Torre del Oro, Daytrip to Ronda and Subtle Sevillan Kindness

I have three random entries for the day...

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This is such a rare happening that it’s weird to write about – but one day when I woke up a week or so ago, I was in a terrible mood. I just felt really on edge and every little thing was irritating. I stayed cooped up in my room for a big part of the day, but by afternoon it felt stuffy and I decided to get out for some fresh air. I left the house with my music blaring and stomped around Sevilla for a little while…and found myself back down at the ol’ Río.

One of the things that I had wanted to do since I’ve been here – something on my Spain bucket list - was to go up in the Torre del Oro. We meet at the bottom of the torre every night we go out and I see it almost every day, but for some reason I had never found the opportunity to go up in it. So when I reached the río and I saw the tower, since I had no agenda and needed something new, I decided to go in. I walked in the doors and started to go up the stairs and was stopped – 3 euro entry fee. Forget that! I rolled my eyes and walked out, irritated yet again. I took a few steps away and then looked in my purse – I had 3 euros. I felt kind of dramatic so I went back in, paid the entry fee (with slight disdain) grabbed my walkie-guide and up the spiral stairs I went.

When I reached the top of the tower the sun was just beginning to set. I walked around the tiny dodecagonal top and took some pictures while I was listening to the guide. The historical information was told in a more current style fictional story, and at first I thought it was pretty dumb, but then I kind of got into it. I sat down on one of the top stairs and looked out into the sky and listened.

It turned out to be an awesome night. Watching the colorful, magnificent and peaceful sunset undisturbed at the top of this ancient tower, my entire mood changed. The quiet and the ambiance calmed me down and I got to enjoy a great view of the entire city at sunset. I stayed until close and then walked down the stairs, feeling completely refreshed and burden-free.

(For those that are curious, the Torre del Oro was built by the Almohad dynasty in the 13^th century so they could control the river. A big part of it was destroyed by the Lisbon earthquake and it has been remodeled a few times since. It’s an important part of the naval history of Sevilla, which is recounted at the museum that is there today.)

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A few days later, on Friday, our group had an excursion to Ronda, which is kind of close to Málaga here in Spain. The bus ride wasn’t too long, and it was a pretty chill trip - when we got there we had a tour of the bullring (the oldest in Spain) and then had free time for lunch and to explore until departure. Ronda has three incredible bridges which serve for a great view and are very impressive. It was kind of chilly and a bit rainy, so some girls and I went and got some lunch and had coffee and sat forever talking. It was a new group of people that I don’t usually go out with and we had an awesome group dynamic…I had SUCH a great time getting to know the other girls. Ronda was very beautiful and overall it was an excellent day excursion.

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I have been working on gathering my information for my honors thesis here in Spain, which mainly consists of interviewing Spanish consumers about their styles and shopping habits. Until today I had gotten a few interviews but had nowhere near the amount that I needed, so I asked a girlfriend to come with me to venture into the city and interview people (cause I didn’t have the guts to go myself). And today I got all of the rest of my interviews done! Such a huge relief. We approached groups of people sitting on benches, in cafes, and at statues – we chose viable victims relentlessly wherever we went. Every person we approached just stared at us when we walked up and the whole time we talked – no smiles or feedback or anything. I felt pretty insecure a few times when I was feebly trying to describe to them my project and that I needed them to answer my questions. But all of them were actually very nice and we got our responses pretty quickly. Initial impressions were absolutely incorrect with all of them - their scowls turned quickly to smiles after we finished presenting our position. I think they thought we were cute and they all were very happy to help. And thus, we discovered the art of subtle Sevillan kindness. The beauty of Sevilla shines through in new ways every day.

And as of today...I only have 6 DAYS of class left! A little class, a little travel, a little of finals and then back home. Where has the time gone?! The only consolation that I have for myself is simply that I can honestly say I have taken advantage of every opportunity and have lived here exactly as I've wanted to. No holding back, no lost chances and no regrets. I've learned so much about a new people and a new way of life and about myself, and my life is forever enriched with the special charm of Spain.

Sevilla...no me ha dejado.

Marruecos!

