Hey all, unfortunately another quick post, well, i´ll try to detail it.
Well, had everyone leave, that was sad. I ended my relationship with Cam, which was sadder. He then left back to London where he is currently, and I am still in Getxo.
I have moved now, all my stuff is in Algorta (another suburb of Getxo), and i will properly move in on the 5th, when I get back to Getxo. I didn´t have to pay my landlady extra money to have someone clean the place because i was so angry with her that i cleaned my ass off to spite her (i really really didn´t want to give her more money than i already have with rent and utilities).
But before all that was christmas. xmas eve is the night celebrated here in spain, and i went to eva´s house in san sebastián where we dined on prawns, rabas (strips of squid), salmon, delicious chicken, and a nuttily spiced meatloaf thingee. and of course wine and champagne! a very nice dinner, i was stuffed full!!! evas parents are fabulous, very nice people.
then for xmas dinner i returned to my apartment and had a huge potluck with 9 of my usac friends who hung around after the semester finished, and that was great, lots of extra food! and yes.... lots of beer, wine, rum etc etc.
and then on boxing day i went to alisha´s apartment where her flatmate cooked prawns, baby eels (angulas), amazing chicken/bacon... all the food lately has been exquisite! then we had champagne, lemon sorbet, lemon sorbet and champagne mixed together, champagne and orange juice mixed together... the list continues. another fab night for fine food!
and then last night... well, i was too scared to cook and mess up the tidy kitchen!
bye for a while, am going on a road trip!
Zorionak
Merry Christmas
this´ll be the briefest of posts possible because i´m late for a dinner.
merry christmas as i´ve said
am moving out of my apartment tomorrow, and leaving for madrid/cuenca/barcelona/south of france/andorra on wednesday with ivan, alisha and her fiancé ryan. lots of cleaing to do at the apartment (the landlady made me cry today because she was yelling at me for not having cleaned yet - she is way too pedantic (and is a puta casera)).
cam and i have broken up, he has gone back to london.
as i said, very quick post, will write much more when i get a spare moment. (and photos)
xmas hugs!
this´ll be the briefest of posts possible because i´m late for a dinner.
merry christmas as i´ve said
am moving out of my apartment tomorrow, and leaving for madrid/cuenca/barcelona/south of france/andorra on wednesday with ivan, alisha and her fiancé ryan. lots of cleaing to do at the apartment (the landlady made me cry today because she was yelling at me for not having cleaned yet - she is way too pedantic (and is a puta casera)).
cam and i have broken up, he has gone back to london.
as i said, very quick post, will write much more when i get a spare moment. (and photos)
xmas hugs!
Farewell Friends
Well well well. A very hectic few weeks. Very hectic, a lot going on.
Lots of lazing around at home, going to parties, studying for exams, sitting the exams (which went pretty well), and the saddest part -saying goodbye to many FABULOUS people who i will miss A LOT.
the semester wouldn´t have been the same without my fabulous friends. it has been awesome and i´m gonna miss everyone!!!! only about 10% of the students are staying on for the next semester so i´ll still see some, and will make a whole lot of new friends in the next lot of USACers, but i like my old friends tooooooo!!!!!
plans for the next few weeks: xmas dinner with a bunch of people staying at my place, move out of my place to a new place 4 metro stops on, a road trip to madrid/barcelona for new years, chill at home for a bit, do some more travelling, then uni starts back up again!!!
i should get a post up before xmas, but if i don´t, ZORIONAK ETA URTE BERRI ON! which is basque for feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo! which is spanish for merry christmas and a happy new year!!!!
Lots of lazing around at home, going to parties, studying for exams, sitting the exams (which went pretty well), and the saddest part -saying goodbye to many FABULOUS people who i will miss A LOT.
the semester wouldn´t have been the same without my fabulous friends. it has been awesome and i´m gonna miss everyone!!!! only about 10% of the students are staying on for the next semester so i´ll still see some, and will make a whole lot of new friends in the next lot of USACers, but i like my old friends tooooooo!!!!!
plans for the next few weeks: xmas dinner with a bunch of people staying at my place, move out of my place to a new place 4 metro stops on, a road trip to madrid/barcelona for new years, chill at home for a bit, do some more travelling, then uni starts back up again!!!
i should get a post up before xmas, but if i don´t, ZORIONAK ETA URTE BERRI ON! which is basque for feliz navidad y prospero año nuevo! which is spanish for merry christmas and a happy new year!!!!
Mini Road Trip
Well, since coldplay, not too much happened until the following friday, when cam flew in from london (albeit late because he MISSED HIS FLIGHT)!!! it was wondddderfull to see him, also because he bought 2 big containers of ferrero rocher chocolates duty free hehehehehhehe.
we went out that night to pipers in algorta and met a whole bunch of people, but then went home because we were both tired, and me getting over the flu (which i got really bad on thursday). unfortunately we missed the last metro, so walked for 40 mins :(
saturday we were picked up by markel and beth (and markels dog larson) and we went for a road trip to La Rioja, the wine growing zone of Spain. Its about 1.5 hours away by car, and it was a wonderful day (as you can see) to be travelling!! we walked around the town/village of Santo Domingo de la Calzada which was really pretty, and drank wine, ate DELICIOUS food (markel is an a class cook), and watched movies. it was a very relaxed and chilled weekend. we stayed in markels grandmothers house which was huge! cam and i even got a queen bed. (which is a big deal because i´ve only got a single bed here at home which isn´t the most comfortable squeezing a big muscley man in next to me, hence we now have a blow up mattress next to my bed)
sunday we slept in, then had another walk around the township, then ate yummy lunch, had a siesta (daytime snooze), and drove back (in the rain). got home where gsep made us a delicious pasta dinner with lindsay and christina, and then we all watched shawn of the dead until the wee hours of the morning.
since then we´ve been lazy, seeing as there is no university this week because of holidays here in spain. yay!!!
well. time to go. i hope everyone is doing well??? leave me messages on here!!!!!!
by the way, it feels weird about to have a christmas without the Warehouse sales, and customer lines, and late night shopping, and busting my butt off working rediculous hours, and, well, after 5 years of that xmas has kind of come to mean that to me!!!! but the atmosphere here is amazing, EVERY shop has an elaborate xmas display, its getting colder, and its definately gonna be different!!!!!
we went out that night to pipers in algorta and met a whole bunch of people, but then went home because we were both tired, and me getting over the flu (which i got really bad on thursday). unfortunately we missed the last metro, so walked for 40 mins :(
saturday we were picked up by markel and beth (and markels dog larson) and we went for a road trip to La Rioja, the wine growing zone of Spain. Its about 1.5 hours away by car, and it was a wonderful day (as you can see) to be travelling!! we walked around the town/village of Santo Domingo de la Calzada which was really pretty, and drank wine, ate DELICIOUS food (markel is an a class cook), and watched movies. it was a very relaxed and chilled weekend. we stayed in markels grandmothers house which was huge! cam and i even got a queen bed. (which is a big deal because i´ve only got a single bed here at home which isn´t the most comfortable squeezing a big muscley man in next to me, hence we now have a blow up mattress next to my bed)
sunday we slept in, then had another walk around the township, then ate yummy lunch, had a siesta (daytime snooze), and drove back (in the rain). got home where gsep made us a delicious pasta dinner with lindsay and christina, and then we all watched shawn of the dead until the wee hours of the morning.
since then we´ve been lazy, seeing as there is no university this week because of holidays here in spain. yay!!!
well. time to go. i hope everyone is doing well??? leave me messages on here!!!!!!
by the way, it feels weird about to have a christmas without the Warehouse sales, and customer lines, and late night shopping, and busting my butt off working rediculous hours, and, well, after 5 years of that xmas has kind of come to mean that to me!!!! but the atmosphere here is amazing, EVERY shop has an elaborate xmas display, its getting colder, and its definately gonna be different!!!!!
COLDPLAY
Wow. OMG!!! I saw Coldplay!!!!! And it was AWESOMEEEEEEEEE. Words can´t fully explain how COOOOOL it was. Wow. I´m still BUZZZZZING like a fridge from it.
IT
WAS
FAN-F*N-TASTIC
Background information: I love Coldplay. I discovered they were playing in San Sebastián (1 hour bus ride away) 5 months ago. I bought 4 tickets to Coldplay 5 months ago. I have been waiting for this night for 5 months. Well, longer if you consider how long i´ve loved Coldplay for. In short, I LOVE COLDPLAY. I bought 4 tickets so that other friends that I would make from USAC could come with me, and when people found out i had Coldplay tickets, I all of a sudden had a lot more friends!!!!! I had bought them for 40€ ($NZ70) each, and scalpers on the internet were selling tickets for over €100. So I was VERY lucky to get tickets.
Before leaving for Spain in July, I had two days marked in my diary as sacred days. 31st of August, and 25th of November. Coldplay has won out over La Tomatina Festival. Coldplay are AWESOME.
ok, so the concert. well, what more can i say? the best concert of my life. one of the best nights of my life. met 3 cool Spanish guys at our hostel in San Sebastián who were going to the concert, so me, alisha, madelyn and lindsay were gifted with thier presence at the concert, and had a fantastic time. We drank kalimotxo before the concert, and during, but enough to get a buzz going, we wanted to remember the concert of course!!! (well, and i have a lot of concert video so that is cooler!).
the venue was in a velódromo (i´ve forgotten how to spell it in english so i´ll leave it as that - its where you cycle round and round inside on a professional track), and it was nearly packed. the vibe from the crowd was sooooooooo good. everyone was having a fantastic time, and nothing went wrong.
when the band came on stage it was like a jet was taking off, we all went nuts!!!! and the entire band are really good live, chris martin, lead singer, even spoke to the crowd in very broken spanish, and when he spoke basque, i´m sure it was equally as broken. but wow, it was soooo cool. he and all of them are really really talented.
the lighting was spectactular, and the screen behind them was awesome, and i just will never be able to recreate the night. wow, it was cool. they were on stage for 1.5 hours, and chris martin even ran into the crowd to sing part of a song. it was so energetic and full of power. at one stage he grabbed a phone from someone in the crowd and sang into the phone. that would have been soooo cool for the person on the other end!
i had promised to call people from the concert, and trust me, i damn well tried, but a) my phone is in a vodafone store being repaired, and b) none of my 3 friends could get coverage. so that was dissappointing, sorry guys.
after the concert we went out of course!!!!! many bars, many drinks, many crazy people we met. had breakfast and coffee at 6am, and finally crawled into bed at 730am. IT WAS FREEZING in our hostel, the heating had broken. i curled up in a ball for the morning, while alisha and madelyn left early. a very late checkout at 1230 for me and lindsay(we were lucky we didn´t get charged for the next day), and us, very very hungover walked around san sebastián eating whatever we wanted, then caught the bus back. shower and sleep was on the menu, and i slept for 15 hours.
Current mental state: delerious - a mixture of tiredness (still) and elation.
Current physical state: 2 semi sprained ankles, sore calves, back is holding up ok, cold feet.
Current general state: VERY HAPPY, the concert was worth the pain.
Thanksgiving
Well guys, i had my first thanksgiving. now, of course they don´t celebrate thanksgiving in spain, but those crazy americans do!!!! we didn´t eat turkey (way to expensive and scarce), but chicken did the job. we all had a fabulous time, and of course a lot of wine went down a treat also. we were all thankfull for being in spain and meeting such wonderful people, and how right we are!!!!!!! this was on thursday, and it was an awesome night. check out our turkey centrepeice even!!!
The Guggenheim
I finally went and had a walk around the outside of the Guggenheim museum which is THE attraction in Bilbao. Also its really famous, and big and pretty. It houses art which i haven´t seen yet. Waiting for Cam to come so i don´t have to see it twice.
http://www.by-cam.com/byCam/119/VIDEOS/119CKVO46.MPG And here is me, outside the Guggy.
Enjoy! (You´d better, because it cost me 1€ to record it....)
Delicious Donostia
This was my first USAC journey!
We all travelled by bus to Bayonne and Biarritz in France, about half an hour from the Spain-France border, and enjoyed a walking tour in Bayonne (home of chocolate in Europe - i bought cinnamon flavoured chocolate which was quite nice (yeah i ate it all, sorry, none for home!)), and enjoyed a beer in the pub in Biarritz. Speaking French didn´t really happen, we spoke in spanglish. The beer we bought tho was quite expensive - 5€ ($9.50NZ) for a 750ml bottle.
Then all of us (there are about 40-50) travelled back to Donostia - which is San Sebastián in Basque language & also where my flatmate Eva is from - where we stayed in a very luxurious hotel for the night. well, for the few hours of sleep that we got!!!!
went out for dinner with christina and lindsay, and as you can see in the photo, i had something very very interesting indeed. horrible texture, but was edible. we ate right next to the cathedral, then out to partyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! met two guys from san sebastián who were really cool (josu and enrique), then went to another bar where we hung out with a large bunch of frenchies (we spoke spanish with them, not english, and certianly not french) until the end of the night at about 3 or 4. the walk home was definately enjoyable, lots of fun in the playground!!!!
next morning, what a hangover indeed. ouchie. but it was a relaxing day - went to the aquarium which was quite cool, I LOVED the jellyfish. fascinating. then, being me, i went shopping!!! yay!!!! lunch was a very interesting event, never have i eaten clams, and i found them very enjoyable ineed :)
the bus home after this was quite quiet, and then had chinese with andréa, ashley and lindsay, and then wow - straight to bed - for 14 hours!!!!
yesterday, sunday, i didn´t do too much, went for a walk, chilled out, very relaxed. my back is getting much better, which i am very very happy about!!!!!!
well. thats my update! ciao for now!!!
my trip was AWESOME. very cool. i enjoyed it A LOTTTTTTTTT.
