AMERICA!

We leave Madrid tomorrow at 11am and cannot wait to see all of our family and friends!!AMERICA!

the final countdown

Great view of Barcelona from Parque Guell

Us with the famous lizard at Parque Guell

Ashley with fruit.

Here are some pictures from Barcelona for your viewing pleasure...we will be updating our last adventures after our exams tomorrow. until then...studying.

happy birthday!

A very very special birthday shout-out to the one and only ms JESSICA M LEWIS!!!

After a day full of exams tomorrow, we will most certainly be celebrating tomorrow night.

America in t-minus 3 days.

some scenic views of the ocean

penguins??

Beach in Santander

Museum of Torture

Pretty building in Santallana del Mar

Ashley and a Bruja (witch)

Santander

This weekend we went to Santander in the North of Spain. Our weekend started out on Friday, we took a bus and halfway there stopped in Burgus...not our favorite place in the world. It is kind of like a home for senior citizens with a cathedral. Anyways, after that we got to Santander and rested up before we went to explore a little bit. Our hotel was right on the beach and this weekend there was a carnival with music and food and ferris wheels/rides etc. On Saturday we went to the beach and to Santallana del Mar. In Santallana, its all about Cows and Witches. I'm not sure why... On Sunday we did a little more sight seeing and then headed back to Madrid. This week is our last full week of school and on Thursday we go to Barcelona!

Crazy American lady/host at Karaoke and her confetti

she was nuts

us with our spanish brother, Tomas

The sweeping statue in the plaza right by our home.

Updatez

Hi all! This week was a busy one for us in Madrid. On Monday we had midterms, Tuesday we went to the Palacio Real, yesterday we went to Anti-Karaoke (not anything like karaoke in the states), and today we went on the little boats in the Parque Retiro. Tomorrow morning we are going to Santander in the North of Spain to see the coast and escape from this Madrileno heat for a couple days!

Palacio Real

Today we went to the Palacio Real, the "home" for the kings and queens of Spain of the Bourbon dynasty. Although the monarchy no longer resides in this home, it is still used for ceremonial purposes. It was a really spectacular place and it was pretty evident that these royals spared no expenses when building the Palacio Real.

La Alhambra

Granada

Hola a todos! This weekend we went to Granada and it was an absolutely beautiful city. On Friday we got there and had some free time to see a little bit of the city. It is definitely much different than Madrid! It is much smaller and the city center is full of little shops and amazing restaurants. After dinner we walked to the market at the top of the highest hill in Granada and got to see a beautiful view before going to see a flamenco show. The flamenco show was so amazing! The next day we went to the beach for the day. On Sunday, we went to La Alhambra, the last Muslim stronghold in Spain before it fell to the Christian Monarchs Ferdiand and Isabel in the 15th Century. Unfortunately, my camera battery died just before we got there, but it is absolutely beautiful. After that, we had a long drive home to Madrid. Overall, it was a great weekend. This week we have midterms so it should be a pretty quiet week. On Friday we go to Santander!

MADrid.

Greetings Americans,

We have just gotten out of bed after a 4 hour siesta (awesome, I know) and now we are going to go walk around Madrid for a bit. Nothing too terribly exciting, but we do need to save up for a weekend full of fun in GRANADA.

Tonight, we are all going to a Spanish Karoke Bar. I may or may not feel obligated to bust of some Ricky Martin because after all, we are living la vida loca.

Tomorrow at 8am, we head to Granada. It will be a 6 hour trip on the bus there and then beach and relaxation the rest of the day. It should be a blast!

On Tuesday night, we saw a play with our spanish brother, Tomas. I think we would have really enjoyed it if...
1. It wasn't a 200 degree inferno.
2. We understood what was going on.
3. There weren't only 13 people in the crowd.

Pictures to come on Sunday or Monday!

These are pictures from el Valle de los Caidos (the Valley of the Fallen) that was built by the dictator Francisco Franco at the end of the civil war in 1939. The first is a view of the cross and basilica built on top and inside a mounain and the second is the view from the basilica.

Madrid, Toledo, and El Escorial

This weekend we went to Toledo and El Escorial and this first picture is of Jessica and me in front of the Monasterio del Real Sitio de El Escorial that was built by Felipe II. The second picture is me eating this discusting fried fish that we got with our drinks at this amazing rooftop bar. I should have taken a picture of the view, because you could see the whole city from where we were sitting. The picture below is of Maty (a girl in our program) and me in Toledo with the famous Don Quixote de la Mancha. The next picture, the sideways one is an amazing view of Toledo. Sorry its sideways, tilt your head. haha. The last picture is of the madness of Chueca, where there was a three night festival with live music, food, etc.

Pictures from Espana!

The Lake in el Parque Retiro

Holla to the home state!

Me looking awkward by the Palacio Crystal

McMannimal looking surprised and Ashley looking silly.