Week 35: Endings and beginnings

This week has brought so many emotions, so many events with it. I’m actually already on the road again, beginning another trip, but the rest of the week has been the start of a series of endings that I never realized would come so quickly. It has been such a relief to actually finish all my finals this week, and I even got to know all my results right away on Saturday!

Monday and Tuesday weren’t too bad; I didn’t have final exams on either of those days, so I took it easy and finished writing papers those days. I did go to my internship all day on Monday, and that was a great day; even though it was my last with the students, we had fun just talking about life in America and what I would be doing now that I was leaving them. The most touching moment of that day was that the kids in the one French class I helped out in actually sang and danced for me!

Wednesday and Thursday were my exam days; theology on Wednesday and history on Thursday. My last day of my internship was Wednesday, and I brought cookies for all the students I worked with (including the ones I had missed on Monday), which ended up being quite a lot, and so the students got a little treat as I was saying goodbye. I thought I pretty much aced my theology exam, and my history exam didn’t go too badly either. On Thursday I also had my last French conversation with Noelia, which was, as always, a fantastic experience, and we made sure to add each other on Facebook before we parted ways.

Friday was day one of two chill days this week. The teachers I worked with at the high school actually invited me to lunch at their school on this day, and so I happily obliged! It was a great way to end a wonderful experience, as I chatted with just about every teacher I had been in contact with over the past semester at the school and regaled all my lovely memories from the semester. After that, I walked home, and before too long I had my last English conversation with Sara. I will most certainly miss chatting with her about popular Spanish culture, show tunes, and her experience as a student in Spain! Later in the evening, Allison and I made our way to a bonfire that Rodrigo had invited us to at his house, and so we two joined him and his friends playing ping pong, darts, and guitar, and playing with their three-week-old kittens. Eventually, we all made our way out to the backyard, where the guys put together a fire, and we even roasted marshmallows! Altogether, it was a bittersweet day. The last element of the day that sealed the deal was that this was my last night staying with my host family.

Carolina was so nice as to make an almond cake for the occasion!

And we decided to play at greatness, with Belén as the Little Prince, Carolina as Shakespeare,
and me as Cervantes. ...and Santi lording over all.

Saturday was another pretty busy day, but fortunately I did get the opportunity to sleep in at least a little bit. In the morning (or what was left of it), I posted pictures on Facebook and worked on my blog some more, so it was a pretty cozy morning/early afternoon. I actually was lucky enough to get to hang out with Rodrigo and his friends again, and María even showed me her house and hamsters, and introduced me to her sister and mother. It was a great experience! Rodrigo was nice enough to drive me home, and then I had to get ready and finish packing, because not too long after that, we would be taking my suitcases (yes, with all my stuff packed in them!) up to the Fundación, and then attending a concluding ceremony of the semester.  Once we made it up there, we got my suitcases to where they needed to be, and then not too long after that, the ceremony started, and we all got our program completion diploma. My host brother Alonso was nice enough to take a few photos of me receiving, and then we all trickled out into the courtyard to nibble on some tapas. Once I said goodbye to my host family until I see them again when my own family is with me, I went out with lots of friends, and we had a great night getting margaritas and going to a couple clubs. All in all, it ended up being a great day!

Receiving my diploma from my theology teacher.

There it is!

I owe so much to this amazing woman, my host mother, Maria Carmen.
I was so sad to say a preliminary goodbye to her that night!

Celebrating with friends!

Today has been the start of something new: the Fundación is taking most of us on one last grand cultural excursion: to the city of Zamora and the Camino de Santiago! So far today we’ve left Toledo on a 5-hour bus ride to the city of Zamora, which has been quite important to Spain’s history. Maybe not the most integral part, but it certainly has played a role in some significant historical events, or so I hear. So far it's been pretty good, we hopped on a bus (which is always fun when you're on it with people you know!), and we've gotten to the hostel and all settled in. I'll certainly write more soon!

Wow. What a week. I can’t believe time has gone this fast, and the semester is over. Soon all of us from Toledo are going to go our separate ways, and life will move on just as normal… mostly. I’m definitely looking forward to what this trip has to bring, especially since seeing the movie "The Way" before, which is a story of a pilgrim on the trail who has lost his son. With that in mind, I’m going to get back to enjoying this trip while I can, and so before it’s too late, I’ll tell you - ¡Hasta pronto!

