Whew. this week has been full of stress as I prepare and plan my first big trip here in Spain. I know I haven´t updated in awhile, I will try to do so soon, but not until after Semana Santa when i get back from Switzerland and France and a wonderful Easter in Sevilla.
So…until then 
So this past weekend was my art history trip to Madrid. I had heard from people that Madrid was “just another big city” and I wasn’t expecting much. I expected to see a lot of tourism, English, big buildings, just very cityesque. I was pleasantly surprised.
Lauren, Kim, and I boarded the AVE early morning to head off to Madrid. I was very excited to take the AVE for once…and not a bus The AVE was really nice. We had a group of four seats together. It was so cute, there was a a table we could pull out to play board games and we got to watch a movie during the trip and they gave us yummy caramelos (sweets :0)) When we arrived in Madrid we bought some metro passes and took the metro into the heart of the city. Our first mission was to find a hostel since Kim and I had nowhere to sleep that night. After visiting about a dozen places and starting to get very nervous about sleeping in the train station that night, we found the cutest hostel. It was an incredibly relief…the hostel was cheap, clean, bright, cheery, free breakfast, free blankets, everybody was really nice. It really worked out well. It was also in the direct center of the city, we couldn’t have done any better After dropping off our bags we headed back out to find a cafe to eat our lunches at. Madrid appeared to be lacking outdoor cafes so we decided to sit next to a fountain and eat our lunches from our señoras. Afterwards we had a little free time before Lauren had to meet Megan so we wandered around exploring Madrid. The buildings were so pretty. they weren’t city like at all very old and gorgeous. The city was very touristic, moreso than Sevilla. There was a lot of international restuarants and things and a lot of english, but it was very pretty. After Lauren and I left Kim and I decided to explore the main street. We found a really cute park and played in it for awhile. The slide was realllly steep and scary lol. After walking for awhile more and finding the plaza de independence, which boasted a really neat memorial and some really neat fountains we decided to use our bus day pass to head to the top of the street and walk down it. At the top we found these two really neat towers that we’re slanted majorly so that they pointed towards each other it was neat. We continued our walk down exploring various shops and sights. We saw a lot of neat things. We found an Aston Martin car dealership and a mini BMW cafe. We also saw the Real Madrid stadium which got me really excited. We then went to Plaza de Picasso and walked around enjoying the nature and Picasso building. Afterwards we found a shopping mall!!! What a comfort I haven´t seen a shopping mall since I left, it was an actual shopping mall like in the US. It didn´t haveany good stores but it was fun to find. Afterwards we did find a mercadillo, which I loooved. I got a pretty scarf for my sister and some pearl earrings I had been wantin. We continued wandering when we met some random boys from Peru. They asked us for directions and they we talked a little bit. Kim and I joked that receiving besos (kisses) from them alone made the trip worth it haha. We then came upon a famous historical café Café Guijón and Kim and I decided to take a break and enjoy the atmosphere. We sat in the most adorable little seat that overlooked the very old café and spent a couple hours people watching, drinking coffee and having fun. We then decided to head back to our hostel, but a we were walking back we ran into Cristina from our center and she informed us that they were heading off to a jazz club, would Kim and I like to joing…OF COURSE. So we set off to meat up with Juan and other students and went to the café. It was sooo fun. We ordered some drinks and Kim and I shared a caprese tapa while we waited for the show to begin. We were sitting next to this really odd and funny and adorable old guy. Kim started lamenting about how we got olives with our drinks and they got potato chips, so the old guy (not understanding this however) gave us his chips haha. It was amusing. All throughought the evening he would shush the crowd and make weird noises and smile at us it was funny. The concert was amazing. It was flamenco jazz, there was a pianist, guitar player, bassist, drum player, and a singer. It was so neat. The singer sang in the traditional flamenco style and the musicians played very jazzy music. It was AMAZING. It was definitely an awesmoe cultural experience and it was so fun to hang out with new people. Oh yea! and I discovered that Cristina and Juan are from Plainfield..how odd is that. Apparently Juan´s family does the music at Plainfield´s spanish mass, so I´m going to go smoetime when I get home. After the concert, Kim and I headed back to the hostel to sleep. When we got back to our room, we found it empty and took the opportunity to get ready for bed in peace…when in walked a person. Kim immediately introduced herself in spanish, however this person looked really confused so Kim repeated in English, more confusion, until finally the person said, oih its all the same to me because my last name is korean. Kim chuckles and responds how funny would it be if we got married…then I´d be Kim Kim. More awkward silence. At this point we btoh realize we have no idea if this person is a boy or girl. Luckily the moment was saved when in walked a boy who looked startling like Harry Potter and he began shouting obscenities. Apparently he just began his work in Madrid and still doesn´t have an apartment so he needs to go get wasted. okay. an interesting mix we got here. But he soon left, and the Korean person, Kim and I went to sleep.
