Diciembre en Barcelona--Kelly

It's time for a photo dump! Let's start way back in December:
Shortly after the students left at the end of last semester, we headed south in search of warmer weather, late-night dining, and lots of sleep. We found all that and more in Barcelona! The final week of the semester was pretty brutal for Mark, so he was exhausted and ready for a nice little break. We took advantage of the fact that easyJet connects Geneva to numerous European cities for the price of a meal out. It seems that the company makes its money by severely limiting the size of carry-on baggage allowed, charging extra for checking anything larger than a big purse. We pushed the limit with our carry-ons but were spared the additional charges by a very, very kind flight attendant at the Geneva airport, so our trip got off to a great start.

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

We stumbled upon this (as can happen when you travel without a travel guide) and could hardly believe our eyes. We arrived too late to go in and enjoy the vast collection of Catalan art contained within, but the building itself, along with its fountains, was majestic enough to make it worth the visit. 

The view of the city from the steps of the museum

Catedral de Barcelona

Embarrassingly enough, we stumbled upon this as well and came to realize that this "really pretty church" in the neighborhood near where we were staying was indeed the cathedral for the city (seriously, bringing a guide or at least doing research ahead of time next time!) 

The courtyard outside of the Museu d'Historia de Barcelona

A fantastic museum that included a subterranean level with ruins from the city's ancient Roman days. The photo I wish I'd taken: standing in front of the basin where cloth was dyed (a hint of blue remaining), looking up and out a window to the street-level shop selling soccer team t-shirts in vibrant colors. A reminder that there's really nothing new under the sun. The big disappointment of this particular site was that the section containing one of the earliest baptistries in existence was under construction and we were therefore unable to see it. I had to pry Mark away from the barrier walls and we both agreed that this ensured a return visit to Barcelona at some point in the future. 

Gondola going up to Montjuïc hill and castle

Castell de Montjuïc

The grounds of the castle, overlooking the city. At different points in history, this facility has served as a fort, a castle, a military prison and museum (under Franco), and is now a cultural site and municipal facility. 

Mark waiting for me in the courtyard as I checked out the castle restrooms

"Doble Creu Montjuïc"

The sculpture on the right appears as a cross from the observer's vantage point. Its reflection in the mirror on the left appears as a Start of David. More information here.

Alsur Café-El Born

One of the many cafés we visited, this one in the lovely El Born neighborhood. It provided us a nice shelter from the rain and allowed us to enjoy some time reading and studying. 

La Boqueria

Barcelona's most famous covered food market. Photos can't do justice to the sights, sounds, and smells of this place. We enjoyed juicy cups of fresh fruit and juice, crepes, and paper cones of Manchego and jamón Serrano and Ibérico (Serrano and Iberian ham). 

Jamón Ibérico 

Mark was especially excited to see and to taste jamón Ibérico, one of Spain's most famous foods. Jamón of all kinds shows up in all sorts of places and dishes, and it's probably a minor miracle that we didn't develop gout after several days of enjoying the local fare. 

The entrance to Carrer Boqueria, across from La Boqueria

This is just off one of the main tourist/shopping streets, La Rambla. Colorful Christmas lights like these hung at major street entrances and over little alleys full of shops Christmas shoppers. 

Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família

One of the main reasons we chose Barcelona as a destination was to see Sagrada Família, and it did not disappoint. Designed by Gaudí and still a work in progress, this was one of the most impressive structures we've ever seen/visited/climbed up in. 

Inside the basilica

There's a lot I could write about the symbolism of the architecture and the colors used, but words can't really do it justice, and neither can photos for that matter. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Sagrada Família, I highly recommend the audio tour.  It takes several hours and offers a cursory (!) introduction to the parts that have already been completed. 

Mark enjoying the audio tour

Looking down from inside the tower

The stairwell running up the tower

View of the city from the tower

I'd also highly recommend paying for access to the tower. As you can see, it's not for those afraid of heights or stairs, but it offers a great view of the city and of other parts of the cathedral. 

Just a typical vacation breakfast

Have I mentioned yet that the food in Barcelona was just fantastic? I regret not getting a good photo of the hole-in-the-wall tapas place we found, which consisted of several rickety tables, groups of gentlemen playing chess, and a friendly proprietor who recited the "menu" for us and recommended we just get one of everything. We did and we enjoyed it all. We went for the same idea at breakfast, on this particular day sticking to the theme of "croissant." So we had a classic croissant, a chocolate croissant, and a cronut (croissant dough shaped and fried like a donut). Chased down with a cappuccino, of course. 

The view from our apartment balcony

Our balcony door looked out on a cute alley and the ruins of ancient city walls. 

