A little bit homesick...

As my semester is unfortunately coming to an end, I have been preparing for finals which are this week and I have also been trying to explore parts of Madrid that I have never seen before. I have really started to become sad about leaving the beautiful country of Spain to go back to the USA. On the other hand, I have also very much missed many things in the USA and I cannot wait to go back for these reasons!

1. Wal-Mart!! In Spain, they have supermarkets but everything besides the food is pretty expensive. One thing I noticed that was especially expensive is makeup! Good thing I don't really wear a lot of makeup so all I have bought here is some mascara(9 euros) and some eye shadow. Also, some things cannot be found in the local supermarket, which is also why I miss Walmart because it has EVERYTHING!! :p
2. Some fast food places: Yes, of course there is McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC, but these are not the fast food places I miss. I really miss Qdoba and Chick-fil-a! Nobody here understands the variety of fast food places that are offered in America!! Yes, there is also one Subway in Madrid, but I miss there being a Subway on every street!! ;)
3. Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches! Nutella is the peanut butter of Europe! When I tell Europeans how delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are, they look at me like I'm crazy and respond something like this, "EWW that sounds so disgusting! I thought it was only in the movies!" It is so interesting seeing the cultural differences among everyone and that is one thing I have really enjoyed about being here. 
4. The Mountains!! Although Madrid is a beautiful city, I really miss seeing the great Rocky Mountains everyday and being able to explore the trails of the Mountains by snowboard, hiking, or biking, which brings me to the next thing.....
5. Biking! In Madrid, most people either walk everywhere or take public transportation. Since I am living quite far from the center of Madrid(about 45 minutes by public transport) I always take the train to Madrid and then walk besides that. I really miss being able to ride a bike around and the liberating feeling that it gives you.
6. Driving. Believe it or not, I kind of miss driving a car! Don't get me wrong, it is nice taking a break from driving and having other people do the driving, but I miss driving where I want and getting places quickly. 
7. An automatic dryer! Although I have adapted pretty quickly to hang drying my clothes, I really miss being able to wash a load of laundry, throw it in the dryer, and have my clothes all clean and ready within 1.5 hours. It is rare to have an automatic dryer here as it is a luxury and everyone just hang dries their clothes. I never really realized how spoiled most Americans are by having these luxuries. 
8. Lacrosse. Oh how I miss this wonderful sport! Every time I am on Facebook and see my teammates photos from a game or team gatherings, I get a little bit sad and jealous that I cannot be there to play with them and share these team bonding experiences! I have seen a couple guys with lacrosse sticks on campus but they just get together and play for fun. Lacrosse, being a Native American sport, is not so well known here as it is in the United States.
9. Last but certainly not least... I miss my friends and family! It has been such a great experience living here in Europe and meeting friends of all cultures and countries, but of course I miss my closest friends and family back in the states! I hope to see many of them over summer so we can reconnect and share our experiences from the past 6 months that I have been gone. And I really miss Lincoln, my parents' new puppy! When I left for Spain, he was only about 7 weeks old, so I doubt he will remember me. :(  But I am so excited to go home and see him and play with him! (I hope it doesn't take him too long to get used to me!) 

So far, these are the things that I can think of that I really miss about the United States. I will be coming home June 27 after a wonderful European adventure with my friend, Victoria! I am having very mixed feelings about returning home but I know I will be just fine after I adapt back to the American way of living. So far, Europe has been absolutely incredible and an experience of a lifetime! I want to thank my parents especially for making this happen! My study abroad experience would have never happened if it wasn't for you helping me out financially and emotionally. Thanks so much and I love you! 

Sevilla, Spain: La Feria

About 2 weeks ago, my friend asked me if I wanted to take a weekend trip to Sevilla, Spain. Without hesitation, I said yes and I volunteered to plan everything including rides to/from Sevilla and a place to stay. I had mentioned to my host mother that I was going to Sevilla the following weekend and she told me that there was an annual fair every April and that it was probably the same weekend that we were planning to visit Sevilla! I looked on the internet and sure enough, La Feria de Sevilla was the same weekend we were going to visit! I was really excited to attend this event but also nervous that we would not be able to find a place to stay during this time since there would be so many tourists. I was determined to find a host from couchsurfing to host the two of us so we could have a local show us around town and also so we wouldn't have to pay to stay in a hostal, since the prices were much higher during the time of this big event. I asked two hosts, and one host named Alberto had approved my request on couchsurfing! I was really surprised that it was so easy to find a host, since I figured so many people would be trying to find a place to stay during La Feria. Apparently, I was the first to ask Alberto and after my request, he had received several more requests from other couch surfers asking to stay with him whom he had to reject.


