Sunday. Another nice day. Remember a long long time ago when I mentioned that my family had another place? We'll we went on Sunday. I always heard them say, "La Reina" which means queen, but after an hour drive we arrived at La Arena, more specifically San Juan de La Arena. Their apartment is in the closest complex to the beach. We walked along the beach and had a snack there before going back to the apartment, eating lunch, then taking naps :). After the naps we walked through the little pueblo. It was very relaxing and perfect because it rained while we slept, but it was perfect when we were outside. We came home and hung out a little. Madre started to cry, I said, "No me hagas llorar!" "Don't make me cry!"
Today. I could not sleep. I did not sleep a wink... I hope this won't mess with my traveling. Madre wanted to go for a walk, which is rare so I went with her. They got their assignment for their next student who will come on Friday! I finished errands... got a pendent blessed for mom, recycled all of my school papers, and returned, for the last time, my things from the library :(. I was a bit dramatically sad and confused the librarians momentarily, but then they just smiled and nodded. They wear lab coats here. Cool. My room is completely packed, I've written in the notebook that my madre has students write in, and the taxi is called for the morning. 12 hours until I leave the apartment. 1 day and 11 hours until I'm in CR. In my room. Bored. Freaking out about flying again. Sooo close.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Out on the town
WONDERFUL DAY. Walked around Oviedo with Landon (the guy who studied here 2 years ago) in the morning. When I came home I finished packing (ha!) and had lunch with the family! My madre always makes fresh french fries and then puts a fried egg on top. But today was extra special because she waited to call me to the kitchen until she was completely ready to serve everyone so that the french fries weren't scolding hot! AND we put tuna on top. Delicious. After lunch I said, "Vale, tengo que aprovechar el tiempo!" Ok, I have to take advantage of this weather! And my madre agreed so I just went out. I walked around for awhile- still seeing places I'd never seen before but WITHOUT getting lost. I found out that there is an aqueduct in Oviedo? Then I went to the park to read and saw a little boy chasing a peacock :) I ended up falling asleep in the sun and was at the park for 2 hours. Then on the way home I realized I have yet to see our museum of Bella Artes, so I just stopped in. I don't ever need to see another portrait in my life, but I really enjoy the sculptures and art with a story behind it. I saw a total of 3 weddings today and I just loved to look at the peoples' outfits- people go all out for weddings here! Guests had prom type dresses on and every man wore a tux. I finally got some pictures I've been meaning to get (a meat vending machine, little old ladies walking hand in hand...) and tonight I'm going out with Landon and Erica again! Oh happy day!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Chilling in Oviedo...
I hung out with my friends for their last couple of days and saw them off at the bus station because I had nothing better to do. Hopefully a couple of them are going to see me come into Iowa in 4 days :P they live in Cedar Rapids so it's no big deal. I will honestly miss them for those four days. The last to go were my very best of friends here and after seeing each other everyday for 5 months, four days alone is a long time. However, I am not completely alone. Many of those friends' families already took in students for the summer. They had the privilege of being translators and showing them around town! It's funny because we can totally tell walking down the street- 'mericans. And they can tell after a little bit too, and they stare at us because we aren't in any of their classes, so they have no idea why we're here. Another student comes to my house on the 3rd so I won't meet them, but at least I get to continue sleeping in my bed, other kids were sleeping on their couches. Additionally, I leave on May 31st with my friend with the Spanish boyfriend and then a student from UNI who studied two years ago and is visiting this week. We went out last night and probably will tonight too. It's crazy- we are all going to take the 6 AM bus to the airport, but he leaves at 7:30, she 7:40, and I leave at 8:30. All going to the US... but all at different times and ports. I packed today out of boredom. I will be seeing you all very soon.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Classes: over. UNIowans: Gone. Me:Bored. Well the middle one isn't completely true, there are 9 left in Europe besides me but 2 are in Switzerland, 2 in Tenerife, 2 are spending their last days with their boyfriends and the other 3 haven't called me and I'm doing my hermit thing where I wait to see if someone else has planned something before I get dressed. My original plan was to not blog until all of the Iowans were gone and I was REALLY bored, but I just walked 100 km, I can stay in bed a bit longer than usual. What really motivated me was stalking another friend's blog and seeing that she wrote her last Spain blog where she wrote her first... totally stealing that idea next week. I AM THE BIG CHEESE.
The end of school was an interesting experience because it felt like the last day of high school. Not even senior year, which is kind of sad, but more like sophomore year or something. You don't care, you're ready to go, you do nothing in the last class. At least that was me, there was one hard core teacher here that I didn't have that got teary-eyed and that made everyone do the same. But this really was like high school. You had the same classes with the same people everyday and there were totally cliques. This actually felt more like a movie high school than my high school experience. There was the feather club (this group of girls who were "artsy" and wore single feather earrings) the philly kids, the UMass kids, the Miami kids, the smokers, the smart kids, the Clique (so important that they didn't even have an adjective!) the cute boys, and my rag-tag friends. It was complete with people playing frisbee in front of the school every day! I left on Thursday knowing that my grades were all between 9 and 10 huzzah!
Thursday was my big day. Finally got all of my grades, went home to eat and sleep. The last time I saw my mom was 4 pm that day when she went to the doctor. At 8 I left to take my things to Jessica's house and start the night. After we settled our things we met up with everyone for our last big group outing. We took Sidra for an hour before going to a big dinner payed for by our very own... UNI! Sweet! Some girls of the group worked hard and had us all vote on a 'Most likely' list. Our 'award show' went along with dinner and was very fun. I won 'Most likely to become the next Liz Becker' (She was the girl who helped us prepare for our trip which is the job I'm trying to get...). When you accepted the award you had to say 3 things: 1. What will you miss most about Spain? Living in a city and walking to every place that I need to go. I'm going to have to pay for gas back home... 2. What was your favorite memory in Spain? The first days we were here, there were no cliques, no one knew what they were doing, and I could hang out freely in other peoples' rooms. 3. What has Spain meant to you? (Like everyone else...) It has been a transition. From little kid world to hopefully when I return, big kid world. We only had one crier during dinner, and it was the girl who's been crying for the last week.
