No more school!

I am done with finals! I had my last (and hardest) exam this morning, History of Spain (Modern Age). My Grammar and Islamic Culture exams were last Thursday, which was nice to get two out of the way before the weekend. Friday morning my friends and I went back to Nerja; we only thought it appropriate to spend our last weekend in Spain at our favorite beach. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all weekend, for once no clouds in the sky at all. I came back Saturday evening instead of staying all the way until Sunday. I wanted to go to church one more time and then I had a study group with two friends all afternoon for our History exam. Church was pretty rough because the pastor made an announcement that it was the last Sunday for all of the foreign students and then had us all go up on stage (there were at least 20 students) and said a prayer over us. Good grief, everyone was crying. That was when it really hit me that I am almost done and will be leaving all of these amazing people that I’ve met. Basically, Sunday I did not want to think about going home.
Monday I had my Art History and POE exams, which went pretty well. That evening we visited Feras (our friend who works in the kebab place by the school) to say goodbye and eat our last kebab. Then we went to Hannigan’s and Sons for the Monday night Pub Quiz. The plan was just to stay for one drink and not participate in the pub quiz because I needed to go home and study, but funny how things work out. A few hours later, we left after an interesting 6 rounds of pub quiz, and Diana Ross made another appearance in the Music Round!
After the exam today I met up with Cassandra and Whitney to have our last churros con chocolate at Café Futbol. While we were eating Mitch and Jeff stopped by and we had to say our goodbyes to Jeff because he’s leaving to head back home this evening. I really hate saying goodbyes; the worst is going to be tomorrow night when I have to say goodbye to Whitney and Cassandra after we hang out one last time. I’m going to miss seeing and hanging out with them every day, and Iowa and Indiana aren’t exactly close to Texas. This evening we are going to the piercing/tattoo place in the Centro Comercial (the mall) near our house so Cassandra can get her tattoo. After dinner we three are going to a teteria to have tea and crepes one last time. This has certainly been a week of “last times,” we’re trying to fit all of our favorite things in before we all have to separate. I’m pretty much all packed and my bags are just barely under weight limit, yes!

Coming to a close...

As the semester comes to an end, finals are beginning. Ugh. I strongly dislike studying, and it is even harder when you´re trying to enjoy your last bit of time in Spain. We had our program´s "Bye-Bye" dinner Monday night at a restaurant in the Albyzin. My close friends and I grabbed the end of the table and had a pretty interesting evening. There was so much food! About 4 courses! Things got a little messy and the table cloth was left a little worse for wear. At the end of the evening Veronica and Jose gave us all a CD of a lot of the songs that have been popular in Spain this semester, and of course Jose made sure a Diana Ross song made the cut.
Monday I finished my Art History paper on the development of prehistoric art, yay cave paintings! Today I had a presentation in my POE class on Texas, and today was also the last day of classes because finals start tomorrow!
Tomorrow I have my Grammar and Islamic Culture finals, but it will be good to get 2 of them over with before the weekend. For our last weekend in Spain we thought it only appropriate to go to the beach! So off to Nerja again Friday morning. On Sunday I´ll go to church one more time here and then a few friends and I will have another all day study-fest of History. Our study group did pretty well on the midterm so we decided to have one again. Monday I have final exams in Art History and POE, and the test of death, History, is on Tuesday. This means that I have absolutely nothing on Wed, the day before I leave! This is probably good because, in all likelihood, I will be packing all day because I´m too busy until then studying. Of course we´ll have to go out for Tapas one last time and have one last kebab and saw goodbye to our friend Feras, whose kebab place we always go to. But don´t worry, we are all Facebook friends with him now so we´ll be able to keep in touch. We´re trying to convince Sara to invited him to her wedding next summer, I think he´d show up. Better yet, he should cater, kebabs for the reception!

Amsterdam and Sevilla

A couple weekends ago Whitney, Sara, and I went to the Netherlands. We stayed in Amsterdam and made a day trip out to Leiden (a 30 minute train ride) to visit Sara’s friend Amanda, who is studying abroad there. Some of the highlights of the trip: I really enjoyed going to the Anne Frank House on Thursday. It was where she and her family hid, in the back annex of her father’s business, for two years before their discovery by the Nazis. It was cool to enter through the hidden entrance behind a bookcase and be in the room that used to be Anne’s. There is glass covering the walls of her room preserving a lot of the original photos/magazine cut-outs that she pasted on the wall to make the room homier. We took a tour of the Red Light District and learned about the history of prostitution, only legal there since 2000. While prostitution is legal, pimping is highly illegal, so each woman is her own independent business.

The second day we went to Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, which was tons of fun; I’d never been to a wax museum before. We took pictures will all kinds of famous people including, but not limited to, Obama, Humphrey Bogart, Sean Connery, Rembrandt, David Beckham, Lance Armstrong, George Clooney, Oprah, and Marilyn Monroe. After the wax museum we took a free 3 hour guided tour all over the city, free is always nice.

Saturday morning we took a train out to Leiden to visit Amanda. On the train ride we passed gorgeous tulip fields that were incredibly bright with color. Amanda picked us up at the train station and showed us around town a bit; we even stopped off at her favorite bakery to try it out. When we returned to Amsterdam in the evening we did a little bit of our tourist shopping. There are an uncomfortable amount of bachelor parties that go on in Amsterdam. I think I would be a little worried if my fiancé was going to a place were prostitution was legal… While looking at postcards we were accosted by one such bachelor party. They were doing a photo scavenger hunt and needed a kiss from random people. Unfortunately for them, we did not participate and they received the universal hand signal to go away when they kept pushing the issue.

We spent all day Sunday traveling back to Granada. We flew from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, Germany where we had an hour layover before flying to Madrid. Then we had to catch the dreaded Madrid to Granada bus that wastes five and a half hours of my life every time.

This past Friday (May 1st) we went to Sevilla for a bull fight. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it and could appreciate it for the artistic aspect of man vs. beast. We had a group of old men sitting infront of us who kept explaining everything to us; I think it made them feel good to be explaining things to foreign girls. We also went to the Cathedral in Sevilla and saw the Tomb of Christopher Columbus. The bull fight was in the evening and we didn’t get back to Granada until 2 am.
Saturday I slept a lot, obviously, worked a little on my Art History paper, and did a bit of shopping. Sunday was El Día de las Cruces (Day of the Cross) and there were large, extravagant crosses all over the plazas in Granada that we went out to look at. It also happened to be El Día de la Madre (Mother’s Day), so Whitney and I bought flowers for Isabel; she was so excited when we gave them to her.
Last night we went to Hannigan & Sons Pub for the Monday Night Pub Quiz. We really aren’t that great with random trivia (although Whitney and I got the answer to “Who was the Queen of the Netherlands?” right after our recent travels), but we had a lot of fun. Whenever we didn’t know the answer to a question, which was fairly often, we made up an answer. Diana Ross made quite a few appearances on our answer sheet when the question was about a person.
Tonight Cassandra, Sara, Whitney, and I are going to the mall to get Whitney's belly-button pierced. Cassandra and Sara got theirs done earlier this semester; I hope my parents appreciate that I have not (and do not plan on) piercing anything while I'm here. Tomorrow I have my Phonetics Final and will continue to work on my Art History paper; I need to find out if it's suppose to be 4 or 5 pages long... Whitney and I wanted to go to Barcelon this weekend, but tickets and hostels weren't working out so we're planning on going to the beach instead. I actually bought a new swim suit on the way home today, so can't wait to get a chance to use it. Only 16 days until I am home! Unfortunately, I have to go to classes, write a paper, and take finals during that time. Why can't I just go to the beach and fully enjoy the last 2 weeks in Spain?

Berlin and now Amsterdam!

It has been really difficult to be productive this week. Good thing it’s another short week! Whitney, Sara, and I begin our Amsterdam journey tonight with the 12:30am bus to Madrid and a flight Thursday morning. I found out that I actually didn’t miss too much class work on Wednesday last week and was able to get notes from the classes I missed Thursday when I was in Berlin. I also found out that I did fairly well on the History midterm that I was so scared about getting back! So, all good grades, except I still haven’t gotten back my Islamic Culture one, but I’m pretty sure I did well on that. Yesterday I got a letter from my grandfather (I love mail!) and the best package from mom, full of DayQuil/NyQuil and Tylenol PM! I think I’ll be set for the rest of the semester, although I am feeling significantly better than the entirety of the past month. Alright, so while I’m off in Amsterdam here’s some light reading about my trip to Berlin last week:

April 14 (Tuesday) 11:15pm
I am currently hanging out at the bus station waiting for my 1:30am Supra bus to Madrid that will actually take me straight to the airport, so I won’t have to worry about messing with the Metro. Unfortunately, the Granada city buses, namely good old number 10 near my house, stop running around 11pm. I didn’t want to pay a lot for a taxi to the bus station so I just got here early and will hang out for a couple of hours. My flight from Madrid is at 8:50am tomorrow, so I will get to Berlin around noon-ish. I am pretty excited about traveling somewhere without anyone and yet having someone waiting for me at the airport when I arrive!

