I am officially obsessed with Italy. I WILL go back there sometime in my near future. I absolutely loved my trip to Rome!! Morgan, Natalie, Tabbatha, Corie, and I left for Rome early Friday morning. We arrived about 8 in the morning and took a bus shuttle into the city center. By the time we found our “hotel” it was about 10:00. I say “hotel” because it was the weirdest/sketchiest hotel experience this far in my life. Hotels there, at least all the ones I saw, were not free standing buildings, but rather just a few rooms inside large buildings that house all kinds of other things. Ours was on the 7th floor, and was literally 5 rooms and a reception desk. We stayed in two different places like this, and it was so strange! The rooms were TINY and each had 5 twin beds all crammed into it.

We dropped our luggage off and immediately set out for Vatican City. We used the metro to get everywhere in Rome, since we use it in Barcelona, are pretty much pros at it, and Rome had metro stops that were extremely simple to figure out. We arrived at Vatican City and decided to pay for a guided tour that would allow us to skip all of the lines and hear the history as well. It wasn’t until we were 5 minutes away from the start of our tour that I realized Vatican City has a strict dress code that doesn’t allow women to show shoulders or knees. What did I have on, you ask? A short, sleeveless sundress. Of course. We ran through the streets, which luckily are filled with vendors, and found some leggings that I would slip on, and I happened to have my raincoat, so I put that on as well. Crisis averted! Seeing Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica was absolutely amazing. Haring the history of the church, and seeing the beautiful art that past popes have commissioned and/or collected, was probably the greatest thing I’ve done so far. It was BEAUTIFUL there. Seeing the original frescos painted by Raphael and Michelangelo (the painters, not the ninja turtles) in person was awesome!

St. Peter’s Basilica - Vatican City


Inside St. Peter’s - Check out the leggings and jacket!


Me, Corie, Morgan, Natalie, and Tabbatha outside St. Peter’s

We ate our first meal in Italy right around Vatican City, where I had mushroom pizza that was OUT OF THIS WORLD. Oh my goodness, I am in love with Italian pizza! We also had gelato, which I said was great in Barcelona, but nothing compared to Italy. Gelato in Italy can’t be compared to anything! Tis time, I had Nutella mixed with Vanilla. YUM. From there, we took the metro to another part of Rome, and explored the area until we found the Trevi Fountain, another of Rome’s famous sites. The fountain is 90 feet tall, and 70 feet wide, and is Rome’s largest Baroque fountain. It was a historical tradition to build fountains at the end of fresh water aqueducts, and this large source was found in 19 BC and served ancient Rome for more than 400 years. It is absolutely gorgeous and is one of the most famous fountains in the world. A local tradition holds that if you throw a coin in the water, you are insured a trip back to Rome. Over 3,000 Euros are thrown in every day, and if my two wishes come true, I will be returning to Rome twice!! :)



Trevi Fountain


Trevi Fountain :)


Morgan and I - Trevi Fountain

After this we ate dinner at a little pasta place (I had spaghetti) and went to our “hotel” to rest. We had been up almost 24 hours at this point! The next morning, after having pastries and coffee, we set off for the Colosseum. It is massive! Seeing the actual sight of the gladiator fights of ancient Rome was so cool. We had an audio guide with us, so that we knew what we were looking at. It is crazy to think that a lot of the stones are missing from the structure because they were plundered by Popes to help build St. Peter’s Basilica and parts of Vatican City. We also went to the Palatine Garden, which essentially house relics and archeological remains of ancient Rome. We stopped for more gelato (coconut and dark chocolate… My favorite since I’ve been here!) before walking to the Pantheon. It was originally built as a temple to ancient Roman gods, and has been used as a church and a tomb since the Renaissance. It features the world’s largest unreinforced dome, which is a perfect sphere. It has a hole in the middle, opening the temple up to the sky, and a drainage system under the floor allows any rain water to be collected and taken away. The first few Kings and Queens of Italy, as well as the painter Raphael (and others), are entombed here. It is close to the Trevi fountain, where we went to make another wish. :)



Colosseum


Colosseum


Girls at the Colosseum!

