Barcelona

     Sevilla and Barcelona have to be two of the prettiest cities I have ever seen.  Last weekend two friends and I headed up to Barcelona to explore the region of Cataluña.  It was gorgeous.  Very different from Sevilla because the city of Barcelona is very modern, if you will.  Sevilla has a lot of oooooold buildings from like the 800s that you can see all over the place.  Barcelona on the other hand still has old buildings as well but not as many.  They have some buildings from the early days as well, but since the modernism movement started in Barcelona in the 1800s, old buildings were replaced by newer, cooler buildings.  Barcelona reminds me more of a “city” than Sevilla.  I would compare Barcelona as a Chicago and Sevilla as oh I don’t know..New Orleans?  Not that Sevilla got hit by a massive hurricane or anything, but I do see some parallels.  New Orleans and Sevilla are both places rich in culture and tradition, but only at certain times, both in the spring too none the less.  They also attract a lot of tourists to see all their wonderful sights, but have just a small number of people that actually live in the city year round.  Therefore, my pick for Sevilla is New Orleans.  Hopefully no hurricane will come to Sevilla now that I said that..Anyways, Barcelona and Sevilla are both beautiful cities with very different vibes.  :)

     Our adventure begins on a Thursday afternoon.. My friend Cindy and I took the bus to the Sevilla airport and waited for our Ryan Air flight to begin.  We pass thorough security no problem and go to our gate.  We get to the gate and find out our plane has been delayed a little bit.  (Typical in Europe I’ve noticed, especially in Spain.  Nothing’s on time, even me..not that I was ever good at making it places on time, but I fear leaving here has just worsened my sense of time and distance.)  It was actually a good thing our plane was delayed a little because our friend Maria still hadn’t made it to the airport yet!  She had had some issues with her ticket and had to try and get it reprinted at the airport.  Finally we see Maria in the distance and breathe a sigh of relief.  We all made it.  Awesome!  Now all we have to do is wait for the delayed plane.  The gate next to us finished boarding and then we see the flight attendants…assistants? helpers?  I have no idea what you call the front desk people…anyways, we see them switch over to our side and begin the boarding process.  So much for a late plane.  The helper/assistant/attendant people took their sweet time with one plane and to make it seem like it wasn’t their fault they just decided to say the plane was delayed.  Nice.  Not really complaining because it was only about a 40 minute delay and it was a good delay as well otherwise Maria wouldn’t have made it.  Now the boarding process…

     Now as we all know, or at least frequent European fliers do :) , Ryan Air is VERY picky about the carryon luggage.  You get one piece of luggage and that’s it.  No purse, no jacket in your hand, no small little plastic bag with food…nope.  ONE.  And it has to fit in this little box that they use to measure the size of your luggage.  I know most airlines have carryon sizes, but they never actually check.  Not Ryan Air!  If it doesn’t fir it doesn’t fly.  Or you check it for like 40 euros…that’s like 55 dollars!  I think…..I had just a travel backpack, but when I saw that size of the box, I’m not gonna lie, I got a little worried.  That thing wouldn’t fit most carryons!!  They do allow you to shove and squish your bag in there if need be, so that’s nice.  At least they give you a small loop hole.  :)  Luckily all ours fit and we were able to board no problem.  No squishing needed.

     We finally arrive in Barcelona around 10:30 at night and now it’s off to find the hostel.  The directions had us take a train, to a metro, and then walk from the metro station to the hostel.  Simple…except we have no idea where this train is.  We ask around and finally find the station next to the airport.  We missed the 11 o’clock train by just a little so we had to wait for the 11:30.  We hop on the 11:30 and depart from the airport.  While on the train we over here some people talking about how the metro ends at midnight.  Say what?  Come again?  Now we don’t know how far this stop is on the train to the metro that we NEED to catch, but the little time that we have seems to be slipping through our fingers faster than the train is moving. 

Finally at like 11:50 we get to our stop and run to the metro stop.  Of course we get to the stop and have to buy a ticket, but none of the machines are on.  Cool?  We go to the entrance gate to see maybe if there is a way we can get through.  At this point we are all ready to hop over a gate, barrier, and or run from cops if need be.  Maybe not that desperate, but this metro is fricken important!  As we frantically look for anyway in we suddenly notice that the exit door is wide open.  A little help from above maybe?  (Thanks guys, you know who you are.  :)  Miss you!  Wish you could be here on this adventure with me.)  Anyways, we take this rare opportunity to rip off Barcelona’s transportation system and run through the exit doors.  We here the metro coming and sprint down what seems like an endless flight of stairs, drop a suitcase down the endless flight of stairs, and then climb aboard the metro at last.  Free ride on the metro.  :)  Doesn’t get better than that. 

     We get off the metro, walk around for a little bit looking for this hostel and finally find it after some circles and back tracks.  We check in and then went to sleep ready to start the next day early at 9 AM.  We ate breakfast in the hostel and head out around 10 to take some pictures and then a Gaudí walking tour at 11.  The walking tour was really good!!  I have discovered yet another Spanish artist who I have just fallen in love with.  Se llama, Antoni Gaudí.  Best architect I think I have ever encountered.  Usually I don’t pay attention to buildings, but these were just simply amazing pieces of artwork.  The shapes and way he played with angles is amazing.  Some say he was crazy, and he just might have been after learning about his whole life while on the tour, but I say genius.  No one can ever recreate the things he built and the way he looked at everything so differently was really inspiring.  Perhaps not everything has to be exactly what it seems.  He gives me hope.  :)  My favorite building was the Casa Batlló.  It’s a house with an amazing design.  GO LOOK AT THE PHOTOS!  Lol  Facebook does wonders.  :)  Some say it’s the representation of Mardi Gras with masks and confetti, while others say it’s the story of St. George.  The scales on top represent the dragon, balconies are the bones of its victims, and the chimney with the cross represents the sword St.  George used to kill the dragon.  Obviously I vote for the latter story.  We also saw a church that he designed back in the olden days.  La Sagrada Familia, AND IT’S STILL NOT DONE!!! THEY ARE STILL BUILDING IT!!  40 years is the estimated finish date.  18 million euros a year too.  DAMN.  Might just have to come back to Barcelona in 40 years.  :)