Week 34: Ramping up for finals

Wow, what a week. And unfortunately I don’t mean that in the best way… I had lots and lots of work to do. The good thing was, I had an exciting weekend trip to break up the stress a bit. Lots of papers and studying for exams and homework had me very busy this week, but in the end, I got through what I needed to at least.

On Monday I had my internship the whole day as usual. I arrived early again, so as to make up for some lost time, and taught Belén’s first hour class. That was fun - as she had told me before, they’re a good group of kids. We talked all about life in America, and I quizzed them on their knowledge of the U.S. Tuesday was a little bit more special; in the morning I went with my American friend Katarina to the market right by the Casco, and we browsed around for anything we might have wanted, but it ended up being a window shopping trip. I of course then met with Noelia for French conversation as usual. Later, since I had been going to mass with Mamen and Edith all semester on Sundays and meeting with the same youth group after mass, the priest and one of the other girls in the youth group wanted to say goodbye to me, so we had actually set up a lunch together at a Chinese buffet restaurant after my classes in the morning. Try as they might, they couldn’t make me eat more than two plates’ worth of food, and I was already stuffed after that, my goodness. Once I returned home, I had to concentrate very hard, because in the evening, I went to go play some soccer with some classmates from the Fundación. It was a great day altogether!

Wednesday was also a little bit extraordinary; in the morning, for my theology class, instead of having the normal lecture, we actually took a little field trip to a monastery inside the city walls that was an example of how Teresa and her sisters might have lived in their time. That was very interesting; we still got the lecture, but this time we actually got to see authentic artifacts and architecture to go with it. After that, I went to lunch, and then another staff member from the University of Minnesota was visiting that day, and so I had some free coffee with her and some other students, and we talked about the program and what attracted us to it. (For me, it was just my academic scheduling - I don’t know how it would have worked out if I hadn’t been able to complete the requirements I needed to in Toledo.) Then afternoon theology class was just as normal, and in the evening I had my conversation with Sara and her mother again, which was fabulous as usual. On Thursday, I was scrambling after classes to get everything done and packed up, because I once again had an overnight bus from Madrid to Barcelona - this time to meet up with Walker!

I still arrived in Barcelona just as early as the last time, and so I gradually made my way to the airport on the city bus to pick up Walker. I actually worked on my blog while I waited for him in the airport, which was nice to feel productive. After munching on some breakfast and enjoying a coffee, I was ready to go when Walker came through the arrival doors. We made our way out into the city to our hostel, checked in, dropped our things (after a quick stop at the ATM), and then set out to explore the city. First, we went straight toward the beach, as Walker had not been as fortunate with the weather in Lille as I’ve been in Toledo, and we grabbed some late lunch on the way. We sat right by the sand, just taking it all in and chatting, and then Walker wanted to explore more of the city, and so off we went to go see the Parliament building, the zoo (again for me), Gaudí’s fountain (not the magic one), and eventually over to the Arc de Triomf. After walking around so much and seeing all these sights, we grabbed dinner in a café, which had to be tapas of course, as I had not had the chance to order them when Walker had visited me in Toledo. We then called it a night, as we had a full schedule planned for the next day.

One of my first views in the morning as I worked my way through the city to get to the airport.

The Catalonian Parliament.

Walker was thrilled to have found the park!

Woolly Mammoth makes for fun pics ^^ 

Walker and the Arc of Triomf.

Saturday was my favorite day on this little trip, because we got to see lots of things that I hadn’t yet seen in Barcelona. Right away in the morning, we headed by city hall (which was the only sight that day that I had seen before) and up the hill to the famous castle, Montjüic, and on the way we also passed through the lovely Plaça d'Espanya. After making it up the hill on the funicular, we walked around, found the Olympic museum, and marveled at all the Olympic records and facts about the games of the past. We then made our way down the street to the old Olympic stadium, where the games themselves had taken place in 1992. That was a cool moment for me: the Olympics have always been very interesting to me, especially gymnastics and ice skating, and so it was really cool to see the stadium where the Summer Olympics for that year had taken place (or at least one of the many facilities). At that point, it was time to start making our way to Camp Nou, the famous football stadium in Barcelona, to see FC Barcelona play!

A traditional procession outside the cathedral. 

 Olympic Swmming pool.

The view of the city from the Fudació Joan Miró.

Living the dream!

Old Olympic stadium

Plaça d'Espanya from a different angle.

By the "Magic Fountain"

We hopped on the metro again, and every car of the train was absolutely packed; we certainly saw more than a few Barça jerseys. We made our way through the crowd and up to the press box, as Walker had actually received press accreditation due to his work with his dad on the latter’s radio station. We had a spectacular view of the game, and Walker was patient enough to answer the many questions I flung at him in the course of the game. I grew to appreciate the artistry present in the sport more than I ever had before; there’s definitely a reason why it’s the most popular sport in Europe, bar none. Barcelona ended up winning 2-0, with a last minute goal! Of course then everyone was in the streets celebrating, and we wearily but happily found our way back to our hostel to be able to rest and relax.

Camp Nou itself!

"Mes que un club" or, translated into English, "More than a club."

Sports commentators who had practically been giving advice it is.

Sunday was a very chill day, as I had to go right away in the morning to catch my 7+ hour bus back to Madrid. I said another temporary goodbye to Walker, bid him safe travels, as he will be staying in the beautiful city until Tuesday, and then got on my way to the bus station, and of course from Madrid back to Toledo. When I got back to my host family’s place, it was a struggle between still lots of papers to write and now also exams to study for, but I struck a happy medium and got a little bit done (far from all, I’m afraid). I was definitely happy to see my host family again, as they have come to provide a sense of home comfort for me through the course of the semester.

With this being my last week of actual classes, it was nice to get to both finish out classes well and then travel to one of my favorite European destinations, all in the same week. And of course, it’s always nice to be able to meet up with friends in cool places! Heading into finals week, I’m pretty confident with where I’m at academically speaking, and so hopefully it won’t test me too much (apart from all the stress I’m already feeling because of all these papers). Fortunately, I have a trip right after exams are over to look forward to, so I will be waiting impatiently for this next week to pass. Until then, ¡Hasta pronto!

Week 33: Settling back into life and Spanish culture

As my weeks here in Toledo draw to a close, I am becoming more and more grateful for each and every moment I have left here in Spain. I can’t help but start to think about when I get back to the States… but, before I get too far ahead of myself, I have to tell you a bit about my week, and then I can get to philosophizing about my stay here in Europe.

My spring break vacation was still going strong on Monday, after staying one more night at Fatima’s place and then heading to the not-too-far city of Ghent with her and Walker. On the train there from Antwerp, we all traded teasing remarks about Belgium, the U.S., and England, as has become the usual between the best of friends. In Ghent, we saw many of the same places I had seen with Corrinne and Laura so many weeks before, and everything came flooding right back to me! It was a great place to visit again. We got to enter the castle this time, and we took lots of goofy pictures, pretending to be knights and ladies and medieval characters in the perfect setting. As we were walking around the city, Fatima and Walker discussed Belgian soccer and what players were good and had been traded and whatnot, and I just kind of sat back in awe and wonder of how they could know so much about a sport. (Maybe it’s just because I’ve never really been that interested in any sport, even figure skating or gymnastics, my favorites).

Looking through the city streets in Ghent.

The Cathedral

Looking down the river. This definitely reminded me of the last time I was here, for sure!

Another gothic church across the river - it was huge!

The end of Graffiti Street.

Fatima and I by the river.

Part of the castle!

Archers at the ready!

Fatima playing queen of Ghent.

View of the city from the castle rooftop.

After Ghent, Walker and I said our goodbyes to Fatima (with promises to see her very soon!), and hopped on the train to Lille. We had a tiny bit of trouble figuring out which side of the train to be in, since the train would be splitting at a certain point and one half would be going the way we wanted and the other not, but once the stewardess helped us figure that all out, we settled in for the hour-and-a-half ride. We saw lots of Belgian countryside, chatted a bit, and before we knew it, we were back in Lille. I don’t know how Walker put up with me the first few minutes after we arrived; I was bouncing off the walls with excitement to see the city in which I had studied and lived for five months! Everywhere I turned, I remembered a moment from the last semester; I even got to visit and stay the night in my old residence! Figuring out logistics took a little bit of time, but once Alex actually arrived, my ecstasy was complete: I had seen all my friends over the weekend, in Antwerp; I had returned to the city where it all took place; and I got to see my best friend in the whole wide world. She even brought me quiche that she had made for dinner, and some moscato to celebrate! It was such a happy day! I couldn’t have been happier in those few moments - I was so happy to see my sister in person again, and talk to her a little bit in person about how she was adjusting to Lille. Unfortunately, the night had to end very early, because I would be traveling very early the next day -  but what a happy night!

