You + Me is bad news

Well, we didn’t go directly there… we had a layover  at London Heathrow for 5 hours first… which totally sucked because we got the shaft and had to wait  in the smallest terminal with only one half-operation café. I was looking forward to setting up shop and getting a drink during the short stay, but it didn’t really work out like that. Oh welllll.

When we got to Dublin we took a bus to the city. Again, we hopped off and wandered around for about a half hour with all of our bags looking for the hostel… we kept getting different directions but we just couldn’t find it. We finally asked a taxi to take us and he loaded up the car, then literally drove 30 seconds to the front door of the hostel – then he proceeded to charge us 6 euro for it. Whatever. We checked in, unloaded and headed out to explore.

We ended up walking around Temple Bar – a really famous square block in the city centre with bars, pubs, restaurants and clubs galore. The streets were just crawling with people and there was a really fun mood in the air. We ended up going to this Persian place for dinner- Zaytoons – for donners and chips. Very tasty and fun to people watch from.  The long day of waiting tuckered us out, so we crashed pretty early.

The next morning we woke up at our leisure and had breakfast, then just decided to wander around the city and see what kind of trouble we could wrestle up. We went to the castle first…. Which was probably one of the most unimpressive things I’ve seen these past 4 months. Hahaha. Well, to be fair we didn’t go inside… but I really feel like we didn’t miss much. Afterwards, we walked to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Park,



which was beautiful, then we went to Christ’s Church to take a look. Both were expensive to go into, and lets face it… I’ve seen enough churches and cathedrals to last me a lifetime.  We then went to take a look at Trinity College and the shopping districts around there – which we later found out were two of the most expensive shopping streets in all of Europe (Grafton and Nassau to set the record straight). We soon found ourselves souvenir-less and sitting in a random bar with lots of Irish men watching the horse races. We had a few beers and mingled, then decided to head home. That night we made a pizza and watched Braveheart – guess we weren’t over Scotland yet.

The following morning we decided to take a day trip to Wicklow County – an area of mountains south of Dublin known as Ireland’s Garden. Our bus driver was pretty hilarious and kept us laughing the whole time… but the sites were even better. We started off driving to the harbor of Dan Laoghaire; then to Acove where I bought my only scone on the trip; up into the mountains where we saw the glen in which they filmed Braveheart and P.S. I Love You, set right along side the Guinness Estate;



and finally to Glenadough, where we visited the Monastic City with some of the oldest celtic crosses in all of Ireland.



We walked some nature trails and it was so beautiful – I don’t think I’ve ever breathed cleaner, purer air in my life, nor have I ever seen that much green.



GREEEEEEEEN, my golly green.

We got home around 6:30 that night and decided to order pizza in and watch ridiculous movies like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express. I didn’t really care that we weren’t going out to the pubs and what not… because let’s face it, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of going out and after 4 months of being away from home and almost 10 days of living out of a suitcase the only thing on my mind was relaxing. And relax I did.

The next morning we slept in and then went on the hunt for the bus stop we had to get to Wednesday morning for our flight. We ended up running into Henry Street, one of the best streets for local shopping as we were told  by our bus driver. Pete was apparently sick of European food… being there for 10 days and whatnot haha… so he wanted to go to KFC for lunch, which we did. I don’t frequent the Colonel’s turf much at home, but I’m going to go ahead and say it was subpar. And the staff was insane. Oh well, I’m over it.

We then wandered to the Jameson’s Whisky Distillery  and dinked around the gift shop for a while. Pete was really into buying whisky or scotch, but for some reason he passed. It was expensive though – I’ll give him that. We decided to forgo the tour and make our way to the Guinness Storehouse, which is apparently the most visited tourist attraction in all of Ireland. I was actually really impressed with the whole thing – I mean, how interesting can it be? VERY! As soon as we started the tour, we saw the 9000 year lease that Arthur Guinness signed in 1759. Yes, 9000 years. He wasn’t joking around. The entire building was modeled to be in the shape of a pint glass, and apparently if one were to fill that it with Guinness, it would hold 14.3 million pints. The first floor explained the process of brewing the beer – roasted barley, hops, yeast and water straight from a reservoir in the Wicklow mountains! The master brewer, although it was pretty nerdy, took the guests on a guided tour of the entire process and we got to try the roasted barley and a little sample of the beer in the tasting lab. The second and third floors explained the history of the company and what makes Guinness so special, then came the history of the advertisments and there was even a display the of original sketches and artwork of the man who designed all the famous images and slogans like “My goodness, my Guinness!” and “Great day for a Guinness.” I guess the only fact I can’t remember is his name… whoops bong. BUT, he even did a series that involved the reworking of Alice in Wonderland images – which made me gasp for air in surprise and it pretty much sealed the deal for me, making the visit totally worth it.



Last stop: the Gravity Bar on the seventh floor, which gave everyone a panoramic view of the city and an opportunity to partake in a free pint of Guinness. Believe it or not, I drank it. At first, it wasn’t that bad… but after the first few sips it became harder and harder to swallow, and the roasted barley was reminding me too much of coffee. So I ended up drinking it in counts – as in I would guzzle it for 5 seconds, rest for a minute and then repeat the guzzling until all I had left was the thick creamy foam.



Then I proceeded to feel sick and threw up in the bathroom on the way out. There’s a reason that I don’t drink beer… and not even the institution that is Guinness can change that apparently.

We spent our last night having dinner at Zaytoons again – I got some hummus which really hit the spot! Then we went home, packed everything, showered, looked up all our information, sent out a few last minute emails and called the ‘rents. I was so excited to be going home that I couldn’t fall asleep until around 2:00. Oh well, that’s what a day of traveling is for.

I’ll keep you all posted on my first few hours back in the States, and how the babies are doing. I know none of you probably care about the latter, but I am now a doubly-qualified auntie who has missed so much in the past few months – so get ready for pics and comments galore come tomorrow!

