Last day in Salamanca

Kind of feel like I am in the twilight zone.  I cannot believe how fast this semester has gone and that I will be heading back home tomorrow after 3 and half months in Spain.  Definitely a bittersweet moment.  I am so anxious to see my family and friends, but I will miss Salamanca, my host family as well as the friends that I have made here.  I will miss passing time between classes at one of the numerous little tapas bars or just sitting in the Plaza Mayor.  I can honestly say that choosing to come here, choosing to study abroad was one of the best decisions that I have made in my life to date.  I have learned so much, not just with respect to the language or the culture, but about myself.  I have grown up in many ways and have a renewed appreciation for all that I have.  I would tell anyone to take the opportunity if it presents itself.  It's not easy, but it is SO worth it in the end.  I won't lie and say that I enjoyed every moment.  I won't lie and say that there wasn't days that I hated being here or hated everything about Spain.  That's what people fail to tell you.  Not everyday is perfect.  You get homesick.  You miss your "norm."  But the majority of days, you sit and think "WOW this is such an amazing experience, I am so happy that I pushed myself outside of my comfort zone and just went for it."  It probably sounds cliche, but studying abroad truly is one of those things that you will never forget in your life.

Family's Trip to Spain

Started this a couple weeks ago and finally finished it….

Mom, Dad and Conner arrived safe and sound on Saturday afternoon (April 27^th).  Started off the trip on a high note….not. Again as is almost customary for my time here in Spain, my plans cannot go smoothly.  Took the train to Madrid to meet the family when they arrived at the airport and made it with about 20 minutes to spare before their plan landed.  I looked at the arrivals board and it said that there was only one flight arriving in from London (btw the family traveled from NY to London and then to Madrid) and it would be landing in terminal 1.  So I anxiously waited at the gate, fully prepared to jump up and down and wave like and idiot when I saw them.  When they didn’t walk out of the gate at the expected time, I didn’t panic.  I figured that they just must be held up getting their luggage or passing through customs.  However, slowly the minutes ticked away and before I knew it an hour had passed.  As my parents did not bring a cell-phone with them, I had no way of contacting them.  I really was unsure of what to do, so I kept waiting for a few more minutes, thinking that if they had landed and were already out of the gate and could not find me, my mom would have called me on a pay phone.  That’s when I received a call from an unknown number.  The call had ended before I could fish the phone out of my pocket.  I called the number back and it was the personal cell-phone of a woman that worked the information booth in terminal 4, telling me that the family was there and waiting for me (the only terminal at the airport that I could not walk to, but rather needed to take a shuttle bus).  When I arrived at the terminal, I spotted my dad right away (there are VERY few tall Spaniards so he stuck out like a sore thumb).  Well let’s suffice it to say that my dad and brother were a little tense when I walked up.  My dad was worried sick about me because I am generally very punctual and he thought something had happened to me, but also pissed at my mom for not giving me the specific flight number so that I would have known that I had found the wrong flight on the arrival board.  Conner was equally stressed, rambling on about debating whether or not to call the Embassy and report me missing.  My mom however, walked up laughing a little and gave me a big hug.  After hearing all of my previous travel drama, we both kind of figured something like this might happen.  Finally reunited, we headed with the driver to the hotel.  No more excitement for the day Thank God.  We checked into the hotel without issue, relaxed for a little and grabbed some dinner.  We went to bed early, falling asleep while watching the Real Madrid versus F.C. Barcelona game.

The next morning (Sunday) we were scheduled to take one of those double-decker tour buses around the city.  We got up and ate breakfast and then headed to the Plaza Mayor to get our tickets.  On our way, we walked along side the full marathon that was taking place through the streets.  It was a really cool experience and there were people lining the entire roped-off course, chanting and cheering.  Luckily there was a brief break in runners so we dashed across the street into the plaza.  After we got our tickets, we grabbed some coffee at one of the little cafes and waited until it was time for the tour to start.  The tour was awesome.  We got an almost 3 hour tour, while also being able to soak up the sun on the upper level.  Mom took a ton of pictures and we just relaxed and took it all in.

