In the airport getting ready to leave for JFK in a short while. Obviously my first flight pattern got cancelled (thanks Amsterdam weather), but luckily I got put on a direct flight back home.
Saying goodbye was sad of course, it always is when you're pretty much guarenteed to never see people again, but it's over so that's good. Also getting up this morning was QUITE difficult, as was hauling my bags to the airport. Luckily I made the executive decision to take a cab, which is good because I would have never made it on the metro with everything. My checked bag ended up weighing 27+ kg, which is over 60lbs, yikes, but I didn't get charged!! Que suerte.
Now that I'm finally in the airport though, I've had time to let everything sink in and get more excited about going home. Of course I want to be there for Christmas and can't wait to hear my dad blast christmas classics through our speakers at home every morning, and thinking about having access to a kitchen and a car and seeing my home friends is really exciting. I think I'm going to be quite shocked at the size of my house, my room, and my bed when I get back... America is seriously supersized.
I'll probably have some "reflections" or whatnot later, but I don't feel like writing a lot/ being deep right now. Instead, I'm gonna jam to some Glee and obvi write things in my planner.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Done
Done with exams, done with buying bocadillos de tortilla from the cafeteria, done eating with my señoras, done writing in Spanish, done having café, done tapas hopping in cute areas, done exploring an amazing city, done running through Parque Retiro, done not knowing 1/2 of what people are saying, done travelling at will throughout europe, done being abroad.
... but not done packing.
womp womp depressing blog, but DON'T MAKE ME GO!
... but not done packing.
womp womp depressing blog, but DON'T MAKE ME GO!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Studying and Packing
Womp.womp. Obviously no one likes to study, so it's no different when you're abroad. Luckily I'm done with 3 of 4 classes and only have my Management exam left. Unfortunately, it's going to be my hardest but whatever. I'm clearly procrastinating now by blogging, and also by... PACKING
Another thing that I hate, besides studying, is PACKING. Moreso unpacking, but still, packing is both annoying and depressing. And that's where I am right now. Just finished about as much packing as I can do for the timebeing. I decided to listen to happy music instead of all of the Bon Iver that Annie gave me last semester (don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, just didn't wanna actually be depressed), so that's a positive. But just really sad to clean out my whole closet and think that my semester here is actually ending. It sucks that just when you become accostomed and totally adjusted to something, your life changes again. LA VIDA ES DURA
But enough whining, that's boring!!! I haven't done anything too too exciting this past week because I've been studying and whatnot, but I have explored the area a little North of me (Rios Rosas), and also went to Plaza Santa Ana the other night which is a really good place to marchar with the gente. So that was fun barhopping, and something to tick off the list of things I need to do in Madrid. Also today I walked along calle Serrano (which is like Madrid's 5th ave they say) because I had to buy Sarah some perfume there. It was another thing off my list, and was a very nice day for a walk (53ºish here and not even 20º at home ahhh!!). That's all for now, I'm going to go attempt to study before my second to last dinner with my señoras...
Another thing that I hate, besides studying, is PACKING. Moreso unpacking, but still, packing is both annoying and depressing. And that's where I am right now. Just finished about as much packing as I can do for the timebeing. I decided to listen to happy music instead of all of the Bon Iver that Annie gave me last semester (don't get me wrong, I love the stuff, just didn't wanna actually be depressed), so that's a positive. But just really sad to clean out my whole closet and think that my semester here is actually ending. It sucks that just when you become accostomed and totally adjusted to something, your life changes again. LA VIDA ES DURA
But enough whining, that's boring!!! I haven't done anything too too exciting this past week because I've been studying and whatnot, but I have explored the area a little North of me (Rios Rosas), and also went to Plaza Santa Ana the other night which is a really good place to marchar with the gente. So that was fun barhopping, and something to tick off the list of things I need to do in Madrid. Also today I walked along calle Serrano (which is like Madrid's 5th ave they say) because I had to buy Sarah some perfume there. It was another thing off my list, and was a very nice day for a walk (53ºish here and not even 20º at home ahhh!!). That's all for now, I'm going to go attempt to study before my second to last dinner with my señoras...
Friday, December 10, 2010
Morocco! Alesh la
For our last trip, we decided to take on Africa and go to Morocco. Since Spain is an amazing country and LOVES its holidays, we ended class last Thursday and didn't start again until this Thursday (tough life I lead, I know). Anyway, we flew out on Thursday afternoon and came back Tuesday. We went to Marrakech, the Dunes of Erg Chebi, and Fes. I'll give a brief summary of events because otherwise this will be super super long.
Highlights of Marrakech
we decided to do this city on our own, so it was more exploration and less structure. we went to the spice souk (market) which was really cool and then a palace and gardens. In the afternoon when we to the markets and haggled our way to a few good purchases. Of course we got heckled at the whole way because we definitely did NOT blend in. Some of my favorite comments included "Spice Girls" (from 5 different people), "Fish and Chips", the ever-creative "Nice", "Nice eyes", "Hannah Montana" (we had a blondie with us) and "Snow White" among many more. Definitely a different cultural experience.
Besides the shopping and walking and people watching, we also tried some AMAZING food. Lots of steamed veggies and freshly prepared deliciousness with spices! what a NOVEL idea! (spanish cooking has ZERO). Unfortunately I learned that I have quite the weak stomach, but there was lots and lots of bread at every meal which definitely helped
Highlights of THE DESERT
So after some time in Marrakech, we moved on to the second leg of our journey, starting with an 8ish hour car ride to the desert with a complete stranger working for a company that we didn't do very much research on (safe, right?). I wasn't that nervous to start out because Hamad seemed nice, and I took some Dramamine so I pretty much passed out (also we started our drive at 6:30am)
After a few forced stops along the way to take pictures/ let Hamad rest and talk to various friends, a few slow downs to allow Donkeys to cross the road, and a couple mandatory stops by "control" who questioned Hamad a few times (nerves started to set in), we made it to the desert!
We were running late and needed to get on camels immediately so we wouldn't be stuck in the dark, so we had little time to question our decisions. Omar was our appointed tour guide, a Berber man who spoke very little English but seemed nice enough, and after he and Hamad helped us onto our camels, we were off!
The dunes were incredible. I couldn't stop thinking that I was in Aladdin, but seriously, that's exactly what it looked like. I was waiting for that lion face to come up out of the sand...you all know what I'm talking about.
So we walked along up and down the dunes, straight into the desert for 2 hours. A few things to note: Camels are VERY uncomfortable to ride after about 30 minutes. Also, all dunes look the exact same, so we had no idea where we were (bad for trying to escape) but Omar seemed to know everything, even when complete pitch blackness fell over the Desert and he had to whip out a flashlight.
We thought we would never get to the camp sight (/that Omar might turn around with a machete) but luckily we made it!! This is getting too long so I'll get more to the point, sorry. Our abode for the night was a man made long-house type structure from bamboo shafts and cloth stuff. It obvioulsy wasn't heated, so we had some heavy blankets to keep us warm. Tagine that Omar made us for dinner was AMAZING. When we went outside to see the stars, we were all speechless. Well, actually I probably said OH MY GOD like a dumb American 20 times, but whatever. As Allison put it, you could see the milky stuff of the milky way. Better than any planetarium and just completely awe-inspiring. We slept on a couple of matresses (inside) with 3 heavy blankets each and hoped that Omar wouldn't steal our stuff in the middle of the night.
Next morning, we saw the sunrise on the dunes and hopped back on our comfy camels for another 2 hour ride.
Got back to the tour group's main building and had a nice breakfast, washed our faces (feeling pretty dirty by this point), and jumped back in the car for another 8ish hour ride with Hamad
Still a little nervous that we wouldn't make it to Fes, we went along our merry way, listening to Hamad's CD of about 5 different songs (that skipped) on repeat. Welcome to Morocco.
Finally we made it to Fes! We paid Hamad and bid him a tearful farewell
FES
Collectively all of our favorite city, probably because we got a guide to take us around. We saw one of the biggest mosques in Northern Africa (there are 360 in Fes!) which fits 21,000 people, WOW. Since Muslims pray 5 times a day, we got to see lots of mosques as people were just entering to pray. Pretty interesting. We also went to the Tanneries where they transform skins to leather which was really interesting and also smelly. We also went to a Rug store which was SO COOL. ugh i wish i was really rich/had a house to furnish so I could buy rugs because we got amazing deals, since the salesman was obsessed with Marissa marrying his Son, Mohammad... Then we went to a pharmacy which had all of these natural products, and of course hit the markets hard. Everything is so cheap in Morocco (compared to Europe and the US) and haggling is such a part of the culture that it's really fun to shop. It started to get dark, so we went back by our riad (like a bed and breakfast) and had one last tagine and mint tea combo.
Airport
Quick observations about the Morocco airport: security is a JOKE. To get in, you have to go up to these officers by these dinky metal gates outside the airport doors and they just look at your passport and boarding pass. Actually it's not "they", it's one guy, and his other officer friends just stand there and watch. efficient. Then after you get your passport stamped inside, you put your bag thru a scanner without taking out any liquids or anything. Then if you want to buy a bottle of water, it's 20dihram (like 2€), whereas in the cities, it's about 5dihram.
Anyways, despite the lack of security measures in the miniscule airport, we made it to Spain safely! Tired, but home, now it's time to enjoy the city for the very few days that I have left.
Highlights of Marrakech
we decided to do this city on our own, so it was more exploration and less structure. we went to the spice souk (market) which was really cool and then a palace and gardens. In the afternoon when we to the markets and haggled our way to a few good purchases. Of course we got heckled at the whole way because we definitely did NOT blend in. Some of my favorite comments included "Spice Girls" (from 5 different people), "Fish and Chips", the ever-creative "Nice", "Nice eyes", "Hannah Montana" (we had a blondie with us) and "Snow White" among many more. Definitely a different cultural experience.
