Spain/Espania

Okay... so since I haven't updated my blog since forever (last month), I am going to try to talk about a couple weeks at a time. The first thing that happened right after our school trip to Rome, which of course was incredibly fun (I couldn't believe my dream of being in Rome was finally coming true!).

Anyways, so we came back from Rome, and we had two weeks of normal classes, and some day trips around the Florence area as well, no complains... just living the dream in Italy!

After those two weeks, it was time for spring break shenanigans! Justin (my roommate) and I had made plans to go to Spain and visit our great dude, Parker Phillips... so we were super pumped to get to Spain and see old faces. The game plan was to fly to take the train from Florence to Pisa, and fly to Valencia from there. I would be staying with my brother's great friend, Victor, and Justin would be staying with Parker's host family.

So the fun begun, and Justin and I packed as light as possible ( I have to give Justin credit for teaching me how to pack lightly, he is awesome at it!... I always take too many unnecessary things with me)... we left super early in the morning of March 17th. the train and the flight went just fine besides the fact that I could not sleep more than 20 minutes, and Justin is a pro at free-style sleeping... the kid will fall asleep on command wherever he wants to!

So we flew into Valencia at around 4 pm, finally! and Victor, my friend, was already there waiting for us... so it was super nice that we did not have to take a bus or anything like that, plus Victor has a mini cooper, which is awesome. Victor showed us a little bit around the city of Valencia and he described pretty much everything important thing that we saw. Also, the fiestas de fallas were taking place at the moment, and this was the last week, so we were getting ready for a super fun time in Valencia.
(((if you wanna know what the fiestas de fallas is, I suggest you google it, otherwise I'll get a fact or two wrong and you will think I'm a big liar!))) but basically it consists of huge and incredible sculptures made of paper mache, super loud fireworks and in the last day... madness! the sculptures are all burnt to the ground and the fireworks do not stop for the whole day... millions of people come to Valencia just for this week, so it's a great time!

When Justin, Victor and I had met Parker at his host parents' place and all hugged happily, Victor and I took off to go home and meet his family. The first one I met is his mom... super nice lady! they received me like I was part of their family, and in a matter of minutes I was truly part of the family! then his Dad and brothers (Pablo and Ricardo) came home and they all greeted me with mexicans sayings! haha I was already having a great time.

That night, the whole gang (Justin, Victor, Parker and I) walked around the super packed city and saw a bunch of the fallas (huge sculptures) in the city center... of course we had some churros on the street. The night was very relaxing and we got to meet Victor's friend's and went out with them... it was surprising to see how Spanish people party!  they don't go out until 1 am or so and they all chill on the streets!... it's almost like there is no police... so crazy.

Anyways, so the next few days were all about sightseeing Valencia, going around and seeing more fallas and listening to super loud fireworks, and of course, people everywhere! My favorite part of Valencia was being in the midst of madness, seeing such enormous structures that looked so beautiful and meeting such nice people! and my least favorite part was... nothing!

On Sunday morning we left for Barcelona, were we would meet with two of our roommates (Matt, Chris) and some company! my friend, Cristina was super nice too and let us stay at her place... she also cooked! We were in Barcelona for a couple of days and we got to see all the free touristy things (we walked sooooo mcuh) and I again fell in love with a spanish city. I loved the feeling that I got in Barcelona. Everything is exciting and you see people from all over the world... really enjoyed the architecture and how neat the city is in itself. Of course the women are stunningly beautiful! I did not even know which way to turn and my neck hurt every single night from all the turning and staring... haha!!

After Barcelona, Justin and took an 8 hour bus trip to Madrid, where we would be staying for around 3 days... I was so tired already but super excited to see another grand city! In Madrid we stayed with my friends Dalia Robles and Manolo Garcia, who are currently living and studying in Madrid right now.
We arrived in Madrid early in the morning and we walked to Dalia's place... of course they were still sleeping. they let us in and since we were super tired too, we decided to take a quick 5 hour nap that turned out to be the most uncomfortable nap I have ever taken. Justin and I shared a 4 ft couch made in the 60's or something... but we didn't mind cause we were so exhausted.

The whole time that we were in Madrid, the weather was not very nice to us. It rained on and off everyday, but we didn't mind... the city was ours to take! Of course we had to do as much free stuff as possible! we went to the Museun of the Reina Sofia and the Prado Museum when they are free to enter (the last two hours, every day). We also walked to the Santiago Bernabeu (just like we walked to the Camp Nou in Barcelona) and visited a bunch of neat and very interesting places! after two and a half days of touring around Madrid like the good poor college kids that we are (eating peanut butter sandwiches all day and staring at the amazing food peple eat in Spanish restaurants) we were almost ready to go back to our beloved city of Florence.

The day we left Madrid, we took another bus to Valencia which was a lot shorter... only four hours! this last day that we would spend in Valencia was a filled with a nostalgic feeling... we had fallen in love with Spain, had met so many cool people, seen so many incredible things... but we wanted to come back to Italy too! as soon as we got back, we met Parker and his uncle who was in town visiting (he took us out for the nicest paella I have ever tasted in my life!! thanks Parker's uncle!!). Later that night we met up with Victor and his friends... overall the night was outstanding!

I was very sad that I was leaving Spain... loved seeing Parkero, Victor ( meeting his family), Cristina, Dalia and Manolo... they all treated us superbly!! After 10 days of traveling thru Spain, it was our time to make our way back to Florence.... but the fun didn't stop there, and it still hasn't!

Tomorrow.. or some other day, more new stories on adventures in Florence, traveling to Greece or something else haha! again... sorry for the super late update!


Ciao!

So sorry!!

My sincere apologies if you have been waiting for an update... it's been more than a month and I literally forgot to give updates.  A big update of the last month is coming soon (either tonight or tomorrow).

Mis sinceras disculpas a los que han estado esperando por actualizaciones y mas historias en este blog... ya paso un mes desde que escribi la ultima actualizacion, pero se me olvido por completo. Voy a publicar nuevas historias y experiencias pronto (ya sea hoy en la noche o maniana).

Ciao!