In Barcelona!

So I do have internet here!

This morning was so great for me. I woke up, broke my fast, got dressed and headed to school, where I arrived EARLY! WOOHOO! Tired as I was, it was nice. However, for our first class, Composición with Edu, Melanie and I were the only students in attendance. So we just talked to Edu for 1.75 hours. It was pretty cool. After, we had literature. Since today is our last day of School until April 21, and literature was our last class of the day, it was torture. But finally, it ended at 1:15, and Melanie and I were on the bus headed home.

When we got on the bus, I sat down, not really paying attention to my seatmate. Turns out, I was seated next to my host brother, César! It was cool. We talked on the bus and the whole way home. He plays Spanish guitar ridiculously well, and teaches it at a school of fine arts. Woowee. When we got home, it was time for lunch. The whole crew was there, minus Lindsey - Matilde, Papá, César, Marta, and Miguel. We had rice with garbanzo beans and different types of meat, salad, bread, and for dessert, strawberries and my strawberry cake. They all loved it :)

Afterwards, I went upstairs to relax a little, then pack. At 4:15, I said my farewells and headed up Calle Sapadores/Ruzafa to Estación del Nord, the more central and much larger train station. There, I caught my train to Barcelona. It was 4 hours and I slept most of the way. When I wasn't asleep, I watched the featured film, Spiderman 2 - in Spanish.

When I got to Barcelona around 9:00, I caught the metro to the Catalunya stop, where my amazing friends Ruth and Montse were waiting on me. Montse rode with Ruth and me a few more stops, then we changed lines and said goodbye to her. Ruth and I finally made it to La Pau, and walked down Calle d'Oliva to Andrea'se house. Andrea and Sarai are the two sisters that I'm staying with tonight. Andrea's boyfriend, Dani, is Ruth's brother. When we arrived, we immediately had dinner, Ruth, Dani, Andrea, Sarai and me. It was delicious, too. Spaghetti with salmon and a salad and bread. For dessert, we had tea and truffles. I wish I could prepare a meal like the Spaniards. That's my goal for the one month I have left here - learn to REALLY cook. Anyway, they are all super amiable and fun, and I had a wonderful time at dinner.

Around 11:30, we said goodbye to Ruth and Dani, and Sarai, Andrea and I got ready for bed. I'm in my own room, which is nice. It's rare for anyone to have a spare room like this. I'm waking up early in the morning to catch the metro to the train, where I'll catch the train to the airport. Then I'm on my way to Charles de Gaulle to meet Sarah Kate! Spice girls reunion!!! Hopefully I'll have internet in Paris to keep you posted!

Emocionada,
Leigh

UK Loving!

Thursday

So, I went to class, like always. I had Composición and Literature. Both were uneventful. But AFTER... that's when the fun started. Dottie and I hopped on the metro (which was crowded because it was 1:30 and everybody was headed to the Plaza de Ayuntamiento for the daily 2 o'clock Mascletá. However, we finally made it to the train station and hopped our our 2:20 train to Madrid. When we got there, around 5:30, we took the metro from the train station to the airport. We checked in and waited for our plane to leave at 9ish.

We finally got to Dublin around 10:30, their time, and took the airport shuttle into the downtown area, where our hostel was. We stayed in Abigail's hostel on Aston Quay, right by the river Liffey. We dropped our stuff off in our dorm room (there were 4 bunk beds) and then headed to the Temple Bar street, Dublin's most notorious street for night owls, named for the one and only Temple Bar. Which is where we went.

It was so awesome!! There was this amazing live trio singing lots of well known classic rock and country songs.

We finally headed back to the hostel around 2, only to be surprised by what we found. When we dropped our things off earlier in the night, we didn't take note of our bunkmates. But it turns out that we were accidentally placed in a room with all boys, half of whom were sleeping nearly nude. And of course, all I had with me for pajamas was a simple little nightgown. Definitely an adventure, but we made the best of it.

Friday

We woke up early, to take advantage of the day and also to avoid awkwardness with our roomies. We got breakfast in the hostel (toast) and headed out! We walked around for a while.

