Siempre viviendo, siempre aprendiendo

It all comes down to this...

Fri, 25 May 2012 01:41:00 +0200

Today was my last day in Granada. How crazy is that? It feels like just yesterday that I was looking at colleges & checking to make sure that they had study abroad programs to Spain, & now the whole adventure is drawing to a close. The only reason I haven’t been a sobbing emotional mess all day (well, truth be told, I am now…) is because I’ve been choosing not to believe it just yet. I’m still here, right?

I woke up this morning thinking that this would be an epic day & I would end the semester with a bang, but I spent the day doing regular things like sitting in the park, eating ice cream, visiting the AIFS office & chatting with my family at the kitchen table. It’s funny how you can spend five months traveling to all these amazing places seeing all of these incredible things, but in the end, what you remember is the relationships that you’ve made with people that will carry on through the rest of your life. And now that I’ve given the final goodbye hugs to most of the people I love the most, I’m starting to realize just how much they’ve meant to me.

Anyway, it’s impossible to sum up my entire semester in one blog, but I’ve been making a list all the things I want to include in my final blog, so without further ado, here are my thoughts on the last five months — in list form!

Favorite Spanish words

Tontería: a stupid thing (The reason I find it so funny is that the suffix -ía in Spanish is what you use for stores generally, so it kind of translates to “stupid store.” And it just works for so many things, I love it!)
Rincón: corner, like of a room (I think it’s a adorable word!)
Gilipollas: an idiot (It makes a good insult, & it’s so very Spanish.)
Nena: little girl, but also used as a term of endearment between mothers & daughters or friends (I LOVE THIS WORD. The word for a boy in nene but that’s not as cute, in my opinion.)

All the ways that I got to say “Thank you” during my travels

Gracias (Spanish)
Merci (French, in Switzerland & France)
Grazie (Italian)
Hvala (both Croatian & Slovenian)
Shukran (Arabic, in Morocco)
Cheers (okay, it’s English, but it only means “thank you” in England)
Obrigado (Portuguese)

Favorite moments

Dancing on the Sea Organ in Zadar, Croatia with Hollie, Gabe, Kendall & Alexis
Soaking up the sun on the beach in Nerja with my family
The crazy night of bad words, a photo shoot & flamenco dancing with my host family & the French boys
Talking through the family drama with Josefina (host mom) & Esther (host sister) & feeling closer because of it
Paula’s wonderful TLC when she brought me to the hospital on Easter Sunday
The amazing contentment I felt on the boat in Geneva, Switzerland with the wind in my hair
Sightseeing in the gorgeous town of Chefchaouen, Morocco with Mr. Toto, the adorable old man who was our tour guide
Hearing anyone with a British accent :)
Stopping to listen to a guy with a guitar sing Beatles covers by the bay in Barcelona with Hollie
Laughing about the cultural & language differences with Bonnie, Manolo & María over tapas every week
Literally five minutes ago when I saw the note that my host mom Josefina left for me & Hollie that told us to leave our keys on the table, then wished us a good journey tomorrow & told us “We love you!”

The only thing that’s keeping me from curling up in the fetal position right now & never coming out of it is the thought that it’s never “goodbye,” just “see you later.” Right now I don’t know if that’s true, because in all honesty, I don’t know when I’ll be able to come back to Spain, but it’s the hope that keeps me going! That & the fact that it just doesn’t seem real that I’m leaving in four hours for home. Is this real? I don’t think it is…

Anyway, I guess I want to end with what I learned this semester. So here goes nothing:

A language cannot be learned without learning the culture too. They go hand-in-hand.
It’s possible to like anyone if you spend enough time with them. But if you spend too much time with them, you’re bound to get sick of them. Time away from people is necessary.
Deodorant SUCKS in Europe. If you ever come here, bring your own.
One of my goals this semester was to learn a new way to worship God, & I realized that one of the best ways I can do that is just rejoice in the glorious creation he’s made, like the gorgeous blooming flowers at Parque García Lorca, the amazing view of the Alhambra from the Albaicín, or the wonder of the snow softly covering the mountains. To realize the true beauty of nature is to realize to true beauty of God.
If you really want to do something, sometimes you have to do it alone. And that’s okay.
I know I said this at the beginning of my blog, but I wanted to say it again: the most amazing thing about this semester hasn’t been the places I’ve visited, but the people I’ve visited them with & the ones I’ve met along the way. Building relationships will forever be the most important thing in my life, & I want to say a MILLION thanks to everyone who’s been with me through this journey. It’s been incredible, but mostly because of the people that have become my friends & family along the way. I’ll never forget any of you, & I’ll never forget this amazing experience. Ever.

El último finde

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:18:29 +0200

I really never thought I’d be here with only three days left of my semester abroad. Where did the time go? The final weekend has passed, & now I’m in the midst of finals week, trying to study so I can pass my classes but also trying to make the most of what I have left! But my last weekend here was a great one, so let me tell you all about it. I made sure to include lots of pictures!

On Thursday night, I met up with my friend Bonnie & our Spanish friends Maria & Manolo like we do every week. This week they took us to a bar called Salón El Barco, which was literally a boat! It was a really cute, quiet little spot over the highway & they gave us lots of great tapas. I tried fried octopus for the first time! It was actually pretty good. We had a lot of fun together like always & finally took some pictures! I’m going to miss them so much when I leave but at least we get to meet one more time tomorrow night :)

Friday was a busy day for me. Our program took us to the Abadia del Sacromonte, which is a museum/church on top of a hill on the outskirts of Granada. We saw some great views of Granada & the Alhambra from there! After that I had my last class, then that night we had our fiesta de despedida (goodbye party) at a restaurant where we saw a flamenco show. The show was amazing! They started by singing traditional flamenco songs with a flamenco guitarist, singer, & a guy on a box drum. The drummer was also a dancer — he & the girl dancer switched off doing different dances & ended the show by doing a little dance together. They were all so good!

The food was really great as well — they brought us tapas all night, so it wasn’t like a normal restaurant, but it meant we got a lot to choose from. Meat & cheese selections, croquetas, tortilla española, calamari… you name it! I was soooo full by the end. But of course I had room for the dessert! They brought us a dessert tray with all sorts of treats to choose from, & I only had to share it with only one other person so we got to stuff our faces with all sorts of amazing food. My favorite was the chocolate lava cake!

After the show was over & everyone was done eating, our program director Paula got up & thanked us for the great semester. We were all close to tearing up, & then when she announced her assistant director Inma was leaving to go be the director of the new program in Barcelona, we couldn’t hold it in anymore! It’s the end of a trip for us, but the end of an era for Paula & Inma, because they’ve worked together for 16 years now. But all things come to an end, I guess… I had to get a picture with all of the AIFS staff though before we left the restaurant so I’d have something to remember them by. I’m going to miss them all so much, they’ve been so helpful this semester!

After the goodbye dinner though, the party wasn’t over. Because we were already in the Albaicin, we decided to head over to the Mirador de San Nicolas where you can get a pretty view of the Alhambra. I had never seen it by night but it was incredible! We took lots of pictures & enjoyed the view. I’ve been pretty blessed to live in such a gogreous city & be surrounded by so many awesome people!

After that, we headed to a bar for our big night out. It was on my Granada bucket list to stay out all night at least once this semester because I’ll never get to enjoy nightlife like that again in that states. We spent a couple hours at Hannigans 2, then we went to a club called Vogue (pronounced Boh-gay in Spanish) around 2:30. It was pretty funny when we showed up & it was almost completely empty. People don’t start showing up there until about 3 AM & it doesn’t get really fun until about 4 AM. Spaniards love their late nights! We ended up having a LOT of fun there because they played really great music, & we finally left at about 5:30. I didn’t make it to sunrise like I’d hoped for, but I had a great night!

The next morning I went to the park to study with some friends, though we didn’t really get much studying done. We did make a little puppy friend though! Somebody’s dog came running up to us begging us to pet her, then she jumped right up on her bench! Her name was Tula, according to her owner. She was pretty cute.

After the study sesh, we went to La Casa de la Pasta, an adorable little pasta place close to our school that’s owned by Italians. They have takeout pasta that they make themselves — it’s like a little taste of Italy! I got pasta with a delicious spinach cream sauce & then some yummy authentic Italian dessert. It was so perfect!

On Saturday night I decided to go out again, since it was my last Saturday night in Spain! The club El Camborio was having a Goodbye Americans party, so a big group of us went there to dance the night away one last time. I didn’t plan on staying out super late, but I ended up staying there until almost 5 AM because we were having so much fun! I’m definitely going to miss nights out like this. Where else can you dance in a cave until 7 AM!?

On Sunday I didn’t do much — I slept in late, did some studying, & went to church. But when we were eating dinner that night, our señora made a comment about the weekend having passed, & it hit me that my last weekend in Spain had finished up. Time does crazy things to us; it seems like just yesterday that I arrived here with no idea what I was doing! I’ll never understand how the days & months can pass so quickly. But I won’t get sad yet because I still have three more days! :)

For the curious souls who want to see where I’ve been this...

Sun, 20 May 2012 16:29:16 +0200

For the curious souls who want to see where I’ve been this semester, here’s a map of all the places I’ve visited. It’s seriously amazing that I’ve gotten the opportunity to see so much of Europe!

Things I'm looking forward to in America

Thu, 17 May 2012 16:24:53 +0200

Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches
Mac & cheese
AIR CONDITIONING
My brother’s graduation from high school :)
Ice water
Carpet floors
Not thinking about what I’m going to say before I go to a restaurant or store
My big comfy bed!
My cat, I guess…
A whole lawn full of grass
Being able to use the kitchen
Driving with the windows down
A huge selection of sugary cereals
Being able to have friends over to my house
Using a real cell phone again!
Cities97 & my other favorite radio stations
Caaaaake & other sweet treats
Girls’ nights with all my besties where we stay up all night talking
Bonfires
Having all of my favorite clothes again!
DEODORANT THAT ACTUALLY WORKS
Walmart, Target, & stores that are open 24/7
Hugging instead of the cheek kisses
My hot tub!
Rachel Niebur’s cabin
Seeing my cousins again!
Drive-thru fast food restaurants
Pandora Radio
Going out on my dad’s boat
Mexican & Chinese food
Spending time with my family & friends

The reality of the my approaching departure date is starting to sink in for me. When I was getting...

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:50:55 +0200

The reality of the my approaching departure date is starting to sink in for me. When I was getting ready to leave for Spain, I didn’t really think it was actually going to happen until a few days before when I was frantically taking care of last minute errands & trying to figure out what pack my suitcase. Before I knew it I was on a plane! And in about a week, I’ll be on a plane once again, returning to my homeland & saying goodbye to the wonderful country of España & all of the amazing people I’ve met here. As it is, I’m trying not to think about it because I refuse to believe it’ll happen — and there are still adventures to be had!

The past couple weeks have been pretty fun & relaxing, despite the fact that finals that are coming up next week. As soon as I got back from Portugal last Monday, the temperature decided to skyrocket & summer was upon us in full swing! It’s been nice to finally get to wear my sundresses but I’d appreciate if it didn’t get up into the nineties every day. It sure does make you feel like classes should be over though when the weather gets this hot!

The one nice thing about the high temp days is that they make for PERFECT beach weather. Last weekend our program took us down to Almería on the Costa del Sol, a nice little beach town where we got to spend two full days soaking up the sun. I love traveling with my program because nothing beats staying at a 4-star hotel that you don’t have to pay for! (Well, technically we paid for it in the price of our program… but it feels like it’s free!)

We spent all day on Saturday on the beach. It was such a hot day that all we really wanted to do was swim, but we found out as soon as we got there that there were a lot of jellyfish in the water so it was a little dangerous. One of the kids on the beach caught a medusa. He & his adorable little sister came up to us to tell us all that they had itin a bucket & then they brought it over to show us. It was amazing to see in real life!

