Just a recap of life in Sevilla before I get to Italy. Last Sunday we got to attend our Mama's choir concert at her church. It was the first time I have gone to a church service here in Seville and it was different. Like 90% of the churches here it was catholic so attending a catholic service is a first as well. After we all went to lunch at a restaurant 20 minutes away by car. First time I have been in a car (that wasn't a taxi since arriving in Seville. We (Mama', Carmen, the brother, Sarah and I) enjoyed a lovely lunch and afternoon. Then it was back to the same routine Monday except we only had class through Wednesday, which allowed us a 5 day weekend.
Italy
Wednesday- Rome
Wednesday afternoon we had our flight to Rome, Italy on Ryanair which had 6 other students from our program on it. All of us were going to the same cities and just spreading out our time differently. We arrived at about 7pm and took a bus to the metro stop and then the metro to the street with our hostel. Walking down the street we immediately noticed all the street venders with the fake designer purses. As we were walking one was on the phone and immediately started shouting out to us as we walked by. He was saying "two for half priace I make you good deal". Now I was not in the mood for looking a purses but Sarah had noticed one that she liked. So after some bartering, which I get from my mother, Sarah bought a bag and we continued on our merry way. Our hostel was located about 2 blocks (if even that) from the Vatican and a great location in general. After settling in the hostel we decided to get some pizza I mean we are in Italy and we had noticed a couple just around the corner from our hostel. I need to mention that I know next to nothing when in comes to Italian and I was pretty quickly starting to miss spanish. Our waiter actually ended up being from Nicaragua and spoke Italian and Spanish so very quickly I spoke more spanish in one night in Rome than a whole weekend in Barcelona. Strange I think so, anyway after the most amazing pizza I have ever had, we also HAD to get gelato which was also to die for! When then made our way back to the hostel for the night. We luckily ended up with our own room.
Thursday
We got up early and headed to the Vatican because we knew that it would be crowded and we opted to not by our tickets in advance. The line wasn't too bad we got there considering that it wasn't even open, and once it did open it didn't take very long at all to get inside. While we were waiting though there was this one guy who wanted us to do a tour of the Vatican and would guarantee we would see everything in 2 hours. He gave us his pitch and we said no but was persistent in coming back the whole time we were waiting. He told us that there was 7 km worth of museums before you even got to the Sistine Chapel, which was really the only part we wanted to see. We made our way through just glancing at the museums around us. Upon arriving to the Sistine Chapel we were not allowed to take pictures or talk. It the rumbling whisper ever got to a certain volume we were literally "Shhh-ed" by the guards who were also perusing the area for cameras. Anyway all that aside it was absolutely beautiful and honestly a picture wouldn't do it justice. After that we excited and headed to the Plaza of Saint Pietro which is the spacious plaza outside of St. Peter's Basilica, which was also beautiful and huge! We were also able to go underneath where all the tombs are of the past popes. After that we decided to walk through the city of Rome and see the sites, a couple were added based on some postcards we found that looked really pretty. The two places above are the only ones we really went into in Rome. Our first sight on our journey was the Castle St. Angelo, then we crossed the river and headed to the Plaza Navano (added visit from a postcard), continuing on to a monument in Plaza Venezia and then to the Colosseum. We didn't feel the need to go in considering the price and how many roman ruins we have seen so far. After that we break-ed for lunch and had pizza again (which I am just going to mention now that we had pizza for almost every meal while in Italy). After lunch we headed towards Trevi Fountain, which the story goes that if you drink the water and toss in a coin you will return to Rome. I did neither because I was either going to do the whole thing or nothing at all and I was not willing to drink the water, with how many people were there and people sticking there heads and what not, can you imagine how many germs! ew! So that was a no go plus I wasn't too crazy about Rome it was really crowded and I felt kind of lost in the crowd everywhere I went. After that we headed toward to Pantheon and then toward Plaza de Espana (which was another postcard must) but turns out it isn't as pretty as the postcard made it out to be. On our walk between the two we were stopped by a man who was giving a sales pitch for nightlife in Rome. Turns out he is from Toronto, Canada and has been doing this for 12 years. Seriously the guys spoke so fast and clearly I could believe the 12 years. In foreign cities I am not much of a nightlife person in fear of not being able to find my way home so we declined but he was really nice about it. After the Plaza de Espana we made our way home on the metro and went to the hostel to take about an hour and a half break before going to dinner. I still haven't decided the eating schedule of Italians because whenever we went to eat no matter the time nothing every really seemed busy. We went to dinner and I got gnocchis with a cream sauce which was delicious. We skipped on gelato because we were both so stuffed. We returned to the hostel for a shower and to check the train schedules. We had a bit of a scare when one of the guys running the hostel told us that Rome transportation was having a strike the next day and that we weren't going to be able to get out of the city. I started to panic so we went to the computers and checked the train schedule and you could still buy tickets we googled it and turns out that it was mostly just the buses and metro and that they were running for the morning and evening rush hours only. So we just knew that we would have to get up early and head to the train station to make sure we wouldn't have to walk. We felt we had accomplished a lot in Rome and we saw the top 10 sites while there.
Friday- Rome to Florence
So we woke up early friday to take the metro to the train station and then bought our tickets to the train. The cheapest was a four hour train ride but there was a 30 euro difference in price to take that one so we did. We left at about 8:45 and got there around 12:45 or 1. Before we got off though literally as we are pulling into the station the guy on the train comes to check tickets which wasn't a problem til he looked at them and told us they needed to be validated. We had no idea what he was talking about but he explained that we needed to have them stamped by a machine before getting on the train. No where did it say that and he said there are penalties well if is 40 euros a person but he told us that he would give us a break and only write down that one person didn't have a ticket validated so we paid 20 euros. Well out of the 3 groups of students traveling between the same cities we were the only ones that had to pay anything everyone else only got a warning so that was extremely frustrating. When we arrived in Florence we went through our usual deal of buying a map and figuring out where the hostel is and going from there. We arrived at our hostel, which was extremely cute and homey. After dropping off our stuff we went to lunch where guess what we had pizza. While we were sitting there looking at the map not sure exactly what to do in Florence we talked about possibly doing a bus tour that was hop on and hop off to see everything and decide what we actually wanted to do. There were only 3 other people eating at the restaurant and they spoke english and were talking about Italy and everything they had seen, so we asked if they had any recommendations for us while we were there. One of the women just starts listing off all these things and where they are and goes on and on. Least to say we didn't catch any of it. So I asked if she would be willing to mark it all over our map she said "sure" and asked how much time we have here and told us what we should do with it. So we sit through and listen intently as she is marking and talking. After I ask if she lives here and she said no but that she brings tours here all the time! So what luck! So that afternoon we went to see the Accademia, which is where Michelangelo's David is. It is absolutely breath taking we must have stood there for at least 30 mins just in aw of it. After that we just walked to a plaza she had circled where we just found tons and tons of street shops with everything you could possibly think of that is touristy. Next we headed to the Duomo, which is the cathedral there and it was free so we went in. The lady had also old us that we needed to go to the Piazzale Michelangiolo that night because it gives you an amazing view of the city and a city bus can take you up there so we did that. The view was amazing and they had concession stands so I got some wine and peanuts and we sat there just relaxing and enjoying the view. Then we headed to the hostel for the night.
Saturday- Florence
We woke up early again to get to the Uffizi museum. On our way we passed several markets again and shops. I wasn't really a fan of the museum because it was a lot of Renaissance art and I am just not very interested in that and all the sculptures I liked were copies so kind of disappointing. We also waited in line for about 2 hours before we even got inside and spent probably about 2 hours in there. After the museum we got lunch and it was pizza. We then decided to go to the train station and look into tickets to got to Venice. On our way we ran into our friend Hillary who was walking around by herself apparently she had gotten separated from her group in the tower so we texted a friend in the group and waited with her until she met up with them again. They had also told us that is was 15 euros for a train to Venice at 4:30 in the morning and after that it jumped for 43 euros for the rest of the day. So we continued to the train station and bought out tickets and then headed to our wine tasting that was at 5. Well it wasn't as far as we had anticipated so we showed up about 50 mins early so we walked around the area and sat in the plaza across the street. At about 15 til we went and checked in and they said that we were waiting on two more people. So once they arrived 7 of us went downstairs where there was a table and place settings. It was Sarah and I, a couple for Scottland, and 3 German girls celebrating one of their birthdays. It turned out to be a fun group and the wine was AMAZING. Afterwards Sarah and I had decided to get a bottle and head up to the park we had gone the night before so we bought a bottle of wine and some bread and headed up and enjoyed the view once more. We then took the bus home and stopped for gelato. Soon after that we went to bed considering we were waking up at 3:15 the next morning to catch the train to Venice.
