adventures in valencia

so two weekends ago I was in Barcelona and that was really amazing.

this past weekend katie, heather, and i went to granada and sevilla.

we took a bus at 11 pm and got into granada at 7 am...(similar to the nyc trip to the gates). I do not recommend bus travel at night since we stopped once an hour so our driver could take a smoke, which means i didn´t sleep for more than about 45 minutes at a time. lovely.

when we got to granada we ate breakfast in a plaza and then went to La Alhambra. La Alhambra is a palace that was built about a thousand years ago by the Moors and Arabs.  It is amazing.  The architecture and the details, you really have to go and see it yourself because words and pictures don´t do it justice. Also, part of the Alhambra is the Generalife which is a garden.  We walked around the Alhambra for about five hours, got lunch, and then took a three hour bus ride to Sevilla. we all passed out on the bus.

When we got to Sevilla we checked into our hostel, Hostel Picasso. Then we met Carrie and Jen from our group who were also in Sevilla that weekend. We had dinner and then walked around the city for a while. We wanted to see a Flamenco show but we were too late for the one that started at 9 and we couldn´t find the club for the other one- someone on the street said the club was closed for the summer.  The next day I woke up and went to a bookstore  near the hotel so I could buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It´s the British version. It is only 607 pages, the font is smaller and there are no picture, I think the cover is ugly. Oh and on the way out of the hostel, I am a klutz, and fell down the stairs...I was wearing a dress, there was a cafe across the street and people were looking, kind of awkward, but I got up quickly because I needed to go buy Harry Potter.

That day Heather, Katie, and I walked around the city.  We went to the palace in Sevilla where the King and Queen stay if they are in town.  Then we went to the Cathedral in Sevilla, it is the third largest one in the world after Rome, and London. A very relaxing day which was nice after our crazy lack of sleep days. At night we had dinner and then went to a cafe near the river.

Sunday, we went back to Valencia by train ( a million times better than the bus). It was 8 hours and I finished Harry Potter. We also went to the mercadona and got sandwhich stuff for the trip.  PEANUT BUTTER! i hadn´t had peanut butter in over a month. It was the best sandwhich I´ve ever tasted.

This week is last week of classes.  Today we are going to the LLadro factory, I guess it makes famous, expensive ceramics. Tomorrow, we are going to the Fallas Museum and the Center for Arts and Sciences. Thursday Heather, Katie, Kim, Kara, and I are leaving for ITALY!!! We´ll be in Pisa for a night and then we go to Florence.

Less than two weeks left here.

ciao

kk

is bull fight one word? i don´t know.

so barcelona was really cool though i think that i preferred madrid.

all of Gaudi´s buildings were amazing, La Pedrera, La Sagrada Familia, El Parque Guell.

we also went to see the olympic stadium from 1992.

oh and super exciting, we saw Woody Allen outside of La Pedrera, because he is filming a movie there.

Tuesday night we went to a bull fight. And no they did not kill one bull, they killed SIX.

it was interesting...i don´t know.

i didn´t like it, didn´t hate it, wanted to go once, probably won´t go again.

tonight Katie, Heather and I leave for Granada and Sevilla.

i know i suck at blogging but i don´t have a lot of time

ciao

kk

this weekend i will be in barcelona!!!

yesterday katie, heather, and i went to see harry potter! in spanish...without subtitles. it was still amazing

fun fact about spanish theaters...you buy assigned seats.

everyone cheered when harry and cho chang kissed because spain loves public displays of affection and everyone cheered at the end.

in spainish you pronounce hermione...her-my-own.

spanish movie popcorn is just as good as if not better than american movie popcorn.

happy early birthday mom!!!

madrid was amazing

Katie, Heather, and I took the bus from valencia at 9am. we got into madrid and walked to the hostel. then we took our bocadillos to el parque de buen retiro and had lunch. the park was amazing and i think was similar to central park. we had lunch under a tree and it was really nice and relaxing. after lunch we went to el jardin botanico. the botanical gardens were beautiful- gran you really would have enjoyed them. the colors of the flowers were amazing and the sunflowers were in bloom! most of them were taller than me. after that we went to the train station, atocha, where they had the bombings a few years ago. after that we went to the reina sofia. it is a museum that has a lot of dali, picasso, miro, diego rivera. la guernica was there. that was amazing. i never realized how large it was before. then we went to dinner - i had a gyro which was amazing. we got ice cream and went back to the hostel to sleep.

the next morning we left the hostel at 9am and got breakfast (orange juice and a croissant). we walked to temple debode which is an egyptian temple in a park in madrid. that was pretty interesting. from there we went to the prado. we didn´t get to do everything but we saw a lot of the goya, velasquez, el greco. my favorite painting was las meninas by velasquez- we looked at it in lamparelli´s class in 11th grade...it was just surreal to stand in front of these paintings that i had only seen in books and read about before, it´s hard to explain. then we grabbed lunch and ran back to the bus station. took the 5 o´clock bus back to valencia- they played fever pitch in spanish- it was different.

the weekend was amazing. it was in the high 90-100 degrees the whole weekend. we walked 8 hours a day. we were sweaty and gross, but i would do it again in a second. and i´ll try to post pictures soon...

this weekend: barcelona!

ciao

kk

first- congratulations tara and don!!!!
i wish i could be at the wedding with the rest of the family...but spain isn´t a bad second

tomorrow katie, heather, and i are going to madrid for two days.
mostly planning on seeing the plazas and monuments and the prado.

