The end.

well, it's all over now... sadly. And I'm in Florida right now visiting family and everyone is either asleep or watching tv that I don't like. So, I'll write my very last entry. Life since Madrid... haha. I haven't been gone very long but I miss it a lot already. Things just aren't the same and it's hard to compete with. I got to travel to Florida 4 days after I got back to the states to visit my family, which I am very happy about. And tomorrow I go to North Carolina until Sunday to see more family. The end of Madrid was fun with some people ready as anything to head to the comforts of their own homes, and others reluctant to leave quite yet. I was in the latter group of the two. I'm pretty sure none of us will ever forget our time spent in Madrid and Europe and nothing will ever break the bonds that we made over there. It was the best thing I have ever experienced and I wouldn't change it for the world.

pictures above: our farewell dance and party we had in the park after getting kicked out of my friends apartment 

The end is near...(o.k. that is kind of morbid sounding, sorry.. haha)

I am extremely exhausted but I will write this now because otherwise, I will use it as an excuse not to study tomorrow. I wish I had written more in my blog, but time just flies by and before I know it, weeks or a month already passed. I'm not sure exactly where to start (as always), but I will give an update on my past recent extravaganzas =). I went to a Real Madrid game two Wednesdays ago. That was so much fun!! They played Getafe, and they won. It was a very close game, which made it exciting to watch. I went with a group of friends but the game was so popular we could only sit in pairs scattered around the stadium. Madrid is so passionate about their team, I love it!

me and Jim at the game

My school took an excursion to San Sebastian, Spain last weekend. It's part of the basque country. It is crazy how Spain is one Nation but they seem to be so spread apart. There are the Basque's, the Catalan's, and I guess the regular Spaniards. I don't understand it fully still, but it really interests me. Anyways, enough history lesson... It was on the beach! Even though it rained a lot and I had to stay in and do homework a couple of times, it was a lot of fun being there with everyone exploring yet another place in Europe. It was my friend Kristen's birthday so we all celebrated on the beach and went out later on together and had a great time. I can't say I made it out to many school historical activities, but I think I have been a little museum-ed out these past four months. Plus, I think it's fair that I skip out on a couple of educational things. Overall, San Sebastian was a success AND I got to see the first thunder and lightning storm since I left home!! That kept me up all night with excitement on Friday =). School excursions are fun because they pay for our food and we get a HOTEL! yes, I said hotel, not hostel. (Hostels are the dungeon- like buildings we sleep in when we travel). They aren't that bad, but hotels are quite the treat. Some hostels can have up to 10 people in one room, which means you are with a bunch of strangers. It is weird. I have only stayed in a room with that many people once, but I sure miss hotels. That is like the last thing on my list of things that I miss though. 

Pretty Beach

Rosana, Kristen, me, Erin, Vanessa, and Elyse 

I am going to fall asleep in about ten minutes so I need to finish this up! There is so much I want to talk about but this blog would be too long to read! I'm trying to put in pictures throughout it so you stay interested, haha. Working? I went to Barcelona this weekend, FINALLY!! It was great! We took an over night bus from 1am-9am on Thursday, got there and checked into the hostel (which was SO NICE!), we rode bikes through the city, went to the beach, to a beautiful park (Parc Guell), saw the magic fountain at night, went to a nightclub, went to Las Ramblas (a cool shopping area with a really cool outdoor market), and other things that aren't coming to mind right now. The weather was mostly great and I think Barcelona would be a cool place to study if I hadn't picked Madrid. Madrid definitely wins, but it was so cool over there! It was extremely touristy and I didn't even hear that much Spanish and everyone spoke to me in english which kind of annoyed me. I also realized how much Americans annoy me sometimes too (oh boy), haha. I'll put in the pictures now because I think my descriptions can't even begin to give it justice. 

Barcelona's Arc de Triumf 

BIKES!

The huge hill we had to climb to get to Par Guell- that was only halfway 

Really nice view

View from the cross

Okay, well I need to sleep because sleeping on a bus isn't that much fun, and I am still tired. I love and miss everyone a lot. Home soon! xoxo

How could I forget pictures!?

Pretty Roma

Corfu! I am up there somewhere kayaking


Our prom- like picture before the Paladium (the Pink Palace's club) ((our hotel))

I drove it like a champ! (Just not in this picture =D )

Where do I even start!

