We've Mapped..Spain

Well folks. That's it! The Spain portion of this series is just about over. Which is rather sad, considering that's the main event.  Don't get me wrong, I am thoroughly looking forward to meandering the remains of the continent after, but I must admit there is something about this place that I am having a very hard time parting with.  


We have officially finished all of our scheduled trips, and what an adventure it has been.  We have visited every major region in Spain besides Galacia and Asturias.  My aunt Victoria's mother, as well as my Spanish professors have quoted, "You guys have seen more of this country than most spaniards."  Thats valid, of course.  But there is such a difference from popping into a city for a couple hours or days, than actually living there.  I think that is why Alcalá will still be my favorite.  Alcalá is by no means a touristy city.  It's not even that special.  Its one claim to fame is that it's the birthplace of Cervantes, the famous Spanish writer who wrote Don Quijote.  Regardless, I have lived here. By lived here, I mean I have laughed here, I have cried here, I have learned here, I have friends and loved ones here, and I have personal and memorable experiences here.  My blog will never be able to portray them all.  Let's face it, my life here in Spain has been way cooler than my blog will ever advertise it to be.


I will dearly miss the busses, my bedroom window, my green bedspread Gloria got just for me, Jesus's laugh (its a little frightening)  Miguel making fun of Kim, everyone in the household making fun of Kim, walking everywhere, chocolate and churros with the girls, talking to the old women at church and hearing their advice about life, playing soccer with our boys, the youth center with our local stake youth, the conversations aly, Kim and I have to and from school and everywhere else we go together, the cute Spanish old people and the cute spanish kids, classy europeans, train rides into madrid, the cute old couple missionaries at the youth center, the squinty boy named Pablo at church,  Teresa and her obsession with cats, Visi and her incredible ability to teach my Spanish, in Spanish, CHOCOBOMS from Alcalinga, paddle with Santi, kitchen chats with Santi, helado, and soooo much more. 


Before I start crying, I better talk about how incredible this past week has been.  


Disclosure: Remember how I had a serious black eye? Well yeah, in all these pictures...I still have a black eye. Please forgive me for looking like a pirate. 


Monday last week: Regular Spanish day with class, religion, and soccer. then, the accident. fell on my face trying to be trixy with the ball, bled all over the court, my short, and shoes, and had to go to the hospital.  Though it was painful, what a cool and unique experience I had there. Let me tell you, it is NOT like healthcare in the U.S. Talk about some serious wait time.  Cute Aly waited there for me the whole time.  Good thing Gloria was there, or I would have been so lost.  The doctors had to speak to me in Spanish like I was a little baby, because I was just really confused. haha 


Tuesday:  Class, paddle for like 5 hours with Santi, Jaclyn, and Kim in the beautiful spanish spring.  FHE and chat time with the fam...this is what I like to call a typical day in the life of us. 


Wednesday: Class and Reina Sofia to see Guernica by Picasso. 


This is the famous painting done to exemplify the tragic bombing of Guernica by the Germans under the direction of Franco. Though I don't think this is the way I would have chosen to portray it, after studying the history of this time and visiting the actually city of Guernica, it truly is brilliant. 

So, after visiting Guernica I went to lunch with my Aunt Victoria, her sister, and her mom. We went to a family owned, local Galacian restaurant and it was delicious.  I loved Victoria's sister and her mom! They were so sweet and patient with my Spanish, and Im not gonna lie...I did feel pretty legit speaking in Spanish the whole time. 


 


You might be wondering why I am wearing a Real  Madrid shirt? Well its because we went to see REAL MADRID play Moscow in the Champions league game that night! I have ALWAYS wanted to experience a European soccer game, and let me tell you, they know how to do it right.  Everyone was going crazy, running around the San Bernabeu Stadium like it was the end of the world.  Some British guy filming a documentary about Ronaldo even interviewed all of us, and my friend Adrian told me he saw us on TV this morning!  Yep, thats right I've been on Spanish Televison!  All the Russian fans just came up to us every two seconds and begged us to be in their photos as well.  I'll never forget walking into the stadium and seeing the grass! I seriously got the chills.  Ronaldo scored 3 of the 4 goals, and I must admit, though I think he's annoying, he is a dang good soccer player.  I have now officially cheered on my two teams :)

One word: Majesic. My favorite thing though was when I had to explain to all the girls what offsides was each time it was called..especially when they would stand up and cheer way loud, thinking it was a goal, but they had called it offsides.  All the men surrounding us were just laughing at our stupidity.  But hey, what's new in this country?

Thursday: TRIP TO THE BASQE COUNTRY! First we stopped in Burgos, a lovely little town known for its Cathedral.  It is also a stop for the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage Christian walk to Santiago de Compeostela and is very significant for a lot of Catholics. I thought Burgos was such a lively and fun little place, with beautiful buildings.

