SHOUT OUT...

... to Joseph Ignatius Boyd! Happy 21st Birthday, buddy! It has been far too long since I have talked to you, let alone see you. I hope you are still keepin' it real in the B and not getting in too much trouble. Fried and I have been able to hang out a lot recently and been tearin' up Spain. I better get to see you over Christmas or else I might have to make a trip to Boston, since you have already come to LA. Remember hanging out in the dorms that Monday night and getting far too drunk off of beer pong? Haha, for your sake I won't go into too much detail, but I don't too many people (let alone my RA) are too keen on 'throwing disc' at 4:30 in the morning, hahahaha. Happy Birthday, dude and I hope you are staying warm in Boston.

El Hombre Frito en Madrid

Despite not traveling this weekend, I still managed to spend money like I was because my aforementioned friend, Ben Friedman, came to visit Madrid from Barcelona. Unfortunately, Madrid wasn't holding the craziest festival ever, so Madrid didn't seem as crazy as Barcelona, but I still think I managed to show him a good time. After Fried arrived Friday afternoon, my roommate, Tori and I met up with him in front of the Palacio Real. Due to a little miscommunication, we only had a half hour before Fried left for a tour with his group. That night, Fried joined me and a few of my friends from SLU for a night out at Kapital. Kapital is THE dance club of Spain, if not all of Europe. The club is 7 stories, with a few different dance floors playing varieties of music. It opens at midnight, and Madrileños don't even show up til about 2 a.m. We arrived around 1:30 and were immediately shocked by the size of this club. Thousands of people fit comfortably in this building and half of them were on the main dance floor. In addition to a DJ and music, we were treated to a "Cirque du Soleil-esque" show of a guy flipping around on two ropes. The club was so much fun, but due to a few too many drinks, we ended up leaving early around 4 a.m. (Yes, this was VERY early in Madrid terms... The club doesn't even close to 7 a.m.)

So after a looooong days rest on Saturday recovering from the "fish flu", I met up again with Fried around 9 p.m. on Saturday. I had made reservations for a restaurant at 10:30, so to kill time and save money at dinner, we went to the store and bought appetizers of cheese, bread and Sangria. For dinner, we went to Sobrino de Botín, which is the world's oldest restaurant, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. It was established in 1725, and the atmosphere hasn't changed. The restaurant was very cozy and kept the original structure of 1725. The restaurant is known for serving numerous amounts of celebrities: Francisco Goya (Spanish painter) worked there as a waiter, and Ernest Hemingway references it in his novel The Sun Also Rises. Among the 5 of us, we split the two specialties, the "roast suckling pig" and the "roast baby lamb"- both original recipes from 1725. The pig was one of the most amazing dishes I have ever eaten. I can't even explain how good it was. After we finished our meal and stepped back to 2009, we had some drinks until about 1 a.m. Fried, then returned to Kapital for the second straight night, while the rest of us called it a much needed early night.

Sunday morning, Tori and I had to drag Fried around since he had been partying a little too hard. We started the day at the Reina Sofia Museum which is part of the "Golden Triangle of Art". It is largely dedicated to Spanish 20th century art- the highlights being Pablo Picasso's Guerica and Salvador Dalí's works. Being on time crunch, we hit the major paintings and decided to get moving. Next, we went to El Rastro which is apparently the largest open-air flea market in Europe (this is according to Ben, so take it with a grain of salt). It was pretty crazy and full of thousands of people. After about an hour, we had all found gifts and souvenirs. By this time, Fried needed to meet up with his group to head to the airport. We walked him back to his hotel and saw him off after a great weekend. Adios, Hombre Frito.

SHOUT OUT...

...to Lizzy Bairstow!!! Despite the fact you probably aren't even reading this, I wanted to say Happy 21st Birthday!! I can say with 100% certainty that you are having an amazing birthday and that you hit the bars last night at midnight. I can't wait to get back and party with you guys second semester. We have a lot of making up to do. Also, Tori and I are coming back with a vengeance to take down you and Charlie in sand volleyball.

Basque-ing on the North Coast

This past weekend, Tori and I decided to keep it a little bit more low-key than our adventure to Morocco and Gibraltar. Somewhat last minute, we decided to get train tickets to San Sebastian, a coastal town in Northern Spain. Despite being in Spain, San Sebastian also lies in the Basque Country, which is an area spanning the French and Spanish border. These people are very proud to be "Basque" and not Spanish nor French. They have their own culture and values. They even speak their own language that is apparently one of the oldest in the world. San Sebastian, in particular, is a big fishing town and has great beaches (when it is warm enough).