We all travelled by bus to Bayonne and Biarritz in France, about half an hour from the Spain-France border, and enjoyed a walking tour in Bayonne (home of chocolate in Europe - i bought cinnamon flavoured chocolate which was quite nice (yeah i ate it all, sorry, none for home!)), and enjoyed a beer in the pub in Biarritz. Speaking French didn´t really happen, we spoke in spanglish. The beer we bought tho was quite expensive - 5€ ($9.50NZ) for a 750ml bottle.
Then all of us (there are about 40-50) travelled back to Donostia - which is San Sebastián in Basque language & also where my flatmate Eva is from - where we stayed in a very luxurious hotel for the night. well, for the few hours of sleep that we got!!!!
went out for dinner with christina and lindsay, and as you can see in the photo, i had something very very interesting indeed. horrible texture, but was edible. we ate right next to the cathedral, then out to partyyyyyyyyyy!!!!! met two guys from san sebastián who were really cool (josu and enrique), then went to another bar where we hung out with a large bunch of frenchies (we spoke spanish with them, not english, and certianly not french) until the end of the night at about 3 or 4. the walk home was definately enjoyable, lots of fun in the playground!!!!
next morning, what a hangover indeed. ouchie. but it was a relaxing day - went to the aquarium which was quite cool, I LOVED the jellyfish. fascinating. then, being me, i went shopping!!! yay!!!! lunch was a very interesting event, never have i eaten clams, and i found them very enjoyable ineed :)
the bus home after this was quite quiet, and then had chinese with andréa, ashley and lindsay, and then wow - straight to bed - for 14 hours!!!!
yesterday, sunday, i didn´t do too much, went for a walk, chilled out, very relaxed. my back is getting much better, which i am very very happy about!!!!!!
well. thats my update! ciao for now!!!
my trip was AWESOME. very cool. i enjoyed it A LOTTTTTTTTT.
Protest!
Well, I finally got a taste of real Basque culture today, a demonstration!!! well, i won´t say a real taste of culture, a bus wasn´t lit on fire, and according to our programme coordinator we haven´t seen the basque country (our region in spain) until we´ve seen a bus on fire. (during the ETA movements setting a bus on fire was a trend. a public bus.)
anyway. so, first of all. our bus wasn´t able to get into the university grounds, we got dropped off at the roundabout and a walk up the driveway was what we needed to do. well, there was a big line of people yelling and screaming with white masks on holding banners. they were quite intimidating. also there were sirens and whistles and it was eerie. nothing could get in or out.
so i got to class, had my test, and then we hear sirens and whistles and all kinds of carry on from down below (the photo is taken from my class), and while i didn´t get a photo of the demonstrators, i got the aftermath. and i went down and witnessed what they were doing.
we now have a paintspilled floor, rubbish everywhere, stink bombs were let off aparantly, and the dumbest thing is that there is now graffiti all over the walls, lifts, floor, you name it - its graffitied with slogans. the stench was horrible. i saw someone graffitying even - broad daylight. crazy. so the place is a bit of a mess.
no police presence.
the security guards just talked on thier walkie talkies.
noone seemed to complain.
because its normal.
insane. anyway, they were protesting because (i´ve heard two reasons):
a) the government needs to regulate the degrees with the rest of europe, and this means the standard needs to be brought up, which means the students have to do more work.
b) they are going to take out the social studies part of university, so that means literature, philosophy etc will not be taught anymore at this university.
so there it is. an interesting morning. my other two tests today went well, and now i´m about to go back to bed and rest my poor back :(
tomorrow i visit france! well, jussst inside the border. this is a USAC programme trip, all paid for! we stay in a hotel in San Sebastián and everything!
Hasta luego, i´ll have lotsa photos after the weekend :)
anyway. so, first of all. our bus wasn´t able to get into the university grounds, we got dropped off at the roundabout and a walk up the driveway was what we needed to do. well, there was a big line of people yelling and screaming with white masks on holding banners. they were quite intimidating. also there were sirens and whistles and it was eerie. nothing could get in or out.
so i got to class, had my test, and then we hear sirens and whistles and all kinds of carry on from down below (the photo is taken from my class), and while i didn´t get a photo of the demonstrators, i got the aftermath. and i went down and witnessed what they were doing.
we now have a paintspilled floor, rubbish everywhere, stink bombs were let off aparantly, and the dumbest thing is that there is now graffiti all over the walls, lifts, floor, you name it - its graffitied with slogans. the stench was horrible. i saw someone graffitying even - broad daylight. crazy. so the place is a bit of a mess.
no police presence.
the security guards just talked on thier walkie talkies.
noone seemed to complain.
because its normal.
insane. anyway, they were protesting because (i´ve heard two reasons):
a) the government needs to regulate the degrees with the rest of europe, and this means the standard needs to be brought up, which means the students have to do more work.
b) they are going to take out the social studies part of university, so that means literature, philosophy etc will not be taught anymore at this university.
so there it is. an interesting morning. my other two tests today went well, and now i´m about to go back to bed and rest my poor back :(
tomorrow i visit france! well, jussst inside the border. this is a USAC programme trip, all paid for! we stay in a hotel in San Sebastián and everything!
Hasta luego, i´ll have lotsa photos after the weekend :)
80´s Party
An 80´s party occured on Friday. And what a party it was!!!!
Lots of people were dressed up and it was a lot of fun indeeeeeed. it was beth´s 21st (a big big thing in the states of course with the drinking age being 21) hence the 80´s theme.
in just that night alone i took 228 photos. how insane is that. i think the camera was glued to my hand. sooo many photos. its funny seing people getting drunker and drunker in the photos as the night progresses.
good times!
hungover saturday, back not too bad considering the beating it got :)
had dinner at a really really good italian restaurant with jackie beth mike markel gema and markels friend who i always forget his name. mmmm lasagne was goooood.
sunday was a relaxing day, didn´t really do too much apart from lie down all day. back seemed good.
monday was a good day, nothing to complain about really. good sweet and sour dinner at a chinese restaurant with linday and ashley. mmmm then icecream.
tuesday... well... back spasms, lightning flashes of pain.... not a good day. stayed in bed for 90% of the day. got up only to get food, go toilet, and then giuseppe took me to the doctor who told me exactly what i already knew - ibuprofene, rest, heat on my back. its a muscular thing which is dumb. but i had telepizza! (the rival to pizza hut - and willoughby, telepizzas pizzas are better).
and then there is today. uni then internet cafe, so far :)
enjoy the photos. remember that there are 217 others sitting on my camera that i had to sort through!
Lots of people were dressed up and it was a lot of fun indeeeeeed. it was beth´s 21st (a big big thing in the states of course with the drinking age being 21) hence the 80´s theme.
in just that night alone i took 228 photos. how insane is that. i think the camera was glued to my hand. sooo many photos. its funny seing people getting drunker and drunker in the photos as the night progresses.
good times!
hungover saturday, back not too bad considering the beating it got :)
had dinner at a really really good italian restaurant with jackie beth mike markel gema and markels friend who i always forget his name. mmmm lasagne was goooood.
sunday was a relaxing day, didn´t really do too much apart from lie down all day. back seemed good.
monday was a good day, nothing to complain about really. good sweet and sour dinner at a chinese restaurant with linday and ashley. mmmm then icecream.
tuesday... well... back spasms, lightning flashes of pain.... not a good day. stayed in bed for 90% of the day. got up only to get food, go toilet, and then giuseppe took me to the doctor who told me exactly what i already knew - ibuprofene, rest, heat on my back. its a muscular thing which is dumb. but i had telepizza! (the rival to pizza hut - and willoughby, telepizzas pizzas are better).
and then there is today. uni then internet cafe, so far :)
enjoy the photos. remember that there are 217 others sitting on my camera that i had to sort through!
General Life
Things that have happened:
# Leonor was born, she is the crown princess of Spain, and is 2nd in line to the throne. The press has been going crazy with happiness.
# Did you know: The press isn´t allowed to talk badly of the royal family.
# I am addicted to sausages, they are like sizzlers but better with yummy gooey cheese.
# Its getting colder here, 10º in the morning when I get on the 8am bus to uni.
# I didn´t go to uni on tuesday or wednesday, and was sent home on thursday because of my back. Its out. And here´s the funny thing, nothing caused it to go out. I was doing things normally as usual. I may have sat on a couch awkwardly for a few hours, but thats normal. So yeah. Sore back. Better today tho thankfully :)
# I get slightly nervous getting into the elevator in our building when there are 3 people in it. I´m not a claustraphobic person, its just that Eva, Ashley AND Giuseppe have all been stuck in the elevator for an hour - in 3 seperate incidents - for having too much weight in the lift. So i know its my turn next......
# I heard David Beckham speak in spanish on the news the otherday - and he sounds like a little boy! Its not his tough cool image at all hehehehe.
# I am now in level 4 in spanish (there are 4 levels)
# I am not sure if i want to live with a family next semester, i´m having way to much fun making my own decisions and choices and not having to worry about being here or there at a certain time. And i´m having fun cooking for myself (see note number 3) and coming home at odd hours in the morning. And having friends over! In a family i would have to ask permission etc etc, and i most certianly would not be allowed my boyfriend over. So i´m almost set on living with students again, tho i´d move to Algorta, 4 metro stops away.
# Me gusta mucho hablar en castellano. (I like to speak in Spanish).
# In Burger King, the drinks coming in sizes medium, large, and gigantic.
# The television comercials here are much more entertaining than in NZ. Much more humour is used.
# I have caught myself out occasionaly saying things with a harsh r - the american way. for example instead of saying caa for car, i´d say carrrr. hmmm, hard to explain.
# Everyone´s english is deteriorating here. We struggle to form correct sentences, and as you can probably see, my spelling has also gone to crap. Its not because we don´t speak english here, because (unfortunately) amongst american friends we mostly do, but its just that we don´t care to correct ourselves. Some other theories include: every spanish word we learn kicks out an english word, every spanish gramatical structure we learn kills brain cells, and every spanish swear word we learn makes us look cooler. heheheh.
# I am going out to an 80´s party tonight. (Beth is turning 21)I am taking care of my back. I am a carefull person.
# 10€ goes to the person who figures out a) which country, b) which city, c) which building, d) which wall, the graffiti comes from.
I Don´t Know What To Call This One
ok. sorry for crap image. taken from my phone last night. another cool weekend, chilled on thursday doing homework with lindsay, movies on friday until 5am, and then partying it up last night!
i went to a sidraría in guernika (a cider house) with nate, kyle, beth, madeline, monique, jackie and mike, had delicious food (chorizo (sausageish), tortilla de bacalao (omlettish cod), steak, and looootttssss of cider. yummy cider that we poured ourself from the huge barrel. it had a tap. very cool! bussed back and then went out partying with the same people and gemas friends (gema is the spanish flatmate of jackie and beth). they all went home so i partied with beth and markel and his friends (alex is the one kind of in the photo). got home at 730! fun!!!!!!
hungover now. and you know what is good for hangovers? spanish tortilla made by stuart (evas boyfriend) (its a potato omelette - the tortilla, not stuart), wine, italian coffee, and lemon liquor. mmmmmmm.
and now i am sitting in the internet cafe. about to study. looking forward to our usac trip to the fringe of france in 2 weekends, then the coldplay concert the weekend after, then cam is coming to live with me for a while the weekend after! lots to look forward to!!!!!!!!!!!!! i´m having a blast, and its gonna keep continuing!!!!! hooraaaaahhhh!!!
ha. a prime example of spanish culture. in the internet cafe i´m in, they just opened up a bottle of champagne and gave out drinks to everyone in here!!!! i´m not too sure what the occasion is. so ontop of my hangover, mmmmmm champagne.
Germany in Autumn Rocks
Well. I am still very very happy. for 3 reasons.
the most recent first: giuseppe had his parents over from italy last night, and a few of his friends who speak italian, so there were 6 of us a the dinner table. delicious dinner - pasta, prawns and muscles cooked by giuseppes mum. although that made me happy, it was the fact that i could understand a large proportion of the converstation, IN ITALIAN, just based on what i know in Spanish. how happy would that make someone feel - to understand a language you´ve never studied!!!!
ok. now, germany, the 2nd reason. cheap flights from santander (1.5 hours from bilbao) means travelling is a must - $55nz dollars to fly to germany (31€) - that is insane.
so we flew into frankfurt, stayed there for 3 nights in a hotel, very nice comfy beds and our own rooms - very different to hostels i´ve been staying in in the past!!! the 1st day we walked around a lot, the river as fannnnnntastic, and the old quater, and just wow, the scenery of all the different leaf colours was breathtaking. i felt like i was truley in europe, especially with bikes lining the pavements, typical european houses everywhere, pomme chips (chips in a cone smothered in tomato sauce and mayonaise), and i even managed to understand basic things because of dutch. crazy - that made me happy like the italian situation also. very happy.
the next day we met with leni, who is a friend of jarons who was an exchange student in the usa but lives in mannheim, so she visited us in frankfurt and we walked around a lot more, even playing frisbee in the huge park in frankfurt which i really really liked, it was fab!!!! remember how i like gardens and walking around in them? i was in heaven here, the trees were just amazing. we didn´t ´go out´ as such, but had a beer and chilled at the hotel (getting a noise complaint along the way from the front desk!).
sunday was a magical day. we went to mannheim for a wee while (1.5 hours away by train), but the highlight of the day was heidelburg, a town with a castle on its hill, and wow, with the setting sun it was really really really ... i´m running out of adjectives to describe how beautiful everything was. everything was just a dream, seriously breathtaking. you need to see the photos to grab a slight understanding of it .. it doesn´t convey the real beauty tho. wow it was cool. had yummmmmy sauerkraut, nürnberg sausages and püree potato and a beer of course, and i was even more in heaven. alllllll the food i had in germany was soooo good. i have definatley put on weight, i ate everything in sight bcause it was soooo good. plus it reminded me of home i guess (marzipan, speculaas etc).
we came home yesterday after a lot of travel - 1.75 hours on bus to airport, 1 hour waiting, 2 hours flying, .5 hours waiting, .25 hours on bus to bus station in santander, 1 hour waiting, 1.5 hours on bus to bilbao, .40 hours on metro back home to Las Arenas. (9 hours all up)
so that was my trip extremely quickly summed up.
unfortunately i have a 10 page essay and presentation due tomorrow on the european monetary system... so i had better start it ......
happy halloween everybody!!! p.s. now the time difference between spain and nz is 12 hours, we put our clocks back the other day - much to all of our surprise - we turned up to find that the train we thought we had missed wasn´t going to leave for some time :)
besos!!!
