7 Counties, 4 Months, Not Too Shabby

I've finally uploaded all the pics from my 3 weeks of adventuring. Enjoy!

Inshallah . . . Ciao

So this might be a superfluous last blog post as I will be back in Tulsa in approximately 4 days, but oh well. Umm since I last posted a lot has happened, most exciting being that I survived a sandstorm in the SAHARA and road a camel. No big deal ;) I also had a lovely Easter with my friends in Sevilla and am now chillin in Italy. No worries guys, I have tons of pics and stories for when I return. But for now I'd like to reflect how perfect it is that I'm ending in Italy where they use ciao for both hello and goodbye. So in 4 days I will say ciao Europe and ciao friends and family
Has it really been 4 months already?

Slainte!

Oh btw, I'm still alive! Yay! There were a few close calls . . . nah, it's been really good. I left the parents on Monday to begin my long journey northward. Made it to London in a very timely manner. Saw a few sights before eating delicious fish and chips (even on a budget I couldn't skip that). We went to see Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre. SO good. We adventured London and stayed at Terri's house . . . man am I excited to have a home bed again. Next was off to Dublin. Mmmm . . . Guinness. And small world, ran into Ben Shroeder at the hostel. Crazy! Galway has been really nice but we are headed to new places! Adventure awaits . . .

Verano . . . y PADRES!!!!

After my last week in Santander, it appears that I am on summer vacation! So crazy I know. . . but that's definitely part of the reason I chose my program. So nothing really exciting happened after all the busy-ness on Monday, I mean technically I still had class on Wednesday and Thursday, but really. . . I was pretty much done. I was real sad to leave my host family on Friday, but life must go on, and it definitely helps that when I got to Madrid my parents were there waiting for me. Such adventures with the padres! Apparently before I made it to Madrid, they managed to super get themselves lost (like 2.5 hours trying to find the hotel from the airport; it only really takes 5 min). But they practiced a bunch after that trauma and managed to come get me at 430 on Saturday morning. YAY for parents and a rental car, no airport sleeping that weekend for me!
So a break-down of what we've been up to so far. . .
Saturday: We slept in super late thanks to the 430 airport visit, but we managed to find a restaurant open around 100 for a "brunch" which was real tasty (especially since the parents hadn't had a good meal since they left Wichita). We then travelled into actual Madrid (our hotel was on the outskirts) and visited the Museo de Sorolla and saw the Prado. We wandered around a bit before heading back to the hotel, then out to dinner. We had some tasty raciones on a teraza and headed in fairly early since we were off to Toledo on Sunday.
Sunday: We got a later start than expected (the parents didn't realize that the sun doesn't rise until around 9 up here). We had some tasty fruit for breakfast as well as a cup of cafe con leche, claro! We headed out to Toledo after that and found our hotel relatively easily (thanks to my amazing ;) Spanish skills and the nice man at the gas station (that had fresh bread; dad couldn't stop raving)). Also, dad could not stop raving about our hotel in Toledo (mom on the other hand didn't like being sneaky: we only reserved the room for too people). We visited the old part of Toledo and saw the Cathedral, but quickly headed back as it started raining and we had walked. We went to a super fancy pants restaurant for dinner. We went to bed in order to hopefully get a sooner start on our journey to Córdoba on Monday.
Monday: So ya, the whole "early start" thing didn't really happen and we barely got out the door in time to get to Córdoba by lunch time. This unfortunately meant skipping breakfast :( But we got to Córdoba in time for lunch(ish) but the hotel it turns out was right next to the Mezquita and thus was kinda tricky to park. We ended up driving around for like an extra half an hour just to go down the street we were practically already on (in our defense, it said you weren't sposed to drive up it). We eventually got a lunchtime meal (at like 400). Then we did our lil tour of the Mezquita--so amazing (I might get some pics up soon). And we did a lil shopping (or rather I). And we ate dinner at a lovely place with tasty sangria and olives (as well as fried eggplant, tortilla española, and gazpacho esque soup).
Tuesday: For realz, we were gonna get an early start. I got up at 800 in order to shower and be ready to go. We ended up leaving about the same time as the day before (I just don't understand), but at least this time we had a big breakfast at the hotel buffet (not free, but tasty). And we headed down to Cadiz. So far, it's not the best city, but at least it has the ocean. We shall see what I think after dinner (lunch was less than impressive).
Anyways, I still have about a week left with the parents and I know we will have tons of fun! Plus, I get to eat well for a whole 10 days! But, I think this might be my last big blog post. I'll try to still write something about my travels but the laptop will be headed back to the US with the parents. So. . . hasta luego!

