Salamanca, not Sally Mawnca

Salamanca!! This is probably one of the best college towns in the world. That claim, as exaggerated as it might sound, is actually historically proven! Salamanca is home to the oldest continuously run university in the entire world, at about 500 years. Besides being overrun by beautiful historical buildings the student life is everywhere. Of course, that doesn’t mean that it is anything like BG, which I still prefer. Hehe. Ok, well enough chatter and more photos!

This visit lasted only 2 days and one night. During this time we saw lots of religious buildings and had a fantastic time. A few of us BGSU students tagged along on this Univ. of Alabama excursion, making us a small group, which proved to be to the benefit of everyone! Anywho, here are pictures of some of the monasteries and convents we saw.





The best part of this trip, in my opinion, was the cathedral! This huge landmark could be seen from lots of places around Salamanca. It almost even dragged you towards it because it is so intriguing. It was pretty much my favorite place ever so I took a ridiculous amount of pictures of it.






What’s special about this cathedral is that the old and new cathedrals are built together, as in it’s the same building! The old Romanesque tower is still part of the Gothic cathedral. Oh and the “new” part isn’t really all that new, unless you consider the 15th century to be fairly modern. Another famous landmark of Salamanca is the University itself. It has a very intricate façade, similar to the one in Alcalá, yet much more compact.


Something every visitor does when they go to Salamanca is search for the infamous frog on the façade. There are seriously about 50-100 people at any given moment standing in front of the university just staring, even some with binoculars! I’ll save y’all the trouble of saving the picture and zooming in and out like crazy and show you this frog…

Salamanca was an absolute beauty and I really enjoyed every moment I had in that city. I loved it so much that I even took a jump shot!



I’ve decided that for any trip I take the rest of my life I am going to take one of these pictures…let’s just call it a trademark shot! Can you just imagine me jumping in front of monuments all over the world? I sure can…Up next, the post from Toledo and then my big 4 day trip to NORWAY!! Oh, I STILL can’t believe I’m going there. Hasta pronto!

Día de Acción de Gracias

Some people may have been wondering if Spain celebrates Thanksgiving, and the answer is NO! But, for Americans in Spain, it is still a big deal! Thanks to BGSU and our great program coordinators, we had an amazing dinner set up at the fanciest restaurant in Álcala and had a huge Thanksgiving feast! All the students got all prettied up and we all had a fantastic time enjoying this unique Thanksgiving the mixed Spanish and American foods...here are some pictures of the food we got to sample...
At this table, besides seeing my friends, you also see the Iberian ham that we got the night started with...
The 2nd little appetizer was, no not onion rings, but KALIMARI!!! mmm, mmm, good stuff there...after that was an amazing soup followed by the main course:






as you can see, the restaurant was very generous with the turkey...and oh was it delicious! now where did we get these turkeys? from the US embassy thats where! apparently they start giving those away overseas, so thank you taxpayers! hehe...a little bit into the time with our turkey, the waiters realized there was something extra still sitting in the kitchen that they forgot to bring out, the mashed potatoes! Spaniards just didnt put two and two together that taters and turkey go great together...i wont blame them though, i never thought kalimari or octopus should be eaten but they enjoy it nonetheless.



The night rolled on until the wee hours of the morning and we all had a blast...to show that here are some fun shots!






I hope that everyone had a fantastic Turkey day and enjoyed time with family and friends. And just to update everyone on my travel plans, I've decided against going to Ireland the weekend before I leave because, one, it's my last weekend in Madrid and two, I ran out of money...hehe

Still, this weekend I'm going to Toledo and then next weekend is my BIG trip to Norway!! And y'all want to know something great that I've discovered about that weekend in Oslo...the Sunday that I'm going to be there coincides with the giving out of the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!!! I really couldn't be more excited...

Barcelona...Guadi's Playground

Barcelona!! This trip marked the final excursion with BGSU and what a great way to begin the end of the program...Barcelona is a really nice place, but unfortunately not for me. The second I went into the city, I felt that right away and TRUST me, I did everything to try to prove myself wrong. We got to see a whole lot of stuff but unfortunately it was usually night time by the time we got to it since sunset here is at 6pm!! So, that means not many nice pictures to look at…but trust me, I still got some great ones.

Stop number 1 was Parc Guell. Now if you are saying, “Wow, he misspelled park,” just know that that is in Catalán, Cataluña’s (that’s the name of the autonomous community that Barcelona is in) regional language. It’s a weird mix of French and Spanish and I don’t like it!! Anywho, here are some shots of Parc Guell, one of Antonio Gaudí’s works…









Almost looks like a storybook doesn’t it? I kept thinking of Hansel and Gretel and the house made out of candy looking at all the different buildings. This was designed to be a private community for the bourgeoisie of Barcelona but since the whole thing flopped with only 2 houses being built there, including Gaudí’s, it is now a public park for anyone to enjoy! Oh and here is a picture of me with the two program directors for BGSU in Spain, Susana and Magda, two of the most fun people in the world!



Pretty much, Barcelona is Gaudí’s playground because most of the places to visit in Barcelona are related to him. He did a lot of work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Another one of his works and pretty much his masterpiece is the Templo de la Sagrada Familia, or the Temple of the Sacred Family.


