10 days, 3* countries, 4 cities, and carbohydrates galore.

 * 3 including vatican city.

and so i begin the longest blog there ever was. just got back from my marathon euro-trip with the novio during semana santa, and although i missed one of the most important weeks in Sevilla, i experienced four amazing cities (and escaped a very rainy week in Sevilla, apparently). From rome, to florence, to venice, to paris, i took 3 flights, 2 trains, and 1 bus. my feet underwent miles of walking and my eyes saw more famous sights than most people can dream of seeing in a lifetime, let alone a week. i ate my heart out in pizza, pasta, crepes, and croissants and took over 1000 pictures. Italy and Paris: good job. you win.

ROME
after a 6 hour bus ride to madrid, another 7 hours in the airport and a 2 hour flight, we got to rome. flying in, we got glimpses of the colosseum (thanks, wikitravel) but nothing could prepare us for the real thing. it started off our trip with a bang- i certainly wasn't in sevilla anymore. that and the rest of ancient rome were like something out of a movie, the world was literally in ruins. we walked around the whole day, taking muchisimas fotos of fallen palaces and destroyed civilizations. oh and also, it was all free. woohoo, culture week in italy!

the next day, off to vatican city! no big deal really, just the smallest country in the world and home of the pope. we climbed up the 500 something steps to the top of st peter's basilica to see a view of rome muy preciosa. no time for lunch (a sin in italy) and off to the vatican museum to see the sistine chapel! my neck hurt from looking up so much, but, ¡que increíble! i'd say the dude had some talent. and he said he wasn't a painter. 

final day in rome and we explored centro storico, with the trevi fountain, the pantheon, campo d' fiore, and a surprise church with a false dome. tricky, those romans. went to our first outdoor market of the trip and had the best pizza i've ever had. way to go rome, you beat new york- and that's damn hard to do.

FLORENCE
early train ride to florence on day 4! arrived at our hostel, a converted convent, attached to a church, and full of german middle schoolers. nice. first stop, the david! first impression: "shit, david was one ripped dude." second impression: "shit, michelangelo was effing good." one piece of (very large) marble, and he's smooth as a baby's bottom. i tried to take a picture, but guess that wasn't allowed. i just wanted a keepsake, to remind myself what really signifies 'carved from marble.' we ate dinner earlier than we have in the past 3 months, at 7:30 we felt like we were getting the early bird special. upon return to the hostel, the germans were raging to american pop music, full on with a dj, strobe lights, and everything. i mean, noah and i could have shown them how it was really done, but we didn't want to make them feel bad, so we left them to dance awkwardly on their own. next time, germany.

the next day we went to our second outdoor market, by far the best of the trip, and ate our weight in free samples and mozzarella. our climb up the duomo was rewarded by the prettiest view of any city i've ever been to, terra cotta roofs and everything. finished the day off walking around, enjoying our second stop in italy.

VENICE
 stereotype confirmed: singing men in striped shirts and berets really do row gondola's along canals

venice. wow. don't even know how to describe it. this has got to be the most amazing little city i've ever seen. there's barely anything to do but it is just SO beautiful, and so cliche and romantic, but i loved it. we only had a day or so here but it was amazing. piazza san marco was really cool, and the basilica was freaking awesome. the entire ceiling and walls are covered in golden mosaics, it was beautiful. the rest of the day was spent walking along the canals and tiny alleyways. we had a cute little picnic along one canal near the rialto bridge, full of cheese, salami, and wine. obvi. great times in venice, and very relaxing.

 PARIS
 stereotype confirmed: they really do love their baguettes. all 3 feet of bread.
stereotype not confirmed: all parisians are mean. we actually found everyone to be extremely friendly. 

finally, the time came to hit up paris, obviously what i was looking forward to most (the cheesy romantic in me couldn't help it). we got in late afternoon with a hunger that surpassed any need to sightsee- first priority: food. obvious first choice was a croissant. done. yummy, but still not filling (it's basically air right? not full of pounds of butter?) obvious second choice: crepes. we found a little stand on champs elysee and decided to settle, our hunger was reaching hulk status. beurre sucre (butter and sugar) was the cheapest so we opted for that, only to find that it was the best thing we had eaten all week. i mean, it's hard to mess it up, what with a pancake filled with a stick of butter and a pound of sugar. see, this is why i'm going to have to be rolled home after i leave. we spent the rest of the night enjoying city of lights and got our first glimpses of the eiffel tower, arc de triomphe, and a pretty sick bridge.  