Sunday- Venice
3:15 came really early and we pretty much slept in our clothes so that we wouldn't have to pack in the morning. We got on the train and we all met up again. There was 9 of us on the train. It left at 4:30 and arrived at about 9 something. At one point we did have to change trains but it wasn't too terrible and we slept most of it anyway. When we got to Venice we all had to go to the bathroom. Well I discovered something about Italy, they like to nickel and dime their tourists. There is a tourist tax for hostels and hotels, I think they purposely don't have any signs about the validation and they put it in a little caption on the back of your ticket and you have to pay to use the bathroom at the train station and I bet they wouldn't have to charge for that if they didn't have someone hired solely to make sure people pay to go to the bathroom like really? So anyway not a fan in that sense of the country. So after the bathroom we found breakfast and then decided to go our separate ways after walking around together for a bit. We headed to check into our hostel which was on one of the only two islands not connected to the main group. Just to mention this because I didn't know but Venice is just a bunch of islands connected by 354 bridges. Anyway on the e mail confirmation the directions to the hostel said to take one of the 3 boat buses listed. So we took the one that we were next to after buying our 24 hr pass. Well an hour and 45 mins later we arrive at the stop. We clearly took the wrong one of the 3 and I think that the one we took shouldn't even be listed. After we settled in and talked to the people at the hostel they told us which boats to take where so it was a lot better. We didn't to go ahead and ride in a gondola first it was expensive but worth it I think. I don't believe you can go to Venice and not ride in a gondola. It was peaceful and very beautiful. After we decided to go to the shopping area that the hostel had told us about and the San Marco plaza. So we made our way through the city taking our time. Venice is also known for glass making so I was on the hunt for a glass cuff bracelet. I must have walked into at least 30 glass shops and only 2 had them. I found one that I loved but it was too big and with something like that it has to fit or it will fall off and shatter. So unfortunately I didn't buy one or anything else for that matter. We stopped in the Plaza and sat down and relaxed for a while and just watched people pass by. Then we walked to some of the tourist booths. After that we decided to take a boat bus to the other island that we had spent an hour going around earlier in the day. It was a very cute and quiet town with colorful houses, it was a Sunday evening so everything was closed and it seemed pretty ghostly to be honest. We then got back on the boat to head back to the hostel for dinner and sleep considering it was going to be another early morning since our flight was at 9:20 and we had to take an hour bus to the airport and we had to take the boat to the bus stop. So our last night we couldn't decide between pizza and pasta so we each got a dish of tortellini and split a pizza, had a glass of wine and sat outside next to the water and enjoyed our last night in Italy.
Monday- Back to Seville
So we caught the first morning boat bus back to the main islands and got off at the bus station. One of the buses said airport so we hopped on. I was kind of nervous thinking it was too easy but we thought there was only one airport in Venice. So after going all the way to the airport to go inside and not see ryanair as an airline we hopped right back on the bus and back to the bus station. Once there we asked the information where to buy tickets for the Treviso airport and the point to his right so we crossed the street and bought a ticket for a more charter bus like bus and headed to the airport. On the bus was the group of 4 that had been traveling. We got to the airport super early and got breakfast and sat around waiting for our gate to be assigned. Once it was we headed that direction and sat on the floor and played cards. Our flight back to Seville was about 2 hrs. and 15mins pretty much the same as it was to get to Rome. And we all pretty much slept considering how much we had all done in such a short period of time.
Tuesday
It was back to school, luckily we were just watching a movie in Spanish so the class wasn't too strenous and then we got out a little early as well today was a lazy day and a day I planned out my classes for my last year of undergraduate scary and kind of surreal. I can't believe how fast 3 months here has gone and almost 3 years. On April 10th I will only have 1 month left in Spain. I am really looking forward to come home, but I know after about a week I will want to come back.
I love and miss you all.
con todo mi amor,
Katie
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Gone to Italy
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know that I will update when I get back but I will be in Italy for the next 5 days!
Rome, Florence and Venice!
Ciao! or as my dad likes to say arrivederci
Con todo mi amor,
Katie
Just wanted to let you know that I will update when I get back but I will be in Italy for the next 5 days!
Rome, Florence and Venice!
Ciao! or as my dad likes to say arrivederci
Con todo mi amor,
Katie
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Madrid con mi Madre continued
Tuesday
Well we all had to meet at the train station to get on the bus to Madrid at 6:30am. It was early. On the way up to Madrid we stopped at the castle. Now I had a problem with this castle because they were restoring it so the genuiness is questionable. Which is kind of disappointing because the point of seeing it because it is old. It was a short stop but it broke up the trip a little bit. We then all loaded back up on the bus to go to La Mancha which is the little town know for Don Quijote. There we toured a tiny theater and bought lace. The lace was being made right in front of us and was pretty cheap considering the fact that it was hand made. We got some lunch and tried pickled eggplant, it was surprisingly good. I wish you could find it more places. After about an 1 1/2 hr. there we again got on the bus to Toledo which is where we were going to stay the night. We arrived in Toledo at about 6 or 7pm and checked into the hotels. Toledo is known for their sword making and majorca pearls. After settling into the hotel room my mom and I did a little shopping and later met up with my friend and her mom. Together, the four of us, we did some damage shopping and found this cute little restaurant with a heated patio and had italian food and a pitcher of sangria. After we headed back to the hotel, where my mom and I watched the season finale of the Bachelor and skyped the family.
Wednesday
The day started off with a mini excursion to see an El Greco painting at this church, unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures. The church was located in this little shopping area that had pretty competitive prices for swords and pearls. Again we made some purchases. Then came the fun part finding our way back to the hotel, we had a map but to get back to the hotel was several versions of twisty and windy roads all uphill of course. I had the chance to show off my mad navigational skills and we made it back in pretty good time. Upon arriving back at the hotel we ran into my friends and their moms waiting in the lobby because it was about 11:45 and we were to all meet back to get on the buses at 12:30. The palan for Wednesday was after getting on the buses we were going to actually go past Madrid to a small town called Segovia. Every city we go to they tell us some type of food to try or something specific to the area to buy. In the case of Segovia the food was suckling pig. When we arrived in Segovia though it had snowed! It was freezing and still kind of raining/snowing, no one was really prepared for that weather so they let us decide which if any places we wanted to go with the group. At the aqueduct (roman) there was the suckling pig restaurant so we pretty much hauled it in there to get seated before everyone did. Unfortunately lunch took a long time so by the time we were done we only had about an hour or hour 15 mins. to get back to the bus. In Segovia there is a castle that the castles in Disney movies are modeled after! We were able to make it up there to see it but not to go in. We went back to the bus to finally head into Madrid. We got into Madrid at about 8pm. We settled in and decided to go to a chinese noodle place that they had told us about on the bus. It turned about to be delicious and they had a mango salad! I LOVE MANGO! So I was a little happy camper. After that we decided that we needed to find a place that served green beer to celebrate st. Patrick's day. It turns out that it is not really a big deal in Spain. I forgot to mention that while looking for the noodle place we got a little lost and stumbled upon this Irish Pub called "the Swan", later we found out that it is the only bar that serves green beer so we told the owner that we would be back tomorrow night for the green beer. We then went back to the Hotel and settled in for the night.
Thursday
We were out the door at about 10 or 11. The mission that morning was to try and find some green shirts to wear. So the 6 of us (my friend Carol and her mom, my friend AnnMarie and her mom, and my mom and I) headed down to the shopping area. We ended up in an El Corte Ingles, I don't know it I have mentioned this before but it is a HUGE department store that literally has everything I mean everything it is a grocery store, books, music, home decor, make up, fragrances, etc, everything you could possibly need is there. Well my mom and I weren't really looking for anything but discovered that Longchamp purses/bags here are SO much cheaper in Europe than they are in the United States because it is a Paris brand! So we had a bit of a field day with that one! Madrid also has a little broadway type set up. On the main street there was the musical los miserables in Spainsh! I am not really familiar with it so I knew I wanted to see a spanish musical so we I got back to the hotel I googled to see what else was playing. That story to be continued later. So before that we were looking at prices of the tickets for les mis. By that time it was about noon and we were suppose to have already eaten lunch and be on the bus at 1:15 to go to the El Escorial. Well we rushed through lunch and the more we talked about it we were sure that we wanted to go. It was an hour and a half away and it was scheduled as a 8 hr. excursion. We had just got to Madrid so we decided to go a head and skip and just stay in Madrid for the day. So after lunch we went back to the hotel to do some research to find something to do instead. We decided to go to the Prado Art Museum because we thought since it was a Thursday it might not be so crowded. On the way there we would walk by the royal palace and go through some of the major plazas as well as by tickets for Peter Pan, which is the musical we decided to go see, we figured it would be at about the level of our Spanish. So we started on our journey across the city of Madrid. We finally made it to the Prado and spent a couple of hours there. After we decided to try our luck at the metro back, and we kind of had to hurry back because we had only about 30 mins to get back to buy tickets for Peter Pan for Friday night. We hurried back bought the tickets and then took the metro. We conquered it, absolutely flawless. At the hotel we took a quick break and freshened up. The night before just before the Irish bar we had seen a cute restaurant that we thought we could try. On our way the restaurant we ran into some of my friends and their parents and they were just getting back. They were going to go get ready for dinner and try to come join us later at the bar. We took our time at dinner and again because it was early for Spain there was no one in there. The 6 of us went in and while we were waiting for our food our sneaky waiter brought out this cooked food and bread and all these things we didn't order. In my head I was thinking he is going to charge us for these for sure. Well we ate it anyway and it turned out to be pretty good. But yes we did get charged for it, the food was okay but my mom and decided that we would have preferred the noodle place.
