The end of the blog...

So I'm sorry to say but the blog has come to an end. My computer hard drive has crashed and I can't get on my computer...meaning I can't upload pictures and possibly have lost the pictures I've already taken in Spain :( So pray that my computer lets me access most of the things that I need once I get back in the United States and also pray that it magically turns on while I am in Spain!

Granada

So this weekend we were in Granada, Spain which is a city roughly 6 hours South of Valencia. We were in a 5 Star Hotel because the other hotel kicked us out because they wanted a conference to stay there instead of us…but no worries (:  It was AMAZING! The first day we went to the Cathedral of Granada and to the tombs of Los Reyes Católicos (Isabella and Ferdinand and their daughter (Juana the Loca-Juana the crazy)-she had a mental disability, son-in-law (Felipe el Hermoso-Felipe the brave), and grandson-Miguel).  We weren’t allowed to take pictures of parts of the Cathedral (but honestly…that didn’t stop me;) ) and at the tombs we weren’t allowed either so I don’t have any pictures of them….but it was really cool to see the tombs of people that lived roughly 600 years ago! The Cathedral was absolutely gorgeous! It was so intricate and huge! But…a good point was made as we were going through the cathedral…we as Christians are supposed to help the poor and give to the needy, but as we entered the Cathedral there was a beggar outside asking for money because she was hungry ….then we walked into this huge cathedral, built by Christians…Why do we need to have such huge and intricate and expensive things and places to worship when we are supposed to give to the poor and help the needy….it just doesn’t make sense. Okay…well on to more information (:

                After all of this we had free time so a couple of us walked around and explored the area. Granada has a lot of gypsies and there were so many little gypsy stores and everything so that was really cool. A lot of people wanted to go to Italian places to eat and random places….but the couple of us found a little Tapas Bar and it was so good! In Granada if you order a drink (not alcohol….but any!) the tapas are free! I had croquetas (which were those little corndog nugget looking things stuffed with chicken or ham!) and they were so much better than the first place we went.

                Saturday was an early start and we went to La Alhambra! Oh my gosh….24 acres of palace and gardens! La Alhambra was originally built by the Muslim people of Spain and was taken over in 1492 by the Spaniard Kings, Isabella and Ferdinand. Granada was the last Muslim territory to fall in Spain, and still today there is a lot of Arabic influence in the city and all over. La Alhambra was kept intact by the Christians who took over the city, instead of burning it down like a lot of people did when cities were taken over. The palace still has all of the original Arabic inscriptions on the walls except in the “new” part of the palace that was built once the Christians took over because they wanted to have a Christian influence on the palace. It was just so cool to see all of the original Arabic writings and even one window had the original stain glass window. A lot of the palace has been restored because…it’s so old!...but it’s still really cool because the restored parts are restored to look original….sadly….my camera died halfway through so I will be stealing other people’s pictures off Facebook J The view from parts of La Alhambra  was spectacular! It overlooks the city of Granada as a way of protecting the palace from other militaries. While there we also climbed up to the top of the military fortress part where we had even a better view of the city! It’s so cool because the Sierra Nevada Mountains are right there roughly 30 miles from Granada and still had snow on them!

This is all in Arabic and it says There is no god but Allah (or something like that:] )

This is the Christian part of La Alhambra added by Charles V, the grandson of Isabella and Ferdinand. Isabella and Ferdinand took over Granada and La Alhambra, in 1492, from the Moors.

This is our group! well...most of them

 Me, Amanda, and Stephanie

                After this we walked back down into the city and found a Turkish pizza place (odd…I know, but it was so good!) Then we walked around little shops again and explored. Then…one of my friends, Amanda, has a friend of lives in Granada so Amanda, another girl Cheri, and I went and met up with him and he took us around town. He showed us around and then took us to this hole-in-the wall tea place that if you didn’t live in the city would have no idea it was there! We sat and drank milkshakes, slushies, and tea on the ground on the 3^rd floor of this cool little place. It had a great view of the city and we went all touristy on the towniesJ This tea place was right in the heart of the original Arabic neighborhood with the windy, uphill, cobblestone streets, but it really made you feel like you were in Spain! Next, Justin took us to San Nicolás look out which gives a cool view of the city, La Alhambra and the Sierra Nevadas right behind it! As we were walking we came across and Aljiba (AL-HE-BAY) which is a well (built in the original Moorish times) that is fresh water, so we all drank out of it!

