Hey guys!! I’m back from Spain and as of now sitting in the Philadelphia airport. Let me tell you, the past couple of weeks have been pretty cool. The week after school ended, like I said, I just hung around the beach and took care of final traveling plans. My mom came on Friday and by that time I was uber-excited and frankly a little bored of sitting around Alicante by myself. When we arrived from the Alicante airport, I introduced my mom to my madre….yeah, it sounds confusing but it was very pleasant, and Paco, my padre, spoke to me more than he ever had in the 5 months I knew him! I know I’ve complained a lot about my madre but really she is a sweetheart and has treated me very well.
After we finished up there, we took the bus to our hotel—a rather annoying distance from the city. That night, we left at 10:30pm to eat dinner (a normal eating hour) and had a great, cheap, first meal with a very nice Brazilian waiter. Then at around 12:30 I brought my mom to meet all my friends who were really excited to see her because I had been talking about it for weeks. Thankfully, between Patricio and Javi, who were the only ones that could speak ANY English, they kept her company and I think she had a good time. ;) Saturday we slept in a bit and then went shopping in the little booths on the Esplanada (the cool mosaic pedestrian walk near the beach), sat on the beach a little bit, and hiked up (aka rode the elevator) to the castle on the mountain. We came back after freshening up for a nice dinner of authentic Spanish paella and a glass of wine. Then she went home and I went to my last night with the guys. I didn’t get to see everyone which bothers me because y’all know how I prefer to say goodbye, for closure purposes and all. The good thing is that I can keep in contact with them through Tuenti and see what they’re up to (or if you prefer the word “stalking” that’s probably a closer definition).
Sunday we traveled to Barcelona and walked around the famous Ramblas there. Here’s a quote from a guy in Alicante: “Do you know where Lizarran is?” Me: “Yeah, just around the corner on la Ramble” Guy: “Rambla? That’s in Barcelona!!” Me: “Yes, well, Alicante has a Rambla, too…” haha, just like every city has a Calle Reyes Catolicos, a Plaza Mayor, and an Ayuntamiento.
Anyway, the next day we went to Sagrada Familia, the masterpiece cathedral (as a opposed to Masterpiece Theater, bwahaha) by Gaudí. Oh man it was beautiful and intriguing. When I first saw pictures of it on the internet, I thought “Eww that is so gross!” because it looks weird on a first glance, but on some level it speaks to the complexity of life: it looks like a busy mess of sloppy drops of goo, but it is really made of intricate, religious symbols and art.
Afterwards we walked to Parc Guell and walked past 2 other houses of Gaudí’s handiwork, but I for one was hot and tired, and none of them interested me very much. Mom referred to me as the slave driver a few times because I was a little adamant about leaving places in good time. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from travelling, especially with my family, is that if you lag behind to take pictures, you miss out on some other things. However my plan failed—we never made it to Montjuic because we like our siestas. Also, unfortunately, my mother is aging quickly (kidding!) and her feet didn’t allow her to walk an extended period of time. The following day we took a tour of the Catedral de Catalunya but it was nothing special, having been accustomed to grand cathedrals of Europe. Then we found the City Museum and had a tour of an underground archaeological site of Barcelona’s B.C. age where they paid taxes to urinate in urns on the street (maybe that’s where they got that name). Then we tried to go to the park and rent bikes but after a long struggle with maps and snotty Spaniards forcing me to speak English, we settled for a nice lunch and a siesta. After that, we toured the Picasso museum. The last punch to the phonic tour was “Picasso began his life painting like an adult and ended it painting like a child” which I thought was a nice summary of his artwork. Really his earlier work was quite impressive, and the difference in the styles of art made me want to look into why he preferred such a cubist style when he could paint fascinating portraits and landscapes! After that adventure, we took another shot at the bikes but the store was closed when we finally found it.
The next morning we got up early and took a train to Madrid! I’d say all in all, the only things I liked about Barcelona were the Sagrada Familia, Picasso, and the winning Barca futbol team! I found that the waiters and staff insisted on speaking English to me when I could clearly communicate just fine in Spanish—a problem I didn’t find anywhere else in Spain, and frankly I find insulting. In addition, everything was in Catalan—the Catalunya dialect, which obviously I can’t read! Oh, yeah, plus the internet café we went to made me want to tear my hair out. Ugh, I remember that place with an impassioned fury.
So in Madrid, we had about 24hours total to see everything, so we arrived at an adorable hostel, had wonderful kebabs for lunch, and went straight to the Prado. The entire trip we used Rick Steves’ Guide to Spain, always saying “Where is Rick?” “Let’s ask Rick where we should eat” “What does Rick say about this painting?” haha, so he was our male companion for a while. Anyway, we followed the tour outlined in the book to see the masterpieces of the Prado. Afterwards, I ushered my mom out of the museum so we had time to see the Botanical Gardens next door, go home to get freshened up, and go out again for tapas and a Flamenco show. The show was a combination of ballet and flamenco so it wasn’t completely authentic, but it was still a good impression of the Spanish flamenco culture and we both enjoyed it immensely. It helped taking that flamenco class even though it was super boring, because at least I got a taste of real flamenco. In the way of Spanish culture, I watched a couple of bullfights on TV and because I used to watch it sometimes with my padre, I could actually judge whether the bullfighter was amateur or not, based on his torero posture and confidence. I think that’s a good judgment of how much Spanish culture I was exposed to, eh? Anyway, that night in Madrid was the big futbol game—Manchester United vs. Barcelona and Barca won. Apparently the street that the flamenco show was on was the same place that had bonfires & riots only 2 hours after we were there. Haha!
The next morning, we got off a bit late and got the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. Let me tell you: not worth it except for the not-walking part, but it was the only way we could see a major part of the city (Plaza Mayor, Plaza del Sol, etc) without wasting time walking. Then we hopped on a train to Malaga where I got my Spanish dose for the day. The second half of the trip I struck up a conversation with an older couple about North Carolina tobacco and famous Andalucian foods to try. They mentioned chipirones, which are cooked baby pigs! And also quitapenas wine (literally means “get rid of the sorrow”), and fish on an espeto, which is pretty much skewered fish barbecued over a real fire on the beach.
We arrived that evening at Malaga and then a bus to Algarrobo-Costa. The actual village of Algarrobo is up the hill and the Costa is…obviously on the coast. I was under the impression that it is not a destination spot and was excited about the small town, all Spanish-speaking atmosphere, but when we arrived, I quickly found out it was….Little Germany. Everyone spoke German and there were no Spaniards except for the restaurant staff, but at least our apartment was comfortable. That night we ate dinner at an International Bar, where there was “Live Music Thursday” which consisted of a keyboard set on “Choir voices” and an old German guy singing cheesy American classics. It was horrible. If I wanted to go to Germany, I wouldn’t have stayed in Spain. As it is, I was suffering due to lack of Spaniards.
The next day we got up early to go to Ronda with a tour bus company. All my mom wanted to do was to have a conversation in English with someone other than me, and all I wanted was to speak in Spanish. She didn’t reach her goal; I did. That day, we went on a city tour with a guide that could barely speak English, but we were able to see beautiful views of the huge gorge, and go shopping a bit. At one tablecloth store, I mentioned to the clerk that I studied in Spain (studied, in past tense, oh dear!), and he immediately switched from English to Spanish which delighted me oh-so-much! My mom pulled me aside and said “Laura, I think he’ll bargain with me!” and I said “Go for it, Mom!” The tablecloth cost 15 Euros and Mom said “How about 14?” and the clerk said “OK!” and we laughed about it together in Spanish. Oh, Americans, we don’t know how to bargain well at all!
The guides only gave us 2 hours free time to eat & see the city, so at the end we were walking as fast as we could to get to the bus. We had to be there at 3:00, we got there at 3:02. Good, right?? Wrong. We were the last ones to get on. Seriously, I pondered aloud for a good 10 minutes at the fact that in the States I’m always on time, and compared to Spanish time, I’m always early…but with this bus of Germans, I was late!!! Nothing against Germans…but it just boggled my mind that we were 2 minutes late, yet the last ones. If you know me at all, you would know that the walk of shame down the aisle in front of 40 Germans was humiliating for me!
Haha, oh man. The next 2 days, we hung around for a nice weekend of sun and pool. The ocean was too cold and the beach too pebbly to spend any time there. Saturday I got my dose of Spanish (Mom still hadn’t had her English dose) when we met Maria, a waitress from Colombia. She absolutely hates it here in Spain and told me horrible stories about selfish Andalucians and her dislikes about Spain. I was sympathetic, but I couldn’t relate because for me, Spain is still enchanting! On Monday we went to Granada on our own, walked around the city, and spent the afternoon in the Alhambra. It was gorgeous, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough historic background to really get an understanding. Rick helped us out a lot though. We visited the very room in which Christopher Columbus brought the request to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel to travel around the world. My Spanish dose of that day was a short conversation with the taxi driver about the weather, and luckily Mom got her English dose (or close to it) the night before with a German couple who only spoke a little bit of English!
The next morning we were scheduled to go to Sevilla with the tour company, but the bus never came to pick us up even after an hour at the bus stop. We found out later that it had been canceled….thanks for letting us know! We went to Nerja, a nearby town, and I enjoyed it so much more. First of all, there were a lot of British tourists for Mom, plus resident Spaniards for me. And it was bigger and much more interesting than Algarrobo-Costa!! We ate classic Spanish pinchos for dinner. They are meat combinations served on a slice of bread with a toothpick to keep it together and in the end they charge you for the amount of toothpicks on the plate. Between the two of us, my mom and I had 4 cups of coffee and 11 pinchos. Mmmmm
Wednesday we traveled back to good old Alicante where we stayed in a cheap little hotel (where Mom blew the fuse plugging in her phone charger with only U.S. voltage). I was in contact with some friends from chorus and that evening we met to give me a nice goodbye dinner. They were so sweet! They said “In the U.S. do you build snowmen and make snow angels at Christmas?? Do you go caroling in your neighborhood??” Haha, they were so curious and they want me to take pictures of my house and send it to them. Anyway, that’s the update. The next morning (today) we got up at 5am and traveled, to the airport, to Madrid, to Philadelphia, and 20 and a half hours later I am sitting here on the Philly runway, with the plane 12th in line to take off. My butt is numb once again, the first time being on the 9 hour overseas flight.
But let me tell you: I have never experienced culture shock so fast and so strong as when I got off the plane, went to Dunkin donuts for some coffee and suddenly realized that I couldn’t say “Café con leche” and automatically have my coffee exactly as I like it. I cried out “I want my Spanish espresso machine!!!” and my eyes filled with tears and I realized….I’m in the States. Yeah, we have iced tea and pork barbecue and English, but Spain has café con leche and paella and Spanish. But ya know, maybe it’s just because I’ve been up for almost 21 hours and had 4 hours of sleep last night that I feel like my world is crashing down around me. We’ll see how that goes.
So that is my trip to Spain! From beginning to end, I have told you all the important stuff. And I apologize: this is a travel blog and I meant it to be just straight, subjective facts and anecdotes, but I have added too many feelings to it, and too many irrelevant phrases. If you didn’t know me and care about me, I’m sure you wouldn’t even read it, so I’m sorry for not doing the traditional travel blog. I’m sure you don’t want to know all of my opinions and what I ate for lunch every day. Now if I could only get down south so I can finally have some sweet tea made right!!!!!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
I will definitely make this shorter than the past blogs! We are coming up on the final week in Alicante. Madre mia I can't believe it. Since my last entry, I completed my exams and the scuba diving class, and sang in 2 chorus performances, and went out to dinner with the chorus folks 3 (or 4?) times!
So exams: Coloquial was the first and pretty easy. The next week was Civil War and that was actually fun. That was my favorite class this semester and the 6 page paper was a cinch to write. The exam was absolutely a breeze. The next day I had Feminine Literature with the same teacher who taught Civil War but my attitude towards the subject was quite the reverse. I didn't even learn the material till the day before and studied the wrong stuff for the exam, so I bombed it. Luckily, the teacher is a lenient grader and plus even if I get a 6/10, in Spain that is a C, not an F, so I'm good to go.
The weekend before exams we ended up doing the rest of the diving sessions. This
time we went to the cape, in a town called Altea about 1 hour away. There they have a big rock, popular for diving, called Penon (with a nya sound)which literally means...big rock. This time the diving was so much more natural, although still not graceful. We repeated the exercise of taking the mask off underwater and this time I didn't panic, and I also got a handle on using those flippers to propel my movement. And my ears popped just fine--phew! It was really fun actually and we saw some starfish and interesting things like that. Now I have my scuba diving license for life!
Wednesday I went to the chorus concert, which to be honest annoyed me a little bit, but I won't get into that except to say that composers choose their notes and crescendo markings very carefully, not to have an amateur choir destroy the musical art by omitting/changing notes and singing everything with a careless forte sound. The end. Afterwards we went to Burger King (yeah, great, eh?). I had a frosty, and when I picked my friend's french fry to dip it in the ice cream, everyone just stared at me. They called the attention of all 20 people there and had me dip my fry in ice cream again. They were absolutely amazed and I said "What? All my american friends do it all the time!" and one said in reply "Americans! They don't care what they eat, they just stick it all in a blender and eat it like that!" and I said "...actually, we did do that once..." and they were completely grossed out.
Thursday we had the closure ceremony for CIEE. My group from Colloquial did a very painful skit. I say painful because our audience was disrespectful, the lines were ridiculous, and our actors were...rather bad. The lowest level had a funny video about Ali and Cantara (they legendary princess of Alicante and her lover), and the middle level had an embarrassing video boasting of how much they partied this semester. Then we went to lunch at an Italian restaurant, just like the first meal here. That night we had a goodbye festival on the beach--that's where I stepped on the glass, but thinking back it might have been broken plastic since I didn't even notice it until 2 hours later.
Friday was beach day and even thought the water is still cold, the day is hot so it evens out. By 6:30 I was in the CAM theater by my house awaiting our classical music concert. Apparently my Spanish comprehension skills are lacking a bit because when I got there I found we had a live band-thingy with a cello, violins, and a bass (maybe) and one of those little not-piano-but-tinny-sounding things. Plus, a Valencian group of 5, I'm assuming an academy of some sort, sang with us and did some solo pieces. One of the guys was a falsetto. I mean, he had a normal male voice, but he sang with us altos in falsetto instead of with the tenors. It was kinda creepy, not gonna lie. One of the german girls left the stage in the middle of the performance and fainted right as she got backstage, but she turned out alright.
Afterwards, we all went out to dinner again, this time at a little tavern. I asked where we would eat and Paco the director said "un restaurante, pero de pie" as in a restaurant where you stand up and eat. So I'm thinking informal Cook Out kinda thing where we just stand around with our plastic containers (I just realized we don't use styrofoam here EVER). But when we got there, it actually is a restaurant standing up! I guess with our amount of people (about 30) they didn't have enough room for chairs...but there were plates and glasses and silverware and food, but no chairs! I ended up eating my dinner kneeling on the floor. Tortillas (=omelettes, not mexican tortillas), Mushrooms, Calamari rings, fried cheese (I took a picture of that), etc. The chorus friends said eating standing up was definitely not normal.
So that's the news until now, with a couple of beach days squeezed in between. Tomorrow and Thursday I have class for 2 hours and then....and then it's over. Then my mommy comes and we travel for 2 weeks and then I return to life, to reality, to money problems and relationship problems, to my dog and cat, to my home...and second home...and third home. And I think I'm finally ready. It comes at a good time--life is all about moving on--and I'm moving on. I <3 Alicante a lot but I am ready to go home. Although how can I answer the question "How was Spain?" because there are just too many fabulous, horrible, and/or boring things to tell!
So exams: Coloquial was the first and pretty easy. The next week was Civil War and that was actually fun. That was my favorite class this semester and the 6 page paper was a cinch to write. The exam was absolutely a breeze. The next day I had Feminine Literature with the same teacher who taught Civil War but my attitude towards the subject was quite the reverse. I didn't even learn the material till the day before and studied the wrong stuff for the exam, so I bombed it. Luckily, the teacher is a lenient grader and plus even if I get a 6/10, in Spain that is a C, not an F, so I'm good to go.
