Chocolate, Pastries, and Wine

Since I had arrived to Spain on January 15 I had only spent one weekend outside of the country, my trip to Lisbon. That was going to change this week because it was our first of two week long breaks. This week in Spain is known as Semana Santa, or Holy Week to most of the rest of the world. It is a huge deal, especially in Sevilla. There are processions throughout the crowded streets during the 8 days leading up to Easter. More of that to come in a later post.

During most of this week I traveled to Germany and France and not to the "typical" tourist places like Berlin or Paris. I traveled to Stuttgart, Germany and Strasbourg, France.

Stuttgart, Germany
My travel week started out at 11:45pm Thursday night when I left my apartment to go to the bus station. My friends and I took a 1am bus from Sevilla to Madrid. Little reminder: I hate night buses and this certainly didn't change with this trip, if anything the hatred grew. After an almost sleepless night we got to the airport and headed towards our 1 of 3 flights that we were going to take, which may seem like a lot just to get to southern Germany and it is but we didn't really think about it when we bought the tickets, they were some of the cheapest we could find so we went with it. The first flight wasn't bad, I slept for part if it until I was pleasantly woken up by the lady sitting next to me with pizza in her hand asking me if I wanted the snack that was provided on our trip. Normally I hate being woken up but not when there is free food involved. The second flight was uneventful and by the time that we had gotten to the gate for our third flight everyone was tired and just wanted to get to Stuttgart and get some dinner. We weren't that lucky but it could have been a lot worse. Our flight was delayed for about 30 minutes and then after we boarded we waited for about another hour for 4 passengers, which amazed me that this happened. There must have been some special circumstance because I have never been in a country that waited for passengers, even if there was a problem with their plane on that same airline. Our trip was made better with free Swiss chocolate that we got on all three flights, the first of a lot of chocolate to come our way.

Regardless we finally arrived to Stuttgart and were met up by my brother who lives about 2 hours away and decided to spend the weekend with me and my friends. It was great to see him because we have barely seen each other in 2 years, about a month in total. As for the first night we did not plan on doing much, just check in and get some dinner because of the lack of sleep everyone had had the past day. Our hotel ended up being really nice but extremely far away from the center of Stuttgart, we later found out that it was in a suburb of Stuttgart even though the address that we had from online when we booked it said Stuttgart. It was in a smaller town therefore we could not find many places to eat. We ended up at this one restaurant and were the only people eating there and it turned out to be a few fun night. Our waitress seemed weird at first and we quickly realized that she was drunk and was getting worse (aka funnier) every time she came in. I had my first German meal and it was amazing!! Dinner was amazing between great company and the drunk waitress we laughed a lot and ate amazing food, definitely how I wanted to start the trip.

The second day my brother got to show me, along with my friends, around where he lives. We ended up at this place for döners. After some free tea, a free bottle of wine, and an amazing meal we were on our way to the train station to Nürnberg.

Carly, Mattie, Laurel, me, and Brian

Free wine! Too bad it tasted horrible

The train was a great way to see the country side and also a great time to relax and warm up. Nürnberg ended up being a lot of fun and it is a great city. I wasn't sure what to expect when we were heading there but it turned out to be great and I am so glad that we ended up going there. Short summary of what we did: walked through a cathedral, got a beer at an Irish pub, explored a few markets, got a crepe and a sausage role called a Nürnberger, walked to the top of a hill that overlooked the entire city and then finished the day off with dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Okay so most of that did not sound like German things, especially that last part but I am from Southern California which is home to some of the best and most authentic Mexican food you can get outside of Mexico. So when my brother told me that this place had pretty good Mexican food I had to check it out. I also got a lot of chocolate, because it was kind of cheap and was chocolate that I had tried last summer when I was in London and can't find it in America.

German countryside

Inside the Cathedral

Outside the Irish Pub

View from the top of the castle

German market

On Sunday we headed to Leonberg, which is the town that my friend's family is from. It was cool to walk around a smaller German town. We found a small restaurant for lunch and had an authentic meal, which I needed after the lack of authentic food from the previous day. And it was really cool to see my friend explore the town that her family came from, she even knew the house that her family lived in.

