So I´m sitting here at work on Thanksgiving morning (no, the Spanish do not get off of work for the day that the Pilgrims and Native Americans feasted together), and I feel it´s only appropriate to ponder the things in life that I am thankful for.
- My family and friends back home (we´ll start off with a couple of real, cheesy ones). Yes, you all may be an ocean away, but that doesn´t mean you´re any less important to me. This trip has actually made me appreciate you all even more.
- My new friends here in Spain. I´ve been lucky to meet some amazing new cool people that have made my time here that much more of an interesting adventure.
-Being able to travel and have three-day weekends every weekend. Four years of hard work in college has paid off well.
- Finding an amazing puppy wandering around Georgetown´s campus about this time last year and having parents who were willing to have charity for me and my newfound pup Archie.
- A job in which it takes me longer to get to and from work than I actually spend doing work just about every day. And an amazing boss who uses the word rubbish (yes, she´s British).
- My upcoming trip to Rome with Jordan and Dustin and Bethany, and Jordan´s visit to Spain.
- Skype.
- The camaraderie I feel with the people who are also running speedily up the metro stairs to catch the next train, only to find that it doesn´t arrive for another 5 minutes.
- My morning 4-minute CNN podcast that keeps me up to date on American news, along with my morning free Spanish newspaper that keeps me up to date on other news.
- The holiday butter cookies from Kroger, and my mom for sending them to me.
- Principe cookies, and all of their off-brand counterparts.
- Seedless grapes and the rare occasions I locate them here in Spain.
- Tinto de verano.
- The Thursday night NBC line-up.
- Ikea.
- Brian Fellows. Well, just Tracy Morgan in general.
- Guilty pleasure music, such as: Danity Kane (r.i.p.), Kelly Clarkson, and Glee
- Youtube.
- The Starbucks vanilla frappucino that I had for the first time yesterday. After waiting nearly 3 months, I caved in and paid the ridiculous €4.40 (about $6.50) for a grande one. It was so worth it, though.
- The fact that on Thanksgiving night, I will be eating KFC chicken in my piso with some great American friends.
There´s obviously a lot more that I´m thankful for, but there´s a list of the things I can think of right now. Hope everyone has an amazing day, and don´t get too crazy tomorrow for Black Friday. I don´t want to see any of my friends on peopleofwalmart.com. Wait, or maybe I do...
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A Guiri Journey to Granada
While I was in the process of trying to decide between the numerous amazing cities in Spain to go visit for a weekend trip, I talked to my great friends Becca and Vicki and asked them for their advice on where to go. Vicki tells me that they are going to visit her boyfriend Pedro in Granada, and I conveniently invite myself along for the journey. Mind you, this entire conversation occured as we were carrying Vicki's newly bought eBay bed through Retiro Park. And by bed, I mean entire frame and slats and all. Yes, very fun process that unfortunately was not captured with many photos. But I'm sure you can create the photos in your head of Vicki, Becca, Miguel and I all carrying pieces of wood and metal through a park with people rollerblading and walking their dogs as we pass. But yes, Granada. I then promised to bring the "fun," as I always do, on an amazing trip to Granada.
A little background: Granada is a small city in the south of Spain, between the Sierra Nevadas and the Mediterranean. It was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain when they were kicked out of the country in the 15th century by the Catholic Kings Isabel and Ferdinand. It's also the sight where Columbus went to ask the Kings for money to go exploring. With that said, the city has a lot of amazing Muslim architecture and Islamic building, as well as a pretty cool Columbus statue.
The city is about 4 1/2 hours south of Madrid, and we took a Thursday night seat. Since there were 3 of us going (Vicki, Becca, and I), I was lucky enough to get to sit next to a stranger. And I hit the jackpot, getting a guy who smelled bad, talked loudly on his phone, and kept leaning into my light space to read his newspaper. Yeah, great guy. And after we stopped for food, he got into a great fight with the lady sitting in front of me. When he got on the bus, he starting shaking her chair, which was down pretty far. I at first thought it was a friendly joke and he knew her, but then realized he was serious after he started hurling insults her way. He was not happy with the fact that her chair was so far back and all in my space, even though I insisted I was fine. The bus had started moving again by this point, so the bus driver STOPS THE BUS and comes back to deal with this little scuttle. He asks me if I want to move seats, and I am pretty much crouched down saying I'm okay and I don't care and just wanted to be left out of it. The lady in front of me was really nice to me about it all, but my ol' seat buddy would not let it go. Luckily I could just put my headphones in and tune him out.
