The North

So, I am sorta back into the swing of things since my fiancé left....but now I am counting the days. I am trying not to...but for some reason lately I have been sorta ready to get back home. Well, I am sure that partially that is because Lee is there, but also I have been just a wee bit homesick lately :( I know that seems weird because I am experiencing new things all the time, but I guess when you leave somewhere then you can see how good it is. Maybe it's the whole, "the grass is greener thing..." maybe...

Anyhoo, so I got to visit Estibaliz this past weekend in the north of Spain in an area called Navarra. I took the overnight bus (I would NOT recommend this) to Pamplona where she and her brother picked me up. I then slept for about 4 hours and got up and had the busiest, most random, fun day of my life. Ha. It started with breakfast at a little place near Esti's apartment, then Esti, her brother Rueben, and her sister Christina, and I went to a spa. It was one of those spas that have like cubes of hot water, cubes of cold water, pressured water, water with flowers in it, ice water ect ect. It was really fun :) and relaxing. So after the spa, we went site-seeing for a bit. I bought some shoes and we just wondered around Pamplona a bit. They showed me where the bulls run, and a fountain that crazy English men climb as an annual ritual. We also went to the old wall, and just saw a bunch of different things. Later we went for "lunch" but this was at about 4:30...and we ATE, omg, did we eat...like literally appetizers, a first plate, a second, a dessert, and then coffee... Such a good meal, but I swore I would never eat again. So, then we went shopping some more after that, and got ready to go out for the night. We ended up seeing a "Big Band" group that was one of Rueben's friends. I liked it, but by that time, I could have fallen asleep standing up. We ended up arriving to Esti's parent’s house in the country at 3:30 a.m. which is where I flopped into bed and didn't stir till 12 the next day.

The next day was completely different than the first. I was at Esti's parents house which is out in the country in a small town called, "La Ragga" I think. Ok, so it was a little town out of a movie. It had small streets, old, old buildings and a beautiful church that stood tallest in the town. Her dad and mom showed me all around, and it was such a fun day. We also went to two nearby towns, one called, "Olite" I think and the other I completely forgot the name. Each town was so unique and very cool. In Olite, they have a castle, and it looks like it was transplanted from another world. So, that day was also really, really busy, but what made it more exhausting was listening and speaking in Spanish....I have learned that Spaniards speak all at once, and they speak loud...ha. So, by the end of the weekend, my brain was so tired, and my stomach was sooo full, but I had the time of my life. I took the overnight train back, and started work the next day!

So, now I staying home today because I am sick...ha...not feeling too hot, but probably because I have been going non-stop for a good while now. I am hoping that with a couple days of recoup, I will be fine. :)

Anyway, hope you all are good, and see you in 10 1/2 weeks.

-Vicki

ps. I did try some random drink that consisted of wine and coke (sounds nasty) but was good, and also beer and lemonade...another random combination, but tasted pretty decent.

Traveling and Love

So, I don't think I have blogged in a bit...but that is because life, all of the sudden, got busy. My friend Estibaliz came to Valencia to visit me, and then the same weekend Lee came. I was a little sick the first day that Estibaliz was here, but we still ran around the city looking at different things. I showed her the center, the different plazas, a couple of coffee shops, and the beach. We also went to the City of Arts and Sciences (This is made up of 3 or 4 huge modern buildings...it contains an aquarium, a museum, a theater, and a place for fashion shows.) When Lee arrived, Esti, Lee and I went to the aquarium. I LOVED the aquarium. It had penguins, a dolphin show, walrus', seals, birds, sharks, giant fish, little fish, starfish, jelly fish ect. Like seriously SO many animals. It was such a cool experience. That night Esti left, and Lee and I started our vacation. I showed him where I work, and my life here. I thought it was very special that he could see where I am living, and how things are. We walked LOTS and just had a great time in Valencia. Then we decided to go to Italy. We flew from Valencia to Milan. We only stayed in Milan for about 5 hours, but we enjoyed walking around, watching people, checking out the fashion area, and seeing the Duomo (the most giant church I have ever seen). We were both sorta awestruck about the architecture in general. We left Milan and took a train to Florence, which is where we were for the rest of the time. In Florence we went sightseeing. We checked out the Duomo there, and decided to go to a couple of museums. We saw Michelangelo's famous "David" which was gigantic and rather amazing. Each place we entered we were amazed at how beautiful and detailed everything was. We saw the city from two different areal views and I think that was actually my favorite part of Florence. I LOVED seeing Florence from above just because it is so beautiful and it feels like it is out of a movie or from some other world. The day that we got engaged, Lee had bought me flowers, and so that was a wonderful way to begin the day :) We then went to a food market and actually ate Lasagna for breakfast that was pretty amazing...then we walked around a bit....had coffee, and then rented bikes. We ended up seeing a park and went for a really long walk (uphill) in order to see the city from a distance. We both LOVED the view there. We walked and walked...and biked and biked, and just generally enjoyed the day. Then we got ready to go out...I wore a dress, and he wore dress pants and a nice shirt. I didn't know he was going to ask me, but he was acting so weird...so I had my suspicions...So he took me to a nice restaurant on the river, and we had a light dinner, and a light dessert. Then as we were walking back to our hostel, he stopped on the bridge (Ponte Vecchio), got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :) :) :) I cried, and was like “really, are you serious? Omg!” We continued walking back, but it took us forever cuz we kept stopping and being like “omg!” 

So, now we are happily engaged and have started talking about a date and all :)

So, to say the least, Italy was great!


I also wanted to write a little about my time in Spain as well:

So, I wanted to buy a wedding book...you know to organize my ideas and just sorta start planning. So literally, I went to 5 stores, and finally I realized that wedding preparation books, do not exist here....weird right? Like they do not exist. So, I decided I would buy a notebook that had a section where you could put stuff in it...like folders, but this was also impossible to find. They either have simply a notebook, or a calendar/agenda book...but they just don't have a book that is for organizing things...so I found this to be so strange. Ha. It's not a super big deal, but I just had a moment of cultural shock (though small) because it seemed like such a simple thing. Anyway, so I have concluded, from conversations with people, that Spanish people do consolidate things...they do not shop in one store for everything, and they do not expect 1 notebook to be everything you need....interesting right? It just made me think that Walmart is crazy and that it has created an attitude in me that I can get precisely what I want, when I want it....which is probably not good.

Anyway, so that was something not super positive, but on the more positive side... I am really enjoying my roommate, and I have just recently met the new roommate, and I think she is really cool. I feel really fortunate that I have the opportunity to speak Spanish everyday, and just chill out with local people. I have been invited to one of my roommates’' hometown, and also I am going to go and visit Estibaliz in Navarra soon, so I am pretty stoked about both!

I hope you all are doing well! Take care and God Bless!

Vicki