Feeling like Samantha Brown for 12 hours in Prague

Two weeks ago I left for my trip to Greece with Melissa!  It was Semana Santa (Holy Week) so we had off of school for 10 days.  But the way I set up my flights, I had a LOT of layovers- it was the cheapest way!  A direct flight to Athens would have been like $1,000.  So I saved a ton of money by having sucky layovers, but I decided to make the most of it!

I left thursday night on a flight to Barcelona.  I arrived close to midnight where I then spent the night in the airport because my next flight wasn't until 8am the next morning.  This was the really sucky part, but it surprisingly went by pretty quickly!  I parked it in a waiting area where I was able to write in my journal, which I've been very behind on writing in.  It just sucked when I wanted to sleep and couldn't because there were armrests in my way, lights beaming on me, and workers going around cleaning the airport.  Actually, the janitors were the only people there.  I found this sort of strange because I knew that there had to be other people who had really early flights/overnight layovers. 

So around 5:30am, I went to an information desk to ask the lady where I go to check in for my flight.  She looked it up and said "Oh!  This is over in terminal 1."  I said "Where is that?" and she said "Not here.  It is very far.  You need to go.  Now!!"  So she really freaked me out with this.  She told me I had to take a shuttle bus that *should* be running at that time (I was like uhhh it better be running!).  I started to panic a little bit so I ran down the steps to get outside to the bus.  I ended up down in the baggage claim which was creepily vacant.  Every door had a red mark on it that said I couldn't exit, so I was running around trying to find a way out.  When I couldn't, I ran back upstairs to ask the information lady, but the doors were locked to get back into the main area of the airport!  And no one was in sight to let me in since it was so early.  So I went back down to the baggage claim and started to seriously panic.  I was almost in tears because I was trapped down there and the lady already made me freak out that I was late and would miss my flight.  I didn't know what else to do, so I opened one of the red-marked doors and of course the alarm went off.  I was like shit, but then thought it might be a good thing because that would mean someone would come.  But I ran, and then saw a woman coming down the escalator so I was like THANK GOD.  She spoke English and showed me a way to get out of there!  She was literally my savior.  So I darted to the bus, took it to terminal 1, and got through security with plenty of time to spare before my flight.  The information lady freaked me out for nothing!  There were tons of people- so that's where they all were!

I got on my plane at 7:30am, just as the sun was rising.  Then it was about a 2 1/2 hour flight to Prague.  I arrived at about 10:30am and I had a 12 hour layover!  I actually chose this flight on purpose, not just because it was cheap, but because I really wanted to see Prague this semester but couldn't fit it in so I thought 12 hours was a sufficient amount of time to take a cab into the city and explore a little bit!  So that is what I did.  I first had to find the luggage drop off area- it was only about 5 euros to store my suitcase at the airport for the day.  Then I had to exchange my money.  I hate the Czech currency.  The Koruna screwed me over several times because the way they put their commas, something looked like it was 1,20 korunas (when it was 120) which made it look like it was only 1.20 euros.  But in reality it was more like 6 euros which converts into 9 dollars!

The sunrise in Barcelona on my flight to Prague

The cab I booked was really late and I didn't think it was coming so I took a different cab into the city which ended up being twice as much as the one I booked.  As I was in the cab I got a call from the cab company saying my cab that I booked was waiting for me so I told them I took a different cab.  That was annoying. 

The cab I took dropped me off at the Prague castle.  There were guards outside that I really wanted to try to make laugh since I didn't get to do that at Buckingham Palace in London, but I was by myself during this trip so I thought that would be a little weird haha.  I walked around the castle area for a long time just exploring.  I walked up to the monestary and I saw stunning views of the city.  I'm in love with Prague.  It was such an enchanting city- it felt like I was in a fairytale...or at least a disney movie of some sort lol.  It felt like a true european city.

Prague Castle

Prague = beautiful

The castle and the city behind me

Next I stopped to have lunch.  This is when I truly felt like a solo traveller.  I've never gone out to eat by myself before at a restaurant, I usually just stop at a cafe or something.  It wasn't bad though, there were a couple other people eating alone there.  I got a huge fruity iced-tea with goulash and dumplings!  I figured since I was in eastern europe, I should have some goulash!  It was yummy, but a bit of a ripoff once I figured out what it converted as into euros.