"En un ciclo sin fin . . ."

So I guess I´ll let you see and hear what I´ve been up to for the last month. . .
But back to what's been goin on. . . I'm sitting here in my room with the sun shining down on me (windows thrown open) and basking in the wonder of being done with finals! How this semester has flown! Although I still have a presentation for one of my classes on Thursday, I am basically done with classwork until August. ¿Qué? Ya, I'm not sure how that's possible. Last week was rather uneventful, I went to class, procrastinated writing my paper, eventually wrote my paper, then headed off on another whirlwind adventure. All in a week's work.
So on Friday, in the morning, I cranked out a 2000 word essay for my art history class that was due on Monday (I also had 2 finals and a presentation over a book I finished Thursday night). Then it was off to Barcelona for me! It probably wasn't the best choice considering what all happened on Monday, but how could I study in Spain for 3 months and not make it to Barcelona? So. . . as a side note, Spanish people don't arrive at the airport til their flight is like about to board. I got there 1.5 hours early and maybe 1 other person there ended up being on my flight. Qué ridiculo! But ya, made it to Barcelona and barely caught the train into the metro station (if I missed it, would of had to wait another 30 min). Hopped on the metro to Horta (el barrio con mi hostal) and found Jordan waiting for me in the lil plaza. . . fun lil note, there was also a piano just chillin in the plaza. We dropped my stuff off then headed to Park Güell designed by Gaudí. It was real pretty, but also so busy. So then we wandered around a bit before heading back to hunt for dinner at a supermercado near the hostel. It was crazy trying to find peanut butter, until we decided that Barça doesn't believe in it, so we settled for fake nutella. We had a lovely dinner on the roof-top terrace of our hostel with Barça shining in the background. Ended up watching Spain vs. Czech Republic futból game and trying some cabeza de conejo with the hostel owners(?). We also enjoyed free sangria and olives. Yum! After that we hit up La Rambla (main street in Barça). It seemed like night life was about to start hoppin, but the metro only ran til 2 so we headed home early.
On Saturday, we took our time to get ready and head out. Jordan hadn't slept much lately. After having a lovely breakfast out in the sun, we headed to the Sagrada Familia (another Gaudí work, but this one has been butchered by people trying to finish it without the original plans). It's impressive nonetheless. We then commenced wandering to see some of Gaudí's other works, considering Barcelona is Gaudíland, it wasn't too hard. We saw La Rambla by day which was super fun, thanks to all the street performers (most were like statues but Jordan couldn't help but watch for them to move). We chilled in Plaza Real a bit and got to see some super cool Brazilian dancing, which I really can never remember the name of. Back on La Rambla we ran into some of Jordan's Alicante friends (loco!) who were also visiting. I had the best juice of my life from a market: fresh mango and coconut. SO YUM! We found our way to a nice little park where we enjoyed some more nutella sandwiches for lunch and chillaxed. On our way to the hill/mountain with a view of the Gothic center of town, we found a playground. With swings! ¡QUE DIVERTIDO!! Travelling with Jordan was definitely a great idea! We then headed up the hilltain. Lots of nice gardens and great views of la ciudad or ciutat if we goin with Catalan (language/dialect of the region). (Random side note: I don't know how you could learn Spanish if studying in Barça, so much English plus Catalan = very lil Spanish). We found the fancy pants Museo Nacional de Barcelona and Olympic Stadium. Yay for wandering! Then best discovery of all the Fuente Mágica! We saw the horario then headed on yet another search for a supermercado. This time just finding the store was long, but when we did find one, it was awesome! Two stories! Grabbed our 1.45€ bottle of wine along with bread and cheese and headed back to the fountain. We ate and drank and watched. So much fun!!!! Distinctly different shows for each half-hour display (classical. . . alright to be expected, 80's American music. . . strange but I dig, Disney (in Spanish). . . OH MY GOSH. . . SO GREAT!!) So after watching all these and finishing our wine we decided to head back to the hostel since Jordan had to be at the airport at 5am. I decided to accompany him since I didn't want to travel Barça by myself. So I got to sleep and study for 8 hours in the aeroport. More fun than I would have guessed. Got home, went to Mass, had some Regma (ice cream), edited, threw pics together, bed.
Monday came sooner than I would have liked, but it all turned out pretty well I think. (I can't say definitively since I am yet to receive my grades) Anyways, sorry this was so long, but since I will be very limited when I get on my own (without a computer) I thought I should make it count!
Can't wait to see the parents in 4 short days and show them all Spain has to offer!

