London Calling

We arrived in England at 6:30 am, took a 2 hour bus to London, found our way on the tube, had a bag lost, and finally made it Richard’s (my aunts friends) apartment around 11:30.  After we settled in we had some shopping to do because Gweneth lost her bag (long story- but the tube ate it..).  After shopping we headed to Chipotle, it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten!

After Chipotle we headed to Notting Hill to check out the market. It was busteling with people and there were so many goodies to choose from.  We could barely move in the street but it was fun none the less. 

After the market, we went to Covent Garden (I was having issues pronouncing this whilst in London but now I think I have it under control!).  At the Garden we watched street performers, took pictures in telephone booths, and enjoyed the atmosphere. 

After Covent Garden we headed back to the flat where we were graciously welcomed by homemade risotto and guacamole made by Richard and his lovely wife Iona.  We spent the evening talking in Spanish, reviewing my theatre lines, and sleeping.  The next morning we got up, did some souvenir shopping, and went on another free walking tour of London.  We saw all of the important sights.  Everything was madness because of the Royal Wedding that is taking place this Friday and it was fun to see all of the excitement.  P.s. If you are interested in having any item you want with William and Kate on it, go to London, you can get anything from tissues to wall hanging portraits.  People are obsessed.  The walking tour was very informative however later in the evening we found out that our tour guide, James, had told us some incorrect information… After the tour we went out for some fish and chips that were not up to par, good thing that I had them again that night and they were delicious.  When we returned to the flat, we made our way to Primrose Park that holds the best overall view of London and is 5 minutes from where we were staying.  We wandered through the residential streets and went to dinner with Richard and Iona.  We spent the rest of the evening relaxing as we had an early taxi the next day to the airport. 

Amsterdam

After our two hour train ride we hopped over to our hostel.  Known as the Flying Pig, it is a very popular place to stay in Amsterdam.  Our room housed 24 people, yep that’s right 24.  It was quite the experience and am very glad that I hopefully never have to stay in a hostel ever again! It was dinner time when we arrived so we wandered around the streets looking for some grub and settled on the ever so delicious Subway.  We had an early night and hung out in the hostel making new friends.  The next day Shannon and I got up and made our way to the Anne Frank Museum but didn’t go in because of the 3 hour wait.  There was a carnival going on in the main square, next to Madam Tussaud, and it was filled with people even at 10 in the morning.  We went back to the hostel for awhile and decided to take a long walk towards the I Amsterdam sign.  It is not as impressive as I once imagined, pretty small but overall very exciting.  We laid in parks, talked, and wandered.  The day we were headed to London proved to be the most eventful day of all.  We woke up early to catch our boat, not knowing that it took around 1.5 hours to get to the port, we were running a little late.  Did anyone know that you had to check in 45 minutes early for a boat? Because we certainly did not.  We arrived at 2:15 for our 2:30 departure and were told we could not travel on that boat.  We had to stay in the port terminal all day waiting for the next boat to leave (which didn’t until 10:30 pm).  We had to purchase a cabin and literally went to bed in Amsterdam and woke up in London.  It was a pretty cool experience and in some cases I’m glad that we missed the first boat!

Bruges and Brussels

From Paris we took a 3 hour train to Bruges.  My mom is obsessed with this place and told me it was a must see.  And after seeing the movie “In Bruges” I decided to give it a shot.  Like they say, “It’s a f***ing fairy tale”.  At the train station we were directed to take a bus and tell the driver “Snuffel Stop, please” as this was the name of our hostel and it was well known because the town only has about 20 people living in it!

This place was beautiful. The city center had a carnival going on and there were rides and lots of food.  We took part in the waffle eating! We wandered around the city, which was filled with tourists, fry shops, beer, and precious buildings.

We went out for some authentic Italian food (not!) which was actually very delicious and went to bed early seeing as there was nothing to do in the very small town!

The next day we were on our way to Brussels.  Our hostel was very nice and next door to a very nice underground ish mall which made it very easy to find! We checked in, changed, and headed out.  We wandered around for a long time, got lost, found our way, and kept wandering.  We saw all of the major landmarks of Brussels but overall were not thoroughly impressed by the city. The mascot, if you will, of Brussels is called Manneken Pis, which is quite literally a little boy peeing.  Because of all the hype about this statue, my friends and I believed it was going to be a massive, or at least life size boy. Boy, were we wrong.  The thing is about the size of my forearm and the crowd around it wasn’t very happy about that!