On Tuesday, Alex was nice enough to wake up very early with me at 5:30AM to help me get to the Flibco shuttle so I would be able to catch my 9:00AM flight from Charleroi to Madrid. It wasn’t too sad of a moment, as I knew I would be seeing her in a few short weeks, but it certainly was another goodbye. After the hour-and-a-half ride across the Belgian border and lots more waiting in the airport, I finally boarded my plane, and before I knew it I was back in Madrid. Unfortunately I had had to skip all my classes that day in order to grab the cheapest flight left, and so I made it back to Toledo not too stressed… except for all the work I still had left to do before finals. I dug in my heels and hammered out some work that afternoon, but I definitely took my siesta that afternoon, as I was exhausted from all my travels.

Wednesday and Thursday were much the same as normal; I had theology class and my internship on Wednesday, along with my weekly conversation with Sara in English, and Thursday was chock full with four classes. As I knew I wouldn’t be traveling anywhere over the weekend and as such would have time for working on homework, I took it easy those days in the evenings, spending time with my host family and enjoying Spain in general. I geared up a little bit for the weekend, getting all organized and ready to really put my nose to the grindstone on Saturday and Sunday.

An excursion to Segovia, a historically important Spanish city, was in order for Friday! We saw the castle, which was the inspiration for the very first Disney animated film, Snow White, and also how Walt Disney’s heritage is actually in some part Spanish! (At least one of his grandmothers actually lived in Spain!) We had a great time seeing the city and hearing about all the history in the city from our tour guide, and my friends and I even got to visit a charming bookstore and a pastelería, a pastry shop, where they sold chocolate truffles, and got a few to share. Before we knew it, it was time to board the bus to get back to Toledo, and after the 3-hour bus ride back, we went back to our houses and chilled for the night.

The castle in Segovia, which inspired the castle in Disney's first animated film, Snow White!

View of the valley from the top of the castle.

The most historical part of the city: the aqueducts, which have been standing for centuries. 

The weekend brought some exciting events in Spanish culture! For those of you who don’t know, there is a famous festival on the west coast of Spain in Valencia called Las Fallas, where skilled craftspeople make statues that resemble parade floats, and then during one whole day, all the statues are burned. (Find out more about the festival here.) While this festival is mainly celebrated in Valencia, and a few weeks before this one to boot, there also is a traveling festival that moves around to different cities in Spain and echoes the big celebrations in Valencia itself. This year, Toledo was the city where this echo was selected to take place, and it definitely drew a crowd! On Saturday night, Allison and I met with our Spanish conversation partner Rodrigo, and he also invited some of his friends, and we definitely made a night of it! Then the next night was when they actually burned the statues, and so my friends and I returned to see the festivities. Apparently they had bussed in a whole bunch of people from Valencia so that people could enthusiastically celebrate the occasion… and as usual with Spaniards, that just meant that there were more people partying on the grounds. All in all, it was a great weekend, and our conversation partner even invited us to a bonfire next week at his house!

A photo of the Fallas in Toledo.

This week has been ramping up the pressure for finals week, which is fast in coming, not next week but the week after. In spite of this mounting pressure, though, I have been able to enjoy both traveling and Spanish culture this week, which for me is always a bonus! Not going anywhere this weekend was definitely worth it, I certainly had lots of fun experiencing the events in Toledo rather than picking a different destination to jet off to. I often have to remind myself that it’s not all about traveling every weekend (like some of my classmates do) - it is possible to just enjoy Toledo and its culture and history. And with that, I will leave you all until next week - ¡Hasta pronto!

Week 32: The best week, with the best of friends!!

This week has been unreal, in the best way possible! I have had such a great time this week traveling with so many different friends and making so many amazing memories, I hardly know where to begin! (So I’ll be boring and follow the usual format.) Warning: This might be the longest post I ever write for this study abroad blog… be prepared!

