So for the weekend November 8-10 I went to Valladolid with Irene and two of her friends for her 18th birthday HOLLA! Valladolid is about 2 hours (by super packed but relatively comfortable bus) north westish of Madrid. I took a bus with Irene on Friday and we got there and did pretty much nothing but lay around and chit chat with her parents who I hadn't seen for three years! They're still super adorable and were encantados (super happy of course) to have me there! Me, Irene and Juanjo did go for a nice little walk around the city and it's so gorgeous that I was like "OMG I can't believe I left my camera at home!!" And Juanjo told me not to worry, "you'll be here all weekend and be able to take pictures of the whole town later." Little did he know that once Irene's friends arrived no sightseeing whatsoever would be done. Actually not really much was done at all other than eating, sleeping, and celebrating Irene's birthday. But who can complain about that?!

Saturday morning her friends got there and we walked around Valladolid a little bit, had some suuuper delicious tapas--CROQUETAS!!--for lunch, picked up Irene's birthday cakes, etc. Then a bunch of her friends from high school came over to her place and Cruzi set up like a HUGE spread of food that no one was eating (except for me, awkward) and we hung out and drank and then went out on the town later since the birthday girl is now LEGAL IN SPAIN WOOO!

Then on Sunday we slept in way too late, woke up and ate breakfast, slugged around for a while, and then Cruzi made the most delicious paella ever for lunch. Of course she insisted that I eat like a 34 plates full and when I couldn't stand to eat any more and told her no she pulled the "oh okay. you don't like it" card so I ate more out of pity. And then we had cake...

All in all it was a fun relaxing weekend and I was very glad to see Irene's parents and spend some time with her since she is the most adorable and fun spaniard to ever exist! <3 ya!

Mom visits!!!!!!

So the weekend after Sam and I went to Paris, my mom and her friend Jackie came to visit! The got here early Saturday morning (the 27th of October) and I went to pick them up from the airport and we came back in the metro to my apartment where Argentina was waiting with some treats for us! They got to meet each other and chat a little, Jackie and mom got freshened up, and then we headed out and I took them around to see the center of the city. We did the typical walk through Sol, to Plaza Mayor, and the Mercado de San Miguel (to try some croquetas of course) and even stopped for some Sangria in Tirso de Molina. Then we headed for the train station to leave for Toledo!

So we get to Toledo and stepped off the train only for me to realize that I'd already been there! Don't ask me how I didn't know... but when I was in Spain the first time with my high school we went and spent a day there. Anyway, it was fun to go and see it again. Toledo is a beautiful old medieval city with tons to see. We got there in the afternoon and had some time to stop for a nice lunch and then walk around and to get some nice views of the city and see some of the sights from the streets. Since mom and Jackie were pretty exhausted from traveling, we came back to the hotel early (like 7:30) and mom and Jackie crashed right away while I stayed up reading for a while.

Then we got up pretty early the next morning so we could set out and see as much as possible! We stopped for some churros and coffee for breakfast in a cute little hostel restaurant and mom got hit on by the Spanish guy working there :) Then we headed down the the El Greco museum and saw a couple monasteries and the big famous church that's there. Then we sat down to have some wine and snack on some fresh baked mazapanes while we waited for our train to head back to the city.

I had class all day Monday and wasn't able to hang out with them at all, but they went on a long walk to see the Retiro Park, Puerta de Alcalá, Gran Vía, stopped for lunch at an Italian place (ha!), Plaza de España, Templo de Debod, Palacio Real, y la catedral de Almudena.

Then on Tuesday since I only had one class at night we went with Irene to Aranjuez to see the royal palace there. Unfortunately, it was POURING rain so it ended up being kind of a disaster. The palace was pretty cool and we had a nice lunch in Aranjuez but we got soaked waiting to get a taxi to take to the train station. Then I went to class and mom, Jackie and Irene waited in one of the cafeterias to use the wifi while I was in class.

On Wednesday I had class all day again it it was HALLOWEEN! So at night me and the girls got all dressed up like zombies and were planning on going to the Steve Aoki concert. Well it ended up being a disaster. I got separated from the rest of the group and one of them had my ticket, wallet, and keys so I had to take a cab home with no money and ask the guy to wait outside while I went up and woke up Argentina and she spared me some money. It was like 2:30 am so I felt absolutely terrible. Although it was probably for the best because four girls ended up getting literally trampled to death at the concert and there was a huge outrage. Thankfully everyone in our program ended up getting home safe and sound.

