Exams are just about finished! I just have one more paper to write for art history class next week! The big weekend to Amsterdam and Brussels beings in about 24 hours, and I'm so excited :).
I won't be posting again until next week so I just thought I'd let you all know I've been busy with exams. One thing I have to say - it is impossible to do work here. There is no place like Starbucks where you can go and study for hours with unlimited amounts of wifi, and it's very stressful for trying to be productive. I've been finishing up some of the things I need to do to get ready for this weekend, so it's been kinda a crazy week.
Anyways! I'll have lots and lots of pictures to show you when I get back.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Classes and Donkeys
Can't say it's been a very exciting week - mostly just working on homework after my whirlwind tour of Spain. I've finally booked all my hostels for my weekends of traveling coming up, and I'm so excited!
Today we went on a "Burro Excursion" (burro means donkey). Basically we rode donkeys for an hour and a half through the mountains. There's some pictures in my Picasa album if anyone wants to take a look. It was a beautiful day, and the site was absolutely precious. It was technically in La Comunidad de Madrid (basically the "state"), but was an hour from the city. You would never have guessed you were so close to Europe's third largest city based on the amount of space and open land. There were cows grazing, donkeys carrying us, and nothing but mountains and fields as far as you could see. Such a great way to spend a Friday.
After the burros carried us back, we had a barbeque at the "camp." It started off with this potato dish (that you could essentially add bacon too), and it was AMAZING. I ate so much food, and then they brought out the meat dishes. Two types of sausage, pork, and steak. I don't think I've eaten that much protein in one meal since arriving here. It was amazing, but all I wanted to do afterwards was sleep from my food coma. When I got back to Madrid, I talked to Katie for an hour, which was awesome since we hadn't talked in a few weeks!
The rest of the weekend doesn't look to be super exciting. I think I want to try and rest since I have four weeks of travel coming up. Next weekend I'm going to Amsterdam & Brussels with Sydney and Mia. Mia's birthday is Thursday, so that should be a lot of fun (since that's when we arrive in Amsterdam). I'm so excited - expect good stories and pictures after next week!
Today we went on a "Burro Excursion" (burro means donkey). Basically we rode donkeys for an hour and a half through the mountains. There's some pictures in my Picasa album if anyone wants to take a look. It was a beautiful day, and the site was absolutely precious. It was technically in La Comunidad de Madrid (basically the "state"), but was an hour from the city. You would never have guessed you were so close to Europe's third largest city based on the amount of space and open land. There were cows grazing, donkeys carrying us, and nothing but mountains and fields as far as you could see. Such a great way to spend a Friday.
After the burros carried us back, we had a barbeque at the "camp." It started off with this potato dish (that you could essentially add bacon too), and it was AMAZING. I ate so much food, and then they brought out the meat dishes. Two types of sausage, pork, and steak. I don't think I've eaten that much protein in one meal since arriving here. It was amazing, but all I wanted to do afterwards was sleep from my food coma. When I got back to Madrid, I talked to Katie for an hour, which was awesome since we hadn't talked in a few weeks!
The rest of the weekend doesn't look to be super exciting. I think I want to try and rest since I have four weeks of travel coming up. Next weekend I'm going to Amsterdam & Brussels with Sydney and Mia. Mia's birthday is Thursday, so that should be a lot of fun (since that's when we arrive in Amsterdam). I'm so excited - expect good stories and pictures after next week!
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Valencia, Barcelona, and Salamanca
Well - it has certainly been a long week of traveling! I'm finally back in my bed in Madrid, and it feels wonderful!
After I arrived in Valencia, we decided to just grab some drinks and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Their hotel was located RIGHT on the beach, and the beach in Valencia is absolutely beautiful! We had paella, and I ate snails for the first time - can't say too much, not bad/not good. Unfortunately, they had been in Valencia for a few days, so we ended up leaving somewhat early in the morning.
