antes de dormir...

Before I go to sleep, I just wanted to post a picture or two from this past weekend in Switzerland. I have some reading to do for a quiz in my Wine Compliance class tomorrow, but I don't have enough energy to do it. I will just read it tomorrow morning.

I will write more about the weekend when I have a chance, but until then, here is a little taste of Switzerland.

 

¡Qué divertido!

Here are a few fun things that I've seen/experienced since I've been here. There will be more to come, but these are a few that I just couldn't help but share while I have a few minutes....

This is a picture I took of a poster in the Barcelona metro station. For anybody who has ever taken Spanish, you know that if you are trying to say "I am embarrassed," you do not say "estoy embarazada." It's a funny lesson to learn and I loved the poster so much. I appreciated it and I hope you do too.

Meet "Trancas" and "Barrancas." They are los hormigos (ants) from a show I watch at dinner time with my mamá called "El Hormiguero" (the ant hill). The show involves a host, a famous visitor, science expriments, jokes, and these guys arguing. Although I can only understand a little bit of what goes on in the show (they speak soooo fast), it is extremely funny because these little guys are so ridiculous. When I am walking places around Valladolid, sometimes I see little sutffed animal hormigos in the windows of the tiendas and I can't help but laugh. This is one of the funniest things ever. The best part, though, is that it is for adults... not children!!!

More to come on crazy things I see and enjoy while I'm in Spain. That's all for now though.

Segovia

The entire group of Cal Poly students in Segovia!!

Yesterday was a wonderful day (besides the fact that I only got 4 hours of sleep and had to get on a bus at 9 in the morning).

We had our second excursion to another city in the region of Castilla y León. This time we went to Segovia. Luckily I was able to sleep most of the one hour bus ride to the city. It was very cool to drive up to the city because the first thing you see is the huge Roman Aqueduct that runs through the city

Different views of the Roman Aqueduct

The aqueduct was built at the end of the 1st century by the Romans. They didn't use any sort of adhesive to hold the huge boulders in place. The huge wall holds its shape purely by pressure. If you stand next to the aqueduct, it is huge! Each of the stones has a hole or an indent in it. Our tour guide, Alfredo, told us a cool tale about how the holes got there. It had to do with a girl and the devil. Supposedly the devil built the wall in 24 hours and each of the holes were made from his claws.

Dalia, Me, and the aqueduct

We have had Alfredo show us around a few cities, so we are getting used to his speaking style and it is becoming easier to listen to him each time I travel with him. He speaks in Spanish the entire time and it is really exciting to be able to stand there and listen to him speak and understand what he is saying to us. I don't understand everything that he says, but I think I do pretty well considering the level of Spanish I'm at. The things that he tells us are fascinating, he is so knowledgeable. I really wonder how tour guides retain all the information about every single place they go to! I am finding that I love listening to him talk and I feel as though I am learning so much from him not only about the history of the beautiful cities we visit, but also I am learning how to listen and retain information in a different language.

I always have so much fun with these girls

The beginning of our tour was pretty short, and eventually we had a few hours of free time. A group of us walked from la Plaza Mayor (every single city in Spain has a Plaza Mayor... I have come to expect it) up to the start of the aqueduct. We got an awesome view of the aqueduct from up there. I had fun just hanging out and taking pictures with my friends. I also got to hang out with some people I don't normally get to spend too much time with, so that was really cool for me. I want to continue hanging out with those people because I have so much fun with them (as with every other person on the trip).

Dalia, Laura, Stephanie, Kristen, Jessie, Me, Helena

At the end of our free time a group of us stopped at a little restaurant in the Plaza Mayor and got tapas and drinks. Maryn and I ordered shrimp cakes which were okay, but not the absolute best. From there, the whole group reconvened and we walked over to the castle. From the outside, the castle looked like it belonged in a Disney movie. It was pretty awesome. Alfredo toured us around the castle and told us what each of the rooms were for (some had very interesting histories... like the "consummation" room). It was beautiful but a little chilly.

