All good things must come to an end

Well I am basically down to 3 days left here in glorious Espana, I am not sure where the last three weeks flew to since my last email home, but let me recap them. The weekend after spring break and Ireland with my mom, three friends and I headed off to beautiful Barcelona. We had a three day weekend so we excited to explore all of Barcelona. On Friday we bused to Santander, a city with an airport about 2 and a ½ miles away, we had to book the supra bus, a larger fancier bus, so we had huge comfy seats, got free water and nuts, and enjoyed the frog princess in Spanish. We flew out using the ever trustworthy Ryanair and landed in Barcelona around 5 pm. After navigating the subways/train systems there we safely arrived at our hostel, located about a 20 minute walk from the city center. At this point money is scarce for everyone, the exchange rate has helped us all empty our bank accounts faster than we ever imagined. With that being said we were all too poor for restaurants and had fun cooking pizzas and other frozen dinners from the grocery store in the microwave at our hostel. After an obviously appetizing dinner we decided to go for a walk and see Barcelona at night. We wandered past some of Gaudi’s, the famous architect, buildings and found the old cathedral. We wandered down to the harbor and happened across a huge concert with a band called High Every Day, and found people partying on a legitimate pirate ship. 

The next day we woke up and headed off to Park Guell a park designed by Gaudi. Originally Gaudi intended it to be a housing complex for the rich population, but along the way it became a park and Gaudi’s home till his death. As mentioned before our poverty level is sky high, so high we choose to walk the hour to the park instead of subway, but walking makes for great sightseeing of the city, conversation, and exercise. The park was beautiful, I was inspired by Gaudi all weekend, because he was able to display God in almost all his works. There were crosses all over the park and amazing cave things and the famous mosaic benches. The park also had great views of the entire city especially Gaudi’s huge church the Sagrada Familia. We walked around the park all morning taking pictures and listening to concerts of street performers. We headed back to our hostel for a quick microwave lunch then were off to our next destination, the much anticipated Sagrada Familia. 

The Sagrada Family, or Holy Family Church, by Gaudi is probably the most amazing thing I have seen in Spain. The church is still under construction and not expected to be finished for another 25 years. The completion has taken so long because construction is funded solely on private donation and entrance fees, also a rumor that they hope to open the church on the 100^th anniversary of Gaudi’s death in 2026. 

Unfortunatly a lot of Gaudi’s designs were lost in a fire during the civil war, so they have been using different artists to design different facades of the cathedral, two faces are done, the nativity façade created by Gaudi and the passion façade created by Josep Maria Subirachs. The passion façade is the side you enter on, and honestly many of the characters depicting tales from the bible resemble star wars. And this is only the side entrance; the Glory Façade is just now beginning construction and will be the huge grand entrance. 

We bought our tickets for 12 € and headed inside. The inside literally took my breath away, it was unlike anything I could have ever imaged or dreamed of. The stained glass and color covered lights lit up the church incredibly and the high strange shaped pillars resembled trees so you literally felt like you were in the forest. The ceiling is also littered with lit up images and tree like leaves. My pictures do it no justice but we all honestly stoop with our jaws hanging open the whole time we walked around. Gaudi didn’t believe in straight lines so everything has a spiral or curve. We headed out the other side door to see the Nativity façade created by Gaudi. Gaudi found inspiration in nature and his cake in the rain style of architecture mixes the two incredibly. There was so much detail to see on that side, he had amazing stories from around the time of Jesus’ birth and animals and religious symbols. I was so inspired by Gaudi and there is a move now to make him a saint. 

After touring around, we took the elevators to the roof where we could get an up close view of the construction pillars and the facades. It was cool to be that close to all the cranes and see the incredible detail in all the pillars that is impossible to appreciate from the ground. We walked all around the roof climbing down spiral stairs and warding off pigeons. When all is said and done the church will have 18 huge spires, a dozen smaller ones to represent the apostles, four taller towers representing the four evangelicals, and the final two towers in the middle represent a 400 foot tower for Mary and a 550 foot tower for Jesus. This tower representing Jesus will shine like a spiritual lighthouse visible from sea and will be the first thing sailors see arriving in the Barcelona port. I can only image how glorious this church will be complete, and it is in my top 5 reasons for returning to Spain. 

After the sagrada familia it was time to finish our Gaudi day by visiting many houses he designed for wealthy families. His houses are very famous and crazy looking; now a majority of them have been turned into museums, government buildings, stores, and hotels, but it is crazy to think that people actually lived in them about a hundred years ago. They are spread all over the city; so once again, we embarked on a long walking adventure to find them all. That night we made another home cooked meal in our home then headed back down town. We found a hookah bar with such powerful tobacco it made me sick to my stomach so the rest of the night I spent in bed hoping I would feel better the next morning. 

