BARCELONA

corodoba

corodoba

this past weekend a lot of people stayed in toledo but i really didn't want to because usually by the end of the week i want to go somewhere-i look forward to the week during the week and i really wanted to go somewhere warm. so i decided to go to cordoba which is in andalucia (south of spain) with jasmine and adrienne. we got there after some confusion about our bus tickets (we usually just use our passports to get one because we don't have printers to print out the tickets we buy online but apparently we needed tickets) but we ended up getting on the bus and after 4 hours we arrived in cordoba.

it was soo warm! the next day we sat outside for lunch and i was literally sweating in the sun, roasting. i had gazpacho, which is a typical spanish soup-kinda like tomato soup but it's served cold. it's so good i asked mercedes to show me how to make it one day so i can make it when i get back home-she said it's really simple. then we got ice cream and walked around the mezquita which is one of the main attraction points there.

i don't know if it was the heat we weren't used to or just the fact that we have been traveling every weekend since we have been here and the lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with our bodies- but after shopping after the mezquita we took a nap. then woke up, grabbed some dinner and headed out to find a bar. it took us more than an hour and a half to find  A SINGLE BAR or place where they served alcohol. we finally found the pub after realizing we had been walking around in a complete circle. the streets in spain will do that to you.

next day we walked around for a while trying to find somewhere to eat where we could eat outside and ended up finding a place by the mezquita and i had gazpacho again with chicken. so good. then we walked over and around the big bridge there. again took a nap and went out for the night to a dance club- i think we really are adjusting to the spanish culture where they don't end up going out until 11-12 but stay out until 6 or so in the morning. at one of the bars we took a picture with a guy who was on BIG BROTHER but the spanish version-first spanish celeb!

it was hard to leave the weather but it actually is heating up here in toledo- spring needs to spring!

ML 250 update.

Pues, ¡yo he disfrutado mi tiempo aquí en España! Mi casa está cerca de todo: diez minutos por pies de nuestra universidad y tres minutos o menos de la plaza Zocodover donde hay tiendas, restaurantes y bares. Yo he caminando por todos partes y puedo sentirme en mis músculos de pierna. Pero yo necesito ejercicio porque Mercedes es un fabuloso cocinero. Hemos tenido muchos legumbres y carne y cada noche tenemos algo nuevo y diferente. Claire, "mi hermana," habla español mejor de yo. Pero, cuando nosotros comemos, me siento que yo puede aprender mas porque yo eschucho. Yo hablo también y el otro día Mercedes dijo que yo he mejorado mucho cuando hablo porque yo puedo conjugar verbos mejor porque yo me siento más relajado. A mí me gusta tener Claire aquí porque nosotros hablamos y practicamos español durante la comida y yo aprendo cosas culturales porque Claire ha estado aquí desde septiembre.

Pero pienso que mi cosa favorita o mi costumbre favorito es tapas. Hay un lugar dos minutos de mi casa se llamo "Enebro." Cuando yo compro una bebida, recibio una tapa gratis. Todos las tapas tiene papas frítas. Un tiempo, tuve carne. Otro tiempo, tuve un bocadillo con jamón y tomate. ¡Estas tapas son ricas! Yo voy a Enebro para tapas por lo menos una vez a la semana con Claire, mis amigas de Intercambio o mis amigas/os de Ohio. 

Mi otro lugar favorito es NocaNoca-un cafe. Tienen el mejor chocolate. También me gustan los bocadillos. Cuando fui en Granada, tuvimos chocolate y churros después de la cena. En este momento, yo sentía muy española porque de yo consegía costumbres españoles. También, fueron deliciosos.

Otro punto: yo puedo he acostumbrado a las siestas...cuando en España, vive como los españoles.

ML 250

I have two experiences I can pass on to other students. 

First, the bus to the mall. You can take the 6.1 or 6.2 but it doesn't take you directly there. It only takes you to the main road that the mall is off so you have to walk. But if you go to the Plaza de Torres and take the 92 it will take you directly to the mall. The bus ride is probably 15 minutes. At the mall there are many clothing stores (many of which we have right here in Toledo near Zocodover: Zara, Pull and Bear, Pimpkie...) but there is a Corte Ingles at the mall and takes up about half the lower level because it is so big! There also is a food court with McDonalds and BK and other spanish chains and a movie theater. But don't go on Sunday because the only thing that is open is the food court and the Ben & Jerry's.

Second, I had to buy a new camera here, as much as I didn't want to spend the money I didn't have much of a choice. When I went to the beach in Valencia sand got in my camera because it was so windy and the lens wouldn't open. So the man said they could fix it but it would cost around 100 euro because of the shipping to and from Madrid on top of the actual cost to fix it. So I bought a new camera for 135 euro...but I loooove it! The only thing is that I think i am going to have to buy an adapter for the US, weird. But the camera store is on the way to the cathedral and is called Foto Spot. The owner was really nice, didn't speak english but spoke slowly so I could understand. You can develop pictures or buy photo albums there as well.

VALENCIA BEACH PICS