Casillas primas en Espana

So I am officially on spring break! Before I head to Portugal I wanted to update you all on my last week of adventure with my cousins!! This post is just going to be brief because there is too much to talk about in detail!!

SO last Tuesday I took the bus to Granada to meet up with my cousins Erika, who is living in Granada with her boyfriend Manu, and Rocio, who decided to visit us for her spring break :)

Wednesday: We visited Cordoba, an inland city about 2 hours from Granada. The weather was so nice, pretty hot actually, and we explored the old town with our tour guide Pepe, Manu's older brother. We visited the amazing Mesquita, which has Roman, Arab, and Spanish architecture combined into one huge Cathedral/Mosque. We ate some good tapas, saw some old churchs, bridges, plazas and headed home for a non-eventful St. Patty's Day at home.

Thursday: Manu had a business lunch in the coastal city of Almeria so we tagged along to see the city and visit Manu's sister and niece, Caty. So the four of us girls walked along the beach, ate amazing seafood, shopped, and bar hopped all day. I tried my first mojito & I officially love them!It was such a cute Mediterranean city, I can only imagine how wonderful it would be in the summer time.

Friday: Granada was finally explored! Erika first took us to the Cathedral and the chapel and burial sight of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. We had lunch at her favorite tapas bar, complete with amazing seafood and Claras (half lemon soda/half beer). We shopped for souvenirs, walked past her old apartment right outside the center of town, and went to an old church on a hill for an AMAZING view of the famous Alhambra. We then went to this hole in the wall tea/juice place with a terrace where we had a beautiful view of the whole city and the Alhambra. Friday night we went to a bar for some drinks and headed to a small club for some dancing!

Satuday: Manu's parents live in the "pueblo" outside of Granada. We visited the small little town in the mountains and were served the best paella ever!! After our huge meal, we all took a siesta and later walked around the pueblo to look at the amazing views of the countryside covered in olive trees. It was great to see what the simple life of so many spaniards, something completely different the my usual visits to big cities in Spain. Once back to Granada, it was time to fiesta! Manu's sister, niece Caty, and nephew Pepe (from Almeria) were awaiting our arrival and went out for drinks and food. (I was so spoiled this trip with amazing food!) We then went to this awesome gay bar, complete with a tranny performance of course. We then headed to a club where we stayed until 6:30am ---definately my latest night in Spain so far.

Sunday: Getting out of bed was a struggle for everyone, but by 4pm we were up eating breakfast/lunch haha. Manu, Erika, Rocio and I had a scheduled visit to La Alhambra at 5:30 and were late of course. We literally parked the car and RAN for at least 10 minutes to the entrance where we luckily let in!! I was so glad that we made it for our visit because it was BEAUTIFUL. The palaces, gardens, and views were incredible. I took hundreds of pictures because everyewhere I looked there was something beautiful that had to be remembered! Our friend Santiago (Santi) made dinner for us and of course it was delicious. I definately gained a few pounds this trip..oops. After dinner, Manu dropped us off at the bus station and we took the 1am bus back to Madrid!

Monday: I get off the bus around 6:30am, get home around 7:50am, and get to school for 9am class. I napped and met up with Rocio and Erika in the Plaza Mayor. We took Rocio to the usual tourist spots: Sol, Retiro Park, and Gran Via for some shopping. We went for dinner and drinks around 10 and then I headed home to do homework...

Tuesday: After my long day of class, Rocio and I went to see the Royal Palace and the Cathedral (Erika was on her way back to Granada). I took her to my favorite market for some bread and brie cheese and then we made our way to the Museo del Prado. It was my second time, but it felt like the first. It is so big and full of amazing art, we were bummed when they kicked us out at 8pm. We headed back to my place for dinner, homework and to pack up Rocio :(

Rocio left at 5am Wednesday morning and I was sad to see my primas leave after such an amazing week together. But on a poitive note, my spanish has slightly improved! Erika and Manu helped alot, and I'm now considering visiting them again next month!

Now I'm off to Portugal with Rachael and then in 1 week I will be in Ireland with John! So excited for these 2 countries, I've heard they are both so beautiful!

Fiesta en Valencia!

