Morocco, Granada y Segovia!

I am such a terrible blogger.  I was doing so well by keeping up on my entries for every trip and what not and then I hit a road block, which was more like a giant mountain and it has taken me some time to get past (or passed? I'm so bad at English now..) that. 

So I have some catching up to do and therefore I will be combining 3 trips into one post tonight, folks.  And, obviously, I'm writing it all in english.  I'm such a let down. 

First off, I can't believe I never blogged about Morocco! It's only the coolest place I've ever been in my whole entire life!  Oh wait, I know why I didn't blog about it.  It's because I was salty about it for a long time… A long, long time.  Then I realized something the other day: I get salty about things quite a bit.  Usually I move on in a day or so, but sometimes I just can't bring myself to move forward.  For example, the fiasco in Ibiza.  It took me a really long time, but I'm finally ok with the fact that RyanAir screwed us over and cost us about $300 extra for a trip that was originally planned for under $100.  Yea.  That one took a while.  Well, a very similar thing occurred with the Morocco trip.. sort of.  Basically, due to bad weather, we ended up pulling 2 all-nighters in a matter of 3ish days.  Also, we spent more time on a bus/boat than we did actually seeing Morocco.  Very sad.  HOWEVER, the bright side, and the reason I'm not salty anymore, is that from the very little time I got to spend in Morocco, I absolutely fell in love with it.  And that is how I decided to cure myself from saltiness.  I need to appreciate the fact that I'm here instead of getting pissy when the silly things happen!  In the words of Mother dearest, "Those are the risks you take when you travel."  Which incidentally pisses me off even more when she says that because it's usually when I'm venting about a trip gone wrong.. Good advice, bad timing.  Work on that, Mother.  

These pictures will explain exactly what I mean:

Did I mention that we rode camels?  BECAUSE WE DID AND IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER! I was obviously a little nervous. 

And not only did I get henna.. 

I got my first sunburn of 2014 in Africa!  I was actually kind of proud of it.. until it started to hurt. 

Next stop: Granada and Segovia. 

Now, we all know that every single city in Spain has it's famous cathedrals, towers, food, and what not.  It can definitely get repitive and I have a really hard time keeping track of what is what.  So therefore, please forgive me for not remembering exactly what these things are called or what they are famous for, etc.  Have some mercy, people.  I'm only human and Spanish is hard. 

Granada:

Most of the group.

Catedral where Los Reyes Catolicos are buried (Isabel y Fernando)  Also where our tour guide for the day got called out for talking shit about a worker there.  HAHA.  It's still hilarious.  Basically, one of our classmates was told not to take photos and after the guy who worked in the catedral walked away, our tour guide said something along the lines of, "That just made his whole day.  He's going to go home and tell his wife what he did and his kids and they're all going to be so happy that Dad got to tell someone off today."  Well, the worker definitely spoke english and definitely heard our tour guide.  It was great to say the least. 

La Alhambra at night

Inside La Alhambra

The gardens

Moving right along, next up is Segovia.  I really liked Segovia.  Although it was mostly uphill (because when isn't Spain uphill?), I still really liked the small feeling it had and el acueducto was awesome to see in person.

There it is, guys. 

Look at that beauty!

And of course the sweets.  I can't help myself. 

This castle supposedly (what a funny word..) inspired Walt Disney's creation of Cinderella's Castle!  How cool? And I climbed up to the top of that tower for fun, which cost me 3 euros.. not so fun. 

And there you have it.  All caught up on my adventures.

Next week is the start of Semana Santa, and I am just so stinkin' excited because PAIGEY is coming to travel with me!!!!!  AHHHHHH! Our itinerary (created by yours truly) starts in Berlin, Germany for a few days and then we head to Munich, Germany by train.  From there we'll fly to Florence, Italy and then take a train to Venice, Italy.  I plan to eat sausage every single day in Germany and have gelato, pizza and pasta every day in Italy.  Good thing I've been working out lately, because I have no shame when it comes to DELICIOUS food while traveling.  It's the best part.  You'll have to travel in Europe some day to figure that one out, but you'll definitely agree if you do. 

Happy reading!!

Stay excellent, ME. :)

Irlanda!

Fuimos a Irlanda el fin de semana pasado, y me encanta!  Todo de Irlanda es lo mejor.  Es lo verdad.  La comida (tenía POLLO con salsa buffalo, un burrito y otras cosas, todo era bien!), la gente en las calles y los sitios!

Fuimos a un tour de Guinness donde yo abrí mi propia pinta, y finalmente, encontré un regalo para mi hermano, y es perfecto!

La fabrica

Con Jody

La cascada

Mi novio.. 

Nuestras pintas

La certificación de un perfecta pinta!