We left and went out like Spaniards! 6 AM- we can do it! Me and Jessica's plan was to stay out until our bus left at 6:30 and sleep on the bus. At around 5 we had to go and everyone was doing one big group hug. About 5 people were crying at this point, but I still didn't feel like it. Until I heard the kind of snort that only happens when you are trying to hold back tears. My big brother Nate was crying. I lost it. Dang it Nate! I still tear up thinking about it... But then he made me do one of those laugh/cry things when he said, "This is just like that episode of Full House when the girls go to camp. It was awesome, but then Michelle stole a rabbit so they had to go back and it wasn't as cool. It was the people who made it great." Only a little laugh, it was still mostly sad.
Jessica and I hopped on our bus and slept most of the way to Lugo. We had decided that we would speak only Spanish on this trip and everyone said things to the effect of, "Didn't you say that at the beginning of your time in Spain?" Jerks. But we did it! We honestly only spoke English at albergues (hostels special to pilgrims [peregrinos] that were more like my idea of hostels-hundreds of backpackers in one room) when English was the common language. And the first moments of the last day- we were soooo out of it. As Gran Canaria was a great last trip, so was this one. The Camino de Santiago (or The Way of Saint James) is supposed to be a journey of reflection. Additionally the country looked like Iowa (Save for mountains) which made us excited for home. We decided that walking 100 km was also a good way to get rid of some Spain fat we've accumulated. We did the bare minimum in order to get a certificate but our experienced friends told us that we had enough stamps to seem like month-long travelers- yes! Uhh to explain that? You get a passport type thing and you have to get at least two stamps a day to prove that you really were walking from each place. You can get stamps in bars, restaurants, churches, museums... anywhere along the way. We met these silly Germans at the certification office who got rejected because it was evident that they took a bus one day. Durrrr. Anyways I'm certifiably a peregrino del Camino de Santiago. The certificate is all in Latin and my Latin name is Saram? Cool!
I might be typing super small posts EVERYDAY after Thursday when my friends leave me. So look forward to that. 1 Friday left!
The end of school was an interesting experience because it felt like the last day of high school. Not even senior year, which is kind of sad, but more like sophomore year or something. You don't care, you're ready to go, you do nothing in the last class. At least that was me, there was one hard core teacher here that I didn't have that got teary-eyed and that made everyone do the same. But this really was like high school. You had the same classes with the same people everyday and there were totally cliques. This actually felt more like a movie high school than my high school experience. There was the feather club (this group of girls who were "artsy" and wore single feather earrings) the philly kids, the UMass kids, the Miami kids, the smokers, the smart kids, the Clique (so important that they didn't even have an adjective!) the cute boys, and my rag-tag friends. It was complete with people playing frisbee in front of the school every day! I left on Thursday knowing that my grades were all between 9 and 10 huzzah!
Thursday was my big day. Finally got all of my grades, went home to eat and sleep. The last time I saw my mom was 4 pm that day when she went to the doctor. At 8 I left to take my things to Jessica's house and start the night. After we settled our things we met up with everyone for our last big group outing. We took Sidra for an hour before going to a big dinner payed for by our very own... UNI! Sweet! Some girls of the group worked hard and had us all vote on a 'Most likely' list. Our 'award show' went along with dinner and was very fun. I won 'Most likely to become the next Liz Becker' (She was the girl who helped us prepare for our trip which is the job I'm trying to get...). When you accepted the award you had to say 3 things: 1. What will you miss most about Spain? Living in a city and walking to every place that I need to go. I'm going to have to pay for gas back home... 2. What was your favorite memory in Spain? The first days we were here, there were no cliques, no one knew what they were doing, and I could hang out freely in other peoples' rooms. 3. What has Spain meant to you? (Like everyone else...) It has been a transition. From little kid world to hopefully when I return, big kid world. We only had one crier during dinner, and it was the girl who's been crying for the last week.
We left and went out like Spaniards! 6 AM- we can do it! Me and Jessica's plan was to stay out until our bus left at 6:30 and sleep on the bus. At around 5 we had to go and everyone was doing one big group hug. About 5 people were crying at this point, but I still didn't feel like it. Until I heard the kind of snort that only happens when you are trying to hold back tears. My big brother Nate was crying. I lost it. Dang it Nate! I still tear up thinking about it... But then he made me do one of those laugh/cry things when he said, "This is just like that episode of Full House when the girls go to camp. It was awesome, but then Michelle stole a rabbit so they had to go back and it wasn't as cool. It was the people who made it great." Only a little laugh, it was still mostly sad.
Jessica and I hopped on our bus and slept most of the way to Lugo. We had decided that we would speak only Spanish on this trip and everyone said things to the effect of, "Didn't you say that at the beginning of your time in Spain?" Jerks. But we did it! We honestly only spoke English at albergues (hostels special to pilgrims [peregrinos] that were more like my idea of hostels-hundreds of backpackers in one room) when English was the common language. And the first moments of the last day- we were soooo out of it. As Gran Canaria was a great last trip, so was this one. The Camino de Santiago (or The Way of Saint James) is supposed to be a journey of reflection. Additionally the country looked like Iowa (Save for mountains) which made us excited for home. We decided that walking 100 km was also a good way to get rid of some Spain fat we've accumulated. We did the bare minimum in order to get a certificate but our experienced friends told us that we had enough stamps to seem like month-long travelers- yes! Uhh to explain that? You get a passport type thing and you have to get at least two stamps a day to prove that you really were walking from each place. You can get stamps in bars, restaurants, churches, museums... anywhere along the way. We met these silly Germans at the certification office who got rejected because it was evident that they took a bus one day. Durrrr. Anyways I'm certifiably a peregrino del Camino de Santiago. The certificate is all in Latin and my Latin name is Saram? Cool!
