaron Monaghan combined with the vocals of the likes of Máire Flavin and Benedict Nelson, the piece sent chills through the audience as well as open eyes as the brief bit of nudity provided by Aaron Monaghan. The drama. The tragedy and the pain could be felt from the lead actor and the score made it feel more real. 

I can say that The Second Violinist is a piece I would go and see again for a third time and I can only wish it good things. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

This piece I highly recommend getting tickets to. If you can, go to: https://thesecondviolinist.ie/performances/  And get yourself tickets for the performance in Dublin, it'll be worth it! 

Passenger

On the first Saturday of the festival, some of the volunteers, including me were eligible to get tickets to go and see Passenger perform at the Absolut Big Top. I took the offer of the free ticket and went along to the concert.

Now, Passenger, to my own personal knowledge, had that song: "Let Her Go". So I was expecting for him to sing that song and for the place to die. But knowing that he was famous for said song, he played out his set. A very well performed set, I must say. Once you got into the tent where he was performing, you got swept up in his music and next thing you know, you're screaming the song back to him.

Before he took the stage, Hudson Taylor were on stage and they ROCKED the tent. They were pretty awesome and got the crowd all going. When Passenger came on, the crowd was ready. Absolut vodka sponsored the festival, so that's pretty awesome. The drinks flowed and so did the music. But I was kinda right. As soon as Let Her Go was over, the crowd was walking out the gate. His set was good though! I was impressed!

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All in all I can say that this years Arts Festival was pretty good! Long days, crazy times and laughs but it was a well spent experience making friends, learning new things and feeling more cultured afterwards! The wrap party was well worth the two weeks of long days, let me tell you! So thank you GIAF for the fun times! Until next year...

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The Roadtrip Saga: The Assassin (Sevilla)

Hey there! Hope you're all doing good and well and are enjoying your summer! Yeah, it's been quite a while since my last post and some of you have been asking when the next installment of this roadtrip saga was gonna be posted. With exams, social obligations, traveling and other activities over the past two months, it wasn't the right time to be posting content if I didn't have enough time to commit to good content writing.
But enough with the excuses. I'M BACK. And over the next few days I'm gonna have a few things to post!
I'm back in Ireland now. No longer living in Spain and have gone on another really cool trip that will be discussed in one of the next posts. So to finish what I started, here is the third and final installment of The Roadtrip Saga!
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The drive to Sevilla was a fun one. We were driving from Malaga, and it can be debated whether or not any of us were in a fit state to travel or not. But after napping on the beach I think we were on the border of okay and not okay. The car ride, with Lotta, Erika, Jan and myself was a good one that consisted primarily of conversations regarding the night before and how the whole night came to be.
The drive from Malaga to Sevilla took around 2 hours. It was a fairly smooth drive. We chatted most of the way or were singing along to the music on the radio, or attempting to. Spanish/Reggaeton music is great music to listen to in the car, let me tell you!
Our group was the first group to make it to Sevilla, as Erika was the one to use her account to book AirBnB. We arrived in the evening time, shortly around sundown. The first port of call was to stop in the center, to drop off Lotta, who would meet with us again later. The three of us that were left, with the help of google maps, made our way to the Airbnb. Eventually, but with not much difficulty, we found the apartment and the owner waiting for us. The accommodation we rented in Sevilla, was again rented from Airbnb, as it could fit all 9 of us. The owner met us outside the apartment and immediately gave us a guided tour of the apartment. 

To say that the apartment was nice, is an understatement. Rooftop apartment with enough space for 9 or 10 people I would say. Fitted kitchen, two bathrooms, big living area and of course, the crowning item... The big rooftop terrace that looked out towards the city of Sevilla. Being the first three there, we had the privilege of picking our own beds first before the others got there. And also have a little snoop at the apartment. Just as we were getting to the good stuff, the others from the other car came arrived.
As we all got ourselves settled, it became a matter of figuring out the plans of the evening. Stay home and order food at the apartment or go out and meet with some friends we knew were in Sevilla also and eat while we're out. All the pro's and con's were weighed out. Cost. Driving. Parking. Time. But the most prominent topic thrown around was hunger. Everyone was hungry. Eventually it was decided that we would just head into the center and get ourselves food and then decide how we feel about drinking.

