Post the World's greatest beer festival

Wine tasting in Barcelona with my roommates! (this is Colleen who goes to Colgate) Some of the best wine I've ever had!

My friend Will from SCU and I at the top of the castle in Alicante

Sorry I can't flip this! But this is inside the Mesquita

The Alhambra from a distance

Inside the Alhambra!

Hola!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write something, but I am finally able to sit down and detail my trips.

The weekend after Oktoberfest (Oct 10th-12) my roommate Colleen, Molly, my neighbor Jess, and I took the train to Granada. This is a southern town in Spain which is inland. This city has a moor influence and therefore offered us the best falafal i've ever had in my life. We visited a tea house, which are very common there, and chose from a list of over 100 teas. This was of course accompanied by desert! That night we decided to stay and take a night tour of the Alhambra. This is an old palace in Granada and is absolutely stunning. I visited it in high school on my trip with Vis but somehow had forgotten until we arrived and I recognized the sign. I will put up pictures because it's hard to describe. That night we stayed at a very questionable hostel but survived and were protected by our roommate Rasmus from Sweeden. Oh the people we've met!

The next morning we got on a bus to Córdoba. Another city with great history. The main attraction was the Mesquita, which was a mosque back in the time of the moors, but when the Catholics came to take over, they built a cathedral around it. It had muslim artwork on the ceiling and along the walls but then to the left would be a gold crucifix and an alter...very bizarre. I didn't like this city as much as Granada but I was happy to see it.

The following weekend I took the Saturday morning train to Alicante, another coastal city, where one of my good friends from school is studying! I had a wonderful time! It was so nice to see a close friend and to chat about school and great to see how happy he is abroad. Alicante is a much smaller city and had a lovely community feel. Sometimes I wish I was in a smaller city so I would know more locals and see people I knew on a regular basis, but I still love Barca, no worries. 

School has picked up and I'm actually having to do work, which takes away a lot of the fun but oh well, I manage to squeeze it in! 

Hope all is well!

Con amor, 

Mary

The world's greatest Beer festival

Hola or should I say, gutten tag!

This weekend I went to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. Quite possibly the best weekend of my life. I don't know where to begin as far as describing my crazy weekend but I will just start from Thursday afternoon.

Thursday after noon and I took the bus for the first time to the airport. I got there in plenty of time, shocking I know, and waiting and waited. An old man sat next to me and we began to chat. He told me about his daughters and how they spoke many languages. The bus arrived, I turned to shake his hand, and the bus left. I was no longer running on a schedule with plenty of time. I panicked, called Molly in Germany and asked how long she had to wait, and decided to test my luck. I made it to the airport, ran to the check in desk and they tried to tell me it was closed. I politely but very firmly said, there is no way in hell I am not getting on this plane...Needless to say they printed my boarding pass and I literally sprinted to security. Upon arriving at security, I acted as if it were my first time. I forgot about my jewelry until the last minute, didn't take of my belt with a metal clasp, and threw my bags on the belt. I ran through the scanner and of course, I beeped. I yelled the "f" word without thinking and luckily the security guard laughed and told me to calm down. He quickly pat me down and let me go...I continued to run, found my flight and my friends, got a whole row to myself and a delicious sandwich and finally landed in Munich!

Thursday night, after hunting down Molly and my friend Jenny, we grabbed a couple delicious German beers and slept in what was basically a circus tent with 100 bunk beds. Very fun surprisingly but a little chilly so I'm glad it was only for one night. I of course got stuck near all the dutch men who farted like Jack and Ben silently throughout the night--not pleasant! Friday morning we ventured to the apartment we found online, a bit sketchy but turned out great, and then headed to Oktoberfest. We were drinking out first beer inside the Augustiner tent by about 10 am. Delicious. We made the mistake of leaving the lent to look around outside and it began to poor. None of us was prepared to we went into downtown Munich and found a lovely, warm restaurant to enjoy a german meal. The food there was so much better than Spain's. Throughout my time in Munich I probably had 5 brawtwurst and close to 5 big pretzels.....unreal. 

