First official day in Lisboa!

Something that I have learned about myself on this family vacation is that I do not like being a tourist. The pressure of seeing everything a city has to offer with a very limited amount of time sometimes makes me feel overwhelmed. Also, being a tourist you always feel lost. I prefer to live a while in a city. I know that it is unreasonable to say that I will live in every that I visit, but I can say that Valencia was my favorite city in Spain and I think that the reason for this is because I lived there. We started out our first real day in Portugal taking a tour in a bus, which to my disappointment and to Gildi excitement was an air-conditioned bus instead of a double decker. The woman who was giving us the tour was a bit peculiar and she knew many languages. I did not like her much though. She got frustrated translating what she was saying in different languages. The thing that I hated most about this tour and any tour for that matter is that we were on a schedule. It is no secret that I like to take my time with everything. I eat slowly. I take things in slowly. I really do not like fast paced life. So when the tour guide yelled at me to get on the bus while I was looking for my brother at a memorial site that showed everywhere that Portugal had discovered I could not deal with it. I hate going on tours. But, at the same time I understand that going on a tour like what we did was and is the best way to see and experience a city over a very short period of time. On the tour we saw memorial sites, an old fortress, an old church (of course), and a car museum. Before we even got to Lisboa David had googled what to do in Lisboa and he came up with this car museum. He was so excited to see a car museum filled with expensive, fancy, modern cars that when walked into the museum of ‘coches’ it was entertaining to me to see the look on the face when the ‘cars’ were in fact ‘carriages’ like in Cinderella. We also were given a chance to visit the old part of Lisboa, which was by far my favorite. Some of the old houses in Portugal are not painted, but instead they are decorated with tiles. This was something about the old part of the city that made it so beautiful. I could just imagine the people who walked around the streets the many years ago. After the tour we went to lunch. Oh lunch. People lined outside of the restaurants basically forcing you to come and sit with them to have some business. I do not like this part of the experience in Portugal. As Americans, we know that we like our time and space to consider our options before being pushed in any situation. Well, we were not given any time or space into taking into account where we wanted to eat that day. Personally, I wanted to sit down as quickly as possible as to not be harassed by any more people with menus. On a side note, Portuguese people really like their eggs. They seem to put it on everything. Whether it be on their hamburger or their steak, it is considered to be their ‘specialty’ at each restaurant that I have seen. After lunch, Gildi and Marshy were too tired to continue looking around the city. So they asked the waiter how long it would take them to walk back to the hotel (we did not know because the tour guide bus had dropped us off). His answer? 10 minutes uphill. So they decided to walk. On the other hand, me and David went exploring. We walked around the city looking at the shops and the restaurants. We eventually reached the ocean, which made the wandering around totally worth it. There was a nice breeze, a beautiful view, and tons of fish. After a while of doing this it was getting a little hot for us and we decided to turn back. So we started our so-called 10-minute walk. It was in no way any close to being 10 minutes. We did not time it or anything, but if I had to guess how long we were walking uphill for I would have to guess about 45 minutes. All we kept wondering on the whole way back was whether or not Marshy and Gildi were able to walk it or if they took a taxi. We found out it was a combination of both. That night we had dinner outside at a really good really cute restaurant. We were finally able to get white sangria! I had been searching for it for a while and it was really good! My first real day in Portugal was a success, even with the semi-cranky tour guide. The pictures attached are David with his cars, me at the the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and a picture of what the old part of Portugal looks like.

On the way to Lisboa!

First opinions of Portugal:
1. The sidewalks are slippery. How do people walk around here when it is raining? I have had a lot of close calls without the rain.
2. I do not understand these people at all. There is a really big language barrier. I thought that being bilingual would give me some sort of head start on the language so there would be some mode of communication, but I was mistaken. When it is written I can understand it, but they speak so differently compared to Spanish that when they talk to me in Portuguese my face kind of goes blank. I do not have the slightest clue.
3. The city is beautiful. I have now officially seen both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
4. I am a fan of white Sangria.
We got to Lisboa in the late afternoon and it was a pain to find our hotel. As always when you are a foreigner the streets are confusing. We were wandering around the city for about an hour for the hotel. I have never seen Gildi so anxious to get rid of the car as she we in Lisboa. I am not the biggest fan of this hotel compared to the last one. It is very businesslike and futuristic. Not very homey at all. It took us a really long time to find a place to eat. We finally walked into a bar that was playing the Spain versus Germany game and we sat back and enjoyed. Spain won and is going to the world cup! Also, according to the octopus who knows beforehand who is going to win the games (since he is never wrong) Spain is supposed to take the title! On a side note it is really hard to have a car in Europe. Not only was it really hard to come into the city, but when Gildi went to park the car she was really worried about being able to get the car out of the parking garage. Mainly because the entire thing was only one-way.

