Everything Italian...

Between pizza and pasta, coffee, gelato, and ancient ruins, the Italians really know what they are doing. Thursday the 15th, I took the early morning bus from Seville to Madrid, where I then flew to Italy for a week. I started my adventures in Rome. Arriving late on Thursday night, I didn’t have time to start wandering through the city until Friday morning. Friday, I awoke early, anxious to see all that I could see in a day’s time. I started by taking the city bus to Vatican City. I’m definitely improving on how to use public transportation, but I don’t like buses so much because you never know where you should stop until you’ve already passed it…and such was the case then. It’s okay though, because me and a couple of other tourists were all going there, so we just hopped back on the bus. I finally got to Vatican City, but I didn’t really know where everything was and the signage wasn’t clear, so I just sort of followed the crowd. I eventually wound up in the line to tour the cupola of St. Peter’s Basilica, which turned out to be a beautiful view of the city (from the outside) and of the church (from the inside). But the worthwhile view was only the reward from climbing up 500 stairs; some of which were quite narrow, windy, and steep. Upon finding myself on solid ground again, I spent some time gazing in awe and wonder at the inside of the Basilica. From there, I was on a mission to find the Sistine Chapel. Well, let’s just say that I had NO clue where it was, and my maps weren’t very helpful, so I wandered around for about an hour and a half before I FINALLY saw signs for it. What I soon found out, was that you have to tour (aka, pay for) entrance to the Vatican Museum in order to see it. So I pay, expecting to cut right to the chapel…WRONG! They make you go through pretty much the whole museum (which is rather large), before you can see the Sistine Chapel. Once I saw it, I would say that it was worth the wait. The very large and detailed painting is incredible. It is really hard to believe that someone actually hand-painted the whole masterpiece. After, I just took out my map and started walking to some of the many random plazas and churches on it. I like not having a strict agenda, because it allows me to see more of the actual city, not just the tourist attractions :-) Sometime during the tour, I was getting a little tired, so I FORCED myself to eat some gelato for an energy boost...jk! Hahaha! I’m pretty sure that gelato could be my new favorite food. I must admit that I think I ate gelato every day that I was in Italy :-) When I was finally exhausted from walking, I retired to the hostel for dinner (it offered a free pasta dinner) and called it a night.

Saturday, day #2 in Rome. What should I do today? Well, I was showered, ready, packed, and out the door by 10. I was meeting Aunt Kimmy, Uncle Curtis, Grandma, and Grandpa, who were in town to embark on a European cruise) at our hotel at 11. When I got there, I waited for about an hour, but there was no sign of them. I was getting a little nervous because I didn’t know if their flights had been affected by the volcano erupting and I don’t really have a solid way of communicating with them. After an hour, I decided that I didn’t want to sit around, so I headed to the Colliseum. Wow. That’s basically all I have to say about it, but that doesn’t even begin to describe it. Looking at it from the outside, it is just so impressive to look at; standing there all massive and ancient-looking. The inside is equally amazing. It just blows my mind that something so ancient is still standing and in relatively decent shape. After a lot of gazing in awe at the structure, I left to venture to Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, other ancient Roman ruins nearby. But on the way, I got a call from Aunt Kimmy saying they were here in Rome and were waiting for me at the hotel!!!! Clearly, I was excited to see them, I mean, it has been over 3 months since I’ve seen anyone from home (minus through Skype). So I returned to the hotel, and after hugging all of them, we went out for a nice lunch. That was a treat for me, because I always try to eat whatever I can, for as cheap as I can. Which means that I eat sandwiches from the grocery store, or whatever else I can find for cheap. We wandered around and saw the Trevi Fountain, ate more gelato (big surprise, I know :-) ), and saw some other major plazas. I just think the city is just so cool because it’s so old. We don’t have anything that old in the States. Okay, this is getting long already, so I’m going to have to condense this a bit, so as to not bore you with details. The next morning, we went to the Vatican just so the fam could look at the outside of the Basilica. Then we ate lunch and headed for the Coliseum. We thoroughly toured it (It was my second time, but I didn’t care…it’s just so awesome!). After, just Uncle Curtis, their friend Roy, and I ventured through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I don’t really have the space to write everything the sites were used for, but I’m sure you can find a sufficient description on Google or Wikipedia if you really want to know :-) It was a lot of walking, but it was well worth it because it was so cool! I know that I have learned all about that stuff in history classes my whole life, but it was always so BORING before!! Actually seeing it is way, way, WAY better. Short break at the hotel, late dinner, and then we saw the Trevi fountain all lit up at night. Very pretty.

On Monday, I had to say goodbye to the fam, which was incredibly sad for me. I was doing so well until I started hugging them all and yes…I started to cry. I just couldn’t help myself! I didn’t think I was homesick until I saw them, and then I didn’t want them to leave. Anyway, they had to leave to catch their train, and I was waiting to take the train to Siena for a day. Once I figured out how all of the trains operated (it is actually kind of confusing...to the point where I had to ask 2 very nice security people at the station AND the train conductor to make sure I was on the right train). Whatever, I got there, and that’s all that matters. Once I got to Siena, I had to find my hostel. Well, let’s just say that I was a little deceived when I was booking because it made it sound like I was close to the city. It turned out to be a solid 45-minute walk from the city center. Luckily, it was pretty nice, so it sort of redeemed itself. The next morning, I checked out of the hostel and wandered through the city for a while. The city is absolutely precious. And I mean adorable; it kind of looks like something out of a fairy tale because everything is old and worn-looking, but not in a gross sort of way, more like it gives the city a certain charm. I used the map as a guide, but otherwise I just wandered around, following the city-posted signs for monuments and churches and stuff. Then back to the train station to go to Venice!!

Another train ride down and I arrived in Venice. It was basically as perfect and beautiful as I imagined it to be. You walk out of the train station and are immediately looking at the winding canal and city charm. Love it! Dumped my stuff at the hostel and was in search of a restaurant that the guidebook recommended. The city streets are so windy, they are a little difficult to navigate, but I found it fine. Ate a delicious pizza for dinner. The next morning I hit the ground running for a long day of sightseeing. The dude working at the hostel gave me a map with a suggested route to hit most of the historic sites, so I followed that. Basically, all my pictures are of beautiful buildings and landscapes, because I just couldn’t get enough of it! I was like, “That’s so pretty!” “And that!” And that too!” Hahaha! I saw the Ponte Rialto, which is a famous bridge, St. Mark’s Basilica, toured the Dodge’s Palace, avoided getting lost, and of course, ate gelato :-) Overall, it was a great day. I’m just enamored by the city of Venice. I’m thinking that I’m definitely going back some day. Back to the train station, but this time for an overnight train from Venice back to Rome. That was a long night. The whole set-up is kind of weird because you are in this small car thing with 5 other people, and you all are crammed in there trying to sleep (I didn’t buy a ticket for a bed because that was more expensive). I’m not sure if I will be doing that again. There was some confusion with the seating, and of course, I had NO clue what was going on because I don’t speak any Italian whatsoever. It was fine though and we got it all worked out :-) Then, my flight from Rome to Madrid was over 2 hours late leaving, which made me miss my 1 am bus from Madrid to Sevilla. Therefore, I had to sleep in the airport :-( I had to buy another bus ticket to Sevilla, but I finally got back home, exhausted and in desperate need of a shower, around 5 pm on Friday.

What a long trip! Italy is seriously gorgeous, but I was happy to be back at home. Traveling is kind of exhausting because you are constantly on the go, figuring out where you are and where you want to go, walking all over the place, etc. But I think that Venice has been my favorite place to visit so far :-)

Lesson: Most of Europe's public restrooms are hard to find, sketch, and expensive! While I was in Venice, I could NOT find a bathroom. And then when I did, it cost me .80!

Lesson: That traffic circles are used EXTENSIVELY in most of the European countries that I've visited. We have some at home, but they are pretty small, and usually used to slow people down in subdivisions. Here, the traffic circles are everywhere! And they are absolutely massive. I don't know if they help circulate traffic better, but they always make me nervous because there are all of these cars who are supposed to yield to others, but everyone kind of just goes. I'm not sure how these don't cause more accidents.

Lesson: I was shocked to find out that English is more widely understood in Italty than Spanish. I was feeling a little nervous to go to Italy because I don't speak any Italian, but my Senora was like, "It's fine! People can understand Spanish." So I was thinking that I could speak Spanish to communicate with the people there. But I found that when I spoke Spanish, people were like, "Huh?" and didn't understand me, but if I spoke English, they could. Weird, right? Spanish and Italian are a LOT more similar than English and Italian. Also, when I went to the Dodge's Palace, most of the signs were in Italian and English. Some were in 4 languages (Italian, English, German, and French), but Spanish wasn't one of them. So I guess if you speak Spanish you are out of luck!!! ( or maybe they just couldn't understand my Spanish with an American accent :-) )

Por Fin...English!

What this means is, finally everything was clear to me because I went to London during the weekend of April 8 - 11. Therefore, EVERYTHING WAS IN ENGLISH!!!! (Can you tell that I was pretty excited?!?) Well, this was my first trip where I traveled alone. And no Drew, I have friends, but some of my friends went to Denmark for the weekend to stay with friends there, and I didn't want to go because it's really expensive and I wanted to go to London more. Therefore, I was like, "I'm going! Even if I have to go alone!"...so I went alone :-) I wasn't too concerned though, because, like I've already established, everyone speaks English. Well, I FINALLY got to the city center of London, after waiting forever to clear border control at the airport (because England is not part of the European Union, you have to go through border control), and figuring out which bus to take, around 2 a.m. Because it was so late, the bus I planned on taking was not running. Fabulous. And I seriously could NOT figure out what bus I needed to take to get to my hostel because I didn't have a map of the city. Therefore, I had to resort to taking a taxi...unfortunately. It was a little bit expensive, but I just wanted to get to the hostel. Got there, checked in, and slept :-)

The next morning, after VERY little sleep, I got ready and was out the door and ready to explore London. I didn't really have a great ciy map and we all know my directional skills, so I was basically flying by the seat of my pants. Also, one of the great things about traveling alone is that I can do/see whatever I want, whenever I want. What freedom! Hahaha! Anyway, I walked around a LOT and so I was able to so a lot of things, including random things along the way. In this one day, I was able to see Big Ben, the Parliment building, Westminster Abbey (but I didn't tour it because it was really expensive), a well-known fountain (I forget the name, but I definitely remember that it was at the fountain where the most picky couple that I have ever met asked me to take their picture. I was like, "Sure!" Then they started being UBER picky about the shot, and the angle, and the background, and on and on..... I was like, "I'm pretty sure I know how to take a picture!!!! And if you are going to be so picky, don't ask me!). After that, I walked down by the river and saw the London Eye, but again, didn't go up in it because it was really expensive....and I'm on a budget. After, I have to admit that I ate McDonald's for lunch. Yes, McDonald's. I was so excited for American-like fast food you have no idea. I mean, I took full advantage of all of the food that I can't get in Spain. Other examples: Quiznos, bagels, and cookies (like home-made type cookies. In fact, I think I had a cookie every day). It's so weird how we forget everyone in the world doesn't eat the same things that we eat on a regular basis. After that wonderful fast-food lunch, I was on a hunt to find Buckingham Palace, which turned out to be kind of disappointing, in my opinion. Maybe I missed something, but I thought that it would be cooler to see in person, but it was kind of just there. From there, I wanted to find the infamous, one and only Harrod's. Yeah. I found it, went inside to look around, but left quickly because I'm pretty sure that I can't even afford to buy a pair of socks from there :-) Then, I went to the King's Crossing station. All you Harry Potter fans know why....because Harry gets to the Hogwart's Express by platform 9 & 3/4 at the King's Crossing station! Hahahaha! They have a platform 9 & 3/4 for people to take pictures. So of course I had to go! From there, I found Shakespeare's Globe Theater and saw THEE London Bridge. Basically, after all of that, I was exhausted, so it was back to the hostel for the night.

