Summer Adventures in Spain

It´s almost over

I can´t believe how quickly five weeks has gone by. While I´ve enjoyed my time here, I´m ready to be done with classes and ready to come home. It´s been an amazing experience and I´ve really enjoyed sharing it with all of you. I hope to have another post before I leave, or perhaps during my 12 hour layover in London (during the Olympics). Thank you all for reading and for your support and encouragement. It really means a lot. Right now I´m just taking a small break from studying. Tomorrow I have finals from 3:30pm-9:30pm. Needless to say, I´m going to be tired. Wish me luck as I study away. Take care and I´ll see you soon.

Trip to Northern Spain - July 13-15

On the weekend of July 13-15 I took a trip to Northern Spain with one of my classes. It was a long weekend, but well worth it. I saw amazing places that are not comparable to the places we have at home. I am posting all of the pictures on facebook, but will post a few here as well. I will first post my itinerary so it is easier to understand.

- Friday, July 13th - We left for Northern Spain - We stopped at a castle/church first of which I know nothing about. We then went to the hotel in Saunguesa/Zangoza to drop our things off and headed to the Leyre Monastery. The Monastery was amazing and still has monks living in it. I learned here that the crypts weren't for burials but for a foundation for the church. We then stayed for a service in which we were able to hear the monks sing and chant in Latin. What an amazing experience.

The restaurant we stopped at to eat lunch.

The castle we stopped at before the hotel.

View from the Leyre Monastery

Leyre Monastery

Crypt

Church

Entrance to the church

Video of the monks singing/chanting

- Satuday, July 14th - We left to go to Huesca. On our way we stopped at the St. John of the Cliff Monastery (Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña). It was amazing. It is a monastery built into the side of a mountain. Such an amazing view and visit. If I have it right, it was started in 1071. They also have a replica of the Holy Grail which was used to collect the blood of Jesus at his crusifixion. We then went to Huesca to drop off our things at the hotel and have lunch. After lunch we went to visit St. Peter the Old Church and a Cathedral. They were both amazing as well. When we were in the Cathedral they were having a service and giving communion. We followed our tour guide up front (at the side) to look at some things and a gentlemen was shaking his finger at us as he thought we were trying to cut in the line for communion. We also went to the museum in Huesca. I wasn't feeling good at this point, so I have a lapse in pictures. However after resting on a bench for a bit and some tummy meds I was off again. After the museum we accidentally crashed a wedding. The wedding was a "civil" wedding in the courthouse and there were campesinos (people dressed in native clothing with guitars and such) waiting outside to sing and dance for them. We hung out outside and took pictures of the singing/dancing, etc. It was so amazing to see. They threw rice and also had these firework type things that shoot confetti.

Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña

The Pyreneese - border between Spain and France

Cloister in San Pedro el Viejo - Huesca - 18 of the 37 here are original - each has decorations at the top - some represent the life of San Pedro and others the life of Jesus

Original column decoration representing the crusifixion of Jesus

Concha (or shell) showing that you are on the right path for the Camino de Santiago (Path of Santiago) - this is a path for a pilgramage that some people still make - if you have time the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen it is about El Camino de Santiago - not sure how accurate it is, but it's good

A Cathedral in Huesca we went to; this is where the service was in which a man thought we were trying to cut in linen for communion and shook his finer at us.

Campesinos outside a civil wedding - we waited and took pictures :)

Yay they're here! (I have more on video than pictures)

One of the videos I took of the campesinos dancing and singing. I was standing on top of a bench to get the best view possible.

- Sunday, July 15th - We left from here to go to the Loarre Castle. What am amazing view and amazing castle. We explored the area and even took pictures of ourselves on the kings toilet. After this we headed home on our 5 hour bus ride.

Loarre Castle on the last day

Panoramic View

Edge of the castle

We climbed up and up

Now that's a lock

Peek-a-boo

The entire experience was amazing. I hope you have time to stop by facebook for more pictures. They are posted separately to make it easier to understand each site. Thank you for following!

La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor and El Palacio Nacional

Today I went to La Puerta del Sol, La Plaza Mayor and El Palacio Nacional. Here is some basic info.
- La Puerta del Sol translates into the door of the sun. This is basically point zero for Madrid. The major streets start here and go out and some of the major roads of the country go out from here as well. I hear there is a plaque showing the exact center, but I couldn't find it and I got too hot to care.
- La Plaza Mayor translates into main square and is basically just that. It has tons of shops, cafes and a tourist center. Many of the tours of Madrid start here.
- El Palacio Nacional translates into National Palace. This was the home of the royalty until the 1930s. It is massive. I cannot express in words how amazing it was. I wish I could share pictures of the inside, but they are not allowed. Every room is decorated beyond belief, with painted ceilings, statues, beautiful tapestries, carpets, some of the walls are even covered in silk. The rooms are large as well as elaborate. To give you an idea, the kings "dressing room" is bigger than my apartment at home.

I also went to Chocolatería San Ginés, it's a popular place in Madrid that is open 24hours (one of few places here) that serves Churros or Porras (like churros but bigger) with chocolate. I'm told you can drink the chocolate like hot chocolate, but it was so strong I could only use it to dip my churros and porras. There is a saying that after going out all night young people go here and get churros y chocolate and then when the churros are gone they get more and then the chocolate runs out and the get more chocolate and it's a vicious cycle.

Thanks for following! Remember, I post extra pictures on facebook as there is more room.

Building on the way

I hope this doesn't scare any of you as it shouldn't. This is graffiti near the banks of Madrid. Spain is having economic problems with the banks and government and people are very worried and upset. For the most part, people voice their opinions as we do in the states, but there are some you graffiti buildings, just like in the states. I'm not sure what this one says although it's something about Capitalism.

This one says thieves. These are both from the building in the first picture.

La Puerta del Sol

La Plaza Mayor

Churros and Porras

Chocolate (WOW!)

Chocolate San Gines

The Cathedral next to the National Palace

Video of the courtyard of the National Palace

National Palace

Dinner - I call this chicken helper spanish style.

Tuna Empanadas

Salad

Rice Pudding

Dinner July 19, 2012

Dinner from July 19, 2012, which was yesterday. Today I went to the Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor and Palacio Nacional. I will describe them more in a different post.

Quiche with veggies, very little egg.

Little "burger" shaped meat patties with mushrooms - tasted kind of like fried meatloaf to me

Salad

Melon

Dinner July 15, 2012 and a random picture

I have pictures from my dinner on Sunday, along with a random picture that I took on the trip back from Huesca. Enjoy. :)

This is an example of the ham holders I talked about earlier. The ham legs are placed in these contraptions and I think a screw goes through the foot to hold it in place. In my host mom's kitchen she has a towel wrapped around the meat. The meat doesn't have to be refrigerated because it has been cured, kind of like beef jerky.

Soup - This was kind of like Gazpacho soup but with bits of bread, ham, and cheese.

Fried Eggs in the background - Was too full to eat them. Yay! French fries! (Called Patatas Fritas here)

Awesomely delicious Chicken Nuggets

Dinner July 17, 2012

I appear to be getting sloppy with my dinner pictures. After a long day of school, I'm pretty hungry when my 8:00pm dinner is finally ready. My host mom still finds it hilarious that I take pictures of my food. She says I'm the only one of 53 students she's had that does it. But she finds it entertaining she says. So here is tonight's dinner.