The trip home went well!!! So nice being back in my own bed, house and with my family.
Next time you get a free refill in a restaurant think about how lucky we are here in the US :)
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
WOW Italy!
So I have officially found my favorite country :)
I mean how can you go wrong with icecream for meals... really?
Florence was gorgeous. I´m pretty sure every city in Europe is on water or has a river running through the middle or something like that. It was so much fun. We went and watched the sunset on this hill that overlooks the entire city. It was gorgeous! We ended up going back the next night also. There are so many shops and museums, we couldn´t do it all, so we went to the Academia which has all kinds of Michealangelo stuff including the David which is actually really neat. Huge and so life like... I can explain more if you want, but I dont want to bore anyone on here. It was just a fun couple days with talking to random Spanish speakers that we would run into and walking around and seeing the town. So nice. I felt more like I was on a movie set than that people actually live there. So many more stories... but they are so much better in person so I´ll tell you when I see you!
Then we were off to Venice. (I think we need trains in the US. Apparently we have them and I never knew, but I think we need to use them.) We walked around and around the island and that was all you need to do. When people say that you should just try to get lost and that that is the fun of it, it´s completely true. And you don´t really even have to try. It was a nice last stop because it was so chill. Walk around, get a gelato, sit in a plaza, walk around, sit with your feet dangling in the water, walk around, etc. 2 days of that. Can´t complain. We didn´t do the whole hard core gondola ride (it´s sooo expensive) but there are places along the Grand Canal that you can take a Gondola across for like a dollar. It´s seriously a 2 minute ride, but so worth it. We were thinking about just going back and forth and back and forth, but didn´t :). It´s a gorgeous little town and Laura and I had a great time.
Finally, it came time for us to part, she was going back to Madrid and I had to come back to Sevilla so I got the train to Pisa. I spent the night in Pisa and got up early to see the tower before my flight (we´re talking 5am) and I walked over. The gates were closed when I got there but there were a bunch of British guys who had jumped the fence to get better pictures with the tower. They were telling me that I can´t come to the tower of Pisa just to get a picture through the fence and helped me jump it (foot in a boot, a little more difficult). Right after I got over, a security guard pulls up. OH NO! Luckily one of the British guys knew Italian and sweet talked us out of it using me as the excuse for everyone being over there lol. I´m not going to lie that I was a bit scared though. Can´t miss my flight because I´m in an Italian jail. I just kept saying, really, I never jump fences hahaha. But nothing happened, they just opened the gate for us. Weren´t even mad I guess. And although I had an invite to go the the European Cup soccer game with them in Rome, I turned it down and now I´m in Sevilla again.
I´m staying with an English girl that I met while I was here and she is hilarious. I´m at the school right now and have said hi and bye to everyone for the last time. I´m having dinner with Maria Louisa and Miguel tonight and then tomorrow, after all day in the air, I´ll finally get back to the states.
I´m so ready to be back. Really just content. I´ve loved it here, but ready to be home. Ready to move on. It´s been amazing and I can´t wait to see you all!!!!
I mean how can you go wrong with icecream for meals... really?
Florence was gorgeous. I´m pretty sure every city in Europe is on water or has a river running through the middle or something like that. It was so much fun. We went and watched the sunset on this hill that overlooks the entire city. It was gorgeous! We ended up going back the next night also. There are so many shops and museums, we couldn´t do it all, so we went to the Academia which has all kinds of Michealangelo stuff including the David which is actually really neat. Huge and so life like... I can explain more if you want, but I dont want to bore anyone on here. It was just a fun couple days with talking to random Spanish speakers that we would run into and walking around and seeing the town. So nice. I felt more like I was on a movie set than that people actually live there. So many more stories... but they are so much better in person so I´ll tell you when I see you!
Then we were off to Venice. (I think we need trains in the US. Apparently we have them and I never knew, but I think we need to use them.) We walked around and around the island and that was all you need to do. When people say that you should just try to get lost and that that is the fun of it, it´s completely true. And you don´t really even have to try. It was a nice last stop because it was so chill. Walk around, get a gelato, sit in a plaza, walk around, sit with your feet dangling in the water, walk around, etc. 2 days of that. Can´t complain. We didn´t do the whole hard core gondola ride (it´s sooo expensive) but there are places along the Grand Canal that you can take a Gondola across for like a dollar. It´s seriously a 2 minute ride, but so worth it. We were thinking about just going back and forth and back and forth, but didn´t :). It´s a gorgeous little town and Laura and I had a great time.
Finally, it came time for us to part, she was going back to Madrid and I had to come back to Sevilla so I got the train to Pisa. I spent the night in Pisa and got up early to see the tower before my flight (we´re talking 5am) and I walked over. The gates were closed when I got there but there were a bunch of British guys who had jumped the fence to get better pictures with the tower. They were telling me that I can´t come to the tower of Pisa just to get a picture through the fence and helped me jump it (foot in a boot, a little more difficult). Right after I got over, a security guard pulls up. OH NO! Luckily one of the British guys knew Italian and sweet talked us out of it using me as the excuse for everyone being over there lol. I´m not going to lie that I was a bit scared though. Can´t miss my flight because I´m in an Italian jail. I just kept saying, really, I never jump fences hahaha. But nothing happened, they just opened the gate for us. Weren´t even mad I guess. And although I had an invite to go the the European Cup soccer game with them in Rome, I turned it down and now I´m in Sevilla again.
I´m staying with an English girl that I met while I was here and she is hilarious. I´m at the school right now and have said hi and bye to everyone for the last time. I´m having dinner with Maria Louisa and Miguel tonight and then tomorrow, after all day in the air, I´ll finally get back to the states.
I´m so ready to be back. Really just content. I´ve loved it here, but ready to be home. Ready to move on. It´s been amazing and I can´t wait to see you all!!!!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
More in Italy
So I am now in Florence. We just got in today. It was a change of plans because we realized we had planned a lot of time in Cinque Terre.
But, backing up first, I finished up in Rome with a day of going to the Vatican. We went through the museum to see the Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. And let me just say it is HUGE! Everything you hear about Rome being huge is one hundred percent completely true! Its huge! Statues, pillars, everything: Huge!! I was kind of surprised as we walked through the Sistine Chapel because it wasnt what I expected. You are shoulder to shoulder with people in there, everyone craining their neck and looking up to see the ceiling. And then the guards all yelling, "NO PHOTOS." Kind of funny because everyone is just right out there flash and everything right in front of them. But... they do what they can I guess. In the Basilica, also absolutely humongous, hey have it all decked out. There is also a statue of Peter that has basically golden stubs for feet because people stand in lines to rub his foot (think the bull on Wall St). After that, we went into a neighborhood called the Trastevere, and this is the neighborhood that was my favorite. That and the part across the river from it that used to be the Jewish ghetto area. Its just a precious part of town. We were just wandering around, no real place to go for about 2 hours. Stopping in little shops, getting a gelato, and then we stumbled upon this plaza called the Campo de Fiori and it is my favorite place ever! (Maybe Plaza de Espana, that is in Sevilla, but its a tight competition. Hard to compare the two.) Its a plaza with restaurants and umbrellas and strands of lights and balconies with flowers and roofs with people eating and just amazingness all around. I just stood in the middle of the piazza turning around in a circle with a huge smile on my face taking it all in telling my friend, "Would you just look at where we are right now?!?!?"
The next day, she left for Paris and I left on a train to meet up with other friends in Cinque Terre. It is a national park north of Florence that has trails connecting 5 precious little towns that over look the ocean and vineyards and everything. Absolutely gorgeous! I liked it better than Greece definitely and Scotland too. All it was lacking was the waterfalls of Scotland, but it was absolutely stunning as you walked through these little towns in between your hike and saw laundry hanging out to dry, sunned on the rocks (kind of like turtles... there wasnt sand), jumped in the water. So much fun! We had a little apartment to our selves basically. It was awesome being able to cook and everything. The two other girls Im with are pretty much gourmet chefs so they just cooked away and we ate amazingly. (My contribution was the fruit salad haha)
We hiked the whole thing yesterday (we didnt rush or anything so it took us pretty much the whole day to hike it. And then we just sat under the stars on the rocks that night. One of the funnest things is talking to all of the random people along the way. Meeting people from all different countries. Fun fun!
Today we went to a little town between Cinque Terre and Florence called Lucca. It is a walled city that is again just precious. People riding bikes everywhere... gelaterias at every corner... just amazing!
So we arrived here in Florence tonight and just wandered a bit. Tomorrow we are planning and going to the Museum with the David statue in it. So Ive got to get going to bed, but I just wanted to give everyone an update. Hope you are all doing well!!! Home in a WEEK!
(Sorry there are no apostrophes in this entry. I have no idea how to get them on this keyboard... I tried to figure it out for about 5 minutes and finally gave up.)