Dublin is a really cool place. It's pretty small for a European capital, and walker friendly - it's not too spread out.

We headed towards Trinity college and got to know the campus.

Next, we went to the Dublin castle and took a tour there. 

It is so rich with history - I absolutely loved it. After that, we went to St. Patrick's cathedral.

It was very beautiful, but not quite the most impressive European cathedral I've seen. It doesn't hold a match to El Escorial, or even the cathedral in Toledo.

Our last touristy stop of the day was the Guinness Brewery. It was actually the storehouse, because the brewery is not open to the public, and it's officially the largest pint glass in the world - 7 stories high.

On the 2nd story, we stopped in at the cafe and got coffee and had our bocadillos, that we brought from home to avoid spending too much money on food. At the top there is a Gravity Bar that overlooks the whole city. Even though it was overcast, it was still a beautiful view.

When we finished there, we headed back to our hostel, strolling alongside the River Liffey as we went.

Elizabeth was actually in Dublin for the weekend as well, and got in in the afternoon. So we met up with her at the Temple Bar, went back to collect our things from the hostel, and then went to dinner at a nice restaurant called Fitzer's off of Temple Bar Street. We had fish and chips, which were SO incredibly delicious, and for dessert, I had toffee pudding with butterscotch syrup and vanilla ice cream. Heaven in my mouth, for sure.

Around 9:00, we headed to catch the shuttle back to the airport. Our flight was delayed until 11:30, and we finally arrived in Liverpool a little after 12:15. We caught a taxi to our hostel - the cab driver was amazing, and had that awesome Liverpool accent. We finally got there: 3 Mostyn Hall, Gainsborough Rd. off of Smithdown Rd. And we had our own room!! We went to sleep almost immediately. It was great.

Saturday

We accidentally slept in a little, until about 10:00. We woke up, showered, and got on our way. There was a shuttle that comes really close to Gainsborough, on Smithdown, so we went to catch it. By the way, all the public transportation in the UK is the double decker bus. We headed to the downtown area, to buy our train tickets for Sunday to London, and then we walked through Liverpool One - the largest shopping center in Europe. Guay. We were headed to Albert Dock.

When we got there, we immediately went to the Beatles Story museum. This was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It walked through every step of the band, from when the boys were early teens and just starting their music to the end.

Afterwards, Dottie and I ate our bocadillos in the starbucks. Our next stop was the Tate Liverpool art gallery. On display was a collection of William Blake - so cool because I remember well studying him in AP European History. Also, on the two levels above, there was a lot of modern art, including Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol. We spent a while here - it was great.

During the evening, we walked around the mall... taking it all in. They had everything. We stopped in the Apple store and met a girl named Patrice from California who is studying in Liverpool. She told us about the cool hot spots, but it turns out that the girls are CRAZY in Liverpool and basically every night is prom night. You can't get into anywhere unless you're wearing a dress and high heels. We were out of luck.

So we headed back to the hostel, stopping on the way at a superstore to get dinner. We stayed in, watching random British TV shows and chilling. We eventually hit the sack, because the morning would be early.

Sunday

We woke up around 6:30, got ready, and caught the shuttle to the Liverpool Lime Street train station. We caught our train at 8:15 and were on our way to Londrés! We got there around 11:00 and took the metro to Finchley Road, were a hostel was. We stayed in Palmer's Lodge Hostel, and even though we were in a room with 20 other people, it was definitely the coolest hostel I've been in. It looked like a mansion. It had a huge sitting room with computers, a nice restaurant downstairs, and a bar.

We settled in, then hit the road. Because we only had the afternoon, we got a hop on - hop off bus tour ticket and got moving. We saw so many things - Trafalgar Square,

Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben,

 

London Tower,

the Tower Bridge,

and basically every bridge, The Globe Theatre, Buckingham Palace... 

and more! We even got to take a short cruise on the River Thames.

It did rain in the afternoon, and it was FREEZING. But it was still so cool to be in London. However, I had to remind myself several times of where I was - it definitely is still like any other big city, minus the awesome accent and rich history.

After our tour, around 7:00, we headed back to the hostel and chilled for a while. Then we went to the London train station, where we had to catch an express to the airport the next day, to buy tickets. On our way home, we stopped in a Thai restaurant for dinner. Amazing.

We went to sleep around 12:00!

Monday

We woke up before the kitchen opened and then caught the metro to the train station, where we then caught the express to London Stansted. Dottie and I had different flights, so when we got there, we checked in and headed our separate ways. My flight left at 11:30 to Valencia. I got to the VLC airport around 2:30 and caught the metro back into town. From there I walked home.

It was an amazing weekend, but I can't describe how amazing it felt to be back at home! Sweet Matilde was excited to see me, too. Because I hadn't eaten all day, she fixed me just about everything she had in the kitchen - pasta with potatoes, an egg sunny side up, a little bit of paella, bread and chorizo and queso, and then an orange. It was amazing.

I went upstairs, unpacked, studied all afternoon, took a little nap, and then for dinner, we had soup, bread, and fried artichoke. It was so good to be home and fed delicious meals.

La viajera,

Leigh

Field Trip

This morning was weird. I fell asleep last night watching Arrested Development so I woke up really confused. But I still got to school EARLY. I am getting so good.

Today we had Conversación and Cultura. For Cultura, we took a field trip to Sagunto! It was so cool. After conversation class, we walked to the end of Blasco Ibáñez to el Cabañal, the second and smaller train station in Valencia, to catch a train to Sagunto, about 25 minutes outside of Valencia. There and back, the ticket cost 3.25 euros. Cool, huh?

When we got there, we walked up to the old Roman theatre, and then we saw, but weren't able to go in, the castle. These ruins are famous throughout Spain because they are the oldest and most extensive. The castle is especially impressive. We ate our lunches up near the theatre, with a gorgeous view of the city.

When we walked back down into the town, we stopped in and had coffee, with our awesome teacher, because we had a little bit extra time. Around 2:45, we caught the train back into Valencia. Megan and I speed walked back to school, because I had a class at 3:00. My historia class. Of course my sweet teacher was totally whatever about me being late. "No pasa nada," she says.

After my late class, I caught the bus home. I came in and studied some more for my literature test tomorrow. At around 8:45, we had dinner. Vegetables - peas, carrots, potatoes - with bread and fruit and really delicious fish. For dessert, we had some more turrón. Lindsey and I came back upstairs to study some more. Around 11:00, we went down and got tea and snacked some, too.

Today was really cool. I got to talk to some people from our group that I usually don't have a chance too, which was awesome. Even though we are all so very different from each other in so many ways, we all have this one, huge part of our lives in common. I love it. I hate, though, that there are so very few Christians in my group. Please be in prayer for my friends that don't know the Lord. They are lost and they don't even know it!

Siendo una buena estudiante,

Leigh

¡Vamos a Esquiar!

READ THE PREVIOUS ENTRY FIRST

......A CONTINUACIÓN

So, last night, around 2:30, Dovis and Lukas had to leave our own personal party early because they were leaving bright and early in the morning with Dovis' brother to go skiing about 2 hours northwest of Valencia. I was telling Lukas how jealous I was when he mentioned that there was an extra spot for someone if I wanted to join. "I wish I could! I have no ski clothes here, though." Hah. Jazmín to the rescue. She began to tell me about all the ski clothes she has and that I could absolutely borrow them, no doubt about it. Unbelievable. I had been talking all semester about how badly I wanted to go skiing while I was here, but I never in a million years imagined that I would have the chance. Well, like I've said so many times before, the Lord is presenting me with incredible opportunities every day. ¡Aprovecharé cada experiencia!

After all the plans were made, I left with Lukas and Dovis. We dropped Lukas off, stopped at my house to get my stuff, then I went home with Dovis to his parents' house to spend the night so that we could save time in the morning. He lives about 20 minutes outside of the city. When we got there, I was expecting to sleep on the sofa in the living room, but sweet, sweet Dovis, like all of my sweet Spanish friends, gave me his room while he took the sofa. By the time I fell asleep, it was 3:30.

I woke up at 6:30, got dressed and ready, and went into the kitchen to find Dovis. But there was a glitch in our plan. Dovis' brother woke up this morning feeling sick and couldn't go. No more ski day for us. Dovis called Lukas and broke the news to him. We were all really disappointed. Dovis fixed me breakfast... Colacao and a pastry. Yum.

Just as I was starting to make other plans in my head for the day, Dovis and his parents, Juan and Laura, came into the kitchen. Another change of plans. We were, after all, going. Dovis' parents were going with us! They didn't want Dovis to be the driver because he'd just gotten his license - the age is much later here in Spain. By the way, his parents (his whole family for that matter) are absolutely incredible. They served me MORE breakfast, insistently, and while they prepared everything, they would not let me help but instead led me to the living room and made me lay down and rest because we hadn't gotten much sleep last night. Jazmín's phone was off, and so Dovis lent me a pair of his old bibs. Perfect.

We finally left around 8:30, went to pick up Lukas, and then hit the road. It was about a 2 hour drive to Teruel, the province where we skied. On the way, I became fast friends with Dovis' mother, Laura. 

We talked alot about our faith (they are amazing Christians) and other things. She's amazing. His father, as well. I LOVE them. They are so amiable and giving and just so great. When we finally got there, we got ourselves ready, and then went to buy our lift ticket and rent boots and skis and poles. We had a little bit of an issue renting, because I didn't have my passport with me, and for a second it looked like we weren't going to be able to ski. But finally, like every other time a glitch came, it worked out. In total, I spent 47 euros. Amazing. And Dovis' parents didn't actually ski with us - they went to the nearby pueblo to spend some time together. Sweethearts.

The slopes were awesome - It had been snowing all night, and it was still snowing while we were there. 

It was pretty cold, but still awesome. The three of us - Lukas, me, and Dovis - skied together for a while.

 

Dovis had only skied once before, and wanted to take it slow, 

so after a bit, Lukas and I went off to some of the more challenging slopes. It wasn't a huge place, so we skied the same slopes most of the day, but it was still SO much fun and absolutely worth it!!

At 4:30, we met Dovis' parents at the bottom of the mountain, returned our skis, and hit the road at 5:00. His sweet mom had prepared so much food (bocadillos, fruit, etc.) for us, and by that time, we were starving. On the way home, we thawed and ate and Laura and I talked the whole way, again.

They dropped me off at my house around 7:00. Since then, I've just been hanging out with Lindsey and Miguel (our parents are on another romantic getaway :) I also skyped my precious friend and future roomie Natalie for a full hour... it was the best!

Ugh... Can you believe that I actually went skiing today, and now I'm a 20 minute walk from the gorgeous beaches of Valenca?!? I love it!!! Tomorrow, I think I might go to the church that Dovis and his family go to, in la calle Sueca. It's about a 15 minute walk from my house, which is pretty awesome. We shall see!

Una esquiadora contenta,

Leigh

Here's Looking At You, Kid

Casablanca, Marruecos, África

February 19, 2009 - February 22, 2009

Thursday:

Woke up at 5:00, 2 hours after I'd gone to sleep. I got ready, and caught the cab with my friend Melanie to the metro station to meet Megan, the third and last member of our travel party. We took the metro up to the Valencian airport for our 8:00 flight to Madrid. We got to Madrid, had breakfast, and waited for our flight to Casablanca. We left Madrid at 1:30, and got to Casablanca at 2:10 (Casablanca is an hour behind Madrid). After going through customs and getting out of the airport, we hailed a cab into the city. Our driver's name was Sahíd, and he was a total sweetheart. It was a 45 minute drive from Mohammed V to the city.

We got to the hotel and checked in. Our room is pretty sweet! We each have a bed, and there's a bathroom in our room!

After we were all settled in, we went to the Old Medina (open air market) to look around. Everything is so different there. The driving is absolutely NUTS. Lanes mean nothing, and they drive whenever and wherever they want. Also, the men dominate the culture. We couldn't even look at a guy for two seconds without him automatically assuming interest on our part and immediately pursuing it. Also, women aren't very present. In restaurants and bars and shops and even on the streets, you don't see very many women. It was strange. But Casablanca was a really cool city, nonetheless.

After, we walked down to Rick's Café

and then down to Mosque Hassan II - the second largest mosque in the world, the first being that in Mecca. It was definitely a sight to see, and absolutely gorgeous. I only wish that the monument, the effort, the devotion, was for the glory of the true God.

While we were at the mosque, we happened to meet a Turkish cargo ship captain named Mehmet who offered to take us out. Since we'd be hoping to go to Rick's, we willingly obliged. We sat at the bar for a while, thinking we weren't actually going to eat there, but after a bit, he insisted that we get a table. We sat on the second floor and had an absolutely divine dinner. I order a seafood pastry. Top notch. I even got to play Sam's piano! How cool is that?

After dinner, Mehmet walked us home (good thing because it turns out that we were walking through a pretty dangerous part of town), and then we went up to sleep.

Friday:

We woke up around 9:30 and went down to our complimentary breakfast. I had coffee, and then there were crêpes and toast with orange marmalade and butter. Such a European breakfast. Afterwards, we called the tour guide we'd met in the hotel lobby the day before, Bushhaaîm, and scheduled a tour for 11:00. We went upstairs, got ready, and met him in the lobby then.

He took us to more places than I could've imagined! First, he took us to the New Medina, another open air market, and bought us each a bouquet of flowers. Then, we went all around Casablanca: to the old fort, to the Anfa area (where all the expensive villas are and the queen vacations), to a museum dedicated to the old king, to the Catholic church, to a beautiful park with every kind of tree found in Morocco, to the lighthouse.... It was an incredible tour. Check out this Arabian architecture:

We also went to this amazing spice shop where we got oil massages and got to smell and try all these spices and remedies. Afterwards, we ate couscous, the Moroccan specialty (still with Butch Cassidy, as he is fondly known) at a nice restaurant in the city centre.

When we were done with the tour, we went back and rested in our hotel room. The day before we'd met an American, and we ended up running into him and his buddy again in the lobby while we were having tea. Matt, from the day before, is a recent graduate of UGA, and his friend Bronan, is as well. Bronan, however, was born and raised in a small town just outside of Dublin, Ireland. Needless to say, his accent was awesome. We hung out with them in the lobby for a few hours, and then, around 10:30, we all went out. Since, in Morocco, the only women who go out are prostitutes, we played it safe and went to the tourist friendly Rick's Café for the second night in a row. We hung out in the lounge upstairs with our new friends for another couple of hours, just talking and sometimes watching Casablanca, the movie, which is continuously playing on the big screen.

We finally headed back to our hotel. The boys had discovered the roof the night before, so we all went up there to check out the view. It was pretty awesome.

We relaxed for a while, then finally went to sleep. Another good Moroccan night.

Saturday:

We slept in, finally. We did get up in time for our complimentary breakfast though. This time I had tea, but it was the same, otherwise.

After relaxing some more in our room, we decided to head down to the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL. It had a lot of rocks, and the water was a nice aqua green.

The weather was perfect. We laid on the rocks and took in the sunshine. I was surprised to see people actually swimming and skimboarding. There were some women there, but it was mostly men. The culture for women is unlike any I've ever seen or experienced before.

Around 3:00, we went up to the McDonald's, which is apparently super classy dining in Casablanca, and got McFlurries. Just in time for our 4:00 reservation at Hammam Ziani. Hammams are the Middle Eastern variant of steam baths, and to me seemed more like the ancient Roman public baths. It was completely divine. The whole time, we were naked, which was a little strange at first, but after a little while I didn't even notice. First, the main woman took us into a steam room off of the big room with five low sinks against the walls. She gave us soap to soak in. After, she brought us back into the main room, one by one, for the scrubbing process. First the front side, then the back, she scrubbed my whole body with rough gloves to exfoliate. Everywhere. When I sat up, I looked at myself, only to see little clumps of dead skin. Kind of gross. She washed me off then sent me to the jacuzzi. After 10 minutes or so with the jets, another woman led me to the massage room. She lathered me in some oil type lotion and then massaged every inch of my body. Even my face and scalp. It was the most opulent experience of my life, I might venture to say. After that, I was off to the seaweed bath. I laid down on the table, first on my stomach, then over on my back, and the main woman, again, covered every inch of my body with a clay-like seaweed concoction that at first I thought was going to scald my skin. But after, it was exceptional. When I was caked, she rolled me up in tight plastic and I just sunk into utter relaxation. After some time went by, she rinsed me off, sent me back to the jacuzzi, then finally to the showers, where I washed my hair and body. At the end, they provided us with velvet robes and led us to the lounge, where we idled until we finally determined that it was time to get dressed and return to the real world.

When we left, we caught a cab to the hotel and could find in ourselves nothing more than the energy it took to sit in the hotel café and order dinner. We each had a panini - mine was ham and cheese melt. Very good. We went back up to our room, watched some horrible American program, and went to sleep around 10:00

Sunday:

We woke up around 8:30, ate a leisurely breakfast, then packed up. It was sad saying goodbye to all of our sweet friends at the hotel, but we had to. Butch Cassidy (our guide) had arranged for the same cab driver to pick us up and take us to the airport. We got there around 12:30, went through customs, and waited at our gate. We flew from Casablanca at 2:40 and got to Madrid around 5:25, where we took the metro to the train station. We had dinner at a little café in the train station (I had a breakfast panini) then took a train from Madrid to Valencia. We got to Valencia around 11:45, and Melanie and I took a cab back to our houses.

This weekend was amazing. I still can't get through my head that I've been to Morocco in AFRICA. It's just so unreal. The Lord is giving me so many opportunities. I've just got to figure out what to do with these experiences and what it means for me to be learning everything that I am. I will post pictures to accompany this incredibly long post later. The real world is creeping in with every tick of the clock, and I've still got to get some sleep before it's here!

Bendecida,

Leigh

Viaje a Barcelona: Parte 2

So last night, after I posted, I ended up hanging out for a while in Melanie's room with her, her friend Anna (from ISA Barcelona), Ken, Andrew, Dottie, and Madeline. At around 11:30, Madeline, Dottie, Ken and I went to grab bocadillos before going out. We met up with Melanie and then took a metro to a different district to meet up with Anna.

When we got there, we found a neat little bar, 

two levels, that had low couches and tables and dim lights and cushions and just an incredible ambience. We got something to drink and hung out for a little bit. Around 1:30 we headed to Mojito, our destination for the night. It was this really awesome dance club, and it was PACKED! But it was so fun. I was sweating after about 5 minutes of being inside. But I did end up dancing with a few Spanish dudes, which was awesome.

We left around 4:30 and took a cab back to the hotel, and I went to sleep around 5:15.

This morning, we woke up at 9:30 and got packed and ready. We made it to complementary breakfast, too! Which was okay. I had a croissant and some juice and then made a bocadillo to take with me for lunch.

We left the hotel at 11:00 and headed to the Picasso museum downtown. It was awesome! The museum is actually 5 old "castles" together, converted into different salas based on the period of his life. Our tour guide was one of the directors of ISA Barcelona, and she was fabulous. We were there until about 1:30, after which we had free time until 4:00 to eat and do whatever.

Jessica and I wanted to sample some local cuisine, so we went to a tapas restaurant and ordered muscles, patata tortilla, and butifarra (specialty of Barcelona). It was all very delicious. It was great, too, because it gave Jessica and I a chance to really talk one-on-one. We talked about our faith alot, which was a breath of fresh air, for sure. The Lord has definitely blessed me with fellowship like I never would've expected.

After la comida, we met up with Macy and got some gelato. I got a special where they put four flavors into one cup. I ordered: tiramisu, bonbon, conguitos, and stracciatella. It was maybe the most delicious thing I've ever tasted in my life.

At 4:00, we met at the huge Cristóbal Colón statue by the port and loaded the bus to head back home! We stopped around 6:45 to get a little snack, and we arrived in Valencia around 9:15. It's pretty cold outside, so Lindsey and I got a cab back to our house.

I'm so, so tired and hopefully will be asleep soon! Hope everyone is doing well!!!

Todo mi amor,

Leigh

*Pictures (from top to bottom): A panorama of Barcelona from Montjüic, me and Macy with the cool statue, Kumon in Barcelona!, Saint Mary of the Sea cathedral, a Spanish alleyway, the Christopher Columbus monument, me riding on Aslan

Viaje a Barcelona: Parte 1

So I do have internet!!!

Friday morning, Lindsey and I woke up at 6:00 (SUCCESSFULLY!) and got ready to head out. Our sweet papá took us to the stadium where we were meeting the group. We hopped on the bus at 8:00 and headed to B-pueblo (Barcelona).

We stopped about two hours in at a little cafeteria and got some snacks, and then went the rest of the way to Barcelona. We arrived around 1:00, and picked up our tour guide. We had a panoramic tour of the city, and stopped at the top of one of the mountains to take pictures. Barcelona is BIG and GORGEOUS! We also stopped at a little park where Gaudí, a famous Spanish architect, lived. It was pretty cool. After that, we came to the hotel and rested. Lindsey and I ended up sleeping for four hours! Of course.

After our siesta, I went down to Anna's room and hung out with her and Elizabeth. Her roommate had bought some croissants for dinner, so she shared with me. Around 11:00, Ivan (my friend from church who is also in Barcelona this weekend) came with a couple of his friends to the hotel. We (Ivan, me, Anna, Elizabeth, Byron, and Jimmy) went to a bar to have some cokes, and then went to a discoteca - Nueva Época. It was SOOO fun!! Ivan and I danced most of the time. He's such a great dancer. He taught me Salsa and Merengue (sp?) and a bunch of other dances that I don't know the name of. I absolutely had a blast. Also, he told me that for an American, I dance very well! Hah!

We (the girls) came home around 3:00. The guys walked us home and then went BACK to the discoteca! Haha - they stayed out til like, 6:00. Typical of Spain. Anyway, I went to sleep after that.

This morning, we were supposed to get a wake up call at 9:30. For some reason, Lindsey and I didn't get one. I'd set an alarm on my American phone, but it'd been roaming all day and ended up dying in the middle of the night. So we didn't wake up until 10:45 and missed the walking tour. Unfortunately. But we got ready and found a cute little coffee shop and had breakfast. We then took our own walking tour to the downtown area. There were a ton of cool shops and places down there. I bought a shirt, and was going to buy some art, but the woman had already packed up by the time I returned :(

We headed back to the hotel around 3:00, and Ivan and Byron came to meet me. They are both originally from Ecuador, so we went to this delicious restaurant to have real ecuadorian food. It was awesome. We hung around until 6:00, then Ivan walked me back. We stayed in the hotel lobby talking until 7:30. He told me about coming to Spain and how hard it was to leave his town. How half of his heart is here, while the other part is there. We also talked about the Lord alot, which was so awesome. He's such a neat person!

Now I'm just hanging out in the hotel room, resting for a while. I'm going out tonight, either to go salsa dancing with some ISA friends or to meet back up with Ivan, Byron and Jimmy to dance some more. Either way, it's going to be another amazing night out on the town!

I'll post tomorrow about the final leg of our excursion, and I'll probably add pictures to both posts.

Hasta,

Leigh

Oops - sleeping in is NOT fun!

So Lindsey (my roommate) and I didn't get a wake up call this morning. Which was funny, but unfortunate because we missed breakfast AND the bus into town AND almost all of the walking tour of Toledo. But we weren't the only ones. Several other people didn't wake up. We  caught a taxi into town and met up with the group at la catedral. This cathedral in Toledo is the fourth largest cathedral in the world. It took 300 years to build, and is absolutely breathtaking.

After seeing the cathedral and walking down a few more of Toledo's gorgeous streets, we had free time. We (Dottie, Melanie, Jessica, Macy, Ken, Andrew, and myself) ate lunch at a little kebap place (a sandwich/pita type food with lettuce and little slivers of lamb and a very interesting dressing). Then we walked around the city more and looked at all the shops.

We met back up with the whole group and headed back to our hotel. We had free time, so Anna Q. (from Idaho) and I just sat around, used the internet, and rested for a while. I got to talk to Mary Evelyn, Lauren, AND my parents on Skype today. It was very successful :) At 6:30 we had a meeting about our host families and all about our classes and the city of Valencia. It got us all REALLY excited to get there!!!

After the meeting, Anna Q, Elizabeth, Jen, Kara and I went down to the little cafe downstairs and had sandwiches for dinner (I feel like the only thing I ever have to eat is sandwiches...) and hung out for a couple hours. That's one thing I LOVE about Spain. There is no rush to do anything. You sit down to have dinner at a nice restaurant, and when you're done, the waiter doesn't bring you the bill and breathe down your neck until you leave. You can stay forever and just enjoy each other's company, and it's up to you to decide when you'd like the bill. We sat around just talking and getting to know each other and joking. It was great.

Tommorow we're headed to Valencia and I cannot wait! I'm nervous to meet my family, but at the same time, I know it's going to be such a neat experience. I'll update as soon as I can!

Besos y Abrazos,

Leigh

*Pictures (from top to  bottom): The tower of the cathedral in Toledo (fourth largest in the world), the front of the cathedral - notice the sculpture of the Last Supper above the doors, A view from the outside of the city and a beautiful palace, Jessica and I sad about leaving the city, Kyle, me, Macy, Andrew, Jessica, Dottie, and Ken on the wall of the city

My future home will look just like these places ;)

What a day! We woke up EARLY this morning and hit the road - final destination: Toledo. We stopped at El Monasterio del Escorial. Such a cool place. It's a monastery and a school and a library, and ultimately, it was the vacation home of Felipe II during the summer and Christmas holiday. The library is almost the most important library of the Catholic faith, second only to the Vatican. It had 100's of original manuscripts. It was absolutely magnificent. We saw the bedroom where Felipe II died at the age of 71, and also the bedroom of his oldest daughter, Isabella. We toured the royal mausoleum, where all but two of the kings and queens of Spain are laid. Their bones are actually in the marble and bronze gilded tombs, and there were three bodies in the rotting rooms just outside of the mausoleum. The place totaled 34,000 sq. meters. It was absolutely beautiful.

We had some free time after our tour, so we walked around the town. It was gorgeous, surrounded by mountains. I bought a pizza (cuatro quesos) from a little panería for lunch. It was chilly outside, so Melanie, Elizabeth, Anna and I went into a little bar and ordered some hot cola-cao (this delicious chocolate drink comparable to hot chocolate).

After leaving El Escorial, we made a second stop at Valle de los Caídos. This magnificent monument was built in honor of los Caídos (the fallen) of the Spanish civil war. It's a tourist spot for sure, because the Spanish view it as a very sad place and don't really visit it. It consists of a HUGE cross (more than 100 meters) on top of a mountain, and below it, a monument built into the mountain that doubles as a Catholic church, where mass is actually held. The very cool part about this is that the huge cross has a small hole in the top that goes all the way through to the dome inside the mountain. In the center of the dome is a giant statue of Jesus on the cross, and at just the right time, the sun comes in through the cross and hits the cross, illuminating the entire room.

We left the monument and rode the almost 2 hours to Toledo. We're staying at the Beatriz Hotel. It is VERY big and super nice. Tonight we had a meeting about our host families and culture in Valencia, after which Dottie, Melanie, Ken, Andrew, Jessica, Macy and I went to a nearby supermercado and bought dinner to eat back here in the hotel.

Today has been much better as far as my homesickness goes :) I think now that we're all getting used to each other and getting used to Spain, it's a lot easier to enjoy everything.

Hasta,

Leigh

*Pictures (from top to bottom): Outside of El Monasterio del Escorial, inside the center of el monasterio, the town of El Escorial, the monument Valle de los Caídos, the view from the monument