Well the next stop was the Swan. We walked in and they were also giving away hats if you drank two beers. Well between the moms and girls we were able to get 3 hats and that took care of us girls who wanted them! We had a great time with Carol and her mom showing us show bar tricks with coasters and matches. Two separate tricks, I was determine to master the coaster one and I still have some so that I can practice. About an hour or so after being there my friend Molly and Hayley and Molly's parents joined us. They had dinner and drinks and we had a great time all practicing the various tricks we had learned and great conversation. It was a very relaxed night. Because we had such a hefty bill between the 10 of us the owner actually opened up a bottle of champagne at the end of the night that was free. After that we headed back to the hotel and went to bed.
Friday
Well this was a free day and we weren't really sure what we were going to do the only for sure plan was that we were going to Peter Pan the musical that night. My mom and I got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Across the street from our hotel was the Plaza de Espana and it had this little flee market/ shops going on so we decided first to check that out. There we ran in to my friend Carol and her mom and decided that we could form a plan together. Also across from our hotel was the National Geographic store, I had never seen one before and it was a cafe as well so we decided to go there have some coffee and formulate a plan for the rest of the day. We ended getting coffee and then I also got the best juice I have ever had in my entire life it was orange, banana, and strawberry all fresh! We looked at the map and decided that we wanted to go to the fashion museum. Well we ended up staying at the national geographic cafe a little longer than planned so by the time we walked to the museum and got through it and back to the hotel it was time to get ready and go to see Peter Pan. We left a little early hoping that maybe if we took the metro we could get to this huge and apparently gorgeous park. Well unfortunately some how we had made a mistake and ended up going the wrong direction on the metro. We tried to hop off real fast at another stop after we had realized it and catch another one (blindly) which still ended up going in the same direction we had been going. So now we aren't only going the wrong direction still but we also have no idea with line we are on! We figure it out and 40 mins later we got off on the stop we wanted to be at. with about 30 mins before the play starts. So we just decide to go a head and go in. Annmarie and her mom hadn't arrived yet.
The musical was great. I understood most of it and was glad I knew the story. They sang and danced and we brought tinkerbell back to life. After my mom and I knew we were gonna go back to the noodle place and the others thought that was a good idea too. So we headed back that direction and basically did a repeat of Wednesday night's dinner. Both my friends moms were leaving Saturday because that is when the group was going back. I had made arrangements to go back on Sunday because I knew my mom's flight was for Sunday morning. So after dinner we called it a night.
Saturday (then there were two)
So by this point it is just mom and I. A nice surprise was that one of my friends from high school was actually in Madrid the same week for spring break in a program with her school. Since she didn't have a spanish phone it was kind of complicated but we did eventually meet up later in the day. Well my mom and I got up ate breakfast and headed down to a el corte ingles. By that time it was almost 12 and I was going to try to meet my friend in the Plaza de Espana but I said if she wasn't there by 12:30 I was going to call it quits on that attempt. Well she didn't show so my mom and I went on with our day and headed to the park we had missed the night before. The park was absolutely beautiful and it was a wonderful day. There were street performers, musicans, this huge pond that had all these row boats people had rented, and lots and lots of trees. After that we headed to a little tapas bar and restaurant because my mom had been talking all week about when are we going to get tapas and sangria. So that is what we did. While we were on the hunt for a table outside, because you have to pounce as soon as people leave one, my phone rang it was the friend I was suppose to eat earlier I asked where she was and she said that she was gonna try and come meet us. Well my mom and I took our time eating and drinking sangria and then she calls again from a pay phone and she was just right around the corner so we enjoyed another pitcher of sangria. We then all took the metro to the Plaza de Espana to drop off my friend and her friend at the little market area there. My mom and I then headed off to the Royal palace unfortunately it was closed so we just took some pictures from the outside. After that we went back to the shopping area and walked around looking for souvenirs. Then went to the hotel to relax a bit before we went to dinner. We ended up having pizza and salad. Then we went to bed.
Sunday(the goodbyes)
So after a long, fun, and exhausting week we woke up early to go our separate ways. She went to the airport and I got dropped off at the Ritz hotel to meet up with my friends Molly and Hayley who stayed an extra day so that we could all take the train to Sevilla back together. The train ride was uneventful and I was back in Sevilla by 3:30 I took a taxi home and relaxed the rest of the day.
Monday
We had a quiz and then were informed that we would have a quiz or a test everyday this week.....rough. So we decided we were going to take a beach trip this weekend to Cadiz.
Tuesday
Was an average day and we had a quiz the weather is getting nice outside the orange trees are blooming it is amazing!
Wednesday (today)
our test was a little rough but I think I might go relax at the rio later this blog post was exhausting haha.
I hope you all enjoyed it if you are even still reading!
con todo mi amor,
Katie
Monday, March 21, 2011
Madrid Con Mi Madre
Hola!
Well the past week has been really and this update is going to be a long one so prepare yourself now.
Saturday March 12
So my mom arrived last Saturday, which is a story in itself. She left Friday and would arrive in Madrid at 7:00am Spanish time. Then she was to take a cab to the train station in Madrid to take the AVE, a high speed train, to Sevilla. Before she got on the train she was suppose to call me to tell me when she was suppose to arrive in Sevilla so that I could meet her at the train station here in Seville. Well of course nothing ever goes as planned. I anxiously wake up Saturday morning waiting to hear from my mom at about 8 am. I don't hear anything so I decide to shower, and tell myself not to worry until about 9:30 or 10. Still nothing. So I think okay she must have just been in a rush to catch the train, maybe I should start to really worry until about 12 or 12:30 because it shouldn't take more than that to travel from Madrid to Sevilla between the airport and the Seville train station. Well at 12:30 I go into panic mode and I start freaking out. I am facebook chatting one of my friends here in Seville asking her if I am being unreasonable in being worried. She calms me down (at least a little bit) and says to go to the hotel and if she hasn't checked in then leave my spanish number so that they can call me when/if she does come and I just miss her. Then to just go wait at the train station. I knew something had to happen phone wise either she couldn't find a pay phone or lost my number, so incase she could get to a computer I sent her my spanish number in a e mail. Well I go to the hotel and just as I am about to go up to the desk my dad calls me. I answer and he tells me that mom is waiting a the train station. Well I assume based on the time of day that it has to be the one in Sevilla so I hop on the bus, the ride seemed to take FOREVER. I arrive and tear into the station looking frantically at all the seats then I hear "Katie". There she is just sitting there happy as a calm and I am having a rush of emotions, relief, frustration, upset, happy, and anger. I was still on the phone with my dad he talked to mom and then we hugged. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. Of course the worst thoughts of where she was or what could have happened had been going through my head for the last hour. So on her side of things that got us into this little drama sess. When she got off the plane her phone was dead, which had my spanish number in it. So she decided to just go ahead and get on the train in Madrid and she would figure out something when she got to Sevilla. Well When she got to Sevilla she didn't even have a plug adapter for the outlet so she couldn't charge her phone, but luckily it is a smart phone so the power cord is also a USB cable and luckily those are all the same in the world. Well when she finally got a charge on her phone the number wasn't even there. So there is a phone store in the train station so she got an international calling card to call my dad so that he could in turn call me. Unnecessary DRAMA. Anyway the night before my host mom had said to go ahead and bring my mom for lunch so by the time we got on the bus and to the hotel we had 30 mins to be there. So we quickly dropped her stuff and walked over to my host mom's. She was also hosting a student that had stayed here last summer and his girlfriend. It was a nice meal. I packed a bag for a couple of nights and we went back to the hotel. It was a nice day but while we were out the sky got cloudy and it began to rain. Before that we headed to the Plaza de Espana, or as my mom would call it the Plaza because she thinks it is the only one, then we walked by the Cathedral and into a soccer shop because my brother wanted a Barcelona soccer jersey and I wanted a soccer jersey but I was torn between Sevilla and Barcelona. I found a Messi jersey for half off and decided to get it, because Sunday we were going to the Sevilla/ Barcelona game. Well we walked back to the hotel taking our time while going down sierpres the shopping street. We stopped at a cafe and had a gamba and alioli montadito which is just a tiny sandwich and gamba is shrimp and alioli is just a yummy sauce. With our sandwich we had a glass of red wine. We made our way home and stopped at Opencor which is just a convience store to get some sandwiches and water for dinner. When we got back to the room we called family on Skype and went to bed.
