Got That Southern Hospitality... Even in España!!

So it's a little bit late buttttt better late than never :)  Two weekends ago, we traveled to the south of Spain with my program!!  Overall, the weekend was amazing and beautiful but I wish it was a bit longer!  We felt like we didn't have enough time and didn't even get to do half of the touristy stuff!

We arrived on Friday morning bright and early (because API hates us and makes us wake up before the sun even does) and of course it was gloomy and rainy!  The flight had been okay but there was a bit of turbulence and Jill has a bit of a fear of flying.... minor freakout.  But you made it, Jillian!!!  Happy birthday to you (it was her 22st)!  We had a (wet) walking tour of the city and got a tour of the Cathedral.  It was a cool church... 3rd largest in Europe... but all of the churches I've seen are pretty much starting to blur together.  It had a pretty view of the city at the top!

We do this really cool thing... "1, 2, 3 OPEN YOUR EYES!!" hahahah

After the Cathedral, we got a tour of a Alcázar de Sevilla and it was AMAZING.  Of all of the tours of buildings we've had, this was my favorite!  I loved the architecture of the whole building and it had the most beautiful gardens and courtyards and fountains, etc etc.  It had beautiful tiles of geometric patterns and the color scheme was mainly blue and yellow... adorable!  After visiting there, I seriously was looking to sign the lease :)

SO true...

After the tours, we decided to find some munchies and came upon a tapas restaurant!  I ordered pimientos asados (roasted peppers) and a plate of steak bites with french fries!  It turned out really good and that was the first bit of red meat I have had here besides ground beef when I cook, oh, and I guess ternera in durum is an exception too! :)  It was really good and it was cool to see the difference between their tapas and our tapas in Barna!  We learned that patatas bravas is apparently a Catalunyan tradition... whoops.  After tapas, we walked around the city a bit and of course, we had to try the beer in Sevilla.  We went home to take a nap and then get ready to celebrate Jill's birthday!!!  We went to get food at another tapas place and they had the best CHORIZO ever!  Spicy!  And for entertainment, Anna showed us that her camera really is waterproof and decided to take pictures through her drink-- very cool.  Afterward, we went bar hopping and wandered helplessly through the streets of the city... We ended up finding this reallllllly neat bar where we toasted champagne and Anna took a little nap (sorry Anna).  The guys were so nice there (although they kept speaking English to us, YUCK) and they were joking with us, talking to us, asking about us and they even hooked us up with some olives and bread!! AND... drum roll... we even got tap water to quench our thirst.  First time EVER. Amazing.

Feliz cumple!!

TAP WATER... whaaaaaaa?!?!?

 On Saturday, we woke up early to travel to Cádiz for the day!!  Cádiz is a beautiful, old peninsula in the very south of Spain.  The streets were narrow, ancient buildings with gorgeous architecture, castles, beautiful blue water and the list goes on.  We got a walking tour of the city and a tour of the Cathedral there which was cool because it's ceiling is made of limestone which detoriorates easily so they had a netting catching all of the pieces!  After, we got food from the market and had a picnic on the beach :)  It was Saint Patty's Day so we chose to get Heineken!  It was a beautiful day which surprised me because the weather station said it was gonna' be chilly so, at the last second, I didn't bring my bathing suit.  Luckily Anna was prepared and she had an extra bikini top and spandex shorts hahah.  We relaxed and hungout at the beach for a few hours, which was amazing.  It was beautiful and so unreal.  Then we headed back to the bus to return to Sevilla for the night!  Colin, Jill and Mica almost didn't make it to the bus in time... the bus stopped to pick them up just as we were pulling out, close call.  That night we went to an AMAZING restaurant and I got the best salad ever... tomatoes, mozarrella, olives, herbs and balsamic. NOM.  Then we searched the city for about two hours to find the bar La Carboneria.  We had heard from several people that we had to go there but didn't realize how hard it was to find.  There were no specific directions, just "ask someone to get closer and then ask another person."  After talking to 7 people, we finally made it and got to watch some free flamenco dances!!  It's a legit bar where all the locals hang out and they have flamenco back to back all night long.  

Beautiful beach.

postcard worthy, eh?