Boom! . . . follow the crowd? . . . !

Well. . . it appears that another week has passed and not without a whole load of new life experiences and exciting stories. Last week was fairly uneventful as weekdays rarely are. Went to class, blah blah blah. I did make some peanut butter galletas for the fam. They loved 'em of course. They keep telling me that I´m gonna make 'em all fat. Oh well ;) So this past weekend was Las Fallas in Valencia. . . WOW (I don´t think this word is strong enough, but it´s the best I got)
A little history on the fiesta before I divulge my personal experience with it. It goes like this. . . St. Joseph´s feast day is March 19 and as you might know, pretty much all of Spain´s fiestas pretty much are tied to saints or other holy days. St. Joseph was a carpenter and as such would, apparently, save all his scraps and mess-ups for a year. Then once a year, he would set all these scraps on fire. Kind of an out with the old, in with the new thing. So artisans in Valencia took this to heart and would burn their scraps on Mar 19. This somehow morphed into what is Las Fallas today (in case you were wondering las fallas means the faults/failures). It is a week-long celebrations full of fireworks, food, and of course drinking. Every day they have what is called a mascleta (basically the loudest firework display possible) in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (they have a special cage and everything for them). In addition to the mascleta, pretty much everyone in the city gets in on the firework fun by randomly lighting and dropping firecrackers. You get over the booms pretty quick. The last day of the week-long celebration (Mar 19) is when they do the biggest partying. They light on fire these enormous structures that they have been working on all year (each bario has one at least). Anyways. . . my side of the story
I got to Valencia Friday afternoon with my dear friend Emily in tow. We planned on meeting our other dear friend, Elizabeth, at the fountain in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (it was the most specific location I could come up with that was close to both of us). For starters, people start pickin spots for the mascleta around 1200 (it doesn´t start til 200). Also, it´s not good when cell phones don´t function properly. No worries, we found each other, if a lil later than expected. The mascleta, by the way, was super intense and increíble. No words. We then had the joy of finding our hotel which happened to be in a suberb of Valencia. I had looked up some directions to get there, but silly me, didn´t write them down. This led to 2 hours of adventuring in an industrial wasteland, making 3 new friends who didn´t know what we were talking about, and finally getting good help from some nice men in a cafetería. The hotel was super nice (free hard candies in the lobby, best). We ventured back to Valencia for dinner and the Nit de Foc (night of light). Crowded bar and crowded streets. But the fuegos artificiales were the best I have ever seen. Super close, a ton, so loud, AMAZING! Unfortunately the crowds were so big and so tightly packed that I had my first pick pocket experience (no worries I was gonna get a new phone when I returned anyways). Overall incredible day.
Saturday (the big day!) we slept in (after a 130 fireworks show, I think we deserved it). After about 5 full buses passed us and the nice old couple we made friends with, we finally caught a bus into Valencia. We were meeting up with Jordan (in town for the day with 400 other Alicantinos) so we went for the same meeting place, luckily he got our call and found us just fine. And exciting! Elaine was with him too (another TU kid in Spain right now). So today´s mascleta was even better (I know, hard to believe) but ground shakingly, chest poundingly better. Our day was filled mostly with wandering around town (had my first Döner Kebab for lunch). We met up with Emily´s fam, then chilled in a nice little parque until dinnertime ish. More exciting! we stumbled into Mass at the Catedral. Afterwards, we picked up some paella from a sketch stand (and graciously paid for by Emily´s dad, thanks!). So the crema doesn´t start until 1000 for the lil fallas and not until 1200 for the big ones. This allowed us to sit in another lil parque for a bit and just catch up while watching small children play with fireworks (no adult supervision, mind you). We found the little fallas burning when we began wandering again. Then we hung out in front of a big falla until 1200 and got to see it lit on fire. WOW!!!! It was completely gone in less than 5 min. You have to see the pics to realize the intensity of this. Us girls went back to the hotel after that since we all had to get on trains/buses early in the morn.
Sunday was all travel interspersed with wonderful conversation and a fresh baguette (yum!). Got home and slept very well. This week will be full of actual work, bleh! But that´s what happens when next week is my last week here! (Santander of course, not Europe). Oh ya, I´ll be off to Barcelona in 3 days. . .