Goulash and Dumplings :)

After lunch, I did some souvenier shopping.  One store owner was very intrigued that I was from the United States.  He asked where I was from and I said Pennsylvania.  He asked if I was close to Eerie because he has a friend there but I told him Philly was on the complete opposite side of the state.  That was a good thing about Prague- everyone spoke english!  Well, maybe not everyone.  I heard a lot of czech which, by the way, seems like a very hard language to learn.

Next I made my way to the Charles Bridge!  I loved this bridge.  It was a pedestrian only bridge with religious statues along the sides, stands selling crafts, and a band playing.  I stopped to enjoy this band, called "The Charles Bridge Band" for a while.  It was a group of 6 older men who were actually very good!  They were a lot of fun and kept the crowd entertained.

The Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge Band!

I continued to walk around the city for a while.  I was trying to find the Astronomical Clock for a long time but I couldn't find it.  So I walked in all directions trying to cover as much of the city as possible (luckily I had a map).  I came across a bunch of steps and realized it was a spot on my map that said the steps led to one of the best lookout points so I hiked what felt like millions of steps and the view was so worth it!

By the river

View of the city



Before I knew it, it was almost time to get picked up by my taxi so I headed to the Old City Center where I found the Astronomical Clock I had been searching for!  This area was my favorite part of my day in Prague.  There was an easter festival going on that I found out goes on for about a month.  There were tons of people, stands full of crafts, different places to get some food, and musical and dance performances.  It was so cultural!  I got myself some hot wine and a huge hot dog that I loaded up with ketchup :).  I was making a mess of myself and a lot of people were staring.  Then I took a seat and enjoyed the performances that were going on on the stage in the center of the square.  I really felt like Samantha Brown (my favorite travel channel host) during this moment, just taking in my surroundings and having a good time.  There was a flute player who played phantom of the opera which I was drawn to.  There were also 4 young girls who were singing a mix of songs from Mamma Mia but in Czech!  At the end, there were women in traditional dress who did traditional dancing.  Then they brought out little kids and they did the same- it was so cute!

The Astronomical Clock

My very large hot dog

The Old City Center

 

I didn't want to leave, but I got a call around 6:30 saying my cab was there to take me to the airport.  On our way, he stopped at this apartment-looking building and he got out and went inside.  I was freaking out a little.  I hate taking cabs, especially by myself, because they can easily take you!!  So I really thought he was going to come back, drag me out of the van, take me upstairs and kill me.  Thankfully that didn't happen.  Instead, a very tall blonde guy came out with his suitcase and got in.  Apparently my cab was going around the city and picked up a bunch more people who were going to the airport.  The blonde guy and I talked the entire time.  He was from London and in his mid-20s I'm assuming because he was in Prague for his job.  It was so nice talking to him because he said that travelling alone can be sort of lonely so whenever you meet someone and can converse with them, it's a really nice feeling.  But we parted once we got to the airport.

My flight ended up being delayed an hour and a half which was annoying because I could have spent that time in Prague!  My flight left around midnight and I landed in Athens at 3 in the morning.  I was in GREECE!  Unfortnately I was super sleep deprived so I didn't get to enjoy that moment of realization as I stepped outside because all I wanted to do was sleep in a comfy bed.

But overall, my day in Prague was amazing!  I actually really enjoyed travelling alone.  I much prefer travelling with others, though, so that I have someone to share things with.  But just for the day, it was a lot of fun!  By travelling alone, you can really take your time and do the things you want to do for however long you want to.  I spent a long time everywhere I went, but I was allowed to because the day was mine and no one was pushing me along to the next site.  It also made me very independent.  And I might have just been paranoid, but I felt like people were staring at me the whole time.  Is it that weird for a girl to be travelling by herself?  Luckily I felt like I fit in a little better than I do in Spain.  In Spain, it's obvious when someone is a foreigner because Spaniards have a bit of a homogenous look to them:  dark hair/skin/eyes.  But in Prague, everyone was pale like me!  And there was a much more variety of looks.

I was able to see a lot within the 7 hours I got to spend in the city.  I ate good food, saw a beautiful city and culture, and met nice people.  I would love to go back to spend some true time there, but this was a nice glimpse of what the city is like!



We at the hotel, motel, holiday inn

When coming to Spain, it was my assumption that it would just be me, my roommate, and our host parents living in our apartment.  When my program sent me the description of my host family, it said that there might be a chance that there would be a couple students during the semester that would live here for just a short period of time.  Little did I know, a "couple" really meant 15.

My host mother pretty much makes housing students her business (I swear she has her name written all over the internet saying "need a place to stay? live with me!").  She's old (like really old) and her husband is retired.  Since they don't have a source of income, they take in students to pay the bills.  The house I live in is pretty big for Spanish standards.  There are 4 bedrooms:  one for my host parents and 3 for students.  One bedroom is tiny but with bunkbeds, then there's a very large one that has 3 beds, and then there is my room which is fairly spacious with 2 beds.  So they are able to house up to 7 students at one time (actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they pushed it to 8 and had someone sleep on the couch).  It's literally like living in a hotel.

Fortunately, Brittany and I are the only long-term students she has, so we do get a lot of time when it's just us (which, really, that's how it should be).  But there seems to be new students coming in every week!  For the most part, they have been high-schoolers who travel here for about a week with their class.  The best part is that our senora never tells us when new people are coming.  It annoyed us at first, but now we're used to unexpected guests.

Our first new roommate was by far our favorite.  Her name was Vanja.  She was a 24-year-old student from Denmark who was studying in Seville.  She stayed with us while she tried searching for an apartment, so she was here at the very beginning of the semester.  She was the only roommate we actually got close to and keep in touch with.  She has parties at her apartment in Triana that she invites us to but I haven't been able to go :(  She stayed here the longest out of everyone.  During her stay, we also got 3 French girls from Paris who were here with their high school.  Dinners were fun because because it was a full table with 6 of us.  It was really cool meeting people from around the world and being able to laugh and have fun together coming from completely different cultures.  It also helped that they all spoke english perfectly lol.

Brittany and I out in Alfalfa with our favorite ex-roommate, Vanja!

Over the following months, we had many more travellers.  Next was an older French girl, about 23, who was just travelling through Spain with a friend who was staying elsewhere.  She was very reserved and not very friendly towards us, so we didn't care for her.  After her, we got 2 16-year-old high school girls from London who were soo cute.  They were both very bubbly and giggly and reminded me of what it was like being in high school.  A couple days into their stay, we got another 2 girls but they were from Paris, also in high school, and they didn't speak english. 

A couple of weeks went by without any new guests in the house, but then we got a group of high school Italian girls who were here for 2 weeks.  This is when having new people in the house really started to get on our nerves.  I was so tired of having to do the same small talk with these people and Brittany and I just wanted to have the house to ourselves for a while.  And it was even more annoying that these girls were always here.  The other girls were occupied with all-day trips with their schools during the day.  But it seemed like these girls never had anything planned and they were always in the house.  And they always needed to borrow my hairdryer and my eyeliner sharpener. 

What was worse, was that the 5 of us were all sharing one bathroom.  There are 2 bathrooms in the house, but there is one right in between our 2 rooms so it's more convenient to use.  This one night, Brittany and I needed to shower.  RIGHT as I was about to get in, I here the door close.  One of the girls got in before me!  So I was like ok, and I waited.  Once she got out, I got my stuff together again to take the shower, but then I hear the door close again.  ANOTHER girl went to take a shower!  I was pissed.  So I waited yet again, then I finally got my shower.  When I was finishing up, I heard a tapping on the door.  It was Brittany.  She quickly whispered something to me through the door but I couldn't really understand.  I assumed she was trying to say let her in because the other girl wanted to shower too.  So as I finished up, I did a secret knock on the wall between the bathroom and our bedroom to let Brittany know I was done.  When I opened the door, Brittany was right there and she scrambled in haha.  She told me afterwards that she and the other girl literally had a staring contest with their shower stuff in hand and both of their doors.  The girl, who was 16, really thought she would get to shower before Brittany.  Hell no.  Brittany was not budging.  So the girl eventually backed down.  That night was ridiculous.  5 of us had to shower at the same time with one bathroom.  What pissed me off was that we were here first, this house is our turf.  There's no way these new girls should be allowed to shower before us and take all the hot water.  Brittany's shower was cold that night.