Flamencoo

On Sunday, we had a bike tour of the city in the morning.  At first, it was a little rough (understatement) considering I haven't ridden a bike in about 10 years... but I ended up loving it once I got a hang of it!  We stopped at some cool spots and rode through parks, along the river, through the streets, across tram tracks (yikes) and through tiny streets that we could hardly fit through.  It was definitely my favorite thing about this trip (Cádiz being a close second) and it was beautiful weather so the wind felt great and was enough to cool us down.  While we rode along the river, there was a kayak race and it was sooooooo cool to experience that.  There were people watching and SCREAMING into megaphones and rode their bikes to keep up with them... it was so intense.  Before we left, the crew and I went to get tapas one last time.  I got patatas bravas and stuffed eggplant!  Anna saw a dish that the people next to us had and got excited and tried ordering it for the table but the server laughed in our face and said he thought we got enough food already and didn't think we needed any more.  Have you ever heard of a waiter denying you food??? It was priceless.  He made a joke to see if we wanted to order the whole menu... how embarrassing!!!!  And also, freaking hilarious.  Nice one, Anna ;)

One amazing thing about Sevilla is the people are so nice.  They may not even go out of their way to do something for you but it just seemed that they were so nice because we're not used to it here.  The servers smiled, they made jokes, they didn't command you to do things, they gladly helped with directions, they actually had a conversation with you.  It was certainly a treat and I wish we had more time to spend down South!  I loved it and will certainly return in the future!!!  Now that I wasted an hour of my life, ADEUUUUU

Only A Month And A Half Left.... :'(

So the past week and a half has been so hectic!  I've been so busy but now looking back on it, I feel like I didn't do much??  On Tuesday we went with our program to watch a Flamenco show!!! That was super cool, I didn't know what to expect but it was really interesting!  The guys playing the instruments were really good, they got so into it!  Then the lady came out and danced and she was soooo good!  She was so fast and intense, it was crazy!  The only thing was she had such a serious face that she scared me a little bit!  But it was fun :)  After that we went to Queenvic, which is a bar that is affiliated with Clemson (YAY)!! It was a big night because they had a professional tattoo artist and body piercer in the back room.  How crazy is that?!? Only in Spain.  People were getting drunk and then getting interesting piercings and tattoos... how dangerous.  On Wednesday, we went to Ovella Negra with Jill's family to watch the game and that was so much fun!!  Jill's mom and her two aunts were in town and they are soooo cute!

Thursday was SUPER fun!! On Thursday after class, I went to Poblenou for the first time with my friend who lives there!  It's a cute neighborhood on the beach but it's more of a residential area.  I really liked it though because they had some cute, cheap boutiques and cool restaurants!  Krista and I got some coffee at a restaurant and sat outside and enjoyed the amazing weather... the people sitting next to us had a puppy and it was soooo precious!  He wanted lots of lovin' and kept nudging me and of course when the food came he kept hopping up on my chair :) I WANT A PUPPY!  One of the tapas we tried was fried artichokes and I am OBSESSED!!  Since I've been here I have constantly been craving artichokes and avocado.... mmmmm.  Krista took me around the place and we walked to the beach and I got to see her apartment, which was certainly different than mine!  Hers is super homey and cutely decorated whereas mine is more modern and plain haha.  After that I met Anna, Colin and Dillon on the beach and we hungout for a bit!  We were bored so we wrote a message in Spanish and threw it in the ocean :)  It started coming up with the waves but I hope it made it out to sea and someone will eventually find it and get a laugh out of it!  After that, we responsibly decided to skip our 5 o'clock class and go eat more tapas and try different sorts of beers!  We finally made it home and decided to meet Jill and her family for the evening.  We went to dinner with them at a SUPER, understatement, nice restaurant that was totally overpriced and overrated but it was still fun!  Then we went to a casino which was cool!  Anna and I suck and had no idea what to do so of course we didn't win anything from the slot machines... but Jill's mom won 200 euros!  (She spent a lot thoughhh).  After the casino, we headed back to the W Hotel.  This is where they were staying for two of the nights... SO NICE!!! It was really cool to see the inside because we'd always heard about it!  We hungout in their room and got ready and then went upstairs to the Sky Bar on the 26th floor :)  It was so much fun because, little did we know, it was a hair party!!! They had professional hair stylists there so of course me, Anna and Emily got our hair done :)  Mine was a crazy 80s updo, Anna got a cool twisty thing and Emily got a beehive that I am OBSESSED with!!  It was a really cool experience to be there and we felt like celebrities :)