We found a delicious pasta place for dinner where we had pasta, wine, and tiramisu for dinner. It was so yummy! We got more wine after dinner to celebrate our last night in Rome.

We woke up Sunday morning and after a coffee break, took the metro back to Vatican City to hear the Pope speak and bless the crowd. I am not Catholic, by any means, but this was an amazing experience. It is amazing to hear him speak and reach out to so many people. We stood in the pouring rain to hear him speak, but it was so worth it. We had lunch at a family run pizza place near our “hotel” before getting back on the bus to go to the airport. Our plane was delayed, and I wasn’t sure if I would ever make it back to Spain, but we did!



Pope!

Rome was by far my favorite experience of this trip. Italy was so beautiful, and I can’t wait to go back soon.

Ciao!

-L

First meal in Paris! Yum.


Nutella and grilled almond crepe


Cart full of macaroons- I had the hot pink one!


More macaroons from the sweet shop


Yummy sweet shop





Locks on a bridge over the Seine River. The tradition is to put your name/initials beside that of your significant other on the lock and then lock it to the bridge to secure success in the relationship. They were everywhere!

-L

Let me just say: Paris is AMAZING. It is an incredibly beautiful city!!! Morgan, Tabbatha, Natalie, and I left for the airport at 4:30 am on Monday morning to make it for our 6:20 am flight. The airline we flew was tiny, but it got us there! We landed in Paris about 8:00, only to discover that our hotel was an hour away! It turns out that the tiny airline doesn’t use the main airport of Paris. Of course! We bought roundtrip shuttle tickets to get us to and from the airport. Riding the bus was miserable for this carsick prone girl, so I do have to complain about that. Ugh.

We eventually made it to Paris city center, when we were dropped off at a random point. With no maps or sense of direction, we set off walking. Ha! We walked down random streets, trying to use the metro maps to help us find our way. We ended up getting totally lost,and stopped at a small cafe for an early lunch. I had a delicious cold chicken sandwich….. And my first experience with prices in Paris. WOW. Food is incredibly expensive! It is NOT a place to save money. (I will be doing a separate blog post for pictures of yummy food… Those pictures are on my phone and I am currently blogging from my iPad)

We finally arrived at the hotel, which was so nice! We checked in, left our bags, and set off on our site seeing tour. Since Paris is so spread out, we decided to take cabs to places we knew we wanted to see, and then explore the areas that the sites are located in. First up was obviously the Eiffel Tower! Our cab ride took us through the center of Paris, and we got an amazing view of Arc de Triomphe on the way. The Eiffel Tower was so cool to see! It is so much bigger in person than it seems in pictures. It is located in a park called Champ de Mars. It is lined with beautiful trees and flowers, and there is lots of grassy space where people go to picnic and relax. Soo pretty!! We wanted to go to the top, but the line would have taken us hours to get through, so we decided to move on to other sites on our list.

At the other end of Champ de Mars was the Ecole Militaire, which was a historic monument/military building. We explored the neighborhood around this area, where we saw tiny book shops and patisseries (bakeries). We also came upon the political building (palace really… It is HUGE and of course, fancy!) where we were informed by security guards to leave since the Prime Minister was there. Oops! The political building also had an old Military Hospital which has been turned into a tourist destination on the grounds.



Patisserie windows like this one lined the streets. Makes you hungry all the time!


Political center of Paris

After exploring this area, we took a cab to the Musee Louvre, the world famous art museum. The building was exactly like I imagined it to be, with the glass pyramid, multiple fountains, and amazing architecture. It’s hard to believe that so much of the world’s famous art is housed there..but it isn’t hard to imagine that it all fits.. The building is so big!!!! The museum is right on the Seine River, so we walked along the banks while exploring this area of the city. We also saw Musee d’Orsay, which houses the largest collection of impressionist paintings. That building had huge clocks built into the facade, which were cool to look at. The Grand Palais was near this area, which is a beautiful old building that has been turned into an exhibition hall and art museum.



