Road Trip

About two days ago I got on here and wrote a HUGE summary of what we did on our road trip, and it just spontaneously erased out of nowhere. SO I'm gonna try this again...

I'm doing a class called Advanced Directed Research, which isn't actually a class. I do research and then I analyze it for a grade. For this, I've had to do a ton of "interviews," basically just recording random people here in Spain so that I can analyze their speech. The research is on the use of the lisp sound they make with certain letters.
The first time we went to Seville, I didn't get enough recordings. Seville is a very interesting city in regards to linguistics because they have an inconsistent use of this sound, so I needed many from there. Since I didn't get enough, I needed to go back. Instead of going by bus, I decided to rent a car. I can't drive stick, so i had to pay A LOT more money to go there. To balance out the extra cost, i recruited 3 people from our group to go with! We had SUCH an amazing time! We followed the group bus for the day excursion we had in a beach place called Almunecar and then another in Nerja. In Almunecar we saw a castle (another one), and then in Nerja we saw HUGE underground caves that supposedly had old drawings in them, though none of us saw any. Then we had some beach time, and at the beach we jumped off big rocks! it was like wussy cliff diving, really. :)
All along the way I recorded people in both places. Then the road trip group piled in the car and we just headed west. Our first anticipated destination was Cadiz, on the west coast. However, we didn't make it that far! We were driving on the highway and saw these cable cars going up the mountain like a ski lift. So, we exited and followed the cables to the entrance. We hopped on and got the best view of the mountains as well as the coast of Marbella, which is one of the most expensive beaches in Spain because it's sooooo pretty!
At the top of the mountain, there was a bird of prey exhibit! We had NO idea, so it was exciting because it was a surprise and really random if you think about it. How many times have you taken a ski lift thing to the top of a mountain to find a bird of prey exhibit?? Exactly.
They had a show starting 45 minutes from when we arrived, so we hiked to the top of the mountain and sat on a giant rock and just looked out over the mountains.. It was sooooo nice and peaceful. We sat there as clouds past over and around us :)
The show was so funny, just because we couldn't believe it was happening on top of this random mountain we happened to find. it was also funny because they had this crazy backwoods-of-west-virginia style set up. lol
After that we headed out and were gonna go to a neighboring town that the bird wrangler suggested because there was a beer festival being held in a castle! Cool! But, we missed the exit and decided to just keep driving. We then saw a sign for Hard Rock Cafe and decided to be super American and have dinner there, but again we missed the exit and decided to keep going. We finally ended up stopping in a town called Estepona, on the coast. When we first arrived, there was a soccer stadium right off the highway that was lit up, so we stopped and got to watch some locals scrimmage, which was cool.
We found a little bar and had some food and tried a local beer. Then we found a hostel about two blocks from the beach, dropped off our stuff and just sat in the sand in the dark for a bit. Well, we girls sat there and Frank jumped in, in the dark really cold waters of the mediterranean. Crazy boys. The sand was strange... it was dark!
the next morning we found a cafe on the beach and had coffee and croissants, and the man working it said there was a little market downt the road at the port, so we stopped by for a bit.
We then hopped in the car and headed for Huelva, because they have replicas of Christopher Colombus' ships there. It took us a while to find them after finally arriving in Huelva, but we did! And man was it cool! They not only had the replicas of the ships, but they also had a replica of a Spanish port back then with a full functioning bar, and also a replica of the "indians" Colombus found when we landed in the carribean. It was really neat.
After that, we headed back to Seville to get some recordings. Frank and the other Stephanie went back to the hotel we stayed at the weekend before and hopped in the pool to cool off, and Christy and I split up to get some recordings. We all met up at that same bar, Cervceria Europa for some yummy croquetas! At the bar, we decided to keep the car an extra day and hit two more provinces on Monday. So after eating, we hopped in and headed to Cordoba, which is one of the oldest cities in Spain. We got there super late and it was SO hard driving in those teeny tiny sidewalks they call streets! It was like driving in the Italian Job. We finally found a parking garage and then finally found a cheap hotel to sleep in. The next morning we got up and saw the most beautiful cathedral I've ever seen. All the others really seemed the same, but this one was amazing. It's supposed to be the oldest, having been started in 784 AD by muslims. It's called the Mezquita Cathedral. We also saw the Roman Bridge and the Alcazar of the Catholic Monarchs. Then, we hopped in the car again and headed to Montilla to a winery to taste some wine! We tasted 6 different wines, ranging from light and white to heavy dessert wines. I bought a bottle of this weird wine that looks like bourbon, but isn't, and also a thick, syrupy dessert wine. And I bought my mommy a bottle of the weird bourbonish wine. :)
After the winery, we headed to Nerja, the final destination of our little trip. When we got there we were trying to find the equivalent of a winery but for olive oil because you can try it and then buy some straight from the place, but they were all closed :(
Fortunately, the convenience stores sell local olive oil, so we got some there!
After filling up the gas tank, we chucked our way back down to Granada. It's so hard driving in these tiny one way streets that it took use 45 minutes to drive the 3 miles to Hertz! But, we eventually found it and handed over the car and headed straight to class!
All in all, it was a very successful trip. We got to know more of Andalucia than we'd ever hoped, and I got a lot of recordings from lots of different places!
I probably won't be able to get pictures on here, but since I'll be home in only a week, you can see them all!!!

