the last big hoo-rah!

Round and round the record goes...

Emily and I had our last trip together this weekend, and it was well-spent in Italy. It was a really fun trip, but it was also a little crazy at times. I started the trip off in a very SHOCKING manner. We were about to go to class and then come back to the piso and pack before heading to the airport when I remembered that I needed to charge my camera batteries. I dug out my battery charger along with the plug adapter, and I placed the battery inside the charger and then plugged the adapter into the wall. All was well. Then, as I plugged the charger into the adapter, a sudden burst of electricity went into my body, and I pulled my hand back in pain, screamed like I was dying, and through the charger and adapter onto the floor. Emily heard me scream and walked into my room and at first though I had dropped my camera. By this time, I was a little shocked by what just happened, and I had stopped screaming. Then, I started screaming again and said, "I FEEL LIKE I'M ON FIRE!!" I then explained through tears about how I had just been shocked and how it hurt. I was crying pretty intensely, and Em didn't really know what to do with me, so she lead me into the kitchen and had me put my hand under cold water since it was burning. She then did what any smart person would do.. she googled it! :) She then decided having me put my hand under what when electricity loves water was not the best idea, so I took it out and wrapped it in a towel and cried a LOT because my muscles were going crazy and it hurt. Then, I called my daddy and mommy like a 5 year old and cried to them. They informed me, much to my dismay, that I would live, and Dad told me it was normal for my muscles to be going crazy. He also pointed out that maybe it hurt more because Spain is 220 volts! I calmed down a bit and got lots of sympathy from my sweet little parents and Emily, although it still hurt. On the bright side, my traumatic, shocking experience got us out of going to class! I am now contemplating getting shocked every day... ;) I'm just so darn electrifying.

You would think that we would have used our extra time from not being in class in order to pack, but we really didn't. Instead, we jacked around the piso and procrastinated like always, and thus, we headed towards the airport via metro a bit later than planned. It takes about an hour to get there on the metro, and we had planned accordingly. However, we had NOT planned for the metro to just stop at one of the stops for minutes upon minutes and not move. As we sat there forever, we started to get a bit nervous about missing our flight. Why was the metro not moving?? It eventually decided to play nice, and we started up again, and we even skipped a few stops and made up for lost time!

We made it to the airport with about 15 minutes to spare, picked up our boarding passes, withdrew money, and met Billy. The three of us went through security together and went straight to our gate to get in line. As we were standing in line, we noticed the cutest little girl ever (who turned out to be 6!) was staring at us with huge eyes. We wondered why she kept staring, but we smiled back anyway. Then, her dad informed us (in nearly perfect English) that she was just beginning to learn English, and she was fascinated by how we sounded. Aweee! Que preciosa! She was adorable!

Anyway, as we stood in line, we realized that it was past time for us to board. We decided it was no big deal. There have been plenty of times when we departed left but still arrived on time because Ryanair likes to lie about how long flights really last. However, we soon got concerned when it was 30 minutes after our departure. Even Ryanair can't make up for that much lost time! I eventually got tired of standing in line and ventured off to the screen highlighting flight details and read where our plane that was scheduled to DEPART at 9:35p,m was now scheduled to BOARD at 10:05. Stupid Ryanair! I returned to line and waited some more, and 10:05 eventually rolled around, but once again, we continued to stand and not move. We finally started boarding around 10:20, and we finally left the ground at 10:45. That's 70 minutes behind schedule, which is completely contradicting of Ryanair's title of being the "most punctual major airline". I fell asleep without any problems, though, and although I did wake up one time when they were saying something over the intercom, I didn't really pay attention, and I slept the rest of the way until Billy woke me up when we landed in Rome. As I stopped my ipod and looked out the window, Billy informed me that we weren't at Rome Ciampino Airport as scheduled. Instead, we were at Fiumicino Airport. Apparently Ciamopino closes at midnight, and since we landed well after midnight, they rerouted us to a different airport. Ryanair, of course, made no apologies and provided no explanations. THANKS, RYANAIR! I am SOOO thankful Billy was on that plane ride with us because if he hadn't been, I don't know what we would have done! As soon as we stepped off the plane we were informed the metros had already stopped running considering it was so late, and we had no idea where we were at. Luckily, Billy called his brother-in-law and begged him to drive the two very lost American girls to their hotel which was very far away very late at night. We were sooo thankful that he took us there and dropped us off right at the door! He was a lifesaver!

Emily and I were both exhausted by the time we got to the hotel, and we fell asleep right away. When we woke up the next morning, we got ready and booked a camp site (Yes, camp site!) for Venice before departing to explore Rome. Our first stop was actually Termini train station in order to drop off luggage because our hotel didn't keep it as promised. We also bought our train tickets to Venice for that night while we were there. We then caught the metro to Vatican City. When we got there, we found huge lines everywhere. We were not the only people in Rome! We immediately jumped into the line for St. Peter's Basilica, and it went surprisingly fast. There were no Pope sitings at the Vatican (sad!), but we did see Michelangelo's Pieta and where the Apostle Peter is supposedly buried.















We then headed back to the walls of the city in order to stand in line. It was a terribly long line, and it took over an hour, but we ended up meeting other Americans from the south who were visiting Italy before traveling to India to do mission work for the summer. They were really nice, and they helped the time pass slightly faster. Also while in line I got thirsty and decided to run across th street and get a Coke. I almost got hit by a car in the process, but it was worth it. :)

We FINALLY made it inside the walls, and we toured through the museums in record speed. We were behind schedule, and we only had one thing left on the agenda at the Vatican: see the Sistine Chapel. Well, there ended up being a large portion blocked off, which made us arrive at the Sistine Chapel even faster, and we were put back on schedule! We saw Michelangelo's awesome ceiling and then left the Vatican and headed for the metro.

Our next stop was the Colosseum. Guess what we were greeted by as soon as we neared it?? Another line!! This one didn't take near as long, though, and we were inside the Colosseum in no time! I'm happy to report that the Colosseum didn't really change much.. as in any.. since the last time I was there. :) Emily and I did have some fun taking jumping pictures outside the Colosseum before departing for the Trevi Fountains.















There were other masses of people at the fountains, but we managed to make it up to the front in order to throw some coins in. I guess that means we have a guaranteed trip back to Rome! I mean, I through some coins in last time, and it worked out perfectly, so it better work again! ;) I just wonder if the next time we return to Rome it'll be together and on a Ryanair flight?? Oh man, I hope! :)

We finished up the evening by going to the Pantheon and then eating McDonald's. :) We made it back to the train station in plenty of time, which is surprising for us! When we got there, we changed clothes in the bathroom and settled down in the waiting area, where I found 60 eurocent sour gummie bears -- sweet! You can't beat a deal like that.

We sat in the lounge forever and waited for our train, the 10:50 pm one, to show up. Well, they posted the 10:45 trains.. then they posted a 10:50 train that didn't appear to be ours.. and then they skipped to the 11:00 trains. Umm, where was our train?! As we sat and pondered this question while staring blankly at the screen these two (cute!) boys approached us and asked if we spoke English. I said, "Yes, but I doubt we'll be able to help." Yup, I was right. They were wondering why there train wasn't posted either, and we were of no help. :) We all took off in the direction of the main part of the train station, but we found all of the information booths to be closed. That wasn't good. I finally asked a guy who was sweeping the floor if he knew anything, and guess what? He didn't speak English! It's funny how much I can understand when people use their hands, though, and he basically had no idea what was going on. By this time, we had gotten separated from the two cute boys, and we began to stalk this man who appeared to be a train conductor. Unfortunately, someone else got to him before we did, and he started talking to them. However, one of our boys showed back up, and he had answers! Apparently the 10:50 train that was listed was all of our trains; it just went to multiple places. He even told us what platform to go to! :)

When we made it to the platform, we stood by them for a while, and then all of the sudden this entire mob of people left the platform after something was said over the intercom in Italian. We decided that since none of us had understood it would probably be helpful to follow the mass, and so we did to another platform. Things were looking up; there was actually a train at this platform! As we stood there waiting, our cute friends invited us to share a car with them for the night. Yes, for once we had attractive, non-creepers for friends. We agreed, but then our plans were shattered as we showed the conductor our tickets, and he directed the two of them to one car and us to another. We were so confused because, once again, he was speaking Italian and we were staring blankly. As it turns out, we had assigned seats, and the seats were for specific cars. Sad day! We never saw our friends again.