April 15 (Wednesday) 9:45am On the plane!
So normally I would just now be waking up to get ready to go to class, he he! This Supra bus experience wasn’t really what I had expected, nothing like the one on our Paris trip. First of all, around 1:30am there were two buses about to leave for Madrid and neither of them were my bus. So there was a bit of confusion there until the Supra bus pulled into the station. I took some Tylenol PM to help me sleep, but I still didn’t sleep that well, off and on the whole trip. Then the dumb bus stopped for ½ an hour half way into the journey; I thought the Supra buses were suppose to be non-stop! This journey also lacked a stewardess giving out endless snacks, like the one Whitney and I had before Paris. But what was really aggravating was that the bus went to the Madrid bus station, not the airport! I had to get off, grab my suitcase, and get on a separate bus that took me to the airport.
And I hate the stupid Madrid-Bajaras airport, it is so dumb! I did self check in just fine around 7:15am and my ticket said the flight would be out of gate M. To get to gate M I went through security, long line but not ridiculous, and then went downstairs and took a train/subway a little ways to the separate section of the airport. In the area of M gates I looked at the Departures board and all it said was my flight was at gates HJK. A couple of things wrong with this: First, that’s 3 possible sections of numerous gates. Second, I had just left HJK because my boarding pass said M! Grr!! So I just went into the bathroom and tried not to look like I had just ridden a bus through the night. Then I ate my orange for breakfast outside the Starbucks, which I have still resisted since arriving in January, and watched the departures board. It wasn’t too long before it showed a real gate for the Berlin flight, H6, great. So back downstairs and on the subway to get to H. Then I had to go through security AGAIN! What the heck?! Eventually I got to the correct gate and was still there about 15 minutes before boarding even started. I’ve already had to go to the bathroom on the plane, which I don’t like doing, because I was forced to down my water bottle not once, but twice, before each trip through security!

9:55pm Berlin!
This was the first time traveling between European Union countries that I’ve been asked to show my passport. Then the police man kept asking for my Spanish Residence Card and didn’t believe me when I told him the Spanish Consulate only gave me a student visa. Finally he just said “ok, it’s your choice” and handed me back my passport and I left the baggage area. Ok, jerk, it’s actually not my choice if I don’t have one. It was also the first time traveling this semester that I had someone waiting for me when I landed and that felt so good! It’s a good thing my great-aunt Claudia came to pick me up because it would have been pretty stressful locating her apartment from the airport on my own. From the airport we took about a 30-40 minute bus into the city. Then we waited about 10 minutes at a bus stop outside the main train station for another bus which dropped us off about a block from her apartment. Her building was the only one on the block to survive WWII and is the only residential building surrounded on both sides by businesses. It is also on a dead end street so it is a nice and quiet location. Their balcony overlooks the Spree River with all its boats and they live near a bus stop, train stop, and metro station. What a perfect place to live!
Peter was at home and then we ate sandwiches for lunch out on the balcony. Then Claudia and I basically just walked outside and took a boat tour at 2:30pm until almost 6pm. It is such nice weather here now, mid 70s! It’s warmer and sunnier here than what I left in Spain. Unfortunately, the tour was only in German, but Claudia pointed out important place and translated what she could for me. Berlin is so lush with grass and trees everywhere. There were tons of people sitting on the banks because of the nice weather. On the boat we had wine spritzers and just talked and caught up with each other, its been about four years since we last saw each other.
When we got back we all went out to a local restaurant for dinner; its nice eating earlier and not waiting until nine for dinner. We all had spargel, white asparagus, which was quite delicious and just came into season. Later we took a walk around the city, and went by one of the three opera houses and the plaza where Nazis had conducted book burnings. I love being with people that know they city, so I can see local favorites as well as all the tourist sites.

April 16 (Thursday)
I slept in this morning until about 10, awesome! My first thought was, “ha! I’ve already missed a class and should be half way through my 2nd one of the day.” Today Claudia took a city tour on top of a double-decker bus. This one was in German and English, so it was much easier to understand! It was a hop-on/hop-off bus ticket, so we got off at the Holocaust Memorial to look around a bit. The memorial is basically hundreds of coffin-like blocks of concrete at all different heights; some are flat on the ground, some you can sit on, and some were about 3 times as tall as me. The new American Embassy is also right there across the street and Claudia told me about getting to attend its opening gala. Then we got back on the bus and drove around the Reichstag, where the government meets (it has a large glass dome you can walk up through) and by the Hauptbahnhof, the main train station. We went through a roundabout with a large column in the center where apparently Obama spoke before the election (or maybe inauguration) and thousands of people attended. (Too bad no one famous has come close to Granada this semester. Tom Cruise was in Madrid at one point promoting “Valkyria,” but I think he’s crazy.) We also passed tons of embassies; there are at least: American, Australian, Mexican, British, Dutch, Finish, Saudi Arabian, Moroccan (I was able to name that flag after my last trip!), Italian, Korean, Chinese, French, and Japanese embassies in Berlin (and those are only the one I actually saw). We ended our tour at Checkpoint Charlie and then met Peter at a chocolate store, yay! So I did some damage there and then we went to a café and had iced coffees outside. I’ve decided this is how coffee should be drunk from now one, with ice cream, whipped cream, and through a straw!
After our coffees we went back to the apartment and Claudia and Peter were going to do some work, so I grabbed a map and set out about the town. I discovered the huge mall, but didn’t go in, a synagogue, and took the metro back to the Holocaust Memorial to get some more pictures. For dinner Peter cooked pasta (my favorite!) and we had Chateau Tessyier wine, which was cool because of the family name, Tessier. After dinner Claudia and I went up into the Reichstag dome and saw the city at night; the dome itself is also very architecturally interesting.

April 17 (Friday)
This morning I had a Berliner for breakfast, a jelly donut that JFK called himself during his infamous visit. We didn’t have any definite plans for the day so we headed over to KaDeWe, a huge department store, we think bigger than Harrod’s in London. On the way we stopped to have a bratwurst. KaDeWe certainly was huge with at least six floors. The 2nd highest floor was entirely of food; it was like Central Market on steroids, with sections for everying: cheese, pork, ham, seafood, and more. Within every section was a bar/eating area specializing in that type of food (a potato one, seafood one, etc.). We ate lunch at one of these bars in a meat section.
After lunch we went to Alexander Platz to go up into the TV tower that overlooks the city, for a daytime view of Berlin. We bought tickets, but you can’t enter until the number on your ticket is called, and our number(s) wouldn’t be called for 2 hours! So we headed over to the Galeria department store to kill some time the female way. We also went to a café for a drink and there was an interesting group of German men nearby. We saw them go through many rounds of beer and a few shots and even heard some singing. There was even a nice rendition of “It’s Raining Men” when it began to sprinkle.
Eventually we got up into the tower, and I had though the Reichstag was high, it looked almost flat from up there. It was cool to see the city during the day and point out all the places I’d been too. On the way back home on the metro we were checked for tickets. (I really like the system in Berlin. There are no turn-styles to go through, so you are basically on the honor system. You have to buy a ticket and validate it in a separate machine and then hold onto it. Every now and then there are random checks and if you don’t have a validated ticket it is an immediate 40 Euro fine, without excuse.) Once the doors to the train closed and everyone was securely inside a man dressed in everyday clothing whipped out his ID and stared checking everyone. A man and a woman had to follow him off at the next stop, so I think they were busted.
A little before 7pm we walked to the restaurant we had dinner reservations at. It was a local place with each room decorated differently; we were in a room decorated like a kitchen and the room next to us was like a dining room. Friday and Saturday nights they have a man come and play the piano and sing. He began shortly after we were seated and, according to Peter, was singing a bunch of old songs about Berlin, that was one word that I could identify. The music was nice with dinner, which I had duck! It was really good, but I wouldn’t say it was exactly like chicken. I also tried some of Claudia’s pig’s foot and Peter’s venison, both good. Good thing I’m not picky and adventurous, at least when it comes to food. We walked back home by the river and under some apple blossom trees, a very nice way to end the trip.

April 18 (Saturday) 1:45pm On the plane to Spain.
Berlin trip over, back to Spain. Claudia and I left a little after 9am and said goodbye at a bus stop where I got the bus that would take me to the airport. The line for check-in was pretty long; I’m definitely more of a fan of self check-in, but there were none. I still set off the metal detector through security though there was no metal on my person. So I was able to get pretty friendly with a nice German security lady that patted me down/felt me up before letting me leave the country! Eventually we got on the plane, boarding at the scheduled time of take off. The plane is suppose to land in Madrid at 3:30pm and I would like to make the 4:30pm bus to Madrid. It takes around 45 minutes to navigate the metro from the airport to the bus station, but hopefully I can make it if I run.

5:45pm
I did not make the 4:30pm bus, ugh! Even with rushing off the plane and practically running through the airport and metros, I got to the bus station at 4:40pm, how frustrating! So I had to wait for the 5:30pm bus, but it turned out alright. Normally Madrid to Granada buses are full, but I have my own row. Sometimes there is even a bad movie to watch, but today it’s X Men 2!

I am so excited about going to Berlin! I leave tonight at 1:30am on a bus from Granada to Madrid (about a 5 to 5 ½ hour ride) and then fly out of Madrid to Berlin at 8:50am Wednesday morning. My Aunt Claudia already has all kinds of stuff planned for us; I believe a bus tour, boat tour, and maybe even some biking are in for this week. Then I leave Berlin around noon on Saturday to fly back into Madrid. Then I will have to take the bus back to Granada and I will probably get home around dinner time. Good thing dinner is so late here! It’s been very nice only having two days of class after an entire week off, not a bad way to ease back into school.
Easter Sunday in Spain was pretty good. In the morning I went to Iglesia Santa Domingo, a church near my school, to watch the beginning one more processional. This one was called Facundillo and was a processional led by children. It was so cute! The children were carrying the image of Jesus on their shoulders, but it was a significantly smaller float than all the previous ones. Even the image of the resurrected Jesus holding a cross was miniature compared to the images of other processionals. The image was actually tilted because they had bigger kids holding the front of it and smaller kids in the back, so Jesus was almost looking up to the sky! When the processional passed, I went to church, which was good as usual. I like it sometimes when we sing some of the same songs that I sing in church back home, like “My Jesus, He Can Move the Mountains” is “Mi Cristo, Puede Mover Montes.”

