Barcelona!

Before I left for Barcelona on Friday, friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving with our own feast. It was weird because the entire day did not feel like Thanksgiving to me- partly because I actually had to attend school but mostly because I was not with my family back home. However the dinner and the company turned out better than I expected, we even had a few Spaniards come and learn what Thanksgiving was all about. We ate dinner late, around 10 pm and ended up jamming out in rockband afterwards. It was very fun, but I did not get home until around 1, and I had yet to finish packing for my trip. Needless to say I did not crawl into bed until three or so, and we were meeting at 7:30 to catch our 8:06 train. But the advantage of taking the train is that you have a long time to sleep, which is precisely what I did while I ignored the homework I had in my bag.



Sagrada Familia



We arrived in Barcelona around one, and at the advice of Colleen bought a Barcelona Tourist Card (a must if you go to Barcelona). It was an all access pass to all of the public transportation in Barcelona. It also came with discounted entrance into the museums and other touristy stuff and even some free entrances. We made our way to the hostel where we checked into our room and met our British roommates. We chatted for a bit and then left to go to the Sagrada Family. It is a cathedral designed by Guadi, a famous architect who left his imprint all over Barcelona. The cathedral was beautiful. As we walked down the street we passed a building and suddenly BAM! There it was. It was almost a Big Ben moment where it took my breath away, but only half way. The architecture was indescribably fantastic, at night it seems as if the building is melting. As we walked around every side of the Sagrada Family I spotted a Starbucks.



We sat and enjoyed in some beverage before making our way to the port. And now, it’s story time (HRM majors? Lol) . I had bought new shoes right before my trip (an awesome pair of flats for 6 euro!) The problem is that they are kind of slippery when walking around the streets of Barcelona. I had slipped a few times during the day but never fell. We got off the metro and started looking for a map, I saw one and started heading in that direction. I was not watching where I was going and before I knew I turned my head and there the map was. I tried stopping suddenly to look at it but before I knew it I was on the ground! It must have been the most graceful fall because I don’t even remember falling, or having that panicked falling feeling. All of the sudden I was just sitting on the ground laughing hysterically. Nicole and Maggie thought I was hurt but soon enough they realized I was ok and joined me in laughter.



My chosen stop



We walked around the port a little while but then decided to do something else. Back home I have always wanted to just get into a car drive in the most random directions and see where I end up. However, that is not economically feasible and my decent sense of direction keeps me from getting thoroughly lost. So we decided to use our tram tickets in the same scenario (Being underground really throws off my sense of direction, duh). So we ventured on in our own game. Based on a grueling game of rock, paper, scissors it was determined Maggie would choose our first stop and what line to get back on (You had to choose a line with connecting trams of course). I chose next and Nicole decided our final destination. We ended up going in a circle, but we were in a completely different area than when we started. We walked, and walked, and walked through the city along one of the main streets and saw some pretty window displays in stores. We stopped for a cheap dinner at KFC. By this time it was relatively late and we were very tired from all of our walking. We failed at trying to find metro stations so we asked some boys were the nearest metro station was. We were in the middle of two, and against my instincts we backtracked to find one. When we got to the tram station to pull out my tourism card, lo and behold, it was gone= proof of why I had a bad feeling. I had to buy a ticket for the trip. All I could do was hope that the tourism office could replace it if I showed them my receipt. We finally found our way back to the hostel where I showered and went to bed completely frustrated.

On day 2, my travel partners were having trouble getting out of bed so I decided to go ahead and find a tourism office. I went back to the Sagrada Familia which seemed like the easiest one to find without losing myself in the process. While in the metro I glanced at my map to determine which direction I needed to go and a little old man came up, asked me where I was going and pointed me in the right direction (all in Spanish J) It was a pleasant treat to meet him. Immediately after he left and a woman came up to me and asked me a question in Spanish (not very well). I asked if she wanted to speak English and she seemed a bit relieved. I asked her where she was from and she told me Prescott! Someone from home! (Well not exactly but when you are halfway around the world 100 miles does not seem so far) I had no idea where she wanted to go but luckily the little old man came back and knew exactly where she was talking about. Then I continued on to the tourist office. I went and asked the guy working if I could get a replacement, and after he gave me false hope by telling me “I think so,” he asked the girl he was working with and she said no. I had to have proof that I did not have my ticket any longer. Well, please let me know if you have some way to prove that you lost something, because that concept baffled me. Frustrated and irritated even more, I bought a 2 day transportation pass and went back to the hostel.