     We then visited a park also designed by Guadí.  So pretty.  Obviously, Gaudí designed it!  After walking around all day we went out to get dinner, and then back to the hostel to change and explore Barcelona at night.  We were about to go out when our other roommates came back.  They were from Serbia.  We ended up talking to them the whole night and didn’t make it out of the room.  They were absolutely hilarious.  Good memories.  :)  We talked from 11 PM until 7AM.  The only reason we stopped talking was because they had to leave for the airport to catch their plane back to Serbia!  But before they left they gave us gifts from Serbia.  Shirts to be exact.  Now don’t worry, no one stripped, they just gave us shirts from Serbia to remember our Barcelona trip.  I got a soccer shirt and Cindy got a Serbian Air force shirt.  We have shirts from Serbia now and we didn’t even have to go there to get them.  :)

     After they left, Cindy and I looked at each other and then the ever passing minutes on our clocks.  Well looks like a 2 hour nap and then gotta get up again for the second walking tour!  SWEET.  So needless to say after only 2 hours of sleep, we were zombies in the morning, but we made it to the second walking tour!  And to be honest I wasn’t very tired in the morning or at least not yet.  This time we went on the old gothic neighborhood tour.  Also a very impressive tour!  Saw old buildings from the Romans and other amazing sites that cannot be described in 100908 words.  The two coolest things that I saw there were the ancient Roman entrance way into Barcelona and the exact sight of where the Spanish Inquisition started (if you don’t know what that is go look it up, that’s what Google is for.  Too complicated to explain in this lil bloggy).

     Next we headed off the ocean to stick our feet in the Mediterranean Sea.  Not many people can say that they’ve done that. :)  I feel special.  :)  Mind you now we are all going off of like 2 hours of sleep here.  Now it’s like 6:30 at night.  As we were walking towards the beach I did something I don’t think I’ve ever done in my life…I don’t know if I’ll ever do it again either…ready??  I fell asleep while walking.  No joke.  As we were walking my head kept doing that bobbing thing that everyone does when they just CAN’T stay up anymore.  I closed my eyes for what seemed like just a second and when I opened them back up again I was like 100 feet away then where I remember being.  How I didn’t run into anything or walk off the sidewalk into a bus I’ll never know, but it was definitely an experience.  It gave us a good laugh too when I finally figured out what the hell had just happened.  We finally make it to the beach and guess what, IT WAS FRICKEN COLD!!!!  My feet were frozen for an hour after that.  After some time on the beach, we make our way back to the hostel, and stop for Chinese food on the way.  Yuuummm…It was a nice change from Spanish food. Lol  

     We get ready in the hostel to go out for a night on the town.  Since we missed that opportunity last night, we had to go out Saturday.  Still running on only two hours of sleep and what seems like adrenaline, we head out with some people from the hostel.  We had a great time and got to see Barcelona’s night life.  At about 3:30 AM we decide we should start to head back to the hostel to grab our bags for our flight at 7:00 AM.  4 hours away.  Yeeeeppp…we get out things leave, get a cab, and take off for the airport.

     We arrive around 5:30 or so to the airport and go to check in.  It’s then that I realize that I don’t have my boarding pass…somehow during the cab ride, the boarding pass fell out of my bag and I didn’t realize it.  Thinking it can’t cost that much to print a boarding pass I go up to the Ryan Air counter and ask what the charge is to print a new one.  40 euros the man tells me.  40 FRICKEN EUROS!!  HELL NO!!  I’ll just pay the cabby a tip to come back and give me my pass back.  SO we call the hostel, to call the cab, to come back to the airport with my lovely pass.  I wait about 20 minutes and then finally retrieve my MIA pass.  I tip the driver for being so nice and then walk into the airport.  We get to our gate again, and sit in the line forming for the plane ride.  It’s a bit like southwest airlines.  First come first serve seat basis.  After being up for almost 47 hours, I once again begin to dose.  This time I’m sitting however, and take a nap on the floor of the Barcelona airport with my bag as a pillow.  Cindy and Maria do the same till it’s time to board. 

     I don’t even remember taking off.  I was so tired; I sat down, and passed out.  I remember landing just not take off.  I was out cold.  We get to Sevilla around 10 and start the bus ride and walk back home.  Overall such a fun weekend.  I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

     Barcelona was a really cool city and I’m glad I got to see it.  Hopefully I will get to see it again sometime in the near future.  Don’t worry Spain…I’m definitely comin back.  :) 

                    

How Spain does Halloween

Not well in my opinion.  No, no Halloween was fun.  :)  Just different.  As many of you know Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  Not Christmas, not my birthday, not St. Paddy’s day.  Halloween.  I’ve liked it ever since I was a kid and I don’t think that will ever change.  You get to dress up into anything you want without being judged, AND YOU GET FREE CANDY!!  (clearly I never made it past 7 years old, but hey, I like it.)  Plus you get to hang out with friends, get some exercise, and munch on all sorts of goodies while you pass the time.  I did get to experience a new type of Halloween, but clearly America wins this time.  We got this holiday down pat!  Spain might need a few years to catch up…

First and foremost, there are hardly ANY Halloween decorations here!!!  Some stores tried to put some cobwebs up, or hang a skeleton in the window, but honestly I just don’t think they understand the Halloween feel.  One lil cardboard cutout isn’t gonna make your store more inviting.  Halloween is the only other time during the year in which people go overboard in decorating their houses.  Pumpkins, lights, webs, scary yard things, luminaries, all the good things that I love about Halloween were absent this year.  :(  Maybe not absent completely, but definitely lacking by my standards.  Not to mention people don’t even live in houses over here, so the only things that really get decorated are some restaurants and the select shops whose owners actually now what Halloween is.  Decorating the house for Halloween is like my second favorite thing about October besides the trick or treating.  It gets you thinking about scary stories, long forgotten tales, and creepy situations that have you questioning the realm of the unknown and your sanity!  GAHHH!  I LOOOOOVE Halloween.  *Siiiggghh*  Looks like I’m gonna have to teach these folk the true meaning of Halloween. 

