La Alhambra en Granada

A number of weekends ago, I took a wonderful little road trip with my fabulous roomie, Yolaine. It was quite the adventure really. It is the first time we had gone out on a trip together and it was interesting in two respects:

1)      It was super cool to go down to Granada and see La Alhambra and some of the places I am learning about in my European History and my Art History classes.

2)      It was really super hilarious to see how my roommate reacted to tourists. Like seriously, super hilarious.

So, to talk about the first part. We went down to this little town called Granada. It really isn’t that big and there really isn’t a whole lot to do there besides going to check out this wicked awesome palace they have down there called La Alhambra which means Red Castle or something like that in Arabic. It really is this gigantic red coloured castle that has been around since like the 9^th century. It is ridiculously cool! It is this castle with a ton of Arabic and Moorish influences. The architecture is like nothing I have ever seen before. There are coloured tile everywhere and extreme detail on everything. It is amazing and again, it isn’t really something I can describe. It amazes me that people built all of this by hand.

The most amazing thing to me at this castle was the gardens. It was the beginning of March and most of the trees weren’t in bloom and neither were the flowers. Even in spite of that, it was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! Seriously, so freaking cool. I felt like I was walking through a heavenly garden and I could just be calm and relaxed cuz nothing bad could happen in a place so beautiful. There were fountains and gardens and hedges and rose bushes and flower beds and roman bath houses. It was just so completely different than anything else I have seen in Europe. If you come to Spain, you have to hit up Granada.

Through the entire trip we had this ongoing conversation about how important it was for me to get a castle. I have started planning it already. It will be huge with fountains and flowers and gardens were I can have rendez-vous’ with my secret lovers. There will be a dragon and alligators in the moat that will surround the giant gate with a drawbridge. Also, there will be super awesome towers with awesome views and of course all of this will come with a stinking rich, beautiful Prince Charming. Yay! So, if anyone has any leads on where I can find any of these, let me know. Until then, I will continue to traipse around Europe looking for inspiration in various castles.

Oh, final thing. When going through La Alhambra, we found this lady in her late sixties who was your typical tourist. Baseball hat, camera around the neck, waddling around with her husband and to top it all off.... SHE WAS WEARING A TWILIGHT SHIRT!!!! Hahahaha!!! Crack me up. I took a picture of her. I don’t think she was too happy about it. Oh well! Couldn’t pass that opportunity up.

Onto number two. My roommate is ridiculously hilarious. Seriously, it was like she turned into this stereotypical Frenchwoman who makes me laugh. She honestly could NOT stand the tourists. Anytime we neared a group she would just cringe and rant. It made me laugh so hard. Seriously, such a hoot. When Sadie and I were leaving for London, Yolaine decided she wanted to come with us. Ohhhh we laughed and warned her that we would be super touristy and take pictures of everything and that she would have to deal with it. I swear she actually hesitated for a minute! Haha! Such a sweetheart though.

Anyways, check out pictures on Facebook. This place is definitely worth seeing. Also, there is a restaurant with the most amazing asparagus dish thing and there is also a hotel with super comfy beds and tv and everything and it was like 15 euros a night! Yay!! All in all, a good weekend!

Boobs and Balls Weekend: Part Two - Milan

Okay, so…. Milan!! I really had no expectations of Milan being super awesome. I knew there would be good shopping and all but beyond that…. There wasn´t supposed to be a whole lot but DANG was this a fun, fun, fun day! We spent most of the morning shopping. We wandered in and out of stores and it was awesome! Sadie needed to find a jacket and I refused to leave without some new sexy Milan shoes. So, we were going to make it happen! We went inside Louis Vuitton and Prada and felt poorer just by being in there. Seriously, I swear they only hire really ridiculously good looking people. It was fabulous.

After a couple hours of shopping with no success, we started to get irritable and hungry. We decided to give shopping a break, check out the Duomo (awesome giant church thing) and then get something to eat before getting back to the stores. Well, what we didn´t know was that this was the final day of Carnival in Milan and so we were there for all of the celebrations! We went through the church that had the most ridiculous stained glass windows I have ever seen and then moved onto climb up a million spiraling stairs to see the view from the top of the church. AMAZING!!!!!! Of course we took tons of pictures while we were up there cuz the world is our photo shoot. The view was incredible AND while we were up there, the parade started!!! We got to see flag throwers! Apparently it is an Italian thing but it was super cool. I will post the video on Facebook. We also saw all the bands and the floats from up above without other people´s heads in our way. Genius! And this was no ten minute Edmonton parade. This thing actually went on forever. Probably well over half an hour or forty five minutes. I wouldn´t be shocked if it was stretching towards an hour. About halfway through Sadie and I were starting to die of hunger so we decided to ditch out and search for some food.

Well, easier said than done. The problem was that the parade had blocked us inside the central plaza and we couldn´t get out cuz there were crowd controlling blockades and a giant parade in the way. We sat there starving and waiting for it to end and when it did we actually RAN through the crowd, throwing elbows in search of food. We found a Burger King and that sounded absolutely perfect and fast. Yum! We ate and then the most ridiculous thing happened.

