Sevilla & Morocco, November 1-4

I'm finally going to write my post about Morocco! I'm only about a month behind! :P Hopefully I'll be able to catch up, if not I'll just have to write the rest when I get back to the states.

But first, I want to take a moment to talk about my study abroad experience. I know it's not exactly over yet but I feel like I've already learned so much. And by learned I don't mean classroom learning, I mean life learning. If I'm taking away one thing from this trip it's gratefulness. I'm so grateful for the amazing people I have in my life that support me and encourage me to do my own thing, to figure out what it is that I want in life, even though I change my mind all the time they've never been discouraging. I'm grateful that those people love me for me. I know I'm not perfect by any means, but I'm growing and changing and trying to become a better person, the person I want to be. I'm grateful that I have the things I have. Living in Spain where the young population has an unemployment rate of 50%, going on these trips and seeing the things I've seen, the ways of life I have seen, all of it just makes me so glad for the life that I have. And finally, among other things, of course, I'm grateful that I live in the United States, where we have endless opportunities to better our lives. There's no other place like it on Earth. This has been an eye-opening experience and for that I feel blessed.

So now I'm going to talk about my trip to Morocco, which was the most influential trip I've had. Of course, going into it we knew that it was a third-world country and that the poverty would be high, but there's nothing like seeing that first-hand. It was a beautiful country from what I saw and of course it had its good qualities, but I can't imagine living a life like that. It just seems so... behind. That's the best word I can think of. 

So we left Salamanca on Thursday because we had what they call a puente (it means bridge), where Thursday is the actual holiday but they give us Friday off as well. We got on a bus to take us to Sevilla, where we were supposed to meet the program that was taking us to Morocco on Friday. The bus ride was I think 6 hours long, which wasn't too bad. We spend Thursday night in Sevilla, which is a beautiful city. I wouldn't mind going back sometime to see more of the city. We only got to see a few things while we were there. BUT! I DID get a chai tea latte from Starbucks for the first time since I've been here! I was so happy! Thursday night we kind of wandered around the city and met up with a friend of Amanda's for dinner. We ended up getting Burger King because we had picked up some coupons at the bus station. It actually was super delicious and we had a great evening. Friday we leisurely got up and checked out of the hostel then walked around a different part of the city. We had promised Brittany the day before that we would go to KFC because she missed fried chicken so much, plus we had coupons for there too, so it worked our perfectly. I was SO HAPPY to eat some mashed potatoes! Delish!

We had to be at the meeting point at 4:30 I think, so we took a taxi from our hostel. From there we got on a bus with our group (DiscoverSeville) and headed to the border! The drive from Sevilla to the port was about 3 hours long, but our tour guide was hilarious. I wish I would have taken a picture of him, he reminded me so much of Russel Brand. The picture on the bottom left is our ferry... in the pouring rain. It was HUGE. It carried our two buses across with is. :) We got there kind of late, I think around 9, and it was a 30 minute bus ride to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel we went straight to dinner, where we had cous cous! It was so yummy, but so filling! It's in the collage below this one.

The next day we got up and got on a bus that took us to the Cave of Hercules and camel riding, and then eventually to the city of Assilah. They split the group up for the morning, so my group went to the Cave first, then to camel riding. I'm not really sure what the big deal is about the Cave of Hercules because it was pretty small and insignificant feeling to me, but I think Hercules supposedly prepared in the cave before one of his trials. Something like that. Anyway, it had a pretty view of the ocean! (top right picture) After that we switched and we got to ride camels! I was a little disappointed because I was expecting to get to really ride the camels, but instead we got to get on them, be led around in a circle, then we had to get off. Still, it was an experience! Every time you get on/off the camel they have to lay down, like the baby one is laying in the picture on the top left (yes, that is a baby. or maybe a teen). It was a pretty cool feeling when the camels got up, and a little bit scary! Gotta hold on tight!

Then we all left and headed to the city of Assilah and we ate on the way. The bottom two pictures on the left are from our lunch Saturday. The picture on the left is of their version of "salad." It was a community serving style plate that had lettuce, cucumber, carrots, boiled eggs, potatoes, radishes  and I think cabbage. I really enjoyed the boiled eggs, potatoes, and the carrots. But you know what I really enjoyed? The main course! Hoooly moly, it was the most delicious thing I've eaten since I left the States. I'm not even kidding. It was a chicken breast/wing covered in french fries,but the chicken was soaked in the most delicious cooking sauce ohh my goodness, it's making my mouth water just thinking about it. It was really close to what we eat in the US with such rich flavors. Then you soaked the french fries in the sauce, too. My lord, I miss the food back home! The pictures that are inside a building are pictures from the inside of the restaurant. It was beautiful and in the middle of nowhere.

Then we continued our journey and arrived in Assilah. I'm not sure why they chose this city to spend 3 hours in because there was nothing to do, but it was kind of enjoyable to just relax a little bit. We were supposed to be "bargaining," but there wasn't much that caught my eye so I only bought a couple of things. The one thing I found really amazing was the woman in the first collage who was painting with her toes. Yeah, it was amazing. She had a couple of pictures that I really liked but another girl bought them before I could, so I asked her (in Spanish-basically everyone there spoke at least Spanish, and most also spoke English) if she could make me another one like that and how long it would take. She told me 30 minutes. In the picture, she's working on my painting and you can see the finished result in the second collage. Amazing right? And only for 5 euro. After Assilah we headed back to the hotel, where we ate dinner and spent the rest of the evening. One does not "go out" at night in Morocco. Number one it's not safe and number two I didn't even see any nightlife at all while we were there. Anyway, that night was also karaoke night for our group in the hotel bar/lounge! What entertainment, especially because it was Brittany's birthday and our guide knew it. She got called up to sing with him and basically had no choice. :P

