Last Weekend in Madrid

Well its Saturday morning/afternoon. And I just woke up a little bit ago and decided I needed to update this little online journal. Last night was my friend Paloma's birthday so a ton of kids from the resi went to a club called Naranja, it was a blast, a nice mix of American/Spanish techno style music and if I remember correctly a little Spice Girls was even played! Haha.

2 weeks ago I did end up going to Ireland (Dublin and Galway) without being trapped by volcanic ash. It was an amazing trip and I am so happy I had the opportunity to go. With it being my last weekend and all, I think I will most likely have to write about Ireland when I get back to the good old US of A and I am just relaxing on my couch catching up on Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Glee, and just about every movie that has come out since January. Anyway, I have 6 days left in Madrid. So surreal. Almost everyone in my program flies home May 28. I will also be flying May 28, but not to the States, I will be headed to Slovenia to stay with some distant family members. I am super excited and really hope the volcano does not interfer with my travel plans. I am having such mixed feelings about having to go home. I am looking forward to it on one hand, but on the other I know how much I'm going to miss it here. The lifestyle, the friends I have made, the everyday places I walk past everyday. Anyway, my cousin Samantha is also in Spain at this time, in a town called Trujillo, so I might get a chance to visit her on Wednesday, but it might be really hard with finals and everything...oh yes I am still in school. I will be landing in the US on June 2.

-Morgan

Cinco de mayo

Today is the 5th of May, cinco de mayo if you will. In honor of this fantastic holiday I wrote a poem out of sheer boredom in class...and here it is.

Cinco de mayo

Today is the fifth of May

and in Spain, not a holiday.

I'd like to be drinking a margarita and taking tequila shots.

Instead I'm sitting in class and taking shots, I'm not.

En los Estados Unidos I'd be having a ball.

But here in Spain cinco de mayo is not celebrated at all.

But this problem can be fixed, no worries I say.

Because I'm going to the Atletico Madrid futbol game today!

Haha just thought I would share, I feel like this poem has some potential, probably become the next Dr. Seuss. Anyway, I actually just got home from the Atletico Madrid soccer game. They are the second biggest team in Madrid, after Real Madrid. They are the underdogs and their jerseys look like candy canes and I like them. Their fans are awesome, there was a group that stood and chanted the entire game, it was quite the experience. Atletico won 3-1, they game was a blast to watch.

In other more recent news, I will most likely not be going to Ireland due to the volcanic ash cloud that seems to be floating over the country...awesome.

In less recent news, I went to a bullfight (corrida de toros) last Sunday and it was my first and last bullfight. I am glad I went to experience the culture of it and try to understand how people could possibly find the killing and suffering of a bull entertainment, but after 2 out of the 6 bulls were stabbed to death, I decided to leave.

Basically, I thought this was a one on one duel between the matador and bull...false. First they keep the bull in the dark for hours before the fight, this way when they let him out into the ring, he is blinded and confused by the bright sunlight. Then he is stabbed by two men who are on horseback, then he is stabbed by 6 little stabber thingies that stay in the bulls neck/back and have poison/some kind of tranquilizer in them. Ok so now the bull is seriously slowing down and bleeding all over the place and the matador walks out. He puts on a little show and then is suppose to kill the bull with one swift stab to the neck. Welp, this usually doesn't happen and the bull is stabbed numerous times while falling over and coughing/throwing up blood. This is not something I would bring my little kids to, but some people do. Then the bull is finally killed after about a 1/2 hour of suffering and it falls to the ground and it's body is hooked up to 3 horses, which drag the bull out of the ring.

PETA would have a field day over here. I actually did a 20 minute presentation on anti-bullfighting groups in Spain and surprising around 70% of Spain is against bullfighting. There are alot of tourist that come to bullfights and some traditionalist trying to keep it alive. In my opinion, it does not need to go on any longer. I understand it is part of your culture, no, not "is" it should be "was" because this kind of suffering for entertainment does not belong in our modern world. It is honestly unbelievable that these acts are still allowed.

