In the End is the Beginning...

     Literally. I'm sitting in a hostel in Madrid, right outside of the Puerta del Sol, speaking Spanish, and just walked the same streets I did over 2 months ago for the first time. Oddly enough, I kind of feel at home. Kind of. After 3 weeks of traveling through Europe, checking in to numerous hostels, and lugging a 50 pound suitcase around we have finally came full circle. I tried to stay updated with the blog posts, but as quality internet was scarce, free time was limited, and the desire to write instead of sleep when I had the chance generally was non-existent. Needless to say, I'm going to try to fill you in on our whirlwind tour of Europe, beginning with Paris. However, I'm going to do so in separate posts, otherwise you would be reading forever and probably never make it to the end.
      But before I attempt to recap 3 of the most amazing, yet tiring and hectic weeks of my life I must say that this was a once in a lifetime experience. I never thought I would sit under the dazzling lights of the Eiffel Tower, ride the London Eye at sunset, walk through Anne Frank's hideout in Amsterdam, eat a braut in Germany, ride a gondola through the canals of Venice, pay an absurd amount to see Michelangelo's David in Florence, stand where the gladiators fought in the Roman Coliseum, and walk by the fashion icons of Milan - much less all in the same trip. I am filled with a mixture of emotions as I sit here on my last night in Europe. Most of all I feel gratitude towards my parents who made all of this possible for me. I cannot say thank you enough and I cannot wait to see them tomorrow and to see all of these things with them one day. I also feel enlightened. I just spend over 2 months of my life in a different part of the world I once only dreamed about. I learned that our culture and way of life is not always better, only different. And that history can be incredibly real and fascinating in a place with thousands of years of it. But I also learned that there are some things about the good ol' US of A that I have come to cherish. Air conditioning, free refills, and southern cooking to name only a few. Back packing, or "suitcasing" through Europe as my friend Lexi dubbed it, is most definitely a learning experience. It teaches you patience, tolerance and most of all responsibility - not to mention how to become at master a metro systems. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you, I just hope I can find the words and pictures to do them some sort of justice. So Paris is on the agenda first, but until then I'm going to spend my last night in Madrid before boarding a 10 am flight and beginning a full 12 hour day of traveling. It's been amazing Europe, but America I sure have missed you.

Gaudi and Gay Pride

       While we left Sevilla early Saturday morning sad our time there had ended, we began our Eurotrip in Barcelona so we still had a few more days on the Iberian Peninsula with the comfort of being able to communicate. However, Spanish in Barcelona is much different because they speak Catalan, more of a derivative of French. Luckily most also speak Castellon (Spanish as we know it) so we had no trouble.  Hillary and I finally made it to our hostel and met up with John and Sarah! (my roommate at UNC) It was great to see her and get to spend some time together in Europe. We quickly set off to explore Barcelona, starting with the Museo de Picasso. Barcelona has an amazingly extensive collection of Picasso as he spent a good portion of his life there. The Museum includes his famous rendition of Velazquez's Las Meninas, which was really cool to see in person. It's so amazing to see original works by Picasso rather than the usual prints I’m used to. 

Velezquez's Version of Las Meninas

Picasso's Version of Las Meninas

       We next wandered around Barcelona attempting to get back to our hostel (maps really are useful, too bad we didn't have one) and ended up getting a bit lost. But on our way we ran into one of the most famous Gaudi houses - Casa Battlo. Gaudi was a Spanish architect best known for his Catalan Modernism. His work combines a love for nature and architecture, best displayed in his famous La Sagrada Familia, a cathedral located in Barcelona. We visited the Sagrada Familia first thing on Sunday, and it was absolutely unbelievable. The Cathedral is still under construction, and has been for over 130 years. The building is most definitely an architectural feat, estimated to be complete in 2020 as long as funding continues. The outside almost resembles the drip sand castles I would make as a child on the beach - with much more intricacy of course. The inside is astonishing. The stained glass is a sight to behold, as is the ceiling. Gaudi wanted his Sagrada Familia to closely resemble a forest inside and did so with the intricate columns and ceiling displays. It was extremely difficult to do the building justice with pictures.

