Reason #5236 why I will miss Winona

Now that I have officially graduated college, I’ve moved home for the summer to work my part-time job. I’ve started unpacking, and the reality of it all is beginning to set in. Already, my friends who go to school or live around here are anxious to catch up and get together. Of course, I can’t wait to see them either, but lately I’ve been less than excited to actually get up and drive to see them, and the reasons behind my apathy have never made complete sense until today. Let me explain.

I’ve lived in Mequon my entire life. My parents built the house we live in a few years before I was born; it was all I knew before I packed up my life and moved to small-town Minnesota four years ago. My friends that I have here I made in high school; I got used to driving to school, to restaurants, to the mall, to their houses. That’s just the way things were. But studying abroad in Europe where I didn’t have a car and HAD to walk everywhere, combined with living in Winona, has really changed my perspective on that.

“No hay en la vida nada como la pena de ser ciego en Granada”

(The title, translated, means “There’s nothing in life like the pain of being blind in Granada.” – Francisco de Icaza)

Well I suppose it’s about time I update you on the last week of the trip, huh? I started to write on Monday or Tuesday for about 2 hours… and then the draft got deleted. Have you ever had that happen, and then you just don’t feel like rewriting everything, because you liked what you had before but you don’t want to rewrite it because it won’t be as good as the original and you don’t remember exactly what it all said? Yeah, that’s what happened to me. My apologies :p

I’ll start out by saying that I’m in the Detroit airport, and about the only thing on my mind is how much I want my Packers jersey or Bucky Badger t-shirt. Wisconsin pride, yo!

State rivalries aside, my time in Spain was…. unbelievable. Mostly in the literal definition that I had such a hard time believing I was back in my querida Granada… but it was also just amazing. I didn’t get to do everything I wanted (most notably go to a salsa club, boo!) and I had my fair share of traveling mishaps (an accident on the French railways which caused 2-hour delays and provoked a breakdown on my part/me never being so happy to hear Spanish in my life; waking up late and missing my train from Granada to Barcelona; waking up late and almost missing my flight from Amsterdam-Detroit), but come on man, I was in SPAIN last week. This is about all the complaining I can bring myself to do. Even though we never went to a salsa club I still never went back to my hostel before 4 am. I ate doner kepabs and tortilla española and at least 7 cups of gelato. I had dinner with my old host family and good friends who stayed with them this semester. I went to the beach and swam in the ice cold Mediterranean three different times and got burnt to a crisp on my back. I went shopping and drank wine and ate tapas and went up to the Alhambra at midnight and just walked and walked and walked around my city. I took hundreds of pictures and laughs with friends, both old and new. And it was all fantastic.

The week went by quickly, as I knew it would, and although the 13-hour bus ride from Granada to Barcelona (that I was extremely lucky to catch less than an hour after oversleeping and missing my train) was long to say the least, I never tire of the breathtaking hills and mountains, rolling about the Spanish countryside, and to the other side, the sweeping Mediterranean. I passed through cities I know nothing about but would love to visit someday, and giggled at the extremely random choice of en-route movies shown overhead (Life is Beautiful, an oooold Italian movie; The Mummy; and A Walk in the Clouds, what seemed like a newer movie, with Keano Reeves and Debra Messing, which I also enjoyed a lot – all dubbed in Spanish). Upon arrival after midnight, I made my way to the hostel and spent about 4 hours there before taking my flight to Amsterdam.

At this point, I had maybe gotten 4 hours of sleep in the prior 2.5 days. I was to the point where I would close my eyes and fall asleep almost instantly; I’m extremely surprised I even made it to Amsterdam thanks to the drowsy haze about me. I had a 23-hour layover in Amsterdam, which I chose on purpose in hopes of seeing a bit of the city. On my flight there I wasn’t sure if I could muster up the energy to do so. But of course, put a travel addict in a beautiful and intriguing new country/city, and well, they’ll find the energy for almost anything.

Well I just lost everything I wrote about Amsterdam again, I don’t remember what I wrote and don’t feel like rewriting it again… ugh. I remember writing that I immediately fell in love with the charming brooms and streams that dabble the flat and unimaginably green countryside, and the winding canals that make up “downtown” Amsterdam. I put downtown in quotes because despite the city’s population (and reputation), you tend to forget it because of its laid-back, small-town aura.

In the 9 hours I realistically spent in the city, I managed to find the stamina to learn and see more than I ever imagined with an incredible 3-hour walking tour. I was happy with the (infrequent, from what I heard) gorgeous weather, the delicious tradiional apple pancakes I devoured and the colorful and fragrant floating flower market. I was pleased that I got lost and accidentally found the powerful, to say the least, Anne Frank house, where she wrote her diary and where her family hid during the war. I also marveled, as I always do after speaking and hearing Spanish for any length of time, at how much easier speaking and hearing English is, and how much we take language for granted (and how friendly Dutch people are compared to Spaniards! I loved it!). I was also surprised at how much Spanish I heard, and how much influence the Spanish had on Dutch history. It always makes me a little home-away-from-homesick, but I always enjoy it nonetheless.

Except for the part where my room was on the 5th floor of an elevator-less hostel, and the part where I woke up at 7am before my 8:05am flight back to the states (I think I need a new alarm, for serious), I really loved the strong-willed and liberal (almost to the point of notoriety) and beautiful city. Like I said, I learned and saw so much for such a short period of time, but I’d love to go back there someday and explore more!

It’s bittersweet to be back in the states, but drastically less-so than last time. I know I have lots of people waiting for me at home, and I have an exciting summer ahead of me! It’s so weird to think that I have less than two weeks before going out to DC, and I will definitely enjoy my time at home while I can and update again before I leave! Stay tuned and take care!

¡Viva Barça!

So when I was here in Spain last year I never really got into the whole football thing. I understand that it’s a huge part of Spanish and European culture but I’ve never been terribly interested. American football? Okay, you got me. But soccer-football… Meh. After visiting Barcelona for the first time last year and falling love with the city, and seeing how much pride its residents had for the team, I decided that if I were to root for a football team, Barcelona would be it (much to the chagrin of several of my Spanish friends who are Madrid fans – Barcelona and Madrid are arch-nemeses!)

Now that I’ve had a year to mull it over, I sort of regretted not buying something of FCB pride when I was the first time. So, upon returning this week, I decided a Barcelona jersey was in order. Not to mention I got it for a good price – for you, guapa, my friend?€25! – So I did and I was happy.

I wore it after I got settled into my room and went to go walk around Granada on Sunday. The response I got from people – which is NOT the reason I wore or bought it – was interesting, since Granada doesn’t have its own team (as far as I know) and loyalty is split. For the most part, I got random calls of support my way. ¡Ala Barça! Or ¡Gana Barcelona! A couple people even stopped me to say something to the extent of (in Spanish), “Barcelona will win! Who doesn’t want Barcelona to win?!” or another guy stopped me to ask me if I thought FCB would be champions, and for me to call him when it happened. All this made me smile and feel proud to be a part of something that seems great. However, not everyone seemed so supportive. Some elderly women shook their heads as I walked past, while others shouted “¡Viva Madrid!” or “Barcelona, joda” (which you are welcome to look up the translation to, as I don’t feel it appropriate to say here).

There must be more than this Provincial life!

Fun fact I learned while visiting my good friend from high school, Bre, in Aix en Provence, France, where she is studying abroad: Belle from “Beauty and the Beast” sings about wanting “more than this Provincial life.” Turns out she was actually referring to the province of Provence, France, where Bre is studying this semester and through which I traveled throughout the past few days! As a certfied Disney nerd, I was extremely excited by this and of course had songs from that movie stuck in my head the whole time!

AND SPEAKING OF SONGS!!! MY LIFE WAS MADE when Bre and I were on a home goods shopping kick. One of the Ikea-esque stores we visited was playing French radio…. WHICH WAS PLAYING CÉLINE!!!!! For those of you who don’t know me personally, I am also certified as one of Céline Dion’s biggest fans EVER, and well, hearing On Ne Change Pas in a location other than my iPod made me SO unbelievably happy. It’s one of many things I’ve come to enjoy about France (along with, of course, amazing bread and pastries! YUM :])

Nerdiness aside, France was wonderful and of course beautiful. I got my own tour of Aix from Bre and was able to meet and go out with a bunch of her friends Thursday night! Tons of fun!! Friday we continued sightseeing around Aix, then took a 45 minute bus down to the gorgeous port city of Marseille. It’s yet another city I fell in love with almost instantly, and I’m beginning to see a trend here – give me a city with a sea/ocean and mountains and I’ll be the happiest girl in the world! (for reference, I’m also a big fan of Barcelona – as previously noted – as well as San Francisco!)

I also never turn down a good hike with an amazing view at the end, which is something so common in Europe and something we did in Marseille! The old church at the top of the hill, Notre Dame de la Garde, takes a lot of stamina to get up to but the view is ALWAYS worth it!! I really wish I had access to a computer so I could show you pictures, even though they wouldn’t do justice. I’ll hopefully get to one this week – if not, when I’m home next week, for sure!

We also were able to go inside, and while the chapel wasn’t too impressive, the cathedral part was!! This church is probably one of my favorites I’ve ever visited, or if nothing else one of the most memorable. All European churches are gorgeous but many start to blend together after awhile. I visited the famous mosque-turned-cathedral in Córdoba, Spain, last year, which was really cool because it fused the two architectual styles together. But this Notre Dame didn’t have an Arabic section and a Christian section like the one in Córdoba – the entire Christian cathedral was in the Arabic style. Having studied a semester in Southern Spain where Arabic influences are EVEYWHERE, the Arabic influences in this church were so apparent to me and I just loved it. Apart from that, since it’s right on the sea, it is sort of decorated with a maritime feel. There are pictures of boats hanging up and even strings of model boats hanging from the ceiling. It was so unique and breathtaking and I just adored it. Again, I can’t wait to show you pictures because I’m really not doing it justice here!

After wandering around Marseille all day, we headed back to Aix for dinner (Doner Kepabs, oh how I have missed you!!) and turned in early. Bre had to leave for a film festival in the city of Cannes and I had a train to catch – both around 8am. After staying out late Thursday and walking a TON Friday, I think we both welcomed the much-needed slumber!!

Even though I was barely in Provence for two days, I still feel like I saw and accomplished a lot. I LOVED spending time with Bre, meeting her host family and catching up with her, and I especially loved that she (obviously) speaks French and was able to translate for me! I’ve wanted to learn French for a LONG time (no, this notion has absolutely nothing to do with Céline… what are you talking about?!) and so I’m always excited to see how much I can understand, especially because it’s similar to Spanish in so many ways. As I’ve discovered, it’s next to impossible for me to understand 98% of spoken French because I haven’t been trained on what to listen for. Written French, I have a slight advantage – maybe 75% I can understand, on a good day. Either way, neither are nowhere near where I’d like and I hope to fix that someday, preferrably sooner than later!

Anyhow, that was my experience in Southern France!! I’m back in my beloved Granada, Spain right now and have plenty to share – but I’ll sign off for now and save my Spanish stories for another day not far from today! Au revoir!

Te quiero, Barcelona… ♥

Believe it or not, I actually made it to my hostel in Barcelona! After everything that’s transpired in the last 24 hours, I really wasn’t sure I would. (First of all, I apologize for any typos I’m too lazy to correct as this post grows longer… I’ve forgotten how strange Spanish keyboards are!! :P)

First of all, my Atlanta-Barcelona flight was indeed canceled due to everyone’s favorite unpronouncable volcano. They put me on the next best thing, which added a few hours and an extra layover. I was sort of dreading it at first but it didn’t turn out to be so bad! I flew Milwaukee-Minneapolis-Amsterdam-Barcelona. The overseas flight seemed a lot shorter than I expected. Maybe it’s because of their impressive selection of movies or the fact that I watched “It’s Complicated” (John Krasinski and Meryl Streep in the same movie??? How could you NOT love that?!), but either way it went well. Arriving in Barcelona… well that was another story.

Katie and I (another girl from WSU who I will be traveling with) decided since our flights were originally scheduled to land 15 minutes apart, we would just find each other at the airport. When mine was rescheduled for 3 hours later and hers was still on time, she said she’d still wait for me. So when I got off the plane in Barcelona (almost ready to explode out of the sheer thrill of ACTUALLY BEING BACK IN SPAIN), I wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t see her. Stuff happens, maybe her flight was delayed. I asked several different employees where I might figure it out? Turns out they don’t have a list of arriving flights anywhere in the terminal. That means Katie would have never been able to find me, and I wasn’t sure where to start looking for her. Long story short, I decided to make my way back to the hostel in hopes that she had stopped waiting for me and forged her own way. But that wasn’t the only obstacle.

TOMORROW :)

This is SO insane. I can’t believe I leave for Spain tomorrow!! Well, assuming that dumb volcano that I wrote about a few weeks ago doesn’t get my flight canceled or re-routed. Either way, I am hoping for the best and EXTREMELY excited :) I’ll try to write as much as I can while I’m there! I’ll be gone for two weeks, and in those two weeks I’ll have about three or four full days of simply traveling – so I’ll probably have time to update at least a few times! I’ll have my iPod with me that I can update on, otherwise I’ll try to get to internet cafes and perhaps upload pictures, too. We’ll see how it goes. Either way, stay tuned and if nothing else, wish me luck and see you in two weeks!