Barcelona & more

Saturday April 28th:
*laying on the sidewalk in Barcelona :)
*Cat Woman in Barcelona!

*left to right, back then front: me, Paola (sdsu), Jerry (sdsu), a girl (Vigo, Galicia, Spain), Jelder (Portugal), Italian guy from Sicily, Portuguese guy, Waleska, Lili (Portugal), girl from Spain......out at a club

last weekend, Waleska and I went to Barcelona. We stayed with 2 of her friends from SDSU and their roommate, Jelder.
*outside of a club....4 sandiegans on the left and an italian & a portuguese....SD wins!

We did a little bit of shopping, sightseeing, lots of going out at night, dinners with their friends....In the first picture you can see everyone who we went out with one night. We all met at their place beforehand for dinner and drinks and after went to an amazing club. It was a mansion converted into a club. I had never seen anything like it! It's called Danzatoria and the website is here if you're interested: http://www.danzatoria-barcelona.com/

The crazy part was that I felt like I was in San Diego again....There were SOOOO many people there from SD it was quite the culture shock! After being in Coruna for 3 months with only Waleska from SD....being in a club full of Americans is slightly hard to fall into and comprehend!


*open market

So, we also went to an open market with all kinds of different fresh foods...as well as imports! :) I was able to buy Mole sauce....I've been missing Mexican food like you wouldn't believe!

*sidewise shot of one of the fresh fish stands @ the market

*outside sidewalk show on las ramblas....main strip in Barcelona

*Park Guell in Barcelona (Gaudi)
*La Sagrada Familia...started by Gaudi....still under construction....to be completed by various other architects.

Barcelona has some beautiful architecture by Gaudi. The city is huge but beautiful! We did a TON of walking! I would saw close to about 3-5miles by foot each day.

I had a great time in Barcelona, but I'm still happy to be in A Coruna instead. I don't regret choosing A Coruna over my other options. :)

More updates to come.....I got a job! I have to go meet some friends for coffee now.....

Spring Break/Portugal

So, I just got back from my road trip a few days ago. It was Spring/ Easter Break so we didn't have class for a week and a half. It was amazing.....

Waleska, Dietram, Jan and I took a road trip through Portugal and the south of Spain. The four of us borrowed our friend & Waleska's roommate's (Sebastian) car.

Saturday (March 31)-My friends came to pick me up from my apartment around 1230pm...They had already packed the car.....(Honda Civic). I couldn't believe how much crap the guys had packed....Waleska and I each only had 1 bag, a purse and a blanket. After rearranging quite a bit....we were on our way. We had a slight delay because we had to wait for another car full of friends who were heading the same direction as us. 3 Brazilian girls and 1 Brazilian guy (our portuguese translators!). After about 3-4 hours we were in Porto, Portugal. We spent the night there in a hostal.
*Our car full plus the Brazilians (minus the one taking the pic!) in Porto
*Me outside a Jewish temple in Porto
*Waleska & I @ the Port in Porto
*Port wine tasting

Sunday (April 1)- We woke up and had breakfast at the hostal....Then, we spent the day sight seeing and tasting the fantastically good world famous Port Wine @ a winery. It was awesome....so I bought 3 bottles to take home with me! If you get on my good side....maybe you'll get to try it ;). After Porto, we decided to drive further south along the coast to look for a nice beach to camp out at. We ended up picking a random little town near Figueira de Foz and camped there 1 night in Dietram's tent.

*A beach on the way to Lisbon

Monday to Wednesday (April 2-4)- We drove into Figueira de Foz and had lunch....then continued on down the coast stopping here and there at the different beaches. By night time, we were in Lisbon. When we got there we spent a couple hours trying to find a hostel. We did end up finding a place which we stayed at for 3 nights. Lisbon is an awesome city with a ton to see and do! We saw a castle, cathedrals, McDonalds :), graffiti, bridges....beaches in the surrounding areas, etc.
*Jan, me, Dietram & Waleska in Lisbon

*At a castle in Lisbon*drinking mojitos in Lisbon :)
*Church in Lisbon....notice the grafitti in the bottom left corner
*more grafiti in Lisbon...who would've thought grafiti could be so interesting?

*@ a beach just outside Lisbon...as you can tell from my hair...it was pretty windy
*another beach near Lisbon

Thursday (April 5)- We left Lisbon and drove to the south, Algarve coast. We stayed in a beach town there called Villamuira (again camping in Dietram's tent). It was absolutely gorgeous there. Although, it wasn't so pleasant when we were freezing in the tent that night!

