It's Over When It's Over Ain't It, Baby, Ain't It? Rips You Like a Dagger Can't It, Baby, Can't It?

Hey all!

So we have arrived at the more-bitter-than-sweet conclusion of my time in Spain, which means I am currently crying all over my keyboard as I type this. (That might not be entirely accurate because I have no heart. And I haven't had to say good-byes yet.) Either way, feelings are still trying to leak out of my Three Sizes Too Small heart. Ugh.

This week started off on a stressful note because finals are the most terrible invention ever. To be fair, they were probable easier than ones I would've taken back at the U on account of math can be a jerk. So Monday through Wednesday was spent preparing for tests, presentations and papers which created an un-fun beginning. (If we are being honest, the cloud of nostalgia hovering over Toledo right now has created a fairly un-fun atmosphere in general. But it's still better than finals.)

When we finally finished with tests on Wednesday afternoon, it became clear we needed to celebrate the end of tests and forget about the end of the trip. So obviously it was time to head over to Dragos. I can't explain how much I'm going to miss being able to head over after class and just relax there because there will never be another Dragos. That's our bar.

I need to stop with the mush. We stayed at Dragos for quite some time and then went to the discoteca, La Nuit, to get our dance on. I will also miss this club but maybe that's because I never really went clubbing back home. We were there for all hours of the night (Like some people shut it down at 5am. I was only there til 3:30am so Iwouldn't be dead on Thursday.) We all went crazy every time we heard an American song, and it's going to be weird to be surrounded by that kind of music when I get home. Reverse culture shock is going to be weird, methinks.

We all ended up sleeping in on Thursday morning due to our late night. Later, though, we tried to take in as much of the city as we could. I feel like I'm finally taking pictures of things I see everyday but just never got around to photographing. The weather here hasn't been cold, but it's been dismal and cloudy, as though Spain is sad to see us go. Guys, why do I have so many feelings just walking around? This is unacceptable.

Thursday night, we decided to do a repeat of our bonfire. Unfortunately, it appeared like it might rain so we had to decide if going up there was worth it to walk up the mountain. In the end, we headed down to a spot on the river that I hadn't known existed previously. It was almost pitch black when we got there, so we all formed a circle and used our cellphones to see. We ended up just hanging out (and had a brief chant of "Who hates Iowa? We hate Iowa!" Stay classy, Minnesota.) for a while down there until it was time to visit Dragos again. It was extremely beautiful down there and I came back and took pictures in the day because memories and suchlike. I didn't end up staying at Dragos that long, because I felt pretty tired and most of our fellow Americans stayed down by the river longer than us. After one drink, I called it a night and made the one minute walk back home.

All of Friday, I kept feeling like it was Saturday because apparently time feels like working differently this week. Like yesterday seems forever ago and finals seem super forever ago. And tomorrow seems far too close. I'm afraid the world is not a wish-granting factory. So yesterday involved a lot of self-pity because the End Is Nigh and doom and gloom are in our hearts. Okay, so clearly I'm exaggerating. Friday involved more wandering because, despite the cloudy weather, I want to be outside in the city as much as possible. I began thinking about pack as well (I don't believe in doing things until I feel the extreme stress and when I can get over The Sad of the situation.) Friday night began our Last Hurrah because we can't go out tonight; our bus to the airport leaves at 6am tomorrow morning. So we started out the night at (you guessed it!) Dragos. We ended up there almost until 2am because 1) Rain and 2) Feelings of nostalgia. I am almost certain this entire post will feature the sentence, "And then we were, once again, sad because we have to leave." It was incredibly fun to have all the Fund kids together for one last night. We went to La Nuit to dance it up until the wee hours of the night.

Today we got our grades (Good ones!) and we have a closing ceremony/dinner thing tonight. I'll probably add some stuff about that later. Now is later: We did have a magical celebration tonight! We all met in the auditorium to get our names called and receive our diplomas from the course. The whole time I was nervous, because we do the "dos besos" (air kisses) to whoever hands us our sheet and this always makes me a little anxious. fear not, for my execution was flawless. After, we had dinner which was more of random tapas instead of our usual dinner. Also, desert was great.

Unfortunately, today was also filled with packing because I've been putting it off. There is nothing more depressing than seeing my suitcase being filled up. I wandered around the city some more to get a last glimpse at the love of my life. Because it will be hard to find a city that compares.