Sunday March 13
We woke up at about 10 and were out the door by 11. We went and got cafe con leche and tostada with butter and jam at one of my favorite cafes called Kroxan. We then headed down to the cathedral area to see the alcazar, which is another term for like a palace or castle and the place my wedding is going to be. By the time we finished with that we decided there wasn't enough time for the cathedral so we did some shopping and then headed to my host moms for paella. It was delicious as usual and it was kind of funny to see them interact! After lunch we were going to try for a siesta but that was a bust because again we spent all of our time calling family on skype and we had the soccer match at 9pm. Around 8 we took the bus to the stadium and found our seats, we met up with my friends that had also bought tickets, which were 3rd row behind the Sevilla bench PERFECT! The game was amazing couldn't even put it into words we recorded most of it and I am going to make a highlight video and post it on Facebook! I know it is probably the best soccer game I will ever see in my life! Indescribable and also the fastest 90 mins of my life! After the game we decided to walk home knowing that all other modes of transportation would just be crowded. I think it was the highlight of the entire trip. For dinner we stopped again at Opencor and got sandwiches and water! My mom kept asking if I wanted to go out to eat but I said lets save the money for Madrid I am happy with opencor sandwiches and you would be too they are delicious!
Monday March 14
Well luckily my teacher offered for us to have this day off and to make it up in advance and I was glad we did. We woke up and headed to the school to pay for her Madrid trip, we ended up running into my friends mom and I showed them both around the school. My friend got out of class and I was able to introduce my mom to her and some of my other friends! Then we got cafe con leche y tostada at the cafe around the corner from school that I go to sometimes on our breaks. We then headed toward the cathedral and conquered the 34 ramps to the top of the Giralda but the view is amazing and worth every butt-toning step! After the Cathedral we walked down to the river and the tower of gold. Then went on a hunt for a creamer pitcher because my host mom had broken hers the day before at lunch and we thought that would be a nice gift. I had mentioned that it rained ALL weekend and it was suppose to clear up Tuesday but we left Tuesday morning! Anyway after all that we went back to the hotel to switch out some of my winter clothes for the summer clothes my mom had brought. Then we headed to my host mom's to give her the pitcher and pack for Madrid. At 7 we had planned to my friend from earlier and her mom for a glass, which turned out to be glasses, of wine and dinner. After chatting a bit we headed to a restaurant now it was like 8:30 so early for Spaniards and we were the only four people in the restaurant. The food was delicious and we had nice meal and conversation. On the way home we heard trumpets or what sounded like trumpets turned out to be some kind of horn that none of us recognized outside of a church. We stopped and listened for a while still unsure of what they were doing. The next day we asked a professor and she explained they were probably practicing for semana santa or holy week. After arriving at the hotel we decided to hit the bar again for a little more wine. We then went up stairs packed up a bit and went to bed.
Madrid.....Okay so I know this is probably the good part but I am tired and have a quiz tomorrow I will finish the rest of the trip tomorrow.
con todo mi amor,
Katie
Well the past week has been really and this update is going to be a long one so prepare yourself now.
Saturday March 12
So my mom arrived last Saturday, which is a story in itself. She left Friday and would arrive in Madrid at 7:00am Spanish time. Then she was to take a cab to the train station in Madrid to take the AVE, a high speed train, to Sevilla. Before she got on the train she was suppose to call me to tell me when she was suppose to arrive in Sevilla so that I could meet her at the train station here in Seville. Well of course nothing ever goes as planned. I anxiously wake up Saturday morning waiting to hear from my mom at about 8 am. I don't hear anything so I decide to shower, and tell myself not to worry until about 9:30 or 10. Still nothing. So I think okay she must have just been in a rush to catch the train, maybe I should start to really worry until about 12 or 12:30 because it shouldn't take more than that to travel from Madrid to Sevilla between the airport and the Seville train station. Well at 12:30 I go into panic mode and I start freaking out. I am facebook chatting one of my friends here in Seville asking her if I am being unreasonable in being worried. She calms me down (at least a little bit) and says to go to the hotel and if she hasn't checked in then leave my spanish number so that they can call me when/if she does come and I just miss her. Then to just go wait at the train station. I knew something had to happen phone wise either she couldn't find a pay phone or lost my number, so incase she could get to a computer I sent her my spanish number in a e mail. Well I go to the hotel and just as I am about to go up to the desk my dad calls me. I answer and he tells me that mom is waiting a the train station. Well I assume based on the time of day that it has to be the one in Sevilla so I hop on the bus, the ride seemed to take FOREVER. I arrive and tear into the station looking frantically at all the seats then I hear "Katie". There she is just sitting there happy as a calm and I am having a rush of emotions, relief, frustration, upset, happy, and anger. I was still on the phone with my dad he talked to mom and then we hugged. I had a feeling something like this was going to happen. Of course the worst thoughts of where she was or what could have happened had been going through my head for the last hour. So on her side of things that got us into this little drama sess. When she got off the plane her phone was dead, which had my spanish number in it. So she decided to just go ahead and get on the train in Madrid and she would figure out something when she got to Sevilla. Well When she got to Sevilla she didn't even have a plug adapter for the outlet so she couldn't charge her phone, but luckily it is a smart phone so the power cord is also a USB cable and luckily those are all the same in the world. Well when she finally got a charge on her phone the number wasn't even there. So there is a phone store in the train station so she got an international calling card to call my dad so that he could in turn call me. Unnecessary DRAMA. Anyway the night before my host mom had said to go ahead and bring my mom for lunch so by the time we got on the bus and to the hotel we had 30 mins to be there. So we quickly dropped her stuff and walked over to my host mom's. She was also hosting a student that had stayed here last summer and his girlfriend. It was a nice meal. I packed a bag for a couple of nights and we went back to the hotel. It was a nice day but while we were out the sky got cloudy and it began to rain. Before that we headed to the Plaza de Espana, or as my mom would call it the Plaza because she thinks it is the only one, then we walked by the Cathedral and into a soccer shop because my brother wanted a Barcelona soccer jersey and I wanted a soccer jersey but I was torn between Sevilla and Barcelona. I found a Messi jersey for half off and decided to get it, because Sunday we were going to the Sevilla/ Barcelona game. Well we walked back to the hotel taking our time while going down sierpres the shopping street. We stopped at a cafe and had a gamba and alioli montadito which is just a tiny sandwich and gamba is shrimp and alioli is just a yummy sauce. With our sandwich we had a glass of red wine. We made our way home and stopped at Opencor which is just a convience store to get some sandwiches and water for dinner. When we got back to the room we called family on Skype and went to bed.
Sunday March 13
We woke up at about 10 and were out the door by 11. We went and got cafe con leche and tostada with butter and jam at one of my favorite cafes called Kroxan. We then headed down to the cathedral area to see the alcazar, which is another term for like a palace or castle and the place my wedding is going to be. By the time we finished with that we decided there wasn't enough time for the cathedral so we did some shopping and then headed to my host moms for paella. It was delicious as usual and it was kind of funny to see them interact! After lunch we were going to try for a siesta but that was a bust because again we spent all of our time calling family on skype and we had the soccer match at 9pm. Around 8 we took the bus to the stadium and found our seats, we met up with my friends that had also bought tickets, which were 3rd row behind the Sevilla bench PERFECT! The game was amazing couldn't even put it into words we recorded most of it and I am going to make a highlight video and post it on Facebook! I know it is probably the best soccer game I will ever see in my life! Indescribable and also the fastest 90 mins of my life! After the game we decided to walk home knowing that all other modes of transportation would just be crowded. I think it was the highlight of the entire trip. For dinner we stopped again at Opencor and got sandwiches and water! My mom kept asking if I wanted to go out to eat but I said lets save the money for Madrid I am happy with opencor sandwiches and you would be too they are delicious!
Monday March 14
Well luckily my teacher offered for us to have this day off and to make it up in advance and I was glad we did. We woke up and headed to the school to pay for her Madrid trip, we ended up running into my friends mom and I showed them both around the school. My friend got out of class and I was able to introduce my mom to her and some of my other friends! Then we got cafe con leche y tostada at the cafe around the corner from school that I go to sometimes on our breaks. We then headed toward the cathedral and conquered the 34 ramps to the top of the Giralda but the view is amazing and worth every butt-toning step! After the Cathedral we walked down to the river and the tower of gold. Then went on a hunt for a creamer pitcher because my host mom had broken hers the day before at lunch and we thought that would be a nice gift. I had mentioned that it rained ALL weekend and it was suppose to clear up Tuesday but we left Tuesday morning! Anyway after all that we went back to the hotel to switch out some of my winter clothes for the summer clothes my mom had brought. Then we headed to my host mom's to give her the pitcher and pack for Madrid. At 7 we had planned to my friend from earlier and her mom for a glass, which turned out to be glasses, of wine and dinner. After chatting a bit we headed to a restaurant now it was like 8:30 so early for Spaniards and we were the only four people in the restaurant. The food was delicious and we had nice meal and conversation. On the way home we heard trumpets or what sounded like trumpets turned out to be some kind of horn that none of us recognized outside of a church. We stopped and listened for a while still unsure of what they were doing. The next day we asked a professor and she explained they were probably practicing for semana santa or holy week. After arriving at the hotel we decided to hit the bar again for a little more wine. We then went up stairs packed up a bit and went to bed.
Madrid.....Okay so I know this is probably the good part but I am tired and have a quiz tomorrow I will finish the rest of the trip tomorrow.
con todo mi amor,
Katie
Friday, March 11, 2011
Spring Breakin'
Well I am officially on spring break. We were suppose to have class on Monday but we voted to make up the class in advance so it made for a long day Tuesday. Tuesday we had class from 9-12 and then took a break for lunch and met back up from 2:30-5pm. It will totally be worth it though.