Anyway, Tori and I got to San Sebastian midday Friday and walked to our hostel along the river which feeds into the ocean. I immediately noticed the incredible architecture. It's not too uncommon here to see an awesome building, but San Sebastian seemed to have a cool building every block. In addition to the buildings, the scenery was beautiful. It was definitely a quaint town full of retired Spaniards, but this fact made the city comforting and relaxing. After checking into our hostel, we decided to take a look around. We first tried to find the Museum of San Telmo, but failed. Instead, we climbed to the top of Mt Urgull. At the top, there is a huge statue of Jesus (similar to that in Rio de Janeiro, but not near as big). The views from here were incredible. The layout of the whole city along the water with the mountains in the background was awesome. From here, we continued walking around aimlessly and enjoying not having any responsibilities. We grabbed a great hot chocolate and escaped the cold for a bit. Around 6 p.m., Fried and some of his friends made it to San Sebastian from Barcelona after renting a car. For dinner, all 6 of us went tapas crawling through the many bars. (For those of you who don't know, tapas are basically appetizers consisting of a piece of bread with a topping) The tapas in San Sebastian are arguably the best in Spain (according to my host mom). We had anything ranging from Spanish tortilla to anchovies. They were delicious. After a late night of eating and drinking merrily, we headed off to our hostel.

Saturday was another day of just enjoying being lazy. Tori and I walked until we found something that caught our eye. One of these was the Church of Santa Maria. This wasn't a fancy cathedral or anything, but it was definitely very cool. The inside was decorated with huge paintings and the natural sunlight lit up the whole church. It was one of my favorites since it wasn't so big. From there, we tried to visit the Cathedral of Buen Pastor, but found it closed. The outside, however, was very cool and looked somewhat like a Gaudi building. That night, we hung out with Ben and his friends on the balcony of their hostel. We bought some pizzas and beer and just talked the night away. It was very cool to be overlooking San Sebastian, enjoying the sunset while sipping a beer.

Our train didn't leave to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, so we once again took advantage of the time to relax. Tori and I went to the beach (the "Firm Boob" beach as described by the brochure) and people watched (NOT for those reasons, geez). We laid on the beach (in our jeans and sweatshirts cuz it was so cold) and watched the surfers. After a couple hours, we grabbed some lunch and Tori had a delicious waffle with chocolate sauce (of which I had a couple bites). After, we headed to the train station and headed back to Madrid. Sorry that this weekend wasn't full of action-packed adventure, but for us this weekend was exactly what we needed. A chance to slow down and relax, while taking in one of Spain's most beautiful cities.

SHOUT OUT...

...to the 'rents (that's you, mom and dad). First of all, thanks for the financial support that you have given me. I appreciate the fact that you want me to have places to sleep on all my trips. I definitely wouldn't be able to take advantage of my opportunity as much as a have without you guys. Second, thanks for sending my camera back to me. I have been missing it like crazy (Tori appreciates it too, since I have been taking her camera to take pictures). Thank you so much and I love you guys. I promise it won't all be for nothing!

Sevilla, Spain

From near Gibraltar, we got on a bus on Sunday morning and headed to Sevilla, Spain. After about 4 hours, we made it to Sevilla and found our hostel after much looking. Sevilla was more along the lines of other cities we have visited, such as Salamanca or Toledo. It definitely wasn't as unique as Morocco or Gibraltar, but it did offer some really cool sites.

We started off by going to the Torre del Oro located along the Guadalquivir River. The fortress apparently served as a protection for precious metals brought from the Americas during the time of exploration (hence the name, "Tower of Gold"). Now, it serves as somewhat of a naval museum, highlighting the importance of the river. The views from the top were awesome of the city/river, especially of the Cathedral.

The next site we ventured into was the Alcazar, or castle of Seville. It was originally a Moorish fort and was built with extreme detail. This was by far the coolest castle I have seen yet. The pictures don't do justice to the extreme attention to detail and the amazing architecture. The gardens were just as spectacular as the building. It was a safe haven in the middle of the city. We spent around an hour on the grounds and still didn't cover the whole thing. Before lunch, we decided to go across the plaza to the cathedral.

The Sevillan Cathedral is built on the site of a former mosque and is basically a "one-up" of the Muslims. Apparently, it is the largest Gothic Church in the world and the 3rd largest Cathedral in the world. The inside was of course spectacular, like every other cathedral. But what made it unique was its bell tower, La Giralda. It's about 100 meters tall and interestingly, ramps, rather than stairs, lead to the top. The reason for this is that back in the day, they "used to ride donkeys to the top, on the same route we are walking right now" (Loose quote from my too intelligent friend, Spencer) The views from up here were also incredible and gave a bird's eye view of the Alcazar.