We just wanted these girls to go back to Italy.  The one girl who was 16 was actually from Venezuela I think and she was my least favorite out of all of them.  She just had a really bad attitude.  But right after they left, we then got 2 15-year-old high school girls from France.  I wasn't so annoyed with them.  One of the girls was so funny, she played Waka Waka on her ipone at dinner and basically had a dance party.  I was gone for Semana Santa, but while Brittany was here, there were 2 new girls for a short period of time.  Then a couple of days ago we got a girl from Germany.  She's 22 and very nice.  I don't mind having her here because we don't share a bathroom with her and also it keeps things interesting in the house.  Then in a couple of days we'll be getting more girls (our senora only houses girls for some reason).  It's just frustrating always having guests here.  It's like having the feeling of just wanting to go home and be at peace, but you come back to find someone else living there that you feel like you have to entertain.  This whole living in a hotel thing is getting old.

Lisbon: "We know you're American because you're white. Well...very white."

This past weekend I went to Lisbon, Portugal with Brittany, Cassie, and Kathryn and I loved it.  It was basically the European equivalent of San Francisco.  And since I love San Francisco, it's no wonder why I loved Lisbon!  There were cable trolley cars, a lot of seafood, huge hills, it was by the water, and it even had it's own golden gate bridge!  Lisbon had the same architect that constructed the golden gate bridge in San Fran to make a similar one for Lisbon.

Lisbon's version of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Check out these hills.  Does it feel like San Francisco yet?

We left at 3 in the afternoon on Thursday and arrived in Lisbon about 6 1/2 hours later.  We were welcomed to the city with a beautiful sunset as we drove over the bridge.  Once we got to the bus station, it was time to find a taxi to take us to our hostel.  You would think with all of the mercedes taxis lined up (I've never seen so many!) that it wouldn't be that difficult finding one, but in fact, it was.  We asked several different guys but none of them seemed willing to take us!  One claimed he didn't know where it was.  Uh, you have a GPS in your car.  Then, all of a sudden, the 3 different taxi drivers we asked got out of their cars and it sounded like they were yelling at each other.  I'm assuming they're just like Spaniards in the sense that they sound like they're really angry and screaming at each other, when really they're just passionate people and they're just having a normal conversation.  Finally one of them was willing to drive us and 15 minutes later we were at our hostel.  Now was that so hard??

Now it was time for my first hostel experience!  We stayed at the Shiado Hostel which was very cute and it was in a very good location- everything was basically in walking distance.  The 4 of us shared a room with 2 bunkbeds and we shared a bathroom with everyone in our hostel.  There were a lot of young travellers so it was basically like living in a college dorm.  There was a nice living room area and a kitchen where we all ate breakfast.  I loved how homey it was!  The girl at the front desk was super awkward though.

Our room.

The living room.

That night we explored the town a bit to grab some dinner.  We went to a place that the awkward girl at the front desk suggested to us.  It was a really cool atmosphere.  While you waited for a seat, the cook was right there cooking chicken and fish.  Reading the menu was probably the first moment we realized that Portuguese is NOTHING like Spanish.  We could barely understand it.  We went to Portugal assuming that we would be able to get by with our impeccable spanish knowledge, but we were sadly mistaken.  That didn't stop us, however, from spurting out spanish to the locals assuming that they understood us.  Apparently the Portuguese are so proud to be separated from Spain that they would rather you speak english than hear you speak spanish.  So luckily this menu at dinner had an english section.  I ordered the sea bass with vegetables.  Never again.  I ended up getting the entire fish!  Tail, bones, head, eyeballs, and all!  Fish already freak me out.  The fact that I had to dig through it's cooked scales to get to the meat was a bit too much.  After dinner, we explored Lisbon a little bit then we called it a night.

Ewwww!

The next day we started out with a free tour that was advertised in our hostel.  I'm glad it was free because there was no way that tour was worth any sort of money.  We gave our tourguide a decent tip of 5 euros each at the end though because he was really nice.  He hardly took us to any of the main sites, but it was a nice and warm, sunny day so I didn't mind walking around the city.

Lisbon is so pretty.

Some main plaza area in Lisbon that I forget the name and significance of.

Sadly, the tour took longer than we thought it would which cut into our planned time for the beach.  And that was a perfect day for the beach, too.  It was so sunny that I got pretty burnt during our tour.  Then, since I didn't have sunscreen with me, the extremely long hunt to find freaking sunscreen also cut into our beach time.  It was nearly impossible trying to find sunscreen!  We finally found some in a drugstore type place for almost 15 freaking euros (aka like $23!).  I'm mad I bought it because by the time we got to the beach, the sun was already going down and the next day was cloudy and a bit chillier.  Ughhhh.

The beach in Cascais!

That night we went to the other restaurant that the awkward girl at the front desk recommended to us.  This was my favorite meal in Lisbon.  I got grilled salmon with vegetables (potatoes, broccoli, and carrots).  We also made some pretty awesome friends.  We were seated at a table connected to another group of 4 guys who helped us figure out what was on the menu because this one, unlike the other one, did not have an english section.  We greatly appreciated their help.  One of the guys was wearing a fanny pack! bahahaha.  My favorite part was when Kathryn and Cassie went outside with a couple of them and Brittany and I were at the table talking to the others.  We asked them what is it about us that screams American?  Because everywhere we go, especially in Spain, people take one glance at us and instantly know we're American.  We said that we walk down the streets and can't tell who's American and who isn't.  Brittany said she knows she's obvious because there are hardly any black people in Spain haha.  Then what one of the guys said to me was "We know you're American because you're white."  Then he paused, looked at me, and said, "well......very white."  hahaha Europe makes me feel so pale!!  I didn't realize my paleness is what gives me away.  He said that if he didn't think I was American, he would assume I was Danish or somewhere along those lines.

Us at dinner.



On saturday we were disappointed with how much the temperature dropped.  Cassie and I were still in our shorts but little did we know we would freeze our butts off! (well maybe it wasn't that cold).  We took a trolley over to the flea market that our tourguide the previous day told us about.  It wasn't anything special.  He said that if you even have something stolen from you in Lisbon, just go to the flea market and you'll be sure to find it.  He was probably right because it seemed like most of the things they were selling were stolen!  There's no way one person has THAT many phone chargers for the car lying around.

Flea Market.

After the flea market, we hopped on a train to go to Sintra.  I'm not really sure the importance of Sintra, all I know is that everyone who went to Lisbon before me said that I had to go to Sintra.  It was about a 40 minute train ride outside of the city.  We had a nice lunch of burgers and fries- yum yum.  I've obviously been craving some American food lately.  After that, we grabbed some dessert and coffee at a cafe.  There, I had a pastel de nata- a custardy pastry that I saw everywhere in Lisbon, so I thought I had to give it a try.  Then, we started talking about how one of the guys we met at dinner the night before based all his opinions about America on American Pie and this other movie.  This other movie, which I can't remember the name of, talks about how 9/11 was planned by our government and it was a conspiracy and whatnot.  Well, right when we said that, this guy who was standing in line in the cafe quickly turns around and barges in on our conversation.  We weren't even having an in depth conversation about it, but he took it upon himself to intrude and give us his opinion about 9/11.  He was pretty much blaming our government for everything going on and how we shouldn't have invaded Iraq.  He talked for a long time and we just listened.  We weren't trying to get into an argument.  At the end, he apologized for making us feel uncomfortable and he left.  My spanish conversation teacher told us that people in Spain (and I guess Portgal too) like to argue about controversial topics but at the end of it all, they're still friends and everything is fine.  That's what I think happened here.  Also, I've noticed that Europeans (or at least the Spanish and Portuguese) are VERY opinionated people and they love telling people their opinion.  I just didn't like how it felt like he was stereotyping Americans basically saying that we all share the same views as our government.  Get a clue, man.

