Tengo la impresión de Huelva y Espana después de 3 meses !

Voy a escribir en espanol para la practica.  Primero, tengo un buen impresion de la gente en Huelva. La gente es muy agradable y hospitalaria. Huelva es un ciudad industrial con cerca de 150,000 personas. Me gusta la tamano(size) de Huelva. Es facil a andar por todo la ciudad. (precaución con la caca de perro.....no hay mucha hierba(grass) aqui, asi que ir al bano en la acera(sidewalk)).

Aquí está una vista de la ciudad. En la distancia en el centro de la foto se puede ver el mar, a diez minutos en coche de Huelva.

En este foto, se puede ver la cantidad de contaminación de las fábricas.....

Un estudiante me dijo que Huelva es una de las ciudades más contaminadas en Huelva..........eh. Pero, es un lugar muy barato para vivir!

En la distancia, puedes a ver un poco de el estadio de futbol........Huelva es casa a la primera club de futbol en Espana.....Recreative de Huelva....est. 1889!

A mi escuela, I.E.S. Clara Campoamor, los prfesores son muy atentos y intendan ayudareme con el espanol. Hay classes que los alumnos son muy bien y quieren a probar en ingles. Esta es una foto de mi escuela secundaria (Middle School....edades 12-16)....la puerta de entrada.

y desde la calle......

la escuela esta a la izquierda.

 desde la calle mayor....

 Una cosa que me gusta es no tener que conducir! El tráfico se ha ido (has left) para mí ahora........ hasta regreso a los estados. (Mercedes son frecuentes en Europe, incluso los taxis son Mercedes).

 Tengo classes normalamente solo Lunes a Miercoles. Despues, por los fin de semanas (y jueves y viernes) voy a un pequeno viajar o jugar futbol aqui, levante pesas, practica espanol, hablo sobre Skype, y ayer, compre una guitarra Espanola. Flamenco musica, es dificil para tocar por que solo usar los manos y el ritmo es dificil de aprender, pero es un solido muy feliz. Compre por solo 25 euros en un tienda de segunda mano!

Mirar a mi habitacion a la mismo tiempo....

La guitarra flamenca tiene cuerdas de nylon.....

Despues de un viaje a Granada, oyeido un canncion de Paco de Lucia, queria a jugar musica flamenca!

Hablar con Skype con Hilary (todas los noches)......

Y no hay mucho hierba aqui en Huelva, así, es popular de jugar a futbol sala, en una cancha con un balón más pequeno. O en un campo de tierra.......

Futbol Sala......(juego aqui los viernes)

Un Campo de tierra por que no hay mucho hierba en Huelva......

Tuve la gripe en Deciembre, y he perdido cerca de 10 libras. Fue un tiempo muy mal, pero estoy feliz que lo tenía, porque creo que Dios me habló una noche, cuando estaba completamente perdido y no sabía qué hacer! Fue un buena experencia a traves de todas las malas. Duespues de eso, mi companero de piso, Marcos y yo empezamos a levantar pesas y tomar bebidas proteinas. Aqui es un foto de Marcos, el apartemento donde vivo, y el gimnasio.

Marcos es de Sao Paulo, Brazil, nos juegamos futbol juntos.

Mi Apartamento, la segunda piso a la derecha con las ropas en la linea es donde vivimos, con Marcos, Jose (de Esoana en un pueblo cerca de Sevilla) y yo....buscamos por un otro companero de piso, un cuatro.

Calle de el gimnasio y mi movil servicio, Yoigo! A la izquierda de la calle.

Tambien, despus de mis vacaciones, en Enero, tuve un infection de mi oido. Fue muy mal tambien, y fui a el medico dos veces. Descubri que los servicios medicos son gratis en Espana!!!! Descubri tambien que los medicina son muy baratos!! Pero no quiero a ir un alguno vez. Tengo mucho enfermo en Espana, hasta ahora.

Como se puede ver, Huelva no es un ciudad de Espana con mucho glamor. Pero ya que no es un lugar deseable, es barato. Y, no hay mucho tourismo, pues, no hay mucho ingles. Es buena para mi para practicar espanol.

Otros cosas que me gusta sobre Espana son los tiendas cerrar a las 3 de la tarde por almuerzo y tiempo para relajarse. Andaluces son populares por su estilo de vida de ritmo lento. Lo he visto a ser un poco cierto, (en la escuela es siempre agitada, haha). Me gusta que la gente andar y hablar por la calle, es un vida mas abierto con los vecinos.

Si quieres a entender eso, y no hablas mucho espanol, debe usar Goolge Translate. Yo lo uso todo de el tiempo!

http://translate.google.com/#

Salzburg, Austria!

On our last day of the trip, we went to Salzburg.

Salzburg is the birthplace of  Mozart. The city was also the setting for parts of The Sound of Music (1965).

Hilary really wanted to go on the Sound of Music tour, so we got on thier cool bus and saw some of the movie sights.

First, we stopped at the lake that was used in the movie. It was frozen.

Then we went to the Gazebo so Hilary could act like she was in the movie and sing along with all the other crazies. I decided to try and stand on a wooden pole with ice on top, and fell in front of everyone. But Hil had a good time with the Gazebo lovers. Below is a pic of the famous Gazebo.

Then, we saw some of the countryside in the Alps where the movie was filmed.

That would look like this without fog....

Next, we went by the church where they had the wedding scene in the Movie....

And the inside........

Then we went by the gardens so Hil could walk on flowers and see some more Sound of Music landmarks....

