Emerson Goes to Prague

For our second class excursion, the school took us to the small mecca of art history known as Prague. While the Czech Republic isn't known for food or fashion, it's chalkful of preserved buildings and statues. Besides the monstrous hill with the famous church perched atop it, Prague is a relatively flat place. And extremely small, at that. We conquered the city-wide tour within two hours which featured a gander at the famous Square containing the clocktower, a French church, and the bridge.

All You Need Is Love

It was a rainy day as we trekked out to a small suburban neighborhood to see Abbey Road. Once we actually turned the corner onto Abbey Road, we were shocked. Not in amazing awe, but more confusingly stunned. Abbey Road couldn't have housed all four Beatles on this small of a walkway!

Despite the small size of Abbey Road, being there still made us feel like a part of history. Located conveniently down the street, is John Lennon's house. For a place all boarded up, the public have sure done a good job decorating. All over are Beatles song lines scribbles alongside doodles of Lennon and Yoko Ono. It was a beautiful side to behold, really. After my friend and I headed to the Beatles Merchandise Store, which can only be described as the holy mecca of Beatles paraphernalia.

Seeing the Sights...All in One Day

4th Weekend Trip: London

London is by far my favorite city that I've visited thus far. I've never felt more at home. It could be the shopping, the polite people, or just the fact that I'm in a place where everyone speaks English. Walking around London is like walking around a royal village. Everywhere you go, you're graced with statues of Lords, Dukes, and Sir's. It almost gets overwhelming with how many royal names you come across just tooling around the city. First day, we all visited Buckingham Palace for the 'Changing of the Guard' ceremony, which was unfortunately cancelled due to rain. We still got to see the guards though! Somehow, we managed to find guards outside this other palace and my friend Lauren managed to make one of them laugh. Drew quite the crowd too, seeing as they're forbidden to even smile.

Buckingham Palace

Lauren makes the guard laugh

Favorite Moment in Barcelona

Beaches in Barcelona

Market Day

The St. Joseph market on Las Ramblas is by far the most popular food market in Barcelona. It takes up only a small plaza behind an alleyway, but once inside, it's a condensed maze of fruits, seafoods, spices, cheeses, and chocolates. Any grocery store would easily be put to shame here.

3rd Weekend Trip: Birthday in Barcelona

Sagrada Famillia Church

busy day at Las Ramblas

I couldn't have asked for a better place to celebrate my birthday weekend than in Barcelona. I was pleasantly surprised at the community there, considering that I didn't speak any Spanish. The weather was perfection, and while the people who actually lived there bundled up in coats and scarves, my friends and I were out in sunglasses and sandals to enjoy the sunny weather. This place is very rooted in the artistic scene, which doesn't surprise me. The sidewalk artists we encountered were just the modern makings of their predecessors like Picasso and Gaudi.