Ok folks, this is probably going to be my last update in Spain! Can you believe that 6 months is nearing an end? ahhh
Alright, we'll just start right where we left off last time.
June 4-8 me and 4 girls went to Palma Mallorca. It was about a 35 minute plane ride from Alicante. We basically spent everyday laying on the beach and swimming in the Med Sea. It was absolutely wonderful. Turns out Palma is kind-of like a little German colony because that's where a lot of German people vacation. Everyone called it "Little Germany." So we met a lot of German people, and almost everybody spoke English so we got a little break from Spanish :) We had so much fun that weekend! And of course, we celebrated my birthday in style! Watch out folks, I'm 21 now! haha
Oh! While we were out on my birthday night, we met some famous people apparently. This huuuuuuuge (and when I say huge, I mean pretty dang big) black guy and this woman that reminded me of Tina Turner showed up at this bar and started talking to us. And when they found out it was my birthday, they basically wanted to be best friends. Everyone kept coming up to us and saying that we were hanging out with famous people. I didn't think anything of it and just kept having a good time. But apparently they're part of a show that does impersonations of famous acts. The woman, Lori, that looked like Tina Turner, actually performed Tina Turner. Who knew? haha. And the big guy performs Barry White. Apparently they're a pretty big deal in Europe, and they're actually going to Switzerland or somewhere else in the fall. I can't remember where. But they were really nice and wanted us to come to their show the next night, but we left in the morning. Barry White (I called him Big Daddy because of his size! haha) told us we'd be VIP and everything, but we were leaving so we were pretty upset! They gave us a flyer, and tickets were 55euro and it was sold out, so I guess they're actually pretty good. So, there you have it, I now know famous people... kind-of! haha
Alright, we got back from Palma on Monday the 8th, and that's when we all really had to crack down on our schoolwork! I finished another 15-page paper for my Lit class and started studying for my finals. Good news- I have successfully passed 3 classes!! I took my Translation final before we even left for Palma and I passed that class, I passed my linguistics class without having to take a final, and I got a passing grade on my Lit paper so I passed that class, too! Yay!
On Friday, June 12th, I had to say my first goodbye :( Brittany headed back to WV. It was a very sad day, and people were staring at us like we were crazy people when we were saying goodbye at the airport. Goodbye #1 :(
Anyway, after my last final on Tuesday the 16th, I had to start packing for my last trip throughout Europe with my pals. On Wednesday we left for London, Amsterdam, and Dublin! It was an 8-day journey and it sure wore me out, but I had a blast!
First we'll start with London. Kara and I arrived 5 hours before Lydia and Maria because they took a later flight. So Kara and I grabbed some dinner, walked around, checked into our hostel, and basically passed out around midnight. Lydia and Maria got to the hostel at around 2am because the metro we took wasn't running anymore, and they had to find another way to get from the airport to the hostel. Needless to say, they got lost. But they finally made it! So Thursday we got up and began sight-seeing! We saw the houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. We missed Changing of the Guards on Thursday so we decided to head back there on Friday. When we got back to our hostel Thursday afternoon for a little nap, there were 2 new people in our hostel room. Two boys from the states, one from Idaho and one from South Carolina. They were pretty cool. They just graduated college and were traveling around Europe for the summer. We exchanged stories of all the places we've been, so that was fun. Friday we had to be checked out by 10am, so we had to get up early, and they probably didn't like us too much for that, haha! So we checked out and decided to do some more sightseeing. We went to Changing of the Guards, but missed the very beginning. It was basically impossible to see anything because there were SOOO many people there. But it was still cool. I was actually really disappointed with Buckingham Palace because I really really really wanted to try and make the guards laugh, but the Queen wasn't there so the guards weren't outside! How depressing! Oh well. Later we went to the London Bridge, which was really pretty. We saw Shakespeare's Globe Theater and hung out by the river for the afternoon. Lydia and I headed to Kensington Park which has a statue of Peter Pan, so of COURSE I had to go see it! Really, I went for Scott, because I knew he would love it! The park was absolutely beautiful! That was my favorite of London, by far. I took lots of pictures!
Then Friday night we boarded our overnight bus to Amsterdam. We left at 10pm London time and arrived in Amsterdam around 11am Amsterdam time. This was the craziest bus ride I've ever been on in my life. Let me just tell you about it... it all started fine and dandy, until about 5 minutes into the journey. There was a man sitting across the aisle from me, we'll call him "Angry Russian." And yes, he was a very angry Russian! He started yelling people. He was saying things like, "SLEEP. SHUT THE F*** UP! MOTHER F***ERS! SHHHHHH! SLEEP!!!" He was terrifying. I was scared to sleep because I thought he might try to kill me if I closed my eyes! Then, there was a realllllllllly drunk middle-aged man on our bus. About 45minutes into the ride he stumbled out of his seat looking for the bathroom. He came towards the back of the bus, and Angry Russian pushed him over and he hit his head on the arm of one of the chairs. He was so drunk that he didn't even realize what was going on. Anyway, he eventually found the bathroom and made it back to his seat, but only after falling about 5 times. After that, the trip was pretty uneventful until we reached the ferry. We had to be on a ferry for about 2 hours, and we had to get off the bus. When we all returned to the bus, the drunk guy was nowhere to be found! The bus driver couldn't wait for him or we would have been late, so we just left him somewhere on the ferry! Poor guy! He probably woke up the next morning and had noooooooo idea where he was! haha! After the ferry the angry Russian was a little tipsy I think, because he had a few beers on the ferry. And alcohol only made him angrier. There was a group of 15-year-old English kids in the back of the bus, and they were being kind-of rowdy, and angry Russian started yelling at them and actually flew to the back of the bus! I thought he was going to hit one of them. He grabbed one's shirt and told him to "SHUT THE F*** UP! SLEEP!" So, that was scary. Then he laid down in the aisle right by my feet and fell asleep. I couldn't sleep because I didn't like the fact that he was laying right beside me. Now, this is where the story gets good! One of the English kids went to the bathroom, and was apparently smoking in there. And he wasn't smoking cigs, he was smoking marijuana! The bus driver must have smelled it or something, because he pulled the bus over at 3 or 4 in the morning, turned on the lights, and headed towards the restroom. Then he came storming out of there yelling, "Who smoked in my coach?! Who did it?! Who was the last one in the bathroom!? Smoking WEED in MY coach! Mother F***ers! Who did it?!" Well, nobody spoke up. He saw the angry Russian laying on the ground and told him to get up and sit in his seat. Angry Russian didn't like being told what to do, and he got in the driver's face and started yelling at him! The driver asked if he was the one smoking in the bathroom, but angry Russian didn't speak English very well so he didn't know what the driver was saying and just started yelling curse words (I think those are the only English words he knew). He told the driver to "F*** off," and the driver just said, "Ok," and went back to driving. I was really scared. I thought angry Russian was going to start throwing punches. So afterwards angry Russian just went right back to sleep on the floor by my feet. We thought that was the end of it until about an hour later. The bus driver pulled over, and 2 police officers got on board and took the angry Russian with them! They searched all his stuff, probably looking for weed, and took him off the bus. We couldn't see much, but we do know that they arrested him. I don't know if he had drugs, or if they just arrested him because he was a jack@$$, but either way, he got arrested while we were in Belgium. Then we continued on our way, sans angry Russian, so I finally got a little sleep. We made it to Amsterdam around 11am on Saturday, and headed straight for out hostel where we all took a loooooooong nap!
After waking up we headed to a grocery store to buy food because we had a micro and a fridge in our little apartment. We walked around the city and just kind-of explored everything that night. Amsterdam is really beautiful. There are canals everywhere you turn, and everything is so green and pretty! I really really liked it there.
Monday we checked out of our hostel and headed to the Anne Frank House. Absolutely incredible. I really can't express in words what it was like. It was just so humbling and surreal to be in the same place that Anne Frank hid in for 2 years. I was in her bedroom, their living room, everywhere. It wasn't furnished because Otto Frank (the father and only survivor) decided that he didn't want it to be furnished like it used to be because it was too hard for him. However, they did have a virtual video of what it looked like. Some of the wall clippings and decorations were still up on the wall in Anne's room. It was so moving. I could have spent all day there, just reading everything and staring at the rooms. I just can't express how awesome it was. That was absolutely my favorite part of Amsterdam, and the entire trip. I've fulfilled one of my life goals of visiting the Anne Frank House.
Moving on... Monday night we boarded our overnight bus back to London at 8pm. No worries, there weren't any drunk men or crazy Russians, so the trip was smooth sailing. I actually slept almost the entire time. Even on the ferry. It was very uneventful compared to the one that took us to Amsterdam, and I was thankful for that! We arrived in London at 630ish am on Tuesday, and headed to the bus station where we had to take an hour and a half long bus to the airport. Again, we all slept on the bus. We got to the airport around 9 and had a couple hours to kill before we could check in for our flights. After we got checked in and through security, the 4 of us parted ways. Lydia and I headed to Dublin, and Kara and Maria headed to Rome.
Dublin was great, of course! Lydia and I got there around 130pm, and headed to the hostel and proceeded to take another 3-hour nap! Then we headed out, grabbed some Subway, and ate it at a park. We went and saw some live music that night at one of the bars, so that was really cool.
Then on Wednesday we went to the park at St. Patrick's Cathedral and laid there and slept all day. It was great. We spent about 5 hours there. Then we headed to the Jameson Distillery. It was really cool. We had a guided tour that was very interesting, and ended the tour with a whiskey tasting. I don't like whiskey, but it was still fun to compare the different kinds. Jameson was definitely the best. Dad, you would have loved it! :)
Later that evening we went out to dinner with a girl we met at our hostel. She was from Washington, and was just traveling around Ireland for 2 months. She was pretty cool. Again, we checked out some live music at a local bar, then Lydia and I headed to another bar with music. There we met 2 guys from Texas, and get this, one of them is OBSESSED with KU! He went to school there his freshman year, but for some reason transferred to A&M. Don't worry, I gave him crap for going from KU to A&M, haha!
Thursday Lydia and I had to be up by 530 am so we could leave the hostel by 6am. We had to catch our plane at 805am back to London. We made it with no problems. Then in London we had a little time to kill before going through security. Well, my bag got searched. Apparently they thought my hair-straightener had a bomb inside it. Geeze. Then Lydia's bag was too big for our RyanAir flight, so she had to throw some of her stuff away. After all this, we barely made it to our gate in time. But actually, we had plenty of time because our flight departed about 20 minutes late. We made it to Alicante and caught the bus back to Murcia. We were all very exhausted.
Friday we had our last get-together with all us girls before people started leaving. We had our traditional Mexican dinner, and went out one last time in Murcia. It was very bittersweet. Karina left yesterday :( But she didn't go back to the states. She is actually going to be a nanny for a family in a town about an hour away until the first week of August. That was Goodbye #2 :(
Kara and Maria both leave Murcia tomorrow night at midnight, so that'll be Goodbye #3 & 4 :( And on July 1, I'll be leaving Murcia, so I'll have to say goodbye to Evelyn and Lydia, #5 & 6, and to Ana (my Spanish friend), #7. I'm not looking forward to those...
