Un-Toledo We Meet Again...

First I just need to say that this is the end of the blog. If you happen to be a movie director and you just happened to come across this blog just now, PLEASE go to the first post and start reading there. Holy Toledo has some serious blockbuster potential.

As I write this, I am sitting in the Chicago O'Hare Airport, having just posted my last Fall 2010 Facebook Photo Album, teary eyed for the umpteenth time today, and a little poorer after paying for internet for my 7 hour layover. At 6 am today Mama Pili drove me to the bus stop and we both cried for about 10 minutes togather before we said adios for the last time. Raquel didn't come--she was sleeping (typical), but I haven't seen much of her for the last few days anyway. I am disappointed though that I didn't really get to say goodbye to Estefanía, but she called last night to say goodbye and exchange emails and Facebook information. Even though she didn't live with us, I felt so much closer to her than I did to Raquel.

Yesterday Abuelo and Tía Emma came over to say goodbye. Abuelo was asking me if I was ready to leave Spain and go back home to the States. When I answered no, he just looked at me and said, "Well, you know the solution for that right? It's very easy. Find a Spanish boyfriend tonight so you can stay here with him!"

Well, I tried really hard to do what Abuelo told me, but considering the fact that I am stateside right now instead of Spainside, it's clear that my novio quest did not result in the citizenship-by-marriage-slash-true-love-for-life ending I had hoped for.

I knew I would be really sad to leave, but I didn't expect to cry this much. Especially when Mama Pili said goodbye. She told me I always have a family in Toledo and their house is always my house too. Cue the waterworks.

At lunch yesterday Raquel asked me what has been my favorite thing about Spain and I honestly couldn't pick one thing. I tried and I tried, but I just couldn't! TIHLALIS is going strong with almost 30 entries so far. TIHLAL is pretty solid, considering it is about a cat, with 9 entries. TTCSAIATF is pretty extensive as well with almost 60 entries. But TIWMALIS would be endless. There are so many things I will miss about living in Spain. The people, the lifestyle, the Fundación, the (lack of) studying, learning loads in spite of said lack of studying, traveling, language barriers, overcoming said language barriers, todo, todo, todo. The list is infinite.

Another sadness: most of the people I've gotten close to over the semester are not coming back with me to Notre Dame. Some are staying in Toledo for the year (something I wish with all my heart I was doing as well), some go to other universities around the country, others live in Spain and obviously will stay there. Luckily Caitlin and I have grand plans to buy "Wine Tasting For Dummies" and become vino-experts...otherwise I'd be SOL and SOFriendsFromToledo.

I'm certain that when I am back home in Memphis among family and friends, just in time for Christmas, distributing their thoughtfully chosen gifts, I will be happy. But until then, whilst I am alone in O'Hare airport, missing Spain, in casa-limbo, with only $14, 23 Euros and 1,010 Hungarian Forints in my wallet, I'm allowed to be sad. VALE?!

Ok, enough melodrama.

Except........

This post also marks the end of Holy Toledo. As much as I have LOVED blogging about Spain, I'm just not the kind of girl who blogs about how many miles I ran that day (usually zero) or what I ate for dinner (it varies...like you even care). I'll leave good ole Holy Toledo out here in cyberspace forever, so don't fret. It will always be here for reminiscing purposes. However, it will remain untouched and thus untainted (is that a word?). Purely a blog about electrifying tales, I'm not going to ruin it by adding more. It's perfect the way it is...at least I think so!

If you've read all these posts, major props and even bigger thanks. There's a stats page that tells me how many people from every country read my blog each day. Big shoutout to my 19 readers from the United Arab Emirates, whoever you are. Also all the randos from Venezuela, Canada, Russia, China, France, Germany, Ireland, England, and Croatia. And of course everyone from Spain and the US! I don't know who you all are, but you make my day and motivate me to write.

One last thing. Sorry, I know this is long, but I still have 2 hours left here before my next flight. The Bacon Wallet. I considered leaving him in Spain as a "footprint" of sorts, but I couldn't bear to part with him. So The Bacon Wallet is still in my purse, preparing for our next adventure. I think we shall be traveling companions forever.

