"According to the map we've only gone 4 inches." - Dumb and Dumber

Actually we went 1453 miles, but whose counting?
Sorry for the lack of posting but we rarely had internet on the travel seminar so now this one post is gonna recap the WHOLE thing. It's going to be long but bear with me. The travel seminar was a grind but it was awesome at the same time. We went to Toledo, Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, Sevilla, and Cordoba. We spent at bare minimum 25 hours traveling by bus. It was the most uncomfortable thing ever and the next time I have to take a bus it will be too soon. All our buses and tours were split up by class. I took Art History, which they decided to combine with normal History and Politics soo it was pretty dry stuff. We only had 3 classes on the travel seminar and we have a couple more in the upcoming weeks.

This is my little nugget of a professor Marta and let me tell you gurlfriend can MOTOR. She'd be giving us a tour of a cathedral, a part of a city, etc. and as soon as she was done talking she was *poof* gone. Even when we'd be walking with her she would get way ahead of us, when two seconds before we right next to her. But she wasn't jogging or speed walking at all, if you looked at her you would swear she was going a normal pace. And with her little midget legs you'd think that she'd be at the back. She's magic.

COB attempting to catch
 up to the speed racer.

Toledo
This was the first place we visited and it was only a day trip. It was quite pretty. A couple people had a rough night before and decided to take a siesta on a table for the entire tour, but other than that it was pretty uneventful.

Barcelona
It was so nice to be back to place I called home for a month in January. Our first day we didn't have any tours so we napped and rallied after the 7 hour bus ride. And yes, you need to nap after a bus ride. We attempted to sleep on the bus but you'd wake up with every muscle cramping and just as tired as before, so napping again was a necessity. Also I just love to nap. We went to dinner in Las Ramblas at some rando restaurant we found where I had ridiculously good rabbit. It was de-lic-ious. They also made a mean mojito. After that we hit up a small bar and had a shot of absinthe and tequila. The absinthe was not my idea and I was pretty apprehensive, but I was all warm and tingly and loving life after it. Then we hopped on the metro, took it to Barceloneta/ the beach to go to the clubs down there. After our 20 min walk from the metro stop, and listening to enough people bitch about the walk to make me want to drown myself in the ocean, we got to the clubs and went to Pacha.

Boqueria  

The next day we did a tour of Barcelona. We saw everything I had already seen on my other trip so I felt like quite the smarty pants knowing all the information about the all of the monuments. We went to La Sagrada Famillia, Parque Guell, Las Ramblas and the Olympic Stadium. We didn't stop for a bathroom, to eat, or get water the entire time (and they had forgotten to fill us in on the little fact that we had a free hotel breakfast buffet so no one had eaten).  We almost rioted on the bus. I don't like being an unpleasant person, but when I'm denied the basic necessities of life I tend to get cranky. When they finally let us off for lunch I went to La Boqueria which is a huge market with all sorts of food and tapas. I was near passing out, light headed and seeing spots, but Princess Chris didn't want to eat at any of the places we walked by. Finally I told him that if I passed out I didn't trust him to catch me so I was going to eat right then and there. We ate at this all organic market stand and it was so yummy.

Kevin unleashing his inner stripper at a bar pre-club.

 That night we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant across from the hotel and then went back down to the beach bars and clubs. A couple of free and 1 euro chupitos (shots) later and we were on our way to Catwalk, a different club. I had some great fun dancing the night away and we left around 4: 30 am. It was then that I realized that my cell phone was missing from little cross-body purse. I kept looking in it thinking that it had to be there, that I was just being silly and not seeing it, because lord knows I do stuff like that all the time. Nope, it was gone. SOME SEAKY SONOFABITCH STOLE IT. I had been careful all night too, keeping my bag in front of me, etc. Somehow they had unzipped my little bag on the side that my phone was on and pulled out with their greasy thief fingers. My camera and money were both still in it though, so they must of taken my phone real quick. I spent 4 weeks there and nothing happened but my second night back shit gets stolen. Figures. So now I've moved on to the classic brick nokia spanish phone (it has snake on it so I'm pretty content). But other than that little incident it was a great time.

We make the Olympic Stadium look gooood.

Valencia 
On our first day in Valencia it was raining and so our walking tour of the city was changed to a bus tour. Before we left for the tour Colt, Kevin and I were wandering to try and find some food. On the way I almost fell and cracked my head open on the slippery tile. My trusty California all-weather shoe, my rainbows, were slip sliddin all over the place. After a speedy bus tour of the city we went to the The City of Arts and Sciences and by this time it had stopped raining.  The science museum had all the really cool interactive science stuff. I had wayy to much fun playing with all of it. I may have peer pressured some little kids to play faster so it could be my turn. Might have happened.  That night I slept. For ten hours. It was glorious.

