Blogs from Spain, Europe - page 1197

After frantically writing a total of 13,000 words in about two weeks, I turned in 5 final papers and officially ended my term at NUI Galway. Thus, it was time to celebrate with our three week Easter break whirlwind tour of Spain, Morocco, and Portugal. On March 30th four of my friends and I caught a Ryanair flight into Barcelona (well. . . Girona, technically, since Ryanair doesn’t exactly fly into the most convenient airports). After catching a bus from the airport to the city center and then navigating the metro system, we made it to the Sant Jordi Diagonal Hostel. I was quite pleased to find that my Rick Steves’ Spain guidebook, which my brother had purchased from the British Amazon and had mailed to the hostel, was waiting at the reception desk when ... read more

Happy 13th birthday to niece/cousin Mackenzie Conley, queen of the Irish dance! We spent today in Almeria, the largest city in this area. There were two highlights: first, we stumbled on one of the Holy Week processions. As many of you know, Holy Week is a huge time throughout Spain, and nearly every city has a series of religious processions to commemorate the week. Typically, each Church will have its own parade, and there are multiple ones each day. The one we saw today was one of five on Palm Sunday. The accompanying pictures will give you some idea of what it was like. I’ll try to write more about the procession later but am frankly too tired to do it now. The white costumes with hoods that are worn (and that are so disturbing ... read more

Hi all! I'm headed to Madrid!!! YEAH!!!! My Mom, Dad, and Travis are already on their way here!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!! Love to all!! Carla B.... read more

3/30/07 Galway--Dublin--Barcelona After spending pretty much the entire night packing I woke up early in order to make it to my 9:00 class. I ended up walking to school with my backpack, which ended up being quite a bit heavier than I had hoped it would be. After class I walked into town to meet Sudie and Jenny (who were to me my travel companions for the majority of the trip) at the tourist information office. From there we walked up to catch the 11:30 Nester bus to Dublin. Two other girls, Steph and Catherine were supposed to meet us at the bus, but they were running late and Jenny had to stall the bus driver from leaving until they got there. They barely made it. Good start to the trip don’t you think? At the ... read more

Spain is an incredible place, but not for any reason you'd expect. It's not the rolling hills of olive trees or the tiny villages nestled in the mountains that amaze me. Rather, I'm awed by the pleasure I find in doing the many mundane tasks that Spaniards do everyday without thinking. I adore hanging out the laundry, especially when I've just done a load with a lot of underwear. I know it sounds crazy, but before we moved here I acquired about 20 pairs of undies in vivid colors (orange, hot pink, lime green, turquoise...) and I can't think of anything more exquisitely beautiful than brightly-colored, freshly-laundered undies dangling in the sunlight of our patio de ojos. Aside from domestic chores, buying groceries has taken on a whole new appeal. I try not to plan too ... read more