 I was up in the bathroom afterwards and as I was leaving there was this single dad pushing this little girl all dressed up like a princess towards the bathroom as she leaned back on him refusing to go in. I felt bad for the guy so I reached out my hand to invite the little girl in so she would know it isn´t scary and that she will be alright. It was awesome. The ahhhh-an-adult-stranger-is-making-me-do-something-and-I-am-totally-freaked-but-can´t-say-no look set in and she took my hand and followed me in. My thought was get the girl in and she will be fine, but nope.... that was not the case. She then expected me to help her with her costume. So, here I am in a bathroom stall in Italy with a little Italian girl that doesn´t speak Spanish OR English and I am stripping her down and helping her pee. It was HILARIOUS! I was trying to talk to her and help her feel calm but I am quite certain I just freaked her out even more. Seriously, awesome. What parent just gives over his kid like that anyways?!? Haha!! After she was done she basically ran out of the place without even washing her hands. Yup, I am that scary. Sadie and I had a good laugh over it and then set off to do some more shopping.

In Milan there is this mall that has four crests on the floor of the main cities in Italy. One of them has an Ox on the crest and apparently it is good luck to spin around on your heels on this bull´s balls. Yup.... The perfect conclusion of the weekend. We had groped Juliet and now we were off to stomp on some male genitals. When we first got in the mall there was a big crowd standing on top off it so we had a hard time finding it, but don´t worry, we found it and completed our Boobs and Balls weekend. So inappropriate but I am going to have so much good luck this year, you are going to be so jealous!! It is hilarious. There is actually a hole in the floor from people spinning on it so much.

After this we went out into the main square. This place was in chaos by now! There was confetti EVERYWHERE!!!!! And people had this foamy soap that they would spray at each other and there was silly string and streamers and everything. It was crazy and so much fun. We bought ourselves a wonderful bag of confetti and joined in! We were covered by the end of it. Random people would walk up and spray us with foam and throw confetti. Oh we just laughed and laughed and had a hoot. We even found a grate on this street for the metro and the air coming up from below was blowing confetti way up into the air. It was the coolest thing and we danced in it with all the little kids in costumes. We are mature like that.

After enjoying the festivities of Carnival we headed off to complete our shopping adventures. I am glad to report that we both completed our goals. We cut it close in the end but we made it happen. I now own some pretty freaking awesome and beautiful shoes. They are all lacy and gorgeous. Yup, basically I am irresistible when I wear them. Now I can cross that off of my list of things to do as well! Go me!

The only other interesting thing to talk about with this trip was the hostel we stayed in when we got to Bergamo, where we flew out of. This was hands down the WORST hostel I have stayed in but it is totally a laugh now! So, we got into Bergamo and went straight to the hostel because ´´Reception´´ closes at midnight. We got there and found this apartment building and buzzed up. This super old guy came down to meet us. Mercedes looks at him and says Caio!! And he immediately shushes her. YAH… SHUSHES HER!!!!! I wanted to burst out laughing. Okay.... strange, but okay. Good times, good times. So, after this all happens we head up to the hostel, and it is literally someone´s house and they have a room for people to stay in. It is all cluttered and lived in and nothing like a hostel or a hotel or even a B&B. We come in and the fun just never ended! There were rules about when we could shower and when we were allowed to flush the toilet and when we couldn´t. When he was copying our passport info he was actually using a magnifying glass to see the letters!! And there is a free ´´shuttle´´ to the airport in the morning which is basically him dropping us off in his station wagon. So, we told him when our flight was and he was like, okay, we will leave at 7 so that means you don´t get food cuz breakfast doesn´t start until 7. And that means you will need to get up at 6:30. And we just looked at him shocked that he was telling us when to wake up so he repeated it again and I said, yes, we will wake up when we think it is time to wake up, thank you. And then he went on to write it on a piece of paper!!!! 6:30, that is when you will wake up. Now, for those of you who know me, I don´t really do so well with people limiting my freedoms and my independence so now I am trying really hard not to be a brat and just let it go. At the end of our wonderful little meeting of a check in, he looks at us and says, okay, you go to bed now. Good night. Seriously. LOVED IT!! Hahahaahaha! We went into the room and there were ants everywhere and the internet gets cut off at midnight. Seriously, things just got better and better. The next morning he actually came in to make sure we were up and tell us he was pulling the car around which I mean, was nice I guess. We grabbed some food, cuz I paid for a B&B so I was getting me some food, and then headed out. He didn´t help us with the bags at all and so we struggled in the pouring rain and in the end he didn´t even drop us off right at the airport, we had to walk through the rain to get to the doors. Not far really, but by this time, it was such a gong show and it was just the icing on the cake of a bad hostel. Haha! Seriously, in the moment so frustrating but all we could do is just laugh and laugh and laugh about how ridiculously awesome it was. Good times, good times.

But hey, we got to the airport, got on the plane and then Sadie and I headed off to Madrid. We got there just in time for us to rush to church so I could speak in sacrament meeting and then teach my Sunday School lesson. Ohhhhh how I am loving all of this!!!

Boobs and Balls Weekend: Part One - Verona

So, time to catch up. That's what my Current International Issues class is good for!

So, let´s go back a couple weeks to the wonderful time of Verona. This was such an adorable day. Seriously!! Sadie and I had decided that we should meet up and spend the weekend in Verona and Milan. I had a flight into Milan and then I was going to take the train to meet up with her in Verona. I sent her my train schedule and then got in the plane without really making plans beyond that. I am a genius. It was a wonderful flight and I made it to the train station without any problem but then the drama set in. I had to transfer trains and the big problem was that my first train was delayed. This meant I was going to miss my transfer and Sadie would have no idea what had happened. This is when it finally set in that we had no backup plan. Oops! We had no way to contact each other and basically we were screwed. Haha! Such a gong show. But, miracle of all miracles, my second train was delayed too!! Thank you universe!!!