Semana Santa

This week I’ve pretty much just chilled around Granada. Tuesday (April 7) Whitney and I went to the Granada airport to pick up her cousin who is visiting for the week. This makes 3 sets of visits for Whitney to my none, bummer. Then I started figuring out scheduling stuff for classes next semester and had a Skype date with Mom. Wednesday I set out in search of a book to read. I’d prefer a book in English because then I can read for fun without seeming like I’m doing any work. However, no English books were to be found, but it’s alright because I found one of my favorite books, Wicked, in Spanish. So I have started reading that. Then I watched a processional before dinner and then a couple with my friends after dinner.

Thursday morning Whitney, her cousin, Sara, and I went to Café Futbol for churros y chocolate for breakfast. I also got freshly squeezed orange juice which was delicious and a nice change from the continual hot chocolate I get for breakfasts. That evening we all met up to go to a Flamenco show at a restaurant in the Albayzin. When we walked up to the restaurant we located free ticket lady who got us free entrance to the show and drinks. The show was scheduled for 8pm, but this is Spain and it started at 8:20pm. It was actually real flamenco! Not like the Aladdin musical we went to last month! There was a guy playing guitar, a guy singing, and a girl dancing, wearing a black flamenco dress with big red polka dots. It was really cool; I had forgotten how important singing is in flamenco and the guy sang really well. I really liked the dancing too, how the stomping of her feet became music along with the guitar playing.

At midnight the Silencio processional began and it made it down to Plaza Nueva, where we were waiting, at about 12:45am. This processional is one of the most famous ones in Granada during Semana Santa. They turn all the street lights and business lights out so the city is dark and the only light comes from the candles in the processional. Everyone is completely silent, including the crowds watching, and you WILL get shushed if you try to talk. The only sounds you hear are the shuffle of the feet of the people in the processional and the eerie drums playing. Every processional is done by different brotherhoods from churches and has an image of Jesus and Mary (we would probably refer to them as “floats” so think large scale), usually from the 17th or 18th century. They keep these images in remarkable condition; Jesus always comes first and the Virgin ends the processional. In the Silencio processional, however, there was only a large image of Jesus on the cross, which looked a little creepy floating in the air all lit up in the dark. There were tons of people there, I will be glad when Monday comes and everyone goes home. I thought Granada was crowded before, it is absolutely ridiculous now. It took my ½ an hour longer to get home than normal because of the shear number of people in the streets.

Today a lot of my friends are off to the beach in Nerja. I elected to stay home because I’m still not feeling too well and I don’t think a day on the beach would help too much. Also, I’m glad I didn’t go because I woke up this morning and it is cold and rainy! Hopefully, they get some sun on the beach but usually Nerja has the same weather as Granada. This afternoon I have a Skype date with my best friend Jen, which I am excited about because it feels like I haven’t talked to her in forever. Then a couple friends and I are going to go to a movie, we’re thinking the Aliens & Monsters cartoon looks pretty good. Ooh! I am really excited about the new X-Men movie coming out, it hits Spain May 1st.

MOROCCO!!!

I’m back from Africa!! The past four days in Morocco was such an incredible experience, one that I would not trade for anything. I’ll try to capture everything for you.

Thursday, 8:30pm (April 2): I had my final midterm of the week today (History, really difficult, don’t want to talk about it), and then I was free for Spring Break! We just left the Granada bus station to head to Algeciras and have officially begun our journey to Morocco. Holy crap, I am going to Africa! Right now I have a mixture of excitement, nervousness, and shear panic. I have to keep reminding myself that if it wasn’t safe and a great experience, it wouldn’t be included in the cost of the program. I have lots of tissue/toilet paper and found some hand sanitizer, so at least I am prepared in that important aspect!

Friday, 8:30pm (April 3): Oh my goodness, I don’t even know where to begin. After we arrived in Algeciras our Morocco guides, Rick and Ben, took us to our hostel for the night (we spent the night in Spain and would cross the border in the morning). This morning we walked to the ferry station and ate breakfast at the cafeteria there. Eventually we got our passports stamped (yay! That’s one thing I don’t like about not having to do customs within the European Union, no stamps to all those countries you visit) and got on the ferry to cross the Strait of Gibraltar. We went out on the deck for a little while during the crossing but it was crazy windy and we kept getting sprayed by ocean water. I am in Ben’s group, a group of 15 girls, and he gave us a little bit of info on the way over.
Once we landed in Tangier, Morocco we put our backpacks on a 15 passenger bus and went to exchange money (about 11 Durhams for 1 Euro). Then we took the bus into the city (Tangier) and went to an open food market. I don’t even think words can explain that. The fruits stands were gorgeous but the piles and piles of different colored olives were my favorite. The meat was another story. How many chickens were just killed and plucked today? But the worst were the skinned lamb heads just chilling in a pile on a counter. Ben got us fruit, olives, and water for snacks the rest of the day.
Then we walked to the DARNA women’s center (a place for abused/single/poor women to go during the day and take various classes on textile skills to help their chances in the work force) and talked with two Muslim girls and a guy for a while. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about the culture and religion, also touching a lot on women’s rights in Morocco and how they are changing for the better little by little. We ate lunch there after having a tour of the facility and had couscous with chicken and veggies, which I really enjoyed. Good initial experience of Moroccan food.
After we left we got back on the bus for a while. I fell asleep and when I woke up we were on the side of the road next to a beach and there were CAMELS! I got to ride a camel on the Atlantic coast in Africa! Be jealous. It was so much fun and a little scary when they are standing up and laying back down, but I did not fall.
Then we drove along the coast forever, stopping for a short paseo (walk) through Asilah, which had a gorgeous lookout point over the ocean, and ened up in the city of Rabat. We are staying with families here in Rabat for two days and I am with Tosha and Sara. Our host mother, Semmar, is really nice but keeps speaking to us in French, convinced we understand! Dinner was really good (soup called harira, bread, crepes, olives, apples, and strawberries), and I definitely decided that I like Moroccan food. We found out that another American girl from New York, Meghan, is stay with the family for a few months and volunteering as an English teacher. When she got here she was able to explain some things to us and help translate because she knows some French.

Saturday 11:15pm (April 4): So pretty much every guy’s dream of a girl’s locker room came true tonight when we did the public bathing, called a Hammam. Basically we all wore bathing suit bottoms, but no tops, and went into a tiled steam room with buckets of hot water. We sat on the floor and used the buckets to wash our hair first. Then we used soap that looked like soy sauce packets that the place had given us and let it soak into our skin for about ten minutes, but you could soap up your own back so we had a nice train of soaping up each other going on! After rinsing off we used exfoliating scrubbies to get rid of dead skin, again making a scrubbing train to make sure all the backs got done. We were in there for about an hour, it felt so refreshing and clean. It was also nice that it was just our group of 15 in there for the majority of the time (at the end of the hour two Moroccan ladies came in with their small child, all dressed quite similar to us). Apparently the Moroccan women do this process once or twice a week for their bathing. It also seems like it would be a great time to socialize for them.
This morning we went to a university and a female professor spoke with us about women’s rights (a popular topic for us) and education in Morocco. Not going to lie, I was feeling pretty crappy and found this pretty boring. But I did buy a book written by another professor there about views of Islam and culture, hopefully it will be interesting. He even autographed them all for us, too bad I can’t read Arabic.
Then we went to visit the Roman ruins of Chellah, which were pretty cool. I’m generally a big fan of ruins. There were ruins of a mosque, tombs of ancient sultans, and an eel pond. By the eel pond there was an old man selling hard boiled eggs. According to legend, women with fertility problems would buy eggs and throw pieces into the pond. If the eel ate your egg piece(s) it was suppose to bring you luck with bearing children.
We returned to our homes after stopping at an ancient mosque that was begun in the late 12th century and the Mausoleum of King Mohammed V. The sultan who started the construction of the mosque died four years after work was begun and out of respect for him it was never finished (this didn’t really make sense to me because I think you should finish something out of respect for someone, but whatever) and there had been an earthquake in the late 20th century that had caused a lot of damage. Basically it had a minaret (a tower in every mosque that is used for the call to prayer) of 40 meters high, although it was to be 60 meters high, and tons and tons of pieces of columns in a large open area. Ben told us people still come here to do their prayers and the whole area is packed on Fridays, the Muslim holy day. There was also a beautiful mausoleum nearby that we got to go in; I absolutely love Muslim art. In there are the tombs of the current king’s (Mohammed VI) father, uncle, and grandfather
At home we had couscous for lunch, very similar to the kind we ate in Tangier yesterday. There was also a large glass bottle of coke, with Arabic labels, and fruit. Then we got to spend some time in small groups with some Moroccan students that spoke English. We walked all over the old Medina (old city) through the markets and out into the city. Almost everyone ended up as this pool bar and we had tea and cokes together. It was really cool talking with students our age about different cultures, beliefs, daily life, etc. They were all so interested in the US and traveling since it is so difficult for Moroccans to leave their country, they have to have a visa to leave and it is impossible to obtain one without tons of money. While we were walking around I got a henna tattoo on my right hand/arm. The lady did it SO fast and it was so pretty; I had to be really careful for about ½ an hour though while it dried. It was a little weird at first because the paint comes out of a syringe, so I was a little freaked out when a lady came at me initially with a one of those.
Then we met with Jess, a Fulbright Scholar here working on a topic about abortion in Morocco, and Darren, a former Peace Corps officer in Chad and Morocco. After listen to all the interesting things they had to say we went to the Hammam. After bathing we ate dinner with Meghan and our host mother at home. We had soup (kinda like pea soup?), bread, laughing cow cheese (!), salad, and a strawberry/orange juice/smoothie drink.