My school took a weekend trip to the city of Valencia, Spain's third largest city located on the Mediterranean coast. We were lucky enough to visit during the city's most celebrated holiday, Las Fallas. It is a unique, crazy, and HUGE fiesta that has expanded from its original holiday of St. Joseph's Day (March 19) to a 2-week long party filled with loud firecrackers, food and fire. (right: churreria & a big falla in background)

The holiday originated from the celebration of the carpenter Joseph by forming bonfires to clear out all junk wood and materials from the previous year. It was like a spring cleaning for the Valencians and over time more and more people participated. Las Fallas literally means "the fires" in Valencian (yes they have their own language) and has become an important tradition in the city. The focus of the fiesta is the creation and destruction of ninots/Fallas which are huge cardboard, wood, paper-machè and plaster statues. The fallas are extremely lifelike and usually depict satirical scenes and current events. The labor intensive fallas, often costing up to 700,00 euros(!!!), are funded by neighborhood organizations and takes the artist almost the entire year to construct! There are hundreds of fallas, some displayed at several stories tall, are located in over 350 key intersections and parks around the city. (below: fallas!)

So basically they celebrate for 2 weeks with parades, displaying the fallas, firecrackers being set off EVERYWHERE, and finally on March 19th at midnight when the whole city is filled with people, they turn off all the street lamps and the plus-300 fallas are set to fire and burned!! Then they have a huge arial fireworks show to complete the fiesta.


Unfortunately we didn't visit for the main event of the burnings, but I was able to see the Folklore parade on Saturday night and Sunday I experienced Mascletá, an amazing fireworks and firecracker display which is set up in the main plaza of the city. The Valencians love the noise and energy related to firecrackers so there is a huge emphasis on them. The Mascletá was like nothing I have ever experienced, the streets were jam-packed with people and and the noise HUGE noise and speed, creating a giant cloud of smoke in the streets. I loved every second of it, I wish I could have stayed for the actual burning of the fallas!! (left: crowded plaza, above: smoky skies after Mascletá).

So the weekend consisted of lots of exploring the city. The weather was really nice, I loved seeing the sun finally. Friday we walked around town admiring all the Fallas being set up all around the city. In the evening, Rachael, Chrissy and I drank wine in our hotel room and of course we were hungry so we set out to find a bar to get some tapas. We found some and they were delicious! The bartender loved us, he even gave us hats and wanted pictures with us haha. Saturday we woke up early and visited the Mercado Central, a huge market in a beautiful old buliding with the most wonderful displays of fruits, veggies, nuts, and meat (pictured above). Valencia is famous for their oranges so I bought one of those, some cheap almonds, and we shared a basket of strawberries :) Then we went to the Museo de Fallero, a collection of the fallas over the last century, one is spared every year. We then saw the City of Arts and Sciences (pictured left) which was an area of several modern buildings, all white with an amazing display of modern architure. We finished our day at the Oceanographic, Europe's largest aquarium! (pictured right) I loved watching all the fish and other animals like dolphins, penguins, walruses, sharks, and 2 beluga whales!!! That night we had a famous Mediterrean paella and watched the parade. I also had my first experience of churros and chocolate, buñelos, and spanish horchata (so much tastier than Mexican horchata)!!

Sunday the whole group went on a bike tour of the city and it was so much fun. We rode through old town all the way to the City of Arts and Sciences then rode back through Valencia's enormous park that runs through the entire city in the dried up river bed! (left: biking through the river bed park) It was such a beautiful day! Then we went to old town for Mascletá and finished the day with another paella before heading home!

I can't wait for my next Spanish cuidad visit this weekend:

Granada to visit mis primas!!

Paris: La Plus Belle Ville

Of course I am slacking on the posts again. I am just so busy I can't help it :)


So last weekend I was in Paris, the most beautiful city (title of this post in French), visiting one of my best friends, Jordan "gnome" Houston, from Pleasanton and San Diego State. Jordan is a crazy little thing so we were destined to have a great time. It was a big girls' weekend with 7 girls visiting: Me, Megan, and Britney from Madrid and Cassie, Bree, Brit, and Katie from Barcelona, everyone from SDSU except me.


(left: Eiffel Tower with Megan) After Meg and I figured out how to transport ourselves from the airport to the city center/Jordan's dorm, we went out for our first Parisian adventure. It was pure chaos with a group of this size so the night was kind of a failure. Megan and I were completely sober which just amplified the cold and our frustration, so we decided to call it a night early in order to have a productive day of sightseeing.


