Oktoberfest-Munich, Germany

Oktoberfest was crazy. No comment. Just look at the pics and you'll get the idea...

Balearic Islands--Mallorca!!

Hola todos,

This past weekend I went to Mallorca, one of the 5 Balearic Islands off the coast of Valencia. Que bonita! I want to live there someday. hahaha

Melissa and I were the only ones that went. We left on Thursday night after classes by ferry. We actually left at 11pm, so we were able to sleep on the boat and arrived there early morning. We got there and it was pouring rain, so we were starting to get worried that the weather wouldn't be good. Fortunately though, the weather was beautiful the rest of the day on Friday, and the whole day on Saturday. On Friday morning when we arrived at the port, we took a bus to our hostel, called "TierraMar." The man working there was so great...he gave us directions, places to go and info. on what buses to take. The room really wasn't all that bad either...we had a balcony that overlooked some of the city. Where we stayed was right on the famous beach, La Playa de Arenal.

We ended up taking a bus into Palma, the major city of Mallorca. Once in Palma, we did a lot of sight-seeing. We walked up about 200 stairs to "el castillo de belver" (a castle) that sat on top of a cliff, overlooking all of the island. It was so beautiful and I have lots of pics as well!! Afterwards, we ate our bocadillos at the cathedral in Palma. The castle and cathedral are the 2 main places that tourists see while in Palma, so we had to do it! We ate McDonalds for dinner, since it was probably the cheapest thing available, and then we walked around to see some of the nightlife in Arenal. Mallorca is definitely a tourist attraction, especially for those who live in northern Europe. A lot of people working there knew English, so that was nice for a change :)

On Saturday we got up and ate breakfast at the hostel (it was included!) After, we walked 2 seconds down the road and layed on the beach until about 3 or 4 when it started getting a little bit chilly and windy. (I feel like this weekend was one of the last weekends to travel to Mallorca since the weather is getting cooler now..)

Melissa and I then rented bikes for 3 euros and rode up the mountain. We saw some beautiful views of the ocean and of the sunset. It was an amazing time and I'm definitely glad we took the trip. This weekend is Oktoberfest!! I'll have a post coming soon about that hahaha

Aqui son mis fotos de Mallorca....

Barcelonaaaa!!!!

This past weekend a group of 9 of us from the program traveled to "Barthelona." We decided to fly RyanAir (which was a horrible idea, which you'll soon read about...)

We arrived at Valencia Airport at approximately 8 p.m. for our 10 p.m. flight. The flight kept getting more and more delayed..to the point where we didn't end up taking off until 2 in the morning!! And mind you, there was as huge thunderstorm as well. We ended up taking off right into it and I'm not overexaggerating when I say we almost crashed in the plane. BECAUSE WE ALMOST DID! The turbulence was so bad that the plane dropped like 100 feet in the air. I was squeezing Shannon and Jess's hands so tight. I made Keaton promise me we wouldn't die!! It was so scary. I've been in really bad turbulence before, but definitely not that bad. We landed about a half an hour later and everyone clapped on the plane because we made it through the storm!! I know it sounds dumb, but it made me appreciate everything I have a lot more. Because I was honestly thinking of my family and friends back at home during all this..and I was afraid I would never see them again...

Anyways, moving onto the good news...

We got into Barcelona around 3 or 4 a.m. and the guy who ran the hostel/villa we were staying at was nice enough to pick us up. This villa we stayed at for 20 euros/night was gorgeous!! It was on a little hill about 20 minutes from the center of Barcelona. It had a tennis court, pool and we ate the meals for only 5 euros. And it was good food! We also met a couple other people who were staying there as well, and these boys from England who were working there for a few months. They were all so nice and I loved their accents!! They showed us the "party basement" right when we got there, but we were all so exhausted from waiting at the airport that we went to bed.

The next day (Sat.) we got up somewhat early and took a metro to meet Ariel's friend who showed us around the city a bit. We saw cathedrals, little coffee shops, gift stores, and even the parliament building! It rained all day Saturday, so that wasn't cool, but other than that, it was a great day. Later, we had "paella" for dinner (this is a popular Valenciano dish, yet the first time I actually ate it was in Barcelona this weekend). A guy from Holland who was working there made a HUGE dish of it and we all tried it. His parents were staying there as well and were really nice people.

Oh and did I mention there was endless sangria with our dinner? It was such a great meal for only 5 euros!! After we were all having fun around the dinner table we went to a carnival time thing that was right down the road from the villa. Nope, we didn't go out in the city (one of the clubs was like 15 euros just to get in). The carnival was fun, even though we didn't go on any rides. They had really cheap drinks, and we ended up going to some folk dancing concert. When some of us decided to leave, we got really lost and I was so sore the next day from walking so much. We finally made it back to the Villa and life was good.

