Madrid - our last school trip =(

We ended our traveling happenenings in Spain.  We met the school in Toledo, which was a really cool, small, historically filled city.  It's the city that is known for making a lot of swords in famous movies, ie: The Lord of the Rings.  It was really fun to go in all the little shops and see all these massive swords.  The weather wasn't exactly the best, so we didn't go out much, but the times we did it was always a blast.

Next we went to Segovia and my word, we thought Toledo was cold....Segovia was wayyyy worse.  It was a lot of fun though, because we took some ninja jumping pictures in front of the awesome aqueduct and saw larger than pea-sized hail.  I had never seen hail so big in my life and it HURT....BAD!!!  You'd think that my fro gives me a lot of cushion on my head.....but it doesn't...not one bit!!!!

We ended in Madrid and I LOVED Madrid.  There were a lot of fun filled times with lots of memories of good good good falafel, ice cream, and Bryce pretending to be one of those characters on the street.  Funny thing is that he actually made a few euros in about one minute.  I think he could make a living off of it...haha  It was sad to see our last trip come and go, but now I only have 3 more weeks left in Spain and it's crunch time.  After 20 days of traveling it's been a little hard to get back into school mode, but it must be done.  I'm gonna get my spanish on....

Brussels

So we didn't really see much in Brussels, but we stayed at a foreign diplomat's house.  He and his wife were so sweet and nice for letting us stay there with them.  We had a great time just hanging out and talking with them.  They are both two very intelligent people and the conversations that we had were far from dull.  Brent was a little under the weather while we were there, so we didn't get out much, but we did manage to make it to the car museum which was a lot of fun.  I got to see the first MINI and it was even blue like mine!!!  The city was beautiful and full of green.

It happened to be Brent's b-day while we were there, so we made him a italian dinner with a delicious chocolate cake to celebrate.  Cooking was the least that we could do for him and for the Kay's for the friendly hospitality.  It was soo nice to be able to cook and have a kitchen that was fully equipped.  It's been awhile since we've been able to have a home cooked meal and have all the utensils to make everything.  Brussels was the perfect relaxing time that we needed to make it through the rest of our trip.

I Amsterdam

Oh my word, I love Holland!!!  Go figure, considering that I'm Dutch.  I felt so at home...haha  Nolan told me I wasn't going to fit in there as much as he fit in in Egypt, but I'd say I fit in just nicely...haha.  We couchsurfed again in Amsterdam and I had emailed back and forth with Klaas quite a few times, so I was really excited to meet him and to see how he really was.  We got there and it was happened that Klaas and his roomate Joram were AWESOME.  They made us feel right at home and helped us with everything that we needed.

The first day, Klaas walked us alllllllll around the city...no kidding, we were walking for a solid 6 hours just getting acquainted with our surroundings and scoping out what we wanted to see the next few days.  Immediately that day, we noticed all of the cruiser bikes that Amsterdam had.  It wasn't until Klaas told us that there were more bikes in Amsterdam than people when we truly realized how many they were.  The ambiance was so much fun and it made me miss my blue beauty cruiser at home!!!!  At the end of the day, we decided to go to the Anne Frank house...considering that I am quite fascinated with WWII, this was amazing.  To be in that house was so neat and to see the places where she journaled and hid from the Nazi's was amazing.

The next day, we went to the tulip fields and I was ecstatic.  Tulips are my favorite flower, so I had been very excited to visit the fields, because Holland is known for the massive amounts of tulips.  The gardens were breathtaking.  We could have spent hours in the garden, but we had to rush back into town to catch a ride on the canal.  Klaas organized for us to go out on a boat with his friends and cruise along in the canal...awesome guy right?  yeah!  We cruised along and it was so crazy how different the city looked from the canals.  After the canals, we went to the Van Gogh museum where Starry Night was on display.  Usually it's in NY, but it just so happened that it was in Amsterdam for a short time.  I love Van Gogh's work so to see his paintings was a lot of fun.  To finish our stay, we walked through the red light district, just because you have to.  It was amazing to see all that going on right in front of you.  It almost felt like a movie.  It was sad, because Klaas told us that about 90% of the girls are there against their will and it's sad to think about the things that go on in our world.

