HOME

Ok everyone, I am HOME finally... if you didn't know already. Today is Christmas day and lots of people have said to me "you really need to end your blog". So here I am, the first day that I have had lots of time to sit around and hang out since I have been home, updating my blog... possibly for the last time.

There are many words that I could use to describe my study abroad experience but the one I have been using most often is amazing. I wouldn't say it was a life changing experience, but one thing that it did do was open my eyes to everything that is out there in the world. I want to do so many more things now! I want to travel to all of the countries in Europe that I didn't get to go to (and that was A LOT of them) I want to learn about the different customs in all different cultures, I want to be fluent in Spanish, but I think the first thing I have to do before I go back to Europe is travel around the US! That is my next big adventure.

Can't wait... And I bet you can't wait for the next blog ;)

Italia!

Ahhhhhhh Italy is so amazing! I love love love everything about it so far. Right now I am in Florence and it is so beautiful. I was in Rome for 3 days before this and it was awesome too. I dont have much time to write more because I am in an internet cafe but just wanted to keep you guys updated. love you all!
xoxo
Abby

Vamos a Italia!

Hello Loves! just thought I would let you all know that tomorrow I am leaving for ITALY! Rome for 3 days and then Florence for another 3. I am so excited to go to Italy, it has been a dream of mine for years. And then when I get back I only have one more week here. That is so crazy. Everyone told me that this would go by quick and I believe them but I am still very sad to go. I think that (so far) I have enjoed myself to the maximum. Taking advantage of every opportunity that I could, and that is always a good feeling. Still, I can't wait to come back here and explore Spain and the rest of Europe more. Anyone want to come?!

Gotta get to class now, hope everyone is having an awesome beginning to the month, can't wait to share the holidays with my friends and family :)

xoxo

Abby

Pictures from Granada!

AHH I love fall colors!

oh HEY :)

Gardens near the Alhambra

The view from the top of the palace (Alhambra) This is the Arabic quarter with all the white houses on this hill. My favorite part of the city by far

Sorry I'm an awkward poser in these pictures. This was a pretty fountain in the Alhambra

So Beautiful!

Courtyard at the Alhambra

In the Arabic part with the Alhambra in the background. I was really excited.

Typical house in this part of the city. I was obsessed.

A simple little kind of free

I haven't posted anything in a while! I know I have been holding you guys in suspense for a while. I hope I don't disappoint with the next few blogs, I have a lot to tell about!

I really can't believe that I only have 3 more weeks here. I have been getting kind of homesick these past few days especially because of Thanksgiving and because my family is all together and I wish I could be there with them. But yesterday was different. We were listening to a song in Spanish class and it was by one of the popular artists that is in a lot of the clubs and I got really sad. It just reminded me of the feeling I get when I go out. I can't tell you exactly why but I think its just the atmosphere of Spain. Going out at night (and that doesn't just mean to bars and clubs) I feel like I am in an entirely different world! Everyone is out, just walking around enjoying themselves no matter what age. At 8 pm at night the streets are packed with teenagers hanging out in groups, girlfriends having a cafe con leche together, husbands and wives from ages 30 to 80 linking arms and window shopping. Spaniards really do live their lives out on the street and you get so much more of a sense of community when you walk around because everyone is out! It really is an awesome country.

But of course there are some things I'm not going to miss. But as of right now I can only think of one and that is the food. Even though I don't like the food here I find myself gaining weight, dang it! Its because of all the eggs, white bread, and OIL. Oh well, I have my entire life to eat the kind of food that I want.