Parc Guell overlooking the city



We decided to start our day off with the Parc Guell which is also where the Gaudi museum is located. We travelled to the closest metro stop which actually was not close at all. However we were able to find it easy and do some souvenir shopping on the way. The park is fabulous and quite extravagant. I can’t put the wonderment in the words so just make sure you look at those pictures. We then found out the bus would be the quickest way to where we wanted to go. So we hopped on and took in the sights from above ground. Looking at the map we got off the bus where we thought the Harley store was, which was in a very expensive shopping area. We realized later, that what we thought was the Harley shop was another point of interest we had circled on the map, needless to say, we did not find it. However we headed to a place near the port to meet up with our British friends to watch some rugby.



Mirador de Colom



We had some time and free passes so we ventured up into the Mirador de Colom, which gave us some amazing views of the city. However, I started to panic when I realized we were very high, and the tower swayed a little. There was a tiny elevator that took us to the top but then there was only enough walking room for single file around the top. Anxiety kicked in and after I snapped pictures of every angle I really needed to get down! We had to wait though, of course so I tried to breathe and remember that the structure was secure. When we exited the elevator I had never been more relieved to step on solid ground.



Our British friends



We were supposed to meet the guys outside of the metro entrance but we did not see them. So we decided to walk down la rambla and somehow found a girl who was promoting the Irish bar the boys were going to. We found the bar and watched a rugby game, England vs. South Africa. Andy was explaining the rules but I was so incredibly exhausted I could not pay attention. But I did learn a try is worth 5 points and the England team actually sucks for a team that really loves the sport. We left the bar in time to get lost again before the Flamenco show. We were looking for the Cathedral of Barcelona and ended up finding a smaller cathedral. Discombobulated, we decided to just try and find a metro station. In the process we actually found the Cathedral of Barcelona. It was stunning; but they had fake candles in place of the real colorful candles they had in the smaller cathedral. After we left the cathedral we asked a lady, who turned out to be very nice, where the nearest metro was. She gave us excellent directions and in no time we found the place where our dinner show was (we actually decided to do this Friday, but did not know where it was. When we were lost the prior night we walked right by it, so we were very excited that we knew where it was.)  The show was very entertaining and the paella and Sangria were delicious. Overall it was an excellent experience.

Charlie!

And then there was Charlie. Charlie was the, well I guess you would call him the MC of the night. He was entertaining and cute. At the end of the dinner, Nicole wanted to get a picture of us near the stage. We asked one of the gentlemen working and he was glad to humor us, we even asked Charlie to get in our picture. He said we were going to be “men in black” but Maggie said we were more like Charlie’s angels, hence the name Charlie. We snapped our picture and as we were leaving he says “Goodbye Angels” to which our reply was “goodbye Charlie.” It was amusing and had us giggling the whole night long.



What a view!





Pretending :)



Day three we got up for breakfast and packed our bags. Nicole stayed at the hostel to work on her mountain of homework while Maggie and I explored more. Again we ventured out to find the Harley store. We found it easily once we determined the little m’s on the map were metro stations and the big M’s were museums. LOL, this greatly contributed to us being so lost the prior 2 days! Of course it was Sunday and the store was closed. Sad. From there we went to the Botanical Gardens, which we never actually made it to, but in the general area are tons of parks. We explored for a while, took awesome pictures, and saw some amazing views of the city. Then we found a bus stop, hopped on and headed back to the metro station. We hopped on and off of the metro to see the Arc de Triomf before heading to the music museum! The music museum was pretty awesome. They had some awesome instruments that I had never seen before and at the end we even got to play some! I was thinking the whole time how John and Dawn would have loved this museum! It was also cool because Maggie and I were literally the only people in the museum! After the museum we worked our way back to the hostel where we picked up our luggage and Nicole and headed to the train station. Once we got there we were hungry for lunch so we decided to go traditional and eat McDonalds! If you want to yell at me for eating American food while I was here let me tell you this: it was fast and cheap, and besides Starbucks, Barcelona is the only place I have eaten in an American restaurant



My triumphant pose!



Sorry for the length of the post but I loved Barcelona and did not want to leave anything out! I hope you enjoyed! Much Love!

Es un historia de amor, cariño sólo decir que sí

Beautiful

In the beginning of the semester, our history teacher told us about the Valor chocolate factory. Valor is like the Hershey of Europe. However, my Spanish being minimal, I thought it was closer to Madrid than to us. My friend, Gina, had mentioned last week that she had gone and after we were talking I discovered it was only a half hour tram ride away. I had my adventure for this weekend! Colleen, Nicole and I went to the city of Vila Joisa in order to discover this amazing factory. We sat down on the tram after a late start and began a game of cribbage. By the time we got off the tram I had the lead by a solid 16 points and Nicole was sitting in last place. I did not really know where to go once we got there so we just started walking. We crossed this bridge which was over a park and the buildings along the wash were gorgeous. They were painted all different colors, exactly what I was hoping to find when I came to Spain. Well we went in the right direction and found the Valor restaurant. It was next to this little park that was absolutely gorgeous, something straight out of a Taylor Swift song… I mean fairytale. We decided to explore the little park and we had some great photo opportunities so we enjoyed those.