Friday morning I attempted to dye Anna's hair blonde but for some reason the dye didn't work!!! :(  Then my friend from Clemson Laura and her two friends came to visit for the weekend!!!  I took them to Parc Guell during the day which was beautiful!  They're studying outside of Brussels and haven't been experienced to the big city life so I took them out to club Friday night!  On Saturday we were super productive and did the whole city.  How exhausting!  The one thing I hadn't already done though was the Wax Museum!  That was really cool because I had never been to one before but... I had a terrifying experience at the end.  I opened a curtain to go to another room and there is a statue there making a kissy face.  I take a picture with him and when we get to the other side of the room he comes to life and makes these kissy noises!!!!!! I was SOOOOOO creeped out!  After seeing all of the status and getting so confused as to who is real and who is not, I couldn't tell that he was a real human!  (I swear he was shiny).  So that was interesting.  Saturday night was fun, I took the girls to Chupitos and we had Boy Scout shots :)  They left on Sunday and I basically did nothing with my life.

I swear he was real....

 On Monday, in my Spanish class we had a court case.  And of course my teacher assigned me to be the lawyer defending the robber that got caught in the automatic door of the house he was robbing... aka screwed.  With little time to prepare, I had to interrogate all these witnesses on the spot in SPANISH and it was very difficult!  It was a good experience though!  And my prof said I did well-- yay!  On Monday night, Mica and I met some people at Apolo to see Anti-Karaoke!!!!  I had no idea what it was but it's somewhat like the Rocky Horror Picture Show and there's a hostess that is crazy and sprays Jack Daniels all over the crowd!  The night was filled with people doing karaoke but everyone was GOOD!  I was so amazed at how talented some of these people were, it was intense!
Oh, and today in class was cool!  For Hispanic Poetry, we had a poet come in and talk to us about his book of poetry we read!  His name is Agustín Fernández Mallo and it was really cool to actually meet a real poet... totally what you would expect.  He was all over the place, did not prepare, wore a flannel shirt, glasses, didn't shave and he stuttered.  It was cool too to hear him talk about his work and his beliefs, etc in Spanish.  I love it!

Heineken, Van Gogh, Diamonds, Anne Frank... Oh My!

So we wake up at four thirty to make our flight in time and finally arrive in Amsterdam by 11:00am!  There was a minor delay, which was a little annoying but it ended up being okay.  We were planning on meeting Mica's friend Katie and her friend Meaghan at the airport but we couldn't find them anywhere.  It turns out that their flight was delayed as well and we happened to run into them on the tram into the city!!!!  It started off as a good trip because we were at the front of the tram and the conductor/driver? was sooo funny and gave us a little tour of the city.  Then we found our hostel, which actually is kinda a hotel.  It wasn't as nice as the first one we went to, this one was more what I was thinking.  We shared a room with two other guys which turned out to be a little weird.  But it was not bad of a place and it was in a pretty good location!  First, we took a walk around the city and found the flower market! It was soooo pretty, tulips and bright colors everywhere!!! We stumbled upon an amazing cheese shop and I ended up trying each cheese they had out... pepper, pesto, red pepper, etc etc.  So good!  We ate lunch at a team room and I got a Spicy Chicken sandwich... so good!  They actually have spicy food in Amsterdam... that's all I ate!!!!! YUM.  Then we roamed around the city for a bit!  It's soo pretty and there are so many beautiful canals!  We saw the Red Light District, which was really interesting... not the prettiest girls I've ever seen and they looked so sad and bored, it was a bit depressing!  Afterwards, we made it just in time before the Heineken Factory closed and thank goodness we did!  Definitely the best tour/museum we've been on!! It was 16 euros but certainly worth it!  It was done really well and there was so much to see!  We got a small beer while some guy talked to us about how to drink, blah blah and then we got two more at the end and it seemed like we were actually in a club!  So cool!  After that, we found a really yummy place and got pasta for dinner!  And of course I had to try the french fries and had them with ketchup and Samal, aka spicy chili AMAZING sauce :) 

