Lagos, Portugal

So this past weekend, a few of my friends and I went on an organized trip to Lagos, Portugal. The beaches were the most beautiful things I have ever seen, although the weather was not. The trip started off with an early 4 hour bus ride, where the annoying girls in front of us would not shut up and let me sleep. We soon found out that on this trip there was a giant group of 60 kids that were all best friends from the same program, and since they were sort of a cult (and seemed straight off the Jersey Shore), it was difficult for my friends and I to socialize with them, but we made the best of it.

Anyway, we first dropped our stuff off at the hotel. The hotel was actually pretty decent, and we were RIGHT on the beach. Then, we went on a Sangria Sailboat, which was a bit chilly but pretty fun. We had unlimited sangria and were on a boat in the beautiful water. We also took individual trips on a smaller boat where we weaved in and out of caves. Those were pretty neat. Later we went out for dinner at an AMAZING burger place, the only place I've had that's comparable to America. We then went to a club for a party thrown by our trip's organizers, which was also a good time.

The next day we went to some cliffs over the water, and then headed to one of the beaches of Lagos. This beach was gorgeous. We got lucky enough that we had about 2 hours of tanning, before it began to rain. Luckily, when the rain began, we had already gone inside a beach restaurant for lunch, but sadly we had to cut the beach time short.

That night, we went to Cabo San Vicente, which our trip refers to as "the end of the world"  to watch the sunset. It was a bit cloudy, but we still got to see enough of the sunset to really appreciate its beauty. We then ate dinner, and went to another party.

The last day was scheduled as a beach day. Luckily, it didn't rain, however it was much too windy and cold to go to the beach. So, my friends and I decided to walk around the center. The center was nice, very quaint and pretty, right on the water. Many of the stores were closed due to the fact it was a Sunday, which was kind of a bummer.

I'm pretty sad this was my last trip, however it ended on a good note. Despite the weather, Lagos was definitely one of the prettiest places I've ever been, and I'd love to go back one day in the summer, when I can really take advantage of the beautiful beaches.

Feria!

So this past week I didn't have school because of La Feria, a giant festival in Seville. I literally felt like I was in mideival times. Horses were galloping around the streets, women were in Feria dresses (no, I did not wear one, despite my Señora's requests), and men were in suits. It's 7 days and 7 nights of eating, drinking and dancing.

The festival started Sunday at midnight, when they turned the lights of the main gate on. Then, everyone rushed in to an area with over 1000 tents, each owned by individual families. These tents are exclusive, you need to have a connection to get in, which made it difficult for us at first, but then we met up with our Spanish friends. Needless to say, we had our fair share of Manzanilla, the alcohol they drink at feria, sort of a type of wine. We went a few times during the day, and a few times at night, and eventually we got tired of the flamenco music, and fled to Portugal for the weekend (which is my next post).

Anything Goes...Amsterdam

Amsterdam was one of my favorite cities I've visited so far, and no, not just because of the legal system (or lack thereof, it seems like).

This city was much prettier than I expected it to be (although the weather, not so much). The buildings were gorgeous, and the entire city was built along a canal. I got to wander around and explore by myself for awhile since I arrived before my friends (somehow I managed to book the last seat on the flight we wanted, oops). Our hostel was in a great location (the only good thing about it), and everything we wanted to see was less than a 20 minute walk.

We spent the first day walking around. Besides the city's beauty, we were also extremely impressed by the food. This city had every single cuisine, and multiple restaurants of each. It was also delicious, at least the places we ate at. My favorite was Wok to Walk, a noodle bar. We also could not get over how prevalent drugs were. They literally sold all drugs, from marijuana to ecstasy and hallucinogens, in stores. They advertised them in the windows. I can't even imagine being part of a culture where this is acceptable. Needless to say, it was a much more relaxed culture than I am used to.

The next day we were productive. We started off at the Anne Frank House. I was a bit disappointed by how much of a museum this had been turned into, it didn't feel like I was in the original house. However, it was still emotional to see the whole thing, and to know that despite all the renovations and the museum exhibits, I was still standing in the very place the Franks hid. After this, we ate at the Pancake Bakery, a famous pancake place in Amsterdam recommended to us by all our friends. It lived up to it's rep.

We then walked along the canal until we got to the famous I AMSTERDAM sign, where we took the necessary touristy pictures before heading to the Heineken museum. This museum was very cool, I was impressed. We got to see the whole process of how they make beer, and my favorite part, of course, was the 3 free beers included in our admission.

We spent the rest of the night just exploring and walking around, taking it all in. We walked through the Red Light District for a bit, and this was truly a culture of it's own. Similar to Brussels, there were prostitutes, however there were also more cross dressers and, well, just interesting people in general.

The weekend went by fast, but it was one of my favorites. I'm glad I got to see a city that is so unlike anywhere else in the world. I highly recommend a visit.

Mindy and Craig take Spain!