También tuvimos un tour de la naturaleza cerca de Dublin.  Durante todo el día estaba llover, pero bueno.  Es Irlanda! Por su puesto había llover. Además, fuimos a la catedral de Santo Patrick y el castillo de Dublin. 

la catedral 

Un parte del castillo

Un río del campo.

Mi foto preferido del viaje. 

Y eso es todo.  

Feliz lectura!

Manténgase excelente, ME.

Barcelona y malos profesores

Hola a todos!

Este es todavía un proceso muy difícil para mi y también para vosotros.  Lo siento mucho por la confusión y por el trabajo extra en la translación.  Puedes hacerlo. :)

Este fin de semana pasado era muy divertida pero era de mucho estrés a lo mismo tiempo.  Fuimos a juntos con el grupo a Barcelona, pero voy a decir la parte de mucho estrés primero.  Pienso que todos los profesores se reunieron antes de la fin de semana y decidieron que todos deben dar los trabajos cuando los estudiantes tienen un divertido viaje planeado.  Pues, incluso si no se pendan, eso es lo que pasó.  Y yo estoy enfadado con ellos todavía. Es lo verdad. 

Bueno, yo estaba diciendo que fuimos juntos a Barcelona, y ahora, es mi lugar preferida de España (mi lugar favorita de Europa es Amsterdam seguido por Portugal).  Es lo más bonita en todo España!  Y tambén las "Cheetah Girls" fueron a Barcelona en su segunda película, y desde entonces, he querido ir allí.  Una marca grande al lado de ese sueño! :)

Estos son algunos de los fotos de Barcelona.. 

Este es nuestro grupo de primavera en todo. Que guapo, no? 

La casa Batlló

Javier, nuestro profesor de arte y cine, y también la guía.. Siempre está photobombing.

La boqueria! Es un grande marcado de todos.

El techo de la casa Mila

La Sagrada Familia

El estadio utilizado en los juegos olímpicos de 1992

Y eso es todo.  

Feliz lectura!

Manténgase excelente, ME.

Oh Lordy..

Yep.. That's right.  Oh Lordy. 

I have recently found out that not only do I have to take three 4000 level classes this semester and two others, teach 4 hours worth of english in order to keep my head above the depths of debt, but I also only get one chance to pass my OPI (oral proficiency interview) and WPT (written proficiency test) when I return in order to start methods and become a teacher. ONE CHANCE, PEOPLE.  ONE.  I'm hyperventilating and crying as I type this.  Someone please help me. 

Y entonces, porque hay solamente una vez para el examen, los ensayos aquí van a ser en español.  Lo siento a todo.  Pero este es muy necesario. Ahora, voy a llorar y mirar la tele con mi madre. Este no es cierto, porque me choca mirar la tele y en realidad voy a duchar.  Y luego, estudio.  Este semestre es un fracasado ya.  Ayudame! 

Recuerdate: copia y pega este en Google Translate para entender. O, puedes adivinar lo que dice. Adivinar es una palabra nueva para mi.  Gracias a Google Translate. Así que sí. 

Buena lectura! Manténgase excelente, ME. 

P.S. Compré una diario para pensamientos como este, pero este es más divertida. :) Disfrute!

Holy awkward.

Listen.. The entire family is over for lunch.  I have never felt so nervous and awkward in my life.  I'm sitting in my room with the door open typing this and every single one of them is talking so loud in the room next to me that I can't even hear myself think.  It's awful and I don't think anything could be worse.  I would rather meet the entire extended family of a guy on a first date than sit through this for one more minute.  Please send reinforcements. That is all. 

Back in España!

Well, well, well.. Hello there Alcalá! How I missed you so! 

(Photo credit to Jody, #nofilter)

After crossing fingers and toes and everything else possible (I like to think my messy, curly hair helped with the luck as well) we made it back to Spain on time with no problems and no delays from the Ohio weather.  Thank goodness!  I must admit that I was super nervous about a flight cancelation because I have absolutely no idea how to handle stress in airports.  I cry.  All over the place. 

So after venturing back to our little area of Spain from Madrid's airport, I felt like I never even left.  I can't decide if this a good thing or not.  I guess it's a good thing knowing that I feel comfortable here with my host family and with the town, but it also meant that boredom set in pretty quickly.  And by quickly I mean after I took a 2 hour nap.  BORED. 

So instead of sitting around and thinking about how bored I am, I decided to plan my Semana Santa (spring break for us).  Good news: I stayed under budget, Paige is coming, and we're going to 2 countries.  Bad news: I had to kick out one country to stay under that budget, Danielle isn't coming, and the stress of the planning made a pimple pop up.  Gross. 

In other news, I now get to stress out about where else I want to go this semester versus where I actually will allow myself to go.  Wish me luck. 