It turns out that jellyfish come close to shore when it’s hot outside, which makes it really dangerous to swim for very long. I went into the water a few times, but we always had spotters so that no one would get too close to a jellyfish & get stung!

The other excitement of the day was concerning Spanish rules about beachwear. We learned in January during our culture meeting that all beaches in Spain are topless, & since it was our last time of the semester on a beach in Spain, we all decided to go topless for a little while! (Don’t worry, there were no guys with us & hardly anybody was around!) It’s pretty normal for Spaniards, but for a bunch of American girls it was definitely a new experience. Check that off my bucket list!

After a long day in the sun, we went back to our hotel where we got free dinner & it was one of the best I’d ever had! It was all buffet-style, plus there was free wine & beer, & they even had a little cooler with ice cream cups for dessert! I was a very happy camper that night :)

On Sunday we went to the beach again for a while. We couldn’t stay long because we had to go back to the hotel to check out, but we did stay long enough to see the jellyfisher kid catch 10 jellyfish in about one hour though — he was pretty impressive! We spent the rest of the day laying out & swimming in the pool. It was so relaxing! I’m going to miss the great beach weekends here in Spain, & I’m definitely going to miss all the awesome girls in my program!

My weekly activities here in Granada have continued to go really great as well, though they’re coming to an end. Volunteering at the after-school help has been one of the best parts of my study abroad experience. Last week I had the pleasure of tutoring a little adorable 7-year-old named José on Tuesday since my kid wasn’t there that week. He had to study for a test so I quizzed him on the material, but he was soooo quiet & shy! The next day I tutored Álvaro, my regular kid, & we ran out of things for him to do (really he just didn’t want to do his homework) so he taught me a new game that was really fun. Yesterday was my last day tutoring though, & I’m so sad that it’s over! Berta, the nun in charge of the program, is the sweetest lady — she gave all of us tutors gifts on Tuesday & thanked us profusely for all of our help. She & all of the kids have been such a blessing to me during my time here. I’m really going to miss them!

They’re not the only ones I’m going to miss though — I don’t want to say goodbye to my host family, Paula, my favorite professors, my Spanish friends Manolo & Maria, or any of my American friends that I’ve made here. But I do have a whole week left, so I better go make the most of it!

Las preciosas playas de Portugal

Mon, 07 May 2012 18:21:00 +0200

After three weekends in Granada & a LOT of rainy, cold weather, I was more than ready for a beach getaway to Lagos, Portugal. It was especially exciting because the trip was through a program called DiscoverGranada, which is designed for American study abroad students. All you have to do is sign up — they plan everything for you! After all of the mishaps of previous travels, it was refreshing to have someone else do the planning. Plus it ensures a great hotel!

The trip started out at 6 AM on Friday morning, when we had to meet the bus on the other side of the city. It was a sleepy morning on the bus, complete with way too many stops (Spanish law says you have to stop every two hours), lots of naps, & Forest Gump. But finally around 2 PM we arrived in Lagos! Our first stop was a gorgeous overlook where we could see the grottoes that this particular coast is famous for. As soon as we stepped off the bus, I was excited for what lay ahead because the views were so incredibly beautiful & the weather was PERFECT! I couldn’t believe I was in a place so wonderful!

After reveling in the beauty, we hopped back on the bus to head to the hotel. We weren’t disappointed, because the it was really nice & literally right on the beach. As soon as my friend Bonnie & I walked in the door to our room, we quickly changed into our swimsuits & made our way directly to the beach!

All of the beaches in Lagos are postcard quality — I know that sounds like a line from a cheesy tourism booklet but it’s true! The beach that our hotel was stationed on was one of the smaller ones but it was surrounded by cool rock formations & the sand was really soft. When we got to the beach, I was so exhausted from the long journey & early morning that I fell asleep for a little while in the sun! I put my feet in once or twice but the water was freezing, so I didn’t actually go swimming. After a couple hours hanging out on the beach, Bonnie & I changed into normal clothes & went for a little hike around the hills on the coast. There were lots of little caves & things, so we had fun exploring. We realized that the rocks were actually made of lots of crushed shells, which was interesting. We discovered a few secluded little beaches, we climbed on rocks, & we saw lots of seagulls. The views were absolutely gorgeous too! Lagos is home to some of the most amazing beaches I’ve ever seen.

Later that night we went out to dinner with the rest of the group at a restaurant called Nah Nah Bah. I was starving, so I got their famous burger called the Toucan Burger & it was absolutely delicious! After that we were brought to a really crowded bar but we didn’t feel like staying there, so we wandered around for a little while outside. It started to rain though, so we went to a bar/club where we were to get free drinks through the program. We were earlier than we were supposed to be, but they started the music for us anyway! Bonnie & I didn’t stay very long though because we were both so exhausted from the day. We had to walk back in the rain to our hotel & we got a little lost but eventually made it home! The receptionist laughed at us because we were dripping wet, & we were so happy to change into our warm pajamas & go to sleep!

The next morning we got up, ate our breakfast, & headed on our next adventure. It was sort of cloudy & chilly in the morning but Bonnie & I decided to take a walk to the lighthouse that was at the end of the road from our hotel. Along the way we saw all sorts of cool things, among them being:

someone’s dogs that were sleeping by the fence next to the road & woke up to greet us when we walked by — we love friendly dogs!
a big beautiful field of wildflowers
a fox that was running down a path a little ways of the road — I made sure to take a picture for my roommate Hollie because she loves foxes!

We stopped along the way to climb around on some cliffs & hills by the coast, which also led to some interesting sights. There was a huge abyss that we walked right next to — I did NOT want to fall down that!

We had our fun being adventurous, then we headed back to the main road to make our way to the lighthouse. It was a really pretty lighthouse with more amazing views, so we sat down on a cliff’s edge for a little while to take it all in before making our way back to the hotel. On the way we realized that there were permanent Stations of the Cross set up all along the road, which we thought were really cool.

After changing into our swimsuits at the hotel, we headed out again for more time in the sun. The weather really liked us this weekend because it only rained at night & the sun came out at the perfect time on Saturday for us to enjoy it! I took the bus with everyone to the city center where they departed for their sangria boat tour with the program, but instead of going with them I wandered around downtown by myself for a little bit. It was perfect weather & it felt so vacation-y with the palm trees everywhere & bright sunshine overhead!

My main goal though was to find a beach to hang out at until everyone came back from the boat cruise, & I found one right downtown that was really pretty. I was in heaven, listening to my beach playlist on my iPod & watching the dogs & kids play on the beach!

After the boats came back, I met back up with everyone to go to the big beach where we’d spend the rest of the day. This beach didn’t have the pretty rock formations, but it was HUGE & it had the softest sand I’ve ever felt! It wasn’t long after I laid down my towel that a dog came up to me & dug himself a bed right next to me. He seemed like a stray since he was kind of raggedy, but I was so happy to have a puppy friend with me! Look how happy we were!

After a while my new best friend decided to leave me, so I decided to make friends with the people around me instead. DiscoverGranada attracts Americans from all over Granada, so there were a lot of people there that I had never seen or only knew from seeing them in class, so it was cool to meet some new people. I ended up playing beach volleyball with a bunch of people which was a blast! And I jumped into the water once too, but only once because it was freezing!

We spent a long time on the beach that day, so I was excited to get back to the hotel, shower, eat, & rest for a little while. But then that night was another exciting adventure — we all got on the bus to head for Cabo San Vicente, better known as the End of the World! We went there to watch the sunset over the very western & southernmost tip of Portugal (and consequently Europe), where they used to believe the world ended. It was cool to think that the next land in that direction was America. Plus, it’s not very often that you get to watch the sunset over the ocean! It was so beautiful. It was kind of scary too though, because we were all sitting on a cliff that was so high that when we threw rocks into the water we couldn’t even see them land! I guess that’s why I got yelled at when I wandered off on my own for a little while — but I found a starfish that I took home with me! Best free souvenir ever! Overall it was an amazing, beautiful evening, & I am definitely going to miss opportunities like this when I go home.

After the bus ride home, it was about 9 PM, which is normal dinner time, so most people headed downtown to get some food. Since it was raining & Bonnie & I had already eaten dinner, we just decided to call it an early night & head back to the hotel. We had spent so much time in the sun that day that we were super exhausted, so we watched a little Britain’s Got Talent on TV & then went to bed really early. It was kind of lame, but I think it was definitely worth it!

Sunday was our last day in Lagos, so we wanted to enjoy the sun as much as possible! Right after breakfast we donned our swimsuits & went up to the pool on the roof of our hotel to check out the views (we could see the ocean from there!) & soak up some rays. It was such a beautiful & perfect morning! Then it finally came time to check out of the hotel, so we went back down & packed up. After going to the nearest convenience store to get some lunch stuff, we made ourselves sandwiches & headed down to our hotel’s beach for a few more hours in the hot sun!

We had the option of going surfing on the west coast that day, but most people didn’t go, so the hotel’s beach was packed with people from the program. We spent the whole afternoon soaking up the sun! Everyone kept having to move though because the tide rose a LOT throughout the day. We had fun laughing at the oblivious beach sleepers who kept getting wet from the rising tide! It was also a lot of fun watching the people jump off of the big rock into the freezing cold water. I would’ve done it if I could’ve gotten a shower before the eight hour bus ride home to Granada later… Maybe. Regardless, we had another wonderful day on the beach & I was still amazed that we got to be in such a fantastic place! How is this real life!?

Bonnie & I needed to leave the beach after a few too many hours in the sun, but we still had time to kill before we headed home. I was craving some ice cream, so I convinced Bonnie to go down to the city center with me to an authentic Italian gelato place with cheap but AMAZING ice cream. I got cheesecake flavor — my favorite! It was the perfect end to the perfect weekend, & after we got back to the hotel I was more than ready to go home.

The bus ride back was long, but it wasn’t unbearable — we got to watch Friends With Benefits & Almost Famous, so that made the time go pretty fast. I didn’t get home until about 2 AM though, so I crashed when I got to my bed!

Overall the weekend was wonderful. DiscoverGranada is a really great program — our guides were really awesome & the weekend was really well structured. Lagos is honestly one of the most beautiful beach towns I’ve ever been to. I’ve definitely been blessed to have gone to all of these amazing places. If only this journey wasn’t coming to an end so soon…

This Thursday was a celebration unique to Granada called the Día...

Sat, 05 May 2012 00:00:00 +0200

This Thursday was a celebration unique to Granada called the Día de la Cruz (Day of the Cross). There are a lot of legends about the origins of the festival, but no one really knows the true story. It’s said that in 1625 some people made a cross in a certain neighborhood of the city & all of the neighbors in the area celebrated around it, dancing & singing. In the following years the tradition continued & expanded, with even more neighborhoods decorating crosses & some children making their own!

The tradition of the cross celebration has continued into today, though it’s been through many changes. I learned from one of my professors that the festival used to be throughout the entire city & everyone would be dancing, singing, & drinking all day & night. It got to be problematic though with the amount of drinking people were doing in the streets, so it’s been toned down a little bit, but they still have gorgeous crosses throughout the entire city & people of all ages wear traditional flamenco apparel!

There are about 50 crosses set up throughout the city altogether. Some are wooden, some are ceramic, & some are made of flowers. All of them are decorated & surrounded by flamenco guitars, shawls, plates, flowers, & more. It used to be more of a tradition to serve food around the crosses, but we saw at least one cross that served tapas & drinks around it for good prices. All sorts of groups set up crosses — neighborhood associations, elementary schools, & the city council building all have their own. All of the crosses are entered into a competition & the best ones win prizes!

Lucky for us students, class was canceled in the afternoon on Thursday so that we could participate in the celebration! Hollie & I had our señora give us bocadillos for lunch so we could go out & explore right after we were done with class instead of going home to eat. We situated ourselves in one of the more popular plazas to eat our sandwiches. While we ate, we got to see a lot of adorable little girls in their flamenco dresses (and some boys in their flamenco outfits too!). Some of the girls had the whole look — hair gelled back into a pretty bun with the traditional comb, a flower behind their ear, the big earrings, the dress, & the shoes!