Front of Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

       Back to Saturday afternoon, we found an amazing tapas bar with tons of tapas displayed to grab as you like and only 1 Euro 50 a piece. They were absolutely delicious, the best being a shrimp, bacon and cheese one. After the tapas, we walked circles and circles around our hostel with no map but finally made it back. We met some pretty cool people in the hostel we were staying in and ended up hanging out for a bit then taking the metro out to the beach to hang out for the night. 

       On Sunday, after visiting the Sagrada Familia as I mentioned before, we visited the famous Parc Güell, another one of Gaudi's masterpieces. The park features one of the longest bridges in the world, decorated of course in Gaudi's vibrant mosaic tiles. It was amazing and definitely a site worth seeing and spending some time browsing around.

Gaudi Bench

      After the long hike up to the park, we were starving and found ourselves yet again at the American classic - McDonalds. We're on a budget here so the dollar menus are a must sometimes. After dinner we hung out at the hostel again then decided to go to the Magic Fountain lights and music show. When we got to the fountain, we realized we had also found ourselves in the middle of Barcelona's gay pride festival. We found ourselves lost between drag queens, feather boas, and lots of rainbows and glitter. Clothing was optional, and needless to say it was an interesting experience. After hanging out for a while with the DJ playing and Colin feeling a bit uncomfortable, we went to different area of Barcelona for the rest of the night. 

      Unfortunately our time in Barcelona was a bit short since we had a train out to Paris at 9:00am Monday morning. I would definitely love to make it back to Barcelona one day and spend some more time discovering the beautiful city. I'm a bit sad to leave Spain, a place that became like a home to me over the past 7 weeks and I am also going to miss the ability to practice my Spanish every day. However, I am super excited to get to Paris and see the Eiffel tower and eat lots of Crepes! Look out for a Paris blog post soon with lots of pictures. 

Until then, Adios Spain and Bonjour France!

Spain is So Much More than Bullfights, Flamenco, Tortillas and Siestas

     As I sit in my room on our last day in Sevilla, I find it incredibly hard to believe six weeks have came and gone. The saying "Time flies when you're having fun" has never rang so true. It is strange to think it was almost seven weeks ago we were boarding the plane to Madrid, yet it seems like we have been in Sevilla for months. This place truly feels like home now, and I am extremely sad to say goodbye. Our host family has been wonderful and Matilde treated us as one of her own. The people are so kind, the teachers were so helpful, and the city is just beyond beautiful. I am going to miss everything about Sevilla, from Sangria to Siestas, from Bullfights to Botellon, and from Churros to Catedrals. But if I have learned anything on this trip so far, it is that Spain is so much more than all of these things. It is a lifestyle and a mindset far different from our own.
       One of the greatest things about Spain is the importance of family. Everywhere you look you see families getting helado together or playing in the park. You see grandparents pushing their grandchildren down the street in strollers or dropping them off at school. Here, it is not common to move away from your family unless you absolutely must. Extended families are extremely close, related by blood or not. In class, our professor Fernando told us he was asked once by a student why he didn't teach in Madrid since he would make more money. His response - my family, my daughter, my friends and my city are not in Madrid and those are much more important to me than money. I feel like at times in the US we tend to lose sight of what's important as we chase careers that will bring in the highest salaries.
     Material things are also of much less importance in Spain. With a few exceptions, you generally do not see large, luxury cars (as Fernando said, there is no where to put them) or expensive fancy houses. You have what is necessary, nothing more. That is not to say they live in poor housing with very little assets, its just they don't feel you need a million dollar home to be happy.
     Spain also has an extremely no rush attitude. When you're at a restaurant you are never given the check until it is asked for. It is completely acceptable to sit around the table for hours sharing a bottle of wine and chatting with one another. At home, I don't think I have ever been to dinner with family without someone looking at their watch as soon as the last person finishes their plate. They have little respect for time here, as you often see families enjoying dinner or tapas late into the evening. Midnight or one am is not late here. It's definitely going to take a bit of getting used to back in the states that it is not normal to eat dinner at 10 and stay out until 3.
      Although 6 weeks is not a long time, I can honestly consider Sevilla a second home. I truly hope I am able to come back here one day, and stay longer. I cannot wait to bring some traditions back to the states, like paella, tortillas, a higher appreciation for family and the ability to enjoy the company of others with a disregard for time. And I most definitely going to miss the siestas every day.  If you ever get the chance to come to Sevilla, or Spain for that matter, take it. I do believe I will always consider it one of my favorite places and some of my very best memories. I'm about to eat my last lunch with our Senora and her family with a bit of sad heart, and I really do not want to say goodbye. But luckily I still have 3 weeks of traveling ahead of me, starting with Barcelona in the morning. I'll keep you posted as we make our way through 7 countries in 21 days, suitcases and all. But until then..
¡Adios mis amigos!

