London!! 

Once again I found myself in such a surreal situation, hanging out in one of the most famous cities in the entire world! Filled with delicious foods, great accents, and a high exchange rate, all of my favorite things! So, my first spring break has come and gone, we had 10 days off so Keliana, Belinda, Marielle, and I planned a trip to London, Wales and Ireland. We arrived in London late on Thursday night, exhausted from traveling we passed out as soon as we could.  In the morning we were determined to start our London adventures right with a proper English breakfast, pictured below.  The waitress also gave us fresh croissants and some delicious coffee, it was probably the best breakfast I've ever had.  

Then we were off to the Tower of London, we had decided that day that we were going to go to all of the big tourist sites that we figured were must sees.  And while all of the places we went were pretty cool, it was by no means cheap...  The Tower of London is a historic castle and has served many different purposes throughout history.  It was where royalty lived, a prison, an armory, all kinds of stuff.  We toured through the different sections of the castle but I think my favorite part was when we saw the crowned jewels.  We weren't allowed to take pictures and the crown below is a crown with all of its jewels removed, I grabbed this picture secretly hah.  There was a whole section with a moving walkway that showed the crowned jewels, it was mind blowing, seriously.  I can't believe how many jewels these people wore on their freaking heads!! Also another impressive piece was a massive punch bowl made completely of gold with some insane carvings.

One of the most interesting things I learned about the castle was that kings used to keep wild animals in their castles to prove how powerful they were.  They had bears, monkeys, snakes, tigers, lions, everything.  Having exotic animals not only proved to other royalty that they were powerful but also to the common people these animals were so foreign that it made the Kings seem almost godly.  It also said that there were often mishaps with the animals getting out and people getting killed. Below is a picture of Belinda and Marielle in an animal cage hah.

London, London Bridge

Next we headed over to the London Eye, another serious expense but being the largest ferris wheel in the world we figured it was a must.  I actually really enjoyed it, we had a leisurely ride and gradually got to see the whole city, obviously it is enormous.  A lot of times when I see cities in the aerial view you can see where the city stops... that wasn't really the case with London.  Also this bagpiper was randomly playing on the bridge, it was a nice shot haha. 

Me on the London Eye 

 We then passed by Big Ben, another amazing thing to actually see in person, just because it is such a recognizable monument. We chilled in a park with a view of Big Ben for a little while and just took it all in.  Then we found a London telephone booth so we could get stereotypical London pictures :)  We had planned to go to Westminster Abbey which is where a lot of famous peoples tombs are located but it closed early that day, so we missed out.  

Instead we went and did the next best thing, got Fish and Chips!! We went to SoHo because Keliana found a place that was supposed to have the best fish and chips, and dear god was it delicious!! I don't really eat fish, but I'm trying to break that habit and I loved the fish and chips! After that we wandered around SoHo but it was getting late so we went back to the hostile to chill and then headed out to a pub for a couple beers and some cider.  In both London and Ireland cider is a popular drink a lot of the pubs, it was pretty tasty! 

The next day we decided that we should do some less expensive activities because we felt so robbed from the day before.  So, we ended up going to several different spots all over the city and wandering around the streets.  First we headed to Portobello Markets which was a couple streets filled with tons of booths and tents, people were selling all kinds of random things.  Even though it was a market a lot of the stuff was still really expensive, I didn't end up buying anything but it was cool looking at what people had to offer. 

I took the picture above for my father, and the picture below for my mother :)

Then we decided to head over to Abbey Road, where the famous Beatles picture was taken that's on the cover of their album Abbey Road.  It was just a regular crosswalk and further down the road was Abbey Road studios.  The wall outside of the studio was covered lyrics and words from fans who had visited the Beatles site.  

We then decided that we wanted to get tea and scones, so we found an awesome little cafe with some great stuff.  Check out the size of those English Muffins!! I was freaking out, I should have gotten one of those but I wanted a scone instead. 

Cool London architecture!  

After wandering more we stumbled upon the Sherlock Holmes Museum and shop, we just went in the shop but it was a cool little place!  After that we headed over to Oxford street which just ended up being this massive high end shopping area which reminded me of Time Square in New York.  Not really the place we wanted to be, being so money conscious and all.  That night we got Indian for dinner (it was delicious) and then went to Camden Street which is a street with a lot of cool clubs and bars.  We went to the club/bar mix called the Monarch where we danced to old soundtrack music the entire night, which was a refreshing change from the same 10 party songs they play in Sevilla.  It was a fun night!!

In the morning before we left, we stopped by Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards ceremony.  Turned out the ceremony wasn't going on that day, lovely.  So we walked around enjoyed a last little bit of London and then got on the train to go to Wales! 

Wales :)
So, the whole reason we found ourselves in Wales was because Keliana's step grandparents live there.  She had told them when she studied abroad that she would visit them and decided to bring us along as well!  Wales was absolutely amazing, probably one of my favorite places we've been so far.  I think a big reason was because it wasn't a city!  I am by no means a city girl and I've only been traveling to cities, so it was nice to be in a calm place with a little nature!

Her grandparents live in a tiny town called Fairbourne, the town only has 4 stores in it and after we arrived we walked around the whole thing in about 15 minutes.  It was gorgeous though, one side you had mountains covered with sheep and the other side you had the ocean.  

Another huge plus to staying with her grandparents were HOMECOOKED MEALS! Oh my god, they were so amazing!  One night we had a roast chicken and the other night we had salmon.  Above is a picture of us at the dinner table getting ready to eat our dessert, a delicious creamy raspberry roll thing.  We called her grandparents Nain and Taid which is Welsh for grandma and grandpa, they are both originally from England and were so sweet!  

Sooooo gooood!!

Since Fairbourne is so tiny we took a train 10 minutes to the town over called Barmouth. It was a little port town filled with cool shops and restaurants, the weather was kind of overcast but we still had a good time wandering around because the town was so cute!

These things were awesome

Port town church

Seagull posing for me

Bridge for the train over to Barmouth

There were a copule of massive jelly fish that had washed up on the shore, they were pretty cool.

This little circle hut thing was once the town's jail, but it said that since there wasn't too much crime they often used it as a place to put people who were too drunk until they sobered up, haha!

Nain and Taid had told us about a quarry that was up the mountain a little bit and after our trip to Barmouth we decided we would hike up there.  Since the weather wasn't great Keliana and Belinda decided to stay at the house and relax but Marielle and I were so hungry for some nature that we went. We walked up to the quarry, freaking out the entire way because it was so beautiful! Once we got there we saw that the mountain continued to go up but was sectioned off by barbed wire.  I really wanted to get near some sheep and when we conveniently found a bench that allowed you to easily step over the wire, there was no holding us back.  

Here is Marielle on a bed of moss, it was more comfortable than any hostel we've stayed in. We almost slept there for the night. 

We pretty much walked up as high as we could, it was so amazing that we couldn't stop! Marielle and I were so giddy, we were running around and laughing and freaking out.  Above is a picture of Marielle taking in the view on the verge of tears, yeah it was that intense. 

Since it was spring there were tons of baby lambs!! So cute.  Here are two with there mom on the mountain, the town of Fairbourne in the background. 

Here we are on a broken town stone house thing. 

The view!! In the picture below you can see Fairbourne, and in the distance where the water dips in is Barmouth. As we were going up I took probably 7 videos.  Whenever I see a super impressive sight I take a video, and obviously I was loving every second of our hike and thought it was video worthy the higher up we got.

We walked as high as we could get but as we were walking we started to hear a strange whistle from time to time.  We got nervous that it was a farmer that had spotted us and was telling us to leave or something.  Then we got the idea that he might shoot us, so after taking the view in one more time we headed back down. 

Before we walked back for dinner we decided to climb a tree, might as well since we never get to anywhere else. 

Cool houses on the walk back to the house.

That night we decided to bake chocolate chip cookies.  We don't get to bake anything in Spain because our oven doesn't work.  Also Nain and Taid had never had chocolate chip cookies, they were delicious!! Here's a picture of Belinda being domestic. 

At 7 am the next morning we left to go to Dublin! More soon to come!

Morocco! 

So last weekend I went on an organized trip to Africa, more specifically Morocco.  The trip was all inclusive which was really nice for a change, I didn't have to worry about transportation, activities, food, it was great!  We left mid-day on Friday and after a 2 1/2 hour bus ride we arrived at the ferry that would take us over to Morocco.  Once we got to the hotel it was pretty late but we had an amazing dinner!  It was a four corse meal with bread, salad, chicken cous-cous with grilled vegetables and cranberry sauce, and then some of the best ice cream I've ever had.  Since I've been eating like a poor person and I make the same 4 meals I was so excited to eat some different food!  Then we called it a night early because we'd be getting up very early to start our adventures! 

The first town we went to was called Chefchaouen which was a little bit of a drive but on the way we stopped at an view point.  The landscape was awesome, tons of mountains and valleys.  

Sitting on the bus and watching the landscape go by was actually really enjoyable.  It gives you the opportunity to really observe what some people's lives are like and compare them to our own. Most of the people that I saw were farmers that lived just randomly throughout the country side.  I would all of a sudden see a man hiking down a mountain path with a herd of goats following him.  I also saw some men and women carrying massive baskets full of crops.  It's just a completely different lifestyle and it makes me think about what it would be like to live in a more simplistic way.  Since I'm not really into the whole technological age and whatnot I can't help but wonder if that's the better way to live.  Also the whole time I was wishing I could get out and take pictures :) 

Chefchaouen is that famous Moroccan city that's all blue and white.  It was gorgeous!! I heard a couple of reasons why it's painted that way, one is that the colors keep the mosquitoes away and another is that blue is the color of the sky and ocean, both of which are free. 

