Friday August 3, 2007 Cordoba
I woke up at 6:30 and got a shower. I finished getting ready and everyone was still asleep. I was supposed to wake them up, but I thought that they heard my alarm. They all got up and frantically got ready. I went downstairs to get breakfast and call a cab. The first cab that came was too small. The second cab that came was big enough for all of us. We took the cab to the train station and got there with 20 minutes to spare. We waited for the board to show our gate number and when it did we went to our platform and boarded the train. The train ride was a little over an hour and we all drifted in and out of a light sleep. We arrived in Granada around 9:30 and Caleb bought a ticket to Valencia for the following day. We caught a taxi and went to our hotel. It was interesting because our taxi was small so it was a tight fit. Our hotel was very nice. I thought it was a hostel, but it more resembled a hotel. Caleb and I shared one room and the girls shared the other room. We each had bathrooms in our rooms too which was nice. We were located right near the Mezquita as well. We got settled in then walked to the Mezquita. We toured that- it was interesting, but nothing spectacular. It was a Christian church, converted into a Muslim mosque and then taken back over by the Christians so it was an interesting mix of architecture. Liz, Caleb and I prayed the Lord’s Prayer in Spanish then in English in the church. It was cool. We left there and Annie had run into Emily, a girl who was also a part of the UVA in Valencia program. We saw here then left to go get lunch. We walked around and the fors place Caleb’s book recommended was closed so we went to a kabob place, but the kabobs we not ready yet so we came back to our hotel. A little while later we went back to the kabob place for lunch. It was good, but it was really hot and we ended up standing because Caleb did not like how Annie was the only one standing. It was funny. We came back to our hotel and took a siesta. We got up and went to a tea house. We all got something and it was good. The environment was also really cool. We walked around some more and went to a few shops. But it was so hot that we decided to go back to the hotel for siesta numero dos. I watched some tv then ended up figuring out the wireless on my computer. I updated my blog and then the girls come over with their laptops. We all went through some of our pictures which was fun. It was about 8:30 so we decided to go see the Palace of Cordoba. The main part was closed, but we were allowed to enter the gardens for free. It was really cool- the mix of plants and water features. We walked around there and then went to a restaurant for dinner. It was closed so we went to a really good tapas bar. We had sangria, meatballs, spicy potatoes, chicken and croquettes with ham. It was a really good typical Spanish meal. We came back to the hotel to relax and went to bed at a reasonable hour.
Saturday August 4, 2007 Cordoba to Madrid
I woke up in the nice hostel and got a shower. I was all packed and we got a taxi to the train station. The taxi was small so we were packed in the car like sardines. After distributing the breakfast food we said bye to Caleb and we boarded out train to Madrid. And then there were 3. Caleb was going to spend the rest of his time in Valencia with Paul until we all meet back up in Madrid to fly home. On the train ride to Madrid, Liz and I planned what we wanted to see. When we got to Madrid we decided to change our train tickets to and from San Sebastian to beds. I went to the ATM expecting to pay more with the ticket change. The Madrid train station (well there are 3, but the one we came into) was really nice and so were the people. We were able to change out seats to beds and even got money back, it wasn’t more! We found the metro and took that towards our hotel. There were not escalators everywhere and it was hell carrying all of our luggage up and down stairs. We finally made it to out hotel and we checked in. it was a really nice 4 star hotel. Annie, Liz and I shared a room, but I had a cot. We put all of our stuff down and went to find lunch. We found a menu del dia, but it did not start yet so we went to Burger King for a cheap meal. Liz and I left Annie to begin our tour of Madrid because Annie had already visited there this summer. We went to Placio Real and bought audio guides. The palace was awesome. We left there and walked through Plaza Oriente, Puerta del Sol, stopped at El Corte Ingles to buy drinks, walked through Plaza mayor, and then went to the Museo Reina Sofia. It was a contemporary art museum that had many works of Picasso including one of his most famous works- La Guernica. We took the metro back to the hotel to meet up with Annie. The girls went shopping and I went shopping on my own. I didn’t find anything to buy, but got some gift ideas. I met back up with them and was surprised because they wanted to go back to Burger King. Apparently they got coupons on the street for a burger, fries and a drink for less than 3 euro. After that we went to McDonalds for mcflurries. It was not a good day for eating healthy, but oh well, when on vacation right? Wait this whole summer has been a vacation- new plan. We went back to the hotel to watch a special on the bridge collapse in the United States and then went to bed.
