I decided to make a list of things I'm going to miss. I complain about Spain a lot, but its really not a bad place and there are things about it that I really wish I could take back to America with me. So here it goes.
-Diego's crazy plans. Loco.
-My intercambio, Javier
-Mercedes slipping seafood into my rice
-Two huge chocolate bars for 2 bucks
-Cruzcampo
-The view out my window
-Torre del Oro
-Getting beer in a cafe
-Spanish coffee
-Spanish hot chocolate
-La Giralda
-Fountains
-the arquitecture
-speaking Spanish
-Andalucian accents
-Scarves
-Soccer on tv
- Ruby
-Paella
-The little pizza place
-Kebabs
-Spanish on tv
-Drinkin by the river
-Never being ID'd
-Being able to walk everywhere
I'll probably think of more. That's really not that long.
I didn't make a lot of ties here. That makes me sad. But in a way, I think it's for the better. I don't think I'll be able to come back. I don't think my life is gonna take me back in this direction, though I could be wrong. If it does, well that will be fine, as long as life isn't expecting me to live here forever (I might die in that case). If it doesn't, that will be fine, too. It's a lot easier this way.
In five days, I will be back in the United States. This trip will be done. The people I have met here will be mostly gone. My footsteps will be overwritten, as if laid in fine sand, and I will be less than a memory. But where I'm going, I can't vanish from. Where I'm going is where I fit in this world, back into the holes of hearts that I left behind. And Spain won't vanish from me, dream though it may have been.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, May 1, 2009
my posting times have become irregular
This is a direct result of the fact that my life has become irregular.
It is Feria week in Sevilla, which means there are a lot of people here. From everywhere. So of course I got sick. But no worries, I am on the mend! I almost have my appetite back again, and on the positive side I lost weight! Since I was kinda starting to gain some, that's okay.
Back to Feria. It's awesome. It's amazing. It's cultural.
I want to kill people.
I love Feria. It's like the Spanish version of a Renaissance festival mixed with a county fair, mixed with a block party. With a circus. Obviously it's sweet. I discovered possibly my favorite alcoholic beverage at Feria. It's called rebujito, it's Manzanilla (a white wine) and soda water. It's great for a hot day, so perfect for the stuffy tents where you dance Sevillanas.
The people are obnoxious.
During Semana Santa, the streets became safer. This was good. It enabled me to wander around late at night getting pictures without fear.
Feria is dangerous. In groups I get accosted. Therefore, my experiences with Feria have been somewhat mixed. I feel that it would be a good thing to do with a male counterpart. But I'm not really excited about it anymore, despite everything good about it.
In other news, it is finally crunch time. I lost a couple of days to sickness, and so I'm a little behind, but hopefully I'll have one project finished tonight and have the research mostly finished for my paper that's due Thursday. That's the goal anyways. Otherwise I may be in trouble.
When I check back in it may all be done.
It is Feria week in Sevilla, which means there are a lot of people here. From everywhere. So of course I got sick. But no worries, I am on the mend! I almost have my appetite back again, and on the positive side I lost weight! Since I was kinda starting to gain some, that's okay.
Back to Feria. It's awesome. It's amazing. It's cultural.
I want to kill people.
I love Feria. It's like the Spanish version of a Renaissance festival mixed with a county fair, mixed with a block party. With a circus. Obviously it's sweet. I discovered possibly my favorite alcoholic beverage at Feria. It's called rebujito, it's Manzanilla (a white wine) and soda water. It's great for a hot day, so perfect for the stuffy tents where you dance Sevillanas.
The people are obnoxious.
During Semana Santa, the streets became safer. This was good. It enabled me to wander around late at night getting pictures without fear.
Feria is dangerous. In groups I get accosted. Therefore, my experiences with Feria have been somewhat mixed. I feel that it would be a good thing to do with a male counterpart. But I'm not really excited about it anymore, despite everything good about it.
