Three Cities in Spain

This post will not be very long but I wanted to give notice to a weekend trip that I took with my program. It was an overnight trip that took us to three separate cities in the Extremadura region, this is equivalent to a separate state in the USA, of Spain. We only spent one night in the second city but we actually were able to see a lot of different things.

The first day we left early in the morning and headed to Mérida  This is the city that had the large Roman ruins. We walked around the amphitheater and were given a tour by a professor in our program. Then we went to a museum that held the fine artifacts that were found when they were unearthing the ruins. Ironically enough, when they were building the museum they found more ruins underneath them that included a burial ground. We were able to go down and see this area as well. I´ve always found history very interesting so to finally see actual things that I have studied about is a surreal experience.

We ate lunch in Merida and I had had my Señora make my a sandwich to take with me. It turned out to be a tortilla (eggs and potatoe) sandwich. But I wanted some warm food so when my friends went to a restaurant I went with them. I ordered a tortilla as well because looking at the price I thought that it wouldn´t be very big. Boy was I wrong! I ended up giving a lot of it to my friends as well cause it was impossible to finish. After lunch we headed out to the next city, Caceres. We had a few free hours when we arrived at the hotel because this was the city we were spending the night in.

Next, we took a tour of the older part of the city that held the Midevil houses. Once again it was great to gain some history and see things I would never have the chance to in the USA. We heaeded back to the hotel after the tour and it was already dark at this point. So I didn´t get very many good photos from this tour because I don´t have a very steady hand for taking night time photos. Our group ate supper at the hotel, and let me just say that it was amazing. Granted it felt like we were starving at this poijn but that didn´t matter. We had a wonderful soup first, followed by a fried chicken with french fries (spaniards always think Americans love french fries), and even had ice cream cake for desert. That night we went out in the city to check things out.

The next morning we got up early to go to Trujillo because it was a good hour and a half away. Once again it was an amazing city. It was so tiny and cute. We talked about the church and some nuns even sold some sweets to some of us. Then we made it to the top of the city where the castle rested. From there I had a great view of the entire city anf a lot of the country side with the mountains in the background. The castle was nothing like I thought it would be. It was smallish, and we were able to walk around the top of the barrier and I got some great photos. The view was so green from what I´d become acustomed to in Sevilla. Sevilla is farther south and more dessert like and the Extremdura region is in the mountains and slightly further north. Overall it was a good trip and a chance to see things I might not have been able to otherwise. 

“The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” St. Augustine of Hippo

Starting that week off I was so sick that Monday that I couldn´t speak. Even not speaking hurt my throat. Needless to say I didn´t go to class. My señora was amazing and made me warm milk with honey constantly and allowed me to make my own tea and everything. I was going to go to the docotors office but had decided I would wait it out, since by the end of the day I was already feeling better. In hind sight I should have just went and gotten it over with but I thought I could fight it off. Plus I had my weekend trip to Morocco that weekend so I was just telling myself I would feel better so I didnt have to deal with the fact that I was sick.

Africa and Morocco

The morning of the trip we met on the other side of Sevilla from where I live so I had to get up a little earler then I planned. But I ran into someone who was going on the same trip on the tram and we walked to the buses together. From the bus we went to Gibraltar. Since I had already been there I opted not to go up the rock again because given the price it wasnt worth it for me. My friends and I just went to a pub and ordered food and then walked around the shopping area for a bit. Then we were on the bus again to go to the boat. Yep. I went on a boat. Not just any boat but a gaint boat that is large enough to hold the cars underneath. It was so spacious and we all sat at a long table with comfy chairs and fell asleep. The ride was aonly about an hour long but it was amazing. 

We finally arrived in Africa! I say Africa and not Morocco because when we first landed we where is a province of Spain still and therefore not actually in Morocco yet, Ceuta. We had to wait a couple of hours to get through customs (we had a group of over 100 between the two buses) while they checked and stamped all of our passports. One more stamp guys! I love getting stamps in my passport. It makes the trip more official in my mind. When we finally made it through it was already dark out but luckily our hotel was in the same city and it didn´t take long to get there. 

When I signed up for my trip I didn´t know who all from my program was going to attend so I did not sign up for a roommate and was asigned a random roommate. She was on the other bus so I had some time to unpack a little and relax in the hotel a bit before she arrive. Eventually she arrived and for the life of me I can´t remember her name, to be fair I couldn´t remember it while I was with her for the weekend either, haha. Shortly afterwards we went downstairs to get dinner. I found my friends and we went our seperate ways. By this point we were so hungry we devoured our bread basket very rapidly. First we had an amazing soupd, I tend to eat a lot of soup in Europe. Then the main course was fish and some other vegetables. I didn´t enjoy the dessert so I didn´t eat it.

The next morning I woke up early, and since Morocco is two hours behind Spain it was even earlier but we kept all times with Spain time to avoid confussion, and I saw the sun rise on the Mediterranean Sea. It was so beautiful. I showered and went down for breakfast with my luggage cause we were staying in a different hotel the next night. From there we went to Chefchaouen. It took a while to get there and the scenery was amazing, seeing all the mountains reminded me of home and hiking with friends. Chefchaouen is the city of blue. All the houses and walls are painted blue for two reasons: 1) to make their white clothes look whiter and 2) to keep the mosquitos at bay during the summer. This city was famous for it´s fabric, specifically it´s silk. Our group went on a tour of the city and also had a presentation given to us on the different type of fabric and were able to see where the weaver was and watch him work. I bought two silk scarves from them because I knew they geniune since I watch others being made there, and they were just pretty.

In this city I bought several gifts for friends and family since it was easy to barter and was expected. Our tour guide on the bus had given us some interesting facts about all of Morocco on the way there. He told us that French was the government language and Arabic was the language of the people. If people had the chance to recieve and education they also know Spanish or English or sometimes both. So impressed and slightly jealous. There are more women then men in Morocco and over 80% of the population is under the age of 20. Clearly a future and current problem for the government. In Chef I bought a doufle bag that is made of leather and silk because I needed a smaller carryon for my future Ryanair flights, as I discovered on my previous trip. But it was a good purchase and was beautiful so I´m happy with it.

Next we went to Tetuan, which is the city know for it´s leather market. We ate lunch here and had a little show with our dinner. As soon as I finished my food there was a woman giving henna so I got some on my hand because I had been wanting to get it while I was there. Afterwards we went to a Holistic Pharmacy. Herbs and different types of Moroccan cures were explained to us. I ended buying some Moroccan oil since it was cheaper to buy it here even though I had no idea if it would be any good since I had never used it before. Then we were taken to the leather market and allowed to explore around again. I was able to purchase a few more gifts here as well. Next we went to Tangier to go to out next hotel. With dinner we had a fantasy show, which included musicians, belly dancers, magicians, along with other proformers. At first it was annoting because we unluckily sat at a table by a speaker and it was difficult to to hear each other talk. But the food was once again amazing and we were able to make do.

When supper was over there was also a club entrance, to a club that was reserved just for our group so it was bound to be safe. By this point I was just so exhausted and knew we had to get up early again, so I opted to miss out on this one. The next day we left to head to the coast to see the invisible line where the Atlantic meets the Mediterranean Sea. I was able to cheaply buy a few more gifts here as well so that was a success. Lastly, we went to the cave of Hercules. Now why it is called this I have no idea. But it has an opening to the sea that, if you´re standing in the right place actually looks like the shape of Africa. It was beautiful to look through. Then we headed back to the buses and made our way back to the boats. We had packed lunches provided by the hotel, not the best meal of the weekend needless to say. But then we were home in Spain and all was well.

Sorry this blog seems a little rushed but by this point it´s harder for me to remember the details and while I love Morocco there weren´t many major events that took place while I was there. The exciting event was when I had uploaded my pictures from my camera, including all Morocco pics, and then decided to delete them from my camera because my laptop hadn´t been acting up recently. False. As soon as I finished editing them all and was ready to upload them to Facebook my laptop decided to die and hasn´t worked since then. It can´t connect to the hard drive which means that the pictures might still be there, but that´s the reason I have gotten behind on my blog, sorry guys. Two more to go before this weekend! Pictures hopefully coming soon!

London Baby and the Time I Met the Government!

So clearly it has been awhile since I have been able to post anything. Sorry to anyone who actually has been trying to follow my trips abroad. My laptop decide that it would officially meet its end while in Spain. If I have any hidden rich friends or relatives that want to send my a Macbook to Spain as an early Christmas present, hit me up! Haha, I kid I kid. But because of this hinderence however my blogg post will be more scattered. I´m about four weeks behinf however. YIKES! Today I have a little, very little, bit of free time and will try to write about London in this time period. Her goes nothing...


Well, our, Lauren, Samantha and I´s, weekend had a wonderful start. First I had to check my carryon bag because Ryanair is stupid and it technically the right size but it didnt fit in their stupid metal box thingy, obviously still a little upset with them over this haha, and I had to pay 50 euros to check my bag. Before we boarded the plane we made a friend with another student who was also studying  in Sevilla and was traveling to London for the weekend. We had slightly miscalculated our arrival time in London and the distance from the sirport to the hostel, not to mention the fact that customs in England is a lot more strict than Spain, which is basically none existant. Therefore we officially arrived at the airport around 12AM and then had made it through customs, exchanged our euros for pounds (the stupidest currancy ever, sorry British friends), and bought our round trip bus tickets and were waiting for the bus around 1:30AM. Then the bus took about an hour and we had to get a taxi afterwards Finally we arrived at the hostel, The Steam Engine, at around 3:30AM.

As we went into our room we realized there were 9 beds in one room, with three seperate bunk beds that had three beds a piece. Since it was basically morning and we didn´t want to wake everyone in the room we decided to change in the bathroom, which ended up being the hallway cause it was easier. By the time we got changed and were read to climb in bed we went in the room and we each had specific beds asigned to us that were labeled with numbers. I was the last one to come in the room trying to be quiet as possible when I realized someone was in my bed! They hadn´t been there when I  first looked when we got there but a man had come out of the bathroom while we were getting ready for bed... of course I had no idea what to do. I told my friends someone was in my bed and the other empty bed had definitely been used so I wasn´t crawling in that one.

Once again we all snuck back out of the room to go downstairs and talk to the receptionist about the situation. Luckily he went upstairs and, felt a little awkward about this but, made the man move and changed my sheets. He was very apologetic about the situation and offered coffee or tea, which of course we didn´t want at like 4 in the morning. But he also had a friend, or another receptionist, there as well so we started to talk to him. He ironically enough was Spanish so we tried talking to him in Spanish but he was very unfriendly and wouldn´t humor us in the slightest. That was fun. Well, we finally crawled in bed with the full intention of waking up around 7 so we could be downstairs for breakfast by 8, since it ended at 9.

Well, of course we didn´t wake up at that time, we woke up at 9 and finally got ready and made it downstairs by 10:30ish.With growling stomachs after we ordered coffee and hot choclate we headed out to maybe find breakfast but definitely start our day as tourists off! Lost right off the bat. Go figure right? It turned out to be a good thing because we ended up at a cute little British shop and bought more coffee and some food (that muffin was amazing fyi). Our next mission was to find the metro and figure out how to use it. In this area we actually found some success. It took a while to make sure we were getting the best deal with the metro, luckily for us the man selling the tickets was very nice and helped us a lot. Buying the day pass was a better deal for us since we planned to take the metro more than once that day and it would say us time and money.

Riding the Underground was an amazingly easy experience. It was so easy to navigate the tube and find out where we were going. We got off near the London Tower and started our walk along the Thames. Starting with crossing the London Tower bridge, and stopping for a million pictures, we walked along the river to the Globe Theater. If there is one thing I regret about our trip it was that we didn´t have the time to go to a show, at the Globe or any where else... next time. Any who, we continued our walk and came accross some great smelling street venders in an area along the river, but we kept treking along. Finally we made it to London Bridge, which actually isn´t very exciting itself surprisingly. The most exciting thing about it was that you could see London Tower bridge from it.

Next we found ourselves at the walking bridge that has a great view of both Big Ben and the London Eye. The bridge itself was also an achritectural beauty. Since it wasn´t to bad of a day weather wise, for London, and we didn´t know how the rest of the weekend would hold up, we decided to go ahead and go up the London Eye. It was such an experience. I loved getting to see the entire city from the Eye. My friends and I were obsessed with Big Ben. So after the Eye we walked over to Big Ben. By the time we made it to the bridge it started sprinkling. We were starving them and found a place that served food and it was pretty amazing. Then we made our way to Buckingham Palace and stopped at the Wellington Arch, which by this point it was pouring rain and we had out the umbrellas. So all those pictures were a little depressing. Afterwards we took the tram to Oxford street and went shopping a bit, aka window shopping for me. It was pouring rain at this point and we took the tram back afterwards.

We went back to the hostel then to get ready to go out for dinner. By the time we were ready it was about 9PM and we thought that was a good time. Wrong. London night light is different that Spain for sure. No food is served after about 9:30PM so we wound up back at our hostel since we knew that served pizza still. While we were ordering our pizza a man, later to be known as Spencer, came up to us and asked if he could hang out with us while his friends took a smoke since he didn´t smoke. It seems like everyone in Europe somkes. yuck. Since we had no objections to having company while we ate we agreed.... if only we knew. haha just kidding.

Eventually his friends came back and joined our little group as well. Our food came and we pigged out cause we were starving at that point. There never was a dull moment that night that´s for sure. Too many things occured for me to even mention but lets just say we had to change subjects a lot. It turns out that our new friends all worked for the British Parliament so the running joke became that we met the government. Eventually we discovered that we had been thinking that London was in the same time zone as Spain only to fins out that it was an hour behind... Spencer chastised us for looking at the worlds most famous clock all day and not reading it... our excuse was we had no reason to with our wrist watches and all. Still slightly embarassing however.

Saturday we woke up with a mission. We caught  the tram out to Abbey Road after breakfast to see the famous Beatles crossing. We all signed our names and the wall and had a grand old time trying to get our pictures in inbetween other tourists and the everyday traffic. Afterwards we headed to Platform 9 3/4. Yes. I am that nerd who has to do that when she goes to London. Don´t care. It wasn´t very exciting but it was something to say you have done and that´s all that matters to me. Then we went to Camden Market, which just made me wish I was rich haha. So many cute things were there. We ate lunch in this area at an Oxford pub and I got a grilled chicken salad because they aren´t served in Spain and i had been craving one.

Next we took them tram to Portobello Street Market and did some more browsing. There was so much to see in this area as well. Lauren had left us at this point to grab supper with her uncle and family that lived in London. Sam and I ate at an Italian place, Da Maria, that had been suggested by a Spanish friend who studied in London for 6 months in the past. It might have been he best Italian i´ve ever had. After we tried to make it back in time to meet Lauren. Of course we had to pee, and of course we wanted to walk by Big Ben and the Eye at night, so of course we were late. But she was too so it worked out. We went out and found a pub, that was actually far away and just ordered a single drink and headed back to the hostel. London is expensive.

Sunday was our last half day in London and we wanted to make the best of it. We got up early and packed up and put our luggage in the storage lockers. To save money we walked, which took time and caused some strains in the dynamics of the group but we finally made it. The Birtish Musuem! First thing up. The Rosetta Stone! How cool is that? I loved just walking around the musuem and seeing the different things. I love history so I was right at home. Sadly we didn´t have much time because we had to go back to the hostel and then make it the bus pick up in time to make it to the airport. Dispite all our stress we made it in time and even had time to relax at the airport. I bought a white chocolate mocha and pumpkin bread! yes. London has pumpkin bread! It was great, since Spain doesn´t have it and all. I made it home a little late and felt bad for my señora since she had made food for me. But I had forgotten to tell her what time I would be arriving home so it was my own fault.

Sadly that day was the beginning of me being sick.... but more of that next time! Hope to add photos later.