On my way to the airport

Ana was the sweetest and offered to give me a ride to the airport. She will be here in about 10 minutes

I DONT BELIEVE THIS. Im leaving. Im leaving.

Goodbye Madrid. See you soon America.

I hate packing

I put off packing all day yesterday, and since the 65 degree weather ruined our pool day, I might as well start now. My fingers are crossed that it warms up tomorrow (its supposed to be 85) and we can spend our last full day here lounging in the sun by the pool. --This is not what it looks like... its my carefully strategized technique to avoid reverse culture shock and ease the transition to my weekend at the beach in Fenwick: ideally I close my eyes by the pool and when I open them, Im laying by the beach in Delaware.

I really don't know how I packed coming here. I only had one big suitcase, a duffle as my handbag and my backpack as my purse. I invested in a new big suitcase because I knew I had a few more souvineers, and a new shirt or two. But this is RIDICULOUS. I packed the new one with most of my clothes and it feels like it will be overweight, but every other bag is going to be jam packed. AND i just remembered, i still have 2 loads of laundry waiting to be done. Wednesday will be even hotter, getting up to 90, so I dont know how my backup plan of wearing as many layers of clothes as possible might not fly.

Yesterday was my goodbye lunch, and I invited my intercambio, Esmeralda, over to eat with Elivira and I. She made "arroz negro" which is a type of paella (maybe?) made with normal rice, shrimp, and calamari and it gets its black name from the squid's ink thats added. I dont think it adds any extra flavor, just looks cool. Then for dessert, she made me an apple tart :)

Today, Im going to do some more goodbyes with friends (HATE THAT). Then, the world-wide Solar Decathlon is held here in Madrid about 15 minutes away from my house. Its challenge to design sustainable houses, and they are all lined up along the river and are open to the public. After, we're going to watch Spain play Honduras-- Im repping Spain in my new Espana jersey.

Im not freaking out yet, but in less than 48 hours... more than likely.

Morocco Part Deux

A grand success and may have even topped our first trip!

Tuesday

Day 1 really begins Monday night, becase I planned to take the metro to the airport since our flight was at 6am, and my only option at that hour is a 30euro taxi ride. I get to my last transfer point a little late and the last train was pulling in for the night- aka my only option was once again to take a taxi. So, I paid 20 euros to sleep on the cold airport floor. wonderful start! Funny thing is Alex who was meeting me at the airport missed her transfer too and had to take a cab. Luckily there was hardly anyone on our flight (duh it was 6am) so we got a whole row each to sleep. We arrived at the bus station in Marrakesh late, once again, and missed the bus to Azilal, a town 3 hours away where we would meet up with our friend, Blake. I guess we looked dumbfounded standing in the middle of the station, and a man aproached us about a taxi, we asked how much it would be to Azilal, and the 25euros each that he quoted us was definitely the tourist scam price. After failed attempts to bargain, we tried to lose the guy and ask around to other drivers, but he kept intervening and apparently telling the drivers in Berber that we were going with him. We called Blake to see if his unmarked "cab" was legit even though he had a little paper that said tourist license on it "proving" himself. (Still not sure if he was legit, but I wouldnt put it past Morocco). We got in, and were off for Azilal. About 1 hour into the ride and started seeing signs for Azilal I felt a little better- all I could think was that he was gonna drop us off in the middle of nowhere and refuse to return us until we paid 500 euros or something. The driver was actually sweet and only spoke French, so Alex whipped out some incredible French detection and decoded his words. (She doesnt speak French btw). We got to Azilal in 2 hours, instead of 3, and met up with Blake and his friend Isabel at the bus station. We headed for lunch first thing and got my favorite, tagine. (So much better than the "Moroccan food" they had in Granada). Right after we headed to the market to pick up ingredients for dinner because Blake would be cooking at his house tonight. Im a sucker for any type of market- theyre always so cool. It was insane too, all the ingredients (minus what he had in his house cost less than 1$). We took a cab to Blake's site, about 30 min outside of the town. It was beautiful!!! There's a huge lake with bright blue/green water surrounded by mountains. His house is really cute too with its pink walls, a apricot tree out front and quite rustic decor. We all hung out, ate some delicious watermelon, played bananagrams, and then set out for the lake to watch the sun set. The hike = scaling down a nearly vertical dry, pebbly mountain. I slipped, and have a nice battle wound souvineer on my elbow! After drooling over the gorgeous lake, we hiked back up to Blake's house for some mac and cheese and fench-fries, moroccan/mounatin-style, and then slept with the family of lizards that live in the roof.

Wednesday

We packed up all of our stuff and headed down to the road where Blake's landlord/fisherman/taxi driver would be taking us to Ozoud for the day. We stpped in Azilal and I got my first avocado shake of the trip. MY FAV= avocado, milk, sugar, blend to perfection. Once in Ozoud, we only have to walk for 5 minutes before we are at the very top of the falls, so our first view is looking straight down, inches from the edge of the cliff. It was breathtaking. The plan was to hike down one side, cross the river and hike back up to the top again. On the way down, we stopped to hang out with a posse of wild monkeys. It was sooo cool (evethough they tried to attack Alex and me).

Then, we stopped at a cafe at overlooked the falls for our picnic lunch with the best moroccan bread Ive ever had, fresh dates, and laughing cow cheese (haha its EVERYWHERE). We reached the water below, and crawled out to a rock in the center and chilled with with our feet in the water for over an hour. We hiked back up the mountain, and stopped for another posse of monkeys. These guys were a little tamer, so we hand-fed them peanuts. One stuffed his cheeks so fat, he couldnt fit anymore and started piling up his fits. Those monkeys loved us. We left Ozoud and headed back to Azilal, where Alex and I had to say goodbye to Blake and Isabel and take a 3 hour bus to Marrakech. That turned out to be a 5 hour, terribly miserable bus ride. We arrived in Marrakech at 11:30 pm and make the sketchy walk to the town center instead of getting into sketchy cabs. Dont worry, I had my pepper spray in hand the whole time. We were starving, so it was 1000 times better when we say the smoke and lights from Jemma-Fna! We went to the same stand to eat that we went on our first night in Morocco the last time with Blake, Joe and Brian (fyi there are over hundreds to choose from!). I found my way back to the hostel we stayed at last time, good old Sindi Sud, and luckily the doors were still open at 12:30. We paid 2.5euro and got to sleep on the rooftop terrace with little mats and blankets. The guy asked us if we were in the Peace Corps, cause I guess theyre the only ones what do it/know about it- so we calimed we're "friends of the peace corps" haha. It was a surreal ending to a wonderful day. It was a good night's sleep until the call of prayer from the mosque woke us up at dawn.

Thursday

If it wasn't cool enough to fall asleep on the terrace, waking up realizing I was on the rooftops in Marrakech was pretty cool. We started our day shopping in the market for a few souvineers I had left to get and lost ourselves for 2 hours in there. Its a freaking black hole- the precursor to the casino, for sure. I restrained myself and only bought myself some sweet cereal bowls. We had a run-in in the tea shop where the man stuffed a bag of black seeds up my nose because he said it cures athsma and hangovers. Luckily, Im still alive. When you walk down the markets, they shout at you in 15 different languages to attract you to their shop. Too many of them know English, so we decided to try talking to each other in Spanish to see what would happen. Sure enough, they all switched to shouting "hola" and instead of the stereotypical things they shout in
English that they hear from movies, we heard, "Juan?", "Maria?" haha. After we finally escaped the clutches of the market, it was time to be responsable and start studying for my exam the next morning. We went to a rooftop cafe and had avocado smoothie number 2 (yum, even better than the last one)! ...I think we spent over half of our time in Marrakech on the tops of buildings because then we ate lunch up there too. We made some last minute purchases before heading to the airport which included the always difficult task of choosing one OJ stand out of the 25 that line the square and sell the exact same thing for the exact same price. We decided on one guy hard at work, meticulously slicing his oranges. Turned out to be key and he let us take a picture up in his stand and refilled our glasses! Then we got to the airport and were so upset to leave until we realized it would be our last few days in Madrid, and made the blow a little less hard.