Besides the shopping and walking and people watching, we also tried some AMAZING food. Lots of steamed veggies and freshly prepared deliciousness with spices! what a NOVEL idea! (spanish cooking has ZERO). Unfortunately I learned that I have quite the weak stomach, but there was lots and lots of bread at every meal which definitely helped
Highlights of THE DESERT
So after some time in Marrakech, we moved on to the second leg of our journey, starting with an 8ish hour car ride to the desert with a complete stranger working for a company that we didn't do very much research on (safe, right?). I wasn't that nervous to start out because Hamad seemed nice, and I took some Dramamine so I pretty much passed out (also we started our drive at 6:30am)
After a few forced stops along the way to take pictures/ let Hamad rest and talk to various friends, a few slow downs to allow Donkeys to cross the road, and a couple mandatory stops by "control" who questioned Hamad a few times (nerves started to set in), we made it to the desert!
We were running late and needed to get on camels immediately so we wouldn't be stuck in the dark, so we had little time to question our decisions. Omar was our appointed tour guide, a Berber man who spoke very little English but seemed nice enough, and after he and Hamad helped us onto our camels, we were off!
The dunes were incredible. I couldn't stop thinking that I was in Aladdin, but seriously, that's exactly what it looked like. I was waiting for that lion face to come up out of the sand...you all know what I'm talking about.
So we walked along up and down the dunes, straight into the desert for 2 hours. A few things to note: Camels are VERY uncomfortable to ride after about 30 minutes. Also, all dunes look the exact same, so we had no idea where we were (bad for trying to escape) but Omar seemed to know everything, even when complete pitch blackness fell over the Desert and he had to whip out a flashlight.
We thought we would never get to the camp sight (/that Omar might turn around with a machete) but luckily we made it!! This is getting too long so I'll get more to the point, sorry. Our abode for the night was a man made long-house type structure from bamboo shafts and cloth stuff. It obvioulsy wasn't heated, so we had some heavy blankets to keep us warm. Tagine that Omar made us for dinner was AMAZING. When we went outside to see the stars, we were all speechless. Well, actually I probably said OH MY GOD like a dumb American 20 times, but whatever. As Allison put it, you could see the milky stuff of the milky way. Better than any planetarium and just completely awe-inspiring. We slept on a couple of matresses (inside) with 3 heavy blankets each and hoped that Omar wouldn't steal our stuff in the middle of the night.
Next morning, we saw the sunrise on the dunes and hopped back on our comfy camels for another 2 hour ride.
Got back to the tour group's main building and had a nice breakfast, washed our faces (feeling pretty dirty by this point), and jumped back in the car for another 8ish hour ride with Hamad
Still a little nervous that we wouldn't make it to Fes, we went along our merry way, listening to Hamad's CD of about 5 different songs (that skipped) on repeat. Welcome to Morocco.
Finally we made it to Fes! We paid Hamad and bid him a tearful farewell
FES
Collectively all of our favorite city, probably because we got a guide to take us around. We saw one of the biggest mosques in Northern Africa (there are 360 in Fes!) which fits 21,000 people, WOW. Since Muslims pray 5 times a day, we got to see lots of mosques as people were just entering to pray. Pretty interesting. We also went to the Tanneries where they transform skins to leather which was really interesting and also smelly. We also went to a Rug store which was SO COOL. ugh i wish i was really rich/had a house to furnish so I could buy rugs because we got amazing deals, since the salesman was obsessed with Marissa marrying his Son, Mohammad... Then we went to a pharmacy which had all of these natural products, and of course hit the markets hard. Everything is so cheap in Morocco (compared to Europe and the US) and haggling is such a part of the culture that it's really fun to shop. It started to get dark, so we went back by our riad (like a bed and breakfast) and had one last tagine and mint tea combo.
Airport
Quick observations about the Morocco airport: security is a JOKE. To get in, you have to go up to these officers by these dinky metal gates outside the airport doors and they just look at your passport and boarding pass. Actually it's not "they", it's one guy, and his other officer friends just stand there and watch. efficient. Then after you get your passport stamped inside, you put your bag thru a scanner without taking out any liquids or anything. Then if you want to buy a bottle of water, it's 20dihram (like 2€), whereas in the cities, it's about 5dihram.
Anyways, despite the lack of security measures in the miniscule airport, we made it to Spain safely! Tired, but home, now it's time to enjoy the city for the very few days that I have left.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
The Week in Review
so a lot of exciting things happened this week!! Namely, MY PARENTS CAME! yayyyy that was fun. But before they came, my new spanish novioooo and i had some dates which was lovely, and I finally expeienced Pacha for a Comitas Wednesday celebration. It was really fun especially since like 10 ppl from my program went, though i wore the completely wrong shoes, but whatever.
Moving onward to the weekend! Since my parents have already been to Madrid and Barcelona, we decided to go South to Granada to see the infamous Alhambra. Absolutely amazing. They say that if you die without seeing the Alhambra, you haven't lived (or something like that), so I'm glad I saw it. We also went over to Sevilla to tour there, which was so amazing and gorgeous, even though it DOWNPOURED the whole time we were there. BUT major pro was that I got to spend time with my parents in a beautiful place, and ALSO got a leopard print dress from Zara, score. This will certainly be making an appearance for New Years and on Penn's campus, so get excited.
Seeing my parents was bittersweet. It was so great to be with them and i am SO thankful that they came (really made my Thanksgiving), but it also made me realize that part of me really doesn't want to leave Madrid. Of course I want to spend more time with my family and friends, but I love this city so much, and have really found a place here, especially in the last month and a half or so. Sad that once you get perfectly acclimated to a place, you have to leave... but such is life.
After relaxing some on Sunday, and catching up on lots of exciting work that I had to do, I had another date on Monday to watch El Clasico (football game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona). Really intense and a big deal here... unfortunately we lost. No, we didn't loose, we got CRUSHED. ugh. Although Christiano Ronaldo is a BEAUTIFUL man, his skills are no match to Messi. Alas, it was still fun and the spirit of all the football fans was pretty exciting.
Today I had an econ presentation, so nice to get it over with, and my last class of Lit. CRAZY. only 3 more days of class and 5 more actual classes to go. Not too much work left before exams, so that's great! Means i get more time to go out and enjoy Madrid while I still can. Starting with some after-dinner drinks with Allison at Mercado de San Miguel, finally!!
Moving onward to the weekend! Since my parents have already been to Madrid and Barcelona, we decided to go South to Granada to see the infamous Alhambra. Absolutely amazing. They say that if you die without seeing the Alhambra, you haven't lived (or something like that), so I'm glad I saw it. We also went over to Sevilla to tour there, which was so amazing and gorgeous, even though it DOWNPOURED the whole time we were there. BUT major pro was that I got to spend time with my parents in a beautiful place, and ALSO got a leopard print dress from Zara, score. This will certainly be making an appearance for New Years and on Penn's campus, so get excited.
Seeing my parents was bittersweet. It was so great to be with them and i am SO thankful that they came (really made my Thanksgiving), but it also made me realize that part of me really doesn't want to leave Madrid. Of course I want to spend more time with my family and friends, but I love this city so much, and have really found a place here, especially in the last month and a half or so. Sad that once you get perfectly acclimated to a place, you have to leave... but such is life.
After relaxing some on Sunday, and catching up on lots of exciting work that I had to do, I had another date on Monday to watch El Clasico (football game between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona). Really intense and a big deal here... unfortunately we lost. No, we didn't loose, we got CRUSHED. ugh. Although Christiano Ronaldo is a BEAUTIFUL man, his skills are no match to Messi. Alas, it was still fun and the spirit of all the football fans was pretty exciting.
Today I had an econ presentation, so nice to get it over with, and my last class of Lit. CRAZY. only 3 more days of class and 5 more actual classes to go. Not too much work left before exams, so that's great! Means i get more time to go out and enjoy Madrid while I still can. Starting with some after-dinner drinks with Allison at Mercado de San Miguel, finally!!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
turning into a madrileño
soo since my keyboard is STILL in spanish, im gonna have some fun with accents as i explain my journey to being a madrileño. firstly, apparently the € is doing badly so THAT's great! not that it has anything to do with me becoming more spanish, but its a button on my keyboard now which is kewl ¡¿Sí o Sí!? as our profa Cecilia would say
anywayyyyy, me becoming more spanish. i had a date with a hispanic guy (technically hes colombian but he lived in barca for 7 years and now hes living in madrid, so close enough). we met in a salsa bar/dance club type situation on Thursday (obviously being latin american, hes a phenom dancer which is the BEST TRAIT EVERRR) and then went on a date last night. I was supaaa nervous at first becasue of the whole language barrier sitch but it was totally fine and not hard to speak with him in Spanish... though he can always tell when i pretend to know what hes saying when i actually don't... ¡lo siento Francisco! Things i have learned from him: 1. In colombia, the name Carlota (the spanish version of my name that I tell ppl here bc they legit cant prounounce CHARlotte) means you're from the upper class 2. also in colombia, people with light skin, freckles and red hair (re: gingers) are considered really pretty because they're so rare
moral of the story? I should move to Colombia. Hasta luego estados unidos.
Moving onward, after my date last night, i met up with Allison, and since she has mad Spanish conexiones because of her buddy from our University (Luna), we went to like a Spanish pregame party situation at one of Luna's friends' apartments and then to a club called Moma after.
Suchh a spanish night haha and legitimately I spoke spanish 99% of the night. success.
anywayyyyy, me becoming more spanish. i had a date with a hispanic guy (technically hes colombian but he lived in barca for 7 years and now hes living in madrid, so close enough). we met in a salsa bar/dance club type situation on Thursday (obviously being latin american, hes a phenom dancer which is the BEST TRAIT EVERRR) and then went on a date last night. I was supaaa nervous at first becasue of the whole language barrier sitch but it was totally fine and not hard to speak with him in Spanish... though he can always tell when i pretend to know what hes saying when i actually don't... ¡lo siento Francisco! Things i have learned from him: 1. In colombia, the name Carlota (the spanish version of my name that I tell ppl here bc they legit cant prounounce CHARlotte) means you're from the upper class 2. also in colombia, people with light skin, freckles and red hair (re: gingers) are considered really pretty because they're so rare
moral of the story? I should move to Colombia. Hasta luego estados unidos.
