salamanca & portugal.

Okay sorry it's taken so long to post on here, I kept feeling like nothing special has happened but then I remembered....I'm in Spain!  Everything that happens here is important.

So first of all, two weekends ago, we went to Salamanca!  It was such a fun trip.  We were exhausted, of course, but I loved it.  We toured lots of cathedrals and monasteries, enjoyed the views, and found the frog on the wall of the Universidad Salamanca which is supposed to mean I will now ace all my exams!  Oh, and we also managed to get in a little late night clubbing.  Thank goodness for long bus rides to sleep on!

Okay now on to the most exciting news....I just spent this last weekend in PORTUGAL!!!  By far the best weekend of my LIFE.  We left Thursday evening and arrived in Lisbon tired and starving.  Michael-Ann (using her excellent navigating and map-reading skills) took us down the streets of Lisbon and to none other than the Hard Rock Cafe!  Okay, I know that's American food and it was ridiculously expensive but I'm not gonna lie, it was one of the best meals I've had in a looooong time!  

Anyways so on Friday we got up early and headed for Sintra.  We ate breakfast by our hotel - some ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches.  Kailie and I asked for apple juice and were getting really excited when they told us they had some!  But when it arrived at our table, turns out it was freshly crushed -- LITERALLY.  Hahaha it was seriously just a cup of crushed apples...it didn't taste bad but it was not good to drink...needless to say, we left that on the table.  Anyways, after our train ride to Sintra, the guy at the tourism office told us about this company we could rent bikes from and ride up to the castles and get free admission.  I was SO excited for this...only for all my hopes and dreams to be CRUSHED in an instant once again.  The tourism guy called the bike guy and apparently he was out somewhere and "couldn't make it back in time".  I mean, what the heck I was so upset!  So that kind of put a damper on my mood, but we were still able to go to Quinta da Regaleira and the Moorish Castle on foot/bus.  They were both absolutely gorgeous.  And from the Moorish Castle, we were able to look out and see Lisbon -- absolutely breathtaking!  For lunch, we found this cute cafe called Cafe O Torque where we had the best restaurant experience we've yet to have (besides the Hard Rock, of course) in all of Europe!  It was absolutely delicious!  Tortilla Española, delicious salad, cheese sandwich, and a cinnamon sugar crepe.  Best.  Meal.  Ever.

On Saturday, we headed to the coast and saw the beautiful beach I've been dying for!  It was absolutely gorgeous.  We ate lunch on the beach, took lots of pictures, and just enjoyed warm sun on our faces!  How spoiled is it that we were so sad to leave Portugal to come back to Madrid??  But the best part was probably when we rented SEGWAYS and rode them up and down the coast with a gorgeous view of the beach.  Um, most "legit" (that was for you Michael-Ann) thing ever?? YES!!!  Oh, and also, my bartering skills are getting really good.  I bartered with a store owner for the cutest Portugal mochila and with a different one for a dementor-hooded striped pullover!  I knocked like 2 or 3 euro off of each purchase....despite my not knowing a lick of Portuguese.  

Anyways, this was pretty much the best weekend ever and now I'm so excited to go to Sevilla and Granada this week and Paris in a few weeks!  I basically love my life right now.

SALAMANCA

There's la rana! (the frog)

Plaza Mayor Salamanca

Our first night in Lisbon and we're eating like Americans!

Squint your eyes and look really hard...you can see Florida!

From the Moorish Castle

soccer, segovia, mac&cheese

So last Thursday night we went finally made it to a Real Madrid Game!  It was awesome and exciting but also probably one of the scariest nights of my life!  It was at the opposing team's stadium and let me just say -- we are definitely not in Provo anymore.  Here's a little summary:
*We made Michael-Ann wear my jacket to hide her Ronaldo jersey
*David got spat at in his face
*We couldn't cheer when our team scored a goal for fear of getting mauled
*Police officers lined the streets (with guns, bullet proof vests, and shields -- i am not exaggerating!)
*Fights kept breaking out inside the stadium
*We missed our 1 a.m. bus to get back to Alcalá
*Waited outside for another hour for the next one to finally arrive
*I had to walk home, in Alcalá by myself at 3 in the morning.

