Kilts & Leprechauns : Scotland & Ireland

Tuesday: Right after classes, we bussed down to the airport and our trip began with a surprising 9 euro glass of wine. Airpots are expensive, myth BUSTED! 

Since we had Monday off for a national holiday in Spain, we decided to make the most of this LONG weekend and get our Scottish accent on. After landing in Edinburgh and finding our way to the hostel, we took a little walk around the city to see the Christmas lights and castles lit up. The following morning had one of the greatest walking tours in store for us.

Wednesday: Little did Maeve and I know, our tour guide was kinda into Harry Potter. She lead our tour group through the city and into a creepy little cemetery. Edinburgh, Scotland has a lot of funny and dark history to it. There were MANY mass killings due to silly laws and a lot of stories hating on the English as well as the Irish. We had Starbucks again for the first time in WEEKS and it was Christmas season, so I go me a gingerbread latte. This is worth mentioning because when you DON'T have a good coffee shop within driving distance, it suddenly becomes liquid gold. Cherish your american coffee shops, the morning drinks here are very much different than back home.

THE REAL TOM RIDDELL GRAVE!

Some really pretty views of Edinburgh:

A cute little pub decorated for Christmas time 

The sun sets around 4pm in Scotland this time of year. WHAT?! Yeah, so that means it's drinking time I guess. We milled around the Edinburgh Christmas festival for some Hot Toddies, Mulled wine and Christmas cakes. When you walk into a foreign pub and spot New Belgium Blue Moon on tap, you might as well let your knees buckle and fall to the ground. Another sacred American drink that I haven't seen in over 14 weeks. We pubbed then clubbed. Scotland is alright in my book.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL LIGHTS

Yeah, that's santa playing the bagpipes 

Thursday: We woke up with a little headache and headed for the land of leprechauns. However, I wasn't so lucky in security (though some might say I was). The lady behind me set off the metal detector just as I had walked through and the TSA man decided that I, (with no shoes on, a sports bra, t-shirt and jeans on) needed to be padded down. NOT the eager lady behind me who forgot to take off her boots, massive earrings, hat and rings. So the TSA lady got the privilege to not only frisk every crevasse of my body, but proceed to stick her fingers into the waste band of my pants and swipe my undies. Then, she must have though I was still hiding something in my waistband because she proceeded to roll down the waistband of my jeans and expose my butt crack to the TSA man behind me. What a joke... but I was beet red and was patted in places I never thought existed. YIKES. On to the next adventure!

Friday: For our first day in Dublin, Ireland, we walked around the city and got lunch at a cute little pub called The Boars Head. Burgers, Fish & Chips and beers all around. As we soon found out, it's never too early to get some beer in your belly. I love Europe because almost all the pubs have some sort of rugby on the wall or on the TV. This really makes me feel at home and I was nostalgic for my team who were one day away from the Final Four Championship tournament!!

After getting filled to the brim, we sauntered over the the Guinness Storehouse tour. I LOVE ME SOME BLACK BEER! We also had met up with out friend Tyler who was staying in Dublin for a few days as well. He has an old high school gal pal who now lives in Dublin! She met up with us to show us the night life and give us advice on Dublin. The storehouse is really modern and very clean. It was a self guided tour so we all went at our own pace. We finished on the 7th flood, the Gravity Bar, as the sun was setting. We got out free Guinness and scoped out the city of Dublin at night from one of the highest points! Watching the sun go down with a Guinness in my had is NOT a bad way to spend a friday night.

Have you ever seen anything so perfectly poured?!

Dublin at sundown 

This is the typical exchange between Tyler and I..

I tell him he's dumb, then we drink some beer over it. 

Because Tyler's friend Mya had been to this tour loads of times already, she met up with us after for burgers. Im not mad about it because my burger had pickles. Spain doesn't even know what a pickle is. Can you imagine? A life without pickles?!! My own mother has a summer hobby of pickling! After filing up AGAIN, we hit up Temple Bar. Temple Bar is actually just the area with all of the pub night life. NOT to be confused with The Temple Bar (which is actually very famous).