The weekend before exams we ended up doing the rest of the diving sessions. This
time we went to the cape, in a town called Altea about 1 hour away. There they have a big rock, popular for diving, called Penon (with a nya sound)which literally means...big rock. This time the diving was so much more natural, although still not graceful. We repeated the exercise of taking the mask off underwater and this time I didn't panic, and I also got a handle on using those flippers to propel my movement. And my ears popped just fine--phew! It was really fun actually and we saw some starfish and interesting things like that. Now I have my scuba diving license for life!Wednesday I went to the chorus concert, which to be honest annoyed me a little bit, but I won't get into that except to say that composers choose their notes and crescendo markings very carefully, not to have an amateur choir destroy the musical art by omitting/changing notes and singing everything with a careless forte sound. The end. Afterwards we went to Burger King (yeah, great, eh?). I had a frosty, and when I picked my friend's french fry to dip it in the ice cream, everyone just stared at me. They called the attention of all 20 people there and had me dip my fry in ice cream again. They were absolutely amazed and I said "What? All my american friends do it all the time!" and one said in reply "Americans! They don't care what they eat, they just stick it all in a blender and eat it like that!" and I said "...actually, we did do that once..." and they were completely grossed out.
Thursday we had the closure ceremony for CIEE. My group from Colloquial did a very painful skit. I say painful because our audience was disrespectful, the lines were ridiculous, and our actors were...rather bad. The lowest level had a funny video about Ali and Cantara (they legendary princess of Alicante and her lover), and the middle level had an embarrassing video boasting of how much they partied this semester. Then we went to lunch at an Italian restaurant, just like the first meal here. That night we had a goodbye festival on the beach--that's where I stepped on the glass, but thinking back it might have been broken plastic since I didn't even notice it until 2 hours later.
Friday was beach day and even thought the water is still cold, the day is hot so it evens out. By 6:30 I was in the CAM theater by my house awaiting our classical music concert. Apparently my Spanish comprehension skills are lacking a bit because when I got there I found we had a live band-thingy with a cello, violins, and a bass (maybe) and one of those little not-piano-but-tinny-sounding things. Plus, a Valencian group of 5, I'm assuming an academy of some sort, sang with us and did some solo pieces. One of the guys was a falsetto. I mean, he had a normal male voice, but he sang with us altos in falsetto instead of with the tenors. It was kinda creepy, not gonna lie. One of the german girls left the stage in the middle of the performance and fainted right as she got backstage, but she turned out alright.
Afterwards, we all went out to dinner again, this time at a little tavern. I asked where we would eat and Paco the director said "un restaurante, pero de pie" as in a restaurant where you stand up and eat. So I'm thinking informal Cook Out kinda thing where we just stand around with our plastic containers (I just realized we don't use styrofoam here EVER). But when we got there, it actually is a restaurant standing up! I guess with our amount of people (about 30) they didn't have enough room for chairs...but there were plates and glasses and silverware and food, but no chairs! I ended up eating my dinner kneeling on the floor. Tortillas (=omelettes, not mexican tortillas), Mushrooms, Calamari rings, fried cheese (I took a picture of that), etc. The chorus friends said eating standing up was definitely not normal.
So that's the news until now, with a couple of beach days squeezed in between. Tomorrow and Thursday I have class for 2 hours and then....and then it's over. Then my mommy comes and we travel for 2 weeks and then I return to life, to reality, to money problems and relationship problems, to my dog and cat, to my home...and second home...and third home. And I think I'm finally ready. It comes at a good time--life is all about moving on--and I'm moving on. I <3 Alicante a lot but I am ready to go home. Although how can I answer the question "How was Spain?" because there are just too many fabulous, horrible, and/or boring things to tell!
Monday, May 4, 2009
And 10 minutes later I’m back to finish my update. April 26th we returned back to school after 2 and a half weeks. I spent the first 3 days writing my final paper (hallelujah no more!!) and oops, missed an assignment in the meantime. Thursday my German friend and I went to the last Inquiro concert of my time here. They were great, like always, and before them played a band called Exit that was really good as well. Friday I met with the same girl and we went to the beach for a while, but the clouds came and within 2 hours it went from hot and sunny to a downpour. Luckily I had just gotten home when the rain started.
My scuba diving ‘class’ was supposed to meet that afternoon at 4:30 and me and the other girl sat in the sun (which came back out stronger than ever) at the meeting place for over an hour and a half while the instructor dealt with his broken down vehicle. When they finally came, we did the lesson then afterwards had a good long chat about lots of different stuff. That night I went out despite the early 8am wake up call. The next morning, though, I was up and ready to go when I got a phonecall saying the excursion was canceled due to the car problems. When I told my madre, she said “Well, I don’t believe it—he probably went partying last night and just doesn’t want to get up! Oh, he’s an older fellow? Well, in that case it might be true…” Haha, oh madre, you make me laugh except that you’re not kidding. Anyway it turned out really well because FINALLY the weather was beach worthy and I spent from 10:30 to 5pm on the beach and finally got the tan I was supposed to get 3 months ago! I stopped by a mall, Plaza Mar on the way back to look for another witch doll (long story) and upon entering I saw Luis my bartender friend—oh man I love that guy. He walked me to the store I was looking for and when we found out it had closed down, he offered me a ride home (because it was a 30 min. walk back) and so I followed him and helped him pick out an outfit for his little cousin’s birthday. XD
So Friday night I met an interesting guy from Sweden who speaks perfect English and has also lived in Spain for almost 2 years now. I introduced him to all my Spanish friends and he hung out with us 2 nights in a row. One of the nights he turned to me and said “Ya know, I know why you like this place so much—it’s unique. The only place that doesn’t play annoying loud music and you can actually talk to people and learn Spanish.” FINALLY someone who actually understands why I’m there for 6 hours at a time!!! Anyway he’s pretty cool.
Sunday morning we ended up doing the scuba diving and….I had gone to bed 6am that morning :o but I’m willing to sacrifice a little sleep if it means I get to spend time with my dear friends. (and I hope some people can understand that *hint hint*). Anyways, there were 8 of us: me, another American student, the instructor, the translator [for the other girl ;-) ], another Spanish girl, her Mexican husband, and their baby, but only 4 of us actually went under water. Oh man, with my sunburn getting that wetsuit on was a tad painful. Then we put on the weight belt, and the float jacket with the airtank attached. Once in the water we put the flippers on. Ugh, try reaching your feet gracefully floating in the water with 30+ pounds strapped to your body and an unforgiving wetsuit limiting your movement…not fun.
As far as the actual underwater part goes: a destroyed fantasy. First of all, the unnatural flippers were hard to adjust to. Second, I couldn’t figure out how to adjust my floatability. Everyone else was kneeling on the bottom of the ocean and I kept on floating up, just shrugging my shoulders when the instructor signaled me to come down, haha. After I finally was able to stay kneeled on the bottom, I couldn’t keep myself balanced! I would teeter to the left and to the right and by the end of the day my knees were in pain from being so tensed up the entire time. We did exercises such as signal to our companions for emergency air if we ran out, and fill up our mask with water and then empty it underwater. When it came time to take the mask off completely and put it on, I panicked a little. There’s just something about having my nose surrounded by water. I wanted to hold my breath even though I had an air source in my mouth but rule #1 of scuba diving is NEVER hold your breath (or your lungs can explode and whatnot) but anyway I started hyperventilating during that whole ordeal and when I finally had my mask back on, my eyes were still stinging and all I wanted to do was float up to the surface, but I stayed there and soon we were back on land. There we talked about what we could do to improve it the next time. We changed air tanks and went under again.
This time was much better except I was preoccupied with my ears! Before I had some trouble but this time as we went deeper I couldn’t pop my ears to relieve the pressure. One ear popped but the other hurt like mad! The rule is to go up a little, pop them, and then go back down, and I should’ve done that more, but I was so conscious that they were waiting for me to come down that I kinda just ignored the pain—it wasn’t that deep anyway—5 meters. Anyway, for next time I know that it is definitely NOT okay to ignore the pain. The exercises this time included pivoting using your breath, which this time being used to the floating thing, I got kinda quickly. I inflated the jacket a little bit (so I didn’t sink all the way) and breathed in to go up a little and out to sink a little. We also “found” our neutral floatability were we could just chill out between the surface and the floor without having to make any physical exertion. Sometimes when I actually got my ears to cooperate I could look around and realize that I was underwater. I remember seeing a fish and thinking “Oh look a fish!!...Oh, duh, Laura, you’re underwater, there are lots of fish here….” Haha. But hopefully next week when we finalize the course I can actually forget about my physical ailments and equipment and enjoy the clear water. It really was beautiful down there! So many colors :-) Afterwards when we had all the equipment packed up we drove back to the storage place, sat on the terrace and ate lunch. Apparently when you scuba dive Nitrogen enters the blood and the result is fatigue, so In addition to the lack of sleep I was also tired due to unnatural levels of nitrogen…alrighty then! I got back to my place around 6pm—wow, all day! At dinner last night my left ear was still blocked up and hurt a little (that's where the hypochondriac comment came from) but this morning it's all good.
Today = school. Next week exams start so this week we are wrapping things up and my teacher bought our class coffee & snacks as a closing gift since the next day is review. My day was made when I got off the bus this morning and saw my dear friend Joseda heading to the library. Really, just by seeing him those 5 minutes as we
walked together made me happy. Any day with a Spaniard involved is complete. Tomorrow I have plans to go to my friend Abram’s apartment (in the picture) and have lunch with him and Wednesday we have chorus practice and afterwards everyone is going out for dinner. Next week in addition to the scuba diving, I have a bunch of exams, a bunch of chorus concerts, and the closing ceremony of the CIEE program and all the Americans start to leave—which really doesn’t bother me except that it reminds me that I too am leaving. On Saturday I told everyone to come to my goodbye weekend—the 22nd & 23rd. Joseda said he would be studying from now on but he would come to say goodbye, and others also said that they wouldn’t be here next weekend but they would come those dates. Omg, that word: “goodbye”--I hate it right now.
Anyway, consider yourselves updated. I have a busy 4 weeks ahead of me. Madre mia, it’s May 5th. In exactly one month I will be in my own bed, in my own home, in my own country…but where will my heart be?
My scuba diving ‘class’ was supposed to meet that afternoon at 4:30 and me and the other girl sat in the sun (which came back out stronger than ever) at the meeting place for over an hour and a half while the instructor dealt with his broken down vehicle. When they finally came, we did the lesson then afterwards had a good long chat about lots of different stuff. That night I went out despite the early 8am wake up call. The next morning, though, I was up and ready to go when I got a phonecall saying the excursion was canceled due to the car problems. When I told my madre, she said “Well, I don’t believe it—he probably went partying last night and just doesn’t want to get up! Oh, he’s an older fellow? Well, in that case it might be true…” Haha, oh madre, you make me laugh except that you’re not kidding. Anyway it turned out really well because FINALLY the weather was beach worthy and I spent from 10:30 to 5pm on the beach and finally got the tan I was supposed to get 3 months ago! I stopped by a mall, Plaza Mar on the way back to look for another witch doll (long story) and upon entering I saw Luis my bartender friend—oh man I love that guy. He walked me to the store I was looking for and when we found out it had closed down, he offered me a ride home (because it was a 30 min. walk back) and so I followed him and helped him pick out an outfit for his little cousin’s birthday. XD
So Friday night I met an interesting guy from Sweden who speaks perfect English and has also lived in Spain for almost 2 years now. I introduced him to all my Spanish friends and he hung out with us 2 nights in a row. One of the nights he turned to me and said “Ya know, I know why you like this place so much—it’s unique. The only place that doesn’t play annoying loud music and you can actually talk to people and learn Spanish.” FINALLY someone who actually understands why I’m there for 6 hours at a time!!! Anyway he’s pretty cool.
Sunday morning we ended up doing the scuba diving and….I had gone to bed 6am that morning :o but I’m willing to sacrifice a little sleep if it means I get to spend time with my dear friends. (and I hope some people can understand that *hint hint*). Anyways, there were 8 of us: me, another American student, the instructor, the translator [for the other girl ;-) ], another Spanish girl, her Mexican husband, and their baby, but only 4 of us actually went under water. Oh man, with my sunburn getting that wetsuit on was a tad painful. Then we put on the weight belt, and the float jacket with the airtank attached. Once in the water we put the flippers on. Ugh, try reaching your feet gracefully floating in the water with 30+ pounds strapped to your body and an unforgiving wetsuit limiting your movement…not fun.
As far as the actual underwater part goes: a destroyed fantasy. First of all, the unnatural flippers were hard to adjust to. Second, I couldn’t figure out how to adjust my floatability. Everyone else was kneeling on the bottom of the ocean and I kept on floating up, just shrugging my shoulders when the instructor signaled me to come down, haha. After I finally was able to stay kneeled on the bottom, I couldn’t keep myself balanced! I would teeter to the left and to the right and by the end of the day my knees were in pain from being so tensed up the entire time. We did exercises such as signal to our companions for emergency air if we ran out, and fill up our mask with water and then empty it underwater. When it came time to take the mask off completely and put it on, I panicked a little. There’s just something about having my nose surrounded by water. I wanted to hold my breath even though I had an air source in my mouth but rule #1 of scuba diving is NEVER hold your breath (or your lungs can explode and whatnot) but anyway I started hyperventilating during that whole ordeal and when I finally had my mask back on, my eyes were still stinging and all I wanted to do was float up to the surface, but I stayed there and soon we were back on land. There we talked about what we could do to improve it the next time. We changed air tanks and went under again.
This time was much better except I was preoccupied with my ears! Before I had some trouble but this time as we went deeper I couldn’t pop my ears to relieve the pressure. One ear popped but the other hurt like mad! The rule is to go up a little, pop them, and then go back down, and I should’ve done that more, but I was so conscious that they were waiting for me to come down that I kinda just ignored the pain—it wasn’t that deep anyway—5 meters. Anyway, for next time I know that it is definitely NOT okay to ignore the pain. The exercises this time included pivoting using your breath, which this time being used to the floating thing, I got kinda quickly. I inflated the jacket a little bit (so I didn’t sink all the way) and breathed in to go up a little and out to sink a little. We also “found” our neutral floatability were we could just chill out between the surface and the floor without having to make any physical exertion. Sometimes when I actually got my ears to cooperate I could look around and realize that I was underwater. I remember seeing a fish and thinking “Oh look a fish!!...Oh, duh, Laura, you’re underwater, there are lots of fish here….” Haha. But hopefully next week when we finalize the course I can actually forget about my physical ailments and equipment and enjoy the clear water. It really was beautiful down there! So many colors :-) Afterwards when we had all the equipment packed up we drove back to the storage place, sat on the terrace and ate lunch. Apparently when you scuba dive Nitrogen enters the blood and the result is fatigue, so In addition to the lack of sleep I was also tired due to unnatural levels of nitrogen…alrighty then! I got back to my place around 6pm—wow, all day! At dinner last night my left ear was still blocked up and hurt a little (that's where the hypochondriac comment came from) but this morning it's all good.
Today = school. Next week exams start so this week we are wrapping things up and my teacher bought our class coffee & snacks as a closing gift since the next day is review. My day was made when I got off the bus this morning and saw my dear friend Joseda heading to the library. Really, just by seeing him those 5 minutes as we
walked together made me happy. Any day with a Spaniard involved is complete. Tomorrow I have plans to go to my friend Abram’s apartment (in the picture) and have lunch with him and Wednesday we have chorus practice and afterwards everyone is going out for dinner. Next week in addition to the scuba diving, I have a bunch of exams, a bunch of chorus concerts, and the closing ceremony of the CIEE program and all the Americans start to leave—which really doesn’t bother me except that it reminds me that I too am leaving. On Saturday I told everyone to come to my goodbye weekend—the 22nd & 23rd. Joseda said he would be studying from now on but he would come to say goodbye, and others also said that they wouldn’t be here next weekend but they would come those dates. Omg, that word: “goodbye”--I hate it right now. Anyway, consider yourselves updated. I have a busy 4 weeks ahead of me. Madre mia, it’s May 5th. In exactly one month I will be in my own bed, in my own home, in my own country…but where will my heart be?
A little bit of Italy
Okay, okay, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve written anything and a lot has happened. Oh man since April 16th! Let’s see: after Germany, I hung around Alicante for a couple of days. Unfortunately, the Spring Break weather was rainy the whole time and when I slept in (because there’s nothing to do!) my madre got annoyed. There might have been one good beach day…but then: Italy!!
At 7am on Tuesday morning two other girls and I started our travels. Our plane from Valencia to Rome was delayed about an hour, and when finally got on the plane, someone told us that there was a technical problem and we might have to change planes. 10 minutes later, someone else told us over intercom that it was just a pressure pipe and they are changing it, so everything is ok, but people were still flipping out and leaving. Again they got on the intercom and told us that since more than 5 people left the plane, now the airline is involved so the flight will be delayed longer. Goodness gracious, people, if they say it’s ok, it’s ok, you’re not gonna die! But we didn’t care about the delay that much, it just cut some of our tourism time. We got to Rome by 3 or 4ish (without dying), but then had to stand in line to reserve our train tickets to go to Venice. Rome being a large, famous city, and 4pm being a busy time of day, it took a good 2 and a half hours to get to the train station and wait in line, etc.