Phew, I'll get off my soapbox on that one. Anyway, Happy Cinco de Mayo! Not much is going on here for it, so it was a perfect day for a futbol game. Really glad I had a chance to go to a game and also glad that we discovered a cute local bar that has happy hour everyday from 4-7. haha. I will be home June 2 so I have a little less than a month left here in Europe. Time sure has gone fast.

Morgan

Lisbon, Sintra, Lagos

My trip to Portugal was one of my favorites. I feel like it is a real hidden gem of Europe, that is overshadowed by Spain. I actually don't think I would have ever gone there if it wasn't for studying in Spain. I was pleasantly surprised, when we landed and got to our hostel. I had heard Portugal was known for the best hostels around and it is true. Our hostel was reasonably priced, right in the downtown, safe, blankets and towels included, and every morning this nice little lady would make us chocolate crepes and scrambled eggs. You really can't beat that. I felt like I was staying at a friends apartment, not a hostel.

You see tiles like these all throughout the city. This is what all their

sidewalks are like, except for different patterns and shapes

depending on where you are in the city. ------>


So we arrived on a Thursday night and decided to grab some traditional Portuguese food. We went to a small, local restaurant, recommended to us by the hostel. We shared a delicious feast of codfish, calamari, garlic shrimp, wine and sangria. We had a lovely meal and then decided to head to barrio alto, where streets are lined with bar after bar after bar. And the best part was that drinks were extra cheap compared to Madrid. Actually, everything there was much cheaper than Madrid, so that made going out even more enjoyable! And the coolest part is you can buy drinks and then drink them in the streets. So these narrow little streets are filled with people and all types of fun. We met some French people who brought us to this lookout, to where you could see downtown Lisbon from above and it was really neat. You could see the castle off in the distance over the lit up city, a beautiful sight. Portugal is a really relaxed city, just walking around the streets and listening to people speak Portuguese was comforting. I think their language is more beautiful than Spanish. It doesn't sound like someone is yelling at you haha, the words seem to flow better and end is ooshes and swooshes. It is just more relaxing for some reason. Also, just because you can understand doesn't mean you will understand a WORD of Portuguese. Reading it is one thing, you can grasp what you are reading, but trying to understand their speech is pretty much impossible. Also, I found out that most Portuguese do not appreciate when travellers try and speak to them in Spanish. They said it is better to speak to them in English than it is in Spanish. They are very proud people, who have been overshadowed by Spain for most of their lives, so I can understand why they don't want people to assume they understand Spanish. So I used the one word I learn in Portuguese alot...obrigada..which means thank you.

hiked to the top ----->

On Friday, a couple of us decided to go to Sintra, which was my favorite part of Portugal. It is this town about 45 minutes outside of Lisbon where they have 4 World Heritage sights. When you get there you are suppose to take this bus that drives you to each castle/fortress whatever, but we decided to hike it. It was awesome. It was a 2-3 hour hike up the hill. We stopped and checked out the Parque and Palacio De La Pena, which is the best example of Romantic architecture in Portugal. We also stopped at the Moorish Fortress/Castle, which was my favorite. It is believed to date back to the 9th century during the period of the Arab occupation. It was used to monitor the coast line and I believe we could see Lisbon from the top of the fortress. They actually let you climb these old stone wall up to the Castle Keep to have the best view of Sintra and the coast. Actually we had our sack lunch on top of the fortress, which is something I will never forget.

We only saw two of the sights, because we walked instead of taking the bus, but by doing this it gave us the best sense of accomplishment ever. Because you see all these buses taking people to the top and it just feels awesome to walk it. The walk down was much easier and then we took the bus back to Lisbon. When we got back Kailee, Caroline, and I were exhausted, but we bought the necessary supplies to cook a wonderful pasta dish and veggies for dinner. Our other friends went out, but we went to bed because we had to get up early to catch a bus to Lagos in the morning.