For those of you who don't know my mom is visiting me over the spring break and week in Madrid! She will be here by tomorrow late morning and I will meet her at the train station here in Sevilla. I am super excited and cannot wait to show her the city I have fallen in love with!
Since the last update things have fallen back into a schedule I still love my new teacher and we have had a couple of quizzes. Last Sunday my roommate and I joined our host mom and her sister-in-law for a mini field trip to the art museum here in Sevilla. We woke up had breakfast rode a very, very crowded bus there. It was nice though I finally feel a bit more conversational. My host mom is also very excited that my mom is coming and is having her over Sunday for paella. When we arrived in the general area of the art museum, there were a whole bunch of local artists selling their work on the street. Some of them were extremely talented. We all made our way into the museum. The art was very interesting and our host mom knows a lot about the artists and certain paintings. She even made a joke while we were there, there was this painting of grapes and she said to me "quieres uvas?" do you want grapes? it was so cute! I love our host mom I think we got really lucky based on some other stories we have heard. The joking around is just an example of how far we have come since we first arrived in January. As of 4 days ago we have been here for a full 2 months and have just about 2 more to go. I think it is going to fast unfortunately I am not ready to leave. After Madrid we have Italy at the end of the month and London and Paris in April! I can hardly wait! I know May 10th is going to be here before I know it, I am sure by that time a part of me will be ready to return.
There are some things that I really miss though outside of family and friends like chipotle, my huge full of clothes closet, my hair straightener, and all my make-up. I just don't ever feel complete here and it has been the topic with a lot of girls here. We keep saying don't judge us wait til we get back to Lubbock. I think we are all kind of feeling out of our element and a little incomplete. I mean we have fun when we go out but we might be missing the perfect accessory that we have at home it just didn't fit in the weight limited suitcase we brought. We were roughing it before we even got here. This feeling sky rockets on one of our outside trips where we are limited to just a backpack. I am terrible at over packing because like I have said before I have to be in a certain mood to wear certain clothes and here those feelings really can't matter. I know if you are a boy you probably don't understand but this is just a realization I have come to in the past couple of weeks that I thought I might share to help you understand a day in the life of Katie Hughes Espana!
This week seemed to go by abnormally slow and I am thinking it is because I am so excited for my mom to come. I can't believe it is finally here! It also has been raining all week I thought I liked rainy days but 5 in a row with no sun is pushing it. It is suppose to rain the few days my mom and I spend here in Seville and the whole time we are in Madrid as well. I am hoping the are wrong.
Last weekend a whole bunch of the kids in the program went to Cadiz for Carnaval, which is a huge festival where people dress up in halloween costumes and just drink and party in the streets. A local program here set up for students studying in Sevilla had arranged buses for there and back. Let's see, I am all about having a good time but the bus didn't leave til Saturday night at 9pm and wasn't leaving to come back until 6:00 am Sunday morning. I heard some pretty disgusting things about the trip, I know they all had a good time but I am extremely happy I stayed home.
A whole bunch of my friends also decided to go to the Sevilla v. Barcelona game this Sunday and I thought it would be a great thing for my mom and I to do especially since right now Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world if not of all time! So it is super exciting and I know we are going to enjoy every minute of it. So the tickets we got passed Tuesday, made that day a little brighter despite the rain. Least to say I am glad this week is over and again so excited for my mom to be here tomorrow there is a whole bunch to do here and I can't wait for her to experience it.
I probably won't update this until after the Madrid trip which will be next Sunday. I hope all of you are still doing well! I love and miss you all dearly!
con todo mi amor (with all my love),
Katie
For those of you who don't know my mom is visiting me over the spring break and week in Madrid! She will be here by tomorrow late morning and I will meet her at the train station here in Sevilla. I am super excited and cannot wait to show her the city I have fallen in love with!
Since the last update things have fallen back into a schedule I still love my new teacher and we have had a couple of quizzes. Last Sunday my roommate and I joined our host mom and her sister-in-law for a mini field trip to the art museum here in Sevilla. We woke up had breakfast rode a very, very crowded bus there. It was nice though I finally feel a bit more conversational. My host mom is also very excited that my mom is coming and is having her over Sunday for paella. When we arrived in the general area of the art museum, there were a whole bunch of local artists selling their work on the street. Some of them were extremely talented. We all made our way into the museum. The art was very interesting and our host mom knows a lot about the artists and certain paintings. She even made a joke while we were there, there was this painting of grapes and she said to me "quieres uvas?" do you want grapes? it was so cute! I love our host mom I think we got really lucky based on some other stories we have heard. The joking around is just an example of how far we have come since we first arrived in January. As of 4 days ago we have been here for a full 2 months and have just about 2 more to go. I think it is going to fast unfortunately I am not ready to leave. After Madrid we have Italy at the end of the month and London and Paris in April! I can hardly wait! I know May 10th is going to be here before I know it, I am sure by that time a part of me will be ready to return.
There are some things that I really miss though outside of family and friends like chipotle, my huge full of clothes closet, my hair straightener, and all my make-up. I just don't ever feel complete here and it has been the topic with a lot of girls here. We keep saying don't judge us wait til we get back to Lubbock. I think we are all kind of feeling out of our element and a little incomplete. I mean we have fun when we go out but we might be missing the perfect accessory that we have at home it just didn't fit in the weight limited suitcase we brought. We were roughing it before we even got here. This feeling sky rockets on one of our outside trips where we are limited to just a backpack. I am terrible at over packing because like I have said before I have to be in a certain mood to wear certain clothes and here those feelings really can't matter. I know if you are a boy you probably don't understand but this is just a realization I have come to in the past couple of weeks that I thought I might share to help you understand a day in the life of Katie Hughes Espana!
This week seemed to go by abnormally slow and I am thinking it is because I am so excited for my mom to come. I can't believe it is finally here! It also has been raining all week I thought I liked rainy days but 5 in a row with no sun is pushing it. It is suppose to rain the few days my mom and I spend here in Seville and the whole time we are in Madrid as well. I am hoping the are wrong.
Last weekend a whole bunch of the kids in the program went to Cadiz for Carnaval, which is a huge festival where people dress up in halloween costumes and just drink and party in the streets. A local program here set up for students studying in Sevilla had arranged buses for there and back. Let's see, I am all about having a good time but the bus didn't leave til Saturday night at 9pm and wasn't leaving to come back until 6:00 am Sunday morning. I heard some pretty disgusting things about the trip, I know they all had a good time but I am extremely happy I stayed home.
A whole bunch of my friends also decided to go to the Sevilla v. Barcelona game this Sunday and I thought it would be a great thing for my mom and I to do especially since right now Barcelona is one of the best teams in the world if not of all time! So it is super exciting and I know we are going to enjoy every minute of it. So the tickets we got passed Tuesday, made that day a little brighter despite the rain. Least to say I am glad this week is over and again so excited for my mom to be here tomorrow there is a whole bunch to do here and I can't wait for her to experience it.
I probably won't update this until after the Madrid trip which will be next Sunday. I hope all of you are still doing well! I love and miss you all dearly!
con todo mi amor (with all my love),
Katie
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The last 2 weeks and Lisbon Portugal
HI!! I know most of you weren't expecting something new today bc you have been checking back and getting disappointed every time.
I know I know I haven't really been updating lately and I apologize but to be honest not really much has happened until this past weekend when I went to Portugal for 4 days! Lets rewind first.....so yes valentines day was a bust but the rest of the week was pretty normal. Last week on the other hand was a crazy and difficult week.
Last week
Was our last week of the first class and due to some poor planning a lot of major grades were left for the that week. We had an oral project where we had to do a role play of either a restaurant or a hotel in spanish and have it memorized. My partner and I did not get the memo that it was suppose to be funny or that it was suppose to be 7 mins long!!! So ours was like 4 mins max and very boring.....anyway due to the lack of communication and the fact that we had it pretty much memorized we still got a 100 so YAY! That was Monday, Tuesday we had a listening exam......yeah no bueno because every time we did a listening activity in class we got to listen to it at least twice but on the exam we only go to listen to it once....least to say it was the lowest grade I have gotten all semester. Then Wednesday we had a cultural project and we could pick anything in Spanish cultural. My friend and I decided to do Flamenco dancing. For those of you who don't know what that it is, it is a type of dance. I will upload a short video of it on Facebook so you all can check it out later! Our cultural project went well but she was really hard on us about the memorization which like nobody had done. Thursday we had our one on one oral exam where we had to go in individually and talk to our teacher for about 5 mins.....yeah that went pretty well actually. Then Friday was our official last day and we had our last written exam overall it went well just a few unexpected parts but no big deal. I ended up with an A in the first class.
Friday after class a whole bunch of us went to the river. There is a spot at one point of the river that has this super open space and a whole bunch of people just lay out blankets and hang out with either beer, or wine with a soccer ball or in our case a football. It was a great time and a great way to relax after the stressful week we had just had.
