time flies....

Well, it's hard to believe that this is my last week in Madrid. These last few days are dedicated to studying, packing, enjoying my last few days in the city and saying some sad goodbyes. Tuesday I have my last two finals and a farewell dinner, and then it's off to Barajas for the last time!

Last weekend, I went to PARIS with a bunch of friends. It was my birthday weekend and it could not have been any more fun. It is a beautiful place to be. We walked around for two days, taking in as much as we possibly could. We saw: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, a ferris wheel, the Christmas market, went on a night boat tour, and ate tons of delicious food. It was my favorite trip of the semester and I am so happy that I went.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the snow back in Maine - I'm pretty excited to come home and see it, although leaving 50 degree weather is going to be a little difficult at first. See you next week!!







The Tower at night.



And again, during the day.



View from the night boat tour.



Notre Dame... my favorite cathedral in Europe. : )



The Louvre!

Travels Galore

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!! I have been so busy lately and time has truly been FLYING by. Between papers, presentations, and all of the traveling I've been doing, I can't believe December is just around the corner!

Last weekend I went to Lisbon with the school. It was rainy on Saturday so we didn't get to see as much as we hoped to, but it was still such a fun weekend. I tried these absolutely delicious pastries and drove to the western most point of continental Europe. It was such a fun weekend and it was a nice bonding experience with my friends from school, and also a nice experience to bond with more people that I haven't spent much time with yet.

On Wednesday, my friend Kourtney and I left for IRELAND to visit and stay with Jessi! I was able to eat a turkey dinner and see her family, which was nice since I wasn't with my own. It was definitely hard being away from my own family on Thanksgiving but I was able to Skype with them for a bit so that was really nice. Kourtney and I went to Adare, a little town right outside of Limerick, which was fun and very cute. We also went to the Cliffs of Moher and they were SOOOO beautiful! And yesterday morning we were able to take a bus tour all around Dublin and explore that a little bit, also a very fun experience.

I will share more in a few weeks when I get home, but here are a few pictures! Hope you enjoy and had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! : )







Overlooking Lisbon from up above.



The trollies!! So much fun.



Me & my roommate, Cassie, in front of a castle.



Full view of the castle!



The Cliffs of Moher! Absolutely breathtaking.



One of the stops on our tour.



Poulnabrone Tomb, which was built sometime around 3800 BC.. no big deal.



Soo foggy, but that is an ancient castle!



Of course... I had to represent the fam!

a tough decision.

Hello all -

I am writing to inform you of a difficult decision that I have come to in the past few days, although I believe it has been a long time coming. Living here in Madrid has taught me so much about myself, other people, a different culture and the world. I have been so incredibly lucky to have this opportunity, and I have done my best to take advantage of everything that has been offered to me since I've been here. I have balanced out the amount of traveling and exploring around Madrid during my weekends, and I have participated in many activities in order to get to know this side of the world a little better.

But I have also had an immensely difficult time being this far away from my family, my friends and my town - basically life as I know it. I realize that college is about growing up and maturing more, and moving on to a different chapter in your life. But I think I may have opened my book to the middle, overlooking the first few chapters that are crucial to gaining that independence. For every second that I love it here, there are one or two during which I am feeling sad, lonely, and homesick. As much as I look forward to spending time with my friends or walking around and stumbling upon things in this beautiful city, I equally look forward to being able to talk to my parents and others back home.

For these reasons and a few more, I have decided that one semester in Madrid will be enough for me. This January, I am going to attend Suffolk Boston. My hope is that it will be an easier adjustment for me, and I will be able to be happy all of the time, instead of just most of it. This has been a difficult decision to make because I don't want to be disappointed in myself. But I believe that I have learned and seen so much in the past few weeks, and one semester has filled my wish to study abroad. I don't believe this is the last time I will be in Europe, but I am doing my best to soak in the last few weeks I have here. It has been a crazy ride and if time turned back to April and it was time for me to decide, I would still choose to come here, because it has been a learning experience in all aspects from day one.

In other news, I discovered an incredibly beautiful park near where I'm staying, and fall is a beautiful time, so here are some pictures I hope you will enjoy.



