June 3-4: Excursions and Sóller

Hola faithful blog readers! I’ve had a few requests to write shorter entries so I’ve decided that this entry will attempt to be a Cliffnotes / Sparknotes version of my past 2 days.

Thurs. June 3rd
• Found out that my Spanish class/professor was changed and my new professor’s name is Maria Jose. She’s a little more strict than my previous one, but I really like the other 3 girls in my class so I’m sure it’ll be fine
• Went on our first excursion as a group. It was a walking tour with my professor, Maria, and a tour guide who spoke English. We toured the Plaza de Cort, the famous Cathedral, and learned about the history of Spain and Mallorca. Took loooots of pictures
• 13 of us took a bus and went to the German section of the island near the beach we had previously gone to. Some of the students bought or mixed drinks together and we hung out near the beach and talked. (I had sips of other people’s wine/drinks and tried Sangria for the first time). We attempted to find a cheap Discoteca but didn’t have too much luck with that.
• Around 2:30 AM, most of us were tired and wanted to go home so I shared a taxi home with 3 girls that live near me. Got home just before 3 AM and actually ran into my host mother Loli because her granddaughter had woken up at that exact moment during the middle of the night

Fri. June 4th
• Woke up early to go to Sóller with all 15 members of the group. We took this rustic train that had a gorgeous view of the mountains and countryside. We all took lots of pictures of the pretty scenery. The train was about an hour long and then we arrived in the center of Sóller. We had the option of taking a tram to the port/beach or walking and when we asked the policeman, he said it was only a 15-20 min walk. So we walked
• 20 minutes into our walk, there was no beach to be found. 2 of our friends caught up with us and said that it was going to be a 45 minute walk and an insane amount of km! Keep in mind we were all in our beach gear and wearing flip flops, with little to none arch support. We trekked on and were so happy when we finally got a glimpse of the sea
• Set up camp at the first beach we found. The sand was blazing hot but the water was nice and cool. Went swimming for a little bit, napped on the beach, and read a book. It was a lot of fun!
• However, even though I applied suntan lotion 3 times during the day, I managed to get just about every single part of me burned. The tops of both of my feet (even though I specifically applied lotion there!!), my shoulders/chest/neck area, my thighs near my bikini line, my stomach where my tankini was, and even more arms and hands. Needless to say, I’m currently in a lot of pain (and yes Mom, I’ve applied the Aloe Vera and will continue to do so lol).
• We took a bus back to Palma that got in around 7 PM and we all went our separate ways. I showered and waited for dinner to be ready. After dinner, I watched this singing competition show with my madre y padre called Cántame (Sing for Me), which was similar to American Idol/America’s Got Talent and it was the live finale. I sang along to the songs that were in English and my host parents sang the ones in Spanish. It was really funny.

So yay for writing my first short and bullet point entry! Tomorrow there’s another planned excursion to tour the Cathedral. Quick side note: I have not slept back 9 AM since getting here exactly 1 week ago! : ( Although siestas are great, I really miss having the opportunity to sleep until 11AM – 1 PM ish each morning. Oh and not having a solid Internet connection is still very frustrating. Adios amigos!