Oh, the places you’ll go! : Ireland

                I was lucky enough to travel to Ireland with my brother when he came to visit. We made it to three different cities and they were all so amazing although we were only there for a day each. We went to Dublin, Galway, and Cork. Even though we were only there a short time, the impression made was a great one. We traveled in between the cities very easily. There were daily buses to take you to the different cities. We didn't plan ahead for this part of the trip but rather just asked the front desk of the hostel we were staying at. They were very helpful and pointed us in the right direction! I loved every hostel we stayed in and only wish that we had more time to hang out at the actual hostels!


Here is a list, by city, of some of the things I enjoyed about Ireland.

Dublin

Where to stay:  Four Courts Hostel

                We flew into Dublin from London and from the airport and it was relatively easy to get there. We used the Hop on, Hop Off bus in order to get there (more info on that following) which we picked up right outside of the airport.  I know a few other people who have stayed here as well and they had an enjoyable experience as well. Although I haven’t done it myself, my friends have reported that this hostel has a good bar crawl and it was lots of fun! It’s also priced quite nicely at around $20-25 a night, depending on how many people are sharing the room.

                There’s a bar right down the street from this hostel that says it’s the oldest in Dublin, so a visit is worthwhile. It’s a very typical Irish pub feel and if you go into the back room, there’s another part of the bar where the walls are covered in currency from different countries which was pretty awesome

What to do:

Buy the Bus Tour

It was recommended by a friend that it was worth it to purchase the Bus Tour and I am passing on that recommendation.  It was definitely worth it. You buy one day and get one day free. It’s hop on, hop off, goes all over the city, and if you so choose to listen, there is information about each stop playing throughout the ride. You can also take this bus from the airport into the city!

                Go to the Guinness Storehouse

This is a MUST. The Hop On, Hop Off bus will take you to right outside of it. Go on the tour here. It’s really impressive how they have set up the whole factory to show how Guinness is made. You also get a free pint of Guinness at the end! They also have an option where you can learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness (more complicated than I thought!)

Galway

Where to stay: Snoozles

                Snoozles is specifically one of the hostels I really wish we had more time at. It was such a cool place to hang out. We traveled by bus from Dublin to Galway; this hostel is right next to the bus station. Their accommodations were better than I ever expected with really nice rooms and a private bath for a 6 person room. It has an entertainment area downstairs as well as a patio and kitchen. It’s about a 5 minute walk from the main area of Galway. Priced around $20-30, it’s a great place to stay in Galway.

What to do:

                Cliffs of Moher

This one I don’t know too much about due to time constrictions. If you plan on doing this, be aware that the Cliffs are not in Galway but are about an hour drive away. There are tours that take you there via bus that leave in the morning and come back later in the afternoon.

               

                Just walk around!

Galway is a very quaint little Irish town. The buildings are colorful, some of the streets are cobblestone, and the people are friendly. Take a walk through the town and go down towards the water. It’s a beautiful place to hang out for a bit. 

                Eat at Dail bar

Recommended by a friend, this place was a great place to settle in for a Guinness and some grub.

                The Quays

                                This pub was lots of fun and had great live music.

Cork

Where to stay: BruBar & Hostel

                This hostel was especially cool because it’s inside of a bar. Downstairs is the bar and then once you head upstairs, it turns into a hostel! The rooms were really small but considering we weren’t in the rooms for too long, it didn’t matter so much.

What to do:

                Take a trip to Blarney!

There are buses that go to Blarney where the Blarney Castle is. The grounds around the castle are gorgeous and then, I mean, there’s a real castle. It was so. cool. 

  

 Happy traveling!

May the road rise up to meet you, 

may the wind be ever at your back. 

May the sun shine warm upon your face 

and the rain fall softly on your fields

- Irish Blessing

7 things you should make room for

From my traveling experiences, I have compiled a list of 7 things that were the most important and useful things that I had the pleasure to travel with.

1)      A Kindle (or any E-book for that matter) preferably with 3G

This is number one for a reason. Traveling and getting to see these beautiful sites has a price to pay: sitting for long periods of time in lines, unsightly airports, trains, planes, and automobiles. Really anywhere. Travelers don’t have the luxury of being able to carry around heavy, chunky books. The Kindle charge holds for a long amount of time and you can pass the time very quickly by going through a book or two. It’s also great when you want to read on a beach or other odd locations. I recommend the 3G specifically because when I traveled outside of Spain, my phone did not work. Through the Kindle, you can access e-mail, Facebook—the entire world wide web—so I was able to contact friends from other countries who I was meeting up with without stressing about having to find a computer with WIFI. (I think my parents also appreciated it too when I got to shoot them an e-mail after landing safely in whichever city I was off to that weekend) The 3G is also great when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have suddenly finished your book. Hop on your 3G, browse the selection and get a brand new book delivered to the palm of your hand in mere seconds!

2)      An inflatable pillow

This one I also really have to insist on (trust me on this… this will be the best $20 you’ll spend). Think about all those trains, planes, and automobiles that you’ll be using to get to and fro. Now think about the discomfort of trying to sleep on them as well as airport floors. Waking up in a beautiful new location feeling like my neck muscles just went through a brutal WWE fighting match is a major travel buzz kill. My personal recommendation is one by REI. I preferred simply pressing the air out to make it flat like a pancake instead of trying to roll it up (the former took up a lot less space).

