Apr 14, 2013 - Uncle keith

Who's uncle Keith I ask, my uncle mum said, were going there for the weekend he lives two hours drive north of where we are now in a place called xalo, xalo is pronounced hallo, which means a two hour car ride(yay not).were here, cool I say( and no I do not mean consapated overweighted old lady, k boys).anyway I said hi I am Bethany, Anne-Marie's daughter and i am 12 .can I go in please of course said uncle Keith and aunty Nora.when I found out who I was sleeping with i got mad it was my dad(really it was Zac who I had to sleep with...

Apr 14, 2013 - Uncle Keith and Nora

We arrived at Keith's and Nora's and its amazing they have a pool and wifi but it didn't work. So most of the time i played curb ball. Curb ball is with two curbs a fair distance apart and you chuck the ball however you want and you try and hit the curb and catch it is really awesome. I was playing football with these Spanish guys. Dad , grandad and uncle Keith went out for a drink at 9:00 and came back at 2:30 typical x). The next day we went to a shop and I found these ⊙⊙ and you squish them. After that me and Beth played on the rocks and...

Apr 11, 2013 - SPAIN

We arrived in Spain and so far it's beautiful and soooooo hot.On Tuesday mum g'ma and i had Lasagna for our tea on the other hand dad and g'dad had Chilli Pork which was very hot but yummy so my g'dad said!!!!!I'll just take his word for it:). G'mas and G'dads house is lovely it's a three storied house,Beth and i are on the second floor mum and dad are on the couch(ha ha)But it folds into a queen size bed. Yesterday we went to mini golf.We all played but grandad just kept the scores.The course was on top of a hotel,we had to get a lift to...

Apr 11, 2013 - Spain

Omg just arrived in Spain, ok now where is grandma and grandad hi grandma(she couldn't see me ha ha).where is the car.wow look how pretty Spain is. we're here omg look how beautiful the house is and it's three stories high, it has a roof where you can walk on and it has a view of the pool oh did I tell you that they have a pool. The next day I went in the pool and it was freezing cool, zac was a wimp as he jumped in then got out and went straight inside the house, it was really funny. It was time to go out for tea I had a burger it was...

Mar 19, 2013 - Las Fallas - Part 3

I did manage a little bit of sightseeing whilst following the thousands of processions of neighbourhood offerings The Bull ring of Valencia is an impressive sight – straight flat walls reaching to the sky, dotted with the arched alcoves of alternating relief and openings that lead your eye into the middle of the ring. During the festival, the bullfights are at a peak of entertainment and droves of people were heading into the area to be swallowed up into the seating in the round. I could hear the roar and chanting of the crowd from inside...

Mar 19, 2013 - Las Fallas - Part 2

The book says that the word Fallas comes from the Arabic spoken in Valencia during the domination of the Moors, from the 13th century vocabulary, having its origin in the Latin word Facula – meaning firestick or torch and by connotation, bonfire. The Fallas are made by an artist who is engaged by the committee of the neighbourhood. The artist first makes a draft or sketch of what it is to look like and once this is approved according to a pre established budget, the artist builds a miniature scale model in terracotta or plaster of Paris and...

Mar 19, 2013 - Las Fallas - Part 1

Las Fallas A quick trip along the coast to swap out cars with the Boss - handing over his V12 BMW 7 series for the Midnight blue Vogue Range Rover – escalated into an amazing weekend filled with excitement and education. Out from under the doona and into the wee hours of the day – no sun yet at 330am and the temperature gauge on the dash hazarded a guess at 1.5 degrees, this must have been the temperature I brought the car up to when I got in as it settled into the minus 1.5 degrees as I headed out onto the country roads surrounding Arles...

Sep 30, 2012 - Togo, Lome. The First leg of the Journey

Hello, We landed on Togo last night, and the current had pushed us so close to land that I thought we’d have to jump overboard. I’m wind battered and worn to my core. We wake up at before dawn each day, if we sleep at all, which is rare since what happened on the second day. When we set off the sea was calm and all ready for us amateurs to master. We fell asleep easily and the next day we woke up to be right on coarse. But the next night was nearly unbearable. The wind shook the wood of the boat and tore like teeth at the sails. The...

Sep 23, 2012 - Boarding the Boat

Hello, Today my crew and I are setting out for Lome, Togo. This country rests between Benin and Ghana. I chose the city because it’s light on the water. I just want to get in and out like that and reboot. We counted all the cargo for the planned-month trip completely around Africa. We just took all our cargo into account and the amounts are tremendous. We have 320 jugs of water (40 for us), 320 loaves of bread (40 for us), 30 jars of peanut butter and jelly each (for just us), we have meat and more meat. We have probably around 560 pounds...

Sep 21, 2012 - Valencia and Back to Barcelona

Nearing the end of my six day tour of Spain, I spend the last night in Valencia. We arrived here after most of a day driving from Granada. I just have enough time to walk the couple of blocks from the hotel to the very modern Science and Arts Center. I only had time to visit the Science building. It was very interesting with many hands on activities. I have paired up often with another solo traveler, Emi from Australia, taking this tour before meeting up with her daughter in Barcelona. We decided to take a taxi to the old part of Valencia...

Sep 2, 2012 - Orientation Weekend

Hola Amigos! :) So this will be the start to my blog over the next three months covering my amazing adventure in Spain! I safely arrived in Alicante around 1 pm on Friday! The flight seemed like it took what was forever but I made it. Thirteen other students from around the United States are also doing the same program as I, so I was able to meet all of them. They are all so incredible! It's been very great having them to go through this expierence with together as it has been rather difficult to adjust. We have now had three days of...

May 31, 2012 - Valencia

We bought tickets for the on/off tour bus and decided to do the mariner route. We toured the aquarium and it was phenomenal. They have tunnels through the aquariums as well as walkways above. They cover several different regions in the world, I've never seen an aquarium like it. Afterwards we went by the America's Cup marina and then to the beach where we had lunch and I had to at least go wading in the Mediteranian! The water felt great.