St. Patricks Day: Really, it's for the Americans

As mentioned before, alcohol is super cheap in Spain. My mom seems to be under the impression that all I do is drink, but really who wants to be updated in my blog about studying or trips to the doctor? (oh btw I have a pinched nerve, so any typos may be due to drowsiness, the doctor gave me a lot of drugs, incl some strong muscle relaxants)

BUT St. Paddy's day. Back in the States I celebrate St Paddy's day by wearing all green and taking advantage of the fact that it is socially acceptable to pinch people not wearing green. So yesterday, while sporting a green scrunchie (you heard me right, a scrunchie), a green tank top, green sweatshirt, green converses and my green messenger bag, I headed to the street to see people wearing all grays, blacks and browns, like usual. Very disappointing. While some of the Americans were good sports, I felt that I would become quickly hated if I pinched everyone not wearing green. So I kept my pincers to myself.

In the spirit of the holiday I bought a Guinness (and I realllyyyyy don't like the taste of Guinness), a green Bacardi Breezer and white wine (in a green box) with Mandarin/Kiwi Schwepps. All green. I was celebrating my favorite color, all the way. There is a pro to buying this amount of alcohol: it is way cheaper than getting drinks at a bar, and a lot more convenient. There is also a con: this (plus a couple of shots of random hard alcohols) is a lot of alcohol for one girl to handle, despite her German heritage. It was somewhat of a long night...

Here is a man in the vodka/rum/liquor aisle at Alcampo. We think he owns a bar? If not, that is a LOT of alcohol. We admired his dedication. Also the flash went off so it was super embarrassing when he realized we took a picture...

I met Haley, my college friend, and some of her friends from her program at Sol, the traditionally tourist spot, which has 4 or 5 Irish pubs around there. Ridiculously crowded, as you might expect. Still, the weather was good and everyone was in the streets, singing and wearing tall green hats and crazy sunglasses. When I say "everyone" I mostly mean the Americans, British and Australians, who are all great fun (though tend to hit the bottle harder than our Spanish counterparts). It was great merriment and festivities.

A pic that was actually taken later in the night (if you can believe it). Out in front of O'Connells. Or O'Reilly's. Really, some random Irish pub.

As disappointing as it was to see how little enthusiasm the Spanish have for St. Paddy's Day, it was great fun to sport green and go out. Though apparently only one of the eight people in our class showed up for the 9am class this morning... I did have an excuse, however, as my pinched nerve made it impossible for me to walk without wanting to cry. So I went back to bed till my doctor's appointment... and now I have extra strong Ibuprofen, Vitamin B and a strong muscle relaxant to help my back for the next week or so while I heal. Unfortunately no salsa during that time... :(

Museums: Cuz I'm an Artsy Fartsy Badass.

SO. Madrid has 3 main art museums: Museo del Prado (the biggest), Museo de la Reina Sofia, and Museo Thyssen. Museo Thyssen is a privately held museum so, unlike the other two, they do not have free hours (in fact it was a lot of $ for entrance! 7.50 Euros for a student for both the permanent collection and the Monet Exhibit.)

Museo del Prado: as the most well known museum, it has a lot of huge works and incredible Goya and El Greco collections. Goya's "The 3rd of May of 1808" depicts the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies (it's probably the most well known painting in the Museum).

Museo de la Reina Sofia: Lots of cool works, quite a few Dalis, etc. Here is the Guernica by Pablo Picasso. It depicts the bombings of Guernica without actually showing the bombings; rather, the violence is represented as if it is a bullfight. The painting is HUGE, taking up an entire room.

Museo Thyssen: Based on beauty of the museum itself, this one was probably my favorite. I was almost heartbroken to realize the painting I was most excited to see was on loan to Dali's exhibit in Girona. I'll include the pic below, even though I didn't get to see it myself :(

Salvador Dali's "Dream Caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second Before Awakening" is beautiful, with a contrast of feminine and masculine symbols that I think is absolutely stellar. Hence why the painting is my second favorite painting. ever.

But the painting wasn't there. Here's one that I did see, that blew my mind.

Filonov and Glebova's "Prison".

Barcelona = strange themed bars, Gaudi and the best shot you will ever take ;)

So I took a plane over to Barcelona this past weekend (planes are wayyy cheaper than trains or buses, which is probably not a good sign for the environment, and airports are super stressful) to see some good friends (and celebrate a 21st birthday!)

