I am now on the second week back to school at Baylor and missing Madrid. I had world geography today,(remember my Belgium incident? Belgium=country) which is a necessary class for me, but studying the European countries brings back fantastic memories and gives me the desire to see so much more of the world that i was unable to see in four short months. Austria, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy... There is SO much to see!
My last night in Madrid I pulled an all--nighter. All of the SLU students had one last good night at Dubliner's, a good place to say our goodbyes. Max was saying "another, another!" all night while Stephanie and I were saying goodbye to everyone but each other for fear of crying (which we did.) Much dancing and "cheers to friendship, cheers to Madrid!" was going on in between the "keep in touch!" and "I will miss you!" The night ended once again with our last and favorite 24 hour pizza place in Puerta del Sol and at 6:30 a.m. I decided it was time to go home and finish up packing so I could catch my flight. I showered, began packing, and Senora came down frantically telling us we needed to hurry. I ended up throwing out quite a bit, and giving this single mother who lives below us many shoes and clothes not just becuase I have a "good heart!" but also out of fear of paying another $500 in luggage fees. I accidentally still had my Bailey's bottle that I bought for myself on my 21st back in October (some drinker I am) and shoved it in my bag so Senora wouldn't get the wrong idea (I ended up leaving it on an airport bathroom counter? someone's lucky day?). Lindsey, Amy, and I brought our luggage down with Senora and waited for taxis. Dona perfecta (Lindsey) left first and then I followed after a tearful goodbye with Mama Espana (After an all-nighter emotions were high). It was extremely sad. Through bloodshot eyes I said goodbye to Madrid's beautiful streets, plazas, and tall buildings and then fell asleep for a good two and a half minutes before arriving to the airport. There were a few students I recognized on the group flight, but I mainly chatted (in between brief naps) with a business man who travels all over the world.
Luggage costs weren't bad. I was proud, especially becuase I bought a final pair of fantastic blue boots on my way home from my last final on Tuesday (situation: I had bought a blue scarf at rastro, so I HAD to buy something to match it!). In Chicago, the luggage man cut me a break and didn't charge me overweight costs and complimented me on my European "look" instead (I thought he was gay until he reached over the counter to squeeze my side. too much?) In Chicago I immediately went to Chili's for ranch dressing and my first legal margarita. The meal was heavenly and it felt so good to be in America (even though I accidentally started speaking Spanish to the first person I ran into).
Christmas break was fantastic, but short, and I miss my family terribly already being in Waco. I am happy to say that I had Qdoba every single day it was open that I was home in Colorado.
Now that I am back in Waco, at Baylor, I feel restless and like there is so much more out there to do and see. I plan on studying in New York City in the spring of next year through another program that Baylor does.
While it is good to see old faces, I miss the ones of Madrid, and I miss the genuine friendships created throughout the experience. I have kept in touch with many of the people, and ironically ran into one of my friends who goes to Wakeforest at a Qdoba in Dallas on New Year's. Small world.
I am so blessed. Madrid was the best decision I have made this far, and I am a better person becuase of it. "Madrid has my heart forever."
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Monday, December 20, 2010
I don't like goodbyes, but I LOVE happy endings!
TWO DAYS until I leave this beautiful country. Sad, yes. I kind of wish I could have an extra day or two to hang out without the stress of exams. I've been so stressed out that I've had to go to the bars and discotecas the past four nights! (ha) Friday night my roomates and I stressfully tried on eighteen outfits each. Our house dynamic is so fun, it really has been excellent living with these four gals. Katie left early, so it was just us four friday night. Caryn left Sunday morning, and then there were three... We all are incredibly different, and would most likely never have met or been so close if we had gone to the same school. I love experiences like this, out of my comfort zone, meeting incredible people in the most incredible circumstances.
So Friday we all headed over to the wake boys' apartment for their last pre party bash. I brought my flip camera, and so there were pledge of allegiances, spontaneous guitar concerts, even more spontaneous dance moves, and "interviews" occurring. We traveled to Kapital that night, the door man gave me free drink vouchers por supuesto! I will truly miss this discoteca! Seven floors of fun, and they were PACKED. We all had a great time dancing on the main floor, and ended the night with the 24 hour pizza place that is only appealing at 6am. I made it home with someone else's jacket and will be giving it to Senora's African friend. I hope they aren't cold... Saturday Amylita and I walked to San Miguel market. We stopped for extra large pastries at the oldest pastry shop in Spain on the way to the market-my face, clothes, boots, and hands were covered in marshmellow cream. San Miguel market is fantastic and Amy and I had euro sushi, vino rosado, and cheese. There are food stands (sushi, croquetas, cheese, tacos,tapas, wine, desserts) and little shops. It is always crowded, and always a great time. People just float from stand to stand sampling food and wine and standing at these little tables enveloped in conversation. Lively atmosphere. Amy and I then ventured to the Christmas market in Plaza Mayor. It was pretty cheesy to be honest, and a let-down after Prague's adorable Christmas markets, but one funny aspect about Madrid's market is they sell really bright wigs and outrageous hats. SO many people buy them and wear them. of ALL ages and nationalities-not just tourists. The past two weeks there have been hundreds of people walking around with large Christmas hats, pink curly wigs, mohawk wigs, large sunglasses. It is a SITE.
Dinner with Senora was quite charming, as both of her grandchildren came to visit and decorated the tree while we were eating dinner. We sang Christmas carols, played the piano, and told Christmas stories after we were finished eating. Senora told a story about the pine tree, the tree of amor, and a pajarito. Her grandchildren were absolutely precious.
That night Stephanie's family came into town, and I was so happy to meet them. They are AMAZING people. We went to a bar and decided to go to another one, but somehow only Spencer, Stephanie's brother, and I made it to this bar, becuase Stephanie's mom and sister Jill became MIA after an unfortunate laughing incident. And so Stephanie and her papa "Mr. Madrid" went to go look for them and Spencer and I visited with our dear old friend the bartender. He remembered Stephanie's dad, Stephanie, and I from when we did our own pub crawl the last time Mr. Clark came to visit in November. Generous man. After an hour or two Spencer and I met back up with Steph and Jill and headed to Joy. It was a short lived clubbing experience. I got lost from the group first, Spencer got lost second, and I ended up walking/taxi ing home. Still a fantastic evening, minus flying onto my roomates bed in the dark while running to the restroom in the middle of the night.
Sunday was my last rastro experience, and a successful one at that. Mom, I bought you five scarves. I found a fantastic leather black jacket that makes me look much cooler than I am.
Sunday night I had dinner with Stephanie's family at a paella restaurant, La Barraca I believe was the name. The conversation was great, and the family is trying to marry me off to Spencer so I'll be a part of their family. Hilarious. We had a delicious "Baked Alaska" dessert which was like a meringue, ice cream, whipped cream combo. Apparently it was supposed to be like a melting glacier because they lit it on fire before they served it to us. Cool presentation. I like fire? After dinner Spencer, Jill, Steph and I walked to Sol, ran into Jonathon (our FANTASTIC Spanish friend) and went to a few bars. Jonathon is so stylish and wore his favorite red "trousers," a very sophisticated jacket and a scarf. European men can totally get away with wearing anything. Well, at least Jona can. Jill picked up five Colombians who came along with us. I told one of them Spencer is my future husband so he would stay more than four inches away from my face? It was a GREAT night full of dancing, stealing peoples' french fries, and jamming out to Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, and Spice Girls. There was a little bit of Flamenco music in there so Jona told me how to pretend like I'm picking an apple, eating it, then throwing it away! and that is the Flamenco dance. We didn't get in until about 6am again and so I just stayed in the hotel with them. Stephanie and I are quite used to sharing a tiny twin bed. Steph's mom and I grabbed coffee in the morning for everyone and today is devoted to studying for my last final. Stephanie's parents are trying to get me to go to Italy with them for Christmas! Stephanie's family are the most fantastic people, and I love seeing the sibling interaction, they all are so close, protective, and great friends. such caring, fun, and genuine people. I reallllly enjoy being around them! However, I believe my family would not be pleased if I ditched them Christmas day... I'll be back Europe!
I have my last abdominales class tonight, had my last kebab today, and will have my last cena with senora tonight as I will probably be out n about Tuesday night with Stephanie and my new family for the week. Then I leave Wednesday morning! I cannot believe this experience is coming to its end...
I do not like goodbyes. However, I do LOVE happy endings!
