Berlin and Prague

This may have been my favorite part of this semester thus far...next weekend is Paris so we'll have to see if it stays that way. Let me just start by listing all of our mode of transportation that we used...

4/22 Bus from Granada to Sevilla, plane from Sevilla to Frankfurt-Hahn

4/23 Plane from Frankfurt to Berlin

4/24 Bus from Berlin to Prague

4/26 Bus from Prague to Nürnberg, Train from Nürnberg to Frankfurt, Bus from Frankfurt to Frankfurt-Hahn, Plane from Frankfurt-Hahn to Madrid, Bus from Madrid to Granada

Whew...that last day was unbelievably long. BUT it was definitely worth it. Berlin was so cool, the entire city was either old and crumbling or brand new. Most things were rebuilt after the fall of the wall and obviously WWII destroyed most of the city. We got to our really nice hostel at 8am and couldn't check in until 3pm so we went on a 3 1/2 hour walking tour with this company that gives really awesome free tours. We pretty much got to see everything on a small budget and tight time. It worked out perfectly. Once we got back to our hostel we crashed for a couple of hours and caught up on some much needed sleep. That night we went out for dinner and german beer and then took the U-Bahn to the far east side and saw the East Side Gallery. I liked that a lot, the art is really well preserved and the quotes and paintings are really meaningful. The next day we checked out and wandered the city a little until we had to catch our bus.

The bus was headed for Sofia, Bulgaria and we had 3 crazy eastern european bus drivers. I did not understand a single word of what was going on. The only thing was that the Bulgarians were yelling "Nein" at us in german because they thought we were trying to steal their seats. It was ridiculous.

We got to Prague around 11pm(45 minutes late) and went back to Halley's apartment. We got wine and headed to a club by the Charles Bridge. We ended up staying their until after the sun came up and walking back the city was so pretty and quiet. I got some nice pictures because the morning light was really beautiful. I slept until 11 and then we headed out to tour Prague. We wanted to do the same walking tour that they had in Berlin but we didn't make it their in time. So we saw it on our own and then Halley brought me to some other places that I hadn't seen. It was definitely a gorgeous city. The next morning we got up at 5:30 and headed out for the long travel day and finally arrived in Granada 24 hours later! I can't believe I was in Prague just yesterday!

It's good to be back and relax a little but not much since we are leaving for Paris on Thursday night! Only 23 more days till I am back in the states....nuts.

Marruecos...mmmaamama Afrika

Morocco...hmm what can I say to describe it? Interesting most definitely, unlike anything I have ever seen. Lots of traveling. They weren't kidding with the whole 50-60 hours on a bus thing. We left at 3:30am on Friday to head to Algeciras which is where the ferry takes you across to Africa. Then we got on a bus and drove to Fes. We didn't get there till just about dinner time so it was a pretty low key day/night. The following morning we woke up early for our adventure to the Medina. Never have I ever felt like it was possible to time traveled until now. It was like you crossed the street into the walled in market place(biggest in the world I think) and went back to the 11th century. I don't think it has changed much since then. Little shops, artisans, blacksmiths, pottery places, old family businesses line every tiny, winding street. The smells were really something else and it hit me like a ton a bricks when we passed the fish market, I won't even go into what the leather tannery smelled like. Everything is done completely by hand and by man power. No cars, just donkeys to transport whatever you need. We spent most of the day there and stopped at a pottery place on the way back.

The next morning we woke up even earlier for our journy 10-12 hours south to Erfoud and then the Sahara. The bus ride was long and hot. We stopped at the Ziz oasis for lunch. The brown landscape all of a sudden opens up into a canyon filled with green palm trees, birds and a river. Just like in the movies. This was about an hour away from Erfoud(which is as far as you can go on a real road.) Where the Sidewalk Ends. From here we got into 4x4 jeeps and drove 45 minutes into the dunes. Arriving just at dusk was perfect, we were able to see the landscape but it was kind of muted so the morning would be even more surprising.

That night we went to sleep in haimas, desert tents made from branches and black fabric. We had mats placed directly on the sand with a couple blankets for warmth. We woke up at 5 to watch the sunrise, not exactly the Lion King moment I was expecting but still amazing. It just all of a sudden appeared over the massive dunes and moved so quickly up into the sky. Dark to light in less than 1 minute. And cold to HOT in about the same. The heat was incredible for being March, kind of stays hazy all day and the sun just beats down. We walked back to our camp site for breakfast and the camel ride.

