As of Monday, June 6 (until Sunday, June 12) I will be road tripping across southern and central Portugal with Joakim and three other Swedes. God help me. But I am stoked!
The first three nights we'll be camping on the beaches of Lagos and Sagres and basically driving where the wind takes up. The last three nights we are staying in Lisbon during the Gay Pride Parade and National Portugal Day Holiday. So we're going to be overwhelmed and busy! But I am excited. :]
I already have a list of food, wine and dessert to feast upon in this exotic beach country. I've also already created a museum-to-hit list. A splendid week is approaching fast.
Also, today I made some piles. And they are titled, "To Ship," "To Donate," "To Throw Away," and "To Pack." I took all of my pictures, posters, and tapestries off my walls. I threw away unnecessary notes and clipped together all of my syllabi and class notes I need to save for credit transferring. I went through my souvenirs, blank postcards, and keepsakes from my travels and got very depressed.
This year is ending too quickly. Anxiety attacks to ensue very soon. I can feel it.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Monachil Hiking
This Monday, myself and some friends took a pause from the stress of our Facultad courses and enjoyed the great outdoors! We took a 25 minute (€1,30 only!) bus ride up to the Alpujarra mountains, to the town of Monochil and began an epic 7-hour, all day hike.
We walked under a waterfall, and hiked another one! Here's a shot of one of the waterfalls:
The happy hikers, Armando and Hannah. Followed by Monica, Jade, Zach and his brother Eric who was visiting and Chris.
Walking across the MASSIVE suspension bridge!
The meadow in which we picnicked for lunch:
Zach overlooking this fine earth:
At some points, you had to lean over the river that paced the trails and cling to metal hooks placed in the rocky mountain wall to keep from falling in. Other times, the rock stuck over too far and you had to belly crawl on a tiny pathway with mountain to one side and river to the other. It was a trip! This is a shot (fuzzy, my apologies) of one of the caves we walked through:
Finally, we took a slightly different trail back and it overlooked a large canyon of the Alpujarra mountains in the late afternoon:
A perfect day hiking, if I say so myself.
And on an academic note, I just finished writing my LAST ESSAY for my Facultad class. I wrote 25,000 characters in 16 pages all in Spanish in LESS than 24 hours. My brain is fried, but I am beyond content. :] Time to enjoy me some last days in Granada!
Next blog entry... Portugal.
We walked under a waterfall, and hiked another one! Here's a shot of one of the waterfalls:
The happy hikers, Armando and Hannah. Followed by Monica, Jade, Zach and his brother Eric who was visiting and Chris.
Walking across the MASSIVE suspension bridge!
The meadow in which we picnicked for lunch:
Zach overlooking this fine earth:
At some points, you had to lean over the river that paced the trails and cling to metal hooks placed in the rocky mountain wall to keep from falling in. Other times, the rock stuck over too far and you had to belly crawl on a tiny pathway with mountain to one side and river to the other. It was a trip! This is a shot (fuzzy, my apologies) of one of the caves we walked through:
Finally, we took a slightly different trail back and it overlooked a large canyon of the Alpujarra mountains in the late afternoon:
A perfect day hiking, if I say so myself.
And on an academic note, I just finished writing my LAST ESSAY for my Facultad class. I wrote 25,000 characters in 16 pages all in Spanish in LESS than 24 hours. My brain is fried, but I am beyond content. :] Time to enjoy me some last days in Granada!
Next blog entry... Portugal.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Cena de Despedida y ¡Flamenco, Flamenco!
Last night was our Cena de Despedida or "Going Away Dinner." I realize the majority of us have just over a month left, but our classes at the Centro ended officially yesterday and many of us have already finished our Facultad course as well (myself included, but those two papers are still looming over my head).
Anywho, it was a lovely evening. The restaurant was built into a Carmen, which is a detailed but massive garden that are common of old houses in the neighborhood of the Albaizín neighborhood, set in the intricate and hidden hills of Granada. We had a beautiful view of the Alhambra all night.