In other news, it is finally crunch time. I lost a couple of days to sickness, and so I'm a little behind, but hopefully I'll have one project finished tonight and have the research mostly finished for my paper that's due Thursday. That's the goal anyways. Otherwise I may be in trouble.
When I check back in it may all be done.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Layin in bed all day
Sometimes, you need a day to not talk to anyone, not see anything, not do anything besides lay in bed. Today was that day. I took a shower because I was gross from my trip, but other than that I laid in bed.
Yesterday was amazing. Barcelona is gorgeous, and I took so many pictures that I don't know what to do. I saw Casa Batllo, the outside of la Pedrera, Plaza Catalanya, Plaza de Espanya, some random giant castles, the huge Barcelona port system, their World Trade Center, rode one of those cable car things that go through the air and tried sake. I guess I did a lot of things, but it doesn't really feel like it. There was so much left to see. I barely scraped the surface.
Oh well. That just means I have an excuse to take someone with me next time.
Yesterday was amazing. Barcelona is gorgeous, and I took so many pictures that I don't know what to do. I saw Casa Batllo, the outside of la Pedrera, Plaza Catalanya, Plaza de Espanya, some random giant castles, the huge Barcelona port system, their World Trade Center, rode one of those cable car things that go through the air and tried sake. I guess I did a lot of things, but it doesn't really feel like it. There was so much left to see. I barely scraped the surface.
Oh well. That just means I have an excuse to take someone with me next time.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Barcelona Dream
Thatś the name of my hostel.
Barcelona is like a dream though, the architecture is out of this world, there are trees everywhere, itś right on the beach. All in all, a lovely sort of place. They all speak Catalan though, which makes it a little hard to practice Spanish. Ive pretty much just been speaking English, since everyone here speaks that. Barcelona is a definite difference from Sevilla.
I have had the most ridiculous two days of my life so far. I`m posting on here before trying to go find some food. My plan is to wake up tomorrow and start this over. Hopefully I'll get to the beach, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. Those are the only three things I actually want to see here.
Yesterday, I got accosted by an old pervert who attempted to expose himself to me in Sevilla. Then I went to one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen, a two piano piece by Mozart which was executed with amazing animation by the del Valle brothers from Malaga, who are now officially one of my must see things in life. They are absolutely phenomenal. Then I went directly to a fiesta at the school, where I discovered that I in fact like white wine and that flamenco dancing is highly amusing. Went to bed at about 130 or 2, got up this morning at 515 because I couldn't sleep anymore and took a shower, whereupon I got yelled at by my señora because I was taking a shower at 5 am. Then I got ripped off by a cab driver, and then I got on the plane. Ryanair, by the way, is a highly sketch flying company, but cheap when you don't pack anything really. You just pick a rather uncomfortable seat and you're off. Unfortunately, the airport I was going to was not the airport I actually thought I was going to, which led to me having to spend about two extra hours commuting. Then I went to the Sagrada Familia and Parque Güell, which are examples of Gaudí's work, and very impressive. Then I rode around on a tour bus for a while, and saw the FC Barcelona stadium and Barcelona.
At some point on this trip I realized that the world is very, very large.
A little bit after I realized that the world was sort of small, too.
And I also figured out that a couple of extra Euros will fix everything but awkward perverts asking for directions.
Go figure.
Barcelona is like a dream though, the architecture is out of this world, there are trees everywhere, itś right on the beach. All in all, a lovely sort of place. They all speak Catalan though, which makes it a little hard to practice Spanish. Ive pretty much just been speaking English, since everyone here speaks that. Barcelona is a definite difference from Sevilla.
I have had the most ridiculous two days of my life so far. I`m posting on here before trying to go find some food. My plan is to wake up tomorrow and start this over. Hopefully I'll get to the beach, Casa Batlló and La Pedrera. Those are the only three things I actually want to see here.
