February 27, 2010
The next day the weather was soooooo much better. We got up-ate our breakfast including even more pasta! We made sooo much of it. I also had my yogurt/shake drink, more yogurt and Magdalena muffins. After this and packing up we headed to the ferry to head to Cadiz for the day. When we got to the ferry they told us the ferry wasn’t running-probably because it was Monday and there was really no use in using it, so we took the bus instead. While we waited for about an hour or so, we talked to some ladies from Ireland who were there on vacation. They were very nice and had been to North Carolina for Christmas and told us how much they loved America J. While we waited, it rained a little bit but not for very long.
When we got to Cadiz we bought more of the delicious 2-foot long cream filled taffy. Then we went to look at the ocean again, it was so beautiful and the waves were huge, every once in a while-though we were separated from the ocean by a brick wall and the rocks below, the ocean spray was able to come over the top of the wall…some of us weren’t able to stay dry for very long. Afterwards we headed towards the Cathedral but it cost quite a bit to go inside and we had seen enough Cathedrals and decided it wasn’t really worth going in and paying.
A group wanted to go to the tallest building in Cadiz where you would be able to see all of the city from above in Panoramic form and that was quite a bit too so a group of us decided not to go and just wait. For the rest of the day we continued to walk around and explore the city…my lunch consisted of more bread and another yogurt drink which was really good…so much better than the ‘strawberry milk’ I had before. We came across a beautiful park with a pond for ducks-kind of like in Campo Grande- and a ‘cave area’ with a wonderful and you could walk across the top. It was a really beautiful park with huge shrubbery trimmed into shapes of spirals and what looked like gum drops. We also came across a group of cats. Ken decided to start petting one and it followed us around of a while. I love cats-but I would never pet one in a park-probably had rabies…
Afterwards we came across two giant trees that most of been about a hundred years old…their branches were so long that the city placed columns before the branches to support them. We all decided to climb the trees and take picture- it was really fun. I don’t think I’ve climbed a tree like that since I was little and use to climb the crab apple tree in front of my house. By this point, our sunny day was becoming quite cloudy and a little more windy. Next we went to an old building built in the 1500s are so that might have been part of a castle or some fortress. The stairs were made of shells and there were look out areas to place canons. But while we were there it looked like it was used for exhibits-they had rooms with artwork. From here we saw another castle…all the way out in the middle of the ocean! There was a stone walkway to get there and we all decided to walk out onto it.
By this point, the waves were still crashing, but they weren’t bad. The walkway was about 100 feet long to the castle. We were up pretty high with rocks along the side to keep back the waves, but they would still crash and come up onto the walkway. The trick was to time out when you would walk/run and when you would stop and wait for the waves to pass. A little bit onto the walkway we saw a group of boys running back as a wave come up onto the walkway and soaked them. I was hoping that it wouldn’t happen to me but at that point I really didn’t care. I just wanted to make it to the other side with my group-and try to stay as dry as possible.
Once in a while I would have to wait for a wave to pass and other times I would realize that a huge wave was coming and would have to run for it. I could feel the salt in my hair, skin, and even clothes. Just felt like a big mess. I was able to stay pretty dry on our way there…some people in our group got more soaked than me and I was one of the first people to make it to the other side along with Adam B. It was pretty sweet to see how far we had walked out into the ocean from the shore. Maybe being a swimmer and always being around water, I didn’t find it nearly as exciting compared to other people but it was still really exciting.
On the way back I wasn’t quite as careful about the waves and as I was coming back I saw one coming and tried to run but it hit me from behind before I could get very far. It mainly just got the back of my legs so it wasn’t that bad. We would need to take a bus to the air port soon so we started to head back. We walked along the same wall as we did that morning that overlooks the ocean and the view was so beautiful. The sky was still a little dark but the sun’s rays were shining through the clouds over the ocean while sea gulls flew in the air. We stayed and watched the sky and waves for a good ten minutes or so. That day was probably my favorite out of the whole trip. Just to see how beautiful nature can be.
Our Portugal Trip-Lisbon
Kristin, Lynsey, Alli, and I in Lisbon, Portugal
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Carnaval and Cadiz
February 21, 2010
I was able to sleep somewhat on the bus trip from Granada to Cadiz. I was a little glad that our bus had arrived an hour late because we could only check into our hotel around 12 pm so when we arrived, we wouldn’t have so much time to kill as we did before. However, at 7 am, the bus stopped. At first I thought it was just to have a break, drop some people off. But it wasn’t for that, it was so that they could clean/mop the floor of the bus. None of us were very happy to leave the warm bus to go outside so that they could clean it.
