Lo que será, será.

I hope no one from the UK reads my blog because to be completely honest - London…didn’t like it. It was probably the only city we disliked on our trip and we actually couldn’t wait to leave. It really just didn’t live up to the expectations I had for it because you hear so much about London and how awesome it is but I spent four full days there and didn’t find the awesomeness. I mean, yeah, it was cool and all that we were in LONDON…. one of the most famous cities in the world but other than that, the city was just kinda…blah. With that being said, we did have some really good times in London and saw some pretty cool things.

The cool things we did:

• We stayed with some of my parent’s friends’ kids right outside the city in a place called Parsons Green - it’s located pretty much right in between the Chelsea football stadium and the Fulham football stadium. AND it’s really close to Wimbledon…so it’s safe to say this place has a lot of sports going on. Anyway, it was a cutesy little neighborhood with friendly people and a small town kinda feel to it. Alain and Olga were also very nice, showed us around a little bit and took us to a really neat pub right down the road from their house.
• Reese’s cups. That’s right…reese’s cups. London has them. We bought at least 5 every day. Maybe more. We were in a reese’s cups coma for four days straight. The first time we saw the bright orange wrapper in a convenience store, I think I shed a tear or two out of sheer and utter happiness.
• The London Eye. Cool and slightly disappointing all in one. Cool because they showed a 4D movie before hand to get you all pumped up for getting on the thing. Disappointing because the ride was not as exciting as I thought it would be. I kinda felt like I was in a really big elevator in a fancy sky-rise hotel. But at least I can say I rode the London Eye and we did get to see some pretty views of London.
• Big Ben/Parliament. I found Parliament to be pretty awesome and it’s impressively big - I had no idea Parliament needed such a large building, but whatever. It’s also really cool because it’s set right on the river and it looks super guay at night.
• Kensington Gardens. This may have been one of my favorite visits of the trip because it was completely stress free…until we got rained on…again. But really, the gardens are beautiful. I probably could have spent the whole day there…and we almost did because Joelle wanted to find this darn Peter Pan statue that we never did end up finding…
• Buckingham Palace. Would have been cooler if I saw the Queen or something of that nature but the guards with the big furry it looks like they killed a baby bear and put it on their head hats made up for it. 
• Harrod’s. Ok so not a HUGE fan of Harrod’s. I should have known to turn myself around the minute I walked into the place and saw an information desk that was giving out MAPS OF THE STORE. That’s just ridiculous. However, they had some pretty cool stuff there. A lot of stuff I couldn’t afford but at least I could pretend I could afford it…as I walked through in jeans, tennis shoes, frizzy hair, and half wet from the rain. I did get my Dad some fancy Cuban coffee though. AND they do a fine job hiring their old men door greeters. Way better than all the Walmart door greeters I’ve come in contact with.
• Abbey Road. This was our first major success in London - the finding of Abbey Road and Abbey Road Studios. So we all know what the Abbey Road album cover looks like right? Not like that in real life. First, there are tons of people trying to do the exact same thing you are. Second, it’s a road. A ROAD…with cars. If you take too long taking pictures you will get honked at and maybe run over depending on your luck. But still awesome because you could feel the love of the Beatles in the air and all you need is love.

Old Reggae 

Mutefish

Eleven cities, five countries, eighteen days of rain, five metro systems conquered, and an empty bank account later…here I am…back in Alicante with exactly five weeks remaining in my study abroad experience. I get this weird feeling just by typing that. I have no doubt that the next few weeks will be the slowest and fastest weeks of my life. I’m not sure how I feel about that but I guess we will see in approximately thirty five days from now. Back to the task at hand…Dublin: stop one on our adventure of a lifetime. 

Joelle and I kinda joked before we left that we were going “to the land of our people” since we come from Irish roots and all that good stuff. In reality, I didn’t really think about what I was saying but the longer we were there and the more stuff I saw with my family crest on it, the more I got into the whole being Irish thing. So as my Irish spirit grew and the more I talked to Irish guys with completely adorable accents, the more I found myself loving Dublin. 