Fun times, for sure.  On the up side, the Atlético de Madrid fan screaming in my ear managed to inadvertently help Kailie and I with our homework and, well, at least WE WON!

And the best part is, the next day we went on a trip to Segovia at 9 in the morn.  I was so exhausted I barely even remember it but I DO know that it was beautiful!  And I have plenty of photos to prove it.

And finally, macarrones con queso at Cynthia's house Sunday night was amazing.  Bless her heart for letting us make and eat it at her house.  3 boxes of Kraft, devoured within about ten minutes.  I love Spain, but I love my mac&cheese too.

Oh, and ALSO I finally got to Skype with Emily....about three times :)  It was great.  I love her!

Oh, just the Roman Aqueduct

Segoviaaa

Emmy :)

Oh blessed Kraft, how I love thee!

My mac&cheese buddy!

I think David was complaining about all the picture taking here...

flamenco.

Okay so it's been like 4 day since my last post but thinking about what I've missed, there isn't much.  So I'm just going to focus on the most important - FLAMENCO.

I don't know why I am so obsessed with it but I am and it is amazing!  I signed up for the flamenco class at our school which starts next Wednesday and tonight we went to the flamenco ballet show in Madrid...okay, I was freaking out in my seat the whole time!  It was amazing!  Absolutely loved it.  I don't think words can describe the excitement I was feeling...I felt like I was going to explode!

Anyways, I love Spain.  I love the flamenco.  I wish I was graceful.  Really, I just don't think it's fair that some were blessed with infinite amounts of grace while others (like myself) have none.

Also, these have nothing to do with the flamenco, but i just thought i'd share.

I've gotten much more popular since I've been in Spain

Juanita is getting well fed, don't you worry

The fence-hopping files

victory.

curses, museums, Real, and more curses.

I'd like to start this post with my totally creepy encounter at the train station.  While we were waiting for the train to Madrid this morning, this old lady trying to sell rosemary clippings for good luck or something ridiculous like that grabbed my arm and started trying to tell me my future.  I pulled away because I knew she would try and guilt me into paying her for her nonsensical blabberings.  But she just would not leave!  Really, she was so creepy, she kind of reminded me of the witch in Tangled or...well, really any witch in any movie!  So she gripped my wrist and like pulled me aside and started trying to tell me stuff about my "future" (which started out with promises of something about a handsome young man) and I just kept telling her that I believe in God and I don't need anything else (it was all I could think of in Spanish) and she just would not accept it!  So finally I like twisted out of her grip and joined the others in my group and we all decided to wait behind the ticket-taker things while she called out all sorts of bad luck and bad fortunes to me (my handsome young man turned into an ugly old one)...and for all I know she could have been cursing my firstborn daughter with a pig face (Penelope reference, just for you Victoria, Karen, and Emily).  Oh well.

Anyways, we headed to Madrid today with an actual plan to go to El Museo del Traje and the Real Madrid Stadium.  It was quite the lo-o-o-ong day, but very fun!  I loved the museum (a museum of 18th, 19th, and 20th century clothes....really, what's not to like?) and the stadium was awesome!  I'm not a huge soccer fanatic, but it definitely was exciting to be there.  Oh, and we also stopped at El Mercado de San Miguel again and got some shish kabobs and truffles...oh my goodness, I might take the train all the way to Madrid just for those truffles!  We also stopped at good 'ol Mickey D's to see how it compared to the U.S.  It was basically the same but a nice little bit of home!

We got back home just in time for dinner (at like 9:45 mind you) and had a lovely discussion with our host mom about the F-word, what it means, how its pronounced, and similar words in Spanish.  We also tried to teach her how to pronounce "peanuts" in English, which she said best she could, minus the T...Hahahaha I was dying of laughter!  It was quite the risqué dinner conversation, but definitely a memorable one.

