Lisbon

I really liked Lisbon. Very safe and everyone speak English!
I was surprised. Because in Spain very few people speak English so it was difficult to communicate. but here, I had no problem:) yeah, but I should try to speak Spanish when I'm in Spain. The view from San Jorge Castle was very nice.

Monument to the discoveries/ Tower of Belem

Torremolinos (Costa Del Sol)

Torremolinos is one of the city in Costa Del Sol where it's known as a resort beach. Unfortunately, it was cold and rained when we were there...:( Our first week was such a beautiful weather but once we got here, clouds showed up. Oh well, that's alright.
We partied crazy though!!! Most of our tour members went out to a club but later at night, we split up and few of us went to a different club. We met some local people there and they took us to a club where lots of local people go. OMG, we were so drunk... but it was sooooo fun!!! It was a crazy night, right? Greg, Brooke, Nadia and Sarah. Oh, I don't wanna think about how sick we were the next day... I had a terrible terrible headache and everyone looked like ...shit. haha. Here are some of our drunk photos!












Oh, yeah. one bad thing happend to me here. I had my money stolen... and I think I know who it is. My mom advised me "don't trust nice & friendly people." before I left to Spain. yeah, she's my mom. She was right. A lot of my friends say to me too. "Mayu, you trust or think people nice too easily" and yes, this was the result. I don't know why but I tend to think that if people were kind, they are nice, good people.... I know, that's dangerous. but luckly, it was only my cash that was stolen. I had my purse, credit card, passport etc. Money is just money, thank god I was safe. Don't trust kind people too easily!!

Granada

Granada; it was once the capital of Islam dynastay in the 13c and it still had the atmosphere of that time. I really like the old part of the city. White houses with flowers, small streets, painted tiles... I was surprised that people drive cars through this narrow path! if one person stands in the street, a car has to go very slowly and hope not to hit anything!

Alhanbra Palace; this was huge palace with impressive carving on the wall. It is hand made. you'll be surprised if you see this closely. I heard people did this for 30 years all day except when eating and sleeping. Can you imagine how patient antient people were?

Finally Graduation!!!!

Guess what, I finally got the graduation certificate!!! Yeah!!!! I am so happy now:) I knew I could graduate but still if you haven't got the evidence, I'm sure you all will be a little worried. At least I was. Plus, I didn't attend the graduation ceremony (because I was in Spain... I know, sorry mom & dad) and if, IF I couldn't graduate because of some kind of accident or something, I can't do anything because I was in Spain!! If I had failed, then I have to think about my next future, which I will probably apply for the Univ again for one more term to graduate and I can't do all these paper work if I'm in Spain! And if I failed, I will have to cancel my job which is really nice and that will definately ruin my life! I didn't show this fear outside, but inside I was scared. I am relieved now!

Toredo

Toredo was very small but such a beautiful city. We only stopped for a few hours but very nice view and streets. I saw lots of sword shops. I think the story Don Quijote came from here!

Barcelona

My first visit to Spain was Barcelona. It was my first time travelling by myself so I was a little nervous and scared. But once I went into the city, I wasn't scared. Of course I wouldn't want to go into small streets at night but big streets and metro was okay. Not bad at all. But I heard one girl who had her passport stolen in the metro and that was her first day in Spain. Poor girl... I hear some pick-pocketing in Spain. You just have to be very careful or maybe it's about luck. Anyway, my impression of Barcelona is... Artistic. I love Gaudi's work and his works were spread out in the city. The city has the old part and the new part but I liked the old part better. You can see how the local people living and I liked walking through the old small streets.



Places I visited:

Sagrada Familia: This was amazing, breathtaking, and beautiful. All I could say was "WOW" and couldn't move but to look at the amazing artwork. Everyone should see this once in their lifetime. It was built in 1882, and still under construction, mostly designed by Antoni Gaudi. Still building and no one knows when it's gonna finish. I heard that people who works here are paid from the charity and entrance fee from the visitors. That's why it's taking so late. You can go to the top by stairs or by elevator but definately, I recommend you to take the stairs if you can. It is tiring but it's worth it. After those long lasting narrow steps and you see the city of Barcelona, it's just wonderful. And the every details of the wall, OMG, it's amazing. I can't believe human being actually made this by hand. You have to see the night version of this too. It is soooo beautiful. I like it better at night than during the day. It has totally different atmosphere. Oh, I can't forget this.




