...Indescriptible

Yeah, it's weird to be back. Spain does seem like a dream. The last few days were in fact really, really wonderful, which made it even harder to leave, but I'd rather have it that way, like Betty said.

The youth group's goodbye party to us was so touching and a lot of fun. Makes me wish we could've stayed just a little longer...I love that church. They were the best thing that happened to me this semester. The day in the mountains was also really good. The view was gorgeous and the company delightful. And I'm so glad we spent our last evening in Murcia at Santo Domingo. It was hard to say goodbye. I felt really overwhelmed that night. Sunday was so so wonderful and hard at the same time. Lots of goodbyes and good times spent at San Javier. Ohhhh....Spain! Sorry, I cannot accurately express myself, it's just not going to happen.

I thought the flights went really smoothly, and I'm very grateful for that. I have much more confidence now about traveling. And the food was delicious. They would make announcements in English and Spanish, but I kept thinking they were both in English and wondering why they were repeating themselves! I'm nearly recovered sleep-wise. I woke up yesterday morning to a world of bright green. This morning I went out for some light shopping. When I passed a couple women talking in Spanish I had to resist the urge to suddenly hug them and say “hola!” It is clearly weirder coming back than it was leaving. Dollars...gallons of milk...intersections...electric stoves...other blond people...what??

So we're back. There's a hundred people to catch up with, another hundred to stay in touch with...I don't know where to begin. Hope yall have enjoyed reading this as much as we've enjoyed sharing it with you. Life is...a beautiful story.
♥Tracy

...Dinámica.

Well, now we are home and it all feels like a dream. The last three days were the best.

Friday: We met up with our professor from Roberts who had come to visit. We had our last menú del día experience at a mesón. This is Tracy's plate:


She was excited about the prawn because it is such a traditional part of the paella. I was equally excited that there wasn't one on my plate! It was like paella with the noodles from Kraft macaroni and cheese... haha. Anyway, we had a really good time with our teacher: telling her all about the semester, asking questions about Roberts, hearing about potiential future plans for the study abroad program... We walked around the catheral with her, took some pictures, and then walked her back to the train station. It was a wonderful visit.

That night's youth group meeting involved a goodbye party for us. We talked, ate, played ping pong and other games... It was a lot of fun and so nice of them!! They have always been so welcoming to us, especially considering what little we do in return.

Saturday we went to a picnic in the mountains near Murcia with our history teacher and about eight or ten friends from class.
It was another absolutely wonderful day! We sat on some old castle ruins, eating, and talking in both English and Spanish. Now that the class is over, Jose let us realize that he understands English very well! The sun was very hot, so we eventually went down from the mountain to a little café and talked some more.

That night we carried out our plan to go to Santo Domingo (the main square) for coffee and just be in Spain... Three friends came with us, and then we met up with some other people to say goodbye afterwards.

On Sunday, Tracy and I got up to watch the sunrise one last time :-) haha... actually we saw it Mon. too, but that was different. I didn't realize how late it rises in Spain until I came back here and realized that it's up around 5. It didn't rise until about 7 in Spain. We finished packing, trashing, or giving away all of our stuff that morning. Then... we tried to walk to church with our suitcases (because we were going to take a bus after the service), but that proved impossible. We walked ahead and asked someone for a ride. They helped us out!!! Such wonderful people. So... we had our last church service there, and then set off for the beach, along with some of the youth. And some others met up with us there later. The plan was to stay in San Javier that night because our first plane left from that airport the next morning at 8. We got some food, went swimming, enjoyed each other's company... ANOTHER wonderful day!

After everyone had left, Megan and I went out to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. It was fairly peaceful... considering... The time I felt the worst about leaving was Saturday night. I was trying to fall asleep, and I just kept freaking out. But after that things were ok. It's hard to say exactly what I was worried about. I think I was sort of worried about getting through the airports, but once we got there it was totally fine. You just follow sign after sign... We kept getting where we needed to be so early that our flight wasn't even posted yet.