The next morning we woke up and went to mass before meeting our group at our new hotel. Our hotel room was sooo sweet. It was just the two of us but we had three beds and this amazing balcony that was right in front of the main sign over looking the main street it was beautiful. After settling in a bit, we headed to El Prado our first of many museums. The museum was amazing. We began as a group and Conso explained various paintings to us and we saw a lot of the work we had studied in class. The greco room was my favorite. He is sooo amazing. I loooooved all of his works. We also spent a lot of time in the Velazquez room enjoying his many paintings. he too was a superb artist. Las Meninas was amazing, the colors and details. just awesome. We also saw a lot of Goya. Goya was a very interesting artist, previously I had only known about his dark and morbid paintings, which are very interesting, but we also discovered that he was a multi-talented artist that painted many themes and concepts. We then explored the museum on our own, paying another visit to Velazquez and Greco. After the museum, the four of us went for a delicious lunch at Vitamina. It was perfect for 7.50 we got a buffet and a 4.50 freshly squeezed smoothie drink that was to die for. The buffet was really good to, while it had all the traditional Spanish salads and meats and such, it was so nice to be able to just eat a salad for lunch. It felt good to eat like I do at home for once. After lunch, we went to Museum Reina Sofia. This museum was sooo awesome, I just wish that I hadn´t been so exhausted by this point. We started going around the museum as a group enjoying the amazing Picasso, Dali, Miro and more that the museum had. It was sooo beautiful and fun to stand in front of paintings and discuss what we think they mean. It was awesome. Then we had some free time so we went to check out some more paintings at the museum and we saw a very odd exhibit on televisions. I still don´t understand it, but it had tv´s showing football, static, bars, odd things. I´m not sure what it was all about it was interesting though. After this museum, we went to head back to our hotel but we were confronted with a very large anti-war demonstration. It was very interesting to see and hear. I was very excited to see this. WE decided to avoid the crowds and take the backroads back to our hotel, where I enjoyed a lovely shower and chilled around with people until dinner. For dinner, Tina, Tiffany, Kim, and I went to a little bar for some tapas. It was delicious. I was excited to finally be with people that liked seafood! yay! We ordered some delicious paella, salad, bread, and some really good cheesy tapa. It was a really nice meal and it was fun to go out to dinner with different people. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed. we were sooo exhausted.
The next day, we woke up to a lovely hotel breakfast before embarking on our visit to El Palacio Real. The palace was amazing. It was my first palace too! yay! It was huge and breathtaking. The decoration was so awesome and intricate. There was so much symbolism and meaning in everything. There wasn´t one plain room, every room had a specific design and layout and theme it was so neat. AFter the palace we went to Plaza Mayor which we also studied in class. We just did a quick walk around it and reviewed the concepts that we learned about. It was very pretty and neat to see in person especially with the Sunday flea markets and shops around it. Afterwards, Lauren, Kim, and I went to El Rastro-a famous market in Madrid. It was realllllly busy and we didn´t have much time. We found a couple of neat things that were way too expensive, and we also found a lot of junk, but it was fun to go. We had to return to our hotel for lunch then, which was of course delicious. After lunch we went to Museo Thyssen which was my favorite of the museums. The whole museum is a collection of Thyssen´s works…man was he riiiiiiich to buy all of that art work. It was awesome, we started upstairs in Gothic painting and worked our way down into the modern painting. It was neat they had most major artists like Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Miro, Dali, O´Keefe, Picasso, and soooooo many more. They had every style of art and all the good artists it was so cool. WE were on our own in the museum to, so we were able to leisurely explore the Museum at will. AFter this we went to get some coffee at the best coffee shop-faborit. The cappuccinos had heart-shapes in them with the foam it was sooo cute and yummy. After coffee it was time to go back, so we headed to the train station for another ride back to sevilla.
