Day Forty-Three

Today was a bit of a struggle. After sleeping through our VERY important alarm.. we ran out the door of the hostel without showering or getting ready, in order to make it to the Louvre by nine so that we could leave by ten thirty so that we could get back to the hostel and to the metro and to the other side of town by noon to catch our bus that left at twelve thirty to reach the airport an hour early for our flight that left at three thirty that if we missed we couldn't make it home by school the next day.

So off we went.  We got to the Louvre at 8:35, perfect. We stood in line and finally made our way to the front. Once we were in we beelined for the ticket booth, where we sweet talked the ticket guy into letting us in for free because technically we were living and studying in Spain and were between the ages of 18 and 25 (European Union Citizens between 18-25 years old get in free, as well as anyone under 18).  Then we went straight towards the Mona Lisa.  She was actually much smaller than I had anticipated, especially compared to the full wall size picture on the neighboring wall.  Have you ever wondered why the Mona Lisa is so famous? because I do, I mean its beautiful and all, but why her?  Either way it was completely awesome :)  We also saw Venus de Milo and a few other famous pieces, and managed to head out by about 10:30 which is exactly what we were aiming for.

We got home and grabbed our stuff and left straight for the metro.. with one stop at the local creperie of course. We made it in perfect time to the bus station and then to the airport where I bought my first french baguette!  Even though it was airport food, my baguette was amazing, and I just love to say baguette.  I realized that it happens to be one of the five french words that I actually know, along with crepe, merci, bonjour, and avec.  Going to France really made me realize how very much little french I know and can interpret.

We finally got on our plane to Madrid and when we landed at 5:50pm we had another five hour layover followed by a six hour bus ride back to Sevilla.  Needless to say, it was a long night.

Picture of the day 1: Oh you know just chillin with Mona, no big thing. 

Picture of the day 2: remember that postcard feeling? its happening again.

Picture of the day 3:  We saw this woman inside the Louvre painting this, take a look at what she painted and then look at the one on the wall.  Its amazing. And before you ask if its legal to copy a famous piece of art, take note that the one she is painting is just ever so slightly a closer view than the original so that its not considered forgery.

Day Forty-Two

Woke up at 5
Sprinted to the bus because we were late (big surprise)
Rode the bus for an hour
Stood in the worst airport check-in line ever known to man
Sprinted to the plane because of the check in line
Rode the plane for an hour
Arrived in Paris
Rode the Metro for an hour
Arrived at the Hostel
Here began the true adventure.

We arrived at about 9:30 into the Paris airport, got to our hostel at about 11am and dropped our suitcases off.  After leaving our luggage, we wandered around our little neighborhood and got some lunch, and made game plan number two.  We decided to head back to the hostel and actually check in, and from there started our sightseeing.

We headed towards Notre Dame which was about a ten minute walk from our hostel.  Notre Dame was beautiful, everything that I ever imagined, especially since I really only had a picture in my mind of the disney movie.  We proceeded to walk down the river towards the Louvre, which was much more massive than I had ever thought.  You could live in there for a week, and still not see everything that is in that building.  After passing the Lourve, we headed towards the Eiffel Tower, and doing sight seeing on the way.

There were some gorgeous palaces and gardens, but the most important was when we actually reached the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.  We were in so much shock that we literally sat down on the street curb and just stared up at it.  It was magnificent.  We got there just a little after dusk, and all the lights had just turned on. We also arrived just a few minutes before the sparkling lights came on.  Every hour on the hour, a million billion white lights come on and make the Eiffel Tower look like it is sparkling in the night. I wish I could capture this in a picture, but it simply doesn't do it justice.

After the Eiffel Tower we headed up a giant flight of stairs to the Arc de Triomphe.  We sprinted across a five lane traffic circle because we couldn't figure out how to get to it, but we finally made it.  It was also lit up in the night, and had a ton of little detail, we also found out that the better way to get to the Arch is via the underground tunnel.. not sprinting for dear life. Lastly we headed to get dinner and then back up to Moulin Rouge!  I love Moulin Rouge.

Finally back to the hostel for one more night!

Picture of the day 1: This tries to capture the 'sparkle' of the Eiffel Tower, and although very unsuccessful, it gets the point across

Picture of the day 2: You know that feeling when you step out of reality and into a postcard? ..yeah, I do

Picture of the day 3: Arc de Triomphe

Picture of the day 4: Moulin Rouge!!