Picos y Tortitas

Another week has come and gone. . . I don´t quite understand how it goes so fast. But, such is life. Classes are continuing as normal. No Art History last lunes thanks to Carnaval, but other than that, normal. I forgot to mention last time, that despite our two week break, we once again have franceses. Last week it was 3 older boys (17 & 18) (one was kinda cute, but don´t tell Allen). This week we have 3 girls, haven´t had the chance to chat with em yet, but I´m sure there will be fun had. The most exciting thing from the weekdays had to be receiving Janine´s paquete. NEW CLOTHES!!!! What living out of a suitcase will do . . .
Anyways, on sábado we headed out to the Picos de Europa. These are the montañas that are south of Santander. Our natural border from the rest of Spain (we are a lil different up here). I can´t begin to describe how gorgeous it was. But, take my word ¡que increíble! Also, there was a nice coat of snow up there. This ended up being to our disadvantage as we weren´t able to actually hike down the mountain. (Not prepared and kinda dangerous). The views we did get we still impresionante. And there was a bit of hiking. With our unexpected free time, we visited the lil pueblo of Potes (biggest town in the Picos). It was preciosa. It was all old and cute and stuff. We also got to see a church from the 10th century. ¡Qué antiguo! It was cute and lil too.
On Sunday, I made tortitas (pancakes) for the fam. They seemed to quite enjoy them (as a dessert). Yum. . . no syrup but caramel sauce and chocolate sprinkles. I´m really starting to take to heart this whole cooking by sight thing. And cooking everything from scratch. . . o dear! 50s housewife here I come! But ya, went to Mass at another church here in Santander, Santa Lucia (which happens to be next to the biggest night scene here). I do love irony. Pretty church, but really it´s hard to find a non-pretty, non-old church around these parts. Spent the rest of the day studying and working on my presentation for Monday. Now that that´s done I get to look forward to Friday. ¡¡¡LAS FALLAS!!!

Can You Find la Rana?

Who doesn´t love a paid excursion with his study abroad program? A crazy person. We got to stay in a 4* hotel with free breakfast. Woot! I love eating as much as I want for free! And of course saving a lil for later too. Anyways, we arrived on Friday at like 830. We waited a bit in the hotel before Gloria gave us a mini tour for the best places to eat. Ended up at a restaurante chino for dinner. Yum! Cheap and soooo tasty; I had a nido which consists of a bowl made of French fries and filled with meat and veggies a Chinese style. I thought that I might go out more but ended up just staying in. That Chinese really put us in a comatose state.
Obviously, Saturday was tour day. We got up, had breakfast!, and started off on our grand adventure of Salamanca. We saw the convent where the cloistered nuns are and the night club that some how got part of it. And then we saw the big ole church that you can´t see the towers unless you are in the library across the street (or far away). The library actually is the casa de conchas which was some kind of token of love or something back in the day. After these we headed off to the cathedrals, yep they have 2. The nueva (14th century) and vieja (12th century) (technically it´s all one building) but ya they decided to make the new one to stay up with the times but couldn´t bring themselves to destroy the old one. It was really cool, we did a tour on top of the cathedral. There are sneaky balconies up high that people can walk on. It was also a great view of the city. On the facade, when they did renovations in the 20th century, they added a few engravings not to be missed (astronaut and ice cream cone!) We headed to the university where it was every man for himself to find the lucky frog. Ya, I needed some help, it´s really small and it would have taken a long time without a hint. (Hopefully the luck still applies.) Saw a real life classroom from the 13th century and the library from the same time period. Sweet! And got to see the journey to wisdom (which turns out to be a woman). After all this touring, it was time for a tasty little plato combinado which was a bistec, huevo frito, patatas fritas, y ensalada. Yum! After that saw a weird museum that was in a lovely house, Casa Lis. Chilled at the hotel before getting the best tapas ever (well so far). Did I mention these tapas came free with my drink? Not so common in the north, so missing out up here. Chorizo y una costilla! Con una nueva bebida tinto de verano. So ya, ended up go to bed relatively early for the biggest night of Carnaval since they don´t really do the whole crazy street parties there, or most northern locales.
Sunday! Went to Mass at the Catedral Nueva, which I ended up saying liturgy of the hours in Latin as well. So cool! And then we wandered around a bit before hopping on the bus back home. Santander Real Racing played Real Madrid, got to watch a bit of the game. . . we ended up losing 1-3 but at least we scored one!
Anyways, this seems like a particularly long post, so I´ll just stop rambling and let you wait til next week. . . get to go on a real adventure! Picos de Europa