We drove to the center, bearing in mind that it was the final days of Semana Santa and the traffic would probably be mental. But we chanced it! We made it to the center and found a parking space quite easily. Looking for a place to eat was the next task. It wasn't until someone asked that we realized that is was midnight. So standing in the middle of the street, we were debating what to do and where to go. Turning up a side street, our answer came in the form of a badly lit and slightly sketchy looking Chinese restaurant, simply called "Restaurante Chino,it was now past midnight, none of us argued with Chinese food. The door legit opened with a creak. I can say, it was the probably the weirdest decorated places I've been to. The table decor was just simple. But surrounded on the walls were loads of motorbike helmets. What was weirder was people coming and leaving, as they did, they left or picked up a motorbike helmet.
The decor is besides the point. We ordered our food. I ordered the sweet and sour chicken with chicken fried rice. Others ordered similar sweet and sour dishes or some beef dishes. The food itself was actually quite tasty. There wasn't many other people in the restaurant, so it did give me initial sketchy vibes and a sign of lower quality but I can say that my sweet and sour chicken and chicken fried rice was actually quite tasty and filling. I think its safe to say that all of us couldn't complain with our food, especially considering the time of night that it was.
After dinner, the plan was to walk towards town and find the girls. So we did just that. We used our trusted google maps and went on to the main street which also doubled as the strip of Sevilla. After looking in the terrace areas of one or two bars we eventually found Lotta, Lorena and some of their friends. It was nice to have other people in Sevilla that we knew! Francois, Morten and I decided to let the Finnish conversations flow and have a beer. We went, bought our beers and chatted amongst ourselves. The girls we met then tried their best to persuade us to go to the Nightclub. Tired and grumpy from the night before, we decided against that idea, finished our beers, said goodbye and headed home!
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The next day was a late start. Funnily enough, with two bathrooms, it was still hard to get an opportunity to shower. Then again, we were 9 people... So we showered and got ourselves ready.
The plan for the day was discussed. As it was our last city on the trip, it was definitely time to just do something mildly cultural but also to do something relaxing. The first port of call was breakfast.
Splitting into two groups, one taking a taxi to the center and the group I was in driving to the center, we split up for breakfast.
With Jan driving, we made our way to the city center. Being Good Friday, the

city was starting to become more crowded. However crowded the city was at that stage in the day, around Midday, we were still able to find a parking space, relatively close to the center. With the help of a man who was apparently a parking assistant for the street, we got a good space to park... for €1. After parking, we made our way to Calle Adriano. We walked down the street, trying to find a place to eat. We looked in a few local cafeterias but they didn't have anything really along the lines of breakfast foods, mostly just serving sandwiches. After about a fifteen minute search, we made our decision and went to a place called the Hotel Adriano. The foyer/breakfast area was open to the grey sky which let a cool breeze in on us as we looked over the menu.
Croissants, toasties, coffee and orange juice. Mostly the same orders between the lot of us but it was sufficient enough to see us through the early afternoon anyway. The service for breakfast was good and the food did it's job on satisfying our hunger... for at least half an hour! We didn't actually wait in the place too long as the other group had already eaten and were probably sightseeing, so we were quickly on our way.
We walked to our final destination, which was to the Plaza de Espana of Sevilla where we were to meet the others. On our way, it was amazing to see the cool architecture and designs in Sevilla. The Royal Alcazar, the Doors of Pardon and Cathedral of Sevilla were some of the cool buildings and monuments that we saw on our way, so it made the walk quite entertaining with some of us talking

about if we had our hands on a lot of money, what we would buy and what we would do with such royalties. 

Walking into the grounds of the Plaza de Espana of Sevilla, we saw people riding around in a cart being pulled by both donkeys and horses, which was quite a nice way to get around the Plaza and take it all in. Opting not to do that, we walked in and looked for the other group of people. The Plaza had quite a few people there so we did what we always do. Look for Max. Tall, blonde and identifiable. So right away, we found them! 
We took around the exterior of the building, looking at the different mosaics, frescos and tiled Alcoves on the side of the building as well as being pestered by the street vendors. We entered the big central building where you could climb higher and get a good view of the square. So we climbed up to take a look. Taking group pictures, laughing and joking didn't take away from the view. Probably THE best view of architecture I've ever seen in my life. In pictures, you can see just how beautiful it is and how picturesque the Plaza is but in person and for your own eyes, the Plaza was extremely beautiful, I couldn't

