Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Spanish observations/facts

1. The wedding ring is worn on the right hand index finger. If a ring is on the left hand index finger this signifies dating. 
2. Cars are very good at stopping for people crossed the street
3. Spanish people don't stop walking or even look twice before crossing the street, soooo the car better stop. 
4. The everyday clothing here is formal. And it is rare if you see a spanish women without heels on! 
5. You walk everywhere 
6. The country "shuts down" for 3-4 hours everyday. Siesta! This happens between 1 and 6 give or take. 
7. Spanish people go grocery shopping everyday. Only buy what they need for the day. 
8. Sundays are for church and relaxing..... NOTHING is open. 
9. If the bar or restaurant is SUPER clean, DONT GO IN. The food is not good,. If they have time to make it that clean, they are not servIng very many people!! 
10. If a store doesn't have something they will always tell you they will have it "mañana", when really it will take weeks before it comes in. 
11. You have to always wear shoes in the house because if you don't, you WILL get sick. And no socks are not good enough. 
12. There is bread at every meal. And a new loaf of bread is delivered to my house ever morning. 
13. The garbage here is very orginized, and every classification has its own bin and the bin will have a specific color to corispond to the classification. 
14. If you see someone walking fast, automatically you know they are not a Spaniard. 
15. It is totally normal for a HUGE book fair to come and stay set up in the middle of an outside plaza for 2 1/2 weeks. 
16. They take their dogs everywhere, and yes they are allowed in almost every store or restaurant here. I was in a clothing store with a dog right next to me.
17. The fountains here usually only spit out water at night. 


More to come, as I see or learn about them. 



Sunday, November 2, 2014

Palma de Mallorca

So after our group trip to Morocco we had a week of vacation time and we could travel to where ever we wanted. A couple of my friends and I chose to go to Palma de Mallorca (a Spanish island to the east). Here we just relaxed and had no sense of a time frame. It was an amazing vacation because since arriving to Granada on September 5th we had a strict time framed schedule we had to follow, consisting of classes, meetings, and family meal times.

We stayed in amazing hostel and met some really cool people. There are a few people that I actually want to stay in contact for a long time. Its funny how people from completely different countries, different cultures, different primary languages, can come together and click as if they have known each other for years. For example I met this girl Kayatta, she reminded me so much Kara. For those of you who know Kara and I's relationship you know that her and I are opposite but yet we mesh so well, to the point where people don't believe that we are even friends let alone bestfriends. Kayatta is from Australia and she had been traveling the world for 5 months when i meet her. She quite her job at home and took off on this amazing adventure of hers. She has now currently finished her journey and now has a permindent residence in UK liverpool and also has a job there. 

The other person I met was Steven. He is French Canadian. He works for the Canadian coast guard. (side note... he sees polar bears on a regular basis... oh cool!!!) Steven reminded me of the boys on drumline with me in high school... goofy, but trust worthy. Steven was on a long trip too, but only a month. The way his work functions is a month on and a month off. He was a very intelligent man. Besides all his traveling he was very knowledgeable because of his job on the coast guard and the things he has experienced due to that. Just a very interesting person to talk to. 

On the last night before Kayatta and Steven left for Barcelona, my friend Alex and I had the most amazing life talk with them on the hostel's balcony. It is a conversation/night I will never forget. 

Besides those two, there was the hostel manager - Olly. He was a very interesting person as well. Olly's life both current and past are both very interesting. Olly is a Buddhist. He travels to Thailand every year for months at a time. However when he isn't in Thailand he lives in the hostel. Olly basically told us that he lived a not so good life and  then he traveled to Thailand just for the Hell of it and Buddhism saved him. Now he makes good smart chooses, eats healthy for the sake of his body and meditates for a full hour every morning. My favorite thing about Olly though is that he called me Colorada instead of Lauren. Which means "beautiful redhead", I actually don't even know if he knew my real name... lol (Don't worry it was a cultural thing, nothing was meant behind it. lol)


Okay Okay enough about all the people Lauren.... Right? lol ok here comes the pictures with explanations below. :) Enjoy!!    





The clearest water I have ever seen 




 
When in Spain... you see a lot of Cathedrals 

This was on my bucket list... They felt so weird.. lol But I am so happy that I did it!!



 
Cliff jumping! I don't have a picture of my actually jumping, but at least you can see that I made it to the bottom alive! Also another cool thing is that in order to get back up to the top of the cliff I had to swim through a cave. 

                  

Finally lived the dream: Barcelona Baby!!!

Throughout the years of studying Spanish, I have always learned about Barcelona and seen pictures of its art as beauty. Ever since the first time I saw Guadí 's work I dreamed of traveling there to see it and touch it in person. And on Oct 9, 2014, my 21st birthday I finally lived my dream of seeing Barcelona in person. It was beautiful!!!! Words cannot describe my emotions inside. It was like that summer fling with the boy you had a crush on for years. Your tummy has butterflies in it, a weird feeling but you can't help but love it. Your brain is always wondering what will come next; surprise, awe and adventure? When it happens the feeling that is triggered in your heart is a pull that wants to pull you deeper and deeper in love with it!!!


 
plaza catalunya  


 
Boqueria Mercadona 




 
Pinya Rosa 
This is a whole park for Cactus 

A beautiful view of the city 

The Olympic Stadium  


Fountain in front of the Olympic Stadium 

 
The famous art Museum Building 

 
Parque Guell frog

21 because I spent my 21st Birthday in Barcelona 

 
The details here are amazing 









Now Starts the Sagrada Familia 

The Sagrada Familia is a church built by Antonio Gaudi. It has yet to be finished. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I can honestly say that it brought me to tears. I stopped to say a prayer in the designated area, and that's when it happened. It was a rush of God's presence and beauty that this church holds.  

 
sorry it's sideways I dont really know how to fix it 


 
Side Doors 

 


 
Stain glass work in here is describable 





FC Barcelona 








More amazing Architecture  


 
The first house Guadi built, and yes people do live in it. 

 


 
Casa Batllo 





Ps for those of you who know the La Pedrera... it was under construction so I couldn't get a picture of it.