The crosses were all beautiful & surrounded by gorgeous decorations. One of my favorite decorations that most crosses had was the apple with the scissors in it. This is a traditional symbol that they use to avoid criticism that people might give about the cross, because an apple is also called a pero here in Granada, so sticking a scissors in it is like saying no peros, which basically means “no buts.” Clever, huh?

We ended the day by watching little girls do a flamenco dance in one of the plazas. They had set up a stage & had different groups of dancers up there all throughout the night. The ones we saw were adorable but didn’t quite know what they were doing yet!

Overall, it was a wonderful day. It’s always fun to go to a festival, especially one so culturally relevant! But if I ever come back, I’m definitely buying myself a flamenco dress & wearing it all day :)

Tirando...

Fri, 04 May 2012 01:47:46 +0200

True story: I should be sleeping right now. But I can’t yet because I have to write about my life before a new chapter unfolds! Tomorrow I go to Portugal for the weekend & I have to wake up around 5 AM, so that’ll be lots of fun. But I’ve had a very interesting week that I want to write about first.

Last week ended with a nice relaxing Thursday. In the afternoon I went to a tetería (Arabic tea house) with my friend Patsy so we could share about our experiences in Granada. It was great to talk to someone who isn’t in my program, because every program does different excursions, so they’ve had different experiences. It also felt like a little touch of home, since she’s from the Des Moines area of Iowa which is where I go to school! It was a really gorgeous day outside, so instead of tea, I ordered a drink that was sort of like lemonade but flavored with mint. It sounds strange, but it was delicious! Later that night I met up with my intercambio friends for another great night of tapas & conversation in English & Spanish. I’m going to miss them a lot when I leave Spain.

I had the whole day to myself on Friday, & the weather was absolutely beautiful. I took the opportunity to walk around all morning & enjoy Granada without an agenda, soaking up some sun along the way. After lunch, my friend Jen & I went to the park to lay out & enjoy the gorgeous sunshine even more. I couldn’t believe how amazing the weather was! The sky was bright blue & it felt just like a summer day. I got so hot that I changed into a sundress & we ate ice cream outside. After wandering for a while, I remembered that I had been wanting to go to a garden called Carmen de los Mártires, which is only open at certain hours, so we trekked our way up there to see it!

The garden was so much more beautiful in real life than I could’ve imagined. I knew that there were peacocks that lived there, but the fountains & the green hedges & the sunlight through the trees was so amazing. I honestly felt like I was in some sort of magical fairyland! It was clearly a truly gorgeous garden.

However, on Saturday the weather decided to turn on us. I woke up to rain, so I spent the morning in my bed watching Friends on my computer. In the afternoon I met up with some friends to eat at a little café that serves coffee & hot drinks with slices of cake for only two euros! I got ColaCao, which is hot chocolate, & a slice of cheesecake. It definitely hit the spot — nothing is better than a hot drink on a cold day. Afterwards we headed over to the movie theater to see Los juegos del hambre, or as you all know them, The Hunger Games! I had already seen them in English, but I really wanted to see them in Spanish as well. I do have to say that it wasn’t as good in Spanish; I think the dubbing sometimes makes a movie lose some of its humor or changes the sentiment. Regardless, I still loved the movie!

The rest of the weekend was sort of a blur, because I didn’t really do much of anything. I spent a lot of time in my bed on my computer, watching lots of Friends. A few times I went on little outings to the Albaicín to drink some tea or to the foothills of the mountains to hike, but for the most part it was just too chilly & rainy to do anything! That’s one thing I won’t miss about Granada — not being able to hang out at someone’s house when you want to be with friends but don’t want to spend money or be outside in nasty weather. There really aren’t a lot of options for us in bad weather here.

This week so far has been a good one, for a lot of reasons. For one thing, we only had a day & a half of school, which is always nice! Today we only had morning classes, because today was a special celebration called Día de la Cruz (I’ll write about it in a different blog post soon!). The weather has been improving a little bit also, so I’m hopeful that it will decide to be real May weather within the next week. And tomorrow I go to Portugal!

However, the best part of the week has been the bonding that we’ve done with our Spanish family. This weekend Hollie & I were in the house a lot, so we were more aware of the situation at home, & we noticed that everyone was always tense & arguing a lot. We figured it had something to do with the stress of our host sister’s wedding in June which is slowly approaching, but we were also worried that we might be part of the problem. We talked to our program director about the situation, & she told us just to sit our host mom down & ask her if everyone was doing okay & if there was anything we could do to help.

Hollie & I were nervous, but we approached Josefina yesterday about the problem. And of course it turned out to be more of a bonding moment than anything else! She told us that our host sister was stressed about the wedding & that they were doing all they could to help her out, but sometimes it was just frustrating & hard for them to deal with. She told us not to worry about it at all because it had nothing to do with us. And then she unloaded a little of the weight of the situation on us by talking to us about it for a while, & afterwards gave us big hugs & kisses.

As if that wasn’t great enough, today our host sister Esther came into our room to approach us about the same topic, giving us the same reassurances as Josefina, but also giving her side of the story. It felt just like having a real big sister! Now more than ever I really feel like we’re part of the family.

I write mostly about my travels on this blog, always trying to make sure I remember the details of the places I’ve been & the sights I’ve seen, but it’s not the history of old castles or the stories of paintings in museums that I’ll be reflecting on many years from now — the most important part of this trip (and of life in general, really) has been the relationships I’ve made with the amazing people I’ve met here. I fly out from Spain three weeks from tomorrow to return to my home country, which is exciting but also terrifying, because there are so many people to whom I have to say goodbye. So I’m hoping to live out the rest of my days here as intentionally as possible. Here’s to an amazing few last weeks!

The enchanting, mystical garden of Carmen de los Mártires. I...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 01:24:00 +0200

The enchanting, mystical garden of Carmen de los Mártires. I absolutely love this place, & I want to come here to read or write or just sit a few more times before I leave.

Rainy days & sunny days

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 23:25:00 +0200

After nearly a month of being gone every weekend on a trip, it’s been a breath of fresh air to have three weekends in a row to enjoy Granada. The only challenge lately has been the weather — when we came home from our long spring break adventure, it was nice for a few days until winter decided to come back to haunt us. It was warm & sunny for about a week, but today it decided to rain again. Granada just can’t seem to make up its mind!

During my first weekend back in Spain, it was rainy & cold the entire weekend. On Friday morning, we were supposed to have a walking tour of the Sacromonte gypsy caves in Granada, but it got postponed due to rain. Instead, Hollie & I spent the morning in our room, sleeping & being lazy. After lunch, I decided to go see the movie Blancanieves (Mirror, Mirror in English) with some of my friends — what’s better than a movie on a rainy afternoon? It was the third movie I’ve seen in theaters in Spanish now, & it was by far the funniest! I’m sure I would’ve gotten more of the humor had it been the English version, but watching movies is one of the easiest (and fun!) ways to practice my Spanish. I’m going to miss those stupid Spanish voice-overs!

I didn’t do anything again until the next day when we had a rainy cold excursion to Ronda, a nearby city in Andalucía. Although the weather was terrible, we couldn’t reschedule, so we all suited up in our rain gear & headed out, umbrellas in tow. I can’t say it was a very fun day, considering we were all miserably cold & wet, but our tour guide was nice, the scenery was beautiful regardless, & we did get to see some interesting things:

Ronda is home to a ridiculously tall bridge that joins the city over a ravine. It was built in 1740 & it’s over 120 meters tall! The architect of the bridge fell to his death when he tried to carve the completion date onto the bridge.

Ronda is also home to some of the oldest Arabic baths in Andalucía. Although they’re no longer functioning & they don’t even have a roof anymore, we got to see what the different rooms were used for.
We saw another cathedral. It basically looked the same as all the rest.
The best part of the day was the gorgeous bullring, which is the oldest in Spain that’s still in use! This particular city was the birthplace of modern bull fighting. We learned all about what happens during a fight & even got to stand where they keep the bulls before bringing them into the arena. Hearing the facts about it & some of the history behind it made me feel a little less bad about deciding to skip the real thing, because I got a little of the experience without having to watch bulls die!

We ended our Ronda tour about an hour & a half before we had originally planned because we were all soaking wet & freezing cold. The first thing I did when I got home was take a nice, warm shower — it was heavenly! Hollie & I spent the rest of the evening cuddled up in our beds & ended the night by watching Bridesmaids.

I woke up on Sunday to more rainy cold weather, so I decided to spend another day indoors. Overall, it was a lazy weekend & I didn’t accomplish much. I was more than ready for the sunshine to come back!

The week was just another normal week, but I was plenty excited for the weekend. Even though I had class on Friday, I had a fun Thursday night which began with a great time out for tapas with Manolo & María, my Spanish friends who I meet up with every week to practice Spanish & help them practice English — we always have a great time! After that, I went to a friend’s birthday party at her apartment, which was also pretty fun. It was the first party I’d been to here in Spain, & it was cool to see so many people there from different countries.

I had a full day of class on Friday, but Saturday was my friend Bonnie’s birthday, & we celebrated by visiting the Parque de las Ciencias, which is an awesome interactive science museum! We were pleasantly surprised by the gorgeous weather that day, especially since half of the museum is outdoors. One of my favorite parts of the day was the tower. They take you in an elevator up to the top & you get a gorgeous view of the city below. I can’t believe how beautiful Granada is! I’m so blessed to get to live here:

The outdoor section of the museum also included a butterfly garden, a big fake giraffe, a giant chess game, & all sorts of other fun things! There was also a bird show, which we missed, but we still got to see the birds. They even had a vulture!

After eating a nice picnic lunch outside in the beautiful weather, we headed into one of the buildings for our planetarium visit. It was fun being in a planetarium because it reminded me of elementary school when we had a big inflatable planetarium right in our school’s cafeteria every year called Star Lab. It was really relaxing — so much so that Bonnie & I drifted off a few times!

The indoor exhibits were the best part. This year they have a temporary T. Rex exhibit which had mechanical dinosaurs that moved & made noise. The collection of bones wasn’t as interesting as some of the dinosaur exhibits I’ve seen before, but it was still pretty cool! My favorite was the body exhibit though. As nerdy as it sounds, I’ve really missed learning about science this semester since I don’t take any biology or chemistry or other classes like that here. There were interactive things like building a skeleton & pumping fake blood. And the museum has hearts from all different kinds of animals — the whale heart was almost as big as me!

After we were all scienced out, I took Bonnie to Los Italianos for some celebratory birthday ice cream. Los Italianos is the most famous gelato place in Granada — partially because Michelle Obama visited when she came to Granada in 2010, but partially because their ice cream is AMAZING! I got the tarta de chocolate, which is literally a piece of chocolate ice cream cake & they put it right into a cone. It’s so delicious! I’ll definitely be going back there again on another warm day.

Later we went out for drinks at a pub with a couple friends to continue Bonnie’s birthday celebration, then spent the night dancing at El Camborio, one of the popular clubs in Granada. We only stayed until about 3 AM (that’s early by Spain standards), but we had so much fun! I think it was the best night out that I’ve had here so far :)

However, Sunday was the day I had been looking forward to most all week. I had been considering going to a fútbol game sometime this semester & finally decided to go last weekend! The tickets were 35 euros, but it was worth every penny. For one thing, the weather was absolutely perfect, & for another, we had really good seats. It was also just incredibly fun to be at a sporting event, because it brought back good memories of all the baseball, basketball, & football games I’d been to over the years with my family. I felt right at home with all the excited fans!