Success

Waking up and almost getting on the metro an hour early to go to the huge outdoor market in Madrid, el Rastro, this morning, was a bad start, but the day quickly got better. First, it wasnt raining like it had been for the past 4 days, so that was even enough for me. Alex and I got there right when Rastro opened for prime shopping, but we forgot Spain never opens on time, especially in the mornings... although there were SOME stands waiting for us at 9am. We got almost everything we came for in about 2.5 hours-- except the prints I saw last time (they were really cool sketches of Madrid landmarks from the early 1900s that I was planning to paint for some wall art). I planned to get home around noon so that I could get home to start cooking the big lunch I planned for Elvira, but Alex was meeting up with our friend, Santa, and I decided to join (Im not trying to be cute, thats her name guys). Her grandpa owns a bar nearby and invited us over for a drink and to meet her family. We walked in and everyone behind the counter was either and aunt, uncle, cousin, or brother, and they hooked us up with a ton of tasty tapas. That wasn't even the best part- Santa's grandpa walks in and for the next hour was chatting it up with us- telling us love is the most important thing in the world (he's got 7 children), how beautiful life is, and that the essence of life is communication. He was the most energetic, passionate, and entertaining 81 year old Ive ever met. So much so, we lost track of time, and I got home way later than I planned to start cooking... at least everything starts late here, right?

I somehow became efficient at cooking today and finished everything right on time. The burgers literally came out of the oven right as Elvira's daughter, and her boyfriend were walking in the door from their walk! Everything came out really well, and they all enjoyed it. Elvira loved the sweet potato fries, Ruben had 2 burgers, and everyone thought the name s'more was funny when I explained what it meant-- they kept saying s'more throughout the meal haha.

And of course I make sure an obscene amount of pictures were taken:

Tying the Loose Ends

In the same day, around noonish, I saw a woman in a bright orange jumpsuit (jail-style) running to catch the metro...sketchy, and then in Callao Plaza, a dwarf was riding a razor scooter. Im going to miss this crazy place!

Today was a day of premature wrapping-up. sad... but notable things were accomplished

A. Made a last trip to La Mallorquina- the best pastries in the entire country. The Chocolate Nepolitanos are soo good. I took my mom when she visited and she can back me up on that one. It wasnt so busy today, being a Thursday morning and all, and we got a seat upstairs by the window overlooking Puerta de Sol. It was perfect.

B. If you remember my wifi rant...I decided to brave El Corte Ingles in Callao to see if the blogs ive read are true- that theres a great cafe on the top floor with great views of the city. So True!!! Although, this is a fancy-ish restaurant- like wine glasses are already on the tables, cloth napkins, and waiters in suits-- so fancier than your average cafe study spot. We felt bad tricking them into serving us and then whipping out the study materials, so we asked and they even gave us the big round table with a stellar view of the entire city. The rain dropplets on the glass window made taking a picture really difficult, so youll just have to check it out for yoursevles :)

C. Tomorrow we're going to El Escorial, about 45 outside of the city- the palace built by King Felipe II. Its gonna be cool after studying him in my history class here. He was so mysterious and brilliant- in church, his seat was behind a curtain, that had a full-time curtain operator to periodically reveal the king, so people would never know if the king was present or not. He designed the throne room using an optical illusion to make himself seem imposing and huge, and was famous for sending congratulations and get well cards, so it seemed as if he knew everything. Nerd alert, I know.

Barcelona

Saturday

I got on the metro when it opened at 6am as people were coming home from partying the night before. Renee and I were worried about finding each other at the airport since we were already crushed for time, but we ended up running into each other on the way on the metro! Our flight was RyainAir, so we had to fly into Girona, a little over an hour outside of Barcelona, so it was a metro, flight, and then bus ride to a city just a few hours away by car. We arrived around noon and found our hostel which was perfectly located and really nice- spiral marble staircase?! We decided the first thing to do was explore and found 2 of Gaudi's buildings plus his La Sagrada Familia. We only saw them from the outside, and they were incredible. Also went to my first Subway in Spain... the bread/Subway smell reminded me of home haha. We decided the day was too perfect not to be at the beach, so we went to the closest beach, Barceloneta, and squeezed in between piles of people. The beach was dirty with slabs of rock (not nice smooth rocks, like jagged pieces of ancient ruins) and trash :( There were people selling you either beer, slices of coconut, or massages and yelling as they passed by every second. It was really annoying, except for the guy who was balancing a HUGE tray of donuts on his head dancing around the beach blankets. The sun went in, and so we walked up La Rambla- the main street with vendors (including pigeon sellers. ew) and stopped into the huge outdoor market, La Boqueria. I knew Id love it. We got a smootie and a wrap, the perfect ending to a beach-day. After going back to the hostel, we met up with out friends from Gtown and Comillas (Amy, Victor, Tony, and Erica) to go out for the night. We went to the famous Chupitos bar famous for their creative shots, and I got the PopRocks, which not surprisingly involved a chaser of PopRocks. yum. We went to the clubs on the beach, but since it was so late, a lot were closing and we ended up hanging out on the beach.

Sunday

Renee and I were dead set on a full beach day so at 9am, we dragged ourselved out of bed and got ready. We were halfway through breakfast when we looked outside and noticed the rain!!! It was only 9:30, so we hoped it would clear up-- it didnt :( We said goodbye to Amy and went to see the inside of the Gaudi building, Casa Batllo. I was skeptical with the 14 euro entrance fee, but it was incredible. Here are come pictures. My friend described it as a mixture of Alice in Wonderland and Dr. Seuss. We headed to a Japanese restaurant for lunch- my failed sushi attempt number 2 and Ive decided they make the rice sweet, which is what makes it taste weird... cant wait for Asia Express! We bought an umbrella from the hostel and walked in the rain to Guell Park, a park designed by Gaudi, originally only for the upper class turned public park by the city. It was so cool too. Really good views of the city and the closest Ive felt to wandering candyland (minus the candy). We met up with Erica, Tony, and Victor in the "grotto" part of the park and hung out until they had to catch their flight home. After they left, Renee and I picked up some McDonalds (weirdest McD's trip: a coffee AND donut is 20 cents less than just a coffee, and Id been waiting all semester for them to start serving gazpacho, so I finally asked when theyd start serving and they said theyve always had it (its NOT on the menu), so I tried it and its a popular Spain brand, not a McD original...probably for the best) We took our picnic and rented a blanket from the hostel to Mountjuic to see the "magic fountain show". Every night the big fountain on the top of the mountain has a show with water formations timed to music and light effects. It was neat. That night, we were determined to go out even though it was a Sunday night. We wandered for 2 hours before finding out the other location of Chupitos was closed for a national holiday that was on Thursday! (of Spain and your ridiculous number of holidays)

Monday

We checked out of the hostel, ready to finally head to the beach for the day. We stopped by La Boqueria to get some fruit to snack on on the beach. Remembering how bad the beach from Saturday was, we decided to take the risk to go to a random metro stop by the sea in hopes it would be better. We decided the "lacuna" stop sounded like laguna and thus would be a great beach. Preppared for disappointment, the beach turned out to be wonderful.- it was big, clean, with only about 15 locals on the whole beachfront, and no roaming vendors. The sun even stayed out the whole time. perfection. We walked to the Born neighborhood for lunch and took out friends' suggestion for a pizzeria for lunch. It was deliciousssss. Our plan was to go back to the beach for an hour before we had to head to the airport, but there was no time, so we went to the hostel, got our stuff, and made it to the bus station just in time. Once at the Girona airport, there was a great sunny terrace outside, and we prepared for our flight home and planned the few days we have left in Madrid.

Verdict: Barcelona is such a beach city with people from all over, it doesn't really feel like Spain. But some things its got, that Madrid is lacking: beach and Gaudi's touch.

Aftermath: Today Renee and I were still craving sun, so we spent all day in Retiro Park with friends.