In the afternoon, Shannon and I decided to walk down “Creativity Street” because our map suggested it.  It was nothing creative at all, unless you consider the outfits that the prostitutes were wearing.  Shannon and I watched the interactions that occurred between the prostitutes and the men walking by for about an hour before we decided that it was time to eat!

That night we went out for some kebabs, then ice cream.  The service was so bad at the ice cream restaurant that we dined and dashed!! I feel really guilty but when you think about it, it’s really the restaurants fault for never paying attention to us! They’re loss! After the robbery, we went to see a movie! It was really exciting because I love going to the movies and it had been so long since I had seen one.  We saw Scream 4 which was actually good! The next day we were waiting for our train to Amsterdam so we went to the grocery store, picked up some bread and cream cheese and headed to the botanical gardens for a picnic. After our picnic we went to the Guiness Book of World Record winning bar.  This bar has over 2,500 types of beers and over 400 on tap. It was insane but a great experience!

Onward to Amsterdam!

Paris, Paris!

I had quite the eventful Spring Break.  When I told everyone all the places I was going to they were in shock! But we managed to get everywhere (not on time) and see all of the beautiful places of Paris, Bruges, Brussels, Amsterdam, and London!

We arrived in the Paris airport where Gweneth’s former exchange student and her roommate picked us up. We took a taxi to the best place in Paris to view the Eiffel Tower.  They brought us champagne and sandwiches and we soaked in the Parisian lifestyle while watching the beautiful hourly lights of the famous Eiffel Tower.

After our drinks we headed back to their flat on the metro.  It is funny because there are a couple of metro lines in Paris that actually run above ground and are known to have some of the best views of the city! They’re apartment was very nice and it was a free place to stay! Which was very nice of them! We hung out at their flat all night and talked (they loved practicing their English with us!) The next day we got some much needed sleep and made our way to the free walking tour of Paris, where we walked around for 4 hours and saw all of the main sights of Paris (Notre Dame, the Seine, the Louvre, the Arc de Triumph, beautiful gardens, and much more – photos on facebook).

 They have these free walking tours all over Europe and they are a really great way to see the cities and although they are advertised as free the guides do appreciate tips at the end of the tour.  After the walking tour we headed back to the flat for some resting before dinner.  We went to Montmarc (sp?) to a great fondue restaurant.  We had to climb over the table to get into the booth, we drank wine out of baby bottles, and we wrote our names on the wall, needless to say this was an unforgettable meal!

After dinner we headed up about 3486209 stairs to a precious area and had some crepes before headed to bed.  The next morning, we slept in again, of course, had some breakfast and headed out.  We stopped for some sandwiches and were on our way to Monmarc again for a picnic.  This area was in the red light district which is a very popular place for the Parisians! That night it was a friend’s birthday so we went out to Brazilian food and then to a private club for some dancing!

Sunday morning we arose at the crack of 1 and made our way to the Eiffel Tower Park to meet my friend Avery (who is studying in Paris for the semester). We had an excellent afternoon lounging in the grass, watching people make out, and staring at a beautiful landmark. 

That night we took out our new friends/people who let us stay with them for some delicious crepes.  You have to eat two when you go out to eat, one savory and one sweet, and who am I to argue with the French?

PRAGA!

I made my way to the airport all by myself! I had to get on a bus, get off the bus, walk over the freeway and get on another bus. And I DID IT! I felt very accomplished.  I made my way to Prague, but not before a layover in Frankfurt, Germany.  Does it count as having been to Germany if you were in the airport for a combined total of 2 hours? I think yes, I did touch the tarmac… Shila and her friend picked me up at the airport and we headed back to her dorm, which is an old palace in the middle of the forest.  So beautiful.  They take public transportation (buses, trams, metros) everywhere, but there’s a catch. Most people pay to ride them but there are people who do not, a.k.a. me and Shila’s friends.  Every once and awhile a policeman will come and check to see if you have a ticket and if you don’t they fine you about $60.  Thank god I wasn’t caught!! The first night we were all really tired so we ate some good old fashion KFC, wandered around the city a little bit and went back to the dorm and hung out. 