That's right, I said mattress dancing

We took a different airline to Scotland, British Midland, and I was pretty pleased because they were very efficient and they didn’t charge me for my extra baggage.  I had turned my phone off as soon as I woke up that morning so that I wouldn’t forget to do so when I was on the plane… but we had extra time at the airport and for some reason I felt compelled to call Mom. Good thing I did because the first thing she said to me was that Courtney was at the hospital in labor. I WAS SO UPSET! I mean first of all, I had literally had my phone attached to my hip for the past week and a half and nothing had happened… the second I turn it off the baby’s on his way. And all of that goes without saying that I was extremely disappointed with myself for not being able to be there. When I got off the phone I was definitely emotional… ok, so maybe I cried…  but I just kind of had to handle it, because there was nothing I could do but wait for new news. Pete certainly didn’t know what to do with me in that state, in fact he didn’t say anything one way or the other so that just upset me even more.

The flight was smooth and we got on the bus to go into the city centre. Sure enough, Colton Money-making Chamberlain had come during the flight. Ten fingers, ten toes, and the cutest little cry, from what I heard on the phone that is. So it’s a little delayed, but welcome to the world buddy… I can’t wait to meet you!

The woman at the airport who worked for the bus company said that if we took this certain bus we’d only be about a 5-7 minute walk away from the hostel. She forgot to mention that that 5-7 minute walk would be up a nearly VERTICAL HILL. What a twat. I had a 50-pound suitcase, a 10-pound backpack and another 10-pound laptop bag, while Pete had my other suitcase and his own… halfway through the climb I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it. I just started laughing and all I could get out of my mouth was, “REALLY?” I was sweating. I might have confused the walk to the hostel with the half marathon I ran that day though… it’s all just running together right now.

Once we were finally at the hostel, we got put into the couple’s room- which I thought was hilarious. We had 2 Australians, 2 Spaniards and a couple of floaters for roommates. The facilities were nice and I felt pretty safe and sound. We set out for a walk and ended up covering a good portion of the city. We stopped by beautiful cemetery and took some neat photos… then just looked around a bit more before we headed back in the direction of the hostel. There as a small pub right by our place called Castle Arms where we ate dinner. IT WAS DELICIOUS. I started off with a big o’l fatty Magner’s, perfectly chilled, and ordered sausage and mash for dinner. The sausage was from a pretty famous butcher in Edinburgh, so they were perfectly seasoned, one with lemon pepper and then the other with rosemary and sage – all on top of a huge pile of mashed potatoes and a rich gravy.



Can you tell I like food? Looking back at this blog, my best descriptions are all about food. OH WELL. We had really tasty chocolate cake and then topped the evening off with some smooth Scotch- I love scotch, scotchety scotch scotch scotch. Slept like a baby the first night.

The next morning we woke up and went to breakfast then headed to the National Gallery – a museum with a decent collection that was free to get in to, so really it was a win/win situation. Afterwards, we headed to Edinburgh Castle where we stayed for about 2 hours.



  It wasn’t as big as the Tower of London per say, but there was certainly a lot of history and ground to cover. We saw the oldest building in Edinburgh – St. Margaret’s Chapel – the Honors of Scotland (crown, scepter and sword) and the room where Queen Mary gave birth to the would-be King James. All in all, I liked it. We then set out to find Greyfriar’s Bobby and Kirkyard – a cathedral with a graveyard attached that is apparently famous for being featured in old Disney cartoons, and also for the dog (Bobby) that lingered by its owner’s graveside for more than 14 years. How… exciting?



We ate lunch/dinner, took another long walk around the city and then hung out in the hostel to rest up for the next leg of the trip.

Friday morning we bummed around town… went and saw a few sites like the Scottish Monument, and then did some minor souvenir shopping. We had to head back to the hostel early because we were getting picked up by my friend Neil’s parents. Although I don’t really know Neil that well, when he found out that I was going to be in Edinburgh, he immediately offered to put Pete and I up at his parents’ place in Penicuik – a city outside of Edinburgh. Of course, I took him up on it… I would have been daft not to! So Charlie picked us up around 1:30, and had quite the time putting allllllll our luggage in the boot of his little BMW. We drove around the city for a while and chit chatted, then he drove us out to Roslyn, to visit the Roslyn Chapel that has become ever so famous since the Da Vinci Code book and movie featured it. Pete and I went in and had a look around – it was a pretty old place but still had maintained a lot of the original stonework, carvings and the like. I guess back in the 1950’s, the owners were worried about the condition of the stone inside the church, so someone told them to put a limestone wash over the entire surface. Well, the plan backfired because in the late 1980s, they discovered that the wash had smothered the stone and hasn’t allowed it to properly breathe, or for the building to ventilate itself.


After 30 years of rain the stone had become saturated and the whole structure was in jeopardy of crumbling, so in the mid 1990s they put this huge scaffolding around the roof and building to allow the entire chapel to dry out. It kind of hinders the beauty of the architecture, but on the up side it allows visitors to go up to the roof level and walk around to see everything on the chapel and the surrounding countryside. 

After the chapel, Charlie drove us to Penicuik where Neil’s mum Anna was waiting for us. The first thing she said when we walked through the door was “oh come in, come in, would you care for a wee cup of tea?”


Hahaha, I laughed so hard – not only because of how cute the question was, but how THICK her Scottish accent was. I had to ask her to repeat nearly everything for about 5 or 6 minutes, but then I caught on kind of quick. Pete went out in the garden with Charlie and I hung out with Anna for about an hour – we talked about all sorts of things and got on really well right from the start. I had 3 cups of tea and all sorts of sweet biscuits and treats. I told her about my strange love and obsession with grocery stores, and she offered to take me up to the Tesco in town and give me a personal aisle-by-aisle tour… which she did! So funny, but I loved every minute. What can I say, I’m not a hard girl to please!

Later the four of us went to dinner at this cozy little inn near the countryside outside of town. The food was delicious and the company was even better - we were all cracking jokes left and right and I had a wonderful time. Afterwards, we all hopped in the car for a wee ride up into the park… which was beautiful. I don’t know if it was a reservoir or just a park or a lake or what – but what a site.



The hills were a perfect golden green, and the sky was so blue that you could see a crystal clear reflection of the clouds on the glass lake. There were sheep baaaaahing on the hills and men fishing off the bank. The sun was just about to set, so it was really amazing.