Moving onward, after my date last night, i met up with Allison, and since she has mad Spanish conexiones because of her buddy from our University (Luna), we went to like a Spanish pregame party situation at one of Luna's friends' apartments and then to a club called Moma after.
Suchh a spanish night haha and legitimately I spoke spanish 99% of the night. success.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Disconnected
This weekend we're going on a (mandatory) class trip to Extremadura which is a region in the west of Spain. It happens to be the least visited autonomous community of all of Spain...out of 17. Why they decided to bring us here is a big mystery. While other Penn programs in Spain go to Granada, Madrid, and Barcelona on class trips, we decide to go to the middle of nowhere. In addition, apparently service is really limited. Great. And there's no way for us to escape, so says our tourguide Pablo. This is sounding less and less appealing by the minute, but let the adventures begin!
Other quick updates
-went to a Real Madrid v Muricia football game last night. We won (obviously), and the game was super fun. The stadium, Bernabeu, is reallyyyy nice and has heating lamps so it's not cold at all! so smart. Even though we were literally sitting in the last row, the view was pretty good, and Ronaldo played (google him if you're unfamiliar)
-gave my econ presentation today, wooo! nice to be done with my first real assignment of the year hah
-had a tortilla espanola for dinner tonight- my first one since Sunday sooo that was kinda a long wait for me, but luckily Concha reads my mind.
-almost done with Season 1 of Glee. Score
-computer still in Spanish, not score.
HASTA LUNES!
Other quick updates
-went to a Real Madrid v Muricia football game last night. We won (obviously), and the game was super fun. The stadium, Bernabeu, is reallyyyy nice and has heating lamps so it's not cold at all! so smart. Even though we were literally sitting in the last row, the view was pretty good, and Ronaldo played (google him if you're unfamiliar)
-gave my econ presentation today, wooo! nice to be done with my first real assignment of the year hah
-had a tortilla espanola for dinner tonight- my first one since Sunday sooo that was kinda a long wait for me, but luckily Concha reads my mind.
-almost done with Season 1 of Glee. Score
-computer still in Spanish, not score.
HASTA LUNES!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
thank GOD for la tortilla espanola
so I know I have a lot to be thankful for, but right now, on the top of my list are Fiesta days/ Puentes in Madrid and la Tortilla Espanola. Spain loves to partayyyy apparently because there are TONS of holidays here. Many of which, at least this semester, fall on Tuesdays. This means that Monday is a "puente" (bridge) which in turn means that I have 2 day weeks (no class on Friday obviiii).
Last week we had a fiesta on Monday (dia de todos los santos), and this week we had one on Tuesday (patron saint of Madrid), so I have been busy (mainly with travel, though classes are actually starting to make me feel like a real student these days). So here is a little bit of my extended weekend in review:
Thursday- my computer got a massive virus and needed to be taken to the doctor (PC City) for a little slumber party. Luckily it is clean now (apparently it was REALLY REALLY sucio... probably thanks to me trying to watch Glee online...) though all of my keys are in Spanish (like the symbols are all mixed up/not what my english keyboard tells me they are), and the language of all websites is spanish and programs are spanish etc. But i supposed this is helping my cultural imersion...
Friday- class trip to El Escorial with our infamous tourguide, Pablo (Pabs). Most long-winded tourgide in history, which is unfortunate because he is really smart and some things he says are really interesting, but he has NO IDEA how to cut tours short/ how to not talk about every single artifact that we pass by/how to read people. at all.
Saturday- went down to Andalucia (southern Spain) with Allison: first we stopped in Cordoba to see La Mesquita which was so amazing and definitely exceeded my expectations. Then we went on to Granada that night which was really fun. We didn't tour Granada (going down over Thanksgiving with my parents) but we went to dinner and went out afterwards tapas hopping which was entertaining. Only downside: finishing half a bottle of wine and then drinking 4 canas was PROBABLY not the best thing for an early morning trip to the mountainside... Also, I learned that I, in fact, am not good at drinking beer (have a tendency to spill and drink slowly), while Allison is a pro... must be a midwest thing? (re: Pretty Good at Drinking Beer)
Sunday- went up to the mountains to hike through the white towns. 2 hour bus ride up was the worst bus ride of my life by far. When I say I was clutching to a plastic bag for dear life as we wound up through the mountains at 70mph in a smelly bus, i'm not exaggerating. LUCKILY for us, nothing happened and after about 10 minutes of sitting silently outside when we reached our destination trying not to hurl, we were successful. Furthermore, after we bought fleeces (definitely worth the 14E to stave off the chilly mountain air) and had a tortilla espanola to settle our stomachs. The Tortilla Espanola is perfect for hangovers, settling stomachs, and to put on a bocadillo for a quick and portable lunch. Can't wait to bring these back to BabyB (my house next year). It's a serious love affair. I probably average about 1 every other day (don't judge).
Monday- went to Ronda (old town in Andalucia with lots of Moorish influence), which was quaint and cute but not tons to do there. Among the things we did: see a really cool/huge old bridge; Climb down 60m of stairs into a gorge where we proceeded to take like 2 pictures, and then there was nothing else to do (damn you tourist traps), so we had to climb back up the 60m of stairs.. in casi pitch blackness... dicey. annddd we ate some italian food (typical on our weekend trips). Then I had to wait for my train back to Madrid for like 3 hours in the train station (really overbudgeted time needed in Ronda, but oh well). Came back to my senoras and my lovely fixed comuter, which one of my senoras (Paloma) picked up for me.
Tuesday- ugh real student day, had to do work and prepare for an Econ presentation on Thursday... crazy!!
sooo now I get to prepare myself for an intense 2-day week before going on a class field trip with Pabs to Extremadura (the least visited region of Spain.... great).
Summary: Work load is starting to increase, but this gives me more structure and I feel like a productive human now. Also, I had a great weekend, made even better by the fact that my computer is fixed and Fall is beautiful here!
Last week we had a fiesta on Monday (dia de todos los santos), and this week we had one on Tuesday (patron saint of Madrid), so I have been busy (mainly with travel, though classes are actually starting to make me feel like a real student these days). So here is a little bit of my extended weekend in review:
Thursday- my computer got a massive virus and needed to be taken to the doctor (PC City) for a little slumber party. Luckily it is clean now (apparently it was REALLY REALLY sucio... probably thanks to me trying to watch Glee online...) though all of my keys are in Spanish (like the symbols are all mixed up/not what my english keyboard tells me they are), and the language of all websites is spanish and programs are spanish etc. But i supposed this is helping my cultural imersion...
Friday- class trip to El Escorial with our infamous tourguide, Pablo (Pabs). Most long-winded tourgide in history, which is unfortunate because he is really smart and some things he says are really interesting, but he has NO IDEA how to cut tours short/ how to not talk about every single artifact that we pass by/how to read people. at all.
Saturday- went down to Andalucia (southern Spain) with Allison: first we stopped in Cordoba to see La Mesquita which was so amazing and definitely exceeded my expectations. Then we went on to Granada that night which was really fun. We didn't tour Granada (going down over Thanksgiving with my parents) but we went to dinner and went out afterwards tapas hopping which was entertaining. Only downside: finishing half a bottle of wine and then drinking 4 canas was PROBABLY not the best thing for an early morning trip to the mountainside... Also, I learned that I, in fact, am not good at drinking beer (have a tendency to spill and drink slowly), while Allison is a pro... must be a midwest thing? (re: Pretty Good at Drinking Beer)
Sunday- went up to the mountains to hike through the white towns. 2 hour bus ride up was the worst bus ride of my life by far. When I say I was clutching to a plastic bag for dear life as we wound up through the mountains at 70mph in a smelly bus, i'm not exaggerating. LUCKILY for us, nothing happened and after about 10 minutes of sitting silently outside when we reached our destination trying not to hurl, we were successful. Furthermore, after we bought fleeces (definitely worth the 14E to stave off the chilly mountain air) and had a tortilla espanola to settle our stomachs. The Tortilla Espanola is perfect for hangovers, settling stomachs, and to put on a bocadillo for a quick and portable lunch. Can't wait to bring these back to BabyB (my house next year). It's a serious love affair. I probably average about 1 every other day (don't judge).
Monday- went to Ronda (old town in Andalucia with lots of Moorish influence), which was quaint and cute but not tons to do there. Among the things we did: see a really cool/huge old bridge; Climb down 60m of stairs into a gorge where we proceeded to take like 2 pictures, and then there was nothing else to do (damn you tourist traps), so we had to climb back up the 60m of stairs.. in casi pitch blackness... dicey. annddd we ate some italian food (typical on our weekend trips). Then I had to wait for my train back to Madrid for like 3 hours in the train station (really overbudgeted time needed in Ronda, but oh well). Came back to my senoras and my lovely fixed comuter, which one of my senoras (Paloma) picked up for me.
Tuesday- ugh real student day, had to do work and prepare for an Econ presentation on Thursday... crazy!!
sooo now I get to prepare myself for an intense 2-day week before going on a class field trip with Pabs to Extremadura (the least visited region of Spain.... great).
Summary: Work load is starting to increase, but this gives me more structure and I feel like a productive human now. Also, I had a great weekend, made even better by the fact that my computer is fixed and Fall is beautiful here!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Barcelona!
For those of you who actually follow my blog (aka Hope), sorry I haven’t written in a while… I was sick last weekend/everyone stayed in Madrid because we had a class trip on Friday, soooo I didn’t do anything of real interest. My senoras were so nice to me though and took complete care of me (including giving me special tea for my stomach in an “I <3 NY” mug”—be cuter.)
