April 23, 2010

We got up around 9 today, and got ready. There was a grocery store right next store, so that was perfect! We went and bought yogurt and cereal. We had to be checked out by 11, but the lady said we could lock up our stuff there during the day. Then we went to the palace. It was 3.50 euro for students. We waited outside in line for probably 40 minutes. It was really cool! Although, for me, I like to see the stuff, but I don't really want to stand and study it forever. Neither did Jess, so we just kept moving. Then we went and got our stuff back from the hostel, and went to a grocery store to buy food for dinner to eat on the bus, and then we stopped for lunch. There was a Burger King very close. After that we took the metro over to the Prado area. The Prado is the huge art museum there, and almost everyone goes to that when they are in Madrid. The building we went to first said that it was closed, and we were so disappointed! Then we asked, and that wasn't the Prado! We finally found it, and you can check in your bags there for free. Jess and I went off seperately because we wanted to go faster. After about 1 1/2 hours Jess and I left. 1 1/2 hours is a VERY short amount of time to go through this place. You could literally spend days in there if you liked art, but we don't, so we did it quickly! Then we went to the local outdoor market and I bought some cool souvenirs for really good prices! Our bus back home was supposed to leave at 6 pm. We got off the metro towards the bus station and we could not find the station anywhere! We were already running late, so we asked where it was and then we started running for it. They normally leave right on time, and will not wait. When we got there, there were so many buses, but finally we found it, and the bus driver wasn't very happy because we were late, and he was getting ready to leave. We almost missed it! Thank goodness we got on! I had to go to the bathroom so bad though because we didn't have time to go before getting on. After about 2 hours into the trip there was an accident, and we got stuck for almost an hour! Finally we made it to the half way rest stop, and ate our dinner. We got back on the road at about 10 pm. It was so hot on the bus, and finally a lady yelled from the back to turn on the air. Anyways, we got back to our house a little after 1 a.m. Thank goodness it's Saturday tomorrow. Trips make me so tired!

April 22, 2010

I got up at 6 a.m. today, which was like death, to get ready for Madrid. We had assigned seats on the bus, and I was next to a girl from the U.S. that is doing the semester in Cordoba in Spain. She was interesting. Let's just say that we live very different lives. She was telling me all about the things that she does on the weekends, and I was glad when our conversation was over. Anyways, when we got off the bus we had to take the metro to the city near our hostal. We were very careful with our bags because we had heard that Madrid can be sketchy, and there are a lot of pick pockets. Good thing Arielle had the maps ready, and knew what metros to take. We made it there pretty easily. The hostal was very small, but we had a private room for the 4 of us girls. Right away we ate our bocadillos and then went to the grocery store to buy some snacks. Then we went walking around and stopped at some shops. We saw the Cathedral and Palace. We just spent a lot of time outside. We walked into th center and there were tons of poor people dressed in Halloween costumes...freaky! They want you to be interested in taking a picture with them, but then they want you to pay them. Jess saw one and thought he was funny, so she walked closer, and actually got a picture with him, but he was creepy, so we left right away! Then we went to the coolest McDonald's ever! They had a kiosk where you could order your food. Also, the chairs were very comfortable. There were so many totally funny things that happened in this McDonald's, and no way for me to explain them, but we had a great time! After that we walked back to our hostal, and got ready for bed, and then played some rounds of Phase 10. We played that until about 1 a.m., and then wanted to get some rest before the next morning quickly came! Our bedroom door could be locked from the outside when we left, but we couldn't lock it from the inside, and we were nervous about someone coming in while we were sleeping, so we made a barracade with our desk chairs against the door, that way we would hear if anyone tried to open the door. I soon fell asleep after that, but Jess said people were outside the window all night making a bunch of noise. The hostal was okay for one night. It was pretty cheap, so we made it work!