When we got home, Charlie put on a sci-fi movie, which he and Pete got pretty into, while Anna and I drank a bunch of wine and just had girl talk, which seemed so much more fun than usual for some reason. We went to bed around midnight or so and the next morning when we woke up she had bacon rolls, tea and orange juice waiting for us. What a sweetie – I mean a real top bird. They drove us to the airport and we said our goodbyes; to be honest I was kind of sad. I mean we only spent an evening with them, but it might have legitimately been my favorite part of the hole trip. There were hugs all around and Pete and I hopped onto the plane to the Emerald Isle….

Beginning of the end

"I was waiting for a cross-town train in the london underground
When it struck me that i've been waiting since birth to find
A love that would look and sound like a movie..."

Such a good song.

ANYWAYS - LONDON LONDON LONDON, my first real life love affair!

Where do I begin? I suppose at the beginning, and when I come to the end, I'll stop.

We left Sevilla with relatively little problems, I did have to pay for extra baggage though... 60 euro... lame. We got into Gatwick ahead of schedule, and I was a little worried that we would have to wait for a while to catch the bus into the city centre, but luckily I came across a very warm English woman who was willing to skip her break, wait outside with us and make sure the bus driver would allow us to ride early and with extra luggage. This was such a wonderful feeling after being numbed by the cold Spanish soul for 4 months. It took about an hour to get into town, then we bought a pass for the Tube (the subway system). We got a little turned around, but when we finally arrived at the hostel, and after we hauled all our luggage up 3 flights of stairs, we were exhausted. But alas, you can't be a hermit when in London, so we headed right off for the London Eye! Basically it's a HUGE ferris wheel that you stand in - in fact, up to about a dozen people can stand in each pod - and it takes about 30-40 minutes to ride around. It gives you an amazing opportunity to see the entire city with a bird's eye view.

Afterwards, we walked over to Big Ben and the Parliament building. We tried to take a bunch of photos, but the English rain was getting in our way... more arsty fartsy than anything else. We really had no plans or agenda for the evening, so we just kept walking around to explore. We headed back to West Kensington where our hostel was and grabbed dinner at a pub... fish and chips :)




Then we headed off for sweet dreams in the lovely London town.

The next morning we woke up nice and early to hunt down a breakfast. We had a pretty hard time finding any food, but we ended up eating a full English breakfast at this place called Cilantro. Eggs, sausage, pastrami bacon, baked beans, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and toast with hot tea. Breakfast is my all time favorite meal, so I really enjoyed it. We scarfed it all down then ran through St. James Park to get to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guards. I really had no idea of what would happen during the ceremony, I was just told not to miss it. There were what seemed to be a gabillion people pushing and shoving to get pictures of the guards... I really didn't care to stay to long because it was too much pomp and circumstance to risk being trampled by a bunch of pre-pubescent French kids on a field trip.

Next on the agenda: Westminster Abbey.




Probably my favorite part of the entire trip. Unfortunately, no one is able to take photos inside, but man oh man would I have torn it up had I been allowed. There is so much freaking history there - I mean it's just an amazing, jaw dropping collection of historical figures and stories. Highlights for me: the tomb of Lewis Caroll and Elizabeth I. For those of you who don't know, Elizabeth I is probably the one person from history I would chose to sit down and have a cup of coffee with... I don't even drink coffee... basically I would drink my own urine just to meet her in person. I love her. Not going to lie either - I might have gotten a little overwhelmed and teary eyed at the sight of her tomb. She is buried with Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary), her half sister and original rival, and on their tomb is inscribed : "Partners both in throne and grave, here rest we two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, in the hope of one resurrection." Dawwwwwh, so sweet. LOVE IT.

We then hopped on the tube to go to Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum. HOW FUN! I had no idea what to expect, but as soon as we walked in, we were bamboozled by famous figures on all sides, and fake paparazzi snapping their photos. It took us about an hour and a half to get through the whole thing, but we really got some cute pictures and saw some amazing figures... too many to list off, but two of my favorites were Humphrey Bogart and OBAMA!

We grabbed a quick meal after the museum, but didn't really know what we wanted to do with ourselves that night. My roommate Liz had told me to try and check out a show since London has so many theatres in every corner of town - so we jaunted over to Convent Garden and decided to check the box offices. We decided to see SPRING AWAKENING... AND. IT. WAS. PHENOMENAL! I never consider myself much of a musical lover, but man oh man I'm wrong. The story takes place in the 1800s in Germany - it's about a bunch of teens who are in a boarding school, slowly finding out about their sexuality and how the world works. The tagline for the show, which I loved was "This musical will make your heart ache with love and throb with lust." Hahaha. Lust. The actors were all in their early twenties, so the cast was very energetic and cohesive in spirit. The songs ranged from very heavy ballads to rock anthems and they really showed of the abilities of the cast. I literally felt refreshed walking out of the theatre and couldn't stop talking about it the whole way home. I would recommend it to anyone.

The next morning we woke up early again and went to the Tower of London - something that I've wanted to see for so long! It must be said though - it was totally different than what I had imagined it to be. Smaller? That doesn't seem right, because in actuality the grounds were huge - the buildings expansive and anyone could see at first glance how absolutely steeped in history it all was. Pete and I decided to split up for the majority of the tour, so we could each see the things that mattered most to us. I went through the medieval palace of King Edward, saw the Crown Jewels of the English Throne, saw the tower green where so many were executed (like Lady Jane Grey) and even saw the site where the scaffolds were... oh Anne Boleyn, I still feel for you girl.





They also had a huge exhibition of Henry VIII's personal effects like armor, clothing and such. That was really interesting to see how intense everything had to be made back then - not only because of the age, but because of how insane Henry VIII was. Conspicuous consumption has never really been overrated apparently.

We then walked to the Tate Modern - which was a big disappointment for me. For some reason I was under the impression that the collection would be more modern instead of contemporary... the latter of which I tend to dry heave at. We only spent about a half hour, finding the artists we recognized and observing the pieces that interested us the most... but then we high tailed it out of there.

After a quick photo op at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre (check out these beautiful birches mama!)



and St. Paul's Cathedral, we went and grabbed lunch at a pub and then bummed around in a few shops. We found ourselves on the tube headed toward Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens shortly after... what a pretty day for a waltz in the park too! We just frolicked down the trails, stopped to pay homage to Princess Di at her memorial fountain and of course to Peter Pan.