Fortunately, this was not a preview of what the entire weekend would be like. The three of us had a great time in Granada, and had a great city host in Pedro. He has lived there and studied for 6 years (and is from a small village outside the city), so he knows the city well. Unfortunately he is taking the GRE in a week and couldn't show us around because he was having to study all day. I know the GRE was really tough for me, so I can just imagine how it would be for a Spaniard whose English is just a second language (even though he is very good at English). Luckily Becca had studied in Granada for a semester in college and Vicki had been to Granada many times, so we were great between the 2 of them.
The highlight of my trip was definitely the Alhambra. It is the fortress/city that served as the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. It was built in the 9th century and kept being added onto over the years. That being said, there are numerous elaborate palaces and gardens here. A lot of them have amazing Islamic carvings that make the building magnificent. It was in the running to be one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World," but unfortunately didn't make the cut. I know why it is in the running though, and it definitely is on my list of 7. The carvings were so elaborate and were everywhere. And the architecture was memorable. I definitely seeing myself going back there again while I'm here in Spain.
Me in one of the main courtyards.
Some of the awesome architecture in another courtyard.
An up-close look at some of the carvings that covered pretty much every wall.
One of my favorite areas inside the gardens of the Alhambra. My camera battery had died at this point, but luckily I was able to use Becca's battery.
The group (me. Becca, and Vicki) outside at the Alhambra.
Granada had many other amazing parts to it, including:
- A really cool cathedral, which we saw a flamenco group taking pictures in front of on Sunday.
The cathedral, and the flamenco group posing (possibly for an album cover?).
- Lots of cool markets in the Arabic Albaicin, including cheap hookahs. Yes, I bought 2- one for me and one to give as a gift.
One of the streets in the Albaicin, the old Muslim area. It was filled with shops and crafts.
- Free tapas with every drink you got. For those of you who don't know, tapas are the common food here in Spain. They vary, but are normally little sandwiches or croquetas or something like that. And here, they were good.
- Great views of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada's in the background from the lookout point.
The lookout point across from the Alhambra, complete with man playing classical guitar and singing. It was a little too cloudy to see the Sierra Nevada's in the picture.
And of course I had to jump in front of the Alhambra.
In all, there was a lot of great things that I loved about Granada. I can't wait to go back and see it again!
Oh, and a guiri is what they call a foreigner. It's kind of like "gringo" in South America, except pretty much always used in a friendly manner. So yes, I'm a guiri.
A little background: Granada is a small city in the south of Spain, between the Sierra Nevadas and the Mediterranean. It was the last Muslim stronghold in Spain when they were kicked out of the country in the 15th century by the Catholic Kings Isabel and Ferdinand. It's also the sight where Columbus went to ask the Kings for money to go exploring. With that said, the city has a lot of amazing Muslim architecture and Islamic building, as well as a pretty cool Columbus statue.
The city is about 4 1/2 hours south of Madrid, and we took a Thursday night seat. Since there were 3 of us going (Vicki, Becca, and I), I was lucky enough to get to sit next to a stranger. And I hit the jackpot, getting a guy who smelled bad, talked loudly on his phone, and kept leaning into my light space to read his newspaper. Yeah, great guy. And after we stopped for food, he got into a great fight with the lady sitting in front of me. When he got on the bus, he starting shaking her chair, which was down pretty far. I at first thought it was a friendly joke and he knew her, but then realized he was serious after he started hurling insults her way. He was not happy with the fact that her chair was so far back and all in my space, even though I insisted I was fine. The bus had started moving again by this point, so the bus driver STOPS THE BUS and comes back to deal with this little scuttle. He asks me if I want to move seats, and I am pretty much crouched down saying I'm okay and I don't care and just wanted to be left out of it. The lady in front of me was really nice to me about it all, but my ol' seat buddy would not let it go. Luckily I could just put my headphones in and tune him out.