Sunday 8:30am (April 5)
This morning we left our homestay family after having breakfast (1/2 coffee, ½ milk drink and baguettes with jam). Before we left the house Semmar gave us each a piece of paper with her name, email, and phone number for “if we return,” the verb she used in French sounded like the verb “to return” in Spanish so I understood that one (Meghan was sleeping so we were on our own).
Being in Morocco has made me a little frustrated with my host family in Spain who were very against us going on this trip. I’ve felt very safe here, the hosts are very kind, hospitable, and intelligent (fluent in at least 2 languages), and the houses were bigger and cleaner than our Spanish piso. And they did have a western toilet, not a hole in the dirt in the backyard my host mother and sister told me I would be using, ha! I do really want to take an introductory French class right now after this experience.
So some random things I’ve learned about Morocco:
-The only piece of law that makes it an Islamic country is the incorporation of the “Family Code” from the Coran.
-A man is now limited to 4 wives, whereas he use to be able to have as many as he could afford. Now he must ask permission from the 1st wife to take a 2nd wife and he is still obligated to care for her. They often take 2nd wives if there are fertility issues with the first, and apparently it will be the 1st wife that encourages her husband to find another wife to continue on the family with.
-About polygamy: the Coran says you must be just will all your wives and love and treat them equally, but that you will not be able to. Apparently a lot of people just ignore this last phrase.
-There are 3 things you are forbidden (punishable by law) to speak badly about: Allah, the country, and the king
-A Muslim man can marry any woman he wants but a muslim woman is forbidden from marrying anyone but a muslim man, because religion is passed down from the father and this ensure the children will be Muslim.
-Moroccans are technically not allowed to date but they do anyway
-Turkish toilets = porcelain hole in ground with food stands, squatting (praying to God you don’t pee on yourself or fall over), and pouring water down the hole to flush. They do have western toilets, but we did encounter some Turkish ones.

Monday 11:30am (April 6)
We just crossed the border back into the Spanish city of Ceuta and I, as well as a lot of other people in my group, feel pretty ashamed to be Americans. At the border there was a horrendously long line of Moroccans pushing, shoving, and crowding at one window hoping to get their passports stamped. When the window we were suppose to go to was closed to police just held them up and allowed us to cut ahead of everyone to get stamped. When I got up to the window a Moroccan man, who had definitely been waiting hours longer than I had been, put his passport through the window. The police man nearby yanked it out of the window and told me to go ahead. Then we had to cross the street to get into a very pushy line to show our stamp and actually be allowed to cross the border. The police were very slow scrutinizing everyone’s passport and even rejected some people and made them turn around and leave. But when any of us got up there they barely looked at the “USA” and let us through. It was so sad; the police even said “Americans first” to a few Spanish women trying to enter into a Spanish city!?!? This is not how things should be; it is just so unfair and people are definitely not treated equally. I feel like people hate us, and rightly so; I would hate us too if I had to be on the other side of this.
6pm: Yesterday after leaving Rabat we drove a few hours to the Rif Mountains. I really enjoyed the long drives to our destinations. Besides one shanty town we passed, it was always really beautiful to just sit and look out at the countryside. On the way up a mountain we stopped and picked up our translator and went to a village to visit one of the sisters of the other group’s translator and her husband, Hammid. The house was not a hut as “villages” tend to be portrayed; it was actually quite nice, cool, and comfortable (all 17 of us were able to fit comfortably), minus the Turkish toilet, which I’ve actually gotten pretty ok at. We sat down and had snacks of bread, cheese, and veggies and then ate the couscous the sister prepared. While eating we talked with the family about their life. He had bought a van with his brother and they have a “shuttle service” business of taking people, goats, whatever, from the city to the village. Also, he and his father built the house in only a month. It was such a pretty day and we went for a walk up into the surrounding mountains. We walked up to a high peak and looked down over a valley, it was incredible. Thankfully I managed to abstain from falling although heights are definitely not my thing. We took a group photo up on the mountain, the Central College students are going for getting the cover of the program’s brochure, so we’ll see about that. After we left the village we drove some more north to Chefchaouen. When we first got to Morocco we drove south along the Atlantic Coast and now driving back north we’re going through the mountains.
In Chefchaouen we took all our stuff from the van and walked through the medina and checked into our hostel for the night. We had free time from about 6:30pm until we met for dinner at 9pm to wander through the medina and all the shops/markets. I discovered that I am crazy good at haggling, just don’t be afraid to say no and walk away and they usually give stuff to you for the price you want. I got some earrings, a skirt, a ring made of camel bone, and a plate. The last shop that Bridgette, Sara, and I went to was owned by two brothers, Abdellah and Bruce, that are friends of Ben. They were so nice and chatty and had a stay a while for tea. Abdellah speaks 7 languages (Arabic, French, English, German, Italian, Russian, and Japanese) and travels all the time (clearly he has money). He got very excited to hear that I live in Texas because he is going to his home in Juarez, Mexico this summer and invited me to come hang out. Although he also asked me to be one of his women, I respectfully declined that offer.
We ate dinner as a group in a restaurant in the Medina. I had harira soup, vegetable pastel, and goat’s yogurt with honey for dessert. After dinner we went back to the hostel and went up on the roof for some “reflection time.” It was nice to be able to share about everyone’s thoughts and experiences about the trip since we haven’t been able to do that yet. Ben gave us all presents, musk to make things (like your sock drawer) smell nice and desert rose stones created by extreme temperatures in the Sahara.
This morning we left the hostel at 6:50am for a walk to an ancient and abandoned mosque on a mountain across from the town. Again, gorgeous view. The town is painted white and blue and looks really similar to the Albyzin in Granada. We sat up there and ate breakfast that we had brought along and then all climbed up into the minaret. Then we returned to the hostel, grabbed our stuff, headed to the van, and drove to Ceuta (which is a Spanish city on the African continent, so we entered into Spain while still in Africa).
At Ceuta we had to get out and walk to the border because our driver wasn’t allowed across. Then we dealt with the awfulness of the border that I already explained. Once in Ceuta we took taxis to the ferry station and got on the ferry right before it took off at 3pm (Spain time, Morocco is 2 hours behind). This crossing seemed much shorter than the first, but I had to take some Dramamine because I was getting pretty dizzy. We said our goodbyes to Rick and Ben because they would have to run off the boat to try to make their 3:50pm train to Granada (Rick lives in Granada and Ben was coming to visit for Semana Santa). We were not in such a rush because our bus to Granada wasn’t until 5:45pm, so we got off the ferry and walked to the bus station. When we got there at 4:15pm Rick and Ben were sitting inside; they’d missed their train and were taking our bus, so we all just hung out in the bus station for a while.
Some things that I have learned from my Morocco trip:
-Bring tissues and hand sanitizer everywhere
-Go to the bathroom and fill up your water bottle wherever you can because you never know when the next opportunity will be.
-How to be flexible and get (way) out of my comfort zone
-For the most part, negative stereotypes of Moroccans are ridiculously unwarranted.
-It is very difficult for Moroccans to leave their country. Visas are impossible to obtain unless they are rich. They are so intelligent but so restricted.
-Life is so unjust. Americans are spoiled. The first page in our passports even say in a nutshell “let me through without any questions/problems.”

Tuesday (April 7)
When we got home from the bus station last night Whitney and I were quarantined by the Isabels. We walked into the piso and they told us to leave everything in the bathroom and immediately shower. I sat in the living room with the family (because I wasn’t allowed in our bedroom) while Whitney showered. During this time little Isabel (age 43) began berating me with all her negative opinions and stereotypes about Morocco. This actually surprised me because I would have thought big Isabel (age 71) would have been the one to be more prejudice but she really wasn’t. So little Isabel and I have pretty much the best debate of my life (in Spanish), pretty sure it’s safe to say that I won. I just tried to explain to her that we spoke to a lot of Moroccan women who believe they do have some rights, not as much as Americans or Spaniards, but little by little they are gaining them. How the Moroccan king should not be considered the dictator she believes he is, how the people are very intelligent, and how poverty exists in EVERY country, even the “wonderful” United States. Mom you would have been so proud of me, I was SO angry at all the unnecessary prejudice, stereotypes, and refusal to listen, but I did not yell or scream at anyone, ha ha ha! I really think she just didn’t expect me to disagree with her because usually when they rant and rave about some global issue Whitney and I just listen and say “ok.” But this I really felt strongly about, having had some first hand experience, and refused to just sit by. Today little Isabel has not mentioned anything about the Morocco trip.
After the cleansing/quarantine process was complete Whitney and I met up with Cassandra and her parents, who arrived a couple days ago, at our favorite kebab place for dinner. We visited with them for a while and found out that there luggage has still not arrived from when they got here over the weekend, so they have been in the same stuff they traveled to Spain in since Saturday. Hopefully there luggage shows up soon because they were only going to be here a week anyway. Plus, her mom brought Pop-Tarts, Lucky Charms, chocolate, and Tylenol PM in her suitcase for us girls, find that luggage!
This morning Whitney and I went to the Granada airport to pick up her cousin Tandy who is coming to visit. Isabel had invited her over for lunch so we all went back to the piso and had paella, yum! We’ll probably take her shopping today and then watch some of the processionals later this afternoon. We saw our first processional last night on our way home. It was really a cool experience to see the brotherhood dressed up and the ancient floats of Jesus and the Virgin (some of these floats are from the early 15th, 16th, 17th centuries).

Midterms

Sunday (March 29) I went on an excursion to Cordoba through the school. I had been really excited to see the Mezquita since we had just gone over it in my Art history class and it was really cool. The trip would have been a little bit better though if it hadn't been so cold & rainy. This week has been pretty rough; I am recovering from what feels like a sinus infection and this is the week of midterms. I am almost to spring break though, only one more midterm! I had midterms in Grammar and Islamic Culture on Tuesday, Art History and POE today, and History will be tomorrow. Spring Break can't come at a better time, I am definitely in need of a break. Tomorrow evening our program leaves on the 8:15pm bus for our Morrocco trip! We will be gone until late Monday night. Then I will have the rest of the week off for Semana Santa (Holy Week), where I plan on relaxing and sleeping as much as possible. The week after Semana Santa I will be going to Berlin (April 15-18) and then the following week is a trip to Amsterdam (April 23-25)!

