Gordito's first baby tooth came in today!! Pobrecito Diego has been crying a lot lately since he's teething. I can't believe he's already growing teeth! We were talking with Trini at lunch the other day about what a little terror he's going to be when he can walk, which was hilarious until I realized I'm not going to be here to see him walk. It's so odd how you can come in and out of people's lives so quickly, I really am not happy with how little time I have left here.
Time to run to my last sexologia class!! Luegoo
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
oh mi cabo de gata!
I'm almost up to date on all my posts, no way!
Last weekend we went on our last IES scheduled field trip of the semester (what!?) to Cabo de Gata, a national park of mountains, desert, and some of Spain's most gorgeous beaches. It's only about two hours from Granada, so we left around 8:30 and go there at 12:00 after we stopped for one last chance to use bathrooms and buy food. The weather was a little overcast and breezy, which was very lucky considering we had an 8 hour hike ahead of us. We split into three groups, the hard hike, medium hike, and easy hike. Most of us were unaware of these divisions, I ended up in the medium hike which was fine with me!
Our tour guide knew no English and led us all over the place. The park was absolutely gorgeous, we walked up huge hills, and eventually scaled mountains while beach hopping in between. When I say scaled mountains, I'm not exaggerating. We all went into "monkey mode," there were multiple points where I had two hands on different rocks, almost on all fours, to keep my balance and hoist my LL Bean-backpack laden self up the rocks. The views were unlike anything I have ever seen, crystal blue Mediterranean water encased by rocky mountains and volcanic rock, with diverse arrays of flowers scattered all over the place. There were no cars anywhere, the beaches had no trace of modern technology anywhere, it was amazing. Nothing feels better than jumping into the Mediterranean after successfully climbing up and down super steep, terrifying mountains. I can't even imagine what that would have been like in the extreme heat! Even two of our three program directors who came with us were getting grouchy by the end, but after 9 miles of hiking we finally made it to San Jose where we were staying overnight.
We went straight to a little pizzeria in all our dirty and mountain-y glory and enjoyed pizza, pasta, bruchetta (nothing like Rome, but what can ya do?)and lots of sangria, cerveza, y shots of this lemon liqour that is supposed to cleanse your pallet, that our director of student activities, Jose, decided my table needed multiple rounds of. We were all pretty dehydrated, so all got pretty tipsy rather quickly, including the directors. All in all dinner was delicious and a lot of fun, minus the 45 min bathroom line since we're about 60 girls and 10 guys (I don't understand how girls take so long in the bathroom, I really don't).
me, jessie and jackie on our lunch break, and then pictures of the mountains and beaches!!
After dinner we picked up the rest of our stuff from the buses and made our way over to our hostel (normally IES stays in a nice hotel, but after a skinny dipping incident a few semesters ago we haven't been welcome back there ...) which was a couple blocks away from a pretty beach and lots of restaurants. I stayed in a six person room with Jessie, Jackie, Lydia, Stephanie, and Joya. We had so much fun, all of IES went out to a little pub and we all hung out, at some point the entire program used Lydia and my arms as a limbo stick which turned into a congo line, and by the end of the night I ended up on the beach with some friends along with Jose and Javier. It was a gorgeous night so we just sat around and talked til three-ish and then headed back to the hostel since breakfast was around 10am.
Saturday sadly was cloudy and a little chilly, it was actually raining when we first got up, but we trooped out to the beach anyways where I slept, read, and played some futbol. We headed back to Granada around 630 and I didn't end up going out that night due to exhaustion from so much traveling!
Sunday was beautiful here so Amanda and I laid out in the park all morning (I got rid of my pesky shorts tan, which now thanks to this gorgeous weather, and my affinity to running outdoors during peak sun time, is making a strong come back) and worked during the afternoon.
I have a TON of work to do this week. Not just by studying abroad standards, like legitimatly a lot of work. 10 page Islamic Civ paper (in Spanish obvio) on Iraq's Sunni and Shia relations due tomorrow (yikes), presentation for my grammer class on Thursday (part of the final exam, we've been "working" on it all semester) and then my first final on Friday in Sexologia, which is accompanied by the due date of my final paper for that class too. I also need to turn in a few papers that I consider busy work but do effect my grade in my Cine class as well. And of course the weather from here on out is going to be beautiful, mid 80s and sunny all the time!! Oh well, I'll get through it, plus one of the baristas in the cafe I work in has decided he likes me and gave me free coffee last night. could be worse ;)
Last weekend we went on our last IES scheduled field trip of the semester (what!?) to Cabo de Gata, a national park of mountains, desert, and some of Spain's most gorgeous beaches. It's only about two hours from Granada, so we left around 8:30 and go there at 12:00 after we stopped for one last chance to use bathrooms and buy food. The weather was a little overcast and breezy, which was very lucky considering we had an 8 hour hike ahead of us. We split into three groups, the hard hike, medium hike, and easy hike. Most of us were unaware of these divisions, I ended up in the medium hike which was fine with me!
Our tour guide knew no English and led us all over the place. The park was absolutely gorgeous, we walked up huge hills, and eventually scaled mountains while beach hopping in between. When I say scaled mountains, I'm not exaggerating. We all went into "monkey mode," there were multiple points where I had two hands on different rocks, almost on all fours, to keep my balance and hoist my LL Bean-backpack laden self up the rocks. The views were unlike anything I have ever seen, crystal blue Mediterranean water encased by rocky mountains and volcanic rock, with diverse arrays of flowers scattered all over the place. There were no cars anywhere, the beaches had no trace of modern technology anywhere, it was amazing. Nothing feels better than jumping into the Mediterranean after successfully climbing up and down super steep, terrifying mountains. I can't even imagine what that would have been like in the extreme heat! Even two of our three program directors who came with us were getting grouchy by the end, but after 9 miles of hiking we finally made it to San Jose where we were staying overnight.
We went straight to a little pizzeria in all our dirty and mountain-y glory and enjoyed pizza, pasta, bruchetta (nothing like Rome, but what can ya do?)and lots of sangria, cerveza, y shots of this lemon liqour that is supposed to cleanse your pallet, that our director of student activities, Jose, decided my table needed multiple rounds of. We were all pretty dehydrated, so all got pretty tipsy rather quickly, including the directors. All in all dinner was delicious and a lot of fun, minus the 45 min bathroom line since we're about 60 girls and 10 guys (I don't understand how girls take so long in the bathroom, I really don't).
me, jessie and jackie on our lunch break, and then pictures of the mountains and beaches!!
After dinner we picked up the rest of our stuff from the buses and made our way over to our hostel (normally IES stays in a nice hotel, but after a skinny dipping incident a few semesters ago we haven't been welcome back there ...) which was a couple blocks away from a pretty beach and lots of restaurants. I stayed in a six person room with Jessie, Jackie, Lydia, Stephanie, and Joya. We had so much fun, all of IES went out to a little pub and we all hung out, at some point the entire program used Lydia and my arms as a limbo stick which turned into a congo line, and by the end of the night I ended up on the beach with some friends along with Jose and Javier. It was a gorgeous night so we just sat around and talked til three-ish and then headed back to the hostel since breakfast was around 10am.
Saturday sadly was cloudy and a little chilly, it was actually raining when we first got up, but we trooped out to the beach anyways where I slept, read, and played some futbol. We headed back to Granada around 630 and I didn't end up going out that night due to exhaustion from so much traveling!
Sunday was beautiful here so Amanda and I laid out in the park all morning (I got rid of my pesky shorts tan, which now thanks to this gorgeous weather, and my affinity to running outdoors during peak sun time, is making a strong come back) and worked during the afternoon.
