Ávila

For the last day of spring break, my friends and I traveled to Avila, Spain. It was a very old city filled with lots of neat buildings, churches, and architecture. Only 17 days left of actual classes here, and about 5 weeks until I will be home again! Enjoy the pictures...

Spring Break

On Saturday, my friends and I traveled to Toledo for the day to start off our spring break. Toledo was the capital of Spain until the 1500s, and it is a very pretty city that sits on top of a hill top overlooking the valley with a river on three sides. We spent the day visiting churches and museums there. On Monday, we took a four hour bus ride to Valencia for two nights on the east coast of Spain. Our hotel was minutes from the beach, and the weather was 70s and sunny! The City of Arts and Sciences was definitely the highlight of the trip, and the architecture was amazing!

Cathedral of Toledo

An overlook from the top of the hill

Neat looking buildings in Toledo

Malvarrosa Beach in Valencia

At the City of Arts and Sciences

City of Arts and Sciences





More buildings at the City of Arts and Sciences



Cute little buildings

Cathedral of Valencia



Cordoba and Sevilla

Last weekend, I took a trip with my CEA program to southern Spain. It took about a 5 hour bus ride to the city of Cordoba, where the famous Cathedral of Cordoba resides with the red and white columns lining the ceilings. From there, it was another 2 hours to Sevilla, which reminded me of Arizona with the palm trees, orange trees, and 90 degree weather. The city was right on the river, and our group took a walking tour of the palace gardens and went to a Flamenco dance show. It was such a nice weekend trip and I was able to see so many great sights!

Inside the Cathedral of Cordoba

The Cathedral in Sevilla

The Flamenco dance show

The whole CEA group

Capricho Park

Capricho park, just north of the city and unknown to many, is considered to be one of the most beautiful parks in Madrid. This park dates back to 1784 when the Duke of Osuna, from one of the most illustrious and powerful of the city’s families, acquired the land for the specific purpose of giving expression to the family’s visionary and artistic values as well as to give the family a place to escape city life. Here are some pictures from today in Capricho park...

Here are two pictures from Retiro Park yesterday...

Crystal Palace

A laundry basket sculpture inside the glass palace

Weekend of celebration

My friend, Ari, who is currently studying abroad in Scotland, came to visit me for the weekend. It was really fun to show her around Madrid, and to celebrate my birthday and St. Patrick's Day with her. We went to the Reina Sofia Museum and took some more pictures of Picasso's paintings. We also visited the Archaeology Museum and the Royal Palace. The weather almost reached into the 70s, so we were able to stroll around the parks, take a boat ride, and see many sights.

Celebrating St. Pattie's Day in an Irish Pub

This stone, Km 0, in Plaza del Sol marks the exact center of Spain!

Some nose-picking of Picasso's painting

This man just blew us away!! The guy on the left is a statue, but the guy squatting on the right is a real man, and he opened his eyes every time someone would put some change into his bucket. We could not figure out how in the world he was able to squat in that position without moving an inch, but we think he was sitting on a carved out piece of stone and then plastered himself around it or something. Amazing!

I had to sneak this picture inside the Royal Palace because photography was not allowed!

Weekend in Paris!!

I arrived in Paris early Wednesday morning for a long weekend trip! The plane ride there only cost 8 Euro, so it was too good to pass up!! The hotel was in a perfect location, just two blocks away from the Louvre Museum. The day we arrived, we toured the Louvre gardens and Notre Dame. The Ash Wednesday mass was going on inside Notre Dame which was really neat to watch! On Thursday, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and toured the Orsay Museum, and at night we took a river boat cruise on the Seine River! On Friday, we spent most of the day touring the Louvre Museum and walking around to the many palaces and the Arc de Triomphe. I also enjoyed lots of good French crepes and wine. On Saturday, we visited a neat basilica and walked by Moulin Rouge on the way to the airport. It was definitely a fun trip and I think I liked Paris a bit more than Madrid. There were more trees and grass there, with lots of open spaces, whereas Madrid feels pretty crammed with all the one-way streets. Enjoy the pictures!

Carnival Madrid

There were all kinds of activities going on this weekend for Carnival Madrid, a festival leading up to Ash Wednesday. I went to a parade last night at dusk, and even most people watching the parade were all dressed up in costumes and masks. On Wednesday, they will have the "Burial of the Sardine," which is a tradition where a bunch of men dressed in black coats and hats proceed through the streets with a coffin containing an effigy of a dead sardine. The Burial of the Sardine "ridicules the ecclesiastical tradition of burying the fat to mark the beginning of Lenten fasting."

I also attended mass today at the Santa Barbara church. Everything was pretty much the same as a typical Catholic mass, except spoken and sung in Spanish. It was a great experience, and it was really neat to see the church all lit up!

A street theater play marking the beginning of the festivities

The parade



Plaza de Cibeles



Santa Barbara church all lit up