Every time I talk to my family back home they always tell me that I say every trip was the best trip of my life. It’s crazy but I honestly feel like every trip that I take tops the one before it. Morocco was definitely in keeping with the trend!!! I loved being there so much. The Medina at Fes took me back to my time in India, and brought back a lot of great memories from when I went last winter. All of us here find ourselves comparing every new place to something we’ve seen before, just to neatly organize and box our memories I think, and though in my mind India was the most comparable to Morocco it was still very unique and very much its own experience.

The one unfortunate thing about our trip was that most of it was spent in-transit. We left Sevilla at 4am on October 28^th, took the bus to the ferry, and then crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the Spanish port in Tarifa and entered into Tangier, Morocco. It was pretty cold outside when we got on the boat but we bought some steamed milk, toughed it out and went up on the top – and watched the sunrise over the Rock of Gibraltar! (The “mythological” rock was known to the Romans as one of the Pillars of Hercules – the other pillar is on the African side of the strait and together the two rocks supposedly marked the limit to the known world). We were caught off guard because we didn’t expect to just walk out and see the rock right there, but it was a very pleasant surprise and the sunrise was beautiful. The ferry ride wasn’t too bad, but then we had another looooong bus ride to Fez, our first destination. We stopped half way for lunch at a pretty little restaurant in the woods – on the way out we gave some little girls a few lollipops that we had and they gave us some flowers they had picked from the trees :) When we arrived in Fez, we went for a walk around the city and then had a nice buffet dinner at the hotel (as similar as the city felt to India, the food was NOTHING like Indian food…Morocco is considered to have one of the most diversified cuisines in the world and everything was delicious!!!)

Our second day we walked around the Medina of Fez, which is another UNESCO World Heritage Site (first was the Aqueduct in Segovia). It made world heritage status because the city is an excellent example and preservation of traditional Moroccan settlement. While we were there, we saw the extremely diverse mix of culture that Moroccans are so proud of. They have lots of Eastern influence (Jews and Arabs), Southern influence (sub-Saharan Africa) and Northern influence (Rome, Andalucía – Moors and Jews) and their beliefs have infused and evolved from Paganism to Judaism, Christianity to Islam. Moroccan literature is mainly written in Arabic, then Berber and French, and there is (of course) also some Andalucían influence.

We had a tour guide who took us around the city into a weaving factory, a spice shop, a carpet factory, a leather tanning factory, and a ceramics shop. Bargaining is customary, and because I had some experience with it already in India, I was bargaining hard and LOVING it! I bought a beautiful leather purse for my brother’s girlfriend from the leather factory, and I worked the price down really low and the man told me I was a “hard bargainer.” I was so proud! I think it’s so much fun...and I got some pretty great deals :) As we were walking around the city we noticed a huge amount of stray kittens running everywhere - very different from the emaciated stray dogs that are a rampant problem in India. We also saw lots of donkeys carrying big loads of wood and other materials. We even saw a trash donkey stationed in a corner street with a big trash bin attached to his back. We watched a man with a bunch of chickens weigh one and then kill it (he slit its throat right in front of us - blood everywhere) and we also saw a huge bucket of live and squirming snails. Quite the experience. In the ceramics shop the man at the pottery wheel let me try it, and I was pretty terrible but it was tons of fun. When we were in the spice shop, I volunteered to let the shopkeeper demonstrate some of his product on me (soothing oil, eyeliner, bright lipstick that doesn't wash off = not super attractive) and he drew a Berber symbol on my forehead that gained me lots of attention. It also gained me a few marriage proposals. One man offered me 5,000 camels and all the desert of Morocco if he could marry me. Another man offered 10,000 camels and a donkey. I told my dad about the offers and he said he would have preferred to have a little gold thrown in there as well. Thanks, Dad. Glad to know where I got my hard bargaining skills from.

Our last stop for the night was a belly dancing show! There were maybe 5 women that performed with a few musical interludes and performances of men beating on drums in between. It was interesting to notice that actually none of the women were skinny, but all of them went out there quite scantily dressed and shimmied and strutted their stuff like there was no tomorrow. It was tons of fun and refreshing to see. They got a lot of people in the crowd to go up and dance with them and we all had a really great time!

