Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Gelato, Pizza, Pasta, Art
Can you guess where I am??
I hope so. If not, I am in Italy! Spending time in several spots that I will elaborate on in later posts. But it is safe to say I have eaten so well here including pesto in Cinque Terre, walked until my legs are about to fall off, seen more art in 2 days than in my entire life including Michaelangelo's David, eaten gelato no less than 2 times a day each day, learned how to order food and count to 20 in Italian, and ridden many trains.
I have only been here about 5 days and I still have 6 more to go but I am already planning many return trips. In my head at least.
There are not words to accurately describe what I get to experience each day here. Sometimes I walk down the street shaking my head in disbelief that I am even here at all.
I will end by saying Italy is beyond awesome and I can't wait to post pictures. Let's just say I took at least a hundred on the 1st day.
So get excited people. Because I am.
This. Is. Real
Monday, October 3, 2011
Bem-vindo a Portugal
I realize it has been a few weeks since my last update and that I have failed miserably in keeping up with my blog the way I wanted to. Oh well.
This weekend I went to Logos, Portugal on the southern coast of Portugal. I went with about 25 kids from my school through a program called Discover Granada. It was a fantastic weekend that included lots and lots of beach time. I also laughed a lot this weekend. Probably too much. I laughed so much that tears came. And that, my friends, is the mark of a good laugh. The bus ride there was about 7 hours in all and we departed Granada at 6:15am. While we were walking in the streets to leave for the day, most people were returning from the night. Yeah, people stay out very late here.
Arrived in Lagos and checked into our 4 star hotel which was pretty sweet. They had two pools and a breakfast buffet. Each morning we stuffed our faces because usually all any of us gets for breakfast is a muffin and some yogurt which usually means eating a muffin from the muffin man or a pastry from the pan (bread) lady in-between classes. The muffin man is my favorite by far. Not the cheapest, but he has the best pastries. Anyways...Friday we spent the whole afternoon on the beach followed by a swim in the pool and then dinner in downtown Lagos. The rest of the evening was spent at a place called Gran Cafe, where all 100 Americans who came on the trip ended up. It was special. Let me add a side note to this trip, it was in no way a cultural experience. Lagos is a pretty touristy place so a lot of people speak english. But it was still fun. Lots of fun. And a lot of my Portuguese came back to me. I took an intensive semester last year and so it was fun to be able to read signs and explain the differences between Portuguese and Spanish. I felt nerdy.
Saturday there was supposed to be an optional Sangria cruise where they take you out into the ocean, give you sangria and take you to visit some really cool caves. But unfortunately the waters were very very rough and the company who does the tours called them off completely. So we took the bus to some caves and took lots of pictures before heading to yet another beach. The beach we were supposed to spend the day at Saturday was very large and very pretty. But unfortunately it was very windy and so the sand was whipping through the air so fast it felt like small needles on your skin and got into everything. I am still cleaning sand out of my bag. So everyone went back the hotel and returned to our smaller and less windy beach for the afternoon. Saturday evening we drove to the 'end of the world' to watch the sunset. It was super cool to be on the southern most tip of Portugal staring out into open water from atop of some very high cliffs. Saturday night we went out for dinner again. During dinner a bagpipist and his followers came by the restaurant, played a song, welcomed us to Lagos, and then left. The funny part about that was later that evening some of my friends saw him in a bar and he ended up playing them another song. I unfortunately was not there to whiteness this special moment.
Sunday we went to a beach on the west coast in a national park. It is famous for its surfing and they offered everyone a surf lesson for 35 euro. I did not surf but it was hilarious watching everyone else learn how. The wind was still pretty brutal but it was fun to walk around. We spent the whole day there before coming back to the hotel to take a 'shower' in the pool, change and hop on the bus for a 7 hour bus ride home.