Monday morning, I woke up in Bergamo, got everything ready, and got some breakfast. At breakfast, I actually heard a lady speaking southern American English, and so I couldn’t help but ask where they were from, and it turns out that she was leading a class of Moroccan students on a school trip to Italy! So that was a fun morning (besides, we all got our fair share of complaints into each other about the crazy receptionist). Then I got going to the train station in Bergamo, but not to catch a train - to catch a carpool! I had scheduled a carpool with BlaBlaCar, something like the European equivalent of Uber, and so I met up with the driver and the other passengers at the station. They were all very nice, and they even spoke Spanish! (I tried speaking a little Italian, but I definitely did better with Spanish :)) The guy had brought his friend, his mom, and had gained another passenger in addition to me thanks to BlaBlaCar, and so the five of us set out from Bergamo to Venice. We got some great camaraderie going the whole three hours or so, we even stopped for coffee halfway through and, for the cherry on top, they even gave me lunch for free! I added them all on Facebook just for good measure, and since they were going into the heart of the city as well, they even helped me to find where I was staying. What a nice group of people! And so my first views of the city were with Andrea (the driver), his mother, and Valentina, his friend.

Me, Valentina, and Andrea's mother. Such lovely people!

One of my first views of the city, looking down the Grand Canal.

Since Andrea then had a conference, we had to part ways, but we made sure to say that we’ll keep in touch via Facebook. Before I said goodbye to the BlaBlaCar people, though, we had gotten to the bed & breakfast, and I met my friends Angela and Katarina there! They were just unpacking their things, as they had arrived not too long ago themselves. Then we said goodbye to my wonderful BlaBlaCar hosts, and chilled for a little bit, as I got settled in and we decided what to do about meeting up with the final friend in our party, Amanda. We decided to message her and then go out exploring, and so that’s exactly what we did - until we ran into Amanda not a minute later! She had just about found the bed and breakfast, and so we led her back to where we had just come from, got her settled in and relaxed a bit, and then finally got out to explore the beautiful city.

Looking over the main bridge over the Grand Canal.

Glass shops galore!

The four of us were very content to be in such a beautiful city.

After a while, we were hungry for dinner, and so we made our way to a decent restaurant where Angela surprised us all by ordering pasta with squid in its ink, and we all got a little bit more normal dishes such as gnocchi and ravioli, and of course we got some wine, because Italy. Finally, we walked around the city a bit more, by the Grand Canal and through San Marcos Square, where we saw a violinist and a cellist playing and danced around to the music (and tried our best attempt at jumping pictures at night), and then we decided to turn in for the evening… but not before grabbing some limoncello and cookies to make for a nice evening in. All in all, it was a lot of walking… but definitely worth it!

Yummy yummy dinner!

Night view of the Grand Canal.

San Marco square!

Tuesday morning, we tried to get up and at ‘em right away in the morning, as we wanted to explore as much of Venice as possible. We decided to try our luck and wander around the narrow streets for a while before noon, and we ended up running into a handmade costume store. One of the two owners informed us about how Venice is known for its carnival season, and as such is known for its masks and costumes, but a lot of them in today’s age have been produced in cheaper, more modern methods, whereas her products are all handmade, including historically accurate ball gowns from a century past. We had fun imagining ourselves in each and every mask and dress, and of course Angela, being an accounting major, couldn’t resist asking the owner about the effect of tourism and cheaper products on the business there. Soon enough it was time to leave, and so we kept on exploring.

The canals of the beautiful city on water.

Meow!

We had decided the previous night that we wanted to get to San Michele, one of the islands off of the main city of Venice, which you have to access by water taxi. After an unpleasant experience at the ticket window (the lady had a very short temper), we were ready to make our way to the cemetery island. We saw the graves of Igor Stravinsky, Ezra Pound, and many other famous and not so famous people, and we learned that Venetian residents can still pay to be buried on the island, but only for 10 years, and then they are moved back to the mainland. After taking a few moments at a few graves, we navigated just about the entire island (which isn’t too big, but certainly big enough), we continued on the water taxi route to Murano.

Waiting for the water taxi...

Our first view of San Michele.

Ezra Pound's grave.