I might be typing super small posts EVERYDAY after Thursday when my friends leave me. So look forward to that. 1 Friday left!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Mini-post: You can read it in one sitting!
Tuesday night was an American night at a bar and a popular kid's birthday. So everyone went out on a school night... weird. Thursday night I had the first of my finals. Fonetica was hilarious- because we had all failed the last time, I could tell our teacher felt guilty. So, once I had finished my test he said to me, "You have three wrong and all for the same reason" and so I found the three and got a 10! If I had made those mistakes I would have gotten a 9 (still an A) but everyone in the class got 10s hahaha! That night we had a photo scavenger hunt throughout Oviedo. It was really fun at first... until it took us an hour and a half. However, we stuck it out and my team won! We got a bag full of candy... and it ended up being my dinner. I DO NOT EAT THIS MANY SWEETS IN THE STATES I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME.
On Friday we found out that the bar we go to EVERY THURSDAY EXCEPT THIS ONE BECAUSE WE WERE TIRED FROM THE SCAVENGER HUNT gave out free t-shirts on Thursday. No!!!! So we went on Friday and they were doing more of the same. We all know how much I love free things, so I was a happy camper. Also- one of our teachers invited us to his friends' concert. We went and it was a strange experience. "Oh, I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs."-Mean Girls
Leaving the study abroad experience is having strange affects on people. The mean girl is crying because she doesn't want to leave, the good girl is getting drunk, and everyone is giving random extended teary-eyed hugs. People are being nicer, "Gosh, I should have hung out with you more!" and we are all reminiscing. A new herd of Miami of Ohio students have come in and Iowa kids are giving them all sorts of advice (because Miami kids don't look out for each other). I feel good helping them, but then remember how long ago it was that I learned the things I'm advising them about... :( I met with my English conversation partner for the last time today. Ahhh I remember making fun of a part of our Adolescent Skills book in 8th grade, "I feel like I'm on an emotional rollercoaster", but that is exactly what this is. I'm either dying to get home or crying because I don't want to leave. I just wish there was a way I could take a little of this and a little of that and make my own perfect Oviedo/Iowa world.
On Friday we found out that the bar we go to EVERY THURSDAY EXCEPT THIS ONE BECAUSE WE WERE TIRED FROM THE SCAVENGER HUNT gave out free t-shirts on Thursday. No!!!! So we went on Friday and they were doing more of the same. We all know how much I love free things, so I was a happy camper. Also- one of our teachers invited us to his friends' concert. We went and it was a strange experience. "Oh, I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs."-Mean Girls
Leaving the study abroad experience is having strange affects on people. The mean girl is crying because she doesn't want to leave, the good girl is getting drunk, and everyone is giving random extended teary-eyed hugs. People are being nicer, "Gosh, I should have hung out with you more!" and we are all reminiscing. A new herd of Miami of Ohio students have come in and Iowa kids are giving them all sorts of advice (because Miami kids don't look out for each other). I feel good helping them, but then remember how long ago it was that I learned the things I'm advising them about... :( I met with my English conversation partner for the last time today. Ahhh I remember making fun of a part of our Adolescent Skills book in 8th grade, "I feel like I'm on an emotional rollercoaster", but that is exactly what this is. I'm either dying to get home or crying because I don't want to leave. I just wish there was a way I could take a little of this and a little of that and make my own perfect Oviedo/Iowa world.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
A lot of parenthesis (paréntesis)
So I went to Easter mass at the cathedral here with my non-Catholic friends to teach them what was going on. My one friend couldn't stop laughing when they talked about Mary Magdalene (Maria Magdalena [magdalena= cupcake in Spanish]). After mass two of my best friends pulled out huge tablets of chocolate. I died inside. Ate about half of one as we made our way to McDonalds for our McFlurries. Amazing. Had some salty french fries (Why do we call them french fries and have such a big fuss over them being 'french'? In Spanish they are just fried potatoes [potatas fritas] how hard is that? And why do we have to change city names?! Sevilla/Seville, Londres/London or Deutchland/Germany how hard is it to say the native name? Grrrr) and then went to the fancy bakery to get fancy chocolate. I forget how but I ended up staying out with my friends for 8 hours. I finally came home and was too lazy to make dinner so... I ate one of the tablets for dinner. I was literally belly aching and all Tom had to say was, "Serves you right, you had chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner..." However I can't complain because he was a wonderful boyfriend and accompanied my mom to the Easter Vigil in Iowa City! Yay Tom!! They had a great time and some Village Inn afterwards!
Wednesday I went with Jessica to Madrid to get her new passport. Our friend Deanna ended up coming too. "You guys are skipping school on Wednesday to go to Madrid? Hmm.. I haven't made it there yet and it would be a shame to say I came to Spain without going to Madrid... Can I come?" Three's a company! We took the Midnight bus so that we'd arrive around 6 am, we relaxed at the bus station for a while before separating. Deanna went to do the touristy stuff while Jessica and I found the Embassy. Jessica was a little upset with me (and I in myself) that I didn't bring my camera, because a picture in front of the Embassy would have been cool... sigh. I brought my brick named Harry Potter y el cádiz de fuego instead. It only took two hours (though my host mom scolded me when I said I'd be home at 11 pm "You need more time than that! I've had students for years and they've always spent the night!") We met some girls who were also studying abroad and also had their purse stolen.