But, I AM looking forward to tomorrow because......... MY PARENTS GET HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness I'm so excited! They're actually on a plane right now! I pick them up at the airport in Alicante tomorrow at noon, then they're coming back to Murcia for 2 nights! Monday night they're going to meet all my friends here at dinner! Ah I'm so pumped! Then we're traveling, and before you know it, I'll be on my flight home!
I get home in 12 DAYS! Can you believe that? I remember when the number was 176 days, and then when it was 100, then 50, then just 6 weeks. Now it's just 12 days! That's not even 2 weeks! Wow! I'm ready to be home. I've had my fill of Spain and Europe for awhile, and I'm just ready to be back in the States with my friends and family. It'll be sad to leave, but I can't wait to be home!
So, that's why this is probably my last update while I'm in Spain. Once my parents get here I probably won't have much time because of all the traveling! So, I hope you've enjoyed my ramblings for 6 months! Now you'll have to relive it all when I tell you guys all about it in person, haha! ;)
See you SOON! Loooooooooooooves
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Update
Ok folks, nothing much to report on...
School is kicking into full swing, and I actually have to start doing work... weird! I've already knocked out a 21-page paper in Spanish over the archeology of ancient Egypt, and now I'm working on a 15-page paper analyzing a Spanish author. No fun, but it'll be done soon enough. Having to do 3 weeks of work in exchange for essentially a 4-month vacation? I guess I'm ok with that...
I have 2 finals to take, translation and archeology. Translation won't be too bad because she's giving us Americans an easier final, and she promised we wouldn't fail, so I'm not too worried about that one. Archeology on the other hand... that one will be interesting. But finals aren't until June 15 and 16, so I have plenty of time to study.
Next Thursday, June 4th, 5 of us are going Palma Mallorca for 4 days! It's a small Spanish island with apparently amazing beaches! We're going to celebrate my 21st birthday in style! :) Sun, sand, friends, fun... what more could I ask for! I'm so excited, it's going to be BOMB!
We get back on the 8th, and from the 8th until the 16th, it's all studying and working on schoolwork. But the second I turn in my last final on the 16th, the party starts! :) On June 17th three friends and I are going on a little trip to London and Amsterdam!!! I can't wait to see the Anne Fank House in Amsterdam! After Amsterdam we're all heading back to London, then Kara and Maria are flying to Rome, and Lydz and I are flying back to DUBLIN! haha, what can we say? We loved it! Plus, when you find round-trip tickets for 12 euro, you just can't pass that up! So we're just tacking on a few extra days to our journey. We're all flying back to Alicante on June 25th. Then a few days to rest up and get organized, and on the 29th I pick up my parents from the airport!!!!!!! Ahhhh I'm sOoOoOo excited! We're staying in Murcia for 2 nights, then hittin' the road and exploring Spain! We're going to Granada, Madrid, Segovia, Pamplona (RUNNING OF THE BULLS!!!), and Barcelona! Then we all fly home on July 10th! So really, when you think about it, I have barely any time left here at all. Besides those couple weeks of school, the rest of my time is basically traveling. It's going to flllllllyyyyy by!
Going to the beach tomorrow, but other than that, nothing exciting. So, when something cool happens, I'll update again!
I added pics of my apartment on Picasa. Check it ooooout
School is kicking into full swing, and I actually have to start doing work... weird! I've already knocked out a 21-page paper in Spanish over the archeology of ancient Egypt, and now I'm working on a 15-page paper analyzing a Spanish author. No fun, but it'll be done soon enough. Having to do 3 weeks of work in exchange for essentially a 4-month vacation? I guess I'm ok with that...
I have 2 finals to take, translation and archeology. Translation won't be too bad because she's giving us Americans an easier final, and she promised we wouldn't fail, so I'm not too worried about that one. Archeology on the other hand... that one will be interesting. But finals aren't until June 15 and 16, so I have plenty of time to study.
Next Thursday, June 4th, 5 of us are going Palma Mallorca for 4 days! It's a small Spanish island with apparently amazing beaches! We're going to celebrate my 21st birthday in style! :) Sun, sand, friends, fun... what more could I ask for! I'm so excited, it's going to be BOMB!
We get back on the 8th, and from the 8th until the 16th, it's all studying and working on schoolwork. But the second I turn in my last final on the 16th, the party starts! :) On June 17th three friends and I are going on a little trip to London and Amsterdam!!! I can't wait to see the Anne Fank House in Amsterdam! After Amsterdam we're all heading back to London, then Kara and Maria are flying to Rome, and Lydz and I are flying back to DUBLIN! haha, what can we say? We loved it! Plus, when you find round-trip tickets for 12 euro, you just can't pass that up! So we're just tacking on a few extra days to our journey. We're all flying back to Alicante on June 25th. Then a few days to rest up and get organized, and on the 29th I pick up my parents from the airport!!!!!!! Ahhhh I'm sOoOoOo excited! We're staying in Murcia for 2 nights, then hittin' the road and exploring Spain! We're going to Granada, Madrid, Segovia, Pamplona (RUNNING OF THE BULLS!!!), and Barcelona! Then we all fly home on July 10th! So really, when you think about it, I have barely any time left here at all. Besides those couple weeks of school, the rest of my time is basically traveling. It's going to flllllllyyyyy by!
Going to the beach tomorrow, but other than that, nothing exciting. So, when something cool happens, I'll update again!
I added pics of my apartment on Picasa. Check it ooooout
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Ireland!!!
Ok, so I've decided that I absolutely looooove Ireland and that all of us should move there... sound like a plan? Good!
Alright, let me tell you why I love Ireland! 4 of us left on Friday, May 1st for Dublin. This is the first trip that we've flown on, and it was so nice not to have to be on a train for hours on end! The plane ride was about 2 1/2 hours long, so it wasn't bad at all. We arrived in beautiful Ireland and caught a cab to our hostel. Our cab driver was awesome! He was so nice and told us all these things we would need to know while we were there. Once we got to our hostel we checked in, and found out there was a problem with our reservation. They had reserved 4 beds for Friday, and 4 for Sunday, but only 1 bed for Saturday night. They didn't have any extra beds because it was the Bank Holiday Weekend as well as the Rugby semi-finals. So we had to go find another hostel that was around the corner. We stayed at Paddy's Palace for the first night, then stayed at another hostel called Isaac's the other 2 nights.
After the hostel debacle, we went and grabbed some dinner, then headed out to a pub called Arlington's. It was fun. It was full of middle-aged people that thought they could dance, and it was hilarious watching some of them. After that we went to the Famous Temple Bar for a little bit. After a creepster talked to us, we decided to head back to the hostel because we had to get up early.
Saturday we were up and out of our hostel by 820am. Weird, right? That's daaaaang early for me, but we had a bus to catch! We went on a scenic bus tour of the Irish country, including Wicklow National Park, as well as Glendalough. Everything was absolutely gorgeous and green! We saw a few places where they filmed Braveheart, as well as the exact spot where they filmed P.S. I Love You!! It was awesome! I love Ireland and everything about it! Our bus driver was funny and kept us entertained all day. We had an absolute blast!
We got back to our hostel around 5pm that evening, grabbed some dinner, and headed out to the Temple Bar again. Of course we met some authentic Irish people. I could listen to them talk all day long. Their words are so different! I love it!
Sunday we slept in a little bit, then Kara, Lydz, and I walked by the Christ Church Cathedral and took some pictures. Absolutely huge and beautiful. Then we walked to St. Peter's Cathedral and St. Peter's Square and hung out on the square for a while. Then Lydz and I headed to the Guinness Brewery! We went on the tour, which was actually really cool, and we both learned how to "pour the perfect pint!" Yes, I am now a perfect pint pourer! :) Of course, neither of us like Guinness because it's so heavy, that we each took about 3 sips of our "complimentary" pint, and went on our merry ways. The brewery was huge, and we were walking around there for probably close to 2 hours. There was so much to see. It was cool learning how they make the beer and what they put in it. And did you know that Mr. Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the property when he first started his business? He sure had confidence in his company...
After the brewery we got ready and went out to an Authentic Irish restaurant, highly recommended by our cab driver. It was called Gallagher's Boxty House. A boxty is a typical Irish dish. It's like a pancake/crepe made out of potatoes, and they fill it with different things. Mine had this amazing sauce and ham, and it was what I like to call "delicious in my mouth." I was salivating it was so good! haha. After dinner we headed out for Lydz's birthday bonanza! I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say she had an amazing 21st birthday!
Then Sunday we woke up, and had to head to the airport to get back to Murcia :( We were all really sad to leave, because we all loved it so much. I want to go back again someday, and hopefully go to some of the smaller towns. I love Ireland!
Other than Ireland, nothing much is going on. I'm starting to crack down on my schoolwork and am cranking out papers left and right. I have to write two 15-page papers in Spanish in place of taking a final for 2 different classes, so that's occupying a lot of my time. Believe it or not, school will be done here in about a month- my last final is June 16. I've got a lot of work to do between now and then, but I'll be just fine. Don't worry though, I am NOT letting school take over my life! I'm still finding plenty of time to have fun while I'm in Spain! :)
Well, I should stop avoiding these papers. I'll update again soon if something exciting happens!
Oh, I'll be adding my pics to Picassa soon so you can check them out!
Alright, let me tell you why I love Ireland! 4 of us left on Friday, May 1st for Dublin. This is the first trip that we've flown on, and it was so nice not to have to be on a train for hours on end! The plane ride was about 2 1/2 hours long, so it wasn't bad at all. We arrived in beautiful Ireland and caught a cab to our hostel. Our cab driver was awesome! He was so nice and told us all these things we would need to know while we were there. Once we got to our hostel we checked in, and found out there was a problem with our reservation. They had reserved 4 beds for Friday, and 4 for Sunday, but only 1 bed for Saturday night. They didn't have any extra beds because it was the Bank Holiday Weekend as well as the Rugby semi-finals. So we had to go find another hostel that was around the corner. We stayed at Paddy's Palace for the first night, then stayed at another hostel called Isaac's the other 2 nights.
After the hostel debacle, we went and grabbed some dinner, then headed out to a pub called Arlington's. It was fun. It was full of middle-aged people that thought they could dance, and it was hilarious watching some of them. After that we went to the Famous Temple Bar for a little bit. After a creepster talked to us, we decided to head back to the hostel because we had to get up early.
Saturday we were up and out of our hostel by 820am. Weird, right? That's daaaaang early for me, but we had a bus to catch! We went on a scenic bus tour of the Irish country, including Wicklow National Park, as well as Glendalough. Everything was absolutely gorgeous and green! We saw a few places where they filmed Braveheart, as well as the exact spot where they filmed P.S. I Love You!! It was awesome! I love Ireland and everything about it! Our bus driver was funny and kept us entertained all day. We had an absolute blast!
We got back to our hostel around 5pm that evening, grabbed some dinner, and headed out to the Temple Bar again. Of course we met some authentic Irish people. I could listen to them talk all day long. Their words are so different! I love it!