ANYWAYS.  After that eventful moment, we headed up to the castle in Sintra!  First, we asked the woman in the little train that was driving around Sintra if we could take it up to the castle.  But Cassie and Kathryn asked the lady "habla espanol?" and the woman just looked at us and said "but you're not spanish!" haha so then she spoke to us in English.  When we got to the castle, we discovered that it was a 6 euro entrance fee.  We strongly debated whether it was worth 6 euros or not.  We tried to find a way that we could hop a fence but that didn't work so we ended up paying the 6 euros.  The castle was soo pretty!  But we didn't end up going inside of it because we would have had to pay more.

Sintra

In front of the castle.

The castle.

That night, Brittany, Cassie, and I went to go find the Belem Tower.  Again, I'm not really sure of it's significance (wow, I learned so much on this trip), but I do know that it was really pretty all lit up!  If you would like information about it, here is a brief quote that I got fom golisbon.com:  "Built in 1515 as a fortress to guard the entrance to Lisbon's harbor, the Belem Tower was the starting point for many of the voyages of discovery, and for the sailors it was the last sight of their homeland."  So, after our long photoshoot in front of it, we found an amazing deal on ice cream so we of course had to stop to get some.  The lady PILED it on and it was only 1.80 euros!!  That's the best deal we've come across for ice cream!

The Belem Tower

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

For our last dinner in Lisbon, we decided to make it ourselves!  Our hostel had a really nice kitchen that we were allowed to cook in so we figured, why not?  It actually turned out to be super cheap.  It came out to a total of 10 euros- we would have spent more than that for our individual plates if we went out!  Everyone else did most of the cooking since I'm not exactly the best at it.  We had rotissery chicken, vegetables, and rice.  Then for dessert we had white chocolate covered strawberries!  To end our night, we hungout in the living room area where we watched How Do I Look on the Style channel!  Oh how I've missed American television!!!  That was the first American TV I've seen in over 3 months.  I can't watch American shows over here because the internet recognizes that I'm not in America and when I tried downloading the program that hides my location, it shut off my internet so I can't use it :(.

Our dinner!

Deliciousness.

We said farewell to Lisbon the following morning when we headed off to the bus station for our 7 hour bus ride.  I loved Lisbon.  I really didn't have any interest in going there when I knew I was coming to Spain.  It wasn't until I heard everyone talk about how great Lisbon is that I worked up the interest to go and boy am I glad I listened to them.  It was just a very relaxing city and a perfect vacation for the weekend.

Beautiful Weekends in Seville

After Morocco, I decided to take a little break from travelling for a while and I spent the following couple of weekends in Seville.  This was a good choice because the weather was beautiful!  It was finally the weather that I expected Seville to have this entire semester.  I got to whip out those tank tops and shorts that have been hiding in the back of my closet :)  Unfortunately, they don't fit the way they used to.  Damn spain is making me fat!  My Señora called me "gordita" yesterday which is supposedly a term of endearment here, but it still means "a little fat" nonetheless.  Thanks Señora.  But I fully plan on camping out at the gym the entire summer.  Oh, and working to earn back all the money from my bank account that has somehow disappeared this semester.  How did that happen??  I wonder...

The first weekend, Brittany and I did a roomie day and went to go get pancakes for lunch at this place that is definitely catered to American tourists.  Everytime an American walked by and saw the pictures of melt-in-your-mouth pancakes and juicy burgers and fries, they would stop and take a seat.  Brittany and I are also guilty of this.  We just couldn't resist!  After that wonderful brunch, we finally explored the Alcázar.  We've been here for almost 3 months and we never saw it (it's one of the top tourist attractions of Sevilla) so we thought it was about time that we did.  It is the royal palace of Seville and part of it is still used by the royal family.  We explored the inside for a bit, but we spent most of our time in the gardens.  It was GORGEOUS.  And it was the perfect time to go because everything was in bloom, including Seville's orange blossoms.  They smell sooo good and they pretty much fill the entire city with their scent during this time of year.