Caitlin and I had an ancient, rabid camel named Bob Marley. He grunted and foamed at the mouth the whole time. And I really though he might collapse into the sand. Probably one of poor Bob's last dune adventures...lucky for him he got to share it with us. We rode to the Great Dune and hiked up to see all across the desert, all the way to Algeria. Which was only about 50km from us. Then we rode to a desert pueblo, saw the poverty and extreme living situations, so eye-opening. The kids were heartbreaking. All except this one named Amid were so sweet and cute. It's just incredible how kids can still be happy and smiling when they have nothing. Nothing except the Sahara Desert as their playground.

We walked back to our camp from there in a sandstorm. *Note: haimas do not offer any protection from blowing sand. Our stuff was covered in red sand, in our bags, all our clothes, toothbrushes, bed, everything. We spent the afternoon in the big tent playing cards. We had a concert of typical saharan music during dinner. That night right before bed Caitlin discovered a giant sand colored spider in her bed, it also moved at the speed of light so getting rid of it was a bit of a process. Other than that though I didn't have too many bug issues.

In the morning we got up for our bus ride back to Meknes, where we spent the night before continuing back to Granada. Overall it was a great experience and I definitely want to see more places like it.

The next couple days of break we just kind of lounged around Granada, got a sun burn, watched a few processions etc. It was simple and relaxing.

Gibraltar and Jacquelin : )

This past week has been crazy...family visiting, Jacquelin visiting, and midterms! I had my last midterm last night so that went pretty smoothly. The fam was in Granada finally on Tuesday and I'd say it was a good day, we had gorgeous weather(almost 80 degrees!) and I showed them some of the little places I like to go. I wish they could have stayed for a night so I could have brought Pete out to some bars or something but oh well. I waited until they came back to pick me up on Thursday and then went back to Mijas with them, it was a resort right on the beach. Kinda crowded with buildings but the ocean is always so beautiful. We left early Friday morning for a tour of Gibraltar. I actually liked it more than I thought I would, the monkeys are so adorable and the rock itself is so random just sticking straight up like that. It was nice to be with my family and plus they took me out to some good restaurants :) A nice break from residencia food.

I got back here on Saturday mid-day and then a couple hours later I was picking Jacquelin up at the train station! SO crazy! She got here around 9 so we ate dinner and then since it was the only weekend night she was going to be here I wanted to make sure I took her to all the bars that I like. First we went to the chupiteria for some chupitos and then percha bar, then we went to d'caudros and had a crepe de verduras for a tapa, then tantra bar, then a tetería, then we went to makebo which is a reggae bar. It's super tiny but we tried some interesting rums and met some interesting people. I'd say all in all it was great night.

At the tetería we got té pakistani and there was this crazy arabic man working there who wrote our names in arabic on our arms and dressed us up in head dress things. My name is still on my arm but I'm worried that it says something else, because he could have written anything and I would never have known.

On Sunday I took her up to el mirador and we walked around the Albaicin/Sacramonte. It was a little rainy but still nice. On the way back down we stopped for paella vegetal at Plaza Nueva. Unfortunately I had school during the week so I hope she wasn't too bored! Last night we did go out again though and we found this bar that had mojitos, they looked like swamp water because they make them with brown rum here but it was delicious! Then we went to Bar Emilio for some genie lamp drinks.

I had a great time and I can't believe I'm gunna see her again in 2 weeks in Sicily! Crazy!

Now I am just starting to pack for Morocco...I still have to get a few things. I wanna grab a bunch of bottled water and some dried fruit and nuts. That way if I can't eat the food I will have something to snack on. I don't exactly know what to pack though. It should be fine for the city part of the trip I have never been to the desert before and I dunno what to bring! Ahh I can't believe when I get back from Africa it will be April. Time is definitely flying by.

Hace buen tiempo...finalmente!!

It seems the rainy spell has finally broken because we've had some really nice weather! I won't get my hopes up though since I can never tell here, the weather plays tricks on us. And I've decided now that I should plan for the opposite of what it's supposed to be like. Last week flew by, I don't even remember anything that I did. I guess just classes and a little bit of homework. On friday Caitlin and I went to a park and played on the playground equipment, they had this zip-line thing and trampolines built into the ground. It always feels so good to sit on swings and just relax, and the weather was gorgeous!! Since we had slept really late that's pretty much all we did, then back at the residencia we discovered that we now have some sort of cable. There were a bunch of scary movies on, I have become such a wimp. I couldn't even watch them without covering my eyes or changing the channel before something scary happens. Finally Los padres de ella(Meet the Parents) came on and that was a bit easier to take.

