I decided to review what I had written in my blog and something jumped out at me. I placed a sentence in the last post that could be perceived in a different way than I meant it. I said that there was nothing left for me in Champaign. When I wrote this, I did not mean people. There are many, many people I love there and I cherish the relationships I have created there. That being said, I don't see the kind of things I saw in Spain everyday. I loved Spain so much and I didn't realize quite how much I took everything for advantage. I guess I'll explain that I really don't like how America is formed. Again, don't get me wrong, the ideals are great, but I lose faith that the system is working when I come back and if everytime I flip through the a.m. radio stations I hear about how a government official knew about the Guantanamo Bay torturings. It was bad. Get over it. Obama stopped them and so what. I bet a lot of officials knew about it, but it's in the past and all we can do is stop it from happening.
--Another reason I dislike not just Champaign, but all of the United States is that the public transportation systems are awful. Being back in St. Louis, it is no better.
--I think the reason I'm saying these things is partially because I'm feeling a resentment for being back in the States. Theres that, and also I feel like I may be lashing out like a cornered dog. Before I left Spain I thought that I had everything to look forward to. Now I'm in a completely different situation trying to get a hold on my life which feels like it's on it's way out of my control.
--That's it. I'm done spilling my feelings online. I didn't want to do this, but I felt that if I didn't say everything explicitly I would risk the chance of being mistaken. Thanks again for everyone who has followed this throughout my incredible experience.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Re-entry
Well... I didn't crash and burn. That's the good news. Unfortunately there's a lot that has gone wrong. I went back and was excited all the way home. I didn't really get a reverse culture shock, but I did start noticing things that I wasn't fond of. I realized I started criticizing basically everything. Now maybe I was not living in reality while in Spain, but I really don't like a lot of things. So that I don't offend anyone I won't mention those things here, but one had to do with the amount of food consumed here and what that did to the people. Once I was back, I had really bad jet lag. I think it took me about 4 days to recover. Then I moved to St. Louis. I was so excited to go. I realized that Champaign really had nothing for me anymore. As soon as I got back to Champaign I was just waiting to leave. Now I'm writing this in St. Louis in my apartment for the summer. I have some homework that I'm shirking as well as unpacking. I really miss everyone now, and it's only been about 4 hours. I just feel like a wreck. I'm hoping that by the time I start work tomorrow and get a schedule going I'll get better. Also some friends might start traveling back to St. Louis.
---On a good note, Amanda and I are now going out. On a bad note, Amanda and I were living side by side in a different world, now we're just worlds apart. I've got to admit, it's nice to have her to talk to when it is so lonely here.
---For all of you who have followed this: Thank you. I had a great time and will never regret going, even if it means that the rest of my life will have to live up to that time. Also thank you for your prayers. I'm extremely grateful for having the chance to go and will never forget it.
p.s. Not to tease everyone, but if you check back by the end of summer, hopefully there will be an entry about sevilla and/or loyola (whichever one I forgot).
---On a good note, Amanda and I are now going out. On a bad note, Amanda and I were living side by side in a different world, now we're just worlds apart. I've got to admit, it's nice to have her to talk to when it is so lonely here.
---For all of you who have followed this: Thank you. I had a great time and will never regret going, even if it means that the rest of my life will have to live up to that time. Also thank you for your prayers. I'm extremely grateful for having the chance to go and will never forget it.
p.s. Not to tease everyone, but if you check back by the end of summer, hopefully there will be an entry about sevilla and/or loyola (whichever one I forgot).
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Barcelona
BARCELONA:
Day 1----
----- We woke up this day quite early to grab the metro and get to the airport. I was slightly unsure if we were gonna make it because the check in was really, really long. However, we did make it and found our hostel just fine after wandering around for a bit. Once we got to our hostel, we were able to receive a map of Barcelona (courtesy of Corte Ingles). We dropped off our bags and headed out to la sagrada familia while Tucker waited for Keene to arrive. My first glance of La Sagrada Familia wasn’t too impressive, but each time I came back I fell more and more in love with it. Now I consider the church to be my favorite and probably the best church in the entire world. It’s just a great blend of old style with new in Gaudi’s style of course.
-----When we were done we met up with the other two and grabbed a taxi to Parc Guell, Gaudi’s upscale neighborhood turned park. It was really phenomenal. When walking into the park it is really imperative that you think about the park as a neighborhood. It would be amazing to live there. There are some amazing walkways, and actually quite plain roads, but I think they were plain only because the houses Gaudi was going to build were going to be magnificent and colorful. The entrance buildings were so colorful I could not consider it any other way. I would continue talking about this, but it is pointless. I have no way to express in short terms how awesome it really was. It would probably take me 4 paragraphs or more to describe in detail, therefore I suggest looking at pictures on Picasa once they are up. We were on our way out of the park when we spotted a really cool poster maker that was Chinese. His style was Chinese too, but he used weird tools to finish his paintings. Since it was 3 € for a sign with a name on it, Amanda bought a Barcelona poster for her room. After we walked all the way back (downhill on the way that’s why we walked it) we decided it was time for a nap
-----When we woke up, we cooked pasta with hor d’ouvres of bread, cheese, tomatoes, and olive oil. For desert we ate kiwi and watermelon. At the end of dinner we met up with some Aussies that were pretty cool, although could be obnoxious. It was strange because they seemed like jocks, but were well educated. I liked listening to one of them, but I couldn’t really agree with him. After almost getting kicked out of the hostel for being too loud, we made our way to this club that a guy at the hostel got us onto the list for. He said we’d get in for free, but that ended up being completely false and we’re not sure why. Either way we left a little mad and went to find another place only to find out it was like the blind leading the blind. Amanda was sick of it and I didn’t care either way, so we went off on our own. We found La Rambla, walked down to the port and sat around until we got too cold. On our way back to the hostel we saw the cathedral at night, which was cool, but nothing compared to the Sagrada Familia. After the long walk we were ready for bed and that was the end of day one.
Day 2----
----- When we woke up the next day at 11 or 12, we decided to go out to la Sagrada Familia for lunch. Yesterday was beautiful, but the next three days were supposed to be poor weather, like raining all day. However, in usual Spanish style, the weather was just chubascos or intermittent showers and overcast, but they dramatized it. We were able to avoid the rain for the most part. When we went to la Sagrada Familia we ate at this place called Friss. It was pretty good and I was glad to be eating meat. I had a bacon and cheese sandwich and orange juice. The orange juice was literally oranges squeezed to make about 10 ounces of juice. Delicious. Next we walked down the street to the port. It was kind of a lazy walk and we weren’t too interested in making sure we saw every sight. I liked that kind of weekend much better. It was a relaxed weekend, not a go go go weekend. On our walk we almost got soaked, saw one of the corrida de toros and walked a bit along the beach, which was really cold. Originally I wanted to go into the water, but I didn’t have my swimsuit and did I mention it was cold? Maybe next time.
----- We were tired again, so went back to the hostel to nap. This was a really great trip because there were things planned, but it didn’t matter if we took a few hours in the afternoon to go to sleep. When we woke up it was dinnertime and rather than spend an hour searching for a place to eat and spend a bunch of money on a meal, we settled on McDonalds. It was obviously not the best food I could have found, but it was good nonetheless. After that we went to La Rambla to find a place to go out. Our failure was that we assumed we could just talk to promoters. This ended up being awful because we found one, who sent us to a creepy bar where the drink specials were not that great, and then it started raining. Basically the epitome of what our going out experiences were in Barcelona. I’m sure there is a great scene there, but we just didn’t find it. We did however meet up with this guy named Brandon and his friend Joel. Brandon was fine, but Joel was a bit weird. We found a small place on la Rambla to eat and have wine, but the wine was worth about 2 € and we paid 9. Not a great way to end the day, but I can’t complain about being in Barcelona.
Day 3----
----- This morning we went to buy a jersey over by La Rambla first thing. It had to be an authentic jersey for Amanda’s cousin, so we decided to go to the F.C. Barcelona shop we saw on the bus the previous day. I was expecting the jersey to cost about 65 €, but it was on sale for 50! What a deal! However, I did not want to buy one of those for that price, so I did not. They were also selling tickets for that day’s game, but the tickets were also 50 a pop. Since we declined the tickets, the next thing to do was to get breakfast (around noon of course). We headed down la Rambla to a Dunkin Donuts. It was ok, but I wasn’t too impressed. Of course we saw la Boqueria right next to Dunkin Donuts, but we waited to go to it after we got food. Once we went in the Boqueria we immediately regretted our decision, to eat Dunkin Donuts that is. La Boqueria was a phenomenal fresh food market that had everything. First thing we saw was fresh watermelon cut up that came with a fork for only 2€. From there it just got better, our mouths were watering, but we weren’t hungry anymore. We did however, purchase some bread since it looked soooo good.
----- Once we made our way through the market, we traveled by metro to the legendary Camp Nou. It is the home of F.C. Barcelona and is one of the largest stadiums in the world. The capacity is somewhere around 90,000 people, maybe 100,000. We didn’t stick around long though and took a bus back to the center of town to see another of Gaudi’s works, Casa Mila. The line was about an hour long and we didn’t really want to wait, but I wanted to look at one of Gaudi’s homes. We luckily got a student discount, but I was still not extremely impressed. One of the coolest apartment complexes I’ve seen for sure. Actually people still live there too. The top apartment is on display as well as the attic and roof. The attic was really interesting and so was the roof, but I didn’t like the apartment so much. I could see Gaudi’s architecture in the apartment, but I was hoping to see his decorating too. However, all we saw was a 1910 era middle class apartment. The other problem was that it was cold and drizzling on the roof, so we couldn’t stay and enjoy it completely.
----- Trying to recover from the cold, we walked all the way back to La Sagrada Familia. We weren’t going in, just going to buy a jersey for Amanda. These jerseys were a year old in a Souvenir shop, but they were still trying to be sold to us for 45 €. After some hard bargaining, like this guy told us yesterday it was 25, we got him down to 30, which I thought was reasonable. It was an authentic jersey, so I was impressed and Amanda loved it, so it turned out pretty well. After another nap we got ready to eat.
----- This night was very chill compared to the others. Rather than trying to go out again I thought I would just go to sleep. I was tired and not feeling up to trying to find something to entertain me. In that case we ate, watched the end of the Barcelona game and went to bed ready to go to mass in the morning… or so we thought.
Day 4----
----- Right before we went to bed the night before, we were told by Lauren that there were no masses at La Sagrada Familia. Disappointed we went to bed thinking we would just get up around 9 and check out. Once we checked out in the morning I checked the Internet and the website for La Sagrada Familia, because I was really sure of what I saw the day before. After a quick check it was as I thought, but now we had missed the Spanish mass. We couldn’t wait around until the 11:45 mass because our flight left at 4 and we had to catch a bus at 1:00. So we had to quickly head out to mass at 10:30 and we arrived 15 minutes late. I felt bad, but it was better that we got there than not at all. I absolutely loved it. That’s all I really have to say about that. If I could ever figure out what is wrong with my photo-uploading program you could see some pics, but as of now I will just say that it was beautiful. Also at the end of mass the priest invited all the different languages to come up to the microphone and say Happy Easter in their language. I think we heard about 15 different languages, but by far the best was when a little Argentinean girl went up and said Happy Easter after someone had already said it in Spanish. La Sagrada Familia is now my favorite church in the world.
----- We headed back to the hostel immediately after the mass, picking up some bocadillos on the way. When we arrived back at the hostel we quickly snatched our bags and walked to the bus station. We were just strolling when Amanda decided to check the flight plan. Our plane left at 3:05. That gives us 2 hours. Needless to say I started to get nervous. We had to catch a bus that took an hour to get to the airport and then check in. It was already 12:40. The busses left every 15 minutes, but still… we had to make a trip in an hour. We got to the bus station at 12:43 and walked down to the platforms when we saw our bus going away. That meant we had to wait 15 more minutes and take the next one. I was getting pretty nervous, but I was telling myself there was nothing I could do at this point except try, so that was exactly what I did. We got there with 20 minutes to spare before they closed check in for the flight. I didn’t think we’d get through the line, but we had to so we waited. Lauren looked at some self-check in machines and I was like good luck. You can only do that if you are an EU citizen. While Lauren was pushing buttons, Amanda and I were moving about 5 feet every 5 minutes. Lauren started walking back and I looked incredulously at her because she had a ticket in her hand. I was absolutely shocked, and unsure if it would work, but I was thought this was our best chance at getting on the plane. Sure enough, it worked and we placed another day on our lives because we weren’t worried anymore! Great flight home and a great trip!
Day 1----
----- We woke up this day quite early to grab the metro and get to the airport. I was slightly unsure if we were gonna make it because the check in was really, really long. However, we did make it and found our hostel just fine after wandering around for a bit. Once we got to our hostel, we were able to receive a map of Barcelona (courtesy of Corte Ingles). We dropped off our bags and headed out to la sagrada familia while Tucker waited for Keene to arrive. My first glance of La Sagrada Familia wasn’t too impressive, but each time I came back I fell more and more in love with it. Now I consider the church to be my favorite and probably the best church in the entire world. It’s just a great blend of old style with new in Gaudi’s style of course.
-----When we were done we met up with the other two and grabbed a taxi to Parc Guell, Gaudi’s upscale neighborhood turned park. It was really phenomenal. When walking into the park it is really imperative that you think about the park as a neighborhood. It would be amazing to live there. There are some amazing walkways, and actually quite plain roads, but I think they were plain only because the houses Gaudi was going to build were going to be magnificent and colorful. The entrance buildings were so colorful I could not consider it any other way. I would continue talking about this, but it is pointless. I have no way to express in short terms how awesome it really was. It would probably take me 4 paragraphs or more to describe in detail, therefore I suggest looking at pictures on Picasa once they are up. We were on our way out of the park when we spotted a really cool poster maker that was Chinese. His style was Chinese too, but he used weird tools to finish his paintings. Since it was 3 € for a sign with a name on it, Amanda bought a Barcelona poster for her room. After we walked all the way back (downhill on the way that’s why we walked it) we decided it was time for a nap
-----When we woke up, we cooked pasta with hor d’ouvres of bread, cheese, tomatoes, and olive oil. For desert we ate kiwi and watermelon. At the end of dinner we met up with some Aussies that were pretty cool, although could be obnoxious. It was strange because they seemed like jocks, but were well educated. I liked listening to one of them, but I couldn’t really agree with him. After almost getting kicked out of the hostel for being too loud, we made our way to this club that a guy at the hostel got us onto the list for. He said we’d get in for free, but that ended up being completely false and we’re not sure why. Either way we left a little mad and went to find another place only to find out it was like the blind leading the blind. Amanda was sick of it and I didn’t care either way, so we went off on our own. We found La Rambla, walked down to the port and sat around until we got too cold. On our way back to the hostel we saw the cathedral at night, which was cool, but nothing compared to the Sagrada Familia. After the long walk we were ready for bed and that was the end of day one.
