Weekend in Salamanca

So it has been a while since I have blogged, but honestly, the weather here this past week has been in the 60's and sunny, so can you blame me?? There is so much to do outside in this weather. All the restaurants are setting up their outside terraces with table and chairs, everyone is outside all the time.

But anyway, last weekend we had a weekend trip with our study abroad program to Salamanca, Spain, about 2 and a half hours north west of Madrid. We left at 4:30 Friday afternoon to go meet the bus, which was much more favorable than the typical 9am meeting time. Salamanca is a much smaller town, but it is a very popular college town, so there was a lot going on at all times, just like Madrid. Our hotel was in a good location, we explored as soon as we got there, and found that they have a Plaza Mayor just like in Madrid. It was all lit up at night and absolutely beautiful!
Saturday morning we got up and visited la catedral, and Universartaria de Salamanca, two very old and beautiful historical buildings. We had the rest of the day and evening to explore and shot through out the rest of the city. We were surprised to see that all the stores and restaurants closed down from about 4:30 to 8:30 for siesta. Which we knew that they celebrated in Spain, but it is not really followed in Madrid since it's such a big city.
Sunday morning we got up and headed back to the bus as a group. We had a wine tasting scheduled at a wine vineyard called hacienda zorita. It was the most beautiful plot of land, on a small river, with a spa and wedding chapel. They showed us how to swirl the wine in the glass, smell it, swish it around in our mouths, spit it out, and then finally sip it. It was delicious. They also provided us with cheese, salami, mini hamburgers, and crackers. We were in heaven since we hadn't eaten since the night before.We made our way back to Madrid after the wine tasting. It was a great weekend away though, I loved everything about Salamanca!!

Weekend in Venice

So my roommates and I were trying to plan a weekend away in Florence, but there are no inexpensive flights to Florence, so we were planning to go to Milan, and then take a train to Venice. We had the plan pretty set, but as we booked flights, it turned out that it was just Kaylen, Jill and I. Trains from Milan to Florence were very expensive, so instead planned a weekend away in Venice, which was less expensive to get to than Florence. Great decision! After an interesting, to say the least, first night in Milan, we were ready for a better day in Venice, and that was exactly what we got. We had our hostel all set, and it had gotten good reviews online, so we were excited about that. We had talked to a few people who have been to Venice about what we had to do/see while we were there, since we were only there for a limited time. Our hostel turned out to be a somewhat bed and breakfast, it was great.

Venice is a small(ish) town in Italy, and legitimately EVERYONE spoke English, which was convenient since the only Italian we knew were the few words we looked up on my blackberry on the way to Milan. Venice is more of a tourist destination than I had expected, which would explain why everyone knew English. The food was amazing! Even though our waiter at the restaurant we had lunch at laughed at us and knew we were from the United States because we ordered spaghetti and meatballs and lasagna, thinking it was a typical Italian meal. Apparently a real Italian meal consists of fish, which I guess makes sense, but I wasn't trying to have fish in Italy... so I stuck to the pasta/pizza/red wine diet. Yes...red wine, which I hated up until this weekend.
The shopping was great. There were SO many little stores, many of which were selling masks since they are popular in the town for Carnival in the Spring. Many stores were also selling fine leather handbags, shoes, gloves and coats. I wanted so bad to buy everything, but as to be expected, everything was very expensive. There were also a ton of murano glass products since the original murano glass blowing factory is in Venice.

Murano glass bead necklaces

Venice is a city built on water, so every corner you turn, you see another bridge. There are no cars in the city, only boats. It is a nice change, to see everyone walking everywhere. The pace is much slower than here in Madrid. We definitely felt like we were on vacation. There are gondolas everywhere, and the men who row the gondolas in the striped shirts and hats are always offering their "special price" of 60 euro just for us! What a coincidence. We took a gondola tour, it was really pretty. Check that off the list of things to do while in Europe!

The buildings in Venice are absolutely beautiful. The reflections in the water make for a perfect picture. We saw the two spots to see, the San Marco Square (from the gondola), where the Basilica church is, and the Rialto bridge. I got some pretty amazing pictures if I may say so myself.


We had an amazing weekend and I would definitely go back again, there was so much more I felt like we could have seen, but we just didn't have the time to!

Night life/Toledo

Last night my roommates and I hung out with some kids from our school, Suffolk University Madrid, at their apartment - which was beautiful!! We went over there before heading out to this club, Pacha, which is the same as the Pacha that is located in NYC. The club is pretty exclusive and the kids from our school somehow have connections there, so not only were they able to get us in for free (compared to a usual 15-20 Euro cover price), but we also went straight up to the VIP section. Not to mention, by the time we got to the place, I was exhausted, since it was about 3am, but the place was amazing, the DJ was awesome, and it wasn't crowded with a bunch of internationals like most of the other places we have been to are. It was cool to be hanging out with the locals, in this 3+ story club with multiple dance floors and different dj's.