Saturday morning we slept late again. I love the weekends when I don't have to get up at 7:30. After a quick breakfast we went to the same park to sit in the sun again, I read a book and Caitlin did a little studying. It was so nice and warm, I even got a little sun burn so I don't blend in with the white walls anymore : ) In the late afternoon we went back to San Nicolas to watch the sunset...but the sunset on the other side so it was more like watching it get dark. Pretty but cold. It gets cold almost immediately when the sun starts to go down and I was not dressed properly. I still love that area, I recognized some of the same hippies who had been there when we went over a month ago. I swear they never even left. I guess since it's almost spring, or is at least starting to feel like it, everyone goes out to get a puppy. Every day I see one that is cuter than the last one. It makes me miss my pups so much! Saturday night we were waiting in Plaza Trinidad to meet up with some people and saw the strangest thing. A man had ridden his donkey into the city to go to a bar. He tied it to a lamp post while he met up with some friends. I really didn't know people still did that! My favorite part was that he was talking on his cell phone the whole time while people gawked at his mode of transportation. So funny.

Sunday morning we woke up early to take bus to Málaga. We wanted to go to a beach and get some more sun and since the weather had 0% chance of rain we figured why not. The whole time we were walking from the bus station to La Malagueta it was bright and sunny, we got there, got comfortable in the sun and about 10 minutes later dark clouds roll in and it starts raining. Great. I was having flashback to Cádiz. We ran across the street to Burger King and sat inside eating our bocadillos, hoping it would stop. It did so we went back out, repeated everything and about 30 mins later those dark clouds came again. Really!? So we packed up and headed back to Burger King. This one took longer to pass unfortunately and by the time we could go back out we only had like 45 mins till we had to walk back to the bus station. It was a little colder so we sat on a bench and read. I still had a good time though and I'm glad we went. Granada can get a little repetitive if you don't get out of the city on the weekends.

Now it's Monday and it's another nice day! Today is off to a fantastic start because I found somewhere that would serve me iced coffee!!!! I think I scared the poor woman when she said they had it because I nearly jumped over the counter and hugged her. I dunno why I love that stuff so much. I'm looking forward to tomorrow because Mom, Grammy, Pete and Jordan will be here!! Woo I can't wait and then Jacquelin comes on Saturday!!!

Mucho amor desde Granada,

Kayla

Necesito practicar más...

He estado aquí ya más de un mes...y siempre me pregunto, ¿por qué no hablo español? Todavía no sé, es difícil hablar con las chicas españoles que viven en la residencia porque ellas no son muy simpaticas y no tengo la paciencia para hablar lentamente y intentar explicar lo que quiero decir. Me molesta mucho porque las palabras son en mi cabeza pero no salen cuando quiero hablar. Puedo pensar, escribir, y a veces hablar pero es siempre a un nivel muy básico. Hoy en mi clase de Producción Oral y Escrito he hablado mucho...he hablado mucho sobre los animales y las mascotas. ¡Qué emocionante, no?! No...

No tengo dificultades en mis clases, de hecho son muy faciles pero, ¿por qué no puedo hablar? Espero que va a mejorar...

Alright, just had to get that out! So this past weekend we went with ISA to Sevilla y Córdoba, me gustaron mucho. Sevilla is like a bigger, busier version of Granada but the real selling point is the river. It was raining(of course) while we were there but I can only imagine how nice it'd be to sit by the river and read a book on a sunny day. The only thing that made me feel better about it is that Sevilla is getting just a much rain as we are here in Granada. I did feel that the city was friendlier and warmer in general but that could have just been because I had such high expectations and I wanted it to meet them so badly. We took a tour of the Real Alcazar, in the pouring rain, which is a palace basically. It was really nice and when we were walking around there was a couple having their wedding pictures taken there, it was beautiful. She didn't even seem to mind the rain.

