Meeting up with Ben in Zurich, Switzerland!

So this past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) I went to Zurich, Switzerland to meet up with my boyfriend Ben! It was so great to see him, and it was definitely a great trip! Although it was so cold and the city was covered in snow, it put me in the Christmas mood and now I'm excited to be going home to spend Christmas with my family and friends.

The weekend started off great. As soon as I met up with Ben at the airport, we took a train and a tram (the trams that are eco-friendly and run on wires) back to the center of Zurich and he immediately bought me Zurich's best sausages! Then we walked around the city a bit and saw all the various Christmas lights covering not only every street of the city, but also all the neat little shops, and several huge trees!! That night we stayed with family friend of Ben's. Since Ben went to a private high school where his mom works, she knows a lot of international students, one living in Switzerland. So his family was nice enough to let us stay with them for our first night. It was a beautiful house that overlooked the city. Since it was Thanksgiving when I arrived, they cooked us a nice "insta-thanksgiving" meal that consisted of chicken, stuffing, salad, roasted vegetables, cheese, chocolate and to top it all off, homemade pumpkin pie. It was delicious! That night, Ben and I explored the city and realized that the whole city shuts down after 8 p.m. So we kept that in mind for the next day! haha

When we awoke the next morning, there was snow covering the entire city. It was absolutely beautiful!! It was a winter wonderland and it was so nice to see snow, since Valencia will never get it while we're here. Karen, the mom, took Ben and I to the ice skating rink where she practices on a team with other women. While she practiced, Ben and I rented skates and went ice skating on one of the very few outside ice skating rinks left in Europe. It was so cold, but so much fun!! We said our goodbyes to Karen afterwards when she dropped us off at our hotel. She was so nice and Ben and I were lucky we had the opportunity to meet them and have them show us around the city!!

I loved riding the trams around the city, especially because it was so cold. And the food we ate was pretty expensive, but absolutely delicious and worth every cent! We ate hawaiian pizza at one restaurant right in the center, and then we decided we should save some money by going to the supermarket and buy some food. While there, I bought about 10 bars of chocolate for all you guys back at home!! Don't worry, I've already finished one by myself! Swiss chocolate is so great and it just melts in your mouth!

Don't forget the huge Christmas market at the train station! Ben and I were talking about it all weekend and finally stumbled upon it (well, BEN did) the last day we were there. It was huge and had little stands of people selling food and drinks like sausages, buttered pretzels, hot apple cider, and glug (a Swedish/German/Swiss drink, served hot--Ben and I tried some and it was really good! It tastes like hot sangria! haha)

Anyways, yes, it was definitely a great place to put you in the mood for Christmas! From the German gifts, food and smells of Christmas at the market, to the lights lighting up the whole city with the snow falling and everyone wrapped up in their jackets and scarves, it was a great time. I'm so glad Ben and I picked Zurich to meet up. There is no place quite like it!

Now for some pictures!!

Also, here are some views from the plane when I took off over the Swiss Alps. Que bonita, no?

Xàtiva

Xativa is a pueblo about an hour south of Valencia. We climbed yet another mountain, but this time it wasn't as intense! Once we got to the top, we relaxed, had a glass of wine and saw the beautiful view of the rest of the pueblo. Oh, and not to mention, Daven got interviewed for a local news station! Pretty neat!

Sevilla/Granada

Two weekends ago (November 11-13) a large group of us travelled to Sevilla, Spain. My friend Ariel and I also decided to go to Granada by bus this weekend, and I'm so glad we did. We saw the Alhombra (the old ruins of the Moors) that overlooks the entire city and we even took a SEGWAY tour of the city! That's right, a SEGWAY tour!! It was so much fun (even though I almost fell off various times).

I definitely think Granada is one of my favorite places I have traveled too, just because it's a place of absolute beauty. We saw huge mountains in the distance covered with snow, meanwhile we were in the center of Granada where the sun was shining, leaves were falling and it was warm weather. It was absolutely amazing and I'm glad I spent the 30 euros for a busride from Sevilla to go!!

Although I didn't get to see my 2 friends who are studying there this semester, we saw a LOT of the city. The Alhombra was my favorite, and we also saw El Sacramonte. Here are some pictures from Granada, and then afterwards I'll post some from Sevilla!!

Fall leaves on the trees, yet snow-capped mountains in the background! I loved it!

A great view from the Alhombra!

The Alhombra from afar...

Ariel and I on the Alhombra...

A house with ceramic plates and bowls alongside of the entire house. This was on the way up the mountain on our segway tour!

And SEVILLA....

Above is a picture of the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla. It was where a scene from the film Star Wars (in the newer movies) was shot. Pretty cool, huh?

A view of beautiful Sevilla

This is the actual tomb of Christopher Columbus at a church in Sevilla

Above is the city center of Sevilla

A great view from the roof of our hostel in Sevilla!

MALAGA, Spain

Malaga was amazing! It was Keaton, Brooke and I for the first night, until Esteban met up with us after his 9 hour train ride! (He had a Eurorail pass that he needed to use!)

Malaga had beautiful weather and we got to see a lot of the city. We lived off of Burger King and cheap wine and took plenty of pictures! Have a look...

Lori Meyers Concierto, Gleason's Bday, CALPE!!!

Hi everyone!

Sorry it's been so long since I've written. I wanted to take some time today to update you all on what I have been up to since October break! It's been over a month! haha

The weekend after Fall Break (Thurs. October 23 My intercambio, Carlota and I went with her friends to a concert on the beach. The name of the band was Lori Meyers and they were actually pretty good!!