Luckily the next morning I did and Megan and I headed off for morning mass at the sagrada familia. They actually open the church up to tourists every day of the week trying to make more money so mass was located behind the altar. There weren’t a ton of people there since it was a Spanish mass; people in Barcelona speak Catalan and Spanish. Catalan is very similar to Spanish but not something I can easily understand. After mass we headed back to our hostel to pick up the other two girls then back downtown to enjoy a beach park day. 

On our way I found a sacred heart school with the same sacred heart symbol. We had hoped to hit up some museums, art, geology, zoology, but apparently May 1^st is a big day for buildings closing, and it was Mothers day in Spain. We settled for wandering around Parc de la Ciutadella where we found beautiful statues, fountains, and a small rowboat lake. We decided row boating was a must and had fun paddling around for a half hour trying not to hit ducks and the small islands. This was also the sight of the world fair. We headed to the beach next and took naps in the sand, ate donar kebaps, and buried Corinne in the sand. We walked around city center some more then headed back for dinner and an early evening rest. That night we splurged and used the metro across town to witness the magic fountain show. The magic fountain is a huge fountain with colored lights that moves with different musical playlists every half hour. The area was packed and it was really cool to see. We stayed for two shows; one was eighties inspired and the next more modern music. We headed to bed pretty early that night, tired from all our walking, and in preparation for our last day in Barcelona. 

On Monday our plane left around 2 so we woke up early and walked back down town to tour the inside of the cathedral, slightly unimpressive after the sagrada familia. The cathedral had a lot of really interesting history though about Christopher Columbus and being the first place to baptize Native Americans who were brought back to Spain. We took the long metro ride back to the airport then flew into Santander where we were stuck at a café drawing powerpuff girls for two hours until we could finally board our bus back home. All in all Barcelona may have been my favorite city I have ever visited and is definitely my number one recommendation. 

The following week was normal, classes and cafes. On Friday our coordinator Paula took Hanna and I around smaller cities in the area and to some beaches. We spent the afternoon napping on different beaches and attempting to teach Paula English. That night we talked my conversation partner Javier into coming out with us and it was one of our most epic nights in Spain. He brought friends who could only speak Spanish and Javier himself managed to drink enough to forget all English. I had a lot of fun speaking Spanish and we turned a lot of English games into Spanish drinking games which ended up being a lot more difficult. That Saturday morning Nate and Hanna and I took a bus to the nearby mountains and rented bikes for the senda del oso bike tour. The story is that on this trail you find a huge bear exhibit with three bears that were rescued or they are trying to get to mate or something. I had so much fun that day though biking through the mountains and we ate lunch by a gorgeous lake. On the way back there was a slight downhill so we went as far as we could without pedaling. It was an absolutely gorgeous day and it kept sprinkling rain in the sunshine. 

The following weekend, this past weekend started out with a group scavenger hunt on Thursday night. Luna and Paula organized us into teams and we were sent running all around the city. They cruelly made us return between each clue so we were absolutely exhausted from running. We had to answer a questionnaire with the help of Spaniards, find statues, find images, and get as many Spaniards as we could to sing the Asturias song. Obviously my group was victorious and we were rewarded with a HUGE bag of candy which we all shared and eternal glory. We went canoeing all day on Saturday. My friend Tyler and I shared a canoe and he insisted on doing the steering. Needless to say we hit rocks and trees a lot. It was a lot of fun though we all had wet suits on and it rained all day so we had no problem jumping in the ice cold water for a swim or trying to tip over each other’s canoes. 

Also that weekend Amparo’s host student from last year, a recent UNI graduate was in town for a visit so I spent a lot of time with them and joined them for a dinner at luna’s house that Monday night.

Side note – these last few weeks have been election preparation in Spain, Elections were yesterday. Overnight posters and propaganda was found everywhere in the city. They also have cars and buses with their Politian painted on the side that drive around town playing music and the agenda of the politicians. I asked my madre about the cars and she assumed they were everywhere in the world, they are so annoying, we can hear them in our classrooms and at dinner time. 