I don't want to leave here.

And even though that's true, I've realized that leaving seems kind of pure, you know? Like it definitely leaves me aching inside, but that's probably better than if it didn't. Because if it hurts, it meant something and it was worth it even if I have to feel a little emotional pain. There are still other adventures to come, but I stayed long enough for it to matter.

I'm headed to Greece tomorrow (!!!) and I have a few announcements on my future blogging. I'll be changing cities every two to three days, so my blogging will probably be a little more sporadic. When I have access to wifi and time, I'll keep all of you updated, but it will likely be a little bit trickier. So keep a weather eye on the horizon for posts.

Athens tomorrow!

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!

Planes, Trains & Automobiles: Semana Santa Part II

Hello Everyone!

I just made it back to Toledo, so it's time to update you on my many comings and goings. Along with this, I have news about future travels plans. Intrigued? Then it's time for Emily Is Abroad.

Titanic!

My program ends at the end of April (the 28th), but I have made the difficult (not really) decision to stay 2 and a half weeks longer. This is still in the works, but I'm at the 90% sure it's going to happen stage, so I've decided to make this announcement to all my adoring fans. I'm hoping to go to Istanbul, Athens, Santorini, and a million places in Italy. Also, maybe Prague. We shall see. I hope this works because it would be the bestest thing ever (besides seeing my dad!)

Now that you are super excited/jealous of me, we'll get to what Claire, Mom, and I did this week. It was extremely busy and hectic, so be prepared. This will (probably) be a long one.

Monday

Unfortunately when starting off this particular post, I had to start with probably the most boring day of week. Alas for that is, as they say, how the cookie crumbles. We traveled by train to Málaga, a coastal city in the south of Spain. From there, we took the metro to Torremolinos, the town our hotel was in. Our travel agent said that Torremolinos, was super pretty and great or whatever. Lies! Okay, it wasn't that bad. But it is more of a resorty, touristy city so it was mostly abandoned when we got there. Claire and I were lazy and there wasn't much to do unless we wanted to catch the metro back to Málaga...and laze won out. We meandered around the streets for a while and got some good seafood. Being the sloths we are (not my mommy), we went back to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night. (We watched BATMAN cartoons. I regret nothing.)

Tuesday

This day was exhausting. We ate a healthy and nutritious breakfast at the hotel and found the metro stop to get back to Málaga. My mommy has become obsessed with cathedrals, so that was our first stop when we got there. It was quite beautiful, although we all agreed the ones in Sevilla and Toledo were still quite a bit better. We also met more Americans there, which excited my mom a lot. Anytime she found someone to speak English with was probably one of the better times in her trip. (This didn't stop her from jabbering with people on the train though. If they sort of understand English, it's enough for a conversation.)

After our Cathedral adventure, we went to the Alcazaba, which is an ancient fortress castle thing. It had some quite excellent vantage points, but we kept noticing a path to the very top of the hill. Claire and I weren't particularly interested in finding said path; we mostly messed around, which led to a little bit of sassiness when my Mams really wanted to find they way up to the top. Exhausted from our excruciating search (I swear, I don't exaggerate), we went to a nearby restaurant to find some sustenance. In true Emily-and-Claire fashion, we ordered brownies with ice cream while my mommy-face got a salad. Unfortunately we were still hungry, so Claire and I split a salad after that. And then came inspiration for another Claire poem. The pigeons started searching for crumbs by our feet...So Claire fed one chicken. Oops.

Least Flattering Picture

With our spirits much higher after food, we decided to continue our trek in search of the Mysterious Path We Couldn't Find. Fear not, for we did indeed find it, and the view was spectacular. While Mom found more Americans, Claire and I spent the time taking pictures. This led to the Least Flattering Picture of Me, here for your enjoyment. Thanks, Claire! The giant hill led to much exhaustion and it was fairly late, so we headed back to our hotel for the night and get ready for more traveling adventures the next day!

Wednesday

We woke up early Wednesday, so we could take a fairly short trip to Granada. I remember none of this because I slept on the bus and woke up with my neck hurting and being in a new city. Yay! Upon getting settled, we headed out into the wild blue yonder. Actually, it was more like the hunt for the Random Plaza so we could buy tickets to a really old Muslim/Arab palace. Because every map we've had on this trip was sub-par, we ended up (surprise, surprise) getting minorly lost. After a few wrong turns and a short uh... discussion later, we made it to the Magic Plaza (my name for it, not the Spaniards') and found our little kiosk. We got our audio-guides and tickets for the next day.