Of course, there were quite a few things about the game that I wasn’t quite used to. The Granada fans have a special song that everyone sings it at the beginning of the game while they hold up their scarves in honor of team:

After the song & the team’s introduction, the game began! It was actually really fun to watch, because soccer has always been my favorite sport, so I actually knew what was going on. The crowd did all sorts of chants that I didn’t quite understand, but sometimes I joined in. Or tried, anyway! They sang the song occasionally throughout the game as well, & by the end, I had it stuck in my head. The game itself was really great — Granada scored in the first half & managed to keep the other team from scoring the rest of the time. I was actually expecting them to lose, because they’re basically at the bottom of the league, so it was a surprise when they pulled out with a win in the end. I was cheering nice & loud for them!

However, the most amazing part of the whole game was really not even how well the team did — it was the stunning view that we had from our seats. Right behind the stadium were the Sierra Nevadas, still gorgeous with the snow that hasn’t melted yet! I honestly can’t believe how beautiful the city is that I live in right now. You don’t see this everyday:

It was a really great weekend, needless to say, & followed by a great week of sunshine & relaxation. The weather still hasn’t made up its mind, considering yesterday I was laying out in the sun & today it rained the entire day, but my hopes are that soon it’ll get warm & stay warm so I can enjoy what little time I have left here! I really can’t believe how soon it is that I’ll be on a plane home & leaving this all behind, but for now I’m trying to focus on living in the moment.

And with that said, I think it’s time for me to go to bed, because at the moment, I’m pretty tired. I’ll be sharing about this weekend’s adventures soon!

La belleza de sencillez

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:01:06 +0200

As amazing as traveling can be, nothing is better than the feeling of coming home & curling up in your bed again. After 11 days of being on the road (and having near-disasters at almost every turn), I was more than ready to come back to the simple life I lead in Spain, just going to school & spending time with my host family. And this week I have not been disappointed! It’s been such a relief to relax & take time to enjoy life.

Not that last week wasn’t amazing — it was, & more so than I could possibly describe. I saw so many things I never could’ve dreamed of & had so many interesting experiences. (Last week was my spring break trip to London, Croatia, Slovenia, & Italy, which I promise I will write about soon!) But the reason I decided to study abroad wasn’t because I wanted to rack up all of the countries I could on my list of “Guess Where I’ve Been?” The reason I’m here is to truly experience a culture that is entirely different from my own, & to make relationships with different kinds of people that I might never have thought possible before coming here. And this week I’ve been feeling really blessed by that.

It’s funny how sometimes you feel more blessed in your worst circumstances than your best. This Easter Sunday, I spent the entire day in the bathroom reeeeally sick. The pain in my intestines was so intense that I couldn’t even lie down without discomfort, & I couldn’t keep anything down, food OR drink. Naturally it wasn’t a very fun situation, but it gave such an opportunity to see how much I was loved & cared for by the people around me. My host dad drove me to the hospital, my program director went into the clinic with me & took me to the pharmacy afterwards, & my host mom has been kind enough to cook bland food for me all week so that I can get better. And of course, my family & friends sent me lots of love from the US. It’s the little things like these that are really worth experiencing.

My only hope is that I can bless the people around me the way I’ve been blessed. I’ve mentioned this before, but I volunteer doing after-school help for two twelve-year-old boys every week, & it’s one of the more rewarding things I’ve done here. I normally work with Juan on Tuesdays & Álvaro on Wednesdays, but this week I had to work with them both on Tuesday. It was essentially a disaster because poor, quiet Juan was trying to do his work while disobedient, loud Álvaro was pestering him with questions & just being generally disruptive since he didn’t have much work to do. He kept asking if he could leave, & I kept telling him he probably shouldn’t, but eventually I told him it was fine since he wasn’t getting anything done anyway. So naturally I was kind of nervous for Wednesday, since I was sure that Álvaro would be a handful again. But when he got there, he took out his planner to check his homework (that never happens) & then got right down to business! Usually he has one or two activities to do in his English book & he doesn’t really try too hard, just asks me what the answers are, but yesterday he did a great job. When he finished one activity, we would just move right on to the next. My favorite moment of the day was when he was doing an exercise in his book that mentioned taekwondo & I told him that my uncle teaches taekwondo in the US. He thought that was pretty cool. After we finished with the activity, he asked me how to say uncle in English & he said a sentence to me: “She uncle teach taekwondo.” It wasn’t perfect English, of course, but that was the first time I got him to bother trying to speak English at all so it was really a huge accomplishment! I think this must be why people become teachers; it’s so rewarding to see a kid figure out what they’re capable of, especially the troublesome ones :)

Anyway, I’m excited to see what Granada has in store for me for the rest of my time here. My bank account has essentially dwindled to nothing after all the trips I’ve taken, so I’m excited to spend the majority of the last two months exploring the city I live in & realizing the beauty of daily life in Spain.

La vita bella di Italia

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:50:00 +0200

My spring break this year was an epic 11-day adventure through four different countries. There were a lot of interesting mishaps, but overall it was a crazy & wonderful week that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. Here is the tale:

The journey from Slovenia to Italy was long & confusing, especially since it was four in the morning when we left. To get to Venice, we first had to take a train, then a bus, then another train. To make matters worse, it was a foggy morning, so we were all extra sleepy! But finally we arrived around 10 AM, & when we stepped out the doors of the train station, we were immediately thrust into the hustle & bustle of the city.

Now, I’m sure everyone is familiar with Venice — the city where the canals are the streets, the boats are the cars, & the houses have doors that open into the water (whether they actually use them is something I have yet to determine). If you’ve ever seen a picture of this lovely place, then you have a general idea of what the city looks like, but it’s so much more impressive in real life!

At first, Gabe, Kendall & I were sort of confused about how to get to our hostel, but finally we figured it out. Venice has a public transportation system just like any other city, but instead of using buses, they use boats! The boats go from dock to dock throughout the entire city, dropping off & picking up passengers along the way. We took the scenic route to our hostel by accident but it ended up being a beautiful ride around the outskirts of the city. And after we arrived at our hostel & checked in, we were lucky enough to find Hollie right away. And thus the Venice journey began!

Our first priority was eating lunch since we were all starving & dying to try some authentic Italian food! Hollie suggested that we try a restaurant by our hostel since it wasn’t a touristy area, so we walked for a few minutes & tried one of the first places we saw. It wasn’t anything special, but since we were in Italy, it didn’t matter! The food was relatively cheap & we had a lot of fun speaking Spanish to the waiter, who would repeat the correct phrases back to us in Italian. (Italians can understand Spanish because it’s so similar to Italian, which worked out nicely for us!) When the food finally arrived, we dug right in & our taste buds were verrrrry pleased! It didn’t look like any particularly special pasta, but somehow it was ten times better than any pasta I had ever tasted. That’s the magic of Italy, I guess!

After our bellies were full, we made our way to the island of Murano, which is famous for its glass making. They open the workshops to the public during the day to show us how everything is made. A tour guide explained to us the process while we watched. It was pretty cool! Essentially they form a sort of glass ball, then roll it in little glass pieces that they melt to create the pretty mosaic pattern. They then use a sort of large tweezers to form whatever sort of figure they want to make, do some snipping & some more melting in the oven, & soon it’s a beautiful glass sculpture! It was impressive how fast they worked. This is a dragon being formed:

They had all sorts of beautiful glassware for sale in the stores on the island, from the tiniest glass animals to fancy wine bottle stoppers to large decorative bowls & vases. It was all so pretty!

Our next stop was another Venetian island whose name I can’t remember. We only stayed there long enough to help Hollie find her perfect mask. She had been dreaming of visiting Venice ever since reading The Thief Lord when she was a kid, so naturally she had to get a mask! The Venetian masks are sold everywhere in the city. They’re traditionally worn for the Carnival of Venice, or Carnevale, but over time they’ve become a sort of symbol for the city. They’re very ornately decorated & each one is unique. Hollie got a fox mask because foxes are her favorite animal!

The rest of the afternoon & evening we spent getting lost in the streets of Venice, which was my favorite activity of the day. Wandering down the narrow alleys & over the bridges, stumbling across gorgeous views, & watching the gondolas go down the canals was so peaceful. Everything was perfectly picturesque & just how I had imagined it to be. I can definitely see why Venice is considered one of the most romantic cities in the world — just look at the views!

We ate dinner that night at a nice little restaurant in the heart of the city. The only tables they had available were outside right next to the canal, lucky for us! They started us off with bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar to dip, & I was already in heaven. Kendall & I decided to get the lasagna & a pasta dish to split between the two of us — I didn’t know food could taste so good! All four of us sat there ranting & raving about how delicious our food was, trying each others’ dishes, & being generally very happy. And of course, for dessert we all got some authentic Italian gelato. Yum! Needless to say, my tastes buds were very happy that night!

We headed back to the hostel early that night to get some much needed rest before our journey home the next day. In the morning we got all of our things together, checked out, & headed to Piazza San Marco, the most famous square in Venice. We knew it would be very crowded & especially touristy, but we had to see it before we left.

(It made sense to me after being in the square, though, why a lot of people say they hated Venice when they visited because they thought it was a total tourist trap. It IS a tourist trap if you go to the tourist places! There are so many other beautiful sights to see in the city if only people would be willing to put the map away for a little while. But I did notice a few people in Disneyland Paris clothing, so I figured that if they were the type of people to go to Disney theme parks & then actually WEAR the clothing they buy there, they had to be the tourist trap kind of people. But hey, to each his own, I guess!)

In all honesty, the square was beautiful, if you could get past the hordes of people everywhere. The architecture was especially interesting. My favorite building was one with a cool zodiac sort of design on the front. Also the brick tower was pretty! The square made for a pretty last sight before leaving the City of Water.

We were all exhausted after a very long week of traveling, so the train ride to Bologna was a sleepy one. Once we arrived in Bologna, we had free time to eat & explore before going home, but no one was really up to it by that point. Instead we had a quick lunch of pizza & headed to the airport. Luckily there isn’t much to see in Bologna so we didn’t feel like we were missing out on too much!

The journey home seemed almost never-ending. We got to the airport way too early, which gave us time to turn Kendall’s gigantic hiking backpack that was over the weight limit for a checked bag into a carry-on by stuffing my suitcase & putting on extra clothing. It was a lot of fun & we were proud of ourselves for our accomplishment! But then we had to wait for a few hours in the airport, & of course our plane was late. But after the two hour flight, the three hour wait in the bus station, & the five hour bus ride home, we were finally in Granada again by 8 AM on Easter Sunday, & boy was I happy to see my bed!

________________________________________________________

If I learned anything over this week-and-a-half long trip through four countries, it’s definitely this: sometimes things don’t go as planned & you just have to deal with it. There are some things that excellent preparation doesn’t even prepare you for. We had so many mishaps on our trip that we didn’t expect — sometimes we got lucky & pulled things off at the last minute, but sometimes we didn’t. And that’s just the way it goes. It was a really good lesson for me. I think I also learned how to deal with conflict when it happens instead of just waiting for someone else to take care of it or for it to work itself out on its own. Sometimes you have to take action yourself or you’ll end up getting screwed over!

One of my goals for this semester abroad was to grow to be a more mature, capable person, & I think on this trip I took a huge step closer to accomplishing that goal. Not only that, but I saw some truly amazing things with some really awesome people. Regardless of the stress of traveling, I am forever grateful for this opportunity I’ve had to see the world, & I only hope that I’ll have more adventures to come!

How I learned that Slovenia had it out for me

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:36:00 +0200

Our Slovenian adventure began with a train ride from Zagreb, Croatia’s capitol, to Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capitol. I was excited because it was my first European train ride, & when we sat down in one of the compartments I felt just like I was in Harry Potter! But sadly I didn’t get to enjoy it for very long — when they checked our tickets they told us we weren’t supposed to be in that class & we had to move to the general seating area. But it was fun for a while at least!

The train ride was mostly uneventful, but not entirely. I had spilled water all over my purse earlier that day, so my belongings were split up into my backpack & suitcase, & Kendall was nice enough to take care of my money & my passport for me. But because we got our passports checked so many times, I finally just told her I would keep my passport in my seat with me since they’d probably check it again, but don’t worry, I wouldn’t forget it!

Famous last words.

As soon as we got to the station I rushed to collect my belongings & hurried off the train. It was only when we were on the bus to Lake Bled, where we were to spend the night, that I realized that I had forgotten my passport. I calmly told everyone that I thought I had left my passport on the train & tried not to get too worried, thinking that it might be in one of my bags somehow. Of course, I had no such luck. I went to bed with a knot in my stomach, but I made a plan to call the train station the next morning to see if they had found it. I made several phone calls when I woke up, but again, no such luck. I decided to set the matter aside for a while to enjoy the day at Lake Bled.

Lake Bled is a gorgeous lake in the north of Slovenia that attracts lots of tourists, but we had it almost all to ourselves since it wasn’t high season. The lake is surrounded by mountains, which were blanketed with clouds in the morning. There’s an small island in the middle of the lake & a castle up on a hill that overlooks it all. It was very picturesque, especially with the pretty eastern European-style architecture.

Our plan was the walk the 4 km lakeside trail, stopping along the way to visit the important landmarks. Our first stop was the Bled Island, which we got to by renting a row boat. Fun fact: this lake is very well-known among rowers because it’s a very popular lake for rowing competitions. We’re not professionals, but Alexis did a great job rowing us there & back, & it was more fun than having someone else do the work for us. While she rowed, we all sang songs, enjoyed the views & took lots of pictures!

After we arrived at the tiny island, we climbed up the big stairs & went to see the cute little church. It’s called the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary & it was built in the 15th century. The church has a special bell that they call the “wishing bell” & there’s a story about it that I can’t remember exactly. But I do know that it’s now said that if you ring the bell & make a wish, your wish will come true. I didn’t make a wish, but I did get to ring the bell from inside the church!

We saw all there was to see on the island, then got back into our boat to head towards mainland. We had a little trouble this time, since the wind was not in our favor, but eventually we made it, thanks to Alexis & her strong muscles! When we finally reached land, we continued on our scenic tour around the lake, stopping another time to get a group photo right by the shoreline. While the rest of the girls had a photoshoot with the Slovenian flag Hollie had just bought, Alexis & I climbed a tree that was right over the water & took in the gorgeous scenery.

And that’s when I fell in the lake.

I was trying to get down from the tree, but it was difficult, so I didn’t quite make it to the land. Luckily it was shallow where I fell, so only the bottom half of my body went in the water, but I was soaking wet & freezing cold! We all laughed, especially since the day before I lost my passport & now this happened! Alexis was nice enough to let me borrow her sweatshirt so that I didn’t have to wear my wet one, but my shorts were stuck to me & my shoes made squishy noises the rest of the day.

Slovenia 2, Bree 0.

After we finished laughing, we were on our way again. Our final stop was Bled Castle, which took a difficult hike up a big hill with lots of stairs. But once we finally reached the top, we were impressed! The castle is the oldest castle in Slovenia. It wasn’t recorded when it was built, but it was first mentioned in a letter in the year 1011, so it’s at least 1001 years old! It’s had a lot of purposes in its lifetime, but now it serves as one of the most popular tourist destinations in Slovenia. There are many different places to visit once you’re inside: the winery, which had specially made wines & is run by a monk (still not sure if he was a real monk or just in costume); two different museums that explain the history of the castle; a really expensive restaurant that we didn’t eat at; a small chapel with a beautifully painted ceiling; & of course, a gift shop.

The best part of the castle was its gorgeous views of the lake & the pretty green countryside. It was definitely suitable for royalty. Here’s a couple of gorgeous Bled photos!

The view of the castle from below:

The view of the lake & the island from the castle:

After a great day of exploring, we were ready for some kebabs at a local restaurant. I love cheap delicious food! Once we’d eaten, I finally changed into dry clothes & we got all of our things together to head back to Ljubljana, where we’d be spending the night & the next day. Back at the train station, I made another few phone calls & set up an appointment with the US Embassy in Ljubljana for the next morning so I would be without a passport no longer! It was definitely lucky that we happened to be in a capitol city that had an embassy, because I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise. I was feeling pretty blessed to have our travel plans still going smoothly regardless of the fact that I had lost the most vital asset to international travel. All was well!

When we got to our hostel later that night we were happily surprised by how cute & youth-friendly it was! The receptionist told us we had free access to the computers in the lounge & to the coffee & tea pots. I made myself some hot chocolate, which put me in a very good mood. I was ready for bed after such a long day, but the girls wanted to go out, so I went along even though I was exhausted. When would I get another chance to go to out in Slovenia?

The club that we went to was one right down the street from our hostel & it was called Cirkus. That night it just so happened that there was a spring break/beach theme, so some people were wearing leis & there were beach balls everywhere. There was a band on stage of some old guys who were singing mostly in Slovenian with the occasional American song thrown in. This picture pretty much says it all:

In reality it wasn’t that much different than any other club I had been to, besides the fact that most of the music was in Slovenian, but the people there provided us with a lot of entertainment. I ended up going home early to get some much-needed rest, but the rest of the girls had all sorts of funny stories to tell me the next morning about all of the awkward Slovenian boys.

In the morning, Alexis woke up early with me so that we could head over to the US Embassy to get me a new passport. The whole experience was ridiculously comical. We knew it was barely a ten minute walk from our hostel, but for some reason we couldn’t seem to find it. We saw so many buildings with flags outside them & got so frustrated that when we finally spotted the American flag, Alexis yelled out “America!” Never had we been so happy to see that flag! The process of getting inside, however, was almost as difficult as getting there, because we had to buzz the gate, go through security, leave all of our belongings in the security room, & then have someone open the door for us into the special visa department. Guess they like to be secure! I had to fill out a lot of paperwork, get a new passport photo, & do a LOT of waiting (which I spent refreshing my high school knowledge with the books they had about US government & American geography), but eventually I was issued a new passport!

The nice lady working there also gave me a gift as a reward for being such a “patient girl” — a CD of Bob Dylan covers by Slovenian artists. Random, but a very kind gesture!

The only setback to having to get reissued a passport was that I didn’t make it to Venice when I was supposed to. Hollie & I were planning to leave around noon on Thursday for Venice, but my passport wasn’t ready in time to leave that day. Luckily Gabe & Kendall were planning on leaving at 4 AM the next morning so I got to spend the day in Ljubljana & my travel plans were only slightly altered.

After such an exhausting week & a long morning, we were all more than willing to take it easy the rest of the day. We went out for lunch at an Asian restaurant, then took a stroll around the city to see the sights. Ljubljana is a beautiful, quaint little city with a lot of character. My favorite part was the pretty river in the town’s center:

We walked alongside the river for a while, stopping a few times to look a church, check out some of the booths where they were selling little souvenirs, & take pictures at the city’s famous Dragon Bridge. The weather wasn’t very ideal though, & eventually it started raining, so Kendall & I went back to the hostel & I took a much-needed nap. It was so great to relax!

Later that night, we all decided to go out to eat at an authentic Slovenian restaurant since we had coupons for free glasses of wine there. Slovenia isn’t necessarily famous for its cuisine, but the home-cooked food was unique & very delicious. I still have yet to decide though if that food was responsible for the illness that kept me in the bathroom all day on Easter Sunday — by the way things went in Slovenia, it seems pretty likely!

After a lovely dinner, we were all ready to get to sleep early so that we would be ready for our train to Italy at 4 AM. We woke up at 2:30 AM, said our goodbyes to Alexis who was doing her own thing in northern Slovenia for the rest of the week, & then went onward to Venice! I was more than ready to get out of that country after such a crazy adventure, but I can’t say I didn’t enjoy myself while we were there. Slovenia is a highly underrated country with a lot of beautiful sights & a rich culture to share, & I’m very thankful to have gotten an opportunity to spend time there.

Last stop: Venice!

These are pictures from the gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:33:00 +0200

These are pictures from the gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, where we spent a whole day admiring the beautiful lakes, trees & waterfalls! It can only be described in pictures, but it can only truly be appreciated in person. So far my favorite place I’ve visited in all of Europe.

A beautiful hidden gem called Croatia

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:13:00 +0200

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from Croatia when we first arrived there on Friday night. Our plane got into Zadar after dark so I couldn’t really get an idea of what it looked like. I watched out the window as we drove along in a taxi on our way to our hotel, listening to the interesting Croatian house music that our taxi driver was playing from the radio, & I saw a lot of trees. It kind of looked like northern Minnesota!

When we finally arrived at our place of residence I was really surprised. It was adorable! Here’s a picture of it in the daylight:

The woman in charge, Nella, greeted us at the door & while checking us in she gave us all sorts of suggestions for things to do while we were here & answered all our questions. Her English was cute & she was so sweet! When we finally got into our little apartment, we settled ourselves in, ordered a jumbo pizza, & watched American movies with Croatian subtitles. Then we had to get to bed so we’d be ready for the adventures of the next day!

In the morning, a few of us walked to the grocery store to get food for breakfast & lunch. The walk was beautiful! I felt like we were in a forest because of all the gorgeous trees everywhere, & the sun shining through them made for a perfect morning. After eating breakfast & saying hello to our newest travel companion, Alexis, who arrived in the middle of the night, we all got our things together for the day & we were off! We rented bikes that morning, & Nella was nice enough to drive us to the bike rental place to pick them up then lead us downtown in our car with us following on our bikes.

Zadar is the fifth largest city in Croatia, but it only has a population of 75,000. It was a lot different from any other European city I had been to because it had more of a small town feel — no tall buildings, lots of grass & trees, houses instead of apartments. Biking through town felt just like biking through my hometown! It was kind of nice to be away from the hustle & bustle of big cities for a while.

When we arrived downtown, we made our way to the ferry we would take to the island called Dugi Otok, where we planned to spend the day. (Quick fun fact: island in Croatian is otok.) The ride was wonderful! We sat on the top deck, soaking up sunshine & looking at the scenery. However, trouble ensued once we arrived to the island. A woman in the street came up to us to tell us that we were stuck on the island until Monday (it was Saturday). We were a little worried as she continued to tell us that the ferry we had taken to the island only allows cargo (our bikes) on certain rides & that the next cargo trip wouldn’t be until Monday — uh-oh! But there was another port that had a ferry leaving late that afternoon, which was great — however, it would be a five or six hour bike ride there. That was especially a problem because Hollie’s bike had a flat tire & she was having a lot of difficulty riding it. So, worried though we were, we took her advice to ride to the closest town which had an air pump, refill Hollie’s tire, & then make our way to the other port!

It was an amazing ride. The island was absolutely beautiful! Although it was difficult with the flat, we were enjoying ourselves because of the gorgeous views. From the top of one of the hills we could see a national park with beautiful lakes — way too pretty! We had to stop to take pictures every once in a while because it was just too amazing!

We finally arrived in the nearest town to fill the tire, but of course absolutely everything there was closed. (Croatia isn’t exactly the most convenient of countries!) But we were lucky to have Alexis with us, because she went up to a guy & talked to him in German, telling him about our problems & trying to find a solution. It turned out that he knew the owner of the only taxi on the entire island, so he called him up to help us out. It was such a blessing. They even made us lemonade while we waited & let us use their bathroom!

The taxi driver had a huge van, so with our reasoning skills we figured out how to fit all five of the bikes into it & he took us to Plaza Saharun, the beach that we had been wanting to go to. Along the way he played tour guide for us, telling us things about the sights & places we were passing. When he dropped us off, he arranged a time to come pick us up again, letting us keep the bikes in the van. He was sooo nice! He even offered to take us on a detour to the lighthouse on the island before heading to the ferry. We couldn’t thank him enough.

After we arrived at the beach, even though it was FREEZING cold, we were so happy! It was stunning. The water was sooo blue, the beach was covered with white stones & mountains surrounded it all. We were so excited to spend the afternoon there!

First we made our way into the trees where there were picnic tables we could use to eat our packed lunches. (And it was a lot warmer over there, being shielded from the wind!) Lunch was great, & afterwards we were excited to get out on the beach! Well, kind of… It was freezing cold so we all had a hard time deciding to go in the water. But we finally all convinced each other to get in, & it ended up being a great time. The water numbed you after a while! When we got out we discovered that we were actually warmer than we had been in the first place — that’s how cold the water was. We all just pretended that we were there in the summer, when it’s hot & they have beach parties that last all night long. And of course we had to get the classic spring break picture!

After the beach, we got our things together & hopped back in the taxi. We visited the lighthouse, which was on a pretty cliff with lots of flowers & nice views. There were swings hanging from some of the trees so we had fun playing on those! Then we made our way back to the taxi, he drove us to the ferry, & we were on our way back to the mainland.

We were all freezing & exhausted when we got back to Zadar, but our evening wasn’t over yet, because it was time for us to visit the most famous landmark in all of the city — the Zadar Sea Organ, or Morske Orgulje. The Sea Organ is a relatviely new addition which uses the waves of the sea & an intricate piping system under the water to create music. We sat on the steps for a long time just listening to the sounds of the organ & the water, watching the sun set over the sea. It was so wonderful! If you want to see a video of it I have one on my Facebook, but here’s a picture me on the organ:

When we decided it was time for dinner, we took our bikes over to the restaurant that Nella had recommended that served yummy Italian food & we ate to our hearts’ content. It was delicious! By the time we were done eating, it was completely dark outside, so we made our way back to the organ to see the city’s other new attraction that is only fun once the sun has set. It’s a giant solar panel called Greeting to the Sun, & it uses energy from the sun & the wave patterns from below to create a giant light show with all sorts of patterns & different colored lights! How neat is that?

We spent a long time there taking pictures, dancing to Gabe’s iPod, & having the time of our lives. That’s definitely one of those kinds of moments that I’ll never forget.

Finally, after such a long day, we made our way back to the apartment on our terrible bikes. Mine had gotten a flat by then too, so we were basically all struggling & so relieved when we finally made it back! The rest of the night we spent taking showers & watching more movies with Croatian subtitles.

The next morning we said goodbye to Villa Vanilla & our great hostess Nella, & she gave us all little bags of lavender as our parting gift, since lavender grows wildly in Croatia. Then we were off on another ferry to another island, Uglijan. When we got off the ferry we thought that we were close to the apartment we would be staying at, but we kept wandering & wandering & we couldn’t seem to find it! Alexis found some kids playing outside of their house & asked them if they spoke English. One of the girls went to get her older sister for help, & when she came out, we gave her the name of our hotel & showed her the directions. It turned out that we were very far away, but the girl happened to be the sister of the godson of the owners of the hotel! How crazy is that? She explained to us that the street names were new & no one used them (because that would make too much sense, obviously), but she told us how to get there, so we were thankful. Then as we started walking she offered to give us a ride! We of course said yes, stuffed all our things in her little car & made our way over there. She went right up to the door to greet the family when we got there & we were ushered into our room right away. We couldn’t get over how nice they all were, & we were very impressed with the gorgeous views!

The rest of the day was wonderfully relaxing. We walked down to the water & I took a nap in the sun. Hollie & I wandered around the island for a while, finding a pretty church, lots of dogs, & some interesting statues & monuments along the way. When we got back to our room, we found a kitty sitting outside on the ledge. I thought he was especially cute, & then I realized it was because he was cross-eyed! He belonged to the family, we found out later, but we let him hang out with us for a while. We didn’t do much the rest of the evening except watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians with Croatian subtitles (I guess Croatians like their guilty pleasure TV too) & wait for dinner. Alexis made us delicious vegetable enchiladas, so we drank wine & stuffed our faces, having lots of good conversation & overall enjoying ourselves! It was another great night.

We got up early the next day to our cross-eyed kitty friend & a gorgeous sunrise, packing our bags to leave for our next destination on a ferry that we thought left at 8:30. However, it turned out that the ferry actually left at 8:15, so we had to hurry out of there & into our host’s car down to the ferry. We got our tickets just in time to make it back to the mainland! But the transportation issues weren’t quite solved yet, because when we made it back to Zadar & took a bus to the bus station, we found out that there were no buses to Plitvice Lakes that day for some reason, even though the internet had said there would be. We didn’t know what to do! We ended up finding a taxi driver that was willing to take us, & between the five of us, the price wasn’t TOO bad.

After a couple hours in the car, we arrived in Plitvice Lakes National Park, & after more trouble actually finding the place we were staying, we finally made it to House Boro! We were greeted by Boro, the man who owns the place, & once we got inside we realized that it’s really just his house with extra bedrooms for guests to stay in. It was really cute! And as a welcome gift, he made us Turkish coffee & gave us shots of homemade Schnapps. He wasn’t very confident of his English-speaking skills, telling us “My English is small,” but we asked him some questions about how to say certain things in Croatian. By this point we had learned a few words, so here’s your quick lesson on the Croatian language!

Dobar dan = literally translated it means “good day,” but that’s how they say hello
Hvala = thank you
Dobro = good, okay
Molim = please, you’re welcome
Kikiriki = peanut (not necessary but super cute word!)

After eating our lunch, we finally headed to the national park in Boro’s car. We paid our entrance fee & then we were free to explore! This was my favorite part of the entire week. The park was gorgeous with all of the trees, lakes & waterfalls. The water was so clear that you could see the bottom in most places & it was safe enough to drink! The waterfalls were beautiful, especially Veliki Slap, the biggest waterfall in Croatia. We also saw a cave, rode a ferry, & did lots of hiking! I spent a lot of time thinking & appreciating the beauty of nature. And of course we took a ton of pictures!

After spending an entire day appreciating nature & doing lots of walking, we were exhausted & very hungry. But when we were leaving the park, we got kind of lost & it was only by chance that we ended up right outside a grocery store where Boro happened to be! He came outside & drove by us in his car, laughing at us for being in such a random place & giving us a ride to a good pizza restaurant. We ended the day with some pizza & beer (yummmmmmm!) & then headed back home to House Boro where I showered, hung out with the girls, & got some much needed rest after a long day.

The next day was our last in Croatia. We ate an amazing homemade breakfast of different meats & cheeses, eggs & more Turkish coffee, cooked for us by Boro himself. After some goodbye shots of Schnapps for the road, we took a bus from Plitvice to Zagreb, the capitol city, where we would spend the day before going onward to Slovenia. The city was absolutely beautiful & very quaint. It was a lot more like the European cities I was used to, except it had lots of grass & flowers!

My favorite part of the whole day was the Easter market, which is a special tradition of some European countries around Easter time. They had little booths set up & were selling beautiful decorative eggs, handmade lace, embroidered cloths, jewelry, & more! They also had some food. All five of us shared two homemade pastries, one apple & one cherry, which were delicious. Hollie bought a sort of fried pastry with chocolate drizzled on top that we all got to try. So much good stuff! I bought a few gifts there too since everything was so cute!

After we had gotten everything we wanted at the market, we made our way to the history museum since we realized we didn’t know anything about Croatia’s history! (And I guess also because we had a couple hours to kill yet.) We followed the signs, but since we still had no idea where exactly we were going, we asked a guy sitting on a bench. Unfortunately, he didn’t know either, so we kept wandering & eventually found it. We stayed outside while Hollie checked prices, & the guy we had asked before found us again & started chatting with Alexis, telling her that he was a law student & he had an hour to kill before class if we wanted him to show us around. We decided to skip the museum & instead take him to a cafe to learn from him!

So that’s how we ended up hanging out with a native Croatian for an hour. His name was Vladimir, & he told us lots of interesting things about Croatia. For example, Croatia is about to be admitted into the European Union & he told us that a lot of Croatians don’t want that for particular reasons. Also he told us about the war between Slovenia & Croatia after the end of Yugoslavia, which sounded kind of like the Civil War with families being split up & everything. Then we went on the talk about the perception of Americans that Croatians have, how they don’t like us but listen to our music & learn our language & wear apparel with the American flag on it! It was really cool & eye-opening to hear about life from the perspective of someone who lives in a country most of us knew nothing about. Definitely made for a great end of our visit to Croatia.

Also, this isn’t related to anything but this was my favorite building in Zagreb:

After our lovely afternoon, we headed to the train station to carry on to Slovenia. I was sad to say goodbye to such a great country! If I learned anything in Croatia (besides a few Croatian words & that sometimes it’s possible to get REALLY lucky), it is definitely that the Croatian people are some of the nicest people I have ever met! We had so many problems on this part of our trip, but everyone was always so nice & willing to help. It definitely made our lives easier. That & the fact that pretty much everyone spoke English there! Overall, I had an wonderful time in Croatia — it was my favorite country that I had visited, because of the amazing sights, the nice people, & of course, my great travel companions.

Slovenia, here we come!

The amazing lights of the “Greeting to the Sun,” a...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:33:00 +0200

The amazing lights of the “Greeting to the Sun,” a solar-powered light panel in Zadar, Croatia!

London calling (again!)

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 21:41:00 +0200

My adventure began with a quick stop in London, England. Originally we had chosen to fly from Malaga, Spain to London on Thursday afternoon then from there to Zadar, Croatia on Friday evening, simply because it was cheaper to fly that way. But of course, Spain had to cause problems for us by holding a general strike on Thursday which would cause most buses & flights to be canceled. To avoid the imminent mess that would be, we instead booked an earlier flight on Wednesday night, which gave us an extra day in London. More time to enjoy the Brits!

Wednesday was full of travel firsts for me. Our flight was through an airline called RyanAir, which is a godsend for study abroad students. It’s the cheapest possible airline out there — which is awesome for us college students — but you definitely get what you pay for & nothing more. And they try to sell you things throughout the entire flight (that’s how they make their money, I guess). This was my first flight through RyanAir, which was kind of exciting, because it’s like a rite of passage. The other first for me was sleeping in an airport. Because we didn’t arrive until around 11 PM, my roommate Hollie & I decided it’d be cheaper to skip a hostel that night, so we cuddled up on the benches at the airport to sleep for free. It actually wasn’t too bad, either! I slept pretty well too, besides waking up at 5 AM. But it was a nice relaxing morning!

We finally left the airport in the morning & arrived in the city around 9:30 AM. We took the tube over to our hostel, & it was a nice surprise to see that it was in a quieter, more residential neighborhood of the city. Hollie & I decided that it must’ve been the old house of a famous guy named Palmer since it’s called Palmer’s Lodge & there’s pictures of him everywhere. It was sooo adorable too!

As soon as we got there, we started planning the only thing I was determined to do whilst in London — see The Hunger Games in theater! It was early, but we didn’t have anything better to do, so we chose to go to the 11:50 AM showing at the closest theater. And what luck we have, because they were only showing it in IMAX at that theater! Score! I was literally bouncing up & down with excitement on our way there because I LOVE The Hunger Games series & I’ve been looking forward to this movie for months. It didn’t disappoint!

After all that excitement, Hollie & I headed back to the hostel to check in & make ourselves some lunch, then we headed out with no agenda to explore London for the second time this year! It was nice that we had already been there in January & had seen the touristy places we wanted to see, because this time we got to just wander & enjoy ourselves. We didn’t do anything exciting, but we made the most of the gorgeous spring weather. We spent a while in Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens, admiring all the beautiful flowers & green grass. That made for a truly lovely afternoon. It couldn’t have been more beautiful!

That night we took it easy at the hostel, going to bed early since we never really got a chance to rest after our long journey. But the next morning we were up & at ‘em so we could make our way to Abbey Road! Our hostel was only a few streets away from this famous street, so naturally we had to visit. The neighborhood was gorgeous, & after taking out our map a number of times along the way, a man stopped to help us: “Abbey Road? Just keep going that way!” (Did I mention how much I love British people?) We stopped at almost every crosswalk to look at the picture of the Abbey Road CD cover & figure out if we were at the right one yet, but we knew when we had found it… It was right next the Abbey Road Studios & of course, they HAD to be doing construction on it. Many of the tourists there were trying to make the most of it & did the Beatles’ pose, but Hollie & I didn’t even bother. Better luck next time?

