A Weekend In A New Country

I am finally able to sit down and write a blog that I should have written yesterday!  I'm afraid I won't remember as much, but I am going to try anyways.

After I posted my blog Saturday night, I did absolutely nothing except watch a not very good American movie on tv.  I tried to find Holly, but she had fell asleep so I figured there was nothing wrong with being lazy for an evening.  It wasn't completely necessary because we didn't do anything too extensive the next day.  For our tours in Lisbon, we did bus tours with our tour guide talking as we passed different landmarks.  It was nice to be out of the hot sun, but we all have been trained to sleep on the bus.  For the first week and a half we were in Spain, the best sleep we got was on the bus.  And when we left Friday, they expected us to go to sleep.  So, is it really the students fault that we weren't was attentive as we should have been?  I definitely tried to pay attention, but with the warm air, I didn't last terribly long.  Thankfully, we had opportunities to get out and see a few sights which helped break the monotony.  It was really disappointing to not be able to pay more attention because our tour guide knew so much about Lisbon and all of Portugal for that matter.  She kept pointing out apartment buildings that the government built to replace the slums people had been living in.  It was very interesting to see this metropolitan area that looked to be very up to date and think about slums being all throughout the city.  Portugal is in a bad place as far as economy goes; its interesting to see that other economies are hurting in the world, not just in America.

On Sunday morning, we left the hotel at 9:30 to start another bus tour.  First of all, we stopped at a coach museum.  I cannot describe the intricacy of these coaches, some of which were only used once.  Don't worry, I'll include pictures!  After this, our focus was on communities outside of Lisbon (basically suburbs).  I was very excited because I knew at the end of the day, we would get to spend time on the beach.  I love all the history in these old cities, but it doesn't mean I can enjoy my UV rays too!  (don't worry, i wore sunscreen!)  The towns outside Lisbon were really very pretty.  We stopped in one around noon and everyone went and bought pastries.  Oh my goodness, pastries in Portugal are amazing!  I had a strawberry pastry that was to die for!  Anyways, we got back on the bus, listen to Margarita (our tour guide) talk about meeting Bush Sr and how Barbara wears pearls lol and headed to the beach!  We dropped people off the casino first (the largest in Europe I believe) and then the bus took everyone that wanted to go to the beach to Carcavelos.  That evening, we went and watched Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in English!  With Portuguese subtitles haha..  It was a nice way to end the day...

We left at 9:30 again yesterday morning.  The first part of the trip wasn't too bad because we stopped after 2 hours for a tour around a beautiful medieval city on a mountain.  Our tour guide said it only has around 60 inhabitants today, so it was very small and quaint.  The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking!  Unfortunately, that was our last good stop of the day.  We got back on the bus at 3 and didn't arrive in Ciudad Real until 10:30.  Thankfully, we had two stops on the way back, but that long on a bus is still rough on anybody.  I'm excited for Barcelona in 2 weeks, but the bus ride will again be extremely tedious.  Oh well, that is not what these trips are about!!!

Anyways, I loved my weekend trip, but I am happy to be back with my host family even if it does mean classes have started again.  I will try and post shorter blogs this week, but if nothing interesting happens, there might not be any blogs lol.  I love and miss everyone and I hope you enjoy the following pictures!!

 beautiful coach at the coach musem... so of these coaches were used for a few hours and then never used again!

 Portugal loves their roosters!  I'll have to post the legend later because I bought a postcard with it typed on there (although the translation was a little rough lol)

 Beautiful beach in Carcavelos!  It was soooo crowded but it was a perfect day for the beach!

 view from one of the towers of the castle/fortress in Monzaraz (sp?)

 the castle/fortress from another angle

 Very strange trees I've seen in Spain and Portugal... Anyone know what it is?

 Such a beautiful village!...

... beautiful flowers even!

Portugal!