So I would be remise if I did not mention one of the best parts of the entire trip, the FOOD! Oh my god AWESOME! First of all, I can not describe how awesome it was to not only choose what I wanted to eat, but also eat when I wanted and how much I wanted.  Although my host mother is a great cook (despite her food-pushing ways), I wanted foods from home.  Basically I wanted Italian.  Caprese salads (tomato, mozzarella, basil), pasta in various forms, chicken Parmesan, bread with oils, it was just so YUMMY!  Not to mention steak and delicious salads and veggies.  I was in heaven.  One thing that was not tasty however was the pizza we ordered one night.  NEVER eat Telepizza’s Four Cheese pizza, it’s DISGUSTING…seriously. That’s all I am going to say about that, as I am trying to block that meal from my memory.  We did have some traditional Spanish tapas a few times as well and the family really enjoyed them; Tortilla, Calamari, Croquetas, Iberico ham and Manchego cheese.  I will admit that I will miss them a lot when I leave.

On Monday, the family and I took the train (for 2 ½ hours) to visit Salamanca.  We actually saw my brother’s girlfriend’s doppelganger on the train (shout out to How I Met Your Mother!) and we totally creepily took a picture of her.  Well anyway, it was awesome to show my family around the city.  I took them to see my school as well as the house that I have been living in.  I also got the opportunity to introduce my family to my host family.  It was so cool that they got to meet and spend a little time together despite the language barrier lol.  I definitely had to be on top of my game that day, switching back and forth between Spanish and English. 

On our last day in Madrid, Tuesday, my mom and I woke up early and went to the Prado museum and the Botanical gardens.  It was nice to spend some one on one time with her as well as see all of the artwork that I did not have the time to see during my last trip to Spain.  We spent more than 2 hours looking at different artwork and then made our way over to the gardens.  Mom was in her glory and she was once again snapping away with the camera.  After we headed back to the hotel to get my dad and brother.  We passed the rest of the day doing a little shopping and then had a early dinner and headed to bed.

Wednesday was a travel day.  We took the bullet train to Barcelona for the second half of our vacation.  The bullet train got us to Barcelona in about 3 hours and the regular train would have taken about 8.  Needless to say we all supported mom’s travel decision.  Conner and I passed the time watching Little Fockers.  Much like our first day in Madrid, we settled into the hotel and relaxed for a little bit.  The hotel in Barcelona was AMAZING!  It had a beautiful rooftop terrace with a pool, 2 restaurants, a lobby bar, and of course other important things like SUPER comfy beds J  Oh and it was located on the Saks Fifth Avenue of Barceloina.  There was everthing from Lacoste to Coach to Tiffany & Co. We asked the concierge for tapas bar recommendations and he sent us to this great little place.  The food was so good, we ended up going back.

On Thursday we took a bus tour of the city.  It was an equally good time and the weather was great.  We got the opportunity to take a tour of the 1998 Olympic Stadium and got to see the beautiful harbor.

Unfortunately Friday was rainy and because it was Good Friday everything was closed.  We took the day to just catch up and enjoy being together.  Lucky for us, Saturday was as sunny as Friday was rainy.  It was also an important holiday; the day of the books and roses.  The streets were filled with vendors and my dad bought both my mom and I flowers.  We decided to walk back down to the harbor and visit the aquarium as well as grab a drink overlooking the water.

Sunday came tooooo quickly.  I was sad to see my family go home and have debated begging them to take me with them lol.  Of course there was a little drama with my boarding pass, but it was obtained nonetheless and all of us made it safely back to our destinations.  It was overall a really incredible week and it was great to have shared the experience with my family.

Love, 

Tayler

Real Madrid 4 Tottenham 0

Had another fabulous night with the girls :) Siobhan, Alexa, Daryl, Stephanie and I went to watch the Real Madrid versus Tottenham game at an Irish pub called St. Patrick's Museum.  The pub was below street level and had lots of stone work and built-in benches and such...it had a lot of character and I definitely think we will be making another trip there in the foreseeable future.  It was really cool to watch the game in the presence of other Spaniards.  Its hilarious but also inspiring to see how into the game they get.  Picture how intense Americans get during March Madness as a comparison.

After the game Siobhan, Alexa and I went to a little Mexican restaurant near the pub.  I had a delicious chicken burrito.  Not the best Mexican food I have ever had, but not bad at all.  Oh and my family will understand this.....the restaurant was automatically better because it lacked a certain person wearing leather chaps and playing the guitar ;) The only problem I had with the restaurant was that I did not see margaritas on the menu...lame, but I survived.

Absolutely beautiful out again today.  I don't know if its the great weather we have been having or the fact that it has really set in that in just a few short weeks I will be leaving Salamanca to return home, but I am really branching out and filling my social calendar lol.  Siobhan and I spend every minute we can outside of the house, walking the streets, stopping for coffee.....embracing any piece of the Spanish culture that we can find.  It may have taken me 10 weeks to really find my grove here, but I am having the time of my life!