A fairytale park

After letting our photogenic sides come out we decided to head up to the restaurant. We were curious though, because we actually wanted to go the factory. Luckily, inside the shop they had flyers with a map that lead us straight there. It was about a 10 minute walk to the factory. But, we know nothing goes as planned, and the factory was closed when we got there at 12:30. I had done my research on the hours and the website said they were open until one, as did the brochure. We were a little disappointed but headed back to the Valor restaurant. Our intention was to get chocolate and churros, a famous Spanish desert. However, the churros are a little different here. They are bigger, and served with sugar on the side, not doused in cinnamon sugar like in the states. They serve them with hot chocolate (which is basically liquid chocolate here) and you eat the churro dipping it in chocolate. Needless to say it is decadent! But the waitress informed us that they did not have churros!! What!? It was another disappointment but we tried the chocolate sampler anyway. My favorite was the dark chocolate, yum!

Admiring beauty

With piles of homework at home we headed back to the tram. We had about a 20 minute wait in which we continued our game of cribbage. My luck had run out and I was only in the lead by a few points by the time the tram arrived. I ended up losing to Nicole because she counted before me! What a bummer! Despite the mishaps I enjoyed the little town and spending some time with my friends!

Much Love!

Una caminata y los Coves del Canelobre

Beautiful view...and I don't mean us ;)



The cave!



Our program director, Luis, organized a hike for us on November 6. It was very fun and very beautiful. However, it was exhausting! I think we all expected a little something different when Luis said hike. It was a hike, pretty much straight uphill all the way! My legs and my calves were burning! The whole time we were going along Luis seemed perfectly fine, like he was used to this intense exercise! He reminded me of my Grams who I am sure would have beat all of our 22 year old butts up the mountain! We reached a point near the top and sat to eat lunch. The cool thing part about the hike is that some Spanish students joined us! We were able to practice our Spanish while also… enjoying… their loud personalities on the bus to and from the mountain. I talked to one boy for the most part, his name was Pepe and he was super nice! I laughed at his name though because I had never met a Pepe, and that is the name our teacher always uses for examples! I learned Pepe is actually a nickname for Juan (John). I kind of want to start calling my brother John Pepe from now on.

We also went into the Coves del Canelobre. When we arrived at the site, Maggie pulled out a sandwich and all the sudden she was swarmed by about 10 bees! She ran behind me to protect herself and of course I ran away from her while yelling, “What are you doing!? I don’t want them swarming me too!!” So she found a trash can, ran over to it and threw away her sandwich… a small sacrifice for her life, at least I think so. We went through this long tunnel to access the caves and they were pretty beautiful. It reminded me of being with my dad and Girl Scout Troop in Tucson at Kartchner Caverns. They set up lights throughout the room that when I look back at the pictures I think of the fabulous lights of Las Vegas. A little random, I know, it is like comparing apples and oranges! Now, pictures were not actually allowed to be taken in the cave so I did claim that I photographed these pictures. However, my classmates them, so thank them for their wonderful photography.

At the food expo! YUM-O!

Celebrating Nicole's birthday with some kind of cakey thing!

The next day was Nicole’s birthday! She wanted to botellon- drink in the streets. We got all gussied up and went out on the town. I was pretty much sober the entire night, except for the glass of caramel vodka and coke I had, which by the way tastes like vanilla coke! We went to el barrio and hung out there for the rest of the evening. Maggie felt the need to say hi to everybody, and I am not kidding, I mean EVERYBODY!! Which was not a terrible thing; we made some new Spanish friends that I was able to practice my Spanish with more- that is the one advantage to going out. I stayed out until about 3 before I could not do it anymore. So I headed home and let the girls enjoy the rest of their evening, well morning I should say. The next day Colleen, Maggie and I went to the food expo! We indulged in some free samples of cheese and we could not resist paying a couple euros for the chocolate fountain. It was well worth it!

This post isn’t as action packed <lol as my others have been, but they are more adventures of me in Alicante! I hope you were thoroughly entertained!

Much Love!



Aventuras en Elche

“The best adventures are the misadventures.” ~Colleen Erickson



Lost... why not swing?