I had planned rides to and from Sevilla via Blablacar. Blabla car is a car sharing website that you can find rides for cheaper than a train or bus. We met up with our ride, Irene, on Friday morning and she was with her friend. The drive to Sevilla was about 5 hours and we had some nice chats and napped a bit on the way up. When we finally arrived in Sevilla, we found the apartment of Alberto and dropped off our luggage at his flat. Alberto had just awakened and he was too tired to go explore with us since he was out partying the whole night before. By this time, it was about 1pm and the temperature was already pretty hot(about 80 degrees Fahrenheit). We set out to explore the beautiful city of Sevilla and find the main tourist attractions including the Cathedral, the Palace, and Plaza de España. We first walked through a beautiful garden and wondered around a bit. Then, we stopped and ate lunch and had some drinks at Cien Montaditos. After lunch, we set out to find Plaza de España. We walked around a University area thinking maybe it was the plaza. We quickly realized that was not the plaza and asked somebody where it was. We finally found the plaza and I was absolutely dumbfounded by this Plaza. This was the most magnificent Plaza I have seen thus far!! Plaza de España is located in the Parque de Maria Luisa and was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is a landmark example of the Renaissance Revival style in Spanish Architecture. The town hall is located within the Plaza. This Plaza was used in the movie series Star Wars and was also featured in the 2012 film, The Dictator! After hanging out at the Plaza for awhile, we set out to find the Cathedral. When we finally found it, we realized it had closed 30 minutes before we arrived. We then decided to walk around some more and then head back to the apartment to see what Alberto had planned for the evening. Some other couch surfers were coming over to Alberto's to meet with us and go to La Feria altogether. We took the bus to La Feria and hung out for a few hours!

University

Plaza de España

Plaza de España

Entrance of La Feria

La Feria(directly translates to fair) de Abril is held in Sevilla, which is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Andalusia is in the south of the Iberian Peninsula so during the summer time, it gets extremely hot. La Feria begins at midnight on the Monday 2 weeks after Easter and runs until the following Sunday. For the duration of the fair, rows of casetas(tents set up on the fairground) fill the far bank of the Guadalquivir River. Most of these tents are private and rented out by families or clubs. There are about 1,000 of these tents spread throughout the fairgrounds!! At night, you can find many people flamenco dancing in their traditional attire, drinking Rebujito, or eating tapas. During the day, you will find loads of carriages transporting people throughout the city and to the fair.

 We stayed at La Feria for a few hours walking around and chatting with some other couch surfers. The fair also had lots of rides and we rode the Ferris Wheel which was really cool because we could see all of the casetas from the top. After a long day and night, we walked back to the flat and got some good rest for a full day of touring again the following day.

View from Ferris Wheel

Las Casetas

On Saturday, we woke up at around 11 and planned to get to the Cathedral at around noon. We got to the Cathedral and not to our surprise, found ourselves waiting in a long line to get in and tour the Cathedral.  Catedral de Santa María de la Sede  is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the World and is the burial site of Christopher Columbus! We wandered around the Cathedral for about an hour and went up to the top to see a panoramic view of the entire city of Sevilla. It was absolutely breathtaking at the top! 

Christopher Columbus' Tomb

View from top of Cathedral

After the Cathedral, we went 2 minutes to the northeastern side of the Cathedral where the Archbishop's palace is located. We took a tour of the Palace and again, I was astonished at the beauty of the palace. There was a huge park in the back and we even got a little lost in the park! We explored the different buildings and hung out at the park in the back for a while. After touring the palace, we headed to La Feria to see what the vibe was like during the daytime. Still, there were many people dancing, drinking, and hanging out. We went to a public caseta and ordered a pitcher of Rebujito. Rebujito is a very traditional drink of Andalusia and it is a cocktail consisting of Sherry(white wine) and soft drinks(usually Sprite). It was very delicious and especially refreshing during another hot day. After sitting down and drinking our Rebujito, we returned to Plaza de España for the sunset and walked around viewing all the different plaques- one for every main city in Spain. We finally made our way back to Alberto's flat. By the time we got back, it was about 10pm and we had walked probably over 6 miles that day so our feet were aching really badly. We were not so motivated to return to La Feria that night, but we decided to go even though we were exhausted. We returned to La Feria once again but this time didn't stay long since by the time we arrived, the majority of people had left and it was pretty boring.