The dinner consisted of gaspacho, a seafood salad with orange in it (will work on getting that name, Mom), jamón serrano con queso, Spanish tortilla, musakka, steak, and a plethora of desserts. It was wonderful. Just following dinner, one of the girls in our program, Hannah, presented a beautiful collage of pictures of all of us throughout the year for our director, María. Our overall program director, Dr. Martin was there as well.
Sao and I with the lovely María. She helped me out so much this year.
After we presented the collage, we all went a little crazy for taking photos. Again, we still have about a month left here, but a lot of us are traveling and wanted to get in as many last-minute snap shots as possible. Plus, we were all dressed up and it was a total excuse for vanity, I'm sure. So here's a look at all of the lovely faces of my program-mates whom I better see in various trips to Sonoma, Sacramento, Humboldt, Monterey, San Marcos, and wherever else I can crash on their couches. :]
Jade (Humboldt State), myself and Chris (Sonoma State).
Arisa (San Francisco State), Jason (San Francisco State), and I. Arisa was definitely my travel partner this year. Best part was that I knew both her and Jason before coming here. :]
Zach (Monterey Bay) and I. Or better known as Dragon Siblings.
Rachel (Sonoma State) and I. She's the sweetest!
Armando (Chico State) and I.
Sao (Sacramento State), Jessica (Monterey Bay State), and I.
Sarah (Sonoma State), Amity (Sacramento State) and I. We're professional side-line gossipers at all of the futbol games "¡Cotilleo, cotilleo!"
Chris (Sonoma State) and I. Chris' father and my father worked together in East LA for about ten years and we didn't figure this out until we got here. Chris is wonderful. We'll be seeing each other while we mob our friend Joakim's house in Sweden in June.
And of course, we took a family portrait. Or, "San Marcos + Laura." What am I gonna do with these spazzes living in my house next year?
It's so hard to believe that it's been exactly 9 months since we had our Welcome to Spain dinner back in Madrid. And we were already attached then. Hah. The Madrid days, August:
Aww. :]
Then, our directors surprised us with a beautiful flamenco show. The dancers were incredible, the singer took my breath away, and the guitar was so good, I almost got weepy. (Or. Could have been all the free wine.) Dr. Martin giving us a speech. (Which I also have on video for later).
And the show commenced! I'll try and upload a video or two of the show later. (I have to admit, I stole these from Sarah because she had a great seat and excellent view.)
After Flamenco, many of us walked the winding paths to the Mirador where we sat and stared the magnificent Alhambra and twinkling lights of the city. Nine sold months, and it still blows me away. It was nice to spend it with a bunch of wonderful folks who will go home feeling the same euphoria as I will from this life-changing experience.
"It's the time of your life that may last a lifetime."
Anywho, it was a lovely evening. The restaurant was built into a Carmen, which is a detailed but massive garden that are common of old houses in the neighborhood of the Albaizín neighborhood, set in the intricate and hidden hills of Granada. We had a beautiful view of the Alhambra all night.
The dinner consisted of gaspacho, a seafood salad with orange in it (will work on getting that name, Mom), jamón serrano con queso, Spanish tortilla, musakka, steak, and a plethora of desserts. It was wonderful. Just following dinner, one of the girls in our program, Hannah, presented a beautiful collage of pictures of all of us throughout the year for our director, María. Our overall program director, Dr. Martin was there as well.
Sao and I with the lovely María. She helped me out so much this year.
After we presented the collage, we all went a little crazy for taking photos. Again, we still have about a month left here, but a lot of us are traveling and wanted to get in as many last-minute snap shots as possible. Plus, we were all dressed up and it was a total excuse for vanity, I'm sure. So here's a look at all of the lovely faces of my program-mates whom I better see in various trips to Sonoma, Sacramento, Humboldt, Monterey, San Marcos, and wherever else I can crash on their couches. :]
Jade (Humboldt State), myself and Chris (Sonoma State).
Arisa (San Francisco State), Jason (San Francisco State), and I. Arisa was definitely my travel partner this year. Best part was that I knew both her and Jason before coming here. :]
Zach (Monterey Bay) and I. Or better known as Dragon Siblings.
Rachel (Sonoma State) and I. She's the sweetest!
Armando (Chico State) and I.
Sao (Sacramento State), Jessica (Monterey Bay State), and I.
Sarah (Sonoma State), Amity (Sacramento State) and I. We're professional side-line gossipers at all of the futbol games "¡Cotilleo, cotilleo!"
Chris (Sonoma State) and I. Chris' father and my father worked together in East LA for about ten years and we didn't figure this out until we got here. Chris is wonderful. We'll be seeing each other while we mob our friend Joakim's house in Sweden in June.
And of course, we took a family portrait. Or, "San Marcos + Laura." What am I gonna do with these spazzes living in my house next year?
It's so hard to believe that it's been exactly 9 months since we had our Welcome to Spain dinner back in Madrid. And we were already attached then. Hah. The Madrid days, August:
Aww. :]
Then, our directors surprised us with a beautiful flamenco show. The dancers were incredible, the singer took my breath away, and the guitar was so good, I almost got weepy. (Or. Could have been all the free wine.) Dr. Martin giving us a speech. (Which I also have on video for later).
And the show commenced! I'll try and upload a video or two of the show later. (I have to admit, I stole these from Sarah because she had a great seat and excellent view.)
After Flamenco, many of us walked the winding paths to the Mirador where we sat and stared the magnificent Alhambra and twinkling lights of the city. Nine sold months, and it still blows me away. It was nice to spend it with a bunch of wonderful folks who will go home feeling the same euphoria as I will from this life-changing experience.
"It's the time of your life that may last a lifetime."
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Brain-dead.
As of yesterday, I finished my last final exam at the Centro de Lenguas Modernas. And it. felt. good.
I am so ready to hop on a bus and head straight for the beach. Alas, I still have a few essays to write for my class at the Facultad. Historia del Pensamiento Literario Español: you will be the death of me. But once I get through these 20 or so pages of essay-writing, I am free to be a total lazy bum meets travel freak my last month in Spain.
Tonight is our "Cena de Despedida," or "Going Away Dinner." Well, "Going Home Dinner" might be more appropriate. But it definitely feels weird. I don't like that I have a matter of a few WEEKS left in this incredible country. It's all happening so fast. It all happened so fast.
Thanks for everything, Centro. It's been real.
I am so ready to hop on a bus and head straight for the beach. Alas, I still have a few essays to write for my class at the Facultad. Historia del Pensamiento Literario Español: you will be the death of me. But once I get through these 20 or so pages of essay-writing, I am free to be a total lazy bum meets travel freak my last month in Spain.
Tonight is our "Cena de Despedida," or "Going Away Dinner." Well, "Going Home Dinner" might be more appropriate. But it definitely feels weird. I don't like that I have a matter of a few WEEKS left in this incredible country. It's all happening so fast. It all happened so fast.
Thanks for everything, Centro. It's been real.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
SOS 4.8
Asphalt coated in a layer of cigarette butts and sweat. Speakers blasting bass for 12 hours straight. An entire colony of filthy port-o-potties. More kebab and churro stands than you can count. Free (yes, FREE) bumper cars.
So yeah, SOS 4.8 music festival was pretty awesome. Joakim and I took a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Murcía (province in southeast Spain) in order to see The Kooks at 7:45 because the others in the car weren't leaving until later. And boy howdy, did those British boys put on a great show.
Shortly after we saw them, we watched the composer Yann Tiersen perform. He wrote the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning French film Amelie. He was wonderful!
Then, we were able to meet up with the group. Fernando, Alex, Chelsea, Brandon, Natasha, Charlotte, Majd, Manu, Georgie, Pauline, Alberto, Miguel and other friends. We all watched MGMT together which was just plain good. I've loved MGMT for a while. They never fail to raise your mood, you know?