Sunday was the day that we did most of our sight-seeing. We saw all of those people who dress up and pretend to be statues to get money...we went to an expensive McDonald's but it was sooo worth it, we saw the cathedral in Barcelona (I forgot the name) that is still being built after like 200 years, and we went to the Galdi Park (spelling?) which you will definitely see in the pictures I'm about to post. It was beautiful and overlooked the whole city of Barcelona. We fit a lot in for just a weekend!! We took a lot of trains, but we split the ticket everytime so it was cheaper for all of us! :)

So all in all, it was such a great weekend!! The 9 of us would now like to be called "The Brady Bunch." I'm Alice :)

I really want to post some pics from Barcelona for all of you to see, so here they are....

Posing with the "statues"

The cathedral....it was so beautiful. The architecture was amazing!!

The one above is the front of the cathedral, which had the story of Jesus...

Above is a side view of it

The villa we stayed at...it was so pretty there!! It was a giant house with lots of rooms!

Candy at the mercado. Tempting, but I didn't touch...

Funny huh?

Cotton candy at the fair=priceless

The view of Barcelona from the park

Ariel and I posing for a pic at the Dali museum....(which we didn't go in, but it was a cool pic!!)

I have a friend!

Hey guys!!

So, today after class I met this girl named Whitney who did the UVA program 2 years ago and is now living in Spain and teaching for a year. She's trying to live in Andalucia (where I would love to visit while I'm here). We stopped for coffee for a bit and I met her old "intercambio," which we are all able to get through the program. An "intercambio" is someone who will be a close friend while you're here for the semester. They're learning English, while we are learning Spanish! I actually just found out who my intercambio is!! Her name is Carlota and she's an ex-student at the University of Valencia here. It'll be great to finally meet her. I feel like we'll both be able to help each other a lot because we are both going to teach each other our languages!! I feel like with her, I won't be as intimidated to speak because she's 21, just about my age--and she can help me if I mess up. Same with her--when she speaks English, I will help her as well!

Anyways, that's it for now. I have lots of homework to do and a long nap to take. I will write again soon--most likely after Barcelona this weekend!! Talk to you soon...

Cuidate,

Sar

Tentative Plan for the Semester...

Hola! So not much has gone on the past 2 days, other than homework and lots of naps. Yesterday I didn't feel too well :( But today I'm feeling great! Classes are going very well--I think all of my classes are really easy. Tomorrow I have Grammar Review and Texts and Interpretation. The only thing I need to stop doing is procrastinating! So after I post this, I will do my homework--that's a promise to myself!! I want to go to the beach tomorrow. It's so beautiful there, and I just want to relax and take it easy. After all, the Spanish motto is "Esta bien. Tranquilo."

Yesterday was me and Ben's one year anniversary!! I was really upset we couldn't spend the day with each other, but we skyped and had a good talk. And the connection was perfect! (It's really hard to skype/video chat at nighttime here)

I miss everyone at home so much, but at the same time, I feel like I'm getting used to being here. I'm getting used to the city more and more everyday, classes are getting easier the more I speak and listen carefully and I'm starting to get really excited about traveling all around Spain and checking other countries close to here. As of right now, this is my tentative plan as far as breaks/weekends go for the semester (it changed since the last time I posted this, and it probably will change again because I haven't booked anything yet and need to find people to go with...)

THIS WEEKEND IS BARCELONA!!!

Thurs. Sept 23-26: Sevilla/Granada

Thurs. Sept 30-Oct 3: OKTOBERFEST in Munich, Germany

Thurs. Oct 7-17: Fall Break in Valencia for all the festivities and then Madrid and then Italy (Venice, Florence, Rome)

Sat. Oct 23: Day trip to Calpe

Thurs. Oct 28-Nov 1: Ireland (Killarney)

Fri. Nov 5-7: Stay in Valencia

Thurs. Nov 11-14: Salamanca, Toledo

Sat. Nov 20: Day trip to Xativa

Thurs. Nov 25-28: Switzerland with Ben???

Sat. Dec 4-8: Reading Days/Holiday (open weekend for now if I choose to go somewhere last minute)

Fri. Dec 10-12: Study for FINAL EXAMS!

Thurs. Dec 16: Leave for U.S. (Paris, France on the way home?)

Comment on this post and let me know if this sounds good or if you think I should go somewhere else! I've realized we don't really have that much time to travel. I thought we wouldn't have any Friday classes, but in reality, we only have 4 or 5 weekends that we can travel (other than fall break). So we have to squeeze everything in!! And also, I want to travel throughout Spain before I go anywhere else. There are so many cool places here, and I want to explore Sevilla, Granada, Salamanca, Toledo, Madrid, etc.!!

