weekend in Santander

This weekend, some of the other Americans and I went to Santander. It’s a city on the north coast of Spain, on the beach of the Atlantic. It wasn’t a trip that was originally planned, but we had a free weekend so I planned it because nobody else was doing anything. I had my house mom call a hostel to book for us, then everyone who wanted to go paid me and we all went to the bus station to buy tickets to get there. Every city here, no matter how big, has a bus station to travel anywhere you want to go in Spain. It’s pretty convenient and a lot cheaper than flying. We paid 22 euro to go to Santander and back. The hostel we got was pretty nice too and it only cost each of us 26 euro per night. They had a shower and sink just out in the open in the room, and the toilet was communal. I was glad we had a shower and sink in each room so we didn’t have to fight over just one. The shower was a step in shower, kind of like the one I have in my basement at home, but it had an opaque part from your knees to your neck so no one could see that part of your body. It was kind of funny, because I was able to participate in a conversation going on in the room while I was in the shower.
Most of the time we spent there was at the beach. The beaches are beautiful with clean sand and clear water. They also had these little floating plastic islands in the ocean that you could swim to and sit on and tan, or jump off of into deeper water. It was a lot of fun swimming and playing on them. At a different beach, they had lots of pretty boulders and rocks to climb on in the water. At first, you could totally see all the rocks and we went climbing on them. Then, we stayed there so long that by the time we were leaving, all the rocks were covered except for a really tall one. The tide came really close to us. Of course while we were at the beach, we ate a lot of ice cream. I was excited about how tan I got too. At night, we went out for tapas and to the discotecas. Oh, and “discoteca” doesn’t mean you dance disco there or anything corny, it’s like the equivalent to a “club” in America. They don’t call them clubs here though because “club” means a place where you go buy a prostitute. There are only a few discotecas in Valladolid, but in Santander there were like a million. We found one we really liked and we made friends with a few girls from Miami and another girl from Spain who wanted to practice English.
It was a lot of fun to be with a bunch of my friends here and travel to a nice beach to relax for the weekend. This next weekend, I’ll be in Madrid! But tomorrow I’m going to Madrid too to see a futbol/soccer game. I’m pretty excited about that but I don’t know anything about that sport. I have to spend the night in Madrid because there aren’t any buses that will be leaving for how late the game goes. Then, we have to wake up really early the next day so we can get back to Valladolid in time for class. This should be interesting, but fun!

Segovia

Yesterday, we traveled to Segovia. It is a more touristic town, so I was finally able to get some magnets and other gifts for my family. I also bought a full size flag, which I’m really excited about! This is the town with the aqua ducts- this cool looking bridge thing that transports water from the mountains to the city. I’ll try to put a pic up on here to show you, but if not, ill have pics of it up on Facebook. We also saw some really nice landscapes and churches. Our house mothers packed us lunches to eat in Segovia. There was a festival going on there though, so it was so crowded we couldn’t find a place to sit. Finally, we just sat on the side of some buildings in the street and ate our lunch like homeless people. Segovia is also home to the Alcazar, one of the castles that Walt Disney used to design his. The castle was so huge and pretty inside. We climbed 152 stairs up through the tower to go on top of the castle. I would love to live there, and I couldn’t believe how big it was. The moat around it was at least 6 stories below the entrance, and then you still have to take 152 stairs to the top. I can only imagine how many floors it must have. It also had a lot of things made out of gold on the inside including tapestries, furniture, and the walls and ceilings. Of course before we left Segovia, we bought ice cream. It is so unbelievable how much better the ice cream is here! I’m going to miss it so much. What I don’t believe, is that it is made by Nestle! I don’t know why Nestle sells all their crappy stuff to America and ships all the good ice cream to Europe. It is so much softer, but doesn’t melt as fast, and has chocolate chips in it, and never has freezer burn.
After Segovia, my Italian roommate Giulia made us pizza. She said that the pizza is just like you have in Italy. We had crust with tomato sauce on it, and then small slices of provolone scattered that didn’t cover the whole pizza. Then she sprinkled it with parmesan cheese and oregano and topped it with cherry tomato slices. It was really good! When I get home, I’m going to try to make some of the stuff she does. Later, we went out to a popular club here, where an older man was having a bachelor party. The guys looked like they were in the mob with pin-striped suits and hats. They were so funny looking because everybody else in the club was young. The man said this was his 5th marriage! If I failed 4 times before, I don’t think I would try again, but I guess divorce is very common here. Me and my friends practiced our Spanish with them and they gave us a few pointers about Valladolid. At first, they seemed like creepers but in the end they were just sweet old grandpas that just wanted a little fun.

first day in spain

So today I arrived in Spain. The plane ride from Newark to here was only 6 hours, but I never want to take a flight where youre supposed to sleep again. It´s just to hard to sleep upright.
Anyways, when we got here, if I didn´t know I arrived in Spain, I would´ve thought this was America. In Madrid, they have tall buildings like any other city and you still drive on the right side of the road. Valladolid, where I am staying, has older and shorter buildings with cool architecture but still looks similar to America. The sidewalks are even wider than those in NYC and they have cafes all over them, there´s a shopping center that looks like Crocker Park, and a park that looks like Central Park.
My other roommate is from Italy but she hasnt gotten here yet. She is coming Sunday. My Mama is really nice though, but sometimes we can´t understand eachother. She only speaks Spanish. She is diabetic so everything she makes is healthy which is good. It is different how they eat. Breakfast and dinner are eaten on your own. I can go out to eat or heat something up if I want. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and you have it with family. We had 3 courses. The first course was brocoli and potatoes, the second was chicken, and the last course is always fruit and we had an apple. I would have liked eating the broccoli and potatoes better with the chicken instead of by themselves. Who sits there and eats just vegetables?
After I got settled in I called a girl, Kassie, from my group to meet up and walk around the city. We went to the park and the plaza and had our first shopping experience together. We both wanted ice cold water because at our homes, they drink only warm water. The guys at the bar were very nice and slowed down their talking so we could understand. A bottle of water costs about 2 euros.
In the shopping center there was some stores we knew like sephora and rolex. We went in the sephora and I think the perfumes were cheaper, but I´m not really sure because the prices were in euros. There was also a store called "womens secret" and it sold lingerie and bathing suits kind of like victorias secret. It doesn´t have anything like the Pink brand though. I also went to a grocery store which smelled literally fishy. They also had pigs legs hanging up. The fruit section looked a lot like a farmers market and the beauty section seemed expensive.
I will try to put up pictures later but I´m not on my own computer now.
¡Hasta Luego!

Where I've Been So Far

I've spent most of my years traveling to at least on place outside of my home state of Ohio. Unfortunately, I've covered all but 5 states on the east coast, and not much else.
I've been to Florida so many times that I'm going cross-eyed with it, although Disney World will never bore me.
Pennsylvania, my parents' home state, is a place we travel to at least twice a year. Just seeing the people I love there makes it an enjoyable place to visit. If I were to judge the state itself, though, I'd say it's a lot of fun as long as you know where to go. Kennywood, Sandcastle, Mt. Washington, and Station Square are a lot of fun and I still have a lot more to see in Pennsylvania.
Canada has the beautiful Niagara Falls of course and other cool tourist-y things to do that are fun for kids and adults. It makes for a nice place to take a short trip.
Just recently my family and I have been taking a yearly bus trip to Manhattan. This is a lot of fun because we get to see new sites every year and return to ones we enjoyed last year. I don't think I have to tell anyone about sites in Manhattan or try to convince anyone to go there.

Myrtle Beach, no matter how much some may like it, isn't one of the best places I have been to. It has nice beaches and lots of restaurants, outlet malls, and mini golf courses, but I think you can experience that near any beach. It was way to crowded and I'd actually like to go back to South Carolina to experience another part of it that is more calm.
Ocean City, Maryland had a much calmer scene and nice beaches. You definitely have to go in the summer because it is more northern, but it isn't so crowded but give the satisfaction that any beach would.
Maine is one of my favorite states. It has great sea food for cheap and the best blue-berry flavored desserts ever. Even though it can be cold, its charm and beautiful scenery make up for it.
The Bahamas was absolutely gorgeous. The food is tropical, the water is clear, and the sand is white. It is probably the same as any beach in the Carri bean, so I just recommend making it to the Caribbean.
Texas is the only place I have strayed from the east. It is my favorite state and I want to move there. It has nice weather and a western/Mexican feel but at the same time it has big cities. This makes for a great mix.
Every other state I have visited did not have such an impact on me as these did.

Next I will be going to Spain. I am a little nervous and will be blogging about it on here. It will be a new experience and my first time outside North America.