That night, we stumbled upon this cool festival called La Feria de las Naciones. There were tents set up representing different countries and selling "native" goods. Let's just say it was more my kind of market, as opposed to the Medina in Tangier. Also, they offered foods from all over the world, so we indulged in a chocolate crepe "from" France. The next morning, we went to Seville's Plaza de Espana, which was also my favorite of all the cities. Once again, the pictures couldn't capture the amazing architecture and sheer impressiveness of the plaza. After a long weekend, we were more than content to call it a short day. We checked out of our hostel, gathered our bags, and headed to the bus station to return to Madrid. Another successful weekend in the books.

"The ROCK"

For my friends in LA under the shadow of the Hollywood sign, I am not referring to the wrestler/actor, formally known as Dwayne Johnson. In fact, I am referring to the Rock of Gibraltar, which marks the entrance into the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean. (Unfortunately, others of you may more easily recognize it as the symbol for Prudential Real Estate) At any rate, this thing is freakin' huge--- 412 meters to be exact.

Anyway, back to the story. The ferry ride across the Strait was a little rough, but the entrance into the port made it all worth while. Seeing the Rock from the water was rather ominous and foreboding. We arrived a little later than expected, so rather than search for a hotel, we decided to head to the top of Gibraltar with our 20 lbs. bags on our backs. We took a cable car to the top where we were immediately greeted by Macaque (the wild monkeys, get your head out of the gutter). Yes, the only wild monkeys in Europe live on the Rock of Gibraltar and these things are NOT shy. They were all over the place and didn't yield to people too much. The views from the top were stunning, and that doesn't do it justice. It was surreal to be above the clouds looking over the water and being able to see three countries at once. (Maybe the pictures do a better job than my description)

After many "Wow, this is incredible"'s, we decided to head to the bottom and find a place to sleep for the night. Fortunately, we found a relatively cheap hotel for about 23 English pounds each. Interesting fact: As mentioned, Gibraltar is owned by the UK and they are proud to be English. So, they operate under the pound, speak English and even have the cool telephone booths! Since it was our "anniversary" ('gag me', yea, I know, Mom) we dressed up a little nicer. Before dinner, we went to Europa Point, which is supposedly the most Southern point of Europe, to watch the sunset. For dinner, we went to this top-dollar restaurant on the marina and ate like kings thanks to Tori's mom and Mickey (I am gonna have to find a way to repay you guys when you come to visit in November). Finally feeling safe after dark, we walked back to the hotel and prepared for our last leg of the trip to Sevilla....

Moroccan and Rollin'

I wouldn't be surprised if you guys just read these posts for the titles. They are clever! Hahaha, anyway, moving on to the vacation. So, we flew out Thursday afternoon from Madrid (unfortunately, I had to sacrifice my attendance to a couple of classes) and landed in Tangier, Morocco. Thanks to a 2 hour time change, we didn't lose any time and made it to our hotel (which was very nice, thankfully) by 2 p.m. or so. From there, Tori and I decided to walk around and check out what Tangier had to offer, just like any other city. How bad could that be, right? Well, it was an experience, to say the least. It seemed like we were the only Westerners in the whole city, and EVERYONE knew. Of course, it probably wasn't too hard to tell since every other woman in the city was covered from head to toe and Tori was wearing the typical American dresswear of a tank-top and shorts. This resulted in some stares from the men and some looks of disgust from the women.

This being the case, it was impossible to walk for 2 minutes without being hassled or hounded by someone. They all wanted to "show us around" and then expect us to pay them afterwards. It was a little overwhelming. We walked through the Medina for awhile, which is an intricate system of narrow streets (not labeled on the map) and markets that's impossible NOT to get lost in. Thank goodness we stumbled upon the American Legation Museum. I am convinced it was built as a haven for American tourists. We dawdled around in there for as long as possible, avoiding the mayhem that was Tangier. After we prepped ourselves, we scurried out of the Medina and headed back to our hotel for an early night.

After the debacle of the first day, Tori and I decided to get out of Tangier for the second. After breakfast, we hired a cabbie (at least I think he was, despite the fact there were no such markings on his car) to take us to the Caves of Hercules, about 25 minutes outside the city on the Western coast. Upon arriving (which was an answered prayer in itself), we checked out the cave which, according to legend, was Hercules home. The unique aspect, though, was that the opening to the Atlantic Ocean is a mirror image of the continent of Africa. (Check out the picture and see for yourself). After the cave, we hit up the beach a few minutes down the road and enjoyed a relaxing day without being hassled. In fact, we were the only ones on the beach for miles. The water was a beautiful blue and the sand was amazing. This was a great escape from the previous day. For lunch, we had a "local dish" that we were afraid might make us sick, but it turned out to be amazing. Even if it was bad, the view alone was worth every penny. (The picture should be a billboard for Fanta) After lunch, we took a local up on his offer to let us ride his camels. The animals were so cool and, even though we only rode around the parking lot, it was a good experience.