Day 2----
----- When we woke up the next day at 11 or 12, we decided to go out to la Sagrada Familia for lunch. Yesterday was beautiful, but the next three days were supposed to be poor weather, like raining all day. However, in usual Spanish style, the weather was just chubascos or intermittent showers and overcast, but they dramatized it. We were able to avoid the rain for the most part. When we went to la Sagrada Familia we ate at this place called Friss. It was pretty good and I was glad to be eating meat. I had a bacon and cheese sandwich and orange juice. The orange juice was literally oranges squeezed to make about 10 ounces of juice. Delicious. Next we walked down the street to the port. It was kind of a lazy walk and we weren’t too interested in making sure we saw every sight. I liked that kind of weekend much better. It was a relaxed weekend, not a go go go weekend. On our walk we almost got soaked, saw one of the corrida de toros and walked a bit along the beach, which was really cold. Originally I wanted to go into the water, but I didn’t have my swimsuit and did I mention it was cold? Maybe next time.
----- We were tired again, so went back to the hostel to nap. This was a really great trip because there were things planned, but it didn’t matter if we took a few hours in the afternoon to go to sleep. When we woke up it was dinnertime and rather than spend an hour searching for a place to eat and spend a bunch of money on a meal, we settled on McDonalds. It was obviously not the best food I could have found, but it was good nonetheless. After that we went to La Rambla to find a place to go out. Our failure was that we assumed we could just talk to promoters. This ended up being awful because we found one, who sent us to a creepy bar where the drink specials were not that great, and then it started raining. Basically the epitome of what our going out experiences were in Barcelona. I’m sure there is a great scene there, but we just didn’t find it. We did however meet up with this guy named Brandon and his friend Joel. Brandon was fine, but Joel was a bit weird. We found a small place on la Rambla to eat and have wine, but the wine was worth about 2 € and we paid 9. Not a great way to end the day, but I can’t complain about being in Barcelona.
Day 3----
----- This morning we went to buy a jersey over by La Rambla first thing. It had to be an authentic jersey for Amanda’s cousin, so we decided to go to the F.C. Barcelona shop we saw on the bus the previous day. I was expecting the jersey to cost about 65 €, but it was on sale for 50! What a deal! However, I did not want to buy one of those for that price, so I did not. They were also selling tickets for that day’s game, but the tickets were also 50 a pop. Since we declined the tickets, the next thing to do was to get breakfast (around noon of course). We headed down la Rambla to a Dunkin Donuts. It was ok, but I wasn’t too impressed. Of course we saw la Boqueria right next to Dunkin Donuts, but we waited to go to it after we got food. Once we went in the Boqueria we immediately regretted our decision, to eat Dunkin Donuts that is. La Boqueria was a phenomenal fresh food market that had everything. First thing we saw was fresh watermelon cut up that came with a fork for only 2€. From there it just got better, our mouths were watering, but we weren’t hungry anymore. We did however, purchase some bread since it looked soooo good.
----- Once we made our way through the market, we traveled by metro to the legendary Camp Nou. It is the home of F.C. Barcelona and is one of the largest stadiums in the world. The capacity is somewhere around 90,000 people, maybe 100,000. We didn’t stick around long though and took a bus back to the center of town to see another of Gaudi’s works, Casa Mila. The line was about an hour long and we didn’t really want to wait, but I wanted to look at one of Gaudi’s homes. We luckily got a student discount, but I was still not extremely impressed. One of the coolest apartment complexes I’ve seen for sure. Actually people still live there too. The top apartment is on display as well as the attic and roof. The attic was really interesting and so was the roof, but I didn’t like the apartment so much. I could see Gaudi’s architecture in the apartment, but I was hoping to see his decorating too. However, all we saw was a 1910 era middle class apartment. The other problem was that it was cold and drizzling on the roof, so we couldn’t stay and enjoy it completely.
----- Trying to recover from the cold, we walked all the way back to La Sagrada Familia. We weren’t going in, just going to buy a jersey for Amanda. These jerseys were a year old in a Souvenir shop, but they were still trying to be sold to us for 45 €. After some hard bargaining, like this guy told us yesterday it was 25, we got him down to 30, which I thought was reasonable. It was an authentic jersey, so I was impressed and Amanda loved it, so it turned out pretty well. After another nap we got ready to eat.
----- This night was very chill compared to the others. Rather than trying to go out again I thought I would just go to sleep. I was tired and not feeling up to trying to find something to entertain me. In that case we ate, watched the end of the Barcelona game and went to bed ready to go to mass in the morning… or so we thought.
Day 4----
----- Right before we went to bed the night before, we were told by Lauren that there were no masses at La Sagrada Familia. Disappointed we went to bed thinking we would just get up around 9 and check out. Once we checked out in the morning I checked the Internet and the website for La Sagrada Familia, because I was really sure of what I saw the day before. After a quick check it was as I thought, but now we had missed the Spanish mass. We couldn’t wait around until the 11:45 mass because our flight left at 4 and we had to catch a bus at 1:00. So we had to quickly head out to mass at 10:30 and we arrived 15 minutes late. I felt bad, but it was better that we got there than not at all. I absolutely loved it. That’s all I really have to say about that. If I could ever figure out what is wrong with my photo-uploading program you could see some pics, but as of now I will just say that it was beautiful. Also at the end of mass the priest invited all the different languages to come up to the microphone and say Happy Easter in their language. I think we heard about 15 different languages, but by far the best was when a little Argentinean girl went up and said Happy Easter after someone had already said it in Spanish. La Sagrada Familia is now my favorite church in the world.
----- We headed back to the hostel immediately after the mass, picking up some bocadillos on the way. When we arrived back at the hostel we quickly snatched our bags and walked to the bus station. We were just strolling when Amanda decided to check the flight plan. Our plane left at 3:05. That gives us 2 hours. Needless to say I started to get nervous. We had to catch a bus that took an hour to get to the airport and then check in. It was already 12:40. The busses left every 15 minutes, but still… we had to make a trip in an hour. We got to the bus station at 12:43 and walked down to the platforms when we saw our bus going away. That meant we had to wait 15 more minutes and take the next one. I was getting pretty nervous, but I was telling myself there was nothing I could do at this point except try, so that was exactly what I did. We got there with 20 minutes to spare before they closed check in for the flight. I didn’t think we’d get through the line, but we had to so we waited. Lauren looked at some self-check in machines and I was like good luck. You can only do that if you are an EU citizen. While Lauren was pushing buttons, Amanda and I were moving about 5 feet every 5 minutes. Lauren started walking back and I looked incredulously at her because she had a ticket in her hand. I was absolutely shocked, and unsure if it would work, but I was thought this was our best chance at getting on the plane. Sure enough, it worked and we placed another day on our lives because we weren’t worried anymore! Great flight home and a great trip!