Apparently lastminutebooking.com is rather useful. One of the girls found a deal on it: 20 Euros total for a private hotel room (not a hostel) in the heart of Rome, in a room that’s usually 250!! Problem is, when they booked it, they didn’t realize that I would be tagging along, so they were hoping to sneak me into the tiny room with a double bed. The hotel is so small, though, 6 rooms, that there was little chance of succeeding, so we were just honest with the clerk guy and told him I needed somewhere to stay or else it was sleeping in the train station for me. The guy at the desk, an older Indian dude, clearly had a huge moral dilemma on his hands since according to the rules only 2 people to a room. 20 minutes after he let us chill in the room while he made a decision, he told us that he didn’t want me crammed in the double bed, so I could have an extra room for free as long as I was out of there by 6am!!
The dinner that night was quite a rip off. While we were looking for someplace cheap, a waiter outside a restaurant told us we could get a pizza for 9 euros, so we went inside. As soon as we entered, we realized it was a mistake to agree. The restaurant was gorgeous and expensive looking. They gave us bread without us asking for it—3 euros. I ordered a glass of wine. ¼ of the glass filled—7 euros. On top of that the actual food. Oh my.
The next morning we went to the Roman Coliseum and took a tour of that and the Palatine Hill. Honestly I thought the Coliseum was ok, but the tour of the Palatine Hill was more entertaining and had a lot more fun cultural facts included (such as the Romans saving their urine, boiling it so it acts as a bleach, and washing their clothes in it using laurel leaves to make the linen smell better). We then went in search of food but after the night before, our wallets were hurting, so we went to the market for some bread and salami to tide us over and ate it on some stairs of a church. For dinner that night we went on a little excursion. In the hostel (we switched) there was a sign that declared 10 euros for a meal and meeting other travelers. I still don’t know how it only cost 10 euros for 2 plates of pasta, fries, chicken, and a glass or two of wine. Rather efficient I ‘d say. There I met a Republican that is fed up with the States so is moving to Italy, a Californian traveling around Europe, and some Spanish girls traveling for the weekend. All very interesting, I must say.
Thursday we went to see the Pantheon & Trevi fountain and got on a 5 hour train to Venice. Let’s just mention that Venice is not rolling-suitcase-friendly and leave it at that, shall we? Our hostel was very clean and in a part of town that’s not
touristy, but not dull either. It was in a nice open piazza where a lot of students hung out. The first night we just walked around taking in the city. A map is absolutely necessary in Venice because the streets (or walkways rather) are so tiny and disorganized, so the tourist stores get a crapload of business because they don’t give out free maps. 2 Euros for a good one. It’s actually quite ingenious. Either get completely lost or give me money. But either way the city was very beautiful at night.
We had kebaps , (omg kebaps are the best food in the entire world—not kidding), for dinner because they are cheap and wonderful and everywhere. The place we went in, though, was quite strange. There was a guy sitting in the only chair there was (the restaurant was like a hole in the wall) and he started talking to us in horribly broken English about how he was so fluent in English and he lived here and there, and he was attacked in NYC by hoodlums. He didn’t make sense at all and kept skipping from one topic to another. We got out of there in a hurry (after the cashier kissed one of the girl’s hands when giver her change back) and decided that that guy was drugged up and had the munchies. Weird.
The next day we went to Piazza San Marco and in the afternoon toured the Doge Palace (the doge is some sort of political figure) which was nice but of course nothing
compared to the Madrid Palace. There was a prison attached but it was a lot less interesting to tour than it sounds. We were all quite tired of looking at the frescos and couldn’t handle any more museums so we took a water bus down the grand canal then wandered around the city more—just walked around pretty much purposely trying to get lost, and then had a ball trying to find our way back. We ate at a little Italian restaurant and on the way back a group of young Italians (16-17 years old) were walking by us and one of them clapped his hands at us and said “My dream is to fly over the rainbow….the cat...is on…the table.” And we pretty much died laughing for a good 5 minutes. Haha.
The next morning we planned to use our museum pass to see one of the 8 or so museums in the Piazza before we left, but one of us forgot the ticket in the hostel so upon arriving and realizing that, we just went and chilled out in the park until it was time to leave. The piazza de San Marco is world famous and for this, it was super super expensive to sit down at a café and prohibited to sit down in the square. After we found out we couldn’t visit the museum, I volunteered to buy a cup of coffee even though I knew there was a sitting fee involved. We went to one, but the first thing the menu said was “E 7.50 sitting fee for EACH PERSON whether they buy anything or not” on top of the 3 euro coffee or whatever, so we RAN out of there. Goodness gracious, que cara!
We hopped on a train to Verona, a little city that was supposedly the inspiration to Shakespear’s Rome & Juliet, so all the tourists gathered around Juliet’s balcony and
took pictures. We only had the afternoon in the city and there wasn’t much to see anyway, so I snapped a pic of the balcony, and after failing at finding Romeo’s house (very poorly marked and horrible map), I returned to the little bed & breakfast where we were staying. It was so cool! There was a loft for 2 beds and the bottom part had another bed & bathroom, and a table FULL of cookies, toast, croissants, coffee, tea, espresso…all for 3 people and a great price. Very nice.
Ugh, but the next morning we got up at 6am or something horrible like that and walked 40 minutes to the train station. I bought my ticket to Milan (where the airport was) for...I don’t remember, but very cheap and we all got on the train. When the ticket dude passed by to check them, he paused when he came to mine and another girl’s and said “You did not validate these—50 euro fine” and proceeded to explain that the little machines outside the train were to ‘validate’ the tickets. Unfortunately the FOUR TIMES we went to the ticket desk nobody bothered to tell the newbie Americans that we would go broke for not swiping a freaking ticket. I begged him saying that I didn’t even have that much on me and asked him to let it slip and if the next guy (on our connecting train) said something we would pay him instead. The guy replied that he would get in trouble if anybody found out, so we grudgingly combined all our money and came up with just enough between the 5 of us (we had 2 others join us) to cover it. And what do you know, on the next train NOBODY came by to check our tickets. Ugh, it makes me mad just thinking about it.
Well, that was our Italy trip and before that little instance I had been doing really good money-wise with all those 3 euro kebaps and 2 euro sandwhiches. In general I found the country rather charming and thanks to my Spanish background could understand quite a lot of the written Italian and a tiny bit the spoken. By the last day we realized that speaking in Spanish to an Italian works a lot better than struggling through the English communication.
Ok I’m gonna stop here and right a different entry about the last couple weeks so y’all don’t get bored to tears.
At 7am on Tuesday morning two other girls and I started our travels. Our plane from Valencia to Rome was delayed about an hour, and when finally got on the plane, someone told us that there was a technical problem and we might have to change planes. 10 minutes later, someone else told us over intercom that it was just a pressure pipe and they are changing it, so everything is ok, but people were still flipping out and leaving. Again they got on the intercom and told us that since more than 5 people left the plane, now the airline is involved so the flight will be delayed longer. Goodness gracious, people, if they say it’s ok, it’s ok, you’re not gonna die! But we didn’t care about the delay that much, it just cut some of our tourism time. We got to Rome by 3 or 4ish (without dying), but then had to stand in line to reserve our train tickets to go to Venice. Rome being a large, famous city, and 4pm being a busy time of day, it took a good 2 and a half hours to get to the train station and wait in line, etc.
Apparently lastminutebooking.com is rather useful. One of the girls found a deal on it: 20 Euros total for a private hotel room (not a hostel) in the heart of Rome, in a room that’s usually 250!! Problem is, when they booked it, they didn’t realize that I would be tagging along, so they were hoping to sneak me into the tiny room with a double bed. The hotel is so small, though, 6 rooms, that there was little chance of succeeding, so we were just honest with the clerk guy and told him I needed somewhere to stay or else it was sleeping in the train station for me. The guy at the desk, an older Indian dude, clearly had a huge moral dilemma on his hands since according to the rules only 2 people to a room. 20 minutes after he let us chill in the room while he made a decision, he told us that he didn’t want me crammed in the double bed, so I could have an extra room for free as long as I was out of there by 6am!!
The dinner that night was quite a rip off. While we were looking for someplace cheap, a waiter outside a restaurant told us we could get a pizza for 9 euros, so we went inside. As soon as we entered, we realized it was a mistake to agree. The restaurant was gorgeous and expensive looking. They gave us bread without us asking for it—3 euros. I ordered a glass of wine. ¼ of the glass filled—7 euros. On top of that the actual food. Oh my.
The next morning we went to the Roman Coliseum and took a tour of that and the Palatine Hill. Honestly I thought the Coliseum was ok, but the tour of the Palatine Hill was more entertaining and had a lot more fun cultural facts included (such as the Romans saving their urine, boiling it so it acts as a bleach, and washing their clothes in it using laurel leaves to make the linen smell better). We then went in search of food but after the night before, our wallets were hurting, so we went to the market for some bread and salami to tide us over and ate it on some stairs of a church. For dinner that night we went on a little excursion. In the hostel (we switched) there was a sign that declared 10 euros for a meal and meeting other travelers. I still don’t know how it only cost 10 euros for 2 plates of pasta, fries, chicken, and a glass or two of wine. Rather efficient I ‘d say. There I met a Republican that is fed up with the States so is moving to Italy, a Californian traveling around Europe, and some Spanish girls traveling for the weekend. All very interesting, I must say.
Thursday we went to see the Pantheon & Trevi fountain and got on a 5 hour train to Venice. Let’s just mention that Venice is not rolling-suitcase-friendly and leave it at that, shall we? Our hostel was very clean and in a part of town that’s not
touristy, but not dull either. It was in a nice open piazza where a lot of students hung out. The first night we just walked around taking in the city. A map is absolutely necessary in Venice because the streets (or walkways rather) are so tiny and disorganized, so the tourist stores get a crapload of business because they don’t give out free maps. 2 Euros for a good one. It’s actually quite ingenious. Either get completely lost or give me money. But either way the city was very beautiful at night. We had kebaps , (omg kebaps are the best food in the entire world—not kidding), for dinner because they are cheap and wonderful and everywhere. The place we went in, though, was quite strange. There was a guy sitting in the only chair there was (the restaurant was like a hole in the wall) and he started talking to us in horribly broken English about how he was so fluent in English and he lived here and there, and he was attacked in NYC by hoodlums. He didn’t make sense at all and kept skipping from one topic to another. We got out of there in a hurry (after the cashier kissed one of the girl’s hands when giver her change back) and decided that that guy was drugged up and had the munchies. Weird.
The next day we went to Piazza San Marco and in the afternoon toured the Doge Palace (the doge is some sort of political figure) which was nice but of course nothing
compared to the Madrid Palace. There was a prison attached but it was a lot less interesting to tour than it sounds. We were all quite tired of looking at the frescos and couldn’t handle any more museums so we took a water bus down the grand canal then wandered around the city more—just walked around pretty much purposely trying to get lost, and then had a ball trying to find our way back. We ate at a little Italian restaurant and on the way back a group of young Italians (16-17 years old) were walking by us and one of them clapped his hands at us and said “My dream is to fly over the rainbow….the cat...is on…the table.” And we pretty much died laughing for a good 5 minutes. Haha.The next morning we planned to use our museum pass to see one of the 8 or so museums in the Piazza before we left, but one of us forgot the ticket in the hostel so upon arriving and realizing that, we just went and chilled out in the park until it was time to leave. The piazza de San Marco is world famous and for this, it was super super expensive to sit down at a café and prohibited to sit down in the square. After we found out we couldn’t visit the museum, I volunteered to buy a cup of coffee even though I knew there was a sitting fee involved. We went to one, but the first thing the menu said was “E 7.50 sitting fee for EACH PERSON whether they buy anything or not” on top of the 3 euro coffee or whatever, so we RAN out of there. Goodness gracious, que cara!
We hopped on a train to Verona, a little city that was supposedly the inspiration to Shakespear’s Rome & Juliet, so all the tourists gathered around Juliet’s balcony and
took pictures. We only had the afternoon in the city and there wasn’t much to see anyway, so I snapped a pic of the balcony, and after failing at finding Romeo’s house (very poorly marked and horrible map), I returned to the little bed & breakfast where we were staying. It was so cool! There was a loft for 2 beds and the bottom part had another bed & bathroom, and a table FULL of cookies, toast, croissants, coffee, tea, espresso…all for 3 people and a great price. Very nice.
Ugh, but the next morning we got up at 6am or something horrible like that and walked 40 minutes to the train station. I bought my ticket to Milan (where the airport was) for...I don’t remember, but very cheap and we all got on the train. When the ticket dude passed by to check them, he paused when he came to mine and another girl’s and said “You did not validate these—50 euro fine” and proceeded to explain that the little machines outside the train were to ‘validate’ the tickets. Unfortunately the FOUR TIMES we went to the ticket desk nobody bothered to tell the newbie Americans that we would go broke for not swiping a freaking ticket. I begged him saying that I didn’t even have that much on me and asked him to let it slip and if the next guy (on our connecting train) said something we would pay him instead. The guy replied that he would get in trouble if anybody found out, so we grudgingly combined all our money and came up with just enough between the 5 of us (we had 2 others join us) to cover it. And what do you know, on the next train NOBODY came by to check our tickets. Ugh, it makes me mad just thinking about it.
Well, that was our Italy trip and before that little instance I had been doing really good money-wise with all those 3 euro kebaps and 2 euro sandwhiches. In general I found the country rather charming and thanks to my Spanish background could understand quite a lot of the written Italian and a tiny bit the spoken. By the last day we realized that speaking in Spanish to an Italian works a lot better than struggling through the English communication.
Ok I’m gonna stop here and right a different entry about the last couple weeks so y’all don’t get bored to tears.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Deutschland
My week has been absolutely fabulous. To start off, last Wednesday through Saturday was the best weekend I've had here--no doubt. As a little present for my bartender friends I bought some batteries for their little dancing witch they have displayed. Obviously it started moving and singing and we all had a good laugh...and then someone stole it! So I felt bad and have spent all day searching for a replacement. The one I bought has glowing red eyes so I'll give it to them tomorrow. Anyway, the weekend was so great and on Sunday I got up bright and early (11am) to go to the train station.
I was a little nervous because I realized the exact time my plane LANDS in Germany (8:30pm) is the exact time my bus LEAVES the airport, so I felt a little panicky because planes hardly ever arrive EARLY much less on time, and transportation in Europe is very exact. Well, just another mini-testimony about God looking out for me. The plane landed TWENTY minutes early. And believe me, I needed every bit of those twenty minutes. So just by the plane being early, I saved the trouble of missing the bus and waiting 3 hours at an abandoned airport in the middle of the night. Oh, and another traveling testimony: it is a good thing I emailed the hostel after my credit card was declined b/c if I hadn't, then I wouldn't have remembered the name "Sudpfanne." When I got to Heidelberg, I had NO clue where I was going--not the address or even the part of town--except that name. If I hadn't emailed them I would never have remembered.
So here's something that most of you didn't know: I went alone. My friend who wanted to come bailed out towards the end, but I was still determined to go. Except for my horrible travel plans, it ended up being exactly what I had hoped for. The only problem was, I knew I wanted to go to Heidelberg (it being a quaint, romantic town as opposed to a bustling, cramped city) but I didn't make actual plans on what to see; which would have been fine if I had a map--but I didn't. I had no idea what I was doing except I knew there was a castle there.
And off we go: I grabbed my camera and hiked up to the castle (not a bad walk but my shoes broke halfway through the day). I took a megaload of photos (and I just made up a word) and not even all of them were on facebook.
The castle was damaged in 1693 (I think) during the Palatine War of Succession and abandoned a few years after that. The castle grounds are absolutely amazing, being situated on a mountain (or rather a big hill). I spent a good 3 or 4 hours there just walking around and exploring every single part of it. Unfortunately, apart from the castle...there really isn't anything else to see.
Thankfully, from the ever helpful website e-heidelberg.com I got a good tip to take the Philosopher's Walk (Philosophenweg). I thought it was just a little view point of the castle from the next mountain over, but it ended up being a splendid hike through the woods. Now, imagine me. Now imagine me willingly hiking. Now imagine me willingly hiking ALONE. Until then I've never gone into the wilderness by my own suggestion, but let me tell you--it was amazing. What exactly made it amazing, you ask?
Being in Alicante is great; I love it. But I look around and see palm trees and buildings. Sure there's a beach. Great; whatever. And outside of the city there are some shrubs...and some dirt...and some hills. No trees, no green, no ants, no bees, no nasty flies, no mosquitos. Which on one hand I love because I absolutely hate bugs. But it's just brown and gray.
I come to Heidelberg, Spring had just come. No really, JUST come, so it has that lofty, bouncy bright green that you only see in April. The flowers had just bloomed so that the smell was fresh and strong. The sun, all 3 days, was powerful and warm and its rays streamed through the branches...
Okay, okay, enough of that. The point is, if I had just arrived in Germany from North Carolina, I wouldn't have been nearly as impressed. But coming from Alicante, where as you recall I was seriously yearning for some trees last month, it was stepping into a world I used to know but had forgotten.
The best part was that, since I was alone, I got to reflect and contemplate and pray and sing. I sang every worship song I knew that had the word "creation" or "tree" in it. Haha. It was wonderful.
However, it didn't last that long because, to be honest, I got a little bored XD. I made my way down the hill but instead of going down the way I came, I tried another path which led me past some little cottages with people gardening on the side of the mountain. And somehow I wound up on the other side of the mountain than I wanted to be on. Go me and my navigation skills, eh? Anyway, no worries, I just walked back and snapped a bunch of photos on the way.
Later that day...I dunno what I did. Just walked around, I guess. Like I said, besides the castle there's nothing else to see. I went back to the hostel. Okay, so this hostel is SO much nicer than the one in Paris. For one, it was all girls room so none of that naughty-Argentinian-under-my-bed junk, and plus they had clean, comfy sheets & clean bathrooms. Anyway, so I met 2 girls who had just come. One is from New Zealand and she's traveling around Europe for a whole YEAR, spending 4 months working in Greece. She's visiting her grandparents in Germany and actually went to the concentration camp in which her great-grandfather died 2 weeks before the war ended. Whew! Another girl is from China but I didn't talk to her that much.
Real quick: culture shock = German. I know Spanish, duh, so being in Spain is easy living. Going to Paris was fine because I was with friends and we didn't really eat out at all. But in Germany I looked at the menu and thought "What the heck am I eating?" At least in French I can pick out some words close to Spanish. I just pointed at something and said "I'll have some of this" or saw a picture and ordered that. On another point, I look more or less German but when they would greet me with "Hallo", and I would respond with "Hello", somehow they knew immediately that I spoke English. I can't even say "Hallo" right, goodness gracious!
And the last German thing is that they have the biggest, most beautiful dogs I've ever seen. None of those scrawny-hairy-yappy-toy dogs of Spain. No--these dogs were sleek and tall and downright adorable.
Alright, anyway, the next day I intended to rent a bike and go to a nearby town but since I didn't have a map and I got a late start, I didn't think it was worth it. I actually got up early, took a short tour of a museum about some political figure who revolutionized the social atmosphere of Germany in the 1920s, and went to wait for my hostelmate who was supposed to be finishing up a meeting and then we would walk around together or something, but she ended up being busy the entire day so I lingered in the town square for awhile, eating lunch, reading a book and waiting. At around 2:30, I just started walking and didn't get back until 6. Where did I walk?? I have no idea. I did the 'suggested tour' of downtown, but it was nothing special. I laid (lay?) in the grass by the river for about 20 minutes and then got paranoid about bugs in my hair (b/c as opposed to Alicante, there ARE ants and flies, etc).
When I got back, I met another hostelmate from Canada who's traveling Germany for an entire month, so we all went out to eat together and I ate LARDSPREAD, which is an appetizer, as we found out later.
I pretty much just wanted to eat something exotic sounding. It was pretty good, actually. So we had a grand old time and shared camera tips (we all had the exact same camera) and exchanged pictures, etc.
Next morning, got up, hopped on the bus, and the rest is history. The weather was absolutely lovely and actually better than Alicante. Today I got up and spent a couple hours at the beach but then the clouds came and the wind followed. It's calling for rain. Sigh...
All in all, the trip was refreshing. Although I spent more money than I should have. The day was so pleasant and I was at such a loss of what to do, and my feet were aching so bad, that I just kept on choosing random cafes in which to sit, read, drink some coffee (or kaffi) and soak in the sun. Probably had about 6+ cups of coffee on Monday! But really, it was amazing and gorgeous and I'm so glad I went, even if I was by myself.
I was a little nervous because I realized the exact time my plane LANDS in Germany (8:30pm) is the exact time my bus LEAVES the airport, so I felt a little panicky because planes hardly ever arrive EARLY much less on time, and transportation in Europe is very exact. Well, just another mini-testimony about God looking out for me. The plane landed TWENTY minutes early. And believe me, I needed every bit of those twenty minutes. So just by the plane being early, I saved the trouble of missing the bus and waiting 3 hours at an abandoned airport in the middle of the night. Oh, and another traveling testimony: it is a good thing I emailed the hostel after my credit card was declined b/c if I hadn't, then I wouldn't have remembered the name "Sudpfanne." When I got to Heidelberg, I had NO clue where I was going--not the address or even the part of town--except that name. If I hadn't emailed them I would never have remembered.
So here's something that most of you didn't know: I went alone. My friend who wanted to come bailed out towards the end, but I was still determined to go. Except for my horrible travel plans, it ended up being exactly what I had hoped for. The only problem was, I knew I wanted to go to Heidelberg (it being a quaint, romantic town as opposed to a bustling, cramped city) but I didn't make actual plans on what to see; which would have been fine if I had a map--but I didn't. I had no idea what I was doing except I knew there was a castle there.
And off we go: I grabbed my camera and hiked up to the castle (not a bad walk but my shoes broke halfway through the day). I took a megaload of photos (and I just made up a word) and not even all of them were on facebook.
The castle was damaged in 1693 (I think) during the Palatine War of Succession and abandoned a few years after that. The castle grounds are absolutely amazing, being situated on a mountain (or rather a big hill). I spent a good 3 or 4 hours there just walking around and exploring every single part of it. Unfortunately, apart from the castle...there really isn't anything else to see.Thankfully, from the ever helpful website e-heidelberg.com I got a good tip to take the Philosopher's Walk (Philosophenweg). I thought it was just a little view point of the castle from the next mountain over, but it ended up being a splendid hike through the woods. Now, imagine me. Now imagine me willingly hiking. Now imagine me willingly hiking ALONE. Until then I've never gone into the wilderness by my own suggestion, but let me tell you--it was amazing. What exactly made it amazing, you ask?
Being in Alicante is great; I love it. But I look around and see palm trees and buildings. Sure there's a beach. Great; whatever. And outside of the city there are some shrubs...and some dirt...and some hills. No trees, no green, no ants, no bees, no nasty flies, no mosquitos. Which on one hand I love because I absolutely hate bugs. But it's just brown and gray.
I come to Heidelberg, Spring had just come. No really, JUST come, so it has that lofty, bouncy bright green that you only see in April. The flowers had just bloomed so that the smell was fresh and strong. The sun, all 3 days, was powerful and warm and its rays streamed through the branches...
Okay, okay, enough of that. The point is, if I had just arrived in Germany from North Carolina, I wouldn't have been nearly as impressed. But coming from Alicante, where as you recall I was seriously yearning for some trees last month, it was stepping into a world I used to know but had forgotten.
The best part was that, since I was alone, I got to reflect and contemplate and pray and sing. I sang every worship song I knew that had the word "creation" or "tree" in it. Haha. It was wonderful.
However, it didn't last that long because, to be honest, I got a little bored XD. I made my way down the hill but instead of going down the way I came, I tried another path which led me past some little cottages with people gardening on the side of the mountain. And somehow I wound up on the other side of the mountain than I wanted to be on. Go me and my navigation skills, eh? Anyway, no worries, I just walked back and snapped a bunch of photos on the way.
Later that day...I dunno what I did. Just walked around, I guess. Like I said, besides the castle there's nothing else to see. I went back to the hostel. Okay, so this hostel is SO much nicer than the one in Paris. For one, it was all girls room so none of that naughty-Argentinian-under-my-bed junk, and plus they had clean, comfy sheets & clean bathrooms. Anyway, so I met 2 girls who had just come. One is from New Zealand and she's traveling around Europe for a whole YEAR, spending 4 months working in Greece. She's visiting her grandparents in Germany and actually went to the concentration camp in which her great-grandfather died 2 weeks before the war ended. Whew! Another girl is from China but I didn't talk to her that much.
Real quick: culture shock = German. I know Spanish, duh, so being in Spain is easy living. Going to Paris was fine because I was with friends and we didn't really eat out at all. But in Germany I looked at the menu and thought "What the heck am I eating?" At least in French I can pick out some words close to Spanish. I just pointed at something and said "I'll have some of this" or saw a picture and ordered that. On another point, I look more or less German but when they would greet me with "Hallo", and I would respond with "Hello", somehow they knew immediately that I spoke English. I can't even say "Hallo" right, goodness gracious!
And the last German thing is that they have the biggest, most beautiful dogs I've ever seen. None of those scrawny-hairy-yappy-toy dogs of Spain. No--these dogs were sleek and tall and downright adorable.
Alright, anyway, the next day I intended to rent a bike and go to a nearby town but since I didn't have a map and I got a late start, I didn't think it was worth it. I actually got up early, took a short tour of a museum about some political figure who revolutionized the social atmosphere of Germany in the 1920s, and went to wait for my hostelmate who was supposed to be finishing up a meeting and then we would walk around together or something, but she ended up being busy the entire day so I lingered in the town square for awhile, eating lunch, reading a book and waiting. At around 2:30, I just started walking and didn't get back until 6. Where did I walk?? I have no idea. I did the 'suggested tour' of downtown, but it was nothing special. I laid (lay?) in the grass by the river for about 20 minutes and then got paranoid about bugs in my hair (b/c as opposed to Alicante, there ARE ants and flies, etc).
When I got back, I met another hostelmate from Canada who's traveling Germany for an entire month, so we all went out to eat together and I ate LARDSPREAD, which is an appetizer, as we found out later.
I pretty much just wanted to eat something exotic sounding. It was pretty good, actually. So we had a grand old time and shared camera tips (we all had the exact same camera) and exchanged pictures, etc.
Next morning, got up, hopped on the bus, and the rest is history. The weather was absolutely lovely and actually better than Alicante. Today I got up and spent a couple hours at the beach but then the clouds came and the wind followed. It's calling for rain. Sigh...
All in all, the trip was refreshing. Although I spent more money than I should have. The day was so pleasant and I was at such a loss of what to do, and my feet were aching so bad, that I just kept on choosing random cafes in which to sit, read, drink some coffee (or kaffi) and soak in the sun. Probably had about 6+ cups of coffee on Monday! But really, it was amazing and gorgeous and I'm so glad I went, even if I was by myself.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Semana Santa & Homework!
Alrighty then: due to popular demand I will update all you fans out there (all 4 of you) as to what I've been doing. And let me tell you: it's not much. After being enchanted by Paris, I returned to Alicante and the daily drudge. The weather was beautiful but I wasn't able to enjoy it because I had a 6 page paper due that Thursday. According to my facebook statuses for those days, it did not go too well. Anyway, Thursday rolled around and I fell short by almost 1000 words but I turned it in.
Actually, that day I saw my buddy Miquel, (remember the silly boy I bought drinks for) and we studied together in the library. His girlfriend came and hung out for a while and then Miquel drove me home and we arranged to meet the next day to study together again. Well, the next day he IMs me to tell me we can't study together anymore because his girlfriend saw us together and doesn't want me around him. Whoa. Well, sorry for writing my paper in the presence of your boyfriend. Controlling much? Apparently she doesn't have too tight a reign on him because the following Tuesday we met up again to study because once again I had to write another 6 page paper about a book (but don't worry--that paper went fast once I actually sat down to do it). So basically my past 2 weeks have been a little stressful. And every night I would go to bed with the panicky feeling that I have so much to do and so little time to do it. But there was no need to stress, after all.
Now that that's over with, we have Spring Break until April 26th! I'm leaving for Germany on Sunday, so I'll have some stories (hopefully good ones) when I come back. Last Thursday I met 3 Americans from Clemson that are studying here, and one is from Raleigh!! So I actually have another person here that knows what I-40 and Cookout are.
Last Saturday I went to the concert of my lovely Alicante band and it was quite good, although less people than I would have imagined with their talent. Although, maybe I'm just being a proud mother saying "My son is the absolute BEST CHILD EVER!!" By the way, the picture is really big because I think it's just so funny.
This past Wednesday I went to chorus and then afterwards, since it was the start of Spring Break, everyone was invited to go out to dinner, so about 7 of us
(and 2 friends of a friend) went out to a Chinese restaurant (pretty much the same as American Chinese, of course) and afterwards went on a Spring Break Celebration party. Before, I only knew Maria the German girl in my class, but over the night I got to know some of the others and they're great. I ended up walking with them to their bus stop at 5am and said goodbye. They asked me about the drinking age in the U.S. and were absolutely appalled that it was 21 years of age. They kept asking me if I owned a gun, saying "If you can own a gun and kill someone, you should be able to drink!" Haha. Oh, and one of them had a mullet. Yuck. It was actually really fun and I wouldn't mind hanging with them again.
The next morning I got up at 2pm and my madre said "Paco came in at 7:30am and got up at 12:30pm. And you got in at 5:30 and got up at 2. I just don't understand." So it seems that no matter how late I stay up I am obligated to rise by noon. Wonderful. Then they said "Did you dance last night?" and I replied that I did....apparently it's a sin to go dancing on the morning of Maundy Thursday when Jesus died. My padres couldn't believe that I danced. I don't know how I feel about that...
Soooo Holy Week in Spain. First of all with the pile of homework I had, I couldn't go out and see the processionals at all this week, but I watched a little on TV
and...well I just don't understand because I'm from a different culture. Aside from the pointy hats from which the KKK got their idea, they also play dirges and walk really slowly through the city, while a hoard of people hoist on their shoulders a huge platform that has either Jesus, Mary, or one of the saints on it.
I mean, first of all, it's nice that you have a little funeral procession in honor of Jesus, but why do you have to have 6 of them each day, and all of them with the same theme? And second of all, as far as I'm concerned, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ does not involve the saints, and hardly involves Mary (only when Jesus says, "hey look, John is your new son"). It only involves the people in the world, God, and Satan. But anyway, I guess it's just part of Spanish culture, and church history. It's just odd--and I suppose their are devout catholics who really do reflect on Jesus' sacrifice by watching the processionals (I called them parades and my madre got mad at me), but I feel like most of the people are there just to take pictures or out of tradition. But that is a topic for a blog in which I talk and talk without caring what I'm saying.
I'm gonna get off that subject and complain that it's raining and cold...but in Germany it's supposed to be 70's all week! So story: the first time that a creepy old man approached me (I was sitting on a bench at the port), I was a little disconcerted but when he asked me about myself, I responded truthfully. "I'm Laura, 20 years old, studying at the University until May, I live that way, etc." and then immediately afterwards, I figured that was not the best idea. So now when creepy guys start following me around, "I'm Stephanie, 22, have a boyfriend, I'm from England, and I'm here on vacation,but leaving tomorrow." The other day a guy told me I spoke Spanish very well, so I think next time I'll dumb myself up and talk with a more American accent. Haha. Don't get me wrong: this doesn't happen all the time. Only maybe 3 or 4 guys, and always during the day, and always close to the beach. Earlier this week I had this guy in his 40's follow me out of the coffee shop, down the road, into the alley, and then stopped when I stopped, etc. Unfortunately a processional was going on, so everybody was gathered in one place and I was limited in places to go. I ended up squeezing through the crowd and joining a group of tourists.
Speaking of tourists: holy cow! I went to Playa Postiguet--the beach near my house--and it was a disaster!! So many people and for the tourism they've placed umbrellas and chairs out for rent. So I hopped on a tram and visited San Juan, the next city over. Their beach is longer and wider, and better in general and contains more Spaniards than tourists. The sun was shining when I left and right as I got there, the wind picked up and the clouds came. And well, it was freezing cold. So I went home and it just poured down rain for 20 minutes. Although, Krissi's mom, Wendy, reminded me that today is Good Friday and "all the earth weeps" so then I felt bad for complaining and started to think more on what Good Friday really means...
Happy Good Friday everyone :-)
Well, no, I have to leave off on a bad note: My eyeliner chose the day when all the shops are closed to run out so now I am cold, wet, and have naked eyes. Haha.
Actually, that day I saw my buddy Miquel, (remember the silly boy I bought drinks for) and we studied together in the library. His girlfriend came and hung out for a while and then Miquel drove me home and we arranged to meet the next day to study together again. Well, the next day he IMs me to tell me we can't study together anymore because his girlfriend saw us together and doesn't want me around him. Whoa. Well, sorry for writing my paper in the presence of your boyfriend. Controlling much? Apparently she doesn't have too tight a reign on him because the following Tuesday we met up again to study because once again I had to write another 6 page paper about a book (but don't worry--that paper went fast once I actually sat down to do it). So basically my past 2 weeks have been a little stressful. And every night I would go to bed with the panicky feeling that I have so much to do and so little time to do it. But there was no need to stress, after all.
Now that that's over with, we have Spring Break until April 26th! I'm leaving for Germany on Sunday, so I'll have some stories (hopefully good ones) when I come back. Last Thursday I met 3 Americans from Clemson that are studying here, and one is from Raleigh!! So I actually have another person here that knows what I-40 and Cookout are.
Last Saturday I went to the concert of my lovely Alicante band and it was quite good, although less people than I would have imagined with their talent. Although, maybe I'm just being a proud mother saying "My son is the absolute BEST CHILD EVER!!" By the way, the picture is really big because I think it's just so funny.This past Wednesday I went to chorus and then afterwards, since it was the start of Spring Break, everyone was invited to go out to dinner, so about 7 of us
(and 2 friends of a friend) went out to a Chinese restaurant (pretty much the same as American Chinese, of course) and afterwards went on a Spring Break Celebration party. Before, I only knew Maria the German girl in my class, but over the night I got to know some of the others and they're great. I ended up walking with them to their bus stop at 5am and said goodbye. They asked me about the drinking age in the U.S. and were absolutely appalled that it was 21 years of age. They kept asking me if I owned a gun, saying "If you can own a gun and kill someone, you should be able to drink!" Haha. Oh, and one of them had a mullet. Yuck. It was actually really fun and I wouldn't mind hanging with them again.
The next morning I got up at 2pm and my madre said "Paco came in at 7:30am and got up at 12:30pm. And you got in at 5:30 and got up at 2. I just don't understand." So it seems that no matter how late I stay up I am obligated to rise by noon. Wonderful. Then they said "Did you dance last night?" and I replied that I did....apparently it's a sin to go dancing on the morning of Maundy Thursday when Jesus died. My padres couldn't believe that I danced. I don't know how I feel about that...
Soooo Holy Week in Spain. First of all with the pile of homework I had, I couldn't go out and see the processionals at all this week, but I watched a little on TV
and...well I just don't understand because I'm from a different culture. Aside from the pointy hats from which the KKK got their idea, they also play dirges and walk really slowly through the city, while a hoard of people hoist on their shoulders a huge platform that has either Jesus, Mary, or one of the saints on it. I mean, first of all, it's nice that you have a little funeral procession in honor of Jesus, but why do you have to have 6 of them each day, and all of them with the same theme? And second of all, as far as I'm concerned, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ does not involve the saints, and hardly involves Mary (only when Jesus says, "hey look, John is your new son"). It only involves the people in the world, God, and Satan. But anyway, I guess it's just part of Spanish culture, and church history. It's just odd--and I suppose their are devout catholics who really do reflect on Jesus' sacrifice by watching the processionals (I called them parades and my madre got mad at me), but I feel like most of the people are there just to take pictures or out of tradition. But that is a topic for a blog in which I talk and talk without caring what I'm saying.
I'm gonna get off that subject and complain that it's raining and cold...but in Germany it's supposed to be 70's all week! So story: the first time that a creepy old man approached me (I was sitting on a bench at the port), I was a little disconcerted but when he asked me about myself, I responded truthfully. "I'm Laura, 20 years old, studying at the University until May, I live that way, etc." and then immediately afterwards, I figured that was not the best idea. So now when creepy guys start following me around, "I'm Stephanie, 22, have a boyfriend, I'm from England, and I'm here on vacation,but leaving tomorrow." The other day a guy told me I spoke Spanish very well, so I think next time I'll dumb myself up and talk with a more American accent. Haha. Don't get me wrong: this doesn't happen all the time. Only maybe 3 or 4 guys, and always during the day, and always close to the beach. Earlier this week I had this guy in his 40's follow me out of the coffee shop, down the road, into the alley, and then stopped when I stopped, etc. Unfortunately a processional was going on, so everybody was gathered in one place and I was limited in places to go. I ended up squeezing through the crowd and joining a group of tourists.
Speaking of tourists: holy cow! I went to Playa Postiguet--the beach near my house--and it was a disaster!! So many people and for the tourism they've placed umbrellas and chairs out for rent. So I hopped on a tram and visited San Juan, the next city over. Their beach is longer and wider, and better in general and contains more Spaniards than tourists. The sun was shining when I left and right as I got there, the wind picked up and the clouds came. And well, it was freezing cold. So I went home and it just poured down rain for 20 minutes. Although, Krissi's mom, Wendy, reminded me that today is Good Friday and "all the earth weeps" so then I felt bad for complaining and started to think more on what Good Friday really means...
Happy Good Friday everyone :-)
Well, no, I have to leave off on a bad note: My eyeliner chose the day when all the shops are closed to run out so now I am cold, wet, and have naked eyes. Haha.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Comment ca cost? Bon nui, Bon b'rev. Comment tu tapel?
Oh my goodness, I just went to Paris, France--arguably the most beautiful city in the world! I'll give you the breakdown. Thursday I packed for a 3-day trip and I've never packed so lightly. 2 of everything, contact case, brush, make-up, the end. Oh, and an umbrella (that was important). I went with 2 of my friends, and the flight there went very smoothly, although I've never been on such a noisy plane because a group of Spanish high schoolers were being rather obnoxious. We landed at 9-ish, walked into some tents where the baggage claim was, and walked out into brisk French air. That was it. Tents. No customs...just tents. It was great. We actually landed in the Beauvais airport, an hour outside of Paris, so when we actually got into the city, figured out the metro system, and found the hostel, it was about 1am. To celebrate our first night in Paris, I got a kebap for dinner (ordering with lots of pointing and laughing) and then we walked over to the river Seine to see the Eiffel Tower from far away.
Wow, so I had my first hostel experience and gotta say, it was memorable. The front is a bar setting and through the back door is a courtyard with the rooms connecting. Apparently when my travel companions booked the hostel they went for the cheapest one, because one can only be a poor college student finding shelter in nastiness once in their life. In this particular place, if we wanted to rent sheets, they were 3.50. Other than that, we got a pillow, a blanket, and a bare mattress. We shared the room with 3 other strangers. A mother and daughter from Kazakhstan and a guy named Matias from Argentina. The room was tiny, with a sink & a shower (that had a button and when pushed, water would spurt out for about 20 seconds) and the toilets were outside, shared by all. Actually, for the most part, it wasn’t too bad. Clearly not hotel quality but for 20 euros a night and free breakfasts, I’d say it’s
sufficient.
The next morning, we got up and talked with Matias a little more in Spanish. He’s 27 and recently graduated in accounting, so now he’s traveling around Europe on his own for awhile. We invited him to walk around with us, but since he’d already seen the Louvre and everything, we just arranged to meet for dinner.
From there we set off to the Eiffel Tower and took many, many, many pictures with all 3 of our cameras. We didn’t climb it because there was such a long line but the view from below was good enough. After that we walked to the Arch of Triumph, which Napoleon apparently built. It was huge and…triumphant, but we just dimos una vuelta (stopped by) for a minute or so and went on our way.
We walked town Avenue de Champs Elysees and found the Grand palace and Petit Palace, took pictures of Plaza de Concorde (with political embassies and such), and had a ghetto lunch in the Jardin du Tuileries right beside the Louvre. It was ghetto because I had a can of cold ravioli and my friends had deli salads. We then walked to the Notre Dame where the gypsies kept on accosting us asking if we spoke English so they could beg. The inside was gorgeous and there was a mass going on. I honestly thought it would be taller than it is, maybe because in the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame there’s an entire 3 minute scene where he’s sliding down the side of the cathedral . At Notre Dame we went to the bathrooms that actually had 2 attendants, a little booth, and those bars that you have to push to walk through. I wish I had taken a picture because it was very odd.
We decided to take a little boat tour down the river Seine and, although we couldn’t understand the tour guide, it was beautiful all the same. At 6pm, we went back to the Louvre because on Fridays at that time anyone under 26 gets in free. There was a big glass triangle as the entrance and apparently we went underground to enter and then climbed back up to end up in the actual building. Unfortunately I was so tired from the day’s events that not only did I get lost for 40 minutes, but I also couldn’t concentrate and appreciate the art. The Mona Lisa was on display in a glass case, but there was an obnoxious crowd of people taking pictures instead of actually admiring it…I joined them in the picture part. The museum itself was humongous and we only covered about 10% if even that.
At 8:30 we left to meet Matias for dinner. Instead of walking one block to the metro, we took a wrong turn and walked the entire length of the gardens—about 13 blocks. We found the restaurant, called Au Refuge des Fondus, which was packed, of course, but it was sooo good.
The first course was just meat & cheese squares, and the 2nd course—mmm—was fondue. We skewered the meat ourselves in hot oil, or dipped bread or potatoes in the pot of melted cheese. It was quite amazing. To top it all off, included in the meal as a beverage is a glass of wine…but not in a glass; in a baby bottle (probably to avoid spilling, but also makes the restaurant unique). It was so cool, and our conversation in Spanish with Matias made it even better. For a dessert, we were served chocolate ice cream stuff. All in all, it was a bit pricey, but considering it was Paris and it was fondue and it was a 3 course meal, I’d say it was well worth it.
We made our way back to the hostel where we met quite a lot of guys: a bunch of Portuguese, a few French, and one American that graduated from Berkeley Music School. There were a lot of Americans staying there, but only one was there at the time. But one Portuguese guy named Liandro was telling me to visit his country, and another French guy was teaching me how to speak French, and the American was asking me about my trip. I was quite busy trying to pay attention to all 3 conversations at once. Soon after we went to bed and about 2 hours later I awoke…our new friend Matias decided to have “relations” on the bottom bunk and I was on the top. So in a hurry I hopped off the bunkbed and walked outside, not caring that I had neither my shoes nor my glasses. I joined a group of French guys that were playing poker outside for about 40 minutes, but I was blind and cold and on top of that they did not speak any English and little Spanish. Fortunately I went back to bed and slept through the night to find Matias gone in the morning to Belgium. Needless to say our impression of him went from great to horrible. Haha
The next morning I rose with head pounding. We took our time getting out but went
straight to the Opera House where we toured the inside. It wasn’t that amazing but the fact that it contained the chandelier from Phantom of the Opera made it pretty cool. From there we met the French/Algerian cousin of one of my trip-mates and we went to..uh…Le Se Cours? Or Se Bleu?...I dunno, some cathedral on the highest hill in the city. The cathedral itself was very pretty but it didn’t spark my interest too much, but the view of the city was awesome. Unfortunately all of our cameras were close to dead because of the usage from Friday, but we have some pictures of Saturday’s events. From there we ate some French crepes. Although very expensive and quite a tourist rip off, eating crepes in Paris near a world famous monument is worth it. Then we said goodbye to the relative and walked to Moulin Rouge, took a picture and went back to the hostel until the flight time. The rest of it was very uneventful.
And of course when I got back, I had the urge to speak Spanish, so although it was 12:30 at night, I dropped my stuff off at the apartment and went right back out. I ended up sitting and talking to my bartender friends after closing time while they cleaned until 7:30am (actually it was 6:30 but last night we changed to Daylight Saving Time). And that was my weekend. I learned a few phrases in French, spoke more Spanish in Paris than I did this week at school, and kept trying to say “Gracias” in France, and now I keep trying to say “Merci” in Spain. I’m just all confused.
Wow, so I had my first hostel experience and gotta say, it was memorable. The front is a bar setting and through the back door is a courtyard with the rooms connecting. Apparently when my travel companions booked the hostel they went for the cheapest one, because one can only be a poor college student finding shelter in nastiness once in their life. In this particular place, if we wanted to rent sheets, they were 3.50. Other than that, we got a pillow, a blanket, and a bare mattress. We shared the room with 3 other strangers. A mother and daughter from Kazakhstan and a guy named Matias from Argentina. The room was tiny, with a sink & a shower (that had a button and when pushed, water would spurt out for about 20 seconds) and the toilets were outside, shared by all. Actually, for the most part, it wasn’t too bad. Clearly not hotel quality but for 20 euros a night and free breakfasts, I’d say it’s sufficient.
The next morning, we got up and talked with Matias a little more in Spanish. He’s 27 and recently graduated in accounting, so now he’s traveling around Europe on his own for awhile. We invited him to walk around with us, but since he’d already seen the Louvre and everything, we just arranged to meet for dinner.
From there we set off to the Eiffel Tower and took many, many, many pictures with all 3 of our cameras. We didn’t climb it because there was such a long line but the view from below was good enough. After that we walked to the Arch of Triumph, which Napoleon apparently built. It was huge and…triumphant, but we just dimos una vuelta (stopped by) for a minute or so and went on our way.
We walked town Avenue de Champs Elysees and found the Grand palace and Petit Palace, took pictures of Plaza de Concorde (with political embassies and such), and had a ghetto lunch in the Jardin du Tuileries right beside the Louvre. It was ghetto because I had a can of cold ravioli and my friends had deli salads. We then walked to the Notre Dame where the gypsies kept on accosting us asking if we spoke English so they could beg. The inside was gorgeous and there was a mass going on. I honestly thought it would be taller than it is, maybe because in the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame there’s an entire 3 minute scene where he’s sliding down the side of the cathedral . At Notre Dame we went to the bathrooms that actually had 2 attendants, a little booth, and those bars that you have to push to walk through. I wish I had taken a picture because it was very odd.We decided to take a little boat tour down the river Seine and, although we couldn’t understand the tour guide, it was beautiful all the same. At 6pm, we went back to the Louvre because on Fridays at that time anyone under 26 gets in free. There was a big glass triangle as the entrance and apparently we went underground to enter and then climbed back up to end up in the actual building. Unfortunately I was so tired from the day’s events that not only did I get lost for 40 minutes, but I also couldn’t concentrate and appreciate the art. The Mona Lisa was on display in a glass case, but there was an obnoxious crowd of people taking pictures instead of actually admiring it…I joined them in the picture part. The museum itself was humongous and we only covered about 10% if even that.
At 8:30 we left to meet Matias for dinner. Instead of walking one block to the metro, we took a wrong turn and walked the entire length of the gardens—about 13 blocks. We found the restaurant, called Au Refuge des Fondus, which was packed, of course, but it was sooo good.
The first course was just meat & cheese squares, and the 2nd course—mmm—was fondue. We skewered the meat ourselves in hot oil, or dipped bread or potatoes in the pot of melted cheese. It was quite amazing. To top it all off, included in the meal as a beverage is a glass of wine…but not in a glass; in a baby bottle (probably to avoid spilling, but also makes the restaurant unique). It was so cool, and our conversation in Spanish with Matias made it even better. For a dessert, we were served chocolate ice cream stuff. All in all, it was a bit pricey, but considering it was Paris and it was fondue and it was a 3 course meal, I’d say it was well worth it.
We made our way back to the hostel where we met quite a lot of guys: a bunch of Portuguese, a few French, and one American that graduated from Berkeley Music School. There were a lot of Americans staying there, but only one was there at the time. But one Portuguese guy named Liandro was telling me to visit his country, and another French guy was teaching me how to speak French, and the American was asking me about my trip. I was quite busy trying to pay attention to all 3 conversations at once. Soon after we went to bed and about 2 hours later I awoke…our new friend Matias decided to have “relations” on the bottom bunk and I was on the top. So in a hurry I hopped off the bunkbed and walked outside, not caring that I had neither my shoes nor my glasses. I joined a group of French guys that were playing poker outside for about 40 minutes, but I was blind and cold and on top of that they did not speak any English and little Spanish. Fortunately I went back to bed and slept through the night to find Matias gone in the morning to Belgium. Needless to say our impression of him went from great to horrible. Haha
The next morning I rose with head pounding. We took our time getting out but went
straight to the Opera House where we toured the inside. It wasn’t that amazing but the fact that it contained the chandelier from Phantom of the Opera made it pretty cool. From there we met the French/Algerian cousin of one of my trip-mates and we went to..uh…Le Se Cours? Or Se Bleu?...I dunno, some cathedral on the highest hill in the city. The cathedral itself was very pretty but it didn’t spark my interest too much, but the view of the city was awesome. Unfortunately all of our cameras were close to dead because of the usage from Friday, but we have some pictures of Saturday’s events. From there we ate some French crepes. Although very expensive and quite a tourist rip off, eating crepes in Paris near a world famous monument is worth it. Then we said goodbye to the relative and walked to Moulin Rouge, took a picture and went back to the hostel until the flight time. The rest of it was very uneventful.
And of course when I got back, I had the urge to speak Spanish, so although it was 12:30 at night, I dropped my stuff off at the apartment and went right back out. I ended up sitting and talking to my bartender friends after closing time while they cleaned until 7:30am (actually it was 6:30 but last night we changed to Daylight Saving Time). And that was my weekend. I learned a few phrases in French, spoke more Spanish in Paris than I did this week at school, and kept trying to say “Gracias” in France, and now I keep trying to say “Merci” in Spain. I’m just all confused.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Oh My Goodness! So much to say! This is a little Scatterbrained
March 9th was my last entry and now it is March 20th. What have I done since then?? Well, folks, nothing of importance. Finished my mid-terms. 9.7 in Civil War, and 8.something in Lit (both pretty bangin), and Conversation not graded yet. This week is a long weekend (Wed-Sun off) but I'm not completely sure why. I know Thursday was Father's Day, so I was expecting the entire family to come over for lunch. I was surprised to find that nobody else came, and when I said "Happy Father's Day" to Paco, he grumbled something about the Corte Ingles only made the holiday up to boost sales. Haha.
So I've been going to the beach a lot lately because of this break, and I have once again learned the value of sunblock. Last night I was radiating but today I at least feel a little bit cooler although I still look like a lobster. I must say, I know I'm in Europe when I see the back of someone with a bikini bottom and no top, and wonder if it's a boy or a girl. Oh I don't know whether to look and say "oh, it might be one of my Spanish guy friends" or not look because it's a topless lady. Speedos for the guys and bikinis for the girls, oh yes. To conform to Spanish lifestyle I went and bought a bikini top today. Instead of 30 euros at the Corte Ingles....5 euros at the Chinese store! Woot woot.
Last weekend I had a little adventure. I finished up the clown class, which by the way, was not as funny as the weekend before. It was actually a little painful.
Saturday the only thing of interest was that we were assigned an animal to act like, and then sang a well-known song as that animal. Not very funny at all. However, our warm-up exercise was very odd: full-body massages. If you know me, you would know that I was very uncomfortable with that. My American friend said he had to massage the married lady's while her husband was watching--haha. One of my classmates came in just as we finished, so the teacher had him lay on the floor and the entire class of 15 people gathered around him and massaged him! Hand, arms, head, neck, back, butt, legs, feet. It was ridiculous and it seemed like it would never end.
But that wasn't the adventure I was referring to. I was referring to when, on Saturday night, I didn't feel tired, so I just didn't go to bed. Well, I guess it wasn't an adventure per say...all I did was occupy myself until 8am, then came home, washed up, and went to class. I went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 9am the next day.
On Wednesday we took a short trip to Valencia. It's only about 90 minutes away so we only spent about 5 hours in all there. I spoke to Pascual the bus driver again and he pointed out some of the Valencian monuments as we drove by. Unfortunately, my professor from the first couple weeks of school, Emilio, embarrassed me by pretending I was in love with the bus driver. Ugh, how awkward.
Anyway, I went with some girls to the Cathedral that holds the holy grail and a saint's preserved severed arm, but we didn't have time to see them. Instead, we climbed the tower that overlooked the city.
At 2pm we walked a couple blocks to the Town Square where they were setting off fireworks to celebrate the festival Fallas. I have it on video, but pretty much it's just a series of popping noises and smoke. Not very exciting, but very famous. It
was packed with people for blocks all around. We went to the Lonja, which is apparently a masterpiece of architecture, but it didn't look like we could go in. I joined a different group of girls and we relaxed in the sun until it was time to go. On the way to the bus, we saw the lining up of a parade--men & women & children in traditional Spanish garb lined the streets. They were sooo cute! While I was in Valencia I made sure to try Horchata (valencian drink made from tigernuts), some Valencian oranges (actually haven't tried them, but I have them with me), and Valencian Paella (not sure how it's different from regular, but it was good).
On a different note, watching the Spanish news is quite boring. I'm pretty sure the only things they talk about are: Marta del Castillo, the repression, Bolonia, and the pope. First of all, Marta del Castillo is a girl who disappeared on January 24th and ever since then the media has been going crazy over her case, as if she's the only victim of murder. The latest news is that her ex-boyfriend killed her and threw her body in a dumpster, so now the police are digging through the public dump. The public held this whole campaign to find her, even wearing shirts and pins that say "Everyone is a Marta" What the heck does that mean? We are all decomposing in a land-fill? How inspiring, thank you, geniuses. Anyway, this public outcry begs the question: if people hadn't made such a big deal over getting justice, would the police go to this same extent to find her killers and body?
The other thing is politics and the repression, although Paco my host padre loves politics so it may be just the programs he watches that bore me to tears. I see Obama on the news about as much as I see the Spanish politicians, but since I don't understand, nor do I care about what's happening, I don't pay too much attention.
The protesting of Bolonia has gone on at the University since I got here but just now it's starting to make the news. Bolonia apparently is the movement of the European Union or Spanish government or something to raise the cost of the public universities and make it more similar to U.S. colleges, at the same time making the degrees certified in all European countries. Yeah, it stinks having to pay more and good for you for protesting the government...but apparently the issue was decided almost 10 years ago, so all this protesting is doing nothing. I wonder if it has made it to United States news since there are so many riots in Spain and elsewhere.
And the Pope. Wow, does he get his share of fame. After the normal news, Paco turns on the parody news called Intermedio--kind of a Daily News with Jon Stewart thing. But Intermedio makes fun of everything the Pope does. Apparently the Catholic leaders have launched a pro-life campaign that points out that a Lynx (the cat thing) is more protected than a human life...which, by the way, is a very valid argument. But Intermedio loves to make fun of it. Unfortunately, they talk too fast for me to understand everything, but then again, I don't think I want to understand. Also, recently the Pope visited Africa and declared that the effort to promote the use of condoms in order to prevent the spreading of AIDS is not solving the problem, in fact it's condemning it further (which, I have to admit, is a little outrageous). Well, you can imagine the kind of fun Intermedio has had with blowing that issue out of proportion. Sometimes Intermedio is interesting, but with these news pieces that have come up, it's now annoying and clearly in opposition to the Pope and what he stands for.
Ok, enough about news! I would like to touch on the subject of life in America. I find that here in Europe, I'm often ashamed of my origin. Not only do I know very little about European geography, history, and current world news, but I'm also disappointed in my bilingual skills when I know so many people who are fluent in at least 3 languages. I mean, I guess in America we kind of have an excuse. The country is so incredibly large compared to others that it isn't too odd to only focus on ourselves, and plus English is spoken by pretty much the entire population as well as the country to the north, so our monolingual lifestyle makes sense. But when I meet Germans, and French, and Italians, and Norwegians, and Nigerians...it gives me a sense of culture and makes me feel as if the United States ISN'T the best thing since sliced bread. And having each border of the country being 10 hours away, at most, makes the community seem a little closer. California is soooo far away from NC, but Alicante isn't far at all from Andalucia!
Whew, oy, what else did I want to say? My host madre asked me today why I always went out alone. I responded that I go to the beach knowing that somebody I know will be there. She says that normally her students call up their friends and meet them, and then asks me why I don't hang out with the Americans. I tell her that for the most part they already found someone who they can relate to, she says "Well, join their group." And I just shrugged and smiled. Look, lady, first of all, it's not that easy to just "join" a group. They have to want you to join. Second of all, I've been wondering about this since I got here, you don't have to remind me! And what if I want to go shopping alone? I'm pretty sure for the most part my friends don't do anything in the afternoons besides chill at home and go to the beach...just like I do. Anyway, the end.
Umm what else?? March 20th, next weekend I go to Paris but I heard on the news something about a strike in France and they're canceling some flights...
Alright, I'll leave you with that. Hopefully next week I can tell you about sightseeing in Pareeee
"Lo que Espana vota, va a misa!!"
So I've been going to the beach a lot lately because of this break, and I have once again learned the value of sunblock. Last night I was radiating but today I at least feel a little bit cooler although I still look like a lobster. I must say, I know I'm in Europe when I see the back of someone with a bikini bottom and no top, and wonder if it's a boy or a girl. Oh I don't know whether to look and say "oh, it might be one of my Spanish guy friends" or not look because it's a topless lady. Speedos for the guys and bikinis for the girls, oh yes. To conform to Spanish lifestyle I went and bought a bikini top today. Instead of 30 euros at the Corte Ingles....5 euros at the Chinese store! Woot woot.
Last weekend I had a little adventure. I finished up the clown class, which by the way, was not as funny as the weekend before. It was actually a little painful.
Saturday the only thing of interest was that we were assigned an animal to act like, and then sang a well-known song as that animal. Not very funny at all. However, our warm-up exercise was very odd: full-body massages. If you know me, you would know that I was very uncomfortable with that. My American friend said he had to massage the married lady's while her husband was watching--haha. One of my classmates came in just as we finished, so the teacher had him lay on the floor and the entire class of 15 people gathered around him and massaged him! Hand, arms, head, neck, back, butt, legs, feet. It was ridiculous and it seemed like it would never end.But that wasn't the adventure I was referring to. I was referring to when, on Saturday night, I didn't feel tired, so I just didn't go to bed. Well, I guess it wasn't an adventure per say...all I did was occupy myself until 8am, then came home, washed up, and went to class. I went to bed at 6pm and woke up at 9am the next day.
On Wednesday we took a short trip to Valencia. It's only about 90 minutes away so we only spent about 5 hours in all there. I spoke to Pascual the bus driver again and he pointed out some of the Valencian monuments as we drove by. Unfortunately, my professor from the first couple weeks of school, Emilio, embarrassed me by pretending I was in love with the bus driver. Ugh, how awkward.
Anyway, I went with some girls to the Cathedral that holds the holy grail and a saint's preserved severed arm, but we didn't have time to see them. Instead, we climbed the tower that overlooked the city.
At 2pm we walked a couple blocks to the Town Square where they were setting off fireworks to celebrate the festival Fallas. I have it on video, but pretty much it's just a series of popping noises and smoke. Not very exciting, but very famous. It
was packed with people for blocks all around. We went to the Lonja, which is apparently a masterpiece of architecture, but it didn't look like we could go in. I joined a different group of girls and we relaxed in the sun until it was time to go. On the way to the bus, we saw the lining up of a parade--men & women & children in traditional Spanish garb lined the streets. They were sooo cute! While I was in Valencia I made sure to try Horchata (valencian drink made from tigernuts), some Valencian oranges (actually haven't tried them, but I have them with me), and Valencian Paella (not sure how it's different from regular, but it was good).On a different note, watching the Spanish news is quite boring. I'm pretty sure the only things they talk about are: Marta del Castillo, the repression, Bolonia, and the pope. First of all, Marta del Castillo is a girl who disappeared on January 24th and ever since then the media has been going crazy over her case, as if she's the only victim of murder. The latest news is that her ex-boyfriend killed her and threw her body in a dumpster, so now the police are digging through the public dump. The public held this whole campaign to find her, even wearing shirts and pins that say "Everyone is a Marta" What the heck does that mean? We are all decomposing in a land-fill? How inspiring, thank you, geniuses. Anyway, this public outcry begs the question: if people hadn't made such a big deal over getting justice, would the police go to this same extent to find her killers and body?
The other thing is politics and the repression, although Paco my host padre loves politics so it may be just the programs he watches that bore me to tears. I see Obama on the news about as much as I see the Spanish politicians, but since I don't understand, nor do I care about what's happening, I don't pay too much attention.
The protesting of Bolonia has gone on at the University since I got here but just now it's starting to make the news. Bolonia apparently is the movement of the European Union or Spanish government or something to raise the cost of the public universities and make it more similar to U.S. colleges, at the same time making the degrees certified in all European countries. Yeah, it stinks having to pay more and good for you for protesting the government...but apparently the issue was decided almost 10 years ago, so all this protesting is doing nothing. I wonder if it has made it to United States news since there are so many riots in Spain and elsewhere.
And the Pope. Wow, does he get his share of fame. After the normal news, Paco turns on the parody news called Intermedio--kind of a Daily News with Jon Stewart thing. But Intermedio makes fun of everything the Pope does. Apparently the Catholic leaders have launched a pro-life campaign that points out that a Lynx (the cat thing) is more protected than a human life...which, by the way, is a very valid argument. But Intermedio loves to make fun of it. Unfortunately, they talk too fast for me to understand everything, but then again, I don't think I want to understand. Also, recently the Pope visited Africa and declared that the effort to promote the use of condoms in order to prevent the spreading of AIDS is not solving the problem, in fact it's condemning it further (which, I have to admit, is a little outrageous). Well, you can imagine the kind of fun Intermedio has had with blowing that issue out of proportion. Sometimes Intermedio is interesting, but with these news pieces that have come up, it's now annoying and clearly in opposition to the Pope and what he stands for.
Ok, enough about news! I would like to touch on the subject of life in America. I find that here in Europe, I'm often ashamed of my origin. Not only do I know very little about European geography, history, and current world news, but I'm also disappointed in my bilingual skills when I know so many people who are fluent in at least 3 languages. I mean, I guess in America we kind of have an excuse. The country is so incredibly large compared to others that it isn't too odd to only focus on ourselves, and plus English is spoken by pretty much the entire population as well as the country to the north, so our monolingual lifestyle makes sense. But when I meet Germans, and French, and Italians, and Norwegians, and Nigerians...it gives me a sense of culture and makes me feel as if the United States ISN'T the best thing since sliced bread. And having each border of the country being 10 hours away, at most, makes the community seem a little closer. California is soooo far away from NC, but Alicante isn't far at all from Andalucia!
Whew, oy, what else did I want to say? My host madre asked me today why I always went out alone. I responded that I go to the beach knowing that somebody I know will be there. She says that normally her students call up their friends and meet them, and then asks me why I don't hang out with the Americans. I tell her that for the most part they already found someone who they can relate to, she says "Well, join their group." And I just shrugged and smiled. Look, lady, first of all, it's not that easy to just "join" a group. They have to want you to join. Second of all, I've been wondering about this since I got here, you don't have to remind me! And what if I want to go shopping alone? I'm pretty sure for the most part my friends don't do anything in the afternoons besides chill at home and go to the beach...just like I do. Anyway, the end.
Umm what else?? March 20th, next weekend I go to Paris but I heard on the news something about a strike in France and they're canceling some flights...
Alright, I'll leave you with that. Hopefully next week I can tell you about sightseeing in Pareeee
"Lo que Espana vota, va a misa!!"
Monday, March 9, 2009
Foolishness & Music
Aye, Clown class. Madre mía, where do I begin? I managed to get out of bed on Saturday morning and went to the University to participate in a class called Discovering Your Inner Clown. As a review: I am not required to take this class, I just wanted to, lol. I’ll just give you a chronological overview. Shall we? Pretty much the class is a giant game. I’ll tell you what I mean.
We did some icebreaker games, including Simon Says but instead of Simon it’s “Perrequito.” Finally the instructor had us lay down and awaken our inner child. So we went to sleep as young adults and woke up as 4-year-olds seeing the world for the first time. One by one, we rose and walked around the room. A bunch of people grabbed the rug in the middle of floor and rolled themselves up in it while others started a tickle fight or a spontaneous game of tag. One guy grabbed a poster stuck on the wall and wore it like a cape. All of this without words! Next, the “topic” of the session was The Importance of Laughter. The teacher had us dress up in the random pieces of clothing she had laid out and come out in front of the class and just look at the audience, making eye contact. I think she was trying to make us understand the importance of communicating with the audience. There was a bunch more we did but I don’t remember, honestly
In the afternoon session, we learned about the importance of Listening to each other. When I say “we learned” what I really mean is we played a bunch of games and when I say “Listening” what I really mean is getting the feel of what the other person is doing. We formed 2 clusters and each cluster had a leader, so whatever the leader did, the others followed. So we ended up having a spontaneous cluster war. One group would pretend to be monsters and growl at the other, and the other group would run away in fear. Then one group would stick their tongues out, while the other group shot at them with imaginary machine guns. Haha, let’s just say lots of sound effects and screaming.
Another activity was Siamese Twins. Whatever your partner does, you do. Your emotions are their emotions. You don’t have to wonder what they’re thinking—you already know. So we presented ourselves to the rest of the class, and stuck shoulder-to-shoulder, we had to “listen” to each other and react appropriately. It turned out to be hilarious to just watch people’s expressions and interaction. And all of these activities involve dressing up and wearing clown noses. The other American in the class absolutely hated it, and I have no idea why. All we really do is laugh at each other and have fun. We dress up in clown outfits for crying out loud! What’s not to like?? And somehow the above took 8 hours.