Sevilla the land of the heat.

Getting to Sevilla was not easy. The streets there are one of the most confusing I have ever witnessed. Between the one way streets, the taxi lanes, the river that only connects to the city with three bridges, and the vague if existent street signs it was a miracle of life that we made it to our hotel. You know a city is confusing is Gildi is willing to break the law by making a left turn somewhere or driving in the taxi lane to avoid getting any more lost than we already are. Sevilla is beautiful city, but I feel like I did not enjoy it as much as I could because of the heat. It is so hot in Sevilla that in front of our hotel they had water mist shooting out of the sidewalk. And to give you more of an idea of how hot it was in my travel guide there where only three tips given for Sevilla. One of the tips was ‘do not visit Sevilla during the months July and August because it gets really hot.’ The heat just about killed us. We saw a church there and we saw a fortress. In the church I was able to see Christopher Columbus’s grave. I am glad that we were not in Sevilla for more than a day because the heat would have absolutely killed us. I am also glad that I did not pick this city to do my study abroad in because Sevilla was the city I wanted to go to. I guess everything works out for the best. Hopefully some day I will get to go back and experience the city, but when it is winter here. Otherwise, I am not really interested. Our hotel was awesome though. I wanted to take some of the furniture in the hotel back with me to the states. Everything was really original and very charming. I will miss that place. Another lesson was learned in Sevilla. Do not trust old people in Spain in general not just old men. The old women will act like they have to talk to the ticket desk because they have a problem, but in reality they will not stand in line and wait their turn. A group of senior citizens walked right in front of us and past the line of people to see a church. And I let them because I thought something was wrong. Again, lesson learned. It will never happen again. The pictures attached are from Torremolinos (a beach that we stopped at on the way to Sevilla), a picture of me inside of the fortress, and a picture of Christopher Columbus's grave (weird of me to post I know, but he was an important person)

La Alhambra

La Alhambra was one word AMAZING. It was so beautiful to see and there were a lot of details in the buildings. The only disappointments that I had were that the main fountain was under construction and that none of the fountains were actually on. For this place to reach its maximum awesomeness the fountains needed to be on. For those of you who do not know what the Alhambra is you should Google it and see for yourselves. As for the rest of Granada, I loved it!! The city is absolutely charming. Me and the family tried to walk the claimed ’15 minutes’ to the center of the city (by the concierge). After about 20 minutes in the heat we took a bus. That is when we realized that we were only half way to the city. So the so-called 15-minute walk was at least a 40-minute walk. One thing that I will not miss from Spain is their ‘approximations.’ Everything is majorly underestimated. That night in the city we found a restaurant and watched the Spain versus Paraguay and we won! It was fun to see the people cheering in the streets. I really wanted to go back to the hotel, while David wanted to go out into the city. If there is anything that I have learned about myself in Spain is that I do not like crowds, I do not like to drink, and I definitely do not like crowded bars. They are not fun for me. I would honestly have a better time at home without the chaos. Also in Granada I was able to ride my very first double decker bus, which was a little bit miserable. It was really hot in Granada (not as much as in Sevilla) and those buses are not air conditioned. Gildi was so hot after lunch that she and Marshy took a taxi back to the hotel. But, me and David wanted to explore the city some more, so we walked around some. To be more cost efficient and to see more of the city we decided it would be best to take the double decker bus back to our hotel. What a mistake. It was so hot and there was not any shade anywhere. Also our bus driver stopped to talk to his buddies on the way to our stops for at least 15 minutes at each stop. This really frustrated me a lot. They were trying to recruit people onto the bus and would not leave the stop until they had gotten a certain number of people. I wanted to scream at the people who were buying tickets and tell them not to waste their money because they make you wait to long in the heat. We did eventually make it back to the hotel, but it probably took us 6x longer. Oh well. Live and Learn.

One head is better than four.