Secondly, kids don’t even trick or treat here!!!  HELLO!?  CALLING ALL SPANISH CHILDREN IN SPAIN.  FREE. CANDY. NOW.  I really can’t be the only one who understands this amazing concept can I?  The kids here just dress up….aaaaaand that’s it.  WOW…exciting.  Like I was saying earlier, they just don’t quite seem to grasp the whole Halloween tradition over here.  I understand it’s not from your country, but hell if America can celebrate St. Paddy’s Day and Cinco de Mayo that just proves it doesn’t matter what country you’re in, CELEBRATE LIKE YOU ARE!  Funny story actually about trick or treating here…involves host mom, child, and the lack of connection to Halloween.

*Story Section*

            So the day after Halloween, Jesse and I are sitting in our room doing our homework and studying for midterms when our host parents return home from, idk walking or something.  Our host mom comes over to our room and asks us if anyone came to the door while they were gone.  Jess and I look at each other with puzzled faces and then assure her that we didn’t open the door for anyone today.  She then proceeds to tell us that last night (Halloween) the little girl downstairs came up to their apartment and rang their doorbell.  Seeing as how it was the little neighbor girl Amparo (host mom) opened the door and asked what she needed.  “Trick or Treat!” said the little girl and waited for something to happen.  Amparo just kept staring at the girl and had no idea what she was talking about.  I don’t think it was a language barrier problem either because the little girl doesn’t speak much English or much Spanish either for that matter, she’s only like 2, but no.  I think it was more of Amparo had no idea what the girl was doing in a costume at her front door.  I guess she said they talked for like a minute and then the girl went back down to her house.  After almost bursting into laughter while listening to this story, we had to tell Amparo the tradition of trick or treating.  See Amparo, they ask for candy…and you give them candy…then they go away….but you need candy…HELLO IT’S HALLOWEEN!  Gosh…people here just need to get with the program!!  It’s been in session for the past like 100 years!!!  Clearly I need to go to the states if I want any chance of candy here.  Lol

                                                            *End of story section*  :)

                        And finally last but not least, no Halloween music.  :(  Usually you’ll hear the monster mash every now and then on the radio or the occasional scream over the radio announcing “scary low prices” but nope not here.  :(  Not even one little peep or mention of Halloween or scary sounding music.  I feel like Halloween could have passed right by and I wouldn’t have even noticed..if I wasn’t freakin obsessed with it!  Maybe I’ll throw myself a Halloween coming back party…haha!

            Although my Halloween wasn’t as normal as it usually is, I still had a lot of fun.  We went to a Halloween party the day before and had an amazing time.  :)  I didn't have a good costume though so I went as a genie and wore these Aladdin pants I got at the international fair here.  They seriously look like the pants Aladdin would wear!  They are all big and poofy and AWESOME by the way. :) By the end of the night I had acquired angel wings and a gangster hat that some people didn’t want from their costumes, sooo I don't really know what my costume ended up being.  A mafia-angel-genie?  Ya.  Let’s go with that one. 

Speaking of costumes…one other little tid bit of information I’d like to share before ending this blog also has to do with costumes.  Here they did encompass one aspect of Halloween very well.  Costumes.  Interestingly enough, even though the kids don’t trick or treat I saw a lot of older people wearing costumes on Halloween night than I think I would usually see in the States!  People my age and older were out and about on the streets just as we were, however they were more “trick-or-drinking” I’d say.  Anyways, their costumes were actually scary!!  Not like “omg I think you are actually Jason and going to kill me” but they were all about the blood guts and gore aspect of Halloween!  None of this sexy nurse bullsh*t, but actual H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N costumes, not “dress like a stripper day” costumes.  Everyone had fake blood and dark eyes.  Perfect atmosphere for an overcast cool night.  :)  It looks like maybe the younger generations are starting to get the hang of Halloween, but forget anyone over the age of 40.  I think they are beyond saving…    

  

It kinda sucks you have to wait all of October to reach that one amazing day and then poof!  It’s gone in a flash and then it’s on to another month.  But I guess that’s the magic of Halloween.  :)  Like magic it disappears into thin air. 

November is a good month as well and also carries an important holiday where all Americans get to do what we do best.  EAT.  Lol.  Although I won’t be there this year to starve myself all day and then eat my heart out around 4:00, I will still try and find some turkey in Spain somewhere!  Yuummmm….Thanksgiving food.  Looks like Christmas is gonna be filled with Mexican food (enchiladas, tamales, and nachos), Thanksgiving food (stuffing, pumpkin pie, Yorkshire pudding, cherry pie, mashed potatoes, and caramelized sweet potatoes), and the all traditional Christmas party food (meatballs, weenies, eggrolls, ham, and taffy apple salad).  Man I can’t wait.           

Halfway is halfway, is halfway, is halfway...

Hmm half way done…more than half way done actually.  I’m not really sure how I feel about it now.  Have I really stayed here this long already?  In some instances yes, I can believe I’ve been here for 67 days and sometimes I can’t. 