Next day, my first tourist attraction was the Tower of London. My friend told me that it was really cool, so I spent the money to tour it. That tourned out to be great advice, because I spent about 3 hours touring the museum. It's just so interesting to learn all of the history that took place there and there is so much to see due to the fact that you can tour practically all of the castle-like buildings. At a restaurant there, I figured that I should have an afternoon tea while I was there, because it seemed like an English thing to do. I mean, I don't even like tea, but it's what they do there, right? After I was done, I was going to go to Hyde Park, but I was looking at the map of the tube, and I saw a stop called Wimbledon. I was thinking, "Do you think that's where they host the Wimbledon tennis open?" So, I asked someone on the train, and he was like, "Of course!" So that's how I randomly got to go to visit the tennis stadium where they host the Wimbledon Open :-) It was so exciting to be where all of the tennis greats come to play!!! And I don't know how I never thought to go there in the first place, but I'm glad that I happened upon it :-) Went off to find dinner after that, and then back to the hostel for bed.

For my last day in London, I didn't have much time, but I got to go to Abby Road!!! You know, the famous Beatle's place. I have to admit that I don't really know why it's famous (I think the Beatle's have an album with this name, but I'm not sure). I was able to get a photo of me crossing the road too, just like them :-) After that, I returned to the center to take a stroll through Hyde Park. Then I went to the airport. Well, getting there was quite difficult, but that's a LONG story. I finally got there and was in a hurry, and of course, I got stopped by security and they ended up throwing away my shampoo, hair gel, and toothpaste. It was obviously my fault, but I was still a little frustrated, becuase clearly, my shampoo isn't dangerous. Whatever! I made my flight (though just barely) and was able to get back to Sevilla without any more problems :-) First trip alone = success!


Lesson: London has ice cream cones with two openings on top for two scoops of ice cream to sit next to each other instead of on top of each other! Hahaha! I was like, "Woah! I have to get one of those!" Hahahaha!

Lesson: Knowing another language is extremely handy if you want people to leave you alone. Just start speaking to them in another language and they will be so shocked they will walk away!

Lesson: Grocery stores are seriously the way to go for cheap food. I just discovered that you can buy a pre-made sandwhich and things to go with it for super cheap. I was able to buy a sandwhich, chips, a drink, and a cookie for around 3 pounds.

Lesson: I think that London (and the UK in general) just wants to be different. I mean, they drive on the wrong side of the road, they want to have their own currency (whose exchange rate with the dollar is horrible), and they use a completely different outlet/plug thing too.

Semana Santa

In Sevilla, Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is a really big deal. Every day, starting on Palm Sunday, there are numerous "pasos," or passes, through different parts of the city. It's a little difficult to explain, but I will try. Basically, it's like a parade, but with religious monuments/art/sculpture/etc. instead of floats. Each "paso" consists of 2 parts: "El Senor" (Jesus), and "La Virgen" (Mary). The paso leaves from its respective church, goes through the city streets (but ALL pass through the Cathedral), and then re-enters its church. All of the pasos leave at varying times of the day; some during the day, and some really late at night. What I didn't realize too, was that each paso is REALLY long. Sometimes, it can last 12 or more hours. That is a LONG time for all of the people to be walking through the city. First, many, many, many (sometimes almost 2,000) "Nazarenos" pass by. These "Nazarenos" are dressed in long robes of their own distinctive color to each "paso." They also wear a long, pointy hat and mask. They are dressed very similar to the KKK. It's a little scary at first, but I was just trying to remember that it is something religious, not racist. After los Nazarenos pass, then a large sculpture of Jesus passes by. Each paso has "El Senor" in a different pose (carrying the cross, on the cross, and more). These extremely heavy sculptures are carried by more than 30 men, so they pass by slowly and have to be put down often. Then, come more Nazarenos, some carrying crosses, others just walking with large candles. When the Nazarenos stop, you can ask, and sometimes they will give you "stampitas," or small pictures of the Virgen or El Senor. And finally, "La Virgen" passes. In my opinion, all of the Virgens look the same, but the Sevillanos definitely know the differences. All of the pasos are VERY pretty, impressive, and intricate. I was gone during the first weekend, but I was excited to see the pasos during the week. We didn't have class all week, so we were able to see as many pasos as we wanted. On Monday, it was raining, so most of the pasos were cancelled for the day. The pasos can't leave if it's raining because the old, valuable sculptures will be ruined. On Tuesday though, the weather was gorgeous, so I was able to see some pasos. My family took me to see La Candelaria and El Dulce Nombre at night. The city was absolutely FILLED with people. Also, because they blocked off many of the roads in the center, it is dfficult to get anywhere. And if you find that you can get there, you may have to go WAY out of the way or it takes you forever to get there. It's kind of annyoing actually. Anyway, we stayed out pretty late to see the pasos (like 3:30 or something). Wednesday, after sleeping in a bit, I hung around the house until nighttime, when my host sister and her boyfriend took me to see more pasos. We manuevered our way through the crowd and hopped a fence in order to get a good view. It was worth it though, because we were literally "in" the paso. So much so that they kept telling me, "Erin, you should just start walking with the Nazarenos!" It was a perfect place to take great photos :-) Thursday, which is the day with the most pasos, was CRAZY!!!!! I was definitely not prepared for what was to come. We didn't even leave the house until around 10:30 pm. When we did, we walked to the city center to try to see the first paso. Yeah, that was a fail. I have seriously never been so squished in my life (meaning that there was a large crowd of people). Everyone was packed together so closely, I could barely move. I mean, I kept lifting my head to try to get some fresh air :-) We finally got out of the crowd and moved to another spot, where we stayed for the rest of the night. We saw 3 or 4 pasos during our time there. When we decided to leave, at about 6 am, we tried to get back to the house, but we found ourselves basically trapped by the various pasos on all sides. So, my Senora is like, "Let's go to a cafe." Goodness gracious!! I passed on ordering coffee (though I could have used the caffeine boost), in the hopes that I would EVENTUALLY be able to sleep. After some time there, we started to make our way home, but again, were stopped by a paso. Yeah. Needless to say, I didn't get back to my house until about 9:15...in the morning!!! I was completely exhausted. Basically, the rest of the weekend passed the same: went to see more pasos on Friday night with my friends, saw 1 or 2 on Saturday night, and went to church on Easter. Easter was a little weird here. People don't celebrate the holiday like I am used to celebrating it. I like my church here, but we didn't even really talk about it being Easter. I mean, Easter is a really important day and they didn't even mention that Jesus rose from the grave that day. Weird. Also, my family here isn't that religious, so we didn't have an Easter dinner or anything. It kind of made me miss home because things were so different. I guess it's just what they are accustomed to, though. I'm sorry if this is confusing, becuase it is really hard to fully understand Semana Santa without seeing it. Oh, and this is completely random, but I was finally brave enough to get my hair cut here. My bangs were so long and were driving me absolutely crazy, so I was like, "I'm going!" So I asked my family, and they recommended a place for me to go that was good and cheap. I was really nervous, becuase I am REALLY picky about my hair and with the whole language thing, I wasn't sure how it would go. I only got my bangs cut, so it went fine. Hahahaha! I'm so dramatic :-) Lesson: Most of the people here walk SOOOOOO slow!!! Like no joke! When walking with my family, I swear it took us twice as long as it normally takes me to get anywhere! Lesson: Basically everyone eats sunflower seeds. I know that people eat them in the States, but during Semana Santa, if you looked around, you would see most of the people around you sitting there eating sunflower seeds. I don't know. For some reason I find that really interesting. I was eating some with my sister and her boyfriend, and they were so appalled that I eat the whole seed, shell and all. My sister was like, "Erin! Don't eat the shell!" I was like, "Don't worry! I always eat the shell" :-) Lesson: They definitely don't check id's for people buying cigarettes here. It's just not possible when people buy them from a vending machine. Yes, I'm serious. There are literally vending machine type things in bars and other public places so that people can buy cigarettes. Lesson: Because I had to wait about an hour at the salon before they cut my hair, I had lots of time to observe the stylists there. I learned that they curl hair completely different than I have ever seen before. In the states, if people want a perm or something similar, the stylists use rollers and then they sit under the big dryer thing for a while. Here, the stylist only uses different sized round brushes and a regular blow dryer. I watched as they used the round brush while drying the hair to curl it, but then they would let the brush hang in the hair for a while to set the curl more. How weird! I mean, people were sitting there with 2 or 3 brushes hanging in their hair. Hahahaha!

Here is a video of El Paso de La O (one of the processions):