El Camino de Santiago

Camino de Santiago

More processions down the castle steps!

Stair Processions

Palm Sunday/el domingo de ramos

Palm Sunday

Glad that's over with and Palm Sunday

I had my last "dance" class on Saturday. I would have had it on Sunday, but all of us Americans decided that we weren't going to go, which meant there were probably like 5 people there on Sunday, suckers. Saturday was pretty ridiculous, but it started out ok. We did this exercise in partners and pretty much gave each other massages and stuff, so that wasn't too bad. After that, we did an activity with 3 chairs and one person would go up and move them a certain way, and then someone else would go up and move them. We did that for an hour...yeah. After lunch, we found out that we were going to be going to one of the parks on campus. This time our activity in pairs was that one of us would close our eyes and walk around, and the other person would watch them and make sure that they didn't run into a tree or something. My friend and I participated for a little, but then we realized that we were far from the group and our teacher, so I opened my eyes. We walked over to 2 of our other friends who did the same thing. We just sat on a bench and talked for an hour. That was pretty much the best part of the whole day. Then it just got worse. Our next activity was to find an object, so I picked my chapstick, and then we were to do motions with it, so I put my chapstick on and then rolled it around on the floor and then bounced it in my hands. The next part was that we had to do it in pairs in front of everyone. So I did it no problem. Then we had to do it without the object. Ok, not so bad. Then we had to only do the movements aka make yourself look like a fool. After that, we got into pairs again and while the one person was doing the motions without their object, the other person would try to push them around and change their positions and stuff. Yeah, in other words, just do a bunch of crazy stuff and make it look like you're insane. Just wait, it gets better, after that, we had to act like there was someone pushing us around while we were doing our movements. So in case we didn't feel dumb enough, this was the cherry on top, better yet, why not do it in front of the whole class? Perfect. We were all watching each other and saying how crazy this all looks. Ridiculous. BUT it's over now!!!! Yesssssss. I don't think I could have taken another day with that crazy lady.

This Sunday was Palm Sunday, el domingo de ramos, and it started the celebrations of Semana Santa, Holy Week. During this week, they have processions with floats that people carry with statue things that represent Jesus' final days. It is so cool to be able to see this new part of the culture that I haven't seen before. The only part that I don't like is that there are people dressed up in the KKK looking outfits. These religious groups were around before the KKK, but it's still really creepy to see dozens and dozens of people dressed up like that. There are processions all day. I'm glad that I am getting the chance to see them, since I will be on the Camino de Santiago during Easter. I have been taking lots of pictures, because this is great teaching material for the future!

So, I am officially on Spring Break!! and will be until the 26th of April! Here is my plan for my 2 1/2 weeks:

9-16- going on a pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago, 60-70 miles of hiking
18-23- Mom, Dad, Aunt Margie, Aunt Star and Lillie are coming to visit and we are going to Madrid, Toledo, Malaga, Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Morocco and some white towns

I'm pretty excited!! I can't wait to see my family and travel with them! I will be sure to take lots of pictures! I hope everyone has a great Easter!!

What did I get myself into...

So I had my first Direct Enrollment class, which is a 2 weekend course with the University of Alicante on Saturday from 10-2 then 4-8, and let me tell you, it was not what I, or anyone else, expected. The class is called "Cuerpo, movimiento y accion" which means "body, movement and action." So I figured that we would be dancing and moving like that. Yeah, no. We spent over 4 hours rolling around on the floor, "feeling the movements." I could not stop laughing because I felt ridiculous, along with the other Americans in the class. There were also Spanish people in the class that were actually PAYING to do all this crazy stuff. We did an activity outside in partners. The one person would close their eyes, while the other would lead them around by the back of the neck. When the exercise was over, the teacher asked us what we felt. This one Spanish girl said that when she hugged a tree, she could feel the energy from it....yeah, I had to hold back my laughter so hard. I was like you people are nuts. After our lunch break, we did another lame activity which consisted of 3 people sitting in chairs in front of everyone and they could only raise their hands...yeah...this lasted for about an hour. When I went up, I apparently wasn't raising my hand straight, and she called me out on it in front of everyone. I told her that when I normally raise my hand, I don't do it straight up. She said it seemed like I was being lazy and I was like um...ok. This was after she told me to stop laughing and smiling so much. Then the creepy old guy in our class with a crazy eye said that he liked my presence...I was like oh gee thanks...NOT. Geez louize. We ended the class with some improv dancing, but it was optional, so I opted not to do it. One of my friends got a video of it, and everyone that was "dancing" looked like they were on drugs or something. So yeah after the first day, I figured the teacher pretty much hated me.

Then on Sunday, I had the class again from 10-2, and it was so hard to wake up for it, because we all left the class saying how much we hated it and felt so dirty after being on the floor for a billion hours. The walk to the bus stop felt like the longest walk of my life, and then the ride to the University felt even longer than usual. I was not looking forward to it at all, especially now that I know I have a not-so-secret admirer...yuck! Once we got there, the difference between our culture and the Spanish culture was clearly visible. In Spain, "being on time" means if the class starts at 10, you come around 10:15. So there were all the Americans right at 10 and a little earlier, and the first Spaniard didn't come waltzing in til 10:20ish. 20 mins of waiting for a class that we hated. We finally got started and it actually wasn't bad at all. Our first activity was doing different walks across the room. It was fun watching everyone's take on what the teacher told us to do. It was actually what I expected the class to be like. After our break, we focused on speed. We got into groups and we each picked a pose and then we would switch spots and do each other's poses. Every time we would switch, we would have to go slower and slower. Our last activity was doing a string of movements 3 times at different speeds in front of the class. So with mine, I pretended like I was creeping around these wooden polls things in our class, and when I was done, my teacher said that she really liked mine, and I was like Oh! Thanks! Haha, so I don't think she hates me as much now. We didn't leave the class hating it, just dead tired, because what we did was actually like a work out, and now we are all sore from it! We only have the class this Saturday and Sunday, and then we're done, so hopefully I can survive til then!