The Castle

Aubrea, Kristen, Dalia, Me, Tiffany, Hanna, and Natalie in front of the castle (thank you to Mr. Payne for taking this photo and for being such an inspiration!)

View from inside the castle. I just liked the picture.

 All the Poly girls (and our friend Jasmin from Germany) at the top of the castle tower

In the castle we even got to climb one of the towers which had a beautiful view of Segovia. I love standing on high look out spots in old cities like that because you get a wonderful view. It is so picture perfect. It was really cool to be able to climb the tower, but the spiral staircase was very high and very steep. It was definitely worth the climb, though.

View of Segovia from the top of the tower. I just wish you could see the aqueduct from there!

After we left Segovia and got back to Valladolid I only had a little bit of time to rest before heading out for my next event. Natalie's dad was visiting for a few days so he took a few of us girls out to dinner. I was honored to be invited and he was so generous to buy all of us our delicious meals. We treated him (and ourselves) to a delicious dessert, but it was the least we could do for all of his generosity. The dinner time conversation was absolutely amazing. I think I can say that the conversation I had at that meal will stick with me for the rest of my life. I am still reeling from it; it was so thought provoking and such a wonderful mixture of learning, talking, listening, experiencing, and just being together. It is way too much to add to this post, but I promise I will write about it at another time. I will probably add it to my other blog, though, so you might want to check that one for some of my thoughts on that conversation

Natalie and her dad. Seeing Mr. Payne and Natalie made me very excited to see my dad in Switzerland this Friday!!!

It is 12 in the morning now so I should be going to bed, but I just want to thank you all for reading my blog. I love hearing what you all have to say about it and I enjoy reading everybody else's blogs as well. I love relaying what I have been doing while I've been on this life changing adventure. If you have any further questions beyond what I have written here, feel free to comment or to e-mail me! Also, I sent out an e-mail to people who asked for my mailing address. If you were not attached to that e-mail and want to have my address, let me know and I'll message it to you. E-mail me at: rhegan@calpoly.edu

<3

Bailando en Barcelona

The only word I have to say for Barcelona is... AMAZING! 

The city was AMAZING!

The people were AMAZING!

The architecture was AMAZING!

The Mediterranean beaches were AMAZING!

Friday night, about 14 of us hopped on an overnight bus to Barcelona. We left at 9:00, spent the entire night attempting to sleep, and then arrived in Barcelona at 7:45 in the morning. With a little bit of excitement involving pickpockets (nothing, thankfully, was stolen... we learned a very tough lesson without actually losing anything) and buying train tickets instead of metro tickets, we all made it to our hostel.

Erica, Laurel, Maryn and Helena in the Urbany Hostel

Monday morning sunrise... view from our room in our hostel... 

It was called the Urbany Hostel and it was so nice. I mean, it was a youth hostel so it wasn't as wonderful as a hotel, but everybody said it was the nicest hostel they've ever stayed in. I'd never stayed in a hostel, but this was a wonderful first experience. I will probably be spoiled from now on. I stayed with Helena, Maryn, and Kelsey in a room with just the four of us. We had a full bathroom (toilet, shower, sink) and we each got a locker.

When we got to the hostel, we freshened up (I quickly rinsed off because I felt so gross from sitting on a bus for so long) and then we started our day!

day 1

Some of the girls decided that they wanted to go on a sight seeing bus tour of the city. It was a little expensive, so a few of us decided to kinda do our own thing and tour around on foot/metro. Six of us girls headed over to the Sagrada Familia which is a cathedral designed by Gaudi. It is still under construction and is projected to be finished around 2030. We were talking about doing a reunion trip to Barcelona when it is finished! It is a little offsetting to see all the big orange cranes next to a cathedral that is supposed to be so beautiful, but when you think about the fact that you are standing there while this amazing thing is being built, it is actually kinda cool.

La Sagrada Familia

In the basement of the cathedral there is a museum that has information about how the cathedral was built, Gaudi's life, and where he got his artistic influence from. At first I wasn't a huge fan of his designs, but the museum completely changed my mind. He took much of his influence from nature like trees, bees, flowers, plants, etc. He also had very cool influence from mathematic patterns and such. Very cool.

By the end of our time in the Sagrada Familia, we were super hungry so we headed down and grabbed lunch at a restaurant that had a bunch of different options. We split two pitchers of sangria between the six of us (which turned out to only be two cups each) and I ate pizza and paella. The paella was delicious.

Helena, Erica, Kelsey, Maryn, me, and Laurel drinking Sangria at lunch

We all look tired because we hadn't really slept in over 24 hours!

After lunch, since we were still so inspired by the Sagrada Familia, we decided to head up to Güell Park which was designed by Gaudi. We spent the rest of the afternoon admiring all the cool architecture, the views, and the gardens. Since we decided to purchase the more expensive combination tickets at the Sagrada Familia, we were also able to tour Gaudi's house which is located at the park. It was interesting but not all together amazing. I was more a fan of the walk up to the park (a HUGE hill which had a combination of stairs and outdoor escalators), the view from the top, and the architecture of the houses he designed. 

 Me and a wonderful view of Barcelona! 

Buildings designed by Gaudi 

Gaudi's bathroom... (we went in his house)

 View of Barcelona from the top of the world

the girls in the park

 Güell Park designed by Gaudi

By the end of our time in the park, we were pretty exhausted so we headed back to the hostel and took naps. The boys made us spaghetti for dinner (they transported it to us in cereal bag... I was a little skeptical at first, but it turned out okay), and then we headed out to see if we could find a bar or a club that would be fun. We didn't end up finding anything, but we had fun hanging out and we got back to the hostel around 2:30 in the morning which allowed us to sleep more than we had expected.

day 2

On day two we woke up with a plan. We grabbed our free breakfast at the hostel, and then headed out.

The six of us girls took the subway and got off next to the Arc de Triomf. We took pictures there, wandered down the beautiful pathway in front of the arc, and listened to some awesome trumpet street music. We then made the most amazing stop of the day… THE CHOCOLATE MUSEUM!

 From the instant we stepped into the museum, the experience was wonderful. Our entrance passes were chocolate bars! We toured through the museum and learned about chocolate’s history, influence in art, and uses. It was super cool. Afterwards, we took a little break at their café and ordered hot chocolate, café con leche, chocolate croissants, chocolate milk, and other delicious treats. 

Our chocolate bar tickets

Me and the three cooks :)

Inspiration through chocolate... I can see why!!

From the chocolate museum, we made our way down towards the Mediterranean Sea. We stumbled upon the cathedral where there was some live music and dancing. Helena watched for a little bit and then joined in one of the circles and danced along with them! It was pretty cool.

 Helena dancing in front of the cathedral (blue shirt)

We walked down some alleyways on the way to Las Ramblas which is a very popular street in Barcelona. We took pictures with a giant lobster, met some cute bici-boys, and strolled down the pier. Finally we made it to the Mediterranean Sea! We put our feet in the water, but didn’t spend that much time there because we were so hungry! We ate a delicious lunch on the patio of a cute little restaurant with a wonderful view of the ocean.

Girls eating lunch with a view of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea 

 Me and my giant lobster friend

 Putting my feet in the Mediterranean. Beautiful water :)

After that, we split up and some of us went up to Camp Nou which is the largest stadium in Europe. It is were the Barcelona futbol team plays their games. Unfortunately it was closed so I only got pictures of the outside. It would have been cool to go inside. I guess I’ll have to make my way back to Barcelona at some point so that I can go inside! Shame ;)

Me with my sad face outside the closed stadium. Why have a poster that says "join us" when I can't even get inside?? :(

another lame view of the outside of the stadium

That night we made pasta again because it was so much cheaper than going out for dinner. We decided to go out with the hostel so we got in free to a dance club. We met some pretty cool (and cute) guys from Australia and Germany. We had fun dancing hanging out until 4 in the morning. We only got three hours of sleep, got up, and hopped back on the bus for the 10 hour ride home.