On Saturday, we woke up at a reasonable time and had a plan to see lots of stuff! :)  First, we saw the I Amsterdam sign which was cool and, of course, a bajillion people were there taking pictures.  Then we went to the Van Gogh Museum and I LOVED it!!!! I love Van Gogh!  I feel like I can actually appreciate his artwork!  I had definitely already planned out my future house too by the time we were done.  I have some several 'must buys' and I know exactly where I want them :)  Hopefully, I'll have enough money to do so! 
After that, I got a burger and Meaghan and I went to the Diamond Museum because Mica and Katie didn't want to go!  They definitely missed out though because it was sooooo cool!  We learned all about the history and how they are made and the four Cs and saw some of the most famous and biggest diamonds!!!!! Sooooo cool!  Then we walked around and tried to make it to Westerkerk Tower but it was freaking closed for a few months :(  We really wanted to go there to see a view of the city!  So then we went to Anne Frank's House and that was very cool.  It was very heavy and really hard to believe that we were actually standing where she was once in hiding.  It was insane to see that they had preserved her wallpaper even and we could see the random pictures she glued to her wall... and along with all of the rooms and artifacts it had her quotes.  Very cool!  And they even had her real diary!!!! I really wanted to take a picture but we weren't allowed to :(  On a bit of a happier note, we then went to the Tulip Museum.  It was very hysterical.  Katie loves flowers and got so excited... the museum was in the process of being finished so it was a bit ghetto but it was really pretty and actually funny! 

Walking into the hiding spot!!!!!

On Sunday, Mica and I had all of the afternoon to roam around some more!  Which turned out being very good because we had missed the main street!!!  I was in search for pancakes before we left so we finally found a place and I got bacon pancakes and Mica got apple pancakes!  That was yummy.  Afterwards, we just saw more of the city because we couldn't get enough of it.  We really didn't want to leave... it's so pretty and the people were nice!  The architecture, I was obsessed with!  And it's so cool how everything is so crooked... I felt like I was in Diagon Alley hehe.  The city's not too big and not too small! And good, spicy, junk food :)  This trip was so much fun and I will definitely be returning to check out the things we missed.  I loved the city and would love to see it when it's warmer!

Life As A Spaniard (Attempt)

Right now I'm sitting in Hogwarts, this is what we call our library, and crowds of students are walking by outside protesting.  Today's a big strike, professors for low salary and students... I'm not sure.  I'm being ignorant. It is a bit annoying though, of course all of the professors that are protesting exclude mine.  It's very interesting though, apparently this happens a lot?  And there was supposed to be a TMB (Train, Metro, Bus) strike but thank GOODNESS they came to an agreement!  I would not have liked to leave at least an hour early to walk to school.  That would not have been cool.  I definitely depend on the metro, it's my best friend.  I know all of the street performers by their first name, ha jokes.  But I do have my favorites!  Anyways, I can't believe I only have a little over two months left! I'm already getting depressed.  And Ivan left us on Monday to go back home for school, that was quite sad. I'll miss you, bestieeeeee!  Now I gotta' find a new best friend to practice my Spanish with, great.  Actually I have an intercambio tomorrow where I meet with a girl to practice my Spanish and she practices her English!  So that'll be good.  This past weekend was the first weekend I was home in three weeks and it was amazing!  It felt so good to not be stressed out and such!  We went to the beach everyday :)  The weather was BEAUTIFUL!  I even was in my bikini one day!  Isn't that crazy? I've been very proud of myself, trying to be productive and take advantage of my beautiful city.  During my breaks in school, if I don't have homework, we go to the Ciutadella park right next door and have a picnic.  It is a gorgeous park and has a cool fountain and zoo right beside it!  It's crazy to think that that my university is about 4 minutes from the beach and right next to a huge park whileeee still being in a city.  I love it!  I've actually been having to do some schoolwork, which isn't cool.  I have a paper due in two weeks on a book that I cannot get past the first few pages.  It's a bit hard to read and it's annoying having to look up words, but hopefully I'll get through it.  I'm excited about this summer though... I got my internship!!!!!!! Living in Clemson will be so much fun and it'll be a good experience, finally!  I feel like such a big kid in the real world now, I don't really like it.  I'd rather just stay here forever and teach English or somethinggggg.  Today in class we were talking about cultural differences within Hispanic-speaking countries and Spain and then Spain and the US and it was so funny.  The people here are so proud and direct, it usually comes off rude, but I'm actually starting to like it.  They know what they want.  And when it comes to the things/people they care about, they are completely different and don't give a crap, especially guys when it comes to emotions and dancing or whatever.  They're not too "cool!"  Our apartment the past week has definitely been like a hostel... we've had so many people over!!!  It was so good to see my friend Bridget even though it was for only a day!  The other day I witnessed this guy trying to run out of the grocery store and steal stuff! That was interesting.  This weekend, Mica and I are meeting her friends in Amsterdam so that will be fun!! At first I was really dreading having to travel again, but it'll be good! And tonight we're going to Cirque du Soleil! I had no idea what it was but all of my friends told me about it and I'm soooooo excited!!!!!! I'll take lots of pictures :) Well, I've got to get to class (that is, if they let me through)! Sorry for all the rambling! Adeu!

