tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34736928774417018252024-02-18T19:05:21.823-08:00The Running of the Blue Hosewonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-51254758083305064972013-06-22T09:06:00.005-07:002013-06-22T09:06:42.701-07:00AndalucíaHello readers!<br />
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It has been several weeks since I arrived back home from Spain. Sorry it has taken so long to update the blog. Before I flew home, I took a week-long vacation to the South of Spain, or more specifically, the Andalusia region.<br />
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I went to Andalusia with my friends Clara and Kenneth. Clara is from Paris, France and Kenneth is from Hong Kong, which as I learned is actually not China. Actually, as he repeated throughout the trip, he's never been to China.<br />
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All of our travel plans went off without a hitch. We took a bus from Pamplona to Bilbao, and then flew from Bilbao to Seville. We spent two days in Seville.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU6NNIqtdNhKSHLOryzkzAXNpP3ONCNUByUBwPxJtdJ23Ils3a_Br6rAiEb9Os1saNUo79uL44sLuAkdeIs65rOGgsjWVVCfdcYowjmpK3ZbtGKzl9hEDV0R-xVyF-rpoJAGUVAuUPJ9w/s1600/IMG_3332.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU6NNIqtdNhKSHLOryzkzAXNpP3ONCNUByUBwPxJtdJ23Ils3a_Br6rAiEb9Os1saNUo79uL44sLuAkdeIs65rOGgsjWVVCfdcYowjmpK3ZbtGKzl9hEDV0R-xVyF-rpoJAGUVAuUPJ9w/s320/IMG_3332.JPG" width="320" /></a>The first night we got there, we were wondering around looking for a flamenco show to watch or just somewhere nice to hang out, when I spotted my friend Madison from PC. I knew that there were 5 other students from PC in Seville, but what are the odds of running into one of them? So, we spent the evening with Madison, her boyfriend Seth, who is also from PC, and some of their other friends they met in Seville. I even ran into some of the other people from PC that I didn't know as well. It was one of those really cool things that doesn't happen to me much.<br />
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The hostel we stayed in Seville was probably one of our favorites. It was run by an Armenian couple and they were just super nice. What's cool though, is that I have no idea if they spoke any English or not, because we just talked with them in Spanish. There was breakfast included and there was a lovely terrace that looked out onto the street.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEe9QQqKIW1WhLluYiUCLTJQu1frRYEvx6xj3D7UGUqP0Cew4eY6unIXJCbEM_2rBGT0t8QKO9Iy9fM-v8VFv21asIKS2fz2qYSIfOqF3spCocJx4LcyJn4snGuMjxVUWR6RjFFl8_ScA/s1600/IMG_3343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEe9QQqKIW1WhLluYiUCLTJQu1frRYEvx6xj3D7UGUqP0Cew4eY6unIXJCbEM_2rBGT0t8QKO9Iy9fM-v8VFv21asIKS2fz2qYSIfOqF3spCocJx4LcyJn4snGuMjxVUWR6RjFFl8_ScA/s320/IMG_3343.JPG" width="320" /></a>While we were in Seville, we went to the Alcazar, which was one of the palaces built by the Moorish royalty in Spain. We also toured the Cathedral of Sevilla which was absolutely gorgeous. It was definitely the biggest cathedral that I've ever been in. There was even a treasure room, which was cool to look at. I wandered around and listened to some of the people's tours if they were in Spanish or English. We even took a tour through Seville's Plaza de Toros, or the bull fighting ring. If we had been in Seville on a Sunday, we'd have been able to actually see a bull fight.<br />
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That night, we asked the Armenian guy who owned the hostel where the best place to see a flamenco show is (and that's as cheap as possible) and he told us about a free place. Well, we got a bit of a late start going over there and we got turned around once we got to the area because it was in a section of Seville that looked more like a little pueblo than a city. So by the time we found the place, it was after midnight and the show had ended. We decided that we'd come back on our last night to catch it.<br />
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After we'd spent the two days in Sevilla, we went to the train station and bought tickets for Malaga. Malaga is a beach town in Andalusia, and happens to be where Antonio Banderas is from. I had really hoped I could catch a glimpse of him, or one of his relatives, but the odds were not in my favor that time. After the trip, I told Carmen how I had wanted to see Antonio Banderas and she told me that he's always there for Semana Santa (Holy Week). Maybe if I'm feeling stalker-y enough, I'll go to Malaga for Semana Santa.<br />
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Anyway. We got to Malaga about midday, so we settled into the hostel and then set off to find somewhere to have lunch. We ended up at a place right by Malaga's Plaza de Toros (hey, it's Spain, remember?). After lunch, we tried to see if there would be a fight there the next day, but it turns out there would be one in a little town outside of Malaga. It was a little too pricey for our college student budget, so we decided to opt out of that trip.<br />
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We continued walking towards the central part of Malaga. The area where our hostel was located was absolutely ideal for beach activities. It was right across the street from the beach, but a solid 15-20 minute walk from the central part of the actual city. Not that that was a huge problem, it was a trade-off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzkpDdpW2K2D4XWIl4Jsm4FN5r1riVnJBJ2v0FKXSzZw68x565AmL-_LoC3b3dJc89CuT2GM2lunV2c22QkVkkMd45I14iRaL-kJ07LVXQPi_PpgMPhlf-6mKB4UgR1_zGLzmh25Xx5c/s1600/IMG_3453.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyzkpDdpW2K2D4XWIl4Jsm4FN5r1riVnJBJ2v0FKXSzZw68x565AmL-_LoC3b3dJc89CuT2GM2lunV2c22QkVkkMd45I14iRaL-kJ07LVXQPi_PpgMPhlf-6mKB4UgR1_zGLzmh25Xx5c/s320/IMG_3453.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
One the way to the center, there was this cool wall/fortress thing. I never found out what exactly it was (it wasn't very well marked), but we climbed it and got this amazing skyline view of the city. We saw the Plaza de Toros and were able to see inside the plaza. It looked a lot like the one in Seville did: a big stadium with sand in the middle. Just like how it's portrayed in the movies. You also had a lovely view of the water and the boats that came into port. Apparently, Malaga is a stopping point on cruises because I saw a couple cruise ships parked.<br />
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After we had our fill of looking around, we continued to the center. We found a tourist booth to get a map and found out that we had chosen the perfect weekend to be there. A couple times a year, they have Noches Blancas or something like that where the museums open up for free! I can spend hours in museums, but Clara, living in Paris, has undoubtedly gone to tons and probably the same for Kenneth in Hong Kong. I, however, coming from small town Georgia, think that museums are awesome. But I understand that certain things get old after a while. That's how I feel about zoos. I've gone to tons of zoos, so the novelty has worn off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WNGAjSXu0dTBnFvaqEL7WObdPHgUT-DKcUlYimdxZeOZTZc50kz3gxCWdOFSHJIVanOhVDJgn8WwgNmFMIzvWNijRoXU8YmQGJxXod73ic2o-HWqn10ZidBiI4cc4vBgQgsIhh7TM1w/s1600/IMG_3483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WNGAjSXu0dTBnFvaqEL7WObdPHgUT-DKcUlYimdxZeOZTZc50kz3gxCWdOFSHJIVanOhVDJgn8WwgNmFMIzvWNijRoXU8YmQGJxXod73ic2o-HWqn10ZidBiI4cc4vBgQgsIhh7TM1w/s320/IMG_3483.JPG" width="320" /></a>My point to that digression, was to say that we ended up going to just one museum. We went to the Picasso museum, because he is also from Malaga so they have a little one in Malaga for him. So I did get to go a Picasso museum after all!<br />
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We also found a group of people doing "flamenco," but it wasn't your traditional flamenco. It was the flamenco style, sort of, with the dresses and hand movements, but normally flamenco consists of a singer, a guitar player, and a dancer. This was a group of three women and one man who danced sets along to stereo music. It was cool, but not super authentic.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntj0kqf6GP08TlzANEicTsImA4cqxMMarL37n7BkJxu1Iit64qudirCrv-mgddRAAx3Cw8O2DkYP9JrtYXolk5m_uCvteDd4Wjm0CyIySWli3TA-3HRFxa1hXZ9URIbo6QIHiLn5FimM/s1600/IMG_3486.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntj0kqf6GP08TlzANEicTsImA4cqxMMarL37n7BkJxu1Iit64qudirCrv-mgddRAAx3Cw8O2DkYP9JrtYXolk5m_uCvteDd4Wjm0CyIySWli3TA-3HRFxa1hXZ9URIbo6QIHiLn5FimM/s320/IMG_3486.JPG" width="320" /></a>Before the show started, there was this homeless guy who went around singing really loudly and then asking around for money. It was sad and funny at the same time. Funny because he was singing his heart out and kept reaching at his throat. Now that I describe it, it doesn't sound funny. Maybe it was a you had to be there thing. Another kind of funny thing about him though was that when we were out for a tapas lunch the next day, he came to where we were sitting outside and eating and sang.<br />
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I'm now going to take a moment and tell you how our trip came to be. Mom and I had booked my flight back to the states after I had asked a student at the university when exams were over. We had booked it a couple days after exams were supposed to end, to give me time to pack and wrap things up. Well, where I studied, my exams ended almost two weeks before the official end date. Therefore, I had that much time where I had nothing to do. I had been planning for months to go to the South of Spain. A lot of my friends from PC had either studied there or gone there on Maymesters and had told me about it. Then all of the other exchange students and just other people talked about Andalusia. It was definitely a place I had to go before I left. I was kind of planning on going by myself, but then I heard that Clara wanted to go as well so then we decided to go together. Then Kenneth was working on a project with Clara and she told him about the trip and he booked the tickets then and there. I'm not a big planning person, so I let Clara plan the trip. She had been to Andalusia as a kid, you see, so I figured she'd know more about it than I did.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_BrmomurWSKAOWbzwO1jEfa3ORShDdHy39fA8wGZWaVWv2L3eZEXgXKPS5tPD8DHgawj9sjbsYezePfSAFqdDcRkctoaZ9D0HSgysb-WzpzfmzWWZCF1p7qoS1jl-z4GCgQghJinrLPE/s1600/IMG_3474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_BrmomurWSKAOWbzwO1jEfa3ORShDdHy39fA8wGZWaVWv2L3eZEXgXKPS5tPD8DHgawj9sjbsYezePfSAFqdDcRkctoaZ9D0HSgysb-WzpzfmzWWZCF1p7qoS1jl-z4GCgQghJinrLPE/s320/IMG_3474.JPG" width="320" /></a>Clara planned to go to Malaga to give us some beach time. The South of Spain is famous for it's hot weather. Normally when people think of Spain, Andalusia is what they think. Hot and sunny. Well, of course, when we were in Malaga, it was cloudy and windy, which is not ideal beach weather. There isn't really anything famous to do in Malaga. It's pretty much an attraction for it's beach. So, we had to get creative. On our full day there, we spent most of the morning just relaxing and recuperating from all the travelling. It's really tiring to be moving places every few days. I ended up finishing a book I'd started on the train ride over and reading a good chunk of the sequel that day. (If you're looking for a good book, look for <i>The Selection</i> series, it's excellent if you're a <i>Hunger Games </i>type fan or just into dystopian novels)<br />
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I don't have much more interesting to say about Malaga. We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the city. It was lovely walking along the harbor and beach at night. It was nice and I'm glad I went, but if I'm going back to Spain, I don't think I'd go back there.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20RaX7WBUTbEy4Qb4VhTS2T8BbgrkAJrenE1iZMA6Tv2JEP3gF6gIuHAkUFOtHNq1MHN9MGF6CQeFeVFBM07C1YNQG2lt-Np4aeqgJrxJek9ZEPuLFmesyHn3Tx2ZMuP-n8w-2r2G7Q0/s1600/IMG_3533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj20RaX7WBUTbEy4Qb4VhTS2T8BbgrkAJrenE1iZMA6Tv2JEP3gF6gIuHAkUFOtHNq1MHN9MGF6CQeFeVFBM07C1YNQG2lt-Np4aeqgJrxJek9ZEPuLFmesyHn3Tx2ZMuP-n8w-2r2G7Q0/s320/IMG_3533.JPG" width="320" /></a>Our next stop was Cordoba. Cordoba is famous for La Mezquita. Carmen told me once that she liked Cordoba much more than Grenada. Grenada is the city that has La Alambra, the biggest and most famous Moorish palace in Spain. You have to book your tickets in advance to go there because of all the tourism. I really tried to figure out a good way to get over to Grenada, but it just didn't work out on this trip. Just an excuse to go back to Spain! Anyway, I can't say what my opinion on which is better would be at the moment, but I can tell you that I fell in love with Cordoba.<br />
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I don't see myself ever being a big city person (but who knows?), however I can definitely see myself living in a place like Cordoba which is a small-medium city. When we took the bus to the train station, the bus would go from wide, city-like, streets to tiny little alleys that I would imagine being in villages, not a major city like Cordoba. What I loved about it was the mix of the modern and the old. You could tell that they didn't really plan the city, it just kind of expanded as needed. Seville was like that at times as well, but since it housed Spanish and Moorish royalty for decades it was more organized and much larger.<br />
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We were crazy busy in Cordoba. There was so much to do! Our hostel was in a great location, pretty close to everything. Well, we walked a ton, but it was in a scenic location anyway. Another stroke of planning luck hit us and we were actually in Cordoba during the Fiesta de los Patios, which is not a patio party, it's a competition that goes on throughout the city where people decorate their patios and people vote to see who has the best.<br />
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We went to see several of the patios. Most of them were decorated with tons of beautiful flowers. I don't know how people could pick. The one I remember most, however, was the one that featured the cat. I'm thinking that this couple who owned the patio either didn't have children or their children had grown up and moved on. Or none of the above. Regardless, this couple obviously loved their cat and as you walked in the first thing you saw was pictures of the cat and even a figurine of a cat. Then once you walked into the patio itself, you saw the cat sitting on a chair. It was an orange Persian cat, but super grumpy looking. We called him "Grumpy Gato" because he reminded us of the Grumpy Cat meme, so we decided that this one is the Spanish version.<br />
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Cordoba housed Moorish royalty for a few years as well. They liked to move around. Well, and there were the Emirs who were under the Califs. I don't actually know too much about it, we only studied the Moors for a couple classes in my culture class. Definitely not enough to learn about the whole structure and everything about their influence in Andalusia. There was another Alcazar that Clara and I went to visit (Kenneth did his own thing that day). The main attraction for this Alcazar was the gardens. In Sevilla, the inside of the Alcazar was the cool part because of the Moorish architecture but here there wasn't much to the inside. It was all about the gardens.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhBtTO7pSY7QY8zpySdud6bStYVGWsd6OM04H36eA1hhCfVeRUNptSFBp0ONEcMaFyEUFzzmoExaUJ1YKJFhN0V8Okw8Km8VfhksCQgX-wv-3ZVJ87qKxK1Sd0jm-Pgk9qW_EYn5iHb0/s1600/IMG_3569.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhBtTO7pSY7QY8zpySdud6bStYVGWsd6OM04H36eA1hhCfVeRUNptSFBp0ONEcMaFyEUFzzmoExaUJ1YKJFhN0V8Okw8Km8VfhksCQgX-wv-3ZVJ87qKxK1Sd0jm-Pgk9qW_EYn5iHb0/s320/IMG_3569.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
La Mezquita was one of the most interesting buildings that I've ever been in. It was originally built as a mosque, but during the Reconquista (Spanish Inquisition) it was converted back into a cathedral--the official name is The Cathedral of Cordoba, but everyone still calls it La Mezquita (mezquita means mosque). The arches in the Mezquita are extremely famous and are from the original mosque. So as you're walking through, the arches are above you, but then you're surrounded by the little chapels that make up a regular cathedral. Then you walk to the middle, past a wall, and you see this sanctuary randomly in there. As you walk around the walls, you pass the little chapels that honor the certain saints and then you reach the one part that of the wall that is from the original mosque. It has that classic Muslim key-shaped structure. If you're ever in Spain, definitely go. It's fascinating.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Uu2t90JpXnqU9MyalNXfpYqSe68AWRcEZn_8NgdnfyPNiu5nvpl3n-E4VZliinn0EGLEO7NOXYuCVLEmGh3nnbqVyfQ1nHi0DcAZnI8Kb9jqNO4i29-cut7lfJQU_4XAYcwJDAUfDM8/s1600/IMG_3668.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Uu2t90JpXnqU9MyalNXfpYqSe68AWRcEZn_8NgdnfyPNiu5nvpl3n-E4VZliinn0EGLEO7NOXYuCVLEmGh3nnbqVyfQ1nHi0DcAZnI8Kb9jqNO4i29-cut7lfJQU_4XAYcwJDAUfDM8/s320/IMG_3668.JPG" width="320" /></a>After we left Cordoba, we went back to Sevilla for a day because our flight back to Bilbao was the next day. We finally made it to that flamenco show we'd tried to go to last time. It was that traditional show and definitely worth seeing. We ordered some Tinto de Verano and watched as the man sang, the guitarist played, and the middle aged woman transformed as she began dancing into a striking and beautiful figure. Clara had said to us earlier something her dad had told her about flamenco dancers, "once they begin to dance, you can see the fire in their eyes." It was definitely true. It's a passionate dance.<br />
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Even though this post is quite long, it's only a very short version of the trip. It was a blast and writing this post has made me very nostalgic. Sometime, I will get around to writing about the trip that Carmen took me on to San Sebastian and my flight home. If you're interested, I might even write one on what I've been up to this summer.<br />
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Until next time!<br />
<br />wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-45788312391174939322013-05-08T03:43:00.004-07:002013-05-08T03:43:39.322-07:00Cruise ShipI'm going to devote a blog post to the cruise ship itself. I feel like if I try to intermedently explain it in my other blog posts it'll get confusing really quickly.<br />
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We choose to use MSC, the same cruise line that we used when we lived in Germany and took a spring break cruise trip. This time, however, we stopped in different locations.<br />
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Our boat was the MSC Preziosa and we were on it's inaugural voyage. The cool thing about this cruise is that it picks up and drops off people in almost all the cities it goes to. Therefore, when we got on in Barcelona, it was the 7th or 8th day of it's 14 day route. We stayed on it until it went back to Barcelona, which was after seven days. Now that I'm explaining it, it doesn't really make sense how that worked, but nonetheless it did work. <br />
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We noticed a lot of differences between our cruise of six or so years ago and the one of this year. It's possible it's because it was a nicer cruise than the one we went on before, which was a family cruise instead of a luxury one, or just things have changed in six years. Probably both.<br />
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Because we'd been on an MSC cruise, we came into it with a certain kind of expectation. I was really looking forward to drinking all the tea and coffee that I wanted. Well, we got to dinner and found out that 1) they don't serve coffee at dinner and 2) no drinks are free at dinner. We were shocked because they wouldn't even serve us tap water. It was really weird. On the last cruise, you'd have to pay for sodas and alcohol, but water, tea, and coffee were always free.<br />
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The maitre'd told us that the buffet on the 14th deck (yes, the 14th deck) had free coffee, so after dinner we went straight up there. To our displeasure, the coffee was absolutely disgusting. I mean, how do you mess up coffee? It had absolutely no taste and I don't really like strong coffee. When we got off at Marseille, Dad went and bought instant coffee to add to it, which helped a lot.<br />
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One of our theories about the Preziosa was that it was a more expensive ship. I've noticed that at more expensive hotels you have to pay for more things than you do at cheap hotels. So when I said this, Dad remarked, "Yeah, we need the Hampton Inn cruise." I got a kick out of that. <br />
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It was kind of ridiculous all the things you had to pay for. There were specialty shops and restaurants all over the place. We ate at the restaurants or dining halls for all our meals, since our meals were covered by what we'd already paid for, but had we not, we could have easily spend a fortune. <br />
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Now, you're probably reading this and thinking that I had a miserable time. Besides the crowds and uncontrolled children, those are my only major complaints and now I can move onto the totally awesome things. <br />
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Our cabin was a pretty decent size considering it was on a boat. It got tight at times, but it was fine. There was a guy who would unfold the couch bed for me at night and then put it back up during the day time. When the couch was folded, the cabin was actually very roomy. AND we had a balcony!! It was so nice to be able to stand out on our private balcony and watch the ship pull into harbor in the mornings and simply watch the ocean go by the rest of the time. <br />
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We had assigned cruise cards that allowed us off and on the ship and were also to be used for on board purchases. Pretty much the cruise ID card in other words. On the card, every person had an assigned table and dining room for dinner. There were two formal dining rooms. Ours was called La Arabesque, which in my opinion is a much cooler name than The Golden Lobster (the other one). Were they trying to copy Red Lobster? Who knows. But for lunch and breakfast, you were allowed to eat in whichever dining hall because they only checked the cards at dinner. We ate in the dining room every night and for breakfast and lunch we'd eat in either the buffet, the dining hall, or in our designated city (but we always took some food from the buffet--we were paying for it after all!).<br />
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The buffet room was enormous. It took up half the top deck pretty much. One end of it was called the Inca and the other was called the Maya. They'd close off the Maya section when it wasn't meal time. There were always all sorts of food options there. I loved all the fruit they had and regularly ate kiwi. I figured out a way to make delicious coffee at breakfast. I'd either go find a Nescafe decaf packet or I'd use some of Dad's Nescafe, add it to my coffee, and then go to the waffle station and mix in whipped cream and caramel syrup. It was delicious! The whipped cream made the coffee have the more frothy taste.<br />
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The other half of the top deck consisted of the pools, hot tubs, and sunbathing areas. I learned quickly that's it wasn't feasible to sun bathe or really even swim while the boat was moving because of the wind. However, if we got back on deck a few hours before the ship left, I'd swim/hot tub and then lay out reading by the pool. There was also this awesome water slide that I had every intention of going on, but then I forgot all about it. Whenever I'd walk by it, I was wearing clothes or the one time I had on my bathing suits there were crazy kids at the bottom trying to climb up it. I wasn't feeling that.<br />
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I normally really like kids, but the kids on the cruise really got on my nerves. They would run around uncontrolled and just otherwise be really annoying. At breakfast, the buffet was always so packed and it was really hard to navigate with them running around at your feet. I'm really tall and sometimes it's just plain hard for me to see kids.<br />
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It was interesting seeing my parents and the few other Americans experience the culture shock. The first few nights, we sat with a couple from North Carolina at dinner (they moved to a private table later on because that's what they had originally requested) and I would listen to them talk about it with my parents. It was mostly the little things, like people pushing you to get by instead of saying "Excuse me" and waiting or pushing past you to get on the elevator instead of letting you off. Europeans can be a bit more aggressive while it comes to moving about than Americans.<br />
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It was really easy to get turned around on the ship because it was so big. Picture a giant hotel turned on it's side. I ended up being the one who could navigate us around. I never thought I had a good sense of direction until I arrive here. Good to know! However, on our second to last day, we came into the room and found the ceiling leaking. We had to completely relocate for the rest of the cruise, which got really disorienting because we were on the other side of the ship (at least it wasn't the other end) and our new cabin was the mirror image of our old one, meaning everything was opposite.<br />
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After Tunisia, we had a day at sea on our way to Barcelona, meaning we didn't stop anywhere that day. We basically slept in and then explored the ship some more. We tried to swim, but as I said earlier, it was ridiculously cold. There was an entertainment crew on deck and they were having outdoor activities by the pool. We played a song guessing game and then did aerobics and stretching. It was fun! We also played cards some. All in all, it was a relaxing day.<br />
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Speaking of the entertainment crew, there were tons of activities all day, but at night there was always some sort of show. Normally the shows didn't really make much sense, but they always featured really cool acrobatics, dancing, singing, and stunts. For example, there was an Alice in Wonderland themed one as well as an Avatar one. They only resembled those movies by the costumes. Everything else just didn't follow the plot at all. However, they did have to appeal to a multi-lingual audience so it makes sense.<br />
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That's about all I got. Sorry about the delay in posting it!wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-79658360748934932572013-05-07T10:56:00.000-07:002013-05-07T10:56:08.273-07:00Castles and CulturesSorry I haven't posted in a while! I haven't done any major travelling lately, but that isn't to say that I've been idle.<br />
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The weekend before last, I decided to take myself to Olite, a small town in Navarra that has an awesome, restored medieval castle. I didn't have plans that Saturday and I'd been wanted to go there, so why not? I decided to live it up while I could.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0GFLWoQMS407NMB9sFhB3Dr5xUF2bIAhSGX0h4piMh42JKqvifW35UoHP9_SHnbc63am7k92GL7v1Df1_QbEzxBLEhLdcNNpImKeAxqH03yJJFdGMzQbFG9RNmycBD-MO248TpqODIQ/s1600/IMG_3194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj0GFLWoQMS407NMB9sFhB3Dr5xUF2bIAhSGX0h4piMh42JKqvifW35UoHP9_SHnbc63am7k92GL7v1Df1_QbEzxBLEhLdcNNpImKeAxqH03yJJFdGMzQbFG9RNmycBD-MO248TpqODIQ/s320/IMG_3194.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
When people asked me who I went with I responded, "myself!" You may think it was lonely to travel alone, but it wasn't at all. Maybe it's because I'm an introvert or possibly because it was only a day trip, I just had a ball wandering around Olite and seeing the castle. Since I was alone, I was able to go through the castle at my own pace and take my time. I bought an<br />
audioguide and listened to every stop.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAwN32UbWIfTLMo45ENSWui0YsdeFH63wm08aZN8DarnbzJqWPjaLbMT8pEXyymxy8DJKNUNTZfwO4pXDujpjJkX2Qtv8HNnLEGCDJc3QPMLg-VnqMQYyde7L19GJ37f9fM_gNiM4adA/s1600/IMG_3219.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAwN32UbWIfTLMo45ENSWui0YsdeFH63wm08aZN8DarnbzJqWPjaLbMT8pEXyymxy8DJKNUNTZfwO4pXDujpjJkX2Qtv8HNnLEGCDJc3QPMLg-VnqMQYyde7L19GJ37f9fM_gNiM4adA/s320/IMG_3219.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Sidenote: I was really surprised at how cheap everything was. The bus ticket was about 6 euros round trip and it was 40 minutes each way. Then, I was able to use my European Youth Card to get into the castle at a discounted price (even thought it was already a low price anyway). I even paid to go into a cathedral next door. I also bought coffee while waiting for my bus back to Pamplona. With all that, I think I didn't even pay 15 euros that whole trip.<br />
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Furthermore, I comminicated that whole day in Spanish. Normally when I travel with other people, we talk English with each other. Here, I did everything in Spanish. I even got my audioguide in Spanish, which I think really impressed the ladies working at the counter.<br />