I wish I had at least 4 more days in Barcelona so that I could have time to do everything else there was to do in that wonderful, beautiful city. If you ever have a chance to go to Barcelona, I highly recommend it.

mi primero fin de semana largo

In about two hours I will be on my first solo adventure while in Spain!

Some of us girls are heading to Barcelona for our long weekend. We are staying at a very highly ranked (safety, comfort, etc.) hostel in the city, and are planning on having the time of our lives. We are taking an overnight bus from Valladolid to Barcelona. The bus is about 10 hours, so we will arrive on the other side of Spain at 7 in the morning. I am not planning on getting too much sleep this weekend.

I am not quite sure which things I want to see while I'm in Barcelona, but I am looking forward to seeing whatever is there. I have the Michelin Green Guide to Spain, and I am planning on taking some of the time on the bus to look up different things that I want to do while in Barcelona. I know one thing I would like to see is the Barca fútbol stadium. I will go wherever the wind takes me, though.

Anyway, I will write all about Barcelona when I get back on Monday.

Something else exciting that happened today is that I booked my plane tickets to Italy for the four day weekend we have at the beginning of December!! It is like a dream come true. I honestly can't wait until I get to see Italy. We are taking an extra day off school and spending five days in Rome, Florence, and Milan. We fly in to Rome on Thursday, December 3 and fly out of Milan on Tuesday, December 8. I have always wanted to see Italy, and I can't believe that I finally get to go!

My calendar is looking pretty packed for the next two months what with different trips, family visiting, and school. I am looking forward to seeing my dad in Switzerland in two weeks, to my mom and Jeff coming to visit at the beginning of November, and then my dad, Cindy, sisters, and family friends to come at the end of November.

These next two months will be absolutely amazing. I can't wait to share my experiences with all of you :)

Paraguas

Today, it rained. And no, I do not mean the kind of rain when girls complain for the simple reason that their hair got a little frizzy. I mean, it actually rained. And, of course, we were walking to a museum with Dr. H while it was pouring. Naturally, the instant we got inside it stopped raining and didn't rain for the rest of the day.

Go figure.

In any case, I was glad that I had my super cute umbrella from Old Navy. However, I still need boots that I can wear in the rain without getting my socks wet.

Tonight, after my wine class, a few of us girls went to a little café and got glasses of wine. It was very nice to just sit with them, talk, and relax. Even though we all had homework to do (papers to write, Spanish grammar exercises to complete) we enjoyed our time together and the fact that we could sit at the patio tables without getting soaked.

I don't mind the rain as long as I'm prepared for it. I wish, however, that it wouldn't rain while I'm in Spain. It would be so much easier for sightseeing, traveling, and getting around town if there was no rain.

Tomorrow I have an essay due in my Witch Hunt class and we have a reading quiz. My essay didn't turn out very good, but it is the first essay of the quarter so hopefully I can use this one as template for how he will grade us in the future.

Friday I have class and then we take an overnight bus to BARCELONA!! I'm so excited!

¡Hasta luego!

El Choque Cultural

Okay, so I just e-mailed my mom a story that I thought was pretty funny. It really shows the cultural differences between Valladolid, Spain and San Luis Obispo, California.

I don't want to rewrite the entire thing because I actually want to go to bed right now so that I don't sleep through my alarm like I did this morning (yeah, not fue bueno), but here is what I wrote:

My mamá washes, drys, and irons all my clothes. And by all.... I mean ALL my clothes. I walked in to my room the other day and on my bed there were three pairs of my jeans, and on top was a very nicely ironed and folded white Hanes t-shirt. Like, the kind that I wear on days when I don't want to get up and get ready for class.

Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny because that is probably one of the least important things to have ironed. I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't the first Hanes white-t to have ever been remotely close to an iron.

(P.S. El Choque Cultural = Culture Shock)

Edificios

I forgot to post this earlier, but I just wanted to share a picture that epitomizes the differences between Cal Poly and la Universidad de Valladolid.

