HE VUELTO! (I have returned, perdoname)

Hola de nuevo a todos!

Thank you all blog followers for being so patient for my return. I intended to continue after Emily's visit, but this blog thing got away from me. It's such a cool way to let you all know what exactly I'm up to and for me to write down all the amazing things I've been blessed to do, so here's attempt number two. Un Repaso: A quick recap: After Emily's visit in February, my rommates and I took a spectacular roadtrip to Portugal in March. We rented a car, and us four drove the beautiful Spanish countryside for 8 hours until we reached Lisboa-Lisbon. WHAT A FANTASTIC CITY! Full of culture and beautiful architechture, Lisboa is the capital city of Portugal and is located on the edge of the country touching the Atlantic Ocean. This was also my first hostal experience as well, and it turned out to be sooo amazing! We shared a room with two other people, but there were nice clean accomodations, a kitchen, breakfast in the morning, free internet, and just a comfortable, CLEAN atmosphere. We only stayed there one night, but Lisboa left an incredible impression, I cannot wait to go back there someday. On the road again we were, to the south of Portugal, the Algarve Coast! Kara's uncle let her use his time share at a resort for her graduation, and so we got to stay in a really nice place practically right on the beach!!! We got a chance to visit a lot of little towns in the surrounding area of Lagoa including, Carvoeiro, Lagos, Portimao, and Albufeira. We visited coves, private beaches with incredibly huge rocks jutting out of the sand all around us, it seemed like a fairytale. The Portugeuse people are all so welcoming and friendly and we didn't want to leave, but at the same time I felt myself missing the city life of Madrid...and after a nice long week on the gorgeous beaches, soaking up the sun, it was time to return home. OBRIGADO, PORTUGAL.

Shortly after Portugal we had to say goodbye to two of our roommates who left to continue life in the states, while Carly and I lived it up as much as possible! Our good friend Niko, from Paris, France, living in Spain for the last 3 years moved in with us! It was such good luck to get such an awesome roommate, and because he doesnt speak English we could only talk to him in SPanish; this defintely sped up the learning process.....

Well, after Portugal I had a short chance to rest before I was off on my next vacation! Two of my best friends from college came to see me in Madrid, and we decided that we wanted to go see Morocco! This was one of my most favorite trips while in Spain last year, what a cultural experience it was, one like no other!!!! We had a long journey to get to Morocco: we took a bus down to the southern tip of Spain to a place called Algeciras and from there got on a boat that docked in the northern tip of Africa, the beautiful Moroccon beach city of Tanger. Arriving in the wee hours of the morning was quite exhausting, but we weren't done traveling yet! We proceeded to get on a 5 hour train to Fes. Once in Fes we stayed in a Riad, which are beautiful old courtyard style houses many times restored to be bed and breakfasts, hotels etc. The riad was located in the traditional medina quarter of Fes, which is a distinct city section containing hundreds of incredibly narrow maze like streets (no cars,no street signs), 325 mosques, and is also home to the oldest functioning university in the WORLD!!!! It was a former capital and it was the first emperial city of Morocco and is a center for crafts, artistry, intellect and religion. I learned so much about Morocco and the Arabic culture during this short vacation. I loved seeing the people hard at work everyday walking through the crowded medina, smelling the freshly killed chickens, the wool being died, the spices, the fresh bread cooking, constantly having to move out of the way for a donkey hauling products up the narrow streets, hearing the native arabic language, the music!!! Everything was just so incredible to see, it was a true cultural experience, one that I will never forget, and something I hope I can do again in the future.