After MGMT, we saw the house music group The Bloody Beetroots and Steve Aoki (from LA). It was time to DANCE. From 2:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. to be precise. And dance we did:
The next day we got up around 3 p.m. and snacked at the apartment/hotel we rented until we were back on the road, Subway sandwiches in hand (first in almost 9 months) and ready for Day 2 of the festival. First up, The Editors. A post-punk revival band, also from England. Their performance was surprisingly really good.
Then we took a pause and listened to Suede as we all had a bit of a pow-wow. Typical image from the festival:
Then we bolted it to the bumper cars once we found out they were "GRATIS," or in English, "FREE." We all harnessed our inner-12-year-olds and mobbed each other in the course. It was freaking awesome.
Overall, incredible trip. I'll leave you with this disgusting shot of a McDonald's parking lot 300 meters from the fairgrounds:
Yummy.
So yeah, SOS 4.8 music festival was pretty awesome. Joakim and I took a 3 1/2 hour bus ride to Murcía (province in southeast Spain) in order to see The Kooks at 7:45 because the others in the car weren't leaving until later. And boy howdy, did those British boys put on a great show.
Shortly after we saw them, we watched the composer Yann Tiersen perform. He wrote the soundtrack for the Academy Award-winning French film Amelie. He was wonderful!
Then, we were able to meet up with the group. Fernando, Alex, Chelsea, Brandon, Natasha, Charlotte, Majd, Manu, Georgie, Pauline, Alberto, Miguel and other friends. We all watched MGMT together which was just plain good. I've loved MGMT for a while. They never fail to raise your mood, you know?
After MGMT, we saw the house music group The Bloody Beetroots and Steve Aoki (from LA). It was time to DANCE. From 2:30 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. to be precise. And dance we did:
The next day we got up around 3 p.m. and snacked at the apartment/hotel we rented until we were back on the road, Subway sandwiches in hand (first in almost 9 months) and ready for Day 2 of the festival. First up, The Editors. A post-punk revival band, also from England. Their performance was surprisingly really good.
Then we took a pause and listened to Suede as we all had a bit of a pow-wow. Typical image from the festival:
Then we bolted it to the bumper cars once we found out they were "GRATIS," or in English, "FREE." We all harnessed our inner-12-year-olds and mobbed each other in the course. It was freaking awesome.
Overall, incredible trip. I'll leave you with this disgusting shot of a McDonald's parking lot 300 meters from the fairgrounds:
Yummy.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Italy Part II (Pisa, Florence and Bologna)
Still on Day 5:
After leaving the utopia known as Cinqueterre, we spent the afternoon in Pisa. Truthfully, aside from the center of town and the actual tower and surrounding buildings, Pisa is tourable in a half a day or less. But that is not to say that the tower and architecture of other buildings were not breath-taking and totally worth it!
View from base of the tower:
This guy was awesome. He could design anything with one hand and a tiny set of pliers and a coil of wire. From your name, to the a mini Leaning Tower of Pisa, to a bicycle, to a heart picture frame, et cetera. He was just so intensely handy and thoughtful. Very Italian as well. Heh.
That night, we arrived in Florence, exhausted beyond belief. We crashed early and got ready for a full day of touring the next day...
Day 6:
First things first, we found some parking in Florence and happened to find a spot near Florence's Arc de Triumph, which was pretty convenient as a locator for later that day.
We then promptly reserved our times for the two museums on our crucial to-do list: Uffizi and Academia, where Michelangelo's David rests. I was told repeatedly, "No pheeoto, no pheeoto!" but I took "phoooto." His hands, feet and head are enormously out of proportion to his body. It is awkward. "Perfect" my butt.
Some views of Florence:
Though this city was incredible what with the mountains of statues and museums loaded with historical and artistic treasures, it was not the most aesthetically pleasing city I have seen, especially in Italy where places like Cinqueterre exist!
Day 7:
Dog-tired and just about ready to be home, we had one more stop. Our last day was in Bologna where Sara, Francesco and Marco took the train up to meet us and have one last authentic Italian meal with us. We went to a restaurant recommended by a few Italians (see: Food Porn) and feasted to our heart's content. Bologna, like Padua and my city of Granada, is a student town but much larger and more chaotic than the former two. They had this massive market which reminded me a bit of the Camden Town Markets in London. I loved it!
After dinner, we were even sleepier. We parted with Sara and her friends at the train station and that was definitely a bummer. It's the last time I'll see her until I return to Europe. :( But I certainly will return!
We all passed out around 9 p.m. to get up at 4 a.m. for our Bologna-Sevilla flight the following day. Once home, I claimed the map we used on our epic road trip through Northern Italy and traced our path. It was much longer than I thought! I kept my feet in the shot to show you how HUGE this map is and how invariably HUGE our trip was.
And so concludes the epic Italian journey. It was such a good trip. The company was great! The guests/hosts were wonderful! And I spoke in Spanish the entire time, as that was the common language with our Italian friends and of course, Fernando and Miguel. I felt some improvement for being so immersed and having so few English-speakers around.
613 pages read
256 photos taken
62 pages written
8 cities
1 country
Yep. Successful Semana Santa, indeed. :]
For more photos, visit my Facebook albums:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150222575899108.355165.677084107
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150222679554108.355396.677084107
After leaving the utopia known as Cinqueterre, we spent the afternoon in Pisa. Truthfully, aside from the center of town and the actual tower and surrounding buildings, Pisa is tourable in a half a day or less. But that is not to say that the tower and architecture of other buildings were not breath-taking and totally worth it!
View from base of the tower:
This guy was awesome. He could design anything with one hand and a tiny set of pliers and a coil of wire. From your name, to the a mini Leaning Tower of Pisa, to a bicycle, to a heart picture frame, et cetera. He was just so intensely handy and thoughtful. Very Italian as well. Heh.
That night, we arrived in Florence, exhausted beyond belief. We crashed early and got ready for a full day of touring the next day...
Day 6:
First things first, we found some parking in Florence and happened to find a spot near Florence's Arc de Triumph, which was pretty convenient as a locator for later that day.
We then promptly reserved our times for the two museums on our crucial to-do list: Uffizi and Academia, where Michelangelo's David rests. I was told repeatedly, "No pheeoto, no pheeoto!" but I took "phoooto." His hands, feet and head are enormously out of proportion to his body. It is awkward. "Perfect" my butt.
Some views of Florence:
Though this city was incredible what with the mountains of statues and museums loaded with historical and artistic treasures, it was not the most aesthetically pleasing city I have seen, especially in Italy where places like Cinqueterre exist!
Day 7:
Dog-tired and just about ready to be home, we had one more stop. Our last day was in Bologna where Sara, Francesco and Marco took the train up to meet us and have one last authentic Italian meal with us. We went to a restaurant recommended by a few Italians (see: Food Porn) and feasted to our heart's content. Bologna, like Padua and my city of Granada, is a student town but much larger and more chaotic than the former two. They had this massive market which reminded me a bit of the Camden Town Markets in London. I loved it!
After dinner, we were even sleepier. We parted with Sara and her friends at the train station and that was definitely a bummer. It's the last time I'll see her until I return to Europe. :( But I certainly will return!
We all passed out around 9 p.m. to get up at 4 a.m. for our Bologna-Sevilla flight the following day. Once home, I claimed the map we used on our epic road trip through Northern Italy and traced our path. It was much longer than I thought! I kept my feet in the shot to show you how HUGE this map is and how invariably HUGE our trip was.
And so concludes the epic Italian journey. It was such a good trip. The company was great! The guests/hosts were wonderful! And I spoke in Spanish the entire time, as that was the common language with our Italian friends and of course, Fernando and Miguel. I felt some improvement for being so immersed and having so few English-speakers around.
613 pages read
256 photos taken
62 pages written
8 cities
1 country
Yep. Successful Semana Santa, indeed. :]
For more photos, visit my Facebook albums:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150222575899108.355165.677084107
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150222679554108.355396.677084107
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