Back from My Andalucian Road Trip

Hello Everyone.

It's been a while since my last entry. Partly because I have been sick for the last two weeks (don't worry, I went to the medico today) and also due to the fact that I've been traveling around the South of Spain, enjoying Semana Santa (Easter Week). So let me begin with the beginning of my week-long break from school. Instead of being outside, enjoying the spring weather and amazing feeling that comes from knowing school is out for the whole week, I was in my bed terribly sick, sleeping in hopes that I would feel better in time for Gabe and Lexie's arrivals. I didn't feel 100% when they arrived on Sunday Morning but I felt better because they were also feeling sick. Anyways, I showed them around the area I live, we got some breakfast, and then I dropped some off to take a nap. That night we got our first taste of SEMANA SANTA. (Warning: Tis picture isn't what you think, although I was aware of this tradition, it didn't take away from the tinge of fright when I saw the procession walking towards me).After we were caught in about 5 different processions (they are going on all over the city all night for one week), we met Joana and Felipe, my Brazilian cousin and her husband who are currently living in London as students. It's very cool to be able to meet family that have grown up in a another part of the world. We had some tapas in the plaza and then went home cause everyone was pretty tired from their travels. The next day we woke up to the do the tourist bit Santa Cruz, Cathedral, ice-cream, ect. They got right into the Spanish eating habits- we didn't eat lunch until 4pm and dinner at around 11pm. That night I took them to see a Flamenco show that night and I think they enjoyed it. The next morning we headed out for Cordoba. Joana and Felipe rented a car so we got to take some backroads and visit some small towns on the way. We stopped in one town, I can't even remember the name- it was very small, I think it was Ejica. It seemed dead. Then we headed off to Cordoba- we found this really cute hotel in a perfect location to la mezquita. I had been to Cordoba with CEA and I didn't get the best impression of it. It seemed very touristy and plain. But we had only seem the small square that surrounded the mosque- we explored rather than that and had some really great food. As normal, the food on this trip was delicious. We followed Joana's Michellein guide, which gave us the best suggestions. We enjoyed cafe con leche and tostada in the morning, and tapas for dinner and lunch.

So Cordoba proved to be so much better than I thought and I'm very glad no one listened to me when I said it would be a place we could skip on the road trip. We spent one night in Cordoba and set out for Granada. On the way to Granada we made some stops along beautiful high ways in the mountains. We stopped in a small university town Baeza. It was wonderful. A small Renasiisance city known for it's production of olive oil. Of course, we arrived at 2:00pm and EVERYTHING in the city was closed. We took a walk around the city and saw some great views:
After our walking worked us up an appetite, we stopped at the supermarket to buy goods for a picnic. We couldn't find any parks around so we pulled over on the high way and ate lunch right in the middle of a olive field! it was so spontaneous and so delicious! We finally made it to Granada after some traffic and trouble finding a hotel. I really loved Granada the first time I was there so I was super excited to go back. I really enjoyed it again... we stayed pretty close to where I was the first time so I knew the ropes. We went to the Arab section, had some great teas, got caught in the rain and were stranded in the teteria for 2 hours. We finally ran the 10 minutes home and were cold and soaking wet. We slept for 4 hours during the rain! It was so uncharacteristic of me but I guess I really needed it since I had been so sick. We woke up and found this great little Italian restaurant (everyone was in need for a change form the tapas menus- if they were tired of it after 4 days just IMAGINEEEE how I feel). The Italian place was GREAT! Afterwards on our walk home we came across some little Irish pub, we went in and ended up staying for hours- they had karoeke!!!!! It was a great night.

The next day we attempted to go to the Alhambra but it was sold out! Everyone was disappointed, and I was disappointed for them- but I was okay with it, cause I had already done the two hour walking tour of the place...haha sorry, that may have been too honest. We took the time we lost to take some longer routes on our way to Malaga. We took a tip from the Michelein guide and found the most beautiful, windy roads. They were sooo windy that I almost got sick. Me and my weak stomach. We were so high up int he mountains we were actually driving through the clouds. Check it out:

After the mountains we somehow arrived at the coast-- to see the Mediterranean SEAAA!! It was great, i realized the last time I had seen a large body of water since last summer. We stopped in Nerja, a small beach town a little less touristy than Malaga and went down to the beach. We got a soccer ball, played around, relaxed and grabbed some great fish tapas for lunch. We drove to Malaga, where we found a hotel and said goodbye to Joana, Felipe and our car, Capucha (Capucha means hood in Spanish- as in the hoods that the Semana Santa men wear). Gabe, Lexie, and I were on our own in Malaga- we found some cool places to go. The city was CRAZY. I loved it but it was especially crazy because Friday night is the most intense night of Semana Santa. Everyone was out until all hours of the morning, the streets were packed with people and food vendors. Malaga was a little more touristy- very big beach town among the fair-haired Brits but it was still very cool, with ltos of different restaurants. They even had a Dunkin Donuts! Why can't Sevilla have a dunkin donuts?! Picasso comes from Malaga so there is a very cool Picasso museum there. Across the street is a great little tea house where we had lunch and I bought some tea to take back to Sevilla- even though I won't be able to make it in my house... haha

