the cathedral

(it was HUGE!)

Day 7:

So Seville is absolutely AMAZING! I am def going to be coming back, it is just such a beautiful place. We went out last night to these bars on this one road over looking this river and then to this club called Buddha! It was SO much fun! Not only were ALL my friends there, there was this crazy dance floor and it was the first time we actually interacted with the Spaniards and all were dancing the whole night long. I have been working on my Spanish, so it is kind of hard to talk to people sometimes. but i def bonded with a new friend over lady gaga. cause that is all i could really say. good times... haha

The next morning I was a crabby patty because of my lack of sleep and I was miserable but trying my best to wake up. We all went to the Cathedral and it was enormous but so interesting! We climbed this tower (about 35 floors) and saw the most spectacular views from it. The statues to the art work in it was unbelievable I just always keep asking myself, How do they do it? I blows my mind every time.

We all then walked to this park which was also AMAZING, with all these different kinds of trees and art work and playgrounds, I was on the swings and met this family from Arizona and was talking to them for a bit. It is always a nice feeling to meet Americans when you are away. I then forced my friends to go get some food, because I was in such a bad mood. But everyone was hungry so we went to this really nice tapas place. On our way there we were walking down one of those tiny roads when one of my friends stops and looks around smelling. She is yelling guys come back here and smell this. We are like wow it smells strongly of weed. We all of a sudden here someone going “Aqui!” and we all look up at the balcony behind us to see this young Spanish man smoking a blunt! We were dying of laughter.

We get to the restaurant and it is SO good! By far the best food I have eaten yet. Our waiter was kind of a dick (with white bleached hair) but we got over it. I got two tapas, ½ an avocado stuffed with prawns and this like thousand island sauce on it. It was Amazing I didn’t want it to end. I also got this smoked salmon over garlic potatoes with this cheese on it. It was also amazing! We sat in the square where the cathedral is after lunch just people watching.

Our whole trip my friends and I have be infatuated with how gorgeous the children are in this country and there are SOO many of them everywhere! Not only are the adorable but they are always dressed so well and are always smiling. We also always see the fathers are so active in the families and raising the children. It is a lot different than American families in ways, it is so interesting.

I then went back to the hotel and slept for about 4 hours, went to dinner and then got ready to go out again. We went to the same strip of bars and then to this club cathedral, it was a ton of fun and we were so hot from all the dancing. It was one of my friends 21^st birthday so we were celebrating and just had a ton of fun with each other!

Day 8:

Once again we packed our bag and got on the road to Granada (our last stop for 3 days). I slept for about 3 hours on the bus and feel great! It was our first rainy day and we could have picked a better day for it to rain! We are just going to be on a bus and doing readings and lectures! We really have nothing to do, but we do get free internet J so my family should expect more calls later!! I have really been bonding with everyone on the trip, the boys are very nice and so are the girls (well most of them, there are select few I could live without) but overall we are all getting along. I am rooming with 3 other girls here (Jordan, Kendall, and Jacqueline) which is perfect because we are together all the time anyways (and we ovi got the one and only quad). We are going to explore the city and I will let you know how it goes!

Granada!

Day 6:

My friends and I all just stayed in and were on the internet all night. Remind you that the walls are paper thin in this hotel and we can hear almost anything anyone says in their rooms if the window is open. We heard these boys at 2:30 in the morning talking about all the girls on the trip, and about how they were being “mysterious” because they don’t go to Syracuse. To say the least it woke my friends and I up and we listened to the whole thing….and they have no idea, it is hysterical. We awoke pack our bags and got on the road to go visit a castle before we arrived at Seville. But as we were moving down the front stairs and my finger got caught the handle and I started to scream. I could not use my other hand because I was carrying a bag in it. But I am fine but VERY embarrassing. I think I am known now as the finger bag girl now (haha whopsss!)

We finally arrived at the the castle and it was on top of this HUGE mountain (where castles should be) but we had to walk up this path (a nice work out) to this enormous stone castle (called CAsillo de Almodover). We had a short lecture and there was about to explore all around the castle. It was fun finding all these little doors and the views were unbelievable, you could see for miles (but ovi we were there for an overcast day)(but you could still see). It was a little chilly but then the sun came out and it felt so good. After the castle we all walked down to this buffet on the bottom of the mountain (which was the only place to eat for like 100 miles) sp we all ate got on the road and I passes out on the bus (you learn to sleep anywhere on this trip).

