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

Lots of catching up to do guys...be prepared for several posts in the next few days. As I mentioned in my previous post, Siobhan, Alexa and I were planning to go out to dinner at McDonald´s lol and then heading to the movies to see the Spanish comedy "Primos." Dinner was hysterical, as we snapped pics in the restaurant and had a little piece of America.  

Cheeseburger Meal :)

I will admit...I was in heaven!

The movie was actually really great as well.  It was difficult to understand every detail, but we all definitely got the main points.  We all burst out laughing in the theater however when the 3 main characters in the film began performing a song by the Backstreet Boys.  I had serious flashbacks to middle school.  It was nearly 1:00 in the morning when Siobhan and I got home.  We quickly packed for our trip to Valencia and then went to bed.

On Thursday (March 3rd) I bounced around all day with excitement.  Both of my classes seemed exceptionally long and I basically ran out the door when it was time to get on the bus to Madrid to catch our flight to Valencia.  Per usual the trip started off great and then we hit some problems.  We all made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and were feeling good.  We decided to get our boarding passes, pass through security and then get something to eat as we had 5 hours to wait before our flight (we were so early because there was only one bus from Salamanca to Madrid's airport).  We were not looking forward to the long wait.....but in hindsight we were very fortunate to have the extra time.  Siobhan and I used the self check-in with ease, successfully printing our boarding passes.  However, Alexa was not so lucky.  After the self check-in told her that they didn't have a flight booked under her name she remained calm and went to the actual ticket counter.  With confirmation number in hand she once again attempted to obtain her boarding pass....FAIL.  Although she had a confirmation email and number and the airline had her name, phone number, and email address along with the same confirmation number, there was no flight listed along with it.  This is where panic set in.  Now the only way for her to come with us was to purchase a new ticket, sounds easy enough...WRONG. The only roundtrip tickets were over 300 euros..not dollars, euros.  In short the ticket was RIDICULOUSLY and UNNECESSARILY expensive.  Obviously she was not going to pay this much money for the flight.  To save you all some time...and torture...I will fast forward 2 hours...YES 2 HOURS! Alexa ended up having to buy a one-way ticket to Valencia (which still was priced to high, but not 300 euros) and then buy a train ticket back to Salamanca for Sunday instead of flying back (the train was way cheaper and she would have taken it to Valencia as well but of course by the time we thought of this she had missed the last available train of the evening..womp womp womp).  Oh and let me not forgot that when Alexa went to purchase said airplane ticket her card would not work...so actually Siobhan bought it lol.  With now only 3 hours until our flight left we treated ourselves to yup yup more McDonalds (DO NOT JUDGE!)  Fortunately we made it to Valencia without further issues.

Valencia was AMAZING! First of all, it was extremely exciting and relieving to see familiar faces.  I think I literally almost cried when I say Dr. and Mrs. Reyes, Dr. Costanzi, Ashley and Ang.

Marywood <3

Me and Ashley

Me and Ang

Although the weather did not fully cooperate, we still got to see plenty of the charming city.  I was most thrilled when we got to see the church where Dr. and Mrs. Reyes were married and of course the one sunny day that we got to take a walk on the beach and then eat AMAZING paella in a beachside restaurant.

Alter where Dr. and Mrs. Reyes exchanged vows!

Beach!

Oh and I cannot forget to mention how cool La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias was.  One architect created this breathtaking complex of museums, unique architecture and artwork.....

However, nothing could top getting to see the first lighting of the decorations for Las Fallas, a very important holiday in Valencia. Large ornate, free-standing, metal pieces lined the various streets. Each one has millions of different colored lights on them.  The minor streets were all lit earlier in the evening, kicked-off by fireworks.

 The main attraction was lit later in the evening.  I think pretty much everyone that lives in the city was in attendance, including all of the local news stations.  Everyone got a little impatient waiting for the lights to come on...but it was WELL worth the wait.  It was one of the most amazing, special things that I have ever experienced and not just the lighting and fireworks to open Las Falles, but the pride I saw on the people's faces to be a native of such a truly beautiful city.

More to come on the last 2 weeks...

Love,
Tayler

Checking in real quick

Hola all....nothing too exciting to report.  Cannot believe that I leave for Valencia tomorrow to catch up with the Marywood gang! I have been talking about this weekend for it seems like forever and now it is finally here.  Not holding my breathe for awesome weather, but as long as it is sunny I can deal.

Siobhan, Alexa and I are going to McDonald's tonight for dinner lol. We had to do it at least once during the trip.  We would not be the stereotypical Americans if we didn't ;) After dinner we are meeting Amanda and Daryl as well as some of Alexa's roommates at the movies.  We will be seeing "Los Primos," a Spanish comedy.

Actually I lied...BIG NEWS! WE HAVE INTERNET IN OUR HOUSE NOW! Ramon (my savior and absolute favorite person involved with the study abroad program) gave Siobhan and I an USB modem for our laptops so that we can have wireless internet at home. It is going to cost us 18 euros per month, but at this point I will take what I can get.  It worked the first time I tried to use it in the student center and I am hoping I will be as successful the first time I try to use it at home.

Siobhan and I also purchased tickets for our next excursion today.  Next weekend we will be traveling to Granada and Sevilla :) Also found one of the only cafes in Salamanca that allows you to purchase to-go cups of coffee...SO pumped!

That's all I have for now.

Hasta luego,
Tayler <3