3 weeks = 3 minutes

Time is going by tooo fast. In between finals, traveling, and enjoying the warm weather, Im not sure where the time is going. This past week I had my 2nd and 3rd (of 5) finals. I wouldnt say I aced them, but Im thinking and really hoping I passed.

Tomorrow I leave at 6am to catch our plane to Barcelona. Its a little ridiculous that we are flying, since its millimeters away on the map, but they revamped the train system in Spain, so you can get there by train 2 hours slower than flying and pay 4x as much....so Im flying. It will be my first experience with Europe's notoriously cheap, strict (with baggage requirements), and problematic airline- RyanAir. My fingers are crossed that everything goes smoooothly. We will meet some friends there and come back Monday night.

Next week is my last "free week" to say goodbye to friends leaving, hopefully visit El Escorial- Felipe II's palace outside of Madrid, and go to the pool!!! Next weekend, Ive got my cooking expo with the Spanish friends' picnic and my host mom's thank you/goodbye dinner. Then, the following week is an exam, Morocco, exam- sandwich.

Then 4 precious days...

I wont be here Sunday, but happy bicentennial, mother :) Enjoy the crabs and the beach.

A little gross and a lot of delicious

Friday: went to a bullfight. why? I figured it would be a good idea to go once in my life. Now i can judge it-- yes it's still terrible and I dont see other people's "artistic appreciation". The killing at the end isn't even the worst part- although it is pretty bad (especially the first of the 6 bulls they had to stab repeatedly because the toreador sucked and couldnt do it in one swift jab). Before the final kill, the bull is taunted around the pin and then the 4 or 5 helpers take their little spears and prance around the bull and then stab him in the back to weaken him for the final "dance" wth the toreador. It was even more disgusting than I thought it would be. I left during the intermission and the ticket man asked me as I was leaving, "aww did you cry for the bulls." (I definately was not crying) Ew- give me a break. Some things that were cool about it: 1. the stadium "plaza de ventas" is really old and cool. The seating is slabs of concrete and there are no walk-ways: every seat is just row after row, so your feet are behind someone's back. Also there's a special section for the royal family... no one was in there though :( 2. the audience interaction is interesting. A lot of the people who go are really into the bull fights and know all of the technique, so to show the footing of the toreador is too simplistic or if he is standing too far away from the bull, the crowd whistles- a socially acceptable "boo".

Saturday: We had the goodbye dinner with the program. I cant beleive people are starting to go home! We went to a fancy-ish restaurant and had an incredible Spanish meal. First, 100 appetizers, then the paella was reallllly good. Each person had a crab, mini lobster, skrimps, and the rest of the ocean on their plate. heaven. Family, you'd be proud of the crab-opening lessons I gave. Although they were about 2 inches long, so not so good (Reason #8 to come home *HINT*). And for dessert- dried fruit and ice cream. Ever eaten a dried orange? Theres peel and everything.

Sunday: Little bit of studying and Lots of park with Esmeralda.

Today: Lots of studying :( ...ok 4 days til Barcelona.... :)

Cooking:Reason 1 of 7 to Come Back

After attending a required seminar on "reverse culture shock: re-entry into the united states", and found the advice pretty useless, I decided to take matter into my own hands and deal with the inevitable disappointment the best way i know how- making a list. I'm thinking of the little things that Im looking forward to at home. So far the list is fairly short:

• free texting
• minimal overt prostitution
• no school
• Ocean City
• no smoking in public buildings
• COOKING

I cannot wait to... 1. choose what I eat instead of the (admittedly exciting) surprise of what is waiting for me every night for dinner. My host mom has pulled out some doozies over the past few months i.e. mayonnaise with vegetables (and not the other way around) or boiled zucchini filled with hardboiled egg, gogi berries, and vineagar... there have been a lot of non-gross things too. Aside from previus rampages on cupcakes and bagels, Im currently obsessing over grilled food. Id literally take anything grilled (almost). I dream about the smokey charred barbeque flavor. yummm.

2.Cook the things I want. Im taking full advantage of the opportunity to cook while im here and make a "thank you" dinner for my host mom and daughters (yes, this invitation includes baby Tomas too) I tried to think of an American menu, but at the same time, nothing too boring or fast-foody. Ive decided on the following:

Turkey burgers with a mango avocado salsa* Side of spiced sweet potato fries* Summer cucumber and tomato salad* S'mores (microwaved-style unfortunately)

...As you can expect, Im beyond excited. Next, Im going to exploit the inexposure of my spanish friends to peanut butter. Some have tried it (and not liked it) and other are afraid. (They compared the strangeness of a spanish favorite to PB&Js: melon with ham on top.) I am thinking they have just not tried the appropriate proportions of PB to J, so im organizing a picnic in the park where ill bring mini pbj and grilled cheese sandwiches for my little cultural experiment. Yeah- it isnt much of cooking, but it's the closest im going to get, so ill take it.

According to my hosing agreement we are provided with breakfast and dinner, and no "kitchen rights" aka no cooking....but of course ive eased into it :) STAGE1: no cooking, occasional sandwhich assembly STAGE2: salads which involve chopping on the cutting board STAGE3: Elvira bought be stove-top oatmeal which meant it was socially acceptable to use the stove to boil stuff. And in 2 or 3 weeks when I make Elvira's thank you dinner, Ill have progressed into full-fledged cooking mode.

3. Im especially excited to return home to try out the recipes Ive accumulated on my travels. I have a Moroccan soup recipe from the peace corps friends we met there, a paella recipe from my intercambio's mom, and then I told Elvira that I will be stealing a wole box of recipes from her before I leave-- she is the queen of soups. Im really regretting not getting the recipes from the Chinese family that hosted me for dinner one night while I was there!!!

"Hiking"

My definition of hiking: walking up an incline in a moderately- strenuous fashion; usually done on a mountain.

The program's definition of hiking: We took a bus from Moncloa to the mountains outside of the city (the same ones I hiked in February in the snow). We get there, and continue to drive up the mountain. We are let off at a rest stop for a 20 minute pre-hiking bathroom and snack break. (We left Madrid an hour ago where we just ate breakfast). Then we began our stroll DOWN the mountain, where we were informed it would all be downhill. I was bummed but figured at least Id be outside in the sun. And then we were informed, most of it would be in the shade. So, we began our leisurley shaded descent, and 1.5 hours later we were given our 1.5 hour lunch break. On the second half of the climb, we diverged from the mountain trial, and walked along a road (like with cars). At the end of the road, we had yet another snack break at the cafe while we waited for the bus to drive us home.
<---- The "hiking trail"

The non-hiking hiking trip highlights: saw 2 lizards, took advantage of the times we were out of the sun and got a little tan, and now Im not sore for my run tomorrow.

Park or Study? Park.

Just got a telemarketer on my spanish cellphone. Feels pretty legit.


(written at 1:30 pm on May 21)
Today is sooo nice out and I have no class cause it's Friday. This means really tough decisions: pack a picnic for the park or study for my final and do projects for next week? I just have to pass the classes....

(written at 8:30 am on May 22)
Yep, I chose outside versus homework, and am quite pleased with that decision. Yesterday was Amy's birthday, so she, Shannelie who was visiting from studying abroad in Milan, and I went to Maoz, a new (for me) vegtarian/falafal restaurant to pick up lunch and had a picnic in the park. We then walked home from the park all the way home which is like an hour walk. The walk to so uncomfortably hot, we saw an icecream shop sold ice-ees "granizados". My coffee one was unebelievably refreshing.

Then I did exactly 45 minutes of my paper.

It was another friend visiting from Georgetown's, David, last night in Madrid, so we went to chill at an outside terrace. We awkwardly waited while a table freed up and had to fight the 2 guys also lurking. Luckily a second table opened up and little blood was shed.

Today we are going "hiking" with the program. Im not really sure what this hiking will entail. All I know is it means Sunday= homework time. for real.