The weekend after Valencia Nicole, Colleen, Maggie and I decided to go the “renaissance festival” in Elche. Elche is the town just south of Alicante. We arrived an hour early to the train station and engaged in an exciting game of cribbage after learning everyone in our little group knows how to play. We did not have time to finish the game before the train left, but I was losing pretty badly so I did not mind. We boarded the train, sat back and relaxed for our half hour ride. But of course this trip was like every other trip I have taken and there were mishaps along the way. The information flyer that was given to us said to get off at the Carrus stop, the first stop in Elche. However, Carrus is indeed the second stop in Elche. We got off at the first stop, then realizing we were not at Carrus we quickly hopped back on. Needless to say, we got lost at the Carrus stop. It took us 20 minutes to find out we were lost though because we had been navigating with a map that seemed to make sense. We finally asked some locals, who were not actually locals; they were setting up for a different market and were from out of town. Nicole and Maggie found a nice bus driver who told us where to go and we walked in that direction… for a while. After feeling like we were still lost we yet again asked for directions. Finally someone told us to cross the bridge, which in itself was hard to find! I saw it sticking up over the top of some buildings so we headed in that direction, passing an empty carnival set-up on the way.



The last leg of the climb!



After crossing the bridge (which had some amazing views and gave me a little anxiety because it was a suspension bridge) I saw a sign that pointed to the other train station, the one we should have got off on! We walked for what seemed like another half hour passing through what looked like a palm tree farm. Finally we arrived at the train station and asked the guard at the station where the festival was. It was right around the corner. Of course! Aye! Anyways we headed to the direction of the festival and by then it was time for siesta so not many booths were open. We walked for a little bit, then sat down to get some food, finally! (I had been hungry since we got off the train, but I did not want to stop anywhere before we got to the festival)



Finally! The top!



We ventured on down the streets but because it was still siesta there was not much to see. However we did manage to run into our professor who looked pretty embarrassed to see us outside of the classroom. Haha, you think it would be the other way around! After chatting a bit he advised us to head up to the bell tower. So that is precisely what we did, it was not hard to find because of the blue dome that is connected to it. We payed 2 euro and we were able to climb the steep, spiral, claustrophobic staircase all 150 something steps to the top. There were some amazing views and some great photo ops! We decided to start heading back towards the train because it was going on five.



Top of the Tower



On the way all of the booths had opened up. I was able to pick out a few souvenirs. We also tried this fried pumpkin thing, at least that is what I think it was. It was almost like a pumpkin doughnut. Very delicious! It was another recommendation from our professor. When we sat down to eat them a group of performers came down the street singing and dancing. Seeing us off to the side they shouted for us to join them. Maggie wanted a picture with them so she handed her camera to one of the guys and her and Nicole went to join them. Then of course the gentleman with the camera decided to run away with it! However, it was all fun and games and he returned it to Maggie. We watched them perform for a while, juggling and that sort.  I had found a square post thing to stand on to see above the gathering crowd. Colleen came to join me and before we knew it we were all four on this thing like some kind of team building activity. It was pretty hilarious. That pretty much wraps up our day in Elche. Thanks for reading!

Much love!

¡Vamos a Valencia!

Sorry again for being horrible at posting blogs, I have had these next few on my computer for a while but it took me a while to get the pictures in order! Oh, and this was the first trip I had my new camera on so enjoy the pics, and always you can check out my facebook for a full assortment of them :)

In front of the City of Arts and Sciences

We went to Valencia October 22-23, it was an overnight trip paid for by USAC. We left early Friday morning and drove a couple of hours to the north to get to the city. Our first stop was at the City of Arts and Sciences, which if you know anything about architecture I am sure you have heard of this place. It consists of 5 buildings all designed by the same architect- Santiago Calatrava. He is from Valencia. He designed these buildings after animals and they are pretty incredible and very modern. We had access to two locations. The first place we went to was the Oceanographic. We were able to see some amazing creatures from the ocean including beluga whales, dolphins, sharks, all the fish from Finding Nemo and some seahorses! My least favorite was the spider crab… ick! They are HUGE and, as the name implies, they look like giant spiders. It gives me the chills just thinking about them! There was a dolphin show so we went to that. In all honesty it was kind of weak and did not even come close to comparing to the one in Benidorm. Nonetheless, I was happy to see the happiest creatures on earth again!

Nicole with a spider crab,
they are ginormous!

  From there we headed to the Science museum. Nicole and I had fun exploring the activities and acting like kids again. There was one part where we had to test our memory, well that did not go to well for me! Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus and head to the hotel.



