My week break in Madrid and Barcelona.

This week was my break from classes.  I had a week off so I decided to explore more of spain and travel to Madrid and Barcelona.   I took the AVE train to Madrid and got there on monday.  On monday I visited the Prado museum which has original paintings from the 1600's and up that were created by native spaniards.  The museum was huge and it cost about 20 euros to enter.  I spent about four hours just in that museum there is so much to see and I recognized a lot of the paintings because of my previous spanish history classes.  On tuesday I decided to do a tour bus that cost 15 euros for the whole day.  These busses take you to a lot of different important places and you just hop off wherever you would like.  I  got off at Plaza Mayor (Downtown Madrid),  Plaza de Espana,  The botanic gardens(right by the prado museum), The national library and the Palace.  The palace was amazing and it was my favorite thing that I saw in Madrid.

On wednesday I traveled to Barcelona.  My hotel was very close to the beach and I spent the first day there.  It was nice because in Seville we have the guadalquivir river but the nearest beach is about an hour away.  The second day I did another bus tour and saw Sagrada Familia, Parc Guell, La Pedrera (created by Guadi), Casa Batllo and the gothic cathedral.  The Sargada Familia is the third most visited monument in Spain.  It is a temple that was created by the famous Antoni Guadi in 1882.  He created it as a monument for jesus and it is still not completed.  Parc Guell is a Park that has many architectural designs created by Guadi.  It is up in the mountains of Barcelona and is hard to travel to.  Also the Casa Batllo was created by Guadi.  He is obviously very famous and well known in spain.

Overall the trip to Madrid and Barcelona was a new experience for me and I hope to return one day.  Some photos..

The Pardo Museum

 National Library Of Madrid

 Plaza de Independencia

 Royal Cathedral of Madrid

 Royal Palace of Madrid

 La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona

 Inside Sagrada Familia

 Casa Batllo in Barcelona

 Parc Guell in Barcelona

Exciting futbol game!

Last night was a futbol game between Spain and France.  A few of my friends and I went to Las Cetas to watch the game.  Las Cetas is a giant outdoor monument and it has a big tv where everyone comes to watch the games.  The game started at 8:45 and we had to wait an hour to even get inside.  Once we did get in it was amazing.  There were so many people you could barely move.  When Spain scored their last goal everyone went crazy and I felt the ground shaking.  They really love their soccer.  Everyone was either carrying a flag or had their pride by wearing red for Spain.  It was a great experience and I hope to go again soon.

After the game we went and got Tapas, which is like appetizers in the USA but ten times better.  I had croquetas which are like fritters and they are addicting.  I also had two different types of pork that were awesome.  Nights like these make me never want to leave this place.

 Las Cetas

 Las Cetas after the game

The restaurant we went to.

Two days of class left!

I have two more days of classes left for part one of my summer term.  I really enjoy my classes here but I am also very excited for a week of vacation.  I just had an exam today and I have another one in two days.  I have been studying a lot and my teacher is very helpful.  She tells us exactly what is going to be on the exams and does not make us study unnecessary topics.  My final exam will consist of vocabulary words that I need to know how to describe, a composition and of course the infamous grammer.  I am doing really well in my class and I am hoping for an A.  I think it is in reach!

From June 23rd-July 2nd I have a break from classes.  I have made reservations to go to Madrid and Barcelona.  I am very excited because I want to see every part of spain possible and Madrid and Barcelona are beautiful cities.

Off topic..sorry guys.  Apparently there is a lot of strikes that happen in down town seville.  Today I witnessed one and luckily there were more police around then protestors so everything was settled pretty quickly.   I was told by a local that was next to me that these strikes always happen but they never last long.  He told me to stay strong! Hahaha

Later gators!

Cordoba

 Monday starts my third week of classes.  A.K.A my last week for the first semester of the two summer sessions.  I am enjoying my class but 9-1p.m each day is very exhausting.  I really like my class and teacher.  She goes exactly by her syllabus and she is a fare grader.  For a three week class you would suspect a ton of homework, but surprisingly it is not a whole lot and it is easy to keep up.  

Today my school and I went to Cordoba.  Which is a town in Spain that is about two hours away from Seville.  In Cordoba we visited another Alcazar (Muslim Palace), Synagogue, and the Cathedral.  All were very interesting to visit but it was the hottest day I have ever experienced in Spain by far.  It was about 43 C, or 110 F.  So it was very very hot and just standing or sitting everyone was sweating all over.  I think it would be a great place to visit again but with a lower temperature.  There were also many beautiful architectural views.  

More to come later on next week.

My weekend in Lagos, Portugal.

This past weekend I went to Lagos, Portugal.  I went to three different beaches and saw the end of the world.  It is located in Sagres, Portugal and there is pretty much a lot of rocks and you can not continue on in that particular direction.  I also went to downtown Lagos, which had a lot of different bars and restaurants.  It was interesting how all of the bars were ran by either people from Ireland or from Australia.  I also did not hear barely and spanish or Portugese,  mostly english was spoken by the locals.  It is obvious that Portugal is a place for vacation and the companies and workers need to know english to keep their businesses flowing.  Overall it was a relaxing weekend and now I can say I have been to Portugal.

This saturday I will being going to Cordoba which is a popular city in Spain that is known for its architecture.  So..many more pictures to come amigos!

End of my first week of classes

Hellooo

Today marked the end of my first week of classes.  It flew by! Today is Corpus Cristi which is a national holiday here.  It translates to "body of christ", my class left early and I got to see a little bit of the ceremony.  The ceremony started really early in the morning, around 8 am.  I think I saw the end of it but there must have been a lot of different elements going on.  The part I saw had a giant type of float that men were holding and it had a replica of Jesus on top and he was surrounded by pretty white flowers.  It was amazing the street by the cathedral was packed with people from all over the world.  I think I heard about five different languages alone as I was walking.  The down side about today was that everything started to close around 1:30 today, so no shopping for Kelley.  Tomorrow I leave to go to Lagos, Portugal for the weekend.  We are going to different beaches and I can imagine it will be beautiful.

My second day of class.

Today was my second day of classes.  I am enjoying my teacher and class so far and I hope that continues.  I learned that I am the farthest away from the school compared to the other students in my program.  It takes about 40 minutes for me to travel to school.  I have to walk then get on a bus or the metro and then walk again.  It has almost been a week that I am here and my feet are so sore from the streets and walking EVERYWHERE.  I know after time I will become used to it but at the moment it is not a good feeling.  I have had some really great ice cream and drinks here and tonight I am going to a Flamingo show for my dance class.  Oh yeah did I forget to mention that I am taking a folk dance class here?  Classy.  There is so much going on here that I am never ever bored.  Today I went to Alcalzar for my class which is a royal palace in Sevilla,  it was built and had kings and queens that were muslim living in it.  So that is my hint that more pictures are coming. (ofcourse) :)

Some pictures! They take a long time to load!

 Here are some pictures that I took at night in the center of Sevilla.  I have a few of the Cathedral which is HUGE and is right by the school.  I will probably upload more later but it took forever.  Enjoy!