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4:30 in order to be at the school at 6 to leave for Portugal!  Needless to say, yesterday kind of dragged on and on.  It was still a great day though because I entered a brand new country!  Portugal country-side is basically indistinguishable from the Spain countryside.  It took a sign to tell me we had entered Portugal haha.  Even after we entered the country, we had a little while before we reached Evora, the first city we visited this weekend.  The entire drive yesterday wore me out.  After playing basketball Thursday, sitting in a bus for 6+ hours just about killed my back.  I need a massage (hint hint David)!!!  Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait 3 weeks for that...  

Anywho, Evora was a beautiful city, somewhat similar to the Spanish cities we've visit.  It had an old Moorish palace (part of it), a lot of Catholic influence and an old Roman temple.  Something interesting observations in Evora:  they appeared to be having an old car rally, felt like I was home for Autumn trails haha.  They had a park with wild peacocks and an adorable old couple sitting in the park.  In Portugal, a popular type of architecture is the Manueline style.  It incorporates ropes and seaweeds and other maritime symbols.  It is very unique to Portugal and I am glad I got to see several examples of this while in Portugal, one in Evora and another in Lisbon today.  Also, cork either originates in Portugal or has become extremely popular here.  Also cork can be used to make clothes, jewelry, umbrellas, postcards, coasters, hats, etc...  As I said, it is VERY popular here.  

Last night, we went to a huge mall to find some food.  We ended up eating Pizza Hut, so I sorta consider it a success.  But I was glad I went and got to see this ridiculous mall.  It literally had a roller coaster in it along with every kind of store you could want and a supermarket that was at least as big as a super wal-mart.  We should have wal-marts in malls!  Its just convenient!  It also had touch screen interactive mall maps.  Makes our malls look shabby haha.  I got some snacks to hold me through the weekend because I'm eating cheap meals since I forgot to withdraw money before we left Spain.  Tomorrow we are going to tour a neighboring city which also means we get to go to the beach!  Yay for getting tan.  Hard to believe I've traveled from one side of the Iberian peninsula to the other in a week.

Random fact: Asian tourists love Americans.  We were taking a group picture and they came up to take a picture of us, then wanted to get in the picture with us.  It was a whole big mess of craziness that I couldn't even understand haha.  That's all I can think of right now because my brain is a little tired, but I'll post again Monday when I have wifi again!  I love and miss everyone from back home!

 statue in the park in Evora

 Roman Ruins!

 I really liked this picture of the ruins

most if not all of what you see is cork (as in corkboard)... Crazy!! Notice the shoes and hats...

 Beautiful view of Lisbon

 cathedral!  so pretty!

 Manueline style cathedral 

 can't remember the store on this one..

 this tower was used to defend the border and to make people pay a toll when entering the country

 beautiful statue!

 Inside of the above pictured Manueline cathedral

 Can't figure out how this guy was floating... saw someone wave paper underneath his feet

 This guy definitely got some of my money bc the chihuahua was so adorable!

another beautiful statue in Lisbon!

Basketball today, Lisbon tomorrow

To start off, I finished all my homework today so I won't have any left to do next week!  That alone makes today a good day.  I'm so thankful I don't have to worry about all those problems (unless of course he assigns some more).  We worked through an example in class today that literally took almost 4 hours and that was with all the students working together.  Today was definitely a tedious class day, but I got ahead of the group by a little so I think I'm doing alright in this class.  I really would like to make A's in these two classes so I am working hard to keep up in order to reach my goal.

After lunch today, I took a short siesta on Holly's couch at the hotel.  I am very thankful I took the break because I played basketball afterwards and I would have died without that little bit of rest.  We are apparently playing sports every Tuesday and Thursday here in Ciudad Real.  The idea is good, but there is huge discrepancy in the talent of the players.  On Tuesday, we played soccer (fútbol).  When I say we, I don't mean me because #1 I forgot appropriate clothes and #2 I don't know if I've ever kicked a soccer ball in my life.  There were a lot of people (a lot of Spanish students) that knew what they were doing, and the rest pretty much did their best.  It was entertaining to watch and I must say, I'm somewhat glad I wasn't playing.  Fútbol is intense!  Today there was basketball and volleyball.  My team started out with basketball, but when we were supposed to move to the volleyball court, I joined another team and played more basketball.  I played four 10-minute basketball games today with very short breaks in between.  If this doesn't sound bad to you, congratulations, you are in better shape than me!  I am sorely out of shape and I hustled in all four games.  I'm just proud that I didn't fall over or anything.  I consider myself a success.

