First, before I dive too far into my typical blogging rigamarole, I would like to inform you all that I have uploaded some of my best photos from my Eurotrip to Flickr for your viewing pleasure. (web address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shantron5000/) Actually, it's for my own selfish reasons, but that's beside the point. I put them up so I could get some feedback on which ones you all like in order to help me decide which ones I should submit for the photography contest at the university here in Alcala. I am only able to submit 3 pictures, and I think I have to submit them by the 15th or something like that, so if you could check them out before then and let me know what you think it would be greatly appreciated. Make a comment on Flickr, on my wall, send me a message, etc., with which one(s) is (are) your favorite(s). I will take everyone's considerations, as I am really trying to win this thing, despite what my skewed and biased opinions of my own photos may be. Also, please note that the last three photos (car wash, scooby doo, and jessamine county bridge) are not for consideration in the contest. Thanks a million! Now, back to your regular programming...
So now that I've caught up from two weekends ago I shall now fill you in on last weekend, so that I can then fill you in on this weekend and the upcoming weekend. Still with me? Good. So On Friday I went on a li'l field tripski on what the spanish refer to as the "Ruta de Don Quijote." If you are unsure what that means, don't worry, I am about to tell you so you can stop freaking out. What it means in english is... wait for it... the "Route of Don Quijote." Astonishing, I know, but I'm not finished yet. What it really means is that once upon a time this somewhat crazy, self-absorbed and (depending on the time and the work) talented author named Miguel de Cervantes wrote a little novel, the first ever actually of the modern variety, and he called it "Don Quijote de la Mancha." The real title is a bit longer, but you get the idea. Anyhow although this loco Don Quijote was not a real person, per literary tradition of the time period, Cervantes wrote about him as though he were a living, breathing, person who traveled about the spanish countryside in search of grand adventures. Thus we still have today various places which were well-enough described in the novel to merit the placement of their existence to actual locations throughout Spain. On this field trip we visited two of them: Puerto de Lapice and Campo de Criptana.
Puerto de Lapice is a tiny little town which, sadly enough, might not have even existed today were it not for my man Cervantes. The reason being that in this little pueblo lies one venta, or hotel, in which supposedly our favorite crazy man Don Quijote was (un)officially knighted. On the field trip we got to see the courtyard and the trough where supposedly this action took place. We also performed a bit of a skit/dialogue which we had created, with none other than yours truly playing the esteemed role of Don Quijote, in all his pre-knighthood glory, replete with a plastic, child-sized suit of armor. I will post pictures for you to laugh at and ridicule post-haste. We didn't hang around long after this production, as like I said, this town is tiny and doesn't have much to offer outside of this historical hotel. Onward to the windmills!
Campo de Criptana is, as my history professor described to me while we were there, another little town that more than likely would no longer exist were it not for good ol' Cervantes. That being said it was a bit larger than Puerto de Lapice, though it was not what I would call a 'bustling metropolis.' What it lacked in entertainment value and sheer population size it made up for in an amplitude of windmills of the medieval variety. I mean these things were huge, and entirely composed of wood and stone, as per the building and fire codes of the century back then of course. We got to take a tour of one of them which had been fully restored to functional capacity, and it was actually pretty cool. Didn't do too much there, but we did have another little theatrical production in which Abram ran into one of the windmills as Don Quijote, which was pretty fun to watch. (Don't worry, he's fine).
In the week since then a lot of shite has gone down, including but not limited to my self-proclaimed fantastic performance on a radio show in Alcala, done as part of an assignment for my media class here. I don't think it will be posted online unfortunately, giving you one less thing to ridicule me about (I promise, the other photos will be uploaded soon), but I can assure you it was just a rip-roarin' good time. I got to play the part of Lope de Vega in yet another little theatrical production, this time being a script which we read with altered voices for the entertainment of the discerning peoples of Alcala. It went really well though, and I got a few compliments on it, so my self-esteem was still intact as I walked out of the studio, and remains so to this day.
Also of note is the fact that I have since moved out of Isabel's house for the last month here due to complications, and by that I mean her and Carlos really didn't get along well. Like, at all. So without bashing anyone too much or putting the blame on any one person, it is safe to say that although the new house is farther away from everything (about a 30-minute walk), I am much happier with my new family and everything else that goes with it. Hopefully no one was worrying too much about it. I have an unfortunate habit of posting my daily events as my facebook status when I don't have time to write anything else, which I suppose leaves a lot of people wondering. And no, it's not a literary tool that I employ to get you all in suspense for reading my blog, although it's not such a bad idea...
Anyways I have just been hanging out with the fam this weekend, getting ready for my big Italy trip, about which I am very excited. I will be leaving Monday, and flying into Milan. From there I will be heading directly to Venice, then to Florence, then to Rome for two days, then to Pisa, then to Genoa, then back to Milan for the last night, so I can catch my flight back at some ridiculously early time in the morning. Hooray! I hope to take lots of pictures (some of which could be candidates for the photo contest), eat lots of delicious italian food, and try to relax a bit before I have to go back to school and hand in the homework my jerk professors assigned to me for doing over spring break. I may or may not be able to get online during my time there, no promises, but if not I will update when I get back. I hope it's been as much of a pleasure for you to catch up with my current events on here as it has been a chore for me to write about them. (I didn't mean that). Ciao for now! :)
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Playing catch-up
I just switched houses a couple days ago and I don't have wireless internet anymore, so I have to make my time online more brief and to the point, but I will add what I can when I can to catch up with the past two weeks and tell you more about what's going on now...
So I went to the Fallas two weeks ago, catching the bus to go there by one minute, literally. It was a nice ride though, only about 4 hours, and we got into Valencia around 10 that night. We stayed at a really nice hotel, very modern (it was a "high-tech hotel" by designation), and we went out exploring the city a bit that night. We also got to see a bit of the big fireworks show they do the second-to-last night of the festival, which was pretty impressive. We woke up pretty early on Thursday for the big day's events, and also to go in search of fireworks stores. We attended the mascleta (fireworks show) on the bridge of San Jose, patron saint of carpenters and the reason they have the Fallas celebration, then walked all over to see the big fallas statues and take pictures. In the afternoon we attended the huge mascleta on one of the big plazas, and we couldn't see everything because it was so packed with people but we did get to hear it and see some of the fireworks and the smoke that resulted from the show. After walking around for a while we did end up finding a fireworks store, and we loaded up a bag with all sorts of different kinds to take to the park for an explosion-fest of our own. It was a lot like the 4th of July, but with bigger fireworks. I mean these things were loud! We hung around for a while, then met up with some friends and did a big show with our best fireworks that we had saved. Yes, we were drinking beer while we were doing this, but no, no one lost any fingers. Great success!