Love,
Tayler


P.S. Siobhan and I have picked our next destination...........Paris, France!

Just popping in quickly.  Had a fabulous weekend.  As you all know Friday was absolutely gorgeous weather and Siobhan and I made the most of it, spending much of our day hanging out in the Plaza Mayor. We did indeed buy ourselves some red wine (though we actually have yet to drink it lol) and watched Black Swan.  We were both literally speechless when the movie ended.  Excellent acting performance by Natalie Portman.

On Saturday we planned to go bike riding with Alexa, Stephanie, Amanda and Daryl.  Surprisingly (please note the sarcasm) Stephanie, Amanda and Daryl did not meet us at the allotted place and time so bike riding around Salamanca did not take place.  Siobhan, Alexa and I would have gone by ourselves, but unfortunately Stephanie and Amanda were the only two that knew where the biker rental was located.  Instead, the three of us walked around a quaint park near Alexa's house.  We just took our time walking around, enjoying the nice weather, and chitchatting.  We stopped and got ice cream after and sat people-watching in the Plaza afterwords.  An adorable little girl that could not have been more than 3 came over to play with us for about 15 minutes.  We all returned home for lunch, but then met backup for dinner at Cafe & Te.  I had a delicious crispy chicken sandwich!  We then walked back to the Plaza and grabbed a seat outside at one of the numerous cafes.  We grabbed coffee and continued laughing and reminiscing about our time thus far in Spain until about 11 pm.  It was a great night!

Quick pic in the park

Enjoying my ice cream!

Sunday was a lazy day, spent studying for an upcoming exam and relaxing a little.  Although Siobhan and I did take a break and watch Love and Other drugs.  Another awesome movie! I was laughing and crying throughout the entire thing lol.

Bonus of the weekend....I got to Skype with Amanda and Katherine! It was so nice to get to catch up with both of them and see their gorgeous faces :)

Love,
Tayler

Just thought you would all like to know.....

10-Day Forecast for Salamanca, Spain

High / Low (°F) Precip. % Today Apr 04 Mostly Sunny 67°/40° 10 % Tue Apr 05 Sunny 76°/44° 0 % Wed Apr 06 Sunny 77°/46° 0 % Thu Apr 07 Sunny 76°/47° 0 % Fri Apr 08 Sunny 77°/48° 0 % Sat Apr 09 Sunny 77°/49° 0 % Sun Apr 10 Sunny 74°/45° 0 % Mon Apr 11 Sunny 69°/45° 0 % Tue Apr 12 Mostly Sunny 70°/42° 0 % Wed Apr 13 Mostly Sunny 68°/41° 0 % Last Updated Apr 4 11:21 a.m. Local Time

Did I seriously do that??

Quick post for you all.  So Siobhan and I decided to pull on our big girl pants last night and go out for a little fun with Daryl and Amanda.  We did not go out until 1 am and then did not make it back to our house until 4:30 am this morning! I can honestly say this was a first lol.  Had a great time with the girls and had the opportunity to see many friends and classmates throughout the night :) Needless to say Siobhan and I did not set an alarm and still had to drag ourselves out of bed at 11:45 am today.  However, the amazing weather in Salamanca today made it worth it.  We have cloudless, sunny skies and a high today of 77 degrees! Siobhan and I spent a couple hours sunbathing in the Plaza Mayor and.....I am already evenly sunburnt.  Not complaining though.  I will take sunburn over frostbite any day of the year.

Obviously I was pretty pumped about the nice weather and wanted to document it

Not really sure what the rest of the day will bring....perhaps some ice cream! Siobhan and I are thinking about throwing ourselves a party in our room tonight lol.  Some wine and cheese, as well as a movie (either Black Swan or Love and Other Drugs).

Love,
Tayler

Just a general rundown...

Hello all!  Figured since I had some free time I would try to put up a quick post.  Not too too much going on here in Salamanca.  Siobhan and I are still pumping iron in the gym on a weekly basis and of course going to classes although begrudgingly sometimes lol.

