Semana Santa=Spring Break!

Hi Everyone!

So for spring break, which is Easter week here in Europe, I spent the week traveling. I spent the week with my good friend from Gonzaga who is also studying in Spain, but she is in southern Spain in Granada. Her name is Kara.



Our first stop was Dublin, Ireland. It is such an amazing city! First off, being able to speak English and understand everyone was such a relief! This may be something that I never take for granted again. Anyway, we spent the weekend wandering around the streets. We went to Trinity College which is a really old college. We also went to the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. This was such a treat and we learned so much about the making of whiskey and the history of whisky. We also got to do a little sampling. It was so much fun!



Aside from these activities we also got to experience the Irish night life. The pubs were very fun and had so much of a unique and fun loving atmosphere. At every pub we went to there was live music which was most often traditional Irish music. This brought me back to the days of Irish Dancing, so I got to reminisce quite a bit. We also got to meet and talk to many people. The accents can sometimes be really hard to understand!

During our trip to Ireland we had mostly beautiful weather. It was sunny for the first two days, even though it was still a little chilly, but we had come prepared. The last day, however, it rained and it was extremely wet! We walked through the rain for a while looking at churches, but then ended up going for hot chocolate and finding a book store with extremely good prices! My favorite food during this trip was fish and chips, which I consumed quite a bit of.



After we left Ireland, we had an eight hour stop in Bristol, England. It was also expremely rainy here. Thus, we ended up sitting in a coffee shop and relaxing for a while, and going to a movie. We were pretty tired from a lack of sleep so this relaxing afternoon was perfect.

Our next stop was Mallorca, Spain. This is a beautiful island off the eastern coast of Spain in the Meditteranean. On this island we met up with some girls from Kara's program in Granada. We had a lot of fun getting to lay on the beach for a few days. This island was a lot of fun, but it is probably more touristy than Hawaii. We hardly saw any Spanish people there. It was mainly Enligh and Scottish blokes. Also, even thought the water is drinkable in the places we live in Spain, apparently it is not drinkable in Mallorca. Due to this, Kara got extremely sick the second night we were there. I drank the water as well, but didn't start feeling ill till we got back to Spain. Overall, Mallorca was a very fun, party island where we were able to soak up a bit of sun.

My roommate Niki and I decided a week ago to go to Madrid for our four day weekend at the end of January. We woke up really early on Friday and went to the train stop. The train was excellent. We could have flown, but most cheap flight around Spain don't even fly out of Barcelona. They fly out of a town that is an hours bus ride away. They train was extremely easy going. No hastle, about the same price, and very comfortable. We only packed our backpacks, and it was nice traveling light. We arrived to Marid around 11, but had to wait till 2 to check into our hostel. So while we were waiting we relaxed at this amazing fountain! Our hostel was pretty nice. We were staying in a room with 12 beds in it, which was an experience in itself. Fortunatley, due to my amazing planning skills the hostel only allowed students, so most the people were relatively trustworty. This was good because they didn't have lockers to keep things in. So we took all of our valuables with us, but left our backpacks.

On Friday we wandered around close to the hostel, but the hostel was basically downtown, so there was some amazing sights to see. First off, we went to this old monument that had been given to Spain from Egypt. These were build around 2nd century BC!
So for the day we wandered and had lunch. I finally tried Paella, which is a very Spanish rice dish usually with seafood in it. That evening we went to La Reina Sofia Museum which is a museum with more modern art in it. So there was tons of Picasso there. (For anyone who doesn't know--I didn't--Picasso was born in the southern part of Spain) I (illegally) took a picture of one of his most famous pieces called La Guernica that is supposed to reprensents when a town in Spain was bombed by Hitler during WWII. During this time Franco was in power and he in no way retaliated against Hitler. This is the picture I snapped for all of you!
During these adventures we were able to meet up with one of my good friends from Gonzaga who is studying in Madrid, Katie. She came to the museum with us and then showed us some of Madrid's nightlife.

The next day, Niki and I took the train 20 minutes outside of Madrid to Sagovia. This was such a nice day trip. First off, we got to see some of the Spanish landscape and we also got to go to a much smaller town and see how different it is than Madrid or Barcelona. Even though it is so small, Sagovia still has some amazing sights. My favorite was a castle that played a big part in Spanish history and often housed the monarchs of the time. This castle is also said to be the inspiration for sleeping beauty. We paid 4 euros to go inside and it was amazing! They had everthing very nicely preserved. There is also a beautiful cathedral and an aqueduct that is in amazing condition. Apparently, if it were needed, it is still in working condition. We were in Sagovia for about 4 1/2 hours and it was so much fun!
On Sunday we had a full day. THis is the day that most museums and other activities were free and we were planning on hitting a lot of sights. In the morning we went to the biggest flee market I have ever been to. However, I have to say, I was a little disappointed. I was expecting markets like I saw in Italy and the farmers markets back in Wisconsin with all sorts of food, arts and crafts, jewelry, and other interesting assortment of things. However, the majority of good for sale in the fleemarket were knockoff clothes! It was amazing to see so many stalls though...and people! AFter that we went to El Palacio Real, which is the Royal Palace. Its importance is equivalent to that of the White House since Madrid is the capital of Spain. Niki and I went inside for 8 euros, but we couldn't take any pictures. We got to see room after room of lavish decoration with gold and bronze everywhere, and I'm pretty sure each room had a unique and equisite crystal chandlier. It was an amazing sight.
After this, we met up with one of Niki's friends from her hometown Milton, WI. Kelsey is studying in Toledo, which is about an hour bus ride away from Madrid. We also met up with Katie and then all four of us went to El Prado. This is the most famous museum in Spain and houses some pretty incredible pieces. Niki and Kelsey had studied tons of Spanish art history in their Spanish classes, which is something I never got to do, so they acted as tour guides and told us all about the most famous painting. It was ver fun! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any pictures here. THey were much more strict:)
Monday was our last day in Madrid, and considering most of the touristy sight places were closed, we decided to go shopping. Surprising, shopping in Madrid seemed to be much cheaper than Barcelona. We had an amazing time wandering around the streets and going into every store that caught our eye. AFter this we retrieved our bags from the hostel and went and wandered around a park next to the train stop before we left. It was quite an amazing trip!
Classes started on Tuesday 2nd, so I'm sure I'll be having a lot of homework soon. Till then, I'm enjoying wandering around the streets of Barcelona, going running, and generally just relaxing.