I arrived there Thursday afternoon and spent a few hours exploring. Bought some food and some drinks for the night- I love how cheap alcohol is in Europe! For less than 5 euros I bought apple liquor, tinto wine, sprite and pineapple juice. The tinto wine and Sprite was used to make Tinto de Verano, which I think is my new favorite drink (but I think if I ordered it in a bar in the States I would get weird looks?) Dinner was super cheap, too, just getting a warm baguette and dipping it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Catalan is the commonly spoke language in Catalonia, or "Catalunya". It's pretty much like a combination of Spanish and French, and fairly easy to understand. And Catalonians like Americans a lot more than they like people from Madrid! Apparently there's tension between Catalonians and the rest of Spain... (see the terrorist acts of the ETA, I guess.)

On Thursday night we went to the Chupitos Bar (called Esprit?) and ordered numerous weirdly named shots. One shot, the "Harry Potter", was an orange lit on fire on top of a shot of triple sec. The group favorite, I think, as displayed below, was the "Boy Scout", which required the bar to be lit on fire, we (the bar-goers) roasted the marshmallows over the fire, took the shot of triple sec (I think?) and ate the marshmallow. I want to do this back at college but fear my aversion to lighting things on fire might be an obstacle difficult to overcome...

Friday morning I explored the Sagrada Familia while my friends all had class. Gaudi's artwork for the Sagrada Familia is beautiful and unique from everything else in Barcelona. He uses a lot of spirals and nature-inspired pieces. There are huge scenes from Jesus' life with beautifully done faces, and the shapes of the people are great (though the centurions at Jesus' crucifixion look very similar to the cylons in Battlestar Galactica).

On Saturday evening we went exploring the parks of Barcelona, starting with the Parque de Laberinto de Horta which was beautiful and had a labyrinth in the center. Then we went to Parque Guell, which Gaudi designed a lot of (the bridge and what not). From the top of the mountain you can see all of Barcelona, we really lucked out with the weather ;)

Finally on Saturday night we went to a bar called "Dow Jones"(near Diagonal) which has a super unique theme. Drinks are priced at a certain level and the price fluctuates based on demand. Once an hour there is a "crack" (I think it's supposed to be "crash") where the drink prices "plummet" (really they go down to a normal price, like 2 euros for a Heineken or 5 euros for a Sex on the Beach).

Overall, Barcelona was a great experience, especially the company and the outings. I definitely plan to go there again, though I'll wait for swim suit season. At least I got good weather though! The day after I left there was a bunch of snow; I guess the city misses me.........

Lisboa. Obrigada. Adeus.

Obrigada = Thank you. If you are a girl (or talking to a girl?) Otherwise it's Obrigado. Never before have I spoken a language where the word for "thanks" changes based on gender.

Adeus = Bye. Kind of like Adios in Spanish, but Portuguese is spoken with a "sh" sound.

When I asked people if they spoke English, French or Spanish (I think that's enough options? If you are in the hospitality business in Portugal I don't think it's absolutely ridiculous for you to know at least one of these three languages), they (the people) would always choose English (or insist on speaking Portuguese, which essentially meant I spoke Spanish with a lisp). I thought that interesting.

Lisbon has a lot of transport. Weird, I know. Trams, trains, buses everywhere. Which is appropriate because it's all hills. Like San Francisco hills on speed.

The drink I am holding = masked strawberries and vodka. Like 6 shots of it. And it tastes like fresh strawberry. I am bringing this ingenious discovery back to the States.
Belem is apparently THE place to go, though it's mostly museums. I will admit that the Pasteis de Belem (pronounced "Pash-taysh") were delicious. It's like a cream tart. Or heaven.

On Saturday the girls wanted to go shopping. Being broke, adventurous and slightly idiotic, I decided to take a ferry (Solo) to the island across the river. Please note it was one of the windiest days of the year and half the ferries were not operating because it was too dangerous. Parking lots were flooded. Still.

This is the Christi Rei statue. It's pretty much a copy of the one in Brazil (same idea, where the Church wanted to have more of a constant Jesus reminder near the city), but Portugal had a huge earthquake on All Saint's Day in the 80's and essentially much of the Catholic faith (or Christian for that matter) went out the window. Mostly it's tourists who come here, though it is a sanctuary saying all hearts are welcome.