Sunday we slept in a little bit, then Kara, Lydz, and I walked by the Christ Church Cathedral and took some pictures. Absolutely huge and beautiful. Then we walked to St. Peter's Cathedral and St. Peter's Square and hung out on the square for a while. Then Lydz and I headed to the Guinness Brewery! We went on the tour, which was actually really cool, and we both learned how to "pour the perfect pint!" Yes, I am now a perfect pint pourer! :) Of course, neither of us like Guinness because it's so heavy, that we each took about 3 sips of our "complimentary" pint, and went on our merry ways. The brewery was huge, and we were walking around there for probably close to 2 hours. There was so much to see. It was cool learning how they make the beer and what they put in it. And did you know that Mr. Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease for the property when he first started his business? He sure had confidence in his company...
After the brewery we got ready and went out to an Authentic Irish restaurant, highly recommended by our cab driver. It was called Gallagher's Boxty House. A boxty is a typical Irish dish. It's like a pancake/crepe made out of potatoes, and they fill it with different things. Mine had this amazing sauce and ham, and it was what I like to call "delicious in my mouth." I was salivating it was so good! haha. After dinner we headed out for Lydz's birthday bonanza! I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say she had an amazing 21st birthday!
Then Sunday we woke up, and had to head to the airport to get back to Murcia :( We were all really sad to leave, because we all loved it so much. I want to go back again someday, and hopefully go to some of the smaller towns. I love Ireland!
Other than Ireland, nothing much is going on. I'm starting to crack down on my schoolwork and am cranking out papers left and right. I have to write two 15-page papers in Spanish in place of taking a final for 2 different classes, so that's occupying a lot of my time. Believe it or not, school will be done here in about a month- my last final is June 16. I've got a lot of work to do between now and then, but I'll be just fine. Don't worry though, I am NOT letting school take over my life! I'm still finding plenty of time to have fun while I'm in Spain! :)
Well, I should stop avoiding these papers. I'll update again soon if something exciting happens!
Oh, I'll be adding my pics to Picassa soon so you can check them out!
Monday, April 27, 2009
April 27
Wow, it's been a while. After some prodding from a certain aunt and uncle (cough*Stein & Barb*cough), and from the many urgings from other family members and friends, I've decided it's time to finally update the ol Blog again.
I'll start where I left off last time:
On Saturday, March 28 I traveled to Aguilas, which is a beach city about 1 hour away from Murcia, with Brittany and Lydia. We thought it would be cool to check out the beach and the town. The beach was really beautiful. We walked around the coast and hiked up to a castle in the mountain. And when I say hiked, I mean we climbed innumerable flights of stairs. I don't think I've ever walked up so many stairs in my life. We were a little out of breath at the top to say the least. But the castle was really cool. They'd turned it into this museum-type-thing with exhibits about what happened in each of the different parts of the castle. And of course there was an amazing view of the Med Sea. After laying on the beach and checking out the castle, we headed back to Murcia. It was a fun little day trip.
The next week was our last week before Spring Break. School was school, so not much to say about that. However, on Thursday, April 2nd we left for Barcelona for the weekend! It was such a good trip! All 5 of us went, but Brittany had to leave on Friday because her dad and aunt were flying into Murcia on Sunday (more on that later). Since Brittany had to leave early, she and I headed to Barcelona at 630am in order for her to spend as much time there as possible. However, what was supposed to be a 5 hour train ride turned into a 9 hour ride because apparently our driver HIT A PERSON! Are you kidding me?! First, a suicide on the way to Paris. Second, we almost get out EuRails taken away in Sevilla. Now our train hits a guy and kills him? What? Since our driver hit this guy, we had to sit and wait for 4 hours, out in the middle of nowhere, for the judge and the cops to get there to question our driver to make sure he was in the right state of mind to have been driving. When I say middle of nowhere, I mean the absolute middle of nowhere. When we looked out the window all we say were weeds and cattails. Luckily, Brit and I both slept the majority of the time, so it wasn't too big of a deal that we were so late. Oh, did I mention that we were in the lead car? Yes, that means we were less that 30 feet away from a dead body. Talk about a sobering thought...
Anyway, back to Barcelona. We saw all the sights: La Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell, La Perdera, Casa Batlo, el mercado, and Las Ramblas. All the buildings we saw were built by Antonio Gaudi, who is a famous Spanish architect that I absolutely LOVE! His stuff is amazing, if you can't tell by the pictures. They're very proud of his stuff here in Spain. La Sagrada Familia is the huge cathedral in the pictures. He devoted the last 40 years of his life to this church, but it's still not finished. They expected date of completion isn't until 2026 or so. I will be back to see it, I'm determined. It's absolutely beautiful, and the pictures don't do it justice. Anyway, in Barcelona we stayed in a real hostel, which was new for us. Usually we find cheap hotels because it's easier for us since we're 5 girls. But we decided to try something new, and I'm so glad we did! Hostels really aren't that bad. Sometimes the accommodations can be a little questionable, but they're livable and pretty inexpensive. We actually met a really cool guy at our hostel. His name is Alastair and he's from Canada. He's been traveling around Europe with a backpack for a month, and he's going back to Canada at the end of May so he still has quite a while to travel around. He hung out with us pretty much the whole time we were there from Thursday until Sunday, when he actually rode the train with us to Murcia. Now, I know what you're thinking.. "What is Kelsey thinking taking some strange boy home with her?!" Well, I assure you, we wouldn't have done it if we all didn't trust him and think he was legit. I promise we weren't bring stupid. Alastair stayed from Sunday until Saturday, and since I have an extra bed in my living room, he stayed at my place. Again, I promise he was completely legit. He just hung out with us all week, and it was actually kind of sad to see him leave on Saturday. He was a part of our gang, and we actually miss him a little! Oh, I also forgot to tell you about Brittany's dad and aunt. They arrived in Murcia on Sunday, April 5, and stayed until Saturday April 11. It was fun having them here. We took them to all our typical hangouts and showed them around town. That week was full of visitors, what with Alastair our Canadian friend, Brittany's dad, and Brittany's aunt. It was definitely a fun week!
Now, on to the most exciting part of the blog: my CRUISE!!!!
Ok, so if you ever get the chance to go on a cruise, TAKE IT! It was absolutely amazing! Four of us went, and we absolutely had a BALL! We got to Barcelona (again) at 1 or 2ish Sunday afternoon, and we immediately boarded our ship. Mind you, this was a Spanish cruise line, so absolutely everything was in Spanish. But it wasn't bad at all, because obviously we can understand most of what was going on, and a lot of the crew spoke a little English, so we had no problems communicating. I'll take you through a day-to-day synopsis of our journey!
Day 1: Sunday, Barcelona
Like I said, we boarded the ship at about 2. We found our room, which turned out to be pretty nice. We were expecting to have to fit 4 people in a 2 person room, so we weren't really looking forward to that. However, we discovered that there were two extra fold out beds, so we all got our own. The room was fairly small, but it worked out just fine for us. We explored the ship for a while before finding the food. And when I say food, I mean TONS of food. The food was at our disposal. They had a breakfast buffet, 2 different lunch buffets, and an all day long snack buffet, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the different restaurants on the ship. The food was like our enemy that week. We ate as much as we wanted, which was probably not the best idea. Oh well, you only live once, right? haha. Anyway, after exploring some more we just kinda goofed around until dinner at 10:15. We got all dressed up and headed to the restaurant where we discovered that we would be having 5 course meals every night. Wow. Talk about amazing. And the food... absolutely delicious! The first night I had STEAK! That was the first real meat I'd had since being in Spain. It was amazing. Out waiter's name was Cemen (pronounce it like it's spelled... :-/ haha), and he was out waiter every night. Pretty cool guy. After stuffing ourselves, we all headed back to the room because we were all very seasick. The boat was rocking very badly, so we all took some meds and went right to sleep.
Day 2: Monday, Villefranche (French Riviera)
We got up kinda late and had lunch before heading off the ship. We threw anchor in the middle of the water, so a little boat had to take everyone to shore. It was sweet. There weren't really too many things to see in Villefranche, but the view was absolutely breath-taking. We tried to go kayaking, but seeing as how we were in France and they couldn't understand us, we never found anywhere to do it. But that's ok because it gave us time to go to a town about 30 minutes away and see the Monte Carlo Casino. For those of you who don't know, that's where they filmed Ocean's 11! It was really beautiful. There were tons of expensive cars parked outside... Rolls Royce, Lamborghini (sp), Corvettes, and any other expensive car you can think of. There was even one with a Missouri license plate! How weird is that! It was like a little slice of home... except I hate Mizzou because KU is 23097 times better! Anyway... after the casino we headed back to the town where our cruise ship was and boarded the boat. We had some time to lay out and relax so we soaked up some sun before dinner. Monday was the night of the Gala, where everyone gets all dressed up and meets the captian and such. We weren't exactly aware that we were supposed to meet the captain, so we missed that because we were still getting ready for dinner. Oh well. Dinner that night was also good. I honestly don't remember what I had that night, but I guarantee you I loved it! After dinner we walked around in our pretty dresses and took pictures, including the Jack and Rose pose from Titanic. We're such girls. Later that night we got hungry and went looking for the "midnight snack," but we couldn't find it. Our assistant waiter, Mario (huge creepster), called our room so we asked him to bring us food. So he brought us some food, we nibbled on some, talked to him for a bit (in Spanish), and went to bed.
Day 3: Tuesday, Livorno (Pisa)
Evelyn and Lydia went on an excursion sponsored by the cruise company, but it was 83 euros so Brit and I decided to explore by ourselves. Ev and Lydz got to go to Florence and Pisa, but since Brit and I were on our own, we only made it to Pisa. Of course it was really cool to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime, but I guess now I can check that off my list! I won't lie to you, it's not really what I expected. But then again, I don't really know what I was expecting... maybe I just thought it'd be bigger and more extravagant. Anyway, it was still really cool to see it in person. After that, we headed back to the ship and worked out in the gym, soaked up some rays, took a nap, and got ready for dinner. That night, Mario (our creepy asst. waiter) brought us extra dessert, and that is when the food engourgement began. Yikes. Thanks Mario, for bringing us one extra dessert, thus creating our dessert problem for the rest of the cruise. Oh well. Mario called our room again, but since we decided he was creepy and weird, we didn't answer.
