Beautiful BARCELONA

It's finally here!! I know you have all been waiting anxiously to here about Barcelona. Well... it was BEAUTIFUL. I will now give you a break down of my life starting on Thursday night.

Thursday Night :
We took a bus from Alcala into Madrid and then a bus from Madrid to Barcelona... now let me tell you. This bus ride was 8 hours... 9 if you count the one from Alcala. We left at 10 pm and arrived in Barcelona at 7am where it was cold and rainy!! Perfect for a weekend away :)


Friday Morning:
So its 7am and raining....So we went to a cafe and did some homework and then we went to our hostel. I shared a two bed private room with my friend Sarah! It was great, I had a full sized bed, we had a sink/mirror and a place to put our clothes! We also got free coffee/tea all day.

sagrada familia

After putting all our stuff down...we went exploring!! We walked all around this park we found and just around the general area taking pictures. For lunch I had a bratwurst...it was actually really good and I was sick of eating sandwiches. Then we went to the Sagrada Familia.

    If I were to recommend anything in Spain it would be the Sagrada Familia- for those of you who don't know... it is this HUGE cathedral that was designed by Gaudi. It is still unfinished and therefore while it is under construction in all my pictures...but it won't be finished for another 1-2 centuries. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen.
    After that we just went out to eat and then went home to bed to get up early for the next morning :)

Saturday:
       A couple of friends and I got up early to take a train into Figueres. It is the place where Dali's museum is.... I know I'm so cultured ;) I didn't know much about it but it was actually really neat. And I figure for teaching it will be neat to tell my students I have actually seen his works in person and all that stuff! So we spent a couple hours in the museum- all of his stuff was brilliant and the jewelry was just incredible. The pictures just don't do anything justice!

    Also while in Figueres, we stumbled across this antique market that only happens once a month and we got to see some pretty fun things. It had all sorts of really old books, pipes, jewelry, and so many more things. It was really neat!


Sunday:

    We took a train to the Park Guell in the morning. We had to climb up this HUGE hill... I swear it was on an 80* incline. And then we walked around and took tons of pictures. The park was so big and there were so many detailed pieces all around it. The benches and the lizard are the most well known.

    After that we took the train down to the Romblas which is basically a big shopping/market area; it sells three types of things: jewelry/girly stuff, flowers, and animals. I bought some treasures that are really cute and we walked around some more. There was a man who had pieces of wood and was engraving things into it- bracelets/earrings/boxes- it was way cool! You could even buy baby turtles, bunnies, birds, hamsters...all sorts of things! It was kind of weird.
     After that we ate lunch and went back to the hostel to get our stuff and then we went to the Picasso museum! It was interesting...slightly boring but art isn't exactly my deal. None of his really well known works were there...it was mostly things from earlier in his career.

Those were all the highlights! It was a great weekend. We finally had nice weather on Sunday so it was great to be out and walking around. We took the bus again last night at 11pm and got back to Alcala this morning at 8am... then I went to school and now I'm writing this up for you guys :)

love you all- talk to you soon :)

and a special ps: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!! sorry I can't be there. love you

La Noche en Blanco

So last night (saturday) was la noche en blanco en Madrid. Basically, it's a big festival/ party and millions of people come and walk around. There's lots of different types of activities, museums are open all night, there's music, food, art, and lots more.

This is a game of super mario bros. up on the wall of a building

Una fiesta de pelotas! A bunch of people in the plaza just hitting blown-up balls around! It was crazy

A GIANT game of twister. The circles are clocks, which is different than at home.

African techno/dance music!

Sooo that was my weekend!! NEXT weekend... I'm going to BARCELONA!!!!! Get excited people. We're leaving Thursday night and taking a bus... (for 8 hours) to Barcelona and arriving at like 7 am there. And we'll spend a couple days there and then leave Sunday night to come home and arrive home Monday morning. It's going to be quite exciting. I can't wait to explore and take lots of pictures.

Also, I am officially going to Lisbon, Portugal and Paris, France- so get excited for those upcoming adventures.

Also, and I'm not sure I mentioned it, there is a McDonald's here in Alcala. Now, at home...I rarely go to McDonald's. However, here in Spain- the Mcdonald's are so much BETTER! They have this amazing thing...

I didn't take this picture, just found it

THE CONO KITKAT!!!!! its a plain vanilla ice cream cone with a kit kat stick in it. Literally...it's the best invention ever- and it's only ONE euro!

sweet tooth aside, I'm loving it here- talk to you soon <3

If you loved me....you would leave comments!

Hi everyone!

I've successfully completed my first week of school- how exciting!? ...not really- it's just school! But I definitely think the classes are going to be harder than some at Butler. Or maybe it's because I'm in a different country and would rather be traveling than reading about the history of Latin America. Regardless, I'm still excited to finally be back in school mode, I need to get my stuff all in order!!

This morning I went grocery shopping with mi familia. Things to know about shopping in Spain
1. Their carts are so weird- they're low to the ground with a handle and little wheels and you just pull them around behind you.
2. In order to carry your stuff home- you will need to have brought bags with you, otherwise they charge you for the plastic ones.
3. Stores don't like you carrying around bags from other places- so they provide lockers for you to place your stuff in while you walk around and shop.