Backtraking... there were soooo many goodbyes. They were all a mix of sadness and awkwardness (am I ever going to see you again?), but I was glad to realize that if it hadn't been hard to say goodbye... there would have been nothing we enjoyed. So, really, I was glad to be sad to go. AH! Spain!

Let's see if I can write a bit about the flights without too much complaining... Here is a picture of Tracy's looking outside the first airport (we got there before it even opened!).

So yeah, San Javier only has five gates... It was a smallish plane, but we got to Madrid in about an hour. It was a long wait in the Madrid airport (our favorite place... not!). I spent the last of my Euros on the Euro menu at McDonald's and an outrageously priced Coke... On our plane to London (despite what you might think, that is on the way to NY from Spain... ha), there was a group of British kids who had been on a field trip in Spain. So, that was interesting. I didn't realize what a beast the London Heathrow airport was. We took a bus from terminal 3 to 5 and then a train thing to the correct part of terminal 5! Our flight was a delayed a bit because of the British Air strike, but the pilot made up the time (I don't like to think how), so we still got in at 9pm. The lady I sat next to lives in NY, and she had been on a cruise in Greece. She was pretty talkative, so that was nice. It was a really nice plane, and at first when I saw that there were like thirty movies to pick from I thought, I'm all set! But it was a tough seven hours (I know, I know, there are much longer flights...). I started three movies and just couldn't focus on any of them for more than twenty minutes (of course now, I want to know how they all end!). The food was really good, and the flight attendants were really nice. It should have been great. I was just really impatient. When we got in, we had to go through customs and all that, but we were there!!!!

Leaving Spain:

Arriving in NYC!

Are they really that different?

After getting into the airport I had a four hour car ride, so I didn't to get to bed until 2, which in my mind was still 8! I thought I would be really tired and sleep well, but I guess that's not how jet lag works. I woke up wide awake at 5:45! It was sort of a hard day, but then I slept from 7:30 til 5:30 (haha... I'm sure getting up this early won't last, but it is fun while it does!), and now I feel pretty good.

I just wanted to write about the last few days because they were so wonderful, but I don't really want to do any more reflecting right now cuz I just feel odd. I know it wasn't a dream, but it sure feels like one. I have woken up and don't know what to do!

Well, I'm really glad Tracy and I did this blog. I hope you enjoyed it. It is pretty funny to me to go back and read the old entries! Thanks for reading. See you soon!!!!

Betty

...Soleada.

This past week has been delightful. Some highlights:

Thursday: We went to Claudia's to hang out and have dinner. Good times. :)
Friday: We went to the market for the last time...:( I will miss that market. I got some of the best tomatoes ever. And I wanted to say good-bye to the guy I always get carrots from, but it was loud and busy, and Spain has actually not made me a louder person. Betty and I walked home by way of Vía de Malecón, a pretty walk that takes you through the suburbs, including orchards, roosters, and cute houses. Later that night Ashley came over and we had tortilla española and watched Carmen before youth group. Good times. :)


Saturday: Ashley and I went sketching in the city. It was a beautiful day. Later Beth came over to study for art and then we rewarded ourselves with some caramel corn and a movie. Good times. :)
Sunday: We went to Benidorm with Claudia, Elena, Miguel, Haley, and Ashley. First we went to the beach, and, if I may say it, it was weird to see the hundreds of wrinkly, sunburned, and sometimes topless English people...That part was mildly disconcerting. We walked down the streets to see the shops, and then we went to the amusement park, Tierra Mítica. It was a beautiful view from up there, and it was lovely to spend the day with friends...Good times. :)


Tuesday: Yet another movie night, this time with Claudia and Elena. Yup, good times. :)

We had our last exam last night! I think they all went well. Today after our last class Betty and I went up to the “terraza,” and I sketched a little. Tomorrow our Spanish professor from the states is coming to visit!! It promises to be a good final weekend. I'll probably write one more blog once we get home. Have I mentioned how weird it is to read old entries? Ha. God is good.
See you on the other side of the Atlantic!
♥Tracy

...Irlandés!

