Hell on Wheels

Well I made it to Ireland!! It was literally the worst trip of my life but I made it. You aren't going to believe me after I tell you what happened.

It all started when I was packing. I'm allowed 10 kg and a suitcase that's smaller than my backpack as a carry on. I loaded it up only to run out of space or weight limit.. So I had this awesome idea to cheat the system. I would wear 4 dresses, a pair of jeans, boots, and 2 jackets on the plane! HA now look at all the clothes I can fit! Seemed like a great idea at the time.

I took a city bus to the big bus station. First I almost missed the stop so I was yelling at the driver to stop again, then I forgot one of my jackets on the bus so I was chasing him down the street to try to get him to stop. Ok, got all my stuff.

Bus ride from Granada to Malaga- I was seated net to the only person on the bus who snored like a baby dinosaur. Awesome. So much for catching up from last night..

I got to the airport and met this nice British family while I was waiting in line to check in. when they found out I was flying Ryan Air, the man laughed and said "Yea, it'll be your last time too." Great. They also said that since I wasn't checking a bag, I didn't need to stand here, I could just go to security. Well that was helpful! Thank you!

I got through security, through border control, and gave my ticket to the lady to board the plane. She said I was missing the stamp from the Ryan Air office (which I should have gotten at the check in line which those people told me to leave) and that I couldn't get on the plane unless I had it. I booked it to the office. Down 3 flights of starts and across the mile long airport (all bundled up in boots, jeans, 4 dresses, and 2 jackets no less) to get this stamp so I could go through check in and border control all over again.

Got the stamp. Check.

Made it through security. Check.

I am so sweaty at this point that it's pretty much soaked through all my 16 layers, and my hair looks like I've been sitting in a sauna. I give my passport to border control again and they ask me if I speak spanish.. ok.. this is weird..

They told me that since I didn't tell them I needed to get the stamp and come back, I couldn't go through again! As they're telling me this I'm thinking, "I did not just run up 3 flights of stairs and across this whole stupid airport for you to tell me I can't get on my plane that is waiting for me!"

Instead, naturally, I started crying.

Oh yea, straight up, hyperventilating/alligator tears/red eyes. The whole shebang. These two men who probably dealt with tears like my brothers- get away from crying object as fast as possible- looked at each other, looked at me, and one of them said it was lucky that he remembered me, just don't do it again. YES.

Got on the plane and immediately started stripping off layers. I got stuck between two Irish men who probably thought I was insane. It had to be like a bad scene from Coyote Ugly- elevator music with sweaty, frazzled, crying girl taking off an embarrassing amount of clothes. At least I remembered to stop taking off clothes when I got to the bottom layer.. Good to go!

When we landed, I had 24 minutes to find my bus to Limerick. Checking my passport took forever and I was treated to the Spanish Inquisition about why I needed to visit a sorority sister for a full week. I ran through all the way to baggage claim/exit, all the while shamelessly asking for directions to where my bus was. I got to my bus at 12:31 and this lady came off as I was running up "Oh dear, are you ok? Here, let me take your bag." The driver walked up and looked at me... I know I looked rough. All I got was "God bless your heart" and was ushered to a seat.

I've been itching to start running again now that my butt is healed. I'm just going to chalk this up to God's little push to get going on the cardio again. He sure has some sense of humor. I mean, an airport wasn't exactly my idea of getting in the miles, but I definitely think I sweated off at least one love handle after all of that!

But here we are. I'm with Abby now. She has a great place- it's like an apartment but she shares a kitchen with 7 other people. I'll keep ya posted on our adventures! I'm so excited!!

Love Maddy

Ronda and Malaga

We spent the weekend in Ronda and Malaga with our ISA group. It was just beautiful! We left early Saturday morning for Ronda, spent the day there, and then headed for Malaga for the night and Sunday. I have to say, Ronda was my favorite as a tourist, but Malaga was my favorite as a college student. Ronda was small, pretty, and historic; while Malaga was big city and crazy. This is mostly going to be pictures because I can't describe how pretty these cities were!

Here is where we went-

Pronunciations:
Ronda- Ron (like the name in Harry Potter, say it with a british accent) - Duh
Malaga- Mah-Lah-Gah

The first thing we saw in Ronda- the bull fighting ring!