I should say at this point we are in the middle of finals week, I managed to study for probably a grand total of 2 hours and I am leaving Spain with four A +’s and a B, the B is in translation, which is hard. Tuesday night to celebrate our completion of Finals we headed to a bar called rocket to play beer pong with some Spaniards. Wednesday was our last dinner with Javier, my conversation partner. He took us to get traditional Spanish food; beef with jam with cheese all fried together and French fries. He was the first of a long week of good-byes. Thursday night we had our final dinner as a group. Hanna and I worked hard creating awards for our most likely to results. We stood up at dinner and treated it like the Oscars presenting awards and demanding speeches from all. Afterwards we made luna and paula matching t-shirts that said Medias Narajanas (soul mates) and we hit up the dance scene. I headed home the next morning around 8 a.m. after completing our fiesta all night challenge. Saying good-bye everyone was crying and blubbering, we have become such a close group here it is sad to see it all end. 

My next few days will be filled with packing, hiking, and beaching. Just trying to fit everything in one last time and also enjoy these last few days with my madre. Spain has been so much fun and I feel like I have grown and matured a lot here. I am ready though to return to the U.S. and see my family and friends and get back to geology. So I will leave you now with the top ten life lessons I learned in Spain. 

1.      Spanish cannot be learned in a classroom, it must be practice over meals with a native.

2.      Sleeping doesn’t have to occur at night or at all, power siestas are all a person needs to keep on keeping on.

3.      Any and all activities can be done in the rain, also always carry an umbrella.

4.      You can have more than one family.

5.      Religion isn’t just found in a church.

6.      There is a difference between being fluent and bilingual; we lose our ability to be fluent in another language at a very young age.

7.      Being abroad means embracing all foods put in front of you and giving them a fair chance.

8.      Some beautiful Spanish expressions are impossible to put into words in English.

9.      Passion is a lifestyle found in the old and the young.

10.  Technology and skype are amazing blessings in this world.

The Adventures of Sally and Elizabeth

Hello family,

In less than a month I will be back in the US and I look forward to seeing all of you! Spain has been amazing and I know my departure will be incredibly bittersweet, I had been feeling a little homesick, 18 weeks is a long time to be away, but it was countered by the lovely arrival of my mother on the 13^th of April. 

My mom finally got here after a very difficult and confusing plane ride but managed to catch the bus and ride swiftly into town on her own where I was waiting for her. She brought me American food, peanut butter, and we headed down to the school cafeteria so she could grab a snack and see where I attend classes and meet some friends. 

She enjoyed her first café con leche, our traditional Spanish coffee, and didn’t like her pincho or chicken sandwich. Thus began the two days of Sally barely eating and not enjoying Spanish food. After meeting friends it was finally time to take her home to meet the Spanish parent. We met Amparo outside her house on her way to the grocery store and they exchanged dos besos, two kisses on the cheeks as Mom had practiced earlier, it was flawless. After we moved up into the house, Amparo had given us her room for the two days so we could have the big bed and both fit. Mom didn’t sleep at all on the plane so she was beginning to act a little loopy. When Amparo got back she gave her gifts of chocolate and a silver bracelet from Mexico. She loved them. 

Lunch that day was a garbanzo bean stew, typical of Spain, and Amparo had her grandkids and daughter over to join us. Her daughter Marion speaks English so it was nice to have her to converse with my mom, she refuses to speak to me in English so this was the first I had heard of her British accent. Mom was a trouper and afflicted with false Spanish confidence. She confused the language barrier with deafness and often shouted incorrect simple Spanish phrases, it was hilarious. But Amparo was thoroughly impressed with her vocabulary skills and ate it up. 

After a short nap it was time to hit the city. We headed out for the pisto, or a walking trail that travels along a mountain. The trail has great views of the surrounding mountains and of the entire city. There are also a lot of stray farm animals running around a bunch of old people getting their exercise on. After we went on a tour of the city, joined by my friend Corinne, and we showed her all the major spots like where we play ping pong, go to church, and different strange statues. 

We made it back to Amparo’s around eight then surprised her by taking her out to dinner, I expected to go out for a quick bite then go to bed early since Mom was so tired, but alas we rolled home around midnight after a 3 hour dinner of more Spanish shouting and a lot of translating. I was exhausted. The next day I still had three classes from 12-3 so I took my mom to meet Carries mom and we dropped them off in the typical Thursday open market. When we returned three hours later to pick them up they were sitting in a café tossing back beers. 

Amparo has theater class on Thursday so she wanted us to come home for a final lunch prepared by her. We had ternera or baby cow and once again brokenly communicated for an hour. After packing and preparing for our early morning, 5 a.m., departure the next morning I took her on a final tour of Oviedo. We met up with my friends around eight for a Donar Kebab dinner, like a gyro and finally Sally was happy with the food. After we wanted to show her the Spanish night life so we met our coordinators Luna and Paula on sidra street and Sally tried her first sidra and we ate sea snails, you literally had to pull them out of their shell with a tack. After we headed to ciceros another good bar for desperados a delicious tequila beer then to bar campa for mahou, another beer, and for my friends to buy my mom a tequila shot. It was off to bed around one that night and we were very excited for the next morning.

