last days

So...finished exams and all were successful! Spent all of today in Sol and Parque de Retiro it was so beautiful got a yummy pastry from a Pasteleria and an italian cappaccino. Visited plaza mayor and went shopping with Alba, trying to soak in all of Madrid in one day. Finished packing today and our room is still a tornado...lol last night of dinner was good. Going out with the roomies tonite and flying home tomorrow :) fell in love with Madrid...

Last week in Spain...

So, this weekend was pretty low key. I stayed in Madrid bc this week is Finals, which I have a pretty easy schedule: presentation of photostory on Wed, religion exam on Friday and Psychopharmacology exam on Saturday. I can't believe this semester has flown by so quickly! Anywho, this weekend Melissa, Alba and I went to the famous nightclub "Kapital" which is a discoteca that is a bit expensive but a must for people who visit Madrid. Honestly, it was not that great, I went and I'm glad I did just to know that I have experienced it, but it really wasn't that great. It is a discoteca with 7 floors and different types of music on each level, but they are just balcony's, there is only on big dance floor and that's the first floor with techno music. This weekend we also saw all the Christmas lights around Madrid, they will be uploaded shortly...but it is beautiful and so different from home. Alba and I went souvenior shopping and visited the christmas market, which is in plaza mayor. The way they celebrate christmas here is a bit different than our traditional thoughts of christmas, it is like a mix of halloween and christmas here, there are tons of wigs and hats to wear around, and it is VERY common to see people wearing them. Also, instead of Santa Claus they have the three magis (wise kings) with different beards. Alba and I went to the Rastro one last time and bought our leather jackets, so we are officially spanish :) The rest of the weekend was ful of studying and writing papers. O and i bought a spanish dress :) This morning the tempature dropped 30 degrees and there was a frost, slight dusting on roofs and cars along with tons of salt on sidewalks and streets. I'm getting anxious about going home...I love it in Madrid, but know i will be happy at home too...less than a week and ill be home!

ciao!

falling in love with Paris...

Bonjour!!

My last trip through Europe was amazing!! I loved Paris!! Contrary to belief, the french people are EXTREMELY nice and helpful!! The weather was a bit crappy with rain and very cold! But, it was still very amazing!!

Day 1:

We started walking toward the Eiffel Tower and passed Parc de Monceau, which looked pretty. Next we saw Arc de Triomphe which was cool, it was an arc dedicated to soliders i think...really cool, but not as big as I thought it would be. By the way, the French are notorious for building underground tunnels to get to things situated in the center of the street, just fyi. From there we found the Eiffel tower, which was extremely tall and magnificent! The eiffel tower was about a 4 hr ordeal with waiting in many lines for buying ticket, actually entering the tower, taking elevator to 2nd floor, to the top, back down to the second and finally out of the eiffel tower. It was worth it, but deft a one time thing. I would like to say, for anyone that knows me this is a big ordeal that I went to the top, because I am TERRIFIED of heights!! But all went well and im glad i did it! From there we got some hot cocoa at a local restraunt because we were FROZEN! It was definately the coldest place I had been. We left there and stumbled upon the Christmas market, which was my favorite place!! It consisted of numerous shops on two streets set up in booths consisting of different foods and vendors. In the middle of the street was a huge ferris wheel and there were christmas lights everywhere soo beautiful!! I tried the christmas wine which is hot wine...not that great but part of the culture :) I also tried a crepe with nutella it was pretty good. Lol and had strawberries with white chocolate yum!

Day 2:

We woke up early and ate breakfast...just fyi french milk is gross!! Then we went to the Notre Dame it was beautiful, but started powering and sidewalks flooded a bit, shoes wet=bad! Went inside and id say it was the second most beautiful church I'd ever seen, right behind San Marco's Basilica in Venice. From there we went to the Louvre, which was really cool and huge! After gazing at the Mona Lisa and other beautiful art and statues we went to a italian/french restraunt, with some cute waitors :) Tried french wine and it was good!! From there we shopped and went back to the hostel. Later that night we went to Bar San Michel and danced away to American Music and listened to the french attempt to sing different American Songs..which was hilarious and i tried french beer which is okay, belgium was still the best! Then we saw a panoramic view of paris at night it was beautiful from Rue Azais, a church. Then we got some hot cocoa at a cafe and met some more nice french people who spoke english :)

Day 3:

On our last day there, we woke up early and went to see Moulin Rouge, which was a lot smaller than I imagined. We also saw the church Rue Azais again. It was beautiful! I also tried creme brulee!

The only negative thing about france except for the weather was the airport was hugely disorganized! Other than that I loved it! I got around with my 3 french phrases: "como tale vou" how are you; bonjour and merci boucoup! Everyone was really nice, the city was beautiful and the lights were amazing! I would recommend it to anyone! :) Less than 2 weeks in Madrid left, with finals rapidly approaching! Cant wait to go home, yet dont want to leave Madrid...

Au revoir!

Gelato, Pizza, Pasta, Tiramisu,Cappaccinos...

ciao everyone! I just got back from Roma and I loved it!! The city was full of so much history and life...and WONDERFUL food! I'm not going to lie, I really indulged, but hey when in Rome, do as the Romans do! :) The Gelato was some of the best ice cream I have ever had! The pizza and pasta definately did not disappoint! I tried tiramisu which is pretty good...still prefer my gelato tho. I had the best cappaccino ever! It was a regular cappachino with Roma written with chocolate syrup on top...so yummy! Okay, now that I have went on and on about the delicious food, I will begin to tell you about my trip...