It had been a while since breakfast, so we went to a nearby restaurant. The waiter asked if we spoke Spanish, to which my mom (obviously) and sister answered in the negative. He got them English menus and me a Spanish one. We had a short conversation in Spanish and he said I spoke it well! It wasn't exactly accurate, but if the cute Spanish waiter is going to say something nice to me, I'll take it. To be perfectly honest with you, all of my days are blending together so I believe we headed back to our hotel whereupon I immediately took a nap and Claire and Mom read/slept. But I could be completely wrong. Either way, we're gonna say we killed a few hours doing these activities. Yup, I'm sticking to it.

My mommy-face didn't want the day to be a complete waste though, so after our lazy afternoon, we stepped into the night and pursued that flighty temptress, adventure (Harry Potter reference much?). Our adventure consisted of more wandering until we ran into another procession near the Cathedral. There was a huge float and a bajillion people around, just chilling and socializing. Because all of the streets were so crowded, our journey probably didn't last more than an hour. Also, more ice cream, so this can be considered a non-waste of a night.

Thursday

I have so many of the days to talk about. It's exhausting! Okay, almost all of Thursday was spent at the Alhambra. We had quite a bit of free time in the morning so we went out into the streets and went shopping. Because of the Arab influence of the Alhambra, there are a ton of Moroccan-y markets in the streets with pretty cheap stuff. All three of us made purchases and we ended up stumbling upon the way to the Alhambra, which was excellent. We decided to go back to our hotel and dump our stuff before heading back. We also bought strawberries which were delicious (otherwise I wouldn't mention them...)

The Alhambra was absolutely A) huge and B) amazing. We were there for four-ish hours because there is so much to see. The Alhambra used to be a fancy palace, so it has a bunch of gardens, castle-y parts, and water stairs. We got there at about two in the afternoon and spent a good deal of time in the gardens because they were so beautiful. Afterwards, we headed to the castle-ish area that has a special name that I forgot. We climbed around this area for a while and got to see a great view of the city. There was also some random labyrinth-y part that my mom kept asking me about. (What is this? I wonder why it's here...Are you sure you don't know what it was used for?) We were there for quite some time before it was our turn to go into the palace part. Which is, again, indescribable. Pictures!

I really fast-forwarded that part, but we were there for forever. I just can't remember describe everything and this is already a lengthy blog. My apologies. 

Because we were so tired, we took the bus back to the Cathedral and then found a delicious place to eat. We all had pasta, which of course, is a very Spanish meal. (Sarcasm hand raised). Either way, it was one of the best meals ever. Our Granada journey ended with relaxation and packing.

Friday

Almost done. I can do it! Friday started off with a plethora of un-fun. We woke up early and took a taxi to the bus station. We thought there were buses from Granada to Madrid at 9AM, 10AM, and 1PM, but this proved false. There were only buses at 9AM and 1PM, so we made an upgrade in our bus and booked it so we could catch the earlier one. 

The Super Fancy Nice Bus was an excellent upgrade. It had super plush seats and we were given two snacks and drinks. We got headphones so we could watch Cars 2 (I like children's movies, okay?) and were given a gift bag at the end. This is the definition of class.

After our four-and-a-half hour bus ride, we were sufficiently tuckered out. We recovered a little at our Super Fancy Nice Hotel in Madrid and took showers to wash the travel off. (It might sound dumb, but I swear travel sticks to you. It feels gross.) Afterwards, my mom was already done with the idea of sitting, so it was time to explore. I was excited because I've been to Madrid, which means I know what's up. It was super easy for me to navigate the metro and Claire and my Mams were quite impressed. And I live for impressing them.

We ended up near the Palacio Real and the Cathedral of Something. Because it was Good Friday, we figured the Cathedral was closed to tourists which left us with the terrible (just kidding) option of seeing the palace. This, however, didn't go as planned. The Palacio was closing in a hour and the tour people told us it would probably take an hour and a half to go through the entire thing, so we made the decision to save it for the next day. 