But, backing up first, I finished up in Rome with a day of going to the Vatican. We went through the museum to see the Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. And let me just say it is HUGE! Everything you hear about Rome being huge is one hundred percent completely true! Its huge! Statues, pillars, everything: Huge!! I was kind of surprised as we walked through the Sistine Chapel because it wasnt what I expected. You are shoulder to shoulder with people in there, everyone craining their neck and looking up to see the ceiling. And then the guards all yelling, "NO PHOTOS." Kind of funny because everyone is just right out there flash and everything right in front of them. But... they do what they can I guess. In the Basilica, also absolutely humongous, hey have it all decked out. There is also a statue of Peter that has basically golden stubs for feet because people stand in lines to rub his foot (think the bull on Wall St). After that, we went into a neighborhood called the Trastevere, and this is the neighborhood that was my favorite. That and the part across the river from it that used to be the Jewish ghetto area. Its just a precious part of town. We were just wandering around, no real place to go for about 2 hours. Stopping in little shops, getting a gelato, and then we stumbled upon this plaza called the Campo de Fiori and it is my favorite place ever! (Maybe Plaza de Espana, that is in Sevilla, but its a tight competition. Hard to compare the two.) Its a plaza with restaurants and umbrellas and strands of lights and balconies with flowers and roofs with people eating and just amazingness all around. I just stood in the middle of the piazza turning around in a circle with a huge smile on my face taking it all in telling my friend, "Would you just look at where we are right now?!?!?"
The next day, she left for Paris and I left on a train to meet up with other friends in Cinque Terre. It is a national park north of Florence that has trails connecting 5 precious little towns that over look the ocean and vineyards and everything. Absolutely gorgeous! I liked it better than Greece definitely and Scotland too. All it was lacking was the waterfalls of Scotland, but it was absolutely stunning as you walked through these little towns in between your hike and saw laundry hanging out to dry, sunned on the rocks (kind of like turtles... there wasnt sand), jumped in the water. So much fun! We had a little apartment to our selves basically. It was awesome being able to cook and everything. The two other girls Im with are pretty much gourmet chefs so they just cooked away and we ate amazingly. (My contribution was the fruit salad haha)
We hiked the whole thing yesterday (we didnt rush or anything so it took us pretty much the whole day to hike it. And then we just sat under the stars on the rocks that night. One of the funnest things is talking to all of the random people along the way. Meeting people from all different countries. Fun fun!
Today we went to a little town between Cinque Terre and Florence called Lucca. It is a walled city that is again just precious. People riding bikes everywhere... gelaterias at every corner... just amazing!
So we arrived here in Florence tonight and just wandered a bit. Tomorrow we are planning and going to the Museum with the David statue in it. So Ive got to get going to bed, but I just wanted to give everyone an update. Hope you are all doing well!!! Home in a WEEK!
(Sorry there are no apostrophes in this entry. I have no idea how to get them on this keyboard... I tried to figure it out for about 5 minutes and finally gave up.)
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Day 2 in Rome
Wow! I thought that Sevilla had a new suprise on every corner but it is nothing compared to Rome. As we were walking around today I was just snapping picture after picture. Every where you turn there is a new amazing plaza or statue or building. I love it!
We started off this morning near the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine hill. They are huge. It took us all morning walking around. Then we went wandering around a bit seeing the Pantheon, Piazza de Venezia (absolutely gorgeous), and some other fountains and piazzas that were just really neat. By 6 o'clock we were dead tired. We stopped in a park, sat for a long while, and decided we would come back to the hostel so that we can thoroughly enjoy tomorrow. The Vatican and the Catacombs are the two big things we want to see.
Right now my eye is twitching as I write this message, so I'm going to get to bed :)
Gelato is amazing!
Love you all!!
We started off this morning near the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, and Palatine hill. They are huge. It took us all morning walking around. Then we went wandering around a bit seeing the Pantheon, Piazza de Venezia (absolutely gorgeous), and some other fountains and piazzas that were just really neat. By 6 o'clock we were dead tired. We stopped in a park, sat for a long while, and decided we would come back to the hostel so that we can thoroughly enjoy tomorrow. The Vatican and the Catacombs are the two big things we want to see.
Right now my eye is twitching as I write this message, so I'm going to get to bed :)
Gelato is amazing!
Love you all!!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
When in Rome
So it has been a crazy couple of days. I got into Rome today and started off with making our way to the Spanish Steps (it was close to our hostel), and had our gelati (heaven in ice cream form lol).
But the real fun came on Sardenia the past couple of days. We just went there because it was the cheapest way to get to Rome and why not explore a random island. Our flight was scheduled to get in late, so we decided not to get a hostel and rough it in the airport. We figured that was less dangerous than trying to find our way around a random Italian speaking city at 1 in the morning. Good thing too because we ended up being pointed to the wrong place (10 miles) from the actual hostel where there is the exact same intersection... who'd know? We got there... were looking for #78 and it only went up to 16... no good. But we were in no hurry so we had a random adventure on the side. And praise the Lord that we speak Spanish because if not, we would have had much more difficulties. We couldn't find people for a while who spoke English, but they could Spanish. It's much more similar. Everyone we talked to was extremely nice and eager to help us trying to figure out what we needed (Spanish is closer to Italian but still not Italian). At 10 in the morning. We were waiting for a bus to our hostel (the actual location now) and stopped for our first gelato. At 10 am there are not many people in the stores so we had a whole conversation with the owner in half Spanish, half English, and half Italian that we could figure out from what Spanish we knew. So much fun. I wish we had it recorded!
Then we got to our hostel. We were dead because the airport benches aren't exactly the most comfortable. :) When we got there, the guy working was about our age and didn't know English or Spanish... So we spoke in Spanish... he spoke in Italian... and we figure out what we needed in the end. We slept for a while and when we woke up we went to ask where a grocery store was. Using a Google translator, we figure everything out and he told us that he would take us in his "maquina" to the store. Now that is a car haha.. Let's go in the machine! haha hilarious!
We got there and he showed us everything that we needed to get and then cooked and ate with us. He was a pretty much a chef by adding onion and garlic to the tomato sauce, busting out the olive oil of course in true Mediterranean style and we had a two course meal and everything. Ravioli stuffed with Ricotti cheese and then steak type stuff. We also had formaggio cheese and olives... he wouldn't let us go without it. And he wouldn't let us pay. The whole time I was thinking... there is a catch... this is probably stupid, but I'm here now to say that all is well... no catch... just a nice Italian guy wanting to show around the Americanas :)
After we cooked (it was absolutely delicious) he took us into Cagliari, the bigger city to take pictures. He was our tour guide taking us to all of the sites and stopping the car, getting out, taking our picture, and off we went again. The whole time in broken Italian, Spanish, and English.
The next morning he wanted to take us to the beach. So, we went. By that time there was no fear. He was harmless and just thought we were funny trying to learn some Italian. So we again, toured the island of Sardenia stopping at all of the picturesque points on the way. He dropped us off at the airport and that was that. We got completely lucky with everything!
Today, we've just been walking around a little bit around Rome. We got in at around 630 to the hostel and then walked a while and eventually made it to the Spanish Steps. Very neat. I have 2 more days in Rome and then I'm off to Cinque Terre (I got my train ticket today!).
Love you all! Can't wait to get home and see everyone!!
But the real fun came on Sardenia the past couple of days. We just went there because it was the cheapest way to get to Rome and why not explore a random island. Our flight was scheduled to get in late, so we decided not to get a hostel and rough it in the airport. We figured that was less dangerous than trying to find our way around a random Italian speaking city at 1 in the morning. Good thing too because we ended up being pointed to the wrong place (10 miles) from the actual hostel where there is the exact same intersection... who'd know? We got there... were looking for #78 and it only went up to 16... no good. But we were in no hurry so we had a random adventure on the side. And praise the Lord that we speak Spanish because if not, we would have had much more difficulties. We couldn't find people for a while who spoke English, but they could Spanish. It's much more similar. Everyone we talked to was extremely nice and eager to help us trying to figure out what we needed (Spanish is closer to Italian but still not Italian). At 10 in the morning. We were waiting for a bus to our hostel (the actual location now) and stopped for our first gelato. At 10 am there are not many people in the stores so we had a whole conversation with the owner in half Spanish, half English, and half Italian that we could figure out from what Spanish we knew. So much fun. I wish we had it recorded!
Then we got to our hostel. We were dead because the airport benches aren't exactly the most comfortable. :) When we got there, the guy working was about our age and didn't know English or Spanish... So we spoke in Spanish... he spoke in Italian... and we figure out what we needed in the end. We slept for a while and when we woke up we went to ask where a grocery store was. Using a Google translator, we figure everything out and he told us that he would take us in his "maquina" to the store. Now that is a car haha.. Let's go in the machine! haha hilarious!
