Late

I know I am a little late, as in waiting until the last couple days, but let me introduce you to our host parents, Boni and Mariola:


We took another pictures, on their camera, of Kailie, Mariola, and I; Mariola insisted she stand on a pillow so she looked as tall as us :):)

They are the cutest old couple in Spain. Boni used to work for the Church, helping in the construction of chapels all over Europe (as in France, England, and Spain). He also helped construct the Temple here in Madrid with President Uchtdorf. Mariola is the best cook in Spain. Every single thing had a flavor I loved, or at least liked enough to eat, that is except the green beans... They both now work at the Temple, Boni on a daily basis, Mariola every Saturday.

I love them both. They were so patient with me and my Spanish. Mariola would always tell Kailie she couldn't go shopping at Zara, because she wouldn't have room in her suitcase. She would also scold me for not eating my vegetables. Acting like our mom away from our moms. And she wouldn't forget Boni, calling him hombre whenever he ate his food impolitely.

They are on the top of my list of people I am going to miss...They're just too cute, I love them!

Remember...

...This post

Well I found these on one of the blogs I follow:






Win!

Fallas

As I mentioned on my B-Day post, I was in Valencia on the 19th for my birthday. What a crazy day it was...

A shout out to Kailie...I'm stealing your "schedule of the day" format
6:15 AM: Walked to the bus station, because the buses don't run that early on Saturdays

7:15 AM: Begin the 5 hour ride to Valencia

7:19 AM: Watched Michael Ann attempt to tell the people on the bus it was my birthday so they'd sing

7:24 AM: The people on the bus sang "Happy Birthday" to me

12 Noon: Arrived in Valencia

1:14: Began our wait for the fireworks





2 PM: The mid day fireworks went off


2:06 PM: Stood in amazement for 5 seconds as to how awesome fireworks can be in the middle of the day. The sound was so loud it shook your bones and the ground. Along with hiding the 3 story float in the middle of the square.



2:07-6:15-Walked around Valencia

7:00 PM: Parade started



8:00 PM-12:59 AM: Waited for the finale to start

1:00-1:11 AM: Finale:



There were fireworks before this (twice as good as the ones in the day cause you could see them and feel them). Then they lit the fuse to the huge float (as seen 3 pictures above this) and fireworks were shooting out of it while burning. Sorry, I turned the camera to the side...Just pretend the side of your computer is the ground

1:12 AM: Walked back to the bus


This was what was left of another float that was 2 stories tall, burnt before the finale.

2:00 AM: Drive back to Alcala

6:17 AM: Get to Alcala and begin our walking cause the buses don't go that early on Sundays

7:00 AM: Arrive at home

It was a long day filled with fun, fireworks, firecrackers going off everywhere, standing around, turning 20, enjoying Las Fallas, and exhaustion.

I would go again in a heartbeat though!

B-Day

Friday (the 18th) we celebrated the day of my birth. I am now 20 years old, I find that to be too old for my liking...But I have a whole year to get used to it.

We spent the day in Madrid, you couldn't ask for more perfect weather!
I was surprised with delicious napolitanas. No, I didn't eat all of these my self, we ate them as a group.

Don't ask what this face was...assume it's an "These napolitanas are mine/I love napolitanas" face.

After that, we enjoyed the sun by renting boats in Retiro Park.


Then hit up Hard Rock Cafe for birthday dinner.


For my real birthday (the 19th) I spent it with millions of people in Valencia. Details on Valencia to come...


Then on the 20th, I celebrated it with my wonderful host parents, their son, daughter in law, and their kids.


Thank you friends, mom and dad, and host family! I had a wonderful 20th birthday!

Lib

She gets an entire post because she came to visit Spain! We picked her up at the airport on Sunday to stay for a total of 3 days. Although it was way short it was GREAT to catch up with her and see her beautiful face again.