Getting to Seville we get to our hotel, relax for 15 min and start to go explore the city (which my friends and I have become pros at). This city was a lot more like a city and modern then any one we have been to yet (I feel like it will be like Madrid). We walked around got some café con leche at a café and saw the church we are going to see tomorrow (by accident, we always manage to find these places). We made our way back and took a quiz and now we are getting ready to go out. We heard the night life here is amazing and I cannot wait to go! I’ll let you know if it is as good as we think! Adios for now!

Toledo!

Day 3:

So we never made it to the Explores bar the night before… we just stayed at the Irish pub where we became very good friends with that bar tender who is from Ireland and married a girl from New York and now lives in Toledo (how romantic), his name was Amen and he was the best. They opened the top part of the bar just for my Azahar group because we ovi “don’t just invade France and Iraq, we (Americans) invade Irish pubs in the middle of Spain.

The next day we went to see the Cathedral of Toledo and it was prob the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. I was in such shock of all the detail and how enormous this place was. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I just hope I always remember what I saw. I guess it is also my first European church too, so maybe that is why it was so amazing. There was a huge painting (to the very top of the ceiling, which is very tall) or Christopher Columbus carrying Jesus on his shoulders to the ‘new world’. Something that was also very interesting to me was the fact that they just had dead (important) people, such as kings and queens and bishops, embedded into the very detailed walls with statues of their bodies carved in stone laying on top of them (so detailed also). The whole time I could not fathom how people did all this art, detail, and amazing painting back then. There isn’t even a place built like this today, I just kept asking the professors, how did they do this?

After the Cathedral my friends and I walked around again and decided to not have a heavy lunch to save euros so we found a little supermarket nearby, and got these cheese and prosciutto (no idea how to spell it) sandwiches and they may or may not have been the best things we have eaten and only (3 eruo!!) so we got them and walked our way back to the hotel and took a nap for 4 and a half hours (to say the least it was hard getting back to the time difference). We awoke and went to this church (Church of Santo Tome) which was really cool and had a ton of history (but not as cool as the cathedral). Then we walked around the city and the square near the hotel where everyone seemed to hang out had the most adorable children running around. I do not know what it is about this country but they produce the most beautiful offspring. The children are just beautiful, everywhere we go. Then we ate dinner, and went out to our last night in Toledo, and you guessed it we went to that Irish pub again.

Once again they had to call in Amen and open the top part of the bar so we could all have a good time, they played a ton of fun music and we were all dancing, it was a great bonding moment. They started to play Irish music and Kendall and others brought out their dance moves, it was hilarious.

Day 4:

We woke up, I have realized how much of a morning person I actually am not, it is prob the hardest time of the day for me. We went to an old synagogue/ museum and had our lecture over looking this amazing view of rural Toledo with these homes embedded in the mountains. The synagogue (Sinagoga del Transito) was very cool to see, since it will be the only Jewish thing I am seeing on the trip. I took a ton of pictures because I know that mom will LOVE to see them and it is incredible how it is still there and how there was such a prominent Jewish population in this beautiful city. We also saw all of the old artifacts, torahs, clothing, etc. in the museum. It was so interesting and I was teaching people around me a lot of things that my professors didn’t even know (brownie points). It was cool that I could have given the tour (I was being cocky, weird.)

We all got on the buses to go to Cordoba for a 4 hour ride and said goodbye to Toledo, I hope I make it back one day to show someone I love this amazing city (but you only need 2 days there, at most). We finally made it and we got to our hotel where I was so excited I finally got internet!! So I talked to people in my family and some friends (sorry if I didn’t get to talk to you, time was limited and I was very busy). It was so good to be back with reality and actually a weird feeling not having a cell phone this whole time, but I actually like it, it is kind of liberating. Then we all got ready to go out, we heard about some bars but we decided to ask the guy at the front desk (best idea). We found this very good bar and it was a lot bigger then our Irish pub in Toledo (thank goodness) and we all were having fun dancing to Spanish music and attempting to salsa dance the best part was watching the American boys in my group dance (hilarious but were surprising not too bad).

Day 5:

Waking up this morning was once again my least favorite part of the day, always at 8:00 am. Thank goodness my roommate Jacquline is very understanding about me in the morning and handles it well, I know I can say that on behalf of all of my family members that deal with me in the mornings is not the most pleasant thing (she deserves a trophy). We had a lecture that was very interesting but I was not in the mood but I forced myself to pay attention. We went to the Great Mosque (which is pretty great) and got tours by our professors and that place was absolutely AMAZING! There is so much history there and I learned soooo much! It is once again unbelievable how they made this HUGE place.