Saturday
Bright and early I woke up to go to Lisbon Portugal with the whole group. We had to meet at the train station at 7 am! We took a bus and it is about a 6 hour drive. Going wasn't so bad I guess because we were excited but coming back seemed like it took forever! We also gained an hour going so the time difference between here and there was 6 hours instead of 7. Going into Lisbon you take this bridge that is extremely high up pretty much any ship can go under it with room to spare. Because of this you have an excellent view of the city I had reserved one of the front seats because the director of the program had mentioned this earlier in the semester. We finally arrived at the hotel at about 12:30 lisbon time. We had about an hour and a half to get some lunch because at 2pm we were to get back on the bus and go on the planned part of the trip. We went to an monastery and it was nice but not by any means the best. Then we stopped at this tower on the way back and took about 45 mins to be near the water and take some pictures. After doing that I got some ice cream with some friends and we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We took a break and then later for dinner decided to go to this meat place where for 11 euros it is all you can eat meat and they walk around and just cut it right off the skewer. It was yummy but we had some difficulties with the check. Anyway we were all tired after that so I just decided to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. What we had done that day was the only thing "mandatory" until Tuesday at 10am when we had to be at the bus outside the hotel to go back to Sevilla.
Sunday
Though everything required was finished there were still some other optional trips. I decided that since they were being offered I would go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity. So for Sunday they were taking the bus of the the Christo Rey which is a statue on the opposite side of the bridge, where we came into the city, and has an amazing view of lisbon and you can go up to the feet of the statue for an observation deck. It was absolutely gorgeous and there are pictures on Facebook. After that the bus was also going to stop at the Portugal aquarium and then head back to the hotel I opted to go to the aquarium. I absolutely love aquariums! It was amazing, I had never seen some many different kinds of penguins in one place and they were so close you could practically touch them and there was no glass so you could if you really wanted to. In one of the rooms it was really cold and the had ice the exhibit it didn't look really and there was some right along the edge so I go to touch it and then like little penguin head slowly comes up and he is looking at me with the stink eye that looks like he is saying "hands off the ice". It was so funny and I wish I had gotten it on video. They also had otters and they were so cute we caught them during feeding time. Then of course there were lots and lots of fish. We made our way through and then eventually to the gift shop where I bought a t shirt and some postcards.
Speaking of postcards I forgot to mention that Lisbon is know for green wine, cork, and leather. So they literally make everything out of cork even postcards, I got kind of obsessed and bought a bunch. I was kind of disappointed about the green wine though because I was expecting it to be christmas green when actually it looked more like white wine. The difference from white wine is in the taste. It was very dry and had a little bit of bubble. It was kind of like a hybrid between a dry white wine and champagne. Least to say though I was a fan even though it wasn't really green. I never really got to see any leather those kind of stores were always closed by the time I made my way over to that side of town.
Since we got off at the aquarium and everybody finishes at different times we had to make our way back to the hotel on our own which was fine because luckily the metro system is really simple in Lisbon. We made our way back dropped off our stuff and headed back out again to find some lunch. We decided to walk to the downtown because it is a very pretty walk and also down hill, Lisbon is very hilly I would assume kind of like San Francisco but I have never been but based on movies and such. The walk was nice and we eventually made it there. We had seen several souvenir shops we wanted to shop at and a couple of cute bakerys but we had to find some food first, not knowing where to go in we walked the whole street we ran into some human statues, one of which was hovering, a man playing the trumpet all of which you can find pictures on facebook. We eventually found this little cafe and enjoyed hamburgers with some green wine. When then walked around and headed back to the bakery we had seen. After that is was around 8pm and we were pretty worn out so we hopped on the metro to go back to the hotel. By the end of the trip we had definitely gotten use to the metro and it is a lot nicer than the subway in NY.
Monday
Was a pretty relaxed day there was no rush to get out of bed except for breakfast that ended at 10am. There was an optional excursion to a small town outside of Lisbon on a hill called Sintra, at 1:30pm. My friends and I had a late start and got some lunch at the mall under the bull ring across the street from the hotel. At 1:30 we loaded on the bus and there was only about 9 of us out of the 54 that chose to go on this excursion. It was about a 45 min drive to the city. Upon arrival we kind of all stuck together, we first went into a palace right across from where the bus dropped us off, we walked around and my friends and I decided that we would buy it and make it our vacation home in Portugal. A girl can dream right? Anyway after coming out there is a castle at the top of this hill and when I say hill a mean small mountain! We found the information kiosk which turned out to be just a permanently parked van and they said we could take a bus up there for about 5 euros. Well worth it except for the fact that our driver was a CRAZY! I don't know how many times I saw my life flash before my eyes it was this narrow two way curvey street that went to the top and he was whipping around corners and almost running people over. The people's faces in the bus said it all I kind of wish I had had one of the seats facing backwards just so I didn't have to see it. When we arrived at the top I almost felt like going to my knees and start kissing the ground. By the time we had got up there is was 4 o clock and both the palace and the castle up there close at 5 and the lady at the information desk at the top told us we only had time to go to one. Turns out the palace is more like a museum and the castle is more for a view, we decided to go to the castle. Now there was no warning for this trip, and there was a nice surprise of hills and rocks I felt like I was hiking, it was ridiculous. Then to get on/into the castle was treacherous I am pretty sure the teacher with us was having mini heart attacks praying that we wouldn't step wrong or lose our balance and topple to our deaths (okay a little dramatic but we were all a little uneasy after that bus ride). Least to say if you took it slow it was fine and I am not one to run around. The view was absolutely breathtaking! Tons of pics on facebook as well. Speaking of pictures I have taken about 1300 pics since I have been at DFW and now! Yeah that is a lot!
Anyway after the bus ride home again we stopped back at our hotel rooms to freshen up and then our goal was to try and find an African food restaurant and the director said that it would be difficult to tell us how to get there so one of the other teachers said to just google a place and get a address and hop in a cab because split between 3 people it wouldn't be too expensive. So we did exactly that and well our cab driver didn't know where it was and kind of just dropped us off in the general area of that street, so that was frustrating and we probably would have argued if it weren't for the language barrier. So we got out and walked to the right and didn't find the restaurant we were looking for but it was cold and not worth it so we found another restaurant on the water. Due to the fact that the seafood was so expensive we decided to opt for hamburgers once again. It was fine and a really nice place, when then walked back the way we had came because at least we had seen the metro station. We hopped on the metro back to the hotel and then hang out in the room for a bit and then I went to bed.
Tuesday
I woke up and started to pack got some breakfast and then out to the bus by about 9:55am. We left early because we were going to lose an hour heading back to Seville. The bus ride took forever and I could not wait to get off the bus! We arrived home to Mama and I think she was happy to have us home.
Today
Well it was the first day of class all over again we now have a new teacher and she is AWESOME! Super sweet and I think we are going to learn a lot, she is not a native speaker and Spanish is one of her 4 languages! I know crazy, but she know Arabic, French, Spanish, and English! Anyway it is going to be a good end to the semester. My mom comes in about 10 days! I am so excited I can't wait to see her and I think my host mom is excited to meet her, she has already said she is going to have her over for paella. Well I guess that this about wraps it up it is a long one I know and thank you for bearing with me! I promise I won't wait this long to update again.
Con todo mi amor,
Katie
I know I know I haven't really been updating lately and I apologize but to be honest not really much has happened until this past weekend when I went to Portugal for 4 days! Lets rewind first.....so yes valentines day was a bust but the rest of the week was pretty normal. Last week on the other hand was a crazy and difficult week.
Last week
Was our last week of the first class and due to some poor planning a lot of major grades were left for the that week. We had an oral project where we had to do a role play of either a restaurant or a hotel in spanish and have it memorized. My partner and I did not get the memo that it was suppose to be funny or that it was suppose to be 7 mins long!!! So ours was like 4 mins max and very boring.....anyway due to the lack of communication and the fact that we had it pretty much memorized we still got a 100 so YAY! That was Monday, Tuesday we had a listening exam......yeah no bueno because every time we did a listening activity in class we got to listen to it at least twice but on the exam we only go to listen to it once....least to say it was the lowest grade I have gotten all semester. Then Wednesday we had a cultural project and we could pick anything in Spanish cultural. My friend and I decided to do Flamenco dancing. For those of you who don't know what that it is, it is a type of dance. I will upload a short video of it on Facebook so you all can check it out later! Our cultural project went well but she was really hard on us about the memorization which like nobody had done. Thursday we had our one on one oral exam where we had to go in individually and talk to our teacher for about 5 mins.....yeah that went pretty well actually. Then Friday was our official last day and we had our last written exam overall it went well just a few unexpected parts but no big deal. I ended up with an A in the first class.
Friday after class a whole bunch of us went to the river. There is a spot at one point of the river that has this super open space and a whole bunch of people just lay out blankets and hang out with either beer, or wine with a soccer ball or in our case a football. It was a great time and a great way to relax after the stressful week we had just had.