There were beautiful fountains and a huge lake just swarming with ducks and swans, so we spent a while enjoying the scenery before we headed back to the hostel.



At that point in time we were both feeling pretty run down from hyper-tourism over the past 2 and a half days, so we decided to pack and call it an early night. BUT - we did walk down the way to a TESCO - I have finally come to terms with the fact that going to grocery stores in foreign countries is one of my favorite things to do! I love looking at the different products they sell... trying new candies or juices or whatever strikes my fancy... i just adore it. I decided to buy a huge box of cereal and a gallon of milk AND grapes for dinner/breakfast... all 3 being things that i had been severely deprived of in Spain. Man oh man, that could have been my last meal on earth and it wouldn't have mattered- because I was as happy as a pig in poop with just the bare essentials.

We woke up the next morning and went to Tesco again to buy lunches and snacks for our day at the airport. We arrived there safe and sound, masters of the tube, with time to spare. We flew with a different airline which was great, and I didn't have to pay any extra fees.

Next chapter: Edinburgh, ay!

Every stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be homeward bound

Well, last week. In Spain, that is. 

I just hate finals man... doesn't matter where I am, or how easy the classes are... I just hate the idea of everything hanging on one test, you know? I lied to two of my teachers and said that I was going to the airport on Thursday, just so I could take those exams earlier, and meet my friend Pete at the airport. Needless to say, the weekend was filled with studying, junk food, procrastinating as much as possible... and general mullygrubs. 

Monday - Flamenco. THANK GOD THAT CLASS IS OVER WITH. I hate it, hated it, always will hate it. But, I owned on the essays... Paco gave us 4 essay questions, told us that he would pick 2 and then we would only have to respond to 1. I prepared for all of them and ended up writing out both questions... trying to win him over at the end? Who knows. It's over. 

Semantics was alot better this time around... I breezed through the final in about 25 minutes and only doubted about 3 of the answers I put. My professor was a little surprised that I finished so early, but I thought... That's why they pay me the big bucks lady. 

Grammar was a joke - our professor told us that all of this material was going to be on the final, but nothing really was... except for nonsensical things that we've been learning since sophomore year in high school. And my arab lit class was just an in-class personal response. That's it? That's it I say. 

Tuesday night Liz and I went to the goodbye dinner for API - Big Mama made us croquetas and pasta salad to take, because it was a potluck. Many more people had showed up than what I thought would, which was nice. Big Mama ended up coming and she was pretty funny... we walked through town to get to the metro together and she was just a reminiscing about how long it had been in that part of town. Then she proceeded to open up to us a lot... she told Liz that she liked having her in the house, because she always eats the food without contest, whereas I just lie about what foods I like and don't... but it was ok, because I am better at Spanish than Liz. Those were pretty much her exact words and it was pretty hilarious... oh Big Mama. While we were waiting for the metro, we taught her a list of words in English to learn before her trip to NYC in June. She couldn't pronounce anything and it was really funny. 

When we got home we decided to make S'mores for the family. It was so funny, because when we got into the kitchen it was about 11, and Big Mama told us that we could make them if we wanted... but then when we brought her one she just screamed "OH NO! I can't eat that... it's so late, and I'll get fat!" We made her eat it though...



and then we made one for Juls and Ana too. THEY LOVED THEM!!! Big Mama thought the chocolate was just the best thing ever... so rich and smooth, really fantastic... and I was just thinking to myself - you're insane! It's Hershey's Milk Chocolate - like, the Five O'Clock of chocolate... but oh well. To each his own. And she loved loved loved the graham crackers too. Everyone was licking their fingers by the end of the night. 

The next few days just consisted of getting all my thoughts and things around to leave. Pete arrived safe and sound on Thursday afternoon, so I picked him up from the airport and took him to his hostel. We went out to eat too, but he was basically in a coma and could barely keep his eyes open, so that night ended pretty quickly and I had lots of time to pack. Friday and Saturday consisted of showing him all the touristy and historical things around the city - so we went back the the Cathedral, the Alcazar, Parque de Maria Luisa, Plaza de Espana, so on and so forth.





He didn't really like anything though - it was really hot, and he was still tired... plus he can't speak or understand a single word of Spanish, so it was just like an extended layover. 

Liz left Friday night, and it was real sad. I made sure to be out of the house before she left for the bus station... because I'm real bad at goodbyes. never really had a huge buddy buddy relationship throughout the semester... but right at the end I felt very close to her and lucky that she was around. After my terrible start to Feria, I was so happy to have her home, and I really think she helped me out of that slump. So Liz, if you're reading this - thanks for being a wonderful roommate, for making me laugh, and for keeping me level headed through the Juls-lust and the Big Mama madness. 

My last night at home, I made a big tortilla all by myself for dinner and to use for bocadillos the next day. It was de-lish. Maybe a little salty, but that's coming from someone who hates anything salty. 

Big Mama left Saturday night to watch her granddaughter overnight, so she said goodbye early and it wasn't awkward, but very sweet. She told me to remember that when I was in Spain, this would always be my home. She got a little teary-eyed, but I resisted and just gave her a huge bear hug and thanked her for all that she had done for me over the past 4 months.



The next morning, Ana cried a little and gave me a huge hug and kiss, Juls just said goodbye and we had an awkward moment... like when you go in for the hug, and one person pulls away, but the other just keeps tapping them on the back. Hahaha, I'm not sure who was doing which, but I'm sure that I lingered too long. Oh well... can't help it we share that kind of love, now can I?

Sunday I met Pete and we made it to the airport with time to spare... 

SPAIN: GOODBYE

FOGGY LONDON TOWN: LOOK OUT, HERE I COME!!!!!

If New Orleans were a woman, would it still be called the Big Easy?

Erg... I guess I got a little bit behind, because lots of little things have happened lately. 

We'll start with the little day trip API took to Donana, a big ol' fatty national wildlife park in Andalucia. On the way we stopped in a little town called Rocio, which is the home of a statue of the Virgin Mary which is a real big deal.