I don't know if there will be more updates or not on here before I get home because we finish school tomorrow, and then we have a fairwell dinner and everyone leaves Saturday. I leave Sunday morning for Barcelona and Paris and will be getting home August 5 at night. If I don't have access to a computer before then, I'll put up a final posting of that part of the trip when I get home... or when I wake up from a REALLY long nap!

I've been trying AGAIN to put pics up on here and it's just not happening. I guess I'll just have to show you all when I get home!!!!

Well, I´m having some photo loading issues on here. I tried to upload photos about 18 times yesterday and it would never work... I had internet connection and everything. In fact, I have my iPhone connected to WiFi almost constantly at the house, but for some reason it just didn´t want to work!
Any how the latest here is that tomorrow we go to the local cathedral here in Granada. We went to the cathedral in Sevilla, and Tatiana and I went to the vatican, so I don´t know how impressive it will be! However, it is HUGE. It spans about 4 blocks deep! We are also gonna see the Capilla Real, which I believe is the Royal Chapel. I´m the smart one of the group who thought it was actually today, so I showed up at the meeting spot at 4 and sat there a few minutes. Finally I checked my email again and what do you know? It´s tomorrow! Haha. But oh well, I came to school and now I have a minute to get on here and update this a little bit.
I am SOOOOOO excited, because post-studying travel specifics have been finalized! Frank, the kid I went to Madrid and Pamplona with, and I are going to Barcelona for two days, and then to Paris for two days!! Woo hoo!! I can´t wait! I just want these next two weeks to be DONE, but then again, I need some time to get some things finished, so if it goes by too fast I won´t get everything done that I need to! :/

Can I just throw in here that there is a girl sitting in front of me in the computer lab who is BANGING the freaking keyboard while she types and it´s extremely distracting. I have seen every head turn in this room to see who is beating the daylights out of the school computer. it´s really bizarre...

Anyhow, tomorrow I will bring in my flash drive with some pics to put here (if I remember of course :). I´ll run around and take a few pics of the school so you guys can see where I´m studying as well.

BYE!!

Sevilla

Well, Sevilla was amazing! We got in on Friday night and stayed until 5pm today (Sunday). We saw the Alcanzar, Cathedral, the Plaza of Spain. It was really cool! My favorite was the Plaza of Spain. It has a section for each city/territory conquered by Spain. There is a shield/code of arms for each, and below it is painted tiles depicting a scene that is typical to that specific region... for example if Texas had a plaza like this, San Antonio would have the Alamo painted on tiles. I took a picture of every single one, and then I took a picture of Oviedo (yay!) and Granada, where I am staying, with me in the pics. All that is what we did on Saturday. Then today, I got up, went and had breakfast and then hopped outside to get some recordings of locals talking. The difference in accents in Seville is soooooo crazy! Spain as a whole is pretty consistent with its proper speech, and then you get to Sevilla. Hmm. weird.
So after I got some recordings, I went with Dana (whose husband is from TVille!!! Small world!!) and Frank to roam the city. We walked all the way to the center of the city where we were the day before, but this time took the tour in a horsedrawn carriage. It was soooo much fun! The clicking of the hooves really entertained me for some reason... lol
We stopped off and grabbed some ice cream because it was REALLY hot, and then we walked ALL the way back to the hotel. Frank and I dropped Dana off and grabbed Heidi and headed back to Cerveceria Europa (we went there the day before for lunch too). For those of you who don't know, Nina and Papa (maternal grandparents) went to Sevilla years ago and frequented this particular bar. So I took a pic of them in and the owner remembered them! So, we ended up getting hooked up with some free tapas (appetizers) and SHIRTS! Too cool!

