A Weekend in Spain!

Morgan and I with Dani the nanny! (Stolen from Morgan's blog)

What a weekend! I took the bus from Cork to Dublin on Wednesday and stayed over night in a hostel. I had to wake up early in order to make it to my 7:30 flight to Madrid to go see Morgan! Once in Madrid I was immediately required to shake the rust off of my already broken Spanish in order to make it through customs.  After navigating my way through the airport I made my way to the metro station and boarded the metro towards the bus station. Once on the bus I quickly realized that the bus had assigned seats and I was sitting in the wrong one and was gently made aware of this by the kind lady shouting at me in Spanish. The strange thing was that the bus was half empty but everyone was crammed together in the front in their “assigned seats” yet the plane ride on the discount airline I flew to Spain did not have assigned seats at all.

It was so great to finally get to see her after talking over the computer (when they worked) for about 2 months! She met me outside the bus station and we were off touring the city and showing me where she lives and what she does! She was a fantastic tour guide for my weekend!

Morgan with the castle behind her.
What a cutie right?

Unfortunately I didn't get many of us together
because I only brought my camera out twice

Spain was absolutely amazing. Segovia is the city that Morgan is studying in and where I spent the weekend and it is unbelievably gorgeous. It is full of old buildings and lots of history. There is a large aqueduct that the Romans built that runs right through the center of the city and was in use until the 80’s. Just walking around the city is breathtaking. There are great old churches and a castle that inspired the castle at Disney world!

The Aqueduct

A really cool church in a city square called the Plaza Mayor

On Friday we walked around the city and Morgan showed me around her school which is a great old building located in a beautiful area of the city (not that there were any particularly bad looking areas). We then met up with the group and toured an old church right by the hostel that I was staying in. The tour guide told all about the church and its designs and I was impressed with the fact that I understood almost everything she was saying. I really wish I knew more Spanish and think I will have to keep learning because I really enjoy speaking it.

Morgan’s host family couldn’t have been nicer. They encouraged me to speak only Spanish and were very patient with what I was able to say.  Morgan's two little brothers are so cute and really fun little guys. When I first met the youngest one he looked like he was going to come over to me and say hi but instead, with a big grin on his face, he wound up and hit me right between the legs! What a nice introduction right? I had a few meals in their house and the Spanish food I had was phenomenal! They just kept bringing out more and more food! It occurs to me that I have said little to nothing about the food in Ireland and that is mainly because it is really nothing to write home about… quite literally I guess. If I were eating like they do in Spain there would be much more to describe but I fear that frozen pizzas and sandwiches with the occasional pork chop thrown in are not quite as thrilling to read or to write about.

One of the things I really loved about Spain, apart from the food, was the general culture and way of life. Everyday they have a siesta in the middle of the day from 2 until 4 or 5 at which point they go home and have a large lunch and relax during the middle of the day. After the siesta they go back to school or work until around dinner which is eaten around 9. The nightlife does not even begin to get going until around 11pm and people stay out until 6 or 7 in the morning!  Even when adults go out they stay out this late; Morgan’s host dad went out with his friends and got back at 7 in the morning. Another great thing is tapas. It is where you order a drink and get a free small plate of food with it. I couldn't believe how cheap it all was compared to the prices in Ireland and I am very jealous that Morgan gets to do that all the time!

On Sunday I begrudgingly had to leave and Morgan and I took the bus back into Madrid to spend the afternoon in the city before my 6:30pm flight back to Dublin. Madrid is also a beautiful city! We went to get sushi for lunch in downtown Madrid because I have been dying for some since I have been here and Morgan gets it all the time! After lunch we walked around this massive park right in the middle of the city called Retrio park. It had a big lake and a bunch of old statues and was bustling with activity and the sounds of people playing music. It was also mostly sunny and about 60 degrees which was a great improvement from the weather I have been experiencing thus far.

Arches in Madrid

Large statue at the lake in the Retrio Park

It was a fantastic weekend and its safe to say I have fallen in love with Spain. Everything about it and the weekend in general was just so great! It was so great to see the way Morgan was living and now I can picture where she is and what she is up to on a daily basis. It was so great to get to see her but so hard to leave. It is also nice to see that she is doing well and has a host family and group that are both really awesome and I am excited because we are going to get to travel together in April!

In a cave on our walk! (also stolen from Morgan's blog)

Pictures!

Hey there!

I decided to start a Flickr page to upload my pictures because I only put up a few in each post and the quality on facebook is really bad. I'll try to put up as many pictures as possible!

So here is the link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/59338915@N08/ 

Enjoy!

An Overdue Update

Sunset over Cork

Hello all!

It has been far too long since I have done this and I have a lot to say so I'll just get right into it!

My birthday was two weeks ago and what a birthday it was! A big group of us went to the Franciscan Well, a pub across the street and a favorite of mine to start off the evening. Much to my surprise, a cake was brought out saying happy birthday from my family! My wonderful mother, in classic Carol Wolfe style, had arranged to have a cake made and delivered to the pub as a surprise for my birthday. We went to a few more pubs before the night was over and had a really great time!

Thanks Family!

Last weekend our group went on a day trip to Kinsale and to Blarney. Kinsale was a great little town but unfortunately we found ourselves there in the morning and in the middle of the off season as far as tourism goes and not much was open. We had some fantastic Fish and Chips at a little restaurant and walked around the town.

The harbor in Kinsale

After a short while, we boarded the bus and headed to Blarney to see the Blarney Castle and to kiss the Blarney Stone. Touristy, though it was, it was a really cool place! The grounds of the castle and the area around it is just beautiful and there was a lot to see. We climbed our way to the top of the castle up a dark narrow spiral staircase to the top where the rather unremarkable Blarney Stone is located. The stone is just a stone laid in the side of the castle that makes up one of its exterior walls. I had heard stories of the locals going up to pee onto the stone that all of the tourists kiss so I was a bit relieved to see that they had a bottle of disinfectant sitting next to the stone. It was probably just put there to put our minds to rest but either way, I was there and I was going to kiss that rock, urine stained or not. After laying on my back, grabbing onto the hand rails and being helped over the edge by the employees, I kissed the stone and was apparently given the "gift of gab"...eloquence and all that good stuff.

Blarney Castle

This weekend most of our group went on a trip through the university to the Ring of Kerry. The trip took us to county Kerry where we explored all there was to see. We went to castles, forts, museums, the beach... the works. Though the weather was not cooperating (windy, rainy, no real surprise), the most amazing thing was just to be able to see the natural beauty of this place. One of the highlights was Killarney national park. I know I have said it before but the amount of green is stunning. We drove through the park and hiked through a world of green and out to a waterfall.

We got back last night and went to a pub that was playing the Super Bowl. Because of the time difference the game started at 11:30pm here. All of the pubs have to close down at 2am but this one locked its doors at 2am so no one would be seen by the police entering or exiting and we were able to watch the entire game! The interesting thing is that they do not play any of the commercials here and just have a few old football players that no one has heard of to talk during the breaks. When the game was over we were ushered out the side door into the ally and the Garda (police) were none the wiser!

I hope to get back to posting regularly!