Photo of the Week

This weekend we went to one of the beautiful Galician beaches, Carnota. Because Galicia is on the coast, there are many beaches to choose from! Spaniards usually vacation to the Galician beaches because it is cooler here and not as touristy as the beaches in Southern Spain. The Galician beaches are known to be beautiful! I'm glad we took the lead from the Spaniards.

Photo of the Week

I have been slacking on the photo of the week for a long time! Here is a precursor to the next post on Semana Santa-Easter week in Sevilla!

Sevilla proved to me my new favorite city in Spain! I loved the liveliness, culture, food, plazas and the hype for Semana Santa. More installments to come!

Just Along for the Mills and Views

One of the added bonuses that comes along with being a language assistant is that I am included in any of the class trips that I want to go along with at my school, IES Brión. Since I assist in the bilingual physical education classes as well, I am tagging along on all the outdoor activities!
All the hiking I did with my family on camping trips each summer paid off for the uphill climb I took with primero bachillerato students (juniors in high school).

We hiked in the area O Rosal, which is in Vigo, the southern region of Galicia, right above Portugal! We hiked up along los molinos de Picón, or the water mills of Picón. The guide explained to us (in Galician, so this is what I think he said!) that the water flowed downhill from one mill or the next, to keep them all going. Back in the day, the mills were used to grind corn, but now they are not in use. O Rosal is a region that is also known for producing great white wine!

The students hiking along the mills

Class photo!

My fellow teachers and I! Ana, Carmen, Senin and our guide

After the hike we had a picnic lunch. Its a little strange to be one of the teachers now instead of a student but I have good company! All of the teachers at my school are so welcoming and excited to have me there. Besides both the physical education teachers, one of the Math teachers, Senin came along. Senin's daughter is studying in the United States right now we are switching places! I told the guide he had a good taste in cities! (too bad he had never actually been to Chicago...)

Next we went to the border of Portugal and Galicia. We were standing on the Spanish side, and across the river was Portugal!

 

The first people to live in Galicia were actually Celtic, and we got to see some of the first Celtic villages, called castros. Castros were round houses made of stone and hay roofs and very close to each other. These groups of castros were on a hill and protected, any intruders who were trying to come up to attack were just shot down!

 

 The next stop was Valenca, Portugal, right inside the border. We went to a fortress inside Valenca, which is now just a shopping area, and of course a great view.

The fortress was still complete with cannons

I am so happy to be so involved and included in the activities of my school. I couldn't have asked for a better place to work and go each morning to teach English. They have made me feel welcome from the start and along the way I get to see beautiful sights. This coming week I am going on two more trips with different levels of kids, so be prepared for more pictures! And as long as there is a beautiful view, I am a happy girl.

El Camino de Santiago

One of the most important and historical aspects of Santiago de Compostela is the huge and impressive cathedral that contains the remains of the apostle James. Even more important is the path leading up to the cathedral. The camino de Santiago, or the way of St. James, is a pilgrimage across Northern Spain that pilgrims have been walking for more than 1000 years. The whole camino is about 780km starting in France. I had learned about the camino in my Spanish classes at Ball State, but I didn't understand the full significance until I was standing in front the the cathedral.

The Cathedral of St. James in Santiago de Compostela

Living in such a historical place makes me stand in awe of the cathedral every time I pass it. I have hiked along the camino a few times near Santiago, but maybe one day I will walk the entire way! Walking through the city you will always pass many pilgrims walking around, getting a drink or sleeping in the gazebo in the park. Here are a few glimpses of my camino!

The sign to point out this start to the camino

This is the symbol of the camino to keep pilgrims going the correct way

The camino sometimes runs along pavement

or sometimes in the middle of nature

The camino runs along the Spanish countryside

It is a beautiful path

The cathedral is always in sight! If anyone is interested in walking the camino with me someday, all signups are welcome!

Photo of the Week

On the rooftop tour of the cathedral!