For an update on what I'm doing, my spring break starts in a week and a half! I'm really excited, I just have a lot of work to finish before then. I also booked 2 more trips! I am going to France the first weekend in May and then Ireland in the middle of May. Also, there has been a change of plans for when I'm coming home. My new date is May 31st. A little early than what I wanted, but there's nothing I can do about it, and I know that I will be back here sometime, so I'm trying to get over it. I hope everyone is doing well, and I miss you!!

Switzerland DOES have the BEST chocolate!

Last weekend I went to Switzerland and it was such a great trip! Even the flight over was amazing because we went over the Alps! There are sooo big!! And they just go on for miles as far as the eye can see! Our first stop was in Basel which is a cute little city. We checked into our hostel and went exploring. We didn't start out too well, because we got on the right bus, but wrong direction. Luckily Swiss people are really nice and told us when to get off so that we could catch the right bus. Another thing we learned is that they don't have to pay to ride the buses. Our hostel person told us that you may have to pay like once a month. So it was crazy to see people getting on the bus in the back. Once we got off at the right spot, we were surronding by cute little buildings that felt really European. We walked to the Monster Cathedral, but we couldn't get in because it was closed but we were able to go around it to where there was a balcony. We were able to see the Rhine River and the other side of the town. We were told that we should take a boat across the river which was only a 5 minute ride, if that. It was a lot of fun, and quite a touristy thing to do. After we got to the other side, we did some more exploring and got some dinner. After dinner is dessert and you know what that means...CHOCOLATE!! I had my taste of real Swiss chocolate and it was soooooooo delicious. I was hooked and now I am a chocolate snob. Later that night we went out to a pub to check out the night life. We went to a club too, but the Swiss don't know how to have a fiesta like Spanish people do. So we decided to call it a night because the next day was a trip to Lucerne!

Lucerne is where you can see the Alps, so we were all really excited to see them and the city. We hopped on a train and again we did something wrong. Apparently we sat in the first class without knowing it, so when the ticket puncher came around, he told us that we have to move. Oops! The train ride was so pretty. And we knew we were getting close when we saw a huuuuuge mountain. When we got off the train and walked outside of the station, I was in awe of what I was seeing. Lucerne is surrounded by the snow-covered Alps and it is such a beautiful place. I immediately started taking pictures and I couldn't stop staring at the Alps. It was just so cool to actually see them. We made our way to our hostel and then started exploring the new city. We started by going through the longest covered bridge in the world! Right beside the bridge is a tower that was used as a torture chamber back in the day. Nice huh. Then we made our way to the Dying Lion monument, which symbolizes the Swiss Guards who were killed during the French Revolution. It was carved out of natural rock and it was really cool. After that, we were on a mission to find a place that we could go up to get a complete view of the city and the Alps. We couldn't find any and there were towers for that purpose, but they're closed in the winter. Lame. After lunch, we took a little break to recuperate, then it was back to touring. We walked over to a little park by the lake and again, there were some great views of the Alps. We walked around to the older part of the city which had some really cool buildings that were decorated on the outside. Along the way, we stopped in some stores and got some really cool stuff and tons of chocolate. We all bought at least 10 bars of chocolate, but some of those bars were for friends and family. We went out for some dinner that night and in the distance on one of the mountains, you could see a string of lights, and I decided that some day, I will come back to Switzerland and be where those lights are on the mountain because that just looked too cool. After a full day of walking, I was dead. We were going to go out, but only 2 of my friends did. My other friend and I ended up watching Titanic in German and then Murder by Numbers in German. It was pretty funny because we had no idea what they were saying. Switzerland was such a cool country with some really nice people. I definitely want to go back!

Las Fallas de Valencia

Hola everyone! Sorry I have taken so long to post, but here is what I did in Valencia! We only went for the day, which wasn't long enough, but the reason we went was to see the Fallas, which are like huge paper mache statues that make fun of things in society or pop culture. Then the next day they light the suckers on fire! We didn't stay for that though. Luckily we had some great weather. It was sunny and warm all day. We were given a list of stuff that we should see, but it was kinda hard because there were over a million people in the city that day to see the Fallas. And let me tell you, there were people everyyyywhere. We were only able to get a few of the things on the list because we didn't have enough time. The first thing we got to was the huge wooden statue of the Virgen Mary that was decorated with flowers. There were tons of flowers surrounding her too. After that, we went into a cathedral that supposedly has the cup that Jesus used on the Last Supper. We didn't get to see it because it closed for lunch time. Instead, we had time to climb the billions of winding steps to the top of the cathedral which had some great views. After the long climb down, we went to the center of town for the Mascleta, which the only way to describe it is that it's kinda like the annoying fireworks on the 4th of July that only pop and make loud noises. Before we got to Valencia, we were told that this was a must-see, and that when we watch them, we should do it with our mouths open so that our eardrums wouldn't break because of the intense sounds they make when they go off. Yeah, they weren't joking. We somehow managed to get really close to them and they started at 2:00 and were done at 2:10. It was sooooooooo loud!! And there was smoke everywhere, and at one point, it was hard to see clearly. It was such a cool experience because there was the constant sound of loud fireworks. I took a couple videos of it to prove how crazy it was. After that we just walked around the city and enjoyed the weather. We walked around to the different neighborhoods to see their Fallas, which I took pictures of. Before we knew it, it was time to get back on the bus. It was a really fun trip, but I could have used more time there!