Weekend and the Sierra Norte

Cherise went to Madrid last weekend, so I tried to keep myself busy. I spent Friday lounging by the river with Delaney, Alex and Alice, then getting Rayas ice cream. That night I went with Alex to the Tex-Mex bar and most of our program to watch the UNC-Marquette basketball game. Good game, we won easily (much to the dismay of some Marquette fans sitting at the bar.) As we were sitting in the bar watching the game we had an... interesting... encounter with some Italianos. Basically, Italian boys are not all they're hyped up to be. They were strange, forward and all they wanted to talk about was Gucci and other name brands they were wearing.

The next morning I went with Alex and some girls from SAS to the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares (the Museum of Art and Customs). I'd been wanting to go there for awhile, because I thought it sounded like an interesting museum, but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. We saw some furniture from the home of the famous painter Vallequez, some random furniture and some embroidered handkerchiefs. The best part was a high school band that had traveled all the way from Canada to play in the courtyard. Brought back memories of my high school band days.

From the steps of the Museo de Artes y Costumbres you can see its sister building, the Museo de Arqueología

High school band playing in the courtyard of the museum, with all the parents watching

After the museum Alex and I wandered through the park to the Plaza de España, to take some pictures. It was a little cloudy, but the Plaza de España is always beautiful.

In the park

Plaza de España

It must have been the day for weddings-- we saw a few photoshoots and a bride and groom riding down the street in a horse-drawn carriage

On Sunday Alex, Delaney, Alice and I woke up early and caught a train to the Parque Natural de la Sierra Norte de Sevilla for a day of hiking through the Andalusian countryside, about an hour and a half from Sevilla. We had a great day hiking through trees and down dirt country roads, eating picnic lunches on some rocks by a stream, and taking lots and lots of pictures. It was nice to be away from the busy city life of Sevilla for the day. We walked most of the 6 hours we were there-- in all about 20 kilometers or 13 miles.

I was especially excited because I had just finished reading The Alchemist by Pauleo Coelho, a wonderful novel that takes place in the Andalusian countryside and Morocco. The scenery looked exactly how I'd imagined it from the book. There were even pastures full of sheep!

Too perfect for an Andalusian countryside

Sheep! This one is for Sue

Our pig friend, who had somehow escaped his pin

Alex, Alice, Delaney

Ruins from an abandoned building (I'd like to think it was a church, JUST like in The Alchemist!)

(photo by Alice)

(photo by Alice)

(photo by Alice)

(photo by Alice)

I have a lot more to write about, but I'm probably going to be slow updating because I have a 10-page paper, a 5-page paper and an 8-page paper due next week! And I really need to get them done before I go to Portugal for the weekend! But I'll update as often as I can.

Adios for now!

Madrid 2

Watch a short video I took of the Taylor Swift concert here!!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbiiJHHcl8Q

The next morning we woke up early once again, had breakfast in the hostel and headed out to the Sunday flea market. Hundreds of vendors had set up their tents in the street. The first part reminded me of Bele Chere in Asheville, with tents of handmade jewelry, paintings and crafts. There were also tents of books, scarves, shoes, and farther down an entire market of clothing. It stretched on through a few different streets. As the morning wore on the market got more and more crowded.

Market!

Audra and Carly headed to the Prado, so I went with the SAS girls to walk around the Plaza Mayor. It was very similar to the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca-- a closed area with Baroque architecture. People met up, greeted each other, and watched the many street performers

Streets of Madrid, just outside of the Plaza Mayor

Plaza Mayor

Next we went for ice cream at a cafetería (recommendation of Rick Steves) where we could choose from a whole bar of toppings. I got brownie batter and strawberries, por supuesto.

yum

Then we went to the arboretum, which was near the Prado Museum. It was beautiful, with rows of colored flowers and trees planted in lines. We spent some time sitting on a bench outside by the pond.

But by this time, my sickness was catching up with me-- I had tried to do so much every day, and hadn't had a lot of rest. As we sat on the bench I blew my nose in toilet paper from the hostel and tried to keep myself from nodding off in the hot sun. I felt weary and drained... and just sick all the way around. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that in a few hours I could sit on the bus and do nothing, and then when I got back to Sevilla my bed would be waiting for me...

Arboretum, the view from our bench

pretty pretty

Audra called me as I sat in the arboretum and said she was heading back to the hostel, so I drowsily raced back through the city and met her there to pick up our bags. It was just the two of us because the SAS people were staying an extra hour and Carly hadn't been able to get the same bus as us. We got a good recommendation for a sandwich place around the corner, so we ordered some massive sandwiches to go for the road. Then we took the metro all the way to the bus station.

