Barcelona

This past weekend we visited Barcelona. It was a little bit of a different pace because it was a big city. Almost, but not quite, like Minneapolis. There were busy streets, big buildings and a lot of shopping places. We got to Barcelona at eight in the morning on Friday because we took an over night train there. It was a nine-hour ride, but for Natalie and I it wasn’t all that bad because we had beds. This was actually on accident too because they were the only tickets left for that train so we had to pay eight euro more but ended up with beds! It was basically amazing. We got off the train and the guys were complaining about how little sleep they got because they were warm and uncomfortable. Natalie and I were well rested with seven hours of sleep!
They first thing we did when we got there was went to our hostel to check in. We were a little nervous because this was going to be the first time that we staying in a dorm style hostel. This meant that we shared a room with six other people and it was more like public bathrooms. It turned out really well! All of the people were amazing and the staff was great and so helpful. They gave us a map and showed as all of the places that we needed to go in Barcelona. They also had a “party night” set up for us. We were going to leave the hostel together at eleven and go to a bar and then to a discoteca. That was nice because it was our first night and we really didn’t have a clue where to go.

During the day on Friday we just took it easy because the guys were tired. We walked up and down Las Ramblas, which is the main street in Barcelona with all of the shops and such. It actually rained that day, which was the first time we saw rain since we have been in Spain. So we sat in a bar and had a drink to wait out the rain for a while. After that we headed to the Picasso Museum. This took us almost three hours. It was so fascinating and there was so much to see. It walked you through his life and the stages he went through. I recommend it to anyone going to Barcelona! Then the boys cooked us dinner in their hostel. We had spaghetti and bread. It was great and cheap! That night we went out with our hostel group. It was a lot of fun and we met so many new people. The one bad thing about Barcelona, except for the fact that it isn’t all that safe, is that all of the people there know English. Therefore we ended up speaking a lot of English on this trip.

Saturday we got up and went to go see the cathedral. It was huge and beautiful. After that we made a trek to go see some of the Olympic stadiums. This was really interesting and also very pretty. It was actually quite funny because we ran into some guys that graduate from the U of M. They were wearing gopher-swimming shirts, so we stopped them. In Barcelona we ran into probably five people from Minnesota and three people in OUR group were from Minnesota too. It was crazy. After the Olympic stuff we took cable cars up to one of the highest points in Barcelona so we could see the whole city. It was unbelievable and the cable car ride was fun! At the top was a castle that we got to look around so we ended up spending a good amount of time there. That night we went out to the clubs on the beach and walked around the on the beach. That was a good time and the Mediterranean was beautiful.

My favorite day had to have been Sunday because we spent the whole day at the beach and shopping the little stores. It was a perfect day and there was even an air show going on right over the beach! We ate dinner on the beach while a guy sang, played the guitar and the harmonica. It was so good that Natalie actually bought his CD. The day was just amazing.

After all of this we were off to the train station to catch our night train back to Madrid. This time Natalie and I didn’t have beds and that was not a good thing! We didn’t get very much sleep and the sleep we did get was not comfortable. Regardless, we made it to Madrid where we caught another train to Toledo. We made it back right when class was starting so we ran in just a little late. It all turned out really well, although Monday was a really long day without sleep. Now I just have to get through a week of classes and we are off to Salamanca!! Life’s rough huh… and I have two people to thank for that…Thanks mom and dad!! I love you!!

Trip to Granada

This past weekend went really well. It started Thursday night at our dinner to find “intercambios.” These are people that we would meet with weekly so they could help us with our Spanish and we could help them with their English. It was rather awkward at first, but we finally got the guts to go talk to some of them. Natalie, Kate and I started talking with a group of four guys that were about twenty-five. They were all really nice, easy to talk with, and the best part…they would correct our bad grammar! That was exactly what we needed so we all exchanged numbers and ended up hanging out that night. They took us to the “cool” places in Toledo and we had tons of fun. They have this thing called a “botellón,” which is just outside of the walls of Toledo. All of the people our age go there to drink together and meet new people. Our original plan was to go home early because we had a trip to Madrid the next day and we had to be up kind of early. WELL, we had so much fun that we didn’t make it back until five in the morning! Oh well, it was fun and we survived the next day!

Madrid was a blast and we got to see so many interesting things! The first thing we did was went to el palacio real. This was where the king and queen of Spain lived and directly across from it was la iglesia (church). It was absolutely beautiful, but we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside the palace. After that we had a bus tour of Madrid and then went to eat at the museo de jamón. We had chicken, French fries and a salad….can you say AMERICAN!? After that we were all on our own to do what we wanted. My group (Maggie, Kate, Natalie, Daniella, Brian, Ryan, Jamie, Mark, and I) left for the bus station so we could get to Granada.

