Drumroll............Spain Top Ten!

Hopefully the anticipation has been built just enough where I don't disappoint. Without further ado, here is #1...

1) Dog Pictures. I do believe I've expressed before my strange photo-taking habits. A recap: I like to take pictures of dogs in all the cities we visit. Don't ask me why, there's really no good reason. I used to think it was because I thought they were all cute, and now it's more of a joke that I have to keep taking them. EITHER WAY, let me take you back to the first day in Barcelona. I had VERY little sleep the night before, and we had just finished our fantastic paella. I was in a food coma/sleep deprived state...just as a preface here. So we're walking back to the hostel, and I spot this puppy. One of my friends suggested I do my normal creeper photo. I dug in my pocket for my camera, avoid eye contact with the owner (they always look at me like I'm nuts) and snapped a picture of the pooch. I then catch up to my friends who are all just STARING at me. 'WHAT?!?!' was my defense. Carolyn then asked me if I say how that guy was looking at me. I responded that I'd avoided eye contact, but was assuming he thought I was a bit strange. At this point Ryan asks me, "you did realize the dog was peeing, right?" WHAT?!?! NO I did not! I pull out the camera to look at the picture and sure enough, he was. How completely embarrassing!!! Who takes pictures of peeing dogs?!?! I immediately hung my head in shame as we all laughed REALLY hard...and I also quickly deleted the picture from the camera. Whenever I'd laugh at someone else's blunder on the trip, they would just point out that I took a picture of a peeing dog. Yup, pretty bad. I'm sharing my shame and embarrassment with you all in the hopes that at least you get a good chuckle from my idiocy. My friends sure did! :)

2) Bikes. We had a GREAT time biking around in Valencia. We eventually got down our 'order', of which I was biker #3 in the lineup. We all had little bells on our bikes (which are supposed to be to alert people to move out of your way) and we felt they were better used as music. When anyone of our bikes would 'ding' you could bet within two seconds the other three would 'ding' back at you. Hilarious to us, not so hilarious to the people who assumed they were about to be crushed by bikes. Ha! Also, at one point, we attempted to do a little 'off-roading.' We were on the way to the beach and the map led us to believe that a certain road existed that unfortunately did not. We thought we could just bike over this grassy/rocky area to get to the next road over. During this off-roading blip, I was silently praying to not completely eat it. There were some large rocks, and having already had a broken arm due to a bike fall in my past, did NOT want that to happen again. We successfully made it the next road (or so we thought), to see that there was no way to get from our 'path' to the road. So, we had to bike BACK. I thought for SURE we wouldn't be so lucky the second time. I was praying at a more rapid rate this time, and somehow, we made it back to the SMOOTH, actual road. We had to backtrack a bit, but EVENTUALLY made it to the beach. (Picture is of the realization we have to retrace the 'path' we made and possibly die in the process. Carolyn found it an 'adventure'. I thought we were going to die. You can also note that where we are currently biking was NOT supposed to be biked on. Rebels.)

3) Presidents. Presidents is a card game, of which the rules right now aren't of the utmost importance. The basic idea is whomever gets rid of their cards firsts, wins. There is also the person on the other end, whom is the "loser" we shall say. There are many lovely names for that loser, but we will keep this classy. SO, there are many different variations of the rules, and sometimes it's hard to adapt to these. At least, for me. So, we're on the patio in Malaga, enjoying our sangria and dinner, and playing Presidents. It was decided that the game would be more fun if the winner got to wear something 'cool' and the loser something 'uncool.'. It was then decided, due to lack of options of 'cool' accessories, that my green headband, worn in a specific manner, meant that YOU were the President. The loser had to wear clothespins (which we borrowed from the hostel's clothesline) somewhere on your head. Ryan wore them fashioned on his glasses, Carolyn and Theresia wore them like barrettes, and I wore them proudly as a mohawk. WHY NOT? The funniest part was, due to the 'new' rules we were using, I would constantly screw myself over from the way I played my cards. In 'my' rules I'd be fine, but with the rules we were using, I would be the automatic 'loser'. When my head would slam on the table and I'd start muttering, my friends would all laugh as they knew Betsy would be wearing the clothespins. It was an amusing night. The highlight though - I had just been loudly yelling about something, was currently sporting the clothespin mohawk, when a guy that works at the hostel comes over to our table. He asks which one of us is "Elizabeth Vose". I look at him, saying it's me, and he then tells me I had left my wallet in the kitchen. My wallet basically had all of the important things, and I looked like a total idiot for leaving it. Thank goodness these people staying at the hostel were good people. BUT - here I am, hearing this news of my stupidity while wearing clothespins. WOW. I'm not someone who usually blushes, but at that point in time, I think I was beet red. The table was laughing at quite the high pitch at this point, and I had to join them. Stupid, embarrassing, but quite funny. :) (Pictures above left, self-explanatory.)

4) Sangria. As you have gathered at this point, sangria was a large part of our trip. It made it's daily appearance, with different accessories. Sometimes there was LOTS of fruit, sometimes the pitcher was very wide, or very tall, or sometimes even very small. (Boo!) But we discovered we all got about 2.5 cups per pitcher, which was the perfect amount. I had had sangria on only a few occasions before Spain, and now, will seek out more sangria opportunities. Also - before we started in on our pitcher, there was always a "cheers" involved. Carolyn had been instructed by friends she met in Madrid, that the proper way to "cheers" was by making eye contact with all involved. This became a very serious 'rule' and when broken, you were reprimanded. Try it next time - apparently it's the proper thing to do! Cheers!!! (Picture on the right is from Barcelona.)