After our appointment we cooled down with a snack in the sun and looked up what I had researched to do (that we didn't last time). I had a traditional dress of Spain museum, two parks, and a movie theater with movies in English. It was a beautiful day so we chose the park Casa de Campo. If you mention it to ANYONE in Spain they will ask, "You went to the prostitute park?". Yes, it even says so in my guide book (Thanks Chris!). But, the city has cracked down and the real problem is at night. We just soaked in the sun around the lake, it was so relaxing. A friend I graduated with, Sabrina, is currently studying in Madrid and was sufficiently disappointed in me for not visiting her when I took my Madrid trip early on. So she came to visit us in the park and we caught up while playing on the BEST PLAYGROUND EVER. It was for big kids, a sign said "12 years and up". There was a zipline and monkey bars and trampolines and THE COOLEST SEE SAW EVER. Jessica and I got on it before Sabrina showed up and I have not laughed and screamed so hard in such a long time. It was legitimately frightening at times. It was feet off the ground, so you never had the scrunched up legs, and it turned! We were on it for a good 5 minutes and this cute family with a 2 year old couldn't stop staring and laughing. We got back on the bus and watched two movies on the way back home Life is Beautiful (One of my favorite movies of all time, and of course I was crying at the end, on the bus, and Deanna and Jessica laughed at me) and Disturbia which I also screamed twice during. Luckily our bus mates found me funny and not annoying.
We only went to school Thursday and Friday of that week. That weekend Sunday was mother's day here in Spain. My madre is a great subtle hinter. She always complains about things that I do, but that other people are doing. For example, "Pedro (mi hermano)'s girlfriend's hair all over the house!" When I point out that my hair is probably all over the house or that I do the same things she assures me, "No no no, you are wonderful". Hmm... Anyways, about two weeks previous, she mentioned offhandedly that one year her student disappeared and no one knew where she went. Then she came home with flowers for Mother's Day! K, got it. Flowers on Sunday. I woke up early and went down to the market, I got her flowers and then two romantic comedies from the library. I came home and no one was home so I went to nap. When she came home she was probably the happiest I've ever seen her, reading my note and looking at all the flowers she received. She said "Hop in the car!" And I went with her and my padre to their favorite restaurant in a small town near by. She was singing in the car and I was just enjoying driving in a car! I haven't done that (save for a few taxis and when my padre picked me up the first day) since the USA! After lunch we went to the beach and it was just a relaxing day. We were going to go to a museum but I guess I fell asleep in the car so we just went home and watched Nights in Rodanthe together.
Didn't have school on Monday. I had papers due on Thursday and Friday though. Honestly, it is sooo hard to do homework when you haven't really for 5 months! After school on Friday I hopped on the bus, and then plane, and then taxi and landed in my apartment for the weekend in Gran Canaria! My group was wonderful and we had a great time! It was interesting because a lot of Germans go to Gran Canaria so people didn't assume we were American, however German. There was a lot of Northern Europe things there even though we were technically off the coast of Africa. Interesting. We pretty much just beached it up. The beach was really cool because there was no space for huge hotels to ruin the view. There were SAND DUNES all over, very cool. Saturday we were at the beach from about 12-5 and then went to the Gay Pride concert in the middle of town. Sunday we took a camel ride and then were at the beach from about 1-8 so we could see the sun set. My friend Danielle blew my mind with, "The sun isn't going down, we are just rotating around it". Ah! Mind blown! Then Monday we packed and cleaned and were at the beach from 11-2 before traveling back to Oviedo. We were very skin conscious though and finished off two bottles of sun block. We all just hung out at my apartment a lot and sat around the bed talking at the end of the day. I was able correct my friend Tyler who thought during this entire 5 month experience that my name was 'Sara Ardino' (For the longest time I thought he had a cold). The trip was similar to flying from Iowa to Miami for a weekend but it was totally worth it. We all said we were the perfect group on the perfect last trip.
Back to real life (Or as real as it gets in Spain). Jessica and I are going to do the Camino de Santiago after school ends so we need to plan that. I asked my padres if I could leave my things at their house and they said yes, but I might want to ask if I can actually stay a couple days too (my contract ends the 20th). I need to do a trial packing to see if I need to get another suitcase (doubt it). I need to finish on my souvenir shopping. I need to send my final postcards. I need to look into going to Cali in August. And I need to stopping thinking about the conversion rate (1.5 OMGOSH). These are not things to stress about right?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Semana Santa
There is no block of chocolate in my hand, but I write to you now because I fear I will soon grow tired of telling this story of Semana Santa.
Cast:
Me, Jessica, Shelby, Katie, Erica (Beaves), Erica (Erutz)
Setting:
Andulucia (Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga)
Exposition:
I came up with the idea, days set in each city and hostels. Katie organized everything from there.
Tagline:
There are warm people in this world and cold people. The lives of those of us in the middle often depend on those extreme people's choices.