The next
Saturday night was so fun. Lauren, Megan, Amanda and I met up with our friends Chames and Gunice. They are such fun and nice guys. We went to McD’s first, ew so that Chames and Gunice could get some food. I love hanging out with them and just chatting in Spanish it was a good time.
We then headed out to a cute little bar where we caught the end of the big Real Madrid-Barcelona match. It was so exciting cause Real Madrid was winning when it went into stoppage time and then with like a minute left Barcelona scored to tie the game. It was incredibly exciting. the rest of the time we just sat around and chatted and had coffee/tea etc. It was so fun. We had to get Amanda back early because she is ill, so we all walked her back to her apartment. Then we headed down to Calle Betis for some more evening fun. As we were walking down we ran into a group of very drunk italians. They started asking us where they could go to dance and such and then they were talking about how the place they went on Betis played American music and at this moment Megan and I looked at each other and we knew what was coming. Yup, the classic I hate Americans comment. Chames so kindly decides to point out that we are Americans which led into several apologies and explanations yadda yadda everything was ok. We all decided to head back to Calle Betis and go to a discoteca together. As we were walking I told him how I was italian and I tried to pronounce Nardozzi as best as I could in italian and they all got really excited. It was funny. It was also awesome because I could converse with them in italian. We would both speak really slow me in spanish and they in italian. It was neat. We ended up at the discoteca we always go to and spent a very enjoyable evening dancing and taking many many silly photos. Oh spanish friends
Our professors are so amazing and so cute. This weekend when we travelled to Granada it was so fun to get to see them in such a personable light. Ernesto basically rocks our world. If he lived in the US he would probably be stereotyped as gay, but in Spain he is just this incredibly fashionable and nice guy. He’s a dancer too and he’s been in music videos. It’s so funny when he speaks English because he uses like all the time. We also went with our art history professor who i love and deborah who is very sweet. There were so many funny incidents with the professors that would never happen in the US and this is one reason why I just love Spain.
When we were touring La Catedral with Conso she was talking about speaking English and then we got into a discussion about how her English improves when she is drunk. How funny is that…we would never talk about a professor being drunk at home. Later that evening at dinner, Eric (who we also love) was talking to ernesto because he forgot nice shoes and you cannot get into discotecas in tennis shoes or white shoes because that means you’re poor so he starts trying on Ernestos alligator skin shoes. It was the funniest thing ever. While he is doing this Ernest begins to explain that with these shoes he must wear brown and he cannot wear thick white socks, he needs thinner brown ones. Then deborah begins to insist that he wear long pants. Amanda and I laughed forever it was the cutest thing ever.
The next day we woke up to the best outfit ever from Ernesto…jeans, a pink button down a blue tie and a blue sweater he was the cutest thing. Amanda and I spent the rest of the day trying to get a decent picture of him haha. When we were at La Alhambra Conso and Ernesto entered with several students, when there was a problem and deborah couldnt get in. So Conso goes to try and solve it leaving us with Ernesto. Conso then calls Ernesto with the news and he answers his phone “Dime Guapa” which is probably the funniest thing ever. It means “tell me gorgeous” hahahahahahh. I love it!!!! They are the funniest people ever. hahaha.
This weekend I travelled to Granada with the center. It was nice to have a break from travelling by ourselves. We stayed in a very nice hotel complete with our own balcony, excellent food, had tour buses, free admission, and an agenda. It was also nice to spend time with the professors (amazing) and other CCCS students. It was very frustrating at parts to be waiting around for the whole group…very frustrating. but at the same time it was nice to not have to think and it was nice to hear about the places we were visiting from our professors.