3)      A good pair of walking sandals

Yes, you can do with a good pair of walking sneakers too but sandals, in my opinion, are far more versatile. Get a good pair of sandals that can be worn with shorts, dresses, jeans, during day and night and packing will be much easier. My recommendation is the Gizeh sandal from Birkenstock. These go with almost any style of dress. They have great arch support and walking around all day in them doesn’t put too much of a toll on your body. Sorry guys, these are ladies shoes but any type of Birkenstock is highly recommended! Mine are in Antique Lace, though the color isn’t the important thing ( I loved them because they went with everything and you couldn’t tell if they got a little dirty)

4)       A pair of ear plugs

Ya never know. Those trains, planes, and automobiles can get noisy especially if you’re tired, cranky and trying to get some shut eye. You also never know who is a snorer in any given hostel. They’re cheap and tiny so grab a pair and bring them along just in case.

5)       Lightweight underwear that dries quickly

Many homes don’t have dryers so you shouldn’t count on them while you travel either. You can re-wear the same 2 shirts and pair of jeans for days but clean underwear is a must. Pack a little container of Woolite or any type of detergent and you can wash up a pair or two in a sink, hang them to dry, and they’ll be ready by the next day! 

6)       A sturdy water bottle

Staying hydrated is very important especially when you’re traveling. Your body probably isn’t ingesting the healthiest of foods nor are you probably getting enough sleep. My personal favorite is a Nalgene wide-mouthed water bottle. You can drop those things all over the place and they’ll never crack. They also hold a nice 32 ounces of water. Along with the water bottle, I’d recommend a splashguard. There were countless times that my body got a drink of water before my mouth did. Spend the extra 6 bucks and save yourself the unexpected shower.

7)        A good rolling carry-on bag

Originally, I stuck to using my NorthFace backpack to travel with. It worked just fine and had plenty of room (with careful packing of course) but then I discovered the rolling carry-on. There is more room, less back pain, and more ease. Gals, just pack a purse inside and once you get to your destination, use the purse to hold your things to get around. Another plus? It’s easier to secure with a little lock to protect your things while you’re in a hostel. 

                My luxury item: A journal

                Now this one isn’t officially on the list because it’s not something that is absolutely positively necessary in my eyes but it’s a personal recommendation. I was gifted a journal before I left by a dear friend and I used it throughout my trip to record thoughts, feelings, drawings, everything! Even if you aren’t a huge journal writer, it’s really cool to look back after traveling at different entries from different trips. A plus? This isn’t one of those Language Arts journals from high school being graded. Huge long essays aren’t  necessary—no word count, double-spaced requirements whatsoever. Like I mentioned before, draw a picture or simply jot down a few words that summed up that trip or day. If you have the spare room, I’d bring one along.

Un beso
x

What is a Journey?

A journey is not a trip.

It's not a vacation.

It's a process. A discovery.

It's a process of self discovery

A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.

A journey shows us not only the world, 

but how we fit in it.

Does the person create the journey

or does the journey create the person?

The journey is life itself.

Where will life take you?

             I've decided to share a quote that I encountered in the McDonald's in the Madrid airport after a week long trip to Switzerland in my friends' journal. Looking back, this quote really reflects for me these two semesters and especially this current one. This has been a journey that did not just start when my flight landed in Madrid, Spain about 8 months ago. This journey began long before that when my parents were wonderful enough to start letting me travel. First, to overnight camp, then to South Dakota and New Orleans with my church. Then the big step of coming to Spain for the first time 5 years ago and falling in love the country of Spain. This journey that I'm on continues after that first trip to Spain with realizing that I wanted to continue learning Spanish. I was then set on studying abroad for one semester while minoring in Spanish. As the journey continued, plans evolved and then I became a Spanish major going to Spain for an academic year to study. Now it continues its' evolution. Although I am leaving this city and country, those which I have fallen deep in love with, in a mere 10 days, I get the chance to go back home and live my life there with everything that I have learned here. Then I will hopefully return in year for yet another year or two living and working here as a teacher. Freshman year I remember trying to figure out what I wanted to do in life and study at Pitt. I was a Spanish major but hadn't yet picked up my business major. I was talking with my wonderful father and he told me something along the lines of, "Knowing what you don't want to do in life is just as important, if not more so, than knowing what you want to do in life". I then thought to myself, "Well, I know I don't want to be a doctor and I don't want to be a teacher."  Looking back, I can't help but laugh because as I said that, my past actions did not quite agree with the not-wanting-to-be-a-teacher part. I had already desired to be a camp counselor, I taught a class for Vacation Bible School at my church, and I love children dearly. It only took my coming to Spain and volunteering at a school here and teaching did I realized that I quite like teaching. Who knows if I will end up being a full-time teacher further down the road but right now, I know that I love teaching children. I also know that I can come back to Spain doing just that and I am over the moon excited that I have that opportunity to further explore this section of my life. I guess this is just a little rambling (and procrastinating since my exams start on Monday and I need to study) but I just want to put it out there that Never say never. Never in a million years, if you asked me while I was in my freshman year Spanish class, counting down the time until 1:23pm when we were released from what I considered my own personal prison, that if 7 years from now, I would be working my way up to fluency in Spanish, I would have just lived a year in Spain, and then I would have plans to come back for another 2 years to teach? I would have thought you went off the deep end and then I would have walked away to go to my study hall because I wouldn't have wanted to spend any more time than was necessary in that classroom. And look at where I am now. 




         Even though it's a very bittersweet feeling to leave here in 10 days and I know that many tears are to be shed, I cannot wait to see what my journey has in store for me this next year of my life. 










Never say never.