Saturday: 6 am came too early. We boarded a bus to the total opposite side of Ireland. Galway is a nice little college town on the west coast of Ireland and it is really close to the Cliffs of Moher. WOW!!!!!  But first, our tour was very 'hometown friendly' to me because we got to stop at a cattle farm! We walked through the pasture and then had homemade cakes and Irish coffees! The two good looking guys who led our tour reminded me of home. The fields we walked through looked a lot like Wisconsin and the farm I got my first job at.

 These are the awesome rain suits we got to borrow!

The cutie goat named Billy we got to meet!

HOMEMADE CAKES!

The three of us, Maeve, Molly and I, hopped back on the bus and headed to the cliffs. I have no way of describing this to you, so just look.

We arrived back in Dublin at 10pm and decided to spend our last night hitting the town. We found food and then a bar with live music. The awesome thing about Dublin is that on any given night, you can find a pub with live music. There is always a place with open doors, Irish beer and an Irish man behind a guitar. We spend the night fighting the crowd and singing along to songs by MUMFORD AND SONS (Im crazy for them, not sorry) and other American, blue-grassy/folk music.

Sunday: I woke bright and early to get my butt to church. I walked to Christ Cathedral Church and attended a beautiful mass. There weren't a lot of people there, which was odd, but the choir was moving. I haven't heard real hymns and singing like that ever. This was a really amazing experience to be in an ancient cathedral, having mass and singing with strangers. I really like Ireland. I met back up with Maeve and Molly, but we really had nothing to do until our bus for Belfast at 1am!!!! So I spent the day Christmas shopping and finding wifi.

Finally around 11am (Minnesota time, but 6pm Ireland time) we settled into The Old Storehouse pub for some dinner. I was too antsy to eat because MY BLACK KATTS WERE PLAYING FOR FIRST PLACE IN THE NATIONAL TOURNAMENT!! Gosh, I wish more than anything I could have been out there on the field with the girls. These girls are my best friends, 4 of the starters are my roommates and overall, these athletes are my family. SHOUT OUT TO KATH AND PLETTA, I got AWESOME updates from these former stars of the Black Katt family! I ended up having to sit in a Starbucks for better wifi.


I am my fathers daughter. I could NOT sit still or keep quiet in this public coffee shop. As I was getting the updates from the game, I was jumping out of my seat, yelling "YEAH!" randomly. Im positive someone thought I had turrets or something. Let me just tell you, when I heard one of my little wings scored the last try, I cried. I cried in public and ran out of the coffee shop happier than ever.

My girls are National Champions!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!!!!!!

The first ever women's sports team to win a National Championship EVER in the HISTORY of Winona State. 
Let that sink in...

Then I had a tear soaked Guinness in celebration.

Monday: 1am bus to Belfast-FREEZING nap in the Belfast airport-boarded the plane and slept for 3 hours straight.

Then.....I woke up to a woman rambling in my ear. Her name was Gabriel and she had an Irish accent thicker than mud. I seriously couldn't understand the woman! Although I had JUST woken up and still delirious, I was under the impression she was drunk. Then I though "nah silly, its 11am! She wouldn't be drunk on a plane at 11am!"

SHE. WAS. HAMMERED.

Gabriel introduced me to her husband "Phillip with a big P" (now imagine being trapped in the last row of the plane, window seat next to a drunk woman and her husband who now is JUST as embarrassed as I am). She proceeded to ramble on with a drunk slur and Belfast accent about her life then a VERY intrusive interrogation about my life. She asked me what I was doing in Belfast and if I had an Irish lover. Woman, really?! This is roughly the conversation:

Drunkard: Whereareyoufrom?

Me: What?

Drunkard: Whereeeee areyou from?!

Me: I am from the U.S., in the Midwest, Wisconsin. But right now I have two weeks left of my semester in Granada, Spain.

Drunkard: OHHHHHHHH REALLLY!?!?! WE LOVE SPAIN! It's Phillips birthday soon so we're going to Malaga for two weeks!

Me: Oh, that's really nice! My birthday is soon too!

Drunkard: WHENISIT?! HOW OLD AREEEEEYOU?!