I can because everything has fallen into a routine now.  School is in session (finally), midterms are coming up, and I understand the vibe and way of the city now.  I know where things are, I know what’s open during the siesta hours and what’s not, I have my favorite spot, I’ve made amazing friends, I know what food I like and what I don’t, and this place is starting to feel more like a home than just a vacation of sorts….

I am still going to school let’s not forget, so even though it may seem that I travel everywhere and have a lot of free time on my hands, that’s not necessarily the case…although I do find the school system here less stressful of that of America.  The only things we are graded on here are two tests.  A midterm and a final.  No homework assignments, no pop quizzes, NADA.  Which is good and bad.  Good because I do have more time to explore and do the things that I want to do, and bad because well let’s face it, you do bad on the test….you do bad in the class.  There are no cushion points to help you out in case you slip a little.  But to me I find the two tests a good match for me.  Homework is practice therefore, you shouldn’t be graded on it.  Those who try and practice with the homework will do well, while those that could give a hoot will do poorly.  And being a semi-nerd myself, I always do the homework anyways.  :)  I guess the midterm grades will ultimately determine whether this type of teaching fits me or not…let’s hope it does!!!!

Enough with school now.  I have to go to it tomorrow anyways so let’s not dwell on that fact for too long..

I also can’t believe it’s almost over because..well.. I just can’t!!  It’s kinda hard to explain, but even though I’ve been going to school now for over a month and I’ve been here for over 2 I still feel like I’m living a dream and I’m gonna wake up any second.  I look back on my little countdown calendar and think, “Crap that happened 4 weeks ago?!  Where the hell did the weeks in between go?”  My mind is a constant session of flashbacks to memories past.  I’ll sit down and think of when I first left, arriving in Madrid, the first few days with my mom, meeting the group, getting to Sevilla, first nerve racking days of insecurity, making friends, going to Portugal, school starting, random nights in Sevilla, adventures with friends, and so on.  And then I have flashbacks to the future if that’s even possible!  I see myself packing, leaving Sevilla, getting on the bus to Madrid, airport, tearful goodbyes, London, waiting impatiently, flying across the ocean staring out the window until I see the first sight of American land, landing, approaching the gate, walking through customs, running down the hallway into the awaiting arms of family, and tearful hellos. 

It’s clear to me now that I am clearly in the middle of my entire journey.  I’ve done so much, yet have a while to go.  Its crosses my mind a few times as to why I made the decision to only stay for a semester rather than an entire year.  Time has already gone by pretty fast and I feel like I could do sooo much more with another semester.  I know where everything is now, I know how everything functions, and I’m no longer afraid of this city.  In some regards I do wish I had signed up for the year, but I'm not sure if I would’ve liked it as much.  Leaving friends back home and having to make new ones is fun, but doing it twice can get old.  It’s fun to make new friends, but it is a bit challenging too when you’ve had the same friends since FOREVER.  (all ya’ll out there know who you are. :)  )  And it’s not like you become friends randomly..you are almost forced to be friends in a way because you have no one else.  Luckily all the people I’ve meet are simply amazing and I wouldn’t have met them if it wasn’t for this trip.  ALL IN ALL I’m am very thankful for the friends I’ve made here, so please don’t think I’m complaining.  I’m not sure if I described that well or not, but I suppose to really understand you will just have to live in another country for 4 months.  :)  haha!  It’s something only the select few will ever know.  :)  I'm not really sure if I would have enough classes to take here anyways seeing as how ill only have 2 Spanish classes left to take when I get back home, so honestly I don't know if I could have stayed for a year and gotten credit for it.  I think everything has worked out for the better and the way it was meant to be.      

To whoever hears me now, I await my return to the place I’m from, but anticipate a return to the place that changed my life. 

Tidbits of information that I find Interesting...

 9 more things about Spain??  Oh you know it!

19.  Spaniards can’t pronounce my name.

            I haven’t met every single Spanish person here, but out of the ones that I’ve met none have gotten my name exactly right.  I don’t mind to be honest.  It’s actually kinda cute. :)  And since I have a small obsession with everything Spain and or Spanish, I would actually rather have a Spanish name.  :)  Instead of pronouncing it with the normal 2 syllable pronunciation, Kath-Rin (And no I didn’t spell my name wrong..for those of you who haven’t noticed no one pronounces the E’s in my name.  You can, trust me, but it sounds like an over pronunciation to me…) the Spaniards here like to split it up into 3 syllables and also add a little Spanish flare to the pronunciation as well.  :)  Ka-Ter-Ing …well…it’s close I suppose.  After a few more tries at the correct pronunciation, I simply become Kati.  Not “KATIE” like in the states but more like, “Ka-TEE.”  I like it!  Haha!  Makes ordering food and introducing myself 92.34 times easier. 

      

20.  Red meat is almost non-existent here.

            Hamburger?  Steak?  Meatloaf?  Tacos?  Forget it.  I’m not really sure if they would know what those foods were if I was to ask where I could find something like that.  I’ve been craving a cow for like 2 weeks.  I don’t know how much longer I can last without some type of protein in my diet.  Yes they have pigs…ham and pork chops, which I guess can be considered red meat, but I hate pork chops..and one can only eat ham for so long.  I never eat ham at home.  Christmas and that’s it…ahh Christmas.. :)  Can’t tell if it’s arriving too fast or taking too long..but there’s another time and place for that blog.  :) 

21.  No one is ever on time.

            FINALLY A SOCIETY LIKE ME!!!  If you know me well at all you know I’m almost never on time.  I like to think I “cut it close”  but no I’m late.  I seem to think everything is only 5-7 minutes away.  I definitely know it’s not I just can’t seem to get out of the house or leave where ever I am until 5 min before I’m supposed to be somewhere else.  But here, this is just the skill you need.  :)  8:30 really means 9:15.  Meet up in 20?  Make that 38 minutes.  It’s fabulous.  I’m always where I need to be at just the right time.  :)  Even professors are late for class and it’s no big deal.  But class always ends on time!!  Definitely not addin those 15 min back on to the end of class! No way are you kidding me?!  I have finally found my place in this time run world.    

