Espana

Well I am embarking on a new journey and I am going to try to keep everyone updated via my blog. This way people can look at what I am up to as they please and photos can accompany my stories.

MADRID

I left this past Wednesday to fly out of Indianapolis to Philly and then onto Madrid. After I tried to pass security in Indianapolis without a boarding ticket, because I forgot to print one off because I was so occupied with suitcases, I finally printed off my tickets and started the journey. The plane rides were all pretty relaxed because I found some other people who were on the plane and that made me less nervous. Madrid was another story. A bunch of us arrived together, all exhausted, hungry and sleep deprived to a very energetic program leader who began to walk very fast and lead us through the airport in Madrid. Now keep in mind that she didn't have any suitcases in hand, I had two; something I will never do again! After being sweat covered from running up and down the airport and up and down escalators, we finally got to the metro station. Then we found some more steps and more escalators and began running some more. When we got to our stop we were greeted by a set of stairs covered in sleet that lead out to the street where our hostel was. Lets just say that this was not the climax of the trip. We finally got to relax a bit and had a nice dinner. The next couple of days we did a little bit of exploring on our own in the city and went to a bunch of art museums; El Prado, La Reina Sofia, y El Thyssen. Some of the parts were boring, but others were absolutely amazing. I actually got to see a lot of Picasso's work. That in itself was worth going to all the museums.

Some friends enjoying the weather that awaited us in Madrid.

TOLEDO

During our stay in Madrid we took a trip to Toledo which is an old city about an hour southish of Madrid. As soon as we arrived, I fell in love with it.It had lots of winding roads and cute cafes and bars tucked in throughout the winding city. There were also a lot of museums and old churches and cathedrals.

A picture of the city looking out from the tower of a church

SEGOVIA

Segovia was a cute town north of Madrid that has aqueducts that were built by the Romans. When we first got there the weather was a little chilly and gross, but throughout the day it warmed up and the city became beautiful. We explored the city for the afternoon and had our pocodillos(sandwiches).

The roman aqueduct

This was a castle that was one of the inspirations for the Walt Disney Castle

Halloween

Halloween is my favorite holiday, so when I found out that I had an away soccer game, you can guess that I was less than pleased. With that being said, I tried to put my frustration with the time of the soccer game away for the night, because I knew that if we won the game, we would make it into the conference tournament. We played against O-WU and were down 0-1 the first half. The second half we made an amazing come back and scored two against them to secure our spot in the tournament. Needless to say, Halloween wasn't ruined. Though most of my Halloween night consisted of riding home on a bus, we all made the most of it. As soon as the game was over, we took showers and put on our costumes. We didn't get back until a little before one that morning, but I still managed to get out and have some fun.

Some of the soccer girls stopping at Wendys to grab a bite to eat.

Frankengirl, the queen from 300, Twister board, Little Miss Muffett and Batgirl all made it to the costume party on the bus. I actually sewed some of the queen's costume on the way home. Needles on buses...not so safe.

The Farm was hosting a costume party that I got to catch the end of.

I even found my partner in crime, Batman!

Batgirl and Storm having a duel.

My friends catching some moves on the dance floor.

This fall has been a tough one when it comes to soccer. I came into the season being really physically fit and uber pumped for the season. Pre-season went great and all was good until about our fourth game, when I got kicked in the heel bone by a girl. I ended up having a bruised heel bone that put me out for about three weeks. I was finally getting back into it and playing again when suddenly in practice I severely sprained my ankle.

Never before have I ever had a problem with injuries, but this year that has all caught up to me. I am just trying to take things slowly now and once again get back into it. We still have five games left this season that I am trying to work towards. I have really gained an appreciation for those who have injuries and come back to a sport, especially something like an acl tear.

Hopefully next season will go a little differently!

Bruised heel bone. This may not look bad, but it is one of the most painfully annoying injuries because you can't put any weight on your heel. I wonder if this will help me to start running on my toes!

This past thursday after I sprained it. When I fell I screamed, but then got up and hobbled back into the wellness building and convinced myself on the way there that it was fine. I was thinking it probably wasn't even bruised at all. I took off my taping from my previous injury and found this huge thing on my ankle. Lets just say it wasn't one of my best moments.

This one was taken a few days after the fall when it really started to color up.

"Especially in Michigan"

So you know it's an amazing trip when you see 11 shooting stars in one night. Whether it was going to the historic Macinac Island, or getting up on water skis, Michigan was proved once again to be an amazing spot to be. It was a last minute summer vacation that me and three close friends took and was the perfect ending to a somewhat stressful summer. After taking Calculus, it was exactly the relaxation and fun I needed before heading back to college.



Three of the four of us at Macinac Island, a pretty cool spot! The entire island is filled with bicycles and horse drawn carriages because no cars are allowed.


Looking out over Lake Michigan. The water was a little chilly, but quite perfect when the sun was out.


Arc Rock, a beautiful rock formation at Macinac Island that resembled the doorway to Narnia.


Karman and Meredith getting some height while tubing. We all had a blast tubing and water skiing and jet skiing.


Out on the boat. Meredith taught us all how to drive.


My favorite picture from the whole trip. This actually was a lot harder of a shot to get than it looks like because there were only three of us after Rachel left a few days earlier. We set the camera up on a pole next to the shore, turned on the ten second timer, and then Karman sprinted down the dock and hopped up on the bench to get the picture we wanted. Thank goodness for technology.

Birthday Surprise

This June, I knew I would be celebrating my 21st birthday, but I had no idea I would get to celebrate with all of my best friends. Karman had told me we were going on an adventure for the weekend but refused to tell me where. I kept getting sidetracked by her intentionally-misleading clues and it wasn't until we reached Indiana that I knew Merry would also be involved. After meeting up with Merry at the airport we then went and surprised Rachel and kidnapped her for a weekend of fun. Finally we arrived at a quaint little cabin by lake Monroe and enjoyed some quality time with each other. The next day we were surprised once again upon arriving at the Murat theatre to see the musical Wicked. It was a better present than I ever could have asked for!

We got a little lost while looking for the cabin

The fantabulous four at the campground by lake Monroe

"Live Like You Were Dying"

This past weekend held enough adventures to fill the whole summer. I went down on friday evening to stay with my brother in Evansville and the fun started there. We spent all weekend running around having fun, but the two highlights of the trip included my first motorcycle trip and skydiving. I had thought about going skydiving for quite some time but things never seemed to fall into place. So when my brother called me up in the spring and asked if I would be interested, I told him I was game. We had to wait around at the Carmi, IL airport for about 4 hours for the clouds to clear up, but the wait was totally worth it! It didn't really hit me as to what I was getting myself into until the door opened up at about 10,000 feet so that we could jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Definitely going on my top ten list of amazing things. 

A good silhouette of Jared

Jared's friend getting ready for the plane to take off. The craziest part was that the pilot flying the plane was younger than any of us!

A shot of the me(wonderwoman) and my bro(Mr. Sunshine)

I TRI

After much training, I finally competed in a tri-athalon this past weekend. It started at 7:30 in the morning with a 1 mile swim, then a 20 mile bike, then finished of with a 6 mile run. By the time it was all said and done I was exhausted but felt very triumphant! I did pretty well, beating my time last year by 8 minutes. This year I also conned my brother Jared into coming up and competing too. 

Jared finishing up

Me and Jared right after he finished