It's Just Like a Disney Castle!---Segovia; Cuenca

So this last weekend was our last school excursion, and my last weekend before the last week of classes. Crazy? Yes. The Fund (my school) brought us to Segovia on Friday, which is actually the only place that I went on my high school trip, besides Madrid of course. And though I thought it was neat last time, I enjoyed it even more this time! So cool!! We toured the Alcazar (castle) there, which is very fairy-tale-ish (like a Disney movie!), went a bit around town to see the cathedral and main square, and then spent some time just looking at the 2000 year old (completely intact) Roman aqueduct...so incredible, especially since they didn't even use any cement for construction. The boulders were shaped just so, so that when the last stone was set into place on each arch, it sort of locked it into place. I still don't get how it works, it really is incredible! The day was just, plain and simple, very nice. We all had a lot of fun, the weather was beautiful, and our tours were given by my history professor, since he lives in Segovia (and communtes...it's like 2 hours!), so he made it really interesting. All in all, another charming town.

Saturday I decided to go to another small town called Cuenca, about 2 hours east of Toledo (Segovia's northwest) with my friend Lindsey. Luckily they had a direct bus right from Toledo! Woot! We got there (in the more industrial part of town), expecting to find our way around rather easy (especially after Toledo...you'd think we'd be pro's by now), but had a bit of difficulty to say the least. We tried following signs for the "falling houses," which were houses built over a cliff in the 1400's, but somehow we went the wrong way and it took us a while to find our way. Still, we got there eventually, and though the houses were nice to take a picture of, there weren't a lot of them, as I expected. Only 2 or 3. Oh well. We got some sweet pictures on this huge bridge (for some reason I can't think of the name right now) of the old part of town, which was built along a cliff. And wow, I thought Toledo's hills were bad, but getting up and down Cuenca was like trying to walk straight upwards....pretty much impossible!! ;)

We looked around the cathedral for a few minutes (only the very edge of inside...we were too cheap to pay to go all the way in...we've seen a lot of cathedrals, we thought we could skip this one. Next we went to the "castle" which turned out to be just a really old wall where you could climb up and take pictures...not the most exciting. Still, we headed uphill a bit more (almost to the top/edge of the town) and ate at a small restaurant outside. The food was really good, and the day was going really well, but of course, I had to make an idiot out of myself, like always. After paying the bill, Lindsey and I were heading downwards through the town to our bus stop. After a few minutes at least, we hear heavy footsteps, and turn around to see our waitress running behind us trying to catch up with us. Apparently I had paid double what I was supposed to, and once I thought about it, I realized it was true, I did. Didn't even think about it at the time. So, she walked us back up to the restaurant, they gave me back my change while all the rest of the staff tried to hide their laughing, and I hurriedly left again with my head down in shame and embarrassment!!! Ahh! Still, it was a good laugh, though I'm pretty sure I'll never live it down in Lindsey's eyes haha. At least the waitress was nice! She did not have to do that, so I appreciate her kindness! LOL :) We finally headed down to the bus stop, walked around a bit, as Lindsey got hit on by a crazy homeless man. Good day haha.

So that was my weekend, and if you can believe it, I'm now in my last one before the semester! That's right, this next week are finals (oh dear), and then after that I'll only have a few days before I leave Spain! Wow! ...I'll leave that discussion for another post.

Ciao,

Kristin

P.S. The first three pics are of Segovia, the last two from Cuenca.

Back to the Emerald Isle---Northern Ireland; Ireland

Brace yourselves folks, this is probably going to be a pretty long one....Semana Santa, aka Spring Break.

Well followers, I finally made it back to Ireland, and luckily, before the fiasco with the Iceland volcano. And, if you can believe it, I made it there by all by myself! That's right. It might be a small accomplishment, but an accomplishment nonetheless. My day consisted of getting up at 5:30 am, getting ready, taking a 10 minute cab ride to the Toledo bus station, an hour long bus ride (rush hour--usually it's only 45 minutes) to Madrid. Next, an hour long Metro ride(s), walking through the airport, and by about 9:30 am I was sitting at my gate, waiting for my 11:25 flight to Dublin. While there, I met a group of girls studying in Segovia, but who were from Minnesota. We chatted a while and sat across from each other on the plane, where we proceeded to meet some people from (can you guess?) Chicago. That's right, more Midwesterners. We're taking over the world!