We got a great view of Santiago on top of the cathedral! My roommate Melissa, her boyfriend Jakie, my friend Shannon and I all took the tour of the cathedral rooftops. We got to go inside the archbishop's quarters and dining hall in side the cathedral also. All beautiful!

Land of Azulejos

This post is dedicated to mi amiga Shannon Sullivan! Shannon and I went to Ball State University together and one of the highlights of our relationship was sharing a trundle bed on Spring Break 2012. After then, Shannon is taking a European tour and basically living the life. She was nice enough (and lucky enough) to make a stop in Northern Spain to Santiago de Compostela to visit me! Northern Spain is not the typical Spain people think of when hearing about Spain. Although there might not be an abundance of flamenco music and it's not always sunny all the time, there are advantages of living in Northern Spain. An abundance of bagpipe music for one, and also living very close to Portugal.
Shannon and I took a trip to the city of Porto, Portugal and had trundle bed reunion 2! We city was beautiful and there were many aspects that we enjoyed:

Tiled sidewalks

Funny statues

Cool graffiti

 We took the route of being tourists supreme, and got a special package of a tour bus, boat tour and wine cave tour. Porto is famous for making Port wine, the sweet dessert wine. I think we caught the best glances of Porto on our touristy weekend, seeing the coast, the city and all the tiled buildings we could.

The thing I liked most about Porto was all the buildings made out of tiles or azulejos. Houses, churches and even the train station were constructed with beautiful designs and colors. The blue and white tile designs like the one above and below were the most popular to see in Porto.

Other random facts about Porto is that it is known to have a symbol of a rooster, and there is a famous legend that goes along with that. You will find an abundance of colorful rooster towels, tiles and memorabilia. Also, Porto has great looking fruit. At the open market they have each day, I tasted the best fresh strawberries I ever had.

We eventually had to say goodbye to Porto when the weekend was over.

Shannon has been in Santiago three weeks with me, and when she lives this Thursday Santiago and all my students will miss her. I love you Shan!

The End of the World

Its official: I have seen the end of the world!

Last weekend the girls and I went to Finisterre, which is said to be the westernmost point in Spain, and in Europe. Back in the old days, when Europe was basically it, people thought this point was the end of the world.

We took a bus two hours to Finisterre and hiked up the hill to the end point and the faro, or lighthouse. With views like we had on the walk up, the hike wasn't bad at all.

We made it to the top and it was beautiful! It really did look like the end of the world with waves crashing on the rocks and ocean stretching on for as far as you can see.

I had to clamber down the rocks to the bottom point to say that I really was on the tip of the end of the world and when I was down there, I saw lizards. So now you all know what is really at the end of the world! Lizards. And a lot of rocks.

The walk back was worth every step!

Good Things

Some good things that have happened in Spain in the cold month of January:
1. I went on a field trip with my segundo students to A Coruña for an English scavenger hunt and Spanish opera of Cinderella
2. Ate Skyline in Spain! Melissa (my roommate from North Carolina) approved.
3. My friend Shannon from Ball State is coming to visit!! She came this past Thursday and will be staying for three weeks.
4. No snow or rain in Galicia in January, only sunny and cool days!
5. Four months of living in Spain successfully completed, and four more to experience and until I get to see everyone I love!

My students repping Barcelona on our field trip

Welcome February!

Travelogue

I always want to spend Christmas time with my family. I love our traditions; from the advent wreath to my Mom's big crock pot full of hot chocolate. I love rummaging through all three boxes of ornaments looking for my favorite ones to put on after my Dad sets up the tree and my Mom puts on the lights. I love our old manger scene and all its characters, even the sheep with the glued on hoof. I secretly love being forced to wrap all the presents for my Mom and knowing what each person will be opening while they are opening it. I love seeing both sides of my family and playing the white elephant game with the Vetter's and sharing time with the Murray's. I love that all my friends are home also. This year, being in Spain for the holidays, I missed faces like this:

And also like this:

 

And many more but I will spare the rest of you. (Don't think I don't have an appropriate photo though)

This year instead of these wonderful faces I got to see some wonderful sights. For Christmas I traveled to Paris with some great girls and we celebrated at the Eiffel Tower! 