We had a surprise when we got into our car, though. We weren't on a normal train! No, this train was separated into rooms with chairs that reclined into beds. It was high class! We had another surprise when we opened the door to our room: someone else was already there! It was a guy from Africa, and he was occupying a large portion of the chairs that folded into beds. In fact, he was in my assigned seat. He proceeded to tell us that he was going to continue to stretch out and we could have these two seats across from each other up against the window. We definitely got screwed, but he was kind scary, so we didn't put up a fight. He proceeded to talk to us and tell us about how he was from Africa and told us we should have picked up on the Italian language after a day or two. Um, okay. THEN, I swear he said something about fathers selling their daughters or something, but when I stared at him for the longest time without saying anything, he switched the subject to how most Americans in Europe are from L.A. It was so weird. A guy from the Middle East joined us soon after. Unfortunately, his English was very poor so he didn't say much, but he was soooo nice! He showed us how to recline our chairs into beds, and he helped us open the door of the train the following morning when we exited. I liked him a lot! During the middle of the night, we acquired another strange man in our little room, but I tried to keep my eyes closed in order to avoid more awkwardness. The only thing I really know about him was that he played on his cell phone a lot, and it was loud. Needless to say, the train ride wasn't the most comfortable thing ever. In fact, the African guy had his feet near my face most of the night (Emily got his face next to hers. Lucky her.), and I hateHATEhate feet, so it grossed me out really bad. I tried to ignore it, but when I woke up and they were right there it was just too much... oh, I hate feet, especially stranger's feet. All night I just kept wishing we were with the normal, cute boys that were stuck in car number nine!

When we finally arrived in Venice, as I said, the Middle Eastern guy helped us out. :) We then stumbled inside the train station and found lovely, metal benches that we slept on for 2 or 3 hours. I'm fairly sure if you had taken away our expensive looking backpacks we probably would have appeared homeless considering we didn't shower any the night before. Yay!

When we woke up, we decided to walk around Venice in search for a McDonald's. We followed signs that lead us to the nearest one, which was 10 minutes away. Sadly, it didn't open for another 30 minutes, so we settled on Italian pastries that had deceiving prices.

After breakfast we headed for the bus lot, and we found our shuttle bus to the camp. When we arrived at the camp, I felt like I was a Girl Scout all over again! There were tents and cabins lining the road, and there was even a hot tub and swimming pool -- classy! Emily and I were high class once again. We opted to pay a little extra and get our *own bathroom*! As it turns out, we ended up being placed inside of a cabin, which is basically a mini trailer, and it was probably nicer than the majority of hotels and hostels we have stayed in. It was clean and had lots of storage place, and the bathroom was normal size. Amazing! I wish we had camped in more cities now!

After showering and changing clothes, the shuttle bus took us back into the island of Venice. We were greeted by beautiful canals and gondolas! We decided to be tourist-y and try and find Venice's most famous landmark, St. Marco's. We had a really horrible map, so we decided to follow signs. We ended up walking all over the island, and we passed so many gorgeous canals! I can't imagine walking out your front door in the morning and being surrounded by water or going to work via boat. I didn't see any car dealerships in Venice! ;) Some people even had little bridges that lead straight to their doorstep, as in the bridge served no other purpose other than to help them get from their house across the canal to the street. How fun would that to be to have a bridge instead of a driveway?? :) After getting lost once or twice and exploring most of Venice on accident, we FINALLY arrived at St. Marco's! It's a huge square with a very large, beautiful church at the end.
We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the church, which is sad because it was really neat! The entire inside - from the walls to the floors to the ceilings - was done in mosaics that represented different things from the Bible. I can't imagine how much time and skill it would take to create such beautiful pictures from such tiny pieces! As I walked through the church, I thought about how it was kind of appropriate that the inside of a church was decorated with mosaics. We're sort of like mosaics, too. Mosaics are made up of broken pieces of glass, and while they can never go back to their original state which was not broken, they can still form something whole and beautiful. We are all a little broken, and when we go to God with our brokenness, He doesn't want to take our brokenness and fix it by turning us back to our original, unbroken state. Instead, He uses our brokenness to create something new. Something complete. Something like a mosaic. :)

Aside from that, the outside of the church was pretty fun! It was pigeon central, and I've become a bit obsessed with pigeons for some reason over here. These pigeons weren't terrified of people like normal European pigeons were. They actually ventured up very close to us, especially if there was food near! Some people had pigeons hopping all over them! The little kids that were present in the square had lots of fun running through the mobs of pigeons and scaring them, which wasn't exactly helpful when trying to befriend the pigeons, but oh well. They were cute to watch. :)

After playing around in the square, we walked back towards the area of Venice where we had been that morning. Venice has tons and tons of shops full of glass art. It was really neat to look at. They also have stores full of masks! Apparently there is a huge carnival every year in Venice, and it's the Venetian tradition for people to dress in costumes and masks. Therefore, masks are sold everywhere. Some are kind of scary looking; I especially dislike the masks that are the entire face. Others are really pretty. There are also animal and monster masks. There's lots of variety! We saw post cards of how people dress during the carnival. I'm pretty sure it'd creep me out. The people just look scary unintentionally! The different shops were still a lot of fun, though. :)

We rounded out the day with Italian food -- pizza! It was served by Chinese people, but it tasted good, and it was cheap! We were still fairly exhausted from our train ride the night before, so we headed back to the camp ground at a decent hour. We booked a hostel, emailed our parents, and went straight to bed in our little cabin.

When the morning came, we got ready in record speed and headed to the main office to check-out. Unfortunately, everyone else decided to check out at the same time, so we missed our first train to Milan, but we made it onto the train that was an hour after that without any problem. I was actually quasi-productive on the train. I did a bit of studying for finals. Then, I decided to enjoy my last Italian train ride, and I stared out the window while listening to my ipod. Ahh, nice. :) We managed to not have to sit next to anyone the entire journey, which was a nice change from the previous night!

When we got to Milan, it was raining, which was disappointing. We also soon realized we had no idea where our hostel was. We had written down the directions provided by the hostel, but they were very vague. We asked the information desk inside the train station, but they had no idea, so we asked the police. They were able to give us an idea of what metro stop to go, so we headed underground. When we were buying our tickets, this psycho man kept running up to the machine and hitting the English button for us and telling us what to do. He did NOT make me happy, and I was a tad bit aggressive with him, but I think someone needed to be. We got our tickets without his help, and we got on the metro. Our stop was only one away from the train station, so we got off the metro and climbed upstairs to the ground. As soon as we stepped out of the underground portion, we looked around in hopes to see our street sign, but almost simultaneously this old woman approached us and asked us (in English!!) if she could help us with something. We were very thankful for this, and we explained to her that we were looking for our hotel, but we weren't entirely sure where the street was. She examined the piece of paper with the address on it, and she then told us she knew where it was. She started to tell us how to get there, but then she decided to just lead us there. Along the way, she gave us the biggest lecture I've ever received! She told us that Milan was a very dangerous place since all these immigrants started coming in, and she told us that we should never ask a man for directions nor she we ever follow a man if he told us he would show us. Then, she made us promise to never talk to strangers or follow them. Keep in mind that she was telling us all of this as we followed her, a complete stranger, to our hotel. She said that girls who speak to strangers and ask them for help "never finish well" in Milan. In the back of our minds, we were wondering if this was some kind of trick question that we were about to fail. Was she just seeing if we would really follow her advice and say, "Oops, sorry, lady! You're a stranger! We'll find our hotel by ourselves!" Well, we didn't say that. Instead, we proceeded to follow her. I mean, it was broad daylight, and there were people around. Surely it wasn't too dangerous. Plus, I'm pretty sure I could have beat her with my umbrella if I had needed to; she was old. As it turns out, there was no need. She lead us straight to our hotel, but as she showed it to us, she told us to make sure to keep our valuables with us because the hotel liked to steal things. Then, she told us about how she was a mom and worried about us, and she advised us to get back to the hotel before dark and never use the metro late at night. All in all, I think she scared me more than anything, and I probably would have preferred to avoid the lecture, but whatever. She showed us to our hotel, and we didn't die!

