4 de Julio

So... just because I'm out of the country, doesn't mean I can't celebrate American independence! A travel/events organization called "We Love Spain" put together a fourth of July fiesta on the beach. The party was 25 Euros and included:

transportation to the beach 1.5 hrs away

entrance into a beach terrace lounge/bar

music by 3-star DJ's

fire and bongo drum show

Spanish tapas and all you can drink Sangria or beer

Sounds good, right? WRONG!

I guess they decided to take us to a different beach.... Tarifa, known by EVERYONE we've talked to for surfing and wind surfing because of the strong winds there. I figured that since the beaches in Portugal where we went surfing were pretty windy, that it would be a little annoying but still fun. However, just picture the windy-est place you can imagine… and times that by about 20. That’s what it was like.

First of all, we arrived in Tarifa- 2.5 hours away, and our “tour guides” had no clue what they were doing or where exactly we were going…we stopped at a rest stop to get a MAP! I would definitely recommend “Discover Sevilla” over “We Love Spain” as a travel agency here.

Then, we got to the beach, and it was SO windy, that the sand was whipping at our legs and it felt like needles. There was no way to put your towel down and just lay out; there was no way to not have sand in your eyes, mouth, ears, everywhere.

So then we got to our "beach terrace bar" and it was a shack on the beach, and if we hadn’t been there, no one would have been. I have no idea why anyone would have to pay a feee to get in. Our all you can drink sangria was a little Dixie cup of sangria and then there was some more in like plastic bottles- like soda you can buy from the store.... anddd we had tapitas- aka, a toothpick of tortilla de patata and little piece of bread.. that was our "food". The bar had food and had a whole menu of stuff but they were sold out of eveything except ham, of course. We brought bocadillos to eat and were eating them in the bar (and half eating sand) and they told us we couldn’t eat it because you have to eat your own food outside.... in the hurricane of sand.

The three-star dj was...... someone’s iPod. The bongo drum and fire show was a little drum you could buy at a Sunsations, and some random girl swinging around nun chucks that were lit on fire, only to be put out in two seconds by the wind... amazing.

Soo.. We tried to make the best of it, even though there was NOTHING to do... They took us out to a terrible place and basically stranded us for 12 hours...because we left at 10am and got on the bus to leave at 10pm. It was a nightmare. We got in the water, which was a little better because the sand wasn’t whipping in your eyes, but when the waves crashed, the water would pick up with the wind and whip back into your face... And we trieeedddd to lay out...which is allll I wanted to do that day, but in literally two seconds me and my entire towel was covered in sand. AHHH I HATE SANDDDDDDDD!!! It was impossible to just hang out and relax and have a good time out in the sunshine. So... It was pretty much absolutely horrible. Here are some pics of the beach though..

But anyway, thank god it’s over. And thank god school is over!!! Today was our lastttttt day! We turned in our papers and took our final exam and now I’m free from thinking for another month and a half!! And luckily, we are going to the beach again this weekend to redeem our Fourth of July disaster!

Flamenco

A couple nights ago we went with our school to the city to see a Flamenco show! It was kind of different than I expected. The dancers we saw performed solo until the very end, but it is a very dramatic dance. The performers looked almost like they were in pain. Maybe if I understood the words to the song the guy was singing it was a story or something that would have made sense..but I guess I'll never know.. lol. :) Here are some pictures of the show!

gorgeous roses growing in the courtyard we sat in

Villa, Villa, Villa! Villa Maravilla!

Last night we went to Phoenix to watch Spain vs Germany in the world cup semi finals! As you should all know by now, Spain played awesome and won 1-0. :) Now Spain, for the first time ever, is going to the finals vs the Netherlands and I will get to witness it on Sunday!!! The game was pretty much awesome since Spain dominated Germany the whole time and everyone in the bar, let alone, the entire country, was going wild. Everyone in the bar was screaming.. "Yo soy español, español, español!" (I am Spanish, Spanish, Spanish), "Villa, Villa, Villa! Villa Maravilla!" (for one of their star players-David Villa) and "A por ellos!; Viva España!" and so much more... The atmosphere in the bar was incredible, especially when Puyol scored the only goal of the game.

Everyone was screaming, chanting, waving flags, jumping up on chairs, blowing horns, craziness... When the game was over we went outside where people were all rioting in the streets to celebrate and there were drunk old guys throwing ice cubes at people?? People were honking their horns and running around draped in Spanish flags and singing the Spanish anthems. Then we headed over to Plaza Nueva, where there were tons of people swimming and splashing in the fountain in the square and climbing up onto the top of the tall monument in the center to celebrate and cheer for Spain!

us in front of the fountain

P.S. The world cup has its own "groundhog day" in a sense, every game day. Except.. the groundhog is replaced by Paul, the pulpo (octopus), who predicts the winner of each game. So far, he's been right about the past four games.. and let's just hope he picks Spain to win the Copa Mundial! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcxKgQtBVAM

Next, we headed to a bar to meet our Texas friends that we've been hanging out with here lately. There, we met some Spaniards that took us to our first legit botellon! - which is basically a huge group of people drinking and partying in the streets. It was absolutely insane because there were sooo many people and there were cars just whipping in and out between them as if there was no one. These Spanish people are crazy drivers. They have these tiny little cars and they just think they can go wherever they want with them.

viva España!

I will definitely miss the fiestas in Spain and all the crazy excitement that goes with it... and I can't wait for the finals on Sunday, which could possibly be the icing on the cake to this wonderful experience I've had so far. :)

Corrida!!

Despite everyone we asked giving us false information and telling us that there were absolutely NO bullfights to witness in all of Spain during the summer season, Natalie and I managed to get tickets to the LAST one in Sevilla until September. Granted, all the bullfights after Semana Santa and Feria de Abril (Holy Week and the April festival) are just amateur matadors that are training, but it didn't matter to us! I was sooooo happy when we got tickets (for only 13 euros!!) that I was bouncing up and down and squealing with excitement outside the Maestranza (bull ring) and people were staring at me.. and that was like three days before we even went! We figured that our seats would be pretty far away because we paid a low price for them, buttttt actually we were right in the Front!!! ..well, on the sunny side, but it was still so close! The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza is also the oldest bullring in all of Spain!

I wasn't really nervous about seeing a bullfight because I expected the bull to die. Plus, I already knew, from research for Spanish class presentations and such, about what happens during the fight and what the phases are. I just didn't want to watch a matador, picador, or a horse get gored. I ended up REALLY really enjoying the corrida and I didn't really think it was THAT gory at all, which is the consensus I got from my friends here who went to a bullfight before us.

Unlike a professional bullfight, where there are only three matadors who each kill two bulls, we got to see a bunch of amateur matadors in their colorful "traje de luces" (suit of lights). Natalie and I kept picking out our favorite matadors by the color of their outfits, haha.

We still saw six bulls, but all the matadors kind of worked together to distract the bull if the "main" matador at that time was in trouble. These extra matadors were in addition to the picadores and banderilleros (lancers on horseback and flagmen).

The bulls got bigger as the "show" went on and I was actually quite surprised that the bulls kind of had to be "called." I expected the bulls to run out of the gate and charge repeatedly at the first person or animal in their line of vision but that was not the case. The bull charged initially, but then kind of just stood there minding its own business until the matador yelled, "Ven toro, Vamos!" (Come here bull, Let's go!). Sometimes he had to yell at it a couple times to get it to charge towards the red cape. (btw, the cape is red so it doesn't show the blood as much-- bulls are colorblind!!)

So... quick recap of bullfight events:

1. Bull enters ring

2. Matador demonstrates "dominance" over the bull by bringing the bull as close as possible to his body with the cape

3. picadores on horseback use lances to stab bull in the back of the neck to weaken tendons that hold up the head (this is why the pictures of bulls charging are always shown with their head down low)

4. matadors/banderilleros stick "banderillas" (barbed spears) into the bulls shoulders to further weaken and anger the bull

5. matador again uses cape to attract the bull and maybe does some little tricks to show off

6. matador pierces bull with his sword and then they kind of wear it down by waving flags at it until it falls over dead, and then they stab it again just to put it out of its misery

7. Then they hook it to the horses and drag it around the ring and then out of the stadium

8. At the very end, the matador may be awarded with an ear of the bull or some other piece depending on how well he performed

...Yes, lovely I know, sorry for the gory details but it actually is an awesome experience. We actually did see two different matadors flipped over twice during the corrida- which almost gave me a heart attack. I may have been scarred for life if I had to watch a matador die in front of me. Luckily, they weren't hurt badly and kept going after they got a chance to pull themselves together! One of the bulls actually managed to get back up after it had fallen down! What a fighter! Also, the matadors did some cool tricks like getting on their knees and waving the bull through with the cape while they were kneeling.

Some of them kind of spun around or waved the bull through backwards. These made me kind of nervous, especially between tricks, when the matador would walk away with his back towards the bull, doing little poses for the audience like ice skaters in the Olympics. My favorite part of the corrida was at the end right before the matador stuck the sword in because every time the bull runs through the cape, the crowd gets to yell Ole! :) The rest of the time you kind of have to be quiet I think.. which, I am not good at. The matadors were kind of funny to watch because some of them just prance around the ring like ballerinas out there. They have to be quick so they stand on the balls of their feet and they have certain poses for accepting or inducing the crowd's applause. They also do some pretty strange lunges in order to bring the bull as close to their body as possible.

