So I couldn’t have been  more excited about my brother Bryson and Asha coming to visit me in Spain. They had been planning this trip for months and I was soooo happy to see it come through. Other than my Aunt Candace popping through to London (and me meeting her there), I haven’t seen my family since late January, so it felt great to see some familiar faces in my temporary home of Europe.

Although I reeeallllyyyy wished Brys and Ash would’ve came to Andalucia (the BEST region of Spain PERIOD!), it’s definitely understandable that Spain is a big country even though it seems little. It cannot be done in a week comfortably. Therefore, I flew up north to meet them in Valencia after they experienced Barcelona and Palma Mallorca. If I had to pick my favorite place next to Sevilla, hands down it would be Valencia. The paella and the city is a mix between a Madrid/Barcelona and Andalucia. The people are fairly nice and its a decent paced environment for a working professional. Nevertheless, as tourists, we ate great paella, went to a biopark (aka a zoo) under Asha’s insistance lol, hit up the LLADRO factory (I now understand why those little porcelein glass figures are so expensive), and then they went to the aquarium while I went to hunt down this store named Mala Mujer that had this t-shirt I saw on this girl in Sevilla and wanted lol (no seriously, I really haven’t been shopping here like that to save money for plane tickets lol).

I then flew to Madrid (they took the train), and we went to a beautiful flamenco show (which was surprising because the best flamenco shows are typically in Andalucia, where flamenco was founded). But it was no surprise that all the dancers were from where….you guessed it…ANDALUCIA. Can you guys tell that I’ve become an Andalucia girl at heart? hahaha Anyway, the following day I spent almost 12 hours writing my final 6 page paper on psychology theory in Spanish. After endless hours of torturous readings in Spanish, citing, and writing, I officially can declare I’M A SENIOR BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, family get ready for Ari’s graduation next May But we celebrated that night by checking out Madrid’s night life and then I left the following afternoon to head back to Sevilla. In all, I think Bryson and Asha’s first experience in Spain and Europe was a positive one and I hope they get to come back (thanks to the mess ups of Air France)!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-jmvVtf1sU]

Travel list for this semester:

1. South of France & Paris

2. Greece

3. Morocco

4. Egypt

5. Germany

6. Sicily, Naples, & Capri

7. ALL OVER SPAIN (Canary Islands included!)

Las tias y yo (The girls and I…tia is slang for girl or chica en Spain even though it technically means aunt!)