I am tired. Woke up before 730 today from the cleaning lady, had breakfast and headed out to Vatican City early to catch a tour, as suggested by the Aussies I met yesterday. I was hoping to meet one of them there at 9, but I got distracted as I walking there by this guy wearing a shirt that said: Tomatina, Bunol!! Of course I had to stop and ask him about it... turned out he's an American from SF! So after chatting a bit I realized he was actually working.. selling tours for the Vatican museums. I was already dubious about the first flyer I had gotten offering it for 35€ so when he told me theirs were 40€ i was even more reluctant. buttt we talked some more and it seemed legit, and when am i ever gonna go back to the vatican? pretty sure he worked on commission so i was more than happy it went to him.
The entire museum/ Sistine Chapel/ St. Peters.. it all amazed me. I climbed the 551 stairs to the top of the basilica.. man that was tough. I didnt know i was only halfway to the top when i reached the inside of the basilica. At that point I was already more than wowed... and at the exit, i realized there were more stairs up. As we got to the area of the dome, the stairs became smaller and i started getting a bit claustrophobic. I dont know how anyone bigger than me got through because I had a tough time in some places. Took some pictures but it doesnt do the real thing justice.
I was already exhausted from the stairs, but I decided to make my way to the Colosseum anyway.. I got a 3 day Roma Pass and i get entrance to the first 2 museum visits for free. Definitely wanted to use it at the Colosseum to skip the long lines and the entrance fee of 11€! Also walked all around Palatine Hill. I wish I remembered everything I had learned from Classics 20-- all about the Romans.
Yesterday-- made my way down one side of the city, starting from Piazza Popolo to Campo de Fiori, basically following the itinerary Edo had made for me with a few detours. I know it's not rude to stare in Europe.. but is it weird to take pictures of random people? At the Pantheon, I thought I had gotten into someone's picture, so I moved out of the way, only for the man to turn with me and snap my picture. THEN he realized it wasnt a good one and made me pose again. Two minutes later, his son comes back to me and asks if he could take one more, with me this time. Oh yea, he had to hold my hand also. He asked where I was from, and when I said the US, he looked reallly disappointed.. and said Oh, youre not from .... I missed the last word. I've disappointed a lot of europeans with the fact im not from Asia. meh.
One more thing to add-- they hosted the Nike Human Race in Roma!!! Saw them setting up in the morning but I didnt know what time it was happening. My tour guide from today had run it last night at 8pm. What a trooper.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Roma
Technically I should stop blogging because blog name is me in espana.. which i am no longer! For anyone that cares, I made it to Rome -- to my hostel, more importantly, in one piece. We had one last hurrah at Valors before we met up at 1am for our bus to Madrid Airport. Got there around 4am and while Vera got to check in, the rest of us camped out and slept on the floor like bums until 7am when people actually started arriving. We got stared down by every passer-byer.
Every few hours or so one person would get the chance to get in and our numbers started dwindling. Steph and I were had the last flights, luckily i got to check in at 3 while she had to stay for her 8pm flight. =/ Anyway, the guy sitting next to me tried getting my number to meet up with my while I was in Rome, but I didnt know if I should trust his intentions. He had already annoyed me when I chose the inside seat and he crowded me by choosing the middle one... on a non empty flight. I ended up getting his number but probably wont call since I cant use my own computer here and hes a smoker. No me gusta.
Oh btw, new country, new keyboard! The @ sign was hard to find and Im not even gonna try to find the apostrophe-- hence the lack of use in this entry. The hostel Im staying at isnt like a normal one.. I think, its more of a camp ground with some dorm rooms. The staff is really nice and I already scored a free drink so Im not complaining yet.
Liking Rome so far.. its very economic friendly with the metros and shuttles. Hopefully it wont be too late to sign up for a bike tour tomorrow and ill see from there what else Roma has to offer.
Every few hours or so one person would get the chance to get in and our numbers started dwindling. Steph and I were had the last flights, luckily i got to check in at 3 while she had to stay for her 8pm flight. =/ Anyway, the guy sitting next to me tried getting my number to meet up with my while I was in Rome, but I didnt know if I should trust his intentions. He had already annoyed me when I chose the inside seat and he crowded me by choosing the middle one... on a non empty flight. I ended up getting his number but probably wont call since I cant use my own computer here and hes a smoker. No me gusta.
Oh btw, new country, new keyboard! The @ sign was hard to find and Im not even gonna try to find the apostrophe-- hence the lack of use in this entry. The hostel Im staying at isnt like a normal one.. I think, its more of a camp ground with some dorm rooms. The staff is really nice and I already scored a free drink so Im not complaining yet.