We weren’t actually upset though — the whole thing was actually pretty funny. And the best part of Abbey Road turned out to be the graffiti all over the gates outside of Abbey Road Studios. Tourists had been coming there to see where the Beatles’ had done their recording & naturally had scribbled Beatles’ lyrics all over. Hollie & I added our own contributions & listened to Beatles’ songs while checking out what people had written in the past. I love how beautiful graffiti can be!

Our next stop was Baker Street, where we did a quick visit of the Sherlock Holmes Museum. We didn’t actually go inside, because it cost money that we didn’t feel like spending, but we did check out their adorable gift shop & bought some souvenirs! Right next door was the London Beatles’ Store, which we spent a little time in as well, & of course I had to buy an Abbey Road postcard since I had officially visited it! Then the only thing left to do was eat some KFC (good ol’ American food) & gather our stuff to head back to the airport, where we met back up with the other girls in our group.

It was definitely an added expense to London for these couple of days, but it was so worth it! If I had to live in another country besides the United States, England would be one of my top choices. Not only because they speak my native language (with such an adorable accent!) but because I totally want to live in an English cottage. They’re just so cuuute! I love the land of the Brits :)

Next destination: Croatia!

Salam aleikum, habibi!

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:37:00 +0200

After almost 12 hours of traveling yesterday, 7 hours of sleep this morning, & 2 skipped classes today, I’m here to tell the tale of my adventures in Morocco. It was a long journey on both ends (with yesterday being the longer of the two — I’ll get to that later…), but what we experienced there was amazing!

We left bright & early on Friday morning at 8 AM on our bus to the port that was three hours away. It was an eventful bus ride with a forgotten passport & lots of confusion about ferry times, but eventually we made it to the port, quickly made our way to the boat, & headed out! The ferry ride was about an hour, then we were in Morocco! We finally made our way through security & to our bus to begin our sightseeing.

I guess the first thing I should mention was that Morocco looked completely different than what I was expecting. I was assuming that it would be desert-like, dry, & Africa-looking. Instead, I was greeted with this view:

There was more green here than there was in Spain! So I guess all I have to say is that stereotypes were being broken right from the start.

Some more fast facts:

I’m sure you all know this, but 99.9% of the population of Morocco is Muslim.
Arabic is the language of Morocco, but it’s a different dialect than the Arabic in Egypt.
French is the second language of Morocco & it’s used for business & governmental reasons.
Salam aleikum is how you say hello in Arabic!

When we arrived in Tangier, the city where we stayed both nights & our first sightseeing destination, I was surprised again. The city itself was more modern-looking than most cities we’ve been to in Spain! The buildings were taller & the style of architecture was more similar to what I’ve seen in the US. Although there were some people dressed in traditional Muslim & Berber clothes, there were also a lot of people in regular clothing. But there were a lot more women on the street than men & most of the women we saw were dressed in hijabs & long garments.

We didn’t do very much during our first afternoon there. After a little bus tour of some of the city, we stopped for lunch at a nice restaurant. We were given some good background music by a few men with instruments & fed some delicious food! Our meal consisted of a yummy soup, followed by meat shish kebabs, & then our main course of couscous with vegetables. We were given mint tea & baklava for dessert:

You can’t tell from the picture, but the baklava was the most absolutely amazing thing I have ever tasted. Ever. Words can’t describe how great it was.

After our lunch, we headed off to the old city of Tangier. This section was distinctly different than the modern part of the city, & it was much more what I was expecting from Morocco. We walked around to see people buying & selling all sorts of things in the tiny little streets, like vegetables, spices, chickens, & more!

It was a very interesting experience not only because it was such a completely different lifestyle than I had ever seen, but also because we were stared at by everyone (even laughed at by some kids in a window). One of those times where you definitely feel like you don’t fit in!

One of the more interesting parts of the day was when we went to a sort of herb & spice shop to hear about Moroccan natural remedies to specific ailments. A man in a white coat who reminded me of a Moroccan Bill Nye began telling us about all of the spices & oils they use to cure things. Here’s a couple little tidbits from his lecture: saffron is called the “king of all spices” & can be used for anything from flavoring chicken or fish to lowering cholesterol levels to helping heartburn, & argan oil is a special oil that can help make skin or hair soft & it can only be found in Morocco. We had a lot of fun there because some of the products he talked about he would let us sample, which he did by sending around his two little apprentices to all of us. Afterwards, they pushed us to buy as many of the products as they could, & I’m sure some people walked out of there with way more than they needed, but it was still a good time!

After a little bit more time in the old town, we finally made it back to the bus & headed to our hotel, where we spent the rest of the night relaxing. We ate dinner at the hotel — another great three course meal! — then went to bed early since we were so tired after a long day of traveling.

The next day was a great one. After a quick breakfast in the hotel & a short bus ride, we arrived in the city of Tetouan. We didn’t spend very much time there, but I’ll tell you what I learned:

This city is also called “The White Dove,” & we saw a pretty statue dedicated to its name.
Tetouan was a safe haven for the Muslim & Jewish refugees fleeing from Spain during the Reconquista in the 1500’s. For this reason its architecture is similar to that of Andalusia in Spain.
Spain also occupied this city twice, which gave it even more of a Spanish flavor. Because it was occupied during much of the 20th century, some of the older residents still know Spanish as a second language.
The king comes here to northern Morocco in the summer months to escape the heat of southern Morocco. This is his palace in Tetouan:

After we saw the palace, we made our way to the old quarter of this city, where we saw more markets with more people selling vegetables & spices, & we stopped for a little while to do some shopping at one of the little stores with touristy gifts. Watching everyone try to haggle for their prices was very interesting!

(One of the interesting things about Morocco is that people sell things up & down the streets, & they will follow you on your tour for long periods of time to try to get you to buy things from them. They’re very pushy!)

The bus ride to our next stop was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was in a national park because there were forests everywhere & at one point we saw a huge gorgeous lake. We were in the Rif Mountains, & because it was a rainy day, the clouds nestled themselves into the mountains just perfectly. It was by far one of my favorite bus rides I’ve ever been on!

Chefchaouen was our next destination, but it was difficult to tell when we were approaching because it’s so enclosed in the mountains that it isn’t visible until you’re there. This city was the best part of our whole trip — not only because it was gorgeous with the mountains surrounding us, but also because everyone there was so nice! And, of course, because our tour guide was the cutest little man in the entire world! But I’ll get to that.

Two interesting facts about the town:

Its name refers to the shapes of the mountain tops over the town, which look like goat horns. The name literally means “look at the horns.”
The entire town is whitewashed with blue accents. Indigo is used to make the blue paint & they covered the walls with it! If the ground of a street is painted blue along with the walls, like this one, it means a dead end.

Our first stop was a hotel for another delicious three course lunch, then on our way out we met our adorable little guide, Mr. Toto! At first we just thought he was a confused old man that wanted to be in charge of us, but then we realized that he was supposed to be in charge of us. I don’t think I can explain in words how funny or cute this guy was, but he was very small, was wearing a traditional Moroccan hat & robe, & saying hello to everyone when I first saw him. Then he whipped out an iPhone. And then people asked to take pictures with him & he held up a peace sign for every picture. And it was love at first sight, basically.

During our tour he explained to us the different areas of the town, & to get our attention he would yell out every so often, “Hello, habibi!” (Habibi is a term of endearment that means something along the lines of “my darling.”) There’s no way to capture his awesomeness, but I think this sums it up: during the tour we went to a place where they made & sold authentic Arabic & Berber rugs & blankets. In the middle of the presentation, he got up & grabbed one of the scarfs that they had showed us, then went over to one of the girls in our group & proceeded to wrap it around her head like a hijab. Then he told her, “You’re worth a thousand camels now!” & we all started laughing. It was a good moment.

We were all very sad to leave behind the beautiful mountain town & our new favorite friend Mr. Toto, but we eventually had to say goodbye. Hollie & I made sure to get a picture with him before heading out though!

The bus ride home was just as beautiful as the way there, & we were happy to be back at the hotel to rest for a few hours. But at 8:15 PM, we headed out again for our dinner with a show at a different hotel in Tangier just ten minutes away! We arrived at this hotel where there were men on horses waiting out front for us, ready to pose for pictures. Then we headed inside the gates of the hotel, where some people got a chance to ride a camel quickly. But we were hurried over to some bleachers, where we saw & watched the same men on horses ride towards us with torches & then guns. Then finally we were welcomed into the tent for the dinner!

It was a big gorgeous tent that was decorated in a very Moroccan style. A few men with instruments played music for us the whole time, with lots of acts in between the courses of our dinner. We saw two dancers with symbols, two children acrobats, a man who balanced a tray of candles on his head, a belly dancer, & a magician who walked on glass! The food was great & so was the entertainment, so we couldn’t have asked for a better night!

The next morning we got up a little later to enjoy our hotel breakfast & then hit the road for our final adventures. We first took a scenic bus tour through the area of Tangier with the houses for the rich (they were nice!), then we got to see more beautiful forests & finally a fantastic view of the ocean. The beaches in Morocco are very popular in the summertime, & I can see why! Once we were on the Atlantic Ocean side of the coastline, the waves were huge & the beaches were nice & sandy. Our tour guide told us it gets pretty packed in the summer.

Along our way we stopped to ride camels! There were about ten camels hanging out by the highway, right next to the beach, & we all got to have our turn mounting a camel for only 2 euros. It was funny watching them stand up & sit down, because if you’ve never seen a camel do that before you’ll realize how strange it is to watch. In my opinion, riding a camel is more fun than riding a horse, because you’re higher up & it’s a lot more exotic. I felt like an Arabian princess!

When we weren’t riding with the camels, we got to play with them. There were a few little babies & a few older ones that weren’t being ridden that we got to pet & take pictures with. They all made really funny noises, especially the babies, but they were pretty cuddly otherwise! I had so much fun & I could definitely go for a pet camel in the future. They’re just so cute & happy-looking!

After our little pit-stop, we were on our way to our final city, Asilah. This city was another beautiful one, situated right on the coastline & so serene! Some of the city walls were blue like in Chefchaouen, but a lot of them were covered with colorful paintings! Apparently every year, artists from around the world come to Asilah to paint the city walls however they want. It made for a beautiful town!

We didn’t get to spend much time there, but we did get to enjoy the pretty serenity of the coast & spend some time in the market buying things. I finally bought myself a souvenir from Morocco (a little wooden camel!) & I bought a few other things for friends, using my roommate’s awesome bargaining skills. There was a woman that was doing henna tattoos for 3 euros, but we decided it’d be more fun to do it ourselves, so Hollie & I split the cost of a tube of henna & she painted my hand in the street. We have lots left over still too that we’re planning on using to decorate ourselves for spring break!

After that, we were mostly done with our Moroccan adventure. We stopped for lunch for a while, but Hollie & I sat outside with our friend Drea & ate some muffins & granola bars that we had left over while we enjoyed the sunshine & let our henna dry. Look at our hands!

Finally it was time for our trip to come to an end. We headed out to the port to get through security & onto the ferry so we could go back home to Granada. Except the only problem was that the ferry was late. Really late. We ended up spending about three hours waiting for the ferry in the little terminal, killing time any way we could. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime, they let us onto the boat, but even then we didn’t move for another hour or so. I was so hungry & upset that I bought a pizza to share with another girl (it was delicious), & then I drifted off to sleep until we docked. Finally, around midnight, we got on our bus home & arrived in Granada around 4 AM. Long journey home, to say the least…

So that brings me to today, which I spent sleeping & catching up on things. It’s crazy to think that in less than two days I’ll be arriving in London to begin my spring break adventure. I’ll be traveling for about a week & a half to Croatia, Slovenia, & Italy starting Wednesday! I’m excited but there’s a lot of things to do before I go, & having just returned from the weekend I don’t know how ready I am to take off again. But such is the life of a study abroad student. Can’t say I have any reason to complain!

