Welcome Home

I am so lucky to have found such a wonderful second family to add to my life. And I am finally here with all of them again!

*An update for those of you who I didn't know in 2006.*
In Spring 2006, I studied abroad in Toulouse, France on the SIT (School of International Training) program. We all lived with host families and I really lucked out. I lived with the Lapeze family made up of 2 parents and 5 children. They are: Vianney (dad) and Domitille (mom) and Quitterie (now 12.5), Alexis (11), Ségolène (9), Tanguy (7), and Foucault (5). In case you're not sure, cause I wasn't before I got here that's girl, boy, girl, boy, boy. They are a wonderful, however sometimes crazy family, which you can only expect with so many people in one house. I became friends with an entire side of the family, including visits to the grandparents (Ma and Grandpapa) and the cousins near Montpellier. I will make similar trips to see these people soon as well. They took me to all family events including a reunion, a first communion, Easter, etc. Needless to say, I was excited to see them after 2 years.

I arrived in Toulouse on Tuesday evening after a lovely morning at the beach in Barcelona. Alexis and Quitterie picked me up at the train station with their father in their nice shiny new (American) minivan. The French don't often hug, so these huge hugs were wonderful! I saw Ségo and Domitille at the house, but the youngest two were already alseep. We ate Chinese food and watched France lose in the EuroCup. I surveyed the house for new things and they pointed out all the new electronics/appliances which were all of course American. Vianney is a huge fan of America if you couldn't tell already.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning walking around Toulouse and remembering all of my favorite places. I walked past our old school, the shopping street, the discount sports/camping store where I bought my backpack and a couple of markets. Most everything is just how I remembered it. It is wonderful to be back. The afternoon was consumed by Foucault's 5th birthday party. Birthday parties for 5 year olds are always more commotion and noise than you expect, and this one was no exception. There was cake, and presents, and Alexis put on a magic show for the little ones. I got to see the aunt that lives down the street who we spent a lot of time with when I was here. I also got to meet her husband for the first time because he had been with the French Air Force in Afghanistan the whole time I was here. He was stationed with the American army and is very proud of his English skills, so we spoke in English a bit. The evening was for relaxing and homework.

Today and tomorrow I am on my own for the whole day to play around the city. Friday, Foucault is getting his tonsils removed, so he will take his new toys to the hospital to occupy him. I'm going to try to organize the other kids tonight to make him cards.

I now have skype acess, so I hope to be able to talk to you soon.

Granada + Barcelona = fun

So here I am in Barcelona. The weather is very different than it was in the south of Spain. It has been chilly (about high 60s), cloudy, and sometimes misting rain. I think I see sun outside, so that is a great sign. Let me fill you in a bit.

Granada was really nice. It was a lot more calm than Sevilla and definitely more than Barcelona. There is definitely an Arab feel that remains. I learned that they just built a mosque there for the small but growing Muslim community. The street that my hostel was on was full of shops selling hookahs, tea pots and cups, scarves, tea, and belly dancing skirts. I talked to one of the store owners who was from Morocco and he said that most of the others were also from there. Our conversation was funny because I started speaking in Spanish and slipped up and said one word in French. He stopped me and asked if I spoke French, and I said yes, why indeed I do. So then we moved into French, cause I'm more fluent in that. Then we switched back to English so my friend Laura wouldn't be excluded. I really enjoyed that!

On Friday we went to the Alhambra, which is a huge Moorish fortress which includes palaces from the Nasrids and Charles V. The palaces were very nice and our audioguide was narrated by Washington Irving because he wrote a book about the place. We enjoyed our time with good ole Washington. The gardens were very extensive and were very pretty. They are called Generalife, which we obviously pronounced as General Life, but in fact its jen-er-al-li-fay. It was really funny.