The view over Ronda.

The view from the spanish bridge. The little bridge on the bottom right is the original
way into the city in the 14th century. It leads to the Arabic baths and the old part of town.

This is literally the door to someone's house. It's all we could fit in the picture! The house is well known so we actually got to go in and look around. I'm pretty sure no one lives there- it was more like a museum set up where you had to pay to get in.

Standing over Ronda!

On the Arabic bridge

After a day touring Ronda, we headed to Malaga. It's on the Mediterranean so we got to the beach again! Also, while in Malaga I was able to cross off another bucket list item: Be mistaken for a Spaniard. I was asked for directions (in spanish no less) and not only did I understand them, but I gave them directions (also in spanish)! SUCCESS!

In the Mediterranean again!

These locks have a cool story- Best friends or couples will write their names on a lock and then lock it to the bridge. Then they throw the key into the river below. It signifies that they will be united forever. <3
 There were hundreds of locks all the way along the bridge.

We went out for the night in Malaga. These are two of the girls in my group.
The club we went to had these awesome lights, and of course, music to dance to!

This is where Picasso was born! It's the third story window on the far left side.

This is the Malaga cathedral. There wasn't enough space to get the whole thing in the picture, but I was able to go all the way up the steps in front of the giant door. It just felt like a place of power- overlooking the plaza with all this intricate marble detailing around me. I thought power felt like standing in front of Congress or something.. this feels like power. Knowing that at some point a King or Queen or Arch Bishop stood at the top of those stairs to address a city. Wow.
The bottom of the pillars in the background are about 3 feet taller than me. It was just overwhelming to stand by such an old building.  If walls could talk..

We were treated to a Flamenco show in the street.

This is Malaga. The colors were just beautiful and the city was awesome. I still can't believe this is real.

Side note- I'm going to take pictures of all the clothes and shoes I've bought since I got here. Honestly. It's like I didn't bring any clothes at all and needed to buy a new wardrobe. I need to get this under control. On second thought.. maybe I won't. I don't think I want to know.

Follow me to Ireland this weekend! Can't wait!

Learn how to cook a spanish meal- check.

This may turn into a food blog. I have been progressively taking pictures of all the cool food we get to try and I'm just realizing how many I've taken...

I told Conchi that I really like to cook so this morning she pulled me out of bed and showed me how to make a cold soup similiar to gazpacho. She doesn't have recipes for anything so I needed to watch how she made it. I am so excited to make this at home for the family!!

It is the easiest soup I think I've ever seen, it sounds weird but it's so good! It's garlic, tomato, oil, salt, and bread pureed together and served cold. Weird right? Whatever, it tastes so good I can't even be mad about it. It can be served with croutons, hard boiled egg, peppers, onion, cucumber, tomato, or deli meat. We had all of them with ours.

This is what it looks like. It's pretty much thick tomato soup.

For dessert- flan! I tried to make it at home before I left and it was a disaster. A for attempt, but it was so bad. Grady and Riley made me feel better by at least eating a piece of it, but you can admit it- it was terrible. Flan is a very rich dessert. It's just milk, eggs, and creme with carmel on it so you can about imagine how heavy it is. I'm hoping Conchi will show me how to make this. It's just so pretty!

I also get to cook for Conchi. I'll make some Pinterest recipes for her :) I can't wait!

Change of View

Happy Monday!

Anna and I have had a pretty exciting day.. exciting probably isn't the right word but I'm not really sure what word to put here.

Our house mom Inma had a little problem today. We've been disagreeing about a few things for about a week now and it just wasn't pretty this afternoon. Anna and I like to go out with our friends on the weekends. We aren't crazy or inappropriate, we lock the door when we come home, and we are never loud or wake Inma up. But she doesn't think we should be leaving the house or staying out late with the other kids in our study abroad group.

So today she got very upset that we wanted to change houses and starting yelling at us in spanish... which would have been pretty funny if I wasn't so scared. Needless to say, 20 minutes after the incident, we were packed and out the door. We didn't have anywhere to go.. but we were out. The housing director called another lady to see if we could stay with her and while she was completely unprepared for two girls to move in, she graciously opened up for us. Her name is Conchi and she is GREAT. She's super laid back and so nice. I'm so happy we finally made this decision.

