AND finally, the week of the day of our independence...

Ummm, heck YEAH I celebrated the 4th of July here!  I went to the Hard Rock Cafe, and I'm not going to lie... I almost burst into tears when I saw a plate of nachos, a burger, fries, and onion rings being brought out to someone's table.  Don't get me wrong, I love Spanish food.  But nothing says home like a greasy plate of fires and a giant burger.

I also celebrated the 4th of July the next day on the 5th of July!  Not a whole lot of people can say that!  One of the gazillions of Irish pubs here in Madrid was hosting a 4th of July party, which had a good mix of both Americans and Spanish people.  I love being able to carry out bilingual conversations with new friends =)

Then, on Wednesday, I finally got to see THE FOO FIGHTERRRRRS! You know you love a band when you get just as giddy about seeing them the third time as you were the first time =)

When cracked me up was the way the crowd reacted when the band would pause for awhile or leave the stage... in America, there would have been a lot of screaming/chanting/"WOOOOOO!" in general... but we are in Madrid, ladies and gentlemen.  Therefore, whenever we Spaniards wantted to grab Dave Grohl's attentition, we went all soccer fútbol mode on them, chanting: OLEEEEEE, OLEEEE OLEEE OLEEEEE! OLEEEEEE! OLEEEEEEE!

Oh, how I love being in Spain!

Valencia....

...is the super grunge-tastic beach town filled with all kinds of crazy tattoos and piercings that I went to last weekend.  Compared to Paris, where I had an activity-packed weekend, this weekend was dedicated to one thing: the beach.  It was perfect, because I'm a total beach kid at heart. Not my fault that the Navy took me to amazing beach areas throughout my childhood before I was flung into crazy states that have SNOW and WINTER (yuck)!  It was definitely nice to be back at the beach.  I'd say more about that weekend, but honestly, there's not much more than that. I had an agenda to beach it up all weekend... mission accomplished =)

(I'm a little worried though, because I really want about 50 more tattoos after being there. Literally everyone who lived there had multiple tattoos. Don't tell my mom.)

NOOO!

I had written out an entire (rather lengthy) blog post about Paris on a word document, but I don't think I actually saved it! That could be a problem. Oh well, I shall start again:

Sorry it took so long to update this blog! I have a lot to catch up on, so I think I will start with Paris, then create separate posts for the other topics.

SO PARIS: What a beautiful city! What an amazing city! What a....smelly city! (Seriously, the stereotype is true; I almost passed out on the Metro a couple of times from smelling people's...uh... "au natural" scents (ohhhh dear, body odor).  But other than that, Paris was amazing! Everything that a tourist should do in Paris in only a weekend...we did.  I feel very accomplished for only being there for a few days!

When I got to the airport, I first had to navigate my way into the city and meet up with my friend (we flew into different airports, so we just decided to meet at the hostel).  And lemme tell you, it is frustrating going to a city where for once, I couldn't understand anything! French is not my specialty.  Not only is it not my specialty, I got there and realized I didn't even know how to say "please" "thank you" or "where is...?" in French.... the three phrases that probably would've come in handy.  Lucky for me, though, I had my Madrid-exploring skills under my belt, so navigating through the city wasn't too bad (minus the fact that I couldn't pronounce a single Metro stop for the life of me).  Well, that and the fact that half of the people in Paris spoke English =]

After getting into the city and checking into the hostel in the afternoon, we decided to go the Notre Dame.  No sign of the hunchback anywhere (hardyyy har har), but the building was beautiful!

Afterwards, we explored that area, cross one of the millions of beautiful bridges in the city, and took in the city.  We eventually made our way to the Orsay Museum, dedicated mostly to impressionism, which means we got to see a lot of Monet, Degas, Manet, Van Gogh, ect. I LOVED it.  The museum itself was a beautiful old train station, and the art inside was amazing to see.  I got to see one of Van Gogh's self-portraits... must've been an older one, though, since both ears still seemed to be intact =P

After the museum, we decided to venture over to the neighborhood with the Moulin Rouge.  Though we didn't actually go inside, the building was cool to see.  We ate at a nearby cafe, where I had salmon pizza (don't judge it until you try it, that's all I've gotta say!)... it was yummy.
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The next day, we woke up and decided to head over the the catacombs.  Ahh yes, amazing underground tunnels under the city filled with 6 million of my closest friends. Dead friends. Dead friends' skulls and bones, to be specific! Let me tell you, walking through two kilometers (yes, I'm over the "miles" thing after being in Europe, but we'll get into that later) of dead Parisians' bones is a little creepy....but still kind of cool. When I was done, though, I was definitely glad to go back outside into the sunlight!