Having a car in Spain or in Europe for that matter is a lot harder than walking. The one way streets, the confusing signs, and not to mention the expectation that others have for you to stop the car for them to cross no matter where on the road that they might be. Something that does not make having a car in Europe any easier is driving a manual car instead of an automatic because it would cost 500 more euros. So, have that in mind and then put me, Dave, Marshy, and Gildi in a car and you have a story. Maybe not a fun story at the time, but later we should be able to look at it and laugh. It is no secret that Gildi is a very nervous person. Therefore, having her in the drivers seat in Madrid because Marshy does not understand the street signs was a very interesting experience to say the least. Madrid is confusing walking around it, let alone driving around it. But, even so we managed to make it out of the city. The entire time Gildi was wishing that we had invested a little extra money in a GPS. Despite of these thoughts I am still confident that there is no need to get a GPS because getting lost is always part of the experience. A lot of the coolest things that I have found anywhere have been because I have gotten lost and stumbled upon them. With that being said, Gildi does not like getting lost so for the rest of the trip we have to be very careful as to not get lost. On the way to Granada we stopped in Toledo for a few hours. Toledo used to be the capital of Spain before they moved it to Madrid. I enjoyed seeing Toledo, but I only wished that it was not raining. (The rain was also something that contributed to not having fun with a manual car.) There is a wall that surrounds the entire city, which we drove on the outside of and we went to see the Cathedral. I have been to so many Cathedrals in Spain that they are all starting to look the same to me. After Toledo we made our way to Granada without lunch. It is hard being around people who still have jetlag from their trip because while they are never hungry because of the time change, I am hungry. The solution for this problem? Snacking in the car. I am happy to say that we made it to Granada, but we did get lost. Like I said before and I keep on repeating to my family: It is part of the experience! The pictures above are from Toledo and Granada at night.

El Prado...

Me, Marshy, and Gildi woke up to try to make our way to El Prado (a famous art museum in Madrid). David made up his mind early that he did not want to come along on this adventure of ours and after experiencing it ourselves I can say with absolute certainty that I do not blame him. We tried to get a taxi to the art museum since it was raining, but the streets by our hotel were closed because of a gay pride parade that was going to be happening all weekend long. So what was plan B? The Metro. First off Madrid’s metro is ridiculous. It is so big. We were walking what it seemed like a never-ending line of escalators. Second, Marshy did not enjoy the metro because of the smell. He claims that the people who ride the metro do not shower very often. Honestly, I did not even really notice. After getting off the train and asking a police officer and a few locals we finally got there. We got the audio tour guide, who was initially nice to have, but after a while it became really annoying. I really have no interest in staring at one piece of art work for twenty minutes while some man is talking in my ear with an accent telling me some story about the particular painting which I can only be about forty percent sure that it is actually true. Let’s just say out of the three floors of El Prado I was only able to visit 1 and a quarter before I had to leave. I have come up with a solution to this problem, which I do not think that Madrid would be too fond of. I think that the top twenty most famous paintings in the art museum should be put in one room at the very beginning. That way I do not have to look through hundreds of paintings of artists I have never heard before to find the painting of ‘Las Meninas’ and then question myself as to why I wanted to see it so badly. While I do enjoy seeing history, I like to see more concrete history like buildings instead of paintings that all look the same to me. I feel bad saying this because I do know that there was a lot of work put into each work of art. It is just that I cannot spend an enormous amount of time ‘appreciating’ works of art. After leaving ‘El Prado’ early and taking a victory picture in the back with my mother, we all headed back but this time in a taxi because not all of us could take another metro ride. Other than ‘El Prado’ all we did is eat meals, which then again reassured myself that maybe becoming a vegetarian might be in my best interest because they literally have hanging animal legs all around restaurant comparable to hanging animal heads on the wall. I just cannot eat meat with all the animal legs so close by. The pictures above are us eating at restaurant in Plaza Mayor and me and Gildi leaving El Prado forever!!

Adventure #2: With the Familia

We left Valencia around 10am and got to Madrid around 3pm because we had to stop at a rest stop for 45 minutes. When we finally got to Madrid we immediately went to go put our bags down in the hotel room and then went to get gelato because it was really hot. After gelato, we walked to Madrid’s park called ‘El Retiro.’ It is beautiful. After walking around five of us sat in the grass and played cards for an hour. It was a lot of fun. Then we went back to the hotel because I had to meet my parents in the lobby of the hotel at eight. When I was finally able to meet up with my parents the program would not allow me to leave for 30 minutes because I had to write an evaluation. Honestly, although I had the time of my life on this study abroad, I do not think it had much to do with the program. For doing the program for ten years I was hoping that they would be a lot more organized. Also, the euro went down by ten cents since the beginning of the program and I was hoping to get some money back. But, I do not think that they are planning on giving back anything. After the evaluation I finished my night when I went with my parents and David to a good tapas restaurant.

Good Bye Valencia. You will be missed.

Here are some pictures from around the city. The garden was literally a few blocks from my school. I passed by everything in these pictures everyday.

Soccer Translation: Who is the better actor?

