Adios, Salamanca

So today is my final final final day here in Salamanca. I have done everything I need to do, Packed 90% of my things, and I am still sad. I've said goodbye to most of my friends, which was harder to do than I thought. Things I have learned from Salamanca:
1) Spanish. Self-explanitory
2) Independance: It helps that I didn't have anything/anybody this semester. It helped me find myself and rely on my self. I can now say that I can move anywhere, and live anywhere, and not know anyone and be okay.
3) I've learned that you don't always have to plan every second of a trip to have fun. Sometimes the best times are just walking around for hours, or sitting in a really cool park.
4) Watch your stuff, someone might steal it.
5) Wine pretty much mixes with anything. Why they don't do this in the U.S., I am not sure.

So, I say "Adios" to you, Salamanca. La ciudad de oro y de mi vida.
Mi cielo y corazon,
Ashley

Adios, Salamanca!

I am coming to the end of my spanish journey. Though I am sad to leave, I am getting excited to get back home. My finals are going well, 4/5 done! I'm sure I am passing all of my classes with mostly A's, which is a great feeling. I have my biggest and toughest test on Wednesday, so wish me luck! Tonight, my lovely Kappa Sister Erin and I had dinner at Cafe la luna, one of my favorite spots in Salamanca. Tomorrow I am going for coffee to say goodbye to some friends. I started packing tonight, too. I rationalized it with having to pack my suitcase too see all of my clean clothes for next week. Salamanca has been so good to me! I have learned Spanish, made some friends, and learned that I can be completely independant, characteristics that I will keep with me forever. After Wednesday, I will depart to Salamanca for an adventurous trip with my Aunt Jodi to Barcelona, Cordoba, and Madrid. Even though the weather has changed and it's suppose to rain basically the whole time, I know it's going to be an amazing end to my spanish adventure!
I am leaving you with a not-so-recent picture, but atleast it's something for y'all to look at!
Love you all!
Abrazos y besos,
Ashley

PORTUGAL

PORTUGAL!!!

In an effort to take a break from my studies, I have found time and internet to update about my trip to Portugal last weekend! Portugal is that part of what looks to be spain...but it actually is another country with a completely differnet language and culture.

Friday
On Friday we got up really early and went to Coimbra, an old famous university town with little winding cobblestone streets and a river. It was super cute!


After exploring Coimbra and being yelled at in Portuguese by a stranger...we ended up at Bathala Monestary, built because the portuguese won a battle against the spainiards and praised God for thanks!



After getting in a minor bus accident on the way to Lisbon, which was apparently the talk-of-the-town, we settled in and rested up for a BIG day of sight seeing.


Saturday
We woke up really early and headed to Sintra to see the old Royal Palace. The palace, not such a big deal. The character of the town, on the other hand, was prescious. It looked like it could have been plucked out of Busch Gardens Europe. So cute.



From Sintra, we went to Boca de Infierno, or the Mouth of Hell, which was in fact quite beautiful!





After spending some time near the beach, we all crammed back in the bus and headed back to the Monasteria de los Jeronimas in Lisboa.


Sunday
Our last day in Portugal, we packed up the bus and headed to Fatima, where the virgin mary showed three visions to three children in the campo. Well, it is no longer a campo, but it is still very pretty.



Lucky for us we were there just in time for the end of mass.


Everyone loves el Papa Juan Pablo II (Pope John Paul II)

All and all, portugal was amazing and fun. Even through the spotty rain, we all had a great time. Now I am wrestling with finals and saying good-bye to Salamanca. Only a week and a half left of Salamanca, then I take a great adventure to Barcelona with Aunt Jodi. I'll keep you updated as internet permits!
Besitos y Abrazos,
Ashley

i'm baaaaaack

Hello to all!
It has been quite some time since I have updated, but that does NOT mean I have forgotten abou this! It just means that my internet access has changed to limited.
SO, I had a lovely Semana Santa with Mom and Amy. Mom and I went to Palma de Mallorca which was Gorgeous!!!!!!!!!!! and watched the Semana Santa Festivities. After a lovely weekend in paradise, we made our way to fetch Amy at the airport in which we spent the rest of the week exploring Salamanca and Madrid. The weekend after that, I went to Portugal (pictures coming the next post) and explored Fatima, Coimbra, Boca del Infierno, Bathala, and Lisboa. Now, I have just finished my LAST DAY of IES courses. I still have my one UPSA course, but honestly, I'm on a roll and am NOT going to use that one to stop my good day. Tonight we have a great group dinner for three girls birthdays. I can't believe I will be home in less than three weeks! time surly has flown by..
Amor y Besos,
Ashley


Mom, Amy, and I in the Plaza Mayor


The "worlocks" of semana santa....wikipedia before judging guys...NOT THE KKK



Heading to Soller on the Island of Palma


Parque Retiro with Mom and Amy....thanks for taking one for the team amy and being the one to take the picture! ;)

Las Fallas

Well, I just got back from a celebration in Valencia comparative to 4th of July on crack..... What Valencians do is they build these elaborate statues and burn them at midnight..along with lots of fireworks for everyone..incluidng 2 year olds..why you would give your 2 year old explosives...i'm still trying to figure that out. Here are a few pics and videos from the night! Enjoy!!

