Saturday, July 25, 2015

One week

So, wow I have only one week left. I honestly can't believe it. **This will be a long blog**

I have decided that since I only have 7 days left here in Spain that I will reflect on the different aspects of this trip. Today I will reflect on 7 different things that were extremely different. I will go down from there with 6 days tomorrow. So here it goes!

1. The water. In the European countries I have visited they have both sparkling and natural or still water. I have had to make sure I ask for natural or still water. In the British Isles you normally can get tap water but in Spain they give you a bottle and you have to pay for that. Some of the water gets expensive. But you have to stay hydrated!
2. The weather. I honestly was unsure of what to expect for the weather in these countries. In Ireland it was super chilly and Scotland was chilly but not as bad as Ireland. I feel as though the rain made it somewhat worse in Ireland. In England it was beautiful. Actually, it was a lot better than I had expected! I knew that normally the weather in England would be rainy and not very good. In Spain I was in for a treat. They have been experiencing a heat wave making the weather reach high temps in the 90's most days and the highest day was 105. It has been eye opening in the different climates each country experiences.
3. Wifi. In the States everyone has data or has very good wifi in different places. In Europe that was quite different. In some places I would have decent wifi where I could send messages and check Facebook in some I could barely even find service. But that was okay. It helped me disconnect from the world back home and enjoy my surroundings.
4. Peanut Butter. They do not have peanut butter everywhere. Some places it costs over 4 euros! It's like Oreos! Aunt Karen I understand why you miss them so much now! Which brings me to my next difference.
5. Pancakes. I still have yet to find any in Spain. . . The breakfasts here consists of pastries though and they are very delicious. The breakfast in England was also different they eat a lot of fruit and a lot of yogurt in both England and in the rest of the British Isles. I think the biggest difference is the baked beans. I still think that is a little weird!
6. The style. I feel like everyone here is so stylish! Everyone shops at the same stores which have a ton of amazing things. H&M, Zara, and Topshop are some of the few that they go to!
7. Living situations. When I first arrived to Ireland I had never stayed in a hostel before. But to this point I have stayed at 10 different places on this trip and have visited 24 different cities. I have stayed in hostels, hotels, dorms, and apartments. Each of them were different and brought forth new challenges I had to face. It was overall one of the best experiences I had because I was able to adapt to living in shared housing of 12 girls and then to living with just myself. It was a highlight for sure.

So these are the 7 differences between the States and Europe that I have noticed. There are tons more but for now these are the ones I chose! So onto my day:

I got to wake up kind of late and I just relaxed then decided it was time to figure out what I was doing for the day. I got up and saw that it was raining! It was so nice! I was actually kind of cold last night. Anyways, I got up and showered and got ready. I was going to meet my one friend at the train station and then head to the cosmocaixa. We found our way after getting on the metro and then a bus. When we got there we met up with our other friend and we started our adventure. We purchased tickets for both the planetarium and the museum. On the bottom floor were the different exhibits. There was a lot to do with fossils and the physical earth which I have not seen a lot of in other museums. But there was stuff about physics and how water can turn into tornadoes and hurricanes. My favorite part was the exhibit of the different sizes of brains in different animals. I find it interesting that the human brain isn't really all that big compared to animals. I also found it interesting that one of the only brains they did not have was a rat brain. I was actually very angry over that seeing as I talked about them so much in neuro and neuropharm! But there was another portion dedicated to Cajal. We went through the rainforest exhibit as well which was cool because they basically recreated the rainforest. This included the different animals and fish and birds. There were even snakes and tree frogs. Then we walked around the different levels and found a drug exhibit. It reminded me a lot about neuropsychopharmocology. I had a good time remembering the different drugs and their function and how they react in the body. It was an exhibit explaining where the drugs come from, how they are bad for the body, and some different prevention tips. After that we made our way to the planetarium.

When I bought the ticket I wasn't sure what we were going to see. It ended up being a 3-D video called "To Space and Back" it showed how we don't know a lot about space but with the new technology of the world and our curiosity we are more likely to learn more. We also saw a lot about the different satellites they use in space which was not something I knew about. There was also a segment that talked about how technology used in space is now used in medical health, our own every day technology, and the products we have in space now. After it was done we decided to head home.



We found our way back to the bus and then found our way back to the metro. I decided I would go home and treat myself to a nice dinner. I had some pasta and I bought some garlic bread and made myself a nice pasta dinner. It was delicious. Afterwards I got to relax. I'm calling it a night soon it's been a long day! Tomorrow I am going to the beach and I can't wait!

Until then.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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