Friday (March 13) Whitney, Sara, Cassandra, Kristin, and I met at the bus station and headed to Salobreña, only an hour bus ride to the coast. This beach trip was a lot warmer, although the water was still freezing. We did get some sun, some more than others, but I managed not to burn (thanks to my incredibly expensive sunscreen from Corte Ingles). There weren’t too many people laying out when we got there, but it got busier during the afternoon. There were, however, hundreds of fishing poles stuck in the ground along the shore with tons of fishermen. It was nice just to lay out and relax, I was able to finish a book I had been reading. We took the bus back and made it home before dinner. After dinner we all met at Cassandra’s apartment to watch Benjamin Button (in English!) but didn’t make it all the way through the movie because we were so tired.

Saturday (March 14) we left with our program to go to Sevilla for the day. However, the trip consisted of six hours of driving and only four hours in the city, definitely not enough time. Whitney stayed home because her friend Ashley was getting into town that afternoon. In Sevilla we walked around a bit, through the Plaza de España (stopping to take a group picture infront of the Granada section), gardens, around the Cathedral, and we toured the Reales Alcazar (which was pretty but nothing compared to the Alhambra), where the king stays when he visits Sevilla. There are a lot of other places in the city I would have liked to seen so we’ll just have to plan a trip on our own back there.
We got back to Granada and ate kebaps for dinner (yay!) because we didn’t have enough time to go home and eat with our families before we had to meet back up again with the group for the Flamenco show. Whitney and Ashley met up with us at the kebap place to go to the show. The theater was in Sacromonte, a nice long walk up a mountain, but had a gorgeous view of the Alhambra as the stage’s background (large windows facing that way). The Flamenco show was nothing like I expected it to be, it was not very traditional. I really enjoyed it but it was almost like a musical version of Aladdin (with the songs) mixed with Flamenco dancing. We stopped for tapas at La Tortuga on the way back home. Then went to get disco ready and got to Granada 10 around 3am. There weren’t as many people dancing this time, but there seemed to be less creepers (although our friend Mitch did have to deflect some for us). We made it until 5am this time, and didn’t even leave because of fatigue. We couldn’t hardly move anymore it got so crowded and my friend’s feet was dying from her new heels. We got kebaps (again!) on the way home because we were starving. I have decided that kebaps are the Taco Bell of Spain (but so much better), the only thing open so late.

Today I woke up around 2pm, just in time for lunch! Later I went for a run in the park; it is such a gorgeous day there were at least a hundred people in the park. After showering, I got ready for church and went to the evening service.

Weekend in Paris!

Thursday (March 5, 2009)
I packed my suitcase the night before and brought it with me to classes Thursday morning (my program director let me leave it in her office during my three classes). Once our classes ended at 1pm Whitney and I grabbed our stuff from Veronica’s office and left the school. We grabbed a taxi and headed toward the bus station, there was a 1:30pm bus to Madrid we were hoping to make (our flight was at 8:45pm from Madrid to Paris). The taxi driver drove like a bat out of hell, I thought we were going to die before even seeing Paris, but we made it to the bus station by 1:20pm. Unfortunately the ticket line was a million people long and we got to the counter at 1:30pm, and the ticket guy informed us that there were no more seats available on that bus. The next regular bus would be at 3pm, but Madrid is about a 4 ½ to 5 hour bus ride and we didn’t want to stress about possibly missing our flight. There was a bus to Madrid at 2pm but it cost twice as much as the normal bus, but we took it anyway. Turns out that this was the “Supra” or VIP bus; it was like a first class airplane trip. The bus did not make any stops (the normal ones stop for ½ an hour in the middle of the drive at a random gas station), had huge comfortable seats, headphones for the movies it played, and a stewardess. She gave us drinks, a meal, a snack, and dessert! It was the best bus ride I’ve ever taken!
We made it to the Madrid airport about an hour before the flight was suppose to leave, but the plane decided not to show up on time. We were scheduled to leave for Paris at 8:45pm but didn’t even board the plane until close to 9:30pm. The plane did not give us any snacks, Supra Bus 1, AirEuropa 0. We landed in the Paris-Orly Airport around 11:30pm and searched for how to get into the city (the airport is on the outskirts). The information lady told us the last bus had already left and we would have to take a taxi; I did not want to do this because I knew it would be outrageously expensive. Luckily, as we walked outside to the taxi area we saw one lone bus with people getting on. The last bus into the city was running late and hadn’t left yet, so we only paid few Euros instead of a million! The bus dropped us off at a bus/metro station and we took the metro to the stop closest to where our hotel was located. We finally got to the hotel and checked into our room about 1pm. After showering and figuring out what we would do the next day we went to bed (close to 2am).

Friday (March 6, 2009)
We left the hotel by 7:30am, wanting to get an early start on the city so we could be sure to see everything. Notre Dame was our first stop and the stained glass rose windows are just as gorgeous as everyone says. We walked around inside for a bit and they even conducted mass in one of the small chapels while people visited. My favorite part about it though is the exterior architecture, I love gothic style and explained to Whitney the significance of a “flying buttress.” After visiting Notre Dame we walked along the Seine River in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. It was a gorgeous day (this was my first trip this semester without any rain!) so we opted to walk instead of taking the metro. Well, the streets are a lot longer than the map leads you to believe, but we saw a lot of interesting sights and buildings along the way. Before we got to far from Notre Dame we stopped at a tourist agency and bought very reasonable tickets for a combination tour on the river and tour through the city for Saturday night. Eventually, the Eiffel Tower came into view.
We stood in line for about 30 minutes to go through security and buy tickets for the Eiffel Tower. Since this might be the only time we ever get to go, we paid to go all the way to the top (this included an elevator so we did not have to brave the stairs). We stopped off at the second level to look around and take pictures before going all the way up to the top. The ride up to the top made me a little nervous because it gets very narrow and is pretty open, not to mention very high above the ground. We made it up just fine and the view was spectacular; I could see for miles because it was such a nice day. I saw the Louvre, the Arc de Triumph, and other monuments we were planning on visiting from up there. The only bad thing was that it was VERY cold and there was a nice chilly wind accompanying the cold, and of course it got worse the higher up you went.
After we left the Eiffel Tower we walked around the city, going by the Arc de Triumph and the Paris Opera House. I was able to go inside the Opera House and see the grand staircase, the balconies, and they foyers. The actual auditorium was closed for a rehearsal so I was not able to go in there. Leaving the Opera House we took the metro to where the Statue of Liberty was (yes there is one in France too, by the same guy). France’s is much, much smaller than the U.S. Statue of Liberty. She is on a small island overlooking the Seine River in the more business and less touristy area of France. Whitney and I sat on the river bank and ate some oranges for a snack while checking her out. About this time it was close to 5:30pm so we decided to head on over to the Louvre Museum (it is free for students after 6pm on Fridays). We took the metro and got to the museum a little after 6; I thought we would have to wait in a long line, but we were able to just walk in. The first painting we went to, of course, was the “Mona Lisa.” There was a huge crowd of people around her taking picture (I cannot believe the Louvre allows pictures with flash). I found it pretty humorous that Mona is behind a thick (bulletproof looking) plate of glass. After seeing Leonardo’s masterpiece we continued throughout the Louvre and saw some of his other works and other’s paintings. For dinner we stopped by a kebap place near the hotel and got it to go and ate in the hotel room while watching the French news. We didn’t get back to the hotel until 9:30pm, and we hardly sat down the entire day. I swear we walked at least 12 hours that day, but we were able to see everything.

Saturday (March 7, 2009)
We left the hotel again at 7:30am and stopped by the bakery next to the hotel for bread and pastries for breakfast. Then we took the metro to the train station and bought round-trip train tickets to Versailles (only 5 Euros). I’ve always wanted to visit the Palace of Versailles, but never thought I would get the opportunity. However, since we were able to see everything we wanted to in the city on Friday we had time for a day trip on Saturday. The train ride was about 30 minutes to Versailles, but we made it a little longer when we got off two stops to early. We were suppose to get off the train at the stop Versailles Rive-Gauche, so when we got to the station Rive-Gauche we got off. Turns out this was two stations before the actually one we wanted because they failed to think of a different name for the station. So we just waited about 7 minutes for the next train going in the correct direction and got on that. When we got to Versailles we walked a couple blocks to the Palace.
At the information/ticket center we decided to pay additional for the private tour (the general admission includes an audioguide and the tour takes you through private apartments the general public doesn’t get to see). Paying for the tour was definitely worth it, our group was only seven people (me & Whitney, a random guy, two ladies from Dallas, and an old couple- the man was so annoying but it was funny to see the guide get agitated with him) and our tour guide. We actually had about an hour and a half before the tour began so we walked through the beautiful gardens for a while. Unfortunately, being cold and during winter, there were no flowers and the fountains were not on, but it is still very pretty. There were a pair of swans swimming around the pond with the Apollo Fountain in it. The private tour was first and we went through the king and queen’s private apartments and the private chapel; we got to stand right where Marie-Antoinette and Louis XVI were married! When our tour was over we got our audioguides and walked around by ourselves through the state rooms and the famous Hall of Mirrors, very elegant. We ended up staying at the Palace for over 4 hours, but it did not seem like very long at all. This was definitely my favorite part of the whole trip, it’s something I’ve always wanted to see! It was difficult not to fall asleep on the train ride back because we were so tired, but we made it back to the hotel and had time for a short siesta. After our quick nap we headed back to the area where Notre Dame is and did a little bit of tourist shopping. At 8pm we had our boat tour on the Seine River, which was very relaxing after so much walking and gorgeous. That lasted an hour and then we had to hurry back to the tourist agency to make the city tour at 9:30pm. The tour was on a double decker bus and we definitely sat on the top! We knew it would be freezing so we actually put on all of the clothing we had brought with us on the trip! I had on three long sleeve shirts, two jackets, tights, jeans, three pairs of socks, hat, scarf, and gloves. We looked a bit ridiculous but we made it the whole tour on top of the busy while others wimped out and went below! The tour took us by the Eiffel Tower all lit up (and on the hour it sparkles!), the Arc de Triumph, the Opera House, the Champs-Elysees, the Moulin Rouge, and many other places that looked so pretty all lit up at night. After the bus dropped us off we got crepes with banana and chocolate in them, it was a great way to end the trip!