Fortunately, this was not a preview of what the entire weekend would be like. The three of us had a great time in Granada, and had a great city host in Pedro. He has lived there and studied for 6 years (and is from a small village outside the city), so he knows the city well. Unfortunately he is taking the GRE in a week and couldn't show us around because he was having to study all day. I know the GRE was really tough for me, so I can just imagine how it would be for a Spaniard whose English is just a second language (even though he is very good at English). Luckily Becca had studied in Granada for a semester in college and Vicki had been to Granada many times, so we were great between the 2 of them.
The highlight of my trip was definitely the Alhambra. It is the fortress/city that served as the last Muslim stronghold in Spain. It was built in the 9th century and kept being added onto over the years. That being said, there are numerous elaborate palaces and gardens here. A lot of them have amazing Islamic carvings that make the building magnificent. It was in the running to be one of the "New 7 Wonders of the World," but unfortunately didn't make the cut. I know why it is in the running though, and it definitely is on my list of 7. The carvings were so elaborate and were everywhere. And the architecture was memorable. I definitely seeing myself going back there again while I'm here in Spain.
Me in one of the main courtyards.
Some of the awesome architecture in another courtyard.
An up-close look at some of the carvings that covered pretty much every wall.
One of my favorite areas inside the gardens of the Alhambra. My camera battery had died at this point, but luckily I was able to use Becca's battery.
The group (me. Becca, and Vicki) outside at the Alhambra.- A really cool cathedral, which we saw a flamenco group taking pictures in front of on Sunday.
The cathedral, and the flamenco group posing (possibly for an album cover?).
One of the streets in the Albaicin, the old Muslim area. It was filled with shops and crafts.- Great views of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada's in the background from the lookout point.
The lookout point across from the Alhambra, complete with man playing classical guitar and singing. It was a little too cloudy to see the Sierra Nevada's in the picture.
And of course I had to jump in front of the Alhambra.In all, there was a lot of great things that I loved about Granada. I can't wait to go back and see it again!
Oh, and a guiri is what they call a foreigner. It's kind of like "gringo" in South America, except pretty much always used in a friendly manner. So yes, I'm a guiri.
"Running" around Spain
It has been a while since my last update, and I know my readership (all 5 of you) is dying to know all the crazy things that I've done here in Madrid. If that's the case, you probably don't want to read on. Not much craziness here, but still some fun.
Since the last time I've posted, about 3 weeks ago, I've probably worked a total of 15 hours. My workweek is supposed to be 16 hours, but a lot of the professors just don't need me in class. Normally I would probably be offended by this and not know what to do with all my free time. But yes, I have found ways to fill that time by siesta-ing and visiting about 3 supermercados a day looking for new foods. I've also gotten a good start on my marathon training. I plan to run 2 marathons: one in Barcelona on March 7 and one in Madrid on April 25. I've never done one before, but I'm excited for my first 2 to be in Spain.
On the running note, I ran my first 5K in Madrid on Nov. 1. Yes, the day after Halloween, which means I spent Halloween at home relaxing. Next time I'll check to make sure the 5K isn't the day after a night I'll want to have fun on. It actually ended up being a 5.8K, which was not too well explained to us beforehand. But it was only 5 euros to enter, and I got all kinds of cool swag: a coffee mug, a cool dri-fit t-shirt with my race number on it, a sport backpack, a hand towel, and a pair of socks. The Spaniards really know how to do the gift packs. But I digress. The race: there were 7,000 people entered, some for the 5(.8)K and others for a 10K that started on the same route. I wasn't really sure about the whole start thing because all of the pace markers at the start were for the 10K. But I hoped we were all just starting together and jumped in somewhere about the middle. Luckily for me I was right about us all starting together, but didn't get far enough up and had to dodge people for the first couple of minutes.