Park at the Palace

  

Plaza De Torros

Rebujito

The next day, we took it easy and relaxed much more than the previous 2 days. We packed up our stuff and left Alberto's flat at about noon. We were meeting our ride at 4pm so we had a few hours to get a bit more touring in before having to return to Madrid. The first place we visited was Metropol Parasol. This is a wooden structure located in La Encarnación Square and was designed by a German architect, Jurgen Mayer-Hermann. It was just recently completed in 2011 and is said to be the largest wooden structure in the world!  The structure consists of six parasols in the form of giant mushrooms, whose design is inspired by the vaults of the Cathedral of Sevilla and the ficus trees in nearby Plaza de Cristo de Burgos. At the top, you can walk along the terraces and view the city center. After walking around the Metropol Parasol, we set out to find fried fish. Pescaíto Frito(fried fish) is a typical dish of southern Spain and is very common in Sevilla. We found a good deal at a nearby restaurant and had Paella, fried fish, bread, and a beer all for 8 euros! I didn't exactly know how to eat the fish, so I just grabbed one by the tail, and ate the whole thing, head and all! Then we asked the waiter how we were supposed to eat it, and he said to take off the head then eat the body of the fish, but not the head or tail. We had a good laugh after that, considering I had just consumed the head of a small fish! To my surprise, Pescaíto Frito was actually pretty tasty! After lunch, we headed over to the river and relaxed until it was time to meet up with our ride back to Madrid.

Fried Fish

 We met up with our ride at about 430 pm then had a 5 hour ride back to Madrid. We slept most of the way back because we were so exhausted from the entire weekend on out feet and touring Sevilla. We returned to Madrid at about 10pm after a really awesome weekend. La Feria and Sevilla was definitely an amazing little weekend trip! Now I know why Sevilla is named one of the most beautiful cities of Spain. Every corner we turned, there was more beauty than the last! I am so glad I was able to experience Sevilla, especially during La Feria! 

Semana Santa, Destination: Switzerland

After leaving Salzburg, I headed to Basel, Switzerland, where I would be staying for 3 days. The drive from Salzburg to Basel was about 5 hours and I slept nearly the entire way. I finally arrived and I met up with my hosts from couchsurfing. In reality, Phillipe and his roommates live in St. Louis, France, bit it is only about a 5 minute drive to Basel. St. Louis is also very close to the German border, so the residents of the flat worked in Switzerland, lived in France, and bought groceries in Germany, since Germany was cheapest for groceries and Switzerland payed the most for work.  Phillipe was the main host and he was really a funny and nice guy! When I got there, there were already about 10 people in his apartment! There were his friends visiting from Germany and the mother, then his roommates, and another friend. They all went out to party that night, but I just stayed in since I was still tired and was not in the mood to go out.

The following day, Phillipe gave us all a personal tour around Basel. It was really cold but we had a nice time and Phillipe was a good tour guide! We first walked down the main shopping street, but I avoided buying anything since everything is outrageously expensive in Switzerland. Then, he took us to a really cool "wall of rockstars." Then, we walked around and finally made our way up to a point that overlooks the river.

Phillipe(my host) and I

 The Cathedral is located right behind me from where I was standing when I took this picture ^

Cathedral

 We then went back down and wandered around some more and he showed us a really cool fountain with all sorts of crazy contraptions!