We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and headed back towards the metro. I went against the old lady's advice: I asked a man at the metro stop how to get to the Duomo. He didn't kill me nor did it finish badly. He actually directed us perfectly to it. :) We took the metro to the Duomo, and once again, we were greeted by tons of people and pigeons!! After you've seen a million cathedrals, they all start to blend together, so I wasn't terribly impressed, but I was surprised to find that EVERYONE was sooo dressed up! I guess I missed the memo that it was prom. One girl had no a sort of banner like she was a beauty pageant queen or something. I'm not really sure what it was about, but whatever.. :)

We ended up going to a little diner to eat dinner. The food was pretty cheap, but the drinks were not. Sad day. We were also very under-dressed. I know Milan's big on fashion, but I didn't expect it to be like that! We were sort of out of place, especially when you factor in the facts that we don't speak Italian or look Italian.

After dinner we jumped on the metro in the direction of Milan's Castle. The inside part was already closed by the time we got there, but it was really pretty lit up late at night! There was also a huge fountain that shot water up really high that was fun to watch. I will admit that the old lady was right; there were some creepsters roaming around, but they appeared to be harmless. They mainly just wanted you to buy the strange things they were selling. Still, she had me paranoid.

We rounded out the evening with one of our favorite things about Italy: gelato! How sad to think that our trip is almost over! There are so many "lasts" that are taking place right now. I don't like thinking about them, so I'll just say that the gelato was good. :)

After finding out where our bus for the airport departed from, we headed back to the hotel and went to bed. This morning we hopped on the shuttle bus to the airport and made our flight without any problems. Ryanair wasn't late this time around; we actually landed in Valencia 5 minutes ahead of schedule. This evening was pretty relaxing: fajitas and studying. Finals start this week. For once, I'm a tad nervous, but I'm going to try my hardest. We also have to move out of the piso this weekend, which will be a sad day! Plus, I'm not looking forward to packing and hauling it all to the airport. I wish my dad was here to carry it for me.. :)

For now, I'm going to bed, but there will be more later this week. Here's to my last week in Spain! Love you all.

...time to turn the page.

the last 2 weeks of the European adventure have offically started.

Don't blink...

Although our weekend started on Friday, we actually woke up fairly early and headed to UPV in order to meet with a teacher and get some questions answered regarding the final. Then, we spent most of the day writing a paper that is due on Friday. It was a fairly tedious and boring process, but it had to be done! We finally finished writing the paper around 6pm, and then we decided we should spontaneously book a trip to Seville, Spain, for the weekend! We found a bus online; it was leaving from Valencia at 10pm! We booked a hostel, grabbed our backpacks, ran back to the piso, made dinner, took showers, packed our bags, jumped on the metro, and headed towards the bus station.

When we first got to the bus station we tried to buy tickets from a machine, but it said that there was only one seat left -- uh-oh! We tried our luck at ordering tickets from the window, though, and we succeeded! There were 5 seats remaining, and we took two of them! The bus company even gave us free vouchers for snacks -- hooray! :) As we departed from Valencia, Emily and I reminisced about the semester... Being homeless to Estonia boy to sleeping on the airport floor to kissing the Blarney Stone to parasailing... EVERYTHING! It was so much fun to sit there and reflect on these amazing few months. Thinking about it all makes me a little sad to leave. I have had an awesome semester. I want to go home, but I don't want it to end, if that makes sense. For the first time, it finally hit me how very bittersweet it really will be when the time comes to leave. Spain has been my home these past few months. I absolutely love it. I'm not quite ready to give it up, but that's okay because I still have a couple of weeks.. :)

I spent the 11 hour bus ride attempting to sleep, thinking about EVERYTHING (Seriously. Everything. If you are reading this right now, you were probably thought about on Friday night from Valencia to Seville, especially if you were one of the friends that graduated -- congrats, guys! :)), and listening to my ipod. When we got off the bus in Seville around 8am, I was fairly tired, but we navigated our way through the city and towards our hostel. Pulling our suitcases down the street makes me not look forward to packing and pulling them through an airport at all, but that's another story! :) We knew we wouldn't be able to check-in to the hostel that early, but we wanted to drop our luggage off and change. Well, we were able to drop off our luggage, but there was no bathroom for us to change in! That meant that we had to spend the first half of Saturday looking and feeling gross. On the bright side, very few creepsters talked to us! The only downfall was that we were SO out of place. People in Spain usually dress up a bit more than Americans, but they were especially dressed up in Seville, and we have no idea why! We did see quite a few weddings, but besides that, I didn't see any other reason for the massive amounts of dresses, suits, and hats.. yes, hats! All the women were these very extravagant hats or hairpieces. They were really pretty and fun, but wow! You wouldn't see those in the U.S.! :)

We attempted to eat breakfast at McDonald's, but for some reason the Mickey D's didn't open until noon. SAD DAY! We settled on Spanish pastries, though, and I can't complain. :) We also attempted to find the tourist info center. Here's the one thing I HATE about Spain: they have signs advertising places, and so you follow the signs thinking you're going to the place, but then the signs just end, and you never find the place!! It's so annoying! Needless to say, we didn't find the tourist info center that was advertised by the signs, but we eventually found another one!

Spain, especially Seville, is well-known for ceramics, so we went in ceramic shop after ceramic shop. They had some really neat stuff, and all of it was hand-painted in Seville. At some shops you even got to watch the people paint it! Some if it was painted with extremely fine detail. It was very impressive.... and some of it was very pricey. :) We also managed to find Spanish Christmas ornaments, which is unusually hard to do. Okay, maybe they're not REALLY Christmas ornaments, but they have strings that make them appear to be.. kinda.. sorta.. They ARE Christmas ornaments, or at least that's what I made Emily keep telling me. :)

We finally returned to the hostel, cleaned up a bit (it's funny how you suddenly start getting attention from creepy old men again when you stop looking homeless), changed clothes, and headed to a place to buy flamenco tickets, as flamenco is something Seville is famous for. Unfortunately, we were told that the tickets were already sold out, but they invited us to put our names on a waiting list. We decided to try our luck, and we wrote down our names. Emily and I then separated from each other; she went back to the hostel, and I went to do some shopping. We decided to meet back at a well-known point in the middle of town. I got there first, and as I sat and waited, this strange man approached me and asked if he could take my picture (in perfect English, I may add). I awkwardly agreed, and he took it.. and then he took a picture of me on MY camera. It was so odd. I wonder where my picture is floating around now!


Also, while I was waiting, this religious processional near La Catedral de Sevilla started up. There was a band, and there was a small parade. There were also these people carrying an almost alter of sorts, but you could only see their feet waddling underneath it. There were candles on it and a statue of the Virgin Mary. I have NO idea what it was all about or why it was going on, but watching the little feet shuffle underneath was kind of funny. If anyone cares to explain, I'd love to hear what was happening. Maybe that's why everyone was so dressed up? :)

I eventually met up with Emily, and we headed back to the flamenco place. Somehow we got really lucky; our names were called! The flamenco venue was tiny, which is what we were told it would be like. We were on the back row, and that was only 3 rows back! The lady was really fun to watch, and I wondered how she managed to not trip over her pretty dress, but the guy was the REAL impressive one! Wow.. so much energy and emotion! He was also pretty fun to look at even when he wasn't dancing. ;) I think I want to be a flamenco dancer for Halloween. Now I just need some dancing skills (although there is NO hope for that! :)) and an attractive male (sans mullet, please) to accompany me, and I'll be set! :)

As we walked back to the hostel that night, we passed La Catedral de Sevilla again, and the tower, which is named Giralda, was all lit up. It was beaaaautiful, just like the rest of Seville! Here's a fun fact about Seville: its "sister city" is Kansas City, MO! Apparently there is a replica of Giralda in Kansas City, so I'm now determined to find it and see it and compare! So.. yeah... there's a connection between Spain and Kansas City. Go, Royals! (Please note and remember that I just mentioned the Royals in my blog, Dad, the next time I ask you for something... ;))

Although we slept in an 8-bed all female dorm that night, I didn't wake up ONCE as all of the roommates entered and left throughout the night. I was sooo incredibly tired after that horrible bus ride! Needless to say, it was nice to sleep in an actual bed! When we woke up the next morning, the hostel provided us with free breakfast, although there was another strange man there and we were confused as to whether he was REALLLLLY weird or REALLLLLLLY drunk! I'm probably going to go with the latter... :)

The first thing we did on Sunday morning was go to the bus station in order to secure our tickets back to Valencia. We weren't going to change there only being one seat left! :) We got them without a problem, and then we hopped on a bus to "Plaza de Espana". However, when we exited the bus, we got sidetracked! We stumbled across a "mercado medieval", which translates into "medieval market". It was just out in the middle of some park, and there were tons of booths set up selling "medieval merchandise", hosting "medieval games", and serving "medieval food". Some people were in costumes, and others weren't, but there were lots of animals, too! It was so fun to browse through the booths and see all the stuff! It was a lot like a Renaissance Fair, which is kinda funny when you think about it. :) So, yeah, the "mercado medieval" was not in the itinerary for the day, but it ended up being a lot of fun!