Well it's been a while since I wrote last (sorry). Obviously it is harder than I thought to keep this thing updated! Between spring break and now school, I don't have much time on my hands (and when I do I choose to sleep, ha). Spring break was fantastic! I really couldn't have asked for more. I traveled from Madrid to Rome with a group of friends and we stayed there for 3 nights visiting the Vatican, the colosseum, great restaurants, the trevi fountian, and whatever else you can imagine! I loved Rome a lot and would go back in a heartbeat. After Rome was the island of Corfu, Greece! To get there we had to take a bus to the port of Ancona, a ferry to another port, walk with our bags for ten minutes, switch to a cruise ship.. sleep on the ship, and take a bus to our hotel! Regardless of the excessive travel, Corfu is the most picturesqe place I could have imagined and was well worth the wait. We were right on the Ionian sea (which is beautiful) and all of our rooms had balconies overlooking it. I can't help but smile when I think about Corfu =). We spent our days kayaking, waiting in lines, so many lines! swimming in the sea (even though the water was chilly!), four-wheeling on ATV's through the gorgeous streets (it is legal over there), partying (i'll keep that description short), and just having the time of our lives. To get back to Madrid we did the whole travel experience over again except this time we tried our hardest to get a cabin on the cruise ship (because the 1st time we had to sleep on the floor since we "didnt think buying a cabin was necessary" we were very wrong). Anyways, we succeeded and then slept in the airport before our 6am flight AND I still went to class at 10:45 straight from the airport. Now that is commitment! I realize I am blabbing on and on about my spring break and I sound very spoiled and hopfully not bratty. I am just really excited and proud we planned it all on our own and that it all worked out so well. I could talk about it forever, but I'll stop here.
The new topic of conversation seems to be going home. Everyone has mixed feelings and nobody really knows what to expect. A lot of us think we will go into culture shock because we have lived in Europe for the past 4 months and the U.S. is going to be so weird to jump back into. So many things like the dollar, english, no ciestas, and eating schedules have been foreign to us since we got here in January. A few people can't wait to go home, but most of us are reluctant. I could stay here for a while more, but I do miss home at the same time. I'm looking foward to it but also will be sad leaving. I guess you could say it's bittersweet. However, there are still things planned for before I go back to the states so I'm gunna stop thinking about it and enjoy these last things! There is a weekend school trip to San Sebastion, Spain... I'm going to Barcelona... there is a school dance (cute, ha)... and oh yea, the best part; finals. NOT. Anyways that reminds me that I should probably go do some work =). I miss you all!!! xoxo

Spring break, here I come!

I might have to make this short, but I think that is better than nothing. I wonder if a little bit of something is always better then not having it at all (?). Anyways, I am still madly in love with Europe and Spain, what's new? haha. I have gone to Paris and a bullfight recently. I loved them both! Jackie and Deanna flew here safely and we had an amazing time together, I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did. They are the best friends I could ask for. We saw so many things and although it was cold and wet in Paris, I can't wait to go back with mom some day =). Spain is treating me well, school is sort of a joke... some of my teachers don't even know words in engish. They are nice, but I must admit it is easy. I am far from challenged, but I don't mind that for once. Every Wednesday I go to a museum for art history class, that is a lot of fun. Somehow grading systems here are rediculously easy too. Anyways, enough about school... we all know I am really here for travel. I go to Rome and Greece this Monday until the upcoming Tuesday. I cannot wait for that! A huge group of us are going and I hope it is as great as we think it will be.

As happy as I am here, and as much as I love to travel around; I do long for home sometimes. It is hard always having someone to say goodbye to whether it is family and friends from CT, Boston, or soon to be Europe... moving around so much can take a toll on me. Thinking about that reminds me that I will be going to Florida to see my family in May when I come home, and that reminds me why I love to travel and why it is well worth it. I am very tired so I will continue this later (hopefully), but I will leave you with something extra to read:

Interesting facts:
1.Popular conversation topic over dinner= where we all last saw pepper on a dinner table (Spain never has pepper anywhere)
2. Best new places I have seen= Plaza de Torros (bull fight) and the Eiffel Tower
3. The French aren't as mean as rumor says they are
4. My spanish is improving (little by little)
5. I MISS EVERYONE AT HOME however, still don't want this to end quite yet.

God bless and goodnight,

Autumn

pictures!!

quierres mas?