Well, I think that's about it! If I know you, I'm sure I'll see you soon, unless I left you in Spain, in which case it might be later rather than sooner. If I don't know you and you stumbled here, I hope you've enjoyed. Ha sido un placer. No os digo "adios," sino "hasta luego."

...or should I say "LUEGO FUEGO??" Ha. Jk.

Hasta luego. Que vayas con Dios, y que tengas suerte en todo.

Un besito,
Elizabeth/Eli/Corazón/Cariño/Nena/Hija/Niña /Stephanie/Cielo/Lizzy/Melissa



P.S. One last TIHL.

TIHLALIS #30:

30. I love life in Spain and I will miss it very much. I'll be back one day. Very soon.

Javier, Mama Pili and I after graduation from the Fundación. Such a proud moment.

Czech It Off The List

Round two of Eastern Europe Excursion: Prague, Czech Republic. We took a bus from Budapest to Prague that lasted 8 hours. Now, an 8-hour bus ride at first seems like an utterly miserable experience, right? WRONG! This was, sin duda, the best bus ride of my entire life. The seats were super comfy, they reclined, I had a whole row to myself the entire way, each leg of the trip featured a different movie (3 in all, including The Notebook!), we got FREE cappucinos, there was WIFI ON THE BUS, AND it was only 17 EUROS!!!!! AMAZING!!! Ha. We tried to explain it to people later but they didn't quite share our enthusiasm, so I don't expect it from anyone else, either. I just thought I'd share the joy.

Anyway, I was super excited about this trip because we have an insider connection in Prague! Enter Marcus--German (but also American because he was born in Indianapolis...represent!), medical student in Prague, son of Gunter--German, medical school classmate of Bill--my dad. Marcus and I go way back. I even have proof. See?

Evidence of our long-lost friendship. I'm on the left, Marcus on the right.

A few weeks before our trip I added who I hoped was the correct Marcus on Facebook and he graciously offered to be our host and tour guide. Seeing as, just like in Hungary, we don't know a single word of Czech (although I picked up a fair amount over the course of the 2 days), we eagerly accepted Marcus' offer. We arrived in Prague Saturday around 5, again in the pitch black dark of night. We found our hostel easy peasy lemon squeezy--an impressive feat, I'd say--and then went out to walk around for a while so we wouldn't be eager beavers and arrive for dinner at an hour way too early to be socially acceptable. We saw Prague Castle from afar and Old Town Square from up close. 'Tis the season in Prague and Christmas is in the air. Everywhere. In Old Town Square and other smaller squares around town they are having Christmas markets with rows and rows of vendors selling traditional Czech food like Langosé, sausage, sweets, hot wine (not as delicious as it sounds), and all sorts of Christmas trinkets. It's incredibly beautiful and charming with all the lights up, garland and red bows everywhere, and a GIANT Christmas tree in the middle of the square.

After we explored for a while (and learned how to say "I don't speak Czech" in Czech), we went for traditional Czech food at the traditional Czech eating hour. Caitlin and I each had part of a pig, although the location of these parts is still unbeknownst to us. If my memory serves me right, I had saddle of piglet, and Caitlin had fatback. Will someone please enlighten us as to what exactly we were eating?? It was delicious, but I just need to know. Now.

After dinner we got ready to go out with Marcus and friends. We met up with him at his Med school Christmas party, at a club, hosted by the faculty. I think I can compare it to if Notre Dame faculty hosted a party for students at Club Fever. Kind of weird, but still really fun! Marcus and I finally rekindled the friendship of our wee years and Caitlin and I met some of his friends: Abraham John Mathews (such a solid Biblical name, no?) and Seiver. Both are really cool guys.

When the future doctors of the Czech Republic party started to wind down, we attempted to relocate to another venue. However, large amounts of pre-Jetset eggnog on the boys' part made them slightly incapable of finding said other venue. We got another nighttime tour of the city--mostly backstreets and residential neighborhoods--but by the time we made it to Kostel, Caitlin and I were so tired that we asked Marcus to take us home pretty soon after. But not before we took some pictures "for our Dads!!" Caitlin has them on her camera...they'll be coming soon.