The next day we had to check out and load up onto the bus by 8ish. That day we went to a city I don't remember the name of and saw a palace there. Prime example of why women don't go to Morocco alone: as we were walking through the city (as a group, mind you) this man kept talking to us saying things (in Spanish) like, "Ooh pretty girls, I like white girls. Do you want to come spend time with me?" Yeah, it was gross and creepy. I'm probably never going back to Morocco, not going to lie. Anyway, after the tour we got back on the buses and headed to Chefchaouen, famous as the "blue city." It was a pretty long drive, I think like 3 hours, but the views along the way were gorgeous. We stopped for a potty break about 2/3 of the way there and the place we stopped was gorgeous. The picture of me and the picture above it are pictures of the lake that was at that place. Isn't it lovely? It was so calm, I loved it.


Anyway, then we arrived in the city and did some crazy navigating (there is absolutely no organization to this city) to find our restaurant, "Aladdín." It was a good meal, not as good as the day before mind you, but the views of the city from the top of the restaurant were amazing. The picture on the bottom right is one taken from the top of the restaurant. Chefchaouen was one of the major refuges for Jewish and Moorish people trying to escape the Reconquista (718-1492) in Spain/Portugal. The rumor is that the city is painted blue because they believed it kept the flies away, but I'm not so sure about that. The blue parts are the Jewish parts and the white parts are the Arabic parts. The Jews painted it blue because of some religious purposes, but I'm not exactly sure why. Something I read said that they used to put a blue thread in their prayer shawl to make them think of the blue sky above and hence God in the Heavens, so they painted the city blue. I don't know, doesn't make much sense to me, but then again neither do most other religious things.

We were supposed to have an hour long tour of the city by a local, but since we arrived late to lunch he just took us to see/walk along the river. The river comes straight out of a mountain and the people certainly use it. The picture on the bottom left is of what I call a "laundry station," where the river water flows in and out for women to do the laundry.  The other pictures are from after the river/walking through the city to the main plaza to do more bargaining. Since we were behind schedule we only had like 15 minutes to do all the shopping we wanted to do, and if you know anything about bargaining you know it's not exactly a rapid process. Luckily I was able to get everything I wanted for the prices I wanted because I was literally having to walk away in order to be at the meeting point on time so they were much more willing to negotiate rather than lose a sale. Anyway, after Chefchaouen we headed to the port to take the ferry back across. We got to Seville around 1:30 am then we still had our bus ride back to Salamanca. We ended up getting back home at 8 am and still went to classes. We're simply that committed. ;)

So basically, I had a lot of fun on my trip to Morocco, but I think I'm going to credit it more to the company I was with rather than the country itself. I'm going to miss these girls like crazy, I can't believe our time together is almost over. Today is day 15 until I come home. It's almost hard to believe. But not really, because I'm ready to come home. So yeah, Morocco. Will I ever go back? No, almost 100% positive that I will not. But am I glad that I went? Definitely. It was such a nice trip because it wasn't rushed like other trips where there are so many things to do and see that you end up exhausted and hardly even enjoying yourself. This trip was relaxing (minus the constant concern for your safety/money) and it was nice to be more "in tune" with nature, but I prefer my cities to be hygienic and the water safe (more or less) to drink. I feel lucky because everyone else who went got sick from something but I didn't... unless I have some parasite hidden just waiting to be discovered. I'm going to hope I just got lucky.

Anywho, I think that's basically all I have to say about Morocco! I'll see you guys next time! (whenever that may be! ;P)

"Paris is always a good idea."

Audrey Hepburn said that. I most certainly didn't. Although I will say that fall is a great time to visit the city of love!

So I'm going to start by saying I'm so sorry that this post has taken 4 weeks to write! What kind of blogger does that?! Welll I'm going to say a blogger that's a student! The past month has been super busy, or so it seems. Hopefully from now on I'll be able to keep up with things a little better now that midterms and such are out of the way!

I'm also going to warn you ahead of time that there are a lot of pictures crammed into these little collages, so if you want to see the rest of the pictures or just to see the ones here full sized they can be found on my facebook! I wish I would have written this blog sooner simply because I've kind of forgotten the little details, but I'm going to share with you at least those things that I remember!

Day 1- Thursday October 18: Getting there-
There's an airport in Salamanca but since it's such a small airport it's expensive to fly out of, so instead we took a bus to the Madrid airport, which takes about 2.5 hours. If you're flying internationally, you have to arrive at the airport 3 hours ahead of time in order to be sure you get through security and such on time. I feel like that's forever ahead of time, but hey, I guess it's nice to be sure you don't miss your flight! We arrived at our hotel kind of late, around 9 I think, so the first thing we did was seek food. We ended up eating at a Chinese food restaurant right across the street from our hotel. Yeah, our first meal in France was Chinese haha, but it was delicious! I personally stayed in the hotel that night because traveling exhausts me.

Day 2- Friday: Bus tour and free time-
Friday we met up in the lobby in the morning around 9 to go on a bus tour of the city. I'm really glad API provided us with this tour because honestly, Paris has so much to do and to see that it's basically impossible to see it all just by walking. Well, it's possible, but it's no fun. Besides, a lot of the things you just want to see, you don't actually want to visit. Hence, the bus tour was the perfect option. Some of these pictures you can tell I took from my seat on the bus, but hey, can't help reflections!



