Day 5 Fri 7/31
Part 1: The DMZ- demilitarized zone
Today Maggie and I went to the DMZ, demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Because North Korea is a communist country, no travel is allowed and no one is allowed out of the country. There are four different bridges for the DMZ, but we only went to the third one because it was the closest to Seoul, where we got on our tour bus. Our tour guide was Clara, a cute girl from Seoul with braces who was about 20, accompanied by a man in front of us who acted as a second tour guide because he had just been to the war museum and clearly wanted to talk about it. In 1953, the demilitarized zone was established, but South Korea actually never signed off on it, so it's really an agreement between North Korea and the United Nations. We started at the JSA, joint security area, where we saw a PowerPoint about the history and random facts, shown by two US soldiers. There is a freedom village in the DMZ, that doesn't belong to North or South Korea and is constantly protected (home to a few lucky wealthy people who don't have to pay taxes to either country). We went to the line and saw the ROK (South Korean) soldiers standing guard against North Korea. There was one North Korean man on the opposite side of the line holding the fort down checking out the tour group with binoculars. We were able to go into a conference room and cross over into North Korea, where we got good pictures officially standing in North Korea. We also went to site seeing areas to get a view of North Korea from a distance and take pictures, but at a strictly enforced distance. On the tour, we also got to go down to one of the tunnels South Korea found that North Korea was trying to dig through the South for attack. We put on helmets and got to walk 2 kilometers at an 11 degree decline (ouch to the knees) to see through to the North's side of the cave. Luckily, we wore helmets, because I banged my head on the top of the tunnel at least twenty times. People over here are just shorter than the average American. The DMZ was something I will probably never get to do again.
On the ride back from the DMZ, we stopped at a train station that was worldly important. If South Korea and North Korea reunite, people would have access all around Europe and Asia through the connecting railroads. While we were sitting in chairs in the station talking to each other, a Korean visitor from another tour bus came up and stood as close as he could to Maggie without touching her. While I'm sitting there staring thinking what the h are you doing, Maggie and I turn to see people taking a picture of him (us). Yes, this forty something Koan man was trying to snap himself into a picture with us, people with blonde hair. Weird. We got up and posed for a picture with him. He was ecstatic. Afterwards, Maggie got another photo request, funny Koreans.
Part 2: The Day in Seoul
We got done with the DMZ tour around 3:30, then Maggie showed me some of the popular parts of Seoul. First, we went to Myeong-dong that was a lot like the heart of Madrid. The city had streets packed with people and popular stores, all three stories high. There was a ZARA and Forever 21, but we weren't able to buy much, because there is just no room to jam more stuff in a tiny backpack. After the light shopping, we went to see the palace, which happened to be closed, but I saw it and got a picture outside to document it. The last part of town Maggie showed me was Insa-Dong, that was an outdoor street filled with souvenirs and old restaurants. We walked around a lot of the little stores and checked out the cute Korean souvenirs for sale, like chop sticks and graphic socks. We finished the day with a trip to the PC bang, which was the computer room where you pay a little bit of money for a computer, with Internet access. The Koreans love their video games, so you can imagine it was a packed house, Friday night at the PC bang.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 30, 2012
South Korea - day 4
Day 4 Thurs 7/30
The jet lag really hit me today. I feel like I could sleep all day. Maggie dragged me out of bed at noon to go to lunch with her bosses. We went to a Korean restaurant and took off our shoes when we entered the restaurant. We sat on not so comfy sitting place mats and wore eating aprons. We ate duck that we cooked in front of us and wrapped it in lettuce. I learned that in Korea they calculate age differently then us. When you are born, you are born at year 1 and at the Chinese new year everybody ages a year. In Korea I am actually 23 instead of 21. For desert we had coffee with a creamer in it that was extremely hot. We took the rest of Maggie's stuff to be mailed home to the post office and went by her friends English academy to pick up the a phone to use for the trip. In the afternoon Maggie talked me into going to the jimjilbang, which was an experience to say the least. A jimjilbang is a place where Koreans hang out and it has about everything you could possibly need. When you go in, you pay eight dollars and are given a towel, a locker key, and some pajamas. As you enter the locker room, you find naked Korean women. Everywhere. The locker room was similar to one you'd find at la fitness and from there, you can go two directions. The first choice you have is to enter a room to the left that has lots of pools, showers, areas to sit and wash yourself, and benches for body scrub services. The second option is to go the hallway on the right, and go to the communal area where the guys and girls are together. First, we joined the naked Koreans and went in the pool room. Being totally nude in front of dozens of people is really something that does not come naturally. I was very hesitant to the thought of it, but once you get there and everyone is naked, you'd be the odd man out to keep clothes on. So we showered, went in all the different pools, bathed ourselves in public, and just hung out nude. Interesting right. We bought shampoo, conditioner, and body scrub to use to wash. Before we left the room, we decided to cap off the experience with a body scrub. It felt really good, but it was a little interesting having someone move you around and scrub you down butt naked. Afterwards, we put on our pajamas and went into the guys and girls section. There was a restaurant, many different sauna rooms, a workout center, a kids area, and a sleep room. We tried out all the equipment in the workout room. The saunas were pretty cool. They were all at different temperatures, from hot to cold, with different aromas to take in as you sat in them. The last sauna was hot and made of flooring of hard metal balls, which were relaxing as you laid/rolled on them. We got pictures in it. For dinner, we enjoyed a good American pasta from Outback steakhouse. Maggie wanted to go back to her school to say goodbye to her Tuesday/Thursday students so we did that and she told all five classes about her banker that told her this morning, "I hope to meet you again before we both die" haha, they loved it. We went to a cafe to find wifi after the visit and are getting up early in the morning to go to the DMZ.