Then we once again had time to walk around and explore the city, so we were hungry too and had to get lunch so we found a cute little place with tapas. But we didn’t get tapas. We were so hungry we got pizza (whops). It was amazing and well needed good food. We walked around and ovi got lost in good style with my friends, this city isn’t as pretty as Toledo but it was still nice to see. We made it back and decided to go for a run with my friend Jordan (oh and I bought a watch, I needed one so bad). This run was AMAZING! Because not only were we exploring, we saw things and were working out at the same time, we want to do it in every city. Now we are waiting to eat at nine and I have been hungry since 6 so we are going! Adios!

ps. made really good friends from Fordham....they are amazing!

and so it begins!

January 16, 2009

Day 1:

We landed today after a flight where we all should have slept but I most likely just got around 4 hours of sleep. I was so excited to get here and to see everything (and very uncomfortable) that I was unable to sleep. We landed and we put our bags into separate cars, one going to Madrid and one going with us on the pre-trip. Then all 64 of us got onto a bus for an hour to Toledo. Jordan and I sat together listening to really annoying people behind us and just looking out the window at the new world that we have to explore (highways, fields, stores, and giant bulls on the side of the road)! We made it to Hotel Alfonzo, where it had a medieval theme and our room (Jacqueline, Kendall, Jordan and I) happens to be right next to all of it. We then put our stuff down (took care of the smelly room situation) and started to explore the city!

We walk around this amazing old city that we only know a little about to look for some lunch and to get lost. It reminded a lot of my friends of Italy and there were these magnificent Churches and stone roads. It was like nothing I have ever seen before. We found somewhere to eat (ovi for cheap) and I got a tuna sandwich on a French beget (for 3 Euros) and my friends got a hamburger (which had purple meat) and ham sandwiches (which just looked weird with red meat, looked as if they just killed it). To say the least we were hysterical laughing the whole time (not sure if it was because we were over tired).

We just kept walking not even thinking but after 2 hours we started to think…. Where are we? (don’t worry mom and grandma this city is very small and can be walked in 15 min. and I took a map form the hotel on our way out) after being very cranky and 3 hours of walking around this gorgeous city, asking polish people for directions (good story) we found our way (ovi it was right in front of us) then we came back and all passed out for about 2 hours before our first lecture at six.

I have heard great things about the professor who spoke so I am very excited even though I need to remember I am here for school. Now dinner is in 30 min (9:00) and a bunch of us are going to be going out tonight to a bar close just for a little bit. But we have a packed schedule and I am very excited to be here with the people I am with, this is the start to a new and amazing adventure in my life and I could not be more excited!

P.S. a fun fact about this city is there are a lot of Jewish things here because they say that many Jews visit here (and there are synagogues that we are going to). I feel like that is a very rare thing in Spain.

January 17, 2010

Day 2:

Last night we went to an Irish pub nearby and our entire azahar trip (60 of us) wound up there. It was very crowded and a small place. It was fun but we decided to not be out too late and left first to go home. We got up this morning around 8 to be up for breakfast and a lecture that we had from 9:00 to 11 it was very interesting about the different Roman Empire invasions of Europe and northern Africa. It included the spreading of Christianity and Islamic. And ovi I am excited for the lecture on the movement of Judaism tomorrow! (I am a loser…I know) we also learned about the different architecture we might see in this city and others around Europe. For example the different arches and patterns of them and what they mean and what religions use them.

Then a couple of my friends and I really needed coffee before we went off to see different sites with our professors. So we decided instead of laying down before we go on our tours to go find a coffee place nearby that has to go cups. (very rare here because everyone sits down to have coffee, but we needed some and fast!) so we went to the McDonalds and it opened at 11:30 (it was about 11:25) so we decided to wait outside. They refused to open though until later than 11:30 when they saw us standing there. But we needed to be back to be with the group! So we tried a different place instead, and they gave us like blue dentist cups with coffee in it and we asked for lids but they gave us tin foil instead, it was pretty funny, but I decided not to get it after all.

Then we were walking around and all the streets they were leading us through we have been through before. My friends and I were like our own tour guides leading our way through, since we got lost earlier the day before. We saw this old mask?? Which then was taken over by the Christians and was one of the oldest things in Toledo! It was really cool because it should us everything we just learned in out lecture out the art on it. Then we went to this tower and the steps were so steep that you had to hold on just to make sure you were going to make it to the next one! We finally had our lunch break and found this restaurant where I had paella and salmon. It was good but nothing like my mom’s salmon…to say the least, I miss American food, but I hopefully will get used to it here.

Now my friends decided to take a nap but I thought that I would just be more tired if I only slept for 45 min. so I am just going to wait it out until the next tour and lecture start. But we are going to this explores bar tonight which I hear was very fun so we will see how it goes! But for now adios amigos!