The next day we dragged Marcus out at the crack of noon for a day of sightseeing. We ventured up to Prague Castle which isn't actually a castle, just a Cathedral and the "Castle area"...I think. Marcus showed us some important buildings that looked nice from the outside but none of us knew what they were so we just called them churches. The city is so beautiful! Prague is one of the only cities that survived WWII unscathed, so everything is old and gorgeous and unbelievable.

We met up with Abez and Seiver for lunch. They apparently were craving a taste of the homeland because instead of Czech food we went for fish and chips at the English pub nearby. After lunch, Caitlin and I dragged the boys to more tourist attractions (slash it was their idea)--the top of the Clock Tower where you can see all of Prague. It was such a beautiful view of the city! Definitely worth the 2 euros and a 5 minute climb up the ramp (the gentlemen hopped in the elevator before we girls could squeeze in).

Favorite picture of the trip, possibly.

Marcus, The Bacon Wallet and I in front of the Clock Tower. The boys LOVED (I think...I hope?) The Bacon Wallet. Fast friends for sure.

We wandered over to check out Winceslas Square, saw the square and decided to take refuge from the cold with a few pints in an Irish pub. Marcus ditched us for better company and ugly socks after a while, but Seiver and Abraham stuck around to be our babysitters for the rest of the night. We stayed at the bar for a while, comparing music, movie and TV tastes, British vs. American English (e.g. TORCH) and just having an all-around ace time. We ended the night at--surprise!--shopping mall #2 of Eastern Europe Excursion. We went bowling! I don't know about Caitlin, but normally I am a terrible bowler. I've never scored more than 100, and I prefer to use bumpers. I had to be a big girl this time, though, and go without. Remember that saying, "Girls rule, boyz drool?" Well, Caitlin and I solidly schooled those boyz in both games. Caitlin won the first and I won the second. NBD. Successful night with the sort of locals.

Monday, while Marcus was in Czech class, Caitlin and I set out to do all the really touristy things we would have felt bad dragging the boys along for. We visited the Lennon wall...

The Bacon Wallet LOVES John Lennon.

...and found a surprise ND logo right above John Lennon's face!

Represent.

I'm dying to know who did it--you're my hero.

We went back to the Christmas market one last time to buy some souvenirs before meeting Marcus and Abraham for lunch and going back to Toledo. Marcus was nice enough to take us to the airport (all the way to security, even!), which was clutch because with 3 different modes of transportation and heavy backpacks weighing on our freshly massaged shoulders, there's no way we would have made it on time. After an unexpected, unexplained hour and a half delay, we finally got on the plane, left beautiful Prague and went home to Spain. One day left, presents still to buy, not wanting to say goodbye to my Spain family--at home and at the Fundación. Lots of sadness impending.

Hungary For Prunes.

Directly after the last exam on Wednesday (literally, right after...enough time to grab our mochilas and PEACE), Caitlin, The Bacon Wallet and I headed to Madrid to spend the night at Caitlin's aunt's house in preparation for our excursion to Eastern Europe. After purchasing the necessary cold-weather outerwear, our first stop was Budapest, Hungary.

So many hungry/Hungary jokes. We were starving when we got there, so it was actually very appropriate.

When we arrived in Budapest, we found this bus service that drove us right to the front door of the hostel. This was really clutch, because neither of us know a single word of Hungarian (as if anyone actually does...). So navigating our way to the hostel without a map, without any language skills, and in the PITCH BLACK DARKNESS AT 4 IN THE AFTERNOON would have been rather difficult. The sun sets so early there! I do not understand. It's so strange.

After checking in at Colors Hostel, we decided to go on a nighttime boat cruise on the Danube! We bundled up, made our way to the river and hopped the boat. It was SO cold, but the boat drivers anticipated our freezingness and had blankets ready for us. Caitlin and I decided to be adventurous and sit outside on the deck of the boat so we could take pictures. The rest of the passengers were lame (slash smart) and sat inside with their hot chocolate whilst we battled hypothermia up top, but we definitely got the best views. Budapest is so beautiful at night! Unfortunately, my camera decided to be uncooperative and fail at taking amazing pictures like it usually does. So the only photo I have from the boat tour is this one, which I think is all I really need anyway.

