Canary Islands

Finally! A nice relaxing break with some sun and some ocean. This is my kind of trip.

Us girls decided to take 5 days to go to the Canary Islands! It was so great. Not exactly as sunny as I was hoping, but we definitely got some sun and did a ton of exploring. Getting there was a little rough, and I'm still apologizing to my parents for freaking them out, but we made it!

I've decided that I'm just going to start walking everywhere because traveling is soooooo not worth it.

The plan was to take a bus from Granada to Madrid for our flight. The 1:30 am bus would get us there in plenty of time. Since we were leaving on a Monday we didn't buy a bus ticket ahead of time because who travels on a Monday when there's still class for the rest of the week? Apparently everyone.

We got to the bus station around 11:30pm all ready to buy our tickets and there's literally one seat left. Well unless we can all sit on each other's laps, we have a problem. We have 10 hours to get to Madrid. Ok, what are our options?? Fly from Granada, won't work. Train from Granada, won't work. Bus from Granada, obviously won't work.

We ended up taking a taxi to Malaga and then a train to Madrid. I am still in disbelief. To put it in perspective, we took a taxi from Albert Lea to Worthington, and then a train from Worthington to Omaha. Seriously? We can laugh about it now, but there were definitely tears shed Monday night.
I sent my dad this dramatic email and didn't explain what was going on... sorry dad. Love you!

We got to the Canary Islands and headed straight for the beach. It was just beautiful! This trip is easier described in pictures.

This was the beach right outside our hostel.

First day on the beach and I already had Kelsey buried in the sand as a mermaid. Dad and I got really good at this after all the summer trips to the beach, looks like it came in handy!

There was this pier and a bunch of rocks a little ways down from our hostel so we went exploring. During low tide I could walk out on the rocks and see all the creatures that got caught between the rocks. Pretty much just little fish and some crazy huge crabs.

We spent a day in Maspalomas where it's supposedly always sunny- and it was! It was a beautiful day soaking up the sun.

Us girls. Kelsey is in the middle and Deanna on the right. We live together and they are so great!

So at our hostel, we met a girl (the blond) from Australia, a boy from Tennessee studying in France, and a boy from Taiwan also studying in France. They came to the beach with us and we had a great time together!

So in Maspalomas there are also sand dunes. It's a drastic difference from beach to dunes right next to each other. We  got to explore all around the island on the dunes.

Had to. Sorry.

Successfully climbed over all the dunes and headed back to the beach!

There was this huge dune, so we each got a photo op on top of it. What a view!

There you have it. I don't think I've had a stress-free trip yet. I guess I'll keep trying until I get it right...

Protests

I am literally living through history. I can officially say that I saw the Spanish protests of 2012. This is so crazy!

Here's a video of what was going on-

Spain is protesting against the government. Between 6.5 and 8 million Spaniards have participated in these protests since May. Mostly they are protesting all of the cuts by the government in welfare, spending, and jobs; capitalism and banks; and also the fact that they feel they have no real representation from their political parties. About 25% of the population is unemployed, and 50% of young adults are, and it's not looking like anything will change any time soon.

The protest today meant that no one went to work. There was no public transportation, no stores were open, no restaurants, no nothing. 600 flights were cancelled and trains weren't running. The city, which is usually kept so clean, was trashed. Spaniards take great pride in their streets- they clean them everyday, but there was trash everywhere. Almost every bank and atm we saw had been vandalized.

Most of my professors were out protesting too! I had one class today, which wasn't so bad. At least I didn't have to get up at 8am. It was very important to all of my professors that we understand their part in the protests. My Civ and Culture professor knew she would be participating and told us a week ago we didn't have class. She said it's unfair that the government is taking jobs and money and leaving the people with nothing. My Business professor had class today. He said the school doesn't pay the teachers who didn't come to work, so it's just another business absorbing more money. He said he was going to donate the money he earned that day to the poor who needed food.

People have been out all day with signs and flags. The teachers came into our building and were yelling and blowing whistles so we couldn't hear our professor. Any shops that were still open had protestors outside being so aggressive and obnoxious that they ended up closing anyway. but around 5:30 they all gathered in front of the government building. There were thousands of people, everyone in town was out either participating or just watching. Roads were closed and people just took over the streets. It was peaceful here though, they just walked and shouted. In Madrid it's getting pretty intense. Police have been using force to stop riots. I'm just not sure how far this will go!

I'll just post the pictures.

Thousands of people came out to participate or walk.

One of the ATMs we saw. Almost all of the ATMs we saw were vandalized. Most of the banks had some vandalism too.

One of the entrances to the University. It had signs all over it.

This was actually pretty cool- this is the fountain that is in the center of town. They filled it with soap so there were suds everywhere! The plaza was just covered.

Don't worry, it's very safe. My program is keeping a close eye on things so if anything happens, they'll take care of us. Conchi is also very concerned on our behalf so we can't leave the house tonight. Don't worry mom :) I'm well taken care of!

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!

Getting to know my way around

I don't even know where to start. This is so overwhelming!

Today, we walked up to the Albaicín. It's on the northernmost part of Granada and on our maps it's just a labeled circle- there's no map of the streets or anything that's in the area.
It's absolutely beautiful at the top- we could see all of the city below us and the mountains around us.