April 21, 2010

I slept until about 12:15 again, and got up, had a quick breakfast, went running, and got ready for lunch. we had chicken and potatoes. After that Carrie and Arielle needed to do some trip planning because they're staying longer after the semester to travel a bit more. We went to Starbucks for a few hours so that they could do that. I had a chocolate muffin, and it was so fresh and delicious! Then we walked to the bus station to switch the return date of the bus tickets we had already bought to go back and forth to Madrid to catch the plane. We decided to just go to Madrid anyways for a small trip, but we needed to change the return date to earlier. Then we went home for dinner and had pizza. My mom had written me that they picked up our new dog, Daisy! I showed pictures of her to my senora and senor. Then I skyped my mom and got to see Daisy, and she is adorable! I'm already in love with her, and I haven't even met her! I can't wait! Then I packed and got ready for bed since we leave tomorrow for Madrid at 8 a.m. Out other 2 flights for this week that we were supposed to take are still on. I was really hoping that they would get cancelled so I could get my money back, so we'll see. Time for bed!

April 20, 2010

I slept until about 12:15 today. Then I got up and ran, showered, and ate lunch. We had lentils. At about 4 we went to Feria and walked around. Arielle and I went on a ride. She wore her flamenco dress. The environment is just so fun! Then on the way back we stopped at a small bakery and Arielle and I split a chocolate croissant. Later on we went home to get our laptops, and then walked to Mama Terra (small cafe). We stayed there until about dinner time. For dinner we had pizza. Then we went back out to Feria. I met up with Jess and a few other students. We first went to a public caseta. A caseta is a personal tent that you need an invitation to get into. The public ones are open for everyone though. We were able to dance some of the Flamenco steps since we learned them in our class. Of course the Spaniards were looking at us really weirdly. They pretty much thought we were losers, but we were having fun! One older guy came over to us and asked where we were from because we looked "different", but he liked that we were trying to fit in by dressing up and dancing. He got his friend because she wanted to meet Americans, so we talked for a while. Then they invited us into their caseta!!! We got so lucky! We danced with them for a while, and they were offering us drinks, but I didn't trust anything from them. They were really nice though, probably drunk. There is a drink that they have specifically for Feria, and they make a ton of it, and just keep on refilling their glasses. Then they invited us to a barbeque for the next day. It was nice of them, but I bet they won't remember that they told us that. I normally don't hang out with people that drink a lot, but being at Feria, it's kind of hard to avoid that, and there are tons of people everywhere, so we were just fine. They kept saying to us "haz que quereis porque nadie va a recordar" which means "do what you want because no one is going to remember". We stayed for a little while, then we decided that we wanted to do a ferris wheel so that we could take pictures from the top of the whole Feria. There are two ferris wheels there, and we didn't know which one would be slower, so we just picked one, and we found out that it was not a slow one. It was super fast! While we were waiting, the guy that was running the ferris wheel was hitting on Jess and Arielle. He asked Jess if she had a boyfriend, and if her boyfriend was cuter than him. Then he asked if any of us girls had boyfriends. He also said to Arielle "do you have heart problems?" -"no"- and he responded "well, I have since you walked up"! He was so ridiculous! Anyways, we went on, and definitely couldn't take pictures. It was way too fast, but I loved it! It lasted about 5 minutes too! It did cost 4 euros, but I'd say it was worth it! After that, some of the other girls left, and Jess, Arielle, and I got palomitas (popcorn) and sat outside for a while just enjoying Feria. I got back around 3 a.m. I seriously love Feria!