Besos y abrazos

xoxo

Catching up

So about the whole being better at blogging thing… I’m reeeeally sorry about that. It’s already April 10^th, (HOW?!) and now I’ve realized that I haven’t posted anything since February 23^rd which seems like just yesterday. Since then, I’ve made it over to Morocco (incredible), Rome (with API. So awesome), London & Ireland (with my wonderful brother), and I just got back from Palma de Mallorca where I went for spring break with one of my best friends, Rachel. Whew, I cannot believe I’ve done that much just in these few short weeks that I haven’t spoken to you guys. Dios mio.

                I’ll have to do blogs later on about all those trips (I have to admit, I have not yet written any of them. I swear though that they will be written and read by you wonderful people who are following this creation of mine) Long travels short, Morocco was simply exquisite. It was so different but there were many traces of Granada in there as well. Chefchaouen aka the blue painted city was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. Rome was very cool as well. Our hotel was by Vatican City so that is where I spent a lot of time. We got blessed by the Pope at Sunday mass, saw the Vatican museum & the Sistene Chapel, the Colosseum, and the Trevi Fountain. Rome is definitely too big of a city for my liking if I were to live there or stay there for an extended period of time but it was just insane seeing all the old stuff there. It was a huge history trip (and for those fellow readers of Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons, yes I was in heaven walking around seeing all the things from the book).

                After our API trip to Rome, Italy, my brother came to visit shortly thereafter! He came at the end of March for about 2 weeks. We were in Granada for the first bit which was just lovely so he could see and experience Granada. After a few days in Granada and my midterms (yuck), we left for our 6 day trip to London and Ireland! We went to London for 2 nights where we were definitely tourists, which was totally okay with me for this trip. We saw a The Comedy of Errors at the National Theatre our first night there. The next day we were alllll over the place seeing Churchill’s War Rooms, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, doing the Thames River Cruise and seeing Big Ben, the parliament, and the London Eye as well. Then we moved over to Ireland going to Dublin, Galway, and Cork. Ireland was beautiful and I miss it terribly. I loved it there. In Cork, we went to Blarney Castle which was so much cooler than I ever expected. We got to climb in, around, and underneath the castle and walk around the breathtaking gardens that surrounded it. Galway was a little quaint town that was a lot of what I pictured a little Irish town to be. Dublin was a bigger city but I loved it all the same. I’m definitely going to be trying to go back there in the future.

                And then we’re at Semana Santa! Otherwise known as Holy Week in Spain. I was in Granada until Wednesday of Semana Santa so I was able to see some of the spectacular processions before I left for the island life. And the processions were just that, nothing short of spectacular. I have pictures that will be up soon. So happy that I got to see them in Granada because we stumbled upon one while we were in Palma and didn’t have anything on Granada’s.  I then left a rainy Granada (yeah, first time it rained in a looooong while) for a sunny Palma de Mallorca. Rachel and I went to visit our friend Kristen from last semester who is studying in Palma right now and also to meet up with her aunt and uncle who were in Palma for a bike camp. We had such a fantastic, relaxing week. We strolled around Palma and spent our last 2 days at the beach.

                Now I’m back in Granada for a good bit. I have not further trips planned except for our last excursion with API to Cadiz in May. I might take some day trips here and there but I’m going to enjoy being in Granada for these last 6 weeks too. Time has FLOWN and I am not liking it one bit. I’m grateful for these past 7 months I’ve been given but am terribly sad that I only have a month and a half left here. I can’t quite fathom leaving yet.

                I’m off to hit the sack before my second day of class back after break tomorrow.

Besos y abrazos a todos

Katie

Switzerland: the land of snow, sledging, and canyon jumping

Even though I left Philadelphia on the 20^th of January, I still have only had 3 days in Granada so far because I’ve just been traveling for a week in Switzerland! My classes at the CLM don’t start until the 6^th of February and my friend Kristen’s classes don’t start until the 8^th. We met last semester when she was studying in Granada with API as well. This semester she decided to move on over to Mallorca, a beautiful island off the coast of eastern Spain. I’m bummed she’s not in Granada but I can’t wait to visit her in Mallorca this spring!

                Our Switzerland journey began on Tuesday, January 24^th when I hopped on a bus to go up to Madrid to meet Kristen there because she had just flown in there from JFK. We flew into Geneva where we stayed for 2 nights. Geneva is in the bottom portion of Switzerland on the bottom part of Lake Geneva and  basically surrounded by France. Funny enough, Geneva therefore speaks French which neither Kristen nor I knew about. Even funnier enough, neither of us speak the French language. This so began the biggest language barrier trip ever, though absolutely 100% worth it. The first night we were both so tired that we crashed in the hostel until the next morning when we decided to go explore the Olde Town part of Geneva. In the bay of the Lake stands the highest fountain in the world, the Jet d'Eau. It seemed pretty random but it was really cool. Another thing Geneva is known for is their flower clock. It’s a clock right by the Jet d'Eau that is a clock on a little hill of grass, decorated with various designs of flowers at various points in the year. We then walked into Olde Town where St. Peter’s Cathedral is. This was one of my favorite types of cathedrals because it is very simple. The outside is cool but nothing too extravagant, though this is how a lot of the outer shells of cathedrals are designed. What I loved was that the inside was not decorated with gold and jewels on the walls out the wazoo. The inside had cool arches down the center aisle. Everything from afar looked just like gray stone but when you got close to the front most part, you could see that they had painted some of the stone. Some of the arches in the front had remnants of deep red and blue stripes and other designs. Very cool and interesting to think about many things that we know without color were once decorated and painted.

                After the Cathedral we continued to wander around Geneva and stumbled upon some parks. One of the parks had an ice rink and life sized chess and checker boards (Yes, I did feel like I was channeling Harry Potter). We played a game of life sized checkers and were on our way to continue exploring. We bought our first of many Swiss chocolate bars… Mmmmmmm. So so so good. We grabbed some lunch and headed back to the hostel for a quick siesta—it was our obligation to bring at least some of the Spanish lifestyle to Geneva. That night was the Barça v. Madrid game so we headed over to an Irish pub to watch the game. (They tied but because of the previous game, Barça won!!)