The ride to Barcelona was beautiful (and expensive). The highway runs more or less on the coast, and we stopped a few times to look along the way. Apparently toll roads here aren't cheap though; it cost almost 40€ to go from Valencia to Barcelona, a distance of about 200 miles. Getting to the hotel in Barcelona was a another story. We had the car, so we were going to pull up by the hotel, but the street the GPS was telling us to use was closed. Instead, we drove around for 40 minutes and decided to go get lunch by the beach. We had Italian food, and I got an asparagus risotto with crispy ham. Everyone's food was amazing, and we decided to retry getting to the hotel, but this time we asked the cop running the detour how to get there. His response: "you can't, so just go park somewhere else." That was easy.
The hotel was a beautiful and located in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It felt like a truly European experience, but the neighborhood wasn't as exciting as other parts of Barcelona. After a two hour siesta, we wanted to go out and explore the city. We asked the bartender at the hotel bar where we should go, and she suggested a street near the cathedral that had lots of restaurants to get tapas. After dinner though, we were exhausted and went to bed.
Friday was my (and their) last day in Barcelona! We walked around in the morning, and my Dad really wanted to go to the central market. Afterwards, we took some pictures in Montjuic (the large park over the city) and rode the funicular from the top of the park back down. Then we took a cab to La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, the line was somewhat long, and we ultimately decided to just walk down to Passeig de Gracia for lunch. The food was just okay, nothing spectacular. I had an 8PM train back to Madrid, so we just went shopping for a bit, and then I got ready to leave. All in all, it was a phenomenal week with my parents. I took the AVE train, which goes from Barcelona to Madrid in 2hrs and 40mins. We were going through the Spanish countryside at 185mph. It was pretty awesome, and it's unfortunate that we don't have infrastructure like that in the US.
I got back to my apartment around midnight, and I was just plain exhausted. I watched a little bit of TV and went back to bed. Saturday, we met the bus to go to Avila and Salamanca at 9am. Avila was a precious, medieval city to the northwest of Madrid, but it was very quiet. The population is about 50K people, but the old city wall is one of the most well-preserved in Europe. We spent about 4 hours there walking around, and we even got to go up to the wall and walk around part of the city. I'll put some pictures up on the Picasa album later tonight.
Salamanca is basically the "Oxford of Spain." The University there is the oldest in the country and was founded in 1218! Almost 1900 years! The city is basically just a college town with bars and restaurants etc, but we had a great time. We all walked around the city and took in some of the sights, and I took some pictures; it was so, so beautiful! It was a quintessential, 11th century European city. I'll put some photos up later, but I don't think it can truly do it justice.
Anyways, I'm back in Madrid now, and I'm exhausted from my Spanish adventures. I only have one more trip left in Spain. GW is taking us to Cordoba, Granada, and Seville in November, but I've already visited these cities before. I'm excited to have a few relaxing weeks, but November is going to be crazy with travel. October 28-30 I'm in Amsterdam, the 30-November 1 I'll be in Brussels; November 4-7 I'm going to London; November 12-15, GW is taking us to Andalusia; November 19-21 I'll be visiting Paris. That's four solid weekends of traveling! It should be awesome, but it should be a somewhat stressful weekend.
Time to go do some homework!
After I arrived in Valencia, we decided to just grab some drinks and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Their hotel was located RIGHT on the beach, and the beach in Valencia is absolutely beautiful! We had paella, and I ate snails for the first time - can't say too much, not bad/not good. Unfortunately, they had been in Valencia for a few days, so we ended up leaving somewhat early in the morning.
The ride to Barcelona was beautiful (and expensive). The highway runs more or less on the coast, and we stopped a few times to look along the way. Apparently toll roads here aren't cheap though; it cost almost 40€ to go from Valencia to Barcelona, a distance of about 200 miles. Getting to the hotel in Barcelona was a another story. We had the car, so we were going to pull up by the hotel, but the street the GPS was telling us to use was closed. Instead, we drove around for 40 minutes and decided to go get lunch by the beach. We had Italian food, and I got an asparagus risotto with crispy ham. Everyone's food was amazing, and we decided to retry getting to the hotel, but this time we asked the cop running the detour how to get there. His response: "you can't, so just go park somewhere else." That was easy.