Friday I experienced my first French croissant for breakfast and then my first EVER crepe for lunch! It was delicious and cheap and it was so neat how they made them right in front of you at their little street vendor set ups. Everyone refused to wake up so Me, Megan and Britney went on our own to see the Eiffel Tower. "Wow" is all I could think when I saw it. It was huge and the color was much more brown than I expected. Once we took pictures, went for snacks and drinks and bought some postcards, the other girls finally met up with us for our second Eiffel Tower photo shoot. We then made our way to the Arc de Triomphe (pictured above: Me & Jordan) which was WAYYYY bigger than I expected. The sun was setting at this point so we went to the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur which was this beautiful white church on a hill overlooking the entire city of Paris. It was a gorgeous view and we had a great time enjoying the performers and entertainers. Once it was dark and absolutely freezing, we made our way down the hill and to the Moulin Rouge which was just as amazing as I imagined! It was in this crazy area of sex shops and strip clubs and there were so many normal people walking around haha! Apparently that kind of thing has no affect on the French people. We bought some paninis for dinner and went out to a cool Scottish bar (?) that night. On our way there, we walked across the Seine River and were able to the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance. Such a beautiful city!! (above: overlooking Paris from the Basilica)


Saturday was pretty much a repeat of Friday in the sense that nobody would get up in the morning besides me, Megan and Britney. We bought some more croissants for brunch and went to the Lourve which was fanstastic! Even better than fantastic if that's possible. The building itself is amazingly huge and old and beautiful. We got in for free as students (score!), so we decided to do the audio guided tour for 6 euro. It led us through a large portion of the museum and it focused on the three main masterpeices: the ancient Greek statues of Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and of course our Italian fave, Mona Lisa! Everything was so amazing, I could have stayed there all day. I appreciate art so much here, it really helps define culture and history.














Then we were off to visit the Notre Dame Cathedral, a huge Gothic stlye church which of course was beautiful like everything else in Paris. We also went to a cute cafe for lunch consisting of bread, salad and soup. French food is very good!! We then met up with the other girls for some shopping :) I bought one cheap shirt even though it was hard stopping there. We went for drinks and relaxed before heading home to make microwaveable dinners. For our last night, we ended up at this really fun bar/club and at around 3am me, Britney and Megan called it an "early" night because we had an early flight to catch. Its probably safe to say that we got 2 hours of sleep, definately woke up still tipsy and successfully made it back to Madrid in one piece!

(above: all of the girls at the Siene River with the Effel Tower in the background!!)

Paris is so amazing, I definately plan on making it back again one day. 2 days just isn't enough to truely enjoy it. And the French people aren't really that bad! Their language is too beautiful to not like them and for the most part they were all very friendly, even to the loud obnoxious Americans :)

CARNAVAL esta loca

Cadiz is a cute beach city located on the Southwestern coast of Spain. It was my first Atlantic beach experience! So Carnival is a crazy party and it is celebrated all over the world. The US likes to call it Mardi Gras but Carnival is way better I think. The Cadiz celebration is known for its humorous traditions so instead of your typical glamorous/masquerade theme seen in cities like Rio de Janeiro or Venice, its basically halloween here. The funnier, the better! I decided to rock some white hair and a sparkly top hat, complete with a boa, bright sunglasses and red lipstick.

So me and my girlfriends Megan, Britney, and Julie with about 150 other kids got on a bus for 9 hours and made our way to Cadiz. We went with a promotional company called EuropeanVibe so it was a prepaid thing, all inclusive hotel and travel. The hotel was really nice, and the continental breakfast buffet was to die for. We just went to a bar Friday night, hung out at the beach Saturday, and Saturday evening/night we partied in the streets for Carnival. There were street vendors with food (my baked potato was heavenly!!) and stages set up for performers and costume contests. So many people to mingle with and a great place for people watching! It was blast and I feel so lucky to have experienced such an awesome festival in an old, traditional environment!

I have started to really miss my friends and fam lately so if you read this, just know that I'm thinking about you! Muchos besos xoxx

Swiss Chocolate. Obsessed.

Bon jour! Just spent my weekend in Geneva, Switzerland - a quaint, neutral, and beautiful little country here in the fabulous Europa!

I flew out Thursday night on EasyJet (suprisingly good airline for the cheap tickets) with Rachael (of course), Chrissy and Christa Lee. Geneva was absolutely freezing, which was expected, and we loved it nonetheless. So the Swiss speak French and don't use the Euro. They use the Franc which has the exchange rate basically even to the dollar!! It sounded AMAZING at first, but I was quickly informed that Switzerland is known as one of the most expensive countries in the world. Great. Perfect for the college student in serious debt already.

So we hop on the train at the airport (For Free!!) and then walk to our hostel. City Hostel. It was really nice and we had a small little room just for us! So because we were all tired of traveling and wanted to save our energy for the weekend ahead, we just bought a bottle of wine and Toblerone chocolate bars to enjoy in the common room of the hostel.