Now as you can see it is still under construction and has been for close to 100 years now! There are supposed to be a total of 16 towers on the Temple and so far they are at 8. The project is expected to be finished by 2010ish. Even under construction it is quite the sight to see.

Next sight was the Olympic village for when Barcelona hosted the 1992 Olympics! This is me with the Olympic stadium:

My favorite part about this trip wasn’t even in Barcelona, believe it or not! On the drive back we stopped in Zaragosa, home to an enormous basilica that hold the patron virgin of all Hispanoamerica, la Virgen del Pilar.

And that wraps up this trip. Next on the agenda: Salamanca this weekend, Toledo next weekend, Norway after that, and money permitting Ireland before I go home! The Ireland trip came up only because flights from here to there are only 20 Euros!! That’s less than 30 bucks!! If I have enough money I’ll go even for a day trip…Alrighty y’all, have a fantastic Thanksgiving! And see y’all in the States in one month!

Un fin de semana real...

This is where I spent my Sunday! In one of my rare weekends that am actually in the Madrid area where I should be, I took the time to explore a bit more in depth the great city that I kind of got to call home for 4 months. Before I go all in depth into this, though, let me just point out one thing…By the end of my time here, I will have had 16 weeks to enjoy Spain and all its surroundings. Well after looking at my calendar last week, I realized that I only spent 4 in the Madrid/Alcalá area!! Yup, somehow, I found myself out and about all except the first weekend, last weekend, and 2 other weekends somewhere in between. Mission accomplished? Yes, I would most definitely say so.

Anywho, on Saturday, I returned to El Escorial, this time with BG paying the tab, and got to see something I completely missed last time, El Valle de Los Caidos, or Valley of the Fallen. I really have no idea how I managed to miss seeing this anywhere or any sign pointing towards this when I was there the first time:

What you are looking at now is the mausoleum constructed by Franco, the dictator of Spain for about 40 years, for himself and other casualties from the Spanish Civil War that took place 1936-39. Inside that mountain and under that cross is a HUGE basilica that is actually larger than the Vatican. However, because no basilica is allowed to be larger than the Vatican, there is a gate inside that officially makes Franco’s basilica smaller than the Vatican. This is what the inside looks like…



It’s actually kind of dark and gloomy inside. And why not? It’s inside a cave! I found it hard to enjoy this amazing monument, though. I just couldn’t get it out of my mind that a dictator that used his political prisoners to build his own mausoleum was behind it all. Place on top of that all the negative connotations the word dictator brings to mind thanks to an American education. Just a bit intense. To relieve the tension, however, my friends and I decided to join the fallen at the Valley of the Fallen…

Sunday was dedicated to museums in Madrid, mostly because they are free to everyone on Sundays. I went to the Prado Museum, home to tons of Spanish masterpieces and a few others. However, I spent way more time at the Royal Palace!





I opted to take videos of my time in the Palace instead of pictures. So if you are in the mood for some royalty, just give me a holler when I am back in the States and I’ll be more than happy to share this with you!

What’s next on my agenda? BARCELONA!! Leaving this Friday morning…woot woot!

País Vasco

Vamos a la playa! Yup, I just spent an entire wonderful weekend on the beaches of the Bay of Biscay…I took a trip up to San Sebastian, up in Basque country, right by the border to France with Megan, one of the BG grad students, and met up with our mutual friend David. This little vacation was a bit more needed than I thought, at first. 3 days on a beach with some great company made for a fantastic, relaxing, and all out fun time. Well day 1 consisted of getting to know the city and one of Spain’s most famous beaches, Playa de la Concha, named so because of its shell-like shape.



In the evening, we took a stroll around the entire beach and found ourselves some amazing views of the entire beach.


Day 2! Went of to get to know yet another beach…in France! St. Jean de Luz was our destination that we reached by train. Before we got to St. Jean de Luz, though, we had a little train layover in the border town of Hendaye (pronounced kind of like Hyundai, the cars). Nice little French town to stroll through...Where did we go to in Hendaye you might ask? Well, first we stopped by a couple markets to buy our picnic supplies for later: a supermarket, a boulangerie (bakery), and a choclaterie!! Delicious stuff! But after that we headed back to the water.


That right there isn’t actually France. That is Spain, or Basque country depending on who you ask. We asked a man walking by if we were looking at Spain or France and he answered Euskadi, the name for the Basque country. These people are intense about getting their independence for whatever reason.

After a bit, we made it to St. Jean de Luz and had our amazing picnic. I’d never felt more Mediterranean! Ham and cheese baguettes with grapes, pears, and oranges, mustard flavored chips (that were the best thing EVER!), and chocolates from a small shop in Hendaye. Seriously, couldn’t get any better, especially when all I have to look at is this:



Life sure does stink some times no? hehe…Well, the final day started off with a swim in the ocean! A little ocean bath never hurt anyone, just the sand in my shorts afterwards. The water was kind of cold but this was totally worth it. After preparing for another picnic, we took a hike up this hill at the end of the beach with a big statue of Jesus. It was a bit of a tough hike up the mossy steps but it was still sweet. The view from up top was breathtaking!


Still, unfortunately all good things must come to an end. I had a ridiculous grin slapped on my face the whole rest of the day until it was time for our goodbyes…Megan and I had to get back to Madrid and Dave back to the village of Bazas. But there is always time for one last picture…

What a great trip…