For my last week in London I was able to visit one district in London, along with Oxford outside of London, and Dublin. When it comes to Dublin, it feels very much like the United Kingdom still, even though that part of Ireland is in Europe. During my trip to Dublin, I was able to experience three days here. To start off with, my first day here I spent taking the Guinness tour. Guinness is a huge part of culture when it comes to the Irish because a lot of their economy relies on it. Therefore, this tour was my favorite part of this whole trip because I got to see how it was made, and what it did for their economy and their culture. Along with this I was able to taste it, learn how to drink, and enjoy a glass of the best Guinness in the world on top of the building with a 360-degree view of the whole city of Dublin. After this I got to tour their Jameson Distillery, which comes from Dublin and is a huge part of their culture as well. In fact, during WWII they had part of their army holding up in this distillery to defend themselves. In this tour we got to do a whiskey tasting, along with a background of the Irish history that involved Jameson. The last fascinating thing that we got to do it Dublin was go to the Cliffs of Moher. These Cliffs are massive and are on the edge of the ocean. Several Tourist fall over these cliffs and die each year due to taking photos near the edge of it. Out of all the sites that I have seen in these past two Months, this has been the most phenomenal thing that I have seen. The population of Dublin consists of about five million people, with around 84.5% of them being Irish and 91% of those people being white.

Oxford was the second thing that I got to visit this week. Oxford was very much like Cambridge when it came to the fact that most of the town is the university of Oxford, with the multiple schools that are connected to the College. In Oxford I got to visit the dinning hall that resembles the dinning hall from Harry Potter. Along with this I got to visit another market, like Cambridge. It was not as good as Cambridge’s market, but I was able to do some beer tastings in this market from a local brewing company. These were fantastic tastings, and if I were to ever come back here again I would make sure to visit this market again for that reason. Another thing that I got to do in Oxford was punting. Punting is a form of paddling down the river but with a giant stick. We got to Punt for two hours, and I was able to try doing it myself for a portion of the time. It was awesome experience and I hope that I can someday do it again. During our time that we were punting, the Oxford students had just finished their exam’s, so they were putting shaving cream on themselves and jumping into the river where we were punting. The population of Oxford is about a hundred and fifty thousand people, which is extremely small when compared to Dublin’s population. About 60% of their population is white, which is significantly smaller compared to the Irish when it comes to a white dominant city.

The district that I got to checkout this week in London was the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. My favorite part about this neighborhood was the tower of London. From the outside, it looks like a giant castle near the center of the city in London. Next to it is the Bridge of London. This bridge has a beautiful view of the city across the water from it. I was able to eat at a pub here right on the water and the fish and chips were phenomenal here. This district is more touristy then locals I would say. The reason for this is because of all the attraction that you can see here. London’s population is around eight million, which is almost double Dublin’s population and way bigger than Oxfords population. About 86% percent of London is white so that is very similar to Dublin in that aspect.

London this week was very hot and humid. Along with this, it was the only week that wasn’t cloudy and raining. Dublin on the other hand was rainy and cold the first day that I was there. The rest of the trip it was hot and beautiful outside. According to my tour guide from Cliffs of Moyer, it was the only day that he has seen it being sunny there. In Dublin when it was sunny, everyone was outside at parks hanging out with friends. The same goes for London in this aspect because both places see mostly rain and clouds. Oxford was very cold and rainy the whole time I was their and I did not get a chance to see the sun at all while I was visiting there.

My third week in London involved visiting 1 district, along with two districts outside of London. Camden was the first district that I got explore this week. I have been living in the Camden district for my whole stay here in London. My neighborhood is a poor area of London. A lot of homeless reside around our area. Late at night it is a very unsafe area. Across the street from my apartment is the most popular pub around the Euston station area, which resides in the Camden District. This pub is called the Crown and Anchor, and I have managed to spend a few nights here speaking with the locals and enjoying their locally craft beer. Along with the pub, another interesting site in this district is the Camden Market. I would give this market a ten out of ten when it comes to ranking markets in London. Everything from the food to the shops here are amazing. I have managed to eat here a few times since I have been in London and the food is phenomenal. When it came to the shops here, there was an awesome rave shop. They sold all clothes that looks straight from an 80’s movie. London currently has around eight million citizens living in the city.

The first district that I was able to visit outside of London was Liverpool. Liverpool so far has been my favorite city in the United Kingdom. It is very much like London, but in a much smaller scale. Talking to the people here, they all did not like London. They said that Liverpool is the better version of London and I agree with them. At Liverpool I had the chance to do the British Music experience, which showcased all the big bands that have come from the United Kingdom. Being able to learn more about bands such as the Rolling Stones, Queens, and Led Zeppelin was a once and a lifetime experience. Along with this I was able to see the Beatles Museum, which went into debt about their whole life and even talked about John Lennon’s. This was a life changing experience being able to see all the Beatles work since I was lucky enough to get to see Paul McCartney live this past October. After this I got to go to the Cavern Club which is a pub underground where the Beatles first started to play. During the time I was here, several different artist went up and covered songs from the Beatles. Everyone here was much older than me but it was one of the best experiences I have had in Europe. Liverpool has a population of around five hundred thousand people, which is much smaller compared to London. Its population is around 90% white, while London’s is around 40%.