Today is the mark of my second week here! I am starting to feel more comfortable being in a strange city. I can get around good on the metro, bus, or walking. I can communicate sufficiently well (and I think I’m getting better at Spanish), and I am feeling really good about the little apartment I live in. For those of you who don’t know, I live will two other people. One girl who is in my program is from Milton, Wisconsin. I love that she is from Wisconsin because we are able to talk about Wisconsin a lot because I spent a summer there with my grandparents. I am also living with Danny who is a student from Gonzaga and who I have known for a while. They are excellent living companions and we have tons of fun exploring the city together or sitting down at night and drinking wine and playing cards.

So far my exploring has been relatively limited because we were apartment searching, which took over a week. One good thing about that search though is that I came to know the different sections of Barcelona better and how to travel around on the metro. However, I have done some sightseeing. Last weekend we went to La Sagrada Familia which is a very famous church-- the most visited sight in Spain in fact--that was started by Antoni Gaudí. Gaudí is a very famous architect who contributed many of the famous building and bridges and other structures here in Barcelona. He started working on La Sagrada Familia in 1884. There are three planned themes throughout the structure: the Nativity, the Passion and the Glory. They are now working on the Glory. Work is still being done on the structure following Gaudí’s original plans. Apparently, when it is done it will have room for 13,000 people. For me, this building was impressive. You can see from the pictures that it is a massive building. It also is meant to look like it is melting. It was very fun getting to see such a creative and unique building, and that they are still working on! We didn’t go inside because the cost is 6-10 Euros, which is a little expensive now. Hopefully, before my trip ends, I can go inside though and see the inside, which I’m sure is as amazing as the outside.



After this we wondered down to La Barceloneta. This is a section of Barcelona that is right on the water. It is also very touristy, which was new for me because the parts of town that I have been frequenting are not like this. I could tell it was very touristy because more the Spanish people in restaurants spoke really good English, and it was much more expensive. But it was still very fun and the water was beautiful! We walked along the board walk and marina snapping a few pictures, and then around two went and had a meal. It was delicious! I had mussels, wine, and lasagna. However, their lasagna is completely different from what I was expecting, but it was so good! There is also a beach right there that I will probably be spending some time at when the weather gets warmer, but maybe not because it will be packed with tourists. I’m sure I will be going back though



During the week I am going to school from 4:30 to 8:30. I am in a Spanish Intensive where we are reading articles of Spanish business and working on vocabulary and conversation in Spanish. We are also each doing a presentation on the different autonomous states of Spain. I will be doing mine on Andalucía, which is the southernmost part of Spain. It is very interesting getting to learn more about the culture, geography, and economy of Spain.

I’m still working on arriving at a normal eating and sleeping schedule here. So far, I try and wake up by 9:30 (I know! So late!). I grab a bit of breakfast, and then work on my emails, homework, grocery shopping, and other activities. Around 2 or 3 I try and eat a big lunch. This meal seems to be the largest meal of the day in Spain and is during siesta. So from 2-4 about, most of the shops are closed. At 3:30 I jump on the bus (probably will start walking when the weather gets a little better) and head to school. School starts at 4:40 and we get a half hour break around 6 where I have un café con leche and eat and apple and bar that I bring. Then class gets out and usually we go straight home. On Fridays it might become a tradition for my classmates and I to go out for tapas (appetizers) and alcohol. So after I arrive home, I have another little meal and play cards, read, or do homework. I try and go to bed between 1 and 2.



Our apartment is in a pretty amazing part of town. We are literally kiddy corner from Camp Nou, which is the Futból (soccer) stadium for the FC Barcelona team (Barca to the locals). There was a game last Saturday and my neighborhood’s usually quiet streets were transformed into crowds of people packed in the bars and restaurants getting cheap food and drink before they entered the stadium. Then, five minutes before the game, the streets and bars were completely empty! We went to a bar just around the corner and enjoyed some of our, so far, favorite tapas: potatas bravas (fried wedges of potatoes with a garlicky aioli sauce on it), calamari, and croquets. Plus the local popular beer called Estrella Damm. We chatted and enjoyed the game, and the bar ended up being pretty full. It was a very nice evening!