believe it. 
We left the Central building to go and do something else and relax and maybe get a drink. We walked towards the riverside street of Paseo de la Delicias. Some were getting the rumblies so food was also on the agenda. We walked towards the bridge when we came to a McDonalds. Nobody really felt up to Maccies so next door was another restaurant. Not getting anything to eat, I just got myself a drink and sat outside while they ordered their meals. After food was relax time. So we crossed the street and sat down by the river. Shoes off. Tops off. We sat and relaxed as the sun bet down on us. As we chilled out, a guy directly under us was fishing, so he provided some entertainment as he whacked his catch off the wall. A mix of entertainment and relaxation went on for a good hour before the sun started getting to all us Northerners. We left in search of another place to drink and

luckily for us, on the way towards our unknown destination, we came across an outdoor bar/kiosk where we all indulged in Desperados in the shade. Refreshed.
We continued on swiftly to see some more weird and wonderful structures in the city. We walked through the performance area of the Semana Santa which had hundreds of seats. Moving past that we made out way to the Metropol Parasol. One of the weirdest building designs I had ever seen. We entered to find some sort of indoor market before we climbed to the first floor to get a good panoramic view. Literally walking in and walking out, we were not 10 minutes inside 😂.
After the visit we were bound for home. The plan for the evening. Cook at

home. Chill and have a nice evening. So we went to the supermarket to get the ingredients. Quick trip to the store complete and we were on the way home. 
Back at the apartment, before dinner prep started, it was up to me to show off my discoveries from the night before. So we dressed Frank up in all the gear we could. Hat, glasses, scarf and of course, guns. He came out to the others with the guns and a round of "I want to try" started. So for a good hour, we handed around the pellet guns using cans on a wall as good targets.
When the girls returned, dinner prep began and we were all rolling up our sleeves to help. Everyone doing something and drinking at the same time, in no time the fajitas were ready. We prepped the table outside (someone sitting on a suitcase due to lack of chairs), we laid the food out and sat out on the terrace for dinner. It was probably the nicest dinner as we were just in a state of relaxation surrounded by good food, friends and drinks. Dinner escalated to

drinking on the terrace which transitioned into card games inside with more drinks. 
Before we knew it, it was midnight. Plans to go to the club were being passed around and eventually taxis arrived, so we just headed out! Uthopia nightclub was our venue for the night and as much as I want to, I can't remember anything from that night... The last part I remember was the taxi home...

Waking up the next day was bittersweet. We had to leave and head back home but leaving the awesome roadtrip behind was the sickening part. We had ourselves packed up, cleaned and ready to leave and had to prepare ourselves for the four hour drive back to Madrid. Before hitting the road to Madrid, a quick stop to Maccies was on the cards and after what sounded like a crazy night... No one really complained. We ate, said some goodbyes and hit the road to be back in Madrid before the time in which we had to return our cars.

All in all, the roadtrip, as expensive and crazy as it was, it was WELL worth it. For any Erasmus students reading, I would highly recommend going on a roadtrip at some point on the Erasmus experience. Live more of the country you're in. Try new things. Meet new people and best of all, have an experience you'll remember for a long time. Lucky for my friends, they can just look at this blog and be reminded of the fun journey!

To cap off this roadtrip saga, I'll end it with the most powerful quote to come from the trip...

"Hola, Get Out!"

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*All underlined are placed we went or street names.

Erasmus: Aranjuez and Barcelona

Hola people! Hope you're all well and happy! As with many of my posts whilst here on Erasmus, I have been busy traveling, studying and living the Erasmus life to find time to blog more frequently and also I decided to spend more time doing stuff to come up with content for you guys! So all exciting times!