Saturday we got to Oktoberfest by 8 in hopes of getting inside a beer tent. I left to go get food and ended up loosing everyone. I lost my phone Friday so couldn't call anyone but no worries, eventually found them and got into the Hofbraugh house, one of the biggest beer tents. I remained in there for 9 hours straight, singing German songs and "we are the champions", dancing on the tables with everyone, and truly having the time of my life. There were close to 40 people from Santa Clara all within the same tent and we took over tables. We made it back safely to the apartment after nearly loosing the keys, and slept well into Sunday morning.

Sunday we took the time to walk around Munich and it was a beautiful city. Lots of history and many places to see; very clean and all were friendly. We went to the airport and managed to weasel our way onto a flight that night (we were supposed to leave Monday morning and were going to have to sleep in the airport) and made it home in one piece! My body is still recovering but it was definitely worth every potential illness and every euro spent.

This weekend I am going to Granada and Cordoba in the south of Spain, which will be a much different experience, much  cheaper, but I'm still very excited.

Hope all is well and no one is suffering too much with the market chaos. Miss and love you all as always

Con amor, Mary

Barcelona is crazy.

As my time in Spain has continued, it has become more clear that Barcelona is an absolutely crazy city. This weekend my friend Jenny came to visit from Paris and it was by far the best weekend yet. Friday was still beautiful so she got to visit the beach and then we painted the town red at a grand opening of a nightclub! Saturday we walked around for close to 6 hours!! We saw La Sagrada Familia, Guadi's famous church in the middle of the city, La Pedrera, another Guadi building, a bachelor party from Scottland, friends visiting from Rome, Jenny's high school friend from Cali, a fire run, "Giants", the Olympic pool, the Olympic stadium...and so much more! 

Since I last posted I've also visited Parc Guell, which is Guadi's park with mosaic benches and the famous lizard. But now, for the fire run. This was what confirmed the sanity or lack there of, of this city. Let me preface this with the fact that no explanation I can give will truly describe what I experienced. The fire run was indeed a 2 hour parade of people running from fire. We had no idea what to expect so just followed the masses to the main street and waited along to side for the "correfoc" to begin. As we looked around we realized everyone was covered from head to toe, people had bandanas around their faces, and there was even an old woman next to me wearing safety goggles! We were in no way prepared but this didn't stop us. People dressed as devils in various groups from around the city, walked down the street carrying a staff with basically the worlds biggest sparklers on top. They would light the sparklers and spin them around, sending small flames everywhere! When they gave sign that they were about to light them, which don't be fooled, was not a warning sign, i just mean it was evident fire was about to be shot at you because they pulled out a torch gun, people would sit in front of them or gather in a circle around them and run! In the beginning we freaked out and I got a burn on my thigh, my arm, and the worst...my head. I pulled off a small chunk of scalp the next day only to discover a small bald spot amongst my hair...I kid you not, in this small circle it looks and feels like I got a buzz cut!! But god bless the thick hair I have always been unable to manage, because you can't see it unless I move stuff around. Eventually we realized we needed the full cultural experience, we tied extra layers of clothing that people had around our heads and ran with the fire! IT WAS INSANE! The best but scariest adrenaline rush ever. The fire people would come in packs so sometimes it felt as if you couldn't escape the sparks but then it would be over. There were also drummers that followed and then huge lizards, dragons, and even a fake horse that also gave off massive sparks. The streets were full of small children, teens, adults, and even much older generations. Everyone was ready for what was to come and the safety issues were not issues in the least way for it was a tradition and therefore nothing else mattered. Needless to say, the US would have had barricades lining the streets and police on every corner and really would probably never let it happen.

The next day we went to the castellers, which are human towers. Literally, towers of people. We some some walk around almost 4 people high and others who had a tower of 8 or 9 come falling down, which was very scary. 

Even without all these crazy and exciting events, I am having the time of my life. I have 9 hours of Spanish class every week and feel I am learning more than ever. (it helps that I'm actually able to apply what I'm learning to get by each day!) Its been very interesting to learn the many cultural differences and the opinions that people have of the states. I have met wonderful people who are all here to have a good time, be adventurous and live every experience to the fullest. Tomorrow is the actually holiday, La Merce, which is why all these events occurred this weekend. All of the museums are free to enter and everyone I've talked to is going! When people think of a typical group of college students, they would not imagine them to be excited for museums, so this is a really great atmosphere. 

