http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/crm0136/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from crm0136 en-us Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:30:36 +0000 Mon, 28 Dec 2009 08:30:36 +0000 I'M IN PORTUGAL Yeah so I arrived here in the captial Lisbon...or as it's known here...Lisboa this morning at 8am. I wanted to purchase my ticket to Salamanca but apparently I can't at this station...it took me an hour to figure that out...so after some caf con lech I took the Metro to my hostel. It was really easy to find...and so nice I was very impressed. It was only 18euronight but t http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Lisbon-and-Tagus-Valley/Lisbon/blog-337008.html So I had the day off of work because there were too many Practicas workers...so I planned on going to Sol and checking out these monestaries with Virginia...but she didn't show...oh well. So first I headed to this Pasteleria that Bienvenidos told us about...he said to try a napolitiano...so I did but I had the cream one because I'm not a huge fan of chocolate...and I'm so glad I did It was A http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-337002.html 10 8 08 Normal day at work. During lunch we went to see the gorillas...they're so fun...I think my boss is scared of them though...kinda funny...but that male is huge...and he did get very close to the glass...Then before I left I asked if anyone knew where the Panteon de Goya but NOBODY had even heard of it...so Pablo let me use the internet to find out...luckily it's pretty close. So I ho http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-336995.html OK I don't feel like writing a lot so I'll make this short...the pics are better anyway......At work today I did a few new things I had to sifonar this cube tank where I made a huge mess...water everywhere...Then I helped teach a new Practicas worker some things...good practice for my Spanish...poor guy.Then I watched them feed the sharks in the big tank but my favorite was the turtle we ha http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-336975.html Today was just a normal day at work. Jasmine and I agreed to meet up after work and school to go to IKEA and this really big Carrefour a place just like WalMart but first she had to go pay rent at some ladies house or something so I just went to school to use the internet until she was ready. At school I booked some hostels for my trip this weekend in Lisbon and Salamanca the Lisbon ones http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-332904.html I got to sleep in..well until Jasmine decided to wake me up at 1130. But still I just bummed around the house until Charorsquos son came over for our Sunday lunch. Lunch was pretty good today toohellipbut I just realized that this will be my last lunch with them because the rest of the Sundays Irsquoll be in different cities. We had some kind of carrot soup tasted just like that pump http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-332309.html This morning I woke up and I did not want to get out of bed it was 545 but the thought of Sevilla got me up. I ended up leaving a little later than I wanted I got to the Metro around 645. When I got to Atocha I found a ticket window and stood in line but when it was my turn the guy told me I couldnrsquot buy a ticket to Sevilla from that window so I just followed a crowd and found anoth http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-332305.html Today I went to work and same lsquool same lsquool. At lunch I talked to some of my coworkers to ask which cities they would recommend me to go to because I spontaneously decided that Irsquom going to take a day trip tomorrow. It took me awhile to decide where I wanted to go but I finally decided on Sevilla because itrsquos close enough to do in a day and Irsquom not sure if Irsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-332294.html Today I had to work all day since I took yesterday off but it was so hard getting up When I made it to work all the other ldquopracticasrdquo interns were new people. After breakfast I learned how to ldquosifonarrdquo which is kind of like vacuuming this one tank. But therersquos this eel that is very aggressive Anytime my brush or suction bottle anywhere near his hole he could http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-332292.html Jasmine came to get me because we had decided yesterday that we could take the 8am bus to Segovia but she could tell how tired I was so I did get to sleep for almost another hour or so and we still made it in time to catch the 9am. The bus wasnrsquot too bad but I couldnrsquot sleep on it like I was hoping but the trip to Segovia was only 1.5 hours. When we got there we had no idea where http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile-Leon/Segovia/blog-332279.html 92608At work today I was the only ldquopracticsrdquo so I had to do all the tedious stuff by myselfhellipbut I guess thatrsquos OK because it made the time go by faster. Also I found out Irsquoll start SCUBA diving next weekhellipso thatrsquos cool. Itrsquos weird theyrsquore acting like they didnrsquot know I was certified but I told Pablo during my interview. I helped http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-330522.html 9 21 08Finally a morning that I didnrsquot have to wake up to an alarm I got up around 930 and got dressed and ready to go to El Rastro again I was only there for 20 min or so when it started raining Kinda bad kinda good. Bad because I got soaked Good because there werenrsquot very many people and the vendors were more likely to give me a discount. I found quite a bit that I wanted http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-327925.html This morning we had to get up early because I was going with Jasmine and her school on an excursion to Toledo. Toledo is the religious capital of Spain. It used to be the political capital too but for reasons I canrsquot remember that changed to Madrid. The reason it remains the religious capital is because back in the time when Catholicism was dominant and most places were intolerant of any http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Castile-La-Mancha/Toledo/blog-327924.html At the aquarium today I was completely on my own. I had my own list I had to get done. I cleaned tanks and filters did magnesium tests in the water which Irsquoll actually have to finish on Monday and ldquovacuumedrdquo the tank where coral is growing. After work I had to rush to Eureka because today wersquore going to Museo de Arte Reina Sofia a modern art museum the 2nd largest http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-327923.html Today at work I did a lot on my own. I also helped Alicia clean the octopus tank. It was pretty difficult and that octopus is mischievous He kept grabbing onto the skimmer or my hand it was kinda creepy at first but I got used to it. A girl I hadnrsquot met before brought us some yummy treats for our little breakfast break. Today after work I decided to stay at the zoo and just walk arou http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-326419.html Today I went to work again. I was running a little late but no one noticed. I got to help prepare the food today. That was pretty cool but I was really slow. I bet Molly would be good at it because it involved a lot of chopping up fish squid and mussels. After work I went to school to work on my application and I made progress but I still have a lot to do. At 430 I went with Angel at Eu http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-326413.html So today started like yesterday. I went to work at the zoo but this time I met Pablo at the offices to get some work clothes. I got 2 huge tshirts and some really ugly pants but itrsquos cool. Then I just went to work. I met a couple other workers and followed Rosa around again. We did mostly the same things we did yesterday. After our breakfast break I followed Alicia another intern stude http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-324627.html This morning it was so hard to wake up. My room was freezing I guess itrsquos getting to be the colder season here in Madrid. I got dressed packed a little snack and took the Metro to Casa de Campo. At that stop Irsquom supposed to take the bus to the zoo but when the bus arrived the driver said it was going to wait there for 10 more minutes but I was already late but I waited anyway. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/Madrid/blog-324336.html I set my alarm so I would get up early enough to take a shower before breakfast. So I did that and went down to the common room for some breakfast and to hoard some more free food. Yesterday I made reservations with this place to do a walking tour of the gothic quarter they said they had sent a fax with our reservations to our hostel but the front desk says there wasnrsquot any. So we just wal http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-324323.html Last night I was SO COLD. They kept the air conditioner on the whole night and didnrsquot turn it off until like 6amhellipand all I had was 1 sheet which I used as both my bottom and top sheet. So I had to use my small jacket my scarf and my towel to try to keep warm but I guess that was better than sweating. I woke up this morning and went down to the common room to use http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-324296.html