I loved Amsterdam and sadly it had to come to an end, but it's a place I'll never forget and definitely a place I want to visit again.

London

So I've been to London 5 times now, but this was the first time I actually got to go and see the city.  It was the first destination of our 20 day long trip and it was a blast.  I went with Chels, Brent, and Phillip.  We saw all the major sights plus more.  

Big Ben was all it's hyped up to be and my favorite part about it was that every time we walked past it Brent would say, "how romantic," which gave me a blast into the past and made me remember how Max Brauer would say "how romantic," to things that you wouldn't normally use the expression.

We discovered awesome markets, thai food, and even got to see STOMP on broadway.  It wasn't my favorite broadway exhibition, but it was still entertaining.  We also got to visit the biggest Harrah's department store in the whole world and let me just tell you that I could have spent hours in there.  Overall, London was a success!!!

Egypt Continued...

Discovering Egypt

Six months and 12 hours worth of flying later I got to see Nolan again…in Egypt of all places!!!  I arrived in Cairo about 5 hours earlier than him, so I waited anxiously for his arrival, which seemed like centuries, but I stayed entertained watching these Egyptian kids playing in the airport.  It was amazing to me, just to observe another culture.  Men link arms, everyone kisses each other to greet one another, and the most apparent was the way they dressed.  Usually consisted of a very conservative and I quickly noticed that only men were allowed to show there feet, because everyone was looking at my feet in my flip flops…oops!  However, eventually Nolan, with 6 months worth of hair (afro status), arrived.  I was all smiles!!

 

The next day we visited the Cairo Museum.  We both decided that we didn’t really want to go to a lot of museums while we were there, but since this one had the most artifacts and information, we decided to spend about 3 hours being enlightened by our new friend/tour guide, Ahmed.  The Museum was huge!!!  It was interesting to learn the little details about the way and reasons to why the Egyptians built things the way they did.  A lot of the information we accumulated there, carried over to our whole trip.  The rest of the day we spend walking around the city and just getting comfortable there.  The Egyptians are really nice people, but our known for ripping tourists off.  Our first encounter was with this man that enticed both Nolan and me to enter his perfume shop.  He assured us that it was only “Egyptian Hospitality,” and that we wouldn’t have to buy anything or pay for anything.  Before Nolan knew it, he was buying a bottle for 20 Egyptian pounds, which is about 10 pounds too much…haha.  It’s ok, it was a first and last scam.

 

The next day was a very exciting day.  We met up with a friend of ours from Walla Walla who is currently an SM in Cairo, Eric Barnes.  I was so impressed with Eric.  I was impressed with how well he knew the city and how much Arabic he had actually picked up.  I’m not sure if y’all know, but Arabic is one dang hard language to learn.  We spent the day in Alexandria.  To start off our day, we all got the best fresh fruit smoothies.  They were soo good that they boys had to get another!!!  In Alexandria, we saw Pompey’s pillar, the catacombs, and the Roman Theatre.  We had a ton of fun taking lots of fun/silly pictures.  We snuck our camera in the catacombs, so we all had fun taking pictures…it made us feel rebellious...haha.  After sightseeing, we had worked up quite the appetite and we were satisfied after we had our first pita and falafel.  I have officially decided that this could quite be one of my favorite meals ever!!!  I have decided that as soon as I get back to America, I NEED to learn how to make a killer falafel…it’s essential.  We ate on the Mediterranean Sea and let’s just say that there were no complaints from me.  It was beautiful and the colors were breathtaking.  The plan was to take an overnight train to Luxor, but the Egyptians had a different idea in mind.  We found out that the night trains are designated only for the Egyptians and even if the train isn’t full, they won’t let any tourists ride.  However, one of the security guys told us to just get on the train and tell them that we didn’t know.  It was crazy!!!  I just couldn’t believe it.  The ticket that we bought inside the train was cheaper than the one we would have bought from the window…oh the system there!!!