ANYWAY onto more exciting things!! This weekend I went to Barcelona which was a lot of fun. The art and architecture there is phenomenal and I spent like 2 hours at La Sagrada Familia (thank you audio guides) which is Gaudi’s famous church (/the most visited construction site in the world since it’s unfinished). The insanely long line was definitely worth it. I also saw Gaudi’s houses, Dali’s house (2.5hrs outside of Barcelona, but worth a trip if you have time), the Picasso Museum, Park Guell (Gaudi’s park), walked down Las Ramblas and Passeig de Gracia (like Barcelona’s 5th Ave) and around Barri Gotic/Born—super cute area. I got to see some Penn girls that were also there and also 2 girls from Bronxville which was really nice. Seeing familiar faces in a new place is always so great.
Since it was Halloween weekend, a lot of people were out and about Barcelona at night because “Barcelona is totallyyyy the place to be this Halloween weekend, like it’s gonna be sick” –according to a group of 4 Bostonian guys who were on our flight. Sweet life. We (Allison and I) went to some clubs on the beach after a delicious dinner on Friday night, and then Saturday we met up with a few other Penn girls for some draaanks and the later with a Bronxville friend of mine/her program friends at Chupitos (a shots bar). Chupitos was really fun and quite an experience. It was super packed with people and the shots were quite entertaining (and also good). All in all, a really fun trip with only a few problems. These were: 1. Allison and I had some serious travel fails while trying to go to Dali’s house. Including a 2+ hour gap between when we arrived in Girona (we flew into that airport) and when our train to Figueres was (a quick ride to Dali’s house). This forced us to ‘explore’ Girona- difficult with a large bag- so we ended up at a random Girona fair/carnival? Very strange. Allison has classy pictures from it… 2. I tried to go to the Boqueria (huge market) on Sunday. It was closed. Extremely disappointing, but as Allison pointed out, you always need a reason to go back to a city! 3. I went to McDonald’s 3 times. Dicey. But their cono kit kats are so good! 4. The 10 person room in our hostel was notttt quite ideal—every time people came in, they decided it was acceptable to turn on the lights while they rummaged around in their bags and their lockers and talked with their friends. Not proper hostel etiquette, especially when they popped on the lights at 5:30am, 7:30am and then the next day during a completely acceptable siesta at 6pm. Rude.
Besides those minor hurdles, Barcelona was great. I definitely suggest going there, although be warned that you will speak more English than Spanish (or at least that was the case for me, save for at Chupitos bar). ALSO bank on being exhausted when you return/ try to plan your trip when you have a nice fiesta day for recovery! Thanks for partying, Spain. !Feliz día de los Santos!
Thursday, October 21, 2010
creeperz
sooo today i tried to go on a nice peaceful jog to Parque Retiro per usual. It was a nice day con mucho sol and i was just minding my own business running down some streets before getting to the park. I'm running across a big street and this guy comes at me from the opposite direction and like grabs my shoulder. Clearly he's a creeper so I continued running past him without a second look. THEN he turns around, runs after me, and stops me on the other side of the road. woah buddy. I reluctantly take out an ear of my headphones and he proceeds to ask me, in English, if I want to run with him tomorrow. No. NO I do NOT want to run with you tomorrow random-creepy-asian/spanish guy. Would I like to run with him next week? Also no to that. I decided it was best to run away, quickly, but for the rest of my run I had a strange feeling that he was going to run up behind me and stab me with a knife--- you never know with these types, right? Perhaps I'm a little paranoid... (but he was exceedingly weird)
Anyway, as I was coming back from running in the park, one of the limpiezas (street cleaners) got all up in my grill and said something to me, probably inappropriate, but luckily I had my headphones securily blasting some Eminem (old ipod, get at me).
Good news of today though-- Allison and I had coffee with her Comitas buddy (a girl who goes to our school and who's actually from Spain) and we're gonna go out with her on Friday woooooo making new Spanish friends!
Anyway, as I was coming back from running in the park, one of the limpiezas (street cleaners) got all up in my grill and said something to me, probably inappropriate, but luckily I had my headphones securily blasting some Eminem (old ipod, get at me).
Good news of today though-- Allison and I had coffee with her Comitas buddy (a girl who goes to our school and who's actually from Spain) and we're gonna go out with her on Friday woooooo making new Spanish friends!
Monday, October 18, 2010
I miiiight be a little obsessed with Amsterdam
Where to begin!
First off, I’m sorry if this blog gets boring because I’m essentially just going to repeat how much I love Amsterdam. As of now, it is one of my favorite cities, if not my favorite city, in the world. We did lots of exciting things there so I’ll break this up into parts so it’s better to look at.
Rotterdam
First stop on our trip was Rotterdam to stay the night with Noah and visit Penn kids before touring Amsterdam. We went straight to Rotterdam from the airport via a Harry Potter train. Private cabins meant that we could blast the jamzz, and I quite enjoyed being deejay and reciting various HP quotes.
After about an hour of literally bouncing up and down in our seats, we arrived in Rotterdam where Noah so nicely greeted us, paid for our tram ride (which we tried to avoid) and welcomed us to a pregame that was in full swing in his room. So strange, and nice, to see ruit tables set up and red solo cups decorating the space- flashback to America hollaaaaa. First stop was up to the roof to …show us the scene of Rotterdam from above, and of course introduce us to some international friends and the Colonel. Then back downstairs to rep the U. S of A with a game of ruit. Afterwards, we headed off to club Hollywood which appeared to be the scene of a 14 year olds birthday party (baby blue and white balloons were decorating the ceiling and there was a big “14” plaque). We went inside to see a crowd of people that was quite younger than what we were used to. Although it was in fact not a birthday party (rather the 14th anniversary of the club), we were amused to find many teenagers on the dance floor (one of whom literally nuzzled my neck when he danced with me- awk central). We decided the dance floor wasn’t really our scene at the time, so we purchased coins (yes, coins at a club) and went to the back patio to buy delicious mini pancakes from this Dutch woman (you couldn’t pay with Euros, only with coins which seemed pretty silly to us).
We danced some more and then headed out around 3 to go get K___ which is terrific after-club fare: French fries with thinly sliced shwarma with a little cheese and lettuce and garlic sauce. In retrospect, this sounds kind of disgusting, but I swear it was amazing. Finally off to bed alongside the ruit table. Frattyyyyyy
Amsterdam Day 1
The next morning we dragged ourselves out of bed (literally dragged) and trained back up to Amsterdam to sightsee. Despite the rain, we walked through an outdoor market, where we equipped ourselves with touristy looking, but functional, hats and gloves. Then we went to the Heineken Experience which is what it sounds like. Mix of educational video clips, ‘rides’, and of course various taste testings. When we were done, we took a walk around to get a feel for the city (including the red light district which was filled with bored 20-something year old girls in bikinis just standings in windows and sometimes texting) and experienced some of Amsterdam’s culture. After relaxing inside for a little, it was pretty dark and still raining, so we headed home.
Allison and I stayed in a B&B on account of needing to sleep before our Sunday run, and got a glorious fluffy bed, sofa, kitchen and clean bathroom to ourselves. Heaven.
Amsterdam Day 2
On day 2 we had planned to go on a bike tour, and the weather cooperated with us surprisingly. We went to Mike’s Bike tour to find our hippy guide with dreads ready to go. Score. She was actually really knowledgeable and gave us a brief (very interesting) version of Amsterdam’s history before we started off on our 4 hour adventure. Highlights include: going to a cheese/clog factory in the Dutch countryside, complete with samples of course; seeing a windmill; going through Vondel Park; and of course biking along beautiful river boats, canals, reclaimed land, parks etc etc. We also got to be a part of Dutch culture by ringing our bells at stupid tourists (role reversal) and learned some super fun facts. Only 20% of Dutch people have tried weed (our guide didn’t try it until she went to Australia ironically enough), whereas 40% of Americans have; there is a biker’s union and a prostitute’s union in Amsterdam; the number one crime is bike theft; the city symbol is XXX (the connotation with porn came because porn was shipped through Amsterdam’s port and thus each box was stamped with XXX); and their first Dutch king was William of Orange. This is the (unfortunate) reason that the country loves orange. In my opinion, this is its only downfall…
After the countryside tour was finished, we walked into town and Allison and I saw the Anne Frank museum. This was also really interesting and something I truly enjoyed. The museum is incredible in the artifacts that it holds: a map on the wall where Otto Frank (Anne’s father) traced all of the Allied troops’ movement as they neared the Netherlands; marks on the wall showing the changes in height of the children; pictures/postcards that Anne had glued to her walls; Latin homework between Anne and her teacher (with corrections in red); documentation of the family members and their journey through concentration camps; and documentary footage of Otto Frank (the only one of the 8 living in the Secret Annex to survive) when the museum was completed. Powerful and educational. A must-see in Amsterdam.
Later we headed to Vondel Park to pick up our running packets for the race the next day!
Amsterdam Day 3: Race day whaddup
RACE DAYYYYY!!! After carbo-loading the night before with a homemade pasta dinner for 2 (romantic, eh?), I was ready to run. I met up with Lane and Rick McVey as we prepared to dominate the 8k course. We started at 10:30 just outside the Olympic Stadium, ran 8k through Vondel Park and Amsterdam city, and then finished on the Olympic Stadium Track. It was pretty awesome because it was my first race, I got to see Lane, I got to see a new city in a whole new way, and I got a medal! Sweeeeet. To make everything better, I finished in about 46 minutes which was under my goal time. All in all, very exciting
Then while Allison ran her ½ marathon, I shopped around Amsterdam and found some quite interesting things…
We met up again and headed to the airport where they stole my face lotion (I swear the bottle was not too big UGH), and obvi suffered delays because of strikes in France- how typical. But other than traveling woes, Amsterdam was an INCREDIBLE trip. Sorry this is absurdly long but seriously, what an amazing city.
ps. along with cheese, you gotta try stroopwaffels - DELISH- got free samples of cheese, chocolate, and these cookies at a store across from a coffee shop (typical) on a side street near Dam Square. ah-mazing
Monday, October 11, 2010
bloggin boredom
so right now i would like to be watching The Sound of Music via iTunes library, but alas my plans have been foiled and I cannot find it. I'm too afriad to try some random site becasue last time I did that, my computer crashed, and now I don't have the IT peepz of Penn at my disposale to fix it. ugh.