Life sized chess & checkers

                The next day, we packed up our stuff, checked out of the hostel, and decided to take a tour of the UN. Geneva, Switzerland was first home to the League of Nations. The League of Nations then dissolved (officially in 1946) and the United Nations, as of October of 1945, stands in its’ place. New York now holds the headquarters of the UN, which I was lucky enough to tour when I was a freshman in college but Geneva and the Palais des Nations is still the main European office and very historically relevant with its’ history with the League of Nations. The tour was very cool. There was a lot of awesome artwork throughout, much of it given by countries when they joined as a type of tradition. The UN is also situated across the street from the American Red Cross museum which you can also tour.

Broken Chair monument at the UN used to warn against the danger of land mines

                 We were then onto our next city in Suiza—Lausanne! Lausanne was just about 45 minutes from Geneva. It’s another city on Lake Geneva but further north. Lausanne is the Olympic Capital and the second largest city in Switzerland. Our first of two nights was spent going up to the cathedral which was pretty impressive. There was a room off to the side in the back where they had painted the walls and it was still intact. The stained glass in this cathedral, like the Cathedral we saw in Geneva, was incredible. Both Kristen and I agreed by the end of our trip that the Swiss really know how to do stained glass. It was just breathtaking and awesome to admire that kind of craft.

                One minor slash actually huge thing about Switzerland is that it is quite the expensive country. Somehow, though, the country has managed to be affordable for the people that are employed and paid in the Swiss Franc but for everyone else, it’s a bit ridiculous (we found out that someone working at McDonald’s has a minimum wage of 18 franc an hour! That’s almost 20 dollars!) Because of this, Kristen and I ate many things from the good ol’ supermarket. Many nights we would buy a loaf of bread, some tomatoes, and cheese and feast on them. That is what we had done this night but decided to grab a beer at a place called Les Brassiliers. It’s a brewery that was recommended by some websites I had checked out and it delivered with some very good beer. 

Our first dinner in Switzerland: Bread, tomatoes, chocolate, spinach that wasn't quite spinach, cheese that said 'Classic' on the package but smelled like unwashed feet, proscuitto that was almost as horrible as the foot cheese, red wine, and truffles that we later discovered had a label on the package that said 'mit alkohol'... well that's neither french, nor spanish, nor english.. 2 minutes and a Google Translate search later, we discovered that we had picked out the only chocolate in the store that had alcohol in it... needless to say, they were put into the category of the foot cheese and bad meat as the Fail part of this meal.

                Because of Lausanne being the Olympic Capital, it has an Olympic museum that is very impressive. It has a timeline from the start of the games to present day. They have all the torches from all of the Olympic Games as well as memorabilia from many of the athletes. The entry for us ended up being free because on the 29^th of January they closed down the museum for about 2-3 years to do renovations. Since they were closing, they were letting people in for free for the last week of them being open. I’m so happy that we went because it was SO cool. I’ve always been interested in the Games and to see all this information about it was awesome. I’m not quite sure why they’re doing renovations or what they’re doing renovations on because it all seemed pretty modern and was quite spectacular. There was one section that had 6 of some of the opening costumes from various Olympic Games. There was a big video presentation on it with footage from the original Ceremony. Talk about innovative designs. Those opening ceremonies are spec. tac. u. lar.

All of the Olympic torches

One of the historical pictures from the museum that I loved

            

   After the museum, we took a bus up to the Sauvabelin Tower that looks over all of Lausanne. It was designed to be a spiral in the middle (it looks like DNA). Because of this design, you then have two ways to go up/down. At first we weren’t aware of the fact that there would be another way down and we were amazed when we discovered it. 

From the bottom of the stairs in the Sauvabelin Tower

**Not my picture! I take no credit!** 

This is a picture of the tower from the outside. You can see and imagine that because of the way the wood slabs are set up, there are automatically 2 ways to climb up

                Our second night in Lausanne, we decided to cook our dinner at the kitchen in our hostel. We went over to the grocery store and picked up rice, Tikka Masala sauce, chicken, and veggies for an Indian feast. We met some people from Australia that just moved to Lausanne for a year as well as a group of girls from the US who are studying in Geneva for the semester. Now prepare yourself for an example of how small this world really is. In the group of girls who are studying in Geneva, one of them said she was from Philly (which, if you haven’t already discovered, almost always means you are not actually from Philadelphia but if you were to say your town name, people would just look at your weirdly, smile and nod while pretending they know where the heck that is). Anyways, I asked her from where since I am Philly as well and she said Upper Darby which is right next to my town of Media. That’s not even the small world part of it though; I asked her where she went to high school, etc. and she said that she would go to Media sometimes because that’s where her church is. The next obvious question is where said church is. She starts to explain it and the name of it sounded very familiar: Unitarian Universalist Church. As we continue talking, I realize that I know if because it is across the street from my church! So let’s recap, I’m sitting in a kitchen in a hostel in Lausanne, Switzerland talking to a girl who went to the church across the street from mine in my town of Media, Pennsylvania, USA. If you can imagine it, it gets even crazier when I ask her if she knows anyone from Media. Turns out I know all 3 people she had mentioned: Neil Cambell sat in front of me in geometry class sophomore year, Cat Ramirez sat at my lunch table all throughout high school and I had been over her house many a times, and Nick George who I have known since kindergarten and she went to church with him. My mind was blown by this point because it was so crazy to think that this girl knew these people from my life at home in Media. Small world, I know!