We got there and he showed us everything that we needed to get and then cooked and ate with us. He was a pretty much a chef by adding onion and garlic to the tomato sauce, busting out the olive oil of course in true Mediterranean style and we had a two course meal and everything. Ravioli stuffed with Ricotti cheese and then steak type stuff. We also had formaggio cheese and olives... he wouldn't let us go without it. And he wouldn't let us pay. The whole time I was thinking... there is a catch... this is probably stupid, but I'm here now to say that all is well... no catch... just a nice Italian guy wanting to show around the Americanas :)
After we cooked (it was absolutely delicious) he took us into Cagliari, the bigger city to take pictures. He was our tour guide taking us to all of the sites and stopping the car, getting out, taking our picture, and off we went again. The whole time in broken Italian, Spanish, and English.
The next morning he wanted to take us to the beach. So, we went. By that time there was no fear. He was harmless and just thought we were funny trying to learn some Italian. So we again, toured the island of Sardenia stopping at all of the picturesque points on the way. He dropped us off at the airport and that was that. We got completely lucky with everything!
Today, we've just been walking around a little bit around Rome. We got in at around 630 to the hostel and then walked a while and eventually made it to the Spanish Steps. Very neat. I have 2 more days in Rome and then I'm off to Cinque Terre (I got my train ticket today!).
Love you all! Can't wait to get home and see everyone!!
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Bull Fight
I have officially been inducted into Spanish culture. I've gone to a bull fight. And as horrible as it is, I wish I had time to go to another one. :)
At each fight, there are 6 bulls and three matadors that get 2 chances each to make the bull bow down to them. It's a battle... man vs beast. :) haha
But I wish I understood more about it. We had a Spaniard behind us explaining things when we looked confused so that was helpful, but I really needed the books Corridas de Torros (Bull Fights) for Dummies haha
So this is the jist of what happens. There are different stages. They release the bull from the door and it runs into the arena where all of the matadors are waiting for it. There are a whole bunch of them, probably 6ish, but I don't remember. They hide behind the walls and one by one, come out and taunt the bull, the bull charges them, and then they run behind the wall.
Then, the band plays the music and it's time for the next round. A man on a horse comes out and the matadors guide the bull towards the horse. The guy on the horse is holding a big spear thing and after the bull charges the horse (almost knocking it over sometimes) he stabs the bull in the back. But it's more like he is pushing the bull away with this spear to the back... gross. That is when the blood starts flowing. They do that two or three times. This was my least favorite part because although the horse is padded with the equivalent of a bullet proof vest, the bull pretty much picks it up. One time the horse fell over and the guy on top jumped off and ran off the arena.
And then, music again and then next round. The horses leave and then comes my favorite part. The part that I think is the most dangerous for the guys. Two guys have these baton spear things for lack of a better description and they run at the bull head on, jump up, jab their spears in its back, and then run away as the other matadors distract the bull again with the capes. This is the part that I'm pretty sure their moms refuse to watch.
After they do this about 3 or 4 times, there's more music and it's the final stage. The stage that everyone thinks about when they think bull fight. During this stage, the head matador comes out with a smaller red cape instead of the huge pink ones, takes off his hat, and the rest of the matadors go behind the walls. Now, the bull is worn down quite a bit and the matador gets him to run around him getting as close to the bull as possible each time. You can tell when they did a good job because the whole crowd yells/murmurs, "Bien!" (Good job!). But the whole rest of the time, the crowd is really quite kind of like a tennis match. Whistles during this time are not good. Good to know :) haha
Finally, after a while of this, the matador has a sword and gets the bull face to face and stabs it through the shoulder blades straight to the heart. After this, what is supposed to happen is that the bull bows to the matador. At this point the back up matadors come and offer their support.
Once the bull goes down, one of them stabs it in the head to put him out and then the horses come out and whisk it away... and that is fast! One second they're there and the next they're sprinting off the arena.
We were at a novice bull fight so the matadors weren't amazing yet and the bulls were smaller. The whole time we were asking each other, was that supposed to happen? Did he just mess up? At one point, one of the bulls apparently wasn't being aggressive enough and they exchanged it for another one.
It was all super interesting and gross at the same time... but the worst part, I'll say again, were the horses!
Hope you enjoyed Bull fighting 101!
I've got all of my stuff packed and I've completed all of my classes and finals as of 2 hours ago. Last night we went out with my senora and her husband and had a great time complete Spaniard style. We went to a little bar, had some tapas (including camarones which are baby shrimp and you have to eat everything including the shell and head and all... weird!).
I leave tomorrow night for Italy and I'll be home 2 weeks from today!
So excited for everything and I'll update you guys again about Italy after I'm home.
Can't wait to see everyone!!!
At each fight, there are 6 bulls and three matadors that get 2 chances each to make the bull bow down to them. It's a battle... man vs beast. :) haha
But I wish I understood more about it. We had a Spaniard behind us explaining things when we looked confused so that was helpful, but I really needed the books Corridas de Torros (Bull Fights) for Dummies haha
So this is the jist of what happens. There are different stages. They release the bull from the door and it runs into the arena where all of the matadors are waiting for it. There are a whole bunch of them, probably 6ish, but I don't remember. They hide behind the walls and one by one, come out and taunt the bull, the bull charges them, and then they run behind the wall.
Then, the band plays the music and it's time for the next round. A man on a horse comes out and the matadors guide the bull towards the horse. The guy on the horse is holding a big spear thing and after the bull charges the horse (almost knocking it over sometimes) he stabs the bull in the back. But it's more like he is pushing the bull away with this spear to the back... gross. That is when the blood starts flowing. They do that two or three times. This was my least favorite part because although the horse is padded with the equivalent of a bullet proof vest, the bull pretty much picks it up. One time the horse fell over and the guy on top jumped off and ran off the arena.
And then, music again and then next round. The horses leave and then comes my favorite part. The part that I think is the most dangerous for the guys. Two guys have these baton spear things for lack of a better description and they run at the bull head on, jump up, jab their spears in its back, and then run away as the other matadors distract the bull again with the capes. This is the part that I'm pretty sure their moms refuse to watch.
After they do this about 3 or 4 times, there's more music and it's the final stage. The stage that everyone thinks about when they think bull fight. During this stage, the head matador comes out with a smaller red cape instead of the huge pink ones, takes off his hat, and the rest of the matadors go behind the walls. Now, the bull is worn down quite a bit and the matador gets him to run around him getting as close to the bull as possible each time. You can tell when they did a good job because the whole crowd yells/murmurs, "Bien!" (Good job!). But the whole rest of the time, the crowd is really quite kind of like a tennis match. Whistles during this time are not good. Good to know :) haha
Finally, after a while of this, the matador has a sword and gets the bull face to face and stabs it through the shoulder blades straight to the heart. After this, what is supposed to happen is that the bull bows to the matador. At this point the back up matadors come and offer their support.
Once the bull goes down, one of them stabs it in the head to put him out and then the horses come out and whisk it away... and that is fast! One second they're there and the next they're sprinting off the arena.
We were at a novice bull fight so the matadors weren't amazing yet and the bulls were smaller. The whole time we were asking each other, was that supposed to happen? Did he just mess up? At one point, one of the bulls apparently wasn't being aggressive enough and they exchanged it for another one.
It was all super interesting and gross at the same time... but the worst part, I'll say again, were the horses!
Hope you enjoyed Bull fighting 101!
I've got all of my stuff packed and I've completed all of my classes and finals as of 2 hours ago. Last night we went out with my senora and her husband and had a great time complete Spaniard style. We went to a little bar, had some tapas (including camarones which are baby shrimp and you have to eat everything including the shell and head and all... weird!).
I leave tomorrow night for Italy and I'll be home 2 weeks from today!
So excited for everything and I'll update you guys again about Italy after I'm home.
Can't wait to see everyone!!!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Fair of April
FERIA
So all last week, Sevilla hosted the biggest/ most popular fair in all of Spain. It might be even in Europe, I'm not sure, but it's a huge deal and only about a 15 minute walk from my house (which is nothing in Europe haha) so after I got back from Greece, I went with my friends every night.
Now this fair isn't only a fair like a state fair. No, it's more like a combination between prom, the state fair, and a family reunion/wedding reception. Everyone gets all decked out in their flamenco dresses and suites.
There are horses with and carriages everywhere in the city.
Half of the fairgrounds are the casetas which are little tent parties that are mostly privately run by families, clubs, companies, etc. There are public ones too, but they aren't as nice. The trick (since none of us really know anyone with casetas) is getting invited in or finding Spaniards who have invitations and can bring us with them. The casetas are tents decked out like they are actually living rooms and each one has their own little restaurant/bar area.
