Gobble Gobble Gobble: Istanbul, Turkey!

Hey errbody!

So we have moved on to the excitement that is (was) Turkey. This all happened about a week ago, so bear with me if the memories are already a little fuzzy. There has been a lot going on recently, but I'll try to keep it all straight. Let us hope.

Katie and I had an earlier flight than the rest of the group so, as she put it, we were up "at the ass-crack of dawn." That is almost poetic. And quite accurate. So after our four-hours-of-sleep night, we braved the metro to get to the airport to sit to take a plane to eat plane food and to finally land in Turkey. Excellent. Unfortunately, we needed to take the tram to our hostel and walk a decent ways. The tram wasn't as close to the airport as we thought, so we searched for a bit until we found it.

A brief reminder: I am currently lugging around a suitcase that is quite possibly larger than me. This has been the bane of my existence.

Our journey included going down some stairs, going up some stairs, walking and then going up a bridge thing with more stairs and then down until we reached the tram. Lots and lots of the Up and Down which is quite miserable with all of my stuff. Fortunately, I look pathetic, so people have really stepped it up and helped me carry it on occasion. Thank you, good people of the earth!

We hopped off the tram and started walking toward the two massive mosques in the city: the Hagia Sofia and the Blue Mosque (Creative, right?). We weren't entirely sure which was which and our directions were based off that, so it took a little while to find the way to go, but the sights were beautiful in the meantime. Obviously the streets were cobblestone-esque which was difficult on me and my poor luggage. I fear it will be a little beat up by the end of the trip.

We made it to our hostel safe and sound, but because it was just Katie and I, it seemed like every man was asking us if we knew where to go or if we needed help in a vaguely creepy sort of way.

Life Tip: Don't make eye-contact and just keep swimming walking.

I hadn't been aware of it before-hand, but we ended up in a 21 person room in the basement. It was lovingly referred to as The Dungeon for the rest of the trip, even though it was relatively nice and there was no sign of chains or bars or other dungeon-y items. We got settled in and made a game plan for enjoying the rest of the afternoon.

We planned on going to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia because they were so close to our hostel and pretty obvious attractions. Because the Blue Mosque is a functioning mosque, we checked the hours it was open and realized we had time to kill. This meant a brief photo shoot before looking for sustenance, which came in the form of a Nutella bagel (Spaniards don't believe in bagels, so it was the first one I had abroad). Delicious. We sat down to eat between the mosque and the Sofia when a a small boy approached us.

This boy was probably only four or five and rather grubby. He had some bread in his hand, but hid it behind his back and sat on the bench across from us and stared Katie and I down. He then proceeded to point to my bagel because Nutella is delicious. He continued to do this so I took matters into my own hands and pointed at the not-so-hidden bread he had...and he took off. Ha! Take that young child! I win again.

After such exciting excitement, we were able to go into the Mosque. Because of Muslim culture, Katie and I both had to wear scarves over our heads and take off our shoes to enter. That falls under a bit of culture shock. But the inside was rather spectacular so we enjoyed the view and sat down by a pillar to take it in. Tourists could only go in part of it, so we weren't there for very long before we headed outside again.

The Hagia Sofia wasn't open for too much longer in the day, so we decided to forgo it until the next day and instead meandered, finding a luscious park instead. My preconceptions of Istanbul were way off base because I assumed it was deserty and sandy due to it's location. Nope. There was a ton of green in the park and it was quite surprisingly beautiful.

More Randomness: While Katie and I were walking, a group of kids (a school group?) were passing through the park and I made a passing remark about how cute the little childrens were. The man leading them immediately turned around asked where I was from and, after hearing my response, pulled my in front of his class. I was introduced as the "American teacher" and was told to raise my hands while the kids sang or chanted or what have you. Katie was directed to film the process and after he told me he was a famous taxi driver (He's been on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. I checked.) and thanked me for my time (and asked all the kids to do the same). We were also introduced to his daughter who apparently wanted to learn English before he wandered back to the group. I don't know how these situations happen to me. 