Sunday (March 8, 2009)
Can you guess what time we left the hotel? Yep, 7:30am was the magic time of the trip. One more time at the bakery and ride on the metro as we went to the airport. This time the plane was on time but we had to stand in line over an hour just for check in. I really don’t like there system at this airport. There are no automated check ins and the check in counter for your specific flight only opens 2 hours before the flight is scheduled to depart, so when it opens there is a mad dash of the entire group of people going to be on your plane to get in line. When we got to Madrid we took the metro to the main bus station and bought tickets for the 3:30pm bus to Granada. We had about an hour to kill so we found food, what we usually do with free time. The bus ride back home was not too bad, even though it wasn’t the VIP bus (after the expensive weekend in the City of Love we paid for the cheap bus). On the bus they played the movie “The Whole Nine Yards,” (in Spanish of course) which I love. Although the title in Spanish literally translates to “False Appearances;” they always seem to be changing titles here. We took the 30 minute stop at a gas station/rest area and saw two girls in our program there from a different bus coming back from traveling as well. The last half of the trip was spent sleeping, listen to the ipod, and doing a little bit of homework (back to the reality of classes). We made it home in time for dinner (about 9:30pm), good thing Spain’s dinner time is so late. I like coming back to one of Isabel’s meals after traveling and worrying about finding food for myself and eating cheap.

Monday I was completely exhausted during both of my classes, probably because I get less sleep on weekends I travel than during the school week. After class I went to swim practice; I hadn’t been in over two weeks because I have been really sick (pretty sure it was a sinus infection, I’m famous for those). Luckily it was a fairly easy workout so it was a good one to get back into it with.

Tuesday I wasn’t as tired during class because I went to bed freakishly early Monday night, basically right after dinner (pretty sure it was before 10pm). After lunch I went to swimming again, which was a little more challenging than the day before. However, exciting news, there was an American guy there swimming! His name is John and he is from California; it was very nice to speak a little bit of English during practice for once. After swimming I was walking toward the school to go use the computers and stopped to help an American family that was pretty lost. They needed to go in my direction to find the Cathedral so I just had them walk with me; they were very nice to talk to. After dinner Whitney and I met some friends to go out for tapas, we hadn’t been out for a while. One of the girls that came with us is visiting from the study abroad location in the Netherlands (she is actually the girl we are going to go visit when we go to Amsterdam at the end of April). First we went to a Mexcian Restaurant for margarita’s and then a bar for tapas; it was nice to socialize during the week outside of classes.

This Friday my friends and I are talking about taking a day trip to the beach since it is getting warmer. Saturday our program is taking us on a day trip to Sevilla and then a Flamenco show in Granada that night. Saturday Whitney has a friend coming to visit from the US so we are going to go out with her to a disco after dinner and the Flamenco Show. Today I paid for a trekking and Arabic bath trip with the school for March 22nd and I am going to Cordoba on March 28th for a day trip with the school. Mid-term exams are coming up, beginning on March 30th! Then on April 2nd I leave with my program for 4 days in Morocco.

Nerja

Thursday night (Feb. 26) a few friends and I went to the movie theater and saw “Valkiria,” which was a very good movie, although it was kind of strange to see Tom Cruise and yet hear Spanish. The popcorn was great, more salty than drowned in butter.

Friday morning (Feb. 27) Whitney and I met our friend Sara at the bus station in Granada and we all bought tickets to Nerja. Nerja is about a two hour bus ride to the Costa del Sol on the Mediterranean Sea, kind of south west from Granada. When we arrived our hostel was literally right next to the bus stop, which was very nice since we didn’t have to haul our stuff around for a while looking for it. It was also a very nice place to stay; we had a three person private room with our own bathroom, towels, tv, breakfast in the morning, and internet access in the lobby. After we checked in and dropped our stuff off we got a bus to Las Cuevas de Nerja (the caves). This year is the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the caves by five young men. The caves were really cool and huge, although we only were able to see about a third of the whole thing (that is all that is currently open to the public). In one of the center caverns is a gigantic column that actually holds the Guinness Record for largest/tallest in a cave. The next bus into town was not scheduled to arrive for over an hour by the time we were done cave exploring. It was a very pleasant day so we just decided to walk back, it took about 45 minutes. I am glad we opted for walking because we were able to stop and take pictures along the way of the town, coast, and a couple Roman Aqueducts. After our long walk back we were pretty warm and decided to hit the beach. The man at the hostel had told us it was only a 10 minute walk to the sea from where the hostel is located. Well, he described it wrong to us and the sign we needed was hidden and facing the wrong way, so our 10 minute walk to the beach took over 35 minutes. This lovely walk also happened to be along a highway were every male that drove by honked and waved at us. We finally located a beach and set out our towels and had a picnic with the food we had brought. The wind was blowing, which made the weather a little chilly, but we still at least stuck our feet in the water to say we’ve been in the Mediterranean. When it got to be a little too cold for comfort we walked back into town. I love traveling because I can take as long of a shower as I want, whereas we really have to be quick and limit water usage at home. After we all showered we walked around the town exploring and looking for the Balcón de Europa (an old fortress that is now a huge lookout point over the sea along the coast). Oh, and we finally found the correct way to the beach that did only take 10 minutes. On the way we encountered a pharmacy and I stopped in and bought my first souvenir, cough and decongestion medicine for the sinus infection I’ve been battling the last week or so. Then we kept walking and finally found the lookout point, although it was night by then and we couldn’t see anything. We ate dinner at a bar nearby and got a salad, chicken, potatoes, desert, and a drink for a very reasonable price.

Saturday morning (Feb. 28) we ate breakfast at the hostel, which was very good and free! Then we walked back down the road we took to the beach the day before to a donkey refugee we had found. We went in and we able to pet and feed the animals. There were mainly donkeys (obviously), but also a few dogs, horses, sheep, goats, roosters, pigs, and a very mean turkey. One very large pig kept chasing us, waddling as fast as it could anyway, because it knew we had food. It was so much fun, probably my favorite part of the whole trip! When we were done playing with animals we went back to the hostel and got our beach stuff again. On our (correct) way to the beach we stopped and bought drinks, bread, and fruit for lunch. The sand was a little wet because it had been raining on and off throughout the day, so we found some planks of wood to sit on and have another picnic. We spent the rest of the afternoon there searching for sea shells and just hanging out, it was very relaxing. When it started to rain more we packed up and headed out; we got back into Granada a little before dinner.

The first “real” week of classes went by pretty fast. Although my Islamic Culture class is SO boring, which is really disappointing. I heard good things about this topic and it’s a full class so I’m sure other people expected good things too. Plus, it’s my last class on Tue/Thurs when I have class back-to-back-to-back. By the time I got there I was already having trouble focusing, so all through class it was awful! But other than that one I like all of the other classes. Thursday after classes (and the beginning of the weekend!) I checked the mail before I left the school and there was a large envelope in the C’s and D’s box. It was for me! Paula and Laura had each written me a long letter and sent it in the same envelope. Laura is so random, you can tell she just wrote down stuff as she was thinking about it in stream of consciousness. I was literally laughing out loud as I read there letters, my señora though I was going crazy.
Yesterday Whitney (my roommate), Sara (another girl from the program), and I planned a trip for this coming weekend. We are going to Nerja, which is a very Southern Coastal city in Spain, about a 2 hour bus ride. The weather has been very nice lately and we are all ready to check out some beaches! We’ll leave Friday morning and at least stay till Saturday evening. Depending on how much we like it we might even stay an extra day. We wanted to go to Barcelona but prices right now are too expensive so that will have to wait a while. Nerja is suppose to be beautiful with an awesome waterfall and caves to explore, so we’ll see what all we can find.
Last night Whitney, Cassandra, Kristin, and I went to another discoteca! We went to a different one this time called Mae West. It is in the mall that is only a few blocks from our apartments, so there was a lot less walking this time. This was very important because we didn’t want to bother with a coat check this time (it turned into a huge hassle at Granada 10) so we went without coats and it was a little chilly. It was pretty crowded and had a lot less space to dance in, but it also had a lot less creepers than the one before. So they each have their ups and downs. We made it longer this weekend by about 20 minutes, getting home close to 5am! We are getting closer to that ultimate goal of staying at a club until it closes at 7am!

Valentine´s!