Dia de San Isidro: the day dedicated to cool people in Madrid

Fiesta de San Isidro is a day for Madrid to celebrate itself and how cool the people are. Seriously. The traditional costume for this holiday is called "chulapa" for girls and "chulapos" for guys, and Im not sure what the direct translation would be, but chulo=cool. To celebrate, I went to the offcial park of San Isidro (this festival one day a year gets its own park!), la Pradera de San Isidro, with Esmerelda and 3 of her friends. We got there around 12, and there were people wandering by the food stands and game tents, but not too many on the grass. We got a good spot on the hill and set up our picnic. When we left 6 hours later, the blankets next to us were overlapped with people and you couldnt see any grass anymore.

I learned some good new card games, and learned that there is such a thing as a Spanish deck of cards. Instead of the Queen, its a caballero, there are no numbers 8 and 9, and instead of the 4 suits, they have gold, cups, swords, and clubs. This whole time I thought a deck of cards was a standardized concept- ahhhh my world has shifted. Anyway hilarious playing poker with Spanish people because they pronounce the ace = "ass". So phrases like "ass is high" or "pair of asses" are always funny. I looked around and all the other blanket groups around us were playing cards too. We were the only ones with a legit breifcase of poker chips though.

My friends' moms all made tortilla espanola to bring to the picnic. Have I shared my love for this spanish delicacy? If not, its kind of like a cross between scrambled eggs and hashbrowns in one gushy, yet perplexingly delightful, mass. Im not sure how something so simple can be so delicious-- im thinking its probably the obscene amounts of olive oil, but so ill stick with not asking.

Once we couldn't take the stupid 14 year old girl puking a few blankets over, we walked around the park. It was just like Ocean City boarwalk, with stands for crappy food, dart/basketball games to win your typical oversized suffed animal or equally exciting, a leg of ham. There was one game where your ONLY option was a pig's leg. There were about 200 legs hanging on the wall behind the targets, and it the most popular one, I meant to go back and take a picture later when there were less people, but we didn't pass by it on the walk back. Im sure that ridiculous image in your head is what it really looked like.

Almost every festival in Spain has its own pastry dedicated to it. I like trying them because 1. theyre usually really interesting and really good i.e. for Easter the french toast-like pastry or the pastry with a big chocolate egg in the center 2. they're only available for a limited time, so you feel accomplished by tasting the fleeting wonder. The rosquillas for San Isidro are a cross between a cookie and a donut and there are 2 basic varieties: "listas", or smart ones, have sugar and "tontas", or stupid ones, are plain. I really like the names :) However, the pastries themselves...so gross and so disappointing. They taste like a stale wafery cookie, and I tried a lista! ***Side note: another Spanish nickname whose translation is really cute: you know the white weed puffball things that flutter through the air... I dont even know what they are... they look like a little cotton fuzz? Well they call them "abuelitos", Grandads.

Wifi Fail

Tuesday my morning class was cancelled, so instead of sleeping in to take advantage of no 8am class, I got up and went to work on the business plan that's ruining my life. Its a minimum 50 page business plan, that's due a week earlier than I thought. So---- it has become my life this week. Anyways, on Tuesday I went to Starbucks to be extra productive.... and was with the 45 minute sessions of wifi that come with every purchase. (I don't even want to know how much money Ive invested into Starbucks by now.) When I got back from class, I opened up my laptop ready for another marathon business plan writting-sesh to find my internet wasn't working. Oh well- a good excuse to skip out on work and go out to dinner. Wednesday I normally only have a class at 4, but coincidently it was also cancelled, so I had ALL DAY to devote to this project. I made plans with friends to meet in my fav cafe which has FREE wifi (a huge rarity here) and DELICIOUS smoothies. We arrived only to find a paper sign on the door saying they were closed. Since the internet in the apartment still was broken, I had no choice but to study in a cafe with internet (50 pages in Spanish=wordreference.com=internet). So, we went to Starbucks once again to live on the 45 min sessions. I got home last night, excited to finally have internet!!! Then this morning, I had a group project- which meant.... cafe time once again. A friend knew of another cafe which has free wifi! I couldnt beleive I hadn't found it first, especially not before the wifi fisaco yesterday. So, this morning, I get to the undiscovered wifi cafe early to work before the group comes. I order and then ask if I need a code to access the internet. "Theres wifi from 4:30pm til close" WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT. Strike 3,340,203. I DO have one more place to try on my list- the huge department stores, El Corte Ingles, apparently have wifi in their cafes, but Im afraid of the disappointment...

On a happier note: Im hunting down American food for my Spanish friends as a "cultural experience". This means bagels tomorrow with Esmeralda and cupcakes on Saturday with Ana. YES! btw- Im blaming this all on last week's peanut butter downfall. I havent left completely, we are also being Spanishy: going to see Goya's tomb tomorrow morning and tomorrow night to a concert, its a guitarist from Cadiz, Carlos Chaouen.

Granada

This was our last program-sponsored trip and it was also my favorite! Friday night when we arrived after a 6 hour bus ride, we walked to the top of the town and watched la Alhambra light up as the sun went down. (So you don't have to wikipedia it: La Alhambra- Muslim palace from when the Moors were in Spain, and then later taken over by the Reyes Catolicos). For dinner, we went to an Arabic restaurant and had hummus, tagine, and couscous. The tagine was really different from the kind I had in Morocco, so it looks like ill just have to go back to Marrakech to double check. Saturday was the big sightseeing day. We started off seeing the cathedral where the Reyes Catolicos are buried- normally Im not into visiting dead people in old churches, BUT I have a history class where so far 100% has been the "power and politics" of the Catholic Monarchs, so this was cool and more appreciated knowing the background. Then, we visited historic arabic baths (similar to the functioning ones we visited later that night!!!). We spent the rest of the afternoon at la Alhambra and the Generalife gardens which were incredible. The gardens reminded me of Alice in Wonderland with a Moroccan twist:

Fun fact: a popular beer in Granada is also called La Alhambra. Kind of ironic- a beer named after a historically muslim monument.

Today was the perfect day of all my days in Spain for the arabic baths. Im not exactly sure what the difference is between that an a hammam, but we got 15 minute LEGIT back massages instead of scrub-downs. We had to get our massages in shifts, so we waited in huge hot tubs and drank tea. I have to find one in the US and/or import the idea and start my own. Sunday, it rained... seeing the trend with every other trip? So, we headed back to Madrid early.


Next Stop: Barcelona in June!

A Week in the Life of BB

MON Peanut Butter Update: I know the results are really exciting...AND drumroll..... It's strange. It tastes like natural peanut butter, but it's somehow not nearly good as I remember. I have no idea how it could taste different because it literally only has one ingredient. Maybe they use Spanish peanuts rather than American peanuts? Maybe that makes it taste worse because American peanuts are dusted with a delicious dash of salmonella?

TUES I decided to get a haircut. I'm not very loyal or attached to my hairdresser at home, so I figured NBD. I went to the hairdresser of a friend. I came out with my hair 5 inches shorter :( I admit, it does look healthier, but I feel exposed! My hair hasn't been this short in sooo long.

WED Cinco de Mayo and Renee's Birthday= all day celebration

TODAY Took Esmeralda to the only good pizza place in Madrid. I snagged a picture of the owner tossing our pizzas.

TOMORRW: GOING TO GRANADA for 3 days :)

Devolving back to the USA

So i did it. Number three on my Do not do while in Spain-list: I broke down and bought a jar of peanut butter. After holding off for over 3 months- It has happened. I thought reeses peanut butter cups that mom brought were holding me back... apparently not.

This is how it went down: I had some time to kill before tutoring today. I decided to browse the natural market next to the boys' appartment building. I spotted tasty-looking granola bars, tahini sauce that would be great for my hummus recipe, and some whole wheat pasta... but nothing was really worth getting until "pure de cacahuete" jumped off the shelf and into my hand. I was skeptical since there was no price sticker, and I was in a default-fancy natural market which means somewhere around 7euros or about $10. I looked at my watch and I still had 5 minutes to spare and did not want to spend 65 minutes playing swords with roudy little boys. So, I walked up to the counter to laugh at how ridiculously expensive the pure de cacahuete would be. She rang it up and there was no price. So, she pushed some buttons (aka Im pretty sure entered in "default price for moderately inexpensive item") and told me it would be 2.7euro. I think I heard the price started with a "2" and I was already out the door with the peanut butter in my bag.