While In Rome...

So Rome was, no doubt, the best weekend vacation I’ve had so far!!!! Mainly because of the people (awesome group—shoutout Mica, Anna, Jill y Colin), the food, the hotel and the weather!  We were well rested (not) Friday morning when we had to meet our group at 4am but the traveling wasn’t bad!  It is so much easier when our program takes care of everything!!!  Funny thing is that our program is so big that we were separated into two groups to fly there and back… and for some reason one group had Alitalia and the other Ryan Air.  We happened to luck out and get Alitalia so our flight was so much nicer, we got food and drinks and our seats reclined : ) Once we arrived in Rome, Mica and I almost had a nightmare because we decided to go to the restroom right after landing to find out that our group just kept on walking… whoops.  We miraculously ended up running into them in the Baggage Claim though!  We took a bus to the hotel—so scary… Italians are such crazy drivers and cars are parked everywhere in the already tiny streets so it’s like driving through an obstacle course.  We arrived at the hotel—HEAVEN!  I cannot believe it but somehow API got us a four star hotel and it was amazing!  I seriously had never been so comfortable since I arrived in Europe.  We each had double beds, a really nice bathroom with a BATHTUB and an amazing breakfast included.  I took two baths while we were there—honestly, the best decision I’ve made.  I’ve been craving baths and after walking so much it was so relaxing and soothing for all my sore muscles!  We started out right by having a guided tour of the Vatican!  Really cool, learned a lot that I hadn’t learned before… it was really cool having seen it already but now being able to learn more detail.  After the Vatican, we had a bus tour of the whole city which was really nice to find our bearings and get to know the city.  I find it amazing that it only took 150 years to build St. Peters and it’s so gorgeous… built with 150 different types of marble.  Friday, we basically ate a lot and then roamed around and found the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.  The food we had was so good!  I have never had such an amazing calzone—tomatoes, mozzarella, basil & pesto and olive oil.  On Saturday we got a guided tour of the Coliseum and the Forum, which was really nice.  The Coliseum was probably my favorite.  Last time I had been to Rome I wasn’t able to go in so it was really cool this time and to learn all sorts of facts!  After that, we walked ate more pizza and walking around the city.  We tried to make it to the Vatican Museum by 4:00pm, but it ended up being a disaster.  There were so many people that walking the city took a lot longer and even after running for a straight 10 minutes like a madwoman, we didn’t make it in time : (  But it’s alright and we had a really long game of “Would You Rather” for about 2 hours—the majority of it based on AARY POTTA!  So instead, we ate more and decided to take naps.  We were refreshed and got some good wine and then went to dinner and roamed around the city more.  We found the Spanish steps but for some reason we didn’t walk up to the top to see the beautiful view?  Funny thing but as we were walking home, Colin looks over and says “You’re last name is Rosati right?”  Apparently, we had walked right by our restaurant at least five times already and I hadn’t even seen it!  The whole time I had been looking and it was right in front of me!  I was excited to see it again though!  We were exhausted so we went home and decided to rest up so we could wake up early for a long day on Sunday!  We had an awesome breakfast downstairs and then set out to see Piazza Novana and buy souvenirs!  At 11:30 we returned to Vatican City for the third time in three days to see the pope!!!! It was such a cool experience, I’m glad I can check that off of my bucket list!  He greeted and blessed everyone in more than 10 languages, very nice!  It began drizzling a little bit but it was definitely worth it!  After that we ate more pasta and pizza and, of course, gelato before Jill, Colin and Anna had to go home—they were in the other group and returned home five hours earlier on a different flight.   So Mica, Le and I stayed and walked around the city shopping and checking out more sites!  It had been raining but it cleared up and ended up being very nice!  We found the Spanish steps again and walked to the top to see a beautiful view!  We also ran into a little parade which was cute!  It was sooo adorable while we there because of Carnaval I think and all of the little kids run around the city dressed up and throw confetti everywhere!!  The streets were COVERED!  Oh yeah, that’s one thing about Rome.  I’m so used to Barcelona and Rome was a lotttt more dirty!  But I still loved the city!  I felt like we really got to know the city while we there—I knew my way around, it was cool.  And the people were soo nice there!  I had Amatriciana while we were there and, I have to admit, mine’s better : )  The food was SO good though, I know I definitely gained weight that weekend!  Also, I happened to get gelato five times in three days.  Whoops.  This weekend was really fun though and best part—because the program paid for the hotel and tours and everything, all we paid for was food. = AWESOME.  Ciao!