During the bus tour they stopped at  L'Hôtel national des Invalides, which is the building with the gold dome. The building was originally started in 1670 by King Louis XIV for wounded soldiers and veterans. Now it's used as a military museum while also still serving its original purpose. I would have like to have gone there if only to see Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb, but there wasn't enough time.

The bus also stopped so we could take the pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower that you see here. It was fun to get to take silly pictures with my friends, like the one where I'm leaning on the tower or where we're touching the tip of it. I didn't have time to do that last time I was in Paris. We didn't get to go down to the tower at this point in time, but we had free time that we could use to go. Unfortunately, and this is the one thing I'm really bummed I missed, I didn't get to be under/in front of the tower during twinkle time! :( Luckily I've been before so I have seen it at some point in my life, but it was still a bummer to not get to be there with my friends. That's a different story though, we'll get to that later.

 The bus dropped us off at Notre Dame, so we went in and took pictures there, then promptly began the hunt for food. A lot of us were just looking for something cheap like McDonalds, but when we asked around there wasn't a McDonalds nearby. Bummer. However, we walked across the street and voila! there was a Subway! Yes, the sandwich place! I haven't seen one in Spain so far, so I was super thrilled to get a turkey sandwich, which is something I haven't had since I left the states (crazy, I know).

Anyway, after that we went back to the hotel because Ginny's feet were dying and a few people needed to charge their camera batteries. Later that night we went to the Louvre because after 6 pm it's free for people under the age of 26. Yay! I love it when things are free! So I had intended to be there from the time it was free to the time that it closed (10pm) but I had seen everything I wanted to see by the time 8 rolled around, and my feet were ready for some rest. I was honestly a little bit disappointed in the Louvre. I mean don't get me wrong, I loved getting to see works by Jacques Louis David (one of my favorite artists), but like I said, I feel like I saw all there was to see within two hours. I was honestly not that impressed; I was bored. So I left with a couple of girls from our group and we set out to find dinner. They also wanted to make it to the Eiffel Tower by twinkle time, so we figured we would walk towards the tower and find dinner on the way. Welp, I neither got to eat dinner that night nor did we make it to the tower. Instead, we got lost and spent an hour and a half walking in the biggest circle. We LITERALLY ended up exactly where we left off. Then we had to walk home! It was a miserable, miserable evening for me, and I ended up back at the hotel with swollen toes and no dinner. By that point, I had determined that I hated Paris and that I was never going back, ever. This was the night that my friends ended up drinking wine under the Eiffel Tower while I was stuck in the hotel room. Like I said, I was really sad that I didn't get to experience that with them. After that experience, I figured the rest of my time in Paris wouldn't be all that great, but thanks to some good friends I had a wonderful time Saturday evening and Sunday.

Saturday: Garnier Opera House tour and free time-

We met around 9 in the lobby on Saturday to get on the metro and go to the Opera House. Paris actually has two opera houses, one is more modern and one more traditional. The one we went to was the more traditional, and where they do mostly ballets. I think they said 75% of the time they do ballets, and at the other opera house it's the opposite. This is the opera house where the Phantom of the Opera took place. In the picture you can see the door of Box 5! Supposedly it's a true story, but the author took his liberties with the book and added a few things. For example, the chandelier never fell- what did fall, however, was a counterweight. Haha, huge difference there! Anyway, it was a really pretty building to see! I don't have many pictures here but on my FB you can find more, plus the pictures of the mosaics I'm about to tell you about! So this Opera house was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III after there was an attempt on his life at the other. The emperor held a competition in 1861, and Charles Garnier won, hence Garnier Opera House. Unfortunately, during the construction the Franco-Prussian war started, which put a halt to both the funds and the construction of the building. After the war, the budget was minimal, but Garnier still managed to make the building beautiful. What amazed me the most were the mosaics everywhere. Every step you took (outside of the theater itself) was done in mosaic tiles. Well, for those of you who don't know, mosaics are NOT cheap, so how did Garnier afford it? At this time in France there was nobody who knew how to do mosaics well, so he hired an Italian artist to do it. See, details like these are why I wish I would have written this sooner! I think it was going to cost him like 3000 bucks (not sure on the price) to do a part of the ceiling, but he made a deal with the artist saying that he would advertise his works and such, so he got it for really really cheap. Meanwhile, Garnier brought in local art students to study how the artist did the mosaics, then got the students to do all of the floors for basically nothing! Smart man! Anyway, the opera house was beautiful and I would LOVE to go back one day to actually see an opera (hint hint future husband).

Anyway, then we left the opera house and went back to the hotel to relax. We were all tired and wanted a break, soo we went and took 3 hour long naps! It was really a great decision. :) That evening Danielle, Ginny, and I went out looking for dinner in the Latin Quarter. Just FYI if you ever go to Paris go to the Latin Quarter for food. It was the area where students lived and hung out, and it has kept it's student prices (mostly). ;) It's close to Notre Dame and easily accessible by metro. We found this place that had a three course dinner for 10 euros and we decided to sit outside and eat on the patio. I started off with legitimate French onion soup. O.M.G. it was TO DIE FOR. I don't even like onions, but this soup was so delicious my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it. Then I had steak and some potatoes (as close to the good ol' US of A that I've had so far!) which was good, and for dessert I had ice cream! It was such a good dinner. A couple came and sat at the table next to us and asked Danielle if she could take a picture. Turns out it was a couple from the US on their honeymoon! They were so nice, and their story was so cute! I loved getting to talk to them, I miss Americans! After dinner we just walked around Paris. We were trying to make it to a coffee shop that a friend of mine recommended, but by the time we got there it was too late. It was also raining so poor Ginny's feet were freezing so we decided to go back to the hotel and drink champagne and just hang out just us girls. It was such a good night, the way nights in Paris should be spent. I hope you can see some of the pictures that despite the rain, Paris at night was somewhat magical.