My Mams was determined the day not be wasted though. Because the Cathedral was right next to the Palacio, we checked to make sure it was closed. Lo and behold, no tourist activity was allowed but a mass was starting within half an hour. My mommy made the split-second decision to go inside to see it. I didn't get any pictures because, church, but this church was very different from the others. The stones were all white and the style of painting was brighter, so it seemed more airy. Unfortunately, we were in a back corner, and it wasn't super easy to see what was going on. At least I could partially understand it though.

Mom would ask me what was going on every once in a while. At first, I couldn't really answer because I would sort of understand but then would lose the flow of the words. It was sort of like having water run through your hands, where you have it one second and then it's gone. By the end, I was doing better though, and things made more sense. It was extremely interesting and fascinating to experience.

Afterwards, we went to an American restaurant because America is the man. 

Saturday

This day, we figured out the most excellent form of touring a city ever, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Sorry, excitement! Saturday morning we were unable to find a place to eat breakfast on account of our hotel was located in some swanky shopping district. This led to us taking the handy-dandy metro to the center of the city and me locating a delicious churro & chocolate restaurant. Obviously, I had churros for breakfast and that was one of the best meals of the trip. Mmmmmm. After a uh, healthy breakfast, we went shopping for a little while and meandered towards the Palacio Real. I've already described this in my...second (?) blog, so I won't go through the details again. Suffice to say, in nearly every room I asked my mom if we could redecorate our house.

Me: Oooh! Blue and gold! Mom, can we get a chandelier? I think we need to rethink our floor plan.

Okay, now the best touring experience of the trip. [Sidenote: I realize I've gotten your expectations up. You are probably thinking we rode upon the backs of some majestic emus or something that pranced of into the sunset. I'm so, so sorry.] A bus! We got on a double-decker open air bus and this was the best decision ever. Now you may ask "Why are you so excited about a bus, Emily?" 

Answer: We did not get lost and laze.

For most of the trip, we've walked nearly everywhere. Which can get fairly exhausting. So a chance to see most of the city without walking is better than majestic emus. Also, Madrid is huge so we would have been able to do significantly less had we not taken this tour. It was beautiful out for most of the day, which made this and even better decision. We hopped off at the Puerta del Sol, a huge plaza. Claire bought a Crisitano Ronaldo my future husband's fútbol jersey and I showed them the best pastry shop ever. We jumped on the bus again after a little bit and searched for a restaurant from the comfort of our bus. (I am not endorsed by the company, I swear.) Eventually, we found the Hard Rock Cafe. Yup, authentic Spanish food at its finest. Either way, the food was good and our entire Spain journey ended on a high note.   

Sunday

How I feel about missing the fam

We woke up early (actually this time), with a few false starts. The time change just occurred here, so that made the travel day extra fun. It was a whirlwind of packing and then checking out of the hotel. My mom decided to take a taxi to the airport instead of the metro because real adults don't need to be quite as cheap as college students. (The front desk said it was going to be 30 euros. I said it was 42 euros when we took a taxi...and it ended up being like 41-something. Nailed it!)

After printing boarding passes and checking bags, it was time to say goodbye. I miss you people already! (Especially inside jokes with Claire. Save Bandit!) I can NOT wait to see MY DAD, Mom and Claire again when I get back. Maybe Tom.

A uninteresting metro and bus ride left me happily in Toledo. It's good to be home.   

Traveling Conclusions

1) Being the leader is the worst. I navigated (!!!!!) almost everywhere, which is terrifying in itself. Also, being the only translator is a rough gig. My mom would want to talk to people and I was always thinking, "But people. We aren't supposed to talk to strangers!" This left my mom un-thrilled and ready to get the English back. She later asked me how I did everything on my other trips and wasn't super surprised by my response. Answer: follow everyone. It's (mostly) stress free and easy.

2) My mom is paranoid. Now, this isn't necessarily a bad thing because it's somewhere between practical, hilarious and annoying. She's more of a "ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure" type of gal and I'm more "Eh, what happens, happens." We didn't get anything stolen (good job, Mams!) but it also led to Claire and me waiting in the lobby of every hotel while my mom went to fish out our passports from her hidden money belt. And this gem of a conversation:

Me: Mom, the room is super hot. Can we leave the window open tonight, pleeease?

Mom:....Okay

Mom: [20 MINUTES LATER] I can't sleep! We have a balcony...someone could sneak in through the window....I just have to close it!

Me: .....*sigh* 

3) It is fun but exhausting. I don't think anything is quite so exciting and so draining at the same time.