Elation
Well people, i am happy.
really really happy.
giddily happy.
mmmmmm happiness.
The weekends just keep getting better and better and better for me, things are amazing here. ---> the people are amazing, the places i visit are amazing, the atmosphere everywhere is amazing, its just all amazing. increíble.
and my spanish is getting so much better. i can give you an example even, i felt sooooo happy when a word floated into my head. eva and i were talking about something, and it had a hole in it, and she paused saying something, and i leapt in there with the most random word i´d heard. i had no idea where it came from, it literally floated into my head, agujero. i don´t even remember learning that word.
that was a week or so ago. last night and the night before when i went out with americans (a different group that i normally hang out with) (thursday), and beths spanish friends last night (friday), were more random words popping into my head and i felt really happy. i still do, yay i´m learning!!!!
last night was veeery cool because insteadd of being with a huge crowd of americans speaking english, it was me and beth and about 8 spaniards who we all spoke spanish amongst eachother. aaah that was fun. plus we went across the river to portugalete where there are lots of night clubs and bars where i´d never been before, and we all had a blast. i crawled into bed at 845am :)
everything lately has just been going soooo smoothly. and whats better is that this coming weekend is going to be the shiz-nizzle also! huge halloween party on the 27th (you know how america is big on halloween...) and then going to frankfurt in germany for the weekend!!!!
This place is AMAZING.
Confession: I don´t want to leave. Ever.
really really happy.
giddily happy.
mmmmmm happiness.
The weekends just keep getting better and better and better for me, things are amazing here. ---> the people are amazing, the places i visit are amazing, the atmosphere everywhere is amazing, its just all amazing. increíble.
and my spanish is getting so much better. i can give you an example even, i felt sooooo happy when a word floated into my head. eva and i were talking about something, and it had a hole in it, and she paused saying something, and i leapt in there with the most random word i´d heard. i had no idea where it came from, it literally floated into my head, agujero. i don´t even remember learning that word.
that was a week or so ago. last night and the night before when i went out with americans (a different group that i normally hang out with) (thursday), and beths spanish friends last night (friday), were more random words popping into my head and i felt really happy. i still do, yay i´m learning!!!!
last night was veeery cool because insteadd of being with a huge crowd of americans speaking english, it was me and beth and about 8 spaniards who we all spoke spanish amongst eachother. aaah that was fun. plus we went across the river to portugalete where there are lots of night clubs and bars where i´d never been before, and we all had a blast. i crawled into bed at 845am :)
everything lately has just been going soooo smoothly. and whats better is that this coming weekend is going to be the shiz-nizzle also! huge halloween party on the 27th (you know how america is big on halloween...) and then going to frankfurt in germany for the weekend!!!!
This place is AMAZING.
Confession: I don´t want to leave. Ever.
Madness
Ok. the photos are kinda out of order. or they are in order depending on how you look at it. hmm that didn´t make sense. but then again neither did the weekend.
so. thursday night went to 2 bars with jaron, alisha, katherine, sarah, beth, brandon. mmmmmm that was fun. met up with dave and ed. jaron and alisha and katherine went home. so did dave. the rest went back to ed/sarah´s house and drank more, kalimotxo to be exact. (a mix of wine and coke - do not fear, i will bring the tradition back to nz). we had the funnyeist time. dancing, laughing, being immature uni students. stayed on beths couch, and got home at 11am.
as you can see from the photos of alllll the coke cups, i kept myself occupied. i was still drunk. very very entertaining. i even made a big piramid on the table and kicked it down. nice action video of that! where did all the cups come from? momo bar. iñigo has all the hook ups. ;)
then at 3 we went to basauri. now, basauri is having huge fiestas this week. and goddamn they know how to party. we walked around the town for a bit (1/2 hour of metro then 15mins by train to get there), then went from bar to bar getting beer and pintxos (tapas, which are small bits of food. i dunno, hard to explain.). there was a huge concert, met more spanish people, followed stray cats to find adequate toilets, dance parties, drinking from porrones (see my photo description on flickr), all my friends dissapearing with guys, dancing, drinking for free because lindsays guy was the bartender, eating breakfast with lindsay, her guy (David) and the owner of that bar at 7am (??), going back to davids place, sleeping on a chair for 1 hour, then making it back home to bed at 1230.
it was madness. the best night i´ve had so far. utterly incredible. woke up at 8pm, and i was told that i´m going out again. so we went back to basauri! but i hadn´t drunken as much as the night before and i wasn´t as pumped up, but still enjoyed what time i had there. went home by myself at 530, and now have the day to recoop. i have absolutely no voice. and my body hurts lol.
but i had an amazing weekend.
i can´t remember what uni is, or homework. heh.
so. thursday night went to 2 bars with jaron, alisha, katherine, sarah, beth, brandon. mmmmmm that was fun. met up with dave and ed. jaron and alisha and katherine went home. so did dave. the rest went back to ed/sarah´s house and drank more, kalimotxo to be exact. (a mix of wine and coke - do not fear, i will bring the tradition back to nz). we had the funnyeist time. dancing, laughing, being immature uni students. stayed on beths couch, and got home at 11am.
as you can see from the photos of alllll the coke cups, i kept myself occupied. i was still drunk. very very entertaining. i even made a big piramid on the table and kicked it down. nice action video of that! where did all the cups come from? momo bar. iñigo has all the hook ups. ;)
then at 3 we went to basauri. now, basauri is having huge fiestas this week. and goddamn they know how to party. we walked around the town for a bit (1/2 hour of metro then 15mins by train to get there), then went from bar to bar getting beer and pintxos (tapas, which are small bits of food. i dunno, hard to explain.). there was a huge concert, met more spanish people, followed stray cats to find adequate toilets, dance parties, drinking from porrones (see my photo description on flickr), all my friends dissapearing with guys, dancing, drinking for free because lindsays guy was the bartender, eating breakfast with lindsay, her guy (David) and the owner of that bar at 7am (??), going back to davids place, sleeping on a chair for 1 hour, then making it back home to bed at 1230.
it was madness. the best night i´ve had so far. utterly incredible. woke up at 8pm, and i was told that i´m going out again. so we went back to basauri! but i hadn´t drunken as much as the night before and i wasn´t as pumped up, but still enjoyed what time i had there. went home by myself at 530, and now have the day to recoop. i have absolutely no voice. and my body hurts lol.
but i had an amazing weekend.
i can´t remember what uni is, or homework. heh.
The Fantasic Four
Well, these are my flat mates. I know you´ve seen Giuseppe and Ashley before, but not Eva, who joined us 2 weeks ago, and is from San Sebastián (1 hour away).
Ok. so. not too much has happened in the nearly 2 weeks... you can see my photo page which shows that i went to the beach on friday, didn´t do much saturday, then went to plentzia via metro (40 mins) which is a small town at the mouth of a river. i went by myself this time, and it was just like i was travelling solo before uni started - it was heaven. i was the only one making decisions, no maps, no this no that, just what i wanted to do. fantastic.
a very nice and tranquill place, i went to the beach there, and fell asleep for a few hours, i was that relaxed. (i´d stayed up until 330 on sat night, watched sweet home alabama and saved! which the last one is a VERY cool movie, you have to see it.) a swim woke me up - the water was quite cold, and then i sat jealously watching a kayaker surf in the waves. i gotta rent me one someday.
this past wednesday, the 12th is a holiday in spain, "Fiesta Nacional de España", basically national day. it was when columbus discovered america or something, and columbus is from spain (his name is actually Cristóbal Colón). so this means drinking time on tuesday night. and man, what a night i had. the most varied in my life.
started at about 10 with a house party where giuseppe (the pasta master) cooked us and 9 others a beautiful meal of pasta, so we drank and ate which was really nice. then we caught the metro to algorta, a neighbourhood 2 neighbourhoods over where a lot of other usac students live, where there was a botellón.
only in spain do they coin a name for "going to a park or public place and drink alcohol bought cheaply at a supermarket". so that was all fun, about 30 people there in a park overlooking the bay. then we caught the metro back (normally the metro closes at 11pm on week nights, but because of fiestas (parties) it closes at 2) and went to Momo bar. lots of people there, lots of spaniards that is. then 5 of us decided to walk to puerto deportivo, which is 15-20 mins away, so that was fun and we danced in a disco for a while. lindsay and i decided to just start walking around, but we didn´t really need to, guys would constantly walk up to us with the line " where are you from?" so we´d explain our life stories a few hundred times. met lots of people that way. ok, when i say people i mean guys. lol. all of this in spanish however :) (Even tho the initial question was in english, we refused to talk in it). we walked back again, and we heard the metro running! we were sure that it stopped at 2, so imagine our surprise when i realised that the metro had just started back up again.... at 6am!
i was meant to go hiking on the wednesday but that meant getting up at 730... something i was not in the right frame of mind to do!!!!! so i blobbed out yesterday, did some much needed homework also :)
not sure of what i´m doing this weekend, or the weekend after, tho i do know that the weekend after that i´m going to frankfurt in germany! wihoo!
Ok. so. not too much has happened in the nearly 2 weeks... you can see my photo page which shows that i went to the beach on friday, didn´t do much saturday, then went to plentzia via metro (40 mins) which is a small town at the mouth of a river. i went by myself this time, and it was just like i was travelling solo before uni started - it was heaven. i was the only one making decisions, no maps, no this no that, just what i wanted to do. fantastic.
a very nice and tranquill place, i went to the beach there, and fell asleep for a few hours, i was that relaxed. (i´d stayed up until 330 on sat night, watched sweet home alabama and saved! which the last one is a VERY cool movie, you have to see it.) a swim woke me up - the water was quite cold, and then i sat jealously watching a kayaker surf in the waves. i gotta rent me one someday.
this past wednesday, the 12th is a holiday in spain, "Fiesta Nacional de España", basically national day. it was when columbus discovered america or something, and columbus is from spain (his name is actually Cristóbal Colón). so this means drinking time on tuesday night. and man, what a night i had. the most varied in my life.
started at about 10 with a house party where giuseppe (the pasta master) cooked us and 9 others a beautiful meal of pasta, so we drank and ate which was really nice. then we caught the metro to algorta, a neighbourhood 2 neighbourhoods over where a lot of other usac students live, where there was a botellón.
only in spain do they coin a name for "going to a park or public place and drink alcohol bought cheaply at a supermarket". so that was all fun, about 30 people there in a park overlooking the bay. then we caught the metro back (normally the metro closes at 11pm on week nights, but because of fiestas (parties) it closes at 2) and went to Momo bar. lots of people there, lots of spaniards that is. then 5 of us decided to walk to puerto deportivo, which is 15-20 mins away, so that was fun and we danced in a disco for a while. lindsay and i decided to just start walking around, but we didn´t really need to, guys would constantly walk up to us with the line " where are you from?" so we´d explain our life stories a few hundred times. met lots of people that way. ok, when i say people i mean guys. lol. all of this in spanish however :) (Even tho the initial question was in english, we refused to talk in it). we walked back again, and we heard the metro running! we were sure that it stopped at 2, so imagine our surprise when i realised that the metro had just started back up again.... at 6am!
i was meant to go hiking on the wednesday but that meant getting up at 730... something i was not in the right frame of mind to do!!!!! so i blobbed out yesterday, did some much needed homework also :)
not sure of what i´m doing this weekend, or the weekend after, tho i do know that the weekend after that i´m going to frankfurt in germany! wihoo!
Yay for Technology!
This is Getxo <<<< click on me!
hmmmm. ok. you see the copywrite google sign in the bottom corner on the right? the actual c in the circle. ok, draw a straight line from there to the minus sign on the zoom toggle thing. got that line? ok now on that line should be a white dot/diamond closest to the c sign. it looks like it has two roads coming off it going to the ne and se???? that is the plaza that i can see from my balcony. so where that white dot is, i´m on the west of the point of the diamond. this photo was taking during the time of a festival because the whiteness is actually the top of a tent. a huge tent. like in my photo :) now, use that zoom in, and you can see my roof!
the university is the large complex above the "digital globe" phrase in the copywrite at the bottom right. (it is a 40-50 minute walk, or a 25 minute bus ride)
the beach where i took one of my favourite photos (see the blog of that title) is the middle beach in the photo, the one with the giant pier shooting off the south end of the beach (pointing nw). (walking along the harbour from my house, it takes about 15 mins to get there)
if you move the map up some more you can see the beach where i surf :) after the right angle point (the biiiig one, hard to miss), its the 3rd beach along. (on the metro it takes 25 mins, the from the metro stop to the beach its a 20 min walk)
Well. thats where i live, and my neighbourhood :) exciting aye!!!!!
and instead of writing about the past week, i´ll just let you enjoy the wonders of google maps :)
hmmmm. ok. you see the copywrite google sign in the bottom corner on the right? the actual c in the circle. ok, draw a straight line from there to the minus sign on the zoom toggle thing. got that line? ok now on that line should be a white dot/diamond closest to the c sign. it looks like it has two roads coming off it going to the ne and se???? that is the plaza that i can see from my balcony. so where that white dot is, i´m on the west of the point of the diamond. this photo was taking during the time of a festival because the whiteness is actually the top of a tent. a huge tent. like in my photo :) now, use that zoom in, and you can see my roof!
the university is the large complex above the "digital globe" phrase in the copywrite at the bottom right. (it is a 40-50 minute walk, or a 25 minute bus ride)
the beach where i took one of my favourite photos (see the blog of that title) is the middle beach in the photo, the one with the giant pier shooting off the south end of the beach (pointing nw). (walking along the harbour from my house, it takes about 15 mins to get there)
if you move the map up some more you can see the beach where i surf :) after the right angle point (the biiiig one, hard to miss), its the 3rd beach along. (on the metro it takes 25 mins, the from the metro stop to the beach its a 20 min walk)
Well. thats where i live, and my neighbourhood :) exciting aye!!!!!
and instead of writing about the past week, i´ll just let you enjoy the wonders of google maps :)
Yay for Helen!