This is overwhelming- in a very, very good way

Retiro Park (the water is usually filled with people in boats)


Sorry I haven't written in such a long time, I have gotten lazy with my blogging. I've gone to Toledo, Spain and Segovia, Spain. They were both day trips and they were very fun. I definitely liked Segovia more, but I think that was because I wasn't feeling too well when we went to Toledo. There isn't too much to do over there either. I would like to inform everyone that I am no longer sick and have not been since the weekend after I wrote the last blog- THANK GOD! That whole being sick every other week thing was terrible. The weather here is awesome, it is in the 70's and very sunny. Me and my friends visit retiro park all the time, it is probably my favorite place here. There is water, boats you can take out, people everywhere... it is just beautiful and huge. I will try to find a picture of it to put up, if not then I will take one next time I come. All of my friends take cameras everywhere and I get lazy with mine, but I will take it with me more. So many people in my school travel to a new city in Europe every weekend. I don't quite have the funds for that, but these are the places I am going before I make my way back to the states:

Paris, France with Deanna and Jackie!
Rome, Italy
Cruise from Italy to Corfu, Greece

Barcelona, Spain

San Sebastion
Home to Connecticut

Deanna and Jackie are coming to visit me from March 20-30 and I can't wait! It is going to be the best =). My two best friends in the whole world actually bought tickets and are going to travel the seas to see ME and of course Europe! It will be amazing. Anyways, I think I am going to relax now and then maybe head out a little bit later. Mid terms are over and I did well on all of them =) yes, I am passing my classes, don't worry! Well, I miss whoever you are if you are reading this, I am sure.
xoxo
Autumn

Don't they know we didn't really come to Europe to go to school?

This might be my first boring post, but I will try to make it interesting. Some funny things... and not such funny things have happened since my return from Morocco. The time has been passing so quickly! I can't believe I have been here for over a month. I'm currently sitting in some mexican resturaunt with uncomfortable chairs pretending to drink this horribly sour drink so that I can use the internet. My residencia's internet broke and we wont have working internet for a week, wonderful. School has been pretty dificult lately. I have had 2 exams, I presentation, 1 paper, and next week I have 3 midterms. I am coping, but I think it really stinks. Thank God my grades only go over to Emmanuel as pass or fail because that way I can pay more attention to other things, like Spain- as it should be!

On Valentines day, I went horseback riding with the school. That was amazing! The second picture is from there. We went on a bus to another part of Madrid (country side), got off at the wrong stop, had some issues, finnaly got where we were supposed to be and walked about 45 minutes to the stables. The weather was gorgeous, and the horses were great! We rode for an hour and then went back into the city. Then I went to this Cuban resturaunt... that was an adventure. They took about 2 hours to fully serve us and then only gave us 2 free drinks to compensate for that. It is extremely frustrating not being able to correctly argue a point when in another country. If I had been in America, things would have gone a lot differently. Oh well, I can laugh about it now... then, not so much. Needless to say, I wont be returning to that specific place again.

I hesitate to say that I am sick, AGAIN. I do not know what it is about Spain, but it really hates my immune system. My throat is all that hurts, but it is pretty significant. I went back to the doctor today to find out that they don't have the strep test. That was a shock! He said he has been asking to have them for 2 years, and most of the Spanish doctors haven't even heard of it. Over here, you take some test and it takes 5 days for results. So I think the doctor is just playing the guessing game with my illness and we will see what happens, I guess. It is a tad rediculous if you ask me... and my throat. The weather change also is a factor because it changes from 40's- almost 60's depending on the time of the day and week.

A huge group of my friends went to Granada this weekend in a school trip, but the one I chose is in April and it is to San Sebastion. I am sure they will all have an awesome time and come back with great stories.

I think I should go lay down now, and PLEASE COMMENT on my posts, it makes me happy.

Taluego!