Belgian Beer, Waffles, Chocolate, Fries... Need I Say More??

Brussels was, indeed, an interesting trip!  I almost didn’t go because I had been feeling poorly all week (fever, stomach upset, etc) which ended up being gastroenteritis from bacteria from contaminated food or water! YAY, I have no idea how/why that happened… it happened right when I came back from Madrid so I’m not sure?  But anyways, I decided to go and thank goodness I did!  It was exciting to fly out of Barcelona for the first time… we took a train bright and early at 6am to the airport, went through security (ugh, I forgot you can’t bring aerosols so they threw out my hairspray) and hungout until the flight.  I didn’t realize how big of an airline RyanAir is… I thought we were gonna’ be on some sketchy little plane but it was a big one! I hadn’t been feeling well at all so I slept during the flight and two hours later we arrived in Brussels!  And it was freezing.  We could see snow!  Ivan saw snow for the first time… it was so funny, he was so excited!!  The tram we were planning on taking ended up being a nightmare so we bought a souvenir 2 € ticket, exciting, and hopped in a cab!  We went to the place to check in but we couldn’t check in until 4pm so we left our luggage there and went for a stroll to satisfy our empty stomachs!  We stopped in at a little bar, assuming that they had food when we asked “Can we eat here?” but it turns out that they didn’t have food but they allowed you to bring in food… weird.  We stopped in for a drink and tried Kriek, the cherry beer.  It is sooo sweet, I’ve heard of people drinking it for breakfast.  A bit down the street, we found another bar that had food!  I got Croque Madame (ham and cheese sandwich) and we tried our first Belgian beers!!  (Mind you, this whole trip I basically took baby sips because I didn’t feel well and I obviously knew something was wrong with me and needed to hydrate myself, not dehydrate myself)  I think it is so cool that each beer has a glass that comes along with it!!

  At this point we had decided everyone had to buy a different each time we got one so that we would be able to try as many beers as possible!  Lunch was fun, we rested in the warmth and tried to get our bearings on the city!  We went to Grand Place, the main plaza, and went into all the different chocolate stores!  Kris, you would have been in HEAVEN!  There was SO much chocolate and waffles that everywhere you walked, it smelled like sugar.  By the end of it, it got a little sickening and I couldn’t handle it anymore… I don’t know how people actually live there!  We went to the chocolate museum, which was really cool!  We watched a demonstration where a chocolatier showed us how she makes her chocolates!  They don’t make the actual chocolate there but they receive big blocks and melt it and then mold it and add crème or whatever to it!  …Very cool!  They had some really cool carvings made out of chocolate as well, it was incredible!  