St. Patrick's Day is coming up this Friday! I'm looking forward to that and to experience St. Patrick's Day here in Madrid and to show the Spaniards how us Irish party on Paddy's Day. I hope you'll all find a way to at least have a Guinness!
And now on to the fun stuff!
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Aranjuez

On the weekend of the 18th of February, so about three weeks ago, as one of our weekly things to do, my friends and I came up with a plan to check out another town within the autonomous region of Madrid. We had already gone to Alcala de Henares (see previous post) and been to Toledo and Segovia on the first few weeks so, we checked online on TripAdvisor and came to the conclusion that Aranjuez was the place to go.
We met up at Atocha Renfe train station at 11:30, all of us. A nice multinational group of Finnish, German, Swedish, French, Mexican and Irish. At Atocha Renfe, you move towards Via 7, I remember and from there, you take the train heading towards Parla, which stops in Aranjuez on the C3 line. The train journey from Atocha Renfe cercanías to Aranjuez takes around 45 to 50 minutes but the train journeys to these places really don't feel like they're so long, especially with friends and with the great view of firstly industrial but primarily agricultural Madrid with fields and pastures on each side. 
We arrived in Aranjuez at around 12:30 or shortly thereafter. Hunger overcame a majority of us, so the plan was to initally find food and then continue sight-seeing around Aranjuez and make our way to the Royal Palace. Leaving the Aranjuez train station, we made our way up the Carr. de Toledo,

the main street off of the station and then through the winding streets of residential Aranjuez until we came to the Aranjuez street market. The market was just like what I remember the markets to be like in places like Walthamstow, London or the Torrevieja market in Alicante. As a group, we moved our way through, looking at the different items being sold and bargained left and right. None of us really had a fancy to buy any items until a mobile vendor selling candied coconut lollipop balls came to us with different colored coconut treats. They looked so good and for just €1, we couldn't really say no. We almost sold him out, I believe. The coconut balls, however sweet, were awesome and we were all really impressed with them. The only downside was that it just made us more hungry!
We moved on, using TripAdvisor onto the Carr. de Andalusia, one of the main

streets, I reckon for boulangeries and other small eateries and now matter h

ow many we passed, we were inclined to find the number one restaurant on TripAdvisor- Casa José. We walked up the street and came to the Casa José. I completely understand why it was considered number one on the app, the waiters were in full tuxedos. We, however, were with backpacks, sweatshirts, baseball caps and just not dressed for fine dining that would be associated with the place. It looked amazing, however! Across the street to our luck, there was the Mercado de Abastos on the same street as Casa José. The Mercado de Abastos is quite similar to the Mercado de San Miguel. You could get ham, bread, drinks and the further you moved in, is where the eating areas were located. The different restaurants all offered something unique. Italian food, seafood, paella etc. We walked around and came to the decision that Italian food just suits everyone! 

The place we ate at was a place called "diVino". It seemed like a nice place, with a nice menu and it was just convenient for everyone. Most of the people ordered their pizza, which just looked amazing! Their Caesar Salad also looked delicious. I ordered the spaghetti pesto, and pesto is one of my favorite things to eat. Pesto is just... heaven. I could eat pasta pesto forever, so I was super excited to try this one and soothe my hunger. We sat and talked, they gave us big 2 liter bottles of water. My friend ordered the Paella from the vendor next to diVino. The paella looked and smelled great and according to my friend, Diego, it was really delicious seafood. We received our food. My friend's bolognese looked good but mine, didn't look or really taste as good as I was expecting. The pesto was way too oily to the point where my spaghetti were drowning. I ate it anyway because I was starving 😂

After lunch, it was then time to go up and make our way to the Royal Palace of Aranjuez. Just around the corner from the Mercado was the Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua. Normal touristy pictures were taken quickly, the building was quire impressive. We kept going and just basked in the sunshine of the Plaza de San Antonio. A cool little plaza which was basically the walkway to the Royal Palace. Not many people were here but it was nice to just feel the sun while we walked. We entered the entrance gardens of the Palace. The place was laced with fountains everywhere, which made the gardens look really beautiful. We took group photos around the fountain

and then looked around the riverside. We did that slow walk thing through the gardens, taking in all the nature and awesome fountains and statues littered around the massive gardens.  To the right of the Palace, we entered the bigger Jardin de la Isla. Magnificent arches of shrubs and plants with cool areas to sit and chill out as well as great places to take photos. We posed for some funny photos, tried to catch some animals and chat. We relaxed there for a good 20 minutes before walking the perimeter of the Palace. As we came to the opposite side of the palace, we decided to enter the Palace. It cost about €4 for students to enter, which wasn't so bad. We entered and let me tell you, the place is very grand indeed. A huge staircase is the first thing to see as soon as you enter. You walk up them and you do a loop of the whole building, taking in all the different rooms of the Spanish Royal Family. A shisha smoking room,