And that was when i had the worst bus ride i've ever had. The company was fantastic and we laughed so much on the way home but the back of the bus had no AC and we were all literally dripping with sweat. Everyone who got off the bus had soaked through their clothes. It was unbelievable. The front apparently was freezing cold and we think they convinced the bus driver to turn on the heat at about 1am. I thought I was literally going to suffocate on the bus. But finally, at 2am we arrived back in Granada. And I woke up just in time for my 9am class this morning.
It was a great weekend to treat as a vacation. We actually had little if no drama in our group and I know I said this already but I laughed so hard I think I have abs again. It was all around solid weekend.
This weekend I went to Logos, Portugal on the southern coast of Portugal. I went with about 25 kids from my school through a program called Discover Granada. It was a fantastic weekend that included lots and lots of beach time. I also laughed a lot this weekend. Probably too much. I laughed so much that tears came. And that, my friends, is the mark of a good laugh. The bus ride there was about 7 hours in all and we departed Granada at 6:15am. While we were walking in the streets to leave for the day, most people were returning from the night. Yeah, people stay out very late here.
Arrived in Lagos and checked into our 4 star hotel which was pretty sweet. They had two pools and a breakfast buffet. Each morning we stuffed our faces because usually all any of us gets for breakfast is a muffin and some yogurt which usually means eating a muffin from the muffin man or a pastry from the pan (bread) lady in-between classes. The muffin man is my favorite by far. Not the cheapest, but he has the best pastries. Anyways...Friday we spent the whole afternoon on the beach followed by a swim in the pool and then dinner in downtown Lagos. The rest of the evening was spent at a place called Gran Cafe, where all 100 Americans who came on the trip ended up. It was special. Let me add a side note to this trip, it was in no way a cultural experience. Lagos is a pretty touristy place so a lot of people speak english. But it was still fun. Lots of fun. And a lot of my Portuguese came back to me. I took an intensive semester last year and so it was fun to be able to read signs and explain the differences between Portuguese and Spanish. I felt nerdy.
Saturday there was supposed to be an optional Sangria cruise where they take you out into the ocean, give you sangria and take you to visit some really cool caves. But unfortunately the waters were very very rough and the company who does the tours called them off completely. So we took the bus to some caves and took lots of pictures before heading to yet another beach. The beach we were supposed to spend the day at Saturday was very large and very pretty. But unfortunately it was very windy and so the sand was whipping through the air so fast it felt like small needles on your skin and got into everything. I am still cleaning sand out of my bag. So everyone went back the hotel and returned to our smaller and less windy beach for the afternoon. Saturday evening we drove to the 'end of the world' to watch the sunset. It was super cool to be on the southern most tip of Portugal staring out into open water from atop of some very high cliffs. Saturday night we went out for dinner again. During dinner a bagpipist and his followers came by the restaurant, played a song, welcomed us to Lagos, and then left. The funny part about that was later that evening some of my friends saw him in a bar and he ended up playing them another song. I unfortunately was not there to whiteness this special moment.
Sunday we went to a beach on the west coast in a national park. It is famous for its surfing and they offered everyone a surf lesson for 35 euro. I did not surf but it was hilarious watching everyone else learn how. The wind was still pretty brutal but it was fun to walk around. We spent the whole day there before coming back to the hotel to take a 'shower' in the pool, change and hop on the bus for a 7 hour bus ride home.
And that was when i had the worst bus ride i've ever had. The company was fantastic and we laughed so much on the way home but the back of the bus had no AC and we were all literally dripping with sweat. Everyone who got off the bus had soaked through their clothes. It was unbelievable. The front apparently was freezing cold and we think they convinced the bus driver to turn on the heat at about 1am. I thought I was literally going to suffocate on the bus. But finally, at 2am we arrived back in Granada. And I woke up just in time for my 9am class this morning.
It was a great weekend to treat as a vacation. We actually had little if no drama in our group and I know I said this already but I laughed so hard I think I have abs again. It was all around solid weekend.
our Hotel
beach 5 min from the hotel
beach essentials
a place that reminded us of Pirates of the Caribbean
i mean come on, there should be dead pirates here..