Murano was fabulous! It’s where the idea and fame of Venetian glass originated from, and the entire island surely lived up to its fame; there was a glass shop every other store! We saw a really cool glass sculpture there as well, and a few of us made some purchases for family and friends. After a small wait, we got back on the water taxi and made our way back to the mainland, across the beautiful waters. Once we got back to the mainland, we just kept exploring the city, including finding another decent place for dinner, and following all the fun of the day, we made it back to our room again, ready to seize our last moments in Venice in the morning.

On Wednesday, we took advantage of our last moments in the beautiful city to enjoy a gondola ride! But not before another wonderful breakfast in our room (the establishment really does live up to its name, Bed & Breakfast!), and of course we had to get ready for the day. We then went out gondola hunting, through San Marcos square and all around, searching for a deal, and after three different gondoliers telling us that the government had mandated a certain price, but they could lower it for us, we finally chose one. Off on our half-hour ride through the canals we went! We enjoyed the entire experience, and our gondolier was certainly knowledgeable about the famous buildings on both sides of the canals as we wound through, avoiding water ambulances and other private boats. It was definitely an excellent experience!

San Marcos, good morning.

San Marcos square, with the two Herculean columns.

Gondola ride!

We had wanted to be plenty prepared for our departure from Venice and arrival in our next location, and so we cautiously made sure to keep lots of time in between us and our train. It was a relief when we finally started moving in the train, and off we were on our way to Corniglia, a tiny little village in the bigger community of Cinque Terre (Five Towns). We ended up spending the rest of the day chatting and relaxing in trains, with a 40-minute intermission in Florence, where we walked around the city a teensy tiny bit and got some snacks. By the time we finally arrived in Corniglia, night had long fallen. Another friend, Caroline, also joined our party, and so we were five then in Cinque Terre. We had arranged a vacation rental apartment through homeaway.com, and so a car came to pick us up with all of our luggage and take it up the hill. Once the owner settled us into the apartment with promises of more explanations in the morning, we got cozy and decided on a movie night! We watched Facing the Giants, one of my most favorite movies of all time! Unfortunately I was just a little too tired and ended up falling asleep well before the end… but such is life, I suppose. I was just happy that our friends got to see it, as Amanda and Angela had not previously had the opportunity.

Thursday morning found us planning out our day starting fairly early in the morning. We had our coffee and tea in the morning on our little balcony, enjoyed the morning sun and atmosphere, which was absolutely gorgeous, and planned what groceries we would need to buy to make the meals we had agreed on over Facebook. Since the grocery store in our little village didn’t have much selection, we decided to hike to the next town to look for more, and then we would take the train back with the groceries. Our hike was a wonderful little hour-and-a-half jaunt on the beautiful seaside landscape for which Cinque Terre has become famous, and we enjoyed every moment of it. We got to the next town, Vernazza, figured out that they didn’t have the best grocery selection either, and so we went to the next town over, Monterosso, by train, where we found a few grocery stores to our liking. Before buying groceries, however, we bought some gelato (which of course in Italy is just plain ice cream), and then went out to the rocky beach to soak in the sun and have some girl talk.

Lunch on a terrace just before leaving.

Our town in context of the sea.

We're on the road again...

The next town over, called Vernazza.

Gelato in Monterosso!

There will never be any shortage of gorgeous views in the whole Cinque Terre.

My friends and me (and some random French guys!) on top of a huge rock on the beach.

After that, we did some more exploring, and before we knew it, it was creeping into late afternoon/early evening, so we caught the train back to Corniglia. There, my wonderful friends who are excellent chefs actually made us all pad thai, and we sat on the rooftop while sharing stories and chatter (and the free wine we got from the owner helped!). It was a perfect way to spend a girls’ night in Italy!

Last, but certainly not least, we had another movie night, much to my liking - with Frozen! Unfortunately I didn’t stay up too late to see the end of this one either, but it was still fun nonetheless (I blame the wine this time). After snuggling in and falling asleep far too soon, I woke up in the morning to my soft alarm, and got ready for the next day.

A beautiful sunset for a goodbye.

