SPAIN days 1 through 8 (aka ALL)

I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to write again, so many things have changed now since I wrote last... My Islam class and my British History class have both ended (unfortunately I still have British Life and Culture) and I have now started my internship, which by the way I LOVE. But I'll talk about that later, for now I need to back track and tell you about my experiences in Spain! they probably won't be quite as thorough as my Turkish notes but its better than nothing I suppose, so here goes....

Day 1: Alicante 23/10/09

Though our departure was about as hectic as it could have been our arrival was just as smooth. Our week had been so intense with homework, papers and finals that we were so relieved to arrive without difficulty, take a taxi to our hotel and walk out onto the beach. The hotel we stayed in was called Hotel Albahia. Now from the outside it didn't look like much and I'll admit I was a bit worried by it's appearance at first. But as soon as you stepped into the lobby you could tell that this was a high quality beautiful place. The lobby was all white with some blue, and a bit of a mod feel in the art, architecture and seating... it was such a relief since we had booked everything by how cheap they were not necessarily by the best ratings. Since Christina and I don't speak spanish Julissa handled the check in. Our room was spacious, beautiful and clean - though all three beds were together in the one room we had plenty of room, a full bathroom, a TV and a balcony. And since we were on the ground floor our room happened to be right next to the door that led out the bottom of the hotel. Though the beach here was a rocky boulder type of edge it was still comforting and stunning view to have right outside our door. After my hectic week with so little sleep and so much stress it was absolutely perfect to just walk out there at 1 am (our arrival time) and lean on the wall to look at the sea and listen to the waves... All things considering, I would definitely recomend this hotel to anyone.

After we slept for a few hours we got ready to go into the middle of Alicante to do some touristy things and go to the beach for a bit.


ok so i need to speed this up - I am switching to brief notes, if you want the stories, just ask me! but i need to get through the spain notes because they are OLD and then maybe I will have time to write about whats been happening in london and talk about Paris!

• st Nicholas Cathedral
• Explanada de Espania: weather is beautiful, cute shops/booths... and our adventure to find food before 1pm because apparently no one here eats before 1
• BEACH <3>
• we took an elevator to the top of this huge hill/small mountain to see palace ruins and look out over alicante and the mediterenean sea
• then we got icecream, took the bus back to the hotel to grab our luggage and took a taxi to the train
• hopped onto the train for Albacete!

DAY TWO - Albacete 24/10/09

• really more of a half a day since Julissa and I woke up at 2:30 and Christina didn't wake up until 3:30! really we were so exhausted from our whole trip and the night train
• so we ate and started to replan our week because we didnt know the trains would be SO expensive
• around 5ish we went into the Spanish countryside with Julissa's cousin and his friend Andrew (we were staying with her cousin in Albacete)
• so we took a little road trip in andrew's tiny car to Elche de la Sierra where his family lives (in the middle of beautiful no-where)
• the countryside reminded me of California except a bit more green and the fields I saw here were growing Olives and strange fruits
• at his house I learned to make arepas with the women of the family - they spoke no English, and my Spanish is pretty much limited to hola so it was interesting
• but I loved it and I dove right in and started cooking with them, then we started pointing to random things and they would teach me the Spanish word and I would teach them the English one, hilarious
• then I went for a ride around the neighborhood with Andrew's grandfather? on the fourwheeler, nice old spanish man, no idea what his name was and he spoke no english
• I started to help with the Empanadas too but us young people ended up going to a local bar for a drink for a bit while the women finished cooking.
• the bar was called Penarrubia or was that the name of the tiny town? I'm not exactly sure any more, its been awhile
• we played fooseball (christina and I beat Julissa and Havian twice! ;)
• on the drive back they tried to scare us by stoping at this scary haunted house and telling us the story... well they got Christina and I - it was creepy!
• we came back to the house and ate empanadas and arepas and lots of different meat things... Christina accidentally ate what resembled a blood sausage.... it was pretty funny
• they also gave us Caquis which is a smushy fruit that looks a bit like a translucent tomato with a big top on it.. it has the texture of a grape inside but tastes a bit more like a berry
• we ended up staying at the house in the country with these kind people for the night

DAY 3 - VALENCIA 25/10/09

• leaving at 7AM from Elche de la Sierra to go back to Albacete to buy our train tickets for that night and get clothes (first cockroach sighting this morning!)
• then off to Valencia for the day
• "road trip" style again
• walked around the city, wandered some markets
• funny story about christina finding a person who sold jeans, she didnt want to buy them without trying them on but she had ripped hers and needed another pair badly... so she went behind the stall where he was selling them and put the jeans on under her skirt
• back to the car and off to the BEACH!!!
• colder water, a colder day... but still fun! and I was so proud of Julissa for actually going in this time! (swimming lessons? ha)
• dinner on the board walk - fish eyes anyone?! I have never had so many eyes on my plate ...
• walk back on the board walk (or skip?)
• car ride back to Albacete (poor little tiny car)
• leaving on the train for Barcelona at 3AM

