{"id":1166,"date":"2015-04-27T08:44:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T12:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/social.rollins.edu\/wpsites\/letters\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2019-07-25T15:18:34","modified_gmt":"2019-07-25T15:18:34","slug":"spending-springtime-in-scotland-and-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/2015\/04\/27\/spending-springtime-in-scotland-and-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Spending springtime in Scotland and Spain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>While I am an advocate for traveling to other countries while abroad, I highly recommend leaving\u00a0amble time for exploring your host country.\u00a0London is a multicultural city\u00a0where\u00a0numerous languages are spoken and diverse British accents can be heard. From \u00a0Covent Garden to Maida Vale, Kensington to\u00a0Camden, the neighborhoods of London have their own unique personalities and treasures to uncover. I have also had the pleasure of exploring England by venturing to Bath, Stonehenge, Oxford and Cambridge.\u00a0Also, within the United Kingdom, I went up north for my birthday weekend to walk the royal mile in Edinburgh and see the dazzling landscapes of the Scottish Highlands.\u00a0The Highlands (pictured above) were absolutely gorgeous; the land\u00a0is beautifully\u00a0preserved and untamed. I had the pleasure of visiting Loch Ness and Inverness, where the rolling green landscapes, pristine lakes, and mountains stretch on for miles and miles. The Highlands was such a calming and serene\u00a0place, and I highly suggest taking a trip\u00a0to the underrated countryside.<\/p>\n<p>My last weekend trip outside of the UK\u00a0was to Barcelona. Getting\u00a0to Spain was the biggest challenge; my flight was delayed 12 hours due to an air traffic strike in France. My roommate Katie and I did not get to our hostel until Friday evening and were thoroughly exhausted but managed to get some sightseeing in before meeting our tour group. \u00a0On our first night, we explored the Medieval quarter of Barcelona, took a stroll on La Rambla to see the Mirador de Colom, and saw the magic fountain show at\u00a0Pla\u00e7a d&#8217;Espanya. On Saturday, we took a tour of Barcelona&#8217;s modern architecture, went inside Gaudi&#8217;s Sagrada Familia, spent the afternoon on the beach, and took an evening paella and sangria class at\u00a0La Boqueria Market. On Sunday, before heading back to London, we went to\u00a0Park G\u00fcell\u2015an impressive public park also designed by Catalonia&#8217;s famous architect, Gaudi. To end our last day, we took a bike tour that stopped at the\u00a0Arc de Triomf, Parc de la Ciutadella,\u00a0and\u00a0Barceloneta Beach. Being from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, I really enjoyed getting in touch with my heritage while visiting Spain.<\/p>\n<p>To get a glimpse of my travels, I have included pictures below of my weekend trips to Edinburgh, The Highlands,\u00a0and Barcelona:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1513702_10206811304464932_840835100598546813_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17944 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/1513702_10206811304464932_840835100598546813_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10407157_10206782221977888_3849618239018512229_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17945 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10407157_10206782221977888_3849618239018512229_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10891465_10153692924995968_9168497318890443640_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17946 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/10891465_10153692924995968_9168497318890443640_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11069386_10153692903185968_2567622372905798264_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17947 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11069386_10153692903185968_2567622372905798264_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11080942_10206615337205873_6782042037885055290_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17948 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11080942_10206615337205873_6782042037885055290_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11115596_10206773531440630_5089743605248526943_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17949 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11115596_10206773531440630_5089743605248526943_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11150916_10206194626721720_7214766361012087068_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17950 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11150916_10206194626721720_7214766361012087068_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11156370_10206194627361736_320649851799305813_n-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17951 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/11156370_10206194627361736_320649851799305813_n-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_20150320_154435-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17952 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_20150320_154435-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_20150320_162600-150x150.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-17953 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_20150320_162600-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While I am an advocate for traveling to other countries while abroad, I highly recommend leaving\u00a0amble time for exploring your host country.\u00a0London is a multicultural city\u00a0where\u00a0numerous languages are spoken and diverse British accents can be heard. From \u00a0Covent Garden to Maida Vale, Kensington to\u00a0Camden, the neighborhoods of London have their own unique personalities and treasures&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":487,"featured_media":1169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[90,111,180,292,303,335],"class_list":["post-1166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capa","tag-barcelona","tag-capa-london","tag-highlands","tag-scotland","tag-spain","tag-uk-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/487"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1166"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17954,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1166\/revisions\/17954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rollins.edu\/letters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}