I think the best part about Dublin is that the people are super friendly and they kinda just leave tourists alone. There’s no one standing outside trying to pull you into places or shoving papers with offers that nobody wants in your hands. We only got lost in Dublin a few times but every time we had even the slightest look of “crap, we don’t know where we are” written on our faces…some really nice Irish guy would stop and ask us where we needed to go and do everything in his power to get us there. Maybe it’s because we were three girls traveling together or maybe they are just that friendly…I don’t know…either way, the friendliness was much appreciated. Also, before leaving to go to Ireland, I hadn’t been out of Spain for over four months so it was first, weird to speak English all day with everyone and second, weird to say thank you, you’re welcome, excuse me, and please to everyone I spoke to. Those terms aren’t used as much in Spain as in the United States so it was a bit awkward at first getting back into the rhythm of using courteous phrases. For example, some guy at a store asked me “How are you?” and I feel like I looked slightly taken aback because he gave me this strange look when I answered really slowly with a “fiiiiiine…” and a raised eyebrow.

Another really awesome thing about Dublin is that it has a really great live music scene. Almost every bar or place we went to or walked by had some type of live music happening. And all the musicians were not just good, they were really really really good. We came upon one group one night called Mutefish (one of their songs above) just playing in the middle of a street with a huge crowd around them. I’m pretty sure they were all completely drunk…in fact, they all had a beer or two or three at their feet while playing. Anyway, these guys were awesome and extremely good natured because a highly intoxicated guy decided he wanted to perform a song with them so they let him take over the mic for a few minutes. The music scene kind of encompasses the city as a whole - laidback, friendly, little bit on the grungy side, and seriously fun.

During our whole trip, Joelle and I made videos and lists on her iPod about all the stuff we saw and things we did in each place. Unfortunately, for some weird reason, all her notes got erased off her iPod so some of the many things we did/saw in Dublin are we visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral, went to Trinity College, saw the Dublin Castle, visited some super green parks, got rained on…and here are some pictures of all that:

A cleverly designed bridge with some very friendly Irish sailors on the other side.

Some city.

Ashley super excited to be near the Dublin Castle.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral

The Spire

Part of Trinity College

Park

A really good picture of Joelle in the park that I don’t care if she likes or not.

The Irish know how to keep their grass green.

So that’s Dublin. Go there. And don’t forget to check out Mutefish’s song posted above.

Besos and all that good stuff.

Alicante Beach Season :)

So here’s what’s up…some of the people from my program return to the United States this weekend. And even though them leaving hasn’t been as emotionally scarring as last semester, it has still gotten me to thinking about returning to the motherland.

The past few weeks, I have constantly found myself going to Carolina in my mind and thinking about all the things I’m going to do, people I’m going to see, and food I’m going to eat when I get back. In reality, this is not for the best, as I’ve explained before. It causes me to miss home even more and then I just start slacking off and become a dysfunctional person of Spanish society. I actually avoid practicing my Spanish at some points, procrastinate on doing my homework because I know I have to think in Spanish, and basically just lose opportunities to learn as much as I could while being here…all because my mind is not in the country I am currently living in. Not good.

However, I’ve given myself a little more thinking room lately since I only have a few days of school left before break and I begin travelling to countries where I am not required to speak Spanish or know the Spanish culture. I’ve also had to do some mandatory thinking about my coming home travel plans…like how I’m going to get from Alicante to Madrid with my massive amounts of luggage, what I’m supposed to do with said massive amount of luggage once I reach Madrid, how I’m supposed to get to the airport, when I’m supposed to get to the airport…blah, blah, blah. All very complicated when you’re traveling by yourself with nine months of your life in three suitcases. On top of all of THAT, I have to think about what classes I need to take to graduate next year and I need to find a place to live. In fact, as of right now, I’m homeless senior year. Finding some place to live while you and your roommate are in different countries is almost impossible.