Next weekend I board the plane for Munich to experience the world's greatest beer festival, Oktoberfest! This will surely be quite the adventure as we still have no place to stay but we are not worried and are all very excited! Don't panic mom and dad, we will be smart and safe!

Hope all is well in the states, it sounds like life is crazy over there. 

Con amor, Mary

*The pictures are: Parc Guell, my first FC Barcelona soccer game and we won, La Sagrada Familia, and me in front of the Olympic Stadium

First weekend of travel

The "Castle"
 Colleen, Molly, and myself...Roommies!
Hola!

Today was my first travel experience and we started off slow but had a great time. We took a bus to Lloret De Mar, which is along the Costa Brava one hour north of us. It was beautiful. The town had very narrow streets with many shops, and most clearly catered to tourists as it should because it is right along the water. The weather was crappy and first and I was not pleased that I had woken up at 7 to get to this place but we seized the opportunity and hiked over to a castle. False alarm. Once we got all the way over to the "castle" there was a metal plaque that said "Private property in the form of a castle. Built in 1966." Not so ancient nor exciting but the views along the way were great! The water here is crystal clear and mixes of turquoise and blue...this really is the place to be. We went to take a nap when we finally made it down and the sun ended up coming out! The night ended with some karaoke in an Irish pub (who knew the Irish were known for singing) and making friends with men from England who are a part of a "firm" for their soccer team. I will explain what a firm is later but without much more explanation these men were bad asses. 

Today we spent all day at the beach and wandered towards an actual castle on the other side and found an even more beautiful beach...jealous, I know. 

I'm back in Barcelona and am sitting here in my towel about to get ready to take over the night life. Tomorrow we are going to Gaudi's park, which is supposed to be really interesting. I actually start classes on Monday as my 3 week vacation comes to a close but I'm really looking forward to them. I'm taking an intensive spanish course that is 3 hours long, 3 days a week; a course on Sports and Society in Spain; Mediterranean Oceanography, which includes going fishing; and a management course that knocks out 2 courses at school, helping me continue to graduate on time and with ease! 

Hope all is well, I miss everyone!

con amor, mary

Molls and I at the hotel! Day one of many!
The beach in Barcelona
Mom, they have rules for dogs here too!
The Olympic diving area

...September 7th

Hola!

We just spent the weekend in Valencia and a day in Pensicola, Spain. Both were on the Med. and gorgeous! I will post pictures after this mom, don't worry!

We walked along the beach with the world's softest sand and the most beautiful water in the world. Today we sat at a restaurant by along the boardwalk, ate paella, calamari, and this bread with a garlic and tomato sauce...amazing. This was all while we looked out onto the Med. Sea...I felt as if I was on some luxurious caribbean vacation. Paella is a classic spanish dish of rice and seafood and it's amazing!

We stayed at a really nice hotel, which was a great change. Our apartment is nice but the air conditioning of the hotel was unbeatable. Today it has finally cooled down so it's good sleeping weather. This past week I have been sleeping with minimal clothing and just sweating...hence, the hotel, again, amazing. It was also nice to have food prepared for me. In my apartment it's all on me, which can be fun, but annoying when I just want to eat something. 

Anywho...Spain is quite the country. We only drove about 3 hours away and were in a completely different town. Although it was obviously there was Spanish influence, it felt like another country. In Pensicola we toured a castle that was used by the Knights of Templar and that's about it. I learned after someone translated the tour that the castle was basically pointless but oh well, it made me think of The DaVinci Code. Our tour guide was from Germany and was hard to understand in any language, which made it interesting, so I decided to try and befriend and am that helped get more information. He told me he would never go to Oktoberfest, which I am 200% attending, so that should be a good sign?!

This week we still have orientation but only through Wednesday so we are trying to figure out where to go...IES decided to have classes on Friday for the first time this year, which would happen to me, so we need to take advantage of any long weekends that we can. 

Hope all is well, miss you much!

Besos!

Con amor, Mary