We eventually ventured away from Seville's Renaissance Fair and wandered across the street to "la Plaza de Espana".















As you can see, we took lots of fun little pictures and just walked around. :) My favorite part was the giant fountain in the middle because, unlike at Missouri State, you are allowed to get in it and splash around! Spain is full of gorgeous fountains; I wish the United States had them! The walls of the plaza are also lined with little tiled alcoves that represent all of the different processes (in alphabetical order! Woohoo.) of Spain. Unfortunately, Valencia's was under construction, and there was only a painted wall showing what it SHOULD look like. It seems that everything in Europe is under construction -- boo!


We walked to Alcázar (pictured above!) after we finished with picture taking. Alcázar is a royal palace dating back to the 14th century that is located right in the heart of Seville. It's the oldest royal residence in Europe that is still in use; the king and queen of Spain still stay here when they visit Seville! Alcázar is also the place where Ferdinand and Isabella greeted Columbus when he returned from discovering America. I was struck with awe over that fact; I was walking in the same halls and gardens that Columbus walked thousands of years earlier! Isn't that crazy?! It's way cooler to think that I stood where Columbus stood than to think I stood where Hitler stood. Anyway, if you are ever in Seville, Alcázar is definitely worth visiting! It's especially nice if you're a student; you get in free and get to escape the 7 euro fee! :)

Our connection with Columbus didn't stop at Alcázar. Our next stop was back to la Catedral de Sevilla. To give you an idea of the enormity of this cathedral, I will mention that it is the largest Gothic building in the entire world, and it's apparently the largest Roman Catholic church (St. Peter's in the Vatican isn't considered a cathedral, I guess) in the world. Needless to say, it was massive! Now, what does this cathedral have to do with Columbus?? It is here that he is supposedly buried (there's some debate about this because apparently he was buried in one place and then moved and moved again.. Whatever. He's totally in Seville!). The picture of the right is of his tomb, which is located off to the right in the cathedral. The inside of the cathedral is fairly dark, although it's decorated beautifully and elaborately, but when you walk out of the side door of the cathedral, you emerge into a garden full of bright, cheerful orange trees (gotta love Spanish oranges!!). Unfortunately, there were no oranges on them during our visit, but we still got to experience the obvious contract of the interior and exterior!

We also took the opportunity to climb to the top of Giralda. It was first constructed in the 12th century, but they've added some stuff, like bells since then. Here's the funny thing about the tower: there are no stairs! Instead, it's steep winding ramp after steep winding ramp! It seemed like the ramps were endless, but we finally made it to the top, and it provided a very nice view of the city and the cathedral below us!


We ended our day by walking to the Guadalquivir River, where the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold) is located! In present day, it just appears to be a normal tower, but back in the 13th century when it was created, it was covered with actual gold tiles! Of course, someone has taken them since then, but the history behind it is still neat. While at the river, we heard something that is uncommon in Spain -- English! And it was American English! We ended up meeting 3 other college-aged girls from Texas (Go, Cowboys! That's another point for me, Dad. :)). It was nice to talk to other Americans. They are just starting out their experience in Spain; how exciting for them!

I was a little sad to leave Seville, and I know Emily was too. It was probably one of my favorite places to visit. It was a perfect mixture of relaxation and interesting stuff, and to add to it, it was absolutely gorgeous. If you come to Spain, go there! :) Our bus ride back to Valencia was pretty uneventful. I didn't sleep much at all, and we had to switch buses at 6:30am. It wasn't the most fun 12 hours of my life, but we ended up making it back to Valencia one hour before schedule, so I can't complain too much! I did end up taking a nap that evening, but that was after going to the post office and being completely unproductive. :)

Today is Wednesday, which means I have exactly two weeks left of Spain. Where have the past four months gone?? They have flown by so quickly! To be completely honest, I am starting to get a little sad. Don't take that to mean that I am not completely ready to see my family and friends, drive my car, talk on my cell phone, eat normal food, read books in English, and hang out with non-creepy boys. No, I am COMPLETELY ready for that! I'm just not quite ready to leave, if that makes any sense at all (and I am aware that it sounds completely contradicting!). This semester has been pretty fabulous, though. God has blessed me with so many incredible opportunities and allowed me to see so many places while creating soooo many funny, happy, fantastic memories. Seriously, it's not every day you can just jump on a place every few weekends and visit an entirely new and exciting COUNTRY! Anyway.. so, yeah.. I'm starting to get a little sad about leaving. It's really bittersweet, but I'm not going to get all sappy about that right now. That will most definitely come later, and you will read all about it, but for now I'm going to concentrate on upcoming events that MUST be taken care of!

Tonight I have to finish a paper so I can turn it in tomorrow so I can head back to Italy this weekend. This is the last big trip for Emily and I, and we are going to have a blast spending our four day weekend jumping from Rome to Venice to Milan! :) What's even better is that today Billy informed us that he's going to Rome this weekend to visit his brother, and we booked the same flight without even knowing it! It'll be fun to fly with B-dawg, and his brother is going to pick us up from the airport and drive us to the hostel so we don't have to pay for a cab -- sweet! :) Here's to my last "big" trip in Europe, for now! I'll talk to you all soon, and I'll see you in a few weeks, and I honestly can't wait! Much love. BE blessed! :)
...life goes faster than you think.

always remembered.

Better is one day in Your courts...


I'm not really sure what to say today, although I feel something is appropriate. Today makes one year since my grandma went Home to meet our Savior and Lord face-to-face. Before September 2006 (when my papa passed away), I had had very little experience with death, but since then, I've become more familiar than I would have liked with it. I wish I had some profound wisdom to share about the subject, but I really don't. The only thing I've learned is that those people who say "it gets better with time" are complete liars. As each day passes, I find that I miss the two of them more, and the ironic thing is that I'm okay with it. Yes, I would rather still have them with me, but if that's not possible, then I'm at least happy that my longings for them intensify daily. Why would I be happy over this? Because it's a beautiful thing. I had two amazing grandparents that have made it very difficult for me to say good-bye to. The difficulties I have in dealing with good-bye just prove how blessed I was to ever have them in the first place. Isn't it nice to have something that makes saying good-bye to so hard? I am thankful for the 19 years or so that I had with them.

The smallest things remind me of them. I'm learning to appreciate those things that trigger my memories of them because they remind me of special times, and they remind me of two of my favorite people ever. As my mom said today, by traveling across Europe right now, I am doing something that Mama would have loved. I wish more than anything she could be with me right now to see all of the beautiful places WITH me! Still, I know that even if she isn't physically here, I still carry her and Papa in my heart, and because of that, I will never be separated from them. Death cannot take that from me, nor can death decrease my love for them. If anything, my love for them will just continue to grow as I miss them more and more. One thing is for sure: I will never, ever, ever forget them, and they will always be two of the most special people in my life. :)

Right before Mama passed away last year, Dad heard a song called "When I Get Where I'm Going" by Brad Paisley for the first time. Here are the lyrics:

When I get where I'm going
on the far side of the sky,
the first thing that I'm gonna do
is spread my wings and fly.

I'm gonna land beside a lion
and run my fingers through his mane,
or I might find out what it's like
to ride a drop of rain.

Yeah, when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
I will shed the sins and struggles
I have carried all these years.
And I'll leave my heart wide open;
I will love and have no fear.
Yeah, when I get where I'm going,
don't cry for me down here.

I'm gonna walk with my granddaddy,
and he'll match me step for step,
and I'll tell him how I missed him,
every minute since he left.
Then, I'll hug his neck.

So much pain and so much darkness
in this world we stumble through.
All these questions I can't answer,
so much work to do.

But when I get where I'm going,
and I see my Maker's face.
I'll stand forever in the light
of His amazing grace.
Yeah, when I get where I'm going,
there'll be only happy tears.
Hallelujah!
I will love and have no fear.
When I get where I'm going.
Yeah, when I get where I'm going.