Day Forty-One

We woke up bright and early today and headed downstairs to the pub that we were living above, to eat our free toast and cereal.  Next stop was the London Eye! Although Gabby is deathly afraid of heights, she braved it so that we could all go up to the top of the massive ferris wheel type thing and see London in its entirety! Even though it was raining, it was fantastic! we also got to see a 4-D movie about the London Eye, just a little added bonus.

Then we made our game plan.  We decided to go in search of all the famous streets in London, and do all the sightseeing on the way. So thats what we did. We went literally all over the city on foot.  From the London Eye, to Big Ben, to Trafalgar Square, to Covent Garden, to Kings Cross Station, to Abbey Road, to Notting Hill, to Portobello Road, to Hyde Park, all the stops in between, and finally home to pack and prepare ourselves for the day that lay ahead.

Picture of the day 1: what is London without phone booth pictures?

Picture of the day 2: View of Big Ben/Parliament from the very top of the London Eye. 

Fun Fact: Big Ben does not refer to the clock on the tower, it refers to the bell inside the tower. (we got educated by a 4ish year old english girl.)

Picture of the day 3: Abbey Road

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends

Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

Day Forty

When we finally arrived in London at 8:30 am (ish) we had to go through customer and find our way via bus to our hostel. We got there at about noon, but didn't leave again until about three.  We wandered throughout the city and walked along the river.  We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, Shakespears Globe Theater, and a ton of other landmarks.


After about 30 hours with essentially no sleep, we headed home to rest up for day two of London!

Picture of the day 1: Just being artsy with the London Eye :)

Picture of the day 2: Shakespeare's Globe Theater

Day Thirty-Nine

Thursday has finally arrived!!

Although a very exciting day, it was also extremely hectic and stressful. I woke up and had to go to class from 9-10:30, from there I had to somehow make it home, find and buy a suitcase, pack, and get back to school by one.  While this sounds like an easy feat please remember that it takes me a half an hour each direction to walk to school.. leaving me with a total time of an hour an a half to do everything. However I miraculously found a purple carryon size suitcase at the Chino next to my house for 14 euro, was it meant to be? I think yes. So after sprinting around and finally getting packed I headed to school, suitcase in tow.

Gabby and I left straight from class to the bus station where we met Hannah.  Our bus left at 4pm for Madrid where we had a 8 1/2 hour layover until our flight at 6:30 am to London!  It was fairly painless except for sleeping on the freezing cold marble floor of the Madrid airport...

Picture of the day 1: Buckingham Palace

Picture of the day 2: Big Ben/Parliament 

Day Thirty-Eight

So today is Wednesday which means that tomorrow I leave for London and Paris!! but it also means that I had a crazy night with my interest group at '100 Montaditos."  100 Montaditos is kind of like a bar.. and a pub.. and a burger place.. all at once. Basically its where all the Americans go when they want american drinking food.  However, I went there with my Interest Group as an activity and they bought us all dinner.  While standing and waiting for our names to be called, a few friends and I met a woman named Marisa (Mar-ee-sah) who was about 65 years old and quite a character.  She must have have had a few drinks in her when she started talking to my friends and I because she immediately summoned us to sit next to her, and proceeded to kiss all of us and learn our names, followed by her running through the whole bar bringing men over to meet us in the hopes that one of us would fall in love.  I'm not sure that she understood that half of us weren't on the market, and the other half weren't particularly interested in 30 year old men in a bar.. She also carried around about ten pictures of herself throughout her life (which she obviously showed us) and a stuffed cat type animal.  The most entertaining part of this experience however, was the fact that one of my friends Kaylee who was sitting next to Marisa and would get passionately kissed whenever Marisa got excited.  One time Marisa actually hooked her fingers on Kaylee's lip while pulling her towards her.  Overall it was a crazy, and hilarious night, and apparently right after I left she bought everyone nachos.

Picture of the day 1: left to right: Emily, Carol, Laurel, Kaylee, the cat.., Marisa

Picture of the day 2: who carries this many pictures of them self around?

Day Thirty-Seven

A little good
A little bad
A lot of class
and a pretty walk home.

Picture of the day: While walking home I noticed these apartments. I've never noticed before how they are lit up and colorful at night even though I walk past them multiple times a day.

Day Thirty-Six

Monday again has arrived, and brought a new week of classes with it.  That means that its time to attempt to make a dent in the pile of homework that I've been avoiding for the last two weeks of class.

Non-class related, friends and I booked our mini-trip to Cadiz for the Carnival! now we just need costumes and we're set!

Picture of the day: Cafe de Indias, where we hang out all the time.. coffee AND internet in the same building. but its sign tries to be Starbucks.. I think its to confuse foreigners.

