Europe Trip 2009: Spain

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Spain:

Monday June 15th: After getting to the train station, we waited for about an hour before boarding the train. We had a competition to see who could be the most creative with getting all the luggage put away (our group only had carry-on sized bags so we had it easy.) I had a room on the train with Maja, Taylor and Matthew and we ended up just talking and hanging out for awhile. After a bit, our tour guide (Tags) joined us in our room and we played BS (the card game) he ended up winning, not fair! After about 2 hours of trying to figure out how to get our beds out, the train people finally came by and pulled our beds down. We kicked Matthew out for awhile so we could change, and then snuggled up and slept for the night.

Tuesday June 16th: We woke up and had a few hours before the train would stop in Madrid. We got ready for the day and had breakfast and then got off the train and almost immediately got put on a bus for a short tour of the city (We got to see La Mancha where Man of La Mancha is based). We went to our hotel then (the rooms were AMAZING! The shower had body jets, and there were two beds and a bunk bed! I got the bottom bunk.) We wandered around a few shops before going to Tapas for dinner and then going to bed.

Wednesday June 17th: We woke up and had a free day because the other people in our group from other schools were in Toledo for the day. We tried to get tickets to go as well, but we couldn't. Oh well! The free day was fun. We went to a museum and then went shopping and had a siesta (I love siestas!) We then went to another museum (the Prado) with the people who had gotten back from Toledo and I got a poster of the painting "The Garden of Earthly Delights." We then had a late dinner and slept.

Thursday June 18th: We left the hotel and got onto a bus which took us to Cordoba to see a Palace (although it may have been a church, we went to so many I get confused) We then took another bus ride to Seville and had dinner at our hotel. After dinner, we walked down to the river with Mrs. Maus's son who lives in Seville (he's studying to be a flamenco guitarist). We all got lemon slushies in our group, while the other groups got Sangria (we weren't allowed...)

Friday June 19th: We had a short bus tour of Seville and then started a walking tour. We saw a bull fight ring (there wasn't a bull fight going on at the time, thank god), a palace, and a church. At the church we walked up 34 ramps to the top of a tower, it was suprisingly refreshing to do all that uphill walking! We then had free time, so we siestaed (is that a word?) One thing I have to mention about Seville is how many birds are there. It was crazy! It was like the movie "Birds", except they weren't attacking us. Anywho, after our siesta we had dinner before going to Flamenco which was okay, but not the best. It was very hot, and I was thirsty, but I the dancing was good!

Saturday June 20th: In the morning we took a bus from Seville to Grenada to look at a Moorish Palace and it was really, REALLY hot. Also, this palace was the only place in Europe I saw a drinking fountain at. I think Europe has something against keeping people hydrated, either that or they just don't drink ever. Also, at this palace there's a place where you're supposed to be able to sing because it has perfect accoustics. Well, Mrs. Maus goes out and sings and it's fine, but when I start singing the security guard person yells at me to stop. Why me! After the palace, we drove to Costa del sol, had dinner, and went swimming at the beach near our hotel while watching the sunset. There was a sandbar pretty far out in the water so we all stood on it and watched as the sky turned pink, it was awesome. We then went back to our hotel to sleep.

Sunday June 21st/Monday June 20th: These were are last two days in Europe, and we spent them on the beach! The first day we didn't stay at the beach too long, instead we came back and went to the pool to swim (the other people from other schools were in Morocco on that day, so we were on our own.) I didn't actually go in the ocean on this day but oh well, it was still fun! On the second beach day, however, the rest of the group was back and we were all at the beach (though the Colorado group was at a different beach, thank god. I didn't want to be there when the boys in that group saw all the topless women, blech ><) So it was just us and the group from texas. We swam a bit, before me, Maja, Alex, and Christen rented a paddle boat with a slide so we could slide into the ocean. We finally got Bethany and Ellen to come out and join us on the slide (even though we were only supposed to have 4 people at once.) There were these two boys who only spoke spanish that kept trying to come out to join us too, but I think they got the message when we started paddling away. After our time with the slide was up, we went back to the hotel and had our last dinner in Spain. We said our goodbyes to everyone (we were the only group leaving, everyone else was going to Portugal after we left) and then slept before getting up and getting into taxis which took us to the Airport the next day.

I'd just like to say that if you're going to Europe TAKE A DIRECT FLIGHT. Going there we had 3 flights, and on the way back we had 4. I never slept on any of the ones going back, it was horrible. Other than that though, Europe was amazing, I highly recommend it!

Best quotes we said while in Spain:

"I don't wanna be on top of Matthew!" Me on the night train when I realized my bunk was above Matthew's
"Open up the Om-nom" Taylor, I'm not sure why she said this.
"Me and Charles are gonna match. Hello Betches" Maja, because she and Mrs. Charles bought matching pants.
"We've got the jankiest room in the hotel, but we got a bidet!" Maja when talking about our room in Seville.