 

 

The next morning was another long bus ride, but it was well worth the sore necks and cramped legs because we got to see some amazing views of hills and valleys, dune-like formations, random oases and the snow covered tips of the Atlas Mountains. As soon as we arrived to our destination we were hustled into jeeps where, full of spirit and clapping and blaring Moroccan music, the drivers whipped us away into the desert. We randomly stopped after the sun had set completely and everyone got out of the jeeps; free from any visible light and away from all the noise of the world we took our first of many stares into the pure and vibrant Saharan night sky. It was stunning.

We slept for the next two nights in an awesome and surprisingly comfortable tent system in the middle of the desert that the Berbers constructed just for us. We ate delicious food that they prepared at the camp and sat by the fire and listened to them play music at night. The first morning they woke us at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise. It was a struggle but a bunk mate and I finally forced ourselves awake and stumbled bleary and disoriented out of the camp grounds. The Berbers couldn’t actually come into our tent area but the second we walked out of it they grabbed us by the hand and dragged us for miles out into the desert. I couldn’t wear my shoes because someone spilled water all over them the night before so the sand was FREEZING in the morning - I struggled to keep up, big time. We finally reached a good enough spot and he looked at us and said “sit.” We talked to him in Spanish and he taught us how to draw our names in Arabic and in Berber and to draw footprints in the sand as we waited for the sun to rise. The sky turned a million colors and the sun peeked slowly over the dunes before flooding the sand with radiation and luminosity. 

Again, one of the best and most peaceful moments of my life. 

Halfway back to the camp the Berber again pointed and told me to “sit,” so I plopped down and he grabbed my feet and pulled me quickly down the edge to the bottom of the big sand dune. My first time “Berber Skiing!” He then took us back to the campsite and before releasing us he tried to sell some of his desert “fossils” (not actual fossils, they make them from stone I think). He was so kind and such a fun companion that I had to buy a couple (after bargaining, of course). Pretty good gifts, I think :)

After breakfast, we went for a camel ride. Mine was tiny and very uncomfortable, and the initial excitement wore off after enduring about 20 minutes of volatile jerking and realizing that I still had over an hour ride left. We spent that second day walking around a small (and incredibly deserted) pueblo and then hanging out back at our campsite and playing with the Berber children. The Berbers were SO NICE!! One time I ventured out into the dunes to sit and enjoy the peace and the view, and one came and sat with me to talk and see what was up. What else is there to do when you live in the desert? They all speak like seven languages, simply from meeting travelers from all over and sitting down and speaking with them. They love to get to know people, and just completely and thoroughly enjoy having company. It was heartwarming.

We spent another night lying in the dunes and looking at the stars. Everyone else wanted to go to bed but I wasn't tired yet, so a group of Berbers stayed up with a friend and me and sat with us by the fire and taught us some words in Berber and in Arabic. When we were finally ready to sleep, they warmly said good night and walked off into the black abyss of dunes and nothingness.

- (OH, by the way, about the stars…I saw the Milky Way every night and so many shooting stars that I lost count!)

The rest of our trip was basically spent in transit again. Normally I never get motion sickness, but thank God for Dramamine cause on that trip back I definitely needed it. We stopped in Meknes with just enough time to eat dinner and go to sleep and then were on the road the next day back to Sevilla.

Morocco, for me, was the total experience. I loved being in the city and seeing such a different way of life, I got to sleep under the stars in the Saharan desert, and I met some incredibly unique and kind people. All with the awesome students and directors in my program whose company I enjoy immensely.

…Yep, life is good :)

La Corrida, Viejos Verdes y Chocolate con Churros

(I meant to post this on October 21st and just realized I didn't...)

This morning the group had an excursion to Malaga – and I missed the bus. Oops. But it’s beautiful in Sevilla today! I got to sleep in and have an awesome lunch and now I have time to write in my blog, go for a walk, maybe watch a movie…what a great day!

There are a few random things I want to write about today.