That night was the culmination of the whole week's festivities, and by that I mean they ceremoniously torched all of the fallas in the city in a huge pyro extravaganza. We were pretty lucky in that we actually got to see two of the big ones go up in flames from start to finish, and I got a bunch of good pictures of all of this which I will share when I have more time. We met up with some friends after that and hung out, and all-in-all it was a great time in ol' Valencia. My only regret is that we didn't have more time to explore the city and see the museums, the beach, the aquarium, and everything else it has to offer.
That Saturday we (my friends Aaron, Abram, Carlos, and I) got free tickets to a bullfight in Madrid through Carlos' dad, so we all went to see that and get a taste of Spanish culture. There were four other students there from our program (they go to St. Mary's in Texas, and some school in Dayton, Ohio), and we got to sit with them in the arena, which was cool. Once again I was really glad Carlos' dad was there because he had all sorts of information about the bullfight, so we understood it a lot better than if we had been there on our own. Basically the way it works is there are 3 main matadors, and they each get to fight 3 bulls in succession, then the order repeats for the next three buls, meaning there are actually 6 bullfights per day of bullfighting. In our case we got to see 8 bulls total, because two of them didn't make the cut and had to leave the arena without going through the whole bullfighting process. The others were interesting though.
The matadors that we saw were not yet full professionals, as they were called 'novilleros', stemming from the name for the 4-year old bulls that they were fighting, called 'novillos'. Technically for a bull to be considered a professional fighting bull it has to be 5 years old or more, and in this case it would be called a 'toro', with the matadors who fight them being called 'toreros'. Anyhow the first bull was kind of a bad introduction because it was the goriest one (and I don't mean it gored the matador a lot of times, though I was secretly hoping for this the whole time). The others though were a lot more enjoyable to watch because the matadors got the job done relatively quickly, without as much blood and all that madness. I took quite a few pictures, and still have not had time to go through and edit/select the best ones, but again, I will do this as I can and update/post them when they are ready. In conclusion bullfighting is not something I'm really going to get into, but I think it was a good experience, and a good way to learn about the culture of Spain, especially since it was free.
Unfortunately this is all I can update for now, as I have to get moving on my homework and trip planning, but that at least catches me up with two weekends ago. Next post will update my adventures on the Route of Don Quijote and this past weeks mishaps with housing and moving, and getting ready for my trip. Hasta luego!
So I went to the Fallas two weeks ago, catching the bus to go there by one minute, literally. It was a nice ride though, only about 4 hours, and we got into Valencia around 10 that night. We stayed at a really nice hotel, very modern (it was a "high-tech hotel" by designation), and we went out exploring the city a bit that night. We also got to see a bit of the big fireworks show they do the second-to-last night of the festival, which was pretty impressive. We woke up pretty early on Thursday for the big day's events, and also to go in search of fireworks stores. We attended the mascleta (fireworks show) on the bridge of San Jose, patron saint of carpenters and the reason they have the Fallas celebration, then walked all over to see the big fallas statues and take pictures. In the afternoon we attended the huge mascleta on one of the big plazas, and we couldn't see everything because it was so packed with people but we did get to hear it and see some of the fireworks and the smoke that resulted from the show. After walking around for a while we did end up finding a fireworks store, and we loaded up a bag with all sorts of different kinds to take to the park for an explosion-fest of our own. It was a lot like the 4th of July, but with bigger fireworks. I mean these things were loud! We hung around for a while, then met up with some friends and did a big show with our best fireworks that we had saved. Yes, we were drinking beer while we were doing this, but no, no one lost any fingers. Great success!
That night was the culmination of the whole week's festivities, and by that I mean they ceremoniously torched all of the fallas in the city in a huge pyro extravaganza. We were pretty lucky in that we actually got to see two of the big ones go up in flames from start to finish, and I got a bunch of good pictures of all of this which I will share when I have more time. We met up with some friends after that and hung out, and all-in-all it was a great time in ol' Valencia. My only regret is that we didn't have more time to explore the city and see the museums, the beach, the aquarium, and everything else it has to offer.
That Saturday we (my friends Aaron, Abram, Carlos, and I) got free tickets to a bullfight in Madrid through Carlos' dad, so we all went to see that and get a taste of Spanish culture. There were four other students there from our program (they go to St. Mary's in Texas, and some school in Dayton, Ohio), and we got to sit with them in the arena, which was cool. Once again I was really glad Carlos' dad was there because he had all sorts of information about the bullfight, so we understood it a lot better than if we had been there on our own. Basically the way it works is there are 3 main matadors, and they each get to fight 3 bulls in succession, then the order repeats for the next three buls, meaning there are actually 6 bullfights per day of bullfighting. In our case we got to see 8 bulls total, because two of them didn't make the cut and had to leave the arena without going through the whole bullfighting process. The others were interesting though.
The matadors that we saw were not yet full professionals, as they were called 'novilleros', stemming from the name for the 4-year old bulls that they were fighting, called 'novillos'. Technically for a bull to be considered a professional fighting bull it has to be 5 years old or more, and in this case it would be called a 'toro', with the matadors who fight them being called 'toreros'. Anyhow the first bull was kind of a bad introduction because it was the goriest one (and I don't mean it gored the matador a lot of times, though I was secretly hoping for this the whole time). The others though were a lot more enjoyable to watch because the matadors got the job done relatively quickly, without as much blood and all that madness. I took quite a few pictures, and still have not had time to go through and edit/select the best ones, but again, I will do this as I can and update/post them when they are ready. In conclusion bullfighting is not something I'm really going to get into, but I think it was a good experience, and a good way to learn about the culture of Spain, especially since it was free.
Unfortunately this is all I can update for now, as I have to get moving on my homework and trip planning, but that at least catches me up with two weekends ago. Next post will update my adventures on the Route of Don Quijote and this past weeks mishaps with housing and moving, and getting ready for my trip. Hasta luego!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Prado, Playas, y Portugal, oh my!
Since my last blog I have had quite a bit going on, some things planned, other things not so much. Keep reading for clarification on what that means...
What I had planned on doing on Saturday the 7th was to go to Cuenca by train and see a bunch of art museums there. What actually happened was the opposite of that. Sort of. Abram and I ended up missing the train on accident by one minute, literally, and not being able to get refunded or exchanged tickets for any other train except the next one that day. That was all fine and good except for the fact that the next train left at 4:30 PM and didn't get to Cuenca until about 7:15. Ouch! So much for a day in Cuenca! Turns out it was not one of my favorite mistakes I've ever made, but what's done is done, so we took the hit to our wallets and decided to make the most of our day regardless. We walked around some parts of Madrid we hadn't seen before and ended up back over by the Museo de Prado. We figured if we weren't going to see all the cool art museums in Cuenca we might as well see a good one in Madrid.
