Amsterdam, My Home Land

This past Monday we had the day off from classes, a puente, so I was able to take a 5 day trip to Amsterdam and Brussels with two of my good ISA friends, Taylor and Carly. There were a lot of modes of transportation used to cut the cost, which made for a big adventure!

Thursday morning we headed out to Barajas airport to fly into Eindhoven, Holland. Eindhoven is just about 2 hours driving from Amsterdam, so when we arrived we jumped on a bus to get there. When we finally got to Amsterdam, we navigated our way to our hostel and started to explore the city.

First we wandered around the street our hostel was on, which was conveniently located right by the main plaza. After, we took a canal boat tour of the city and got a real feel for this Dutch place. All the buildings are not very wide yet very tall, because everyone wants canal-front property. Since they are small and tall, the stairs within them are super steep, and kind of scary! The buildings also tilted forward with levies at the top to aid with moving. A lot of people also live in house boats that are stationed in the canals. We could kind of see into some of them, and they looked so cool!

Canal Tour

Next we got our priorities straight and headed to get some extraordinarily delicious pannenkoeken. We searched for awhile but realized that Holland isn't on Spanish time, and restaurants weren't open as we were looking for dinner around 9. We finally found a cute hole in the wall place and proceeded to devour the best meal of my life - Dutch style banana pancakes. For dessert we got dutch style fries and a beer back at our hostel's bar, then went to bed early.

Pannenkoeken place #1

Friday, after Carly's near death encounter with the hostel lockers, we headed out to a 3-hour free walking tour through New Europe tours. The moment the tour started, it began to snow. I honestly don't think I have ever experienced weather so cold in my life. Taylor and Carly are from Chicago and New York, and they felt the same way. So it wasn't just me being a Texan pansy! The tour was awesome - we stuck it out and learned so much about Amsterdam and the Dutch.

During the tour, we walked through Red Light District where we saw streets of ladies in windows. Apparently the windows cost 100€ per hour to rent, and the ladies earn about 50€ for every 15 minutes of service. It was a very weird concept, since their business is legal and they pay taxes and everything. Within Red Light District there is a huge church, which was built after the area had its rep. I'm not sure about now, but they used to charge people to go in and confess their sins. Another interesting concept! We also passed by multiple mary jane shops and museums, one of Amsterdam's main tourist attractions.

The guide told us so many interesting facts - from outdoor toilets and ladies peeing on a bridge, to the history of Anne Frank. Amsterdam is known for being huge on bicycling; there is even a parking garage just for bikes that is three stories by the central station! The guide also said that since a lot of people have a lot of bikes, a ton end up in the canals every year and there are cranes that fish them out, and each year there are a couple cars in there, too! The tour ended at the Anne Frank house, so we spent some time in there as well. It was amazing seeing the actual place that Anne and her family hid for four years; it was a very moving place.

Typical street in Amsterdam

For lunch we got more pannenkoeken at the Pancake Bakery, this time banana bacon. YUM.

NOMZ

To finish off the day, we headed over to the Heineken Brewery to take a self guided tour and have a few free samples at the end. Throughout the tour, there were different rooms that either displayed tons of Heineken ads or helped you become your own Heineken ad - it was hilarious! I was taken back to my advertising major self! We met a few of the workers and ended up with more heineken at a bar across the street when they were done working. It was really interesting getting to know Dutch people and hear about living in Amsterdam.

Ad Room

Carly, Leonard, me and Taylor!

Side note - I have decided that my true roots are in Holland. All the people there were extremely tall, pale, blonde, and blue-eyed. I finally found my people after living in Spain and visiting Italy, sticking out like a sore thumb!

Total Gingerbread Houses

Saturday was spent wandering around the city some more on our own. Our first stop was the Van Gogh exhibit, but we got a little lost along the way. Dutch is a very interesting language. We couldn't make any of the words out and each time we tried we sounded like absolute fools. The only words I left knowing are pannenkoeken and proost, which means cheers. While lost, we found a cute little street market and bought some really attractive hats to help us get through the cold, then went on with our search for Vincent. The museum was awesome, and now I can't wait to go to the Louvre in Paris to see the Starry Night.

Stylin' with Carly

Snoek-whaaaat?

After the museum, we found a tiny little café and had delicious sandwiches and hot chocolate. Water was the most expensive in Holland and Brussels out of any place we have visited, so most of the time we opted for the cheaper hot chocolate or beer. Next was our quest for the I amsterdam sign. We were miserably lost and kept ending up by the Heineken brewery, until finally we found it and took our obligatory pictures.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and shopping until we had to leave for Brussels. I learned from this trip that Amsterdam is a LOT more than the stereotypes, and most of the Dutch just put up with them. The culture is awesome and the people are great, so I would love to return to Holland some day!

Granada

Friday through Sunday were spent in Granada, Andalucía on an excursion through ISA. After my second weekend in a row in southern Spain, I could really see myself coming back!

Spanish Country Side

The bus to Granada was around 6 hours on Friday but well worth the trip. We spent the afternoon exploring the city with two friends of a girl in my program as our guides. We checked out some plazas, picked out our future homes, and tried some pasterlerías. It was gorgeous outside and so nice to feel the sun again!

The white one is my new home

We made sure to stop by a tea store called Medievo because my host mom exclusively drinks tea from here multiple times a day, and sent us on a mission to get her more. It was cool to see the place that she's obsessed with first hand, so I bought some tea for myself as well.

Casey and I at Medievo

Our planned activity for the evening was a Flamenco show in a gypsy cave. On the way there we hiked up to a site thats perfect for seeing the Alhambra at night when it's lit up. It was gorgeous! We also passed by the Albaicín, an area full of Carmens - white medieval moorish houses that cannot be altered to preserve the look of the area. Owners can't change anything but the name of their Carmen, and one we passed was named Hakuna Matata!

La Alhambra

Albaicín

The Flamenco show was amazing - I sat right next to the dancers and our program lined the entire room. At the end of the show the dancers picked out random people from the crowd to dance with them, including two of my good friends from ISA and one of our directors.

Flamenco!

Later that night we went out for tapas at La Antigualla. The great thing about tapas in Granada is that they're free with a drink, and drinks are always just about 2€! The tapas were basically a meal at this place - ham and cheese sandwich with fries for your first drink, and a mini hamburger with an egg roll and olives (weird combo) for your second. Awesome! Next we went to a more mediterranean place for wine, hummus, and couscous. Granada, since it is in southern Spain, has a huge mediterranean/arab influence in the culture so there are little moroccan shops, kebabs, shawarmas, teas, and hookah lounges all over the city.

La Antigualla

The next two days were rainy and cold. We went to the Alhambra Saturday morning, and despite the rain it was still gorgeous. It reminded me a lot of the Alcazar due to the arab influence and the gardens, and we spent a few hours there touring the site. Afterwards we went to go try shawarma, which is similar to a kebab.

Alhambra

After a short nap I headed out with a couple friends to explore the markets with little trinkets. We ended up spending a few hours looking at every single store and bargaining with the shop keepers to get the best prices possible...from one euro down to 50 cents in some cases...cheap either way. To regain some strength we popped off into a hookah/tea lounge for about an hour and a half of relaxation, then headed off to La Antigualla to start night number 2 of free tapas. We explored another tapas bar then headed back to the hotel to get ready to explore what Granada's night life had to offer.

Little shop packed full of trinkets

Hookah/tea lounge with Maggie and Becca

Sunday was the rainiest of all days, so our walking tour that morning was cut short. We still managed to pop into the cathedral for a minute and see the site where los Reyes Católicos tombs resided. It was cool to see the first Kings and Queens of Spain, but also very creepy. We not only saw the decorative tombs, but also the caskets with the actual bodies beneath.

After some recuperation in the hotel lobby for a couple hours, we headed back to Madrid. The trip was overall very successful and again, it was great seeing another city in Spain!

Sevilla y Málaga

This past weekend I went to Sevilla y Málaga with four of my friends from ISA, Taylor, Casey, Elizabeth, and Megan. It was absolutely gorgeous and so nice to get some warmer weather in southern Spain (when we left Madrid it was snowing)!

Thursday we headed out to Sevilla on the AVE, Spain's fast train. As we headed south we passed through a huge blizzard, and it seemed like the most snow I have ever seen! Miles and miles of white Spanish land, gorgeous!

Snow out of the AVE window

Luckily when we got to Sevilla the weather was nice and for a lot of the weekend we didn't even need our jackets as we explored the cities. On the way to our hostel I had a close run in with a car full of nuns, but all was well. The hostel in Sevilla was my first ever hostel experience, and it was pretty cool! Each night there was free sangria for an hour and it was a great way to start the night. Thursday night we went out for tapas and helado, and it was really cold outside! Luckily that night was the only freezing time of the trip. Later we explored the night life and learned the difference between Madrid spaniards and Andalucian spaniards...Andalucía is a lot more creepy!