Unfortunately I wouldn’t be joining my friends for the rest of the weekend; they would be staying on in Cinque Terre, whereas I would be visiting old friends from last semester in Antwerp! It was like a little family reunion, and I was so happy everyone could come! But first, I had to make it there - and I certainly did. I said goodbye to my friends in Corniglia, and I caught a couple of trains to get to Pisa, where I spent a few hours taking pictures with the famous tower! I am glad I got to see another famous monument, and the history once again reminded me of how lucky I am to be in Europe (and traveling around so much!).

One last excursion in the morning right before I left, with plenty of gorgeous seaside views.

Seeing the actual tower in person!

Goodbye Italy :'(

All too soon, it was time for my flight from the Pisa airport to Charleroi, and so I got my things together (including my enormously heavy backpack… definitely taking a carry-on suitcase next time!), got through security, and basically hurried up to wait. I was sitting near a bunch of French (or Belgian?) teenagers while waiting to board my flight, and so I already then started to re-acclimate a little to a French atmosphere. Finally, it was time to board the plane, and it was a pretty nice flight - not really much turbulence to speak of. All I could think about, however, was how I was going to get to see some awesome people in just a matter of hours! Starting with the lovely Fatima herself, of course :)

Charleroi Sud train station, where I changed from the airport train to a train to Antwerp.

Fatima had agreed to let me stay with her and her family, and so after I got off the train (after meeting a Frenchman and an Italian guy, who were both nice enough to chat with me along my way to Antwerp), I basically tackled Fatima in a hug, as I hadn’t seen her in a few months. Fatima’s father was there as well, and so we all went back to Fatima’s place to get a good night’s rest. Fatima’s father and mother were very welcoming, and I was already even more grateful that it had all worked out for me to stay with her.

In the morning, we started right away - in the time before everyone else arrived, Fatima took me to St. Norbert Church, just a few minutes from her house, and I was so excited! I just wish Norby Knight had accompanied me on this trip... Oh well ;) Then, before we knew it, Rob and Walker arrived on the train, and we met up with Ellen as well. The gang's finally all back together again! It's definitely great to see old friends, and this time was no exception. Fatima and Ellen then started talking about what we could see in Antwerp, and it was kind of cool because they did all the behind-the-scenes planning in Dutch so that when they turned to us with their plans, they were all put-together. It was all very professional. We saw the zoo, the main shopping center, and one of the main streets in Antwerp, with many things in between - even a sculpture of a giant hand with a story that I'll explain in a bit.

St. Norbert's Church!

It's ELLEN!! :)

Getting a move on.

The Ferris wheel in the main square.

The main street in the center of the city.

An all-chocolate display.

This chocolate frog begged a kiss...

A giant hand, 

Fatima and Ellen then insisted on us getting Belgian fries, because apparently even though they're popularly known as French fries (in the U.S. at least), they're originally from Belgium. (Side note: I have definitely learned so much about Belgium this semester that I never knew before! All thanks to these two lovely Belgian girls of course :)) They were of course excellent, and I just might concede at some point that they're better than my previous conception of French fries. Not too long after, we stopped into a Subway for lunch, which I always think is comical whenever I see an American restaurant in Europe, much less go in one. Staying with the course of tasting Belgian delicacies, and for a superb dessert, Fatima then led us to a chocolate bar, where we all got milkshakes and brownies containing some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted (yes, even including Café Angelina in Paris!), and of course endlessly ribbed each other about being British, American, and Belgian.

Finished with our milkshakes at Quetzal, the chocolate bar.

After that, we made our way through the city once again and down by the river. We saw lots of graffiti and some murals along the way, as well as some important Belgian institutions. We played around on the concrete riverbank a bit, and then we made our way up the MAS tower, which is a museum right in the middle of the harbor which has beautiful views of the city from the rooftop. We enjoyed more than a few minutes just walking around, seeing the city from above, and chatting about our semester in Lille (and in Rob and Walker's case, their continuing year there). Before we knew it, it was dinnertime, and we met up with another Belgian girl, Anneleen, to grab some dinner! We ended up at a burger place right on the river, and we all had a great time.

Subway for lunch!

A church in the middle of the city.

One of the many murals we saw throughout the city. 

The MAS Tower. 

View through the warped windows.

Going up!

View of a church on the river from the top.

We <3 Antwerp!

On top of the world! 

Burgers & fries with some fantastic people!