 

We arrived the next day with very little sleep, but we were ready to rock.  We had met two pretty awesome guys in the train named Rafael and Germano.  They traveled all over Luxor with us…they were great!  We met Heragy at the train station and he hooked us up with a place to stay and a tour for the day.  He took us to the Valley of the Kinds and The temple of Hatshepsut.  Also, he took us to his house for tea and to a restaurant overlooking the Nile River.  It was great!!

 

Monday we spent at Karnak.  Everyone had told us that Karnak was one of their favorites, if not their favorite thing in Egypt.  Nolan wanted to take a carriage ride there, so four of us fit into the carriage to Karnak…haha.  It was awesome and huge.  There was so much to see.  We walked around and admired all the architecture, obelisks, and columns that the Egyptians so brilliantly made years ago.  Nolan and I were fascinated with the fact that Egypt’s #2 money income (tourism) is from what the Egyptians built years and years ago.  After Karnak, we walked around the Luxor temple, which was slightly disappointing after the glory of Karnak.  We took a boat ride down the Nile river and the weather was perfect!!!  I didn’t know things could be sooo good!!!  After, it was time to travel again.  We hopped on a bus to Hurghada.  We found out that the ferry we had intended on taking to Sharm el Sheikh was not working, so instead of the 1 hr. ferry ride, we would have to take a 10 hr. bus ride.  We were not happy campers.  I’d say that that little factoid put a negative feel on Hurghada.

 

The next morning we woke us to the best breakfast we had in our hostel yet.  They had everything you could imagine.  Crepes, omelette’s, fruit, cereal, bread, fresh squeezed orange juice…I could go on and on. got on the Bus early and started our journey.  We played games on the bus, slept, talked, watched a movie, slept, and talked some more.  I guess it was a good sign that we could entertain ourselves for the super long ride.  Once we got there we realized that Sharm was an expensive place.  100 pounds worth of taxi’s later, we were ready to leave as soon as we got there.

 

The next day, we finally got to Dahab.  The place we had been looking forward to going and relaxing on the beach.  It was beautiful and the town had such a good feel.  We spent the afternoon walking around the tourist shops and making deals with the shop owners.  Everyone thought that Nolan and I were Egyptian.  Nolan is Egyptian, but supposedly I appear to look like them as well.  Every store we went into, the owners would talk to Nolan in Arabic…it was great fun.  After a huge Egyptian dinner, we were off to climb Mt. Sinai.  We left at 11:00 p.m. in hope to climb all night so that we could be on the top for sunrise.  The hike was a lot of fun!!!  It was freezing though.  We didn’t exactly come prepared for winter, considering that we were in Egypt, but it was fun and amazing nonetheless.  The sunrise was spectacular and made the all night hike in the frigid cold worth it!!!  Once we got back we were pooped, but we still managed to have enough energy to go snorkeling in the Red Sea.  It was spectacular.  All the life in the water was amazing.  So many sizes, colors, and movements.  I was so happy that I went.  Afterwards, we ran into this man promoting his restaurant and trying to get us to go there for supper.  Nolan decided to pretend that he was from Egypt and that his name was Ahmed (not even kidding, EVERYONE’S name was either Ahmed of Mohammad).  The man was soo excited.  Once we returned for supper, they treated us like Egyptians.  It was funny and great fun!!!  Again, it was time to jump on a overnight bus back to Cairo.  Our trip was slowly coming to a close.