Me: I'll be 22 on Monday.

Very embarrassed Phillip: Sagittarius eh?!

Me: *thinking* Wait, people still know actual zodiac signs still?

Less embarrassed Phillip: Oh, I mean my birthday is the 16th too, that'showIknow you know? (fairly sure he was drunk too)

Drunkard: What's your favvvvvorite drink dear?

Me: ................Beer?

Drunkard: ehhhhh... So you got a lover? Is that why you're in Belfast?

Me: Wow, no. I am just flying out of Belfast.

Drunkard: But surely you got a lover doncha? You in Ireland to see your lover eh?!

Me: Goodness, no. I do have a boyfriend in Minnesota, but not a lover in Ireland.

Drunkard: *she puts her hands on mine, which are folded in my lap* Well when doyaaa get to see him!?

Me: He is visiting after I get home, after Christmas.

Drunkard: OHHHH BLESS YOUR HEART *literally almost starts crying*

This went on for the next 30 minutes. I actually couldn't stop laughing. To say the least, she had a very vibrant character and made the flight landing very entertaining.

Finally we got back into our Spanish home and feasted. We were dead, hungry after 28 hours of traveling and only about 4-5 hours of sleep!

I only have 8 more days left in Spain. This semester has really gone by too fast!!!! But then I'll go back to a common American with the average life and no blog. Lucky you ;)

Thanksgiving, and other weird encounters in Granada

Please, the next time you see someone you care for, give them the biggest bear-hug in the world. 

I have 22 days until I see my family next and I cannot wait for the hugs I will get!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thing about studying abroad is, all of these people in your program, and the friends you meet, are in the same boat. We all are here without our loving families and our best friends. Most of us come here without knowing anyone and I wont lie, it is tough. It's impossible for us to NOT get homesick during the holidays but I got some wise insight from my very best friend Danielle: 

"Just remember these bumps are all temporary, don't let the homesickness keep you from enjoying anything." 

She's absolutely right! Even if some of us are getting homesick, it wont be long until I'll be back at home, and then I'll be missing Spain. How ironic...

So this weekend we had our Thanksgiving dinner celebration and a very nice restaurant where we gorged ourselves with: TOO MUCH BREAD, a turkey loaf with blueberry sauce, perfectly mashed sweet potatoes, and then some traditional pumpkin pie. And what is a Spanish meal without some red wine?!

Food will never fill the void of missing your family, but fortunately, it comes REALLY close. 

So naturally, the next night I went out with a few friends for a mexican dinner. I've been craving guacamole and chimichangas like no other. After dinner we met up with our friend Dorothy and hung out with her friends that live here in Granada! Our first Spanish house party guys....let me tell you about the culture difference. 

The Spanish are NOT out of control (well, for the most part). The stereotype is that the Spanish party all the time, and I would agree, but the partying is not reckless like "some stories I've heard about college parties". I do agree that the drinking age should be lowered in the U.S. because it seems that when we finally reach that legal age of 21, it's almost like playing catch-up. I mean, my parents were allowed to drink at 18 and they turned out half way sane (It's a true statement: Have you met my dad? Have you seen my mother's dancing in the kitchen?!)

I want to show you all how our friend dances. I cannot name names, but I'm not sure he's never danced before in his life. Hint: He's in the military. With this knowledge, I am only guessing that he thinks dancing is a lot like wresting or fighting someone. At this house party we decided to document his dance moves. This top photo displays me holding Dorothy by her arms behind her back preventing her from...well basically moving. This is one of his signature dance moves..

And this bottom one is our all-time favorite. He loves to put you in a 'gentle' choke hold and dance the night away. Dorothy is demonstrating this dance move on me. 

So we 'gently' let him know that you cannot put women into choke holds and think it's dancing with them. I cannot stop laughing, he's quite a gem :)

Later, we talked with a guy originally from the Canary Islands who speaks German, English and Spanish! SHEEEEESH!!! How accomplished!!  We asked him to be totally honest and give us his thoughts and impressions of the United States.....

Here it is folks: "We pretend we have a culture, when in fact, we have no REAL culture at all. We act like we're so laid back and cool with everything, yet half our laws conflict with each other (gay marriage rights or none, death penalty or none etc. It's a different law in each state) and we have this "high-fashion" that no one would ever really dream of wearing" 

Don't get mad. It's the truth. When I talk with the kids at the school I volunteer at, I ask what their favorite American food is and they answer with "hamburger and hot dogs". WHAT?! But it's sadly true. The U.S. isn't a uncultured place though, we're just lucky enough to have a mixture of EVERYTHING and anything. No country is perfect, and I'm pretty happy with where I was raised. 

For a lighter subject, something peculiar has been happening to me while running in the park lately. A a week or so ago, I was running along sweating profusely and sounding like I was working with only one lung or something. I've got my music in, no make up on and hair up in a bun. This is NOT a pretty sight. As I am running along, this man comes out of the corner of my eye and starts walking toward me. There are not a lot of people in the park and he clearly saw me running toward him (again, imagine a stressed out ostrich running and panting at you. Thats about what I look like running). This silly man almost walked straight into me as he was talking out loud, TO NO ONE! He was looking at me and I'm convinced he was trying to start a conversation. What, did he think I was going to stop and have a cup of coffee? The whole situation was weird and it made me run a tad faster...

THEN, a few days ago, I was running through that same park, working on my fourth mile. At this point in my run, I'm just a running zombie trying to make it home without collapsing. The man in a tight fitted gray shirt and gray sweat pants starts sprinting at me, across the park like he was trying to start a game of freeze tag or something. Maybe he thought I didn't see him sprinting, but when he got about 30 feet from me, we made eye contact and he slowed into a walk. AGAIN, this man is trying to walk right into the path I am running towards. There was a drinking fountain about 15 feet away and he makes it there staring at me as I am about to pass this fountain. He bends over to take a drink, while still staring, but doesn't actually drink any of the water. He just stands, bending over the water acting like he is drinking but not ACTUALLY drinking the water. Are you getting this yet? At this point I'm running and staring at this situation and he is bending over the water fountain staring at me with the water running. Yet another moment for me bust ass and run faster home. Spanish men are actually so weird.... or maybe it's this park I run in. Who knows.

I leave for Scotland and Ireland in two days! We have a long weekend off of our classes so Molly, Maeve, Abby and I are taking advantage. We booked a 6 day trip! After we get back, there is one week of regular classes, our finals week (AND MY BIRTHDAY) and then we're done! Unreal.... 

Look at how adorable my nieces are. I cant wait to snuggle them!!!!!!!

Winter is coming..

Food tasting: La Oliva 

Our program has some sort of Spanish culture activity, or excursion ALMOST EVERY WEEK for us. I really am impressed with our program SOL Education Abroad; We have young and helpful directors, activities all the time and we lucked out with a really diverse group of students! Last Thursday we had a Spanish food tasting inside an extremely old building that has been gently restored from a few centuries ago. 

Francisco, is the bilingual owner of the fancy restaurant called La Oliva. He was so sweet and informational. Francisco and his assistant made us tapas that are very "Grandina" (for ya'll non-Spanish people, its like being a "Wisconsinite" or a "Minnesotan" but for Granada). We had a few types of dried and cured ham, two different types of salads and two different types of wine local to Granda.

Francisco is the short one,and his assistant has the glasses on (I also stole this picture from Trip Advisor..don't give me credit for being this creepy)

My favorite dish was a salad called "Ensalada de Granada". Granada is actually the spanish word for pomegranate (if I haven't mentioned this already) so this salad, naturally, had: pomegranate seeds, green onion, white onion, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette and PIECES OF COD! Im not a fish fan most days, but this was surprisingly delicious! Im planning on making this for my parents when I come home, Im excited for their reactions....

Bike Tour/ Las Apujarras

 This past Friday we went for a little bike tour. We hopped on some sweet mountain bikes and road along a path that has a name that translates to the "cholesterol path". It was named this because people who had heart problems were told to get active. So they did, but walking this path and calling it the "Ruta de Colesterol". These people are clever.