For Valentine´s Day my friends and I decided to go to the discoteca, since, for some reason or another, we had not yet been. First, we went out to a bar for one round of tapas aroun 1am. These tapas were very good, mini cheese sticks and french fries with ketchup and mayo (sounds weird, but surprisingly really good!). One thing I love about tapas bars is that you never seem to get the same appetizer twice and you never know which one you will get this time. After the bar we headed to the discoteca Granada 10 ("Granada diez") at abou 2:30am. It´s considered lame if you get to a disco before 2am and they stay open until the sun comes up (literally, 7am). Thankfully Granada 10 had a coat check, because it was a pretty chilly night and I would never have seen my coat again if I had put it down in the midst of the mass of people inside. I was with a group of about 8 girls and we had so much fun dancing! Although there are a few creepers at the disco, but that´s why your friends are there to rescue you when necessary. We stayed dancing for a few hours and left a little after 4am; so many people were just arriving when we were getting our coats! Some day we want to stay until it closes at 7am, but we have all semester to build up to that! Sunday I went to church again, this time the pastor (a different speaker than last time) was easier to understand. It´s very nice that the service doesn´t start until 12pm so I was able to get enough sleep after going out the night before. Although I did take a siesta after church as well! Yesterday was the first day of "real" classes (taking notes and such). We watched a movie on prehistoric cultures and art in my Art History class. Sometimes I have to remind myself to pay attention because it is very easy to zone out in class, especially since it is in another language. This is not good because I should be focussing! During my composition class my program director came in and asked to speak with me outside. I didn´t really know what was going on, but when I got out there she gave me a boquet of roses! David had sent me them for Valentine´s Day, what a great surprise! Then of course I got a little grief from the professor when I walked back into class with roses, but oh well. After class I asked my roommate to carry them home for me since I usually go straight to the pool for swimming and really didn´t want to have to stuff them in a locker. Swimming went well, a very good workout. I am slowly building up endurance for a 50 meter pool, when I get back to swimming in a 25 yard pool it is going to seem so easy! Today I had my grammar class and History of Spain, both of which are good so far and have very interesting professors (which is good when one of them is at 8:30am). My Islamic Culture class was actually canceled so I had a nice break before I had to go to my program meeting.

The Colosseum! My friends and I infront of St. Peter's Basilica

My first meal in Rome!

I found cows in Madrid!

So we had our first week of classes, though I don't think you can really call it the first week since it was only two days! Plus, like at Austin College, the first class is pretty much a syllabus day, overviewing the class and learning people's names. So after next week I will have a better idea of what to expect from these classes. Good news though, I have at least one friend in each class. Most of the students in my classes are Americans in other programs, although I do have a Canadian guy in my Composition class and two Sweedish girls and two girls from Norway in my History of Spain class. All the classes are taught in Spanish, I don't think the professors even know English themselves, but I understood most everything pretty well.

Last night my roommate and I joined a gym, for the days that I don't get to swim. It is actually on our street, so it takes a whole 45 seconds to walk there. It is only 28 Euro a month to use all the free weights, weight machines, and cardio machines. Plus, they have showers in the locker room, which is an addes bonus when you can only shower once a day for about 5 minutes at home! We went there to work out this morning. It is suppose to open at nine in the morning, but we forgot this is Spain and it didn't actually open until about 9:10. The machines are a little older than what I am use to, but they still have the ones I am use to so I was able to do my usual weight routine.

me infront of the Alhambra

Swim Practice & Schedule

The week before I left for Madrid & Spain I went to the University of Granada Campus and found the swim coach in the Sports Office. I told him that I swam at my college in Texas and was wondering if there was a team I could practice with while I am in Granada. He said that I was more than welcome to come and practice with his club team when I returned from my travels. Yesterday was the first day that I swam with them; it was five guys and me. It has been a month since I last swam, at the Austin College invite, so I knew it would be slightly difficult for me. I forgot to take into consideration that only the US swims in yards and this pool was a 50 Meter pool! By the end of three months I am going to have crazy good endurance! The work out was about 2 hours long, which is about what I am use to, and pretty difficult, but still good. I am very excited to be working out again every day! Today there were TONS more people at practice, over 30, and the majority of them are girls. Apparently there are two sessions on Mon/Wed/Fri and the mid-day one that I went to not a lot of people go to.

I also got my class schedule finalized today, the day before classes start! I tried really hard to take the Spanish route and just think "no pasa nada" (no worries). But I am really happy with how it turned out; at first I was going to have class from 5pm-8pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I do not function well that late in the afternoon! Here is my updated schedule, hopefully it won't change:

Mon/Wed:
11:30am-1:pm Spanish Art (ancient to renassaince)
1:00pm-2:30pm Composition
Tue/Thur:
8:30am-10:00am Spanish Grammar
10:00am-11:30am History of Spain (modern age)
11:30am-1:00pm Islamic Culture in Spain

Yep, I don't have any classes on Fridays! And I will be able to make swim practice every day. They practice M/W/F at 3pm and T/Th at 3:45pm for about two hours. Tomorrow is the first day of school, hopefully it goes well!

Granada Feb 8 (Sun)

YAAAYYY!!! I found a church!!!! And it’s a Baptist church (Iglesia Evangelica Bautista), and it’s only two blocks from our house! It was in our informational booklet Veronica had given us and I had stumbled across it a few weeks ago on my way home from running in the park. Whitney and Cassandra even came with me this morning. I knew the service started at 12pm, but we got there at about 11:40am and were ushered into the adult Bible Study. Next time we know to try the one for “jovenes” at 11am.
Before the service started, Tosha, Brittney, and Jessica (other girls from our program) showed up. The church is like an international church, with people from all over the world speaking different languages, though the services are in Spanish. I absolutely loved the worship! There was a live band and I recognized some of the songs, although they were in Spanish. The sermon was harder to follow, although I knew we were in the books of Haggai, Nehemiah, and Matthew at times, but I believe that will get easier to understand in time. The service ended right before 2pm, just in time for lunch! Before leaving I met Andrew, an American from the Chicago area, who is in charge of the youth/young people of the church. He told us about the young people Bible study and the youth group that meets Saturday evenings. I definitely plan on coming back to this church and checking it out on Saturdays too.

Rome Feb 7 (Sat)

Good grief, do I have an interesting story now. First, I wake up at 3:55am because I hear people banging around. I’m pretty disoriented at this point because it is ungodly early, so my first thought is “holy crap! We’re being robbed!” When I realized that was not happening I got out of bed and got ready and we left the hostel at 4:30am. Armondo told us the Metro starts running at that time, but it was gated up and closed! Two girls standing by told us it wouldn’t open until 5:30am! They suggested that we just take a taxi to the airport, saying it would only be 40 Euro. So we walked to St. Peter’s Basilica, because there is a large taxi stop in front of it, but there were no taxis to be found! The one time we actually need one, there are none in Rome! So, we are sitting in a large phone booth in front of the Vatican, waiting for any taxi to show up, but none do. We decide we will wait there until 5:30am and then walk back to the metro station and go with the original metro & train plan if one doesn’t show up by then. At about 5:20am we realize, “hey, it’s not that late back in the states,” so we all call home. Mom answered and thought our situation was pretty hilarious. She told me about the Stars/Rangers game that she just finished watching, we had won 10-2! Oh, I miss my hockey. At least next season I have a jersey to wear to the games (I got it for Christmas)! As soon as we hang up with our parents to start the journey back to the metro, guess what shows up? A taxi.
Oh my God we got to the airport in record time, only about 19 minutes. We actually saved time and money, the taxi ended up being cheaper per person than the metro/train would have been. Apparently, this early in Italy, red lights and speed limits don’t apply to taxi drivers. We blew through at least three red lights and flew past 70 kilometers per hour signs, reaching top speeds of 120! We still had two hours until boarding time so we just hung out at the gate. We were going to fly Alitalia to Milan and then change flights to an AirEuropa flight to Madrid, our layover was no more than an hour and a half long.
Our flight from Rome to Milan left 30 minutes late because of maintenance issues. During the flight the three girls were put together and the boy was across the aisle by himself. I took a power nap and ate some chocolate chip cookies that they gave us. When we landed we got off the plane quickly because we only had an hour until our next flight took off. Unfortunately, we exited the plane onto the tarmac and had to ride in a very crowded shuttle bus to the terminals; this took a lot of time. Then we had to figure out how to check in for the next flight, and there were no AirEuropa signs to be found. Apparently we had to check in Alitalia again because this flight was partnering with them. By the time we received our boarding passes we had ten minutes until boarding started, and we still had to find the gate, find bathrooms, and find food. It all worked out though! We found the gate, toilets, I got a Panini, and we boarded the plane in less than ten minutes. However, “boarding” consisted of riding another very full shuttle bus miles out to the plane and getting on it from the tarmac. Maybe in Madrid we will actually get off at a real terminal. This plane taxied forever and we finally took off at 12:20pm (the flight was scheduled for 11:55am). The take of from Rome was the best though. As we took off we flew a little over sea and I could see the coast of Italy for a good while. It was actually nice weather for a change so the view was gorgeous. The worst thing though was landing in Milan and seeing people from our flight meeting up with family/friends/loved ones and there was no one to meet us. This made me a little bit homesick for people.
So the plan was to arrive in Madrid and go to the bus station and get the last bus to Granada. Then we would find lockers to put our stuff in and go explore more of Madrid for a while. However, rarely anything ever goes according to plan. First, we took the metro from the Madrid airport to the wrong bus station and had to get back on the metro to get to the correct one. Our plane had landed in Madrid around 2pm and by this time it was already after 3pm. When we got to the correct bus station we inquired about the buses to Granada. There was only one left today and it was leaving in an hour! Guess we would not be hanging out in Madrid like we thought. Instead, we found food in the bus station and hung out there until the bus departed. The bus left Madrid at 4:30pm and we arrived in Granada at 9:30pm, and that was with a half hour stop at a gas station on the way. At the bus station the girls shared a taxi home, since Whitney and I live together and Cassandra’s home is close by. After dropping our stuff off at home we went to JuanMi’s (the bartender that rents a room from Cassandra’s host mom) bar, Obelisco, for one round of tinto de verano and tapas to celebrate our return home.