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The castle used to house the kings and queens of Navarra. In the 1900s, they decided to restore it. It was neat to see the mix of the old and new stone. The new stone matched the old perfectly, but you could tell it was new. <br />
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I finished touring the castle and then ate the lunch Carmen packed for me. I walked around the town some more, but it was siesta time by then which means everything shuts down. I decided that was time to head to Pamplona. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIc-aUDIeSdpnx6HlEVcUrweCeyxglDsmaqOmxvJZy-3cwzn8fQZ5D9g9HWfFadSVEf8Z49icVUPVbhnXuqZpq8nSwvTbKST9Y0qBMbsywMcBX73NBtHlBJZ2VFptm7X0zB6Wo_5N9PM/s1600/IMG_3173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUIc-aUDIeSdpnx6HlEVcUrweCeyxglDsmaqOmxvJZy-3cwzn8fQZ5D9g9HWfFadSVEf8Z49icVUPVbhnXuqZpq8nSwvTbKST9Y0qBMbsywMcBX73NBtHlBJZ2VFptm7X0zB6Wo_5N9PM/s320/IMG_3173.JPG" width="320" /></a>Olite was probably my most interesting weekend excursion in a while. The other days, I've just walked around Pamplona and enjoyed the outdoors, i.e. the absence of rain.<br />
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Carmen did take me to this really neat outdoor flower shop that had a little of everything. Certainly much cooler than Lowe's or Home Depot. On our way there, we came across a medieval fair that was made more legit by the castle themed hotel that it was located around. (The pictures will be later on in the blog, because I don't really have much more to say about it).<br />
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I'm done with my classes now. I had my last class the previous Tuesday and my exams started on Thursday. May 1st is the Spanish version of Labor Day and so it was a holiday for everyone. I spent the day at an afternoon tea at my friend Debby's apartment.<br />
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As I've hung out with Europeans, I've noticed how hard it is for them to keep up with the different types of English. That day, Debby, who is German, spent the day with me, an American, and a few Australians and British people. It's hard enough for us to sort out the differences, so I have the upmost respect for them sorting out the differences.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMULJKkVB3GjfABfh7UjM2txYoI4IYvwDSSFa_m5ftS4oDbiTHTXh5DApByv3K1rDBjFcGfA1QNgXLqyq_dowrDlPi1gt_TQRUDti0NbQwbtyhkuBJ6ukRZkWemO2aSR1y0IobYdAzYQ/s1600/IMG_3245.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvMULJKkVB3GjfABfh7UjM2txYoI4IYvwDSSFa_m5ftS4oDbiTHTXh5DApByv3K1rDBjFcGfA1QNgXLqyq_dowrDlPi1gt_TQRUDti0NbQwbtyhkuBJ6ukRZkWemO2aSR1y0IobYdAzYQ/s320/IMG_3245.jpg" width="240" /></a>I learned a few things myself from the British. The most mindblowing of them was that the letter "Z," in anywhere but the United States, is actually called "Zed." Crazy, huh? If we just said "Zed" we wouldn't have to say "Z as in Zebra." Joking. But still, the random differences are so funny. Oh, Noah Webster and your Americanizing our English. <br />
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I've also become more aware of the American stereotypes. All of Europe watches our movies and TV shows. Almost to the point that it's annoying, because I want to watch their TV shows and movies and they all tell me that theirs are not good. However, their idea of America comes from the TV and media. We all know that our media is a bit nuts, but do they know that? I've been able to see the stereotypes of Americans that Europeans have. It's not pretty. They all think we're fat, stupid, and go around shooting people.<br />
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Sometimes, I just want to say, "If you think we're so dumb, stop watching our TV and whatnot!" However, of course, it's not that simple. We do get all up in everyone's business sometimes and so I understand that's it's hard not to have a love/hate relationship with us. It has made me very uncomfortable sometimes.<br />
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Anyway, you probably don't want to hear about all that. I'm going home exactly two weeks from now! It's crazy how time flies. I don't want to leave, but I'm also excited to get home and be back in my comfort zone.<br />
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I've absolutely loved living with Carmen and her daughter, but living with a family also has it's downsides. For instance, today, I had to go to the library when she was leaving to go get her car fixed. She just won't leave the house for a long period of time with deadlocking it. I miss being able to come and go as I please. Also, it can be a pain having to be home for dinner at 9:00. It would be fine if it were 6:00 and then I could go back out, but after eating at 9:00, I never want to leave to meet back up with my friends. Especially since I have to shower before 11:00 because we live in an apartment building. It's hard to change 20 years of lifestyle and eating habits, after all.<br />
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So while living in Spain has been the experience of a lifetime, I thought I'd share a bit of the downsides. In a few years, however, I probably won't even remember them.<br />
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My next blog post will either be posted from home or right after my trip to Andalucia. We'll see how much of a writing mood I'm in. I've also yet to write the one about the cruise ship. It's coming! I promise.<br />
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wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-19882605330582846362013-04-22T02:35:00.001-07:002013-04-22T02:35:14.592-07:00End of cruiseAfter Italy, our next port stop was Tunis, Africa. None of us had been to mainland Africa, so that was really exciting.<br />
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Mom was worried about us going around in Tunis by ourselves, we went on an organized excursion by the crew. We chose the one that would take us through Carthage and the Medina, which is the shopping district. We actually thought Medina was a place like Carthage and that's why we chose it because we didn't want to go shopping really. Boy, were we wrong.<br />
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We met up with our excursion group in one of the lounges on deck. When a lot of other people were speaking Spanish, my parents got worried that we had signed up for the wrong group. In reality, they had just split our bus into a Spanish speaking section and an English section and our tour had two guides. Each language group did their own thing. However, it was funny whenever both guides would use the microphone to talk to the whole bus because sometimes they'd say different things and I could understand both of them.<br />
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Normally, the guides would talk at the same time without using the microphone. The Spanish sat up front, and their guide spoke to them at the front, and ours spoke to use from the middle. It wasn't as confusing as it sounds. Sorry.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOiJyjGBL-AjgD-EHgkMCAj_8jlw6dif4VlDnBCcG3iHZ-og0qhJc2Efj5UlTAEvIigIRTClwLAZh3sE6G7POtXOaNZ5uY0i_vZ8G3WNgmLQog5JmlBDoe60Na3TT6XX4tnicrq5XVx0/s1600/IMG_2888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKOiJyjGBL-AjgD-EHgkMCAj_8jlw6dif4VlDnBCcG3iHZ-og0qhJc2Efj5UlTAEvIigIRTClwLAZh3sE6G7POtXOaNZ5uY0i_vZ8G3WNgmLQog5JmlBDoe60Na3TT6XX4tnicrq5XVx0/s320/IMG_2888.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Anyway, we first when to the Phoenician Carthage ruins, which were very interesting. Later, we went to the Roman Carthage ruins. The Phoenician Carthage ruins consisted of shrines to Baal and Tanit, the god and goddess that the Phoenicians worshipped. The whole area was really morbid because it was full of baby graves that the people had sacrificed to the gods.<br />
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After the Phoenician Carthage, we got back on the bus and went to the Medina. Carthage is a suburb of Tunis, so we had to drive into the city where the Medina is located. Our guide pointed out parts of the city on the way. There are sections where the Christian and Jews live "in harmony," to quote the guide, with the rest of the city. I'm glad that they are able to live peacefully. Our guide also told us a little about the education system. They all speak Arabic, Burbor, and French, but then they also choose at least one other language to learn at a certain age. Being on this side of the ocean really makes me aware of how lazy our American language education is. It really puts us behind the rest of the world.<br />
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Once we arrived in the Medina, we were bombarded by vendors trying to sell us stuff by using the "hard sell" technique. In other words, bargaining. It was really abrasive for everyone in the group. No one really ventured out past where the guide took us. He first took us to a perfume shop, where they explained the process of crushing the flowers to get the oil used for the perfume. Mom got me some lavender scented perfume.<br />
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It at the shop that we noticed that I am apparently the type of the Arabs. The men who were selling the process wouldn't stop checking me out and afterwards one of them asked to take a picture with me and kept going on about how pretty my eyes are. I was just like, "Uh...I have to go," not only because the group was leaving.<br />
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After the perfume shop, we walked through the shopping district to a rug store. I just tried not to make eye contact with anyone, because if you do, they'll try to sell you something and all the men wouldn't stop staring at me. Mom and Dad were muttering about it behind me as we were walking. Moreover, when we entered the rug store, the guide asked me, "Where is your dad? Go sit over there and sit right next to him." So apparently he had noticed as well. I'm not sure what it was about me. There were other young, pretty girls in our group, even a petite blonde girl and I was the one everyone was focusing on. It was really uncomfortable.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1V6S05KDNOJVA2gacsHCP-OkKzzYp-LKbrlpkqCsHVZOklksgp9VrIZ8rk_AeTBEYhFGmMQJqYdo5Tc9EZdnVTSTellXARlfXqSjxMiqomOKccr01qCzBFJmM9ydvnC_SttlmJ95VNmQ/s1600/IMG_2906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1V6S05KDNOJVA2gacsHCP-OkKzzYp-LKbrlpkqCsHVZOklksgp9VrIZ8rk_AeTBEYhFGmMQJqYdo5Tc9EZdnVTSTellXARlfXqSjxMiqomOKccr01qCzBFJmM9ydvnC_SttlmJ95VNmQ/s320/IMG_2906.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
The rug store was kind of cool. It was kind of a show. The store keepers brought out rugs one by one and one guy explained how they were made and with what and what type of rug it was. They then pressured us to buy a rug, but they were all really expensive and we don't need more rugs. I, of course, was singled out and asked what my favorite was. Then they tried to sell me that rug we had to argue with him for five minutes that we didn't want the rug. "Hard sell."<br />
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This picture on the left was taken on the top of the rug store. We were able to go the top after the rug show thing and then we had a bit of free time to go back in and look around.<br />
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Mom and I did end up buying some scarves from the store. Dad helped us bargain, but they deferred to us for the price,"If the women are happy, then we are happy." Although, later, we found on Mom's scarf a "Made in China" sticker. So much for a hand-made scarf that they spent weeks making. That's what our guide told us: the things in the market are hand-made and that their livelihood depends on it. That their economy would not survive without tourism. So we kind of felt bad not buying anything. Ah well. We contributed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi4iM6Uzb9dQis-u3xSwnWAMz20lBH66DZgzW1K2trg8uHQnZtGYhNbBaByw2rYJUBj6lfL_f1pyG2KGdK12E6K6zI9L_t27DGRqae0AXVEyb_yr6kJDKM0FOul4hUc9AgoqQUy_wfAY/s1600/IMG_2915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOi4iM6Uzb9dQis-u3xSwnWAMz20lBH66DZgzW1K2trg8uHQnZtGYhNbBaByw2rYJUBj6lfL_f1pyG2KGdK12E6K6zI9L_t27DGRqae0AXVEyb_yr6kJDKM0FOul4hUc9AgoqQUy_wfAY/s320/IMG_2915.JPG" width="320" /></a>Everyone was rather relieved to leave the Medina. I think everyone in our group had chosen that tour because they wanted to avoid the heavy-duty shopping because no one was really a bargain hound.<br />
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Our last stop was the Roman Carthage ruins. Those were distinctly Roman looking. On the way there, we saw the remains of a Roman aqueduct that the guide said used to stretch for five miles or so to bring water to the city. Incidentally, Pamplona has a very well-preserved Roman aqueduct. Fun fact. Anyway, we hung out around there for a while and had some free time to look around and take pictures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheodDxknvfdJ9obNyAR2fWt8lsQY73LFbIEmIC7MvAQN6_osuKnuVpS4xN53wjyQ01EVwCnYp-1tTgcQ5Y7cs1bu_fv2tIAog3GF0bVymM_qqFcyDQO321yNWAlCayyI25XcbTS_MjXIw/s1600/IMG_2916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheodDxknvfdJ9obNyAR2fWt8lsQY73LFbIEmIC7MvAQN6_osuKnuVpS4xN53wjyQ01EVwCnYp-1tTgcQ5Y7cs1bu_fv2tIAog3GF0bVymM_qqFcyDQO321yNWAlCayyI25XcbTS_MjXIw/s320/IMG_2916.JPG" width="320" /></a>Then, we got back on the bus and headed back to the cruise ship. We went through the ship terminal as we always did, but this time the ship terminal was full of vendors selling things again. Tons of people were buying things and I got the impression that people go to Tunis to buy things cheaply. In front of our boat, they were giving camel rides. I would have totally done it if I wasn't wearing a skirt and then I didn't want to venture back out and be hassled again. I had had my fill of being hassled.<br />
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Now, all this is not to say that I'd never go back. Now that I've had the experience, I know more of what to expect and would get used to it more. For instance, one of my blog posts in January or February talked about how uncomfortable I was when I was approached in Pamplona (Turkish guy--it really is Arab men who love me). Now going around in Pamplona alone is no big deal. I've gotten used to it.<br />
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The day after Tunis was what they call "A Day at Sea" and we didn't stop anywhere. I'll leave that day to my blog post about the cruise ship itself.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBxp2rIT-wfY7By6cPNQ69nmFmjKmg-Z9v8UYXl7eKMPIEkqzhidRbUSPEzBPieFuXNet6K_8S1tDAKRFcYeF9_FN3ruPVvcBDS-7kGVO3m5edaRuiF8zxKwDK5gZJJI1NhyUuMAAP6F4/s1600/IMG_2920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBxp2rIT-wfY7By6cPNQ69nmFmjKmg-Z9v8UYXl7eKMPIEkqzhidRbUSPEzBPieFuXNet6K_8S1tDAKRFcYeF9_FN3ruPVvcBDS-7kGVO3m5edaRuiF8zxKwDK5gZJJI1NhyUuMAAP6F4/s320/IMG_2920.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Montjuic</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After the day at sea, we were back in Barcelona. My train didn't leave Barcelona until 3:00, so we had all morning to look around. We took a cab back to the hotel where my parents would stay that night and left our bags at the desk. Then we went up to the top of a foothill in the middle of Barcelona called Montjuic. There is a fortress on the top that neither of us had been to yet. It reminded us a lot of the Ciudadela (Citadel) in Pamplona because of how similar the architecture was.<br />
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We saw this really cute group of kindergarten-aged kids who looked like they were on a field trip. I could slightly understand what the teacher was talking about, but it was a Catalan school group which is a completely different language than Spanish.<br />
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I should say that we took cable cars to the very top of Montjuic, but we were still up on the hill once we came back down. I wanted to show them the Palace on Montjuic, which is now an art museum, because it's gorgeous and I knew Mom would like to take pictures of it. However, on the way there it started raining. I was wearing my scarf from Tunis and found that it made a very nice head shawl, but Mom and Dad didn't have anything. So that was cut short, and we found a restaurant to have some tapas and coffee to dry off a little.<br />
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After drying off, we took the metro to La Boqueria and this time it was open. We got some of the delicious smoothies they sell there and I got some snacks for the train ride back. I've discovered that I'm a big fan of figs, so I got a back of those along with some nuts.<br />
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Then, it was time to make our way to the train station. We got there with time to spare, so Dad got me a coffee at a McCafe and we sat until it was time for me to go through security. Barcelona is the only train station that I've been to so far that has had security. I guess it's because it's a big city and all.<br />
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On the train, I read some more of <i>The Host </i>in Spanish. I actually finished it that weekend when I go back (I arrived in Pamplona on a Friday) and felt very accomplished. That's a pretty big book.<br />
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When I got off the train, Carmen was waiting for me, which was a very pleasant surprise. I had to dig up my Spanish because I'd only been reading in Spanish over the break, not speaking it.<br />
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It was so nice to see Mom and Dad, and I'm pretty sure I had the coolest Spring Break ever. It was really hard to get back into the swing of things afterwards though. Having almost two weeks with no class will do that.<br />
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Well, this is almost the end of my posts about the cruise. I just have one more that I'm working on about the ship itself.wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-70128494671389791262013-04-21T12:02:00.001-07:002013-04-21T12:15:14.868-07:00Scattered AnecdotesHere are some scattered anecdotes to keep you up with the goings on since my spring break trip.<br />
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I went to a chorus and orchestra concert the week before. Only in Spain will you have a mass running up to the beginning of the concert. It was the funniest thing. I left the house early to give myself enough time to get there because I couldn't remember exactly how to get to the Cathedral where the concert took place. Well, I got there and walked in on a mass. When I saw people with the flyers for the concert, however, I knew I was in the right place. It was just funny. <br />
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So, I've had a cold for a week or so now. Just congestion, nothing serious. Well on one of the first days, Carmen offered to put a piece of an onion in my room, because its supposed to help. It might have, or it was possibly a placebo effect, not sure. Regardless, my room still sometimes smells like onion even though the window has been open a lot of the time. She's funny about home remedies and things like that.<br />
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This past Sunday, a group of us wanted to go to Las Bardenas Reales again to have a picnic and look around. We were going to rent a car and drive down. Well, I assumed they had booked the car the day before, I guess, because nothing is open on Sundays. So we went to the rental car place and, sure enough, it was closed. Instead, we took our food to the Cuidadela in Pamplona and had a lovely time walking around Pamplona in the amazing weather.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntVx11s9B9rQz9awqy0tds7vRVsvCzxizFaHubhOqSAsOKRPwpBFEEV6n87w-iQ5ituyOMYhYj4tbDFb0kJru8I8DWFr5rAa6rJ-_hE76rQQ0YjNz7nyyJioSJhi7D4gB0mkGNq4mzFM/s1600/IMG_3017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhntVx11s9B9rQz9awqy0tds7vRVsvCzxizFaHubhOqSAsOKRPwpBFEEV6n87w-iQ5ituyOMYhYj4tbDFb0kJru8I8DWFr5rAa6rJ-_hE76rQQ0YjNz7nyyJioSJhi7D4gB0mkGNq4mzFM/s320/IMG_3017.JPG" width="320" /></a>Yes, it is starting to finally feel like Spring in Pamplona. Although, this week the temperatures really jumped around. It was so hot on Wednesday that I was afraid that I hadn't packed summery enough clothes. Carmen assured me that that weather was more typical for summer than spring and that it was just a random hot day. Whew! Thursday was cooler and felt more like Spring. Friday was just chilly again. The weather this year has jumped around a lot.<br />
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This Thursday, we didn't have class in our department because it was the "Día del Patron" of "Filosofia y Letras" (our department). Each department has a patron saint and have a day off each year accordingly. There were events at the university and such for the occasion. I only went to the beginning part of it because we ended up going to Las Bardenas Reales that day instead. It was so much more windier than the last time we went! However, we made the best of it and had a lovely picnic.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUmJKxokh25WrWuldhXMJyhZaQcdlIBxWnIgPXfb6EbOchKj431zVLVFrErR7AfAnEUEajsDUrASbJfF57Ujp8dQoBfSSAgMtiyIGk9rpNkpm2ofqUflj_wIzH-9FR0vbUcgohQN_EM0/s1600/IMG_3023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCUmJKxokh25WrWuldhXMJyhZaQcdlIBxWnIgPXfb6EbOchKj431zVLVFrErR7AfAnEUEajsDUrASbJfF57Ujp8dQoBfSSAgMtiyIGk9rpNkpm2ofqUflj_wIzH-9FR0vbUcgohQN_EM0/s320/IMG_3023.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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At Las Bardenas, aka the James Bond Desert (or that's what I call it), we went into this little canyon area and there were still some spots that had water or were wet. I accidently stepped in a mud puddle and got my Chaco sandals caked with mud. Luckily I wasn't wearing other shoes, because they would have been harder to clean. I ended up taking off my sandals and walking around in that<br />
part barefoot to let the mud dry on my shoes, so as to scrape off easier. I felt like I was literally walking on eggshells because of the cracked ground. Then the muddy parts just felt really cool.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfU_oS9Nd4q1eJbH3QFygZBnDlM8PnPAEJjUQevJvhEIAmHX6ckDxczMtc4MlIsWRpPZJVpSS81V0_UN49jXidDyzP3uqAsRgnPN_peC0FC6eFku3gHsXeNO8qi2vRoXWNHrMR3Abao78/s1600/IMG_3053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfU_oS9Nd4q1eJbH3QFygZBnDlM8PnPAEJjUQevJvhEIAmHX6ckDxczMtc4MlIsWRpPZJVpSS81V0_UN49jXidDyzP3uqAsRgnPN_peC0FC6eFku3gHsXeNO8qi2vRoXWNHrMR3Abao78/s320/IMG_3053.JPG" width="320" /></a>This Saturday, I went on a trip organized by the international committee to Biarritz, France, a coastal town popular for vacationing as it has a beach. Carmen was really excited that I went because she had wanted to take me when she thought the bus from Pamplona to Biarritz was running, but it only starts in the summer-- like June or July. It's one of her favorite places to go so she was glad that I went. <br />
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Anyway, we took a bus there and they let us off to explore the town. The bus left Pamplona at 12:00 and arrived at 2:00 (so late! But as I've said, most Europeans don't get up early). Over half the group went surfing, but as it was expensive and I don't know how to surf, I opted out of surfing and hung out with two of my German friends Inca and Debby.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWrqSkAgf_oTuiKcuLYcrnSfk5IFVQJ36fFZUViOUURto-1Uo1oGXhYX9LBwm-Jj4J1GrDJKYNn8CxQDETMeChJSO9n03eu0eXfdx4lSwuL-RDTIf_Hwb-MFqmu_O9iUe7GSMm9YUeiuI/s1600/IMG_3054.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWrqSkAgf_oTuiKcuLYcrnSfk5IFVQJ36fFZUViOUURto-1Uo1oGXhYX9LBwm-Jj4J1GrDJKYNn8CxQDETMeChJSO9n03eu0eXfdx4lSwuL-RDTIf_Hwb-MFqmu_O9iUe7GSMm9YUeiuI/s320/IMG_3054.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
We walked around the town looking for a coffee shop that wasn't too expensive . We ended up finding one relatively close to where we started and that was in the sun. We sat outside for a good while enjoying the coffee and each other's company. Then we walked by the waterfront and took lots of pictures. Ate crêpes and laid out on the beach. Drank more coffee. All in all, it was a good day.<br />
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Inca and Debby taught me some German/reminded me of words that I knew. Which was fun. When it was time to meet the bus, we walked back and ended up waiting for the bus for an hour and ten they called someone in the group and we had to walk to another spot. Then we had to wait again for the surfers. We pretty much left two hours later than we were supposed to. I wouldn't have minded if we could have gone around the city more. Ah well. Spaniards. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLXB7IPcnOge5u3uSMCL0R6JmB65S8BJMpL0kTGQHFlTPgbJS7YQxZyMJ6nFwO7WeYNYw_jPxan6shnzFF7GNxAlavGN0AtLG_q82OeM6DhiLEmegwpGwQ5qC49FBv8XVWhaen7mFCi4/s1600/IMG_3086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVLXB7IPcnOge5u3uSMCL0R6JmB65S8BJMpL0kTGQHFlTPgbJS7YQxZyMJ6nFwO7WeYNYw_jPxan6shnzFF7GNxAlavGN0AtLG_q82OeM6DhiLEmegwpGwQ5qC49FBv8XVWhaen7mFCi4/s320/IMG_3086.jpg" width="240" /></a>Today, I went to a mass service in the Catedral de Pamplona with Inca, Debby, and Katie (who I went to Grease with later in the day), which was nice. Their mass is the most fancy, or I don't know, that I've been too. There are a bunch of priests and they process in to where they do the service and then they process out. It's been very interesting comparing mass services. Some don't sing at all, and then some sing all the time. The ones that do, don't sing out of hymn books. Instead, they sing by memory or respond to the priest. I like my Presbyterian services where you have a bulletin that you can follow along with and know what to say/sing.<br />
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Later that afternoon, I went to see Grease with my Australian friend, Katie. I had chills that were multiplyin.' Everything was in Spanish, which was hard to follow at times, but overall it was really fun. I saw a ton of kids there, but while I was watching it, I thought "I'd never take my kids to see this." It was not only the lyrics, but a few of the actors had this fondness of mooning the audience. In the movie, they only do it once. It this play, it was multiple times. The curtain call was more fun than American ones, however. After everyone did their bows, they did a song medley and had everyone on their feet dancing and clapping.<br />
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Well, there you go. Somewhat caught up on the past few weeks!wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-83875678485474826392013-04-19T03:28:00.004-07:002013-04-19T03:28:41.564-07:00Three Days in Italia<h2>
Genova</h2>
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After Marseille, the next stop on the itinerary was Genoa, or Genova, as the Italians call it and I find easier to say. Before the cruise itself, Mom found out that the infamous Portofino is very close to Genova and very possible to reach in a day trip. Mom had always wanted to see Portofino--it <i>is</i> the vacation island of the rich and famous, so she looked up how to get there before flying over here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIe04WgE00KtUtEPCuSeUDhQ-yzvSgl0oqsDQq9QpN2kdlZOUmgid-koKU9P6SpIeZVJcYTUEgx9YFtw7__BIW0NfEp2X_SMp3e_kyXgnvpQ_6JfJ8zXXcL2h1GOnSAuVUzjbzbiDUU0/s1600/IMG_2777.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTIe04WgE00KtUtEPCuSeUDhQ-yzvSgl0oqsDQq9QpN2kdlZOUmgid-koKU9P6SpIeZVJcYTUEgx9YFtw7__BIW0NfEp2X_SMp3e_kyXgnvpQ_6JfJ8zXXcL2h1GOnSAuVUzjbzbiDUU0/s320/IMG_2777.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we got off in Genova, we found the train station and took the train to a little town called Santa Margarita, which has a ferry that goes to Portofino. We didn't look much around Santa Margarita then because we were franitically looking for where the ferry departed. We got there in the nick of time. They were just starting to pull up the ramp for the ferry when the let us on.<br />
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It was a very scenic trip to Portofino. It probably took about five to ten minutes as it was just across the pond a bit. Strangely, it reminded me a lot of being on Lake Murray, where my grandparents live, except that the houses were gorgeous, Italian/Mediterranean styled.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRE01vG9Eau002IGz9ctLHfJume3hI5EEgXxV3ML9QZzMhbZNOErPg6Gk3Brup5Pd-CzIOTXt-5V169OyGQz_AAhwrcagl1PNb3ZvYCy2H1C06hGYuvpVE4cEvh0IF8AZy-VfFkIjiQ6s/s1600/IMG_2815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRE01vG9Eau002IGz9ctLHfJume3hI5EEgXxV3ML9QZzMhbZNOErPg6Gk3Brup5Pd-CzIOTXt-5V169OyGQz_AAhwrcagl1PNb3ZvYCy2H1C06hGYuvpVE4cEvh0IF8AZy-VfFkIjiQ6s/s320/IMG_2815.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Oh! I should mention that it was Easter Sunday. We saw signs for "Pasqua" (Easter) everywhere. Pascua is Easter in Spanish, so Pasqua is the Italian spelling. Love the many crossovers in Latin languages. Easter in Portofino. How awesome is that?<br />
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All right, so once we got there, we walked around a little bit. We stopped at a souvenir shop where I bought a postcard for my friend Sarah, who loves postcards. Then, we decided to climb up one of the hills to get a higher view of the town.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46LCLYhcXbLxpCKw8yi3mvyOEVn-XAcwdqjIN8Oo7UbxhX8MOI3FM1qYnnipyEb2nfCA-Yaaup7Q8UOA57ysrwjWXUwGdVjSUYHI7Z5GXqK8Ow8vSksYeunv6aZjj_B_4c6BfRdvl_w8/s1600/IMG_2792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj46LCLYhcXbLxpCKw8yi3mvyOEVn-XAcwdqjIN8Oo7UbxhX8MOI3FM1qYnnipyEb2nfCA-Yaaup7Q8UOA57ysrwjWXUwGdVjSUYHI7Z5GXqK8Ow8vSksYeunv6aZjj_B_4c6BfRdvl_w8/s320/IMG_2792.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we made it to the top, we had gorgeous views of the place. All the pictures we took look like postcards, but it was real life. Very, very picturesque.<br />