Here are some pictures from it:

Gleason's birthday was this same weekend. We went to a club called Indiana and took some pictures as well. Here they are!

Also, that weekend we went to Calpe, a city near Valencia. It was beautiful weather and little did we know what we had to do. We wore our hiking shoes, but didn't know we'd be climbing a huge mountain like this one...

It was a lot of fun, and in the end, the view was worth it!!

We all got to sign our names on a rock at the top of the mountain!!
Here I am on the top!!

That's all from the weekend of October 23. More to come on the weekends following this one!

Cuidate,

Sar

Descanso de Octubre

Hey! So it's been awhile since I've updated this thing!!!

The last time we talked was at the beginning of October, and it's already November! Boy, does time go by fast!

We had October break from Oct 7-18th and it was amazing!! Where do I even begin? Why don't we start from the beginning...

MADRID (Oct. 7-9) "Loco"

Madrid was absolutely amazing. Jess and I stayed in a really cheap hostel with Daven and Ashley, 2 other girls from the program. Even though it was cheap, it was a very nice hostel. It had a balcony that overlooked the street we were on, so we were able to see all the nightlife that was going on. The 1st night (Thurs. the 7th) we went out for churros and chocolate (it was warm, melted chocolate, but not too sweet...it was perfect) We went to bed fairly early because the next day we had a long day ahead of us! We went to so many museums (The Prada Museum and then the Reina Sofia Museum). We saw a lot of Picasso's artwork, which was pretty legit!! The 2nd night we ate dinner and guzzled down 2 bottles of wine. Later, we got into a really big, but fun club. It had so many people and we ended up meeting some Spaniards on the dance floor! The headache I had from the wine the next morning was not so much fun, especially because we had to get up early for our train to Salamanca...

SALAMANCA (Oct. 9-11) "Espana Antigua"

By far, this has been my favorite place that I have traveled to and by far the most emotional trip I have taken. Salamanca was definitely an experience within its own. My cousin Emily studied abroad here when she was in college, and I can definitely see why she chose here. There were times when I thought to myself, "Why didn't I come here to study for a semester?!" Anyways, Jess and I got really emotional when we went inside all the various cathedrals. They were so beautiful and we just don't have iglesias like that in the states. Jess and I fell in love with the city and we saw so much within the 2 days we were there. I am so glad we visited there instead of Toledo or staying in Madrid for a longer time. We saw the Museo de Salamanca, a couple other museums and San Esteban Cathedral. We also went shopping and ate a ton of food!! There will be a piece of my heart in Salamanca forever, and I already know I'll be visiting there again someday.

ITALIA-PISA (Oct. 12) "Simple"

We were delayed through RyanAir (yet again) because of the huelgas (strikes) in Paris, which backed up the transportation. When we arrived in Pisa, we only stayed for a few hours to see the classic "Leaning Tower of Pisa." It's beautiful there, but we had enough of Pisa after the torre. I bought a new leather purse (I really needed one, you can even ask Jess). After a few hours in Pisa, I was ready to visit Chris and his friends in Florence...

ITALIA-FLORENCE/"FIRENZE" (Oct. 12-14) "Rico"

I am in love with Italy. It is SO gorgeous and just like what you see/hear in movies!! The food is delicious, the culture is rich and the Italians are crazy and do actually speak a lot with their hands. We stayed with Chris in his apartment that he has for the semester and we slept on his love seats (not too shabby, by the way)! His apartment was actually really nice and they had their own kitchen and told us they cook a lot of their meals. Although I can't cook to save my life, I think it'd be a lot of fun to be able to do that. He has 3 other guy roommates who are all pretty sweet! Derek, Dave and Pat were their names! The first night they took us out and I spent 4 Euros on a beer (I can't keep doing that). The next day we went up the Michael Angelo steps and saw the beautiful view of the city! I took a lot of pictures! We also saw the huge Italian market and then went out to lunch. Trust me, it was definitely real Italian food. We spent 8 euros for a 3 course meal. It was delicious...consisted of pasta (obviamente), chicken with a sweet tomato sauce ontop and then steamed broccoli. We wandered the city afterwards and saw the gorgeous cathedrals too. Florence is simply a taste of Italy and I knew Rome would be even more intense. It was great to see Chris, a familiar face from home!! It was sad when I had to say goodbye :(

ROMA (Oct. 14-17) "Romantica"

The first thing Jess and I did upon arriving in Rome was get gelato. It is so popular there! We had it twice yesterday and twice today. 2 Euros for a small is definitely worth it! The first day we saw the Colosseum and met David and his brother, Jon. We walked around the city a bit and eventually met up with other people from our program to get pizza at a really popular (and absolutely delicious) pizza place. We got a 4 cheese pizza, a margarita pizza that is really popular there. It was so thin, and SOOO good! Later, we went back and relaxed at hour hostel (which was right by the Vatican by the way). We got gelato again on the way home :) haha The 2nd day, Jess and I did a lot of walking around!! We went to the catacombs with David and his brother. Other places we went in Rome were:

-Plaza Navona (fountain, pizza, gelato)

-Trevi Fountain

-Spanish Steps

-San Carlo Quattro Fountain

-Barberini Plaza

-Republican Plaza

-Tritone Fountain

-Costatino Arc

-Pietro Vincoli

-San Giovanni & Paolo

-Circo Massimo

-Vatican

We did a tour of the Colosseum too and I'm so glad we did it!