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!