The next morning sweet Amparo insisted on driving us to the bus station at 5:30 am then we caught our flight to Barcelona around 830 am. We didn’t leave Barcelona for Dublin till around three then we finally arrived in Ireland around 5. Sally didn’t even get scared on the sketchy airline, I was so proud. 

In Dublin we rented our car and the real adventure began. Driving on the left side of the road in the biggest city in Ireland is very, very intimidating. But Mom was amazing we worked as a pretty good tag team, me navigating and instructing, her working pedals and wheel. We made it to our bed and breakfast in one piece and decided to hit the famous Temple bar area for dinner. Food and beer were delicious, well the cider beer I had was good, I can’t do that heavy stuff. But we ate and laughed and were teased by the local Irish people. Then we walked around a bit and found another bar called the poets corner. Inside mom was hit on by a bunch of old Irish men and we enjoyed listening to traditional live Irish pub music and all the drunken men sing along around us. We went to bed about 12 that night and we were up for our free breakfast around 8:30.

Carrie had broken her pants the night before so she and her mom wanted to do some shopping before we hit the road. Mom and I decided to go to Trinity College, the oldest college in Ireland, where my grandpa had visited and knew the president very well. The campus was beautiful and she took many pictures for the grandparents so they could reminisce on their last trip to Ireland. The buildings were beautiful and the grass very lush and green. Finally around 11 it was time to hit the road, we were headed for the crosses of St. Stephen in beautiful Glendalough. The drive there was absolutely gorgeous through these windy country roads, the back seat got car sick. The crosses of St. Stephen are monastic ruins located near two gorgeous lakes and nature trails. We spent time walking through the old graveyard and ruins and found the name McHugh on a few head stones, my mom’s maiden name. Then it was time to hike to the lakes where we had gorgeous views of the surrounding mountains and more ruins to visit. 

That night we arrived in Kilkenny for our next bed and breakfast visit. The owners were incredibly nice and helpful. They have even been on many of the American talk shows because the woman is a genealogist and they travel to San Diego every year to be the Irish representatives at the St. Patricks day festival. That night we wandered around the city, the touristy things had closed but we observed the cathedral and castle from the outside, determined to visit them the next day. That night we enjoyed another delicious meal and stayed out at a pub till around midnight talking and listening to more Irish music. 

The next day was palm Sunday so we headed to mass at the cathedral. They use tree branches for their palms and when we went to take some a little Irish boy yelled at us in his accent, “Those haven’t even been blessed yet.” Mass flew buy in 52 minutes and afterwards and old woman apologized to us for it taking so long, she said if it goes over an hour everyone walks out. After mass we headed over to the castle so our moms could enjoy their first castle tour. We self guided ourselves through the many rooms and saw old furniture and painting. The lawn is extensive and now serves as a park. Across the street were the ancient stables and behind another mansion home belonging to the family with a wonderful garden and everything covered in vines. 

Our next stop that day was the rock of Cashell. The Rock of Cashell are huge old church ruins up on a hill that overlooks the entire countryside. The Rock dates back to 300 A.D. and is where St. Patrick baptized King Aengus in 450 A.D. We used Rick Steves to guide us through the ruins and learn all about their history and purpose. The rock has a crazy history of war and religion. After touring the ruins we ended up in a farmer’s sheep area, getting rather close and personal then did some final shopping before heading to the Blarney castle. 

Much to our surprise we arrived at the Blarney castle, after getting terribly lost only to find it closed for the day. After bitterly wandering around for a while we decided to press on to Cobh our next Bed and Breakfast city about 40 minutes away. Cobh is a small marina town on the southern coast and was the last stop of the titanic before it ventured out into the Atlantic and sank. Our bed and breakfast owner was an adorable old man who spoke with a very heavy and sing-songy brogue. We later found out that all people from Cork are difficult to understand. We wandered around the city finding different memorials and visited the giant Cathedral. We enjoyed another delicious dinner then headed to a pub for more Irish music and some chit chat with the locals. The next day before we headed to our next stop we decided to visit the heritage center and tour the titanic museum. The museum actually encompassed many great ship sinks and the potato famine, so information was bountiful. 

Our next stop was Killarney, or the top of the Ring of Kerry. We had originally planned to drive the ring of Kerry but after reading about the small roads and huge tour buses, we decided we didn’t want to compete for road domination. We stopped at the top of the ring to visit the national park and see the Muckross house. The Muckross house is an old, beautiful, mansion that is completely decorated and in original condition. We enjoyed an amazing tour of the house, in which the guide told us every time of wood used to make every piece of furniture. It made me excited to marry rich and have a mansion constructed in my honor amongst lakes and mountains. After touring the gardens and exterior it was time again to hit the road and head for the dingle peninsula. 