We arrived in Cadiz around 10 am. My initial thought is that we would try to find our way to our hotel which was not on Cadiz, but on Santa Maria. Instead we relaxed and went to the beach. It was a very beautiful day. The sun was out, it was a little cloudy but really nice. We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then started to think about how to get to our hotel. As we walked through the city we saw people with costumes on from men dressing up like women to space cadets like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. We also saw an assortment of sweets as we walked around. There was one stand that had chocolate-covered apples, candy-coated apples, pieces of fresh coconut, and these long sugar-creamed filled taffy that were at least 2 feet in length.
To get to our hotel, we took a ferry across the bay to Santa Maria from Cadiz. The trip was only about 30 minutes long and it was still sunny out so it was pretty warm on the ferry. Once we got to the other side, there was a huge crowd waiting to get on the ferry to get to Cadiz for Carnaval. From there, we had to walk about 45 minutes to our hotel. It was Sunday and on this day of the week everything is closed, except places to eat. So we started looking around at places to eat later on in the day. We saw an assortment of different restaurants that looked really good. So far that morning all I had to eat was the taffy and the rest of my potato chips from the night before.
We eventally got to our hotel and it was so nice. It was actually a resort with a four star rating that we only had to pay like 16 euro per night. They also had a spa there which is probably what they mad most of their money off of. Our room was apartment style with a big kitchen, two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen-pots, pans, dinnerware, glasses, oven, refrigerator, toaster, microwave-everything we would need to make a meal for all of us. Another good part- we didn’t have to wash the dishes at all!
Once we got there we got settled and some people took naps but I couldn’t so I just watched the winter Olympics in German on the television instead-that’s right we had channels in German on our TV. I didn’t really pick up on any new words but it was interesting. After settling down we went out to find some food. We found a nice little café halfway between our hotel and the port. I had the number two, which was chicken, French fries, two eggs sunny side up, and these tater tot type of food that is fried and stuffed with items such as meat, cheese, or/and potato. They’re so good! We also got bread to eat with the eggs and these tiny little breadsticks which were called something like ‘picos’ which are really typical in Andalucia. The meal was a little pricey- 5.50 euro but that’s a pretty good meal at a cheap price for most restaurants here. After getting some good food in our tummies we headed back for Cadiz to enjoy some of the festivities. We arrived just in time for a parade that was fun to watch. I reminded me of floats during Oktoberfest but ten times better with much more color and lights-as colorful as Mardi Gras in US would be I suppose. The parade was actually kind of short. I really enjoyed all of the costumes though, they were so creative and most times the theme didn’t have a purpose but to be fun. One float was a tribute to Michael Jackson and all of the people were dressed up like zombies from the Thriller music video.
After the parade we walked around a bit an came across the Cathedral in Cadiz. It was pretty but would have been better if there wasn’t a stage in front of it for music and garbage all around from the people. The last ferry was going to leave at 10ish or so and therefore we couldn’t stay out there for everything so we decided to start the head back. When we arrived at the ferry gate, some workers asked to see our returning ticket, which we hadn’t bought. Oops. They told us we could got back to Santa Maria either by the bus or train so opted to take the bus. We ended up having to wait around for more than an hour for it and met some interesting people. There was a group there from Australia so we talked with them a bit and saw a group of people dressed up like Waldo from Where’s Waldo.
Our bus finally came but it took them forever to get it all set up. One worker was organizing the change on the bus with the other worker, they switched driving spots and then for a while they had the wrong sign up for the destination and after 10 minutes they realized their mistake and we were finally on our way back to the hotel.
When we got back, we all started to watch the movie- The Shawshank Redemption which was good but I was one of the few to turn in early. I hadn’t taken a nap that day and sleeping on a bus half of the night-the other half staying up so that no one doesn’t take our stuff doesn’t really help.
The next day was just miserable. It rained all day. We needed food so we went to Super Sol and bought spaghetti to make for lunch and dinner-we even had enough left over to eat some for breakfast the next day. For myself I had also bought some yogurt to eat for breakfast, a strawberry yogurt drink that turned out to be like strawberry milk and therefore wasn’t that great. With Ken and Adam B. I split the cost for some bread at a small bread store. Lunch was so filling and even better- it was really cheap compared to going out to eat again.
While we were at the store, it was sunny out and the walk back to the hotel was really nice with the sun but by the time we had gotten done with lunch it was pouring outside again. This happened on and off. At some point we decided to go to the beach when it was nice out but on our walk it started pouring again so most of us headed back. We decided to watch Unbreakable on a computer and that was good. Later on we all played Family Feud…so even though we were stuck inside most of the time because of the rain, we were all still able to have a fun time.