After traveling for 3 weekends in a row, it was nice to just be in Salamanca and relax a little.  Siobhan and I did a little shopping on Friday and on Saturday headed to the gym and then spent the rest of the rainy afternoon snuggled in our beds reading.  Btw just finished Her Last Letter by Nancy C. Johnson.....highly recommend it :)  On Sunday the weather was much better and we decided to finally visit the new cathedral in Salamanca, after simply walking past it for 2 months.  We also went to Cafe & Te to grab some coffee and Skype with the family.  I tried the coffee with Bailey's Irish Cream liquor....it was fabulous :)

So far nothing big this week.  Siobhan and I have a coffee date with our friend Sara tomorrow, whom we met on our trip to Granada and Sevilla.  Have not had the chance to talk to her since we returned from the trip, so it will be great to catch up!  We are also planning to do a little more sight-seeing in Salamanca this weekend.  I am hoping to tour the old cathedral and visit the museum of art nouveau and art deco.  In addition we are looking into what else there is to do in the city in terms of live theater performances or concerts, etc.

Still thinking about planning another trip or two before our time abroad is up.  The options are Rome, Paris, and/or a city in Portugal.  I will keep you guys posted as we make arrangements.

Fun Fact for the Day:
Found out that the opening scenes from the American movie Vantage Point was filmed in La Plaza Mayor in Salamanca!

Thats all I have for you all right now.  Hopefully I will have more to share soon!

Love,
Tayler

First trip out of Spain, First trip solo

....and everything went smoothly! Apparently I can only travel by myself in the future…..no offense Siobhan and Alexa ;)

This particular trip (to Florence, Italy to visit Marisa) was extremely last minute.  I bought my plane ticket on Tuesday, March 15th and I flew out on Thursday, March 17th.  As there was only one direct flight from Madrid to Florence, it was absolutely necessary that I miss both of my classes on Thursday....what a shame :P

The trip came at the perfect time as I was starting to feel a little homesick, the number of weeks before my family was to arrive in Spain seeming daunting.  Fortunately not only was I able to visit with Marisa, but because she was on spring break Mr. and Mrs. Martino were also in Florence! In addition, Mrs. Martino’s cousin, her cousin’s daughter as well as two friends came and spent time with us on Friday and Saturday.  Oh and Marisa’s brother Dom came in on Saturday! It was so nice to see so many familiar faces and because Marisa and I spent most of our time with Mr. and Mrs. Martino it was very stress free.  Mr. Martino is super organized and great with a map…my favorite part was that at the beginning of the day he already had reservations for dinner!

I really enjoyed getting to see Mrs. Martino in her element.  I was fascinated watching her speak fluent Italian.  I told her that once I am done with school, I am going to move in for a summer so she can teach me Italian….my new life goal is to be trilingual lol.

While each day in Florence was incredible, I also really loved the one-on-one time Marisa and I got every night before bed.  It was great to be able to lounge around Marisa’s apartment (which is AWESOME btw) drinking tea, chit-chatting about our experiences abroad and life in general, as well watching the episodes of Glee that we have missed this season.

So appreciative that I was able to make the trip to Florence.  Marisa and I had thrown the idea around over Christmas break, but neither one of us was totally positive it would come to fruition.

My mini-vacation as I like to call it lol was spent not only with great company, but also with fabulous sights, even better food and great wine!

Four views of the Duomo, a cathedral 

Basilica Di Santa Croce, another cathedral

Marisa and I on the Pointe Vecchio, Florence's famous shop-covered bridge

Some awesome street art!

Five shots from the top of the Piazzale Michelangelo

<3

Martino Family!

Just some fun shots from my last dinner in Italy :)

Where to next...

So two weekends ago (March 11th to the 13th) Siobhan and I traveled with a group of 43 other University of Salamanca students to Sevilla and Granada, two cities in the south of Spain.  Overall the trip was great and we took a TON of beautiful pictures.  However, the trip as ALWAYS was not without a few bumps in the road.

Not a bad thing or a "bump in the road," merely just something I felt was worth mentioning.  Out of the 45 students, 9 students (including Siobhan and I) were NOT oriental.  Consequently I learned from this trip that one particular stereotype of Japanese girls is true; in almost every picture the girls would put up the peace sign close to their face.  Further, I learned that orientals are also shameless observers.  In fact, I caught one of the young men sitting across the aisle from me on the bus starring numerous times and when I began to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" to Siobhan, he blatantly giggled in my face.  Again not a criticism, just sharing my experiences/observations.

We made it to Sevilla with no problems.  We checked into the hotel and visited the cathedral with no problems.  It was very interesting to see the mix of the original arab mosque and the cathedral that the christians developed within it after conquering the city years later.  It was also awesome to climb to the top of La Giralda (the bell tower) and look out over the city...what an amazing view.

