I'm obsessed with Portugal

After we went to London, Carrie came back with me to Cáceres for the one day of class I had in between weekends. She stayed with my host family, and it was really cool to be able to show someone where I live. It's really hard to describe life here because everything is so slightly (or in some cases, drastically) different. I give Carrie major props though because she doesn't speak a word of Spanish and the extent of my host family's English is "niiiice to meeet yoo" and "goood mornink".

To give Carrie and opportunity to travel somewhere she wouldn't have gone (other than Spain) we decided to take a weekend trip to Lisbon. It was really great to get another chance to visit when it wasn't raining the whole time. We went back to Sintra as well, which was four times as beautiful with the nice weather. Carrie couldn't get over the fact that we could be only wearing sweater's in December. In Sintra we climbed up to the Moorish Castle, which although it was a steep climb, rewarded amazing views and a super sweet castle in the middle of the forest to explore.

Climbing...

On top of the world

Elizabeth exploring the Castle

We also hiked up to the Pena Palace which is one of the most beautiful buildings ever (so many tiles!!). This too was on top of a hill overlooking the amazing landscape. I didn't want to leave.

Back in Lisbon after an adventure with me not getting on the train with Carrie and Elizabeth in time and having to wait for the next one, we decided to show Carrie the Santa Justa elevator (if you don't remember from my other post, this was the 3 story elevator up to a fenced in view that then exited into a plaza on the hill behind it). This time we went in through the back entrance, avoiding the 3 euro fee to ride the elevator up 30 seconds. We also discovered that we had missed the whole second level of the tower (it might have been closed due to the rain). However, I quickly discovered that the spiral staircase up to the upper levels was something straight out of one of my worst nightmares. It as a very narrow and very steep metal staircase suspended very high up with nothing on either sides. Needless to say, the view from the top was cool, but I'm not sure it was worth it.

Much too soon, it was time to head back to Cáceres and back to classes and [semi] real life. Well, for a week anyway.

We've made it to December, Folks!

So every few weeks in Spain there is a long weekend called a "puente" (a bridge). The first week of December there are civil holidays in Spain, making it so that I had from Thursday-Tuesday to travel. And so I went to London to meet up with one of my old roommates, Carrie, who is currently studying in Budapest. I got really lucky that I was flying into Luton airport because Gatwick had been closed now for a couple of days due to snow. I went to the airport with a group of kids flying to Ireland, and their flight was completely canceled. A lot of people got pretty screwed with travel plans that weekend between the snow and the airport strike in Madrid that Saturday. (In case you missed it, the national gaurd had to be called in and the president announced the first state of emergency since who knows when).

Anyway, I successfully made it London, albeit a couple hours later than I had intended. Since it was a budget airline, we disembarked on the tarmac and had to take a bus to the terminal, which I have never had to do before. Being on a plane filled with mostly Spaniards, I didn't look too ridiculous when I pulled out every article of clothing I had to keep warm in the sudden 20 degree Celsius drop in temperature.

Following the directions given to me by the hostel I was staying in that night, I got off the bus at a stop where no one else got off. The bus pulled away and I found myself standing at the edge of a highway, in the middle of the night, with all my stuff, alone. Slightly concerned, I pulled out my directions and read "walk up A117 for 10 minutes". Up?! Not only was there no visible incline in sight, I couldn't see a street sign anywhere confirming that I was in fact on A117. I picked a direction and began to walk, following the highway under series of maze-like underpasses until I determined that this road was not going where I needed to go. When I tried to call the hostel, my phone wouldn't connect, so I turned around and walked the other way.

I eventually found an underground station, and after studying the map for a few minutes, determined that I just needed to go a few more blocks to the....right? At this point I realized I was totally lost, with no change to make a phone call, and the two people I saw and stopped for directions had no idea what road I was asking about. I ended up walking back to the underground, where I saw a janitor. Upon asking him for directions he replied "You want to walk there?!" and then pointed me in the right direction. I walked for another half an hour, before I flagged down a bus that drove by. The bus driver was really nice and took me a few blocks in the right direction and showed me what road to walk down. Finally, just when I was about to give up, I stumbled upon the hostel.

Checking in, the guy at the reception looked at me, taking in the fact that it was 2 in the morning and I was alone and asked me if I was ok. When I explained politely that the directions on the website were terrible, he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. I didn't want to deal with explaining the fact that "up" is not a direction so I took the sheets he gave me and headed up to the room. Since I was only staying there one night, I had gotten a bed in a 14 person room which I realized was not the smartest choice when I entered in dark the middle of the night to find 13 sleeping people in bunk beds 3 high. Not much I could do at that point except find an empty bunk with my cell phone light, drop my backpack at the foot of the ladder, and sleep in my clothes. Needless to say, it was a pretty terrible experience.

Fortunately, the rest of my trip to London was much better. I got into town the next morning and walked around the city, explored Harrods, and waited for Carrie to get in. The next day, we walked EVERYWHERE. Being the poor students that we are, we did a ton of sightseeing from the street, walking past the houses of parliament, Buckingham palace, Tower Bridge, the Globe theater, and Millennium Bridge. We actually went in to the Tate Modern (all museums in London are free) but at that point we were exhausted and only could look around for a little while before we collapsed in a coffee shop.

Carrie and me at Tower Bridge (common misconception; London Bridge is really lame looking)

That night we ate at a pub where we got carded twice (!!!) and had the rudest waitress ever. But it was ok, because afterward, we went and saw the newest Harry Potter movie in a huge theater. It was fairly epic.

The next day, we decided to take the underground everywhere due to the fact we could no longer feel our feet. We went to the British Museum which was pretty cool. It pretty much has nothing from England in it, but it does contain the Rosetta stone, the frieze of the Parthenon, and half of ancient Egypt. The rest of the day we walked around taking in the sights we hadn't yet seen and checking out all the stores decorated for Christmas. We also found a great traditional pub that had the most delicious roast (and stuffing balls!) ever.

Parliament and the Thames

I suppose that pretty much sums up my trip to London, albeit brief and not extremely detailed. All in all, it was a pretty cool city even though it was freezing and the pound has a ridiculous exchange rate. Oh! How could I forget? In the spirit of Harry Potter, we managed to take the greatest platform 9 3/4 picture ever in King's Cross Station:

Resurfacing from the world of travel

Extensive travel is not real life. The past few months my days have revolved around getting in as much as possible without keeling over dead (from either lack of proper nutrients, lack of sleep, or shock from checking my bank statement). It's funny how quickly the internet becomes on my list of priorities, especially considering it's my connection to everyone in the states that I rely on so heavily normally.

So here's what I've been up to in this other world of trains, planes, snow, and museums.

I believe I left off in November. Our program took us on an excursion to Salamanca, which is home to one of the oldest universities in Europe. It was a really pretty city, referred to by some as the city of gold because the buildings are made of a certain kind of stone which oxidizes in the sunlight, turning the buildings golden. We visited the Cathedral there which had an absolutely incredible facade:

We also toured the university, which was pretty neat. A lot of really famous Spaniards have studied there, including Cervantes (the author of Don Quixote). It's really cold in Salamanca (relatively) so in the olden days the professors would allow their students five minutes in the beginning of class to stomp their feet to warm up. I shouldn't complain about having to take exams because apparently in order to graduate here, you used to have to give a series of orations in front of a committee lasting for hours, and then would be questioned extensively. However, if you passed, you got to write your name on the walls of the buildings in bull's blood and olive oil. Here's me sitting in the exam chair: (you're supposed to rest your feet on the feet of the sarcophagus (one of the founders I think?) for good luck)

On one of the university buildings there is a frog sitting on top of a skull and it is supposed to be good luck if you can find it. If you refer back to the picture of the church door, you can imagine that that's not an easy task.

Do you see it? Hint: you can make the picture bigger by clicking on it. Another hint: it looks like a lump, not a frog.

That night, we wandered around the city, taking in the nightlife. It was interesting to be in another university town, especially one where there's a ton of international students.

Plaza Mayor at night

The next day we lazed around in the hotel for a bit then went out and had a delicious lunch ending in toffee flan. MMMM. We then went and climbed the tower of the cathedral, which had awesome views of the city. Here's Elizabeth, Lara, and me at the top:

Fast forward two weeks, and it's Thanksgiving! (My, does time fly). We all got dressed up and went to a really fancy restaurant where our program paid for us all to have a really nice dinner. Although it wasn't the most traditional of thanksgiving meals (barbeque-like gravy and potato puree) it was pretty delicious. The other cool thing is that we were on tv! The Canal Extremadura (the local channel) did a piece on our dinner and interviewed a few of us, although none of us actually got to see it on tv.

Yummmm

Really disgusting.... the watermelon puree (why??) tasted like a wicker chair.

The next day, we had our last excursion, this time to Sevilla. Apparently rain in Sevilla is a miracle, but that's either a lie or we're pretty miraculous because it rained almost the whole time we were there. After we arrived, we took a very rainy tour of the city and visited a maritime museum (lots of documents from explorer's of the new world). The city is really interesting because it's designed to keep out the unbearable summer heat. Because of this, all the buildings are white, tall, and very close together. Also, all the streets are lined with orange trees, although they're bitter oranges to prevent people from picking them all. That night we went to a flamenco concert in a pretty authentic bar (although it was full of tourists looking for an authentic flamenco concert). It was amazing! Flamenco is such a cool dance, and the performers were super intense. I liked that the performance felt really intimate and real too because it was just 4 people on a stage just in front of all the tables.

The next day, we went in to the Cathedral (big surprise) which is the 3rd largest in Europe (pretty sweet). It was big. Like most things in Europe and especially in Spain, it used to be a mosque before it was taken over by the Catholics. Because of this, there is still a courtyard and a tower. Here's a view from the tower.

After, we went and visited a moorish palace, which was really cool. It had some of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen (and of course lots of awesome tile).

The Plaza de España (which can be seen in (Star Wars Episode II) was incredible once we finally were able to see it. Around the outside, there are alcoves featuring every province in Spain.

Adrienne, Lara, Pooja, Me, and Elizabeth in front of Cáceres

Elizabeth and I also managed to sneak into the Plaza de Toros (bull fighting ring) which Sevilla is known for. Pretty neat because we were some of the only there.

I know you're sick of reading this by now, so go rest your eyes and I'll add more later this afternoon (I swear!!)