I took 234 pictures on the trip to Sevilla, but I'm only gonna post about 10-15 on here. The rest you all can see in person when I get back because if not, I'll never study because I'll be posting pics ALL DAY LONG :)
I also really need to go to bed because it was a looooooong day and it's almost 1am here, so pics will be up tomorrow, assuming the internet is working well!

Goodnight!

the Royal Palace in Maadrid... where the king and queen actually live!













the seats the Real Madrid team sits in during the game!















me in front of the Real Madrid stadium

The trophy wall at Real Madrid stadium














All the people in matching outfits in Pamplona.















The torero and bull at the bullfight!!!















cool mosaic thing on the wall outside the bullfighting ring... it is actually huge even though it looks small

Jay, me and Frank outside the entrance of the bullfighting ring the bulls run into after the running

This is a hole in the ground they called a bathroom in Pamplona. I opted to find a decent bar and use their TOILET












This is the SUPER COOL mountain in the shape of a face!!

On the train ride... that was so much fun

Waiting anxiously to board the train

Before we left, at the train station

update

So.... the internet is not reaching my bedroom anymore at the house, or it's just not working at all. I'm not sure. SO, pics from Pamplona will just have to wait!! Other than that, nothing exciting is really happening currently. I'm just going to school and such. I'll take some shots of the school so you can see what it's like in here, if I can ever post again!
The next cool thing that will happen is this weekend's excursion to Seville! Hopefully I'll have Pamplona and Madrid pics up before I leave!

Also, for anyone interested, I got a local phone here because of the internet not functioning at home. The number is 034 648 76 75 68. Don't be surprised if you reach my voicemail and it's some random Spanish lady. Also, if you're gonna call, keep in mind that here it is 6 hours LATER than Florida and 7 hours for Texas :)

Pamplona & Madrid

So, every year from August 6-14, is the celebration of San Fermin. Basically, he was a saint who was decapitated way back when, and in celebration of his life, they have a week long festival in the city of Pamplona. They have regional food vendors, souveniers, and of course, the famous runing of the bulls. Everyone wheres white shirt and pants, with a red bandana around there neck and a red sash around their waist. They represent his blood that was shed when he was killed. The running of the bulls goes like this... Six bulls are left in pitch black darkness (called the encierro) until it's time for them to head to the ring for the bullfight. At 8am every morning during the festival, 6 bulls and 6 steers are released from this corral. the steers wear bells and help lead the bulls down the streets to the "Plaza de Toros." The same 6 steers help a different set of 6 bulls everyday. They block off the sides of the streets to help guide th animals. Anyone can choose to run with the bulls, as many people do. It's super dangerous. Many people are injured every year, and about 14 have died since it began years and years ago. I think the first death was in 1927 but I'm not sure. I went to Pamplona with two friends from the UCF program, Frank and Jay. Frank got sick from the sun the first day so we left eearly, leaving Jay there. He was determined to run with the bulls. We are now waiting for him to arrive in the train station in Madrid. Pamplona was really cool... an amazing cultural experience that only the three of us got. The train rides have also been awesome. We got to slowly see the topography and vegetation of Spain change. We drove through small towns and also drove by numerous old castles. However, Pamplona was also really nasty. People were vomiting AND using the bathroom (both ways) in the streets. They smelled SOOOOO bad. It was a new level of disgusting for me... I was really excited we had to leave early, although I had to waste a train ticket. we went to the bullfight Saturday night, and, surprisngly, I loved it. I didn't like the part when the animal finally fell to the ground, but the mysticism and art to the fight I really liked. Frank started feeling bad during it though so we had to leave early. I'm hoping to see another one in Seville :)

In Madrid, we were so over the nastiness of Pamplona and the heat, we went to the mall and ate Taco Bell, then Burger King at the train station and later McDonalds around the corner from our hotel room. We just wanted something American!! LOL. Then we left to go watch the final game for the World Cup. They shut down two plazas and the whole street between, and set up 4 HUGE projection screens. There were 10s of thousands of people there, so we couldn't see the screens. We went back to our hotel room, cranked the AC and curled up in our beds for the game. When it was over, we went out into the streets to see all the mayhem... it was insane!! Pretty much the same as Granada-people everywhere, honking horns and waving flags-but with MORE people. Our cab driver this morning told us there were 1.5 million people out in Madrid last night! Apparently the Spain team is arriving today at the airport in 30 minutes. They are going to the Royal Palace to present themselves to the king and queen and then there is a parade with them. I WISH we weren't leaving soon!
Speaking of the palace, we drove by it today. It is HUGE and so ornate and beautiful. Apparently you can take tours of it but we didn't have enough time. We also didn't get to any museums because Spain is weird and they close things randomly, like museums on a Monday. ???
Gotta go get Jay from the train station!!! -hope he made it ok!