Saturday morning I was up early and off to Barcelona. All parts of the travel went well. The hostel here is nice, but definitely has a different feel than the others. So far, I have seen Las Ramblas, an amazing market, some great street performers and dancers, Sagrada Familia (Gaudi's unfinished cathedral), and the Picasso museum. Last night, I went out with some people from the hostel to see this cool fountain that does a water-lights-music show every half hour at night. The first one was all disney music which was amazing! Then we got a drink and then realized that we had missed the last metro home. Have no fear, we figured it out. We walked to the center of town (a good 25 min walk) then took the night bus back...all the while trying to figure out which stop was ours.

Happy Father's Day to everyone and their dads. I'm off to Toulouse tomorrow!!!!!!!!

That was Sevilla and this is Granada

Wow, it's been a while since I've written. Sevilla was great. I loved the Alcazar (palace), cathedral, and basillica of the Macarena (yes, like the dance). I spent a lot of time with Elie and her study abroad group, so that was great. Being with UNC people makes it feel like home. I also got to spend an evening with her host family, practicing my Spanish and seeing what normal life is like. I walked sooo much, but it was great. My hostel had a tiny pool on the roof, so that was a great way to cool off at the end of the day.

Now, I'm in Granada. Yesterday I explored a bit and climbed to a great lookout spot over the city. I also saw the tombs of Queen Isabella and King Ferdanand. I'm beginning to realize how important they really were in Spanish history. They not only allowed for Christopher Colombus to sail to America, but they also finished the Reconquista of Spain, and started the Spanish Inquisition. They are known as the Catholic king and the Catholic queen. Today I am going to visit the huge fortress/castle/palace. I'm also goingt to find the local market.

Tomorrow I'm off to Barcelona!

I Went to a Bull Fight

So I went to a Bull Fight. It was definitely an experience and I probably won't ever need to do it again in my life, but I'm glad that I went. I really liked the beginning part with the pink/red flags and the dressed up matadors. They try to look all pompous and stick their hips out at the bull, but they're wearing tight, bright colored suits, and pink tights. The kid sitting next to me and I had a good time doing commentary on the whole show, which made it pass faster. I didn't like the whole killing the bulls thing, so I mostly used my visor as a shield so I didn't have to watch those parts.

I also went to the Alcazar (the huge palace in Sevilla). It was built in the 1200s by a Christian king, but made in the Moorish style. It was very interesting because there was lots of arabic writing in the decorations and traditional Arabic decorations. I loved it and thought it was beautiful. I learned a lot from the audioguide.

Those were my big accomplishments yesterday. Sevilla has tons of windy streets that really don't make any sense, so I'm still getting lost, but oh well. I'm meeting up again today with people I met at the bullfight, so it will be fun to have company during the day.

A taste of Flamenco and Tapas

Hello!

I made it to Spain! The bus ride took 7.5 hours including a 45 minute lunch stop. All in all though, it wasn´t that bad. I had a single seat with no one next to me and I had plenty of leg room (I´m not that tall so it´s not that difficult). I was able to do lots of relaxing things like sleep, read, write postcards, work on my needlepoint that Laura gave me to do, etc. They showed a movie for the middle leg which was a nice distraction when I cared to watch. There were 2 guys from my hostel on the bus, who I have since seen in Sevilla! What a small world! I also met a nice couple from Colombia while we were waiting in line.

I found the hostel here alright and I joined a group of about 25 people for a trip to a tapas bar and a free flamenco show. I talked with a British girl and a girl from Paris. I spent most of my time speaking French to the Parisian girl which was fun. I did however order my dinner in Spanish! Flamenco was good, very different from most other dances that I´ve seen.

Tomorrow, it´s back to tourism. Apparently there´s a bullfight show tomorrow evening and Sevilla is the place to see it so I might try to go. We´ll see! I´ll report back later!

Steph

A fun night in in Lisbon

So last night went really well. It's pretty much why I enjoy staying at hostels. On Monday/Wednesday/Friday, they have a local woman come and cook dinner for whoever wants it at the hotel and it's only 5 euros! Last night she made a meat/potato/vegetable pie which was good and extremely filling. We also had salad and what she called chocolate salami which was a very rich chocolate cake. About 20 people ate here and we all hung out in the living room until she called us that it was ready. Then we headed out to the fenced in patio and ate out there since it was a gorgeous night! They have a very cheap bar that they run on the patio at nights, so after dinner, we just sat and talked and some people drank. I sat and talked to an English speaking bunch (3 from Australia, 3 from the US, 1 from London, and 1 from Poland who's working in Ireland). This was a great way to meet the other people in the hostel and there no one really wanted to go out anywhere else (and spend more money), so that was great. This chain of hostels has establishments in Lisbon, Sevilla, and Granada, so I'm staying at all of them. I hope the atmosphere is the same at all of them!

We had a great time, but at 11:30 I decided to call it a night and headed to bed to try to combat my jet lag. I slept like a rock and this morning enjoyed a quiet room and a big bathroom all to myself since everyone was still asleep. Breakfast is included too, so that's really nice to have. A few people are up and about at 8:30, but it's still quite quiet. I'm off soon to the grocery store to get some food for my trip, then i'm off to Sevilla!

I'm Here!

Well, I made it! My flights went very smoothly and I was lucky enough to have 2 seats to myself on the leg from Newark to Portugal. I was able to sleep a decent amount (I slept through breakfast!) and I was pretty groggy when I got in. My bag was there waiting for me (yay!) and I found the bus into the city without a problem. First thing that I learned about Lisbon is that it is very hilly! Apparently it's known as the city of seven hills...who would have known. My hostel is very nice. I was able to leave my bag here this morning since I arrived too early to check in. They even let me have some breakfast and freshen up before I headed off again.

I was able to pretty much accomplish my goal of touring Lisbon in one day, which is good because that's all I have. I was well prepared to conquer this adventure with lots of pages copied out of guide books and a few good maps and advice from friends. First, I explored the shopping district which has one main pedestrian street which leads down to a big square by the water. I endulged for a bit and tried an ever so talked about pastry, which was very good. Next, I took a hike up to the cathedral (12th century) and then up even farther to a castle that was begun in the 11th century. There were great views of the river and the entire city from such a high hieght. Thank goodness there was a waterfountain at the bottom of this hill, because I guzzled the contents of my water bottle on the way up.



Next, I was off to a kind of suburb (15 min on the tram) called Belem which has a huge monestary. It was gorgeous and very intricate on the outside. Then I and some French people I found figured out how to cross the highway to make it to the monuments on the waterfront. This was my favorite part of the whole day. So Portugal, and especially Lisbon as far as I can tell is very obsessed/proud of their exploratory ancestors. There is a very cool monument celebrating the 400th year of some exploration (probably Vasco de Gama, but I'm not sure). It is an enormous statue of a wave with people on the side that look like they're on the front of a boat. From the back it looks like a sword in a cross. I don't think I'm describing how huge it is well enough. Well, I'll show you pictures later I guess. There was also an old tower that is just on the water that I climbed and had some good views as well. Lastly after some lunch, I went out to the other side of town and saw a basillica from 1789 and a beautiful gardin from about the same time. That was a nice way to slow down my day. Now I'm back at the hostel, where they serve home made Portguese dinner for 5 euros every night, which I'll be participating in.

Hopefully I'll get a great night's sleep tonight and then it's off to Sevilla tomorrow!

Miss you all!
Steph

Before I Go

Hello family and friends!

I will be posting updates here from all of my upcoming travels. I leave on June 5 to go to Europe for a month. I will be traveling to Portugal, Spain, France and Italy. Here is my itinerary:

June 5 - Fly to Europe
June 6 - Lisbon, Portugal
June 7-10 - Seville, Spain
June 11 - Cordoba, Spain
June 12-13 - Granada, Spain
June 14-17 - Barcelona, Spain
June 17-22 - Toulouse, France visiting my host family from study abroad
June 23-25 - Tarbes, France visiting my host grandma
June 26-27 - Near Montpellier, France visiting my host cousins
June 28-July 2 - Bologna, Italy visiting my friend Luca
July 3 - Fly home

I will have periodic access to email, so I hope that you will send me little hello's as well. I can be reached at seberman@gmail.com. If you send me your address, I'll do my best to send you a postcard from Europe!