It was also raining and cold. It was fun at the time, but my butt is paying the piper now. My roommate Molly and I have been complaining to each other about your mutually hurting butts from the bike ride. People go biking for fun right? Umm....

This is Eileen. She is hilarious and also from Winona State University BUT born and raised from Wisconsin like me :)

Saturday we hiked part of the Sierra Nevadas called Las Apujarras. It's really fun to say with the rolling 'r'.  ("Las Ahh-poo-harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-as") This was a pretty neat-tur-y hike with a perfect little chocolate factory at the end where I honestly ate too much and felt sick. Typical.

Ronda, Espana 

Some famous people, whom you may have heard of: Ernest Hemingway, Orson Welles and Jerianne Blau. We've all been to Ronda, Spain.

But for real, these writers came here for inspiration. I just can't imagine why:

These are my people: Tyler, Ben (me) and Ana!

During the Spanish Civil war (1936-1939, not that long ago!) prisoners and other bad people would be thrown from the cliffs here.

Staring down off a cliff!!

The patio of our hostel. HOW LUCKY!!!!!!!

One of my favorite views, where I am NOT on a cliff.

My pals: Ana and Ben (missing Tyler, he gets lost easily)

So meet Tyler. Wow..

Confession: I am a Zipline tour guide, avid rock climber and outdoor sport enthusiast. I just really like being outside, climbing trees and being active (after this post I'm headed out the door for a run).

But I have a fear of edges.

Rock climbing and Zipling doesn't bother me at all because I am tied in. I know exactly how many pounds a carabiner can hold and how many pounds of pressure a Zipline pulley can withstand. But if I am freestanding next to a cliff, or an edge, my heart starts beating faster than ever. I've also had a few anxiety attacks where I can't control my breathing and it takes a lot of mentality to focus on the fact that I need air to live (yikes this is personal, sorry). I've never had a REAL ISSUE, it's always handled. So in conclusion: Im a big chicken.

So we're standing near edges and cliffs this entire weekend. It was a challenge, but by the end of the trip I was doing just fine! There was only one instance where the four of us were walking across this little two foot wide trail with death on my right side, literally. Have you ever felt that 'scared to your very core' moment and you thought you ACTUALLY felt warm pee down your leg? That's pretty much how I felt next to these cliffs. But nonetheless: Fear conquered.

Ronda, Spain is also thought to be the place where bull fighting was invented. Cool, but I don't agree with the sport, so next subject.

Winter is coming:

Winter in Spain is really amusing to someone from 'de Nort'. 40 degrees is so chilling to the Spaniards. I volunteer at a bilingual school and I asked them if today was cold to them (honestly 49 degrees that day). They very seriously said "YES, THE MOST COLD" with chattering teeth. How dramatic....I checked the weather for Winona, Minnesota (my college town) and it was 19 degrees. I laughed first, but now Im nervous. When I go back home, it's going to be more of a temperature shock than a culture shock!!!

It snows only once or twice a year here in Spain, and the snow doesn't stick. I love explaining to Spanish folks about my white Christmases, snowmen, SLEDDING and even what a snow-day is! If you can tell, I'm missing Wisconsin winters a little bit.

Current list of food/drink you should NOT take for granted, because I miss it a lllllllllllllot:

Culver's Butter Burger
Clausen's pickles
Peanut Butter and Jellies
Gatorade
Mac & Cheese
Cereal for breakfast
Blended coffees
Coffees to go
Coffee that ISN'T espresso
Wisconsin beer (the beer made in Spain sucks)
Cheez-its
Chocolate pudding
BEEF



 

These signs need to be ALL OVER Spain. I'm sick of dodging doo-doo. 

Now listen to this:
11/25 - 12/2 : classes and Thanksgiving dinner with our program!
12/3 - 12/9 : SCOTLAND & IRELAND
12/10 - 12/15 : final week of regular classes
12/16 : I'll be feeling 22.......and the wrath of a final exam
12/17 - 12/19 : Last days in Spain :/
12/20 - 12/23 : visitin TOM IN LONDON
12/23 : Home for Christmas!!!!!