In dingle we stayed at a Rick Steves suggested bed and breakfast and our hostess had pictures of him and had met him, and five sisters, his neighbors and employees were actually staying there that night too. We got to meet them the next morning at breakfast and learn about the travel journalist process and lifestyle. We decided to drive the Rick Steve’s Dingle loop and encountered old fort ruins, the ocean, the western most point of Europe, abandoned churches, graveyards, squatters in churches, beautiful cliffs, and many encounters with the curb. In one set of church ruins/graveyard, the church of Kilmalkedar, we found a huge ogham stone that has been there for over 900 years that has a morse code ogham script and has a hole drilled into it where people would come to seal the deal by touching thumbs through the hole in front of God and their ancestors. That night we ate dinner at Murphy’s, then Carrie, Mom, and I headed out to the pubs where Mom tried to get us to meet Irish men, fail. 

The next morning over our pleasant breakfast we were informed we had a flat tire, driving on the wrong side is harder than it looks. It set us back about two hours and forced Mom and I to cut the Cliffs of Moher out of our itinerary. We dropped Carrie and her mom off in Limerick so they could rent a car and head over while we set off for Belfast to meet the family. I called Grace, our cousin informing her of our where about and she expected to see us around 9 p.m. When we crossed over into Northern Ireland it occurred to us that our Euros would no longer work and we needed Sterling, or pounds. Also all the road signs changed from km/h to mi/h which would have been all fine and dandy but our car only reads km/h. So needless to say they were a little surprised when we arrived at 6:30 a speedy two and a half hours early. 

That night Grace’s boyfriend Paul made us a delicious dinner and we spent the evening meeting family members and going through old pictures of when Grace had visited in St. Louis and when my grandparents and great grandpa had ventured over to Ireland. Uncle Archie, a popular name in the family, loved talking about my great grandfather David Archie and had hilarious stories about their different adventures and shenanigans in Ireland. The whole family, basically, lives on the same farm, and they each have their own house, like a neighborhood. There are barns, sheep, and cows everywhere.

The next morning it was time to hit the sights of Northern Ireland. On our way to Grace’s sister Anne’s Bed and Breakfast we stopped off to admire nature and a beautiful waterfall. Breakfast was delicious then it was back in the car to visit the rope bridge. We drove a winding scenic road along the sea, I think Mom was excited to be a passenger and finally relax and enjoy the scenery. We passed sheep farm after sheep farm after sheep farm. Finally we made it to the rope bridge. This old rickety bridge attaches the main land to a small island where people would come to fish. It was right against the cliffs of Ireland and shook a lot in the wind. I enjoyed jumping the first time across to scare my mom, but then on the second time it was so winding the bridge shook itself and she didn’t believe me when I told her I didn’t do it. Because there is so much rain in Ireland the ground is always oversaturated and literally soft and bouncy to walk on, and always very, very green! 

After the bridge we were off to our next stop, the Dunluce Castle. This castle was huge and beautiful. The roof and a lot were missing but you could still make out a lot of rooms and their purpose. Also they let you climb all over it and you could go up into the towers and look out over the sea. The castle is build on a small island that juts out from the main land and has a cave underneath were they could keep ships for battle. After the castle Grace took us to her favorite restaurant and it honestly was the most delicious food I have ever eaten. Irish food was a wonderfully sweet reminder of home. 

Finally the climax of the day, it was time to visit Giant’s Causeway. Giant’s Causeway is a geologic marvel and a world heritage site. Tall hexagonal basalt pillars line the coast and supposedly were formed some volcanic eruptions over 60 million years ago with the quick cooling and crystallization of the lava. There is a legend that goes with the site that says Finn MacCool a warrior wanted to reach his love on the close Scottish Island, back then the causeway stretched all the way to Scotland, he ran across and rescued his love but the giant in Scotland was mad so he came to Ireland. Finn and his love knew he was coming to they laid a trap, Finn pretended to be his loves baby and when the other warrior giant came and saw Finn as a baby he grew fearful of the size of the father and ran back to Scotland tearing up the causeway as he fled.

There are about 10 different versions of the story but that one is my favorite. We were able to hike down and along all the pillars that stretch into the sea. It was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen; obviously I took a small sample. After the causeway we headed back to Grace’s house to layer up before we watched the towns Camogie match, in which you slap people and a ball with sticks trying to get it through the net or above. Grace is an All-Ireland-Champion Camogie player and we got to meet her coach and watch as they observed their competition. 