Conchi's dog fits in our suitcase! We may be bringing a present home...

Our room- open, light, and a great view of the street.

We actually have a mirror now!

Bathroom

This was the best part of my day... we have a couch!

We are all moved in and doing well!

Also, Conchi looks just like Grandma Diane, but her hair is more purple than red.
This is gonna be fun :)

Weekend Getaway to Lagos, Portugal

Hola hola!

I went to Lagos, Portugal for the weekend. I have officially put my feet in both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Mediterranean Sea! It only took about 6 hours to drive there on a bus... which was kinda miserable with 100 kids but we made it! I pretty much slept the whole time anyway. It was beautiful. I wasn't sure what to expect from Portugal, but Lagos was great. It was almost a conflict of times- the buildings and streets were very old but the people and activities were definitely with the modern times.

So here's the map of Granada to Lagos.

We left Friday morning at 5AM and got home Sunday around 3AM.. it was one long weekend.

Of course the first thing we did was head to the beach which our hotel overlooked. I can't describe how beautiful it was here. The water was crystal clear, a little cold, but so nice. Especially since at home it's 48 degrees, whereas it's 88 here!

The view from our hotel.

After an afternoon on the beach we went for supper. We traveled with Discover Granada, which was probably one of the best decisions we've made so far... besides going to Portugal in the first place. They had dinner all lined up and ready for us. My group went to NahNahBa's Burger joint which brags that they have the 50 Best Burgers in the world. Now, I'm from the midwest where there is beef all over the place so I had years of experience to judge these "legendary" burgers.

They were SO GOOD. I'm not sure if it was because we were so hungry or if the burgers were actually that good, but whatever. We had two options: Tucan burger or a Veggie burger- easy choice (there were honestly 100 kids there so they had to limit us). The Tucan burger had everything plus pineapple- I might start adding pineapple to every burger from now on, it was that good.

Here's what happened:

This is the sign outside the restaurant.

1. Beginning of the meal. We are so excited!

2. It looks so good! Ready to dig in!

3. Not even halfway and I can no longer feel my legs.

4. Death. Yes, we did finish the entire thing! I wasn't kidding about not feeling my legs. I could barely feel my arms after all that. Needless to say, all 6 girls at my table each ate a whole burger- I have no idea how we did it.

After dinner we went to a discoteca (like a club). We had free entry and it was crazy. All 100 students came out and danced the night away. Remember, dinner was around 10:30ish and our night started at midnight.

Two of the guys in my study abroad group- they live down the street from me actually.

Saturday was spent at another beach about 30 minutes from our hotel. It was 6 hours on the beach and it was heaven! We walked down the coast, chased seagulls, took a ridiculous amount of pictures, and soaked up the sun. What more could we ask for?

The weather was perfect and the beach was beautiful.

Saturday night we went to "The End of the World". It's in Sagres and it's the Westernmost point in Europe. We watched the sunset and it was the most beautiful thing I think I've ever seen. I am just in awe of this creation. I wonder what God was thinking when he made sunsets. It's just perfect, simple, overwhelming beauty. You know it's a good moment when a picture can't do it justice.

Wow. This is my best attempt to capture the moment.

We ended Sunday, once again, on the beach. Which, I forgot to mention, also happens to be a nude beach. Very nude beach. I was a little uncomfortable at times but hey- if you can't beat 'em, join 'em right?! KIDDING.

We headed home exhausted, but happy.

With our tour guides. This weekend was so fun with them!

First Day of School

The first couple days of class are over. All I have left is Thursday since there’s no class on Fridays! Helllllllllooooooo long weekends forever! Speaking of, I'm spending my weekend in Lagos, Portugal.

Back to school, I am taking 4 classes which is 12 credits. I have Business Spanish, Gramática (Grammar), Produción Oral y Escrita (Speaking and Writing), and Spanish Civ and Culture.

I have the same professor for Gramática and the POE classes- she’s crazy. She has Einstein hair and is super skinny. She's actually pretty intense- Anna and I got the stank eye because we said a wrong answer.

My Civ and Culture class is going to be so fun- the professor said that Culture is outside the classroom so we will be taking field trips to chocolate and churros, or tapas, or whatever to experience the culture.

And my business spanish class is pretty chill. The professor sits up front at his desk and cracks jokes and plays movies.