Lisbon = amazing. And seeing BFFs in Lisbon is even better ;)

MOROCCO (its Arabic for "The Shizznit")

So, to begin: Three friends from my Madrid program and I were in Cadiz on Sunday and took a bus down to Tarifa (which is like the Spanish version of Laguna beach? I think... it was rainy so everyone was inside) and took a ferry (37 EUROS!!) to Tangers, Morocco. (35 min) We spent one night in a cheap hotel in Tangers, took a bus/train to Fes and spent the night in a Riad (like a bed and breakfast, but Arabian; lots of couples, esp. from Australia, France and England), took a 8 hr train to Marrakech and spent two nights there before flying back to Europe.

It was epic. Favorite was Fes, then Marrakech, then Tangers. I definitely want to go back, but it seemed like the Riads (gorgeous, and about the same price as a European hostel per person even though you live like a queen) would be more ideal for couples on their honeymoons than 4 college kids trying to explore on the cheaps.

I'll try to tell stories/things through some pics?

This is Mike, one of the guys, sitting on the "dock" in Tangers. I use the term "dock" loosely, as this "dock" was comprised of enormous blocks of vertical concrete which were placed about 2-3 feet from each other. Meaning you have to jump from one to the next, and they are not even, half of them being completely crooked and dangerous. I have a mini fear of heights (more specifically falling from a height), and at 1am it was extremely scary. I had to use my PHONE as a flashlight.

Have to admit, however, the view of the city was gorgeous.

Also this is where we had our run-in with the Moroccan police. I guess they thought that 4 college students taking pictures off a dock at 1am was very suspicious, so they came to investigate. Very freaky, esp. considering I was the only one who spoke French so I was explaining all we wanted to do was take pictures (this is apparently forbidden?). We think they were looking for pot, since Tangers has a pretty big reputation for hashish (and lordy we saw where that reputation comes from), and apparently Moroccan police have a thing for arresting tourists who are smoking pot (which is illegal) and then taking bribes for release. But no pot, so no problem.

View of Fes from our riad. (Riad Hala = amazing, if you go to Fes stay there!!!!) The white mass is apparently cows grazing in the cemetery. Gorgeous views, 360 o.

Also here's pic with me and the guys wearing their new Djellabahs, a traditional Moroccan outfit that they received "compliments" about the entire time we were there. (Still not sure if these compliments were sincere, my sarcasm-detector is permanently off)

I think the facial expressions are the most "hostage situation" like thing ever; I think it would be racist to say that I look like a hostage if it wasn't for the sunglasses.

For the most part I was not worried about kidnapping. And this is coming from the girl who spent a couple hours by herself in downtown Marrakech, exploring and shopping, late at night.

One of the best parts about Morocco:

FOOD.

food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food food

And it was cheap, too. Only one meal did I spend more than 10 dollars, and that was a huge meal, and I was almost pissed about having to spend that much.

Best parts of the cuisine:

Pastilla- the thing above. It is really hard to explain, it has dough, chicken, spices, honey, etc.? The goodfood website describes it as a chicken "pie" but this is a blatant lie. It is DELICIOUS. I am going to learn how to cook it so when I can cook back home I will be a Moroccan chef.

Mint tea- for less than a dollar (tops $2, if you are at a fancy restaurant), you can get a little silver tea pot of green tea, strongly sweetened, with tons of mint leaves in it. It's delicious!! I think I'm buying a mint plant when i get back...

Tagine- Best one = Chicken with almonds and golden raisins. Almost like a chicken stew, but better, cuz it's sweet. Actually almost everything is sweet over here. So maybe that's why I like it so much? I have one mean sweet tooth.

Fruit juices- Usually no more than $2 tops (and that's for the fancy one, you can find street vendors who will squeeze fresh orange juice in front of you for 30 cents), it's uber fresh and delicious. Usually more of a smoothie than anything. They have it in almond (YUM), avocado (YUM), banana (actually just mentally add "YUM" to everything I describe/name, it'll save time), grapefruit, pineapple... the list continues.

Cous Cous- My mom makes a mean cous cous back home, but it's enough of a staple where I feel it is worth mentioning.

Dates- No cooking involved. I'm sure I should've cleaned them or washed them or something, but it is so great buying a pound of dates for a dollar and just eating them your entire vacation.

In Tangiers people were gathering around this one street vendor whose cake-ish stuff was absolutely swarming with flies. Or bees. We couldn't decide. So we bought the cake-stuff (10 cents each for a moment of adrenaline-packed adventure). It was relatively disgusting. I don't think any of us finished ours.

Also the Riad we stayed at for 20 euro a night (each) included breakfast, which was huge and yummy. Lots of honey stuffs.

