Bus Tour

January 16th
Waking up came way to soon, as always, and we had to scramble to make it to our arranged meeting time for our scheduled bus tour. Everyone in our group that managed to make it looked as equally disheveled. We were supposed to meet at noon but didn’t end up getting on a bus until about 12:30. Everyone is always late and we have learned that apparently when they say 12 expect everyone to arrive about ten minutes later.. Perfect for me!
The tour was really cool. We sat on the top of a double-decker bus and listened to headphones to hear about the different buildings. They had an English channel but it was a British man and he was really hard to understand so I missed most of the educational part but we got to see so much! The city is so much bigger than I imagined and I can’t wait to explore it further. This was the first time we got a glimpse of the river which was quite calm and crossed in multiple times on different bridges.

The tower where we met to get on our bus. It used to hold military or something? I believe the actual name is Torro del Oro meaning "the gold tower"

The four of us on the bus! (Katrina, me, Laura and Tricia)

Part of the river that we crossed multiple times

So in Spain, instead of begging they try to sell you kleenex at red lights. This guy was dressed as a soldier and stopped to salute us? hah

Not sure on the history but just really neat :)

After the bus tour, which was actually about an hour or so, we were all starving. Some of the boys in the group wanted to get gyros (pronounced like euros). I had no idea what they were but decided to just go with the flow. One of the guys in our group speaks excellent Spanish and knew his way around really well somehow, so he lead us there. Gyros turned out to be chicken (lamb was another option) wrapped in a pita with lettuce, tomato and some sauce. However the pita could not even wrap around the sauced filled insides so it was super messy! We quickly established for the boys that this was not good first date food! Haha

This is how huge these things were!!

We tried to eat outside at some tables but because there was a bigger group they didn’t want us blocking the door/taking up all the tables so we had to resort to sitting on benches.. even harder to eat that way! All of the restaurant workers around us came out to stand in the doorways and watch us eat. Apparently we are pretty entertaining!
After attempting to put a dent in our lunches (the boys helped with whatever we couldn’t handle) we walked around getting to know each other better and just exploring the city. It was Saturday so everyone was milling about kissing cheeks and pushing their adorable children around. Seriously, Spanish children are so so stinking cute! They are all beautiful and wear cute clothes and the girls have bows in their hair! I probably stare at them too much…

Everyone out of the group who got the same blue flip-phones. haha The guy on the left is holding my leftovers to feed the stray dogs. We're so thoughtful :)

Once we went our separate ways went home to rest our poor feet and legs. Our bodies were not ready for all of this walking but it feels so great to be out, about and active! It may sound weird but I just feel super alive even though I’m always so exhausted! We were very tired yesterday but when we got home we decided we wanted to run down to the internet café and I got to talk to my mom! I called all my dad’s skype name, my mom and Blake’s and no one answered so I was just going to check my email and then head home but then my mom called back! I was so excited to get to see you mom!!! It’s so funny how much a blurry and inconsistent picture can so quickly make me happy! Hah We all seem to have a bit more pep in our step after connecting with home and we headed back to our apartment ready for the night!
After another cold shower (booo) and the beautifying process we were running late, again! And not the acceptable “Spanish tardiness.” (Every time I hear or say the word tardy I think of you Nance and they say “tarde” frequently!) After a slew of random phone calls, asking for directions, retracing steps and being stared at by all of the Spaniards we finally arrived to where the group was! They were wrapping up a dinner of “tappas” which basically is a smaller meal or appetizer type deal. So we hurriedly ate a quick dish and left for the better half of the night!
We went to two bars (no cover charges here and I absolutely love it!) but the second one was the best. It was more of a “disco tech” so I’ve been told but I’m not sure about that terminology get so stay tuned to see if I continue using it.. hah The bar was called “Buddha” and we literally did not stop dancing until about 3am. They played tons of American music, which was funny and totally unexpected. The Spanish boys are so flamboyant and love to dance but the Spanish girls don’t really dance. Thus, the girls do not like that the American girls are out dancing like complete fools and we received multiple dirty looks! I guess they don’t realize that we’re dancing like weirdoes because we probably won’t see most of them again.. well at least hopefully not. Hah Tricia, Laura, Katrina and I, and some of the other girls in our group, all really just stayed together and only danced with each other and that was the fun of it! A very successful night!

Walking up the stairs to the 3rd floor of the bar to dance of course!