So Friday we all headed over to the wake boys' apartment for their last pre party bash. I brought my flip camera, and so there were pledge of allegiances, spontaneous guitar concerts, even more spontaneous dance moves, and "interviews" occurring. We traveled to Kapital that night, the door man gave me free drink vouchers por supuesto! I will truly miss this discoteca! Seven floors of fun, and they were PACKED. We all had a great time dancing on the main floor, and ended the night with the 24 hour pizza place that is only appealing at 6am. I made it home with someone else's jacket and will be giving it to Senora's African friend. I hope they aren't cold... Saturday Amylita and I walked to San Miguel market. We stopped for extra large pastries at the oldest pastry shop in Spain on the way to the market-my face, clothes, boots, and hands were covered in marshmellow cream. San Miguel market is fantastic and Amy and I had euro sushi, vino rosado, and cheese. There are food stands (sushi, croquetas, cheese, tacos,tapas, wine, desserts) and little shops. It is always crowded, and always a great time. People just float from stand to stand sampling food and wine and standing at these little tables enveloped in conversation. Lively atmosphere. Amy and I then ventured to the Christmas market in Plaza Mayor. It was pretty cheesy to be honest, and a let-down after Prague's adorable Christmas markets, but one funny aspect about Madrid's market is they sell really bright wigs and outrageous hats. SO many people buy them and wear them. of ALL ages and nationalities-not just tourists. The past two weeks there have been hundreds of people walking around with large Christmas hats, pink curly wigs, mohawk wigs, large sunglasses. It is a SITE.
Dinner with Senora was quite charming, as both of her grandchildren came to visit and decorated the tree while we were eating dinner. We sang Christmas carols, played the piano, and told Christmas stories after we were finished eating. Senora told a story about the pine tree, the tree of amor, and a pajarito. Her grandchildren were absolutely precious.
That night Stephanie's family came into town, and I was so happy to meet them. They are AMAZING people. We went to a bar and decided to go to another one, but somehow only Spencer, Stephanie's brother, and I made it to this bar, becuase Stephanie's mom and sister Jill became MIA after an unfortunate laughing incident. And so Stephanie and her papa "Mr. Madrid" went to go look for them and Spencer and I visited with our dear old friend the bartender. He remembered Stephanie's dad, Stephanie, and I from when we did our own pub crawl the last time Mr. Clark came to visit in November. Generous man. After an hour or two Spencer and I met back up with Steph and Jill and headed to Joy. It was a short lived clubbing experience. I got lost from the group first, Spencer got lost second, and I ended up walking/taxi ing home. Still a fantastic evening, minus flying onto my roomates bed in the dark while running to the restroom in the middle of the night.
Sunday was my last rastro experience, and a successful one at that. Mom, I bought you five scarves. I found a fantastic leather black jacket that makes me look much cooler than I am.
Sunday night I had dinner with Stephanie's family at a paella restaurant, La Barraca I believe was the name. The conversation was great, and the family is trying to marry me off to Spencer so I'll be a part of their family. Hilarious. We had a delicious "Baked Alaska" dessert which was like a meringue, ice cream, whipped cream combo. Apparently it was supposed to be like a melting glacier because they lit it on fire before they served it to us. Cool presentation. I like fire? After dinner Spencer, Jill, Steph and I walked to Sol, ran into Jonathon (our FANTASTIC Spanish friend) and went to a few bars. Jonathon is so stylish and wore his favorite red "trousers," a very sophisticated jacket and a scarf. European men can totally get away with wearing anything. Well, at least Jona can. Jill picked up five Colombians who came along with us. I told one of them Spencer is my future husband so he would stay more than four inches away from my face? It was a GREAT night full of dancing, stealing peoples' french fries, and jamming out to Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys, and Spice Girls. There was a little bit of Flamenco music in there so Jona told me how to pretend like I'm picking an apple, eating it, then throwing it away! and that is the Flamenco dance. We didn't get in until about 6am again and so I just stayed in the hotel with them. Stephanie and I are quite used to sharing a tiny twin bed. Steph's mom and I grabbed coffee in the morning for everyone and today is devoted to studying for my last final. Stephanie's parents are trying to get me to go to Italy with them for Christmas! Stephanie's family are the most fantastic people, and I love seeing the sibling interaction, they all are so close, protective, and great friends. such caring, fun, and genuine people. I reallllly enjoy being around them! However, I believe my family would not be pleased if I ditched them Christmas day... I'll be back Europe!
I have my last abdominales class tonight, had my last kebab today, and will have my last cena with senora tonight as I will probably be out n about Tuesday night with Stephanie and my new family for the week. Then I leave Wednesday morning! I cannot believe this experience is coming to its end...
I do not like goodbyes. However, I do LOVE happy endings!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
The week countdown begins...
SEVEN days until I return to the states. Funny enough my extremely long travel in the sense of time will only happen to take about four or five hours because I'm going back into time eight hours. So star trek.
I just took my first of four finals about half an hour ago; my last one is 24 hours before my flight home so the last week I get in Spain is devoted to studying and rekindling my passion for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I had two large final papers, one of which I presented to my political communications class yesterday and during my presentation said "yada, yada, yada." I've never said this phrase in my life, so why did I think it was appropriate for its premier to be in front of an audience? After my presentation my teacher stopped class and announced that my paper was "the most distinguished of the final papers" and well written. I was that student. Gold star. Little did anyone know I wrote that "churnalism" paper ten hours before it was due, which if you know what churnalism is, is quite ironic. Success. Sidenote: the I'm gay and republican asked to dim the lights for his presentation because he was having a bad hair day.
My other paper I procrastinated a bit harder for eight hours before deadline and only picked analyzying Hillary and Bill Clinton's marriage as my topic becuase a picture of him popped up on the internet? Studious intellectual?
The procrastination is because of this weekend. I went to a little bar with my roommates down the street one night, walked home after and the kebab man opened up his closed shop for my roommate and I after 2 am becuase I'm a regular. That may be embarrassing. I wandered the streets of Bilbao and Fuencarral in and out of shops one day becuase it's the easiest place perhaps in the entire world to lose yourself and get distracted. This was my first attempt though to walk to the Christmas market in Plaza Mayor (there's apparently cute little booths in the middle of the square) but literally the streets had THOUSANDS of people in Sol and the surrounding area of Plaza Mayor, so while mosh pitting was fun for about an hour, reaching the market was unsuccessful. I've never seen so many people in my life. Neither have you, truly.
Sunday the addiction of traveling to Rastro market took over and I indulged on more scarves. My mom called and said to buy more so this Sunday will follow suit. Sunday night I met up with Stephanie, Steven, and Mike (who is a hilarious man that goes to Baylor). Stephanie finally got her belly button pierced, followed by a few Spanish curse words, and then we were all off to the Kesha concert that night. It was semi short, apparently she was so drunk she had to end the concert early? Rumor has it at least? She had a few "groupies" following her onstage like a fifteen year old entourage which was odd (I'm thinking they were either her back up dancers or current "BFFs"), but other than that I was dancing and singing like I was right onstage following her around too. The only things I lost at the concert was my stockings and socks? After the concert us four walked around and found a...surprise! an open kebab place. Seeing a trend? I'm glad I'm forced to take public transportation aka walk everywhere.
And so, this busy weekend forced me to stay awake for all but maybe nine hours of the past seventy-two.
Still keeping up my fitnesssss. I will truly miss my little gym down the street once this week commences. I ran out of membership and so the lady gave me my last two n a half weeks for free. WHAT a gem. My abdominales has kept me consistently sore, and our last class we had to do "couples' exercises." All the hombres usually have their "spot" on one side of the room and the mujeres have their place on the other. Creatures of habit. Unofficially assigned mat placements. However, our trainer man told us we had to match up with a boy, wrap our legs together and do this awkard sit up thing while looking at them. A little intimate? My chosen exercise partner was like a Ricky Martin with shaved legs. Not a terrible experience. I was a social butterfly at the gym that day. Met someone from the states after the line, "I was like wow when I saw your thighs" was presented as an opening line. Not a particularly good choice for him. Another seventy year old asked me if all Americans are as beautiful as me and he would love to go to the states. I'm not quite sure if I should be flattered or mortified from these experiences.
I was walking home the other day and the drunk guys that always hang out in our plaza kicked their soccer ball my way. Well I have skills from back in the day so I stopped it and kicked it back pretty adequately in my high heels (AND in cobblestone, mind you). I decided to take a break and played futbol with them for a bit and then they started making fun of my American accent so I left. They said (through their vodka laden breath) that I sounded like a duck who swallows my words. I said I play better futbol in high heels than they do.
What's funny is my senora was making fun of American accents maybe a month ago (the same night she trolled on Asians for like TWENTY uncomfortable minutes) and she said American's talk out of the side of their mouth and swallow their words too. I'm just fitting the mold i guess.