We weren't disappointed, that's for sure. Having been to the Louvre in Paris I have a feel for what a big museum is. The Prado isn't that big, but it is a sight to see. There were seemingly endless hallways and wings branching off in different directions, to the point that after spending about 4 hours there we only got through a little more than a third of it. We saw paintings by Goya and Velazquez, among many others, but the one that really blew me away was in the temporary exhibit which was displaying artwork by famous artists from Great Britain. If you aren't familiar with the painting Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, I recommend you do a google image search and acquaint yourself with this painting. Now, once you've pulled up a high-resolution version of it, take a good long look and imagine that it looks 10 times more vivid, colorful, detailed, and bright. That's how it looked in the museum. I say all this because I had seen pictures of it before, but no picture really does it justice. I can honestly say it is probably the coolest painting I've ever seen in person with my own two eyes. Considering that, I didn't feel so bad about missing the train to Cuenca.
The next day Abram and I went back to Madrid mid-morning and went to El Rastro, the famous outdoor flea market near the Lavapies area of town. There were literally hundreds of booths lining the streets, selling just about everything you could think of buying at a flea market. We had fun walking through the crowds of people and seeing what all was there, and I ended up getting some cool stuff for friends and family, plus a t-shirt for myself, all for only about 25 euros. You can't beat the prices at this place, that's for sure. After that we met up with a girl named Rachel who we had met at the botellon at the school that past Thursday, and got lunch in Madrid with her. All of us then went to Parque de Retiro to meet up with some of her friends, and we all spent the rest of the afternoon there hanging out, picnicking, playing futbol, and playing word games in Spanish. It turned out to be another fun day in Madrid, and rounded out the weekend nicely.
My school load finally lightened up a bit last week, so I wasn't quite so stressed out going into this last weekend. It was a good thing too, because although it turned out to be a good one, it started off a little shakily. On Wednesday night I went out with Abram and Carlos, and then met up with two other girls from our program, Caitlin and Autumn. They were also out with their friend Carla, and Autumn's brother, Hunter, who was here visiting from his spring break in the states. We all went out to the Music Bar, one of our favorite spots, then tried out a new bar called Migas, which was also pretty cool. We had to move from Music Bar at 2:00 AM because they were closing, which is somewhat unusual for bars in Spain, but it was Wednesday so we didn't think much of it. We were only at Migas for about 45 minutes though because they started to close down and get everyone out before 3:00. Carlos decided to go home at that point, but the rest of us were all having fun and we wanted to show Hunter a good time, so we decided to try to go to another discoteca that was about a block away, since those typically close much later. What we had failed to remember was that this particular discoteca is only open on the weekends, meaning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, so when we got there of course it was all closed down with no one to be seen. Not a big deal we thought, we had already had a fun night, and we were about to just go home when a group of spanish teenagers came up and struck up a conversation with us. After hearing about our plans they told us about another discoteca that was open that was not too far away and proceeded to give us directions. It sounded ok, so we started to walk in that direction. They then offered to show us where it was since they were all going that way anyway, so we said ok and on we went. We walked down Calle Mayor, past the Plaza de Cervantes, two of the main pedestrian areas of town, making conversation and generally having a good time on the walk there. After being diverted a couple of blocks we all stopped on a corner to regroup, and it was at this point that our evening changed a bit.
At this time it was about 3:15 AM, late by American standards but more or less normal for Spanish standards, but late enough for there to not be a lot of people out and about aside from our group. So as we were standing on the corner we asked them where this discoteca was that we were going to, to which they didn't have a very sure response. A minute or so after that one of the spanish guys goes ahead and tries to reach into Abram's back pocket to relieve him of his wallet. Abram may not have noticed, but I was standing right next to him and saw the whole action from start to unsuccessul finish and I asked the guy what the hell he was doing. He didn't say anything, and instead tried to do the same thing to Hunter, again unsuccessfully. Being a little creeped out by this, Hunter went to move his wallet from his back pocket to his front pocket, and as he was doing so one of the other guys, the ringleader of the group so to speak, tried to snatch it out of his hand. We were all pretty pissed at that point, and Abram called the guy a thief, which somehow he was totally surprised to hear.
We started walking away right then and basically told the guys that we were leaving and that they were going to just have to f*** off, which of course they didn't. Fortunately the girls started walking ahead of us, but I was toward the back of our group as we were walking away, and I was trying to talk to the spanish guys and get them to leave. It was then that one of them took his jacket off like he was going to fight me, and I wasn't having it so I kept walking. They were still talking to me though, and despite the fact that I was walking away one of them took a swing at me, which I didn't see coming. Fortunately although he hit me on the left side of my jaw he didn't really connect, so I was ok. Abram and the others stopped though and I caught up and started to call 112, one of the emergency numbers we had learned from our program, the first one I could think of. Unfortunately I didn't think at the time of which one that was. Turns out it is the general number that anyone can call from anywhere in Europe to get help with any sort of emergency, so I was having a hell of a time trying to frantically explain in Spanish to the lady on the other end of the line what was happening and that we needed police assistance, not realizing until the end of the conversation that she needed to know what city I was in. Greeeeat. A lot of good that did. By the time I was done talking to her the group of guys were trying to take both Autumn and Caitlin's purses, again unsuccessfully, and ended up smashing Caitlin's phone on the street (she picked up the pieces and put it back together later). By the time we made it to the Plaza de Cervantes the 'gang' had pretty much split up, but there were still three of the guys on the corner of the plaza, with Caitlin running after them to try and kick some ass by herself. I wasn't about to let that happen, so I ran to catch up with her, and said some other things to the spanish guys which I won't repeat here, but that got them to leave us alone.
Fortunately for us a local police car rolled by the corner about 20 seconds later, and I flagged him down and told him what was going on, pointing to the three guys that were walking away. He took off very quickly, and they started to run, but didn't make it far we found out a few minutes later. He had called backup too, and 3 police cars and one van ended up coming to the corner to assist us, telling us that they had apprehended 5 of the guys who attacked us. One of them was in the back of the van, and the 'ringleader' and the 'kid' (they were all 15-18 years old, this kid was definitely no older than 15). Needless to say, the looks on their faces were priceless. I think they thought that we were just 'stupid Americans' and that not only would we not be able to get any police to help us, but that we wouldn't know enough Spanish to be able to explain what had happened. Wrong! They got the privilege of spending the night in jail (and possibly longer, not sure about that), and having to go home to their parents to explain why they were rotten little idiots. We unfortunately also had to go to the police station to give statements, which ended up taking about 5 hours total. We left the station at 8:30 AM, and I didn't go to class at all since I hadn't slept a wink or eaten or drank anything since the whole crapfest went down. I figured a customized, signed police report was a better excused absence than a doctor's note anyway, especially one that said that I had gotten hit in the face. I went home and slept for a couple hours, but had to get up to leave for Portugal by noon. Whew! What a way to start a weekend!
