Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Pardon Me, But Why Did We Secede Again?






As a beginning to my next month and a half of travel on weekends, I traveled to London England with my friend Harry, and was left wondering why we ever left this awesome country. The best way to describe it is a better version of the States. Unlike Spain, everything was functional and made logical sense. They had food with lots of flavor and some with spice, and of course, they had chipotle which is a default winning qualification. In addition to your usual options you had a choice between white or brown rice;it was weird not having to order in Spanish not because I've been in Spain, but because . I tried the fish and chips, and almost died because it was so sinfully good (I have an addiction to anything with salt and vinegar). I traveled with my friend and we hit up most of the stereotypical sites like Parliament, Big Ben, London Eye, Tower Bridge, etc...and some obscure ones like Drury lane from the childhood song about the muffin-man who lives there, however we were unsuccessful in finding him. While there I was able to run into one of my best friends from high school since she is studying there, and we got to go out and see a tame version of England's nightlife. Coincidentally I ran into two other girls from high school too that I had not seen since graduation...The world really is as small as they say it is. Overall it was an amazing trip, and can't wait for the next one to come!


Tuesday, March 15, 2011

The Rain Seems to Follow Me





Well, another day trip with IES, this time, destination: Toledo. This small historic city lies just a half hour bus ride outside of Madrid (assuming it is not monsooning out of course). We walked around the seemingly vacant city and its religious landmarks such as the Cathedral. In between running into chapels, synagogues and mosques we snacked on some amazing marzipan. While walking around it was obvious that the thing to buy was swords. We were told that the swords used in West Point Academy are handcrafted in Toledo. Even I can admit that they were gorgeous, and I'm not even a knife person, however they had a large variety of those too. This is the last day trip we will be taking as a large group, however all of my big adventures are just about to begin!