Next weekend will hopefully be a bit more relaxing, as we plan on staying in Toledo.

Adios until then!

I See Dead People. (And Snow!)

Hello Everyone!

Ellen and me

I’ve heard all my adoring fans are impatient and excited for a new update (i.e. my mom was wondering why  she didn’t get one earlier). So here it goes, Mom.

Classes are progressing, and my Spanish is getting better. I’ve already got midterms in two weeks (Eeeep!) so that’s a little intimidating. For my art in Toledo class, we visited a synagog that was built in the 14th century, which reminds me of how old everything is here. It’s fascinating to think about how many people have gone through these places and all the time that has passed. It blows my mind just to think about it.

Outside El Escorial

We also went to El Escorial, a palace (Or castle? I’m not sure what the difference is) a little north of Madrid. Because I’m weird and enjoy car rides (or non-public transportation rides that don’t involve planes), the two hour bus ride was actually enjoyable. When we got there, it was clear the weather had taken a turn for the worse. Actually, I should clarify. We had gone up into the mountain-ish area more, so it was a LOT colder. It even "snowed" which thrilled all the Puerto Rican students who had never seen snow. Even so this wasn't really so cold by Minnesota standards, but by I’ve Gotten Pathetic standards it was less than ideal. Also the entire place was made out of stone and used to be a summer palace for the royal family, so it wasn’t exactly made to be warm in the winter. I guess the world is not a wish-granting factory.

In any case, both the scenery and castle (palace?) were beautiful. El Escorial was less....gold-must-be-everywhere than El Palacio Real, but that didn't take away from any of the beauty. The first hall we were in was impressively large, the highest part of the dome was the height of a soccer field and the area was at least that big. We couldn't take pictures of the interior (*le sigh*) so no pictures again. There were a couple parts of the palace that were my absolute favorites:

El Escorial

1) The Tombs. We got to see the place where all of the Spanish kings have been buried, along with other members of the royal family. This had as much gold and marble and whatnot you'd expect to find in a royal burial chamber.

  

2) THE LIBRARY. I wanted to steal it all. I even broke the No Pictures rule and whipped my camera out of my pocket, aimed wildly and snapped a photo as subtly as I could (Read as very unsubtly). Now this photo turned out about as good as you would expect a wildly aimed picture to turn out, so it unfortunately didn't make it onto this blog. You cannot be more distressed than I am. The library was absolutely breath-taking, and I wanted all of it. The ceiling was painted with different Important People of various subjects such as  theology and geometry and philosophy. And books! And globes! And this one globe-universe thing that portrayed the Earth as the center of the universe. Ah, 16th Century, trying to be all science-y.

My friends and me dressed as Americans

This weekend was also El Carnaval, which is a pre-Lent celebration which was great. It's closest to Halloween in terms of American holidays, so we got to dress up in costumes! Naturally, we went as Americans after finding American flag headbands. We all dressed up in red, white and blue to represent the good ole US of A. Other highlights of this weekend include me taking a "Chupito Fuerte" which is a flaming shot. On fire. 

I swear I'm a responsible adult.

Abrazos y besos,

Emily

(Hugs & Kisses)

The One Where I Climbed Mt. Everest. (True Story)

Hola, familia y amigos! (I couldn't figure out how to do an upside down exclamation point, so that doesn't get to go before that sentence. Lo siento.)

I am incredibly sleepy (it's about 1:36 am, hence this feeling). Unfortunately, I didn't take a siesta today so that also amplifies the feeling. So onto (on to?) this week.

Chocolate con churros

We went to Madrid again this weekend to visit El Museo del Prado for my art class to see paintings by El Greco and Velazquez. Before we left in the morning, we went out to eat and got churros with chocolate which were delicious. Later in the afternoon, we took a bus to the museum. The bus ride is about an hour and I slept most of the way on account of Waking Up Early, which is against most of my principles. When we got to the museum, they gave us these shnazzy (that's an exaggeration) one way walkie-talkies so our instructor could talk to us about the paintings and we could actually hear. The whole place was pretty cool and I wish my art skills were as impressive. Cameras weren't allowed inside so no pictures of them unfortunately. Google, my friends. Google.