Well, as badly as that sucked, Portugal totally made up for it. No offense to Spain, and I realized I only spent 4 days in the Lisbon area, but I liked nearly everything about it better than Spain. For example, the weather was absolutely perfect the whole time, not too cold but not scorchingly hot either, perfect beach temperature. The people were also incredibly kind and accomodating, and many of them spoke English, which helped a lot because they really don't like to speak Spanish. We of course learned enough Portuguese to get by and be polite, but it was a relief that we were still able to communicate everywhere without much trouble. Another great thing about Portugal, they are nice about walking down the sidewalks too, which is a lot different than in Spain. Here you really have to pay attention in order to not get ran into/run over someone on the sidewalk, and even when you are paying attention they like to meander to and fro across the sidewalk in disregard of anyone around them, sometimes to the point where you start to wonder if they are really just trying to run into you on purpose. They also stop mid-sidewalk or walk 4 or 5 wide, often times very slowly, making it difficult to get by. Not so in Portugal. And to top that, the handful of times we did almost get run into by people walking 3-wide and not moving, it turned out they were Spanish. Ay! Madre mia! 
What else... our hostel was friggin' incredible, totally clean and modernly designed, with a friendly staff, great location, and free breakfast everyday, for only 18 euros a night! I really couldn't believe our incredible luck! Aside from this, the nightlife was good, the architecture and the castle we saw were beautiful, and Portugal has hands-down the most amazing statues and sculpture I have ever seen in my life. Period. These folks really know how to do the stonework, to an extreme degree. Also, the language itself is beautiful and a joy to listen to, making me wish I had at least learned a little before going there. The beaches were also beautiful, and the bike-ride we took along the coastline was easily the most scenic bike-ride I have ever taken. Also, attempted robbery experience here aside, I generally felt a lot safer walking around there, during the day and the nighttime, and the typical anti-American malice we have all gotten accustomed to was virtually nonexistent. I could go on and on about this amazing and beautiful country, but will sum it up by saying that I loved it and can't wait to go back. It totally shattered all of my expectations and preconceived notions of what it would be like, and in the best way. And in case I didn't make myself clear, I love Portugal!
So tomorrow I go back to school, hopefully without getting too much flack from teachers and staff about going out too late and being careful and all that, but we'll see. The great thing about this week is that it's only a 3-day week for us, because this week is 'fiesta' in Spain, so we have Thursday off. This means that on Wednesday we leave for Valencia to go see Las Fallas celebration, which comes to a final, fiery end on Thursday night. I am incredibly excited about this trip because it means there will be more beach time for us, and Las Fallas is one of the top reasons I wanted to come to Spain in the first place. Then it's off to a bullfight this weekend back in Madrid, for freeeee! I'm pretty, how you say, excite! I like! Is nice! So... I may not update until after next weekend, so 'til then, ciao!
P.S. - yes, this says exactly what you think it says... enjoy!
What I had planned on doing on Saturday the 7th was to go to Cuenca by train and see a bunch of art museums there. What actually happened was the opposite of that. Sort of. Abram and I ended up missing the train on accident by one minute, literally, and not being able to get refunded or exchanged tickets for any other train except the next one that day. That was all fine and good except for the fact that the next train left at 4:30 PM and didn't get to Cuenca until about 7:15. Ouch! So much for a day in Cuenca! Turns out it was not one of my favorite mistakes I've ever made, but what's done is done, so we took the hit to our wallets and decided to make the most of our day regardless. We walked around some parts of Madrid we hadn't seen before and ended up back over by the Museo de Prado. We figured if we weren't going to see all the cool art museums in Cuenca we might as well see a good one in Madrid.
We weren't disappointed, that's for sure. Having been to the Louvre in Paris I have a feel for what a big museum is. The Prado isn't that big, but it is a sight to see. There were seemingly endless hallways and wings branching off in different directions, to the point that after spending about 4 hours there we only got through a little more than a third of it. We saw paintings by Goya and Velazquez, among many others, but the one that really blew me away was in the temporary exhibit which was displaying artwork by famous artists from Great Britain. If you aren't familiar with the painting Flaming June by Frederic Leighton, I recommend you do a google image search and acquaint yourself with this painting. Now, once you've pulled up a high-resolution version of it, take a good long look and imagine that it looks 10 times more vivid, colorful, detailed, and bright. That's how it looked in the museum. I say all this because I had seen pictures of it before, but no picture really does it justice. I can honestly say it is probably the coolest painting I've ever seen in person with my own two eyes. Considering that, I didn't feel so bad about missing the train to Cuenca.
The next day Abram and I went back to Madrid mid-morning and went to El Rastro, the famous outdoor flea market near the Lavapies area of town. There were literally hundreds of booths lining the streets, selling just about everything you could think of buying at a flea market. We had fun walking through the crowds of people and seeing what all was there, and I ended up getting some cool stuff for friends and family, plus a t-shirt for myself, all for only about 25 euros. You can't beat the prices at this place, that's for sure. After that we met up with a girl named Rachel who we had met at the botellon at the school that past Thursday, and got lunch in Madrid with her. All of us then went to Parque de Retiro to meet up with some of her friends, and we all spent the rest of the afternoon there hanging out, picnicking, playing futbol, and playing word games in Spanish. It turned out to be another fun day in Madrid, and rounded out the weekend nicely.
My school load finally lightened up a bit last week, so I wasn't quite so stressed out going into this last weekend. It was a good thing too, because although it turned out to be a good one, it started off a little shakily. On Wednesday night I went out with Abram and Carlos, and then met up with two other girls from our program, Caitlin and Autumn. They were also out with their friend Carla, and Autumn's brother, Hunter, who was here visiting from his spring break in the states. We all went out to the Music Bar, one of our favorite spots, then tried out a new bar called Migas, which was also pretty cool. We had to move from Music Bar at 2:00 AM because they were closing, which is somewhat unusual for bars in Spain, but it was Wednesday so we didn't think much of it. We were only at Migas for about 45 minutes though because they started to close down and get everyone out before 3:00. Carlos decided to go home at that point, but the rest of us were all having fun and we wanted to show Hunter a good time, so we decided to try to go to another discoteca that was about a block away, since those typically close much later. What we had failed to remember was that this particular discoteca is only open on the weekends, meaning Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, so when we got there of course it was all closed down with no one to be seen. Not a big deal we thought, we had already had a fun night, and we were about to just go home when a group of spanish teenagers came up and struck up a conversation with us. After hearing about our plans they told us about another discoteca that was open that was not too far away and proceeded to give us directions. It sounded ok, so we started to walk in that direction. They then offered to show us where it was since they were all going that way anyway, so we said ok and on we went. We walked down Calle Mayor, past the Plaza de Cervantes, two of the main pedestrian areas of town, making conversation and generally having a good time on the walk there. After being diverted a couple of blocks we all stopped on a corner to regroup, and it was at this point that our evening changed a bit.