I have a TON of work to do this week. Not just by studying abroad standards, like legitimatly a lot of work. 10 page Islamic Civ paper (in Spanish obvio) on Iraq's Sunni and Shia relations due tomorrow (yikes), presentation for my grammer class on Thursday (part of the final exam, we've been "working" on it all semester) and then my first final on Friday in Sexologia, which is accompanied by the due date of my final paper for that class too. I also need to turn in a few papers that I consider busy work but do effect my grade in my Cine class as well. And of course the weather from here on out is going to be beautiful, mid 80s and sunny all the time!! Oh well, I'll get through it, plus one of the baristas in the cafe I work in has decided he likes me and gave me free coffee last night. could be worse ;)
Monday, May 11, 2009
mamma mia
The first weekend of May I spent with two of my favorite Haverfordians, Rosie (who's studying in Athens) and Andrew (Copenhagen). It took a lot of leg work to get to Greece from Granada: 730am bus from Granada to Malaga, 1100 am flight from Malaga to London Gatwick, then 500pm flight from London to Athens, then an hour or so bus ride into Athens city center, and then about one block to the arms of Rosie and Andrew!
Athens is enormous. A lot of people told me that the city itself is just miles upon miles of urban sprawl, but I had NO idea how true that was. Athens as a city definitely holds the least character/uniqueness out of all the places I have been, but then again I know nothing about archeology and ancient Greece, so I'm sure for some people it must be breath taking. The Acropolis was pretty awesome to see, but it really means nothing to me. I think I loved Rome so much because I knew what I was looking at and what significance it holds for the world and history, whereas in Athens I'd see some site with a bunch of old rocks scattered in it from God only knows how long ago, and it would mean nothing to me. I can respect the fact that a lot of these things are super old which is pretty awesome, but nothing really took my breath away the way the Alhambra does or the way the Colosseum did.
Rosie lives in a lil apartment right next to one of the huge Olympic stadiums (no one is really sure what it was for, some sort of track and field event possibly) and lives with four other girls. Rosie's friends who I met were all really sweet and interesting girls, it was nice to see that she's in good hands over there in that huge huge city. My first night in we all went out to a karaoke bar and sang Mariah Carrey amongst many other things, terrifying most of the locals. But it was really fun to meet all of Rosie's friends and get to sing (something I don't do much in Granada for fear of killing Trini's eardrums).
My first real day in Athens Rosie, Andrew and I walked around all day and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Rosie showed me all main sites in Athens, we walked through some cool markets, and had lunch at a cute little cafe. Because it was May 1, most things were closed for May Day -- the Greeks love any excuse to not work just like the Italians and Spanish, this Mediterranean lifestyle is getting contagious which is not good for my work ethic! At the end of the day we met up with Victoria, one of Rosie's friends who's from Alabama and goes to Notre Dame, who we were going to one of the islands with for the weekend. There had been a scheduled strike for the ferry workers that day (so appropriate) so our ferry didn't end up leaving until midnight, and we couldn't board until 11pm, so we all went out to a long dinner at a gyro place near the port. Although I'm still partial to shawarma more than gyros, they were pretty delicious.
The ferry we took to our island was HUGE. Apparently a lot of them have night clubs in them because they're so big, but we didn't hunt that out/hear anything about it. The ferry ride was about 3.5 hours, so we snuck into the nicer area (our tickets were mad cheap, and therefore for the deck, as in outside, in the wind, which we refused to adhere to) and passed out until we reached Paros: the home of the Frappe, and our residence for the weekend.
Rosie and Victoria had figured out the logistics of the trip all on their own, and found a cool little camp ground called Camping Koulah. Through a series of emails, Rosie and Vic got us a cabin that fit "2-3" people on the beach for 12 euro a night, aka for four people 3 euro each. You can't beat that. When we arrived at 3:30 am one of the owners picked us up from the port which was nice) and saw our "cabin" we cracked up. It was tiny. Basically a glorified tent. The cabin was in the shape of a triangle/verging on tepee, and inside had just enough room for the three mattresses lying sheetless on the ground. But really, what more do you need? She tried to offer us another cabin, but we said no and all squeezed in (luckily we brought blankets). The night was pretty chilly but we were all so tired we just layered up and passed out.
victoria in front of our cabin
andrew inside. it was .... cozy
The next day we got up early, rented ATVs and rode around the gorgeous island beach hopping all day. Paros is gorgeous and everything you'd want an island to be. Mountains, white washed buildings, blue skies, soft sandy beaches, and lots of little cafes to drink Frapes. I took so many pictures from the ATV (Andrew drove ours) and they really just don't do the island any justice. We had a huge taverna dinner that night of all sorts of traditional greek foods, and then went out and walked around during the night and stopped at a bar or two (nothing was really open since it is just the start of the season). I had so much fun and it was so nice to just enjoy some of my favorite people in a gorgeous new place. I really liked Paros.
Getting out of Paros turned into quite an adventure ... after a night of quasi hell: we didn't realize the water was undrinkable so Vic got pretty sick ("it's comin out both ends!"), mosquitoes attacking every piece of our exposed flesh (next morning: "All the cuteness has been sucked out of my face" - rosie), lack of toilet paper in the bathroom, general cold (i slept with ski socks, leggings, PJ pants, long sleeved shirt, tank top, northface, and a scarf while cocooned in my blanket), inability to sleep at all due to all of the above, and our terrifying British neighbor ("these walls are incredibly thin) who 1. basically lived in the cabin next to us, as in all year round, and 2. was not pleased when we burst into laughter about what a ridiculous situation we were in after Andrew asked the question "has anyone else been awake for the past three hours?". So that morning we got up as early as possible and, despite our queezy stomachs, we ATV'd to a few more beaches until we felt more stable. We got some gyros for lunch and went to check out of our "cabin" and then just go relax on a beach until our ferry back to Athens came. Little did we know what was in store for us.
When we went to pay, the owner (not the woman who had been emailing the girls) decided to charge us a discounted rate of 40 euros for two nights. Which was wayy higher than the price we had agreed to and way way way higher than what the cabin merited. This turned into a huge argument, since we were all a pretty scrappy and stubborn crew by this point and not willing to compromise to an obnoxious Greek know it all. The main problem was he had Victoria's passport, so we couldn't just pay what we wanted and leave. And he was refusing to give it back. This extended to two hours, with a lot of tantrums by the greeks in which they'd all pile into trucks or onto motorcycles and leave for 20 min, and then come back to see if we were still there. Straight out of a sitcom. Eventually, the owner said "well go to the police if you like I want my 40 euro." So, we went to the police. She called him, Rosie witnessed the call, and told him he could not hold Victoria's passport hostage. But when we asked him about the call he said "she said you give me money I give you passport." Language barriers are extremely frustrating, especialy when you know NOTHING of the language. At all. Not even hello (in my case, and Rosie takes ancient Greek, which wasn't much help). Long story short, the police ended up having to come down to the Camp and make him give us the passport, explaining that he could press charges if he wanted but would need a lawyer (and no Greek man is going to do that, it would require way too much effort for 15 euro). Then we paid our 24 euro initially agreed upon and exhaustedly walked to the nearest beach, bought some snacks and a bottle of sangria, and tried to process what had just happened. We all just ended up laughing at how ridiculous the past 12 hours had been.
We caught the ferry back to Athens, Andrew left the next day and I hung out with Rosie and her friends. I had a really good time in Greece, but was definitely ready to go home to Granada by the weekends/weeks end.
Favorite part about Athens: Paros, seeing friends, the backlvah (sp?)
Least favorite part: not really a fan of the city itself, can't put toilet paper in the toilet (HOW did they host the olympics???)
Athens is enormous. A lot of people told me that the city itself is just miles upon miles of urban sprawl, but I had NO idea how true that was. Athens as a city definitely holds the least character/uniqueness out of all the places I have been, but then again I know nothing about archeology and ancient Greece, so I'm sure for some people it must be breath taking. The Acropolis was pretty awesome to see, but it really means nothing to me. I think I loved Rome so much because I knew what I was looking at and what significance it holds for the world and history, whereas in Athens I'd see some site with a bunch of old rocks scattered in it from God only knows how long ago, and it would mean nothing to me. I can respect the fact that a lot of these things are super old which is pretty awesome, but nothing really took my breath away the way the Alhambra does or the way the Colosseum did.
Rosie lives in a lil apartment right next to one of the huge Olympic stadiums (no one is really sure what it was for, some sort of track and field event possibly) and lives with four other girls. Rosie's friends who I met were all really sweet and interesting girls, it was nice to see that she's in good hands over there in that huge huge city. My first night in we all went out to a karaoke bar and sang Mariah Carrey amongst many other things, terrifying most of the locals. But it was really fun to meet all of Rosie's friends and get to sing (something I don't do much in Granada for fear of killing Trini's eardrums).
My first real day in Athens Rosie, Andrew and I walked around all day and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. Rosie showed me all main sites in Athens, we walked through some cool markets, and had lunch at a cute little cafe. Because it was May 1, most things were closed for May Day -- the Greeks love any excuse to not work just like the Italians and Spanish, this Mediterranean lifestyle is getting contagious which is not good for my work ethic! At the end of the day we met up with Victoria, one of Rosie's friends who's from Alabama and goes to Notre Dame, who we were going to one of the islands with for the weekend. There had been a scheduled strike for the ferry workers that day (so appropriate) so our ferry didn't end up leaving until midnight, and we couldn't board until 11pm, so we all went out to a long dinner at a gyro place near the port. Although I'm still partial to shawarma more than gyros, they were pretty delicious.
The ferry we took to our island was HUGE. Apparently a lot of them have night clubs in them because they're so big, but we didn't hunt that out/hear anything about it. The ferry ride was about 3.5 hours, so we snuck into the nicer area (our tickets were mad cheap, and therefore for the deck, as in outside, in the wind, which we refused to adhere to) and passed out until we reached Paros: the home of the Frappe, and our residence for the weekend.
Rosie and Victoria had figured out the logistics of the trip all on their own, and found a cool little camp ground called Camping Koulah. Through a series of emails, Rosie and Vic got us a cabin that fit "2-3" people on the beach for 12 euro a night, aka for four people 3 euro each. You can't beat that. When we arrived at 3:30 am one of the owners picked us up from the port which was nice) and saw our "cabin" we cracked up. It was tiny. Basically a glorified tent. The cabin was in the shape of a triangle/verging on tepee, and inside had just enough room for the three mattresses lying sheetless on the ground. But really, what more do you need? She tried to offer us another cabin, but we said no and all squeezed in (luckily we brought blankets). The night was pretty chilly but we were all so tired we just layered up and passed out.
victoria in front of our cabin
andrew inside. it was .... cozy
The next day we got up early, rented ATVs and rode around the gorgeous island beach hopping all day. Paros is gorgeous and everything you'd want an island to be. Mountains, white washed buildings, blue skies, soft sandy beaches, and lots of little cafes to drink Frapes. I took so many pictures from the ATV (Andrew drove ours) and they really just don't do the island any justice. We had a huge taverna dinner that night of all sorts of traditional greek foods, and then went out and walked around during the night and stopped at a bar or two (nothing was really open since it is just the start of the season). I had so much fun and it was so nice to just enjoy some of my favorite people in a gorgeous new place. I really liked Paros.
Getting out of Paros turned into quite an adventure ... after a night of quasi hell: we didn't realize the water was undrinkable so Vic got pretty sick ("it's comin out both ends!"), mosquitoes attacking every piece of our exposed flesh (next morning: "All the cuteness has been sucked out of my face" - rosie), lack of toilet paper in the bathroom, general cold (i slept with ski socks, leggings, PJ pants, long sleeved shirt, tank top, northface, and a scarf while cocooned in my blanket), inability to sleep at all due to all of the above, and our terrifying British neighbor ("these walls are incredibly thin) who 1. basically lived in the cabin next to us, as in all year round, and 2. was not pleased when we burst into laughter about what a ridiculous situation we were in after Andrew asked the question "has anyone else been awake for the past three hours?". So that morning we got up as early as possible and, despite our queezy stomachs, we ATV'd to a few more beaches until we felt more stable. We got some gyros for lunch and went to check out of our "cabin" and then just go relax on a beach until our ferry back to Athens came. Little did we know what was in store for us.
When we went to pay, the owner (not the woman who had been emailing the girls) decided to charge us a discounted rate of 40 euros for two nights. Which was wayy higher than the price we had agreed to and way way way higher than what the cabin merited. This turned into a huge argument, since we were all a pretty scrappy and stubborn crew by this point and not willing to compromise to an obnoxious Greek know it all. The main problem was he had Victoria's passport, so we couldn't just pay what we wanted and leave. And he was refusing to give it back. This extended to two hours, with a lot of tantrums by the greeks in which they'd all pile into trucks or onto motorcycles and leave for 20 min, and then come back to see if we were still there. Straight out of a sitcom. Eventually, the owner said "well go to the police if you like I want my 40 euro." So, we went to the police. She called him, Rosie witnessed the call, and told him he could not hold Victoria's passport hostage. But when we asked him about the call he said "she said you give me money I give you passport." Language barriers are extremely frustrating, especialy when you know NOTHING of the language. At all. Not even hello (in my case, and Rosie takes ancient Greek, which wasn't much help). Long story short, the police ended up having to come down to the Camp and make him give us the passport, explaining that he could press charges if he wanted but would need a lawyer (and no Greek man is going to do that, it would require way too much effort for 15 euro). Then we paid our 24 euro initially agreed upon and exhaustedly walked to the nearest beach, bought some snacks and a bottle of sangria, and tried to process what had just happened. We all just ended up laughing at how ridiculous the past 12 hours had been.
We caught the ferry back to Athens, Andrew left the next day and I hung out with Rosie and her friends. I had a really good time in Greece, but was definitely ready to go home to Granada by the weekends/weeks end.
Favorite part about Athens: Paros, seeing friends, the backlvah (sp?)
Least favorite part: not really a fan of the city itself, can't put toilet paper in the toilet (HOW did they host the olympics???)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
so it's may?
Sorry about the lack of posting, it's growing increasingly harder to post between all the traveling and all this gorgeous weather! It's hard to believe it's already May, time waits for no one, and it's not very fair.
I'm in a really really good place right now with everything in life, today it was impossible for me to contain my happiness, and I don't think I can blame it all on the 82 degrees and sunny weather. I had an amazing run on the nature trail down by the river today, and got no work accomplished at all (go figure). But for some reason, after this last trip to Athens (I will post that up tomorrow, Rome was overwhelming) I've really become at ease with how time's progressing. Leaving here isn't gonna be easy, there is so much I'm going to miss (I am sure I will post about that later as well) but at the same time I know I have to leave, and I'm actually getting really excited about going home. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but I do miss a lot of people (and puppies) and am so excited to get to see them. I'll elaborate on this more later, Andrew, Rosie and I had a good talk about this in Athens that really allowed me to put all my feelings I'm experiencing right now about leaving into coherent words.
Friday we leave for Cabo de Gata which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Spain. And obviously I am super excited for it! We're staying there overnight Friday and getting back Saturday evening, I'm roomin with Joya, Jessie, and Jackie who I all love, so the trip will be that much better :) I don't have an itinerary on me but it looks like we'll be doing a lot of nature hikes and beach hoppings, so as long as the weather stays this beautiful it should be amazing.
Posting is getting harder and harder to do, and I'm not sure why. The trip posts are just overwhelming because it's hard to put feelings and adventures from a whole new country and city into one post. One of the most exciting things about Europe that I've discovered is how each city really has it's own unique personality, not even countries, but each city. This makes exploring them so much more fulfilling and exciting, because you never know what to expect. I also am really glad I visited cities where my friends are studying abroad, it's the closest thing to getting a tour by the locals that I can get!
Well I need to go to bed, just some random thoughts that I will probably end up deleting when I reread this tomorrow.
Much love love love
I'm in a really really good place right now with everything in life, today it was impossible for me to contain my happiness, and I don't think I can blame it all on the 82 degrees and sunny weather. I had an amazing run on the nature trail down by the river today, and got no work accomplished at all (go figure). But for some reason, after this last trip to Athens (I will post that up tomorrow, Rome was overwhelming) I've really become at ease with how time's progressing. Leaving here isn't gonna be easy, there is so much I'm going to miss (I am sure I will post about that later as well) but at the same time I know I have to leave, and I'm actually getting really excited about going home. I love it here, don't get me wrong, but I do miss a lot of people (and puppies) and am so excited to get to see them. I'll elaborate on this more later, Andrew, Rosie and I had a good talk about this in Athens that really allowed me to put all my feelings I'm experiencing right now about leaving into coherent words.
Friday we leave for Cabo de Gata which is supposed to be one of the most beautiful beaches in Spain. And obviously I am super excited for it! We're staying there overnight Friday and getting back Saturday evening, I'm roomin with Joya, Jessie, and Jackie who I all love, so the trip will be that much better :) I don't have an itinerary on me but it looks like we'll be doing a lot of nature hikes and beach hoppings, so as long as the weather stays this beautiful it should be amazing.
Posting is getting harder and harder to do, and I'm not sure why. The trip posts are just overwhelming because it's hard to put feelings and adventures from a whole new country and city into one post. One of the most exciting things about Europe that I've discovered is how each city really has it's own unique personality, not even countries, but each city. This makes exploring them so much more fulfilling and exciting, because you never know what to expect. I also am really glad I visited cities where my friends are studying abroad, it's the closest thing to getting a tour by the locals that I can get!
Well I need to go to bed, just some random thoughts that I will probably end up deleting when I reread this tomorrow.
Much love love love
Monday, May 4, 2009
When in Rome
Pretty cliche title, but extremely appropriate.
I met up with Carolyn in Rome on a gorgeous, sunny, Thursday afternoon at the Colosseum after a bus ride, flight, flight,bus ride followed by one more bus ride. On my bus ride between the Ciampino airport and Rome's city center I sat next to an older woman from Girona who, after seeing the terror on my face when she tried to speak to me in Catalan, spoke Spanish with me for the entire half hour bus ride. It was really fun, she told me all about how much she loves Rome, we talked about Girona and Granada, and she said that my Spanish sounded pretty good (even though I think that's obligatory when you speak with someone trying to get a hold on your own language). Ironically, by the end of my weekend in Roma I had used more Spanish than I did throughout my entire week in Barcelona. Oh, Catalonia.
Anyways, while waiting for Christian to finish classes, Carolyn and I explored the area. I experienced my first Italian gelado, which surpassed all my standards on deliciousness I once had before this trip, and then we split a plate of pasta at a little outdoor restaurant. This is also when I had my first experience with Italian men, our waiter confessed his love for me and said we should come back when he got off of work, all the while confusing our laughter about the clear language barrier with flirting and as Christian warned "if you give Italian men an inch, they take the night." Finally after two hours we convinced him that we weren't going to be worth his time and he reluctantly brought us the check. Spanish men will forever seem unflirtatious after this trip to good ol' Italia.
Carolyn and I met up with Christian and his girlfriend Liz (who is such a sweetheart!) and headed the whole block away to Christian's apartment. His apartment is pretty gritty, but at the same time the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's right on the street level so when we sat in the kitchen with the windows open you literally felt like you were right there on the street! It's a small, boy filled (and therefore pretty messy) apartment but it's got a lot of homey quirks that just make you feel perfectly comfortable the moment you sit down, like you've always been sitting in that kitchen. Anyways, Christian and Liz made us a huge dinner of pasta with spinach and sausage, bruchetta (SO GOOD), five bottles of wine for four people, after dinner espresso and hazelnut wafers. Dinner was so much fun, we just sat around and caught up and laughed and ate for over three hours.
Because dinner went so late Carolyn and I ended up sleeping on Liz's pull out couch because we couldn't find alternative lodging (the nuns wanted 50 euro a pop for us to stay with them, which until learning this had been our shelter of choice for our Rome trip). Liz's apartment is on the opposite end of Rome, in a residential area and therefore a lot nicer and cleaner than Christians. In the morning Carolyn and I made our way over to the Vatican City (after getting lost in a park and ending up on a high way for a decent chunk of time, it was hilarious at the time AND in retrospect). We visited St. Peter's which was overwhelmingly huge and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum, where I have never seen so many museum goers in all of my life, all the halls, corridors, and rooms were filled wall to wall with people! But the Sistine Chapel was gorgeous, and well worth the trek.
After our morning of site seeing Carolyn and I met up with Christian for more gilado(I have no idea how to spell that by the way, sorry!) and some delicious pizza in a local store he loves. And just walked around seeing all the sites all day. The weather was absolutely perfect. Rome has a similar aura to Granada, it must be that Mediterranean sunshine, but the only difference is that Rome as a city makes Granada seem like it runs like butter efficiency wise. The buses are basically free, even if you wanted to pay to ride them by the time you figured out how to actually do so you have arrived at your final destination. Because of this lack of funds, the buses come pretty sporadically, but you can't really complain because you're paying nothing for them! Also, the drivers are insane. And I have never seen so many mo-peds in my entire life. Spanish drivers seem incredibly tame now after Rome, and I have a new found appreciation for all the cars here the stop to let you cross.
For dinner Carolyn and I went to a little restaurant on a side street where I had the best Gnocchi I've ever had in my life along with more delicious bruchetta. After lots of calls Carolyn and I had decided to use "couch-surfing" for our lodging, where you use a website to find people in whatever city you're visiting who have a free room and enjoy hosting visitors for a night or weekend, they usually cook for you and take you out. Francesco is the name of the guy we looked up and a bunch of Christian's friends had stayed with him and gave him tons of good reviews so we figured he wouldn't be too sketchy, even if he is Italian.
After a lot of chaos (high and low points: brain storming alternative places to sleep at a gay bar with all our luggage, fighting with Italian pay phones, waiting in random metro stations) Francesco ultimatly picked us up and drove us around (he ended up not having room in his house because family was visiting) and ultimatly put us up in a four star hotel for the evening, only after making sure that there was a free buffet breakfast in the morning. He was really hospitable and sweet, and made me see that Italian men have some silver lining in there, you just gotta hunt it down.
The next day was a holiday so it took us awhile to get back into the center city to see Christian. We had consumed enormous amounts of food at breakfast, and arrived at Christian's apartment in time to eat another homemade, gigantic, pasta meal. After wards we hit up the Colosseum and other various ruins. Everything was free that week, so we lucked out big time. The Colosseum was one of my favorites, even though it's hard to pick since everything in Rome is so rich with history. It's incredible to just be walking down the street and look to your left and oh, there's the Colosseum, walk some more and oh, there's old ruins, keep goin and you pass a church that has the steps Jesus walked up when he saw Pilot, no big deal right? Mind blowing.
We walked all around the city because it was yet again another perfect day and eventually went out to the most cliche dinner of my life. We were on a little side street, on a perfectly temperate night, eating a huge Italian dinner of pizza (we each had our own, no joke) and wine under the stars, while a man played the accordion. I kid you not. It was such a nice dinner and way to end our stay. After our huge delicious dinner we wandered around, sat by the fountain ( I always forget its name, its a big deal, and gorgeous, and when you throw a coin in it means you're going to return to Rome) and watched all the tourists and locals, and threw a coin in over our shoulders, assuring a return trip at some point in our futures. Then, even though my stomach was on the verge of exploding thanks to a day of marathon eating, Carolyn and I got one last gelado just because the next time we will be able to get REAL Italian gelado may be years from now! I have never felt so full in my life, I was actually in pain, but in the best way possible :)
We went back to Christians and got our stuff and headed towards our hostal (yes, we actually booked a hostal room! and it was right by the bus stations since we had early flights and therefore early buses to catch). But of course we didn't write the address down completely and we didn't have the hostal's phone number so we ended up wandering around with two sweet italian women desperately trying to help us despite all language barriers. Ultimatly, after learning the police didn't have internet and that the closest thing to it a nearby hotel had was the 1996 yellow pages, we went back to the two italians' flat, used their internet, found said hostal and made it there. In our defense, the hostal was unmarked and in a huge apartment building, and therefore hard to find even after we figured out where we were going.
By the time we made it to our hostal, it was almost five am, and our bus was at six thirty, so we decided to save ourselves twenty euro and walk to the bus station and just hang out. That walk was a whole new adventure of getting a little lost and asking for directions in this standard format: English? Espanol? Duetch? (second part changes language based on reply) how do we get to the bus station?
Finally we made it to the bus station on no sleep, caught our flights ( I had a miserable 8 hr lay over in the Girona airport where there is absolutely NOTHING to do, I'm not bitter at all, I swear) and made it home safe and sound.
Rome was an amazing trip and I loved all of it, the city, and especially being back with some of my Haverford friends. You never realize how much you miss someone until you spend some time with them and realize how much they mean to you!
Next stop: Athens!
I met up with Carolyn in Rome on a gorgeous, sunny, Thursday afternoon at the Colosseum after a bus ride, flight, flight,bus ride followed by one more bus ride. On my bus ride between the Ciampino airport and Rome's city center I sat next to an older woman from Girona who, after seeing the terror on my face when she tried to speak to me in Catalan, spoke Spanish with me for the entire half hour bus ride. It was really fun, she told me all about how much she loves Rome, we talked about Girona and Granada, and she said that my Spanish sounded pretty good (even though I think that's obligatory when you speak with someone trying to get a hold on your own language). Ironically, by the end of my weekend in Roma I had used more Spanish than I did throughout my entire week in Barcelona. Oh, Catalonia.
Anyways, while waiting for Christian to finish classes, Carolyn and I explored the area. I experienced my first Italian gelado, which surpassed all my standards on deliciousness I once had before this trip, and then we split a plate of pasta at a little outdoor restaurant. This is also when I had my first experience with Italian men, our waiter confessed his love for me and said we should come back when he got off of work, all the while confusing our laughter about the clear language barrier with flirting and as Christian warned "if you give Italian men an inch, they take the night." Finally after two hours we convinced him that we weren't going to be worth his time and he reluctantly brought us the check. Spanish men will forever seem unflirtatious after this trip to good ol' Italia.
Carolyn and I met up with Christian and his girlfriend Liz (who is such a sweetheart!) and headed the whole block away to Christian's apartment. His apartment is pretty gritty, but at the same time the coolest thing I've ever seen. It's right on the street level so when we sat in the kitchen with the windows open you literally felt like you were right there on the street! It's a small, boy filled (and therefore pretty messy) apartment but it's got a lot of homey quirks that just make you feel perfectly comfortable the moment you sit down, like you've always been sitting in that kitchen. Anyways, Christian and Liz made us a huge dinner of pasta with spinach and sausage, bruchetta (SO GOOD), five bottles of wine for four people, after dinner espresso and hazelnut wafers. Dinner was so much fun, we just sat around and caught up and laughed and ate for over three hours.
Because dinner went so late Carolyn and I ended up sleeping on Liz's pull out couch because we couldn't find alternative lodging (the nuns wanted 50 euro a pop for us to stay with them, which until learning this had been our shelter of choice for our Rome trip). Liz's apartment is on the opposite end of Rome, in a residential area and therefore a lot nicer and cleaner than Christians. In the morning Carolyn and I made our way over to the Vatican City (after getting lost in a park and ending up on a high way for a decent chunk of time, it was hilarious at the time AND in retrospect). We visited St. Peter's which was overwhelmingly huge and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum, where I have never seen so many museum goers in all of my life, all the halls, corridors, and rooms were filled wall to wall with people! But the Sistine Chapel was gorgeous, and well worth the trek.
After our morning of site seeing Carolyn and I met up with Christian for more gilado(I have no idea how to spell that by the way, sorry!) and some delicious pizza in a local store he loves. And just walked around seeing all the sites all day. The weather was absolutely perfect. Rome has a similar aura to Granada, it must be that Mediterranean sunshine, but the only difference is that Rome as a city makes Granada seem like it runs like butter efficiency wise. The buses are basically free, even if you wanted to pay to ride them by the time you figured out how to actually do so you have arrived at your final destination. Because of this lack of funds, the buses come pretty sporadically, but you can't really complain because you're paying nothing for them! Also, the drivers are insane. And I have never seen so many mo-peds in my entire life. Spanish drivers seem incredibly tame now after Rome, and I have a new found appreciation for all the cars here the stop to let you cross.
For dinner Carolyn and I went to a little restaurant on a side street where I had the best Gnocchi I've ever had in my life along with more delicious bruchetta. After lots of calls Carolyn and I had decided to use "couch-surfing" for our lodging, where you use a website to find people in whatever city you're visiting who have a free room and enjoy hosting visitors for a night or weekend, they usually cook for you and take you out. Francesco is the name of the guy we looked up and a bunch of Christian's friends had stayed with him and gave him tons of good reviews so we figured he wouldn't be too sketchy, even if he is Italian.
After a lot of chaos (high and low points: brain storming alternative places to sleep at a gay bar with all our luggage, fighting with Italian pay phones, waiting in random metro stations) Francesco ultimatly picked us up and drove us around (he ended up not having room in his house because family was visiting) and ultimatly put us up in a four star hotel for the evening, only after making sure that there was a free buffet breakfast in the morning. He was really hospitable and sweet, and made me see that Italian men have some silver lining in there, you just gotta hunt it down.
The next day was a holiday so it took us awhile to get back into the center city to see Christian. We had consumed enormous amounts of food at breakfast, and arrived at Christian's apartment in time to eat another homemade, gigantic, pasta meal. After wards we hit up the Colosseum and other various ruins. Everything was free that week, so we lucked out big time. The Colosseum was one of my favorites, even though it's hard to pick since everything in Rome is so rich with history. It's incredible to just be walking down the street and look to your left and oh, there's the Colosseum, walk some more and oh, there's old ruins, keep goin and you pass a church that has the steps Jesus walked up when he saw Pilot, no big deal right? Mind blowing.
We walked all around the city because it was yet again another perfect day and eventually went out to the most cliche dinner of my life. We were on a little side street, on a perfectly temperate night, eating a huge Italian dinner of pizza (we each had our own, no joke) and wine under the stars, while a man played the accordion. I kid you not. It was such a nice dinner and way to end our stay. After our huge delicious dinner we wandered around, sat by the fountain ( I always forget its name, its a big deal, and gorgeous, and when you throw a coin in it means you're going to return to Rome) and watched all the tourists and locals, and threw a coin in over our shoulders, assuring a return trip at some point in our futures. Then, even though my stomach was on the verge of exploding thanks to a day of marathon eating, Carolyn and I got one last gelado just because the next time we will be able to get REAL Italian gelado may be years from now! I have never felt so full in my life, I was actually in pain, but in the best way possible :)
We went back to Christians and got our stuff and headed towards our hostal (yes, we actually booked a hostal room! and it was right by the bus stations since we had early flights and therefore early buses to catch). But of course we didn't write the address down completely and we didn't have the hostal's phone number so we ended up wandering around with two sweet italian women desperately trying to help us despite all language barriers. Ultimatly, after learning the police didn't have internet and that the closest thing to it a nearby hotel had was the 1996 yellow pages, we went back to the two italians' flat, used their internet, found said hostal and made it there. In our defense, the hostal was unmarked and in a huge apartment building, and therefore hard to find even after we figured out where we were going.
By the time we made it to our hostal, it was almost five am, and our bus was at six thirty, so we decided to save ourselves twenty euro and walk to the bus station and just hang out. That walk was a whole new adventure of getting a little lost and asking for directions in this standard format: English? Espanol? Duetch? (second part changes language based on reply) how do we get to the bus station?
Finally we made it to the bus station on no sleep, caught our flights ( I had a miserable 8 hr lay over in the Girona airport where there is absolutely NOTHING to do, I'm not bitter at all, I swear) and made it home safe and sound.
Rome was an amazing trip and I loved all of it, the city, and especially being back with some of my Haverford friends. You never realize how much you miss someone until you spend some time with them and realize how much they mean to you!
Next stop: Athens!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Barcelona
So I owe a post about my fantastic spring break in Barca, and promised to make good on filling everyone in, and I finally have time right now to do so before I go take a run around Granada :)
We left Granada's tiny "airport" (that has maybe three gates, tops) for Girona, the ghetto airport Ryan Air flies into (we actually came close to missing out flight because Joya and I were keeping tabs on the flight to BARCELONA instead of to Girona ... Dio saved the day though haha) in the early early morning, and after an hour and half long plane ride followed by an hour long stuff bus ride from Girona, we made it into Barcelona! It was a beautiful sunny day, so even though it took us a good hour to find our hostel from the bus station we didn't mind.
(We ran into the Arc de Triumf on the way to the hostel
We stayed in the Kabul Backpackers hostel in Plaza Real right off of La Rambla. It was an amazing hostel, providing us with free breakfast AND dinner. While the dinner was usually some oddly cooked form of pasta with meat, it was free a good start for an evening out. The main level where you eat had a pool table, tons of computers, a foozball table, chess set, bar, vending machines, a tv, and projector for soccer games. We watched the Barca-Germany game there which was really fun because you're immersed in a really international crowd. For 2 euro we got big cups of Heineken on tap, so there was really nothing to complain about.
I stayed in a mixed dorm for 8 people, but we made up the majority of the beds: joya, dio, arash and daniel (who dio's good friends with back in the states) and me. We had a lot of different roommates come in and out of our lives during the week, but a few stand out as highlights:
Benjamin. Benjamin was Austrian and only there for our first night. He's in his late twenties and resembles some sort of large bird, maybe a stork. He got to sit on the top bunk and just laugh at our large group of American kids playing drinking games before heading out to Razzmatazz (more on that later). Europeans don't play drinking games, and don't really understand WHY we do them. So we're sitting there doing ridiculous things like saying "first horse third horse" or making animal antlers among other idiotic things that the boys insisted we play, and Benjamin is soberly laughing and gawking at/with us. We offered him a spot in the game, but he had an early flight and enjoyed the show from his perch.
(benjamin on the top bunk)
We had a creepy roommate for a few days named Isaac, and by creepy I mean hipster 20 year old blonde skinny guy from California who managed to lose his phone, camera, dignity, and hostel reservation in the course of three days. He tagged along with us for a night, and he was beyond awkward, in an almost endearing way. Keyword on almost. Skinny jeans, ironic t-shirts, and librarian glasses. Yeap, he was that kid.
My favorite roommates were the Dutch ultimate frisbee team we hung out with on Dio's last night with us. They were all hilarious and really down to earth people. We hung out with them all night, got some drinks in the hostel bar (cold and rainy outside = we gave up on the idea of going out out) and just talked and laughed til five in the morning. It's insane how many Europeans know English even though it is not their first language. We had some great conversations, and they had only been taking English since high school. Once of the girls told me that it is because all the American TV shows over there are shown in English and just subtitled in Dutch, so thats how they picked a lot of it up. We had some fun discussions with them from everything about how frisbee isn't popular in Europe like in the States, to Bush, to Obama, to how bad the boxed wine in Spain is. I really liked them a lot, hostels are cool because they expose you to all different kinds of people.
And of course, the two 50 year old French women who were in the all girls room that Joya and I moved into after all the boys departed for Rome or Paris the last couple of days. They were stuck up and rude. But, they WERE middle aged women staying in a youth hostel, so I really have no idea what they were expecting.
Site seeing wise we hit all the majors: Guadi buildings including the Sagrada Familia which is one of the ugliest/coolest things I've ever seen. I don't know what Gaudi was thinking, even though I did some background reading before going, really at all. But it is pretty impressive to see up close, and we went on a pretty overcast and gloomy day, so it looked even more intense and eerie than usual.
Our second day we slept on the beach at Barceloneta for the morning (Joya and I had to forcibly make the boys get out of bed, they were understandably tired being that we got in around 830 and were waking them up at 11...) which was relaxing .. minus all the "me-sah-ays"? "tatoos (marijuana, cocaina, what you like I got what you like??)"s and "sexy beer sexy beer" vendors illegally prowling around. But nada pasa, we just enjoyed our picnic of bread, jamon y queso and soaked up the rays (which we wouldn't have the priviledge of hanging out with again for many days).
That afternoon we met up with some of Arash and David's friends from Columbia who are studying in Copenhagen (one knows Andrew and went to high school with him!?!? SMALL world) and hiked up to Park Guell (sp?) which was a multiple hour affair in which we got lost in the forests, A LOT, but eventually made it over to Gaudi's wonderland of a park and enjoyed the gorgeous views and people watching. On the way over we hiked up to this sweet view point where a bunch of people were all perchin on this huge cross, kind of creepy, but it was an unbeatable view!
Other sights we saw: Picasso museum and the gothic neighborhood, both were awesome (despite the rain and chilliness that seems to love following me around) and incredible to see in person, even if the whole week it seemed like we never actually slept, just took glorified naps. Another cool thing we saw was the Museum of Contempary Art, not just because the exhibits were fascinating (I'm discovering that I really really like modern art and how it challenges you to make sense of it, which Lily cerca 9th grade would hate me for) but because right in front of the museum local skaters set up a make-shift skate park! I don't mean like five kids, there were TONS. You really get a taste for the local culture when you run into places like this, a bunch of kids and adults hanging around skating, smoking, and drinking their sexy beers. (Sexy Beers are the beers random men sell on the street for a euro each, Estrella is the brand I think, I asked one once why he called them "sexy beers" and he said because it's proven to be a successful ad campaign, because who doesn't want a sexy beer?) The whole site was out of this world, this huge modern building situated in the middle of all these old buildings, surrounded by kids skateboarding. Definitely one of my favorite sights of the trip.
Cuisine wise we stuck to the hostel usually for dinner, our second night this kid Craig (the one who guided us up to Park Gueill) took us to Pim Pam where I had the most amazing burger of my life. I'm not sure if it was amazing just because I'm used to Granada's tapas burgers that are made of pork or ham instead of beef, or because it was really just that good. But either way, I was in heaven. Another night a huge group of us trekked through the pouring rain (not exaggerating. At All.) to a chicken and paella place the hostel desk workers recommended to us, huge portions, yummy food, and cheap prices ... we couldn't really beat that! For lunch we spent most of our time in the amazing market off La Ramble and bought baguettes, fruit, and cheese to picnic in a plaza or on la playa. The market was another one of my favorite places we frequented whilst in Barca.
At night we generally had a few drinks in the hostel and then went out in search of adventure. We usually were out until 7 or 8 in the morning and rallied it all together the next day to go sight seeing. Looking back on everything, I'm impressed with how efficient we were at seeing everything we wanted to, and having as much fun as we did! Highlights for nighttime:
Razzmatazz - five level disco with all types of music and people. We had a lot of fun, even though it was our first night and Joya, Dio and I had been up since 5am, we stayed til it closed ;)
Roxy - the disco itself wasn't that special, but we went with our hostel so we got in free and there was a live Brazilian band playing and they were SO much fun. We were in the very front row and the singer interacted with the crowd a lot and got us to do some ridiculous dance movies that bordered on the Macoraina (no idea how to spell that one):
Felinnis - Disco on La Rambla, it played mainly house music but was a good time, especially since it was all of two blocks away from our hostel.
Opium - this was our last night, Joya and I met up with Seth, his little brother Lyle, and his friend who's studying in Barca Graham. We went out for a drink with Seth's parents and then headed to Chupitos (I will explain this ridiculous bar later) and then to Opium. Opium's cool because it's right on the beach -- the club literally opens up to the sandy shore! It was a nice club, lots of white couch type things to relax on and a pretty international crowd since the beach clubs usually attract the tourists. We didn't stay too late and got home around 6 but we hung out with some French guys in the hostel til 730, which Joya and I both regretted when waking up at 1030 to check out.
The rest of the nights we just ended up at random bars or cafe/clubs. Seth, Joya, and I were wandering around one night and were whisked off in a whirlwind by a promoter claiming to be from Chicago, dressed like he was from the 40s. He took us to a cafe where we had amazing mojitos and relaxed while listening to a local hip-hop/soul/funk dj spin tunes. It was packed and a cool atmosphere, even though none of us are still positive how we ended up there. We were all pretty sure our promoter friend was on some sort of drug, he was bouncing EVERYWHERE.
Our bar of choice, which we went to three times, was Chupitos: a shots bar with two euro shots that you go to not for the alcohol, but for the show. There are over 400 shots, and most of them involve setting the glasses or bar top on fire, fruits, and whipped cream. There's the Harry Potter, Bin Laden, Finding Nemo, and all sorts. It was really fun, each person bought a round for the group so we ended up getting a round free too, the bar tenders got a kick out of us.