the Beer Cave

 We also wanted to go to the beer museum but it was closed due to extreme weather conditions :(  So instead, we wandered around the city and ended up finding Delirium Café!!!  I had read about this in my guide book so we had to stop in!  It is a bar that has 2004 beers… it is huge.  It’s three floors and each floor is basically a different bar.  Downstairs, the “Beer Cave” was the coolest and was so crowded, loud, cozy and what you would picture to be a typical Belgian local hangout.  The place was covered in beer trays… walls, ceilings, everywhere.  The main floor was cool because they had a bajillion beers on draft.  We really liked the upstairs, “Hoppy Bar” which was really chill and everything was made of old-fashioned wheels and whatnot.  We only stayed there for a little so we went to get our bags and checked into our hostel!  Our hostel ended up being an amazing buy—props, Jill!  It was on a side street off of the Grand Place (awesome location), had a nice bathroom with two showers and it was super nice for such a good price!  Now that I’ve been spoiled, I want to stay in a legit hostel!  It had four bunk beds and we took up three (there were 6 of us) and we were with two quiet Japanese people.  Later we found a Middle Eastern place to eat at because we were starving!  I got Shawarma pita and Mica and I shared some fries with curry ketchup sauce.  Brussels is famous for their fries and the different sauces they put on top!  Apparently, french fries are not French and actually came from Belgium... new daily fact!  Then we wandered back to Delirium and hung up upstairs in the Hoppy Bar.  We tried several beers and ended up buying some Belgium cards and playing games!  At first, there was only one other table and then the next thing ya know, the place is jam packed and it’s impossible to walk!  That place definitely makes some money!  The next morning we woke up at a reasonable time (ten) and wandered around Brussels to find waffles, which is not hard.  I decided I HAD to get a waffle so I got mine with strawberries and bananas and powdered sugar : ) It was very good, but sooooo sweet!  Ya gotta have a sweet tooth!  We found the famous statue, Manneken Pis, of a little boy urinating into the fountain below… Apparently it has some historical significance, but that is beyond me and I still don’t understand why you see a naked boy EVERYWHERE throughout this city. Beats me.  Then we took a train northwest to Brugge.  Of course, the first thing we did when we get there was find their brewery and we got a guided tour!  This was definitely my favorite part of the trip.  Our tour guide was HILARIOUS—we’re pretty sure she was drunk!  It seems all they do in Belgium is drink… I’m not sure anyone does any work.  But she showed us the place and it was really cool to see everything, I had already learned in class how the process works but now I actually got to see it!  The funniest thing that she said was, “Now, once you pour your beer you’ve got to wait.  You need to get to know your beer and develop a relationship with your beer (wait for the head to go down).  Now once it starts talking back to you is when you’ve had enough”  After the brewery, we found this tea room for lunch and it ended up being amazing!  I found some vegetable soup for my stomach and this amazing pesto bread that I wish I could have all the time!!!  Brugge was very pretty and very cute… small, homely little town.   

the center of Brugge

 They had horse-drawn carriages all over the place, it was so cute!!  We wandered around the town the whole day and then came back to Brussels that night to try more of the famous fries (Vitamin water for me).  The trip ended up being a success—lots of chocolate, beer, French fries, waffles.  There were two failed attempts to meet up with my friend from Clemson Laura and it never worked out so that was a big bummer but hopefully she will come stay with me in Barca!  Brussels is a neat place, but I still don’t picture it to be the capital of Europe! It seems like there’s not much to it!  Who knows, but I liked it a lot and you need to visit!!

Sunday afternoon Mica came with me to Urgencies to go see what the heck was wrong with me and we finally got an answer five hours later.  They gave me some meds (thank goodness) and a diet that I should follow.  Lately, I’ve been eating boiled potatoes, pasta, chicken and boiled apples.  Today was a big day and I can eat boiled VEGETABLES!  Exciting, I know!  But it has been good to be back home… traveling makes me realize how much I love Barcelona!  Class has been good, I had my second Spanish test today, and I’ve been learning lots of history and literature in my other two classes.  I’m nervous because my first test in Poetry is next week and it’s only five questions and 20% of my grade!  But this weekend is ROME! with my program and hopefully I’ll be able to meet up with Erin Kemp!!! It’s been so long!  And then next week is Carnival in Sitges… wooot!! 