After the game a big family dinner was prepared and a family tree brought to the house. We met even more relatives and solved the mystery of how far back we were related. The food was delicious and I was unable to get over how much I enjoyed Irish accents, especially when I got to translate the brogue to my hard-of-hearing mother! 

The next morning, Thursday morning, we woke up to a lovely breakfast outside. Ireland is known for being rainy but we lucked out with a sunny rain free visit. After breakfast we hoped in the back of a pickup and ventured to the top of the family mountain so we could hike down and see the land. We drove through thousands of sheep the whole time pinning the sheep dog to the bed of the truck. They have a few windmills at the top of the mountain that were being worked on so Grace tried, relentlessly, to let me go up in one, but we ultimately failed since I “wasn’t allowed.” We decided to keep hiking down back to their house through the marshy ground and hoping over barb wired fences. They also dig up the peat on the land and sell it as fire wood since wood isn’t as plentiful in Ireland. 

When we made it back down we hoped in the car and shipped off for trail horseback riding in the Irish hillside. English saddles, and riding techniques are very different than western style. The saddles are tiny and a little bit more difficult to stay on. Our young guides took us up on the trail and made us trot through different areas. Mom’s horse kept stopping to eat and use the restroom, or continuously tried to cut in line. After about a 45 butt aching ride they let Grace and I canter in the barn and I thought I was going to fall off.

After riding it was back to the house for a quick lunch then we had to hit the road. We decided that instead of trying to navigate Dublin again, we would drop the car off a day early and bus to and from the airport. Our Bed and Breakfast that night was right up the street from our one the first night so we already knew how to navigate town. We did some last minute souvenir shopping then headed for our final dinner where we remained late into the evening. We were up early the next morning and I dropped a very sad mommy off at the airport. When I got back to the B&B I ate breakfast and began my 24 hours alone in a foreign country.

I set off to see the sights around ten a.m. and was finished with everything Dublin had to offer by 1 p.m. I ventured to St. Stephens green a huge park in the middle of the city and sat, people watched, and read. I found the Dublin Castel and explored the old walls and ancient statues. I found the famous Christ Church Cathedral and explored the old architecture and ruins. Next I found St. Patricks Cathedral, which I still am not sure if it is Protestant or Catholic, and explored their beautiful gardens there. Then I was back up at Trinity College and I went on a historic campus tour and visited the book of Kells, or the famous manuscript for the Dark ages. That afternoon I decided to see a movie at a theater, it would be in English so double plus, and I saw Your Highness (not worth the rent) alone. The B&B had English T.V. so I was content with watching some of my favorite shows once again! 

The next morning I was up and off to the airport after breakfast. Southern Spain was having terrible weather over holy week which is unfortunate since most of the Easter processions were outside involving parades. The plane ride in was very bumpy and when I landed it was pouring rain. Eventually I was able to meet up with Carrie and her mom at our hostel and they signed us up for a Flamenco show that night. 

The performance was incredible. Flamenco is all about passion and suffering and the dancers faces always looked pained, plus they were moving their feet a thousand times a minute so they were pained and covered in sweat. The bad was a fat man who sang like he was having a heart attack and a skinny little guitarist. They demonstrated different types of Flamenco and she changed outfits a few times. After the show we walked around, ate some ice cream and visited the cathedral as they were preparing for the Easter Vigil Mass. The huge cathedral, did I mention Guinness book of world records, largest in the world Cathedral, was dark and people were flooding in for baptisms, communions, and confirmations. 

The next morning we were up early and standing in front of the Cathedral watching the processions of people in KKK like uniforms carry candles and floats of Jesus and Mary into the Cathedral. Different sects have different decorations but the standard robes were white and black in color. The whole thing was incredible, the we ventured to the back door to watch the processions head out of the church and through the streets celebrating the resurrection .The Cathedral mass was 2 ½ hours long, but it was absolutely beautiful. They had a choir and about 40 priests on the altar celebrating with the bishop. 

After mass we went out for an Easter lunch and after Beth, Carries mom, decided she wanted to take a horse and carriage ride through the city. Our buggy lead us all through Sevilla, traveling on major road ways, to the plaza de Espana where they held the 1929 international fair and it house an absolutely gorgeous palace that you could walk around then. The park surrounding it was basically a tropical paradise and reminded me of a forest from Florida or Mexico. We dropped Beth off at the airport and Carrie and I enjoyed a delicious dinner from an Italian restaurant and watching movies on her laptop. 

The next day our overnight bus didn’t leave till around 8:30 p.m. so we spent the morning touring and exploring the huge cathedral. We then hoped park benches throughout the city and got lost in the many winding roads. The ride home took forever but alas we rolled back into Oviedo around 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. 

Spring break and Easter were definitely out of the ordinary this year but they were incredibly fun and exciting. I am entering my last month of study abroad and I can’t believe how fast time has flown! I am off to Barcelona tomorrow for my final big trip in Spain. I decided I wanted to spend my last few weeks touring Oviedo, hiking etc, also everyone is pretty broke now! I’ll leave you three links with a bunch of pictures for the trip and I’ll post about exciting Barcelona next week sometime! Miss you all! 

Sevilla - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150245727155129.366272.563560128&l=768b0f5a7e

Ireland part one – http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150243916885129.365153.563560128&l=00d7bac296

Ireland part two - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150244767595129.365947.563560128&l=5efff6eb23

Things I learned in Ireland:

1.      Catholics vs. Protestants is still very much an issue.

2.      Baby lambs can get terrible diarrhea that is dangerous to their health.

3.      Your future is decided in sixth grade with an aptitude test to see if you will go on to the university or a vocational school.

4.      In Northern Ireland the government tells you how many stories, and how big your house can be.

5.      Roundabouts can be tricky.

6.      The titanic was built in Belfast.

7.      Craic means to have a good time.

8.      You can see old abandoned churches, castles, and forts just by driving down the interstate.

9.      Irish people are the most sarcastic, witty people I have ever met; I strive to be like them.

10.  Car sickness is inevitable.

Estoy como un Cangrejo

I write to you as a new person, in the Canary Islands my sunburn was so bad that my entire top layer of skin peeled off and I am now a little tanner and full of a lot more freckles, probably skin cancer prone also, but I am trying to stay positive. These past two weeks have been very fun and adventure filled here in good ole Espana!

First of all that Friday for lunch I was surprised by my madre with Kraft macaroni and cheese for lunch, obviously I freaked out. It was left by one of her old students and we laughed and I took pictures of our epic meal. Our plane left for Tenerife from Santander a city located about two and a half hours away so we met up at the bus station around three and enjoyed listening to the classic American music they played and watching the A-team in Spanish. We flew with Ryanair, a very cheap low budget airline, which allows you one carryon, or you can pay 25€ to check a bag. We just bring backpacks and pray they are small enough to fit into the overhead bin. We arrived in Tenerife after a three hour flight around 11:30 pm. Our hostel was about 15 minutes from the airport by taxi and I have to say this was the most accommodating hostel I have ever stayed in. That night we ran down to the beach, a two minute walk, and walked around the pier and shore area, there are like a million cockroaches there at night too, so that was a little scary.

Tenerife is an island volcano, and is home to many black sand beaches in the north from the volcanic ash. The next morning we got up and made the two hour bus trip to the north side of the island to find these beaches. It was Sunday and a lot of things were closed and the only sunscreen we could find was 20 € for a small bottle, so we judged that I was cloudy enough for us to avoid any real trouble, wrong. We found the black sand beach and it was absolutely incredible, I smuggled home a sample. The ocean water was fairly warm so we played in the water, running from and jumping over waves. The rip tide was pretty powerful so we were really careful whenever a huge wave would knock us off our feet. Eventually we were tired and it was still a little cloudy with more clouds lingering around the volcano so we assumed we would be safe for a nap. I woke up about an hour later in the blazing heat and I could already feel the burn. I am the only fair skinned person there, so alone I relocated to the shade for an hour while the others continued to soak in the rays. We went swimming again later and explored the pier area where there were crashing waves and crabs. Around six we began our bus ride back down north, and stopped for about an hour halfway through to eat snacks and get café.

It was on our bus ride home that the effects of the sunburn really started to sink in, I am pretty use to sunburns but my other tanned friends had never been sunburned badly before in their lives. We got back to our hostel and our first mission was aloe, it’s funny that we are too cheap to spend 20 € on sunscreen, yet then we will drop 30€ on aloe. We ordered pizza up to our hostel room and spent the evening lathering each other up; it was really quite the bonding experience, and trying to move as little as possible. The next day Hanna and I were hiking up to the volcano and had to be up and ready to go by eight, we were slightly concerned about the state of our bodies. The next morning was worse than the day before, I was redder and couldn’t lift my hands above my head; this was not one of my shining moments. You could hear people as they would get dressed because they would softly moan and whimper; we were pathetic.

