Thursday, February 28, 2008

Cordoba, Spain!


So after the wild craziness of Sevilla, a daytrip to Cordoba was the thing to do.

Once again: PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION from Sevilla to Cordoba. Love Love Love it. This means I've seen a lot of southern Spain which is v. pretty.

Why is Cordoba cool? Well, Darija studied it like whoa back in school and here's what I learned:
It was, at one time, the largest city in Western Europe. It's its own World Heritage Site because it's freakishly important historically, culturally, politically, and economically. Basically, Cordoba was the center of Muslim life in Spain for awhile until the Reconquista by Catholics. (to the left: Arabic script now behind glass) What did this mean? The Catholics did their best to eradicate the Muslim presence all over Spain, working especially hard in Cordoba because of the Mezquita, the incredible and breathtaking mosque begun by Muslims in 784 and officially ended by Christians in the 18th century. The Christians came in a re-conquered Cordoba for the Christians and literally constructed a Cathedral around the mosque. Crazyyyyyyyyyyy! (to the right: Catholic altar). Post-Mezquita (the mosque/cathedral) I took a walk around the town, soaking up the beautiful architecture, the oranges, the food, etc. I made it a point to sit down and eat churros and drink Spanish hot chocolate - Darija drilled it into me that I HAD to consume these before leaving the country. Ummmmmm she was SO RIGHT. Heaven.

Took the bus (yay! public transportation!) back to Sevilla and I had my last night there. Met up with Hannah from U of M and we powerwalked around that city which was nice. Saw her neighborhood, saw Sevilla at night, good times.

And here's another time when I'll tell you about the food I ate while on vacation!
Met up with Chelsea and crew again for vegetarian dinner at the world's greatest vegetarian restaurant (ok, when I get back to Ann Arbor I will go back to Seva and let you know which is better)
Chelsea treated me to SO MUCH amazing food. THe menu?
Appetizer: hummus on toast. I hadn't had hummus in five months. It was about damn time!
Main: tofu skewers in balsamic dressing, french fries, asparagus
Dessert: Vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

SO. GOOD. Viva Espana!

Chelsea and I finished my last night in Sevilla catching up on that Sunday night's L-Word. I left bright and early in the morning to catch my flight to Italy.

Spain was awesome.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Sevilla, Spain!

So while on my Trip of Awesomeness 2008 I bought postcards in every city and wrote down the day's activities in them. This was to record my every movement and my every meal (ok, this second one was REALLY important... I had every intention of eating my way through Spain and Italy). This, I must say, was a stellar idea because we all know I have the memory of Dory from "Finding Nemo." So I now give you some stellar bullet points...
  • arrived in Sevilla @ 3pm
  • picked up by Chelsea @ bus stop, met her roomie, Sydney, adn their Italian roommate
  • found tea with D
  • met up with Chelsea, Syndey, Will Findk, and hostel-guy Chris
Ok! That got boring! So I'll try to spice it up a little bit...

DAY ONE SEVILLA
We parted Granada for Sevilla at noon on Monday. D and I had a lovely pre-bus walk through the city as we got maps for our upcoming cities (Sevilla and Cordoba) at the tourist office. Can I say that I learned to say "Can I please have a map for ____" in Spanish!? Holler I totally did. I even went back TWICE to say that sentence. I was quaking in my smelly Adidas the whole time. We also spent the morning finding the WORLD'S CHEAPEST espresso shot at only 88 cents. Gracias, Granada, gracias!

Bus rides through Spain? Easy as pie. I love public transportation.

Arrived in Sevilla to this red-headed girl I know named Chelsea running for me. AWESOME. We embraced, despite the bus-smells emanating me. I can't really explain how amazing it is to see people from home while I've been here. For me, reunions started in December with me seeing my English family (hi, guy!) and then there was Alice in Cannes (remember our New York Times wedding photo?) and then there was Chelsea. Chelsea, my former co-worker and friend. This girl is awesome with a mop and boxed wine. Skillz like whoa.

After my tea with Darija and her cousin, I returned to Chelsea and her roommate and a few others to find a typical Spanish meal. And by typical Spanish meal I mean a meal after 10 pm. Ok, I love learning about new cultures as much as the next person (read: a lot) but holy crap I was freaking starving! But ca vaut la peine, though, my friends, because we hit up a vegetarian restaurant and ate amazingness.

This is the part where I tell you about what I ate for my first meal in Sevilla!

Appetizer: FALAFEL. omg.
meal: cornmeal roll with black beans.
drink: red wine. yes.

Then the group of us set off in Sevilla for a night of debauchery. Didn't get home till way late and much, much fun was had.

