The Last Few Days of Summer
I'm having an absolutely AMAZING time in Spain! I've been here for less than a week, and I'm already bemoaning the fact that I can't stay longer than a semester. Of course, we'll see if that changes once classes start tomorrow.
Let's see, what have I done so far? On Thursday we had some orientation stuff at the university. My roommates and I got lost on the way there, and ended up being quite a bit late, but we weren't the only ones who had that problem. Anyway, the orientation itself wasn't all that exciting, but I got to start meeting new people, which was fun. That night, my roommates and I went to our first Spanish bar. At first, I was kind of bored, especially since I don't drink much at all. The bartender spoke English, though, so we talked quite a bit to him. Then around 1 or 2 in the morning, other people started coming in. So we got to mingle and dance with some Spaniards, which was fun. I hate that my clothes and hair and everything smell like smoke after I go to a bar, though.
On Friday, I left for my orientation trip to Andalucia in the south of Spain. I had so much fun on the trip! There were 17 students who went on this particular trip, as well as two leaders. Everyone was really friendly, and I loved getting to know them. Anyway, on Friday, we basically just drove to Cazorla, the town in Andalucia where we spent most of our time, had dinner at the hotel (which was pretty nice), and walked around the town a bit.
Touring Cazorla at night
Saturday, we took a 7 hour hike in the mountains of Cazorla Natural Park. It was extremely tiring, but the views were great. We were led by a guide named Jesús, who spoke very little English. Jesús was quite funny, and he brought along his little dog, Relámpago (Lightning), on the hike with us. On the hike, we had a sack lunch and later visited a little castle. After we went to the castle, we decided to take a shortcut down a fairly steep part of the mountain to another castle. It was really difficult! 6 of us ended up getting ahead of the rest of the group, and when the mountain got even steeper, I found a path that we followed to the other castle. We were so proud of ourselves when we got there! The rest of the group ended up skipping the castle, since they didn't find the path we did, and taking an easier path back to the hotel. Anyway, the hike was mostly enjoyable and very rewarding, but it's three days later, and I'm still sore! Going downhill or down stairs right now is especially difficult, since my thighs hurt the most.
Hiking in the mountains of Cazorla
The next day, we went horseback riding for about 45 minutes through some hills, which was fun, but too short. Then we went river walking, which was my favorite activity of the whole trip. Basically, we hiked up a bit through a canyon, then got in the river wearing wetsuits and followed it down back where we started. We did this by walking, swimming, sliding, and jumping off rocks (some more than 20 feet high). The canyon was absolutely beautiful! It was very green, and the water was really clear (though cold!). I wish I could have had my camera with me, but I don't own a waterproof camera. Finally, after the river walk, we went kayaking and swimming in a reservoir.
Monday, we started heading back. On the way, we stopped in another little old town and took a look around. It was cool to hear all the history around the place. They had another castle there, originally built by the Arabs, but modified by the Christians who took over later. It was closed for renovation, but the guy in charge happened to be there and told us we could go inside, so we did for a bit. After that, we had lunch, which was absolutely huge! We had like 8 different appetizers, two courses, then a dessert. A lot of it was really good, but I couldn't finish it all. After lunch, we finished our drive back to Madrid, and I arrived at my host home about an hour before dinner. (The dinners my host senora cooks, by the way, are wonderful!)
Our third castle
Today, we had our orientation meeting and a free lunch. Afterwards, a couple of friends and I went to the city center. We bought tickets to see La Bella y la Bestia on Friday night. We wanted to go tomorrow, since it would be cheaper, but they were sold out of the balcony seats. So we ended up paying like 26 euros (though still less than what we'd pay if we went next week, since this is the last week of summer prices), but I figure it can be my birthday gift to myself. Besides, I absolutely love the musical (esp. since I was in it and got to see it on Broadway). So I'm pretty excited, as are my roommates. Apparently, the cast performed a few numbers in front of the palace for free, which my roommates got to see. Actually, they have a couple of friends who were with them that now want to go too, so we'll have to see if we can get more tickets nearby.
After buying the tickets, we walked around a bit, went into a couple of stores, and bought ice cream at McDonalds. I bought an Oreo McFlurry, which was really yummy, which surprised me a bit because they put chocolate syrup in it here and I'm not the hugest chocolate fan. After that, we walked down to the Prado Museum, since it's free from 6-8pm. The Prado was wonderful, though we sort of rushed through it. There's no way you can see everything in less than two hours! But we'll definitely go back several times this semester. From the Prado, my friends went back home, and I walked to meet another friend. We had ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (I really need to stop buying ice cream, but I love it so much!), and hung out for about half an hour. We then met one of her friends and a couple of his friends, and walked to the palace. The palace was SO beautiful at dusk! I hadn't ever seen it when it wasn't light out before. There were more people around than I'd ever seen there before, either. I was only there for a little while, though, before I had to head back for dinner.