A New Place, a New Favorite

Catedral de Malaga

     Making numerous weekend trips to cities throughout Spain, one would think that eventually you'd come across at least one that didn't suit your taste. Or that they would all start to be the same, kind of like driving down I-40 and seeing repeats of basically the same small town with a different name. However, thus far this has not been the case in Spain. Every place we have gone never fails to posses its own unique charm, history and culture.
     Our trip this past weekend was to Malaga, an area on the east coast of Spain in the Andalusian region. When we first left the train station we weren't exactly sure what to expect as walked through the less aesthetically pleasing parts of the city. However, as soon as we crossed over the river into the city center we realized just how beautiful Malaga is. The center streets, for pedestrians only, are gorgeous tile. As Hana said to me, "It feels like I'm walking inside." Literally, you felt as though you were walking through one giant indoor building. Incredible. The center had amazing restaurants, shopping, and bars. Luckily our hostel was located basically directly in the middle of the center.
    We got to our hostel and were met by the usual kind and helpful owners. We were shown to our room, left our things, then set out to explore. We realized we were extremely close to the museo de picasso so we decided to check that out first. The museum boasts a private collection of Picasso's work. Picasso was born in Malaga, so we also saw the home he was born in. It was amazing to see some of his original works of art. It was easy to imagine Picasso himself creating the piece years before. After the museum we found a nice restaurant and had dinner. We spent the rest of the night, por supuesto, out on town ending with some late night pringles.
    On Saturday we decided to start the day with some sight seeing. We decided to go to the castillo - little did we know it was miles of walking straight uphill. After multiple breaks, we realized the view from the top was most definitely worth it (not to mention the burnt calories).

 

    Once we got back to the bottom of the castle (much much easier coming back down), we were famished so we grabbed some lunch before heading to the beach. The beach closest to us was a bit touristy, but enjoyable nonetheless. It was also my first time in the Mediterranean Sea (well my feet anyways, it was super cold!) We hung out for a few hours before heading back and going to dinner. The best part about eating out is simply finding a restaurant knowing nothing about it and deciding "sure why not, let's try this." I must say we have yet to have a bad meal. We again spent the night out, going with people from our hostel. Funny story - Hillary and I end up running into some Canadian guys we had met twice in Lagos.. it seems to be a smaller world every day.

   On Sunday we woke up and decided to go to a beach farther away, 15 minute bus ride, but supposedly really pretty. After an hour of searching for the right bus line and waiting for the bus we finally got there. The beach was dark sand with clear water, worth the bus ride. We had lunch and amazing Sangria ("Malaga's Best") at a nice beachside restaurant. The waiter asked where we were from and the responded by saying we had the best basketball, baseball and football americano - but of course they had the best futbol. The guy sitting at the table next to us then proceeded to tell us we have the best wars - what a great reputation we have. We headed back from the beach in time to grab our things, get possible the best McDonald's hamburger I have ever had, and catch our 8pm train. 

      Malaga is definitely a place I would recommend when traveling to Spain. The city is beautiful and the beaches are great. I just still can't believe how much I love every place we travel too. Spain literally never gets old. I can only imagine what it will be like traveling through five other countries. This weekend were doing a day trip to Cadiz, and I'm excited to do some things around here in Sevilla the rest of time, since we seem to leave every weekend. But seeing as it's Siesta time here, I think a nap is calling my name. Adios!

** Quick Note: I just finished the novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet and I highly highly recommend it. Absolutely one of my new favorites. I guarantee you will not be able to put it down.

In 1986, Henry Lee joins a crown outside the Panama Hotel, once the gate way to Seattle's Japantown. it has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during WWII. As the owner displays and urfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s - Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept. Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel's basement for the Okabe family's belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the scarifies he has made for family, for love, for country.

"Sometimes in life, there are no second chances. You look at what you have, not what you miss, and you move forward." - Henry, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet