Bigger dreams came from smaller things, how far do you wanna go?

Hola a todos!

This last weekend I went to Granada and Córdoba in southern Spain with the rest of the group from Iowa State. There are a few trips that are part of one of our classes and this was one of t

hem. The trip was incredible. We got to see so many amazing things. It rained one day, and that kind of sucked, but overall the trip was fantastic.

Granada:

We left at 6:30 am, which is ridiculously early for Spain. It's ridiculously early for me, too. The bus ride was almost 7 hours, but we finally made it to Granada. We went straight to the Alhambra, a Muslim palace that is over 1,200 years old. I can't even describe the detail of the carvings in the walls. It was phenomenal. The view from the top of the towers was really cool. The mountains were in the background and everything is finally turning green. So gorgeous.

Our hotel was really nice. My favorite was the hot shower. I actually got several

truly hot showers this weekend. That alone was worth a 7-hour bus ride. And get this: our hotel receptionist was from Marion, Iowa! It was crazy. She studied in Granada when she was in college, went home, then missed it so much she moved back to Granada and has been living there for the last 25 years. She was really cool, and it was fun to meet someone from back home. I also found out she went to Central the same time as my mom and was just a year behind her (didn't know her though). Small world!

The first night was so much fun. I went out to some bars with a few of the girls in my group. We ended up at this great little club. So we're there for a while and we're dancing when we suddenly realize no one has tried to hit on us or asked any of us to dance. Okay, when you're 4 extranjeras (foreigners) in Spain, and 3 of you are blond, you get hit on. That's just the way it is. Some are more persistent than others, and they come with varying degrees of creepiness, but you deal with it and it's not a huge deal. But we were there for a couple hours and were starting to get a little offended. So we started looking around. The thought process went something like this: Why haven't any of us been hit on? There are way more guys here than girls! (In Kayla's words it was a 'total sausage fest') Wait...those guys are all dancing with each other...and those guys are holding hands. So are those girls...OH.

We're at a gay bar! It was hilarious and one of the best times we've had because no one creeped

on us so we could just dance and do our thing. Plus, the female bartender gave us free drinks. It was a win.

Day 2 was just half in Granada and was spent at this amazing cathedral. The altar was gorgeous. The whole place was gorgeous, really. It was massive, and definitely a cool

part of the trip.

Córdoba:

We got to Córdoba the evening of day 2 and checked into our hotel. We had a traditional Spanish meal at a nice restaurant, and, I kid you not, there were 8 courses- not including dessert. We just kind of hung out for the rest of the night. We were all pretty tired of traveling.

Day 3 we went to see some ancient ruins. That was pretty cool. There wasn't a lot to look at, but what there was was really cool. There was this civilization that had their own government and residential area just outside of Córdoba.

After we saw the ruins we went to see La Mezquita and that was amazing. The architecture was phenomenal. It was a mosque that Catholics then converted into a cathedral. The different styles are amazing. I've been to a lot of cathedrals lately, and the alter at this one is the most beautiful I have ever seen. We spent some time shopping around the city afterwards, and then headed back to Cáceres.

I don't have much else to report. I still haven't made a decision on spring break, but I will definitely have it figured out by the end of the week. I'm going to stick around here this weekend, but next weekend I am heading to Rome for a few days. I'm really excited! And last night I just got tickets to Paris in April. I was thinking about setting up another trip to Vienna or Prague, but I think I'll just call it good. If I do Rome next weekend, spring break is two weeks after that, and then Paris will be about 2 weeks after I get back from spring break. Then I'll have finals a week after I get back from Paris, and I'll head out backpacking right after finals. I can't believe how fast this trip is going. Tomorrow I will be one-fourth done with the whole thing, and I'm already a third done with classes.

I'm having a blast, but I miss you all like crazy. I can't wait to see everyone in June. Muchos abrazos!

Switzerland, Greece, or Cinque Terre Italy?

Okay, I'm taking a poll. I was going to go to Greece for spring break, but it is really expensive so I've been checking out some other options. Since I shortened my backpacking trip I have that pretty much set (Germany, Sweden, Ireland, UK). Here's the break down of pros and cons for my spring break trip:

Greece:

• Has been at the top of my list of places to go see while I'm here from the start
• Supposed to be gorgeous
• Should be warm and sunny so the beaches would be fun
• Will cost me over $1,000 easily. Probably closer to 12 or 13 hundred. Plane tickets alone are over $500, hostels aren't cheap because it's such a big tourist place, and that doesn't include my bus fare to Madrid to catch the plane.
• While the ancient ruins would be cool to see, I don't necessarily have that much money to spend on one trip. I would probably have to lose a couple weekend trips to other countries to be able to afford it. And not eat while I was there.

Switzerland:

• Was never really on my list as a must-see; more like a "that would be cool if I have the time and money"
• My friend Joel says it's the one place he really wishes he had gone when backpacking
• Another girl and guy here both said it was gorgeous and a definitely worth the trip
• Is way cheaper than Greece. It would probably cost me about half as much, and then I could afford to go other places for the rest of the trip (Paris, Vienna, Prague, etc).
• No beaches and will be colder since I would be there at the end of March
• I probably won't get to go to Greece at all while I'm over here. However, Greece could be a fun honeymoon or trip later. It's not like it's going any where, but it would still be a little disappointing.

Cinque Terre, Italy:

• Is gorgeous and comes highly recommended by a friend with fabulous taste
• Is about the same price as Switzerland, possibly even a little cheaper
• It would be a repeat to Italy so I wouldn't get to add another country to my list of places I went in Europe
• Is in the Italian Riviera so it would be a warmer place to go
• I am already going to Rome so please don't factor that into your decision

So there you have it. I would like any input from anyone. Suggestions for other countries, reasons why one of the three would be better than the other two, anything. Just post a comment in the box below!

Don't wanna close my eyes, I don't wanna fall asleep 'cause I'll miss you babe and I don't wanna miss a thing!

(Story about title later in the post.)

I don't really have anything for this post, but I wanted to keep my promise of posting at least once a week. It is a collection of random things about my trip.

I'm headed to Granada and Córdoba this weekend with my group and another group made up of students from all over Europe (Austria, Italy, Czech Republic, etc.) who are also studying at la Universidad de Extremadura (where I'm at in case you are confused). We will be visiting the famous Alhambra, a fortified Muslim palace built many, many years ago. There's tons of fun architecture and art and history and stuff. It should be a good weekend.

Okay, so my post title. Oh dear. My host brother is something like 23 or 24 years old. (I'm guessing, his girlfriend is 23 so I'm assuming he's around the same age. And I only know how old she is because her birthday was yesterday and he told me about it.) Anyway. Don't Wanna Miss a Thing is apparently his favorite song ever. He plays it every night. On repeat. For a very, very long time. It kind of makes me want to bang my head against the wall. I will never watch Armageddon ever again. Oh, and sometimes he sings along, and no, he does not sing on pitch.

I found out today that my brother's name, Fran, is short for Franco. Far less entertaining.

Today in my grammar class my professor was trying to explain a Spanish phrase about an egg and Christopher Columbus. El huevo de Cristobol Colón. Somehow this led to a brief discussion about Columbus' testicles with my 60-year-old professor who wears corduroy pants and sweater vests. Awkward and hilarious all at the same time.

A girl in my group is trying to give up swearing for Lent. It's not going well. She still sounds like a sailor.

The bank called my family to tell them they had noticed my debit card was being used in Europe and I needed to call to confirm it was me using it. First of all, I them before I left I was going to Europe. It should not have been a problem. Second of all, I have been here for 3.5 weeks. They just noticed. And it wasn't buying plane tickets to other countries or cash withdrawals from foreign ATMs that put up a red flag. It was a song I bought on iTunes over the internet. So if you steal my card and go to a foreign country, no problem. Buy all the plane tickets you want. Go shopping and clean my account out at an ATM. Just don't you dare use it on iTunes or my bank will be all over you like a bride on a dress at the $99 gown sale. 150 Euro plane tickets? Sure! $1.99 song? FAIL!

That's all for now. Next week will have pictures from Granada and fun stuff like that. Miss you all!

¡Hasta luego!

Shorty got that super thang, hotter than the sun in the south of Spain...

¡Hola!

(Yes, my post title is lame and rather odd, but that song has been stuck in my head for 5 days now. In a moment you will see why.)

I have officially been in Spain for 2 and a half weeks. It seems like way longer than that! Classes are going pretty well. It's a little hard to keep up sometimes, but so far nothing completely awful. I have a couple professors that I love so that helps a lot. But classes are boring and I don't want to talk about them. I just threw that in here because it's expected. The real fun was on the weekend.

Last weekend I went to Seville with a few friends from the program. It was unbelievable. Seville is in the south of Spain and is home to the most incredible cathedral and palace with a river running right through the middle of the city. We shopped and went sight-seeing and had an amazing time. The weather was perfect. Sunny and 70s all weekend (sorry to those who are currently sitting in 15 feet of snow). We stayed at a hostel for two nights and it was pretty decent. They gave us free breakfast so that was pretty cool. And there was a Starbucks right down the street from us! It was fantastic. I've been missing my lattes.