We got a train back to Sevilla on Saturday afternoon. On the ride back I was sitting next to this young guy reading a magazine in English. I began to rudely read over his shoulder and he asked me in a great British accent, "Would you like to read it? It's actually rubbish." We laughed and started talking. HE told me he is moving to Sevilla to take a class to teach his how to teach English. I asked him where and he said a school named CLIC. CLIC just happens to be where my senora, Carmen teaches. He is only one year older than me, graduated university last year and isn't really sure what he wants to do with hsi life and figured teaching English is a good place to start. When we continue talking we look at a map to see where he is living, it turns out he is living around the corner from me. WHAT A SMALL WORLDDD! I love little coincidences like this. It was great for him too because he doesn't know a soul in the city. Anyways, it's nice to be back in Sevilla. I went to the doctor this morning because I still have a pretty bad cold so he just gave me some heavy duty decongestants. Hopefully it will knock it all out of my body. I hope you've all enjoyed thsi super long entry. Until next time...

Emily

Yes- I go to class.

For all those who doubt my academic credibility while in Sevilla- I go to school four days a week. Monday and Wednesday I even get up by 8am! hahaha... while I'm writing this blog I should be studying for my Art History Midterm- so I guess things dont' really change here in Spain. I wanted to write about my trip to Prague before it gets blurry.

Prague was fantastic- I am so luck y that I got to experience Prague while in Europe. And as you will see, there were a lot of mishaps and problems that occurred on the trip- so for me to RAVE bout it, it must have been pretty darn amazing.

So, we went through a travel company indirectly because we were having a really hard time finding flights and we got a good deal on a flight+hotel. I went with my roommate Stephanie. We had to take the train to Madrid on Thursday morning to catch our flight to Prague at 3:30. We made it- but our flight was delayed. We get to Prague on the later side, and we ere told transportation would be provided to our hotel. We weren't on their list when we got there but they said we could pay for the bus or we could take public transportation. The airport was pretty dead and it was late so we opted to pay for the bus. It took about double the time they said (1.4 hours) and we were the last hotel to be dropped off. I was getting pissed because it looked like we were so far from the city and we hadn't had dinner. Anyways- we are on this tour bus with all these Spanish people- even the guide is Spanish. We went to Prague but still couldn't get away from the Spanish. Sorry- so we got off the bus at our hotel in the middle of no where and Stephanie's bag isn't there. It was just gone. And she is freaking out, rightfully so, but everyone speaks Spanish (except the bus driver who handled the bags, because he ONLY speaks Czech). Anyways, she is dealing with that- and ended up not ever getting her bag. Someone probably moved it to get theres, forgot to put it back on , and it was left in the parking lot- probably stolen. And when we tired to find some food to eat- nothing was open that far from the city past 10pm. SUCKED.

The next day was better- we persevered past the bad hotel and lost luggage. We got up, hand a pretty good breakfast included in our stay at the hotel, and went on a 2-hour walking tour of Prague, also included. I met with my camp friend Marissa who I hadn't seen in a while- it was really nice. She showed us her school (also on CEA) and showed Stephanie where should could get some cheap clothes to hold her over. Oh, and what entry wouldn't be completed without details about food! We ate lunch at this placed called Bohemia Bagel which is basically trying to be a NY deli- it was delicious- exactly what I was craving! Marissa had plans before so we left her and had dinner at Cafe Louvre- a cafe famous for having Albert Einstein and his crew hang out. I got chicken noodle soup- also something missing from Spanish cuisine!

The next day we woke up early and went to the museum of Communism. Kind of cool, definitely interesting because Prague has such a unique history. We hung around Old Town square- a big plaza that usually has performers and young people but because it was the weekend before Easter week they had all these stands set up- it was like a big carnival with music and food and dancing. it was great! we tried to go to the Jewish museum but due to my poor memory of Jewish tradition- it was closed on Saturdays- go figure. So we decided to check out a small gallery which was showing Goya and Mucha exhibits. Mucha's work was fantastic! I am a big, big fan of his! We sat at a cafe for some tea because we were cold and were completely ripped off for a cup of tea, so we decided to enjoy the fair festivities and get a hot dog for dinner. It was really fun- and they are great beer in Prague! (someone told me that beer is actually cheaper than bottled water!) despite the mishaps- the day was great. we concluded by going to a bar that a friend recommended and we ending up meeting a lot of cool people.