 next day we took a little trip to the largest art museum in the world, a place called the louvre- have you heard of it? it has this painting of a woman, the mona lisa, i think? yeppppp. the building itself is really incredible, massive, but beautiful, and there are these incredible gardens in the center of the plaza, filled with parisians taking in the sun by day and aprovechar-ing some botellon by night. we then hit up the eiffel tower for a romantic picnic during sunset, alongside fellow spaniards who were kind enough to offer us cups when they saw us chugging wine out of the bottle. forgot how classy the spanish are. ended our night with another delicious crepe, this time with chocolate and whipped cream, my favorite!

finally, our last day in paris and on our 10 day marathon, we hit up notre dame, luxembourg gardens, and the pantheon. after a freak rainshower, we tried to find the jewish quarter, but sadly, no luck, our jewish senses failed us. we did however find an outdoor market (successfully one in every city!!!) and a long street lined with restaurants from around the world.

and so, here ends my epic euro-trip. but have no fear, i will return with stories from prague and portugal this coming weekend! of course, i will also tell tales from the infamous feria de abril in sevilla, a 10 day stretch of flamenco, day drinking, and contests of wealth and class. although my semester in spain is sadly coming to an end, my euro travels are far from over!

viva la vida.

just in africa for a weekend. nbd.

oh hey there. my travels continue...to the blue-walled land of MOROCCO. yes, Morocco. I still can't really believe I went to Africa, which not only adds another country to my list, but a whole other continent. good job study abroad, i am becoming more cultured by the minute. side note: as i write this blog i'm listening to Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) by Shakira, which, coincidentally, we heard quite a few times walking the streets of ChefChaouen. about chefchaouen- this was actually one of the most beautiful cities I have seen, certainly in the past 2 months. granted, you can't really compare simple blue walled houses with the grandiose image of La Giralda in sevilla, but there was something majestic about the simplicity of this city. so often since being here in spain i've really come to look at the US differently. believe me, i have so much pride for my country and my cities (because i do consider boston my home as well as new york). being such a young country, the US just can't boast its architecture the way other countries can. yes, we have skyscrapers and i'm the first to marvel at the NYC skyline every time i enter manhattan, but the architecture i see on my travels took hundreds of years to complete. you can't really compete with that. in morocco, there were walls built into mountains surrounding running streams and incredible formations that created something extremely breathtaking. and as i mentioned before, the blue walls bordered narrow residential streets to protect them from the hot moroccan sun. take a look:

of course, the pictures just don't do it justice but it helps. After a delicious lunch in ChefChaouen, we walked around for 3 hours bartering with local vendors for moroccan jewelry, wall tapestries, and ceramics. twice in these 3 hours i was told in very broken spanglish that i looked moroccan, and that i must be mistaken, because my efforts to assure them that i was in fact american did absolutely nothing to convince them. i think i need to start a list of all of countries i've heard when guessing my ethnicity...

back at the hotel that night, we walked along the beach searching for the largest seashell and got to see a "supermoon." apparently the full moon was closer to the earth than it has been in the last 18 years. and it was massive, and gorgeous, above the ocean. this to be followed by delicious moroccan cous-cous- coudn't have been a better day. unfortunately, it was then that we were informed that we had to evacuate the country 10 hours earlier the next day due to a nation-wide protest. no big deal, just need to make sure we live through the weekend, right? still, the next morning was worth it: got more amazing views from a beach with true blue water and, oh yeah, rode a camel! 3 minutes of fun!

the rest of the day was spent traveling, which always sucks, especially when the vacation is ending. however, i had a moment of bliss when i stepped off the bus back in sevilla and realized that i'm still on vacation as long as i'm in spain! with the promised sunshine ahead, i can't wait to see what the next two months will bring, both here in sevilla and during my travels to Italy, France, Prague, and Portugal!



viva la vida.