Lesson learned: I cannot be overwhelmed with peanut butter sales and think clearly about my long term goals at the same time. Oh well- what's done is done and now my breakfast has devolved into complete americanism. Ive done away with corn flakes for Special K Redberry and now my cute little jars of apricot marmalade will be replaced with PEANUT BUTTER.

On that note: Im pretty excited for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Side note: I just re-read the label to check it out and noticed "Product of Spain." I'm a little scared now...

Georgetown Day in Madrid

To celebrate the last day of classes at Georgetown, we have an all day party on the front lawn with food, games, face paint, prizes, and of course laying out on the lawn. We decided that eventhough we're abroad, we couldn't miss the best day of the year at school. So, most of us from the program, went to Retiro park and had our own version of Georgetown Day. We brought lunch and sat outside (it was such a perfect day). We had speakers for music and I finally tried the best-advertised icecream cone Ive ever seen- Magnum. It was just as good as the ads make it seem. Then, just as everyone was leaving, my intercambio, Esmeralda, called and said she was coming to the park with all of her friends- so the party continued for another 2 hours. Finally, it was getting cold and late so Alex and I started to walk home when we were invited to drinks with some new friends. And then finally on our way home-for real this time- we passed a shoe store that was open (since its a holiday today hardly anything was open) and I got new flats. It was a great day that never ended. Though, I think Im going to end it now soon and go to sleep.

BTW- It's mother's day here tomorrow- so happy pseudo-dia de la madre, Mom.

School time

I decided that I am fascinated with the Spanish or more likely broader Europe's classroom situation. Since my university is fairly atypical in terms of Spanish universities, Im not really sure what my observations are representative of... but here we go:

• I feel like Im in high school with the way our days are structured. Although I have classes in the morning and afternoons, the normal Comillas student just goes for consecutive classes in the morning OR the afternoon. During the day, there are breaks when none of the departments have class which makes for a Reservoir-like extended passing. And, everyone goes to lunch at 2:30, meaning everyone eats together in the cafeteria. All of the students know one another in their classes since they have little freedom in picking their classes (I think they get one elective a semester and there's only one section for each class). This makes the international kids even more obvious than we already are.
• They use graph paper instead of college ruled...
• ...Unless they are taking notes during class in which case they use the white computer paper. For taking notes, it's almost like (and I wouldn't be surprised at all if it were true) they have a class devoted to note-taking in high school. Here's how it goes:

1. You must have a cute, tiny pencil pouch
2. In this pencil pouch, you must have at minimum: mini ruler, white-out, 100 different colored pens, highlighters, and regular pens
3. Your handwriting must be perfect
4. To take notes, take out way more computer paper than you think you will use
5. Write the lecture topic REALLY big at the heading
6. Start your notes halfway down the page to waste some space NOTE: you must change colors between headings and notes-notes
7. Never try to conserve space: write as far apart as possible skipping 3 finger-spaces inbetween lines, give yourself 3 inch margins on the left and right, and don't write on the back of the page
8. Change colored pens, underline and box in different colors, and highlight as often as possible NOTE: if you ever underline or box, take out that mini-ruler
9. If you receive a hand-out, highlight every word as the professor reads it
10. Dont make any mistakes, and if you do, use white-out instead of crossing anything out

This is not an exaggeration. Everyone's notes look like a non environmentally-conscious rainbow threw up in perfect order over extra long sheets of white paper.

Las Canarias

Back from 4 days of doing nothing but laying on the beach in the Canary Islands. Tuesday night in the airport wasn't too bad and there was NO ONE there. It was a ghost town, so we got our choice of sleeping spots- Starbucks couches. We got into Gran Canaria island around 11am and it was so hot out. Finally! We took a bus to the northeast shore, Las Palmas, and checked into our hostel. Then, immediately went to the beach. It was cloudy and with the wind off the ocean almost chilly, so we could only layout for an hour before we got too cold. That night we walked the entire boardwalk and took in the beatutiful coast. We had a fancy italian dinner on the boardwalk terrace.

I brilliantly suggested we swtich hostels cause I thouht we could get a better deal than the one we booked online. I found Hostel Perez, which looked a little dingier, but much cheaper, so we moved over Thursday morning. This turned out to be one of my worst ideas after we saw the "unsavory charachters" hangingout outside, got cat calls when we went into the co-owned restaurant/bar nextdoor, and worst of all realized a raspy, raging drunk man lived on the floor below us. That night when we went out for dinner, the man was screaming in his creepy voice at some woman (we're assuming because we heard a woman crying). It was really scary, but we managed to escape when we saw that he was out on his balcony. The police were at the hostel questioning him when we got back from dinner, but later when we were ready for bed, he started yelling again. ANYWAY, we spent as little time at the hostel as possible, and were on the beach all day (mom, you would have been proud, I don't think anyone but you could've lasted that long on the beach). Earlier in the day, it was cloudy and chilly, so sunscreen was not an obvious choice. By 6pm, we were completely roasted and only then realized we're pretty much on the freaking equator and the sun is insanely strong. That night, we ran along the coast on a wide sidewalk with tons of people biking, running, and walking. The ocean was soooo pretty at night. I took a freezing cold, but still very painful shower that night.

Friday morning, we checked out of the hostel from hell and stored our luggage while we spent the day on the beach- this time with ample sunscreen. (I literally used more than half of a big bottle, and still somehow got even more burned). We took some breaks from the beach this time- I really wanted a smoothie, so we found a fresh juice place. When I asked what my choices were, the guy at the counter told me there was a "house mixture of fruits", so I took the risk and got it. It was delicious! We watched the guy peel bananas, kiwis, oranges, strange melons, and more and put them into the juicer. I was in heaven. Once we finished our day on the beach, we took a bus from Las Palmas all the way to the south of the island to Playa del Ingles. We couldn't book a hostel in advance, so we figured we'd just find one when we got there. After wandering for an hour with heavy bags and no comfortable way to carry them cause my shoulders were in too much pain, we finally found an apartment complex that let us stay for the night. The place was soo nice- too bad we only used it to sleep. In our exhauastion, we signed up for a "club crawl" that we realized was a scam immediately after. Oh well. The huge pizza we had for dinner and the really good live music kind of made up for it.

Saturday we were leaving at 730pm, so we checked out of the "hotel" and spent the whole day at the beach. This one was a lot bigger than Las Canteras beach in Las Palmas, and somehow even more tolerant of nudity. They were everywhere- in the nudist sections, not in the nudist sections meaning right next to us in our section, frolicking in the ocean, standing at the snack bar... I thought Id be more used to it after 3 days on the north shore. nope. I also had enough sense to rent an umbrella today and minimized burning. On our walk along the beach, Renee spotted a Hooters, so of course we went for lunch. I don't know what beach trip would be complete without a trip to Hooters? Sadly, we left our tropical paraidise around 4 to catch a bus to the airport.

Despite the sketchiest hostel in the world, club scams, 3rd degree burns, and sand still coming out of my ears, I absolutely loved Las Canerias. I never had to leave Spain and saw a new and beautiful part of the country (It was kind of like Spain meets California-- aka Europe meets a beachy desert).

(just ignore the Wolverine-do) ^

On my way to the airport

For real, Im leaving in 10 min. I just wanted to update really fast. Amsterdam got cancelled arount 9pm because of all this volcano business, so Renee and I booked about 30 sec later to Las Canarias. Our flight is at 8am, but with all the chaos, we figure there will be lines, so Im on my way to the airport now. BEACH. BEACH. BEACH. After days of panic, back and forth, up and down-- Im siked to have 4 relaxing days on the beach off the coast of Africa. CYA Later ashy continent.