Sunday August 5, 2007 Madrid
We slept in and got up around 9. I got a shower and we packed up and had some muffins for breakfast before heading down stairs to check out around 10:15. The hotel was nice enough to hold our luggage all day, but then again it was a 4 star hotel. Annie, Liz and I walked to the Latino district to the flea market. This was no ordinary flea market- it was huge. I found great gifts for my dad and my brother. It was time for Annie to go, so we said bye to here. She was going to Norway to visit AC and taking my UVA duffle bag because Ryan Air is ghetto. She had to ship her suit case home because the weight limit for Ryan Air is 30 pounds. She left and then there were 2- just me and Liz. Liz and I took the metro to the Prado museum. We were hungry and got a snack of a smoothie and a doughnut from dunkin doughnuts (it is hard to heal healthy when you want to be cheap and you are on the go.) We made it to the Prado Museum and they had a lot of art from Patinir (the man who began the landscape genre), El Greco, Goya, Picasso, and Velasquez among others. We got to see some more famous paintings which was cool. We left there in search of café, but had no luck because it was Sunday. We ended up walking to the huge park in Madrid. We found the small water are where people rent boats and paddle around and there was also a cool state and waterfalls. Liz and I ate at a café right by the water. It began to rain so we finished our meal inside. It rained for a while, but we had not experienced rain all summer in Valencia so it was ok. The rain subsided so we finished our walk through the park and ran into the next landmark- another body of water with fountains, a waterfall and a glass house/green house thing. It was cool so Liz and I got some pictures. We finished our walk through the park and took the metro back towards our hotel. We bought tickets to see Ratatouille. We ended up walking through el Corte Ingles, looked at the typical dress of each region of Spain, saw gifts from Valencia (that were too hard to carry home) and had dinner at the café there. I had a good chicken bagel, but Liz had a pizza that was not so good. We finished that and went to see Ratatouille. Spanish theaters are different. First of all they are cheaper than in the US, you have assigned seats, and they have people assist you to your seats. Spanish people are also very expressive during movies- they clap and laugh a lot. The movie was funny, but in Spanish. I translated the first part, just watched the middle and translated the end. After the movie we went back to the hotel to collect our stuff, Liz changed and we walked to the metro to get to another train station. This train station was also cool. They had a digital water fall on one huge wall that reminded me of the Matrix, but it was blue instead of green. We chilled at the train station until 10:30 and boarded our train. We had beds, but we were in a small room with 6 beds- 2 rows of 3 stacked on top of eachother. It was a very small room. We had 3 Australian roommates, an old man then there was Liz and I. We had to sleep with out luggage and the pillows were too flat to be considered pillows. Other than that I slept well because I was so tired. We sleep well everywhere.
Monday August 6, 2007 San Sebastian
I woke up on a moving train. It was a weird feeling. The train employee gave us back the tickets he collected the night before and we got ready to get off the train. We arrived in San Sebastian at 6:50am. It was so early. It was overcast and drizzling, but I loved it- the Basque country in northern Spain looked so different from the rest. There were mountains all around us. We walked through the city, with all of our luggage, in search of our hotel. We found it and the lady let us up early. We sat in the living room and the lady told us to make ourselves comfortable using the tv and internet. She even served us breakfast- toast and coffee even though our reservation was not until that night. Flipping through the channels a UVA basketball game was on in Spanish and they were playing Tennessee. It was a game from last year and it was really weird that it was on here. We relaxed and got to check into our room 4 hours early- no charge. We settled in and decided to walk through the city. We went to purchase some umbrellas because it was beginning to rain. We walked to the beach and it was a great view. The beach was a cove surrounded by mountains on each side and an island between the 2 mountains. There were also many sail boats right off the shore. We walked around the base of one side of the mountain went into a few cathedrals, crossed the river and reached the surfing beach. The waves were great so we watched them for a while. We found a great restaurant with a menu del dia for only 9.50 euros. We had fettuccini, paella, meatballs, chicken, bread, dessert, bottled water and a bottle of wine for that one low price each. It was awesome. Liz and I had a good talk about our backgrounds over lunch. We left and it was pouring down rain. We walked back to our hotel and got soaked. Liz took a nap while I uploaded pictures to facebook, and relaxed. Liz got up and we decided to go climb on of the mountains. One of the mountains had a large Jesus statue on top so we climbed that one. The views of San Sebastian on the way up were awesome. We reached the top and got some great pictures. I took a lot of pictures, a lot. The view of San Sebastian while looking out over the top of the mountain looking at the ocean on 3 sides, another mountain, and an island made this my favorite city so far. We walked around the top for a while and got to see the huge Jesus statue. We then had a great walk down the mountain. Everything was so green and then you look out and see the ocean and waves crashing against the city wall and rocks. It was so awesome. It reminded me of New England. The looking out at another mountain- there was a cliff that dropped right off into the ocean- it looked like pictures from Scotland. If you can’t tell, I really liked this area. I saw an ear piercing place and was temped to get my ear pierced, but decided to think about it over the night. Liz and I continued our walk then split ways to go shopping. I went into a few stores, but nothing interested me so I came back to the hostel. Liz came back soon after and we chilled until we went out. We started at a tapas bar and had 2 pinchos (various appetizers that are at the bar on plates and you just pick what you want) each. We had some good stuff then went to another tapas bar and did the same thing. We each got 2 pinchos and each got a beer. It is very typical in San Sebastian to go to 3 or 4 bars/restaurants and have pinchos and drink. After that we went to get gelato and sit in a park to talk. We went back to the bed and breakfast. We were about to ask the hostess if we could leave our stuff at the hotel and use the showers the next day after we checked out and before we did she offered us her house and showers and everything. She was so nice. We chilled and went to bed.