The next day we headed down to the beach. It was a prefect day for it. We got some sangria at restaurant that was right on the sand. As we were sipping slow a windstorm came out of nowhere. Literally 35 mph winds, if not more, and it started in a second. Sand was flying everywhere, the restaurants closed all their umbrellas and all the locals started to pack up their stuff. But Lian, Carrie and I were determined to swim in the Mediterranean so we sprinted across the sand and jumped in. It was worth it. We ended up staying in the water for a good amount of time because you could barely feel the wind. Valencia has some crazay weather.

Pre-windstorm

Windstorm 

Lian surviving said windstorm

That night we went out to Finnegan's, which was one of the few bars open on a Sunday in Valencia. One of the things that I love about Spain is how you can be wandering the streets looking for a bar and run into a centuries old cathedral thats in the same circle. When we got there were only 3 Spaniards. There were about 50 USD kids. Those Spaniards left pretty quickly. It was a USD shitshow, especially since it was two kids bday's. One of 'em was enjoying every minute of his birthday in Spain. By time they closed the bar on us he was sitting in the alley and everyone was seeing all the shots they had bought him for the second time. Somehow Chris and I ended up walking him back to the hotel, through random alleys, so we wouldn't run into the police who had walked by when he decided to take a bathroom break on the side of a building. When we caught up to the group we decided to put him in a cab. We throw him in it, I slide in, I expect Chris and Dom to slide in . . . and then they shut the door on me and said 'see you back at the hotel!' Assholes. 6 euro cab ride later we ended up at the hotel and ran into some other USD people who took him up to his room, letting me off da hook. He turned 20, I don't know how he's going to top it with his 21st but I'm sure he'll find a way.

casual Cathedral near the bar

Granada

Next on my list of never ending Spanish cities is Granada, and I have to say that it was definitely my favorite. It was a gorgeous smaller city that was close to the base of some mountains. Our first night there we attempted to go out to a club called Mae West, but when we got there it was deserted. There were maybe five people there and the club was massive. So Chris, my new bffle JJ and I bounced. It was on this walk back that JJ and I figured out that we. are. the. same. person. It was a great moment. When we got back to the hotel we just ran around it being silly and had way to much fun.

The next day we had a tour of the Alhambra which I thought was amazing. The detail in all the plaster work and in the rooms was out of control and the extensive gardens were gorgeous. That night we went to a couple of bars and then back to Mae West, which I didn't have high hopes for. But when we got there it was PACKED. As in hard to find a space to dance packed. But of course I was still able to find a spot to get low. On our way to Mae West Chris O'Book turns around and out of nowhere says "Just call me Cristobal O'Libro". . . normal. I already have list of quotes of his that will be posted soon. Get excited.

Kenya's Next Top Model 

Alhambra

soulmatee

Sevilla 
The last place we stayed in was Sevilla. The first day we didn't have any tours and that night I went to bed early because I was pretty much non-functioning. The next day we did a tour of the Cathedral in Sevilla and climbed the Giralda Bell tower which looked out over the whole city. Fun Fact: there aren't any stairs in the Bell tower, only ramps, because the guy who would ring the bell would ride his horse up to the top.

View from the top

. . . . . . . . O'Libro

After touring the Santa Cruz neighborhood we were free to go and get lunch and be on our own. Which was great except that we took buses to the neighborhood and no one told us how to get back to the hotel from where we were. Awesome right? Especially because it was 110 degrees outside. But we finally figured it out and it was about a 15 minute walk. Walking into an air conditioned lobby has never felt so good. For dinner we grabbed some kebabs from Donner's and some 1 euro tinto verano. That night we went out. Again. And rolled up to a club with a ton of USD kids. Again. And had a great time. Again. Are you starting to notice a pattern?

Roy gettin' his groove on

Cordoba 
We stopped in Cordoba for all of 30 minutes on our way back to Madrid and say a cathedral/mosque. It was another scorching day and Midget Marta said that it would probably reach 120 degrees by the afternoon. I didn't think that was a feasible temperature to reach somewhere that wasn't just desert.

We got home to Concha and Santi in time for dinner and Concha made SO MUCH FOOD. There was soup and chicken and french fries and veggies and salad and croquettes and banana-chocolate cake.
It's good to be back.

Now that I've written a novel, its time for me to bid you adieu and head to the monster of a club Kapital.
Adios!