Our flight on Sunday was later in the afternoon. I really, really wanted to see the Jewish Museum so we got up early, took our huge backpacks and went to the museum. It was cool because there wasn't really a museum- it was all different exhibits housed in 5 old temples. It was really interesting- I had no idea Prague/Czech Republic had such a large Jewish population. It was really well-done and got me emotional, of course. But it was a great way to conclude a great trip.

I think Prague may be my favorite city I've seen. I mean Paris was great, Sevilla is great (i haven't really seen that many others) but Prague is a city with so much history all around it and yet has a really modern, hip, young feel. It's beautiful. I wasn't such a big fan o f the people- especially the women who worked at the concierge of our hotel. It wasn't even a concierge- they basically just checked people in- when we asked them about how much the metro costs and if was better to buy a multi-pass or one by one they couldn't answer- they didn't know. And everywhere we ate the waiters were rude and gave us dirty looks. And it wasn't because we were being rude, loud Americans. Bizarre.

I must go learn more about Gothic architecture but I will post pictures from Prague tomorrow. I hope everyone enjoyed this entry even though it was a bit rushed!

SUISA

I'm sorry, I have been the worst blogger ever. This has been a busy few weeks. But I am here to update, don't worry. So this past weekend I was in Switzerland (or Suisa for those of you who speak Spanish). This was supposed to be an easy, no-nonsese trip but it turned out to be anything but that. We waited to buy our bus tickets to Madrid because we had heard it 's very easy to do, but we waited and found out all the buses back on Sunday were booked (our flight to Geneva was out of Madrid) because it was a holiday in Spain. We, somewhat un-unanimously decided to switch our plane tickets so we would return on Saturday instead of spending 20 hours bumming around Madrid waiting for the bus early Monday morning. It was quite the ordeal but once we were seated on the overnight bus to Madrid, I knew, mostly, it would all work out. After the short flight to Geneva, we took a train to Interlaken. It was a beautiful train ride despite the rain. Here's a picture: We stayed at the cutest hostel I've ever seen- it was like a little ski lodge and it felt like camp because everyone there was our age and American and from Univ. of Wisconsin. haha
On our first day there we explored Interlaken and loved it so much we decided to extend our stay in Interlaken and not go to Geneva (perhaps it was the anti-French sentiment of the German side of Switzerland?) We went for cheese fondue and it was delicious but SO expensive. The whole town was pretty pricey but because the Swiss Franc is weaker than the dollar it wasn't very of a difference from the Euro.
The second day some of the girls I was with went paragliding- which is kind of like skydiving but you just jump off fa mountain and you don't get any free-fall at all because you're attached to a parachute. It looked cool but I don't really regret not doing it- it was pretty expensive. After that we grabbed some sandwiches and hiked a bit. and by hiking I mean we spent 2 hours trying to find the hike. By the time we found it, we were really close to our hostel so we decided to go home and watch a movie. We watched "Chocolat" in the hostel tv room, which was very approrpiate considering we had been eating lots of Swiss chocolate. We went for a cheap dinner at a local pub where we could get more American type food. It seems that recently, a lot of my friends, including myself have been really missing and craving American food! It's not that the food in Spain isn't good, it's just that after 2 months (almost) of eating the same tapas and meals it gets a little repetitve. Spanish food does not have a large selection of meals. Anyways, we came back from dinner in time for happy hour. The hostel had it's own bar and club- it was very cool.
The next day we woke up early to go to the mountain. To get there we had to take a train, then a gondola, and then another train! But it was worth it because the journey was just as spectacular as the view from the Murren.After lunch on the top of the mountain we made our decent. And did some gift-shopping, and chocolate shopping for the remained of the afternoon. For dinner we went for Italian- it was really ,REALLY good!! Our last night in Interlaken was fun- I actually ran into an old friend from elementary school- Syd. It was so funny and really nice to see a familiar face! We had a successful trip home. We had planned to stop in Bern for a few hours before Geneva because we had heard it was the city to see in Switzerland but it was raining and everyone was tired so we didn't get off. But the trip was great, it was relaxing and really nice to be in the "country." THey had fantastic tasting water in Interlaken! The best tap water I've had! I'm sorry this entry is slacking- I have to pack for PRAGUE! I am really so excited about Prague- probably the most excited I've been about a trip thus far- probably because I'm see my old campfriend Marissa PLUS I hear the city is awesome. AHHHH i can hardly wait- don't worry, expect a long and VERY emotional blog after this one. Here is one last picture for the road: