My Overall Spain Experience. :)

My Trip to Spain was no doubt the best experience of my life. I discovered and learned so many new things not only about the history of Spain, but also about life that I never would have been able to learn had it not been for this trip. Not only was it an awesome learning experience, but it brought me so close to some of my best friends, that I honestly don't think we could have gotten any closer. At night when we had free time we would hang out with each other at the hotel and play games, joke around, and even have deep talks about our lives or just life in general. This trip bonded us in a way not many other things could. In addition to strengthening old relationships, I also made new ones with people from Chicago and California. Coming on the trip, I thought I would just stick with my main friends and that would be it. But I was so wrong. I ended up becoming great friends with a few people I never thought I would have become friends with. And the crazy thing is that we got so close in just 10 days. In addition to the forming and strengthening of friendships, I learned so much about the history and architecture of Spain and I also learned many life lessons, like responsibility and how to become more independent. My Spain experience was an amazing experience that I will cherish forever, and never forget.

En espanol: Mi viaje a Espana era muy fantastico. Yo Aprendi mucho sobre mi vida, y la historia de Espana. Tambien, Yo hecho muchos amigos nuevos.


Click link below to see my video presentation of my spain trip. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y04C9v9rG6U





Spanish Conversation with Marta Ypunto--Our Guide 

Spanish Conversation with Senor De Casso

 

Reina Sofia Art Museum

Art Museum On The Left

In Madrid, we had a beautiful hotel with a beautiful view from my room of the plaza, with the Reina Sofia Art Museum in it. At night, we would sit outside on the balcony and watch the plaza come to life. The Accordian players would come out and play, people would be sitting and talking and laughing, or just walking, etc. In the morning, Sophie and I went to the Reina Sofia, after getting the permission to do so, of course. When we were there, we saw the real paintings by Pablo Picasso. The fact that those exact paintings were actually painted by Picasso himself so long ago, and the fact that those paintings were right in front of my face, was absolutely crazy!

En Espanol: La Vista en nuestro hotel era muy fabulosa y hermosa. En la manana en Madrid, nosotros corrimos al museo de arte "Reina Sofia" donde nosotros vimos cuadros antiguos por Pablo Picasso.

Eating at a Restaurant in Seville

While in Seville, we had free time, so my friends and I decided to go eat at a restaurant, which I think might have been our first restaurant in Spain, since we mostly ate at the hotels. The self served buffet dinners at the hotels were very different from eating at an actual restaurant, because at the restaurant we were required to converse and use our spanish speaking skills with the waitresses. It was difficult for me because for one, they were talking too fast for me to understand, and second, it took me a while to translate what I wanted tosay from english to spanish. In the end, however, it all worked out and the food was muy delicioso!

En Espanol: Seville, mis amigos y yo fuimos a comer en el ristorante. Nosotros tuvimos el tiempo dificil hablando a las camareras, pero que estaba bien al final. La comida era muy delicioso!

Paella (Traditional Spanish dish) and squid!

A Night On the Town in Seville



Eating Snails!

After the day tours of Seville--which I thought was absolutely gorgeous, the older people from Chicago and California went on a little night cruise, while the CHS kids went for a night on the town. First we went to a restaurant and had a bunch of appetizers, such as snails (Actual snails...still with the horns and legs and everything), some good chicken and pork with bleu cheese sauce on top, and other stuff. It took me a while to convince myself to try the snail...but after a while my friends and I decided to eat it at the same time. We counted to three and I put it in my mouth...but I couldn't get past the whole "legs, horns, and sliminess" thing... so I spit it right back out! I guess my attempt at being adventurous kind of failed...but that's okay.
After eating, we went to a plaza in Seville, and watched the Spain Vs. Croatia game on the big screen along with hundreds of other Spaniards. Definitely an AMAZING experience. After that, we got ice cream and went kareoking. It's amazing how different the night life is from here in the U.S. People in Spain are out all night, and it's so lively. I loved it!

En Espanol: En Seville, Primera nosotros fuimos a comer...nosotros comimos caracoles! Segunda, fuimos a una plaza en Seville y vimos el partido "Espana vs. Croatia" en la Copa de Europa. Finalmente, fuimos al karaoke. Era muy divertido!!

Beach Day at Costa Del Sol

After morocco, we went to Costa Del Sol and had a relxing beach day. It wasn't a learning experience, but being able to spend a relaxing and fun day at the beach with my best friends was super nice and I loved every single minute of it. Especially because we were at the beach...In Spain! Somewhere none of us thought we'd ever end up traveling to together.The beach was so beautiful...especially compared to Galveston. :)The water was completely see through; we could see all the fish and jellyfish...it was amazing! We even found sea Urchants and held them! It was by far the prettiest beach I've ever been to!

En Espanol: Despues Morocco, fuimos a Costa Del Sol y tuvimos una dia relajante. La agua era muy claro. Vimos las pescados y las medusas!

Morocco

Camel Riding!

No matter how many times I think about it, I still can't get over the fact that I was in Africa. I never would have thought that the oppurtunity for me to go to a place so different from the U.S. would have presented itself to me, but it did and because of that I feel extremely priveledged and greatful. During the trip to Spain, I knew I was far from home, but it wasn't until I got to Morocco and saw how completely different it is from America, that I realized just how far from home I really was. In Spain I felt like I could somewhat blend in because the people there dressed like I did, and I could speak enough spanish to get around. In Morocco, however, I felt like I went back in time to the bible times or something. It was totally obvious that I wasn't from there. I felt like I looked too modern, too American in the way I dressed. People were speaking Arabic and I didn't understand anything. The entire town was so different from anything I've ever seen or experienced. Even though I felt like a complete outsider, I completely loved being able to experience and being immersed in a culture that is so different from my own. I learned so much about the Moroccan culture. I learned that the women do not work; they stay with their children all day. I also learned that the children don't start learning arabic until they are 7-9 years old, and alot of other facts about Moroccan family and culutral life. Going to Morocco was definately one of the coolest, most unforgettable experiences of my life.

En Espanol: Morocco era muy diferente de America. Yo siento mas fuera de lugar en Morocco que en espana, pero me encanto Morocco! Era una gran experiencia.

On The Ferry To Africa!

Communication difficulties in Granada.

During our free time in the city center of Granada, my friends Kabir, Sophie, Mauricio, Bianca and I went to get some gelato for a little snack. The gelato was one of the best I had during the entire trip...and I had a lot of gelato..so that's saying something. Although it was good, getting it was not easy. Usually some of the people at the gelato shops speak a little English, but at this one there were absolutely no English speakers. I remember trying to ask the lady if I could have a chocolate gelato and she said something to me that I could not understand at all. So soon enough we both ended up trying to act out what we were trying to say, which was probably pretty entertaining to watch, I'm sure. Turns out she just wanted to know if I wanted 2 different flavors or just all chocolate. Although this experience was amusing and awkward, I learned from it. Even though I don't speak the same language as everyone in the world, there is always alternative ways of communication.

En Espanol: En Espana, muchos gentes hablan ingles, pero la mujer en el heladeria no habla ingles. Era muy dificil para mi hablar con la mujer. Nosotros empezamos usando nuestros manos a comunicar. Yo aprendi que hay siempre muchos formas a comunicar.

Granada: La Alhambra

La Alhambra in Granada was absolutely breathtaking--every single part of it. I don't remember really expecting much from it, cause all I heard was that it was a garden. So all I thought was "Ok I guess that's cool...". But when we got there, I was blown away. Every single aspect fo the place: The flowers, the history, the architecture, the views--everything was beautiful. You know those times when you think nothing can get better, more impressive, or more amazing than it already is, but then it does? Yeah that happened like 536834756 times for me while we were there. Everytime we went somewhere new there, my mouth would drop...literally. And I would be completely speechless. I never thought this kind of thing could teach me a lesson...but it did. I learned to always be open to anything, because it could end up completely blowing your expectations out of the water.

En Espanol: Granada--y La Alhambra era MUY hermosa!! Las flores, la historia, la arquitectura--todo era hermosa. Cada vez vimos nuevo algo, yo era mudo.

 

Aquarium in Valencia.

We drove from Barcelona to Valencia, Spain and visited the Aquarium there: L'Oceanografic--the biggest Aquarium in Europe! And it definately was huge. I dont think my friends and I even finished looking at everything before we left. Some of the animals we saw there were the Belugha Wales, Penguins, Sting Rays, and my favorite--The dolphins in the Dolphin show. This aquarium was like a normal aquairum and Sea World combined. The thing I liked about the Dolphin show, was not only the dolphins, but the fact that it was done in spanish. I found myself trying to make sense of what the announcer was saying, and what the crowd was saying as well. One time, the announcer guy said something to the crowd, and we thought what he was saying was addressed to the entire crowd, so we yelled extremely loud in response to what we thought he said. But apparently we misunderstood him, because only the little little kids were yelling, and some parents and even some younger kids were even giving us looks like "what do you think you're doing.." So we thought that was quite funny. I guess we still quite a bit of work to do on our Spanish speaking skills. (:

En Espanol: En Valencia, fuimos a la acuario que es mayor en Espana. Era tan grande!! Fuimos a el espectaculo de delfines. Era muy divertida!

Flamenco Night In Barcelona

All ready for Flamenco night!

After the day of shopping and touring in Barcelona, we finished it off with a Flamenco night. We went out at around 9 PM and got to get all dressed up, and saw all these AMAZING dancers and singers perform the flamenco dance in a beautiful Spanish building. (The Flamenco dance is the traditional Spanish dance.) I've never seen a dance so beautifully, fiercfully, and passionately executed before. It was definately a great experience for me and everyone else who went.

En Espanol: En la noche en Barcelona, fuimos a ver la baila de Flamenco. Era muy feroz y hermosa. Me gusto mucho la Flamenco!!


Dancing the Flamenco!




Shopping in Barcelona

After a very good night's sleep, I was fully rested and ready for my first full day of touring and experiencing Spain and the Spanish culture. We toured Barcelona and got a good overview of its past and and just the city in general. We then went to Parque Guell and saw the beautiful mosaic architecture designed by Gaudi. After that, we went back to La Rambla (the main street in Barcelona) for some shopping. They just happened to have my favorite store, H&M on that street. TWO of them! Sophie, Bianca, and I went shopping there and Sophie and I ended up buying dresses. The checking out part of the shopping experience wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, due to the fact that they were talking in spanish...in very FAST Spanish. But after asking them to speak a little slower, it worked out... fortunately. (:

En Espanol: En Barcelona fuimos de compras en La Rambla. Yo fui a mi tienda favorita--H&M! Yo compri las ropas.

The H&M we shopped at in Barcelona!

Travel

My travels began on June 11, 2012 at 4:30 in the morning. I drove to Clements High School, loaded my luggage on the bus, met up with my friends who were also going to Spain with me, and we left for the Houston Airport. The wait in the airport seemed endless. We got there at around 7ish in the morning, and waited until around 4 PM to board our nine hour flight to Paris, France. The plane ride to France seemed extremely long, due to the fact that my friends and I were exhausted but we couldn't sleep. After getting to the airport in France, we had another 2 hours to wait for our next flight to Barcelona. We went and bought some sandwhiches from a French breakfast restaurant, since it was morning there. After our 2 hour wait, we boarded our final flight to Barcelona, Spain, which was about an hour long. When we arrived, we were all extremely tired, and not to mention, quite a bit grumpy as well. In all honesty though, I was incredibly nervous to come to a foreign country in a different continent without my parents, because it was my first trip going somewhere without them. I can say that this experience taught me how to be more independant, and it has DEFINATELY taught me the importance of responsibility.

En Espanol: Mi viaje a espana empezo en Junio 11, 2012. La espera en el aeropuerto era interminable. Yo era muy nerviosa venir a pais nuevo, pero era bien. Yo aprendi mucho sobre responsibilidad.


My friends Bianca Bui and Sophie Frankel and I in the Houston Airport.