a waiting room in front of most rooms, a load of art and candelabras everywhere. The place was lavish. Gold trimmings. Great views. You get a sense of what it's like to be Royal, which kind of made us wish we were rich... Which gave us thoughts about how much we would get if we flogged everything in the Palace, but we didn't do it 😂. We finished walking around and saw all the stuff that made the Royal's tick in their time. 
Apres Palace, we decided it was maybe time to head back to Madrid and make our way to the Plaza Mayor 400 Celebrations! We arrived back in Madrid at around 5:30 or 6. 
Aranjuez- ✅
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Barcelona

Now here's the really fun story! 
Last weekend, from the 9th until the 12th, my friends and I booked and traveled to Barcelona with ESN, the Erasmus Social Network. The trip was called the "Barcelona Experience" and considering I had never been before, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to see the city for a couple of days!
The trip began early on Thursday evening when a few of the guys and I met up in at the Puerta del Sol in the center of Madrid, as a meeting place. We met early so we could look for things that we needed for Barcelona and also chill out together for a while in Madrid. We spent most of the time in O'Neill's Irish Bar, chilling with a beer.
The scheduled time to leave was 1 am so we could travel through the night and be there for 9 am. We left Madrid around 1:30 am and traveled our way through the night, making a pitstop in a service station where we were able to snack and hydrate before continuing onto Barca. The trip itself was kind of tough as 8 hours on a bus can be quite uncomfortable for the legs. We brought our neck pillows so that helped somehow.
At 9:30, the bus stopped in Barcelona to let us out and we, as a group of about 60, made our way to our hostel. Our hostel was Yeah Hostel on Carrer de

Girona. A tired, grumpy-ish group, we left our bags at the hostel and immediately made our way to the Sagrada Familia, the most famous Cathedral in Barcelona. The building was amazing to behold. Eight tall towers touched

the skyline and the sandy color of the building made for a cool exterior. We lined up to go through the security. It was the first time I had ever seen security this intense at a church. We managed to get our tickets free, thanks to ESN and were quickly moved through the line and received our headphones. Immediately huddled in a group, we were given a tour of the Sagrada Familia in English. The tour guide started from the exterior of the building, explaining the different imaged depicted across the walls and the meanings of the different statues and it was very interesting to see and hear about all of these religious artifacts.
We moved into the building. The stained glass windows and the different religious ornaments made for very unique and interesting interior design, which I found quite impressive. The security on hand to make sure we removed

our hats and so on. We didn't stay too long at the church as we had more to do in the day. We exited the church and were immediately starving. Only cure? Maxi bucket at KFC! We came back to our group with 20 pieces of chicken and a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi, looking like animals shoving it in our faces but we didn't care!
After the food and the Sagrada Familia, we walked, looking at the different building designed by Antoni Gaudi, the same man who designed the Cathedral. It was really hot outside too. The ESN coordinators then said we could do what we wanted for a while, so we decided that it was time to skip the walking tour and head to the beach! So we walked towards Las Ramblas, the most famous market street in Barcelona to make our way to the waterfront. Las Ramblas wasn't as crowded as I had expected but it was still pretty neat to see! We walked quite a while and eventually came to the Columbus Monument! And then we saw the water. It's

awesome when it's sunny out to be near the water. The heat and the water just makes it feel like summer. We walked on the promenade, bought some drinks and ice-cream and just chilled there for a little bit before it was time to head back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we opted out of the ESN activity. Instead, we discovered what was inside the hostel and came across a perfect rooftop terrace where we sat out and chatted for a while until we got hungry again. We used TripAdvisor again and used to find our place for late lunch. Close to us, and the place we ate in was called La Vietnamita which was a Vietnamese street food restaurant. It was quaint but smelled lovely. We went in and were immediately greeted, the service was good. I ordered the Vietnamese chicken curry. Now, if you like the taste of lemongrass, or citrus

flavor, this is for you. The food was quickly served but for me, it was too bitter. It wasn't horrible but just a bit too strong tasting for me. 
After late lunch, we stopped in a small bakery for some churros and made our way back to the hostel, which was at about 5:30 or 6 pm. We were given our bedrooms. My friends and I were all in one room, which was awesome. The rooms were amazing. Great furniture, awesome bathroom and a small balcony, it was great.
 And from then until 11pm or so, we were given free time which consisted of mostly drinking alcohol before the night of partying. We ordered pizza to our room from Telepizza, which was awesome as it was like a cool, tight house party. That night, ESN got us free entrance into Razzmatazz Night club, one of the better know clubs in Barcelona. It was an animal themed night so I drew my face with some sort of whiskers! We partied until the wee hours. The club itself was good. The music was good, it had three floors and a roof terrace. So I would recommend visiting Razzmatazz if you're passing through Barcelona