                The next morning we woke up at the disgustingly early hour of 11 and went exploring. We saw the Lennon Wall, Love Locks, St. Charles bridge, the castle, St. Wenceslas Square, and many more cool places.  We wandered, ate Kebabs (obviously), had some delicious ice cream, people watched, and enjoyed each other’s company.  That night we went on a pub crawl which was really fun! We went to 4 different bars and one big night club at the end.  Most everyone was American and I even got a t-shirt out of it! Before the pub crawl I ate a Czech specialty, a fried cheese sandwich. It was delicious, I want one now.

 

                The next day we did close to the same thing.  We went to a festival next to the astrological clock and I had a Czech churro type thing and some black beer (not my favorite).  Every building is literally beautiful and unique (America sucks!).  Saturday night we went to one of Shila’s friend’s birthday parties which was fun, they had cheese so I hung out by that all night.  We went back to the dorm early because I had to wake up at 7 am to catch my flight.  Always a bad choice to have early flights.  It has been a long day of traveling and I am very tired but since I am so studious I am going to do my homework!

                Spring break on Thursday and home in 4 weeks!!!

Barca Barca!!

Thursday during class, Laura, Shannon and I couldn’t understand why we decided to purchase a flight that didn’t leave until 9:45 pm, but we boarded the flight anyway.  We didn’t reach our hostel, which was off of Las Ramblas, in a sketchy Arab neighborhood, until around 12:30 am.  So we checked in and went to sleep for the night.  The next morning we woke up to the other 12 people in our room finagling around preparing for the day.  We made our way to the common room where we eat Nutella on toast and chatted with our fellow hostel goers. After breakfast we headed out to find the hop on hop off bus tour.  We each paid 22 Euros for this excursion and it was totally worth it.  The bus took us all around Barcelona: to Park Guel, the Sagrada Familia, the FC Barcelona stadium, and even the beach.  We got off on most of the stops to take pictures and relax.  After a long day in the sun, we headed back to the hostel for some resting, dinner, and showers.  We were all very sunburned from the day on the open top of the bus and showering hurt! We made some friends at the hostel and went out to a nice fast food Asian food place with them for dinner, it was called Wok to Walk, get it? It was delicious; I miss Asian food in my life. After dinner we all got ready for the evening and ventured onward toward the beach.  All of the cool clubs are located along the beach and Friday night we went to one called Shoko and danced until 4:30 am!! Party animals!

                The next morning we woke up bright and early and decided to head to the famous Barcelona market to get some snacks and head to the beach.  We wandered the market, got some fruit, bread, pesto, gelato, and more! We wandered the Gothic area for a little, noticing the beautiful architecture.  We headed toward the beach, but since the beach was quite far we settled for the bay.  We watched the sail boats and kayaks go by, watched people kissing with no care in the world as to who was watching, and munched on our snacks.  Later, we got up and walked along the harbor and noticed a large ski jump set up.  We sat by the harbor, people watching, waiting for the extravaganza to begin, however we did not know yet what was actually going to happen.  A couple hours and a nap later, the show began.  Crazy skiers and snowboarders walked up the plastic ramp and, one by one, they skied down, did a flip, and landed into the disgusting harbor water (they weren’t even protected or anything!) GROSS! So we waiting about 3 hours for the 10 minute show, but I thought it was fun!

                After we were all sunburned and tired, we headed back to the hostel, but not before we stopped to get some much needed Subway (they don’t have it in Madrid). It was perfect, the best sandwich I had ever had! That night we hung out with the people in the hostel in the common area before headed back to the club area, but this night we went to a club call Opium Mar (get it, like the beach) and danced the night away there again.  After the club my hostel friends and I hung out on the beach for awhile, my purse got stolen, I got it back, and then we headed back to go catch a couple hours of sleep before our very early plane ride the next morning.

                Overall, Barcelona was a success and is an absolutely beautiful city.

                On Monday the Arizona kids went on a field trip to learn to cook some authentic Spanish cuisine.  We cooked Salmoreja (which is very similar to Gazpacho), paella, tortilla Espanola (sort of like an omelets), and bunelos de manzana (which is an apple covered in batter and fried, like an apple donut).  I am very glad I learned to cook some Spanish food since I haven’t and I’ve been here for so long.  Also, last night (Tuesday) my host mom and I cooked 3 whole tortilla espanolas, and she told me that I was a wonderful cook!! I’m learning already.

                In fact, I’m going to go eat one right now!