                This now brings us to Saturday morning when we departed to head to our 3^rd city, Interlaken. Interlaken is more north and further east than Lausanne. Interlaken, as Kristen so accurately described it, is the hub/home base of the skiers, snowboarders, sledgers, everyone. It’s at the bottom of the mountains so what most people do is stay in Interlaken and then head up to the mountains for the day. It also looks just like a postcard: mountains in the distance, typical Swiss houses/cottages in the forefront. The first night we hung out at the hostel we stayed and hung out with Petra, our roommate. The hostel was so cute and was full with students, mostly English speaking. For Sunday, we decided to go sledging in the Alps. I’m not sure why they call is sledging but it’s basically sledding on a toboggan. We rented our gear and headed to Grindelwald to take the bus up to the top of the mountain. There were a few different paths down that you could take and there was no time limit so our first trip down, we took our good ol’ time. It was very cloudy/foggy so we couldn’t see clearly to the other mountains which was unfortunate but the few that we had was still pure beauty.

My sledge and me somewhere in the Swiss Alps

Taking in the gorgeous view of what looked like those fake little Christmas trees dusted with fake snow but was in fact the completely real beauty of the snowy Alps

Kristen and me with our toboggans!

                We still had one more day in Interlaken after our sledging. We didn’t have any set time that we needed to be back in Geneva by so we decided to do something cool our last day in Interlaken. What might be cool you ask? Well, despite my being petrified about this, we decided to go Canyon Jumping! Yes, I said Canyon Jumping, not bungee jumping because, like its’ name explains, you simple jump off a canyon… 90 meters aka 300 feet above the ground… ground as in snowy rocks. But as you can see (or read rather), I am still alive! It was so much fun and probably one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my life. You jump off of a platform and you free fall for 4 whole seconds. Let me tell you, 4 seconds seems like nothing until you are falling through the air and forget that eventually a rope and your harness will catch you. The process of the fall went something like this: Stage1— you jump, you think “this is kind of fun and cool”. Stage 2—you are still falling but it’s still cool/fun. Starting to get a bit scarier. Stage 3—You completely forget that you are harnessed in and you think nothing is going to catch you. Otherwise known as ‘The Complete Freak Out’ Stage. Then comes Stage 4—after you scream bloody murder because you realize you are indeed, still falling, the rope and harness catch you! Well, what d’ya know. Finally Stage 5 – RELIEF! YOU’RE ALIVE!! . Yup, that pretty much sums it up. After jumping off of a canyon, we headed back to Interlaken to pack up our stuff and go over to Geneva for one last night before our flight to Madrid the next day.

The contract that we had to sign before jumping (and indeed, my mother did not know I was there... sorry, Mom!)

This is the bungee jumping platform taken from the cliff jumping platform (though not on the day we went because there was no trace of blue sky while we were in Switzerland)

Pre-jump! Practicing a 30cm for a 300ft.

Yours truly all harnessed up, ready to go!

All of us getting ready for the jump!

First one to go and nerves are a-flying

And we're about a half of a second into my terror jump

This is around Stage 3 (hence the eyes BULGING and screaming/terror filled face continuing)

Stage 5! I'm alive!!! Estoy viva!! Gracias a Dios

                Though we had our cities for this trip planned, we didn’t have many plans beyond that. With that being said, this trip turned out to be so amazing/fantastic/every adjective along these lines. There were so many happy surprises along the way and if you had asked me before I left if I was going to come back having gone sledding in the Swiss Alps and having gone canyon jumping, I probably would have just chuckled at you and said ‘Yeah, okay.’

Happy February everyone!

Germany & The Netherlands

             I was in Germany this past weekend! Slash the Netherlands! Rachel P, Kat, and I went from 2 Dec - 5 Dec. We got there Friday morning to Eindhoven around 9:15 after our flight from Malaga. We had gotten to Malaga at 11pm the night before and had a nice 7 hours to kill in the airport. Yaaaaay. Rachel and I slept on the hard ceramic floor and Kat slept on the metal seats. AKA not a good night’s sleep. I apparently almost got my head waxed over by a floor buffer and I didn’t even wake up. The 7 hours finally passed by and we were on our way to Eindhoven!

                My friend, Michelle, lives with her boyfriend, Jim, in Kleve, Germany. They were nice enough to have us stay with them and even pick us up from the airport. It was so great to see her because I hadn’t seen her in a while. Her last trip to the states, I was never in the same city as her so we didn’t get to see each other. After she picked us up from the airport, we drove back to her town of Kleve and just relaxed for a little bit. We then went to Nijmegen, where Michelle and Jim work. We walked/explored the city centre. It was a very cute little city. We went to go pick Jim up from his internship after meandering through the city. With the car full, we headed to the supermarket to pick up our food for the next 3 days, all of which was INSANELY good. We had homemade pizza the 1^st night with all kinds of toppings on it: peppers, 2 kinds of salami, onion, mushrooms, and lots of cheese. So so so good. Jim is an awesome cook. I also tried this mixed beer that they have there. There were all sorts of combinations from energy drink to cola to lemonade. I had the Cactus Fruit mix the 1^st night and had grapefruit the second night. Both were surprisingly good! I got the Cola one to try for kicks and giggles the last night and it was not good. Not my favorite combination ever. Then I had some blackberry Greek yogurt for dessert which didn’t taste exactly like the Greek yogurt from home but was delicious none the less. 