 

Our last full day in Egypt was spent at the Pyramids.  There were like nothing you’ve ever seen.  They were so big.  It was unimaginable to think about how they made them.  I mean we didn’t have any machines or anything to construct something so massive.  They were truly genius.  Afterwards, we went to the famous open market called Khan-el-kalili.  It was so big that you could easily get lost in there.  I was super excited to go, but I was so tired that I didn’t have enough energy to buy anything.  Nolan on the other hand did some work.  He had fun bargaining with the men and I had fun watching.  I’m not the best bargainer, but I did learn a lot from Nolan.  By the end, I’d say I was ALMOST pro. =)  Afterwards, we went to this humongous mall called CityStars.  Nolan walked in and culture shock immediately hit.  He had spend the last six months in Ethiopia, so this was the first time he had been in such a nice place.  This mall was huge and nicer than any mall I had been in in the States.  We walked into the food court and Nolan said, “Ash, we are just going to have to eat, walk a lot, and then come back for some more food, because I just can’t choose.”  He was in heaven.  We ate, shopped, and got dessert.  I was stuffed!!!

 

My last morning in Cairo, we returned to the Khan, because I wanted to buy some stuff that I didn’t have enough energy to fight for the day before.  I got some fun gifts for my family and we met a super cool guy whose mom is actually from Spain.  He knew Spanish and he showed us a great falafel place in the market.  They were by far the best ones we had the whole time in Egypt.  I am going to try and remember where it is for the rest of my life, so that if I go back, I will know where it is =)  Next, we went to Heliopolis, which was where Nolan’s Mom lived when she was young.  We took pictures of the SDA church there and then sadly it was my time to go.  It was sad/hard to say good-bye to Nolan again, but my time spend in Egypt was better than I could’ve ever imagined.  Thank you so much to all of your who helped make all of it happen.  I couldn’t thank you enough!!!

 

Xoxo.

Fallas

Hey!!!

Well, I just finished my second quarter here in Spain and now it's again time for some traveling fun!  Last week, all of the American's went into Valencia to see all the preparations for the holiday called, Las Fallas.  It was a lot of fun!!!  We went to the exhibit that showed all of the ninots, which are these doll/statue like things that are burned at the end of Las Fallas.  So of them were really funny, some crude, and some cute and disney like.  I enjoyed going around and taking pictures with all of them.  I'm pretty sure that all the spaniards thought I was a freak, because I was like the only person in there taking pictures WITH them and not just picture of them.  Whatever, I had fun!!!  After, we went out to Indian food for the first time in Spain.  Let's just say that it wasn't like home, but it was still really good compared to the food here.  The end of the quarter went smoothly, but it was also sad, because we all had to say good-bye to Casey.  We all became such good friends and next quarter just won't be the same without him!!

Yesterday I saw Aunt Millie and that was sooo much fun and a great taste of home.  I miss home, because now that I've finished finals for 2nd quarter, I feel like I should be going home for break.  However, I can't complain much, because now I'm on my way to Egypt!!!  I can't wait and I will blog more about seeing Aunt Millie and Egypt when I return.  Keep me in your prayers that everything goes well and that we remain safe while we are there!!!  Miss you all!!!  XOXO

Ashley

Andorra and Barcelona.

Sorry it's taken me so long to update (MOM!), but a couple weeks ago we went on our second school sponsored trip.  First, we went to Andorra.  Um, did you know that An-freakin'-dorra is it's own country?  It's a country in Europe!  Where was I during geography class?  Anyways, Andorra is one of the richest countries in Europe and it was super nice!!!  We went to this ski resort town and it reminded me so much of mammoth.  There wasn't snow when we got there, except on the mountain, so we dropped all our stuff off at the hotel and we went shopping down the main street.  The stores were soooooooo expensive, but I bought this hand tea strainer thing.  It was super cool.  Jeremy bought me one for my birthday and it's the shape of a tea pot and it's really cute, but it is too hard to get the tea leafs in and out of!!!  Anyways, it was only like 5 euro, so it wasn't too bad!!!  That night, they school took us to the biggest spa in all of Europe.  It was so nice, pretty, and fun!!!  There were like 10 different hot tubs, but I was a little disappointed, because they weren't hot enough (maybe 95 degrees).  However, they had a really nice sauna and a wicked cool steam room.  I stayed in there a lot of the time, because it was that awesome.  Last cool/crazy thing about this place was that there were cold/freezing spas...they were jacuzzi's that are around 50 degrees and they are supposed to make you warmer.  I didn't believe the man and told him I wasn't getting in and then he practically pushed me in.  I was soo mad, but then I calmed down a bit, because it really did work.  It was the weirdest thing.