The hotel was a beautiful and located in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It felt like a truly European experience, but the neighborhood wasn't as exciting as other parts of Barcelona. After a two hour siesta, we wanted to go out and explore the city. We asked the bartender at the hotel bar where we should go, and she suggested a street near the cathedral that had lots of restaurants to get tapas. After dinner though, we were exhausted and went to bed.
Friday was my (and their) last day in Barcelona! We walked around in the morning, and my Dad really wanted to go to the central market. Afterwards, we took some pictures in Montjuic (the large park over the city) and rode the funicular from the top of the park back down. Then we took a cab to La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately, the line was somewhat long, and we ultimately decided to just walk down to Passeig de Gracia for lunch. The food was just okay, nothing spectacular. I had an 8PM train back to Madrid, so we just went shopping for a bit, and then I got ready to leave. All in all, it was a phenomenal week with my parents. I took the AVE train, which goes from Barcelona to Madrid in 2hrs and 40mins. We were going through the Spanish countryside at 185mph. It was pretty awesome, and it's unfortunate that we don't have infrastructure like that in the US.
I got back to my apartment around midnight, and I was just plain exhausted. I watched a little bit of TV and went back to bed. Saturday, we met the bus to go to Avila and Salamanca at 9am. Avila was a precious, medieval city to the northwest of Madrid, but it was very quiet. The population is about 50K people, but the old city wall is one of the most well-preserved in Europe. We spent about 4 hours there walking around, and we even got to go up to the wall and walk around part of the city. I'll put some pictures up on the Picasa album later tonight.
Salamanca is basically the "Oxford of Spain." The University there is the oldest in the country and was founded in 1218! Almost 1900 years! The city is basically just a college town with bars and restaurants etc, but we had a great time. We all walked around the city and took in some of the sights, and I took some pictures; it was so, so beautiful! It was a quintessential, 11th century European city. I'll put some photos up later, but I don't think it can truly do it justice.
Anyways, I'm back in Madrid now, and I'm exhausted from my Spanish adventures. I only have one more trip left in Spain. GW is taking us to Cordoba, Granada, and Seville in November, but I've already visited these cities before. I'm excited to have a few relaxing weeks, but November is going to be crazy with travel. October 28-30 I'm in Amsterdam, the 30-November 1 I'll be in Brussels; November 4-7 I'm going to London; November 12-15, GW is taking us to Andalusia; November 19-21 I'll be visiting Paris. That's four solid weekends of traveling! It should be awesome, but it should be a somewhat stressful weekend.
Time to go do some homework!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
El Gran Viajero
This ought to be a long post! What a wonderful weekend I had! I’m currently writing this on a train on my way to Valencia (but it was posted later since there isn’t wifi on trains here.
My friend Sydney’s parents were visiting Madrid this weekend too. On Friday we went out to tapas and drinks at night. Afterwards, I decided to hang out with a few other GW Madrid kids since I wasn’t going to see them most of the weekend.
Dad, Louisa & Jon arrived (very) early on Saturday morning. I met them at their hotel around 11, and it was great to see them. That afternoon it was pouring, so we decided to go for a walk through Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor. We also visited the Mercado de San Miguel – which is a wonderful market near the center that sells wine and some higher end foods. Unfortunately it was so crowded that we decided to get some food down in the Plaza Mayor. We later visited in the Prado (in one hour) and then returned to our respective beds for a siesta. For dinner, we went to La Gabinoteca, which I actually went to with two friends a few weeks ago. The food was yet again phenomenal.
Sunday we started at La Reina Sofia, which is a more modern art museum. It was my first time visiting on this trip to Spain, and it did not disappoint.
Funny story: while walking through an exhibit of Spanish Civil War photography, a VERY CLEARLY American girl, with a men’s baseball schedule t-shirt from a college I will refrain from naming said “Wow, living in Spain during World War II looked like it must have been really hard.” That is a direct quote.