Arizona trip, Don Quixote, Amy visit, Venice/ Milan

Arizona Trip- A couple of weeks ago my Arizona director (which is also one of my teachers) took all of the Arizona kids on a weekend trip to the old Roman towns of Spain. It was just about exciting as that sounds.  The towns were called Merida, Caceres, and Trujillo and they are in the west of Spain, close to Portugal. They were all very pretty except that it was pouring rain the entire time we were there, which proved to be the case for all of my weekend trips thus far.  We spent the days walking through architecture museums and a dilapidated Roman theatre.  In Caceres we met up with students from the University of Iowa (or something) and they took us out on the town (which was nothing compared to Alcala).  The hotel was very nice (way to go U of A) and overall it was pretty fun trip.  I got to know everyone really well and am really glad we went.

La Mancha- For every class you take at The University of Alcala, they take you on two field trips.  They are all somewhat boring but necessary to see for the topics of our class.  Last Friday, for my literature class, we went to La Mancha which is where Cervantes picked up his idea to write Don Quixote de La Mancha. The town was extremely small except for a mountain which housed a massive castle, and three very large windmills.  The trip was overall pointless but the windmills were very cool.  Side note: they were originally used to crush oats!  The trip consisted of driving for 3 hours, walking around the castle for an hour, taking pictures of windmills, and driving back for 3 hours.  But all of the driving didn’t matter because that night AMY CAME!

Amy Visit- After my long bus ride, my friend Laura and I hopped on the train and headed to Madrid to see Aunt Amy.  She stayed in a beautiful hotel right next to the Puerta de Alcala (which is a massive arch way in the middle of the street and if you were to follow that street it would lead you to where I live, Alcala de Henares).  We woke her up from her much needed siesta (it’s a long plane ride) and headed out to dinner.  We went to an amazing restaurant called Bazaar which literally had a line out the door by the time it opened.  We had delicious salads, fish, and lots of dessert! After dinner I showed her around the beautiful Madrid at night time (which is really the best time to see the city).  Around 12 we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our 6:30 am wake up call to catch the plane to Granada. 

                Flying to Granada is much easier than taking the bus, let me tell you.  The flight was around 50 minutes, whereas the bus ride is 5 ½ hours. OUCH! Considering we had an 8 am flight we got into the south of Spain around 9.  Our hotel was literally in the Alhambra walls and was absolutely beautiful.  The last time I went to Granada it was raining and gloomy but this time it was sunny and inviting (making it a much more enjoyable experience).  We headed straight out to the Gardens of the Alhambra and wandered around for around an hour before headed to get some grub.  We went to a restaurant in the walls and I shared my plate of cod with two cats who sat under my table the whole meal (I wonder why?).  After lunch we took a siesta, showered, and headed into the Palace for the 6:30 entry.  This is absolutely the best time to see the grounds, the sun hits everything perfectly and the walls turn to red.  The surrounding city is gorgeous and we came across a quote on one of the walls “The biggest shame is to be blind in Granada” (it was in Spanish of course).  This quote is perfect because no one should miss out on the amazing view and beauty of this city. After the tour of the Palaces we headed out to dinner and to a flamenco show.  We went to a famous fish restaurant and ate our hearts out (which proved to be a bad idea later).  The flamenco show was ridiculous, there was one dancer (only wearing black), and 4 musicians.  I can’t quite do it justice without actually having you see the show but in short, it wasn’t what we expected!

                The next morning I woke up very sick and could barely move.  But we got up anyway and went to the Alhambra for our last time of the trip.  Amy thought it was a good idea to buy 5 different entries into the castle, don’t ask me why! We spent the day in the relaxation room of the hotel before our plane ride back to Madrid.  When we landed we headed to Alcala.  We walked through the Plaza at night, which is always beautiful.  The next morning we both woke up very ill and couldn’t understand why.  I went to class and came back to the hotel and slept for the rest of the day.  We were both so sick and stayed in the hotel room for 2 whole days.  By the time Tuesday rolled around Amy felt better and decided to go back to Madrid for the night (which she was supposed to do on Monday).  She saw all the museums on Wednesday while I was in class and then Laura and I met her in Madrid again for one last amazing Thai food meal before we both headed off in separate directions.  She was off to New York and I was off to Venice!