Day 4: Wednesday, Civitavecchia (aka ROME)
ROME! What a great day! We had lots to do and see, so we started our day off very early, and were off the ship almost as soon as we docked! We headed to Vatican City, where we saw the POPE in St. Peter's Square! We walked in and saw tons and tons of people, and we couldn't figure out why it was so crowded until we looked towards the front, and there he was, good ol Pope Benedict! Rumor has it that it was his birthday, but we're still not sure on that one. He was speaking to the people, so we stood and listened to him for a while. He was speaking in Italian I think, so of course we had no idea what he was saying, but it was still really awesome to see the Pope in person! What an experience! After listening to the Pope for a while, we headed to the Sistine Chapel! We stood in line for a while to get into the museum, and from the museum you had to practically go through a maze to get the the Sistine Chapel. But when we finally got there it was worth it. Again, I can't believe I actually saw the Sistine Chapel in person. I actually got to see the paintings that Michaelangelo is famous for. It was pretty humbling. Of course, it was beautiful and amazing. After we marveled at its beauty for a while, we headed to the Trevi Fountain! That was really cool, because I've seen that in movies and have always wanted to go there and make a wish. It was crazy crowded, but it was also really pretty. We stayed there long enough to make a wish and take a few pics, then we were off the to Roman Coliseum! The Coliseum was really cool. We didn't have enough time to go inside because the wait was about an hour, but it was really cool to see it from the outside and actually see the ruins of it. Very cool. While we were at the metro station heading back to Livorno we met a guy from the States who is living in Rome. We talked to him for a while and he showed us how to get to the train station. It was nice to see an American for once! Anyway, we made it on the train and were on our way back to Livorno, on what we thought was going to be an uneventful train ride. No, there were no suicides or deaths this time, but I was forced to sit on a tiny little fold-out tray that was about 8 inches wide. There weren't any open seats in our car, and I had to move from my nice, big, comfy seat onto this stupid little tray table so that an older man and his wife could sit in our extra chair and in my seat. It was an uncomfortable ride to say the least. But, I made it back to Livorno in one piece, no matter how sore my butt was! haha
Dinner that night was my absolute favorite... LASAGNA! It was amazing. I also believe that was the night that Mario brought the 4 of us a combined TWELVE desserts. Yeah, I know, sick. But oh so delicious. That night Mario showed up at our door with 2 of his waiter friends. They could not take a hint and stayed until like 3 in the morning! Once we finally got rid of them we all hit the hay!
Day 5: Thursday, Naples (Pompeii)
This day wasn't too exciting. Brit stayed on the ship all day, so Ev, Lydz, and I headed out to Naples. We had to navigate ourselves around Naples to find the train station to take to Pompeii to see the volcano and the ancient ruins. Let's just say we got a little lost and missed the first train, and almsot missed the second train to Pompeii. Eventually, we made it onboard and were safely on our way there. Once we got there we headed to the ruins, snapped some pictures without going inside, got a quick glimpse of the volcano, did some barterting with the merchants, and had to find our way back to the train station. We thought we had plenty of time and were just lolly-gagging along when we realized that we had no idea where we were and could possibly miss our train! Yikes. If we missed this train, we probably wouldn't make it back to the cruise ship before it embarked for Africa. Uh oh. We ran. Turns out we were actually going in the right directionf for once, and made it to the train station about 3 minutes before our train was due to arrive. But, we almost got on the wrong train, and realized at the last minute that we were at the wrong one, so we rushed to the other tracks just in time for our actual train to pull up. Phew. We made it. The 3 of us made it safely back to the cruise ship with plenty of time to spare. Dinner, again, was amazing. Raul, who was the head restaurant guy on the cruise, warned us to be careful in Africa. He said they would offer you camels in payment for us girls. So he said that he would double any offer they gave us. He shouldn't have said that... haha you'll hear about that later!
Day 6: Friday, Tunisia, AFRICA
This was by far my favorite day of the entire cruise! We docked at around 2ish, and we were the first off the ship because we wanted to make the most of the 6 hours we were allowed before the ship left. First step off the ship and what do we see... CAMELS! Of course we rode them! I even played drums with the natives while the other girls rode the camels. It was awesome! Riding camels in Africa... Check off the list! haha. After riding camels, we had to go through customs and get out passports stamped! That was pretty exciting. However, after stepping out of customs and into Africa, we were immediately bombarded by taxi drivers that wanted to take us places. We were bewildered because they were yelling at each other, and each of them was trying to get us to go with them. It was actually kinda scary. After about 20 minutes of debating what to do, the coast guard/border police came up to us and talked to us. He brought us a taxi driver that he said he's trust with his own kids, and said that if anything went wrong, he'd kill him for us (figure of speech, of course)! So, we headed off with our taxi driver tour guide. The first place he took us was the capital of Tunisia, but I can't actually remember the name of it. He showed us a few sights, and took us up to the top of a building to see the view of the city. We went into a bunch of little shops and took lots of pictures. We tried some typical African green tea which was very sweet and pretty good. After that we went shopping for souveniers! We had a blast! At one of the stores we went into the lady that owned it spoke pretty good English and thought it was her duty to show us a good time. She dressed us all up in their typical belly dancing outfits and taught us how to dance! So much fun! Then we got to barter with the workers for our souveniers. They wanted 85 euro for all my stuff, but I worked them down to 25. I probably still overpaid, but that's ok because they showed us a good time! Meanwhile, our taxi driver stood by us and made sure no creepsters messed with us. It was kinda like our own personal bodyguard. After shopping for about an hour, we decided it was time to head to the next city. Ben, our driver, drove us to Sidi Bou Said, where they are famous for their market and their view of the sea. So, we snapped some pics of the sea and explored the market. Again, we bartered them down to about nothing, and were practically stealing our souveniers from them. :) After Sidi Bou Said we were worn out, and wanted to be sure we made it to the cruise in time, so we called it a day! I think the reason Africa was my favorite was because we didn't spend all our time doing the typical tourist attractions and actually got to experience the culture hands on. It was cool to see the little villages and all that jazz. Oh, I almost forgot. Ok, so when you think of Africans, what do you picture? Do you picture a black person? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But it turns out that in Northern Africa most of the people are Arabian. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Still, it was cool to actually be in Africa. 3 continents down!
Once we made it back to the ship we ran into the police guy, and he made sure we made it safely! He said he was glad he didn't have to shoot one of his friends.... :-/
Anyway, now to the story about Raul and the camels.... While we were in Africa, one of the storeowners jokingly offered us 7000 camels for the four of us, so that meant Raul owed us 14,000 camels, right? So, we told Raul about this, but said we'd make him a deal. If he brought us one of those birthday cakes they'd been handing out all week, we'd say the deal was settled. haha. So, they brought us a birthday cake and decided it was my birthday, so everyone sang to me, I blew out the candles, and we enjoyed our wonderful dessert! Raul, however, didn't think that was enough. He decided that he needed to bring us 3 bottles of red wine from his personal collection. He brought them to our room, and we hung out with him for a while, and he offered to bring us breakfast in our room the next morning. We thought he was joking... he wasn't.
Day 6: Saturday, on the Sea all day, heading back to Barcelona
We wake up at 10am to a phone call, saying that breakfast is heading our way! Heck yes! We opened the door to find 3 waiters with 2 huuuuuuge trays full of food, and another one full of drinks! We're talking pancakes, french toast, cereal, yogurt, fried eggs, toast, pineapple, watermelon, milk, juice, butter and jam... the whole works! It was aaaaamazing! I'd never had room service before, but I could sure get used to it! After we gorged ourselves, we all went back to sleep for a while, and woke up in time for lunch at 2! I told you, the food on this cruise was bad news for us! Saturday we didn't do a whole lot. Seeing as how we couldn't leave the ship, we just watched the water and wandered around the ship all day. That night at dinner we were all a little sad because we knew it was our last dinner of the deliciously amazing food. Of course, we enjoyed it to the max! Raul also thought it was necessary to bring us wine at dinner, as well as another 2 bottles later. All in all, he gave us a grand total of 6 bottles of wine from his "personal collection" in less than 24 hours. It pays to get in good with the head honcho! It also didn't hurt that he had a little crush on Evelyn... haha! Anyway, Saturday night was spent packing and cleaning up our room because we had to be out of there by 8am on Sunday.
Day 7: Sunday, Barcelona
We got up, ate breakfast, and waited to unboard the ship. We actually had to wait around until noon for the bus to take us all to Valencia, where we caught another bus back to Murcia. It was a long day of traveling, and we made it back to Murcia at about 1030-11pm. Lucky for us we don't have school on Mondays, so we were able to sleep in and relax from our long journey. All in all, the cruise was spectacular, and I couldn't have asked for a better spring break in Spain!
Just to keep you up to date on the past week, nothing exciting has happened. Went to school, did homework, hung out. That's pretty much it. Oh, I did drop one of my classes because I just found out that I only need 3 classes to be considered a full time student, and this particular class was a lot more difficult than I had expected. Since I had 4, I decided that I didn't need to take this class and be extra stressed, especially come finals time. Since I'm done with that, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because I was really worried about that class. Thank goodness.
Oh, I almost forgot! Today (Monday), Brittany and I went to Cartagena to help teach kids English. One of the professors here in Murcia studied at WVU for a while and found out that Brittany went there, so she asked if Brittany would be interested in talking to her children in English to help them learn. Of course, she drug me along for the ride. Maria (the teacher) drove us to her home in Cartagena, and we hung out with her daughter, Barbara, who is 14, and her friend, Ana, who is the same age. She also has a son Jamie who is 11 who will be joining us next week. She is paying us 30 euro a week, and paying for our bus tickets back to Murcia. Brit and I are splitting the 30 euro, so we're each making an extra 15 euro a week. It's not much but it'll be nice to have a little extra cash. It was actually a lot of fun today, and I'm looking forward to the next time we get to meet with them! Who knew that I would be helping kids learn English? Pretty cool, huh?
Other than that, nothing exciting. I'm hunkering down when it comes to school. I'm getting down to business with my homework, and I got a lot done this weekend. We have a project in Translation in a couple weeks, and we're basically done. And I also have a 15 page paper due June 16, and I've started researching for that. We're starting to get all our work done early so we aren't stressed about it when it gets closer to finals. I did take today off and haven't done any homework, which is why I actually had time to write my blog, finally!
Well, nothing more to report on except that Friday we are leaving for Dublin, Ireland to celebrate Lydz's 21st birthday! We'll be there Friday-Monday. I can't wait! I'll post soon so you can hear all about it! Miss you all. Love you to the moon and back.
Oh, I have a quote that has helped me through all this:
"Side by side or miles apart, friends and family are always close to the heart." You're all close to mine! Can't wait to see you!
P.S.- I put all my new pictures up of Barcelona and the Cruise. They're on my Picasa page! Hope you enjoy them!
I'll start where I left off last time:
On Saturday, March 28 I traveled to Aguilas, which is a beach city about 1 hour away from Murcia, with Brittany and Lydia. We thought it would be cool to check out the beach and the town. The beach was really beautiful. We walked around the coast and hiked up to a castle in the mountain. And when I say hiked, I mean we climbed innumerable flights of stairs. I don't think I've ever walked up so many stairs in my life. We were a little out of breath at the top to say the least. But the castle was really cool. They'd turned it into this museum-type-thing with exhibits about what happened in each of the different parts of the castle. And of course there was an amazing view of the Med Sea. After laying on the beach and checking out the castle, we headed back to Murcia. It was a fun little day trip.