Saturday
Bright and early I woke up to go to Lisbon Portugal with the whole group. We had to meet at the train station at 7 am! We took a bus and it is about a 6 hour drive. Going wasn't so bad I guess because we were excited but coming back seemed like it took forever! We also gained an hour going so the time difference between here and there was 6 hours instead of 7. Going into Lisbon you take this bridge that is extremely high up pretty much any ship can go under it with room to spare. Because of this you have an excellent view of the city I had reserved one of the front seats because the director of the program had mentioned this earlier in the semester. We finally arrived at the hotel at about 12:30 lisbon time. We had about an hour and a half to get some lunch because at 2pm we were to get back on the bus and go on the planned part of the trip. We went to an monastery and it was nice but not by any means the best. Then we stopped at this tower on the way back and took about 45 mins to be near the water and take some pictures. After doing that I got some ice cream with some friends and we got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We took a break and then later for dinner decided to go to this meat place where for 11 euros it is all you can eat meat and they walk around and just cut it right off the skewer. It was yummy but we had some difficulties with the check. Anyway we were all tired after that so I just decided to go back to the hotel and go to sleep. What we had done that day was the only thing "mandatory" until Tuesday at 10am when we had to be at the bus outside the hotel to go back to Sevilla.
Sunday
Though everything required was finished there were still some other optional trips. I decided that since they were being offered I would go ahead and take advantage of the opportunity. So for Sunday they were taking the bus of the the Christo Rey which is a statue on the opposite side of the bridge, where we came into the city, and has an amazing view of lisbon and you can go up to the feet of the statue for an observation deck. It was absolutely gorgeous and there are pictures on Facebook. After that the bus was also going to stop at the Portugal aquarium and then head back to the hotel I opted to go to the aquarium. I absolutely love aquariums! It was amazing, I had never seen some many different kinds of penguins in one place and they were so close you could practically touch them and there was no glass so you could if you really wanted to. In one of the rooms it was really cold and the had ice the exhibit it didn't look really and there was some right along the edge so I go to touch it and then like little penguin head slowly comes up and he is looking at me with the stink eye that looks like he is saying "hands off the ice". It was so funny and I wish I had gotten it on video. They also had otters and they were so cute we caught them during feeding time. Then of course there were lots and lots of fish. We made our way through and then eventually to the gift shop where I bought a t shirt and some postcards.
Speaking of postcards I forgot to mention that Lisbon is know for green wine, cork, and leather. So they literally make everything out of cork even postcards, I got kind of obsessed and bought a bunch. I was kind of disappointed about the green wine though because I was expecting it to be christmas green when actually it looked more like white wine. The difference from white wine is in the taste. It was very dry and had a little bit of bubble. It was kind of like a hybrid between a dry white wine and champagne. Least to say though I was a fan even though it wasn't really green. I never really got to see any leather those kind of stores were always closed by the time I made my way over to that side of town.
Since we got off at the aquarium and everybody finishes at different times we had to make our way back to the hotel on our own which was fine because luckily the metro system is really simple in Lisbon. We made our way back dropped off our stuff and headed back out again to find some lunch. We decided to walk to the downtown because it is a very pretty walk and also down hill, Lisbon is very hilly I would assume kind of like San Francisco but I have never been but based on movies and such. The walk was nice and we eventually made it there. We had seen several souvenir shops we wanted to shop at and a couple of cute bakerys but we had to find some food first, not knowing where to go in we walked the whole street we ran into some human statues, one of which was hovering, a man playing the trumpet all of which you can find pictures on facebook. We eventually found this little cafe and enjoyed hamburgers with some green wine. When then walked around and headed back to the bakery we had seen. After that is was around 8pm and we were pretty worn out so we hopped on the metro to go back to the hotel. By the end of the trip we had definitely gotten use to the metro and it is a lot nicer than the subway in NY.
Monday
Was a pretty relaxed day there was no rush to get out of bed except for breakfast that ended at 10am. There was an optional excursion to a small town outside of Lisbon on a hill called Sintra, at 1:30pm. My friends and I had a late start and got some lunch at the mall under the bull ring across the street from the hotel. At 1:30 we loaded on the bus and there was only about 9 of us out of the 54 that chose to go on this excursion. It was about a 45 min drive to the city. Upon arrival we kind of all stuck together, we first went into a palace right across from where the bus dropped us off, we walked around and my friends and I decided that we would buy it and make it our vacation home in Portugal. A girl can dream right? Anyway after coming out there is a castle at the top of this hill and when I say hill a mean small mountain! We found the information kiosk which turned out to be just a permanently parked van and they said we could take a bus up there for about 5 euros. Well worth it except for the fact that our driver was a CRAZY! I don't know how many times I saw my life flash before my eyes it was this narrow two way curvey street that went to the top and he was whipping around corners and almost running people over. The people's faces in the bus said it all I kind of wish I had had one of the seats facing backwards just so I didn't have to see it. When we arrived at the top I almost felt like going to my knees and start kissing the ground. By the time we had got up there is was 4 o clock and both the palace and the castle up there close at 5 and the lady at the information desk at the top told us we only had time to go to one. Turns out the palace is more like a museum and the castle is more for a view, we decided to go to the castle. Now there was no warning for this trip, and there was a nice surprise of hills and rocks I felt like I was hiking, it was ridiculous. Then to get on/into the castle was treacherous I am pretty sure the teacher with us was having mini heart attacks praying that we wouldn't step wrong or lose our balance and topple to our deaths (okay a little dramatic but we were all a little uneasy after that bus ride). Least to say if you took it slow it was fine and I am not one to run around. The view was absolutely breathtaking! Tons of pics on facebook as well. Speaking of pictures I have taken about 1300 pics since I have been at DFW and now! Yeah that is a lot!
Anyway after the bus ride home again we stopped back at our hotel rooms to freshen up and then our goal was to try and find an African food restaurant and the director said that it would be difficult to tell us how to get there so one of the other teachers said to just google a place and get a address and hop in a cab because split between 3 people it wouldn't be too expensive. So we did exactly that and well our cab driver didn't know where it was and kind of just dropped us off in the general area of that street, so that was frustrating and we probably would have argued if it weren't for the language barrier. So we got out and walked to the right and didn't find the restaurant we were looking for but it was cold and not worth it so we found another restaurant on the water. Due to the fact that the seafood was so expensive we decided to opt for hamburgers once again. It was fine and a really nice place, when then walked back the way we had came because at least we had seen the metro station. We hopped on the metro back to the hotel and then hang out in the room for a bit and then I went to bed.
Tuesday
I woke up and started to pack got some breakfast and then out to the bus by about 9:55am. We left early because we were going to lose an hour heading back to Seville. The bus ride took forever and I could not wait to get off the bus! We arrived home to Mama and I think she was happy to have us home.
Today
Well it was the first day of class all over again we now have a new teacher and she is AWESOME! Super sweet and I think we are going to learn a lot, she is not a native speaker and Spanish is one of her 4 languages! I know crazy, but she know Arabic, French, Spanish, and English! Anyway it is going to be a good end to the semester. My mom comes in about 10 days! I am so excited I can't wait to see her and I think my host mom is excited to meet her, she has already said she is going to have her over for paella. Well I guess that this about wraps it up it is a long one I know and thank you for bearing with me! I promise I won't wait this long to update again.
Con todo mi amor,
Katie
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Singles Awareness Day!
Hi All and Happy Valentines day and a special shout out to my brother who turns 24 today!
So this is I guess the weekly update.
Tuesday was a pretty regular day same old routine.
Wednesday
In the afternoon I decided to go play soccer with a group of students from my program who had fields reserved. We met at about 4:30 and walked to the bus station and then took a 15 min bus ride to a soccer complex. Now I thought I had heard it was a indoor field but come to find out it was definitely outdoor, which is fine but it was a concrete court more than a field. I can definitely tell i am in a concrete jungle I had never in my 14 years of organized soccer seen a concrete "field". It was a new experience, upon arrival one of the teachers in our program went to make sure we had our reservation. Unfortunately they had forgotten to write our name down so we only had 40 mins or so to play. We quickly hopped on to the court and began to play. I had so much fun and was definitely bitten by the soccer bug again, you forget how much you miss something. Unfortunately I did not bring any kind of soccer shoes, because I was not expecting to play so all I had were my running shoes. For those of you soccer players out there we all know how hard it is to play in a shoe with so much sole support and a thick toe. Least to say I had some stumbling moments while having the ball. The soccer center reschedule our time that we were suppose to have for Thursday at 2:30 for 2 hours. I was going to have to find some shoes before then. On the way back my friend Gabe and I stopped to get a glass of wine and looked for shoes on the way home. I got home and then we ate dinner and I went to bed.
Thursday
Morning:repeat of the usual except this time I had asked my mom for bocadillos since we were going to play soccer at 2:30 we usually eat lunch at that time and I figured it would just be easier to eat and stay a school/ go on a hunt for soccer shoes. The night before I had seen these pink nike ones that were really cute and practical because they were more like turf shoes that I could play with them indoor or on concrete as well as in the grass. So after class I went back to the sports store I had seen them and got them went back to school to eat my bocadillos and changed. More people showed up today and we all headed out. Again it was so much fun I am ready to start playing like everyday! It is sad but at home in the States I don't even own a soccer ball anymore. Anyway it was fun but 2 hours is a long time to play. I got a little bruised and stepped on because some of the boys get a little too into the playing and forget that we don't have shin guards or anything on. Least to say it was a good time and I came home showered up did some homework and we ate dinner and went to sleep.