Needless to say, we didn't get home until after 6am, and had to set our alarms for 9am, to go meet with our API group to get on a bus to go tour the city of Toledo. It was rough getting up, and we contemplated just going another time. But then we remembered how we already have no money, and it doesn't make sense to skip a trip that is already paid for. So Kaylen, Ana, Katie and I dragged ourselves out of bed and to the meeting point at Hotel Regina, boarded the bus, and headed off to Toledo.

Toledo was BEAUTIFUL. It was definitely worth the trip. Shout out to my Ohio relatives, yes Toledo, Spain is a sister city of Toledo, Ohio!! Made me think of you guys.

Toledo is a city with a ton of cathedrals. Our tour guide was telling us that in the entire city, there are 82 cathedrals, and luckily we were able to visit one, and it was beautiful. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, even though we all snagged a few anyway. But this is a picture of the outside of the cathedral. It was huge. I have never seen anything like it. All the details inside are amazing and so intricate, its crazy to believe that people actually made it themselves.

We got home around 4 this afternoon and we all took long naps, which were completely necessary. I don't know how everyone in Spain keeps up with their social lives....

Besos de Madrid,
Liz

Moving in/first week in the apartment

So my first week in Madrid was awesome. Our apartment is beautiful, as Kaylen said before, 8 bedrooms, and 4 bathrooms, so we each have our own room. There are 6 girls and 2 guys in our apt, 6 from our program API, and two others who are grad students and got placed in here as well. One of them is from the Canary islands and speaks only spanish. Its fun to talk to her, even though her accent is completely different than theirs are here in Madrid. All 8 of us have been getting along really well, we spend a lot of time in the living room just hanging out and talking and whatever. And we've even made a couple "family dinners." The guys even cooked for us one night!! Who would have thought. Here's a picture of the 6 of us from API at some outdoor festival last Thursday. From left to right, Sam, Ryan, Ana, Me, Kaylen, and Katie. And we're all from NY/Boston.


First days of classes were fine, shouldn't be too crazy of a semester, which is good. Because needless to say, homework is the last thing I want to be doing while I am in this beautiful city with so much to do. I have to take the metro to class, which was interesting at first since I have only been on the NYC subway once or twice in my whole life, but now I have completely adjusted and am confident in taking it by myself, and it is so much more convenient than walking or talking taxis everywhere.

The groceries available seem so cheep, but I think it is just because we can only buy whatever we can carry back to the apartment 3 blocks away. I guess it's an efficient way to make sure I am only buying what I need! One big thing I found weird about over here is that they don't really sell disinfectant products. In America you can find anything from disinfectant wipes, to air sprays, to hand gel, but here, nada. Living with 8 people, I really miss that disinfectant stuff. Lots of germs going around!

People here never sleep. Literally. Dinner time is around 10 or 11 here, 7 days a week. If you go to a restaurant as late as 8:30, there still is NO one there. And when you do go out to eat, they serve these things called tapas, similar to or'dourves (sp) with every beer or drink you order. Sort of like a complimentary appetizer. It is really cool, because you don't know what kind you will get! Some times you get a piece of Italian bread with pork and a sauce, or other times you get olives and a kabob. It is a good way to force myself to try new foods.

The clothing style is also very different here, you never see people wearing sweat pants, or ugg's, and north faces. They dress very trendy, and well, but do not flash name brands as much as in the US. Although, I do feel like the majority of people own a burberry scarf... Night life is great here, its a great way to get out and meet the locals. Everyone is much more friendly than I thought, but you do run into the occasional Spainard who gets annoyed with our lack of Spanish. But that is to be expected. I feel generally save here, especially in my neighborhood, and where my school is. We really lucked out with our apartment and its location.

Miss you all back home very much!

Besos de Madrid,

Liz

Finally in Madrid

Hey everyone. I cant tell you how excited I am to finally be here! My flight from Newark to Madrid was fine. I was tired, since it left at 8:3opm, but I couldn't sleep much. I was too excited, anxious, and crammed between two people. I sat next to an older Spanish woman, AnaMaria who spoke very little English. She is from Mexico and was going to visit her daughter in Madrid for 2 months. She was adorable, and we made friends throughout the flight. She understood that I am not a very strong Spanish speaker, and was teaching me key phrases that I would find useful during my stay in Espana. As the flight neared its end, it was about 7am in Madrid, and as we flew over Portugal the sun started coming up. I was watching Life as we Know it, cute movie actually, and AnaMaria was gazing out the window. She taps me on the hand, and says, "mira" (look). I lean over to look out and I could see all the stars, it was beautiful. Then she gently grabs my head, and pulls me closer to the window, so I could see the horizon and the beginning of the sunrise. I look at her and she says, "que bonita, si? (how pretty)" She was enthralled by the sunrise, it was the cutest thing. Watching her watch the sunrise made me realize how you need to just stop and look at the little things more often, and really appreciate them. I learned a lot from AnaMaria in that 6 hr flight, and before we landed, she pulled out a tiny notebook in her purse, and gave me her name, address and phone in Mexico, and told her to call me whenever I am in the country, and that she hoped I would come visit. She also gave me her daughters address and number in Madrid, so I could contact her if I needed. I stumbled while trying to tell her, "my mother would say thank you," and she understood what I was trying to say, and helped me out, and said "mi madre le dire a gracias." So, mom, I am getting by, and remembering my manners along the way!

Our first day here was a blur, since we got here at 9am Madrid time, and were extremely tired since we hadn't slept at all, but we had some time to rest during the afternoon which was nice. We had a nice dinner with the other students from our school last night, the food was good, I ordered chicken of course. Not too ready to step outside my food boundaries yet.















This morning we had a tour of the old town Madrid, where we saw beautiful buildings and different plazas, such as the Plaza de sol, and the plaza mayor and the royal palace. We had to be very aware of pickpocketing, and we spotted a few pick-pocketers along the way, as we grasped our purses and cameras with our lives. We then had lunch outside in la plaza mayor, I had my first tapas! We had ham tapas, and beef tapas, which were interesting, but filling enough for lunch. And then we went to a local marcado FULL of food of all kinds ranging from raw fish to helado, where we got some helado chocolate. It was delicioso!


I move into my apartamento tomorrow, cant wait! Thats all for now.

Besos de Madrid,
Liz

First Days in Madrid

Hey everybody! I'm so in love with this city already.. it's definitely a lot to take in but it's amazing! Everyone in my program is so nice. The airport in Madrid was definitely a challenge, I had no idea where I was going and it was tough understanding everybody when I asked for directions. We took a bus to the hotel and got a hotel room and I slept for a couple hours, the jet lag was intense. My roommate Ana stayed with me in the hotel too, she's so nice and her Spanish is awesome. Mine..not so much.

We went to a restaurant with the entire group and had a great meal, everybody played it safe for the most part though and had pollo (chicken). Later on, I explored the center of the city with a group of girls. The buildings are so beautiful and everybody's very fashionable. I need to take more pictures and I'll definitely post them on facebook soon! We ended up at an Irish pub and got Sangria by la plaza mayor. The next day we had meetings and stuff and then had some free time to shop. Every store has big sales right now, can't wait to buy some good clothes!
We had an interesting lunch, rice with a tomato sauce around it that tasted just like tomato soup and an egg overeasy on top. I didn't know how I'd do with it, but it was so delicious!

Last night we went to a club called Kapital. It was unreal! It had 7 stories. The club scene is pretty different over here. We got to the club around 2 am and then left around 6 am and it was still packed when we did. Didn't sleep at all, but so worth it! It was so so fun! The guys really know how to dance here, all the girls were all being spun around all night. Didn't really know what I was doing but it was such a blast, I can't wait to go again! Aunt Lisa- no hissing yet.. we'll see. haha

Ana and I moved into the apartment today! It's beautiful, we all have our own room and there's 4 bathrooms! Its so big..There will be 8 of us eventually, but for now its just ana and I! I have wifi so it will be really easy to talk to everyone at home! I'm missing everybody already.
We're checking out our school, Nebrija, tomorrow morning. I heard it's beautiful! I'll try to write more soon!
-Kaylen

Here we go!

Hey guys! Thanks for tuning into our blog...this is our first one, so bear with us - we're new to the blog world! Hope we keep it enjoyable for everyone reading, including our family members, roommates and friends at QU, sorority sisters (love to our thetas), friends from home, and everyone else following us from back in the states!

Nothing too interesting to say yet! Kaylen and I are chatting back and forth from Albany to Boston, anticipating our upcoming travels. Her flight is tomorrow at 4pm, and mine is not until next Thursday the 13th. Mixed emotions, as you can imagine, but we are super excited to being the excursion!

Thats all for now. Wish Kaylen luck on her travels tomorrow and check in later for updates on her adventure!!!

Love from Albany,

Liz