At this time it was about 3:15 AM, late by American standards but more or less normal for Spanish standards, but late enough for there to not be a lot of people out and about aside from our group. So as we were standing on the corner we asked them where this discoteca was that we were going to, to which they didn't have a very sure response. A minute or so after that one of the spanish guys goes ahead and tries to reach into Abram's back pocket to relieve him of his wallet. Abram may not have noticed, but I was standing right next to him and saw the whole action from start to unsuccessul finish and I asked the guy what the hell he was doing. He didn't say anything, and instead tried to do the same thing to Hunter, again unsuccessfully. Being a little creeped out by this, Hunter went to move his wallet from his back pocket to his front pocket, and as he was doing so one of the other guys, the ringleader of the group so to speak, tried to snatch it out of his hand. We were all pretty pissed at that point, and Abram called the guy a thief, which somehow he was totally surprised to hear.
We started walking away right then and basically told the guys that we were leaving and that they were going to just have to f*** off, which of course they didn't. Fortunately the girls started walking ahead of us, but I was toward the back of our group as we were walking away, and I was trying to talk to the spanish guys and get them to leave. It was then that one of them took his jacket off like he was going to fight me, and I wasn't having it so I kept walking. They were still talking to me though, and despite the fact that I was walking away one of them took a swing at me, which I didn't see coming. Fortunately although he hit me on the left side of my jaw he didn't really connect, so I was ok. Abram and the others stopped though and I caught up and started to call 112, one of the emergency numbers we had learned from our program, the first one I could think of. Unfortunately I didn't think at the time of which one that was. Turns out it is the general number that anyone can call from anywhere in Europe to get help with any sort of emergency, so I was having a hell of a time trying to frantically explain in Spanish to the lady on the other end of the line what was happening and that we needed police assistance, not realizing until the end of the conversation that she needed to know what city I was in. Greeeeat. A lot of good that did. By the time I was done talking to her the group of guys were trying to take both Autumn and Caitlin's purses, again unsuccessfully, and ended up smashing Caitlin's phone on the street (she picked up the pieces and put it back together later). By the time we made it to the Plaza de Cervantes the 'gang' had pretty much split up, but there were still three of the guys on the corner of the plaza, with Caitlin running after them to try and kick some ass by herself. I wasn't about to let that happen, so I ran to catch up with her, and said some other things to the spanish guys which I won't repeat here, but that got them to leave us alone.
Fortunately for us a local police car rolled by the corner about 20 seconds later, and I flagged him down and told him what was going on, pointing to the three guys that were walking away. He took off very quickly, and they started to run, but didn't make it far we found out a few minutes later. He had called backup too, and 3 police cars and one van ended up coming to the corner to assist us, telling us that they had apprehended 5 of the guys who attacked us. One of them was in the back of the van, and the 'ringleader' and the 'kid' (they were all 15-18 years old, this kid was definitely no older than 15). Needless to say, the looks on their faces were priceless. I think they thought that we were just 'stupid Americans' and that not only would we not be able to get any police to help us, but that we wouldn't know enough Spanish to be able to explain what had happened. Wrong! They got the privilege of spending the night in jail (and possibly longer, not sure about that), and having to go home to their parents to explain why they were rotten little idiots. We unfortunately also had to go to the police station to give statements, which ended up taking about 5 hours total. We left the station at 8:30 AM, and I didn't go to class at all since I hadn't slept a wink or eaten or drank anything since the whole crapfest went down. I figured a customized, signed police report was a better excused absence than a doctor's note anyway, especially one that said that I had gotten hit in the face. I went home and slept for a couple hours, but had to get up to leave for Portugal by noon. Whew! What a way to start a weekend!
Well, as badly as that sucked, Portugal totally made up for it. No offense to Spain, and I realized I only spent 4 days in the Lisbon area, but I liked nearly everything about it better than Spain. For example, the weather was absolutely perfect the whole time, not too cold but not scorchingly hot either, perfect beach temperature. The people were also incredibly kind and accomodating, and many of them spoke English, which helped a lot because they really don't like to speak Spanish. We of course learned enough Portuguese to get by and be polite, but it was a relief that we were still able to communicate everywhere without much trouble. Another great thing about Portugal, they are nice about walking down the sidewalks too, which is a lot different than in Spain. Here you really have to pay attention in order to not get ran into/run over someone on the sidewalk, and even when you are paying attention they like to meander to and fro across the sidewalk in disregard of anyone around them, sometimes to the point where you start to wonder if they are really just trying to run into you on purpose. They also stop mid-sidewalk or walk 4 or 5 wide, often times very slowly, making it difficult to get by. Not so in Portugal. And to top that, the handful of times we did almost get run into by people walking 3-wide and not moving, it turned out they were Spanish. Ay! Madre mia! 
What else... our hostel was friggin' incredible, totally clean and modernly designed, with a friendly staff, great location, and free breakfast everyday, for only 18 euros a night! I really couldn't believe our incredible luck! Aside from this, the nightlife was good, the architecture and the castle we saw were beautiful, and Portugal has hands-down the most amazing statues and sculpture I have ever seen in my life. Period. These folks really know how to do the stonework, to an extreme degree. Also, the language itself is beautiful and a joy to listen to, making me wish I had at least learned a little before going there. The beaches were also beautiful, and the bike-ride we took along the coastline was easily the most scenic bike-ride I have ever taken. Also, attempted robbery experience here aside, I generally felt a lot safer walking around there, during the day and the nighttime, and the typical anti-American malice we have all gotten accustomed to was virtually nonexistent. I could go on and on about this amazing and beautiful country, but will sum it up by saying that I loved it and can't wait to go back. It totally shattered all of my expectations and preconceived notions of what it would be like, and in the best way. And in case I didn't make myself clear, I love Portugal!
So tomorrow I go back to school, hopefully without getting too much flack from teachers and staff about going out too late and being careful and all that, but we'll see. The great thing about this week is that it's only a 3-day week for us, because this week is 'fiesta' in Spain, so we have Thursday off. This means that on Wednesday we leave for Valencia to go see Las Fallas celebration, which comes to a final, fiery end on Thursday night. I am incredibly excited about this trip because it means there will be more beach time for us, and Las Fallas is one of the top reasons I wanted to come to Spain in the first place. Then it's off to a bullfight this weekend back in Madrid, for freeeee! I'm pretty, how you say, excite! I like! Is nice! So... I may not update until after next weekend, so 'til then, ciao!P.S. - yes, this says exactly what you think it says... enjoy!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Birthday and beyond...
