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!!