The living room of our apartment

Another Air Bnb success story! We found this little place, centrally located near the port, cathedral, and La Rambla, and it turned out just as well as we'd hoped. Given the great location, its affordability was due to the fact that it was on the sixth floor of an old building with no elevator, and with a spiraling staircase so narrow and tightly wound that climbing and descending it resulted in a bit of vertigo. But it was a great find nonetheless, and further reinforced my belief that sites like Air Bnb are greatly enhancing and facilitating good travel experiences all over the world. 

So, that's it for Barcelona! We returned to Lausanne feeling renewed, refreshed, and ready to plan another trip to Spain. 

EFT Part Deux: Arles, Les-Baux-de-Provence, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, and Avignon--Kelly

Arles is famous for its Roman theater and arena, which is still used for concerts, performances, and bullfighting (!) It was built in 90 AD and still seems to be in remarkably good shape. We didn't get a chance to go in, so here's the profile. 

The sight of this famous café kicked off "Van Gogh day," one of the highlights of the entire trip for this fan. There was no starry night serving as a backdrop, of course, but it was still unmistakably familiar.

We spent our few minutes of free time in Arles wandering the cute little streets and posing on fountains. 

[In between Arles and the next set of photos from Saint-Rémy we went to Les-Baux-de-Provence, a lovely town built on a rocky hillside where bauxite was first discovered. Unfortunately, we failed to take any pictures worth sharing]

As I've already mentioned, I really enjoyed the Van Gogh-related parts of this trip. We were privileged to visit Saint-Rémy, site of a monastery that has served as a psychiatric hospital for many years, including while Van Gogh was a patient there. I say we were "privileged" because the facility doesn't usually allow large tour groups to visit, but they made an exception for us. Throughout the buildings and grounds you can find renditions of paintings mounted at the site where they were painted. For instance, during iris season, you can see the blooms that Van Gogh made famous. 

A statue of the famous artist himself, welcoming groups to Saint Rémy. His legacy seems to be a big part of the hospital's identity. Current patients paint as part of the therapeutic process and the hospital sells their pieces in its gift shop. 

Our tour guide told us that Van Gogh moved to this region because he was attracted by the Provençal light. Not being a painter myself, I wasn't sure that I'd be able to really see what he saw, but I did indeed! It was hard to get a picture that could really do justice to the warm, golden light. The best adjective I could come up with to describe it was "Van Gogh-y."

[We also made a stop in the small fishing town of Cassis, but, again, managed to not get any photos worth sharing]

Our final destination was Avignon, seat of popes and antipopes during the Catholic schism of the 14th century. Mark had told me several years ago that he'd love to one day visit the papal palace in Avignon, so he was thrilled to be there and was only somewhat disappointed with our tour guide's (très French) version of the events leading up to and resulting from the schism. I made sure to ask him to tell me the other side of the story later. 

Colorful, original tiles in the papal bedroom 

And that concluded our time in the south of France! Although leaving for the field trip so shortly after we arrived in Lausanne made for a slightly strange second week on the job for Mark, I'm glad that we were able to do it. In addition to the sights and wonderful, warm weather (and Provençal light!), we really enjoyed getting to know the students and staff better. Next up: back to life in Lausanne.

Student Videos

Each international program has a student who is tasked with creating videos at certain points throughout the semester. The Lausanne program has posted two so far, and they're really good! If you'd like to see or remember what the study abroad experience looks like through the eyes of students, you can go here:

September and October Check-in Video: http://vimeopro.com/pepperdine/ip/video/77799618

A November to Remember: http://vimeopro.com/pepperdine/ip/video/80286578

EFT Part 1: Marseille and Aix-en-Provence--Kelly

Exactly a week after we arrived in Lausanne we took off with the group for a week-long educational field trip to the south of France. We were probably still a little jet-lagged and were definitely still adjusting to this new lifestyle, but we had a really fantastic time. I mean, it is the south of France after all. The warm sunshine, the sparkling Mediterranean, the excellent food, plenty to see and do and learn--what's not to love?

 This was our first stop upon arriving in Marseille. We're in front of Palais Longchamp, constructed to celebrate the creation of the Canal de Marseille in the middle of the 19th century. Our tour guide was fond of saying that Marseille is "the water city." Note the pink dolphin celebrating to the right of Mark's shoulder. The great thing about traveling with the students is we always have built-in photographers to take pictures of us standing in front of things. And we return the favor, of course. Try to imagine how long a "quick stop" to take a few pictures turns out to be when you have two tour buses full of enthusiastic students and chaperones!

 Weary pilgrims hiking up to Cathedral Notre-Dame de la Garde. As you can see, it sits on a hill above the rest of Marseille and can be seen from many parts of the city. As we were leaving the cathedral to go to lunch, we were met with a torrential downpour that is apparently "very, very rare" for this usually sunny region. Fortunately, we enjoyed more typical weather for the remainder of the trip.