We showed her around Alcala on Monday, showing her the plaza, market, treats, and everything. Then that afternoon our mom excused us from religion class (if we missed one we couldn't get an A so it was so nice of her to do that for Kailie and I) and we went to Madrid. Showing Olivia the pastries, market, landmarks, and shopping.

Then on Tuesday afternoon we went to the temple with our little group. It was an amazing experience for all of us.



Sadly she is now gone and trekking back to BYU, her presence will be missed.

Thanks Olivia for visiting!

Mixed

I mentioned in my first Paris post I would talk about my feelings...Well pictures, with captions are going to explain things perfectly

Picture #1: Make a face of how you feel about the hotel.



So Michael-Ann, Laura, and I went to the hotel to check in, because Luisa and David had to wait for Kailie who arrived a couple hours later. Well we took a taxi there (for the record I said we should take the train) and all 3 of us were cringing as we saw the price go up every 10 cents. We finally got to the hotel and walked up to the door in the pouring rain; all three of us were distraught (to say the least) to see what we were going to be staying in...But as you can see in the picture Laura didn't like it, Michael-Ann didn't mind it, and I was leery about it.

Story Time: Our plan was to sneak Kailie and Luisa in because we only told them 4 of us were going to be staying there (a room for Laura and David and then the 4 of us would low-two it all night). But Kailie and Luisa didn't arrived until 1 AM and the creepy front desk man closed the door and we had to ring the doorbell to get back in. Well he didn't let all 6 of us come in at once so Luisa and Kailie had to find their own place to stay. So Luisa, Kailie, and David (the big brother that he is) went looking for a place and ended up staying in a hostel, which was about as good as our hotel. So Luisa and Kailie stayed there all 3 nights, Michael-Ann and I were roomies, and Laura and David were roomies.

Picture #2: The majority of Paris guys are creepy...



Michael-Ann, Laura, and I went to go get crepes while waiting for the other 3 the first night. We asked the man if we can come in and eat them cause it was rainy and freezing. He said yes, only if we go to a party with him when he closes. Well we said maybe and came in to sit down...Pheobe (Michael-Ann), Rachel (Laura), and I (Monica, we gave him fake names, FRIENDS characters) sat down and this creepy man was there with us the whole time. We quickly ate our crepes and left, not going to any parties with him at all.

Paris men are creepy...

Pictures #3 and 4: "Everyone show your feelings of the morning"



This was taken our first morning there. David was taking his frustration out on Michael-Ann, I was excited to go see the Eiffel Tower, and Michael-Ann was just ready to have fun the whole time. Laura was excited cause she was going to see her friend in Paris, Kailie and Luisa were tired and frustrated from a long night in the hostel.

Picture #5: Crepes



My new found food love is crepes. A banana and nutella crepe always hit the spot. But I don't have as much of love as Michael-Ann, she ate a total of 15 crepes in 3 days. She rarely branched out from nutella and enjoyed everyone of them.

Paris has left a lot of mixed feelings in my mind. I thought it was a beautiful city, filled with crepes, the Eiffel Tower, museums and so on. But my first experience wasn't that great, terrible hotel, rainy the whole time, everything on a budget, and lack of sleep.

I would go there again with these conditions:
1. I stay in a Marriott or Disney Hotel
2. I have enough money to eat where I want
3. It's the summer time, no rain but beautiful sunshine
4. I visit EuroDisney

But I love Spain so much more :):)

Infamous

My bus buddy this week was David. I didn't have room to sprawl out on the bus to sleep so this is how I slept:


(Laugh all you want)

Mouth open and everything. However, this picture broke Michael-Ann's camera...

Michael-Ann thought this was hilarious and had to take a picture of it, she LOVES taking pics. Correction: she LOVES taking pics with the flash. Well the flash woke up David and he was mad that she took a picture of him sleeping. So he "attacked" her, trying to take her camera and broke it. The whole time this silent attack was happening I was asleep, I didn't wake up until David sat back down.

So that's the infamous picture and story to go along with it.