Above is the video I produced with my friend Brooks for our Spanish class — it explores the dark side of tourism in Barcelona….

A Weekend in Barcelona

A few weeks ago when I was talking to my parents via skype, my Dad pulled out an old Mark Twain quote.

“Never let school interfere with your education,” he said.

This may as well be my motto until June.  Not that the difference in work load between New Zealand and the U.S. hasn’t helped me do a lot of cool stuff on the weekends.

Here are some of my recent weekend expeditions.

The above quote is found on a blue girder in the Guinness Storehouse, and what better way to spend Paddy’s Day than on the streets of Dublin! My parents visited me here in Ireland, so they got to participate in the festivities as well. The city is lit up with green lights at night, there’s a carnival on Merrion Square, trad music plays in almost every pub, and the city is incredibly crowded with tourists from around the world. It seems as though everyone wants to claim Irish roots, and I don’t blame them. The Irish are absolutely wonderful people!

The first night in Chengdu was a slow one. 
This was deliberate since the next day the plan was to go hiking. 
Whilst the city itself offers many places to walk to, we went to QingChengShan, about an hour outside of the city to go hiking.

Over the last 6 days, I went to more cultural events than I ever remember attending in a single week. This is exactly what I meant in my first blog post when I said that I was particularly excited about learning opportunities that only a big city could offer.

Some of the highlights this past week included:

I had no idea before coming to Ecuador that I’d end up not only meeting Ecuadorians, but also people from many other countries, such as Australia and Japan. It turns out that my host family owns a Bed & Breakfast (although technically it’s more of a Bed & Breakfast & Dinner). So far I’ve really enjoyed the experience. I get the opportunity to meet people from all over the world, learn about their backgrounds, and find out why they’ve chosen to come to Ecuador.