I made it to the station and then started looking for Sadie. But she was nowhere to be found. So, I decided that I would try and find an internet connection and check Facebook. I really have no idea how this worked out but as I was just at the point of possibly starting to panic Sadie started working towards me!!! Miracle!

We went and dumped our stuff off at the adorable little B&B (cross that off my list of things to do this year) and then went out to explore Verona. This place is gorgeous. Seriously, as we walked into the center of Verona, we both just gasped. It is this quaint little town with colored houses all lined up and trees everywhere and it is just beautiful. I don´t even know how to describe it in a way that you can understand. It is like taking the adorable little town in the fairytales where the princesses live and making it a real place. Definitely a good setting for Romeo and Juliet although I have no idea how anyone would want to feud and fight in such a beautiful place. Seriously.

We spent most of the day wandering. We found different churches that were beautiful as always with paintings and sculptures and intricately designed roofs. We went to the main square and wandered the market and found Romeo´s house which is quite manly. We didn´t go inside though. After getting lost a couple times we finally found Juliet´s house. SOOOOO CUTE!!!! We had heard it really isn´t worth 6 Euros to go inside but that didn´t stop us from taking pictures of the balcony and the statue of Juliet. Apparently it is good luck to grab Juliet´s boob, so we did. We then wrote on Juliet´s wall with the billions of other signatures. Obviously I devoted my love to Leonardo DiCaprio. There is now a heart that says Randi + Romeo (Leo DiCaprio) written on the wall in Verona. I am such a 14 year old girl and totally okay with that.

After this we wandered some more. Seriously, living in Europe makes you appreciate the beauty of aimlessly wandering and discovering new and beautiful things and getting totally lost all the time and not really caring. We walked along the river for awhile and soaked up the sun and at one point we found a church that had a quilt display on. It was hilarious! We spent a good half hour wandering through the display looking at these super awesome quilts and I thought of my grandmother. We also found a piano concert going on and peeked in for awhile.

In the end, we headed back to the B&B after we stopped to get some ridiculously delicious Kebabs. Seriously. Donairs in Canada are delicious but when you are over here and closer to the real thing…. They are just better! They even put fries IN the kebab! YUM!!! We sat in the hostel and played card games and then went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up and had THE best breakfast ever! Seriously. It wasn´t anything special but there was just soooooo much of it! Toast and jam and honey and yogurt and juice and milk and cereal and croissants and pastries and oranges and other fruits and it just went on and on and on! We ate a ton, threw some snacks for later in our bags and then ran to catch the first train of the morning. We got to Milan, dumped our bags, and then we were off to shop and explore. See the Milan post for info on Milan… this is getting kinda long.

Carnival in Venice

February 28, 2011

Well, this was one of the best weekends of my life. Seriously, so much fun!! Let's see.

Well, it started out as a complete disaster. I booked a flight for 7 am but the problem is the metro doesn't run at that time which meant I was in trouble. I found buses that run there but there were a bunch of transfers and I didn't know how long it would take so I opted out this time and went for the more expensive but more secure option of a cab. 30 euros later I was at the airport and the ridiculous hour of 4:30 ish AM. I checked in, found some breakfast and was quite content. After waiting awhile I went to check what gate I would be at and guess what?!! The flight was cancelled!! Yay!!! Hahah!! Whattttt a gong show. This is the point that things went nuts. There was now an entire plane full of people ticked off, tired and grumpy! We all stood in line arguing over who got to buy the new tickets first and which ridiculous out of the way route we could take later that day and such. A couple times I was actually worried a fight might break out. It was awesome. Finally, at about 8:30 I was able to get a flight from Madrid to Barcelona and then Barcelona to Venice. I thought it was the better option than Madrid-Barcelona-Rome-train to Venice. Haha! Who would think that lucky me, my flight to Venice from Barcelona would ALSO be messed up and get delayed. Haha! Seriously. Airports hate me. It worked out though. I finally made it to my hostel in Venice at about 12:00 which was only 14 hours later than the original plan. Poor Mike and Sadie waited for me at the pre-arranged location and the contingency plan and I never showed. I am super flaky like that. What can I say?!

So, I am now finally in Venice and holy crap I love this place. More than words can describe. Saturday might possibly be one of the best days I have had in my life. The weather was quite nice for Venice weather. It was super sunny, clear skies, and around 10-12 degrees ish. This place was packed!!! We were there for the grand opening of Carnevale. Oh ya, I was in Venice for Carnival. Like Count of Monte Cristo style Carnival with period costumes and the whole bit. It was the most amazing experience ever. Everywhere you look there are shops just full of these RIDICULOUS masks that are super detailed and unique and over the top. We spent the morning buying our outfits. I never got bored of looking for masks. It was amazing. Every corner had a mask shop on it and yet I kept finding new, unique masks everywhere. There were ones you could get for like 4 euros all the way up to like four hundred. They were all different colors and there were feathers and jewels and lace and veils and giant flowers. I was seriously in heaven. It was like Randi’s over the top heavenly happy place! I ended up getting a full face, black and gold mask with a hat tipped to the side type thing and these giant leaf, vine type things on the side. I can't explain in very well but I will get pictures up eventually. We also decided to get these long black cloaks with giant hoods. Seriously, coolest thing ever!!! Sadie bought a little half mask that looked almost like lace but it was made from metal. It was the coolest thing and soooo Sadie. It was perfect. Mike had his glasses so he opted for an excellent Casanova hat. We were a pretty excellent team.