After the confusion, we left the park and spent a good deal of time trying to find a bridge across from Europe to Asia because Istanbul is the only city in the world in two continents. We walked alongside the water for a while before giving it up and going back to the hostel. A brief hostel visit made way for dinner time.

Yay for food! We went to a close restaurant and ate outdoors on a relatively quiet street. The food was delicious but my favorite part was a sampler Katie and I split that had a ton of different sauces and vegetables to eat with bread. A yogurty one, couscous, a smoky one, and a few others were all absolutely great. Katie ordered a Turkish coffee and the waitress brought me one as well, for free.

Because we only had four hours of sleep the night before, we were exhausted and wanted a good night's sleep. Unfortunately (fortunately?) this didn't happen because we got to talking to the guys in the bed across from us and realized the world is crazy. The were studying in Sevilla, Spain and one was from Eagan, Minnesota and we all knew mutual people (from either our program or school). So that was actually quite exciting. But we did manage to go to sleep still relatively early after our bonding moments.

When we woke up for day two, the rest of our group had already made it to our hostel. We climbed up to the top of the building, for a free breakfast consisting of olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg, cheese, bread and instant coffee. Strange, but not unpleasant.

We headed out to the Hagia Sofia, a former church-then-mosque that was converted into a museum. I can't describe it so I won't try particularly hard. It was built in the 6th century and is absolutely massive and beautiful, an array of art and colorful tiles and stones. There you go, description. Pictures to come!

From the Sofia, we went to the Grand Bazaar. This was overwhelmingly huge and, because of this, everything started to look exactly the same. We headed into the bazaar, a massive conglomeration of shops and stands housed under one roof. All six of us started shopping but it soon became clear our group was too large for the places we were going into. Because of this, we decided to split into two groups and meet up at an ATM outside later in the afternoon. Now, one might assume that it would be possible to barter in Turkey and, to an extent, it is. But then you come across times when a shop owner wants 600 lira (about 300 euros) for a cashmere and/or silk scarf and won’t budge on the price. It was actually hard to get most of the places to come down on their prices at all.

Even with the non-bartering, it was extremely fun because all of the people are saying whatever it takes to get you to look at their things. And they can be more or less successful in their approach. The best ‘compliment’ was one Kat, a girl in my group, got:

“You look like…. My favorite girl.”

That is sure to attract all the ladies. Keep up the good work.

We all ended up making small purchases, although we ended up being late to the ATM because we A) Got lost and B) Were busy making friends for lower prices. Mostly we emphasized the fact we got lost, to not annoy the other half of the group. And in most respects it was true. There are a million places inside the bazaar and eventually they all start to look the same. The colors and people and goods just become overwhelming, so being lost was certainly true.

Because we were famished from our extensive search (no exaggerations from me), we started looking for a restaurant. The one we eventually chose was relatively inexpensive and ended up being pretty good even though there ended up being a lot of peas in my dish, which is against my principles. Anyway, real talk now.

Our waiter became slightly smitten with Kat and by slightly I mean he went next door and bought a bracelet for her, gave everyone at the table free tea, and still gave her a discount when she let him down easy. To say it was awkward after that would be an understatement, so we hightailed it out of there as soon as our bill was paid.

After the brief relaxation of lunch, we went to the Topkapi Palace which we had been told by the Sevilla guys was “the Alhambra on steroids.” Our expectations became a little too high after that. That isn’t to say it wasn’t beautiful, but we were rather tuckered out so we weren’t in the best place mentally to enjoy it as much as we could have. That said, it had some incredibly beautiful rooms and gardens. We strolled through and even found a few good views across the water to Asia. Pictures will follow this because I am currently boycotting too many descriptions. There. Take that, world!

Focus. Okay, after our exploration we split into two groups again. A few of us stayed to see the Harem in the Palace and the rest headed back to the hostel. They missed out because the harem was probably my favorite part and I now want to be a concubine. Wait. Nope. No, I actually don’t. (Can you tell I’m tired? Travel, am I right?)