Since TSoM didn't work out, I decided that I wanted to watch Breakfast at Tiffanys. FOILED AGAIN! iTunes insists that I need to download a new version, which I have done about a total of 3 times now... still not working. F you technology.
So now I'm sitting in bed contemplating reading but notttt really feeling like it (I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this weekend on the bus from San Seb). My current boredom/hunger is about to make me book tickets to Barcelona for Halloween weekend though- pretty excitinggggggg!
sidenote- my goal for the week (aka Mon-Thurs) is to not eat bread, because I have eaten an absolutely absurd quantity since I've been here. It's worked so far, but led to a very bland lunch of ensalada mixta from the school cafeteria (gotta love being on a college budget and spending money on flights instead of food!). This will change once the weekend starts because I'm going to Amsterdam on Thursday for my race wheeee!
Since TSoM didn't work out, I decided that I wanted to watch Breakfast at Tiffanys. FOILED AGAIN! iTunes insists that I need to download a new version, which I have done about a total of 3 times now... still not working. F you technology.
So now I'm sitting in bed contemplating reading but notttt really feeling like it (I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this weekend on the bus from San Seb). My current boredom/hunger is about to make me book tickets to Barcelona for Halloween weekend though- pretty excitinggggggg!
sidenote- my goal for the week (aka Mon-Thurs) is to not eat bread, because I have eaten an absolutely absurd quantity since I've been here. It's worked so far, but led to a very bland lunch of ensalada mixta from the school cafeteria (gotta love being on a college budget and spending money on flights instead of food!). This will change once the weekend starts because I'm going to Amsterdam on Thursday for my race wheeee!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Prost! 2
Ok sooo the next day, we got up at 6:30 and were in line at the beer tents by 8am. Then we were basically herded (think cattle) into the tent. You have to get there super early because tents fill up very quickly and everyone is pushing and shoving each other and it's quite the scene. But we finally got in and got our first beer of the day at 9am. As Allison put it, Breakfast of Champions. Then essentially you sit at your table and continue drinking, standing up every so often when everyone starts to yell PROST and gets up on the benches, and also singing the tune of the chorus of the White Stripes song 'Seven Nation Army'. I still don't really understand why this is such a popular tune, but it was repeated multiple times on that weekend (and also curiously this past weekend when I was in San Sebastian...)
After staying in the tents until the afternoon, we went back to our hotel to take a much needed nap. We woke up and went back downtown for dinner etc
The third day, we thought we had to be at the airport earlier than we actually did, so we just walked around downtown more and explored and went to the airport. Hard to handle more than 2 days of Oktoberfest.
Fast forward through a fun week in Madrid, including a great trip to the Prado (which I thorougly enjoyed becasue we had an extremely knowledgable, though long-winded, tourguide named Pablo), botellon-ing in the street with 60cent boxed wine (define: class) and clubbing at Vanilla, and then taking a trip up to San Sebastian with Allison and Annie this weekend.
San Seb was absolutely beautifulll- we didn't dress appropriately for the 80 degree weather on the first day, but that was our only snag. Otherwise, we had a great time touring the city itself- walking up a hill to see a giant Jesus statue and beautiful views, visiting a sideria (inadvertently crashing what we decided was a 15 year old's birthday party) and also going up to the town of Hondarribia which is on the border between Spain and France. We walked around the old city there which was beautiful and ate some very fresh and delicious food. We also took a 5 minute (uneventful) trip across the border to France, basically to say we did and to see if there was anything interesting in the town (there wasn't). Then we went back to San Sebastian, took a nap, and decided to treat ourselves to a fancy pants dinner. It was SO GOOD. We ate a a restaurant called La Muralla and I HIGHLY recommend it. You can choose from two menus - 35E or 38E- and it includes starters, main courses, desserts, wine and coffee. San Sebastian is known for it's fabulous food, and we really got to experience it at La Muralla. I literally took pictures of every part of the meal (I'm sure the waiters judged me but whatever) so you can check that out on Facebook if you're interested. Seriously phenomenal, and a great change from the bland food that we're used to here in Spain.
After this wonderful meal, we went out in old city and hit up a few bars/a club. Turned out to be a really fun night- we made lots of friends (duhhhh), and Allison picked up a few husbands (and a possible job in France?) and we met a fellow American who gave us some good club tips.
The next day (Sunday), it rained, but we just went tapas hopping and caught our bus at 4pm (after sleeping in of course) so it wasn't too much of a problem.
All in all a really great weekend. Allison and I are definitely sad to see Annie go though!
After staying in the tents until the afternoon, we went back to our hotel to take a much needed nap. We woke up and went back downtown for dinner etc
The third day, we thought we had to be at the airport earlier than we actually did, so we just walked around downtown more and explored and went to the airport. Hard to handle more than 2 days of Oktoberfest.
Fast forward through a fun week in Madrid, including a great trip to the Prado (which I thorougly enjoyed becasue we had an extremely knowledgable, though long-winded, tourguide named Pablo), botellon-ing in the street with 60cent boxed wine (define: class) and clubbing at Vanilla, and then taking a trip up to San Sebastian with Allison and Annie this weekend.
San Seb was absolutely beautifulll- we didn't dress appropriately for the 80 degree weather on the first day, but that was our only snag. Otherwise, we had a great time touring the city itself- walking up a hill to see a giant Jesus statue and beautiful views, visiting a sideria (inadvertently crashing what we decided was a 15 year old's birthday party) and also going up to the town of Hondarribia which is on the border between Spain and France. We walked around the old city there which was beautiful and ate some very fresh and delicious food. We also took a 5 minute (uneventful) trip across the border to France, basically to say we did and to see if there was anything interesting in the town (there wasn't). Then we went back to San Sebastian, took a nap, and decided to treat ourselves to a fancy pants dinner. It was SO GOOD. We ate a a restaurant called La Muralla and I HIGHLY recommend it. You can choose from two menus - 35E or 38E- and it includes starters, main courses, desserts, wine and coffee. San Sebastian is known for it's fabulous food, and we really got to experience it at La Muralla. I literally took pictures of every part of the meal (I'm sure the waiters judged me but whatever) so you can check that out on Facebook if you're interested. Seriously phenomenal, and a great change from the bland food that we're used to here in Spain.
After this wonderful meal, we went out in old city and hit up a few bars/a club. Turned out to be a really fun night- we made lots of friends (duhhhh), and Allison picked up a few husbands (and a possible job in France?) and we met a fellow American who gave us some good club tips.
The next day (Sunday), it rained, but we just went tapas hopping and caught our bus at 4pm (after sleeping in of course) so it wasn't too much of a problem.
All in all a really great weekend. Allison and I are definitely sad to see Annie go though!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Prost!
firstly, i hate how everyone's album title or blog thing or status or whathaveyou is "prost!" upon their return from Oktoberfest. But it's just very iconic (and easy to pronounce/spell), making it very popular among the americans who visit Oktoberfest. Because I have no german skills whatsoever, I too will call my blog 'prost'.
Anyway, I have to be short-winded in this blog because I'm about to go botellon/go clubbing so my time is pretty tight. Oktoberfest was muchhhhh bigger/better than I imagined. For some reason, when i heard about 'beer tents', i legitimately thought people went to tents. Not like camping tents but like circus tents or something. i dont know, this sounds silly now but whatever that's what i thought. However, when i got to Oktoberfest, i found that the 'tents' were more like 'temporary buildings' (though i guess that 'beer temporary buildings' doesn't really have a good ring to it...) and they were hugeeee. The first day we got there later so we went to a beergarden/ outside of the tents for a more relaxed atmosphere. It was really fun and we met our first german friend, Peter. Peter gave us lots of good advice (even though his girlfriend did not appreciate him chatting with us), so that was quite helpful. He was also wearing leiderhosen (germans ACTAULLY wear leiderhosen and drindle dresses to oktoberfest- staring at them NEVER got old) and he explained to us that they wear it on like national holidays/festivals... or at least i think that's what he was trying to convey... his english wasn't too good and he kept apologizing for it, but he was really great. He gave us suggestions about where to eat and other tips about the festival too (which is like a GIANT carnival with lots of beer tents, tons of food, games and rides- and PEOPLE).
Following Peter's advice, we headed downtown to Marianplatz (sp?) for dinner. We ate at a traditional Bavarian restaurant (hello meat and potatoes) and met some Jewish Germans who forced us to take these shots (tasted GROSS) and force drank us (yes Hope, i just recoined the infamous phrase) Kosher red wine, which was actually quite good. They also proceeded to force feed us dinner number 2 (since our massive pork knuckles, saurkraut, and mashed potato piles weren't enough), which consisted of veinershnitzel (sp?) and fries. really good buttt then the guys started to get creepy (they were 40+ but whatever, right?) and so we ran for the hills before our dessert came.
ok so this is like half of oktoberfest but i have to go now, however since i know you all are DYINGGG to hear more from me (thanks for all the comments...notttt), im gonna post it unfinished. stay tuned for part two.