Well, surfing was aweeeeeeeeeeesome. A LOT of fun, thats for sure. Beth and I got to the beach, climbed into cold wetsuits (which i guess was a good thing because it was a really hot day - good for the water!), and went into the water with about 20 others. Only her, me and a Dutch guy hadn´t surfed before and so we had our own tutor. We had long boards, and at first we just got told to try. So i´d lie on my board, paddle, and then once i´d caught the wave you´re meant to then stand up. amazingly, surprising, gobsmackingly, i was able to stand up pretty quickly. There were some people in that group that had been trying for days and still couldn´t, so i feel pretty good!!
one of the (not so good) times i stood up, i then missed my footing, slipped, and fell on my back on my board with my head facing the shore. i then continued to ride the wave on my back while still on the board!!! that was really really funny. jaron and katherine were with the other 17 people, and they were doing really well also, and beth managed near the end to nearly get the hang of it.
i´m definately going to buy a water proof camera to take to tomorrows lesson... although the weather has turned a little miserable...
didn´t go to rugby practice, jackie who i´d be doing it with was sick so i guess i´m going tomorrow :) (jackie plays rugby in the states). had drinking games at home instead - very cool because for the most part they were in spanish with Eva´s friends (my roommate). this was a cool night, we drank then headed to momo where we met up with many morepeople. very good times. even met an aussie that i could hassle!! yay!!!
on saturday a lot of people went to Gernika, but because i didn´t know about this USAC trip i coudln´t go. i would have gone but you had to sign your name up and noone told me about it :( read some more of harry potter 6 in spanish, went to linday´s place who was sick and missing out on the trip and watched a movie, then walked for 2 hours just listening to music and chilling out.
for the past 24 hours apart from sleeping i´ve been eating and reading harry potter. good stuff. just finished it which is the only reason i´m on the interent :) time to do homework now though. this week looks to be uneventful, apart from rugby and surfing. i hope the weather improves!!
one of the (not so good) times i stood up, i then missed my footing, slipped, and fell on my back on my board with my head facing the shore. i then continued to ride the wave on my back while still on the board!!! that was really really funny. jaron and katherine were with the other 17 people, and they were doing really well also, and beth managed near the end to nearly get the hang of it.
i´m definately going to buy a water proof camera to take to tomorrows lesson... although the weather has turned a little miserable...
didn´t go to rugby practice, jackie who i´d be doing it with was sick so i guess i´m going tomorrow :) (jackie plays rugby in the states). had drinking games at home instead - very cool because for the most part they were in spanish with Eva´s friends (my roommate). this was a cool night, we drank then headed to momo where we met up with many morepeople. very good times. even met an aussie that i could hassle!! yay!!!
on saturday a lot of people went to Gernika, but because i didn´t know about this USAC trip i coudln´t go. i would have gone but you had to sign your name up and noone told me about it :( read some more of harry potter 6 in spanish, went to linday´s place who was sick and missing out on the trip and watched a movie, then walked for 2 hours just listening to music and chilling out.
for the past 24 hours apart from sleeping i´ve been eating and reading harry potter. good stuff. just finished it which is the only reason i´m on the interent :) time to do homework now though. this week looks to be uneventful, apart from rugby and surfing. i hope the weather improves!!
My Diary of Barcelona
Yes, I know its been a while, sorry, therefore i´ll take the lazy route and just show you my diary.
and then there are the photos etc.
last night was fun, walked for ages and met up with our usac group people (some of them) and drank kalimotxo (wine and cocacola), beer, wine, anyting we could get our hands on. good times. very cold tho.
monday - thursday has been a very busy and stressfull week. test after test and not being able to sleep much. 2 cups of coffee a day has helped :) i´m a coffee drinker now by the way :)
learning how to surf today, and then off to my first rugby practice...
sorry about the email neglecting, at least you know i´m alive tho right?
will get on top of it all soon.
and then there are the photos etc.
last night was fun, walked for ages and met up with our usac group people (some of them) and drank kalimotxo (wine and cocacola), beer, wine, anyting we could get our hands on. good times. very cold tho.
monday - thursday has been a very busy and stressfull week. test after test and not being able to sleep much. 2 cups of coffee a day has helped :) i´m a coffee drinker now by the way :)
learning how to surf today, and then off to my first rugby practice...
sorry about the email neglecting, at least you know i´m alive tho right?
will get on top of it all soon.
One of My Favourite Photos So Far
Sunday 18th: went to a medieval festival in a neighbouring neighbourhood which had EVERYTHING medieval, it was really cool. even archery lessons, hawks, hangings, and swordfights. ok, the hanging happened in a play so it wasn´t real. but the swords were... and their choreography good. hmm. my spelling has gone to the crapper. so has my vocabulary, i think all the spanish i´m learning is pushing out the english....!
on monday i met my intercambio, who is my exchange partner. we converse 1 hour in spanish then 1 hour in english. now, every student gets a partner, who is more or less thier age so they can go to parties etc with thier new spanish friend. my intercambio is Eduardo, a 39 year old economics teacher at the university! but he´s really cool, and his speciality is development economics, which is the area i want to go into - so what we talk about is all beneficial! not that we talk about economics all the time, nooooo! lots of different topics, but his english is nearly perfect anyway so thats good.
actually the past few days has been quite tame, getting into the rhythm (you don´t know how many times i spelt that to get it right... i´m still not sure if its spelt like that) of studying and things. had a test today which i did very well in for managerial finance, and now i have to go home and write an essay for spanish on food. mmmmm i´m hungry.
oh yeah, i may not get to post until monday or tuesday because this weekend i´m going to Barcelona!!!! wihooooo! i´m going with katherine, alisha, beth, ivan and jaron. this is going to be a kick ass weekend!!!
on monday i met my intercambio, who is my exchange partner. we converse 1 hour in spanish then 1 hour in english. now, every student gets a partner, who is more or less thier age so they can go to parties etc with thier new spanish friend. my intercambio is Eduardo, a 39 year old economics teacher at the university! but he´s really cool, and his speciality is development economics, which is the area i want to go into - so what we talk about is all beneficial! not that we talk about economics all the time, nooooo! lots of different topics, but his english is nearly perfect anyway so thats good.
actually the past few days has been quite tame, getting into the rhythm (you don´t know how many times i spelt that to get it right... i´m still not sure if its spelt like that) of studying and things. had a test today which i did very well in for managerial finance, and now i have to go home and write an essay for spanish on food. mmmmm i´m hungry.
oh yeah, i may not get to post until monday or tuesday because this weekend i´m going to Barcelona!!!! wihooooo! i´m going with katherine, alisha, beth, ivan and jaron. this is going to be a kick ass weekend!!!
El Momo Loco
Me encanta Momo!
This was the friday night i had just written about. very cool.
anyway, so that saturday i went to a juanes concert, who is very very popular in spain and latin america, you can see the photos on my photo page etc. that was really fun, he´s pop, and its fun pop, not candy pop type music. anyway. la camisa negra is the name of his hit song at the moment.
sunday i didn´t do too much, in fact it was so long ago and i don´t have my diary with me that, well, what did i do? coffee with ivan and alisha. um yeah.
monday classes etc..... tuesday classes etc..... wednesday had a mini study group thing with katherine and alisha which we got hyped up on caffine and sugar. that was cool.
thursday i went rollerblading, had a good meal by giuseppe (As you can see in photos (yeah i say that a lot)) and then a good relaxing night.
friday i ahhh, ummm oh yeah, hangover and stuff. relaxed.
saturday more of the same, lounged around at home, awaiting election results etc, called a lot of people. (and no, i didn´t vote, too much hassle - i would have either had to travel to madrid, or post in a form. both are expensive!) oh yeah and then photos and stuff of drinking games with ivan, ivan and alisha. very cool night. didn´t go out, but drank at ivans house and my place. time flew out the window, and it was 4 when we realised what the time was!
not much of a hang over this morning which was nice.
AND I´D JUST LIKE TO ADD A VERY HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY TO CAMERON, AND ALSO A HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR US BOTH.
Te quiero mi amor.
This was the friday night i had just written about. very cool.
anyway, so that saturday i went to a juanes concert, who is very very popular in spain and latin america, you can see the photos on my photo page etc. that was really fun, he´s pop, and its fun pop, not candy pop type music. anyway. la camisa negra is the name of his hit song at the moment.
sunday i didn´t do too much, in fact it was so long ago and i don´t have my diary with me that, well, what did i do? coffee with ivan and alisha. um yeah.
monday classes etc..... tuesday classes etc..... wednesday had a mini study group thing with katherine and alisha which we got hyped up on caffine and sugar. that was cool.
thursday i went rollerblading, had a good meal by giuseppe (As you can see in photos (yeah i say that a lot)) and then a good relaxing night.
friday i ahhh, ummm oh yeah, hangover and stuff. relaxed.
saturday more of the same, lounged around at home, awaiting election results etc, called a lot of people. (and no, i didn´t vote, too much hassle - i would have either had to travel to madrid, or post in a form. both are expensive!) oh yeah and then photos and stuff of drinking games with ivan, ivan and alisha. very cool night. didn´t go out, but drank at ivans house and my place. time flew out the window, and it was 4 when we realised what the time was!
not much of a hang over this morning which was nice.
AND I´D JUST LIKE TO ADD A VERY HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY TO CAMERON, AND ALSO A HAPPY 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR US BOTH.
Te quiero mi amor.
Sorry For The Wait
Problems, problems and then more problems. Problems with time management, problems with the blog site (it deleted my last long post which I wrote 2 days ago), and problems with my student loan not being paid.
But now I think I have a little time to fill you in.
Wow, I really haven´t said much about where I am what i´m doing etc etc.
Um. Ok.
Thursday 1st September: Arrived in Getxo, moved into my apartment, crashed, slept, welcomed in Ashley who is from San Diego.
Friday 2nd: We had our university orientation which was us sitting in a room listening to the rules etc, and then we had a written test, and a vocal test. I did pretty good, I got into track 3 (out of 4 tracks). Welcomed Giuseppe from Italy (who loves kiwis because he lived on a farm near Tokoroa for 5 months a few years ago).
Wasn´t feeling very well, but hung out during the afternoon with Andréa and Lindsay, two friends of Ashley (but not friends from america, they met in madrid). Then later on at night I hung out with Beth and Sara, we went for a walk to the port.
Saturday 3rd: Full blown sickness, I wasn´t able to go on the tour of Bilbao and Getxo - but it turns out I didn´t miss much because it was quite lame. Sleep, sleep and more sleep, achey joints, hot and cold etc - and there was a huge party at our apartment. Seriously, it was loud. I felt so lousy. At one stage i think i was hallucinating, i´m not sure, but i remember something about giraffes. Weird.
Sunday 4: Relaxed during the day, didn´t want to ruin my recovery, tho the worst had passed.
Monday 5: Went shopping with Beth and Nate - you see the highway picture in my photo page? yeah, read the blurb about that one also. maddness. running across highways. we hung out in the evening as well, went to a reallllly nice bar thing near the old port of Getxo.
Tuesday 6: First day of uni! (or school as the americans call it - noone knew what i was saying apart from Alisha, who studied in waikato uni in 2003 for a semester!)
Classes are as follows:
Mondays to Thursdays spanish from 845 until 1125. (yes, that means getting up at 730 to catch an 820 bus. its not fun adjusting!)
I have global economics on tuesdays and thursdays from 1125-1255 which is a good class - it would help if i could read the book we´re meant to be following - mines still being shipped from amazon. mondays and wednesdays are my busyiest days with managerial finance 1125-1255, and then european union from 1255-225. All three classes are quite interesting, and all have a large workload(e.g reading), but it looks easy to me as i´ve done similar classes. one thing freaked me out here, a D is actually a pass, what we´d call a C - so I really don´t want to come back with D marks because noone in nz will know that its a pass! they´ll think i failed!!!
Wednesday 6th: classes... and then went shopping!!! i bought rollerblades - and they are SUPER cool. can´t remember what i did for the night time.
Thursday: 7th: classes, then went rollerblading! and man it was fun. i went so far and with such ease!!! most of the picutres in the last post are from my rollerblading, it was beautiful weather!!! then seeing as we don´t have classes on fridays, it was time to hit the town!! we went to an irish pub in bilbao where a LOT of students were, and it was kinda hot and crowded so we floated a bit (and took poo photos, a VERY funny time we all had) (we=jeron (who looks like christian bale who played batman), Alisha and I, and then later joined by Sara and Ivan) (can´t remember where Jeron is from, alisha Idaho, sara Northern California, and ivan Idaho).
That was a great night. Got to bed at 330.
Friday: Ummmm... can´t remember... oh wait, yes i do, hungover, took it slow, talked on the webcam with a few people (friday evening for all you kiwis is a good time to catch me, its looking to be my time on the net). had a coffee (yes, i´ve started drinking coffee here, its really good) with Iñigo, a very hot spanish guy who lives in our building (and by the way this is social coffee, nothing else) at a very cool bar called Momo and then for the nighttime i hung out with Iñigo, Giuseppe, Ashley, Lindsay, Andréa, and some of Giuseppes crazy italian friends. it was cool, got home at 3ish again. This bar is just around the corner (well, 3 corners) from our place, and its truley funky.
Saturday: Well, I went to a .... crap. I have to go, the library here is closing (normal university hasn´t started yet, it starts in october, so ther eare reduced hours.)