One of the many great things about getting the music and art papers done... I can write about Ireland now!! We still have three tests next week, but at least all we have to do now is study... no more writing. This is a huge relief.

So... Thursday night we left for Ireland! We just made it there (and back) without interference from the dreaded icelandic volcano... We got in very early Friday morning and took a taxi to the hostel. Our taxi driver was amusing, and we got to experience riding on the left side of the road. It didn't seem that weird, but I'm sure it would have been difficult if we were to try driving the car. Crossing the street was a bit confusing. They had "look left" or "look right" written on the pavement... I guess we aren't the only ones who have trouble with that.

The hostel was nice. The best part about it was the breakfast. Included of course. We thought it was just going to be toast, which is quite sufficient, but it turned out to be a feast! There was toast, coffee, tea, two kinds of cereal, fruit, yogurt, orange juice, jam, nutella, and hard boiled eggs! We were never hungry in Dublin.

Friday morning we set out for the Guinness factory. It was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be. If you're ever in Dublin...

After that we tried to find Kilmainham Goal, the old jail that has been turned into a museum. We had a terribly simplified map, so we didn't do too well at finding stuff. On the way (sort of... haha) to the jail we stumbled upon a nice garden at the museum of modern art. I think it was there that we saw a squirrel. And lots of green grass! It is possible that we sang "Ireland's Call" in an open field.

We made it to the jail. It was only 2€ for a tour (yay student prices!!). While we waited for the tour to start we read through the historical information in the museum. And then we got to see the whole place! It was really really cool, but in a depressing sort of way. As our tour guide told us about all the horrible and sad things that happened there you couldn't help but think, "Wow. Once, on this very spot where I am standing lay Dubliners who had commited small crimes to get into jail so they would be assured something to eat." This is a picture of the most famous part, which you might recognize:


After we got out of jail (yes, I was waiting to say that), we found a place for lunch. It was this really cute little restaurant in the back of a bar where two Irish ladies were serving food. Tracy and I had some soup and sandwhiches and Rachael and Beth tried the chicken curry with rice. It was a nice hot lunch. Dublin was a bit cold. I really enjoyed that! Oh, you know what else is great? They will give you a glass of water for free with a meal!!!! I have so missed that in España.

Let's see... after lunch I think we headed over to Pheonix Park. It was very pretty. It's funny... the architecture of Dublin is not that great, but there is a lot of green in the grass and trees and flowers, so it's pretty anyway. We were in search of some war memorials that were supposed to be near the park. The only one we ended up finding was this big one... that sticks right up into the air:

Great work! Our wanderings took us to the top of a hill where there was a field with lots of deer in it. We asked a couple of guys walking a dog if they knew where one of the memorials was. They pointed out the big one... off in the distance. Well yeah... we see that one. Haha.

We did some gift shopping that afternoon. Not even Dublin has cool souvenir shops. I really hate souvenir shops. Ok, tirade over. Here's a funny story. We took the tram at one point and had to buy our tickets out of a machine. I put my coins in the credit card slot... one of them got stuck... we kept trying to pry it out with stuff. There was an older Irish couple who was laughing :-) Tracy eventually got it! You had to be there...

That night we went to a restaurant with Irish dancing!!!! Amazing. We were tired, so we went back to the hostel around nine I think.

The next morning (after another amazing breakfast!) we went to see Trinity College. On the way, a guy came up to us and asked, "Could you tell me what day it is?" We told him it was the 8th, but he meant the day of the week. He said, "I've been on the bear all week." Well, if you had to tell us you were drunk and disoriented... that was a very funny way of doing so. We enjoyed quoting him every other time we walked under that bridge.

The college was nice. And then we found the library, which had this really interesting exhibit about Indian people of the Sikh religion who have immigrated to Ireland. I would say more about that, but I am unqualified.

We went to Howth Harbour around noon. It is about a thirty minute train ride from Dublin. Tracy had found out about it on the Internet, and we wanted to go see the seals! We did!

We also found a random book sale. I couldn't resist a book for a euro. The harbour was beautiful. Nice and cold too! With wind! I say that now as I am sitting on the couch with my computer on my lap, sweating... but really, I did enjoy the weather while we were there too. We got lunch there. I had fish and chips!!!! After walking around we went back and bought some fish to feed the seals!

What else? We rode back to Dublin. Saw some more sights, including a suspicious gathering of youth in the Garden of Remembrance who were jumping over a rather tall fence to get in and out. For dinner, we found a place with a deal on cottage pie. It's very similar to shepherd's pie. It was really delicious and came with fries and a salad too. And Tracy got seafood soup. More free water too! :-)

Sunday we tried to go to mass at St. Patrick's cathedral. Too bad we had the time wrong and missed it.

...taxi, plane, bus, walk... eventually we made it back to our apartment. And we arrive at yet the end of another subpar description of an amazing trip. Trust me. Ireland = coolest place ever.

A few reflections... It was almost like being home. All that English speaking! The thing that was weird though... I was just a lot happier being there than I have been during our travels to Spanish cities. I mean, those were great too, but this was different. I like to think that it was just because I was so happy to be there and not because I am just really dependent on the comfort that familiarity offers.

Well, speaking of comfort... it is really great to have those papers done. After I finished, I made rice pancakes for dinner. There is nothing as wonderful as cooking after sitting at a computer all afternoon and much of the morning! And who knew rice pancakes would be so good? If you type "pancakes" into allrecipies.com of course you get all kinds of stuff. I said, "We could make rice pancakes, but we wouldn't really want to put the syrup on those..." But Rachael and Tracy both said, "Yes! We would!" So we did. And it was delicious.

Betty

...Generosa.

What a wonderful past few days it's been! Apart from the barbacoa with the youth group, we made our first successful tortilla española! And we got a coconut. And yesterday we was delightful. We went to the Spanish church in the morning, and then Rafael agreed to take us to the new church in Torrevieja! (Not before the Spaniards could make sure we got our fill of food from the Mother's Day lunch.) It was such a blessing to be able to go to Torrevieja with Rafael. The Restrepo family by far has been one of the greatest influences on my life this semester. Their faith and hospitality never cease to blow me away. They have captured my heart. And I can't imagine what this semester would have been like without the church and the friends we've made there. God has provided for us in so many ways. We went with Rafa to an adorable British church. We couldn't stay for the service but we got to enjoy a “Faith Tea” to celebrate Mother's Day (yes, yesterday was Mother's Day here) and to welcome Mike and Alice from South Carolina, an awesome couple who will be here for the summer. I loved that church from the moment we walked in the door and a sweet old British man in a purple bow tie asked us if we would care for some tea. How could we refuse?? We still stuck out at that church even though they spoke English because we were a lot younger than the rest of them. We met Paula from Finland who speaks many languages and spent 10 years as a missionary in Uganda. She's a remarkable woman. It was a good time all around. The ride was fun too - I like the Spanish countryside, driving through the lemon orchards and seeing the mountains...it's all very beautiful. And it was good to be with Rafael for what may have been the last time.

I will briefly comment on our classes as well. Our history presentation today went really well. And yes, Jose is awesome. Just one more presentation to go! That will be for politics and society. My professor is Juanjo (Juan José). We like him a lot. And what a wealth of knowledge he has! It certainly has come down to crunch time. I've got three papers to write (music, politics, art), and exams to study for. I really enjoy my grammar class as well. I've been getting to know the guys from China, and I get to walk most of the way home with Edda from Germany. Our class is small and very chill.

tortilla...mmm...


(Calle Alfonso Diez during the spring/summer! (probably my favorite street))

Must be going, hasta luego!
♥Tracy

...Sustanciosa.

Remember that whole "we don't have much homework" time period. Over. We have a lot of presentations, tests, and various other work for the end of the semester. None of the projects are singularly monstrous... but there's one for every class, and we have a lot of classes.

The sudden mountain of tarea is a bit stressful, but we really are learning an awful lot. Here's a bit of a description (very subjective... I know...) for most of our classes:

History - pretty much everyone's favorite, mostly because our teacher is amazing. Um... well, we are going to know a lot of Spanish history when we get back... It's very different from American history, learning about all the crazy monarchs instead of the presidents. Hm... this is hard to explain, but trust me, the class is amazing. Rachael, Tracy, and I are going to do our presentation on Monday about the War of the Castilian Succession - how Isabella and Ferdinand came to power and united (haha... at first I wrote "untied") two parts of Spain. Oh, funny story! We went to Burger King and asked for the crowns so we can have them for our presentation. Yep, they thought we were crazy, but we got them :-)

Art - this class wins the most-improved award. Actually, it didn't really change all that much, but it grew on me. At first it was really hard to know what was going on with no background knowledge in art, but I sort of figured out how to make the most of it, and now I love it. Bascially, you just have to listen really hard and take a lot of notes so that you can make connections and look up stuff if you don't catch enough of what the teacher is saying. He is one of those people who you realize is so smart that what he is teaching is barely tapping into all that he knows.

Literature - as much as I love literature, I'm never that crazy about actual classes in it. This one is about the same. It's good, but not mind-blowing. I like it when we get stuff to read in class cuz I get so sick of two hour lectures. And we have read a few very interesting pieces outside of class too. Reading Spanish literature is still an area in which I would really like to grow. I think it's harder than reading history and other more factual things. There are a lot of unique allusions, and there is a zillion times more vocabulary.

Music - this is an interesting one... I loved the most recent class, but sometimes it's a bit of a drag. But whenever the teacher picks up his guitar and starts to play... everything is well again. AMAZING. He plays frequently, so that's good. It's hard to focus when he talks cuz he's sort of hyper and abrupt, but when I do, it reminds me of what I said about art... there is so much to learn, and we are getting just a taste of it.

Grammar - ah! This is the one that has improved the most. It's really obnoxious to walk to because it's from 6-8 on Mon. and Wed. night and takes a half hour each way, but whatever. We have to do it. And at first it was pretty boring, but our class is getting along better and our teacher is figuring out what we know, and sometimes it is surprisingly fun :-) Rachael and I had a pretty severe laughing fit last class. And we learned that in England (and who knows where else...) crosswalks are called "zebra crossings." So please, help us start that trend in the US. And say it with a British accent.

Methods of communication - this is a really strange one. We've learned about Spanish TV. Ok. But this teacher is ever more hyper than the music one. It's sort of a fun class. I think most other people enjoy it more than I do, especially the last class when he was asking us to name actors and actresses who always seem to play either the good guy or the bad guy... yeah, my pop culture knowledge is almost nonexistent. The teacher calls me (in Spanish) "State of New York." There are a few of us who he picks on. Whatever. I'm usually all for sacrificing my dignity if it makes people laugh.

Society and politics - aw. We have the nicest and most adorable teacher for this class. She puts up power points and talks about society and politics, yet we still love her. Sometimes the stuff is interesting... but even when it's not it's ok because of her. For example, she's very interested in learning English, so sometimes she asks us about words. One time she asked how to say "zoro," so we told her it was "fox." And she did this laugh that clearly said, "Haha... that can't be a real word." Hm... that was probably not funny at all, but it would be if you had heard her try to say "pretzel." Oh, and she tells us we are really good at Spanish... which is not true... but it is the best self-esteem boost ever. Lately, she has been giving us news articles to read, and that makes it even better (anything, but more lectures!).

Tracy has a different S&P teacher, so maybe she will want to comment on her class. I'm sorry if that was really boring and/or the kind of the thing where you really have to be there... It's just that we don't really write much about our classes, so I sort of wanted to describe them.

Today (as opposed to the rest of the weekend when we slaved away... I promise!) we went to a barbeque in the mountains with the youth group from church. We took a wrong turn on the way there and learned that a GPS is just as funny (if not more so) in Spanish. We played soccer for awhile (that's always fun and terrifying and embarrassing all at the same time). Then... we ate an incredible amout of meat. This is Tracy's plate, already half eaten!


The green stuff is a sauce made mostly with mustard. Also some cilantro and other ingredients that I don't remember. Here is a picture of the picnic/bbq area. It was an authenic Spanish experience. That's amazing, especially because I'm not sure we've had our fair share.

After we ate we played volleyball. I think soccer is way cooler, but I'm not as bad at volleyball. The net was crazy high, but it was really fun. Especially when I realized that the guys even make fun of each other when they mess up. It seems sort of intense, but they are just having fun. And when you do something good, there is an equal amout of attention.

We had to leave sort of early because a thunderstorm came (for real!!!). So we went back to church and had some delicious lemon pie that our friend Ashley had made. Good day!

Betty

...Guay!!!

Less than a month to go. The closer we get to leaving, the more Spain seems to grow on me. And yet I know that when it comes time to leave, I will be ready. I like it here, and I like it at home; it's a win-win situation. It will be bittersweet to leave, but we've met some awesome people here that we get to stay in touch with, and experiences that have changed us and have added color to our lives. Thank you, God, for the gift of memory and modern technology.

This past weekend was AMAZING. Ávila and Segovia, two more sweet Spanish cities. Segovia has definitely made it to my top three favorite cities we've visited. Also in the running for #1 are probably Granada and Toledo, but it's a tough call because each city is unique. Anyway, in less than three days I filled up the photo space on my camera. Before we left, I checked the weather forecast and it was calling for cold, wet yuck all weekend. I am very pleased to say that this could not have been much further from the truth. It was gorgeous.

In Ávila we walked along an awesome Roman wall. I took so many pictures of that wall. I thoroughly enjoyed that wall.




I'm short of time, so I'll leave you with a few pictures and a couple random thoughts...


Segovia...!!


I love cathedrals!!!


Castle!


and view from said castle:


Roman Aqueduct!!!


We also found an awesome BOOK! It's a book you're supposed to “read, register, and release.” When you find it, you read it, sign your name and where you found it, and then leave it somewhere else. And it's a contemporary art book in Spanish!!! Very excited.

Some of my favorite conversations are the random ones we have with people on the street or while waiting in line for the bathroom. We meet some totally random and fun people. I also really enjoy talking with the international students in my grammar class. It's so interesting to talk with someone whose second (or third or fourth) language is also Spanish.

Hasta luego!
♥Tracy

...Loca.

I'm surprised it's the first time I've thought of using that title. It's a good thing though. This week needs that description.

Here is a picture of people grabbing stuff from the carrozas that Tracy mentioned:

The next day's parade had lots of floats with flowers:

The people on the floats handed them out to people who went up to get them, and they threw some in the crowd too. We didn't get any, but we enjoyed watching.

After the parade we stood in a line where they were handing out free "pasteles de carne" - meat pies. They are a Murcian specialty. We each got too! And usually waiting in line is terribly boring, but we met some cool people, including a guy who spoke English and the parents of one of our friend's from church (by the way - and this really shouldn't be in parenthesis cuz it is very important, but here it is - we watched both the first two parades with out friends from church, and we spent some time with them afterwards as well. It was awesome cuz I started to feel like we are really friends - like there is a real bond, not just nice Spanish people being really welcoming to us but not having much to talk about. It was probably just me being slow... but I really think something is different now!). Anyway, at the end of the line:

After this, we set out to find "paparajotes." They are another Spanish food, a specialty of the week of Spring festivals. One of our teachers had told us we should try them. Basically, they are lemon leaves covered in fried dough, and they are delicious:

Oh, and I tried blood sausage that we got from the first parade. Mostly out of boredom. It tasted good, but ew. There is plenty of other food that tastes good and doesn't have blood in it :-)

So don't think we have been going to parades all week. It's just that that's more exciting to write about that doing homework, reading, running, cooking, and the other activities of the week, which have been excellent and very relaxing.

Ok the last parade was last night. It was in preparation for "Entierro de la sardina," which is kind of like a falla. It's a sardine one down by the river. Only, we didn't actually stay to watch it burn because the streets were a frightening place to be... We watched the parade from a friend's balcony. It was pretty much perfect! A lot of times we joke about how a certain situation could be perfect. Rachael and I were saying... "I'll bet Haley lives in one of these apartments with a balcony, and we can just go up and watch the parade from there." Vuala!! She did, and that's exactly what happened.

It was different seeing the parade from seven floors up. I had the feeling that we were scientists observing a community of ants. The people looked funny cuz they were so small, and they were grabbing for the stuff that was being thrown from the floats. We went down at the end and caught some stuff. Rachael got a bright orange shirt. I got a deck of cards, which are cool... except they don't have the right suites, just weird pictures. Tracy got a bunch of stuff, including a soccer ball that will be fun to bring to the beach! Murcia is quiet again.

This afternoon we went out on the roof and read for awhile. It is really really nice up there! Haha, not so much the actual roof, but being up there... and the sky:


We are going back to class tomorrow. Six more weeks. Yesterday we were all looking at who was going to be in our classes at Roberts next semester. Haha that was fun.

I am really not a fan of day light savings. Like right now, it is 7:45 and completely light out. I like it when it gets dark early because I am better at going to bed sooner. This is silly, but I have trouble going to sleep unless I feel really accomplished. I should go to bed when I'm tired!

So as not to end this with a random complaint... avacados are delicious. Did you know? If you think they are just good for guacalmole, think again. Get one (I know they are expensive. This is a shame. We should all move to California where we can grow avacado trees in our backyards!), cut it in half, and eat it with a spoon. Repeat as often as desired.

Betty

...Festiva!

So much has happened within the past 10 days! It was super exciting to spend time with my family and Betty in France (and to see Notre Dame and the LOUVRE!!!!). Way too much to summarize in a simple blog, but I'll see what I can do. Admittedly, Betty and I were quite excited to go back to a country where they spoke Spanish (a.k.a. Spain). The day we arrived in Madrid we went to the Prado for free in the evening, which was awesome! We saw so much art last week, and it's too bad we didn't have more time to soak it up, but it's better than not going at all. The next day we went to the Reina Sofía (home of Picasso's "Guernica") and explored the city.


There was a cool terrace area on the third floor of the Reina Sofía:


Cool Egyptian ruins up on one of the hills:


We met some interesting people at our hostel and the next day we went to Toledo!!! Definitely one of my favorite places we've visited so far.




There was so much to see! The architecture throughout the city was spectacular. It was a gorgeous day and we saw the cathedral, monasteries, convents, churches, a basilica...We also tried "judías con perdiz," a traditional Toledo bean soup with partridge. We spent the afternoon walking along a path by the river, which involved some fun stops along the way.








It's tempting to put up 20 more pictures, but I'll move on. We arrived back in Madrid that day in time for the Good Friday procession, pointy hats and all.


We took the midnight bus back to Murcia. Our week-long adventure abroad was wonderful, but it was very good to be back in Murcia. Remarkable how much a place can grow on you the longer you spend time there. And it didn't hurt that upon our return the trees were bursting into blossom. :)


Easter was a fun day. We got up to see the sunrise before heading out to church (and stopping for churros con chocolate on the way). Betty had also hid chocolates in our apartment for Rachael and I to find, and we did a small gift exchange. There was lunch after the service and then we headed back to get dinner ready before one of our friends came over. Good times. :)

Yesterday was Bando de la Huerta! The Murcians dress up in traditional costume and go out to celebrate the spring. It was a fun sight. We met up with some friends and went to the parade. There were a lot of fun things to see there.