Louvre



Louvre


Seine River

From here, we took a cab to Notre Dame Cathedral. I expected to see Esmerelda, my favorite character from the Disney movie. Sadly, the only gypsies I saw were ones that tried to steal from you with the help of their gypsy children…. Creepy. The cathedral was so majestic, and the gargoyles adorning the top were my favorite part. Exploring this area included several small shops, and lunch at a restaurant with ridiculous prices. Mom thought it was hilarious that I was having a mental breakdown over the 6€ ($8) coke I had to drink with my meal, but I sure didn’t! I did have a delicious cheeseburger and fries though, so I really can’t complain. Natalie ordered Penne pasta, which was brought to her plain… Literally it was just a bowl of cooked pasta. She had to pay extra to be brought any sauce! Paris is SO not a cheap place to eat! That being said, did that stop us from stopping at a street vendor to have fresh crepes made for us? You bet it didn’t. France is known for crepes, so of course we had to taste! I had a nutella and grilled almond crepe…. And it was delicious! Yum.


Notre Dame

It started to rain after this, so we ducked into a shop to buy wine and crackers to take back to the hotel. When we came out of the shop, of course it wasn’t raining anymore, so we continued to explore. We came across a chocolatier, which was filled to the brim with homemade sweets. They even had statues made out of chocolate! We all bought small things to taste, as well as a macaroon each, which is another sweet treat the France is known for. It is a small sandwich cookie, with the texture of ice cream cookies , and filled with a jam. I had strawberry and it was so good!! We came across the Justice Palais near this area, which is a beautiful guilded building adorned with French flags.

At this point, it was getting late in the day, and we wanted to see the Eiffel tower at night to see it’s pretty lights. Our map told us we were pretty far away, but we could see it on plain sight, so we decided to walk toward it, in hopes of finding our way. We walked a few miles along the Seine, before we gave up and decided to try our luck with the French metro. We bought what we hoped was the right ticket, and we’re astonished to see two story metro trains! In Barcelona, the metro is pretty much like any standard subway, small and crowded. This metro was very spacious, and a nice man helped us determine which stop to get off at. We made it to the tower while it was still light, so we had time to waste. Unfortunately, it had started raining pretty hard by this point, so we took shelter at a snack bar with umbrella covered tables. We waited for what seemed like eternity, but finally the lights came on and the wait was worth it! The tower is beautiful by day, but breathtaking at night. The lights make it sparkle! We only took a few pictures since it was raining and we were without umbrellas, before hopping in a cab back to the hotel.

We drank our wine and relaxed in the room, before we went to sleep. Maybe it was the early flight, or the long day of traversing Paris, but that bed may be one of the most comfortable bed I’ve slept in! It was only missing Wally. Our 3:45 am wakeup call came all too soon, and at 4 am the nice hotel staff brought us up 4 to go breakfasts since we were missing the breakfast included in our fee. They brought coffee, orange juice, and breakfast cakes which were basically chocolate chip dinner rolls. It was an amazing meal at 4 am. We walked back to the shuttle stop, which was luckily very close to our hotel, for the hour long ride to our terminal. We got there with plenty of time to spare, so we had more coffee before boarding our plane.

I wish we would have had more time to spend in Paris, because it really is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen. I would have loved to go inside some of the places we got to see. But the trip really couldn’t have gone any better, and I had a wonderful time exploring with my friends!




-L

It’s been such a long time since I’ve posted any updates.. I’m sorry for that! I haven’t done anything exciting since the last time though, so don’t feel cheated.

Let’s see….. This week, I think I was in the classroom maybe 5 hours total. Every day, my classes were cancelled for some reason or another. Thursday, the Dean of the College of Education (and others) came to visit us and watch us teach. I did a lesson on toys using flash cards, and the kids really loved it. The deans from WKU seemed to enjoy it as well, and I got many compliments on my teaching. That definitely makes me feel reassured!

My afternoon classes on Thursday were all cancelled in honor of the school wide dance competition. Yes you read that correctly… Dance competition. Groups formed within grade level classes, made up of boys as well as girls. They practiced for weeks leading up to the competition… I will have to post pictures of my class dancing later. It was so much fun to watch!