La Giralda...trust me it is much much bigger in person.  We had to climb 37 flights to make it to the top.

Some views of the cathedral as we climbed to the top...

Views of the city from the top of the tower...

Close up of the bells which were added to the tower when the Catholics took over

After we finished the cathedral tour, we had some free time.  As our hotel was located in the middle of nowhere, with not so much as a restaurant to eat in, our chaperone decided we should remain in the heart of Sevilla (where the cathedral is located) to eat dinner, walk around, etc.  Obviously we were all thrilled with this decision and quickly parted ways.  Along with our new friend Von'Travis, Siobhan and I grabbed a bit to eat and then got Starbucks! Yes like the real Starbucks....needless to say it was probably the highlight of my day lol.  Tired from the 6 hour bus ride to Sevilla and the subsequent 2 and half tour of the cathedral, the three of us decided to call it a night early and began our adventure back to the hotel...and yup you guessed it...I choose the word adventure for a reason.  In order to make it back to the hotel, we had to take the city bus.  Our chaperone told us which number and we made it to the bus station without incident.  We paid for the ticket and took our spots on the bus waiting for our stop to be called.  I will save you all the torture and flash-forward 2 hours...hahahahahahah 2 hours! Long story short, we realized after the fact that we got off one stop too soon and did not realize how far away we actually were from the hotel because neither the hotel nor the surrounding streets were located on the map that our chaperone gave us...yeah SOOOOOO helpful. After walking aimlessly and asking for assistance numerous times, we finally just took a cab back to the hotel.  I was shockingly (please note sarcasm) near tears, but after a quick bitch session to mommy I was fine.  Finally changing into our jammies and relaxing with some snacks in front of the television, we could laugh at the entire situation and find the one positive: we bonded with our new friend Von'Travis :)

The next morning (Saturday) we saw Los Alcazares Reales (the Royal Castles).  The gardens were beautiful and many original arab decorative aspects were present.  After the tour, we hopped back on the bus and headed another 2 and half hours to Granada.

A couple pics of the gardens...

Some of the original arab decorative aspects....

As we arrived in Granada late afternoon, we quickly saw the outside of the cathedral (yes there is one in EVERY city).  Siobhan and I then grabbed a bite to eat....well we wanted a full dinner, but as it was ONLY 7 the restaurant was not yet serving dinner (I will reiterate that dinner does not start in Spain before 9).  Therefore, the only option we had was to order a full order of the available tapas.  However, Saturday night was AWESOME! Everyone that came on the trip paid to go to a Flamenco show.  It is honestly one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  There were 2 females singers, 2 men playing instruments, 3 females flamenco dancers, and 1 male flamenco dancer.  The big surprise...there was also a belly dancer! Every person involved with the show was extremely talented and Siobhan and I were super super pleased that we had decided to go.

The cathedral in Granada

The 3 female flamenco dancers!

Male flamenco dancer...hahaha check out the sleeping man in the front row!

Belly dancer!

One of the singers...

The best part of the whole trip though came on Sunday morning when we went to visit La Alhambra.  It was sunny and in the 60s, a perfect setting to see the breathtaking palaces and gardens originally built by the arabs when they ruled the Iberian Peninsula.  I have been learning about the history of the arab culture and influence in the history of Spain and it was nice to see everything I had taken in in class come alive before my eyes.  We spent 4 and half hours visiting every piece of what is technically considered a little city.

2 pics from inside the palace of Carlos V

Some other pics from inside La Alhambra...

3 different decorative elements....

2 pics from La Alcazaba...the castle which acted as the city's defense center

Pics from the gardens in the Generalife

Although the visit was great, we were all ready to start making our way home and relax.  The 8 hour bus ride home was a little daunting and seemed to drag on forever.  Of course it did not help that about 4 hours into the ride, therefore 4 hours away from home, one of the kids on the trip threw-up on the bus.  Obviously we had to make a pit-stop to let the kid change clothes and air out the bus.........

We finally made it back to Salamanca at about 10 pm.  Fortunately the bus station is like 5 minutes from our house and we were back home in no time.  Our host mom whipped us up a quick dinner and offered to wash Siobhan's backpack, which we realized on the walk home was covered in vomit which had slid to the front of the bus (oh god I want to hurl just thinking about it).

Overall we had a great time, saw some amazing sites, and made some new friends :)

Next blog will be about my trip to Florence, Italy to visit Marisa!

Love and miss you all!

P.S. I have another niece...Welcome to the family Ella Katherine <3