Oh side note: so, Sadie and I slept in and so we totally missed our meet up time with mike. We got to the bridge meeting point an hour and a half late and obviously he wasn't there. So, we took off and hoped to meet up with him later... Somehow?? Sadie and I were at the Riolta Bridge looking at masks when suddenly, there was Mike sitting on the bridge, waiting for us! Haha! Turns out he had left a note with a street vendor, which we never got, saying he would meet us there. You have to understand that this place is one of the busiest places in Venice. It is PACKED with vendors and people shopping for masks and tourists and bah, ya. Just take my word that it was a complete miracle we found him.

So, we were all together and all dressed up and ready to party hard. I felt like such a celebrity all day. People would actually stop me in the street and take my picture or even jump in and take a picture with me. At one point this old man that was DECKED out in an old period piece walked up and took his picture with me. I felt so mysterious and loved!! Haha!  You have no idea how awesome these dresses were that people had rented. There were ladies with giant hoop dresses and bird cages on their heads or head dresses like two feet tall. It was head to toe. The guys even had the awesome little napoleon or captain hook type shoes on!! Sooooo ridiculously cool. I could have walked around taking pictures forever!!

Ohh there was this one lady that when she walked into the crowd it actually parted and everyone started clapping. She had this GIANT skirt on that was so wide that she couldn't fit down some streets! Haha! She had had this huge head dress on top with a freaking bird cage too!! The best part was that behind her was her husband dressed up in the same poofy pink material with little knees high knickers, the shoes, white haired wig, hat and he was pushing a stroller that matched all the while ensemble and inside said pink, poofy stroller was a dog. I seriously laughed so hard!!! It was Sooooo cool!!! Haha!

In San Marco's square there were people and costumes and music all over. We hung out there for awhile and while doing so we ran into these two ladies I spent the day having flights cancelled with. Ohhh they were a hoot! They reminded me of my mom except shorter and Spanish speaking. They had this spunky exciting goofy personality and were just there to party! We all decided to take the tour through the big cathedral in the square. It was gorgeous and cathedral like. One thing that stuck out to me about this one was that it seemed much more elegant than the dark moorish or gothic type cathedrals I have seen in Spain. Also, it had the coooooolest mosaic tiled floor. We paid to go upstairs and from there you could see out to the sea or into the square and it was quite the site to see. As we were up there the official opening of carnival took place. We got to watch the procession pass through the crowd and man, it was just so outstanding!!!

After that we went out on a boat bus. Yup, they have buses that are boats. We had a tour around the entire island and could see all of the out skirting islands and churches and it was amazing. After our little round about on a boat bus we made our way down to finagle with the gondola dudes and take a gondola ride!!!! Yup, I road in a gondola. And the gondola dude even sang for us. Haha!!!

The day seriously couldn't have been better. We finished it up by eating pizza at a little restaurant. As we were about to head back to the hostel we ended up running into this outdoor dance party! There was a DJ and music and dancing and tons of people all crammed down into this little corner street. We danced for about half an hour ish and that was that! It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

Sunday started out rocky. I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination and I didn't eat breakfast, so basically I was destined to be grouchy. Haha! We had quite a hard time trying to find the church in the morning. After wandering for quite awhile we decided to just jump in a cab and not worry about buses and so we ended up making it there.

Church in Italian was pretty stinkin' cool. I have a pretty firm grasp on Spanish now but I was shocked at how similar Spanish and Italian are. I know romance languages are similar but I did not expect to be able to pick up as much as I did. There were five travelers there, including me, so for Sunday school and sacrament meeting they pulled out headsets and had a translator for us. It was super cool. Plus, the church was in this old historical building. It was amazing and gorgeous and so unique from anything I have ever seen before.

After church Sadie left so it was just Mike and I. We ended up sticking around at the church for awhile and hooked up with the other travelers. We met two new excellent friends from the states. They were in Europe for like two, two and a half weeks traveling like crazy. I think they hit 13 cities and 9 countries in a week and a half. Something like that and it sounded ridiculously awesome.

We spent the rest of the day wandering around Madrid being sarcastic. It was the best ever. I love being sarcastic and I love it when people laugh at my jokes and it is fabulous. We went through some of the less touristy areas of Venice. We wandered down back streets and at one point Dan took the iPad he has in the back of his jacket and turned on that Pa Par Americano song and they made this movie of Dan dancing down the street with music playing out of his jacket. It was hilarious. Brandon studies film at school and so they were making a documentary of the whole trip. They were pretty intense about taking pictures and video and everything but it was enjoyable to just wander and look around and see Venice at a slower pace.

In the end Dan and Brandon left and then Mike and I went out for awesome Italian lasagne and then I went home and sleep.

All in all, awesome weekend. And I love gelato. And my little happy, over the top, feathers and flowers happy place. I love it. Love, love, love.

A Bunch of Confetti

Well, it has been awhile so I should probably catch up a bit. Let's see. What has happened?

The weather has made a turn for the awesome!! Clear blue skies, warm weather, no wind and occasional rain to keep us humble. I am loving it. I love taking my book off to Parque del Retiro.

I love this park, like a lot. It reminds me of Central Park in NYC. It is full of people just wandering and enjoying themselves. There is this huge, perfectly square pond they have made where you can rent a row boat and paddle around. There is this old man who plays this sweet soft saxophone. There are big huge buildings made of glass and adorable restaurants out on patios. It is fabulous! ANDDDD there is green grass!!! Yah! I don't think I have ever seen green grass in February in my lifetime. It is wonderful.

The first time I went was hilarious. I brought my book and found a bench in this secluded area where I could hear the sax, eat cookies, and read. Perfect! As I am reading, this bum walks up and sits right next to me. That is odd just on its own, but the awesome thing was that there were six empty benches right next to me. Haha!! Ohhh joy. I figured it was probably best for me to get out of there and not wait to see if he was going to rob me.

I wandered around a little more and found a bench in a busy area next to the crystal house where there are ducks and a pond and children frolicking through fields of daisies. Haha! Okay so no children. I had a splendid time reading Jane Austen and falling in love with her characters allllllll over again. I looked up and caught the eye of this guy as he walked by. He was cute yes but I don't like to encourage random strangers to hit on me so I quickly looked away but sadly that didn't stop him.

He proceeded to come and talk to me. I was polite and we had a pleasant conversation. I was strategically seated so that no one could sit on the bench with me. After awhile he started to tell me how lonely he was and how he was just looking for friends to hang out with and that I was very beautiful and he just wanted to get to know me blah blah blah. My thought, you have lived here for six years and you have no friends at all?? Sorry dude. I brushed it off and changed the subject and moved on but nope, after a couple minutes of small talk we were right back to that same situation. This time he moved from the arm rest of the bench and squished himself next to me. Foiled my plan!! And then he started the compliments and the “Woah is me, I have no friends”. This time though, he added in the “I am looking for a girlfriend” along with the “you have such a nice body”. Game over. I immediately starting thinking of excuses to get out. Didn't take too long cuz the minute he tried to put his arm around me and rub my back, I was out of there so fast. Haha! Oh it made me laugh. I love random run-ins with other people. Joy!!

I also went on a weekend trip to Cuenca. Thus place was pretty cool. We had a great panic moment first thing in the morning cuz obviously we were at the wrong station. Oops!!

It was a nice relaxed day. These little towns are super cute. They are built on hills, of course, which make for a great workout, especially if you get lost. It was great.

There are these houses called the hanging house. They are actually built out off the side of this cliff. It is crazy! You can walk across this small little pedestrian bridge and take pictures and act super touristy! I have not done the tourney thing very often in my life. Usually I jump in, live within the culture and maybe I will see a site or two. Thugs have been a little different here in Europe. I am touristing it up!!!

Cuenca also has a bunch of museums in it. I decided that I wanted to hit up the museum of abstract art. Why not!?? It was AWESOME! I went with two sisters on this trip, Raquel and Maria. We went into this museum and over analysed it all. It was right up my alley. I have never been so philosophical in my life. Haha!! Good times. Ohh and cool thing, turns out that the museum was INSIDE the hanging houses! We were standing out over this cliff. Wonderful.

Another thing we were able to do was to walk around the city on these little footpaths. It was awesome. You could walk out along the tip of the cliff and look out into the valley or you could walk down by the river and hear the rushing water around you. It was beautiful.

Finally, one of the biggest highlights for this trip for me was the cathedral we went to see. Every town has a cathedral, it was nothing new but it was a different experience in a couple ways. First, the girls I went with are Catholics. It was interesting to see their reactions and connection to the church. I often look at these buildings of pieces of art rather than the place of worship that they really are. They soaked up so much of it that we spent quite awhile inside which gives you more time to let your thoughts wander beyond the “Oh, look at the cool architecture” to what was the artist seeking to portray or thinking etc.

Also, one of the coolest things for me was this life-size carving of the Last Supper at the moment that Christ announces that one of His apostles would betray Him. It was impressive and very touching. I have seen many paintings of the Last Supper but nothing like this. It was amazing to see a portrayal of the final supper in life size. It was that much more touching and realistic. It seriously knocked my socks off! Loved it lots.

Yah, basically Europe is a blast and treating me quite well and I am seriously contemplating never leaving. Sorry Mom.

Huhh??

Alright. Everyone needs to take a moment and reflect on the organized, logical systems we have in Canada and express gratitude for the blessing they are. For example, standing in line to get bread at the bakery rather than standing in a throng of people and hoping they see you amidst this crowd of crazy Spaniards when your number is called.

However, the disorganization that has driven every international student crazy since they got here has to do with the school. So, I am studying at a snotty, rich-kid, private, religious university here. You would think with a private University it would be full of the best of the best and that you could figure out how things work pretty easy. Well, you are wrong.

1)      The website. Comillas has THE most confusing website I have ever seen in my ENTIRE life. Seriously...... Seriously. Yah, it deserves two seriously-s. Anytime a professor needs you to get anything off the website, they then have to sit and give you step by step instructions on how to find it and where. Dear Comillas, if you design a logical website, you could eliminate this issue.