Senora has categorized us. Linsdey is Dona Perfecta. She is beautiful, intelligent, organized, and clean. She is so multi-faceted that she will be able to marry someday, unlike the rest of us. Every day Senora walks into our apartment, "Lindsey?" Everyday. It is true though (the multi-faceted, not the marriage situation). Lindsey is a gem. Caryn is the lucky one with red hair, like a leprechaun. We all think Senora didn't know Caryn's name until about a month and a half into the semester. Amy is the funny one and most improved player when it comes to this learning Spanish kind of thing. I LOVE Amy's sarcasm. It's one of the only things we have in common, but we get along because of it quite nicely. Katie is unclassified? I'm the guapa one that doesn't sleep and goes to the gym too much. I will never get married becuase I don't make my bed in the morning and will occassionally leave an article of clothing on the ground. Failure.
It still is hard to take in that I have been living in a foreign country for four months. The amount I have grown as an individual from exposure to cultures and different situations, people, and countries is invaluable and unattainable from any other experience. And next semester I'll be spending weekends partying in friends basements, or studying of course, instead of traveling to Prague, Amsterdam, England, Ireland, Portugal, or France?
I just took my first of four finals about half an hour ago; my last one is 24 hours before my flight home so the last week I get in Spain is devoted to studying and rekindling my passion for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
I had two large final papers, one of which I presented to my political communications class yesterday and during my presentation said "yada, yada, yada." I've never said this phrase in my life, so why did I think it was appropriate for its premier to be in front of an audience? After my presentation my teacher stopped class and announced that my paper was "the most distinguished of the final papers" and well written. I was that student. Gold star. Little did anyone know I wrote that "churnalism" paper ten hours before it was due, which if you know what churnalism is, is quite ironic. Success. Sidenote: the I'm gay and republican asked to dim the lights for his presentation because he was having a bad hair day.
My other paper I procrastinated a bit harder for eight hours before deadline and only picked analyzying Hillary and Bill Clinton's marriage as my topic becuase a picture of him popped up on the internet? Studious intellectual?
The procrastination is because of this weekend. I went to a little bar with my roommates down the street one night, walked home after and the kebab man opened up his closed shop for my roommate and I after 2 am becuase I'm a regular. That may be embarrassing. I wandered the streets of Bilbao and Fuencarral in and out of shops one day becuase it's the easiest place perhaps in the entire world to lose yourself and get distracted. This was my first attempt though to walk to the Christmas market in Plaza Mayor (there's apparently cute little booths in the middle of the square) but literally the streets had THOUSANDS of people in Sol and the surrounding area of Plaza Mayor, so while mosh pitting was fun for about an hour, reaching the market was unsuccessful. I've never seen so many people in my life. Neither have you, truly.
Sunday the addiction of traveling to Rastro market took over and I indulged on more scarves. My mom called and said to buy more so this Sunday will follow suit. Sunday night I met up with Stephanie, Steven, and Mike (who is a hilarious man that goes to Baylor). Stephanie finally got her belly button pierced, followed by a few Spanish curse words, and then we were all off to the Kesha concert that night. It was semi short, apparently she was so drunk she had to end the concert early? Rumor has it at least? She had a few "groupies" following her onstage like a fifteen year old entourage which was odd (I'm thinking they were either her back up dancers or current "BFFs"), but other than that I was dancing and singing like I was right onstage following her around too. The only things I lost at the concert was my stockings and socks? After the concert us four walked around and found a...surprise! an open kebab place. Seeing a trend? I'm glad I'm forced to take public transportation aka walk everywhere.
And so, this busy weekend forced me to stay awake for all but maybe nine hours of the past seventy-two.
Still keeping up my fitnesssss. I will truly miss my little gym down the street once this week commences. I ran out of membership and so the lady gave me my last two n a half weeks for free. WHAT a gem. My abdominales has kept me consistently sore, and our last class we had to do "couples' exercises." All the hombres usually have their "spot" on one side of the room and the mujeres have their place on the other. Creatures of habit. Unofficially assigned mat placements. However, our trainer man told us we had to match up with a boy, wrap our legs together and do this awkard sit up thing while looking at them. A little intimate? My chosen exercise partner was like a Ricky Martin with shaved legs. Not a terrible experience. I was a social butterfly at the gym that day. Met someone from the states after the line, "I was like wow when I saw your thighs" was presented as an opening line. Not a particularly good choice for him. Another seventy year old asked me if all Americans are as beautiful as me and he would love to go to the states. I'm not quite sure if I should be flattered or mortified from these experiences.
I was walking home the other day and the drunk guys that always hang out in our plaza kicked their soccer ball my way. Well I have skills from back in the day so I stopped it and kicked it back pretty adequately in my high heels (AND in cobblestone, mind you). I decided to take a break and played futbol with them for a bit and then they started making fun of my American accent so I left. They said (through their vodka laden breath) that I sounded like a duck who swallows my words. I said I play better futbol in high heels than they do.
What's funny is my senora was making fun of American accents maybe a month ago (the same night she trolled on Asians for like TWENTY uncomfortable minutes) and she said American's talk out of the side of their mouth and swallow their words too. I'm just fitting the mold i guess.
Senora has categorized us. Linsdey is Dona Perfecta. She is beautiful, intelligent, organized, and clean. She is so multi-faceted that she will be able to marry someday, unlike the rest of us. Every day Senora walks into our apartment, "Lindsey?" Everyday. It is true though (the multi-faceted, not the marriage situation). Lindsey is a gem. Caryn is the lucky one with red hair, like a leprechaun. We all think Senora didn't know Caryn's name until about a month and a half into the semester. Amy is the funny one and most improved player when it comes to this learning Spanish kind of thing. I LOVE Amy's sarcasm. It's one of the only things we have in common, but we get along because of it quite nicely. Katie is unclassified? I'm the guapa one that doesn't sleep and goes to the gym too much. I will never get married becuase I don't make my bed in the morning and will occassionally leave an article of clothing on the ground. Failure.
It still is hard to take in that I have been living in a foreign country for four months. The amount I have grown as an individual from exposure to cultures and different situations, people, and countries is invaluable and unattainable from any other experience. And next semester I'll be spending weekends partying in friends basements, or studying of course, instead of traveling to Prague, Amsterdam, England, Ireland, Portugal, or France?
Saturday, December 11, 2010
From Christmas lights to red lights...Prague and Amsterdam.
Welllll my life has been a blur the past week. give or take four months.
Thursday night was my dance performance for salsa. I bought special black heels to go with the shiny plastic gold dress (which I actually thought was kind of cute, but I think my style is way off of average perspective). It was my roomate Caryn's birthday, so we had a party in the locker room (complete with bags of chips and drinks) before the performance to get our salsa mentality into full swing. The actual performance was a lot of fun. I started out doing the bachata with four other gals...we were front, center, and unfortunately the main event of that song. Then I danced the salsa with Chris. He's very nice and doesn't suck, have sweaty hands, or step on my feet so he's above par for my class. Of course I messed up a few moves, and of course that mess up was the only clip from our performance that made it into the "Salsa 2010" video. Really? But I definately had the biggest smile onstage...pulling out new moves, people just couldn't keep up.
Friday morning Stephanie and I got on our 6:30am flight to Eindhoven for a layover. We landed and had no idea what country we were in, but for future reference, Eindhoven is located in the south of the Netherlands. We flew to Prague and very conveniently met up with Ari, Micheal, and Nick in the airport who we were staying with in the same hostel room. Our hostel was FANTASTIC. Legitimately felt luxurious compared to what I'm used to. Private bathroom, hot shower, down comforter. Bliss. Our first night in Prague we had a delicious Czech dinner. I had goulash, like beef stew, dumplings, and good ole czech beer. Our table had a picture of our waiter framed in the middle, it was odd but makes sense? Otakar the waiter. We wandered around the numerous Christmas markets and tried hot wine and honey almonds. That night we went out to a few bars and ended at a club where our guy friends got in a fight <<onstage>> (for emphasis) for legitimately fifteen minutes becuase some guy chatted up Stephanie. Boys are oh so strong and protective. I fled the scene after the entertainment of it died down. The next morning we went on a fantastic tour led by our pothead tour guide. He was HILARIOUS and every other word was a curse word, but really, I learned a lot. We saw Prague's pride and joy, the famous midieval astronomical clock in the main square that was built in 1410 and has an hourly show with figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures. The main square had an unbelieveably beautiful Christmas tree that had lights that looked like gleaming icicles surrounded by an adorable Christmas market with hot food (brats, hot wine, goulash, roasted chestnuts, rolled cinnamin bread) and hand made Prague souveniers. We toured Prague's Jewish quarter (called Josefov) which dates back to the 13th century when Jews were forced to vacate their homes and settle in one area. There was a phenomenal musuem that Stephanie and I went in later (Pinkas Synagogue built in 1535) which houses the exhibit, "Children's drawings from Terezin 1942-44). This emotionally wrenching exhibit houses 4,000 original drawings of the 10,000 prisoners under the age of 15 in Terezin (they weren't all on exhibit). Only 242 kids survived. Mind blowing. It was so sad to see despair in many pictures. But it was incredible to see such joy and hope in others. There was a teacher that gathered the resources for children in Terezin to be able to draw pictures becuase she wanted to take away some of the pain and bring happiness through art. (This would be Mrs. Hardy, a teacher of mine from high school, back in the day!!) It was incredibly moving, especially when I read a poem from an eleven year old boy, near death, yet still praising God and the strength of his Jewish people. How lucky I am living in today. We saw a beautfiul Spanish synagogue built in Moorish style which is the oldest Prague Jewish house of Prayer. We got kicked out for taking pictures. Stupid tourists.