The craziest and most exciting part was the "carrozas." Over 20 trucks came by with people throwing/handing out a bunch of stuff - teacups, chorizo (sausage, which I ate more than enough of), candy, wine, lemons, bubbles...people came running into the street to grab things. It was nuts.

Until next time,
♥Tracy

...Extranjera.

Before I get to our wild and crazy travels, here are a few interesting things we did March 25th and 26th.

The 25th was our last day of class before break! That night Tracy and I went to a youth orchestra concert across the city that our music teacher had given us tickets for. We got there a little late, but the first song they played was from Pirates of the Caribbean, which was pretty awesome. The concert was good, but what made it really cool is that for some of the later songs the musicians got up and danced while they played. They also did a lot of swaying and used some cool indigenous South American instruments. It looked like they were having so much fun :-)

The next day was my birthday and we went to the beach with Laura and Beth. We had been wanting to go for ages, so it was perfect! And it was warm enough to swim for a little while! We were a little cold sitting on the beach, but it was March, so whatever. We feasted on kiwis, garlic bread, sweet tea, and Principe (well, store brand) cookies. It was excellent. And we watched Pirates that night after having been inspired by the concert.


So the travels were intense. Like camping. But everything worked out amazing well... except for this first bit...

In order to get to the airport in Alicante we took a bus from Murcia. Our friend Kathleen was on it, so that was unexpected and cool. Anyway we went through security at the airport and then waited to board the plane. But they wouldn't let us on cuz we hadn't gotten our boarding passes stamped... something about being from the US. They basically just said, "You can't pass. You need the stamp. You have ten minutes." So... I thought we weren't going to make it, but thankfully it's not a huge airport, and the lady was nice and still stamped the passes, and we were rude and cut in front of people at security, and I sprinted back to the gate, and we made it. We looked just like the idiots we were, but very thankful idiots. So you probably didn't want to know that, but I couldn't leave it out!

We survived Ryanair... the cheap airline, even though they kept trying to sell us stuff and there was not even water for free. Tracy got some really good pictures from the flight!

The Paris airport was about an hour from the city, so we had to take a bus in. We met up with the Newton's at the bus station and they took us to the hotel, which was very snazzy. And it had free coffee every morning!

Sunday morning we went to Palm Sunday mass at Notre Dame! We don't know any French... but we could sort of follow cuz everthing was written in the bulletin and we know the story. And they had one reading in English, which was cool. We got some lunch after that and then met up with Hannah! We ate ice cream with her and then she took us to the Eiffel tower.

Monday we went to the Louvre! We walked around it a lot... and we still didn't see everything. Every now and then I had to stop and look at something in detail. There is so much there. I didn't know Hammarabi's code was there. That was pretty sweet. We got some dinner after that, which involved delicious crepes!

Tuesday was Versailles. There were really long lines, which was unfortunate, but Tracy and I got in both there and at the Louvre for free because we are studying in Europe! We got audioguides at Versailles which were really interesting. Here's a picture of a really neat globe that was in one of the rooms:

It was raining, so we didn't walk around the gardens very much. We were also really tired and hungry, so we went back into the city to get some food. Oh, one thing this trip taught us (besides the fact that you shouldn't drink too much coffee... even when it's free) is that the Metro is amazing. It's so simple, but it looks complicated, so it makes you feel smart :-)

Well... I really didn't write that much considering... maybe these details are of interest: there was a thunderstorm, I wrote some postcards, French people practically all speak English and it is really hard to tell if they are making fun of you or not, Tracy and I found some really good bread at the grocery store that we ate for breakfast every morning and we went through a whole jar of jam in four days...

Tracy is going to take over now and write about Madrid and Toledo, but I'll put in a few more pictures.

An eye for an eye.

Green room!

Betty