Also on that day mom and Jackie got to hang out with Irene. They went and did some serious shopping at Corte Inglés and Tous and got some really authentic lunch at a nice Spanish restaurant. I was glad Irene was there to entertain while I had class :) Although I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be in class too... haha

On Thursday I had one class in the morning and then in the afternoon we took the Ave to BARCELONAAAA! We got there in the evening and headed to Las Ramblas and got some tapas and had Sangria (sitting outside cuz the weather was so great!!) and relaxed a bit and then headed back to the hotel. The next morning we got up early and got breakfast and then got on the tourism bus and did a tour of the city. We stopped in Park Guell and walked around there a bit, and then got back on until the Gothic neighborhood. We walked around there for a while and found a really great restaurant where we had some more delicious tapas for lunch, including (of course) croquetas and some really delicious mushrooms. From there we headed back towards Las Ramblas and I did a little shopping while Jackie and mom had a glass of wine (or seven) and then we stopped for another drink together and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up early to go see the Sagrada Familia and had some breakfast. The Sagrada Familia is definitely a must see but let me just say it is SO WEIRD. I couldn't get over it haha. Anyway then we went to go to the Teleferic which took us up to the top of the city where an old military fortress is and there are some gorgeous views of the city. I absolutely loved Barcelona and would really like to go back and spend more time there (especially by the beach!) but was glad I decided to study in Madrid the whole year because it really does feel like you're in another country since everyone speaks Catalán instead of Castellano.


Unfortunately then we had to head back to the train station to go back to the city. I stayed with mom in the Tryp hotel since it was her last night and was very sad to see her go in the morning :(

It was a great week and was really fabulous to have my mom here but it got me used to being with family again so from then on for the rest of the semester it was a little downhill for me. I ended up getting super homesick! But regardless it was amazing to have her here and show her what my life here is like :)

Oops!!

So it's been a very long time since I've put anything on here... oops! It's been so easy for me to just get caught up in life and not end up writing any of it down. But I do want to have it all here so that I can have the memories written down and so that everyone knows what I've been up to. I've done quite a bit since then, and over the next week I'm going to try to update with a couple big entries about the trips I've taken.

For now, here's a little update about what I'm up to right now. I took my last exam last thursday (phew! I hated linguistics!) and now I've just got some downtime until we start second semester classes next Monday. The new CIEE students have arrived already and this semester me and Argentina have taken in another student! Our tiny apartment is a bit cramped now but it's nice to have another person here too! Her name is Jane and she's from Stanford, Connecticut. We haven't had much time to get acquainted yet, not to mention the poor girl has to talk all in Spanish to me and she's only been here two days.

To fill the time since I finished my exam until we start school I've started doing hot yoga at Hot Yoga Infrared in Madrid and I love it! I have such issues with over-stressing about everything that it's been really good to do something really relaxing and I always feel great afterward. I've also been hanging out with Ian since we're the only two old timers here. We went to see Django Unchained last night and it was SO good! The movie theatre experience here was pretty crazy... it's a teeny little theatre in the city but there were SOOOOOOO many people there that you could hardly move around. Somehow we managed our way to the snack bar counter for some popcorn and soda and made our way to our seats (third row, so my neck is a tad sore haha) and got to enjoy a nice English movie on a slightly-smaller-than-US-theaters screen.

This week I'm going to get registered for classes and (fingers crossed!) get an interview for an internship in a hospital. That whole thing has turned out to be quite the ordeal... Even though I notified the program back in September that I'd like to do an internship in a hospital second semester they managed to not find me anything until January 7th and then told me that all of the materials (including a Hep B, Hep C, and HIV test) were due January 10th. Well I was in Germany visiting Sam at the time and very sick with the stomach flu--another story--and didn't end up getting everything turned in until a few days after the deadline but we'll see if they still consider me...

Well that's really all for now! Nothing too exciting. But I'll try to get all those old posts put up :)

Las Canarias!

So last weekend we went to the Canary Islands and it was absolutely incredible! The Canary Islands are technically part of Spain, although the are located off the western coast of Africa, and as such have an incredible climate :) It was 85-90 degrees and sunny all weekend and very enjoyable!

On Thursday night I had gone to the Tallest Man on Earth concert with my Spanish friend Alejandra (which was INCREDIBLE by the way) and got back home at about 11:30 p.m. Then we met at 5 a.m. on Friday morning to go to the airport so I was a just a little bit sleepy... haha but anyway the flight was about 3 hours and it was my first time flying Ryanair which was interesting. They talk over the intercom the entire time and try to sell things the whole flight so it was a bit obnoxious and impossible to sleep but oh well we were heading to the Canary Islands so I was too excited to sleep anyway! We arrived at 9 a.m. Canary Island time and headed straight to the beach where we got on a catamaran and went to go whale watching. We ended up running into a group of about 20 dolphins and they swam underneath and around our boat for over a half an hour, playing, jumping, and watching us. It was truly incredible and so beautiful. Then we headed to have have lunch and... RODE CAMELS. It was an interesting experience. I thought it seemed kind of sad because they camels just sit there chained to each other, getting up when needed, having to sit when not, but our director told us that it's a very important part of the Canary Island culture because camels were used there in the old days and that they're treated fine and all that. Anyway then we headed back to our hotel and were free to do what we wanted for the night so me and the girls went out to dinner and then came back and crashed at about 10:30.