Day 1: Wake up to falling snow! It was gorgeous and I was actually really excited because I was never able to make it up to the snow this winter in California. We layered up and made our way to Old Town for the usual sightseeing. Lake Geneva or as they call it, Lac Leman, was gorgeous and blue and obviously freezing. Unfortunately we found out that we visited Switzerland during the worst time of the year because 1) its cold & 2) its snowing. The famous fountain in the Lake, Jet d'eau, wasn't turned on because the mist would inflinct serious pain and discomfort on the skin, so that was a huge letdown. We then made our way to the famous flower clock which was covered in snow and had no flowers so it looked ugly and strange. We originally had plans to go to tour a chocolate factory but found out we weren't allowed because only big groups could do it, so we opted for a delicious looking chocolate store. I bought lots of chocolate and spent alot of francs, but it was all worth it in the end. This chocolate is to die for and I am officially a chocolate junkie.

After walking around, shopping, and having lunch, we made our way back across town to go on the 4 o'clock tour of the UN! Running short on time, we speed walk to the entrance which was 500 meters away (I learned that 500 meters is really far) and were not allowed inside because it was 4:02. Obviously we were livid and immediately in bad moods because it was the last tour of the day on the last day of the week... So we opted to go to the Red Cross Museum across the street which ended up being really interesting. It was depressing learning about all of our contemporary wars but still fascinating and historical, which is always a hit with me. We made it home for a siesta and a shower, then set out for some traditional Fondue! Again, we failed at planning. Living as a Spaniard, dinner isn't until 9ish so when we went out for dinner at that time, the fondue restaurant was closing at 10 and you needed a reservation. So we wandered aimlessly around the prostitution district of town until we were so desperate for food that we just went into this small Middle Eastern restaurant. Speaking no french or whatever language the menu was in, we all ordered random stuff. And it turned out to be amazing!! I loved being so adventurous and cultural :)

Day 2: Originally we wanted to go wine tasting but of course that failed because it was snowing and vineyards don't do that in winter. We had heard about this cable car/gondola at the French border that takes you up the mountain for a great view of Geneva so we took the bus to the end of the line and walked across the French border. Finally seeing some mountains was super thrilling for us all and we were more excited than ever for the gondola. So we get to the attraction to read a sign that says "Closed Jan/Feb. Maintenence." GREAT. Annoyed again, we decided that we just needed a drink so we made our way back into Switzerland and found ourselves at a cute little pub. Long story short, we pub crawled all day long, stopped at the grocery story for some microwavable dinner and got back to the hostel around 8pm. We ate, sobered up, watched the Olympics, and I went to bed by midnight with the worst headache I have ever experienced in my life.

Day 3: Valentine's Day!!!! Not a special day for any of us (miss you john!), but it was still nice seeing women with roses and chocolate. We definately treated ourselves to more chocolate for the occasion and made our way back to the airport.

Great weekend, I suggest visiting this beautiful country! Only in the spring, summer, or fall though haha. Au revoir!

Viva Madrid

Sorry for slacking on the posts. I haven't been up to a whole lot besides school, sleeping, eating and drinking and I'm honestly getting lazy about staying in contact with everyone. I promise that I will update more often so the posts are much shorter. Lo siento!!! But here it goes, my life in Madrid the past few weeks:

My good friend Danielle (who I visited in London last month) came out to visit us in Madrid last weekend with her roommate Bri! We had such a great weekend consisting of strolls in the beautiful Parque del Retiro, tapas y vino, and clubbing. Rachael and I took Danielle, Bri, and a good friend from our program, Christa Lee, to the Mercado de San Miguel, one of my favorite spots that we have found thus far in Madrid. It is this gorgeous buliding with glass walls on all four sides and is filled with fresh fruit, flowers, fish, meat, cheeses, breads, wines, sweets, and much more. It is classy, delicious, and is the best for tapas. I quickly came to realize that tapas are the best thing about Spain, hands down. I love the concept of eating a bunch of small hors d'oeuvres because you can get such a great variety at a decent price. MMMM so tasty and suprisingly filling, Not to mention how cultural I feel when I eat out! We also ran into this amazing place called El Museo del Jamon (aka. the ham museum). Ham is literally all over the walls, it is hilarious yet semi-disturbing. The ham is great though! It's the cheapest place for tapas and drinks so far and it is well worth a visit at least once a week :)

I have also now seen the gorgeous Plaza Mayor which is 100% more beautiful than it looks in photos. There are street performances who are more weird than even San Francisco. There are so many cute restaurants and little stores for locals and plenty of souvenir shops for us tourists to visit. My goal is to get some postcards sent out and maybe even buy a Real Madrid jersey soon (and hopefully get a game soon to watch mi primo Iker Casillas tear it up in goal!)