The bullfight was such a good night for us because we ended up getting so much more than we ever expected. Such as, our front row seats, AND meeting the matadors afterwards! I also managed to take over 300 pictures in the three-hour span that we were there! God knows how I did that.. After the corrida, the matadors just walk out the back door into the city streets, where they are mauled by fans (including me :) haha). Natalie and I got our picture taken with one of the matadors and I got his autograph too! Who knows? Maybe he'll be famous some day!

All in all-- awesome experience, highly recommended for anyone planning on travelling to España <3

Barcelona

So after much confusion and headaches in dealing with getting plane tickets, we finally made it to Barcelona! Our 9pm flight ended up being delayed twice until 12:45am and then we arrived in BCN airport at 2 and found our Hostel at like 3am. We were stranded outside for about 30 min in the dark, scary, city streets until someone finally let us in! The hostel was kind of freaky when we got there because it was dark and no one was awake and then the next morning we slept late because of getting in so late and everyone was gone when we got up. I was a little wary of the hostel and didn't want to go back there till we absolutely had to but when we finally did come back we met the people we had shared a room with the night before and everyone was pretty cool. We met a girl from Hungary, four girls from Scotland, a couple from England, a girl from Poland, two from Germany, and a girl from New Zealand named Zoe. She was really cool and ended up coming around town with us on Saturday.

We bought a metro card that took us all around the city and I was surprised how easy the map and routes were to understand, given my sense of direction. Antoni Gaudi practically designed the entire city of Barcelona so we ran around and saw his buildings and all the sights on Friday.

The first site was right by our hostel: Arc de Triomf of Barcelona, built for the 1888 Universal Exhibition. Also, all of the statues lining the mall next to it were designed by Gaudi.

We visited the Temple of the Sagrada Familia- a cathedral which was started in 1882 and is still not finished... let's get a move on Spaniards..

incredible detail... and apparently they don't expect construction to be finished until 2026!

Casa Mila/La Pedrera- built by Gaudi with "trancadis" - little pieces of ceramic tile so that the architecture can curve like this (thank you art history).

These are muslim-inspired ventilation towers on the roof..

Parque Guell (Park Guell)-- This is one of Gaudi's most famous sites and is absolutely gorgeous. However, the hike up a freaking mountain was very unexpected! They even have escalators you can ride part-way up to it. After tons of walking, we took a siesta here in the park. Parque Guell also contains Antoni Gaudi's actual house!- called "La Torre Rosa." There was also a great view from the top of the mountain and you could see Torre Agbar, which is a huge light-up tower that illuminates at night with LED lights.

Our ascent up the mountain to the park

view from the top

hansel and gretel house!
famous trancadis lizard

entire park

Torre Agbar

Camp Nou!- The FC Barcelona futbol stadium!!! We got to take a tour of the entire stadium and see the players tunnel, locker rooms, press room, press box, etc. It was pretty sweet.

field

player's seats!

The second day, we went to the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia Barcelona, and were denied entrance because we were "scantily clothed," which apparently means short shorts and a spaghetti strapped dress.. But here is the outside!

After the cathedral, we walked around Las Ramblas- which is the main street in the city where they hold an outdoor market on Saturdays. It basically had everything you could possibly imagine in terms of food.. and then more, that you didn't want to imagine. . such as sheep heads, and skinned rabbits, ...lovely..

spices and dried fruits
yum!!

maybe you should come to Spain to find mushrooms dad...

The street was lined with people dressed up to get your picture with...

apparently, these are the smallest hamsters in the world. They also sold chipmunks.. who would want a chipmunk? They did backflips in their cages though so they were pretty cool.

After this, we headed to the Palau de musica catalana...which is a huge concert hall where many famous composers, orchestras, choirs, etc have performed.

Here are some other random things we saw along the way..

Shopping street
Dali Museum

After running around all morning, we decided to head to Port Olimpia to relax on the beach! We took the route through another beautiful park near our hostel.. The Barcelona Parliament is located inside, as is a zoo, andddd a Real Live Peacock in the wild!!!- which may have escaped from the zoo!

parliament

The beach was superrrr crowded, but still very warm and enjoyable. There were some very annoying sales people on the beach... think those ppl who put your picture in the little telescopes at OCMD--- x 100000. There were people selling tattoos... massages... drinks... food... everything.. every five seconds. I think I was asked if I wanted a massage about 16 million times while we were there.

Now I have officially been in the Mediterranean Sea! yay!! .. I wish the Atlantic was that warm and clear!!