Venice/Milan- Oh my god! Venice is amazing.  The airport shuttle dropped us off on the Grand Canal where the public transportation system, a ferry, took us to our “destination”. After getting lost for 2 hours we finally found our hostel.  Did you know that Venice has 6 different streets named Traghetto, in completely different parts of the city? I DO! The hostel was questionable and we went ran out to find some Italian grub before everything closed.  We ended up going to this amazing place where we had pizza, pasta, vino, and tiramisu.  It was delicious and a perfect first meal in Italy.  After dinner we headed back to the hotel and tried to sleep.  I was sharing a bunk bed with someone I didn’t know and when she moved, I moved, and vice versa.  The comforter had some sort of blood on it and Laura and I both had dreams that we were going to be eaten alive by spiders.  Finally, morning came and we went out on the town.  We wandered around, which is what every travel website told us to do.  We saw the Basilica, got lost, watched the Gondolas go by, and ate lots of food and gelato.  The city is beautiful but all of the buildings along the canal have a lot of water damage.  I read somewhere than in 10 or so years the city of Venice is going to start adding a tax for tourists to decrease the number of people on the island considering it is literally sinking.  Everything in Venice was very expensive (sorry mom) because they have to ship everything from somewhere else! After having some free Bellini’s on the Grand Canal, we headed back to the hostel to have dinner with everyone.  This night proved to be way more fun that the last one.  We actually talked to the people staying in our room, they were all great.  Dinner was really fun, we had homemade polenta and cheesecake because it was one of the hostel workers birthdays.  After dinner we all headed out on the town!  The next day we were off to Milan!

                Milan is beautiful! I could totally live there.  Looks kind of like New York, but a little more European obviously! The Duomo is massive to say the least.  All of the shopping (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani, etc.) made me melt.  I wish I could buy everything in the stores! We spent the day there wandering, eating a picnic in the park (the cheapest meal we had), and enjoying the city.  All of the people in Italy are beautiful.  We witnessed a wedding while sitting in the park and everything seemed so fun! We had amazing meals here too. I probably gained about 5 pounds in one weekend but who cares!

                Alright that’s it for now!!

Midterms and Sevilla!

Last week I had midterms.  I spent my time studying in cafe's that had wifi and worked very hard! All the studying paid off becuase I did very well on all of my midterms, which was a relief.  After midterms my friend Shannon and I headed to Sevilla for a couple of days.  It was absolutely beautiful and I would love to go back someday.  The hostel was fantastic, fun people, free breakfast, comfy bed, what else can you ask for? We went on a free walking tour which was awesome, it was about 3 hours and we literally saw just about everything in Sevilla.  The tour guide was from California and she just decided to move to Sevilla one day!! Crazy!
Everything in Sevilla is breath taking: the streets, the buildings, and even the people (way more attractive than in Madrid).  I learned about all of the history of this once port town.  The queen who funded Christopher Columbus's journey to "America" (Queen Isabel) was having a fling with Chris whilst married to the king of Spain, classy!  The cathedral is absolutely astounding and has stood the test of time, and three reins of power (the Moors, the Catholics, and the Romans- not necessarily in that order).  The Plaza Espana was built as a way of saying "sorry we murdered all of your people in the past, let's be friends now!" The building worked and re-kindled happiness in Europe once again.  After the walking tour, we had some kebabs (my favorite) even though they arent really kebabs, just a falafel wrap but everyone here calls them Kebabs (happy mom?!).  We headed back to the hostel and relaxed for a bit and planned on going to a free flamanco show but ended up falling asleep instead.  P.s. I forgot my camera in Alcala while in Sevilla so currently I don't have any pictures, but I will be stealing them from Shannon soon!
Overall, great weekend in Sevilla.  Relaxing, except for the 14 or so miles I probably walked!!
Yesterday was my birthday!!! The big 2-0, im going to be a grandma soon!
I spent my birthday in class for 6 hours, that was wonderful, NOT.
My host family bought me a red jelwrey set which was very nice of them, and they made me a tarta!! (kind of like flan).
I went out on the town last night with all of my new friends and had a blast! (pictures to come soon)
My weekend plans for the rest of the semester:
3-11: Trip to the Roman ruins of Spain with my Arizona group and leader
3-18: Aunt Amy comes to Madrid!!
3-24: Venice and Milan with Laura
3-31: Barcelona with Shannon and Laura (possibly Jordan!)
4-8: Prague with Jordan to visit Shila
4-14-25: Spring Break: Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, and London with Shannon and Gweneth
4-29: Last weekend in Alcala
5-6: HOME!