After we became even more tuckered out, it was time to return to the Dungeon. I had been planning on finishing a blog post then (We can all see that didn’t happen), but Mark and Luke invited us to have a beer with them on the roof of our hostel. There is a restaurant up there where we had a great view and were able to enjoy some time hanging out with new people. A drink led to us roaming through the streets for a restaurant and eating dinner together too; I am officially a fan of the cuisine in Turkey. We hung out together for the rest of the night until we realized it was time for bed because Katie and I had a flight to catch the next day.
 
WARNING: There will be bad words in this section because normal words can't cover all the keerap that occurred for this portion of the journey. There won't be that many, but just a heads up (It has been edited to remove the real bad ones). If you are under 13 or like thinking of me as a completely non-swearing individual, avert your eyes. (It won't be that bad, Mom, I promise. I just need to properly convey everything). Ready? Okay.

I wrote all of this down in a notebook so I could preserve the everything that this day entailed. That's the level of crazy it got. Again, you have been warned.

An Excerpt from Emily's Rant Book*

Today went form good to shitty real fast and we have arrived at the Live & Learn part of the day. I woke up at 7:48 AM intending to take a shower but laze ensued so I slept until 8:09 AM to chuck all my stuff in a bag and get "ready." In actuality, I am on Day Three of no showering, so that's the point my life has reached. (I am pissed off right now, so everything seems slightly miserable.) I ate, for the second time, a bizarre breakfast of olives, cucumber, tomato, bread, jam and cheese. Also surprisingly good instant coffee. Katie and I ate with the guys studying in Sevilla and they were a good time, making even the chilly Istanbul morning bright. After, I went down the the dungeon basement to grab a curduroy jacket. Rookie mistake, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Every good story has a beginning, middle and end but I keep skipping to the end in my mind. And that is a hellhole, so back to the briefly happy beginning.

Katie and I knew the archeological museum was somewhere between the Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sofia, so we meandered until we stumbled upon the Most Beautiful Street which led to both the park and our museum. We hadn't really known much about the place, but I enjoyed the peacefulness because there weren't really many tourists, especially so early in the morning.

The artifacts, once again got me thinking about time. This is probably the most fascinating idea ever to me because (tangent) time means oblivion. Which is both terrifying and comforting. Like I am having a helluva shitty day today, but it won't matter in eight bajillion years. But neither will I so...yeah. Not that I'm saying "Life is Short" and all forms of Encouragements, but it makes you think about what is considered significant (to humanity or on a smaller scale)...

Anyway. We saw things like the Tomb of Alexander the Great and jars coming form the 12th Century BC (Time, right?!?) among other things. All in all, a pleasant morning that did little to foreshadow the terribility of the afternoon.

We have come to the middle of the story: The hero must make decisions that will define her and bring conflict. And hopefully resolution.

Our defining moment came in our decision to traverse across the continent into Asia. Even though we had very little notion of what was on the other side, it seemed cool to be able to say, "Oh, yeah. I went to Asia this morning. No big deal." Casual.

Our flight had been delayed a little, so we thought we had a little leeway and we were idiots. The ferry ride was nice enough, although it got rather hazy and wasn't super beautiful This theme continues.

My feet in Asia!

We had no plans for the time we spent in another continent and ended up staying really close to the port. We noticed the clouds thickening like smoke, and assumed it had come from the boats coming in (Stupid, stupid). Our time elapsed quickly and after a few short goodbyes we returned to the ship docking area to depart.

All hell broke loose.

We bought tokens for our return journey before learning it had been delayed due to the smog and lack of visibility. The workers didn't speak English well so we went across the street to get directions on how to get back to Europe, because our flight.

We were told to take the 110 bus and get off at B7jsjuqw5hxhuq-something, walk ten minutes and take the tram to Almost-our-hostel. This journey was supposed to take one hour total, cutting close to our deadline but also not impossible. The first sign of Shit Hitting the Fan occurred when we glimpsed the line for our bus, which was a billion times longer than for any other bus. We shoved through and bought our overpriced ticket and waited on the godforsaken bus. It was packed tighter than the Campus Connector in wintertime and was boiling hot. My jacket didn't help with the sweat situation but I didn't have room to take it off.

The traffic ended up being insane because obviously it would be insane but eventually we made reached our stop. Unfortunately, it appeared no one knew where the hell the tram was, so we mimed and pointed and hoped until we got some directions from non-English speaking policemen.