Luckily, my friend Katie was waiting right outside the exit in Dublin, so we met up and found the bus for Belfast, Northern Ireland. And, while waiting for the bus, I found Crispy M&M's...my fav! They don't make them in the states anymore :( ....anyway, her school had a planned trip there for that weekend, so in the beginning, I was planning on going over to Galway, but they let me come along, as long as we could get there on our own. A 2 1/2 hour bus ride brought us to the UK's Belfast, full of pounds (as in, not Euros), pubs, and its own "mini London Eye." I haven't ever been to London, but the city does seem to have a sort of "English" feel to it. Regardless, the city center was pretty. We got a little help finding our "hostel" from some nice ladies and the real fun began. I use quotes for the hostel because, well, it just wasn't quite what we expected. I was told it's the only hostel in Belfast, which I find very surprising, unless that just means that barely any young adults visit there. Because let me tell you, I've been to some hostels, and they've been very nice, but this one, well we'll just say it wasn't the Hilton. The lobby was fine, a little rugged, but whatever. However, the receptionist then proceeds to bring us (about 30 of us at least) to the back of the hostel, outside, through an alley, and into....a barn. You heard right. A barn. One big giant room with 50 bunk beds. No heat, not bathroom, no privacy. The coordinator from my Katie school was NOT pleased, but he couldn't really do anything about it, and there wasn't any other place to stay except (more expensive) hotels. It obviously was not the most ideal situation, but since our group took up most of the room (and Katie knew them, so they weren't complete strangers), I was OK since we were all together. Plus, on the second night, I made friends with the receptionist and got another blanket out of it. Haha!

Saturday all day we had a bus tour of Belfast, other towns around the area, and Giant's Causeway. Oh my gosh, everything was SO beautiful. Unfortunately, the weather wanted to play games with us that day, as it would be perfectly sunny every time we were on the bus, but would then start raining when we got off. Shux. Still, it was pretty incredible. We saw some castles, my favorite green, grassy hills, lots and LOTS of sheep (and since it's Spring, there were tons of babies! Very cute...Katie and I wanted to steal one and bring it home with us), this crazy bridge (that's over the ocean...fisherman used to use it to get to this small rock/island...best spot for fishing), and of course, Giant's Causeway. It's like a bunch of Oyster cracker-shaped rocks sprouting up all over...it's hard to explain. Here's a link if you want to know more info about it... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway . Either way, it was cool!! A really great day. The next morning we took a "Black Taxi" tour, which consisted of a being driven around in a taxi (go figure!) and explained all the "Troubles" between the Protestants and the Catholics. It was really interesting. There are a ton of murals painted of different ideals, history, and people who were killed. Like I said, really interesting. For fear of recounting the history incorrectly (and because this blog is long enough already), here's another link via Wikipedia if you care to take a gander...yes, I love Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles . We had our cab driver drop us off at the bus stop so we could hurry on back to Dublin again (hooray for Euros again!) to meet Erin at the airport. She's the same Erin who's in Toledo with me, but her and her family were traveling in Spain until Sunday, so she couldn't come until then. After gathering our friend, we headed to Maynooth, the college town where Katie goes, by train. It's a very cute little town, filled with pubs and such, and it's own castle. That's right. They're everywhere here. I love it. We ate at one of the local pubs near Katie's apartment (who graciously allowed us to stay there), that apparently had like 7 or 8 bars in it...it was quite big. I had just about the best burger of my life there, and afterwards we went back to get ready for the next day.

Monday Katie had class so Erin and I decided to take the "Dart" train we'd been hearing so much about. It's a train that goes from Dublin to a bunch of little towns along the coast, and although it was raining (can't expect anything else really though, I mean it is Ireland--it's OK, I was prepared--umbrella AND boots!), the train ride was beautiful. But oh goodness, there were so many towns on the route! We rode all the way to the end without stopping, and then stopped a bunch of times on the way back, but there just wasn't enough time! We spent quite a bit of time in Greystones, Bray, and also stopped at Dun Laoghaire (yes, mentioned in P.S. I Love You) and a few other places, but I would definitely pick Bray as the best. So charming and beautiful, I could certainly see myself living there. I could work in Dublin and commute (since it's not too far), hmm...just planning out my life, is all. Anyway, despite the rain, Erin and I had a lot of fun. We even found a bit of countryside! ...Erin kept telling me, "I want to see countryside!" So, I saw some more rugged, rural hills in Greystones, so with me leading, we treaded through the town, all the little neighborhoods, and finally ended up at the base of a farming hill, complete with "country-esque" views. Tada! Countryside! haha. Well, after our little rendezvous, we went back to main Dublin to meet up with another friend who's studying in Ireland, Tanya Sue!! Who also let us stay at her apartment for the night...so sweet. Before crashing, she brought us to this pub where there was supposed to be karaoke, but sadly it wasn't there that night. We did get to meet 2 little old ladies (and I mean old!) that were friends with Tanya...she's quite the regular. They were so cute, and might I just say, I love being called "love." Anyway, Tanya took us to another pub where we had a drink with a few of her friends, then headed back to sleep...early next day.