My new best frands:

After that, we went to the Louvre Museum, which was HUGE! So huge, in fact, that if you stand in from of every work of art in there for one minute each, you will be in there for four months! At least that's what a tour guide told me.  But I believe him; I spent three hours in there and felt like I wasn't even close to even getting started with that place!

After the museum, we went to the most touristy place ever famous place in the city--the Eiffel Tower, of course! After seeing the huge line to ride the elevator to the top, we decided to take the walking option.  Walking up the Eiffel Tower = no big deal. At the top, we got to see the entire city stretched out in front of us. The sun was starting to set too, and I kind of felt like I was in a cheesy romance movie.... minus the, uh, romance. But you get the idea, right?
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On our final day there, we went to Versailles, the even-huger-than-Louvre palace just outside of the city.  Oh Marie Antoinette, you really outdid yourself, didn't you?  We walked through the inside of the palace, then spent the rest of the day enjoying the area and small town around the palace.

That evening, I enjoyed a crepe as we took a boat tour around the city.  What a great way to end my time in Paris! When I first came to Spain, I wasn't sure if I wanted to travel to other countries or just travel around Spain; now, I'm definitely glad that I ventured to a non-Spanish-speaking area.

(but where's Nicole Kidman? bahahaha... it's good thing I didn't make any hunchback or Nicole Kidman jokes while I was there... I don't want to be that American tourist!)

Mis Viajes

Hey! my past two weekends have been awesome! As I said last time, I was in Barcelona two weekends ago.  I have a couple of pictures to share from the trip:

Here was the sweeeeet bike tour (note the jacket... it's definitely a lot hotter now then it was that weekend!)

Last time I talked about La Sagrada Familia.  This is the part that's finished.  In the future, they want towers matching these existing ones on all four sides (AKA 12 more towers), THEN a giant tower in the center of the building surrounded by its own additional mini-towers.  By 2025? We'll see...

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Last weekend, I went with a friend to Granada and Córdoba.  Granada was awesome!  Probably the first indicator of its awesome-ness was the sweet hostel that we stayed in. I was a little scared to see it, since it was only 13 Euros/night (trust me, most hostels of this price cost this much for a really gross reasons).  When I got there, though, I was pleasantly surprised!  The room was nice, as well as the location of the building (just up the block from the city center, as well as the Alhambra, Granada's main attraction).  The best part, though, was by far the rooftop pool and lounge area.  Check out this view: 

 "Oh, you know, just chillin' at my new crib, no big deal!"

After spending some time at the pool and being in the hot HOT Spanish sun (with lots of sunscreen, of course), we picked up our Alhambra tickets for 5:30 that evening.  A giant palace built in the 1300s, the Alhambra had a ton of giant rooms with beautiful details and architecture.  

 (say hello to the Alhambra!)

That night, we enjoyed exploring the city center, which was a perfect mix of old houses and new, modern buildings.  One of the things I've enjoyed about Spain so far each city's love of their history mixed with modern life.  

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The next day, we ventured to Cordoba, described in guidebooks as "a great day-trip place".  Lemme tell you--they were right.  I was happy to spend one day there... but let's just say that I'm glad I'm not studying there for the full summer!  

I think it wouldn't have been so bad if the entire city didn't shut down for siesta at 3:00! I know that it's a typical schedule in Spain, but at least in Madrid, some places stay open during the afternoon hours.  It's ok though; to pass the time,we did find one place that old churros con chocolate.  Which were monstrous....

...but pretty yummy.  

We also visited the Mezquita there... I'll be back to update about that though, because for now, I have to go!

Running around like a crazy person..