We arrived around lunchtime to Granada and it was beautiful…the sun was shining everywhere, flowers are beginning to bloom, the palm trees look excellent and then there was the beautiful sierra Nevada snow-covered mountains in the background. beautiful. kim, amanda, and i enjoyed a leisurely lunch courtesy of our senoras on our balcony and spent the rest of siesta chatting and relaxing. we probably should have been out exploring granada as we later realized we didn’t have much free time, but it felt so good to relax for once, especially on a trip. After relaxing we met up with the group to go tour La Catedral y Capilla Real. It was incredibly amusing because we just had our art history exam on these two buildings and Granada is central in the beginning history of Spain with the Reyes Catolicos, Carlos V etc in which I have an exam next week so it was all very prevalent information. The Catedral of Granada was beautiful and very different from the other 2 I’ve seen here. It was much smaller and less decorated, but so beautiful. The central retablo is curved with beautiful decoration. La Capilla Real was also beautiful. The retablo is magnificent and the sepulcros of los Reyes was also neat to see.
After these visits we had some free time, so Amanda, Kim, Lauren, Megan, and I began our search for Albaycin an arabic neighborhood and some neat shops. Tensions were running high and it didn’t help matters that our map from Ernesto had like 2 streets on it. We just started wandering and guessing as to how to get there, and we ended up in a pretty shady place…which we later found out was el Albaycin. I’m still not sure why but Kim, Lauren, and Megan decided to ditch Amanda and I, which left us incredibly pissed off. The two of us in this shady area. We continued our investigations for a little while, which was worth it. The neighborhood is located on a hill and as you climb the streets of it, watching out for people getting high, drinking, peeing, etc. you can turn around and see the whole city in front of you with the mountains in the background. It was beautiful especially since the sun was setting. It was amazing. Not wanting to hang around too long with only the two of us, we headed back down in search of some cute shops. We were very excited when we discovered a shop selling tea. They had bins of herbs, fruits, etc. ready to be bagged up and made into tea, it was amazing. The tea smelled delicious. Afterwards we went to some souvenir shops where I was inclined to get my name done in arabic. We also were in pursuit of an arabic tea set, which are so cute. I unfortunately couldn’t find one that was “good enough” and neglected to buy one. We then returned to the hotel for dinner. The first course was this yummy sauce with vegetables and fried egg and the second course was a delicious looking hunk of steak and french fries. I haven’t had a steak let a lone see one in forever and it took every ounce of my body to politely request a vegetarian meal. I don’t know how the substitute for steak can be cheese, but it was and I attempted to enjoy the 6 slices I was served as everybody else enjoyed their steak. After dinner we hung around the hotel more, relaxing and such before going out in Granada. We wanted to hit up a teteria (tea shop) which granada is known for. We had no idea where to go, but we began searching for one. We couldn’t find one, so I decided to ask for directions, and thankfully they were very easy to understand. Unfortunately they led us back into the shady area that we were in before. Oh well, it was worth it and hey there was 5 of us. We began walking up hill passing very odd people as we went. WE were approached by a woman and we thought she asked us if we wanted to come drink in Babylon and we replied no, but do you know where we can have some tea. ONly to realize right afterwards that she was holding Bible track cards and wanted us to rank in Babylon…oops. We finally found the teterias and began looking for one that looked suitable. It was sooo cute and so worth the search. It had several little tables surrounded by benches each was candle lit and had hookah on it. The tea menu was so amazing with all these great flavors, I wanted to try every one. I ordered a delicious fruity tea that had hibiscus and fruits in it. I got my own little tea pot and adorable glass. Inside the tea pot floated the pieces of fruit an flower used to create the delicious flavor it was awesome. We all tried each other’s and decided that we could live in this adorable little place. After finally deciding that we had spent enough time in the amazing tea shop we headed back to our hotel for some sleep.