The next day we went to Barcelona.  Looooove Barcelona!!!  We didn't have anything planned for the day once we got there so we just had a lot of free time.  We walked around the city and saw all the street venders.  The main road, Las Ramblas, was full of impersonators and mime like things....they were pretty cool.  We shopped..i bought a pair of sunglasses, which I'm pretty excited about!!!  They were only 7 euro, so i figured they were worth it, plus i needed a pair.  Also, that night we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.  It was super cool, because the second we walked in I felt like I was in the States.  The music was all in English and all of the waiters spoke English....it was really fun.  However, I was really sad, because I have been craving ice cream for forever now and some people got milkshakes and I couldn't because of my veganess.  However, I'm almost done.  Being vegan really hasn't been that hard aside from ice cream, which I think I could treat myself to every once in a while.  That night, we went back to the hotel and played games with a bunch of us and watched a movie.  It was super funny, because us girls bought a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine and Casey and I were on the bed looking at it.  We were leaning against the headboard and I guess we both didn't realize that the bed had wheels and wasn't connected to the headboard....yeah I bet you can guess what happened next.  My butt fell to the ground, leaving my feet and arms sticking straight up in the air.  It was super funny and I have some funny pictures of me stuck...haha  Somehow, Casey stayed on the bed and I was the only idiot who fell.

The next day we were still in Barcelona and most of the day was devoted to seeing the works of Gaudi.  Gaudi was by far the most famous architect in Spain and it's argued that he was perhaps the best modern architect in all of Europe.  We went and saw his most famous lifelong work, a huge church, that still isn't done yet.  His style is sooo cool.  It's like Disneyland, but more professional.  Then, we went to the Gaudi Park where there were all these cool houses/buildings that looked like they were for the 7 dwarfs and the longest park bench in the world...that's right I sat my butt on it =)  Afterwards, we went to the huge food market and got fresh made, all fruit smoothies that were made right in front of us.  I got a strawberry/coconut one.  Later, we went to the Picasso Museum and that was super interesting.  It was really interesting to see his works throughout his life.  His paintings started out "normal" (to most human eyes) and just got weirder and weirder (more abstract).  However, the giftshop was the coolest thing ever.  I'm sort of a sucker for postcards and this store and thousands of them...some with paintings and some with some really funny, clever sayings.  I was bummed, because i couldn't buy any because i didn't have my purse.

The last day, we just walked around the gothic part of Barcelona and went through some markets.  It was really fun, because my favorite teacher came as our tour guide and she is just the cutest little thing.  She would take us around everywhere and she would only stop to talk to us if there was a step that she could stand on, so that she could be eye level with all of us (she's 5'0)...haha.  On our way back into town, we ran into this band and these people dancing a dance that I learned about in Folklore class.  It was super neat.  Afterwards, then we hoped on the bus and came back.  It was super funny, because we stopped at carrefour on our way home and chels and I said that we were going to spend valentine's together (which was the next day), since Brent stayed in Barcelona.  We got some junk food from the store and I really needed some more shampoo and conditioner, but I was starting to get sick, so I couldn't really smell anything.  And I'm really picky about smells, so i passed it to Chels and said, "Does this one smell good?"  I don't know what happened, because next thing i know Chels said, "Yeah, it smells good (while laughing)."  I look up and chelsea had conditioner all up her nose and on her face...it was soo funny, i wish i had my camera.  Anyways, then i got sick for a whole entire week and that's my excuse for this super late blog!!  Miss you all and can't wait to see you soon!!