Also, the talk of going back to the US has been coming up rather frequently with others who have been here for the same amount of time I have been and we are actually completely terrified to return. I’m actually more scared to return to the United States than I was to come to Spain. Why? Because, like I’ve said, Spain is only my temporary life - I’ve made it what I’ve wanted to make it, but I get to leave it behind and never return to it the moment I step on my plane bound for the US. This is, obviously, not the case for my life in America. It’s going to be weird returning to what is basically a completely different world from the one I am living in now and that I haven’t been to for what seems like several years and only mere seconds all at once. 

With all that being said and even though I’m completely terrified, I think I’m ready to come home. I’m ready to see my parents every day, I’m ready to wake up at the crack of dawn to work on the farm, I’m ready to fight with my little brother, I’m ready to blast country music while driving down the road, I’m ready to see some southern sunsets and sunrises on top of the mountain, I’m ready to sit in the kitchen with my Dad on Friday nights while he makes the world’s best homemade pizza, I’m ready to go to some of the best football games in the country, and I’m ready to spend countless nights going out with my best friends. And then again, I’m not. I like it here, in fact, I love it here. I’ve become too comfortable. Which is why, in part, I think it’s time to return to the USA. Since the newness, excitement, and shine of Spain has worn off, I’m ready to accept the next challenge life has to hand me - and I will accept it with open arms.

So, here’s my plan: get through the next three days of class, spend 18 glorious days traveling around Europe, return to Alicante for five weeks where I will concentrate on nothing but Spanish, Spanish, and even more Spanish, and finally, return to America…where I will feel extremely accomplished…and jetlagged.

See ya in 63 days Carolina.

Joelle has been requesting a lot lately that I put something in my blog about how awesome she is and all that kinda stuff. But since I don’t believe that, I feel like I can’t really write that on here and feel good about it. However, you can check out Joelle and I’s latest favorite song in Spanish, sung by the completely adorable Carlos Baute and featuring Juan Magan below. You’re welcome Joelle. And I’ve changed my mind…I want Mario Casas, you can take his brother. Xoxox.

But forreal Joelle…

Mi vida no tiene ningún sentido sin ti. Eres mi luz en la oscuridad. Te quiero con todo mi alma(cenar) y cada día te quiero más. Soy feliz de compartir cada instante de mi vida a tu lado. Eres la persona mas fantástica del mundo y tus ojos son más bonitos que el mediterráneo después de una tempestad del verano. En realidad, lo único que quiero hacer es solamente amarte bien. Y quiero vivir con amor, con mi gente abajito del sol. Cada vez que te pienso, siento ganas de que estés aquí. Y no tengo remedio más que amarte. This is the start of something new. You are the music in me. Me da igual.

I trust you see what I did here. You know you’ve been in Spain too long, talked to too many Spanish boys, and listen to too much Spanish music when you can pull crap like that out of nowhere.

Amarte Bien

Carlos Baute (feat. Juan Magan)

Alright, so as I was writing my post about Frankfurt, one of my favorite Spanish guys who is, thankfully, in my Geografia Humana del Mar (such a long name…) class showed up and we got to talking about the cultural differences between Spain and America. It’s interesting coming to a different country as an outsider and noting all the differences, but it’s also interesting talking to an insider and getting to know their viewpoints as well. So this got me thinking even more and I realized when I first got here, I couldn’t tell anyone apart. Everyone looked the same to me…Americans, Spanish, Germans, French, Japanese…ok not Japanese. But for the most part, I couldn’t distinguish one nationality from the rest. Now, I can walk down the street and clearly tell who is and who is not from Spain without even speaking two words to the person, and I’ve become an expert at picking out who the Americans are. So with my dear Spanish friend being my inspiration, I’ve compiled a relatively accurate list of how to tell if there is an American in the vicinity. You’re welcome.

You are most likely Amurikan if you:

Own a Northface jacket or backpack - or really, just use a normal looking backpack for school in general.

Smile at random people on the street and can’t seem to ever be able to wipe the smile off your face.

Stop and awkwardly allow others to pass you when getting off the bus, causing you to always be the last person off.