Friday came and went without any exciting events… Nothing good to report. Saturday was market day though, so some of my roommates and I went down for coffee and breakfast.. As well as a little shopping. :)

This time I had a fresh apple pastry and coffee. Yum yum! (Mom: not apple pie and coffee)

We visited the produce stalls as well, and bought a crate of home grown strawberries and a watermelon (which the guy promptly sliced open with a machete, no big deal).


It’s safe to say that most of it has been eaten by now. They were delicious! I did some gift shopping on the other side of the market for people at home, and also did some Mother’s Day shopping ;)
Of course I bought a few things for me as well!

After shopping, we walked back up to the school, because the town shuts down from 1:30-5:30 everyday for an afternoon siesta. We passed the time with strawberries and watermelon. After the siesta, we walked back into town to have some dinner. We found wild Poppy flowers growing on a hillside, which made my day so much better! Granny, this picture is for you (xoxoxo) :


In case you haven’t already seen this picture, this is an example of what we get fed for dinner at school:


Gross. So we decided to walk to town to get dinner, which turned out to be delicious!!

Today (Sunday), I am relaxing a little bit for now, getting ready to go for a run since the weather is so nice, and then I will finish packing for Paris. I am headed to Barcelona later this evening to meet up with the girls I am traveling with. Our flight to France leaves at 6 am Monday morning… I am very excited!! I will definitely update my blog with stories and pictures when I come home.

Until next time—

L

It seems like there are all kinds of things reminding me of home today. Maybe it’s because I miss my mommy, or my puppy, or maybe the rest of my friends and family, or maybe it’s just coincidence…… who knows!

1. The janitors at the school are blaring Aerosmith at 10:15 pm as they clean. I want to go and tell them that my mom has met them, and is pretty much their BFF. But I’m not sure of the direct translation for BFF, so I guess that fun fact will have to wait.

2. Maddie, Kayla, and I went into town for gelato today, and I had some that was walnut flavored. It was delicious and would have been something Dean Hogan would have loved. I also had gelato in Barcelona on Monday, and I had a flavor that tasted EXACTLY like peanut brittle. YUM! Mert Hogan would have been in heaven :).

3. Speaking of Dean Hogan, I have developed a slight obsession with crossword puzzles. We have so much free time during the day, it has been helping me pass the time in a not-so-mindless way. He would be so proud! I am quickly becoming a crossword master.

Today marks the 15th day I have been abroad, although it feels like 150! I have to be in class 2 more days this week, 2 days next week, and 3 the following week…. And then it’s homeward bound!!!!!!! In between those days, I have 2 days in Paris, and 3 in Rome. I sure can’t complain about that. :)

Xoxo
-L

Monday, April 23rd, marked an important holiday in Spanish culture. Often likened to Valentine’s Day, La diada de Sant Jordi is the most amourous day of the Spanish year. The streets are filled with couples walking hand in hand and stopping to purchase items from the myriads of street vendors. It is tradition for women to give men a book, and men traditionally give women roses. It is usually a single, long-stemmed, red rose, as the legend recalls.

The patron saint of Catalonia / Spain (as well as many other European countries) is Saint George, or Sant Jordi in Catalan. Legend has it that there was a ferocious dragon located in the village of Montblanc, near Barcelona. The dragon ate all of the animals in the village and began eating the people of the village too. To satisfy the hunger of the dragon and protect the village, the people randomly chose a person each year to be sacrificed to the beast. One year the King’s daughter’s name was chosen. Luckily, before she was to be eaten, a handsome knight, now known as Sant Jordi (Saint George), rode into town and killed the beast with his sword, saving her life.

It is said that a single, red rose grew from the ground where the dragon’s blood was spilled, and this rose was given to the princess by Sant Jordi. It has become a tradition since then to give women roses, and the book giving aspect came into play years later as an ode to both Shakespeare and Cervantes, whose deaths coincide with the date.