The Bacon Wallet with the ELIZABETH BRIDGE on the Danube in Budapest.

After the Danube tour, we took refuge in a cellar restaurant and settled in for our first Hungarian meal. Two words can perfectly describe Hungarian food: hearty and robust. Every bite is packed with flavor and the bites are endless--the portions are absolutely massive. But it's so good that even though you're about to burst you want to keep eating and eating because you just want more of the amazing flavor in your mouth! Ahhhhhh, so delicious. It took a while for us to be able to move again, but when we finally made it back to the hostel, we got ready to go out. We had met someone earlier who told us about a place to go, so we decided to check it out. Once we finally found the address and managed to find our way there, we discovered that it was a club.......inside a mall? It was...interesting. But still a good time!

The next day, we forced ourselves to crawl out of bed so we could see Budapest by daylight. We grabbed our maps and hit the streets. We tried to see all the places we saw the night before on our boat tour. First was Buda Palace, then Buda Castle. Both places had magnificent views of the entire city.

View of Pest from Buda.

The rest of the early afternoon we just kind of meandered around the city, taking it all in. It's such a cool place. But by 4:30 we were making our way to the highlight event of Budapest: the Széchenyi spa. I dare you to try and pronounce that...I certainly can't. We just called it "the most amazing place ever" instead. First we changed into our swim suits and jumped in the pool...outside. Keep in mind it is about 25 or 30 degrees outside. The pool was steaming and wonderful and we stayed in for about 15 minutes before we had to sprint inside for our massages.

Ah. Maz. Ing.

For my first massage experience, I'd say it was pretty spectacular. We both got full body massages, and it was the most miraculous experience of my life. There was one ticklish spot the masseuse kept hitting that would kind of make me twitch a little, which was kind of awkward, but other than that it was perfect.

SO excited for our first massage!

After the massages, we spent the next 3 and a half hours testing out the dozens of steam rooms and mineral water hot tubs (indoors and out!) that the spa had to offer. By 9:30, we had both set personal records for "longest bath of my life" and our bodies had turned entirely into prunes. We were finally ready to leave the hottest outdoor pool so we prepared ourselves to reenter the cold air. We mapped out the quickest route from the pool to our towels to the door to the inside and got ready to run. Shrieking from bitter cold, we ran to our towels only to find that they had FROZEN to the bench! 30 infinitely long seconds were spent in shock and laughter until we realized that our hair was probably turning to icicles so we had better get our wet-swimsuited selves back inside. We propped up our stiff towels on the radiator, and rented new ones so we could shower, re-bundle up, go back to the hostel and pass out. Sitting in warm water for hours on end is a surprisingly draining activity and we were exhausted. We ate another hearty, robust meal and when we got back we packed up our bags and fell right asleep.

The next morning we left Budapest for round two of Eastern Europe, and Caitlin and I were both wishing we had more time in Hungary. It's such an interesting place--very different from the rest of Europe that I've seen. I will definitely be coming back here, this was just a preview!

Lolz

Lola (who now goes by "Lolz") and I had a fotoshoot tonight while we were waiting for Mama Pili to come home. She initiated it. While I was typing away on my computer (note: typing should not be confused with studying), she climbed on my arms, plopped down and started pressing the keys with her paws, clearly trying to open Photobooth and begin her model debut. Here is our current portfolio:

What a star!

Feeling a bit camera shy.

Sassy face. Work it, Lolz.

Lolz wasn't ready for that one.

Trying to escape!

Biting. Typical model behavior.

Eyez.

Smile!

Smizing.

Just let loose, Lolz!

BFFs.

TIHLAL #9: Lolz is actually starting to grow on me.

Number of exams left: 2
Total minutes spent studying thus far: 109

Lost In Translation?