Crazy cool weird fountain

Inside Cathedral

Random colorful piece of "art"

Lil Jon and I... NBD

After a few hours of touring around Basel, we got ready for a night out, but first, Phillipe went to meet up with 5 Russian girls who were going to stay at his place for 2 nights. When they arrived, they were all really nice! They are studying in Germany but went on vacation to Switzerland. After a couple hours of talking and listening to music, we went out to go see Lil' Jon perform at a nearby bar! It was really awesome I got to see him live!! But it's so weird because it seems no Europeans even know who he is! I have asked so many of my friends from Europe and the majority have no idea! Anyways, I ended up getting a picture with him which was really awesome!! I was super excited that I was able to get a picture with him, but I had to first convince the security guard to let me into the VIP section!! :p

The Russian Girls

After a really fun night dancing and watching Lil' Jon perform, we went back to the apartment and all went to bed. The next day was a really big let down... The Russians and I were planning to visit Zurich, Switzerland but unfortunately, there were many complications and the train tickets were too expensive so we didn't end up going... :( Instead, we hung out at starbucks for a couple hours then walked back to the flat and hung out with Phillipe and his roommates. Then later on that evening, Phillipe went to go pick up another Couchsurfer! Her name was Kadi and she is from Estonia but is currently a nanny in Basel. She was so sweet and altogether, we went out to an Irish pub. We had a great time dancing all night at the Irish pub and then a Latin Club!

Kadi and I

The next day was my last day in Basel. The Russian girls had left early on that morning because they had to catch a train. We all just relaxed and Phillipe had made us some really delicious chicken wings. Later on in the afternoon, we went back to downtown Basel and grabbed a beer and sat next to the river and had a nice chat. The sun was finally shining(probably for the first time this trip) and the weather was gorgeous. We watched some swans float by, people watched, and talked until the sun set. It was a perfect way to end my time in Basel. Later, I would go to Geneva, Switzerland for my final destination of my European Adventure.

I arrived in Geneva Switzerland at around midnight and I would only stay the night and the next day in Geneva. I had a host in Geneva and he was really nice. His name is Sylvain and his English was not so good but good enough to communicate if I spoke slowly. Geneva is in the French speaking part of Switzerland, so everyone there speaks french. Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland, containing about 1.3 million inhabitants. It is a global city, containing the headquarters of one of the agencies of the United Nations and Red Cross. It also had the 3rd highest quality of living, but on the other hand, is really expensive to live there.

 Shortly after arriving, I was offered food and drink. I ate a little bit of pasta then mentioned how tired I was from the traveling. I slept on an air mattress in the living room and the 2 nights before, he had hosted his first couchsurfers from South America. Shortly after arriving, I went to sleep so that I could wake up at a decent time and have the whole next day to explore and site see. I woke up at about 10am and had breakfast, then we set out to Lake Geneva. We first went to Jet D'Eau, which is a really big, high pressure fountain. We then walked over to the Cathedral and went up to the top where we could view a panoramic view of Geneva! It was just stunning!

After visiting the Cathedral, we met up with Sylvains friend Remy and his girlfriend. We went to a cute small restaurant and had chicken, salad, and fries. I was attempting to order my food in French but my pronunciation was horrible! They all appreciated that I was trying though. When it came to the bill, it was not cheap. I tried to put my part in but they refused to let me pay and covered the bill, which I really appreciated. It was so nice of them to do that! After lunch, we went to a supermarket where I could buy some swiss chocolate. I bought 4 bars, 2 of them were for my host family back in Spain. At this point, I only had about 2 hours until I had to leave for the airport to catch my flight back to Madrid. We all decided to go over to the botanical gardens! It was a really nice time strolling around the park, and it was free! Pictures from the botanical garden are below...

My host(Sylvain) and I

famous chair

After the Botanical Gardens, we stopped really quickly in front of the United Nations so that I could take a picture in front it! By now, it was time to go back to Sylvains apartment to grab my luggage and head to the airport to go back to Madrid. I was really sad to finish my journey, but it was time to go back "home" and get back into school. I arrived in Madrid at around 9pm and got back to the house at 10:30pm or so. I came back to a meal, which was needed from all the traveling. I was so exhausted from the entire trip so I unpacked, brushed my teeth, and went straight to sleep. My trip was so amazing and I met so many people! Everyone I met was so welcoming, nice, and friendly! At first, I was a little worried to travel by myself, but it was such a good experience organizing everything all on my own and on a budget. I learned so much from my trip during Easter break and if I could do it again, I probably wouldn't change anything! Shout out to my friends, hosts, and parents to make this trip happen!!