Muchos Viajes
Hey! So long time no blog…. It’s definitely been a crazy last two weeks full of travel and school!
The Seville program gives us 2 long weekends (one three day and one four day) in which we’re free to do whatever we want. For the three day, me and 10 other people from my program went to Madrid, the capital city. To save money we chose to pay 35 Euros for a 6 hour bus ride instead of the 200 it would have cost to fly. RIDICULOUS! We checked into the Hostel El Pilar as soon as we arrived. I recommend that to anyone who stays in Madrid (perfect location and it was set up like a hotel——nothing near the horror stories I had heard about staying in European hostels). We grabbed a quick dinner and I had my first ever experience with Paella, the Spanish dish that is supposedly crazy popular here. It’s basically rice and some type of meat or fish (which means squid). My reaction….ehhh its ok. Not the best Spanish food I’ve had, but definitely worth a try.
After settling in, it was time to go out. One of our friends from UNC is studying in Madrid, so he gave us a tour of the city and showed us some of the nightlife. We went to the most amazing place I’ve EVER been in pretty much my whole life….KAPITAL. It’s a 7 floor discoteca that has a different type of music playing on each floor AND a karaoke bar, where we lived for a good chunk of the night. We did a little Enrique, a little N*SYNC, and I wish we would have done a song in Spanish but we were way too intimidated at the time. That has to be the most fun night I’ve had in Spain so far, and it’s going to be near impossible to beat!
Most of the next day was spend at the Prado, a must see for anyone traveling near, in, or through Madrid. I’m usually not someone who likes looking at art AT ALL, but it was so cool to actually see stuff I recognized and I felt like I learned a ton about art just by walking around and looking at all the paintings. My favorite piece was “Flaming June” by Frederic Lord Leighton. It’s posted right above this blog, so maybe you’ll be able to see why I absolutely love it! Random story from the Prado, though…..while I was walking around the museum, I ran into my Spanish professor from UNC who had written my study abroad recommendation letter. It was cool to run into someone I know in another country on the other side of the world. SMALL WORLD for real!
The rest of Madrid was really fun and it was a great choice to go there for the weekend. We traveled back late Sunday night, rested up for class on Monday and Tuesday, and then took off for our next weekend trip to Barcelona on Wednesday. The travel there was a little more hectic than the travel to Madrid. We took the 6:15 a.m. bus to the airport, flew Ryanair (a popular student airline which means you only get to bring a bookbag and THAT’S IT) into a city outside of Barcelona, took a 1 ½ hour bus ride, and took the metro to our hostel. We fit 9 people into our 8 person room in the hostel so quarters were a little tight! But, nonetheless, Barcelona was amazing! The city is huge, so getting used to taking the metro everywhere was an adjustment.
In Barcelona, we did a ton of sightseeing. The chocolate museum is a necessity simply because your entrance ticket is a chocolate bar! Talk about heaven on earth for me. We also went to the Picasso Museum, another necessity. Again, I’m not the biggest art fan but this place (in addition to the Prado) converted me completely.
The greatest thing about Barcelona for me was Las Ramblas, the street famous for its shopping! I was in heaven here. They had amazing stores AND a fruit market with fresh smoothies. Seriously, I LOVE THIS PLACE! Our last day there, today, was great too. Since we had to check out at 10:30 and our bus to the airport didn’t leave until 5, we decided it would be best to take our stuff and head to the beach. Such a perfect idea! Decently clear waters and non-humid weather was ideal. I’m pretty sure I could have spent another few days just hanging out at the beach. What I loved about Barcelona was that it has so much to offer…beach, museums, art (Gaudi’s work is EVERYWHERE and is sooooo cool—-look it up!).
Tomorrow is the first Sunday we’ve actually been in Sevilla in what seems like forever, so of course big plans have been made! I think I’m going to go to a contemporary Protestant service at a nearby church in the morning and then go to the Cathedral for a mass later tomorrow night. I’m excited to see how the two compare.
It’s crazy only two weeks are left for me in Sevilla. I feel like I’ve been here for so little time. Traveling around Spain and seeing other places makes me really appreciate everything about Sevilla. My love for this city has grown so much. I know I’m going to miss it and all of the people that I’ve grown so close to.
Please pray for me in these last two weeks with exams and papers and all that junk because as of right now I have absolutely NO motivation for any of it….especially not when there’s a beautiful city to explore right outside my door :)
LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL, Adios!
