Fui a Paris

Paris was amazing last weekend! We were only there for about 2 days, but we crammed so much into such a short amount of time. This picture was taken the first night we got there in front of a little thing called the Arc de Triumph on the famed Champs-Elysses. Beautiful. Other places we went over the weekend include the Sacre Coure cathedral, the Eiffel Tower X2, Notre Dame, the underground Catacombs, the famous Lido burlesque show on Champs-Elysses, the outside of Moulin Rouge, also about fifty crepe stands aroung the city of Paris.

Also, we went to the Louvre. Home of the Mona Lisa, a mysterious oil painting done by some guy named Leonardo DaVinci, the statue with no arms called Venus de Milo, and home to my finger inside the upside-down glass pyramid that marks the lower entrance to the museum... also the place where the Holy Grail is hidden according to teh first 10 mintues of the DaVinci Code movie.

Overall it was a great weekend!

"Paris is always a good idea." --Audrey Hepburn

En Burgos, Toledo, y Segovia

So we took a weekend trip to Segovia, Burgos, and Toledo. These three small cities are near, but not neighbors to, Madrid. Each one has a TON of history and is really unique. It was a very fun and interesting weekend although this is probably the most unexciting picture out of all of the 300 something I took, if you want to see better pictures, you'll have to ask me when I get back to the states. Just know that we saw churches, monasteries, monks, cathedrals, synagogues, museums, castles, roman aqueducts, british bands, and lots and lots of buena vistas :)

En la Playa Arnia

We went one of Pilar's, my host madre, favorite beaches... it was too cold to swim, but this place was incredible with all the huge rocks and crashing waves. It's actually been featured in several Spanish movies. Definitly a place for the pensive mind. In one word, awesome.

Al Faro

These pictures were taken on a trip to the "Faro" or lighthouse of Santander. It's a really long walk from the downtown area where the university is, but it is soooo worth it. These are the most beautiful views in all of Santander, and the most spectacular that I have ever seen. Behind me is all of Santander. If you were to go several hundred miles to the right of me, you would end up in the UK. To my left is the lighthouse; I feel bad for it because even though it has a great design, it cant compete with the scenery! I know I look like I was photoshopped into this picture. This was on the way up to the lighthouse... I think God was feeling a little more artistic whenever he made Santander :)

Caminando a la Escuela

Today was the first day of classes for my program. I have both my genetics class and my intro spanish class at the Universidad de Cantabria (or UC)... The walk to class isn't that bad, except for that it's up a steep hill. Usually, there is a large outdoor elevator (called la funicular) that takes you from the bottom of the hill to the top. But today the funi was broken; however, there are about 4,000 steps you can use just to the right of the funi. :(:(:(:( It made for a good morningtime exercise... but my thighs were killing me once I got to the top! It's always worth it though, the view of the city and the water is breathtaking!!! :D

Una Cara Familiar

You never know who you might see in Spain!! Found this mural on a building close to where I'm living in Santander... cool!

El Pan

Everything here is pretty!! Even the bread looks cooler than ours...

La Playa es Muy Bonita

Saturday was perfect beach weather! It took us a while to find the beach because most of the coastline of Santander is taken up by marinas and ports (we see so many cruise ships come in and out of here). The water is freezing but also the most beautiful blue!!

so true... :)

Caminando Por Toda la Ciudad

Today, Gabby and I decided to explore the city because it was a beautiful day outside. There is alot to see and do in Santander. Caught a postcard-worthy shot of the Spanish flag waving proudly in the oceanic breeze!

Here I am on a siedwalk that overlooks the port area, this is where the ships can come in and dock, although they are out of frame here. The scenery is incredible!

This is Gabby in front of The Bank of Santander, it is gorgeous and huge! lol

Los Estados de Espana en un Estado de una Agitacion

Some parts of Spain are experiencing alot of political unrest right now. I'm not sure about in the states, but here images of protests are all over the news. There was a peaceful protest in Santander last night where i took this picture. The police of Santander promised the people of the city that they would be respectful of the protestors here, but the police of Madrid and Barcelona are treating the protestors with violence and anger. It's really very sad because the protestors dont mean any harm; they are just unhappy about the way the government is in general.

Al Hotel Chiqui

We stayed our first night in Santander in the Hotel Chiqui. It was a really pretty hotel! This is where we had our welcome dinner and our final orientaiton session. It was nice to meet all of the other people from UT; everyone seems really fun and ready for adventure... which is great!! The view from our hotel room was incredible, although the picture doesnt fully capture its beauty because of the rainy skies.

Usando los Euros

Euros look kind of funny. They are more paper-y than the regular dollar and they are alot smaller. Also, they have this sparkly stuff along the edge -- which the five year old girl inside of me really loves! I took a picture witht eh first thing I bought using the Euro, it's just a bottle of water. but i was so thirsty it tasted amazing!! Im sure I'll be spending alot more Euros once I get to Santander... Which is bad because the Euro is about 1.5X the value of the American dollar. This means that the bottle of water that was 1,70 Euros cost me $2.55. Oh well, it was delicious :)

Estoy en Madrid

We finally landed in Madrid!! Now it's off to baggage claim and time to get on the next flight... we arent there yet!

En el Aeropuerto

International flights are very long and I was a little nervous as to how i was going to handle sitting still for so long. But luckily, the flight had free movies and I was able to get a couple hours rest. The flight wasn't that bad.... but my booty hurt from sitting for so long! It was worth it though. This was my first view of Spain (I'm pretty sure I looked like a big dork whenever I was looking out the window because my jaw was on the floor... It's hard to tell from the photo, but Spain is much more beautiful than Houston!)