This is a picture of the business building where I have classes at Cal Poly.

This is a picture of the building where we have our Poly classes here in Spain. It is called "El Edificio de Derecho."

One is modern; one is definitely not. It is amazing to see how young the United States is compared to the rest of the world.

Burgos

Friday night a huge group of students from Cal Poly went out together. Saturday was Laurel's 20th birthday, so we celebrated it on Friday night so we could all be out together when the clock turned to midnight. At 2, Maryn, Helena, Mike, and I decided it was about time to go home. Unfortunately we didn't think about which direction we were walking. We wandered around for 45 minutes then decided it was about time we asked someone where we were. We had wondered off the map and he said we were about 45 minutes away from home. We walked that way and finally ended up at home at 3:30 in the morning. I kinda freaked out when Maryn and Helena split off because I was by myself and had to walk home. I called Cindy and she calmed me down so that was good. I finally got to bed at 4 in the morning. I only got 4 hours of sleep that night. I was exhausted the next day, but it was worth it because we went to... BURGOS!

On Saturday we had an excursion to the renaissance town of Burgos. It was really awesome because this weekend was the renaissance festival. A bunch of the citizens of Burgos dressed up and had a parade through the town. Women and men of all ages, their children, their horses, and anybody else dressed up in outfits like they wore during the renaissance. It was very exciting.

While we were in Burgos we saw the statue of El Cid who was a Spanish pirate in the ninth century. He fought for both sides of the war between the Spaniards and the Moors. I'm not quite sure why there is a statue of him in Spain if he was a pirate... but it was still interesting.

We also saw the beautiful cathedral, the castle, the Plaza Mayor, and the Cartuja de Miraflores which is a monastery. I forgot to charge my camera the night before, so it died part way through the monastery which was okay because I got a few pictures and there wasn't really too much to take pictures of after that.

I really loved this town. It was beautiful, the people were very nice, and I loved the little stands of hand made jewelry that they had. I only bought a little leather bracelet for myself because everything else was very expensive, but I loved seeing the cool things that people made.

Today I spent a lot of time working on homework. I woke up late because I wanted to catch up on some sleep, but at 2 I walked to a café and a few of us worked on reading, maps, vocab, and whatever else we had to do for our classes. Tonight, we are going to meet up in one of the parks and hang out for a bit.

In other news, last night a few of us spent some time planning for our 3 day weekend next week. I am going to BARCELONA with about 8 other girls. We booked our train last night and then the hostel today. I can't believe I'm going to barcelona!

I also got to talk to my dad and Cindy today (plus Liana and Kelley for a few minutes). I filled them in on a lot of stuff here, and they told me how things were going at home. We talked about their trip to Spain and what we would do while they were here. I told them to start thinking of different places in Madrid that they would want to see. I told them to stay at a hotel near the Prado because I think that area of Madrid is beautiful. Our conversation lasted almost an hour and a half. Technology is amazing because it allows me to see my family when they are half way around the world.

I called my mom to see if she could go on Skype, but apparently the King Tut exhibit in San Francisco was more important ;) (Just Kidding) Mommy, I hope we can Skype soon!

For all the rest of you, I get on Skype and iChat whenever I am on my computer. Send me your screen names so that we can talk if I ever see you online. I would love to see, hear, and talk to people at home. For those of you in California I am generally online early in the morning your time (between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m.), or at night (around 10 p.m.). No guarantees that I will be on because each of my days is different, but like I said, I'd love to chat!

I hope everybody has a wonderful week this upcoming week. Good luck in work, school, sports, or whatever else you might be doing. ¡Te amo!

 

Girls getting tapas and café con leche

 

 

Renaissance fair in a renaissance town. Super cute kids dressed up. Women wearing old fashioned dresses. 

 

Me with the cathedral behind me.

 

The golden staircase.

 

Me and Jessie up by the castle with the cathedral in the background.

I just really liked this basket of keys.

Sorry, this post is a little weird. I am having a bit of an off day. Hopefully my next post will be better written and more exciting :)