Emerald Isle

So this past weekend, I headed off to Ireland with Katherine and two friends from the States! My friends Megan and Lindsey decided to come and visit for a couple of weeks, since they both have recently graduated and all!

So we left Thursday night. Katherine and I had a different flight, so we got into Dublin a couple hours earlier than Megan and Lindsey. We just waited at the airport, relaxing and chatting and then just headed to our hostel. One shocking thing was the weather. It was so cold in Dublin! It was rainy, windy, and probably around 50 degrees...big change when you leave sunny and 75 degree weather in Alicante! It was around midnight when we got in, so we decided to call it a night and hit the hay.

The next day we went around the city! First, we went to the Guiness Storehouse where Katherine and I learned to pour the perfect pint! We have certificates, so we're legit! It was a lot of fun, I like my share of Guiness so I definitely enjoyed it. We also went to the top of the storehouse, where you can see all of Dublin, so cool.

Next, we got lunch (Chinese of course!) and then just shopped a little and walked around. I took a wonderful nap while my friends went in search of a good day trip for us to do the next day! That night, we grabbed dinner and an awesome Irish restaurant and then got some (very expensive) drinks at the bar from P.S. I Love You! It was alot of fun!

Saturday, we woke up at the crack and hopped on a bus to Belfast. It was a 2 1/2 hour ride to Belfast and then another 1 1/2-2 hour bus ride to the countryside. Our first stop was at a place called Larrybane where we got to cross a rope bridge! It was freezing and rainy though! Next, we went to a place called Giant's Causeway, where there is tons of cliffs and just beautiful scenery. We didn't spend too much time there because most of the paths were blocked off cause there was a rockslide about 10 minutes before we got there! It was crazy! The last stop was in a place called Derry, the town known for Bloody Sunday. There were these amazing murals depicting the people who had died. It was really eye-opening to see what division was (and is still) present in Ireland between the Catholics and Protestants and that it's only been twelve years since "peace" has been established.

After Derry, we made our way back to Belfast and then back to Dublin.

Sunday was a Lazy Sunday. Katherine went to Scotland for the day in search of Nessie, while my friends and I decided to hang around Dublin. It was a good day. We shopped, walked around, saw St. Patrick's Cathedral!, and just enjoyed Dublin. We also had some excellent Chinese food and I also got to go to Mass. Mass in English! Oh man, it had been so long! It was also beautiful to hear the Celtic influences in the music and just the Mass in general, I loved it. Katherine got back late Sunday night, safe and sound! She didn't find Nessie though!

Monday, aka today, was a little crazy. The bus was late and we almost missed our flight. We were rushing like crazy. Luckily we had some very nice airport personel help us out. I also got to run through the Dublin airport in fear of our gate closing...but hey we made it, so no complaints there!

Ireland was so much fun. What a beautiful country! I definitely loved my time there and want to go back again someday!

It was also really nice to come back to Aicante today. As always, I missed Mary-Carmen. She was so happy to see me, it's gonna be tough to leave her...only 2 weeks left! Que triste! Okay, I'm not gonna think about it! Alright, it's like 3 am! I better go!

Hasta,

Megan

Update.

Wow,

Sorry it has been so long since I have updated...After I got back from our trip, I had to catch up on a few things. It was crazy being gone for 3 weeks, but it went by so so fast! Now I'm back in Alicante, man I missed it. MC and I definitely had a moment when I can home...haha, it was cute!

As promised, I'm gonna briefly recap on every place we went:

Paris:

Started off the trip with Paris...we left Saturday night. For this trip, there were 8 or 9 of us...it was kinda ridiculous. Katherine had a friend in France named Vanessa, who came to Paris to see her and be our tour guide! In Paris we did all the main attractions: Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, Arc d' Triomphe, etc. We also ate some crepes and galletes! So so good!