They are open all night long, as full at 6 in the morning as a 11 at night, and everyone dances and sings and eats and drinks. It is so much fun! Now the dance of Sevilla and of the Feria is the Sevillanas which everyone knows. Think of the Spanish style Electric Slide. It's not at all similar but kind of is in the idea in the sense that everyone knows it and has their own little flair to it. But it's way more complex and requires more skill. I tried to learn it, but when you are up against people who've done it their whole life, it's hard. I went with my Senora and her family one night to a neighbor's caseta. It was so much fun. Their granddaughter who is five or six insisted in teaching me and helping me do the Sevillanas. So, I had no choice lol. In front of their whole family and a whole bunch of their friends there I was trying to do it. They were shouting out the next moves to me lol. When I sat down again, my senora told me "Que verguenza!" Which is like, how embarrassing. Thanks Maria Louisa lol. That's the Spanish bluntness for you haha. She was joking but it was funny because the whole tent of people was shouting out the next step... spin around... switch places... haha hilarious (harder even yet because it's in Spanish... and it's fast lol)
The other half is fair rides and everything. The funniest thing is seeing all of the people in their huge dresses walking around in the fair and riding all of the rides.
The thing I thought was coolest about it was that it's for people of all ages. High school kids go and dance and ride the rides, families get together at their friends casetas, little kids love it because its the fair and they get to dress up. Over all it's just a fun thing. Everyone rides around on their horses and carriages, it's awesome.
So all last week, Sevilla hosted the biggest/ most popular fair in all of Spain. It might be even in Europe, I'm not sure, but it's a huge deal and only about a 15 minute walk from my house (which is nothing in Europe haha) so after I got back from Greece, I went with my friends every night.
Now this fair isn't only a fair like a state fair. No, it's more like a combination between prom, the state fair, and a family reunion/wedding reception. Everyone gets all decked out in their flamenco dresses and suites.
There are horses with and carriages everywhere in the city.
Half of the fairgrounds are the casetas which are little tent parties that are mostly privately run by families, clubs, companies, etc. There are public ones too, but they aren't as nice. The trick (since none of us really know anyone with casetas) is getting invited in or finding Spaniards who have invitations and can bring us with them. The casetas are tents decked out like they are actually living rooms and each one has their own little restaurant/bar area.
They are open all night long, as full at 6 in the morning as a 11 at night, and everyone dances and sings and eats and drinks. It is so much fun! Now the dance of Sevilla and of the Feria is the Sevillanas which everyone knows. Think of the Spanish style Electric Slide. It's not at all similar but kind of is in the idea in the sense that everyone knows it and has their own little flair to it. But it's way more complex and requires more skill. I tried to learn it, but when you are up against people who've done it their whole life, it's hard. I went with my Senora and her family one night to a neighbor's caseta. It was so much fun. Their granddaughter who is five or six insisted in teaching me and helping me do the Sevillanas. So, I had no choice lol. In front of their whole family and a whole bunch of their friends there I was trying to do it. They were shouting out the next moves to me lol. When I sat down again, my senora told me "Que verguenza!" Which is like, how embarrassing. Thanks Maria Louisa lol. That's the Spanish bluntness for you haha. She was joking but it was funny because the whole tent of people was shouting out the next step... spin around... switch places... haha hilarious (harder even yet because it's in Spanish... and it's fast lol)
The other half is fair rides and everything. The funniest thing is seeing all of the people in their huge dresses walking around in the fair and riding all of the rides.
The thing I thought was coolest about it was that it's for people of all ages. High school kids go and dance and ride the rides, families get together at their friends casetas, little kids love it because its the fair and they get to dress up. Over all it's just a fun thing. Everyone rides around on their horses and carriages, it's awesome.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Greece: The Land of Everything Blue, White, and Ancient
So my trip to Greece is definitely my favorite trip so far. I was with a great group of girls and everything went well. No missed flights or other disappointments :D
I left last Friday and we flew into Athens. On the flight there we sat next to a language professor and she gave us a quick lesson on basic Greek. That was lots of fun. Coming out of the plane we knew how to say, "hello", "thank you", and "my name is ______". We hadn't really realized that not only do they speak Greek in Greece, but they write with the Greek alphabet too. This presents a problem when you have a map in lower-case letters and the street signs are in upper-case. Have you ever thought how different upper and lower case letters are? Or how difficult it is to ask questions about where you are when you haven't a clue how to pronounce anything? But, between the 4 of us we pulled together all of the mathematical equations and sorority/ fraternity names that we knew and by the end of the trip, we were pros at the alphabet (I mean, we could somewhat sound things out). It was a feat.
The first night we wandered around the area of Athens called Plaka. It contains the oldest flea market in the world so that was fun window shopping there for a while. We also ate some true Greek appetizers that were delicious. Greek food is much more flavorful than Spanish food and they have all of the black olives while Spain has the green olives. I'm definitely more a fan of the green than black after being in Spain this semester. But everything we had was delicious. One of the things we had was Mousaka (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Moose Caca). It was kind of like meatloaf in pie crust. Delicious!
The next morning we went to the island of Andros (early! We left the hostel at 5am). We chose this island in the beginning because the ferry was the cheapest and we found a really good deal on a hostel. We didn't really know what to expect, but when we arrived at the port and then took a bus to our "Villa" we realized how lucky we were. For under $20 a night we had a little studio apartment with a balcony, full kitchen, and a private beach across the street.
We all just stood there in the room when the owner walked us up in awe. Way better than we were expecting! Best shower I've taken all semester! As we talked to the owner, she told us that cars were really easy to rent and would only be like $7 each for a whole day. Since it was only about 10am at this point, we went to figure it out. Unfortunately, you had to be 23 and the oldest of us had just turned 22. So close. But we still had an amazing time!
We were in the town of Batsi which is exactly what you see in pictures of the Greek islands: white houses with bright blue detailing.
And the water was SOOOO blue and SOOOO clear. You could see down all the way no matter how hi you are. The weirdest thing was that the boats looked like they were floating. Now yes, I know that all boats float, but these boats looked like there wasn't anything under them. That's how clear the water was. Awesome. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold. I'm talking I ran in to my waist and by the time I ran out my legs were tingling and numb. But the sand was hot from the sun so we sat on the beach the rest of the day. It was so nice.
The next day we decided to go for a walk down the road. There are little beaches all around the island that are like little coves surrounded by cliffs and rocks. We walked along and saw this beach that we wanted to get to but couldn't because the stairs down were all gated off and impossible to climb over.
So we kept going to the next beach where we found a paddle boat with the oars. PERFECT! We could get to our little beach! So we hid all of our stuff in the bushes and ventured out on the Aegean Sea.
There were 4 of us in this little paddle boat that was probably made for 2 people but we just straddled each other and made it work. It was comical to say the least. Not to mention that we were probably above the weight limit and every once in a while the ice cold water lapped over the edge surprising us all. Luckily there weren't many other people on the island... especially the beaches. We pretty much had the island to ourselves (Apparently people like to come when the water is a bit warmer. I don't really blame them). So we paddled over to the beach, stayed there for a while sunning ourselves like turtles on a big slab of rock, and then returned the boat to where we found it. Awesome!
The last full day, Monday, we took a bus to another city on the island that is the capital. It was also a picturesque little white and blue Greek town on a bay.
It was a bit chilly that day so we were glad we had the time to walk around. We saw an island (more like a big rock) that we wanted to get to, but didn't know how. As we walked around we realized that there was a bridge to it. Now this bridge was more like an ancient arch of rock.
My friend Katrina was determined to get across so she braved this bridge. All of us were a bit leery thinking she would make it collapse. But she got to the top and started jumping on it to prove it was sturdy. So we followed. Katrina and Melinda were the mountain goats because they just ran across these rocks and up the hills and everything. Chelsea and I were the mountain monkeys crawling on all fours :D. But we all made it and finished our little adventure.
The whole time we were there we took full advantage of our little kitchen making pasta and french toast and everything. We had to be resourceful though because we only had a large pot. We had a packet of alfredo mix for one meal and thought it would be amazing with some broccoli. So, we steamed broccoli as we cooked the noodles using the wire dish drying rack. Very resourceful this group of girls I was with. It was also funny being somewhere where none of us had a clue what anything said. We were at the grocery store and saw something that looked like one of those no bake cookies and cream cheesecake mixes, but there was no way for us to know. So we asked the cash register clerk what we needed and how to make it. Everyone in Greece knows a little bit of basic English, so it was hilarious as he read it and we guessed what he was trying to say until we figured it out. Fun times!