I was able to sleep somewhat on the bus trip from Granada to Cadiz. I was a little glad that our bus had arrived an hour late because we could only check into our hotel around 12 pm so when we arrived, we wouldn’t have so much time to kill as we did before. However, at 7 am, the bus stopped. At first I thought it was just to have a break, drop some people off. But it wasn’t for that, it was so that they could clean/mop the floor of the bus. None of us were very happy to leave the warm bus to go outside so that they could clean it.
We arrived in Cadiz around 10 am. My initial thought is that we would try to find our way to our hotel which was not on Cadiz, but on Santa Maria. Instead we relaxed and went to the beach. It was a very beautiful day. The sun was out, it was a little cloudy but really nice. We stayed there for about 45 minutes and then started to think about how to get to our hotel. As we walked through the city we saw people with costumes on from men dressing up like women to space cadets like Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story. We also saw an assortment of sweets as we walked around. There was one stand that had chocolate-covered apples, candy-coated apples, pieces of fresh coconut, and these long sugar-creamed filled taffy that were at least 2 feet in length.
To get to our hotel, we took a ferry across the bay to Santa Maria from Cadiz. The trip was only about 30 minutes long and it was still sunny out so it was pretty warm on the ferry. Once we got to the other side, there was a huge crowd waiting to get on the ferry to get to Cadiz for Carnaval. From there, we had to walk about 45 minutes to our hotel. It was Sunday and on this day of the week everything is closed, except places to eat. So we started looking around at places to eat later on in the day. We saw an assortment of different restaurants that looked really good. So far that morning all I had to eat was the taffy and the rest of my potato chips from the night before.
We eventally got to our hotel and it was so nice. It was actually a resort with a four star rating that we only had to pay like 16 euro per night. They also had a spa there which is probably what they mad most of their money off of. Our room was apartment style with a big kitchen, two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen-pots, pans, dinnerware, glasses, oven, refrigerator, toaster, microwave-everything we would need to make a meal for all of us. Another good part- we didn’t have to wash the dishes at all!
Once we got there we got settled and some people took naps but I couldn’t so I just watched the winter Olympics in German on the television instead-that’s right we had channels in German on our TV. I didn’t really pick up on any new words but it was interesting. After settling down we went out to find some food. We found a nice little café halfway between our hotel and the port. I had the number two, which was chicken, French fries, two eggs sunny side up, and these tater tot type of food that is fried and stuffed with items such as meat, cheese, or/and potato. They’re so good! We also got bread to eat with the eggs and these tiny little breadsticks which were called something like ‘picos’ which are really typical in Andalucia. The meal was a little pricey- 5.50 euro but that’s a pretty good meal at a cheap price for most restaurants here. After getting some good food in our tummies we headed back for Cadiz to enjoy some of the festivities. We arrived just in time for a parade that was fun to watch. I reminded me of floats during Oktoberfest but ten times better with much more color and lights-as colorful as Mardi Gras in US would be I suppose. The parade was actually kind of short. I really enjoyed all of the costumes though, they were so creative and most times the theme didn’t have a purpose but to be fun. One float was a tribute to Michael Jackson and all of the people were dressed up like zombies from the Thriller music video.
After the parade we walked around a bit an came across the Cathedral in Cadiz. It was pretty but would have been better if there wasn’t a stage in front of it for music and garbage all around from the people. The last ferry was going to leave at 10ish or so and therefore we couldn’t stay out there for everything so we decided to start the head back. When we arrived at the ferry gate, some workers asked to see our returning ticket, which we hadn’t bought. Oops. They told us we could got back to Santa Maria either by the bus or train so opted to take the bus. We ended up having to wait around for more than an hour for it and met some interesting people. There was a group there from Australia so we talked with them a bit and saw a group of people dressed up like Waldo from Where’s Waldo.
Our bus finally came but it took them forever to get it all set up. One worker was organizing the change on the bus with the other worker, they switched driving spots and then for a while they had the wrong sign up for the destination and after 10 minutes they realized their mistake and we were finally on our way back to the hotel.
When we got back, we all started to watch the movie- The Shawshank Redemption which was good but I was one of the few to turn in early. I hadn’t taken a nap that day and sleeping on a bus half of the night-the other half staying up so that no one doesn’t take our stuff doesn’t really help.
The next day was just miserable. It rained all day. We needed food so we went to Super Sol and bought spaghetti to make for lunch and dinner-we even had enough left over to eat some for breakfast the next day. For myself I had also bought some yogurt to eat for breakfast, a strawberry yogurt drink that turned out to be like strawberry milk and therefore wasn’t that great. With Ken and Adam B. I split the cost for some bread at a small bread store. Lunch was so filling and even better- it was really cheap compared to going out to eat again.