Germany

Traveling, traveling, traveling.....and lovin' it!!!  I just got back from a great weekend in Germany.  I met up with a friend, Justin Davis after 7 months of not seeing the guy.  It was great.  We met up in Frankfurt and walked around and ate some tasty indian food for supper.  Everyday I got my fill of Starbucks as well as some nice chatter from Justin.  We walked about the town taking some fun pictures and people watching.  I find it just precious how in Europe old people walk with linked arms all around a city.  Why don't the old people in America do that?  Anyways, it is one of the many things I appreciate about Europe.

On Sabbath, the original plan was to take a train to Berlin, but boy was it expensive.  I decided against it and instead we took the next train to a nearby city called, Heidelburg.   It was gorgeous, just not when we were there.  We saw pictures of what it looks like in the spring and summer time and I would like to visit there again.  We walked around and look at all the stores, ran into a rugby game and were completely in awe of the game, considering we had NO idea what was going on, and we spent some time in a chocolate shop.

Sunday morning, we visited the Heidelburg Castle, essentially the only big thing there is to see there and then we were on our way back to Frankfurt.  In Frankfurt we did a lot more walking and walked some crazy guys do some crazy tricks on their bikes...it was quite fascinating, watched a WWII Nazi Movie in Germany (kinda ironic), and then we ate some mighty delicious hamburgers.  I got a falafel burger and I think I can say it is the best burger I've ever had.  I would visit Frankfurt again, just for another one of these burgers.

The trip was great and it was fun to catch up with Justin again.  Now I'm back in Sagunto, but I actually leave tomorrow for Barcelona for a week with the school.  So...I will probably be blogging again soon...until then.

Valencia Weekend

Oh....what a fun weekend!!!  This past weekend, Pamela and Taylor came over from Italy and we explored Valencia.  It was really fun, because until now, the ACA students here didn't really know Valencia very well.  Because, lets be honest, the last time we came was at the beginning of the year when our teacher "thought" we were already fluent in spanish.  We did retain ANYTHING!  haha  It was a lot of fun just showing them around and finding new things ourselves. 

Friday, the girls wanted to go shopping, because January is Rebajas season.  So....like girls we shopped till we dropping.  Not literally, but almost.  It was fun to have some quality girl time while the boys went off exploring who knows what....typical boys - hate shopping!  We found this amazing kebab place that had really good falafel's.  I have been very sad, because my new terrible plan to go vegan for a quarter has been biting me in the butt.  I get to see everything get excited about kebabs and eat kebabs and then I can't eat them....haha  However, this time I could.  This place had really good falafel's, so my kebab wasn't just bread, lettuce, and tomato.

Sabbath, we took them to the huge food market.  It was soo much fun.  We bought lunch there, which consisted of mandarins, blood oranges, pears, peaches, chips, bread, cookies, & nutella.  When we came with the school we weren't able to make it to the market, so it was my first time there as well.  I loved it.  I think I could easily say that it was the best market I've been to!!!  After, we walked to the park and feasted on our food.  It was quite the ordeal, because it was soooo windy.  It was pretty funny though, because we all ate and there were soooo many bread crumbs on the blanket, so we all got up, except Brent, and when we all got up, the wind took the blanket and pasted Brent with all the bread crumbs.  It was hilarious...poor guy!  Anyways, later we went to the English movie theater and then explored the town some more to see a little night life.  We found another kebab place where Brent happened to get us a discount by pretending he was Pakistani, like the man making our kebabs....oh Brent!!!  We also ran into some people who treated us like celebrities because we were from America.  These girls wanted to take pictures with us and we just soooo stoked to see us...haha  Lastly, we just we back to the hostel and played games.

Last day, Sunday, we got the traditional spanish breakfast.....chocolate and churros.  As you can see from the picture, they looked amazing!!!  Everyone was happy with our choice to go there and I even think that some people wanted more.  Afterwards, we just walked around for a bit trying to figure out what to do, because almost EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday.  We decided on Starbucks.  The typical American stop.  It's funny, because if you want to see other American's starbucks is the place to go, that is for sure.  We got some drinks and played cards in there for about 3 hours.  I taught them how to play some games and pammy taught some games as well.  It was a lot of fun and a really great weekend.  It was sad to say goodbye, but back to reality and time to hit the books.  Miss you all!!!

