The End

Since I leave Granada tomorrow, I guess it's about time to put up some pictures of our love nest! Javi and I have a 1 bedroom apartment very close to the main downtown area, his work, and 2 good running paths. The building doesn't look like much from the outside, since there's lots of graffiti (my favorite says “less mortgage and more disco.” It's a rhyme in Spanish) and it's pretty small. We live next to a gym and a small club for live music. I think the club is open more than the gym. There are only 3 other apartments in the building and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. Well, with the exception of the man below us who coughs like he is dying every morning, and then smokes various substances all afternoon. We even have a charming violinist who plays for money on the street below. He is very diligent and practices every day. Too bad he only knows TWO SONGS!!!
After trips to the appliance store, giant grocery store, hardware store, and Ikea an hour and a half away (no, Target does not exist here), we finally made an economically cute home. It is a “compact” apartment, so I have had to get used to a few little differences to make it livable. The only thing I would change would be to make the shower big enough for at least 1 person!

I love living here, especially with Javi. He is a very good roommate. I think it helps that he is cleaner than me. I'm going to miss the fresh fruit and veggies, fish, and bread from all the individual markets. I'm also going to miss the lifestyle of walking every where and living so easily without a car. I'll miss the 2 hour lunches, watching soccer, the ability to get to another country in 1 hour, playing polo, the good coffee, speaking in Spanish, a bar on every corner, swimming in a 50 meter pool, and the ice cream.

I will not miss how each bar normally has only 1 kind of beer. Nor will I miss not having a clothes dryer and oven. These are amazing inventions not to be taken for granted! I will also be happy to go to a place where people are not so rude in public. Here, people are either pushing you out of the way or wandering slowly while taking up a lot of space; they don't seem to notice there are other people near them. It will also be nice to go for a run without someone blowing smoke in my face.

I really don't want to leave, but it helps that I will be going straight to Southern California. I'll be living in Escondido starting May 1st, and begin studying to become a Physical Therapist May 6th! Javi got the big envelope comes for him from UCSD! We can just relocate the love nest! I fly out of Madrid on Wednesday morning. These have been an extremely fast and happy 2 months for me. I think not having any obligations or responsibilities had a lot to do with that, but I really do love this country and will miss it a lot!

The Never-Ending Journey

So, a few weeks ago, Javi and I decided to visit a European city outside of Spain. Paris seemed too expensive, and we found really cheap flights to Milan. When I realized how small Italy was, we stretched out the trip a bit and planned to take trains from Milan to Venice, then to Florence, the back to Milan to catch a flight back to Granada. We would make a triangle and get to see 3 very distinct Italian cities, plus eat lots of pasta. It sounded like the perfect plan until . . . Iceland decided to get involved.
If you are the cave-dweller sort, European airspace was shut down last week due to ash from a volcano in Iceland. There were no flights to and from the US or within Europe for a few days. We didn't find out this news til we arrived in Milan on the first day of our trip. We overheard a lot of British people talking about travel plans, and then saw it on the news. We figured things would clear up before we had to fly home, since we had 6 days to travel by train, as planned. We were wrong. I'll recap the highlights of the trip before I tell of our epic journey home.

Venice
This was the most beautiful place I have ever been and it was way better than Venice Beach. Everything looked fake, like Disneyland. It's tiny; you can walk the entire city in less than 1 day. Well, not the entire city because to get from one side to the other you have to take a boat. I expected it to be like some canals and some roads, but it is literally all pedestrian and boat accessible. Even the buses and taxis are boats! I wondered how people kept their off-leash dogs from jumping in. Swimming was not an option though, as it was super dirty. Too bad, because it might have been faster. From here, I could see how Italians get the stereotype of being late! We stayed off of the main island of Venice on a smaller island, Lido. Yes, like the song. The first good luck came when the hotel guy took about 40 Euros off of our bill! We visited another smaller island, Murano, where they are famous for their blown glass. Of all we saw, the Piazza San Marco was one of the most interesting, since it had a beautiful church, Basilica San Marco, and it was slightly flooded! Trying to get out of Venice to take the train to Florence, we first noticed the effect of the plane issue. Everyone being grounded, trains became very popular, which in turn made standing in line to get tickets popular. Luckily, the automated ticket machines were overlooked and we were able to book our seats. It seemed that people wanted to stand in the lines to talk to an actual person because they didn't actually know where they wanted to go, but just wanted to try to get closer to home.

Florence
A much more commercial city, Florence was faster-paced compared to Venice. We had 2 days here as well, and there was a lot more to see. We got lucky with hotels again, as the girl where we were originally booked made a mistake, so we were upgraded to a nicer hotel nearby! Florence is famous for its leather, so naturally we went shoe shopping. We also had to pick up a large chunk of Parmigiano to take home. We had some really good food and wine (Chianti) in Florence. It's much easier to be a vegetarian in Italy, since about half the pasta doesn't involve meat and the salads are amazing. Don't worry though, we still had gelato about once a day and got to try tiramsu as well! In Florence, we saw the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) that had shops ON the bridge, the Medicis' tombs, a museum with interactive models of Da Vinci's inventions, some beautiful churches, and a monk on a bicycle. The cathedral is amazing; it looks like a dollhouse with its pink and green outside! We continued following the news, which finally said Milan's airport was open. This led us to abort our Plan B (train to Rome, which had a functioning airport, then fly to Spain, where all airports were open).

Milan
We got a late train to Milan (they were booked all day), only to realize that they RE-closed the airport! The news said it was expected to open the next day, which, like fools, we trusted. We only had time to visit the cathedral and fancy mall. I was wrong to think Florence was commercial, there were a total of zero stores that I could afford in Milan. All the fancy designer stores were represented in Milan. We took a shuttle to the airport, where a shuttle for the hotel would meet us. While we were waiting for the 2nd shuttle, I peeked inside the airport, which was frighteningly empty. All the flights were canceled for the night, but still predicted to go out in the morning. Unfortunately, not much changed in the next few hours. We came back to the airport early the next morning, and of course our flight was canceled and no one had answers. I learned that “anullado” means canceled in Italian. We asked around to see what our best option was, and apparently we weren't even allowed to MAKE a reservation til the 25th, which meant we would be flying out even later than that. I am coming back to the US on the 28th, so that was obviously not an option. Cars were too expensive to rent, so we went back to the train station to see how close we could get to Spain.
We skipped the lines by going to a travel agency- it was worth the commission. 1 hour later, we were on a train to Marsielle, France. I must say, the European train system is very impressive. It was at full capacity and still able to transport people efficiently. I'd like to see Amtrak in this same situation! After 8 hours on the train with about 5 minute stops in Ventimiglia and Nice, we stepped out to the beautiful views of Marsielle. We weren't able to get a ticket towards Barcelona til the next morning, so we got a cheap hotel and fell fast asleep. To sell as many tickets as possible, they sell the last ones with no seat assignments, which basically means you sit on the floor or stand. This is an exhausting way to travel. We felt like refugees, fleeing Italy!

France/Spain
The next morning, we were off towards Spain. After a canceled train, we caught the next one heading more or less in the same direction. This led us to a stop in Avignon and a “layover” in Montpelier. I got to have a real French crepe with Nutella! I found their accents ridiculous and had a hard time not laughing when they talked. In Italy, I felt like I at least understood a little bit, since the language shares some similarities with Spanish, but I was totally lost in France. It didn't help that not everyone spoke English. Still, I managed a few make-shift sign language/made-up French conversations with people on the train. These trains were less crowded, so Javi and I were able to at least find seats, but not together. Leaving France, there was a passport check at the border. The officer asked Javi, who speaks French, if I was Spanish too and Javi answered that I was American. The officer then said, “OK, never mind,” which brought a good laugh from the rest of the passengers. I didn't really understand, but apparently they don't care at all if Americans are overstaying visas and such! Another 8 hours on a train later, we arrived in Barcelona. It was so nice to be in a place where I could eavesdrop on people again!
Javi's Dad's cousin picked us up and let us stay at his apartment. His wife made us dinner and breakfast, and then he drove us to the airport in the morning. They were so nice! We had a flight out of Barcelona, which had been functioning all week, so there was no more chaos and lines. We finally made it back to Granada only about 2 days later. The Milan airport opened up the day we made it home, and with all the people who stayed to wait for their flight, I'm sure we actually made it back earlier than if we had waited for the plane. Plus, it was nice to see the seasides of Southern France and Italy. Everyone traveling was much nicer than normal. We chatted with Polish, Spanish, Italian, Australian, and American people who were stranded just like us, all trying to get the hell out of wherever we were. It was exhausting and expensive, but Javi and I enjoyed our little trip “extension” as much as possible. I'll post Javi's Flickr account here soon so you can see pics of Italy, France, and Spain!