Hostel in Sevilla

Friday was absolutely gorgeous weather, and we explored everything Sevilla had to offer. First we went to the Catedral de Sevilla, one of the more famous cathedrals in Spain, and wandered around the plaza outside as well. Before we went into the cathedral, a group of gypsies with rosemary approached me and my friends. They were offering us the rosemary and we all asked if it was gratis, but instead the gypsies told us to put our hands out and they read our palms. Apparently all of us were going to meet tall Spanish men and be very successful...alright. Next they asked us for 5€ each! I told mine no and gave her about 60 cents instead. No scamming us!

Next we wandered over to the Real Alcázar, a royal palace that was originally a Moorish fort. It was definitely one of my favorite places I have seen so far in Spain, and apparently it is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe! The buildings had an arab influence in them and they were gorgeous with so much detail. There were gardens all around that seemed to go on forever, including a giant maze of bushes that we got lost in. The weather was so nice that we almost broke a sweat sitting in the sun, such a great feeling after having the longest winter of my life!

After the Alcázar we found lunch at a cute little tapas place and ate on the patio. I got what I thought would be a yummy shrimp tapa along with a couple others, and it turned out to be the creepiest meal ever! I was only able to eat half...it's weird to have your food stare back at you!

Tortellitas de gambas

We then wandered through a random park on our way to Plaza de España. The plaza was amazing, with people rowing boats throughout it and the most beautiful ceramic detailing all around. The main building was lined with little spots for each city in Spain, it was very cool!

Finally we walked over to the river and later relaxed with some ice cream (typical). We attempted to tour the bull ring but apparently there was a large tent in the middle that would have made it worthless so we skipped out and headed back to the hostel.

That evening, after our hour of free sangria, we went to a place for tapas called La Bodega. It was super cheap and delicious! Best croquetas I've had yet! After, we went to a hole in the wall place that one of us had heard about that is known for its authentic (and free!) Flamenco shows. We had a drink and watched as a trio of a dancer, singer, and guitarist performed a very emotional, intense Flamenco show. Very cool, especially since Sevilla is where Flamenco started!

The trio

The next day we got on the bus to Málaga. The terrain on the way was gorgeous as we drove through the Sierra Nevadas and saw cute little pueblos. The moment we arrived in the beach town on the Costa del Sol we were determined to drop our things at the hostel and head straight to the beach!

On our way to the beach we picked up a pizza to have as a snack, then sat on the beach eating for about 10 minutes only because we couldn't stand the cold wind any more. We headed back to the hostel and took a quick nap (after more postres, of course), then headed downstairs for Paella night that was promised to be served at 8pm.

The paella didn't end up coming out until 10, but it was perfectly okay because we spent the evening getting to know the other people in the hostel that were from all over the world! We played "chinese whispers" which is the same as telephone, and eventually a sing a long to Backstreet Boys and the Spice Girls broke out. Finally we had paella, my first time in Spain, and it was amazing! Sangria came along next, then it was time for the pub crawl. This hostel was a lot more fun and a lot more clean than the other, so we all felt that we finally got the true European hostel experience we'd always heard about.

Some people from the hostel

Sunday was spent exploring Málaga, and falling in love with Andalucía. First we went to the Picasso Museum, where I told the man at the desk that "Tengo dieciuno años," making it clear how tired we all were. The museum was great, and it portrayed how truly talented Picasso was. Next we went to a cute little plaza to wait for an italian restaurant to open, where I told the waiter I wanted "polo," not "pollo." Oops. Clearly I was having some trouble with my spanish that day...

Prettiest plaza!

Our next stop was to see the city from the Castillo de Gibralfaro, which was on top of a huge hill. The view all the way up was breath taking - literally, it was a really steep path - and once we got to the castle the grounds were beautiful as well.

After our giant hike we headed back to the beach to relax and visit the Malagueta sign again. The beach was so peaceful we ended up napping for about 30 minutes in the sun. Then we headed to the harbor to people watch and wander around a little more. Finally we got tapas and ice cream, as expected, and headed back to the hostel to pick up our luggage and make our way home.

Sevilla and Málaga are definitely two places I would recommend visiting in Spain, and the two combined plus a great group of people made a fantastic weekend trip.