Day Thirty-Five

Day two of Granada, today our group visited La Alhambra.  It is the second most visited site in the world, after the Taj Mahal, with about 3000 visitors a day. I still couldn't tell you exactly what it is, but its full of palaces, plazas, fountains, a cathedral, and was basically a small royal city within the actual city at one point.. I think.  Either way its gorgeous (there is a picture of it in the day thirty-four post), and the view from the towers/turrets is breathtaking.

After la alhambra it was lunch, postcards, and stuffing all of us back onto the bus to Sevilla.

Picture of the day 1: first view from the top of La Alhambra. All the white buildings, and neighborhoods, fantastic.  Since I didn't have a picture of it yesterday, please take a look at how narrow the streets are.. :)

Picture of the day 2: Looking to the other direction are the mountains that the city is sitting right below

Day Thirty-Four

PART 1

Today begins the larger adventure of the weekend. Granada. Walked to the bus at 8:30am and off we went.  We split into two groups depending on the bus we were on, and from there broke into groups of about ten people.  My group explored El Barrio Albaicín, which is the most known/loved/famous neighborhood in Granada.

The roads in this city are literally five feet wide. I can almost touch both buildings on either side of the roads at the same time.  The cobblestones are pointy, and it was a bad choice to wear flats.. but too late now.  All of the buildings are painted white, and finally I found out why.  Its because it gets so hot in the summers that they paint everything white to reflect the light instead of absorb it.  Brilliant.

After the Barrio we wandered through a cathedral like structure (some kings and queens are buried here, but I dont remember their names..) and then headed to tea and pastelitos!

Picture of the day 1: This is the view from part of the Barrio, looking at La Alhambra and the beautiful mountains in the background

Picture of the day 2: Granada: the Eugene of Spain.

PART 2

Yes. this day needs two parts because they are very distinct.

Part two begins at the Hotel where Kelsey, Hannah, and I hear about a discoteca in a cave and immediately decide that we need to be a part of this madness.  So after dinner we head down to el Centro where we meet up with a friends in a bar.  From here one of the spaniards somehow manages to get all fifteen of us into a discoteca for free, where we stay for a few hours.. THEN we decide that the cave is calling to us.  So we hitch a ride in a taxi up the mountain to a legitimate cave/discoteca.  It was crazy and fun and how many times in your life can you say that you went to a discoteca in a cave? not many. 

Now we need to have a small discussion about the taxi drivers here in Granada.  They drive like crazy people.  A million miles an hour, don't slow down for pedestrians, and (in our case) blast Jack Johnson while driving customers.  Remember when I said that I could almost touch either side of the road with my hands? well as we were driving home (at probably 30 miles an hour) our taxi driver without hitting the break or missing a beat, pulls in his mirror as we turn the corner because the road was so narrow the prius we were riding in could not fit with the mirrors out.  The passengers side one scraped along the building.

the end.

Picture of the day 3: discoteca nights.

Day Thirty-Three

Senderismo today!! aka we went hiking :)  I dont know where we went.. BUT it was a blast, we walked from one little town up in the hills, to another.  It was overcast and a bit chilly, but the guides were hilarious and told us a lot of random tidbits.  I also met the tallest spaniard I've seen since I've been here.. he was probably 6'3 and quite a prankster.  Hiking was followed by a small adventure through my neighborhood with Kelsey.  A few treats and a cafe con leche later, it was time to rest up for the adventure tomorrow!

Picture of the day:  We tried SO HARD! and yet could never get one when all of us were in the air.. however I think this one turned out better. (on the left: Hannah, on the right: Kelsey)

Day Thirty-Two

I love Thursdayfridays.  This is what I have named Thursdays when you dont have school or work on Friday.  So I finished up classes for the week, and my friend Kelsey and I headed down to the Mercado de la Calle Feria for Jueves.  Its basically a flee market.. only more sketchy.. but fun!  Followed by a nice night in for once.

Picture of the day 1: This is the kind of thing that you find when you go to the Jueves market.. two men sorting through a GIANT pile of beads.

Picture of the day 2: or this.. another pile.. this one of tiny plastic toys.

Picture of the day 3: or most importantly this.  

Day Thirty-One

Downpour. School. More Downpour.
wet socks. again.
BUT on the bright side, I had tasty Chinese food with some friends after our Interest Group meeting!
Also walked past my (thus far) favorite restaurant.

Picture of the day: Oh Mama Mia, where we ate Valentines Day dinner :)

Day Thirty

Its my 30th day in Spain!!