...pretty much sums up my time on the weekends (and certain days in Madrid, too).  Since my group tries to take advantage of the short time we have each weekend to travel, we really like to book it!

I don't have much time to write (I 'm leaving in about 10 minutes), but I'll give a quick update about Barcelona. SO AWESOME.  I went on a bike tour of the city, where we got to see different monuments, important buildings, and La Sagrada Familia, designed/partially built by Antonio Gaudi.  This dude was CRAZY.  He dedicated the last 20 years of his life to this church, and when he died, it wasn't even close to being done.  It STILL isn't but the plan is that it will hopefully be done by the 2020's (weird thought, huh?), around the 100-year anniversary of his death.  It's that huge.

Our final stop included lunch (and sangria, of course!) at the beach.  Which was awesome, except that it was cold enough that I was still wearing a jacket.  Wait, what?? I thought I was in Spain!

It's definitely starting to heat up this week, though.  I predict a veeeeery hot summer ahead of me.

I'll update more later, but for now, I have to run off to Club Metropolitan in my faaaaancy new polo to work.

#feelingofficial

I'm going to Barcelona! Woooooo!

Tonight, I'm leaving for Barcelona for the weekend. I'll be sure to write a lot about that when I get back =)

For the remainder of my stay in Spain, I have some pretty sweet trips/activities planned.

For a couple of the weekends, I'm torn between Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla.  I'll figure those out soon!

In two weeks, I'm going to Paris for the weekend!

The first week of July, I get to see one of my favorite bands of all time for the third time, right here in Madrid!

Gotta love the FOO FIGHTERS: 

(awww Dave, you so cute!)

(Also, my roommate here is going to the concert with me.  She's met a lot of random famous people, like Jada Pinkett Smith and several TV/movie producers.  So basically, I'm forcing her to show me her ways so I can stalk meet Dave Grohl!)

Following that, I'll be taking a trip to Pamplona to go running with the bulls! And by running with the bulls, I mean sitting very far off in the distance and watching other crazy people run with the bulls!

My final weekend before returning to Kansas, I will be in Rome! 

Basically, I think I've found a good balance of wanting to see different places in Europe while still getting to know Spain a little better.  With Paris and Rome, I can say that I've been to multiple countries in Europe this summer, but with my other trips, I can say I've been all over SPAIN, specifically! 

I've gotta go so I can start packing for Barcelona.  Until then, steer clear  of my Pamplona friend!>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Quick Update!

This last weekend was buuuusy, but pretty awesome. =)

My Thursday and Saturday nights consisted of some pretty sweet (well, tiring, actually) nights out in a couple of the discotecas in Madrid.  Since I consider every moment here an opportunity to practice Spanish, I was proud that I could understand my Spanish friends, despite the blasting music!

On Saturday and Sunday, I took a couple of day trips to nearby cities.  The first was to Salamanca, which is a college town.  It kind of reminded me of my college town... well, besides the fact that half of the buildings were from the 1200s-1500s. The vibe, however, was very similar.  

I was trying to figure out why there were so many frog souvenirs around the town.  Seriously: keychains, postcards, figurines, ect.  Why a frog? 

I realized that it's because at the University of Salamanca, built in the 1200s (making it the oldest Spanish university), has a little "game" for tourists: SPOT THE FROG. Seriously, find the frog on the building:

...not so easy, is it? How about a close-up:

: 

....ahh! There it is. On top of the skull, of course!  Because that's normal!

For this reason, all the tourist-y gifts there featured the frog (and usually the skull, too).  

Besides touring the university, and scoping out the cathedral, we ate the menú del día at the Don Quixote Cafe.  

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On Sunday, I took a trip to Toledo, which is a little less than an hour away.  And let me tell you, it was old school: I'm talking walls-around-the-whole-city-to-protect-citizens-(from invaders on horseback with swords)-old school!  

It was also on top of a hill, so looking off into the distance was a little like this:

And I chilled with my main man, Don Quixote de la Mancha:

I also went to the art museum there, as well as a recreation of El Greco's house:

A refresher on El Greco's art:

Between the traveling, sight-seeing, eating good food, and enjoying the night life (hehe), I can officially say that I had a busy and successful weekend!