So the last time I wrote on here it was my birthday, but I didn't write anything about my birthday because it was my birthday. Claro? Well, that day was a fun one for me, and after class it got a lot funner. When I came home I had lunch with Carlos and Isabel, and afterwards she surprised me with a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, which was totally awesome. She didn't even know raspberries were my favorite fruit, but it was a great coincidence for me! She also gave me a t-shirt that says Alcala de Henares and has an Arabic design. This was also very cool because if there is one thing I needed more of in Spain it was clothes. After that I just chilled out for most of the day, then went out that evening with a bunch of friends. 
It just so happened that it was also my friend Kyli's birthday on the 17th too, so when we all met up it was quite an entourage. I had a great time though and got some good pictures of everyone having fun that night. Plus I didn't have to pay for any drinks due to it being my cumpleaños and all, so that was pretty fantastic. All in all it was a good night, and I'll always remember having my birthday in Spain.
The Friday of that week for my media class we took a field trip to Madrid to visit El Pais, which is the most-read newspaper of all the ones you pay for (there are a couple free sports newspapers that have a larger reader base). We learned about the history of it, what people do there, how it is made, then we got to tour the factory a bit to see how it is printed. It wasn't the most exhilarating field trip of my life, but it was free and somewhat interesting, so... And I got a free Spanish CSI computer game and a free newspaper which made the whole thing totally worth it! Yeah!
The next day was a great one too. Myself and a bunch of friends all went to a pro futbol match here, which pitted Real Madrid against Real Betis in what would turn out to be a humilitaion-fest for the latter. By that I mean by the time we got our tickets and were making our way up to the top section, Madrid had already scored 2 goals in the first 2 minutes! ...and then it started getting ugly for Betis. Madrid and my main man Raul went on to score 4 more goals to Betis' 1, 2 of which were by Raul. It was lucky for me because I had just gotten a Raul jersey before the game because it was a 19 Euro discount from the other named and numbered jerseys in honor of his having recently passed the 300-goal mark for his pro career. Niiiiice. Our seats weren't fantastic but they were only 25 Euro, so I wasn't complaining. It actually ended up being really cool because we were pretty much in an almost exclusively Betis section,
and they were cheering and singing throughout the whole game (and even afterwards) despite basically having their asses handed to them on the pitch. It made it more of an adventure than if we would have been with a bunch of snobby, complacent Madrid fans at least. Also of note is that nearly the entire stadium was sold out, save ~100 tickets, so it was a rowdy time all around.
We all went back to the hostel after that and I got into my "costume" for Carnaval, which consisted of a child-sized suit of armor and sword (hey, the package said it was for ages 3 and up!). There weren't a ton of people dressed up when we went out, but we did see some good costumes that night. We ended up just going to a club that was fairly close to our hostel on Puerta del Sol, in part because it was cheaper to get into than others, and in part because it looked like it had a good number of people and some good music going on. We danced the night away, or at least part of it, and retired to our hostel after a while.
This past weekend my friends Abram and Molly and I went to Toledo for a day trip on Saturday. We took a high-speed train from Madrid and got there in only about 20 minutes! We walked like crazy folk that day, several miles at least, through one of the steepest and hilliest cities I have ever seen! It is famous for it's swords, chessboards, ceramics, and something way cooler than any of those things... marzapan. Yeah, marzapan. Just kidding, the swords were the awesomest part of the whole touristy window-shopping experience, and I couldn't believe there were so many!
On a side note, if anyone needs a sword I'll be going back for a field trip, just let me know and I'll get one for you. Just saying... But anyways we went and saw a couple cathedrals, and lots of different paintings by El Greco, which were also superguay. I'm tellin' ya, that man can paint! I took a bunch of pictures there, and all-in-all it was a perfect distance for a day trip.
That's all for now, I will try to keep this more updated than I have been, I pinky swear. And if you want to know more, feel free to email me or send me a message on Facebook. And with that, I'll leave you with this little gem, enjoy:
It just so happened that it was also my friend Kyli's birthday on the 17th too, so when we all met up it was quite an entourage. I had a great time though and got some good pictures of everyone having fun that night. Plus I didn't have to pay for any drinks due to it being my cumpleaños and all, so that was pretty fantastic. All in all it was a good night, and I'll always remember having my birthday in Spain.
The Friday of that week for my media class we took a field trip to Madrid to visit El Pais, which is the most-read newspaper of all the ones you pay for (there are a couple free sports newspapers that have a larger reader base). We learned about the history of it, what people do there, how it is made, then we got to tour the factory a bit to see how it is printed. It wasn't the most exhilarating field trip of my life, but it was free and somewhat interesting, so... And I got a free Spanish CSI computer game and a free newspaper which made the whole thing totally worth it! Yeah!The next day was a great one too. Myself and a bunch of friends all went to a pro futbol match here, which pitted Real Madrid against Real Betis in what would turn out to be a humilitaion-fest for the latter. By that I mean by the time we got our tickets and were making our way up to the top section, Madrid had already scored 2 goals in the first 2 minutes! ...and then it started getting ugly for Betis. Madrid and my main man Raul went on to score 4 more goals to Betis' 1, 2 of which were by Raul. It was lucky for me because I had just gotten a Raul jersey before the game because it was a 19 Euro discount from the other named and numbered jerseys in honor of his having recently passed the 300-goal mark for his pro career. Niiiiice. Our seats weren't fantastic but they were only 25 Euro, so I wasn't complaining. It actually ended up being really cool because we were pretty much in an almost exclusively Betis section,
and they were cheering and singing throughout the whole game (and even afterwards) despite basically having their asses handed to them on the pitch. It made it more of an adventure than if we would have been with a bunch of snobby, complacent Madrid fans at least. Also of note is that nearly the entire stadium was sold out, save ~100 tickets, so it was a rowdy time all around.
We all went back to the hostel after that and I got into my "costume" for Carnaval, which consisted of a child-sized suit of armor and sword (hey, the package said it was for ages 3 and up!). There weren't a ton of people dressed up when we went out, but we did see some good costumes that night. We ended up just going to a club that was fairly close to our hostel on Puerta del Sol, in part because it was cheaper to get into than others, and in part because it looked like it had a good number of people and some good music going on. We danced the night away, or at least part of it, and retired to our hostel after a while.This past weekend my friends Abram and Molly and I went to Toledo for a day trip on Saturday. We took a high-speed train from Madrid and got there in only about 20 minutes! We walked like crazy folk that day, several miles at least, through one of the steepest and hilliest cities I have ever seen! It is famous for it's swords, chessboards, ceramics, and something way cooler than any of those things... marzapan. Yeah, marzapan. Just kidding, the swords were the awesomest part of the whole touristy window-shopping experience, and I couldn't believe there were so many!