Thursday April 14th-
We leave Oviedo at 6 in the morning. Erutz forgot her converter and Katie only slept for 3 hours. We fly to Barcelona and have a 4 hour layover before everyone (minus Shelby and Katie) arrives in Sevilla. WE LOVE SEVILLA. It really felt like Spring Break because there were orange and palm trees all around. So warm. So different from Asturias. We worked together to find our hostel and were only lost about 5 minutes in the neighborhood it was in. Our hostel is SO COOL. It's this 4 story bohemian cove for tourists our age. They have a free food cupboard and shelf in the fridge and you know I took advantage of that (Eggs for breakfast and noodles for lunch!). We get settled but not for long because everyone (minus me and Beaves) is leaving for Granada in a few hours. I put Granada on the trip mainly to see the Alhambra, this amazing moorish palace. However, we did not book tickets enough in advance and we could only find tickets the during a day we were scheduled to be in Sevilla. Beaves and I didn't want to go through buying 30 euro bus tickets to sleep in a bus station, maybe lose our hostel reservations, and see the Alhambra. I figured things would work out. So they left and Beaves and I had a relaxing night walking back to the hostel and playing games. The next day we left in the morning to find her new shoes (comfort over fashion) and walk around the city. Katie had everything down to a tee and I asked her what sites that we might not be able to see, since they are losing a day. We saw some of those things (mostly plazas) and went to the Alcázar. Amazing. I did not realize how much I loved gardens until this trip. I did know that I wanted to see a hedge maze while I was here- and there is a labyrinth within the gardens! We stayed there for 2 hours. We lazed about and ended up taking siestas in the hostel. Then we went to pick up the others from the bus station. We went to a free Flamenco show that night and on the way accidentally came upon a Semana Santa procession. Cool! Eerie. Then we collapsed in our beds after. The next day we were down for business. The people who missed a day wanted to see EVERYTHING they had ever heard about Sevilla in one day. This was cause for some disagreements. Anyways... we ended the night watching the Real Madrid/Barcelona game which ended in a tie. All the while we spotted gypsies and I was often compared to them. We went to the Plaza de España, which looked different than any other plaza I've seen so far and supposedly part of Star Wars was filmed at? I have no idea, I'll have to look it up.
At this point I don't know days... Córdoba-
We get to Córdoba and walk to our hostel. It's supposed to be a 40 minute walk, but it doesn't feel like it because I am taking in all that is around me. At first I think-this isn't as cool as Sevilla. Not as much life, not as much orange. I would soon change my mind. I LOVE CORDOBA. I love it, I do, and I think almost everyone I know would too. They have 1 of the 3 synagogues in Spain, the Mezquita (Amazing mosque, with amazing history [It is now a cathedral]) and of course a mountain of Catholic influence. That would entice many people. The streets are beautiful and have awesome names! I actually took pictures here! The Alcazar here is BEAUTIFUL. I realized that something I loved about the alcazares is that you can walk through everything then pick a spot and soak in your surroundings. I felt no guilt in sitting down closing my eyes here, because I was still taking in what it had to offer- the strong scent of flowers, the warmth of the sun, and the peaceful tinkling of the fountains. Additionally- they are being used for their intended purpose. I sometimes feel bad that there seems to be NO church in Spain that is just a church, without tourists. I think it is hard enough to pay attention, but with tourists walking around and muttering during mass, come on? That would be so difficult! But people built these gardens long ago for people to relax in and people are still doing that. Anyways, Córdoba also has wonderful shops. Honestly, anyone would love it. I was a weird person here though. I showered, bought souvenirs, and took pictures. We were all confused. We saw more processions and more people. I talked to my madre about how much I loved Córdoba and she said that it is place filled with educated people. Definitely loved it.
Granada
We get to the Córdoba bus station and think our bus isn't ready yet. 'Uh, that super bus is still at our gate. I wonder when our bus will come, I hope it's not late...'. Turns out- we actually got the super bus!!!! YES! I love them. We got baggies with food and water in them, watched Princess and the Frog, and had plenty of leg room for 3 hours. Definite highlight. We got to Granada and decided to take the bus to our hostel because it would be another 40 minute walk. The bus was packed and so I was very watchful of my things, but I got separated from my group which didn't make me comfortable. This man kept trying to push through me and I said that I couldn't move, but he kept trying so I told Erutz to sit on her suitcase and let him through. It was crowded to the point that people didn't make it off at their stops because they couldn't get through. However we made it out and walked to our hostel. We start getting our money out to pay and I hear, "Wait, where's my... no not... no... where's my wallet? No! WHERE'S MY WALLET?!". Everyone scrambles and looks. Erutz understandable starts to sob. Shelby and I run outside search the streets and the bus and get the number of the bus company though we know they won't have it. When we come back we find out that she has canceled her debit and credit cards and that they tried to buy something but her dad is on top of it. There's nothing we can do now, but try to make light of the situation. She's feeling better after some comforting and some jokes. We go out that night because Jessica and Shelby's professor from last semester used to study in Granada and she said to go to this certain pub and say 'hi' to the bartender for her. We do, he doesn't remember her, embarrassing. The next day Beaves and I decided to try to get tickets to the Alhambra, we heard that they keep some everyday to sell AT the Alhambra, even if it is sold out online. The first bus to it leaves at 7 so we leave then. That was a joke. The line is 200 some people long. We get in it for a second and ask a woman in line how long she's been there and how much she's moved. 5 feet in 10 minutes. Then we hear an announcement that they are only selling 100 more tickets for the afternoon. Soo.... We ask the people at the very front of the line what time they got there: 5:30 AM. Ok, we can do that. We decide to see the free parts of the Alhambra and walk back to town (The Alhambra is on a hill overlooking Granada) so that we can know our route for the next morning. There is a wonderful but steep pedestrian path that slowly leads to the city. We start to see shops and hostels and think, "Wouldn't it be great if our hostel was right here?". We get down to the main street and Beaves pulls out the map and then I say "No!" we just passed our hostel! We DO live right here! Yay! The next day's trek would not be so difficult. When we get back everyone is still sleeping so we join them. We get up and decide to see the city. Granada is the least like Spain city I've seen. It has so much Arabic influence that it doesn't really match up to what we have seen before. The Cathedral and Palace cost money to get into so nobody (but one) wants to go in, after a while a church is a church and a cathedral is a cathedral. And after someone's money gets stolen everyone thinks a little harder about their own. The food market is just a meat market, the baths are expensive and only consist of a 15 minute massage, and the street venders are many and creepy. I am not feeling Granada. We have until 9 pm the NEXT night (because we thought we'd go to the Alhambra, and I tried pleasing someone by going to each place for the EXACT number of days that someone told them they had to be there... so I had to play with hours). I throw the idea out that I want to leave Granada as soon as Beaves and I see the Alhambra. This doesn't go down very well. We go out that night to see gypsy caves and the Alhambra lit up at night and we keep getting lost, but the person with the map wouldn't let anyone help. Moods are getting cranky. We decide to go to bed early even though Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing again. Beaves and I get up at 4 in the morning and hike to the Alhambra. We get to the box office at 4:45 after having trouble getting out of bed, walking like zombies, and getting slightly lost. We are the 4th and 5th people in line. I REALLY wanted to take a picture every half hour of the line, but she said it would be too weird and obvious with the flash on. We sit and talk and ration our cookies and chips. By 8, when the office opens, there are at least 150 people in line. I whoop when the guard opens the door and people laugh, and then he starts closing it again and people joined me in 'oooh'-ing, and then he opened it again and there was some clapping. Fun. We got morning tickets and went right in. I think this was one of those things in which I got my hopes too high. I had learned about the Alhambra in art, Chris told me I had to go, and I had talked it up in my own head. It was beautiful, it was exciting to get tickets, but I wasn't falling over in amazement. I think I was tainted by seeing the alcazares first, and the girls who came to Granada first were the other way around. We covered every bit of it and walked down to the hostel at 12. We told everyone we were leaving and they could join us if they wanted.
