Back in Alicante...

So I had a great time in Barcelona, but I am now officially bombarded with school work and don't have much time to write about my trip. I will try to, but just wanted to give some warning that an update may be a while in coming. I am heading to Brussels for this coming weekend so that only worsens the prospects. Will write when I can!

3 weeks or so until the USA... wow.

Turkey Day in Spain

So it's officially Thanksgiving, although I doubt too many Americans have yet woken up unless they are maybe putting their turkeys in the oven. It's really making me miss home being here knowing that I am missing one of my favorite days of the year with my family and that I can't be there to help my mom cook and keep everything in our house under control when the guests come. Thankfully they gave us the day off of class and all of the Americans will be having a dinner together tonight that I believe is supposed to include turkey. Regardless, I am trying to not get my hopes up too high about how good the whole dinner will be. I'm sure it won't be nearly as tasty as what I am used to back at home! I just miss the feel of Thanksgiving, the beautiful fall we have in PA, the fact that Christmas is approaching and you can start listening to Christmas music from now on...

I officially now have less than a month left in Spain and it is going to be a busy one for sure. School is getting pretty intense and I've got papers to write, but I've got to balance that with the trips I've planned and enjoying my last month abroad. I also met another student here who is from Kenya so I can practice Swahili a bit and I don't want to miss out on that either. We are going to Barcelona tomorrow and I am really excited, but I still feel the longing for the comfort of home.

Anyway, I just want to say HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone and to enjoy your time together!

more of my parent's visit

Well I've had my chance to relax again after a weekend with nothing to do and I got a good bit of work done. I wanted to post the other pictures that I have from Alicante with my parents, especially from when we climed up El Castillo (The Castle) de Santa Barbara in Alicante.

These are from the first two days in Alicante:
out for dinner on the first night together

Plaza de Espana in Alicante

on the beach!

huge church in Alicante
dinner the next night

These next pictures are from the Castillo.

I think my mom wanted to kill me as my dad and I dragged her all the way to the top, but I do believe she thought it was worth it. It's quite beautiful and the view from above is great.


that is what we were facing...

and this is a view of old downtown Alicante from half-way up

my dad giving my mom a hand

We finally made it to the top!





a view of Alicante's main street at night

These other pictures are of the first day in Madrid. I couldn't post them earlier because I hadn't taken my uploader thing with me on our trip, but here they are!

the first thing we saw upon exiting the Metro in downtown Madrid


This is a picture from the Museo Thyssen. As I think I mentioned in my earlier blog, we found a picture from a painter from Wilkes-Barre in Madrid! que ironico...

The National Congress of Spain

statute in the Puerto del Sol

walking around Madrid during sunset




checking out a traditional spanish dance exhibition in the plaza


All that was left over after we devoured the churros... y ya esta! (that's it!)

Madrid, Part II

My parents are back home in the US now and I am back into my normal Spanish routine. I had a great time with them and we saw a lot of sites! It was so nice to have the connection from home here and to have my real parents to take care of me and spoil me. =) I'll continue with Saturday in Madrid...

We woke up pretty early and headed right over to the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) after coffee and breakfast in a cafe near our hotel. We hoped on the metro once again and walked to the palace, finding some beautiful sculptures and gardens out front. We realized we'd have to wait in line for a little while to enter, but it wasn't bad and we were soon inside. We walked through the main plaza looking at the whole outside wall and entered up the main stairs that had a beautiful fresco on the ceiling and decadent statutes all around.


I think it kind of looks like the White House in that picture...



In the main stairway entrance.

view of Madrid from outside the palace


I unfortunately don't really have other pictures of the palace because it was completely prohibited to take pictures inside. We spent a good amount of time there and upon exiting, all of the people that sell things on the streets were around. My mom and I bought some pretty scarfs and then my parents, being gullible tourists, decide to get massages from the Chinese people who are outside the palace with their little seats and maps of the body's pressure points. Overall, the ended up getting ripped off, but so are dealings with shady street business people... My dad at least said his back felt better. (picture above)

After the palace it was lunch time so we headed on the metro to go across the city. Our plan for the day was to head to the big park (El Parque del Buen Retiro) and buy some bread and lunch meat to have a picnic there. After having a bit of an adventure in a store that was sort of butcher shop/pastry shop, we got our food and walked to a bench among all these beautiful trees in a nice grassy area to eat our lunch. The park was really diverse - some parts filled with natural trees and plants, another area had a big lake-like body of water with boats that had restaurants around it, and another area was filled with well-trimmed bushes lining the walk-ways in specific areas, making it all looked like a perfectly planned setting. Overall, it was really beautiful and relaxing... pictures!





After the park we walked a bit more through Madrid and headed for the Reina Sofia, a museum featuring all kinds of Spanish art. We walked past the Prado, Spain's most famous museum, but the line was HUGE and we had less time than we wanted.
The Prado

I really enjoyed the Reina Sofia, although I think my dad was a bit bored again. It helped explain some more of Spanish history and the Spanish culture that you can see today. Some of the art was a bit hyper-modern, but nonetheless got you thinking.

After the museum we met up with Catie, another girl on my program here in Alicante, and her mom. The two of them also spent the weekend in Madrid as her mom was visiting Spain. We found a good looking tapas restaurant and enjoyed some really good tapas together and a few beers. Catie and her mom are both super sweet (and super southern, they're from Memphis). By then it was past 10 so we walked around a bit more, but shortly after got on the metro to head back to our hotel.
Here is a picture of my dad on the metro.

Unfortunately my dad was almost robbed while we were on the metro by two guys who tried to take his wallet out of his back pocket, but he noticed as they were doing it and they went in the other direction. It left him a bit spooked, but what can you do.. it's city life. Our train for the next day was at 11am and because we were all pretty tired, we decided to just sleep in and take out time getting to the train station after we stopped for breakfast.

Getting on/inside the train:




It was a relaxing train ride back throughout the afternoon and we just took our time back in Alicante because I had two midterms to study for (one Monday, one Tuesday) and had to get myself motivated to go back to class.

I have more pictures from Alicante and from the beginning of our Madrid trip so I will post again soon to share them and talk a bit more about things in Alicante. For now, class. At least it is almost the weekend again...