A pretty cool Fallas

La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias

The beginnig of the Fallas Parade

The ending of the Fallas Parade

The burning of the Fallas at midnight before

The burning of the Fallas after....

As you can see, it was a wonderful, SAFE, time.
I'm leaving you with a pic. of me and a Fallas.... Love to all!

BIENVENIDOS PRIMAVERA!!!

So, it finally felt like spring today. I decided to walk around the city for 2 and 1/2 hours to take pictures of everything I missed taking pictures of during the winter. Enjoy! Welcome to spring and welcome to Salamanca!


Convent


Plaza Mayor


Unamuno


the Pontificia




University Facade


Cathedral



La Rana


Oh, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

A Madrid!

Hola a todos!

Ayer, fui a Madrid! Yesterday, I went to Madrid! The program took us on a cultural/educational day trip around the city and it was exactally what they said it was going to be: cultural and educational.

The Reina Sofia Museo de Arte Contemporaneo
Our first stop was the Reina Sofia, a world-renowned contemporary art museum. There, we saw the begininng of contemporary art (starting in 1881 with the birth of Picasso, as stated by the spaniards). We saw cubism, surrealism, and about 3 or 4 other -isms that I can't remeber the names of right now. The highlight of the trip was getting to see Picasso's Guernica...of which we couldn't take pictures, and it was HUGE, the size of a wall and all in black and white (because he was inspired by newspaper pictures). However, I will include a picture of the outside of the museum. Looking very modern-esque.



After the Reina Sofia we had a lunch break, where we grabbed some food and went to eat it in the Parque Retiro, a huge park (comparable to central park in NYC) complete with roller bladers, street venders, and a lake with row boats.





After some lunch, we hopped on our bus and went to the Palacio Royal, or the Palace of the Spanish government. The king does not actually live there, but still uses it for formal occasions such as weddings, meeting diplomats, apparently playing billard with the diplomats...and a variety of other activities. No pictures were allowed to be taken inside the palace, however, I snapped a few of the outside.





I know; it was bright. I should've brought my sunglasses, however when I returned to Salamanca it had started snowing and it rained and snowed all night. Well, that is a lovely resumen of my trip to Madrid. It is such a lovely city, I can't wait to go back again. As for school, I am actually doing well this semester. I got all A's (okay, one A-) on my midterms, and I have three papers and two books to read until SEMANA SANTA. So, I'm just going to keep trucking along. Needless to say I have fallen in love with Salamanca and Spain and I now consider myself a Salamantino.
Besitos y Abrazos,
Ashley

Yo Sobrevivi!

Pues nada, MIDTERMS ARE OVERRRRRRR!!!!!!! I am sorry I have left everyone in the dark the past few weeks but nothing really interesting has happend in my life. I stayed in Salamanca last weekend and just explored some of the city. The beauty of this place never ceases to amaze me. I also studied for midterms, which I just finished about 2 hours ago. Ready to relax? I think so. Who knows what this weekend will entail? Shopping? Sight seeing? Studying?

The month of March I am pretty much planning to stay in Salamanca. I have four papers due this month, and a few books I have to read for class, so I decided that I am going to take part in the cultural activities my proram has to offer (paella dinners, cooking class, horseback riding, plays). I am excited! They should be fun. Also, we have our day trip to madrid next week. So be sure to look out of pictures of that. I wish I had pictures, because who dosen't love pictures?, so I will make sure to take some of SOMETHING this weekend. :) I hope everyone is doing well! Time is flying by so fast. I can't believe half of my time here is over. I guess I need to stop and smell the roses, or the oranges..whatever works best for y'all.
Love and talk to you all soon!
Ashley

Toledo

Hola a Todos!

Ayer, mis amigas y yo fuimos a TOLEDO. Yesterday, my friends and I went to TOLEDO. We got up super early and took the bus to Madrid, and then a train to Toledo, the walled in city filled with swords and really confusing streets.
Once we were there, we wandered for a bit to find el Museo de Santa Cruz (Museo = Museum) which we saw lots of art, and many El Greco originals. After that, we ate lucnh and visited La Catedral, which si claimed to be the second largest Catedral in the World...to that of St. Peter's Basillica in Roma.


After viewing the inside..sorry no pictures were allowed. :(, I snapped one picture of myself being dwarfed by the outside...(I am the one with the white bag)



After the Cathedral..we basically got lost for about 4 hours..but that's okay because there really wasn't much more to see except the local shops, streets...oh yeah, and marzapan. The almond paste candy is extremely popular here (unfortunatly all wheat-ridden and such) but there is one place where nuns produce it, and have been producing it for the past few hundred years...so they make cool window displays like in NYC...here's a castle made out of Mazapan (or Marzapan)...