Greg and me
sunset at 'the edge of the world'
more beach times
And starting Friday, ill be in ITALY!!!!!!!! how bout that?? I am so fired up.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
¡Bienvenidos a Madrid!
I really should make an effort to blog more often. So much happens in just a few short days here. Since my last post I took a long weekend trip to Madrid. And it was awesome!!! I give you a few quick highlights.
My friend Rachel has a friend that lives just outside of Madrid and so we had a free place to stay, which is key especially since i am trying to save for a 10 day trip to Italy in October. We spent 2 and a half days wondering around in the city. We road the bus 5 hours each way. I think i slept the whole time. no surprise there.
We visited the Prado museum and I was able to see several of the pieces of art I studied in Art History my freshman year of college. It made that class mean a whole lot more to me and made me so excited to see Florence and Rome. We also visited the Royal Palace which was gorgeous. It is so hard to believe that people actually used to live in places like that. In Madrid there is an abundance of parks to visit. Park Retiro was one of my favorites. It had a small lake where you could rent a row boat and go out into the middle. It is such a big park that you can hear no city noise. There is also a park called Casa de Campo which was once the Royal forest where they royalty would go to hunt things like bears and take long walks. Now it is public land.
We spent a lot of time just wondering around the city looking at all of the beautiful buildings and visiting famous Plazas.
We also visited an Egyptian temple that was given to Spain in the 60's. The park in which it was located was on a hill over looking the city. Rachel and I spent a few hours Sunday morning laying in the grass listening to a guy playing Spanish music.
We also ate A LOT. Rachel's friend provided breakfast and dinner so we just had to eat lunch lunch on our own. Both days we ended up eating really well for a moderately priced lunch. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day and so each time we would stagger out of the restaurants and promising we wouldn't touch any more food for the rest of the day. I mean for 10 euro i had 2 drinks, two full plates of food, and a piece of watermelon bigger than my face. We had to go lay in the park afterwards. Rough life, I know.
During the trip about every 5 minutes Rachel and I would turn to each other and say "Are we really in Spain right now? How the heck did we get here?1" It was so cool to literally be navigating the Madrid Metro and Buses on our own. It was a really good feeling. And at the same time a very strange one. After this weekend we felt very accomplished. Here are few (or a lot) pics from the weekend!
My friend Rachel has a friend that lives just outside of Madrid and so we had a free place to stay, which is key especially since i am trying to save for a 10 day trip to Italy in October. We spent 2 and a half days wondering around in the city. We road the bus 5 hours each way. I think i slept the whole time. no surprise there.
We visited the Prado museum and I was able to see several of the pieces of art I studied in Art History my freshman year of college. It made that class mean a whole lot more to me and made me so excited to see Florence and Rome. We also visited the Royal Palace which was gorgeous. It is so hard to believe that people actually used to live in places like that. In Madrid there is an abundance of parks to visit. Park Retiro was one of my favorites. It had a small lake where you could rent a row boat and go out into the middle. It is such a big park that you can hear no city noise. There is also a park called Casa de Campo which was once the Royal forest where they royalty would go to hunt things like bears and take long walks. Now it is public land.
We spent a lot of time just wondering around the city looking at all of the beautiful buildings and visiting famous Plazas.
We also visited an Egyptian temple that was given to Spain in the 60's. The park in which it was located was on a hill over looking the city. Rachel and I spent a few hours Sunday morning laying in the grass listening to a guy playing Spanish music.
We also ate A LOT. Rachel's friend provided breakfast and dinner so we just had to eat lunch lunch on our own. Both days we ended up eating really well for a moderately priced lunch. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day and so each time we would stagger out of the restaurants and promising we wouldn't touch any more food for the rest of the day. I mean for 10 euro i had 2 drinks, two full plates of food, and a piece of watermelon bigger than my face. We had to go lay in the park afterwards. Rough life, I know.
