Hola!!! I just finished crying because I just realized my time in Spain is HALF WAY OVER. I’m trying to be positive here and think, golly gee, I still have two months left in this beautiful country! That being said, I can’t stop the ticking clock in my head that is counting down my time left here. *sobbing*. HOWEVER, this blog post isn’t to whine about how much I don’t want to leave Spain, rather it is to share with you all the most amazing week I had with my two favorite people who just so happen to be my parents! They arrived here on October 15 and just left yesterday (October 21), *sobbing again* so they were basically here for exactly a week. If you know my dad, you won’t be shocked to know that he literally had a folder containing a list of all the restaurants, foods, places and things he wanted to try along with some other information he had researched. Shocked? Me either.

First on our list of things to do was of course food related. We had signed up to do a tapas tour around Madrid and let me just tell you now, I have never had so much fun in my life. We all met up at a nearby plaza near Sol and were introduced to our tour guide Enrique. There was me and my parents, a young couple from Texas, three older gentlemen from England, and two couples from Atlanta and Chicago (wooo shoutout to my favorite city in the US!). Quick explanation of how this tour worked; we made our way to the restaurants and upon arrival Enrique would order a bunch of tapas that the particular restaurant is known for. We would then eat the tapas, sip on our vino, and relax until we had to move onto the next restaurant. Food, wine, and good company? What else could you possibly need??? In total, we went to four restaurants and ate everything from grilled squid, to flambéed bread pudding! It was a great way to try different types of Spanish tapas that I wouldn’t normally get!

We did a bunch of ~*touristy*~ things while they were here, like visit Retiro Park, shop along Gran Via, see the museums and we also ate at a couple mercados. We also went to a Real Madrid game! On Saturday, Real Madrid played Levante at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. Our tickets were purchased the day before and I am not even kidding we had the highest seats possible in the whole stadium. No one was behind us because we were the last row!!! But I knew it was going to be a terrific game because one, before we had entered the stadium my mom (bless her heart) bought me a bag of gummy candies from a small vendor outside, and two, when we walked into the stadium, TAYLOR SWIFT WAS PLAYING!!!!!! If you even know me then you’ll know this is the best sign that God can possibly give me. And even though this was no special game, the stadium was insanely crowded! Spaniards really do love their futbol! It was all cool though because at this particular game, Cristiano Ronaldo was recognized and given a golden boot award for scoring the most goals in Real Madrid History!!! And we also ended up winning 3-0 so it was a very very successful game!

All in all, I had such an amazing week with my parents. Its always nice to eat something other than sandwiches and croissants!!!I just wrote a snippet of my favorite things we did together so I apologize if this post is so short! But having them here made me realize again, how lucky I am to call Spain my home! From the amazing artwork at the Prado Museum, to the amazing wine from the wine tour (We also did a wine tour but I’ll save that story for another time 😉 ), Spain will always be a place that I call home!

Hasta Luego!

P.S

I’ll be in Italia next week so be on the lookout for a fun little blog post regarding that!

I am so so sorry for the delayed blog post! As the old Spanish proverb goes, “Spanish wifi is very slow”. Nevertheless, I’m here to update you all on the most amazing trip I recently took. Last weekend we had a day off on Friday so my roommate and I decided to head up to Barcelona! The cheapest way to get there is by bus (ya girl is a struggling college student, cheap is good!) which took a total of 7 hours to get there. Barcelona is on the north west coast of Spain, opening up to the Mediterranean Sea. Known for the amazing art of Gaudi, incredible paella and for having the most attractive soccer/futbol team (matter of opinion but I doubt anyone will disagree with this observation) you can probably imagine how excited I was to see everything!!!

Our first day was spent doing all the necessary touristy things. Our first stop was to see the Sagrada Familia! The Sagrada Familia is a huge Roman Catholic Church that dates back to 1882. It was designed by the infamous Antoni Gaudi and has been in construction for the past 100 years since his death in 1926. Although we didn’t get to go inside the cathedral, the outer construction was breath taking. The Sagrada Familia isn’t just big, it is massive! You can see a lot of Gaudi’s style represented throughout the design, my favorite being the colorful mosaic designs that pop up throughout the cathedral. The pictures I took do not do it justice, I could have easily spent all day there!