Enjoying our night "in", "out"



After getting settled we decided to go hang out in the city and just see what life in Valencia was like. So, of course, we went to Starbucks. (I swear Alicante is the only city without a Starbucks… but then again, that is probably a good thing) We sat by the window watching the people and delighting in pleasant conversation with each other. We headed back to the hotel to meet up with Colleen and Maggie for dinner. I had been craving paella so we found a little restaurant near the lively square and sat down for our meal. We discussed what to do that night; we are not really the “go out” type like many of our classmates, so we decided to do something that was fun for us. We found a cute little wine shop and Colleen and I purchased a bottle while Maggie and Nicole preferred the caramel vodka. The little lady that was working was so nice; she let us try it before we bought it! Colleen and Maggie always end up with the best rooms somehow and that was no different in Valencia. They were on the top floor with a huge balcony. We decided to go up there, drink some wine and listen to our favorite country songs that we were missing. All in all it was an absolutely splendid night with great people and I would not have wanted to do anything else.



Valencia Cathedral



The next day USAC provided us with a tour of the city. We went to the Cathedral of Valencia (which was breathtaking, the ceiling in the picture had been stuccoed over and they discovered it by chance a while backe. They uncovered it and it was perfectly perserved!), the Mercado central, and La Loncha (the architect that I discussed earlier designed the Chicago Spire based off of the columns, however it is still a project and not yet constructed). Our last stop was an arch/castle. It was very cool. We were able to climb up to the top of and see an amazing panoramic of the city. The day after we got back I went on the NAU study abroad site and saw a picture of this! I was like "hey, I have been there!" We also looked down upon the old river. They redirected the river to the outskirts of the city and the old river bed was converted into a giant park. Overall the tour was pretty boring; I loved seeing everything but the guide kind of put me to sleep, so I did not learn very much. We had some free time afterwards so we wandered the streets some more. We sat down by a fountain and ate lunch while Colleen braided my hair. We went on a quest to find some cheap postcards and then found ourselves back at Starbucks.



Nicole and I at the Castle/Arch



Now this time around, we met Russ. Russ was from England but he came to Valencia for his job in construction. He was very excited to meet some English speakers. Well he was a pretty entertaining fellow and he made friends with all of the USACers who came into the coffee shop. He did have an eye for Nicole though. He decided he wanted to give us a tour of the city and walked with us to places we had already been too. However, it was getting close to leaving so we headed back to the hotel snapped some photos with him and met up with our group. Russ was certainly a character and he was the cherry on top of a great trip. Oh and he said, “it’s not my cup of tea but…” which made me LOL because it makes SO much more sense when it comes from a Brit!! Thanks for tuning in, I hope you LOLed just like I did!

Much love!

Me with Russ, Nicole and Maggie

P.s. We also visited the Port of Valencia, but we literally got off the bus, walked along the port, and got back on to head home, so it really did not seem worth mentioning. There will be pictures on facebook though. This port is also hosting America’s cup (which I am still not sure what it is, but from what I understand it is a Yacht race, and rich friends to verify this? Jk) J

Pensamientos para un mundo mejor

I’m going to go off topic for a bit and discuss why I love traveling different places. The buildings I see and things I do are fabulous, but what I love the most are the people. With all the wars and discrimination that occur in the world it is easy for some to forget that we are all still human. At the very base and foundation of who we are, we are all the same. We are all flawed and we are not as different as we tend to think. I wish more people were open minded so we could create a world without discrimination were everyone felt loved simply because they exist, not because of what they are or are not. I think the absolutely worst thing in the world is to feel unloved, and as humans God gave us the ability to simply give love away. To quote myself from a facebook status (ha ha ha), “humanity has been given the power to love in the most impossible ways, so why can't we all just love each other”. I wish people could see how the world could be if we all simply cared for one another unconditionally, without any requirement in return. How God love us. The world would be a beautiful place.

As always and unconditionally, much love

Dejé mi corazón en Dublín





Dublin was the most charming little city I have come upon yet. I fell in love with it. If I could study abroad anywhere, without learning a different language my choice would be Ireland. It probably did not hurt that it was fall and the leaves were changing colors! The energy is amazing, the people are the friendliest, the music is traditional, and the city was exquisite. We got to the hostel and thanks to Jamie and her frequent Travelocity bookings; we had our own room with a full bunk bed and our own bathroom. It was more like a hotel rather than hostel. I slept like a baby all the nights we were there. The next day we did another free tour with the same company (Sandemans New Europe in case you are interested). We saw Dublin Castle, Dublin’s Medieval Walls, Christ Church Cathedral, The National Library, Temple Bar, Ha’Penny Bridge, Spire of Dublin, City Hall, Trinity College, Leinster House, Chester Beatty Library, and St. Stephen’s Green. While Richie (our guide) was very nice, he wasn’t as entertaining as Ed. But I still enjoyed his stories. At Trinity College, a dean back in the day said they would let woman into the University over his dead body. How primeval of him! So, to get around this stipulation, when he died they buried his body on campus and as tradition, on the first day of class all of the women that are accepted to the university walk over his grave! Entertaining right!? And at the Chester Beatty Library there are tons of ancient religious texts from almost every major religion: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Beatty used his wealth to gather the historical texts and when he died he left them to the people of the country and they erected a library to display his collection.