Kings Island just doesn't compare...

The French were great hosts for Christmas, and I even learned to spread some cheer; Joyeux Noël! There were so many different people hanging out at the Eiffel Tower for Christmas, and I heard about five different languages while walking around. I got some great views of the main attraction.

Although we did not stay long enough to make a scratch on all there is to see and do in Paris, the girls and I saw some great sights! We spent a day seeing the great cathedrals including the Sacre Coeur and the Notre Dame. My favorite sight was our day trip to Versailles. It was so interesting to see all the history I have always learned about! Louis the 16 and Marie Antoinette had a viewing area in their bedrooms for people to watch them wake up and fall asleep! It was like they were a different breed of human. The gardens outside were still impressive even in the winter with no flowers or fountains running. Here are some illustrations to my trip.

The Sacre Coeur has a beautiful mural on the inside and a beautiful view of Paris on the outside

The Louvre Museum where the Mona Lisa is a celebrity

The Notre Dame Cathedral...if I could only ring the bell!

Versailles, where the French Revolution began!

One of the exciting highlights of France was that I got to take a train into the city of Lyon, France to see Kevin Grange, who lived with my Aunt and cousins last year. He spent Christmas with my family last year, and this year I was able to meet his family! It was so nice to see him and see him in his element. I also looked through his Flemmingsberg yearbook and discovered my cousin Mahlon was voted "Most likely to bring home to your parents!" What a stud he is! I got to spend the night in the French countryside at Kevin's parents house and see his high school and where he grew up. I will admit that I did eat a total of six crepes in the six days that I spend in France, and it may or may not have been one a day. All in all, France was good to me! My favorite thing to take pictures of was all the cute little cafes that lined the streets!

  

I received the best Christmas present I could ask for after Christmas and it was to spend New Year's Eve with my best friend, Miss Kara Leslie! Kara and I have been best friends since first grade but this was the start to our travels abroad together!

We spend the New Year in Berlin along with my roommate Melissa, and got to see some great sights and drink some delicious German beer. The German love their fireworks for New Year's Eve, and I even convinced some guys to let me shoot some off. We took a tour of the city and saw so many historical sights! We saw the Reichstag, the Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Wall, and stood above Hitler's bunker to name a few! It made me realize how recent all this history is and I thought it was all so interesting. My favorite part to see was the East Side Gallery, the part of the Berlin Wall that has been turned into an art gallery. I think it is so cool how a sign of repression has been turned into art. 

Holocaust Memorial, the architect did not explain his thoughts on the design

East Side Gallery of Berlin Wall

 Next Kara and I headed to Amsterdam, and even though it rained and even hailed a little, we decided it is the cutest city we had ever seen. Amsterdam is filled with perfectly constructed buildings on every street and every street is filled with canals running through them and on top of the canals are people riding bicycles. It was almost too much when I took a picture of a canal with swans on it in front of the perfect buildings. Kara and I went to the Van Gogh museum and the Anne Frank house, and cafe hopped to stay indoors. Amsterdam is known for tulips and there were many tulip markets with every type of bulb you could want. I can only imagine the cuteness of Amsterdam in the summer with perfect buildings, canals, bicycles AND tulips! I guess I will have to come back! 

Never enough bikes in Amsterdam!

Buildings, boats, bikes and swans!

Tourists for sure

 Kara was able to come back to Santiago with me for her last days in Europe and I loved being able to show her where I live and introduce her to my friends. I forced her to go out like a Spaniard and she passed the test. Although I am bummed she had to leave, I am happy to be back in Santiago and in Spain! I can't believe I have been here four months and have four months to go. I am determined to enjoy the rest of my time here and explore Spain!