Fall leaves, always so beautiful.




It was so beautiful out today!




This is the park - it reminds me of an old movie screen or something.




A side view from the day I got to tour the inside - unfortunately we could not take any pictures inside. : (




I just want to eat up that sky - in front of El Palacio Real (the Royal Palace)


Hasta luego!

Happy November!!

Hi all,
Happy November! The air is getting slightly colder and the semester is picking up, as finals will be here before I know it. I have three papers due at the end of the semester, so the next few weeks will be dedicated to getting those under my belt, and not much else. I don't have much to update since my last post - just exploring the city more and more, spending way too much money at El Rastro every Sunday, and constantly hunting for book stores with English books (don't worry, I've found three already!)

November also means that I am coming home NEXT month, which I am so excited for. I do love it here and I think second semester will bring new and different adventures for me, but I can't wait for my month at home to be with my family and friends. My parents have put up with so much from me being here - constantly nagging them to talk to me, and putting up with my constant mood swings. I appreciate it sooo much and can't wait to see them next month! I have two more trips planned to Portugal and Ireland before I leave for home, so I really need to focus on school work now so I can play in a few weekends. : )

For now, here are a few pictures floating around from various events...

Enjoy! See you SOON!




Dressed up as the Spice Girls for Halloween!!



Zoomed in on the players during the Real Madrid game.



View from our nose bleed seats - but what an AMAZING experience!



Estadio Santiago Bernabeu - I live down the street from here!



The castle we saw on our hike.



Posing in front of the castle!



In town there were HUGE ostrich nests on top of the tallest buildings.



Pretty fountain in a little old town.



View from the hike - incredible.

remember me?

¡Hola!

Sorry I have abandoned my loving fans for so long, I have had a really crazy couple of weeks. I don't even know where to begin! Two weeks ago I went and saw a Flamenco dance with the school, it was incredible! There was a band made up of 7 men, and the dancers came on either by themselves or in pairs. There were 4 dancers, they each did a solo and a pair number, and at the end they all came onto the very tiny stage and did a little dance off. It felt soo cultural to me and I loved it so much, I would love to go again. The next day Jessi came to visit me for the weekend!!! I was so happy to see her, especially because it was a long weekend and most of my friends back home were going home for the weekend. I got to show her all around Madrid, and I felt awesome being able to show her so many cool things. It was so much fun to be able to see her, and I am going to stay with her for Thanksgiving, which I can't wait for! I also went to a bullfight that weekend, which was so crazy. I surprisingly didn't feel that bad for the bull (I know, I am a heartless person), I think because it felt so cultural to me and everyone was rooting for the bull to die. It was certainly very interesting and entertaining to watch. This past week I had midterms, so I spent a lot of time studying. I studied hard and I think that most of them went well, but only time will tell on this one. I spent Friday exploring Madrid more with some of my closest friends, and we found a bookstore that sells English books, which I was thrilled about since I recently finished the two books I brought over here. Yesterday, I went for a hike with the school. We went to El Boalo, which was the mountain area, and Manzanares el Real, which is a little town right outside of Madrid. Last night, I went to a Real Madrid game!! It was so much fun, and Madrid won which was very exciting as well. This afternoon I went to the Reina Sofia, but only got to stay for about 30 minutes because it closed earlier than expected.. I will definitely be back to spend some more time, because I hardly saw anything!

All in all I am having a blast and keeping myself VERY busy. I can't believe that October is halfway over already.. time has been flying by since I've been here! There is still so much that I want to see and do - too bad I have to go to school. I will do my best to start updating more regularly, time has just been slipping through my fingertips.



flamenco dancers, seriously sooo amazing. (and blurry because they moved so fast..)


Plaza de Toros! huge bullfighting building.


Palacio de Real - the Royal Palace.


YAY Jessi came to visit!!!!


A band practicing outside of the palace for a giant festival.


A face off, soo cool.


defeated bull being dragged out of the rink by horses.


Retiro Park, so beautiful.


sunset over Madrid.

: )

santiago!

weekend update!

greetings from spain, my friends,

last weekend i went on a trip with the school to santiago de compostela, which is in the northwestern part of spain. it was amazing and beautiful, and i had so much fun! the bus ride there was about 8 hours, and we left at 6 a.m. on friday morning. when we got there, we checked into our hotel (which was crazy.. 6 floors high and attached to a mall) and then we went on a walking tour of the city. another super old city in spain, it is very significant for christians because many of them do a pilgrimage throughout france and spain, and santiago is the final stop on the journey. the pilgrims usually attend mass and wash their sins through saint james. there were so many people with big traveler's backpacks and walking sticks.. it was really cool. we also went to a restaurant and had an AMAZING dinner.. we had empanada with tuna, and it was so delicious, and really cool because it's so cultural for that part of spain.

saturday we went to the cies islands, which has a beach that was rated the number one prettiest beach in europe a few years ago. it was INCREDIBLE!! i went for a hike and ended up seeing what felt like the entire atlantic ocean.. it was so so so breath taking. we spent the whole day on the island, and it was just so nice.

sunday we woke up, checked out of the hotel and threw our stuff on the bus, and then walked back in town to take a tour of the cathedral. it was so awesome being inside, because it was built in the 1100's. and then we got to go on the rooftops, and we could see the entire city and beyond. THEN we snuck inside the church.. there was a mass going on and the place was just flooded with people, it was nuts.

so all in all it was an incredible weekend. i am still loving it here and can't wait to share all of my adventures once i get home.



view looking out during our hike.


THE WATER!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT.


just some skinny side road.


monument of saint james.


gorgeous church.


sunlight shining over a little square.


the tippy top of the roof.. i was on that!

MOROCCO!!!!!

hola,

this weekend was certainly a crazy, fun, exciting weekend for me. four of my girlfriends and i met up at the barajas airport on friday morning and flew to tangier for the weekend. it was so incredible there!

the weather was nice all weekend.. it was hot out, but not unbearably so. friday we walked all around the town, stopping at both tents and little side vendors, buying souvenirs and taking in all of the moroccan culture that the city had to offer us. it was truly incredible interacting with the people there. if you showed any sort of interest in something in their shop, they would bargain with you until it was nearly impossible to say no! it was a good way to get things for cheaper, but sometimes i just wanted to look at something without being bombarded. but that is their culture, and it was certainly very interesting to see how they reacted to foreigners.

saturday, we woke up early and walked in town to get breakfast before starting our day. morocco is two hours behind madrid, so it wasn't hard waking up because it felt later than it actually was. the hotel we stayed at hooked us up with an awesome taxi tour, so we split the 60 euro taxi five ways and settled into the car. our driver took us all around tangier, the outskirts, and into another town not too far away. we also went to the caves of hercules, which was incredibly interesting. once we got back, we went to a little restaurant with genuine moroccan food.. best couscous i have had in my whole life! then we went down to the beach for awhile and hung out, and eventually made our way back to the hotel and stayed in for the night.

on sunday we got up early and had breakfast at the hotel. we checked out and decided to spend a little while on the beach until we headed back to the airport. my friend ana and i had really wanted to ride a camel all weekend, and we saw some on the beach. so we walked down and found them, and we got to ride them back to the rest of our friends. it was so fun! they are very tall though, so it was a little scary for me, too. but overall i loved it and i am so glad ana convinced me to do it. then we went back to the airport and hung around until our flight.

overall, it was a fantastic trip. i learned a lot and saw a ton, and definitely want to do more research on morocco and find out more about its' ways and customs. it was a very interesting weekend and i had so much fun. i am already excited to do more traveling!

hope you enjoy the pictures!!!





sunset in tangier.. so beautiful!


i'm not sure if i was allowed to take this.. but there were tons of people praying in there.


a little bit of the city.


a section of side vendors! this is where we did a bit of shopping.


view from our hotel.. so insane!!



sunset on the beach over the hotel part of the city.


the view frm inside the hercules caves.. they told us that it looks like africa, which it kind of does!


view of the mediterranean sea.