¡pollo, pollo!

"once was enough." that's pretty much the response i've been getting from everyone when i ask them about carnaval in cadiz. for me, it was actually SO much fun. yes, ridiculous and overwhelming in so many ways, but such an incredible experience. sadly, i have no pictures to share since i decided to leave my camera at home for the night (and as you'll soon learn, that was a very smart decision) but here's one from google:

going into it i really didn't know what to expect, all i had heard was that it's just a massive party in the streets, and that it was mandatory to dress up, otherwise i would look silly as the only one without a costume. well, i did dress up (and as always, my costume was sub par, but no pasa nada) but i was not prepared for the costumes i saw. let's see if i can accurately set the scene for you:

bright lights from multiple snack stands blinded us as we exited the bus. as my eyes adjusted to the scene i was bombarded with images of indians, hippies, naked old ladies, athletes, mimes, and chickens (just to name a few) and THOUSANDS of people hailing from sevilla, malaga, cadiz, madrid, barcelona, and granada. needless to say, shelby and i beelined it for the popcorn stand and quickly finished off the biggest size they had. the rest of the night is a bit hazy, but had something to do with making friends with chickens from malaga and getting pickpocketed. yep, it was bound to happen at some point, figures it would be during carnaval. luckily enough, i had previously moved all of my important stuff (credit cards, drivers license, etc) from my wallet beforehand so i was only out about 7 euros. regardless, carnaval was something not to be missed and just further confirmed my previous belief that spaniards are fucking crazy and have few limits.

viva la vida.

bostel-icous

my dear friends, i've failed you. it has been AGES since i've written in this silly little thing. i think the spanish lifestyle of procrastination and siestas has worn off on me. except i don't really siesta, pretty much spend most of my time on facebook. so let's see. oh yeah, that little gem of a city called amsterdam. so difficult to put into words.

if you haven't seen my facebook album, you must see it. the pictures don't do it justice, but they certainly will give visual aids to these words. i'll try and help you out here too. first of all, as the title explains, it was a bostel experience. a bostel, my young grasshoppers, is a boat-hostel. This is where we spent 3 lovely nights. docked on a canal in the middle of the city, our home away from home awaited us. the rooms were cozy, to say the least:

after checking in to our digs, we ventured out to explore the city. and boy, did we explore. this was probably my favorite find of the night, confirming my belief that amsterdam, although an excellent weekend destination spot, is just a joke of a city. look closely at the bunnies:

 moving on. the next day we had a Heineken experience, complete with virtual simulation of the brewing process, the longest foosball table in the world, and an unexpected run-in with Tufts in Paris students. quite an experience, i'd say.

the next day, my mind was blown- i have never experienced art the way i did this weekend. the van gogh museum was one of the most amazing artistic viewing experiences i have ever had. i think we spent about 5 hours in that museum (although at least 2 of those hours were spent in the cafe with too much stolen coffee and nutella)

and finally, we come full circle back to the bostel. due to the torrential downpour afuera, we decided it was best to remain inside for the night for something a little more tranquil the night before our long day of travels. little did we know that when you put american, french, estonian, and english people together on a boat, shit gets crazy. in just a few hours i learned how to play bullshit in french, how to cheers in about 4 different languages (in estonia they cheers to terrible sex, in case you were wondering), created a hit single, starred in an estonian music video, and "learned" how to play the guitar. if that's not a successful night then i don't know what is.

needless to say, waking up at 6 AM to travel for the next 18 hours was extremely difficult.

a weekend away from home

who would have thought but finally after a month here in sevilla i feel like i can call it my home- what a great feeling! anyways, i went to madrid this weekend to visit noah, and can i just say how shocked i was to see how different these two cities are? sevilla is filled with narrow alleyways and plazas around every corner, and then i arrive in madrid to find modern buildings and two way streets. crazy stuff, i know. i'll give an abbreviated version of how my weekend went, pointing out specific highlights for your reading pleasure:

I arrived in madrid on Friday at 7:15 AM after having taken an overnight bus for 6 hours and joined my fellow jumbos for quite a speedy run through of some of the most famous paintings in madrid at El Prado. I'm not the biggest museum goer but I generally want more than 60 seconds to look at a painting- not this lady- she had an agenda and she was sticking to it! that night we decided to check out the second biggest discoteca in madrid- Joy. During our lovely botellón sesh alongside many a spaniard enjoying similar activities, a dear old italian man excitedly (and very drunkenly) approached the group wishing to bond with us over some cheap alcohol. over the course of the next five minutes he managed to: break the touch barrier that normally exists between strangers, prove his lack of mastery over the spanish language, and serenade my boyfriend in italian. the night was off to a great start. the club turned out not to be as good as we had hoped, but we got in for free, so i would still count it as a success. however, the next night i broke my standing record and stayed out until 5:30 at El Kapital dancing to house music. guess i need to bring this endurance back to sevilla...but as much as i loved madrid, visiting this past weekend made me love sevilla even more and the culture it possesses, including the forever impossible to understand andalucían accent. 

all in all, it was an incredible weekend in so many ways. I hereby commence my semester of travel: more to come from Córdoba, Amsterdam, Cádiz, Morocco, Paris, Italy, and more.

viva la vida.

that's pretty freaking cool...

mosques, gardens, sun, and games

hola, my dear friends. sorry for the rather long pause between posts. haven't had much to say in a while, but i figured it was about time to update you all on my life here. hmm..since the last time i wrote, i think that was before granada last weekend. damn. okay, so granada is absolutely gorgeous. we went to the alhambra, which is this massive collection of old mosques and gardens and it's absolutely incredible. if you're reading this and you are currently in spain, definitely make a trip to granada, totally worth it. they also have these cute little side streets with lots of little shops that sell hookahs and teas and lots of ceramics and leather for super cheap. a very fun weekend overall! and this past weekend I went to Alcazar which is similar to the Alhambra, but it's in Sevilla and it's much smaller, but still beautiful all the same. plus, it's right in the center of the city so i plan on spending lots of time in the gardens when it gets warmer. speaking of which, a little something to make my fellow jumbos and all who currently suffer on the east coast jealous: this past weekend, it was a beautiful 65 degrees and sunny here. by noon there were hundreds of people just outside of my house drinking, eating, and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine. ahhh, the wonderful life of a Spaniard.

also news i guess, since i believe my parents do now read my blog, i started real classes today. one was this really cool journalism class in which we write a magazine that comes out the end of the semester, both in spanish and in english. i also have to have a blog for this class, so for anyone who speaks spanish, i'll post the link here soon if you love my blogs that much and want to follow me twice! another class i'm taking is a cinema class at the university, and it could not be easier. literally all we do is watch movies (in spanish), talk about them a little, and go home. no homework, no papers, no reading. 2 tests, y nada más. looks like it'll be a stress free semester after all =]

viva la vida.

teach me how to dougie.

a familiar phrase for all us americans, but i've brought it to España! this entry will be a little weird because now I know that my host brothers will be reading this very soon most likely, but it's all good. i only have good things to say!

last night we went to a peace gathering that happens a few times a year and works to gather all different religions, cultures, peoples, etc to fight for peace and encourage acceptance of others. This normally wouldn't be something i would be interested in but it was a really cool thing to see. This is exactly the reason why I wanted to live in a homestay- you can't get this kind of real cultural experience when you live with other americans in an apartment. (Así, Roberto, Daniel, y Arturo- muchas gracias por esta experiencia.)

we drove to the peace gathering and it might have been the most exhilarating and terrifying experience I've had so far. remember how I mentioned how narrow and windy these streets are? well, imagine driving through them with less than 6 inches of space on either side at 40 miles an hour. I would have killed myself and everyone else in the car if it had been me driving. on another note- spaniards listen to as much american music as we do. Who knew that my host brothers would know all the lyrics to The Time (Dirty Bit) by Black Eyed Peas? and many other mainstream hits as well. however, in reference to the title, they did not know how to dougie (nor had they ever heard of it), so naturally i had to bring it here. let's just say I have a feeling i'll be hearing that phrase quite a bit around this house for some time. betsy and i also unsuccessfully tried to show them how to do the stanky legg but it was kind of a failure. oops. until next time...

viva la vida.