So, Tuesday was our big Galway day! This was always the place I wanted to go back to. Erin and took a taxi into the bus station super early (our bus left at 6 or 7 am) and were on our way West! At first we thought we'd have this nice older man driving the bus, but he let us know he was sick, so his dad was going to take us. I have to say I was a little confused cause I said, he looked old enough! But sure enough, this 70 or 80 year old little man came on with a cheery grin, introduced himself as Desmond, and we were off. Haha, oh Desmond. What a funny, dirty old man. I can't count the times he subtly hit on the women. For instance, he wanted to let us know that if you kiss someone who has kissed the Blarney stone, you will also have the gift of eloquence, and that he kissed it twice..."so don't all rush me at once ladies!" as he said. Haha. Also, he repeated things. Hard core. "It'll be coming up here on the left, it'll be coming up here on the left, on the left it'll be coming up here." And I am being completely serious. After a while Erin and I made a little game about it...fun fun. But besides, that, about the actual tour. Dear old Desmond brought us all around, to a "fairy-fort" ("watch 'em! watch 'em!" he would say, referring to the fairies who would supposedly run up your pant legs if you weren't careful), to a tomb from 5800 (approximate) B.C., a few castles and such, and lastly, the Cliffs of Moher! So beautiful again! ...I had seen them when I came last time...which I never actually explained I just realized...long story short, I traveled to Ireland about 3 years ago with my mom and my great aunt. Regardless, the cliffs were breathtaking, but it was SOOOOO windy! Yikes! Erin and I thought we'd blow away! :) The day brought us back to Dublin and back to Katie in Maynooth, another fantastic day...though I wish we could have stayed longer in Galway, to actually see the city :( ...oh well, no pasa nada! It was still great!!

Wednesday Erin and I slept in a bit and then did some shopping in Dublin city. Well, more like I spent my life savings while Erin watched. I couldn't help it though, I saw a lot of things I liked for myself and for gifts! My favorite thing though, my Claddagh ring. You probably know of them, the have two hands joining around a heart with a crown on top, to symbolize friendship, love, and loyalty. It's often meant to be a wedding ring, where you wear it with the heart towards you, indicating your heart is taken. Otherwise, you where it with the heart facing outward, signifying your heart is open to love. So, yes, I got one, and it's beautiful. I'll make sure to wear it outwards, perhaps I'll even have a little luck. "Don't rush me all at once now fellas!" :)

Thursday sent us packing to go back to Spain, and I"ll admit, though there was snow the day before (that's right..very cold), I was not really excited to go back to Spain. I do love Spain, I do, but it was just so nice to hear English everywhere, and I just love the people, scenery, etc...it's my place. But still, once I got back to Toledo, I did feel that feeling of "home" once again, the feeling you always get (or at least I do) once returning from a trip. So yes, I had a wonderful trip, too short perhaps, but some fantastic craic!! (fun) :D

I wish I could attach more photos, but I'll try to pick my favs.

Un beso,

Kristin

Saffron, Olive Oil, Wine, Cheese, Ice Creams, PAIN---"Ruta de Quijote"

What's up my wonderful followers,

I'll try to make this was one shorter, and hopefully sweet. :) One week before Semana Santa (Holy Week--Spring Break to most), the girls and I stayed around Toledo to relax...after all, we had traveled the last 3 weekends in a row, plus we'd be gone the next 2 weekends for our week long break! We were in serious need of some chill time. Or at least a break from going going going, and spending money. Lucky for us, there was an excursion planned for Friday, and since it was free, we took it! Plus, my school had free tickets available for a play in Toledo that night too, so I took that opportunity too! Woo!

Friday morning started out on the provided coach bus, and we proceeded to be driven around the region of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain has regions, just as we have states), where the fictional route of Don Quijote was laid out. For those of you who aren't familiar with Don Quijote, he's a character in the VERY famous Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes, "Don Quijote de la Mancha." It's a pretty big deal in the Spanish world. Just a quick low-down of Mr. Quijote...after reading too many books about medieval knights, he kind of went crazy and started believing he was a knight (which didn't exist anymore). He ended up getting this real winner of a man named Sancho Panza to follow him, and they went on all sorts of "adventures" around Castilla-La Mancha, including the ever-famous run in with windmills. These windmills, though ordinary to most people sane, appeared as real giants to Don Quijote, and he attacked. After being pushed off his horse by one of the "arms," he concluded that the giants were magical and at the last second, transformed into windmills. Yup. Crazy man. But we still love him.

Anyway, not really knowing what to expect with this tour, I went with an open mind, as everyone else did too. I think we all were a little curious of how exciting it would actually be to drive to little bitty towns to see Quijote "landmarks," so I think we all decided to have our own fun. Good thing too, as our tour guide ended up being my Literature professor, who, let me tell you, is not the most animated lecturer. 2 1/2 hours is plenty of time to spend with him during the week, so having to concentrate through a whole day of his unfortunate, monotone voice was a bit of a struggle. But, like I said, we made our own fun. We arrived at a plaza that would have been a sort of hotel in the times of Quijote, complete with an old wagon, cacti, and giant ceramic jars. We took this opportunity to take many ridiculous pictures, including one of my favorites so far (please look above for reference...you'll know which one). Everyone became good friends for the day, and we took advantage of the fact that we were all easily entertained. For instance, I spotted a strange sign that offered such things as cheese, wine, olive oil, and at the end...pain. Pain? I'm not sure what they meant by that, but I don't really want a side of pain with my olive oil.