This began the Running of the Emily, where we ran through the streets, looking for our faithful tram. We eventually found it (not a ten minute walk) and got in line behind two people who couldn't, for the life of them, figure out how to use the machine to buy tickets. The tram pulled up just as we bought ours, so we sprinted to catch it.

Now things weren't going well, but we were getting there, right?

We stood on the also overcrowded tram in the overly-warmness of all the people in Turkey before we finally got off. And more with the sprinting. And losing of the flip-flops. I became the person who runs barefoot through the streets of Turkey, because Life.

New ticket to Rome. Don't ever look like this.

Katie raced ahead to talk to a taxi-driver and I ran to grab my too-much-shit so we could get out quick. I had the strength of a mother pulling her baby out of a burning building when carrying my damn suitcase up the spiral stairs. A short wait for the taxi and a tense drive found us at the airport, caught between hopeful and anxious. We ended up paying our driver in both lira and US dollars because we couldn't come up with the money otherwise.

A massive line awaited us inside the doors because security here is pretty intense. After getting through the line fairly quickly we sprinted through the airport to come up....

Not victorious.

I have officially missed a flight and dropped 240 euros to get to Rome. Asia is against all of my principles now. So I am bitterly writing this to get out all the anger because that leads to the Dark Side. Also, I refuse to Romanticize the situation because I won't be extra grateful to be in Rome because it was hard to get there.

*Rant Book: Similar to a journal, where one rants due to feelings, generally of anger or frustration

Wow. Emotions, right? This story isn't over, we just need to relocate the setting to Rome. You can look forward to the second half of Emily's Journey to Rome in the next blog.

Until then! 

Sol, Spain, Sangria & S'mores

Hey guys!

Repping all my Boston gear.

There have been some rather drastic ups and downs for this week due to A) Current events B) The weather and C) The beginning of finals.To begin with the current events side of things, I'm sure you've all heard about the Boston Marathon bombings; however, the effect seems different when you aren't in your own country. I feel disconnected with everything that happened, and it's incredibly strange to deal with such tragedy when you are away from home and have to rely on the internet (it's a little sketchy here) to keep you updated. It was tense waiting to see the outcome of everything, and I don't think I really describe my disorientation and shock over the bombings. I'm aware that, had I been in Minnesota, I couldn't have helped any more than when I am here, but I felt far more helpless not even being in America. Overall, I am grateful to the city of Boston for hanging tough in these trying times and proving the strength of humanity in the face of such hatred (I am wearing my Green Monstah Red Sox shirt while writing this. Sorry I couldn't be serious in the picture, that's just my blogging face. Also, go Twins!)  

While events unfolded in Boston, the weather here has been absolutely fantastic. This almost adds to my struggle to come to terms with the destruction back home (home being 'Murica in general) because how can such beauty exist in the same place as that much hate? No answers to that question, I guess. On a less world-wide scale, this week has featured an extreme internal battle: homework and studying versus the absolutely fantastic weather. I fear for my grades.

I was Skyping with the fam last Sunday, so I realize rubbing in the weather situation is not particularly nice. It seems my Minnesota people have had some winter storm watches, right? And a little bit of snow? Ah the joys of the Midwest. In case you were wondering, I have a tan line and it's been between 70 and 85 degrees for most of the week. No big deal.

This means I've been outside for the entire week when I'm not in class.We have a plaza outside the Fund with benches, so I've been reading and studying out there whenever I get a chance because I only have one week left in Spain. The Spaniards don't necessarily share the Minnesotans and Wisconsinites love for the heat: they stared at any of us wearing summery clothes and they still had on jackets, and some of them even had gloves. I don't know how they physically survived. (There is no "ph" in Spanish an I almost put an "f" instead. Just thought you all should know...) When we weren't sitting out on the benches or enjoying other parts of Toledo, we were drinking Sangria at Dragos (the bar that is 30 seconds from the Fund) after class to relax in the afternoon.