Sunday: Time to check out!-

So Sunday we had to be checked out of the room by 11, but we didn't have to meet back at the hotel to catch the bus until 6 so the hotel let us leave our stuff in a room there. Danielle, Ginny, and I decided to go the the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery. It was literally right up the road from our hotel, and it was a pleasant walk on the sunny day. Those of you who know me know that I absolutely hate cemeteries and funerals and all things related to that kind of stuff. They just make me uneasy, uncomfortable, unhappy, all of the above. This cemetery, however, was probably my favorite part of the trip. Not because I got to see the graves of famous people (I mean, sorry, but they're already dead, not that exciting) but because of the beautiful day. This cemetery was decorated by the colors of fall that we don't have here in Salamanca (there aren't really trees around here) combined with the warm autumn sun. It was just so serene and warm, like a hug. I really loved it. Anyway, while we were there we saw the graves of Oscar Wilde (the writer), Frederic Chopin (the pianist), Jim Morrison (the American singer), and a few others that I didn't really know.

After that we were on a mission to make it to that coffee shop we had missed out on the night before, and afterwards to a famous ice cream shop. I didn't get any coffee because I don't like coffee, but I sure as heck got some ice cream! I got fig on the top and gingerbread on the bottom. The fig actually was not tasty at all, but the gingerbread? Holy moly, I was in heaven. It even had chunks of actual gingerbread in it. It just made me so happy. Then we got on the metro to take us to the Arc de Triomphe/Champs-Élysées. It was funny because on our bus tour the woman told us that the Arc was commissioned by Napoleon I after he beat Russia... If you know French history, you know that Russia was actually the reason Napoleon failed! The Arc was actually commissioned after his victory at Austerlitz. It was kind of comical to this history nerd. :P Unfortunately we didn't have time to actually walk down the avenue but we did get to eat at the McDonald's there! Haha, I got a McBaguette! It was so good! Basically, French food is so delicious, even if it is just McDonald's. We had to scarf down our food and get back on the metro in order to make it back to the hotel in time, and we made it RIGHT ON TIME.

Overall, I had a great time in Paris. The day we walked in a circle will be one that I will forever try to block out of my memory, but otherwise it was an amazing trip with great friends. I'll always remember my time spent with these girls, and I'm going to miss them dearly when I go home.

If you're going to go to Paris, I advise that you go in the fall! I went in 2008 in March and it was FREEZING, and my host-aunt here says that she's been in the summer and it was really hot. So basically, unless you want to go in the winter to see the city in snow (which would be pretty to see), I would definitely go in the fall. It was really, really pretty, and much more pleasant to this Texas native than the last time I went.

I'm hoping that maybe this weekend I can get caught up on my other blogs too (Morocco is next!), but no promises! I have a presentation to give on Monday, so we'll see how the weekend goes!

See you guys next time!
Krysta

P.S. Pardon any typing errors. It seems as though since I've been in Spain my ability to type has gone out the window, along with my English vocabulary. Everything just kind of gets mixed up in there. :P

Paris tomorrow!

Sorry this post is a little late! I've been trying to fight off sickness for the past week so I didn't have much to share! However, I am happy to report that I (yes, mother, finally) went to the doctor on Monday and she gave me an antibiotic, so I feel substantially better! This past weekend, on Friday I believe it was, I was feeling well so I decided to go out and snap a few pictures of everyday Salamanca. I didn't get to take many because my camera died, but don't fret, I will go out again sometime with a fully charged camera battery. I know you guys want to see the monuments and stuff, but I also think sharing a little bit of everyday life can be interesting sometimes too. :) Not to worry, should you find this post boring, the next post will be full of pictures from Paris! This trip to Paris is one of the trips with API, so it's going to be a really fun trip with all of my friends there. I can't wait! :D

So, I'm going to start with how I start my day! I get up in the mornings, shower if I didn't shower the night before, and then I get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. For me, my breakfast usually consists of plain flakes cereal with milk, and of course some sugar sprinkled on top. :) Amanda has cereal or she makes halfback pb&j sandwiches and eats a cup of yogurt. We could also make this stuff called ColaCao, which is like hot chocolate. Usually if you make that you eat some breakfast cookies dipped in it, but I usually save that for the night time, like an after dinner snack. The picture here is what my breakfast looked like last week: cereal, two different meds, water, and the little sugar box. What I found reallllyy interesting when I first came here was the fact that they don't refrigerate their milk until after they open it! When I opened the breakfast cabinet and saw that there were boxes of milk (no plastic gallons here, boys and girls!) I was honestly a little afraid! However, I must say, the milk here is really rich and I think a little bit sweeter than in the states! I like it, but it's not something I just drink a glass of like I would back home. I haven't had a glass of milk since I left home. I am SO looking forward to the day I can sit on the couch with a bag of powdered donuts and a tall glass of milk! Haha, it's the little things you miss. :)


These pictures are just things I see basically on a daily basis. There are some days where I just stop and look around and I have to wonder "Is this real?" Sometimes it just looks like it's straight from a post card. I love the history. There are so many stories being told everywhere you look. Some things I don't really understand because I haven't lived through the history here, but they are things I am interested to learn about.