We then trekked over to some mountainous terrain(s) to see some of the famous windmills, or "molinos" from the area. Pretty cool I must say. As I looked up at the enormous structures, I couldn't help getting the urge to find a lance and duel one of the magnificent creatures, all in the name of our friend Quijote. Still, I resisted the temptation and instead tried to become one with the molino (see above pictures again for reference).

After a quick lunch, we were taken to a lovely little town, and actually the only one I remember the name for, Consuegra, to see the castle there. It was a pretty standard-ish castle, very nice, though I sadly scuffed one of my Spanish (and stylish I might add) boots on the side of one of the walls. However, I felt a little consolation knowing I"ll be able to tell people I scuffed my boot on a CASTLE wall... :) ...oh, us Americans and our fascination with castles. I firmly believe it's because of Disney movies...you know it is! We won't admit it, but we've always had the hope we'd marry a prince or princess and live in a fairytale, complete with castle...don't even pretend you don't! And don't worry, I won't ever really lose the hope either. :D

Alright, well I realize this is actually not a short blog post like I promised, but if you've read this far, I assume you love me enough to read the rest.

The castle concluded our "Ruta de Quijote" excursion, but it nowhere near ended my day/night. Once we got back to Toledo, I had to run home to change into nice clothes for the play. First time wearing a dress here! And since I had no tights of leggings on, I got stared at like nobody's business. Yeah, Spaniards are kind of sissies when it comes to cold weather. It wasn't that bad, but they just thought I was crazy. Well, it could have been that, or maybe I was just blinding people with my incredibly sun-deprived skin. Whichever. Well, I met up with some other Fund folks at the theater, and let me tell you, this play may have been translated from English (though it was all in Spanish, yes), I have thankfully never heard of it. It was full of all sorts of treats,...drug overdose, mean/angsty teenagers, incest, oh yes. I most definitely had my mouth open the whole time with shock. Not my favorite play we'll say. And I know the premise sounds familiar to my favorite musical, Spring Awakening, but it was NOWHERE close to it...it was CREEPY, and certainly DISTURBING. Gross. But hey, it was an experience! After that, we all had to go out for a few drinks to try and purge the images from our minds. We hit up a couple of places, and I finally headed home at about 3 am...I know, early (usually Spaniards get in about 7 am after going out)...yikes.

The next night Anna and I tried out a "Botellon," which is pretty much a weekly BYOB event, where friends get together outside in this giant park to hang out. Wow...lots of people, but kind of lame if you ask me. I realize now that this weekend makes me look like I am quite the party animal, but grandma, if you're reading this, I want you to know this is not a common occurrence! It's just socializing! Don't worry, I'm still being a good girl for the most part. :)

Well, I think I'm finally done with this post, and I apologize if any of you were expecting to quickly get through this, as I mislead you in the beginning. But, if any of you suffered through, thank you again!

Until later.

If You Have Any Marijuana, Feel Free to Drop it in too! ----Barcelona!!

Well hello again todos,

I'm hear again to tell you about my wonderful weekend in the heavily toured yet awesome Barcelona!! Olé!

I wasn't quite sure how the trip was going to go at first, as Erin and I had another night in the airport on Friday, since our friend Megumi (who was going to come with us) was sick and decided to sleep at her house and try to make the flight in the morning...she did in fact, just in the nick of time. I'm quite jealous, though I know I would have been freaking out if I had to cut it that close. Plus, Erin and I found this random cafe that was closed for eating, but the actual seating area wasn't...so by chance we found some booths with more comfy cushions, and we had ourselves a wonderful night there. :) ...Much better than last weekend I must say. A cleaning lady came around at one point and turned on the lights, but she just moved our shoes out of the way, did her business of cleaning the floors, and turned the lights off again when she left...thank you, lady janitor. :)

The next morning we got on our plane and took off for Barcelona, and we must have gone straight to our hostel...since this happened a few weeks ago my memory is not fresh, but I'll say what I remember, and just go with it. Our hostel was pretty nice, as it was the same company that we stayed with in Valencia, though it certainly didn't add up to our hostel last weekend in Portugal...I don't think any ever will. Still, it did the job. Next we walked to the main street where they have all kinds of shops, and when I say shops, I mean Gucci, Coach, Burberry, the whole works. I see now why Barcelona is a central place for fashion. After uncomfortably walking around stores where we couldn't even afford a scarf, we headed over to the more affordable "Ramblas" street. This was a more young and hip place to buy stuff, and I ended up getting a lot of souvenirs for me and others. Ceramic and mosaics are a pretty big deal here, so I just had to capitalize on it. We also went past a few Gaud buildings, the famous architect who had some crazy cool ideas for design! We then went back to our hostel, bought pizza from convenience store, cooked it in the microwave after realizing our hostel didn't actually have an oven, and just chilled.