2)      Registering for classes. What...a... gong... show. Everything overlaps with everything else. Some classes run all year, some don’t. You are never really certain which classes you are actually allowed to register for. Some classes are on a campus in a different city with an hour commute. Some classes are in English, some in Spanish. AND to top it all off, for the majority of classes, you have to set them in stone before you can even attend the class. Yikes!

3)      Oh wait, you signed up for all of your classes online and built your timetable? You think that means you registered? You are wrong. Now you need to print off a ton of stuff, photocopy your passport and travel insurance, bring in two photos of yourself, a blood sample, your heritage back 8 generations, and your firstborn child, well, if you have born children. If not, you’re screwed, sorry. And I can guarantee the room you think you are supposed to bring all this too will not be the room you need to bring it to.

4)      The school layout. I have been lost soooooo many times. There are four different stairwells, well, that I have found, in this school. You think you could take any of them to get to the room you need on the fourth floor? You are wrong. You must go around the courtyard, up the east stairwell, through the magical closet that takes you to Narnia, throw salt over your shoulder, spin three times, and then you might, just might, find the room you need.

5)      Finally, printing. I consider myself a pretty smart girl but it still took me three tries to find the room to print in. Of course, once I got there I found out that I needed to go back a room and hit print on a computer in there, then return to the printing room, with your my paper and my second born child, and hit print again. Very similar to the way the UofA does it, minus the second child of course, so it really wasn’t too bad but it has tripped up many other students.

In the end, none of this is suuuuuper confusing. You figure it all out in the end and students do their best to help each other out. But, when evvvery single thing you try to do takes 17 times longer than it really should, I start to get confused and overwhelmed. But hey! Being overwhelmed means I get to eat more Principe Cookies!!! And THAT is a good thing!

La Iglesia

Okay, one last thing to write about and then I should be mostly caught up with my blogging! Look at me being all productive! Who knows? Maybe I will even do some homework.... hahaha. Yah.... not happening. 

So, I have the most AMAZING ward down here. Seriously. I have only been there twice thus far but I seriously feel like I am home when I go to church. My first week I was super freaked out. I was scared I wouldn’t be accepted and I would feel like an outsider and such, like I kinda did when I was down in Mexico. BUT I had a plan. I had decided what I could do to integrate myself into the ward and make sure I was able to include the gospel in my life while I was in Europe.

My first week I was totally late. I had been to institute on the Friday and asked where the chapel was and either I was given the wrong address or I didn’t bookmark it right. Either way, big time fail on getting there. In the end I made it though. After sacrament meeting, I started the search for Sunday School. I asked someone where I could find it and in the end I found out that there is an English class and a Spanish class in my ward! Initially, I went to the Spanish Sunday School because I understand, so why not. While sitting there, an Elder came in and introduced me to this guy, who ps was pretty cute, and asked if I could translate for him. He and I sat there and I was said, "There is an English class. Want to just go over there?" So, we did and it was awesome. After class, a group of people came over to welcome us into the ward and get to know us. This guy and I had to sort out that in fact we were not dating and that we had only just met. Desrae was a little shocked cuz we just looked so cute together. Hahaha! Her words, not mine.

I have learned there are about three English speaking American families in this ward. There is a lady who is in the Navy... I think??... Oh I am totally going to get my facts wrong. Either way she is here in Madrid doing some international relations course that the US Army offers. Then there is another family with five kids (four kids??) whose dad is doing the same thing. This family has really taken me under their wings. After knowing their daughter Kylee for about an hour and a half, I received an invitation to her wedding in Belgium and was invited over for dinner the following Sunday and the Bridal shower in the upcoming week. It was awesome and so comforting. It felt like I already had a family and friends! Oh and ps.... Kylee is Desiree Layton’s identical twin in almost EVERY aspect. It is awesome. Seriously. Maybe a cross between Des and Reese Witherspoon. Anyways, third family is here because the Dad works for NATO. Again, wonderful, open, inviting family. Oh! I am forgetting a fourth. Another Brother is here with his wife and two kids doing an internship in optometry.

Okay, yes. Now for the Spanish half of the ward. So, my second Sunday, I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting. I had decided that I was going to do Sunday School in Spanish and RS in English or vice versa so I could get to know people from both languages. After Sacrament Meeting this adorable little old lady turns around and starts telling me how much she loves my singing voice. She then goes on to tell me about the Stake choir and how I HAVE to join, etc, etc. In the end she grabs my arm and starts leading me around the church and introducing me to everyone that sings in the choir and the ward music director and on and on. It was so adorable. I was going to make my escape to go to Sunday School in English but that was practically impossible. She sat me down next to Rosio and there I stayed! It was awesome.

I went to Stake Choir and ohhhh what a hilarious situation. So, I am sitting there and the choir director is quite humorous. She is kind of a hard nose and yells at people and lectures them for not studying the music and on and on. So funny. So, she looks at me, this white American with an accent and essentially was like, what are you doing here? We sing in two weeks and I am not letting you sing with us if you can’t learn the music by then. And with all of this she gave me this quizzical look that essentially said, there is noooooo way you are learning this music but I guess I have to let you try since this is a church choir. Haha! So, we sang the first song. It had a basic alto line and I sang it. At the end of the song, she looks at me over her glasses at the end of her nose that no kidding have a jewelled chain to keep them around her neck. First, she complements me on my voice, which ps isn’t amazing. I mean, I can hit a note but I am not musical genius. Then she proceeds to get all of my contact information so she can send me all of the music and any news the choir might have. It was adorable.