Damn you, Eyjafjallajoekull

This Eyjafjallajoekull better not ruin my trip to the Netherlands on Wednesday. Bans are being lifted and theres slow progress. They are clearing flight paths and have flown today out of Amsterdam for some flights. And the Madrid Airport has been ok, pretty much the whole time I think. Our flight is really early in the morning, so Im really hoping they open it up in time for us and not like 3 hours later.

Today, Elvira used the Old Bay Mom brought for the first time. She put it on my fish and it was really good and tasted like home. And shes also using the crab towels Mom brought as spit up towels for her grandson when he visits. Great.... She says they're brand new so theyre better for the baby. Right.



I am always shocked when I encounter people that are trusting with strangers. I went to buy a piece of cardstock/poster board stuff to mount the photo im submitting to the Comillas Fotografia competition. She handed it to me and asked for the 20 cents that it cost, and I realized I only had a $50 bill. She said she couldn't make change, so I said I would come back later and buy it. I left the poster board on the table and she said told me to take the poster board and come back and pay later. I know it was only 20 cents (in dollars, a whopping 28 cents), but still, its the principle of it. Yes, I did go back after I tutored and had some coins. Here's the foto im submitting: (I posted it on an earlier blog form my trip to Extremadura)
I went out with my intercambio this past weekend. Apparently there's a German restaurant in the mall close to my house. At first, I couldn't imagine why anyone would go to a german restuarant, but when her friends ordered the 3L bathtub of beer, I understood. Seriously, 3 LITERS. 3 LITERS! I didn't even see anything that big in real Germany.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY in 1 hour Spain time, ROBBIE!!!!! If you were over here, you could drink that ^^^ ;)

Lucky Lucky Day

I didn't realize until the day was over, but April 13, 2010 could be one of my luckiest days ever:

First, I was supposed to have my first presentation in class over here, and naturally, I was nervous. I was ready to go- I had my presentation prepped and saved on a USB. When I got to class, we started working on a business case, so I figured we would do the presentations the second half of class. All of the sudden everyone was getting up, handing in our papers, and leaving. The class was over and there was no mention of the presentation!

Second, I went to get cafe con leche with 2 friends after class cause it was a terribly rainy and cold day. I realized later that afternoon, that I had left my umbrella in our booth at the restaurant. Great. This would be my third umbrella down in barely 3 months. And this one was sooo good too- no kinked poles like my last one. I went back to the restaurant just in case somehow it was still there. I walked in and asked the bartender, and he pulls out my umbrella from under the bar!

Third, I finally decided to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon in October, so when I got back from class, I signed up online. Later that night, I was talking with my friend, Amy, who was also thinking of signing up. She was bummed because the registration was closed- I said it couldnt be since I had just registered a few hours before. Sure enough, I checked on the website, and after only a week and a half of being open, the 30,000 slots filled up hours or maybe minutes after I registered. (I guess this one could be luck or extreme misfortune)

Fourth, I interviewed on Monday for a marketing internship with Sweet Green, a salad and frozen yogurt chain in DC, and I thought the interview went pretty well, but the woman who interviewed me made it seem like it would be a long process with another round of interviews with the owners. So, I was shocked and excited that I received an email the next day saying they would love to offer me the internship (with the perk of free salads and froyo) and as a paid part-time employee in addition to the internship with the potential upward mobility to "shift manager". Summer back home, just got a lot sweeter!

Yeah thats it. Just ONE day in the life over here.

Madrid half marathon

AYAYAY. Finished the Madrid half marathon and beat my best time so far with 1:48:29. Im going to lay out a pro/con list to others Ive done:

PRO

• Gorgeous city to look at
• Best free t-shirt by far- its black underarmour-ish with a cool logo. and it says "Madrid"
• Words of encouragement in Spanish are somehow more effective: vamos, animos, tienes que volar
• They give out bottled water= easier to drink (this should prob also be a con for environmental reasons...and because the tap water here is like the best in the world)
• They have a system so you can leave your clothes in a bag while you run. This was crucial cause the race started at 43 degrees and ended at 65
• Running with iPods is not taboo

CON

• The first 5km when everyone is still crammed together, the amount of BO I inhaled was sickening. The deoderant quality here is definitely subpar... for those who were even wearing it. (I imported mine)
• The last 3km were all UPHILL. I wanted to die when every turn kept inclining
• The post-race runners area was lacking. I wanted my powerbars, cliffbars...something! We got powerade and bananas. I wonder if they know that in the US we finish races with Ledos Pizza, Phillps Cream of Crab Soup, Bagels, and Beer!

Im thinking of doing the Marine Corps Marathon in October. (openly declaring it here might encourage me to get it over with and register)

Mucho gusto, baby

Yesterday, I walked into the room where Elvira has the clothes drying rack, and I see 10 little baby outfits drying. And there was a pair of brown corduroy overalls too...that's when I decided I could not wait any longer and I would have to meet this corduroy-wearing baby.

That was in the morning and I didn't think about baby Tomas the rest of the day. UNTIL, I came home from the pre-race fair (commentary: scroll down) and Elvira said the baby was just here and that I missed him(ahhhhhh again! this is the third close call) BUT he will be back to the house later tonight (yesssssssss). So, later that night, I finally met baby Tomas. He just turned one month a few days ago but he still looks like he's FOB -- fresh outta the belly. I didn't get to hold him, but I did pat his hair a little bit. And no, unfortunately he didnt have anything ridicuously cute on like I'd hoped- no overalls and no corduroy. He was wearing a onesie with a juicy-esque velour blue sweatsuit. I'm going to publicize this right now: if I ever have children he or she will NEVER wear velour sweatsuits. ever.


So- before all of this excitement, I went to the race fair for the half marathon THIS SUNDAY!!!! I love these fairs because I get:

1. to see the t-shirt (this one is really really good-- probably the coolest souvenir I could bring home)
2. to check out the compeition (they all look pretty standard)
3. free samples (this fair was lacking in this area- we tried some nasty sportsdrink and got a "free" lecture on sock technology)
4. extreme excitement for the race

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: thank you thank you thank you for everyone who contributed to the CD. It is a really cool collection that has been fun to listen to. (also a better than your average souvenir)

Semana Santa with the Mama

I can't believe I have only been gone for a little over a week. It feels like Ive been away for a month (note how long this entry is!) Spring break was a huge throw-off from my "normal" life and it's nice to be back in Madrid- I missed it here and I missed speaking Spanish.

Germany march 27-march 30

Saturday: Not too many prblems meeting mom in the airport- I expected the worst. Once we got settled in our hotel- she thought it was a mini room, but it really wasn't bad. We braved the metro and went downtown for lunch. I thought it would be a good idea to pick a place down one of the side streets- so we sat down at a place with absolutely no English and without English-speaking waitresses. I picked something that didn't have the words "liversurst" or "bratwurst" and ended up with a ham and egg sandwhich--- so an egg sandwhich. Mom thought she was getting cheese and liverwurst- she got a travel toothpaste size liverwurst and a huge pretzel. From then on we dreaded the rest of our German meals. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Marienplatz; we found the market which was my favorite :) Mom discovered white asparragus and I discovered real truffles are not poo. That night, we took the "Beer Challenge" which took us to 3 different beer houses and included 2 free beers, a wealth of beer facts, and a drinking song. At the end, the guide had to decide the winner of the beer challenge, so he took mom (the only non-college student), and 2 guys and played rock paper scissors for the championship. Mom won the Beer Challenge haha. Im so proud.