Málaga
We changed our bus tickets for one euro and then waited for an hour in the bus station. Quick anecdote- At many bus stations there is a restaurant called 'exit'. I was walking behind Beaves and she kept turning around and trying other doors. I didn't know what she was doing until she asked, "How are we supposed to get into this cafeteria?!". HAHAHA I asked her what country we are in, and how do they say exit? Funny. We get to Málaga at 4 and decided to take a taxi to our hostel because we are TIRED. We get there and the lady asks if we are the Italians. I thought oh no oh no, she lost our reservation but then I remembered that my name is Andino and it confuses people. We laughed. So we get ready and I told her we are early, but are wondering if we could leave our stuff there or anything. She's smiling, being friendly and then stops and frowns. "You're 22 hours early. I have no room for you". What? 22 hours? If anything it's 10 hours. We're coming at 2 am. "2 am? Come on, I have to sleep at some point". You offered 2 am as a check-in time! "2 PM" (All the while she is saying mañana which can mean morning or tomorrow, but she is saying 2 in the mañana which would mean morning, but she really means the tarde....) You offered military time, so 2 in the tarde would be 1400. "No no no, regardless I don't have room for you". Crap. We ask her if she knows of any other hostels nearby. No. We ask her if we can pay the same and all sleep in one bed, or on couches. No. We are scared that all the girls will hate me. We find out that Jessica and Katie are coming one hour after we came and then Shelby and Erutz are coming one hour after that. So we are trying to come up with ideas before everyone comes. The lady lets us use her computer and we find two hostels, no one could fit 6 but each could fit two. We decided to walk back to the bus station to tell the other girls to their face because this would not be a good phone conversation. Surprisingly, Kate (the planner) doesn't seem angry, she is in her element. We are going to fix this. We will go on a day trip somewhere near hear and come back tomorrow. She and Beaves go to the 2 computers offered at the bus station and start working. I feel as though more input would just make things confusing so the four of us are standing around talking. We have all of our things on us but Jessica has her purse and bag at her feet along with the Erica's big suitcases. We are talking in a circle around our stuff and just goofing off, I'm glad that no one seems angry with me and then Jessica looks down and says, "Fudge!". Fudgefudgefudgefudgsicles. Her purse is gone. We were all right there. We look around, run around, no where. We talk to security, they have it all on tape but they won't take the time to show it to us. "They're probably gone, it happens all the time, tough luck". I ask a couple people to open their bags, knowing I'm being judgemental and rude, but I'll never see these people again. We decide we are done with Málaga and Semana Santa and cancel our hostel and instead buy bus tickets home. Jessica goes to the police station to get a form for her passport. And we wait in the bus station until our bus leaves. We suspect this guy who was sitting near us at the time and know that they often work in groups. We're just sitting around and we see two other guys walk up to him and they all have walkie talkies (same word in Spanish) and are transferring things! I run to the Security office bang on the door and say that we are seeing something suspicious! They come out and talk to those guys and say they are police. We didn't see them show any evidence and we don't understand what the police would be transferring or why they would have 'undercover police' if they don't even care if someone gets robbed.
The return
We get on the midnight 6 hour bus to Madrid. We have a 3 hour layover there before our 6 hour bus to Oviedo. I get home and am able to cancel our other bus tickets that we won't be using and I talk to my Madre about the trip. Jessica is figuring things out and I'm going to go with her to the embassy on Wednesday. Chris says she should be able to get a new passport in two weeks or so. So that was the trip. A lot of fun, a lot of frustration, and then a lot of sadness. It was comforting coming back to Oviedo, our second home where we know we are safe. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one last night wishing I was sleeping in my home in Iowa.
Cast:
Me, Jessica, Shelby, Katie, Erica (Beaves), Erica (Erutz)
Setting:
Andulucia (Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga)
Exposition:
I came up with the idea, days set in each city and hostels. Katie organized everything from there.
Tagline:
There are warm people in this world and cold people. The lives of those of us in the middle often depend on those extreme people's choices.