One of my favorite Spanish Plazas thus far.

I loved the expression on these cute lady's face.

Our final destination was Bilbao, which in all honesty isn't that pretty of a city.  It is far more industrial than any city I have seen in Spain and there tends to be a foggy mist covering the city most the time.  We mainly went to see the Guggenheim museum done by Frank Gehry, which was absolutely fantastic.  It is this awesome building inspired by a fish, a boat, and whatever else you can imagine, right along the river front.  It is also connected to this huge bridge over the river.  We found out that Bilbao was playing Manchester United that night, and wanted to go see if we could get into the game, but our directors were really hesitant.  At first I was a little upset, but then once I realized how neat the museum was, I was so grateful that I stayed and embraced it.  We then went back to our hotel (chalk full of Man U fans) and ate a Spanish buffet.  I'm about to unveil a little secret for you..if you ever have to make a choice of which international buffet to go to, don't choose Spanish. That's all I have to say about that.

Giant Flower Dog In Front of the Guggenheim

In your spare time, you should seriously go look up Frank Gehry. He is a genius.

This was my favorite exhibit in the Museum by Richard Serra called "The Matter of Time." The museum describes it 7 weather proof sculptures, weather proof steel, varying dimensions.  I call it, getting lost in art. You walk through the middle of these and the dimension of the sculptures totally mess with your perception. I felt like I was walking through Southern Utah slot canyons or something.  The very last one, I was seriously frightened for a bit that I wouldn't get out.  SO COOL! You aren't allowed to take pictures in the museum, but the nice guard man told me he would turn around so I could take this. I think he felt bad about my hideous black eye :)

The next morning we left Bilbao early and headed to Guernica to see the Ayuntamiento, or the old Basque council building, and the Peace Museum, constructed after the bombing a Guernica. I expected to feel a somber, almost eery atmosphere when we arrived, due to the tragic events of the past...but in reality, life has truly moved on there.  I watched a bunch of school kids running down the street waving their Bilbao scarfs and flags around, ccelebrating the game and waving to their parents.  It is a regular town now, devoted to moving on.  I could see this in the peace museum.  I didn't feel a sense of bitterness or hatred, but only a call for change.  I really liked the peace museum. The exhibits described the events and the tragedies, of course, but then they showed a clip about many of the conflicts the world has faced, and how it all needs to come to an end.  They showed a picture of Picasso's "Guernica" and described it as "La Semilla para La Paz," or the seed for peace.  

After Guernica, our directors told us they had four options for lunch, and we got to vote.  The first three were just entirely stupid and all had something to do with Mcdonalds.  The fourth option, however, was to pop into FRANCE for a couple hours, at a beach resort town, and have lunch!! AHHHHHHHH! just picture 23 college girls screaming with excitement and looking at each other in shock, and that is exactly what happened. The bus pulled out, and we were on our way.  Did I mention that Basque country in the north of Spain is absolutely BEAUTIFUL? Rolling hills, lush mountains, and an countryside feel.  I found this picture online, and it is exactly what we were driving through! As we winding through these lovely hills, Lindsay pulled out her speakers and we all screamed our lungs out to the song, "You and I" by Ingrid Michaelson, only because there is a line in it that says.. "Lets get rich and by our parent's homes in the south of france." hahaha, we weren't even really going to the South of France, but it worked for us.  I will never forget that euphoric feeling of driving through the country side, on our way to france, listening to Ingrid. 

Biarritz France was our destination :)

Jacqui and Lance had looked up a really famous restaurant and pastry shop in the area, so thats where we headed first.  We each had 10 euros to buy whatever we wanted! This is what I chose: (A mango Macoron, and some delicious pastry with the richest chocolate I have ever tasted.  Oh also, this is where I offically ate the best Croissant of my life!)

After this, we had the rest of the time to ourselves.  We went down on the beach and basically just soaked in the fact that we were in France. Of all surprises I have ever been given, this might have been one of the best. 

After our blissful day trying to figure out any french we knew, we had to return to Spain.  We were staying the night in San Sebastian, the Spanish city mainly known for its beaches and beautiful scenery.  We arrived at this awesome hotel on a hill, overlooking the whole city and were then given a free night.    One of my favorite parts of this trip, but our awesome bus driver Jose Miguel. He was such a classy man. At this point in the trip, he could tell how much we love to sing and dance, so as we were headed down town he blasted this techno music and turned the bus lights on and off accordingly, as if we were in a club.  We all stood up on the bus and had a dance party driving down the streets as all the Spaniards looked at us from their cars and on the street. I think one thing I'll miss the most about this trip is how goofy all of us are together..we definitely know how to have a good time.   We walked down by the beach, rode a Carousel and laughed our heads off like little girls, talked to some Spanish boys from the Canary Islands, and walked down by the beach.  We ate dinner like the spaniards do and just ate some awesome Tapas at a bar, then called it a night. (Oh, we also finished off dinner with some ice cream, but thats just a standard part of our eating habits here in Spain.)

All in one day. Welcome to my life :) 

The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful sunrise over San Sebastian.  This room was my favorite hotel room of the whole trip because of our big window.  Kim and I went over and sat by it, and just looked out over the sunrise, while we listened to the song "Sunrise" by Norah Jones. I love the ability music has to captivate and illuminate the moments we experience.

 We ate breakfast, hopped on the bus, and headed to this tiny town called Santo Domingo de Silos, on our way back to Madrid.  This was a TINY town in the middle of nowhere and the only reason we went there was to hear the Monks and their Gregorian chanting.  It was kind of fun to pop into a non-touristy town though, where absolutely nothing was going on.  The people were soo friendly and even though the bartender made fun of me for ordering a hamburger at lunch, I still liked him. We stopped at a random slot canyon hike for 10 minutes on the way back as well, which was just so random.



Sunday: Day of Rest, which actually wasn't restful at all beacause we went out to a concert, tapas, and dancing bar that night with Gloria, but whatever..I LOVE taking advantage of every opportunity we have to spend time with our family. I will blog more about this later...

Monday: VALENCIA and Las Fallas. Ok, Las Fallas was hands down one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Las Fallas is the second biggest celebration in Spain, after the running of the bulls.  It takes place every year in March for 4 days in Valencia.  Las Fallas is a celebration of "Renacer," which means to revive or renew.  Basically what happens is the neighborhoods in Valencia spend all year making this GIANT dolls made of cardboard that they call Las Fallas, and then burn them on the last night of the celebration. They also string lights and fireworks everywhere and blow them up at all times throughout the weekend.  We arrived on Monday and brought Guillermo Lopez, a boy in our ward, to be our guide.  We met up with our other friend Santi and some other youth from Alcala. I am SO grateful they were there to lead us around because that city was CRAZY. There were people everywhere, and so much going on.  Our directors were so stressed out trying to keep everyone together and they just had no idea what was happening. Luckily Santi and Guillermo were there to show us around.  Santi used to live in Valencia and still has family there, so we basically just went to their neighborhood to watch the "Mezcletas" which are the fireworks. Ok, but these are not your typical everyday fireworks.  They hang them on string right between the buildings and light them so they go off in a procession.  I remember Santi telling me that they are so loud, you feel them.  The second one we witnessed, literally blew all of us back.  We were all screaming and laughing and just shocked at how loud it was! Not to mention, there were babies and little kids everywhere like it was no big deal. Santi said they are just totally accustomed to it because they see it every year.  All my guy friends in high school who were total Pyros, would have LOVED Las Fallas.  After the Mezcletas, we took a break and went down to the famous "City of Arts and Sciences" building and went to Gulliver's park and just played around.  Then, when it got dark enough we walked back around the streets and Santi showed us the 1st place prize for lights and 2nd place prize for Las Fallas.

Walking around at night was so much fun! It felt like a big carnival street fair.  We all tried the 

delicious candies and pastries as we walked.  My favorite were the Bunuelos, which are just delicious scone type things you dip in chocolate.  We ate Kebabs for dinner and just enjoyed the atmosphere.  We finally went back to the place Santi wanted us to watch the burning of one of the Fallas. We had to wait until 12 for the burning, but in the mean time they did some more fireworks which are so awesome.  The citizens don't even care that they blow out their windows sometimes and Santi said one time a Balcony fell off.  They all spend tons of money every year! This lady above is wearing the traditional "Fallera" dress, which costs about 3000 dollars, and they wear a different one every day.  These are the ladies who have the privilege of lighting the Fallas.

While we were waiting, I made friends with some of the local kids as they were throwing down little firecrackers.  This might have been my favorite part of the day.  We spoke to them in Spanish and they practiced their English.  We talked to them all about the fireworks and had so much fun throwing the firecrackers with them.  They were so giddy and excited and it reminded me of how I felt as a kid during the fourth of July. They were such cute girls and I will forever be grateful I spent my time truly divulging myself in another culture.

Las Fallas was unlike any thing I have ever experienced, and I absolutely love the concept behind it.  It is a celebration of starting new and being reborn out of the ashes.  I can now officially say that I have seen a city on fire :)  This was a perfect way to end our long string of adventures across Spain..fireworks, and huge burning sculptures.  We really went down with a "BANG." hahaha. Pun entirely intended.