Morella

Nuestra ultima viaje de la programa fue a un pueblito que se llama Morella. Está encima de una colina 2 horas afuera de Valencia. No hay mucho en la ciudad otro que un castillo, pues fue un fin de semana tranquila donde pudimos relajarnos.

Our last trip with the program was to a small town called Morella. It is located on top of a hill 2 hours outside of Valencia. There is not a lot to do in the city, other than go see a castle, so it was a time to just relax.

Wrapping it all up

Festival de Vino (Wine Festival)

Aquí en Valencia hay un rio viejo abandonado de aqua, pero llena de fuentes, árboles, campos, y mucho mucho más. Es mi lugar favorito de Valencia y casi cada día paso tiempo allí. La fin de semana pasada había un festival de vino. Rio+vio=una Lauren muy feliz! Fue muy divertido para ir a todos de los lugares diferentes para probar sus vinos y tapas.

Here in Valencia there is an old riverbed that has been turned into a park with all sorts of fountains, trees, sports fields and so much more. Without question it is my favorite spot and I am there for at least a little bit almost every day. Last weekend there was a wine festival there which I just had to go to. The Rio+wine= a very happy Lauren. It was really fun to go around and try all the different wines and appetizers.

Cristina y yo!

EL RIO-(the river)

Aquí son los edificios famosos de los artes y ciencias.

Here are the infamous sciene and art buildings in Valencia.

El Saler

Porque casi ningunas de las personas en nuestro grupo quieren hacer cosas, decidí que querría hacer cosas en Valencia, si otras personas quieren hacerlos o no. Pues, la fin de semana pasado decidió alquilar una bicicleta para ir a una playa al sur de Valencia que se llama "El Saler" Es en un parque natural que se llama La Albufera" y es por eso que es una playa más natural con menos personas. Me encanta la playa, me encanta montar la bici y hacer exercisio, pues este fue un día perfecta para mí. Empezó con un poca lluvia, pero después fue mejor. Me disfruté mucho en mí viaje sola.

Because hardly any of the people in the group want to do things, I decided that I wanted to do things in Valencia and that I was going to do them whether other people wanted to go or not. Last weekend I decided to rent a bicycle and travel down to a beach to the south of Valencia called "El Saler." It is located within a natural park called the albufera, therefore it tends to have less people and is a more natural beach. I love the beach, I love riding bikes, and I love exercise, therefore it was the perfect day for me, even if I was all alone.

La playa de El Saler con mi bici.

Because it was raining on and off that day, it seemed as though all the snails in Valencia were headed for the bike path to avoid the puddles. This was one of that many that I found that day!

This is an edited version of a picture of a flower I took while at the beach. I really love the rain drops on it!

This is also a remake of a photo I took while there. I was inspired to do this after an art lecture on "Pop Art."

Andalucía and all that it brings

A great part of the program here in Spain is the built-in excursions. Though traveling is great, it can be quite stressful when you have to plan everything. That is why I really enjoyed having certain excursions to major cities in Spain that were already planned out for us. Our last big trip of this semester was to Andalucía and included several towns such as: Cordoba, Sevilla, and Granada. We were really lucky because throughout the whole trip we were blessed with great weather, and though I really enjoyed the opportunity to see such amazing cites, I must confess that the trip was somewhat ruined by the group. It just seemed to be that time in the trip where everyone was sick of each other and all respect for anybody or anything just went out the window. That's why I am going to keep the text short here and just give a little picture preview of the trip.

It was quite a long bus ride to our first destination of Cordoba so needless to say I got a little bored. The drive wasn't too bad though because I got to see some of the spanish countryside. These were some really cool windmills that I saw on our drive.

When we were in Cordoba I was able to see the sunset and the sunrise--such a wonderful thing. This is a shot of the sun setting over the big cathedral.

This is a snapshot of the inside of the very large cathedral in the center of Cordoba. Not your typical cathedral, but that is because it was initially a mosque. When the catholics took it over, they decided to build the cathedral inside of the mosque instead of destroying it. It made for quite an interesting contrast and every corner you turned it changed from looking like a mosque to then looking like a cathedral again. I should know this cathedral from front to back now because I didn't know that we had a group trip planned to enter, so the day before a friend and I bought tickets and entered and then got to go back the next day with the group!

Me feeding some pigeons in the courtyard of the cathedral.