I´ll post soon, and will tackle my large inbox of mail when I can also!!!
But now I think I have a little time to fill you in.
Wow, I really haven´t said much about where I am what i´m doing etc etc.
Um. Ok.
Thursday 1st September: Arrived in Getxo, moved into my apartment, crashed, slept, welcomed in Ashley who is from San Diego.
Friday 2nd: We had our university orientation which was us sitting in a room listening to the rules etc, and then we had a written test, and a vocal test. I did pretty good, I got into track 3 (out of 4 tracks). Welcomed Giuseppe from Italy (who loves kiwis because he lived on a farm near Tokoroa for 5 months a few years ago).
Wasn´t feeling very well, but hung out during the afternoon with Andréa and Lindsay, two friends of Ashley (but not friends from america, they met in madrid). Then later on at night I hung out with Beth and Sara, we went for a walk to the port.
Saturday 3rd: Full blown sickness, I wasn´t able to go on the tour of Bilbao and Getxo - but it turns out I didn´t miss much because it was quite lame. Sleep, sleep and more sleep, achey joints, hot and cold etc - and there was a huge party at our apartment. Seriously, it was loud. I felt so lousy. At one stage i think i was hallucinating, i´m not sure, but i remember something about giraffes. Weird.
Sunday 4: Relaxed during the day, didn´t want to ruin my recovery, tho the worst had passed.
Monday 5: Went shopping with Beth and Nate - you see the highway picture in my photo page? yeah, read the blurb about that one also. maddness. running across highways. we hung out in the evening as well, went to a reallllly nice bar thing near the old port of Getxo.
Tuesday 6: First day of uni! (or school as the americans call it - noone knew what i was saying apart from Alisha, who studied in waikato uni in 2003 for a semester!)
Classes are as follows:
Mondays to Thursdays spanish from 845 until 1125. (yes, that means getting up at 730 to catch an 820 bus. its not fun adjusting!)
I have global economics on tuesdays and thursdays from 1125-1255 which is a good class - it would help if i could read the book we´re meant to be following - mines still being shipped from amazon. mondays and wednesdays are my busyiest days with managerial finance 1125-1255, and then european union from 1255-225. All three classes are quite interesting, and all have a large workload(e.g reading), but it looks easy to me as i´ve done similar classes. one thing freaked me out here, a D is actually a pass, what we´d call a C - so I really don´t want to come back with D marks because noone in nz will know that its a pass! they´ll think i failed!!!
Wednesday 6th: classes... and then went shopping!!! i bought rollerblades - and they are SUPER cool. can´t remember what i did for the night time.
Thursday: 7th: classes, then went rollerblading! and man it was fun. i went so far and with such ease!!! most of the picutres in the last post are from my rollerblading, it was beautiful weather!!! then seeing as we don´t have classes on fridays, it was time to hit the town!! we went to an irish pub in bilbao where a LOT of students were, and it was kinda hot and crowded so we floated a bit (and took poo photos, a VERY funny time we all had) (we=jeron (who looks like christian bale who played batman), Alisha and I, and then later joined by Sara and Ivan) (can´t remember where Jeron is from, alisha Idaho, sara Northern California, and ivan Idaho).
That was a great night. Got to bed at 330.
Friday: Ummmm... can´t remember... oh wait, yes i do, hungover, took it slow, talked on the webcam with a few people (friday evening for all you kiwis is a good time to catch me, its looking to be my time on the net). had a coffee (yes, i´ve started drinking coffee here, its really good) with Iñigo, a very hot spanish guy who lives in our building (and by the way this is social coffee, nothing else) at a very cool bar called Momo and then for the nighttime i hung out with Iñigo, Giuseppe, Ashley, Lindsay, Andréa, and some of Giuseppes crazy italian friends. it was cool, got home at 3ish again. This bar is just around the corner (well, 3 corners) from our place, and its truley funky.
Saturday: Well, I went to a .... crap. I have to go, the library here is closing (normal university hasn´t started yet, it starts in october, so ther eare reduced hours.)
I´ll post soon, and will tackle my large inbox of mail when I can also!!!
Home in Getxo!!
Well. After a disasturous night on the night train, I have arrived to my final destination, Getxo (pronounced Getcho).
This is home now for me until christmas!! (after christmas i´ll be homestayed with a family)
I had my first day at uni, and moved in yesterday, and i am currently sick with the flu.
Therefore this post will unfortunately have to wait, however i´ve made some good friends already, i have a wicked apartment with a great view (See photos), am flatting with an american Ashley, an italian Giuseppe, and someone else who hasn´t moved in yet.
Its been great, but i need some rest now (la tomatina was a very large blog to type out!)
Adiós for now.
If you want to know my address and cellphone number, just drop me an email :)
This is home now for me until christmas!! (after christmas i´ll be homestayed with a family)
I had my first day at uni, and moved in yesterday, and i am currently sick with the flu.
Therefore this post will unfortunately have to wait, however i´ve made some good friends already, i have a wicked apartment with a great view (See photos), am flatting with an american Ashley, an italian Giuseppe, and someone else who hasn´t moved in yet.
Its been great, but i need some rest now (la tomatina was a very large blog to type out!)
Adiós for now.
If you want to know my address and cellphone number, just drop me an email :)
La Tomatina
Ok, so i´ll cut to the chase.
Arrived at 10 to buñol and already a very large amount of people trying to get to the main square, large amount is incalculable, i´d say already a few thousand??
Pushing and shoving got easier as I got more and more saturated in sweat (mine and others), beer (cups thrown around), water (sprayed around from roof tops), and sangria (so I became red early).
Then started the ´camiseta´ chants. A group gather around someone (willing or unwilling, usually males vs male) and rip their shirt off. About 70% of people got their shirts ripped off, not me thankfully!
After about 45 mins – 1 hour of this it was getting tiring, it was like a never ending mosh pit with no apparent rules. The streets were running thick with water and beer, and my shoes were sodden.
Through all this time there´d be frequent ´ole ole ole ole´ chants, and a large round of applause and cheer when someone climbed or got quite high on the traditional greased pole to get the ham at the top, which starts the tomato throwing.
All around us on the balconies and roof tops surrounding us were tv cameras, and photographers happily snapping away, with the crowd often playing to them and vying for attention. Also on the roof tops were locals who had buckets of water, hoses, and tomatoes lined up waiting to be thrown.
At 11 there was a huge bang and the roof top dwellers immediately swung into action, with the crowd expecting to be pelted, but before they crowd got hit, the rooftops had a war! They also aimed at the tv cameras. The bang signalled the arrival of the 7 dump trucks FULL to the brim with tomatoes which made its way slowly through the streets unleashing its red fury!!
If there was a squeeze in the streets beforehand, then squeezing the lorries through created madness! They took up half the street! We were treated to a barrage of tomatoes from them, and then as the tomatoes became more populous, we threw tomatoes back at them.
Occasionally a truck would stop and dump a whole heap and this is what EVERYONE was looking forward to.
FQ$•%%& AWESOME FUN.
After 15 mins my goggles had become useless as they were fogged up, so I went without. It was hard to bend down and pick up the tomatoes due to the throng of people, so I just went with the flow of people!
I got hit heeeeeaaappppsss including many in the back of my head and quite a few in the face too. I had well lost anyone from the hostel, but everyone at la tomatina was now ´every man for himself´ anyway, but having said that, everyone around you became your friend!
Lots of English/uk people, ozzies and kiwis were there, with many annoying pushy guys around, but they slid right past most of the time.
One popular and painful pastime was getting the ripped tshirts from the ground, soaking them in more liquid tomato, and knotting them, then letting them loose. There were tons in the air at any given time, I copped a few but lobbed them on to share the joy!
Wiping your eyes constantly was a must.
At one point in the street, the tomatoes came up halfway to my shins, and it was all chunky pureed fun!!! Many (Well, basically all in jandals) lost their jandals, so there were lots of scooping tools floating around.
Anyone who was on top of someones shoulders, wearing something silly, or some sort of inflatable hat was more fair game than everyone else, and there was lots of aiming at people on balconies.
Near the main square there were large water cannons which made the throwing a little tough because it was mostly tomato juice!
And when I did wee people I knew, you know that a tomato was going their way for sure! Of course that worked both ways tho….
I didn´t eat any, but could tasted the tomatoes like there was no other taste. Actually in the beginning with the roof top wars, I smelt the tomatoes before I was hit by one!
Jumping up and down to splash everyone was a favourite, by my favourite move was scooping with my hands and throwing it straight up.
At one stage I couldn´t hear anything in one ear, I scooped out a large amount of tomato and then I was fine!
Being on constant alert was exhausting, but that doesn´t mean it wasn´t fun!
CONSTANT F”•$•&%%$• FUN
At 12 another bang went off, and everyone paused and cheered. Note that I said paused, coz it basically continued after, tho not as intense. I stopped to take stock of how I was doing – feet in tomato swimming pool like shoes, sodden clothes, pulled and disfigured top, hair completely covered in paste, goggles filled with chunks hung around my neck, and something in my left eye. Inside I felt fantastic!
People slowly made their way back in the direction that they came from, and I say slowly because there were A LOT of people. Estimates are 30-40 thousand.
The smell was really really thick, it was of old tomatoes. Inescapable! More chants of ´camiseta´ as people were determined that we should be shirtless! A lot of stomping and splashing, tshirt throwing, and of course, puree slinging still happening – but it was all good!
I went past one side street which was angling downwards, and there was a river of red flowing down. Naturally I stopped to take a photo, and I got splattered completely over the left side of my face, which I promptly took a photo of! Actually I wonder if you can see the guy lining me up in his sights on my photo!
It took around half an hour to go about 80-100 meters – not many wanted to give up the fight!
Broke free from the crowd finally, and dawdled over to the bus which was about 10 mins away. The walk took about 40 mins coz I stopped at every opportunity to get hosed off, but it wasn´t enough. My legs started to sting a little from the tomato stuck to it. Luckily it was a particularly cloudy day and the sun didn´t burn the tomatoes to us, it only baked them on
Everyone who was white was now various shades of pink, and everyone carried a sickly sweaty beery tomato smell to them!! The river/stream turned red as bathers washed themselves, and beer sales raised significantly with the out pouring of the masses.
No bus, so took off my sodden and cold wet top, shoes and goggles, and left them with some hostellers looking for the bus. Noone was going to steal them, in fact, many people were simply throwing their clothes away!
Went back into the main area (which smelt worse than before) and bought a tshirt (of course), and the major clean up had already begun, which hoses, brooms, and shovels.
Back to the bus (which had arrived), changed into fresh clothes after scooping tomatoes out of my bra, then took digital camera into town. Rivers of utterly disgusting mush flowing everywhere, and tshirts, shoes and beer cups everywhere! It has made me rethink about eating tomatoes!!
Met up with more hostel people (one of whom breast stroked in the liquid tomato area) and even saw a guy in a tomato costume – classic!
Ate some food, but couldn´t stand the smell anymore, so went back to the bus where everyone was raving about the festival.
IT WAS JUST F$”%$•&•$ BRILLIANT
Some poor kiwis were sitting by a nice rental car… unfortunately they´d lost their keys in the madness!
Lots of girls walking around in bikinis, and guys just in shorts – it was like a day at the beach, except tomato seeds replaced sand and tomato juice replaces the salty feeling after a swim!
I will NEVER forget this day.
EVER.
So here I am on the train to Madrid, and i´m sure I still smell, even tho I had a quick shower at the hostel. My hair is still matted, I have tomatoes caded under my nails, my eyes are a little blurry, and my left eye keeps expelling some sort of gunk, and I just took off my headphones which have remnants of tomato on the ear buds! Ah, its going to be a long night to Bilbao!
Hungover
Hello my lovelies.
Ok, theme park. Well, that was definately FUN. A bummer that I didn´t have anyone to walk around with and gush over how cool the rides were, or compare wetness with, but I nevertheless had a good time. I revisted the Iguazu Falls (in Argentina & Brasil) with a miniboat in a river thing with a huuuge drop, i was in an aztec cyclone machine thing that spins around, got shot up in the air on a ride that shoots up into the air on a tower thingee, and thrown about on a couple of roller coasters. But none of those created the list of ailments that i wrote about earlier (tho they should have). There was an amazing stage type show about a mutiny on a pirate ship and lots of flips, swordfights, humour, people getting thrown in the water, pyrotechnics etc etc which was really cool. Then they decided to use the ´cannons´ on the ship and this set of valves or something under the lake where the ship was, and i was sitting right near the front! i got soaked to the bone, and it was really funny (an audience of 300 watching), until after the show and then i stank!! I pulled my neck while trying to avoid getting dunked with water from a waterfall on a safari type ride, there are 8 seats in a circle, and one person gets the brunt of the waterfall - which was me! and no, i didn´t quite avoid it, so got wet and a sore neck together!! The bruises and sore pecs.. well... on a mega trampoline jumping up and down and trying to do flips etc with the aid of a harness and bungy cords. And after one of the many rollercoaster rides i was naturally feeling a little dizzy, and grabbed onto a plant to steady myselft, yup - a cactus! All in all a great day.
The day after, i climbed another tower in sevilla, walked around some more.