In Fes, which like I mentioned before was a universally agreed upon "favorite city", there is a huge leather trade. This is where they soak the leather in plaster, then dyes, so it comes out weeks (days?) later ready to strip and make into clothes, bags, whatever. It was awesome.

In Fes we did some shopping. Tips when shopping in Morocco:

-Bargain. The prices they start at are RIDICULOUS. do not pay them. For American tourists/French tourists the sales people start especially high.

For example (my friend, L, I am sorry I must tell this story): A hookah (small one, worth maybe $20 in the States) will be offered at $75. You then say $8. After much debate and your attempt to walk away, you can probably get it for $16. You do not "Bargain" down to $65, because then you shake on it and you have been properly screwed over.

-Do not shake on a deal if you do not want it. I do not want to tell this story, as the Berber man still gives me nightmares. They (the Moroccan people) turn violent when a deal falls through. (Fortunately the only time I was hit was when I refused to give an obnoxious beggar girl more dates after I already gave her 3)

-Window shopping is dangerous in the "you WILL spend $" sense, especially if you enjoy bargaining (which I think I do?). I bought 1 outfit, 2 shirts, little gifts for people back home, a belly dancing skirt and a handle holder for my host fam in Spain. I intended to buy maybe half of that. And definitely did NOT plan on getting a belly dancing skirt. Esp. considering I don't belly dance.

Train from Fes to Marrakech. Literally hanging out of the cabin while it is going fully speed.

At one point train security saw what I was doing and rushed over. I was slightly worried I would get yelled at (and I hate being yelled at), so I start moving back inside. The man asks, "What on Earth are you doing?!" and I reply, "Well I wanted to take a look out the door, the countryside is so pretty..." and he responds, "But you have to open the door wider! You're not doing it properly"

In the States this would never have occurred, not because Americans are worried for each other's safety so much as they are worried they will get sued. This is not a concern in Morocco (or really any other place in the world except for the US?)

Also. I got to practice my French for 4 days. While some Spanish is spoken in Tangers and some English was spoken in Marrakech (less in Fes), French and Arabic are spoken everywhere. So I learned some arabic ;)

For example, you greet with "Salam alaykum" (I don't know if this is how you spell it, but it's how you say it). It's like the same thing as "Shalom" in Hebrew.

Anyway Morocco was great. It was warm (75 oF in some places), the food was spectacular, the company was great. Definitely going back, though maybe not for a while, I have so many more places that need to be adventure-ized!

Carnaval: Like Halloween, but it doesn't start till 2

Carnaval began years ago, when people would dress up in order to disguise themselves from the wicked vampires that would try to hunt them down, and engage in very un-Catholic practices right before Lent ("Cuaresma").

K most of that is a joke; I have no idea why we celebrate Carnaval, but I do know a lot of it has to do with the same idea as "Fat Tuesday": engorging yourself on all the things you will be denied during the Lenten season.

Spain, however, removes the Lent part and adds more alcohol and lots of costumes. I felt underdressed- for someone who spent about $70 on her Halloween costume (after all, Halloween IS my favorite holiday), I feel like the 5 Euro mask I bought (add high heel boots, bikini top and matching purple sweater) didn't do the celebration justice. Just look at what other people wore!!! (and in the pic, you can see most of the central square and its insanity, SO many people (most of them drunk), SO much fun!)

The gorgeous girls wearing a pink feather boa and a pirate hat are friends from college; I was lucky enough to meet up with them in Cadiz!

The Three Musketeers and all of their friends were our dates (and in many cases our food sugar daddies) for the night...

My USAC (program) travel boys (apparently the fact that I call them "boys" when I need them makes me a maternal figure?). Epic costumes. Epic 20 minutes meet up (which was fine because I spent the next 4/5 days with 'em).

I have no idea who these people are, but they were staying at my hotel and were leaving as I was going in, so I asked for a pic. They're all like 40, 50 + and about to party until 6am. Got to admire their spunk ;)

The worst/potentially most hilariously memorable part was the weather. Cadiz is in the south of Spain, and home to the biggest carnaval on the mainland (Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, is actually bigger, but a program out of Madrid was offering hotel, bus, etc for 125Euro)

But while the weather on Friday night was fine, on Saturday (the real big party night) it started POURING at around 2am, so even though everyone stayed pretty close to the center, we were all huddled under little roofs, in bars, etc. And it just made it all the more hilariously insane.