The next week was our last week before Spring Break. School was school, so not much to say about that. However, on Thursday, April 2nd we left for Barcelona for the weekend! It was such a good trip! All 5 of us went, but Brittany had to leave on Friday because her dad and aunt were flying into Murcia on Sunday (more on that later). Since Brittany had to leave early, she and I headed to Barcelona at 630am in order for her to spend as much time there as possible. However, what was supposed to be a 5 hour train ride turned into a 9 hour ride because apparently our driver HIT A PERSON! Are you kidding me?! First, a suicide on the way to Paris. Second, we almost get out EuRails taken away in Sevilla. Now our train hits a guy and kills him? What? Since our driver hit this guy, we had to sit and wait for 4 hours, out in the middle of nowhere, for the judge and the cops to get there to question our driver to make sure he was in the right state of mind to have been driving. When I say middle of nowhere, I mean the absolute middle of nowhere. When we looked out the window all we say were weeds and cattails. Luckily, Brit and I both slept the majority of the time, so it wasn't too big of a deal that we were so late. Oh, did I mention that we were in the lead car? Yes, that means we were less that 30 feet away from a dead body. Talk about a sobering thought...
Anyway, back to Barcelona. We saw all the sights: La Sagrada Familia, Parque Guell, La Perdera, Casa Batlo, el mercado, and Las Ramblas. All the buildings we saw were built by Antonio Gaudi, who is a famous Spanish architect that I absolutely LOVE! His stuff is amazing, if you can't tell by the pictures. They're very proud of his stuff here in Spain. La Sagrada Familia is the huge cathedral in the pictures. He devoted the last 40 years of his life to this church, but it's still not finished. They expected date of completion isn't until 2026 or so. I will be back to see it, I'm determined. It's absolutely beautiful, and the pictures don't do it justice. Anyway, in Barcelona we stayed in a real hostel, which was new for us. Usually we find cheap hotels because it's easier for us since we're 5 girls. But we decided to try something new, and I'm so glad we did! Hostels really aren't that bad. Sometimes the accommodations can be a little questionable, but they're livable and pretty inexpensive. We actually met a really cool guy at our hostel. His name is Alastair and he's from Canada. He's been traveling around Europe with a backpack for a month, and he's going back to Canada at the end of May so he still has quite a while to travel around. He hung out with us pretty much the whole time we were there from Thursday until Sunday, when he actually rode the train with us to Murcia. Now, I know what you're thinking.. "What is Kelsey thinking taking some strange boy home with her?!" Well, I assure you, we wouldn't have done it if we all didn't trust him and think he was legit. I promise we weren't bring stupid. Alastair stayed from Sunday until Saturday, and since I have an extra bed in my living room, he stayed at my place. Again, I promise he was completely legit. He just hung out with us all week, and it was actually kind of sad to see him leave on Saturday. He was a part of our gang, and we actually miss him a little! Oh, I also forgot to tell you about Brittany's dad and aunt. They arrived in Murcia on Sunday, April 5, and stayed until Saturday April 11. It was fun having them here. We took them to all our typical hangouts and showed them around town. That week was full of visitors, what with Alastair our Canadian friend, Brittany's dad, and Brittany's aunt. It was definitely a fun week!
Now, on to the most exciting part of the blog: my CRUISE!!!!
Ok, so if you ever get the chance to go on a cruise, TAKE IT! It was absolutely amazing! Four of us went, and we absolutely had a BALL! We got to Barcelona (again) at 1 or 2ish Sunday afternoon, and we immediately boarded our ship. Mind you, this was a Spanish cruise line, so absolutely everything was in Spanish. But it wasn't bad at all, because obviously we can understand most of what was going on, and a lot of the crew spoke a little English, so we had no problems communicating. I'll take you through a day-to-day synopsis of our journey!
Day 1: Sunday, Barcelona
Like I said, we boarded the ship at about 2. We found our room, which turned out to be pretty nice. We were expecting to have to fit 4 people in a 2 person room, so we weren't really looking forward to that. However, we discovered that there were two extra fold out beds, so we all got our own. The room was fairly small, but it worked out just fine for us. We explored the ship for a while before finding the food. And when I say food, I mean TONS of food. The food was at our disposal. They had a breakfast buffet, 2 different lunch buffets, and an all day long snack buffet, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the different restaurants on the ship. The food was like our enemy that week. We ate as much as we wanted, which was probably not the best idea. Oh well, you only live once, right? haha. Anyway, after exploring some more we just kinda goofed around until dinner at 10:15. We got all dressed up and headed to the restaurant where we discovered that we would be having 5 course meals every night. Wow. Talk about amazing. And the food... absolutely delicious! The first night I had STEAK! That was the first real meat I'd had since being in Spain. It was amazing. Out waiter's name was Cemen (pronounce it like it's spelled... :-/ haha), and he was out waiter every night. Pretty cool guy. After stuffing ourselves, we all headed back to the room because we were all very seasick. The boat was rocking very badly, so we all took some meds and went right to sleep.
Day 2: Monday, Villefranche (French Riviera)
We got up kinda late and had lunch before heading off the ship. We threw anchor in the middle of the water, so a little boat had to take everyone to shore. It was sweet. There weren't really too many things to see in Villefranche, but the view was absolutely breath-taking. We tried to go kayaking, but seeing as how we were in France and they couldn't understand us, we never found anywhere to do it. But that's ok because it gave us time to go to a town about 30 minutes away and see the Monte Carlo Casino. For those of you who don't know, that's where they filmed Ocean's 11! It was really beautiful. There were tons of expensive cars parked outside... Rolls Royce, Lamborghini (sp), Corvettes, and any other expensive car you can think of. There was even one with a Missouri license plate! How weird is that! It was like a little slice of home... except I hate Mizzou because KU is 23097 times better! Anyway... after the casino we headed back to the town where our cruise ship was and boarded the boat. We had some time to lay out and relax so we soaked up some sun before dinner. Monday was the night of the Gala, where everyone gets all dressed up and meets the captian and such. We weren't exactly aware that we were supposed to meet the captain, so we missed that because we were still getting ready for dinner. Oh well. Dinner that night was also good. I honestly don't remember what I had that night, but I guarantee you I loved it! After dinner we walked around in our pretty dresses and took pictures, including the Jack and Rose pose from Titanic. We're such girls. Later that night we got hungry and went looking for the "midnight snack," but we couldn't find it. Our assistant waiter, Mario (huge creepster), called our room so we asked him to bring us food. So he brought us some food, we nibbled on some, talked to him for a bit (in Spanish), and went to bed.
Day 3: Tuesday, Livorno (Pisa)
Evelyn and Lydia went on an excursion sponsored by the cruise company, but it was 83 euros so Brit and I decided to explore by ourselves. Ev and Lydz got to go to Florence and Pisa, but since Brit and I were on our own, we only made it to Pisa. Of course it was really cool to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I never thought I'd see that in my lifetime, but I guess now I can check that off my list! I won't lie to you, it's not really what I expected. But then again, I don't really know what I was expecting... maybe I just thought it'd be bigger and more extravagant. Anyway, it was still really cool to see it in person. After that, we headed back to the ship and worked out in the gym, soaked up some rays, took a nap, and got ready for dinner. That night, Mario (our creepy asst. waiter) brought us extra dessert, and that is when the food engourgement began. Yikes. Thanks Mario, for bringing us one extra dessert, thus creating our dessert problem for the rest of the cruise. Oh well. Mario called our room again, but since we decided he was creepy and weird, we didn't answer.
Day 4: Wednesday, Civitavecchia (aka ROME)
ROME! What a great day! We had lots to do and see, so we started our day off very early, and were off the ship almost as soon as we docked! We headed to Vatican City, where we saw the POPE in St. Peter's Square! We walked in and saw tons and tons of people, and we couldn't figure out why it was so crowded until we looked towards the front, and there he was, good ol Pope Benedict! Rumor has it that it was his birthday, but we're still not sure on that one. He was speaking to the people, so we stood and listened to him for a while. He was speaking in Italian I think, so of course we had no idea what he was saying, but it was still really awesome to see the Pope in person! What an experience! After listening to the Pope for a while, we headed to the Sistine Chapel! We stood in line for a while to get into the museum, and from the museum you had to practically go through a maze to get the the Sistine Chapel. But when we finally got there it was worth it. Again, I can't believe I actually saw the Sistine Chapel in person. I actually got to see the paintings that Michaelangelo is famous for. It was pretty humbling. Of course, it was beautiful and amazing. After we marveled at its beauty for a while, we headed to the Trevi Fountain! That was really cool, because I've seen that in movies and have always wanted to go there and make a wish. It was crazy crowded, but it was also really pretty. We stayed there long enough to make a wish and take a few pics, then we were off the to Roman Coliseum! The Coliseum was really cool. We didn't have enough time to go inside because the wait was about an hour, but it was really cool to see it from the outside and actually see the ruins of it. Very cool. While we were at the metro station heading back to Livorno we met a guy from the States who is living in Rome. We talked to him for a while and he showed us how to get to the train station. It was nice to see an American for once! Anyway, we made it on the train and were on our way back to Livorno, on what we thought was going to be an uneventful train ride. No, there were no suicides or deaths this time, but I was forced to sit on a tiny little fold-out tray that was about 8 inches wide. There weren't any open seats in our car, and I had to move from my nice, big, comfy seat onto this stupid little tray table so that an older man and his wife could sit in our extra chair and in my seat. It was an uncomfortable ride to say the least. But, I made it back to Livorno in one piece, no matter how sore my butt was! haha
Dinner that night was my absolute favorite... LASAGNA! It was amazing. I also believe that was the night that Mario brought the 4 of us a combined TWELVE desserts. Yeah, I know, sick. But oh so delicious. That night Mario showed up at our door with 2 of his waiter friends. They could not take a hint and stayed until like 3 in the morning! Once we finally got rid of them we all hit the hay!
Day 5: Thursday, Naples (Pompeii)
This day wasn't too exciting. Brit stayed on the ship all day, so Ev, Lydz, and I headed out to Naples. We had to navigate ourselves around Naples to find the train station to take to Pompeii to see the volcano and the ancient ruins. Let's just say we got a little lost and missed the first train, and almsot missed the second train to Pompeii. Eventually, we made it onboard and were safely on our way there. Once we got there we headed to the ruins, snapped some pictures without going inside, got a quick glimpse of the volcano, did some barterting with the merchants, and had to find our way back to the train station. We thought we had plenty of time and were just lolly-gagging along when we realized that we had no idea where we were and could possibly miss our train! Yikes. If we missed this train, we probably wouldn't make it back to the cruise ship before it embarked for Africa. Uh oh. We ran. Turns out we were actually going in the right directionf for once, and made it to the train station about 3 minutes before our train was due to arrive. But, we almost got on the wrong train, and realized at the last minute that we were at the wrong one, so we rushed to the other tracks just in time for our actual train to pull up. Phew. We made it. The 3 of us made it safely back to the cruise ship with plenty of time to spare. Dinner, again, was amazing. Raul, who was the head restaurant guy on the cruise, warned us to be careful in Africa. He said they would offer you camels in payment for us girls. So he said that he would double any offer they gave us. He shouldn't have said that... haha you'll hear about that later!