(Sun, 70s, south of Spain? You're getting the title now, right? Okay good. If you aren't then I'm sorry, you can't be helped.)

The first night we went to a famous plaza and park. There's this gorgeous fountain in the

middle of the Plaza and the detail in the architecture of the building was unbelievable. We got lost on our way back to our hostel and went through some sketchy dark allies, but some very nice Spaniards pointed us in the right direction and we made it back.

Saturday was spent at Alcazar Palace (not to be confused with Alcazar Castle, apparently Alcazar was freakin loaded), shopping, at the cathedral there, and we stopped at this cute shop for churros con chocolate (aka: delicious). Saturday night we went to the club called Buddha. It

was awesome! It had three levels and different music on each floor. The place was packed. There was still a line to get into the place when we left at 3:30 am.

Sunday we chilled at a couple different outdoor cafes because we had to be out of our hostel by 10:30 and we had all of our stuff with us. Then we caught the bus back to Caceres that afternoon. The trip was definitely a winner.

A couple things:

1. Yes, I am returning earlier than I had planned. When I bought my tickets I had a job to come back to so returning broke wasn't a big deal. Now, however, I have no such job due to awful managers so coming back broke doesn't seem like a wisest decision. I also miss everyone and I think one month of hostels will be more than enough. I will be back on June 1 rather than June 23 and I am looking forward to seeing all of you at that time.

2. I am doing my best to post regularly, but I have homework every night and a lot going on so I apologize if my posts are really long and spaced farther apart.

3. This weekend I'm going to relax, but next weekend I think we are going on one of the group excursions for my art history class (the coordinator isn't sure yet, that's why I'm not sure). The next weekend I think a few of us are going to go to Rome and see Vatican City and some of the sights there. We found pretty reasonable plane tickets so it's a good time to go. Two weeks after that is spring break and I think I'm going to be heading to Greece for a little over a week. I'm really excited about it!

So, a lot coming up. Keep checking for posts. I'll have a few pictures on here, but the majority are on facebook. Otherwise I'm sure I'll have plenty to show off when I get back!

Love you all!

Just another day...

¡Hola! ¿Que tál? I have officially had all of my classes now. So far it hasn't been so bad. There is one professor that none of us can understand, though. He kind of mumbles and has a really thick accent. Today we had a powerpoint to go with the lecture and that helped a lot. Hopefully he'll do that every day!

Things are starting to settle into a routine now that we've started classes. I haven't had any classes or homework for like seven weeks, and now I have class Monday through Thursday and homework every night. It's kind of been an adjustment. I'm going to Seville in the south of Spain this weekend so that should be a lot of fun. I'm pretty excited about it.

I don't have a lot new to say or report. Oh! I can do rants and raves. I'm going to end with what I love so this post ends on a happy note.

Rants:

• Skinny jeans. They're everywhere and they're ugly. I truly dislike them, but they are all anyone wears here. I refuse to buy them. I would rather be an obvious American.
• The smoking. It's INSANE. I will probably return to the states with asthma. Plus, while the discotecas are fun, I can't stand to stay for much longer than a couple hours and I leave smelling like an ashtray that hasn't been emptied for 3 years.
• The prices. Everything is super expensive here. It's priced like dollars, but in dollar form it ends up being almost 50% more for everything here. Example: 1,90 Euro for a bottle of pop is almost $3. If it's not priced like dollars, it's priced higher. Example: 4 Euro for three spiral notebooks. The same three spiral notebooks would have cost me about 20 cents a piece at Walmart. I figured it out and a Wii here is about $350. Yeah.

Raves

• Siestas. Naptime rocks. The world would be a better place if everyone took a nap for an hour every day. If I ever run for office, I think I will make it one of my platforms.
• Fanta Naranja. Orange Fanta. I know what you're thinking, we have that in the States. But no. It is NOT the same. They use real orange juice here. It's part juice, all delicious.
• Tortilla de patatas. Best food ever. All the food is good, but my Spanish mommy is going to teach me how to make tortilla de patatas and it will be come a regular for me at home.
• The architecture. I will honestly miss the architecture and history of Spain when I get home. The pictures I take don't do it justice.
• My straightener. I had to buy one here because they have a different plug and run on different wattage and it was just easier that way. I love it! I'm super sad that I won't be able to use it back home.
• The weather. It is so nice here. Tonight it's rainy, but that's the first time since I got here that it hasn't been sunny and beautiful. The forecast for my weekend in Seville is for sun and mid-60s the whole time. Win.

That's all for now. I am sure both lists will grow over time.

¡Hasta luego!