Day 1

We arrived on thanksgiving night and Rosanna's boyfriend picked us up at the airport and after checking into the hostel, Alba, Josie and I all went to find our thanksgiving dinner. Just to let you know there is absolutely no turkey in rome...we checked! So, we settled on pasta and pizza. Then we went hunting for the trevi fountain, because rosanna told us how magnificent it looked at night, and we had our first gelato! The trevi fountain looked cool, but my personal favorite time of day to see the trevi fountain is at dusk, it is perfect! From there we went to bed.

Day 2

We awoke early and headed to the Vatican. I took the Vatican tour which took me on a 3.5 hour tour through the vatican museum, sistine chapel and St. Peter's basilica. It was nothing like what I had expected! My tourguide Rachel, from ireland, was really informative and funny and pointed out all the little things I would not have appreciated. I'm really glad that I took the tour bc I would have been too overwhelmed to understand or really appreciate everything. the vatican museum consists of a lot of sculptures and paintings each installed by a different pope. We heard all about the crazy popes that lived way back when! I saw the works of Rafael...really beautiful! Then we went to the sistine chapel and it is even more spectacular than i ever imagined! It is huge and almost 3D...hearing all the drama that went behind it made it even cooler. St. Peters Basilica was a bit of a let down, it was huge, but compared to some of the other churches I have seen...not too great. From there we had our first cappaccino...yummy! and continued walking past the castle, through little towns, saw the pantheon and the spanish steps! From there we had dinner and went to Campo de Fiori with some hostel mates and I tried the italian beer, pretty good and just mingled...just fyi...italian men are not that cute.

Day 3

We got up early and headed to the Colosseum, altho it was a little bit pricey, it was well worth it to see a bit of history! It was beautiful, but on the inside totally different from what I had imagined when I had learned about it in history class. There was like a maze on the bottom with lots of obstacles. From there, Rosanna, alba and I went and saw a big white building..something with the government i think...but it was beautiful! and got cappaccinos! Then, we headed to the trevi fountain and got pictures. Trevi fountain was by far my favorite it is beautiful all day and you see so many people making wishes. From there we went to see the spanish steps which were a lot prettier during the day. From there we went and saw Centre of Popolo...something like that...which was really pretty. We got more gelato and shopped a bit, we found a christmas tree which was amazing and felt like home! The city was glowing with lights. From there we got ready to celebrate Rosanna's birthday, which was the next day, we got lost...but we eventually got there and the food was scrumchious, we tried limoncello (nasty!) and rang in her 20th birthday!

Overall, it was a wonderful trip! I was sad to miss Thanksgiving though...o well one more trip, Paris this weekend! and i will be home in less than 3 weeks! Pictures from the dance and a video should be posted soon.

Ciao!

Dublin :)

Hi everyone! Just got back from Dublin, Ireland and loved it! The first day we saw The book of Kells at Trinity College, which for all of you that were like me and didn't know what that was, it is illustrated book of the 4 gospels...well that's the general jist but it was really cool! From there we went to see St. Patrick's Cathedral it was cool, but nothing like what I expected. One unique thing about the Cathedral's in Ireland was that both had crypts...this was the first place I had seen that done...it was interesting. There was a cute little park around the Cathedral that was very green. The thing that bothered me about the Cathedrals in Ireland was that there were huge shops in the Cathedral, it's like really? You're there to pray and see the cathedral not shop. Anywho, from there we went on to see the Guiness Brewery, it was so cool! There were like 10 different floors with information about what goes into making it, tasting it, and advertising it. At the end of the tour we got a free pint of Guiness. Needless to say, I couldnt finish it, but it was my first dark beer, the taste was okay but I was suprised about how smooth it was. The town of Dublin was extremely small and pretty modern, not what I expected at all. But, all the people we met there were extremely nice and helpful! Sadly, no hot irishmen and their accents aren't as cute as gerard butler's in P.s. I love you. Which, I bought my favorite book in Ireland, because that's where the writer is from :). I tried my first fish and chips...and found out that I like cod! I also tried fried ice cream which was good as well.

The next day we went out of the city on a tour of the countryside to Wicklow and Glendalough. Our tour guide was a cute,old irish man who was more than a little mad about the french beating the irish in rugby, I do believe. He was very informative and informed us that the tall pointy thing in the middle of the intersection has a variety of names...one of which is called "The Stiletto in the Ghetto." Which first let me say that we had pretty good weather for Ireland, it only rained the second day. The tour was a bit rough because of the winedy roads, the jerking of the bus driver on the gears and the rocks, so it was a little unpleasant in that aspect, but it was deft worth it. It was pouring and windy for most of it, but the countryside was beautiful. I can say that I have stood on the bridge from the movie P.s. I love you. And the views were awesome even with the wind and rain. We ate at a little restraunt in the town of Laura, I tried the stew and had mushroom soup. From there we went to Glendalough and this was really cool it was originally ran by the Jesuits, but it is like a huge park, with two lakes, waterfalls and a cemetery. it has the biggest celtic cross in ireland which the legend says if you put your arms around it and your finger touches, you make a wish. Yes, I can proudly say that I was able to do it easily and with room to spare bc I didnt want to get my coat dirty. I was the only one on the tour that could. What can I say I have long arms! The views were amazing and truly what I thought of Ireland. When we got back to Dublin, we were exhausted so we did some shopping and went and saw New Moon...it was awesome! lol and called it a night.

On Sunday, we were able to have some time before our flight, so ally, lynn and i went to go find the house that Catherine McAuley founded and started the Sisters of Mercy. This was one of my favorite parts, bc it was away from the touristy part and really what I expected dublin to be like. I got to see it, and a sweet nun let me see the chapel and crypt even though I was supposed to have an appt and they werent open on weekends, but she was really nice and showed me around and even gave me some postcards for free. The Christmas lights were cool to see as they lit up the city. We walked by Temple Bar, but never actually got to go in, that is the one thing I regret, I wish I could have seen a real irish pub. But, overall the trip was amazing and I'm glad I went. Things are getting crazy here now with traveling...I go to Rome this weekend and Paris next weekend and wrapping things up with school. I have my final dance performance ,which apparently the whole school is attending, tomorrow and yes, my dress for tango and salsa is red and black with sparkle and floral print and tinsle yes, christmas tree tinsle around the bottom. No worries, there will be pictures and hopefully a video if everything works out. But, fair warning i'm not a great dancer. lol gotta do some hw and prepare for the dance performance and rome!

Koenig's in Madrid!

hey all! So, sorry I havent written the past few weeks, but I have been sick and then got better and then got sick again. I got really sick on retreat, so I don't have fond memories from that, so I put up some pictures from it, in a nutshell of retreat we visited where St. Ignatius lived and had his conversion experience and went to see St. Francis Xavier's home/castle. It was a full out Jesuit experience.

Okay onto happier topics...my parents came this last week! It was just what the doctor ordered! I went and picked them up at the airport and then they had their first Madrid experience by riding the metro. We finally got to their apartment where they were staying which was really nice and then did some sightseeing in Madrid, they saw the Royal Palace which was just 2 streets away from where they were staying! Puerta del Sol (the city centre), Plaza Mayor, Plaza de Espana, Gran Via and Parque de Retiro. We walked everywhere so they got a pretty good workout while they were here :) Then on Monday we went to Segovia, which is 30 minutes on high speed train from Madrid. Dad was super excited about this trip. We went to the train station and this is where dad fell in love with cola-cocao (spanish hot chocolate) and mom fell in love with cafe con leche (spanish coffee with milk). From there we were off to Segovia, we saw the acqueduct, castle and cathedral and of course did some shopping. From there we went on a search for the special pork that is native to segovia. Dad insisted that he had to try that--only problem is that we didnt know what exactly it was called. After searching and searching we found a restraunt with an english menu so dad ordered what we thought it was "boar" and mom and i went with the safe choice of fried sausage. Waiting for the boar to arrive was interesting, especially since there was pictures of baby pigs with apples on the wall. But everything turned out all right. We all had the native beer of Estrella Damm. Overall it was really good. From there we set off back to Madrid.

I introduced Mom and Dad to the spanish McFlurry which is soooo much better! Here there are 4 flurries: Magnum (dark chocolate with dark choc fudge mixed in), Kit Kat (kit kat with carmel syrup mixed in), M&M's (hot fudge mixed in with m&ms) and oreo (oreo with hot fudge mixed in). Needless to say it was love dad with magnum and mom and I with kit kat. Dad also experienced his first viewing of las chicas malas(spanish prostitute) while dining in a McD. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I had school so I made an intinerary for them that took them to the major sights of the city. On Wed they met me at school for the 3 builiding tour and got pictures with the st. louis sign. On Thursday, my senora had them over for appetizers with sangria and they got to see where I lived and meet my senora/roommates. They did very well with the spanish greeting of a kiss on both cheeks.

On Friday, the last day, we went on a tour of the Stadium of Real Madrid, shopping and dad bought is Christmas Lotto Ticket ("The Golden Ticket"). It was sad to see them go, but I'll be home in 5 weeks! Now I just need to get better and get everything done! I leave for Dublin on Thursday Night!

The slideshow below should have some of my pictures from their trip, mom has the most tho!

p.s. Some funny moments:

Mom: "I dont want to go home guapo"
Me: "What are you trying to say?"
Mom: "I dont want to go home fat."
Me: "You just said I dont want to go home beautiful, gordo is fat."
^She was able to get those two straightened out by the end of the trip :)

Dad: "Why is every street called salida?"
Mom: "Dan, that means exit."

Munich, Germany...aka "the Homeland"

Guten Tag!
(hello in german)

So, I just got back from Munich and I LOVED IT! I literally was sad to be back in Madrid, even though it was considerably warmer than in Munich. It was the first country I went to that I felt really attached to and felt that 2 days weren't enough to see everything and get the full experience. Munich, Germany was by far my favorite country, but not for the reasons you might think, it wasn't exceptionally beautiful in land or architecture like some of the other places I had been, but the culture of Germany was what I fell in love with. The people were sooo nice, whether they were speaking English or German. Which, by the way, I don't see why everyone thinks the German language is ugly...I thought it was cool and different, not ugly at all. The people were super nice and friendly, there was a number of people who approached Me, Ally and Lynn to offer us help on directions. My favorite instance was getting complimented in German from a small, cute, old german woman while riding the escalator out of the metro. The lady was so sweet and while speaking in german hand motioned that she liked my braid. So...sweet! O and as most of you know I do not like escalators or revolving doors, well I loved them in Germany! lol it sounds crazy, but they moved slower and smoother. Ally and Lynn kept referring to Germany as "my homeland" bc my heritage is mostly german... lol another thing was that everyone looked similar to me and my family. Ally and Lynn were baffled at how "tall" everyone was, I was like they aren't that tall...and then i realized my entire family is tall, I'm just used to it! These are just a few of the observations we made!