Pics of all this to come, hopefully tonight!

The Alhambra

The door on the left is yes, the one of the right is no



















writing in spanish














writing in arabic



















one of the girls said i looked like LPGA so this is my golf stance

pretty flowers

The Alhambra is a monument in Granada... it was originally a muslim fortress and palace that took over 100 years to build. We went there yesterday... most people took the bus but I walked with a couple of others. The entrance is a huge arch with two small arches on either side. Once you go in, you have to walk up an angle that's probably about 45 degrees. It was ROUGH to say the least. However, I'd like to add proudly, that we walkers arrive at the same exact time as the lazy bus riders LOL.

Once up there you walk into the fortress through this crazy-thick door, and then walk through and up in the tower. From the tower you can see the entire city of Granada, as well as the Sierra Nevada in the background. At the top of the tower there is a bell that the young ladies would ring when they were ready to be married.

Then we exited the tower and went into the palace. It was really pretty. When you first walk in there are two doors. Basically when a visitor came, there were two options. Either they like the visitor and they get invited through one door into the palace, or they exit through the other door... both are indentical. The Alhambra was first occupied by muslims, and was later posessed by Christians, so the two religions show their influence through the architecture. There is writing in classic arabic and then also in latin.

Then we walked through some gardens.

More Spain...

So.... we live on the 4th floor, but in Europe, they have "ground" floor, so it's really the 5th floor. We have an elevator, but I decided to take the stairs the whole trip. Whooo!!! I'm half dead when I get to the top! LOL

















This is the HUGE cathedral in the center of Granada... we haven't gone in it yet and I've yet to see it in the daytime, but you can at least get a glimpse of how beautiful it is here













LOL Yet another reference to my baby!!!

Right after Spain scored against Paraguay!!

My feet, covered in sand, after playing on the COOLEST seesaw I've ever seen in my life!

outside the game watching tent in the park

Ppl in the tent getting ready to watch the game!

This is my room here in Granada... a pretty good size! We aren't here much, though so I don't spend a lot of time in here!

This is before orientation, after taking our placement test

This doggy was playing on the beach with her owner... she looks JUST like Lola, only shorter! And her name is Sola!

this is the beach we went to our first weekend here... it's in the shape of a horseshoe

Spain PICS

This is Malaga, where we flew in to in Spain. We took a bus to Granada, where we are studying.

This is our host in Malaga, Arturo. He was great with us foreigners!

This is a fried fish dish. I can't remember the name, but they are super small, like minnows and they fry them whole. You eat them mixed with a red pepper and onion sauce. They were really yummy!

This is a local drink called gaspacho... you can find it in other parts of Spain/Spanish restaurants, but it originated in Malaga. It is basically a ton of veggies... garlic, pimiento, tomato, and others. MMmmmmmm!

This is a photo of the beautiful beach in Malaga

SPAIN!!

Well, on our way to the airport, Tatiana's cousin's boyfriend heard us say that we were going to Malaga. Well, one of his best friends lives there and because we arrived at 1am, he called him and he picked us up from the airport. He was SO nice... he took us to a little beach bar and then we slept on his couches. The next day he took us out to lunch and ordered a bunch of local favorites for us... pics to come! Then he took us back to the airport and we caught a bus to Granada!
Our first day in Granada we had to take a placement test to make sure we were put in the correct class level. It took about two hours... I was put in level 8, the highest! :)
The following day we went to the beach, and it was NOT sunny at all. It was cold too, and since I've had a cold since I got to Europe I didn't want to get in the water. Everyone else got to kayak and go sailing, which looked really cool!
Then on Sunday we just hung out around town... we found this amazing cathedral in the middle of the city that has a little cafe/restaurant/bar in the plaza out in front of it. It was sooooo pretty.
Today was our first day of class. I have class off and on from 11-8. So far they have been good... one of teachers didn't show though!

This is a water fountain in Rome... fitting, huh?















This is a view that shows a lot of stuff from ancient Rome, including the colosseum to the right











MC Hammer pants are all the rage in Italy....

















This is a famous arch that the Roman soldiers would parade through upon returning from conquering some people.



















This is the inside of the colosseum... it's ridiculously huge.