This blog post is also pretty picture heavy, but that's because I have less to say about Morocco and more to show.  The whole trip was really about looking and experiencing a completely different culture.  In the city they took us on a short tour where we literally just had a guide wander us through the streets, and then we got let loose to spend money!  I felt throughout the trip a constant encouragement to spend my money, I did buy a couple things but mostly took pictures instead. 

The colors in general were amazing! Most of the clothes, bags, tapestries, and jewlery were very colorful and that with the blue walls just made everything very vibrant. 

To the left is Belinda one of my roommates and some circle bread.  We would be walking around the streets and then be overcome by the delicious smell of bread!  Among the houses were little bakeries where Moroccians would be cooking delicious thick circle bread over wood fires! We ate a ton while we were there, so good. On the right is Keliana just hanging out, the town was surrounded by gorgeous mountains.

Here's our tour guide! Omg he was the cutest little man. 

There was a little river that ran through the city which is where the people would wash their clothes.  The water would run through these little washing houses where they had washboards and then the soapy water would run back into the river.  It was cool to watch the women wash the clothes, another extreme cultural difference which makes you ponder your own life haha.

We then got to have another amazing meal, we were on the roof of this awesome restaurant, above is the view from the roof. 

Salad and chicken with fries and apricots, I'm really into taking pictures of food now...

Leather bags. 

I think that this was powder to make dye, but I'm really not sure, just thought it was pretty. 

They legit use donkeys to carry things from one place to another, serious cultural differences.  I think that's why I liked Morocco so much, the whole experience really got me thinking.

River/stream 

That night had dinner at the hotel and then hung out in the hotel bar and had a few drinks, above is a picture of all the lovely ladies I went to Morocco with.  This picture and a couple others in this post were taking on Keliana's analoge camera so they look a little vintagey.  

In the morning we decided to wake up early and watch the sunrise because our hotel was conveniently located right on the Mediterranean! It was pretty freaking cold but totally worth it, watching the sunrise is just such a nice way to start a day, especially one in Morocco.  Above is a picture of me before the sun rose. 

I had Marielle do some yoga poses in front of the sunset, they came out pretty cool

The second day we went to Tetouan in the morning, it's just another city in Morocco.  I really didn't learn much about the places I was in, I think that was kind of the downside to my tour program.  Like I said they seemed more concerned with us spending money that really letting us know what we were doing there. But we wandered around the area too and through this old market, which actually was pretty intense.  There were chickens all kept in little crates and some were just laid out with their necks cut and hanging. 

Later we stopped in this pharmacy where we could....buy more stuff! But a lot of the stuff was like natural herb beauty products, there was aragon oil that a lot of the girls bought because it is supposed to work wonders for your hair and skin and it's a lot cheaper in Morocco than in America.  I ended up getting  Moroccan mint tea, a detox tea, and some lip balm that is good for not only lips but cuticles and blackheads.

OH YEAH WE SAW A SNAKE CHARMER!!! So, the guy takes out a snake and puts it on the blanket and the snake is clearly pissed, he taunts it and it was like snapping at him.  Then he starts staring at the snake while the other guy was playing music and something happens and all of a sudden he can put the snake on his face.  He did it with two different snakes I'm not sure the name of the first one but the other was a cobra (shown below), yeah he finished by kissing the cobra.  It was completely unexpected, I didn't know we were going to see a snake charmer!

More markets

Later we went to these caves in Tangiers which wasn't too exciting but the ocean was pretty.  

We ended the trip with a camel ride, which actually turned out to be a pretty weird and slightly scaring situation.  The camels were in like this random parking lot and were clearly over worked and treated kind of badly.  All the camels were really exhausted and the whole vibe of the situation was kind of awkward and uncomfortable.  I almost didn't do it because I felt kind of weird about the whole thing. Also 2 girls were on one camel and the whole seat fell off the camel and the girls went with it, I was already on another camel but needless to say that added to the...weirdness. But to make it better there were two baby camels that were hanging out and being super cute.  

Before we got on the bus to go back to Spain we went over to the ocean overlook and took this picture. I love it!! The program we went on as a whole wasn't that great, but the country was so different and intriguing that I think it was one of my favorite places I've been so far.  It made me think about the different styles of living and comparing what I have to what a typical Moroccan has, it's really crazy to think about.  It gave me a taste for what a lot of this world is really like.  It would be interesting to grow up in a less materialistic and corporate society and instead just live in tiny shack with livestock, fields, and mountains.