Barcelona

My friends gave me their pictures from Barcelona so since I have a couple minutes, here they are. I didn't have even close to as great a time this trip as I did a couple years ago, but it was still nice to be there. I went Sunday-Wednesday with 5 other girls from the program. It was kind of a frustrating trip because we all had such different priorities. Some people didn't want to spend any money, other people wanted to spend more time in the apartment than out in the city... It definitely made it clear in my mind how important it is to travel with people with similar travel styles. Either way, I saw the water, got a tan and enjoyed the Gaudí architecture again.

Inside the magnificent and unique Sagrada Familia

In front of one of the Gaudí apartments, Casa Batlló

 On the apartment's roof

 At Gaudí's Park Guell

Park Guell

Passionfruit and cactus fruit popsicles at la boqueria market

Being in Barcelona made me realize how much I miss the ocean. As much as I love Madrid, I don't know if I could permanently live this far away from a body of water. It'll be nice to go out to Rodeo when I'm in the Bay Area and hang out at Coney Island this summer.

As of today, I have just one week left in Madrid. It's totally crazy how quickly this semester went by and it's weird to think this whole year in Europe is about to be over. Other than how miserable I'll be to say goodbye to my Spanish friends and my host family, I'm ready to go back. I have a lot to look forward to this summer. Tomorrow I'll finish my last final and then this week will actually be busier than I thought. Between saying good bye to everyone and Eva's birthday, sounds like I'll be running around a bit. I'm sure it'll be mostly fun though. Off to do one last exam review now and then I'm heading to bed.

Besos,
Anjuli

On a hilarious note...

My abuelita, who loves knitting, decided to knit me little baby slippers for my future child. Because they have not yet developed the technology to find out the sex of a child that may or may not be born years into the future, obviously she had to make two different pairs. This is one of the great things about Spain: even admist the bullshit bureaucracy, the idiotic classes at the university and the useless banks that are only open a few hours each day, there is always comic relief.

I got back from Barcelona Wednesday night (which I will post about soon) and have since been frantically preparing for exams. Just one more miserable psych exam left for Monday and then I will forever be done with UAM (affectionately called UAMtanamo by many students). Seriously looking forward to Monday at 4 pm...

Besos
Anjuli

Toledo? Oops...

So... I actually forgot a little bit about Toledo haha. This past Saturday the program took us there on a day trip. While I'm uploading photos, I might as well post a little something about it too.

Europe is beautiful. The architecture, the nature, the art, the culture, etc., etc. Toledo to me, unfortunately, is just another one of the beautiful cities here. There wasn't a whole lot about it that was special compared to a lot of other other things I've been lucky enough to see, which is why it doesn't stand out in my mind very much. The weather was also miserable and I was stressed about getting back to do work... some other reasons why it wasn't my favorite trip. The art history professor from the program came with us and gave us a tour of the city and the major buildings. We saw the monastery (which looked identical to the monastery I saw in Granada), the cathedral, a synagogue, a famous Greco painting, and an old mesquita. Something that is pretty cool about Granada is that it was the capital of Spain during all different time periods and because of that, it has Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious buildings. Because Madrid became the capital in the 16th century, these buildings and the city in general have been very well preserved and there has not been much development. It also sits on a big hill with a river running around it, which makes it a very beautiful spot.

 Inside the cathedral.

This skylight is an element of the cathedral that I found very unique and interesting. It is used to light a huge statue on the wall opposite it. Unforunately I was too fascinated by this skylight to take a picture of that apparently important statue...

So that was Toledo. Try to ignore my all-too-jaded, ungrateful self and enjoy the pictures.

Besos,
Anjuli

Between all the end of the year work I've had going on, I haven't had a chance to post anything about Granada. I had a great time there last weekend with my friends Arielle, Amanda and Erin. It was a super long weekend because of national holidays, so most of my American friends were gone for all 6 days we had off. Beacuse of how busy things have been and how important it is for me to spend time in Madrid, we just went to Granada Monday through Wednesday. I've been seeing so much recently how making that effort to spend time instead of travelling here has paid off. A few months ago, I had anticipated being pretty lonely Friday-Sunday of last weekend because my American friends would be travelling. The complete opposite happened and I actually had a weekend of feeling very integrated in Spanish life and constantly surrounded by people I enjoy spending time with. Friday I had work and then that evening went out with a girl I work with and some of her friends. Then Saturday my host cousin took me to a house party just outside the city. It was great to speak so much Spanish and get closer to some of the people here. I was exhausted after that weekend though, particularly after getting home from that house party at 9:30 AM (mind you, this was after making my host cousin drop me off at the metro before he continued partying on until MONDAY night... insanity).

Monday bright and early we took a bus to Granada. We spent the days walking around the city, seeing the various churches and monuments. But of course, the main attraction in Granada is La Alhambra and I was soo happy to finally see it. 4 years ago when I was there, I was the sickest I've ever been in my life and I was really disappointed to miss seeing the entire city. La Alhambra was certainly worth the wait. Here are my photos from the trip:

Me and Arielle on Granada's Morrocan street, filled with little Morrocan shops and tea houses

 The view of the Alhambra from el Mirador San Nicolas lookout point. The palace sits atop a hill overlooking the city below, which you can see to the right. 

 Inside the massive cathedral of Granada. If you look closely you can see a small human in the bottom right corner, for a scale comparison.

Ruins of an old market place inside the Alhambra.

 Me and Erin in the Alhambra gardens.

 We got so lucky with the beautiful weather! It had been raining the whole week before but the day we went to the Alhambra, the skies over Granada were beautiful. 

 A military building inside the Alhambra.

 The palace's Moorish stone carvings up close. 

 Part of the royal palace

 The most impressive part of the Alhambra is the sheer amount of detailed stonework.

 The gardens of the Alhambra.

 A view of the palace from the gardens

 Another one of the buildings of the royal city

 Me, Arielle and Erin in the gardens

Since we got back, I've been working a ton on all the papers and presentations and finals I have. Today I finally did my sociology presentation at the university, which went fine. This weekend I'll have some more time to get work done and then Sunday-Wednesday I'll be in Barcelona for my last trip of the semester. I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit with my friends there, especially now that the weather in Spain is starting to get much better. Just two and a half more weeks here... better make the most of it!

Besos,
Anjuli