And the waterworks begin...

And the water works begin…

So I am now in the last stretch of my European journey.  Although there were a few little bumps in the road, these 15 weeks have undoubtedly been the best of my life.  Not only did I fall in love with this city, I also made some amazing friends, who I am going to miss more than anything.  Even though I was not crazy about my host family, I am so lucky that I had such incredible roommates.  Brittney and Kim, you guys inspire me, I love you guys and I don’t know how I’ll survive at home without Kim’s random, but hilarious comments and Brittney’s goofyness… Or for that matter without having you guys to consult with every other minute about what to wear, if my makeup is evenly distributed on my face, how to make burns stop hurting, what chocolate bar to get, whether my cold is just or cold or if I’m dying, what to say when sending emails or texts to boys, whether or not I should go running, how to correctly phrase pretty much everything I want to say to people in Spanish before saying it, and how to get glass out of my feet.  You guys made everyday here so memorable, and I am really going to miss living with you two.  The rest of my wolfpack, Elena, Erin, and Eileen, I love you guys so much and you better visit me as often as possible.  Elena you are hilarious and I cannot wait to visit you like every second with Kim this summer.  Erin, you are one of the most genuinely sweet girls I have ever met and definitely the best dancer in the WORLD.  Eileen, I cannot wait to visit you in Chicago and at school, and although you have a horribly negative influence on me and make me eat ice cream, gummies, and chocolate with you every second of every day… I am going to miss you so much.  You give the best advice and are hands down the best storyteller in the world.  Everyone else in API, its been real, you’re all goofballs and I will miss you all!  Also a shout out to Christine and Stef from home, I’m so glad that I had you guys here in Sevilla with me.  Stef, thanks for introducing me to fagels  (fake bagels) at Cien and being the best travel buddy EVER, I’m not sure how I’m going to survive next week at home without you my common-law wifey!

So as I said, I have fallen completely in love with this city.  Although the pollen from all of its blooming trees and flowers is killing my allergies, I really love walking around being surrounded by such beauty even though I’m living in such a big city.  I do not know what to say about all of the amazing bakeries and ice cream shops other than I will miss them severely, but I think that my body is happy to see them go!  I will also miss my daily walks and runs (not so much daily now that I am out of clean running clothes) along the gorgeous Guadalquivir River.  I am undoubtedly going to miss my Wednesdays here, having pints of beer and bocadillos (small sandwiches on yummy rolls) for one euro and going to “Hip hop” night with all of my fellow Americans at the infamous club Bandalai.  It will also be weird not being able to walk around the gorgeous Maria Luisa park and go in the world’s third biggest cathedral whenever I want.  Sevilla, siempre te amaré y nunca vas a dejarme.

Although I love the place, it is going to stink being back home in the States and not have endless options of beautiful close-by countries to go to.  My trips were all so much fun, there will always be a small piece of each of those places in me.  I will never forget Ireland’s beautiful landscapes and friendly people, Amsterdam’s cool canals, the incredible grottos and beaches of Lagos, Portugal, the history and cool architecture in Prague, Paris’ bakeries and awesome sites, and Athens’ delicious gyros and spinach pies, awesome ruins, and quaint side streets.

With all of this said, I have had an incredible time here in Europe and would do it again in a heartbeat.  And although I do not want to leave the city and friends that I love, nor see such a great period of my life come to an end, it is time.  America, I cannot wait for your good customer service, food free of ham, the American dollar, and normal eating patterns (no more having dinner at 10 pm!!)  I cannot wait to be reunited with my amazing family and friends, the YMCA, ice water, long showers, and McCarrolls breakfast sandwiches at home in just a few days!  Mom you better start cooking some of my favorite dishes and have some cookies waiting when I get in from the airport!  No more Spanish food for me yay!

Mom and Dad-

I thought I’d take the opportunity now to thank you guys for supporting (emotionally and financially) my travels.  This semester has changed my life, and I am so lucky to have been able to do all of the traveling that I did and to have parents like you to email and call anytime I felt homesick.  Also thanks to my grandparents and Aunts for checking in on me while I have been here.  I loved getting everyone’s emails, text messages, and letters - I miss you guys a lot and cannot wait to see you all!