Pardo, Escorial, Salamanca

This past Friday, my school took us on a trip to visit the Pardo and the Monestary of Escorial.  First, a little history.  Spain was ruled under a dictatorship up until 1975 (wow!).  The only reason the totalitarianism ended was because Franco (the dictator) died.  The Pardo is where Franco spent many years of his reign.  The palace was enormous and way too big for any human being.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the building, except for in one room, but here are a couple. 

After the visit to the Pardo, we headed to the Monestary in Escorial.  The town was beautiful and there was plently of snow on the mountain tops.  The building that we visited is very important to the history of Spain.  It was built where a battle was one against France (i'm not sure which one! sorry!!). The building is massive and many kings and queens have lived in the place.  The most important fact about the Monestary is that all of the previous kings and queens are buried in the way underground of the building in a massive tomb.  A very creepy room that i was not allowed to snag a picture of. But here isa a picture of the outside grounds!

The next morning I had to wake up bright and early at 6:30 in order to catch a bus to Salamanca to visit Jordan!! I went with my two friends and it was very fun! We visited the Casa de las Conchas (house of the shells/ picture below) which Fodors said was great but ended up being a well in the middle of the library (but the wall was cool!) There's a legend in Salamanca (since it is such a big college town) that if you find the frog on this massive university building you will be blessed with good luck academically.  The frog was impossible to find and I needed the help from Jordan but I saw it and am hoping for good luck in the years to come!! The building wall is filled with hundreds of tiny statues and it turns out the frog is on the head of a skull in the very corner of the building.  After we visited the frog, we went back to our hostel (which we shared with 7 other people whom we did not know) to rest for a little bit before heading out into the night.  We went to Plaza Mayor (picture below) to watch the Real Madrid game in an Irish Pub, did some tapa crawling, and ended up going home early because of our lengthy weekend before!

Roommate Reunion!

This weekend I ventured to Madrid to meet my friends/old roomates (Shila, Girl Jordan, and Stacy!). I left Alcala de Henares around 4 (after dealing with a hostel crisis and having to book a new one of the spot) to go meet Jordan at the train station (where she came from Salamanca, which is a city in Spain but very close to Portugal).  We went to the hostel, which ended up being a massive apartment with 6 beds, a couch, kitchen, and two bathrooms all for just 3 girls!  We quickly made our way to the airport to fetch Shila since she does not know Madrid like the back of her hand like I do!! After we waited for about 20 minutes, we greeted her at the baggage claim and headed for the hostel.  After getting a bit lost we managed to make it back and had to get ready quickly becuase my friends from school and some friends we met on another trip to Madrid were going out for tapas before heading into the night.  Tapas were good, I tried bull soup, I didn't have any of the meat but the liquid tasted just like beef stew! After tapas we headed to Kapital for the second time and had a good time there for the night. 
The next morning we had to get up early and check out and move to a new hostel because the two weren't available for two nights in a row.  The new hostel was very small but also quite nice as well.  We rested for a little bit and then headed out on the town.  We wandered around and met up with my friend Stacy and her 9 friends.  We went out to a great lunch! I had salad and some sort of fish! After lunch we went back to the hotel to rest.  When it was time to leave again I decided to show them cultural parts of Madrid.  We went to the terrace of a beautiful theatre and looked at the panaramic view of the city (I also did this with my parents when they came!).  After that I showed them the Palace Hotel (now owned by the Westin).  This hotel was designed by the same man that designed the Titanic and the two share very similar features.  After that we made our way to the Reina Sofia museum of modern art where I showed them the famous Guernica by Picasso and other famous pieces of art.  We were all very hungry and did not have a lot of money so we stopped for kebabs and pizza and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night.  Saturday night we went to a club called Pacha and spent our time there until 5 am!!! We came back to the hostel and slept until we had to get up for early check out and headed into the city.  We wandered for a bit, exchanged some crowns for euros (for Shila who is studying in Prague), and went to the supermarket called Corte Ingles. There we bought baguettes and cream cheese and more cheese! I had a cream cheese on cheese sandwich.  I'm cheese girl! We sat in a coffee shop for a couple of hours because it was warm.  (It was cold and rainy on Sunday).  When it was time to leave I showed Shila how to get the airport, showed Jordan how to get to the bus station, and made my way back to Alcala by train.
All around successful weekend!!!

Plans!!!