I have a sword that I am unsure of how to get back to the U.S.  I don't want to put it in my suitcase because my suitcase was already over 50 lbs on the way over and Shere Con (a.k.a. my wonderful Mama) paid the ridiculous fee.  I can't afford another fee on the way back, but my host mom said she thinks it'll be 30 euro to ship the sword.  If anyone has suggestions on how to take care of this sword, please let me know.  I wish I could get it back by Father's Day, but I'm afraid that isn't going to happen.

I know I'm getting repetitive, but I am SO happy with my host family!  I am reminded of this every day so I blog about it every day lol.  My host mom is an amazing cook!  Tonight we had grilled zucchini, chicken and pepper kabobs and gazpacho with a ham and hard-boiled eggs garnish.  I cleaned my plate completely.  I am glad that my host mom is such a good cook, because it means I actually enjoy eating.  I was afraid I would have to force myself to eat certain foods, but that has yet to happen with her cooking! Oh and here is an example of a midmorning snack (minus the coke, I bought that to help me through class).  This doesn't show the chocolate snacks or the peach.  How amazing is she!

So, tomorrow we are leaving for Lisbon, Portugal, at 6 in the morning.  I have no idea how I'm ever going to wake up that early.  I still have to pack tonight as well.  Oh boy this is going to be fun...  I am excited about Lisbon though!  And it has a beach so I will be a happy girl this weekend as long as I use my 70 SPF sunscreen! I will try and blog this weekend, but the hotel might not have wifi, so I will update everyone as soon as I can.  Love y'all!

Homework followed me to Spain...

Well, today has been a looooooooong day.  Waking up at 7 every morning is getting to me, but it must be done for me to shower and eat breakfast and make it to school on time.  We start class (not always promptly lol) at 9 o'clock every morning and stay in class besides breaks until 1:30.  That long is class is tiring enough, but after lunch today, I went with other students to work on a lab and a homework assignment.  All in all, I was on campus from 9 until 6:30.  But for whatever reason, it didn't seem that long so thank goodness for little blessings.  I am very happy though because I have done 14 out of 17 homework problems and we only have to turn in 8 tomorrow.  So I don't have to stress too much ;)  I guess homework is always a part of engineering, even in Espana.  I'm definitely tired just like I am in College Station.  A few days ago, I had trouble with a normal everyday routine.  I put my right contact in, went to put my left contact in and could not figure out why it felt so awful.  I finally realized I had put my left eye's contact on top of the contact already in my right eye.  Yay Molly for being smart!

Even though I know I sound whiney, I do like having a specific schedule that school provides.  And one can only wander aimlessly so much.  I like the challenge school provides (most of the time) and this is one of the reasons I would like to continue with graduate school next year while I'm still in the correct mindset.  I'm hoping that I can impress the professors on this trip enough to get a good word in with the right people.  Speaking of all this professional stuff, I got an email from the civil listserv about a part time job with an engineering/surveying company in Cstat so MAYBE I could get that.  I'm not getting my hopes up, but I am gonna try!  If not, I'll take any other job someone can find for me ;) *hint hint family with connections* 

My host family continues to impress me with delicious food!  I swear, I will gain weight this summer despite my trek to school and back.  But I am not complaining lol.  I love having a "mommy" again.  She packs me snacks for my mid-morning break and feeds me breakfast and dinner every night.  Remind me again why I was so ready to leave home for college lol.  If I were the other students, I'd be jealous of me!