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Sevilla
Dear all:
-----I feel as though my blogging has gotten splochy at best over the last month or so. Gosh, it feels like it has been so much longer than that. This semester has gone by in a flash, but feels so incredibly long at the same time. I think now I'm just dreading coming home. Don't get me wrong, I want to come home. I want to see everyone, play my guitar, SLEEP IN MY OWN BED! Oh my how nice that shall be. After that, though, I feel as though I could come right back. It is just so wonderful here even with the little bits of stress I have from balancing homework, teaching and trips.
-----This entry of course is about a specific trip, my trip to Sevilla. It was kind of a last minute decision. I had wanted to go to the south of Spain to experience the culture and environment, but I didn't think I would have the money. After some budgetting I decided I could squeeze some pennies at the end of my stay here so that I could go, and I am extremely glad I did.
-----It was a rough trip to be sure. We left the bus station in Madrid at 1 in the morning, slept intermittenly and arrived at 7 in the morning (maybe eight, i don't quite remember, but I thought the trip was 6 hours). When we were on the bus there were some entertaining people, but they quickly went to sleep and I was left to struggle to find a comfy position and still not get to sleep. It didn't help that about an hour into the trip we went through some sort of mountain passage that was a little scary. The bus was turning quickly and all I could see was rock walls 10 meters in front of the bus looming ahead. The darkness was so deep all I could make out was another path of cars about oh, I don't know, 300 feet down a ravine. On the way back we had a day time trip, so I was able to see how beautiful the area actually was. It seemed to be a safe haven for trees and the only development present was a few pillars sticking out of the ravines poised for a bridge to be built on top of them.
Needless to say we arrived, after some scary stops including one in which Amanda and Kaelan were almost left behind. (As a quick side story, Kaelan and Amanda left the bus at a 15 min stop to pee and Natalia and I stayed on the bus. 5 minutes later the bus left and my heart about stopped. After about a minute Natalia and I realized that we were going to come back, we were just getting gas. However, the other girls felt the same way and started planning out how they were going to use 150 € to somehow beg their way back to Madrid) We arrived at Plaza de Armas (the bus station) and were able to find our way to where we were staying. Amanda and I stayed in a different place since I booked our room separately about 5 days before we left and Natalia and Kaelan stayed in a place closer to the city center. We were of course tired, but we couldn't check in until 12, so we decided to start checking out the town. Amanda and I walked out and saw the walls of the old city and then strolled towards the center of town. When we got closer we ended up taking a cab and then found where the other girls were staying, about 1 block from where we got the cab. When we met up we decided to do two things (after a small breakfast): El Real Alcazar and the Cathedral. I now believe, but am not certain, that Alcazar means palace in arabic, or is possibly another name for palace in Spanish. I just have this hunch because there was a palace in Toledo called Alcazar.
-----After breakfast we decided to walk since it wasn't that far on the map. It took us until the next evening to realize that it actually takes about no time to walk anywhere on the map and therefore the map was very enlarged. The first place we saw (after stopping to look at some ponies for Amanda) was the Alcazar. The Alcazar was not that impressive from the outside and I was not really looking forward to it, but it slowly grew on me through the visit. When we entered it was actually free for students, but we decided to buy two audioguides for 3 euro. We split up after a bit, but after awhile of exploring, we rejoined at the gardens. The inside of the palace was quite beautiful with water running through the middle of the main room and lots of mudejar or something like that. Both are architectural aspects used in many arabic buildings. It was very nice to see the palace, but the best parts by far were the palace gardens (that last part was really bugging me how to phrase, all this language studying is making my brain examine every sentence whether in Spanish or English). We walked through this old horse pathway under the palace and came out into the sun shining right onto a coy pond with a water spout pouring water from the roof into the pool. The fish were not pretty, but there were ducks walking around and everything was in bloom and smelling absolutely beautiful (yes I could smell even with my alergies!).
-----If there was one thing I took away from this weekend it was that Sevilla was Florida. Really. Everyone else kept thinking I was crazy, but it was exactly how I remembered Florida. Ok, maybe the architecture is different in that there aren't apartment buildings crammed everywhere with small streets and everyone speaks Spanish, but besides that it was! I attributed it to the smells. It smelled gorgeous and I think it was all the palm trees and orange trees (two things which Florida has too many of). And just look at the name! Florida. Flor=flower. ida= -ed. Flowered. I was smelling different flowers left and right.
-----Be that as it may, I was corrected several times that no, you are not in Florida David, no matter how much you want to be in the states right now. I guess it wasn't that much like Florida (although it most definitely was) because the next place we went was the cathedral. Interesting history of Sevilla (Seville if you haven't picked up on that one) is that it was conquered, reconquered, conquered again, left on its own, conquered again, abandoned, reconquered and finally taken over by aliens (although that last one is highly disputed to this day). This transfer of control had a large impact on the way things were built in Sevilla. Some things are sort of haphazardly placed together, and others are just one style next to another. The Cathedral is the former. It was once under moorish rule and therefore had an immensely tall mosque. Then when it came under Spanish rule, the mosque was allowed to stay, but then was surrounded by a huge church, so large in fact that it is the 3rd largest in Europe (behind one in England and something in Rome). Also, Columbus is buried there. Yep, I have now seen where a famous dead guy is. Well or so I thought. Apparently that is debated too. I don't know how they can't find out, but there was a mix up and now Columbus may still be in the Americas (Dominican Republic if I'm not mistaken) and his son is in Sevilla. Either way I saw the guy's tomb. Other than those two things (the tomb and the unusual mix of styles) this church felt like any other renaissance church in Spain: big, kinda gothic, and the exact same organ. Oh I almost forgot, probably because I didn't see it, but there was a painting there that something happened to. Great story, but I don't remember it. Something about it being borrowed or simply stolen, but not the whole painting. Just a piece.
-----Now the story gets blurry because I was very tired. What exactly happened next I don't recall, but one way or another... nope! Got it. We were in fact so tired that we went home. Yep to the place we were staying and passed out for two hours or so. Then I forget again. Ok, I think I got it. We went back into town and I was expecting to eat a little bit later, so all I grabbed was a cheeseburger (basically because it was available and 1 €. Then we found the other girls and grabbed a beer with them. When we left an hour later (after warding off any would-be musicians asking for money) and found a horse and buggy to ride. We were gonna barter, but then we realized we found a good price, the other guys probably wouldn't go lower, and the guy wouldn't barter. So for 10 € we were able to see all the historic places and get a nice, massaging taxi ride. I really didn't think I'd like going for a ride in a carriage, but this was nice. Very comfortable and relaxing. We got to see many things, but most notably Plaza de España (where I live, but in Madrid, not Sevilla). We didn't stop but I wasn't too interested. Evidently this site was used for the filming of Naboo in Star Wars. I was able to see it in a picture, but not in real life. It might have been nice to have known some of the history, but it did not seem too impressive anymore with a bunch of gypsies selling things and no actual business going on. Before that though, we went through the park and that was absolutely beautiful.