Besides me getting all sentimental I had a really good day yesterday. I went to class in the morning and then after class our Cal Poly group went to a wine museum that also happens to be a castle in a town right outside of Valladolid. It had amazing view and really cool picture opportunities (pictures to follow, my camera is charging). It was very interesting to see all of the exhibits about wine, I am getting very excited to get back to Cal Poly and continue with my major because wine has become a passion of mine since I have been here. After the museum we went to another town to hang out and eat our lunch and it was such a beautiful little "pueblo". The leaves were all turning on the trees and there were old buildings everywhere, yet another picture taking opportunity! Then we traveled for about half hour to a bodega in another town. This was my favorite part of the day. We started out by going on top of this big hill and watching the BEAUTIFUL sunset, maybe one of the prettiest sunsets I have ever seen. We took a tour of the fermentation room and the giant stainless steel tanks, just like any other winery I have been to but then we went into the cellar. The cellar is not what you think it would be. Along the hillside there are these doors that lead to giant tunnels that have been carved out and are now used to store the wine that is aging. There were hundreds and hundreds of barrels in these long mazes of tunnels inside the hill! It was SOO cool. I can't wait to show you pictures. Afterwards we went back to the main winery and tried some of their Crianza and a actually bought a few bottles so when I get back we can try them together and I will go into more depth about the winery. So excited for that :)

So yesterday was a really good day but today I have a lot of work to do. Two projects in two different classes. So I better get to that. Miss you guys!

xoxo

Abby

p.s. here are some topics that you have to look forward to:

Public transportation

Fashion of Valladolid

Description of my Spanish mama

Anything else that you want to know about?! let me know...

Speaking Spanish

Learning a different language is SO HARD. I didn't know what it was going to be like trying to learn a different language but it is so overwhelming. I had a realization the other day while walking and trying to think about how to say something in spanish. When I try and think about what I want to say I think about it first in english and then about how to translate that into spanish. But this is NOT the way to get better! We learn all the rules in class, we study them, we know them, its just a matter of implementing them. Learning spanish and learning the rules is not hard. Its implementing it and actually speaking without having to think that is hard! Of course this sounds so simple but switching your brain to think in a completely different language is so much harder than it seems. What I really need to do is just SPEAK and not think about if thats the right way or not, its all filed in there somewhere, I just need to implement these rules and these things that I have been hearing for almost 8 years of my life.

Its hard too because when I come back from Spain I will not be speaking spanish because I won't need to! Hopefully I will be motivated enough to try and speak spanish as much as I can. I know my grandma will be proud when I can have a conversation with her in Spanish someday :)

What language do I speak here?!

This past weekend I was in Lisbon, Portugal! I had such a good time in the city and with the people I went with. We all meshed really well together, didn’t get into any arguments or “tiffs” and everyone was just ready to do whatever. The first thing I have to tell you about is the trip over there. We left at midnight from Valladolid on a bus to Madrid and had to wait about 3 hours in the airport for our 7 am flight. When we got to Madrid one of the girls on the trip (Lily) realized that she forgot her passport! So that was a really big inconvenience for her, she had to go all the way back to Valladolid, miss the morning flight and pay to get on the next flight out to Lisbon. But despite all that she met us in Lisbon and was THAT much happier to be there. I was trying to think what I would have done in that situation and I think I would have probably freaked out so much more than she actually did.

Our first day in Lisbon was pretty mellow, we got to the hostel and put our stuff in storage because our room wasn’t ready and after no sleep the night before set out on the town! We pretty much just walked around the city, getting ourselves acquainted. Went to a really pretty park and then across the street there was a giant Corte Ingles (which is kind of like a super Kmart or something like that, except with department store quality stuff and a full size grocery store, they are everywhere in Spain). So we walked around the park a bit, went to Corte Ingles, and then went to the hostel to try and get some sleep.

Park in Lisbon... This was the point that I decided that I would not be taking any "normal" pictures in front of monuments, so this is a warning for all further pictures...

So this was my very first experience in a hostel and it really was not bad at all, it was actually pretty awesome. We were in a room with 8 beds, and the room itself was pretty small but it worked, we were only really in there to sleep! I was talking to some other people and they said that this hostel was really nice compared to others that they have stayed in. So I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I started off my hostel experience with a good one or not, because I think now I might just expect all of them to be like that when they aren’t! Oh well, I’m sure Ill have many more stories about hostels.