Day 6: Friday, Tunisia, AFRICA
This was by far my favorite day of the entire cruise! We docked at around 2ish, and we were the first off the ship because we wanted to make the most of the 6 hours we were allowed before the ship left. First step off the ship and what do we see... CAMELS! Of course we rode them! I even played drums with the natives while the other girls rode the camels. It was awesome! Riding camels in Africa... Check off the list! haha. After riding camels, we had to go through customs and get out passports stamped! That was pretty exciting. However, after stepping out of customs and into Africa, we were immediately bombarded by taxi drivers that wanted to take us places. We were bewildered because they were yelling at each other, and each of them was trying to get us to go with them. It was actually kinda scary. After about 20 minutes of debating what to do, the coast guard/border police came up to us and talked to us. He brought us a taxi driver that he said he's trust with his own kids, and said that if anything went wrong, he'd kill him for us (figure of speech, of course)! So, we headed off with our taxi driver tour guide. The first place he took us was the capital of Tunisia, but I can't actually remember the name of it. He showed us a few sights, and took us up to the top of a building to see the view of the city. We went into a bunch of little shops and took lots of pictures. We tried some typical African green tea which was very sweet and pretty good. After that we went shopping for souveniers! We had a blast! At one of the stores we went into the lady that owned it spoke pretty good English and thought it was her duty to show us a good time. She dressed us all up in their typical belly dancing outfits and taught us how to dance! So much fun! Then we got to barter with the workers for our souveniers. They wanted 85 euro for all my stuff, but I worked them down to 25. I probably still overpaid, but that's ok because they showed us a good time! Meanwhile, our taxi driver stood by us and made sure no creepsters messed with us. It was kinda like our own personal bodyguard. After shopping for about an hour, we decided it was time to head to the next city. Ben, our driver, drove us to Sidi Bou Said, where they are famous for their market and their view of the sea. So, we snapped some pics of the sea and explored the market. Again, we bartered them down to about nothing, and were practically stealing our souveniers from them. :) After Sidi Bou Said we were worn out, and wanted to be sure we made it to the cruise in time, so we called it a day! I think the reason Africa was my favorite was because we didn't spend all our time doing the typical tourist attractions and actually got to experience the culture hands on. It was cool to see the little villages and all that jazz. Oh, I almost forgot. Ok, so when you think of Africans, what do you picture? Do you picture a black person? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. But it turns out that in Northern Africa most of the people are Arabian. I definitely wasn't expecting that. Still, it was cool to actually be in Africa. 3 continents down!
Once we made it back to the ship we ran into the police guy, and he made sure we made it safely! He said he was glad he didn't have to shoot one of his friends.... :-/
Anyway, now to the story about Raul and the camels.... While we were in Africa, one of the storeowners jokingly offered us 7000 camels for the four of us, so that meant Raul owed us 14,000 camels, right? So, we told Raul about this, but said we'd make him a deal. If he brought us one of those birthday cakes they'd been handing out all week, we'd say the deal was settled. haha. So, they brought us a birthday cake and decided it was my birthday, so everyone sang to me, I blew out the candles, and we enjoyed our wonderful dessert! Raul, however, didn't think that was enough. He decided that he needed to bring us 3 bottles of red wine from his personal collection. He brought them to our room, and we hung out with him for a while, and he offered to bring us breakfast in our room the next morning. We thought he was joking... he wasn't.
Day 6: Saturday, on the Sea all day, heading back to Barcelona
We wake up at 10am to a phone call, saying that breakfast is heading our way! Heck yes! We opened the door to find 3 waiters with 2 huuuuuuge trays full of food, and another one full of drinks! We're talking pancakes, french toast, cereal, yogurt, fried eggs, toast, pineapple, watermelon, milk, juice, butter and jam... the whole works! It was aaaaamazing! I'd never had room service before, but I could sure get used to it! After we gorged ourselves, we all went back to sleep for a while, and woke up in time for lunch at 2! I told you, the food on this cruise was bad news for us! Saturday we didn't do a whole lot. Seeing as how we couldn't leave the ship, we just watched the water and wandered around the ship all day. That night at dinner we were all a little sad because we knew it was our last dinner of the deliciously amazing food. Of course, we enjoyed it to the max! Raul also thought it was necessary to bring us wine at dinner, as well as another 2 bottles later. All in all, he gave us a grand total of 6 bottles of wine from his "personal collection" in less than 24 hours. It pays to get in good with the head honcho! It also didn't hurt that he had a little crush on Evelyn... haha! Anyway, Saturday night was spent packing and cleaning up our room because we had to be out of there by 8am on Sunday.
Day 7: Sunday, Barcelona
We got up, ate breakfast, and waited to unboard the ship. We actually had to wait around until noon for the bus to take us all to Valencia, where we caught another bus back to Murcia. It was a long day of traveling, and we made it back to Murcia at about 1030-11pm. Lucky for us we don't have school on Mondays, so we were able to sleep in and relax from our long journey. All in all, the cruise was spectacular, and I couldn't have asked for a better spring break in Spain!
Just to keep you up to date on the past week, nothing exciting has happened. Went to school, did homework, hung out. That's pretty much it. Oh, I did drop one of my classes because I just found out that I only need 3 classes to be considered a full time student, and this particular class was a lot more difficult than I had expected. Since I had 4, I decided that I didn't need to take this class and be extra stressed, especially come finals time. Since I'm done with that, it feels like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders because I was really worried about that class. Thank goodness.
Oh, I almost forgot! Today (Monday), Brittany and I went to Cartagena to help teach kids English. One of the professors here in Murcia studied at WVU for a while and found out that Brittany went there, so she asked if Brittany would be interested in talking to her children in English to help them learn. Of course, she drug me along for the ride. Maria (the teacher) drove us to her home in Cartagena, and we hung out with her daughter, Barbara, who is 14, and her friend, Ana, who is the same age. She also has a son Jamie who is 11 who will be joining us next week. She is paying us 30 euro a week, and paying for our bus tickets back to Murcia. Brit and I are splitting the 30 euro, so we're each making an extra 15 euro a week. It's not much but it'll be nice to have a little extra cash. It was actually a lot of fun today, and I'm looking forward to the next time we get to meet with them! Who knew that I would be helping kids learn English? Pretty cool, huh?
Other than that, nothing exciting. I'm hunkering down when it comes to school. I'm getting down to business with my homework, and I got a lot done this weekend. We have a project in Translation in a couple weeks, and we're basically done. And I also have a 15 page paper due June 16, and I've started researching for that. We're starting to get all our work done early so we aren't stressed about it when it gets closer to finals. I did take today off and haven't done any homework, which is why I actually had time to write my blog, finally!
Well, nothing more to report on except that Friday we are leaving for Dublin, Ireland to celebrate Lydz's 21st birthday! We'll be there Friday-Monday. I can't wait! I'll post soon so you can hear all about it! Miss you all. Love you to the moon and back.
Oh, I have a quote that has helped me through all this:
"Side by side or miles apart, friends and family are always close to the heart." You're all close to mine! Can't wait to see you!
P.S.- I put all my new pictures up of Barcelona and the Cruise. They're on my Picasa page! Hope you enjoy them!
Monday, March 23, 2009
March 23
Where do I even begin?
A few weekends ago 4 of us went to Granada and Sevilla for the weekend. In Granada we visited the Alhambra, which is a huge garden with castles and forts. It was beautiful. In Sevilla we saw the Giralda Tower, which is kind-of like the Eiffel Tower of Spain, but we didn't get to go inside because it was closed at the time we went. Of course. But it was still really pretty from the outside, plus I'd been there before with Senora Gregg. We also went to a Flememco show! It turns out that we went to the same exact place that we went to when I came with Senora! How crazy! We walked in and I was like, ""Wait a minute, this looks eerily familiar." Then we walked in further, and sure enough, it was the same place! The performance was spectacular! We all had such a great time! The Sevilla/Granada trip went very smoothly, and it was a lot of fun! OH wait! I almost forgot- there was one glitch in the trip! We almost got our EuRail passes taken away! We wrote the date on our EuRails in pencil because we didn't have a pen and we didn't think it was a big deal. Well, apparently it WAS a big deal. The train man started yelling at us saying it was a fraud and we were committing a fraudulent act and that we were criminals! He kept going on and on about how we must think Spanish people are stupid because we write the date in pencil and then change it to another date so we can use it again. We were flabergasted. We weren't trying to cheat the system, we just didn't have a pen! He took all our EuRails and left our car. We were freakin out, because those little pieces of paper cost a LOT of money! Eventually he came back, but he still wouldn't let us have them. Then Kara worked herself up so much that she had a legit panic attack and couldn't breathe. It was pretty scary. He obviously felt pretty terrible, and finally gave us our passes back. Kara calmed down, and the rest of the ride was fine. It was a rough first 45 minutes though!
Classes are going pretty well. They're tough, but they're not too bad. I'm taking this translation class that I thought was going to be really easy because half of it is taught in English, but it has turned out to be pretty difficult. No worries though, the teacher loves us and everyone in the class thinks us Americans are pros in the English language, so it's not too bad. Wednesday we have to actually teach the class about English grammar and what not. It's gonna be interesting. Even though it's pretty tough, I think translation is going to be my favorite class. We met a really great girl in translation. Her name is Ana, and she's from Spain. She's fluent in English and German, speaks a little French, and is learning Italian. She's so great! She took Brit and I under her wing. She took us to the Murcia basketball game last weekend, and then back to her village to meet her family! We met everyone- mom, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins- everyone! It was so cool being able to go to a little village and see how real Spaniards live! I loved it! I think we're gonna spend quite a bit of time with Ana!
My friend Maggie came to visit me last week! It was her Spring Break back in Emporia, so she and her friend flew to Spain! It was so awesome having her here! I got to show her the city, my apartment, and she got to meet all my friends here, and see what kind of life I have over here. It was really special to be able to share that. Tuesday was her birthday so we had a St. Patty's Day Party that was actually a little surprise Birthday Party for her. It was lots of fun! It was sad to see her leave Thursday night. I wanted to go with her! :( But she made me realize that I do have a pretty sweet life over here, what with the beaches and all... haha
Speaking of beaches, my Spring Break is coming up here shortly! We have this week and next week of school, then a 2 week long Spring Break! The first week is Semana Santa, which is a week-long festival here in Murcia. There's parades, parties, dances, and all kinds of festivities. I'm excited to experience the culture! Then for the second week, 4 of us are going on a CRUISE!!! It's an 8 day Cruise through the Mediterranean! We're hitting up the French Riviera, Rome, Florence, some other places I can't remember, and AFRICA! That's right, I'm going to another continent! I'll be able to mark off 3 continents on my goal of visiting 6 of the 7! I'm SO stoked for the entire cruise! Plus, we got a really great deal on it, so it didn't end up being ridiculously expensive. Don't worry, I'll take lots of pics!
I get my new roommates sometime towards the end of this month. I've gotten used to living by myself, so it's going to be weird having roomies. They're 2 girls from Argentina and they only speak Spanish, so it'll be an interesting situation! I'll let you know how everything goes!
Well, I don't think anything else exciting has happened. I'm gonna try to update my pics today so you should be able to look at those soon. Love you!
