Spagna

I am really going to have to hold back on this blog entry. I was gone for almost an entire week, in SPAIN, and you know what that means! And even LONGER blog than normal. Wooooop de do!

Wow, where do I even start?? Let me reach far back into my memories and see where this spring break trip of mine started. It's moments like these that I wish I was dumbledore from Harry Potter and I could have a pensieve to preserve my memories for always. Sorry for that small moment of HP loser-ness. Fans will understand me well :)

Ok, so! I woke up bright and early on Wednesday morning (missing class for that day) and was out of the house by 7am. I left the house just as two of my housemates came home from their fun night out, by the way! What crazy girls. So I made my way to the train station, caught the train to Pisa, hopped on the plane with my huge backpack that actually worked as a carry on (thank God!! Ryanaiar is SOOO strict with carry on's!), and soon arrived in Madrid after a 2 hour flight completely solo. I thought I'd have a few hours until Katie arrived from Barcelona but it turns out her bus to Madrid was full and she was forced to buy a 90 euro fast train ticket to Madrid!! I felt SO bad but it did mean that now we had a few more hours of time together. After getting extremely lost in the airport trying to find the metro, I found my way, made 3 transfers, and FINALLY climbed the stairs out of the metro. The first thing I saw was a bright pink rain jacket and only a few of them exist in Europe so I knew it had to be Katie! I screamed her name, we had a lovely moment in the middle of some busy stairs, and then proceeded to walk towards our hostel. It was so wonderful to see Katie, by the way!! Just what I needed. We found our hostel, in the RAIN, by the way, and we set our stuff down before setting off around Madrid. Our hostel, Way Hostel, to be exact was absolutely wonderful! It was not only cheap but so clean and had computers, a kitchen to use, a TV, wonderful bedrooms, and just anything you could ask for. It was a huge hostel and we were able to meet so many people also traveling around.

Sidenote: This week in Spain is called "Semana Santa" and it is a HUGE holiday. Everyone has the week off of school and work and it is just an entire week to celebrate Easter (I think) and there are constant processions (parades) that just appear in the middle of the street and continue down the road. There are huge floats with scenes from the Bible (with people carrying them on their backs as penance), bands, people in weird KKK looking outfits, and other random people marching along.

The rest of this day in Spain was spent walking from place to place, exploring so many parts of Madrid that were wonderful! We saw a huge indoor food market, some plazas, a castle and a cathedral, and many statues around the city. By the end of this portion we were soaked to the core, freezing, and ready for a break. We were lost for a food 30 minutes while the cold started to sink in and our moods were fastly lowering. Luckily, we asked around and were able to find our hostel after a few wrong turns. In the meantime, we had some super yummy Spanish food (bocadillos and froyo for example) and then re-warmed ourselves in our hostel. We then headed to Plaza del Sol and found a restaurant to eat at. The owner lured us in, and even though the price was extremely cheap for all the food/drink we got, the food itself was not the best. It was nice to just be relaxing, eating and chatting away though (we had bread, paella, and sangria). After this we got churros and chocolate (yum!!) and headed to our hostel to sleep tight. It had gotten very late by this point and we passed out quickly.

On Thursday morning we woke up around 9am, saw some more of Madrid (with less rain this time and an actual umbrella from the hostel), picked up our bags from the hostel, and used the metro to get to the bus station. From here, we grabbed a bus almost instantly and took an hour to get to a nearby city called Toledo. This city was SO CUTE!!! Surrounded by city walls, the narrow streets inside are not only unique but bustling with culture and lots of people. Our backpacks became a bit tiring (and heavy) but we finally trekked up the city to our amazing hostel. We even had a balcony!! We dropped off our stuff and headed off to explore the city! We forced ourselves to "get lost" and came upon churches, many cute stores, and a procession! The day became night and we of course ate lots of Spanish food (and froyo again) and enjoyed this beautiful city. I bought a few too many souvenirs, but who cares! We ended the night with a couple bocadillos and fries (so healthy, right?) and fell asleep with full tummies.

Friday morning we woke up extremely early (making so much noise and feeling so bad for the other people in the hostel) and caught a bus to Madrid and then metro-ed to a different bus station to catch ANOTHER 5 hour bus to Cordoba! What a lot of traveling, holy moly. Upon arriving in Katie's city of Cordoba, though, we were re energized and ready to explore! Katie was so excited to show me everything she has come to love so much in this city and I was beyond excited to hear/see everything! We dropped off my backpack at the CUTEST hostel Katie had booked for me (we entered into a courtyard with flowers and pots all over the walls and live music meeting us at the door). Again, we dropped off our stuff and were going, going, going! We explored "La Juderia", a cute section of Cordoba with narrow streets, adorable buildings with FLOWERS everywhere, a huge church called "La Mezquita", and many stores to get lost in. I was in love right away!! The SMELLS of Corodoba are amazing as well. There are orange trees everywhere and my nose was so happy to be there. We ate some more food (Tortilla was my favorite, an egg and potato dish), explored the city some more, and I fell more and more in love. Katie was a bit bummed because of the amount of tourists for Semana Santa but I am well used to tourists from Florence.