DAY TWO SEVILLA
Before leaving for Spain, I made it a point to contact a friend from U of M who had lived in Sevilla a few years ago on her study abroad to make sure I knew what to check out from the city and the area in general (all the peeps in Sevilla make day trips to Granada and Cordoba, my two other Spanish cities). She promptly wrote me with a list of things to do and see and each sentence ended with exclamation points because she was excited for my adventures and all of that. So I tried to be true to Lisa's agenda and I checked out what she said...

Stumbled out of bed and met Darija and her cousin at the STARBUCKS NEXT TO THE CATHEDRAL. I swear, that's blasphemous. 1) A Starbucks in Spain. 2) next to a Cathedral. 3) A STARBUCKS IN SPAIN NEXT TO A CATHEDRAL. Um yeah, that's how I feel about that.
(make no mistake, though: I did indeed go to this Starbucks and get a mocha frapp. That's the American in me coming out like whoa).
The three of us went to this enormous Plaza de Espana which is all beautiful and the Parque de Maria Luisa. Took our touristy pictures and wandered around looking at orange trees. Sevilla's oranges are sent to England every year for marmalade-making purposes. Cubca uses 'em so I was more obsessed than the average Michiganian would be, shocked at seeing oranges on trees in February. ORANGES. Yum.
Parted ways after a stop at Starbucks (I swear, the corporation will NOT be in every paragraph about Sevilla) and I met back up with Chelsea and crew to go to their local market. It's like Les Halles here in Avignon but smaller. And so amazing. 3 kilos of ORANGES for ONE EURO. Have you heard anything better than that in your entire life? Heck no. I took it upon myself to "profiter" from this adventure because I felt like all my money was leaving me too early so I bought a garden to feed myself over the next days. And by garden I mean like 4 apples, three kiwis, two pears, two carrots, one red pepper, two bananas, etc. I went all out and it was amazing. I really feel like I could rock a raw food diet for a little while and be totally content.

This is another time where I tell you about what I ate in Sevilla!
Our post-market lunch was: vegetarian sandwiches!
Sauteed onions and garlic with seta mushrooms. Avocado spread on the bread, lettuce, tomato, adn balsamic vinegar. Does anything sound better than that? HECK NO.

After we got through our food coma post-sandwich, Chelsea and Sydney gave me a personalized tour of Sevilla. We checked out the Alcazar (famous cathedral and surrounding area), we walked down by the river, saw the famous tower that commemorates the return of conquistadors with their booty (pictured with the palm tree), took some pictures, and discussed plans for Amsterdam. (pictured: Sydney, Chelsea, me)

That night? Went to a FLAMENCO SHOW. It was a special night of combo Arab-Spanish music so there was a guy rocking the guitar, another guy singing in Spanish, another guy singing in Arabic and playing the violin like it's a cello, and a male flamenco dancer.

I have to say, the hour-long show was STUNning. The flamenco dancer was how we (I) imagine Spanish men: long-ish curly dark hair, deep, myserious eyes, etc. He was amazing. I didn't know human legs and feet could do what his did and DAMN was he gorgeous. So that was fun.

Day 3 in the land of Sevilla was actually to be a day-trip to Cordoba which I will write about in the next post.

Monday, February 25, 2008

it's February 25th...

And there is a freaking huge mosquito in my room. What the bananas.

Ok it's been a day since I got back from Spain-Ital '08 so updates on the vacation will be coming soon, I hope. I'm gonna wow you with photos and witty anecdotes and all that, too.

As soon as I'm done teaching. Ugh.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Granadaaaaaaa, Spain

Greetings from Firenze! It is beautiful here! But right now I'm giong to tell you all a lil' about Spain before I forget...
(oh, and pictures will come LATER because I don't have the option of putting them up right now. but trust me. they are gorgeous)

I have now been traveling for a week. Ok, to all the peeps (coughLisacough) who can travel for six week stretches, I applaud you. It is exHAUSting! Ok so maybe I didn't sleep very much in Granada because that city NEVER sleeps and maybe I didn't sleep in Sevilla because I was having WAY too much fun with Chelsea and her roommate (more on that later) and now in Florence I haven't slept much because I'm CouchSurfing and there's too much to talk about with people. Ok so not sleeping is not a big deal at this point because cappuccinos in Florence are only a euro (!!) and I'm way sugared up on gelato (!!!) Oh MAN it's all happening... (morning looking out onto Granada)