At the lowest point on our walk up to the Albaicín.

The road is completely cobblestone. Now, I've seen cobblestone roads around the East Coast but they are nothing compared to the ones here. I would say these were more like rocks just cemented in a path. It's awful to walk on but it fits when we're walking next to these buildings that are centuries old I guess. It took us hours to walk there, mostly because we took our time stopping and taking pictures at every point possible, but also because it's completely uphill! And people actually live up there! We took a bus back down because it was cooling off and starting to get dark, but it was terrifying. Seriously, the roads are barely wider than a car and the driver was whipping around these corners like he was a Nascar driver in years past. There was one point when we came around a corner to be nose to nose with another car. Apparently we had right of way, or were just bigger, so the car backed down the road. Maybe I should call it a mountain.. yea.. this car BACKED DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. I closed my eyes for most of the trip to be honest so I didn't get to see the rest but we made it to the bottom.

This is how narrow the streets are. They can honestly fit through here and not lose a mirror or hit anything!

We walked around the city also. The hardest part about navigating here, is that none of the streets are straight or connect where they should. It's like this big winding circle that has no pattern so it's just knowing your surroundings and going by what looks familiar. This whole 'navigating' thing is REALLY hard for me. I don't even bother to try the map. Just pray that I can make it to class everyday!

There are so many 'parts' to Granada- the Jewish corner, the Catholic side, and the Muslim influence. Each is completely different and occupies a different part of the city. The area where our classes are has small alleys, lots of graffiti, and old old buildings. The area we walk through everyday is modern, there are stores and restaraunts and lots of people. I got a few pictures of the different areas, I don't have one in the area where our classes are but I will soon.

The modern part of town- mostly Catholic influence.

Restaurant in the Muslim influence area- it features a Hookah bar with dinner.

I am on spanish overload. Seriously I'm dreaming in spanish.. it's kinda scary actually. Last night I dreamt that Grady was cooking tapas in a barn and singing spanish songs while Riley was flying a plane (apparently Riley can fly in spanish?). It was weird.

The kids in my ISA group are fabulous. We all went to a little Irish pub last night that was actually showing football- American football- and we figured out it was a known 'American' bar. Figures. We would be drawn there right away. But I gotta say, it was quite refreshing hearing people other than my peers speak english without an accent.

Some of the girls in my group. There are 27 of us I think. The girl on the far left in the stripes is also staying for the year- her name is Deanna and she is so great!

I just can't get over how pretty this was today-

Buenas noches!

Day 1

I survived the first day! What more could a girl ask for? I have all of my luggage and am navigating fairly well all things considered.

I’m navigating ok so far! I know what to ask, it’s just understanding the answer that’s killing me. Everyone speaks so fast that I can’t think fast enough to figure out what they said much less come up with an intelligent response. The first guy that I encountered didn’t answer any of my questions, but proceeded to tell me “Eres muy guapo” which I’m pretty sure means “You’re very beautiful/attractive”?? Ohhhhhh boy this is off to a great start.

I was hoping to be taken seriously, but I’m sure I just looked lost everywhere I went. I spilled coffee on my white shirt on the car ride up to the airport in Minneapolis so I was doomed from the start. TOURIST.

The hardest part was figuring out where to go- all the time. At the airport, I could either take a taxi or a bus to the train station. I couldn’t figure out the bus system on such a tight schedule so I went with the taxi. Naturally the driver spoke spanish so I’m trying to tell him what train station I needed to be at; we got the right station but I gave up trying to figure out which platform and just handed over my ticket so he could read it himself. He laughed and said in half english/half spanish “Keep practicando”. Thanks for the encouragement!

The train station itself was a totally different story. There were people everywhere. Literally, everywhere. This frantic woman came up to me and started freaking out in Spanish and I just looked at her. I didn’t know what to say or what she was saying! I probably looked terrified because then this guy came up and said “Ella no sabe” and marched her away. I figured out that the guys in purple ties worked at the station (don’t ask me how, just go with it) so every purple tie I saw I asked for directions. I’ve never even seen a train station much less been on a train so I had no idea where to go or how this whole thing worked. But I made it and successfully got to Toledo!

On the train.

After the afternoon siesta at the hotel we had a meeting with the ISA staff so I could get all caught up on the stuff I missed. Then we went out for supper.. which was at 9pm. I was starving! Meals are a little wonky here- breakfast is around 8 or 9, lunch at 2 or 3, and dinner at 9 or 10. 

The food was SO GOOD. We went to this little hole in the wall restaurant with a few other kids in our group. Anna and I  split the Gazpacho and a Paella. Gazpacho is a tomato based soup and it’s served cold. It was served with peppers and croutons tonight, but can be served with many other add ins. Paella is a rice dish. It’s served in a cast iron skillet and this one had sausage, squid, and peppers in it.

Tomorrow we travel to Granada to meet our host families!

Maddy has Sangria, Anna has a Mojito.
Both were delicious!
At the bottom of the picture is the Gazpacho.

The Paella we ordered.
Super salty, but so worth it!

Adios amigos!