During the trip about every 5 minutes Rachel and I would turn to each other and say "Are we really in Spain right now? How the heck did we get here?1" It was so cool to literally be navigating the Madrid Metro and Buses on our own. It was a really good feeling. And at the same time a very strange one. After this weekend we felt very accomplished. Here are few (or a lot) pics from the weekend!
Plaza Mayor
crazy sword shop. swords from Toledo
paella. a traditional Spanish dish
me & Rachel
there was a lot of this happening this weekend
The very center of Spain
the symbol of Madrid
Egyptian Temple in Madrid. Egypt gave this to Spain.
guess they have a few to spare.
Royal Palace. This place was huge
Bull fighting ring in Madrid
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Thanks Mom!!!
So for those of you who do not know Chacos are my favorite pair of shoes I own. I would wear them everyday if winter did not exist. So I made sure that they would be part of my attire for Spain. They are clearly not up the fashion standards here but sometimes you just need a few comfort items in your life.
So you can imagine (maybe not) how sad I was when I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean and realized that the one material possession that I kind of actually really cared about was sitting on my back porch baking in the Texas sun.
But thankfully I have a family that loves me very much and understands my love for these shoes. They also understand my sweet tooth because the shoes arrived today accompanied by Sour Patch kids, gold fish and Milano cookies. I did a little dance and squealed a bit. I think my host family thinks I am strange because I got shoes in the mail and ones that didn't smell very good at that. But anyways. Now that I have publicly expressed my love for Chacos I shall be on my way to Flamenco class.
Can't you just see my feet smiling....
So you can imagine (maybe not) how sad I was when I was flying over the Atlantic Ocean and realized that the one material possession that I kind of actually really cared about was sitting on my back porch baking in the Texas sun.
But thankfully I have a family that loves me very much and understands my love for these shoes. They also understand my sweet tooth because the shoes arrived today accompanied by Sour Patch kids, gold fish and Milano cookies. I did a little dance and squealed a bit. I think my host family thinks I am strange because I got shoes in the mail and ones that didn't smell very good at that. But anyways. Now that I have publicly expressed my love for Chacos I shall be on my way to Flamenco class.
Can't you just see my feet smiling....
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Thankful for Eyes that Can See..
I have completed 2 full weeks here in Granada, Spain and am well into my 3rd. Two weeks has felt like 2 years but each days seems to pass faster than the last. So far my time here has been wonderful. I feel as if I am now just emerging from the shock of actually being here. Thought I would post a few more pictures from the adventures I have had in the past two weeks
]
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mini walking tour with my group. building used to be a market.
walking through the Moorish district of the City.
'The Cathedral' build by Queen Isabel. Houses the bodies of her and King Ferdinand. And for all you history buffs out there Granada is actually where Columbus was when he and Isabel did all of there negotiations about his trip to 'India.' I had no idea..
Basically this translates into "there is nothing worse than being a blind man in Granada."
]The backside of the Alhambra. Haven't been yet. but soon!
waiting for our Flamenco lesson!
]The caves. popular Flamenco place
Alba. our instructor
churros con chocolate! delicious, cheap. they even help you lose wait ;)
tapas
more tapas. and these are just the so-so ones. Tapas are a specialty of southern Spain
exterior of the Plaza de Toros in Granda. aka the bull fighting ring. we didn't want to pay to go inside so we just walked around it. Pretty crazy this still goes on
Pomegranates! I mentioned earlier that the Pomegranate is the symbol of Granada because the is what the city name means. These things are literally everywhere...
Cafe Futbol. A place that I frequent quite often. They have a lovely outside area but oddly enough it is cheaper to eat inside. Yay for being a college kid!
This weekend I am headed to Madrid with my new friend Rachel for our 4 day weekend. I know, rough life. She has a friend for us to stay with which is incredible! especially since I am in the middle of planning a 10ish day trip to Italy for Fall Break which by even going the very cheapest way possible is still expensive. But it will be so worth it!
So there you have it. A little picture update on my life the past few days. I probably have at least 10 more posts up my sleeve. It is so hard to sift through to the most important stuff because it is all so blog worthy!
Hasta Luego.
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