That night was actually Halloween and we started off by going out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. I know, Italian food in Portugal is like cheating but don’t worry, we got our traditional Portuguese meal later in the weekend. It was so weird though, literally every other restaurant was Italian, we couldn’t get away from it! We went out later that night to the Barrio Alto, which is where all the bars are and where people go before going out to clubs/discotecas. Since it was Halloween there were a few people dressed up but not many. It also wasn’t what you expect from Halloween costumes in the US. All of them were dressed in scary costumes! No funny costumes or anything like that. I would say probably a fifth of everyone was dressed up. But the streets were packed! So many people just hanging out on the street it was really cool.

Italian restaurant! And a bottle of wine to go with it... SO GOOD.

This is the view from a park in the Barrio Alto, you could pretty much see all of Lisbon!

Ok this is my "sumo wrestler" pose... But this is also the street that our hostel was on, right in the middle of the Barrio Caixa, a big touristy part of town. During the day time there are a ton of people and a lot of outdoor seating for the cafes/restaurants.

The next day made it up and out by 11 am! I’m proud we didn’t waste the whole day. We decided to take a bus tour of the city, it was the kind where it took you to all the major stops around the city and you could get off and back on as many times as you wanted. Our major stop was in Belem, which is a part of Lisbon. It was really pretty. We went to the shore and then into the town to eat lunch (our typical Portuguese lunch). Portuguese food is a lot of fish and rice and potatoes. Lunch was REALLY good, everyone got something different and we just shared everyone’s plates so it was nice to get some variety. Got a couple pitchers of sangria (BOMB) and tried Sardines! They were very intimidating, it was pretty much just an entire fish fried and salted. They were pretty good, but there was a lot of bones and that was pretty problematic for me. My theory on different kinds of food: if someone somewhere eats it and enjoys it, then I will try it. You never know if you will like it until you try it, right?! Gosh I love food…

Our first stop on the tour... the Basilica de Estrela

It looks like the Golden Gate Bridge, doesn't it?! This bridge is called the "25th de Abril"

At the Torre de Belem, again... no normal pictures in front of monuments

On the top of the Torre de Belem. It was a really nice day out in the beginning of this bus tour and online it said it was going to be in the 70's! But then during the tour it started getting cloudy and of course I didn't bring a sweater to wear. So by the end when we were coming home it was raining and I was at the top of a bus with no sweater :(

Then we waited in line to get the traditional Belem pastries, you can only get them in Belem and they are very famous. It was like a custard in a flaky crust, really good. I wish I could send some back for everyone to try!

Belem Pastry... As Steven's head.

So bored in front of the Monsteiro dos Jeronimos

The inside was so pretty :)

That night we didn’t really do much because it was Sunday night and nothing was really open. Actually we did go to this really bizarre bar where everyone must have been over 40 and the music was awful. I might compare it to Pats II. HAH.

Monday was a really good day, probably my favorite day. We had to check out of the hostel by noon so we got our stuff together and made our journey over to the Aquarium. We had no idea what to expect when we got there but it turned out to be in a really cool area! There was a boardwalk type thing along the river and it was a beautiful day out so it was really nice walking along there. Then we hopped on these gondola things and got a really cool view of the river, Aquarium and surrounding areas. Walked around the aquarium and after went to lunch. Lunch was absurd. I wanted to order a water and for some reason no one could understand me so they brought over like 8 people to try and translate. That was one of the weird things about Portugal, I never knew what language they would understand better, English or Spanish?! So we were caught in a weird middle where we would try and communicate using both and just had to wait to see which one would work. So we finally conquered the language barrier and ordered some BOMB food. So much food, and it was all so cheap! That was a really great thing about Portugal, you could have a feast for so cheap.

Me in front of the longest bridge in portugal, the Torre Vasco de Gama, and the gondolas that took us to the Oceanario!

Omg, I think I'm going to die... This gondola ride is so far up.

Hey look! My new friend. At the Aquarium.

Didn’t get back to Valladolid until 2 am on Tuesday morning and had class at 9 the next day so that was a pretty rough day, especially since I hadn’t really gotten much sleep the entire weekend. But I powered through anyway, its so worth it to be kind of tired so I can get to see a lot more stuff and travel as much as I can.

Speaking of sleep, I need a siesta… went out again last night! Hey, I’m only in Spain once J