Our next stop was to see a couple houses located downtown, that Gaudi had designed. The first house is called La Pedrera and has since been recognized as more of a sculpture than a building because of its abstract design. I loved the shape of the house, the wavy walls reminded me of waves of the ocean, and the iron sculptured balconies were so intricately designed! The next house is known as El Drac de Gaudi at Finca Guell. As much as I loved the first house, I loved this one even more! My favorite part was of course, the beautiful mosaic designs seen throughout the house. One of the most interesting parts of the house are the balconies. They are literally designed to look like bones! The contrast between that and the bright color of the house is confusingly perfect. Who would have thought that bones and mosaic would go together so well??

Next up was the amazing Park Guell! Can I just say that I have been dreaming of this beautiful place ever since I watched The Cheetah Girls 2. Quick synopsis if you for some reason haven’t seen it (after you read this pls go to Netflix and watch it), the cheetah girls travel all the way to Barcelona to compete in a music contest in which they basically run around Barcelona having the time of their lives. In one iconic song (Strut Like You Mean It) they film a part of it in Park Guell and it is truly magnificent! After having seen the movie countless times I can say without hesitation that Park Guell truly lived up to all of my Cheetah Girls 2 fantasies. The infamous bench was right up my alley, colorful mosaic that snakes along the seats that overlook the city. It is actually incredible to think about all the work that must have went into creating something so beautiful. Besides the bench, Park Guell is also in fact a park. There are a ton of other Gaudi designs in the park as well as some really amazing gardens. Again, I could have easily spent all day there.

The rest of our trip consisted of paella, beaches, and amazing people. We took a trip to Sitges, Spain which is the sweetest little town right on the beach. Filled with adorable gelato shops and colorful restaurants, Sitges is the epitome of a coastal beach town! While in Sitges we also had the opportunity to see a human tower competition. Basically, groups from different towns come together and compete to see who does the best/biggest human tower. It is incredible. There are easily 25+ people per tower and they stand on each others shoulders and climb up their bodies to create amazingly tall human towers. I feel like this is a bad description 🙁 but you can check it out in the picture I took below!  The paella that we had (You can’t go to Barcelona and not eat paella) was to die for. Salty and fishy (bad description, but so delicious) with a hint of lemon, my mouth is watering right now just thinking about it 🙁 The beaches in Barcelona are definitely different from the ones we have back at home. I witnessed a ton of nudity which is cool but also kind of unsettling when it comes to grandmas and grandpas doing it but hey, more power to them. The water was a lot cooler than I expected, (high expectations from growing up in Hawaii and being blessed with beautiful beaches everywhere) but the beaches in Barcelona are truly beautiful in their own way!

In Barcelona we did a bit more sightseeing on our last day. We visited a beautiful park called Parc de la Ciutadella. It was similar to Retiro park here in Madrid, but it had a crazy magnificent waterfall fountain. Seriously, parks in Spain put the parks back home in the states to shame! Walking through we passed  by a group of parents and their kids doing yoga, a street performer making huge bubbles for little kids, groups of teens sitting around and playing guitars, so many people coming together in such a beautiful environment! Our last stop was to see the Arc de Triomf.  It was built as the main access gate for the 1888 Barcelona World fair by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.

Although I didn’t get to meet my future husband Neymar (number 11 on the field,  number 1 in my heart), Barcelona was truly an amazing place to visit. From the delicious food, to the amazing art, I am already trying to find a way to come back! It is not a goodbye Barcelona, but a see you later!!!