That song makes you view death in a different way, doesn't it? When Jesus sacrificed himself for us, He overcame death! Thus, by accepting Him, we too overcome death, and we will never be separated from God. We lose our bodies when die, but we gain real life, Eternal Life.. in a place where there are ONLY happy tears and you can walk with your granddaddy and see your Maker's face! :) In the John 10:10, Jesus says, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." He provided us with real and eternal life, and it's better than we can ever imagine! Knowing that my two sweet grandparents are experiencing that life makes my heart rejoice. I may see beautiful places - the Alps, the sea, and more - but the wonders that they have in Heaven are so beautiful that I can't even imagine it! They are without pain or sadness; they are surrounded only by happiness! :)

I wear one of my grandma's rings on my left hand. On the inside of the ring the word "happiness" is engraved. How appropriate. My memories of her bring me happiness; knowing that she is with our Father and reunited with my grandpa brings me happiness. Today I thank God for providing us with a way to approach death in a hopeful manner, and today I will try not to cry for her down here.

The sun is setting in Valencia. It's made up of brilliant shades of pink and purple. I am smiling because I know she is part of that sunset; in some way, she is with me right now. :)

I love you always, Mama.

...than a thousand elsewhere.

dia de las madres!

She's just your every day, average girl...

It's been POURING in Valencia all weekend, which has been no fun because it means no beach! It hasn't been too bad, though. We've spent a lot of time studying for finals (Yeah, I know that they're weeks away, but we HAVE to study hardcore.) and watching Grey's Anatomy. We even made a new friend on Friday! Months ago Emily had emailed a place about Baptist missionaries in Valencia, and we finally met up with one on Friday! Her name is Connie, and she is here with her husband Lonnie. Apparently they've been missionaries in Spain since 1985, but they were relocated to Germany a few years ago before moving back to the U.S. for a short period. They've returned to Spain, though, and they're looking to be here for another five years or so. We enjoyed a two hour chat over ice cream with her at the mall on Friday evening, and she told us about herself, and we shared bits of ourselves with her. As we began to talk about the traveling that we've been doing over here these past few months, the famous Ryanair was brought into the conversation. We informed her that we always take huge backpacks onto Ryanair, despite their horrible, strict luggage rules. She asked us if anyone ever gave us dirty looks for doing so, and we told her we didn't think so.. do they?? Anyway, we mentioned the fact that we had flown to Basel, Switzerland, a few weekends ago, and suddenly she said, "I know I've seen you all before!" As we started to piece it all together, we realized that we were ALL on the same flight from Basel to Valencia together. We don't remember her, but she remembers us... we are kind of hard to forget. That particular day we arrived at the airport 3 hours BEFORE our flight and got our boarding passes right away. However, we wasted a lot of time in the airport with random tasks, and then we decided to spend the last of our franks by purchasing lunch before boarding the plane. Well, there was only one lady working at the lunch counter, and it took forever. When we finally got our food, we headed to our gate, but we were confused because no one was standing in line to board the plane like usual. As it turns out, they had all already boarded the plane! In fact, they were about to close the gate. Fortunately, they rushed us through, and we literally ran across the runway (Yay, Ryanair and not connecting the plane to the airport!) and up the steps of the plane. Although we had no idea at the time, Connie and her husband were sitting on the plane watching us. They had an entire row to themselves, and they were waiting to see if anyone else would get on the plane and take up the free spots. As we sat there over ice cream, Connie said she specifically remembers watching us and our faces as we ran through the airport with huge backpacks.. yup, that was us. :) Neither one of us ended up sitting next to Connie or Lonnie on that flight, but imagine if we had! Still, this just once again reiterates the fact that it's a small world!

We braved the rain again today and went to Maria's. Maria is the mother of Natalia; Natalia is the girl we teach English to twice a week. Maria and her husband were kind enough to invite us over for lunch today, and they went all out! They started us off with some red wine, which was actually pretty darn good. She then presented us with like 5 appetizers - ham and bread, salmon, pepperoni type stuff, etc, etc. We also had baby lobster like shrimp things (Yeah, I'm not really sure.), and despite feeling sorry for it when its little eyes stared up at me, I managed to break its head, tail, and feet off, and then skin it in order to eat it. That was a first! Another first was that I ate some type of duck mixture that is a fine specialty from France. I felt a little bad spreading Donald out on my bread, but it actually didn't taste too bad, although I couldn't bear to eat too much of him! For the main dish, Maria made something that she was fairly confident we'd like -- lasagna! :) She was right; it was great! The sweet little family provided us with strawberries, chocolate orange cake, and brandy for dessert. The brandy was a little strong, but hey, whatever. :) It was all very excellent and makes me look forward to home-cooked meals back in the U.S. even more!

We stayed at their house for over 6 hours. We met Nat's turtle and bird, spoke a lot of Spanglish, and learned more about them and their family. Maria brought out the photo albums, and we got to see pictures of them in various places and hear about their different family members. It was kind of nice to relax with a family, even if it wasn't my own. They're such a sweet little bunch. Maria is always patient when we ask her a million questions, and Nat is so eager to learn and also answer our silly questions. It's really obvious that Maria and Carlos, the dad, have a genuine desire for Natalia to have the best life possible, and it's a beautiful thing to observe. Really, I think they're a lot like my own parents. They strive to give their child everything they can, and they love unconditionally.

Today I am especially thinking of my own parents, especially my mommy, because it's Mother's Day! In case you weren't aware, I have the most fabulous mother in the entire world! Even though I've picked a major and I'm pretty set on it, I still have problems sometimes when defining exactly what I want to do. However, if you were to ask me who I wanted to be like, I could tell you right away without any hesitation! Without a doubt, I want to be just like my mom. She is the most beautiful person I know. She is selfless in everything she does; she always, always, always puts our family above herself. She's genuinely kind to everyone, and she's always willing to open our house up without me having to ask twice. She also has a pretty good sense of humor; just ask her about being the Boggle champion or how to recharge a flashlight. :) No matter how I feel or what I do, I know that she'll love me regardless. Whenever I receive good news, she and my dad are the first people I want to tell. When I have a bad day, they're also the first people who know how to make me feel better, and I know they'll always support me in whatever way I need.

The absolute best thing about my mom is that she is not solely my mother. She's also my best friend in the entire world. I can tell her everything - from silly musings involving the boy of the week to deep goals regarding my future - and she listens earnestly, shares advice when needed, and laughs or cries with me when appropriate. She and my dad are two of my favorite people to spend time with. I don't know how many kids can say that about their parents, but I know I'm very lucky to be able to say it and mean it. :) Truly, I am blessed to have the parents that I do.


Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I wish I could be with you, but THANK YOU for bringing me into this world and presenting me with an example of who I want to be like! I love you. :-)

...but she's somebody's hero.

from the mountains to the islands. from underwater to the sky!

How do you keep your feet on the ground...

Our journey to Switzerland and Germany started out rather interesting. We may have woken up a bit late, but fortunately, we pretty much packed the night before. Once we boarded the metro, we found a small group of Spanish boys who were excited to practice their English with American girls! Apparently they're UPV students, or they at least got off at the UPV stop. They invited us for free breakfast (and swore there was no alchol involved.. hmm), but we declined because we needed to get our boarding passes.

Our flight from Valencia to Basel, Switzerland, was nothing special. Ryanair played their amazing song (Fly, fly Ryanair. We're gonna take you there.) once again, and as always, people clapped when we landed (WHY??). Oh, and as always, we were 30 minutes before schedule even though we left late. This is all thanks to Ryanair lying about how long it really takes to get from place to place. Thanks, Ryanair!

When we got to the Basel airport, we had three options concerning exits. We could go left and exit into France, head towards the middle and exit into Germany, or turn right and exit in Switzerland. Of course, we went right into Basel, but does that mean we were in three places at once? I'm not sure, but it's fun to think. :)

As soon as we got into the public part of the airport, we exchanged some euros for franks. I got so excited; franks are roughly equal to the U.S. dollar! Good-bye, exchange rate.. or so I thought. We took a bus into Basel, and we went straight to the train station to book a train to Germany. I had checked on the internet the previous week, and I had found some fairly cheap trains. Therefore, we were pretty surprised when they told us that the train would be over $200 roundtrip. That was not exciting. The guy at the ticket desk explained that he only had access to Swiss trains, and we'd have to go to another station to check on German trains, which is what I had found online. We decided to give that a try, and we left the station feeling a little disheartened. However, we spotted a McDonald's! American food.. that always makes you feel good! We headed towards the Golden Arches in hopes of finding comfort, but surprise! My love of the equal exchange rate soon disappeared as I discovered that, in order to make up for their horrible rate, the Swiss raise the prices of everything. Therefore, my 6 piece chicken McNugget meal cost around 12 Swiss Franks, which is much more expensive than the 6 euros I pay for it in Valencia.. oh, how sad!