When I talked to my parents the night before the race, they asked me if people run differently here in Spain. They then told me about a story my dad saw where people in the Middle East were wearing jeans and boots and stuff and running like madmen in a 5K. This is not the case in Spain, but this image was stuck in my head and provided entertainment for a while. One thing that they do is use kilometer markers instead of miles, which I didn't think about until I got there. So I had to think through what km pace I wanted. Didn't work so well, but I figured I'd just run fast.
Well, the race went really well. Like I said, it ended up being a lot longer than a 5K. The guy who finished by me had a GPS watch that said it was 5.8K. I finished in 21:15, which was great. I then hurried home to the computer to see what my pace was and what I would have run if it had actually been a 5K. My 5K time would have been... (drum roll)... 18:14! Yes, almost a minute faster than my old PR. I guess my strategy of just running fast paid off. It also helped that it was downhill for a lot of the way, but we'll just blame it on pure talent.
Aynways, I was really happy with my time and picked up as many free Powerades and Fantas as I could carry from the finish line. I also got a great free massage from a sports massage booth after the race. I also got a text message from the race coordinators later that night telling me my official time and place. For some reason, they didn't do places by chip time, even though we wore chips. With non-chip time, I came in 18th. With chip time, I came in 15th. Out of about 2500 in the 5K! Maybe Spain will be really good for my running!
My next race is the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. It's a 10K through Retiro Park, my training grounds. Hopefully that will, although a little hillier, will go just as well!
Since the last time I've posted, about 3 weeks ago, I've probably worked a total of 15 hours. My workweek is supposed to be 16 hours, but a lot of the professors just don't need me in class. Normally I would probably be offended by this and not know what to do with all my free time. But yes, I have found ways to fill that time by siesta-ing and visiting about 3 supermercados a day looking for new foods. I've also gotten a good start on my marathon training. I plan to run 2 marathons: one in Barcelona on March 7 and one in Madrid on April 25. I've never done one before, but I'm excited for my first 2 to be in Spain.
On the running note, I ran my first 5K in Madrid on Nov. 1. Yes, the day after Halloween, which means I spent Halloween at home relaxing. Next time I'll check to make sure the 5K isn't the day after a night I'll want to have fun on. It actually ended up being a 5.8K, which was not too well explained to us beforehand. But it was only 5 euros to enter, and I got all kinds of cool swag: a coffee mug, a cool dri-fit t-shirt with my race number on it, a sport backpack, a hand towel, and a pair of socks. The Spaniards really know how to do the gift packs. But I digress. The race: there were 7,000 people entered, some for the 5(.8)K and others for a 10K that started on the same route. I wasn't really sure about the whole start thing because all of the pace markers at the start were for the 10K. But I hoped we were all just starting together and jumped in somewhere about the middle. Luckily for me I was right about us all starting together, but didn't get far enough up and had to dodge people for the first couple of minutes.
When I talked to my parents the night before the race, they asked me if people run differently here in Spain. They then told me about a story my dad saw where people in the Middle East were wearing jeans and boots and stuff and running like madmen in a 5K. This is not the case in Spain, but this image was stuck in my head and provided entertainment for a while. One thing that they do is use kilometer markers instead of miles, which I didn't think about until I got there. So I had to think through what km pace I wanted. Didn't work so well, but I figured I'd just run fast.
Well, the race went really well. Like I said, it ended up being a lot longer than a 5K. The guy who finished by me had a GPS watch that said it was 5.8K. I finished in 21:15, which was great. I then hurried home to the computer to see what my pace was and what I would have run if it had actually been a 5K. My 5K time would have been... (drum roll)... 18:14! Yes, almost a minute faster than my old PR. I guess my strategy of just running fast paid off. It also helped that it was downhill for a lot of the way, but we'll just blame it on pure talent.
Aynways, I was really happy with my time and picked up as many free Powerades and Fantas as I could carry from the finish line. I also got a great free massage from a sports massage booth after the race. I also got a text message from the race coordinators later that night telling me my official time and place. For some reason, they didn't do places by chip time, even though we wore chips. With non-chip time, I came in 18th. With chip time, I came in 15th. Out of about 2500 in the 5K! Maybe Spain will be really good for my running!
My next race is the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend. It's a 10K through Retiro Park, my training grounds. Hopefully that will, although a little hillier, will go just as well!
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