Next morning, more Gaudi!! We went to the well known "Sagrada Familia" cathedral that's been under construction for more than 100 years, and won't be finished for another 25!!! Gaudi knew he'd die before they finished it, isn't that nuts? Regrettably he died by a streetcar instead of old age, but his work still continues! It's just amazing inside, and the stained glass looks so beautiful! I'm planning on returning someday when it's finished!! Hopefully! We then went to another obra (work of art) by Gaudi, "Park Guell." I thought it would be like any other park, right? Wrong. It was more built on a mountain, because originally Gaudi wanted it to be a neighborhood for the rich. However, at that time it was too far out of town so nobody wanted to live there!! It had a ton of paths carved into the hill(s), sweet looking structures, and even some houses that looked like gingerbread houses! Erin and I decided they would be my summer homes after I marry my Portuguese prince. We also saw a ton of venders with sunglasses, jewelry, etc. on blankets, and a few people playing music for money. There was this one guy who was playing a didgeridoo, and as people walked by, he said that if anyone had any marijuana on them, feel free to drop it in too! Haha oh dear. Then, in a few minutes, there was a giant commotion! ...All of the street venders froze, and we heard someone shout "policia!"...those venders and their stuff were gone as fast as lightning! No joke. Haha Barcelona just got cooler and cooler as the weekend went on.

After a nice little picnic of bocadillos in the park, we went back to the main drag where we watched some traditional Catalan dancing. According to my host mom, it's the most boring of Spanish dances, but I still enjoyed it. :) We then went out for Mexican food, first ever since being here in Spain! It was really good, but such little portions compared to what we're used to. And before that, we went to the "magic fountain show."...it really was magical! That fountain had so many different sprays and colors, it was pretty magnificent!! After thoroughly enjoying the show, and after dinner, we just went back to the hostel to get a good night's sleep, and headed home again then next morning.

It was a great trip...except that I just realized I deleted a bunch of pictures by accident. I'll have to steal a few from Erin.

My Life Plan Made...Courtesy of Erin---Portugal!!

Hola amigos,

That is, if I still have any of you out there...let's make sure to cross "blog-writer" off the list of possible life careers for me. :)

Well, about a month ago, I went to Portugal. Yup, my first "new" country I've visited while studying abroad here. I know, it's not too far away, but I thought 'hey,' might as well since it is so close! So, my friends and I packed up our bags and headed to a little town called Lisbon. Or rather, the big capital city. And let me say this right now: for being a more uncommon stop on the Europe travels list, it is beautiful. Really, beautiful.

However, we had quite a journey to get there beforehand. That is, I had my first night sleeping in the airport! Yes, it was quite interesting. But don't worry, I had 3 friends with...Amy, Anna, and Erin of course, and there were about 10 other people sleeping in the same general area too, so it must not be too uncommon. After going through security, we found some benches and made camp for the night, so we could make our early flight out the next day. I must say though, those were benches were not made for comfort. After tossing and turning, I finally got about an hour of sleep and woke up to a bunch of people around...no alarm needed.

After the short hour long flight, which I proceeded to sleep through the whole thing, we arrived in Lisbon, and headed over to the most AMAZING hostel in all existence. They checked us in, showed us around, including the media room with a giant flat-screen, the lounge with comfy bean bag chairs, the computer lab with FREE access to macs, and then on to the best part, the dining room, where they proceeded to feed us scrambled eggs and toast. Now I don't know if any of you know this, but I don't really eat breakfast here...not much to chose from anyway. So this was like the highlight of my life. This hostel, so awesome...modern, amazing facilities, and the staff was SO helpful! The receptionists (each day) actually set us down with a map and asked us where we wanted to go that day, showed us routes, and told us about other places to go and eat. Plus, each night they had a different activity available for guests to do, like a wine tasting night and a traditional Portuguese foods night (which we participated in). Of course though, our favorite member of the staff was the "scrambled eggs" lady...and I'm not being mean! Everyone called her that, because her specific job was just to cook us eggs and toast! We love her. :)

Well, unfortunately, our luck with the hostel ("Traveler's Lodge" by the way, for reference!!) did not help our luck with the weather. Rain. Rain. And more rain, if you can believe it. We tried walking around a bit but I for sure was a bit bummed...and tired on top of that. Still, we wandered around and found the city's giant castle (walls), and no surprise, I was all over that. I LOVED it! Rain and all! :) We took some silly pictures of me pretending to take water out of a well and trying to create a fire, and then went back to our hostel to relax again and meet up with Anna, who had decided to have a little siesta after lunch.