So, with that introduction, I will go on with where we went...

Day 1: We were extremely tired from sleeping in the airport the night before because our flight left at 7:40 am and we didnt want to pay for a taxi. We got into Munich at 10:10 am and immediately went to the hostel to drop our stuff off. Luckily Munich wasnt as cold as it was supposed to be, altho it was 10 degrees cooler than Madrid. We learned real quick that the German language was a LOT different than the other languages and got a lot of laughs out of trying to pronounce the metro stops. We then got lunch at a local restraunt and luckily the waitress knew some english that she could read us the menu, because we had no idea what was on there! While eating a scrumchious lunch, we planned out where we wanted to visit on our map. The first stop: Konig Platz= Koenig Plaza! It was really exciting to see that our last name was a beautiful plaza in Munich, Germany. It had 3 big building around it, in my pictures I am standing under the sign :) From there we stumbled upon the german botanical gardens, some old churches, and pretty fountains. This is the beauty of not taking a tour you experience and see so much other parts of the country that aren't touristy. From there we stumbled into a church and were awed by how different the church was from the other churches, it was more open and plain with high ceilings. From there we went to Marienplatz...one of my favorites! It is the big white castle with red flowers on it, it was beautiful and inside of it was a plaque of 8 different places that were affliliated with Munich and GUESS WHAT! Cincinnati, OH was on there!! I was freaking out and so excited! I couldnt believe that little pieces of home were popping up everywhere in Munich! In the same square of Marienplatz, was Mary's Column which has Mary on it and people pray there, the last night we were there, people had a picture of the pope bendedict and were praying around it. From there we went into a more ornate church of St. Peter it had lots of gold and was very beautiful. I lit a candle there for Kevin bc he had swine and for aunt Marcy. From there we found a market full of cheese and pumpkins and then eventually found a beer garden. We went to Hofbrauhaus, the most famous beer garden. It was a really cool experience we tried the beer which was really good, but I personally like Belgium's better, and had a pretzel. The waiters and waitresses were dressed up in traditional German attire, there was a band, it was really cool, so many people mingling among the large tables, we met some nice Germans there. We were exhausted by this point and went to get dinner at a traditional german restraunt. We ordered a traditional german meal too...sausage, sauerkrat, and potatoes. It was delicious...the sauerkrat not so much but I tried it! From there we mingled with some Germans, Lebanonese, Austrians, and Eygptians and had fun.

Day 2: We got up early and went to the Dachau Concentration Camp. I would like to mention that I was terrified of going, but I knew it was something that I needed to see. It was extremely eerie, overwhelming and sad...but overall worth it. I learned so much that I didn't know before and somehow seeing where all of it took place made it more real to me. I was overwhelmed at how calculated and planned the Nazi's were and how people could be so cruel. After 2 hours of being there, we all left somberly thinking we were going to the Ludwig's Castle that Walt Disney based Cinderella's castle off of. Well we got bogus directions and found out that it was actually 2 hrs away and by that time it was too late to go. We were all really bummed about that, but decided to go to The Olympic Stadium instead. That area was one of my favorite places of Munich...it was soo green and beautiful! We passed the BMW museum and saw the Olympic Stadium, the natatorium where they olympic swimmers swam...it was amazing! The stadium was surrounded by a BEAUTIFUL park where everything was green and amazing. From there we ate dinner around Marienplatz and packed to leave the next day.

Germany was amazing, I was sad to leave and felt like I had just had a glimpse of what Germany had to offer. I desperately want to go back and finish exploring Munich and explore the rest of Germany. I know I'll get back there some day! I was baffled at how nice the everyone was and how much of the culture I felt attached to. It was truly a wonderful experience that I hope to repeat very soon!

auf wiedersehen!
(goodbye in german) :)

21st birthday

So, my birthday was amazing!!! Here is a tiny bit of it, at la cena (dinner time) my senora went all out ,seriously she made an entire spread, consisting of my favorite things empadadas with tuna, garlic toast with tomatoes, and these special things that are usually only for christmas dinner, that are lettuce with honey and pomegranate. she also had sangria and gave me a birthday card! lol she was so cute and excited for my birthday! She even made the dinnerware really nice. i was seriously in heaven it was soooo good! i love spanish food! then my roomies and esperanza started acting weird and five seconds later esperanza comes in with cake with candles saying 21 and melissa has a camera to document it, while they serenaded me with "happy birthday". i was serously so happy and suprised,the cake was called whiskey cake but it was really ice cream cake. i was sooo happy! then we all talked and got ready to go out. Alba my roommate that goes to slu did my hair...i loved it! she also picked out my outfit. then all of us headed down to "maria's bar" and met lynn, ally and marissa. lynn and ally brought a cake too so i got sung happy birthday again and we ordered sangria and beer. After staying there for awhile, we headed to Joy a fun discoteca and met some cool Irish and German people. It was a memorable and fun night. Couldn't have asked for a better 21st birthday! :) Friday I leave for Munich, Germany!