Yesterday, I got accosted by an old pervert who attempted to expose himself to me in Sevilla. Then I went to one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen, a two piano piece by Mozart which was executed with amazing animation by the del Valle brothers from Malaga, who are now officially one of my must see things in life. They are absolutely phenomenal. Then I went directly to a fiesta at the school, where I discovered that I in fact like white wine and that flamenco dancing is highly amusing. Went to bed at about 130 or 2, got up this morning at 515 because I couldn't sleep anymore and took a shower, whereupon I got yelled at by my señora because I was taking a shower at 5 am. Then I got ripped off by a cab driver, and then I got on the plane. Ryanair, by the way, is a highly sketch flying company, but cheap when you don't pack anything really. You just pick a rather uncomfortable seat and you're off. Unfortunately, the airport I was going to was not the airport I actually thought I was going to, which led to me having to spend about two extra hours commuting. Then I went to the Sagrada Familia and Parque Güell, which are examples of Gaudí's work, and very impressive. Then I rode around on a tour bus for a while, and saw the FC Barcelona stadium and Barcelona.
At some point on this trip I realized that the world is very, very large.
A little bit after I realized that the world was sort of small, too.
And I also figured out that a couple of extra Euros will fix everything but awkward perverts asking for directions.
Go figure.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Three weeks
It's not a lot of time.
I am going to Barcelona this weekend. I've spent most of the day planning out the trip, and now am working on homework. I wrote a sweet poem yesterday, but the book is currently stagnated because I have been so busy every single day that I haven't had a chance to internalize my experiences and so I can't keep writing stuff that needs that sort of internal sense of composure like a novel does. Everything is poetry. Sporadic, random, knee-jerk poetry.
I am actually more or less going to Barcelona alone, though I know people who will be in the city when I am there. I will definitely coordinate with them, and I am staying in the same hostel with one of them, so if I don't come home it shouldn't be the end of the world. Meaning someone will notice. But I'm honestly not too worried about that, since I don't plan on being out after dark. I'm going to be tired.
I get to Barcelona by plane, and then I have to trade in my bus tour voucher immediately, then take a bullet train to the metro stop, where I have to take the metro to the last stop on the line, which is where my hostel is. I will check in, and hopefully get an idea of the area, then hop on a bus and ride around the city. The bus, once I get on it, goes to all the major tourist attractions, so my transportation will be therefore taken care of. At some point I'll get lunch. The bus will likely stop running around 6 pm or so, at which point I will have time to do some more scouting, rest and find dinner before bed. Past that point I'm not 100% sure what will happen. You'll know Sunday I guess. Since it's my first time planning a trip, I am not sure to what extent I want to plan and to what extent I want to leave myself room to improvise. It's actually been a somewhat eye-opening and exciting experience. Hopefully the trip itself will be too.
Back to translating Neruda.
I am going to Barcelona this weekend. I've spent most of the day planning out the trip, and now am working on homework. I wrote a sweet poem yesterday, but the book is currently stagnated because I have been so busy every single day that I haven't had a chance to internalize my experiences and so I can't keep writing stuff that needs that sort of internal sense of composure like a novel does. Everything is poetry. Sporadic, random, knee-jerk poetry.
I am actually more or less going to Barcelona alone, though I know people who will be in the city when I am there. I will definitely coordinate with them, and I am staying in the same hostel with one of them, so if I don't come home it shouldn't be the end of the world. Meaning someone will notice. But I'm honestly not too worried about that, since I don't plan on being out after dark. I'm going to be tired.
I get to Barcelona by plane, and then I have to trade in my bus tour voucher immediately, then take a bullet train to the metro stop, where I have to take the metro to the last stop on the line, which is where my hostel is. I will check in, and hopefully get an idea of the area, then hop on a bus and ride around the city. The bus, once I get on it, goes to all the major tourist attractions, so my transportation will be therefore taken care of. At some point I'll get lunch. The bus will likely stop running around 6 pm or so, at which point I will have time to do some more scouting, rest and find dinner before bed. Past that point I'm not 100% sure what will happen. You'll know Sunday I guess. Since it's my first time planning a trip, I am not sure to what extent I want to plan and to what extent I want to leave myself room to improvise. It's actually been a somewhat eye-opening and exciting experience. Hopefully the trip itself will be too.
