It's A Holiday In Cambodia

Hi guuuuys! So we went to Cambodia last week, and the temples there are really nice! It's a must visit. :) I'll get into detail in the next post, so stay tuned. :)

España: Back to Madrid

After the pilgrimage, we went back to Madrid to meet up with the ambassador of Madrid for our Rizal tour! This time, our sight seeing was more legit compared to the WYD proper wherein we had to run to catch up with our group!

There's a Rizal park in Madrid!

Ateneo de Madrid. It's not actually a school. It's sort of a club for smart people.

This was where Jose Rizal stayed when he was in Madrid.

After this, we went to a museum, then went shopping again after! Well, that's the end of my Spain experience! Overall, it was super fun! I hope I get to travel to places like Spain again. :)

España: Pilgrimage

Before anything, fewer pictures will be posted here since my camera charger broke when we were in Madrid. :( Anyway, after the WYD, we boarded the bus to start our pilgrimage! We first went to Avila. We got to see the convent where St. Teresa of Avila stayed.

Awww look at these two cute kids!

After going to Avila, we headed for Fatima, Portugal! I was not able to take pictures there because my camera died, and I forgot that my phone had a camera. Hahaha! Anyway, Fatima is basically a holy land because this was where Mother Mary appeared to the three children.

After Fatima, we went back to Spain, specifically, in Salamanca, my favorite city in this country. Salamanca was BEAUTIFUL. We went to the main area there for dinner, and I can tell you that the night life there is breathtaking. The next day, we got to explore the city more, and that's where we had our first shopping hour! Zara is so cheap there! I wish I got to shop for like, a day or something. Hahaha!

This is the church we visited. It was wonderful.

University of Salamanca! I wanted to study college here, but they don't teach in English.

Plaza Mayor! One of the nicest Plaza Mayors in Spain.

Lastly, we went to Toledo to go sight-seeing! Then after that, we went shopping for an hour again! Unfortunately, it took me about an hour and ten to fifteen minutes of shopping, so I got sanctioned for that. Aww.

That's the end of our pilgrimage! Until next time. :)

España: Madrid

After the Pre-WYD Encounter, we rode a bus to Madrid to experience the WYD proper! We stayed in a chapel first because the place where we were going to sleep was not ready yet. Once it was ready, we walked to the place, and yes, we brought our medium-sized luggage with us! Anyway, we slept in a school gym, and accompanying us were the Portuguese girls we met in Valencia. Also, guess where we had to take a bath. Well, we took a bath in a tent with six showers around it! Additionally, since we were with the Portuguese, we had a bath schedule, so we had to take a bath in the morning. Since it was summer at that time, we had to tolerate our not-taking-a-bath-at-night-despite-being-super-sweaty-from-the-heat-ness. OH, and there were no heaters, so when we take a bath, it's freaking cold (Madrid is cold in the morning)! Honestly, I found this experience very fun because we realized how sort of privileged we were back in the Philippines.

This was where we slept!

Anyway, everyday that week, we had to walk to the place where we'd have our catechesis session. That was an opportunity for me to see the sights and exercise at the same time! Now, I bring to you the beauty of Madrid:

I wonder what this means. Hahaha!

On the last of the WYD proper, we got to camp out in Cuatro Vientos. Yes, we weren't able to take a bath. Also, we stayed under the sun for 8 HOURS. To add to that, the temperature that time was more than 40 degrees Celsius!

That's just a section of the whole venue!

Until next time! :)

España: Valencia

Before anything, I just want to say that this part was the most fun in my Spain experience. Woo! Anyway, as I said before, we had a Pre-WYD Encounter held in Valencia a week before the actual WYD. It's sort of like a retreat! Also, it's a preparation for the actual WYD.

I got to meet A LOT of people, but the problem is that many of them couldn't speak in English. Although we had basic Spanish lessons, we only got to use them in meeting people, not communicating with them. Lol.

I don't really know what this is, but I think it's the poster for the Pre-Encounter

This is almost the whole group. We're the ones in blue! :)

This was the meeting place for everyone (The group is divided into Spanish-speaking people and English-speaking people)

After the Pre-WYD encounter, we got to roam around the streets of Valencia! It's AMAZING there. That made me want to live in Spain in the future.

I took this inside a church that we visited

Amazing, isn't it? Well, that's all for now!