My perhaps favorite part of this trip came next. Katie and I spontaneously decided to "splurge" and use the arabic baths in Cordoba instead of going to a fancy dinner like originally planned. It was so last minute but the best decision EVER! We made our appointment for 10pm, rented a couple bathing suits, changed in the lovely bathroom area (think a very nice spa) and then entered into the baths!!!! There was a large warm bath, 2 smaller freezing baths, 2 good sized hot baths, and one sauna. The entire place was arabic themed and the walls/ceiling/everything was just so beautiful and relaxing. The lighting was low, relaxing music was playing, and everyone was peaceful and quite. Katie and I switched between baths about every 10 or so minutes (coming back to the warm bath between each switch and staying in the cold one for no more than 1 minute) and the 90 minutes passed in no time. I was able to fully relax and wow, it was just so needed and amazing. We were a bit frugal and didn't pay a little extra for a massage and man, did we regret that the entire time!!! Next time, next time. We eventually left the baths feeling extremely calm, warm, loose, and happy. Katie dropped me off at the hostel and went to sleep at her place.

The next morning, Saturday, we met up around 10am and started the day off by walking over to Katie's school and seeing another side of Cordoba. This part was very different from the Juderia but it was still really cool! Definitely much more city-like, though. I really enjoyed getting a glimpse into Katie's life here and she really is very lucky to be in this city! We made it back to her house for lunch (her host mom made us paella and croquettas) and spent about an hour chatting away with her in SPANISH.

Side note about language: I was beyond frustrated this entire trip with my spanish!!! My Italian has completely taken over and it was near impossible to have a real conversation in Spanish because I would be switching between languages every other word. Arg!

As the lunch progressed more and more of my Spanish came back to me, though, and I really enjoyed this time. After lunch, we hung out in Katie's room and skyped with Kelsey and Victoria for a while. It made me miss Santa Cruz and these girls so much though! After a few hours we headed back out to the now-sunny Cordoba air and did a bit more exploring, and of course, eating! We hung out on the terrace of my hostel and enjoyed the fresh air and then made it down to this bridge to wait for Katie's Spanish friend to meet up with us. From there, he showed us many cute (and local/secret) places of Cordoba and it was such a treat! We eventually found a place to eat MORE delicious Spanish food and enjoyed conversations together. By this time it was already almost MIDNIGHT (they eat sooooo late in Spain) and we were late to meet up with some more Spanish friends of Katie's. We eventually made our way over there (I was extremely tired by this point) and met with 4 other Spanish guys. They were all SOOO nice!!! We headed over to a bar and chatted away while we played a game of pool. Such a fun time. This is what I prefer most, just TALKING to people and getting to know them. My Spanish was still a bit rough, but I made do. By the time the night wound up, it was already almost 3am! Wow, did time fly by fast!

I was dropped off at my hostel where I proceeded to get about 1 hour of sleep! At 4:20am I walked to the bus station in Cordoba, said farewell to Katie, and caught a 2 hour bus to Sevilla. From here I got a Taxi to the Sevilla airport where I then took a plane to Bologna. I was extremely fortunate and in Cordoba I found a really nice girl also going to Florence so we shared transportation and conversation the entire way. In Bologna we caught a bus to the train station and then a train to Florence and then one last taxi to my apartment. SOOOO MUCH TRAVELING!!! And I was unable to sleep at all after only 1 hour of sleep the night before. Long story short, I got home, ate, was supposed to skype my family in 2 hours but instead fell asleep and woke up at 1:30am!!!! I NEVER do this, so I was super bewildered and confused when I looked at the time.

It was Easter, by the way, and I was almost glad to be sleeping because I was alone anyways and resting up was very important. I talked a bit with family and then fell back asleep until the morning. From there, I did the usual catching up with homework (this day was also a Holiday for Italy and so many places were closed) and I read in the sun for a bit. Katie and I then skyped for 8 hours and "planned" our entire Europe trip with flights and all. A huge disaster struck when we realized we would have to book our return flight home from Amsterdam instead of Greece but all is good!! We now just have to REPLAN our entire tirp. Woopie!

I am now officially coming home on July 26th from Amsterdam to LAX. I also now have less than 3 weeks left in Italy and it scares me to death. It can't end yet, it just started!!!!

Here's to the next few weeks. They will be the greatest ever, I am determined to make them so.

Until later, ciao!!