First – I went to a bullfight! I keep wondering why on earth I forgot to write about it after it happened, but I think it was such a traumatic event that I repressed the memory for a little while. Basically, it was awful. We were so naïve about it when we went! The tickets were about 25 Euros and when we got there the stadium was PACKED. I remember being so excited to be taking part in such a traditional part of Spanish culture. The “fight” began with the bull running out into the arena – it was wild and vigorous and somehow drove its horns into the ground and flipped completely over. It was crazy! We watched the matadors with their colorful clothing do their moves with the capes, testing the bull for ferocity. Some of the moves were actually pretty impressive (at times the matadors were SO close to impalement). A couple times the bulls went after the horses that came out, who were wearing thick mats so they aren’t caught by the horns...the bulls would ram them pretty hard. I felt so bad! Before 1930 the horses didn’t wear the mats (called “petos”) and the bull would often disembowel the horse – during the fights there were usually more horses killed than bulls. After the testing, the picador (lancer on horseback) stabs the bull on the neck, which disorients the bull and makes it focus on one thing instead of charging at everything. Then there are banderilleros that come out and make the bull charge at them and try to stick two banderillas, or sharp barbed sticks, into the bull's shoulders. You could see the blood dripping down the backs of the bulls. It was probably one of the hardest things I’ve had to watch. The matador came back in with his red cape and did some more moves (bulls are actually colorblind so the cape isn’t red to anger them – the movement of the cape is what provokes the charge of the bull). A couple times the bull got VERY close to the matador, and when the pass was over, the matador would flex and yell and walk with extreme pride. Once the bull is too weak to continue, it lays down on the ground. Then the matador stabs it in the head. The bull we watched twitched once and then stopped moving. Everyone cheered and they tied a rope from the bull to the back of a chariot cart and drug it around in a big circle before taking it out of the arena. I just stared for a second, speechless, and then looked to my friends and told them I was leaving. They wanted to wait for just a little longer so we had to sit though another one…then finally everyone was ready to go and we got out of there as quickly as we could before the next round started. I think they do 6 bulls in all.

Bullfighting has become quite a cultural conflict within the past few years, and after a petition that 180,000 people signed, it has been banned in Cataluña (which is Barcelona – it takes effect January 1^st). We’ve talked about it in my family and in my classes, and people seem pretty divided about it. Some of the people in class really enjoyed it and appreciate it as part of the culture. It seems like here the older generation is what is keeping the tradition alive – the younger and upcoming generation doesn’t enjoy it in the same manner. So we’ll see where bullfighting goes from here. But as for me…I am glad I went but would never, EVER consider doing something like that again!

My second topic for the day = viejos verdes, an expression that we learned in class to signify “dirty old men.” Here in Spain, men LOVE to stare at girls. It’s like they make it their mission to comment on women every time they walk by. When I first got here I didn’t really like it, so I just ignored it and didn’t dwell. But some days, when I’m feeling testy or homesick or just a little off, it is one of the most frustrating things in the world!! I just want to slap them in the face. I’m so sick of being oogled at and commented on right to my face. What a strange part of culture. And it’s never guys that are close to my age…it’s always the dirty old men. Sometimes even with their women right by them! Everything I have found suggests that this is because older generations see foreigners, typically British or American women, as being “loose,” or in extreme cases, little better than prostitutes. One site said “blonde foreigners still get more than their fair share of unwanted attention and older Spanish men still think foreign girls are only after one thing.” It’s so irritating! They have forever ruined the word "guapa" for me. This is definitely going to be the one thing that I don’t miss about being in Spain.

My final topic is a little more enjoyable than the first two. One of the big food traditions in Spain is the merienda, or snack, usually eaten around mid-afternoon. And a typical food of the merienda is the delicious and infamous "chocolate con churros." I've been in Spain this whole time and, until last night, I had never tried them!! All of my friends rave about them but I just hadn’t been in the right place at the right time to get them. (None of us actually eat them for an afternoon snack…we changed it into a little more of an American tradition and they have become a final stop after a long night on the weekend). So last night we went out to a dance club that I had never been to and when we were walking back we found, in front of us, a CHURRO STAND!!! Had to have been sent from heaven. We bought a couple batches of fresh churros and steaming hot chocolate syrup and enjoyed probably the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. Now that I have experienced chocolate con churros, my Spanish life is complete.

On a completely new note...late last Wednesday night we got back from an awesome trip to Morocco! So next entry I'll have to fill you in on the amazing time we had sleeping under the stars in the Sahara desert :)

Paris and Amsterdam!!!

Last Wednesday was a national Holiday in Spain (Día de la Hispanidad - Columbus Day) so we got to miss a day of class. Two girlfriends and I decided to take advantage of the day off and make a long weekend for travel to France and the Netherlands!

PARIS

We arrived to a freezing cold Paris on Wednesday afternoon and had to pay 15 Euros to take a bus into the city. We had checked the weather before hand and the temperature didn’t seem like it would be that cold, so we mainly packed shorts and short sleeved shirts. It has barely been below 80 degrees in Sevilla, so we just could not imagine a neighboring country would be so cold. WRONG! We got off the bus in the city and wandered for a minute, shivering and completely lost (none of us speak a WORD of French) and feeling pretty pathetic. It was actually quite funny (looking back now). We finally found a bus map and figured out where we were, and then found a metro station to take us to our hostel called "Oops!" on the Avenue des Gobelins. The hostel was pretty cozy and clean and the walls and shower curtains were, accordingly, green. We made it to our room with plans to take a ten minute power nap and then explore the city – we ended up sleeping for about two hours.

After we finally dragged ourselves out of bed we layered on as much clothing as we could and went to the nearest supermarket to find food for dinner. Then we headed to the Eiffel Tower! The tower was built in 1889 as the entrance arch for the 1889 World’s Fair. A while back I read a book about the World’s Fair (called The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson – an excellent book which I highly recommend) so it was awesome to be there. The Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world and for about 40 years was the tallest man-made structure in the world (until the Chrysler Building was built in New York). It was dark by the time we got there. We had heard that it lights up every hour on the hour, so we arrived in perfect time to see the entire thing sparkling with lights. It was incredible! We sat across the street from the tower and bought some delicious crepes (the guy gave us one for free!) and then opened our stash of cheese and wine. We were approached and engaged in conversation by the park-worker Nielson, whom we since have affectionately dubbed “no-tooth-Nielson.” After some strained conversation, we escaped back across the road to the Eiffel Tower where we opened our second bottle of wine. We were having fun and talking and drinking next to the tower when some police came up to us. One pointed to our bottle and said, “Alcohol?” We all looked at each other and kind of shrugged, ready to accept defeat and have the bottle confiscated. Instead, the police made fun of us for drinking cheap wine!! They were very good looking policemen and came back to talk to us a couple more times before we left. We finished our bottle, went to the middle of the tower to see the view from underneath, and then walked briskly back to the metro station (which apparently closes at 2 am so we had to take a taxi). We saw the tower light up three times in all. Definitely one of the most memorable nights of my life.

The next day we woke around 11 am and hopped back on the metro – to the Louvre! The Louvre is the most visited museum and one of the largest art museums in the world. The actual building that the museum occupies is the Palais du Louvre, a former royal palace. The entrance is in the main court, underneath the Inverted Pyramid  (it took us forever to figure that out). We told the lady at the ticket booth that we were students studying art and architecture, advice we were given by some girls we met under the Eiffel Tower, and showed her our visas – and we got in for free!

We saw all of the most popular pieces in the collection:

• Venus de Milo or better known as Aphrodite, Greek goddess of love and beauty – one of the most famous and ancient works of Greek sculpture.
• Winged Victory (or Nike) of Samothrace - 2nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory). One of the most celebrated sculptures in the world - notable for its convincing rendering of a pose where violent motion and sudden stillness meet.

• The Mona Lisa - Leonardo da Vinci - considered to be the most famous painting in the world. Once stolen for two years. Most famous for the ambiguity of the expression and the monumentality of the composition. It was one of the first portraits of a person depicted in an imaginary landscape. 
• The Dying / Rebellious Slave – Michelangelo
• Rebellious Slave shows human resistance to the chains of bondage and the temptation to submit to the inevitable.  
• Dying Slave said to depict " that moment when life capitulates before the relentless force of dead matter" 
• Great Sphinx of Tanis - One of the largest sphinxes outside Egypt. The creature was a symbolic representation of the close relationship between the sun god (the lion's body) and the king (the human head), and was the "living image of the king", demonstrating his strength and his close association with Ra.

