La Semana pasada- Dias 33-40!! (last week, days 33-40)

Day 33:
Today was a horrible travel day. We had problems at the hotel with the final cost and Jessica being able to use her credit card, we ran into problems trying to catch the bus to the airport, when we were about to board the plane had to go back through security because we were missing a stamp on our boarding pass, the plane didn’t have assigned seating so it was a fight to get to the plane, we missed our bus stop close to our house so we had a long walk home with the luggage, but we made it home safe and sound. And it felt good to be back ☺

Day 34:
This week’s blog is again going to be a bit of a summary. It was hard to get back into blogging everyday but I did the best I could and highlighted the most interesting and important parts! Today was our first day back to school. I was very nervous for my new class, but it turned out to be great! And I have a ton of friends in the class too! It is very different from my other theatre class, which I am loving, and it is interesting to find out all this information and history about Spain! The highlight today was lunch—we had paella again!!! It was delicious and Chata wanted to make us our favorite for our first day back.

Day 35:

Today, like Tuesday’s in the past term we get out of class early at 11 and get to visit one of the ‘tourist sites’ of Seville. The first visit of this term was to the Metropol parasol- the largest wooden structure in the world! This place was amazing, it was only supposed to be a parking ramp but after the demolition began, it revealed ancient ruins! So now the Metropol is home to the archeological museum (Antiquarium), a market, and elevated rooftop walkways that gave us the ultimate views of the city!!

Later in the day was the first Sevillano class of this term. It was fun to get back into in, but since there are new people this term it was more of a review/teaching the new people. Which I didn’t mind a little review!

Day 36:
Class today was hard to understand, lots of political/ historical information. Answering the homework questions definitely helped to clarify a lot of the information. This evening I took a walk in barrio Santa Cruz, with Jessica… just for the shopping! It was nice to just stroll around and see this quaint neighborhood.

Day 37:
Today’s class was a bit of a review but still learning a lot more information before our first exam tomorrow! Tonight I had Sevillanos class again and studying for first exam of this term ☹ wish me luck!

Day 38:
The exam today was a bit less intense than I had expected. I studied over 60 questions, and only 5 of them were on the exam! We will see how it goes! It was nice to be done with our first, last and only full week of classes this term.
Tonight we went to a free Flamenco show! It was fun to see how many people come out to watch these shows, but man it was hot in this bar/stage area! It felt cooler outside for sure! We went in a little early since we have an excursion to Ronda in the morning!

Day 39:

RONDA- what a beautiful city! It is situated in a very mountainous area, with the Guadalevin River running through the city, dividing it in two and carving out the El Tajo canyon. There are a few main sights of this city that make it definitely a place to visit in Spain. There is the Puente Nuevo (a bridge that crosses the canyon), Plaza de toros de Ronda (oldest bullring in Spain), los banos arabes (Arab Baths), just to name a few. My favorite part of this trip was the views! They were breathtaking!

And to end the day, a siesta (nap), and then went down to the river enjoyed the scenery ☺ and la vida nocturna de Sevilla (the nightlife of Seville)!

10 day Vacation!! Part II- ROME!

Day 29:

This was the final destination of our lovely 10-day break. We were up very early today to catch our cab at 6 am. We got to the hotel in Rome around 10:30 but had to wait to get our room till about 11. After getting our room we went out for some authentic pasta! It was delicious—mine had seafood in it ;)

But when we got back to our hotel room, we find ants! There were not a lot but still enough to be concerned, especially since they were near the bed. So we switched to a new room!
After a short nap we went to some of the sites close to our hotel- the coliseum and part of the forum (ancient ruins). It was remarkable. Before going back to the hotel for the evening we HAD to stop for gelato. Tonight’s flavor was cherry and tiramisu.

Day 30:
Bed bugs. Today we arose to find bugs in our beds. After freaking out again from bugs, we got put in I think “their best” room. Finally, wood floors and some what larger accommodations than the others.
I just wanted to get out of there asap and see the city instead of worrying about all this. So we headed to the beautiful Santa Maria Maggiore, which was about a block away (the closest site to our hotel)! It was magnificent, and in Rome a lot of the churches require that you are covered up when you enter.

After the church we found our new favorite place to eat- Pizzarito Pastarito. It was authentic Italian food and had everything from pizza to pasta to salad and deserts! I had pizza with ham, olives, artichokes, cheese, and mushrooms. The pizza was enough for two! I was able to have leftovers. We went to see more sights after bringing the pizza back to the hotel.

We saw the Pantheon, forum, the Victor Emmanuel Monument (Capitoline Hill)
I wish we could have had a personal guide to tell us all the history behind these sights…next time!