It's the largest pilgrimage site in all of Spain, and during May thousands of people flock to the tiny town to make offerings to the Virgin and worship in the Cathedral.



Outside of the church there is a beautiful lake that leads into Donana; there were wild horses drinking the water and all sorts of birds. Really beautiful. 

The beach was actually in Huelva, right on the Atlantic. I was really surprised with myself, and I think it's safe to say I threw everyone a curve ball by laying out in the sun for about 4 hours. I just made sure to smother on the SPF and pick out some good tunes on my ipod. It was actually a really relaxing day -- the weather was wonderful and the beach was beautiful. I didn't take too many pictures, but there was this ADORABLE little boy who decided to strip down and start playing in the water with other little kids... and for some reason I just felt compelled to take pictures of him.



Dawwwwh. 

The next day, Liz and I spent the afternoon studying for our finals. We had bought tickets a few days before for a soccer game; we each paid for our own ticket then split one for Julio because Lord knows we wanted to get him out of the house by himself and see if we could get him out of his shell. Around 4:00, he and I drove to the stadium to collect the tickets... I was soooo excited. What's even better? HUNGRY EYES came on the radio as soon as we started driving, and I thought to myself, "this must be a sign from God." I laughed and was like "this is one of my favorite songs evvvvver!" Then I started dancing like a retard and he just laughed like I was crazy. Crazy in love with that sexy Spanish man indeed. *SIGH*

Anyways... we ended up meeting with a few of his friends prior to the game for a few beers. They were nice and we had some pleasant conversation. They bought a bunch of sunflower seeds, and during the game Julio tried to get us to eat them, but we just couldn't get down. They say they only eat them because of the suspense of the game, like they just need something to munch on... but I just can't get the process down.



Anyways, we kind of sat in the nosebleed section behind the south goal, but I could see everything and really liked it. Sevilla won, 3-1, over Mallorca and the crowd just went NUTS whenever a goal was scored. They had a section of crazy fans that cheered and sang and played instruments... it reminded me of Corner Blitz at an MSU football game, and I felt really excited to be part of that for an afternoon. 

Afterwards we all went for a drink at this bar downtown called Levies. Julio and his friends were all so shocked that we hadn't been there before, because apparently it's a really big touristy spot... but I had never heard of it. Juls bought us some drinks and some spinach croquetas which ROCKED MY WORLD - they were soooo flavorful and they even came with this salad that had carrots, beets, corn and a creamy spicy dressing. SOOO SEXY. Julio's friends just kept coming out of the woodwork... our table started at 5 and ended up with like 11. Sad thing is that they were all terribly boring and didn't really try to talk to us much. I was over it pretty fast though, because I was focusing all my attention on the croquetas :)

When we walked home, conversating with Julio was like pulling teeth. Liz and I were both struggling to think of what to say to him... that might be his only fault. I'm not sure if I'm willing to let that tiny detail derail my plans for happily ever after though. I'll keep you posted. 

Finals recap and the final chapter of Sevillana life to come next. 

MOM - Liz is using one of the masks you sent for traveling home... but she decided to dress it up a little ;)

I don't know if that was appropriate, but I just did it.

Oh Feria. 

Any other words need apply? NOPE!

For those of you who don't know what Feria is, let me do a little explaining so the rest of this post will go down a little smoother. Feria is a festival/carnival that happens every spring in Sevilla, usually two weeks after Holy Week. It's started out in the mid 1800's as an agricultural fair, but it's since evolved into a crazy drinking, eating and dancing fest. It takes place in a neighborhood by the river, like a fairground. The catch is that there are tents, or "casetas" everywhere. Well, they're not actually tents, they're more like miniature houses, complete with kitchens, bars, bathrooms and dancefloors. There are only a few public casetas, but otherwise they are each owned by private families, businesses, clubs, etc. You can only get into a private caseta by invitacion from the owner. 

Typically all you do is eat and drink once you get there. The drink of choice during Feria is Rebujito - a mixture of sherry and sprite. It's very light and refreshing, served extremely cold... but don't be fooled, it sneaks up on you! As far as food goes, you can order just about any kind of tapas. My favorites include tortilla espanola (egg and potato quiche type dish), croquettas, queso manchego y jamon serrano (special hard cheese and cured ham) and gambas (shrimp). As tapas, you just pick at the little portions in between sips of rebujito, and then keep ordering when you're out! The party officially goes from midnight on Tuesday to midnight the following Sunday. The whole city is basically shut down because everyone lives at Feria from about 10 in the morning to the weeeeee hours of the night. 

Another little tidbit that makes it so fun: all the men wear suits and the woman wear traditional Flamenco dresses, complete with peinetas (massice hair combs), flowers and earring with such size that they could weigh down an iron man. Each dress is different - there were so many patterns, colors and styles that I literally couldn't pick a favorite!

Thursday night was my first Feria experience. Our house mother, who we call Big Mama, invited us to meet her at the Portada (main gate, which is specially decorated each year) at 10 to go to her friend's caseta.



When we got there, there were just hundreds of people in every direction. I was amazed. Ana finally found us and took us hand in hand and walked us through the grounds to the caseta. She immediately bought us some mazanilla (the sherry) and a bunch of tapas.



We met a few of her friends and their families and then sat around and watched everyone dance the Sevillana - a folk version of Flamenco that is special to Sevilla and the Feria.



SO MUCH FUN! We took the bus home and got in around 1:30 or so. 

The next afternoon Liz and I went to Feria during the day just to check it out. There were still so many people... and during the day they have about a million horse-drawn carriages riding through the streets. It was pretty crowded, so we just walked around all the casetas and onto the Calle del Infierno (Street of Hell) where all the rides and games are... and where the children go crazy. We bought ice cream cones and then got out of there pretty fast. 

The next day, we got ready to go to the Feria with our house mom and sister, Ana. We were under the impression that we were just going to go have lunch and hang out for a bit, then come home... but boy were we wrong. We left the house around noon on Saturday and got to the grounds by 12:30. We went right into the first caseta and had lots of tapas and rebujito. Big Mama's friend Mara Louisa showed up and she was great right from the start - looked and acted just like the short and funny friend of Meryl Streep from Mamma Mia! Anyways, we hung out at that caseta for about two hours, then moved onto the next caseta. There, we polished off three pitchers of rebujto and some more food, I made eyes at one of the waitors, and then we headed off to Maria Louisa's caseta after about an hour.