After that we had a break for lunch, we decided to skip out on the tour after lunch of the cathedral. I'm sure it was nice but I can't imagine it differs much from all the other cathedrals we've seen, and cathedrals are notoriously cold inside. Instead we found a Starbucks(so lame I know) and I got a caramel macchiato, my absolute favorite drink. To be fair I have tried one at a typical spanish cafe and it is just not the same. It must have been good because while we were inside Starbucks it stopped raining and the sun almost came out!

After that we went and tried to do a little shopping, same old, same old. There wasn't anything I needed to buy and I really am trying hard not to spend money. It just seems to disappear though, it's so easy to forget about the exchange rate. Anyway once we shopped I went back for a little siesta. Saturday night was fairly uneventful, it was difficult in such a big city to find a good place to go when you have no idea whats there. We tried a couple of different bars but I didn't wanna walk around all night so we called it quits. I really wanted to rent a bicycle because they have a huge system there where you can take a bike and leave it at another station. But they only had weekly passes and we were leaving in the morning.

Luckily we woke up to pouring rain and got to tour Córdoba while getting soaking wet. I have to admit though I liked it better than I thought I would. It was an old city similar to Toledo with lots of history. Our tour guide was fantastic so that definitely made it more bearable. And then, since mother nature hates Americans in Spain, the rain stopped and brilliant sunshine came out just as we were getting back on the bus!

On the way home we took a quick detour to tour an olive oil farm and see how they make the olive oil. It would have been better if I wasn't so exhausted and cold.

This week in Granada is already flying by, it's been sunny the past 2 days so fingers crossed we are finally into spring. I sat outside in Plaza Trinidad with a book before class and got a little sun, so nice and relaxing. Tomorrow I only have 2 classes and if it's nice again I plan to just sit outside all day, maybe go back up to the Albayzin. Or maybe try and find somewhere knew. Who knows. I have started a list of random things I wanna do in the next 2 months though, big and small.

Mucho amor desde Granada,

Kayla

Her hair was black and her eyes were blue

Ohh man am I tired...Ireland definitely wore me out. But honestly what an amazing place, the people, the music, the places. There was not a single thing that I didn't enjoy! I got there late Friday night after a stressful afternoon of traveling alone, and since my phone was dead I couldn't meet up with everyone who was already there but it worked out cause our hostel was sweet and I got a good nights sleep so I wasn't tired the next day. Saturday morning we went to the Jameson Distillery for a tour and then a free drink at the end, whiskey drink of course. I really remember now that I don't like whiskey, but it was cool to see how it's made. Right after that we went to get some lunch at this place that was a church converted to a restaurant, the food was only so-so but I panicked when the waitress was taking our orders so I got steak? There's a first time for everything! Everyone else was tired from the night before and went back for a nap so I wandered around Dublin and did some shopping, stopped to listen to the street bands, got some coffee. It was a such a nice day.

Saturday night we went out to a bar called Fitzsimmons, the drinks were super expensive but it was a lot of fun. They had a live band downstairs and we ordered some irish cider to drink. Kate and I left later in the night to go to a couple other more traditional irish bars for more live music and irish coffee. Apparently whiskey became more appealing to me later on in the night. We met some really nice guys who wandered around with us until we found a place to get food, it was called Eddie Rockets, original right? And we got milkshakes there before heading back to the hostel.

On Sunday we woke up for free breakfast, it was pretty plain but nice to have some cold milk! And then we hopped on a bus to go visit a fishing village called Howth. It was cold, but sunny and beautiful. We thought we were overlooking the Atlantic Ocean so I was waving to everyone at home, it took us about 24 hours to realize it was Dublin Bay and that Dublin is in fact on the eastern coast of Ireland. We tried at least! Sunday night a rugby team moved into the hostel and we went out with then to The Brazen Head, which is oldest pub in Ireland. It opened in 1198! And it is such a small world, I met someone who knows one of my friends from home in Ireland. So crazy! After that we tried to go to a club but it was overpriced so we just went back to the hostel with a couple people and hung out, they had a game room and TV room and people were always up doing things.

On Monday Katie and Kristen were leaving so Kate and I decided to go visit another part of Ireland for the night/day before coming back to Spain. We took a bus to Galway on the eastern coast. The bus ride was nice and relaxing, the scenery was nice and I got to catch up on some sleep. Galway was totally different than Dublin, much quieter and more quaint. We got ready to go out, drank and talked in the hostel and then wandered around for a bit till we met some street musicians who we sat and drank some beers with. They were really nice and told us where the good places to go out were. Then we found a pub called The Kings Head which had live music and introduced me to my new favorite drinks, its called Kopparberg and its a Swedish cider, so delicious. I met some people from Boston and we just enjoyed listening to the music. This is when the madness started happening, apparently its Rag Week in Ireland which means every single member of the student body was out at the clubs/bars. We didn't know this till the next morning and I just thought that Galway got crazy, which it definitely did. All so much fun though. I would highly recommend Galway to anyone who was going to Ireland.

