Greece!!! day 1

I know I haven't written any thing about Rome or my last week in Sevilla but I will write more about that later, because I am loving Greece! I am going to have a hard time answering the classic question of which city is my favorite, because I feel like everywhere I go to I think is my favorite! Last weekend Rome was my favorite city ever and right now it is Athens.

I am not lying when I saw that the greek people are the nicest in the world. Honestly every one we met has been great. All of the food is delicious as well.

We woke up at 4:30 on Friday to catch our train to Madrid (which was awful since I didn't go to bed until 3am because it was everyones last day and we all had to say goodbye to each other).  After 7 modes of transportation later, we arrived in Athens around 5:00. We got to our hotel around 7 and were exhausted from the night before, so we had a chill night in.

The taxi driver from the airport was fantastic.  He was giving us the low down on Athens, telling us all of the best foods, the best areas, how to avoid jacked-up taxi fares and the like.  He also informed us that the area our hotel is in is one of the worst areas in Athens... oops... The reviews online were GREAT. This place got a 8.9 out of 10 on tripadvisor. But now every time we tell a taxi driver what area we are in they say "oh no no no, not a good place".  We tried to go out for a quick dinner near our hotel on Friday night and ended up walking past a riot.  But it has been alright, we just decided to take a taxi back to our hotel during the nights. (The taxi drivers are a little racist however, they all keep saying "that is where all of the arabs and turkish and africans live")

This morning (Saturday) we woke up at 9 and had breakfast at our hotel.  The first place we went to was the acropolis.  The Acropolis is a massive hill sort of thing overlooking the city where the Greeks placed a lot of their temples.  We saw the Parthenon which was the temple built to worship athena, the Erechtheum which is dedicated to Athena and Poseidon, the temple of Athena Nike, and The theater of Dionysus.  We then walked down the hill and had a delicious gyro for lunch.

Next we went up to the tallest point in the city and drank a bottle of wine with the most amazing view ever.  We met another nice man named George who was telling us all Athens and whatnot.  We went out to dinner at a really nice restaurant that was right over the sea with extremely fresh fish. The waiter brought a large try full of the catch of the day, so that we could choose which one we wanted.  Although it was more expensive, it was probably the best (and freshest) fish I have ever had. (We also became friends with the owner so we got a couple of classes of free wine!)

All in all I am loving Greece. Everything is extremely cheap here! Lunch today was 2.20 for the most amazing gyro ever, and the taxi rides are all ridiculously cheap (which is good since we apparently have to take a taxi to our hotel every night...) . We also keep getting a ton of free things everywhere we go. I'm not sure if it is because we are Americans or what, but hey i'll take it!

(Pictures won't load so I will upload them later)

School (Yes, I do actually have to study while studying abroad)

So I thought I would take this time to procrastinate a little bit and talk about school. It has actually been a lot harder than I had previously thought. I think that I might have chosen the wrong classes because somehow I am stuck writing 3 papers (that need to be 10 pages each... in spanish) while most of the other students I have talked to only have to write one or two... oh well. I probably should be working on them right now, but being the queen of procrastination, I need something to replace my usual vice--baking. (This is actually probably a lot better for me since I seem to be gaining a lot of weight here and baked goods are the last thing I need!).

Anyway, although my classes are difficult, I am enjoying them for the most part. In my art history class we go on excursions throughout the city almost every week. It is so interesting to be able to see everything I am learning about in real life! I also get to see a lot of the artworks during my independent travels (including some of my favorites like "Las Meninas").  My professor is also pretty awesome and easy to understand. The class only has 6 people in it so it is very interactive and we get a lot of personal attention which is very different from my 500 person lecture halls at Madison.

My phonetics class is insanely boring. (It is also really early every morning which I am sure has something to do with my opinion of this class). But Kylie and Xylia are both in the class which makes it a little bearable. I thought we would be focusing a lot more on how to actually pronounce words and how to converse, but it is a class of around 26 students and the professor doesn't even know our names, so there is not much conversing in the class. It is my easiest one though so that is good.

My history of Medieval spain is probably my hardest class. History is just not my thing (sorry grandpa!). Writing papers is also not my thing. When you mix those 2 together it is pretty awful.  I also had to read a spanish history textbook and I have to write a paper analyzing each chapter.... I have no idea how to analyze things, my brain just does not work that way, so it will be very interesting to see how that turns out. (I can't even write in english for goodness sake!)

My favorite class is probably my Novel and Cine class. For this one we watch 9 different Spanish movies that are adapted from a novel and compare them to their literary counterpart. We each have to read one of the novels entirely, and write a paper comparing the novel and movie.  One thing that I think honestly helps the most when learning a new language is watching movies and television shows in that language, so this class has been a huge help. At a certain point, you don't even realize that it is in a different language because you are understanding everything. (Sidenote: I went to see Catching Fire, the second hunger games movie, in spanish this weekend. It was pretty great. It is hilarious to see Jennifer Lawrence with a completely different voice. The names are also pronounced really strangely)

Birthday in Madrid

I already know this blog is going to be a sloppy one since I should be writing my 3 10 page spanish essays and applying for jobs, but I wanted to fill you all in on my birthday weekend!