22.  Spaniards will talk about anything and everything for an extremely long amount of time.

            Oh goodness…I’m prolly turning into this as well, but no worries!  It’s not a bad thing, it’s just interesting.  One day at dinner we had a conversation about how my roommate eats more than me for literally 40 min.  I swear they found every possible sentence in the world to describe that situation.  And the conversation never strayed away from that subject.  1.  Eating habits can usually be described in about 5 sentences and   2. It’s not that interesting of a subject, but somehow it got turned into the longest topic of my life.  I’ve noticed everything gets repeated here.  It’s probably just because I’m so used to the short direct way people talk in the states.  State your business and get on with it.  I will probably talk for hours when I get home about random things as well.  You’ve been warned.  :)      

23.  Giving directions is literally giving someone directions.

            The directions here never consist of street names.  Either they just don’t exist or there are too many streets that no one really knows the street names anyways.  I vote for the first.  They don’t have street signs here either.  You have to be at either the beginning or end of a street to see the name of it.  Weird right?  Half the time I never know where I am, but I’m getting better.  For example, if you ask someone where the, “Torre de Oro” is they will automatically give you left, right, straight directions.  “Take this street till the small plaza, go left, go right on the third street down, the two more lefts, take another right at the restaurant, and the go all the way down and it’s on your right.  Very simple.  Very simple.”  Simple my ass.  I spend more time asking people for directions than I do actually walking to the place.  Oh Phoenix North/South, East/West streets, how I miss you…     

24.  Best shopping here ever.

            No wonder Europe is so fashion forward!!  They have so much to work with here!  There are so many cultures here that they all influence each other in one way or another.  Every one dresses up here and sometimes I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb.  It’s just sooo different!  No sweat pants and sweatshirt look here!  It’s boots, leggings, skirts, scarves, pea coat, rings, necklace, earrings, and either a beanie or fancy head wear, just to go to class.  Damn.  I’ve been adjusting my wardrobe since I’ve been here.  I LOVE IT.  This style makeover has made me love Europe even more.       

25.  There is no such thing as traffic tickets.

            I’m pretty sure that all these people would get tickets back in the States.  It’s ridiculous.  Not just for speeding but just the manner in which they drive too!  People are always honking at one another and cutting people off, parking ON the sidewalks when there’s no room left, driving in and out of crowds of people and doing it all with such class.  Some of the streets here are so small that when walking, I have to stop in a doorway to let the car go by.  There honestly isn’t enough room for ONE person and a car.  No wonder no one over here is fat!  You’d get run over by a car!  It’d be like a game…10 points if you send that guy flying! 

  

26.  No restaurant is open past 12.

            Gone are the days of Taco Bell at 4 A.M. or a Wendy’s chocolate frosty as a midnight snack.  Yes the clubs and the bars are definitely open then, but they don’t serve food!  Peanuts maybe, but nothing else!  The McDonalds over here closes at 11:30 P.M.  Lovely.  Don’t get the munchies here, you’ll be screwed.  Good thing I got my care package from home!  It’s been a life saver lately.  They just don’t snack here..it’s another foreign American concept.  lol

27.  Internet is gold.

            If you have internet in your house here, you are probably one out of 50 people.  Internet is just not something they need over here.  I DO.  How do these people survive without the internet??!  Do they know all of the magical things that the internet has to offer??  Free movies, illegal downloads, music, TV shows, FACEBOOK, email!!!!  I was honestly shocked to find out how many people had to go to café’s or bars to get some type of WIFI service!  I’m not saying the younger generation doesn’t have a connection to the internet, but the older ones here certainly do not!!  And guess what kind of house I live in…a very old generation.  Thank god for the USB Modem internet thing I have here!  Without it I would die.  A bit frustrating since I had to BUY my own internet and it’s kinda slow, but hey..at this point I’ll take anything.  Plus without the internet none of you would enjoy my lovely Spain experience.  :)

49 days down… 63 more too go.   Eeekk!!  Almost half and half!  Damn..time flies

Jerez de la Fronterra

This little town is quite historic in the history of Spain!  Who knew right?  The original sherry was produced there by the Arabs in the waaayy olden days and it’s the main exporter of “Tio Pepe” wine and “Lepanto” brandy. (The most exclusive brandy in Spain. :) Be jealous.)  It’s kinda like that rule with champagne.  If it’s not from Champagne, France it can’t be called Champagne.  Same goes for Sherry!  Can’t be called Sherry unless it’s from Jerez, Spain!  Never knew that.  Apparently other countries make sherry as well but they have to call it something like, “Sherry from Portugal” can’t just call it “sherry”.  It’s a cute little down that once again makes me feel like I’m stepping back in time. 

After a night of staying out way to late and getting up way too early, a group of us met at the train station in Sevilla and took the hour train ride to Jerez.  Apparently the scenery was lovely, but I slept all the way there.  I didn’t think it was very exciting since I had seen it all before when my mom, Barb, and I went to Cadiz.  (Jerez de la Frontera is in the middle of Sevilla and Cadiz..just an fyi).  After the train ride we met up and headed towards our destination, Gonzalez-Byass winery. 

I’ve never been on a wine tour before, since I’ve never been old enough in the States and I’ve also never liked the smell or taste of wine for that matter.  Until now those two reasons had been enough to keep me away from wine tours, but seeing as how I’m in Spain and actually able to enjoy a wine tour I decided to go.  :)  We learned all about the Tio Pepe wine brand, how it’s made, all its history, and all the different wines they offer.  We also learned about the brandy and sherry they make right there in their little distillery.  Some of the bottles they have there don’t even start selling until they’ve aged for 15 years!!  That’s a hell of a long time to wait for a drink!  I never realized all the work that goes into making something like wine and other alcohol things.  And they STILL don’t smell or taste any better!  Either some things wrong with me or people just pretend to love this stuff.  I think I’m the only sane person who sees the huge scheme here.  1.  Pay way too much for a tiny ass bottle of wine, brandy, or sherry.  2.  Drink it as fast as you can because sipping would take hours.  And lastly  3. Pay for it dearly in the morning. 

