Monthly Archives: July 2013

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Well now that I’ve been awake for almost 24 hours yet again, bought a large amount of European chocolate in the airport, almost cried because the ending of 27 Dresses was cut off when the plane landed, and finally eaten pancakes, I’m home! Unpacking might take a while tomorrow, although I unloaded all of the gifts from my host family when I got home. This trip has been amazing, and I’ll never forget it!

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Day Fourteen: Madrid

Our last day 😦 Well Brandon and Senor Lobbe and I. All of the other lucky people are staying. Today we went to the Real Madrid stadium, which was wicked awesome, even though I highly dislike the team. It was really impressive to actually stand on the pitch and sit where the players sit! The trophy room/museum part was also really nice. Jenn and I got our last swim together in when we got back, now it’s time to pack 😦

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Day Thirteen: Avila and Segovia

Today was a really nice day for our last far trip! We took the bus to Avila first, passing by the Escorial (something about burning people alive in martyrdom and burying monarchs and saints). In Avila we walked the wall, which was awesome. There were storks feeding their babies!!!!! AHHH. And we also went in the Cathedral. Then we went to Segovia, which was another really nice city. The Roman Aqueduct was really impressive. We also hiked up all 152 spiral stairs of the fortress, which was well worth the trek. Apparently the Reina Sophia is closed on Tuesdays, which we just found out today, so tomorrow will be played slightly by ear :/

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Day Twelve: Capea

Today was really fun. In the morning I woke up early to watch the running of the bulls in San Fermin in Pamplona with Ignacio. He was upset because today was the first day so it “wasn’t very good” according to him. It was plenty exciting in my opinion. Later on we all went to our own little Capea, which is like an amateur bullfight where you can hide behind things and a bunch of people go in. They also use little cows. It was really exciting and entertaining! Kate and I stayed out haha. We also ate lunch at the farm, which was good. They fed us all sorts of interesting meats… After a long hot day we all went swimming, and Ignacio has almost successfully learned how to dive! Tomorrow we have a bus ride to Avila and Segovia.

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Day Eleven: Family Day

After waking up and getting all ready to head the amusement park, it came to our attention that it seemed no one was going, so Jenn and I went for a walk in the park. We looked for the ducks to feed but they weren’t there. We went swimming and then in order to escape the heat, a bunch of us went ice skating for a long time. Javier’s family and I ate at some Turkish food place in a food court, it was pretty good. I don’t think I’ve had Turkish food before. No pictures from today, but I’m sure there will be a bunch tomorrow.

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Day Ten: Madrid

Today started off pretty relaxing. Ignacio wanted me to show him my soccer skills so we played for a while. Then Jenn and I went for a short run and swam in the pool for a while. We are also trying to teach Ignacio how to dive. He’s learning. We went into Madrid in the afternoon today so we could stay into the night to see all of the lights. We visited the Plaza del Toros where they have the bullfights and we walked around through the shopping districts. We got to see the Temple of Debod, which was really cool. Senor Lobbe said something about Indiana Jones being shot there.

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Day Nine: Granada

Today was all about the Alhambra. Well in the morning we actually went to the Cathedral in Granada first, which might have been nicer than the one in Sevilla, which I didn’t think was possible. Then we toured all of the Alhambra and the Generalife gardens, which were in full bloom and absolutely beautiful! During the long bus ride home, it was decided everyone can sleep in tomorrow and we are going to Madrid later in the afternoon and then we will stay to see everything at night! Many bus games and snacks later, we’re all back, but too late for the little fireworks Vero had planned for us 😦

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Day Eight: Sevilla and Granada

Today was also long, but just at amazing. I’d have to say that seeing the Alhambra at night definitely makes you question why they picked the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio as one of the new seven wonders of the world instead of this awesome place! We started in the morning in Sevilla and saw the Cathedral and Giralda and climbed up to take in the view. After another slightly long drive we got to Granada (where there’s snow on the mountains still!) and ate dinner in the caves and saw a Flamenco show!

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Day Seven: Cordoba and Sevilla

Today included a nice long bus ride, but that was well worth it once we got to La Mezquita in Cordoba and the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. La Mezquita was amazing, it’s so big! And the Plaza de Espana (fun fact) was part of one of the Star Wars movies. That’s not what made it so awesome though. For dinner we ended up in a Tapas bar and tried probably a million different kinds of tapas.

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Day Six: Madrid

Today was awesome! We went to the Prado museum, which was really cool; we had our own personal tour guides in Kate and Brandon haha. They took us around to see all of the really famous paintings, and some of the not so famous ones. The 2nd and 3rd of May, The Garden of Earthly Delights, and Charon Crossing the Styx (which might have been my favorite.) We walked around that part of Madrid to see the other statues and fountains and gardens.