So, naturally I'm going to show you the goofy family I am missing

All of us (minus the burrito that wasn't born yet, Aubrey!)

the infamous Randy and Mary

Jenna and Grandpa at the light parade this weekend!!

Jenna & Aubrey with their pops and his first buck of the season!

peace out. I need to actually get out of bed and get running. It's 11:45am. The Spanish life isn't too demanding these days ;)

Saa-bee-ya y Cordoba

With our program, SOL Education Abroad, my "SOL-mates" and I went to Sevilla and Cordoba last weekend. We hopped on an early bus on Saturday first to Sevilla then the following day we headed over to Cordoba.

Sevilla/Seville

Burning question: It is Sevilla or Seville?!!?!!!

Sevilla is a large city in Spain known for it's MANY cathedrals, rich history and a home to at least three Starbucks. If you an English speaker, you gringos can pronounce it: "Sa-vill". If you want to sound like a real Espanola, pronounce it: "Saaa-bee-ya". Question answered. 

Sevilla is an absolutely gorgeous city a little bigger than Granada and has a wonderful river flowing through it. I LOVE SEVILLA!!! Holy crap it is beautiful. First we unloaded our things into our fancy-pants hotel then set out to Plaza de Espana.

As you can tell by the excessive amount of pictures, this was the prettiest place we visited!!

In the plaza, there are mosaics of each of the other major cities in Spain. Here is Granada!!

Next stop was the Cathedral of Sevilla. This is the third largest church in THE WHOLE WORLD! This was really amazing, it took HUNDREDS of years to build. It is hard for me to comprehend that NO ONE person saw the entire completion of the cathedral. The day it was finished, not a single person had been there the day it was started. Im very thankful for the patience each artist who had a part in the creation. Whether you like art and history or not, there is no way you'll go into this cathedral without your mouth dropping at SOME point. It's simply amazing. 

A lot of carriage rides are given in Sevilla, these little guys wait around all day for customers!

Check out the stained glass windows, the natural lighting...

the details in the marble, wood and iron gates,

THE CEILING!!!! How long could this all possibly have taken!?!!!!

35 little ramps up to the top of a bell tower. This view is overlooking the courtyard of the cathedral. 

These people looking like ants!

All of this is still part of the Cathedral of Sevilla!!

We ate dinner at a very popular tapas restaurant and spend the night out in Sevilla! If I could live in Sevilla for a summer, I wouldn't think twice. It's absolutely breathtaking. (Not this summer though, I miss my fam too much!)

The bridge and river of Sevilla at night. SOOOOO PRETTY!!!

Cordoba

Getting home from the bars at 5am and waking back up two hours later for a full day of touring is not recommended. But I managed. I'm just trying to be an Espanola lady ;)

Cordoba is famous for it's mezquita. A LONG ASS TIME AGO, most of southern Spain was ruled by the Arabic/Muslims. After a while, the Christians took over a lot of cities and destroyed the Muslim's culture/art/historical monuments etc... How rude, I know.

BUT, just like La Alhambra in Granada, in Cordoba there are some standing Arabic/Muslim cultural buildings! Some really smart and nice Christian ruler must have said "NO!" to the idea of destroying these buildings of other religions. I again, thank them. It's an amazing place!

The bridge into the city

Arabic columns in the mezquita

The small windows and ceiling in the mezquita. How detailed...

Not ready to leave, the river is so gorgeous

This is the trophy I'm hoping my Black Katt girls are going to win in December at Nationals. GOLD!! FOR FIRST IN THE NATION!!!!!! 

The mezquita in Cordoba was a giant place of worship for the Muslim religion. When the Christians reconquered Cordoba, they kept this mezquita and but made a few additions of their own. 

Here is the controversy:

1. Some believe that the Christians were very nice and kept most of the Arabic architecture as a gesture of peace. I am more of an optimistic, so I like this idea.

2. Others believe that the Christians were being butt-holes because they tore out the middle of this gorgeous Arabic building and made their own little chapel. 

The choice is yours. Either way, it is an eery place to be in. Two religions and cultures colliding in one building gives you a feeling you just cant reproduce. 

And then we went home. About 30 minutes from Granada our bus broke down. Cool.