Maria Louisa's caseta was HUGE - owned by the architect she works for. We sat down at a corner table and immediately our house mom ordered more rebujito. And food. And more rebujito. And more food. Then she just decided to forget mixing the sherry and started polishing off straight manzanilla. They went to dance the Sevillana and spent quite a bit of time on the dance floor... even convinced Liz and I to come out after a while. But we're not really going to talk about that...

After I realized I was tired, I looked at the clock and realized it was almost 9:00. We had been at it since noon. No one else was ready to go home though, so I went to the bar and got a Coca-light - at which point my house sister looks at me and in plain English says "Coca-light? You are so boring!" Liz and I couldn't believe it! That little twat was holding out on us - she could speak English this whole time! I just thought that was the best thing in the world, so I decided to get back in the game and quick. Instead of sipping on the rebujito, I started taking the little glasses like shots and that got everyone on the wagon. Ana and Maria Louisa were smoking like chimneys, Big Mama was just laughing and slurring her words, knocking glasses over about every 10 minutes... oblivious to how much she had had to drink. At one point the waiter came over to clear our table but he couldn't reach all the way down, so he asked me to move, but I just grabbed the rag from his hand and started cleaning the table myself. This made everyone double over in laughter... but I just wanted to help. Later on I made friends with that waiter in the line for the bathroom and he was really friendly the rest of the night. 

After a while, Ana's best friend Jema showed up and she was just great. Our table in the corner straight up turned into a legit party - independent of Feria festivities - and we just laughed the night away. Around midnight, Big Mama and Maria Louisa were like 17000 sheets to the wind, so they decided to call it a night, but Liz and I went to another caseta with Ana and Jema. There, we got to meet Jema's parents. Her mom, Loli, was probably the nicest Spaniard I've ever met. Straight up sweetheart - and that's nearly impossible if you live in this country, so imagine my surprise and relief! Loli bought us all sorts of tapas and cokes, rebujito too. Then Jema's friends Nacho and Jose showed up and started talking to us. At this point in time, I had a huge breakthrough...

For the first time in my life I had a personality in Spanish. This is something I'm always very concerned about... because although I know how to communicate effectively, I don't really know how to express myself. Something happened right there and then in that caseta though, because I was myself for the first time ever. Cracking jokes. Making puns. Telling stories. I was speaking so fast - I wasn't making errors - I understood everything the natives were saying too me. I don't know what clicked, but it was amazing. At one point in time, I was telling a joke and evvvvvveryone was laughing, like falling out of their chairs laughing -- not because I was a silly American who didn't know what she was doing, but because I GOT DOWN! After I spoke a little slang that I learned in my semantics class, they told me that I had really become a Sevillana... which is a HUGE complement... even if it wasn't totally true :)  When they said that I got so excited that I knocked a few wine glasses onto the floor, and when they broke I screamed "OLE!" And everyone clapped. Thank God for this curious string of events, at the time when I most needed it. 

By this point in the night, it was about 3:00 and Ana was about ready to pass out. She and Jema left to go home, but Liz and I stayed with Nacho and Jose to hang out. We walked around Feria, danced a little Sevillana and then ended up going to a cafe where they sold churros with hot chocolate.



We sat around and joked for a while, then the guys took us to the metro so we could go home. We rolled up to the front door around 5:15... Liz went upstairs to sleep, but I decided to hangout with the boys a little more. We took the  metro all the way out to Dos Hermanas, an outskirts pueblo of Sevilla. Then Jose got his car and drove us out into the country to watch the sunrise. We just sat around and talked for a few hours, but it was so pleasant. He drove me back to Sevilla but I didn't walk through the door until 9:30 Sunday morning. That means 22.5 hours of straight partying. Take that. 

I was afraid Big Mama would be awake and waiting, ready to scold me for not coming home. But when I walked in the house was a mess... I guess she kept the party going when she got home hahahaha. I tip-toed to my door, but when I grabbed the handle I heard a huge heaving moan from Big Mama's room... she was throwing up. Oh Hangovers. They get the best of us sometime. I hopped in the shower to wash the fiesta remnants away, then climbed into bed around 10. We have a literal iron curtain outside our window, so we lowered that to block the sun out and slept until 3:00 that afternoon. We woke up and our house brother Julio just laughed at us as he made us lunch. 

I had a wonderful time and really bonded with Liz, Ana and Big Mama. We've all been very giggly this week since Feria, and things are finally reaching the point of perfection at the very end of this experience. Yesterday, Julio even taught us how to make tortilla - it's my FAVORITE, and he is the master!!!! It's quite the intricate process, and it's really intimidating because of all the flipping you have to do.



However, our maiden voyage on the tortilla was a success! We ate every bite for dinner last night, and then tonight we made our own with no help.



I'm already coming up with tons of ideas for toppings and variations so I can share the glory that is tortilla espanola with you all when I get home!!

This week is the last of classes. Friday we're going to a national park and the beach, maybe a futbol match on Saturday. Other than that it's studying for finals and packing... only 11 days until bye bye Spain and hello UK!

Operation extremely regretful is in full effect

So... the bull fight. Definitely having mixed emotions.

I really regretted not going to see a fight when I studied in Santander, so I decided that I would go and check it out this time around. Sevilla is pretty big potatoes when it comes to the corridas (bullfights), and my program had pre-purchased tickets for everyone, so I figured the odds were with me and I was going to hang with my fellow Sevillanos and enjoy the festivities.

FIRST OFF ALL - It must have been like 95 degrees, the sun beating down with its rays of death. My friend Leslie and I made the 25 minute walk by foot from our neighborhood... I was wearing a tank top and a pair of dark washed jeans, but I was sweating BALLS. Our seats were really close to the ring itself, but right in the sun, with no hope of even the slightest covering. I sat on my program because the benches were of rough stone, but by the time I got up the paper was just wet from me sweating like the lady I am all over it. Ha.