                On Saturday, we got up around 9 to start getting ready for Amsterdam! Rachel, Kat, Michelle, and I went while Jim stayed at home for the day. He had some stuff to do at home and was making us cannelloni’s for dinner that night! We left via car and got there a little later than expected because the 1^st park & ride we were at was full but we made it! Park and Ride is a system where you can drive to a outer part of the city, park in a garage there and then get free metro tickets to go into the city centre. It was very very convenient. We got lucky with the weather too; the night before there was a huge storm and the whole drive to Amsterdam was on and off rain showers. Once we got there, we started with a boat cruise/tour around the whole city. I hadn’t quite known about the Amsterdam-being-strewn-with-canals thing. VERY cool. For the beginning of the boat tour it was raining which was fine because we were covered in the canal boat. As the tour drew on, the weather changed to sunnier skies with breaks in the clouds. I’m very glad we did the tour because it allowed us to see a lot of Amsterdam. It is such a cool and pretty city with all the buildings/houses along the river. Tons of house boats too! Varying from very ratty looking to very nice looking, there were all kinds. We saw the 7 arch bridges, the famous skinny bridge and Anne Frank’s house (which was nothing too special but now it’s made me want to read her diary!) I also found out from our tour that the name Amsterdam came from the river Amstel Dam = Amsterdam. I think there’s more history to that but I don’t quite remember it. We also passed a bike garage. Yes, a BICYCLE garage. It was so big, it originally seemed like it held almost all the bikes in the city but nope. It felt like only a fraction once we started walking around the rest of the city. When our boat tour ended, we went straight up from the train station and went to a souvenir shop where I bought my obligatory post cards. We continued walking around and got the apparently very well known fries of the city. For me, they were very good but nothing too special.

                I had wanted to see the I Amsterdam sign so we started on our quest to find it. The sign is literally read as I Amsterdam but the I AM part of it is red while the rest is white, giving the illusion of it saying I am Amsterdam. The journey there ended up taking a big longer than expected. Eventually, we found it and took lots of pictures with it. We headed back towards/through the shopping streets to stroll around. We went to a cheese shop which was had all sorts of delicious cheeses: pesto, spicy, cumin, aged. I bought a balsamic mustard spread that was very tasty. My plan was to use it as a stocking stuffer for my dad but I came across a slight bump in the road when I realized that it was 190 mL and the max for carry-on luggage is 100 mL. I, dumbly, tried to get it through security anyways and lo and behold, they found it and threw it out. So, sorry Dad! It was really good though!

                Después, we went walking through the Red Light District. I guess I had never really thought about there actually being red lights above glass doors with half naked girls in the windows but, sure enough, there are! We also passed a lot of coffee shops aka a shop where you go and can smoke a lot of weed and get baked goods. Even not in the coffee shops, you walked through the streets and could smell weed everywhere. I’m glad we walked through the RLD because it’s definitely unique.

                We made our way back to the train station to hop on the metro to get back to the P & R garage and drive home to Kleve. We got back at 9 and walked into a wonderfully smelling apartment. I had my grapefruit beer with delicious homemade cannelloni. After dinner, we played Scene it! and Trivial Pursuit. It was so much fun; it was a nice break from student life because it felt like I was back at home. It was nice to enjoy such simple pleasures such as cooking in a kitchen again and playing video games in a living room with friends.

                Sunday was the Christmas Markets in Cologne! We left around 10:30 for Cologne which was only an hour away –much closer than Amsterdam. We really lucked out with the weather. It was chilly but not rainy. We did a P&R like we had done in Amsterdam and it worked out really well. We first went to the markets by the famous Cologne Cathedral. Just like it was in Paris, Christmas made things magical. There were lots of stands adorned with gold stars, pine tree garland with loads of Christmas trees strewn around with a giant one in the center complete with white lights coming from the top and making a pretty circle around the market. The smells of the markets were divine. I wish I could have bottled what it smelt like. There were many baked goods, bratwurst, hot mulled wine, garlic mushrooms, and the list goes on and on. Mmmm. We ended up bringing a little Granada to the markets when we did a tapas deal when we returned to the market to eat. More about that later…

                But, primero, we, of course, went to Starbucks. This time was especially special though because they had Lebkuchen. I will save you the trip to WordReference.com and inform you that that, my friends, is Gingerbread! Need I say more? I got myself a Lebkuchen Frappuccino. So good. Then we walked down some streets and headed toward the river and another Christmas market! This one was just as adorable as the first. Here we ate lunch; I got a bratwurst that was so good and flavorful. It was crispy on the outside with a toasted bun around it. Add some spicy brown mustard on top and it was the definition of perfection. We also went to an assorted roasted nut stand where Rachel, Michelle and Jim got some nuts. Luego, we walked toward the river to go along it and head back up to the 1^st market.

                Once at the fist markets again, we started off with some Glühwein, mulled wine. They also have different things you can add in so I got mine with some Amaretto in it as well. I thought it was very good (a vast improvement from Paris’s). They serve their Glühwein in an actual mug that you pay a little extra for on the front end and if you want to keep it, then you’ve paid for a mug, but if not you can bring it back to where you bought it and get part of your money back. I decided to keep mine because it was really cute! It said Christmas Markets at Cologne 2011 in German and had cartoonish drawings of the church, the huts, the trees, etc. 

We began our tapas adventure shortly after that with fried potato patties with applesauce. We also had a baked bread loaf topped with vanilla and cherry topping, a baked apple with spices and a vanilla sauce, baked apple strudel, and AWESOME cooked mushrooms with a garlic cream sauce. I also got a chocolate covered banana on a stick.  We stayed at the markets until around 5:30 and then headed home.