I also had my first final on Thursday, which went well (?). Maybe. We are connected to a music school, so I apparently get a soundtrack to finals week because they were definitely making a racket during my test. So it goes. To celebrate being done with our first final, about thirty of us headed to Dragos just to hang out for the rest of the afternoon. This was extremely fun and one of our professors even joined us in  our Tapas-and-Sangria hangout. In reality, I don't think a person gets many perfect times in their life, but this was one of them. I don't mean a good or great time. I mean absolutely perfect. Yeah, that's how fantastic it was.

Friday was basically just more hanging out and studying during the day because finals. I have a paper and presentation due tomorrow (We won't talk about how far I've gotten on them. That idea scares us.) so I actually-sort-of tried to be productive. Results were mixed. We had all decided earlier in the week to have a bonfire Friday night, so I was looking forward to that all day. We planned to leave at nine, before it got completely dark out because we were climbing the mountain (I swear it's a mountain. Big hill isn't accurate!) to where we planned on making our fire. We didn't exactly leave on time, so it was pretty dark when we made it to the other side of the river.

Life Lesson #86: Do not climb small mountains in the dark. Do not wear flip-flops while climbing small mountains in the dark.

That was up there in Dumbest Things I've Done In Spain. But we did eventually make it and the view was literally breath-taking. Mostly on account of the climb, but the view was actually spectacular. We were the first group that got up there and none of us brought a lighter. Le sigh. Eventually the other groups straggled up, and they brought provisions to make a fire possible. Unfortunately for us, fires fall under the Super Illegal activities here on account of the dry countryside. Even so, we decided to make it and hope there weren't any headlines the next day saying: American Students Burn Down Medieval City Due To Stupidity. We didn't need to worry though because our fire struggled to survive. All of the guys were trying to prove their manliness or what have you because they were obsessed with the keeping the fire going. Most of us got to roast a S'more though, before it died completely so it ended up working out alright. It was super windy up on the mountain, so when we got cold we went back to Toledo to sleep and prepare for the next day.

Saturday started off much the same as Friday, with a lot of studying and trying to accomplish things in spite of the beautiful, weather-y distraction. Mostly, I am terrible at accomplishing school things even when I give myself a deadline. So I really didn't get that much done. Saturday night was a celebration though because it was Emma's 21st birthday this weekend! Free champagne and starting the night out at Dragos because that's where it's at. I don't think the bar scene in the states is going to be anywhere as good as it is here. I got tired quite early because of um, obviously working hard the entire day, so I headed in earlyish. I had hopes of actually getting things done today, but it's been difficult. Ugh. At best, this was wishful thinking.

I pretended to do homework today, so now I have quite a bit to go tonight. I really need to work on my time management skills and not do Other Spain Things.

On a concluding note, I have realized J.K. Rowling stole my life story for Harry Potter. Now, it might seem like a lot to compare myself to the Boy Who Lived, but it's true. (If you haven't read/watched Harry Potter, just ignore this paragraph.) Like Harry, I have to destroy the horcruxes in my life to save the world. I mean, my horcruxes are finals, but it's almost the same as parts of Voldemort's soul. Anyway, the closer I get to having them destroyed the happier I can be, right? Wrong! Harry needs to sacrifice himself for the good of humanity by destroying the last horcruxes and when I destroy mine I uh...won't be in Spain anymore. This is true sacrifice. No finals = No Spain.

Basically, I'm Harry Potter. 

One week left in Spain then off to Greece!

Semana Santa & Sass

Hola!

For you, Faj. They are catching goldfish.

As you may (or may not) know, my Mommy-face and Claire are here in Spain with me. Unfortunately, however, all is not well. Why? I am missing a key piece of my life, one I may not have mentioned as much in my past blogs. This is not due to carelessness, but rather my mind has repressed my memories because it is too painful to deal with. That's right, I miss my Dad. He was unable to come to Spain due to... stuff (that's a technical term), and now I am left to suffer the consequences. I do my best to pay attention to all the fish I see, in hopes of remembering how great he is, but alas this doesn't make up for the actual being that is My Dad. So just know, we all wish he could be here in Spain, helping add to the sass. (One and a half months til I see the Most Handsome Dad Ever!) I miss you more than all the (spiral) Mac & Cheese in the world!