So there's a street that is lined with cafes where people can eat al fresco. I'm really sad I never had lunch there before it got too cold, but we always have lunch prepared for us here at home, so I can't really complain. Speaking of food here at home, Concha, who is the sister of my host mom, is probably one of the best cooks ever. The woman who owns the house doesn't live here, so Concha basically always cooks for us. I LOVE her food. Back home we're all about flavor and spice and salt, but she mixes foods with sweet things instead, like fruit or chocolate. For example, one of my favorite foods I've had here was Concha's empanadas! She makes them with ham and cheese and DATES! Ohh my gosh the mix is heavenly. I could probably eat that every day. So THANK YOU Concha for taking such good care of us! :)

Okay, back to that street! These pictures were taken on that street, however there are many streets like this one. One of the pictures is of a "menu del dia" that I told y'all about earlier (I think in the Toledo post), and another picture is of a "50's Diner" that's supposed to be "American," but according to Aura it's not all that great. Another picture is of the typical "pharmacia" here in Spain! They're everywhere, and you can always find one by the big green flashing "+" sign outside!

The picture in the top left is one of the ham places!
Those are PIG LEGS hanging from the ceiling! YUCK.

Now I must say, one thing that I have hated about Spain has been their love of pork! I can't stand pork! There are these stores EVERYWHERE that sells cured pork. I can't stand walking by one of those stores because the smell is so pungent it makes me sick. I have to hold my breath every time I walk by there! Ughhh! BUT, I had to share because it is such an important part of life, at least here in Castilla y Leon. There's a special kind of pork from Spain called jamon iberico that comes from a pig that has been raised on bellotas (acorns) from a certain kind of tree here. Also, from what I've seen, they graze their pigs like we graze our cows, but there are always clusters of these trees everywhere for the pigs to eat from. Not my thing, but apparently that kind of pork is really good if you enjoy it!

Anyway, that's all the pictures I have for now! Like I said, I intend to do a much more in-depth photography session at some point, so in the future you'll see more posts like these. :)

So I have to admit that this Texas girl only THOUGHT she was ready for fall. It is COLD here. Today, for example, I had to go out and get travel-sized contact solution for the flight tomorrow and of course it had to be raining. It was a chilly 54 degrees farenheit and raining. We don't get weather like that in Texas until the end of November! Haha, when I asked for fall I meant 70 degrees and sunny! These people need to get it straight! It would be so bad... if we had heating in the house! They have some sort of heating system, but they don't turn it on until it gets "cold" (whatever THAT means- I'm not sure I'm ready to find out!). SO currently I'm decked out in my tall volleyball socks, pajama pants, an undershirt and a long sleeve shirt, topped off with my cozy blanket from home. I am COLD people, this is not what I asked for! Haha

Although I have to admit that today was actually a nice day to go out. I mean, it was rainy and cold and miserable, but it's something we don't get to experience very often. Amanda and I were walking towards Calle Toro (where all the shops are) and I said "do you smell that?" and she said "what?" and I said "the pine! do you smell it?!" and then yeah, after taking a second to sniff she did. It smelled like winter! It was such a lovely smell, the smell of pine needles mixed with someone's fireplace burning somewhere... it was almost dreamy. :) It was one of those moments that I will always have a snapshot of in my mind.

Aaanyway, I'm going to get off blogger and go do my homework and pack! I'll talk to y'all later! :)

Sickness is NOT a girl's best friend. :/

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately I don't have any lovely pictures to share this weekend, nor any exciting stories! I was supposed to go with API to La Alberca, which is a little ways outside of Salamanca, on Sunday for a hiking trip. Sadly, I woke up Friday with a somewhat-sore throat and by Friday night I knew I would not wake up a happy camper the next day. I was definitely right. Saturday was a total drag, complete with fever (the worst), stuffy nose, sore throat, and a cough. Of course I didn't leave the house on Saturday at all and there was no way on Earth I was going hiking on Sunday. Oh well, sometimes these things happen. At least it didn't happen NEXT weekend, when I'm going to Paris!

So, today is Monday, which is not that far from Saturday, so I'm still not feeling too hot. I went to school this morning (not the best decision) and finally went to the pharmacy this afternoon. I'm hoping that I start feeling better soon. Just so you all know, if you happen to travel in Spain, the pharmacy is where you go when you have a cold. Yes, you can go to the doctor, but the pharmacists here are like I feel they should be everywhere: you walk into the pharmacy, the pharmacist greets you and asks you what's wrong, you tell them your symptoms, and they give you meds that will help your symptoms. So easy, and no long waits in the doctor's office (sorry to all my future doctor friends, but you can't deny it's the truth), no co-pay or fees for getting some advice. It took me less than 5 minutes to walk in, tell her my symptoms, and walk out with some congestion medication and strawberry cough drops (why don't we have those in the states?!). I'm hoping to feel significantly better by tomorrow.

Anyway, this coming weekend I'm hoping to do a special project type thing that I've labeled "My daily life through pictures!" I'm thinking it will be quite a task, but I want to share with you all the small things that make life in Spain different from that in the States. For example, something I found really strange when I got here was the fact that they store their milk, which comes in little boxes not gallons, in the cabinet until it has been opened. The milk doesn't go bad, of course, but they do something that preserves it differently. I was a little freaked out when I first saw milk in the cabinet, as I'm sure you can imagine! It's things like these that I want to share with you all. I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to do it, but here's a link to my inspiration. If this project doesn't work out like that one, I will definitely be doing something like that when I have kids. I'm pretty excited about the idea. :)

Anyway, going to do homework! Talk to you guys next week, with a hopefully more exciting post! :)

Porto, Portugal!