 The last night, Rachel, Kat, and I were cooking for Michelle and Jim! We made them stuffed chicken with feta, arugula, onion, and garlic. Our salad was lettuce, chick peas, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Kat made a cheesecake for dessert (that had the best of intentions of tasting like vanilla but ended up tasting like butterscotch haha. Lost in translation: vanilla extract edition). They all were very good though. While we were cooking, Michelle and Jim were watching Friends re-runs so while we ate, we continued to watch. I LOVED it. I haven’t seen Friends episodes in so long, it was so much fun to sit there and crack up at old episodes. 

Finally, we went to bed and set our alarms early because our flight was early morning. Michelle and Jim were kind enough to drive us back to Eindhoven for our flight and then head to work after. There was traffic so we got there later than expected but still in plenty of time to make it through security (sin my amazing balsamic mustard) and get our gate #. Since this year is strange and the CLM didn’t have Puente, I still had class on Monday. I had missed my first 2 of the day but was attempting to make it back in time for my 4pm and 6pm class. After literally dropping all my stuff off at home, dumping my backpack out and refilling it with my school stuff, I booked it over to the CLM to only be 20 minutes late for my 4pm class :)

 

This was an awesome last big trip of my first semester abroad in Granada. It was a treat to see Michelle and Jim too! They were so nice and hospitable towards me as well as my friends. I can’t wait until they can visit Granada and I get to show them around my cities! Here’s to looking forward to the many more trips I have in my future as well as my last 2 weeks with this amazing group of API Granada Fall 2011 people. I can’t even begin to imagine Granada without these people.

Bonjour, Paris!

             I just got back from Paris and I can’t get over just how magical it was. I was there form 24 nov – 27 nov… yeah, that’s correct, I got to spend Thanksgiving in Paris! Qué suerte! It was my first Thanksgiving away from home and although I missed being at home with my wonderful family, API did a good job of jiving us a nice Thanksgiving in a home away from home.

                As opposed to waking up in my house, watching football with my family and having a big Turkey Day feast at our house, I spent my morning/afternoon preparing for Paris, France. We left Thanksgiving Day from the Granada airport flying directly to ORLY, arriving around 5:30 pm. Luego, conducimos durante una hora al centro de Paris. We arrived around 7:30 at the hotel because the airport is about an hour away but there was a lot of traffic so it took a little longer. As we rolled into Paris, I got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower that I will never forget. Against the night sky, the tour was lit up in the distance with the sister Statue of Liberty in front of it. As we got closer, the twinkly lights came on and it was magical—like nothing I had ever seen before. I felt like a kid in a candy store – pure happiness and giddiness; I was in awe. As we drove around Paris to get to our hotel, I got even more excited to be blessed enough to be in Paris, let along to be there for Thanksgiving. 

                As soon as we got to the hotel, we dropped our stuff and immediately headed off to our Thanksgiving dinner. The restaurant we went to did an amazing job on our dinner. I wasn’t expecting it to be too much like Thanksgiving at home because, after all, we were in a Parisian restaurant and I was guaranteed to not be consuming my families’ Thanksgiving dinner. What we were served though, more than exceeded my expectations. We started with squash soup followed by a plate piled high with turkey with cranberries, mashed potatoes, corn, and cooked carrots. Topping off a great meal was a warm mini pecan pie with a scoop of some of the most flavorful vanilla bean ice cream I’ve ever had. I had a great Día de acción de gracias with a new family of mine.

                After dinner, everyone went off exploring Paris. Blake, Rachel, Kristen, Jiela, Justin, Tyler, & I went walking all around, getting a little lost, but finding our way eventually. We found the “Love Bridge” of Paris: a pedestrian bridge that is llena de cerraduras (locks)! These locks are put on by couples in hopes of locking their love and making it everlasting. It was cool to stroll up and down this bridge looking at all the different types of locks –big, small, old, new, colored, black, gold, and silver. Very significant of all the types of love there are out there—okay, a little mushy but I’m a bit of a romantic so I loved it. 

                On Friday, our 1^st full day of Paris, we all started with a trip to the Louvre! I’m now officially traveling throughout all my old computer backgrounds. The famous and controversial Louvre glass triangle was previously one of them and now, I have pictures of myself standing in front of it! We had a tour to see little bits of the Louvre including the Big 3: the Mona Lisa, The Winged Angel, and the Venus de Milo. It was almost overwhelming the amount of art that we saw (and we didn’t even see a fraction of it! Looking at every obra at the Louvre for 30 seconds would take 3 ½ months!)

                After the Louvre, Kristen, Rachel, Jade, Blake and I went out to lunch at a little café cerca del Louvre. I ordered a salmon and avocado tartar. It was DELICIOUS. Very fresh and flavorful. Luego, andábamos mucho por la ciudad. We went to the Eiffel Tower to go check it out. After taking our fair share of pictures, we decided it was the perfect time to go to the top. There was no way we could have ever planned what happened next. While we waited in line, it was around 5 o’clock and still light out (as much as it could be with the amount of clouds there were). By the time we took the lift (yes, the lift. Those stairs were not going to be climbed by me in that weather) the skies had cleared just enough for us to have an incredible view of all of Paris. Además, as we got up there, the sun was just beginning to set. The setting sun shone through the thinning nubes (clouds) in colors of light pink, gold, and deeper tones of pink and purple. It was windy and cold but completely worth it. We could see all of Paris in a few gazes over –pure belleza. To add to the already amazing time we were having up there, the Tower lit up while we were in it and then it started twinkling as well. We were also lucky enough to see the transformation of Paris from day to night – we literally saw Paris light up right before our eyes. Talk about perfect timing. We left the tippy top for the 1^st level where there was a café. We warmed up with cappuccino and hot chocolate before heading all the way back down to ground level. We made our way back via Metro (which is awesome and so efficient. We had practically aced it by our 2^nd day there). 