Saturday I took a high speed train to córdoba, which so far, has been my second favourite city. córdoba is heavily influenced by the arabs who controlled the city for a while back in the middle ages, and it definately shows in the beautiful architecture and tiny cobbled streets. infact, some road signs are in arabic as well as spanish!!! the mosque in córdoba is priceless, it was really really nice, and you´ll see why once i post photos up!! (cant at the moment due to dumb hostel computers).
the next day i was meant to take a train back to valencia, but it was full so i HAD to take a bus. but it was much much better than last time, due to better seats and it was day time so i wasn´t sleepy!!! passed hours and hours of olive bush scenery which was quite pretty.
yesterday was surprisingly an awesome day. joined in a conversation about cadavers, and ended up going with this bunch of 6 ozzies to the beach where we found some more ozzies and a kiwi (!!) and we all played touch rugby on the beach. it was really really cool! (our side won hehe but only coz a speedy italian joined our team!). beautiful day (even tho it rained in the morning). then we cooked a huuuuge feast, a HUUGE one, and drank a sangria and red wine mix until the roof terrace closed at our hostel. i didn´t make it into town tho - too drunk for my own good! crashed in bed and when i woke up this morning... uuuugh.
so i´m resting a while, saving up my energy for tomorrow - the ultimate highlight of my trip - the tomato festival!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! all accomodation within a 100km radius is booked out, there will be hundreds of people sleeping on the streets/partying all night, and the atmosphere is just going to be cracker!
go the tomatoes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Theme Park Mayhem
I´m running out of time for this post, but I will say that the day left me with bruised inner thighs/groin, a pulled neck muscle, sore feet, gauges in my hand from a cactus, sore pecs, and stinking like murky lake water. But it didn´t matter because I had a VERY cool time.
Plus, at this european theme park, i didn´t have to look for glasses!
http://www.sevillainformacion.org/cultura/islamagica/amazonia.html Were two of the rides, very very fun.
More to come later of course.
Plus, at this european theme park, i didn´t have to look for glasses!
http://www.sevillainformacion.org/cultura/islamagica/amazonia.html Were two of the rides, very very fun.
More to come later of course.
Far Far Away
Ah. What a hectic past few days.
Apart from Monday, Monday I panicked a lot because I didn´t have any accomodation for that night. I could have easily booked another night at the same hostel, but I´d already been there one week! I wanted somewhere new, somewhere fresh. So, on a whim, I went online and booked a youth hostel in Sevilla. Now, I knew Sevilla was somewhere south of Valencia, but I had no idea that it was a friggen 10 hour bus trip (near the border of Portugal). 10 hours..... I did an overnight bus, and it was the WORST night of my life. 2 hours sleep max, the most uncomfortable seats ever to try to sleep on, and, well, it just sucked. NOT doing that on the return trip. Slept from 8am until 6pm on Tuesday, shocking because the whole idea of the night bus is that you save the day ahead of you instead of travelling. Dumb dumb dumb.
So now here I am in Sevilla! I have pictures up of me here already, and I can tell you, its just as hot as Rome. Very hot.
So I have walked around quite a bit today, and Sevilla is really pretty, huuuuge cathedrals, fortresses, towers, a lovely river, and lots of palm trees!!!!!! My hostel is nice, not the most social place though unfortunately.
Well, things to do, things to see and all that... I´m going to a theme park tomorrow, time for some REAL fun!!!!
Apart from Monday, Monday I panicked a lot because I didn´t have any accomodation for that night. I could have easily booked another night at the same hostel, but I´d already been there one week! I wanted somewhere new, somewhere fresh. So, on a whim, I went online and booked a youth hostel in Sevilla. Now, I knew Sevilla was somewhere south of Valencia, but I had no idea that it was a friggen 10 hour bus trip (near the border of Portugal). 10 hours..... I did an overnight bus, and it was the WORST night of my life. 2 hours sleep max, the most uncomfortable seats ever to try to sleep on, and, well, it just sucked. NOT doing that on the return trip. Slept from 8am until 6pm on Tuesday, shocking because the whole idea of the night bus is that you save the day ahead of you instead of travelling. Dumb dumb dumb.
So now here I am in Sevilla! I have pictures up of me here already, and I can tell you, its just as hot as Rome. Very hot.
So I have walked around quite a bit today, and Sevilla is really pretty, huuuuge cathedrals, fortresses, towers, a lovely river, and lots of palm trees!!!!!! My hostel is nice, not the most social place though unfortunately.
Well, things to do, things to see and all that... I´m going to a theme park tomorrow, time for some REAL fun!!!!
Chilled
Seems like a long time since I did a post, and yet I have essentially done nothing. Walked around town (shopping area), went to Gandía (a costal town 1 hour by train south of Valencia) to try to find accomodation on friday (no luck), read Angels and Demons yesterday (yes, the entire day/evening sunbathing on the roof terrace) then drank more sangria in the plaza with Sven, and today i went to the beach again with Sven (Belgium guy). I was meant to leave here on friday, but because everywhere I want to go is booked (they are unbookable youth hostels), i´m stuck in the Hôme hostel. As you can see though its not a bad hostel, plus Sven is also too lazy to find another place to stay so we´re stuck here together haha!
The beach today was aweeeeesome. Infact i´m still really salty, so probably should shower. Nice body surfable waves. Quite funny tho, Sven was like "wow those waves are big", and i was like "wow those waves are small". Go NZ waves!!!
Argh, I´m sick of hearing Shakira on the radio alllll the time.
So I´m a lot browner, a lot more relaxed, and a lot more dehydrated actually. Water time. Good to hear Hamilton had a sunny day - one sunny day!
Adiós!
The beach today was aweeeeesome. Infact i´m still really salty, so probably should shower. Nice body surfable waves. Quite funny tho, Sven was like "wow those waves are big", and i was like "wow those waves are small". Go NZ waves!!!
Argh, I´m sick of hearing Shakira on the radio alllll the time.
So I´m a lot browner, a lot more relaxed, and a lot more dehydrated actually. Water time. Good to hear Hamilton had a sunny day - one sunny day!
Adiós!
New Best Friend
So I left off when I was alone, smelly, and tired.
Now I´m just tired.
Tuesday I had no idea what to do at all. I walked out of the hostel preparing to wander into the main street, when i noticed some people ahead of me with a beach umbrella. Jee, i wonder where they were going! So i followed them at a distance (because i had no idea how to get to the beach) and winded through many streets, then got on a tram.
Beach time! My first thoughts were that the beach was just one big ashtray, but turns out that that is only at the beginning of the boardwalks to the ocean. Overcast day, but still nice to walk (and walk, and walk, and walk, like i did for over an hour walking up the coast to a series of high rise buildings that looked 20mins away). T´was fun tho, walking in the sand with the water lapping at my feet. (No swimming tho, didn´t take togs).
An interesting sight you can see at the beach: A 50 year old fat man with his family... in a g string. And no Renelle, i did NOT take a photo, therefore do NOT ask for one (yeah, thanks for the email aye).
Caught a bus back at the end of the day and just chilled out in the dvd room (Pulp Fiction playing). Started chatting to Vicky, from Oz, and Sven from Belgium joined us. We ended up going out for a bite to eat, and then Anna and Natalie from Poland joined us and we sat in a large plaza until 3am drinking with my new best friend Don Simon.
Who is Don Simon? Only the cheapest and most delicious Sangria. What is sangria? A unique Spanish drink which basically consists of red wine, port, and fruit juices. Don Simon, the cheap stuff, is at the moment on special, 1.5l for 1€. Thats $1.90 NZ for 1.5l of 7% alcohol. Brilliant stuff. Cheaper than Coke even. Amazing stuff.
On Wednesday (yesterday), Anna, Natalie, Sven and his friend Dean from Canada (who lives in Valencia) and I went to a different beach to the one i wandered on the other day, and although overcast again, we had a blast. Burrying Natalie, swimming in the ocean (wave beach, tho the waves appeared pitiful compared to NZ waves), eating icecreams, playing ´spot the prostitue´ on the bus (seriously, its near a working girls area) and just chilling out.
We went back to the hostel, cooked us a lovely dinner, then headed over to Deans apartment where we soaked up some more sangria until 4am, then went looking for a night club. Well, 4am on a Wednesday, the only one open was a gay bar. And wow, yes it definately was a gay (99% men) bar. So instead of the guys looking after the girls in a bar, we looked after Sven and Dean! Seriously, it was a blast, lots of techno/house, and we danced the night away...
It had to end sometime tho - my eyes were burning from the smoke, and my legs turning to jelly! Crawled into bed (after a shower (washed my hair twice and it still didn´t smell smokefree)) at 6;30, the dawn just breaking.
And here I am now. Sore head. Don´t know what to do today (haven´t taken in many sights yet, just the beaches).
I guess I´d better go and decide!
Adiós!
Now I´m just tired.
Tuesday I had no idea what to do at all. I walked out of the hostel preparing to wander into the main street, when i noticed some people ahead of me with a beach umbrella. Jee, i wonder where they were going! So i followed them at a distance (because i had no idea how to get to the beach) and winded through many streets, then got on a tram.
Beach time! My first thoughts were that the beach was just one big ashtray, but turns out that that is only at the beginning of the boardwalks to the ocean. Overcast day, but still nice to walk (and walk, and walk, and walk, like i did for over an hour walking up the coast to a series of high rise buildings that looked 20mins away). T´was fun tho, walking in the sand with the water lapping at my feet. (No swimming tho, didn´t take togs).
An interesting sight you can see at the beach: A 50 year old fat man with his family... in a g string. And no Renelle, i did NOT take a photo, therefore do NOT ask for one (yeah, thanks for the email aye).
Caught a bus back at the end of the day and just chilled out in the dvd room (Pulp Fiction playing). Started chatting to Vicky, from Oz, and Sven from Belgium joined us. We ended up going out for a bite to eat, and then Anna and Natalie from Poland joined us and we sat in a large plaza until 3am drinking with my new best friend Don Simon.
Who is Don Simon? Only the cheapest and most delicious Sangria. What is sangria? A unique Spanish drink which basically consists of red wine, port, and fruit juices. Don Simon, the cheap stuff, is at the moment on special, 1.5l for 1€. Thats $1.90 NZ for 1.5l of 7% alcohol. Brilliant stuff. Cheaper than Coke even. Amazing stuff.
On Wednesday (yesterday), Anna, Natalie, Sven and his friend Dean from Canada (who lives in Valencia) and I went to a different beach to the one i wandered on the other day, and although overcast again, we had a blast. Burrying Natalie, swimming in the ocean (wave beach, tho the waves appeared pitiful compared to NZ waves), eating icecreams, playing ´spot the prostitue´ on the bus (seriously, its near a working girls area) and just chilling out.
We went back to the hostel, cooked us a lovely dinner, then headed over to Deans apartment where we soaked up some more sangria until 4am, then went looking for a night club. Well, 4am on a Wednesday, the only one open was a gay bar. And wow, yes it definately was a gay (99% men) bar. So instead of the guys looking after the girls in a bar, we looked after Sven and Dean! Seriously, it was a blast, lots of techno/house, and we danced the night away...
It had to end sometime tho - my eyes were burning from the smoke, and my legs turning to jelly! Crawled into bed (after a shower (washed my hair twice and it still didn´t smell smokefree)) at 6;30, the dawn just breaking.
And here I am now. Sore head. Don´t know what to do today (haven´t taken in many sights yet, just the beaches).
I guess I´d better go and decide!
Adiós!
The Conqueror
I have conquerored Cuenca!
Ok, so I left off ... Saturday I think. Had finally found an internet cafe if I recall. Well, that day was the BEST day I´ve had so far on my trip. Everything went AWESOMELY.
I wanted to call this post Hidden Paths, because Saturday was a day of exploring hidden routes that I happened to come upon. It was amazing.
Took a bus up to the top of the city where this photo, and some others on my photo page were taken, and snapped away very happily. I noticed a zigzagging path going down, so I took it, and came upon an arch and a deserted house. Nice, but came back up. On my way back up the zigzag path, I noticed a slight cracked opening in the rocks... followed it, and came upon the most beautiful (and yes, equally dangerous) ledge in the rocks. I stooped over and made my way very carefully along it, and wow, I , am just lost for words. It was so so stunning. Just me, silence (apart from the occasional toot from the tourist train), and the view. And it was perfect weather.
Eventually I made my way back up the rocks to go to my hostal, but I didn´t make it. On the way back down I noticed a path angling down to the opposite gorge, and decided to see where it went. (see my photos) Well, 1/2 an hours walk later, feeling very very happy I´d taken that path, I decided to return. But being me, not the conventional way. I decided to do some scrambling, and some scambling I sure did. Even a bit of rockclimbing New Zealand style - in jandals! The path back would have taken me back over scenery I´d already seen, so i thought why not, I´ll go straight up!!!
Made my way up, and walked for 1/4 of an hour along a road until i got to exactly the same path I´d started on. Feeling very very thirsty but definately satisfied, I made my way back to my hostal, but on the way I thought I´d get a drink, a nice refreshing coke or something. Walked to the Plaza Mayor (the main plaza) and there are about 10-15 different places I could choose.
I noticed one door, just a door, that lead downstairs, and I thought well, I´ve had luck with paths leading down, so I went down to be greeted by a marvellous bar.... and the All Blacks playing South Africa!! Here, in Spain, on tv, of all places!!! (rugby isn´t well known here) So I watched the rugby with a beer in hand, and talked to a NZ supporter who didn´t speak english, who was from Madrid. So I relearnt the rules of rugby in Spanish and we both got on fine. He even bought me a drink when it looked like NZ was finished. Sigh, and so they were.
Went back to my hostal finally, dropped off my bag, had a shower, and went back out again, by this time it was late in the evening. Had a brilliant dinner (getting some good food here, and not feeling sick at all anymore), and wandered down to the city below.
What I won´t forget (well, how could I forget my day anyway) is chundling along the streets of old Cuenca in the tourist train at midnight to get back to my hostal. Priceless. (actually, it did have a price, however i used the ticket from the day before and sneaked on the train....). And also, when I say train, its not a proper train, its a car and carriges that are dressed up as a train. Just so that clears up any confusion :)
So that was my day. Friggggen magnificent.
Sunday, went to a swimming pool, was nice to take in some sun and jump in a pool after! I also went back to my ledge again at sunset, (see photo page) which was just as good as before. In fact, the place is so solitary, that my crumbs were still there from my lunchtime picnic.
And yesterday, a national public holiday, I made my way to where I am now. Valencia, home of the Americas Cup in 2007.
Problems: Its a holiday, EVERYTHING is shut. I stepped in dog poo (the smell haunted me all the way on the long walk to my hostel). The directions i printed off the web were wrong. The lockers here aren´t big enough. My memory card on my camera was full, so no pics yet. (trying to upload some now). The area the hostel is in seemed dodgy (but now that people have awoken, things look much better).
So yeah, had a quiet night last night (Watched 8 straight Friends episodes (there is a dvd player here)), and now just emptying my camera for the day that awaits me!!!
Farewell!!!
Ok, so I left off ... Saturday I think. Had finally found an internet cafe if I recall. Well, that day was the BEST day I´ve had so far on my trip. Everything went AWESOMELY.
I wanted to call this post Hidden Paths, because Saturday was a day of exploring hidden routes that I happened to come upon. It was amazing.
Took a bus up to the top of the city where this photo, and some others on my photo page were taken, and snapped away very happily. I noticed a zigzagging path going down, so I took it, and came upon an arch and a deserted house. Nice, but came back up. On my way back up the zigzag path, I noticed a slight cracked opening in the rocks... followed it, and came upon the most beautiful (and yes, equally dangerous) ledge in the rocks. I stooped over and made my way very carefully along it, and wow, I , am just lost for words. It was so so stunning. Just me, silence (apart from the occasional toot from the tourist train), and the view. And it was perfect weather.
Eventually I made my way back up the rocks to go to my hostal, but I didn´t make it. On the way back down I noticed a path angling down to the opposite gorge, and decided to see where it went. (see my photos) Well, 1/2 an hours walk later, feeling very very happy I´d taken that path, I decided to return. But being me, not the conventional way. I decided to do some scrambling, and some scambling I sure did. Even a bit of rockclimbing New Zealand style - in jandals! The path back would have taken me back over scenery I´d already seen, so i thought why not, I´ll go straight up!!!
Made my way up, and walked for 1/4 of an hour along a road until i got to exactly the same path I´d started on. Feeling very very thirsty but definately satisfied, I made my way back to my hostal, but on the way I thought I´d get a drink, a nice refreshing coke or something. Walked to the Plaza Mayor (the main plaza) and there are about 10-15 different places I could choose.
I noticed one door, just a door, that lead downstairs, and I thought well, I´ve had luck with paths leading down, so I went down to be greeted by a marvellous bar.... and the All Blacks playing South Africa!! Here, in Spain, on tv, of all places!!! (rugby isn´t well known here) So I watched the rugby with a beer in hand, and talked to a NZ supporter who didn´t speak english, who was from Madrid. So I relearnt the rules of rugby in Spanish and we both got on fine. He even bought me a drink when it looked like NZ was finished. Sigh, and so they were.
Went back to my hostal finally, dropped off my bag, had a shower, and went back out again, by this time it was late in the evening. Had a brilliant dinner (getting some good food here, and not feeling sick at all anymore), and wandered down to the city below.
What I won´t forget (well, how could I forget my day anyway) is chundling along the streets of old Cuenca in the tourist train at midnight to get back to my hostal. Priceless. (actually, it did have a price, however i used the ticket from the day before and sneaked on the train....). And also, when I say train, its not a proper train, its a car and carriges that are dressed up as a train. Just so that clears up any confusion :)
So that was my day. Friggggen magnificent.
Sunday, went to a swimming pool, was nice to take in some sun and jump in a pool after! I also went back to my ledge again at sunset, (see photo page) which was just as good as before. In fact, the place is so solitary, that my crumbs were still there from my lunchtime picnic.
And yesterday, a national public holiday, I made my way to where I am now. Valencia, home of the Americas Cup in 2007.
Problems: Its a holiday, EVERYTHING is shut. I stepped in dog poo (the smell haunted me all the way on the long walk to my hostel). The directions i printed off the web were wrong. The lockers here aren´t big enough. My memory card on my camera was full, so no pics yet. (trying to upload some now). The area the hostel is in seemed dodgy (but now that people have awoken, things look much better).
So yeah, had a quiet night last night (Watched 8 straight Friends episodes (there is a dvd player here)), and now just emptying my camera for the day that awaits me!!!
Farewell!!!
Finally Found an Internet Cafe
Hello! I am alive! Its been quite difficult to find an internt cafe in Cuenca, and this one won´t allow me to upload any photos either. Not to worry, I shall upload photos in Valencia, my next stop.
But still carrying on with my previous stop in Toledo.
Droplets? Nah, turned into a downpour. The people of Toledo looked pretty happy about it, however the tourists surely did not!!!
Had a long conversation with the pools life guard, Ricardo - in Spanish yay! Occasionally we had to draw pictures, (his english nearly non-existant, and well, my spanish...) his drawing of a squirrel (i´m pretty sure thats what it was) was pretty funny. Actually what was funnier, is that Ricardo doesn´t know how to swim. NB: Look at his job description again. Hmm, so it turns out he´s there to throw in the rubber ring. *awesome*.
So I had to change my room again, however the view from this room completely took the cake. Bloody brilliant. I could see the whole of Toledo, it was breathtaking. The only bad thing about this room was that something in the bathroom kept clicking, and this click was EXACTLY the same click as my heater made at home. So there I´d be, lying in bed, sweating like there´s no tomorrow (yeah, it was hot, the castle doesn´t have air conditioning), and I´d hear a click telling me that my heater has turned on. Therefore it took me a while to sleep because i kept panicing i´d roast (plus I read HP3 until the wee hours of the morning....).
Had to get up at 5:30am to catch my bus into Cuenca, missed breakfast, slept on bus, arrived in Cuenca, had NO idea where to go. I remember quite vividly after I found my hostel in Toledo thinking, wow, i´m NEVER doing that again, not knowing where to go. But there i found myself in the same predicament. Poos. Its alright tho, I asked someone this time, and just under an hour´s walk later (UPHILL - and you´ll see why its uphill when i post the photos) I arrived in my little sanctuary that is Posada de San José. This is my splash out time, where I´m staying in a hostal, not a hostel. A hostal is like a hotel, exept its more homely - if you visit the website you´ll see what I mean. www.posadasanjose.com. Brilliant place. Only one problem. I got locked in my room.
This is an old place, but it seems the locks are older. And i thought I´d locked myself in. I had my key with me, its just that the locking mechanism had jammed or something. 15 mins later of fiddling, i pulled out my trusty pocket knife (thanks cam) and started to unscrew part of the lock. problem, it had been plastered into the wall. screwed the screws back in. crap. what do i do now? unscrew the hinges? that wouldn´t look too good... plus i hadn´t paid for the room yet. if only i had a mobile, i could call reception! i was too chicken to knock on the door and ask for help from someone who might walk by (only 3 or 4 in the past half hour). crap. sat on my bed. looked at the window which is unpassable due to the bars on it. crapus maximus. had another fiddle with the lock, desperately. panic setting in, its been about 40 mins now.... HOORAH! dumb stupid locks. got it finally. spent another 10 minutes making sure i knew how to lock and unlock the door before i closed it again (to close the door you need to lock it), and fell asleep. ah, blissfull sleep. not feeling so well you see (little food, little sleep) - very sore stomach.
Made myself get up, and went to a proper restaurant and had a proper meal for once. lamb chops and potato. SO GOOD. (so good in fact that i went back to the restaurant last night and had another of thier dishes)
Yesterday I did the rounds of the old part of Cuenca. Now I haven´t said much about Cuenca really yet. Cuenca is home to Casas Colgadas, which means hanging houses. Now these aren´t houses that are suspended from something, its more overhang than hang. These houses and monestaries etc were build in the 1300´s, and overhang the huge gorge here. Seriuosly, huge gorge. I´ve got one photo that looks like the grand canyon, except its green. lots of greenery and beautiful scenery. Actually my posada´s website should show you what the hostel I´m staying at looks like, overhanging the gorge. This place is sooo beautiful. I love this place more than Toledo and Madrid combined. Its stunning, I´m really gutted that I can´t show you my photos, i took some beauties.
A lot more walking than Toledo, thats for sure, at least its not as hot tho, mostly hanging around 30º. Took the Fet Express yesterday, the local tourist train that chunders through the city tooting its horn and blowing its whistle, very very cool. Spent a lot of time looking for an internet cafe, but to no avail. Oh well. At least I´ve found one.
Well, I think I´ve written far too much, yet haven´t said half of what I wanted to say.
Till next time then!!!
Droplets
Well Willoughby, your forecast looks almost correct, a few droplets today so far. And its kinda chilly (mid 20´s i think). This region (Castilla-La Mancha) is in the middle of a dire drought, and you could see the locals and shopkeepers looking up to the sky hoping desperately for it to rain properly.
Well, I am immensly tired. And my knees are almost shot to pieces. Maybe a combination of not feeling 100%, and all the walking I´ve been doing, especially seeing as Toledo is on a hill and the streets weave up and down. The tiredness though is completely my fault... I read HP2 (La Cámara Secreta) until 3.30am..... I´ve read that book more than 5 times in English, yet I still couldn´t put it down. And you know whats worse? Today I went out and bought HP3 (el Prisionero de Azkaban). Speaking of buying Harry Potter, this will give you an idea of the prices here... in NZ, HP is about $12-$15 depending on where you shop (for the first 3 books), yet here in Spain, HP 1,2&3 are 15€. Thats $26 NZ. To be fair though, it is in hardback (there aren´t soft covers in the Spanish version, but there are in the Latin American version), you pay for translation, and it has a cover that isn´t on the UK or US versions. I like the Spanish covers much more.
Speaking famous people, I talked to Orlando Bloom today.
Ok, not really. But I did talk to Legolas. Er, a cardboard cut out. You see Toledo is the centre of crafts and artesian objects, namely swords, knives, shields, even entire suits of armour. And so there are LOTS of displays in every tourist and craft shop. And I found one dedicated to LOTR!
Well. I leave for Cuenca tomorrow, going via bus. At 7am! nooooo! at least i know where to walk this time....
I changed rooms again today. Sigh. Unpacking and packing isn´t fun. Ok, time for lunch, read, then siesta!
Well, I am immensly tired. And my knees are almost shot to pieces. Maybe a combination of not feeling 100%, and all the walking I´ve been doing, especially seeing as Toledo is on a hill and the streets weave up and down. The tiredness though is completely my fault... I read HP2 (La Cámara Secreta) until 3.30am..... I´ve read that book more than 5 times in English, yet I still couldn´t put it down. And you know whats worse? Today I went out and bought HP3 (el Prisionero de Azkaban). Speaking of buying Harry Potter, this will give you an idea of the prices here... in NZ, HP is about $12-$15 depending on where you shop (for the first 3 books), yet here in Spain, HP 1,2&3 are 15€. Thats $26 NZ. To be fair though, it is in hardback (there aren´t soft covers in the Spanish version, but there are in the Latin American version), you pay for translation, and it has a cover that isn´t on the UK or US versions. I like the Spanish covers much more.
Speaking famous people, I talked to Orlando Bloom today.
Ok, not really. But I did talk to Legolas. Er, a cardboard cut out. You see Toledo is the centre of crafts and artesian objects, namely swords, knives, shields, even entire suits of armour. And so there are LOTS of displays in every tourist and craft shop. And I found one dedicated to LOTR!
Well. I leave for Cuenca tomorrow, going via bus. At 7am! nooooo! at least i know where to walk this time....
I changed rooms again today. Sigh. Unpacking and packing isn´t fun. Ok, time for lunch, read, then siesta!
Sunset Over Toledo
Well this is a photo from last night, leave a comment if you want me to email you the time series i took of this sunset. It´s really nice :-)
This was taken on a rocky outcrop underneath the castle where I´m staying, San Servando.
Today I took the Zocotren, which is a tourist train that goes the full 360º around Toledo, and it was really really fun. I did this with my two German friends, Tina and .. crap i´ve forgotten. We met in Cats hostel in Madrid and I helped them get into the castle here :-) So i was their tour guide for part of the day, it was really fun. Tina speaks realllly good english and spanish so that helped because ich spreche nicht Deutsch.
So that was nice and dandy, went back to the hostel, had a leisurely swim, and then a solid siesta. I´m getting quite attatched to an afternoon nap. I would have kept on sleeping, but this is another odd rule, the computer room is only open from 5-7 on weekdays.
So after this I´m going to eat something, then go straight back to bed. Still feel a little off.
Goodnight!
This was taken on a rocky outcrop underneath the castle where I´m staying, San Servando.
Today I took the Zocotren, which is a tourist train that goes the full 360º around Toledo, and it was really really fun. I did this with my two German friends, Tina and .. crap i´ve forgotten. We met in Cats hostel in Madrid and I helped them get into the castle here :-) So i was their tour guide for part of the day, it was really fun. Tina speaks realllly good english and spanish so that helped because ich spreche nicht Deutsch.
So that was nice and dandy, went back to the hostel, had a leisurely swim, and then a solid siesta. I´m getting quite attatched to an afternoon nap. I would have kept on sleeping, but this is another odd rule, the computer room is only open from 5-7 on weekdays.
So after this I´m going to eat something, then go straight back to bed. Still feel a little off.
Goodnight!
Arrival Day Continued...
(see post below)
PART2: So then I check in and my room is in a wing of the castle, and its all to myself even though there are two beds. And its an ensuite! Its not castley inside, but very nice none the less (by not castley i mean no brick walls).
Ok, so here are some odd things about this place:
1) You´re not allowed in your room AT ALL between 11am and 2.30pm
2) The swimming pool is closed between 2pm and 5pm - the hottest time of the day!
3) I was in one room that night, and now tonight I´m in a completely different room (still by myself). It has a bigger window at least!
4) You have to take all your luggage out of your room between 11am and 230pm and store them in lockers that are soooo tiny. So my stuff was spread out among 3 lockers... (I had to unpack a lot of my carefully packed hiking pack :( )
5) Everytime you leave the building you have to drop off your key, and basically anyone can walk in and ask for your key.
6) Can´t remember much more, but its a little odd. Oh well, its a castle! Who cares!!
So as explained in my earlier post, its a little bit of a walk to the main part of town, as you can see from the photo on this post, the big squareish building (alcázar) is near the main plaza, Plaza de Zocodover. Its a really nice plaza, and a beautiful city. As you can see from my photo page, i also had a walk around at night time, very pretty with all the lights showing the castles and monuments etc.
More about this picture - does the background look like its the back drop to a fairytale movie or what! It looks like a painting, its completely fantastic! That was taken this morning as the sun hit the old quarter on the hill. Very pretty. And I´ve just come back from my day in town and i saw the sun set behind the city. very very nice as the pollution diffused the red light nicely.
Oh yeah, and you know how i said yesterday was really hot? It just HAD to be the hottest day of the year so far for the provence of Toledo - 42 degrees. And thats not from something inaccurate Willoughby, thats from the local national whatever meteorological service. It was all in the papers and everything because it nearly beat the provincial all time record of 42.4 degrees. Crazy huh - and i survived!
Today i did some more walking around, saw an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci´s machines (and no, he has nothing to do with Toledo).
By the way, this is Don Quixote-ville. The 2nd most translated book in history (apparantly, second only to the bible) written by Cervantes was written about Don Quixote and his travells through Castilla-La Mancha which is the region here. I´m sure you guys have heard about it... or seen pictures of this area with windmills and such?
Yay for O-Week (tshirts)! I was standing in a cafe and two people tapp on my shoulder and ask "are you from waikato?", " why yes i am" i reply. They break out in a grin. wihoo! kiwis! so i sat down and had dinner with them. one from whatawhata (outside of hamilton) and the other from wellington. nice people, they are driving around spain. they too are feeling the pinch of the euro! (EXPENSIVEEEEEE)
2 bus loads of people from Tunisia just arrived. They make a lot of noise! I hope not too much because my joints are aching all over, and its not fatigue sore, i think its flu sore. I have a bad headache also... hmmm, maybe its time for bed.
Well, I hope I´ve updated everyone enough, enjoy yourselves!
PART2: So then I check in and my room is in a wing of the castle, and its all to myself even though there are two beds. And its an ensuite! Its not castley inside, but very nice none the less (by not castley i mean no brick walls).
Ok, so here are some odd things about this place:
1) You´re not allowed in your room AT ALL between 11am and 2.30pm
2) The swimming pool is closed between 2pm and 5pm - the hottest time of the day!
3) I was in one room that night, and now tonight I´m in a completely different room (still by myself). It has a bigger window at least!
4) You have to take all your luggage out of your room between 11am and 230pm and store them in lockers that are soooo tiny. So my stuff was spread out among 3 lockers... (I had to unpack a lot of my carefully packed hiking pack :( )
5) Everytime you leave the building you have to drop off your key, and basically anyone can walk in and ask for your key.
6) Can´t remember much more, but its a little odd. Oh well, its a castle! Who cares!!
So as explained in my earlier post, its a little bit of a walk to the main part of town, as you can see from the photo on this post, the big squareish building (alcázar) is near the main plaza, Plaza de Zocodover. Its a really nice plaza, and a beautiful city. As you can see from my photo page, i also had a walk around at night time, very pretty with all the lights showing the castles and monuments etc.
More about this picture - does the background look like its the back drop to a fairytale movie or what! It looks like a painting, its completely fantastic! That was taken this morning as the sun hit the old quarter on the hill. Very pretty. And I´ve just come back from my day in town and i saw the sun set behind the city. very very nice as the pollution diffused the red light nicely.
Oh yeah, and you know how i said yesterday was really hot? It just HAD to be the hottest day of the year so far for the provence of Toledo - 42 degrees. And thats not from something inaccurate Willoughby, thats from the local national whatever meteorological service. It was all in the papers and everything because it nearly beat the provincial all time record of 42.4 degrees. Crazy huh - and i survived!
Today i did some more walking around, saw an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci´s machines (and no, he has nothing to do with Toledo).
By the way, this is Don Quixote-ville. The 2nd most translated book in history (apparantly, second only to the bible) written by Cervantes was written about Don Quixote and his travells through Castilla-La Mancha which is the region here. I´m sure you guys have heard about it... or seen pictures of this area with windmills and such?
Yay for O-Week (tshirts)! I was standing in a cafe and two people tapp on my shoulder and ask "are you from waikato?", " why yes i am" i reply. They break out in a grin. wihoo! kiwis! so i sat down and had dinner with them. one from whatawhata (outside of hamilton) and the other from wellington. nice people, they are driving around spain. they too are feeling the pinch of the euro! (EXPENSIVEEEEEE)
2 bus loads of people from Tunisia just arrived. They make a lot of noise! I hope not too much because my joints are aching all over, and its not fatigue sore, i think its flu sore. I have a bad headache also... hmmm, maybe its time for bed.
Well, I hope I´ve updated everyone enough, enjoy yourselves!
I Live In A Castle!
Yay! I get to write stuff!!!
Well, my 2nd to last day in Madrid was uneventfull really. Went to el Parque de Buen Retiro, the one i like, and wandered around there some more. Sat down on a park bench, and a guy comes up to me and claims he´s seen me walk around the park. Whenever he turned a corner, there i was. I´ve read about this tactic before (gain the persons confidence and then mug them or something), so was wary, but we actually talked for about an hour (in english). As soon as i said i was from nz, his face lit up. he loves dunedin. anyway, we parted, and i went back to my hostel.
i wanted to go out on my last night, but i needed to get up early on sunday to catch my train to Toledo, so i walked around the block for a bit. And guess who came up to me again... yup, the guy. I was immediately freaked because i thought oh shit he actually did follow me. (from the park to my hostel is 1/2 hours walk which is why i thought it suspicious). he invited me to a street party (there were flyers up all around for it) with some of his friends, but i politely declined. he was a nice guy, but it was a bit wierd.
anyway, had a good nights sleep, caught my train, and arrived at the station. now, there were maps for sale at highly inflated prices, so i thought "nah, i´ll just walk around and will find it easily, i mean, how hard is it to not see a castle at the top of a hill".
Well, this is Toledo, the old capital of Spain, and there are castles and monuments and mosques and synagogs aplenty. So naturally i went to the top of the wrong hill. with my pack. my very very heavy pack. and this was in the heat of the day, yes it was very very hot. my goodness i felt like jelly. my legs, my shoulders, oh man.
1.5 hours later, i arrived at my destination. and looking down at the scenery, if i had bought a map, it would have taken me 20 mins to walk. jeez, even if i´d asked the person selling the maps. or, even if i´d looked at the map pretending to buy it. oh man. the joy of hindsight.
anyway, i arrived, and was told i couldn´t check in for another hour. no problem, POOL TIME!!!!! wow, the feeling was unbelievable. soooo goood. better than ice cold coke.
and so yes, i now live in an 11th century castle, and its great. fantasic. fantástico.
Well, my 2nd to last day in Madrid was uneventfull really. Went to el Parque de Buen Retiro, the one i like, and wandered around there some more. Sat down on a park bench, and a guy comes up to me and claims he´s seen me walk around the park. Whenever he turned a corner, there i was. I´ve read about this tactic before (gain the persons confidence and then mug them or something), so was wary, but we actually talked for about an hour (in english). As soon as i said i was from nz, his face lit up. he loves dunedin. anyway, we parted, and i went back to my hostel.
i wanted to go out on my last night, but i needed to get up early on sunday to catch my train to Toledo, so i walked around the block for a bit. And guess who came up to me again... yup, the guy. I was immediately freaked because i thought oh shit he actually did follow me. (from the park to my hostel is 1/2 hours walk which is why i thought it suspicious). he invited me to a street party (there were flyers up all around for it) with some of his friends, but i politely declined. he was a nice guy, but it was a bit wierd.
anyway, had a good nights sleep, caught my train, and arrived at the station. now, there were maps for sale at highly inflated prices, so i thought "nah, i´ll just walk around and will find it easily, i mean, how hard is it to not see a castle at the top of a hill".
Well, this is Toledo, the old capital of Spain, and there are castles and monuments and mosques and synagogs aplenty. So naturally i went to the top of the wrong hill. with my pack. my very very heavy pack. and this was in the heat of the day, yes it was very very hot. my goodness i felt like jelly. my legs, my shoulders, oh man.
1.5 hours later, i arrived at my destination. and looking down at the scenery, if i had bought a map, it would have taken me 20 mins to walk. jeez, even if i´d asked the person selling the maps. or, even if i´d looked at the map pretending to buy it. oh man. the joy of hindsight.
anyway, i arrived, and was told i couldn´t check in for another hour. no problem, POOL TIME!!!!! wow, the feeling was unbelievable. soooo goood. better than ice cold coke.
and so yes, i now live in an 11th century castle, and its great. fantasic. fantástico.
Sidenote RE: Photos.
I guess this comment goes mainly to the person who commented on it, but if anyone else has any qualms feel free to email me.
The comment was "all your photos have you in them". Well, please notice the title of my blog --------> JANINE in Spain. Yes, thats right, ME. If you want photos of Spain, then sure, you can email me because I´ve got HEAPPPPS of photos that I haven´t put on my photo page due to storage restrictions.
Oh yeah, guys & girls, everyone, please comment on my photos/blogs! If you like them just tell me! Push the comment button... If I don´t get an email from you, at least just say hi this way???
The comment was "all your photos have you in them". Well, please notice the title of my blog --------> JANINE in Spain. Yes, thats right, ME. If you want photos of Spain, then sure, you can email me because I´ve got HEAPPPPS of photos that I haven´t put on my photo page due to storage restrictions.
Oh yeah, guys & girls, everyone, please comment on my photos/blogs! If you like them just tell me! Push the comment button... If I don´t get an email from you, at least just say hi this way???
The Palace and The Ring
Hello all!
Yesterday I went to the very elegant and surprisingly big Royal Palace gardens, which were amazingly superb. Escaping the heat was mostly easy, this garden was more of a forest. Also there weren´t many people there, so it was like a hidden and forbidden forest. I loved it to pieces. More than El Parque de Buen Retiro, the other park i went to recently. This forest also had beautiful views of the Royal Palace (as shown). Here´s a link to my other photo of me outside the palace. **LINK!**
Now, as i remember i said i was going to go to a flamenco show... sadly i didn´t. i found out that hostel guests are discounted mon, tues and weds, and yes, it was a thursday when i wanted to go. And when i say discounted, i mean half price. No I´m not paying the full price of $50nz!!! There will be many more on the rest of my journey I´m sure.
Instead I sat around talking to people, a quite enjoyable night. There are so many people from so many different walks of life. Its amazing. Have only met one kiwi so far tho...
And today, well, today was pretty cool. Had a tour of Las Ventas (see my photo page!) which is the most prestigious and amazing bull fighting ring in the world. There is a bull fight that I may have gone to on Sunday, but i´m on my way to Toledo then so I can´t. And yes, I know the way they kill the bulls is quite barbaric, but its an experience all the same.
Our guide spoke in Spanish and then in English, and I am very proud that I understood her in Spanish more than I did in English!!
Then I walked around some more, bought the second Harry Potter book in Spanish (La càmara secreta - and for those who don´t read HP, that means The Chamber of Secrets, not the secret camera). So for the past few hours I´ve been reading that, just chilling out in the meeting room (lovely and air conditioned). Unfortunately to save space in my luggage, I had to leave my mega super grande Spanish/English dictionary at home and I bought a mini pocket one instead. YEah, not so good aye. Of the 20 or 30 words I didn´t understand in the first few chapters, my dictionary only had 3 or 4 of them. Gutted. Having read this book many times before, I know exactly what is happening, but it´d be nice to know exactly what it is saying!!
Well. I hope you enjoy my new photos, it took me quite a while to find an internet place where i can upload my photos. My hostel computers don´t let me!!! Dumb!!!
Bye! Will post again tomorrow hopefully :-)
Yesterday I went to the very elegant and surprisingly big Royal Palace gardens, which were amazingly superb. Escaping the heat was mostly easy, this garden was more of a forest. Also there weren´t many people there, so it was like a hidden and forbidden forest. I loved it to pieces. More than El Parque de Buen Retiro, the other park i went to recently. This forest also had beautiful views of the Royal Palace (as shown). Here´s a link to my other photo of me outside the palace. **LINK!**
Now, as i remember i said i was going to go to a flamenco show... sadly i didn´t. i found out that hostel guests are discounted mon, tues and weds, and yes, it was a thursday when i wanted to go. And when i say discounted, i mean half price. No I´m not paying the full price of $50nz!!! There will be many more on the rest of my journey I´m sure.
Instead I sat around talking to people, a quite enjoyable night. There are so many people from so many different walks of life. Its amazing. Have only met one kiwi so far tho...
And today, well, today was pretty cool. Had a tour of Las Ventas (see my photo page!) which is the most prestigious and amazing bull fighting ring in the world. There is a bull fight that I may have gone to on Sunday, but i´m on my way to Toledo then so I can´t. And yes, I know the way they kill the bulls is quite barbaric, but its an experience all the same.
Our guide spoke in Spanish and then in English, and I am very proud that I understood her in Spanish more than I did in English!!
Then I walked around some more, bought the second Harry Potter book in Spanish (La càmara secreta - and for those who don´t read HP, that means The Chamber of Secrets, not the secret camera). So for the past few hours I´ve been reading that, just chilling out in the meeting room (lovely and air conditioned). Unfortunately to save space in my luggage, I had to leave my mega super grande Spanish/English dictionary at home and I bought a mini pocket one instead. YEah, not so good aye. Of the 20 or 30 words I didn´t understand in the first few chapters, my dictionary only had 3 or 4 of them. Gutted. Having read this book many times before, I know exactly what is happening, but it´d be nice to know exactly what it is saying!!
Well. I hope you enjoy my new photos, it took me quite a while to find an internet place where i can upload my photos. My hostel computers don´t let me!!! Dumb!!!
Bye! Will post again tomorrow hopefully :-)
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