So as you know I turned 21 last friday! Woot woot! I finally got my first legal drink. But not really since I have been drinking legally for the past 3 months. To start off, Thursday night the 14th Ky and Xy treated me to an AMAZING birthday dinner. They surprised me and took me to the nicest restaurant I've been to in Sevilla, and I had pasta Alfredo, which is my favorite food in the world! I know what you're probably thinking, pasta in Sevilla? Thats not a spanish food! But frankly I am pretty sick and tired of the spanish food. Give me some good 'ol pizza and burgers and PASTA. (I'll keep eating the paella though, love that stuff). I decided not to go out TOO hard on the 14th (I know, i'm lame) because I had to wake up at 5:30 the next morning... yuck.

So although I had to start my birthday off by waking up at 5:30 am, it was okay because I was going to Madrid! (and also I got to sleep on the train). When we arrived in Madrid we went directly to the Museo del Prado. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take any pictures at the Museo del Prado which is a huge bummer since many of my favorite pieces (included Velázquez's Las Meninas) are located there.

Fun Fact: the basureros (trash picker upers) are on strike in Madrid right now so we were surprised with many lovely views such as this. You can imagine what it was like after the rain....

After the Museum, we got a tour of the royal opera house which was awesome. We went into the room that the king and queen would always watch the opera from (which is the center of the picture below)

Some royal restaurant in the royal opera house

A royal chandelier. I'm telling you, pretty much everything is royal in this country.

After the tour of the Opera, we had a little free time. We got some lunch and then explored the city a bit. That night we went to an AMAZING french ballet and out for drinks. 

On Saturday we started with a walking tour of the city.

The lovely group of girls I went with and I in front of the cathedral. (Sorry that you can't actually see the cathedral, it wasn't that pretty anyway, Sevilla's is better)

The Palacio Real (Royal palace if you couldn't figure that out). This was absolutely stunning! This is the official residence of the Royal Family, although Juan Carlos does not currently live there. He prefers a more modest palace outside of the city. (Yea I guess I would probably get sick of 1,450,000 sq feet too....)

After the tour, we had the rest of the day for free time. We went shopping during the day, and than on Saturday night we went to Kapital, which is this 7 floor dance club that Madrid is famous for.

On Sunday (after 3 hours of sleep...) we went to the Museo del Reina Sofia which is the national Museum of art from the 20th century. Here I got to see Guernica, Picasso's most famous piece of artwork. It was insanely huge, I couldn't even imagine how he could fit it into his house! We then took a train back to Sevilla, and I slept/did homework the rest of the day.

One thing I realized after Madrid is that I suck at packing. I did not bring any sort of jackets sufficient enough for cold weather. I guess I forgot what 40 degrees feels like? But good thing my mom sent me some gloves in the mail! ;)

Oh and did I mention this trip was free since it was with my program? (mostly free... they obviously didn't pay for the dance club or the drinks...) Yep I'd say it was a good 21st birthday.

Paris!

This weekend I went to the lovely Paris with Kylie and Xylia. After hearing from a few people how they had been disappointed with Paris, my expectations must have been set pretty low, because I absolutely loved it. Although I do not know any French (minus ballet words which did not help me at all), and yes the French are in fact not as friendly as many other peoples, It was an extremely beautiful city.

            We stayed with Kylie’s friend Côme, which is probably what made the trip. He was one of the nicest people I have ever met, and he just happens to live in the best (read most expensive) neighborhood in Paris. Needless to say, we were enjoying living the high life for a weekend instead of risking bed bugs in a hostel. Côme showed us around the city, taught us how to use the metro, and translated all the French. He was definitely a lifesaver!

This was the first thing we saw after exiting the subway: the Arc du Triumphe! This tribute to French military triumphs is the second most iconic structure in Paris and it is right by Côme's apartment.

These are macaroons with are my new favorite food! Seriously they are delicious.

This is Côme's families apartment (or should I say mansion) which is insanely large for a european city.

After dropping our things off at Côme's, we all headed over to the Louvre, one of the most popular art museums in the world. It was insanely huge; there are miles (yes, miles) of galleries, so you have to be strategic and decide ahead of time what you want to see. 

This is in the entrance to the Louvre, which many of you may recognize from the DaVinci Code.

The Mona Lisa, which always has an extremely large crowd, was actually pretty disappointing. I was not expecting it to be so small!

Yep, this is the only photo I could manage to get in front of the Mona Lisa, and no I am not drunk.

 Kylie, Xylia and Côme

Paris at night was one of the most beautiful things in the world. This is the outside of the Louvre.

After the Louvre, we headed over to the Eiffel Tour. Although it was FREEZING and we definitely were not dressed properly, the view from the top was totally worth it.

Saturday morning we decided to wake up at 7:00 (which is pretty insane for me) since we didn't have many days in Paris. We headed over to the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur which is located in the Montmartre district and has an amazing view of the city.