Hi everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I know I throughly enjoyed mine. I spent this weekend with Ginny, Aaron, and Danielle in Porto, Portugal! It was a pretty hectic weekend, but I think we managed to cram in everything necessary about a trip to Porto! By the way, the city of Porto is actually Portugal's namesake, in a way. When you cross the river from Porto, the other side was once (or maybe still is) a different city, so to refer to the whole area it used to be named Portus Cale (Porto on one side and Cale on the other), then over time it became Portucale, then evolved into Portugale. By the 11th/12th century it was referred to as Portugal! Cool huh?

So para empezar, our bus was scheduled to leave at 11:40 am on Friday, but, running on Spanish time, showed up an hour late. We got to Porto around 4 PM (it wasn't an express bus, so we made lots of stops). We grabbed a taxi to take us to our hostel. We stayed at Pilot Hostel, which is fairly new. Since there were four of us we got our own room (2 bunk beds) and it only cost us each 28 euro for two nights, and that includes free breakfast. I love that Europe has such affordable travel options. I'm so sad the states don't have anything like that. I would travel a lot more within the US if there were.

Anyway, Friday night we kind of just wandered around a little bit. We got dinner right beside the university in a cafe that is known as a popular place for students to eat. I got a traditional Portuguese dish called francesinha. I can't wait to try to make it when I return to the states, it was SO DELICIOUS. There's a little story about how the dish came to be in the link that our tour guide told us. After dinner we went wandering around town and actually found out there was a fall festival of sorts going on! What luck that we chose to come this weekend, right? So we followed this acting group through the streets, and every so often we would all stop and there would be another scene to the story. It was pretty cool, but since I don't know a single WORD of Portuguese we basically had no idea what was going on. (p.s. that's a lie, I learned how to say thank you and refreshments while I was there, but I don't want to type it because I would butcher the spelling without a doubt.)

The next day (Saturday) we got up and had the free breakfast, which was light just like Spanish breakfast. We had cereal and toast/breads basically. Then at 10:30 there was a free walking tour, so of course we took advantage of that. It was not an official guide but it was instead by a woman who has lived in Porto her whole life, so we got to hear stories and such that she had learned from her life walking around with her dad. It was a really good tour, but we only saw half of the city and it still took something like 3 1/2 hours! Afterwards we grabbed lunch (I just got a hamburger, boring I know) and then crossed the river to go to a wine tasting! If you didn't know, Porto is famous for its port wine. Port is a very very sweet wine, usually for after the dinner as a dessert wine. I really enjoyed the winery visit, I learned quite a bit about ports, and then we got to sample three different types, a white, a 7 year red, and then a 10 year red. I mean this may make me sound uncultured, but I just really really can't drink wine! I couldn't even finish my little samples haha, they were making me sick!


After our winery visit we were exhausted from walking all day so we went back to the hostel and took a nap. We had plans to go on a pub crawl that the hostel offers along with other hostels, but I wasn't feeling so hot so I chose to stay in. A pub crawl is where you pay a certain amount (this one was 10 euro) and then someone takes you around to different bars and clubs and you take a shot at each one or get a beer at each one, all as part of that one price you already paid. My friends went and they had a blast, but like I said I wasn't feeling up to it. I'm kind of glad I didn't go because Portugal doesn't have a law like Spain (or maybe just Salamanca) does where you can't smoke in bars or restaurants. Anyone who knows me knows how much I absolutely despise cigarettes and cigarette smoke, or any smoke for that matter, so I would have been so uncomfortable in those places.  Anyway I'm glad mis amigos had fun.

Sunday we had to check out by 11am but our bus didn't leave until 8:30 at night, so luckily our hostel was nice enough to let us leave our things behind their desk. After breakfast we went and hopped on a bus that took us to the beach! The weather in Porto was much warmer than Salamanca, but still not warm enough for me to bust out the bikini. The wind was really what made it chilly, but the water itself was FREEZING. There would have been no way on earth I would have actually gotten in that water, but I did at least touch it so I could say I have officially touched the Atlantic Ocean! YAY! :D We relaxed on the beach for a little while but then started walking to find lunch. We stopped and ate at a little cafe that was basically on the water, it was so nice. Once again I got a hamburger, but this time it also had an egg on it, which was delicious. Then we got back on the bus and went searching for Cafe Majestic, which is a cafe on the main shopping street in Porto. Apparently J.K. Rowling spent many hours there when writing the first Harry Potter book! Unfortunately since it was Sunday basically everything was closed, including the cafe, but we did get a picture in front of it! Afterwards as we were headed back to the hostel we were on the hunt for a place to get some coffee and a delicious sweet snack, and we eventually found a place that was open! I got a pastry that was covered in chocolate and had an egg based filling (like custard maybe?) and one scoop of strawberry ice cream that I'm pretty sure was the best strawberry ice cream I've ever had. Seriously. When we were fully stuffed we went back to hostel and spent about an hour there and then headed to the bus stop!