I thank Obama for my safe return to Spain

Well first off, sorry for not writing sooner. I have a good reason! I had strep throat for a good week or so. It wasn't your average annoying strep, it was more like: in a foreign country all alone, collapsing on your heater, can't peacefully walk down the stairs, wish I could make a house call kind of strep. Thankfully, I have a good friend here who got me medicine and made my doctor appointment. If it wasn't for that, I would have never gotten out of bed! After some more of a fever and headache, I was all better in time for Casablanca, Morocco. Morocco was very crazy! It was so obvious that we were NOT from around there from the way we dressed, talked, looked... everything. Not being able to communicate at all was very strange. Obama is a hit over there. Whenever we said we were from the U.S. the locals would say "OBAMA!!". I honestly think if we had gone before he was elected they would not have been very nice to us! The roads had no laws (to them: red means go, street lines mean nothing and you had to make a mad dash across the street). Shopping was awesome, even though I forced myself not to buy anything, my friends got some great deals. The hostel we stayed in was in a good area, even though some taxis couldn't find it on our way home from going out at night (mine!) It was very cheap and they gave us such good service (tea, O.J, breakfast, internet). We went to a mosque that you see above where I am holding an umbrella. It is the Hassan Mosque II (third largest in the world and VERY cool). Overall, Morocco made me appreicate Spain and the way I can communicate with people, and get by easily. It was our "vacation from vacation" and I loved it. I can't imagine going back home after all of this... it will be so easy to do everything from talk to people to order something to getting medicine!... everything is so simple back home! I must admit, I love the challenge here though.

Until next time...

Sometimes, ciestas are just plain boring

I fixed my blog font so that is read-able. No more small red weird writting (sorry about that mom!). I was sick in bed from Wednesday until Saturday, and finally I feel all better! I went to the farmacia to get medicine and they gave me some syrup that tasted like shampoo should probably taste. However, tomalo y ahora tengo buen salud! I'm sure that is improper spanish, but I gave it a shot. Speaking spanish is hard, but so fun! Not many people speak english, so my spanish is put to the test all the time. Body language and charades has become a popular game of life, haha. Anyways, classes aren't too bad, but I do miss my education classes. The classes here are kind of hard, and they all base grades on 2 big assignments instead of a lot of smaller ones. Communting to school on the metro for half an hour is something different, but so far, I have been on time every day! Me and some friends (like 10+) booked a ticket to Casablanca, Morocco for Feb.6-8th. We are very excited for that, and I hope to plan more trips sometime soon. There are a bunch of stories that come my way, but for some reason I can't think of any right now. It might be because I am about to go shopping in Chueca (where I live). Which, by the way, is the GAY district of Madrid... Interesting. It's a very safe area though, so I don't mind. Going out in Madrid is the funnest thing yet. The city does not sleep and everyone stays out until 6am when the metro starts running again (they're crazy!). I must confess, I did stay out until 6 on Saturday... I had to try it! It was not bad, and the nightlife never ends- people to meet, places to go, things to see =)... I love it. I will post pictures soon, and from now on TAKE MY CAMERA EVERYWHERE. I am missing priceless pictures because I forget to bring it. SORRY! Anyways, I must go and shop, but a few facts before I go...

Temperature= 50 degrees F
Best place I went this week= Parque Del Buen Retiro
Best food I ate= Bocadillos (they're everywhere!)
Best word I learned= Vale (they say it to everything... it's like our word 'okay')

Love and miss you all

Sevilla orientation trip

Spain is still as great as it was before. Classes start tomorrow, though. I am excited but I know this is the end of our Sevilla trip, and that reality must begin. Sevilla was gorgeous and a very sweet city. Everything was breath taking from the winery to the scenery to the lifestyle. I am still trying to adjust to everything but it is difficult. Sleeping schedules are messed up from long bus rides and eating is weird because of the three course meals they feed us. Everyone smokes over here, it is rediculous. In the restaraunts, outside, in homes, everywhere (that is quite irritating). I love the spanish language, even the funny looks i get from the spaniards when I try to say something. I am happy to be back in Madrid, but I loved Sevilla a lot. Everyone had a great time at the winery, watching flamenco dancing, going out at night, eating at nice places with sometimes weird food. Overall, it was wonderful and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Hope to write again with good stories or pictures. xoxo

"No entiendo"

Wow! Spain is amazing! Everything here is so different than at home. The people, the language, the time, the food, the streets, the metro... everything! I can't think of many things that are the same. The temperature is pretty similar to the Northeast, it is a little warmer here though. I must say coming here alone is a bit intimidating especially since 60+ percentage of kids go to the same school at home. Everyone is really nice though, and so far we get along great. There are about 10 girls who live with me who go to Suffolk Madrid, and a ton others who go to other places. Meeting everyone is so much fun. We all went out tonight after orientation and shopping for necessities. It was a quaint little place, very cool... and extremely exciting! Everything here is hard to get used to, but we are coping as best as possible. Hopefully everything will continue to be great =). Our trip to Sevilla is on Friday until Sunday, so I will probably post after that with some good stories (I hope)! I love you guys!!! and miss you xoxo