The Second district that I was able to see was Cambridge. Cambridge is a college town, since most of the town is surrounded by different schools within the college of Cambridge. Cambridge has a huge rivalry with Oxford when it comes to schools and living. While I was here in Cambridge, I got the chance to visit a cool street Market in the middle of the town. Besides the Camden market, this has been my second market so far this trip. I would give it a nine out of ten when rating the markets that I have been to. Along with this, I was able to see the Cemetery of the WWII soldiers from America that died in Europe and that chose to be buried here by their families. Before this, I had no clue that their were American soldiers buried in the UK, and this was a huge eye opening experience. Cambridge’s population is around one hundred and thirty thousand, which is extremely small compared to Liverpool and London. It has around 60% white ethnicity here which is in between London and Liverpool. Most of the people living here go to college, so it is a much richer white area when it comes to that.

All three of these cities are very rainy when it comes to weather. The beginning of my third week here London was still very rainy, but towards the end of the week it really started to clear up and get hot. Cambridge and Liverpool on the other hand were extremely cold with rain on both days that I was there. Both city’s border London and can be accessed by the train through the train stations in London. It is very easy to get to both and I could see myself coming back the next time that I am in the UK.

My second week in London I managed to visit three different districts. The first district that I was able to see was Westminster. Buckingham Palace, which is where the queen lives is one of the places that I got to check out. This palace is filled with lots of cool architecture, but unfortunately tourist is not allowed in it. At the palace, guards stand still and do not move all day except for their guard change at 11 AM in the morning each day. Along with this, I was able to see Hyde Park. Hyde Park has been the highlight of my trip in London so far and contains a lot of cool things to experience here. To start off with, I got to see a cool statue of a tooth that was lined up with a statue of a horse. Both architectural statues are lined up with Kensington palace off in the distance. In Hyde park I had the chance to visit the Serpentine Gallery, which was full of art that reflected on African Americans in America. This was a cool experience because it was full of art in London that was made for America, showing the two culture be brought together through that.

The second district that I was able to visit this week was the Southwark Borough. In this district I had the chance to visit Leadenhall Market. This market contained a set building used in the first Harry Potter. Unfortunately, it was a let down because this building was now just a sunglass shop. Besides this, the Leadenhall market was a very upper-class market. When I was there, it was filled with a ton of bankers on there lunch. They were all dressed up in suits and boy was I underdressed for it. Besides that, the food was fantastic, and the locals were very interesting to talk to. Next, I had the chance to visit the Borough Market. This market was very different and had a lot of cool buildings within it. I managed to see a pirate ship and a church here. Besides that, I was able to try a bunch of different foods here and they were all phenomenal. Lastly, I was able to cross the Millennium Bridge. This was a bridge that was used in the filming of Harry Potter and the Half Blood prince. It is a very iconic bridge because of that, and tourist from all over the city come to see it and the views from the bridge are fantastic.

The last district that I was able to visit this week was the Lambeth district. In this district, I had the chance to do the London Eye. The London Eye is a Ferris wheel that gives you a 360 view of the whole city. This is a huge tourist attraction in London, and so far has been one of the most enjoyable things that I have done in London. Along with this, I was able to do Tate museum of art. The architecture of this building is really something else because on the backside of the building it has bricks going sideways to support it. Along with this, the art in the museum was special. One of the rooms in this museum has a statue of radios put together to form a giant piece of art.

London is a very rainy city. Locals have told me that they get around 300 day of rain in a year. So far, out of the two weeks that I have been here, I have seen very few Sundays and it is in the summer here currently. London is home to around 8.8 Million people. It has around a 59% English population, with the rest of it being Black or an ethic minority. Compared to Barcelona, which had around 1.6 million people. This I crazy because when I stayed at Barcelona, I though the city was huge, but it is small in comparison to London. Along with this, Barcelona has a much higher ethnic population, with a small percentage of white people living in their city.

London is a city that I have always wanted to see. Research has shown that it is the proper form of English when compared to the United States of America. Coming from a Spanish speaking country, this will be a nice break before I head off to Rome next month. After being in Barcelona for a month, I cannot wait to see what it holds. So far I have gotten the chance to see a little bit of the city in my first week of being in London. To start off with, I was able to see a few of the markets that are around the city. The Camden Market, which is the closest market to my apartment has been my favorite so far. The atmosphere that it brings by being next to the water makes it a very nice place to go and have a nice peaceful lunch. Along with this, I have also had the chance to explore some sights such as Buckingham Palace, which is known to be the sight that you must see when going to London. It did not disappoint and was an amazing site to see. I plan to come back here in the future of my stay to see the changing of the guards in the morning. Lastly, coming into London, I was told that the food is decent, but that the fish and chips are very good. I have gotten a chance to try several different types of food around the local pubs here, and the food does not disappoint. It is by no means no Barcelona food, but it holds it owned when compared to food back home in Salt Lake City. My expectations for the next three weeks here in London are very high and I cannot wait to see more of the city.