On Saturday, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel and left on the bus at 9 a.m. We went to walk around a small town and see some of the sights there. Then we started the drive up into the mountains. We went to the peak of the volcano Teide, which is about 13,000 feet high and is the third highest volcano in the world. We could only drive so far, and then we took a cable car up to the top and then it was about a half hour hike to the very top. The view from the top is probably the most impressive thing I've seen in my life. You could see the other Canary Islands around us!! It really was beautiful and I had a moment thinking about Grandpa and how he would have loved to see this being the mountain man that he was :) I really loved it and I wish that I could have shared the experience with my family. After coming down, we stopped to have some lunch (we were starving after that hike!!) and then headed to the capital of the Canary Islands, Santa Cruz, to see that city. We did a bus tour of the city, and then went to a pizzeria for dinner as a group and had (a lot of) beer and pizza. We made it back to the hotel, showered, and a few of us went out to have a drink but we were pretty exhausted so we made it back pretty early again and went to sleep.

On Sunday, we didn't have to leave the hotel for the airport until 2 p.m. so we got up at 9 and had breakfast and then headed to the beach. The beach was black sand and it was sooooo beautiful. The pictures really don't do it justice. It also made your skin super soft we were all rubbing it all over our skin to exfoliate (hahaha) :) Then we headed back to the hotel to head back to chilly Madrid :(

Overall it was a truly amazing weekend. The culture, climate, etc. (and accent) there is very similar to those I've seen in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. It was nice to get out of the city and into nature for a while. I took so many pictures and they're all incredible that it would take too long to try to put them in this entry, so I'm including a public link to my facebook album so that you can take a look at them all. If the link doesn't work, leave me a comment and I'll try something else. Hope you enjoy them!

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3714659917500.2132008.1605750104&type=1&l=b22b758c9c

Freiburg and Sam!!!

So... here goes the post about my most exciting weekend since I've been here... going to see Sam in Germany!!!

I left Madrid at 3 on Thursday and flew to Frankfurt, then took the train from Frankfurt to Freiburg and arrived there at about 10:30. Sam picked me up from the train station and we went to meet up with his friends and went to their student bar.

Then on Friday, Sam and I walked all around Freiburg until he had class. We had some delicious pastries for breakfast and then had some currywurst(?) for lunch which was really good. We met up with two of his friends and shared a pitcher of beer. Then I walked around and did a little bit of shopping while he had class. Later on we went out to dinner at the restaurant where his friend worked and he ordered me wienerschnitzel, which is a typical German dish I guess, and it was delicious. The restaurant was next to this huge beautiful church so we sat outside and just sat, ate, enjoyed wine (Sam, beer) and talked. Then we met up with a couple of his friends and had a drink at two different bars.
             

We ate outside the restaurant in the blue building

On Saturday we slept in a bit and then went and got pizza and pasta for lunch and ate outside in a really cute courtyard. Then went up into the mountains there which was incredibly beautiful. It was very cloudy and a little chilly and just drizzling a tiny bit, but the clouds made the view of the mountains and the forest sooooo beautiful and since it wasn't really great weather there was hardly anyone there so it was very romantic :) It was definitely my favorite part of the trip. Since there wasn't really anyone around we couldn't ask someone to take a photo of us but we took a few selfies haha. We also stopped to get gelato on the way back which was sooo yummy. I had lost my voice almost completely the night before since I'm sick, so in order for me to recuperate a bit, we just came back and watched Bridesmaids and took a nap. Then we got up and went to get groceries and took them to Brandt's apartment to make dinner. We were super fancy and had wine (that was 2 euro for a bottle of red and 1.60 euro for a carton of white!!!!), cheese, apples, and bread for appetizers and then Sam made some chicken and vegetables in a tomato/wine sauce for dinner which was equally good! Then we just sat around and drank some more wine (beers for Sam and Brandt) and chatted. 

On Sunday Sam and I walked around Freiburg a bit more and he showed me some more stuff and then we sat and had cappuccinos and talked and then went to get flammkuchen for lunch which is sort of like a thin crust pizza and it was delicious. Sam then had a second hankering for gelato so we split a cone :) Then we came had to say goodbye since I had to leave from the Freiburg train station at 3 :(

I finally made it back to my apartment in Madrid at 11 pm on Sunday (note to self: never leave that late in the afternoon on Sunday!!) and was EXTREMELY sick. But the infection of the pharynx (yes, that's what I have, I went to the doctor today finally) I got while there was well worth it :) It was soooo incredible to see Sam again and just made me even more sure that we'll make it through this year just fine.