There is happiness to the story, though! When we got to the other train station, we found REALLY cheap roundtrip train tickets thanks to the German rail system! For your information, the German public transportation system rocks! Not only is it cheap, but you buy one ticket for up to five people, and you can use it ALL day to go anywhere you want! And you're not limited to just the train! You can use it on the bus, metro, etc. It's great for poor college students. I wish every country did it! There was only one downfall to the system, though: we had to leave a lot earlier than planned. Originally, we were going to spend all day in Switzerland and then take an overnight train. Therefore, we had not booked a hostel. However, this train was going to put us into Germany soon after midnight, which would mean we'd need a hostel. We decided to chance our luck, board the train, and hope we found a hostel.

The train ride was pretty uneventful. I slept a lot, but we managed to make all of our connecting trains just fine, and at one of the stops there was a PIZZA HUT! :) I love American food. We also enjoyed a bit of Swiss chocolate on the train ride.. mm, chocolate! :) The train got into Munich right on time, and for once, we had amazing luck. We got the last two beds at the hostel we were planning on staying at on Saturday! Amazing! We stayed with some snorers, but that's okay. We were just happy for beds and a shower!

On Saturday morning, we woke up fairly early and went to the train station again. We had to literally RUN to make our train due to some complications, but the important thing is that we DID make it! For those who don't know, I have quite the Christmas ornament collection going. So far, I have one from every country EXCEPT Spain (Why doesn't Spain believe in Christmas decorations??), and I really wanted neat ones from Germany because the ones Mom uses to decorate our tree at home are German handblown ones that first belonged to Pawpaw and have been expanded on throughout the years.. so I thought it'd be neat to pick some hand blown ones out in Germany for myself! Anyway, I found a place on the internet that was highly recommended, but it required about an hour and a half train ride from Munich. Emily and I decided to go for it, though, despite how crazy it sounds. Traveling 90 minutes just for Christmas ornaments? Yeah, it may have been a little crazy, but it was totally worth it! We ended up training through the Alps. They were amazing and beautiful and huge and... I can't really describe it. They were just amazing. We've seen a ton of awesome things over here: the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, the Colosseum, Blarney Castle, etc. However, they all have something in common: they're manmade! These mountains are God-made, though, and they are intense and outstanding. Nothing can compare to His work. Standing at the foot of them and looking up makes me feel so incredibly small, and ironically, it makes me feel so loved. Here are these huge mountains that tower over me; I am minimal in comparison to them. God made the mountains; He is the great architect of the earth, and despite how small I am compared to His mountains and His oceans, He loves me, cares about me, and has an interest in my life. No, I am not any more loved than anyone else, but I can tell you that we are ALL loved and cared to EXTREME amounts! Isn't that amazing?

We eventually made it to Oberammeragau, despite missing our connecting train on the first round and Emily having to sit next to this girl who picked her nose CONSTANTLY in obvious ways. When we stepped off the train, we were greeted by this TINY town that didn't seem to have a care in the world. The people were incredibly friendly, the shops were ridiculously cute, and everything seemed to be peaceful and relaxing. We found the Christmas shop without a problem. The only real problem was deciding what to buy! There were so many things, and if you love Christmas like I do, it's even harder to choose. We spent a great deal of time in there, which is surprising because I hate shopping. :) It was fun, though, and they shipped it back to the U.S. for me! That's less to worry about getting on the plane back over the ocean. Emily found Birkenstocks in our happy little village; they're so much cheaper in Germany! We went through many of the wood carving shops, which reminded me of my daddy! He would have appreciated the craftsmanship! We also found ice cream... mmm :)

Overall, the 90 minute train ride provided us with a lot more than just Christmas ornaments. We got to see the Alps, explore one of the cutest little places ever, and escape the busy-ness of a city. I can't imagine what it is like to live there. This entire town was SURROUNDED by moutains. Can you imagine just stepping out of your door in the morning and seeing such beauty? Does it ever become old? Do you take it for granted? I hope not, although I'm sure it's easy to do so after a while. Still, Oberammergau now has a special place in my heart. I will not be forgetting it soon.


When we got back to Munich on Saturday night, we set out to explore a bit of the actual city. We went to the Town Hall, and then we went to the Olympic Stadium of 1972. It was neat to walk the grounds of it all. I'm impressed with the buildings of 1972; they were pretty modern looking! I must admit, however, that the highlight of the night did not involve any of the major sites, though. The real highlight was meeting these incredibly nice boys from Serbia on the metro! For once, the boys who approached us were NOT creepy and overbearing. They were very sweet and respectful. It's nice to be reminded that nice boys do exist :). Yay, boys. I like them...

I do NOT like Spanish boys who hit on me at hostels. For some reason, the hostel made Emily change rooms, and thus, we were separated on Saturday night. When I went back to my room, I was greeted with 4 boys who spoke very little English who begged me to go party with them. I said I'd think about it and then ran out of the room as fast as possible :). I avoided going back to the room for the longest time, and when I did go back, I was happy to find that they were gone! Unfortunately, one of them had been in my bed, so I decided to sleep in a new, untouched bed. All was well until around 4AM when they all decided to return. There were four beds in the room. However, four boys returned. I was already sleeping in one bed. Obviously, they were confused, and I was too, but I pretended to sleep and prayed they didn't try to wake me. They didn't, but they were loud and obnoxious, and if you know me, you know I like my sleep... so this wasn't pleasant. Still, they eventually settled down and two of them slept in the same bed. WHY this happened, I do not know. Whatever. :)

On Sunday morning we did something I've been wanting to do since Mrs. Anderson's 8th grade Honors English class when we did a unit on the Holocaust. We went to a concentration camp. More specifically, we went to one of Hitler's first camps, Dachau; it was the only camp that stood all 12 years of the Nazi control. I was surprised that this place of horror was located in a normal, every day town. It wasn't distanced from the population at all. It was a weird feeling. The bus lets you off at a stop, and you cross the street in order to enter the camp, and as soon as you enter the camp, there's an entire different mood in the air. The place is fairly somber, as expected. At first I was hesitant to take pictures, and even more hesitant to post them on this blog, but I think it's something that reminds you of how real it really is and teaches you of the past, so pictures will be included but more for history's sake.

You walk in on the same road that the prisoners were forced to walk on when entering Dachau. If you've read any books about Dachua, it's likely that the phrase "work sets you free" was mentioned. This phrase is on the entrance of the camp. I know this is a phrase I've heard many times when reading Jewish literature, and when I saw it in person, I was finally able to envision what they saw, what they faced, etc.

The bunkers that now stand out Dachau are only replicas of the real ones, but most of the other buildings are the originals. Some of the buildings were even built by the prisoners, who were forced to construct them. One building had "There is a path to freedom. Its milestones are: Obedience, Honesty, Cleanliness, Sobriety, Hard Work, Disciplne, Sacrifice, Truthfullness, Love of thy Fatherland." painted on the top. It's sickening. For one, it's a huge lie. The prisoners freedom did not come from their hard work; it came from the allies liberating them. Two, the people who wrote about these "milestones" did not follow them at all!

There is a museam throughout one of the buildings that was used in this time period. We walked through the rooms where the prisoners were inspected, checked in, etc. We saw horrid pictures of starving bodies that were composed only of skin and bones. It was sickening to look at it, and yet, I couldn't turn away. I felt as if to turn away would mean to ignore the truth. The truth is that this horrible thing happened. It's for real; I stood on the ground where it happened. I had to look, in order to honor the truth, and honor those who had to face such horrible, horrible, horrible conditions. One of the pictures showed Hitler standing at the same Town Hall I had stood at the day before. It was a sickening feeling; I had stood where that hateful man had stood. I felt a little too close and little too well-connected with history then.

One of the exhibits that startled me the most, perhaps because I'm an English major and big on the use of words and writing for communication purposes, related to the propoganda during this time. I've always wondered WHY people let this happen, and I never believed them when they said "they didn't know how bad it really was." While I still have some doubts, I can understand a little bit better now. I must hand it to the Nazis; they did a brilliant job of deceiving the press. The claimed that their concentration camps were actual "reeducation camps", and once people were "reeducated" about the new ideals of Germany and made into functioning members of society, they'd be released. They had their own photographer who would set up scenes that appeared rather pleasant; it didn't look as if there was any pain or torture involved, and they picked only healthy looking prisoners for the photo shoots. They had pictures of modern looking machinery, spacious work areas and living conditions, etc. I'm sure that if you had never been in the place yourself, it would have been easy to believe. It's sick that a group of people can betray the rest of the world so easily and manipulate them psychologically, and it makes you want to question the news that we are fed daily throughout the TV, newspapers, etc. Are we, too, not getting the whole picture? It's something to think about. I encourage you to examine all points of the news you are receiving.