Marvelous Madrid!

So sorry it’s been forever!  Madrid was definitely a good trip… it’s amazing how much we were able to do in such a little amount of time!  We left Thursday night on the last metro so while everyone was drinking and heading out, we were all bundled up with our backpacks ready for an adventure! The nightbus wasn’t that bad but I was sitting on the window seat and couldn’t stretch out so my knees starting aching… but other than that, it was good!  We were able to get a night’s rest and get ready for the day!  We finally arrived in Madrid after about 9 hours and we decided that we wanted to spend a day in Toledo!  Toledo used to be the capital of Spain so it has some cool buildings and what not but it’s mainly little streets and tons of ceramics!  It was SUPER cold that day, was not prepared for that!  We saw the Cathedral, which is, no doubt, the prettiest cathedral that ever exists and it was amazing!!!!  At first we were hesitant to pay the 7 € and go in, but we decided at the last second and I’m so happy we did.  The detail is incredible inside and it was HUGE!  I'm getting married here, by the way.  I already put my name on the list because it's such a long wait... The treasury was the coolest and included the La Custodia de Enrique de Arfe, measures over ten feet tall and was used in the annual feast where the center holds the eucharist.  It contains about 6,000 pieces of silver, gold and gems and is said to contain the first gold that Columbus brought from the New World!! So cool!  Check out these pics!

Toledo!

Gorgeous organs

Altar... no big deal

The Monstrance of Enrique Arfe

 On Saturday, we wandered allllll over the city!!  It was really cold but the worst part was the wind!  Sometimes it was so bad that we actually had to stop walking and hide ourselves.  We did all of the touristy things and walked to Catedral de Almudena, Palacio Real, Plaza Mayor, Plaza Puerta del Sol, El Parque de Retiro, etc.  We went to the Reina Sofia museum of modern art and that was really cool!  It was really interactive and they had a lot of videos and really weird/different things as well!  We were starving for lunch and did some wandering and somehow ended up buying a 15 € lunch but it was definitely the best tortilla and patatas bravas I have had so far in Spain!!!   On Sunday, we went into Palacio Real and that was super cool!  We weren’t allowed to take pictures and they were super strict!  But it was cool to see what it was like… very decorative, very gaudy but I liked a lot of it!  The coolest part of it all was the armory they had too!  It was a museum of all of the armory for the men, women, kids, horses, everyone!  Seeing the jousts and all of the metal was so cool… it made me wish Heath Ledger was still alive and want to be in A Knight’s Tale :)  Very cool though, it is a MUST see!  We also got the famous churros before we left (yum) and I got to stand in the middle of Spain!!!  Because we were with Pavel, Mica’s friend from Czech, we were able to see so much!! (He’s very responsible and knows what he’s doing)  We must have done so much walking that I was limping by the end of it, but I’m fine now! :)

El Parque del Retiro

Us three in front of the Palace :)

Which one is real??

Holy churros!

All in all, I loooved Madrid!  My FAVORITE thing was that they spoke Spanish!  That sounds silly but it was sooooooo amazing walking everywhere and being comfortable understanding everything and knowing what was going on..  In Barcelona, Catalan is so confusing and the accents are so strong, it’s so difficult!  So that was definitely a good break!  Madrid is a very cool city and there is SO much to see!  I did like their street signs better than Barcelona… 1 you can actually find them because they’re big and 2 because they’re pretty and ceramic and have a picture.  This is because back in the day nobody could read!!  Their dogs in Madrid definitely were NOT smart like the ones here… they were like real dogs.  They were pulling their owners and doing normal dog things but the second we returned to Barcelona, I noticed the difference! (funny I know)  And their street performers are a lot better!!!  Some are seriously weird, like crying adults dressed up like babies in strollers and these weird llama things, but the others were so skilled and good!  And we pretty much met the whole Disney cast :)  I am SO jealous that they have good water there!  Apparently it comes from the mountains so that it tastes amazinggg… just like filtered water!  Madrid was very nice and I loved it a lot but I definitely am glad I chose Barcelona to study!  Madrid is just good to visit :)