Some of these movie lovers were intense......they were sikipping around and singing all the songs....

Hil on the steps.......

After this, the real fun began.....we got to eat! We decided to share most of our food during the trip, which was good for saving money, but not so good for our table manners. After a few meals, I decided not to venture onto Hil's side of the plate, due to the good possibility of coming out with a fork stuck in my hand. Our last meal was so good that we had to document it.......

Sadly, our trip had come to an end.

We had learned a lot from our 17 day European trip....a few that stick out in my mind are......

1. Don't wake Hilary up before 9am on vacation. 2. Don't wear tennis shoes to Europe during the winter, becasue your toes will freeze. 3. London is Expensive. 4. Don't use ghetto slang words as adjectives to describe what you like about your girlfriend. 5. McDonald's always has free bathrooms. 6. Brugge is awesome! 7. Trains are comfortable, fast, and always on time. 8. Most people in Europe know Dallas from the 80's tv series, "Dallas". 9. Pack lighter on the next trip. 10. Get a taxi to find your hotel when you first arrive in a big new city with a different language.

Germany Castles

On day two of our Munich trip, we decided to take an all day bus tour to see some castles. King Ludwig II (1845- 1846) was the man who wanted these castles built. The King was known be a little insane and the castles are insanely built and decorated to follow....We first stopped at the Linderhof Castle....

The above picture is a file photo....Hil seemed kind of dissapointed in the reality of the castle she would see.....

Haha, The snow covered all of the gardens and fountains, so the sight wasn't too impressive from the outside.

The view of the trees in the Bavarian Alps were very pretty, although.

 The real beauty of the castle was on the inside, where almost every room was filled with gold, mirrors, diamonds, ivory chandeliers and other insane king items....

And his modest bedroom.....

After this we got back on our double decker bus and headed on the famous Autobahn Highway to the Neuschwanstein Castle. The tour guide told us some interesting facts about the Autobahn. She said that it is known that you can choose your own speed on the highway, and thats true, but when raining. She also told us that in Germany, everytime you get a traffic ticket, you accumulate points. Once you reach 18 points, they take away your license for a while.

The Neuschwanstein Castle was used by Walt Disney as the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castles at Disneylands around the world. It the most photographed building in Germany. Before seeing the castle, you hike up a road 20 minutes through some beautiful scenery......

It was a little foggy the day we got to see the castle, so the Alps didnt show in most of the pics, but it was still quite impressive.....

Here is what the area looks like on a clear day......

King Lunwig II died before the castles were finished. He was found dead on the side of a lake in his early 40's. He wanted to have the castles demolished in his will becasue he didn't want anyone else enjoying them. His family disagreed, and 6 weeks after his death, the castles were on display as museums.

Cologne, Heidelberg, and Munich... Germany!

The next stops we made were along the rail line to Heidelberg. What's neat about the rail passes in Europe is that you can get off the train at any town, and get back on the next train that comes through. On our way to see Jess and Derek in Heidelberg, we stopped in Cologne to see the Cathedral ( "Dom" in German). The Gothic Style cathedral is right next to the train station, and we strained our necks upwards from the train to see it. It was the tallest structure in the world from 1880-84, until the Washington Monument passed it. Construction began on the cathedral in 1248 and took over 600 years to complete! It is amazing!

We hopped back on the train to head to Heidelberg, and decided to hop off and see Oberkassel along the way. Oberkassel is a small town along the Rhine River, with a population of only 17,000 people. We stopped and got some cheesecake and hot chocolate at an awesome bakery in the town and walked around in the snow. At this point in the trip, Hil was so glad to be in a slow-paced, small town that she declared it as her favorite stop on the trip so far! I thought it was an awesome little town as well, but I had to give all my love to Brugge instead. Hil was so happy to be in the snow that she could'nt contain herself......!!

After waiting for the train for about an hour, making an Oberkassel handshake, and talking about how many times I have been slapped by someone.....we hopped back on the train to go to Heidelberg. We had some trouble finding the right train station in Heidelberg, but finally arrived to be picked up by Jess and Derek, Hil's friend Jess is a friend from high school, and Derek is her husband, who is stationed in Heidelberg to serve for the Amry band. Heidelberg is a small city, with a population of about 150,000 people. Below is a view of the city from the castle. It is a beautiful little city.

Here is a picture of the castle, which sits on a small mountain above the city.

Below is not my picture, but you can see the detail more clearly.....

 Our rail pass allowed us to travel for up to 8 days, and we had only used 4.....so we took advantage of our awesome opportunity to travel, and went to Munich! It took about 3 hours to get to Munich, which is the city in Germany that makes BMW's and Audi's!

Munich has a little over a million people living in the city, and the residents refer to it as "the village of a million people". They are proud of the feel of the city, I was immpressed as well...it did feel like a big village, I suppose. We didn't get lost, at least! But when Octoberfest rolls around  mostly held in September) they city fills with up to 6 million people!

We went to the famous beer hall in Munich, the Hofbruhaus....(which is where Hitler spend a lot of his stupid time trying to rally and promote his ways).

  

We also visited the first concentration camp opened in Germany during Nazi rule, Dachau. The Nazi's started by sending political prisoners and then people with Jewish decent. The camp was built for 6,000 prisoners, but at one point was there were over 50,000 prisoners living there. Below is a picture of the sleeping barracks......(They crammed 1,600 prisoners into each barracks, which were designed for only 250 people).

and the front gate.............(which the Americans broke through and liberated the camp in 1945).

It was a very depressing sight, and reminded us how easily evil can spread.