My favorite was Antonio Canova's statue Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss, a masterpiece of its time said to exemplify the Neoclassical devotion to love and emotion.

After the Louvre, we stopped in to a little café and had lunch - the food was okay but not that great - and then we began our long walk to the Arc de Triomphe. During the walk we stopped into a little chocolate boutique and tried some delicious designer chocolates by Jean-Paul Hévin, passed by L'église de la Madeleine (a Roman Catholic Church designed to glorify Napoleon’s army), and may or may not have seen the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, leave his house (at the Palais de l'Élysée).

Finally we reached the Arc after about an hour of walking, and we saw it at sunset, which was magnificent. The Arc de Triomphe is one of the most famous monuments in Paris and was made to honor the French men that fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Underneath the Arc, on the first floor, is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which has the first eternal flame in Western Europe and burns in memory of the dead that were never identified in the wars.

Finished with our touring for the day, we took the metro back to our hostel to find KIT in our room! We thought we had the (4 bed) room to ourselves so we had spread our stuff out, and when we came back we found the sweetest guy from Malaysia perched upon one of the beds. We got ready for the night while talking with Kit and then headed out into the cold, destination: Moulin Rouge. We got to the metro and were trying to find out what stop to get off on when we met some French Firefighters (they didn’t speak the best English) who told us that there would be nothing at the Moulin Rouge (it may have been already 1 am by then?) So we followed them to this Australian Bar – which turned out to be TONS of fun! (Side note – French men are incredibly attractive)!!!

The next morning we slept in a little, went to eat lunch at an awesome Chipotle-like burrito place called Boca Mexa, and walked along some back streets heading to the Notre Dame. Shopping was surprisingly very difficult. But it was a beautiful day and a great walk. The Notre Dame was awesome! It is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic Architecture. I loved it so much – I’ve been in a billion cathedrals all over the place but the Notre Dame is, as of now, my favorite of them all. The entire beauty of it was in the architecture and not focused on lots of expensive “things” inside. It felt much less pretentious than a lot of the other cathedrals. It was just very simple and beautiful.

After the Notre Dame we went back to the hostel to grab our bags then left to catch our 5:25pm train to Amsterdam. We were thoughtlessly riding the metro until one of us realized that it was 5:07pm – and we were still two stops and a line transfer from the train station. We RACED through the metro and through the station, wildly asking for directions and making a couple wrong turns, until the hall opened up into the largest and most packed train station I’ve ever seen. We slowed our pace as the feeling began to sink in that we had missed our train (which meant that we would have to buy new tickets at a much more expensive price) until we saw a sign - trains to Amsterdam delayed by 30 minutes. Such crazy luck!!! It still took a minute to find our entrance and we had to walk forever to get on the train...it was such a relief to be finally sitting in our seats.

AMSTERDAM

The train ride was almost 4 hours long and when we arrived to Amsterdam we were SHOCKED at the cold!! It was insane! We stayed with a friend of Leah’s (one of the girls I traveled with), and he had pizza waiting for us when we arrived at the house. We hung out for a little bit and then grabbed a cab and headed to the Red Light District. Amsterdam was beautiful at night. The buildings all have different shapes and there are colorful lights strung everywhere along the edges of houses and bridges – I felt like I was in a big Gingerbread house! The Red Light District was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. We walked by glass door after glass door displaying women (all of whom were actually very beautiful) who were doing their best to seduce men to enter. Leah’s friend walked us through a house that had a different girl standing at every door trying to get us to come in. One saw us and said “Ladies Night Special!” We all felt so sad and had to keep reminding ourselves to just take it for what it is. We stopped into a bar opposite some windows – we watched a creepy man wearing a hoodie and glasses go into a pretty blonde girl's door. She shut her curtain and after a little while she emerged, opened the door, and ushered him out. He looked flustered and thanked her a bunch of times. Then she closed the door, flipped her hair, and was ready to go again. We left the bar and were ready to walk home.

