Tag: Joanne

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A Trip to Sevilla and Cádiz – Joanne

Hey friends! Currently, I am at the Biblioteca Municipal in Villanueva chillin’ with the AC on full blast. Yee yee.

Anyways, here is a quick recap of my trip to Seville and Cadíz!

We started our trip RIGHT after we left work at 9PM; Anna’s host mom Rafi graciously offered to drive us to the train station in Pedroches. I am so glad she did because she is a FUNNY lady. Apparently, her favorite American singers are Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. Go figure.

After an hour on the Renfe, we arrived in Seville! By this time it was like 11PM so we checked into our hostel and decided to call it a day. BUT, when we got to our hostel, our hostel man couldn’t get the door to open because the locks were broken or something so we waited like 30 minutes for him to try and open the door. When our hostel man finally got the door to open, we couldn’t find the remote to the air conditioner so we went back to the check in lobby (which is like two blocks away) and asked the hostel man where the remote to the AC was. He told us that we had to pay 6 euros for the air conditioning so we went all the way back to our room, grabbed 6 euros, walked back to the check in lobby, and finally got our remote to the air conditioning. Honestly, now that I’m writing this out, I think I’m making the whole ordeal a lot dramatic than it actually was. Ha.

The next day we woke up bright and early and took on Seville! Obviously, we can’t begin a day without cafe con leche so we stopped by a small restaurant and had our usual feast of bread and coffee.

From our life changing breakfast, we walked over to the Plaza de España where we spent a good chunk of our day. It was CRAZY because five minutes to us being in there we saw Anna’s high school Spanish teacher AGAIN. Like how in the world does that happen TWICE across the ATLANTIC OCEAN, GEEZ. Anyways, we continued our tourist-y adventures by taking a million photos and taking in the #culture.

It was pretty fun until it wasn’t and then we decided on investing in a 30 minute boat ride thing but in a boat we had to paddle ourselves in the center of the Plaza. It started out with Vivian and me rowing but because I have no upper body strength, I traded with Ahliaa. But don’t you fret because I still contributed to the group effort in making this boat move: I was the coxswain. This position included me blasting the “Cotton Eye Joe” and singing “My Heart Will Go On”by Celine Dion.

I think people enjoyed it because they looked over and laughed. I think one guy even took a picture. Anyways, while we were paddling down the river we saw a man and his son rowing near us. Unfortunately, we could see his buttcrack over the hem of his jeans. So, being the coxswain that I am, I used the scene as an incentive to get us back to shore. Then, I made the worker guy take a picture of me and Anna in the Titanic pose.

The boat ride left us all famished so we pulled a classic American move and went to lunch at The Hard Rock Cafe (PERSONALLY, I was craving Mac&Cheese). Anna and I pretended we were celebrating our 2-year anniversary so we could get a free desert. Luckily, we pulled it off well and got one! Only downside of that lunch was the fact that I accidentally blew out the candle before we got a photo with the gust of wind from my nose. Oops.

An anniversary celebration, fake or not, would not be complete without a photoshoot so yeah we did that (see below for our modeling talent, shoutout to Vivian and her phone for the pics).

We topped off the anniversary with a Starbucks visit. We are not ashamed.

Unfortunately, coffee couldn’t hold us over with the crazy heat wave that was going on so we took a siesta because #culture. This proved out to be a great decision because we could spend the rest of the evening exploring in cooler temperatures. We continued our shopping and site-seeing and took more anniversary photos by the water front.

I LOVE SPAIN YOU GUYS, UGH. So many pretty sites and so much Euro flair. Swoon.

We finished off the day with sushi for dinner (there is only so much croissants and tapas American girls can take) and grabbed some beers at a local bar. Since coming to Spain, I have found myself very fond of Radlers and hard ciders. An extra bonus to this all is that they tend to have a lower alcohol content which is GREAT for somebody who is allergic to alcohol like me. If you’re ever looking for a little night cap, I highly recommend Ladrón de Manzanas– it’ll help you go to sleep REAL quick. Or maybe that’s just me because alcohol tolerance doesn’t exist for me.