French are Friends, not Food

Well. . . I suppose that is only kinda true. French people are super nice I´ve found out. . . nothing like I was expecting with my patriotic distaste for los Franceses. But, they do also have delicious food (not that I tried a whole lot, but what I ate was muy rico!) So the trip started out in the Santander bus station at 630 on Friday morning, bleh, but that got us into Irun (closest Spanish city to the border) by around 1030. We then proceeded to wander our way into France! We got directions from a nice Spanish man out washing his car (much better than the suggested running across the freeway). Hendaye was a cute lil French town . . . surprisingly you can actually tell the difference with only a river in between. From Hendaye we took the train to Biarritz (a lovely coastal city) for only 4 euro, win!
So Biarritz, when we arrived we were just gonna go to the tourist information center and find a hotel, good plan, right? Well the tourist info was in the "town center". (I´m still not sure where the town center was). Anyways, we eventually found the tourist center after walking a bit, resting to eat our bocadillos, and asking the nice ice cream man (anyone for some glaces?) So after that we had our map and were on the hunt for the hotel. We had just figured out what to do when an old lady with vibrant lipstick came up to us saying Bonjour!. We were like okay and then she walked to the end of the block and told us how to get to the hotel we were looking for (note to anyone reading, she only spoke French and lots of it). But after deciding that the hotel was good, we went to the lighthouse (amazing views!) and who doesn´t love 248 stairs in a spiral staircase? But ya, overall I really enjoyed Biarritz we got to watch the sunset out on this little island-y thing with a statue of Mary. And pizza for dinner with crepes con nutella. Yum!
Saturday was our adventure to Lourdes. It began with a 530 walk to the train station (not to forget the 2 drunk French boys who thought we could be from Sydney). In case you were wondering, French train station ticket kiosks only take credit cards with fancy chip things (we didn´t have that kind of card). We also didn´t have enough money in change (dang!). But the nice conductor man, who spoke English, was able to tell us that we could simply buy our tickets on the train (Thank goodness!) Lourdes is a gorgeous little city (even if it is the Disney World of Catholicism, ya 200 hotels). Another wonderful French person was the lady in the tourist office, so nice! We went to the Castle and to the top of Pic du Jour (mountain in Lourdes). The views were soooooo incredible. Pyrennees mountains, WOW! And I now have a desire to actually "mountain" bike. (crazy French boys). The Sanctuary was really nice (check French off my list of Masses in other languages). Got to see where Mary appeared and got some holy water, woot! We had a delicious meal of French bread and brie (super cheap and wonderful). On Sunday morning we did the Stations of the Cross, life-size and up/down a hill. And we saw the underground Basilica, very cool.
The trip ended on a slightly different note, mostly the only bus from Irun to Santander was at 915 at night, but such is the cost of going on a French adventure. On the up side, I had some delicious pastries in Irun!
Hello, March! With March comes busy weekends and even more exciting travels. . . Salamanca here I come!

Hey . . . Ho . . . Let´s Go!