Tonight is La Noche en Blanco- it takes place in Madrid and for the entire night- all the stores, museums, restaurants and other things all stay open! And a lot of them are free and you get to go exploring through all of it. Apparently it's just a huge party in the city and thousands of people go. So tomorrow I will have an update on that!

 Otherwise, nothing is really new. So here's some photos!!

Dead fish we found on our walk to the bars. The top one is the mama and the bottom three are the babies!!

Palace in Madrid!

El Retiro- its a massive park in Madrid. this is the huge fountain. You can rent boats!

Crystal palace in madrid!

Okay- love you all! Talk to you soon <3

Sunday = Funday

Hi all!

So I slept until 1 today.. it was amazingg! Sleeping here is what people like to do most! I'm still adjusting to being able to sleep that often. I also went to the park today with some girls! Let's just say their parks here are much more fun but slightly more dangerous.

Their version of a teeter totter/ swing

Fun facts of today!!
1. In case you didn't know- spaniards eat bread with every meal. They give you a chunk of french bread with every meal. If I remember right, this dates back to times of war when all they could eat, because it was cheap, was bread.
2. Stores don't open til 5 or 6.

Meals for today:
Lunch- soup with ham in it and other white floating things... I have no idea what they were and then more slices of jamon (ham) with green peppers on the side

This is what their melon looks like here! It's pretty good.

Dinner- green beans, circle cuts of ham, stringy pieces of carrots. and melon for dessert!

Tomorrow is the first day of classes!! I'm excited and nervous. My backpack is all packed and I have a pen/pencil case holder. And my mama packed me a "picnic" aka a sack lunch for tomorrow.

I also was able to witness my mama wax off her bigote "mustache" tonight! It was hilarious. She had one of the wax strips that she put on her face.

That's about it for today! <3

Ayer y Hoy

Updates from yesterday and today!

Currently its 11:40 here... and I just got done watching Dumb and DumberER with mi familia. It's weird how American movies are more popular here than Spanish movies. And in case you were wondering....they do have popcorn here! Our movie snack was popcorn and lemonade.
     Today's Meals:
lunch: green beans and half a spanish tortilla- its like a potato/egg omelette, they're good.
dinner: green peppers, papas fritas (french fries..they're so much better here and not greasy), and what can only be compared to as pizza rolls....only i have no idea what was inside them.
While walking around today, I also had my first croissant con chocolate- it was SO GOOD...and there was nutella in the middle with chocolate drizzled on top.

So yesterday... we went to Madrid! Besides the fact that my feet were about to fall off and I didn't think I"d ever be able to walk again...it was incredible! The buildings are magnificent and it's amazing to see all the palaces and really old buildings.  If u wanna check out pictures... look at my facebook! I just put up a bunch of pictures from Alcala and Madrid.

School starts on Monday... I'm really excited/ nervous to be speaking in front of other students...but hopefully it'll be ok! Anyways I'm off to bed, I'm still fighting a cold. love ya!

Orientation Day pt 1

Hola!

Today was a fantastic day!
Exciting news: 
1. I got a cell phone!! how great is that... I finally feel alive again...but I can only call and not text!
2. I finalized my classes- I'll be taking one on latin american civilization, one on spanish civilization, one on spanish films, and one on history/culture/ literature of madrid!

An old church that has been shut down and opened to the public

Fun Facts:
1. In case you didn't know... In Spain, the biggest meal is lunch (almuerzo). You eat breakfast around 8 or 9, lunch is at 3 and then dinner is around 9.
2. Tipping in Spain is much different than the U.S.- it's more like 5%... how crazy!

I had orientation today, so we got a tour of the school; it's so big and so beautiful! 

This is a picture of the front of the school. There is a courtyard, multiple libraries and computer labs. It's an amazing school.

This is a famous statue/bench. It is of Cervantes- the author of Don Quijote. It's right outside of the house he was born in. 

This is city hall!

This is a gazebo in the middle of the plaza of Cervantes. The Plaza is a major hang out for people. They hold festivals there among other things; it's the center of the city and its gorgeous

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that's it. I'm going out for my first time tonight! We're going to the plaza and then walking around to see what the night life is like but I have to be up early in the morning for more orientation tomorrow. We're also going to Madrid!!! I am so excited... the camera is charging and everything.

Adios <3

Hola from Espana!!

HOLAAA

Estoy aqui in Alcala! I'm here in Alcala. After an 8 hour flight....during which I did not sleep a wink and sitting at the airport for 3 hours... I am officially moved into Alcala. After arriving in the airport, the group and I took a bus to Alcala and we were dropped off in la plaza de Cervantes where we were picked up by our host families! So we walked back to my host family's house and then I unpacked, we ate lunch and then now it is siesta time!

This is a picture from my window! We're on the 8th floor of a "piso"- it's similar to our apartment complexes. You can sort of see the mountains and stuff in the background!

And this is my bed!! It's a tiny twin bed but it's quite comfortable! The rooms here are a lot smaller than ones in the U.S. And I had to fit all my clothes into a tiny hanging space! (dreadful!) haha but I made it work!

And this is my desk! Just in case you wanted to see where I'll be trying to study and be academic!










Anyways... I should be sleeping but that's starting to seem impossible. We're going on a walk soon so I'll try and take lots of fun pictures for you all to see!
love and miss you already <3