When the whole ordeal started, the president of the bull fighting organization or what have you rode out on horseback with the head veterinarian. They were dressed in traditional outfits - thick and flouncy black suits, with tights, stark white collars and feathered hats. The made their rounds about the ring, then horses who were outfitted with similar trimmings came out. I noticed that they were in groups of 4 and strapped together, with a chain dragging behind them... and I didn't think anything of it at first.

The trumpets sounded and about 12 matadors came out into the center of the ring. They had wonderfully classic profiles, and their outfits were so beautiful. MAN OH MAN were they some fine MEN! Too bad they're actually douchebags who like to gain up on innocent animals and stab them with swords while they taunt them with a cape.



The matadors got into position and the bull was released into the ring. One single matador came out and began to lure him with the cape. This went on for a few minutes, and the bull got pretty mad and was ramming into the ring walls pretty furiously with his horns, but it was kind of uneventful at first. THEN - the matador got too close to the bull and he just scooped him up with his horns and literally bounced him up and down like a ping pong for a good 5 or 6 rotations, then threw him on the ground and rammed into him, ripping his uniform and breaking the skin.



The matador ran out of the ring and the others came out to distract the bull while a man on horseback came out with a steel-tipped lance. The matadors lured the bull over to the man and he stabbed him reallllll deep right behind the base of his neck. The bull struggled and it was terribly sad.

The matadors fought with the cape and gave the bull the run around for another 2 or 3 minutes before the second lance came. By that time there was blood evvvvvvvverywhere, every time the bull trounced or stomped on the ground it would gush out of his back. The matadors kept wearing the bull out, until he was foaming at the mouth.



Then two men ran out on foot and threw blades deep into the bull's back so that they stuck and continued to cut deeper each time the bull advanced at the matadors.

After about 5 more minutes, the bull couldn't keep up. He was stumbling and literally fell to his knees as he tried to charge the matadors. I was really upset. I mean I knew what I was getting into, but I didn't know it would be that gruesome or depressing. This D-bag Spaniard was sitting next to me yelling like he was watching a football game or something... and all I could think to myself was like "settle down you idiot - the bull is going to day one way or the other so stop being such a jerk!" I just don't understand what's entertaining about torturing an animal.

The bull finally got so tired that they decided to stab him with the big sword through the chest and call it a match. He yelped and shook, then writhed on the ground. One of the matadors went over and wiggled the blades that were in the bull's back to really make sure he was dead. Then the horses came out and they hooked the bull to the chain and dragged him out of the stadium. Everyone cheered. I cried and left immediately, wondering if God would judge me for watching.



Guess you'll have to experience it for yourself to know if it's worth it to go. My vote is nay.

Get loved, make more, try to stay alive

We arrived in Prague at around 11:00 that morning. First order of business was to exchange our money because the Czech Republic is not part of the European Union, therefore we could not use the euro. The currency is the koruny, and when we were there the exchange rate was about 28 koruny to 1 euro, or about 21 koruny to 1 US dollar. We exchanged like 20 euro at first just to make sure we could get to the hostel. We caught word that we could take a shuttle bus to the first metro station, and then we could take the metro to Prague Square which is right around where our hostel was.


The bus was packed and everyone was speaking crazy czech. we had no idea where to get off and no idea what we were doing. In fact, we almost got off at one point... in the middle of no where... but hopped back on the bus at the last minute... then this rando was like, "I'm waiting for the metro too, I think it's the last stop and everyone will get off." THANK GOD. Crisis of being stranded averted. We get to the metro stop, finally, and we didn't have enough money to buy tickets because the the machine only took coins. We are so tired that we were like screw it, and we just hopped on. We got off a few stops later and found the hostel without much trouble at all, but the only problem was we couldn't check in until 2:00. 

That afternoon we blew the rest of the 20 euro we spent on pizza and candy... like children. Then we exchanged more money at a bank, window shopped down the big avenue, checked into the hostel, napped, showered and then decided to venture into the unknown to try to find the bus station so we could buy tickets for a little excursion. We walked for about a half an hour and finally found the station, and there were several different bus companies so we decided to go ask the information booth what to do. Luckily the woman there spoke English, but I literally felt like I was at the Mad Tea Party or something. This is what the dialogue went like, for the most part:

Me: Hi, do you speak english?

Her: Yes, what do you want?

Me: We want to buy tickets to Cesky Krumlov tomorrow, where should we go?

Her: Yes, you have to buy tickets. 

Me: Yes, I know, but which company should we go to

Her: Incomprehensible name in Czech

(we walk away without knowing what she said, so turned right back around to ask again)

Me: I'm sorry, which booth did you say?

Her: What do you want?

Me: to go to Cesky Krumlov

Her: Where?

Me: Cesky Krumlov... we need to buy tickets?

Her: I don't know

Me: You just told us a name...

Her: BOOTH 16! (shuts window in a hurry)

Whaaaaaaaat? It was the weirdest thing ever. Anyways, we got the tickets, round trip for about 7 euro each, and then decided that we wanted to go out to eat. We had found this coupon for sushi, so sushi it was. The restaurant was actually really nice, and we ordered 4 rolls to split. All in all, it was pretty good, but I was really sad about the california roll because they didn't have cream cheese... they used ricotta instead so my mouth didn't know what to think. Our waitor was so attractive to me for some reason that I couldn't even look him in the eye or say anything else besides "Please" and "Thank you." Then we got the bill and it said 1291.00. It was always funny to us how much the bills/price tags read initially because our instinct was to think dollars... yea, we were big ballers because we dropped 1291.00 on a night out, yo. Afterwards we walked around the city and then went out for ice cream. 

The next morning we got up around 7 and walked to the bus station, which we found a lot easier than the night before. The bus left pretty much on time and it took about 3 hours to get there... I slept the entire way. We got off the bus and randomly started heading up a hill that looked like it went into the city. We were right :) On the way, we stopped to take some panoramic pictures that turned out really lovely. The sky was so blue, the rooftops were so red and the buildings were mostly yellow... so the city had a very basic, uncomplicated feel to it right from the start.