Anyways, those are my church stories. My ward rocks and I love it. I will work on the YSA eventually but for now I am quite content where I am. Yay Madrid!

Holy Toledo!

I have started the quest to get as sick as possible of churches and castles. Haha! After orientation, I had a long weekend. So, my friend Andréanne and I jumped on the AVE (high speed train) and went out to see Toledo! It was ridiculously awesome. I still need to post pictures but I am way behind on everything so it isn’t going to happen right now.

Toledo is this city that is basically built on the top of this hill. Surrounding the town there is this giant gate or fence or whatever you would call a super tall brick thing that keeps the bad guys out.  It is this tiny little fortress and it was soooo cool.

Andréanne and I basically just wandered around the city. I had a map and things I wanted to see but really, we were in no rush. We went into the cathedral and took silly pictures with statues and went on a nice little nature walk outside the city looking up into it. We got SUPER lost in the side roads and for the most part we really didn’t care. We took many excellent Facebook profile worthy pictures with big European buildings in the background. We successfully avoided the museum and I even found a nice pair of boots for 9 Euros! Rock on! Hahaha!!

I don’t know. I feel ridiculous writing this now because nothing I say can really describe what it is like there. I am no Jane Austen when it comes to describing the gorgeous things I am seeing. I really can’t do the place justice. You just need to see it. I will post pictures but they probably won’t do it justice either. Just trust me. Toledo is adorably cute and quaint and all castle like and I loved it.

La Universidad Pontificia de Comillas

La Escuela

So, school. This is really what I am here to do right?? Well, that is what I will tell the University so they will pay my tuition! J I am kidding. I will work hard and attend all my classes and all of that but still I am not going to give school my full attention. How could I when I am in Europe!??!

I am kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place because of how my credits will transfer and such. But, in the end, I think I have found a solution! I am going to have to do another semester at the UofA in the winter, but I am totally okay with that because in the end I am going to get a (this is where you insert your most important sounding voice) Diploma of International Relations from a Spanish Perspective from the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas. Sounds impressive eh?!  

Classes are awesome. There is a huge group of exchange students that are here and they are all in the same boat as me looking for housing and friends and adjusting to the culture and everything. That means everyone is quite open to one another. It has been a huge blessing. For example, my first week here when I was still wandering the city and finding housing and everything before orientation started I ran into a group of four girls that are from Wisconsin and doing the same program as me! We were all trying to get cell phones so we sat and talked and got our phones and everything. I finished up with the phone stuff first so I said bye and then took off. As I was walking away from the store I realized that I am completely alone in the country and I just made some friends and I should take advantage of it. So, against EVERY natural instinct I have and my fears and insecurities and the whole bit, I gathered my courage and walked right back into the store and invited them out for lunch. And we went! We had scary, hairy pork at a nice little restaurant. Haha! It was quite excellent.

I have met tons of amazing people here though and from all over the world. It is amazing. I was able to sit in my Spanish class and discuss Finland with a girl from Finland and what her home and languages and culture are all like. I was able to meet a girl from Quebec and oh we have had some good times traveling and sitting in class and noting the interesting actions of our program coordinator.

Ohhhhh, one more thing about school. So, I am going to this private Jesuit school, which is interesting. The big day of orientation they showed us this movie introducing the school and its values and why it is the best school out there (as any school will tell you when you first get there). So, this movie started and it took EVERYTHING in me not to burst out laughing. I immediately turned to my friend Jessica and we both were like, “Hogwarts??” It was RIDICULOUS!!!! The opening song is basically the exact same song that plays at the beginning of the Harry Potter movies. Ohhhh we laughed and laughed and laughed. I didn’t know I would learn to be a wizard while studying in Spain.

Ohhhh and one other thing. So, when I first got to Madrid, I was walking around and seeing the sites and situating myself and all of that. After a long day, I started my trek back to the hostel. While doing this I passed the school and again, almost burst out laughing. Get this. My school is identical to a creepy, haunted house at night. It is this huge brick building with this tall, daunting brick fence surrounding the building. It has this clock up at the top and these trees hanging out over the gate that are all wiry and leafless. Oh man. All it needed was a creepy crow to sit on the tree and you would feel like Bell’s father finding the Beast’s castle at the beginning of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Yup, quite excellent. One of these days I will get a picture of it and share the awesomeness with everyone else.

El Apartamento

For those of you who know the fridge-less, dog filled experience I had in Mexico, I am glad to tell you that Europe is kicking trash right now in the housing department. It is pretty stinking awesome! I found this little apartment that is super adorable from the outside. I LOVE the architecture of Europe. It is amazing. I love the stone buildings and the narrow streets and the tall buildings. I love the archways and the old rickety circling stairwells and everything. It makes me feel like I am living it up in an old Sherlock Holmes movie. It brings me joy. Also, I LOVE that the streets aren’t littered with super flashy, ugly franchise signs for grocery stores and fast food. Half the time you can’t even find the signs to tell you what street you are on! Anyways, yes. Love, love, love the architecture.