My semester is looking pretty good :)

First week- Success!

Well it’s been officially a little over a week. I survived navigating, classes, and adjusting to being in Spain! I have made some friends (amazingly enough- I know) and life is good!

Anna and I live on Camino de Ronda which is on the southern side of the city. It’s a solid 25-30 minute walk to where classes are which is really hard for me as I have class at 8:30 in the morning... I have never had a class before 9:00. This morning was especially tough to wake up as we had a crazy busy weekend.

Here’s the weekend’s activities:

Friday- We went to this thing called Botellon which literally translates to “big bottle” in Spanish. It's an empty parking lot with thousands of young adults (18-24 years old) that come out for the night.

These are all the kids out for the night. You can't get more Spanish than a Botellon.

The girls are ready!

Everyone brings a bottle of something to drink and heads out to hang with friends. It’s totally legal outdoor public drinking. I was a little scared of the idea because I know it would be messy if this happened in the states but it was so relaxed! Here’s the difference- in the states there would be girls puking, guys fighting, and everyone drinking way too much; here, the atmosphere was totally under control. It was just a social thing- no fighting, no puking, no crazies. I had tons of kids come up to me wanting to practice their english and let me practice spanish with them. (That is called an “intercambio”.) It was so cool! The only problem was that we didn’t get home until 5 am which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but that leads me to Saturday..

Saturday- We went to Salobreña for a day at the beach. (See feature photo at the top of the page) I have officially put my feet in the Mediterranean Sea!! The weather was absolutely perfect. I was in the sun for 6 hours and I loved every minute! The hardest (yet rewarding) part of the day was just getting to the beach. Here’s the deal- we had to take a bus from our street to the bus station and then to Salobreña. So everyone met Anna and I a couple blocks from our apartment to take bus 10 to the station. It was chilly that morning and all of us had sweatshirts on over our suits and were loaded with bags, towels, and stuff for the beach. Add to that the fact that all of us had gone to Botellon the night before and had gotten all of 3 hours of sleep.. well it was a brutal combination. Roughly a dozen kids arrive bright and early and are all ready for our excursion to the beach. The bus comes.. and.. DOESN’T STOP. Seriously, we’re sitting at the bus stop and the driver points up ahead to where his real stop is. Apparently we had the wrong bus stop! So all 12 of us literally CHASE the bus down the street. Thank goodness for the red lights along the way because we had a ways to go. 3 blocks later we got to the next bus stop.. which is still not the one for our bus. We ran another 3 blocks and then tried to act natural as we trooped onto the bus full of morning commuters. Every single person on that bus had watched a dozen American kids chasing this bus and laughing while doing it. I honestly don’t know how we made it, I was laughing so hard at watching everyone I almost just opted to wait for the next one.

The Mediterranean Sea- what a view.

We made it and it was a perfect day. I forgot sunscreen (sorry mom) and fried. Ok, actually after I realized how burned I was I borrowed some sunscreen from a girl in our group so I salvaged a little of my second layer of skin. Anna came home a slight shade of lobster- good thing Aloe is a universal necessity.

Sunday- We slept in (thank goodness) and had a Flamenco show that night. I was expecting a show- like a stage and lights and stuff. It was a cave. Well, ok it was an actual building but it looked like an igloo from the outside. There was a restaurant on one side and then there was this like tube thing that led to the other. We headed for the tube thing and sat on the chairs all along the side of it. It was probably 8 feet wide by 40 feet long and 7 feet high. I’m not exaggerating. In the middle was this wooden board built into the floor with a dome ceiling which was maybe a foot higher than the rest of the ceiling. I was sitting right in front of the board floor. As you can see, I was so front row I couldn’t even fit all of the dancers in my photos. Let’s put it this way- I was so front row that I got sweat flung on me from the male Flamenco dancer.

This is the only picture that turned out- I was too close for photos!

Flamenco is like tap dancing with some interp thrown in. It really wasn’t a rehearsed “show”, it was like a family who comes out to play music and dance and clap and sing with it. They just looked like they were having fun, but there was an intensity that I can’t describe.

After the Flamenco show getting tapas. At least we got some color from the beach!

Afterwards, we got tapas and headed to bed. Busy weekend, but so fun!