Back to translating Neruda.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Madrid and the Arab Baths
This weekend was a full one. Friday night I went to the Arab Baths, which was phenomenal. I highly suggest going if you ever get the chance. Public baths are now one of my favorite things. Officially.
Then, Saturday morning, I took the AVE to Madrid. Which was also amazing. The city is green, it's like going home. And the artwork we saw was amazing. I saw one of my prefered pieces by Dali, and Guernica, and some by Georgia O' Keeffe. It was awesome.
Classes are registered for. Next semester I will be taking Senior Sem, Japanese (which is going to be hard after all this time off), Span Lit, and Plants and People, probs to be my easiest class. I'm also hopefully going to test out of my computer science requirement so I don't have to take that.
Anyways, almost time for class.
23 days.
Then, Saturday morning, I took the AVE to Madrid. Which was also amazing. The city is green, it's like going home. And the artwork we saw was amazing. I saw one of my prefered pieces by Dali, and Guernica, and some by Georgia O' Keeffe. It was awesome.
Classes are registered for. Next semester I will be taking Senior Sem, Japanese (which is going to be hard after all this time off), Span Lit, and Plants and People, probs to be my easiest class. I'm also hopefully going to test out of my computer science requirement so I don't have to take that.
Anyways, almost time for class.
23 days.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
An interesting realization
There are officially more posts on this blog than there are days left until I leave Spain.
I am sickly, and it is highly lame. Especially since we have class tomorrow (blasphemous) and I am going to be in Madrid all day Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say it is unfortunate. I am hoping that it clears up in the next two days or so to something tolerable, because the whole coughing every five minutes thing has shredded my throat and it hurts. But enough of the complaining.
This week has been more or less uneventful. I had a very successful class with the children that I tutor Tuesday, which was exciting, because there happened to be a chalkboard and I decided we would illustrate English words. They enjoyed that, and didn't attack one another but once or twice. So that was exciting. Though I'm not sure how much English they are learning, since they don't seem to care much or understand anything I say when I talk to them in English. Except apple. And colors. So I'm not sure how that works really. It would help if there was any way for me to communicate with them about how much they think they're learning, but I don't know if they can get their minds around that, as they're very small. It would help if I had some idea of what their normal curriculum was in Spanish. Then I would know how much of what I was explaining they understood, in either language.
Still, its a job, and not the worst one I've had, though tiring. And they really aren't bad children, just hyperactive. So that's good. Makes me think twice about ever wanting to be a parent though lol. If all children are that rambunctious, I don't know if my poor antisocial self can deal.
With that said, it is time for dinner, so I had best be on my way. I have an exam to study for and a nap to take, probably not in that order.
I am sickly, and it is highly lame. Especially since we have class tomorrow (blasphemous) and I am going to be in Madrid all day Saturday and Sunday. Needless to say it is unfortunate. I am hoping that it clears up in the next two days or so to something tolerable, because the whole coughing every five minutes thing has shredded my throat and it hurts. But enough of the complaining.
This week has been more or less uneventful. I had a very successful class with the children that I tutor Tuesday, which was exciting, because there happened to be a chalkboard and I decided we would illustrate English words. They enjoyed that, and didn't attack one another but once or twice. So that was exciting. Though I'm not sure how much English they are learning, since they don't seem to care much or understand anything I say when I talk to them in English. Except apple. And colors. So I'm not sure how that works really. It would help if there was any way for me to communicate with them about how much they think they're learning, but I don't know if they can get their minds around that, as they're very small. It would help if I had some idea of what their normal curriculum was in Spanish. Then I would know how much of what I was explaining they understood, in either language.
Still, its a job, and not the worst one I've had, though tiring. And they really aren't bad children, just hyperactive. So that's good. Makes me think twice about ever wanting to be a parent though lol. If all children are that rambunctious, I don't know if my poor antisocial self can deal.
With that said, it is time for dinner, so I had best be on my way. I have an exam to study for and a nap to take, probably not in that order.
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