Thursday April 14th-
We leave Oviedo at 6 in the morning. Erutz forgot her converter and Katie only slept for 3 hours. We fly to Barcelona and have a 4 hour layover before everyone (minus Shelby and Katie) arrives in Sevilla. WE LOVE SEVILLA. It really felt like Spring Break because there were orange and palm trees all around. So warm. So different from Asturias. We worked together to find our hostel and were only lost about 5 minutes in the neighborhood it was in. Our hostel is SO COOL. It's this 4 story bohemian cove for tourists our age. They have a free food cupboard and shelf in the fridge and you know I took advantage of that (Eggs for breakfast and noodles for lunch!). We get settled but not for long because everyone (minus me and Beaves) is leaving for Granada in a few hours. I put Granada on the trip mainly to see the Alhambra, this amazing moorish palace. However, we did not book tickets enough in advance and we could only find tickets the during a day we were scheduled to be in Sevilla. Beaves and I didn't want to go through buying 30 euro bus tickets to sleep in a bus station, maybe lose our hostel reservations, and see the Alhambra. I figured things would work out. So they left and Beaves and I had a relaxing night walking back to the hostel and playing games. The next day we left in the morning to find her new shoes (comfort over fashion) and walk around the city. Katie had everything down to a tee and I asked her what sites that we might not be able to see, since they are losing a day. We saw some of those things (mostly plazas) and went to the Alcázar. Amazing. I did not realize how much I loved gardens until this trip. I did know that I wanted to see a hedge maze while I was here- and there is a labyrinth within the gardens! We stayed there for 2 hours. We lazed about and ended up taking siestas in the hostel. Then we went to pick up the others from the bus station. We went to a free Flamenco show that night and on the way accidentally came upon a Semana Santa procession. Cool! Eerie. Then we collapsed in our beds after. The next day we were down for business. The people who missed a day wanted to see EVERYTHING they had ever heard about Sevilla in one day. This was cause for some disagreements. Anyways... we ended the night watching the Real Madrid/Barcelona game which ended in a tie. All the while we spotted gypsies and I was often compared to them. We went to the Plaza de España, which looked different than any other plaza I've seen so far and supposedly part of Star Wars was filmed at? I have no idea, I'll have to look it up.
At this point I don't know days... Córdoba-
We get to Córdoba and walk to our hostel. It's supposed to be a 40 minute walk, but it doesn't feel like it because I am taking in all that is around me. At first I think-this isn't as cool as Sevilla. Not as much life, not as much orange. I would soon change my mind. I LOVE CORDOBA. I love it, I do, and I think almost everyone I know would too. They have 1 of the 3 synagogues in Spain, the Mezquita (Amazing mosque, with amazing history [It is now a cathedral]) and of course a mountain of Catholic influence. That would entice many people. The streets are beautiful and have awesome names! I actually took pictures here! The Alcazar here is BEAUTIFUL. I realized that something I loved about the alcazares is that you can walk through everything then pick a spot and soak in your surroundings. I felt no guilt in sitting down closing my eyes here, because I was still taking in what it had to offer- the strong scent of flowers, the warmth of the sun, and the peaceful tinkling of the fountains. Additionally- they are being used for their intended purpose. I sometimes feel bad that there seems to be NO church in Spain that is just a church, without tourists. I think it is hard enough to pay attention, but with tourists walking around and muttering during mass, come on? That would be so difficult! But people built these gardens long ago for people to relax in and people are still doing that. Anyways, Córdoba also has wonderful shops. Honestly, anyone would love it. I was a weird person here though. I showered, bought souvenirs, and took pictures. We were all confused. We saw more processions and more people. I talked to my madre about how much I loved Córdoba and she said that it is place filled with educated people. Definitely loved it.
Granada
We get to the Córdoba bus station and think our bus isn't ready yet. 'Uh, that super bus is still at our gate. I wonder when our bus will come, I hope it's not late...'. Turns out- we actually got the super bus!!!! YES! I love them. We got baggies with food and water in them, watched Princess and the Frog, and had plenty of leg room for 3 hours. Definite highlight. We got to Granada and decided to take the bus to our hostel because it would be another 40 minute walk. The bus was packed and so I was very watchful of my things, but I got separated from my group which didn't make me comfortable. This man kept trying to push through me and I said that I couldn't move, but he kept trying so I told Erutz to sit on her suitcase and let him through. It was crowded to the point that people didn't make it off at their stops because they couldn't get through. However we made it out and walked to our hostel. We start getting our money out to pay and I hear, "Wait, where's my... no not... no... where's my wallet? No! WHERE'S MY WALLET?!". Everyone scrambles and looks. Erutz understandable starts to sob. Shelby and I run outside search the streets and the bus and get the number of the bus company though we know they won't have it. When we come back we find out that she has canceled her debit and credit cards and that they tried to buy something but her dad is on top of it. There's nothing we can do now, but try to make light of the situation. She's feeling better after some comforting and some jokes. We go out that night because Jessica and Shelby's professor from last semester used to study in Granada and she said to go to this certain pub and say 'hi' to the bartender for her. We do, he doesn't remember her, embarrassing. The next day Beaves and I decided to try to get tickets to the Alhambra, we heard that they keep some everyday to sell AT the Alhambra, even if it is sold out online. The first bus to it leaves at 7 so we leave then. That was a joke. The line is 200 some people long. We get in it for a second and ask a woman in line how long she's been there and how much she's moved. 