ATHENS, GREECE

Blog on Greece

I LOVE GREECE!!!!  So this past weekend I went to Athens, Greece with my friend from home (who also goes to CofC) Stefanie Smith.  We met our friend Matt McGann from home there because he is studying in London this semester.  Also, our friends Rachael Bacon, Mike Lois, and Sarah Hooper are all studying in Athens this semester.  It was so crazy being in Greece with 5 fellow Bethlehem Central High School grads! 

            Our voyage started out with a 6 hour bus ride late Wednesday night from Seville to Madrid.  Stef and I did this because flights out of Madrid are a lot cheaper than Seville.  The ride went well and we arrived in Madrid early Thursday morning.  A few hours later we were on our flight into Athens!

            Rachael was waiting for Stef and I at the bus stop in Athens and brought us to our hostel (which was pretty nice as hostels go).  Once we dropped our stuff off we headed to Rachael’s apartment.  Across from her apartment is the world’s GREATEST gyro place.  For anyone who doesn’t know what a gyro is, it’s definitely the greatest contribution the Greeks have made to the world which consists of shaved bits of chicken (or lamb or beef, but of course I got chicken), french fries, tomatoes, onions, TAZIKI SAUCE (creamy cucumberish sauce, hard to explain but soooo delicious, all wrapped in a pita type thing that’s way better than a pita and thicker. So anyways, best thing ever, only cost TWO EURO per gyro, we were in heaven! After that we went to Rachael’s apartment for a little then went for a walk.  Rachael brought us to the outside of the Acropolis (where the Parthenon is) and up this cliff type thing called St. Stephen’s Rock.  The view was amazing! In front of us was the entire city of Athens and behind us was the Acropolis.  By this time it was dark out, but all of the ruins are lit up at night so it looked really cool.  After our walk Rachael had a night class for a few hours so Stef and I wandered around then got some wine at a really cool wine bar until she was done.  When Rachael was out of class, she came and met us and showed us around some more.  We headed back to our hostel around 1 or so and decided not to go out because we were exhausted from our trip and had to wake up at 6:30 the next morning for Agila Island (and for two college student, that is EXTREMELY early).

            We woke up early the next morning, showered, and met up with Rachael.  She brought us to one of her favorite bakeries for some breakfast where I had my first Greek Spinach Pie.  AMAZING!  They’re kind of like a flakey pastry type dough with cheese (I’m assuming it’s feta) and cooked spinach inside.  SO delicious.  They also make plain cheese, apple, and vanilla which are all supposed to be great too.  After breakfast we met up with Sarah and their friend Kolby and headed to the Port of Greece to catch our ferry to the island.  We had decided on going to the island that day because it was Greek Independence Day and a lot of things were closed in Athens in the morning and afternoon.  Agila is a really small island, but it is the fastest and cheapest to get to from Athens and it is very beautiful.  The water is such a unique shade of teal blue and all of the grass was extremely green, it looked like paradise.  Sarah has a Greek friend who lives on the island and she came to meet us when we got in.  We went up some hill to see the only “ruins” on the island; however, it turned out that the “ruins” were really just a big  old column.  The big old column was cool, but the view from the hill was definitely the best part.  We could see all along the shore of the island and all around us were fields of green grass filled with yellow flowers.  We soaked in the breath-taking view for awhile then headed to the main street of the island to see their Independence Day parade.  It was cool, by far my favorite part was at the end little kids dressed up in traditional Greek dancing uniforms danced in the middle of a big circle for everyone to watch.  They were so cute! At the end of the parade we got some lunch, I got another gyro (it was very good but I still think that the ones by Rachael’s apartment were the best) and we all split some taziki sauce that came with the pitaish type bread stuff to dip it with.  Stefanie got a Greek salad (I didn’t because they’re mainly tomatoes and I really don’t like tomatoes) but I tried some of it and it was delicious.  After lunch we walked around some more and then headed back to the dock.  Apparently Agila has the best pistachios in Greece, so we decided to get some.  Sarah’s Greek friend told us that the best way to eat them is with honey, so we all split this jar of honey that was full of pistachios.  It sounds like a weird combination, but it was really great!