We awoke the next morning and enjoyed a delicious breakfast in our hotel before setting out for La Alhambra. When we arrived at La Alhambra we had to wait around forever and finally after a lot of confusion and a small problem in which only 2/3 of our group could enter we began our tour. La Alhambra was central to the city and built by the kings. It has arabic baths, palace, gardens for enjoyment, etc. It was amazing and beautiful. We started exploring Generalife which is the place of enjoyment full of gardens. It was incredible. The weather was perfect and I could have stayed there forever. We continued on and explored Carlos V, the palace, etc. The arabic architecture is awesome. It is incredibly intricate and ornate. We climbed up this tall tower and from there we could see all of Granada and the mountains. It was spectacular. I love it. The visit got a little long, but it was so worth it for every beautiful picture and moment. We then returned to our hotel for a final meal of lasagna, chicken, french fries, and pineapple–delicious. Afterwards we left for Sevilla. Granada was so pretty. It was a little sketchy, but so fun and beautiful
Friday night I hopped on a bus at 12:30 at night heading for Madrid and Toledo. It was probably a crazy idea, but in the end so worth it. The 6 hour bus ride wasn´t to bad as I think I slept for most of the ride. When we stopped halfway through the journey..that was when the trip adventures began. Dazed and confused Kim and I left the bus to stretch our cramped legs, use the bathroom, etc. I was very out of it and did not really know what was going on, so when the bus began to pull out of the station with me not on it I began to freak out a little. Kim and I were so confused we had no idea where our bus had gone. I basically started laughing hysterically, because I mean what else can you do? Sure enough, the bus had just gone to fill up with gas and it returned minutes later much to my joy. I was so happy to get back on that bus. The rest of the ride went smoothly as I slept even more and soon we arrived in Madrid and I was pumped and ready to go much to Kim and Amanda´s displeasure. they probably wanted to kill me, but I couldn´t wait to get to Toledo. We had to then catch another bus, which was more unpleasant than the bus to Madrid. But finally at about 9 in the morning a very excited and pumped Sarah arrived in Toledo
Our first task was to find a map which we do successfully. The city was so neat. We had to take an escalator up the side of the hill its on because the city is surrounded by castle walls. So we took the escalator up and began to try and find out way to our hostal. The streets are 10 times more confusing than they are in Sevilla, half of them don’t exist and rodes just pop up out of nowhere. We basically had no idea where we were going half the time, and we lucked out when we found this cute old man who offered to walk us to our street. He was so nice and kind. So we made it to our street and soon found our hostal which also looked like a great place. However when we entered and gave our reservation information, the owner informed us that we didnt have a reservation and that his hostal was full. Ok…well I was determined to remain an optimist and immediately prayed that God would have this work out the way he wanted it to. The man was really nice and he felt awful about the situation so he began calling the other hostals in the area and found as another place to stay. He then walked us to our new room where we proceeded to get dressed and ready for the day. After this and some rejuvination aka café con leche, we were ready to explore Toledo.
One of our main reasons for heading to Toledo was to go to the sword factory, so we decided to do that first. On our way we encountered another adorable man who owned an artesan shop. Sure he was just trying to sell us things, but he was really nice and gave us a demonstration of how they make their typical art work. They have this black slate like material and they pound the design into and then they thread 24 carat gold into the tiny designs made. It is really neat and the end product is so beautiful. We ended up buying some jewlry from this store. We continued onto to try and find the sword factory only to discover that it had shut down. 
oh well. We decided to go hit up more of the adorable stores so Amanda could buy some swords and we could marvel at more of the beautiful Toledo craft work. The swords are sooo cool and neat. they are so awesome. The jewelry I basically wanted it all. The crafts in toledo and the ceramic were so neat. We then headed to see El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz by El Greco. It was so amazing to see in real life. We just got done studying El Greco in Art History ( I have an exam on it today eeek) and so it was absolutely amazing to see it in real life. El Greco was a genius. the Church was so pretty. Afterwards we went for some lunch and enjoyed a very nice outdoor meal. We wanted to try and find a spot where we could see the entire city of Toledo so we began searching and just enjoying the beautiful views of Toledo. We found this really neat old bridge and it was absolutely amazing. There isn’t a lot of green in Sevilla and so it was really nice to see the river and green and trees and everything. I love just walking around and climbing rocks and exploring the views.
Later in the day we went on to a museum and a cute plaza to enjoy some more artwork by El Greco, shopping, and ice cream. We finished our sightseeing at the Cathedral of Toldeo which was breathtaking. it is similar to the cathdral in Sevilla but it has artwork by El Greco which was amazing to see in real life. I was in love with it. The church was so pretty. The ceilings were amazing and the baroque architecture was awesome. We finished up the day exploring some more, but we were completely exhausted. So we headed to a local bar for some sangria and tapas to finish off the night.
The next day Kim and I woke up early and headed to a local parish for mass. It was so neat to go to mass. The church was amazingly beautiful and it was nice to hear a personable homily in a church where their our regulars. I felt so good after mass. We then headed down to El Greco Museum…which was closed However, we found this amazing park that overlooked the river. It was so beautiful. I found this small, steep path down to a rock cliff that overlooked the river and green…so of course I insisted that we walk down. It was totallllly worth it. Pictures cannot describe it. After enjoying the views we had to head back to our hostal to catch a bus back to Madrid.