We stopped at a pub to get some food for lunch where we interacted with some other people on our tour. They were from all over the world! The food was some type of beef stew that was extremely delicious! Pub food in Ireland never disappointed me. Then Colleen, Maggie and I decided to do a Pub Crawl with the same tour company. I had so much fun with these girls, and the Irish nightlife is so enchanting. The city has such a solid foundation in music that most of the bars we went to had live music. I enjoyed talking/flirting with boys in English for the evening. It is much easier to do. My roommate, Natalie, suggested that I try some cider beer while in Ireland. I tried and I loved it, and it may have made me just a little bit drunk ;).

We had 2 and a half days in Dublin so we decided to relax on day 2. We walked the city streets and enjoyed the park that we were in the previous day. Then we found another fabulous Irish Pub to eat in and had another round of fish and chips. My friend, Melina, ordered a traditional Irish plate and it was amazing. Then we wondered over to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral which is absolutely beautiful! We wondered around inside for quite a while. It is amazing how much history is in one building. After we stopped in a couple of souvenir shops we decided we wanted to see a movie, after all they are in English! We saw Charlie St. Cloud, or here as it is known, The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud. After the movie we walked around a little longer before finding yet another Irish pub to eat dinner in. Then we stuck around a little longer to hear the live music before retiring for bed.

The next day, I had a mission. The entire trip I wanted to rent a bike and ride it around the city. So that is what I did. I rented a bike and rode off in the direction of… what else? The Harley-Davidson dealership! I could not leave without getting my dad a t-shirt, what kind of daughter would I be?! Unfortunately I got very lost! Fortunately, the Dublin citizens are very kind. Scared and alone I asked for directions from one man with his two grandkids and he gladly pointed me in what we thought was the right direction. However, I think I was closer when I was near him. But I turned back around and headed the way I came, only to hit the curb wrong and fall off my bike. Once I got back up and was riding again, I had a mini breakdown thinking that I was going to be lost forever in this city and miss my flight. I headed where he told me to and eventually asked for some directions again. This time I used the little map that I forgot I had and the gentleman knew exactly where I needed to go. Alas, I found the dealership and bought my dad a Dublin Harley-Davidson t-shirt. Still freaking out about time, I asked the gentleman at the dealership for better directions back into the city. It was much easier! Going into the city is easier than coming out of it! But I did get to see the outskirts of Dublin and I thought it was charming! I was disappointed I did not get to see the country side, but I guess I will just have to plan another trip someday! J Thanks for reading! (sorry for the lack of pictures, something is malfunctioning! But you can always check my facebook :)

Much love!  

On the River Liffey!

Londres



Boarding! We actually had to go
 to on the Tarmac!

After unpacking and repacking my backpack numerous times (for reasons I don’t quite know), Jamie and I finally left for the airport for our long weekend away from Spain. With London a few short hours away I was incredibly excited to give my brain a rest from Spanish for a while. We got to the airport and headed straight to the counter to get our printed boarding passes stamped and I opened up my backpack and... They were not there. I made sure I had them 50 times as I took them in and out of my backpack. So I hopped on the bus and rushed, as much as I could control, back to the apartment, grabbed the tickets and went back to the bust stop. I must have just missed it because I waited for almost 20 minutes for a bus that is supposed to come every 20 minutes! Ugh, I looked at the boarding passes that said the gates close at 4:10 and it was already 4:00. The bus to the airport takes at least 20 minutes so I was freaking out. Finally, it showed up and I hopped on praying that the plane would be delayed. Well, my prayers were answered. We finally got our passes stamped and quickly went through security. Of course our gate was number 25, the very last one! We ran to the very end, out of breath and sweating, we realized the plane had not even arrived at the terminal yet! We ended leaving about 20 minutes late. If that wasn’t an answer to prayers I don’t know what is! We ended up meeting a very nice old gent in line who entertained us with sarcasm but did not quite understand sarcasm himself. We finally got on the plane and I was able to relax, turn on my ipod, and listen to some Jay Sean, after all, I was headed to his home town ;).