Well, we basically spent some time in Madrid, and then took a train home and I passed out. super tired. Anyways, today I have una montana de tarea (a mountian of homework) that I have to do, seeing as I have basically not been doing it and going traveling instead..so I am going to spend this sunday doing homework in my shoe-box-of-a room. I will do a classes update sometime this week seeing as we have MIDTERMS the week after next week. ugh. I actually have to do work here? ;)
Abrazos desde Salamanca!
Ashley

(One-side-view of Toledo)

Carnaval y Flamenco

So, this past weekend (Thursday to Sunday) I ventured to Seville and Cadiz. My friend Christina and I left on Thursday after class (no school on Fridays!) and we got on a bus and went to Seville. 7 hours and 30 minutes on a bus. Okay, with that being said, we got off at 12:30 am and had to find our Hostal. Well, after asking 3 people for directions and getting an old couple to walk with us halfway there, so finally made it in at 1:30am. Just to put this into time perspective, everyone is awake at 1:30 am. It would be the US equivalent to 10:00pm our time. So we get in, get our room, and, well, we'll just say it was a confusing mess. We slept, got up, met with the people who took the overnight bus, and went to see Seville in the cold/wet/windy/rain.
The first thing we did was go to the Cathedral:

There was an art gallery inside the church where I met my BFF, John the Baptist. Unfortunatly, he was in no shape to talk:


From there we went inside and saw a MASSIVE Notre Dame sized cathedral..with many of the same characteristsics, except for the golden altar...


From inside the Cathedral, we climbed up the Torre de Giralda and saw a beautiful view of Sevilla,


After eating lunch, we wanted to go to the Royal Palace, however 15 minutes earlier the royal family showed up for a visit, so they closed the whole city down. After some shopping and cooking, we went to see a Flamenco show. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of that seeing I didn't bring my camera, but it was AMAZING.

The next day, we went to Cadiz, a costal city in the southern tip of spain, and we got there right in the time to see the Carnaval Kids Parade with little girls riding in really expensive old cars, throwing confetti...


From there, we basically walked around and explored the city.
Here's a picture of the group in the Plaza de Espana:


From there we oo-ed and awe-ed at the beautiful ocean which was different colors depending on where we were:




At night, we all got ready and joined in the festivities of Carnaval:





The next day, we caught the train back to Sevilla to go see the Palacio de Alcazar with stunning gardens:




After that we took the bus home! Now, I am getting ready to go BACK to class, but might just have to take a seista first! Love you all!
Ashley

El Tiempo

The weather in Salamanca never ceases to amaze me. Today it was cold, there was hail twice, followed by rain, followed by sunshine, followed by wind, followed by more hail, and then nighttime darkness. This week is FLYING by fast. I am trying to get alot out fo the way that way I can go to SEVILLE and CADIZ on Thursday/Friday/Sat/Sunday. Extended weekend. Might as well since it's a 7 hour bus ride and a 2 hour train ride away. Any advice on a trip for next weekend would be greatly appreciated!
Real update later! Last week as a 20 year old!

BILBAO-WOW

Welcome to Bilbao! The home of old men wearing berets, the gugenheim, and Euskara.
So, on Friday Liz and I took a train from Salamanca to Bilbao, a large city in the Pais Vasco (or Basque Country) in Northern Spain. Bilbao is situated along a lovely river and is a very active city, lots of runners, parks, rowers, jai-ali-ers...etc. It is also home to the famous Guggenheim Modern Art Museum, which we ventured to on our first day..

The Guggenheim was full of a bunch of modern art, which was pretty cool. Unfortunatly no pictures were allowed, but there were GIANT Venus de Milo replicas, the shadow of which you can see as a reflection on the outside of the building...

Day 2, we went to Guernika..or Guernica. It is a 55minute train ride outside of Bilbao. Even though we got off at the wrong stop, we were only a 5 minute walk away from the town of the city known for it's Picasso painting and it's history of being bombed by Hitler in support of Franco. The town is situated in the cutest little mountian valley surrounded by shepards and sheep and green hills for miles. Our first stop was the Basque House and Tree of life which is the area where the Prime minister of the Basque Country and the Basque Country Parliment meet each year to have their meetings.


After spending some time at Basque Parliment, we hopped over to the Museo de Paz, or the Peace Museum showcasing the history of the bombing, and promoting peace in the world and even in your daily life.


During our time in Guernika we went to a few more museums, one for Euskara History, walked through a park, and saw a Cathedral. It was a super cute little town. :)

Oh yes, and before we left for Gernika that day, we went to the Mercado Rivera..suppose to be the biggest market in Spain. What did I find there?
Pig. Bravo Spain, Bravo


Day 3
So today we checked out of our lovely hostal, which actually was lovely, and got breakfast. We stumbled upon a flea market or "rastro" in the Plaza Mayor where they were selling anything from chickens to futbol cards to guitars.


So, after a bit more exploring and a 6.5 hour train ride home, I am going to say, Chao to everyone! I will update sometime this week telling you how my classes are going. Right now my schedule is still up in the air for finals and UPSA classes, so we will see! Exciting news; I am going to Carnaval in Cadiz for my Birthday, so that should be a great night in of itself. :) If you don't know what Carnaval is it is the third largest Mardi Gras celebration in the world behind Rio in Brazil and one other one, but greater than Venice in Italy. Should be a fun one. :)

Amor for now!
Ashley
(and an old Basque-looking man)