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!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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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