Thursday

Regarding the less important part of this blog: my Mommy and Claire made it to Toledo on Thursday afternoon after (I believe) a few language mishaps and a little luck. Both were quite jet-lagged but in good spirits because Spain. After my classes, I took them on the grand tour of the city where my Mommy realized I was a genius for telling her not to rent a car. It would be impossible to drive in Toledo because the streets don't believe in being wide and straight and drivable. They turned in rather early to catch up on beauty sleep and so they wouldn't be dead the next day. Sidenote: My mom was rather impressed at my ability to negotiate a cab for the next morning and less impressed when I told the receptionist that she was afraid of missing the train, which is why we had to leave so early.

Friday

Friday morning was an early wake up call. Just kidding. After breakfast, I headed over to the hotel and found both Claire and Mams still asleep. Apparently time changes are difficult and I forgot. (More repressed memories?) They got dressed and ate, but we still had a couple of hours to kill before we needed to be at the train station. Because the hotel was really close to the Cathedral, we decided to go there. And, yet again, any description I can give will not do what we saw any justice. The building is massive on the inside and a combination of simple and complicated. And beautiful. The words I use are actually meaningless until you see it. Words don't actually express the....everything (especially the work involved. 270ish years to complete a building?!?). I kept thinking (along with my Mommy) back to the book The Pillars of the Earth, which is a story revolving around the building of a 12th (11th?) century cathedral. I clearly didn't appreciate the descriptions prior to seeing a similar building. I am constantly amazed by my experiences here.

It was also a day of travel and trains among other things. We headed of to the train station and went first from Toledo to Madrid and then Madrid to Sevilla. Minor hilarity (and major sass) ensued due to the language barrier.


Mom: We aren't on the right floor! We need to go to the P one!
Me: Okay, that's upstairs. "Planta Primera" is first floor.
Mom: *looks at sign* That's not what it says! The words aren't the same!
Me: Mom, it means the same thing. Don't worry about it.
Mom: The words aren't the same!

After a brief disagreement, we made it to the right floor (the first floor!) and made it onto the train. My mommy-face was relieved and I believe I passed my translator test, so all was well. Claire and I snagged seats next to each other and spent the ride A) writing terrible poetry for a school project B) swapping sisterly gossip and C) talking about how cute the little boy in front of us was.

A Sample Of Poetry:

I am a panda.

My main hobby is eating

All of the bamboo.

The rest of our poetry session yielded very similar results and included me trying to convince Claire to present her project in the form of an interpretive dance. If you agree, leave a comment. I would be willing to pay her and put up a video because this is probably the greatest idea I've ever had. I honestly can't think of a more hilarious poetry project. No joke.

While this was going on, a really cute little boy kept peeking back at us and smiling. He and his dad were sitting right in front of us, and that kid was probably the cutest thing ever. I want one. But only for like ten minutes.

A conversation

Dad: [in English] Marcos! Don't draw on the window. When we are going by the countryside, all we are going to see is the dirt. You are going to be missing out on all of the beautiful views. 

Marcos: [in Spanish] You can still see through the window, Papa.

Dad: I know! But we don't do that. You will be distracted and it's bad for the window.

Honestly, the whole trip the kid was being both cute and sassy to his dad, and his dad would patiently explain why he couldn't do something. (I want my chocolate, Papa! ... I know but if you don't eat everything else and I give it to you, you will be spoiled.) So, so cute.

Upon our arrival, we took a taxi to our hotel and unpacked. We decided to get an idea of the city, so we meandered around the streets, finding a few of the major attractions. The main issue became finding a place to eat and my apparent lack of practical knowledge in the form of knowing words for food. Results were mixed.

I knew enough for one night, but not nearly so for the rest of the trip.

We may have stolen a menu so we could look up some of the words.