Friends! Colleen, me and Maggie
at Buckingham Palace



We finally arrived in London and we took a bus into the city. We needed to get directions to the Tube (London’s subway system) so we stopped a man to ask him. Now it took my mind a while to stop thinking in Spanish. So when he repeated where we told him we wanted to go I said, “si, si! Oh wait, yes yes!” That was a good lol moment. We made it to the hostel without a hitch and it was very lively. We met up with some friends and after a while decided to call it a night and get some rest. I did not get much sleep that night, unfortunately, not the best first experience in a hostel. I will just leave it at that.



Ed



The next morning we took a free tour of the city, which was awesome. The tour guides work for tips so they are pretty entertaining. Ed was our guide or Edward when something is going wrong, as he told us. He took us to the sites like Hyde Park, Wellington Arch, Buckingham Palace where we saw the changing of the guard (not as glamorous as it sounds), Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery, Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. But by far my favorite site was Big Ben. A little trivia for you, Big Ben is actually the name of the bell in the tower and not the tower itself. Regardless, I don’t know what it is about this building, but unexpectedly we turned the corner and about half a mile away was Big Ben, It took my breath away. It was the most captivating piece of architecture I have ever seen. It was absolutely stunning.



Lo<3



We took another tour that afternoon for a fee with the same tour company and it was also awesome. This one was the Old City tour which mainly took place in the Burrough of Westminster. We started at Covent Garden and worked our way to the Templar Church (Da Vinci Code). On the way we were able to see Fleet Street (no signs of the demon barber or Johnny Depp). We also stumbled upon a random set up of an old school market, something that looked like it came out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Come to find out… It is part of the set of Pirates 4! I did not find this out until after we left so I did not to get to appreciate it in its full wonderment. We continued on and saw the Bank of England, Royal Exchange, Tower Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Globe Theatre, Tate Modern, St. Paul’s Cathedral (awesome) and the Tower of London. London has so much history it is so incredibly astonishing. That night we ate dinner, and what did we have? Fish and chips of course!



After dinner we took an adventure to King’s Cross station, the sight of Platform 9 ¾. For those who don’t know, it is the famous portal that Harry Potter takes to get to the train that takes him to Hogwarts. They erected a memorial at the platform in honor of the books. Now, if any of you ever want to go know this: Londoners can’t count. Platform 9 ¾ is actually between platforms 8 and 9. You have to follow the signs for platforms 1-8 and the walk down the side and eventually you will find the half cart in the wall.



What I look like when dreams

come true. With the National

Gallery behind me



Day 2 we did our own thing. We went to the British Museum, and while I love a good piece of art, archaeological findings tend to bore me- something I learned on this trip. I did get to see the Rosetta stone, which I thought was the coolest thing in the place. We found a cute café to have lunch at after the museum where I had some delicious food and a great cup of coffee. Eventually the group separated and I did the things I really wanted to do. One thing awesome about London is that all of the national museums are free to enter. This is cool considering London stole every historical artifact from every other place when it ruled the world. I went to the National Gallery which is full of beautiful paintings and lost myself in there for a couple of hours. The paintings were not only gorgeous, but so was the décor and architecture. I felt as if I was in a piece of work myself. Then I ventured to the other side of the river to see Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from that view. I walked along that side of the river and saw some interesting street performers. London has such an eclectic society. Then I worked my way back to Fleet Street to find and appreciate the set of the movie, and when I finally found it, it was closed! I am pretty sure I was within 500 feet of Johnny Depp and/or Geoffrey Rush. The area was most likely closed for filming, and they had security outside of the filming area. I then crossed the Millennium Bridge to get to the Tate Modern. I explored the museum and before I knew it, it was time to meet up to begin the second half of our journey! On the way I saw the Tower bridge open! Our guide said it opens about once a week these days because it does not really need to anymore, and I got to see it. How lucky was I! Stay tuned for Dublin~



Much love!

Tower Bridge! (closed) Love from London

Los Sueños Hecho Realidad

This entry is so incredibly overdue. I apologize. I guess I could say it is because I have so much to do but that is not quite true. I have never been good at riding in diaries but I do love the idea of this blog because I do not have to repeat my stories a hundred different times… and I can actually remember them! So I will try to be better about posting! No promises though. :)





Alicante vs. Valencia

Anyways, after our trip to Guadalest I went to my first professional soccer game. The fans were so intense. It was between Alicante and Valencia. I live in Alicante and Valencia is just to the north. Alicante is actually in the “state” of Valencia. Needless to say it was a very big rivalry. I was hoping to somehow advance my Spanish at the game, but that was a silly idea because all I heard were swear words! I did find out that soccer is not as boring as I originally thought. I would love to go to another game if given the chance, but they are not cheap. Alicante lost by one goal and it was pretty intense. In the last few minutes we had numerous opportunities to capitalize, but it just did not happen. I am going to say it is because this is the first season that Alicante is in the big leagues. Overall the game was enjoyable, and because we were in the top of the stadium, we saw a beautiful panoramic view of Alicante. 