The highlight of our day trip to lovely Aix-en-Provence was seeing this seemingly random hole in the floor of the Aix Cathedral. Oh wait, it's a baptistry dating back to around 500 AD. Mark, having recently preached on and having taken an entire grad school course on baptism, was pretty much freaking out. We spent a good portion of our free time that day talking to our tour guide about how awesome it was to see a baptistry that was this old. And that's why all of the student's family members will be getting beautiful Provençal tablecloths for Christmas and ours will have to make do with a framed photo of an old baptistry.

Our planned boat trip to Château d'If, made famous by The Count of Monte Cristo, was thwarted by strong winds, which meant we had more time to spend hiking around one of the other Frioul islands off the coast of Marseille.

You can't put Pepperdine kids near this much water and expect them to not dive in. It was a little too chilly for swimming in my humble opinion, so we enjoyed sitting on the beach and talking to the students who were equally cowardly.

A shot of the Marseille Cathedral (not to be confused with her hilltop cousin), taken from the top of the newly opened Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations. The museum was designed so that the top of the outdoor structure (which you see at the bottom of the photo) would look like the ocean leading up to the cathedral from this vantage point. Marseille has the distinction of being the "European Capital of Culture" for 2013, so there were lots of interesting exhibits and projects on display while we were there. This museum, however, was by far my favorite. The exhibits were excellent and the building itself was really remarkable.

An ice cream crepe washed down with Evian water. Just in case there are any doubts that we really were in France.

Stay tuned for Part Deux!

Bienvenue à Lausanne--Kelly

After almost a full week in Lausanne, we left with the group for the educational field trip to the south of France. Pictures are forthcoming. For now, welcome to our new fair city:

Palais de justice de Montbenon from the park nearby our facility

 View from our window

View from the cathedral

The cathedral is deserving of its own post, so we'll work on that. Let's just say that our resident church history fan is finding lots to be excited about on this continent. 

For those who are planning to visit at some point, two of my favorite Lausanne resources are:

David Lebovitz's guide to Lausanne

and

The Lausanne Guide to Life and Style

Encore! --Kelly

Well, after a long time "away," we're back. Life in New York started feeling a little too normal to be worth writing about, our updates took the form of witty (at least we liked to think) 140-character musings elsewhere, and we eventually abandoned ship. Then we up and moved to Switzerland, and suddenly trips to the grocery store feel worthy of a post, with photos to boot.

Actually, there's a lot I could say about our first four days in Lausanne. I could tell you about how we were stuck in Heathrow on our way here for 7 extra exhausting hours due to fog, how we eventually made it to Geneva will all bags and boxes almost intact, or how we were greeted at the airport by two very warm and welcoming students whose enthusiasm for discussing Meyers-Briggs personality types rivals my own (I think we'll get along just fine!) I could tell you about the gorgeous view from our apartment, but you can just look at the top of this page and see that for yourself. I could tell you that Mark's been keeping super busy being trained in his job, preparing for next week's educational field trip to the south of France, and playing "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias on the guitar at last night's "coffee house" that the students put on.

But instead, I'll tell you that Mark and I successfully went grocery shopping yesterday. My first visit to the grocery store in any new hometown, in the U.S. or out of it, is a momentous occasion. I simply love grocery stores, and I think you can tell a lot about a community by visiting one. Among other things, we purchased courgettes (zucchini), on sale for 50% off, delicious butter that lives up to its reputation, and our first bar of Swiss-bought, Swiss-made chocolate. The highlight of the trip, though, was stumbling upon the "exotic" foods aisle and finding a full range of Thai Kitchen brand goods. Coconut milk, curry paste (green and red!), jasmine rice...all one needs to fix a warm, comforting plate of Thai curry. After a tiring first week, this familiar sight was all it took to bring one of us to tears. I can't say who, though. He'd kill me if I told.

Here's to more new experiences and reminders of home!

Snow Snow Snow!

Nothing will make you want to take up an unhealthy habit such as visiting tanning beds regularly like months and months of snow on the ground will (I haven't given in YET). Yes, it's beautiful, yeah, it makes for funny photos, but if I don't see some sun soon, I'm going to declare an early retirement and migrate with the rest of the older New York set to Florida.

Not sure if the owner of this car will be seeing it, or using it, soon. I have on about 15 layers here.
Sliding backwards down the stairs in the park on our way to small group. This was a survival technique that was a bit more dangerous than my strategy for descending the next set of stairs: sliding down them on an old discarded cardboard box. By far the most fun commute into Harlem we've ever had.
Should I stay or should I go now? Hard to tell.
Out our living room window.
On a Saturday morning walk in Riverside Park, where we passed a fellow on cross country skis.
Campus looked especially glow-y.