Museo del Traje

PIcnic lunches packed by our madres!

Chelsey with delicious shish kabobs!

Plaza Mayor...probably our favorite part!

McDonald's!

Real Madrid Stadium

My host mom.  I just LOVE her!  These are our flamenco poses.

madrid, mushrooms, and missionaries

Such a great day today.  Our host mom, Pilar, made us a very traditional Spanish almuerzo.  The first dish was a broth with something in it...she said it was like couscous.  It seemed kind of like something between rice and noodles, but much better because I hate rice in soups.  Then we had patatas (potatoes), churrizo (sausage), carne (kind of a roast beef), and garbanzo beans....it was actually really good!  Oh, and I forgot to mention that the other day I ate a mushroom!  Well, it was in a Spanish tortilla (basically an omelette), but still, it was a huge step for me because I'm quite the picky eater and I'm not a fan of mushrooms.  But my dear host mom, bless her heart, is very kind to not feed me any fish or olives.  Gotta love her.

After our delicious almuerzo, we went to Madrid again.  This time we mostly just roamed around and took pictures, but it was a lot of fun.  We went to a chocolateria called La Chocolateria San Ginés and got some extremely delicious churros and hot chocolate.  The "hot chocolate" was nothing like in the U.S.  It was more like just melted chocolate, it was so chocolatey and thick -- nothing like Swiss Miss or any of that lame powder stuff in the U.S.!  Anyways, then we went back to the Palacio Royal and took some fun pictures then met up with the rest of our group to get some more to eat at the Mercado de San Miguel.

It was such a fun day in Madrid, I absolutely loved it!  Okay, but here's something funny -- well, at least I thought it was funny.  The whole time we were in Madrid, I kept thinking I saw the missionaries!  I saw one guy walk past us with some writing over his chest pocket on his jacket and I thought "name tag?  missionaries?!" but negative.  Then I saw this kid with a school blazer with an emblem over his chest and I jumped a little, hoping it was a missionary, but no!  I love seeing missionaries in different countries because it always makes me feel a little more at home.  So then on the train, just as we were pulling up to our stop, I saw two missionaries walking down the steps and I was like, "Look, missionaries!"  But then I paused because I didn't have my glasses on and I wanted to be sure but this time they really were the missionaries!!  Haha I was so excited!

The view through one of the archways in Plaza Mayor

With some street performers

In El Mercado.....We'll be going there many, many more times!

oh madrid, how i love thee

So we FINALLY made it to Madrid today!  I thought Alcalá was amazing but Madrid is about fifty times better!  It's so beautiful and alive and fun and just wonderful...walking out of the subway onto the street, my heart almost stopped, it's like a dream come true!  

Anyways, so here's our trip to Madrid in a nutshell:

* Double-decker train to the subway station

* Laughing nearly to the point of tears on the train

* That memorable first step onto the streets of Madrid

* A quick lunch/snack/drink at a little restaurant that smelled kind of weird (probably from all the meat hanging around...)

* A loooooong tour around Madrid - my favorite was probably the palace aka my future home

* Being scared out of my wits by statues, masks, and headless men that read newspapers that actually turn out to be real people!

* Tripping over some freak stone sticking out 2 inches above the road - my ankle still hurts

* Watching Alyssa dance with a cute old lady in the plaza (about half of Madrid was watching too)

* Spending about fifteen minutes trying to figure out which train would take us back to Alcalá

* Making conversation with the nice ladies on the train who assured us that we were headed in the right direction

* Getting "disoriented" getting back to my house (literally down the street from the train station...I don't know WHY or HOW I was born without any remote sense of direction!)

Oh, and best news of the day: my school offers flamenco classes!!!! for free!!

I am so excited, I don't think you can even comprehend!

I LOVE MADRID

Laura and I!  And I definitely thought this guy was NOT real until he moved!

Yup, real person

Oh this is just...the PALACE

My neck hurts from doing so many double-takes today