After our tour on Saturday we signed up for a pub crawl and got a free beer n t-shirt that says "crawl with me" haha. hmmm. We met some guy that works for Lego and travels the world for his job. He lost my jacket at one of the bars. Swell guy. The first bar we went to had a man who screamed and called it music who was the entertainment. I politely asked him if I could karaoke Britney Spears but apparently he owned the place and had an agenda. We mistaked one bar for a strip club, walk in, walk out, terrifying. I had to buy a hot dog off the street vendor the forget about that place. Our group got seperated from "the group" and we asked a variety of taxi drivers before we found "Northern Europe's Largest Club!" The club is five stories with different music on each floor, smoke doors, spotlights to stand and dance on, dance floors made of colorful lights, and a light show in a seperate balcony type room. There were balconies to dance on lining each dance floor and cages that I was not a part of. Definately competitive with Madrid clubs. One floor literally was labeled, "Black Music." Why does America get singled out for being racist and intolerant?
The next day the boys left and Steph and I wandered around shops and Christmas markets. Largest success of the day: fur hat purchase. That night was St. Nicholas Eve and there were holiday events going on in Old Town Square that Steph and I watched from a great restaurant. On St. Nicholas Eve people dress up as Mikulas (St. Nicholas), angels, and devils. While the angel is a creature of good, the devil acts as a reminder for children to behave throughout the year to ensure that they will be given treats on St. Nicholas Eve and not stuffed in his sack and sent to Hell. What a holiday to bring in the Christmas cheer. Terrifying. Apparently I've been great this year becuase I made it out alive. Besides binge eating on market food and faceplanting in the snow while simultaneously losing my camera, the night was simply fantastic.
Waking up with Bohemian Bagel in the morning was blissful. Steph and I then went up to Prague castle and wandered around the grounds, briefly being attacked my Asian tourists. We asked them to take a picture of us, and then one popped in our picture from the group whilst relaying their camera to another person. By the time the photo shoot ended we had taken about twenty or so different pictures complete with thumb ups and peace signs. Hilarious. The castle grounds overlooked all of Prague so that was very pretty, especially becuase the town was covered in a pretty blanket of white and it began to snow yet again. To get to the castle we had walked over Charles Bridge and stopped at the John Lennon Wall. This wall was graffiti'd by Lennon in the 1980's with lyrics of Beatles songs and since has been painted over and over again with pictures and saying symbolizing peace and hippy loveeeee.
Tuesday our flight was delayed to Amsterdam for hoursss. and so Stephanie and I hung out in the airport with some people going to Amsterdam as well and had a few drinks. When we arrived three hours behind schedule we went to a coffee shop on the way to our hostel. People were using plastic bags aka vaporizers to smoke weed and the place was run by a long haired man who had not been sober in years. We ordered a latte (really Mom, it was a latte) off of the "Less Interesting Menu: We used to sell coffee, but now we only sell drugs." A 60 year old Californian business man dressed in a very expensive suit with the biggest smile and smallest eyes I've ever seen was chatting us up at the "420 Cafe." Small world story, I ran into Alex, Stephanie's cousin that we stayed with in Barcelona in our hostel. He had gone there for a vacay of relaxation and happened to be there the same dates, in the same hostel. We met up with the Wake Forest boys and walked around Red Light District complete with lingerie clad women in windows lit up with red lights knocking on the windows and "Sex Shows, Come on In!" places in between those. Oh, and coffee shops. The sex show signs were in the shape of a banana. I'm really upset someone told me why that is. Amsterdam is an interesting place. What was really strange was the whole town was barren at about 1am. Our hostel was the hopping place to be, "The Flying Pig." It had a smoking lounge with a giant bed, a dance floor/bar, and a pool table surrounded by couches. And all the people that I feel like would appreciate the John Lennon wall even more than I did.
Wednesday morning may have been the greatest morning ever. We ate at this breakfast cafe that had trees and vines and purple lights surrounding the interior. It was like a Rainforest Cafe without the wierd robotic animals. Pancakes are officially the greatest thing.
The rest of the day consisted of us walking to the main sights we wanted to see, but getting cold so we'd stop in a coffee shop and eat food. We had about eight meals in total that day. When it's cold, what are ya gonna do. Cheesecake muffins, Thai pan beef, pancakes, french fries with garlic and ketchup (but really its great), donuts, kebabs, lots and lots of coffee. Solution.
Alex, Steph, and I toured the Anne Frank House which was a really well put together musuem that her father, Otto Frank created as he was the only surviving one of the hidden group. Anne's diary quotes on the walls, all of the rooms were furnished, the secret bookcase was open, and it was well worth seeing, but very sad, of course. I just need to read the book now! Later we went to the amazing Van Gogh musuem. I absolutely loved seeing his paintings that he accomplished in the ten years before his suicide. Fabulous style. He created over 2000 artworks in ten years! There were also Monet paintings among other well-known artists. So amazing to see the originals.
Of course our flight was delayed to Madrid. I fell asleep on the plane, woke up two and a half hours later excited that we were on the ground, I had slept the whole time! False, we hadn't even left yet. Something about snow and crashing kept us grounded. Amateurs.
Excellent trip to end my European tour on... now finals, would love to just skip them and fly home?
Thursday night was my dance performance for salsa. I bought special black heels to go with the shiny plastic gold dress (which I actually thought was kind of cute, but I think my style is way off of average perspective). It was my roomate Caryn's birthday, so we had a party in the locker room (complete with bags of chips and drinks) before the performance to get our salsa mentality into full swing. The actual performance was a lot of fun. I started out doing the bachata with four other gals...we were front, center, and unfortunately the main event of that song. Then I danced the salsa with Chris. He's very nice and doesn't suck, have sweaty hands, or step on my feet so he's above par for my class. Of course I messed up a few moves, and of course that mess up was the only clip from our performance that made it into the "Salsa 2010" video. Really? But I definately had the biggest smile onstage...pulling out new moves, people just couldn't keep up.
Friday morning Stephanie and I got on our 6:30am flight to Eindhoven for a layover. We landed and had no idea what country we were in, but for future reference, Eindhoven is located in the south of the Netherlands. We flew to Prague and very conveniently met up with Ari, Micheal, and Nick in the airport who we were staying with in the same hostel room. Our hostel was FANTASTIC. Legitimately felt luxurious compared to what I'm used to. Private bathroom, hot shower, down comforter. Bliss. Our first night in Prague we had a delicious Czech dinner. I had goulash, like beef stew, dumplings, and good ole czech beer. Our table had a picture of our waiter framed in the middle, it was odd but makes sense? Otakar the waiter. We wandered around the numerous Christmas markets and tried hot wine and honey almonds. That night we went out to a few bars and ended at a club where our guy friends got in a fight <<onstage>> (for emphasis) for legitimately fifteen minutes becuase some guy chatted up Stephanie. Boys are oh so strong and protective. I fled the scene after the entertainment of it died down. The next morning we went on a fantastic tour led by our pothead tour guide. He was HILARIOUS and every other word was a curse word, but really, I learned a lot. We saw Prague's pride and joy, the famous midieval astronomical clock in the main square that was built in 1410 and has an hourly show with figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures. The main square had an unbelieveably beautiful Christmas tree that had lights that looked like gleaming icicles surrounded by an adorable Christmas market with hot food (brats, hot wine, goulash, roasted chestnuts, rolled cinnamin bread) and hand made Prague souveniers. We toured Prague's Jewish quarter (called Josefov) which dates back to the 13th century when Jews were forced to vacate their homes and settle in one area. There was a phenomenal musuem that Stephanie and I went in later (Pinkas Synagogue built in 1535) which houses the exhibit, "Children's drawings from Terezin 1942-44). This emotionally wrenching exhibit houses 4,000 original drawings of the 10,000 prisoners under the age of 15 in Terezin (they weren't all on exhibit). Only 242 kids survived. Mind blowing. It was so sad to see despair in many pictures. But it was incredible to see such joy and hope in others. There was a teacher that gathered the resources for children in Terezin to be able to draw pictures becuase she wanted to take away some of the pain and bring happiness through art. (This would be Mrs. Hardy, a teacher of mine from high school, back in the day!!) It was incredibly moving, especially when I read a poem from an eleven year old boy, near death, yet still praising God and the strength of his Jewish people. How lucky I am living in today. We saw a beautfiul Spanish synagogue built in Moorish style which is the oldest Prague Jewish house of Prayer. We got kicked out for taking pictures. Stupid tourists.