Out of all the sports I have seen, I have got to say that soccer is one of my favorites. People are so passionate about it here. Today, I watched the Spain versus Portugal game with the students at the dorms. I really enjoyed hearing their chants, seeing them get angry, seeing a voodoo doll with Portugal on it, but most of all I enjoyed Spain’s 1-0 win over Portugal (their ultimate rivals). I do not like how dirty the play the game though. And a lot of times when a player gets tapped on the field the player will dramatically fall and pretend that they were injured really badly to try to get the other player yellow carded. Yes, I actually understand soccer terminology. But, who are the winners of the game? Usually the ones that are the better actors. Watching this game with the Spanish students was a lot of fun. Above is a picture of me with one of my favorite professors ever. She came to the dorms to watch the game with us!

San Juan.

Have you ever been on a bus with forty drunk people? I officially have. All the people in our program with the exception of two that were feeling really sick made our way to the beach, unfortunately on the same bus. Through this experience I have realized exactly why I do not hang out with these people. Their sole purpose for coming to Spain was not to experience the culture, but instead to not remember their night. I know that drinking is a large part of the San Juan tradition, but leave it to the Americans to bring alcohol in water bottles to get drunk on the bus to the event and not at the actual event. I felt especially bad for the two old women sitting behind me who had to literally scream at each other to understand each other through the singing of the spice girls and the amusement many guys were having by looking at a mirror at their buddies. What can I say, I do not like drunk people. I find them annoying. But, when we actually got to the event it was quite amazing. There was not a single part in the sand that was free and there were bonfires and fireworks. At midnight people write a wish that they have on a piece of paper and burn it to make it come true. Then, they go into the ocean (and to my surprise and relief in their bathing suits) and jump seven waves backwards for good luck all year. It was really fun to participate in this part. Then a few of us walked down the beach to where a giant stage was just to see what was happening over there and we found two things. The first a really big bonfire with people holding hands while moving around it. The second was the big stage and the acrobats with music on it. It was like Cirque du Soleil on the beach, but not as good of a version. After this three of us got into a taxi to come back to the dorms, where I nearly lost my life. I have never been in a car with someone who drove the way this man did. I had to close my eyes otherwise I would not have been able to make it. Sitting in the car with this taxi driver actually made my brother’s driving seem safe to put an idea into your mind as how scary it was. All in all it was a good night and I was glad I was able to participate.

Worst museum I have ever gone to.

Today the activity was to go to the MUVIM, which is an illustration museum. Since I have never been to a museum of this type and it was free I figured that I had nothing to lose. I was wrong. This museum was without a doubt one of the worst ones I have ever gone to. Granted, I do not really like museums to begin with. We started the museum with a guy wearing an outfit that completely covered his body and face. We had to follow him and he would not say a word to us he just gestured. There was a point in time that they completely turned off the lights and I grabbed for the nearest person because I was scared for my life. After about 30 minutes of this we moved onto two 30 minute sessions with two other people. In one of the rooms we were trying to reenact what I thought to be a tea party (but who really knows) and they gave us a piece of chocolate and we literally stared at each other in silence for about 20 minutes. The whole time I could not even concentrate on what was going on because all I could think about was that I wish this tour was not guided so I would not have to wait for the entire tour to finish before I would have to leave. Oh well. There is an hour and a half of my life that I will never get back.

Cinque Terre Pictures.

Italy here we come!