Venice/Real Madrid Soccer

So, this weekend I went to Venice to meet my grandma and her friend Sylvia. I flew out after one of my midterms on Wed and left on Saturday. I don't have too much positive things to say about Venice, it wasn't that pretty, there were pigeons everywhere and the people were pretty mean and rude. So, here are the positive things from the trip: 1) I GOT TO SEE MY GRANDMA! It was really nice to be able to see family after being away from them so long. 2) The food was delicious! I, of course, got pasta both nights and desserts both nights! My favorite dishes were speghetti with cream and ham and merengue pie. 3) Pretty much the only building i really liked was San Marcos Basilica. It was extremely beautiful! With gold and different kinds of marble. It is deftinately one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen! Some other places we visited were San Marcos Square, Doge's Palace, gondola ride, and other stops around the city. We also went and saw glass making at Murano which was pretty cool to see. Altho it wasnt the best city, I am happy I got to experience it with my grandma.

I got back yesterday and went to my first real madrid soccer game. I'm not into soccer, more a football girl. But, although i was confused a lot of the game with yellow card, ect it was fun to be there in the energetic crowd and to see the skill the players possessed. The rest of last night and all today i have been studying for my last midterm. So, that's all for now, pics should be posted soon. My birthday is tomorrow...big 21! I'm kind of sad that i wont be experiencing it with my family or best friends...but spain isnt bad either! I leave for Germany on Friday!

Ciao!

Life in Madrid

This weekend was pretty low key. I stayed in Madrid and studied a lot! Midterms are this week and on the next Monday. Thursday night I went with some friends to a discoteca Joy and had sooo much fun! On Friday, I went running in parque oeste and discovered more beautiful statues! :) And hung around sol for a bit. Saturday, I decided to study in parque de retiro...my favorite place of madrid! (pictures will be included). It was perfect because I studied and then wandered as my study break, got lunch and had it in the park, then studied on a park bench for awhile, then wandered down past the Prado museum and went to a cafe and studied there. After a solid 4 hours of studying and being EXTREMELY productive, I met my roomies at the famous Prado Museum (we went from 6-8 when it was free). It was really cool to see, a little overwhelming to see all the paintings and people, but I'm definately glad I went! On Sunday, Melissa, Alba and I finally got up and went to the Rastro Market, it was crazy!! We went pretty early and there were 100 vendors, MASS PEOPLE, but lots of good deals! It did get a bit overwhelming just because of the confined spaces and people, but after a solid 3 hours, Melissa made it out of there with a lot of good deals! I even used some of my spanish---it's getting better!! From there we went to a yummy chinese restraunt, nothing beats sun garden tho...then shopped in sol for a bit. Then today, in spain it is a national holiday celebrating Columbus Day. So, I got up early and went to see part of the parade. I saw the queen of spain, a lot of military men, cool jets streaming out the countries colors, tanks(and other scary weapons), parachuters, and important government people. I didn't stay the entire time because I had to study, but I did stay for 1.5 hrs. It was really cool to see! So, other than that I have been study study study mode. I have my first midterm on wed. which is psychopharmacology and then next Monday (my birthday) I have religion midterm. But an exciting reward after psychopharm exam is that I'm flying to Venice to meet my grandma and staying there until Saturday afternoon! Then when I get back to Madrid, Rosanna and I are going to a Real Madrid Soccer Game! O and just to rub it in...it's mid october here and still 75 degrees....my kind of climate ;) lol hope everyone at home is doing well!

Hasta Luego!

Belgium, Brussels and Brugge!

This past weekend I went to Belgium and saw the cities Brussels and Brugge! It was an amazing experience, that was completely different than my experience in Spain. For one, it was FREEZING!! I'm talking winter cold, where in Spain it's barely fall. It was an interesting experience coming back all bundled up from Belgium with 3 layers, scarf and fall coat to the Spain weather and changing into shorts and a t shirt! The thursday night before I left my dance class had a "practice" session at a local latin club. Melissa, Alba and I went and it was so much fun! There were the very advanced couples, but there was a place for everyone to try. The ages ranged from young to old. I practiced my merengue and salsa. Some locals taught me the bachata. Overall, it was a success! :) The next day I left for Brussels, Belgium. It was a bit chaotic getting to the airport, but we made it! When Ally, Lynn, Bianca and I all arrived Belgium we were shocked at how crisp, cold and clean the air felt. We were all very hungry after we dropped our luggage off at the hostal, so we found a restraunt with reasonable prices. This is where we recieved another shock...everything was in french! (Note: the 2 languages in Belgium are french and dutch). On top of that, no one spoke english or spanish, so we did what anyone would do...ordered what we knew. I got speghetti bologanise, lynn got pasta, and ally got pizza. We were so stuffed, but it was well worth it! We also realized that Belgium people make everything from scratch..it takes a bit longer but you can literally taste the difference! From there we went exploring in Brussels. The first place we went was the "atomium" which is their version of "the eiffel tower" it basically looks like a bunch of molecules, but nevertheless we can say that we have been there! From there we went exploring around the city around downtown and eventually ended up in the main tourist area of Brussels. We saw a church, shopped, and tried all of Belgium's musts. Including...french fries(the belgium way), belgium waffles, stella artois beer and chocolate! The french fries were topped with ketchup, mayonnaise(europeans are crazy about this...) and onions, they were amazingly fresh, and a direct quote from a couple locals we met "they are amazing, fresh, not frozen". They were very good! The next thing we tried was the belgium waffle, they were huge and topped with sweets. Lynn and I split one with strawberries and chocolate...yea it was pretty much amazing! By then we were extremely stuffed but happy! We found my favorite part of Belgium...The Grand Place. It is a huge square with gigantic buildings with the most beautiful architecture I have ever seen! It was magical and astounding at the same time it left all 3 of us in awe. From there we went to see Manneken Pis, this statue had a huge build up because there were huge sounveniors dedicated to this monument, and when we got there he was extremely small...it is basically a little boy peeing, with many different legends of why it is Belgium's national symbol. We ate dinner at a restraunt and tried Belgium's beer Stella Artois and it was amazing! I was suprised, but I found out that Belgium's beer rivals Germany's... By then we were ready to go to bed.