Tuesday August 7, 2007 San Sebastian
We slept in and got up around 10. Our beds were so comfortable. We went to the dining room to have breakfast and the hostess had fresh quarter of a pineapple for us. It was so sweet and good. We also had toast, coffee, orange juice, mango juice, jellies, and cereal. This lady was a great host. We packed our things and put our luggage in a secured room. We left and went to the super market. We bought food for lunch then walked along the beach to the other side where there was another mountain. We walked around and got to as far as we could walk out. There were great views. There were also sculptors coming out of the rocks and places where the waves blew air up pipes to where people were standing. We walked to the little train that would carry us up the mountain. We bought tickets and boarded the train. It was a special train that went straight up the mountain and was carried by cables. We reached the top and the view was amazing. One of the best views I have seen. There was a great view of San Sebastian, mountain ranges, the ocean and an island. There was even a log flume water ride at the top and a water wheel. Liz and I sat on one side over looking the ocean from above and a lighthouse below and had bocadillos for lunch. We finished that and after enjoying the view for a bit longer we took the train back down the mountain. We met a guy from Harvard on the way down. He was backpacking around Spain and hiking. We also met a little Spanish kid who insisted on talking to us all way down the mountain. We walked back to our side of town along the beach and went back to the hotel to get our bathing suits. We changed and went to the beach. We laid on the beach and then I went swimming. The water was a little cold, but it was not too bad. I swam out to a floating dock where there were slides. It was fun. I ran into some Spaniards from Pamplona as well as some other college students from Scotland. They had cool accents. I swam back to shore and read on the beach with Liz. We chilled there until around 6 and went back to the hostel to shower. We then went out to get more pinchos at tapas bars. We had some great ones, but my favorite was a pork and pineapple kabob that was so tender. They cooked it after I ordered it and the presentation on the plate with sauces was great. We had some more gelato and chilled in a park then we went to another tapas bar. We both had a seafood concoction that was in a big shell. It reminded me of my aunt’s seafood chowder and it was good! We left there, walked around and went to a plaza to have sangria. It was good and out last time to have it. We chilled then went back to the hotel to change, and pick up our baggage. We said bye to the really nice hostess lady and walked to the train station. I called my mom to leave her a message and Liz and I waited for the train. We did not have to wait long and we boarded the train a little after 10:30 pm for our 9 hour train ride to Madrid. We got to our room with 6 beds and we had 2 Australian room mates. Australians love to travel we meet them everywhere we go. They were coming from Paris and on their way to Morocco. We also had a Spanish couple as the other 2 roommates, but they were sharing a bed which was awkward. After settling in we all went to sleep on a moving train and thus began our 30 + hours of traveling. Que guay!