Another weekend. . . another excursion. This time we went to . . . wait for it . . . OVIEDO! I know this doesn´t seem like a very exciting place, but it is the capital of Asturias (region next to Cantabria). It was also where all the Catholics chilled out while the Moors were redefining the Sur. So ya. . . it has a pretty sweet Catedral (granted those are fairly easy to come by around here, but still). It´s super sneaky, though, and has a "secret" upper chamber where they store super important things (at least they did back in the day), such as the cloth that covered Jesus´ face and the chest that they used to transport random religious things that they found on conquests and some snazzy crosses (No worries, Merijke snagged some contraband fotos so y´all can see it). Other than the Catedral we had tiempo libre to do as we pleased. Merijke and I broke away from the group (apparently they all went together with a guy that knew the city well, how were we supposed to know?). We saw the mercado and el parque. Both were bueno pero I was really excited to find some very cute 6 euro tacones. I can now go dancing in style. (I know you were very concerned about that). But Oviedo is fun because they have a ton of random statues everywhere (most notably: the fat lady and her baby, the naked people with lil heads, and the traveller). Unfortunately, Europeans love their naked people statues. Oh, I also got to see some buildings from the 9th century, no big deal : ) One was a party/meeting house and the other was a church. They were legit thanks to their age but overall not super impressing (but I mean really, compared to the coliseum). But ya Oviedo is a worthwhile trip.
Sunday was fun. I spent all day in the kitchen (certainly all morning). I made chocolate chip cookies, meatloaf, and mashed taters for the fam. Les encantan los galletas. And they thought the meatloaf was very tasty as well. But apparently mashed potatoes are not appreciated here (sad day). Oh well, I can now cook without measuring cups! And am fairly good at improvising while cooking. I suppose pics of the cookies would have been good, but they were eaten SOOOO quickly. Anyways, el domingo was lazy besides that. Studying for my final and such. Only 2 classes now!
Let´s see other highlights from last week . . . we had a lil fiesta for the redecoration of the ISA oficina. I did a lot of siesta-ing. But really weekdays are fairly uneventful. Went to the Museo Maritimo. It had fish and boats and stuff. Anyways . . . from here on out I will be going somewhere fun every weekend. Destination for last weekend in Feb: Sur de Francia!

Hasta luego!

It´s my party . . .

Luckily, there was no crying for my birthday this year! I actually had a really great time. Let´s see . . . I can´t think of anything too interesting that happened during la semana. En general, I went al clase y came home to chill with the fam or do homework. Oh, we did have 3 French girls living with us. They were fun, pretty shy and they spoke better English than Spanish, pero they were visiting Spain. I had my first test! It turned out fine, as well.
Back to my birthday festivities, on Friday, we went to a place called Tempo (musica y tapas) because they were having a Bienvenidos party for all the students coming to the Universidad de Cantabria. So it was a Spanish bar full of American students, ugh. I keep thinking I´m going to enjoy seeing more Americans and then I´m reminded how much I don´t really like them (at least the typical party scene). But then the cute French boy, who told us about the party originally, told us that the party was leaving to another bar. Turns out the other bar is "our" typical hangout Eldorado. I didn´t stay too long since I had to get up the next morning to get EMILY!!! So I did a celebratory tequila shot (Merijke´s first shot) and headed out pretty quick.
On Saturday, Emily got here around noon. I got up around noon. When she got here, of course I showed her all around the city, and since I won the family lottery, my fam let her stay with us as well as eat lunch (big meal) here. For my bday celebrations, we went and got tapas at the most recommended place in town. ¡Que rica! Fritos variados and un vaso de vino tinto. Yum! (And the pics are already up!)  Then we went for salsa lessons at another local joint (super fun, except for the few creepy guys). By this point, Merijke had to catch the night bus, because it doesn´t run very much. But Emily and I went on a mission to find free actual bday shots. No luck on the free, but shots none the less. (Luckily it´ll only be 9 mos. before I´m legal in the states ;) Then to bed since once again I was gonna wake up at a reasonable hour.
We went to mass at the Jesuit Church. (Seriously, it´s call the Jesuit Church). Then we got breakfast (nepoliatano and cafe con leche). Emily and I returned home and had a delicious little lunch and then . . . my family had a cake for me! They put 20 candles on it and everything! First they sang in Spanish, then English, then a little diddy (similar to For he´s a jolly good fellow). And they gave me lovely presents! A pretty bufanda and some pulseras. I very much like both. And later I walked Emily to the bus station where I treated myself to some candied nuts. All in all, it was a great cumpleaños!

By the way, we have 3 new French girls this week! I´m sure it´s gonna be fun!

Another Excursion . . .