Sunday: We took a tour through Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp that bascially served as the model camp throughout Europe. It was a really informative tour, although a huge downer for a Spring Break trip. We cheered up with lunch: a traditional german-style Thai restaurant. kidding- it was just regular Thai. Then, to pass the afternoon we looked for a cafe to chill but like Madrid, nothing is open on Sundays so we stayed at the first place we saw was open. Meet "Muffins and More". We didn't notice how insane this place was until we ordered, and by then it was too late. Every inch of this place was covered with the "and More". Lots of naked women, men, transvetites, world currencies, famous Americans, bloody masks in blenders, and More. The music that was playing was in English, and it was little children singing about pigs. A few days later I searched for the cafe online and since I couldnt read the German, I made Kyle read it and report back if he noticed anything "strange" about the cafe. Here's his reponse: "Not sure whats out of the ordinary other than they have a Canadian flag on their site, and serve nude chocolate figures with their food. So, yeah I guess its a bit strange" yeah... That night mom and I went back to Hofbrauhaus- we tackled the liter. We sat upstairs on the third floor so that we could watch the band, and since we were the only people left at the end of their performance, Joseph from the band invited us to have a drink with him downstairs. He took us to one of his friends' table- Crog was dressed in full lederhosen. I got to use my Beer Challenge drinking song with them. Then, they tried to marry me off to the drummer in the band.

Monday: The Neushwanstein Castle was very pretty. Im still not convinced though that Disney based Cindarella's castle off of this one. The castle in Segovia I saw was more convincing. (I wasn't about to tell the Germans that though- they're very proud of Neushwanstein). Finally, we got the gelato from the gelato stand I had been eyeing the past couple of days- each flavor was piled so high, it looked fake. That night, we went to the Olympic Tower because it was described as having "fantastic" views of the city. We tried to go up to the restaurant at the top of the tower, but since we didn't have a reservation, or want to pay the 100 euro meal price, we just went to the observation point at the top. Oh and apparently it has the fastest elevator on the continent.

Final impressions of Germany: They know how to make some pretzels! Very Easter-obsessed (thought an add for "Osterfest" was funny). They have the best trainstation ever in terms of everything except for visual appeal- we were there at least once a day. And Im still amazed by the German language- it sounds so harsh, yet they have ridiculous words like elefantenbaby.

Prague march 30-april 3

Tuesday: We had a 6 hour train ride to Prague from Munich, but it was the best ride cause mom and I had the car to ourselves. Everytime someone passed by, we spread out and pretended we were alseep, so that they would pass to the next car. I know, it's awful, but it worked everytime! As our train pulled in, everyone was in short-sleeves!!! But of course, by the time we made it to an outdoor cafe terrace for lunch, the sun hid behind the buildings and it was freezing. We were entertained by an Eastern European couple on their first date... their common language was broken English. very entertaining. We explored the street market and discovered the turtlnik- spik-roasted pastry rolled in almonds and spread with nutella. yeah, i know. That gave us energy to explore some more and we thought we discovered the famous Charles Bridge but we couldnt figure out what was so special about it. It turns out that wasn't Charles Bridge- the real thing is very old and impressive looking. Our 8pm nap turned into a much needed 13 hour-nights sleep. Oh our hotel room is ginormous.

Wednesday: Prague Castle (in the rain!) where we basically paid to see nothing. There's a really big castle grounds with buildings and a church in the center, but a lot of it is still in use, so the parts open to the public are few and far between. Had our first meal of Czech food that was really good- and a really good beer with it, kozel! We found a great Starbucks-style coffeeshop called CoffeeHeaven with free wifi. (This is what Madrid is missing!!) From our research online, we found that there's a really good, inexpensive restauant with an incredible view at the top of this architechturally famous building, the Dancing House. We get there, and there are 2 men that meet us at the top of the elevator and take our coats, we notice no one else is wearing jeans and sneakers, and theres a whole wall devoted to wine. Yeah, it was a really fancy, and not inexpensive at all, French-restaurant. But the view was incredible- the $100 view.

Thursday: Also from the CoffeeHeaven research, there was supposedly a great hike through the mountains from the Karlstejn caslte to a monastery in the caves/mountains that can't be accessed by train. We took a train to Karlstejn, saw the caslte and opted not to go inside and instead set out on our 8km hike to the monastery. The hike was not clearly marked, so we just followed a path from the castle that led into the woods. We got to a crossroads with colors, and decided the follow the red one listed as 8km with a word that kind of looked like it could be "saint"-something. 2 hours later we're still hiking through really steep mountains. mom is cursing me and about to have a heart attack when we run into some people and they speak English! They tolf us that the monastery wasn't far away and that we could take a train back to Karlstejn instead of re-hiking hell. We finally see civilization, and there are no cool caves like the blog post about the hike said, the monastery was closed, and the train station was another 5km away! Luckily we didn't have to hike the mountains back! I was about to die from hunger and we found the czech version of Panera, Panderia. Did some more market shopping. Mom caved and decided we should do the Thai massages that are advertised all over the city. OMG best decision ever. This was the kind of massage where they use their whole body to massge you- like walk on the back of your legs while simultaneously pulling back on your shoulders to fol you in half backwards.

Friday: This morning was the first morning we didn't ache all over from walking all day (or hiking through the czech mountains). We took the free walking tour given by the same company that did all of our tours in Munich (expect we never did the free tour there). I really wanted to find the tea shop I found on the first day, but we couldn't remember where we had seen it, so we just walked around for hours. I made the neclace from cool wooden beads I bought at a shop the day before. Mom and I had one last dinner at this really elegant place with really big comfortable chairs. They were playing instrumental versions of Celine Dion songs, and there were candles everywhere- so it was a funny contrast with the plates that were comics with sexual humor. oh Europe. Afterwards, we went to a cafe that was more of a fancy bar for locals, but mom and I ordered ice cream sundaes instead of alcohol. I chose mine because I liked the name and wanted to say "Ill have the 'hot love'" to our waiter.

Final impressions of Prague: a lot more touristy than I expected. It bothered me how there were not any shops in the entire city that weren't aimed at tourists, and not only that, literally, there are about 4 different things for sale in all of Prague- decorated eggs, crystal glasses, pashminas, and clothing with "prague" written on it or some cheesy saying like "prague: czech me out". Culturally, it was an interesting combination of Germany and Russia.

Madrid april 3-april 4

Saturday: Mom and I took different flights from Prague to Madrid, which shouldn't have been a problem since it was successful upon arriving in Munich. That was beginners luck or something. Both our flights were late and then my directions of where to meet me were a little less than clear. All the freaking out was remedied with the amazing lunch Elvira had waiting for us. She made like 5 courses--- with PAELLA as the main course. After, I took mom on a walking tour past the Palacio Real into Sol where were had tapas (I introduced mom to manchego cheese) at a very old-school Jerez wine bar. And no trip to Spain would be complete without a little visit to Zara for some shopping :)

Sunday: We met Esmeralda at La Mallorquina for pastelitos and cafe. We got one with a whole chocolate egg in the center and then torrica, a specialty for Easter which is basically cold and sugarier french toast. Then we did a walking tour of the ENTIRE city: Mercado de San Miguel in Plaza de Mayor, saw the flowers in Paseo de Prado, people-watched in Parque del Retiro, had a traditional menu del dia lunch, took a siesta in the sun in Parque del Oeste, saw the view of Madrid from above in el teleferico, amd finished up walking through Plaza de Espana, and Palacio Real's Sabatini Gardens. Elvira went to her daughter's for the night, so we had the apartment to ourselves- we got milkshakes from my fav icecream place and watched The Office and 30 Rock.

The End.

15 Hours and Counting

My suitcase is packed. I called the taxi company and reserved one for tomorrow morning at 5am. Finally got through to confirm my seat on the shuttle service that will take me from the taxi to the airport (because Madrid has a great transportation system, unless you need to get ANYWHERE between the hours of 1:30 and 6am- and then its nearly impossible). Then I weighed my bags, and converted from kilos.

Friends are already on spring break. Elvira is out partying. Mom is on a plane. (sigh) Maybe ill paint my nails and watch 30 Rock with hilarious Spanish subtitles?

T-minus 12 hours and 30 minutes unil takeoff. 15 hours until Munich/Mom.

You Know What I Like...