While we were at the store, it was sunny out and the walk back to the hotel was really nice with the sun but by the time we had gotten done with lunch it was pouring outside again. This happened on and off. At some point we decided to go to the beach when it was nice out but on our walk it started pouring again so most of us headed back. We decided to watch Unbreakable on a computer and that was good. Later on we all played Family Feud…so even though we were stuck inside most of the time because of the rain, we were all still able to have a fun time.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
"You took me southwards on a plane And showed me Spain or somewhere"
February 7, 2010
Yesterday our group from Eau Claire had another excursion to areas around Valladolid. We saw a church-Real Convento De Santa Clara de Tordesillas- built in the 1400s, a Castle, and a Museum on Roman Ruins. My favorites were between the monastery and the Castle. The Roman Ruins were ok but I was expecting to see something better.
I really liked the monastery because of all of the artifacts there were inside including some very old pianos that were very tiny and had painted decorations on it such as flowers. There also once were paintings on the walls but because of old age they were slightly fading but I still thought there were really net because it showed how ancient the place really was. We weren’t allowed to take pictures so I only got some from the outside but bought postcards for myself of pictures taken inside. I really liked seeing the place where they held mass. It was so beautiful. It was decorated with gold and within it were shapes such as stars and characters from the bible. It was also decorated with scarlet and in a room off to the side were some beautiful statues.
This happened a while ago, but on a bus ride home, we stopped outside of a school where there was a huge crowd. I could see some students dancing over the top of the heads of the parents and could hear music. I listened really closely to the music playing and at first thought it was song with lyrics in Spanish but the more I listened I realized it was “Someday” by Rob Thomas. That’s one of my favorite songs and by one of my favorite musicians so I was really excited to hear it all the way over here in Spain. It really made my day.
Speaking of buses. This past Thursday, February 11th, Kaitlyn and I were taking the bus to school as usual when we forgot to press the button to stop the bus for our connecting bus stop. We both stood by the door expecting the bus driver to open it for us, but he didn’t. Normally someone else almost always presses the button so we don’t really have to worry about it. But that day, we had to. The bus continued to the next stop where we got off and decided to walk to the last stop. Well, the walking soon turned into running towards the bus stop as we saw another bus approaching the bus stop. Unfortunately that bus left without us. Not wanting to wait for another bus, we decided to walk the rest of the way to school. It wasn’t bad, only took about 20 minutes and we were really early as usual.
This past weekend, we left with six other students to go to Granada and Cadiz for five days. It was Carnaval on Monday and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Cadiz is one of the major cities to celebrate Carnaval. We left Friday February 12th at 6 am for Madrid where we took an airplane to Granada. Even though we were down South, it was still freezing cold. The whole weekend it was raining along with snow the first day in Granada it was so weird. To stay warm a group of us decided to eat at a little tavern/restaurant for food. One of the guys with us Ken and I decided to got a lasagna dish and Kara and Adam S. decided to try baked potatoes- one with four cheeses on it and another with a creamy sauce and mushrooms. It was so good and really hit the spot. Afterwards we did a little shopping and stopped at an Arabian store. The moors/arabs used to live in Spain for I believe 8 centuries so there were many stores with items from places including India. At one of the stores the owner spoke 5 languages and was really nice. I bought a bright turquoise round box with a lot of beautiful detail for 7 euro. I really like it and was happy with my purchase until we went to the store next door and found the same box for only 3 euro. When I bought my 7 euro box I saw it being worth 7 euro so I was ok with my purchase. After this we went to a cafeteria for a desert. I bought something familiar to flan with kiwi on top. It could have used more sugar but was still good. The other three got cheese cake and we all decided that US cheese cake is much better. We also bought hot chocolate that was sooo good. It had a bit of a dark chocolate taste to it which I loved with the weather we were having that day with all of the rain it really hit the spot!
The next day in Granada, our day was much better for weather but it still rained. We all went to the Alhambra, which was absolutely beautiful. It has been one of my favorite places so far. The Alhambra is “is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.”-(Thank you Wikipedia.) The detail in each wall was amazing and the garden-even in “winter” was spectacular. Author Washington Irving lived there for a while and even wrote Tales of the Alhambra and they had his items on display. Iriving also wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Wrinkle.” If there’s one place people have to see, it’s The Alhambra. As Adam S. said many times during the trip about everything, “There are no words to describe it. I can’t think of anything that would give it justice to describe it.”
After our stay at The Alhambra, we went to the same Cafeteria for some more hot chocolate to get warmed up. As it grew dark, we walked around a bit more and stopped at a park near a flowing river that had a very strong current due to the weather. That nigh or I should say the next morning, we had a bus to take at 3 in the morning so we had to buy some food. We stopped at a food shop and I bought a really good strawberry banana yogurt smoothie drink, chocolate to eat at midnight since it would be February 14th/Valentine’s Day, and potato chips. I also had some turkey and bread/hamburger buns that Adam B. and I bought to make sandwiches throughout the day.