I felt so bad earlier because someone stopped and asked for directions and all I could say was "Habla no Espanol".  If I could change one thing about this trip, I'd make myself much better at Spanish.  It is really sad how little I retained from my freshman year of high school.  I mean, that was 6 years ago but I wish I knew more than I do.  It can still be a little scary at times.  But for the most part, people understand fingers pointing and hand motions so I'm surviving just fine haha.

More dishes everyone should try: croquettas (i have had them twice today!), something with eggs that isn't breakfast because Spainards apparently love eggs, of course Paella (I had some today.. but my host mom is making some next weekend so I know that it will be the best Paella ever).  Can't think of any others at the moment, but I will keep you updated.

Goodnight to all!  I love and miss y'all =)

Random Tidbits...

So because today is a fairly relaxing day, I'll go over it fairly quickly and make random comments that don't really go with anything.  Just wanted to give you a heads up, this blog will most definitely not be chronological and coherent is still debatable =)

To start off, I was kinda bummed today (even though I knew it was coming) because Paco mentioned our first homework assignment.  It was bound to happen so I guess it isn't too bad.  Even in Spain, engineers must do homework.  I am still trying to figure out how this class is going to work.  At the end of this week, we'll be half-way through the semester and I have heard nothing about a mid-term or anything of the sort.  It's hard to put this material on such a fast track and that is especially true in Spain.  The information we are learning is interesting though.  Maybe I'll go to grad school for water resources.  I'll have to ask Paco what the requirements for that are.  I wouldn't mind extending college by one year ;)  But money is good too... Ugh, decisions, decisions...

Today I wore sandals with no support.  Don't walk 20 minutes to and from class in poorly made sandals.

Walking from one side of an intersection to another is very difficult when intersections are circles.  There are lights and stop signs in Spain, but the more common layout of an intersection is a circle.  Each lane has a yield sign (sometimes a stop sign) and the continue to the right until they reach the road they are turning onto.  It is a very strange system and I can't figure out if it is more effective than huge intersections with lights. Maybe I should be a transportation engineer and study the differences.  But that doesn't sound fun at all, so for now, water resources is still top of the list.

Magnum ice cream needs to be in America.  I have no idea why it isn't already, but it is delicious. The first night I was with my host family, I had a carmel and nuts magnum bar for dessert and I fell in love.  It was creamy ice cream with caramel in the center and a crunch outside.  OH MY GOSH, love!  Then last night, they gave me a ice cream bar that was half ice cream sandwich and half crunch outside. Again, it was absolutely to die for!  I think I remember a commercial saying Magnum ice cream is coming to American and I am praying that it is true!

I am starting a list of foods that I will MAKE David try when he comes to Spain in July, but I would also like to find recipes for some things.  In last night's blog I talked about a tortilla de patatas, which seems like it would be easy enough to make.  I also want him to try chocolate con churros (or churros con chocolate, whichever you prefer) but I think he already plans on it lol.  I will make note of other dishes that are my favorites!

I am trying to drink more water because I know I'm not staying as hydrated as I need to be.  Lucky for me, a lot of places sell water in 1.5 L bottles so I can get most of what I need in one bottle.  Just thought this was interesting especially because most people here don't drink as much with their meals as Americans do, yet they sell huge bottles of water for individual use.  I haven't figured it out yet...

Another item of interest to me is the attitude towards gays and lesbians here in Spain.  I haven't actually discussed the general view of Spain on gay and lesbian rights with anyone, yet it appears that Spain is much more accepting than America.  I have seen several couples holding hands that were almost certainly younger than my 16-year-old sister.  In America (or at least in East Texas) kids almost never come out in high school but instead wait until college.  Apparently here, it is socially acceptable to come out at a much younger age.  This goes for both guys and girls because I've seen couples of both sexes.  This may not interest y'all, but it certainly does me.  America has this sense of being ahead of everyone else.  At least I've always gotten that vibe.  Even though we like to think that we accept things or welcome change first, we are definitely not the first country in this issue and I am curious as to if America will ever fully accept the gay and lesbian community.  Something to ponder over... 