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Once we'd seen all we wanted to see, we decided to head back to Santa Margarita, as it was a gorgeous town as well and we hadn't been able to see much of it. We caught the 12 o'clock ferry and good thing too because there was another one coming in jam packed with people. Portofino was filling up rapidly. When we were walking around it wasn't bad, but as we could see from our ferry it was very full. We don't like crowds much in our family.<br />
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One thing we definitely wanted to get while in Italy is the gelato. It's their version of ice cream, but it's so much more delicious. They just don't make ice cream anywhere else as good as Italy. Helado in Spain and Portugal is good but just can't compare with Italy. However, you don't buy food in Portofino unless you're starving or are swimming in cash, so we waited until we got back to Santa Margarita and had eaten our packed lunches.<br />
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Sadly, I didn't take any pictures of Santa Margarita. My brain must have let me. I blame the vacation. Anyway, we found a nice place to sit on the rocks and watch the sea to eat our lunch. I finished before my parents and was restless, so I walked around this outdoor market while they were finishing up. Then we met back up and got our much anticipated gelato. Yum, yum, yum!<br />
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After we had walked around some more, it was sadly time to head back to Genova to give ourselves enough time to catch the boat. We got on a train, which was so much nicer than the one that took us there. However, it wasn't making as many stops as the first one that took us there. Mom started worrying that we'd gotten on the wrong train. As it turns out, it was a long-distance train instead of a commuter one that we'd gotten on in the morning. I told her that it would surely stop in Genova, all long-distance trains stop in big cities, but she wanted to be sure. Dad asked this Irish guy and he said he thought so, which didn't reassure Mom at all. So we got off at the next stop and asked a conductor. All was fine.<br />
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Then we were back in Genova. We didn't have time to go downtown and look around, but our boat terminal was very beautiful and we saw a Columbus monument near the train station, so we saw a few things. We did have time to go to a café, use the wifi, and drink delicious Italian lattes. I am now a fan of Italian lattes, although my dad prefers the Spanish coffee because it's stronger and cheaper. I can't argue with the cheaper part, but I like my coffee with more milk, which the Italians do.<br />
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That night, we went to an Easter mass on board. It was done in Italian, but they handed out a sheet that had the order of mass in six different languages so we could follow along. I understood about 30% of the sermon, also in Italian, based on my knowledge of Spanish. Not bad, if I do say so myself.<br />
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<h2>
Napoli</h2>
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Now, I will move on to Naples. Even though all the days were great, if I had to pick a least favorite, Naples would be it. Perhaps not all of Naples is bad, but the port and train station was just gross and really sketchy.<br />
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Before going to Naples, we didn't know much about it, like what there is to see and whatnot. The last time we went, we went on an excursion to Pompeii. This time, we went to Sorrento, a part of the Amalfi Coast because Mom had heard of it and we saw it in my Rick Steves' book. I was more interested in seeing Herculanum, the other town buried in the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius. We planned to go there on the way back from Sorrento.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVYAwa2Rbn7sSr1uyGwU509JcSofIhLee2EzwCfYiJ19jlcH54rRwnVRkPnPnAq0xsLZStl3EHApYZ2FkDEbg2zwpQzAMOAKKMHPcyWtazffaW3kKUWjIYR2uglfX0yiamA3jKKRfJ-o/s1600/IMG_2831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNVYAwa2Rbn7sSr1uyGwU509JcSofIhLee2EzwCfYiJ19jlcH54rRwnVRkPnPnAq0xsLZStl3EHApYZ2FkDEbg2zwpQzAMOAKKMHPcyWtazffaW3kKUWjIYR2uglfX0yiamA3jKKRfJ-o/s320/IMG_2831.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we arrived in Sorrento, we looked at the map outside the train station and headed in the direction of things that looked interesting. I really had to go to the bathroom, so we looked around for a place and ended up going to a place and bought coffee so we could go to the bathroom. It was really pricey coffee, but quite good. Again, I like the coffee/milk ratio of Italian coffee.<br />
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After that, we looked around for a place to eat our lunch. We ended up sitting in a little square on a park bench and watched the town go by. We didn't see a whole lot because a big bus was impeding our view. As it turned out, the bus was an excursion bus from MSC. Moreover, when the bus had left, another one pulled up. We kind of thought about hopping on the bus, but we supposed they wouldn't have taken too kindly to that.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8FYQyNnP22isiqEm27aS8N1ibMCcmmHaJ9JSyOcpxy43q5FtmWrpMVWTWYnB5vU6lp5Ncq_anSlFILMVfR2zt3G_yCm5oNQ_MXQScfFFsRy_PiFiQoRWhPiRnc-AYCICI9ZJoKMcowY/s1600/IMG_2832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik8FYQyNnP22isiqEm27aS8N1ibMCcmmHaJ9JSyOcpxy43q5FtmWrpMVWTWYnB5vU6lp5Ncq_anSlFILMVfR2zt3G_yCm5oNQ_MXQScfFFsRy_PiFiQoRWhPiRnc-AYCICI9ZJoKMcowY/s320/IMG_2832.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we'd finished up lunch, we went to the point where you can see the coastline and ocean. Unfortunately, that's when it decided to rain, so we had to run back and catch the train (like my rhyme?). Besides, I wanted to have time to see Herculanum.<br />
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For those of you who I talked to right after getting back from the trip, I probably gave the impression that I hate Italy because of Naples. I was still feeling annoyed about that experience, so you got my negative emotions. Now that I've had time to blog and reflect, I really don't at all, but I am not a fan of the public transportation at all. You see, they don't run enough trains and so if it starts to rain or if it's rush hour, the trains are jam packed. On the way back from Sorrento, we had to shove our way onto the train and then be crammed into the train like sardines for an hour and a half. It took longer to get back than it did coming. Since it took so long and it was impossibly crowded, we didn't make it to Herculanum, which I was really disappointed about because I had loved Pompeii and Herculanum is supposed to be even better preserved. Guess, I'll have to go back, huh? Maybe give the rest of Naples another chance.<br />
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As it was, we barely made it back to the port in time to catch the cruise.<br />
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Messina, Sicilia</h2>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrdvh3vFCUHTu4AnM7tHN5INh37tunRjL8wgzh8xb9shO5_SpeZjzS1SxrgKU4DaupcjwtvX86J-zu64ASufJ6KYeJvVjjZqfRctK-3D2XVHVZnxN4sySYXYwTjinVK3hZ8i-H4GvkM/s1600/IMG_2839.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCVrdvh3vFCUHTu4AnM7tHN5INh37tunRjL8wgzh8xb9shO5_SpeZjzS1SxrgKU4DaupcjwtvX86J-zu64ASufJ6KYeJvVjjZqfRctK-3D2XVHVZnxN4sySYXYwTjinVK3hZ8i-H4GvkM/s320/IMG_2839.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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A lot of days during the trip, we were able to watch the ship pull into harbor. When we woke up the day of arriving in Messina, Sicily (an Italian coastal island), we had already parked (probably not the correct nautical term) and ready to disembark. Upon opening the curtains to our balcony, we could see that we had literally parallel parked to the street. We kind of felt bad for the people who lived right by where we parked because their normally lovely view of the sea was now blocked by our giant ship.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUxh0c2beA1p5aicPlCaMGgJAKb-xy8ntsY2BCWCfa25p_u7TEnf45MG3KO2ii7TM9-2x7h9KTrN43JHB0aeLxx8e5fyA1uHkCB4HJNQVJnrzQ8LMiKkVul8HECf_czbWZ47cnCOd1QA/s1600/IMG_2846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRUxh0c2beA1p5aicPlCaMGgJAKb-xy8ntsY2BCWCfa25p_u7TEnf45MG3KO2ii7TM9-2x7h9KTrN43JHB0aeLxx8e5fyA1uHkCB4HJNQVJnrzQ8LMiKkVul8HECf_czbWZ47cnCOd1QA/s320/IMG_2846.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
To emphasis this, I've included two pictures. One from our balcony (top-right) and another from the streets (lower-right). I think this second picture is great because it shows just how tall the boat was. These are several story apartment buildings and the ship kind of looks like another building behind it. Again, I feel bad for the people who have their view obstructed every other week by this ship.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQgUV4dcCVXNID7qn1jKOpzqEAmW9gR83kU1-kG_FhcRsYZaH9aoy62dIGR-8Y62VU3zXEd8lR1gkW5fIYTYeU1INa5Y1kvMAEjxx9UI6pZKhWbbJCOzAp5HHs-Uq6jUBNsB1EZkg7j0/s1600/IMG_2843.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQgUV4dcCVXNID7qn1jKOpzqEAmW9gR83kU1-kG_FhcRsYZaH9aoy62dIGR-8Y62VU3zXEd8lR1gkW5fIYTYeU1INa5Y1kvMAEjxx9UI6pZKhWbbJCOzAp5HHs-Uq6jUBNsB1EZkg7j0/s320/IMG_2843.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
After disembarking, we dodged the taxi drivers and tour people heckling us, and headed inland. First thing we saw was a rustic church, kind of lower in the ground. It was very quaint and kind of a different style than most churches/cathedrals. It was nice.<br />
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Once we'd taken a look at the church, we decided to try and find the cathedral that we could see up on a hill from our boat (like we did in Marseille). Therefore, we headed uphill.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtIw8AesMA4nSasCWS6ypgVT5wfZhgitdTRGybbib0PWo2WDY1lbRKMKrSzb6HmiOM6uYj7Zf4nUettCR7tm-t3C0ECiZPLUFgnjmQP4D7JHHQh_POQw0pWNc2kwP9LBuccXqhDJqmKQ/s1600/IMG_2852.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtIw8AesMA4nSasCWS6ypgVT5wfZhgitdTRGybbib0PWo2WDY1lbRKMKrSzb6HmiOM6uYj7Zf4nUettCR7tm-t3C0ECiZPLUFgnjmQP4D7JHHQh_POQw0pWNc2kwP9LBuccXqhDJqmKQ/s320/IMG_2852.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
We walked through beautiful squares, avoided crazy Italian/island drivers, and huffed our way up. On the way, we saw a really cool looking building that kind of looked like it would lead through to the top, so we went in. When we entered, there was this really friendly Italian guy who greeted us and told us that it was a pawn shop. A pawn shop! Imagine this building in the next picture on Pawn Stars. Unfortunately, they weren't open, so we couldn't see what an Italian pawn shop sells, but nonetheless it was really cool. They let us go to the back part and look around (see picture).<br />
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The Italian guy was interesting because he was taking data from all the people who entered for some kind of statistics. He asked where we were from and how we had come to Messina. So he was probably seeing where tourism came from.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbkmBHxgTVTwY8Hzwc3gjUWD_NAd1HD8roPDjD44-2q1B6C_KX3iQLseIxkuKZzR41nQmFUGYYIV-JPglMIHHSvc7elWXJ09ywwMTEHNOGvxojVmajOVUis9F5QWVheBhXHGPTiWf1pr4/s1600/IMG_2861.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbkmBHxgTVTwY8Hzwc3gjUWD_NAd1HD8roPDjD44-2q1B6C_KX3iQLseIxkuKZzR41nQmFUGYYIV-JPglMIHHSvc7elWXJ09ywwMTEHNOGvxojVmajOVUis9F5QWVheBhXHGPTiWf1pr4/s320/IMG_2861.JPG" width="320" /></a>After the pawn shop, we continued on up. There were too high points that we wanted to see. The first was a hill-top cathedral. Before going in, we just sat on a bench and had a very peaceful view of the town. I enjoyed the view a lot. Then, we went into the cathedral. Like I've said before, I just love sitting and looking at all the symbols and comparing them with others--seeing new ones and seeing the constant ones (Jesus, Mary, etc).<br />
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Then, we walked across the way to the next point. I'm not exactly sure what it was because it wasn't open. It was a cool, old-looking building from the outside. Then there was another view of the city. Randomly, there was this guy dressed up as Mickey Mouse mooching for pictures. I kind of wanted a picture with him, but Dad pointed out that he had a money pouch around his neck and would want to be paid. When we were in Rome, these gladiators charged us for getting pictures. It's just a big hassle and we weren't feeling like it. Too bad. It would have been cool to have a picture with Mickey.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1lMG7m-j_1GB21iJKmwJJgsx3h2U8LQSCF1z5-OqCHAh6awueAA2_nIJePDBfcSm2WYhcLN6DnY44vcxtJIqrGdMIaGsUOiZMtWIUPiJELfLutLm1Ov0QJpbml5LR8JofwAt1057tK0/s1600/IMG_2862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_1lMG7m-j_1GB21iJKmwJJgsx3h2U8LQSCF1z5-OqCHAh6awueAA2_nIJePDBfcSm2WYhcLN6DnY44vcxtJIqrGdMIaGsUOiZMtWIUPiJELfLutLm1Ov0QJpbml5LR8JofwAt1057tK0/s320/IMG_2862.JPG" width="320" /></a>Anyway, after that, we headed back down. Since we were so close to the ship, we decided to go back there and have lunch. We'd pretty much seen all of the city. One thing that was interesting is that they had things representing Pope John Paul all over the place. Apparently, he had come to visit during his papacy or something. There was even a Pope John Paul basketball court.<br />
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Well, this concludes my very large segment on our time in Italy. The next blog post will be about going to Tunisia and finishing up the cruise. I'm also working on one about the cruise ship itself and our time spent on it.<br />
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To be continued... <br />
<br />wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-88821803126060133362013-04-15T01:59:00.002-07:002013-04-15T01:59:50.214-07:00Barcelona and Beginning of CruiseThis segment of my spring break begins with the train ride to Barcelona. There really isn't much to say about the train ride. It was fairly uneventful. The only thing that was kind of a disappointment was the lack of a dining car. Back when we lived in Germany, we took a high-speed train (the ICE train) to Berlin and had lunch in a dining car. It was really cool and more fun than sitting in the regular seats.<br />
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Moreover, there were no compartments on this train, so we sat in regular rowed seating. Mine was nice because it was just one seat by the window. For you to get a picture, it was three seats per row with an aisle down the middle. Just one seat is the way to go in my opinion. You have the benefits of both the aisle and window spots and you don't have to talk to anybody, which is a benefit for me anyway. I like to read while on a train, plane, or bus and having an alone seat eliminates the problem of appearing rude. The signs of an introvert.<br />
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Once we arrived in Barcelona, we took a cab to our hotel. My parents had giant suitcases for the cruise so that's why we didn't take public transport. The reason for the giant suitcases is that there were several formal nights and such on the cruise so they had to bring several changes of clothes. Luckily sundresses roll up really easy so I just had my backpack and duffel bag. My mom brought me a couple formal dresses, but I could have been fine for both nights with the black dress I brought. Still, it was nice to have that variety. But I'm getting ahead of myself again.<br />
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We didn't really do anything after the hotel. We arrived at 11 or something so we pretty much went to bed after checking in with the wifi.<br />
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One thing I feel that I need to establish that I forgot to mention in my Pamplona post, is that my Spring break was also my Easter break. While we were in Pamplona, it was Maundy Thursday and so EVERYTHING was closed. Same in Barcelona surprisingly enough. It was Black Friday and a lot of things were closed. We tried to go to La Boqueria, a famous outdoor market in Barcelona, but it was depressingly empty. I mean, it's nice that people took the day off, but we really wanted to buy some food at La Boqueria. Ah well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7UKoHK_70DgKZkwkB3UhyG78B3BjBawlYJ0-QvDFjNDVhgXbdQwhNjnwAwMaY2Y8O3jTl6x_a_ebG6W_pshiOvZu-V1hQCnWvKB8ooBSq-eIOmY5ztg3yn-tfcMVXZhm8qQDb8fmvtY/s1600/IMG_2715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP7UKoHK_70DgKZkwkB3UhyG78B3BjBawlYJ0-QvDFjNDVhgXbdQwhNjnwAwMaY2Y8O3jTl6x_a_ebG6W_pshiOvZu-V1hQCnWvKB8ooBSq-eIOmY5ztg3yn-tfcMVXZhm8qQDb8fmvtY/s320/IMG_2715.JPG" width="320" /></a>Even though La Boqueria didn't work out, we were able to see La Sagrada Familia. If you ever go to Barcelona, you definitely want to see La Sagrada Familia. However, make sure you buy your tickets online. The line for that is always so long. If you buy the tickets online, you can go right in. We also got a tour so we knew what we were looking at. I also recommend that.<br />
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The tour was cool because the guide spoke into a microphone and we had headsets so we could hear her. That way, you not only can hear her and have a person giving the tour, but it's not as loud in the cathedral. For a little info, La Sagrada Familia was designed by an architect by the name of Gaudi in the early 1900s. He died a while back, but La Sagrada Familia is still under construction. The reason you have to buy tickets is because all the money goes toward the completion of the cathedral. It's very modern and different looking than your average cathedral.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqP0uhtk8Mj-LRF1LzPqHxpA0psBLM0pYfe3R8mm4050ZN2S2UWg1lCmCWrR778XbEHHMFrUtuqmohbUs1AGUwExIRm1YgJ-CW3M42Qs1N9BExcku4UEQHhVgmAxPgT_QqMya3VbyNO2Q/s1600/IMG_2727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqP0uhtk8Mj-LRF1LzPqHxpA0psBLM0pYfe3R8mm4050ZN2S2UWg1lCmCWrR778XbEHHMFrUtuqmohbUs1AGUwExIRm1YgJ-CW3M42Qs1N9BExcku4UEQHhVgmAxPgT_QqMya3VbyNO2Q/s320/IMG_2727.JPG" width="320" /></a>We tried to go to La Boqueria after our tour of La Sagrada Familia, but as I've said it was closed. So instead for lunch, I wanted to find a place that had a "Menu del Dia" or Menu of the Day. You have to have one of those if you're in Spain. We went a little off of Las Ramblas and found a Middle Eastern restaurant with a Menu del Dia. I had wanted a Spanish "Menu del Dia" but we were hungry and it all turned out really tasty anyway. A Menu del Dia is a preset menu with several choices for your first and second course and then desert. It's normally a good deal.<br />
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After our lunch, we headed back to the hotel to go to the port. We took a cab right up to our boat. We weren't sure were it was, but I told the driver that it was an MSC cruise (she didn't really speak English). When we pulled up to harbor, it was obvious which one was ours because it was a giant boat with MSC on top. It was a good thing we took a cab because it was pretty far away from the nearest metro stop. With all the baggage, it would have taken forever.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTUG38sXaCSZf4yAyKqiQkgtlZf9HAZGPxjsNi9kvPhiubWy9gjAi2GlCs1j29z6FeIIlvy3Bf0SJWbMyLcTYRX5s65OxMWnRcPGau5EAmmw2ZxlGsiOkP9BsLCQYGwtrVOVLNomvgec/s1600/IMG_2744.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicTUG38sXaCSZf4yAyKqiQkgtlZf9HAZGPxjsNi9kvPhiubWy9gjAi2GlCs1j29z6FeIIlvy3Bf0SJWbMyLcTYRX5s65OxMWnRcPGau5EAmmw2ZxlGsiOkP9BsLCQYGwtrVOVLNomvgec/s320/IMG_2744.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
I'm going to skip talking about the cruise ship part as I'm devoting a blog post to just the ship and moving on to our first stop in Marseille, France.<br />
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They parked the cruise kilometers away from civilization, so we had to walk until we could catch a bus that would take us into the town central. On the last MSC cruise we went on, back when we lived in Germany, if the boat parked far away from the nice part of town, there would be a complimentary shuttle to take you in. This round, however, there was a shuttle, but it cost 15 euros a person to use it. So not worth it. Therefore, we walked.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjo5u9LsIOUNu8vzFoL0bqD9ahFGrLFCqz_LPeJV6xbmBKXdOjcvOPqHqxM1M9nwT29RJDhGGzntZtEMBWe8tddZMFH7vx491TLJgK-olZZINcN3lwRzJQZ0vL5NFVr1euqvI-hZgf80/s1600/IMG_2754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdjo5u9LsIOUNu8vzFoL0bqD9ahFGrLFCqz_LPeJV6xbmBKXdOjcvOPqHqxM1M9nwT29RJDhGGzntZtEMBWe8tddZMFH7vx491TLJgK-olZZINcN3lwRzJQZ0vL5NFVr1euqvI-hZgf80/s320/IMG_2754.jpg" width="240" /></a>Once we got to the bus stop, there were a bunch of other people from the cruise getting on it as well. Finally the driver just let us on without making us pay and drove us to a spot somewhat near the town central where we could catch another bus to take us to the sailboat harbor/city center. It was an adventure for me to try to understand French using my limited French ability and understanding of Spanish. I found, as I did in Paris, that I was able to ask something in French but inevitably I'd respond in Spanish. For instance, "Sí" instead of "Oui." Ah well. Luckily there were nice French people who took sympathy on us and explained to us in English what we had to do.<br />
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None of us really knew much about Marseille before going. We didn't really have an agenda and my Rick Steves' Europe book didn't say anything about Marseille. However, we saw from our balcony (yes, balcony!) this gorgeous cathedral on a hill, so we decided we'd like to get up there and see it. So we took a bus to the center, then caught another one up the hill. It was crazy steep, so we were glad we took the bus.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVf9Tu7wIMDiyBWJO7nUUquVVSoc9majxE1xFqtYvQGRqO1nWJzD1aT5E154RioDhGM-kDA5nQ0SZOeTeAfKH-xADzXCVIUvk-97BZNZ0u3OzIHrm6xLK_k9Gtgf0lAu0ZY0PbG_U-MVw/s1600/IMG_2752.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVf9Tu7wIMDiyBWJO7nUUquVVSoc9majxE1xFqtYvQGRqO1nWJzD1aT5E154RioDhGM-kDA5nQ0SZOeTeAfKH-xADzXCVIUvk-97BZNZ0u3OzIHrm6xLK_k9Gtgf0lAu0ZY0PbG_U-MVw/s320/IMG_2752.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
As it turns out, Marseille has it's own Notre Dame. The hill-top cathedral is called Notre-Dame de la Garde. I had an epiphany on the way up: "Notre Dame" means "Our Lady" and if I'm not mistaken we have cathedrals/churches called Our Lady of blah de blah as well. "Garde" means what it sounds like, "guard." Since we didn't have a guide, most of what I know about it is assumption or deduction, but the cathedral was set up as a fortress as well. It had walls, a draw-bridge, and, of course, an excellent view of the port and city which all serve excellently for attacks--by both land and sea.<br />
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Since there were no invaders as of that day, we peacefully walked around the fort/cathedral and took lots of pictures and looked around the place. When we entered the sanctuary, we just sat in pews in awe for a while, taking it all in. While I can't help but think cathedrals are often too ornate, I do understand more now the concept of sanctuary. You almost enter a whole new world while in a cathedral. You can forget where you are and just be in the cathedral, looking at all the religious symbols. I'd like to learn more about the symbology so as to understand cathedrals better.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpwYK5bbpWreRNqvXx__I-dwXz32AdkdVoFwdN25t4eDEB5lX2G3FwyqVO5EdP3vhamHu0CQDWdVdgbKpkNI61UE5guASPSbqv-D1hC599T2Q7W84JWsapmOp5DsqC6vvcWd47M0CYZs/s1600/IMG_2749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpwYK5bbpWreRNqvXx__I-dwXz32AdkdVoFwdN25t4eDEB5lX2G3FwyqVO5EdP3vhamHu0CQDWdVdgbKpkNI61UE5guASPSbqv-D1hC599T2Q7W84JWsapmOp5DsqC6vvcWd47M0CYZs/s320/IMG_2749.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we had our fill exploring, we took a bus back down the hill to the city center/harbor. When I say harbor, I mean a small, sailboat harbor. The harbor for big boats was in the middle of nowhere, like I said earlier. We ended up going to a little café and ordering "café au lait" (France's version of a latte) and using the free wifi to check in a bit. I ordered a crepe because I hadn't packed a sandwich like my parents did for lunch (they made sandwiches from stuff at breakfast). It was a delicious Nutella crepe.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9HapwoBdshl7GjGN_uI-1hIkhZWg755vND7JMYJURca2iyEHqhSnswczOWRRyiK3dfldGlVVb934vJiB0p-ycJp5WT56h5RZnNoWbrht-5yh2frrm3efCjxEtKWdtP70SmtcBaRm_kE/s1600/IMG_2760.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg9HapwoBdshl7GjGN_uI-1hIkhZWg755vND7JMYJURca2iyEHqhSnswczOWRRyiK3dfldGlVVb934vJiB0p-ycJp5WT56h5RZnNoWbrht-5yh2frrm3efCjxEtKWdtP70SmtcBaRm_kE/s320/IMG_2760.JPG" width="320" /></a>After sitting at the café for a while and people watching, we went out by the harbor and had a picnic. I ate some fruit I'd brought and they ate their sandwiches. While we were eating, my dad asked me, "Is that the Pokemon theme song?" I paused to listen, and sure enough it was. There was a group of musicians performing not too far from where we were and the song they started was the Pokemon theme song. It cracked me up and so I went to investigate. It was this group of drunk, French band nerds playing various instruments for a crowd of people. Some were in their underwear. It was the strangest, funniest thing. I watched them for a little bit, until one of them started walking around with a hat heckling for money. I was not feeling like being heckled, so I went back and sat with my parents to enjoy the music from a distance.<br />
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After walking around a bit more, it was getting to be the time to head back to the ship. We caught the bus back to the bus stop that would take us to the other bus stop by the harbor. Yes, complicated, I know. Anyway, once we were out of the city center area, Dad wanted to find a supermarket where he could buy some Nescafe to take on board. I talk more about this in my cruise blog post, but I'll just say that the coffee was nasty on the cruise so Dad wanted to see if Nescafe would help. We found a little hole in the wall store and bought a thing of Nescafe. After that, we caught the bus back to the main harbor area and walked the 2 kilometers or so back to our ship.<br />
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Thus concludes the beginning of the cruise. Next up, Italy!<br />
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wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-38673472176215059422013-04-08T02:13:00.002-07:002013-04-08T02:13:55.509-07:00Parents in PamplonaI had all this plans to keep blogging over the course of my Spring Break. However, I learned that the cruise ship would not have free wifi so I opted out of hauling my laptop over the Mediterranean. Then I was too tired most of the week to mess with blogging from my little iPhone. I am now slowly catching up on my blog posts.<br />
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This first one will be devoted to my parents' arrival in Pamplona. My mom always said that if I went abroad she would come to visit. So when I found out my Spring Break, she started planning a trip to visit. Somehow, she managed to talk my dad into coming as well and for us to take a cruise around the Mediterranean. Good job, Mom! It was a fantastic week and so fun to see my parents again.<br />
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One of the ways my mom got my dad to agree to the trip was to make this their 25th wedding anniversary trip--just a year early. Works for me! They flew into Barcelona on a Monday and spent until Wednesday looking around the city on their own. For obvious reasons. My last day of classes was on Wednesday, so they got a train from Barcelona and arrived in Pamplona in the evening. They had wanted to see where I live and meet Carmen.<br />
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I had told Carmen about their coming as soon as I knew about it myself. She was actually really looking forward to it as well. She came to the train station with me to pick them up and then went with us to the hotel. The next day, she helped me show the parents around the city and then made all of us a huge lunch. More on that later.<br />
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While we were at the train station, I told Carmen to look for a red head and that would probably be my mom. She got a laugh out of that. After we met up with my parents, I had to try my hand at being a translator. The hardest part was that all of them would talk to me at once so it was hard to keep things organized and know who to talk to. It was a fun challenge.<br />
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In the taxi, Carmen told me to put my seatbelt on, which my mom loved. My mom was so glad to have met Carmen and they seemed like they got along really well. They were able to communicate even with the language barrier. I think Carmen understands a little English and my mom knows the Spanish that rubs off on you from living in America.<br />
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After the hotel, I took my parents to the old part of the city to get some pintxos and look around. If you've heard of tapas, pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) are the Basque version. Very tasty. We went to the little bar that has the best tortillas in Pamplona, or so I've been told, and they were excellent. Then I took them to the Casco Viejo for some more typical pintxos. The problem was that it was raining, of course, and we only had my umbrella so we cut the trip short. They were tired because of jet lag anyway.<br />