This district was the only district that I had not had the chance of going to before doing this assignment. I was not sure what it would be like, but it exceeded my expectations for it. To start of with, I was able to visit the Placa de Vila de Gracia. This was a giant tower that stood in a square surrounded by restaurants with outside seating. When I was here, every seat was filled up because of how peaceful of a place it is to sit and eat. I was able to eat at a bakery here and it was phenomenal! After this, I had a chance to go visit Gaudi’s first house, Casa Vicens Gaudi. This house was filled with architecture that I had never seen before in my life. I would highly suggest any one visiting Barcelona to check this place out. The cost of living for tapas in this district was the same as the other two, 10-15 dollars for a decent size meal. Also, along with this the language barrier was the same here, but Gaudi’s first house was a huge traffic place for tourist to go and visit.

Going into the El Raval Neighborhood I had high expectations because previously in my trip I had gotten a chance to walk a little bit around it. I was blown away when getting here. To start off with, Guell Palace was one of the coolest designed buildings I have ever been in. It did not look big in scale when walking up to it, but the inside of it was magnificent and resembled a palace that I had imagined. Along with this was the Museu de Cera de Barcelona which was a wax museum. I did not get to spend as much time in the museum as I wanted to since it was my last day in Barcelona but it was a really neat experience. The last attraction that was really mind blowing was the Mirador de Colom, which was a attraction in the middle of the road towards the bottom of this district. The architecture of this was really mind blowing! Along with the other districts, I was not able to speak to any locals due to language barrier. These attractions definitely did not have a lot of tourist coming to check them out since they were tucked away on the side of busy streets. To end my blog , I will say that the cost of living here for going to a general tapas place was around 10-15 dollars for a decent size meal like El Barrio.

Going into the El Born Barrio district in Barcelona I wasn’t sure what to expect. After visiting it, I ended up being blown away by it. The Basilca of Santa Maria Del mar was a really cool church that I got to visit . Surrounding the area of this church, was a really neat area of restaurants with outside seating. Another attraction that I was able to see in this district was the Picasso museum. I am not one to look at a bunch of art, but being that it was Picasso I had to check it out. This was the first art museum that I have been in that I found thoroughly interested in the because of all the cool designs that Picasso had come up through his life time. Like the rest of my experiences in other districts this month, I was not able to communicate with anyone due to the language barrier. Besides that, this area was filled with a ton of tourist because of these two huge attractions within walking distance of each other. The cost of living here for a tapas meal in a restaurant, which are found on every block, is around 10-15 dollars for decent sized meal. I would love to get a chance to visit this district again when I come back and visit in the future.

Les Corts is the district that I have been most excited about since arriving to Barcelona. The reason for this is because of Camp Nou. Camp Nou is the FC Barcelona soccer stadium or Futbol in European terms. My main reason for wanting to study abroad was to see this stadium and hopefully attend a game. Unfortunately , I was not able to make it to a game but I was able to tour the stadium which did not disappoint. Besides the stadium, everything else about the district was rather disappointing. I ended up not spending much time in the rest of the area because a lot of it was very boring compared to what I have seen elsewhere. From what I was able to see through the tour is that soccer is a huge part of the culture here in Barcelona and everywhere in Europe. Beyond that, I was still not able to talk to anyone due to the language barrier. I had no luck in finding the demographic information in this district but this is the most visited neighborhood in all of Barcelona because of Camp Nou. Lastly, the grocery prices that I found were the same as the other two districts, meats being around three euro and wine being around six euro.

Before going to Montjuic for the first time, I was expecting it to be an amazing experience since I had gotten a chance to drive by the museum of Catalan art before going there. After going there and doing a tour of the museum, while also seeing the fountain of Montjuic, I would say that this has been one of my favorite locations in Barcelona as of being here for 3 weeks now. I was able to see the whole show of the Fountain , as it started during sunset, and continued while it was dark. Beyond checking both of these out, I was also able to go and check out the mall that is right across the street from both of these attractions. The mall here use to be a bull fighting Colosseum, but was now outlawed in Barcelona so it was turned into a mall. Communicating here was still very difficult due to the language barrier between English and Catalan. From the little supermarkets that I found around here, prices were around the same as the other districts that I have visited, which is around three Euro for Jamon Serrano, and six euro for wine. I am not sure how accurate this information is , but the demographic information that I found about this district is that around 10,415 people live in this district.

When first heading to the Gothic Quarter District in Barcelona, I was really excited to see the architecture that it had to offer. After arriving there, I can easily say that it is easily one of the best designed districts in Barcelona. I managed to eat at a tapas place here early this week, and it was amazing! My favorite part about this district was definitely the Gothic church here. I was able to go inside and go on top of the church , and it definitely was one of the coolest sites here at Barcelona so far that I have seen. Yet again, I was not able to communicate with anyone here due to the communication barrier, but the Gothic quarter is filled with lots of little shops and food places that a lot of people are constantly going in and out of. When browsing around several of little grocery stores that I found in the District, I found lunch meat(jamon serrano) to be around three euro, while wine was around six euro. Lastly, I tried to find the demographic information for this district but had no luck.