this week i went to school and mostly walked around in barrio carmen (the center of the city) at night
i like to stay in at night because my señora and i watch tv together (usually american sitcoms dubbed in spanish like house, desperate housewives, two and a half men) and that is when we talk a lot and i really think listening to the television and listening and talking to my señora is helping my spanish.

the other day she made us paella for lunch- my señora makes the BEST paella. and she said that she would teach me how to make it before i leave. she said one of the most important things is the pan so i might buy a small one here to bring back home so i can cook for everyone...

oh b1a- last night before going to sleep a car outside was playing unwritten- hi. perfect. it was like you were all here with me.

more after madrid
ciao
kk

or as we like to call it in spain...wednesday.

two posts in two days?!? you should all be very excited.

except i wrote a lot yesterday but i´ll tell you about my culture class.

yesterday for class we went to a bar for montaditos.  A montadito is a snack that is bread with some type of tomato sauce on it and then you can either put meat, egg salad, cheese, or hamburgers on it.  At the bar we went to they are free when you purchase a drink (for example a 1 euro glass of wine).  That was class.  Today for class we are going to another place, but i can´t remember where, i think a factory that makes porcelain.

For the fourth a bunch of people in the group are going down to the beach to celebrate. I think i´ll go for a while but then some of the girls and i were going to go and try to eat hamburgers or something like that to celebrate.

ohh and the other day amy and i made a ¨friend¨on the bus while coming back from school.  He was speaking rather quickly but from what i understood he had been arrested last night with four of his friends because they were smuggling cocaine into spain.  then he said they were let go this morning because spain is socialist and has crappy laws. he was also fidgeting a lot so we think he might´ve been high...crazy spaniards.

ok, i am going to go do a little homework since i will be late tonight.

luego!

kk

so i suck at blogging because i only use the computer at school and i don´t have a lot of time

tonight amy and i are going to walk around our neighborhood, maybe i´ll find an internet cafe so i can check my mail during the weekend. speaking of weekends this is basically the plan for the rest of my time here...

this weekend there is a free jazz concert in the park on thursday. and from saturday to sunday i am going to madrid with katie and heather. the prado is free on sundays and we wanted to see more of the monuments-since we really only had a day there. the weekend after i will be in barcelona from thursday to sunday. the next weekend katie, heather and i are going to sevilla and granada.  and then the weekend after kim, kara, katie, heather and i are going to pisa and florence.

then i was supposed to come home the fourth....but the girls and i are going to stay in paris so i´ll be home on the seventh...

everything here has been good. things i have eaten- cauliflower, clams, and an assortment of other things that i can´t name and didn´t ask about....

normally during the day i go to school, go back to the house for lunch and a siesta, and then i will meet friends. we usually go ot the beach or walk around the city. we go to barrio carmen which is in the center of the city. my favorite thing here so far was climbing the bell tower at the cathedral in valencia. the view of the city is amazing and it´s very quiet and peaceful at the top of the tower.  (E- kind of perfect for looking at the stars...but i think it closes around 9)

oh also on thursday was our welcome dinner. we went out for tapas. and it was pretty good- a lot of fish that i ate and could not identify. and then after we all went to a club, the caribbean. it was like the IB at school but slightly smaller and sketchier...and spanish. and people here go out much later than at geneseo. we didn´t finish dinner until 12:30, so we got home around 5am. (without getting lost!)

my señora is really nice but she likes to yell at me because she doesn´t think that i eat enough...she´s always like what, you´re full? i think you are sick, here eat an apple. and when she makes us bocadillos (sandwiches) they are huge because she uses about half a baguette for each one.

i miss peanut butter- they don´t really have it here

but there was this fabulous ice cream- nata con gaelltas which is cookies and cream, but they put this fudge in it...

i am excited because some of the other girls also want to see harry potter here...so i am excited for that besides the trips...

ok i should go homework

miss you all!

hola!

so day 6? i think in spain...

it´s been kind of crazy so far and i feel like i have been here for a month insted of a week.

we flew from jfk to paris and paris to madrid. (rach- i watched zodiac on the plane...it was ok)

when we got to madrid we had some free time to walk around the city before a bus tour. the bus tour took us to a lot of the tourist sites and got out and walked around. then we went to dinner (paellea and chicken). then i went back to the hostel to sleep because i had been awake for 32 hours straight. the next morning we went to breakfast and then got on a bus to valencia. we stopped two hours in alacon for lunch (they had watermelon slices as big as my head).

At valencia our señora, Teresa, met us at the school.  She doesn´t speak much english...so far i think she´s said juice, monday, and tired. We also live with her daughter Ibid.  She is nice and does speak some english (she studied abroad in London a few years ago). That night was the fiesta of San Juan. Which basically means that everyone from valencia goes to the beach to make bonfires and drink and at midnight everyone runs into the sea and jumps over 7 waves and on the seventh wave you make a wish. it was kind of an intense first night...and an interesting trip home. which i´d love to post more about but i´m sure i´d get various e-mails about riding the bus home alone at 4am and getting sort of lost....but i talked my way around in spanish and found the apartment...my roommate was lost worse than i was so it´s fine. and now we have our address with us at all times.

anyways....sunday was relaxing, went to the beach again, didn´t get lost.

monday school started. and i´ll post more about classes later.

mañana

kk

my first post...is going to be a bit short

spain is amazing!

my host family is super nice!

i am eating the food (i have cereal for breakfast- corn flakes- pineapple juice- delicious)

and last night she made us pasta for dinner...

we are planning trips to sevilla& granada, barcelona, rome, and pamplona.

i will try to write more later

ciao!

kk