On Tuesday morning we woke up early to go on an all day tour of the Burren and Cliffs of Moher. I was kind of hesistant because I hate making commitments like that but it was definitely worth it. It was mostly a bus tour but we got to stop and take pictures and get out an explore. We had lunch at a pub in the country side, I got vegetable soup with this really heavy brown bread. I'm not sure what the bread was but it was definitely popular there. Then we headed to the Cliffs. I wasn't really sure what to expect because it's a really popular tourist spot but when we got there it seemed kind of boring. They had built a visitors center which had walls keeping people from getting too close to the edge(for obvious reasons) but I had seen pictures of people sitting right on the cliff edge and laying down looking over the side so I knew we could do that somewhere. Then we found it, there was sign saying extreme danger and do not go beyond this point but it was a very clear path and we decided to go have a look. Best decision I have ever made. It was scary to be that close to falling straight down, but it was so worth it. I have never felt so small in my whole life. We eventually got brave enough to crawl to the very edge and look over to the ocean below. The water was like crystal clear and beautiful turquoise color. The scariest part was when the wind would blow, almost felt like it would blow us right off the edge. I tried to take a picture standing right at the edge but if I thought about for too long I immediately dove to the ground, so much adrenaline!

So all in all Ireland was totally worth it and I had such a great hostel experience, definitely an awesome country to visit!

Una tormenta...

Things I like about Spain:

1. Everyone shops at all hours of the day...I pretty much wander the stores at least once a day on my way back from class but I'm trying not to spend too much money.

2. Chocolate croissants...Practically right outside my door is this place called Casita del pan, they have the best desserts and croissants ever. And they are only 1 euro and SO big.

3. The plazas, each plaza has a name and a really cool fuente. And at each intersection there is a plaza so that makes for a lot of fountains.

4. You can wear anything and call it an outfit, some of the things I have seen I wouldn't choose for myself but there is definitely no pressure getting dressed in the morning(or afternoon depending on the day haha)

5. Tinto de verano...wine mixed with fanta límon. Easiest to order and drink. The best part is the orange wedge at the bottom when its soaked in all the drink.

6. Helado...I haven't had an ice cream in a while and it's not raining so today might be a good day for one!

7. No one is in a rush...I swear if it ever stops raining I am going to just sit outside for hours and hours. I've heard rumors that the spanish sun is the best, maybe I'll get to see it someday : )

There's definitely a lot more but that's all I can think of right now.

So on Thursday night we met us with our intercambio, it was not exactly what I was expecting and not really that helpful. I feel like they were kind of more excited to be out with 5 girls than to be practicing speaking english/spanish. We left early and went home. But on the plus side they did show us two cool bars that I definitely want to go back to.

Friday we spent most of the day getting our costume stuff for Cádiz(yes I went back...). I don't think it was raining much that day, so it was nice to be out and about. I got crazy makeup and a lime green wig. We didn't go out Friday night, instead we watched The Proposal on my computer...funny movie!

Saturday day was gorgeous out! We went to pick up bocadillos to take to Cádiz with us and a couple other last minute things. Then Cailtin, Tarah, Brett and I walked to the bus meeting point and thats where it all began haha. I was sitting on the bus thinking "What the hell am I doing? I should get off right now."But no. We got there and I was actually kind of excited, we walked around, met some people, basically the same thing as last time. Then at about 1-1:30 it started to rain a little, ok no big deal I brought my umbrella. Then it started to rain harder and got a little windy so we went to find some cover. Thank god because next thing I know we are in the middle of a hurricane. No joke. Torrential downpours and wind. SO we stood for 7 hours under an archway with every other person who was in Cádiz. It was miserable! Athough we did meet some españoles so I did get to practice my Spanish a little. We ran to the bus in the tormenta, through the flooded streets and the bus was 45 minutes late. ¡Que coño!

Ahh what can you do in those situations...

It's time for lunch and then class so hasta luego!

Kayla