When we got there, we had a few minutes to wait until our bus pulled up, we put our bags in the bottom and loaded the bus. However, there was a man sitting in Audra's assigned seat. On closer inspection of the tickets, we saw that both of them had the same seat. The ticket lady took them from us and informed Audra and me that our tickets were not for March, but the same date in February!!

There were no seats left on the bus, so she told us to go back to the ticket booth and buy new tickets for a different bus. So we went, and tried to explain the situation. We had bought the tickets very early (Audra is always super prompt) back in February, and apparently the office in Sevilla had sold them to us for the wrong month. I even called the director of our program and tried to get her to explain it to them... but it was no good, she couldn't exchange our tickets, and we had to pay 20 euros (about $30) for a new ticket.

The catch was, the only bus that wasn't full was at 11:00 at night... 6 1/2 hours away! And this meant we wouldn't arrive in Sevilla until 5:30 in the morning....

That sent me over the edge. All day I had been feeling worse than I had the whole weekend, and the only thing holding me together was the thought of sitting on a bus and sleeping in my bed when I got home. I broke down. I felt like such an idiot, but I couldn't help it. I didn't think I could make it, feeling like that and sitting in a bus station for six hours. No one comforted me, or asked me what was wrong. I called Kevin from my expensive cell phone, then my señora from my Spanish phone to tell her I wouldn't be home for dinner.

We passed the time with four sorority girls from the SAS program who hadn't bought their tickets yet and got the last four for the 11:00 bus. They had bought tickets to the concert from Kelly too, but we hadn't seen or talked to all weekend. Even though they were from our program and from UNC, I had never met them. They spent a majority of the time talking about their crazy clubbing and parting adventures in Madrid... but I was glad to have company. We sat in the cafeteria of the station, then went to a little bar to grab some drinks and eat the sandwiches we had bought.

It was a long six hours... and the bus ride was just as long. I slept a little, but it was a very broken, uncomfortable sleep. When we finally arrived in Sevilla at 5:30 in the morning, I felt like I was in a dream. Surely this hadn't just happened. Surely I couldn't be arriving this early in the morning. Surely I didn't have class in four hours.

I had forgotten my bike pass, so Audra started to walk back home ahead of me. I called out to her as she was crossing the street and asked her if she was really about to walk 45 minutes back to her apartment at 5:30 in the morning. Was she crazy? I told her I was taking a cab.... she said she didn't want to because it was too expensive... I said I really didn't care, I was sick, I just wanted to get home. She insisted on biking. The cab ride ended up being only 3 euros, and it was worth every single penny.

When I got home I dropped down on my bed, exhausted, in need of a shower, and feeling so, so sick. I took a nighttime cold relief pill and slept until 1 p.m. Then I stayed in bed, read, and took a nap for the rest of the day.

The rest of the week I was sick too, but I took it easy. I knew I had made it a million times worse by over-exerting myself in Madrid. Now I'm feeling much better... just a little cough left.

An awful end to a wonderful weekend! Look for an entry about our hiking trip to come!

Madrid!

We left after class on Friday to head to Madrid. This was a trip that's been a long time in the making-- before the program even started Kelly, a girl from SAS, sent out a message to everyone asking if we wanted to come with her to a Taylor Swift concert in Madrid this weekend. Being a Taylor Swift fanatic, I agreed along with about eight other girls. We figured we'd make a weekend out of it-- go to the concert, stay in a hostel together and see all of the touristy sites.

Naturally, around Wednesday I got a cold. It came out of no where; I had miraculously missed the month and a half where every single person on our program was sick. By Friday I didn't feel good-- I had a cough, runny nose, sneezed and blew my nose every 5 seconds, but I was determined to not let it ruin the weekend I had been planning for months.

It was a long (6 hour) bus ride to Madrid. I rode with Audra and Carly. We took the metro into the city and checked into our hostel. My second hostel experience was much, much better than my first. It was a charming little place called "Way Hostel" down a side street about a 15 minute walk from the main tourist sites. We checked into our room (a room of 6 girls, much better than our Salamanca co-ed hostel of 20) and met up with Audra's friend Meghan, who is studying abroad in Norway. She had already befriended our other two roommates, who were very nice. One was from France and is working in Paris-- she told us to look her up when we go there in April and maybe she can show us around!