The highlight of our evening—eating our leftover pizza, dancing to music on our beds, and encountering another bug in our room. We screamed and the Bolivian front desk guy came in to try and kill it but couldn’t find it and felt bad. He later made us tea (very south American thing to do to help clam people down) he was so nice! Anyway it did help us get right to sleep, or maybe that was just because we were exhausted.

Day 31:

Vatican City! To sum up this morning: It was magnificent, breath taking, and unbelievable. I absolutely loved going to the Vatican. Even though we got there fairly early, there were already people surrounding the area and lines already forming. Rather than taking it all on by our selves we decided to get a guided tour. We got to see the Vatican museum, St. Peter’s Basilica, and of course the Sistine chapel. That was by far the best part of the Vatican. If I could go back in time I would like to watch Michael Angelo paint and complete that magnificent work. Literally it is too much for words to describe, and it was just packed with people!

Lunch we went to our new place, Pizzarito Pastarito, but today we had pasta. It was a little more expensive but worth it nonetheless. I had spinach and ricotta ravioli with eggplant, zucchini, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, and basil, with only a slight olive oil sauce. IT WAS SO GOOD! Again I had leftovers.

After a short siesta (nap) we did more exploring! We went to the Spanish steps, and Trevi Fountain. We took the metro to get out to these sites, but being after 10pm when we tried to get back—the metro was closed. So we had our first Rome city bus experience! We were not sure where it took us or how far. So we found the main metro station and had been told that the main station would still be open. After walking in a huge circle around the station to find out our metro line was indeed closed for the evening. So we decided to walk home (which was probably a mile or two away), and stopped for gelato again! It was I think the best day in Rome, we got to see so much and these sites (Vatican, Spanish steps, and Trevi fountain) were by far my favorite!

Day 32:
Today was another early day but instead of heading out right away we decided it would be a good idea to start packing (for me especially because I was very worried not everything would fit in my suitcase). It all fit, barely, but it was again time to explore!
Today we went to Piazza del Popolo, did a bit of shopping, went by the river Fiume Tevere and then headed back to our favorite spot for lunch one last time. I had pasta again, tortellini with tomato in a pesto sauce. Delicious and again had left overs!

After some down time aka siesta ☺ we headed out for our last night in Rome. Gelato tonight was snickers, cream, and tiramisu flavored and we sat in front of S. Maria Maggiore and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

10 day Vacation!! Part I- Barcelona

So instead of me trying to explain every little thing that we did during our 10 day vacation (since I already wrote it out on paper) I have decided to make this a short/summed up version!- with lots of pictures instead.
Day 25:

First day in Barcelona, the hostel is amazing! The family that owns the hostel prepares breakfast and it consists of bread/baguette coffee juice or tea and a muffin. Very filling and lasted us until 2 or 3pm! Today was mostly a exploring and shopping day! We found a main shopping area and for lunch we went to this huge Asian buffet (Japanese I believe) that was all you can possibly eat for around 10 euros! It had both prepared items and raw items that you could get cooked in front of you hibachi style.
We went out and explored the nightlife a little bit and then hit the hay!

Day 26:
We slept in today. It was almost the afternoon and Pedro (the hostel owner) still was willing to prepare us breakfast! It was so nice of him.
We took a walk down the street called La Rambla, which has tons of little stands and souvenir shops and leads all the way down to the boats/docks. Tonight was our first experience with tapas and Paella (not homemade). Both were very good but the Paella, I must say, is much better homemade.

Day 27:

Bus tour day! Today we toured two different bus lines (red and blue) which took us to see almost all of Barcelona’s major historical and tourist sites. I would of liked to explore these sites more thoroughly but the girls preferred to stay on the bus. Today’s lunch was at another buffet called Fresc Co. it was like a deli, salad bar, grill all in one. It was sooo good and fresh. We did some more shopping and headed back to the hostel for a siesta.
We went and checked out the nightlife again tonight and found some places with great music near the beach.

Day 28:

2nd bus tour day! Today the bus line went by the beach and sites near the coast. So naturally today was going to be our beach day too! Since we did this tour we were given a coupon book, which contained a coupon for subway for 2 foot-long meals for around 13 Euros! It was a great deal and Jessica and I decided to split one coupon. It was the perfect lunch for the beach—but we ate half of it before we even got there.

The beach was beautiful and the water was absolutely the perfect temperature to cool you down but not make you freeze either. After the beach Jessica and I got lost on the metro, rather we got on the wrong metro and ended up on the countryside. It was beautiful to see, but not when you have to use the bathroom! Ps- there are no public restrooms in these stations in the middle of the country. Below is an image of the station we ended at, not underground, not in the city.

After an hour, we finally made it home and began to pack ☹ it was our last night in Barcelona so we decided to take one last look at the city before we had to leave.
Adios Barcelona!