Anyway, I have to be short-winded in this blog because I'm about to go botellon/go clubbing so my time is pretty tight. Oktoberfest was muchhhhh bigger/better than I imagined. For some reason, when i heard about 'beer tents', i legitimately thought people went to tents. Not like camping tents but like circus tents or something. i dont know, this sounds silly now but whatever that's what i thought. However, when i got to Oktoberfest, i found that the 'tents' were more like 'temporary buildings' (though i guess that 'beer temporary buildings' doesn't really have a good ring to it...) and they were hugeeee. The first day we got there later so we went to a beergarden/ outside of the tents for a more relaxed atmosphere. It was really fun and we met our first german friend, Peter. Peter gave us lots of good advice (even though his girlfriend did not appreciate him chatting with us), so that was quite helpful. He was also wearing leiderhosen (germans ACTAULLY wear leiderhosen and drindle dresses to oktoberfest- staring at them NEVER got old) and he explained to us that they wear it on like national holidays/festivals... or at least i think that's what he was trying to convey... his english wasn't too good and he kept apologizing for it, but he was really great. He gave us suggestions about where to eat and other tips about the festival too (which is like a GIANT carnival with lots of beer tents, tons of food, games and rides- and PEOPLE).
Following Peter's advice, we headed downtown to Marianplatz (sp?) for dinner. We ate at a traditional Bavarian restaurant (hello meat and potatoes) and met some Jewish Germans who forced us to take these shots (tasted GROSS) and force drank us (yes Hope, i just recoined the infamous phrase) Kosher red wine, which was actually quite good. They also proceeded to force feed us dinner number 2 (since our massive pork knuckles, saurkraut, and mashed potato piles weren't enough), which consisted of veinershnitzel (sp?) and fries. really good buttt then the guys started to get creepy (they were 40+ but whatever, right?) and so we ran for the hills before our dessert came.
ok so this is like half of oktoberfest but i have to go now, however since i know you all are DYINGGG to hear more from me (thanks for all the comments...notttt), im gonna post it unfinished. stay tuned for part two.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Annie comes to visit!
I am veryyy excited because one of my close friends from Penn, the one and only Annie Bellis, has finally arrived in Madrid!
Upon her arrival, after eating lunch and walking around, we decided to go to a bull fight with some of the other girls. This decision was quite an interesting one seeing as I absolutely hate blood and am not a big fan of violence. I saw it as one of those "things you have to do in Spain", like see flamenco dancers, or go the visit la Alhambra. Well, I was wrong. You really REALLY don't HAVE to go see a bullfight. Luckily, this one was cheap (becasue they were killing baby bulls, depressing right??) so I didn't feel bad when I had to leave after only about 30 minutes since I was so sick to my stomach. I actually started tearing up in the Plaza de los Toros (I'm ridiculous, I know, judge me) but it was so sad seeing these stupid people on horseback stabbing baby bulls. The matadors were kinda cool to watch when they were like doing tricks and making the bulls run in circles, but then when they were stabbing bulls in the neck, they stopped being so cool. The whole crowd also got like really into it, including a 10year old boy sitting behind me, which just made the situation worse. But we left early and got a drink so that made the day a little better.
ANYWAY, onto happier news: we just finished our first exam and now we're home free for the weekend, which many of us (people on my program) are spending at oktoberfest!!
I'm pretty pumped for this weekend because i've obviously heard a lot about it, and when else am i going to get to experience such a fratty scene? Luckily there isn't much to see in Munich, so we won't feel too bad pushing tourism to the wayside while trying to experience the 'culture' of the infamous festival.
Upon her arrival, after eating lunch and walking around, we decided to go to a bull fight with some of the other girls. This decision was quite an interesting one seeing as I absolutely hate blood and am not a big fan of violence. I saw it as one of those "things you have to do in Spain", like see flamenco dancers, or go the visit la Alhambra. Well, I was wrong. You really REALLY don't HAVE to go see a bullfight. Luckily, this one was cheap (becasue they were killing baby bulls, depressing right??) so I didn't feel bad when I had to leave after only about 30 minutes since I was so sick to my stomach. I actually started tearing up in the Plaza de los Toros (I'm ridiculous, I know, judge me) but it was so sad seeing these stupid people on horseback stabbing baby bulls. The matadors were kinda cool to watch when they were like doing tricks and making the bulls run in circles, but then when they were stabbing bulls in the neck, they stopped being so cool. The whole crowd also got like really into it, including a 10year old boy sitting behind me, which just made the situation worse. But we left early and got a drink so that made the day a little better.
ANYWAY, onto happier news: we just finished our first exam and now we're home free for the weekend, which many of us (people on my program) are spending at oktoberfest!!
I'm pretty pumped for this weekend because i've obviously heard a lot about it, and when else am i going to get to experience such a fratty scene? Luckily there isn't much to see in Munich, so we won't feel too bad pushing tourism to the wayside while trying to experience the 'culture' of the infamous festival.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Valencia
Seriously I just wrote about Valencia TWO DIFFERENT TIMES AND MY BLOG WON'T POST IT. mierda. this is annoying
In short: Valencia is on the eastern coast of Spain and is the 3rd largest city in the country, even though it doesn't feel like it. We got there early Saturday and went to the largest market in Europe (or the world, i forget) which was really cool, and then spent the day at the beach which was beautifulll- great weather.
For dinner, a lot of people on my program were there, so the majority of us ate together at this paella restaurant (Valencia is the birthplace of paella)- DELISH. Afterwards, we headed to a bar for some obligatory chupitos (shots), agua de valencia (orange juice, cava, and various other alcohols) and sangria. Then onto a club called Las Animas de la Playa which was a 2 story outdoor club that was pretty fun once the night got started (like 2 hours after we came... getting used to Spanish time is a process)
The next day, needless to say, we were quite tired but still toured the Church of Valencia and the Miguelete (very peaceful and beautiful), and walked to la Ciudad de las Ciencias y las Artes (really cool architecture)
After two long days, we were home around 12:30 for some much needed sleep. This blog is really boring/sounds like the trip wasn't that fun, but it was GREAT because so many people from the program were there and the weather was perrrrfect both days. I'm just too lazy to detail more/ honestly if my blog messes up again I'm gonna break something.
My upcoming week will be pretty tame because I need to save up my energy for next weekend- OKTOBERFEST!
In short: Valencia is on the eastern coast of Spain and is the 3rd largest city in the country, even though it doesn't feel like it. We got there early Saturday and went to the largest market in Europe (or the world, i forget) which was really cool, and then spent the day at the beach which was beautifulll- great weather.
For dinner, a lot of people on my program were there, so the majority of us ate together at this paella restaurant (Valencia is the birthplace of paella)- DELISH. Afterwards, we headed to a bar for some obligatory chupitos (shots), agua de valencia (orange juice, cava, and various other alcohols) and sangria. Then onto a club called Las Animas de la Playa which was a 2 story outdoor club that was pretty fun once the night got started (like 2 hours after we came... getting used to Spanish time is a process)
The next day, needless to say, we were quite tired but still toured the Church of Valencia and the Miguelete (very peaceful and beautiful), and walked to la Ciudad de las Ciencias y las Artes (really cool architecture)
After two long days, we were home around 12:30 for some much needed sleep. This blog is really boring/sounds like the trip wasn't that fun, but it was GREAT because so many people from the program were there and the weather was perrrrfect both days. I'm just too lazy to detail more/ honestly if my blog messes up again I'm gonna break something.
My upcoming week will be pretty tame because I need to save up my energy for next weekend- OKTOBERFEST!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Spain, finally!
So now that I'm a little more settled in my new casa en Madrid, I decided I should blog! Aren't you all so excited!? There aren't too many exciting events to write about ... yet ... but I'll detail just a few.
In my program, we live with host families. My family is made up of two sisters who are probably in their mid-70s (not married, no kids) and a niece who is 21 but she's currently with her boyfriend living in England and I think is coming back in October. Anyway, their names are Concha (short for Concepcion) and Paloma and they're too cute. Everything with them is great so far, except I can't understand half of what they say, but hopefully that'll change soon.
I arrived on Wednesday and had a chill night of unpacking and bonding (aka watching the gameshow Pasapalabras with my senoras and not understanding anything on TV). The next day we had our first orientation session at the new school, so it was nice to see everyone in my program, and also speak English. yesss. We took a test (mehhh) and then everyone went out to do errands/kill time before going home to our families.
Much later (12), people were trying to make plans to go out but those got kind of messy so the group ended up kind of splitting up. Anyway, I went out with a few people (in the POURING rain) to a club called Joy in Plaza del Sol which is pretty central. It was a pretty big club and so crowded with people. We made our way around the dance floor and to the stage and then went upstairs for a different scene. We even saw a bride who I guess was having her wedding after party there (interesting choice as there were dancers on stage and a cage in the middle of the dance floor, but that's just my opinion).
Then this Portuguese guy came up to use and asked us if we had "seen a shoe, a heel". we accused him of using a pick-up line, but he had no idea what this was, so we ended up chatting with him. Soon his friends came over and we were all talking to these really interesting international people from Portugal, Germany, Venezuela and more. They gave us tips on places to go, and we of course asked them about their respective countries and their semesters in Spain. We ended up talking for a while, but I was so exhausted by 4:30 that we left the club (early).
The next morning, after 4 hours of sleep, I was quite tired. But alas, we had more orientation stuff- got our schedules and did a walking tour of the city center for 3 hours. We didn't eat lunch until 3:30 and needless to say, all of us were STARVING. Good thing the tapas were delish. I had a couple of glasses of Sangria so between the walking and the Sangria, I was ready for a serious siesta upon my arrival at the apartment. 2 hours later I was a happy camper. I woke up and went for a run before returning home to shower and have dinner. No one really made moves to go out/ things got messy again, but it was alright to relax.
Today is Saturday, so Allison and I just toured around the city center more, went to the park and went shopping. Tonight for sure we'll all go out sooo I'm sure we'll find some excellent fiestas! Sorry this was kind of boring, but more stories later! Oktoberfest is approaching...
Sidenote: one thing I forgot to include about Rome is Allison and my failed attempted to get into the Vatican. The guards decided that our shorts were too short to enter- harsh.