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME. 

More Traveling and Finals!

We hit a little rough patch there, folks!  Sorry for the delay. :)

So, the last time I posted, I filled you all in on my trip to Toledo, Spain and the failed attempt to steal a sword for my uncle, as well as the failed attempt to meet up with my fellow Versailles alumnus, Margaret. 

Well, surprise surprise, there was yet another failed attempt at meeting up with Margaret (not at stealing a sword, sorry.  I can't always live on the dangerous side of life.  I think prison in Spain might be a little too tough for me).  This time, we made plans to meet closer to my block of Spain, but somehow we managed to mess it up AGAIN.  I think fate was keeping us from showing Spain what's up. 

After my trip to Toledo, 3 other girls and myself had a trip to Paris planned for Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.  Yes, a night in Paris.  Which sounds really disgusting because of Paris Hilton and her gross escapades on video.  But we'll just leave it at that.  We pulled an all-nighter in Paris, France and I had the best time ever doing it.  We got to see everything we wanted to and there wasn't anyone in the way or ruining our pictures.  Enjoy a few of my favorites:

It just seems so unreal, right? I almost cried a little.  It was just so beautiful. I'm so thankful for the many opportunities of living in Europe. 

The best company I could have asked for!

At the top of every hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes.  I hope the video works for you all.  It was breathtaking. Ignore Jody ruining the video at the end. :)

The same week we had a Thanksgiving dinner here in Spain with our group of American students.  Now before you get all excited for me and think that we had a normal Thanksgiving feast, think again.  Although the meal was wonderfully delicious, it still wasn't quite the same.  But that's ok.  I still appreciated the attempt at some good old American cuisine. 

The morning after Thanksgiving, the girls and I headed to Geneva, Switzerland! I know, we were absolutely nuts pulling an all-nighter in Paris on Tuesday night and then heading to Switzerland on Friday. But it was so worth it! Vale la pena! Geneva was ugly.  There is really no other way to describe it.  Just plain ugly.  So our second day there, we ventured out to find the older part of the city (which the city itself was surprisingly super tiny) and there's where we found the beauty we had heard all about. 

No, we didn't play chess, but it was still really cool. 

We rode the bus to the end of the line to see the mountains and then rode it back to the other end just for fun.  It was a relaxing trip full of great views.

After Switzerland, we only had a few weeks before finals.  Jody and I planned a trip to Portugal for the weekend before our finals, because for some reason we thought that was a SUPER idea.  In the end, it was definitely a super idea, because Portugal is my absolute favorite place on Earth.  I can't even describe all of its beauty. Every time I turned a corner, I was in awe.  And that was in the rain.  Yea.  Get my point, now?  

The Holiday tree in front of the city hall.

The adorable streets. 

Ferreira Wine Cellars, where we took our tour. 

The big barrel is for Ruby wines and the small barrels are for Tawny wines.  The Rubies are dryer, while the Tawny wine is sweeter because of how much contact it has with the wood barrel.  The oldest wine they had was from the 1860s and was priced at over 1600 Euros per bottle.  That's a lot of money, folks. 

The second day in Portugal, Jody and I took a bus tour which was great!  We got to see everything we saw the day before, but this time with an explanation and no rain!

This is supposed to be the most beautiful view in all of Portugal… 

However, I think this view is much better. 

And this is the Atlantic ocean coast.  The most breathtaking view of any ocean I have ever seen.  Poets would often use this view as inspiration for their work, but a lot of times it was tragedy because many people have lost their lives on this rocky coast. 

Besides the beauty we saw out and about, we had a pretty awkward time in our hostel.  We were the two nerds who spent the weekend studying before bed and getting up early to go sight seeing.  It was embarrassing.  AND, the second night of our trip, we got 2 male roommates who barely spoke English and who made the whole situation just that much more awkward.  It was a lovely experience. Hostels are great people. Just great. 

Directly after Portugal, we had 2 finals on Monday morning.  YAY!  Followed by one on Tuesday and the last one on Wednesday.  And I'm happy to say, that even after all the traveling and fun I've had this semester, I still managed 3 A's and one B.  Not too shabby if I do say so myself. 

And now, we wait.  My last responsibility was Wednesday morning at 10:30.  My flight is Saturday at 1:25 pm.  SO ANNOYING.  Huge shout-out to the AYA program schedule on that one.  If you can't tell I'm slightly salty that I'm now wasting 2 extra days here (in the rain) instead of spending those two days in Ohio with everyone else.  Or maybe we could talk about the amount of money I could have saved by having a flight on a Thursday instead of a Saturday, and the Saturday before Christmas for that matter.  So wonderful…

But on that note, I will be seeing you Ohio! So soon!

Happy reading.  Stay excellent, ME.