Our "cabbie" got us back to the city by 5 pm, and we decided to take advantage of the cheap merchandise. Equipped with our previous day's knowledge and determination, we ventured into the Medina, and bargained for some goods. (Family, it was reminiscent of being in Namibia, but without cute little Sponge getting reeled in every 30 seconds, hahahahaha) We got in and out as fast we could for fear of being out after the sun went down, seriously. For dinner, we went around the corner from our hotel for "shawarmas" (a chicken wrap, Moroccan-style). After two exhausting days and the prospects of getting up early the next morning, we again called it an early night.

On Saturday morning, we boarded our ferry at the Tangier port around 10 am, and headed across the Strait to Gibraltar....

3 Countries, 2 Continents, 1 Weekend...

Impossible, you say?? Not in SPAIN. This weekend was one of the best weekends I have had. I am sure that statement is beginning to lose its grandeur after each week, but it remains true. Since we had Monday off from classes, Tori and I were able to take advantage of the long weekend and visit Tangier, Gibraltar, AND Sevilla, all in one weekend. Since Gibraltar is owned by the UK, we technically were able to visit three different countries in 4 days. Not only that, our means of transportation included a plane flight, a ferry ride and a bus trip. How diverse! hahaha. With that said, let me get into the nitty gritty details....

(Yes, you are looking at 7 kids hitching a ride on a truck--clearly we hadn't learned the local way of getting around yet)

SHOUT OUT...

So I'm am trying out this new little series entitled "Shout Out". Basically, there are things throughout the day that remind me of people, or I want to quickly say to someone and this is where I am going to do it. Things that will get you shout outs: Birthdays (Sorry for those I have already missed and for those I am going to miss in the future), Letters to me (always a good way to get on my good side), care packages (even better than a letter) or anything that reminds me of you during my daily routine. So to start, SHOUT OUT to my one and only sister.

First of all, you have left the most comments on my blog which I love reading (take a note, people). I love reading your blog despite the fact it's much harder for you to update. Also, I just got your postcard!!! Thank you so much for the card and you know we are drinking plenty of sangria. Finally, props for bungee jumping off FREAKIN' VICTORIA FALLS!!!! I couldn't imagine. That had to be the most terrifying thing to do. Hopefully you waited to tell mom til after you were done, hahahaha. Anywho, love ya sis and I hope you are still imparting all of your wisdom to your children (whether it be arithmetic or Beyoncé), hahaha

Finally in Madrid

So I actually am living in Madrid for those of you who were beginning to wonder. This was my first full weekend in Madrid, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. We decided to take advantage of this weekend and check out what Madrid has to offer. Tuesday night, Tori and I went on a date to a Symphonic Flamenco concert. I kind of dropped the ball on this one because we were expecting a traditional Flamenco dance. Boy, was I wrong. It was more of a musical interpretation of a Flamenco concert. (And, yes, I DO know what "symphonic" means, but it didn't mean anything to me at the time). Despite this fact, it was still enjoyable. The venue was cool and the musicians were very talented.

The next night, we ("we" being me and about 6 girls, enough said) purchased tickets for the Real Madrid game against Marseilles, France. For those of you out of the loop, Real Madrid acquired arguably the two best players in the league over the off-season (Ronaldo and Kaka), so they are phenomenal. They are basically the Yankees of Spain. Anyway, we got to our seats a little late (a drawback of being with a group of girls and a little pre-gaming), but didn't miss any of the action. Soon after we got there, Ronaldo scored on a perfect ball from one of his teammates. Then, within five minutes, Kaka scored on a penalty kick. SOOO while this was going on, I had to pee like a racehorse, but didn't want to miss any of the action. Playing the odds, I ran to the bathroom after Kaka's goal (of course they wouldn't score 3 goals in 5 minutes after not scoring ANY in the first half). Despite setting a world record for a bathroom break, Ronaldo managed to score another goal while I was gone. That taught me a lesson.

For our last cultural experience of the week, we went to a bullfight on Sunday. And this event is "cultural" in every sense of the word. Even from sitting in the top row, we could see the blood caked on the side of the bull from multiple stabbings. It was a little difficult for me to watch, but apparently the Spaniards love it. I don't get it. Fortunately, they let one of the bulls live out of the 4 I stayed for. That was enough culture for me.

***DISCLAIMER: If you are a bull rights activist, a member of PETA. or have a heart, you may not enjoy these pictures***