The day after Cordoba, we packed up and headed to Sevilla--a rather large city in southern Spain. This is a picture from the mezquite that is connected to the cathedral in Sevilla.

Us girls had quite the time playing with the typical Spanish fans!

Though this is not a great picture, I wanted to try to give an idea of how large the cathedral in Sevilla was. I am not sure on what number it is, but I know it is in the top five in the world in terms of size.

One of the places I was looking forward to going to all semester was the Alhambra in Granada. Here is a shot of some of the detail in the main palace.

A shot of some of the flowers inside the city of the Alhambra.

This gives another idea of how detailed the main palace was. Literally the entire building was covered in decorations like this.

"No football in the carpark"

(So this is going to be in English because I went to an English speaking country)

We were given a seven day break from school to take a break an enjoy Easter. I was pondering around about making a trip to Ibiza or maybe the Canary Islands, but then I though of the great idea of visiting a good friend in Northern Ireland who is doing a program similar to mine. After much planning and giggling and screaming, I headed off April 1st on my journey to Northern Ireland. Because I am a cheap college student, I had to take a somewhat crazy route to get there the cheapest way possible. I left 7 am that morning from Valencia and arrived in Madrid where I had to wait almost 8 hours in the airport before hopping on my next flight to Dublin. When I got to Dublin it was late enough that I wouldn't be able to take a bus to Derry, so I spent the night in a hostel and hopped on a bus for 4 hours the following day to see my long lost friend. This was my first trip really traveling alone and I have to say that everything when pretty smoothly and I didn't seem to freaked out by any of it. I have also learned the trick of packing as much stuff into a backpack as possible and still having it comply with the strict size regulations of RyanAir. I arrived at the bus station and was warmly greeted by Rachel. Though Spain has been great and I have met some really cool people, it was so wonderful to just see and hang out with an old friend. We spent the first day in Derry where we had an amazing lunch complete with chocolate fondue.

The Bog Side of the city of Derry

The next day we headed of for a little town called Balintoy that was about 2 hours northeast of Derry. Now I thought I was from a small town, but Balintoy brings a new meaning to the phrase "small town." It is a city located right on the northern coast and has a population of about 200. THere is no grocery store or gas station, but there are two restaurants and a small convenience store called the "Wee Shop". Since Rachel and I hadn't rented a car we had to rely on the public bus system, which proved to be rather difficult considering it was Easter weekend and many of the routes were not running, but we still managed to have an amazing time! The place was so beautiful it was hard not to. The countryside was filled with rolling green hills speckled with sheep and rocky cliffs that just suddenly dropped off into the ocean. It was a little drizzly most of the time, but if anything that added to the beauty of the place.

The small famous white church in Balintoy

A shot of the rocky coast.

Rachel and I taking a little jaunt shortly after we arrived in Balintoy.

The entire time in Balintoy was just so peaceful and relaxing. We spent most of our time wondering around the coastline and playing with sheep. We even attempted to hitchhike back from a nearby town one day (which the hostel lady recommended) and were horribly unsuccessful. So we spent about 4 miles walking along the coast and trespassing on numerous peoples property and jumping many fences and stone walls before we finally caught a taxi.

A field of sheep that we had a lot of fun playing with. And these sheep were no ordinary sheep, they knew how to talk! Every time that I would call out to them I would be greeted by a chorus of "BAAAAAAHHHHHH'S".

Another shot of the coastline, but this time from the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge.

Rachel, my friend who I went to visit.

My last night in Derry was one to be remembered. We were planning on spending the evening just being lazy and watching a movie, but when Rachel's host family called and invited us up to a town to the north called Donneygal to watch a jam session we took up the offer. The session was great and almost everyone in the pub was related to Rachel's host family-who happens to be insanely musically talented. Her host mom is in a group with two of her sisters called "The Henry Girls" and they do a lot of traditional Irish music. Her host dad is also in a couple of bands and plays the saxaphone. After thoroughly enjoying the evening, her host family was nice enough to let us stay in their aunt's beautiful Bed & Breakfast. And let me tell you this was no ordinary bed and breakfast, but this one was accompanied by two of the nicest ladies I have ever met and was absolutely gorgeous.

