Vandon house part 2

So this semester is like the real deal. Not being home for nearly 7 months. Seems like way to long to be away from my family! THANK GOD that I get to do a Europe tour with my sisters! can't wait!!

Being back in London with a whole new group of people has been a very interesting experience. The house is packed! 52 students living in one building (AHHHH!) Going through the whole process of meeting people, and getting to know people is more grueling than I remembered it to be. BUT.... I have gotten to know some really great people in the last 3 weeks. The sad thing is though, since I was here last semester and it took awhile to build those great friendship...I know by the time we all build strong friendships we will be leaving back to the states. I'm going to try not to think about that at the moment and enjoy every minute.

Our first real outing together as a group was for Katherine's 21st birthday! Katherine was here with me last semester and is an amazing person! Her birthday fell on AUSTRALIA DAY! Before that day I had no idea that there even was an Australia day. let me tell you....there is and the party HARD. So for her birthday and the celebrations we all went to Walkabout which is a Australian chain of bars. IT WAS PACKED! SO CRAZY! it was like oktoberfest for australians haha it was ridiculous! We stayed and hard a great time, and made sure Katherine has the best birthday ever! (im not sure if it was really the best, but it sure was memorable!)

Soooo...last weekend as a group we all went to Liverpool! On the way up we stopped in this little village called Chester, and pretty much only had time to eat lunch. haha but it was cute! SO after a ridiculous amount of time spent in a double decker coach we made it to liverpool. It wasnt anything like I expected, it was way nicer and developed than I imagined. BUT EVERYTHING WAS SOOOOOO CHEAP! We all definitely took advantage of that, so a little bit too much. We did an interesting ghost walk, which was pretty cheesy but entertaining all the same. We afterwards went to a pub called the flute and had a great time! (drinks were SO cheap) The next morning we did a Beatles tour where we got to see John Lennon's and Paul Mccartney's house as well as Penny Lane and the strawberry field! It was really cool and very interesting! We then got the rest of the day to explore Liverpool. All around it was a great weekend, and good bonding time with other program members.

till next time!!!

SEVILLA!

So, I am very bad a this whole blog thing. This semester I am going to give it a better effort.

I've been back in London for about 3 weeks, and although I do love it and am glad to be back in an english speaking country, I miss Spain! I miss the small alleys and orange trees of Sevilla. Living in Sevilla for 3 weeks was the closest thing to a culture shock that I have come by so far in life. But after spending so much time adventuring through the city, making friends, and eating great food I really miss it.

I lived at 65 calle de los banos ( yes street of the bathrooms haha) The building is owned by the family and the WHOLE family lives in it. There were 8 family members and 5 students including myself, but surprisingly it wasn't crowded at all. In the house I had my own room while staying there which was nice, and breakfast and dinner were included. Spanish food is amazing, I could go on and on about it!

While in Sevilla, I had the chance to go to Madrid, Granada, and Cordoba. Madrid was my least favorite, it was not at all what I thought and basically looked like any old city. Although I only spent a day in Granada I LOVED it! The Alhambra was so beautiful and definitely qualifies as a wonder of the world in my book! It was constructed my an arabic sultan and has so much detail it took centuries to finish! I went to Granada and Cordoba with Nina, a student also living in my Sevilla home. Having someone fluent in Spanish was so helpful.Nina has been in Spain for almost a year so she knows the best places and food.

Cordoba was a very small city, which was what I pictures traditional Spanish cities to look like. It has the white washed walls, tiny little alleys, and cobble stone streets. Cordoba has the largest mosque in Spanish and one of 3 that are left standing. It was beautiful, filled with amazing arches on the ceiling and the largest gold alter I have ever seen. I luckily got to see so much more of Spain than I thought, and sights that I will never forget.

I think that the thing I miss the most about Spain is the culture and the people. Everyone is very warm hearted and friendly. I felt very comfortable walking everywhere I went, and had no problems with ay Spaniards. Traveling to spain for 3 weeks by myself taught me so much. I really like traveling alone, you can just follow your own schedule and do what ever you want. A lot of people were very skeptical when I told them I was going to Spain alone, but if I had gone with other friends it would have been a completely different experience.

I want to add pictures but my computer wont let me! hopefully I can figure that out soon! and I will get better at this blog thing!