Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter yall! wish I was home to eat a big reese's egg and go to church with the fam! but its ok i bought some medioker chocolate in a chino (really gonna miss those) and hung with some friends. whats new..

- family
My brother Will came to Madrid last week! It was so great to see him! We walked around a ton, went to Retiro Park, ate good tapas at this awesome place called El Tigre, did all the touristy stuff yada yada and he came to Alcalá and got to meet Abuela and Mercedes! I was sad that my little bro, Alexis was at school. I really wanted Will to see his rattail. But it's okay because Mercedes brought down the pictures of him dressed like a bullfighter with a guitar. Abuela insisted that Will looks like a man from Germany. Thanks for visiting wilber!!

our feet in the center of spain! 0 km

wilber and me and Retiro!


- travels
The weekend after Barcelona, Jane's sisters and mom came to visit. I went with them to Granada and Sevilla. In Granada, we saw the Alhambra, where the Moorish kings lived until the Catholic Kings took over in 1492. Its a pretty big deal, really cool! Then we went to Seville, another city in the south. It was hot and i loved it. We went to a flamenco show! I'll add pictures of everything one of these days. When we got back to Madrid, we went to a bull fight. I'm not sure how I feel about them. It was cool to go but at the same time I feel bad for the bulls! They kill 6 at every bullfight! crazy tradition. but anyways.
gardens of the Alhambra

Seville's Cathedral
Flamenco Show!
Bullfight!

Last night we got back from Italy, where we spent our spring break. It was SO much fun. FIrst we went to the south, Naples/Sorrento/Pompeii. The coast is beautiful like a postcard! We went to a cooking class with a real Italian man chef that had hands as big as a gorilla, perfect for kneading dough for pizza and italian food. It was a little intimidating but definitely a great experience! Came with an apron and a cookbook with all types of italian recipes.
First pizza in the birthplace of pizza! about the only good thing in Naples...
Jane and me at Mami Camilla cooking class!
Our new Australian friend making pasta dough
The pasta we made!
The scary chef!





From there we headed to Florence where we met up with our friends Nikki and Amy. We saw Michaelangelo's David, it really is like SO big! and lucked out because a lot of museums were free for culture week. We also saw the Duomo, different from anything I've ever seen! The bridges in Florence were really pretty too, oh and the gelato, loved that. It's probably a good thing I'm studying abroad in Spain, where the food isn't that special. We went up to Piazza Michaelangelo and got a really great view of Florence before heading to Vicchio, a little town in Tuscany where we went to the greatest bed and breakfaast ever. Heidi, the owner, picked us up from the train station and brought us to their house in the middle of the rolling hills! She and her husband, Lorenzo (who doesn't speak a lick of English), carted us around and let us hang out with them while we were there, taking us to markets or nearby towns and making us the tastiest meals/picnics. Heidi is like Julie Andrews. She knows everything and has the coolest accent. Lorenzo knows how to pick his wine, cheese, and honey. all important things for an Italian to know. We were sad to leave, but they sent us off with a box of chocolates, how sweet.
Florence's Duomo!
Michelangelo's David! not supposed to take pictures muahaha
Gelato.
Heidi in her kitchen!
The outside of the house!
the hills are aliiiiive
me and nikki!
I will return one day..
gotta love Lorenzo


Then we were ready for ROme! In Rome, we saw the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Colosseum, Vatican/Sistine Chapel, Spanish steps (of course) and all that stuff. I loved Rome, definitely want to go back one day when it isn't right before Easter/extreeeeemely crowded with other tourists.
us at the Spanish steps!
Meet Treva, our Vatican tour guide
Pantheon, obvi
oops, got a picture of the Last Judgement
Coliseum

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

spring fever!

Hey people! I feel like I always find myself saying, "I don't know where to start," but I mean it now more than ever!! Here's some bullet points to keep things simple.

- Officially left Pilar. I could give details, but I think I might just save it and write a whole book about it one day. For the record, I'm not proud about how things went down and I sometimes feel like a wimp for moving but it really is crazy how much a living situation can affect your state of mind! SO glad I did it, but I don't want Pdog to have any bad thoughts about us either. oohh well one step at a time.

- Moved across the street (yes, we walk outside our gate in fear of running into x-madre).

- NEW FAM = SOOO GREAT. I literally feel like I just woke up from a bad dream. Old house and new house = night and day, black and white. Madre is named Mercedes! She is always smiling and just bopping around. I'm not sure what she does all day because she's been out of a job for a while (apparently the Spanish economy isn't doing so well), but she's happy and hospitable and loves to talk. Which is a nice change. I think we have talked more with the new fam after less than a week than we ever did at you know who's house. So the move is already worth it just for my Spanish skill's sake. Next we have Abuela Julia. She get's the personality award. She got sass and I like it. She is hilarious. She's the one who cooks everything and its tasty too! last night she tried a recipe that we saw on some spanish cooking network. It was like turkey wrapped around onion and then fried (in olive oil of course) with some gravy stuff on top. Pretty good! Can't forget about my new little brother, Alexis. His feminine name isn't the only thing that sets him apart from your average 9 year old, get ready for it.. rattail. yes, alexis has a rattail. Love it. Don't worry I will be posting pictures soon. This kid is ridiculous, in a good way. We don't have to worry about him being shy or anything. He runs the show around here, showing up in our rooms at unexpected times, fighting grandma for the remote, and climbing out of windows.

- This past weekend I went to Barcelona with Jane, Nikki, and Amy. Barcelona is such a cool city. I would say I wish I was studying there, except they don't speak Spanish! They speak Catalan, it's like a mix between Spanish and French. I thought it would be more similar to Spanish but it is really hard to understand. so weird! We got there Thursday night and walked around until we found our hostel. Friday we did all the touristy stuff - Las Ramblas (a famous pedestrian street market), Sagrada Familia ( Gaudi's masterpiece, still under construction!!) which was SOOOO pretty, other gaudi buildings, Park Guell, La Boqueria (food market with anything from nasty meat from any animal part thinkable to all types of fruit juices, nuts, etc). Our favorite Spanish teacher in Auburn is from Barcelona so we followed some tips from him and checked out some of his favorite areas. Saturday we went to the beach, I have never been so pasty in my life so I got my first good sunburn in for 2011. Loved Barcelona

- Now I am stressed because all of a sudden we actually have to do work at school again. There seems to be a paper and a presentation for each class due sometime in the next week or two before our spring break, which comes right before finals... crazy how fast time passes I never thought I'd say this but I'm not going to be ready to leave! so blogging will be brief but I'll do my best.