 

 

 

Hola mis amigos! After my crazy first week here in Spain, I thought it was about time to update you all on everything that has gone down so far! We arrived in Madrid a day late (long story short we had an emergency landing in Bordeaux, France and had to stay overnight in a hotel until the next flight out to Madrid) and were whisked away to see our apartment! We live in the barrio (neighborhood) Arganzuela which is a pretty residential area with a lot of families and elderly couples. There are a few restaurants and cafes nearby along with the essential grocery and convenience stores. In Madrid, public transportation is heavily used and is easy to access, similar to the CTA in Chicago! On our first night we ventured onto the metro to head into Sol, the city center of Madrid, for our first tapas experience! Tapas here in Madrid range from croquetas, fried cheese and Spanish ham balls, to tiny finger sized baguette sandwiches called montados (so delicious and so cheap)! Spaniards typically eat smaller breakfasts than back home in the US, a piece of toast, a cup of yogurt or even a piece of fruit. They have a tiny snack during mid morning and then lunch, which is their biggest meal. At 2pm most stores and businesses close for a siesta, meaning coffee break! Dinner doesn’t normally begin until 9pm (my stomach is still getting used to this new meal time…) and many people often eat later than that! I’ve quickly built up a passionate love for Spanish food that no boy could ever replace, trust me, if you had jamon (Spanish ham) you would completely feel the same way too.

A few stops away on the metro is a beautiful park called Parque de el Retiro. Here, people come to picnic, workout, row boats and even visit the Palacio de Cristal! The Palacio de Cristal is a beautiful glass building that literally sparkles in the sun. It was created in 1887 to house exotic flora and fauna as part of an exhibition. Today, the Palacio de Cristal is a popular tourist spot, perfect for shameless selfies and solo pics… 😉 From here we headed over to the monument to Alfonso XII which is really just a big ole’ pond with a huge monument (as seen in my picture below!). Here, people are able to rent row boats and sail around for as long as they want. We weren’t able to snag a boat because it was a busy Sunday afternoon and it seemed like the whole city of Madrid had plans to row boats too!

 

This past weekend we were able to participate on a program wide field trip to the beautiful city of Segovia. Located about 45 minutes from Madrid, Segovia embodies everything beautiful about Spain. From the tiny cafes, to the beautiful castle, Segovia truly has my heart! We began our day at the Alcazar de Segovia, a masterpiece of a castle that started out as a humble fortress. The tour of the castle was breathtaking, room after room filled with beautiful artwork and so much history. In 1862, the castle survived a terrible fire that destroyed almost the entire interior; since then (thankfully) it has been partially restored. The ceilings were so intricately detailed I could barely look away from them! My favorite part of the tour was when we had to trek (I’m not even being dramatic the stairs were a pain to climb I was #heavybreathing the whole way) to  the top of the tower which has an amazing 360 degree view of the city.  The pictures do not do the castle justice!

From there we headed down to the cathedral square where we were able to explore on our own for a bit. Full of tiny alleys that house the sweetest shops, we stumbled upon a quaint café and had café con leches (half coffee half milk) and delicious pastries. After about an hour or so of relaxing and souvenir shopping, we were on our way to lunch! For our first course I decided to try gazpacho, a cold vegetable soup that was surprisingly refreshing. Then, it was time for our main course…in Segovia, El Cochinillo (suckling pig) is a city tradition and delicacy. The pig is tender and delicious served with a tasty gravy, my mouth is water just thinking about it! They cut up the pig and serve it in rather large portions (hooves and ears included) like the picture shown below. We finished our meal with a sweet cake that tasted just like Christmas with a scoop of ice cream. 10/10 would recommend trying el Cochinillo if you are ever in Segovia!

Our last stop of the day was to the beautiful summer palace of King Felipe V and his successors called La Granja de San Ildefonso. Full of lush greenery and colorful flowers, la Granja has a calm and relaxing feel that made me want to lie out in the sun and take a snooze! Instead, we opted to try out the maze and see who could finish it fastest. After splitting up it was only a matter of minutes before my group realized there was no way out and we were doomed to stay trapped forever. Thankfully, someone had figured out how to read the map and we finally navigated our way out, 25 minutes later. Finally with one last picture, we were on the bus and on our way back home to Madrid, leaving the beautiful city of Segovia behind.

That seems to wrap up my first week in Madrid, a lot of good food, fun times with new friends, and a new desire to explore a new city (not to mention back to studying because this is STUDY abroad and not just abroad…as our teacher says!) But until next time, adios my friends!!!