A few weekends ago 4 of us went to Granada and Sevilla for the weekend. In Granada we visited the Alhambra, which is a huge garden with castles and forts. It was beautiful. In Sevilla we saw the Giralda Tower, which is kind-of like the Eiffel Tower of Spain, but we didn't get to go inside because it was closed at the time we went. Of course. But it was still really pretty from the outside, plus I'd been there before with Senora Gregg. We also went to a Flememco show! It turns out that we went to the same exact place that we went to when I came with Senora! How crazy! We walked in and I was like, ""Wait a minute, this looks eerily familiar." Then we walked in further, and sure enough, it was the same place! The performance was spectacular! We all had such a great time! The Sevilla/Granada trip went very smoothly, and it was a lot of fun! OH wait! I almost forgot- there was one glitch in the trip! We almost got our EuRail passes taken away! We wrote the date on our EuRails in pencil because we didn't have a pen and we didn't think it was a big deal. Well, apparently it WAS a big deal. The train man started yelling at us saying it was a fraud and we were committing a fraudulent act and that we were criminals! He kept going on and on about how we must think Spanish people are stupid because we write the date in pencil and then change it to another date so we can use it again. We were flabergasted. We weren't trying to cheat the system, we just didn't have a pen! He took all our EuRails and left our car. We were freakin out, because those little pieces of paper cost a LOT of money! Eventually he came back, but he still wouldn't let us have them. Then Kara worked herself up so much that she had a legit panic attack and couldn't breathe. It was pretty scary. He obviously felt pretty terrible, and finally gave us our passes back. Kara calmed down, and the rest of the ride was fine. It was a rough first 45 minutes though!
Classes are going pretty well. They're tough, but they're not too bad. I'm taking this translation class that I thought was going to be really easy because half of it is taught in English, but it has turned out to be pretty difficult. No worries though, the teacher loves us and everyone in the class thinks us Americans are pros in the English language, so it's not too bad. Wednesday we have to actually teach the class about English grammar and what not. It's gonna be interesting. Even though it's pretty tough, I think translation is going to be my favorite class. We met a really great girl in translation. Her name is Ana, and she's from Spain. She's fluent in English and German, speaks a little French, and is learning Italian. She's so great! She took Brit and I under her wing. She took us to the Murcia basketball game last weekend, and then back to her village to meet her family! We met everyone- mom, grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins- everyone! It was so cool being able to go to a little village and see how real Spaniards live! I loved it! I think we're gonna spend quite a bit of time with Ana!
My friend Maggie came to visit me last week! It was her Spring Break back in Emporia, so she and her friend flew to Spain! It was so awesome having her here! I got to show her the city, my apartment, and she got to meet all my friends here, and see what kind of life I have over here. It was really special to be able to share that. Tuesday was her birthday so we had a St. Patty's Day Party that was actually a little surprise Birthday Party for her. It was lots of fun! It was sad to see her leave Thursday night. I wanted to go with her! :( But she made me realize that I do have a pretty sweet life over here, what with the beaches and all... haha
Speaking of beaches, my Spring Break is coming up here shortly! We have this week and next week of school, then a 2 week long Spring Break! The first week is Semana Santa, which is a week-long festival here in Murcia. There's parades, parties, dances, and all kinds of festivities. I'm excited to experience the culture! Then for the second week, 4 of us are going on a CRUISE!!! It's an 8 day Cruise through the Mediterranean! We're hitting up the French Riviera, Rome, Florence, some other places I can't remember, and AFRICA! That's right, I'm going to another continent! I'll be able to mark off 3 continents on my goal of visiting 6 of the 7! I'm SO stoked for the entire cruise! Plus, we got a really great deal on it, so it didn't end up being ridiculously expensive. Don't worry, I'll take lots of pics!
I get my new roommates sometime towards the end of this month. I've gotten used to living by myself, so it's going to be weird having roomies. They're 2 girls from Argentina and they only speak Spanish, so it'll be an interesting situation! I'll let you know how everything goes!
Well, I don't think anything else exciting has happened. I'm gonna try to update my pics today so you should be able to look at those soon. Love you!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Much Needed Update
Ok, sorry it's been so long! I added all my pictures to an online photo sharing website called Picasa. I'll give you the link, and I'm pretty sure everyone will be able to view my albums!
I think you can just type in this link and be taken directly to my page:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering
If that doesn't work, here are the links to each individual album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/GreetingsFromSpain#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/Alicante2709#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/Paris2100921509#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/BullFight22209#
Hope that works!
Ok, now for the real update...
Language class ended nicely. We each had to do a presentation about something in our culture, and I chose the Chisholm Trail Festival! Everyone thought I was from a hick town when I told them about the Cow Chip Hunt! It was hilarious! Now they really think Kansans are country... haha
Well, I'm now a cultured young woman, because I tried my first Belgium dish! There were 2 Belgium girls in my language class, and they decided to cook a typical Belgium dish for the whole class. A lot of us headed over to their apartment and sat on the balcony and drank wine while they cooked for us. The dish was called "Cous cous" (I have no idea how to spell it, but that's how it sounds). It was spinach, potatoes, and cheese. It was really good. I'm meeting people from all over ... France, Belgium, Bolivia, Lithuania, England. It's fun!
One the weekend of the 7th, 5 other girls and I traveled to Alicante, which is about a 45 minute bus ride from Murcia. The beaches there are so beautiful! It was too cold and windy to hang out on the beach, but once it gets warmer we're definitely going back! The main reason we went to Alicante was to check out this really old castle that used to be a fort, called Castillo de Santa Barbara. It was at the top of a mountain, and we had to ride an elevator to get to the top. An elevator inside a mountain, who woulda thought? It was sooo pretty! The views of the the Mediterranean, the harbor, and the city were absolutely breath-taking! It was really windy at the top, and I thought we were going to fall off, but no worries, we're all still here! After the castle we headed to a museum for about an hour, then walked along the boardwalk and found somewhere to eat. I had Paella Valenciana, and it was delicious! The day trip was a lot of fun, and I'm sure we'll be taking lots of them!
Ok, now to the good stuff! Language class ended and we had a week break before classes started, so the 5 of us girls went to PARIS for 5 days! We had so much fun! But first, let me tell you the catastrophe of getting there... So, we barely made it to our first train because it's a little longer of a walk than any of us expected, especially when you're all lugging around suitcases! We made it just in time and hopped on the train and sat down because we were pooped! Well, then we realized that we didn't have assigned seats because they never gave them to us when we made reservations. So we asked one of the train officials, and he started yelling at us in Spanish, saying we didn't have seats and the train was full. We told him we made reservations, but apparently you had to pick them up 24hours before your trip, you couldn't just call like we did. How were we supposed to know that?! But anyway, he made us all lug our suitcases to the cafeteria on the train and sit in there for 30minutes while he decided what to do with us. He tried to charge us all 39euro for first-class seats, but we refused to pay that. Then he said it was gonna be 18euro for regular seats, but again, we refused because we all had EuRail passes that allows us to ride the trains for free. So finally we agreed on paying the 9.50euro reservation charge for our seats. We were all spread out along the different cars, but Kara and I got seats next to each other- lucky! We sat across from some guys from Canada, and they gave us tips about France. The other 3 girls didn't have it quite as nice- they got moved a total of 5 times because the guy kept putting them in other people's seats! We finally made it to Barcelona, and went to the ticket desk to see what to do about our reservations. Again, since we didn't pick up our reservations, there were no seats left. There were only beds left because it was an overnight train to Paris, and they were each going to be 81euro- No way Jose! The lady said we could catch a free train to the border of France and Spain, and then hope we could get on the train to Paris from there, so we decided to take the chance! The only problem was.... the train departed in 5 minutes, and we had no idea where it was! We all sprinted around the train station and made it to the train! Phew! It was about a 2-3hour long ride, and then we got to this podunk little station in the middle of nowhere, and everyone spoke French! But, we talked to a lady and there were seats left for the train to Paris, and get this, they only cost 1.50euro! Heck yes! We boarded the train and were ready to go! After traveling for about 30 minutes the train came to a stop, and then we started going back the way we came! They announced something over the intercom, but it was in French so we couldn't understand. We came to a different train station, and we ended up sitting there for FIVE HOURS, and we had no idea why! We made friends with two Spanish boys that were going to France as well. Little did we know that they would follow us around for the duration of their trip- more about that later. Finally our train started moving and we were on our way. All of us fell asleep, and I woke up suddenly to Lydz saying "We have to change trains! Get up get up!" We had about 30 seconds to wake up, get out stuff, and get off the train! Hectic! But we all made it. Then we boarded another train that took us to Paris. On that train a lady told us that the reason we were delayed was because somebody wanted to commit suicide so they drove their car on the tracks so that 2 trains would hit them at the same time. Get this, the train that hit them- that was the train we were supposed to be on from Barcelona to Paris! God was watching out for us! Anyway, we made it to Paris, 7 hours behind schedule. We found our hotel after much confusion, and the boys came with us. Not only did they get a room at our hotel, but they got a room right next to ours! :-/ They were really nice, but I was so over them by that point! Anyway, here are the highlights of the trip:
We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, toured Notre Dame (which is absolutely beautiful!), went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, saw Jim Morrison's grave, went to Disneyland Paris, went out to eat on Valentine's Day, and of course went to the Eiffel Tower almost every night to see it sparkle! We also stopped by the Opera and the Catacombs, but didn't go inside either one because we were short on time! My favorite part of the trip was definitely the views from the Eiffel Tower. It doesn't get much better than that! Oh, I forgot to mention that we saw 2 famous people at the Louvre- Ali Lauder and Amy Smart! We just knew we'd see somebody famous in Paris on Valentine's Day.
The trip back to Murcia from Paris went a lot more smoothly than the one there. No delays.
The day after we got back we started classes! Boo! We've been in class now for almost 2 weeks, and I've changed my schedule about 4 times! The classes here are really hard, and it's very difficult to understand and grasp what the teachers are saying since they speak so quickly. The schedule I have now seems like it's going to be the best so far, so hopefully I can stick with it! I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays, so I have 4 day weekends every weekend! Score! That makes for nice, long trips on the weekends!
Last Sunday was the first bull fight of the season, and you better believe we all went! There's a Plaza de Toros about 5 minutes from my apartment, so we all headed over there Sunday afternoon. There were 7 matadors, and one of them was a girl! Girl matadors are really rare, so it was really special that we got to see one. And apparently she's the most famous girl matador in Spain! I'm sure most of you don't want the details of the bull fight, so I'll just tell you that we went, and it was an experience, that's for sure!
Other than that, nothing really eventful has been happening. Just going to class, hanging out, sitting in the sun, and getting ready for beach weather here in a few weeks! I miss home and friends and family a lot, but the weather here definitely trumps the weather back home!
Hope all is well with all of you. Miss you and love you!
I think you can just type in this link and be taken directly to my page:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering
If that doesn't work, here are the links to each individual album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/GreetingsFromSpain#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/Alicante2709#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/Paris2100921509#
http://picasaweb.google.com/kelseygoering/BullFight22209#
Hope that works!