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The next day, we met up in a little café that we had found the night before that was close to their hotel. I took them to my university to show them around and then we got their luggage to take back to where I live. We dropped off the bags and picked up Carmen to go to the old part. We walked around some of the prettiest and historical parts of Pamplona. There are several fort-like parts of Pamplona that still remain. Pamplona is close to France so it has seen several French-Spanish battles.<br />
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About 12 or so, Carmen left us to go to the house to prepare lunch. We had a couple more pintxos and café con leche at a bar she recommended as a snack because lunch wasn't until 3. They were all very delicious. After that, we walked around some more. I took them through a few of the shopping areas and by a few cathedrals. We looked at a pretty museum building as well. Then it was getting to be the time to head back, so we headed to the Cuidadela, which is the historical citadel located between the old city and where I live. What was funny is that, a week later in Barcelona, we saw one that was like a giant version of the one in Pamplona. It's cool to see the similarities in architecture.<br />
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Lunch was a big ordeal. Normally, Carmen will give me a soup or salad and then a main dish and fruit or yogurt for dessert. She pulled out all the stops for this lunch. She served a potato salad, soup, stuffed peppers, bread, and torijas for dessert. I might be forgetting something as well. It was so much food. She also served wine with lunch and a delicious dessert wine after lunch. THEN she made us all café con leche. She also pulled out special tableware that I didn't know she had. All in all, it was very nice.<br />
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After lunch, she called us a taxi to take us to the train station. We took a train from Pamplona to Barcelona. We would be catching our cruise the following evening.<br />
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To be continued... ;)wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-65672768354291148072013-04-05T15:44:00.004-07:002013-04-05T15:44:41.133-07:00El Camino in CantabriaYes, my title is in Spanglish. In my defense, so are many things in Spain thanks to globalization.<br />
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This past weekend, I went with a couple girls from my classes to the northern coast of Spain in the region of Cantabria. This trip was quite different than the others I've been on for several reasons. One, we rented a car instead of public transportation. Two, we didn't step inside a city once after leaving Pamplona. Three, well, I think you can just see from reading the rest of the post.<br />
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Upon reflection, I really didn't know what I was getting myself into when I agreed to go on the trip. When they first told me about it, they said we were going to Santander, which is a city, and going to a cathedral. Well, we did go to a church and we were close to Santander. In reality, we went to several different pueblitos (villages) and didn't go to Santander at all. Which turned out just fine.<br />
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To begin, I'll tell you a little bit about who I went with. I traveled with three other girls--all American. Two of them, Claire and Mary Ellen, are in my Spanish classes and are just here either for the year or the semester. The other girl, Libby, is a full-time masters student here and permanently lives here. I met Libby at an event called "Theology on Tap" which is a semi-regular meeting to talk with priests about various theological issues. It was kind of funny, because none of us are the same age (28, 26, 23, and 20) yet we had a ton of fun. I'm getting into the years where I have friends who are of varying ages than me.<br />
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Before starting the trip, Libby sent out an outline of the plan. You see, the other three had kind of planned the trip and I was invited at the last minute. I was just along for the ride. We were going to do a part of the Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James) and then go see this church that's pretty famous in the Catholic world. Libby had done the Camino de Santiago a few years ago and so she took us to her favorite part.<br />
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Santiago, or James, is credited with Christianizing the Iberian Peninsula. His Camino (walk) is something pilgrims (peregrinos) have done for centuries. They traditionally began from their houses and walked the hundreds of kilometers it takes to get to Santiago, which is in the Northwest of Spain. Now there are numerous routes you can take. The most common is the Camino Frances, which begins in France and goes to Santiago. We did a part of the Camino del Norte which is the route that goes along the northern coast of Spain.<br />
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We all met up in Mary Ellen's apartment Saturday morning to head out. Her apartment is conveniently located right next a car rental place so all we had to do was get in the car that they had parked outside of her apartment. It was this rather small VW, but we all fit in there comfortably. The standard car in Spain is manual/stick-shift. Luckily, Claire knew how to drive a stick so we were good on that account.<br />
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The fun thing about a car is that you have so much more freedom. We were able to listen to whatever music we wanted, stop when we wanted, and have our own schedule. Mary Ellen and Claire burned us a couple CD's to listen to, which was fun. If we hadn't had a car, we wouldn't have been able to randomly stop and watch a calf being born (more on that later).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8mtn830tUCzb48FEEmu4Njd0P-lK2oonI_31A9PyO-aa2_DLGNQdHKSgLpxkplzxz9VLyzqs3PqbwwtayC7DYdH6xpUUaZFk509acBVwVcwdZp2JjvVuqiwq5SA14blUYNjqou46GA8/s1600/IMG_2627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8mtn830tUCzb48FEEmu4Njd0P-lK2oonI_31A9PyO-aa2_DLGNQdHKSgLpxkplzxz9VLyzqs3PqbwwtayC7DYdH6xpUUaZFk509acBVwVcwdZp2JjvVuqiwq5SA14blUYNjqou46GA8/s320/IMG_2627.JPG" width="320" /></a>The other three girls are good Catholics and once we were on the "autovia" or interstate, they did a rosary meditation. I had never seen that before and it taught me more about the Catholic faith. I now know how the "Hail Mary"s work and just more about the structure. It's been fascinating. The closest thing I know to compare the rosary meditation is to that scene in Gone With The Wind where the O'Haras are praying and Scarlett has that epiphany about Ashley. Which isn't probably the best comparison. <br />
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When arrived in Cantabria, we stopped in a little town called Galizano. We went to a little church/cathedral and looked around. The girls sang a few Catholic hymns and we did a praise song that I would know.<br />
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After that, we went to a cafe, got some coffee, regrouped, and then went to the car to get our stuff. Then we set off. We followed the Camino to the coastline and saw some of the most gorgeous scenery I've seen in my life. I think Cantabria is one of my new favorite places.<br />
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We spent most of the day by the ocean. We found a nice place on the rocks to eat our lunch. Then we climbed up this steepish cliff to get back out--there was really thick grass to hold onto so the climb wasn't hard--and then walked around some more.<br />
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We reached another part with a glorious view and stayed there to relax for a bit. I had brought my Kindle so I read a little bit (I was working on reading The Host in Spanish because of the movie). After a while, it was starting to be the time to head over to the albergue where we would be staying. So we walked back to Galizano, got in the car and drove to the little pueblito a couple kilometers over. The reason we didn't walk is because the only way to get there is to walk along a narrow, mountainous highway and we didn't want to do that.<br />
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Once we arrived in Guemes, the other publeo, we parked the car behind another church and then walked over to the albergue. Libby thought it wouldn't look great if we pulled up in a car to an albergue specifically for peregrinos. This was an albergue donativo, meaning that if we showed our peregrino credentials we could stay there for free/by donation.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL87Lx4lrO8boVebJiDOj3jeREFjgqMlY86lVtKAolSxG69LGdOvZvJFisun0sNu_0Jk5NrD79ZNZE0nw18h5eHOK8pLSI2fNjougHKo9unF9uSk2tdtb4GaExO0B-t9GMYhjk-XZbWfk/s1600/IMG_2667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL87Lx4lrO8boVebJiDOj3jeREFjgqMlY86lVtKAolSxG69LGdOvZvJFisun0sNu_0Jk5NrD79ZNZE0nw18h5eHOK8pLSI2fNjougHKo9unF9uSk2tdtb4GaExO0B-t9GMYhjk-XZbWfk/s320/IMG_2667.jpg" width="240" /></a>The albergue was surprisingly nice and all the workers were extremely friendly. Once more people arrived, we were given a tour by the priest who runs it and he told us the history behind the place. Then we had a very nice, Spanish dinner. It was a great experience and we met really interesting people.<br />
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On Sunday, we left the albergue to head to Garabandel, the church that the other girls wanted to go to in the first place. It's a big Catholic attraction because there have been "holy apparitions," or visions there. The town of Garabandel was so quaint and adorable. It kind of reminded me of the "little town" from Beauty and the Beast that Belle lives in at the beginning of the movie. Except people say "Hola!" instead of "Bonjour!" We went to a Palm Sunday service there. My only problem with it was that it was absolutely freezing the whole service. You know something isn't quite right when you can see your breath inside a building.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpLSgQhJ2m77y9teY2zDzyBmuZWfZTYbP9hl6cJyEhBJmI-JHDlT_LMookl_Y6hHGdIusrcJXDMMNpAIog-flzhBdbOpJCAAAA-fvEgEwXHjg4TeLx2p8EnqTU9zG1ktrsxb1l2Hr5cU/s1600/IMG_2684.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifpLSgQhJ2m77y9teY2zDzyBmuZWfZTYbP9hl6cJyEhBJmI-JHDlT_LMookl_Y6hHGdIusrcJXDMMNpAIog-flzhBdbOpJCAAAA-fvEgEwXHjg4TeLx2p8EnqTU9zG1ktrsxb1l2Hr5cU/s320/IMG_2684.JPG" width="320" /></a>On a side note, on our way to Garabandel, Claire spotted what looked like a cow giving birth. She pulled over the car and went over to check it out. Mary Ellen and I stayed on the other side of the road and watched Claire trying to get pictures with her iPad and Libby watching a little ways away. When the ranchers got the cow inside, we decided we better head back, but then one of the ranchers stuck his head out and hollered at us to see if we wanted to come watch. So we ran over there and watched that cow birth a calf. I can't say that I'd seen that before. It was kind of scary to watch because the baby was born in the wrong direction (feet first), so they had to pull the calf out.<br />
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Anyway, after the service, we talked with some Spanish people that were there and we ended up going to lunch with them. That was a lot of fun. I always love meeting Spanish people and getting to speak Spanish. After all, that's a reason why I came to Spain!<br />
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Around 4-ish, it was time for us to go. Yes, that was when we finished lunch, the Spain schedule after all. It ended up being a 6 hour car ride back to Pamplona, so it was good we left when we did.<br />
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All in all, it was a great last-minute weekend trip!<br />
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wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-84153718465696233632013-03-20T09:03:00.001-07:002013-03-20T09:03:30.630-07:00Barcelona and BeiberHello readers! This weekend I went to Barcelona for a Justin Beiber concert. Now, those of you who know me well probably know that I'm not really a fan of Beiber. So why would I go to a Justin Beiber concert? Well, a girl from a few of my classes (Nicole) had an extra ticket and invited me to go. Since it's Barcelona, how could I refuse? It was a great excuse to go.<br />
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My trip to Barcelona began as most of my trips have begun (I'm developing a pattern apparently). I left class, ate lunch, grabbed my stuff and the food Carmen packed, and headed off to the bus station.<br />
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On my way to the bus station, I saw this bus playing music drive by. Then another followed by a crowd of running/biking and chanting Basque people. I recognized the design on the buses from a banner that I'd seen hung around Pamplona which help me know they were Basque. It was really interesting because there some people running while pushing strollers. Them Basques are fit! <br />
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I met up with Nicole in the bus station and we then waited for our bus. The trip was largely uneventful. It was about a 6 hour ride with a 15 minute stop halfway. I was able to finish the book I was reading and start reading the Host in Spanish. I couldn't justify rereading it again without reading it in Spanish and I want to reread it because the movie is coming out. Nicole and I also had plenty of time to chat and get to know each other better.<br />
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We arrived in Barcelona at about 11pm and took the metro to our hostel. Barcelona has this nice system of a 10-trip metro card (that's shareable incidentally) instead of only having the option of buying per day (as it is in Paris). We got off the metro and found the hostel without too much difficulty. I had learned my lesson from Portugal and was careful to know exactly how to get there. I bookmarked the map on my phone and we used it to get us there. <br />
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Now, I made the mistake of leaving my passport at home. This was intentional because I figured I wouldn't need it since we'd still be in Spain. I have a fear of losing my passport and not being able to go home/get my identity stolen. Maybe someone told me this, but I really don't remember if they did, but I should have made copies of my passport and taken it with me. The receptionist said I should at least take copies of my passport if I'm traveling within the country and don't want to bring my passport. Good idea. It'll be good to have the copies if I ever lose my passport as well. Luckily, she let me stay anyway and I emailed Carmen for the info. She scanned it for me the next day and it was all fine. You live and learn.<br />
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We got up early the next morning so we could have a full day seeing the city. We took the metro to the city center. The stop where we got off is called Diagonal, which fueled my inner Harry Potter nerd. I went Diagonally! Anyway, right as we emerged on the street, I saw a Starbucks and had to make a stop. I really miss having large to-go mugs, so I always take advantage of a Starbucks when I can. Plus I hadn't had my morning coffee and my throat was hurting.<br />
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After I had my Starbucks fix, we starting walking around. I had brought my Rick Steves' Spain book with me and there were several self-guided walking tours in the book. We followed the tours the best we could through, the Gaudi apartments, Las Ramblas, the waterfront, and the old part of the city.<br />
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To the left you see (I feel like a tour guide) an example of a Gaudi apartment. Gaudi was a talented architect and you see his stuff all over Barcelona.<br />
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The Rick Steves' self-guided tours were very informative. For instance, in the cathedral in the picture to the left, the charcoal marks you see are from when revolutionaries burned the furniture in the cathedral in protest to the cathedral's support of the dictator Franco. This is the cathedral, Santa Maria del mar, or Saint Mary of the sea. Sailors used to come in and leave replicas of their ships at the feet of the statue of Mary for luck. Very interesting.<br />
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Nicole and I spent the morning talking only in Spanish, but then we felt awkward because Barcelona is in Cataluña and they're a little anti-Spain right now. If you haven't heard, Cataluña is trying to secede from the the union so to speak and become their own country. Catalans speak their own language and have a distinct culture. In fact, I felt like I was in a foreign country because all the signs were in Catalan. The impression we got is that it's better to just speak English in Barcelona.<br />
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Since we were on a budget, unfortunately we didn't go into any museums or anything, but since I'm going back with my parents for a day we can hit the things that I want to see. It was very nice walking around the city and seeing the sites that Rick Steves recommended. We visited several cathedrals, nice parks, and other interesting sites. On of which was La Boqueria which is a giant market and I bought a yummy fruit drink/smoothie thing that the receptionist at the hostel said is something you have to try. It was quite good!<br />
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For lunch, I got a kebab and Nicole got some pizza and then we sat back the waterfront and had a nice picnic. It was extremely windy, but it was also very relaxing. Then we slowly started making our way back to the hostel for the concert.<br />
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As we headed back to the hostel, we saw a group of people doing a video of the Harlem Shake on the metro. The Harlem Shake has gotten a bit old, but it was still cool to see someone making a video of it.<br />
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When we got back to the hostel, we switched around our stuff and got what we needed for the concert. Then we were off!<br />
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Once we got to the concert, we saw an enormous line of people already there. I used my height advantage and saw a T-shirt vendor so Nicole could buy her T-shirt. Then we got up towards the front and waited for the doors to open. They were supposed to open at 5:30, but they didn't open until 6:30, when the concert had pretty much started. Nicole and I were lucky that we were able to get in and see the first performer, Cody Simpson. A lot of people didn't get in until Justin Beiber, which is lame because they missed Cody Simpson and Carly Rae Jepsen. I would not have been happy if I had missed her. Bad organizing, Barcelona.<br />
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It was funny to hear the Spanish girls cheering. They pronounced Justin Beiber differently. Like Ya-stine Beeeber. At first we didn't know what they were saying. Moreover, just the way they said cheers were different. We did do the wave though! That was cool.<br />
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When Nicole and I got into the pavilion, we didn't actually sit in our seats. We found a spot near the stage by the railings and watched Cody from there. After he was done performing, we had to move on. I left Nicole to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle. When I went back into the hall, I went to where we had been standing before to see if Nicole was still there. Instead of Nicole, there was this large crowd of Spanish girls asking this guy for an autograph. I didn't recognize him at all, so I assume I was a Spanish star or soccer player or something. I stood there trying to figure out who he was but then the people he was with took him somewhere more obscure and then I went back to our seats to find Nicole.<br />
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We ended up watching Carly Rae Jespen in the front row of the section where our seats were, but not our seats. She sang "Call Me Maybe" and "Good Time" with Cody Simpson, which made me very happy. Those are the only two songs I know by her. She was so cute on stage, very bubbly and excited to be there. She did a great job.<br />
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After Carly Rae Jespen was done performing, the people whose seats we were in showed up and so we went back to ours. However, there were people in ours so we went back to the area where we were when Cody Simpson performed and sat in some seats there. Then we found some seats in the bottom section right near the stage from the side. We stayed there the whole night and were really close. It was awesome.<br />
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Honestly, I couldn't hear Justin Beiber singing very well over the crowd of Spanish girls cheering and singing and he just wasn't singing all that clearly. However, it was a great show. He danced with his dancers and the dancers were really good as well. Each song had a theme. He even did songs where he played the guitar, drums, and piano each. All in all, it was a great show.<br />
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When the concert was over, we headed back to the hostel. The bus ride back was absolutely packed, but one of the girls was playing Beiber music on her iPad and a lot of people were singing along. It was kind of cool.<br />
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When we got back, we pretty much went straight to bed. One of the annoying things about this particular hostel was that you had to pay deposits for pretty much everything you wanted to use. We had to pay a deposit for the room key and another for a towel. Therefore we only got one room key and had to pay if you wanted a towel. We got the money back when we checked out, but it's so you don't steal them. I also bought a lock for the locker in our hostel. Anyway, we shared the key which was kind of a pain but we didn't want to get another one.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwZoEWN94oy_Tg8oYc3tEpD01LouBCEuPac7TeAXcLxRhVTJnKhTJZ9ktdLSY56S-bVPeuGCuhW1ZLVAvS61Zq8KVKqXOgEZmiJFUN1On7TILFrpzpcRAul3XZvLzG9mXiw4CwyJhAFc/s1600/IMG_2576.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwZoEWN94oy_Tg8oYc3tEpD01LouBCEuPac7TeAXcLxRhVTJnKhTJZ9ktdLSY56S-bVPeuGCuhW1ZLVAvS61Zq8KVKqXOgEZmiJFUN1On7TILFrpzpcRAul3XZvLzG9mXiw4CwyJhAFc/s320/IMG_2576.JPG" width="320" /></a>On Sunday, we were planning on going to La Sagrada Familia for mass, but you had to pay to enter and wait in a long line so we went somewhere else (see picture to the right). La Sagrada Familia is a Gaudi cathedral that is still not completed so they overcharge for everything to get the building done. However, it is gorgeous, even from the outside.<br />
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After the mass, we went to La Sagrada Familia to look at it. I wanted to go in, but there was a huge line, so I'm thinking I'll go with my parents. Maybe we'll buy advance tickets online.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRub2T0ZhJA4TOCmdh0ygT3FXXeWKjz5vvX1EpgvleeXqALnmC1XeBXNeZxYEJM2CS5JVzotU9BN2E8XzI5yEqftCyrh0gxxtkt2NjxsAJhyphenhyphenD37TEcASBo3nL6iYGd9qqYZLvVFp5chQ/s1600/IMG_2595.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvRub2T0ZhJA4TOCmdh0ygT3FXXeWKjz5vvX1EpgvleeXqALnmC1XeBXNeZxYEJM2CS5JVzotU9BN2E8XzI5yEqftCyrh0gxxtkt2NjxsAJhyphenhyphenD37TEcASBo3nL6iYGd9qqYZLvVFp5chQ/s320/IMG_2595.JPG" width="320" /></a>I checked my Rick Steves book for more things to do and I saw that it's really easy to hop on a bus and get to this really pretty park (Montjuic) that has an art museum. We saw that we had 25 minutes until the bus came, so Nicole went to Subway to get lunch and I got a tea from Starbucks. That took a while and we finished just in time to run and catch the bus.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjva1npuK1ZYWbJNk5tJZ18uyYidEAgGTHcOh_Sybuxo64ZQiSp3fxhYQA21M_B__36J20vS4j2RjEfsuKq9kgkoGS14NLzGKcxfw-snOmPiiBYNofiefPct-oIrhtPz3coEs3-0xtCxNc/s1600/IMG_2596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjva1npuK1ZYWbJNk5tJZ18uyYidEAgGTHcOh_Sybuxo64ZQiSp3fxhYQA21M_B__36J20vS4j2RjEfsuKq9kgkoGS14NLzGKcxfw-snOmPiiBYNofiefPct-oIrhtPz3coEs3-0xtCxNc/s320/IMG_2596.jpg" width="240" /></a>The book didn't explicitly say what stop to get off at so we just kind of watched for landmarks nearby. I saw in my book that it was near Plaza de Espanya so we got off there. Well, the plaza was packed with people. Turns out we had stumbled upon some kind of run that ended in the park we wanted to go to. We worked our way through the crowd and climbed up to where the museum was. It's actually a castle that has been turned into an art museum.<br />
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We were up high enough that we had a beautiful skyline view of the city. It was there that I realized that it was Saint Patrick's Day--I saw a girl wearing shamrocks and otherwise dressed spiritedly. Saint Patrick isn't a saint that is widely celebrated in Spain. Only in places that have been Americanized/Irishized.<br />
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By the time we made it to the top, it was kind of time for us to head back to catch our bus to Pamplona. Got to the bus station area early enough for me to get lunch and Nicole to eat her subway. After that, we headed back to Pamplona. I read more of the Host and worked on homework for my literature class.<br />
Now I'm back in Pamplona! I'm looking at taking a quick trip with some friends to Santander this weekend. Santander is a coastal city northwest from Pamplona. We're going to rent a car and do a little of the Camino de Santiago. Tell you more about it when I'm done!<br />
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<br />wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-18669094491297190992013-03-18T02:56:00.002-07:002013-03-18T02:56:34.487-07:00The ordeal of printing somethingPeople ask me what I miss from the States or cultural differences. Well, one thing I miss is the free and easy printing back at Presbyterian College. <div>
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I think I took printing for granted at PC. You can just go on one of the many computers in the library and print like you're at your house. I remember that we all started complaining when we had to enter our usernames to print. Well, at least you don't have to pay and go through the complicated process here.</div>
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Today, I have an assignment due for class. It's not necessary to print it, but I typed it all and wanted to print it. The problem is that, to print, you need to have a card for the printers. However, for my trip to Barcelona, I emptied my wallet of random cards that I wouldn't need to in Barcelona. Naturally, that included my printer card. In my rush to get out of the house this morning, I forgot to restock my wallet. </div>
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I have spent the last hour trying to print one assignment for my class. There's a box by the printer that looks like you'd be able to put in some coins and print. Well there are only two options on that box: buy a card or recharge your card. It costs 2.50 euros to buy a card, which I didn't want to do because I have one already.</div>
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I tried to go to my professor's office to print the assignment, but he wasn't there. I was at a loss for what to do. Then I remember that there is a copy room downstairs. I went down there and asked if I could print. My Word document was on Dropbox and, guess what, they don't have Internet down there. So I had to go e-mail it to them and then get it printed. So complicated!</div>
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I write this to my friends back at PC. We have got it made with our printing system. </div>
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Just thought I'd share. Over and out! </div>
wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-89436919708500115172013-03-13T03:40:00.001-07:002013-03-13T14:15:48.324-07:00A Navarran Day Trip! I think I made up the word Navarran, but I like the way it sounds. Anyhoo, this Sunday, some students who are on the international committee decided to organize a day trip to a few locations in Navarra. We went to the Irache Monastery, Larraizar Winery, and Las Bardenas Reales.<br />
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I actually didn't know about the trip until my French friend, Clara, told me about it after Spanish class. I get about 10-15 event invitations every week on Facebook, so I've gotten to the point where I don't read them anymore. They're usually either from PC (my college back home and naturally I can't go to those) or party invitations, which happen practically every day so the novelty has worn off.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8woLU1b0xI3lzktY-5-dcWou7f9iMKXz1MSQ8SHpZulWBd-e2asZ3kuJSdR2l7qWi1W-g7LzIvsqgOUJYUGKkbJ16qrl267X-qIM30VmH4aaD1T6a0PetcfiYfPAsq4KYWCYPQmyok4/s1600/IMG_2297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ8woLU1b0xI3lzktY-5-dcWou7f9iMKXz1MSQ8SHpZulWBd-e2asZ3kuJSdR2l7qWi1W-g7LzIvsqgOUJYUGKkbJ16qrl267X-qIM30VmH4aaD1T6a0PetcfiYfPAsq4KYWCYPQmyok4/s320/IMG_2297.JPG" width="320" /></a>When I got home after Spanish class, I checked the event and saw that I still had time to sign up. It cost 25 euros, but that included absolutely everything--the food, the wine, and all the transportation. All of which get really pricey really fast here. It was an excellent deal.<br />
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We met up Sunday morning at 10:00 in front of the Edifico Central (the campus' main building) and headed out. It's always funny to me that Europeans think 10:00 is really early. For us, 10:00 is an excellent time. 6:00 is really early. Everything on the Portugal trip started at 9:00, which was fairly normal, certainly not ridiculously early. It's just funny.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNVEJocdYGvYL6Xmq6rlz1CgDFeM1recMqnErCGlFBXMt4xh2qsfzHOYJVlJzHsVKASmOcptnRenlQ9yRf2ul4yJ1gz71LN5Al2YKRXQBbfIpRppNQ36GOKkhu0e7Yi8zdb2EPfvpuTI/s1600/IMG_2268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiNVEJocdYGvYL6Xmq6rlz1CgDFeM1recMqnErCGlFBXMt4xh2qsfzHOYJVlJzHsVKASmOcptnRenlQ9yRf2ul4yJ1gz71LN5Al2YKRXQBbfIpRppNQ36GOKkhu0e7Yi8zdb2EPfvpuTI/s320/IMG_2268.JPG" width="320" /></a>First stop was the monastery, which was about a 45 minute ride. The monastery dates back to the 8th century. I wish we had been able to have a tour guide or someone who knew a lot about the monastery. As such, we basically just walked through it and took pictures in the courtyard. We couldn't spend a lot of time inside as a mass was going on. If it had just been me, I'd have stayed for the mass, but since it was a huge group we moved on. We then walked around the monastery and got a nice mountainside view of the pueblo (village) in which the monastery is located.<br />
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After we had taken our fill of pictures, we walked back to the bus and they distributed our bagged lunch to eat at our leisure. It consisted of two bocadillos (sandwiches), an apple, a can of Pepsi, and candy. I kind of munched on the food throughout the day. When we all had our food, the students led us down the hill a little bit to a wine and water pump--no joke. There weren't any cups so those of us who had water bottles filled their bottles with wine. I tried someone else's before filling mine and it was too strong for me, so I just refilled my bottle with water.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmps6okMl2NnHCzRD5eznJqBGvD9CJmRkfbKlRpQBJ9xnhAFhlSU1u8eDlU7kdpL7rx1KxYbvzT0M4jXGGKyWhM_18ynoQyx5yXkgPF1Mq4_TxSqA52MU4S03A5Orl8IhJJ3ycIF1-fa8/s1600/IMG_2300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmps6okMl2NnHCzRD5eznJqBGvD9CJmRkfbKlRpQBJ9xnhAFhlSU1u8eDlU7kdpL7rx1KxYbvzT0M4jXGGKyWhM_18ynoQyx5yXkgPF1Mq4_TxSqA52MU4S03A5Orl8IhJJ3ycIF1-fa8/s320/IMG_2300.jpg" width="240" /></a>A little while later, we hopped back on the bus and continued on to the winery. There the women working there led us on a tour through the winery. We watched a video from the owners explaining a little about the monastery. It was in Spanish, but I understood a lot of it. The woman giving the tour gave the tour in English. I wish she had done it in Spanish, but I think a lot of people in the group don't study Spanish here so they wouldn't have been able to understand.<br />
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Side note--it truly fascinates me that English is the unifying language for everyone. I have a group of friends who come from all over Europe, with their native language certainly not being English, but they talk with each other in English. They learn English in school and therefore know it very well. All of the international events are conducted in English, so hopefully you can speak English! I suppose they think it's more likely that most of the people will speak English than Spanish, or at least be able to speak both. A lot of the exchange students here are studying business or communications and their classes are in English. They don't even really need to speak Spanish besides the basics. That was like me when my family lived in Germany. I went to an American Department of Defense School where all my classes were in English. I took a German class like we take back home, but I only learned a little German.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivmB-RqZSRwNDZ-rMEdXRFCPPEpLPOCX_rX9YlnPaYfNrn46E7iNBtsMAxo7XqMFAZJXA2al02KauON4Jv0ePsVkCiZxFmVpQcoNBp7cTsuvLADXQcwb-n1K22s_UqQLB7YpOa9v8ta08/s1600/IMG_2305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivmB-RqZSRwNDZ-rMEdXRFCPPEpLPOCX_rX9YlnPaYfNrn46E7iNBtsMAxo7XqMFAZJXA2al02KauON4Jv0ePsVkCiZxFmVpQcoNBp7cTsuvLADXQcwb-n1K22s_UqQLB7YpOa9v8ta08/s320/IMG_2305.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
To go back to the trip, after the video the woman took us out to the vineyards and explained the growing and harvesting process. The first vineyard section we saw was the experimental part, where they try out new growing techniques. Then we went through a gate and into the bigger part of the vineyard. I wish it had been growing season! I could imagine how gorgeous it will be when the leaves are green and the grapes are growing. As such, we still had a beautiful view of the pueblo and other mountains.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjHeqpMwkXUkT-ToJPDAENtxysxCeufJhZt-k8WbGHaTO59NwwuIDMNVbgmpJlDBFVhNzSkSUlzhwUhNNKiLM1pjwqtQ1UzvFD2RtHqFD_3Dpv6s7bqwMrBcqMd19lzbvUwBqBFTcuQA/s1600/IMG_2323.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTjHeqpMwkXUkT-ToJPDAENtxysxCeufJhZt-k8WbGHaTO59NwwuIDMNVbgmpJlDBFVhNzSkSUlzhwUhNNKiLM1pjwqtQ1UzvFD2RtHqFD_3Dpv6s7bqwMrBcqMd19lzbvUwBqBFTcuQA/s320/IMG_2323.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
After touring the vineyard, we walk into the back area where they make the wine. She explained the process and then we went to where the wine is stored. My friend Clara told me that the wine on the top is the newest and the oldest is on the bottom where you can try it. Very interesting. After that room, the tour was finished and she took us upstairs for the wine tasting. I was excited, because I've always heard of wine tastings, but I'd never actually done one.<br />
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Before we could try the wine, however, she taught us the "proper" way to hold a wineglass and to taste wine. You have to hold the glass at the stem with your first three fingers and taste the wine by swirling it around in your mouth to get all the flavors. Too elegant for me. We tasted two types of wine that they produce at the winery. They were both really strong for me and I didn't like them too much. But the cheese and bread they served with the wine was excellent! I'm a fan of cheese.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcM7GOItPo4XAvzNEXvK1mTetBmflnEvJJec5omXekXVbMKhr22olIC-UdW0_DUtbatj-QC36ZlpkVcWkm5dZKQDxtia8-KhJSq1gkYzcFbkKT5G3R62-9zeLyLU_VhuUmT4p_8RV-RA/s1600/IMG_2387.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtcM7GOItPo4XAvzNEXvK1mTetBmflnEvJJec5omXekXVbMKhr22olIC-UdW0_DUtbatj-QC36ZlpkVcWkm5dZKQDxtia8-KhJSq1gkYzcFbkKT5G3R62-9zeLyLU_VhuUmT4p_8RV-RA/s320/IMG_2387.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once we finished the wine tasting, we got back on the bus to head to Las Bardenas Reales. The Bardenas Reales is a desert in the south of Navarra. One of the James Bond movies was filmed there. I don't know which one because I've never seen a James Bond movie, but fun fact!<br />
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Anyway, It was about an hour long bus ride from the winery and an hour and a half or so to get back. I took a nap on the bus. I've found that wine makes me really sleepy. I had that problem in Portugal when the Fado singers were performing, I struggled to keep my eyes open! I blame the wine. And the exhaustion from sleeping on a train the night before and touring a city all day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDUVORz6Cvf_PTyY5AWZfr7_ulDziXqIBC4BrFb9x7yvpgv6oBlF7IFxWQKDOkIvIMJejCyBhs_oxpaG8AB78M_m2eFi40Gm4slfgxMzm08VY3zQ0F0_Ap_eREnnoi9Y_QKCcduPWSIY/s1600/IMG_2357.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhDUVORz6Cvf_PTyY5AWZfr7_ulDziXqIBC4BrFb9x7yvpgv6oBlF7IFxWQKDOkIvIMJejCyBhs_oxpaG8AB78M_m2eFi40Gm4slfgxMzm08VY3zQ0F0_Ap_eREnnoi9Y_QKCcduPWSIY/s320/IMG_2357.jpg" width="240" /></a>The Bardenas Reales was my favorite part of the trip. I've never seen anything quite like it in real life. I imagine that's kind of what the West looks like with the Grand Canyon and deserty areas. It was absolutely gorgeous. We went to two different sites. Basically all we did was walk around, explore, and take pictures, but it was glorious. Clara and I both agreed that it would be great to spend a whole day there and have a picnic.<br />
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The first sight we went to is hard to explain, but I have a picture so hopefully you'll understand. The only picture I've included from the first sight is the one that kind of looks like a desert statue or something. See all the sand dunes? Clara and I walked around those and explored a little (on the right of the picture). Then we rejoined the rest of the group who were in the left area and took more pictures.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fP_bPsd3hxcSME1oooyC-PU02UdecSHnkOuPt6bjv1Q8CO96vjHgJtOdUYdeQb3w2JRRd6Txv84w0dRMsA6CeZWEMVKcQPcEwwNO9ly6LBC4E3Ge15-dkNzPrYFiAVwCH-I-QkKdfSM/s1600/IMG_2396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fP_bPsd3hxcSME1oooyC-PU02UdecSHnkOuPt6bjv1Q8CO96vjHgJtOdUYdeQb3w2JRRd6Txv84w0dRMsA6CeZWEMVKcQPcEwwNO9ly6LBC4E3Ge15-dkNzPrYFiAVwCH-I-QkKdfSM/s320/IMG_2396.jpg" width="240" /></a>After that, we climbed back on the bus which took us to our second location. It consisted of the part in the picture above and the mountain below. The group was kind of free to do whatever, but a lot of us climbed the mountain first. There was a staircase, which made it pretty easy to climb. The only problems with the staircase was that a few of the steps had fallen off so you had to navigate around that. I guess when it rains, the steps get loose in the mud. Eek! Glad it was dry that day. It's funny how Europe is just like, if you're too stupid not to be careful, then don't climb the mountain.<br />
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The view was absolutely spectacular. You could see for miles. I kind of felt like Simba sitting with Mufasa in <i>The Lion King</i>, because there were large shady parts covering the land. "You must never go there, Simba." I don't think Spain has elephant graveyards though, wrong continent.<br />
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After the mountain, we climbed down and climbed onto the structure/mountain/thing in the first picture I have up there. Again, awesome view.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXNjCdxdhZhhCpWTn6KvoYL61heKA2HMrxQ3l9ERDe_DUv7IKnW4nGmJgW3Dqfau1SMSSDN6_d7EObBPL5zhwL8HXp2OhFk5iVyOhYunYvIrXw5PvD2z-Wd_PNb40t1N2F_wuIHqQqIQ/s1600/45391_10200824667128134_244301358_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOXNjCdxdhZhhCpWTn6KvoYL61heKA2HMrxQ3l9ERDe_DUv7IKnW4nGmJgW3Dqfau1SMSSDN6_d7EObBPL5zhwL8HXp2OhFk5iVyOhYunYvIrXw5PvD2z-Wd_PNb40t1N2F_wuIHqQqIQ/s320/45391_10200824667128134_244301358_n.jpg" width="320" /></a>It struck me as odd how different everything looked in the Bardenas. As you can see in the picture of me that Clara took, there are green parts along with the sandy parts. On the bus ride back, I saw a few hills that looked perfect for a golf course. There were also hills of sheep that looked like a scene from Scotland. Some of the landmarks looked like the Outback in Australia and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Truly amazing.<br />
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We left at about 6:00 and rode back to Pamplona. It was a nice full day and a lot of fun. I wouldn't mind going back to the Banderas. It would just be a matter of transportation, which can be tricky.<br />
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I had no idea that Navarra had a desert before coming here. The things you just happen upon.<br />
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That's all for now, folks! Until next time.<br />
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<br />wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-3046154802637051412013-03-11T10:49:00.003-07:002013-03-11T11:58:12.246-07:00Hey, Lisboa! All righty! Here is my overdue blog post about my trip to Lisbon, or Lisboa, as it is in Portuguese (I'll probably switch between both names). Sorry it has taken so long, but I was abnormally exhausted when I got home last Monday and I had an extremely busy week at the university afterwards. I think once I finish the blog, you'll see why I was so tired and why I took Saturday off this past weekend.<br />
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To begin, Pamplona is a great city, but it's not a hub for travelling, so normally I have to catch a bus to another city to travel to where I want to go. This time, I caught a bus to San Sebastian to be able to take a train to Lisbon. <br />
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It was a rush to get out of the door. I was catching an afternoon bus (4:00) to San Sebastian, but my Spanish grammar class doesn't get out until then. So I left class early, at 3:00, in order to get home, grab my stuff, and eat. Of course, on the day that I don't have time to eat slowly, Carmen cooks me something really good. Ah well.<br />
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But speaking of Carmen cooking, she had prepared me a bag of food to get me started on the trip. It consisted of three sandwiches, some fruit, crackers, and a bottle of water. So nice!<br />
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On my way to the bus station, I realized that I had left my phone charger at home. I considered just letting my iPhone die, but then too many people wanted me to check in with them for me to be able to do that, as in my mom and my host mom. Plus, my iPhone is my camera so I wouldn't have been able to take any pictures. <br />
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When I got to San Sebastian, I had a couple hours before I had to catch the train. I found the train station, got my physical tickets (I'd ordered them online), and then went to go find a phone charger. I figured it would be pretty easy to buy one since so many people have iPhones. And it was. I had to try a few shops, but I eventually found one an Apple store. It was really weird that I just stumbled upon one. I'm used to those being really rare and hard to find.<br />
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After that, I returned to the train station. There wasn't any wifi in the actual station, so I had to go to the next one over (for more info, see my post about top secret wifi). When it was time, I got on the train.<br />
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I found my train tickets for a heavily discounted price online via Logitravel.com. I basically got round-trip tickets for less than the price of a one-way ticket. It was awesome. However, as they were so cheap, they were the basic tourist tickets, as in, I sat in a seat the whole way there. And it was a 8-10 hour night train. I got a lot of reading done, at least! Luckily, the guy sitting next to me got off in Salamanca and I was able to stretch out on the seat and sleep the rest of the way.<br />
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The train arrived in Libsoa promptly at 7:15 in the morning. I was supposed to meet my friend Mary Catherine at 8:15 in her hotel. Luckily, it was only a 20 minute or so walk from the train station, so I had time to make a few wrong turns and still get there early. However, I had printed off a map back in Pamplona, so I really didn't have too much trouble finding the place. The cool thing about the iPhone is that the "Maps" app doesn't need wifi to tell you where you are, so I was able to keep my bearings very well.<br />
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As I said, I arrived at the hotel early, so I found an outlet where I could charge my phone and sat there reading until Mary Catherine showed up. She took me up to her room so I could leave my backpack there. They had a great set-up in that hotel. She was sharing the room with 2 other girls, however they had plenty of space. It was sort of 3 room in one, even though there were no doors separating the rooms, the curve of the rooms separated it into 3 distinct parts. There was a bed right as you walked in and then two more the back room area, which looked like your typical hotel.<br />
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After that, I went with Mary Catherine to get some coffee and fruit from their complementary breakfast area. I had eaten my last sandwich for breakfast, but I never say no to coffee or fruit. We saw the professors who were in charge of the group and, to my surprise, one of them was Dr. Campbell, who I had had for a general education history class the semester before. I, of course, knew who the other professor was, Dr. Heiser, but we had never been formally introduced, so I introduced myself and thanked both of them for letting me tag along.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6VYfYEIwu8gLSU_H6yk8JNkAP9mh0zq5f0UepPBzhH4Wqv3V4N_m7gYWAnO0cFmxEXm_yLr1kjvcqqI7BzsTfRXr2ijlFot2vW1LFc-JjhBe-CBHy4GqScDdlVtlzV1Gdww2dYLOK-A/s1600/IMG_2184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6VYfYEIwu8gLSU_H6yk8JNkAP9mh0zq5f0UepPBzhH4Wqv3V4N_m7gYWAnO0cFmxEXm_yLr1kjvcqqI7BzsTfRXr2ijlFot2vW1LFc-JjhBe-CBHy4GqScDdlVtlzV1Gdww2dYLOK-A/s320/IMG_2184.JPG" width="320" /></a>Once I was finished with second breakfast, Mary Catherine and I went down to the lobby to meet up with the rest of the group. I pretty much recognized everybody (PC is a small school, after all), but Mary Catherine was the only one that I was actually friends with before the trip. There was a group of soccer girls on the trip, a few guys, Dr. Heiser's daughter, and one of mine and Mary Catherine's sorority sisters who is a freshman this year.<br />
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The first thing we did was walk to the highest point of Lisboa, which is St. George's Castle or Castelo de S. Jorge. It consisted of a medieval castle/fortress, a little museum, and nice places to look around. I took some really nice pictures up there. It was fun, of course, to explore a castle. It was kind of strange how many cats and peacocks were hanging around the castle. We all got a kick out of the male peacocks showing off for the female ones.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc1dyqOMt_CAIaVGoV9eePWtEu4XQ3TinbKAGu9y3pRuuADNC3Rd0r-ah5Sj5yaQJTJFr-B_gIazCwNvuFYmTd5Eyk5QNdbZ2Ghyphenhypheni38t0-BxeAFFzqgROyNWcZceekXQ88U0yblvFQqwo/s1600/IMG_2185.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc1dyqOMt_CAIaVGoV9eePWtEu4XQ3TinbKAGu9y3pRuuADNC3Rd0r-ah5Sj5yaQJTJFr-B_gIazCwNvuFYmTd5Eyk5QNdbZ2Ghyphenhypheni38t0-BxeAFFzqgROyNWcZceekXQ88U0yblvFQqwo/s320/IMG_2185.JPG" width="320" /></a>Visiting places like the medieval castle, reminds me that I'm in Europe and not America. The first reason is obvious. America is too new to have medieval castles and landmarks. However, the other reason is that America focuses so much more on safety that places in Europe. If you fall and break your neck, well too bad. You should have been more careful. In the US we have such a problem with lawsuits, that the more dangerous parts of the castle would have been blocked off.<br />
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After that, we went to a cathedral with cool cloisters that the other students had learned about in their classes preparing for the trip. A couple of students did a presentation outside of the cathedral, explaining the history behind it. I could tell you some of the history, but I just can not remember the name. Sorry. Anyway, we were also really distracted by a gypsy lady who was walking around behind the two students presenting and begging passersby for money.<br />
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For us to see the cloisters, they made us pay. For some reason, making people pay inside a church for things bugs me. I guess, I'm used to churches asking for donations, but actually making people pay is different. Especially while a mass is going on. I guess cathedrals have morphed from a place solely for worship into a tourist attraction that happens to still have worship services. This one was also selling souvenirs, like the cathedrals in Paris.<br />
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After the castle, we headed down and went to a Fado museum, which is a type of Portugese music. We were going to a Fado dinner that night, so the professors wanted us to learn a little about it beforehand.<br />
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We split up for lunch and had a free afternoon afterwards. I learned that I have a really good sense of direction for places that I've already been to. I was able to find my way back to the shopping center, bank, and hotel. Mary Catherine and Emily, our sorority sister, were with me and I'm pretty sure that thought I was going to get them lost, but I did good. I was real proud.<br />
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We went shopping for a little bit after lunch. Then we went back to the hotel so I could get my backpack and Mary Catherine and I set off to find my hostel. It took us three hours to find it. It was in a really out of the way place and no one knew where it was. We asked for directions like 10 different times, got told different things every time, and eventually tried to find it by taking a taxi. However, the taxi driver didn't know where it was either, so he took us to the right street. Then it took us about 15 more minutes to find it from that street. I was so afraid the hostel would be really sketchy, since no one knew where it was, but it actually was very nice. Just in a really weird place.<br />
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On top of all that, Mary Catherine and I had to navigate through a giant protest several times to get to where we wanted. Spain and Portugal, along with Greece, have the worst economy in Europe right now. There are protests all the time. We definitely had an adventure that afternoon.<br />
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After I got settled into the hostel, we headed back to the hotel to have a quick break before dinner. I noticed that the hostel didn't provide towels and as I hadn't brought one, Mary Catherine and the other girls graciously let me use their shower. As I hadn't showered since the day before (night train, remember?), I was really feeling the shower.<br />
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The professors had invited us to get drinks on the rooftop before heading out to dinner, so once I finished my shower, I met up with the rest of the group. We all tried different drinks and tasted each others. I got some kind of Brazilian mix thing. It was very good, but cinnamony so some people didn't like it. I love cinnamon anything, so I loved it.<br />
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We walked to the Fado place and sat down for dinner. It was probably one of the fanciest dinners that I've ever been to. There were several courses and plenty of wine. Intermittently, a Fado singer would get up and perform for us. They were all really great singers. I really enjoyed how strong their voices were. I was also amazed at how much I could understand. Portugese and Spanish are extremely similar I could understand about 30% of the song.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRP8F0-vWA3rMmeDjXSNqD574fF-HjEe44WkgezOf4Zxn-UEhE1O646hga564Uj6UyucDSPfpRXn1tmErXxWvZtXLf018tgLNaPaTmocGEtgv2p9Onms1RgUES3IhpbLpcvOtsUQtVxg/s1600/IMG_2211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxRP8F0-vWA3rMmeDjXSNqD574fF-HjEe44WkgezOf4Zxn-UEhE1O646hga564Uj6UyucDSPfpRXn1tmErXxWvZtXLf018tgLNaPaTmocGEtgv2p9Onms1RgUES3IhpbLpcvOtsUQtVxg/s320/IMG_2211.JPG" width="320" /></a>The dinner cost more that I want to say, but all in all, the cultural experience was worth it. I will say, however, that travelling with professors is much different than travelling with friends. Professors have much more expensive tastes than students on a budget. The other students on the trip had already paid up front, so it didn't matter in this case.<br />
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Eventually we were too tired to stay any longer, so we headed back for the night. Once we neared where my hostel was, Dr. Campbell sent some other students to walk me back, which was very comforting since the hostel was in an out of the way location. When I got back, I utilized the free wifi of the hostel and then crashed. I talked a little bit with the girl who was sharing my room, but I was too tired to talk for too long. I did learn that she's another American who is studying in Madrid for the semester. She came down to visit Lisboa for a weekend as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuj3lcgzVb8Z62Dewbsz1WMMfaux4SK7HJbuZao0GBC6ZTbY6Htxfw7Up272L4UcpWaWlxlUO5oLrXRxBoBCFcoL9ogMmfMlH1OaqhXLnayFcZuHZA61xsSjcNoGmhYscagkplL1wURH8/s1600/IMG_2244.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuj3lcgzVb8Z62Dewbsz1WMMfaux4SK7HJbuZao0GBC6ZTbY6Htxfw7Up272L4UcpWaWlxlUO5oLrXRxBoBCFcoL9ogMmfMlH1OaqhXLnayFcZuHZA61xsSjcNoGmhYscagkplL1wURH8/s320/IMG_2244.jpg" width="240" /></a>The day started early, and I headed out to meet the rest of the group at the hotel. My hostel provided breakfast, which was nice so I didn't have to worry about that. However, I did make a stop at Starbucks on my way to the hotel. Worth every penny.<br />
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Our first stop on the agenda was Jeronimos Monastery. It's a gorgeous macdaddy monastery designed by a monk ages ago. It was actually supposed to be bigger, but they never completed it fully. I think it was big enough. We spent some time looking around in there.<br />
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Once we finished touring the monastery, we walked through an outdoor market on our way to Belem. I hope that Pamplona gets more outdoor markets when the weather is better. I really love looking around at the goods.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxf990LUD6okuW8m931lLnYdfEzAGMJGVRXe9uTP0dyyKl1CUdpCyrHFl6YeFG5V5ZSewgpXp00O2dVsRh4d580cNbMUeCVDaM9bZw11iKBAsiPBwK5y9znq37D5H3dDbFdWHRkmx9A8s/s1600/IMG_2230.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxf990LUD6okuW8m931lLnYdfEzAGMJGVRXe9uTP0dyyKl1CUdpCyrHFl6YeFG5V5ZSewgpXp00O2dVsRh4d580cNbMUeCVDaM9bZw11iKBAsiPBwK5y9znq37D5H3dDbFdWHRkmx9A8s/s320/IMG_2230.JPG" width="320" /></a>Belem is a part of the city dedicated to the Age of Discovery. Fun fact: Belem is the Portugese word for Bethlehem. There is a landmark that honors the explorers. There is also the Belem Tower which used to serve as a check-in point before ships could enter the city. It was quite lovely. We climbed up the top and had a nice view of the harbor.<br />
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After looking at the harbor, we went by El museo de coches (I think I said that in Spanish and not Portugese... whoops) or the Museum of Cars. Now, we Dr. Campbell said this, I groaned inwardly. I'm not a car person. However, it turned out to be about carriages that famous and royal people had ridden in. They were all ornate and gorgeous. I didn't mind looking at them at all. Glad the museum was not what I expected.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzc4Opat_xP6pUBBUmg9oxC7uNBjD-dTZ6LxCC2Ik65bTILRoXd8hZnxyBAA4DWt6GtjrDf652rhcX6E3xfngfqnpO_P-bgfRfOSg1aKmRDuWLzZ-y6aETbwucgw6s4_J57VMEdxaFWy8/s1600/IMG_2256.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzc4Opat_xP6pUBBUmg9oxC7uNBjD-dTZ6LxCC2Ik65bTILRoXd8hZnxyBAA4DWt6GtjrDf652rhcX6E3xfngfqnpO_P-bgfRfOSg1aKmRDuWLzZ-y6aETbwucgw6s4_J57VMEdxaFWy8/s320/IMG_2256.JPG" width="320" /></a>For lunch, most of us went to this little kebab shop next to the hotel. Since living in Germany, I've had a love for doner kebabs. In my stay here, the kebabs I got in that little shop were the best (I got a falafel kebab for dinner as well).<br />
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After lunch, we had a free afternoon again. A lot of people went to an art museum, but I decided to stay back and study for an exam that I had on Monday. I found a little outdoor cafe and sat watching the city. It got to be really annoying, however, because people would shamelessly come up to the tables and ask for money. It really bugged me, because I was trying to study and they made me feel bad. <br />
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Once everyone got back, we all took naps. I had to take a quick one because I had to catch my train. I took a 30 minute nap and then took another shower. I said goodbye to Mary Catherine and headed to the station. I had a little freakout at the station, because I thought I had the wrong train, but it's because the signs are really confusing for trains and only say the final destination, not the other ones. So it was fine. I got on my train with no problem.<br />
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I decided that for the ride back, I would try to upgrade my ticket to get a bed. So once the conductor asked me for my ticket, I asked if there were any beds open. There were! He showed me to a compartment with two bunk beds. It was very tight (tourist class), but it was a bed. He took my ticket and said that I would be charged the price difference. Well normally these beds costs 90 euros and the seats 50 something euros. Well, I had gotten mine for a discount, so I was afraid that they'd charge me a lot, but I really wanted a bed so I would have paid it. However, they only charged me 25 euros, which was so much less than I was expecting. I gratefully paid it and sleep great the whole way back.<br />
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It still amazes me how smooth my return trip went. I got the train bed, I easily caught my bus back to Pamplona in San Sebastian, and made it back in perfect time for my exam. The only stressful part was that I had to catch a taxi, which was a pain. I'm pretty sure he charged too much, but I didn't have time to question it. I had an exam to take.<br />
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There you have it! My trip to Lisbon in a nutshell. It was a great time! Sorry it took so long to post.wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com12715-311 Lisbon, Portugal38.7252993 -9.150036399999976338.626221300000005 -9.3113978999999762 38.8243773 -8.9886748999999764tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-80446133955981876932013-03-06T13:20:00.000-08:002013-03-06T13:20:00.677-08:00Los coches Okay, I'm no car person, but I have a hankerin' to write a blog post about cars.<br />