In my program, we live with host families. My family is made up of two sisters who are probably in their mid-70s (not married, no kids) and a niece who is 21 but she's currently with her boyfriend living in England and I think is coming back in October. Anyway, their names are Concha (short for Concepcion) and Paloma and they're too cute. Everything with them is great so far, except I can't understand half of what they say, but hopefully that'll change soon.
I arrived on Wednesday and had a chill night of unpacking and bonding (aka watching the gameshow Pasapalabras with my senoras and not understanding anything on TV). The next day we had our first orientation session at the new school, so it was nice to see everyone in my program, and also speak English. yesss. We took a test (mehhh) and then everyone went out to do errands/kill time before going home to our families.
Much later (12), people were trying to make plans to go out but those got kind of messy so the group ended up kind of splitting up. Anyway, I went out with a few people (in the POURING rain) to a club called Joy in Plaza del Sol which is pretty central. It was a pretty big club and so crowded with people. We made our way around the dance floor and to the stage and then went upstairs for a different scene. We even saw a bride who I guess was having her wedding after party there (interesting choice as there were dancers on stage and a cage in the middle of the dance floor, but that's just my opinion).
Then this Portuguese guy came up to use and asked us if we had "seen a shoe, a heel". we accused him of using a pick-up line, but he had no idea what this was, so we ended up chatting with him. Soon his friends came over and we were all talking to these really interesting international people from Portugal, Germany, Venezuela and more. They gave us tips on places to go, and we of course asked them about their respective countries and their semesters in Spain. We ended up talking for a while, but I was so exhausted by 4:30 that we left the club (early).
The next morning, after 4 hours of sleep, I was quite tired. But alas, we had more orientation stuff- got our schedules and did a walking tour of the city center for 3 hours. We didn't eat lunch until 3:30 and needless to say, all of us were STARVING. Good thing the tapas were delish. I had a couple of glasses of Sangria so between the walking and the Sangria, I was ready for a serious siesta upon my arrival at the apartment. 2 hours later I was a happy camper. I woke up and went for a run before returning home to shower and have dinner. No one really made moves to go out/ things got messy again, but it was alright to relax.
Today is Saturday, so Allison and I just toured around the city center more, went to the park and went shopping. Tonight for sure we'll all go out sooo I'm sure we'll find some excellent fiestas! Sorry this was kind of boring, but more stories later! Oktoberfest is approaching...
Sidenote: one thing I forgot to include about Rome is Allison and my failed attempted to get into the Vatican. The guards decided that our shorts were too short to enter- harsh.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
The story of Yossi (or, our trip to Ios) and then some
ok sooo i blogged a while ago but do to the status of the hostels we have been staying in, I have not had internet. Luckily I wouldn't have really had time to use it if I had it anyway.
So I'll recap a little on the various places I've been since my last blog.
Firstly, more on Ios. Unfortunately our night out in Ios started on a sad note. We bought 3E white wine at the market (whyyy isn't it this cheap in the states!?) and were gonna crack it open post-dinner. Our plans were foiled when we realized we had no bottle opener- rookie mistake. Though Allison tried to google ways to open it, we failed miserably. We decided instead of continuing on this miserable path, we would just go to Fun Pub to find our Australian 'friends' from our hostel. We got there and it was quite a scene (mostly of Australians), but then all of a sudden everyone left at like 12. Weird? Yes. We were very confused/ upset because 1. we had not seen our Australians, 2. we had not seen the giant Jenga set, and 3. we had not taken obligatory shots of ouzo.
LUCKILY when we were leaving the pub with the crowd, Allison essentially ran into oncoming traffic/ right into another Australian guy. He informed her that it would maybe be a good idea to look before she crossed the street...details... then we obvi started chatting it up with him (accent, enough said.) and he told us of the ATVs he and his 4 Aussie friends had rented, and the yacht that they also had rented. He proceeded to invite us onto said yacht after the night's festivities. This turn of events was a complete 180 from the cork mishap an hour earlier. We were very enthusiastic about this journey and continued to talk to our new friend. We got on the topic of our lack of experience with ouzo and he insisted on buying us shots. perfect. So we wandered back into Fun Pub (saw the giant Jenga but unfortuantely did not get to play- I trust that it was fun/ I'm jealous that you got to try it Becky... we should all return to Ios to play a round together) and us + Australians took shots together. Apparently you're not supposed to use your hands but the 3 of us failed at that. Oh well. Upon realizing that ouzo is absolutely vile (see ya later Owen, I agree with Suz), we left the bar (with Australians of course) and headed up the hill to go to the other bars/clubs.
There, we made a fatal mistake and wandered RIGHT INTO YOSSI'S ARMS. ugh. He semi-attacked us and dragged us into his (empty) bar. Needless to say, the Australians were not into Yossi's 'scene' and went on to bigger and better adventures. Allison appropriately dubbed this "yacht block". grr.
Still, Yossi bought us shots and made us drinks and we chatted with him for a little before he returned to working the crowds outside. So we left his bar and tried to look for our yacht-ing friends, to no avail. We bounced from club to club but ended up going home earlier than the typical 7am night in Ios because apparently the clubs were like shutting down the next day. Who knew that party season in Ios ended?! ...Return trip soon anybody??
So that's basically Ios (this blog is running long and I'm rambling so I'm going to consolidate more). Then Allison and I moved on to Santorini while Kristina left for Edinburgh. Nothing too bloggable happened in Santorini- we wished that we had had a couple more days there because it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we were sad to leave. We had dinner and breakfast with an amazing view, lounged on black beaches, and saw more donkeys (YESSS). When I upload pictures, I'll post some on here because the view was stunning.
Then onto Rome wheee! Allison flew out much earlier than I did, but when I finally got there around 5, I met up with her and Noah! Exciting to see another Penn face. We did all the normal touristy stuff, spent lots of time people watching, and ate some seriously tastey gelato. Unfortunately Julie we did not get to go out in Rome :( BUT when we all travel to Ios, we can fly to Rome after! Perhaps I'll start planning a summer trip...
That's all for now. We're waiting in the airport in Rome currently and moving on to Madrid. So the next time I write, I will have met my familia! !que emocionada! (check me out, I'm sooo good at spanish already)
So I'll recap a little on the various places I've been since my last blog.
Firstly, more on Ios. Unfortunately our night out in Ios started on a sad note. We bought 3E white wine at the market (whyyy isn't it this cheap in the states!?) and were gonna crack it open post-dinner. Our plans were foiled when we realized we had no bottle opener- rookie mistake. Though Allison tried to google ways to open it, we failed miserably. We decided instead of continuing on this miserable path, we would just go to Fun Pub to find our Australian 'friends' from our hostel. We got there and it was quite a scene (mostly of Australians), but then all of a sudden everyone left at like 12. Weird? Yes. We were very confused/ upset because 1. we had not seen our Australians, 2. we had not seen the giant Jenga set, and 3. we had not taken obligatory shots of ouzo.
LUCKILY when we were leaving the pub with the crowd, Allison essentially ran into oncoming traffic/ right into another Australian guy. He informed her that it would maybe be a good idea to look before she crossed the street...details... then we obvi started chatting it up with him (accent, enough said.) and he told us of the ATVs he and his 4 Aussie friends had rented, and the yacht that they also had rented. He proceeded to invite us onto said yacht after the night's festivities. This turn of events was a complete 180 from the cork mishap an hour earlier. We were very enthusiastic about this journey and continued to talk to our new friend. We got on the topic of our lack of experience with ouzo and he insisted on buying us shots. perfect. So we wandered back into Fun Pub (saw the giant Jenga but unfortuantely did not get to play- I trust that it was fun/ I'm jealous that you got to try it Becky... we should all return to Ios to play a round together) and us + Australians took shots together. Apparently you're not supposed to use your hands but the 3 of us failed at that. Oh well. Upon realizing that ouzo is absolutely vile (see ya later Owen, I agree with Suz), we left the bar (with Australians of course) and headed up the hill to go to the other bars/clubs.
There, we made a fatal mistake and wandered RIGHT INTO YOSSI'S ARMS. ugh. He semi-attacked us and dragged us into his (empty) bar. Needless to say, the Australians were not into Yossi's 'scene' and went on to bigger and better adventures. Allison appropriately dubbed this "yacht block". grr.
Still, Yossi bought us shots and made us drinks and we chatted with him for a little before he returned to working the crowds outside. So we left his bar and tried to look for our yacht-ing friends, to no avail. We bounced from club to club but ended up going home earlier than the typical 7am night in Ios because apparently the clubs were like shutting down the next day. Who knew that party season in Ios ended?! ...Return trip soon anybody??
So that's basically Ios (this blog is running long and I'm rambling so I'm going to consolidate more). Then Allison and I moved on to Santorini while Kristina left for Edinburgh. Nothing too bloggable happened in Santorini- we wished that we had had a couple more days there because it is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we were sad to leave. We had dinner and breakfast with an amazing view, lounged on black beaches, and saw more donkeys (YESSS). When I upload pictures, I'll post some on here because the view was stunning.
Then onto Rome wheee! Allison flew out much earlier than I did, but when I finally got there around 5, I met up with her and Noah! Exciting to see another Penn face. We did all the normal touristy stuff, spent lots of time people watching, and ate some seriously tastey gelato. Unfortunately Julie we did not get to go out in Rome :( BUT when we all travel to Ios, we can fly to Rome after! Perhaps I'll start planning a summer trip...
That's all for now. We're waiting in the airport in Rome currently and moving on to Madrid. So the next time I write, I will have met my familia! !que emocionada! (check me out, I'm sooo good at spanish already)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Arriving in Ios
We left plenty of time to get down to the port from our Athens hostel, but of course there was construction on the subway lines and we had to backtrack/waste about 30 minutes attempting to get to the port. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare, but got to sleep a little on the Ferry (despite a screaming child acting like a monkey that Kristina and I almost killed).