Cologne:

Next was Cologne. After Paris, our massive group split off and it was down to two: Katherine and I. It was alot different traveling with just one person, alot less stressful. In Cologne, we stayed with my friend Leah and her family. They were absolutely wonderful! They fed us, washed our clothes, and just are amazing people. While we were in Cologne, we also spent a day in Bonn and another day in a little town called Zoons. I also got the chance to see another friend who is studying in Bonn, so that was great!

Berlin:

So after a few days in Cologne, we hopped a train and headed to Berlin. Berlin is a pretty awesome city. We were only there for a day and a half, but I still really like it. We didn't do too much there, definitely saw the Berlin Wall. Then did a little bus tour around town; short but sweet.

Amsterdam:

Next up, Amsterdam. Very, very cool city. So much more to it than weed and prostitutes. In Amsterdam, we bought a canal bus ticket and floated around the city...definitely the way to go. We had some good Chinese food, I changed my life...haha. We also ate some pancakes!, went to Anne Frank's house, and did our best not to hate our hostel.

Our hostel was actually reaaally nice. The thing that sucked was lack of internet and a really big jerk who worked at the front desk. Not accommodating at all. It was really frustrating. We wanted to love it, but we couldn't, we just couldn't.

Venice:

Probably my favorite city. I was only there for a a day and a half. We stayed a super cute B&B. Went to San Marco, so so awesome. What a beautiful church. I met an awesome priest named Father Konrad, who can speak 6 languages..no pasa nada. We didn't do too much in Venice, had some gnochi, ate gelato, and walked around the canals. It was so beautiful, and the perfect amount of time.

Rome:

We caught a train to Rome, yay! We were in Rome for 4 days. We went to the Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Vatican, and St. Peter's Basilica! Ahh! St. Peter's was my favorite place. We somehow got blessed and got to go to mass there...wow. It was great. Rome was probably the most "exciting" place for us. We stayed at lesbian hostel, went in search of nun, met some professors who know people at GV, found 3 euro spaghetti!, met a famous movie director, and bought tickets to Greece at the last minute. Wow. Of course, while we were there, we ate lots of gelato...yess!

Paros:

So next, we went to Paros, which is a Greek island. We had to take a ferry from Athens into Paros, which wasn't bad at all...it was actually pretty relaxing. We got to Paros a little later than planned and met up with my friend Lindsey who is studying there! Paros was pretty much beautiful, like out of a movie beautiful. Unfortunately, there was no beautiful Greek boys like in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants...just really creepy ones that could only say "Hello girls." No thank you. The food obviously was great! We had our share of gyros and baklava..yum.

Athens:

The last stop on the agenda was Athens. We were there for a day and a half or so. We went to the Acropolis, did some shopping and just enjoyed our last couple days of vacation. Unfortunately, we missed a flight and had to buy one at the last minute to get home. So we flew into Madrid. Our plane was late, so we then missed the last train. So what did we do? We rented a car. Yup, we rented a little sedan and drove 4 1/2 hours to Alicante. Completely unplanned, but we made it work and embraced it.

Sorry the recap is so brief. There's just so much...I don't know where to begin.
It was an amazing time though. Katherine and I clicked and it all just worked. I mean there was some mishaps, but we handled and honestly never got sick of each other. There's definitely some memories, that I'l never forget...

Wow, I've only got 3 more weeks left! Ahh! I'll really try to update more, I'm headed to Dublin this coming weekend...so I'm sure there will some stories there!

Hasta,

Megan

Another Update!

Hello friends!

Right now, I am in Greece just about finished with all my travels! Katherine updated, so check out her blog.

www.saludosdekaka.blogspot.com

Hasta,

Megan

What a perfect time for this to happen....

Hola amigos!

So basically my computer bit the dust. Therefore, updating the blog will barely ever happen. I'm gonna try and update sometimes, but there won't be any pictures...