Mom's visit

I'm not so hot at this blog deal. We've had our apartment for almost 2 months, it's almost time for me to go home, and still no pictures of it! That will come in time. I had 4 days back in Granada between trips, and now I'm spending most of my time doing an anatomy review before school starts. I'm trying to remember how to balance daily life and school- this is a good warm-up!
Mom just left last Saturday. Javi and I drove down to Malaga to pick her up. On the way back, we had a fried fish lunch typical of a beach town nearby and gave Mom a tour along the coast and through the Sierra Nevadas. I don't think her stomach much appreciated it after 3 flights! The next day we set off on an epic walking tour of Granada. We walked for 8 hours with a long lunch break, but saw all the sights of Granada in 1 day, thanks to our experienced tour guide (Javi). He had also woke up early to try to get us tickets to tour the Alhambra, but no luck. The next day, Mom and I got up at 6:30 and staked out places in the line for tickets. We got lucky and headed off for Mom to see her first palace. The Alhambra is a Moorish palace from the 1300's that's one of the coolest things I've ever seen. There are tons of gardens, fountains, and really detailed ceilings. I suggest a Google image search! For Mom's last day in Granada, I showed her how I live a typical day. Going grocery shopping at 3 different stores, drinking great coffee from tiny cups, eating Javi's mom's food, packing for the next trip, relaxing at the Arab baths, the usual. We spent an hour in a cave with plinky music, cold, medium and hot baths, a lavender steam room, tea, meditation rooms, aaaaand a massage. We were all gelatinous after.
The next day, Mom and I flew to Barcelona to resume our rigorous walking training. And see some sights. While there, we saw all the Gaudi buildings and his crazy park again. We walked on the port, in Las Ramblas where we saw good mimes, the Gothic quarter, the markets, the cathedral, but the best of all was the Chocolate Museum. It had the history and production of chocolate plus amazing sculptures. It made our Christmas gingerbread houses look pretty lame.
After that it was off to Madrid! First, we went to the royal palace. Too bad Javi wasn't with us, or he could have hung out with his new buddy, the king. No, they don't really live there. It's too big, they might get lost walking around. My favorite room inside is the Gasparini room. This website gives a little tour, so you don't even have to go! After checking out the royal pharmacy and armory, we walked all through the downtown of Madrid via their Broadway street, Gran Via. On the way, we saw 2 mariachi bands and a lot of bad mimes. The mimes are people that dress up and stand on the streets and expect money. The good ones have amazing costumes and stand so still they look like statues. The bad ones have cheap Hello Kitty outfits and take their heads off to smoke. Gran Via turned 100 this month, and while walking on it, we saw the president of its restoration and maintenance group being filmed for the news while he was walking down the street. I recognized him because he's been on TV a lot recently. We missed our opportunity to be in the background of Spanish news! When we got to the end of Gran Via, we went to go meet up for Indian dinner with Javi, who had stayed in Granada to work. The 2nd day in Madrid, we wandered around the huge park there, where they have the only statue dedicated to the devil. Then we spent time just walking around the neighborhoods in Madrid. Javi went to go running shoe shopping while Mom and I visited museums. We went to the Reina Sofia museum, which is mostly modern art. We spent 2 hours on just 1 floor! There are a lot of Picassos and Dalis there, most importantly the Guernica. Then for an extreme change, we walked across the street to El Prado, which is all old art. It was mostly portraits and religious art, and they all started to look the same to me after a while! For dinner, we went to a really famous Basque restaurant. We were lucky to get seated because we went early (at 9:00pm). They served sooooo much food and it was incredible. One of the dishes you could order was “carne a la piedra” (meat a la rock), where they brought you raw meat and a really hot rock and expected you to cook your own food, causing the entire restaurant to be filled with icky meat smoke. I was not a fan of this part, but I did like the champagne with lemon sorbet and free house plants they gave us after!
The next day, we drove Mom to the airport to see her off. It was a fun, busy trip! There are a ton more details to all those stories, but I have to go pack for Italy! Javi and I are visiting Milan, Florence, and Venice on a “long weekend” (6 days). Let's hope this adventure goes well too!