Our night at the bus station went pretty well. We were able to stay inside the whole time (In Valladolid, they close the station at a certain time at night but you can wait in the “Bus Stop” restaurant) which was really nice. We started off by staying on the lower ground by the doors but it was so cold that we decided to go upstairs where it was warmer. Throughout the night some people slept, stayed up or rested their eyes. I wanted to stay up till we got on the bus so I rested my eyes once in awhile. I was glad quite a few of us stayed up because we had a couple of visitors. We came a cross a young couple from California, a guy that wanted money for a bus to Madrid but we didn’t trust him so we said ‘no.’ and then a guy taking the buses that gave some of us chocolate. They said the candy bar was fine but I wouldn’t have taken it from him…I might have taken it to be nice but then throw it a way later. But it was Valentine’s Day so maybe the guy was just being nice?
Earlier in the day we were at the bus station to make sure we knew where it was before night fall and so that Ken could buy another bus ticket-he had lost his because a group bought tickets from a receipt and they were basically receipts-very easy to make a mistake and throw it away. While there a guy with a German accent and a brand new black eye asked us if we spoke English. When we told him ‘yes’ he said something in Spanish about the police and we were guessing he wanted our help to get the police-hence the black eye but we really couldn’t understand him so we just shook our heads and he left. Honestly- with the way he was looking, I was very hesitant to help him out if the person(s) who hurt him were nearby.
Our bus was suppose to arrive at 3 am, it didn’t come till 4 am. I was glad when it finally came because then I would be able to sleep on our way to Cadiz.
Yesterday our group from Eau Claire had another excursion to areas around Valladolid. We saw a church-Real Convento De Santa Clara de Tordesillas- built in the 1400s, a Castle, and a Museum on Roman Ruins. My favorites were between the monastery and the Castle. The Roman Ruins were ok but I was expecting to see something better.
I really liked the monastery because of all of the artifacts there were inside including some very old pianos that were very tiny and had painted decorations on it such as flowers. There also once were paintings on the walls but because of old age they were slightly fading but I still thought there were really net because it showed how ancient the place really was. We weren’t allowed to take pictures so I only got some from the outside but bought postcards for myself of pictures taken inside. I really liked seeing the place where they held mass. It was so beautiful. It was decorated with gold and within it were shapes such as stars and characters from the bible. It was also decorated with scarlet and in a room off to the side were some beautiful statues.
This happened a while ago, but on a bus ride home, we stopped outside of a school where there was a huge crowd. I could see some students dancing over the top of the heads of the parents and could hear music. I listened really closely to the music playing and at first thought it was song with lyrics in Spanish but the more I listened I realized it was “Someday” by Rob Thomas. That’s one of my favorite songs and by one of my favorite musicians so I was really excited to hear it all the way over here in Spain. It really made my day.
Speaking of buses. This past Thursday, February 11th, Kaitlyn and I were taking the bus to school as usual when we forgot to press the button to stop the bus for our connecting bus stop. We both stood by the door expecting the bus driver to open it for us, but he didn’t. Normally someone else almost always presses the button so we don’t really have to worry about it. But that day, we had to. The bus continued to the next stop where we got off and decided to walk to the last stop. Well, the walking soon turned into running towards the bus stop as we saw another bus approaching the bus stop. Unfortunately that bus left without us. Not wanting to wait for another bus, we decided to walk the rest of the way to school. It wasn’t bad, only took about 20 minutes and we were really early as usual.
This past weekend, we left with six other students to go to Granada and Cadiz for five days. It was Carnaval on Monday and Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and Cadiz is one of the major cities to celebrate Carnaval. We left Friday February 12th at 6 am for Madrid where we took an airplane to Granada. Even though we were down South, it was still freezing cold. The whole weekend it was raining along with snow the first day in Granada it was so weird. To stay warm a group of us decided to eat at a little tavern/restaurant for food. One of the guys with us Ken and I decided to got a lasagna dish and Kara and Adam S. decided to try baked potatoes- one with four cheeses on it and another with a creamy sauce and mushrooms. It was so good and really hit the spot. Afterwards we did a little shopping and stopped at an Arabian store. The moors/arabs used to live in Spain for I believe 8 centuries so there were many stores with items from places including India. At one of the stores the owner spoke 5 languages and was really nice. I bought a bright turquoise round box with a lot of beautiful detail for 7 euro. I really like it and was happy with my purchase until we went to the store next door and found the same box for only 3 euro. When I bought my 7 euro box I saw it being worth 7 euro so I was ok with my purchase. After this we went to a cafeteria for a desert. I bought something familiar to flan with kiwi on top. It could have used more sugar but was still good. The other three got cheese cake and we all decided that US cheese cake is much better. We also bought hot chocolate that was sooo good. It had a bit of a dark chocolate taste to it which I loved with the weather we were having that day with all of the rain it really hit the spot!