I slept awful that night because it was SO cold! But the next day we woke to a beautiful sunny day and breakfast at the table. After we ate we rented bikes and rode around the city. I hadn’t ridden a bike in forever and it took a little while to get used to…people there are professionals! And they expect you to be good too. I tried my best but ended up riding wobbly in some heavy, zipping bike traffic. It was a terrifying experience. We found a cute little park and sat in the sun for a while, and then biked into town (even more terrifying) and had some wonderful hot chocolate. From there Leah went with her friend to visit his family, so Erin and I walked around town for a long time, ate some delicious little sandwiches, managed to unhook our bikes and ride back to the house, and then got some dessert and sat on a bridge and people watched. It was the perfect day! We met Leah back at the house and the three of us went out for a couple drinks while the boys went off on their own. We popped into a couple little bars, which were cute and VERY social, and then went to meet the boys. Earlier in the day while we were walking around, there was no one out and we wondered what on earth everyone was doing. Well, when we met the boys at the Cooldown Café, we found out. I’m pretty sure the entire town was packed into that little place! We spent the whole night dancing to the widest mix of music I have ever heard and ended up back at the apartment around 6 or 7am.

The next day we slept in, took our bikes back (one of the seats got stolen in the bike area – not our fault so we didn’t get in trouble, though the man at the counter was kind of upset) and went to find the bus to the airport. There was a marathon going on in the city and EVERYTHING was shut down…transportation was absolutely impossible! We ended up having to take a taxi, which was pretty expensive, but it got us there in plenty of time to grab a little food and hop on the plane.

Overall, the trip was awesome! We had such a great time. We thought that people in Paris wouldn’t like us much because we are Americans, but what we experienced there completely shattered that stereotype. Everyone we encountered was SO kind and helpful! People were interested in us - they wanted to know where we were from and how we liked Paris and about our traveling. We talked to quite a few people and not one was unkind. Amsterdam was a little different…people were nice but we ran into the normal few that are a little grumpy. And we dealt with some especially awful people at the airport. The crime rate is generally low in Amsterdam despite their extremely lenient crime, drug and prostitution policies, but at night I felt kind of uncomfortable and held my purse pretty tight. It was just different than being in Spain or France - not better or worse - and I think it’s definitely a place to get used to. It was extremely beautiful during the day though and we had the best time there!

This trip = forever one of my best memories in life.

Lisbon, Portugal

Last Friday morning, bright and early, we met (after being slightly lost and late, along with 50% of the group) to depart for Lisbon, Portugal. It took around 6 hours to get there and it was an incredibly long and uncomfortable bus ride. Because of the laws here, bus drivers get to stop every couple hours or so, so as soon as we would get comfortable they’d make everyone get off the bus for a 45 minute stop. Very frustrating when all of us just wanted to get there! We arrived in the afternoon and some people went to walk around the city – I took a wonderful and much needed nap. 

Later than afternoon we had a little tour of the city which included a visit to Castelo de São Jorge, a Moorish style castle which overlooks basically the entire city. It’s been changed and renovated many times since it was built around the 2^nd century and is now one of the main attractions in Lisbon. Portugal is extremely beautiful (I like Lisbon a lot better than Aveiro, which is where I went in Portugal the first time) and the sights from the top of the castle were incredible. Our directors took us for a walk around the city after the castle, and then we dispersed for the evening by the river underneath the giant clock tower. 

We departed in the evening to try and find a place for dinner, which turned out to be quite difficult. I asked a porter at the hotel where he would recommend (somewhere close, inexpensive and with good food) and he directed us to the “Arkoth Café.” So we followed his direction and walked for FOREVER until finally we asked someone how much closer it was. Turns out he was sending us to the Hard Rock Café! (Which was neither inexpensive NOR close.) We ended up finding a little place alongside the street and all 15 of us piled into this tiny glass hut with a huge pumpkin adorning the entryway. The food was pretty good and the servers were nice. We had to speak in English while we were there – a lot of them speak English. And Portuguese is, in my opinion, NOTHING like Spanish. Also, apparently if you speak Spanish in Portugal, they will hate you. It took all of us a little bit of adjusting.