Saturday we got up around 8 a.m. and took advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hostel (they had Frosted Flakes!) Two girls from SAS who were staying at our hostel too met us there; they had taken an overnight train from Sevilla. They were meeting some other girls from SAS. I was trying not to repeat too many of the same things I did when I went to Madrid on my high school trip, so I decided to go with them rather than with Audra and Carly.

First we went to the Prado Museum, which I did on my other trip but barely remember. It was neat going this time because this semester I am taking an art and culture class, and I got to see all of the paintings we have been talking about. I got the audio tour and stayed a few hours looking at paintings by Murillo, Goya, Valazquez and El Greco. I stayed there while the other girls went to the Palacio Real, which I had already been to, and then we met back up at the Pueta de Sol for almuerzo. Puerta de Sol is a plaza in Madrid. It is the center of the network of Spanish roads and one of the busiest places in the city.

Puerta de Sol (now is the bear kissing the tree or eating something?)

We ate outside next to the Puerta de Sol, then headed to the Museo Reina Sofia, a contemporary art museum where we looked at a bunch of paintings by Picasso.

Guernica, by Picasso-- famous painting that was done in response to the German bombings of Guernica by German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War. Shows the tragedy of war and the suffering it afflicts on individuals, especially civilians.

Another Picasso painting

After we got done with the museum we grabbed some tapas-to-go at a little bar where, when I asked what the cook recommended, he said "a handsome cook like me" and that the price of my food was dos besos. He was friendly.

Kelly, Rebecca and I decided to walk to the concert instead of taking the metro. It was a good walk, but I'm glad we did it. We went through different parts of the city than I'd seen before, including a very upscale part with all very expensive stores.

When we arrived at the stadium, Audra, Carly and Meghan had already been waiting in line for 45 minutes, and the line lasted as far as the eye could see! We cut with them and had to wait about 20 minutes more before the doors opened, and then it was a mad rush to the stage!

Our tickets weren't assigned, instead we were standing in front of the stage. Meghan decided that she was determined to make it to the front row, so she pushed her way through the crowd and received many sneering remarks and dirty looks from everyone around us. The SAS girls decided to stay at the back. Audra, Carly and I followed her for awhile, but stopped trying once we were too squished to move any further.

We had about 30 minutes before the opening band, so we befriended the people squished up against us a group of two guys and three girls who were also studying abroad in Sevilla! We also befriended an older man who was there with his teenage daughter and her friends, and he ended up buying some of our group some beer.

The concert itself was amazing. Taylor was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic crowd. Even though we never made it to the front row like Meghan, we were still really close to the stage-- close enough to see the hair on Taylor's arms! It was great.

At the end of her first song-- "Sparks Fly"

Like I said, Taylor was overwhelmed by the enthusiastic crowd. Just after the concert, she tweeted: "I am in LOVE with the crowd we just played for. Madrid, my heart is yours."

Dancing

Costume change! All her dresses (there were 4!) were super cute. This is during "Speak Now," Elly's favorite song




Sparkly guitar!

Me, Carly, Audra at the concert

Carly, Meghan, me, Audra just after the concert

During the concert our new friends had quite a bit of interaction with Taylor and the band. Just before, when they went out to buy a drink, they talked with a man about the opening band-- and that man ended up being Taylor's personal body guard! Then, during the concert one of the guys got on the other one's shoulders and Taylor sang straight to him! Then at the end, when Taylor was introducing the band, they called out to the base player saying he looked like Ben Stiller. He said, "I know" and started giving them Ben Stiller's look from Zoolander.

So since they had so many connections, and because they were the kind of guys who are very, very smooth talkers, after the concert we tried to go backstage. We were pretty close, but I think they didn't let us because we had too big of a group! Instead, the guard let us write personal letters to Taylor.

Regardless, we went to the side of the stadium after the show and watched Taylor's SUV drive to fly her away in her personal jet.

All in all, a wonderful night!

Look for another Madrid post soon!

Pictures from Cadiz

Finally! Here are some pictures from last weekend in Cadiz with Alyssa and her boyfriend, Keith.

Carnaval in Cadiz-- the largest carnival in the world

Me and Alyssa

The BEACH!

Alyssa and Keith

We watched the sunSET over the Atlantic-- so weird to be seeing it from the other side of the ocean

Once the sun had set we wandered to the cathedral and through the main part of town to see all the costumes of Carnaval!!

Here's the guy dressed as the American tourist

All the streets were decorated with lights

We stopped for delicious pastries

Cute costume

And that's it! Look soon for a post about this past weekend in Madrid!