I am sorry that this blog has been a tad unconventional as compared to my others, but I hope I have talked about something that interests you!  I love and miss everyone!

I saw the Mediterranean Sea!!!

So while I'm in Ciudad Real, I don't think I'll be blogging every day because I'm not doing anything exciting most days.  Every week day, I go to class from 9:00-1:30 (with breaks, thank goodness), then we all go to lunch on campus, and then I am done with classes for the day!  I love my classes here and Paco (Dr. Olivera, my prof) is amazing.  I've been trying to explore the city a little after classes, but it is laid out sporadically so I don't venture too far for fear of getting lost.  Ciudad Real is a great place to have classes because there is enough to do after class (for me at least lol) but there isn't so much that it gets distracting.  The Plaza Mayor is a very nice place with a giant clock where figures of Don Quijote, Sancho, and the author who created both appear.  It is very fun to see and I need to make sure to get a picture of it while I am here.  My family has taken me on walks around the city so I have seen a good deal of it with them, but can't make my way back to the same places on my own haha.  

My host family has been nothing short of spectacular.  I'm sure I have said that a lot already, but I cannot believe how lucky I got!  I have had dinner and breakfast everyday since being here and I have loved it. My favorite (if I have to choose one) meal so far was last Thursday when I had a "tortilla de patatas."  To most of us growing up in Texas, tortillas equals Mexican food (Tex-Mex technically) but the dish I am talking about is actually a Spanish omelet.  It's your typical omelet with potatoes in it.  Everyone should go try one NOW!  It was so delicious that I'm pretty sure I've been craving one ever since.  Even writing about it on here makes me want one lol.  Then tonight when I got back, I had some amazing fish (not sure what kind) and a almost croissant type pastry with cooked spinach in it.  I truly feel sorry for all the people that don't get to enjoy this amazing food and amazing people like I do!

When class let out Friday, I was already packed up and ready to leave for the beach!  Generally speaking, beaches are my ideal vacation spot.  This mostly applies only when traveling in the US, but I was not going to pass up an opportunity to visit a beach here.  I'm very glad I didn't (although I missed my host family) because I got to see the Mediterranean for the first time ever and I loved it.  Malaga itself was a much more modern town (which has its ups and downs) but the real reason we went there was to soak up some sun.  All day saturday was spent in a neighboring city that is apparently known for its beaches.  AND I managed to do what I can rarely accomplish, I got a good tan without getting burnt (excluding my lips lol).  This is a tough feat to do when there was apparently a UV index of 10 (the highest) and we were outside for 5 hours.  SPF 70 sure did come in handy!  Also, I missed my chance to take a picture of this so I'll describe the most popular beach meal instead.  There was a boardwalk type area where we were and I saw several restaurants selling sardines.  Now in America, we are used to canned sardines or whatever.  I'll be honest, I've never tried them lol.  But along the coast (in Southern Spain at least), they sell sardines on a stick.  They stick 5 or so fresh sardines on a skewer whole and stick them in a barbeque type pit and let them cook.  I felt like I should try some, but I couldn't because I was too scared by where to start.  These sardines still had tails, eyes and scales; I literally mean they were cooked whole.  So if anyone has a hankering for sardines, take a trip to Southern Spain =)

The last thing we did this weekend was stop in Granada to visit the Alhambra.  It was a beautiful old Moorish palace with surrounding structures and gardens.  I can't do it much justice by talking about it, but just know that you have probably never seen a place like it.  It is set up on a mountain with a city below it, with beautiful flowers and trees and fountains and after all that, there is still an amazing palace.  In fact, the throne room where a sultan once sat, was actually the room where Columbus was given permission by Queen Isabel to sail West in search of the East.  Just an interesting piece of history for those who are interested.  

There are many more things that I want to include in this blog, but it is already 12:30 here so I will try to pick up the left out pieces tomorrow or another day.  I miss everyone at home and it makes me sad that y'all don't get to see everything I am getting to see.  I love you all very much!