The Prado
So that's been my trip so far. As I said before, classes start tomorrow, which I'm actually excited about (though nervous for my Spanish classes). We'll see how excited I am once I actually start having to study, though....
Let's see, what have I done so far? On Thursday we had some orientation stuff at the university. My roommates and I got lost on the way there, and ended up being quite a bit late, but we weren't the only ones who had that problem. Anyway, the orientation itself wasn't all that exciting, but I got to start meeting new people, which was fun. That night, my roommates and I went to our first Spanish bar. At first, I was kind of bored, especially since I don't drink much at all. The bartender spoke English, though, so we talked quite a bit to him. Then around 1 or 2 in the morning, other people started coming in. So we got to mingle and dance with some Spaniards, which was fun. I hate that my clothes and hair and everything smell like smoke after I go to a bar, though.
On Friday, I left for my orientation trip to Andalucia in the south of Spain. I had so much fun on the trip! There were 17 students who went on this particular trip, as well as two leaders. Everyone was really friendly, and I loved getting to know them. Anyway, on Friday, we basically just drove to Cazorla, the town in Andalucia where we spent most of our time, had dinner at the hotel (which was pretty nice), and walked around the town a bit.
Touring Cazorla at night
Saturday, we took a 7 hour hike in the mountains of Cazorla Natural Park. It was extremely tiring, but the views were great. We were led by a guide named Jesús, who spoke very little English. Jesús was quite funny, and he brought along his little dog, Relámpago (Lightning), on the hike with us. On the hike, we had a sack lunch and later visited a little castle. After we went to the castle, we decided to take a shortcut down a fairly steep part of the mountain to another castle. It was really difficult! 6 of us ended up getting ahead of the rest of the group, and when the mountain got even steeper, I found a path that we followed to the other castle. We were so proud of ourselves when we got there! The rest of the group ended up skipping the castle, since they didn't find the path we did, and taking an easier path back to the hotel. Anyway, the hike was mostly enjoyable and very rewarding, but it's three days later, and I'm still sore! Going downhill or down stairs right now is especially difficult, since my thighs hurt the most.
Hiking in the mountains of Cazorla
The next day, we went horseback riding for about 45 minutes through some hills, which was fun, but too short. Then we went river walking, which was my favorite activity of the whole trip. Basically, we hiked up a bit through a canyon, then got in the river wearing wetsuits and followed it down back where we started. We did this by walking, swimming, sliding, and jumping off rocks (some more than 20 feet high). The canyon was absolutely beautiful! It was very green, and the water was really clear (though cold!). I wish I could have had my camera with me, but I don't own a waterproof camera. Finally, after the river walk, we went kayaking and swimming in a reservoir.
Monday, we started heading back. On the way, we stopped in another little old town and took a look around. It was cool to hear all the history around the place. They had another castle there, originally built by the Arabs, but modified by the Christians who took over later. It was closed for renovation, but the guy in charge happened to be there and told us we could go inside, so we did for a bit. After that, we had lunch, which was absolutely huge! We had like 8 different appetizers, two courses, then a dessert. A lot of it was really good, but I couldn't finish it all. After lunch, we finished our drive back to Madrid, and I arrived at my host home about an hour before dinner. (The dinners my host senora cooks, by the way, are wonderful!)
Our third castle
Today, we had our orientation meeting and a free lunch. Afterwards, a couple of friends and I went to the city center. We bought tickets to see La Bella y la Bestia on Friday night. We wanted to go tomorrow, since it would be cheaper, but they were sold out of the balcony seats. So we ended up paying like 26 euros (though still less than what we'd pay if we went next week, since this is the last week of summer prices), but I figure it can be my birthday gift to myself. Besides, I absolutely love the musical (esp. since I was in it and got to see it on Broadway). So I'm pretty excited, as are my roommates. Apparently, the cast performed a few numbers in front of the palace for free, which my roommates got to see. Actually, they have a couple of friends who were with them that now want to go too, so we'll have to see if we can get more tickets nearby.
After buying the tickets, we walked around a bit, went into a couple of stores, and bought ice cream at McDonalds. I bought an Oreo McFlurry, which was really yummy, which surprised me a bit because they put chocolate syrup in it here and I'm not the hugest chocolate fan. After that, we walked down to the Prado Museum, since it's free from 6-8pm. The Prado was wonderful, though we sort of rushed through it. There's no way you can see everything in less than two hours! But we'll definitely go back several times this semester. From the Prado, my friends went back home, and I walked to meet another friend. We had ice cream from Ben & Jerry's (I really need to stop buying ice cream, but I love it so much!), and hung out for about half an hour. We then met one of her friends and a couple of his friends, and walked to the palace. The palace was SO beautiful at dusk! I hadn't ever seen it when it wasn't light out before. There were more people around than I'd ever seen there before, either. I was only there for a little while, though, before I had to head back for dinner.
The Prado
So that's been my trip so far. As I said before, classes start tomorrow, which I'm actually excited about (though nervous for my Spanish classes). We'll see how excited I am once I actually start having to study, though....