And a lot has happened!
Last weekend I went to Barcelona! That was awesome. It was a really cool trip for me. It was the first time that I really traveled by myself. I mean, yes, I had 2 friends with me, but it was the first time that I was alone in a foreign city doing my own thing, with nobody to tell me where I should be or what I should be doing. (Not counting other US cities.) It was awesome. I felt totally capable and independent. I could see what I wanted to see, go where I wanted to go. I realized that my Spanish is sufficient to find out what I need to know, to get where I need to go, to ask for what I want, to tell sketchy tourist shop owners that I know they're trying to scam me, and to offer bread to a homeless man. (He didn't want it by the way!)
It was a good trip. There was a lot to see and do. Our days were totally full, but there was still so much that we didn't get to see. What we did was really awesome though. We saw a ton of Gaudi's work, and I absolutely loved it. All. The Casa Batllo was amazing, the Park Guell was like a real life candy land. The Pedrera and Sagrada Familia were also amazing, even though we didn't go inside. We went to the Modern Art museum, which I mistook to be a contemporary art museum, but instead we spent a lot of time looking at Romanesque and Baroque art, which, while it was awesome, was really, really tiring. The museum gives you a 2-day pass, and it is definitely huge enough for you to spend 2 complete days there. Unfortunately we didn't have the time. So we did in 2 hours what should be spaced out over 2 days. It was cool though. We went to the little mercado, did a little bit of shopping, walked down La Rambla, and sat on the beach at night. It was all really awesome.
It was my first time sleeping in an airport. (But unfortunately I'll have to do that again next weekend!) It was my first time staying in a hostel, first time taking a taxi. It was amazing. I spent too much money, got too little sleep, and had too little time to see everything. But that's the way vacations are, aren't they?
It was great. Here are some pictures.
This is the Casa Batllo. Amazing.
Here we are on the roof of the Casa Batllo.
La Sagrada Familia. No picture will EVER do this building justice. It is still under construction, since being started in 1884. It's only expected to finished sometime after 2020. Outrageous!
A view of the port from the top of the hill. Beautiful. Yes, it's the Mediterranean.
La Rambla. So cool! So many people!
A gigantic Lobster. Who could resist? ...By the way, it rained.
The Bench at the Park Guell. It's awesome, but I don't have a picture of the whole thing. Google it!
I told you it was like a gigantic Candy Land!
So this week was good then. As horrible as it is to say, I don't think that anything "out of the ordinary" happened. School has been good. I still really enjoy my class/classmates/profesora/etc. It's good. On Wednesday nights, we go to Encuentro, which is like a little student-led worship kind of thing. It's really cool because we sing worship songs in Spanish. So that's awesome. I look forward to that during the week. On Thursday night we went back to the hospital to play Bingo with the old men. It was much better this time. I'm pretty sure the ratio of students to men was about 1:1 or 2:1. Much better than last time, which I'm pretty sure was approximately 8:1. But this time it was more fun. We had more of an opportunity to actually talk to the men, without them feeling totally bombarded by american students. It was fun. And I won twice. Well, 3 times, but I didn't say anything the last time because I felt bad. But it was fun. I never win. Also! I wanted to tell you that Bingo is really different here. Too hard to explain over a blog, but it's different! ... I like playing though, because we definitely get good practice with numbers. Sometimes I need that!
This weekend was also really good. I went to Toledo with the school. Not quite the independent adventure as last weekend, but it's also cool to not have to plan anything. It was a really fun trip. I went to Toledo the last time I was in Spain, but we didn't really spend much time there. From what I can remember we looked at the "important things" and left the same night (maybe even afternoon). So it was cool to spend the night there. Toledo is the old type of Spanish town that you might think of when you think of Spain. It's really small and quaint and full of medieval looking things. Lots of swords, lots of damasquinado (a beautiful type of jewlery!) and LOTS and LOTS of hills. (It makes me thankful to live in beautiful, totally flat Sevilla!!) Toledo was beautiful. I am pretty sure that all of the "important" things we saw were the same "important things" we saw the last time I was here. It'll be interesting to compare my pictures from my last trip to Spain with my pictures from this time. I'm sure there are a lot of the same pictures.
Anyway, what I loved the most about this trip was the time that we had to just explore on our own. We went through little tiny streets to shop in little tiny stores, to walked up and down more hills than you could imagine. Big hills. We ended up on the wrong side of the mountain and had to reclimb it just to get back down on the other side. We ate at a tiny hole-in-the-wall place, where I ate chicken that still had stickers on it (weird....), and paid $7.50 for "free" bread that they placed on the table. (Note to self: if you didn't ask for it and it's on your table, don't eat it or you will be charged!) I had to share a bed with a girl that I have never even spoken to. (I understand the logic between making us room with someone we don't know.... but sharing a bed? That's too close for me!)
All in all, though, it was a really fun time. I was almost going to skip out on this trip, since I had already been there once before. But I'm so glad I went. I was able to see more of it than I did last time, and was glad to be able to experience it and explore it on my own. It's a beautiful city, and I love it.... But I still love Sevilla more!
Here are some pictures from Toledo!
We stopped at the Molinos de La Mancha! We went here last time I went to Toledo. I think the sky was more blue this time around. Makes for better pictures!
Monasterio
Monasterio again!
The Cathedral!
Tiny streets.. gotta love them!
Que Bonita!
Wandering around Toledo at night...
The best view of Toledo. Also, I have pictures from this same spot from last time.
So.. yes, things have been very good here.
Next weekend I am going to Dublin with 5 other people. It should be fun. I am really really excited for it. Probably more excited for this trip than I was for Barcelona and Toledo combined. Not sure why. There's just something about Ireland! We are leaving Thursday, therefore missing class (oops!), and coming back Saturday. Ahhh. I can't wait!
I also bought my tickets for England! I am going to fly into Birmingham on October 27, and fly out of London on November 3. What happens in between is still up in the air... but that's what makes it exciting! I'm so excited to finally be able to visit Ashley! And I know that will also be a really great trip!
Aside from that, I have no other plane tickets. And I am thinking that I am just about done with that. It's kind of sad, but I am quickly running out of money! I am trying to pay for the trip to France in the spring, which is going to be awesome! And I have no source of income for now. I am starting to get nervous! I just spend way too much money when I take weekend trips!
While I am probably done with plane tickets though, there are still some other weekend excursions that I want to take. My Senora was telling us about a friend who has a bed and breakfast in the center of Madrid, so Becca, Asia and I are thinking about going up there for a weekend. That would be really cool. I am also still trying to get to Portugal! Fingers crossed. And lastly, I would definitely love this more than anything in the world! Our last weekend here is a 4 day weekend. No class on Thursday or Friday. Becca and I have wanted to go to San Sebastian and Pamplona but haven't found a way to practically do this in a weekend. Our solution?! Rent a car and road trip through Spain for our last weekend here. I can't think of a better way to spend that last week. Of course there are logistics to be worked out, but if we can make this happen, I can see it being one of the best trips of my life. What better way to see Spain than to drive from bottom to top and back? Of course there are some issues with the practicality of this plan as well.. but in my mind it beats all other options. We'll just have to wait and see!
I hope everyone is doing well! I am trying to get postcards mailed out little by little!
I'll talk to you soon!
Rachael
By the way.. does anybody else have a hard time believing that we are already a week into October?! Crazy!