Rome Feb. 6 (Fri)

I’ve completely run out of clean clothes, so I am wearing one of the shirts I bought yesterday. Last night two Canadian girls checked into our room and, not going to lie, they, or their stuff, smells. We slept with the window open and it got better. Oh, and Mitch vaulted into bed and broke the top bunk he had been sleeping on, ha ha ha! It was pretty hilarious, so he had to move to the bunk underneath mine. When we woke up this morning mystery man, whom we nicknamed “Sucio” (dirty) for obvious reasons, was back sleeping in an open bunk. He had shown up yesterday morning and no one had heard him come in during the night and we never saw him during the day. Armondo, one of the guys working at the hostel, told us that he is a guy nicknamed Nazi by the fellow workers that was let go from the hostel because he hit on girls too much. Great! Good to know this person was sleeping in the same room as us for two nights!
We got bread and fruit again for breakfast. Mom, I don’t know what I am going to do when I get home and don’t have fresh bread every day! Then we walked to the Vatican City area and were bombarded by people offering tours. The best way to shut someone up is to tell them you’ve already seen it or you’ve already bought it. We walked past the Vatican and St. Peter’s to a bridge over the River Tiber and got an awesome view of the Castel Sant’ Angelo. Then we walked back by the Vatican down Via Ottaviano to the Metro Station (this was the Metro closest to the hostel that we finally found). We took the metro from there to the Spagna station, which was right next to the Spanish Steps, enormous! While the girls and I were just sitting on the steps a large group of Italian boys, about age 15 or so, came up around us and took a group picture, so we were definitely in their pictures! We could tell they did this on purpose because the few girls in their group got up and left while the boys got closer to us; the girls were just laughing at them. We took lots of pictures on the different levels of the steps.
After the Spanish Steps we walked down Via Condotti, which runs into Via del Corso, where Armondo told us shopping would be. Apparently Via Condotti was where the expensive stores were. We passed Dior, Gucci, Armani, Prada, Fendi, Hermes, and Valentino. When we got to Via del Corso we found a few stores that we could actually afford to walk into. As we continued walking we passed through Plazzo Colonna and saw a large obelisk with intricate engravings wrapped all the way up around it; I remember studying this at some point but couldn’t remember its name. We kept walking and found the Pantheon; Cassandra wanted to take a picture with some shady looking men dressed in Roman attire but decided not too when they wanted to charge her for it. We went inside, because it is free, and it was just as I expected, very round, coffered ceiling and a whole in the middle. Unfortunately, it was raining (big surprise, right?) so in the very center of the Pantheon was a large puddle from the whole in the roof. Inside was the tomb of the first king of Italy and the tomb of Raphael!
After the Pantheon we had lunch at a nearby restaurant: bruscetta, pizza with spicy sausage, and coke. Then, of course, we found a gelato place, but this one had chocolate covered cones with nuts! From Via del Corso we took a side street, Via delle Muratte, to get to the Fontana di Trevi. It was a huge gorgeous fountain where you’re suppose to throw a coin in over your shoulder and make a wish. After making our wish and tossing in our coins we located Via del Tritone to walk to the Fontana del Tritone. This fountain was not as exciting as the last one, but still pretty. The metro was right next to the fountain, so we took that to the Ottaviano stop near our hostel. On the metro there was a boy playing the accordion and he had a little boy with him, probably his little brother. He was so cute, but he almost fell over when the metro turned! I gave them a Euro before we got off the train. There are so many homeless people in Rome, it’s sad, and so unlike Granada where I haven’t seen any.
For dinner we finally ate out at a restaurant at the correct time! We went back to the Pizzaria Restaurant we went to the first night in Rome at about 8:30pm, after stopping to buy fruit for breakfast tomorrow, and there were tons of people there! I wanted to be adventurous and order something that was not pizza, so I ordered something that I though was pasta and had the word “scampi” in it. I though it would be a pretty safe bet. Um, when it came out is was not pasta. It actually looked like a Rice-a-Roni meal with a little mini lobster. It was still really good, even though it wasn’t what I expected. We got our last gelato in Rome after dinner at the place by the Vatican we went to yesterday. This place was my favorite gelato place we’ve been to because it’s the cheapest and they had whipped cream! I got a cone with chocolate, caramel, and cherry flavors, yum! I’ve definitely loved the food in Rome, even if I haven’t like the dirty city itself too much.
Tomorrow we are planning on leaving the hostel really early (between 4:30-4:45am). We have to walk a few blocks to the nearest metro station, then take the metro to the Termini Station and find the train that will take us directly to the airport. The first train runs at 5:52am and we are going to try to make that one. The flight isn’t until about 9am, but it is better to be earlier, especially since we’re in a different country.

Rome Feb. 5 (Thu)

I slept a little better last night than the night before because there was a lot less snoring this time. After leaving the hostel we bought fruit and bread again, a very very cheap breakfast, and walked to find the Metro. We didn’t find the one that was suppose to be closest to our hoste, but found one around the Vatican. It took us a little while to figure out which line to take and then we had to switch lines once we got to the Termini Station. We walked out of this station and once we hit the fresh air BAM! There was the Colosseum. We actually hit a wall of people who had exited the Metro and immediately stopped to take pictures. Our tour group ended up being bigger than I would have liked, but it was still really cool to tour the Colosseum and learn so much more about it than I’ve ever known. It was built in only 8 years, finished in 80AD, and is technically named the Flavian Ampetheater. The lowest level was reserved for nobility, the second for wealthy people, the third for common men, and the highest level for common women. There were never any tickets, but apparently people could tell by their dress the correct section to sit in. Entertainment and food at the Colosseum use to be free too. We were able to walk up to the second level of the Colosseum; it was a really cool view looking down into the basement/holding area. There was also an awesome view of the Arch of Constantine from up there. The only bad thing about the day was that it was raining while we were inside the Colosseum, which has no roof! I am so sick of rain! It rained the first week and a half in Granada, the entire weekend in Madrid (with some snow mixed in), and off and on in Rome. When is there going to be sun in Europe? After our official tour ended we walked around the second level of the Colosseum (that was as high as you were allowed to go) and then exited to join our next tour, the Palentine Hill.
This was where the Roman emperors built their homes and lived. The tour guide told us it was over a mile in perimeter and use to be entirely enclosed, with various indoor courtyards to let in sunlight and fresh air. The indoor courtyards were made of marble with fountains which helped reflect light into the palace. Near the end of the tour we went to a balcony that overlooked the Roman Forum. The Via Sacra going through the Roman Forum was the most important road during the Roman Empire. All business transactions took place here and soldiers would march through there to show off their spoils after war. From the balcony I could see the gigantic Basilica of Constantine, as well as the area reserved for the ancient cult of the Vestle Virgins. These girls were chosen at age seven to serve the god of purity for 30 years. Only one woman ever finished her service though, because life expectancy was only in the 30s during the Roman Empire.
At that time we were all pretty grumpy because we were so hungry, it was already after 3pm and all we had eaten so far was fruit and bread. We walked up a hill close to the Colosseum, above the area where prostitutes use to hang out after Colosseum events, and walked back down it because there was no food up there. We found a pizza place at about 4pm on a side street. There was no one else in there! We always go to restaurants at the wrong time. Tuesday night we went to dinner too early and lunch too late today. I had a coke and the best lasagna of my life! The noodles tasted like they had been made fresh this morning. After we ate we were all much happier and walked to Via Nazionale to do some shopping. At the end of the street was a Metro station and we took that back to the hostel.

Rome Feb. 4 (Wed)

Oh my God I slept horribly. First, I had to sleep with my ipod because people were being so loud. Then I was woken up and kept awake at 2am by what sounded like a water buffalo snoring. Mitch swears the awful noise was from the New Zealand girl in the bunk below him. Hopefully that is true because she and her sister left today. I think next time we take a trip though I should bring my sleeping pills. I’m glad I showered last night, though, the bathrooms got crazy full this morning.
We left the hostel in the morning after locking everything up; I ate an apple and we stopped by a pastelería to get some bread for breakfast. Then we walked to the Vatican Museums, which is actually really ugly on the outside because it is enclosed in a giant ugly wall. We went through security and walked upstairs to buy tickets, only 8 Euro with our International Student ID to get into all the Vatican Museums. I was pretty surprised with security inside; I figured there would be multiple guards in every room. However, I could have walked right up and touched Raphael’s “School of Athens” without any guard in the room! Maybe too many of them were guarding the Pope.
Getting through all the rooms was like a giant maze. We went though the Raphael rooms first, seeing “School of Athens” (AH!!!), “Liberation of St. Peter,” “The Cardinal Virtues,” and others. We had to walk though all kinds of modern art (not my favorite) to finally get to the Sistine Chapel, although we did pass Rodin’s “The Thinker” on the way. The Sistine Chapel is larger than I expected. I walked in and immediately turned around to look at the altar wall and Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” which is my favorite painting of his. It is ginormous, taking up the entire wall (big in itself) from floor to ceiling. It was so cool, and I felt pretty cultured having studied these paintings before. I was able to explain things to my friends that knew nothing about art. And, of course, the most famous “Creation” in the very center of the ceiling, with God reaching out his hand to Adam was amazing. Near the exit we bought postcards and were able to mail them right there; the Vatican has its own post office!
After we left the Vatican I bought a blue Italia scarf; now I just need an España one! We kept walking around the Vatican wall and got to the plaza of St. Peter’s Basilica. The view was large and gorgeous, although it would have been better with out construction going on with the obelisk and the front of St. Peter’s. Entrance was free and the inside was so much more than I ever expected; I should just stop expecting things! Inside on the right, encased in glass, stood Michelangelo’s “Pieta,” my favorite piece of art ever! I was a little sad that I couldn’t get very close, you could only see the front and it would’ve been cool to see the back of the sculpture.
Then we headed back toward the hostel. Italy looks a lot better in the daylight. I think the problem was that we arrived after dark last night and it was rainy. We stopped at a supermarket and bought pasta, sauce, bread, and wine to cook in the hostel for a late dinner. For lunch we had eaten at a Kabob place; I had some fried potatoes and a large spinach filled loaf of bread. After lunch we found a gelato place (cheaper than the one last night!) that I think we will be returning to often! We cooked dinner and hung out with some really nice Australian girls at the hostel. After dinner we went out again for gelato (yes, multiple times each day). We ate while we walked again to St. Peter’s and saw it all lit up at night, gorgeous!