After our tour on Saturday we signed up for a pub crawl and got a free beer n t-shirt that says "crawl with me" haha. hmmm. We met some guy that works for Lego and travels the world for his job. He lost my jacket at one of the bars. Swell guy. The first bar we went to had a man who screamed and called it music who was the entertainment. I politely asked him if I could karaoke Britney Spears but apparently he owned the place and had an agenda. We mistaked one bar for a strip club, walk in, walk out, terrifying. I had to buy a hot dog off the street vendor the forget about that place. Our group got seperated from "the group" and we asked a variety of taxi drivers before we found "Northern Europe's Largest Club!" The club is five stories with different music on each floor, smoke doors, spotlights to stand and dance on, dance floors made of colorful lights, and a light show in a seperate balcony type room. There were balconies to dance on lining each dance floor and cages that I was not a part of. Definately competitive with Madrid clubs. One floor literally was labeled, "Black Music." Why does America get singled out for being racist and intolerant?
The next day the boys left and Steph and I wandered around shops and Christmas markets. Largest success of the day: fur hat purchase. That night was St. Nicholas Eve and there were holiday events going on in Old Town Square that Steph and I watched from a great restaurant. On St. Nicholas Eve people dress up as Mikulas (St. Nicholas), angels, and devils. While the angel is a creature of good, the devil acts as a reminder for children to behave throughout the year to ensure that they will be given treats on St. Nicholas Eve and not stuffed in his sack and sent to Hell. What a holiday to bring in the Christmas cheer. Terrifying. Apparently I've been great this year becuase I made it out alive. Besides binge eating on market food and faceplanting in the snow while simultaneously losing my camera, the night was simply fantastic.
Waking up with Bohemian Bagel in the morning was blissful. Steph and I then went up to Prague castle and wandered around the grounds, briefly being attacked my Asian tourists. We asked them to take a picture of us, and then one popped in our picture from the group whilst relaying their camera to another person. By the time the photo shoot ended we had taken about twenty or so different pictures complete with thumb ups and peace signs. Hilarious. The castle grounds overlooked all of Prague so that was very pretty, especially becuase the town was covered in a pretty blanket of white and it began to snow yet again. To get to the castle we had walked over Charles Bridge and stopped at the John Lennon Wall. This wall was graffiti'd by Lennon in the 1980's with lyrics of Beatles songs and since has been painted over and over again with pictures and saying symbolizing peace and hippy loveeeee.
Tuesday our flight was delayed to Amsterdam for hoursss. and so Stephanie and I hung out in the airport with some people going to Amsterdam as well and had a few drinks. When we arrived three hours behind schedule we went to a coffee shop on the way to our hostel. People were using plastic bags aka vaporizers to smoke weed and the place was run by a long haired man who had not been sober in years. We ordered a latte (really Mom, it was a latte) off of the "Less Interesting Menu: We used to sell coffee, but now we only sell drugs." A 60 year old Californian business man dressed in a very expensive suit with the biggest smile and smallest eyes I've ever seen was chatting us up at the "420 Cafe." Small world story, I ran into Alex, Stephanie's cousin that we stayed with in Barcelona in our hostel. He had gone there for a vacay of relaxation and happened to be there the same dates, in the same hostel. We met up with the Wake Forest boys and walked around Red Light District complete with lingerie clad women in windows lit up with red lights knocking on the windows and "Sex Shows, Come on In!" places in between those. Oh, and coffee shops. The sex show signs were in the shape of a banana. I'm really upset someone told me why that is. Amsterdam is an interesting place. What was really strange was the whole town was barren at about 1am. Our hostel was the hopping place to be, "The Flying Pig." It had a smoking lounge with a giant bed, a dance floor/bar, and a pool table surrounded by couches. And all the people that I feel like would appreciate the John Lennon wall even more than I did.
Wednesday morning may have been the greatest morning ever. We ate at this breakfast cafe that had trees and vines and purple lights surrounding the interior. It was like a Rainforest Cafe without the wierd robotic animals. Pancakes are officially the greatest thing.
The rest of the day consisted of us walking to the main sights we wanted to see, but getting cold so we'd stop in a coffee shop and eat food. We had about eight meals in total that day. When it's cold, what are ya gonna do. Cheesecake muffins, Thai pan beef, pancakes, french fries with garlic and ketchup (but really its great), donuts, kebabs, lots and lots of coffee. Solution.
Alex, Steph, and I toured the Anne Frank House which was a really well put together musuem that her father, Otto Frank created as he was the only surviving one of the hidden group. Anne's diary quotes on the walls, all of the rooms were furnished, the secret bookcase was open, and it was well worth seeing, but very sad, of course. I just need to read the book now! Later we went to the amazing Van Gogh musuem. I absolutely loved seeing his paintings that he accomplished in the ten years before his suicide. Fabulous style. He created over 2000 artworks in ten years! There were also Monet paintings among other well-known artists. So amazing to see the originals.
Of course our flight was delayed to Madrid. I fell asleep on the plane, woke up two and a half hours later excited that we were on the ground, I had slept the whole time! False, we hadn't even left yet. Something about snow and crashing kept us grounded. Amateurs.
Excellent trip to end my European tour on... now finals, would love to just skip them and fly home?
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Death by Irish Hamburger.
Since I have four days of "rest" (aka homework galore and still not sleeping poor, poor body) in between my Paris and Prague trips...
I went to Ireland last weekend with Stephanie (surprise, surprise) and we met her friend Deck there who is a doctor that she met when she was volunteering in Haiti this past summer (Stephanie is wonder woman with the kindest heart.) We flew into Dublin and immediately located a bagel shop aka heaven with cream cheese (Spain doesn't believe in bagels). I blended into the airport's crowd with my leopard print suitcase and even brighter leopard print jacket (false). We piled into Deck's car and he drove us to Galway on the wrong side of the street the whole way (aka the "right" way legally but who are we kidding here). Galway is a quaint, adorable little town and that night we ventured into a packed out Christmas market. That night they lit the Christmas tree up and everyone cheered. On cue, it started snowing. The market was quite crowded and had interesting stands including one that sold hamburgers with wild animal meat from all over the world. Kangaroo hamburger, impala hamburger...yum? We decided to pass that up for a more healthier indulgence of a powder sugared cranberry deep fried Danish donut. Success. We wandered into an Irish pub for our first taste of famous Irish cider and then we rallied and went to the Ireland v. Scotland rugby game. The crowd was INSANE. They were yelling Irish curse words and slang, screaming at the ref, the players, drinking "hot whiskey" (literally whiskey with hot water and lemon-yuck), and Stephanie and I were learning words that will never be used in real life. Ireland lost in literally the last minute becuase of the kicker. Bummer. We stopped in another pub after the game and got free cider that was included with our rugby ticket. Speed dating was going on upstairs in the bar and I ran into a gal who was ditching her current bachelor #8 and hiding in the bathroom. Was only a little tempted to try out an alter ego and participate.
The next day we drove to the cliffs of Moher, a finalist for the seven wonders of the world. They were outstandingly beautiful and completely worth the drive through the country side. On our way out we passed by several little cute towns, one of which had a population of what seemed to be forty and everyone was out on the streets selling horses and various animals. The animals were surrounding our car. And I think Loveland is small. What do I know. We traveled to Dublin that night to stay with some of Deck's other friends living there; they were extremely nice. We did our own little "Irish pub crawl" that night and I woke up with someone's iphone in my purse becuase in the darkness of the pub I mistaked the iphone case for my contact case. Common mistake. Deck and his friends went through the phone to connect with someone to give the phone to and this owner of the iphone was a wild one-- let's not go into details. Deck tried to tell We all went into Dublin and saw University College Dublin which was a beautiful campus and then Stephanie and I went shopping all afternoon, but only bought things from the tourist store. Silly us. Later we toured the Guiness factory and ended with a cold Guiness on top of the factory in the "Gravity Bar" that overlooked Dublin. Afterwards, we met up with Deck's girlfriend and us four grabbed dinner in Temple Bar, a famous location for bars and restaurants. That night, Stephanie and I got food poisoning. Literally thought I was dying. I was completely floored. Luckily we were in a house of doctors, not luckily we were both sleeping on the bathroom floor and there was nothing anyone could do except move our flight to later in the afternoon and pray that Jill, who I was supposed to meet at the airport in the morning, could navigate around Madrid for a day. We made it home, Jill was fine--I cued my roomates in on the situation and they helped out, and I will forever be concerned with restaurants while abroad now.
After cena with the senora, Jill and I grabbed coffee in Madrid and I showed her Grand Via-Madrid's main street and Plaza de Espana. We called it an early night since I no longer had a stomach. Tuesday was the best, I decided to take off a day from school? and we went shopping all day along Fuencarral-a great shopping street leading from my house to Plaza de Sol. We stopped along a few of Madrid's great sights including San Miguel Market, a gorgeous basilica, and Plaza de la Villa (which I had written a paper on for my art history class). We drank a glass of wine in Plaza Mayor and caught up. Stopped in a Museo de Jamon and tried to enjoy a euro glass while ham legs hung all around the restaurant around us. My roomate that night at dinner informed us that Spainards began hanging ham legs in their bars and restaraunts in order to scare off the Muslims and Christians back in the day. Now they just love their jamon. The bartenders thought they were flirting with us when they gave us free samples off of the raw ham leg. Spainards have game. That night we walked around Bilboa and a few places around Sol.
The next day after school Jill and I sufficed our artistic cravings and went to the Prado musuem. Our version of looking at art was judging the Roman sculptures on how "hot" they were. The Roman Gods won. My kind of perfect muscular art. Obviously we are so cultured on the subject. We shamelessly grabbed McDonald's on the way to Madrid's beautiful modern cathedral next to Palacio Real and later that night indulged in Senora's famous paella dish.
That night Jill and I went to Orange bar, where Jason Derulo was "flyin' solo, I'm flyin' solo..." We were ushered into VIP where we met Derulo (Jill shamelessly asked if his diamond watch was "real." REALLY?) He was very nice and gave us some goose. Classy, classy.
Thursday was THANKSGIVING and a sad reminder that I am family-less. However a few American school friends, Jill, and I went to Hard Rock Cafe where they served turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the MOST delicious apple crisp I have ever eaten... or maybe that's just becuase I am so deprived of mama's cooking? After was a Kapital kind of night and Jill experienced Madrid's seven floor club...
I have so many things to be thankful for, and it was nice to reflect on all the good in my life on Thanksgiving. I shared it with my roomates, friends... my "Madrid" family. It sure was odd having school that day though!
Currently I am sick and am chugging vitamin C tablets in order to get better before Friday (aka Prague for four nights Amsterdam for two--we didn't realize we mixed up the dates?) If I faint or get food poisoning like the past two trips I may be the most unlucky person. Thursday is our dreaded dance performance for my salsa class. I am wearing a metallic gold dress with an extra large gem on front. Some would definately call it an "adorable" piece. If they were speaking about a rap video...
Three weeks until I am home. I would say the time has flown, but really it hasn't. I've grown, matured, and experienced so much the States seem like forever ago. And Qdoba, I know you miss my dollars.
I went to Ireland last weekend with Stephanie (surprise, surprise) and we met her friend Deck there who is a doctor that she met when she was volunteering in Haiti this past summer (Stephanie is wonder woman with the kindest heart.) We flew into Dublin and immediately located a bagel shop aka heaven with cream cheese (Spain doesn't believe in bagels). I blended into the airport's crowd with my leopard print suitcase and even brighter leopard print jacket (false). We piled into Deck's car and he drove us to Galway on the wrong side of the street the whole way (aka the "right" way legally but who are we kidding here). Galway is a quaint, adorable little town and that night we ventured into a packed out Christmas market. That night they lit the Christmas tree up and everyone cheered. On cue, it started snowing. The market was quite crowded and had interesting stands including one that sold hamburgers with wild animal meat from all over the world. Kangaroo hamburger, impala hamburger...yum? We decided to pass that up for a more healthier indulgence of a powder sugared cranberry deep fried Danish donut. Success. We wandered into an Irish pub for our first taste of famous Irish cider and then we rallied and went to the Ireland v. Scotland rugby game. The crowd was INSANE. They were yelling Irish curse words and slang, screaming at the ref, the players, drinking "hot whiskey" (literally whiskey with hot water and lemon-yuck), and Stephanie and I were learning words that will never be used in real life. Ireland lost in literally the last minute becuase of the kicker. Bummer. We stopped in another pub after the game and got free cider that was included with our rugby ticket. Speed dating was going on upstairs in the bar and I ran into a gal who was ditching her current bachelor #8 and hiding in the bathroom. Was only a little tempted to try out an alter ego and participate.
The next day we drove to the cliffs of Moher, a finalist for the seven wonders of the world. They were outstandingly beautiful and completely worth the drive through the country side. On our way out we passed by several little cute towns, one of which had a population of what seemed to be forty and everyone was out on the streets selling horses and various animals. The animals were surrounding our car. And I think Loveland is small. What do I know. We traveled to Dublin that night to stay with some of Deck's other friends living there; they were extremely nice. We did our own little "Irish pub crawl" that night and I woke up with someone's iphone in my purse becuase in the darkness of the pub I mistaked the iphone case for my contact case. Common mistake. Deck and his friends went through the phone to connect with someone to give the phone to and this owner of the iphone was a wild one-- let's not go into details. Deck tried to tell We all went into Dublin and saw University College Dublin which was a beautiful campus and then Stephanie and I went shopping all afternoon, but only bought things from the tourist store. Silly us. Later we toured the Guiness factory and ended with a cold Guiness on top of the factory in the "Gravity Bar" that overlooked Dublin. Afterwards, we met up with Deck's girlfriend and us four grabbed dinner in Temple Bar, a famous location for bars and restaurants. That night, Stephanie and I got food poisoning. Literally thought I was dying. I was completely floored. Luckily we were in a house of doctors, not luckily we were both sleeping on the bathroom floor and there was nothing anyone could do except move our flight to later in the afternoon and pray that Jill, who I was supposed to meet at the airport in the morning, could navigate around Madrid for a day. We made it home, Jill was fine--I cued my roomates in on the situation and they helped out, and I will forever be concerned with restaurants while abroad now.
After cena with the senora, Jill and I grabbed coffee in Madrid and I showed her Grand Via-Madrid's main street and Plaza de Espana. We called it an early night since I no longer had a stomach. Tuesday was the best, I decided to take off a day from school? and we went shopping all day along Fuencarral-a great shopping street leading from my house to Plaza de Sol. We stopped along a few of Madrid's great sights including San Miguel Market, a gorgeous basilica, and Plaza de la Villa (which I had written a paper on for my art history class). We drank a glass of wine in Plaza Mayor and caught up. Stopped in a Museo de Jamon and tried to enjoy a euro glass while ham legs hung all around the restaurant around us. My roomate that night at dinner informed us that Spainards began hanging ham legs in their bars and restaraunts in order to scare off the Muslims and Christians back in the day. Now they just love their jamon. The bartenders thought they were flirting with us when they gave us free samples off of the raw ham leg. Spainards have game. That night we walked around Bilboa and a few places around Sol.
The next day after school Jill and I sufficed our artistic cravings and went to the Prado musuem. Our version of looking at art was judging the Roman sculptures on how "hot" they were. The Roman Gods won. My kind of perfect muscular art. Obviously we are so cultured on the subject. We shamelessly grabbed McDonald's on the way to Madrid's beautiful modern cathedral next to Palacio Real and later that night indulged in Senora's famous paella dish.
That night Jill and I went to Orange bar, where Jason Derulo was "flyin' solo, I'm flyin' solo..." We were ushered into VIP where we met Derulo (Jill shamelessly asked if his diamond watch was "real." REALLY?) He was very nice and gave us some goose. Classy, classy.
Thursday was THANKSGIVING and a sad reminder that I am family-less. However a few American school friends, Jill, and I went to Hard Rock Cafe where they served turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the MOST delicious apple crisp I have ever eaten... or maybe that's just becuase I am so deprived of mama's cooking? After was a Kapital kind of night and Jill experienced Madrid's seven floor club...
I have so many things to be thankful for, and it was nice to reflect on all the good in my life on Thanksgiving. I shared it with my roomates, friends... my "Madrid" family. It sure was odd having school that day though!
Currently I am sick and am chugging vitamin C tablets in order to get better before Friday (aka Prague for four nights Amsterdam for two--we didn't realize we mixed up the dates?) If I faint or get food poisoning like the past two trips I may be the most unlucky person. Thursday is our dreaded dance performance for my salsa class. I am wearing a metallic gold dress with an extra large gem on front. Some would definately call it an "adorable" piece. If they were speaking about a rap video...
Three weeks until I am home. I would say the time has flown, but really it hasn't. I've grown, matured, and experienced so much the States seem like forever ago. And Qdoba, I know you miss my dollars.
Paris how I love thee...
Jill Conrad and I flew into Paris this past Friday and stayed for the weekend until this Monday morning.. I have found my favorite city. That first day we went to our hostel, St. Christopher's which was cute, very nice, and how Jill put it "trying way too hard to be hip" but I liked it. We dropped off our stuff, and went out to dinner with my friend John who I know from Colorado and also happened to be there this weekend. Dinner was phenomenal. We had DELICIOUS french onion soup-they coated it in breading and cheese, duck (French delicacy, had to at least try the thing that looked like tuna?), and other French dishes. Definately ate too much so decided to walk it off climbing up the hill to Sacre-Coeur Basilica and wander the streets a little bit in Montemarte district. It started snowing. Sounds adorable but it was unbelievably freezing. And so, the solution to the situation of get warm quick: we stopped to split a bottle of wine that we would take turns drinking after sprinting up each flight of steps (like eight hundred--maybe exaggeration?). Didn't work but was worth a shot. The Sacre-Coeur was fantastic. White, huge, with large cupulas, and overlooks all of the city of Paris at night. Lights lit up, snow falling. I cannot even begin to set the gorgeous scene. The night ended with meeting two of John's girlfriends he was staying with and John's hotel desk worker, Lester from Sri Lanka, who bought me hotel peanuts while I typed to him in an English-French translator on the hotel computer. He taught me a few necessary phrases that I instantly forgot becuase I cannot produce the French "phlem" sound necessary to speak the language. It was late, the metro was closed, and an apparently "famous" wrestler who is going to train in America this coming summer helped us home telling us the bus stops and riding them with us. I didn't let him walk us back to our hostel. HELLOOOO. I've seen "Taken." My dad just doesn't have those skills, however raging of a Berthoud drug dealer he is.
We woke up and went on a 4 hour walking tour that our hostel put on. We started off with minature coffees (one inch large, how do the French get things done??) and journeyed through the city while our PHENOMENAL tour guide cracked hilarious jokes that only I laughed at, pranced instead of walked, and told us the stories that no one could ever know via wikipedia, touring the streets, or even by most history books. We saw a police station with bullet holes from WWII, one of the only scars Paris has from that war. We saw Napolean's "N" ALL OVER the city built into various places. The outside of the Louvre and the gardens behind it, the square where the guillotine killed thousands upon thousands of people, Pont Nuef (ironically named "New Bridge" when really it is the oldest bridge in Paris)-a bridge that has wierd faces on it that were designed after actual people (who were incredibly drunk) that were at one of King Henry IV's parties. Jacques de Molay from the Knights Templar was burned at the stake in 1314 near this bridge. While being burned he cursed the King and the Pope to die in a year becuase they would not let him face Notre Dame while he was dying. Both died within a year in really bizarre ways. One of my favorite things from the tour was Le Pont des Arts also known as the Passerelle des Arts. It is a bridge from 1803 that contains hundreds of padlocks with couples' names written on them. Couples from all over the world write their name on a lock, attach it to the bridge, and throw the key into the Seine River securing their love for eternity. ROMANTIC!!! The bridge is right by the beautiful building that keeps English out of France. Literally there is a highly-selective committee of forty people to protect the French language and keep English words like computer and weekend out of the French language. They publish a new dictionary every year to secure these words. And they think Americans are pompous. We ended the tour in front of the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which were sights that were almost blown up if Hitler had gotten his wish to destroy Paris (if he couldn't have it no one could). Jill and I then strolled Champs Elysees where the Tour de France always ends. The streets were lined with Christmas lights and decorations. We saw the grand store of Louis Viutton with a line coming out the door. Jill and I decided while walking Champs Elysees that we would be THE BEST rich people, or at least the best dressed. We made it to the Arc de Triomph at the end of the busy street. The circle surrounding the Arc de Triomph is not covered by car or life insurance by law. If you die or crash, your out of luck. There's a tomb of an unknown soldier from WWI is under the arch with an eternal flame always burning since 1920. Bryan our guide said it has only been extinguished when a drunk Mexican tourist peed on it, which got him kicked out of his country and Europe forever among other things. An Australian couple also attempted to have a picnic under the Arc and roast hot dogs over the flame. Romantic. They're banished from Europe forever as well. There was a Christmas market going on by the Champs-Elysees so we strolled through that while eating a delish crepe. We made it back to the Notre Dame cathedral to tour the inside. There was a Christmas tree lit up out front. By the time we got out it was so cold we couldn't breath and so we strolled in and out of touristy shops trying to keep warm. We had a delicious dinner of pizza (an Italian queen (Catherine maybe?) brought in her Italian friends of chefs, etc, to keep her company so pizza shops today almost outnumber French restaurants) and pink wine and overlooked a mini Arc de Triomph. We then went on to Latin Quarter to see the night life of Paris. It was a busy street of bars, nothing close to Madrid, and we were rejected from one after the bouncer was like, "Do you speak French?" and we said no. He legit turned his back to us and let everyone in before us. We stopped in one bar and two drinks cost 27 euros so we decided that was enough fun for one night.
The next morning was Versailles. We took a train to the quaint town and toured the magnificent palace and Marie Antoinette's palace seperate from the Versaille Palace with beautiful gardens, fountains, and now a delicious french restaurant with more excellent onion soup and red wine (I don't even like red wine...when in Paris its fantastic?) I asked a French gal standing in line to get tickets why French people hate Americans. Apparently we are loud and obnoxious, pompous and think we are superior, don't try to attempt to learn their language, and then she pointed to my starbucks cup and she said we are unwilling to learn the culture. I said their coffee is too small. She said she despises that everything is bigger and fatter in America. Fail. (note: I had a double cheeseburger today for lunch.) After drooling on myself on the way back to Paris from Versaille Jill and I went on a fantastic night boat tour on the Seine River while drinking wine (trend?) and eating fresh crepes. BEAUTIFUL city at night. We saw the light show of the Eiffel Tower and I felt like I had seen a fourth of July fireworks display. Magnificent. We attempted to go inside the closed Louvre.. fail. Sorry Mona Lisa. And ended our night watching naked women in FANTASTIC hats at the Moulin Rouge show. Literally only wore diamonds, great shoes, and feather hats. The show was unbelieveable. There were jugglers, the beautiful naked dancers, a couple that did an act of balance (legit were straight up and down only touching heads and balancing), and a newly wed couple next to us where the man looked very pleased and the wife looked very uncomfortable. I felt so awkward for everyone with their boyfriends and grateful that Jill was my date. Took a snowy cab home and woke up to a very sick Jill in the morning. I packed all of her stuff, carried her suitcase and mine while navigating us to the airport (felt like wonder woman), and finally got us on the shoulder to shoulder suitcase to suitcase very cramped train to take us to the airport. Jill was throwing up while I was doing her hair and trying to get everything together. We were two stops away before she said, "There cannot be anything worse" before my ears became very hot, my vision and hearing began to fade, and I began pouring sweat. I knew I was fainting. I began tearing off my scarf and jacket but it was too late and I fell onto people and blacked out. My clothes were soaked with sweat when I came to after a few seconds, and we were almost to the airport. I was so busy trying to make sure Jill was ok that I neglected my overheated body. Excuse my French but that was one hell of a train ride, and the poor people around us are probably getting checked for malaria or something now after that fiasco. I navigated us through the airport, got Jill to her gate, fell asleep on my hour delayed plane, and made it home in time for dance class. Jill made it home safely to Utah.
Paris is beautiful. People aren't as nice as Madrid, but I really think it is my favorite city I've seen. So romantic. Beautiful. So much interesting history. Arriving home in Madrid is fantastic though, good to be back after such an adventure, and like I said, Madrid is home.
22 more days of traveling the world...