So, I am living in this tiny little two bedroom apartment. We have a fridge that works!! AND in suite laundry! Woot! It is fantastic. It is a nice enough little student apartment and it is cute and quaint and I feel right at home here. Especially because there is no central heating and all the windows are single paned so I am constantly cold, just like I am back home in Canada! Hahaha! I am surviving though. After sitting with fingers that were ice cold for a couple days I went out and bought THE warmest sweater I could find. It is huge and thick and warm. I also got thick tights to wear under my pants and warmer slippers than the ones I brought. Now I am all set and ready to face this ridiculously cold apartment. BUT the upside is that when it gets ridiculously warm towards the end of my trip, I will totally be ready for it! Bring it warm weather! I shall find relief in my apartment and there is nothing you can do about it. They have this saying in Madrid that is “nueve meses de invierno, tres meses de infierno” which translated means 9 months of winter, 3 months of hell.  I am ready for the hell part. I like warm much more than cold.

One of the great upsides of this apartment is that I have the most fantabulous roommate I could ask for. She is ridiculously wonderful. She is from France and is here doing the practicum portion of her degree. She is super bubbly and outgoing and doesn’t take any crap from anyone. If she has something on her mind, you are going to hear about it. It is super awesome. She understands English but prefers to speak Spanish so in the end ALL of our conversations are in Spanish. It has been excellent. I don’t even have the option of another language. It is going to really help me with the language.

Yup, so that’s the house. I think I am going to break blogs up into a couple entries as I recap what has happened since I got here so this isn’t ridiculously long. Yup. That’s the plan!

I am a genius.... yup...

Well.... I made it! Helllloooooo Europe!!! But let me tell you, it was not as problem free as I had hoped. Seriously, I don´t get it. I can go to school and do super awesome on assignments and pull off fantabulous grades, but do you think I can read a plane ticket right?? Of course not.

So, problems started as soon as I got on plane number one. I had a REALLY short layover, which would have been totally fine cuz I didn´t need to recheck my bags or go through customs, butttt..... clearly it wasn´t long enough. We were sitting in the plane at the good old Edmonton International Airport and then the wonderful voice of our pilot comes onto the intercom saying that they need to move around some bags. I have NEVER heard of this happening before, but whatever, couldn´t take too long could it?? Oh wait, it could. So, twenty minutes later, we are finally taxi-ing out and then we stopped to get the ice off the wings, or something else that I couldn´t be angry about since it would probably save all of our lives, which of course took time. Long story short, before we had left the ground in Edmonton, I was already going to miss my plane in London. Haha! So, I planned ahead, got myself emotionally prepared for chaos and all that good stuff.

Dumb move number one. I never really figured out the whole time change thing. I knew it was eight hours but I didn´t really care enough to think it through to figure out which direction and when I would have to start dealing with it. So, on the plane I decided to watch movies until I was tired. I got through the Social Network (AWESOME!) and was about to start another when I looked at my watch.... 12:00.... maybe I should get a good nights rest I thought. So, I went to sleep (with four airplane blankets and four pillows!) and then a good, solid THREE hours later the lights went on in the cabin. Ohhhhhh.... this would be when the time zone change would slap me in the face.... AWESOME!

Flying into London was the most amazing thing ever!!! Seriously, I just wanted to stay there! I mean, I was way up in the air but I have already fallen in love with that city. I rushed off the plane and went straight to talk to the wonderful ladies of Iberia Airlines and lo and behold... I HADN´T MISSED MY PLANE!!! Yay! Turns out it was super delayed and I even had time to wander around and do whatever I wanted! Que bien! Problem was it didn´t have a gate assigned to it yet, so I had to watch the boards to find out when and where I would need to be to get on the plane.

Now, here comes my most biggest genius move of the day. So, I am sitting there trying not to die of exhaustion and I keep checking the boards or playing games or whatever. At one point, I looked up at the board and was like, huh.... they have changed the flight from 2:30 to 4:30.... that´s strange. I looked at my ticket again and read the EI31-something-something and went, yah, that matches. Oh well, guess we are delayed even further. Then, suddenly there is a gate on the flight! Yaya!! So, I go to the right gate and I am about to get in line when I realize that EI 3175 DOES NOT EQUAL EI3179. Hahahaha.... ooops.... My bad. In all honesty those signs have such small little numbers even if I had looked closer at my ticket, I probably still would have got it wrong. And who puts flights with such similar numbers sooooo close together! Seriously!! So, I am standing in line and hoping that maybe they won´t notice??? Haha! Well, they did. And OHHHHH did I get quite the loud lecture in front of everyone from this rather annoyed French stewardess. Haha! My bad....

So, I went back to the beginning again and begged them to help me get me on a flight. After enough worried looks and semi-forced tears it all worked out. I got on a plane, I made it to Madrid, and I am still alive. When I get to Madrid I pull out my confirmation for my hostel so I could get a cab to get me there when I realize...... my confirmation doesn´t have the address for my hostel on it. Hahahahahaha....... By this time all I could do was laugh. It was hilarious. I got into the cab and oh boy did he give me a strange look when I couldn´t tell him where I wanted to go. We made it there though and here I am! In Madrid! Living it up! Repressing all the feelings of panic and homesickness that seem to be taking over. Seriously, I hate change so much. I still have no idea why I do this to myself. Probably because it is TOTALLY worth it in the end.

Well, that´s all for now folks. Don´t miss me too much. Actually, do. And Skype me and Facebook me and email me allllllll the time.

Love yah!