Ashley

Meeting Baby Amelie

Ok ok, so I realize that I have been slacking big time in the blogging field, but I promise to get better now that I am back at school.  The past month was x-mas vacation and I spent 10 days traveling Europe and 2 very short weeks at home!!!  I traveled through Paris for 4 days and honestly I found Paris kind of overrated.  Quite possibly I went having too high of expectations, but the huge landmarks were sort of surreal to see in real life, considering that I have seen it so many time in movies, on tv, and in pictures.  Next we took a train from Paris to Florence and thus far, Florence is my favorite city!!!  It doesn't have the big city atmosphere, but has most accommodations that one would need.  The David was breathtaking and I could help but just stare for a number of minutes...haha.  We met a lot of people from Florence and it was very cool to learn about the culture from people who actually live there!!!  Last stop in Europe was Romaaaaaa, as the locals say it!!!! It was so fun!!!  I'm not sure if you all have heard of couchsurfing, but that is exactly what we did.  Couchsurfing is a program where people open up their houses for travelers to stay, free of charge.  We stayed with the coolest guy ever!!!  His name was Giorgio and he was full of life and showed us a lot of secrets to Rome.  I especially loved Rome, because I've read a lot about it, plus it has a lot of famous landmarks.  I especially liked the Vatican, because I loved the book "Angels and Demons," so I felt like I knew a little more about everything!!!  

It wasn't too hard to leave Europe, considering I had a lot of built up anticipation to see my family and meet my darling little niece Amelie!!!!  Home was just wonderful!!!  I loved just hanging out with my family and friends.  We traveled to Mammoth and Mexico while I was home and I had a great time.  I got to see some of my wonderful friends from WW, so that definitely made my x-mas that much more special.  Being away from home as really made me appreciate my family and home and it was really hard to leave.  However, it was nicer than I thought to come back to Spain and see my friends here.  I have a good feeling about this quarter and I'm trying to stay motivated on learning the language.  Ciao for now!!!

Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias!!!

Shoot, I'm glad that spanish isn't my first language, because I would hate to have to say "Feliz Dia de Accion de Gracias," every time I saw someone of Thanksgiving!!!  I got tongued tied having to invite some people to supper and I just couldn't imagine having to say it to everyone as a greeting.  

Anyways, yesterday was a huge success.  Seeing as they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, the American's were asked to put on a program for the spaniards, so that they could better understand the holiday.  It was a lot of fun and I was on the cooking team.  I volunteered to help cook BEFORE I knew it was for 200 people!!!  However, it turned out to be soooo much fun!!!  I was in charge of the desserts, which all turned out to be pretty tasty!!!  We made 8 apple pies, 14 pumpkin pies, pumpkin bread, and 8 cheesecakes!!!!!  Everything looked sooo pretty!!!!  I also helped with the food, which consisted of vege meat with gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mac-n-cheese, sweet potatoes, veges, fruit, and salad!!!!  It was a mad house in the back, but everything looked presentable and turned out fantastic.  After hours and hours of preparation, the programs was hilarious and successful!!!  The school surprised all of us with packages and letters from home!!!!  To all of those who sent me stuff, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!  One of the walls on my dorm room is decorated with all the postcards, cards, and letters that people have sent me throughout this year!!!!  Thanks to you all, the wall is a lot less sparse and is getting quite colorful!!!!  Even though Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday back at home, I couldn't have had a nicer holiday away from home!!!  You guys are the best and I love you all!!!  Can't wait to see you guys in a couple of weeks...yay!!!!!

Volleyball Rally.

