Canary Islands & Barcelona
February 25 - March 5, 2017
Long Study Break #1
08
Barcelona, Spain
Canary Islands, Spain
Saturday, February 25th - Wednesday March 1st
Early Saturday morning my friends and I flew into Gran Canaria (the main Canary Island) and spent the day exploring and relaxing until the evening when we took a ferry over to Tenerife, the island we planned to spend the rest of our time on. I would definitely recommend Tenerife over the main island because of how much more diverse the terrain is as well as the fact that it is much less touristy. The airbnb we stayed in was very charming and was located right on the water. We spent the majority of our time on the island hiking and beach hopping as well as some time in the city of Tenerife (naturally I dragged my friends to see some of the few but beautiful works of architecture that the island had to offer).
To summarize the breaks that you have during your time at DIS:
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One "Short Study Break" where you travel to Western Denmark with your Core Course
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Two "Long Travel Breaks:" one of the weeks you get to use for individual travel (I went with several friends to the Canary Islands and Barcelona) and for the second of the two "Long Travel Breaks" you go on an educational travel tour with your Core Course (for my Architecture Foundations Studio Core Course I will be traveling to Sweden and Finland during this week).
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"Spring Break:" occurs around Easter and is for individual traveling
Any traveling done through DIS (aka any traveling with your courses at DIS) is included in the price you pay for your semester here, which is a REALLY nice benefit of this abroad program. The other weeks of individual traveling you pay for out of pocket.
Wednesday, March 1st - Saturday, March 4th
A little before midnight on the 1st my friends and I arrived in Barcelona. Our airbnb was located very centrally in the Plaza of Cataluñya so much of our venturing was done by foot. On our first full day we went to an amazing brunch place called Brunch & Cake and I order a smoothie as well as a lentil burger that looked more like a unicorn. Some other highlights from our trip included visiting Park Güel by Antonio Gaudí, the Sagrada Familia Basilica (also by Gaudí) and Sagrat Cor church, which is located on Tibidabo, one of the highest mountains in Spain.