Park Guell: This is another place where it has the Gaudi world. It's a huge park a little away from the center. I met this french girl at Hotel and we went to this park together. This is one thing I love about travelling. You get to meet people from all over the world. She was very friendly, energetic and pretty. We went to this park in the morning and this was a good idea. Before noon, there were lots of people sightseeing and that is just depressing. Anyway, I loved this park. It was like a fairy tale. Cute houses and monuments, curvy designs... I think Gaudi was very romantic and feminine person. He really know what girls like:) or maybe he was gay!? Does anybody know about this? Here are some nice photos of the park.

Montserrat: This is a place a little far from Barcelona. About 1 hour by train, you will see this amazing, wired looking mountain. From the closest train station, you take the cableway to get to the top of the mountain. It is very spiritual place where the black Virgin Mary was found. The view was great!

Dali Museum: I also visited a Dali Museum which was 2 hours by train from Barcelona. It was a little far but I really wanted to see this place. It was full of Dali's creative world. I don't know where on earth he got these incredible ideas but very very interesting. I enjoyed it a lot. It's hard to see from the pics but hope you can understand a little bit of what I mean.

☆Spain Trip from March 8th-26th☆

I am back now!! for those of you who didn't know where I was, I was in Spain!!!
Yes, the country of passion, flamenco, fiesta, bull fight, soccer, Gaudi, Piccaso, Iberico Ham and olives. I wasn't gonna go travelling for a while cause I just went to Paris in Dec. but since I will be start working in Japanese company and won't be able to have long holidays for a while, I had to go. I decided my trip a week before my departure (I'm always like this...). Why Spain? cause I always wanted to visit Spain and heard that it's very exciting! But at the same time, everyone told me that Spain is dangerous and have to be careful. There's a reputation that Spain is the most dangerous place in Europe. So I was very scared and nervous and thought if I should go somewhere else. From my experience, Spain is not that bad. If you don't go into a small street at night, it's fine. Yes, of course you have to be careful but that is everywhere. Anywhere you go, you have to protect your self, right?

I went alone to Barcelona but after that I joined a tour which goes around Spain and Portugal. This tour was consisted of people from all around the world (Australians, Americans, Canadians, Japanese, British) and let me tell you, they were awesome! I had a GREAT GREAT time with them. Some of them were couples but most were travelling on their own so we all travelled together, partied together, oh it was so much fun. We partied a lot. I mean A LOT! I remember drinking everyday (mostly Sangria and wine) and clubbing almost every other day for 2 weeks. Yes, it was crazy.

From now on, I will write about each city I visited on my trip. I visited 9 cities total. Hope this will be interesting to everyone!

almost spring but still winter!

I finally did something "winter" recently.
SNOWBOARD!! I've tried it a few times 3 years ago but didn't remember anything...
well, I was able to snowboard (a little) but at the same time, I fell down a lot. I mean A LOT.
So, after a few hours my butt hurt, my knees hurt, and I also got a headache (I didn't hit my head but since I fell too much, it shook my head a lot...)
I also went to Onsen (hot spring) after that. It felt soooo good. taking a bath under the moonlight and stars was very nice. This is one of the thing I love about Japan.

Ahhh, my whole body is sore now... :(

my foot prints:)

海遊館 Osaka Aquarium!!

wow, I haven't written this for a long time... more than a month. it's already March!? I can't believe it... I've been busy working, meeting friends & planning for my last 1 month vacation before I start working in April.

Anyways, last week I went to this aquarium in Osaka called Kaiyukan. It was quite big.
I haven't been to an aquarium in a long time but it was very nice! There's this special atmosphere when you're in the aquarium. Fish swimming elegantly in a huge tank made me feel like I was swimming with them in the ocean like a marmaid! I felt the time stop. I felt relaxed and comfortable.

Enjoy the pictures I took!!

久しぶりにﾌﾞﾛｸﾞを書くわ～最近はバイトや人と会ったり、3月の旅行計画などで忙しかったかな。

先週、久しぶりに水族館に行った。大阪の海遊館へ。ほんと久しぶりに水族館に行ったけど、水族館っていい！魚たちが優雅に泳いでいるのを見て、私も一緒に海の中を泳いでいるような気がしてすごく落ちつく。ぼぉ～っといつまででも見ておける感じ。



my favorite, Jelly fish / Mambo!! it was huge...