April 19, 2010

Feria starts tonight officially! We slept in today, and just relaxed again. For lunch we had this breaded patty with an egg on top, and it was smothered in really rich cheese. I didn't eat all the cheese because it was just too much, and Maria Luisa thought that I didn't like it. I did, just not to that abundance. We went out for the afternoon, and walked around the Feria location for a while. Then we went running, and got ready for the day. At 10 pm we went to a restaurant in La Campana for tapas. There was a guy there just leaving, and he saw us looking at the menu outside. He was from Canada so he was talking to us in English, and recommending the foods that he tried. He seemed really nice, and he was an older guy by himself just visiting for Feria for a few days. His hotel was close to that restaurant. We went in and had Pollo A La Sevillana, which was delicious! After our dinner we decided to head out, so we stopped to take a picture, and that older man was outside there. I didn't think too much of that, just that it was a coincidence since his hotel was nearby. He asked if we were heading over to Feria because he didn't know exactly where it was at, so we said we were walking there if he wanted to just walk with us since it was difficult to explain. We expected him to go off on his own once we got there anyways. On the way there a younger guy, probably about 25 or so, stopped Arielle and started talking to her. he couldn't find his friends and couldn't call them. Both of these guys ended up staying with us all night, even the old guy!!! We started getting creeped out by him. There is no good reason why some old guy would want to be around 3 college girls all night, so we needed to ditch him fast! I faked a phone call that we were going to meet up with friends, except the problem was that the young guy thought that sounded fun, and he wanted to come join us. uggh. So we told him that we were going to our friend's house, and that we had to go. So we got rid of the young guy. The old guy wanted us to lead him back to the main bridge since he didn't know his way. We brought him there, but we were afraid that he would see where we walked to go home, so we went down the main long road for about 15 minutes, stopped at a convenience store and bought some ice cream sandwiches and water, and we had our own "botellon"/snack time on the side of the road until about 2:45 a.m. We just wanted to waste time before we went anywhere near the bridge. We were scared of meeting up with that guy, so we took Arielle home, and then we rushed back. We got back around 3 a.m. What a crazy night!

April 18, 2010

Got up today around 10 for church. Miguel liked his birthday gift! We went to church at Prosperidad. It was raining again. After the service it was downpouring, and the rain was blowing really hard, so we decided to stop at a cafe for a little treat, and to see if the rain would die down a bit. We finally got home, and they were gone again, so we just heated up our lunch. We had lasagna. Then we met the girls to figure out our trip. There was the volcano a few days ago, and it is causing some serious issues! We were supposed to leave right after midnight tonight to go to Madrid. We tried calling the airport, but their lines are closed on weekends, so we got a different number, but Arielle's phone card was expired, so we went to OpenCor and they don't sell phone cards, only Estancos, which are closed on Sunday! It was such a hassle. We got Jess's phone card, but the minutes cut off so we couldn't get the flight information. We just needed to know if it was cancelled or not. All flights until monday at 1 pm were, and ours was at 4:30 pm, so we were stressed out! Finally after a long time we found out that our flight was cancelled. We went right away to the bus station and switched our madrid bus time. We're going to go there thursday to saturday instead. Then we took a bus to the seville airport. We were able to get our money back from that flight, but not the others unless they get cancelled, otherwise we won't. If they don't get cancelled I'll be out of over $200!! We'll see. When we got back we made sandwiches for dinner, then I skyped with Rita, and then with my mom. I think we're getting a new dog! I'm so excited! Of course none will ever be like Shaunna, but I just love dogs, and I really want another one to be a part of our family! After that I just got ready for bed.

April 17, 2010

I slept in until about 11;30 then had some breakfast. We just relaxed. They were gone, and just left the lunch out for us, so we ate that, which was rice with potato soup. After that we met Jess and Arielle and walked over to Los Remedios to see the setup of Feria. There are tons of Casetas (tents/houses), and they are so cool! We got hollered at so many times, and a few guys asked us if we wanted to hang out with them in theirs. We said no...sketchy! The atmosphere was really fun though! There is a huge carnival set up there too. We just walked around for a few hours. I bought some souvenirs. We bought some chocolates to give to Miguel tomorrow since it's his birthday. Then we walked to a cafe and I got a little chocolate dessert. By that time it was getting later, so we headed home for dinner. We had white fish and au gratin potatoes. Then we met up with the girls again, and got chocolate bars from OpenCor and walked to the cement blocks by the river. We laid blankets on the ground and played Phase 10 there. It was really fun, and there weren't very many people around, so it was good! We headed back around 1.