*Algarve coast/ Villamuira
*Sunset Algarve/ Villamuira

Friday (April 6)- After spending the day laying out at the beach, we drove to Sevilla, Spain in the evening. Sevilla is the "place to be" for Spaniards during "Semana Santa" which is basically the holy easter week. Sevilla is also a great city. It was unfortunate that we weren't able to find a hostel there....everything was completely booked up because of the crazy amount of people there. Anyway, we walked around....got the chance to see a bit of the city....had Starbucks! :), saw a Flamenco (Spanish music/ dance) performance in a random bar we happened to walk by, and stopped at a bar to have a drink before continuing on. We decided to just drive all the way south to Malaga that night. We ended up staying in a hostal 20 mins outside of Malaga.....we didn' t arrive until about 8am!
*Cathedral in Sevilla
*Having a beer in Sevilla before heading out

Saturday (April 7)- We slept in until around 4pm because of the lack of sleep the night before! We decided to just relax most of the day. We did go into town and check it out a little bit. Malaga is nice...nothing all that special in my opinion though. Our hostal was nice because it was right on the beach and had a pool.

Sunday (April 8)- In the morning, we drove to Granada. Granada is an old city much different than other parts of Spain. Granada is known best for being the last city under Moorish rule until 1492 when it fell. It has a different type of feeling. Unfortunately when we got there, the famous Alhambra was sold out for entry. We were however, able to see it from the outside. Built from 1232 to The Alhambra is the most famous place of Moorish architecture in Spain.

After spending a few hours in Granada, we returned to our hostel in Malaga. We went out for tapas and called it an early night to rest up for the next day's drive!

*The Alhambra- Granada, Spain

Monday (April 9)- We woke up fairly early to head back to La Coruna. We had a 13 hour drive ahead of us! We had all planned on leaving early.....but, we had an unexpected unfortunate surprise to wake up to. When Jan went to pay for the room....they tried to charge him 200 euro instead of the 80 euro that we were anticipating...... Basically the guy lied to us about the price and after a ton of arguing and a huge dramatic scene....the police came and we ended up having to pay the 200 euro. Long story....don't feel like typing it at the moment.... Anyway, after a LONG unnecessary delay, we were on our way back to Coruna once again. It was raining the entire drive back until we got to Coruna. The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here ever since!

I Love Coruna!

Road Trip

Sorry....no pix this time! But....

I wanted to let everyone know that I am leaving on a road trip tomorrow. We're going to be gone for 10 days! Spring Break is this week :)

We're off to Portugal and Sevilla/ Granada, Spain. I'll have plenty of pictures when I get back!

The only way to reach me while I'm gone is on my spanish cell phone in case of emergency.....

+34 662456837

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Madrid/Segovia/Santiago de Compostela & Visitors :)

Long time no update......

the best way to fix that is to add a ton of pictures!


*Me and my roommates (Clemens and Anna)

*me standing outside of a church right by my apartment
*me attempting to prove my sobriety (Dorita)

*Mel and me in the Plaza de Maria Pita....5min walk from my apartment
*A beautiful day in Coruna when Mel was here visiting :)

*First night in Madrid with Mel and Roberto (@ the big Bong!)

*Having some amazingly good Mussels with Mel and Waleska in Madrid
*Outside of the Egyptian temple in Madrid with Roberto and Waleska
*Waleska and me....being typical Americans...drinking Starbucks (God Bless it!) in Madrid
*Wale and me in Madrid
*Enjoying the fantastically nice weather in a park in Madrid with Wale
*Mom, Angela and I at the beach in Coruna....they just left today! :(
*Clemens threw a Tirol (City in Austria near Innsbruck) Party at our apartment...this is the food....it was delicious!
*Mom and me @ my apartment during the Tirol party
*Angela and I in front of the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela (45 min train ride from Coruna)

*Ange, Mom, me, Wale and Ramona at la Quemada (a Galician tradition)
****************************************************************

So, I've been pretty busy the past couple weeks. At the same time I've been having a blast. First, Mel came to visit me for a week. We spent the first 5 days here in Coruna. They weather was warm and perfect when she was here. We went to the Torre of Hercules, which is the world's oldest working lighthouse. It's here in Coruna.

*Torre de Hercules

It doesn't look all that great but the view from the top is gorgeous!