Stay tuned for more European adventures!

Family fun, halfway 'round the world!

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:58:00 +0100

This week was a wonderful break from everyday life here in Granada (as if there is such a thing — every week is a new experience!). It was my whole family’s spring break, so they packed up & headed here to Spain for an international adventure! They flew out on Saturday & on Monday after a number of pit-stops, they were finally here in Granada to spend a week with me. And what a week it was!

Class on Monday took forever as I anxiously awaited the moment when I would get to see my family in their hotel. Finally it ended & I made my way to Hotel Granada Center where I greeted my family with big hugs & sighs of relief that they had made it here safely. I helped them settle into their room a little, we ate some lunch, & then we were off to explore Granada! I took them around to the places I visit daily, like my class building & the sights along my walk to class. But we didn’t have much time because at 5 PM we had to make our way to my house where my real family was to meet my host family!

As soon as we walked into the door of the apartment building, my mom made a comment: “It’s weird that you live here & you see this on a daily basis.” It was funny to hear that from here because sometimes that’s how I feel about my life! It doesn’t feel real have the time. But what I thought was really strange was having my little world in Spain collide with my life at home. When we walked in the door, my host family was there to greet us along with my roommate. Everyone introduced themselves, which was interesting with the language barrier, & then we were ushered into the living room for churros con chocolate.

The whole visit was surreal. Hollie & I translated back & forth for both my real family & my Spanish family, but my mom sometimes tried to communicate with her limited Spanish vocabulary & my brother understood most of what my host mom & sister were saying. It was really cool to see us all trying to understand each other & express things to each other. The snacks were delicious too! My mom wanted to get a picture of me with my Spanish family, which was great because I hadn’t gotten one yet. Look how cute they are! :)

I think my favorite moment of all was when we were leaving & my real parents were telling my host mother how much they appreciated her taking care of me. She told them that I was like her daughter & that anything I needed, she would take care of. It was really touching.

After leaving my house, we visited Parque García Lorca, which is the nice little park that I live close to, then we headed back to the hotel to relax before our big evening out at tapas! I was excited to take my family out to experience tapas, the best part about Granada. I think I’ve explained this before, but tapas are essentially appetizers that come free with any & all drinks at bars in Granada. They make a great cheap meal! I took them to D’Cuadros, which is a popular bar in Granada with really great food, & they enjoyed it! We had a lot of fun. It made for a great first night!

The next morning between my classes I met up with them to visit the Cathedral & Capilla Real of Granada. We didn’t get a guided tour, so I don’t have any interesting historical facts to tell you even though it was my first time there, but it was fun to see my mom’s reaction to her first Spanish cathedral after having been to so many myself. She loved it! And so did I. Granada’s cathedral is a lot simpler & older-looking than most of the cathedrals I’ve seen, so it had a sort of quality to it that I liked. It was gorgeous!

The Capilla Real was also very cool to see, mainly because it holds the bodies of the Reyes Católicos that conquered Granada in 1492 & their daughter Juana with her husband Felipe. Something I will always appreciate about Spain is that it has the ability to put you right into the middle of history!

After seeing both of those monuments, I still had some time to kill before class, so we walked around visiting some of the little tourist shops around the cathedral & wandering around to a few different plazas. Right before I went to class I took them to the AIFS office so that they could meet my program director too! And, of course, along the way I ran into some fellow study abroad students so I got to introduce them. That was a lot of fun!

The rest of the day I spent doing my daily life, then that night I visited them in their hotel to hang out as a fam. We were planning on watching a movie but the internet didn’t work well in the hotel room so we watched Spanish television instead. They don’t understand Spanish, but we ended up finding America’s Funniest Home Videos dubbed in Spanish, & that’s easy to understand in any language! The craziest thing was that some of the featured videos took place in Minneapolis & St. Paul, Minnesota. Even in Spain we found connections to home!

Wednesday was a full day. First we hiked up past the Alhambra, stopping for a picnic lunch along the way. It felt just like one of our family camping trips! Later we visited the Albaicín. It was fun to see the sun setting over Granada again from the beautiful Mirador de San Nicolás that gave us a great view of the Alhambra with the mountains in the background. I felt like a tour guide that day, leading them around to all these places that I loved to go! But of course, there’s still lots of places I don’t know — when we were leaving the Albaicín we ended up on the street with all the teterías (tea-houses). We decided to stop for crepes with chocolate! They were delicous, & everyone enjoyed the cool Arabic-influenced atmosphere.

We headed back to our respective homes afterwards, but we made plans to meet up that night so that my brother & I could go with my roommate Hollie to see Hugo in Spanish at the movie theater. This was another one of my favorite parts of the week. I love seeing movies in Spanish because it’s a great way to work on listening skills, & I had fun explaining things to my brother that he didn’t understand. But it was fun to see him applying what he learned in Spanish class!

On Thursday morning my family toured the Alhambra without me, since I’d already seen it, & they said they thought it was beautiful. In the late afternoon, we met up again for churros con chocolate at one of my favorite little cafés called Cafetería Bib-Rambla. Yum!

Later that night, we were supposed to see a flamenco show in the Albaicín, but we ended up getting really lost & our feet hurt from walking so much that we decided to just call it quits & eat at a different restaurant. It was disappointing, but it was a good lesson that sometimes things don’t always go according to plan. And the next morning we had more things to be excited about!

On Friday morning my family checked out of their hotel & came to pick me up at my house, where we hit the highway for the southern coast of Spain to a beautiful little town called Nerja! My host sister had told me so many wonderful things about it, guide books had called it one of the hidden treasures of Spain, & in general I was excited for a weekend on the beach, so I couldn’t wait to get there! We couldn’t find our hotel right away when we got there, but it was okay, because it was prime beach time! My brother & I donned our swimsuits & all of us headed to one of Nerja’s many beaches to spend a couple hours in the sun. It was so relaxing.

After a while the family was getting anxious to find our hotel, so we headed back to the car & used our best navigation skills to find it. Finally we figured it out, got the car parked, & checked in. I was so excited when I got to our room, because we had an apartment-style room with the most beautiful view. This is what we could see from our balcony:

It was absolute heaven. Not only did we have a great view, but we were seconds from the beach & our hotel had a pool. And we were especially lucky because our hotel was right next to the most notable landmark in Nerja: the Balcón de Europa, or Balcony of Europe. It’s a pretty overlook of the ocean that’s built on an outcropping of rocks, essentially. It gave us a great view!

The rest of Friday we spent relaxing & exploring both the beach & the little plaza outside of our hotel. My mom & I went for a walk & saw a snail! I was excited about that. Later that night we had a lot of fun playing Hearts as a family. I won the game, in case anyone was wondering! :)

The rest of the weekend we spent soaking up rays by the pool or the beach, eating good food, & spending time as a family. It was the perfect relaxing few days that we needed after all the stress of managing our way around a foreign country in a car. It was also fun to catch up with all of them! I had definitely missed them.

Saturday night was St. Patrick’s Day & we got coupons for a couple free drinks at a local bar/lounge courtesy of our hotel, so we went there & had fun listening to a guy singing hits from the 60s & 70s. It was quite entertaining! After that, we headed back to the hotel, but we stopped at the Irish pub that was right underneath our hotel to listen to some more live music & to get a free hat, of course! It was a really fun night.

On Sunday we spent a little time on the beach but then we had to check out of our hotel & head back to Granada. But on the way we stopped at the Cueva de Nerja, an amazing cave that were discovered about a mile away from the town’s center. We weren’t sure if it would be worth the ticket price of 8 euros, but once we went inside we were pleasantly surprised! It was definitely the biggest & most impressive cave I’ve ever seen. I wish I could’ve gotten a good picture, but pictures don’t do it justice. It was gigantic!

After the cave, we got on the road to head back to Granada. My family was only staying one more night with me, so I stayed in the hotel with them & we ate dinner as a family at a nice café. We didn’t do very much, but it was nice to continue to relax & not have huge travel expectations, especially since they were driving to Seville & Malaga the next day!

The next morning, they packed up their car to leave & we all had to say goodbye. It was sad to see them leave, since they had become such a constant presence, but I definitely appreciated my time with them in Spain. Now they’re safely back in the United States, & in two months time I will be reunited with them in my own country! Not that I’m ready to leave. But as much as I appreciate the joys of living in a foreign country, I still have a special place in my heart for my home & my family. And I am so thankful to have been lucky enough to unite the two for one week! I love you guys!

Skiing the slopes of the Sierras

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Ever since my parents started taking my brother & I to the slopes when we were little to take ski lessons, skiing has always been one of my favorite activities. I’m not an adrenaline junkie, but I love the rush of flying down the hill with the wind in your face — not to mention the chairlift conversations! Needless to say, I took advantage of Granada’s perfect location this weekend by skiing the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountains!

It was an early start to the morning, since I had to head out to catch a bus at 7 AM. There were lots of other people on their way to the mountains as well that were dressed in all their gear with their snowboards & skis. (The little eighth-grade me that was always so concerned about looking awesome on the slopes felt stupid without her cool Burton jacket!) I met up with my friend Austin & her boyfriend at the bus station & then we were off to start our wintery day.

The drive to the ski town was beautiful, but I was a little disappointed by how little snow there actually was on the mountains! This year has been especially warm, but I didn’t realize just how much more so than usual until I saw the Sierras. Good thing skiing is fun no matter what!

Our first stop was to rent our equipment. I felt a lot better after donning some mint green snow pants with a pretty jacket that matched! Minus my goggles & a cute hat I was pretty much looking like a little snow bunny. Check it out!

Once we finally got it all together we headed up the mountain to start skiing! We had to take a gondola up to the top, where there were actual chairlifts & lots of runs with more snow. We took a chairlift up higher & there was more snow up there than down below in the resort town, which was good. It was pretty icy still, so it wasn’t ideal skiing conditions, but I’m not complaining! There were soooo many gorgeous views, so it was infinitely better than skiing on the little hills of Minnesota. Even though I’ll always have a place in my heart for Welch, I can’t see anything like this where I’m from!

There were a lot of people there that day, but we found a sort of back bowl that was a lot less populated & a lot more beautiful! It was especially fun because it was the longest & highest chairlift of them all, so it felt like the slope never ended when we were skiing down it! And from the top, we had a gorgeous overlook & we could just barely see the ocean in the morning! However, by the afternoon it was covered by clouds. It was amazing being higher than the clouds! They were like a blanket over the world. A truly awe-inspiring view.

We stayed out on the slopes until the chairlifts closed at about 5 PM. Then we skied all the way down to the very bottom (going through a tunnel on the way)! We returned our equipment, ate some snacks, & hung out till our bus left at 6:30 PM. We were so exhausted that we planned on sleeping, but I ended up sitting next to a Norwegian girl that Austin was friends with. We talked about ourselves & our experiences abroad so far, which was cool. My favorite moment was when she asked me where I was from, & I told her I was from Minnesota. She responded with, “Oh, there’s a lot of Norwegian people there, aren’t there?” I said yes, then told her that some of my ancestors were Norwegian & that my grandma still makes lefse every Christmas & Thanksgiving (a typical Norwegian food). She thought that was cool, then told me that I look Norwegian, & if I went to Norway people would probably start talking to me thinking that I was! As silly as we Americans may be with our obsessions with heritage, it was really cool to have that conversation!

It was a beautiful day full of gorgeous views, a little cold wind, long chairlift rides, a few falls, good conversations, lots of laughter, & tons of fun. I felt like I had been inserted right into a water bottle commercial! I got a little too much sun that led to a ridiculously sunburnt face & I spent more money than I should’ve, but it was definitely worth it. Now I can’t wait until next winter when I can go skiing again!