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Cars are one of the first things that make you realize that you're not in Kansas anymore, I mean, America. It was one of the first things I noticed as I landed in Europe in January and that still strikes me every once and a while.<br />
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Why are they so different? Firstly, the style is just different. They are smaller and somehow look distinctly European. Moreover, you don't see as many new cars as you do in America. Europeans, in many areas, buy things to last. Many Americans buy cars, and other things, to have for a few years and then buy the next big thing. Furthermore, there aren't very many SUVs and minivans. The roads are so narrow that it's impractical to have one, so they don't.<br />
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I may have said in an earlier blog post that Carmen doesn't have a car. Until this week, I thought she didn't. Well, surprise! She has one. She rarely uses it because she prefers to take the bus. It was also broken until this week. It's been broken for over a year and she finally got it fixed this week. I went with her to pick it up, which was fun because the place where she got it repaired was in a <i>barrio</i> I hadn't been to before.<br />
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After she picked up her car, she had to get it officially checked out. In Spain, you have to annually get your car checked out by certified mechanics to be able to legally drive. If your car checks out, you get a sticker to stick on your windshield saying that you're cleared to drive. We don't do this in America, so I thought the process was really fun.<br />
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Once we got through the really long line, the mechanic started the process. He was kind of grumpy. I could tell Carmen didn't like him much. Anyway, he started telling her all these things she needed to do. Like, "headlights," so she turned on her front lights. Then "break lights," "signals," "windshield wipers," etc. He went through the list. When he got to the emergency lights (the red triangle on the dashboard), Carmen didn't know what he was talking about so I pressed it for her. She had forgotten where a lot of things were in her car because she hadn't driven in a year.<br />
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After that, there was a wheel test. Then they lifted the car up and looked under. I guess they do all these things in America, but it's not mandatory and you're not usually with the car watching.<br />
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When that was finished, we went to the giant supermarket. Except "supermercado" isn't the same as our version of "superstore," they call it "hípermercado" which would translate as a hypermarket. Kind of call, huh? Anyway, one of the interior lights wouldn't turn off and Carmen couldn't remember how to turn it off so she just popped it out and pulled the plug to turn it off. I would have sat there looking for the switch, possibly for a good fifteen minutes, and never think to do that. I thought it was really funny. <br />
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We also went to get gas, which was a different experience for me as well. For one thing, there is a gas attendant. Unless you live in New Jersey or Oregon, you have to pump you're own gas in the United States. So that was different. Then, I tried to compare gas prices to ours, but I failed. Not because it was in euros, but because they fill up their tanks based on liters, not gallons. We really need to switch to the metric system. No one else uses the one we use and it's a pain to have to convert everything. I have to convert temperature, my weight, my height, serving sizes, and the list goes on. So annoying. But, I digress.<br />
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I've also noticed that they have "Stop" signs. That say "Stop" on them, in English. Not "Parada" or another form of the Spanish verb for stop. Very interesting. <br />
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Pamplona has a lot of traffic circles. I don't know if that's a city thing in general or maybe it's more common in Europe than in America. Not sure. Just an observation.<br />
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You also definitely have to be a much more vigilant driver here. People cross the streets without looking. Drivers only signal sometimes (Carmen included). Overall, it's a more assertive way of driving.<br />
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It's also really rare to have an automatic car. Most people still drive stick shift. I asked Carmen how to call that in Spanish and she just said "car." If there is a word, she doesn't know it. If you have an automatic car, then you classify it, but the norm is the manual/stick shift. Which is the opposite in the United States.<br />
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Anyway, I just thought I'd write something about cars, even though I know virtually nothing about cars.wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-10771238546031299282013-03-06T12:22:00.001-08:002013-03-06T12:22:08.532-08:00Finances. Over the past month or so, I've heard people express curiosity about my financial costs. On the whole, I've been reluctant to talk about that because I'm not very organized when it comes to finances. Maybe that'll be more helpful though, at least for other unorganized people.<br />
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This is solely based on my perceptions and experiences. I'm pretty good at saving my money and making sure I don't spend too much, but I don't make budgets. Maybe I should. Perhaps when I actually have a real job and pay taxes and bills. Bleh. Don't want to think about that right now.<br />
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Anyway, to begin, my parents gave me 200 euros as a birthday present/aid to help get started here so I wouldn't have to worry about transferring money right when I got here. So that's what I started with, essentially. I was kind of shocked how fast that got spent. You see, in the efforts to pack light, I did not pack things like shampoo and the rest of the products I use for my hair, certain other toiletries, and just some things that I ended up needing when I got here. For instance, I did bring an umbrella, but with the amount that it rains here I decided to buy a pair of rain boots.<br />
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To pay my rent, my parents and I decided it would be best to open a Spanish bank account. I have a Spanish bank account right now with enough money to pay my rent as well as some extra spending money my parents were kind enough to give me. I try not to use that money for several reasons. 1) I don't want to spend too much that I can't pay my rent and 2) I'm saving that for trips when the weather is better. My plan for this is to see how much I have left and then I can do whatever I want later on. So many of the other exchange students have been going on trips every weekend and more, but I decided early on to save my money for later in the semester when the weather is better for travelling. I think I'll be glad of this later. Plus, I've already gone on a few awesome trips anyway! It's not like I'm lacking anything.<br />
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Furthermore, I don't have food costs and I don't have to pay for things like sheets, toilet paper, etc (I know some people who had to go buy those things). Because of this, I really don't spend that much money. Most of my money spent on a weekly basis goes to coffee and paying for the bus, when I decide to take it. Occasionally, I'll have to restock on toiletries, but overall I really don't spend much on a regular week.<br />
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Now, trips are a different story. I try to save as much as I can, when I can, so I can splurge on certain areas. I withdrew 200 euros for my Paris trip as spending/just in case money and only spent about 50. That doesn't include the hotel and plane and bus tickets, which was probably around 180 euros (I got some good deals!). My Portugal trip cost a lot more. I probably spent around 200 euros, including my hostel and part of my train ticket. I ordered my train tickets online, but while I was on the way home I paid 25 euros to upgrade my seat to a bed.<br />
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Why did my Portugal trip cost so much? Well I'll go into more detail when I finish my blog post about the trip, but I'll touch on it now. Basically, I blame the professors' and their expensive tastes. I'm kidding, of course (sort of), but we definitely did a lot of things I wouldn't have normally done if I had been planning the trip. We went to several museums, which we had to pay for on Saturday, and then we went to this really pricey dinner Saturday night. It was a dinner with Fado music as entertainment, a Fado dinner if you will. Fado is a type of music typical to the Portuguese and it's characterized by "coming from the soul." A lot of the songs are sad, but others are more upbeat. It just depends. The food was really good and the music was excellent, but it cost 60 euros! I was told it would cost 49, but it ended up costing 60 because they didn't know that 49 didn't include the drinks. These costs were included in the price that the other students who went on the trip had already paid, so they didn't really realize how much it was. Ah well, it was a great cultural experience. As my mom told me, the money I saved by going to a hostel was able to be used for the dinner.<br />
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If you're going abroad or are abroad, here are a couple tips that I've learned in regards to money saving.<br />
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<ul>
<li>Getting a library card. I'm am avid reader and movie watcher. I go into bookstores all the time and see books that I want to attempt to read in Spanish. Same for movies. Instead of buying them, I got a library card. I rent at least one movie to watch per week in Spanish and have one or two books every month. Granted, I don't always read said books because I also have a Kindle and read books on that.</li>
<li>Trips. Pick and choose. I get bombarded every week with trip opportunities. I want to go on all of them, but then I have to remind myself it is just not feasible. Pick the ones that really excite you and spend the other weekends experiencing where you're living. If you're going on trips everywhere every weekend, you haven't gotten to know you're host city, which is a shame. </li>
<li>Transportation. In Pamplona, you save money for riding the bus if you get a bus card. I think it was free, if not, it was really cheap. Normally it costs something like 1.35 euros to ride the bus, but if you have a card it's only 65 cents. You recharge you're card at certain shops whenever you're running low. It's really easy and saves a ton of money. So wherever you are, figure out what's the best way to save money. Sometimes it's a metro card instead of a bus card. </li>
<li>Texting/Phones. I happened upon an after Christmas sale for my phone, which was incredibly lucky. I managed to get a basic flip phone for 9 euros including a 5 euro time card. Now, the phones here are normally pre-pay phones so each text message costs money. I brought my iPhone from the states with me and I use it for iMessaging and the apps. A lot of people use an app called "WhatsApp" which is a free texting app. I bought it ($1.99) and put my Spanish number on the app. People with "WhatsApp" can text me and I don't have to pay the texting rate. Very handy. </li>
<li>Food. Even though I don't have to buy food, I've picked up from the other students that you ought to limit how much you eat out. We have a delicious cafeteria at the University and it's so easy to eat there every day. However, it all really adds up, so it's a good idea to eat most meals at home and eat out every once and a while. This is true for back home too, of course, but I think the temptation to eat out more is higher in a foreign country. </li>
</ul>
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Well, that's all I have for now. Again, feel free to leave comments, including any questions you might have!</div>
wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-33238113751628656812013-03-01T09:29:00.001-08:002013-03-01T09:50:07.663-08:00"Top secret wifi"Getting wifi here when traveling is such a struggle. You'd think a train station would have public wifi. Nope! You have to pay and make an account. I don't want that hassle. <br />
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I'm currently in route to Lisbon to meet up with a spring break trip my college is taking. I took a bus to San Sebastián and from there I'm a night train to Lisbon. My friend Mary Catherine is going on this trip and she's been my contact person for meeting up with them.<br />
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Therefore, when I was in San Sebastián waiting for my train to Lisbon, I found a café nearby and asked the bartender for the code. At first when I asked, he said they didn't have it. When I asked him if he knew where I could find somewhere with wifi, he turned around and started writing something. I thought it was directions; however, it ended up being the code. He gave it to me and said "top secret." So I ordered a coffee and was able to use the wifi to check in and make sure Mary Catherine hadn't sent me anything. So much work!<br />
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This trip has been very last minute. I saw a Facebook status that Mary Catherine posted about being excited to go to Portugal. I messaged her and asked her to send me an itinerary of the trip. This was Wednesday. On Thursday (yesterday) I found really cheap train tickets from San Sebastián to Lisbon and it all fell into place after that. I can't stay in the hotel with them, so I'm getting a hostel for one night--which I'm excited and apprehensive about because I've never done one before. The other two nights, I'm sleeping on the train. <br />
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So far, the trip has gone by very smoothly. I was afraid there would be a ton of problems, because I didn't plan my trip until yesterday. But so far so good! I'm very excited about it. <br />
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Also on Wednesday, I went to this Q&A session about the Pope. I learned more about the Catholic tradition that I didn't really know, such as about the Conclave of cardinals, how the bishops work, and that the Pope is also the Bishop of Rome. <br />
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I also heard a new argument about why women can't be priests. It has to do with the idea that priests are the physical representations of Jesus and for whatever reason, Jesus was a man. The priest who said this said that maybe if Jesus was a woman that the priests would be women. I hadn't thought about it that way before. I can't say that I necessarily agree, but I understand now.<br />
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Well, this is a hurriedly written blog update for you until I write about Lisbon! I've got a train to catch.<br />
wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-88097697714777936132013-02-24T14:35:00.002-08:002013-02-24T14:35:21.792-08:00#buildabarricadeI have just gotten back from my much-anticipated trip to Paris! This is post going to be really long. Sorry. You asked for it!<br />
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Okay, to begin, I left Pamplona at the crack of dawn on Friday. I had bought the earliest bus ticket to Bilbao so I could spend the morning looking around. I bought the tickets before I knew that I was going the weekend before. However, I was planning on going to the Basque Museum to learn about the Basque people a little more since I didn't do that the last night. Sadly, this did not work out. Carmen told me that I should go straight to the Bilbao airport because of Iberia's strikes. Now, my flight was with Air France, but she had heard that people had to change their flights to other airlines so she told me to go ahead and check-in to ensure my seat. This precaution was actually unnecessary because I actually had checked in the day before.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEsHpPQQKr28KJtpuZIoQHj3FTMyW8OIAjrI9_MR4J4qpx-zDhu2YtwF-IOw8QkAoBXmmIOrkpkJQZe5gVseiCOMU5HhFMjnKIAm6NvZ2mpz_xF0r2fgpKZ0aPAsLOz-AEPO822VxLA4/s1600/IMG_2123.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEsHpPQQKr28KJtpuZIoQHj3FTMyW8OIAjrI9_MR4J4qpx-zDhu2YtwF-IOw8QkAoBXmmIOrkpkJQZe5gVseiCOMU5HhFMjnKIAm6NvZ2mpz_xF0r2fgpKZ0aPAsLOz-AEPO822VxLA4/s320/IMG_2123.PNG" width="213" /></a>You see, I had told Air France to e-mail me my boarding pass to my phone. It's a new way of boarding the planes. The airline sends you a QR code to your phone and then they scan it at security and when you're about to board. Therefore, I was completely checked in the night before my flight. Crazy, huh? The problem with this was that I couldn't do anything to change my flight. Since I got to the airport so early, I asked if I could have an earlier flight. They couldn't change my ticket because I was already checked in, which is the downside to the QR pass. It was really cool though, to just have them scan my phone screen. It's easier to keep track of a phone than a phone and the boarding passes.<br />
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Anyway, I got to the airport about 10:00am and my flight didn't leave until 3:20pm. I had tried to switch to one for 1:00pm, but as I said, I couldn't. So I went over to a cafe and tried to get onto the Wi-Fi; however, it wouldn't let me. I wasn't special enough. The Wi-Fi was only for elite business people or people who worked there. The airports in Europe are very weird about Wi-Fi, in my opinion. Even the Paris airport Charles du Gaule (CDH), only let you have 15 minutes of free Wi-Fi and then you have to pay. One thing I really miss about America is the availability of free Wi-Fi. Good thing I brought my Kindle and had had the forethought of adding books on it. I had started to read <i>The Perks of Being a Wallflower </i>on the bus ride over and ended up finishing it 10 minutes before my flight left. I read an entire book in one morning. It's crazy the things you can accomplish when you don't have Internet.<br />
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After I arrived in Paris, I used my 15 minutes of free Wi-Fi to check in and tell my mom that I arrive safely and whatnot. Then, I took out an e-mail that I printed the day before with instructions Tyler that had sent me for navigating the metro. Her instructions were great and I figured out how to get to the hotel with relative ease. I would be lying if it were seamless, but I didn't get on the wrong train or anything--I just had to stop and read the maps in the station a lot.<br />
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When I arrived to my final stop, I got off the train and was really confused. Tyler had figured out a route for me using Google Maps, but the actual metro stop was on a different road than it appeared on the map. I was really confused and wanted to ask someone for help, but I can't speak French. I also had the wrong idea of where Montmartre (which is where we stayed) is in Paris so when I looked at the map I couldn't find where I was. I ended up going back in the metro station and found a blown up map and found my way to the correct road pretty easily. I was settled in the hotel around 8:30 or so. Tyler wasn't supposed to arrive until 11:00 so I had around 3 hours to kill.<br />
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I wasn't sure what to do, so I ended up walking around the neighborhood for a little. I went to the supermarket and bought some fruit to eat throughout the weekend. I tried to order coffee in French and that didn't really work. At CDG, I copied some French travel phrases and tried to use those. I couldn't figure out how to pronounce certain things. Luckily, most people who work at stores and restaurants know the English necessary to do business.<br />
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I felt weird walking around at night because I wasn't really trying to get anywhere so I just pretended like I knew where I was going. I ended up going back to the hotel for a while and watched some French TV. I watched this reality show where French celebrities compete in diving contests. It was really entertaining. I think if that show were to air in America it could be called, "Diving with the Stars."<br />
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I feel asleep and when I woke up it was 11:20, so I ran downstairs to see if Tyler was there. She wasn't, so I sat down in the lobby and waited. She came in about 5 minutes later very frazzled. She had been lost for an hour and a half with all of her luggage. Eventually, a French guy had helped her find the hotel. We got her stuff upstairs and caught up. We had a Sigma family Skype session with Sarah and then went to bed.<br />
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Side note: Tyler is my sorority big sister. We're in Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority. Tyler is also Sarah's big sister, which makes Sarah my "twin." Since Tyler and I were both together, we thought it would be a perfect time to Skype Sarah because it's so hard to coordinate all of our schedules.<br />
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We kind of had a bumpy morning. We tried to buy metro tickets, but the metro station we went to didn't sell tickets. We spent a while trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, Tyler asked an elderly couple if they knew where we could buy tickets and the woman gave us two temporary passes! It was so nice. We went to a market and shopped for a little bit. We then went back to the metro and bought day passes. After that, we tried to find a Starbucks, which are everywhere, and couldn't for a long time. When we did, the power was out. In the next one we went to, the power was also out. Some kind of weird grid thing, I guess. We gave up on that and tried to find a Turkish/doner kebab place, which are everywhere, and couldn't. We ended up eating at a really bad Chinese restaurant.<br />
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Luckily, things went uphill from there. We found an operational Starbucks! That cheered us up considerably. It was freezing cold outside and the Starbucks warmed us for a good while.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacnPbcdLayzlJLjiS84eUKT59jdi-gNJlWtK_3CVNYCQvojyMw2yD3AlAUf60mlYCxFdepwL9MO0iEDJhwhSvviH_S3z8wwQvTNxlhCmzGmnmVJTiWbYTElfZg6cUC8gJFn7mHT9OiuQ/s1600/IMG_2038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhacnPbcdLayzlJLjiS84eUKT59jdi-gNJlWtK_3CVNYCQvojyMw2yD3AlAUf60mlYCxFdepwL9MO0iEDJhwhSvviH_S3z8wwQvTNxlhCmzGmnmVJTiWbYTElfZg6cUC8gJFn7mHT9OiuQ/s320/IMG_2038.JPG" width="320" /></a>We also went to the Moulin Rouge. We took a couple pictures outside (Tyler has all of the pictures of the both of us as she had an actual camera and I used my phone) and checked out the area that the public can see. If you want to watch a cabaret at the Moulin Rouge, you have to pay about 150 euros, which neither of us had. Maybe when I win the lottery or write a best-seller.<br />
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Tyler had a guide book that outlined a walk through Montmartre. We started out in a cool looking cemetery. Apparently, the original cemetery had to be destroyed, so they took the graves and compiled them into this one part. It looked like a city of tombs to me. The only person in the cemetery that we had sort of heard of was the inventor of the saxophone. It was too cold to try and find it, but it was cool that Mr. Sax was there. I wish we had stumbled upon it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqSpXyFZPfnky3MIhzWcxPE2xMaxd7FLU2GmEx6cdEj-qTyiuT24lQv0KW-oPsowBdvr9u41liY8mrtgKGOdzVNgwxkvaw9kpXLz-kXFKN94lxqXLavdbGtaSlZBnYizZ3oE_W4VCwBY/s1600/IMG_2046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcqSpXyFZPfnky3MIhzWcxPE2xMaxd7FLU2GmEx6cdEj-qTyiuT24lQv0KW-oPsowBdvr9u41liY8mrtgKGOdzVNgwxkvaw9kpXLz-kXFKN94lxqXLavdbGtaSlZBnYizZ3oE_W4VCwBY/s320/IMG_2046.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
After the cemetery, we continued along the walk. The next stop was Van Gogh's apartment. It wasn't as cool as it sounded, but nonetheless, it was really neat to be outside of his apartment. To clarify, all they had was a plaque saying that Van Gogh lived here. So it wasn't a huge tourist attraction or anything. We actually saw people coming in and out of it. I think it would be really cool to live in that building.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN_gW0aN2l0rnKpS0Mtaf-7RYai8Re7SG5j6FRSmqrR6kQcRdXZbkFUH2rp8K-DDCgyfnTLV96vp3AAhlq2SwvF2LCXp6mA8nVnodb9SBg33HEwiiyvZRuEdTfK6VbHJkQdo3xnmAzyE/s1600/IMG_2047.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN_gW0aN2l0rnKpS0Mtaf-7RYai8Re7SG5j6FRSmqrR6kQcRdXZbkFUH2rp8K-DDCgyfnTLV96vp3AAhlq2SwvF2LCXp6mA8nVnodb9SBg33HEwiiyvZRuEdTfK6VbHJkQdo3xnmAzyE/s320/IMG_2047.JPG" width="320" /></a>I also found the Vandoren office building! If you play a reed instrument or you have children who do, you know what I'm talking about. Vandoren is a popular type of reeds that the band directors always make you get. I thought it was cool to stumble upon the reed people.<br />
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It was obvious that there were some other people on the same tour as us because they kept stopping at the same places. It was kind of funny.<br />
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We walked through a garden dedicated to a WWII heroine which was cool. It also had this headless saint which was a little strange, but hey, it was cool.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgHexJ6ZW2arFocJKIsX7jAzA9_kvBH5iGVtCf8OI8AaVjTxiDph-zuqKSQuWiRWk9_ZpUlqqRxiDn2pQp9iKLrO0H8zeTblXIlk9kM1zvDVy4-mq3Zsu0UmLqwtOVE02sNkSxw1aydo/s1600/IMG_2059.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgHexJ6ZW2arFocJKIsX7jAzA9_kvBH5iGVtCf8OI8AaVjTxiDph-zuqKSQuWiRWk9_ZpUlqqRxiDn2pQp9iKLrO0H8zeTblXIlk9kM1zvDVy4-mq3Zsu0UmLqwtOVE02sNkSxw1aydo/s320/IMG_2059.jpg" width="240" /></a>We then went to Renoir's apartment. It was very non-descript and hard to find. The only reason we found it was because we found some American tourists with a Rick Steves' Paris guidebook and they told us where it was. The one Tyler had wasn't as clear, I guess. It was basically a regular wall. We decided to be creepy and we climbed on the half wall across from it to see over the big wall. It was a nice little garden area.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis3CAG7ts-ZgvCojHcsg-6MAInu-XQyKLMjcAPwCV5hFma-CRWwLvEgGz-IUqrLsz1oXTyo0iWssNGtskB7Ag_0DI_4wo3Yec53IWNvmcZo7cgS8FR89HGvKTOcXE6MLU7C359ShHSWsY/s1600/IMG_2057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis3CAG7ts-ZgvCojHcsg-6MAInu-XQyKLMjcAPwCV5hFma-CRWwLvEgGz-IUqrLsz1oXTyo0iWssNGtskB7Ag_0DI_4wo3Yec53IWNvmcZo7cgS8FR89HGvKTOcXE6MLU7C359ShHSWsY/s320/IMG_2057.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZd7TfxuiWGD3kwoFQ4gAfV7asYWboTZOzJp3kWgt7lXFY7u6T1gy2LvmdUfTzN8D6G22RKI24cUHffPPqg4rRoedl6EN0ocIJrcQ1T9Br5TAyQsitBla2wVpW2QBwfdENDvDpWGkFB0/s1600/IMG_2052.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZd7TfxuiWGD3kwoFQ4gAfV7asYWboTZOzJp3kWgt7lXFY7u6T1gy2LvmdUfTzN8D6G22RKI24cUHffPPqg4rRoedl6EN0ocIJrcQ1T9Br5TAyQsitBla2wVpW2QBwfdENDvDpWGkFB0/s320/IMG_2052.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
After that, we stopped at the Moulin de la Galette, where a famous painting by Renoir was done. It was precious. Apparently, there used to be 11 windmills and now there is only one.<br />
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We continued along the walk until we reached a touristy section. We had made it to the Sacre-Coeur cathedral. The view from the cathedral is the highest part of Paris and you can see the entire skyline. Unfortunately, it was extremely foggy and couldn't see a whole lot. Nonetheless, it was beautiful.<br />
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However, I'm getting ahead of myself. Before going to the cathedral, we looked around at the gift shops. There were all these "artists" doing caricatures around the streets. Tyler and I had a miscommunication about whether we actually wanted one. I thought it might be cool to have one together. Two people started doing one of each of us and I didn't know what to do. I think we both thought the other one wanted one done. Tyler was jabbering away in French with her guy, so I just let the other one draw me. He talked to me in Spanglish since I don't speak French and I told him that I speak Spanish. When he was done, it looked absolutely nothing like me. He then told me that they normally cost 50 euros but that he was knocking it down to 30 for me. I told him I didn't have that. Tyler came over and just told me to walk away and we both told him we don't have that. He kept going down until he got to five euros and I ended up giving him 3. I felt kind of bad, but I didn't want the caricature anyway and Tyler didn't pay any for hers. We ended up throwing them away because they looked nothing like us. My brother and I got really good caricatures in Paris when we visited several years ago, but these were just bad because they weren't us. It was like the artists made up people to draw.<br />
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I already told you about the view from the cathedral, so I'll jump to the inside. There was a person standing in the doorway telling everyone not to take pictures and to put their cameras away. Which I thought was kind of weird, but whatever. We walked through the cathedral. There was interesting signage on the symbols in the cathedral, which always interest me.<br />