Right now I'm in a hostel in Berlin. Tomorrow, I head to Amsterdam. I've already have been to Paris and Cologne! Check out my traveling partner/friend Katherine's blog for more details. I promise when I get back to Spain...I'll write about my travels and post pictures! However for the time being, Katherine's blog will have to suffice. Every time she updates, I'll post a short entry to give you all a heads up! :-)


http://saludosdekaka.blogspot.com/


Hasta/Chus!,

Megan

Granada!

True to my word, here's another update:

This past weekend our group took a trip to Granada, which in the southern part of Spain. It's a pretty cool city, with the biggest university in Spain as well as a ton of Arabic and Christian culture merging. The trip took a whopping 5 1/2 hours by bus...so needless to say I was getting stir-crazy...

The first day we got there, we had lunch at the hotel and then spent the afternoon at the Alhambra. The Alhambra is this ginormous palace/fortress built by the Arab rulers. I guess the name means "red one" or the "red fortress". The place was definitely impressive. There was alot of beautiful architecture and just the sheer size was amazing.

outside of the "palace"

colosseum-like ampitheater

palace garden

and again...the "famous" shot

view of the city

After the Alhambra, we went out for tapas. Which is the thing to do in Granada. The city is known for tapas gratis...aka free food. You basically buy a drink and get a free tapa. It's amazing...I had so much food for only like 8 euros. It was epic...really.

The next day, we went to the "white" neighborhood and then saw the Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). It was pretty awesome. The chapel was built by Isabella and Ferdinand and has one the most amazing murals I have seen in my life. The chapel is dedicated to St. John the Baptist and holds the remains of both rulers. It was wow. I couldn't take pictures...but it was truly amazing.

white neighborhood

another view of the city

outside of the Chapel

Anyways, after that we grabbed lunch (Kebabs!) and headed home. It was a short but good trip.

I leave for Paris on Saturday! So get ready. This blog is gonna explode.

Hasta,

Megan

Las Fallas!

Hola!

I know it's been another drought of me updating. My laziness definitely gets the best of me sometimes.

The past couple of weeks have been pretty packed, with the next 3 looking to be even more so. I start Spring Break on Saturday and will have TONS to talk about so I figured I better post about the past couple of events before they get lost amidst of the craziness.

Two weeks or so ago, there was a big festival called Las Fallas in a near by city called Valencia. Basically, everyone shows up to this shindig cause it's pretty much pure madness. In short, the purpose of the festival is to honor St. Joseph, well that was why it was started. However, now, it's just a party...the city builds these massive monuments and burns them all at midnight. Fallas means "torch" in latin (more or less). And we're talking about fire...there's about a hundred of these monuments placed all over the city...and every single one gets burned.

So since, it happens St. Joe's Feast Day aka Father's Day in Spain...there is no school. So my friends and I took the train to Valencia and hung out all day...eating paella and taking in the sights. It was pure madness. We left right before the riots started, so I guess I didn't get the full experience, but it was still fun.

one of the many statues/ monuments

another one...

oh paella...

city cathedral

night shot.

So, hopefully you all can hang tight until tomorrow or maybe Thursday. Cause I promise...I'll post about this past weekend when I went to Granada...I'd write about it now...but it would be alot. Soon though!

Hasta,

Megan

Day Trippin'

Hola amigos!

So I know I owe you one post...but that post is being put on the back burner, cause honestly I can't keep up right now. So I am gonna write about some recent happenings...This past weekend I took 2 day trips to 2 different coast towns on the Costa Blanca (also where Alicante is). The first was with our group to a little town called Campello and the second was to a town called Altea with some friends that came to visit from the States. Let's start with Campello.

To be honest the trip was kind of a waste of time, kind of unorganized, but nevertheless, it was nice to get out of Alicante and see something new. Campello is tiny, tiny town that pretty much is desolate in the winter months. We walked around, took some pictures, bought some illegal DVDs (not me), and ate some churros con chocolate (yes me). We were only there for a few hours, but it was fun.

churros and chocolate!