Monsoon season much?!  Today I woke up at seven because the rain and wind were so strong that my window almost flew open (again..) When I had to make the half hour trek to class at eight thirty it was still raining.. not nearly as hard.. but 12 hours and four classes later I still had wet socks.

On the bright side I'm finally ready to go to London and Paris the last weekend of February!  Two friends are I planned a trip for our four day weekend, and finalized hostels today!

Picture of the day: another bright side to a rainy day. It makes for beautiful clouds and sunset when it clears up

Day Twenty-Nine

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Valentines Day is not really celebrated here in Spain.  It is very specifically only for couples.  People do not say Happy Valentines day to their friends, or teachers, or co-workers.. But that didn't stop three friends and I from going out to a little Italian restaurant called "O Mama Mia" and eating pasta and heart shaped treats :)

Picture of the day:  I bought these for each of us as a special Valentines day treat.  I didn't know what they were when I bought them, I just thought they were cute. Turns out they were some sort of strawberry pastry mousse thing... very tasty.

Day Twenty-Eight

Another lazy Sunday.. but no complaints here. except for the fact that while I was walking this afternoon there was torrential downpour.. but I'm from Oregon, so no biggie right?

Picture of the day: Here's my one and only accomplishment of the day. Homemade trail mix.

Day Twenty-Seven

After getting up bright and early, running a bit late, and speed walking to school, I was on my way to Cordoba.  Cordoba is a town about two hours east (and a little north) of Sevilla.  It is famous for its Mesquita.. I'm not so sure what it is.. but its beautiful!  After a nice sunny day touring the city and much of what it has to offer, we hopped back on our Valentines day themed bus and made our way back to Sevilla

Although I had not planned on going out tonight, I ended up strolling the streets with a friend. We stumbled upon a small red door near our school and decided to check out what was inside.  As soon as we entered, I knew that we had just found a real live Flamenco Bar.  Not the kind of Flamenco that you see in movies, or in a theater.. no. the kind that just happens.  There was a singer, a guitarist, and a dancer. This bar was quite large and must of had about 100-150 people in it all watching the performance.  We ended up staying here until late into the night.  We also made friends with a young woman from spain and her boyfriend who is originally from Iran but lives in California.  He was in Spain visiting her, and we spend much of the night talking to them.  Between the two of them they speak 5 languages, which we found very fascinating. Also, the woman was a Spanish newscaster for a while before she met. local celebrity :)  All and all it was a fantastic night, and its safe to say that the best places to hang out are found when you least expect them

Video 1: Flamenco dancing.. in the raw.

Video 2: Flamenco music

Day Twenty-Six

After running an errand or two, and getting my schedule changed once and for all there is nothing better than sitting by the river having drinks with friends on a beautiful sunny Sevillian Friday when you don't have school.

Picture of the day: although very similar to many pictures that I have take, this one was not disturbed by cars or boats, but is just peaceful and is exactly what my whole afternoon looked like.

Day Twenty-Five

So its Thursday in the wonderful world of Spain. Which means that its "friday" here because no one has classes on Friday.  This is definitely my kind of place. They stay up late, sleep in all the time (nothing opens until nine or ten in the morning), and there is no class on Friday. So we decided to go to our first discoteca.  Let me be the first to tell you that Discoteca DOES NOT equal Bar. We started botellón down by the river where we ended up making friends with some people from a different program, but after we ditched them we headed over to a discoteca named Bandalai which was pretty much one big party with loud music, a dance floor, a bar, a stage (where they were having comedy night when we arrived) strobe lights, and pretty much everything that you can imagine :)

Picture of the day: The four on the right are my friends and I.. the five on the left are our new friends.. we dont know who they are or where they are now, but they're from the US and they're studying here too

Day Twenty-Four

Today is the third day of class, and already I have a ton of homework.. when they said classes here aren't like the US they weren't lying. Because of this I've realized that when I live in Spain and friends aren't allowed to your house and internet is schizo everywhere.. I spend a lot of time at cafés.  They are definitely a good place to hang out and actually be able to do homework (or avoid it, which is usually the case) with people :)

Picture of the day 1: Café number one for the evening (second one of the day)

Picture of the day 2: Café number two for the evening (and night seeing as we were there until 1:30am)

Day Twenty-Three

Second day of real classes! although today was much more hectic than yesterday because I had four classes instead of one.. but still good! we'll see how they turn out!