The next day in Granada, our day was much better for weather but it still rained. We all went to the Alhambra, which was absolutely beautiful. It has been one of my favorite places so far. The Alhambra is “is a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada, now in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.”-(Thank you Wikipedia.) The detail in each wall was amazing and the garden-even in “winter” was spectacular. Author Washington Irving lived there for a while and even wrote Tales of the Alhambra and they had his items on display. Iriving also wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Wrinkle.” If there’s one place people have to see, it’s The Alhambra. As Adam S. said many times during the trip about everything, “There are no words to describe it. I can’t think of anything that would give it justice to describe it.”
After our stay at The Alhambra, we went to the same Cafeteria for some more hot chocolate to get warmed up. As it grew dark, we walked around a bit more and stopped at a park near a flowing river that had a very strong current due to the weather. That nigh or I should say the next morning, we had a bus to take at 3 in the morning so we had to buy some food. We stopped at a food shop and I bought a really good strawberry banana yogurt smoothie drink, chocolate to eat at midnight since it would be February 14th/Valentine’s Day, and potato chips. I also had some turkey and bread/hamburger buns that Adam B. and I bought to make sandwiches throughout the day.
Our night at the bus station went pretty well. We were able to stay inside the whole time (In Valladolid, they close the station at a certain time at night but you can wait in the “Bus Stop” restaurant) which was really nice. We started off by staying on the lower ground by the doors but it was so cold that we decided to go upstairs where it was warmer. Throughout the night some people slept, stayed up or rested their eyes. I wanted to stay up till we got on the bus so I rested my eyes once in awhile. I was glad quite a few of us stayed up because we had a couple of visitors. We came a cross a young couple from California, a guy that wanted money for a bus to Madrid but we didn’t trust him so we said ‘no.’ and then a guy taking the buses that gave some of us chocolate. They said the candy bar was fine but I wouldn’t have taken it from him…I might have taken it to be nice but then throw it a way later. But it was Valentine’s Day so maybe the guy was just being nice?
Earlier in the day we were at the bus station to make sure we knew where it was before night fall and so that Ken could buy another bus ticket-he had lost his because a group bought tickets from a receipt and they were basically receipts-very easy to make a mistake and throw it away. While there a guy with a German accent and a brand new black eye asked us if we spoke English. When we told him ‘yes’ he said something in Spanish about the police and we were guessing he wanted our help to get the police-hence the black eye but we really couldn’t understand him so we just shook our heads and he left. Honestly- with the way he was looking, I was very hesitant to help him out if the person(s) who hurt him were nearby.
Our bus was suppose to arrive at 3 am, it didn’t come till 4 am. I was glad when it finally came because then I would be able to sleep on our way to Cadiz.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
It's Been A While
School and life in general has been very busy lately...here's a brief overview of stuff that has happened here in Spain.
It has been a very busy week full of intercambios, food, friends, traveling, shopping, and even now-swimming!! I finally got the chance to swim this week. On Monday we had our English Intercambio with Alejandro which was fun as usual. We talked about the region of the US that Kaitlyn and I are from and from there we talked about all the different accents in the US. Accents from the South, from New York-Bronx, Manhattan Island, New Jersey, Boston, even Valley Girl accents from Beverly Hills. At some point, Kaitlyn brought out here laptop for all of us to listen to the different accents. It was joint funny-we saw examples of Boston and New York and watched the trailer for Clueless which takes place in Beverly Hills.
This past week, everywhere I went I saw people I knew from the Intercambio at the school from last Friday. Tuesday while I was working on homework in the cafeteria with Jeff T. (A student from Indiana University in Pennsylvania) I saw a group of people walk by and a guy from Intercambios with super long hair was walking by…then later another guy from intercambios walked in and got a coffee but we were far away from the counter so he didn’t see us. Then, walking back to our house one night, I looked into a restaurent called Café and Te (coffe and tea) and saw a couple that our group from intercambios met after the intercambio for tapas (appetizers). Then, yesterday I ran into my friend Samantha and yet another guy from intercambios named Jose at around 3:40 in the morning. What was I doing at 3:40 on a Saturday morning? Heading to the bus station to go to Bilbao for the day of course. Once again, it’s normal to be up very late in Spain-it is in the US too…but much more common here. So when I met up with Jose and Samantha, I said ‘hola’ and Jose looked at me and said, “..do I know you?” I nodded yes and Jose is very loud, exuberant kind of person so he just exclaimed, “Oh!! Of course I know you!”