So this weekend we had yet another excursion to a few sites around Santander. This time we ventured to the "Caves of Altamira", Comillas, Puenta Viesgo, y Santillana del Mar. Ok, so first "Caves of Altamira" were not very exciting considering it was just a replica of the actual caves. Secondly, we have talked so much about the caves in class, it was like I had already seen them. I guess that´s the one plus, ahora puedo decir, Sí, he visto las cuevas! The actual caves were the first discovered with paintings from around 18000 BC. The cavemen actually used the forms of the rocks and cracks to make the pics 3-D. Just google it, if you want to see what I´m talking bout. Comillas is a bonita little ciudad. The main guy there went to Cuba to make a fortune (as was posh at that time), ended up making a fortune, and built a mansion so the king could come visit (and for himself, por supuesto). He was actually más rico que el rey. Anyways, he ended up dying before he got to live in the mansion and his first son died real young, tambien. So there´s a church built right next to the mansion. The second son got to live in the mansion, btw. So ya, Comillas was like the hoppin place for rich people to have beach houses. Gaudi built a cute lil place up there too. (All these places have pics). I ate lunch on a cliff overlooking the beach. I can see why it was so hoppin. Then we went to some real cuevas. That was super cool. There were paintings from 30000 BC (legit). And the rocks were waterfalls. Santillana del Mar (not saintly, flat, or by the sea) (mentiras!) was cool since it was a medieval village that´s been preserved, but it was un poco touristy for my tastes. But ya, overall good to see more regional stuff.

Random

Some random thoughts, since this is the first time in a while I get to just chill at home:

• our dog, Nico, watches the tele. He´ll bark at it and just stand and watch it. So weird!
• I love that español has ¡ and ¿. It´s super exciting for things like ¡Qué divertido!
• in case anyone was worried, the babe likes me . . . we have good times
• I can understand Spanish, SO much better than when I first got here . . . speaking is decent
• yesterday I watched La Ruleta de la Suerte ¡Quality!
• overall I enjoy all the dubbed American cartoons
• surprisingly, I love having a 30 min walk to and from school

Anyways . . . hasta!

¡¡¡PORTUGAL!!!

Another week, another set of new experiences. I really hope it keeps up like this! It certainly makes missing home not as bad. (In case you were wondering, I am starting to get homesick, but it´s more friend-sick). So just a minute of complaining, which is super ironic, because what I'm complaining about is people complaining (wow that's a mouth full). So ya, for the most part, I really enjoy all the people in my program, there´s only 14 of us, so I better, but they are some of the most complaining people I've met. I forgot how lucky I was to have such great friends that put up with everything and have generally positive demeanors. Also, I don't have enough guy friends. But, I love Spain and my family, still. Speaking of the family, we have taken in the great-granddaughter of abuelita. No sé por qué but she a cute little chub, even if she does cry when she sees me. (No worries we´re working on it)
Anyways, I went to Portugal last weekend! It was increible y bonitísima. It was also sunny! In case you didn´t know, there was a heavy Moorish influence in Lisboa during their occupation of Iberia. Which is great because they have super-decorative tendancies. For instance, a good majority of the buildings are covered in decorative tiles (pics to come). On Friday, since it was Dia de los Profesores, we left at like 8am and got into Lisboa at 1030. The hotel was nice, it was a small room with a shower in the corner. (The toilet was down the hall a bit). Merijke and I decided to go to the 11th century castelo that we saw up on a hill. (Another note: Lisboa is all hills, you walk up then down then up again) It was surprisingly dificil para ir al castillo porque todos los calles son diferente. You start going the way you want, then the road turns and goes uphill without another road crossing it. (wtf, mate?). But, the castle was super cool and the views were AMAZING of Lisboa. Other than that we just wandered around the city and found the cathedral after stumbling into 4 other churches. El sábado, fuimos a Fatima. It was nice, but weird after my pilgrimage to Rome (maybe not weird, but different). We had a delicious lunch, though. I can officially check off another language from my "Masses in Other Languages List" (Portuguese). But I have also decided that Portuguese is an ugly language (written, it looks like Spanish; spoken, so icky). Fun random things: saw Picasso´s Guernica on the side of a car, saw a 4-wheeler on the street, and overheard a waiter ask two French girls to a party. Also, in case you were wondering, it is common for random musicians/whole bands(sax, bass, trumpet, accordian) to perform on Madrid's metro.
I also went to my first fútbol game last night! Super fun! I miss sports. We were actually winning for most of the game, but of course, Valencia had to score 30 min into the second half. Afterwards, I walked home with 2 friends and their dad (who came to the game) and we stopped to have a beer. But their dad is a lot of fun. I think that pretty much covers what you´ve been missing. Oh and it´s cold-ish. Blah.