Picture of the day: In between the hustle and bustle of getting lost between my classes and sprinting from one campus to the other I spotted this little gem out the corner of my eye. Best. Moto. Ever. if anyone wants to give this to me as a gift I will gladly accept. :) 

Day Twenty-Two

First day of real classes! We finished up the two week intensive session on Friday and today we started the actual semester!  granted I only had one class... but so far so good!

Also started planning some trips around the country/Europe :)

Picture of the day:  Michael, this one is for you. And yet.. who doesn't love an entire plaza filled with motos?

Day Twenty-One

I've officially lived in Spain for three weeks.  While that doesn't seem like a long time, it is like a small milestone for me.

Three weeks is long enough:

for your bangs to grow and touch your eyelashes
for your boyfriend to get an internship
for your best friend to get in a car accident
to read a book
to make new friends
to learn that mocha's do not exist in Spain
to plan a trip
to finally be able to navigate your new city without a map
to forget everything you've ever learned about a language in order to learn it for real.

its frightening and thrilling, exciting and terrifying, new and unexplored, home and yet so far away
its unreal, majestic, colorful, modern and historic.
its motos, cobblestone streets, fountains, and exploring.

but most of all its three whole weeks.

Picture of the day: no description needed.

Day Twenty

I have officially been away from home for twenty days! It seems so crazy to me that its been almost three weeks and it feels like I got here two days ago.

Today was about 65 degrees and sunny.  It was the first time I felt that I could leave my house without taking some sort of jacket, and not freeze to death.  So thats exactly what I did.  Grabbed my book and a soda and headed down to the river to read and watch some boat races.

Picture of the day: Since it was the first beautiful day in a long while, everyone was out sitting by the river with friends, with a book, or just with themselves.  Although I don't know the people in this picture, I feel that they perfectly captured what today was all about.

Day Nineteen

To quote one of my friends from here "the study part of study abroad finally kicked in today."  With papers due, and finals for our last day of the intensive class, everyone was a bit stressed.

On the brighter side, it was Friday night, and it was a blast. Bars followed by churros and good friends.

Picture of the day: so its not the best picture around.. but its got a story.  See the girl in the bottom right hand corner with the hat? well she came into the bar wearing a green jacket, a tank top, and no hat.  See the people around her in the leather and orange? They were going around giving people chupitos (shots) and also stripping peoples shirts off in the middle of the bar to give them new ones with the bar logo.  This girl fell victim to their game...

Day Eighteen

Although the majority of my free time was spent at El Museo de las Bellas Artes doing an assignment for class or doing some other sort of studying, I also got together with a few friends and started planning some trips!

Picture of the day: no, this was not anywhere near the art museum.  About eight of these giant sodapop's (all different designs and colors) mysteriously arrived in a plaza near my school, and naturally being the coca-cola light lover that I am.. I had to hug one.  We dont know how or when they got there, or how long their going to stay there, but I love them.

Day Seventeen

Two tours, class, ice cream and sun.  Thats what today consisted of.  We went on a tour of El Real Alcazar de Sevilla, which is the royal palace of Sevilla. Its where the King and Queen live when they come to visit the city :)  It was absolutely beautiful and had courtyard after courtyard of orange trees and fountains, as well as a labyrinth and a waterfall.

We also got our first real tour of the University of Sevilla! Fun fact: the building used to be a tobacco factory.  Its an enormous building but everything looks exactly the same because its just one giant square.  There is no doubt in my mind that I will get lost.

Then there was dulce de leche ice cream.

Picture of the day: This is a view from one courtyard into the next in Alcazar.  I was standing in a courtyard filled with orange tress and a fountain, and looking into this courtyard which has a giant pool (but not for swimming) with a waterfall, fountain, and palm trees!

Day Sixteen

Today I took a shower. (I know, who does that?) and during this shower the water would stay scalding hot for approximately 30 seconds, just long enough for me to wet my hair and then turn freezing cold.  When I say freezing however, I do not mean that it went lukewarm and then chilly. no. It went from burning my skin off hot to the coldest water I've ever felt come out of a faucet in four seconds. Then I would turn the water off and turn it back on and it would do the exact same thing until I had finished the grueling process of washing my hair.  Here's the catch, this has happened every single time I have showered since moving into my homestay. But after two weeks of this, and during this particular shower I realized how many things I take for granted at home.

A shower that neither burns or freezes me.
Internet that just works.
Heating.
Carpet.
The ability to form coherent sentences
Having friends and family that live close to me
The opportunity to spend five months in a different country.

So other than a small re-evaluation of my life, today was pretty typical, but included a small "botellon" party at the end.

Picture of the day:  standing on a guardrail at two in the morning. this pretty much sums up the day.