The food here has been interesting…last Sunday I had calamari for lunch…but it wasn’t like calamari that has been fried with sauce….this squid was surrounded by its own ink sauce (which was good) with its tentacles and other parts. I did not eat the tentacle part and every once in a while I would get a crunch that was sand. I hope I won’t have this dish again soon.
One food that I really did like was a cream puff we had for desert last Sunday. It was about the size of a baseball or larger with sugar sprinkled on top and cream filling. Yesterday (2-2-10) a group of us went to a sweet shop midway to school where I tried an ocho. A baked good shaped into an 8 por su puesto with a chocolate frosting and peach filling on top. It was so good. After going to the sweet shop we went to their ‘wal-mart’ and I bought notebooks for school and some more sugar doughnuts that I thought were going to be a lot like the ones I had in Puerto Rico when I was there for a swimming training trip. It wasn’t like the doughnuts in PR but it was still pretty good.
One day last week we had a scare with the canary-pet, Javier or as we affectionately call him, Javi. Belen and Kaitlyn and discovered him with his head stuck in the circular opening to his food dish with feathers missing and no movement. They thought he was dead but Kaitlyn noticed that he was moving and in fact still well alive. Why was Javier’s head stuck in his food dish? At first I thought maybe he was just trying to get some food and simply became stuck but what we ended up thinking that the wind from the window had blown him into his food dish.
Last week I was given the opportunity to teach English to children here, which I immediately jumped at the opportunity to do. The next day I called the mom of the girl to talk about teaching but she told me there was another American student. She told me to call her again the following Monday at 5:30 which I did. She told me that between her and another mom there were 5 children to be taught English and after talking with the American student they would call me back about it. Belen and I both agreed that it just seemed so strange-the mom told me they would call me but they haven’t done so yet. If she does not call me back, I’m probably not going to bother with this family and try to find another one.
This past weekend we-Kristin and I went to Bilbao and met up with Adam S. and Kara there. We went to the Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Art Museum. My favorite exhibits were “Puppy” and “Tulips” by Jeff Koons. “Puppy” was a giant statue made out of flowers with an irrigation system inside. “Tulips” were a collection of 6 or so giant colorful “tulips” made out of steel to appear as if they were inflated by air and to appear extremely light when in reality they are extremely heavy. There was also and exhibit by Frank Lloyd Wright who is a native from Wisconsin. I really enjoyed looking at models of his architectures and ideas of architecture. My favorite was his idea of the Mile-High Building which is just an incredible idea- 528 or more floors and the top could be reached within 60 seconds. Another idea was to have giant circular aquariums in a building with not only unique fish but sharks, squids etc…I don’t think the animals would last long though according to the laws of the food chain. Overall it was just cool to see something about someone from Wisconsin all the way over here in Spain. Also it rained there until Kristin and I left for Valladolid. My legs were soaked all day, kind of miserable but worth it.
I’ve been trying to convince Adam S. and Eric that they should start a blog for their dog, Fosky. He is currently 2 months old with a passport. Because he is not 3 months old yet, he is strictly an inside dog and is therefore his potty-training has been horrible. Today, according to Adam S., he peed on the floor and when his host mom called the dog it turned around and started to run down the stairs but slipped on the puddle of pee and fell down the first step really awkwardly. Then Fosky heard Adam start to open the door and hopped back up the step, through the puddle of pee and then he shoved the dog with his leg right back towards the puddle where Fosky slid through it and down the step again. What a mess!
At the moment, a group of us are planning our trip for Semana Santa aka Spring Break. Kristin, Ken, and I will be heading to London and other parts of England the first week and Italy the second week so that we will be there for Easter weekend. In Italy we might meet up with Adam and Kara, and/or possibly Adam B. and Bjorn.
It has been a very busy week full of intercambios, food, friends, traveling, shopping, and even now-swimming!! I finally got the chance to swim this week. On Monday we had our English Intercambio with Alejandro which was fun as usual. We talked about the region of the US that Kaitlyn and I are from and from there we talked about all the different accents in the US. Accents from the South, from New York-Bronx, Manhattan Island, New Jersey, Boston, even Valley Girl accents from Beverly Hills. At some point, Kaitlyn brought out here laptop for all of us to listen to the different accents. It was joint funny-we saw examples of Boston and New York and watched the trailer for Clueless which takes place in Beverly Hills.