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What really struck me as odd and bothered me, was that they sold souvenirs inside the cathedral. Notre-Dame did this as well. They both had gift shops and stands selling souvenirs INSIDE the cathedral! I thought that was crazy and half expected Jesus to show up and knock over some tables. Tyler and I talked about this, it's one thing to ask for donations but another to make a church into a business. Or at least take it out of the sanctuary. It just didn't feel right to have that going on inside a church. After all, that's the only time we see Jesus get mad in the Bible.<br />
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After the Sacre-Coeur, we hopped on a metro and headed over to the Concierge. This is a building that has been in France since the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it (Tyler has them), but I can tell you that the gates in front of it reminded me of Buckingham Palace. The Concierge has been used for many things over time. It once was a castle for the kings and queens. During the French Revolution, it was used for keeping prisoners. Now it's museum.<br />
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The first part of the Concierge was an exhibit on the the changes in perception of castles over time. It was very interesting. The part about the middle ages referenced Arthurian legends a lot and featured a copy of a book about Gawain and a painting of a quest Lancelot went on. My inner Arthurian nerd geeked out.<br />
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Continuing on with the nerdiness, the last part of the exhibit was about how castles are viewed today. There were replicas of Disney castles and such. The coolest thing was this giant Lego Hogwarts. Tyler and I fangirlled over that thing for quite some time--all composure forgotten. The castle had such detail. It had scenes from all of the books. For the Harry Potter fans, it had Platform 9 3/4, the Chamber of Secrets complete with a basilisk, the Durmstrang ship, the great hall with students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, a Hungarian Horntail on the castle (which is a movie thing and not from the book, but still cool), dementors on the roof, Sirius escaping from Buckbeak, Dumbledore's office complete with a bed, McGonagall enchanting the statues in the castle, and the graveyard scene with a dead Cedric next to the Triwizard Cup. It was AWESOME.<br />
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Ahem. So after that, we moved on to the exhibit about the Concierge as a prison. We kind of rushed through it because it was about to close and Tyler really wanted to see Marie Antoinette's cell. She got to see it, but I glanced at it and thought it was a chapel and didn't go far back enough to see the reconstructed version--the people shooed us out before I could go over and see it. Ah well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqvh8Cn_-pAyKC6zvM-_vHlGHTutpvqlay_sNugq9ymKz0Yq80NK_UwX913kjH2VWAk65Up9MTLGsj1eCuku6mwpganxGeo_tS-lHSHInrmWf0iyY4t__zQVudaCT079SeOJ889ysx1E/s1600/IMG_2103.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTqvh8Cn_-pAyKC6zvM-_vHlGHTutpvqlay_sNugq9ymKz0Yq80NK_UwX913kjH2VWAk65Up9MTLGsj1eCuku6mwpganxGeo_tS-lHSHInrmWf0iyY4t__zQVudaCT079SeOJ889ysx1E/s320/IMG_2103.JPG" width="320" /></a>The Concierge is right by Notre Dame. We decided to grab some dinner before going to see that. We found a Doner Kebab place and ate some delicious kebabs. I had really missed doners from when we lived in Germany. After that, we picked up some pastries for the next day's breakfast and I got scrumptious Nutella and banana crepe.<br />
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On the way to Notre Dame, we stopped by Shakespeare and Co., which is a famous bookstore. We were so cold that we ended up going upstairs and reading children's stories for a while just to dethaw somewhat. We found some good ones! We found this one called <i>Bilbo's Song</i> or something like that about Bilbo Baggins. We also read a couple of tales from <i>Tales of Beedle the Bard </i>and Philip Pullman's retelling of Rumplestiltskin.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZdP7ZiPElvFXhdb9qrTGjCSUWJhYqfaRCz2qzxn10N-WXLc4eHHqYDQLLoTzbkk6Ui6c9sm2HJfqtIsDb0LBHqszM7EfWAJBL2MKBRy1bltpY4ukfFuymOJVe4_xWlsJCDefMiSoMws/s1600/IMG_2109.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOZdP7ZiPElvFXhdb9qrTGjCSUWJhYqfaRCz2qzxn10N-WXLc4eHHqYDQLLoTzbkk6Ui6c9sm2HJfqtIsDb0LBHqszM7EfWAJBL2MKBRy1bltpY4ukfFuymOJVe4_xWlsJCDefMiSoMws/s320/IMG_2109.jpg" width="240" /></a>When we ventured over to the Notre Dame, we actually walked into a sort of dedication service. Apparently, they're getting some new bells for the tower and they had them all lined up in the aisle. So that was neat.<br />
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The weather kept getting colder and colder, but we wanted to stop by the Eifel Tower and get some pictures before we turned in for the night. So we hopped on the metro and hung out by the Eifel Tower as long as we could stand it. We even got to see it glitter (no sun needed), which it does every hour so we hit it at the right time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeEoBidr-MEVZ7Tt6G86aGJpvHa8Ms3lQuXpa426ojoXn0ly8a3RA5Yi2rwI7cf2cZFMMvjnFgDSqetmZqG7A8gLYsJ8BoSXg4i8phCrIXBblJnjIRyzHdvdpL7EOhIsPTmLuXTxD7io/s1600/IMG_2115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEeEoBidr-MEVZ7Tt6G86aGJpvHa8Ms3lQuXpa426ojoXn0ly8a3RA5Yi2rwI7cf2cZFMMvjnFgDSqetmZqG7A8gLYsJ8BoSXg4i8phCrIXBblJnjIRyzHdvdpL7EOhIsPTmLuXTxD7io/s320/IMG_2115.jpg" width="240" /></a>It was absolutely freezing so we decided to head back and watch the new episode of Vampire Diaries (a show we both watch) and catch up back home, but the Wi-Fi was out. Maybe that was a blessing in disguise because we probably went to bed earlier than we would have otherwise. <br />
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We both had flights at 10:20, so we got up at 5:30am to head to the airport to make sure we had enough time and so Tyler checked in for her international flight early enough. We made it to the the airport about 7:30. I was getting stressed because I needed Wi-Fi to get my boarding pass and the airport's 15 min of free Wi-Fi wasn't working. Finally it worked and I felt much better. Of course, I could have talked to the air france people but then I wouldn't have had as much time to spend with Tyler.<br />
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Alas it was time to go, so we said good-bye. I flew back to Bilbao and took the bus to the old part of the city. I wanted to find the Basque Museum but by the time I got there it was one o'clock and the museum closed at two and I didn't know exactly where the museum was.<br />
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It was really nasty weather; cold, rainy, and foggy--perfect for dementors. So I decided I'd stop in on a mass. I found that I understood a lot more than I normally so. Either the priest was easier to understand or I'm understanding the way a mass works more/my Spanish is better. Then I wandered around looking for a decent and inexpensive place to buy pintxos (pinchos) but most places were closed. I went somewhere, but they weren't very good. But I was so hungry that it didn't really matter.<br />
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I ended up paying a couple euros to get an earlier bus back because I was exhausted, cold, and wet and had nothing to do since everything closes on Sundays. I happened upon a statue of John Adams before I left, which was neat. He apparently helped Biblao at one point in a matter of diplomacy.<br />
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For some reason, the bus I was on had Wi-Fi and the airports don't. That's how I got the blog post done so quickly--I outlined it on my phone while I was riding the bus. It's just a bit odd to me, I don't understand.<br />
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When I got home, Carmen greeted me warmly and had made me some hot chocolate served with bread to dip into it. I can't remember if I've written about hot chocolate in my blog, but hot chocolate here is different than in the U.S. In Spain, when you order hot chocolate you usually ask for "Cola-Cao" (Cola-Cow), which is hot milk served with a packet of mix that turns your milk into hot chocolate milk. I don't like it because I don't like chocolate milk. Then you have "chocolate caliente" which is made with a type of chocolate bar that you mix with hot milk to make this really rich and chocolately beverage. It's very delicious. Needless to say, I was touched and it definitely hit the spot because I was still freezing cold. Coming back home was the first time since Friday that I've actually been warm.<br />
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Well, that's my basically trip! If you're wondering about the name of the title, Tyler and I had a joke going on about building a barricade if something went wrong. We made a lot of Les Mis references at the end of the day.<br />
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I hope you enjoyed my novella of a blog post. If I haven't scared you off, tune in next time for...wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1Paris, France48.856614 2.352221900000017748.6894665 2.0294984000000178 49.0237615 2.6749454000000177tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-88279599188006893192013-02-18T07:37:00.000-08:002013-02-18T07:41:21.677-08:00Bilbo...Baggins?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQztqL6QMt7HrfpXPV9ty3TE69pkwJpc2mdLRWv5pl81RKZNPVfr8kg7xR_B2fgTrwpV7pz3fTOVVK_9ErUypeTKqlwc2AMT50awQn6d26Br4VCGarPrvD9TnDlKTT7TaT-I5piNH_NzI/s1600/IMG_1953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQztqL6QMt7HrfpXPV9ty3TE69pkwJpc2mdLRWv5pl81RKZNPVfr8kg7xR_B2fgTrwpV7pz3fTOVVK_9ErUypeTKqlwc2AMT50awQn6d26Br4VCGarPrvD9TnDlKTT7TaT-I5piNH_NzI/s320/IMG_1953.jpg" width="240" /></a>As promised, here's an account of my trip to Bilbao.
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I always thought that Bilbao kind of sounded like Bilbo, which then naturally made me think of Bilbo Baggins. As it turns out, Biblo is the Basque name for Bilbao. Bilbao is in the País Vasco, aka the Basque Country, which is actually a region in Spain. Navarra has a lot of Basque people, but Navarra is it's own region and not a part of the País Vasco. Anyway, I really wanted to find a T-shirt or something touristy that had something to do with Bilbo Baggins. Maybe that's too much of an English thing.<br />
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I went to Bilbao with some of the people I met on the San Sebastian trip. We took the 9 o'clock bus out of Pamplona and arrived in Bilbao around 11. We spent the rest of the day sightseeing and touring the Guggenheim Museum. <br />
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When we arrived in Bilbao, we were all pretty hungry, so the rest of my group bought breakfast and I got some to-go coffee and we found a park to picnic in. To clarify, Carmen had made me two sandwiches and gave me an apple to take for the day. So I ate a sandwich and drank my coffee. This definitely saved me some money on the trip.<br />
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To get to the Guggenheim, we walked through the park after we ate and then along a river. There were several awesome saxophone playing street musicians. I love saxophones because my brother and some of friends play it. I also enjoy playing the saxophone when the clarinet is too quiet. I kind of wanted to take the person's soprano sax and play it myself, but of course that would have been rude.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRd1P9hb5s3w97L-LKIMpcXdA9TJBAAb2VWhj3YA3ditFv6_tpn8jmDKaqT9uK3HAaIuNQT541v5a2pO0R-6G7FB65g7NMyw0v5RuwKQckiV2z8O1Bo56G3P_haegjeNFYBZVYwtCMIsI/s1600/IMG_1928.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRd1P9hb5s3w97L-LKIMpcXdA9TJBAAb2VWhj3YA3ditFv6_tpn8jmDKaqT9uK3HAaIuNQT541v5a2pO0R-6G7FB65g7NMyw0v5RuwKQckiV2z8O1Bo56G3P_haegjeNFYBZVYwtCMIsI/s320/IMG_1928.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwlQpc14bhVtjfs63GejEGWYcfn06gP_9meXgtVnIqoYeUNSMmAfvlS4MZFjTeE0pj9dM01rY5eKd3IslSOlOpr2d3AZgA9HcKrv1WY-mppWXNI5Q1xZ5n_mNDh_OSKL2xs9g57LsWVU/s1600/IMG_1914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwlQpc14bhVtjfs63GejEGWYcfn06gP_9meXgtVnIqoYeUNSMmAfvlS4MZFjTeE0pj9dM01rY5eKd3IslSOlOpr2d3AZgA9HcKrv1WY-mppWXNI5Q1xZ5n_mNDh_OSKL2xs9g57LsWVU/s320/IMG_1914.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqN3TbTOHa_OEhDYgM854TeZ088wRMzehyR4M8FP7cooeJU3T6ooTD5v7ch_OkxtOgWJD1_NKreeWQhx8xrTU8j1oRvoEbEZBFvMArIRJssYS2f5HWkQM1PjCxEiqw11hKCQ3n1Eg-_tY/s1600/IMG_1921.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqN3TbTOHa_OEhDYgM854TeZ088wRMzehyR4M8FP7cooeJU3T6ooTD5v7ch_OkxtOgWJD1_NKreeWQhx8xrTU8j1oRvoEbEZBFvMArIRJssYS2f5HWkQM1PjCxEiqw11hKCQ3n1Eg-_tY/s320/IMG_1921.JPG" style="text-align: center;" width="320" /></a>You've probably heard of the Guggenheim Museum, even if you don't know exactly what it is. Before visiting the one in Bilbao, I knew that it was a famous art museum. Aside from that, I didn't really know anything else about it. Well, know I know that it is specifically a modern art museum. There are only a few in the world. We have one in New York city. The others are in Venice, Berlin, and Abu Dhabi.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gYQGFYyK0MYfdxT5_38w6BKwHKvj2mPxAzKjtZWr2gyDzv5vVi9_mBupeP-gVMYNSzuUIwVqog9GWP0tI4Jj-6TU1zhXdct-3LpLkfGzXtE7VuZFtE2AwVhfhr7SATo3fgusRSayWyE/s1600/IMG_1965.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9gYQGFYyK0MYfdxT5_38w6BKwHKvj2mPxAzKjtZWr2gyDzv5vVi9_mBupeP-gVMYNSzuUIwVqog9GWP0tI4Jj-6TU1zhXdct-3LpLkfGzXtE7VuZFtE2AwVhfhr7SATo3fgusRSayWyE/s320/IMG_1965.jpg" width="240" /></a>We all split up in the museum and planned to meet back in an hour in a half. I had one of those audio tour things you hold up to your ear. I walked through the museum and if something looked interesting to me, I'd punch in the number and hear the explanation of the artwork. I must say, I don't really understand modern art. I feel like with most of that stuff, the artist just threw something together and came up with a philosophical reason behind it. I guess I just don't understand. Nonetheless, it was very interesting. The building in itself is art. I included pictures of it from all angles.<br />
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After the Guggenheim, we walked down to the Casco Viejo of Bilbao (the old part of the city). It was very cool looking. We went to a bakery and got some sweets as a late afternoon snack. I got a stracciatella gelato and everybody else got pastries. I feel like I'll get plenty of pastries when I go to Paris this coming weekend and I was feeling the ice cream.<br />
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Apparently there's a medieval part, but we didn't go there. I'll probably go find that when I go this coming weekend. I do love medieval stuff.<br />
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Now that I've been to Bilbao, I know my way around a little, I have a map, and I kind of have an idea of what else I'd like to do. For instance, go to the medieval part and there's a Basque museum that sounds intriguing. Maybe some of the mysteriousness of the Basques will be cleared up for me.<br />
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After touring the old part, we decided to slowly make our way back to the bus station. We stopped for drinks at a little pub and then went to a restaurant once we were close. All in all, it was a fun trip and I'm really glad I went! Thanks to Carmen, it was also very economical. Maybe next time I'll happen upon the barrio "Shire" and meet Mr. Baggins (barrios are like zones of the city).<br />
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This coming up week looks like it'll be pretty chill. Then I'm going to PARIS!!! I can't want to see my really good friend and sorority big sister, Tyler. We're going to have a blast.<br />
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Until next time!<br />
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<br />wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1Bilbao, Bizkaia, Spain43.2566901 -2.924061599999959143.2566901 -2.9240615999999591 43.2566901 -2.9240615999999591tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-59035473297940905062013-02-17T07:39:00.000-08:002013-02-18T07:41:51.481-08:00Ash Wednesday, Valentine's Day, and a ProtestI'm doing another bus ride post. The blogger app has come quite in handy.<br />
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Let me pick up where I left off. On Wednesday, I went to an Ash Wednesday service. It was very good. It was interesting to see how similar it was to the ones back home. I noticed that this church said a version of "and also with you" in response to a variation of "God be with you," which made me excited because we always say that in the Presbyterian Church. We even did a passing of the peace! One difference I didn't expect was how they did the ashes. They made the cross on the top of my head, not my forehead. So that was different. All in all, however, it was very similar.<br />
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Thursday, of course, was Valentine's Day. It's only a big deal here for young lovers, so there really wasn't too much going during the day. My mom had sent me se Brave Valentine cards, so I brought them to class and shared them with my classmates, elementary school style. Everyone really liked them. I had to explain the concept to my teacher and some of my friends from other countries, but all in all they were a hit. I'm disappointed that they don't do post-Valentine candy sales. I really wanted to buy some. Oh well.<br />
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I had an extremely difficult grammar exam on Friday. The problem with my Spanish grammar is that I haven't learned new grammar since high school. Now I'm in a class where we're learning ALL the types of past tense (there are four), all the subjunctive tenses, the future tenses, and the conditional tenses along with what words you can use with certain expressions and trying to distinguish when to use the two different verbs for "to be." It hasn't been clicking for me until a few days ago when I realized the problem. Almost my entire class are not native English speakers. They're from all over the world. Therefore, the professor is teaching us Spanish grammar and explaining it I'm Spanish. My brain is just a little too set in English to learn grammar that way. So I went to learnspanish.com and taught myself the grammar, since they teach it for English people trying to learn Spanish. It magically made sense! So hopefully I did well on the exam.<br />
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The rest of Friday was pretty low key. I went on a long walk with Carmen and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. I got a notice for a package that my mom sent me and I tried to get it, but they told me I had to come back tomorrow to get it. The mail system is so strange. Why would they send you a package notification if they won't let you pick it up on the same day? Oh well. So I got it the next day.<br />
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Saturday, I went shopping with Carmen in the morning for a new bag. We didn't find one so I went out by myself after lunch. I went to a store that sold purses for 10€. I bought two and a wallet for 22€ in total. A bargain. Hopefully they hold up. Also, I bought ibuprofen (or ibuprofeno) for TWO EUROS!! It's a pack of 40 pills that are 600mg. So I bought a pack of prescription strength Advil for 2€. Crazy! <br />
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If you were wondering why I'd need ibuprofen, my bad hip has been acting up on me. I guess it's probably a combination of the uneven streets and the ice or something. <br />
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While I was downtown, I saw a protest going on. Spain has a really bad economy at the moment. A lot of protests happen, but this one was bigger. I'm including a couple pictures. They started in the city center, then moved to the giant traffic circle, blocking traffic and the buses. Lots of horns were honking. On the other hand, a lot random people started clapping. I watched it for a little while and then left because it was getting dark. <br />
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I am currently on my way to Bilbo, I mean Bilbao. It's a city to the east of Pamplona and has tons of cool stuff. There's a Guggenheim museum, which we might go to. If not, I'll go next weekend. I'm flying to Paris out of Bilbao, so I built some time into my trip to look around Bilbao. I'm glad my friends invited me to go this weekend because I'll be able to find my way around next weekend easier. I'm going to go ahead and figure out how to get to the airport and all that.<br />
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I will post soon about my day trip! I'll take some pictures as well.<br />
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wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com2Pamplona, Navarre, Spain42.8116631 -1.648265300000048242.7650721 -1.7289463000000482 42.858254099999996 -1.5675843000000482tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-49854699089289005802013-02-12T08:02:00.001-08:002013-02-12T08:02:10.197-08:00Cultural ActivitiesHello, readers!<br />
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If you'd like me to ever write about anything specific, let me know! If you see something I mention or was really vague about and want to know more, just leave a comment asking me to elaborate. Or if you just have a question about something and would like a blog post about it. Again, I love your feedback!<br />
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This weekend was, again, very relaxed. I'm getting to know Pamplona more and more. I can't believe I've been here over a month now! Crazy!!<br />
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On Friday, I went to a creative writing workshop, which was very cool. I took a class called Creative Writing Workshop last semester and found that a lot of things were very similar. This one was a bit more informal because it wasn't actually a class (as far as I could tell). I was actually under the impression that it was a session on creative writing and we would be doing writing exercises or hearing a lecture. In reality, it was actually more of the format of the class I took, where people submit stories and have them criticized by the rest of the group.<br />
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In this session, four people's stories were being reviewed. The person would go to the front, read their story, and then hear the feedback from the rest of the group. I could actually understand the feedback more often than I could understand the story. I think my favorite story was one about the French Revolution. 1) I could sort of understand it and 2) I just like the French Revolution as a theme. <br />
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On Saturday, Carmen and I went shopping to look for a new bag. I want kind of a bag that can carry a few books, but also serve as a purse when I don't want to carry all of that. So kind of like a messenger bag, but a little smaller. I've seen them everywhere except for in the stores. I didn't buy anything, but Carmen got a new purse and a new duvet cover for her bed. Ah well, maybe I'll be successful next time. Now I know where I can buy purses anyway. <br />
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I didn't really do very much on Sunday. Carmen and I went on a walk, but it started raining, so I mostly stayed inside and read. I needed to finish <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> for a book club meeting that was on Monday. While we were walking, however, we bumped into some friends of Carmen. It was a family with two young people around my age (I really couldn't tell how old they were). They kept trying to get their son to talk to me in English, but he turned really red and said he was too embarrassed because his English isn't that good. I told him that he didn't have to. It reminded me a lot of when I used to go to Mexican restaurants with my parents and they would always try to get me to talk in Spanish with them. I definitely would now, but then I thought I'd embarrass myself. <br />
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I actually tried to go see <i>The Ugly Duckling </i>(<i>El patito feo</i>), but I got completely lost. The website and pamphlet I had said that it would be in the science building. I checked the campus map and it said it was in one location. I wandered around for an hour trying to find the building to no success. I could just hear Master Yoda saying in my head, "Lost a building, have you?" I was exactly where the map said it should be and yet there was no building. I think it's part of another building, but everything was locked up tight. As it turns out, the play was in the Medicine building. They should have just said that. I would have known where it was if they had said something related to medicine. That's a completely different part of the campus. Ah, well. You live and learn.<br />
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Last night I got to go to my first book club meeting! It was very exciting to meet other Spanish students and listen to them discuss <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>. Although I didn't talk, I'm glad I read the book because I could follow their topics of discussion. It was also fascinating to hear them discuss an English book. They all read it in Spanish and so it was funny hearing some of the names translated. There's a character named "Friday" and they called him "Viernes." They didn't talk too much about the English perception of the Spaniards as much as I would have liked, but maybe that's because I was there. At some point in the future, I'll definitely participate in the discussion, but it was really loud in there and I don't like trying to talk loud in English, much less Spanish. They normally meet in a different pub, but we had to meet in a smaller one because we met on Monday. So in the future it shouldn't be as loud.<br />
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When Robinson Crusoe escapes his island, he travels through Pamplona, except he calls it Pampeluna. I thought I'd include the excerpt for your enjoyment:<br />
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<i>When we came to Madrid, we, being all of us strangers to Spain, were willing to stay some time to see the court of Spain, and what was worth observing; but it being the latter part of the summer, we hastened away, and set out from Madrid about the middle of October; but when we came to the edge of Navarre, we were alarmed, at several towns on the way, with an account that so much snow was falling on the French side of the mountains, that several travellers were obliged to come back to Pampeluna, after having attempted at an extreme hazard to pass on.</i><br />
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<i>When we came to Pampeluna itself, we found it so indeed; and to me, that had been always used to a hot climate, and to countries where I could scarce bear any clothes on, the cold was insufferable; nor, indeed, was it more painful than surprising to come but ten days before out of Old Castile, where the weather was not only warm but very hot, and immediately to feel a wind from the Pyrenean Mountains so very keen, so severely cold, as to be intolerable and to endanger benumbing and perishing of our fingers and toes.</i><br />
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<i>Poor Friday was really frightened when he saw the mountains all covered with snow, and felt cold weather, which he had never seen or felt before in his life. To mend the matter, when we came to Pampeluna it continued snowing with so much violence and so long, that the people said winter was come before its time; and the roads, which were difficult before, were now quite impassable; for, in a word, the snow lay in some places too thick for us to travel, and being not hard frozen, as is the case in the northern countries, there was no going without being in danger of being buried alive every step. We stayed no less than twenty days at Pampeluna; when (seeing the winter coming on, and no likelihood of its being better, for it was the severest winter all over Europe that had been known in the memory of man) I proposed that we should go away to Fontarabia, and there take shipping for Bordeaux, which was a very little voyage.</i><br />
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It is extremely cold here, but at least it's not the coldest in the history of humans, eh?<br />
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Everyone was so nice! It's really hard to get to know Spanish people here, because they aren't as open (it's actually a stereotype for northern Spain), but once you do, they are great people and will do anything for you.<br />
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Today I'm going to a party for Fat Tuesday at a classmate's apartment and tomorrow Carmen is taking me to an Ash Wednesday service. It's going to be fun to see Lent because Catholicism is much more widely practiced. Protestants kind of do Lent as they feel like it, but all practicing Catholics observe Lent. In the Presbyterian church, we definitely do Ash Wednesday and enter a Lenten season. I'm excited to compare. That's my Christian Education major showing. Not going to lie, I try to change prayers I hear into inclusive language (challenge accepted).<br />
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Hopefully the weather will stabilize. It's been cold, pleasant, freezing, raining, snowing, rain-snowing, cloudy, and partially sunny just this week. As my mom reminds me, Europe is winter is a bit crazy, but then the springs are heavenly.<br />
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¡Saludos y hasta pronto!wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-30226002084245757002013-02-09T13:15:00.003-08:002013-02-09T13:19:31.460-08:00Basque Basics<span style="font-family: inherit;">I can't say that I've learned all there is to know about the Basques, but after a month of being here I think I know enough to write a general blog post. </span><br />