Maddie, Kayla, and I decided to leave the confines of our sleepy town to witness Diada de Sant Jordi in full force, in Barcelona. Nothing could have prepared me for this! There were more people out than I have EVER been around in my entire life. Probably a hundred thousand people, if not more, flooded the streets of Barcelona to buy gifts for their loved ones. There were hundreds of flower stalls, each offering roses wrapped in all sorts of different decorations, reflecting the colors of Catalonia (yellow and red). Book vendors were also out in hundreds, offering all kinds. There were also other things to buy, like homemade jewelry and crafts. It was crazy being around that many people, but it was definitely one of the coolest things I have experienced!

Sadly, no one bought me a rose, but I did buy myself some hand crafted rose earrings to remember the day by, so I think it all worked out! :)

With love,
-L



-L

I am so excited to share my upcoming adventures with you! It is official that I am traveling to Paris, France and Rome, Italy during the last two weeks of my time in Spain!!!

Thanks to the wonderful trip planning skills of my grandmother, I have an awesome hotel in Paris for this coming weekend! Bebe- the girls all want me to send hugs and kisses your way. We will take lots of pictures to share with you! THANK YOU (and Bouncer Too, of course) for helping us make the trip possible. I am so excited to travel there and see the famous locations it has to offer.

The girls and I also planned a trip not long after returning from Paris to go to Rome! We are spending a few days there site seeing and (hopefully) eating great food. Up to this point, I’ve been pretty depressed over missing the Derby. It is such a big day and I always enjoy spending it with my friends and family. Going to Italy for Derby weekend will definitely make me feel better about missing the biggest day in the Bluegrass State. I think it’s a pretty good trade-up…..I definitely can’t wait to see Italy!

Spain has been a great experience so far, and adding France and Italy to the agenda will make it even better!

-L

As you can see in my earlier post, I ate a lot yesterday! But I also explored more of Barcelona too. After catching the train from La Garriga, I met Morgan, Natalie, and Tabitha at the Plaza Catalunya. It was a beautiful day and people were out in numbers enjoying the city.


(Plaza Catalunya)


(Morgan and I exploring the city)

We decided our destination for the day would be Mt. Tibidabo. It is the tallest mountain (1680 feet) in the Serra de Collserola range passing through Spain. Near the top, there is an old-fashioned amusement park as well as a traditional Catholic Cathedral and several cafes. It took us several metro stops, an uphill bus ride, and a lift in a ski-lift type cable car to finally reach the top. And man were we high up! The amusement park was open and kids were riding every ride! There were teacups, carousels, swings, bumper cars, and a number of other rides. There were stalls with cotton candy, caramel apples, waffles :), and all kinda of other tummy fair treats. We also toured the cathedral, which still offers services to the public.





(Mountaintop view of Barcelona)



(Morgan and I on Mt. Tibidabo)



(Temple de Sagrat Cor on Mt. Tibidabo)



(Temple de Sagrat Cor on Mt. Tibidabo)



(One of the bell towers of the Temple de Sagrat Cor on Mt. Tibidabo with Barcelona and Mediterranean Sea behind )



(On Mt. Tibidabo with Barcelona and Mediterranean Sea behind )

It was a great adventure to navigate our way to the top of the mountain and to explore everything it had to offer. It was one of my favorite places I’ve been!


-L

I feel like a lot of my blog entries have described the food I refuse to eat and also the rate of my slow starvation. After a great Saturday exploring the delicious side of Barcelona with my friends Morgan, Natalie, and Tabitha, I thought it would be only fair to post about the great food I had yesterday! Don’t read any further if you’re hungry… You’ll just be jealous.
Saturday mornings in La Garriga revolve around the market, as I’ve mentioned before. This time around, we only visited the food side. The amount of fresh fruits and vegetables was astounding… I wouldn’t shop anywhere else of I lived here full time!

These are 2 of 20 vegetable stalls.. Just a small representation! There are also meat and bakery stalls available as well. We stopped at this bakery shop:



And I had the most AMAZING pastry ever, homemade by the little old lady running the stall. Seriously, it was delicious.