The love wall in Montmartre says "I love you" in almost every single language.

We then stopped at a local café to try some of Paris' famous pastries for breakfast.

Our next stop was Notre Dame! Although it was made famous by good ol Quasimodo, it was originally the site of a Roman temple to Jupiter. It was then turned into a church by the Catholics in 1163, and used by French Nobles for their weddings. On a less happy note, this is also where Joan of Arc was tried for heresy. After being the site of Napoleon's coronation in 1804, Notre Dame went through a little bit of a rough patch and was used to shelter livestock. The famous novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame turned things around and revived the cathedrals popularity (after a bunch of restorations and major changes were made).

After Notre Dame we just happened to stumble upon the famous Love lock bridge, which rumor has it, you hook a lock with your names on it onto the bridge and throw the key into the river as a symbol of your undying love. The only way to break the bond is to find the key in the river and unlock it. So naturally Kylie, Xy and I did one, so I guess we will be in love forever or something like that.

We then headed over to Saint-Chapelle. The Upper Chapel is covered in stained glass from floor to ceiling, that depicts 1113 individual biblical stories. It was pretty unbelievable!

For a little shopping, we headed over to Galeries Lafayette, which is basically Paris' version of Macy's (only prettier and more expensive). The only thing I ended up buying was some tea, but I did enjoy this pretty cool christmas tree.

To finish off the weekend, we went out for wine and cheese (which paris is famous for), and Côme taught us all this cool french ballroom dance!

And obviously I ate my body weight in crepes and other delicious French food and wine.... 

Barcelona with my parents

So I know it has been a while, but I finally found a spare moment after my midterms finished. So now I must catch you all up on my weekend in Barcelona with my parents!!

It was so great having my parents with me in Sevilla for a few days. I loved being able to show them where I live and what I have been up to the past few months. It was definitely one of my best weeks here! Not to mention I had missed them a ton J

In Barcelona the language that they speak is not spanish, but Catalan, so I was worried how communication would be. But basically everywhere we went someone spoke either spanish or English so we didn't have a problem.

Our adventure to Barcelona began on Friday morning, with a very eventful airport experience. We couldn’t get tickets for the same flight, so I flew on a flight an hour earlier and we planned on meeting at baggage claim. The problem with that, however, was that we didn’t realize how insanely huge the airport was, and that we both landed in different terminals. But after an hour and a half of me trying to figure out how in the world to get to terminal 2, I eventually met up with my parents. 

After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we decided to buy 2 day tickets to those cheesy bus tours, so that we could use it as our form of transportation. This was definitely one of the best ideas we had, since Barcelona is a HUGE city and the sites we wanted to see were too far away to walk. The first site we went to was the Castle of Montjuïc which used to be an old military fortress. We got to take a tram up which had an AMAZING view of the city. One thing about my dad, is that if you take him to a Museum you have to plan on being there for almost a whole day because he has to read EVERYTHING. And even though the whole exhibit was written in Catalan or spanish, he still looked at everything. But that's why we love him!

On Friday we also went to the Picasso Museum, which was very cool for me because I have been learning a lot about Picasso in my art history class this semester. Being able to see all of his art in person after seeing so many copies of it my whole life was very cool.  Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take pictures in there (which I learned the hard way after some woman yelled at my VERY angrily... Oops!)

This is Barcelona's cathedral which was pretty stunning. My favorite classic cathedral will always be the one in Sevilla, however, which is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world. 

This is just some of the stunning architecture by Goudí that can be seen all throughout Barcelona. 

On Saturday Morning we did a tour of the Sagrada Familia, which is perhaps my favorite thing I have ever seen in my life. It is something I definitely recommend seeing if anyone is ever in spain. This was Gaudí's baby, which he worked on all the way up until his tragic death. The detail and innovative architecture everywhere is outstanding.

This is the Passion Facade which depicts the last few years of Jesus' life. It is much more plain and cold than the facade on the other side of the Cathedral.

This is the nativity facade, which is much more elaborate and detailed than the passion facade. This side depicts scenes from Jesus' childhood.

This is Park Güell, which was originally part of a commercially unsucessful housing site designed by Gaudí.

This is my dad in the Nativity Tower of the Sagrada Familia

The interior of the Sagrada Familia (sorry I have no idea how to flip it)

On Saturday we did a little shopping on Las Ramblas, which our guide book described as "the most beautiful street in the world", which definitely got our hopes up. Maybe we were missing something, but we were definitely a little disappointed with Las Ramblas, it was just very crowded and huge. But they did have good stores nonetheless. 

On saturday night we went to this awesome seafood restaurant near our hotel where you pick out the exact fish or lobster you want so that you know it is fresh. This was probably one of my favorite meals I have had. 

This city was the perfect mixture of old classic Spanish architecture, and new modern architecture. It was very evident that the arab influence in Barcelona was much less than in Andalucia (the province Sevilla is in). I was so glad that I was able to experience it with my parents!!