 I have seen so many solar panel farms(?).  Not sure if that is the correct term.  I mentioned in an earlier post that I had spotted some windmills while I was here.  From just driving through the countryside, I'd say Spain uses much more environmentally friendly energy than the U.S.  We have some catching up to do...

 Another source of energy from what I understood is sunflower oil.  As we were driving, we spotted fields upon fields of sunflowers.  One of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

 I had to get a picture with the pirate ship, even though I was dressed like a hippie haha.

 Finally, the beach!

 I'm quite excited to see the Mediterranean lol

 This is my idea of heaven =)

 First glimpse of part of the Alhambra.  Notice all the pretty green in the area.

 I just thought this was cool picture lol... Nothing significant 

 This is a picture of the throne room I mentioned above.  In this room, Columbus got permission to sail West.  Little did he know he'd find America lol

 Another beautiful garden.  The Alhambra was in no way lacking in fountains or flowers.

If you look right beneath the clouds (you might have to zoom in), you can hopefully see a mountain top with snow on it.  Apparently in this mountain range, there is skiing almost year-round (if I heard correctly).  The Sierra Nevada seems like a place I might be visiting ;P

Finally reached Ciudad Real!

Sorry I didn't post anything last night; I wanted to spend time with my family and get some rest and I think I accomplished both! (yay!)  Yesterday morning, we woke up early, took our luggage to the bus, and ate our last breakfast at the hotel in Caceres.  We were finally headed to Ciudad Real even though we had many stops in between.  We first saw a presentation on different projects that were related to water resources that were in the area.  After being well informed (well, kind of well informed, there were definitely heads nodding in the warm room), we left with hardhats and neon vests in hand to go look at a dam as it was being built.  I know most of you don't find that as interesting as me, but I really enjoyed it.  They make all the concrete on sight as well which was very interesting to me.  Water resources is definitely a route of civil engineering that I would like to go into.  It remains to be seen if I qualify ;)  After we left the dam, we went to a canal that took water from a reservoir to one of the near-by "ciudads".  Again, this was very interesting, but sad too because there were animals (i.e. ducks and a frog) that were trapped by the gates the canal was using to control the water.  It really is too bad that there are always harms to nature when humans are progressive.  Oh well, that's an entirely different subject that I won't start into on my light-hearted traveling blog!  We next went to a water treatment plant, but unfortunately, I ended up at the back of the group and could hardly hear all that was going on.  The only thing I am fairly certain of is that it wasn't a WASTE-water treatment plant.  There were no smells that I picked up on.  There was one company that was taking us on all these amazing tours and to top it off they took us to an amazing lunch!  We had an extensive meal that could not have been cheap in any way.  Some of the food was little questionable, but I ate most of it anyway because I knew that it was a very nice gesture by this company.  We also got to see the offices these people worked in, but we didn't stay long there.  After that, we loaded up and headed to Ciudad Real!  It was a three-ish hour drive, so of course most people on the bus napped.  When I woke up, I was so nervous because I knew that I was about to meet my host family and I had no idea how that would go.  I got off the bus and one of the wonderful girls that has organized this trip introduced me to a very lovely lady.  Come to find out, she was not my real host mom lol.  My real host family heard my name and fixed the mix-up very quickly!  They are so amazing!  I have had more to eat in the past two days then I have had the rest of the trip.  I even have my own room so everything is just perfect.  I am so thankful I got the opportunity to live with a host family especially one as great as mine!  The ONLY downside to being in Ciudad Real is that real classes inevitably have to start.  Thankfully, I already like my professor and I feel like I am understanding the material so far.  I also like having more a schedule to work with.  For the past week and a half, I have felt like I am running around blindly from day to day.  Now that we are here and are having regular classes, I feel like I have a better grip on what I have to do each day and where I need to be.  Well I am going to try and go to sleep now so that MAYBE I will gain some of the sleep I have lost.  Goodnight to all!

p.s. sorry for the lack of pictures, I haven't taken any in the past two days.