Last weekend we were given a three-day weekend so five of us went to Pisa for a night and then to Cinque Terre for two nights. The plan was to stay at a B&B with a woman named Claudia for a night and then go to Cinque Terre and stay in a hostile for two. Cinque Terre consists of five cities that total to seven miles and we wanted to hike the seven miles through the five cities. But, of course not everything always goes as planned. So let’s start from the beginning. The night before leaving I could not sleep very well because I was anxious about my trip. What can I say? I am my mother’s daughter. When we got up in the morning we went to class and ate lunch. After lunch, we took the metro to the airport. At the metro we could not really figure out how to use our tickets to get through the gate. How many Americans does it take to figure out how to get onto a metro? The answer is five. We got to the airport and went through security, which for the first time in my life was an ordeal. Apparently, I look like a terrorist because I they took everything out of bag to be searched and found nothing. Also, my jeans would beep as I would walk through the machine and I got patted down for the very first time in my life at the airport. I felt very violated. As for the plane (RYANAIR) is not necessarily as ghetto as people make it seem, but I will say this: They do not assign seats beforehand so you have to fight for your seat. We did not notice that people were piling up their suitcases like two hours before the flight so we were one of the last ones on the plane. I was really surprised that this airline did not double book people because I seriously thought that they were not going to have a seat for us. But, they did.
When we got to Pisa, Italy found out quickly how similar Spanish and Italian were when were trying to communicate to the taxi driver. Surprisingly, it was fairly easy to understand each other. We got to the B&B around eight o’clock at night and we were greeted by the owner/ the sweetest Italian woman named Claudia. She did not speak a word of English, but because of our Spanish she was able to give us perfect directions to the leaning tower of Pisa. We did not get lost once, which is very rare for the five of us. The leaning tower of Pisa is not all it is cracked up to be. It is much smaller than I imagined and I think that people build it up too much. Nevertheless, we took pictures and went to eat outside at a nearby restaurant. This was my first experience of Italian pizza and it was amazing. It is so different than in the U.S. the crust is really thin, the sauce is different, and the cheese can only be described as delicious. After our late dinner, we went back to Claudia’s because we promised her that we would not be back too late. When we woke up in the morning we had the most amazing desserts for breakfast. My favorite out of the seven that she made was a pineapple chocolate cake. The cappuccino that I had at Claudia’s was the best that I had all weekend. After breakfast we walked to the train. We were all really sad to leave Claudia’s she was the sweetest lady and her B&B was very quant and charming.
When we got the train station we accidently bought fast pass tickets that were more expensive to La Spezia. I still have no idea what the benefits of the fast pass tickets were because everything was in Italian. When we got to La Spezia we took a connecting train to Riomaggiore (the last of the five cities). We made our way to the information desk to buy passes for the trains within the cities and to be able to hike. Little did we know this purchase was going to screw us over later. Then we walked up to our hostile and got the key from a tall bald man, who ended up liking us because one of my friends started talking to him about his cats. We walked up the most hazardous stairs I have ever seen up to my home for the next couple of days. When we walked in all I could think was this is such a hellhole. The beds were not made and everything around us seemed questionable so we left faster than it took us to come in.
We walked to the second city and then realized that everything else was closed. So we moved on to plan B. We got on a train and went to the last city and tried to work backwards. The sights were beautiful. On the way we met some truly amazing people from different countries including: Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Norway, Denmark, the Netherland, and a tour group from a different part of Italy. We also ran into a lot of people from different areas of the U.S. and we kept running into someone who we already met in every city. People in Cinque Terre are genuinely really nice and I would love to go there again when I can actually hike the trails.
At the end of the first day in Cinque Terre, we were on the very last train going back to Riomaggiore and the person who checks the tickets came onto the train. We had ridden the trains all day and had not seen anyone check for any tickets (and this includes the trains from Pisa). Out of the blue this guy comes on and starts kicking people off of the train. When he got to us, he told us that we did not have the right ticket and that the lady at the front desk who sold it to us had sold us the wrong one. He wanted to give us each a 50-euro fine and kick us off the train, but luckily for us the train was already moving at this point so he only charged each of us for 5. You could tell that this man hated his job and abused his power.
For lunch on this day we had gnocchi with pesto and it was amazing (it originated in Cinque Terre). The only complaint I would have about this place was the waiter. He put bread on our table and he could speak Spanish so we asked him if the bread was free and if was not then we did not want it. His response that every time bread is put in front of you in Italy it was always free. Lies. We got a cup and bread charge. Fortunately for us this was the only place that this happened.
The first night in the hostel was really rough. We met our roommates who were all really nice. They were all around our age and traveling. Since our room was in the middle of the city we could here everything. I did not really feel comfortable there. In the mornings around five there were bells that rang in the city and the second day when it woke me up I was curious as to how many bell chimed. The answer? 54. Because of the dogs, the people in the streets, the rain, the cold, the sun coming up at 6 o’clock in the morning, and the fact did I did not feel too comfortable sleeping in a hostel, I would probably say that my on and off sleep totally about three hours each night. Taking a shower and going to the bathroom in this place was interesting to say the least. The shower had absolutely no pressure and was a cubicle that did not close all the way. But, at least the water was warm. The entire time I was taking a shower all I could think about was the mysterious corner that had a whole in the wall that seemed to lead to the outside. I really thought a cat was going to attack me since Cinque Terre was full of cats.
The second day we did not think we were going to be able to leave our city because it was raining so hard in the morning and we knew that the trails were going to be closed again, but we attempted to leave anyway and we got breakfast. It stopped raining some and we were able to make it to the third city Corniglia, which was the only one we had not seen the day before. I think this city was my favorite from what we could see of it. We got amazing gelato in this city and pizza. The gelato place that we went too happened to be one of the places Rick Steve’s had been to. I got coconut and strawberry. That night my friends cooked a really good dinner with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and pesto. In the morning we made our way back to Pisa to get on our flight. To my surprise the Pisa airport security did not harass me. The flight back on RYANAIR seemed a lot longer and we almost died landing. No joke, I thought we were going to crash into a mountain or a house. The flights must be so cheap because the pilots do not know how to fly. I had a lot of fun on this trip and I really glad that I went on it! What am I going to miss most other than the sights? The food.

Bullfights and España game day.

Today I went to the stadium to see where the bullfights were held in Valencia. We did not get to see one because they do not have bullfights until July here, so I will not get to see one in Valencia. In all honesty I am so glad that I do not even have the opportunity to see a bullfight. After learning about them from my culture class and see some videos of them I think it is a horrible sport. But, I guess that that just comes with the culture of this place. Also today was the Spain versus Switzerland for the world cup and I was able to watch the game with the students of the dorm in an auditorium here. Normally I am not someone who enjoys watching sports, but I can genuinely say that I like soccer. Unfortunately we lost 0-1, which was ridiculous because Spain had way better plays. Here is a picture of me at the bullfighting stadium.

Barcelona Weekend!

Where do I begin? For starters I absolutely love this city. It is beautiful and I love the markets and performers everywhere. With that being said I ran into a bunch of crazies. On Las Ramblas (the main street in Barcelona) there were street performers that were cool to see. My friend got picked to go in and part of a street performers act. She and six other people (including a man wearing a pink wig and very sluty women’s clothes) were asked to stand in a line while a performer did flips over them. Also, we went to a fruit Mercado and while we were walking around a guy wearing a thong and a facemask was walking around as if nothing were wrong. To finish off the crazy while four of us were walking down the street we experienced a naked bike parade. There were at least twenty naked people slowly biking around Barcelona. All I can say is ‘only in Barcelona.’
For those of you who want to go to Barcelona let it be known that it cannot be done in a weekend. Although I had a fantastic time, the entire weekend I was overwhelmed because there were so many things to do and something’s just had to be crossed off the list. Friday night we walked around the city and got gelato at a place that was ridiculously over priced, but was so much better than any gelato that I have ever tasted. I had mango, coconut, and nutella gelato. We got to pick three flavors and they would make it into a flower. On Saturday, we woke up early and did the longest and at times boring four-hour tour of the city. I got to see a lot of things, but in a sense I did not really like the bus tour because I feel as though I did not get to experience the city. I only got to see it through a window. I got to see some of the works of Antoni Gaudí and I have never had more appreciation for architecture as I do now. The ideas and the work that this man did are incredible. I was able to see two houses that he designed, park guell, and the sagrada familia. It was incredible. This man truly did his work for the people. The Sagrada Familia was supposed to be a place for people to go worship, but this place is still being constructed. Its estimated to be finished by the year 2030 and was starting to be built in the year 1882. I think that my favorite thing that I saw on this trip was the park guell. I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the park.
On Saturday night a group of around ten of us decided that we wanted to watch the U.S. vs. England soccer game at a pub that the concierge recommended to us. After being lost for 30 minutes we finally found the place and the 50 person long line that went with it and this is when the journey truly began. How do you make ten people in a group happy? The answer is that you can’t. It is absolutely impossible to get ten people to agree on a restaurant within a certain price range and with a T.V. to watch the game. After asking many locals of some places that they would recommend that we go I have learned something about Spaniards. Spaniards have no idea what the names of roads are or the names of places. Therefore, when they say that they know of a really good place that they ‘think’ has a T.V. and is reasonably priced that is a few blocks over and is in front of a bakery do not believe them. You will not find such a place. Do you know how many bakeries are in Barcelona? A lot. And something that does not help narrow it down is that you do not know the name of the bakery or the fictitious restaurant that is supposedly so amazing. After visiting several restaurants that were either to expensive, did not have a T.V had to long of a wait, or they would not let us sit at a table because we were only ordering tapas we had had enough. So where did we end up? Reliable subway. We took the food back the hotel and watched the game on the big screen in the lobby. It was the best decision we could have made.
Overall I had a very good weekend in Barcelona, but honestly I am glad to be back in Valencia. Barcelona is way to busy for me and I feel too uneasy walking the streets. Also, I had another uncomfortable meeting with an old man over here. The old men here are in Spain are very creepy. I tried to let the old man walk in front of me, in which case he paused and said, ‘no guapa tú pases primero.’ Translation: No beautiful you pass first. Then he grabbed my wrist and put his arm around my waist and guided me across the street. F.Y.I people here have absolutely no boundaries.


I could not post a lot of pictures on here from Barcelona, so instead I made a web album to put more pictures. It is http://picasaweb.google.com/berrygm/Barcelona#5482998964144078578 I hope that it works!

Pictures of the Gargoyles

I have better pictures of the weird things that the gargoyles are doing, but you need a zoom to see them.

I hate sand.