Leonberg, Germany

Can't get much more authentic than a small town German restaurant.

After Leonberg we made our way back to Stuttgart to finally explore the city for the first time. Luckily my brother knows a lot about the train and metro system in Germany so he helped us figure out how to get there, which we needed to know for the next day in order to get to Strasbourg. Stuttgart wasn't exactly what I expected, there weren't a lot of old buildings or historic things in the city but my brother quickly explained that Stuttgart got hit really hard during World War II.

I thought that many things in Spain closed on Sundays until I went to Germany. Most restaurants and stores were closed so didn't end up spending much time in the city. We did find a pastry shop that was open and got some German pastries which was a first for us since being in Germany. After some dinner and desert (chocolate and almond crepe for me) we headed back to our hotel to relax and get ready to leave Stuttgart the next day. My brother also left a few hours after we left the city center. It was great to spend the weekend with him and for him to show me around his home in Germany.

German pastry!

Crepe!

Strasbourg, France
Late Monday morning my friends and I made our way to the train station to head to Strasbourg, France. It was snowing as we made our way to the metro to the city center and it seemed like perfect timing to be leaving Germany (not the biggest fan of snow). The train wasn't too bad, it was just over an hour and the countryside that we went through was extremely pretty. This almost made up for the screaming baby that did not stop crying the entire time. Once we got to Strasbourg we went to check in at our hotel and explore the city for a little bit that day. Our hotel was actually an apartment which was really cool and great because we had a small kitchen so we could save money by going to the grocery store and cooking some of our own meals.

Stuttgart, Germany

I was hoping that the weather in Strasbourg would be better than Stuttgart but it didn't seem likely. It wasn't snowing when we got there but it certainly wasn't warm. Our first was spent walking around the cathedral and side streets looking for a place to eat for dinner. We ended up at a cafe before dinner, mainly for a break from the cold but also for the much needed caffeine after a day of traveling. While we were drinking our coffee we noticed this really cute Bernese mountain puppy in the cafe. One of the things that I miss the most about home is my dog and even though he isn't the same kind and is no longer a puppy seeing the puppy in the cafe made me miss him even more.

After our coffee break and a little bit more wandering around we headed towards the restaurant that we had decided to eat at for dinner. It was this authentic German and French fusion place, which is what Strasbourg kind of is like. Basic history of Strasbourg: it is a part of northern France that has gone between German and French rule for most of its history so there is a huge German influence even though it is apart of France. Dinner this night was expensive but we all wanted one authentic meal in Strasbourg so price wasn't a huge issue for this meal. One of my friends randomly selected the wine for dinner and it ended up being some of the best wine I have ever tried and it was made in the region which made it even better for our authentic meal. After an amazing dinner we called it a night and headed back to relax for the busy second half of our trip.

Cute chocolate bunny!

Mattie, Laurel, me, and Carly

Amazing wine!

Tuesday started out kind of late, at least for me, but it felt great to sleep in. It started out a little bit later than we had planned and what caused this delay was a first for me, along with everyone else: we got locked inside our apartment. That's right, we couldn't get out of our apartment. After many failed attempts and almost breaking the lock we got out. Of course this was after called the front desk and having the extremely rude women from the hotel make her way to our apartment after we got it opened. It was already turning out to be an interesting day but things soon turned around for the better. Once we finally got out of our apartment we headed to a baker where I got my first of many pastries of the day, a Nutella beignet aka possibly the best pastry that I have ever had.

Nutella Beignet

After breakfast we made our way back to the cathedral for the clock show and to explore the inside. There is a huge clock in the cathedral and every day there is a show that explains it and things like that. It was kind of anti-climatic but it was still cool to see and we got to explore the inside of the cathedral, which like most cathedrals that I have been in here in Europe was exceptionally pretty.

Clock in the cathedral

Catedral de Notre Dame in Strasbourg

After exploring the cathedral we went to find a place to eat for lunch and as we were looking the menu of this restaurant down this street that wasn't on the main road the owner pops his head out of the door and invites us in. He was this hysterical, stereotypical French man and it was impossible to say no to him. The food wasn't the best but the experience was one of a kind and a lot of fun.

As we continued to walk around after lunch I got my second pastry of the day, a vanilla enclaire and it was again delicious. The weather wasn't the best, it was extremely cold and I did not bring any clothes to Spain with me for this type of weather so it was impossible to pack for this kind of weather. Luckily one of my friends had found out about this covered and heated boat tour of the river surrounded the city. It worked out perfectly because we were able to see a lot of the city without walking or freezing.

We concluded our exploring the city after the boat tour with a crepe and coffee at a nearby cafe. Then we went and got food for dinner and went back to our apartment to relax and cook dinner. It was a lot of fun just to hang out and relax, and not be freezing.

Wednesday started out around the same time (loved being able to sleep in) and breakfast was another beignet. Luckily we did not have too hard of a time getting out of our apartment. We walked along the river and found a place to eat sandwiches and our pastries. Afterwards we tried to make our way to botanical gardens but were extremely disappointed when we saw it or lack thereof gardens. Kind of forgot that it was too cold for anything too pretty to be there. However we did stop into the university on the way there and one of the rooms in the building was where the first meeting of the European Union was held. It was extremely cool, especially since we had no idea about it and finding it was completely unintentional.

On our walk back we walked through a museum and stopped at a pastry shop for macaron. They weren't my favorite but they are so stereotypical French that I felt like I had to get some and they were the best that I have ever had so it was worth it. Afterwards we made our way to an area called Petite France. It was really pretty and I was glad that we made time out to visit that part of the city. We stopped off at a bar for warmth and drinks.

That night was another relaxing night in our apartment so that we could prepare for our journey back to Sevilla which was going to take about one day. Okay, that is extremely long and may seem unnecessary but we had a layover in Brussels, Belgium that was over 7-hours.

Brussels, Belgium
The morning was pretty uneventful. We got to the airport in plenty of time and our flight to Brussels was uneventful. Once we landed we found the lockers that we could store our luggage in so we didn't have to lug it around the city. I loved our layover because it gave us a few hours to explore Brussels without having to pay for a hotel for the night. After some confusion about how to get to the city center we were finally on a train, sketchy train, but a train nonetheless to the center of Brussels. We spent about 3.5 hours in the city and surprisingly saw a lot of things. Of course I would have liked more time but I am extremely happy with all that we saw in the short amount of time. Being the tourists that we are, Belgium waffles and Belgium chocolate were a must and they were pretty good. It was not exceptional but it was still really good.

On our way to our gate we saw a few free samples of chocolate and it was kind of a full circle, free chocolate on the flights at the start of the trip and free chocolate on our way to our flight to Madrid. Okay, that was probably the cheesiest thing I have written but it seems necessary. It's just hard to believe that the trip was coming to an end because it was something that I had talked to one of my friends about since the end of November and we had actually planned this trip at the end of January and booked the tickets the beginning of February.

The last leg of our trip was just like the first, a 6-hour bus ride at 1am. My hatred for overnight buses continues to grow but I guess it is just an experience; an experience I hope not to have to repeat ever again.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. Hasta luego!

The Half-Way Point

I am going to explain more in detail the title of this post after I go through some details.

So the trip to Ceuta took place on Friday March 8 but there were many things that happened during that week and the week after (unfortunately, which I will explain later in the post).

Monday morning I got back from Lisboa, Portugal and knew that I had a very busy week ahead of me, besides Ceuta, which made me feel even more tired. That night a group from my program headed to a Sevilla Football game. It was American night and tickets were only 5 euros for anyone with an American passport and you also got a free bufunda (scarf)! I went with a few friends and it was a lot of fun! There was an "American" band that played before the game and during the break between the two halves there was a very short American football game, extremely pathetic and hysterical partly because American football isn't my favorite and it was also funny seeing people who looked like they had no idea what they were doing trying to play (let's be honest, they probably didn't).

Yay, free bufundas!

With friends outside the stadium

We won! Yay!!

After a fun night at the football fame it was back to reality and the whole "studying" part of this experience. Midterms were the following week and so preparation for those also started. Saturday, the day after Ceuta, was spent relaxing and doing homework. Then on Sunday I headed to Aracena, which is a town northwest of Sevilla in the mountains. It was a lot of fun, even though it was raining (surprise! majorly getting sick of the rain if that wasn't already obvious). We explored a mind, walked around the city, hiked up to ruins of a castle, and then got to explore caves. It was a great day but I was definitely still exhausted from Ceuta and knew that I had a busy week ahead of me that I was not looking forward too.

View from the abandoned castle 

Mines, during the hour it was not raining

Monday March 11, the first day of the week of midterms, the unfortunately busy week. Monday and Tuesday were review days with midterms on Wednesday and Thursday. I had four exams over those two days and I did not enjoy a single part of it. Most of my classes at school do not have exams or the exams are not worth a lot of my grade. However, I made it through and hopefully did not do as bad as I think I did.

This past week was not too eventful, went to class and got ready for my week-long break :)

Title explanation time, which is extremely self-explanatory: The end of midterms week was bitter sweet, it is more bitter now, when it was first over it was more sweet because I was so happy to be done with exams. With the way that breaks work out and with our class schedule, even with the two week intensive class, midterms mark the half way point in my program. It is hard to believe that I am half way done with this experience, the first 8 weeks have already passed by so quickly and I know that the second 8 weeks will pass by even faster. I have already learned so much but still have so much more that I want to accomplish and I don't feel like there is enough time, but then again I don't think there will ever be enough time. However, I am looking forward to heading back to the US and seeing friends who I have not seen since December (I am so sorry for being so bad at keeping in touch!!) and I am glad that I have something to look forward  to when I return, it will definitely make leaving here a little bit easier. However, I am still here and am going to make the best of every moment that I have in this amazing city, filled with amazing people.

Spending the Day in Africa

Title isn't exactly self-explanatory. Yes, I did go to Africa but I did not leave Spain. If you are thinking to yourself that this is impossible, don't worry I had the same reaction when our program director told us about this trip. There is a town in Northern Africa, it shares its borders with Morocco, that is owned by Spain called Ceuta. Like everyone else that I know I had no idea this place existed. Also you may be asking how could I have gone to Northern Africa just for one day. The answer to that question is that it was a very long day. We had to be on the bus, which was at the Universidad de Sevilla (about a 40ish minute walk from my place) at 5:45am. That's right, I didn't have to wake up at 5:45am, I had to be at the university by 5:45am. After an unsuccessful night of trying to get to bed early I woke up around 4:30am after about 3 hours of sleep.

Being completely honest, my expectations for this day trip were extremely low. I knew very little about this place and didn't like the fact that it was such an early and long day, spending about 7-8 hours traveling round trip to Ceuta. When we got to the port to take the ferry over to Ceuta the day started to turn around, the 1.5 hours of sleep helped, but it looked like the weather was going to be nice for the day, which I was extremely excited about after the week of rain we had just experienced.

After the hour long ferry we ended up in Ceuta. We took a bus to the university and met up with some local students who we were going to spend the day with. The first thing we did was attend a seminary about Ceuta and the dialect that is unique to the city. Our group was then split up into two smaller groups so we could have a chance to talk with the local students. About an hour later we headed out to explore the city and have some lunch. My group consisted of about 6 American students and 10 university students. I greatly enjoyed this part of the day. It was so much fun talking to everyone and exploring the city with them. They showed us the beach and a castle. Except for it being windy, the weather was great. It was so nice to walk around in the sun after the past few weeks of rain. After a little bit of exploring we headed to lunch at a bar that had tapas. I didn't get anything too exciting but someone from my program was convinced by a university student to get el corazon del pollo (chicken heart) and I ended up trying a piece. I am glad that I can say I have tried it but that's the first and last time I will be eating it.

The beach!!

View of the city near the university

The castle we walked through

Lunch!

After lunch we met up with the other groups for a bus tour of the city. Ceuta is an extremely pretty place and I enjoyed seeing it from a bus for a bit, the early morning and knowing that we had a long return back to Sevilla started to sink in and I really needed the break.

View from the top of a hill during our bus tour

Hanging out with new friends!

After the tour we had some free time and all ended up at a group of bars and had gelato or a drink before we made our way back to the ferry terminal. We said our goodbyes and exchanged contact info (aka our names for Facebook) and started our way back to Sevilla, where we arrive 18 hours after we left.

Even though it was a very long day, it was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I got to go (even though it was mandatory for my program and I kind of had no choice whether I wanted to go or not)¡ I met some great people who I will hopefully keep in touch with and be friends with for a long time. And I also got to explore a part of the world that not many people know about.

Lisboa, Portugal

This past weekend I traveled to Lisboa, Portugal! Thursday was Día de Andalucia and I didn't have class but my group decided to leave Thursday night because we wanted a day to do homework and relax. That day was also supposed to be the day that the Parliament of Andalucia building was open to the pubic, which only happens one day a year. That ended up happening the Sunday before but luckily I found out about this and was able to go and take a tour of the building.

Our bus was at midnight and was going to take around 7 hours to get to Lisboa (Lisbon). I quickly learned that I am not a fan of night buses, which was apparent by the 2 hours of 'sleep' that I got. After we got to the bus station we headed to our hostel, which a stop by a cafe at the metro station. We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and headed out for the day. Our first stop was in the northeast part of the city and we spent a few hours exploring the parks and the aquarium. On our way there we saw a bridge that looks identical to the Golden Gate Bridge. After spending a few hours in the northeast part we headed to Sé Catedral, which is a gorgeous cathedral located towards the center part of the city. Then we headed to el Castillo de Sao Jorge and our timing was perfect because the sun was just about to set  and the Castillo over looks the city.

Afterwards we headed back to our hostel to check-in (finally!) and figure out a place to eat for dinner. I loved our hostel, it was extremely clean and the workers were so nice and helped us out so much! Something really weird happened while we were looking at the menu at the restaurant. I thought that I had recognized some friends from IU but didn't want to be that weird person who asks a complete stranger if they were a friend of theirs. However, when I saw their faces I knew it was them and it was the craziest thing! One of them is studying abroad in Madrid, the other one in France and we just so happened to have traveled to Lisboa the same weekend and we at the same restaurant at the same time.

We decided to relax after dinner and take advantage of the free and unlimited coffee, tea, and hot chocolate at our hostel before we headed to bed after a very long day of traveling and sightseeing.

Saturday:

We decided to take the hop-on-and-hop-off bus for the last two days since it was a cheap way to see most of the city. We rode that for most of the morning and got off at a few stops to explore. As for lunch we stopped by a random restaurant that looked good yet inexpensive. At first we thought that we weren't going to be able to eat there because no one spoke English or Spanish and we could not figure out what the menu said. Luckily someone came in at the right time, who spoke English, and helped us order and gave us great recommendations for lunch and of course pastries for dessert.

We continued exploring the amazing sites of the city for the rest of the day, two of my favorite were a park that overlooked the center part of the city and the capital building.

Sunday:

Our morning started off kind of early. After a big and really good (and free) breakfast at our hostel we headed out to visit the neighborhood of Belem. It just happened that during 10am-2pm on Sundays most of the monuments are free, which we didn't know about but were extremely happy with. There is also a market every Sunday that has everything from tea and honey to purses and jewelry and clothing. After our spur-of-the-moment shopping discovery, we headed over to the monastery and spent sometime in there. Mass was happening when we were in there and it was a great experience to listen in and watch a mass in Portuguese, even though it was only for a part of it. The neighborhood also has a very famous bakery near the monastery and we of course went and tried the famous pastry Pastel de Nata and it is one of the greatest things that I have ever eaten!

Afterwards we headed back to our hostel and started the journey back to Sevilla, which involved a night bus and I again barely slept.

Conclusion:

I absolutely love Lisboa, Portugal and would recommend anyone to go there. The city is so unique and beautiful and the people are so amazing!