Sunday I had a little trouble catching the bus at 9am because I went to bed at 5 so I accidentally got up 40 min. late. But no matter, because when I got there they were just warming up. The topic of that day was “Emotions” which, knowing me, is my favorite. One of the games was to pretend we were on a spaceship going to different planets, so we all sat on the floor, and went to planets like Happiness, and Sadness, and Desire. Happiness was funny because everyone was jumping around laughing and shouting and hugging. Desire was…very awkward. Lol. Everyone was hugging each other and making flirty sound effects (you know what I mean, right??) and then they fell on the floor and were climbing all over each other. Whoa. Then the teacher said “You can desire the furniture!” so then everyone started kissing and caressing the floor and walls. When we got back on the “spaceship” one of our classmates shouted “I want to stay on this planet!” and the teacher said “Oh no, you’ve lost your captain! Someone save him!” and so the entire class rushed over and literally dragged him to the spaceship. Haha, it was crazy.
We also got in a big circle and the instructor had us do something we don’t usually do in public. So some people danced & screamed, some people scratched themselves or picked their noses, and me…I sang opera…and everyone clapped, lol. My professor said “Why don’t you do that in public??” and I replied that I didn’t get the opportunity very often.
Then we got into trios and in front of the class represented one emotion that started small and climaxed to insanity. One group did anger and by the end they were stomping and grunting all over the place, threatening the audience. Another group did Desire and….wow, that was disturbing. By the time they finished, they had taken each other’s socks off and they were playing intense footsie after caressing them. My group did Sadness and we were blubbering and wailing all over the place. I took out an imaginary knife and threatened to cut myself while my partners were trying to talk me out of it…all without words.
Haha, wow, what madness. I’m going to take pictures next week. Just describing it doesn’t do it justice at all. People’s expressions are just too funny. We don’t use any props except for the clothes we bring out, but somehow we find things to do. For instance, the group that did Happiness bobbed their heads in-sync and got more emphatic until they fell over on the floor laughing wildly. Insanity—all of it.
Anyway, enough of that.
Did I mention I went to see my friend’s concert? They played for like 15 minutes b/c it was a showcase but it was still great. This Friday they will have a full length concert and it’s the highlight of my week.
After the concert, I found them in the audience. I couldn’t remember the rest of the band members, but they sure remembered me even though I only met them one time, a month before that. I went to their band practice on Thursday and heard a bunch of their songs. I absolutely loved it, but I doubt they would let me come to all of their practices. They do it in this tiny room that the owners rent out to aspiring musicians. Lucas the guitarist/vocalist told me we should get together and compose a song but maybe he was just spouting off at the mouth. I ended up buying their CD for 9 euros, even though I could have haggled it down to 6. But #1 I’m not pushy #2 I don’t want to take advantage of their friendship #3 I want to support their band. While we were discussing the price, Lucas shut the door, leaned against it, turned the lights down, and with a cigarette in one hand said in a smooth voice “Laaaura…10 euros….” and at that point I just had to give in. After giving them the 9 euros I gave them 1 more and said “This is just a gift” because they had originally pushed for 10.
Through these guys I met 3 Spanish girls that are really nice. So now I don’t only hang out with boys. One of the girls said “You like flirting with the boys, don’t you?” and I said “I mean, I like talking to them, yeah…” and she said “Well do you wanna kiss them?” and I said “Omg, no!” lol. I mean, I can’t help it if none of my Spanish friends hang out with girls very often!
My madre kindly reminded me last night that I should not trust the boys here, and my padre added “The bed! That’s all they want!” but I insisted that most were gentlemen. “Do they study?” “No.” “Do they work” “Some of them, yeah, others, no…”
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“Exactly.” Haha. I showed them my pictures of the band, and Juan’s group, and Fran’s group (because obviously not all of my friends know each other). My madre pointed out the one she thought was cutest lol but I told her that he was short and she sounded disappointed.
Ummm well, okay that was my week. Midterms are this week—ahh so fast! It’s only 3 classes, goodness gracious, it’s a breeze! And I have most of my Spring break plans in the making. Looking back, I probably could have gotten that ultra expensive train pass and end up spending the same amount of money as it’s taking for flights, etc. But too late now. I have Germany & Italy and that’s all I care about! XD
More to come!
We did some icebreaker games, including Simon Says but instead of Simon it’s “Perrequito.” Finally the instructor had us lay down and awaken our inner child. So we went to sleep as young adults and woke up as 4-year-olds seeing the world for the first time. One by one, we rose and walked around the room. A bunch of people grabbed the rug in the middle of floor and rolled themselves up in it while others started a tickle fight or a spontaneous game of tag. One guy grabbed a poster stuck on the wall and wore it like a cape. All of this without words! Next, the “topic” of the session was The Importance of Laughter. The teacher had us dress up in the random pieces of clothing she had laid out and come out in front of the class and just look at the audience, making eye contact. I think she was trying to make us understand the importance of communicating with the audience. There was a bunch more we did but I don’t remember, honestly
In the afternoon session, we learned about the importance of Listening to each other. When I say “we learned” what I really mean is we played a bunch of games and when I say “Listening” what I really mean is getting the feel of what the other person is doing. We formed 2 clusters and each cluster had a leader, so whatever the leader did, the others followed. So we ended up having a spontaneous cluster war. One group would pretend to be monsters and growl at the other, and the other group would run away in fear. Then one group would stick their tongues out, while the other group shot at them with imaginary machine guns. Haha, let’s just say lots of sound effects and screaming.
Another activity was Siamese Twins. Whatever your partner does, you do. Your emotions are their emotions. You don’t have to wonder what they’re thinking—you already know. So we presented ourselves to the rest of the class, and stuck shoulder-to-shoulder, we had to “listen” to each other and react appropriately. It turned out to be hilarious to just watch people’s expressions and interaction. And all of these activities involve dressing up and wearing clown noses. The other American in the class absolutely hated it, and I have no idea why. All we really do is laugh at each other and have fun. We dress up in clown outfits for crying out loud! What’s not to like?? And somehow the above took 8 hours.
Sunday I had a little trouble catching the bus at 9am because I went to bed at 5 so I accidentally got up 40 min. late. But no matter, because when I got there they were just warming up. The topic of that day was “Emotions” which, knowing me, is my favorite. One of the games was to pretend we were on a spaceship going to different planets, so we all sat on the floor, and went to planets like Happiness, and Sadness, and Desire. Happiness was funny because everyone was jumping around laughing and shouting and hugging. Desire was…very awkward. Lol. Everyone was hugging each other and making flirty sound effects (you know what I mean, right??) and then they fell on the floor and were climbing all over each other. Whoa. Then the teacher said “You can desire the furniture!” so then everyone started kissing and caressing the floor and walls. When we got back on the “spaceship” one of our classmates shouted “I want to stay on this planet!” and the teacher said “Oh no, you’ve lost your captain! Someone save him!” and so the entire class rushed over and literally dragged him to the spaceship. Haha, it was crazy.
We also got in a big circle and the instructor had us do something we don’t usually do in public. So some people danced & screamed, some people scratched themselves or picked their noses, and me…I sang opera…and everyone clapped, lol. My professor said “Why don’t you do that in public??” and I replied that I didn’t get the opportunity very often.
Then we got into trios and in front of the class represented one emotion that started small and climaxed to insanity. One group did anger and by the end they were stomping and grunting all over the place, threatening the audience. Another group did Desire and….wow, that was disturbing. By the time they finished, they had taken each other’s socks off and they were playing intense footsie after caressing them. My group did Sadness and we were blubbering and wailing all over the place. I took out an imaginary knife and threatened to cut myself while my partners were trying to talk me out of it…all without words.
Haha, wow, what madness. I’m going to take pictures next week. Just describing it doesn’t do it justice at all. People’s expressions are just too funny. We don’t use any props except for the clothes we bring out, but somehow we find things to do. For instance, the group that did Happiness bobbed their heads in-sync and got more emphatic until they fell over on the floor laughing wildly. Insanity—all of it.
Anyway, enough of that.
Did I mention I went to see my friend’s concert? They played for like 15 minutes b/c it was a showcase but it was still great. This Friday they will have a full length concert and it’s the highlight of my week.
After the concert, I found them in the audience. I couldn’t remember the rest of the band members, but they sure remembered me even though I only met them one time, a month before that. I went to their band practice on Thursday and heard a bunch of their songs. I absolutely loved it, but I doubt they would let me come to all of their practices. They do it in this tiny room that the owners rent out to aspiring musicians. Lucas the guitarist/vocalist told me we should get together and compose a song but maybe he was just spouting off at the mouth. I ended up buying their CD for 9 euros, even though I could have haggled it down to 6. But #1 I’m not pushy #2 I don’t want to take advantage of their friendship #3 I want to support their band. While we were discussing the price, Lucas shut the door, leaned against it, turned the lights down, and with a cigarette in one hand said in a smooth voice “Laaaura…10 euros….” and at that point I just had to give in. After giving them the 9 euros I gave them 1 more and said “This is just a gift” because they had originally pushed for 10. Through these guys I met 3 Spanish girls that are really nice. So now I don’t only hang out with boys. One of the girls said “You like flirting with the boys, don’t you?” and I said “I mean, I like talking to them, yeah…” and she said “Well do you wanna kiss them?” and I said “Omg, no!” lol. I mean, I can’t help it if none of my Spanish friends hang out with girls very often!
My madre kindly reminded me last night that I should not trust the boys here, and my padre added “The bed! That’s all they want!” but I insisted that most were gentlemen. “Do they study?” “No.” “Do they work” “Some of them, yeah, others, no…”
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“Exactly.” Haha. I showed them my pictures of the band, and Juan’s group, and Fran’s group (because obviously not all of my friends know each other). My madre pointed out the one she thought was cutest lol but I told her that he was short and she sounded disappointed.Ummm well, okay that was my week. Midterms are this week—ahh so fast! It’s only 3 classes, goodness gracious, it’s a breeze! And I have most of my Spring break plans in the making. Looking back, I probably could have gotten that ultra expensive train pass and end up spending the same amount of money as it’s taking for flights, etc. But too late now. I have Germany & Italy and that’s all I care about! XD
More to come!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Carnaval & Madrid (This is really really long)
Wow! It is two whole weeks since I last wrote and you wouldn’t believe the insanity! Carnaval was pretty ridiculous. I have never seen an entire city so excited to celebrate a pointless holiday. The kickoff events started on Wednesday and the entire week there were concerts every single night. One of the first nights I went to the “parade” downtown. I’m thinking floats and funny costumes, and music, ya know, like a normal parade!.....not at all. I followed the noise of drums and bagpipes (bagpipes in Spain??) to the old part of town, off the streets and onto the pedestrian walkways. What I found was definitely not a parade.
I saw a multitude of people all walking in one direction so I joined their numbers. The crowd stopped in an open plaza while the drum continued. All of the sudden out came these crazy people dressed up in red and black (a combination of clowns and demons, it looked like). They whipped out all sorts of little firecracker things and started running around screaming, setting them off. Some had pitchforks that shot sparks out of the prongs, one guy was running around with a torch sipping oil/alcohol and spitting it out on the torch so it grew bigger (I can’t think of the word when the fire all of the sudden heats up and sort of erupts).
After they exhausted that place (it smelled horrible), they beat their drums to the next plaza where they did the exact same thing. And after 10 minutes they started one of their concerts. And that was my first Carnaval activity.
Friday was my birthday! I slept till 1pm or so but woke up with a constantly runny nose. I immediately sat down to do some of the heavy load of homework I had for the week only to have my madre mutter to herself “on the computer as soon as she wakes up! I don’t understand it…” But I ignored it and kept working. I was on the computer from 11-5, and although I took an hour break to eat lunch and another hour to IM friends, I was working diligently otherwise. The paper I wrote I ended up getting a 9.5 out of 10 which is A+ according to the strict Spanish grading. My teacher likes me XD
I think I went to the beach after that….but I’m not quite sure. If I did, it was cold and boring. What can I say, the beach has lost its glamour. Whatever I did in the meantime, after dinner I got ready to go out for my birthday and when I came out of my room in my party dress and leggings, my madre said “You’re going out? But you’re sick!“ and I said “I know but it’s Carnaval! I have to go out!” (she didn’t know it was my birthday) and she said “If you go out like that, you’ll be confined to the bed tomorrow! But do whatever you want, I’m just saying…it’s ridiculous to go out when you have a cold.” Haha well the story ends when the next day I’m completely well and her advice is not very useful!
At around 9:45, I met one of my American friends in town b/c she heard it was my birthday and wanted to buy me a dessert. How sweet! It was my first present of the day---a gofre. It’s pretty much just a Belgium waffle but it has chocolate on it and it’s AMAZING!! I was so happy…but then it got really good: The REAL parade.
The Carnaval itinerary said the Parade started at 10:30 so we hung out in the cold until then…they lied. It started at 11:30. Oh well, it was fun anyway. I kept on saying “Aww yay. I’m so excited!” and probably annoyed my friends with my enthusiasm. When it finally started, they had characters with huge heads, several percussion bands, samba dancers, little babies in fish costumes, jazz bands, roman catapults, jugglers, dolls, mops, Mexican dancers, flamenco dancers and flying candy. It was great, not to mention cold. When it finally ended I, in a blissful state, hopped on over to Brujas to say hello to my Spanish friends because, frankly, I miss them when I only get to see them 2 nights a week. Well, by then it was about 1:30am (the parade was very long) and…I don’t know how it happened but I ended up just staying at Brujas the entire night even after it closed—until 7am. I met 2 other people that had my same birthday and everyone sang to me in Spanish! It made me so very happy. I learned yesterday that Brandon & Sarah (my real bro/sis) sang to me from across the ocean at a random café in California. XD hooray!
Yeah…so 7am, that was really fun. It got to the point where I was just like “look guys, I can’t understand Spanish right now, I’m so zoned out.” So I walked home to the sound of birds chirping in the crisp morning air. Hehe. I got up at 12pm though, walked in the kitchen, and my madre said “I can’t believe you’re up! Only 5 hours of sleep…I just don’t understand” and I’m thinking “Lady, you don’t like when I sleep in, and you don’t like when I get up at a decent hour…what do you want?” But I’ve learned to just laugh it off.
I ended up going to the beach and talking with friends for a little bit, until I
found the cutest little program I ‘ve ever seen. It wasn’t a contest because there were no judges and it wasn’t a presentation because it wasn’t planned, but they had a youngster costume thing going on, where these little kids from toddlers to 8 year olds walked across a teeny platform to show everyone their costume. It was too cute. I was by myself but if I had someone there they would have heard my audible sighs and exclamations. My favorite: Pooh Bear.
Okay: that night was the big night of the year: Carnaval. I can’t describe it fully. Let’s put it this way: costumes, teenagers, drunk, trash the city. There is no way I’m going to come to Spain and miss seeing the most important night of a young person’s life. Canalejas is the park near my house. They call it a park, but it’s really a wide grassy spot in between the one-way roads. We got there around 12:30 as is custom, and there were literally thousands of teenagers/younguns from 15 to 26 absolutely covering the area. I was wondering what age the parents let the kids go to Carnaval (b/c there’s no doubt the parents know what goes on there) but apparently the 15 year-olds get to party. Drinking under 18 is obviously illegal here, and so is public drinking, but Carnaval is the particular night in which the Police just turn their heads.
Absolutely ridiculous costumes. Swimsuits, Female products, pirates (like me), gynecologists, etc. The most popular for the guys was to dress like a woman. For real, everywhere I looked I saw sock-stuffed bras, blonde wigs, and miniskirts. One thing that is well-noted though, is that the girls don’t dress up nearly as revealing as they do in the U.S.—in general and during Carnaval. I met some girls who were Minnie Mice (or maybe Strawberry Shortcake) with little freckles and polka dots. It was so funny to see ridiculous costumes, but alas, I didn’t take many pictures. They were just too outrageous. By the end of the night—oh my gosh, it was absolutely trashed. It was probably enough to fill an entire dump truck with all those bottles and cups and paper bags.
Unfortunately, my night was a little boring. I started off with the Americans, but soon got bored of them (what can I say, I like the Spaniards!) so I set off trying to find my Spanish friends. The problem was, with so many people, it was hard to find them and when I set off for a bathroom break (the boys just peed wherever they wanted but the girls had to find a legit bathroom…stupid boys) I came back to find they had all disappeared. Still wanting to hang out with people, I wasted so much of my minutes calling people to find out where they were. I never found them, but I did meet 2 interesting fellows. I was walking along and saw this poor guy in a blonde wig bent over with a 2 liter coke in his hand…haha. I asked him if he was alright and we struck up a conversation. He was very funny because when his friend came along, he translated everything the friend said into English for me even though I told him I understood…haha. His name is David and his friend is Vicente. They invited me to their house---bwahahaha. No. Anyway, after much searching, I gave up on finding my other friends and went home. It was 8am. You cannot imagine the embarrassment to be walking through the streets of Alicante in a pirate costume at 8am. Those old ladies gave me some nasty looks. It’s a good thing I left my plastic sword behind. And if you’re wondering….I didn’t drink.