Today I went to the beach after class and I officially hate the sand here with a passion. I have taken a total of three showers today. Two of which I tried my best attempt to get all the sand off of my skin and out of my hair. It cannot be done. I am finding sand everywhere in my room and I have one question. Where is it all coming from? How is it that I found sand on a purse that I did not event take with me to the beach? These are all questions that I would like to be answered. I had an interesting experience on the bus ride home today that will never allow me to give any man the benefit of the doubt while I am here in Spain. This old man sat next to me on the bus and proceeded to place his hand on my leg, but not completely it was mostly on his leg (Since he was old I did not think he realized). Not thinking anything about it I kept talking to my friends who were sitting in the seat behind me. After about 20 minutes the man got off of the bus and I made eye contact with him through the window. Rule number 1: Never make eye contact with anyone. While the bus was pulling away he proceeded to blow me a kiss. I am officially scarred for life. From now on I do not care how old you are or how innocent you look I will not be giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. Anyways, my homework for today was to go to a cathedral and take pictures of the gargoyles and zoom in on them to see what they were actually doing. It was very interesting to say the least. I will post pictures later. The group is leaving for Barcelona tomorrow so I will not have access to a computer until Monday. So I will try to post it by then!

What did I learn about myself today?

I have absolutely no desire to go to a soccer stadium even if involves some insight into a different culture. As many of you know, Spain I known for their soccer. For some reason I thought I should pay five Euros to go tour the soccer stadium because I thought that maybe it would be different, I thought that we were getting free t-shirts, and I thought we were going to be able to watch an actual game. I was wrong. We did not do any of those things. All I got to see was the stinky locker rooms and the area where the rich people buy tickets so they can be in the air conditioning. The experience was ridiculous. People were so excited to get their pictures taken in the press area, but not me. I do not understand what the big deal is. I guess for the guys on this trip it was exciting being in the same area that the athletes were, but the soccer players are just people so I do not understand why people think they are so important. Soccer players are just doing their jobs and people get all excited over it. But moving on, in the morning five of us walked to the Ciudad de las artes y ciencias, which is an area where the buildings are very modernistic. I really enjoyed it. It was the longest and the hottest walk I have ever taken. According to Google maps it said that it was 8 miles each way, but it definitely did not feel that long. To finish off the night we went to a zumería, which is a place that makes drinks out of fresh fruit. I had the most amazing strawberry banana smoothie that I have had in my life. Of course it was expensive, but the place had an islandy feel and the drink was amazing. So, am I planning on ever going back to this place? Absolutely. Attached are some pictures from the what I did in the morning, the smoothies we had, and a sign for a restroom that I found rather amusing so I thought I would share. Also, the picture of the thing that kind of looks like a person is actually a kids playground. It was huge. Oh something I forgot. Today there was a national strike because the government is trying to decrease salaries for workers from five to fifteen percent. What does this mean for me? No school!

Vivir sin dormir

My new motto in life. Live without sleep.

Paella.

Last night we went out to celebrate a birthday of one of the girls on the trip. So the 14 of us that stayed in Valencia this weekend took a bus out to the beach to go one of the restaurants out there for some paella. While most people really enjoyed the meal, I am really disappointed to say that I do not like paella. But through this experience the 14 of us figured out how really expensive restaurants work in Spain. They give you bread at the beginning of the meal without asking whether or not you want it and then the make you pay for it. Everyone thought the bread was free. Also, water is not free. I guess I should have seen that one coming. Thirdly, they make you give a fixed tip. In Spain people do not give tips to waiters, so giving a 7% tip here on an already really expensive meal is kind of ridiculous. Oh well. Live and learn. Attached is a picture of the view from our restaurant.

Corpus Christi Parade.

Today, I did not do much because I had homework and studying to do. Even though I have been at it all day I still feel as though I did not get very far. There was a festival in the streets today and not only were we lucky enough to have the parade come to our street, but my balcony was also facing the street that the parade took place on! The parade for Corpus Christi was the longest parade I have ever experienced. A group of us went out in the morning to see the parade on the street because they had a total of three going on throughout the day (one at noon, one at 4:30, and one at 7:30). I really enjoyed the parade and liked how it brought people together. I only wish that I knew a little more information about what was going on through the parade, but I am planning on talking to my culture professor about it tomorrow. My favorite part of the parade was of course the finale because the people in the balconies threw rose petals on the people walking through it was really pretty. People here really went all out for this parade and it seems like the whole city was involved. As I am writing this people are in the streets cleaning the rose petals as well as the sand that was put on the road. It was really cool to watch and take part in the festivities.

Cullera!