                 Once we were all finished with our exploring with Justin we ran (more like took a cab) back to the hotel to get ready for our flamenco evening! Little did we know, but the flamenco place was right near where we had been at the tea place. The flamenco show was so cool and definitely not what I expected! We ate tapas and watched them perform. After this we went back to San Nicolás lookout (which we didn’t know that we were going to when we went before) and took pictures of the city at night. It was gorgeous! Then we had free time and just hung around the hotel once we got back…

But the most adventurous thing that happened on this excursion to Granada was when I threw up in the bus…yeah….didn’t see that coming. I woke up and it happened. =/ (Sorry Sarah Gordon!!!) But hey…what’s an 6-8 hour bus ride without adventure!(: 

Look out for another blog on Wednesday!

Adios!

P.S. Mom!....look what I got!(:

  

Hahaha…it’s just Henna! 

May 22nd

Okay…so the in Spain they use real sugar cane for foods and stuff…so that means that the Coca-Cola tastes SO much better and since they use the real stuff for food…the chocolate here is real cocoa…not the fake stuff that we use in the United States ;) So…here is a Kit-Kat Bar made with real cocoa and is SO much better than what we have at home! (: Mom…you would like this stuff so much! And Suki too!

This afternoon we went to the History Museum of Valencia…we couldn’t take flash pictures in there…so I made the best of what I could do and here are some of the pictures…

The first pictures is just a piece of a wall. Not really sure what it is because all of the signs were in Spanish and the tour guide spoke all Spanish and I was a little distracted with taking the pictures…but there you have it.

These texts are plans to punish Valencia when they supported the “wrong” people in a war and the opposing side won the war in Spain. All of the other Kingdoms in Spain supported the “right” group and weren’t punished.

Not really sure what this is…but it looked coolJ

Okay…so you may think this outfit is for a woman…but it’s not. This is worn in one of the many celebrations in Valencia by one of the Holy guys or something like that….again…..everything was in Spanish and I wanted a picture J I do know what this next thing is though!

This dress is something all women in Valencia own…even today! This is a traditional Valenciana dress that women wear during the celebrations in the city (at the same time the guy wears his dress). Now the women have much more fancier dresses, but ultimately look the same!

Sorry I didn’t have a lot of pictures today but the museum was no flashL We rode the metro there, which was my first time on the Metro here! Afterwards a few of the girls on the trip went to a fondue place near the American Institute (our school). You may think…fondue?....why are they eating fondue?...well because it was what we wanted. It was really good and everything had a kind of Spanish twist….the queso (cheese) was amazing and we dipped patatas (potatoes), pan tostado (toast), mazanas (apples), y jamón (ham) into the queso! For lunch we had pollo (chicken) which was much better than yesterday.

Well, tomorrow is a free day so a bunch of us are going to the beach…no I won’t be taking pictures today at the beach…sorry! It’s just kind of inconvenient to take my camera. I won’t be positing a blog tomorrow or Friday…but look out for one on Monday after my weekend trip to Granada!

Adios!

May 21st

Alright, so yesterday after class we went back home to lunch…Let’s just say that lunch was…interesting. We had some kind of meatballs (I don’t know what kind…and I don’t want to think about it…but it tasted like ravioliJ) and we also had this green stuff that looked like baby food….it was spinach and potatoes and something else all puréed together…yeah…didn’t eat that. Haha(: Around 6:00 the class met up and we went on a short bus tour of the city…so here are some pictures from the tour!

  Here is a drive by of the beach(:

This is the place the Ernest Hemingway hung out 

with friends and wrote a lot of his stories! 

 This is one of the gates to the city when the city was enclosed by walls. 

You can see the damage on the outside of them caused by cannonballs. 

After this we went out to a Tapas Bar. Tapas are like our appetizers and they’re so good! We had calamari, croquetas (looks like a corndog nugget but ham or chicken inside), patatas bravas (fierce potatoes), chorriso (sausage), morcia (blood sausage), olives, bread, and tortillas de patatas (potato tortillas). It was amazing! I tried everything except the blood sausage and olives, but everything else was amazing! Afterwards a group of us walked around and got gellatos and went to some shops were I found this amazing store with jewelry, makeup, sunglasses….EVERYTHING I LOVE!(: Later today we will be going to El Museo de Historia de Valencia (The History Museum of Valencia). So be expecting LOTS of pictures.

Adios!

May 20th

Wow…..seriously that’s all I can say! Valencia is such a beautiful city….there is nothing that I can compare it to! NewYork city is too busy, too dirty, and doesn’t have as much history. Richmond: has some history, a lot of bad places, and it’s still just as busy! Valencia has SO much history!

 I went to one of the oldest cathedrals in Valencia! There was so much history in just one place. You can tell because of the doors that go into the cathedral. The doors that come to a point at the top are gothic style and were built early on at the beginning of the building on the cathedral; however, the doors that were rounded on top were roman style doors that were built years later. The inside of the cathedral was HUGE! I think my church could fit at least five times into the cathedral! I attempted to take a picture without a flash….however…..mass was going on! Haha.

