Final Farewells to Our Home in Alcalá

Lauren, Elaina, and I. Elaina was the kindest host "mom" anyone could ask for. Everyday I smiled and laughed with Lauren around!

We finally were able to navigate around our little Alcalá and find our apartment after figuring out that we lived next to this awesome water fountain.

Wait for green. Press the button. I think I picked up a nasty habit of jaywalking in Spain though.

We lived right next to a post office which was convenient. I felt so happy when I was able to send a package all by myself!

Numero siete. Our apartment building.

The everyday walk to school.

It's funny to see all the laundry hanging outside of the apartment buildings.

A phone booth. Not as cool as pictures I've seen of vintage phone booths in London, but still a little different.

For the longest time I had no idea what these booths were. They are actually lottery booths where you are able to get a ticket for the lottery. I wonder what it would be like to work there each and every day. A percentage of the money from the lottery ticket revenues goes to the blind and disabled (ONCE).

There are ATM machines on every corner.

A photo booth on the street.

An eye glass shop. The shops put down metal covering things at night and during siesta and sometimes there is some pretty neat graffiti on the outside.

The equivalent of the Dollar Store in the U.S. (except that things are more than a dollar). Think cheap stuff and little trinkets. These stores seemed to be pretty common in Spain.

Inside Acalingua, our school.

Our Spanish classroom.

We had only a small space heater so the first month we wore our coats inside everyday.

The vending machine in the school. I had to take a photo because I wanted to remember the palmeras and choco bon bons. So good!

The plaza behind the school. I did my homework here often. Did you notice the funny walking/leash thing the little baby is wearing?

I fell in love with Alcalá when I went on a walk and saw this. It remined me of floating down the Provo river during summertime. Lauren and I often went running in a park and by this river.

Overlooking Alcalá. Part of our study abroad group went on a Saturday hike up above the city. It was interesting to see the size of Alcalá and see the difference between the center of the city near the Plaza Cervantes and the outlying houses and apartments.

Coca, León, Santiago de Compostela, the Holy Grail, Salamanca, and Ávila

Our final week of adventure around Spain!

(This post is going to be starting from the end of the trip, sorry if that confuses anyone.)

Our last stop on our last trip around Spain was in Coca to see this castle. Sadly, we arrived just in time for siesta and it was closed. On our way back to Alcalá it snowed. And we thought we had seen the last of winter. Ha!

We spent Friday in León. The main highlight of the city is the beautiful cathedral full of stained glass windows.

Outside the cathedral paper chains made of hand cut-outs hung on the fence and up to the windows. I never found out the reason for the garlands, but I think it was for a celebration.

We took a tour of the cathedral and learned about the restoration project for the cathedral.

Medieval stained glass window.

There wasn't too much to do in León. We got some suckers to pass the time!

A león in León.

How fitting to visit the pilgrimage site Santiago de Compostela on our final week-long trip around Spain! I'm so glad that we saved this incredible place until the end. The patron saint of Spain is the apostle James, or Santiago in Spanish. In the cathedral are the supposed remains of the apostle. At the center of the cathedral is a statue of gold and jewels of James and you can go up behind it and hug him. Kind of strange, but it is a big part of the pilgrimage to finally be able to hug St. James at the end of your journey.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Santiago de Compostela and we were able to attend the pilgrim’s mass (held every day at noon). It was my first mass and I really enjoyed it even though it felt very different and foreign. I'm glad I sat by Megan who had been to many masses before.

The architecture of the cathedral is extraordinary.

Saints. Who is the only one without a beard?

A poor shot of the inside. The gleaming gold mass in the center is the main and the statue of James.

On Thursday evening we went to an orchestral and choral concert at the cathedral. The music was beautiful and the setting perfect. Sound filled every corner of the vast cathedral. There is a strong spirit of beauty and there are moments where it can drench our souls.

There was a bagpipe player next to the cathedral.

A guy dressed up like Moses(?) outside the cathedral.

The symbol of St. James (Santiago) is the scallop shell, it is found all along the pilgrimage trail and in the city.

On a street near the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. It was like the "Costco" of Spain because people were handing out samples in the doorways of the restaurants, enticing the tourists.

We saw the Holy Grail in a tiny villagey sort of place, high in the mountains, called Os Ancares.

This place is famous for the Celtic-style stone huts, called pallozas.

Wildflowers and moss on an old stone wall.

Imagine living in a palloza and having this view to wake up to every morning. I would do it in a heart beat.

Pilgrim walking sticks, notice the shells tied on to the tops.

Tuesday afternoon we spent in Salamanca.

We saw the cathedral (above photo).

We visited La Casa de Las Conchas. A house with scallop shells all over the outside and fantastic gargoyles in the courtyard.

One of the most famous sites of Salamanca is the Plaza Mayor, famous because of the movie "Vantage Point." It was fun to see people plopped right down on the ground in the middle of the plaza, just taking a little sun, chatting with friends, people watching (I was at least), and eating lunch.

Here is the plaza all lit up at night.

We began our trip on Tuesday morning by stopping in Ávila to see the preserved city wall. The whole town had a medieval atmosphere about it. "Ávila is important because of its association with the great mystic and reformer St. Teresa de Jesus, better known as St. Teresa of Ávila. Teresa was a 16th-century Carmelite nun who reformed her order, had many ecstatic visions, and wrote several books. She is the female patron saint of Spain and was the first woman to be named a Doctor of the Church."

Valencia

We visited the Lladro factory and store in Valencia on Friday morning. I loved the nativity sets and the mother figurines. For our last institute class, the history of the Church in Spain, we watched a documentary on the temple and saints here in Spain. Part of the flim showed the role that Lladro had in the Madrid Temple and creating a version of the Cristus for the temple.

In the afternoon we headed to the beach!

It was the perfect place to watch the sun set behind the city.

On our final day Heather and I made our way over to see the Ciutat de laes Arts i de les Ciencies and the largest aquarium in all of Europe, also known as the L'Oceanografic (Oceanographic Park).

I think these were windows, they look very futuristic to me.

The picture doesn't do this building justice.


Yellow irises and pelicans.

Don't these birds make you think of Valentine's cards or jelly beans?

He posed for us!

Jelly fish are incredible and so delicate.

This big daddy star fish was almost 2 feet long.

One of the strangest fish that I've ever seen. What kind of fish is this?

It was crazy to be walking in a tunnel, separated only by glass, with sharks all around you.

Side note: Once upon a time I thought that I would be a marine biologist. That dream died when I realized that fish could be just as frightening as dogs. I still love fish though and had a great time at the aquarium!