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Hello world! I know I said I'd write about things to do in London last time, but if anything I may just update that blog with pictures, my experiences, etc.

SPRING BREAK WAS AMAZING.

All non-Tisch students have a 2 week long break from the end of March to mid-April.

I knew I'd be living in Europe only once with my best friends, so I made the most of it.
Our trip : London to Ibiza, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Venice, Istanbul, Zurich, and Paris (by myself).

Spain
Ibiza
Ibiza's known to be a party-central island with amazing beaches........during prime time - the summer. As expected, most clubs and party places were shut, but not all. Pacha was still open, so whoever wanted to go out that night went. Apparently it was great, but I was too tired after all my exams, so stayed in.

The beaches!! They were breathtaking.








In Ibiza, we spent a total of two days. The weather was absolutely perfect - warm and sunny. However, it kind of reminded me of a dead Miami. Since there weren't many people around, it wasn't too active. I don't know if that's just because we were in San Jose and not in the proper city, but I wasn't the greatest fan of where we were (except our hotel, which was on the beach).

Ibiza city was great and fun to walk around & take pictures.

Just make sure you're prepared to pack your Euros to pay for cabs. I withdrew about 100 Euro upon arrival; most of it went on just cabs.

Barcelona
I absolutely loved Barcelona. We were here for 2 days as well. We were lucky with our weather here too. Barcelona was gorgeous, and must be one of my favorite European cities. We went around Arenas Barcelona then saw the museum right across. After we walked around Las Ramblas, where I met up with a friend of mine. Later that night we went out clubbing near the beach to Opium. The nightlife in Barcelona was the best I've ever experienced. The club was classy, the crowd was decent, the music was fabulous.

I ended up getting a bit of food poisoning from the paellas and tapas I had. A note to vegetarians - Spain is impossible. There is almost nothing vegetarian.

The next day we walked around Gaudi's Park Guell and Segrada Familia. After, I had a sort of YOLO Lizzie Maguire experience, where my friend took me around Barcelona on his motorcycle.











Madrid
By Madrid I felt malnourished. Being a vegetarian got even harder as we went around Spain.

In Madrid, we got a lot of rain. I was the only one who packed boots so I was a happy camper. We went around the palaces and churches:


Our hotel/apartments in Madrid and Barcelona were amazing. The one in Barcelona was a proper apartment, and the one in Madrid...well it was definitely cool aesthetically, but not comfortable as there were 5 people to a room.













YOLO? I SAW REAL MADRID IN MADRID and they won 5-2 against APOEL.

Madrid was beautiful. It had a nice mix of Spanish architecture/ and modern city design. Madrid was more like New York and reminded me of the East Coast, where as Barcelona was more of the West Coast. Madrid seemed more European, whereas Barcelona looked like a proper Latin American country.

Italy
Rome
Our days in Rome were kind of bittersweet. We were there during Easter weekend. Everything was shut or shut very early, so it was a bummer for those who hadn't been there before. It rained a bit in Rome as well, so we tried doing as much as we could when the weather was nice.

Right after we walked around the colosseum, the Pope entered, which was very cool.

The streets of Rome were so nice and fun to walk around. We strolled around the street artists, had amazing Italian food (finally! food for vegetarians!)














Venice
Venice was very unique and pretty, and I just wish it didn't rain so much for half the day we were there. It's a place that can be seen in a day, but I honestly wish I got to stay there longer. The gondolas, the houses on the water...It was breathtakingly beautiful, and we all attended a little bit of Easter mass.









Turkey
Istanbul
Istanbul was unique compared to all of the other places we saw on the trip, but it was definitely not my favorite. As much as most people would disagree with me on my opinion of the place, I just felt like it was an upscale Asia meets a downscale Europe. I guess it reminded me a lot of India, but it wasn't India. My expectations were very different to give it the benefit of the doubt, but nonetheless I made the most of it!

We did everything from seeing Topkapi Palace, Sophia Hagia, the Blue Mosque to going to the Asian side to visiting a Turkish bath.

But again, this place was not vegetarian friendly. Pizza overload again.

On the way to the Asian side

Switzerland
Zurich
Zurich was ridiculous...ly expensive. It was very clean and proper and reminded me of a typical European city. We were rained out here as well, but it was pretty and tiny so we got to see everything.

Two of my friends even got to go paragliding in Interlaken.







France
Paris
C'etait incroyable. I've done an exchange in Paris and been there at least 8 times, so why'd I go again?
If you look back at my post about France, I uploaded a picture of one of my favorite Japanese band's concert ads in the metro...Yep, I went back to Paris to see their 20th anniversary show there. It was worth every waking minute and penny. Enough said <3







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Spring break made coming to London so worth it!
YOLO