After the tour of the winery we went to the tasting.  Needless to say I didn’t like the wine.  (Surprise surprise) and wasn’t able to finish either of my glasses.  It’s a shame really because I really wanted to like Spanish wine!  I think I romanticized the idea of the wine being SOOO great just like the Spanish culture, but unfortunately my taste buds refuse to change.  I took about 2 sips from each glass and declared myself done for the day.  I don’t know if I’ll ever appreciate the taste of wine, but it’s definitely not something high on the top of my “to-do” list.  After the tasting was over we ate a very late lunch and then headed back to Sevilla.

       

Regardless of my upsetting dismissal of Spanish wine, I had a great time.  :)  I loved walking around the city, touring the winery, and spending a day with my friends.  Can’t wait to go on another adventure in this amazing country.  Man, I don’t know if I’ll ever come back.  I could keep living this travel life style for the rest of my life.  :)  

My life. In Fragments.

For this blog I’ve decided to do small stories from my daily experiences in Spain.  Almost like a chapter book if you will.  These random occurrences have no real stories behind them, but they are experiences none the less that I will not forget.  Too short for a blog all by themselves, a combo blog of my life will be compiled here.  :)    

Chicken…meat?

So our host mom makes us breakfast, lunch, and dinner every single day of every single week.  Nice right?  She’s a pretty good cook and I always eat everything on my plate, usually.  Lettuce and other greens sometimes get pushed to the side, but who eats their veggies anyways?  Wednesday my afternoon class got canceled so I was able to go home for lunch instead of eating my bocadillo (sandwich) at school.  I get called to come to the table for food and sit down to a rice plate with some dark meat mixed within.  I ask what it is and my host mom says that it’s chicken.  Huh..I’ve always been a personal fan of the white meat chicken, but I wasn’t sure if maybe this was some kind of dark meat.  I’ll tell you right now it didn’t LOOK like chicken, but then again I trusted her word.  I place a piece of the “chicken” on my spoon accommodated by a large helping of rice just in case.  It doesn’t really have much of a taste, but its texture is something different.  It was super soft and pretty much melted in my mouth.  Confused by the way chicken usually tastes and feels in my mouth I decided to ask again…the conversation is as follows…

            Me: “Amparo, you said this was chicken right?”

                        Amparo: “Yes, it’s chicken.”

            Me: “Huh.”

                        Amparo: “Why do you not like it?”

            Me: “Not really.”

                        Amparo: “Well it’s chicken heart and liver meat in there.”

Me:    …………..…………………(Up-chuck) (Swallow quickly) (Chug glass of water)

Needless to say, I didn’t eat the “chicken” on my plate.  My rice would serve me well enough.  Amparo wasn’t upset at my dislike of heart and liver, but she was very surprised that I didn’t like it.  She continued to tell me that the people here love it.  Especially the kids.  And that it’s very healthy for you.  Healthy as it may be, I’m not eating a thump thump.  There’s blood that runs through those organs when the boc boc is alive.  I know it’s prolly the same as the muscle of the chicken that we eat, but no…no it’s different.  I don’t care what people say. 

*Note to self…if it doesn’t look like chicken, it’s not chicken.* 

You know you’ve been in Europe too long when…

As we all know the longer you do something, the more you hear a sound, or the more you see an object the more accustomed to that “something” you become.  The sound of a city, the sound of an air conditioner turning on at night, the bright sun of AZ, all these daily activities sometimes go unnoticed the more we live in a place.  They become part of our surroundings and we don’t even acknowledge them anymore. 

Here in Sevilla, a much bigger city than that of Phoenix and Tempe combined, it took me a while to get used to the lay of the land, all the cars, all the people, animals, and movement of this city.  Now a days, however, I feel very accustomed to all those things.  Too accustomed sometimes.    

As Jesse and I were walking to one of our classes one day, we came to one of the many usual intersections where we must cross to get to the university.  Although the light for pedestrians was green, at least I think…I don’t even remember..no one pays attention to those things out here.  Anyways, I began to cross the street talking away as Jess and I usually do on our way to school.  I cross the street only to realize some feet later that Jess is not with me.  She’s close, but a bit behind. 

            Me: “What happened?  Why didn’t you cross with me?”

Jess: “You didn’t see that huge horse coming towards us in the middle of the road?!”

            Me: “……………….There was a horse?”

Jess: “Ay, Chica! Yes! And a carriage! It was like right in front of us!”

            Me: “Oh…ya I definitely didn’t see that.”

And I honestly did not see any horse what so ever!  Even after she told me I tried to look for the horse in the street, but couldn’t find it.  She probably made it up…Either way I’ve come to the conclusion that when you start to ignore giant animals in your immediate pathway, you know you’ve been living in Europe for too long. 

Rain!!! Ish…

We had the first real rain day today here in Sevilla!!!  For like 5 minutes.  Yes, it appears that Sevilla and Phoenix have more in common than I thought.  They both have amazing weather, hot all the time, never many clouds, lots of tan people, lots of cars, college kids, and the same concept of rain. 