Up, up, up Mt. Everest

Today, I went hiking with my friends. The route of Don Quixote is right outside the city, so we took part of that until, for some reason, we decided to leave the trail. Which will most definitely result in soreness tomorrow. We descended/stumbled (mostly stumbled) down a rather steep hill to get to the bottom of a super pretty valley. Pictures will be added to this post, so don't worry, you'll get to see it. And then, for some other mysterious reason, we decided to cross the little valley thing and climb up up up Mount Everest. No joke. (For those of you saying Mt. Everest is in Nepal: it's a conspiracy. I swear). It was probably an 85 degree angle (I don't believe in exaggerations) slope to get up the mountain and I definitely used my arms more than was appropriate to keep climbing. When we finally (it's big, Mt. Everest. Biggest in the world, actually) approached the summit, it was absolutely breathtaking. Which isn't an exaggeration because we were pretty out of breath.

The mountain (okay, large hill) is on located on the other side of the Tajo (Pronounced Tahoe, like the truck. Or is it an SUV?) River from Toledo, so we had a fantastic view across and could see the entire city. I'll attach pictures tomorrow, but I need to find my camera and let's be real: it's 1:59 am, so that ain't happening now. But they'll blow you away. The pictures won't do the view any justice, but they'll help. We also were able to see an actual path up the hill which made us pretty dumb for climbing up the hard way. It happens to the best of us. After a mini photo shoot, we headed back to the Fund and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.

Going out for drinks and tapas

Tonight we went out to a couple of bars and just hung out. Minnesotans: we were sitting outside eating tapas (appetizers, more or less). In February. Needless to say, the weather is an improvement. I need to get some sleep for the hard day ahead of me tomorrow: laundry and homework. Very, very difficult my friends. (Also necessary as I've been re-wearing socks for probably three or four days now. It happens to the best of us.)

Buenas noches.

Adventure Is Out There!

For those of you who didn't know, I am currently in Toledo, Spain! And if you didn't know, you probably haven't been talking to my mom. In like a year and a half. (Sorry, mom, you just tell everyone. EVERYONE).

First thing: It's pronounced "Toe-lay-doe." Jokes about me going to Ohio will result in severe eye-rolling. (Dad.)

My flight here went relatively well, despite the fact that I couldn't sleep for the eight-hour trip over the ocean. Foolishly, I was under the impression that I could sleep anywhere. NOT accurate. And apparently plane seats have been cursed by some black magic because they shrink as time goes on. So it goes.

I've been here for a(n eventful) week, so I'll try to get everyone caught up.

Day 1: Extreme jet-lag. And time-disorientation (It's a real thing. Don't question it). We explored the Toledo and got quite lost. The streets here don't believe in being normal so they're all really skinny and long and curvy. If a kid scribbled on a sheet of paper, you would have the layout of the city. No joke. We wandered around the Fund (La Fundacion Ortega y Gasset) for an hour before we actually found it again. I'm so glad the city is so beautiful otherwise my sleep-deprived brain would've had a breakdown.

Day 2: We had a few placement tests and an interview to sign up for classes. I really don't remember much about this day to be honest. I think we walked around the city some more with slightly more success in Not Getting Lost.

Day 3: Bus tour of the city! Our bus took us around some of the outer roads of the city and the hill-mountain things across the river. We got off the bus and walked back to the Fund. It was really cold outside (by Spain standards. I'm becoming a pathetic Minnesotan). I only understood about 30 percent of the Spanish being spoken because my brain was broken that day. Whatevs whatevs.

Day 4: Class started and MY 21ST BIRTHDAY. Lucky for me classes are on the same floor that I live on. 30 second commute? *rubs hands together like evil mastermind and cackles* Excellent. I had 2 classes, one that's a Spanish history-geography-economy-crash course type of class and an art class about the mixture of Jewish, Muslim and Christian cultures. Both seem like they'll be pretty interesting. On to the good stuff. A lot of students went out later in the night and we went to a bar with hams hanging from the ceiling. Tons and tons of hams. I had a delicious Sangria, and then we went out to a club. Spaniards must not believe in sleep because they start coming out at 3am, when we start going in. I don't even know. Either way, the celebrating was fantastic and I can't believe how great the people I've just met are.

Day 5-6: Recovery. Jet-lag and staying out too late having resulted in the need to recharge. Last night we had a movie night and today we've just been hanging out at the Fund.

Next time on the Emily O'Brien Show: Pictures and a better description of the program and where I'm living and whatever else seems interesting.

Peace out.