JMGEM Field Trip to Torres

The second JMGEM trip was a tour of the Torres Vineyard. Torres is the largest wine producer in Spain. The vineyard was enormous. In my opinion Torres was completely different from Napa Valley and Sonoma vinyards. This place was a wine Disneyland. We started off in a movie theatre for a video on the Torres family history. Then we went to a smell room and then we went on a tram ride around the vineyard. On a side note, my mom was visiting last weekend so I brought her along.

JMGEM Field trip to La Fageda

Last week we had two JMGEM trips. The first one was to the dairy company La Fageda. They aid the local community by employing the mentally disabled and providing some with housing. Currently 90% of mentally disabled are unemployed in Spain. La Fageda’s main products are yogurt and milk.

On our tour we saw tons of cows. They were huge.



Here’s our class on the tour.



Cow.



Calf.



Me, Ramirez, and Juan



Jessie and Ocean

Florence, Italy!!!

Florence was beautiful, but nothing compared to Barcelona. It was probably half the size of San Francisco. This was my first trip to Italy and I expected to see many Italians, but Florence is full of tourists and barely any Italians. Here are some pictures to give you a quick idea of my trip.





Ponte Vecchio at night time



More Ponte Vecchio



While in Florence I met up with some USF undergrad students on their study abroad. Here is Stephanie and Lainy.

Dublin, Ireland!!!

Hey people! Sorry I’ve taken a blog break, but I’m back now… Ive been doing a lot of traveling lately. From Dublin on one weekend to Florence the next, have kept me pretty busy. Dublin reminded me of my prep school days in Boston. Just like it, except the people were way nicer. It seemed like everyone gets out of their way to make your life easier. Here are some pics from Dublin.





This is Peters Pub & Snug. It was right across the street from my hotel. When I went inside I asked the bartender what the “snug” was, he replied by saying, “Snug as a bug in a rug.” This is where I tried my first official Guinness. I thought it was nothing special, but for some reason it’s a popular favorite in Ireland.



Look at this Irish Coffee!



Here is Allison in the park





Some pictures of Grafton Street.

My weekend trip to Mallorca!

Last weekend I went to my friend Juan’s house in Mallorca. In case you’re not sure where Mallorca is, it’s a small island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Spain. It was absolutely gorgeous. Definitely a hidden gem.













I took these shots directly from Juan’s balcony. Look at this view!!!




This is the living room at Juan’s



Pics of downtown Palma





On Saturday, Juan took us to his Mom’s boyfriends house and they made us a home-made beef paella. (not seafood because Jess is allergic to shrimp) here are some pictures from the feast!
This picture shows the paella cooking outside on the monster-sized platter. Notice they havn’t put the rice in yet.



Final Product!



Here are some more pictures from my mallorca trip




This is our rental car . . . a Ford Fiesta. Haha


This is me at a castle in Mallorca

Apartment Pics!

It has been a little difficult to keep up with the blog since I have no internet. As I promised, here are some pics of my apartment.


This is what the building looks like from the outside. You can see my apartment’s balcony on the first floor.



Here’s the living room



Here is a pic of my bedroom.