Saturday

Why do I have so many things to say??? Saturday morning, we went across the street to get our breakfast. Pastries, coffee, and sandwiches mmmmm... We were ready to start the day. It was raining, so we bought a couple of umbrellas and hoped for the best (and no. The best didn't really occur). We decided to go to the Cathedral, and, like the one in Toledo, my words are useless. So...pictures! I mean, I could say that it is impressive and the stones tower above you and create an elegance that awes you; honestly, that means very little compared to actually seeing the place. Even with pictures, the scale is lost. (Go to Spain, guys!) We could climb the tower (it wasn't flimsy metal like the Eiffel Tower, so it wasn't that bad.) and got some fantastic views of the city. Incredible. It was a fascinating place, especially because we are here during holy week and it makes you appreciate the site more.

Unfortunately, it was raining again by the time we left the Cathedral and the rest of the day involved Claire and I being rather soaked. That is life, I suppose. The Alcazar was quite close to the Cathedral so we ended up there. This was also completely worth seeing because of it's beautiful architecture (first try on that word I spelled it half in Spanish and had to show Claire) and gardens. I'm going to only post pictures of it because my abilities are sub-par in the description realm and pictures! (I'm rapidly becoming worried because I couldn't remember what I did yesterday. Also, I spent forever talking about a train ride and hardly anytime on the cool stuff. Yowza.) Claire became extremely excited by all of the animals we saw, including the peacocks inside the gardens. (Because if you tame chipmunks for fun, why wouldn't you be excited about all the lil aminals?) This might have been my favorite part of the trip so far because it was so gorgeous. And huge. It was almost endless and seemed to have secret rooms because you could just keep going forever. (I mean, until you couldn't).

After the sight-seeing, we went back to our hotel room to snack (Cheez-its!), relax and dry off. My mommy was wonderful and used a hair dryer on my pants and shoes to make them no longer feel like I had just been in a monsoon and more dry and homey (I'm sorry, first word I thought of and I wasn't changing it.) 

After The Relaxation Period, we went out into the wide world again in search of the Biggest Wood Thing in the World (Metropol Parasol). My thoughts were this would be akin to the Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, however I was both quite wrong and pleasantly surprised. You can climb the giant wood thing (my favorite) for the best view ever. Also, because it wasn't tower shaped and you can't really see the ground, it wasn't absolutely terror-filled for me. As far as not-tower-shaped goes, it looks sort of like a wooden blob (amoeba) with a path that winds around like a snake. I have quite a few pictures from there because it has some excellent vantage points.

Now you are thinking, Emily, your title has the word "sass" in it. You've told us very little about the group dynamics that led you to choose this and where the conflict is. Because sass implies conflict.

You are in luck, my friends! There is nothing that can make my mom and I sassier than A) being lost and B) having to find food. There was a discussion of sorts (i.e. lots and lots of sass going on) until we located both ourselves and food.

(Claire, obliviously: Do we know where we are?)

Food was slightly better because we knew what we were getting but it was pretty clear we didn't choose the best restaurant. Third time's the charm? We headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday

We woke up early (lies) and my Mommy-face kindly brought back breakfast for Claire and I because laze was involved on our part. We had a few things on our checklist to do, namely see the Plaza de España, Torre de Oro and the Plaza de Toros.

To start off, we headed to the Plaza de Toros which is where they hold the bullfights. We took a tour of the place and saw a museum of bullfighting stuff (kee-rap, as my Dad would say). Today was actually quite beautiful unlike the monsoon that was yesterday, so it was a perfect day for this. I would like a fancy bullfighting costume because they have bling. (6000 euros just for a cape!) Bullfighting doesn't start til April, but it was cool just to see the ring.

After, we went just down the street towards the Torre de Oro (Tower of gold). It used to have some significance in regards to shipping but we didn't pay for audio-guides so my knowledge of the place is minimal. When we got to the top (it wasn't that high) we had a good view of the river and parts of the city. Our first two activities of the day didn't take very long, so we still had quite a bit of time to view the city.

Not the KKK

We headed to the Plaza de España next, and were stopped part of the way by a huge procession. Sevilla takes Semana Santa (holy week) really seriously and they have huge floats and people dressed up and everyone (everyone) is out and about. The crowds were huge around the Plaza because of this but we were able to witness some more of the culture. It was amazing to see although I'm glad we are heading to a different city tomorrow. The crowds are crazy! We wandered around and admired the Plaza because it is super beautiful (pictures!). We stayed there for quite a while and even got warm (in stark contrast from the cold rain of yesterday.)