It was a five-hour bus ride, but we watched two movies and had a stop for food. I was also sitting with a random person who turned out to be a boy my age who was really nice! When we got there we all had to find our hostels because we all booked them at different times so we weren’t together. Natalie, Kate and I were the least prepared and had the least information and yet ours turned out to be the best! It was in a great location, very clean and the owner was sooooo nice. His idol is Jimmy Hendricks!! The boys said their hostel was ok, but a little dirty and kind of sketchy. Maggie and Danielle’s hostel was so scary and dirty that they ended up coming to our hostel the next night!

The first night we got there kind of late so we just went out to some local bars. Danielle knew some friends that are studying there so they showed us the fun places to go. The next day we woke up early and went to get tickets for Alhambra. We had to walk for 20 minutes up this HUGE hill and then we get there and the tickets are sold out for the morning session. Therefore we had to buy tickets to the afternoon session and then walk down the hill and then back up it like 3 hours later! We got a lot of exercise that day.

We did some shopping and then went back to Alhambra for our tour. It was once the residence of the Muslim rulers of Granada and is full of amazing Islamic architecture. Seeing this was really interesting. There were also a couple of other palaces we toured on the grounds of Alhambra and we also saw La Generalife. This was basically a huge garden with water fountains. It was gorgeous! The whole tour took almost three hours, so after we got ate and had really good ice cream. Ice cream is so big over here; they eat it all the time! That night we went to see Flamenco dancing in the Albayzin neighborhood. It was quite interesting and looked very challenging. I was actually pulled up on the floor to dance with them and I probably made a fool out of myself but it was a lot of fun.

That night we went out again, but not for long. We were all really wiped from the long day and all of the walking. Plus, in the morning we wanted to wake up early and go to the bus station so we could get back to Toledo as soon as possible. Well, we made it to the station really early but it turns out that all of the buses were full until one in the afternoon. So we basically sat around for three hours. It all turned out ok though, and we got back at a descent hour. We all had a really good weekend!

Finally active :)

This week so far has been really good! Classes are getting interesting and I am following the professors which is really good. We don't get homework at all, except reading in literature and every once in awhile we have to write a paper for linguistics. So, without too much homework and not a lot of class each day, I have soooooo much free time. I have like 4 hours of class on mondays, 2 of which are watching a movie for film class. Tuesdays i don't have any class. Wednesday i have 2 hours of class total, and Thursdays i have 4 hours, but over an hour of that is for art of toledo and we go out into the city for that!! Fridays...no class for anyone!!

Regardless, we try to keep busy with other things. We go into the city a lot; there are tons of cute shops and sweet clothing stores. I haven't bought any clothes yet, so don't worry mom. :) But pretty soon i won't be able to help myself! I do wish that I would have brought more clothes though, like jeans, Ts and lazy clothes. Besides walking around the city we haven't been doing too many active things, just eating a lot of new food! But this week so far that has changed.

Monday night we played soccer in the Fund's gym. I don't like to play soccer ever, but it was sooooo much fun! So now we are going to do that ever monday night. Jose Luis plays with us too; he is the program coordinator. He is very cute, really nice and good at soccer! The people that played soccer were really all the people i hang out with, so i think that is why i had so much fun.

Yesterday, Jose Luis took natalie, kate and i to la pista. It is only a 10 minute bus ride and we get dropped off right in front of it. It is soooo nice. There really isn't any grass in the city or trees, but here it is so pretty. It's a regular track, and then there is a path that goes through a park like thing. There are actually trees and grass and fields for sports. I'm pretty sure we are going to be spending a lot of time there! There was also basketball in the Fund's gym that night, but it is hard to play basketball with boys and girls on the same team. The boys care too much and are too intense. So that didn't work and we think we will just stick to soccer.

Well i have class soon and i want to eat something....shocking! lol But it feels really good to actually be doing active things again, and tonight i think we are playing volleyball! YAY! when do you think they will have softball? haha

First full weekend in Spain

Thursday night came really fast, and it was finally the weekend! There was a scheduled tour around Toledo on Friday so we just hung around the city Thursday night. We started out at O’Briens because we knew the bartender from before; his name is Emilio. It was his birthday so there were tons of people there. We got a drink and then decided to move to another place. Eventually we found a discoteca, which we all really wanted! There was a big group of us and we all walked in a started dancing. We were the only none native people in there and it was a blast! We got home really late…well at least to us. People in Spain don’t go out until 11 or 12 and then stay out until 5ish! That is going to take some getting use to, but I’m willing to try.