Last week was Semana Santa (holy week), so I had the first of my two spring breaks (I know, rough life, who knew I would get two breaks from my semester long break?). My lovely parents decided they missed their daughter oh so much, and hopped the pond to visit. Despite a few minor setbacks (they missed their connecting flight to Seville, the weather was horrible until the end of the week, and we learned that 8 full days of family bonding is a bit much), we had an excellent week. I was going to wait until my mother posted her pictures to write this, but who knows when that will be. I decided I'll write now and add pictures when she finally posts them. Unfortunately, you will not see any pictures from us in Seville. Mindy didn't realize that pressing the "Delete all pictures" button would delete all her pictures...I know, you're wondering where I get my intelligence from (just kidding, Mom).

After quickly dropping their stuff off at the hotel in Seville, my parents got to come to my host family's apartment and meet them. My señora made an EXCELLENT lunch (well, it was supposed to be lunch, but due to the delay, became an awkward meal in between lunch and dinner). At least, I think she did. I hardly got to eat due to the fact I had to translate the entire meal but hey, I think I did okay! After lunch I took my parents around Seville to show them my 'hood. We then went to my favorite restaurant for dinner. The next day, we did a bus tour which was nice because I saw parts of Seville I hadn't seen before. We saw Plaza de España and the Alcazar, places I wrote about in my first post, and some of my favorites. There were a million people here for Holy Week, as there are giant processions all over the city. It took us an hour and a half to walk from the restaurant we ate dinner to our hotel, a walk that should normally take 20 minutes. The processions were cool though, a bit too much Catholocism, but cool to see. The people in them wear outfits that look exactly like the KKK, good thing I was warned about this or I would have been pretty freaked out. On Monday, we got on the train to Madrid.



This was my first time in Madrid. It was pretty cool, kind of a European New York. We found 24 hour pizza, something I wish we had in Seville. We saw a Flamenco show, which was better than the first one I saw, however, confirmed the fact that Flamenco is not exactly my favorite thing to watch. We did a bus tour in Madrid as well. Madrid has some gorgeous parks, too bad the weather was too rainy to sit and enjoy. We did get to enjoy a few meals outside, which was nice. We also took a tour of the royal palace. this was really interesting, however, it literally never ended. This palace was huge! After this, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at TGI Fridays, I really had to satisfy my craving for American food. The next day we took a tour of Toledo, another really cool city. Old Toledo is up on a mountain and there's a gorgeous view. The city has a Jewish quarter, Catholic quarter, and Muslim quarter. Later, we visited the Reina Sofia museum; and well art is not my thing, it was very cool to see works of Picasso, Dali, and Miró, artists I actually know of. One of the highlights of Madrid was stumbling across a Llao Llao, my favorite frozen yogurt place in Seville! The best part was they were giving out free samples! I took two and proceeded to purchase my own yogurt later...I got my mother as obsessed with it as I am. After seeing everything we wanted to see in Madrid and Toledo, we got on train #2 to Barcelona.

view from Toledo... cute Toledo streets

Madrid's cathedral and Royal Palace

Time for the last leg of the vacation - Barcelona (round 2 for me). Let's just say, I got a lot more sleep this time. Don't worry, I offered Mom and Dad the opportunity to come clubbing with me, but they politely declined. We started off with a tapas and wine tour, which ended up being a great walking tour around Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter, a place I hadn't seen much of before (las Ramblas is the main touristy shopping strip, our hotel was right on it, it was great). Our tour guide showed us the place that would be the most important for our visit - the chocolate area. The chocolate was delicious. So were the tapas we ate at multiple restaurants. And so was the wine. Needless to say, the tour left me quite satisfied.
The next day we explored Barcelona on our own. The weather was bizarre. It would be sunny and beautiful one second, and downpour the next. We went to Park Guell, and I walked more of it than last time and got to see more of it's beauty, Sagrada Familia, where we went inside and were AMAZED at the intricacy and creativity of the decor inside, and walked down Gracia, which I refer to as the Newbury Street of Barcelona.
The last day, we took a half day tour to Montserrat. FINALLY the weather was beautiful. Montserrat is a mountain about an hour outside of Barcelona. The views from the top were unbelievable. The city wasn't much, but we got to hike a bit and enjoy a nice coffee overlooking the valley. When we returned to Barcelona, we went to the market (which I mentioned in my last Barcelona post), and enjoyed some delicious fruit, smoothies, and gelato. We then were fortunate enough to sit on the beach, which was beautiful. We concluded the vacation with a seafood dinner, per my father's request. He didn't expect the food to be staring at him when the waiter put his dish in front of him, but if you've ever met my father, you know he still ate every last bit (once he figured out how), and enjoyed it.

inside the Sagrada Familia

Park Guell...don't the clouds look nice?

Anyway, that about sums up the week. Check back soon for pictures that actually show our beautiful faces (If my mother learns how to put them online...she just got a facebook, lets see how that goes). I was really glad I got to share my experience with my parents, it was a great week.