The next morning we left for Brugge, which is on a train 1.5 hrs away from Brussels and is termed "Northern Venice". It was extremely beautiful! We wondered around the city got lots of pictures of churches, canal and the beautiful architecture! We frequently saw horse drawn carriages and wooden shoes as well. We even stumbled upon a wishing well. :) Then we were all famished and freezing, not entirely sure where we were stumbled into an awesome local restraunt! It was the most amazing food for nothing at all! And on top of that the owner and waitress spoke english and kindly read us the menu. I was able to get hot chocolate and scrambled eggs! Note: I have not been able to get scrambled eggs since coming to europe, bc everything is fried eggs. The owner kindly pointed out where we wanted to go next, which was a cheap souveniors place--this took forever to find and was not that exciting. Then we went to see one of the panorama views, the cheapest one, which consisted of climbing a hill by a huge windmill and looking at the view. It was definately an experience! From there we headed toward the touristy part of Brugge and saw the church of the holy blood, which was a church dedicated to worshipping Jesus' blood, the church was beautiful, but the concept was a little creepy, nevertheless we all went up to see the vial of the supposed Jesus' blood. Then we went to find a cannon left over from the war of 1631 left behind upside down stuck in the ground. No one knows how or why it is like that, at first we couldn't find it, but after asking a few other people, we found it! Just a quirky thing we saw. From there we went to a chocolate store where an american artist bought chocolate and had people run around naked covered in chocolate for pictures in the Vlamingstraat and the opera house. There lynn introduced me to the yummy chocolate covered orange peels...yum..! Throughout Brugge there were numerous kissing spots marked with red hearts painted on the ground. From there the 3 of us went back to the hostal exhausted to get ready for our flight in the morning. Overall, Belgium was amazing, random and different. There wasn't one set nationality there, there were many different people. I wouldn't say that Belgium was my favorite country or city this far, but it has the best architecture so far! As of now, I'd say Barcelona is my favorite. Upon returning home and promptly changing from layers to tshirt and shorts, I discovered that the men who are working on our plumbing, did something wrong and that we couldnt use the shower. So, Melissa and I feel gross did what we had to do and washed our hair in the sink. Lol it was definately an experience that I never thought would happen in Spain. Overall, I had a great trip and I am happy to be back in Madrid! :) This weekend I'm staying in Madrid because Midterms are next week, then the week after I am off to Venice with my grandma!

Hasta la vista!

Barcelona

So, last Thursday my allergies were extremely horrible, so I stopped into a Farmacia to get some Mucinex...yea not that simple. Spain does not have Mucinex, it ended up with Melissa and I playing charades with the people at the counter trying to describe our symptoms. It worked, my senora said that I got the right things...but im sure it was hilarious for anyone that was watching! :) Yesterday I arrived back to Madrid from my weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain. I didn't realize how draining weekend trips could be! Although, we had some downfalls to our trip, we all left loving Barcelona. We left last Thursday on a night bus that left at 11pm and we got in at 7 am. This is a good idea theoretically...but the bus was freezing and cramped=no sleep. When we all arrived in Barcelona, we immediately went to our hostel "Barcelona Dreams" which was pretty amazing. Bianca, Josie and I had no idea what to expect for the hostel bc none of us had ever been in one. The hostel was big, with a full breakfast and electronic locks. We had roommates of German, French, Danish, Canadian, and Turkish background. It was a pretty cool experience! We got through a majority of sightseeing that Friday, by the end of the day, we were dragging and sleepy. We had seen the famous street known as "Las Ramblas" which was beautiful! It consisted of a long street with vendors, restraunts, people dressed up, a boqueteria( a market full of fruits, candy, and meat). It was a wonderful experience! From there, we headed to la Sagrada Familia which is a historic church in Spain. It was beautiful on the outside, and although it was a little overpriced we decided to go in, the inside wasn't what we expected because of the construction going on, but still beautiful, including the view at the top of the 400 steps (we took elevator up, stairs down). From there we went to parc de guell, which combined with las ramblas was my favorite place of Barcelona. This is a park dedicated to the art of Gaudi. The views are spectacular from the park, there were little vendors and musicians along the park. My favorite part of the park was actually underneath it, where there are huge columns that hold up the main landing. There, some musicians played classical music and with the sun setting in the distance, it was certainly a memorable event! That night Bianca, Josie, Melody (girl from Turkey, who is studying in Paris) and I went to view the free concerts around the city, because there was a festival this weekend in Spain. There were tons of people out and about and the music was fabulous! However, before we went out, we had a bit of junk food party, where there was oreo licking contests. Random fact, none of our roommates had ever had oreos! Lol but they loved them! Then, on Saturday we took a lazy approach to seeing Barcelona, by going to the beach and dipping our toes into the Mediterranean Sea! It was cold, but Josie and Bianca still went swimming in it, I settled for getting seashells and just playing in the sand :). We all were shocked to realize that this was a topless beach! Not everyone was topless, but there were quite a few that were, young, old, middle aged...you name it they were. After a few hours, I actually got some color, we ate at a restraunt by the beach. Then we ventured on to what we thought was the "Olympic Stadium"...Turns out it was a venue for different sports. So, completely exhausted we headed back to our hostel, to wait until dinner, then get back to the bus station for yet another night bus. When we got back we saw Kristin (from Denmark) and started talking with him and then met another Danish person, Michael. We compared stereotypes, cultures and traditions. It's funny that I had never met any Danish people, and in one day I met 2! We all decided to go to dinner close to the bus station...a Chinese Buffet, and talked over some Sangria. Btw the Chinese Buffet was amazing! They even had Mongolian Beef with Mushrooms... Anywho, we all said our goodbyes and the 3 girls got on the late night bus. I don't know if it was better the second time or if I was just so exhausted that I passed out, but I slept the entire time and arrived in Madrid at 7 am. I'm still pretty tired from the weekend, but wouldnt take back a second of it! This coming weekend I'm heading off to Brussels, Belgium with Lynn, Ally, and Bianca. I have to admit Madrid is starting to feel more like home...i missed my senora Esperanza and her yummy cooking and by the end of Barcelona I was ready to come back...So for now back to homework...o and the pictures should be uploaded on the slideshow below....

