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