Dream come true! :)



The next weekend Jamie and I went to Benidorm. Benidorm is equivalent to the Hamptons, I guess. It is an hour and 10 minute tram ride to the north and it is where all the Europeans come to vacation. There are tons of hotels and attractions. Jamie and I went to the waterpark (Aqualandia) and sea world type park (Mundomar). We had a blast. Aqualandia was so much fun. It reminded me of going to company picnics at the waterpark and hanging out with my sister all day. They had 2 slides that were black and you ride two people in a tube. They were so much fun! It is completely dark and the first time we went we did not know that right away there is, what feels like, a five foot vertical drop. It caught us by surprise but because of it we laughed the whole way down. We then went to some slides that neither of us liked very much, partly because we turned half way around. Not fun. Then we went to a place where they had different obstacles you could do. One was a rope net and you would cross it like monkey bars and others were slides that would drop you into the water. Then there was the zip line… That one gave me problems, and almost ruined my day. I am scared of heights but I always wanted to try a zip line. What better of a place then one that goes into the water!!! My fear of heights is not exactly a fear of heights; it is a fear of things falling from heights. If I imagine myself or some other object falling, it scares me and I get anxious. Well this zip line, you hold on to the bar and jump from the platform and slowly go to the bottom. The first time, I guess I did not go off the platform fast enough so I was slowly going down the line. Eventually I just let go about 8 feet up because I have very little upper body strength and I felt my hands getting blisters. Jamie wanted me to try again because it was kind of week. Well I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. I threw myself off the platform so hard but there was tension in the rope so the zip line was not going at the same speed my body was. As soon as I was away from the platform my body swung so far my hands lost grip and I fell about 15 feet into the water on my back. I am losing my breath just reliving it! It was so painful and I could not move my back. I ended up being fine but I was in so much pain for a little while I did not want to do anything else. We ended up finding some amazing slides that you ride down face first while holding onto a mat. The last fun thing we found were the rapids which had different levels of small pools, which you would either fly right down, or get caught in the wrong current and be stuck in the pool for a while. It was so much fun to see all the people enjoying the ride as much as I did. I learned that laughter is the same in any language and suddenly the world did not seem so big.

Mundomar was the next fabulous place on our list. The best part of the park was the creative shows. There was a very fun and creative sea lion show, and an exciting parrot show. Ever since I first went to Sea World I have always wanted to swim with dolphins. No, I did not actually swim with dolphins, but I got to touch one and take a picture with it!! I was soooooo incredibly happy for weeks after because I actually got to be close to the happiest creature on earth! The show was amazing too! I have been to Sea World twice, and they have never changed their dolphin show. It was nice to see something different. They also had about 12 dolphins participating at once! One of the trainers caught my eye also. Now, he was cute, but I was enchanted by the happiness he portrayed while doing his job. The dolphin show was fantastic, but I caught myself watching him every now and then and being amazed by the fact that someone loved their job as much as he did. The other trainers had smiles, but they looked like smiles that were just for the audience, they smiled because they had too. This guy was truly happy, and he wanted to smile. I think everyone should be just as happy doing their job as he was. Granted we cannot all be dolphin trainers, but we all deserve to be happy J



Tabarca, looks like a challenging
puzzle



With friends at Tabarca



The third and final remarkable thing I am going to talk about was going to the Island of Tabarca. It is a very tiny island off the coast of Spain that has wonderful coves for snorkeling. We took a ferry to the island, and when we approached the item they opened up the lower levels of the boat which had underwater views. There was a ton of fish! I did not have a snorkel but I did have a mask and I spent hours exploring the waters and seeing some spectacular wildlife- mostly fish. The fish were awesome and sometimes they would swim within a foot of me. There were some rocks that I swam near and I could see hermit crabs clinging on. A couple of my friends that were in the area climbed on top of one of the mini rock mountains and discovered some crabs that were hanging out in a little pool. They tried to entice them out but it did not work. When we walked to the other side of the rock we actually saw one crab shedding his red shell. It was the weirdest and coolest thing I saw that day. He was about half way out when we found him and in just a couple of seconds he squirmed the rest of the way out! What perfect timing to see something so unique!

I can’t believe the amazing opportunities I have been giving here. I am so blessed and in case you had any doubt, dreams do come true! Thank you all for reading! J

Much love!



On the way to Tabarca