Fast forward through our 4 hour bus ride and we arrive in Lagos. Meet a man who says he will take us on grotto tour. So we pay 10 euro each, go to the grocery store for food and drink for the day and meet our local fisherman guide Louise who takes us up and down the coast of Lagos. We go into all these little grottos and he shows us all these rock formations and their names. He said he has grown up in Lagos and loves it. I would love to live in a place like Lagos. It is absolutely beautiful, the people are phenomenal. Louise was so kind, he showed us where his favorite fishing spots were, he showed us secret beaches that you could only get to by boat and other beaches where you had to climb down a rope to get there. It was crazy. Then we decided we wanted to jump in the water. Caroline was the first to jump in/get pushed in and I guess I didn't trust the look of utter shock on her face because I jumped in after and immediately lost my breathe because it was so cold, but after awhile our bodies pretty much went numb and then all 9 of us were in the water laughing and taking pictures. After our tour time was up, Louise dropped us off on Potato Beach were we met this juggling Brazilian man who hung out with us for the rest of the afternoon. He was quite interesting and told us stories and juggled for us in nothing but his little speedo with bumble bees on it. Hahahaha. I wish I knew his name, but it was an incredibly entertaining day. Then we had to leave because our bus was leaving at 6:30pm. We got back to the hostel just in time to go on the hostel bar crawl with our main man Daniel.

Our hostel people were awesome. They took us to 4 of their favorite bars in Barrio Alto and we spent the night drinking, dancing, and taking flaming shots. Quite interesting. When we got back Daniel and I made scrambled eggs for everyone and then one by one we crawled into our twin bunk beds and called it a night.

The next day was Sunday and we went to the beaches of Lisbon, which are not actually in Lisbon, but you take this little tram for a 30-45 minute ride and get off at whichever beach you want to. The main beach everyone usually goes to is Cascais, but we went to Parede and it was really different. It was a small beach, because most of the coastline is rock and cliffs, but we found a small strip of sandy beachness and layed out and swam for the better part of the day. Sunday and Monday were the sunniest days so we couldn't resist spending the day at the beach. After we had enough sun for one day, we headed back to Lisbon, showered, and went out to dinner. After dinner we went back to the hostel and just chatted. Some of my friends watched a movie that the hostel was playing, but let's be serious I knew I couldn't make it through the first 2 minutes of a movie without falling asleep so bunked up in my cozy twin.

Our flight out was Monday at around 1pm so I woke up early, indulged in some chocolate crepes and was on my way to explore Lisbon before I had to leave. I decided 1/2 way through my walk that I was going to walk up to the castle that overlooks the city, which I did, but I was kind of creeped out because the guys in Portugal are a bit more...hmm what's the correct word to use...talkative towards women than the ones in Spain (which is actually surprising). So after being cat called by men, including a police officer I decided walking around a residential area by myself was not really the best idea. So I creepily followed this couple, who I called Mom and Dad in my head haha, because I could tell they were American tourists and finally after stalking them for 20 minutes I caught up to them and asked if they were looking for the castle as well. They said yes and we stumbled upon it together in about 5 minutes. Then I parted ways from Mom and Dad because I didn't want them to think I was too creepy so I tried to walk down the opposite way from which I came and of course ended up getting lost and a bit nervous, so I just hopped on a bus that took me back to the city center. And when I got back I thought to myself how much easier it would be if I were a guy travelling. Because then I wouldn't have to worry about so much. So I'm just saying, guys you've got it easy :)

Leaving Portugal was something I did not want to do and I am sooooo glad I had the opportunity to visit it. It was definitely one of my favorite places I have been to. I would recommend Portugal to anyone who was going to do a European travel.

As for today, it is Mother's Day in Spain, so feliz dia de la madre! It is also a holiday, dos de mayo. So most shops are closed today, but I did go for a run and there are tons of families out and about and in the park, so that was nice to see. Tonight I am going to attempt to go to a bullfight again, my last attempt failed, as the event was rained out. I am not a supporter of corridas de toros (bullfights) but I would like to experience the culture of this. As for my next adventure, I am off to Ireland on Thursday, where I will be visiting Dublin and Gallway wish 3 other friends. I am very excited for this trip because before I left for Europe it was on the top of my places to go list. We are having a farewell dinner on Tuesday for most of the kids who are leaving in mid-may with API, which is cool, because I'm going to consider it my graduation dinner since my graduation from Upstate is in fact on Tuesday. Wednesday, I'm going to try and get tickets for the Atletico Madrid futbol game, since I haven't been yet. Hopefully, it works out.

-Morgan