PHEW! After Morocco in April I had a few months before I went on my next big trip in June with Annette and Johnny!!!! They came to visit me for 10 days and we split half out time hanging out in wonderful madrid, and also exploring Amsterdam! First and foremost spending time with my siblings meant the world to me, the only one missing of course was Elizabeth, but hopefully her time to come will be in the very near future! :) Amsterdam was just magical. We walked the streets all day, dodging the bikers (who are quite particular about their bike lane), visited the Anne Frank museum and the Van Gogh museum, spent some time in the parks although believe it or not in June it was FREEEZING! We walked through the red light district, experienced the 'coffee shops' and sat by the canals that run through the whole city! It's similar to Venice, a city on water :)! It's gorgeous, and the people of Holland are very friendly and happy.


Later in June Carly, Niko, and I joined our very good friends Miguel and Jen on a day trip to Valencia which is on the eastern coast of spain, about 5 hours from madrid's center, and unfortunately the closest beach! Famous for its Paella, its festival Las Fallas, and beautiful beaches, Valencia provided just what we needed for a hot summer's day! Spending only a day there was just good enough, but the paella was marvelous, and it would be nice now that the weather's cooling off quite a bit to go visit Valencia again :).

Carly left at the end of June and here I was with Niko expecting another roommate Rob who was an american guy who had been living in Argentina for the last year. He arrived and all our worries were set at ease because he was an amazing roommate, and became quite an amazing friend! I stayed in Madrid for the first week of July until SUZY, (remember her from before staying on our couch during christmas time?) came to join me and do some more traveling around spain!!! We jetsetted to Barcelona, and happened to be there when the Tour de France began and for some reason traveled through Spain! (I'm still not quite sure why, but hell we saw Lance leading the pack so I'm not complaining). We experienced some bad weather of torrential pouring rain while in Barcelona, so we didn't quite get to sit on the beach, but the city itself is gorgeous, filled with architechture by the famous Gaudi and alive with the Catalan cutlure! We were able to see some of Gaudi's work on the streets but actually got to tour the Batllo house and the park Guell which both were mindblowing! I do plan to return to Barcelona when they have finished his work of the Sagrada Familia, and when the weather is just right to sit on that awesome beach. After spending a few days in Barcelona, we flew to Mallorca, one of the Balearic islands of Spain. We stayed in a pension hotel and the only downside was that there was no airconditioning! We luckily had a huge balcony so we moved our beds and slept outside every night! It was amazing. We took a quad around the island to see the coves and other little private beaches which were stunning. This was the truly relaxful part of this vacation. Although we did get to see some great nightlife there! Young people filled the streets that are lined with bars and clubs, drink specials, music blasting, pure chaos!!! But, the real partying started in IBIZA....or should I say would have...for the last leg I got quite sick, so I wasn't boozing all that much. Ibiza is infamous for its party scene, people come from all over to experience the club scene, the techno and house music, and just be out and about til all hours of the night (or day I should say). It was so fun to see, but unfortunately I'm not in to all that hard music, and luckily my friend suzy wasn't either....so we frequented a more quaint bar (70's, 80's, and 90's music bar) where we had an amazing time! We also ended up saving a lot of money...some of the big clubs charge 60 euros a head, with no drink included, and the drinks inside are at least 10 euros each! OUCH! It's an expensive habit I suppose to like all that techno music! Ibiza is a beautiful green island, and we were able to see more of it with a little boat cruise one afternoon. The beach wasn't as impressive as Mallorca or Portugal, but the water was warm, the sun was hot, and for that I cannot make a SINGLE complaint!!!! I had such a good time hanging out with Suzy and traveling to see more of Spain. One thing is for sure, Madrid is my favorite Spanish city by FAR. I know I'm biased because I live here, but its true, its got everything (well not a beach..) I need and more!

After a long year of traveling, a blessed year really...making new friends, seeing different places, speaking spanish, I took a month long trip back to the motherland to see my family, oh well some of you! I spent a night in NY to say hello to all my college friends, some time in San Diego with the family at the beach, and most of my time in my good old city of LA. It was so fun being back, but I was anxious to begin the new adventure here in Madrid.

I was back on Spanish soil September 8th, 2009...and the new adventure begins...