Something was really interesting was the fish auction we saw. Every day in Campello, after fisherman dock for the day; there is an auction for what fish they caught. People come and gather around this table and bid on the goods. It was something I had never seen before, I guess people who restaurants and what not come to get fish for their menus...oh the benefits of living on the sea!

fish auction

The second trip was taken this past Sunday to a place called Altea. It's alot like most of the costal towns here, but I thought it'd be good to show my friends a picturesque view of the Mediterranean and Espana. It was definitely a tiring journey, probably due to the lack of sleep we had, but we embraced it.

at the train station

cute little street in altea

Alright, there's a few more day trips coming up, so I will definitely be posting about those soon! Tomorrow we go to the waterfalls in Guadalest!

Hasta,
Megan

Update Round 2: Toledo

Hola!

I apologize for not posting yesterday, I had a busy day and a very sensitive internet connection, so I decided to wait until today so I could post at the University. Alright..vamos.

This past weekend, our group took a trip to Toledo. No no, not in Ohio. So try and resist making a joke. According to our tour guide, Fernando, Toledo is a city that has three cultures integrated in it's history: Christian, Judaism, and Arabic. All three of these cultures have fought over the years to gain control of the city, so you can see pieces of each spread throughout the city. They are also famous for making swords.

We did the basic touristy things, but I enjoyed all of them. My favorite by far was the Cathedral. It was beautiful, I tried to take a picture of it, but it was too big to fit entirely in my shot. Oh well. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Cathedral

this is for you Senora!

on the ride home.

what i found, when i got home. chicken paella. wow. i love my host mom. i was so happy, really i couldn't stop smiling.

I also bought a sword, I am a little nervous in transporting it home...let's hope for the best!

Hasta,
Megan

I know, I know, it's been awhile.

I know, I know it's been a long time since I've updated. Don't be mad...I've got a lot of content to give you faithful readers. If it's any consolation, my computer recently crashed. So I haven't been able to even access the internet. Therefore, within the next few days I will post 3, yes count 'em, 3 posts.

So, here we go with the first post.

Two weeks ago, Alicante had a festival called Carnaval. Now this festival starts the week before Ash Wednesday and ends then, kicking off Lent for this heavily-populated Catholic country. Carnaval happens all over Spain, not just in Alicante, but since Mary-Carmen had her grandsons over for the weekend (another post), I decided to just enjoy what Alicante had to offer.

In a few words, I would compare Carnaval to Mardi Gras (without the beads); there were thousands of people just partying in the streets. It was insane to see.

Now the tradition is to dress up, but it's not required. Our group decided to partake in the tradition. I initially was against dressing up, but MC told me that I should, all her kids had done it. So at the last minute I went to a toy store by my apartment and bought the cheapest/modest costume I could find. Haha...so I went as an Indian, or to be politically correct, a Native-American. I looked ridiculous! Whatever, “when in Rome. The picture that you see is me in my outfit wearing one of the boys' afro wigs. I think it fits me well... "

The party didn't start till about 1 am. We all met up before, but we finally went out around then. The Barrio was packed. People were everywhere. My friends and I went dancing, then got some Churros! Which are so good. They are little pieces of deep-fried goodness. I got super tired around 3:30 and got walked home and crashed. I think I fell asleep the minute I sat on my bed. Definitely not my scene, but I am glad, I got to experience it.

Alright, I think that will suffice for now, more to come tomorrow.

Hasta,

Megan

Update!

Hola,

Sorry it's been a few days since I last posted...I kept meaning to, but my laziness has been overpowering my will to write. Today was ridiculously nice...it's been kinda of rainy the past few days so the sun was a definite bonus.

Alot of things have happened the past couple of days so to the bullet points we go:

• Took a walking tour of Alicante...aka I got really lost for 2 hours so I took pictures of what I saw and dubbed it an intentional activity.
• Went hiking at El Castillio de Sánta Barbara...aka the Santa Barbara Castle. It's not an actual castle where kings and queens lived...it's more like a baller fortress that overlooks the city...pretty sweet.
• Bought a guitar...named it Rafael...in honor of Nadal's win in the Australian Open...
  