(croissant base with peach marmalade and topped with fresh fruit)

I also tasted my first waffle on a stick! It was at a mountain top amusement park, where it was served as a normal treat. It was served fresh off the press with warm chocolate syrup… Not the pinnacle of healthy eating, but when in Rome….



After more exploring, we stopped for tapas and drinks in the city center of Barcelona. For our tapas, we had Zucchinis Arrebossats (fried zuchinni). Yum! I also tasted my first Clara, which may or may not be the best drink I’ve had yet!


It is a tall glass of beer mixed with Lemon Fanta. Think of fizzy lemonade flavored beer. It is a local drink and it is delicious!

I will post more of my adventures later… But I had to dedicate a post to the yumminess that was my life yesterday, since I’ve been so hungry up to this point!

- L

The Internet has been down at the school for going on two days now. It comes and goes, and when it does come, the connection is HORRIBLE, as some of you saw in my terrible Skype calls from last night. I hope it is fixed soon… My sanity won’t last long without it! After spending a full weekend site seeing in Barcelona,  I am back in La Garriga to teach. Monday was uneventful because I only have one class all day, which is 2 hours and doesn’t start until 2:00.  On Tuesday, I have a 2 hour block of classes beginning at 9:40, and then another 2 hour block beginning at 2:20. My teacher had to be absent for the afternoon classes, so I was instructed to take them over. The other English-speaking teachers helped me through, but it was definitely an interesting experience! Classes here are not the silent work times we are used to in the US. Here, teachers simply talk over students… no matter their volume. Very rarely are students completely silent while listening to new material or instructions for activities. Try as I might, I did not have their attention for more than a few seconds… No matter how loud I could get.  I was supposed to introduce a new science unit about games. We were to spend an hour and a half discussing games, and 30 minutes writing and illustrating a piece about their favorite game and it’s rules. Since they are only in first grade, their English is not proficient enough to speak with a native English speaker for that length of time. We discussed games for maybe 30 minutes, and spent the rest of the time trying to write and illustrate simple sentences about games. Overall, teaching by myself wasn’t a bad experience, I just need to get used to the classroom atmosphere and level of attention paid by the students.  Today (Wednesday), I have one class in the morning (11:40), and two in the afternoon. One of my afternoon classes is on a field trip today, so I only have one more class to attend today. Not a bad schedule! Unfortunately, Thursdays are pretty jam packed. Along with the new experience of teaching, I also had a new experience with attempting to do laundry in my flat, and also grocery shopping in town. I thought I could hold out and make myself eat the school provided food… It is just a month after all. But I never expected the amount of pork they eat here! At home, I’m usually not a picky eater, but it seems like here at school, it’s always some sort of pork product, or fish served skin on. I’m sorry, but no thank you! So I ventured to town to buy bread and strawberry marmalade (no Smuckers jelly here!) to make use of my peanut butter that I brought from home (which also they don’t have here) to make PB & J sandwiches. I also bought crackers and cheese, and chocolate doughnuts for breakfast. (Breakfast is not a common meal in Spain… So we aren’t served anything in the mornings.) I almost bought Cokes too, because the ONE thing I’m craving here is a Dr. Pepper! Coke and Sprite are pretty common, but other than Fanta, that is about the extent of the soft drink selection.  Coke does taste noticeably different here, because it is made with real sugar. Meals are served late in Spain. There is a breakfast-y sandwich eaten about 11, which is usually ham and tomato sauce on French bread. Lunch is eaten anywhere from 1-3, and dinner (although we eat early because we requested to), is eaten anywhere from 8-10 pm. I lasted as long as I could on oranges and French bread…. But I am excited to now have the option of a peanut butter sandwich!  Laundry was a whole other process. You would think if I can work a washing machine in Kentucky, I could work one here….. But no. The washer in our flat has a million buttons and knobs, so I picked ones that looked the most like cold water and crossed my fingers. The cycle took FOREVER. Like, almost  2 hours. I still can’t figure out why! My clothes came out okay though, so I hope I can pick the same setting in the future. Dryers are nonexistent in Spain, so I hung clothes on every available surface of the flat in order for them to dry. Oh well, at least I have clean clothes!  It is time for class now…  -L