Today it’s been pretty overcast and cloudy, only like 77 today..buuurr!  But since it hasn’t rained here yet since I’ve been here, I wasn’t gonna let a cloudy day ruin my plans.  I was walking around the city finding new little shops and new ice cream places (yum) and saving their locations in my handy dandy GPS.  No more paper and pencil for me!  I’m all about the new technology. :)  Just as I was about to cross one of the bridges over the river into the city of Sevilla tiny rain drops started to fall.  A slight sprinkle at first, so I decided to keep walking.  10 seconds later, a bit faster…10 more seconds brought bigger drops, and then within that 30 second time period it was raining really hard!  Of course I would happen to be in the middle of the street heading towards the bridge with no building next to me and no tree either.  Perfect.  I along with 20 other people in the street begin to run towards any building or form of shelter that we can find.  I manage to find a doorway no one has claimed yet and decide to stay there til it stops.  It stops.  Really?  40 seconds?  That’s all you got?  Fine by me.  The rain ceases people return to the streets and life resumes as normal. 

Since a little rain will not stop my plans, I continue like all the others with my walking…in sandals with almost no grip left to them.  I was just asking for a death wish right there.  The sidewalks here aren’t just concrete or asphalt, they are very lovely, decorated, SMOOTH tiles.  Awwweeeeesommmee…I saw my life flash before my eyes at least 10 times.  Too big of a step would send me flying, so I had to take tiny baby steps to keep from falling.  I must have looked like someone who hasn’t walked in a while or a very very drunk person.  And as my luck would have it I am out walking around 4:30.  Right after lunch so all the outside cafés are filled with people.  Cool.  And as we all know people in Europe LOOOOVE to people watch.  Well they definitely got a show out of me…walk, walk, walk, walk, sliiiiip, walk, walk, walk, stumble, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, sliiiide, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, trip on uneven part, walk, walk, walk..Repeat. 

I didn’t fall though!!  Some pretty close calls, but I held my own. :)  Luckily it hasn’t rained since.  The sun is brightly shining now and the weather is perfect.  Sevilla could definitely work for me as my new AZ.

What the heck was that?  

Since I have been here in Spain I can honestly and truly say that I have been speaking more Spanish than ever.  More Spanish than English perhaps.  Every now and then when a situation gets too hard to explain or we don’t want our host parents to hear what we say, Jess and I will slip back into our English.  But only for a moment.  :)  This switching of the languages can sometimes mess with one’s mind without warning. 

I was talking to Jesse about some poetry book I was supposed to read and how I hate poetry in general.  It’s not that I can’t understand the words, vocab is not my issue, my issue is the meaning of all the words.  (How they hell is a bird supposed to represent the child this poet never had?  What if he just wanted to write about a bird?  Anyone ever think of that possibility?  Maybe we are making this guy out to be something way more than he really was.  But according to my teacher, my theory is incorrect.  I don’t know about that.  Maybe we should ask the poet himself.  Oh he’s not alive anymore?  Well that’s just peachy.)

Anyways…this one poet uses some French words as well as Spanish ones.  And worst of all, he combines them, kinda like Spanglish but more like Frenish.  Well that’s not cool because I don’t have a French dictionary lyin around!  Annoying.  But again this story occurs within a conversation so I must place the conversation in this story.  Mind you the convo was in Spanish and therefore makes it even funnier, and you should try and read it.  Trust me you’ll find the weird part, but I’ll put the English version below it so everyone can understand. :)

Me: “No me gusta la poesía.  No es que no entiendo las palabras pero algunas son palabras franceses.  ¡Y claro no entiendo estas palabras!  ¡No hablo francés!  Necesito un diccionario de español y francés…o esshomting like dat.”  

                        I don’t like poetry.  It’s not that I don’t get the words, but some of them are French words!  And duh I don’t understand those ones!  I don’t speak French!  I need a French-Spanish dictionary…(very poorly pronounced English words) or something like that.” 

The worst part was I didn’t even realize I had switched into English for that last part of my sentence.  My language changed, but not my pronunciation!  I straight up sounded like some of our study abroad directors.

The same thing happened a few days later with another convo I was having in Spanish when my brain decided to switch to English without the pronunciation piece.  Unfortunately I don’t remember the conversation well enough to write it down like the other one, but I will say I was talking with Jess again and the word I wanted to say was “whatever.”  “Lo que sea” in Spanish yet I said something close to this.. “o whaaeverrrr.”  Yep.  That’s definitely not Spanish or English for that matter.

Looks like I’m destined to have a Spanish accent for the rest of my life.  FREAKIN AWESOME!

And so ends these chapter stories.  I know many more have happened and many more will come.  I just have to write them down after they happen so I can elaborate on them later.  :)  Oh October, it’s only the 7^th and already you’ve given me some awesome stories/unforgettable memories.                 

Ronda y Málaga

So I know this is a few days late since my excursion to Ronda and Málaga, but better late than never right?  Lately my “to-do” list has been getting ever longer and with my newly found Spanish attitude of “just do it later,” things just pile up without me noticing it.  Jess and I have a list for all the things we hope to accomplish on Monday.  11 things to be exact.  I predict 5 will get done.  Aside from that random fact of life and my excuse for not having this blog up earlier, Ronda and Málaga were two amazing places.

Friday morning we left with our ISA group from Sevilla to Ronda.  It was only like an hour and a half bus ride, but the scenery and vibe of the town is completely different.  Ronda is built within series of cliffs that drop forever.  I’m not kidding, you could take a wrong step off one of those cliffs and be falling for 5 minutes before you’d hit the ground!  But despite that constant danger, Ronda is an amazing city.  Its views are amazing and seeing birds fly BELOW you is an absolutely amazing feeling.  It really is a city in the sky. 

One of the most important sites in Ronda is “El Puente Nuevo” or “New Bridge” in English.  New bridge?  Well what happened to the old one?  Weellll…it collapsed.  I guess Roman infrastructure back then wasn’t meant to last forever.  So they rebuilt the bridge in the 18^th century and it’s been there ever since.  I’m still constantly amazed at the fact that people were able to build such elaborate and elegant structures without the help of modern day technology.  Can’t imagine how many lives were lost in that process, but maybe that’s what makes this bridge such an amazing thing.  The amount of effort that it took to make something like this will never be matched in today’s society. 