Now in case you didn't know, Porto is basically all hills. ALL HILLS. If you're not walking up a hill, you're walking down one, all the time. By the time we found the bus station (after walking to the wrong one!) I was pooped! It was funny, I was talking to Danielle today and we're both sore from hauling our luggage all around Porto trying to find the bus station! At least I got a workout! Our bus left late (of course!) and we had to make multiple stops again, so we got back to Salamanca around 4 am. I was SO grateful, first for my Dramamine on the bus, then for my bed and my time to catch up on my sleep today! That is, of course, after my placement exam this morning at 9! I'm pretty excited because I tested a whole level above my original test I took a month ago! It's exciting to know that I'm actually learning! Hooray! :D

In summary, Porto is a beautiful city. Hopefully you can tell by some of my pictures that it can be pretty majestic there. However, it's so sad because there is a lot of poverty and run down homes. The homes, we found out, are so run down because during the dictatorship there was a law created that said that if a person was renting a home for a certain amount of time the landlord couldn't raise the rent for the rest of the time that person lived there. Even though the dictatorship ended, the law was still in place for a while after that. So for example if the rent was only 20 euro and the person stayed there until they were 90 (which is a common thing) their rent was/is still only 20 euro. There was no way for the landlords to keep up the properties for such small amounts of money, so many of the houses are very very run-down. Also now that the area is a UNESCO heritage site the houses are worth a lot more but nobody can afford to buy the properties because they would basically have to tear it down and start over, and there aren't many people out there with that kind of dinero, especially with the economies the way they are now. It's a sad situation. Anyway, at least in most of the places where the houses are run down, beautiful purple flowers have taken over. It's gorgeous to see such beautiful new life in contrast to the poverty and sad history that you see there.

So yeah, new classes start tomorrow! I'll be taking 2 hours of grammar (required), history of women in Spanish history, Spanish lit, and business Spanish. I'm pretty excited about all of my classes, especially business Spanish! I think that will come in very handy in the future!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week and I'll talk to y'all next weekend! :)

Otoño ha llegado! :D - Salamanca and Segovia

Autumn is officially here in Salamanca! I woke up this morning to the perfect stay-at-home-and-never-change-out-of-your-pjs weather (raining and cold!), so that's precisely what I've done all day! It was nice after a pretty busy week to get to just sit on my computer or lay in bed and enjoy.

Aanndd I may or may not have busted out the Christmas playlist on Spotify. I couldn't help it.

Anyway, so like I said, this week has been fairly eventful! In classes I had an exam and we got  new teacher for one of our classes. I like the new prof, but I miss the old one. Oh well, only one more week left of these classes then we take the placement exam again and start new classes (with new professors)! Although Amanda and I are hoping to keep our prof from our second class-Juan! He's so funny and interactive, his class always flies by.

This coming week we have final exams on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the last day of class is Friday. Why do they test in the middle of the week, you may ask? They do it because many people who are in these classes aren't in a program that takes care of everything for them like I am, so in order to get their grades they have to get them on the last day of class. Because of that, the professors have to have time to grade the exams before the last day of class. So yeah, I won't be going to class on Friday, not only because I don't really have to, but also becaauuuseee...

I'm leaving to go to Portugal that day! Yaaayyy! I'm so excited about this trip. I'm not going to disclose the city we're going to yet because I don't know if there are crazy stalkers out there, so you'll find that out in the next blog post when I get back. :) Anyway, I'm going with three of my friends and we're staying in a hostel, which makes this whole traveling thing reeaaally really affordable. Since there are four of us, we get a room to ourselves! I can't wait to take pictures and show you guys. The city is supposed to be gorgeous because of its location. Can't wait!

So this Friday we went on a cultural tour of Salamanca with API. I'm actually really glad I went because even though I see these things every day I didn't necessarily know their significance. It was a really good tour. We first started in the Plaza Mayor (of course), and then made our way to the Casa de las Conchas (House of Shells). It was a palace build for a guy who was marrying a relative of the king. He was marrying up and wanted everyone to know, so he built this palace and put the shells all over the outside because it somehow symbolized his wife and her family. Now, in order to be able to maintain the building, it's being used as a public library. I want to go back there and take pictures of it sometime later, since I walk by it fairly often.

All of these are of the Catedral de Salamanca!

We went afterwards to the old University of Salamanca building. There are no more classes there, it's more like a museum. Then we went to the Puente Romano, or the Roman Bridge. It's the oldest thing in the city, which was pretty cool. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the outside of the university or the Casa de las Conchas, so I don't have any to show you now, but I plan on going sometime soon!

 Afterwards we went to the Catedral de Salamanca, or the cathedral in Salamanca. There are actually two parts, an old part and a new part. It makes me laugh, because you want to guess how old the "new" part is? It's about to celebrate it's 500th anniversary. Ha. Not exactly my idea of "new." I really loved the visit here because we got to go up and outside in/on the towers of the cathedral. It was such a pretty view, breathtaking, really. Pictures couldn't possibly do it justice. The weather was so great, the sun was shining, there was a slight breeze, and it was just beautiful.

The tour ended there, but Amanda, Aaron and I had to leave a little bit early because we were meeting up with a friend, Datong, who Aaron met at school and who went back home to Germany yesterday, to hang out one last time. We started with a hunt for a place to get tapas, which was a challenge because apparently nobody eats tapas on Fridays at 7? We finally found a place and hung out there for a little bit. I got a tosta with jamon, huevo y queso with a mosto to drink. Mosto is a drink made from the same grapes as wine but it's not alcoholic and it's very sweet. Basically it's like a much better version of Welch's white grape juice, and that stuff is pretty darn good to begin with. After we finished our tapas we went on a journey to find some helado (ice cream)! We ended up in the Plaza with the most delicious ice cream I've had in a while. We sat in the plaza (on the ground), because that's what all the young people do. It was so refreshing to spend an evening hanging out with friends.

Saturday Amanda and I got up earlier than usual in order to catch the bus to Segovia! It was a trip organized by University of Salamanca Cursos Internacionales, so our fee included our tour guide, admissions into the attractions we visited, and the bus ride there. I'm so grateful that we live with a family because our host mom made us bocadillos (sandwiches) along with other things to complete the lunch. It was a good visit, but honestly I find Salamanca to be prettier. Maybe I didn't see the best parts of Segovia, but I was ready to come back "home" by the end of the day.