In the middle-ish afternnon, we went out to eat at a crowded (like everything) pizzeria. The pizza was good (not Italy-quality though) and we decided to go back to our room to rest up for our exciting evening out on the town (that might be an exaggeration). After my mommy's power-nap (and uploading pictures to Facebook) we went out again to catch a Flamenco show.

Another brief sidenote: During this entire trip, I've been the navigator. For those of you who know my skills in this field, that is downright terrifying. I can barely get around St Cloud, let alone foreign countries. I don't even know...

Impressively, we didn't get lost on our way to the show. Unfortunately, it was all sold out so we were directed to another place where we could see the dance. But alas, for that was closed so we got a little bit to the Lost and Stressed and Sassy stage of the day. The crowds didn't necessarily help the situation. But ice cream did.

Because of the hecticness of the streets, we called it an early night. We are, more or less, prepared for another adventure to a new city tomorrow.

Adios until next weekend!

Choque Cultural

Hello again!

Somehow this picture seems to explain culture shock the most

Blogging twice in one week? Crazy.... Especially because it's the week before midterms. This week has been pretty busy in terms of school, so I haven't done anything too exciting. We went to the Museo del Prado again yesterday to see Goya's paintings, but other than that, not much is new.

So I've decided to address the fact that I've been here for over a month (!!!) and the cultural differences I've experienced. While in the US this is called culture shock, I like the Spanish phrase better. "Choque cultural," which basically translates to culture crash, seems a little more accurate. (It reminds me of a car crash where some parts of the car get lost but it gets some paint from the other car scraped onto it. Metaphorically, the Spanish phrase seems better.)

Things I Love

-Siesta: built in nap-time? Yes, please
-Being able to practice and improve my Spanish. If all of your classes start being in another language, you learn pretty quick.
-The history and access to museums we don't have (or aren't close to) in the good ole US of A
-The night life. And having a bar named after me!
-Tapas: free food after you buy a drink. Delicious
-The weather. No Minnesota winter for me!
-The people I've met have been absolutely fantastic
-The ability to go lots of places in Europe while I'm here (Portugal next week, then Paris, then hopefully Italy...!)
-The short commute to classes

I took this picture from a moving bus. Impressive, right?

-Being popular on Facebook. I always wake up with quite a few notifications. It's the little things in life.
-Rebajas, which are super duper sales here.
-New food (Chocolate con Churros!)
-The view from my window (or anywhere in the city really. There are some excellent sites.)
-My art in Toledo class, where we get to look at beautiful buildings that I might never have found on my own
-Not tipping in restaurants
-Coffee for breakfast. Mostly I just didn't want to pay for it back home.


Things I Miss

I miss this lots.

-The Fam & Friends. Cheesy, but true.
-Being with Claire and driving Mom slightly crazy (it's much harder via Skype)
-Being in the same time zone as Minnesota.
-Some American food. No peanut butter here...
-Eating before 8:30 at night. The 7 hours between lunch and dinner can be a killer. This was probably the hardest thing to get used to and still can give me trouble if we've been hiking or traveling.
-My bathroom and bed from home. (We have a bidet in our bathroom, which is incredibly strange for all of us Americans)
-Netflix and keeping up with my TV shows from home. Not really a major thing, but I still miss it.
-Having my entire wardrobe.
-All of my shoes. I'm going to have to buy more. Which isn't really a bad thing, I guess :)


I'm sure there are a couple more things that could be put on either list. Overall, the trip is definitely worth the minor inconveniences of things like not getting to watch TV. I would stay in Europe forever even if I couldn't watch my shows.

Toledo. And I never want to leave!

The choque cultural hasn't been too bad (I almost wrote 'phrase' as 'frase' though, so the Spanish words are starting to make subconscious appearances) and it's been pretty easy to adjust. The schedule has been the hardest thing to get used to, (although having a few cleaning ladies come in is a little strange too) and it isn't really that big of a deal anymore. Although not feeling entirely confident when ordering in a restaurant is bit disappointing.

Hasta luego, folks.