On Sunday, we grabbed a train out of Sevilla and headed down to Cadíz for a beach day. Honestly, it was a little cloudy and cold when we got there but it wasn’t anything a café con leche couldn’t fix! While we were waiting for our breakfast at a cafe in the plaza, a random man just CAME UP near our table and started to SING. And it wasn’t great singing. It was like half chant, half song and it honestly startled me. Another guy not too far away from us screamed “SHUT UP!” After about three minutes of sitting in discomfort, he started asking us for money but I pulled a “Sorry, we don’t speak Spanish” out real quick and he walked away.

It was still cloudy by the time we finished breakfast so we split into pairs and explored the town a bit. Anna and I went on a walk and ended up at the waterfront and cathedral. We walked some more and find ourselves at Burger King because that was the only place I could find iced coffee to go and WiFi. If you couldn’t tell, I kind of sort of have an unhealthy relationship with caffeine. But also, Anna and I saw a very cute potted palm tree out of our window at Burger King.

The sun came out around 2PM so we all headed towards a mini-mart for our European picnic lunch at the beach. We split some bread, cheese, prosciutto, fruit, and wine and napped, swam, and lounged around. Unfortunately, this was the day I got VERY sunburnt. However, I was able to be distracted by the pain of it all by the story of a man Vivian and Ahliaa saw who apparently YEETED HIMSELF OFF THE CLIFF IN CADÍZ. SPANIARDS ARE WILD, BRO.

Sun burnt yet happy, we all trekked back to the train station to catch the train back to Sevilla and another train from Sevilla to Villaneuva. We almost missed the train back to Villanueva because we messed up and stayed in a 15 minute line for McDonalds.

BUT ALAS, we made it to Villanueva. Señora Rafi was waiting for us at the train station, so cute. As soon as we walked towards the parking lot. she abruptly stopped and was like “wait, let’s take a picture.” Hahaha, so we took a picture in the parking lot of Los Pedroches.

Unfortunately, we have come to the end of the story of this great trip. BUT DON’T YOU FRET! I have two more blog posts coming your way. GET HYPE!

Still peeling off the dead skin,

Joanne aka JUANI

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We Went to Córdoba! – Joanne

¡Hola, amigos! The title says it all: WE WENT TO CORDOBA! Man oh man, what a great day trip.

We began the day a little earlier than usual with a bus ride at 7:45AM to the train station in Pedroches.

From there, we took a 20 minute train ride to Córdoba where the fiesta beGAN. When we walked out of the train station, I felt so ALIVE. Even in the early morning, everybody was hustlin’ and bustlin’ in their own ways and I just LOVED the energy. I was also very excited to see the familiar sites of Burger King and Starbucks (you BET I got some Starbucks, woo)!

Before our Córdoba tourist adventures could begin, we decided to grab some grub at a local cafe not too far from the Judería (Jewish Quarters).

I would just like to say: everything in Spain is so yummy. For example, I had a croissant with ham and cheese and it was the best croissant with ham and cheese I ever had in my life. And of course, our breakfast staple, a round of café con leche. Now, THIS is something I will be adding to my diet in America.

From breakfast, we walked towards the Judería where we explored some of the local gift shops and started a day taking loooooots of pictures. 

We also explored the Synagogue a little bit since our supervisor, Lucy, told us that it was one of the three original synagogues remaining in Spain. Honestly, it was a little funny to see because it was like an 8 by 8 room with like nothing in it except a few artifacts and some Hebrew writing on the stone wall. But it was 0.30 Euros for #culture. So 0.30 Euros well spent!

From the Judería, we ventured towards the Alcazar of the Christian Monarchs. While we were in line for our tickets, my friend Anna saw a group of high schoolers from her hometown. Little did we know that we could run into her HIGH SCHOOL SPANISH TEACHER while exploring the medieval fortress! It truly is a small world. Anyways, the Alcazar was BEAUTIFUL, holy moly:

We spent a good solid hour here before heading off to the Mezquita; but before we walked over we HAD to grab some tapas and sangria for the #culture. We were STOKED about the sangria.