Friday
We did not have school last Friday due to an excursion to La Rabida. Which I recently found out that it is the city where Christopher Columbus departed from when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492! It was really neat because we took a group picture in front of the well that is still standing where they probably loaded the water onto the 3 ships. The Santa Maria which is the largest of the 3, the nina and la pinta. In La Rabida they also have an exhibit with 3 exact replicas permanently docked. People are allowed on these replicas unfortunately we were not allowed onto the la pinta replica due to renovations in progress. After exploring the Santa Maria and the Nina we took a break for lunch at the cafe there and ate our bocadillos. The director of the program informed us that in Corpus Christi, Texas there is another set of the exact same replicas, they were actually sailed there and remain docked there. So for those of you would like good ol' Christopher and feel like taking a little trip, I would recommend it. On the way back from La Rabida we stopped at a beach on the Atlantic Ocean from this side. I love the BEACH!!! and it was surprisingly warm so I am ready to go back any weekend now because they have buses and trains that go to the beach. The weather in Sevilla has been pretty warm lately and beautiful. Upon returning to Sevilla a group of friends and myself decided to catch the last couple of hours of happy hour at TGI Fridays at the mall. So a group of 6 of us turned into a group of 12 or so and we all just had some appetizers and drinks. Overall it was a successful taste of America! We arrived home ate a little dinner and went to sleep because Saturday was an optional excursion that was meeting at 7:30 to leave to go to Merida. Merida is a city that aside from Rome is well known for its Roman Ruins. The excursion didn't cost anything extra because it was for one of the classes here but considering the class only has 7 students it was open to the entire group.
Saturday
Was an early morning, we made it on time though and the total ended up being about 17 including the director of the program and the teacher of the Roman Classical class. We walked around Merida looking a random ruins and the ways that it has in some places been tied into the modern structure. One of the sites literally had an office building hovering over it. The professor of the class had told us that there are Roman ruins under the entire city of Merida. My favorite part though was later in the day after lunch, which was amazing we just had tapas and a couple glasses of wine. Of course I found the best restaurant food I have had yet in Spain in another city. I would be getting a glass of their white wine with salmon with fresh cheese on bread every chance I got if I lived in Merida. I will have to search to find something similar in Sevilla because it was just delicious and the perfect combination. Anyway after that experience we visited the amphitheater and the colosseum. Personally I liked the amphitheater in Merida a lot more than the one we had seen in Italica. It might be because we were actually allowed inside the one in Merida. The colosseum though was pretty lame in comparison. Overall the trip was a good experience and for the right price. After returning home it was about 8:30 so shortly after getting home we had dinner and I decided to go out with some friends. Overall it was a successful night out in Sevilla.
Sunday
Sunday was again a typical Sunday here in Sevilla I didn't really go outside due to the fact that it was a bit chilly, windy, and rainy. Our Mama' though did have her nephew and his family over for paella which is that traditional meal with shrimp with head, but it is delicious and I am finally getting use to the shrimps with heads. I still have to take a picture because I bet most of you forget that shrimp do have heads and beady little eyes! Anyway Sunday was a lazy day and a day of rest considering I had spent the last couple of days on my feet walking around soaking up a whole bunch of fun history facts.
Today
Well today is valentines day and I have yet to find my spanish novio (boyfriend) so once again I am single but I am single and in Spain! So I can't get too down. I hope all of you are doing well and reminding your loved ones how special they are!
con todo mi amor,
Katie
So this is I guess the weekly update.
Tuesday was a pretty regular day same old routine.
Wednesday
In the afternoon I decided to go play soccer with a group of students from my program who had fields reserved. We met at about 4:30 and walked to the bus station and then took a 15 min bus ride to a soccer complex. Now I thought I had heard it was a indoor field but come to find out it was definitely outdoor, which is fine but it was a concrete court more than a field. I can definitely tell i am in a concrete jungle I had never in my 14 years of organized soccer seen a concrete "field". It was a new experience, upon arrival one of the teachers in our program went to make sure we had our reservation. Unfortunately they had forgotten to write our name down so we only had 40 mins or so to play. We quickly hopped on to the court and began to play. I had so much fun and was definitely bitten by the soccer bug again, you forget how much you miss something. Unfortunately I did not bring any kind of soccer shoes, because I was not expecting to play so all I had were my running shoes. For those of you soccer players out there we all know how hard it is to play in a shoe with so much sole support and a thick toe. Least to say I had some stumbling moments while having the ball. The soccer center reschedule our time that we were suppose to have for Thursday at 2:30 for 2 hours. I was going to have to find some shoes before then. On the way back my friend Gabe and I stopped to get a glass of wine and looked for shoes on the way home. I got home and then we ate dinner and I went to bed.
Thursday
Morning:repeat of the usual except this time I had asked my mom for bocadillos since we were going to play soccer at 2:30 we usually eat lunch at that time and I figured it would just be easier to eat and stay a school/ go on a hunt for soccer shoes. The night before I had seen these pink nike ones that were really cute and practical because they were more like turf shoes that I could play with them indoor or on concrete as well as in the grass. So after class I went back to the sports store I had seen them and got them went back to school to eat my bocadillos and changed. More people showed up today and we all headed out. Again it was so much fun I am ready to start playing like everyday! It is sad but at home in the States I don't even own a soccer ball anymore. Anyway it was fun but 2 hours is a long time to play. I got a little bruised and stepped on because some of the boys get a little too into the playing and forget that we don't have shin guards or anything on. Least to say it was a good time and I came home showered up did some homework and we ate dinner and went to sleep.
Friday
We did not have school last Friday due to an excursion to La Rabida. Which I recently found out that it is the city where Christopher Columbus departed from when he sailed the ocean blue in 1492! It was really neat because we took a group picture in front of the well that is still standing where they probably loaded the water onto the 3 ships. The Santa Maria which is the largest of the 3, the nina and la pinta. In La Rabida they also have an exhibit with 3 exact replicas permanently docked. People are allowed on these replicas unfortunately we were not allowed onto the la pinta replica due to renovations in progress. After exploring the Santa Maria and the Nina we took a break for lunch at the cafe there and ate our bocadillos. The director of the program informed us that in Corpus Christi, Texas there is another set of the exact same replicas, they were actually sailed there and remain docked there. So for those of you would like good ol' Christopher and feel like taking a little trip, I would recommend it. On the way back from La Rabida we stopped at a beach on the Atlantic Ocean from this side. I love the BEACH!!! and it was surprisingly warm so I am ready to go back any weekend now because they have buses and trains that go to the beach. The weather in Sevilla has been pretty warm lately and beautiful. Upon returning to Sevilla a group of friends and myself decided to catch the last couple of hours of happy hour at TGI Fridays at the mall. So a group of 6 of us turned into a group of 12 or so and we all just had some appetizers and drinks. Overall it was a successful taste of America! We arrived home ate a little dinner and went to sleep because Saturday was an optional excursion that was meeting at 7:30 to leave to go to Merida. Merida is a city that aside from Rome is well known for its Roman Ruins. The excursion didn't cost anything extra because it was for one of the classes here but considering the class only has 7 students it was open to the entire group.
Saturday
Was an early morning, we made it on time though and the total ended up being about 17 including the director of the program and the teacher of the Roman Classical class. We walked around Merida looking a random ruins and the ways that it has in some places been tied into the modern structure. One of the sites literally had an office building hovering over it. The professor of the class had told us that there are Roman ruins under the entire city of Merida. My favorite part though was later in the day after lunch, which was amazing we just had tapas and a couple glasses of wine. Of course I found the best restaurant food I have had yet in Spain in another city. I would be getting a glass of their white wine with salmon with fresh cheese on bread every chance I got if I lived in Merida. I will have to search to find something similar in Sevilla because it was just delicious and the perfect combination. Anyway after that experience we visited the amphitheater and the colosseum. Personally I liked the amphitheater in Merida a lot more than the one we had seen in Italica. It might be because we were actually allowed inside the one in Merida. The colosseum though was pretty lame in comparison. Overall the trip was a good experience and for the right price. After returning home it was about 8:30 so shortly after getting home we had dinner and I decided to go out with some friends. Overall it was a successful night out in Sevilla.
Sunday
Sunday was again a typical Sunday here in Sevilla I didn't really go outside due to the fact that it was a bit chilly, windy, and rainy. Our Mama' though did have her nephew and his family over for paella which is that traditional meal with shrimp with head, but it is delicious and I am finally getting use to the shrimps with heads. I still have to take a picture because I bet most of you forget that shrimp do have heads and beady little eyes! Anyway Sunday was a lazy day and a day of rest considering I had spent the last couple of days on my feet walking around soaking up a whole bunch of fun history facts.
Today
Well today is valentines day and I have yet to find my spanish novio (boyfriend) so once again I am single but I am single and in Spain! So I can't get too down. I hope all of you are doing well and reminding your loved ones how special they are!
con todo mi amor,
Katie
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