Last night after dinner instead of studying for my final today, I spent almost two hours with Estefanía talking about life in the States, showing her pictures from home, looking at Google maps of Barfield Road and just generally avoiding Picasso, Dalí and Miró. We have decided to become email intercambios after I leave Spain.

Interestingly enough, an uplifting fact to note is that the English word "procrastinate" does not have a direct translation to Spanish. So...technically, I'm not actually doing anything I shouldn't...or is it that I'm not doing the things I should...or possibly that I'm doing absolutely everything I can...or maybe that I'm not doing anything at all?



Are you confused enough to notice that I'm still not studying?


Number of exams left: 3
Total minutes spent studying thus far: 7

NAVIDADES! NAVIDADES! NAVIDADES!

I was wrong. The masterpiece in the plaza is not a giant Belén. Even better:

IT'S AN ICE SKATING RINK!!!!!

Unfortunately, it won't be open until 17 December, 2 measly days after I leave! WHYYYY can't they just hurry up and open it the 14th? Lamesauce.

Also, the CHRISTMAS TREE IS UP!!!!!! It's adorable. Muy chiquitito, but beautiful nonetheless.


Can you tell I'm super excited for Christmas and super NOT-excited for finals?

Number of exams left: 3
Total minutes spent studying thus far: 7

Cheese, Wine and Chocolate. Oh..and Windmills.

Interesting happenings during my time in blog limbo:

1. There's another huelga! Air traffic controllers in 8 major Spanish airports went on strike, UNANNOUNCED, on Friday and didn't resume work until Sunday, inconveniencing millions of travelers. The strike is in response to the government's recent decision to privatize airports in order to cut spending and increase revenue. The sickout strike began on Friday afternoon, with many controllers calling in sick. It continued into Saturday--the rest of the controllers walked out and closed the airspace! With the exception of various incoming international flights, no one could fly into or out of Spain for 2 whole days. It's especially bad timing for this strike because of the puente this weekend. Monday and Wednesday are national holidays, so everyone just takes Tuesday off too for a long holiday weekend (also I'm sure many a Spaniard is taking Thursday and Friday off as well and just having a nice week-long vacation.). One person I know had a trip to Italy planned but his flights out of Madrid were canceled. Another was going skiing in France, but I'm not sure what happened with his plans. Also, the government declared a state of emergency when the strike started, which now gives them the right to fire anyone who refuses to work. With threats of more strikes during the holiday season, that risk of being fired should dissuade any more potential huelgas. Luckily I didn't have any travel plans for this weekend! Pretty much everyone stayed in Toledo this weekend because exams are this week (YES. ON THE PUENTE. IT'S NOT FAIR.) and most people are traveling afterwards. Hopefully by this Thursday everything is running smoothly again! On the news during dinner tonight I heard that the air controllers were back at work today under military supervision but there is a HUGE backlog of passengers. Everyone is angry and frustrated including "many of Spain's famed fútbol players (who) were forced to use trains and buses so they could make it to weekend games." ...pobrecitos.

2. Day trip to Consuegra! Instead of studying for finals, Caitlin, Courtney and I took a bus to visit the windmills of Don Quijote. The town of Consuegra is kind of lame but I suppose that's because it's mostly residential and the only real tourist attraction is the hill with the windmills. They were so cool though! Very picturesque.

Enemigos de Don Quijote.

3. I finally learned how to make tortilla Española. Mama Pili showed me a few weeks ago and tonight I made one all by myself. It was buenísima! So excited to make it back home.

4. The Christmas lights are FINALLY on in Toledo!!!!!!!!!! And they are BEAUTIFUL. Definitely worth the wait. The whole town is glowing! In the plaza where I work they are currently in the process of setting up a giiiiiant Belén, or nativity scene. I really hope it's finished before I leave. Pictures to come soon, hopefully.

5. Pictures from Barcelona, in case you're not lucky enough to be my Facebook friend and see them on there.


TIHLALIS #28-29:

28. Vending machine/microwave sandwiches are surprisingly delicious.

29. Being a girl = getting lots of free things. All day everyday. But especially on the weekends.