So....this weekend I played in a volleyball rally.  There were 7 girls teams including our team which was called, "Los Lobos."  Before each game we would chant, "Kick Butt," followed by howling....it was great!!!!  haha  In total, we played 6 games and unfortunately due to the terrible refs, we got 3rd place (the refs were spaniards rooting for the other team).  However, this was super good, considering that some of the girls on our team had never played before.  It has been since high school since I've played v-ball competitively and I was shocked how fast my competitiveness returned...I can't wait to go back to Walla Walla next year and play!!!!  Overall, the weekend was a blast, however now I feel like my life would be better if I just cut my shoulder off, because it's so sore!!  Anyways, there is another rally in the springtime, so we are going to bring it to 'em spaniards.  It's crunch time in Espana...time to get to the books!  Ciao.

Florencia.

So....Italy pretty much made me never want to come back to Spain.  Not only does my bestest friend in the whole wide world live there, but the school is right in Florence.  I got there super early Friday morning.  We decided to sleep in while the girls were in school.  After, we ate in the cafeteria and OH MY WORD....contrary to Spain, the food there was amazing!!!!  After the 5* meal, we walked into town and treated ourselves to some gelato.  BEST EVER!!!  We walked around and scoped out all the stores...there were lots of really cool stuff, but I decided to hold off making any purchases, because I knew I would be back during x-mas break!!!  We all decided that pizza was sounding mighty tasty for supper, so we went to the restaurant called "Yellow Bar."  By far the most amazing pizza I have ever had.  Pamela and I got two different kinds of pizza and split them...we might of licked our plates clean.  =)  After supper, everyone went back to the school, but Pamela and I had lots of catching up to do, so we decided to continue walking in town.  We ended up at this chocolate shop called "Hemingway's."  We ordered hot chocolate and chocolate cheesecake.  I loved the chocolate cheesecake, but the hot chocolate was a little much for me.  Let's just say you ate it, not drank it.  It was like a straight melted chocolate bar...amazing, but a little too rich for my liking.  Pamela loved it =)

Sabbath, we ate lunch again at the school and then Pamela and I walked into town.  She showed me all the major sites including the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio (the picture above).  I didn't want to do all the touristy things, because I knew I would be back during x-mas and I really just wanted to walk and talk with Pammy.  So....we did just that.  After a nice stroll around town, we met up with everyone back at school and tried to decide what to do.  We decided to walk up to this high point in Florence (not sure what it was called) where it overlooked the whole city.  A bunch of us took crazy jumping pictures and were just being silly.  After we probably burned off all the calories from supper from laughing, we decided to go salsa dancing.  The place was really really small, but it was soooo much fun.  Most of you probably already know, but Pamela and I took Salsa classes when we were at home, so it was a lot of fun to practice our moves.  The different dances were a lot of fun and most of the guys there were really cool and not to crazy... After, we went back to Hemingway's and got berry cheesecake, coffee, and milkshakes.  I got a nutella milkshake and it was the best ever.  When I go back to WWU I'm going to have to suggest that Iceberg add's NUTELLA to their shake flavors...I'll give them lots of business ;)  By this time, it was pretty early in the morning, 2 a.m. to be exact, so we returned to the school and snoozed.  We slept in Sunday, ate another amazing meal at the school, and went to the open market.  The market was super fun and different than here in Spain.  The people all speak english and try hitting on you so that you will buy stuff from there stands.  One of the famous lines were "Oh you dropped something...(when you turn around they say..) your heart."  Such a good pick up line...hahaha  I got two x-mas gifts in the market, but I will refrain from saying what those things are.  Also, Italy is known for the leather, so I'm debating whether or not to buy a bag when I go back during x-mas.  We will see.

Now I'm back at school in Spain and it's bitter sweet.  Thanksgiving is approaching and I'm super sad I'm not going to be at home, because my family is awesome and we have all these super fun traditions.  I love traditions and I'm going to miss them this year.  Oh well...I guess I will try and share that happiness here in Spain.  We just had a meeting today, because the American's are in charge of putting on a Thanksgiving programs for the Spaniards, since they don't celebrate it here.  I'm one of the people in charge of cooking, so hopefully we can all muster up something yummy!!!!  Miss you all!!!