We got to our hotel in Ios and found that it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Thanks for the suggestion Becky McClain!! Not only is it only 13.50E, but it has a pool, wifi, incredibly friendly guests, and beautiful décor. After unloading our stuff, we headed down to the beautiful beach and got to see all the pretty white and blue houses along the way. This is the Greece I imagined.
This island’s claim to fame is its HUGE party scene. Apparently bars and clubs stay open until 4ish, at which time people flood the streets dancing until 7am. Not really sure if this actually happens, but you better believe we’re going to find out. We’ve already been invited to go to “Fun Pub” by some Aussie’s (accents, YES PUHLEASE) that are staying here (apparently it’s ‘really fun’… hence the name… and there’s a giant Jenga set- sweeeet) and also to go to a place called “Kou Bar” (sp??) by our friend Yossi from the beach (the guy who made us pay for our beach chairs but then chatted us up because he was originally from Miami). After sleeping for four hours at the beach, we’re ready to see what Ios nightlife is all about.
Other Things:
1. Greek is an alien language. I don’t understand it at all.
2. I haven’t found Kostos, but I’m still looking- why was Lena so lucky? At least there are lots of Australians here which is equally as wonderful.
3. I just went on a run and went down a dirt path at one point (sooo adventurous right??) and saw a Donkey! I think it was stuck. It started braying at me. We weren’t friends.
I’ll probably blog tomorrow before we leave this wonderful place to give updates on what is sure to be a memorable, or not so memorable, night (Justttttt kidding mom and dad…).
We got to our hotel in Ios and found that it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Thanks for the suggestion Becky McClain!! Not only is it only 13.50E, but it has a pool, wifi, incredibly friendly guests, and beautiful décor. After unloading our stuff, we headed down to the beautiful beach and got to see all the pretty white and blue houses along the way. This is the Greece I imagined.
This island’s claim to fame is its HUGE party scene. Apparently bars and clubs stay open until 4ish, at which time people flood the streets dancing until 7am. Not really sure if this actually happens, but you better believe we’re going to find out. We’ve already been invited to go to “Fun Pub” by some Aussie’s (accents, YES PUHLEASE) that are staying here (apparently it’s ‘really fun’… hence the name… and there’s a giant Jenga set- sweeeet) and also to go to a place called “Kou Bar” (sp??) by our friend Yossi from the beach (the guy who made us pay for our beach chairs but then chatted us up because he was originally from Miami). After sleeping for four hours at the beach, we’re ready to see what Ios nightlife is all about.
Other Things:
1. Greek is an alien language. I don’t understand it at all.
2. I haven’t found Kostos, but I’m still looking- why was Lena so lucky? At least there are lots of Australians here which is equally as wonderful.
3. I just went on a run and went down a dirt path at one point (sooo adventurous right??) and saw a Donkey! I think it was stuck. It started braying at me. We weren’t friends.
I’ll probably blog tomorrow before we leave this wonderful place to give updates on what is sure to be a memorable, or not so memorable, night (Justttttt kidding mom and dad…).
Ancient Athenians Must Have Had Really Good Legs
THERE ARE SO MANY HILLS. Jeezzz. The first one I encountered was right after I got off the bus from the airport. What a debacle. My flight got in at 2pm and after for traveling for over 20 hours, I was exhausted. After waiting for 2 hours for a bus that was supposed to come every 20 minutes, someone mentioned to me that the transit workers in Greece were on strike. Super. I found out that the buses weren’t going to start running until around 4:00, and cab rides to the main city center (Syntagma Square) would be over 60E. Two people approached me, asked me if I was alone, and then subsequently offered to share a cab with me. At first, I thought this was a great idea. However, flashbacks of the movie Taken came rushing into my head, and it was clear that these people were probably going to kidnap me in the cab. So I avoided going with them. Stupid. The bus didn’t come until about 5pm – after 3 hours of standing waiting- and when it did come, the overflow of traffic caused a literal mob scene of people slamming up against the bus and packing it probably 3x capacity. I was one of the last to get on the bus and legit almost went into hysterics. Luckily I was too tired.
I got to the (kinda sketchy) hostel and went out to grab a bite (authentic chicken souvlaki yummm), then got lost for an hour as it started to get dark, and finally found my way back. Allison (Norman) and Kristina (Harter)- my travel buddies- arrived circa 3am because one of their flights got delayed. Yikes.
Needless to say they were tired the next day, but we all rallied to wake up at 8:30 and get going on the ancient sights. We hiked the hill up to the Acropolis and walked around the Parthenon and erechtheum, temples, and theaters. It was really hot and steep, but pretty sweet. Then we walked down to the Agora (marketplace) and got some more ancient dust on our feet. hawt. I wish I remembered more information from my History of Ancient Greece class (amazinggg, I highly recommend it), but alas most of McInerney’s lecture points escaped me. After walking around the ancient sights, we headed to the new Ancient Acropolis Museum which was phenomenal.
Quick lunch break (Greek Salad and pita, so delicious) and then we shopped around a little before heading to Lykavittos hill. Great, more steep slopes. Allison had read that it provided a spectacular view of the acropolis and the metropolis of Athens at sunset, so we decided to take on the challenge of climbing the “hill” (re: cliff). It was definitely worth it. Beautiful sunset, and a nice rest at the top. My legs better be dayum good after this. My calves are yelling at me.
On the way down my legs felt like jelly and were shaking but it was fine. We had dinner near our hostel and got free wine while watching some authentic Greek dancers at the restaurant next door. It was perfect. Then they got Bakalava and I got asked if I was a cheerleader? Gotta love American stereotypes.
Then we headed home to sleep until our 5:30am wakeup call for our early ferry to the island of Ios.
I got to the (kinda sketchy) hostel and went out to grab a bite (authentic chicken souvlaki yummm), then got lost for an hour as it started to get dark, and finally found my way back. Allison (Norman) and Kristina (Harter)- my travel buddies- arrived circa 3am because one of their flights got delayed. Yikes.
Needless to say they were tired the next day, but we all rallied to wake up at 8:30 and get going on the ancient sights. We hiked the hill up to the Acropolis and walked around the Parthenon and erechtheum, temples, and theaters. It was really hot and steep, but pretty sweet. Then we walked down to the Agora (marketplace) and got some more ancient dust on our feet. hawt. I wish I remembered more information from my History of Ancient Greece class (amazinggg, I highly recommend it), but alas most of McInerney’s lecture points escaped me. After walking around the ancient sights, we headed to the new Ancient Acropolis Museum which was phenomenal.
Quick lunch break (Greek Salad and pita, so delicious) and then we shopped around a little before heading to Lykavittos hill. Great, more steep slopes. Allison had read that it provided a spectacular view of the acropolis and the metropolis of Athens at sunset, so we decided to take on the challenge of climbing the “hill” (re: cliff). It was definitely worth it. Beautiful sunset, and a nice rest at the top. My legs better be dayum good after this. My calves are yelling at me.
On the way down my legs felt like jelly and were shaking but it was fine. We had dinner near our hostel and got free wine while watching some authentic Greek dancers at the restaurant next door. It was perfect. Then they got Bakalava and I got asked if I was a cheerleader? Gotta love American stereotypes.
Then we headed home to sleep until our 5:30am wakeup call for our early ferry to the island of Ios.
Monday, September 6, 2010
The Final Countdown
Firstly, I apologize for the lame title of this blog. Instead of following Molly Otto's advice to "make a witty title" I probably chose the blandest (is that a word?) title ever. But whatever, I'm over it.
So tomorrow I leave for Greece which is SO weird. I feel like I've talked about going to Madrid for so long that it's just seemed really distant, like it would never actually happen. Surprise, it's happening. Part of me is sad to leave Philly after visiting for a few days, and part of me is, of course, really excited to be studying abroad. The thing I'm most nervous about is my (at least perceived) lack of Spanish skills. I tried to brush up using Rosetta Stone and watching Pan's Labyrinth, but I'm pretty sure both of those endeavors failed. Although I did learn how to say "full moon" (la luna llena) which they repeat about 100 times in the movie, and also how to say 'turn left' (gire a la izquierda) which they repeat about 1,000 on Rosetta, I don't remember a lot of the conjugations and vocab. I think I'll look through my Spanish notebook later... ughh back to schoolwork already.
My other main concern is my luggage. I am a notoriously TERRIBLE packer so this has pretty much sucked. I think I'm just hitting the limit for my suitcase, but I've kind of accepted the fact that I'll have to pay some overweight charges. It's better to pack too much than forget something in my opinion. So my day today will pretty much consist of packing and repacking and freaking out that I'm forgetting something. Should be pretty great. Maybe taking a nap too because I'm suree that I won't be able to sleep tonight. Let the adventures begin!
So tomorrow I leave for Greece which is SO weird. I feel like I've talked about going to Madrid for so long that it's just seemed really distant, like it would never actually happen. Surprise, it's happening. Part of me is sad to leave Philly after visiting for a few days, and part of me is, of course, really excited to be studying abroad. The thing I'm most nervous about is my (at least perceived) lack of Spanish skills. I tried to brush up using Rosetta Stone and watching Pan's Labyrinth, but I'm pretty sure both of those endeavors failed. Although I did learn how to say "full moon" (la luna llena) which they repeat about 100 times in the movie, and also how to say 'turn left' (gire a la izquierda) which they repeat about 1,000 on Rosetta, I don't remember a lot of the conjugations and vocab. I think I'll look through my Spanish notebook later... ughh back to schoolwork already.
My other main concern is my luggage. I am a notoriously TERRIBLE packer so this has pretty much sucked. I think I'm just hitting the limit for my suitcase, but I've kind of accepted the fact that I'll have to pay some overweight charges. It's better to pack too much than forget something in my opinion. So my day today will pretty much consist of packing and repacking and freaking out that I'm forgetting something. Should be pretty great. Maybe taking a nap too because I'm suree that I won't be able to sleep tonight. Let the adventures begin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)