Ciao!

La Noche en blanco and Salamanca

So, things have been going well here in Madrid, Spain thus far, as I approach the beginning of week 3. Classes are still going well, we are now learning salsa and tango...including dips and similar moves as seen on dancing with the stars :). We have our first discoteca night on thursday to go out and practice the moves we have learned in a real latin discoteca. This week has been extremely cold compared to the previous ones, it has not only been chilly but rainy. I'm starting to realize maybe I should have packed more sweaters. But, ironically enough it's warming up again in the 70's and 80's next week. I went to my first discoteca this past Thursday which was a lot of fun! :) Then on Friday, Alba, Rosanna and I went to try the chocolateria de san gines (a popular chocolate and churros place in madrid, noted in all of our tourist books as a must see) and it was pretty good. Churros, in case you were wondering, are basically baked dough sometimes with sugar or cinnamon, at this particular place we think it was just baked dough. Their version of hot chocolate was more like dark chocolate pudding...a contrast from the states. But, overall if it was a good experience. Then on Saturday morning Rosanna and I went to Salamanca with the school, it was a beautiful city! There was definately a lot of culture in this small city! We had a tour guide so it was cool learning all the differences in architecture. Then last night was la noche en blanco. Basically it is a cultural thing where there are bands, lots of people and all the museums were open for free until 6 am. It was crazy, but fun! Today, Rosanna, Alba and I went on our first madrid run around parque oeste :) it was pretty awesome! I can't wait to run around parque de retiro! Some more cool things that i have noticed is all the mcdonalds here are super nice! why aren't they like that in the states? hmm yes the beer at restraunts are cheaper than pop or water, and they serve beer at burger king/mcdonalds. So, yes having fun and studying hard! I have booked a couple trips so far... brussels, munich, venice and maybe barcelona. Still aiming for rome, paris and dublin :) So, yea that's what's going on here! Hasta luego!

summer is coming to an end...

I posted pictures from this weekend...they should be in the same slideshows as before...if not then they will be posted later! :) So, this past weekend Melissa, Rosanna and I went to our first day trip to Toledo, we left after breakfast and were back before dinner. Toledo was an interesting city to visit, it wasn't as crazy at Madrid, it was more historical with beautiful landscapes! Also, seeing the calle de toledo de ohio was pretty awesome too! I'm pretty sure it was known for it's medieval weapons, because they were everywhere! I tried my first paella...it was pretty good, but esperanza's was most definately better! By the way...I'm totally loving most of the spanish food. Even some foods that I thought I didn't like: green beans, peas, ect. I've been trying many different things as well that are just so different that I have to try it different times to really decide if I actually like it; an example is mango and empenadas. I've been finding myself looking forward to her dinners and what she is going to put in it that's new to me! Besides empenadas, I love lintel soup! This past sunday I saw a bullfight. It definately was an experience. I know that it's their culture and I respect that, but I thought that it was horrible, abusive and cruel. I only took limited pictures. Melissa, Walker and I only stayed until after 2 rounds(rounds as in the same thing, 2 dead bulls) when we came home to find out there are 6 rounds. I thought it was cruel and unfair for the bull. It's safe to say I will never go to another one again. Classes are going well, my favorite being dance! We are learning merengue, bachata, and tango. I'm realizing just how much I am uncoordinated.The past few days have been really chilly, it's weird how quickly fall sets in here. Although it's supposed to drop to 60 on thursday, it's supposed to go back up to 80 so who know's if this is really fall...as for now I'm trying to book a flight for Oct. 1-4 to possibly paris.

hasta luego!

Adjusting

I added all my pictures I took from saturday's day of sightseeing to the slideshow, it was a beautiful day of exploring with me and my 3 other roommates! We trucked around for about 5 hrs through the plaza de espana, la rosaleda, la templo de debod which is an Eygptian temple given as a gift to Spain for helping to perserve some artifacts during flooding/building of aswam dam. We also walked walked all the way to parque de retiro. My favorite of this particular journey was the parque de retiro, according to my guide book, it was where the royals use to go for a private retreat. It was extremely beautiful and large as you can probably tell by the pictures. The Eygptian temple was really cool to see as well, however, there wasn't much history descriptions that I saw.