I just want to say thank you to my parents (and Sam's). We appreciate it sooooooooooooooooo much how much you guys are supporting us in traveling to see each other or just with our friends this year. This will surely be the most influential and rewarding year of our lives and we wouldn't be able to do it without you. I really can't say how much we appreciate it. I know you're both going to read this so I hope you know it! We love you so much!!

Well this weekend I'm off to Tenerife in the Canary Islands with my program... hehehe. It's going to be amazing I'm sure. I just hope I feel better by then... :/

Besitos!!!

Mountains in Spain!

This entry is way overdue, but two weekends ago (Saturday the 22nd) I went with my host mom and some of her friends to the mountains outside of Madrid. It was a really incredible time! The views were so beautiful. We hiked for probably about 5 hours in total and when we got to the peak, we could see Madrid on one side and Segovia on the other! It was very cool and it reminded me a lot of home and Wyoming.

 

Argentina, Maria, Florida, Paloma, and me (the giant)

Then on Sunday we went to see the "circo" (circus) which was incredible! I went again with my host mom and her friends and it's like an indoor event with people who do like the flying trapeze and all that cool stuff. It was really awesome! This is the link to the performance we saw if anyone wants to see what it was like. They have photos and videos of some of the performers so you should check it out :)

http://www.teatrocircoprice.es/web//index.php/espectaculos/view/210


Those were really the only eventful things that happened that week, unfortunately...

Changes...

I'm going to add a longer entry later on today about some of the things I've been doing over the weekend, but for now I'm just going to give a brief update about what's going on with me overall and in Spain overall right now.

Yesterday in Spain there were protests in 5 plazas of Madrid, a few of which are just some odd blocks from where I live. These protests over the day became violent and several protesters, and police officers, were injured when people tried to press beyond the boundaries set by the police. If you're interested in reading a bit more about what went on, here's one site:

 http://rt.com/news/spain-protests-parliament-crisis-942/

I'm sure you can find information about this anywhere though. Likely it's on the news in the U.S. Anyway, I wanted to go shopping to grab a couple winter items since the weather here dropped 30 degrees overnight and suddenly we were thrust into fall. My host mom was adamant that I not leave the house unless it was to go to class. I was thinking... okay I really just want to run to H&M really quickly, it's not going to take more than 45 minutes... but I heard the helicopters all day and then when I left for the Atocha Renfe train station I saw hundreds of people already gathered (at about 4:30 p.m. here) on Calle Atocha and Paseo del Prado.

When I was on my walk home (at about 8:00 p.m.) there were even more people gathered, and lots of police. I don't need to walk through any of it to get home so I really had no idea of how bad things were until I got home and my host mom was frantically calling her friends asking if they had gotten home okay since they live by some of the plazas where the protesting was happening. Then we watched the news and I started realizing how intense the protests had gotten.

So as if the unrest here with the protests isn't enough to make me not want to leave the house, this morning it was raining. Normally, I like when it rains back home because everything smells so fresh. Here... it stinks when it rains. Not to mention I've gotten a sore throat (yes, of course, right before I leave to go see Sam :/). Which was an experience in itself. I stopped by the pharmacy and told the pharmacist that I had a sore throat. She asked me if I had any other symptoms (cough, runny nose, fever, headaches, etc.) and I said no. She went behind the counter, got me two prescriptions, I paid 9 euros, she informed me on how to take them, and I was on my way. No doctor necessary! I thought it was pretty funny...

Anyway I'm still waiting to see if what they gave me is actually going to help... so far no. But I've been having lots of hot beverages, taking vitamins, drinking lots of water, taking cough drops, etc. Although doing this has proved no easy task!! I brought a big supply of vitamins with me, since I take them normally in the US and had a lot left, but here they are super expensive! Especially vitamin C. As for water... the water here from the tap is totally fine to drink. But there aren't any bubblers anywhere!!! It's made drinking water sort of difficult. I see people drinking cafe con leche ALL DAY but never see anyone drinking water. I don't get how they all are alive if no one stays hydrated. As for the hot beverages, ugh. Nothing here is really ever "hot." More like lukewarm. The coffee here is really espresso with a lot of milk which I have to add a ton of sugar to for it to taste normal. So the coffee is hot, but the milk comes from the fridge, ergo lukewarm coffee. I must admit I'm getting a little homesick for waking up at home to Dave's fresh prepared steaming hot chocolate raspberry coffee..............

Anyway I'll update later today with a post covering what I did over the last weekend with some pictures. Just thought I'd get some thoughts out today since I've had a lot on my mind last night and this morning.