After a quick tour of the city a group of us decided to hike down the ravine to get a better look at the city from below…Now any of you who know me know that I HATE hiking. HAAAAAATE hiking..with a passion.  But, then I thought to myself, “When am I ever gonna have a chance to hike down the city of Ronda again?”  So needless to say, I sucked it up like a big girl and went waay down.  AND I didn’t even complain!!  (I know, MIRACLE) But I suppose I didn’t want people to hate me on the way back up in case I needed some help.  Although I dislike hiking and would have preferred to take a lift up and down the ravine, the view was really cool.  We even found a little waterfall place which ended up being perfect for pictures. :)  The way back up was harder than the way back down, but I considered it my exercise for the day.  With only a short while left in Ronda the group wondered around and went window shopping. 

It was a short trip in Ronda, but from there Jesse and I split from the group and went to take a bus to Málaga.  We went to the window to by our bus ticket at the bus station, but seeing as how it was 3:15 PM the office was closed for the siesta.  *Sigh* Fortunately, the bus we wanted didn’t leave till 4 so we figured we had some time.  Around 3:40 or so a lady comes to the bus window, we buy our tickets for the “Los Amarillos” bus, and head out of the office to find our ride.  This last step, however, is easier said than done. 

On our ticket it said we were to take bus number 1.  Simple enough right?  We walk down the isle of buses to look for number 1 until we realize that none of the buses have numbers on them.  Cool.  We then look up and see that the parking spaces where the buses are DO have numbers on them…ooookay. :)  That makes sense now.  So we walk down to number one and wait for the doors to be open.  At 3:53 we start to worry a little bit since the bus driver hasn’t even opened the doors yet and no one else seems to be waiting with us.  I go and ask the bus driver where the bus to Málaga is and he tells us it should be in spot 5 or 6.  Soooo we walk back down to 5 and 6 only to find out that no, those buses aren’t going to Málaga either.  At this point I am convinced we bought tickets for an imaginary bus going to an imaginary town until finally way out in the distance I see a bus that says, “Los Amarillo.”  This bus isn’t even in the bus parking lot!  It’s just chillin on the side of some street with a line of people coming from it.  We hurry over to that bus and sure enough it’s the one we want.  After about another hour and a half we finally arrive in Málaga.

Málaga is located on the coast of Spain and has amazing beaches.  When we arrived in Málaga our first mission became to find the hostel in which we were staying.  I’ve never stayed in a hostel before and therefore really didn’t know what to expect.  We wandered around for a good while before finally asking someone where it was, but we did find it eventually.  We went out to a nice little Italian restaurant and then went to bed since we were worn out from our long day of travel.  We started the next morning early since we wanted to spend all day going around Málaga. 

First thing on the agenda, Picasso museum.  Picasso was born in Málaga, but left when he was 19 and never returned.  :(  He went to Italy to learn art and decided he liked it better than here, which I found very hard to believe.  This museum was amazing.  I’ve never really looked at any of Picasso’s art work before, but I did know he was one for abstract art of interesting forms.  How he was able to think and paint the way he did I will never know.  The lines and the shapes he used to create his artwork were amazing.  I could never make a triangle do half of the things he did.  He would make portraits of people simply out of triangles.  How he was able to envision all that blows my mind.  Aside from the fact that we know him as a very abstract artist, he also had some works of art there that looked, well, “normal” if you will.  Some paintings had normal looking people like a photograph, yet next to it would be the “typical” Picasso with a nose on the head and the ears where the mouth is supposed to be.  Seeing these two COMLETELY different styles next to each other impressed me even more.  It was like he had a switch or something in his mind that he could turn on and off whenever he wanted.  Wish I had that ability!!  And what’s even better is that he didn’t just paint and draw things he sculpted things too!  Is there anything this guy couldn’t do??  His sculptures were more on the abstract side, but they were so interesting.  He would make pots and bowls and then paint on them random pictures that somehow completed the piece.  He also hand made little figurines of people and animals that showed off his whimsical side.  I really enjoyed this museum and feel I got the chance to see not only some of Picasso’s famous pieces, but also the lesser known ones that are just as impressive.  Thank you Picasso for opening my mind to the impossible.  I will never look at a piece of fruit in the same way again. :) 

Once we finished the Picasso museum we went shopping in Plaza Mayor and I bought some suuuper cute jeans. Lol  Spain has the best clothes I swear.  I’m not gonna be able to shop in America when I come back.  And finally we hit the beach, of course.  :)  We went to Playa de la Misericordia.  It’s a small beach, but also one of the less touristy beaches in Málaga.  Only the locals go there (or so our host mom told us).  Either way I got to forget about the world for 5 hours and just lie there.  The sun on my face, wind on my body, and the sound of ocean waves in my ear made me realize how lucky I am to be where I am.  I feel as though this experience has given me a chance to start over.  New friends, new places, and best of all new experiences.  I could have stayed there forever, if only I didn’t miss my friends, family, and life back in AZ.  Arizona does hold a special place in my heart, but I don’t think it will be the last place I ever live.  Spain just keeps gettin better and better every day. 

Unfortunately, reality has to hit at some point and we had to get up and leave for the train station to catch our train back to Sevilla.  We arrived back in Sevilla around 11 PM and headed for home.  (It’s funny how we refer to Pelay Correa 16 as our home now, but for the next 3 months I suppose it’s the closest thing we have)…

I could get used to traveling around Spain.  It truly is an amazing country.  So many different atmospheres separated by only a few hours.  Can’t wait to experience some more.  :)

Cádiz, Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Ronda, Málaga…check.

Barcelona, Valencia, Córdoba, Granada…you’re  next.