Is this real life? Or the Lizzie McGuire Movie?

My weekend in Rome was a dream come true! Never in my lifetime did I think I would get to fly off to Italy for the weekend! I am incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I am getting while I am here in Madrid! Rome was just one of the places that I hope to visit while here and I don't know if anywhere else can top it! 

On our first full day in Rome we got up fairly early to head out to Old Rome. We decided that we wanted to walk everywhere all weekend so that we could see more of the city! This was a great idea until we realized that the map we had was not very good or detailed and none of us knew more than two words in Italian. After a while though we figured out that most Italians will understand Spanish if you speak that, but they will answer in Italian which we couldn't understand. Also, I found it interesting that it seemed like there are a lot more Italians who speak English compared to the amount of Spaniards that speak English.

Once we found our way to the Coliseum we got to go inside and look around. It was so unreal to be inside the Coliseum. It's something you learn about all the time, but to actually see it in person is unbelievable. After walking through the Coliseum in awe we headed over to see the Forum and Palatine Hill. Both of these places were just as amazing as the others! This area includes old ruins of royal palaces. When you walk though it you are actually walking through where the palace would be if it was still standing! It's really strange to think about! That night I got my first taste of real Italian Gelato and it was amazing! 

On day two we decided to head over to Vatican City! Again, it was hard to believe that I was walking through St. Peters square and standing in an area with such rich history! Alyssa and I went through the Vatican Museum together! It is full of so many old sculptures and pieces of art. One of my most amazing parts of the museum are the ceilings. Every ceiling was different and so detailed. Once you walk though the museum you end up in the Sistine Chapel. Walking into the Sistine Chapel was another time that I couldn't believe that I was actually there! It still seems unreal that I was standing in the Sistine Chapel seeing the paintings of Michelangelo in person. The whole chapel was absolutely breathtaking and indescribable. After going through the museum and the Sistine Chapel we got to go inside of Saint Peters Basilica. St. Peters is a huge church, in fact it is the biggest catholic church in the world! My camera decided to die right when we got into the Basilica which was unfortunate, but looking back I am kind of glad it did die. Because it died I got to actually take in the beauty of the church rather than being preoccupied with taking pictures! 

After going on the tour and eating lunch, we met up with some of our other friends and together we explored more of Rome! We walked past a beautiful castle, over the "Angel Bridge" and though the most gorgeous plaza! We found a place to eat dinner, not before almost starting an Italian war though. For anyone who plans on going to Rome in the future here is a tip: don't joke around about fresh food with Italians, they will get really protective over their restaurants and take it really seriously. The restaurant we had dinner at was right across the street from a gelato place so of course we had to have more! 

On our last day in Rome we still needed to hit up a few of the larger, famous monuments. We began by walking towards the Pantheon. On our way there we stopped to take a look at the Spanish Steps. I honestly wasn't as impressed with the Spanish Steps as I thought I was going to be! However, the view of Rome from the top of the steps was absolutely unbelievable. One of our last stops was the Trevi Fountain. Yes, I did through a coin into the fountain, so I will be returning to Rome someday! After that the guys ran off to a concert and Alyssa, Carolyn and I celebrated our last night in Rome with amazing pasta, wine and tiramisu! We headed back to the Trevi fountain to see it at night! It was just as gorgeous then as it was during the day! 

The whole time we were there the weather was absolutely amazing! It felt like it was the middle of the summer and not the end of September! I could not have asked for better weather! Also, the group I traveled with was amazing! We had so much fun together! I'm so proud that we managed to figure everything out by ourselves! 

Sunday was another long travel day. Our flight was at 9 am so we had to head to the airport super early. Over all it was a fantastic weekend! Again, I can not express how grateful I am for this experience and all the rest of them I am going to have this semester! 

Coliseum!! 

View of Coliseum and Palatine hill! 

St. Peters Basilica, Vatican City

At the top of the Spanish Steps! 

Real Italian gnocchi!! :D 

21 in Roma!!!

Where to even start with my birthday! How about with the wonderful birthday dinner my Senora made me!! Since I was leaving for Rome on the afternoon of my birthday she decided that we would celebrate the night before. Victoria (my senora) was so excited to celebrate my birthday. She made what I wanted for dinner, which included Tortilla Espanola, delicious veggies and (of course) chocolate ice cream! They sang to me and I got a candle in my ice cream! It was great to have a birthday dinner with my Spanish family, since when I first decided to come to Spain I was sad that I wouldn't get to celebrate with my family and friends at home. This was almost as good!! 

My actual birthday was kind of dull at first. I had two finals to take in the morning and then I had to go straight to the airport in order to fly off to Rome!! It was a long day of travel. Carolyn, Alyssa and I got to the airport super early (because none of us like to be late) so we waited around for two hours before our flight took off. Of course our flight was delayed a little also. It was a day full of waiting. Once we landed in Rome we had to wait even longer for the shuttle to the center of Rome. Once we got to the center of Rome we had to find somewhere to stay. Yes, I did go to Rome without knowing where I was going to be staying. I don't recommend that to anyone. While it worked out fine for us, it's always better to know where you are going to be staying. By this point, I was feeling a little bummed because it was my 21st birthday and all I did was travel all day. Three of the guys I was traveling with noticed and they bought me a birthday bottle of wine that we all shared to celebrate my birthday and the fact that we were in Rome! It was really sweet! 

I traveled with a fairly large group (8 people), which makes it difficult to make decisions that everyone is okay with. We noticed this right away, when we were searching for somewhere to eat, since by the time we figured out where we were staying and everything it was already around 11:30 pm. We were all starving so we went to the first restaurant we found and agreed on. I had some delicious lasagna, free birthday hot chocolate (one of my friends told the waiter it was my birthday) and a birthday toast with my friends!!! 

After dinner, all of us were exhausted and (at least all the girls) wanted to go to bed. But, according to my friends I was not allowed to go to bed since it was my 21st birthday. It was a good, chill night with a few of the guys in the group. So while I didn't have the typical American 21st birthday experience, I ended up having a great day and night!  I mean I was in Rome!!! 

Birthday dinner at my home stay!! 

Carolyn and I on our way to Rome!!!

First dinner/birthday dinner in Rome with the group! 

I wish I could move my feet that fast...

Week four brought on nothing all that new. It was the last week of my orientation class though so that was exciting! However, that also meant three tests, two papers and a presentation (all in Spanish) to prepare for. I thought I was only here to have fun, I didn't know I would have to study!! Don't worry I'm just kidding! I'm learning a lot and loving it!

While the week was pretty normal, the weekend was exciting! On Friday the 23rd the Marquette group went to see Flamenco dance. It is an amazing form of dance. The dancers are so passionate and intense about it. According to one of my friends (who is a dancer), Flamenco is like tap but on steroids. One of the dancers was male and he honestly didn't stop moving for a good 10 minutes. It was so impressive.Unfortunately, I brought my camera but forgot the battery in its charger so I didn't get any pictures of flamenco. That night also included my first experience with the 6am metro! While it is nice to not have to pay for a taxi home or wait for one of the creepy night buses, it is sort of hard to stay awake until 6am.

We also went to Reina Sofia that weekend. Reina Sofia is one of the larger and more popular museums in Madrid. It holds work by Dali, Picasso and many more. The highlight of this museum was being able to see Picasso's "Guernica" in person. I have seen pictures of it so many times before, but to stand literally 10 feet away from it was amazing. I'm not even that big of an art fanatic and I was speechless looking at it.

Overall, it was a good weekend! The more time I spend in Madrid the more I love it!

Excursión a Segovia!

Saturday the 17th was the first time that I got to travel outside of Madrid. We didn't go very far, only an hour away to Segovia, Spain. After a very pretty and short bus ride, we arrived in Segovia. The first thing I saw when I got off the bus was the acueducto. The aqueduct is huge! According to my professor (who literally knows everything there is to know about anything) the aqueduct was built without using any sort of cement to keep it together. It is about 2,500 feet long and was used for 2 thousand years! It amazes me that a huge structure of rocks held together only by gravity and pressure is still standing!

For most of the day, we got a tour around the historic parts of Segovia! My professor, Abrantes, talked so much about architecture and the history of all the different buildings. As interesting as all the information was, it was hard to pay attention because I was trying to take in all the beauty of the city! Even though I needed to pay attention because a lot of what he was talking about is going to be on my final!

We got to see the Catedral de Segovia. It was absolutely gorgeous. The cathedral was Spain's last Gothic building and was built during the renaissance. When I first walked into the cathedral, I honestly could not believe how pretty it was. Everything was so detailed and amazing! I have never seen anything like it! There was so much history behind the cathedral also! After walking around the cathedral for a while, we got to have a much appreciated lunch break!

The best part of the day was saved for last, the castle! The castle we went into is simply called the Segovia Castle. It once housed Isabel and Fernando, who are both really important people in the history of Spain. Walking through the castle was kind of unreal! It's strange to think that the castle is older than the United States. Once we got a tour of the castle, we got to climb up to the tower! This was possibly my favorite part of the day! To get to the tower, you had to climb up this minuscule winding staircase for a little while. The staircase was only big enough for one way traffic, which became a problem because it was the only way up or down from the tower. I was talking to some of my friends about how hard it would have been to get down from the tower in a hurry. There is no way anyone could get down the staircase very fast since it is so steep and very windy! Though the climb up was a little difficult, it was so worth it when I got to the top! The view of Segovia and the surrounding areas was breathtaking. You could see the cathedral off in the distance in one direction and the rolling hills and mountains in the other direction. It's almost indescribable how beautiful it was!

After a long day of walking and touring Segovia, we headed back to Madrid for the rest of the weekend!

 Acueducto 

 Catedral de Segovia

Castle! Castle! Castle! 

 View from the tower! AMAZING! 

Week Tres!

I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with this lately!! As I predicted, my wonderful life in Madrid got in the way! I will try to be more timely now!

Week number 3 didn't bring to many new and exciting things. However, since I had just moved into my home stay, getting to class on Monday morning was quite the adventure! Allie and I said we were going to leave at around 8:10am to get to class by 9am. We figured that would have been enough time. Well, 8:10 turned into 8:25. Let's just say we were a little late. Getting to class here is so much different than when I am at Marquette. At Marquette it takes 10 minutes tops to walk anywhere on campus. Here, I have to take the metro for around 10 to 15 minutes and then there is a 15 minute walk on top of that! While at first it seemed annoying, I actually am starting to like it! I enjoy having to actually wake up and function in the morning unlike at Marquette where I roll out of bed and go to class. 

We didn't have any class on Wednesday, but instead had our academic meetings. I already knew what classes I have to take so my appointment was easy! At Universidad Complutense, where I am studying, you have the chance to test out all the classes you want for the first two weeks of the semester. Unfortunately since I have such a strict timeline to keep to I won't get to do that. Wednesday night the whole Marquette group, including our director, went out to one of the most popular clubs in Madrid. No, we didn't just randomly decide to go clubbing with Profe. Instead, we were there for an APUNE welcome party. APUNE stands for "Asociación de Programas Universitarios NorteAmericanos en España." So basically it was all the students from all the American programs in Spain together to celebrate the start of the semester. It was a pretty good night! I met a lot of people from different universities who are studying here this semester. It was interesting to compare programs, because no one program is similar to another. 

Thursday and Friday were normal with just classes and homework. Just another week in Spain! Time is flying by and I am having so much fun! I love it! 

Moving day!

Sunday was moving day! Allie and I got up and finished getting our stuff packed! It took quite some effort to get all of our stuff into one taxi (cars are smaller here) but we made it all fit. Somehow my stuff seems to have multiplied during the first 12 days that I have been in Madrid. We took the taxi to our home stay and started to get settled in.

My room is really cute! It is the perfect size for the next three and half months! The house isn't far from the university, only 5 metro stops (about 20 minutes) away. The apartment is so pretty. It is in a really old building with an old fashion elevator (which is tiny). She has so many beautiful art pieces around the house and lot of pictures of her family.

I didn't take long to unpack all of my things. Physically I am unpacked and settled in, but I am still not used to being in my home stay. It is weird to not be with the rest of the group all the time. I'm a little lonely and bored sometimes but I am still getting used to the change. It is really nice to have my friend Allie in the same house as me!! I don't think I would be okay if I didn't have a friend with me! So while it was nice to finally get settled into my permanent home for the next four months, it was a hard change and made me miss home. Once I get more used to my surroundings and having to actually make plans with my friends (rather than walking down the hall) it will be so much better!

My Senora is really nice!! She wants us to feel comfortable and at home in her house so she makes sure we are okay all the time. It is nice to know that she is looking out for us and wants us to be happy and comfortable. Victoria (my senora) is a little difficult to understand, but with time I will get more used to her accent, pace and voice. There is another girl (Allegra) in our same home stay also. She has been here for two weeks already and is very settled in. She is from California and here with a different program so we only really see each other when we're back at the house. She is really nice, and it is nice to have her here because she knows how the house works already so we can ask her questions (in English) if we don't know what to say it in Spanish.

So far I have only had one meal at my home stay, but it was one of the better things I have eaten while here! It was nice to have fresh food rather than dorm food. I'm still getting used to the eating times especially now since we don't have every meal provided to us by the dorm. We have to get our own lunch after classes everyday (around 2) and then we don't eat dinner until 9:30 or later.

Okay, that is all for now!! I promise to keep on top of this!

Miss you all so very much! Con mucho amor!! :D

3 day weekend!!

During my three day weekend, I decided to explore a part of Madrid that I hadn't seen  yet! Ali, Alyssa, Carolyn and I went out to lunch first because since it was a holiday in Spain and the Colegio was not providing us with food. Which is really inconvenient but we managed.

After lunch the girls and I went to Parque del Retiro to spend the day outside. This park is the biggest park in Madrid and it is absolutely beautiful. While walking through the park I was in awe of everything! The atmosphere of the park is so European! It is a haven in the big city. Right now it is my favorite place in Madrid. Through out the park there are a whole bunch of different historical buildings and artifacts, along with gardens and fountains. In the park there is a small lake where you are able to rent boats to float on the water for an hour. We didn't do that on Friday but plan on going back very soon! After walking around (and taking a ton of pictures) we found a spot to sit down and do our homework. This was so peaceful! I will be doing this a lot of times during the semester. 

On Saturday, we went shopping, of course! There are so many shops in Madrid! It is hard to not go shopping!! There weren't many people out on Saturday because it was the day after a festival. Most people in Spain leave when there are long weekends. We stayed in that night in order to pack for MOVING DAY!!!