While in Segovia we saw the Roman aqueduct, which was an amazing sight to see. There's a legend about how it was build that I enjoyed, which goes something like this (however this may not be completely accurate because our tour was in Spanish, so I did the best I could haha): there was a woman who every day had to walk out of the city, down the hill to get water and then carry it back up the hill. The devil saw how tired the woman was and made a deal with her that he would build the aqueduct so she wouldn't have to do this anymore in exchange for her soul, but he had to finish it  in one night before the sun rose. He was about to place the last stone when the sun rose, and so he lost the bet and lost her soul. He was so angry that he grabbed/squeezed the aqueduct, which is what made the arches. Pretty cool story, huh? :)

Left: Aqueduct, middle: Alcázar, right, top down: Catedral, La Granja,
the morning, gardens of La Granja

Then we went to the Catedral de Segovia, which is stunning on the outside, but is almost identical to the new cathedral in Salamanca. It's not as lavish on the inside, though, because Segovia did not have as much money as Salamanca.

We also saw the Convento de Corpus Christi and Alcázar, among other things. I wasn't really impressed with the Convento, but Alcázar was pretty cool. It was a fort built in 1122, complete with a real moat and everything. Some say that Disney got the idea for castle for Cinderella from Alcázar, but I've also heard that it was designed after Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, which I find to be much more believable.

After our tours we had a little free time, but then we had to get back on the bus to go to La Granja, which was a summer palace starting with King Phillip V. He's actually buried there in the church of the palace. Honestly, I feel that with palaces and cathedrals in Spain, once you've seen one, you've basically seen them all. By the time we were done with the tour I was so ready to leave it wasn't even funny. Overall, I'm glad I got to go see the things I saw, but I wasn't as impressed as I expected to be. Maybe I was just a tired grump, who knows.

Anyway, I know this was a pretty long post, but I wanted to tell you guys about my trips/tours! I can't wait to show you all Portugal next week!

P.S. my package from Matt finally arrived, about a week and a half later than they said it would be! And judging by the shape it was in, I should probably just be grateful it arrived at all! Yay for Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese! Thanks Pops, you're the best. :)

Salamanca, y pronto Segovia!

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since an update, but I honestly just haven't had much to talk about! Life has basically been wake up, school, lunch, siesta, and then whatever for the evening, some evenings I have just relaxed at home.

Going caseta-hopping with API 

I am glad the ferias are over, honestly. I mean I enjoyed getting pinchas (tapas) at the casetas sometimes, but  I'm glad to have emptier streets again. There is a point that is a place where 2 fairly busy streets meet to make a cross and there's a fountain on one of the busiest sides, so during ferias  there were casetas all around the fountain, which caused human traffic jams. I saw them removing some of the casetas today, and I'm happy those will be gone!

Another thing I'll be glad when it's gone is this weather! It's actually been HOT for the past week. I know all the Texas people are like "yeah yeah, hot whatever" but trust me, it's hot here too! The "problem" here is that there are NO CLOUDS unless it's raining. Seriously, the sunshine is scorching. According to the forecast (which lied to me last time) it's supposed to be in the upper 60s starting next Monday, so I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for that. The worst part is that I didn't bring any shorts because a) API told us that people here don't wear shorts (LIES, I've seen more butts hanging out here than in the States!) and b) because I was expecting cooler weather. No stores are still selling shorts either because it's not supposed to be this hot out anymore. It's September people, it's time for Fall!

So I'm excited about a couple of things coming up. Tomorrow I have my first intercambio! An intercambio is where you meet up with a person (through a school program) who wants to learn your language, and you want to learn theirs. So for example, my intercambio partner is a girl who I think is 19 (maybe 20, I don't remember) and she speaks Spanish and wants to learn English, so during our meeting up we'll spend half the time speaking Spanish and half the time speaking English! How cool is that? I hope it's a great meeting. :)

Picture from the Roman bridge in Salamanca
with a view of the cathetral.

Another thing I'm excited about is this Friday, when the rest of the students arrive, we're going on a "cultural tour" of Salamanca! I know we've lived here for almost a month now and have probably seen most of the things on the tour, but this is our chance to actually learn about them. When I say "the rest of the students" I mean all of the people who did not do an early start program. I chose the early start, which got me here 2 1/2 weeks earlier than them and I'm taking a full intensive month more than them. I'm glad I did it, for sure. This gives me the opportunity to brush up on my Spanish, and then we retake the placement exam after the month is over. This way I can either place into superior or into advanced again, but at least I know I've learned.

I think the thing I'm most excited about though is this coming weekend. The school of cursos internacionales has excursions on the weekends for affordable prices, so Amanda and I bought our tickets today to go see Segovia y La Granja! Segovia is the city that has the Roman aqueducts, and La Granja was a summer palace of the kings of Spain. I'm pretty excited about it! I wish I could go on other excursions with that program, but the one to Portugal that they have is on the same days as our API trip to Paris. Sad day, because I really enjoy it when one price is all inclusive and I don't have to do anything to plan it. :/

Flowers from Matt all the way in Spain :)

Life is finally about to get pretty busy around here! I'm looking forward to my weekends being filled with activities and traveling. :)

On a final, happy note, yesterday was my 2 year anniversary with Matty! Yay! I know that may not seem like a long time to some of you, but this has been my longest (and most wonderful) relationship! I'm excited to see what our future brings. :)

I think my goal for this blog will be to update once a week, because really, there's usually not much to say if I do it in smaller time increments than that! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!