*One of the pics from the top of the Torre

As you saw from the pics, Mel and I also went to Madrid. We spent her last 2 days in Spain there. We stayed with my friend, Roberto, who I met when I studied abroad in Madrid Summer 2005. We had a blast! The day before Mel left, Waleska came to Madrid to meet us. We did a lot of sight seeing, walking around Madrid, dancing, etc. We ate some delicious tapas and had some really good Mojitos and Caipirenas (Brazilian drink). Also, we had some fantastic Italian ice cream. All in all, it was a great weekend.

The same day that I returned to Coruna (Monday March 19th) My mom and sister, Angela, arrived in Coruna from England. We also spent the first half of their time in Spain here in Coruna and the second half in Madrid. Unfortunately, the first two days here in Coruna had awful weather! The wind was out of control strong and it was way too cold for any one's good. The day they arrived, their plane had to land in Santiago de Compostela due to the horrible weather conditions (strong wind). They ended up being shuttled over to Coruna so it worked out in the end.

We took a train from Coruna to Santiago de Compostela and spent a few hours there. The cathedral there was built in the 12th century and it's breath taking. From Madrid, we also took a train and spent half a day in Segovia, a ancient city. Segovia is beautiful. It has a roman aqueduct built in the first century AD, a cathedral built in the 1500s and a castle.
*Roman Aqueduct- Segovia (closeup)

*Aqueduct to the left....about 100feet tall!*Angela sitting outside at the table where we had lunch in Segovia...Cathedral in the background


*Mom and Ange with the castle behind them
*Mom and I on the train from Segovia back to Madrid

It was great to see my best friend and my mom and sister after being away for 2 months without anyone that I know. I look forward to having more visitors in the future :).

That's all for now! More later....

Soccer game today

Before the game people were going crazy in the street.....throughing fire balls....seemingly dangerous but all was good.


Today we went to see a soccer game in Coruna. It was raining off and on...but at least we got to see a rainbow :) *See pic

It was Coruna vs. Sevilla Not a great game 0-1 and Sevilla won. But, we had awesome seats and it was a cool experience.

*Futbol (Soccer) players in action!


*Plaza de Portugal (after the soccer game) I took a pic of this fountain in Plaza de Portugal....It's on the walk between the stadium and where I live.

My 21st in Spain

Yet again....here I am in the computer lab. *****pix coming soon!!!!*****
* on campus with Waleska Feb 28th.....just before celebrating my bday ;)

Since no one goes out at night until like 2am....we celebrated my birthday on what felt like Weds night/ Feb 28th....but actually it was technically my bday before we ever left to go out.

I had class in the evening...then went to Waleska/Michael/Sebastian/Ramona´s apartment. Our Dietram & our 3 friends from Slovakia also came over. We all congregated in the kitchen (for some odd reason we always hang out in their kitchen even though the living room is much bigger)....Waleska made sure that I never ran out of something to drink....In Michael´s words ¨It´s not a question of whether you want to or not....it´s a requirement¨.....meaning I am required to drink because it´s my 21st bday.... of course i wasn´t opposed.

we all talked about how 21 is a big bday in the states and 18 is the big day here....but they celebrated it with me as if it were important :).

At midnight we opened up the bottle of Cider that Waleska bought in Asturias to celebrate/ make a toast for my bday.

*some of us on the walk to Geographic (me, Michael, Paulina, Waleska, Sebastian-in the background)
at around 130 we were out the door and on our way to Georgraphic (the name of the club we go to every wednesday for the Erasmus parties).....before geographic we stopped at OpenCor (like a late night Longs open til 2am) to buy something to drink on the way. Us girls shared a carton of Sangria....only 1.50€ whic is like less than $2... it takes about 20 mins to walk from their apartment to geographic....but the walk is half the fun. when we got to geographic waleska asked me if i was ready for my surprise....i had no idea what she had done......
* posing in the club with a slice of my birthday cake & Waleska

*people enjoying my bday cake :)


her and our friend Abel (who works as a Head Promotor for Geographic and some other locations in Coruna) had a Chocolate Mousse Cake with Candles ´21´for me. Everyone sang me happy birthday in the middle of the club. It was a nice surprise :). We had a lot of fun....dancing and hanging out. I also met a lot of cool people. After geographic was closing...we (a group of maybe 10) went to the beach which is less than a block away for a bit. After, I was at home by 6am.

All in all my birthday was a lot of fun :)!