Madrid

This is the capital of Spain! Yes, it was big but not as big as I thought. It has lots of shoppings, bars, clubs. The picture left is the Plaza Mayor. It is similar to the one in Venece except there's no pigeons. That's good. Surrounded by many nice bars and restaurants but seemed like it was only for tourists.





Royal Palace

















Reina Sofia National Art Museum






Prado Museum; it is one of the biggest muesums in Europe. I was here for about 5 hours! It was very tiring but I enjoyed it. Many works of El Greco, Velazques and Goya.

Salamanca

Salamanca is a city of University. It has the country's best Univ. for learning Spanish. I liked here a lot. Nice to just chill, walk around and see the city. I went into this one church which it had old & new catedral together. The old part of the catedral (built in 12 centries) was so beautiful. It was there just as it was. I've been to many catedrals but this is one of my top 3.

The night light was very beautiful!

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.