The bunkers at Dachua, as I said before, are only replicas, but they take you to different rooms and show you how the conditions worsened with time. The number of people in each bunker increased yearly, but the number of beds decreased. There was a major overpopulation at Dachau, especially at the end of the war. People were thrown in wherever they could fit them. One of the rooms was supposed to fit around 30 people; at one point, the Nazis forced 400 people to live in it. And the most horrible part was not that the bunkers were so huge and filled with so many people.. it was that there was bunker after bunker after bunker. There were probably 40 or so total. That many bunkers with that many people in each? Yes, that's how many were tortured, ridiculed, etc.

The last part of the tour took us to the crematorium. Thousands of bodies were burned here, and yet, thecrematorium couldn't burn them fast enough. Bodies piled up and piled up before the crematorium had time to burn the old ones. There was a gas chamber attached to one of them. People were deceived and told that they were going there for a shower, when in reality, they were going to be gased and then burned. Outside there are gardens and graves dedicated to the unknown numbers who died there. One memorial especially stood out to me. There was a building honoring the Catholic priests who spoke out against the Nazi ideals, and thus, were thrown into the concentration camp. It is people like this who make you proud of the human race. They saw wrong, disagreed, and spoke out to stop it. They lost their lives while fighting for something they believed in. It reminds me to stand up for what I believe in, even if that means persecution and ridicule. Martin Niemoller wrote a poem that says, "When the Nazis came for the communists, I remained silent; I was not a communist. When they locked up the social democrats, I remained silent; I was not a social democrat. When they came for the trade unionists, I did not speak out; I was not a trade unionist. When they came for the Jews, I remained silent; I wasn't a Jew. When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out." When I view the horrors of the Holocaust and other forms of genocide, I wonder what can I do to stop it? The answer lies within this poem: stand up for what you believe in! Inform yourself, pick your stance, and defend it. The major theme of Dachau's memorial was "never again". In order to ensure this, we must never forget and continue to educate while promising to boldly speak out against injustice. It's a scary thought, but it's necessary.

We left Dachau and took a train back to Switzerland. Again, I slept a lot. When we got to Switzerland, Emily and I realized that neither of us had written down the address or the directions to the hostel. That's not good.. We had a general idea of where it was, though, so we left the train station, and we walked. And we walked some more. We asked the security guards in the train station where it was, but we soon realized that their directions did not lead us to the place. Finally, this girl who spoke English saw us looking lost and bewildered, and she offered help. Well, she directed us to the entrance of a hostel, but it was the wrong one! The guy in the wrong hostel gave us new directions, so we took off. We had to check in by 11pm, and time was ticking. His directions didn't help. Another couple gave us directions. They, too, were wrong. Finally, when we only had around 20 minutes left, we asked a lady if she spoke English. She said, "Barely". Usually, when people over here say that they "barely" know English, it means that they have this huge, extended vocabulary, and they're just looking to show off. Nope, this lady was for real. She barely knew English. However, she felt sorry for us, and when we wrote down the name of our hostel, she CALLED information for us, talked to the hostel, and found out how to get there. As it turns out, we were on the right street, and she directed us to the door step. Seriously, this lady was an angel! It also proves that nice people DO exist in the world! I am very thankful for the lady who barely spoke English, whoever she was.

Our hostel in Basel, the YMCA Youth Hostel, was the best hostel I've ever stayed at! It was CLEAN and safe. I even got to call Mom and Dad that night. It's always good to HEAR them and not just type to them! :)

On Monday morning we woke up early and explored a bit of Switzerland. We went to the Munster Church, Market Square (lots and lots of shops!), and and Rhine River. We also got Christmas ornaments! We went to a shop near Market Square called Johann Wanner that apparently is where the White House and Michael Jackson shop at for Christmas decorations. There were some red, white, and blue ornaments that I saw appropriate for the White House, but I did not see any little boy ornaments appropriate for Michael. As the afternoon rolled around, it was time to board our flight back to Valencia. I tried to videotape the ridiculous people clapping and laughing as the Ryanair song started playing when we landed, but FOR ONCE, there was no clapping! What is up with that? The one time I wish to videotape it, and they DON'T clap? Not fair!

We had class on Tuesday. It was pretty uneventful. However, as soon as class let out, our weekend started! Yeah, that's right. I've had a six day weekend this week. Apparently Spain's "May Day" (May 1) is their Labor Day, and we got out of class on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That was joyous news! There was only one problem... where should we spend our 6 day weekend?? We tried to plan a trip to Morrocco (just to say we had gone to Africa, of course! :)), but we failed. The ferry that took us there would not get us back in time for classes the following weekend. It was also impossible to book a trip to the Canary Islands. WHY is it so hard for people from Spain to get to the Canary Islands, when they own it, but people from London can fly down there without a problem? Not fair! We went to bed Tuesday night having no idea where we were going, but when we woke up on Wednesday, we planned a trip to Mallorca in about two hours. Incase you don't know, Mallorca is a little island located to the south of Spain and owned by Spain. It's AMAZING, but more on that in a bit.. We called the ferry company, booked hostels, and packed. We had very little time to do this, as we started planning around 5:30pm and had to leave for the ferry by 7:30pm. We made it, though! We threw in TONS and TONS of clothes into a real, live suitcase because there are no baggage restrictions on a ferry! Then, we headed for the metro.

We took the metro as far as it would allow us, and then we started walking in the direction of the port. We really had no idea where the port was for our ferry, though. Time started to run out, so we flagged down a cab, and he got us there perfectly. I'm glad we decided to use a taxi; there would have been no way we could have found it by ourselves, especially under our time restraints! When we boarded the ferry, we were so surprised! It was nice! Although we opted for the cheapest ticket, and thus, did not have a cabin, we were lead to this huge room with couches, comfy chair, and tables. It's a big step up from the rock hard, uncomfortable airplane seats! We celebrated our trip by drinking a tad of Bacardi together, and then we pulled chairs together in order to make a bed, and we slept the entire night. However, I woke up around every 30 minutes from being uncomfortable, but oh well! :) I lived, and I rode a sweet ferry!

When we arrived at Mallorca, we were greeted by this beautiful island that is surrounded by the crystal clear waters of the Mediterranean. Breath taking! We took a cab to the hotel (Hostal La Mimosa! It's great!), and the cab drive was extremely annoying. He had this really weird laugh about him, and when we finally arrived at our hostel, he said the price was "around 20 euros". I had seen the price earlier, and it was NOT that, but whatever. We just wanted to get rid of him. He did inform us that Mallorca is home to Michael Douglas, though, and upon further research, I also found that Catherine Zeta-Jones also lives there for a large portion of the year! Anyway, we were greeted by free breakfast at the hotel, and it was good! They let us drop off our luggage and change into swimsuits, and we headed towards the beach. The little town we stayed in was so quaint; there were little shops everywhere and people going about. It was soon apparent that, although we were still in Spain, the British dominate this island! Apparently Mallorca is a major getaway for the Brits, sort of like Cancun is for Americans. Therefore, all of the signs were in English, and stores advertised having "British service" or "British food", etc. It was pretty funny! Pretty much everyone we came in contact with spoke English, which is sooo untrue about the country as a whole!

The beach we arrived at was crowded, and it wasn't very big, but it was gorgeous! There were rocks and coves nestled up on the sides. We enjoyed just laying about in the sun for hours and listening to music.. and watching the little boys jump off rocks into water. It looked very dangerous, but it was fun to watch! I'm proud to report that we did not get burnt on day one! :)


We went back to the hotel later that day and officially checked in. Our room ended up having three beds in it, which was nice! We also had a little balcony with a view of the gorgeous Mediterranean. We were definitely well taken care of! The hotel even had a pool, which we lounged near for a while. Yeah, we were that close to the ocean and went to a pool.. but it had been forever since I had been near one! :) Later that night we ventured down the road and looked for places to eat. We eventually came upon a Chinese restaurant. We've been wanting Chinese for months, but we haven't found any places that appear to be sanitary. This place looked safe, though, so we went in and had some chicken and rice. I'm happy to report that it did not give me food poisoning, and it was good! And I truly believe it was chicken, not cat. Mm! :) We also ventured off to the port. I love the boats and docks!