The jet lag really hit me today. I feel like I could sleep all day. Maggie dragged me out of bed at noon to go to lunch with her bosses. We went to a Korean restaurant and took off our shoes when we entered the restaurant. We sat on not so comfy sitting place mats and wore eating aprons. We ate duck that we cooked in front of us and wrapped it in lettuce. I learned that in Korea they calculate age differently then us. When you are born, you are born at year 1 and at the Chinese new year everybody ages a year. In Korea I am actually 23 instead of 21. For desert we had coffee with a creamer in it that was extremely hot. We took the rest of Maggie's stuff to be mailed home to the post office and went by her friends English academy to pick up the a phone to use for the trip. In the afternoon Maggie talked me into going to the jimjilbang, which was an experience to say the least. A jimjilbang is a place where Koreans hang out and it has about everything you could possibly need. When you go in, you pay eight dollars and are given a towel, a locker key, and some pajamas. As you enter the locker room, you find naked Korean women. Everywhere. The locker room was similar to one you'd find at la fitness and from there, you can go two directions. The first choice you have is to enter a room to the left that has lots of pools, showers, areas to sit and wash yourself, and benches for body scrub services. The second option is to go the hallway on the right, and go to the communal area where the guys and girls are together. First, we joined the naked Koreans and went in the pool room. Being totally nude in front of dozens of people is really something that does not come naturally. I was very hesitant to the thought of it, but once you get there and everyone is naked, you'd be the odd man out to keep clothes on. So we showered, went in all the different pools, bathed ourselves in public, and just hung out nude. Interesting right. We bought shampoo, conditioner, and body scrub to use to wash. Before we left the room, we decided to cap off the experience with a body scrub. It felt really good, but it was a little interesting having someone move you around and scrub you down butt naked. Afterwards, we put on our pajamas and went into the guys and girls section. There was a restaurant, many different sauna rooms, a workout center, a kids area, and a sleep room. We tried out all the equipment in the workout room. The saunas were pretty cool. They were all at different temperatures, from hot to cold, with different aromas to take in as you sat in them. The last sauna was hot and made of flooring of hard metal balls, which were relaxing as you laid/rolled on them. We got pictures in it. For dinner, we enjoyed a good American pasta from Outback steakhouse. Maggie wanted to go back to her school to say goodbye to her Tuesday/Thursday students so we did that and she told all five classes about her banker that told her this morning, "I hope to meet you again before we both die" haha, they loved it. We went to a cafe to find wifi after the visit and are getting up early in the morning to go to the DMZ.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
South Korea - days 2&3
Day 2 Tues. 7/28
I have arrived, luckily. Through the typhoon that is supposed to be hitting any time this week, it was a miracle that the plane landed. It was a super rough landing. I got to the airport around 7, exchanged currency, got through customs and luggage, and got on the train to Gimpo. Unfortunately, when I finally got in touch with Maggie, she was at Incheon, so I waited at the train station for about an hour for her to come back and meet me. Asia reminds me a lot of Madrid, in the way the streets are set up and the way the streets look. After car, plane, train, and bus, I finally made it to my sister's apartment. It was pretty exciting, because I hadn't seen Maggie in a year. Around 11 Maggie took me to my first Korean meal, her favorite, Korean BBQ. It was pretty cool because we had a grill in the middle of our table and cooked our own pork. I tried kimchi for the first time, which was a little spicy, but tasty. Maggie's coworker Sam came and ate with us for the end of the meal. It was fun to meet her first friend. Sometimes I forget to think about her friends since she's in Korea. We went home and got to sleep around 12:30.