Mommy and daddy left today :( We shared some tears in the hotel lobby then I made my way to school. I miss them already but I will see them soon!!
Today I started talking to my friends about potential weekend trip ideas! We have a lot of mandatory Friday excursions with school that are getting in the way of our free time (which is annoying) but thats ok, culture is good too! I'm heading to Madrid (again) this weekend to visit my good friend Stacy and my roommate Jordan who are coming in town for the weekend and i'm very excited about that.  Now that I know Madrid like the back of my hand it should be fun! I'm going to be the tour guide this weekend (proud Mom?).  We have a couple trips planned this month but we are booking our trip to Barcelona tomorrow for the weekend of March 31! We are also gunna head to Segovia for the day after class in a couple of weeks! We also are going to Sevilla, Venice, and hopefully Interlaken!

ADIOS!

MOMMY AND DADDY ARE HERE!

I woke up at 7 am Thursday morning from excitement because I knew I would be meeting my parents soon.  I haven't gone this long without seeing them my whole life and I needed a little parent fix! I took the train all alone with all of my luggage to Madrid and found the hotel like a true Spaniard.  They were waiting in the lobby with me and my mom wasted no time schlepping us to our first museum, the world renown Prado.  It was beautiful.  After that we hopped on the hop-on-hop-off bus tour where I got a wonderful view of Madrid, while both of my loving parents napped..We got off after the tour ended and I took them to my favorite restaurant in Madrid for some paella and some huevos estrellados (eggs and french fries).  They loved it! After we were full from lunch we decided to hop back on the bus since the baby's had been sleeping the last time, and who would have thought, they slept again... That was enough excitement for one day for the jet lagged folks so we headed back to the hotel so they could get some rest.  We put dad to bed in his own hotel room (fancy huh?), and mom had her second wind and we decided to hit the town. We wanted to go to Javier Bardems' family's restaurant so we hopped in a cab, but once we got there it smelled and it was empty so we decided to take our chances on something else. We wandered into this wine (gay) bar that was delicious and was super busy by 9 o clock.  After we ate it was time to hit the hay.
We woke up around 9 to a call from my dad who slept for 15 hours the night before.  We headed out to breakfast and then to the Reina Sofia museum (modern art), then wandered and found an amazing restaurant where we had fried cheese with strawberry sauce, cheese that looked like a flower, delicious salad, eggplant, and salmon ravioli!  After lunch we shopped a bit and I bought a very cute purse! Then we came back to the hotel and took a much needed Spaniard siesta!!! Now, we are heading out for a tapas tour where we will go to 4 tapas restaurants woo!!
Toledo Tomorrow!!
Adios!

Granada!

Just got back from an amazing weekend in Granada.  This small city in the south of Spain is one of the largest tourist attractions in the world, all because of a little castle on a hill. Just kidding.  The thing is massive, the grounds are about 5 miles in diameter and come equipped with bath houses, prostitute houses, fountains, living quarters, and one BIG castle. The whole area has a panoramic view of the entire city of Granada and I could even spot the crane that was next door to my hostal!! Even though we trekked through the Alhambra in the pouring rain it was an amazing experience and I recommend it to everyone! In addition to the castle, we wandered around town, like the cultured students we are, and spotted beautiful cathedrals, pastelerias (pastry shops), tapas bars, flower filled squares, and even a children's carosel (I wanted to go on but I was too big :( ). The rest of the trip was filled with eating and discotechas (my new favorite activity)!  I will post pictures on facebook later!!

Party Animal

After a 40 minute train ride and an hour waiting at a Pub across the street, we finally made it to Kapital (the hottest night club in Madrid).  This 7-story dance party is nothing but ordinary.  Hundreds of people filled the stair cases as hundreds more were dancing into the wee hours of the morning.  Each floor had different types of music to appeal to anyone and everyone.  I enjoyed dancing and lounging with my friends! After the club closed at 6 am, us party animals (and just about everyone else at the club) headed across the street to a Kabob restaurant where I had the most delicious falafal wrap and french fries (what a combo!).  After a long train ride back to Alcala I managed to hit the hay around 7:30am! Just call me Party Animal!

Today  it was decided that the Arizona crew would make our way down to Granada this upcoming weekend to visit the Alhambra and everything else the wonderful city has to offer.  I am very excited! Hostel booked at all (it's really official).  Now I just need Mommy to help me find some fun stuff to do! She knows everything!

 After a long, hard day of napping and planning my exotic life, i'm off to have some paella for dinner and catch some zzz's...