This weekend: Comillas and Santillana del Mar (the city of three lies)

Hey Team

Sorry it's been a while since I have posted anything. I always find something else to do . . . so let's see what I have done over the past week. I went to the cliff by el faro and ¡que bonita! It is so gorgeous around here, I can't believe what I have been missing by living in the midwest (not that I don't love it there too). We went out for Christina's Bday which was fun. On Sunday, I slept in! It was glorious since I hadn't been able to do it for so long. During the week, I had classes and not much exciting happened. I finished booking my first "solo" trip (It's with Merijke so it's only kinda solo). On Friday, I had my first intercambio meeting which turned out to be a middle-aged guy, but he's super nice and I think we will both benefit. Este fin de semana he viajado a Bilbao y San Sebastián. It was super interesting to see the Guggenheim (love the architecture!) and hear the reasons behind some modern art. The real treat for me was Sanse since I got to see Emily!!! It was so great to see someone from home since I was feeling nostalgic on Friday. Sanse is a very pretty town with edificios muy antiguos. La playa no es mejor de todas de Santander pero bien, supongo. I had my first hostal experience, it went very well! Cheap and nice rooms and the owner loves Americans. Yay! La Catedral de Buen Pastor es muy bonita, tambien. Anyways, hay una review de mi semana rapidamente.


I'm gonna follow Emily's lead and just post a link to all my pics, it's más facil para mí. 
My Pics . . .  so ya there´s all my pics so far, plus the few I stole from Emily since I figured two sets of the same pic is silly.


O and to steal from Maria . . . I too love snail mail so:

International Studies Abroad (ISA) Santander 

Attn: Alison Sanchez

UIMP-Campus de las Llamas 

Avenida de los Castros, 42 

39005 Santander, Spain

First Week Down

My huge room . . . all to myself!

The only bathroom

The view from the front door

Nico

Living/Dining Room

The view from my window!

Now that I have completed my first full week of school and almost a full week in my new home, I can officially say that it's gonna be fun! All of my classes are really great. I appreciate having so much Spanish every day I think it is definitely helping. I also have Culture and Civ and Spanish Art History. Both are taught by guys from the UK who are really fun and interesting. It's totally different from the ordinary math and science courses which is sooo great. Only a few presentations and a test! Today is one of my friends birthdays so I'm sure we'll be having a great time tonight and the plan for the gorgeous sunny day is to hike by the faro. I'm really trying to take advantage of all the sunshine cause it looks like next week the rain will finally be settling back in on us.

My New Home

This is the view from close to the top of the hill

This is the beach 5 min from school . . . we know where I'll be studying 

I'm on top of a cliff by the lighthouse . . . you can't imagine how fantastic the view is

I've finally arrived and mostly settled into what will be my home for the next 3 meses. (Get used to the Spanglish, it will only get worse) It's like the most gorgeous city ever. Basically its a hill-->bay  _/\_ sea. On the other side of the bay are montanas. On my walk to school (which is 30 min a lil disappointing) I can see the mountains and bay in the distance (be jealous). School is fine so far, if I'm lucky I won't have Friday classes in about a month and a half. My familia es super nice. My hermanitas are adorable and the 14 year old can speak some English (she's in bilingual classes). My Spanish is still un poquito rough but it should get better after this first week. My Spanish class is 3 hours every day so it better.

In Spain!

So I made it to Spain! It's kinda crazy and since I haven't reached Santander yet, I just feel like a tourist. Until I get settled in the internet is kind of spotty. But, I'm safe and enjoying everything so far. AMAZING food!

Getting Ready

1/1/2011

So I am finally starting to pack and prepare for my trip. Procrastination is really a skill of mine . . . in case you haven't noticed. The only reason I'm posting now, before I leave, is to make sure I know what this whole blog thing is all about. It seems pretty easy so far. As long as rambling is an acceptable form of writing :) Until I actually start living my Spanish life I thought a picture of where I am going would be nice so . . .

I'll try to keep up with posts at least once a week if not more. Until then, Feliz Ano Nuevo!