This past weekend, Rachael and I decided to get off our lazy butts and explore the city more because we always find ourselves in all the same places. So on Friday, we were able to use our newly purchased February Metro passes and we made our way across town. We eventually found ourselves in Oriente Plaza which is a large plaza located in the front yard of the Royal Palace. The sun was setting so we had a beautiful view of the enormous palace as well as La catedral de Santa María La Real de La Almudena, more commonly known in english as the Almudena Cathedral. Entrance was free (YES!) and we were able to walk around and take some great pictures of this old gothic church, still in use today.

On Saturday, Rachael and I decided it was time to get out of Madrid so we took a 3o minute train ride to the old city of Toledo. It was breathtaking!! The city is much smaller than Madrid with hills and a river running through it. The streets were all cobble stone and incredibly narrow, it was amazing how people could drive on them! With all the little shops and cafes, it was all too cute to handle. The Alcazar, literally a GIANT palace, stood on the highest hill in town and could be spotted from almsot anywhere. The main Cathedral was beautiful of course which pretty much confirmed my theory that only huge, extravagent churches are allowed to exist here in Espana. They are by far my favorite buildings to visit not only because they take my breath away every single time, but also how old and sacred they still are to the Spanish people today.

And last but not least, this weekend I was lucky enough to celebrate two birthdays of friends here in Madrid. Thursday night, Christa Lee turned 23! Wanting to shake things up a bit, she decided she wanted a fake bachelorette party instead of the same old birthday bash. She yelled "Me voy a casar!!!" all night long and it was hilarious that people actually beleived us. We celebrated with an amazing sushi dinner and got home around 6am. The spaniards are nocturnal I think. I did all over again Saturday night for my best friend Megan's 21st birthday! We celebrated Mexican style with great nachos, margaritas and thank god only one tequila shot, yuck!! It was a pretty successful (late) night, none the less. And finally Superbowl Sunday. The game didn't start till midnight here and with class at 9am I called it a night around 2. I was very excited to learn the next morning that the Saints came out victorious!!!

Well thats long enough for now, this weekend I'm off to Geneva, Switzerland so pray that I don't freeze my toes off!! And by the way, today is my half birthday!!! 6 months until I turn 21 woohooo!!!

SEVILLA, not Seville

This is a little out of order but I will be caught up after this post!

This past weekend we took an orientation excusion to la ciudad de Sevilla, in southern Spain. The weather was much nicer there and the city was amazing! So much history, beautiful architecture, cobble stone streets and fashionable people! The cathedral is the 3rd largest in the world and I was absolutely blown away with its enormity and detail. We toured the palace as well and the architecture was brilliant, a great deal of it built by the Moors. The gardens were so green and vast, full of fountains and birds. It's unreal to think that people used to actually call this place their "house".

I went out only one night with other Suffolk students, most of whom I really bonded with throughout our weekend's stay. I quickly learned that heels were a bad idea for walking long distances on old cobble stone roads. We went to this "12 year old bar" as I called it because the place was filled with teens who pretended they were in their twenties. We made one guy show us his ID which proved that he was only 17 years old...DOB 1992. nice try buddy.

We also went to the ancient Roman city, Italica, where we were able to see roman ruins. We also went to Rancho el Rocio (!!) and had a little coctail/tapas hour complete with singing and dancing. The tapas were amazing and the cervezas were muy deliciosas!! We then watched a horse show, which is difficult to describe. It was basically choreographed horses and cowboys. It was a very cultural experience and I can't wait to see a bull fight next!

Because the trip was planned through the school, we were pretty spoiled with a really nice hotel and great restaurant meals. The Spanish enjoy three course meals at lunch (2pm) and again at dinner (8-9pm). And I thought that I ate alot at home, sheeesh. They are also OBSESSED with bread too. It is everywhere and thank god they eat it with olive oil and not butter like the Americanos. And it's a good thing we walk everywhere because I would definately be packing on some extra baggage.

I started school today and it was fine. Same old, same old. I worked out too. The gym is teeeeeenyyy but it's better than nothing. I plan to work out Mon/Wed and play intermural soccer on Fridays!

In my spare time (the train ride to & from Sevilla) I have been reading the book, The Shack, and I love it. I'm actually almost finished already and I'm worried I won't be able to find any good books in English here. I was also incredibly worried I wasn't going to be able to watch any of my favorite American tv shows or movies on the internet. Thankfully this nice girl at school showed me the ropes and I am currently all caught up on Desperate Housewives!

One of my best friends from home, Megan, is also studying in this semester in Madrid and she arrives today!!! I can't wait to see her and start the weekend off in a celebratory fashion!