Almost 2 months now and I've achieved "Regular"-status. Renee and I walked into the cafe across the street from the university for our usual midafternoon pick-me-up, and the bartender came around the bar, pulled out our stools, and before we could even sit down, our fresh cafe con leches were placed in front of us-- mine without sugar, of course. SIKE, I wish. Today, she recognized us though and remembered we took our cafe with hot milk. baby steps.

Actually, I go to the same fruteria every week, and the cashier and I exchange knowing smiles every Monday after my 8am class. I did get free garlic one time...or maybe it's just procedure when a customer only wants 2 cloves. (side note: at said fruteria, I bought 2 artichokes for the first time this week to experiment with- not sure if theyre worth the cutting process)

And its really cute- every time I go to tutor, I can hear the boys running to the door screaming "Bonnie" when I ring the doorbell.

I guess I have to stay here forever.

Procrastinating

This is monumental- the first blog post that's a product of procrastination. A first really because I haven't had work to procrastinate with and now I have a paper due tomorrow! Its not that the paper is in Spanish, thanks to Gtown's Spanish Department- done that, and surely it can't be the article written in English that I have to read for the paper... yeah, nope, it's the English part. "Mr. Turkentine", this is asburd- just because it's written in English doesn't mean I understand complex mathematical models of organizational structure optimization.

I guess it takes a lot of the fun out of procrastinating if I talk about it the whole time! So... today I took a quick 5 hour break from the paper to go to my intercambio's house to make paella with her family. It was soooo good. They went all out too...when I got there, her mom had set everything out cooking-show style and the counter was covered with mounds of different types of seafood. I was in heaven. She gave me her secret recipe, so if I can get my hands on a really big pan, I'll make it at home! It made a ton of paella too, and she started to make a salad, so I thought wow this is going to be a lot of food. Then she brought out the bread- this was getting ridiculous. And then, for dessert I had brought little pastries, so I thought she went into the kitchen to get those after we finished...but she came out with a huge fruit basket instead. I can't resist the pears here (have I mentioned how good they are?- unlike at home when 95% of the time they taste like a water-flavored rock). Maybe this food coma is why it's so diffcult to focus.

Oh and before I took this ^ break, I took a 2 hour break with Alex to grab coffe at this really neat cafe called Cafe El Espejo. Its in the middle of the street (kinda) and the whole dining room is a peninsula of glass. Anyways, I was in a fancy-mood and didn't want the everyday cafe con leche, so I closed my eyes and picked one off the list. I asked for cafe ruso, and after I went back to my table, I realized ruso=russian=vodka. nasty. I got it, and it was in an obnoxious goblet with some ice cream in the center--- drinking it was so sweet that I second-guessed the vodka. Then I got home and looked it up- yep- espresso, vanilla ice cream, and vodka. I wouldn't recommend it.

Dreams- Do your part to stop the nightmares

The past week the weirdest thing has been happening... I wake up with a distant sense of homesickness for no reason other than a dream I had the night before. Unfortunately, I only party remember one: I was staying with the Palmers and they were eating the same frozen seafood meals that I eat here (note: I don't actually eat frozen seafood meals in Spain, only in dreamworld Spain).

So over breakfast, I try to figure out whats causing that fleeting pang of homesickness; and then I remember, oh wait, no Im in Spain and definitely not homesick, and I get on with my day. Maybe my dreams are telling me I am just really ready for my mom to visit (it's only next week!).

So, I had an idea when my mom was compiling the list for her to pack of all of the things I left at home. Aside from my summer clothes, highlighters, and some Reeses cups, I left all my friends and family home too (aww). To bring all of you here with me, anyone and everyone who wants please e-mail my dad with one song (title and artist) as a piece of home. He will download all of them onto a mix cd and my mom will bring it on Saturday when she comes to visit. So, whoever you are- Family, Friends, Rando Pedofile, e-mail your song contribution to my dad at burgesshome@verizon.net ASAP (definitely by Wednesday next week) because I would really love to have a piece of you here with me! I know my relatives will have the e-mail sent before I even have a chance to post this blog entry, so especially my friends, just do it. Thanks guys.

They're taking me to Marrakesh- All aboard that train

Oh where do I begin?! The trip started off on a really bad note, with Mikey not able to go because of those Florida tornados and our train from Casablanca to Marrakesh cancelled for 2.5 hours BUT the trip was so incredible, Alex and I are looking into going back again later this semester. We realized on our way home that we hit all 3 "goals" we made waiting in the airport:

1. Drink some orange juice (check- twice once with our breakfast, and once mixed in a fru fru drink with vanilla ice cream)
   
2. Hang out on the rooftops (check- hostel pm and am plus the terrace cafes overlooking Djemaa el-Fna)
   
3. Meet cool people (check- plane friend, train friends, and of course our peace corps boys)

So, while waiting in Casablanca for our train, Alex and I decided to go up to the American we noticed on the first train to see if he knew anything about the delay. (Meet Joe)--- we're really glad we did. Turns out Joe is in the peace corps volunteering in the mountains just outside of Marrakesh and was heading into the city to meet his friends (Brian and Blake). Aside from speaking the local dialect, giving us Harira recipes, and being personal wikipedias, they were awesome to hang out with and really made the trip.

Alex and I had booked a hostel in advance, but instead of trying to find it in the dark, down narrow back alleys, we decided to skip out and book at our new friends' hostel, Sindi Sud, once we found out it was cheaper, had a terrace, and it easy to remember (Cindy Sue). We were all starving, so we went to the tents in the main square that were still cooking away at midnight. We ate with Brian's tajine-guy and had the best first Moroccan meal anyone could ask for- harira, tagine, tanjia, and pastilla. (I bought some tagine spices the next day at the market- and now everything in my backpack smells wonderfully of Morocco- yum). Then, the view of Marrakesh from our hostel terrace was the perfect end to a very hectic day.

Saturday, the guys were only planning on having breakfast with us, because they were going to the beach with friends, but some plans changed and they were able to hang out with us all day. For breakfast, I got some of the famous mint tea- and it was great minus the 8.5 cups of sugar they put in. Then we walked through the market, which I swear was the same one alley that we paced for 2 hours, but then the alley dumped into a small square with hanging dead animals everywhere, Rahban Qedima, which a guidebook aptly described as Harry Potter's Diagon Alley. I was set on seeing some gardens, so we went to the Koutoubia mosque, and walked through and saw local woman picking oranges. For lunch, we tried another Moroccan essential, Chwarma, aka gyro, followed by some black market ice cream since it was "out of season". We toured the Bahia Palace, and then sat on a terrace above the square.

The boys left us to go to Agadir- we were seriously thinking about blowing our flight and going to the beach with them. (Im regretting not thinking even harder about that now- Moroccan beach sounds too good right now). So Alex and I were on our own for the first time, and we went around and did some more in-depth shopping-- I got some almonds (unlike the ice cream, they're in season) and some Fatima hand earrings. Thank you China for the haggling skillz. Then we got attacked my some children after I tried to take a picture of a 3 year old peeing into the garden fountain- Alex and I are pretty sure that's when she got the 2 napkins in her back pocket pickpocketed. suckers. We were in love with the terrace overlooking the square, so we went to another to watch Djemaa el-Fna at night.

Sunday morning we planned to catch the train back to Casablanca at 7am to make our flight and account for any more unnanounced 3 hour train delays. I woke up to check the time and it was 6:47 am. I still don't know how we packed up the room and paid for the hostel, but at 6:53 we were running through the alley, dodging small children, and stumbled into the taxi men's morning tea at the mouth of the square. We sprinted alongside the driver to get to his cab, and he whisked us to the train station. We were running into the station at 7am and got on just as the train pulled away. (Im still amazed Alex and I are not stuck in Marrakesh crying right now). The ride back was smooth and we got to see all of the beautiful countryside we missed coming in on the late night train. We also met 2 of the most hospitable and sweetest Moroccan girls.

This recap does not do our short but jam-packed Moroccan adventure justice and Im not completely satisfied:

What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain til you see their speacks dispersing?- it's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy adventure beneath the skies. -Jack Kerouac via Alexandra Koys