FAVORITE MOMENTS

1. Rachel and I attempting to hitchhike and being turned down by about 40 different cars.

2. Trespassing our way back to Balintoy for about 2 miles

3. Playing with sheep!

4. Hearing the word "wee" in place of "little"

5. The entire night in Donneygal.

A piece of heaven in the middle of chaos

This weekend, instead of traveling, we spent the time laying low in Valencia. This made me realize that I only have about 6 weeks here left and there is a lot in Valencia that I haven't seen. So, I started yesterday on my quest to check out some of the cool stuff Valencia has to offer, starting off first with the Botanical Gardens. It was almost crazy that this huge garden, located in the middle of the city, could be so peaceful when it was surrounded by all the busyness of everyday city life. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I really want to go back again near the end of my trip, because I think a lot more things will be in bloom. Enjoy the following pictures, even though they don't quite give the park justice.

Let's call it a DEAL (David, Erica, Anica, Lauren ha ha)

Pues, donde a empezar!? Porque estaba teniendo un tiempo disgustado con la falla, cuando amigos me invitaron a ir a Madrid y Marruecos, los dije, “Si, porque no?” Quise escapar un parte de la semana de fallas y también quise ir a Madrid otra vez (en tiempo mejor) y visitar Marruecos. Nunca había pensado que voy a ir al continente de África, pero fue una aventura que quise tener.

( Geez, where to start?! Because I wasn’t having a very good time with the falla, when some friends invited me to go to Madrid and Morocco I said, “sure, why not.” I wanted to escape part of fallas week, go to Madrid another time, and visit Morocco. I never thought I would go to the continent of Africa, but it was an adventure that I wanted to have.)

Salimos por el noche del viernes para volar a Madrid. Tomamos la línea aérea de RyanAir y fue una aventura. Su sistema para embarcar el avión es un poco diferente de las otras líneas. Primero, los pasajeros no tienen un numero de la silla, pues cuando es el tiempo para embarcar el avión, cada pasajero tiene que correr para esperar en una línea. De aquí, ellos compraban el tamaño de las maletas porque ellos son muy estrictos con esto. Con RyanAir, no puede tener una bolsa y mochila, solo puede tener una pieza de equipaje. Pues, depuse de esperando cada persona embarca el avión. Durante el vuelo, no debes tratar a dormir, porque ellos les gustan encender los luces para vender varios cosas como billetes de lotería, cigarrillos sin fuma, comida. Y si tu avión llega en el tiempo correcto, ellos te juegan una canción ridículo de una trompa. Es una experiencia que cada persona tiene que tener.

(We left Friday night to fly to Madrid. We took the airline RyanAir and it was an adventure. Their system to board the plane is a little different than that of other airlines. First, the passengers don’t have a seat number, so when they begin to board the plane, everyone runs to stand in line. From here, they check the size of everyone’s carry-on bag in which they are VERY strict about. You can’t have a purse and a bookbag, you can only have one item. Then, everyone can board the plane. During the flight, you better not try to sleep, because they turn on all the lights so that they can try to sell various things throughout the trip like lottery tickets, smokeless cigarettes and who knows what else. And if your flight arrives on time, you are greeted by a ridiculous French horn tune. It is an experience that everyone needs to have.)

Llegamos por el noche de viernes y nos quedamos en un hostal. Por la mañana, exploramos la ciudad de Madrid. Estaba muy feliz porque, aunque que visité Madrid al principio de mi viaje a España, la temperatura fue mucho mejor este vez y pude disfrutarme un poco más. Visitamos muchas de las plazas, parques y el Museo Prado. Fue una día bonísimo.

( We arrived Friday night and stayed in a hostel. In the morning, we explored the city of Madrid. I was really happy because even though I had visited Madrid at the beginning of the trip, the weather wasn’t very good and was a lot better this time so I was able to enjoy the city a lot more. We visited most of the big plazas and parks and went to the Prado museum. It was a beautiful day. )

El Palacio Real en Madrid

La plaza Mayor con un hombre con burbujas. (The main plaza with a man with bubbles)

Erica, Anica y yo con un hombre Chino que vistio como una sirena en la Plaza Mayor. (Erica, Anica and I with a chinese man dressed like a mermaid in the main plaza.)

Un lago en el Parque del Retiro. (A lake in Retiro Park.)