After this we walk around the city again for a bit and met up with Erin's friend Lisa who was studying in Brussels but came to visit with us, and then we went to our traditional Italian dinner where we had some delicious and authentic "green wine" from Portugal...very good. Sparkling. However, we proceeded to offend the waiters at the restaurant because we couldn't finish all of our food. We tried to convince them that we were really full (which we were), but he just wanted to bring us another dish...didn't end well. Next we almost drowned on the way back to the hostel as it decided to rain cats and dogs again, but fortunately the beds in our hostel were the most comfortable things in the world, so we all stripped off our suctioned wet clothes, got into some warm pjs, and CRASHED.

Next day, we had a terrific breakfast of toast and eggs again, walked around near our hostel again, looked in a cathedral, and then went over to the old part of town, Belem. Here, we toured a church and monastery, and spent a good deal of time in the very pretty courtyard. We were quite enjoying our day so far since there was sunshine! and then Erin decided to plan my life for me, starting with my wedding at this courtyard. She was pretty excited about it, just ask her about it sometime. :) ...we then went to a pastry place that was recommended by our hostel, and let me tell you, totally worth the half hour wait. This place was huge.....huge...a giant line. We had high expectations. But oh my gosh, they definitely got our stamp of approval. They were just these little pastry things filled with custard, and you could put sugar, cinnamon, whatever you wanted on them! DELICIOUS.

After that, our luck sort of pooped out again...that happens a lot for us. A roller coaster of luck. Anyway, we went to an old castle tower thing which happened to be closed, but it was also where Erin decided I should have cocktails at before my wedding. We also discussed how I would attain all of these wonderful things for my wedding, and she concluded that I'd just have to marry a Portuguese prince, so that our kids can be trilingual (2 languages coming from me!). Then, my kids can marry Erin's kids, so her grandkids can also be trilingual. Sneaky, Erin. Sneaky. :)

Well, after Erin planned my life, we found Anna and a very wet Amy who had an unfortunate incident with a wave (as we were by the side of a river/bay), walked to another closed monument, strolled around a fountain, and headed back to our hostel for a night of traditional Portuguese food. Which, I must say, is pretty similar to Spanish food. We had a bunch of types of chorizo (sausage), bread, cheese, and best/worst of all...all the wine you wanted. Alas, I did take advantage of this opportunity, but I kept a good handle on myself, and I even made some new friends. I met a very nice boy from Yale who I talked with for quite a while, but no mom, I did not get his number. :) That story's for another time. Anyway, I easily made it upstairs and had another great night sleeping in my incredibly comfortable bed.

The next morning we didn't do much, just slowly got ready to go for the day and took off for the airport, then back to Toledo. Although the rain literally dampened my mood a lot there, I would certainly recommend Lisbon for traveling!!! Though if you think you can understand Portuguese when you've got Spanish under your belt, you are regrettably wrong haha.

Hasta.

Santiago de Compostela...where everything is green, the food is amazing, and old men work out like it's their job

Ah, Galicia. Lush, green, rainy, full of hikers. When I first got to Spain and was starting to plan my trips, everyone told me to "go to Galicia! It's so different!" Geographically, that is. So, we planned a weekend to the northwest of Spain, to a lovely little city called Santiago de Compostela. Ever hear of it? It's supposed to be a pretty big deal in the Catholic world these days, especially since it houses St. James' remains. Either way, I can describe it in one word: mystical.

Yes, Santiago has a strange effect on people. Apparently Christian pilgrims have been trekking there for more than a thousands years to be healed of diseases, find salvation in God, or just pay homage to St. James' shrine. Thus, the walk, or "Camino de Santiago" was born, the common route stretching from southern France all they way through Galicia. The walk ends at the cathedral, the main site in the city. And let me tell you, it must be worth it for them. Covered in moss, and chiming old bells, it really draws you in. I even found myself dazzled by it all, and during a mass on Saturday which contained a GIANT swinging incense burner, I actually broke down and completely bawled. Granted, I'm much more sensitive than the average person, but there was just something about that church, with all the old townspeople and the pilgrims there, I don't know really. But anyway, good experience. :)

Well, the weekend started out for us on Thursday night actually, as we took an overnight train. We thought this could save us some money on a hostel (as we planned to take it Saturday night home as well), and it's got to be pretty comfortable too, right? Wrong. It was pretty much like spending 7 hours on a plane, though you could walk around on the train more, so that was a plus. Still, we got there quite early Friday so we had the whole day! And, it was SUNNY! What a change compared to Toledo! So, after dropping our junk off at our hotel (yes, hotel---Santiago is super cheap, so we could afford it!) we walked to the old part of town, and stumbled on a very pretty park...it was so green!! Real grass! I love grass. Anyway, we snapped a couple of photos and then spotted some old guys on a playground. We were pretty confused, until we realized it was actually outdoor workout equipment! So cool! There was one like an elliptical, a weights one, a bunch of them! Not sure why they would put outdoor equipment in a city that rains pretty much all year round, but hey, I think it's a great idea! After creeping on the 60-70 year old men who were working out (in slacks and sweaters mind you), we of course tried them out as well. FUN.