-----Again we were tired, so we split up, took a nap (which ended up taking a lot longer than we expected) and then went out again. We met up at this bar, but I had still only eaten a hamburger this day so I was starving. Natalia and Kaelan decided they could take us back to where they had eaten and I was fine with that. However, there were no seats, so I bought Amanda and myself some tapas that turned out to be aweful and some beer that was also aweful. Rather than spending anymore time there we left and started drinking some wine and bought a gofre and some churros. Best ever. Hands down. Maybe it was the slight drunkenness, the company I was with, and that I was in Sevilla on a balmy spring evening, but they were still really good. Next we headed off to the club we were recommended. It turned out to be an older crowd, but everyone started dancing flamenco after awhile and we got to watch and just have a great time. Amanda didn't feel good, so I took her back, but the girls told us the next day that there were two guys that started hitting on them (well two of many) and they got to learn some flamenco.
----------------------Day 2----------------------------------------------
Gosh, I really need to stay up to date on this. Now when I'm writing this it has almost been two weeks and I am leaving for Barcelona in three days. I'm gonna keep trying to write all of these things down. Maybe on the plane ride I'll write some more things such as my trip to Loyola because I can't remember if I did. I know there is a trip I skipped somewhere in there. I'll get it all down in the end.
-----So where was I? We awoke on the second day and were really tired. This day was almost a bust because we did just about nothing. Amanda and I got up and met the girls at a restaurant. The food was alright. I have pics, but not that many. After that we were still tired, so we went to the girls hostel while they did something or other and then we went shopping. Before we went in the stores (which ended up only being one, Zara, so I won't get into it), we grabbed some Ben and Jerry's (I had phish food, which was delicious) and wandered around a small market of clothes. After our quick stint of shopping we went back and slept. Amanda wasn't feeling good, so she stayed in, but I really felt like going out (especially because I was hungry).
-----I then met up with Natalia and Kaelan at their hostel and we first purchased a Sevilla guide book for Roberto (my roommate) and then headed off. Their hostel was kind enough to give us a few hot spots to go eat and party, so we kindly took their suggestions and found an excellent place for tapas near the Real Alcazar. I enjoyed the meal, but again it was hardly filling. I did try new things including albóndigas (which are meatballs) and jamón iberico (which is the more expensive ham cut from the leg). I wasn't much of a fan of the jamón iberico because I felt like it tasted too much like pine nuts rather than meat. I much more enjoy the meaty, salty taste of the jamón serrano (and it's can be 3 to 6 times cheaper!).
-----After our light dinner, the three of us walked across the river to one of the night life districts and enjoyed a few beers at a local bar. What began as one beer quickly became two and then a ron con cocacola (Rum and coke) because the bar was quite authentic. We felt out of place at first and that was why we were going to leave, but soon it just became too exciting. When we walked in it was an older crowd (30-50) and we were the only Americans (or foreigners for that matter). At the end of our first beers we were about to leave when some people started singing flamenco. If anyone has ever seen Volver, it was very much like when Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) sings in the restaurant, well except for the guitar. I understood most of the words and was so excited about the singing that I wanted to stay for more. We all decided to get another round and found out it was to become a good decision. After that drink the bar started thining out and half the lights turned off, but we stayed on and had another drink. This is when it started getting exciting. By this time we had realized that there were what seemed to be two families there, both comprised of 3 brothers of about the same age (33-40). We were commenting on one, when the eldest of the other family approached, soon followed by a group of 4 older men to hit on the girls. In Madrid I would have been iffy about this, but these guys were clean and well-dressed with unassuming smiles crossing their faces. After a little conversation it became obvious that these guys were just a bunch of fun loving people and when they addresed me (acknowledging my presence) I realized that they definitely were not Madrileños. Soon after, the eldest began to buy up a chino that was in the bar. A chino is a Chinese guy that walks from bar to bar selling useless things, or more often is a small grocery store owned by Chinese people. Anyway, there ended up being a stuffed monkey involved, three other stuffed animals, light up glasses, a light up sword and about 6 flowers, one of which came my way later in the night (and I don't want to know why). I could really go on forever about this because there are so many stories, but I have to go back to studying/applying for jobs.
-----Therefore, when you see me ask me about the one night in Sevilla. More specifically ask me about the three brothers, who we thought was gay, and the flamenco bar. There will be more to come, hope everything is well!
-----I feel as though my blogging has gotten splochy at best over the last month or so. Gosh, it feels like it has been so much longer than that. This semester has gone by in a flash, but feels so incredibly long at the same time. I think now I'm just dreading coming home. Don't get me wrong, I want to come home. I want to see everyone, play my guitar, SLEEP IN MY OWN BED! Oh my how nice that shall be. After that, though, I feel as though I could come right back. It is just so wonderful here even with the little bits of stress I have from balancing homework, teaching and trips.
-----This entry of course is about a specific trip, my trip to Sevilla. It was kind of a last minute decision. I had wanted to go to the south of Spain to experience the culture and environment, but I didn't think I would have the money. After some budgetting I decided I could squeeze some pennies at the end of my stay here so that I could go, and I am extremely glad I did.
-----It was a rough trip to be sure. We left the bus station in Madrid at 1 in the morning, slept intermittenly and arrived at 7 in the morning (maybe eight, i don't quite remember, but I thought the trip was 6 hours). When we were on the bus there were some entertaining people, but they quickly went to sleep and I was left to struggle to find a comfy position and still not get to sleep. It didn't help that about an hour into the trip we went through some sort of mountain passage that was a little scary. The bus was turning quickly and all I could see was rock walls 10 meters in front of the bus looming ahead. The darkness was so deep all I could make out was another path of cars about oh, I don't know, 300 feet down a ravine. On the way back we had a day time trip, so I was able to see how beautiful the area actually was. It seemed to be a safe haven for trees and the only development present was a few pillars sticking out of the ravines poised for a bridge to be built on top of them.
Needless to say we arrived, after some scary stops including one in which Amanda and Kaelan were almost left behind. (As a quick side story, Kaelan and Amanda left the bus at a 15 min stop to pee and Natalia and I stayed on the bus. 5 minutes later the bus left and my heart about stopped. After about a minute Natalia and I realized that we were going to come back, we were just getting gas. However, the other girls felt the same way and started planning out how they were going to use 150 € to somehow beg their way back to Madrid) We arrived at Plaza de Armas (the bus station) and were able to find our way to where we were staying. Amanda and I stayed in a different place since I booked our room separately about 5 days before we left and Natalia and Kaelan stayed in a place closer to the city center. We were of course tired, but we couldn't check in until 12, so we decided to start checking out the town. Amanda and I walked out and saw the walls of the old city and then strolled towards the center of town. When we got closer we ended up taking a cab and then found where the other girls were staying, about 1 block from where we got the cab. When we met up we decided to do two things (after a small breakfast): El Real Alcazar and the Cathedral. I now believe, but am not certain, that Alcazar means palace in arabic, or is possibly another name for palace in Spanish. I just have this hunch because there was a palace in Toledo called Alcazar.
-----After breakfast we decided to walk since it wasn't that far on the map. It took us until the next evening to realize that it actually takes about no time to walk anywhere on the map and therefore the map was very enlarged. The first place we saw (after stopping to look at some ponies for Amanda) was the Alcazar. The Alcazar was not that impressive from the outside and I was not really looking forward to it, but it slowly grew on me through the visit. When we entered it was actually free for students, but we decided to buy two audioguides for 3 euro. We split up after a bit, but after awhile of exploring, we rejoined at the gardens. The inside of the palace was quite beautiful with water running through the middle of the main room and lots of mudejar or something like that. Both are architectural aspects used in many arabic buildings. It was very nice to see the palace, but the best parts by far were the palace gardens (that last part was really bugging me how to phrase, all this language studying is making my brain examine every sentence whether in Spanish or English). We walked through this old horse pathway under the palace and came out into the sun shining right onto a coy pond with a water spout pouring water from the roof into the pool. The fish were not pretty, but there were ducks walking around and everything was in bloom and smelling absolutely beautiful (yes I could smell even with my alergies!).
-----If there was one thing I took away from this weekend it was that Sevilla was Florida. Really. Everyone else kept thinking I was crazy, but it was exactly how I remembered Florida. Ok, maybe the architecture is different in that there aren't apartment buildings crammed everywhere with small streets and everyone speaks Spanish, but besides that it was! I attributed it to the smells. It smelled gorgeous and I think it was all the palm trees and orange trees (two things which Florida has too many of). And just look at the name! Florida. Flor=flower. ida= -ed. Flowered. I was smelling different flowers left and right.
-----Be that as it may, I was corrected several times that no, you are not in Florida David, no matter how much you want to be in the states right now. I guess it wasn't that much like Florida (although it most definitely was) because the next place we went was the cathedral. Interesting history of Sevilla (Seville if you haven't picked up on that one) is that it was conquered, reconquered, conquered again, left on its own, conquered again, abandoned, reconquered and finally taken over by aliens (although that last one is highly disputed to this day). This transfer of control had a large impact on the way things were built in Sevilla. Some things are sort of haphazardly placed together, and others are just one style next to another. The Cathedral is the former. It was once under moorish rule and therefore had an immensely tall mosque. Then when it came under Spanish rule, the mosque was allowed to stay, but then was surrounded by a huge church, so large in fact that it is the 3rd largest in Europe (behind one in England and something in Rome). Also, Columbus is buried there. Yep, I have now seen where a famous dead guy is. Well or so I thought. Apparently that is debated too. I don't know how they can't find out, but there was a mix up and now Columbus may still be in the Americas (Dominican Republic if I'm not mistaken) and his son is in Sevilla. Either way I saw the guy's tomb. Other than those two things (the tomb and the unusual mix of styles) this church felt like any other renaissance church in Spain: big, kinda gothic, and the exact same organ. Oh I almost forgot, probably because I didn't see it, but there was a painting there that something happened to. Great story, but I don't remember it. Something about it being borrowed or simply stolen, but not the whole painting. Just a piece.
-----Now the story gets blurry because I was very tired. What exactly happened next I don't recall, but one way or another... nope! Got it. We were in fact so tired that we went home. Yep to the place we were staying and passed out for two hours or so. Then I forget again. Ok, I think I got it. We went back into town and I was expecting to eat a little bit later, so all I grabbed was a cheeseburger (basically because it was available and 1 €. Then we found the other girls and grabbed a beer with them. When we left an hour later (after warding off any would-be musicians asking for money) and found a horse and buggy to ride. We were gonna barter, but then we realized we found a good price, the other guys probably wouldn't go lower, and the guy wouldn't barter. So for 10 € we were able to see all the historic places and get a nice, massaging taxi ride. I really didn't think I'd like going for a ride in a carriage, but this was nice. Very comfortable and relaxing. We got to see many things, but most notably Plaza de España (where I live, but in Madrid, not Sevilla). We didn't stop but I wasn't too interested. Evidently this site was used for the filming of Naboo in Star Wars. I was able to see it in a picture, but not in real life. It might have been nice to have known some of the history, but it did not seem too impressive anymore with a bunch of gypsies selling things and no actual business going on. Before that though, we went through the park and that was absolutely beautiful.
-----Again we were tired, so we split up, took a nap (which ended up taking a lot longer than we expected) and then went out again. We met up at this bar, but I had still only eaten a hamburger this day so I was starving. Natalia and Kaelan decided they could take us back to where they had eaten and I was fine with that. However, there were no seats, so I bought Amanda and myself some tapas that turned out to be aweful and some beer that was also aweful. Rather than spending anymore time there we left and started drinking some wine and bought a gofre and some churros. Best ever. Hands down. Maybe it was the slight drunkenness, the company I was with, and that I was in Sevilla on a balmy spring evening, but they were still really good. Next we headed off to the club we were recommended. It turned out to be an older crowd, but everyone started dancing flamenco after awhile and we got to watch and just have a great time. Amanda didn't feel good, so I took her back, but the girls told us the next day that there were two guys that started hitting on them (well two of many) and they got to learn some flamenco.
----------------------Day 2----------------------------------------------
Gosh, I really need to stay up to date on this. Now when I'm writing this it has almost been two weeks and I am leaving for Barcelona in three days. I'm gonna keep trying to write all of these things down. Maybe on the plane ride I'll write some more things such as my trip to Loyola because I can't remember if I did. I know there is a trip I skipped somewhere in there. I'll get it all down in the end.
-----So where was I? We awoke on the second day and were really tired. This day was almost a bust because we did just about nothing. Amanda and I got up and met the girls at a restaurant. The food was alright. I have pics, but not that many. After that we were still tired, so we went to the girls hostel while they did something or other and then we went shopping. Before we went in the stores (which ended up only being one, Zara, so I won't get into it), we grabbed some Ben and Jerry's (I had phish food, which was delicious) and wandered around a small market of clothes. After our quick stint of shopping we went back and slept. Amanda wasn't feeling good, so she stayed in, but I really felt like going out (especially because I was hungry).
-----I then met up with Natalia and Kaelan at their hostel and we first purchased a Sevilla guide book for Roberto (my roommate) and then headed off. Their hostel was kind enough to give us a few hot spots to go eat and party, so we kindly took their suggestions and found an excellent place for tapas near the Real Alcazar. I enjoyed the meal, but again it was hardly filling. I did try new things including albóndigas (which are meatballs) and jamón iberico (which is the more expensive ham cut from the leg). I wasn't much of a fan of the jamón iberico because I felt like it tasted too much like pine nuts rather than meat. I much more enjoy the meaty, salty taste of the jamón serrano (and it's can be 3 to 6 times cheaper!).
-----After our light dinner, the three of us walked across the river to one of the night life districts and enjoyed a few beers at a local bar. What began as one beer quickly became two and then a ron con cocacola (Rum and coke) because the bar was quite authentic. We felt out of place at first and that was why we were going to leave, but soon it just became too exciting. When we walked in it was an older crowd (30-50) and we were the only Americans (or foreigners for that matter). At the end of our first beers we were about to leave when some people started singing flamenco. If anyone has ever seen Volver, it was very much like when Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) sings in the restaurant, well except for the guitar. I understood most of the words and was so excited about the singing that I wanted to stay for more. We all decided to get another round and found out it was to become a good decision. After that drink the bar started thining out and half the lights turned off, but we stayed on and had another drink. This is when it started getting exciting. By this time we had realized that there were what seemed to be two families there, both comprised of 3 brothers of about the same age (33-40). We were commenting on one, when the eldest of the other family approached, soon followed by a group of 4 older men to hit on the girls. In Madrid I would have been iffy about this, but these guys were clean and well-dressed with unassuming smiles crossing their faces. After a little conversation it became obvious that these guys were just a bunch of fun loving people and when they addresed me (acknowledging my presence) I realized that they definitely were not Madrileños. Soon after, the eldest began to buy up a chino that was in the bar. A chino is a Chinese guy that walks from bar to bar selling useless things, or more often is a small grocery store owned by Chinese people. Anyway, there ended up being a stuffed monkey involved, three other stuffed animals, light up glasses, a light up sword and about 6 flowers, one of which came my way later in the night (and I don't want to know why). I could really go on forever about this because there are so many stories, but I have to go back to studying/applying for jobs.
-----Therefore, when you see me ask me about the one night in Sevilla. More specifically ask me about the three brothers, who we thought was gay, and the flamenco bar. There will be more to come, hope everything is well!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Spring Break: Berlin
I already said how we had some mix ups and a rough start to Berlin, but after that I felt like it only kept getting better. When we were forced to not sleep, we decided to grab breakfast. The café in which you could eat at the hostel cost 5 euro for a breakfast buffet and a glass of oj. That was amazing. It seems expensive for breakfast, but it had several delicious items including nutella, which thinking back now, I should have taken some packets for the road. There was also fresh fruit, granola, meats and some delicious cheese.
After the experience in Paris when I almost ostracized myself by becoming a drill sergeant, I decided to tone it down. This day we walked to the wall and then saw checkpoint Charlie, a famous gate in the Berlin wall. There is apparently an amazing museum, but after much confusion we did not go in and I didn’t bother making a fuss, because everyone was tired and on edge. The wall I have to say was quite disappointing. It was thinner than I expected and there was just a street. It’s been 20 years and there is no memorial at the most famous part of the wall, the only part (or one of maybe 3 parts) that is still standing. When we got there there were no tourists and the wall was fenced off for construction. Apparently they are finally getting around to creating a memorial there. After the slight disappointment, we tried to find a good place to eat. We were pretty much unsuccessful and everyone was about to kill me, so I was quite relieved when we found a bar that seemed good. I had the signature Berlin sausage, the currywurst. I’m not a fan of curry, so I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad. When we finished we made our way back to the hostel and went to our room. That was a glorious moment. The inside of the hostel wasn’t fantastic, but the space was well used and it looked nice. At that point that wasn’t really important though, because we quickly passed out. Rather than going out to sight see, we went to eat and some of us continued the night (because Berlin is hailed as the best night life in all of Europe). Our meal was fantastic, I had a shwarzbier with a pork dish that had mushrooms picked from a forest and what I think were turnips. The last part was a red vegetable that appeared to be a cabbage sort of plant, but it didn’t taste like what I thought it would taste like. It was sweet and almost a desert. The best part was this fancy restaurant was delicious and also less than 20 € for a meal. After our extravagant dinner, the guys went to the clubs while the girls returned to the hostel. We went to a street called Oranienburger Strasse and ended up starting at a bar and moving to the club next door. Of all the clubs in Berlin, we ended up at Zapata, a Spanish influenced bar. How does that happen? Quick side note: Berlin does not get dressed like Spain. I thought that they would look dressy euro, but slightly different, but they do not. Germany, or Berlin felt like America light. Almost every young person I saw looked like a punk rocker kid that I could see at school. However this dress continues into night. There are a select few clubs that are necessary to dress up to go to, but those are almost impossible to get into. The club I have in mind has had high profile customers like George Clooney. The next morning we got up, checked out at 12 and went to some more historical places. We saw the Brandenburg gate where Napolean took the statue on top and then Berlin reclaimed it about 5 to 15 years later (not sure on the time frame). In the same square sort of area we saw the American embassy and the hotel Adlon where Micheal Jackson held the baby out the window. Next we went to the Reichstag, which was my complete purpose for going to Berlin (well, maybe just one of the main reasons). It was quite impressive and it was very easy to see the ideas behind the architecture. Obviously the architect wanted to retain the history of the country, but show the new direction of the country. The outside has a giant dome of glass and all the windows are large, plain, pane windows. All this glass is there to represent no secrets in government. Along these lines, entrance is free and from the top of the dome it is possible to see directly down into the senate chamber. The line was long, so we decided to return later. Next we went to the Jewish Memorial. It is quite interesting with huge stones standing in a square and it is possible to get lost in the middle and find random people while walking around corners. I also had some amazing photos from there. Honestly it was one of the most fun parts of the trip. I know it sounds horrible, but we were practically playing tag in the stones. However, looking back I feel like that is sort of what the memorial is about. Underground is the musuem and above is a world full of decisions to be made, and find your direction out of the dissarray. Even through the destruction and devastation that is presented in the stones there is an openness to exlpore and there are voices of kids enjoying life. The memorial musuem was not as impressive as the one in DC, but the exit opens up into the middle of the maze of stones which I thought was very appropriate. By this time we were getting tired and weighed down from souvenirs, so we headed back to the hostel. After a few hours of waiting, maybe only one or two, we went back to the Reichstag at night. That was quite impressive, but I was surprised that the dome was open to the air. There are some pics on Picassa (or will be) of the Reichstag. When we left we went to a fabulous dinner under the S-bahn. It was not too expensive and quite an experience. I had a huge meal called the grill platter. It was absolutely phenomenal with almost every type of meat. Well... I think that's it. I feel drained. If I think of more stuff, I'll come back and post some more facts. We returned to the hostel, spent the night in the airport and flew home. It's good to be back.
After the experience in Paris when I almost ostracized myself by becoming a drill sergeant, I decided to tone it down. This day we walked to the wall and then saw checkpoint Charlie, a famous gate in the Berlin wall. There is apparently an amazing museum, but after much confusion we did not go in and I didn’t bother making a fuss, because everyone was tired and on edge. The wall I have to say was quite disappointing. It was thinner than I expected and there was just a street. It’s been 20 years and there is no memorial at the most famous part of the wall, the only part (or one of maybe 3 parts) that is still standing. When we got there there were no tourists and the wall was fenced off for construction. Apparently they are finally getting around to creating a memorial there. After the slight disappointment, we tried to find a good place to eat. We were pretty much unsuccessful and everyone was about to kill me, so I was quite relieved when we found a bar that seemed good. I had the signature Berlin sausage, the currywurst. I’m not a fan of curry, so I didn’t love it, but it wasn’t bad. When we finished we made our way back to the hostel and went to our room. That was a glorious moment. The inside of the hostel wasn’t fantastic, but the space was well used and it looked nice. At that point that wasn’t really important though, because we quickly passed out. Rather than going out to sight see, we went to eat and some of us continued the night (because Berlin is hailed as the best night life in all of Europe). Our meal was fantastic, I had a shwarzbier with a pork dish that had mushrooms picked from a forest and what I think were turnips. The last part was a red vegetable that appeared to be a cabbage sort of plant, but it didn’t taste like what I thought it would taste like. It was sweet and almost a desert. The best part was this fancy restaurant was delicious and also less than 20 € for a meal. After our extravagant dinner, the guys went to the clubs while the girls returned to the hostel. We went to a street called Oranienburger Strasse and ended up starting at a bar and moving to the club next door. Of all the clubs in Berlin, we ended up at Zapata, a Spanish influenced bar. How does that happen? Quick side note: Berlin does not get dressed like Spain. I thought that they would look dressy euro, but slightly different, but they do not. Germany, or Berlin felt like America light. Almost every young person I saw looked like a punk rocker kid that I could see at school. However this dress continues into night. There are a select few clubs that are necessary to dress up to go to, but those are almost impossible to get into. The club I have in mind has had high profile customers like George Clooney. The next morning we got up, checked out at 12 and went to some more historical places. We saw the Brandenburg gate where Napolean took the statue on top and then Berlin reclaimed it about 5 to 15 years later (not sure on the time frame). In the same square sort of area we saw the American embassy and the hotel Adlon where Micheal Jackson held the baby out the window. Next we went to the Reichstag, which was my complete purpose for going to Berlin (well, maybe just one of the main reasons). It was quite impressive and it was very easy to see the ideas behind the architecture. Obviously the architect wanted to retain the history of the country, but show the new direction of the country. The outside has a giant dome of glass and all the windows are large, plain, pane windows. All this glass is there to represent no secrets in government. Along these lines, entrance is free and from the top of the dome it is possible to see directly down into the senate chamber. The line was long, so we decided to return later. Next we went to the Jewish Memorial. It is quite interesting with huge stones standing in a square and it is possible to get lost in the middle and find random people while walking around corners. I also had some amazing photos from there. Honestly it was one of the most fun parts of the trip. I know it sounds horrible, but we were practically playing tag in the stones. However, looking back I feel like that is sort of what the memorial is about. Underground is the musuem and above is a world full of decisions to be made, and find your direction out of the dissarray. Even through the destruction and devastation that is presented in the stones there is an openness to exlpore and there are voices of kids enjoying life. The memorial musuem was not as impressive as the one in DC, but the exit opens up into the middle of the maze of stones which I thought was very appropriate. By this time we were getting tired and weighed down from souvenirs, so we headed back to the hostel. After a few hours of waiting, maybe only one or two, we went back to the Reichstag at night. That was quite impressive, but I was surprised that the dome was open to the air. There are some pics on Picassa (or will be) of the Reichstag. When we left we went to a fabulous dinner under the S-bahn. It was not too expensive and quite an experience. I had a huge meal called the grill platter. It was absolutely phenomenal with almost every type of meat. Well... I think that's it. I feel drained. If I think of more stuff, I'll come back and post some more facts. We returned to the hostel, spent the night in the airport and flew home. It's good to be back.