After about two hours in the museum we decided it was time to go for a walk. The weather was significantly warmer and sunnier than the previous day. We walked through (and rested for a while in) el Parque Retiro, which is essentially the Central Park of Madrid. The leaves are starting to change, and it was so wonderful to finally see some color on the trees! On the other hand, there’s no comparison with a New England Autumn. We proceeded directly from our rest by the pond to Alboraya, my favorite spot for ice cream! While looking for lunch we stumbled upon a restaurant (Mediterráneo), which I had read was a great place to get paella! Of course, the food ended up being out of this world, and we retreated yet again for the siesta.
That night we decided to go to Plaza Santa Ana, which is a really hot spot to “tapear.” The food was amazing, and I definitely plan to go back down there more on my own. All of us went home somewhat early that night, since our train for Granada was leaving at 9AM!
My first European train ride was significantly better than the Acela ride that began this trip. Not that I could complain much about the Acela that day, this train was just as nice and had better service. We were given a breakfast, coffee, etc. while we rode through the Spanish countryside at about 125mph (although they do have faster train than this).
Granada is a beautiful, quaint city. Since we couldn’t pick up the rental car at the train station when we arrived, we decided to just take a cab to the hotel and walk back later. The hotel was beautiful! There was a spa, and the entire building had somewhat of a “zen” feel to it. Our rooms were beautifully decorated, and there were small balconies off of each room. After getting lunch at a small restaurant (and having Gazpacho in the traditional region of that dish), we walked to pick up the car. Ironically, it’s the exact same car that my Dad drives in the US!
With the car, we wanted to go explore Granada, and the area a little bit. Driving in Granada was a little bit scary, but the outskirts of the city were so beautiful. We drove around to the south, and then tried to sneak a peek of La Alhambra (since I was unable to get us tickets). We weren’t able to enter the parking lot without tickets, but we continued to drive up the mountain. We ended up taking the car up this dirt road for a while. We stopped a few times to take pictures of the (somewhat excessive) number of olive trees and finally found a place to take some photos near the top. I can’t even express in words how beautiful the view was, but hopefully I can show some pictures later. We had dinner at a small restaurant down the street from our hotel, grabbed some drinks at this other place near the hotel, and went to bed relatively early.
My train home left Granada at 9:45, and I met a sweet, older couple from Perth, Australia who has been travelling all around Spain and Portugal for six weeks! Imagine how amazing that must be! Once back at my home-stay, I enjoyed some wonderful Paella and discussed my trip with my host mother. On my way to siesta, I realized that I only had one class Thursday and no class on Friday. After hearing from my Dad how beautiful Valencia was, I chose to make a last minute (and very spontaneous) trip! After thinking about it for a while, I finally bought my tickets at 11:30pm after a rather confusing conversation with the train company, since my card wouldn’t work online. I’m on my way to Valencia right now, and tomorrow we’re going to be driving between Valencia and Barcelona. Then, I’ll be returning to Madrid on Friday night. Saturday morning, GW is taking us to Salamanca and Avila (old, medieval cities to the West of Madrid). Essentially, I won’t be in Madrid for more than 8 hours at a time until Monday. I feel like a world traveler finally!
Last night, Sydney’s parents were back in town for their flight back to New York. We got dinner at a wonderful Galician restaurant. We got a few appetizers: octopus in a little oil with some paprika, Galician pie (scallops, peppers, onions, all wrapped in dough), and some shrimp cooked in olive oil with garlic. For dinner, I had a hake fish “Galician-style.” This meant that it came with potatoes, peppers, and onions, while being cooked in a delicious sauce.
Classes today were somewhat of a drag (since my post-class plans were significantly more exciting), but I’m now on my way! I’ll be away most of the weekend, but I’ll try to keep things updated with my adventures!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Españoles y Los Padres
Yet another wonderful week of the Spanish lifestyle! Classes this week were pretty bland, and I'm starting to get a cold :(. Yesterday I got my flu shot, so let's hope I don't start getting the gripe!