Our last touristy-adventure was to the Mezquita! That was also very cool and we nerded out and spent an hour and half exploring the Mosque-Cathedral.

After the Mezquita we were SUPPOSED to go to Goiko Grill, a famous burger place in Córdoba, but they were closed until 8PM and if we had gone, we wouldn’t have been able to catch our train SO WE MADE THE BEST DECISION EVER AND WENT TO A PLACE CALLED “Breakfast Club & Co.”

Throughout this entire trip, I’ve been craving two things: salads and burgers. ON THAT DAY, I HAD THE BEST BURGER IN THE ENTIRE WORLD AND I WAS A VERY HAPPY GIRL. We ended up talking with the owner for a little bit and we found out he used to live in Chicago and New York City. We love America.

Post-happy lunch, my friends and I walked around and explored the city a little bit more.

We popped into this one store called “Natura” and wow, everything was very pretty and very eco-friendly. 10/10 recommend. I ended up purchasing a cute pair of earbuds with zero-waste packaging. AND the bag that they gave it to me in had instructions on how to HULA DANCE. HOW COOL IS THAT. IT’S SO FUNNY. 

Our day came to a blissful end at a park 5 minutes away from the train station. We grabbed frozen lemonades and hung out around a playground. I think we low-key scared the Spanish children but we had fun!

Man oh man, I loved this trip. I got to bond with the homies and immerse myself in #culture and drink iced coffee. Swooooon. 

This weekend, we’ll be going to Seville for our next adventure. GET HYPE!

‘Till then,

Joanne aka Juani

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Blog Post # 1 – Joanne

Gooooood afternoon, friends! Joanne, here, from SPAIN (woot woot)!

After a stressful day of spending an entire day at the airport, getting lost in Atocha station, and almost missing my train to Pedroches, I am HERE. It is currently June 7th, my third day here in Villanueva and so far I am having the time of my flippin’ life.

Villanueva de Córdoba is a very small city with approximately 8,774 people; it is adorned by beautiful architecture which I have had the pleasure of looking at on my way to the Academia. Caty, my host mother, is a very sweet and caring lady and has been showing me around the pueblo. From what I have noticed, everyone is very kind and greets each other with two cheek kisses (~so euro~). SPEAKING OF MY HOST FAMILY, everyone is so nice and funny! Because they speak a very limited amount of English (and my Spanish is… improving) our communication oscillates between hand gestures and Google Translate. It is a fantastic system.

My host family also has a dog, PEPITO! He is very cute and I have been playing with him regularly. He is a very charismatic pup and is fond of belly rubs. I like him a lot.

After spending the first day catching up on some sleep, I had my first day at the Academia. Lucy, my supervisor, gave me a tour of the place and we reviewed the summer schedule together. Because of the Trinity Exams that are taking place today and the “feria chica” happening this weekend, there isn’t a lot of work to do yet. However, today I helped with the review session for students taking the B2 exam by working on the conversation section with them. I was very impressed by their fluency and how well they discussed the social dilemmas of Spain in English.

After the review session, my new friend Vivian and I walked around the town and checked out a small cafe called Churreria El Lagarto (lol, lizard). And let me tell you, this cafe has THE BEST café de leche I have ever had. After catching up with Vivian and doing some work, it was time for lunch and the siesta and I walked back home where Caty was waiting for me with huevos y patatas. Again, we communicated using hand gestures and GoogleTranslate. It is still very funny.

In the middle of lunch, my host brother Fernando and his friends walked in and I got to meet them all for the first time! But it was slightly awkward because I didn’t know that boys in Spain did the cheek kiss greeting to girls so when they all leaned in I was like, “Oh! Uhhhh, hola…. *kiss kiss*” Yeahhhh, awkward. But, noted! (Just confirmed with Lucy, it is common for everybody to do the cheek-kiss thing regardless of gender/sexuality).

Now, I am here back at the Academia to do some work before I meet with the examiner to go over what students need the most improvement on and what parts of the exam went well. Then, I will be working alongside Lucy by assisting a C1 class (the most advanced). Yay!

Thanks for reading, friends!

Hasta pronto,

Joanne