Liking Rome so far.. its very economic friendly with the metros and shuttles. Hopefully it wont be too late to sign up for a bike tour tomorrow and ill see from there what else Roma has to offer.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
i changed my mind
My plans of sleeping in today... ¡foiled! by mi madre. I didn´t get home til 5a and I´m pretty sure I woke up still drunk. Luckily I learned my lesson and didn´t finish an entire burger by myself this time, so no throwing up! Went to my first 2 classes but I wouldn´t have lived through the next two--instead I´m hiding out at the ISA office because it´s too early to go home.
Last night turned from no plans to finding a mass of random groups. Carroll and I met up to go to Holy Cross to claim our cups, after buying a pinta of course. Initially we were just gonna stick with the Germans that we met from Granada but they took too long deciding where to go, so we were gonna find them after our pints. I was sitting there for 20 mins sipping at my Paulander, while Carroll was flirting with Fran, the bartender who didn´t call last time, when half my class walked into the bar!! I´ve talked to them before but never about anything substantial... now I have friends from Austrailia, Japan, Germany, and Scotland to visit when I travel again. woot! One of the Alemanians is gonna call me up when she visits LA in February. Super psyched! She also introduced me to a drink called Desperatos (?), a Mexican beer mixed with Tequila. I wonder if they have those in the states? If so, time to stock up.
Our night continued at Camelot where we found the original Germans we had met up with... and yeah... the usual. I was pretty hammered after more tequila shots and that´s when I started swearing. For those of you who know me, I haven´t cussed since I was ... 10, maybe. It felt so liberating but still felt guilty about it.
Gonna have to siesta and recover before we go out again tonight. I wish I had hung out with the other international students before... I don´t want to leave yet.. the fun just got started. =(
Last night turned from no plans to finding a mass of random groups. Carroll and I met up to go to Holy Cross to claim our cups, after buying a pinta of course. Initially we were just gonna stick with the Germans that we met from Granada but they took too long deciding where to go, so we were gonna find them after our pints. I was sitting there for 20 mins sipping at my Paulander, while Carroll was flirting with Fran, the bartender who didn´t call last time, when half my class walked into the bar!! I´ve talked to them before but never about anything substantial... now I have friends from Austrailia, Japan, Germany, and Scotland to visit when I travel again. woot! One of the Alemanians is gonna call me up when she visits LA in February. Super psyched! She also introduced me to a drink called Desperatos (?), a Mexican beer mixed with Tequila. I wonder if they have those in the states? If so, time to stock up.
Our night continued at Camelot where we found the original Germans we had met up with... and yeah... the usual. I was pretty hammered after more tequila shots and that´s when I started swearing. For those of you who know me, I haven´t cussed since I was ... 10, maybe. It felt so liberating but still felt guilty about it.
Gonna have to siesta and recover before we go out again tonight. I wish I had hung out with the other international students before... I don´t want to leave yet.. the fun just got started. =(
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
SAD SAD SAD
Our bus to TOMATINA GOT CANCEELLLLLLLLEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Muy triste =(((
Got a call from my prof after class that there wasn't enough interest going to Valencia from Salamanca so they had to cancel our bus. LAME. I even took a final early for it too, what a waste. Not going to class till Friday since I finished all my finals today and I still have 2 unexcused absences to take advantage of.
Three more days left in Salamanca!!! Looking forward to moving on... I booked my hostel for Rome yesterday.. I'm paying 12 euro a night for a "luxuorious" hostel, but it's 20 mins away from the city central. I tried to find a decent hostel in the city for 2 nights like Gary suggested but they all cost more and have crappier reviews. So the deal is there's only one bus that leaves from Salamanca to Madrid airport for our program and it depends on what time the first flight is. There are 13 of us, and most of us have afternoon flights, but ONEEEEEE person decided to leave at 6am, so we're ALL going to the airport at 130AM (it takes 2.5 hrs to get there from here). Looks like I'll be there for a good 12+ hours since my flight to Rome isn't until 530 pm! Another crappy thing: RyanAir has a limit of 30lbs for checked in luggage or else it's 15euro per kilo over! That's ridiculous! Hoping I'll make the cut since I only came with 22lbs worth of stuff.. but I did do some shopping here.
I wanted to get my next tattoo here but I found out that it costs 50 euro, minimum! Guess I'll have to wait till I get back.. Bummmmer.
That's about it for now.. check back later.
Got a call from my prof after class that there wasn't enough interest going to Valencia from Salamanca so they had to cancel our bus. LAME. I even took a final early for it too, what a waste. Not going to class till Friday since I finished all my finals today and I still have 2 unexcused absences to take advantage of.
Three more days left in Salamanca!!! Looking forward to moving on... I booked my hostel for Rome yesterday.. I'm paying 12 euro a night for a "luxuorious" hostel, but it's 20 mins away from the city central. I tried to find a decent hostel in the city for 2 nights like Gary suggested but they all cost more and have crappier reviews. So the deal is there's only one bus that leaves from Salamanca to Madrid airport for our program and it depends on what time the first flight is. There are 13 of us, and most of us have afternoon flights, but ONEEEEEE person decided to leave at 6am, so we're ALL going to the airport at 130AM (it takes 2.5 hrs to get there from here). Looks like I'll be there for a good 12+ hours since my flight to Rome isn't until 530 pm! Another crappy thing: RyanAir has a limit of 30lbs for checked in luggage or else it's 15euro per kilo over! That's ridiculous! Hoping I'll make the cut since I only came with 22lbs worth of stuff.. but I did do some shopping here.
I wanted to get my next tattoo here but I found out that it costs 50 euro, minimum! Guess I'll have to wait till I get back.. Bummmmer.
That's about it for now.. check back later.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
BARF
Carroll and I just had dinner at a Chinese-Japanese buffet here in Granada.. when we were going for our second plate of food the workers were congregating around the frying machine, yelling and screaming. We watched them grab some mops and started going at it at a rat which we heard squealing!!!!!!! Uh yea, no more food after that. We only had to pay for our drinks. I´m thoroughly grossed out.
Our worst fear came true this morning when we went down to eat breakfast at 930 but couldn´t find our group anywhere. Turns out we were supposed to be on the bus by 930... and luckily we saw the guide come back to the hotel, for us I guess. We were the only two who didn´t know. WHOOPS
Lemme just say.. Andalucia (the southern region of Spain we´re in) is freakin HOT. It´s at least 95F and if we´re not sitting on the stuffy bus then we´re walking around in the heat. I´ve had a headache all weekend just from the dehydration.
I´ve been thinking of a new hobby to pick up when I get back and was trying to decide between snowboarding and surfing. Settled on surfing because I love the water so much more than snow and snowboarding is limited to winters. Annd wada got one recently too so we could go together!! Roommate bonding time.
Our worst fear came true this morning when we went down to eat breakfast at 930 but couldn´t find our group anywhere. Turns out we were supposed to be on the bus by 930... and luckily we saw the guide come back to the hotel, for us I guess. We were the only two who didn´t know. WHOOPS
Lemme just say.. Andalucia (the southern region of Spain we´re in) is freakin HOT. It´s at least 95F and if we´re not sitting on the stuffy bus then we´re walking around in the heat. I´ve had a headache all weekend just from the dehydration.
I´ve been thinking of a new hobby to pick up when I get back and was trying to decide between snowboarding and surfing. Settled on surfing because I love the water so much more than snow and snowboarding is limited to winters. Annd wada got one recently too so we could go together!! Roommate bonding time.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Sevilla
Kinda bitter right now about the hotel we´re staying at in Sevilla because they advertised free Wifi and we can´t even connect to it. Got our hopes up and everything. I still love Sevilla for the shopping though, they have a huge Sfera which we don´t have in the states. Other than that, went to the largest Gothic cathedral today. It looks very similar to the one in Salamanca.. but to go up to the tower we trekked up a ramp and made at least 20ish turns? The view at the top was awesome though. I´ll post those pics when I get back.
Tried some of that sherry last night, and i gotta say, i´m not a fan. Swallowing was the worst part.. it just burned all the way down and the after taste was weird. Jessica ended up downing the other half of my drink. That girl´s only drank 4 times, but she can down alcohol like it´s water. Oh by the way, she´s had laryngitis and a stomach virus since Barcelona. Needless to say, I spent the night watching out and taking care of her at the salsa club because the men were all over her. I guess it´s something about blondies because they just kept coming, one after another. There were instructors there teaching us the basic moves before everyone else busted out with their partners. This one little 80 year old Japanese lady had the attention of one the guys we wanted to dance with the entire night. So sad... I wasn´t very good at the whole dancing thing, so I spent most of the night talking to the bartender instead and danced when one poor guy thought I´d be a good partner. Oh yea, every person I talked to last night first asked where I was from, and when I said US, they would ask me where my parents were from, or else they would begin with.. so you´re from Korea? or Japan?... WHY does it matter?!
Stayed at the club until it closed and had to take a taxi back because our feet were hurting so freakin bad. Now I remember why I don´t wear heels. And yes, they still hurt. Slept the entire way here. There´s only one tour guide for the 50 of us who came and she sucks! She left 20 of us behind at the hotel today because we were a little late, and so we had to find our own way to the cathedral. Then she left us at the bottom of the ramp to the tower and peaced out at the end of the tour. Wé´re really paranoid that we´re gonna get left behind at some point during this trip. Haven´t gotten much sleep lately and I think my cold is just getting worse every day. People find me disgusting.. more than i already am.