                That night, Blake, Rachel, and I went walking around Paris to see the Christmas lights at the Galleries du Lafayette. All the windows to the shops were so cool and extravagant. There were ones depicting NYC (complete with a mini King Kong atop a building) to ones filled with—what I considered—spazzing marionettes. I think the desired effect was dancing/singing/having a blast but it came off a tad bit creepy. We were heading to a restaurant that looked absolutely precious, decorated with Christmas trees and lights, when we ran into Rachel P. and Allyson. They decided to join us for dinner! Rachel P. and I split French Onion Soup and puff pastries with goat cheese and tomato. All very good. The goat cheese was very yummy. After dinner, Rachel P. and Allyson headed back to the hotel and Rachel, Blake, and I went to try and find this cool bar Kristen had heard of. We found it and it was cool inside but not quite what we were expecting. We think there are 2 of these bars or the day pictures and what it is at night are just a little different. We walked in and it was packed so we decided to decir hasta luego a esta bar. We walked to a few others on same street but everything was muy caro (although, most of Paris is pretty dang expensive) and the crowd was a little older. We were all beat anyways so we headed back to the hotel.

                On Saturday, I had to get up early for the API bus tour of Paris. At first, I was apprehensive about spending 3 horas on a bus but decided to give it a go. I’m glad that I did because I got to see a lot of sites that otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see. After the bus tour dropped us off at Notre Dame, I went to go find some lunch. Chelsea, Tyler, Curtis, Kristen, Justin, Jade, Blake, Rachel, Jiela and I went walking and saw the café where Hemingway wrote some of his works. We walked inside but it was packed and not accommodating to 10 people. Blake, Rachel, Ji, Jade, Kris and I ended up at a restaurant that was to die for. I got a curried chicken salad that was so fresh tasting. Mmmm. I could have easily eaten 3 more.

                I left the restaurant early to go meet up with the one and only Marina Crouse at the Louvre!! I was so giddy leading up to 2:30, I could barely contain myself. Before meeting there though, I kind of got stuck underneath the Louvre. Yes. Literally, I could not get out. I kept wandering around, passing beneath one of the small glass triangles where Marina probably was waiting right next to. Finally, 10 minutes later and many laps around the underground Louvre shopping center and the Louvre parking garage, I managed to find the exit. At last, I was reunited with Ms. Crouse and it was so great. It was very surreal hugging and chatting with her in front of the Louvre. Pure craziness that the last time I saw her was at my house in Media and the next time we saw each other was in Paris, France!

                After our wonderful reunion, we went to Starbucks for coffee and to chat (current trending theme in my travels is obligatory trips to Starbucks. Seeing as we don’t have them in Granada, it’s a luxury to get a Starbucks fix. It is also currently Christmas cup season so that just adds to the excitement). It was so amazing to see her again and talk with her. We walked around Paris for a bit and then headed over to Notre Dame to meet up with her brother and her friend, Yila, from Nantes where they both study abroad. They were hungry for dinner and I had to head back to the hotel so we decided to meet up later at the Christmas Markets for a little bit at Champs Elysees. 

                At the hotel, we got ready and headed off via metro to the end of Champs Elysees where the Ferris wheel is. We walked down the street lined with markets/huts selling crepes, mulled wine, handmade trinkets, fresh oysters, and scarves/hats/etc. Kristen bought some of the hot mulled wine and it was, in my opinion, disgusting. Some people had better experiences but the place we got it from was not good. I was able to meet up with Marina for a little bit at the markets. The timing didn’t quite work out so that we had just walked through the markets and they had just gotten there. We agreed to meet up the next morning to get breakfast and then spend the morning juntos. 

                We departed the Christmas markets and walked over to the Eiffel Tower. It was still just as stunning and breathtaking as the first time I had seen it. The twinkly lights are like an instant mood pick-me-up. It’s impossible to look at them and not become happy. Some people I was with hadn’t gone to the top yet so while they went up, Kristen, Blake, Rachel, and I went back to the hotel since we had already been up. 

                On Sunday, I rose & shone early to go meet with Marina and Yila for breakfast. We got a wonderful Parisian breakfast consisting of a fresh croissant, freshly squeezed OJ, café au lait, and an omelet du fromage (cheese). The croissant and OJ were by far my favorite part of that breakfast. After we ate, we went back to Marina’s hotel to grab their luggage and check out. We then decided to go to the Panteón, where many famous/influential people are buried. We climbed down a series of stairs to reach the labyrinth llena de cadávers. There were so many well known people! Many of the tombs were also elaborately crafted while others were quite simple, adorned with some wilting flowers from visitors past. 

                We left the Panteón and headed for the Luxembourg Gardens. They are gardens and a large park that houses a large lake as well as many chairs to sit and watch the mini boats, powered by someone along the edge, sail by. We hopped back on the metro and Marina and Yila headed off to lunch near Musée d´Orsay while I rode back to Saint-Lazare to go to the hotel because we were leaving for the airport at 1:45. 

                I left Paris in a flurry of emotions. I’m always excited to come home to Granada but I was sad to leave Paris. Even though I’ve heard some horror stories of Paris, I had an amazing experience there. The city and all the people I got the chance to meet treated me very well and were muy amables. Además, I don’t speak French but, with what I experienced, if you try, that goes a long way. I can’t wait to be able to tell my kids about my amazing time abroad but also about my first Thanksgiving away from home in Paris when I was 20 years old. In the words of Jimmy Buffett, I’m counting my Lucky Stars.