Sarah Hooper, their friend Koby, Stef, Rachael, and I

            When we got back into Athens, our friend Matt McGann had just arrived.  After he dropped his stuff off we hiked up this “hill” (I swear its practically a mountain) that is in the center of Athens called St. George’s Hill.  We planned it so that we would get to the top by sunset, and sure enough we did!  It was a beautiful orange pink sunset over the city of Athens and in the distance past the small mountains, you could see the Mediterranean Ocean.  We hung out up there for a while then eventually headed back down the “hill” to get changed and ready for the night.  Without sounding too lame or mushy, I have to admit that it really was great being with Rachael, Stef, and Matt; it made me realize how lucky I am to have such a great group of friends at home and it was just great to be around people who really know me for awhile.

            For dinner Stef, Matt, Rach, and I went to a restaurant in the Placa.  At all of the restaurants there they draw tourists in by offering them free wine with their meals.  We were tired of walking, and some free wine sounded good so we chose a restaurant, enjoyed our free wine, and all got spinach pies.  After dinner we headed to Rachael and Sarah’s apartment, and hung out with their roommates and got ready to go clubbing.  One of their Greek friends got us in to this really nice club where apparently all the famous and wealthy Greeks go to, we had a blast!  Got into the hostel around 5 and then got up at 9 to start sight seeing around Athens.

            We got mini pies for breakfast (I swear that they’re really small).  I tried apple, cheese, and spinach.  They were delicious!  And 40 cents each so that was kind of awesome.  We first went to the Acropolis.  In the Acropolis is the Theater of Dianisis (this ancient stone theater that the Greeks used, so cool), the Temple of Nike, some other cool temple, and the Parthenon.  All of these are from around 2000 BC so it is really incredible that they are all standing.  It was also really cool learning a little about the ancient Greek culture as well as mythology.

Theater

Inside Acropolis

Parthenon!

Me Rach Stef and Matt in front of the Parthenon!

  After that we headed to the temple of (?!?!) which was also really cool.  Next we went to the Temple of Zeus and met up with our friend Mike Lois from home.  Mike is also studying in Greece and his parents are from Crete(I’m pretty sure that’s where?) and so he speaks Greek fluently, so it was pretty cool to see him in action.  The Temple of Zeus was ENORMOUS! It was so tall, and its just so incredible that it’s around 4,000 years old and is still standing.  After Zeus’ temple we went to the ancient Olympic Stadium where the Greeks used to hold their Olympics.  It was pretty much a huge stadium built around a track.  It was amazing just being in a stadium where the ancient Greeks used to compete.  Sometime in the 20th century they held the Olympics there again too.  After the Olympic stadium we went back to Rachael’s grabbed some gyros and went back to Rachael’s to relax for a while.  Later, we went to see the changing of the guards in front of the Greek Parliament building.  It was hilarious.  There were two guards wearing these spandex tight type things and these shoes that had poofballs on the tip of them.  They did this coordinated dance type thing where they did some kicking and marching, it was hilarious.  Next we walked through the park, which was very beautiful.  They randomly have a petting zoo there with random animals and an old Greek man was feeding the geese spaghetti.  Random. 

View of Temple of Zeus from Parthenon

Matt Me Rach Stef and Mike in front of Temple of Zeus

Temple of Zeus

Olympic Stadium

WE WIN!

Changing of Guards

New best friend

            Later we went back to Rachael’s apartment, split some taziki and bread, split a piece of baclevah (I know that’s spelled completely wrong), and had some Greek beer, I think it was called Mythos.  We all hung out then went to a Greek bar where they had pitchers of hot liquor that you pour into a shot glass and take as a shot.  It kind of tasted like apple pie.  Apparently it’s a typical Greek drink to get, so I’m proud that I was able to assimilate slightly into their culture.  After the bar we went to another club.  It’s funny because Greeks DON’T dance.  Like they stay out until 6 in the morning at clubs that play loud music; however, they don’t dance at all.  So Rach, Stef, Sarah, Mike, Matt, and their friends who’re studying in Athens with them kind of went in a separate room where we could all dance spastically in true American fashion.  We had a blast, it was so much fun being out with a bunch of friends from home.  Around 3:30 am Stef  and I had to leave to go back to the hostel to grab our stuff before going on the 5 am bus to get to the airport.  We said our goodbyes to our fellow Bethlehem grads, then  Rach brought us to grab one last spinach pie (unfortunately none of the gyro places were open L) .  It was sad saying goodbye to Rachael especially because (Rachael I realize you’re probably reading this and are going to make fun of me) I don’t know when I’ll see her next because that lucky lucky girl might be working on Santorini Island in Greece this summer!

Bethlehem!! Sarah Rachael Stef Mike Me and Matt

<3

            After our goodbyes Stef and I (who were looking like sleepless zombies at this point) somehow managed to get on the bus and get to the airport okay, arrived in Madrid around 10 then got a 6 hour bus back to Seville. Oh, and did I mention that the time changed at 1 o’clock that morning in Greece and went ahead an hour then we time zone changed on our flight? Yup haha, it did, it was definitely a very long day of traveling.

            In conclusion, I love my friends (it was AMAZING to be able to meet up with so many familiar faces while studying abroad), I LOVE Greece (Allison and Colleen one of you better study abroad there so I can visit and we can go to Santorini and some other islands and the other one of you better go to Italy), and I LOVE GYROS AND SPINACH PIE!!

Morocco!

            So last weekend I was in Marrekech, Morocco with my study abroad program.  It was so crazy being in Africa! It felt like another world.  Our hotel was so nice and they had amazing food which was awesome to have a little break from my host mom’s food (not that her food is bad, but this place had like real food, and an actual breakfast! AND hot chocolate! I really miss hot chocolate as well as chocolate milk).  We each had queen size beds, it was such a nice change from the tiny bed I have here in Sevilla.  The hotel also had a huge beautiful pool! We only got to lay out for about an hour on our last day there, but it was still nice to be in the warmth! 

            Our first day after we got settled into the hotel we walked around and went to some random plaza.  Then we had dinner and a few of the girls and I hung out in one of our hotel rooms then we all went to bed.  Morocco isn’t the safest place for girls so whenever we went anywhere we had to travel in big groups and we also couldn’t leave the hotel at night.  But it was nice to be able to just hang out with the girls in my program because since we all live with host families and aren’t allowed to have friends over, we never get to just hang out.

            The next day we had the AMAZING breakfast at the hotel.  I swear I was so ecstatic to be eating eggs and drinking hot chocolate again! After that we went on a tour of the city.  Our tour guide was this really funny Moroccan lady, she brought us to some place where a bunch of sultans are buried, the old royal palace, a Moroccan “pharmacy”, and then the market.  The “pharmacy” was very interesting.  It was literally just a few rooms with thousands of herbs.  All of the walls were filled of shelves that had herbs that are used for different sicknesses and things.  They also had a lot of cool spices and stuff, the guy who worked there let us sample everything it was pretty cool.  The market was a very interesting experience.  It seriously reminded me of the market from Aladdin.  Almost all of the women had headpieces covering their hair.  There were also a few with full burkas, which was really weird to see in real life because its something that you always read about, but it was strange seeing it in real life.  There were people selling fruits, veggies, spices, herbs, jewelry, souveneirs, lamps, rugs, and much more.  The bummer was that although the fruits looked amazing, we couldn’t eat anything.  The water in Morocco has bacteria that our bodies aren’t used to so we couldn’t drink any water, or eat anything raw for the whole trip.  Luckily the fruit at the hotel was okay to eat, but it was really weird having to use a water bottle to brush my teeth!  So anyways, the market was really cool.  Once again we had to stay in groups though because its kind of dangerous, but everyone had a great time and made some good purchases.

                                                                              Tombs

Shot of Streets

Market

Pharmacy

            After our tour and the market came my favorite part of the trip, our camel ride!  We were bused out about 15 minutes outside of the city to a desert-ish area.  We were brought into a hut house type thing and served tea.  The tea in Morocco is awesome its really minty and they LOAD it with sugar.  Then they gave us some of this bread type stuff and really good oil with herbs in it.  After the delicious tea and bread they put turban type things on us.  They smelt really disgusting and I’m pretty sure my forehead is still breaking out right now because of it; however, they looked pretty cool and definitely got us in the mood to go camel riding.  So after much anticipation, they FINALLY brought us out to our camels!  We each went into groups of 5 or so and they camels were in groups of 5 all lined up single file.  My camel, who I named Charles, seemed kind of angry when I got on him, probably from all of the delicious food at the hotel I’d had that morning, oops.  So once we got on our camels they lead us out into the desert where we walked around for about an hour and a half.  It was so much fun!  A little scary at times because it felt like I was sliding off and that would have been a long fall!  So yeah, overall it was an amazing experience!

            The next morning we went on a hike in the Atlas Mountains! It was kind of hardcore at times, so thanks a lot Mom and Dad for making me go hiking so much as a kid because I was totally able to show off my skills to everyone.  The mountains were beautiful.  There were small creeks running through them and a few pretty big waterfalls!  At one point we had to climb this really rusty ladder that was on this like wet boulder thing, I was a little scared that it was going to slip, but luckily there were no injuries.  It was really beautiful from the top and we all had a great time!

My friend Eileen and I

Bottom of Mountains

Top!

My friends Eileen, Brittney, Elena, and I

            After the hike we went to a traditional Moroccan restaurant that was on the side of the mountain.  The main dish was chicken and a bunch of cooked veggies with all these different spices it was yummy.  The dessert was awesome, it was orange slices with cinnamon sugar on them!  Anyone from home reading this, seriously, you should try it, you don’t know what you’re missing out on!

            After the hike we went back to the market for a while, had dinner, then just hung out in the room with the girls.  Dad I promise I left the market before it got dark out, but being in the market at night was so cool!  There were so many people and all different kinds of entertainers – snake charmers, monkeys, etc, it was crazy.  The only thing about the entertainers is that they hassle you for money if they see you watching them so we didn’t really watch much.  Regardless, there was so much life and culture in the market, it was really great to see.  The next morning we had our last breakfast then had about an hour and a half before we had to check out of the hotel.  A few people went back to the market, but my roommate Brittney, our friend Elena, and I decided to soak up some of the African sun.  The pool was gorgeous and it was nice and warm.  It was only 70 or so, but Spain these days has been cold and rainy so it felt amazing to be in the sun.  After that we packed up, checked out, and flew back to Sevilla! What a trip!

Market

Pool at Hotel! Beautiful!

                                                                            

Prague!

Hola a todos.  So I have just returned from my adventure to Prague in the Czech Republic.  It was AMAZING! Every single building was so cool they were all had different designs and styles.  On our first full day there, my friend Stefanie and I found a free 3 hour tour.  The brought us to all of the main "sites" in Prague - the Astronomical Clock, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square, the Jewish Quarter, the Opera House, and of course BOHEMIA BAGELS! (The "best" bagel joint in Europe!, their bagels were decent compared to those at home, but because I haven't had a bagel in WEEKS, it was amazing).  The next day our friend Rachael got there, we showed her all of the sites we had seen and of course got bagels.  The next day Stefanie's boyfriend Mike arrived so we again showed him all the sites (if anyone ever needs a brief history of the city or Prague, let me know I'm a pro now) and finally crossed the Charles Bridge.  The bridge is really cool it has a ton of vendors selling art and stuff and a lot of statues of Jesus and the Saints.  On the other side of the bridge is the Castle of Prague, the BIGGEST Mideival Castle IN THE WORLD.  Like seriously this thing was HUGE.  The "other" side of Prague also features the famous John Lennon wall, which dates back to when the city/country was ran by communists.  Students in Europe who were against communism in that time were called "Lennonists" because they also coincidentally listened to the Beatles.  So, this wall had been painted with John Lennon's face back in the day and a bunch of anti-communism graffiti.  It is still there today and is constantly changing, but it still mainly consists of messages or cries for peace by the youth of the world who visit Prague.  This was probably one of my favorite parts of Prague just to see all of the Beatles lyrics and messages written about peace in so many different languages, very powerful.  Also on the other side of the bridge you could see the entire city of Prague, it was so beautiful! All of the roofs of the buildings are cool colors, a lot of them are green, so looking out at the city and the river was a beautiful sight.

Old Town Square

More Old Time Square

Astronomical Clock made in 1410, and still accurate!

Oldest Active Synagogue in Europe, dates back to the 1200's.. One of few that survived the Holocaust!

View of the City 

John Lennon Wall

View of Castle from Bridge

Granada/Sierra Nevadas/Flamenco

The flamenco dancer tried to make me dance with them... it didn't go too well