That's all for now...hopefully we will book a hostel tonight for Barcelona this weekend and look into some trains/flights for our trip next weekend!

Miss you all! xoxo

Cuidate,

Sar

Un Gran Fin de Semana

I ate octopus today!! It was actually pretty good! I'm so full from lunch..ugh!! Our madre feeds us so much food. And then we eat fruit for dessert, but sometimes I can't even get that down!!!

This weekend was a lot of fun! We went out for 3 nights in a row, and by the end of each night our group just kept getting smaller and smaller.

Jess and I are trying to plan out our fall break. Since it's so expensive to fly into Greece, we may just explore Spain for the first half of break and then go to Italy for a few nights. And then we also want to plan a trip to Ireland at the end of October (Carly--I need your help with that!)

I'll post these pics from the weekend. Friday night we met at a club called Corono 15 and then went to another club called Fox Congo. At Corono 15, we all got free drinks called "La Agua de Valencia," which is the popular drink here (hence the name). It was a lot of fun, and I really love everyone in the program.

I'm starting to get so excited to travel! Barcelona this weekend! TO DO: Find a hostel haha :)

Here are pics..I'll write again tomorrow! :) Miss you all from home!!!!! SO much!

Cuidate,

Sar

Updates :)

Hola! I am officially going to Barcelona next weekend (Sept 17-19). I can't wait!! We are leaving Friday after classes and staying in a hostile for 2 nights and coming back late Sunday night! I'm going with my roommate Jessica and my friends Gleason, Melissa and Ariel. I seriously can't wait!

The thing I'm starting to get a little bit nervous about is money. I have enough as of right now, but over fall break I really want to visit Chris, Kelly and Regina in Italy, Greece and Paris!! I want to go to Rome too. Our October break is October 8-17, so I was thinking we could fly out of Madrid (stay in Madrid for a night and see the city) and then fly into Greece and stay for a couple nights. Then we could visit Italy since it's so close, and maybe Paris on the way back home. We have a week and a half off, so this is when I want to do my traveling outside of Spain.

I can always visit other cities in Spain like Salamanca, Granada, Seville and Toledo on a long weekend that we have in October or November.

As of right now, this is my schedule:

Weekend Sept 17-19: Barcelona, Spain

September 23: Actividad Nautica (we learn how to sail on the Mediterranean!)

September 24: Visita al Museo de L'Almoina

Weekend September 30-Oct 3: Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany!!

Fall Break October 8-17: Greece, Italy, France

Weekend October 23: Day trip to Calpe

October 25-28: Mid-term exams

Weekend October 29-31: (Maybe) Small trip to Seville, Granada, Toledo or Salamanca

November 12: Day trip to la Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias

Weekend November 20: Day trip to Xativa

November 24-29: Ben Visits??? (maybe..we're not sure yet)

December 4-8: Reading Days/Holiday (not sure what trip yet!)

December 13-15: Final Exams

December 16: Flight home!

Yes, I know, I know, when you go abroad you shouldn't plan things out, especially as I just did. But, that is how I am. I like to know ahead of time what I'm doing, especially if I have to book flights and hostels. Anyways, I have a lot to look forward to. I'm doing something pretty much every weekend. Although I was under the impression that we had only 2 or 3 Fridays throughout the semester on which we had classes and that isn't he case, I can make it work so I can still go to class on Friday and leave afterwards for the weekend to a city here in Spain. I mean, I AM in Spain--I should see as much of it as I can before going anywhere else, although I would love to see Italy and Greece :)

That's it for now. It's all starting to fly by really fast, so I want to take advantage of every opportunity I have. Here are a couple pictures from yesterday's adventures! Earlier, after classes (I get out at noon everyday-it's quite nice) we took the bus to the beach and swam in the Mediterranean Sea-no big deal :) Then, Melissa, Gleason, Ariel and I want to get some drinks. They were like slushies! They were pretty good for 6 euros!

One final thing: I've realized I'm not going to worry about money. I've only taken out money once so far, and that should hopefully last me throughout this next week and on the trip to Barcelona next weekend. As long as I get to travel throughout Spain a lot and see Italy, Greece and France, I'll be happy :) I know I'll be back here someday to travel even more!

Finalmente, aqui estan los fotos de ayer...

Me, Chelsea and Melissa posing for a pic. on the Mediterranean Sea-Que bonito!

The beach was really crowded yesterday!!

Me, Ariel and Gleason getting slushies in the city

Ariel, Gleason and Melissa

Cuidate,

Sar