We walked around the city for a little while, in and out of the shops. After buying some postcards we decided it was time for lunch. We found this place called Papa's which had a terrace by the river, so we decided that would be perfect. The menu was very "American," but I didn't care. In fact, I enjoyed it. I ordered ribs, and when the plate came out there was a FULL rack of perfectly seasoned meatiness, with a big grilled cob of corn... I had a Coca-light and also hot raspberries with ice cream for dessert and it's safe to say I got out of there for under 10 euro. Amazing! We sat around and wrote out most of our postcards, waited for the little bit of rain to go away, and then we set out for more exploring and shopping.


We went up to the castle, which was really beautiful but only by default -- all the facades of the entire state had been painted on; although it all looked like stone and sweet masonry, it was just stenciling. I don't know if they ran out of money, or time, or if that was just the style back then, but it was really interesting.  

We had a traditional Czech dessert known as Trdlo per recommendation of Haley's friend, and they were delicious! Just hot dough fried, rolled in various goodies like vanilla, almond, cinnamon and sugar. They're in the shape of a big cylinder and you just rip the dough off in one big coil... so fun!

We took the bus back and literally got dropped off in the middle of nowhere. Well, we were in Prague, but we had no idea where in the city we were because our map only showed us the city center, and we were no where near the bus station or anybody who spoke English. For a few minutes I didn't know if we were going to make it to the hostel that night because we couldn't find a taxi and we couldn't seem to get to a metro station. Finally we stopped these two younger girls on their way out if they spoke English -- one of them gave it ago but thought her directions weren't good enough, so they let us follow them to the metro station and I felt like God was simultaneously laughing at us and helping us. We got back to the hostel and went right to bed. 

The next day we slept in and then went to a place called Bohemian Bagel. 

*ASIDE* I got to Spain on January 26th, and I have been craving a bagel since January 27th. I've searched all over the city - high and low - but haven't found any trace of anything even remotely resembling a bagel. Then one day, I came up with a theory as to why there are no bagels in Spain: late in the fifteenth century the Catholic Kings reconquered Spain from the Moors. They forced the Moors, along with the Gypsies and the Jews out of Spain. As you know, bagels are a Jewish food. No Jews to make the bagels, no bagels. No bagels, no happiness. I showed my host mother a picture of a bagel and she said she had never seen anything like that in her life. Hmmmm....

So this Bohemian Bagel place is owned by an American. I get there and order a sesame seed bagel with veggie cream cheese and my leg still begins to shake when I think about how good it was. To boot - they had fountain pop. ON TOP OF THAT - FREE REFILLS! Europeans can't wrap their heads around the concept of a refill, and I really think it's the one thing that could lead to world peace. Hahaha -- needless to say we went there for lunch that same day, then breakfast and lunch the next day, then BACK to buy bagels for snacks on the return trip home. What a love affair. 

After that, we went to the post office to mail the posters that we bought in Brussels to the US. We had to go on a baby goose chase to find poster tubes, but we felt very accomplished mailing them out so early and with the post cards too. It was actually pretty inexpensive which was unexpected but oh so pleasant. 

We went to the Charles Bridge and took some fly pictures,


then up to the castle which was much less interesting than what we thought... so we didn't even pay to go in, we just snapped a few courtyard photos and then left. Afterwords we got pretty heavy into souvenir shopping - mainly nesting dolls because I adore them and they were everywhere. I ended up buying one for myself, one for Lily and one for Colton. We made it to the John Lennon Wall after trying to track it down all morning... it was by far and away my favorite part of Prague. The graffiti was so pretty, and the messages we so clear.


I could have stuck around to soak it all in for a good chunk of time, but a big group of tourists showed up fairly shortly after we had started taking pictures, so we decided to split. We then went to a little market and I bought an absolutly lovely pashmina, a ring and some weird wafer-cookie type things that were supposed to taste like lemon, but didn't really taste like anything. The day slowed down quite a bit after that and I got pretty tired and pretty bored prettttttttty fast. We sat down for a drink, talked for a while... walked around some more... went to a random museum and then out to eat. Back to the hostel kind of early to sleep, which didn't really work out because we had these disgustingly obnoxious guys sleeping in the beds next to us who may have quite possibly been the worst snorers I have encountered in my life until this point in time. Douchebags. 

The next morning, after breakfast at BB, we went to seek out the Jewish Quarter. It was supposed to be pretty awesome... I was really excited about getting to see the cemetery, but we weren't allowed to go in at all, so I think we just decided to skip the synagogues too. The only glimpse we got to steal was through an iron gate outside the cemetery. Whah whah.


After that, we walked across the river and past the Charles Bridge again to go to Petrin Hill. It's kind of like the Montmarte of Prague, almost 400 feet above the city. The locals love hanging out there and it's pretty famous... Kafka wrote about it in his short story "Description of a Struggle," and it was part of one of Haley's favorite books called "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." We took a little tram up the hill, then walked all the way down which was really relaxing. We got to the park and kind of separated to read and journal, but I got really cold after about a half hour so we left. We walked back home and pack up all of our stuff for the big trip back to Sevilla the next day, which took a while. Then we went out to dinner at a pizza place and back to the first Ice Cream cafe we went to the first night. It was really laid back and fun, and we got to go to sleep pretty early to be a little bit rested for the next day's journey. 

We took the shuttle back to the airport, checked our bags and then met up with our friends Lauren and Kate who had also spent the last few days in Prague. On the way out of the country, we got stamps in our passport... a little backwards, but I can't complain! Then we flew into London Stansted for a little layover and got another stamp there. YAY! We had to hang out in the airport for about four hours... but we just grabbed some food and drinks, people watched, did crosswords and lusted over all the awesome accents. Well... the latter was just me, but I don't mind admitting it. I CANNOT WAIT to go back in a month and explore all of the UK!!!

We arrived back in Sevilla around 9 pm, then fought like wild animals to get on the shuttle bus back to town. I walked into my apartment around 10, and my roommate was gone for the weekend, so it was nice to be able to have the room to myself... unpack my things and relax from a busy week of traveling. This past week I was a little sick with the head cold, so I didn't do too much other than resting up for the last leg of this semester. I'm sure I'll have more to say before that point in time... so keep checking! There's lots of others pictures besides those in-text here, so don't be shy. 

Love you all.