5 feet in 10 minutes. Then we hear an announcement that they are only selling 100 more tickets for the afternoon. Soo.... We ask the people at the very front of the line what time they got there: 5:30 AM. Ok, we can do that. We decide to see the free parts of the Alhambra and walk back to town (The Alhambra is on a hill overlooking Granada) so that we can know our route for the next morning. There is a wonderful but steep pedestrian path that slowly leads to the city. We start to see shops and hostels and think, "Wouldn't it be great if our hostel was right here?". We get down to the main street and Beaves pulls out the map and then I say "No!" we just passed our hostel! We DO live right here! Yay! The next day's trek would not be so difficult. When we get back everyone is still sleeping so we join them. We get up and decide to see the city. Granada is the least like Spain city I've seen. It has so much Arabic influence that it doesn't really match up to what we have seen before. The Cathedral and Palace cost money to get into so nobody (but one) wants to go in, after a while a church is a church and a cathedral is a cathedral. And after someone's money gets stolen everyone thinks a little harder about their own. The food market is just a meat market, the baths are expensive and only consist of a 15 minute massage, and the street venders are many and creepy. I am not feeling Granada. We have until 9 pm the NEXT night (because we thought we'd go to the Alhambra, and I tried pleasing someone by going to each place for the EXACT number of days that someone told them they had to be there... so I had to play with hours). I throw the idea out that I want to leave Granada as soon as Beaves and I see the Alhambra. This doesn't go down very well. We go out that night to see gypsy caves and the Alhambra lit up at night and we keep getting lost, but the person with the map wouldn't let anyone help. Moods are getting cranky. We decide to go to bed early even though Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing again. Beaves and I get up at 4 in the morning and hike to the Alhambra. We get to the box office at 4:45 after having trouble getting out of bed, walking like zombies, and getting slightly lost. We are the 4th and 5th people in line. I REALLY wanted to take a picture every half hour of the line, but she said it would be too weird and obvious with the flash on. We sit and talk and ration our cookies and chips. By 8, when the office opens, there are at least 150 people in line. I whoop when the guard opens the door and people laugh, and then he starts closing it again and people joined me in 'oooh'-ing, and then he opened it again and there was some clapping. Fun. We got morning tickets and went right in. I think this was one of those things in which I got my hopes too high. I had learned about the Alhambra in art, Chris told me I had to go, and I had talked it up in my own head. It was beautiful, it was exciting to get tickets, but I wasn't falling over in amazement. I think I was tainted by seeing the alcazares first, and the girls who came to Granada first were the other way around. We covered every bit of it and walked down to the hostel at 12. We told everyone we were leaving and they could join us if they wanted.
Málaga
We changed our bus tickets for one euro and then waited for an hour in the bus station. Quick anecdote- At many bus stations there is a restaurant called 'exit'. I was walking behind Beaves and she kept turning around and trying other doors. I didn't know what she was doing until she asked, "How are we supposed to get into this cafeteria?!". HAHAHA I asked her what country we are in, and how do they say exit? Funny. We get to Málaga at 4 and decided to take a taxi to our hostel because we are TIRED. We get there and the lady asks if we are the Italians. I thought oh no oh no, she lost our reservation but then I remembered that my name is Andino and it confuses people. We laughed. So we get ready and I told her we are early, but are wondering if we could leave our stuff there or anything. She's smiling, being friendly and then stops and frowns. "You're 22 hours early. I have no room for you". What? 22 hours? If anything it's 10 hours. We're coming at 2 am. "2 am? Come on, I have to sleep at some point". You offered 2 am as a check-in time! "2 PM" (All the while she is saying mañana which can mean morning or tomorrow, but she is saying 2 in the mañana which would mean morning, but she really means the tarde....) You offered military time, so 2 in the tarde would be 1400. "No no no, regardless I don't have room for you". Crap. We ask her if she knows of any other hostels nearby. No. We ask her if we can pay the same and all sleep in one bed, or on couches. No. We are scared that all the girls will hate me. We find out that Jessica and Katie are coming one hour after we came and then Shelby and Erutz are coming one hour after that. So we are trying to come up with ideas before everyone comes. The lady lets us use her computer and we find two hostels, no one could fit 6 but each could fit two. We decided to walk back to the bus station to tell the other girls to their face because this would not be a good phone conversation. Surprisingly, Kate (the planner) doesn't seem angry, she is in her element. We are going to fix this. We will go on a day trip somewhere near hear and come back tomorrow. She and Beaves go to the 2 computers offered at the bus station and start working. I feel as though more input would just make things confusing so the four of us are standing around talking. We have all of our things on us but Jessica has her purse and bag at her feet along with the Erica's big suitcases. We are talking in a circle around our stuff and just goofing off, I'm glad that no one seems angry with me and then Jessica looks down and says, "Fudge!". Fudgefudgefudgefudgsicles. Her purse is gone. We were all right there. We look around, run around, no where. We talk to security, they have it all on tape but they won't take the time to show it to us. "They're probably gone, it happens all the time, tough luck". I ask a couple people to open their bags, knowing I'm being judgemental and rude, but I'll never see these people again. We decide we are done with Málaga and Semana Santa and cancel our hostel and instead buy bus tickets home. Jessica goes to the police station to get a form for her passport. And we wait in the bus station until our bus leaves. We suspect this guy who was sitting near us at the time and know that they often work in groups. We're just sitting around and we see two other guys walk up to him and they all have walkie talkies (same word in Spanish) and are transferring things! I run to the Security office bang on the door and say that we are seeing something suspicious! They come out and talk to those guys and say they are police. We didn't see them show any evidence and we don't understand what the police would be transferring or why they would have 'undercover police' if they don't even care if someone gets robbed.
The return
We get on the midnight 6 hour bus to Madrid. We have a 3 hour layover there before our 6 hour bus to Oviedo. I get home and am able to cancel our other bus tickets that we won't be using and I talk to my Madre about the trip. Jessica is figuring things out and I'm going to go with her to the embassy on Wednesday. Chris says she should be able to get a new passport in two weeks or so. So that was the trip. A lot of fun, a lot of frustration, and then a lot of sadness. It was comforting coming back to Oviedo, our second home where we know we are safe. But I'm sure I wasn't the only one last night wishing I was sleeping in my home in Iowa.
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