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The Basques are a group of people who have lived in this area of Europe for centuries and centuries. To make an analogy, the Celtic and Gaelic people are to the United Kingdom as the Basque people are to Northern Spain and Southern France. </span><br />
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They still speak their language, Euskera, which is completely foreign to me and other Latin-influenced Europeans. It's very gutteral and the sentence structure is totally different. In a few entries previously, I said that I picked up the Euskera version of the Hunger Games. Looking at that version, the words are extremely long.</span><br />
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This is a paragraph from The Hunger Games summary in Euskera:</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;">"'Kapitolio' aren aginpide tiranikoaren pean bizi dira herritarrak, miseriarik handienean eta norbere barrutitik irteteko askatasunik gabe. Pertsona bat baino ez da ausartuko arauak haustera eta bere familiarentzat zer jana ekartzera: Katniss da, hamasei urteko neska bat."</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">They have the root words and then add suffixes and prefixes to add different meanings. That's why words are so long.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">When Spain started to form together as a nation, the Basque people were one of the last to be conquered. When they were, they were largely left alone to do their own thing. Even now, there is a "Basque Country" which consists of 7 provinces in Spain and France. Even though Navarra is not technically a part of the Basque Country (they want it to be), Euskera is everywhere. In the United States we often have Spanish or French in our stores and on our products. Here it's Euskera and maybe Catalan or Portugese. I can always pick out Castellano (Spanish), of course, but when distinguishing the other languages, Euskera uses a lot of z's and k's, which Latin based languages really don't. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">Speaking of Catalan, the province of Catalonia is actively seeking their independence from Spain. As you probably know, Europe originally consisted of hundreds of smaller kingdoms that eventually combined into the countries that are here today. Most are content, but the regions of Catalonia, Galacia, and Vasconia (Basque Country) all want their independence. Cataluña's independence movement currently has the most force. If Spain where to lose Cataluña, they would lose all the tourist revenue earned from Barcelona. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">The Basque independent movement used to have much more power; however, they have gone through a leadership change recently and have lost a lot of the force. The independent movement was mostly comprised of Eta, which is a Basque terrorist organization. It's actually quite like a mafia. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">Eta is the reason that the University of Navarra has such strict security. There have been several bombings here. There was one in the 80's and a couple several years ago. My professor who told us this doesn't think there is any current danger because of the leadership change, but that little tidbit is certainly not advertised on the prospective student leaflets.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">I've yet to actually meet a Basque person. Well, I probably have, but I haven't met a solidly Basque person. Carmen's mother was Basque. One of my professors has a Basque last name. However, I haven't met someone who has spoken the language in front of me and who is really passionate about their heritage. I really want to meet one (or more!) before I leave. I think their history is extremely interesting and I'd love to know more about it. There's this shroud of mystery around them for me still. </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 17.59375px;">I'm sure my professors and other more knowledgable people who read my blog are cringing at all the historical mistakes I probably made. Sorry! This is just what I've come to understand over my month here. I hope that the majority of it was correct and you found this informative.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.59375px;"><br /></span>wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-34640071259027413032013-02-07T05:10:00.003-08:002013-02-07T10:06:16.163-08:00Communication Issues and Strange EncountersSo on Tuesday I wrote this glorious blog post about not having class. As it turns out, I, along with the rest of my class, was wrong about the professor not showing up.<br />
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She sent out an e-mail the day before telling us the hours for tutorial on our projects that we have to present. I read the e-mail and thought, "Great! I'll definitely go to the tutorial after class." We all went to class and the professor wasn't there. We assumed she was sick and didn't tell us or had some kind of emergency. So we left after 25 minutes of her not being there.<br />
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The same class meets the following day. The professor came in and asked us if we had gotten her e-mail. We all had gotten the one about the tutoring hours and told her this. As it turns out, the tutoring hours were DURING class, not after. I've never had a professor cancel class to do tutoring, or if they do, they're very explicit about the plans. She just sent us an e-mail saying, "Tutoring hours are 9-10:30" which is our class time.<br />
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She got frustrated with us because we didn't ask her to clarify her meaning. This reminds me of when I was having rent issues. Carmen got frustrated because I didn't ask her to clarify. I always ask to clarify if I don't understand, but you can't ask to clarify if you <i>think </i>you understand. I thought that we were going to have class and then she had open office hours for us to come in and talk to her. That's what it sounded like she said in the class before and in the e-mail. Luckily, I wasn't the only one who thought they understood so she scheduled another tutorial. I will read e-mails with more care in the future. <br />
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During my free time on Tuesday, I went downtown to look for Valentine's Day cards to send to friends back home. I thought they might like to see some Spanish ones. The only ones I found were these Hallmark Cards for lovers. I'm really confused as to why they don't have Valentine's Day cards. I understand that it's a cultural difference, but the gift-giving aspect of Valentine's Day has worked its way here. Do they give gifts without cards? Guess so. I seriously looked everywhere. I went in candy shops, stores for kids, little shops selling Valentine's gifts, and the giant department store here. Absolutely nothing. I thought about buying Christmas cards or party invitations, but I decided against it.<br />
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While I was shopping, I had my first experience of being hit on by a foreigner. It was really uncomfortable because he invited me over to his house and kept trying to get my number. I ended up lying about my age, name, where I live, made up a friend that I was going to meet, and finally made up a boyfriend just to get him to go away. Not going to lie, it kind of put me on edge for the rest of the day. There's a fine line between being cautious and paranoid. <br />
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I honestly felt like I was targeted because I'm foreign. It probably wasn't the case, but with the media being what it is today I hear so many stories. I have to admit, while I'm out alone, I'm afraid of a lot of things. I'm afraid of being cornered on the street. I'm afraid to give money to
performers or beggars for fear of being harassed for more. I'm afraid of the
vendors on the street who sell things because they get really persistent. I'm afraid of strange men
inviting me to their houses. I'm afraid of men who come up to talk to me
when I'm alone. It's probably irrational, but nonetheless, these things go through my mind. I'm a very non-confrontational person and I don't like to be mean/forceful with people. But I have to learn how to be more assertive, I suppose.<br />
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I don't think that this is a magic solution by any means, but I'm thinking about buying a large purse here that's in fashion here. I was walking around with my backpack and American purse, and it made me look like a traveler. Another guy stopped me to ask me where I was from. I don't like standing out. I've always been a behind-the-scenes person. Maybe this is good for me. Whatever the case, this experience definitely frazzled me. I found a park with Wi-Fi and skyped my mom on my phone, which calmed me down a lot. It made me realize how irrational I was being. However, as a woman, I do have to take precautions that men don't
necessarily have to take. It's not fair, but that's the way it's been
since the dawn of time. I have to walk the tightrope that separates paranoia with being smart. <br />
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To clarify, I am certainly not afraid all of the time. Most of the time I'm fine. It's just sometimes when I'm downtown, I get wary when people approach me and I'll get edgy. Especially when they come up from behind me. Plus, I have a very overactive imagination. However, I'm going to follow the British slogan: keep calm and carry on.wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-3137255552261819682013-02-05T01:17:00.001-08:002013-02-05T01:18:10.964-08:00When the professor skips class...The professor didn't show up to my class this morning. Rather than going home, I decided to hang out around town. There are some things I want to buy and I know that if I go back home I'll just lay in bed. Which is nice, but I'd rather get things done. <br />
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At the moment, I'm sitting a café listening to Taylor Swift, Usher, and basically the top 20 radio of the US. Kind of strange being in Spain hearing American music playing. Anyway, I got a cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and fresh squeezed orange juice--which is the most delicious thing ever. They cost €2.60 Euros, which is quite good. Now I've got the Spanish version of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies (it's a post-apocalyptic novel that I read in high school) and I'm going to read a bit. After that, I'm going to go shopping. <br />
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There aren't Wal-Marts here, but there are little Chinese stores that sell commodities for very low costs. I think this is better than Wal-Mart, because I actually can buy from the Chinese. <br />
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Yesterday, Carmen showed me the library that is in our area. She told me that this one is much smaller than the main one, but it has books and movies that I can check out if I don't want to walk as far (the other is a 30 min walk). Well, we approached this really large building and I was confused because she said the library was small. <br />
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We walked in and I saw a museum. There was art-work hanging on the walls and sculptures. She lead me over to the stairs and a blast of chlorine hit my nose. Carmen laughed at my expression when I asked her if there was a pool. It's apparently the multipurpose building for our zone of the city. The basement has a pool, the main floor is an art exhibition, and the top is a library. So basically all of my favorite things.<br />
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I don't have class until 2:15, so I have to make it somewhat productive. I wish I could just finish all of them at once, but I'll figure out how to pass the time. Carmen usually goes out and deadlocks the door, which my key doesn't work on. I would ask if I could come back today, but again I want to be semi-productive. I'm enjoying bumming around town. <br />
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<br/><br/><div class="separator"style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadfRzTUm3OZTYH8TIiNZ9ApRPuaruhOV5vVFX-AIMOCZq34YUHdVkG9jIOWuep_fFdSxpsjx86pEOhX7DYADqgxssWpw6xMOa3L9WkUf5rAGnqeYhYQ9JB5_diASlMsuhKczSzd-5-pw/s640/blogger-image-1922857280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiadfRzTUm3OZTYH8TIiNZ9ApRPuaruhOV5vVFX-AIMOCZq34YUHdVkG9jIOWuep_fFdSxpsjx86pEOhX7DYADqgxssWpw6xMOa3L9WkUf5rAGnqeYhYQ9JB5_diASlMsuhKczSzd-5-pw/s640/blogger-image-1922857280.jpg" /></a></div>wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-65479571890399128372013-02-03T07:30:00.000-08:002013-02-03T07:44:43.075-08:00Festival de San Blas Before I talk about the festival, I'm going to tell you a little more about my weekend. I didn't do very much because it rained all day Saturday, but I'll talk about what I did do.<br />
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Friday, I met up with a friend of Monica's to talk Spanglish with. She also brought along her son, who is about my age. They were both extremely nice and we went to a coffee shop and talked for an hour or so. We spent the first part talking in Spanish and the second part in English. I think the Spanish part went over better. I think it's hard for Spanish people to understand my American and quasi-Southern accent. I tried to talk slowly, but it was easier for me to say something in Spanish and them respond in English. </div>
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It was funny how chill the mom was about her son's partying. He told me that he was really tired because he had been up late drinking with friends. I looked at her expression and she was just smiling and had this kind of "oh, young people" look on her face. As awesome as my mom is, she definitely would not be like that if I were out late drinking. </div>
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I was planning on going to a Spanish book club meeting afterwards, but I checked Facebook for to verify the time and place and realized that they had changed the time. It's harder for me to read their online Spanish because it's more colloquial, so I had missed that fact. Ah, communication.<br />
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Speaking of communication, Carmen and I had a problem with the rent payment. I had to pay her a deposit before coming here to secure my place. That deposit will either be returned to me when I leave or I can use it to pay for my last month. I didn't understand that until Friday. I thought that the deposit I paid was the rent for January, so I thought I was good until then. A few weeks ago, she kept asking me about the rent and so I was really confused why. I paid her and just thought I'd paid early for February. Nope! I had actually paid her for January.<br />
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Well, Friday was the 1st so she expected a payment. However, I thought I was good until March. When she asked me about the rent, I was really confused. She explained it to me, using different means until I actually understood. I was close to tears. She wasn't angry, but kind of frustrated and exasperated that I hadn't asked her to clarify before then. I didn't because I thought I understood. I hate disappointing people. So, after meeting with Monica's friend, Carmen and I went to my bank's atm and withdrew what I could for that day, since I have a debit card with a maximum withdrawal per day. I paid her the rest the next day.<br />
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On Saturday, I went downtown with Carmen to run errands with her. She had to return a sweater, I had to buy a bus ticket and pay the rest of my rent, and she had to buy food. We went to two marketplaces. The first was one that I hadn't been to with her before and the second was the one we went to last time. </div>
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The first market was obviously a newer building than the other. It blended with the city well, but it wasn't as pretty on the inside. It had two levels. Carmen went shopping and let me look around. I went downstairs and discovered this group of performers who were making their way upstairs. I followed them and got up really close. I'm linking the video I made. </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-5zZ4tCmBq8" width="560"></iframe>
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Two of the people performing live in our building, according to Carmen. In the video, it's hard to see the band but they had trumpets, saxophones, trombones, a couple baritones, and some other instruments I didn't recognize. There are several saxophone features, which made me think of my brother, Hank, who plays saxophone. The dances performed are typical of Navarra. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIPic8WIs8gy27kXP5y4NH_8Ka1XY0BsXEyfS6TpmI8jyWCKdvZGCgDXweRDoxG2ieD6JZ0CjZvjJgGMVmbRC48pwbzGwxPeZuBzieO_fpro2CEhzu4plYmcw2p8ZCDmpcXV9adFbODM/s1600/IMG_1824.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrIPic8WIs8gy27kXP5y4NH_8Ka1XY0BsXEyfS6TpmI8jyWCKdvZGCgDXweRDoxG2ieD6JZ0CjZvjJgGMVmbRC48pwbzGwxPeZuBzieO_fpro2CEhzu4plYmcw2p8ZCDmpcXV9adFbODM/s320/IMG_1824.jpg" width="240" /></a>The performance in the video for Pamplona's Carnaval, or at least I think it was. I think Carnaval happens several times a year here. Today, Sunday, was a festival for San Blas. I'm learning little by little about this Catholic run nation, so forgive my ignorance. If I understand correctly, each day has a saint as well as every church. Today, for whatever reason, they have a festival for San Blas, "san" meaning saint. Carmen didn't know the reason for it. I guess it's just a tradition and after while you forget the original reason for it.<br />
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My Catholic friends (you know who you are) likely know much more about this than I do. I apologize for what I get wrong. All cathedrals have images of Christ and Mary; however, each has their own patron saint. There is one for San Fermin, the patron of Pamplona and the namesake for the "Running of the Bulls" festival. The festival for San Blas takes place outside of his church and they hold mass in honor of him throughout the day.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjha1x6BsVtsxBphBfM_CTs7h1HRFS9dDxUwiq95kdwEAhSzdlFsLPjc-ly-_ytHrXg9OHMQ4fDn1Vzi4CbTc6WBWXdK8WSo50wNhHLAgsigb9Rt0xPTQbcwScqwp6GQIZVTPgl7gYExUs/s1600/IMG_1822.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjha1x6BsVtsxBphBfM_CTs7h1HRFS9dDxUwiq95kdwEAhSzdlFsLPjc-ly-_ytHrXg9OHMQ4fDn1Vzi4CbTc6WBWXdK8WSo50wNhHLAgsigb9Rt0xPTQbcwScqwp6GQIZVTPgl7gYExUs/s320/IMG_1822.JPG" width="320" /></a>We went inside the church, which was ridiculously packed, and it was at the tail-end of a mass. They served communion and it was just amazing to hear the story of the last supper in Spanish. You kind of forget after a while that what we say is a translation of Jesus' Aramaic or Hebrew and therefore it's the same it other languages as well. Of course, I knew all this, but it's just different to see it in practice. I didn't take the communion for two reasons. One, it was really crowded, and, two, I don't think I'm supposed to because I'm not Catholic. Catholics believe the bread and wine is converted into the literal body and blood of Christ and since I don't <span style="text-align: right;">believe that, </span><br />
<span style="text-align: right;">I don't think I'm supposed to take it. </span><br />
<span style="text-align: right;">I've heard one of my really good friends who's </span><br />
<span style="text-align: right;">Catholic say that. Right, Katie? </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDxRmivPiE7CJ9LNm4YQv9eo6GORNxImZ0dxZZ7ahylHwomdAXw8Lka2mnE2zSgltZLTJT3YPpQCzBZ7Inp2uGC9QFd2b5EfiLt2pI75ZBuiFfRdzI7X8Bb70F2kJfUjxCdmjB9XQZBU/s1600/IMG_1819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqDxRmivPiE7CJ9LNm4YQv9eo6GORNxImZ0dxZZ7ahylHwomdAXw8Lka2mnE2zSgltZLTJT3YPpQCzBZ7Inp2uGC9QFd2b5EfiLt2pI75ZBuiFfRdzI7X8Bb70F2kJfUjxCdmjB9XQZBU/s320/IMG_1819.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
Carmen and I went downtown and vendors were all set up in front of the church of San Blas. They were selling all sorts of things. There are specific sweets for this day as well. The most popular are the "roscos," which sort of like a donut but smaller. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA_CnM-NXCxWCbv9gbGJ5ZE0A6CCM3MalpUAeOrfAiHZx-7aa_f2C9xJzvLzNETVX7Wxs38toNindWWISAZe2mczWLqN6ylQsafPy30X0unvkATGYH-yyh9wR_j4XisMwTSON3LFsEO0/s1600/IMG_1817.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA_CnM-NXCxWCbv9gbGJ5ZE0A6CCM3MalpUAeOrfAiHZx-7aa_f2C9xJzvLzNETVX7Wxs38toNindWWISAZe2mczWLqN6ylQsafPy30X0unvkATGYH-yyh9wR_j4XisMwTSON3LFsEO0/s320/IMG_1817.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
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Unfortunately, we didn't stay very long because it was really cold and windy. However, I caught a nice glimpse of a Spanish festival.<br />
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The candy that you see hanging from the stalls reminded me a lot of "Ring-Pops." I don't know what they're actually called, but I call them "ring-bracelets" because essentially that's what they are. They also sold rings on a stick. Whichever you prefer, I suppose. The kids were just holding the ring bracelets and not actually wearing them. Silly kids.<br />
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Later today, Carmen and I are going to make torrijas (pronounced "tor-ee-has"), which are absolutely delicious. She made me some for my birthday and makes them every once in a while. This time she's going to teach me. She makes them whenever she has to much bread and it's going to go bad. Kind of like when we have too many bananas so we make banana bread. The torrijas remind me of the delicious french toast my dad used to make me when I was younger. Hint, Dad, you should make me some when I come home.<br />
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Well, that's my weekend in a nutshell!<br />
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Oh, if the video above for whatever reason didn't work, here's the link: <a href="http://youtu.be/-5zZ4tCmBq8">http://youtu.be/-5zZ4tCmBq8 </a><br />
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wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3473692877441701825.post-30915315971976901432013-01-31T12:13:00.000-08:002013-01-31T12:13:01.396-08:00A little bit of Corn Pops goes a long wayThe other day at breakfast, Carmen decided to shake things up and give me cereal. Sounds normal, right? Well, she gave it to me in a saucer dry--no milk. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to do. So, I asked her for milk and she told me that the saucer wouldn't hold milk. I told her that I like milk with my cereal, thinking that maybe they eat it dry in Spain or just in her family. She proceeds to go to the stove and warm me up a mug of milk.<br />
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I must have looked confused, because she said, "We must not be understanding each other." So I asked her how she normally eats her cereal. She told me that she doesn't eat cereal, but Aran puts her cereal in her hot milk (except Aran normally eats it with Cola-Cow--their version of hot chocolate). It was actually quite tasty, but it was very confusing--especially in my befuddled morning state. It's fun to eat the cereal and then be able to drink the milk, in a socially acceptable way. I love drinking the milk after I eat cereal, but in front of other people it's not exactly the best manners to drink out of a bowl. <br />
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For the past few days now, I've asked for cereal in the morning. It's amazing the difference in adding cereal to one's breakfast. Even though the cereal at the present is Corn Pops, that extra food lasts for so much longer. I think it's also the milk, because it's so rich and creamy. Probably really fattening, but it feels me up so I don't really worry about it. Hopefully all the walking balances it out. <br />
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Another culture shock problem I've been having is my class schedule. I normally have class at 8:30 am or 9:00 am and my last class ends around 2:30-3:45, depending on the day. First off, it's really hard to go that long with just a bit of toast and coffee (and now cereal) for breakfast. I normally bring a snack, which only abates the hunger a little. Secondly, I usually have breaks between classes that last several hours. Carmen goes out in the morning to go shopping and deadlocks the door. My key won't work on the deadlock, so I can't go home. I could ask her to leave it open, but the breaks make me be productive so normally I do whatever homework I have. Often times though, I don't have very much to do so I wander around campus or Pamplona. I just feel like I waste so much time. I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually.<br />
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I visited Carmen's friend Monica again yesterday. We had a lovely chat. She offered to ask some of her friends if they know of anyone who'd like an English person to talk with their children. A lot of her friends have grandchildren so maybe at least one family will want me!<br />
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We also talked about the drinking age in the US and how it can be problematic. In her building, they have an apartment of people from the United States who live there. Monica says that they are extremely nice during the week and often help her with her bags or hold the door open for her. However, during the weekend, it´s a "transformation." They hold raucus parties at all hours of the night and are drunk all the time. She said that they think it's normal in Spain to have house parties and be intoxicated. In reality, many people go out to bars and discoteques; however, people don't have late night house parties out of respect to the neighbors. After all, sound really carries in these apartment buildings. <br />
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I must admit, I kind of thought partying was the norm here. Then I realized that the impression I get of the Spanish has come from other international students who know just about as much as I do. The misconceptions are very interesting. I thought I saw the proof when I went to the part of the city where people party. It seemed like the whole city was out there because it was absolutely packed and there were people of all ages. I didn't know what to make of it. To a small-town girl where the only nightlife is fraternity parties, it definitely seemed like everyone was there. I'm relieved to know that there is more to Spanish culture than sleeping and partying because, if that were the case, the culture would be very shallow indeed.<br />
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Alcohol is just a normal part of culture here. People have a glass of wine with lunch and dinner and don't think anything about it. Monica said the word "prohibition" and it made me think. We had a strict prohibition a while ago, but in a way we're still in one. Our alcohol laws are very strict compared with other countries. And why? I really don't know. Maybe if they weren't so strict, we wouldn't have as much of a binge drinking problem. Just some food for thought.<br />
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So I went to the library the other day by myself. Why is that cool? Well, it was the first place that I have been able to get back to without help from another person or using a map. Carmen showed me where it was once and I found it on my own the next time. I didn't take a wrong turn or anything! It's still hard for me to find my house sometimes. Maybe I have a library tracker in my brain or something.<br />
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My main reason for going to the library was to return a couple DVDs I had checked out in Spanish. I've been reading <i>Los Juegos de Hambre </i>in Spanish on the Kindle my grandma lent me and so I decided I'd look to see if I could find the sequel. Well I found it all right, but it wasn't in Spanish. It was in Euskera, the Basque language. I can't read that!<br />
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The Basque are the people who've lived here for centuries, before the Spanish came into the picture. I guess kind of like our Native Americans. There is a region of Spain called the Basque Country, or País Basco, and it stretches from part of northern Spain to part of southern France. Navarra (Pamplona's region) isn't actually in the Basque Country, but there are many Basque people here. The second language on most anything in the city is in Euskera.<br />
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Back to the library, in the absence of a Spanish version of <i>Catching Fire,</i> I checked out the second Harry Potter book and a Scott Westerfeld novel that I read back in high school. I also picked up <i>Easy A</i> to watch in Spanish. I watched that last night. I learned a lot of Spanish insults from that movie.<br />
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There's this part in <i>Easy A</i> where Emma Stone's character uses a British profanity, so in this version she used a Mexican profanity. I know this because it said it in the movie. I thought that was pretty funny. <i> </i><br />
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Wow, I think my inner old-lady showed a lot in this blog post. I've actually thought about asking Carmen to teach me a little more about knitting. All I know how to do is one type of stitching.<br />
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Anyhoo, that's kind of what I've been up to this week. Mostly classes, checking out the city, the things mentioned above, and relaxing a bit. Until next time!wonkyearringshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01248289359050640371noreply@blogger.com1