On a side note, if anyone needs a sword I'll be going back for a field trip, just let me know and I'll get one for you. Just saying... But anyways we went and saw a couple cathedrals, and lots of different paintings by El Greco, which were also superguay. I'm tellin' ya, that man can paint! I took a bunch of pictures there, and all-in-all it was a perfect distance for a day trip.That's all for now, I will try to keep this more updated than I have been, I pinky swear. And if you want to know more, feel free to email me or send me a message on Facebook. And with that, I'll leave you with this little gem, enjoy:
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The last two weeks...
So... I kind of forgot to write a blog after last weekend. Oops! It's ok though because I'm going to fill you in now. :)
Last weekend I went to a house party at my friend Caolan's apartment, which was a going-away party for his roommate Fabian, who was going back to Germany. It was a ton of fun, and there were a bunch of other students there from all over Europe who were studying in Alcala as part of the Erasmus program. It was nice to branch out a bit and meet some new people, and the best part was that I was speaking spanish to nearly everyone, and for the first time since I've been here it felt really easy and fluid for me. Kickass! So that was cool. I didn't do too much else that weekend, (I did go for a hike up the "mountain" outside of Alcala, which afforded some nice views of the city and countryside around here), but otherwise kept it pretty low-key and worked my way through the school week, which brings me to this past weekend...
We went to Madrid on Friday afternoon to meet up with Carlos' dad so we could get down to Malaga for the weekend. It was a really convenient trip for us because he was already going to visit a cousin near Malaga, so we pretty much tagged along for the ride, then hung out in Malaga for friday night, all day Saturday, and then returned with him on Sunday. He is a really cool dude, very easy to talk to, with a lot of interesting knowledge of Spain's geography and history that he shared with us as we drove through the La Mancha and Andalucia regions toward the south of Spain. It was a pretty long drive, but Spain is not that big compared to the US, so it was manageable. We didn't get into Malaga until almost midnight, but after he dropped us off we walked around a bit to see the city and the nightlife.
As it turns out, Malaga is actually a very nice city, and after spending some time there and in Granada I have to say I am quickly becoming a big fan of the Andalucia region. It is easy to see why it is the premier region for tourism in Spain. The countryside and the mountains are diverse and beautiful, and the arhictecture in both cities is captivating. The main boulevard in Malaga is lined with broad sidewalks, parks, and palm trees, to the point where I almost felt like I was walking around somewhere in southern California. Our hostel (Hostal Derby) was right next to this, and overlooked the Mediteranean from the side window, which was really nice.
That first night as we were walking around we discovered a large mass of people, mostly teenagers and students, having a drinking party (as far as we could tell) in the street. There was nothing else going on, but for about one block the whole street was closed off and absolutely packed with people. A little ways down the street, out in the harbor we saw a pirate ship so we walked a little further to check it out. On closer inspection it turns out this old-fashioned galleon was actually a nightclub, as we could see the colored disco lights flashing through the windows in what would have been the captain's quarters on the back of the ship. What a concept! Other than that we just walked around a bit more then went back to the hostel because we had a pretty full Saturday ahead of us.
We woke up around 9:30 AM and got out a little after 10:00 to get out and start touring. We had breakfast at a little cafe then headed over to the Alcazabar, which is the old moorish castle that sits upon a hill in the center of town, overlooking the harbor and the main boulevard. It was not as big as the Alhambra, but was impressive nonetheless. We took tons of pictures as we climbed up the hill through the castle, as the views kept getting more and more impressive as we went. After that we came back down to have lunch, and do a bit more walking. We ended up walking across town to the beach, then meeting up with Carlos' dad Mario, and his cousin Rafa, and we had some seafood and tapas at a little place right on the beach. I am finding out that I actually enjoy calamari more than I thought I would, and I even ate a fried sardine (whole, minus the head) as well as some steamed clams. Keep in mind aside from fried cod in traditional fish and chips, and various types of crab and shrimp, I don't normally eat seafood at all. It was a good meal though, and a good experience for trying some traditional spanish foods.
We split up with Mario and Rafa after lunch and walked around, and we tried to go to the cathedral, albeit unsuccessfully as it was closed. We continued on and walked up a big hill toward the palace part of the Alcazabar. And when I say big hill, I mean this was a really big hill! It was very steep in some parts, and it took us a while to get up the whole thing, especially because we kept stopping to take pictures. We never made it into the palace because it had just closed before we got there, but we did get to the top of the hill to see the incredible view out over the Mediterranean. Our timing turned out to be perfect for this though, as we were getting there right as the sun was setting, making for some wonderful pictures of the city and the coast. I will be posting these on Facebook when I get a chance.
That night we went out for dinner, and afterward stumbled upon the Carnaval celebration taking place on their main street and plaza. What a pleasant surprise! It is not exactly like the Carnaval
in Brazil, though it had some similar elements. Overall it was definitely more of a family event, and the kids even had a costume contest, so a lot of them were dressed up like it was Halloween. There were a lot of street performers, and we watched a guy do a complete painting on a panel of glass in only about 2 minutes, and using only his fingers. There was a stage show too, but the comedian/MC was talking a lot about the differences between people from various regions of Spain, so most of the jokes were lost on us. We did get some pretty amazing ice cream there though before we went back to the hostel. We ended up turning in pretty early that night, and not going out like we planned, but we had walked all over the city pretty much all day and didn't have a lot of energy left for going out or dancing.
On Sunday we were up and out by about 10:15, and after we ate breakfast we were walking around and again stumbled upon another event on the main street without prior knowledge of it. We actually walked right into a political rally right as it was starting, and ended up getting flags (Andalucian) and signs (Paro, no! Empleo, si! = Unemployment, no! Employment, yes!) for the rally. It was being put on by the Partido Popular, which is akin to the Republican party in the US. They were rallying for a change in the laws regarding employment and unemployment benefits, because Andalucia has a really high unemployment rate right now. Overall there were about 15,000 people there for it from all over Andalucia and Spain, and it was a good symbol of unity and the effort to make positive change. Whether or not it actually had any effect on the government is unclear, because they were basically just asking the president of the Andalucia region (a member of the PSOE, the opposite party of the Partido Popular) to lobby for their cause in the national government. And as politics go in Spain, these two political parties are opposed in nearly every aspect, so I'm not sure if it actually did anything to have this rally, but it's the thought that counts I suppose.
Anyhow we took a little stroll through the waves after that then drove back that day, I did a bunch of homework and studying, and have been keeping at my schoolwork since then. We have midterms next week so it's kind of piling up right now, because aside from these tests the finals are the only other times when we are given any significant grade on anything. I am not worried about it, but at the same time it is a lot of pressure and I am not looking forward to having several consecutive days of tests. Life goes on though, and soon it will be time for Las Fallas in Valencia and then Semana Santa, which may or may not turn out to be a trip to Italy, it's still undecided. And this Saturday I am going to see a futbol game in Madrid with a bunch of people from school, so I'm really excited for that. So cheers for now, and feliz cumpleanos a mi! :)
Last weekend I went to a house party at my friend Caolan's apartment, which was a going-away party for his roommate Fabian, who was going back to Germany. It was a ton of fun, and there were a bunch of other students there from all over Europe who were studying in Alcala as part of the Erasmus program. It was nice to branch out a bit and meet some new people, and the best part was that I was speaking spanish to nearly everyone, and for the first time since I've been here it felt really easy and fluid for me. Kickass! So that was cool. I didn't do too much else that weekend, (I did go for a hike up the "mountain" outside of Alcala, which afforded some nice views of the city and countryside around here), but otherwise kept it pretty low-key and worked my way through the school week, which brings me to this past weekend...We went to Madrid on Friday afternoon to meet up with Carlos' dad so we could get down to Malaga for the weekend. It was a really convenient trip for us because he was already going to visit a cousin near Malaga, so we pretty much tagged along for the ride, then hung out in Malaga for friday night, all day Saturday, and then returned with him on Sunday. He is a really cool dude, very easy to talk to, with a lot of interesting knowledge of Spain's geography and history that he shared with us as we drove through the La Mancha and Andalucia regions toward the south of Spain. It was a pretty long drive, but Spain is not that big compared to the US, so it was manageable. We didn't get into Malaga until almost midnight, but after he dropped us off we walked around a bit to see the city and the nightlife.
As it turns out, Malaga is actually a very nice city, and after spending some time there and in Granada I have to say I am quickly becoming a big fan of the Andalucia region. It is easy to see why it is the premier region for tourism in Spain. The countryside and the mountains are diverse and beautiful, and the arhictecture in both cities is captivating. The main boulevard in Malaga is lined with broad sidewalks, parks, and palm trees, to the point where I almost felt like I was walking around somewhere in southern California. Our hostel (Hostal Derby) was right next to this, and overlooked the Mediteranean from the side window, which was really nice.
That first night as we were walking around we discovered a large mass of people, mostly teenagers and students, having a drinking party (as far as we could tell) in the street. There was nothing else going on, but for about one block the whole street was closed off and absolutely packed with people. A little ways down the street, out in the harbor we saw a pirate ship so we walked a little further to check it out. On closer inspection it turns out this old-fashioned galleon was actually a nightclub, as we could see the colored disco lights flashing through the windows in what would have been the captain's quarters on the back of the ship. What a concept! Other than that we just walked around a bit more then went back to the hostel because we had a pretty full Saturday ahead of us.We woke up around 9:30 AM and got out a little after 10:00 to get out and start touring. We had breakfast at a little cafe then headed over to the Alcazabar, which is the old moorish castle that sits upon a hill in the center of town, overlooking the harbor and the main boulevard. It was not as big as the Alhambra, but was impressive nonetheless. We took tons of pictures as we climbed up the hill through the castle, as the views kept getting more and more impressive as we went. After that we came back down to have lunch, and do a bit more walking. We ended up walking across town to the beach, then meeting up with Carlos' dad Mario, and his cousin Rafa, and we had some seafood and tapas at a little place right on the beach. I am finding out that I actually enjoy calamari more than I thought I would, and I even ate a fried sardine (whole, minus the head) as well as some steamed clams. Keep in mind aside from fried cod in traditional fish and chips, and various types of crab and shrimp, I don't normally eat seafood at all. It was a good meal though, and a good experience for trying some traditional spanish foods.
We split up with Mario and Rafa after lunch and walked around, and we tried to go to the cathedral, albeit unsuccessfully as it was closed. We continued on and walked up a big hill toward the palace part of the Alcazabar. And when I say big hill, I mean this was a really big hill! It was very steep in some parts, and it took us a while to get up the whole thing, especially because we kept stopping to take pictures. We never made it into the palace because it had just closed before we got there, but we did get to the top of the hill to see the incredible view out over the Mediterranean. Our timing turned out to be perfect for this though, as we were getting there right as the sun was setting, making for some wonderful pictures of the city and the coast. I will be posting these on Facebook when I get a chance.That night we went out for dinner, and afterward stumbled upon the Carnaval celebration taking place on their main street and plaza. What a pleasant surprise! It is not exactly like the Carnaval
in Brazil, though it had some similar elements. Overall it was definitely more of a family event, and the kids even had a costume contest, so a lot of them were dressed up like it was Halloween. There were a lot of street performers, and we watched a guy do a complete painting on a panel of glass in only about 2 minutes, and using only his fingers. There was a stage show too, but the comedian/MC was talking a lot about the differences between people from various regions of Spain, so most of the jokes were lost on us. We did get some pretty amazing ice cream there though before we went back to the hostel. We ended up turning in pretty early that night, and not going out like we planned, but we had walked all over the city pretty much all day and didn't have a lot of energy left for going out or dancing.On Sunday we were up and out by about 10:15, and after we ate breakfast we were walking around and again stumbled upon another event on the main street without prior knowledge of it. We actually walked right into a political rally right as it was starting, and ended up getting flags (Andalucian) and signs (Paro, no! Empleo, si! = Unemployment, no! Employment, yes!) for the rally. It was being put on by the Partido Popular, which is akin to the Republican party in the US. They were rallying for a change in the laws regarding employment and unemployment benefits, because Andalucia has a really high unemployment rate right now. Overall there were about 15,000 people there for it from all over Andalucia and Spain, and it was a good symbol of unity and the effort to make positive change. Whether or not it actually had any effect on the government is unclear, because they were basically just asking the president of the Andalucia region (a member of the PSOE, the opposite party of the Partido Popular) to lobby for their cause in the national government. And as politics go in Spain, these two political parties are opposed in nearly every aspect, so I'm not sure if it actually did anything to have this rally, but it's the thought that counts I suppose.
Anyhow we took a little stroll through the waves after that then drove back that day, I did a bunch of homework and studying, and have been keeping at my schoolwork since then. We have midterms next week so it's kind of piling up right now, because aside from these tests the finals are the only other times when we are given any significant grade on anything. I am not worried about it, but at the same time it is a lot of pressure and I am not looking forward to having several consecutive days of tests. Life goes on though, and soon it will be time for Las Fallas in Valencia and then Semana Santa, which may or may not turn out to be a trip to Italy, it's still undecided. And this Saturday I am going to see a futbol game in Madrid with a bunch of people from school, so I'm really excited for that. So cheers for now, and feliz cumpleanos a mi! :)
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