• Cut my finger while purchasing Rafael...had to be escorted by an security guard to the office to be attended to...the guy cleaned my "wound" with alcohol and bandaged me up. It was really just a scratch...all I wanted was a band-aid and in return I got some security guard fixing me up like I am some helpless American girl...
• Took Rafael back cause he had some body damage....didn't think it would matter until I got him home and started playing him for real...the cashier was not happy. Probably never going to show my face in that department again...
• Started my business class on Monday...hello Toby Flenderson (it's an HR class).
• Went to the MARQ aka the Arquitectual Museum of Alicante...pretty cool.
• Bought a new Rafael...50 euros...at some second hand store. Half of what I paid for the first...
  
• Just been enjoying this city...searching for a good wifi signal and eating alot of gelato.

That sums alot of what I've been doing lately...hopefully going to take a trip this weekend, but we'll see...will keep you posted...

Time for pictures....

Part of the walking tour....


the Promenade...


on the way to the castle....and a good view of the city (slightly cloudy)



medieval toilet and a church...


icon of Jesus when Veronica wiped his face...another view of the city


the new rafael...what a looker.

that's all for now. my computer is going to die soon....

Hasta,

Megan

¿Como?

¡Hola amigos! ¡Estoy viviendo en España!

For those of you unaware, I am spending four months in Spain studying Spanish. This blog will help my loved ones to keep track of me and allow me to share all my stories!

This is my first post, so I will warn you all that this may be incredibly long....but don't say I didn't warn you, cause I did.

I've been in Spain for almost 3 days and cannot believe all this county has to offer. It's so beautiful. I am living in a city called Alicante, which is located right on the coast near the Mediterranean. So the coast is right there. Miré (Look).


I know it looks like a postcard, but that's seriously what it looks like....the water is really that blue!

It's an incredibly mild climate, right now since it's "winter", the temperature averages about 55 degrees fahrenheit. As a native Michigander, 55 degrees is heaven. Today my host mother aka, mi Señora and I were walking and she kept scolding me to get a coat, caling me crazy for not having a better jacket. But as most of you know, I am used to far worse.

Mi Señora's name is Mary-Carmen Marchena Sanz and she is boss. She's an older woman, about in her sixties (I'm not sure, but I wasn't gonna ask). She is windowed and has three children, 2 boys and one girl. She is one of the warmest people I have ever met. First time we met, she gave me a huge hug and kissed me on both cheeks. She is also an incredible painter, you should see her place, there are paitings everywhere...some are her brothers's and daughter's, but most are hers...and they are not finger paintings...they are these amazing portraits.

Oh I almost forgot a major detail about Mary-Carmen and I's relationship...she speaks absolutely no English....zip, zero, nilch. ¿Como? Is probably the most used word in my vocabulary right now. It means "what?", or "come again?", and seeing as I cannot seem to communicate effectively I find myself saying that word alot. It's pretty frustrating at times, I hate not being able to talk to her. She has so many stories and has lived so much I ache to understand her. Alot of times, I just nod because she starts to get frustrated as well....the language barrier is something I've never really counted to be such an obstacle. I assumed it'd be tough, but not like this. It's okay though, it's another motivation for me to not only learn Spanish but to really embrace it. I've never wanted to learn something so much since guitar.

Speaking of guitars, I miss mine, I still need to buy one...I will very soon.

Here is a shot of my room...it's pretty cute...I tried to take a picture of Mary-Carmen, she told me to come back tomorrow...haha.

Ahh, there is just so much to say but I don't know where to go next. I think I'll just leave it at this. Stories will come and go so quickly, I'll just have to write in the moment...and it seems like the moment has passed.

Hasta (Until),

Megan