Tuesday we returned to Athens and were worn out by the time we got back. We crashed at the hostel so that we could set out bright and early on Wednesday to see the Acropolis and all of the ancient sites in Athens before our flight. We went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon
the Temple of Zeus
and all of the ruins in the ancient Agora and on the hill. We climbed the Aereopagos where Paul gave a speech to the Athenians. That was really cool. It's just this big slab of marble that has an awesome view of Athens.
It was a great trip and I had a ton of fun!
I'll add pictures to this ASAP when I have time. It takes forever for them to load up on here. I'm off to eat dinner.
Love you all and can't wait to see everyone when I get back!!!!
I left last Friday and we flew into Athens. On the flight there we sat next to a language professor and she gave us a quick lesson on basic Greek. That was lots of fun. Coming out of the plane we knew how to say, "hello", "thank you", and "my name is ______". We hadn't really realized that not only do they speak Greek in Greece, but they write with the Greek alphabet too. This presents a problem when you have a map in lower-case letters and the street signs are in upper-case. Have you ever thought how different upper and lower case letters are? Or how difficult it is to ask questions about where you are when you haven't a clue how to pronounce anything? But, between the 4 of us we pulled together all of the mathematical equations and sorority/ fraternity names that we knew and by the end of the trip, we were pros at the alphabet (I mean, we could somewhat sound things out). It was a feat.
The first night we wandered around the area of Athens called Plaka. It contains the oldest flea market in the world so that was fun window shopping there for a while. We also ate some true Greek appetizers that were delicious. Greek food is much more flavorful than Spanish food and they have all of the black olives while Spain has the green olives. I'm definitely more a fan of the green than black after being in Spain this semester. But everything we had was delicious. One of the things we had was Mousaka (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Moose Caca). It was kind of like meatloaf in pie crust. Delicious!
The next morning we went to the island of Andros (early! We left the hostel at 5am). We chose this island in the beginning because the ferry was the cheapest and we found a really good deal on a hostel. We didn't really know what to expect, but when we arrived at the port and then took a bus to our "Villa" we realized how lucky we were. For under $20 a night we had a little studio apartment with a balcony, full kitchen, and a private beach across the street.
We all just stood there in the room when the owner walked us up in awe. Way better than we were expecting! Best shower I've taken all semester! As we talked to the owner, she told us that cars were really easy to rent and would only be like $7 each for a whole day. Since it was only about 10am at this point, we went to figure it out. Unfortunately, you had to be 23 and the oldest of us had just turned 22. So close. But we still had an amazing time!
We were in the town of Batsi which is exactly what you see in pictures of the Greek islands: white houses with bright blue detailing.
And the water was SOOOO blue and SOOOO clear. You could see down all the way no matter how hi you are. The weirdest thing was that the boats looked like they were floating. Now yes, I know that all boats float, but these boats looked like there wasn't anything under them. That's how clear the water was. Awesome. Unfortunately, the water was ice cold. I'm talking I ran in to my waist and by the time I ran out my legs were tingling and numb. But the sand was hot from the sun so we sat on the beach the rest of the day. It was so nice.
The next day we decided to go for a walk down the road. There are little beaches all around the island that are like little coves surrounded by cliffs and rocks. We walked along and saw this beach that we wanted to get to but couldn't because the stairs down were all gated off and impossible to climb over.
So we kept going to the next beach where we found a paddle boat with the oars. PERFECT! We could get to our little beach! So we hid all of our stuff in the bushes and ventured out on the Aegean Sea.
There were 4 of us in this little paddle boat that was probably made for 2 people but we just straddled each other and made it work. It was comical to say the least. Not to mention that we were probably above the weight limit and every once in a while the ice cold water lapped over the edge surprising us all. Luckily there weren't many other people on the island... especially the beaches. We pretty much had the island to ourselves (Apparently people like to come when the water is a bit warmer. I don't really blame them). So we paddled over to the beach, stayed there for a while sunning ourselves like turtles on a big slab of rock, and then returned the boat to where we found it. Awesome!
The last full day, Monday, we took a bus to another city on the island that is the capital. It was also a picturesque little white and blue Greek town on a bay.
It was a bit chilly that day so we were glad we had the time to walk around. We saw an island (more like a big rock) that we wanted to get to, but didn't know how. As we walked around we realized that there was a bridge to it. Now this bridge was more like an ancient arch of rock.
My friend Katrina was determined to get across so she braved this bridge. All of us were a bit leery thinking she would make it collapse. But she got to the top and started jumping on it to prove it was sturdy. So we followed. Katrina and Melinda were the mountain goats because they just ran across these rocks and up the hills and everything. Chelsea and I were the mountain monkeys crawling on all fours :D. But we all made it and finished our little adventure.
The whole time we were there we took full advantage of our little kitchen making pasta and french toast and everything. We had to be resourceful though because we only had a large pot. We had a packet of alfredo mix for one meal and thought it would be amazing with some broccoli. So, we steamed broccoli as we cooked the noodles using the wire dish drying rack. Very resourceful this group of girls I was with. It was also funny being somewhere where none of us had a clue what anything said. We were at the grocery store and saw something that looked like one of those no bake cookies and cream cheesecake mixes, but there was no way for us to know. So we asked the cash register clerk what we needed and how to make it. Everyone in Greece knows a little bit of basic English, so it was hilarious as he read it and we guessed what he was trying to say until we figured it out. Fun times!
Tuesday we returned to Athens and were worn out by the time we got back. We crashed at the hostel so that we could set out bright and early on Wednesday to see the Acropolis and all of the ancient sites in Athens before our flight. We went to the Acropolis to see the Parthenon
the Temple of Zeus
and all of the ruins in the ancient Agora and on the hill. We climbed the Aereopagos where Paul gave a speech to the Athenians. That was really cool. It's just this big slab of marble that has an awesome view of Athens.
It was a great trip and I had a ton of fun!
I'll add pictures to this ASAP when I have time. It takes forever for them to load up on here. I'm off to eat dinner.
Love you all and can't wait to see everyone when I get back!!!!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Semana Santa= Holy Week
So this is late, but it’s been crazy around here lately. I only have 4 more weeks before the semester is done and I go off to my 2 weeks in Italy. However, in those 4 weeks I only have 6 more days of classes, 3 finals and this coming week in Greece. Time is running out and lots of planning for the trips. But, it’s been awesome!
I never put anything up here about Semana Santa because I just haven’t had time, but I feel like it deserves a spot on here. After all, Sevilla is known to have the biggest Semana Santa celebration world wide. This includes “pasos” which are parades through the city. Each Catholic church in the Sevilla area has statues of Jesus and usually a virgin (a Spanish Catholic thing I think… it seems to be a whole other classification of saints but I’m not really sure). Some of them are from the 11th century so there is a lot of history built in. These statue/float type things are carried by 30 men who walk it through the parade. There are also “nazarinos” which are dressed like members of the KKK (no joke) and walk as part of the parade. Some of them carry candles and others crosses. And there are also bands in the parades to. The music is very Spanish… brass… kind of flamenco-ish if that means anything to you. The parades go from the church, to the Cathedral in the center of Sevilla, and then back to the church. Each day throughout the week there are probably 5-10 maybe more “pasos”. The fun of it is to go and stake out a good spot to see each of the parades. You go ahead of the statue floats and then wait and wait until it gets there and then you figure out which paso you should go to next. It’s odd. I didn’t really understand it at first but the more of them I saw, the more interesting it got. It’s not really like anything I’ve seen before but it was definitley interesting.
And then on Easter Sunday, Maria Louisa and Miguel took us to a suburb of Sevilla (not really suburban at all, more like a little town out in the country) and they had a neat picnic and pasos of their own. Spaniards know how to do the picnics though. There were families who brought a folding table, 2 coolers and everything on a dolley. I thought it was funny. On top of that, people just shared all of their food. You came with your cooler or whatever with food and then you could just walk around and eat everyone elses stuff. At first I felt really stupid, but everyone was doing it. The just handed out all of the food they had brought. There were also men singing in circles with guitars and people dancing Sevillanos in their flamenco dresses and everything. It was very interesting.
Over all, Easter was just like a big party rather than anything about Jesus or the resurrection. I went to the big service at the Cathedral. It was at midnight on Saturday and it was really interesting as well. It was a candle light service so everyone had candles and it was super traditional. A good amount of it was in Latin (And I thought it was going to be difficult to understand because it would be in Spanish lol). Nothing about the resurrection was said until the last 15 minutes of the service though and I found that quite odd. That is also when the organ started and that was really neat. In the largest gothic cathedral in the world you can just imagine how it sounded.
PICTURES
The paso of the virgin. This was of the one closest to our house.
This is the Christ figure that was in the same paso. Throughout the week, they kind of tell the Passion story. This was from a paso on Friday.
This is how many people came to Sevilla. It was packed with people. This is a street and you can see the Nazarinos' hats. There were hundreds of them.
Full picture of the Nazarinos
This is all of us at the picnic thing in the pueblo on Easter Sunday. Miguel is on the right with the glasses and Maria Louisa is on the left.
This is what the picnic was like. People all dressed up and on horses. So much fun.
I never put anything up here about Semana Santa because I just haven’t had time, but I feel like it deserves a spot on here. After all, Sevilla is known to have the biggest Semana Santa celebration world wide. This includes “pasos” which are parades through the city. Each Catholic church in the Sevilla area has statues of Jesus and usually a virgin (a Spanish Catholic thing I think… it seems to be a whole other classification of saints but I’m not really sure). Some of them are from the 11th century so there is a lot of history built in. These statue/float type things are carried by 30 men who walk it through the parade. There are also “nazarinos” which are dressed like members of the KKK (no joke) and walk as part of the parade. Some of them carry candles and others crosses. And there are also bands in the parades to. The music is very Spanish… brass… kind of flamenco-ish if that means anything to you. The parades go from the church, to the Cathedral in the center of Sevilla, and then back to the church. Each day throughout the week there are probably 5-10 maybe more “pasos”. The fun of it is to go and stake out a good spot to see each of the parades. You go ahead of the statue floats and then wait and wait until it gets there and then you figure out which paso you should go to next. It’s odd. I didn’t really understand it at first but the more of them I saw, the more interesting it got. It’s not really like anything I’ve seen before but it was definitley interesting.
And then on Easter Sunday, Maria Louisa and Miguel took us to a suburb of Sevilla (not really suburban at all, more like a little town out in the country) and they had a neat picnic and pasos of their own. Spaniards know how to do the picnics though. There were families who brought a folding table, 2 coolers and everything on a dolley. I thought it was funny. On top of that, people just shared all of their food. You came with your cooler or whatever with food and then you could just walk around and eat everyone elses stuff. At first I felt really stupid, but everyone was doing it. The just handed out all of the food they had brought. There were also men singing in circles with guitars and people dancing Sevillanos in their flamenco dresses and everything. It was very interesting.
Over all, Easter was just like a big party rather than anything about Jesus or the resurrection. I went to the big service at the Cathedral. It was at midnight on Saturday and it was really interesting as well. It was a candle light service so everyone had candles and it was super traditional. A good amount of it was in Latin (And I thought it was going to be difficult to understand because it would be in Spanish lol). Nothing about the resurrection was said until the last 15 minutes of the service though and I found that quite odd. That is also when the organ started and that was really neat. In the largest gothic cathedral in the world you can just imagine how it sounded.
PICTURES
The paso of the virgin. This was of the one closest to our house.
This is the Christ figure that was in the same paso. Throughout the week, they kind of tell the Passion story. This was from a paso on Friday.
This is how many people came to Sevilla. It was packed with people. This is a street and you can see the Nazarinos' hats. There were hundreds of them.
Full picture of the Nazarinos
This is all of us at the picnic thing in the pueblo on Easter Sunday. Miguel is on the right with the glasses and Maria Louisa is on the left.
This is what the picnic was like. People all dressed up and on horses. So much fun.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Finally here are pictures from Scotland!!!
The climb up the hill in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle
The pier town that we ate lunch at in Edinburgh.
The Tartan of the MacLeans.
I just liked this picture... it's in Edinburgh.
On the grounds of Duart Castle. It was raining... yes I'm wearing a poncho.
Signing the book of the pilgrim MacLeans.
On the ferry on the way to Mull... That is Duart castle in the background.
That was the third try to get that picture... they started chasing me and I kept getting scared.
The climb up the hill in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Castle
The pier town that we ate lunch at in Edinburgh.
The Tartan of the MacLeans.
I just liked this picture... it's in Edinburgh.
On the grounds of Duart Castle. It was raining... yes I'm wearing a poncho.
Signing the book of the pilgrim MacLeans.
On the ferry on the way to Mull... That is Duart castle in the background.
That was the third try to get that picture... they started chasing me and I kept getting scared.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The Motherland- the joys of travel
Let’s talk about how amazing Scotland is. I’m pretty much in love with it and am definitely going back eventually. The people were sooo friendly. Bus drivers would ask us where we were trying to go and give us directions, people brought us hot cocoa when we were sitting on a pier waiting for our bus, we were treated to dinner by the other couple that was staying in our bed and breakfast, and so much more. We were completely welcomed and helped out in every way possible it seemed. We aren’t sure if this is because it was just a shock being in an English speaking country again where we understand everyone (almost everyone lol… those accents are tough sometimes :D).
And yes, I realized how used to speaking Spanish to everyone I am. The first time we got on a bus I told the driver “hasta luego” and then realized that I was being ridiculous haha. I got a strange look.
But, let’s start from the beginning of the trip. Last Saturday morning I left my house in Sevilla with my friend Irene at 430 so we could get to the airport in time for our flight. We had a connection in Palma de Mallorca (one of the most popular tourist locations in the Mediterranean for the beaches). It was gorgeous even though we saw it from a plane and the airport. We waited there for about 6 hours and were ready to board our flight that would take us to Edinburgh. However, as we walked up to board they wouldn’t let us because we didn’t have some kind of special stamp that apparently you only need if you are leaving Spain on a student visa (the same thing happened to a couple other girls from my program too... not very clear in the directions). Suddenly we had 5 minutes to run through the airport and security, find a little office, get our ticket stamped, and run back to board the plane. (By the way, I’m wearing a boot now because my foot was becoming ridiculous and no, this was not an excuse to anyone at the airport to help me at all.) So we ran and ran and ran, sweating and wheezing the entire way. (I haven’t actually ran in a long time thanks to the foot… it was sad lol.) And let me just say that this airport is huge. It’s random and on an island, but there are 4 terminals and of course we were on the one farthest from the office. Finally, after asking numerous people where we were going, my zipper coming open and half of my stuff falling out of my backpack, and whacking a random guy with my water bottle that was tied to my bag (I got the death stare… no language barriers in that), we got the stamp and returned to our terminal only to see the arm just beginning to detach from our plane. We were seriously 2 minutes late after all of that. Let me just say we were more than a little upset. We were on an ISLAND lol. The flight was with a cheap, not highly respected company and they had absolutely no customer service. There had been one sentence saying to have our visa checked by security, but still I don’t understand how we were supposed to know we needed it stamped at their office and not just saying as we went through security we would need to show them our visa. We were not alone in this misunderstanding though. There was a Korean girl who is also studying in Spain who missed the flight for the same reason. The three of us bonded together and tried to figure everything out. RyanAir told us to walk around asking all of the other kiosks if they had flights to Scotland that night. The other girls story is worse than ours because she had left her bag with the flight attendants and when we came back it was no where to be found (we still don’t know what happened to it… they were so unhelpful and we looked everywhere with her). So she was there with her passport and that was it. No phone, no money, no friends, only her passport and ticket stub that was worthless now. So the whole situation was redeemed a little bit in the fact that we could help her get to where she needed to go (her Spanish is not very good yet and her English wasn’t much better). We got a flight in to Glasgow later that day and then took a bus the rest of the way so that we finally got to Edinburgh at around midnight (instead of 2 pm). In the process we had gone through security so many times (each time the thing dinging on me of course lol) that the guards asked us what was going on, why we’d been running and if we had gotten a different flight. Comical to say the least.
In Edinburgh we crashed at Irene’s friends flat (she is going to school in Edinburgh). It had been too long of a day to go out and try and do anything. We were just happy that we had gotten there Saturday! Sunday we explored Edinburgh a bit. We hiked up Calton hill which we thought was Arthur’s seat, the highest point in Edinburgh but there were still some great views, walked up and down the Royal Mile and saw the castle. Then we had some time to kill and started talking to some people at a bus stop who told us which bus we should take to go up to a little fishing village and eat dinner there on the water. (side note: Edinburgh has the best and most organized bus system of any city I’ve been in so far… and yes they are double deckers like in England.) So, we went and it was a precious little part of town and we ate looking out across the “firth” to absolute gorgeousness. Later that night we went to a tour of Mary King’s Close which is a tour of the underground city of Edinburgh. Back in the day they built on top of a whole bunch of the city instead of destroying it. So now the Royal mile is actually over old houses and buildings. They just opened it up for tours and stuff about 5 years ago. And finally on our way home from that we stopped in a pub that had live music and that was fun. All I’m saying is that anyone can dance like the Scottish dance… I wouldn’t ever feel stupid :D.
Monday we headed towards Oban and the Isle of Mull. The bus trip was completely worth the 4.5 hour ride just to see the country side. Constant mountain/ hills covered with waterfalls, castles, and sheep. Hard to describe but I completely, 100% think that everyone needs to go. We got our ferry tickets across to Mull and tried to put together our plans for the following couple days. The trip on the ferry was absolutely gorgeous as well. Think of those inspirational posters that say stuff like strength and courage that they always have in schools but in real life. When we got to Mull, we realized that the website had lied (or just been conveniently vague) and the buses stopped running at about 6 pm. Therefore, our days were not going to be as full as we had intended them to be. So we rearranged our plans to work with the bus schedules and were going to rent bikes one of the days. We walked around a bit (took a random train thing that’s like a carnaval ride for 5 year olds because we didn’t realize what we were doing lol), had a run in with a sheep, and met quite a few really nice people that we continued to bump into throughout the couple days we were there. We rode the bus back to Tobermory (a precious little harbor town) and got to our bed and breakfast. The owner was precious and there was a couple staying upstairs too that offered us drinks and food and everything. So the first day, we didn’t see as much as we’d wanted but it was fine because we had plans for the next two days set.
So Tuesday began with an AMAZING breakfast… I mean, compare anything with a piece of toast with oil and a cup of coffee and its going to win, but it was delicious. It ended up being really cold so our bike plan fell through (a constant drizzle really makes the cold cut through you) and we decided to take the bus to see Iona (a little island off of Mull). The drive was supposed to be gorgeous. We got half way (to where we had to switch buses) and found out that the busses weren’t going to Iona that day because the ferry wasn’t working because of the weather. As Irene said, “The spirit is willing but the buses are weak.” So, we ended up going to Duart castle (yes, this is the MacLean clan castle). And that was awesome. I signed the book of MacLeans that have gone and visited and it was really neat. I got some awesome pictures. After that we went on a hike (we had a whole bunch of time to kill because the bus wasn’t going back to Tobermory where our B&B was for a few hours) But I’m so glad we did because again… it was gorgeous. We were soaked by the end of the day, but completely worth it. We went back to our place, microwaved a frozen pizza and some popcorn (hadn’t had popcorn since we’d been here) and called it a night after watching some Scottish TV (random fact: Did you know that they still wear the grey curly wigs in the courts in Britain? Think George Washington wig on normal modern people… funny!).
Wednesday morning we didn’t have time (actually the bus schedule was just crappy) so we didn’t have time to get to Iona and back before the ferry we needed to catch our bus back to Edinburgh, so we went on an early ferry and looked around Oban (the harbor that is on the mainland side). We ate some fish and chips (I’m officially a fan of haddock), drank an Irn bru (the signature soda of Scotland apparently… kind of like the Ale8 of Scotland for you Asbury people), and some Sticky Toffee Pudding (I’m looking for a recipe because it was sooo delicious). We were told we had to try those things before leaving. Haggis was also on that list, but we weren’t quite brave enough lol.
We got back to Edinburgh Wednesday night and then left Thursday morning again for Sevilla without anymore plane issues. All week we had been a little bit obsessive compulsive about times of everything.
It was one of those trips that was a learning experience throughout the whole thing. I felt like we had done our research and the websites made it sound like our plans were going to work but just had bad luck with how it turned out in the end. It was one frustrating thing after another but we were in Scotland and that was AMAZING. The fact that we didn’t get to do as much as we wanted to makes me want to go back and do it again the right way. My advice would be for anyone planning to go to Scotland… rent a car and have no plans (or loose ones). Just drive and see where you end up. And don’t rely on buses on the Isle of Mull because while the drivers are super nice, it’s just a very slow paced place.
I'll put up pictures later... It was gorgeous!!! Love you all!!
And yes, I realized how used to speaking Spanish to everyone I am. The first time we got on a bus I told the driver “hasta luego” and then realized that I was being ridiculous haha. I got a strange look.
But, let’s start from the beginning of the trip. Last Saturday morning I left my house in Sevilla with my friend Irene at 430 so we could get to the airport in time for our flight. We had a connection in Palma de Mallorca (one of the most popular tourist locations in the Mediterranean for the beaches). It was gorgeous even though we saw it from a plane and the airport. We waited there for about 6 hours and were ready to board our flight that would take us to Edinburgh. However, as we walked up to board they wouldn’t let us because we didn’t have some kind of special stamp that apparently you only need if you are leaving Spain on a student visa (the same thing happened to a couple other girls from my program too... not very clear in the directions). Suddenly we had 5 minutes to run through the airport and security, find a little office, get our ticket stamped, and run back to board the plane. (By the way, I’m wearing a boot now because my foot was becoming ridiculous and no, this was not an excuse to anyone at the airport to help me at all.) So we ran and ran and ran, sweating and wheezing the entire way. (I haven’t actually ran in a long time thanks to the foot… it was sad lol.) And let me just say that this airport is huge. It’s random and on an island, but there are 4 terminals and of course we were on the one farthest from the office. Finally, after asking numerous people where we were going, my zipper coming open and half of my stuff falling out of my backpack, and whacking a random guy with my water bottle that was tied to my bag (I got the death stare… no language barriers in that), we got the stamp and returned to our terminal only to see the arm just beginning to detach from our plane. We were seriously 2 minutes late after all of that. Let me just say we were more than a little upset. We were on an ISLAND lol. The flight was with a cheap, not highly respected company and they had absolutely no customer service. There had been one sentence saying to have our visa checked by security, but still I don’t understand how we were supposed to know we needed it stamped at their office and not just saying as we went through security we would need to show them our visa. We were not alone in this misunderstanding though. There was a Korean girl who is also studying in Spain who missed the flight for the same reason. The three of us bonded together and tried to figure everything out. RyanAir told us to walk around asking all of the other kiosks if they had flights to Scotland that night. The other girls story is worse than ours because she had left her bag with the flight attendants and when we came back it was no where to be found (we still don’t know what happened to it… they were so unhelpful and we looked everywhere with her). So she was there with her passport and that was it. No phone, no money, no friends, only her passport and ticket stub that was worthless now. So the whole situation was redeemed a little bit in the fact that we could help her get to where she needed to go (her Spanish is not very good yet and her English wasn’t much better). We got a flight in to Glasgow later that day and then took a bus the rest of the way so that we finally got to Edinburgh at around midnight (instead of 2 pm). In the process we had gone through security so many times (each time the thing dinging on me of course lol) that the guards asked us what was going on, why we’d been running and if we had gotten a different flight. Comical to say the least.
In Edinburgh we crashed at Irene’s friends flat (she is going to school in Edinburgh). It had been too long of a day to go out and try and do anything. We were just happy that we had gotten there Saturday! Sunday we explored Edinburgh a bit. We hiked up Calton hill which we thought was Arthur’s seat, the highest point in Edinburgh but there were still some great views, walked up and down the Royal Mile and saw the castle. Then we had some time to kill and started talking to some people at a bus stop who told us which bus we should take to go up to a little fishing village and eat dinner there on the water. (side note: Edinburgh has the best and most organized bus system of any city I’ve been in so far… and yes they are double deckers like in England.) So, we went and it was a precious little part of town and we ate looking out across the “firth” to absolute gorgeousness. Later that night we went to a tour of Mary King’s Close which is a tour of the underground city of Edinburgh. Back in the day they built on top of a whole bunch of the city instead of destroying it. So now the Royal mile is actually over old houses and buildings. They just opened it up for tours and stuff about 5 years ago. And finally on our way home from that we stopped in a pub that had live music and that was fun. All I’m saying is that anyone can dance like the Scottish dance… I wouldn’t ever feel stupid :D.
Monday we headed towards Oban and the Isle of Mull. The bus trip was completely worth the 4.5 hour ride just to see the country side. Constant mountain/ hills covered with waterfalls, castles, and sheep. Hard to describe but I completely, 100% think that everyone needs to go. We got our ferry tickets across to Mull and tried to put together our plans for the following couple days. The trip on the ferry was absolutely gorgeous as well. Think of those inspirational posters that say stuff like strength and courage that they always have in schools but in real life. When we got to Mull, we realized that the website had lied (or just been conveniently vague) and the buses stopped running at about 6 pm. Therefore, our days were not going to be as full as we had intended them to be. So we rearranged our plans to work with the bus schedules and were going to rent bikes one of the days. We walked around a bit (took a random train thing that’s like a carnaval ride for 5 year olds because we didn’t realize what we were doing lol), had a run in with a sheep, and met quite a few really nice people that we continued to bump into throughout the couple days we were there. We rode the bus back to Tobermory (a precious little harbor town) and got to our bed and breakfast. The owner was precious and there was a couple staying upstairs too that offered us drinks and food and everything. So the first day, we didn’t see as much as we’d wanted but it was fine because we had plans for the next two days set.
So Tuesday began with an AMAZING breakfast… I mean, compare anything with a piece of toast with oil and a cup of coffee and its going to win, but it was delicious. It ended up being really cold so our bike plan fell through (a constant drizzle really makes the cold cut through you) and we decided to take the bus to see Iona (a little island off of Mull). The drive was supposed to be gorgeous. We got half way (to where we had to switch buses) and found out that the busses weren’t going to Iona that day because the ferry wasn’t working because of the weather. As Irene said, “The spirit is willing but the buses are weak.” So, we ended up going to Duart castle (yes, this is the MacLean clan castle). And that was awesome. I signed the book of MacLeans that have gone and visited and it was really neat. I got some awesome pictures. After that we went on a hike (we had a whole bunch of time to kill because the bus wasn’t going back to Tobermory where our B&B was for a few hours) But I’m so glad we did because again… it was gorgeous. We were soaked by the end of the day, but completely worth it. We went back to our place, microwaved a frozen pizza and some popcorn (hadn’t had popcorn since we’d been here) and called it a night after watching some Scottish TV (random fact: Did you know that they still wear the grey curly wigs in the courts in Britain? Think George Washington wig on normal modern people… funny!).
Wednesday morning we didn’t have time (actually the bus schedule was just crappy) so we didn’t have time to get to Iona and back before the ferry we needed to catch our bus back to Edinburgh, so we went on an early ferry and looked around Oban (the harbor that is on the mainland side). We ate some fish and chips (I’m officially a fan of haddock), drank an Irn bru (the signature soda of Scotland apparently… kind of like the Ale8 of Scotland for you Asbury people), and some Sticky Toffee Pudding (I’m looking for a recipe because it was sooo delicious). We were told we had to try those things before leaving. Haggis was also on that list, but we weren’t quite brave enough lol.
We got back to Edinburgh Wednesday night and then left Thursday morning again for Sevilla without anymore plane issues. All week we had been a little bit obsessive compulsive about times of everything.
It was one of those trips that was a learning experience throughout the whole thing. I felt like we had done our research and the websites made it sound like our plans were going to work but just had bad luck with how it turned out in the end. It was one frustrating thing after another but we were in Scotland and that was AMAZING. The fact that we didn’t get to do as much as we wanted to makes me want to go back and do it again the right way. My advice would be for anyone planning to go to Scotland… rent a car and have no plans (or loose ones). Just drive and see where you end up. And don’t rely on buses on the Isle of Mull because while the drivers are super nice, it’s just a very slow paced place.
I'll put up pictures later... It was gorgeous!!! Love you all!!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Last minute planning
I'm finally done with exams and that is a HUGE relief! I can't believe that I only have one more set of exams to go before the semester is over.
All week I have been making last minute plans and getting everything ready for SCOTLAND.
We are leaving tomorrow bright and early (our flight leaves at 6:30am eek!) We're hoping that the rain holds off while we're there. I know that's a lot of wishful thinking, but we're hoping to bike around while were on the Isle of Mull. (We have ponchos to look like true tourists :D)
I've been trying to upload a video this week of my house but it won't let me. Unfortunately I don't have any people who know much about computers around to help me. I'll keep working on it though once I get back though.
Semana Santa (Holy Week)is HUGE here in Sevilla (the biggest in all of Europe apparenlty). It's all anyone talks about. I'm going to be back in Sevilla on Thursday (jueves santo) to see the biggest pass of the week. Apparently the whole city stays up all night. Lots of the cathedrals have either huge virgin statues or huge Jesus statues and they are carried by 30 men from their church to the main Cathedral of Sevilla and back to their church again. It's like every church has it's own mini parade with all of the people dressed up like their in the KKK. I'll put up pictures once I see it. I've seen movies and pictures, but I'll get some up here so you can enjoy the festivities :D.
Also, in anticipation of Semana Santa, they just opened the metro (they've been building it forever) and its the talk of the town. It's free today and yesterday so everyone is lining up to give it a try. My senora went yesterday and was so excited about it. Especially because it goes under the Guadalquivir River (5 seconds... she told us all about it). Super cool. haha
I hope you all are doing well. I'll be sure to give you another update once I get back!
All week I have been making last minute plans and getting everything ready for SCOTLAND.
We are leaving tomorrow bright and early (our flight leaves at 6:30am eek!) We're hoping that the rain holds off while we're there. I know that's a lot of wishful thinking, but we're hoping to bike around while were on the Isle of Mull. (We have ponchos to look like true tourists :D)
I've been trying to upload a video this week of my house but it won't let me. Unfortunately I don't have any people who know much about computers around to help me. I'll keep working on it though once I get back though.
Semana Santa (Holy Week)is HUGE here in Sevilla (the biggest in all of Europe apparenlty). It's all anyone talks about. I'm going to be back in Sevilla on Thursday (jueves santo) to see the biggest pass of the week. Apparently the whole city stays up all night. Lots of the cathedrals have either huge virgin statues or huge Jesus statues and they are carried by 30 men from their church to the main Cathedral of Sevilla and back to their church again. It's like every church has it's own mini parade with all of the people dressed up like their in the KKK. I'll put up pictures once I see it. I've seen movies and pictures, but I'll get some up here so you can enjoy the festivities :D.
Also, in anticipation of Semana Santa, they just opened the metro (they've been building it forever) and its the talk of the town. It's free today and yesterday so everyone is lining up to give it a try. My senora went yesterday and was so excited about it. Especially because it goes under the Guadalquivir River (5 seconds... she told us all about it). Super cool. haha
I hope you all are doing well. I'll be sure to give you another update once I get back!
Monday, March 23, 2009
Wow!
Where to begin?!?
Last week in one of my classes we had a conversation with a Catholic friar who is in seminary. Very interesting. It was a group of American, 20 something, "evangelicos" and this poor guy who they brought in for a question and answer session with us about Catholicism in Spain. It started out with easy questions like "How do you become a pope?" and eventually became a heated debate about whether hell exists and how you can go to heaven through good works. (He said, "There are 2 ways to be saved: good works and faith in God." not exactly sure how that works) So it was very interesting and definitely opened my eyes into what catholicism is actually about from someone who has studied it ALOT. (I think he said 6 years of university.)
THEN... here comes the fun part... I went to GRANADA this weekend. Favorite place so far outside of Sevilla. It is gorgeous and in the mountains. A quaint little town, but so much to do. It's one of those places that you just can't capture in pictures. (This is why I took over 400 in 2 days.)
Every where you go is a climb up hill or an attempt not to trip and roll down. They are steep! There is a lot of Muslim/ Arabic stuff there. There were all kinds of street vendors and tea shops. It was a totally different atmosphere than Sevilla. We did a lot of walking and my legs are still dead, but it was totally worth it for all we were able to see.
We went to a neighborhood of Granada that is built on the mountains where people live in caves. Here, we had our first encounter with the gypsies of Granada and learned first hand where the word gypped is derived from. We are walking on our merry little way, basking in all the beauty, thinking everything in the world is good, when a lady comes out of a flamenco bar and tells us we can go in and look inside if we want. We had just been talking about how cool it would be inside one of the caves, so we went immediately realizing it was probably a mistake. All of the sudden she had given us all a beer and a pot (to remember Granada) and was trying to read our palms. We knew we needed to get out of the but weren't sure how. We were kind of cornered and were like, "Oh my goodness, look at the time! We have to go! We're late to meet some friends!" Then she demanded 7 euros from each of us for everything. None of us had even drank the beer and we didn't want the little pot thing, so we were like, "We don't have any money sorry." She got all mad and we got some change out and were like, "This is all we have." We ran out with her screaming at us. In the end, we felt stupid... caught in the trap like idiots, but the experience and the story I'm pretty sure are worth the 4 euros (1 euro a piece... not terrible).
From that side of the river, we could see on the other side more caves and saw people walking around on trails. THAT is where we wanted to go. So we decided that the next morning we were going to go on adventure up the mountain. We walked... up hill/mountain... right up to the caves where people lived. They had doors, tables, chairs, it was amazing that people actually live like that, and that we were that close. You can kind of see the paths that we were walking on. However, the whole time we were a little timid to get to close. We didn't want another gypping scenario, so we went back and walked around other parts of the city. It is completely and utterly awesome all over.
Finally, we made it to the main attraction of the city, the Alhambra. It is a huge fortress that the Muslims built before the Christians came and took over their area. They knew they were going to be taken out because all of the surrounding areas were already conquered. As a last "hurrah", they built the Alhambra as a piece of heaven on earth more or less. It is completely filled with gardens and there is a palace with unbelievably detailed decoration. It's so much that again, pictures can't really capture it. It was also one of the things we've studied in my art class so again... I was able to actually appreciate it because I knew a good amount of the history behind it.
And on a final note: I SAW A PEACOCK IN A FARM ON THE SIDE OF A ROAD! awesome!!!
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