Day 3 Wed. 7/29
Woke up around 10. Went to another good Korean meal and ate bulgogi, a soup with beef and rice and egg noodles in it. After, we walked through the outdoor market, which was cool, but smelled pretty fishy. Around 12:40 we went to 7/11 and gave some of her students parents some "giveaways", then she showed me the school, and I went on another so successful jog up a mountain at the end of her road. I went back to her place, showered, then went to visit her at school. The kids were very cute. She taught seven classes, all at different levels. Six of the classes were more intermediate and the last class was advanced, called Chung dahm. The kids all looked shocked when I walked into the room, which was fun, but in a lot of the classes, I felt like I was repeating a lot. For one of her classes, she left to go to a meeting, and I got to teach the class for twenty minutes, which I loved. She finished up at her English academy at 10 and we went to eat with a lot of Maggie's friends afterwards. One of her best friends, Kayti, also finished up her teaching in Korea this semester and it was a pretty sad goodbye. Sam was also there tonight, along with some of her other good friends, Carla, Brynn, Joseph, Alex, and Sam. There were about twenty of us, and we ate another Korean dish. It was a lot of rice and seaweed, mixed with some Korean noodles. There was also some delicious pork served with it and we got beer with it as well. Afterwards, we went and sat on some non flowing fountain stairs overlooking the highways with her friends. It was really pretty and a good time for Maggie's last night with all friends and my introduction to her friends. It started raining a little bit and we moved under the wooden shelter nearby. It was really fun and everyone said their final goodbyes. I really like her friends, they were from all over, a lot from different states. All of them were really funny and outgoing, what else to expect from people willing to teach English in Korea. We took a ten minute cab ride home with Sam, back to Maggie's apartment around 4:00 am. Overall, would say it was a great first night out in Korea.
I have arrived, luckily. Through the typhoon that is supposed to be hitting any time this week, it was a miracle that the plane landed. It was a super rough landing. I got to the airport around 7, exchanged currency, got through customs and luggage, and got on the train to Gimpo. Unfortunately, when I finally got in touch with Maggie, she was at Incheon, so I waited at the train station for about an hour for her to come back and meet me. Asia reminds me a lot of Madrid, in the way the streets are set up and the way the streets look. After car, plane, train, and bus, I finally made it to my sister's apartment. It was pretty exciting, because I hadn't seen Maggie in a year. Around 11 Maggie took me to my first Korean meal, her favorite, Korean BBQ. It was pretty cool because we had a grill in the middle of our table and cooked our own pork. I tried kimchi for the first time, which was a little spicy, but tasty. Maggie's coworker Sam came and ate with us for the end of the meal. It was fun to meet her first friend. Sometimes I forget to think about her friends since she's in Korea. We went home and got to sleep around 12:30.
Day 3 Wed. 7/29
Woke up around 10. Went to another good Korean meal and ate bulgogi, a soup with beef and rice and egg noodles in it. After, we walked through the outdoor market, which was cool, but smelled pretty fishy. Around 12:40 we went to 7/11 and gave some of her students parents some "giveaways", then she showed me the school, and I went on another so successful jog up a mountain at the end of her road. I went back to her place, showered, then went to visit her at school. The kids were very cute. She taught seven classes, all at different levels. Six of the classes were more intermediate and the last class was advanced, called Chung dahm. The kids all looked shocked when I walked into the room, which was fun, but in a lot of the classes, I felt like I was repeating a lot. For one of her classes, she left to go to a meeting, and I got to teach the class for twenty minutes, which I loved. She finished up at her English academy at 10 and we went to eat with a lot of Maggie's friends afterwards. One of her best friends, Kayti, also finished up her teaching in Korea this semester and it was a pretty sad goodbye. Sam was also there tonight, along with some of her other good friends, Carla, Brynn, Joseph, Alex, and Sam. There were about twenty of us, and we ate another Korean dish. It was a lot of rice and seaweed, mixed with some Korean noodles. There was also some delicious pork served with it and we got beer with it as well. Afterwards, we went and sat on some non flowing fountain stairs overlooking the highways with her friends. It was really pretty and a good time for Maggie's last night with all friends and my introduction to her friends. It started raining a little bit and we moved under the wooden shelter nearby. It was really fun and everyone said their final goodbyes. I really like her friends, they were from all over, a lot from different states. All of them were really funny and outgoing, what else to expect from people willing to teach English in Korea. We took a ten minute cab ride home with Sam, back to Maggie's apartment around 4:00 am. Overall, would say it was a great first night out in Korea.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Asia - 2012 begins
Day 1 8/27/12 - I'm beginning my next world travels around Asia for 3 months with my sister. We'll be living in backpacks and sleeping in hostels for the most of the trip. The trip has just begun. I'm sitting in the Atl airport waiting to catch my flight to San Francisco where I have a connecting flight to Korea to meet up with Maggie, since she has been teaching over there for a year. SO EXCITED!!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
The End of Spain (July 2011)
Day 24: Monday- classes
Day 25: Tuesday- visit to Segovia. Got to see the inspiration for Disney world’s castle. Segovia has a really cool aquaduct that runs through the city! While we were there they gave us two hours free time, but it was during siesta time so everything was closed. Dani and I had some wine while we were in Avila, before the tour of the castle haha. That night a few of us (me, Lena, Lauren, Scott, Cody, Dani) went to a Mexican restaurant that was alright, definitely not as good as the states Mexican food though. It was in the gay part of town.
Day 26: Wednesday- classes. Sick
Day 27: Thursday- Visit to Avila the city surrounded by towers. Home to St Theresa of Avila and we got to see her preserved stored finger. We (Me, Megan, Dani, and Wes) ate at a wonderful Kebob place in Avila, but did not climb the tower in Avila, which was a regret. Cristobol said we needed to do it a million times, but everyone was over tourism by then, it just didn’t happen. A lot of my friends didn’t have to go to Avila because a ton of them only had one class.
Day 28: Friday-
Day 29: Saturday-We went to Aquapolis water park. It was really cool to go to a water park in Spain. Really fun, really dangerous! All the slides were concrete.
Day 30: Sunday- Rastro flea market. I walked around with Brittani for a lot of the day. Megan and I made our last trip to our favorite restaurant, The American Burger House, for dinner.
Day 31: Monday- classes
Day 32: Tuesday- classes. Went to the clothes museum and for dinner a small group of 7 of us went to the oldest restaurant in the world (me, Lena, Lauren, Mary Michael, Cody, Stanton, Dani). Dani and I split the suckling pig and the filet with mushrooms. Both were delicious!!
Day 33: Wednesday- finals. CLASSES OVER! Went to cerverceritos with dani and Lauren for one-dollar drinks and sandwiches after our last final and a lot of people met us there. A lot of fun. That night everyone went hard for the last night here. We started at the palace club, which has a Wednesday night special of free for girls and $5 for guys and you get unlimited beer and sangria. Afterwards we headed over to Joy Eslava, which is a really good club in Madrid as well. A lot of the teachers came as well. For a late night snack, Megan and I finally made it to the chocolateria, which served churros and a big bowl of melted chocolate. DELICIOUS!
Day 34: Thursday- Last day in Madrid. Slept till 2. Dani and I ate lunch at a Turkish place at Gran Via, which was great, then we did some souvenir shopping. The protest has gotten out of control at Sol, the Sol metro station has been closed for a few days now and there are loads of police around Sol. The police in Spain are not as reserved as in America. The police are free to harass the people if they feel that they are not being treated nicely. It was really scary, what we saw some of the policemen do to civilians. The Spanish government is down with the protest! That night Brittani, Elizabeth, and I went for a run through Retiro Park. The park was gorgeous. We had to take the metro forever out to get there, but it was definitely worth it. Gorgeous park. Ate at the colegio for the last time for dinner and they served pizza and eggrolls, a personal favorite.
Day 25: Tuesday- visit to Segovia. Got to see the inspiration for Disney world’s castle. Segovia has a really cool aquaduct that runs through the city! While we were there they gave us two hours free time, but it was during siesta time so everything was closed. Dani and I had some wine while we were in Avila, before the tour of the castle haha. That night a few of us (me, Lena, Lauren, Scott, Cody, Dani) went to a Mexican restaurant that was alright, definitely not as good as the states Mexican food though. It was in the gay part of town.
Day 26: Wednesday- classes. Sick
Day 27: Thursday- Visit to Avila the city surrounded by towers. Home to St Theresa of Avila and we got to see her preserved stored finger. We (Me, Megan, Dani, and Wes) ate at a wonderful Kebob place in Avila, but did not climb the tower in Avila, which was a regret. Cristobol said we needed to do it a million times, but everyone was over tourism by then, it just didn’t happen. A lot of my friends didn’t have to go to Avila because a ton of them only had one class.
Day 28: Friday-
Day 29: Saturday-We went to Aquapolis water park. It was really cool to go to a water park in Spain. Really fun, really dangerous! All the slides were concrete.
Day 30: Sunday- Rastro flea market. I walked around with Brittani for a lot of the day. Megan and I made our last trip to our favorite restaurant, The American Burger House, for dinner.
Day 31: Monday- classes
Day 32: Tuesday- classes. Went to the clothes museum and for dinner a small group of 7 of us went to the oldest restaurant in the world (me, Lena, Lauren, Mary Michael, Cody, Stanton, Dani). Dani and I split the suckling pig and the filet with mushrooms. Both were delicious!!
Day 33: Wednesday- finals. CLASSES OVER! Went to cerverceritos with dani and Lauren for one-dollar drinks and sandwiches after our last final and a lot of people met us there. A lot of fun. That night everyone went hard for the last night here. We started at the palace club, which has a Wednesday night special of free for girls and $5 for guys and you get unlimited beer and sangria. Afterwards we headed over to Joy Eslava, which is a really good club in Madrid as well. A lot of the teachers came as well. For a late night snack, Megan and I finally made it to the chocolateria, which served churros and a big bowl of melted chocolate. DELICIOUS!
Day 34: Thursday- Last day in Madrid. Slept till 2. Dani and I ate lunch at a Turkish place at Gran Via, which was great, then we did some souvenir shopping. The protest has gotten out of control at Sol, the Sol metro station has been closed for a few days now and there are loads of police around Sol. The police in Spain are not as reserved as in America. The police are free to harass the people if they feel that they are not being treated nicely. It was really scary, what we saw some of the policemen do to civilians. The Spanish government is down with the protest! That night Brittani, Elizabeth, and I went for a run through Retiro Park. The park was gorgeous. We had to take the metro forever out to get there, but it was definitely worth it. Gorgeous park. Ate at the colegio for the last time for dinner and they served pizza and eggrolls, a personal favorite.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Portugal
Day 15: Saturday was nice and relaxing. We got to sleep in and went to Pizza Jardin for lunch with a group of people who were staying in town: Megan, Arianna, Stanton, Will, and some others. The pizza was delicious. Afterwards, Megan, Arianna, and I went to the fountain at the park to layout, which was fun! I wish we had a park like it in Georgia, its gorgeous! People over here get to lay out super late because the sun doesn’t go down until about 9:00. After laying out, I was able to get in a siesta, dinner, and a run before going out. We went out with six girls down to Sol: Megan, Arianna, Chelsey, Tamra, Kathryn, and I. Two good clubs we found were Cocoa and Moondance, but all the drinks are really expense in the clubs, so we try to go content. Also, a lot of people are walking around Sol trying to get you to come to their club or bar and giving away a “free drink” or other promo, which is cool for your first drink. We met a group of guys who were from Italy, but in Madrid for a bachelor party. They were wearing GAME OVER t-shirts and came to Cocoa with us for the end of the night. At 5, we took the bus home and when we got off, a sketchy group of Spanish guys followed us to the colegio. We had to buzz the guard a million times before we were let in and after he let the guys in too. He had to chase them out and called the cops on them because they were being so rambunctious. They were trying to jump the gate and we watched off the third floor balcony. It was a fun night.
Day 16: Sunday was a pretty good day also. I slept in until 2 and went to Burger House for lunch (the delicious American place). That Sunday afternoon, we took the metro to the bullfight. It was really an awesome experience. I thought it was cool but there were some girls in the group were a little queasy and one girl in our group, Victoria, fainted. Luckily one of our teachers was there with her family and was able to help. We got yelled at as we left the ring because people aren’t supposed to leave the arena when the bull is in the ring. The group left after the second one, but the second bull was very wild and hurt the matador pretty badly. Afterwards we went to an all you can eat restaurant in Sol… not worth it. But I really enjoyed the bull fight.
Day 17: Monday we went back to school. Just a regular school day. That night I was planning on going to wine with Dani and a group of people, which we did, but afterwards when a group walked by who was going out I hopped up and went to the Moondance club with them that night. It was a crazy Monday night. Met some people from D.C. My white shoe broke and I couldn’t find anywhere else to buy one, so I walked around the club barefoot all night. Disgusting. When we got home, at 2:55, made curfew, Jacqui came to my room and stunted me up through my window onto the roof. We broke my wall. It was a really fun night.
Day 18: On Tuesday we ha a field trip and our teacher had told us we had to be ready at 9, but at breakfast, she told us it was actually 10. We walked to the American Museum, but luckily we didn’t have a tour guide so we only had to stay as long as we got our info to write our paper. It was a quick trip. I went back to the colegio and slept until lunch…. 2:00. After lunch, Megan and I went shopping and I spent so much money and it was so great! Got a ton of new clothes. Good day.
Day 19: Wednesday was another school day and I had two presentations due for both of my classes. They were over the same topics so I just printed off my paper twice and presented it twice. I hope that’s not against the code of conduct…? Wednesday afternoon we went rowing at Retiro Park until dinner. I got a boat with Christina and Brittani, which was a lot of fun. Gorgeous park!! Wednesday night I had to do my cism/computer class, which I wasn’t able to do any of the access work (half of the class), but I think I at least got a C in the class because I did so well on the tests. The week flew by.
Day 20: Thursday I had to be at my field trip at 9 and we went to El Pais, the newspaper-manufacturing place. Learned a little bit about how they write the paper and the history of it. When we got back to the colegio I grabbed my bag for the weekend and got on the bus for Portugal. I’m sitting by Dani right now and we are each listening to one of the two headphones for my ipod. I’m really excited for Portugal, even through this eight-hour drive. It’s going to be really nice to stay in the same hotel for the whole weekend. Portugal is an hour ahead of Madrid. When we got there, we ate dinnerin the hotel and we had cod. Afterwards, we went out to a place in Portugal calle El Barrio Alto. It was fun, but I was so tired, I only lasted until about 2.
Day 21: On Friday, we had to be at the buses by 9 for the tour of Portugal. Some of the things were cool and we got some nice scenery shots, but I was really tired and did sleep a little bit on the bus. Afterwards, we were dropped off the bus at a good place to shop and Dani and I ate lunch at The Cool House. Italian was good. We shopped and of course I bought some new clothes, and then we walked home, which took a while. I went for a run down a main road bfore dinner and that night we went to a dinner to watch fado, a guy play music. There was lots of red wine, really fun, bun we went home after it… orbably about 1. I roomed with Dani, Lauren, and Lena for the weekend.
Day 22: Saturday was beach day! I feel lost without having a week at the beach this summer. We took bus about an hour, stopping at some nice places along the way. We got to the beach at about 1 and ate at an Indian Italian place (Me Jacqui Dani Christina Megan etc). Really delicious food. We went to the beach, which was again acceptable to go topless. There was a really high cliff there that we jumped off, which was dangerous but fun. I only went once. The water was COLDDD! Afterwards we took the bus back, stopping at a castle for pictures. We got home and ate chicken at the hotel. That night we went to a really cool place, but it had a 12 euro cover (18 dollars) so only half of us went in. We didn’t know the cover went towards drinks. So the rest of us walked around for a while and a group of us ended up at barrio alto (Christina megan marymichael wes). It was fun, but once again I was so tired I only made it til 3. I feel asleep in the cab ride home.
Day 23: We had to be back at the bus at 10:00 and started our journey. We stopped for lunch at a really cute place, that took a while. I had a cold cut appetizer and pork chops for lunch. We are back on the bus watching Vicky Christina Barcelona… same movie we watched last bus ride. I am getting sick and getting homesick. Not enough sleep. Thanks for reading ☺ Went to McDonalds for dinner!
Day 16: Sunday was a pretty good day also. I slept in until 2 and went to Burger House for lunch (the delicious American place). That Sunday afternoon, we took the metro to the bullfight. It was really an awesome experience. I thought it was cool but there were some girls in the group were a little queasy and one girl in our group, Victoria, fainted. Luckily one of our teachers was there with her family and was able to help. We got yelled at as we left the ring because people aren’t supposed to leave the arena when the bull is in the ring. The group left after the second one, but the second bull was very wild and hurt the matador pretty badly. Afterwards we went to an all you can eat restaurant in Sol… not worth it. But I really enjoyed the bull fight.
Day 17: Monday we went back to school. Just a regular school day. That night I was planning on going to wine with Dani and a group of people, which we did, but afterwards when a group walked by who was going out I hopped up and went to the Moondance club with them that night. It was a crazy Monday night. Met some people from D.C. My white shoe broke and I couldn’t find anywhere else to buy one, so I walked around the club barefoot all night. Disgusting. When we got home, at 2:55, made curfew, Jacqui came to my room and stunted me up through my window onto the roof. We broke my wall. It was a really fun night.
Day 18: On Tuesday we ha a field trip and our teacher had told us we had to be ready at 9, but at breakfast, she told us it was actually 10. We walked to the American Museum, but luckily we didn’t have a tour guide so we only had to stay as long as we got our info to write our paper. It was a quick trip. I went back to the colegio and slept until lunch…. 2:00. After lunch, Megan and I went shopping and I spent so much money and it was so great! Got a ton of new clothes. Good day.
Day 19: Wednesday was another school day and I had two presentations due for both of my classes. They were over the same topics so I just printed off my paper twice and presented it twice. I hope that’s not against the code of conduct…? Wednesday afternoon we went rowing at Retiro Park until dinner. I got a boat with Christina and Brittani, which was a lot of fun. Gorgeous park!! Wednesday night I had to do my cism/computer class, which I wasn’t able to do any of the access work (half of the class), but I think I at least got a C in the class because I did so well on the tests. The week flew by.
Day 20: Thursday I had to be at my field trip at 9 and we went to El Pais, the newspaper-manufacturing place. Learned a little bit about how they write the paper and the history of it. When we got back to the colegio I grabbed my bag for the weekend and got on the bus for Portugal. I’m sitting by Dani right now and we are each listening to one of the two headphones for my ipod. I’m really excited for Portugal, even through this eight-hour drive. It’s going to be really nice to stay in the same hotel for the whole weekend. Portugal is an hour ahead of Madrid. When we got there, we ate dinnerin the hotel and we had cod. Afterwards, we went out to a place in Portugal calle El Barrio Alto. It was fun, but I was so tired, I only lasted until about 2.
Day 21: On Friday, we had to be at the buses by 9 for the tour of Portugal. Some of the things were cool and we got some nice scenery shots, but I was really tired and did sleep a little bit on the bus. Afterwards, we were dropped off the bus at a good place to shop and Dani and I ate lunch at The Cool House. Italian was good. We shopped and of course I bought some new clothes, and then we walked home, which took a while. I went for a run down a main road bfore dinner and that night we went to a dinner to watch fado, a guy play music. There was lots of red wine, really fun, bun we went home after it… orbably about 1. I roomed with Dani, Lauren, and Lena for the weekend.
Day 22: Saturday was beach day! I feel lost without having a week at the beach this summer. We took bus about an hour, stopping at some nice places along the way. We got to the beach at about 1 and ate at an Indian Italian place (Me Jacqui Dani Christina Megan etc). Really delicious food. We went to the beach, which was again acceptable to go topless. There was a really high cliff there that we jumped off, which was dangerous but fun. I only went once. The water was COLDDD! Afterwards we took the bus back, stopping at a castle for pictures. We got home and ate chicken at the hotel. That night we went to a really cool place, but it had a 12 euro cover (18 dollars) so only half of us went in. We didn’t know the cover went towards drinks. So the rest of us walked around for a while and a group of us ended up at barrio alto (Christina megan marymichael wes). It was fun, but once again I was so tired I only made it til 3. I feel asleep in the cab ride home.
Day 23: We had to be back at the bus at 10:00 and started our journey. We stopped for lunch at a really cute place, that took a while. I had a cold cut appetizer and pork chops for lunch. We are back on the bus watching Vicky Christina Barcelona… same movie we watched last bus ride. I am getting sick and getting homesick. Not enough sleep. Thanks for reading ☺ Went to McDonalds for dinner!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Jumping Out of Planes
Day 12: Wednesday was a school day. I had tests in both of my classes and we also have group meetings Wednesday’s at 3:30. They served squid for lunch, which was interesting. It tasted alright, but it was cooked in black sauce that looked like tar. They also had some potato wedge pasta plate. I got stamps Wednesday, so hopefully I’ll get some postcards sent sooner or later.
Day 13: Thursday’s field trip this week was to the Prado museum in Madrid, that holds many paintings from famous artists throughout the centuries. It was cool and all of the paintings had different representations through every little detail. Afterwards, a lot of people left for the field trip to North of Spain, but Meghan and I stayed behind because we were late on signing up and there was only one seat left. We went souvenir shopping, took the metro BUS for the first time, and took the metro. Meghan might say that I got us lost on the way home, but I’d say we were just taking the scenic route. We started a count of how many Spaniards yelled out the window at us (may not have been in the best part of town). We still made it to lunch in time and afterwards, a group of us went down to the theatre to get Harry Potter Tickets for the midnight showing that night (Me, Meghan, Chelsea, Cathryn, Arianna, Tamra, Nick). After the metro and two metro transfers, we found the theatre and found out it was closed… we came back and bought the tickets online and had the best siestas of our lives. After dinner, I went for a run in the gorgeous park, and everyone met to go see the Friday 12:15 am Harry Potter movie. Apparently, in Spain, when they list 00:15 under Friday it is understood that it actually means the Saturday morning, so when we showed up, you know all the crazy Americans were there furious. It sucked because we thought we were seeing the movie six hours earlier than the US, but culture differences changed our plans. So that night we went to Dalai bar for a little bit, but called it an early night.
Day 14: Got to sleep in today, because I had no morning plans. I woke up at about 11:00 and Meghan and I headed to the metro station at 11:45 to go SKY DIVING!! We had to take metro and the bus on the way their, and the language barrier was difficult. Had a ham and cheese croissant and ice cream for lunch (the usual here) at the bus station. It was about an hour and a half bus ride and everyone siestaed the whole time. The way Spaniards interact is a lot different than Americans. They are much more physical with each other than we are. After we were sitting, a man got onto the bus that knew the guys in the seat in front of us, and was rubbing up against him in his greeting hug. It was funny. In the bus station, I went to the bathroom and the stall said, “When was the last time you did something that made you feel free?” It was a sign. The whole bus ride, they were playing songs to just tell us to go skydiving, like Freefalling. We finally got off the bus at this deserted little town and were a little worried. We got some directions from construction workers who spoke no English, but finally found the place after walking around the town and down a dirt road. When we got there, we went to check in and the credit card machine had taken my credit card but declined Meghan’s card, so we tried a million cards, but the machine was broken, so we had to get a guy to take us into town to withdrawal money. Meghan took out 300 Euros from an ATM and the 300 Euros never came out, but were deducted from her account…. It was a rough money day, needless to say Lillo, Madrd isn’t a very big place. We finally found a machine that worked, but it was a major CF. When we got back everything went well and we put on our jump suits and nice gear caps to get ready to go. The nerves really hit you when you start getting suited up. Before I knew it, we were getting in the plane to go. The plane was TINY and there were about nine people in squeezed in it. I was on the bench and Meghan was on the floor right next to the door that was being flung open a lot during the elevation up to the right height. We were sitting right in front of the instructor we were jumping with and they were getting up buckled together as we got higher. I started having a panic attack as the plane kept getting higher. When it came time to jump we sat on the edge of the plane, with legs together, tucked under the plane. We kind of just fell out of the plane and were free falling for about a minute, which I think was definitely the coolest part of the jump. When we got a little bit closer, my instructor, Tomi, pulled the parachute and we slowly (5 minutes slowly) lowered to the grounds. For me, it was pretty painful because my ears popped the whole rest of the way down and I got dizzy. To land, I had to stick my feet out in front of me hand hold my legs up as high as I could. It was really hard to do with the air pressure and the harness on. It definitely took me some recovery time after we got back to the land, but Meghan was on an adrenaline rush and needed no recovery at all. We got our photos and videos that were AWESOME and Tomi was our taxi to the train station. Skydiving was definitely a GREAT experience. I’m really glad I did it in Spain, we had wonderful instructors, and I got to check it off my bucket list. It is definitely something I probably will never do again. We took a train back to the metro, which was about an hour and a half before the metro rides. It was a super long day and we were glad to be back in Madrid. For dinner, at about 9:30 we found a delicious American restaurant where we got chicken sandwiches and fries, and they even had ketchup on the tables. We went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter Friday night to make up for our “cultural miscommunication” the night before. Even though we weren’t the first ones to see it, the movie was great!!! It was a great way to wrap up the Harry Potter series. We walked home from Sol, where the theater was, because the metro was already closed and got home at about 4 am. Great day!!
Day 13: Thursday’s field trip this week was to the Prado museum in Madrid, that holds many paintings from famous artists throughout the centuries. It was cool and all of the paintings had different representations through every little detail. Afterwards, a lot of people left for the field trip to North of Spain, but Meghan and I stayed behind because we were late on signing up and there was only one seat left. We went souvenir shopping, took the metro BUS for the first time, and took the metro. Meghan might say that I got us lost on the way home, but I’d say we were just taking the scenic route. We started a count of how many Spaniards yelled out the window at us (may not have been in the best part of town). We still made it to lunch in time and afterwards, a group of us went down to the theatre to get Harry Potter Tickets for the midnight showing that night (Me, Meghan, Chelsea, Cathryn, Arianna, Tamra, Nick). After the metro and two metro transfers, we found the theatre and found out it was closed… we came back and bought the tickets online and had the best siestas of our lives. After dinner, I went for a run in the gorgeous park, and everyone met to go see the Friday 12:15 am Harry Potter movie. Apparently, in Spain, when they list 00:15 under Friday it is understood that it actually means the Saturday morning, so when we showed up, you know all the crazy Americans were there furious. It sucked because we thought we were seeing the movie six hours earlier than the US, but culture differences changed our plans. So that night we went to Dalai bar for a little bit, but called it an early night.
Day 14: Got to sleep in today, because I had no morning plans. I woke up at about 11:00 and Meghan and I headed to the metro station at 11:45 to go SKY DIVING!! We had to take metro and the bus on the way their, and the language barrier was difficult. Had a ham and cheese croissant and ice cream for lunch (the usual here) at the bus station. It was about an hour and a half bus ride and everyone siestaed the whole time. The way Spaniards interact is a lot different than Americans. They are much more physical with each other than we are. After we were sitting, a man got onto the bus that knew the guys in the seat in front of us, and was rubbing up against him in his greeting hug. It was funny. In the bus station, I went to the bathroom and the stall said, “When was the last time you did something that made you feel free?” It was a sign. The whole bus ride, they were playing songs to just tell us to go skydiving, like Freefalling. We finally got off the bus at this deserted little town and were a little worried. We got some directions from construction workers who spoke no English, but finally found the place after walking around the town and down a dirt road. When we got there, we went to check in and the credit card machine had taken my credit card but declined Meghan’s card, so we tried a million cards, but the machine was broken, so we had to get a guy to take us into town to withdrawal money. Meghan took out 300 Euros from an ATM and the 300 Euros never came out, but were deducted from her account…. It was a rough money day, needless to say Lillo, Madrd isn’t a very big place. We finally found a machine that worked, but it was a major CF. When we got back everything went well and we put on our jump suits and nice gear caps to get ready to go. The nerves really hit you when you start getting suited up. Before I knew it, we were getting in the plane to go. The plane was TINY and there were about nine people in squeezed in it. I was on the bench and Meghan was on the floor right next to the door that was being flung open a lot during the elevation up to the right height. We were sitting right in front of the instructor we were jumping with and they were getting up buckled together as we got higher. I started having a panic attack as the plane kept getting higher. When it came time to jump we sat on the edge of the plane, with legs together, tucked under the plane. We kind of just fell out of the plane and were free falling for about a minute, which I think was definitely the coolest part of the jump. When we got a little bit closer, my instructor, Tomi, pulled the parachute and we slowly (5 minutes slowly) lowered to the grounds. For me, it was pretty painful because my ears popped the whole rest of the way down and I got dizzy. To land, I had to stick my feet out in front of me hand hold my legs up as high as I could. It was really hard to do with the air pressure and the harness on. It definitely took me some recovery time after we got back to the land, but Meghan was on an adrenaline rush and needed no recovery at all. We got our photos and videos that were AWESOME and Tomi was our taxi to the train station. Skydiving was definitely a GREAT experience. I’m really glad I did it in Spain, we had wonderful instructors, and I got to check it off my bucket list. It is definitely something I probably will never do again. We took a train back to the metro, which was about an hour and a half before the metro rides. It was a super long day and we were glad to be back in Madrid. For dinner, at about 9:30 we found a delicious American restaurant where we got chicken sandwiches and fries, and they even had ketchup on the tables. We went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter Friday night to make up for our “cultural miscommunication” the night before. Even though we weren’t the first ones to see it, the movie was great!!! It was a great way to wrap up the Harry Potter series. We walked home from Sol, where the theater was, because the metro was already closed and got home at about 4 am. Great day!!
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