Friday our tour was at 10 in the morning. They took us around the outside of the city so we could take pictures and see the entire thing. A river, el Tajo, surrounds Toledo. It was beautiful! Then we did the rest of the tour on foot. It was really cool to learn about everything in the old city. We also saw the cathedral, which is huge and gorgeous.

Saturday we left for Madrid with Mark, Brian, Ryan, Jamie, Kate, Daniella, Maggie, some others and me. That night in Madrid was la noche en blanca, which is a huge party on the street and all of the museums are open for free through the night. Our plan was to go by bus and then take the metro in to the main part of the city. Then we were going to do the same back the next morning at six! This is because the metros and buses stop at 11pm and didn’t start until 6 in the morning again. It ended up working out really well but we were rather tired!

When we got to Madrid we walked around the city and took pictures. Then we went to el Parque de Buen Retiro, which had a little lake and pretty scenery. The guys got a boat for 4 euros and took that around the lake, and the girls just hung out. There was a guy being a statue right by the lake and we found him really interesting. He was so still and looked so fake! After the lake we went to eat at a little restaurant. It is so different eating out in Spain because nobody is in a rush and you even have to ask for him or her to bring your bill; they don’t just bring it when you look done. We were there for probably over 2 hours.

By the time we were done it was almost time for the museums to open, so we got in line in front of El Prado. It took a little while to get it but it was sooooo worth it. My favorite paintings were done by Ribera but there were so many other good ones too! After that we decided to hit up the bars and clubs. It was a lot of fun and we were in and out of so many. We even went into a gay club and as soon as we realized it, we were out! Lol We met tons of people, danced a lot, and had a great time! When we finally got home we slept for most of Sunday, but it was well worth it!

My first week in Spain

The first week being in Toledo was very different from what I am use to. Thankfully, we were given Monday off to get settled in. The only thing we had to do on Monday was choose our classes. I am taking an art, history, literature, linguistic and film class. I also don’t have any class on Tuesdays or Friday. :) We ended up going out Sunday and Monday night to some bars to just check out the night life. It was a lot of fun and we met a couple of really nice locals. The Fund also threw up a little welcome party Monday night and we had some performers come and sing to us! There was also special Spanish food that was made for us. It was very nice.




The rest of the week went well with classes and all. I really like my history professor; he’s very enthusiastic and easy to understand. Everyday we get breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast is 8-10, lunch is 1:30-2:30 and dinner is 8:30-9:30. These times are different from the US, so that took some getting use to. I actually like it a lot though. Another thing that is very different is that they have siestas during the day. We don't have class and everything in the city basically shuts down for a couple of hours, from like 3-5. The dish that Toledo is known for is called paella, which is a rice dish. It can be made many different ways, but usually it has clams and seafood in it. I don’t like the one with seafood too much, but the other ones are good!

The main meeting place in Toledo is the Plaza, which has cute places to eat…and of course a McDonalds! We would take walks after dinner around the city and there are always people eating at like 11 with their kids! It’s really weird to see. We like to go to the plaza and get sangria, which is a wine drink that is almost like a punch. Wine is soooooo popular here; when we go out we have it at least once a night!

So far I love it here! I’m meeting a lot of new people that are great, and the city is AMAZING! But don’t worry I won’t stay forever….

The trip to Spain

My trip to Spain wasn’t all that exciting. My mom and uncle Al dropped me off at the Milwaukee airport and from there I was with Natalie for the rest of the trip. Natalie is a girl I met my freshman year at the University of Minnesota. We boarded a small plane and the flight went well until the end. When we got close to Philadelphia we started feeling really bad turbulence and it felt like we would free fall every once and awhile. S then we hear the pilot ask us to bear with him for a little bit. He said it was going to get rough because we were in the middle of a hurricane! This was a bit scary but thankfully we made it! So needless to say our flight in philly got delayed a little bit, which made our six-hour layover even longer. Finally we got on a huge plane and the rest of the trip went smoothly, although it was not comfortable to sleep at all!

When we got to the airport in Madrid, Yuki and Jose Luis were waiting for us. They are like the head honchos of the program. It was about eight in the morning in Madrid (we are seven hours ahead of WI and MN). We got on a coach bus and headed to Toledo. Toledo is a very old city with very, very narrow roads so we couldn’t drive the bus into the city. A smaller truck took our luggage and we had to walk to La Fundacion (aka the Fund). When we got there we were showed to our rooms so we could unpack and rest. I am rooming with Natalie, which is really nice and the girls the share our bathroom with us are awesome too. Our rooms are adjoined with doors that lock, but we just leave them open all the time so it’s like we have a four-person room. The girl’s names are Claire and Kate. We hang out mostly with Kate though. After unpacking (and most of our stuff was we because of the rain in philly) we planned on taking a two or three hour nap…this turned into seven! We woke up in time for dinner and we were well rested!