Tonight my friend was going out with this guy she met at an ice cream shot, and she asked me to join her. We went out to hookah (which apparently means cocaine here, use shisha if you ever come to Spain), and drank tea. It was great, and then afterwards I found out that we were out of water in my house! The water heater broke, and she had to turn off the main pipe leading into the house, so I don't know if I'll be able to take a shower in the morning :(. Afterwards, I went to a bar with a friend, and we had a few glasses of wine. The bartender was fun, and we chatted with him for a while. He's really familiar with the US etc. Basically just another normal night in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm planning everything for the weekend. My Dad, Louisa (step mom), and Jonnie are visiting this weekend! They're in Madrid Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday we're going to Granada. It'll be a lot of fun, but I have so much to plan tomorrow so that we can have a good weekend. I think we'll be doing the big museums, and I'm going to try to find us some cute restaurants/bars to go to. I'm super excited, but there's so much to do before they get here Saturday morning!
Anyways - you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I get back from Granada. I sent some postcards out today - maybe you'll be getting one! ¡Hasta Luego!
Tonight my friend was going out with this guy she met at an ice cream shot, and she asked me to join her. We went out to hookah (which apparently means cocaine here, use shisha if you ever come to Spain), and drank tea. It was great, and then afterwards I found out that we were out of water in my house! The water heater broke, and she had to turn off the main pipe leading into the house, so I don't know if I'll be able to take a shower in the morning :(. Afterwards, I went to a bar with a friend, and we had a few glasses of wine. The bartender was fun, and we chatted with him for a while. He's really familiar with the US etc. Basically just another normal night in Spain.
Tomorrow I'm planning everything for the weekend. My Dad, Louisa (step mom), and Jonnie are visiting this weekend! They're in Madrid Saturday and Sunday, and on Monday we're going to Granada. It'll be a lot of fun, but I have so much to plan tomorrow so that we can have a good weekend. I think we'll be doing the big museums, and I'm going to try to find us some cute restaurants/bars to go to. I'm super excited, but there's so much to do before they get here Saturday morning!
Anyways - you probably won't hear from me until Tuesday when I get back from Granada. I sent some postcards out today - maybe you'll be getting one! ¡Hasta Luego!
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Vino & Toros
What a weekend! I went to a bull fight today, and I really needed to share my details about the day with everyone!
Last night our program director had a wine tasting with tons of food and tons of wine. The night was out of this world amazing! We had a few dry whites and many different red wines - all of which were just absolutely wonderful. Then she taught us how to Flamenco dance and showed us around her house. The rest of the night was mellow. We ended up going to a hookah bar and catching the last metro train home.
Today we got some churros w/ café at this cute little shop up the street from us. Then the rest of us decided to go to a bull fight (since GW will reimburse us for the cost). I can't say I hated it, but I can't say I loved it either. I'm so glad I went to see it since it's such an important part of the culture her. On the other side, I think it was by far one of the most barbaric things I've ever seen in my life. I just talked with my host mother about it at dinner, and she really enjoys them. She thinks it's a beautiful fight between man and bull. I'm not sure I entirely agree with her, but I can respect that it's an art. I used to think it really was a piece of Spanish culture, and it shouldn't be banned. After today - I totally agree with the recent ban in Catalunya and really think it should be banned elsewhere. Anyways!! I put some pictures up on my Picasa account if anyone is interested in looking!
Last night our program director had a wine tasting with tons of food and tons of wine. The night was out of this world amazing! We had a few dry whites and many different red wines - all of which were just absolutely wonderful. Then she taught us how to Flamenco dance and showed us around her house. The rest of the night was mellow. We ended up going to a hookah bar and catching the last metro train home.
Today we got some churros w/ café at this cute little shop up the street from us. Then the rest of us decided to go to a bull fight (since GW will reimburse us for the cost). I can't say I hated it, but I can't say I loved it either. I'm so glad I went to see it since it's such an important part of the culture her. On the other side, I think it was by far one of the most barbaric things I've ever seen in my life. I just talked with my host mother about it at dinner, and she really enjoys them. She thinks it's a beautiful fight between man and bull. I'm not sure I entirely agree with her, but I can respect that it's an art. I used to think it really was a piece of Spanish culture, and it shouldn't be banned. After today - I totally agree with the recent ban in Catalunya and really think it should be banned elsewhere. Anyways!! I put some pictures up on my Picasa account if anyone is interested in looking!
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