Our amazing hotel staff offered to drive us to the mountain bus station for free so we got into a cheap van with one of the staff who told us his life story and some fun facts about Tenerife. Finally we boarded the bus and it was a 3 ish hour drive up through the windy mountains to get to the top. I don’t know how but somehow I have changed in Spain and I don’t get that motion sick anymore! So finally we drove up above the clouds and made it to the base of the volcano. There is only one bus a day from our southern location so we only had about five hours before we HAD to be back on the bus. We stopped by the tourist information center and they gave us a map and some shorter trails to hike at the base of the volcano. The volcano was absolutely gorgeous, and it was a beautiful clear day. We hiked around on old lava flows, the last eruption was 1796 I believe, and obviously I collected a few rocks. The paths were beautiful and always had a great view of the volcano, Teide, in the background. We tried to do some lizard hunting. Hanna actually succeeded in catching one once but the tail detached and she freaked out. It was pretty winding up in the volcanic valley and the surrounding mountain ranges prevented you from seeing the ocean, Teide is the highest peak in Spain and is the third largest volcano in the world after two Hawaiian Volcanoes, so I’m happy we went.

The bus ride home was a lot faster, and slightly more frightening winding down hill but we made it back to our hostel and found Carrie and Corinne napping from their lazy beach day. We decided to stroll down town stopping at the beach for awhile and hitting up the supermarket. That evening we ordered pizza for the second night in row and relaxed and watched youtube videos.

The following day was our last day and we were pretty sad to go. Our plane didn’t leave till four so we hung out on the beach for most of the day. I sat in the shade, still wounded by the sun. Wind surfing is really popular in Southern Tenerife since it is so windy so we watched the traditional surf board with a sail, but then also there were people on wakeboards who would hold onto a parachute and use the wind to jump of waves and do tricks, it was pretty amazing. Carrie and Corinne found a beauty place where fish eat the dead skin off your feet like in Korea and had to try it, it was pretty funny to watch them giggle and laugh and see all the old people come into watch. Oh I don’t know if I have mentioned this but Tenerife is the number one German and old people vacation get away in the world. The signs were in Spanish and German and when we asked people to take our pictures we had to use more English and thank them in German, was bizarre.

Eventually we got back on the plane and I made it through security with many rocks and smuggled sand. We made it into Santander at 9 pm and unfortunately buses to Oviedo stop running at 8 and resume again at 3:30 in the morning. We had a long time of sitting in cafes and hanging out, outside the bus station.

All in all it was a very fun and successful weekend. I got to miss two days of school so it made last week’s classes a breeze to sit through. By sun burn had entered the blister peel phase so my constant itching is causing me to shed dead skin all over our house, I feel bad for my madre. The rest of the week was spent hanging out and catching up on school work.

This last Saturday I went on the school trip to Picos de Europa national park for the most beautiful 21 km hike I have ever been on. We picnicked in beautiful fields of wildflowers and hiked through caves and along the edge of a canyon gorge. Spain doesn’t have safety regulation so you literally hike alongside a 50 foot + drop without a railing or anything, I got the best pictures. Our hike left us exhausted but ready to go out that night. My madre told me she was amazed by the energy of the youth and didn’t know how we did it! Sunday was spent sleeping till about noon, and then hitting up night mass with all the other old people in Oviedo.

Last weekend was a little cheaper but equally amazing Picos de Europa was on my things to do list and we actually didn’t know that was where the school trip was going! What a pleasant surprise. My mommy comes tomorrow and we head off to Ireland for a week on Friday! I am so excited we will have too many adventures I am sure. I have two sets of pictures, one from Tenerife and one from Picos de Europa on the the Ruta de Cares.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=349777&id=563560128&l=d823e1397b  Tenerife

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=350928&id=563560128&l=b28523298d Picos de Europa

I can’t believe it is already April and how fast time has flown here, I only have about six weeks left! I am sure they will fly by and I can’t wait to return to America and see all of you!

Things I have learned:

1.      Hotel staff courtesy goes a long way with helping you figure out bus schedules and things to do.

2.      Bananas in Tenerife are grown in huge white tent complexes and bagged with a blue plastic bag when they have matured enough to attract animals.

3.      In Tenerife they don’t speak Spanish with a lisp like they do in Spain, it sounds a lot more like Mexico.

4.      Spaniard shout when angry, happy, sad, or just having a normal conversation, it tough to feel out the mood of the people in the next room.

5.      Kids here wear jump suits and track suits to school, all matching and in uniform.

6.      They literally do play soccer in the streets.

7.      I have grown accustomed to ironed underwear and socks.

8.      The game Parchís in Spain is very similar to Parchisi in the US and is highly competitive between old women in cafes.

9.      When you tell someone you are sunburned you say “estoy como un cangrejo” like a crab instead of lobster.

10.  Black sand is the best sand!