To finish out the evening, we took a nighttime riverwalk along a raised deck a little ways down the river, and then back through the city to get back to our respective accommodations for the night. We walked through the main square in the middle of the city, saw city hall, and also, a statue of a guy seeming to throw something. Fatima explained that in Dutch, the city's name, Antwerpen, is a compound word, made up of ant, the old way to spell hand, and werpen, to throw, and this comes from a legend that there was once a terrible giant controlling the city, and this young hero went and chopped off the giant's hand to save the city, and so it is named after this nameless hero today. And so that's the story of how Antwerp got its name. After going out with Fatima's friend and parting ways for the night, we turned in, ready for some rest after our big day of sightseeing.

Our favorite Belgians! (L-R: Fatima, Ellen, Anneleen)

Antwerp Cathedral lit up at night.

Riverwalk adventures :)

The young hero who saved the city, commemorating Antwerpen.

But of course, there was still plenty of sightseeing to be done! To get the real experience at the Antwerp Cathedral, we actually all went to Easter morning mass there! I love hearing masses in other languages (preferably ones that I can understand, but any foreign language will do), and so getting to live out my faith in this way and participate in Catholic traditions halfway around the world was a great experience! Although, I must admit, that was when homesickness hit me the hardest it has yet; going to Easter Sunday mass in a cathedral reminded me that mom, dad and Sammy are actually in Michigan for Easter this year, and so they'll be going to a big fancy cathedral with all of our relatives for mass as well. That made my heart break a little, and I called them as soon as I could that day to wish them a happy Easter.

After this great start to the day, we then continued to explore the city, and on our way to a park, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up some lunch for a picnic! We once again found ourselves right along the river, reminiscing over the past semester, and just chatting in general while eating our salads and wraps. We actually went through the tunnel under the river to get a nice spot for the occasion, and so we found some benches and got comfy for a little while. There was even a playground there, which, if you know me, you know I love playgrounds! (I believe most of us are kids at heart), and so I was over there faster than you could say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. A nice rest there on the benches did us lots of good, and of course a little play never hurt anyone, and with that, we were on our way.

Picnic by the river!

We had a beautiful view of the whole city!

Why yes, we are children... :)

Ellen and Fatima led us back through the tunnel under the river, and we came up on the other side, ready to see whatever else our tour guides had planned. They then led us to their university, and we got to see a little bit of where they go to school normally, which is always really cool! We stayed a little while in the courtyard, trading some last stories and comments, and then all too soon it was time for Ellen to leave, as she had a family function that day. We said our goodbyes, with the promise that we'd all see each other again soon, as we will all be meeting in Lille before I leave. Fatima then took us to city hall again, where we actually got to see the inside as this year is the 450th anniversary of the building. After exploring inside a bit, we made our way through the city once again to drop Rob off at the train station, as he would have to leave sooner than the rest of us, once again on account of exams. As Walker and I are going to Ghent with Fatima tomorrow, we bid Rob goodbye, and then Walker requested that Fatima show us the not-so-nice part of town, just so we could get a better picture of the whole city. (I think Walker mentioned at some point that he had been half joking with the request in the first place, but since Fatima and I said why not, he just went along with it. haha.) We found our way to a park, where we discussed our favorite cities in Europe and our favorite travel experiences so far, and then as we made our way back through the city back to our accommodation, Fatima and Walker discussed cricket and soccer while I kept an attentive ear and made comments when I actually knew something about the sport. Altogether, it was a great day, and a fantastic time in Antwerp overall!

City girl

Opera House

Cityscape

The characters of a famous Belgian comic strip as a mural on a building.

Inside city hall!

Four friends. <3

As the title of this entry suggests, this week especially has just been phenomenal. From getting to spend a week forgetting about homework, and then on top of that, traveling to fantastic and beautiful places, and then, the cherry on top of everything, with amazing people, I couldn't have asked for more from the past 10 days!! I still have a couple days more of vacation, and then I return back to Toledo, where I will set my nose to the grindstone for two more weeks, and then be done!! It is positively scary how fast this is all going - I'm reminding myself as often as I can to enjoy the present moment and that I can't do much more than that, so on that note, I will go enjoy Antwerp for a few more hours before we head to Ghent tomorrow. Definitely looking forward to what these last few weeks have to bring! Until the next time, ¡Hasta pronto!