Alquilamos una barca en el Parque del Retiro. (We rented a boat in Retiro Park)

Próxima, salimos muy temprano (nos despertamos a las 3:50 ) por la mañana para volar a Marrakech, una ciudad en Marruecos. Y es por aquí que empezamos nuestro real aventura. Cuando llegamos al aeropuerto, nos dio la cuenta que nuestros móviles no funcionaron en Marruecos, pues no pudimos llamar a nuestro riad (guest house). Pues, tratamos tomar un taxi, pero solo después de David luchó (el chico quien fue con nosotros) con el conductores sobre el precio. Hay dos cosas que necesitas saber, uno- los precios no existen en Marrekesh y dos- personas en Marrakech hablan francés y árabe, no ingles ni tampoco español. Entonces, no estuvimos seguro de nada. Finalmente, encontramos un taxi para tomarnos a nuestro riad. Él fue muy amable y pudo hablar un poco ingles. Pero, llegamos por un calle sucio que no fue nuestro riad. De repente otro hombre llegó para tomarnos a nuestro riad por calles muy serpenteantes. Tuvimos un poco miedo porque no supimos nada de donde estuvimos. Finalmente, llegamos a nuestro riad. Por afuera, pareció un poco feo con nada especial, pero cuando entramos, fue un mundo diferente. El dueño del hostal abrió la puerta y pagó el hombre quien nos ayudó para ir al hostal (porque no tuvimos cambia) y nos invitó para beber té. Este no fue cualquier tipo de te, fue té de Marruecos, el té mejor del mundo! Después, salimos por la ciudad. Había cartas de burros, muchas tiendas, y hombres tratando a vender cosas. Si quieres comprar algo, tienes que negociar y aprende en como para andar afuera si sus precios son un poco caro es una manera para encontrar un precio más barato. Andamos el día por todo de la ciudad y por el noche, comimos cuscús al riad. Nos despertamos la próxima mañana para ir por una excursión afuera de la ciudad. Hay montañas afuera de la ciudad con muchos pueblos y vistas muy bonitas y montamos camellos en unos de los pueblos! Cuando llegamos a un pueblo más arriba por las montañas, bajamos para andar por el pueblo y decidimos andar por la montaña. No puedo explicar en como bonita fue la vista y la temperatura, y todo. Para finalizar nuestro viaje, comimos tajine una comida típica de Marruecos.

(The next day, we left really early (we got up at 3:50) to fly to Marrekech, a city in Morocco. When we arrived at the airport, we realized that our cell phones didn’t work, so we couldn’t call our riad (guest house) to come pick us up. Therefore, we tried to take a taxi, but only after David (the guy who came with us on the trip) argued with the drivers about the price. There are two things that you need to know about Marrekech, one- prices don’t exist and two- that they speak French and Arabic, not English or Spanish. Therefore, we were a little confused at all times about what was going on. Finally, we found a taxi driver to take us to our riad and he was really nice and spoke a tiny bit of English. But when we arrived, we stopped at a kinda scary looking street, that was definitely NOT our riad. We got out of the car and there was another person there who was to lead us to our riad. It was a little scary because we had no idea where we were actually going because the guy was walking really fast and they were crazy winding little streets. Finally we arrived at our riad. From outside it looked a little ugly, but when we walked inside it was something of another world.

The owner of the riad opened to door and paid the guy who helped lead us to our riad (because we didn’t have any change) and he invited us in to have tea. This was no ordinary type of tea, it was tea from Morocco, the best tea in the world! After resting for a bit, we went out to explore the city. There were carts carried by donkeys going up and down all the little winding streets and there were little shops everywhere with venders trying to sell their things. If you want to buy something in Marrekech, you have to bargain for it! I learned the art of walking away if the price is to high. If you do this, you will usually find a price much cheaper! The next day we left the city to travel out to the mountains. It was amazing how quickly the terrain changed from flat and dry to mountainous and lush. During the day, we drove all through the mountains, rode camels, hiked up a mountain, and ate tajine. It was a wonderful day with wonderful weather and we really enjoyed ourselves.)

Nuestro riad en Marrekech. (Our riad in Marrekech)

Otro de nuestro riad. (Another from our riad)

Un serpiente en el mercado de Marrekech. (A snake in the market in Marrekech)

Palacio Badii

Flores en el palacio Badii

Tejas en el palacio Badii.

Una puerta muy bonita para entrar la ciudad de Marrekech.

Nuestro henna de Marrekech.

Yo con mi compañera de camello! (Mi with my camel mate!)

Pues todo en todo, el viaje fue magnífico y estoy muy feliz que escapé un poco de la semana de las fallas y que fui a África!

(All in all, the trip was just wonderful and I was really happy that I was able to escape a little bit of fallas week and go to Africa!)