Some cool things that have happened since I have arrived is that yesterday it stormed for 10 minutes! My senora rushed into my room telling me to open the windows, it's going to STORM! This was exciting news since it has been horribly hot and humid since I have gotten here. It brougt some cool air and thundered/drizzled for 10 minutes then was done. I have started classes and love all of them! My favorite is Latin Rhythms and Dance which consists of 2hrs and 15 minutes of dancing. Although there is no AC and 50 students in there it is a lot of fun! Right now we are learning merengue and bachata.

Some things that are NOT so cool about Spain...coffee and ice cream. Melissa and I are determined to find some good coffee and it would be even better if it was take out coffee. So, this past Sunday we approached our senora and asked her where was good place, her answer Burger King. Yes, there are tons of them over here, more than the mcdonalds I have seen. So we figured why not if we can get some good coffee. Yea, we failed again, they gave us a huge cup with just a little expresso. sigh, we are still trying tho. And last night my roomies and I decided to get some dessert so we went and got some ice cream, (note: I have been waiting for the perfect time for ice cream, building it up that it was going to be the most amazing ice cream ever) fail again, it was not that great. Hands down greaters, ritters and UDF are 100 times better!

All and all I am doing well in Spain and loving it. Although I am missing Skyline, Rice Rocket, PB & J and ritters among other things, and trying to get use to the super late dinners...I am loving it. Each time I see a beautiful monument, fountain or meet someone from a different country that is absolutely amazing I am reminded why I am here! So, that is all for now, I'm planning my trips for the semester and studying! Time to eat some of my senoras amazing food! aka...la cena!

Adios!

Exploring Madrid!

hola! So, I've spent a few more days here in madrid and I'm having a blast! I finally feel like I'm in Madrid, Spain now after exploring Spain today. So, here's what's been going on I started classes yesterday and they seem pretty easy...Christian Beliefs and Latin Rythms and Dance. Then last night me and some friends went out to sol...which was soo much fun! :) Then today Me, Melissa, Lynn, Ally, Michelle, and Emily all went exploring Madrid! We had a map and followed it for the most part...but saw a lot of EXTRAORDINARY things! Some of the majors were the another palacio reales...(the king/queen have 6, i have seen 2 thus far), plaza mayor, and the cript of the cathedral of madrid. We also stumbled upon other finds in the city as we veered off of the map a bit, including...plaza de Isabel II, Plaza de oriente, basilica pontificia de san miguel, and dalieda de san francisco. It was a lot of walking...just about 4 hours in the hot Madrid sun...without a cloud in the sky might i add...but it was definately worth it! I loved the fact that I had learned about a lot of these places in my spanish classes and was able to see them in person and hear the stories yet again. My favorite of the day definately had to be the palacio real #2 because of all the intricacies that were involved it was cool to think that the buildings had been there for hundreds of years, all the people who made this really cool building a reality and the royalty that once walked and lived in these rooms...it was amazing.
Apart from the exploring I have been doing, I have been adapting or at least attempting to adapt to the Spanish culture. Here is what I have learned thus far, their ambulances are yellow, I need sunscreen to walk to class and around because the sun is so strong, people wear VERY colorful pants, people are not ashamed of staring, people will stare if you are very pale, have freckles, ect, people are willing to help you if you attempt to speak spanish(no matter how choppy it might be :)), aseos=bathroom, correo=mail and that you can walk to just about any place you need. I have also learned that Spain is doing their part in conservation ,in my opinion, for the environment...they don't have AC(for the most part), they take quick showers to conserve water, they don't leave electronics plugged in or on to conserve energy, and they don't have washers and dryers for their clothes. Now I could be wrong for generalizing any of these things but this is just what I have been observing.
I love it here though it is full of history and life! My senora makes scrumchious Spanish meals, my roomies are a lot of fun and what could beat waking up to hearing music, violins, pianos, and sometimes opera! I'm planning on going sight seeing again tomorrow! I can't wait to see what else Spain has out there!
Hasta Luego!
p.s. working on getting the pictures smaller and in slideshow format! :)

1st few days!!

After what seems like forever, I'm in Madrid spain! i barely slept at all on the plane! Then it was an interesting experience taking a taxi bc we had a very curt taxi driver. But I LOVE MY SENORA! Esperanza is a total sweetie! I love my roomies too! In addition to Melissa, I have two other roomies, Alba and Roseanna. Melissa, Rosanna and I went exploring around the city and it is full of shopping! The only bad thing is that there is no AC! It is in the 90's but esperanza said that it should cool down in 15 days. Yesterday, the 4 of us went to 2 local bars and attempted to mingle with the locals. It is a lot different here because instead of football they have soccer games. But it was fun nonetheless! We all split some Sangria, which was good! Today we had orientation and explored the city some more...it doesnt seem real, I still feel like I'm going to wake up and be in Ohio in my bed just dreaming this up. My senora is a very good cook too! I'm just need to get used to the spanish food. Some of the vegetables are very scary...for instance zucchini soup cold--i tried it, lol not for me. But i also tried some peaches and they were okay! lol I still have a lot more exploring and learning to do! Classes start on thursday!

Hasta la vista!

Final Night in the Nati

So, all the waiting has come to an end. I leave for Chicago tomorrow morning and fly out to Spain on Sunday. Tonight has not been uneventful! It took me hours to get my luggage down to the limit of 50 pounds each!!! So, hopefully all of the hard work will pay off although I'm sure it will be a sight at the airport with me trying to handle my luggage. Until my arrival in Spain.....
Hasta Luego!

Countdown to Spain!

Hi--Thanks to my wonderful mama, I now have a blog to keep you all informed on what's going on in Spain. The countdown to Spain is 10 days!!!