Next we went over to the cathedral to take some pictures and see the pilgrims, and later we met up with one of Amy's friends from high school who was studying there. That's pretty intense, considering it's pretty far out there for Spain....it would be hard to get anywhere else. Still, she loved it, and I'm sure it would be an awesome city to get to know. She showed us around a bit, and we went out for dinner. By the way, I love all the seafood there...it's close to the sea so they have pretty much any kind of weird sea creature you want, and they're usually proudly displayed in windows of every restaurant. Bacalou, octopus, shrimp still twitching, you name it. Yum.

The next day was not the most beautiful weatherwise...rain, rain, and more rain. I tried to continue to sing "Raindrops are falling on my head" for the day since I don't generally mind the rain that much if I'm prepared for it, but even I was starting to feel down. That is, once I could feel my feet squish every time I stepped...they were quite soaked. Still, we attended mass at the cathedral (yes, the emotional part) which was incredible. The church was PACKED, and there was a giant incense burner that swung from literally one end of the cathedral to the other. There's no chance at all that that thing has never hit anyone before...it swung like it was its job. We also got to see the shrine/burial of St. James, as this is a holy year. Other than holy years, the special room isn't open, so it was special to see it. :) Also, Erin went to confession after church...in Spanish! There were tons of little portable wooden booths for confession, so Erin went up to one and gave her confession. The priest was very nice about it and apparently even chatter with her a little about the city and mass, etc. What a champ.

Well, at this point, the rain was getting pretty annoying, so what did we all do? Bought new boots of course! My first stylish pair! Woo! haha although, the owner really wanted to close for siesta (and you know how Spaniards are about their siestas!), so the pair I got are a size too small, but no pasa nada. They work. And they're cute hehe. So, after our boot shopping escapades, we went out for lunch to change our shoes and eat some tasty Galician food. And OMG...yum, freaking yum. I had some incredible soup, fish, and the traditional cake for lunch, and it was all DELICIOUS. So fresh and tasty, I could have eaten there every day of my life! No joke. Let's just say it significantly boosted my spirits!

Lol unfortunately though, our lucky didn't quite last. We received some weather warnings that heavy rains and high winds were expected for the rest of the day, so we were kind of confused on what to do. But did that stop us from sight seeing? Heck no! Only the city of Santiago did....we walked all the way to 2 different museums, only to find signs posted on the doors saying that they were closed temporarily due to the weather! Plus, every other store and restaurant was closing because of the "storm" too! Was it that bad? OK, it was rainy, and a bit windy, and most of our umbrellas broke from being blown inside out, but isn't that what Galicia is used to? Either way, it was windy, but not dangerous. Of course I didn't feel that way then (I'm a wimp, get over it), but I really don't think the whole city needed to shut down. So, we made our way back to the hotel to get our stuff and just head to the train station early, so we wouldn't get caught in this supposed upcoming storm. Here's where the real fun starts.

After waiting for the train for an hour, sipping on some Cola Cao (hot chocolate--their Nestle or Swiss Miss) and munching on some bocadillos, we find out that our train was actually cancelled due to the weather. They tell us a bus is coming to pick us up and bring us to another city, so after a half hour later than our train was going to leave, the bus comes, and drives for over an hour and a half to some other town (who knows where? lol) and we get on a train there. 2 1/2 hours later, we're FINALLY off. Luckily for us, we planned on getting into Madrid in the morning, since this new detour route got us in over 2 hours later than we planned. So by the time we got to our host houses, it was about 1 pm. Yup. Rough day for traveling, but good story for the grandkids.

Although we had a few bumps in the road, I really LOVED Santiago and would definitely go back...but would recommend staying there for more than 1 full day...the hassle of getting there and back is not ideal. :)

Spanish Men, Dressed as Russian Men, Dancing to "Boom Boom Pow"----Carnival

Hola todos,

Alright, so let's just not even talk about my absence from this blog, it'll just make me feel more guilty. But hey, I'm in Spain, I'm just enjoying it and keep forgetting to write...ok, I'll stop making excuses now. :)

Anyway, so the weekend of February 12-14 was this great thing called....Carnaval!! My host mom loved telling me all about it. :) Apparently it's been around for a VERY long time, and it's just supposed to be this big week (the weekend is the big deal though) of parties and drinking and dancing and all that jazz. Kind of like a mix between Mardi Gras and Halloween. Why do they have it you may ask? Well, I guess it's supposed to be your last chance to have fun and go crazy before Lent starts. Yup, that's why it always ends on Ash Wednesday. My host mom asked me if we celebrated it in the states, and I told her no, because I thought it'd be a little difficult for me to explain Mardi Gras in Spanish, plus it's not really celebrated up in the midwest. ;)