This past week, everywhere I went I saw people I knew from the Intercambio at the school from last Friday. Tuesday while I was working on homework in the cafeteria with Jeff T. (A student from Indiana University in Pennsylvania) I saw a group of people walk by and a guy from Intercambios with super long hair was walking by…then later another guy from intercambios walked in and got a coffee but we were far away from the counter so he didn’t see us. Then, walking back to our house one night, I looked into a restaurent called Café and Te (coffe and tea) and saw a couple that our group from intercambios met after the intercambio for tapas (appetizers). Then, yesterday I ran into my friend Samantha and yet another guy from intercambios named Jose at around 3:40 in the morning. What was I doing at 3:40 on a Saturday morning? Heading to the bus station to go to Bilbao for the day of course. Once again, it’s normal to be up very late in Spain-it is in the US too…but much more common here. So when I met up with Jose and Samantha, I said ‘hola’ and Jose looked at me and said, “..do I know you?” I nodded yes and Jose is very loud, exuberant kind of person so he just exclaimed, “Oh!! Of course I know you!”
The food here has been interesting…last Sunday I had calamari for lunch…but it wasn’t like calamari that has been fried with sauce….this squid was surrounded by its own ink sauce (which was good) with its tentacles and other parts. I did not eat the tentacle part and every once in a while I would get a crunch that was sand. I hope I won’t have this dish again soon.
One food that I really did like was a cream puff we had for desert last Sunday. It was about the size of a baseball or larger with sugar sprinkled on top and cream filling. Yesterday (2-2-10) a group of us went to a sweet shop midway to school where I tried an ocho. A baked good shaped into an 8 por su puesto with a chocolate frosting and peach filling on top. It was so good. After going to the sweet shop we went to their ‘wal-mart’ and I bought notebooks for school and some more sugar doughnuts that I thought were going to be a lot like the ones I had in Puerto Rico when I was there for a swimming training trip. It wasn’t like the doughnuts in PR but it was still pretty good.
One day last week we had a scare with the canary-pet, Javier or as we affectionately call him, Javi. Belen and Kaitlyn and discovered him with his head stuck in the circular opening to his food dish with feathers missing and no movement. They thought he was dead but Kaitlyn noticed that he was moving and in fact still well alive. Why was Javier’s head stuck in his food dish? At first I thought maybe he was just trying to get some food and simply became stuck but what we ended up thinking that the wind from the window had blown him into his food dish.
Last week I was given the opportunity to teach English to children here, which I immediately jumped at the opportunity to do. The next day I called the mom of the girl to talk about teaching but she told me there was another American student. She told me to call her again the following Monday at 5:30 which I did. She told me that between her and another mom there were 5 children to be taught English and after talking with the American student they would call me back about it. Belen and I both agreed that it just seemed so strange-the mom told me they would call me but they haven’t done so yet. If she does not call me back, I’m probably not going to bother with this family and try to find another one.
This past weekend we-Kristin and I went to Bilbao and met up with Adam S. and Kara there. We went to the Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Art Museum. My favorite exhibits were “Puppy” and “Tulips” by Jeff Koons. “Puppy” was a giant statue made out of flowers with an irrigation system inside. “Tulips” were a collection of 6 or so giant colorful “tulips” made out of steel to appear as if they were inflated by air and to appear extremely light when in reality they are extremely heavy. There was also and exhibit by Frank Lloyd Wright who is a native from Wisconsin. I really enjoyed looking at models of his architectures and ideas of architecture. My favorite was his idea of the Mile-High Building which is just an incredible idea- 528 or more floors and the top could be reached within 60 seconds. Another idea was to have giant circular aquariums in a building with not only unique fish but sharks, squids etc…I don’t think the animals would last long though according to the laws of the food chain. Overall it was just cool to see something about someone from Wisconsin all the way over here in Spain. Also it rained there until Kristin and I left for Valladolid. My legs were soaked all day, kind of miserable but worth it.
I’ve been trying to convince Adam S. and Eric that they should start a blog for their dog, Fosky. He is currently 2 months old with a passport. Because he is not 3 months old yet, he is strictly an inside dog and is therefore his potty-training has been horrible. Today, according to Adam S., he peed on the floor and when his host mom called the dog it turned around and started to run down the stairs but slipped on the puddle of pee and fell down the first step really awkwardly. Then Fosky heard Adam start to open the door and hopped back up the step, through the puddle of pee and then he shoved the dog with his leg right back towards the puddle where Fosky slid through it and down the step again. What a mess!
At the moment, a group of us are planning our trip for Semana Santa aka Spring Break. Kristin, Ken, and I will be heading to London and other parts of England the first week and Italy the second week so that we will be there for Easter weekend. In Italy we might meet up with Adam and Kara, and/or possibly Adam B. and Bjorn.
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