After dinner we went out to Bairro Alto, which means “Higher District” in Portuguese and is in the center of Lisbon – it’s the “heart of Lisbon’s youth and culture.” The streets were PACKED with people!!! Every street you look down seems absolutely impassable. There are tons of bars and clubs along the streets, but being social and drinking in the streets is much more common than people actually going into the bars. We sampled a couple of the bars but ended up just walking around for a long time, going to an 80’s club (which was surprisingly fun), and left around 3am (things start to close down around 2am).

[Side Note: While we were there we had a lot of people try to sell us drugs (which we were warned about ahead of time, though they were more persistent and frequent than expected). Apparently violent crime isn’t uncommon in Lisbon and drug trafficking, graffiti and vandalism is a problem in the city. Found that out after I got back. I didn’t feel unsafe in the city, but I’m definitely glad I wasn’t out alone at night.]

Saturday morning they had a Cathedral tour scheduled, but a lot of us were tired from the night before so we decided to skip it and sleep in. I woke up around 2pm – before almost everyone else – and began what ended up as one of the BEST days of my life! We slowly assembled and then finally found a little café for lunch (after unsuccessfully attempting to eat at multiple other places and not getting service. A lot of the Portuguese people were actually very unkind and unwilling to help us. You could tell it was an American thing). The food wasn’t that great but the conversation was so it turned out to be pretty fun :)

The streets on Saturday were lined with tons of tables, with vendors selling everything you could think of – art, jewelry, clothing, antiques, trinkets, etc. After lunch we spent a couple hours meandering through the mass of people from table to table. The weather was beautiful and I got some great souvenirs :) We stayed until the section started to close and then decided to walk down to the river to watch the sunset. Randomly, on the way to the river, we encountered the Spanish National Rugby Team!! One of them asked us where McDonald's was and while we were talking suddenly more and more of them kept coming, until we were completely surrounded by probably the most attractive Spanish men I’ve found since I've been here. They invited us to join them, but unfortunately McDonald's wasn’t the most appealing option, so we continued our walk to the river. It was very peaceful and we sat on the rocks in the sand and watched the sun go down over the largest suspension bridge in the world (which has a very similar color as and is often compared to the Golden Gate Bridge).

On our way back, we stopped into a Fashion Week expedition and walked around for a while, which was interesting and fun. We also re-encountered the Rugby team sitting in the main plaza outside McDonald's! We talked to them for a while but had to run to meet the rest of the group to go to dinner at 9. For dinner we chose this little place called “Os Tibetanos” which was right by our hotel. We found out when we got there that it was vegetarian, and we couldn’t read anything on the menu, so we just chose a bunch of food and tried a little of everyone’s…and it turned out to be the most delicious meal ever!!

After dinner we went out again for the night, with a smaller group this time, and found a little bar where some guy with crazy hair was playing guitar. After a couple drinks, one of the girls in our group got up and asked the guitar player if he knew “The Girl from Ipanima” – then she took the microphone and sang it!! And it was beautiful! We were all floored. It was so much fun! After she finished one of the guys in our group and I wanted to dance so we started dancing – and then EVERYONE started dancing (in this tiny little bar)! It was a great time. We stayed out pretty late and I ended up getting back around 6am.

The next morning the bus left at 11 (after a pretty unappealing breakfast) and we had another long ride back. We stopped at the same place for our 45 minute break, and I didn’t have any money left so I laid outside in the grass and enjoyed the peace and the warmth of the sun. It was kind of dry, there wasn’t much around and the trees were crazy looking – I said I felt like I was in the Lion King and then everyone started singing songs from the Lion King. Great way to end a great weekend :)

It’s surprisingly comforting to be back in a country where I can read the signs and actually communicate with people. Portuguese isn’t very appealing to me, so its music to my ears to be hearing Spanish again. Oh, by the way, YESTERDAY WAS MY BIRTHDAY! It was so exciting to celebrate it with my friends in Spain. My Madre here made me a huge and delicious lunch and this incredible apple pie type thing to celebrate – it was so special. The girls and I went to dinner on the river to celebrate and then we sat on a ledge and drank wine and ate my birthday pastries. A bunch of other people from the group came by to hang out and wish me happy birthday too. I couldn’t have asked for anything better!

...and TOMORROW we head to Paris!! :)