That was Carnaval! And the entire purpose was to have a party. Was it really only 8 days ago? Whew! In that case, this past week was nothing special. Thursday night I met with Lucas, my friend from the band and his 3 amigas. From them I learned that his band is doing a concert this Wednesday so I’m gonna skip chorus and go to that. FYI: chorus is a joke. We spent the entire 2 hours learning “I feel pretty” from West Side Story. I’m sorry, but harmony, especially in that song, is not that hard. I don’t think skipping it will put me behind at all.
Friday was Madrid! We left at 9am, arrived at 4-ish (I think). Coincidentally, we had the same bus driver as when we rode up to the caves/Guadalest and I got carsick and sat in the extra seat. So he recognized me and asked me if I was carsick this time. His name is Pascual and he’s uber nice. He was talking about how he drives us everywhere and how Madrid people (Madrilènes) are so much nicer than Valencia people (Valencianos). I said “So you like driving?” and he says, poor guy “Yeah, it’s been 2 months since my girlfriend of 2 years broke up with me…so I drive a lot.” Aww Pascual the bus driver. So nice.
Anyways, in Madrid the first thing we did was go to the Prado and see the classic art. I didn’t think I would like it because art doesn’t interest me that much, but I found myself fascinated by the artist’s interpretation of people’s expressions. Especially in the Jesus artwork where we saw what the artist thought the people felt like. It wasn’t an organized tour, so I walked the majority of it by myself at my own pace. It closed at 8, 5 of us went out to eat. After much searching we finally settled for a tapas place. Unfortunately, it was expensive: 11 euros for a drink and pork & rice that didn’t even fill me all the way. Oh well. That was the night!
Saturday at 8:30 I got up to a very early, but very yummy breakfast. Pascual (aww) drove us further into the city (walking distance but the group was too big to move
all at once) and dropped us off in front of *trumpet sounds* The Royal Palace!! We had our very own tour guide…and it was pretty dang amazing. Elaborately painted ceilings, hand-stitched wallpaper, intricate tile floors, gorgeous chandeliers. Whew! It was intense but no photos allowed. My favorite room was the throne room. The walls were a deep red with 6 stone statues of greek gods, and the ceiling was painted with some kind of roman mythology reference, with random gold statue people in the corners of the ceiling! Crazy.
Later that day we went to El Retiro—the huge park in the center of the city. We didn’t walk very far into it, but we got to see a little lake where people rented rowboats and a huge statue for some random reason. That’s pretty much all there was there. It was nice to just go and be in actual nature, though. I got a sudden urge last night to go and sit somewhere where I can’t hear the whir of cars and can’t see the evidence of city lights in the night sky, and just be completely alone. So negotiating my urge with the real world, I went to the beach last night when I got back….yeah, not the same thing. It was really bright, lots of people, and not quiet at all. So much for that.
Anyway, our next stop was the Contemporary Art museum whose name I can’t recall. I’m not really into contemporary art although I tried my best to see the meaning behind a twisted piece of metal or better yet, a painting of a twisted piece of metal. But alas, I suffered in vain. What I did find interesting was the Picasso collection with the every famous masterpiece: Guernica. It was huge and me & my friend Nastya spent a good 10 minutes just standing and pondering. However, I was very very tired and went to the hotel to take a nap. Later that night I went out but felt a distinct difference between night life in Madrid versus Alicante. Although Madrid was more elegant and efficient, Alicante is approachable and laid back. I found myself genuinely missing the weekend before when I stayed up till the early morning just talking with my Spanish friends.
The next morning we all got up, put our bags on Pablo (the name of the bus) and did a walking tour of downtown Madrid. But it ended up being just walking because nobody paid attention to our tour guide, hehe. We visited El Rasco—the huge market with people packed in tight. I didn’t buy anything although I had my eye on the countless jewelry shops and indie-skirt stands. That was pretty much it. We hopped on Pablo and drove home. I’m pretty sure literally everyone except Pascual (aww) was asleep at one point.
Hooray! You are finally brought up to date on the happenings in my life!! Walking around Madrid, my friends kept on lamenting that they did not choose Madrid over Alicante. But, although Madrid is certainly beautiful and feels more European as far as architecture goes, I love Alicante just the same, and Madrid doesn’t interest me beyond a weekend trip. I guess it’s just that once I get to know people in a city, it’s my home forever, just like Raleigh and Durham. I love them not because of the cities themselves, but because of the people.
So overall I’m doing pretty good. They are offering scuba diving classes and I certainly want to take those! But I’m still having a lot of trouble with Spring Break plans. I have a trip to Italy down but there’s the first 12 days that are unaccounted for. And my madre conveniently told me last night that her family is going to London over Spring Break so pretty much: go on a trip or waste all my money buying food for myself anyway. One group of friends is getting a train pass with no set plans, another group is going to London to stay with friends, one girl is going HOME and coming back (that’s just stupid), and the rest of the people I frankly don’t care to spend my time with. Any suggestions?
BTW, I finally gave in and got a Tuenti—the Spanish version of facebook and am having a ball adding all of my Spanish friends to it. Hehe.
Let it be known that I truly and dearly miss all of you. I really do.
Love you
I saw a multitude of people all walking in one direction so I joined their numbers. The crowd stopped in an open plaza while the drum continued. All of the sudden out came these crazy people dressed up in red and black (a combination of clowns and demons, it looked like). They whipped out all sorts of little firecracker things and started running around screaming, setting them off. Some had pitchforks that shot sparks out of the prongs, one guy was running around with a torch sipping oil/alcohol and spitting it out on the torch so it grew bigger (I can’t think of the word when the fire all of the sudden heats up and sort of erupts).
After they exhausted that place (it smelled horrible), they beat their drums to the next plaza where they did the exact same thing. And after 10 minutes they started one of their concerts. And that was my first Carnaval activity.
Friday was my birthday! I slept till 1pm or so but woke up with a constantly runny nose. I immediately sat down to do some of the heavy load of homework I had for the week only to have my madre mutter to herself “on the computer as soon as she wakes up! I don’t understand it…” But I ignored it and kept working. I was on the computer from 11-5, and although I took an hour break to eat lunch and another hour to IM friends, I was working diligently otherwise. The paper I wrote I ended up getting a 9.5 out of 10 which is A+ according to the strict Spanish grading. My teacher likes me XD
I think I went to the beach after that….but I’m not quite sure. If I did, it was cold and boring. What can I say, the beach has lost its glamour. Whatever I did in the meantime, after dinner I got ready to go out for my birthday and when I came out of my room in my party dress and leggings, my madre said “You’re going out? But you’re sick!“ and I said “I know but it’s Carnaval! I have to go out!” (she didn’t know it was my birthday) and she said “If you go out like that, you’ll be confined to the bed tomorrow! But do whatever you want, I’m just saying…it’s ridiculous to go out when you have a cold.” Haha well the story ends when the next day I’m completely well and her advice is not very useful!
At around 9:45, I met one of my American friends in town b/c she heard it was my birthday and wanted to buy me a dessert. How sweet! It was my first present of the day---a gofre. It’s pretty much just a Belgium waffle but it has chocolate on it and it’s AMAZING!! I was so happy…but then it got really good: The REAL parade.
The Carnaval itinerary said the Parade started at 10:30 so we hung out in the cold until then…they lied. It started at 11:30. Oh well, it was fun anyway. I kept on saying “Aww yay. I’m so excited!” and probably annoyed my friends with my enthusiasm. When it finally started, they had characters with huge heads, several percussion bands, samba dancers, little babies in fish costumes, jazz bands, roman catapults, jugglers, dolls, mops, Mexican dancers, flamenco dancers and flying candy. It was great, not to mention cold. When it finally ended I, in a blissful state, hopped on over to Brujas to say hello to my Spanish friends because, frankly, I miss them when I only get to see them 2 nights a week. Well, by then it was about 1:30am (the parade was very long) and…I don’t know how it happened but I ended up just staying at Brujas the entire night even after it closed—until 7am. I met 2 other people that had my same birthday and everyone sang to me in Spanish! It made me so very happy. I learned yesterday that Brandon & Sarah (my real bro/sis) sang to me from across the ocean at a random café in California. XD hooray!
Yeah…so 7am, that was really fun. It got to the point where I was just like “look guys, I can’t understand Spanish right now, I’m so zoned out.” So I walked home to the sound of birds chirping in the crisp morning air. Hehe. I got up at 12pm though, walked in the kitchen, and my madre said “I can’t believe you’re up! Only 5 hours of sleep…I just don’t understand” and I’m thinking “Lady, you don’t like when I sleep in, and you don’t like when I get up at a decent hour…what do you want?” But I’ve learned to just laugh it off.
I ended up going to the beach and talking with friends for a little bit, until I
found the cutest little program I ‘ve ever seen. It wasn’t a contest because there were no judges and it wasn’t a presentation because it wasn’t planned, but they had a youngster costume thing going on, where these little kids from toddlers to 8 year olds walked across a teeny platform to show everyone their costume. It was too cute. I was by myself but if I had someone there they would have heard my audible sighs and exclamations. My favorite: Pooh Bear.Okay: that night was the big night of the year: Carnaval. I can’t describe it fully. Let’s put it this way: costumes, teenagers, drunk, trash the city. There is no way I’m going to come to Spain and miss seeing the most important night of a young person’s life. Canalejas is the park near my house. They call it a park, but it’s really a wide grassy spot in between the one-way roads. We got there around 12:30 as is custom, and there were literally thousands of teenagers/younguns from 15 to 26 absolutely covering the area. I was wondering what age the parents let the kids go to Carnaval (b/c there’s no doubt the parents know what goes on there) but apparently the 15 year-olds get to party. Drinking under 18 is obviously illegal here, and so is public drinking, but Carnaval is the particular night in which the Police just turn their heads.
Absolutely ridiculous costumes. Swimsuits, Female products, pirates (like me), gynecologists, etc. The most popular for the guys was to dress like a woman. For real, everywhere I looked I saw sock-stuffed bras, blonde wigs, and miniskirts. One thing that is well-noted though, is that the girls don’t dress up nearly as revealing as they do in the U.S.—in general and during Carnaval. I met some girls who were Minnie Mice (or maybe Strawberry Shortcake) with little freckles and polka dots. It was so funny to see ridiculous costumes, but alas, I didn’t take many pictures. They were just too outrageous. By the end of the night—oh my gosh, it was absolutely trashed. It was probably enough to fill an entire dump truck with all those bottles and cups and paper bags.
Unfortunately, my night was a little boring. I started off with the Americans, but soon got bored of them (what can I say, I like the Spaniards!) so I set off trying to find my Spanish friends. The problem was, with so many people, it was hard to find them and when I set off for a bathroom break (the boys just peed wherever they wanted but the girls had to find a legit bathroom…stupid boys) I came back to find they had all disappeared. Still wanting to hang out with people, I wasted so much of my minutes calling people to find out where they were. I never found them, but I did meet 2 interesting fellows. I was walking along and saw this poor guy in a blonde wig bent over with a 2 liter coke in his hand…haha. I asked him if he was alright and we struck up a conversation. He was very funny because when his friend came along, he translated everything the friend said into English for me even though I told him I understood…haha. His name is David and his friend is Vicente. They invited me to their house---bwahahaha. No. Anyway, after much searching, I gave up on finding my other friends and went home. It was 8am. You cannot imagine the embarrassment to be walking through the streets of Alicante in a pirate costume at 8am. Those old ladies gave me some nasty looks. It’s a good thing I left my plastic sword behind. And if you’re wondering….I didn’t drink.
That was Carnaval! And the entire purpose was to have a party. Was it really only 8 days ago? Whew! In that case, this past week was nothing special. Thursday night I met with Lucas, my friend from the band and his 3 amigas. From them I learned that his band is doing a concert this Wednesday so I’m gonna skip chorus and go to that. FYI: chorus is a joke. We spent the entire 2 hours learning “I feel pretty” from West Side Story. I’m sorry, but harmony, especially in that song, is not that hard. I don’t think skipping it will put me behind at all.
Friday was Madrid! We left at 9am, arrived at 4-ish (I think). Coincidentally, we had the same bus driver as when we rode up to the caves/Guadalest and I got carsick and sat in the extra seat. So he recognized me and asked me if I was carsick this time. His name is Pascual and he’s uber nice. He was talking about how he drives us everywhere and how Madrid people (Madrilènes) are so much nicer than Valencia people (Valencianos). I said “So you like driving?” and he says, poor guy “Yeah, it’s been 2 months since my girlfriend of 2 years broke up with me…so I drive a lot.” Aww Pascual the bus driver. So nice.
Anyways, in Madrid the first thing we did was go to the Prado and see the classic art. I didn’t think I would like it because art doesn’t interest me that much, but I found myself fascinated by the artist’s interpretation of people’s expressions. Especially in the Jesus artwork where we saw what the artist thought the people felt like. It wasn’t an organized tour, so I walked the majority of it by myself at my own pace. It closed at 8, 5 of us went out to eat. After much searching we finally settled for a tapas place. Unfortunately, it was expensive: 11 euros for a drink and pork & rice that didn’t even fill me all the way. Oh well. That was the night!
Saturday at 8:30 I got up to a very early, but very yummy breakfast. Pascual (aww) drove us further into the city (walking distance but the group was too big to move
all at once) and dropped us off in front of *trumpet sounds* The Royal Palace!! We had our very own tour guide…and it was pretty dang amazing. Elaborately painted ceilings, hand-stitched wallpaper, intricate tile floors, gorgeous chandeliers. Whew! It was intense but no photos allowed. My favorite room was the throne room. The walls were a deep red with 6 stone statues of greek gods, and the ceiling was painted with some kind of roman mythology reference, with random gold statue people in the corners of the ceiling! Crazy.Later that day we went to El Retiro—the huge park in the center of the city. We didn’t walk very far into it, but we got to see a little lake where people rented rowboats and a huge statue for some random reason. That’s pretty much all there was there. It was nice to just go and be in actual nature, though. I got a sudden urge last night to go and sit somewhere where I can’t hear the whir of cars and can’t see the evidence of city lights in the night sky, and just be completely alone. So negotiating my urge with the real world, I went to the beach last night when I got back….yeah, not the same thing. It was really bright, lots of people, and not quiet at all. So much for that.
Anyway, our next stop was the Contemporary Art museum whose name I can’t recall. I’m not really into contemporary art although I tried my best to see the meaning behind a twisted piece of metal or better yet, a painting of a twisted piece of metal. But alas, I suffered in vain. What I did find interesting was the Picasso collection with the every famous masterpiece: Guernica. It was huge and me & my friend Nastya spent a good 10 minutes just standing and pondering. However, I was very very tired and went to the hotel to take a nap. Later that night I went out but felt a distinct difference between night life in Madrid versus Alicante. Although Madrid was more elegant and efficient, Alicante is approachable and laid back. I found myself genuinely missing the weekend before when I stayed up till the early morning just talking with my Spanish friends.
The next morning we all got up, put our bags on Pablo (the name of the bus) and did a walking tour of downtown Madrid. But it ended up being just walking because nobody paid attention to our tour guide, hehe. We visited El Rasco—the huge market with people packed in tight. I didn’t buy anything although I had my eye on the countless jewelry shops and indie-skirt stands. That was pretty much it. We hopped on Pablo and drove home. I’m pretty sure literally everyone except Pascual (aww) was asleep at one point.
Hooray! You are finally brought up to date on the happenings in my life!! Walking around Madrid, my friends kept on lamenting that they did not choose Madrid over Alicante. But, although Madrid is certainly beautiful and feels more European as far as architecture goes, I love Alicante just the same, and Madrid doesn’t interest me beyond a weekend trip. I guess it’s just that once I get to know people in a city, it’s my home forever, just like Raleigh and Durham. I love them not because of the cities themselves, but because of the people.
So overall I’m doing pretty good. They are offering scuba diving classes and I certainly want to take those! But I’m still having a lot of trouble with Spring Break plans. I have a trip to Italy down but there’s the first 12 days that are unaccounted for. And my madre conveniently told me last night that her family is going to London over Spring Break so pretty much: go on a trip or waste all my money buying food for myself anyway. One group of friends is getting a train pass with no set plans, another group is going to London to stay with friends, one girl is going HOME and coming back (that’s just stupid), and the rest of the people I frankly don’t care to spend my time with. Any suggestions?
BTW, I finally gave in and got a Tuenti—the Spanish version of facebook and am having a ball adding all of my Spanish friends to it. Hehe.
Let it be known that I truly and dearly miss all of you. I really do.
Love you
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