GRANADA
Left for Granada, Spain, a week ago with Darija, the roomie. 7:20 train on a Friday? Awwwesome. Headed to Marseille, took Ryainair to Madrid.
One thing: I freakin' love Ryanair. They are CHILL. Down side? They haven't really entered the 21st century yet (um, they work with pen and paper, no computers, etc.). But updsides abound! Bright blue uniforms! Super cheap flights! Really easy check-in! Etc. Etc.
In Madrid we hopped on a bus down to Granada. The bus system in Spain is the bomb! We bought our tickets only half an hour before the bus was scheduled to leave and they only cost 15 euros to traverse the country. Ok, so it was a 5.5 hour bus trip but no biggie because it was cheap and that was awesome.
Arrived in Granada sometime around 9. Took the bus into town and went straight to our hostel which was run by this really nice guy (well, I'm assuming he's nice because he smiled a lot and gave us a map for free and circled the city's highlights for us but hey, I don't speak Spanish, so he could also have been talkin' smack right to my face and I would have just said "bueno." Like the aewsomely cultured American that I am). I'd like to say that Darija and I went out on our first night in Granada and partied it up (like all the Granada-ians do) but um no. We went straight to bed. Forgive me - we traveled for like 12 hours that day! And we got up at 6:00 am on Saturday for our...
Trip to the Alhambra. So amazing. Met up with Darija's cousin, Sasha, in line. She's traveling with us all this week. She lives in Dubai and has wanted to visit Darija while she's on this side of the world and it turns out that our week of travel workec for her schedule so we've been a threesome for awhile. Back to the Alhambra: I think it's one o the 7 wonders of the world and it TOTALLY deserves it. It is stunning. Got the (totally worth it) audio guide and wandered around the thing all morning. Learned a lot and saw a lot and took a lot of pictures.
Post Alhambra was an afternoon of wandering and enjoying Granada. The sun was shining and it was gorgeous so we sat outside and listened to local musicians play. Saw the world's greatest unibrow on a guy and, um, had to take a pic. That thing didn't separate for even one hair! Amazing! Viva Espana!
In the evening we went to a tapas bar. I drank Alhambra beer (I mean, how could I NOT?) and ate tortilla and chorizo and gloried in the grease. We then took a long walk up in the city (the city goes up a giant hill) so that we could see the Alhambra all lit up but we went to the wrong Mirador (look-out place) and ended up seeing Granada from way up high. That was beautiful, too!
Day 2 in Granada:
I ended up wandering all through Granada by myself as Darija and her cousin took a walking tour. I got lost, I found out where I was, I walked up, I walked down, I saw a church, I walked through the Arab markets, I smelled good food, I people-watched... it was great. Granada is a beautiful and happenin' city and there's so much history and culture there that it was awesome. Ooh! On day 1 of Granada (sorry, forgot to mention this) I was walking down the street with Darija and what should happen? I bumped into a girl with whom I went to middle and high school AND college. Craaaaazy.

Ok so that's what I can remember (for now) about Granada. I've done Sevilla and Cordoba since then, and I'm currently in Florence. Will be updating as soon as I can!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

"i am the entertainer/been all around the world"

WHAT UP

Just a quick post here to say...

I finally played an open mike in Avignon! And it only took me five months to get up and do it! So now, the guitar that my friends bought me for my birthday has really been put to good use - new song AND I have finally performed!

Hopefully pictures to post soon!

Happy Mardi Gras, y'all

Monday, February 4, 2008

omgeeeee a care package for meeeee!

Ok so we sang a song by the Muppets in class today. I thought it was a fabulous idea, of course, and it took me on a throwback to my youth. My kids didn't quite get the significance of "No One Like You" but that's ok. They still poked their eyes and noses and mouths at the appropriate times during the song.

What IS it about my students in that one class* being INSANE and the teacher not doing anything about it?! At least in the other classes the teachers scream their heads off and the kids calm down.

So the reason of this post is because I GOT AN AMAZING CARE PACKAGE FROM ANNA AND LACIE.
The contents?
~ Two packages of DoubleStuf Oreos: one regular, one mint
~ Two containers of Rainbow Chip frosting, whose greatness cannot be exaggerated
~ Tootsie Rolls and Dots and suckers (it's like Halloween exploded in the box)
~ One box of butter microwave popcorn
~ One box of Kraft Mac and Cheese

Clearly these women know the way to my heart. I love them to pieces and I need to get out to Oregon somehow, someway RUL soon.

Which leads me to a point:
I'd really like to do a roadtrip of America. I realize that I now have the most amazing chance to see Europe and I'm really carpe diem-ing that (In just four days I will be in Spain, then Italy, then Monaco, then Germany, then Austria... ok so that's over the next few months) and I really want to see America.
I want to see America for multiple reasons. Right now I'm all homesick and America-sick. I want to see America because of Girlyman's song, "Amaze Me." I want to see America because I want to be able to get in a car and drive. Drive across it, drive up and down it, anything. It'd be so awesome to follow hte Mississippi down or to take that one famous highway all the way across (sorry, don't remember which one it is!). And right now I am realizing how many people I know who have started lives all over the place. EVERYONE IS EVERYWHERE. So awesome.

But uuuuuum that's not gonna happen because I have to go get a job and be a real person and figure out some stuff about life.

*teacher's name and students' names withheld for privacy. the blogging world is crazy!