On Friday morning we decided to go to a nearby town, Magaluf. It's one of the most popular destinations for Mallorca visitors. We boarded the bus and rode it for a while until -- BAM! Our bus hit a car. The bus driver immediately freaked out and looked all around. It was clear that he had no idea what to do. He quickly pulled over to the side of the road, and a lady who had been a passenger in the car started walking in our direction. However, the bus driver didn't wait! He just drove off! Crazy! So, yeah, we were involved in a hit and run accident in Mallorca, and we were the ones running!!

After missing our spot and having to pay again, we eventually made it to Magaluf beach. We started the day off right with lunch at McDonald's. Then, we ventured out in hopes of finding a place that does parasailing. When we first went to the beach in Valencia, we saw a guy parasailing, and it's been stuck in our minds ever since. We decided Mallorca would be a perfect place to do it! We asked a shop owner if he knew any places, and while he didn't really know, he did tell us about how much he loved Americans and gave us free suckers. Can't beat that! ;) We headed in the direction of the beach in hopes of seeing someone doing it. We found a little stand that said "ask about parasailing", but when we asked, they told us they weren't going to start doing it until NEXT week! We were a little sad that we were a week early, but we decided to make the most of the day, and we found chairs and a little hut on the beach and sunbathed for hours.

Friday was a very important day: it was the first day that I fully submerged myself into the Mediterranean! Yeah, I know.. I've been here for months and just now did it? Yeah, that's right. The water has been COLD! I finally went for it on Friday, though. I ran in without a second thought, and guess what I found out? It felt GOOD once I was actually in it! The water was the clearest I've ever seen. Without a doubt, it beats any of the beaches I've been to in California and Florida. I walked out and had water up to my chin, looked down, and could still see my feet. Mom, who doesn't like the ocean much because she can't see what's crawling at her feet, would have loved this! It was so gorgeous. I'm in love with the Meditteranean. :)

On Saturday we decided to try our luck in a different town, Palmanova. We hopped on the bus and made it there WITHOUT hitting any more cars! When they dropped us off, we found a tourist information booth and asked about parasailing. To our delight, the lady said there was a place doing it! We practically ran down the beach to the place, but when we got there, they told us that they wouldn't be starting until tomorrow. We were a bit disappointed, but there was a scuba diving place nearby, so we decided to check it out. We ended up signing up for a small intro to scuba diving class that would be followed by a dive. It didn't start until 3pm, though, and it was only noon, so we wandered down the beach and once again found chairs and a hut. Somehow we ended up falling asleep, and when I woke up, it was 3:15!! Oops! We hurried it on up to the scuba diving place, and fortunately, it wasn't a problem! We watched a small video and met our instructor from Holland, Chris. He gave us our wetsuits and gear, and we prepared. Then, we followed him out to see. Incase you didn't know, it's REALLY hard to walk forward with flippers on! I also find it difficult to get water out of my mask while underwater, which is one of the tasks that he tried to teach us. I didn't quite master the skills, but we swam out to sea anyway. Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the first half of the experience much. For one, I suck at getting water out of my mask, and two, I really, really, really like breathing out of my nose, and scuba diving does not allow for that! It was really hard for me to get used to only breathing with my mouth. I'd also get caught up on THINKING about what I was doing, and I wouldn't breathe naturally, which caused me to minorly freak out at times. The good thing is that Chris was really patient with me. :) We saw some plants and fish, and eventually I calmed down a bit. The key to scuba diving is not thinking about it, which is what I started to do on the second portion of the dive. When I didn't think about it, I did just fine. I'd say I even enjoyed it! :) So, if I ever go scuba diving again, I just have to remember to NOT THINK ABOUT IT! Thinking about it leads to hyperventilating and thoughts of drowning.. not good! :) Still, I'm happy we got to experience scuba diving in the Meditteranean!

We rounded off the evening by going to Subway (American food!!) and returning to our beach chairs. Between Subway and the chairs, we found a jolly little gang of Irish men sitting in a sports bar yelling at the TV. Just like America... :) They were fun! We watched the sun set BEHIND our chairs (as in not facing the ocean :-(). We also talked in third person a lot and came up with nicknames. P.F. will forever love F.W. :) We later went to the "Prince William" pub (Remember, it's the British Cancun!) for cocktails. Sadly, they were not slush like; they were only iced. :(

I fell asleep pretty early on Saturday night, but when I awoke on Sunday, it was time for another free breakfast at the hotel! Then, it was back to the bus stop for another trip to Palmanova. We arrived around 11:30, and the parasailing guys told us they were doing it that day, but it wouldn't start until noon. We returned to beach for a few good hours of sunbathing before parasailing. Sadly, my butt got a little crispy (Yes, I was wearing bottoms.), and now it's uncomfortable to sit. That didn't stop me from parasailing, though!! We headed to the place around 2:30, and we gave them our money, and they gave us life jackets and a harness. Here's a fun fact: Emily and I were the first people to parasail on Palmanova beach in 2008!! When you think about it, it's a LITTLE scary because that means we were the first to try out the equipment for the year, but hey, we lived! We had watched a video of parasailing on the internet, and the people went into the water before going into the sky. We were scared that would be dreadfully cold. However, we never touched the water! We sat on the back of the boat, and they released the parachute, and up, up, up we went! We flew over the Meditteranean with our feet dangling below us. It was sooooo much fun (minus the times I thought about how much it would hurt if I became unattached to the parachute and hit the cold water from that high up...). The Norwegian girl who went after us took these pictures for me. The only bad part was that the guys who harnessed us to the parachute spoke very little English. This means that they gave us no instructions as to how to start out OR land. Once we were dangling high up in the air, we started to wonder how we would ever land, and we kicked ourselves for not asking! After a while, they started to reel us in, though, and we got closer and closer to the boat and hovered over it until we could stand on the back end. Once again, we never touched the water, and we sat down as soon as we could, and they released the harness! It was sweet. I must admit, though. I was really glad that Emily was next to me. I don't think I would have liked it much if I had been up there by myself. Kudos to the girl who went after us; she did it all by herself, and she didn't scream one bit! :)


There was another trip to Subway after parasailing, and eventually we wound up on the beach once again. I fell asleep again -- surprise! It started to get cold when the sun started to set, so I wrapped up in a towel and slept for a bit longer before deciding that one last dip into the Mediterranean sounded like a splendid idea. The beach was pretty deserted at this time. No one was swimming, and there were just occasional people walking by. We took advantage of this and took lots of pictures. I also completed one of my goals for coming to Spain... I skinny dipped in the Mediterranean! :) We swam out a bit, and I took off the swimsuit. I'm pretty sure this old guy on the beach may have seen my top go off, but it's not like it was a big deal to him; every other female on the beach that day had had hers off (I hadn't!). It was a little cold, but it was very liberating -- haha! I rather enjoyed it, and putting it back on before exiting the water wasn't half as hard as I thought it would be.


The sun had gone down by the time we boarded the bus back to our hotel. Surprisingly, we were rather productive when we returned to the hotel. I did my part of a group project and talked to my mom! We had to wake up early today in order to get a taxi to go to the ferry. Surprisingly, our ferry was VERY empty. There was hardly anyone aboard it! I think I was the most productive I have been all semester aboard the ferry today. I completed a presentation for next week which took a few hours to do, did Spanish homework, AND studied for a final that isn't until like 4 weeks from now! I like feeling accomplished. I don't feel that way much over here, but it's nice to be reminded that I can still be a good student if I want to.

The ferry company was supposed to call a cab for us, but it never showed up. When we asked about it, they just said it was coming, and so we waited.. and waited.. and it never showed up! We got lucky, though. Someone else had taken a cab TO the port, which meant there was an empty one for us to use! Our cab driver was really nice and brought us safely to dear old Tramoyeres.

Tomorrow we return to class. We have less than a month left of school, which seems surreal to me. Where did this semester go? How has the time passed so quickly? Still, this last month will prove to be the most difficult: homework, presentations, papers, and tests. There will be very little slacking this last month, which is rather unfortunate!

If you've made it to the end of this blog, congratulations! Or I guess, really, I should say thanks! That was a lot to read, but that's the full update! I miss you ALL, but I will see you very soon! In the meantime, please continue to pray for my uncle and my family. Pray for peace and strength. I would appreciate that greatly! :) Thanks, everyone! I love you all. Hasta luego!

...when you know that you were born to fly?