The next day consisted of breakfast at the hostel early enough, at around 9:30 am. And from then, we got ready and instead of joining with ESN on their walking tour, we decided to spend the day just doing our own tour of Barcelona. We traveled to the Sants Estacio metro station which is where the Venetian towers are. Our main goal was to get to the Palau Nacional. Around

the corner from the Venetian Towers, which were cool to see was exactly what we were looking for, the Palau Nacional. The parade up to the palace was quite nice with the palace looming over us. The surrounding buildings were nice to see on the way to the palace but its not denying that the palace out did them all, We walked the gardens a bit before our stomachs started growling at us. It was then our mission to make our way back to the beach area and find a place to eat.
We walked the way behind the palace and firstly stumbled onto Estadi Olimpic, one of the stadiums for the 1992 Olympics. The place was awesome with great views but

again, it was a place we didn't wait long at because we wanted food! We walked on for about 3 kilometers until the sea was in sight and food was almost in our belly. We managed to finally make it down to the coast and back to the statue of Columbus. From there, we used TripAdvisor again to find a place to eat and this time, it really paid off. We found this Italian restaurant not too far from the beach called "Tucco" (Carrer dels Còdols 27). We went in and were greeted by an English speaking waitress who was quick to tell us the different offers and menus they had to offer. All of it sounded good, I won't lie. Three lasagnas, ravioli, spaghetti carbonara and a sandwich is what we all ordered as well as cheesecake for dessert. We were not waiting too long for the food, which was great as the place was quite busy. The food. Oh wow. The food was amazing. We were all quick to finish the food and then sit back and talk about how good it was. The cheesecake was delicious. The carbonara was great. I couldn't really fault it. The only thing I fault is that I haven't tasted Italian food like that in Madrid!
After food we came back to the hostel, first taking the metro and then a cab. Luckily the cabs in Barcelona are actually quite cheap! We came back just in time for us all to go on a trip to Park Guell and the Bunker. The bunker was our

first stop. The bunker is a mountain-top like area where you can get a 360 degree panoramic view of Barcelona. You could see all the big buildings, even through the dense smog. We watched the sunset there, which was pretty amazing and got some cool photos with friends. After that, my friends and I trekked through some forest area on our own mission to get to Park Guell. A few wrong turns and stumbling across a soccer match, but we eventually got there. Unfortunately, we didn't wait too long there until we were ushered back to the hostel. When we arrived back, we decided that we should have a sit down meal in the hostel. The hostel offered starters, main course and dessert with an open bar for only €10! Now we couldn't really say no to that. So we sat for about 3 hours just eating, drinking and eating. The barman, Tiago, always on hand to offer more drinks. The food was really good and fresh. The chef was out serving and was able to tell you what was in the food, so it was a really nice experience. The rest of the night after dinner consisted of getting ready to party in formal wear and heading to Shoko nightclub. I've been

to Shoko nightclub in Madrid before but never one this size. We got to Shoko at around 1:30 am. It's a beachfront club, so it was really cool. But it was full. Boy was it crowded. I've never been in such a crowded place. If it weren't for my friends, I would have hated the place but they made it fun! So after a few hours there, we went outside onto the beach and just chilled there for a good hour or so before deciding it was way too cold and we had to head home at around 5:30 am.

We missed breakfast the next morning 😂 And were already on the bus back to Madrid by 12:30. A small pitstop was made at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where other ESN groups were meeting up, we were given a free lunch of bocadillos and juice and watched some people perform in the center of the courtyard. After that, all we really did was sit in a bus for hours on our way home. 
All in all, I'd give Barcelona a good thumbs up and I would definitely go back!
Barcelona- ✅

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