GERMANY!

I loved Germany!  It was so refreshing seeing an old friend from school and being able to just chat about everything!  Plus Germany is so beautiful and so green.  But the bus costs 2Euro each time!  Sometimes I dodged paying, because you just get on then buy a ticket, and Calley already had a ticket!  We ate so much good German vegetarian food and breads!! Tubignen has a precious river running through it, the Neckar, and it is soo pretty.  Check out the pics.  We went to this Spring Festival in Stuttgart, and it was basically a German beer festival!  We had fun dancing with all the German natives to their national drinking songs.  Of course, I had to try a big beer (after all, they only came in one size and I aaam 21!)  We had a great time, and don't worry of course we went home on the train.  Calley lives in a dorm building with a shared bathroom and kitchen.  It was really nice and she is lucky to have her own room.  We were a little tight trying to fit both of us in the bed, but we figured out that we could both JUST fit if we laid on our backs.  We went one night over to her friend Erins to make dinner and we walked by a farm with all these animals on the way over (something I would NEVER find in Alicante!)  The last night, we made ourselves this typical ravioli-type pasta with sauce...yummmm.  We went for a long two hour hike through the forest and fields and even to the next town over on Sunday, the day before I left.  It was soooo gorgeous, and wonderful to get some exercise and a hike with Cal!  I am very glad I went.  We were lucky to have great weather.  Germany is very different (AKA everything even the bus is on time, to the MINUTE!) but I enjoyed the change.  I kind of missed speaking Spanish, however...I didnt understand a single thing of the very complicated German.  I saw lots of my friends last names on buildings and stuff and it makes me realize how many Americans are of German origin.  And I also saw Molls and Zeit(er)s.  It was great!  I leave for London WEd. night, I am a busy girl.  I started classes back up this week, though.  Ahhhh...don't know if I'm ready for that.  Enjoy the pics and LOVE!

Hey there! Tomorrow I am headed out in the morning for GERMANY!  I have talked to Calley a bunch and I am sooo excited to see her town and go to this spring festival on Saturday, and meet all her friends!  I will be back Monday, then I leave Wed night for LONDON!  I'll tell you all about my trip when I get back!

I'm going to London! Yippee!  My roots!  I'm going April 29-May 3 with Lauren.  Next weekend, I think I am also going to Germany.  Then the week after that is the Camino de Santiago.  Then I only have a month until my mom comes! and only 2 weeks until GREECE!!!!! YAY!

ONLY IN SEVILLA...

Processions

Semana Santa is a huuuuuuge holiday week in Spain, possibly the biggest one they have, and celebrated all over Spain.  In Sevilla, it is bigger and more serious than anywhere..one of the reasons I decided to spend 2 days there during Holy Week.  Here are some pictures from the processions.  Let me explain everything to you:

First of all, you are going to see the hooded men that look like KKK members.  It has nothing to do with that.  The reason they wear the hoods is so that only God can see them as they repent.  Each of the different hermandades, or brotherhoods, wears a different color hood and robe and carries different flags, banners, candles, crosses, and different what I would cal "floats."  The floats are these giant metal rectangles that are very ornate.  They are covered in silver or gold and covered with candles, then in the middle on top there is a depiction with stautes of one of the scenes during Jesus' journey to the cross to be crucified.  The ones I saw included Jesus walking with the cross on his back, Jesus talking to the women after they have wiped his face with the white cloth, seeing his face on the cloth, the soldiers sent to kill Jesus, the Virgin Mary (very common) and the most moving one is Jesus actually nailed to the cross, but I never actually saw that one in person, just in pictures.  These things weigh hundreds of pounds and are held in the air on the shoulders of 50 men that are underneath and completely hidden by a skirt that goes around the entire thing.  They carry them for at least 8 hours at a time, the men that walk with them give them water when they stop walking, about every 500 feet, the rest.  Enjoy the pics, this was unlike nothing I had ever seen. :) 

more sevilla pics

Sevilla, beautiful Sevilla

The gardens at the Real Alcazares.
The Giralda bell tower-we climbed it!

Torre de Oro

Visiting Sevilla in Semana Santa was quite an experience for me and for my two friends who I went with, Kari and Abby.  It was really fun and we got to see some amazing stuff.  And the city's not that expensive, either.  We took an overnight bus which needless to say is not very comfortable but at least I slept a little bit on the way there, not much though.  And it hurt my behind sitting for 10 hours. But...I got to see all this:

Plaza de Toros.