It was such a gorgeous and neat little town. I’m sooooo excited that we went.
This Wednesday we didn’t have school, because it was Andulsia Day…similar to several holidays in the US where there are family gatherings, no work, most stores close, and there is a big futból game.
Tuesday night I Wwent to see a professional flamenco performance. It was sooo amazing. It was in this great little theater place that was gorgeous. The stage was a small platform and there were 2 rows of seats for about 50 people in a u-shape around the square. The room was lit with candels and laterns and it was covered in vines and floating flowers. It was so serene and beautiful and very intimate. It was so cool to be up so close to something so amazing. There was a guitarist and a singer that creater the music for the performance, which was amazing. The first dance was a solo dance by the girl dancer. She wore this amazing flamenco dress. The bottom was yellowishk, orangish, and reddish tone polka dots with amazing ruffles and such and the top was peach with some red flowers. It was amazing. I wish I could have taked a photo of it but we couldnt take photos of the first dance. She was amazing though. The flamenco we do at school is nothing like what she did. She was everywhere at once moving her feet so fast all the while moving her manitas (hands) in intricate patterns and turning her upper body in various ways. It was amazing. Then she changed into a simple and classic, but beautiful black flamenco dress and danced with her partner. They were soooo good. It was so neat to see flamenco done right and well. After the dance I went with some people to get some churros…also very good heh. Later that evenign some friends and I went to a bar and sat outside along the river and chatted all night. It was a lovely evening.
The next day…no class excellent. We made plans to go have a picnic with champagne to make up for not finding the champagne restaurant in Barcelona. However, we didn’t think ahead that stores aren’t open, so after finally finding a 24 hour store and a very expensive bottle of champagne we headed out to the park for our mimosas and lunch. It was so fun. The weather was beautiful too. It was in the 70s probably, I was in a skirt, tank top and jacket, and I would have been fine with out the jacket…how sweet is that and its just march…yay. We found a spot along a bike path and popped open the champagne and had a leisurely lunch with our mimosas and bocadillos. It was so fun. Afterwards we explored the park a little and the Plaza de España. It was so neat…I just love parks.
After the park Amanda and I headed into the center of the city where we decided today would be a good day to go into the Cathedral and climb La Giralda. The Cathedral was beautiful as always. It amazes me how much money, gold, and silver is in the Cahtedral and I wonder what God thinks about all the decoration in the Church, but it was great to see regardless. Climbing la giralda was amazing. It was sooo high up and we could see the whole city. We could see into the plaza de toros too that was neat. It was so beautiful and a great day to look out over the whole city.
Later that evening, we went to our little bar on the corner for some tapas and to watch the big futból game. We got really good spots somewhow right up at the bar and we were in the center of the action with good views of the game. it was so fun to be in the center of the action and to enjoy watching the game and especially watching the sevillanas watch the game. our tapas were good too. We ordered flaming sausage, but it was a little too crowded to do a good job of roasting them. We started to get nervous that once again Betis and sevilla would tie, however Sevilla ended up scoring a goal which sent the whole bar which appeared to be aminly Sevilla fans into a frenzy…also fun to watch. However soon afterwards this older owman we were standing next to decided to pick a fight with another older lady. Right next to me. Amanda and I were so scared for our lives. The two woman went at it for what felt like forever,and the whole bar was watching and more and more people got involved. Teh bar tender tried to calm it down but the fighting continued on for probably 30 mins and we didn’t stay to see the conclusion. But while the bar fight was going on, nobody was paying attention to the game…where there were also problems. As Sevilla was celebrating their goal…some stupid fan decided to through a glass bottle onto the field which hit the head coach of Sevilla in the head knocking him out cold. The paramedics had to rush onto the field to take him away as he had lost consciousness, memory, etc. They had to call the game and everybody left the stadium. So when we turned our attention back to the game we couldnt figure out what happened and it wasn’t until later that we discovered what we had missed during the bar fight. It was definitely a game to remember.
FYI: Barcelona pictures our up
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