Today I had a truly awesome day. The group activity today was to go to a city called Cullera and to climb the mountain to get to see the castle on top (it was not ruins like the last one). To be honest I did not really love the castle and it was closed so I was pretty disappointed. But, the view from the top of the mountain was beautiful and made the trip totally worth it. It had a beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea and we were able to eat lunch by the castle. The only thing that I did not like about today was how hot it was. There was not a single cloud in the sky. When we left the castle we went down to the beach. On the way down the mountain I found my future home overlooking the beautiful blue ocean. It was amazing. The beach was perfect give or take a few creepers. To finish off the day we went for gelato. I got coconut and mango-pineapple. Both flavors were amazing. I wish I could send some back to the U.S. Above are pictures from my day as well as one of my future homes that is for sale right now. When do we move in?

Let's Salsa!

Today I learned about how much rhythm I do not have. I attempted to learn how to salsa, but I swear I have two left feet. We learned how to do the steps ourselves and then when we got paired with our partners I was then told that the steps for the girls were backwards from what we were taught. I mean I was already having issues with the original steps, but then I had to try to do them backwards. Let’s just say that I was not as successful with the steps as I would have hoped and the sense of rhythm that is supposed to run through Cuban veins does not apply to me. On a side note, on the way to school this morning a woman on the street gave me and the other three girls I was walking with a very rude/deathly look. But, it was not just a look, but instead it was a stop in the middle of the sidewalk and glare until we walked past her. Some people here are so rude. The picture attached is one of the buildings that I pass on the way back to the dorms. If I see this building I am not only self-assured that I am going in the right direction, but also that I am really close!

The food.

For the first time in my life I am thinking very seriously about becoming a vegetarian (at least temporarily). People eat so many animals over here. I feel as though nothing is off limits. From snails to rabbit anything is fair game. Tonight at dinner our meat option for the main platter was ‘conejo’ or in English rabbit. It was on the bone and you could definitely see that they were the rabbit’s hind legs. I understand that I am in a different country and I need to try new things, but I just could not bring myself to actually eat it. I feel kind of hypocritical since I do eat other animals such as chicken. So this makes me think that I should just give up meat all together? This is not the first time I have thought about this on this trip because one of the first things you realize when you come here is that Spaniards’ solution for every meal is meat. Yes mainly ham, which I can deal with, but when you sit down with a meal from the dining hall and you just do not know what you are going to get. Since when is ‘meat paste’ considered something edible? I almost would rather take away that mystery of my life and give up animals all together. I will have to sleep on it to see what will come of this situation, but I am seriously leaning towards the no meat option.

Cinque Terre here we come!

The past few days I have not really done much except go to class. Yesterday I went the festival of nations, which was in the ‘rio’ (a river that once existed, but is now dried up so they made it a park). The festival was not what I expected at all. They had different booths from different countries, but the jewelry and clothes at each booth began to look very similar to each other after a while. So honestly I am not sure how legitimate the festival of the nations was. For example, one of the pictures posted is the booth that represented Ecuador. Apparently the only thing that Ecuador has to show for their country is Sponge Bob, which in itself is a bit odd. Something that was cool about the festival is that they had restaurants from places all around the world. A few of us went to ‘France’ to share a delicious chocolate and banana crepe. Also, one of the men there was from a Mayan civilization and he was talking to us about his chocolate that was made from pure cocoa beans. It was really good and interesting. He had an entire display that he was beginning to mold things out of the pure chocolate that the Mayan civilization had made. Also, we were finally able to finalize our plans to our trip to Pisa! On the 17th we are flying into Pisa, Italy and staying there for a night. Then we are taking a train to Cinque Terre where we are going to be walking through the five little cities that they have there. If you have not heard of this place you should Google it. It is really pretty. On a side note, I am having a lot more trouble balancing school and fun here. It is hard to cram an entire semester’s worth of information into six weeks and what makes it harder is trying to balance it in another country where you want to spend your time doing things rather than staying inside and doing homework. The pictures uploaded are from el rio and the one that looks like a castle is something that I saw on my walk back to the dorms.

Día 10- Castillo!

Woke up early to go the Castillo Romano de Sagunto. It is a castle in a city called Sagunto. The people in the castle fought General Hannabil in 219 B.C. four months waiting for the Romans to come and help them. But, they got defeated after four months because the Romans never came. The caste itself was beautiful. The walk up was a little rough since we had to walk up a mountain to get there, but it was worth it. Mistake number one of my day? Do not wear sandals when you are going to visit a very old castle and that is on top of a mountain. I do not know what I was expecting to see and why I wore a dress and sandals, but it was definitely the wrong way to go. But, all that matters is that I made it without falling on my face or hurting myself. So that is a victory in itself. To get to the castle we took a train, which was the first time I had been on a train that was not considered a metro. Someone came around and checked for your tickets and everything, which is something I have personally never experienced. It was interesting.