So, the start of my weekend took me to El Escorial, which actually had nothing to do with Carnaval/Carnival. It's a bit north of Madrid, and it's this palace where a bunch of dead kings are buried. Cool, I know. The only problem is, they're seriously running out of room...I predict difficulties in the future. But really, it was a pretty nice place; other than the areas where they bury the kings, one part is a monastery and another part is an elementary school. They actually live there, which kind of stinks because it was very cold there---very near to the mountains, and the building is obviously made all out of stone. Still, it had a sort of Hogwarts feel to it so I'm sure I could deal with it if I went there. :)

Well, Saturday was the real start of our shenanigans. After heading to the Nun Bakery (as we call it --really it's "El Cafe de las Monjas") for some delicious churros con chocolate (deep fried pastry, dipped in chocolate), we shopped around for a little bit in the old Jewish Quarter. Amy made friends with an old man at a shop, and afterwards we went to our houses for lunch and a little siesta (it was going to be a late night). We then came back to the Fund to chat, and headed out to the super long parade they had...3 hours long!! It consisted of different groups dressing up (usually like different ethnic groups---let me tell you, most of it would not be considerd "politically correct" in the usa lol, but the theme was "around the world" so no pasa nada) and dancing down the street. It was really sweet to see all of the costumes, but it was very cold!! I have to say though, that my favorite floats/performances have to be these "fat" costumes...there were tons of people in all different kinds of fat suits, from the Mona Lisa to Mario & Luigi. Also, there was a group of costumes where the head (each showing a person of a different nationality) was huge, and the bodies was tiny. It's hard to explain but it was hilarious. There were some really interesting costumes as well, like people in dresses made entirely of wrappers (or one example---all made out of yogurt containers). However, one thing I found strange was that most of the groups were dancing to American music. Yes, there was even a group portraying Russia, so we watched Spanish men, dressed up like Russians, dancing to Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow." Weird. But all in all, a good time.

Well, after the parade we got all dressed up in our awesome costumes....or more like awesomely cheap costumes...we had a pretty strict less-than-10 euro code we tried to stick to. So Megumi and I were fairies, though my costume looked more like a butterfly, so I just went with it. Anna was a cat, and Amy and Erin were angels, though Erin didn't think she was dressed properly, so she called herself a fallen angel and took many a pictures lying on the ground...falling. We tried to follow a sort of theme, because apparently here when they dress up, the whole group usually goes as the same thing. For instance, we saw a group of about 7 girls all dressed up like Snow White, and another 6 girls dressed up like Minnie Mouse. Hmm. Also, the big costume for this year was chickens. There were SO MANY chickens! But it was cool, I learned the Spanish version of "The Chicken Dance" during a concert that night...I'll have to teach it to my grandma, she's pretty into it at home. Any party, wedding, or reunion, the chicken dance comes on, she's up there. :) Next, we went over to the cathedral to watch 5 minutes of a spectacular fireworks show...it was like a grand finale the whole time! Plus they gave us free hot chocolate! Good thing too, cause it was a COLD night, and I was wearing a dress...I did have tights and leggings on, and a long sleeved under my dress with a sweater and coat, but hey I'm a wimp!! haha. Anyway, we grabbed dinner out at a restaurant nearby, then headed over the main plaza, Zocodover. It was PACKED. Seriously, tons of people, all in these crazy costumes, drinking beer, and listening to a concert. Oh, just to mention, I saw some people dressed up like Sims...all they had was normal clothes (some were more extravagant) and the headbands with the green diamond on top...genius! I'm stealing this for Halloween.

So during the concert, we happened upon an unfortunate Fund girl who had a little too much too drink, so we took her to O' Briens for some water, and Amy took care of her til she felt better. Oh, and guess who we met there again? Mr. Dean of course! haha...anway...After sending her home Erin and Amy split up with me Megumi and Anna (with a few other girls), and they stayed at that bar while we went to another one, "Camelot." I know, I was really into Spanish bars...anyway, Anna decided not to go actually but we went and met up with some more friends. An guess what? People were actually dancing there! Strange for here (they just don't dance at bars/clubs). Lots of fun. I finally took the bus home and got to my house around 4:30 am, which I was told was early by my host parents the next day....I'm certainly not cut out for Spanish night-life. :)

Sunday was a pretty lax day, since I don't think any of us got up before 1pm. We did go out to dinner though for Valentine's Day (all the girls here have boyfriends at home...so we were going so they could try and forget about it). And Monday was a pretty sweet night--Anna's birthday. We had a lovely dinner at McDonald's (birthday girl's choice...did I mention there's one right on the main plaza? Oh yes.) and an amazing chocolate cake from Santo Tomé ---a pretty big deal when it comes to desserts. We then headed out to O' Briens for a few celebratory drinks (most everywhere else was closed since it was a Monday night), though I headed home a little earlier than the rest to catch my bus home. Still, it was a very good night. :D