All in all Barca was an amazing, but exhausting adventure. It's an amazing city, really bursting with life and really gorgeous archetecture. But I couldn't live there, my heart belongs in Granada. Barca was just crawling with tourists ... granted it was Semana Santa. But La Rambla was a really cool place to be, the street performers were out of this world! And I never felt unsafe once, probably because Joya and I were constantly with our guys friends and not really ever vulnerable, but even pick-pocket wise I'm pretty proud of the lack of theft that occured!!
I really don't like doing posts that summarize trips that are more than two or three days, it just seems so daunting, and then I get really behind. So I'm sorry this took so long, I'm headed to Italia on Thursday with Carolyn to see Christian :) I will be much more on the ball with that update!!
Besos
We left Granada's tiny "airport" (that has maybe three gates, tops) for Girona, the ghetto airport Ryan Air flies into (we actually came close to missing out flight because Joya and I were keeping tabs on the flight to BARCELONA instead of to Girona ... Dio saved the day though haha) in the early early morning, and after an hour and half long plane ride followed by an hour long stuff bus ride from Girona, we made it into Barcelona! It was a beautiful sunny day, so even though it took us a good hour to find our hostel from the bus station we didn't mind.
(We ran into the Arc de Triumf on the way to the hostel
We stayed in the Kabul Backpackers hostel in Plaza Real right off of La Rambla. It was an amazing hostel, providing us with free breakfast AND dinner. While the dinner was usually some oddly cooked form of pasta with meat, it was free a good start for an evening out. The main level where you eat had a pool table, tons of computers, a foozball table, chess set, bar, vending machines, a tv, and projector for soccer games. We watched the Barca-Germany game there which was really fun because you're immersed in a really international crowd. For 2 euro we got big cups of Heineken on tap, so there was really nothing to complain about.
I stayed in a mixed dorm for 8 people, but we made up the majority of the beds: joya, dio, arash and daniel (who dio's good friends with back in the states) and me. We had a lot of different roommates come in and out of our lives during the week, but a few stand out as highlights:
Benjamin. Benjamin was Austrian and only there for our first night. He's in his late twenties and resembles some sort of large bird, maybe a stork. He got to sit on the top bunk and just laugh at our large group of American kids playing drinking games before heading out to Razzmatazz (more on that later). Europeans don't play drinking games, and don't really understand WHY we do them. So we're sitting there doing ridiculous things like saying "first horse third horse" or making animal antlers among other idiotic things that the boys insisted we play, and Benjamin is soberly laughing and gawking at/with us. We offered him a spot in the game, but he had an early flight and enjoyed the show from his perch.
(benjamin on the top bunk)
We had a creepy roommate for a few days named Isaac, and by creepy I mean hipster 20 year old blonde skinny guy from California who managed to lose his phone, camera, dignity, and hostel reservation in the course of three days. He tagged along with us for a night, and he was beyond awkward, in an almost endearing way. Keyword on almost. Skinny jeans, ironic t-shirts, and librarian glasses. Yeap, he was that kid.
My favorite roommates were the Dutch ultimate frisbee team we hung out with on Dio's last night with us. They were all hilarious and really down to earth people. We hung out with them all night, got some drinks in the hostel bar (cold and rainy outside = we gave up on the idea of going out out) and just talked and laughed til five in the morning. It's insane how many Europeans know English even though it is not their first language. We had some great conversations, and they had only been taking English since high school. Once of the girls told me that it is because all the American TV shows over there are shown in English and just subtitled in Dutch, so thats how they picked a lot of it up. We had some fun discussions with them from everything about how frisbee isn't popular in Europe like in the States, to Bush, to Obama, to how bad the boxed wine in Spain is. I really liked them a lot, hostels are cool because they expose you to all different kinds of people.
And of course, the two 50 year old French women who were in the all girls room that Joya and I moved into after all the boys departed for Rome or Paris the last couple of days. They were stuck up and rude. But, they WERE middle aged women staying in a youth hostel, so I really have no idea what they were expecting.
Site seeing wise we hit all the majors: Guadi buildings including the Sagrada Familia which is one of the ugliest/coolest things I've ever seen. I don't know what Gaudi was thinking, even though I did some background reading before going, really at all. But it is pretty impressive to see up close, and we went on a pretty overcast and gloomy day, so it looked even more intense and eerie than usual.
Our second day we slept on the beach at Barceloneta for the morning (Joya and I had to forcibly make the boys get out of bed, they were understandably tired being that we got in around 830 and were waking them up at 11...) which was relaxing .. minus all the "me-sah-ays"? "tatoos (marijuana, cocaina, what you like I got what you like??)"s and "sexy beer sexy beer" vendors illegally prowling around. But nada pasa, we just enjoyed our picnic of bread, jamon y queso and soaked up the rays (which we wouldn't have the priviledge of hanging out with again for many days).
That afternoon we met up with some of Arash and David's friends from Columbia who are studying in Copenhagen (one knows Andrew and went to high school with him!?!? SMALL world) and hiked up to Park Guell (sp?) which was a multiple hour affair in which we got lost in the forests, A LOT, but eventually made it over to Gaudi's wonderland of a park and enjoyed the gorgeous views and people watching. On the way over we hiked up to this sweet view point where a bunch of people were all perchin on this huge cross, kind of creepy, but it was an unbeatable view!
Other sights we saw: Picasso museum and the gothic neighborhood, both were awesome (despite the rain and chilliness that seems to love following me around) and incredible to see in person, even if the whole week it seemed like we never actually slept, just took glorified naps. Another cool thing we saw was the Museum of Contempary Art, not just because the exhibits were fascinating (I'm discovering that I really really like modern art and how it challenges you to make sense of it, which Lily cerca 9th grade would hate me for) but because right in front of the museum local skaters set up a make-shift skate park! I don't mean like five kids, there were TONS. You really get a taste for the local culture when you run into places like this, a bunch of kids and adults hanging around skating, smoking, and drinking their sexy beers. (Sexy Beers are the beers random men sell on the street for a euro each, Estrella is the brand I think, I asked one once why he called them "sexy beers" and he said because it's proven to be a successful ad campaign, because who doesn't want a sexy beer?) The whole site was out of this world, this huge modern building situated in the middle of all these old buildings, surrounded by kids skateboarding. Definitely one of my favorite sights of the trip.
Cuisine wise we stuck to the hostel usually for dinner, our second night this kid Craig (the one who guided us up to Park Gueill) took us to Pim Pam where I had the most amazing burger of my life. I'm not sure if it was amazing just because I'm used to Granada's tapas burgers that are made of pork or ham instead of beef, or because it was really just that good. But either way, I was in heaven. Another night a huge group of us trekked through the pouring rain (not exaggerating. At All.) to a chicken and paella place the hostel desk workers recommended to us, huge portions, yummy food, and cheap prices ... we couldn't really beat that! For lunch we spent most of our time in the amazing market off La Ramble and bought baguettes, fruit, and cheese to picnic in a plaza or on la playa. The market was another one of my favorite places we frequented whilst in Barca.
At night we generally had a few drinks in the hostel and then went out in search of adventure. We usually were out until 7 or 8 in the morning and rallied it all together the next day to go sight seeing. Looking back on everything, I'm impressed with how efficient we were at seeing everything we wanted to, and having as much fun as we did! Highlights for nighttime:
Razzmatazz - five level disco with all types of music and people. We had a lot of fun, even though it was our first night and Joya, Dio and I had been up since 5am, we stayed til it closed ;)
Roxy - the disco itself wasn't that special, but we went with our hostel so we got in free and there was a live Brazilian band playing and they were SO much fun. We were in the very front row and the singer interacted with the crowd a lot and got us to do some ridiculous dance movies that bordered on the Macoraina (no idea how to spell that one):
Felinnis - Disco on La Rambla, it played mainly house music but was a good time, especially since it was all of two blocks away from our hostel.