Are a girl who wears norts and is seen going for a run on an almost daily basis.

Unconsciously move a few inches over when someone sits down next to you.

Walk with a good foot in between you and the person you are walking with.

Wear shorts, flip flops, and t-shirts before the month of June.

Are constantly early to class, while everyone else is constantly late to class.

Have a look of complete confusion when one of your teachers gives you a measurement in kilograms or kilometers.

Wear a hoodie, t-shirt, or any other type of apparel with your University’s name or mascot on it.

Are the only person in class not talking while the teacher is talking.

Wear any type of sorority or fraternity t-shirt.

Are spotted using any type of hand sanitizing gel.

Wear sunglasses with the strap thingy on the back (basically turning your sunglasses into a necklace).

Own a pair of TOMS.

Are slightly taller, whiter, and blonder than the average Spanish person.

Go for a handshake while the person you are meeting is going for the kiss on the cheek - an extremely awkward encounter.

Wear actual tennis shoes outside of the gym - like Nike SHOX or AirMax. Also, white tennis shoes = for sure American. Also, your knowledge of where the gym is actually located would probably give your American nationality away pretty fast.

Are a guy and wear loose fitting jeans as opposed to the skintight and colored jeans European guys prefer to wear.

Are a guy and don’t have a rat tail, dreadlocks, or what I like to call the “parrot” haircut.

Do an awkward two to three step back up/mini freak out when someone gets too close to your face while talking to you. 

Wear camouflage (and you’re probably southern too, and yes, I have seen this on the streets of Spain).

Pull back a little bit when someone starts touching you an excessive amount during a conversation.

Frat shoes. Enough said.

Listen to your iPod with headphones on the bus…while sitting with other people who also seem to be American…who are also listening to their iPods.

If you choose to go for the shorts/hoodie combination.

Own an iPhone or iPod touch - for some reason Blackberries are all the rage here. Don’t really get THAT trend…

You wear a baseball hat - especially if you are inside a building.

Are a girl and have the typical hot mess look happening - messy bun, norts, flip flops, solid v-neck tshirt…we’ve all been there…

Do a double take when you see two people on top of each other in the grass in a public place, while others are casually walking by like it’s no big deal.

Wear rain boots to the University when it’s raining.

Own anything from Vera Bradley, American Eagle, or Victoria’s Secret.

Look like a hipster.

And last but not least, if you’ve got the American swag. This is probably the best way to spot an American because there are few exceptions to this rule. If you are American, you probably have the American swag - perhaps unknowingly, but it is present all the same. If you’re not American and have taken note of said swag, don’t try to replicate it.

So that, is more or less how you can tell who is American and who is not. However, I think I’m slightly more observant than the average person so this comes a bit easier to me than some of my other American friends when we play the “Ya think that person is American?” game. You are also definitely American if you read Amurikan in the title the way it should be read and didn’t think it was a typo of any sort.

And to keep the American theme going…below is one of the best songs ever written about how great America is!

Sorry if you’re reading this, not American, and don’t understand everything. I would highly suggest www.urbandictionary.com if there are any words or concepts you do not fully understand.

Stay classy America.

Un beso.

OH, if you want to keep up with how many days I have left in Spain and when I will be returning to the good ol’ USA, my beautiful best friend Britney made this countdown clock. Here’s the link: http://countingdownto.com/countdown/38460

America the Beautiful

Ray Charles

Las Fallas

I would spend an ungodly amount of money and fly back to Spain twice a year - once in February for Carnaval and the second time in March for Las Fallas. This event is definitely one of the coolest things I have EVER been to in my entire life and the US has too many laws against fireworks and burning things to actually allow this event to exist. I saw more fireworks and things exploding in twenty eight hours than every Fourth of July combined. So here’s what went down:

Joelle, Sam, and I were awake for 28 hours straight for this event. We all woke up around 6 a.m. Monday morning to catch our train to Valencia and we didn’t get back to Alicante until 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Intense, and extremely tiring. In fact, I think we  are still recovering from our lack of sleep, and this all happened about a week ago now. We had no idea what to expect when we got there because really, we had no idea what this event was all about. We just knew when they were going to burn stuff at some point. We ended up wandering around looking at all the fallas and found some pretty amazing ones. I think it was something like each barrio or pueblo had their own falla and throughout the day there were mini parades with girls dressed in the most elaborate dresses I’ve ever seen and extremely out of tune bands that represented each barrio. 