Totally recommend it. I love dressing up. Should've gone much bigger, in hindsight. Though the mask adds a certain element of mystery, ¿si?

Spanish Love/Gypsy Love: One is cute and the other one involves Pickpocketing

In Spain, like most of the rest of Europe, St Valentine's Day (or Dia de San Valentin) isn't a big deal. Still, for someone like me who puts significant weight on particular days (birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc.), it is very easy to notice any Valentines-y things. Cute old couples walking in the park, guys carrying bouquets of roses home, Valentine's Day menus at various restaurants (please note I was in Granada at this time with some awesome chicas having a blast!)

But the weird thing was that it wasn't necessarily that all the couples got cuter on Valentine's Day, it's just that I noticed it more. Spanish couples are very into PDA (or PDLA, as it were, Public Displays of Lustful Affection), and while some Americans may label Spanish men as slightly effeminate (and it is, I must admit, often a correct stereotype), the beauty is that the relationships are very passionate, very strong.

For example: In my salsa class there is a 45-50 year old man who is secretly taking the class so he can eventually surprise his wife and take her dancing. He's one of my favorite partners because although he is probably one of the worst dancers in the class, he takes on somewhat of a fatherly role, and it's extremely easy to get along with him. (This is NOT true for half the men in my class, who either try to stare into my eyes while dancing or, more recently, attempt to awkwardly massage/molest my hands while dancing) And he's just one of the instances of insanely adorable men who seem like they would do anything for their wives/girlfriends, even if it comes at a personal sacrifice. (There are a lot of other examples of this I could write about in Spain, but I've already catalogued most of them in my journal ;))

So here are the three most prevalent photos from my Valentines Day weekend (ie not super Granada-sightseeing focused). Please note two of them are Valentine's-y and the third has a story of a thieving gypsy woman.

A poem outside a restaurant near the sketch hostel. It's from a relatively unheard of Argentinean poet (contemporary), and loosely translate (if I mess up please fix it!) it means:

To lost love
and found love
to that which is blind
and resisting
To that which is only of one
and that which is shared
To the love that
makes you (fall) in love
"Regalole ecologia" (= "give it ecologically?")

It's always nice to have a Valentine ;)

Kara bought me a rose before I left to go back (and before the group of American girls celebrated with coffee and ice cream!). I received many envious looks riding back on the bus.

And while we may not have had Valentine's of the male variety, I think we did ok, considering how many regalos we received (and bebidas!) between 10pm and 7am the night before...

NOW ITS TIME FOR MY GYPSY THIEF STORY!!!

So, just so everyone knows, traveling and staying in a hostel by yourself is probably not the best idea if you are a girl. And I knew that and decided to be adventurous anyway.

But I didn't think I would have problems walking around Granada, especially when not a lot of people were out (it SNOWED on Saturday). After buying some postcards from a shop in the center of town I headed to the Cathedral but on the way a woman (a Gypsy but dressed like me, which is I guess is now standard?) shoved an evergreen sprig (seen below) in my hand and said quickly (this is all in Spanish but I'll translate!) "A gift! It's tradition to give you a gift near the Cathedral! Do you understand me?" (I confusedly nod yes.) "Give me your hand!" (At which point she GRABS my hand and starts reading it) "Oh, this is good, you will live long and have lots of money! And two sons, you will have two handsome sons, smart and strong. Also lots of love, there is some handsome man somewhere who loves you very much. OTHER HAND!" (Grabs my other hand) "Ahh, yes, your personality... it's very... erotic... you are a very physical being, who loves very deeply...." (there was other stuff too but like I said, she was talking really fast and using lots of words I didn't understand)

ANYWAY So after reading my palm she looks up and says "Ok, now pay me!" So I reach into my pocket and give her the 1.25 Euros I have in my pocket. At first she refuses (apparently coins are bad luck, she wanted paper money, but I wasn't about to fish out a fiver for 60 seconds of work), argues that I have more money in my purse (I did but lied to her) but then accepts the money. Wasn't till later (like 10 seconds later) I noticed that my purse had 3 zippers undone. I think a kid or another gypsy woman had snuck behind me during the palm reading and tried to steal from me. Too bad my traveler's purse, while VERY tourist-y, is almost impossible to steal from (you have to open three specific zippers to get anything of value), the only thing the pickpocket would've had access to was my keys...

SOMEONE TRIED TO PICKPOCKET FROM ME AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID SPRIG.

(in all fairness at least she didn't gypsy curse me for paying her in coins)