Ok, now for the real update...
Language class ended nicely. We each had to do a presentation about something in our culture, and I chose the Chisholm Trail Festival! Everyone thought I was from a hick town when I told them about the Cow Chip Hunt! It was hilarious! Now they really think Kansans are country... haha
Well, I'm now a cultured young woman, because I tried my first Belgium dish! There were 2 Belgium girls in my language class, and they decided to cook a typical Belgium dish for the whole class. A lot of us headed over to their apartment and sat on the balcony and drank wine while they cooked for us. The dish was called "Cous cous" (I have no idea how to spell it, but that's how it sounds). It was spinach, potatoes, and cheese. It was really good. I'm meeting people from all over ... France, Belgium, Bolivia, Lithuania, England. It's fun!
One the weekend of the 7th, 5 other girls and I traveled to Alicante, which is about a 45 minute bus ride from Murcia. The beaches there are so beautiful! It was too cold and windy to hang out on the beach, but once it gets warmer we're definitely going back! The main reason we went to Alicante was to check out this really old castle that used to be a fort, called Castillo de Santa Barbara. It was at the top of a mountain, and we had to ride an elevator to get to the top. An elevator inside a mountain, who woulda thought? It was sooo pretty! The views of the the Mediterranean, the harbor, and the city were absolutely breath-taking! It was really windy at the top, and I thought we were going to fall off, but no worries, we're all still here! After the castle we headed to a museum for about an hour, then walked along the boardwalk and found somewhere to eat. I had Paella Valenciana, and it was delicious! The day trip was a lot of fun, and I'm sure we'll be taking lots of them!
Ok, now to the good stuff! Language class ended and we had a week break before classes started, so the 5 of us girls went to PARIS for 5 days! We had so much fun! But first, let me tell you the catastrophe of getting there... So, we barely made it to our first train because it's a little longer of a walk than any of us expected, especially when you're all lugging around suitcases! We made it just in time and hopped on the train and sat down because we were pooped! Well, then we realized that we didn't have assigned seats because they never gave them to us when we made reservations. So we asked one of the train officials, and he started yelling at us in Spanish, saying we didn't have seats and the train was full. We told him we made reservations, but apparently you had to pick them up 24hours before your trip, you couldn't just call like we did. How were we supposed to know that?! But anyway, he made us all lug our suitcases to the cafeteria on the train and sit in there for 30minutes while he decided what to do with us. He tried to charge us all 39euro for first-class seats, but we refused to pay that. Then he said it was gonna be 18euro for regular seats, but again, we refused because we all had EuRail passes that allows us to ride the trains for free. So finally we agreed on paying the 9.50euro reservation charge for our seats. We were all spread out along the different cars, but Kara and I got seats next to each other- lucky! We sat across from some guys from Canada, and they gave us tips about France. The other 3 girls didn't have it quite as nice- they got moved a total of 5 times because the guy kept putting them in other people's seats! We finally made it to Barcelona, and went to the ticket desk to see what to do about our reservations. Again, since we didn't pick up our reservations, there were no seats left. There were only beds left because it was an overnight train to Paris, and they were each going to be 81euro- No way Jose! The lady said we could catch a free train to the border of France and Spain, and then hope we could get on the train to Paris from there, so we decided to take the chance! The only problem was.... the train departed in 5 minutes, and we had no idea where it was! We all sprinted around the train station and made it to the train! Phew! It was about a 2-3hour long ride, and then we got to this podunk little station in the middle of nowhere, and everyone spoke French! But, we talked to a lady and there were seats left for the train to Paris, and get this, they only cost 1.50euro! Heck yes! We boarded the train and were ready to go! After traveling for about 30 minutes the train came to a stop, and then we started going back the way we came! They announced something over the intercom, but it was in French so we couldn't understand. We came to a different train station, and we ended up sitting there for FIVE HOURS, and we had no idea why! We made friends with two Spanish boys that were going to France as well. Little did we know that they would follow us around for the duration of their trip- more about that later. Finally our train started moving and we were on our way. All of us fell asleep, and I woke up suddenly to Lydz saying "We have to change trains! Get up get up!" We had about 30 seconds to wake up, get out stuff, and get off the train! Hectic! But we all made it. Then we boarded another train that took us to Paris. On that train a lady told us that the reason we were delayed was because somebody wanted to commit suicide so they drove their car on the tracks so that 2 trains would hit them at the same time. Get this, the train that hit them- that was the train we were supposed to be on from Barcelona to Paris! God was watching out for us! Anyway, we made it to Paris, 7 hours behind schedule. We found our hotel after much confusion, and the boys came with us. Not only did they get a room at our hotel, but they got a room right next to ours! :-/ They were really nice, but I was so over them by that point! Anyway, here are the highlights of the trip:
We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, toured Notre Dame (which is absolutely beautiful!), went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, saw Jim Morrison's grave, went to Disneyland Paris, went out to eat on Valentine's Day, and of course went to the Eiffel Tower almost every night to see it sparkle! We also stopped by the Opera and the Catacombs, but didn't go inside either one because we were short on time! My favorite part of the trip was definitely the views from the Eiffel Tower. It doesn't get much better than that! Oh, I forgot to mention that we saw 2 famous people at the Louvre- Ali Lauder and Amy Smart! We just knew we'd see somebody famous in Paris on Valentine's Day.
The trip back to Murcia from Paris went a lot more smoothly than the one there. No delays.
The day after we got back we started classes! Boo! We've been in class now for almost 2 weeks, and I've changed my schedule about 4 times! The classes here are really hard, and it's very difficult to understand and grasp what the teachers are saying since they speak so quickly. The schedule I have now seems like it's going to be the best so far, so hopefully I can stick with it! I don't have class on Mondays or Fridays, so I have 4 day weekends every weekend! Score! That makes for nice, long trips on the weekends!
Last Sunday was the first bull fight of the season, and you better believe we all went! There's a Plaza de Toros about 5 minutes from my apartment, so we all headed over there Sunday afternoon. There were 7 matadors, and one of them was a girl! Girl matadors are really rare, so it was really special that we got to see one. And apparently she's the most famous girl matador in Spain! I'm sure most of you don't want the details of the bull fight, so I'll just tell you that we went, and it was an experience, that's for sure!
Other than that, nothing really eventful has been happening. Just going to class, hanging out, sitting in the sun, and getting ready for beach weather here in a few weeks! I miss home and friends and family a lot, but the weather here definitely trumps the weather back home!
Hope all is well with all of you. Miss you and love you!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
One Month Down!
Ok, so I haven't been here for a month, but January's over, so we'll just pretend! It sure feels like I've been here a month...
Language class is alright. I'm not really learning anything new, but it isn't too bad because some of the people in there are pretty funny. Made some new friends from Lithuania, Belgium, London, and somewhere in France. It's good practice to speak Spanish with them, cause we're all on the same page. One more week, and we're outta there!
If we get all the planning done, hopefully we'll be heading to Paris over our week break for a few days. I have to buy a EuroRail pass, which is ridiculously expensive, but hey, I'm only here once! Our new motto is "Cuando en Murcia," or "When in Murcia..." Live it up!
I haven't been doing anything with my life lately... stayed in my room all day yesterday, and headed over to Brit's at about 8ish to have dinner. My internet isn't working at my apartment, so I've been practically living over here. Brittany went out last night, and I stayed home in her apartment and just stayed the night, and haven't left yet today. haha, guess that makes me a freeloader! Well, unil my internet is fixed, hope she doesn't mind having another roomie! :) It better get fixed soon, because I'm going crazy without it! I can't stand not having it, because it's my only link to the outside world!
Friday morning we had to get up early and meet Borja at 9am to get our NIE numbers, which is basically a number for foreigners so that we can get out stipend from the school. It took 2 hours, and was about a 35-40 minute walk. It stunk. But I went home and took a nap til I had to leave for class at 4. I am literally doing NOTHING with my life! I can't wait for school to start so at least I'll have something to do during the days. I'm going crazy with boredom.
I took a few more pictures the other day, here they are:
A building close to La Plaza Santo Domingo
La Plaza Santo Domingo. That statue looks like a giant pile of dog poop... modern art I guess. haha
A pretty building...
Heads all over the place!
A head at La Plaza Santo Domingo
La Plaza Santo Domingo has lots of statues of heads.
Sweet hair
This guy has big ears. It kinda reminds me of Christian Moody... NOT!
La Buena Tapa, where I tried 3 new things. They were pretty good, but I could not tell you what the heck they were...
La Iglesia Catedral. Each level represents a differnt age of art.
Catedral again
Another view of the Catedral.. and no, I'm not spelling it wrong. That's how it's spelled in Spanish.
A close up of the cathedral.
La Sardina. It's a giant sardine fountain in the middle of the river. Crys told me about it, so I had to take a picture of it!
Language class is alright. I'm not really learning anything new, but it isn't too bad because some of the people in there are pretty funny. Made some new friends from Lithuania, Belgium, London, and somewhere in France. It's good practice to speak Spanish with them, cause we're all on the same page. One more week, and we're outta there!
If we get all the planning done, hopefully we'll be heading to Paris over our week break for a few days. I have to buy a EuroRail pass, which is ridiculously expensive, but hey, I'm only here once! Our new motto is "Cuando en Murcia," or "When in Murcia..." Live it up!
I haven't been doing anything with my life lately... stayed in my room all day yesterday, and headed over to Brit's at about 8ish to have dinner. My internet isn't working at my apartment, so I've been practically living over here. Brittany went out last night, and I stayed home in her apartment and just stayed the night, and haven't left yet today. haha, guess that makes me a freeloader! Well, unil my internet is fixed, hope she doesn't mind having another roomie! :) It better get fixed soon, because I'm going crazy without it! I can't stand not having it, because it's my only link to the outside world!
Friday morning we had to get up early and meet Borja at 9am to get our NIE numbers, which is basically a number for foreigners so that we can get out stipend from the school. It took 2 hours, and was about a 35-40 minute walk. It stunk. But I went home and took a nap til I had to leave for class at 4. I am literally doing NOTHING with my life! I can't wait for school to start so at least I'll have something to do during the days. I'm going crazy with boredom.
I took a few more pictures the other day, here they are:
A building close to La Plaza Santo Domingo
La Plaza Santo Domingo. That statue looks like a giant pile of dog poop... modern art I guess. haha
A pretty building...
Heads all over the place!
A head at La Plaza Santo Domingo
La Plaza Santo Domingo has lots of statues of heads.
Sweet hair
This guy has big ears. It kinda reminds me of Christian Moody... NOT!
La Buena Tapa, where I tried 3 new things. They were pretty good, but I could not tell you what the heck they were...
La Iglesia Catedral. Each level represents a differnt age of art.
Catedral again
Another view of the Catedral.. and no, I'm not spelling it wrong. That's how it's spelled in Spanish.
A close up of the cathedral.
La Sardina. It's a giant sardine fountain in the middle of the river. Crys told me about it, so I had to take a picture of it!
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