We woke up and went on a 4 hour walking tour that our hostel put on. We started off with minature coffees (one inch large, how do the French get things done??) and journeyed through the city while our PHENOMENAL tour guide cracked hilarious jokes that only I laughed at, pranced instead of walked, and told us the stories that no one could ever know via wikipedia, touring the streets, or even by most history books. We saw a police station with bullet holes from WWII, one of the only scars Paris has from that war. We saw Napolean's "N" ALL OVER the city built into various places. The outside of the Louvre and the gardens behind it, the square where the guillotine killed thousands upon thousands of people, Pont Nuef (ironically named "New Bridge" when really it is the oldest bridge in Paris)-a bridge that has wierd faces on it that were designed after actual people (who were incredibly drunk) that were at one of King Henry IV's parties. Jacques de Molay from the Knights Templar was burned at the stake in 1314 near this bridge. While being burned he cursed the King and the Pope to die in a year becuase they would not let him face Notre Dame while he was dying. Both died within a year in really bizarre ways. One of my favorite things from the tour was Le Pont des Arts also known as the Passerelle des Arts. It is a bridge from 1803 that contains hundreds of padlocks with couples' names written on them. Couples from all over the world write their name on a lock, attach it to the bridge, and throw the key into the Seine River securing their love for eternity. ROMANTIC!!! The bridge is right by the beautiful building that keeps English out of France. Literally there is a highly-selective committee of forty people to protect the French language and keep English words like computer and weekend out of the French language. They publish a new dictionary every year to secure these words. And they think Americans are pompous. We ended the tour in front of the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais which were sights that were almost blown up if Hitler had gotten his wish to destroy Paris (if he couldn't have it no one could). Jill and I then strolled Champs Elysees where the Tour de France always ends. The streets were lined with Christmas lights and decorations. We saw the grand store of Louis Viutton with a line coming out the door. Jill and I decided while walking Champs Elysees that we would be THE BEST rich people, or at least the best dressed. We made it to the Arc de Triomph at the end of the busy street. The circle surrounding the Arc de Triomph is not covered by car or life insurance by law. If you die or crash, your out of luck. There's a tomb of an unknown soldier from WWI is under the arch with an eternal flame always burning since 1920. Bryan our guide said it has only been extinguished when a drunk Mexican tourist peed on it, which got him kicked out of his country and Europe forever among other things. An Australian couple also attempted to have a picnic under the Arc and roast hot dogs over the flame. Romantic. They're banished from Europe forever as well. There was a Christmas market going on by the Champs-Elysees so we strolled through that while eating a delish crepe. We made it back to the Notre Dame cathedral to tour the inside. There was a Christmas tree lit up out front. By the time we got out it was so cold we couldn't breath and so we strolled in and out of touristy shops trying to keep warm. We had a delicious dinner of pizza (an Italian queen (Catherine maybe?) brought in her Italian friends of chefs, etc, to keep her company so pizza shops today almost outnumber French restaurants) and pink wine and overlooked a mini Arc de Triomph. We then went on to Latin Quarter to see the night life of Paris. It was a busy street of bars, nothing close to Madrid, and we were rejected from one after the bouncer was like, "Do you speak French?" and we said no. He legit turned his back to us and let everyone in before us. We stopped in one bar and two drinks cost 27 euros so we decided that was enough fun for one night.
The next morning was Versailles. We took a train to the quaint town and toured the magnificent palace and Marie Antoinette's palace seperate from the Versaille Palace with beautiful gardens, fountains, and now a delicious french restaurant with more excellent onion soup and red wine (I don't even like red wine...when in Paris its fantastic?) I asked a French gal standing in line to get tickets why French people hate Americans. Apparently we are loud and obnoxious, pompous and think we are superior, don't try to attempt to learn their language, and then she pointed to my starbucks cup and she said we are unwilling to learn the culture. I said their coffee is too small. She said she despises that everything is bigger and fatter in America. Fail. (note: I had a double cheeseburger today for lunch.) After drooling on myself on the way back to Paris from Versaille Jill and I went on a fantastic night boat tour on the Seine River while drinking wine (trend?) and eating fresh crepes. BEAUTIFUL city at night. We saw the light show of the Eiffel Tower and I felt like I had seen a fourth of July fireworks display. Magnificent. We attempted to go inside the closed Louvre.. fail. Sorry Mona Lisa. And ended our night watching naked women in FANTASTIC hats at the Moulin Rouge show. Literally only wore diamonds, great shoes, and feather hats. The show was unbelieveable. There were jugglers, the beautiful naked dancers, a couple that did an act of balance (legit were straight up and down only touching heads and balancing), and a newly wed couple next to us where the man looked very pleased and the wife looked very uncomfortable. I felt so awkward for everyone with their boyfriends and grateful that Jill was my date. Took a snowy cab home and woke up to a very sick Jill in the morning. I packed all of her stuff, carried her suitcase and mine while navigating us to the airport (felt like wonder woman), and finally got us on the shoulder to shoulder suitcase to suitcase very cramped train to take us to the airport. Jill was throwing up while I was doing her hair and trying to get everything together. We were two stops away before she said, "There cannot be anything worse" before my ears became very hot, my vision and hearing began to fade, and I began pouring sweat. I knew I was fainting. I began tearing off my scarf and jacket but it was too late and I fell onto people and blacked out. My clothes were soaked with sweat when I came to after a few seconds, and we were almost to the airport. I was so busy trying to make sure Jill was ok that I neglected my overheated body. Excuse my French but that was one hell of a train ride, and the poor people around us are probably getting checked for malaria or something now after that fiasco. I navigated us through the airport, got Jill to her gate, fell asleep on my hour delayed plane, and made it home in time for dance class. Jill made it home safely to Utah.
Paris is beautiful. People aren't as nice as Madrid, but I really think it is my favorite city I've seen. So romantic. Beautiful. So much interesting history. Arriving home in Madrid is fantastic though, good to be back after such an adventure, and like I said, Madrid is home.
22 more days of traveling the world...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Lots of nudity...
Ruby, the lunch lady and I, are now on first name terms, becuase she laughs at me every day for eating french fries. "Engorda Jessica!" It's the only true American food I am holding onto, and literally is involved in my every day diet...
Which brings me to my next gym catastrophe of my shorts ripping past my thigh during an extreme abdominales drill. There is a new man who is our instructor, and he is Satan with a smile and greattt bod. The first time I met him, my abs hurt for four days (because of the abs class-to clarify.) and he literally is a drill sergeant on steroids who listens to techno. He stands over me and yells in spanish until french fries are only a memory. So, on one of these occassions my shorts ripped, exposing things which do not pertain to abdominales class, but here is Satan standing over me demanding abdominal perfection. What are ya gonna do? At least he ends each class by stretching and listening to soft melodies by Whitney Houston.
Speaking of nudity, my senora told us tonight of how she loves to walk on beaches during vacation, but last year she accidently found herself in the middle of a nudist beach. Senora said the human body is the most beautiful, miraculous creation. It is perfection by God. She said we could visit nude beaches, take off our clothes, and be beautiful, becuase we are young with still beautiful naked bodies. Typical not awkward dinner conversation, was going to take off my clothes then, but she kept talking. She said nude beaches are completely natural, and if you are asthetically pleasing, esta bien, es nada. If you are old and saggy and fat she went on to say, you should stay inside. Ha she's an opinionated one? Needless to say, she fled the nude beach scene becuase the catagory of people belonging inside were not adhering to her wishes. Lindsey told of when her and her dad were vacationing in south France and accidentally found themselves in the most uncomfortable situation by mistakenly going to a nude beach. I don't feel like she shares the same ideology as Senora.
I felt for the first time truly home sick last night and even shamelessly looked at pictures from my freshman year in college for about half an hour...
I'm so glad this can all soon be cured by a casual weekend in the Ireland cities of Galway and Dublin. Tough life I live.
Which brings me to my next gym catastrophe of my shorts ripping past my thigh during an extreme abdominales drill. There is a new man who is our instructor, and he is Satan with a smile and greattt bod. The first time I met him, my abs hurt for four days (because of the abs class-to clarify.) and he literally is a drill sergeant on steroids who listens to techno. He stands over me and yells in spanish until french fries are only a memory. So, on one of these occassions my shorts ripped, exposing things which do not pertain to abdominales class, but here is Satan standing over me demanding abdominal perfection. What are ya gonna do? At least he ends each class by stretching and listening to soft melodies by Whitney Houston.
Speaking of nudity, my senora told us tonight of how she loves to walk on beaches during vacation, but last year she accidently found herself in the middle of a nudist beach. Senora said the human body is the most beautiful, miraculous creation. It is perfection by God. She said we could visit nude beaches, take off our clothes, and be beautiful, becuase we are young with still beautiful naked bodies. Typical not awkward dinner conversation, was going to take off my clothes then, but she kept talking. She said nude beaches are completely natural, and if you are asthetically pleasing, esta bien, es nada. If you are old and saggy and fat she went on to say, you should stay inside. Ha she's an opinionated one? Needless to say, she fled the nude beach scene becuase the catagory of people belonging inside were not adhering to her wishes. Lindsey told of when her and her dad were vacationing in south France and accidentally found themselves in the most uncomfortable situation by mistakenly going to a nude beach. I don't feel like she shares the same ideology as Senora.
I felt for the first time truly home sick last night and even shamelessly looked at pictures from my freshman year in college for about half an hour...
I'm so glad this can all soon be cured by a casual weekend in the Ireland cities of Galway and Dublin. Tough life I live.
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