Wednesday August 8, 2007 Madrid to USA
I woke up at 6:30am on a moving train. I tried to go back to sleep, but with out success I laid awake until we got up arrived in Madrid at 7:30. We said bye to our Australian roommates and walked up to the train station, used the restrooms, and looked fror the exit. We thought the metro was closed at the train station so we tried to exit. A nice spanihs man, who we thought was trying to help us told us that the elevator was broken and that we had to take the escalator up to exit and eventually go down. On the way up the escalator, it stopped. The Spanish man lifted up my bag to help me and it was not helpful. I tried to help Liz, but the Spanish man was pushing us up the stairs so Liz tripped and fell on the escalator. I felt really bad. We reached the top and there was no one there. The Spanish man was really weird and started talking to us. He led us to no where. Finally I said to Liz, “let’s go and get out of here.” We were both extremely pissed off and found another escalator which was also broken. We had to drag our bags down that as well. I got to the bottom and discovered that handle to my suitcase was broken , it would not go down. The Spanish man broke it when he lifted up my bag. It worked fine the last 2 months and now it was broken. Liz and I recollected our thoughts and decided to have a positive attitude. We discovered that the metro was open and we were able to take that to the airport. We met some Americans on the metro. One was studying abroad and from Atlanta and the other 2 went to the University of Alabama. One of the kids from Alabama was from Nashville, Tennessee and after finding out he went to Montgomery Bell Academy I remembered that I had two hall mates from first year who went there. It turned out that this kids new them. They talked about how they were both swimmers and did not have much free time. Liz and I had a good time talking to them. We arrived at the airport and Liz and I were able to brush our teeth, and change clothes. I repacked my bag and tried to fix the handle, but it was still stuck in the upright position. We tried to change our flight to the earlier one, but it was full so we just checked our bags for our original flight. Liz and I had a great time chilling in the airport. We made the best of our 8 hours of waiting time. We had breakfast at a café, sat and had lunch. We went to a lot of the stores, relaxed and had fun. We spent the last of our euros on gifts for our family in the airport. We finally went to our gate about an hour before take off. Caleb met back up with us soon after that and so did Jordan. Caleb spent his last few days in Valencia and Jordan spent his last few days in Italy, England and Scotland. We boarded the plane around 4:15 and took off a little after 5. It was a long 8 hour flight back. We were served lunch and a snack. I read more of Mere Christianity and read some newspapers. They showed Shrek 3 and Spiderman 3, but the headphone jacks for Liz and I did not work so we did not watch them. It was ok though because I had seen both of them. We arrived at JFK in New York a little before 7pm (1am Spain time), but we waited on the runway 30 minutes for a gate to open up. This gave us and hour to make our connecting flight. We got off the plane, went through customs, got our luggage (which were some of the last to come out) and said bye to Jordan. We rushed through the second customs doors where we had to hand in some forms and ran to the air tram. We figured out which terminal we had to go to for Delta and when we finally got there the main entrance to the terminal was closed. Liz, Caleb and I were thoroughly annoyed because it was now 8:30 pm, the time our flight was scheduled to take off. We had to take an elevator down then walk around up a ramp where cars were coming downs towards us to find the check in area which was under renovation and explains why the main entrance was closed. It was very hot and humid in New York for some reason so Liz, Caleb and I got extremely sweaty and gross. We finally made it to the Delta are, but there was a long line. By this time we had missed our plane, but fortunately the plane was delayed 45 minutes so we would be able to make it. We used the self check in kiosks and then checked our large suitcases. We ran to the gate which seemed so far away and we made it. We boarded the plane and still had some time to wait. A friend of Caleb and Liz was also on the plane from UVA- Dew Macklin. He was also traveling around Europe over the summer (which seems to be very popular among rising third years). We waited at the gate for another 30 minutes for Delta to load the luggage and push us back then we waited even more to take off on the runway because JFK is ridiculous. Once we were finally in the air it was only a 50 minute flight to Reagan Airport in DC. We arrived there around 11 and we were greeted by Mr. Euhus and Joe. We went to the baggage claim area. My mom showed up and I gave her a big hug. I had been gone for 2 months. We waited for the luggage, but nothing came. It turned out that Delta failed to load any luggage onto the plane from JFK to Reagan. We went to the lost baggage area and filed a claim. They said Liz, Caleb and I should have the luggage by the next day. It is funny how you can travel around Europe for 2 months and nothing happens to your luggage, but when you get back to the USA it can not make it on a 50 minute flight between two major US cities. We all parted ways which was sad because I had spend the last 2 months with Liz and Caleb, especially the last 11 days and this was a sign that the trip was really over. My mom and I drove away (I was not allowed to drive because I was so tired) and headed towards Bryce resort to meet my family on vacation. We stopped at a Walmart at 1:30 in the morning to buy some basics- a cheap change of clothes, a toothbrush and deodorant. I drove the rest of the way and we got to Bryce around 2:30 in the morning (8:30am Spain time). That was over 34 hours of traveling from San Sebastian to Madrid to waiting at the airport to the USA (JFK) to DC to Bryce. I was exhausted. I got a shower and fell asleep in bed almost immediately.
What an awesome summer! I had the best experience studying abroad and traveling around Europe with friends. I am truly blessed for being allowed to have such a great adventure.