5) Epic Falls. So, as I've already embarrassed myself enough with this blog post, I'll share one moment of another person's moment of failure. This was the first day in Barcelona, and we were all doing the 'normal' walking that our group does. This could be hops here, or jumps there, or even tripping. We try to keep things entertaining. At this moment, Theresia was trying to explain the proper tripping method to Carolyn. The point wasn't getting across so they stopped so that Theresia could SHOW Carolyn without them actually moving - so that no one would actually trip. Well, as Ryan and I watched, Theresia, while EXPLAINING to not move forward, Carolyn does exactly that. She literally tripped herself on Theresia's foot and face planted. And I mean complete horizontal fall into the dirt. She wasn't badly hurt, but it provided so much entertainment. I was laughing so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. Even Carolyn had NO idea how she had suddenly ate the dirt. The best was the instant thud when she hit the ground - hysterical. Carolyn is the group klutz, (I'm the verbal klutz, so we're even) and this wasn't the first time her fall had entertained the group. We would replay this moment aloud whenever there was a dull moment, or, I'd just look at Carolyn and burst out laughing. Good times. :)

6) Stairs. Now, we have climbed a lot of towers at this point, and they're all reached by stairs or ramps. No elevators except for those who need them. AND, most days I was in flip flops. This proved to be an exceptional challenge. As we walked up, the stairs are VERY narrow on the inside so when you have to pass someone going up or down, you literally fear for your life. One false step and you'd slide a good way down the stairs, possibly taking out people on your way. I'm glad to report we had no epic falls on staircases, but we did have complaining. And yes, for those that know me, it was me who would verbalize the pain of the stairs. I was always holding up the rear as we climbed up, making remarks and sassy comments until we got to the top. But - whenever you got to the top, you forgot how much the stairs hurt as you took in the view. My favorite 'view from the top' so far was in Valencia. The sun was just setting, and everything had a gold glow. It was simply breathtaking. This was also the most frightening staircase we had climbed, so the view was even more wonderful to behold. (Both pictures are from the top of the Migulete bell tower in Valencia.)

7) Fountains, Gardens and Oranges - OH MY! Yes, all three of these were everywhere we went in Spain, and I LOVED it! I already know my future garden will have at least one fountain in it. And sadly, I know the Minnesota climate won't allow the orange tree. I can dream though. Whenever I think of Spain, I'll think of sitting under orange trees (which smell like heaven, literally) with the sound of a fountain in the background, and taking in the beautiful view of the garden. Breathtaking, truly. If you could bottle the smell of that place, you'd make millions. (Picture at left is from the Palace Gardens in Sevilla.)

8) Heed Warnings. So as we get to the beach in Malaga, Carolyn starts explaining how she had gotten sand in the lens of her camera before at the beach, and so didn't want to take many pictures. I only took a few myself, but as I lack an actual case for the camera, had to keep it tucked under a corner on my towel, in my purse. Somehow, one way or another, guess what happened. Yes - sand got in my camera lens. And not just on top, where it messes with the lens' ability to open and close, it got underneath the lens! WHAT?!?! How does that happen??? I was lucky that it was the last day of the trip, but I was very sad as I tried to pry out the sand and realized it was all hopeless. The silver lining was that I did need an updated camera, as the old one ran on AA batteries and was quite bulky. But we had a lot of great memories, that camera and I, that went all the way back to high school. RIP Camera - you had a great life!!

9) Spanish. Well, although I took four years of this wonderful language in high school, I'm far from being proficient. Carolyn was in the same boat. But, we both were so excited to be in a country who's language we could somewhat understand! We would always order in Spanish, or at least were able to decipher the menu (which was something new and different). We also would attempt to purchase train tickets in Spanish. But, we did learn, once you responded to a question in Spanish, their speech would speed up and we'd be left staring dumbfounded at them while trying to process what the heck they just said. We would usually at that point repeat the question in English. We had a great time trying to use our language skills though, and it was fun when we'd pick up on something or remember certain words. Theresia was usually the language master on trips, but she didn't know Spanish, so for once, Carolyn and I (kind of) knew what was going on. Ryan also only knew French, so he was reliant on what we knew. We did buy a little translation book, just to jog our memories a bit and remind ourselves of certain key words and phrases. All in all though, I realized, my Spanish was mediocre at best, but it was a ton of fun trying to use it, and was very rewarding when it actually was successful. Plus, people really do appreciate it when you try and communicate in the native tongue - something we've noticed in our travels. If you can at least master 'please', 'thank you', 'yes' and 'no' - you can get pretty far.

10) Relax. Spain was very much a place where everyone was laid back and there was no rush to go anywhere. We learned to appreciate this, and even as we'd try to hit all of the 'spots' each day, we'd do so in a leisurely manner. A trip is more fun when you do, literally, stop to smell the roses. We would take our time during meals, during sangria, to really appreciate what a great environment we were in as well as each others company. It was wonderful 'de-stressing' right after going through exam week, and it really helped to put things into perspective. Life is short, truly, so taking advantage of each and every opportunity (even if you have to climb 200 stairs) is very much worth it in the end. What a wonderful trip we had, full of delicious food, hysterical moments, and lovely sights to see. (Picture is of the Mediterranean Sea in Valencia.)