^^^My attempt of taking a picture of the cathedral^^^

Attached to the cathedral is the bell tower….so naturally….we climbed to the top. Well, almost at the top is the place where the bells are rung….so….again, naturally we stop and see what’s going on….THEN…they started to ring the bells and we stayed…so….here is a video! TURN DOWN THE VOLUME!

So the 2 days we’ve been here we’ve eaten with our host mom, Senora Esperanza. She lives alone in her apartment, but watches her 1 year old granddaughter Luna Maria during the days (which I LOVE!) She’s such a sweet lady, but you really have to get to know her first and then you realize her dry humor. She speaks totally Spanish so it was kind of hard to get to know her at first, but even after 5 meals with her I feel like I’ve gotten to know her. She fixes the most AMAZING foods….except the cauliflower that she served for lunch today..umm…I just ate ham (and later a granola bar;)) She jokes with my roommate, Taylor, because this girl loves her “sal” (salt) and Senora Esperanza says that it is bad for your corazon (heart) and cholesterol.

Today the class met at the Plaza de Ayuntamiento, which is the main square of Valencia. Here you will find city hall and the post office (which is supposed to be beautiful inside, but you aren’t supposed to take pictures…but I will try….just for you Aunt Diane because I know you’re reading!) It was beautiful. From there we went to the cathedral and saw the market which is open on Sundays where you can buy little trinkets, etc….but sorry I didn’t buy anything yet because mi tarjeta de credito (credit/debit card) wouldn’t work here yet=/ As we went home from the cathedral (without our host mom or professors!) it took us a little longer than we planned….we weren’t lost….just exploring;) We eventually found our way home but it was very confusing! While we were in the Plaza near the cathedral there was Spanish dancing going on and also a demonstration. Now when I say demonstration many think riots, etc….but that is not how things go here. It’s not like when Henrico County sold all of those Apple Laptops and people were trampled….these demonstrations are peaceful. Seriously…people walk in a circle with signs…no shouting nothing….it’s peaceful. So no worries, that’s how demonstrations go over hereJ

Once we got home and had that cauliflower and ham the three of us (Nicole, Taylor, and I) went to the beach with Amanda and Jessica (two other girls on the trip). Let me tell you, this beach is like NOTHING in the United States! The sand is so fine and soft and there aren’t many pieces of broken shells or anything. It’s BEAUTIFUL! (Kathy Warthan you would LOVE it!) The Mediterranean is so clear and blue that you can see right down through the water! It’s amazing! Also, you can see the mountains while you’re at the beach. It’s the craziest thing ever. In Virginia people say, oh yeah I like this state because it has mountains and beach; however…think about a city, just a city, with mountains and beach! It’s insane. We didn’t swim in the water but I did stick my legs in the water and boy was it cold! But it wasn’t actually bad. The coldness felt good! Nosotros tomabamos el sol (tanned) while we were at the beach. They even had little concession stands where you could buy bottled water, ice cream, chips, & candy at. It was so cool. I didn’t take any pictures but I WILL be going back and will take tons of pictures!

 After the beach we went home to dinner and had potato tortillas and pasta….oh my goodness this was so yummy! I definitely will be making potato tortillas at home! (Mom…don’t get used to me cooking….this will be an occasional thing) J

I’m only a day and a half en este viaje (in this trip) and I can tell it is going to be such a great experience! Although it took a little bit of getting used to, I’ve already started thinking in a Spanish mind set and almost typed half of this in Spanish…hence why I included some Spanish words in there for you at homeJ I start classes tomorrow morning then after class we go home for lunch and siesta! (which I love because it is built in nap time!) For dinner the class will be going out for Tapas around the city to experience a Spanish tradition!

iAdios! 



P.S. Here was my taste of France:)

Europe here I come....

So for the next month I will be living and going to school in Valencia, Spain. I'm going on a study abroad trip with roughly 30 other students from Longwood University and we will be totally immersing ourselves into the Spanish culture. I'm so thankful for this opportunity and I'm so excited to be a part of a different culture for a whole month! The second weekend that I will be in Spain our group will be going to Granada, Spain. The third weekend that I will be abroad we will be traveling to Greece! (how exciting!!) Don't worry, we won't be near where any of the craziness in Greece will be going on.
I got this idea of making a blog from my sister and from my uncle so I thought it was so much easier for a lot of people to hear about my days in Spain versus me emailing every person individually. I hope you enjoy  reading my blog as I will be traveling! I leave from Dulles Friday at 4 and will be landing in Paris on Saturday to then fly to Spain! Happy reading...