Tried some of that sherry last night, and i gotta say, i´m not a fan. Swallowing was the worst part.. it just burned all the way down and the after taste was weird. Jessica ended up downing the other half of my drink. That girl´s only drank 4 times, but she can down alcohol like it´s water. Oh by the way, she´s had laryngitis and a stomach virus since Barcelona. Needless to say, I spent the night watching out and taking care of her at the salsa club because the men were all over her. I guess it´s something about blondies because they just kept coming, one after another. There were instructors there teaching us the basic moves before everyone else busted out with their partners. This one little 80 year old Japanese lady had the attention of one the guys we wanted to dance with the entire night. So sad... I wasn´t very good at the whole dancing thing, so I spent most of the night talking to the bartender instead and danced when one poor guy thought I´d be a good partner. Oh yea, every person I talked to last night first asked where I was from, and when I said US, they would ask me where my parents were from, or else they would begin with.. so you´re from Korea? or Japan?... WHY does it matter?!
Stayed at the club until it closed and had to take a taxi back because our feet were hurting so freakin bad. Now I remember why I don´t wear heels. And yes, they still hurt. Slept the entire way here. There´s only one tour guide for the 50 of us who came and she sucks! She left 20 of us behind at the hotel today because we were a little late, and so we had to find our own way to the cathedral. Then she left us at the bottom of the ramp to the tower and peaced out at the end of the tour. Wé´re really paranoid that we´re gonna get left behind at some point during this trip. Haven´t gotten much sleep lately and I think my cold is just getting worse every day. People find me disgusting.. more than i already am.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Gracias.. or not
Something I really miss... being able to sit on my bed blast music whenever I want, I find it to be extremely therapeutic. I'm happy about being able to sit on the bus for 6 hours and blasting it through my headphones too (tomorrow). I miss my friends and I really wish we could've hung out more this summer, but we all got caught up in working, house-sitting, and Thailand. =( Our boba run's been long overdue guys.
I learned in class today when it's appropriate (or not) to say "thank you" to someone in Spain. Our prof got tired of having to say "de nada" because we would thank her every time she passed out a worksheet. So unless you're ASKING someone for a favor, don't thank them. Again, it was only the Americans that did that. Another thing Spaniards do, they say "tranquila" when they think you're overreacting, when it's really nothing.
We learned how to make Tortilla de Espana today (eggs and patatas). Much better than yesterday cause there were only 4 of us and we had to peel/cut our own potato and onion. For something so simple it takes some skill to make because you gotta flip it a certain way. We made our own sangria again.. and added way too much wine because we were all tipsy after 2 tiny cups. I didn't have lunch either so that didn't help.
Andrew is introducing us to a salsa club tonight, after we try some of this sherry that he's been raving about since day one. Can someone explain what sherry is cause I have no idea? I haven't salsa'ed since last year when I took that class at Wooden with Jeff.. but I failed miserably. He just got really mad at me =P If that doesn't work out we can always hit the clubs again. Four of us are leaving for Granada at 6am, so our plan is to stay out til 5a, go home and fetch our stuff and then sleep on the bus.
For those of you coming to Spain (Justin) WAMU really SUCKS. It wouldn't let me withdraw money from a few of their ATMs, because they have at least 10 different banks here, and it still charged my account. SOooo I'm out $440 right now. I called customer service but the call dropped as they were trying to connect me elsewhere. Hopefully my mom can help take care of it this weekend.
K time to peace out, have a great weekend, y'all.
I learned in class today when it's appropriate (or not) to say "thank you" to someone in Spain. Our prof got tired of having to say "de nada" because we would thank her every time she passed out a worksheet. So unless you're ASKING someone for a favor, don't thank them. Again, it was only the Americans that did that. Another thing Spaniards do, they say "tranquila" when they think you're overreacting, when it's really nothing.
We learned how to make Tortilla de Espana today (eggs and patatas). Much better than yesterday cause there were only 4 of us and we had to peel/cut our own potato and onion. For something so simple it takes some skill to make because you gotta flip it a certain way. We made our own sangria again.. and added way too much wine because we were all tipsy after 2 tiny cups. I didn't have lunch either so that didn't help.
Andrew is introducing us to a salsa club tonight, after we try some of this sherry that he's been raving about since day one. Can someone explain what sherry is cause I have no idea? I haven't salsa'ed since last year when I took that class at Wooden with Jeff.. but I failed miserably. He just got really mad at me =P If that doesn't work out we can always hit the clubs again. Four of us are leaving for Granada at 6am, so our plan is to stay out til 5a, go home and fetch our stuff and then sleep on the bus.
For those of you coming to Spain (Justin) WAMU really SUCKS. It wouldn't let me withdraw money from a few of their ATMs, because they have at least 10 different banks here, and it still charged my account. SOooo I'm out $440 right now. I called customer service but the call dropped as they were trying to connect me elsewhere. Hopefully my mom can help take care of it this weekend.
K time to peace out, have a great weekend, y'all.
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