Here are some of the fallas we found along the way:

Joelle and I’s favorite.

Sam’s favorite. We really wanted to watch this one burn but we walked so much that day we forgot where it was…

A lot of the fallas had really perverted themes to them and were quite inappropriate. I was actually extremely surprised at how raunchy some of them were. But they also had baby fallas to that were basically for the smaller kids and were really cute like these:

The baby ones got burnt before the ginormous ones. We got to see the first picture of the baby ones burn. Before every burning, they set of fireworks to let you know that a burning was about to take place. An adorable little boy set the fireworks off to start this one with a wand that shot sparks out - yet another reason this would never happen in the US. He actually missed the fireworks box two or three times and shot sparks into the crowd…in my general direction. This one also happened to be somewhat of a “dud”. Before they set it on fire they basically wrapped the thing in fireworks and other explosive and fire making material. I don’t really know what went wrong but it didn’t catch on fire very well and it was a bit on the anticlimactic side, but here’s what it looked like while burning.

There is also one falla of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus that is made completely of red, pink, and white carnations (the flower of Spain). The whole square where it is located is covered in flowers and it smelled amazing. This is the only falla that they don’t burn and it’s left up for a few days after the events end to be admired by the city. It was beautiful - I’ve never really seen anything like it, and it was hard to believe that it was made out of flowers.

There were a lot of people at this event so we met some really cool people along the way - including a guy from London named Willy who took us under his wing and showed us some of the firework events we would have missed if we weren’t with him. The picture below is of strings of fireworks that were set off during the day. It was SO cool. We were right next to it when they set them all off and the loud explosions did nothing for my sensitive ears but it was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. We watched two of these and the second time one of the fireworks almost hit a guy who was watching on his balcony and another one came flying out into the crowd.

Around midnight we all crammed into the tiny side streets around one of the biggest fallas there and watched as it was set on fire. We were kind of scared at first because this falla was not only HUGE, but it was also uncomfortably close to the surrounding buildings. There were a lot of firefighters on hand and they sprayed down the surrounding buildings with water before burning the falla but I think in the back of our minds we were all wondering how this thing wasn’t going to catch anything else on fire. However, it did not and the buildings that were there before the burning are still there now. The big one being burned:

Cool, right? People also randomly set their own fireworks off throughout the day and night, as well as these bomb sounding things that got to be really annoying. It felt like you were dodging grenades the whole night because someone would light one of these bomb things, casually walk away, and watch from as a distance as their victims jumped from the loud explosion going off right next to them. Little kids even had these things. Ridiculous.

Also, a really funny story. We planned our trip extremely last minute and the cheapest way possible so that we wouldn’t have to pay for anywhere to stay Monday night in Valencia. The event was supposed to end around 2 or 3 in the morning and our train left at 7, so we were planning on going to the beach for a little while and then going to the train station later. It was a really good plan until it started raining, which meant no beach. So we ended up going to the train station a little after two. What we didn’t know was that the train station closed from 3-5. Everyone got kicked out onto the rainy streets of Valencia - and by this time, everything was basically closed. We walked around for a little while trying to find a place to get out of the rain and found an ATM where you have to go into a room to use it. We figured homeless people do it all the time…so we went in and sat down. About five minutes later, two Japanese girls walk in, and then three Spanish girls, and then two Spanish guys. There were ten of us in this tiny ATM room, homeless, for two hours. Good times.

SO, Las Fallas = a pyromaniac’s paradise, not for someone who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because we felt like we were in a war zone for a whole day, and definitely one of the greatest adventures ever.