Spring Break: Prague/Praga/Praha
The morning bus from Vienna was not bad at all. I wasn’t tired, but found that I was able to sleep on the bus a little bit. Prague I found to be a bit dirtier than Vienna and not entirely enjoyable at first. After a day I got used to it and didn’t mind the filthy look so much. On a good note, the weather was better. Sure it would hail randomly while it was sunny out, but it was a good contrast to Vienna where we got soaked in the cold. I think the highlight of Prague could only be one of two things: the hostel or the prices. We began our stay with a nice lunch at a local place and wow was it delicious. I had a traditional dish for less than 10 dollars with a beer that was only 1 dollar (about 22 crowns). After that we returned to the hostel that had an absolutely amazing layout. The Internet did not work, but that didn’t matter because we basically had an awesome flat to ourselves. The first room had 3 beds, a kitchen table and a kitchen with a huge bathroom off to one side. Through a doorway near the kitchen there were two other bedrooms with two beds each. The whole place was absolutely wonderful and the best part was we were able to have a great time without breaking the bank. Sure I ended up spending a decent amount, but how else are you going to live? The two nights we were there we cooked dinner. I didn’t have much of a hand in the process (a very good thing too), but most of the group lent a hand to preparing the dinner. We all went to this supermarket called tesco that was in a mall. It had everything, and very cheap. We had pasta both nights, but also had crisped bread with tomato and cheese one night that I absolutely fell in love with. Rather than trying to find the nightlife of Prague, we relaxed at the hostel and drank and were merry. Since we were in Prague, we went out on a limb and decided to try the much-hyped absinth. Now I can say from experience that there are no hallucinations and it tastes like black licorice. I know I will not be going out of my way to find that again. I am disappointed that I didn’t try it, but there was this other drink called grog that Matt bought. We spent three days in Prague and walking around it was nice, but I wasn’t really impressed by anything. It felt like everything we did was just look at an old building and move on. Even if there was a history to the places we went, we didn’t know it. The St. Charles Bridge was beautiful and the town square was nice, but honestly I had the best times at the hostel living it up and chatting with everyone. Another highlight of Prague was the McDonald’s, easily the best in Europe that I have tasted. I bought a sandwich called the cheese and fresh (which doesn’t make much sense, but whatever) that came with fries, cheese curds, a drink and a muffin. I guess I paid for the amount of food (almost 9 dollars for the meal) but it was absolutely delicious and I was stuffed (without even getting my fries because I left the counter without them). The worst part of Prague was trying to get to Berlin. We had to take a night bus that left at 12 and arrived in Berlin at 430. What a pain. Not only was the bus station awful (no inside seating and it was in a shady area of town) but also it was almost impossible to sleep on the bus. There were several stops, including one in which a police officer looked at all our passports and searched some of the bags. I got enough sleep, but some people were slightly sick at this point, so they were unable to survive in Berlin. Since we arrived so early, there was no way to enter the hostel until about 8. Therefore, we waited in the bus station for hours until we could hop on the metro and arrive at the hostel. Once we arrived we could not move into our room because it was unavailable for check in until 2, which makes sense since check out is at 12. If we wanted to crash there we would have had to pay another night which I was like, uh no. Also the hostel misplaced our reservation. Our reservation was placed for Wednesday night rather than Thursday, so we technically had no reservation. However there was really no problem and after that the hostel became possibly the best in Europe.
Spring Break: Vienna cont'd
I’m writing this entry on the plane home from Berlin. We had a great trip, ending with another sleepless night, but of course I can’t sleep on airplanes, so this is how I’ll be passing the time. I believe I left off that we had gone to an Opera in Vienna (fantastic by the way). That night we decided to have our McDonald’s from another country. I must say, every McDonald’s I’ve been to in another country tends to outdo any in the States. In Vienna they had the best of Europe, so we could get the El Mac or the newyorker. Of course, we went with the newyorker and then as a side, we had some shrimp. The shrimp were not amazing, but not horrible either. That feast was quite good and quite filling, so we were ready to return. Back at the hostel, we drank some beers and watched youtube videos until we were ready for sleep. Fast forward to the next morning, we didn’t have much else to do in Vienna. We had been around and had seen everything that we needed to see. That day we went to the oldest Ferris Wheel, the oldest zoo and a palace that was supposed to rival Versailles. Let’s just say it didn’t come close, but the palace was nice and interesting nonetheless. The Ferris wheel was dull and expensive (8.50 € for a 10 min ride). Rather than buying a pass for that, we went to this really cool café that was hidden in away in a neighborhood not far from the wheel. I can’t remember the name, but the floor was curved and the outside was a strange mosaic. Inside I had a delicious strudel and hot cocoa. There are some pics of that place that will be up on Picassa. Everyone was pretty tired at this point, so the majority of the group went to the hostel and Andy and I went back downtown to buy a souvenir shot glass and look at times for ice skating. When we arrived at Stephenplatz (or something like that) I grabbed a shot glass and we hurried over to Vienna’s town hall or Rathaus. Previously we had seen that there was a skating rink that had a path into the park and lots of food, so we were thinking about going that night. It wasn’t that expensive, but when we got back to the hostel, we passed out. Once we woke up it became a mission for food rather than going skating, so there ended our time in Vienna.
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