Opium - this was our last night, Joya and I met up with Seth, his little brother Lyle, and his friend who's studying in Barca Graham. We went out for a drink with Seth's parents and then headed to Chupitos (I will explain this ridiculous bar later) and then to Opium. Opium's cool because it's right on the beach -- the club literally opens up to the sandy shore! It was a nice club, lots of white couch type things to relax on and a pretty international crowd since the beach clubs usually attract the tourists. We didn't stay too late and got home around 6 but we hung out with some French guys in the hostel til 730, which Joya and I both regretted when waking up at 1030 to check out.
The rest of the nights we just ended up at random bars or cafe/clubs. Seth, Joya, and I were wandering around one night and were whisked off in a whirlwind by a promoter claiming to be from Chicago, dressed like he was from the 40s. He took us to a cafe where we had amazing mojitos and relaxed while listening to a local hip-hop/soul/funk dj spin tunes. It was packed and a cool atmosphere, even though none of us are still positive how we ended up there. We were all pretty sure our promoter friend was on some sort of drug, he was bouncing EVERYWHERE.
Our bar of choice, which we went to three times, was Chupitos: a shots bar with two euro shots that you go to not for the alcohol, but for the show. There are over 400 shots, and most of them involve setting the glasses or bar top on fire, fruits, and whipped cream. There's the Harry Potter, Bin Laden, Finding Nemo, and all sorts. It was really fun, each person bought a round for the group so we ended up getting a round free too, the bar tenders got a kick out of us.
All in all Barca was an amazing, but exhausting adventure. It's an amazing city, really bursting with life and really gorgeous archetecture. But I couldn't live there, my heart belongs in Granada. Barca was just crawling with tourists ... granted it was Semana Santa. But La Rambla was a really cool place to be, the street performers were out of this world! And I never felt unsafe once, probably because Joya and I were constantly with our guys friends and not really ever vulnerable, but even pick-pocket wise I'm pretty proud of the lack of theft that occured!!
I really don't like doing posts that summarize trips that are more than two or three days, it just seems so daunting, and then I get really behind. So I'm sorry this took so long, I'm headed to Italia on Thursday with Carolyn to see Christian :) I will be much more on the ball with that update!!
Besos
Friday, April 17, 2009
long time no blog :(
I'm on Amanda's computer right now, because mine has gone off the deep end and makes everything I write backwards. I really have no words to describe how ready for a new computer I am except daaadd can i pleeeassee have a maaaacc!!!?? I'm going to update this officially on Sunday :) Until then a mini-update:
- Barcelona was amazing, a blur, but amazing. Full blog post dedicated to it will be here Sunday, as well as the rest of Morocco.
- Carolyn (haverfordian) was here this week, it was amazing to see her. Sometimes you forget how much you miss and love people until you see them again. Car doesn't use skype so I don't hear from her as much as everyone else, and it made my month being able to just spend time with her wandering around my city! She's officially coming to Rome with me next weekend, which I couldn't be happier about :)
- Lea and I are running for Vice Presidents of SC at Haverford. Elections end Saturday so we'll know soon how that goes. We decided to run together mid-way through last semester and I'm glad we actually are doing it even though I'm abroad!! VP has the most people running for it for some reason, but Peter's our campaign manager so I have faith in him ;) Turns out Carolyn and Katie are running too (two of my best friends from the Ford) which isn't fun, but no pasa nada, I'll be happy if either of us win, as long as we beat out the froshies ;)
- The MUMPS are going around IES. 3 girls have had them, 2 right after Semana Santa. My friend Kate's face was HUGE (she's almost better now), she didn't actually come to school but after talking to her and seeing pictures I've decided that mumps will NOT be on my to-do list for this semester. Everyone's been vaccinated, I'm almost positive that the vaccine's required in order to go to college, so it's really disturbing that we may still be at risk! But I've been washing my hands diligently and so far my face is its normal size, no swelling! Dean Mancinni (Haverford Abroad Dean) even emailed Joya, Dio, and me to see if we are all disease free.
- I found out my housing for senior year at Haverford (nooo nooo nooooo, impossible) and I will be living with the kids I always live with and love dearly in Llyod 7 or0s! I've wanted to live in Llyod, (Lyodd, Llyodd? who knows, spelling is not my forte these days) since freshman year. So the fact that we were able to get housing there (Haverford room draw is the most frustrating and soul-killing experience sometimes) makes the idea of senior year at the very least plausible, I wouldn't go so far to say acceptable or comprehensible, but it is now officially a possibility :)
- My next task is to register my schedule for next semester which will hopefully look a little something like:
Senior Thesis Sem (terrifying, we need to know our topic by the second week? Unfair.)
Anthropology of Education
Hindu Philosophy or an Evolution class at Bryn Mawr ... or a religion at Haverford
Spanish Film, I don't remember the exact title off the top of my head, lo sientooo
there weren't too many exciting options this year, which is sad since it's my last, but I'm happy with the ones I've picked!
- I'm going to Rome next weekend, Athens the weekend after that, and then we have an IES trip to Cabo de Gato, so this is my last weekend in Granada until mid may ... I can not believe how fast things are going, and I do not like it at all. I am no where near ready to leave :(
I've gotta run, thats all I've got time for now. But promise promise promise by Sunday everything will be updated :) I'm going to venture out into this 50-some degree gray chilly mess of a day and see if I can find a cute sundress for Roma (moo, dont tell dad).
besos
- Barcelona was amazing, a blur, but amazing. Full blog post dedicated to it will be here Sunday, as well as the rest of Morocco.
- Carolyn (haverfordian) was here this week, it was amazing to see her. Sometimes you forget how much you miss and love people until you see them again. Car doesn't use skype so I don't hear from her as much as everyone else, and it made my month being able to just spend time with her wandering around my city! She's officially coming to Rome with me next weekend, which I couldn't be happier about :)
- Lea and I are running for Vice Presidents of SC at Haverford. Elections end Saturday so we'll know soon how that goes. We decided to run together mid-way through last semester and I'm glad we actually are doing it even though I'm abroad!! VP has the most people running for it for some reason, but Peter's our campaign manager so I have faith in him ;) Turns out Carolyn and Katie are running too (two of my best friends from the Ford) which isn't fun, but no pasa nada, I'll be happy if either of us win, as long as we beat out the froshies ;)
- The MUMPS are going around IES. 3 girls have had them, 2 right after Semana Santa. My friend Kate's face was HUGE (she's almost better now), she didn't actually come to school but after talking to her and seeing pictures I've decided that mumps will NOT be on my to-do list for this semester. Everyone's been vaccinated, I'm almost positive that the vaccine's required in order to go to college, so it's really disturbing that we may still be at risk! But I've been washing my hands diligently and so far my face is its normal size, no swelling! Dean Mancinni (Haverford Abroad Dean) even emailed Joya, Dio, and me to see if we are all disease free.
- I found out my housing for senior year at Haverford (nooo nooo nooooo, impossible) and I will be living with the kids I always live with and love dearly in Llyod 7 or0s! I've wanted to live in Llyod, (Lyodd, Llyodd? who knows, spelling is not my forte these days) since freshman year. So the fact that we were able to get housing there (Haverford room draw is the most frustrating and soul-killing experience sometimes) makes the idea of senior year at the very least plausible, I wouldn't go so far to say acceptable or comprehensible, but it is now officially a possibility :)
- My next task is to register my schedule for next semester which will hopefully look a little something like:
Senior Thesis Sem (terrifying, we need to know our topic by the second week? Unfair.)
Anthropology of Education
Hindu Philosophy or an Evolution class at Bryn Mawr ... or a religion at Haverford
Spanish Film, I don't remember the exact title off the top of my head, lo sientooo
there weren't too many exciting options this year, which is sad since it's my last, but I'm happy with the ones I've picked!
- I'm going to Rome next weekend, Athens the weekend after that, and then we have an IES trip to Cabo de Gato, so this is my last weekend in Granada until mid may ... I can not believe how fast things are going, and I do not like it at all. I am no where near ready to leave :(
I've gotta run, thats all I've got time for now. But promise promise promise by Sunday everything will be updated :) I'm going to venture out into this 50-some degree gray chilly mess of a day and see if I can find a cute sundress for Roma (moo, dont tell dad).
besos
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