DAY 4 - BARCELONA 26/10/09

• this is one of the most uncomfortable trains I have ever been on in my LIFE
• I swear I am going to buy one of those neck pillows before I ever go on a train again (yea I never did buy one)
• train delayed (while we were on it) no idea why but we ended up having to get transfered to a new train
• arrive just to wait online FOREVER and then walk a million miles up and down in the silly metro because they dont have escalators or elevators anywhere
• first 5 minutes on the metro and someone is trying to pickpocket both Christina and my purses
• arrive in hotel Barbara (FINALLY) but our reservation has been messed up
• TIRED AND STARVING and Christina's credit card has been shut off
• this sucks, why did we want to come here?! "supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, blah, blah, blah..... FUCKERS" - Julissa <3>
• PS Julissa still hasnt written her paper that was due before we left... or even finished the book
• oh yea and COCKROACHES IN THE METRO (shivers)
• our hotel is literally around the corner from prostitute street. and not even the high class pretty ones. (christina and Julissa run past this corner every time... I think its funny)
• apparently Spaniards don't shower much... what kind of hotel doesn't give you shampoo?!
• then there was the asshole who ripped the menu out of Julissa's hand ... and the woman in the costume store who told us to hurry up and make a decision because she didn't have all day to stand there - so every contact we've had so far is rude or mean (or pick pockets)
• we ate mcdonalds and had ice cream to console us.... the ice cream helped a little
• Christina finally gets her card working again but our hotel reservation is still fucked up
• internet cafe - a little connection to friends and family makes us feel better
• nice spanish dinner (more tapas!)
• meet up with Martha (our friend who is studying in Barcelona) .... who makes everything better <3

DAY 5 - Barcelona

• la Boqueria - nice market where we got our breakfast for every day in Barcelona
• in there we found everything from strange hot pink colored fruits to bloody pigs heads to chocolates to dead rabbits hung up by their toesies ... fur and all!
• Gaudi - House of Bones (Batello)
• Gaudi - Sangra da Familia (finishing in 2050?!)
• note worthy - this morning the prostitutes around the corner were missing... cop patrol
• ate lunch in cute cafe - sandwiches and CROQUETTES
• BEACH - no topless women this time, crazy man #2 (this one was Christina's)
• we met up with Martha and Byron and went to the arc and the park
• dinner buffet, sushi and fried stuff basically.... so i just ate fried stuff lol
• "la cucaracha" (cockroach) experience with Christina in the Dunkin Donuts bathroom... and the following sprint to mcdonalds for a cleaner bathroom
• PDA seems to be pretty umm... extreme here. people need to get a room. epecially those guys we walked past because I don't like to hear slurping and sucking noises while I'm trying to walk on the sidewalk!
• Julissa flamenco dancing in the street
• internet cafe again - christina's epic search for a mini mouse halloween costume (could've saved her the trouble because halloween sucked anyway)

DAY 6 - Barcelona

• Boqueria for breakfast
• bit of shopping - meet up with martha and byron
• epic search for christina in H&M - but we found her a mini mouse dress!
• Julissa and the pretend 30% off coat......
• Arc then park.... really cool fountain and random elephant statue?
• metro to plaza de Espania -> to the castle and the gardens
• CREEPY man taking pictures of me on the metro?! get me the hell out of this thing and away from here!
• then we went to the castle and the gardens... while walking up thousands of stairs and escalators some random guy was bothering me and touched my ass... ran into him later and he like lunged at me and hissed trying to scare me... it worked a little
• jardin and photo shoot... martha climbed around the edge of the fountain to take a pic
• Gaudi park and houses (reminds me of Dr Seuss?) .... omg byron you are so SLOW
• walk back down huge hill... stumble across an outlet store where i bought some nice new sneakers (trust me my feet needed them BADLY)
• dinner (cheap style - mcds)
• out to the club with martha and byron: techno, random disturbing video on the wall, old/wierd music, random show tunes and musical songs... leave by 2 but get lost and walk for 2 hours trying to find a bus

DAY 7 - Barcelona LAST DAY

• La Boqueria (for the last time! :(
• serious shopping
• gothic tour with martha: cathedrals, gargoyles, saints, etc.... she's learned a lot living here
• little market shopping.... bought some 1880's fashion prints <3
• Mira Mar Cathedral - there is a 5 YEAR waiting list for people to get married here... apparently girls sign up even if they don't have a boy friend!
• more shopping, food, more shopping
• back to hotel to get luggage, and OFF TO MADRID on another night train, yuck

DAY 8 - Madrid (LAST DAY OF SPAIN)

• train arrival at 7:17 am (ew) oh yea and it was a Harry Potter style car train... pretty funny but not particularly comfortable for sleeping... especially with that damn rude crankyass old couple
• upon our arrival the tourist information office is CLOSED DAMMIT wow that just seems so smart doesn't it?!
• finally find the hostel.... it's nice and clean... better than our last hotel!
• San Miguel market... right across the street from our hotel but its no Boqueria
• touristy things, blah blah, NAP TIME, more touristy things like the park etc.
• El Tigre with Martha's friend who is living here in Madrid
• this bar was interesting... buy one drink and you get free tapas all night so that was our dinner but my gosh it was more crowded than the night club! the food was decent, even if I did get beer spilled on me... it was alright because that handsome bartender appoligized to me in spanish... :)
• ahh and of course who could forget the dorky british dude that wanted Julissa to go home with him? HA

and so ends our adventures in spain.... moral of the story, buy train tickets WAY in advance to save money... and make sure you don't use the trains we used because they were uncomfortable to the extreme and impossible to sleep on. oh yea and moral #2. don't think that using trains and night counts as actually sleeping.

:)