Yummy yummy American-style breakfast :)

 Inside the Alcázar

 The beautiful gardens and the orange blossoms.

Brittany and I also went to the international food festival going on by Plaza de Armas.  It was really cool and made me feel like I was on vacation (not like I don't take a vacation practically every weekend).  There were all these different stands surrounding a main deck area.  Each area was dedicated to a different country and made food unique to that country.  They had stands for Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Germany, and Australia, just to name a few.  We started off with 2 tacos each from the Mexico stand but they were not filling at all so we decided to try something else.  Australia had pictures of burgers staring at us the whole time so we went to go check that out.  However, it said that it was made from "avestruz."  We asked the guy what that was and he pulled out a picture of an OSTRICH.  After a long debate, we decided to go for it and ordered our ostrich burger.  It was actually pretty good!

Mmmm Ostrich...

Then one afternoon, Lindsey, Megan, and I enjoyed the lovely weather in Parque Maria Luisa, the lovliest park, in my opinion, in Sevilla.  We saw some people riding around in surreys so we decided to do it too!  We got a half hour to ride around and it was definitely an experience with Megan as the driver! haha at one point we were basically in the middle of woods trying to push our way up a little hill.  Lindsey was hit with branches several times haha.

The next day, Brittany, Lindsey, Megan, Tatiana, and Catherine and I went paddleboating down the Guadalquivir River!  It was yet again, a wonderfully sunny day.  We got an hour in the boats, and I didn't have to paddle until basically the last 15 minutes :)  So I got to be a little bit of a princess just hanging out in the back of the boat while Lindsey and Brittany paddled.  Megan was more of a princess on her boat with her umbrella hahaha.

Haha Princess Megan

Enjoying being chauffeured around the river :)

Pretty sunset over Calle Betis



The following day was a beach day!  For 20 euros, the 6 of us got a bus from the Prado bus station and it took us straight to Cádiz.  It looked so different from the last time I saw it which was for carnaval!  Unfortunately, it was a pretty cloudy day.  But the sun made an appearance every once in a while...enough to get me a little sunburnt at least.  We spent a large part of the day shopping and eating lunch as we waited for the sun to come out.  Once it did, we hit the beach for a couple of hours.  The water was too cold to go in, but I still loved that I was at the beach the first weekend of April :).  Also, I forgot that the beaches here are topless.  So seeing a 50-something woman's breasts was a bit of a shocker at first, but I got over it lol.

La Playa!

So besides these delightful leisurely activities during my spare time in this amazing country/city, I also met with my intercambio for the first time!  Our international office at our school here sets every foreign student up a spanish student.  The purpose is for us to have someone to practice our spanish with as well as to become more integrated into the spanish culture.  Also, a lot of the spanish students are trying to practice their english too so it works out in both ways!  So my intercambio and I met and she is awesome.  She's currently taking an english class so our conversations are the definition of spanglish lol.  We constantly switch from spanish to english.  It's fun because she's able to teach me phrases that spaniards my age use.  We also met up again at school last week and we adopted a tree!  I believe that week was "semana verde" or "green week" so every day had a theme to be more ecologically friendly.  That day was "adopt a tree day."  Basically all we did was tie a green ribbon around a tree and take a picture with it lol.

Us and our tree!



Besides all of that, nothing else is really going on.  Everything is coming to an end here freakishly fast.  I still have over a month left, but that month is going to fly.  Next week is Semana Santa, which I will be in Greece for.  Then there's a week of classes.  Then it's time for Feria!  After that is one more week of classes, then finals week, then (dare I say) home.  Gah!  Before coming here, 4 months seemed like it would be more than enough time, but now I'm realizing that 4 months isn't nearly enough.  I'll try and make the most of this upcoming month and hopefully it'll decide to be nice and take it's grand old time!