We spent the last couple days in Sevilla, Spain and man, was it gorgeous. Kinda reminded me of Rome, the way sometimes you turn a corner and see some gorgeous monument and think, 'look at this! Why is nobody looking at this!?' My mom always calls places like that a jewel box because no matter where you turn, your looking at something pretty. I think my favorite part of Sevilla (other then the fact that they had two starbucks AND a frozen yogurt place) was the Alcazar. It's this huge palace that has been continually built through out the ages. What I really loved about it was the art and design that combined Christian and Islamic styles as a representation of the two religions coinciding. Let me tell you, I've seen a lot of wonders created by both religions but never together like that.
Yesterday we took a couple buses and a boat and today we find ourselves in Africa. Chefchauoen, Morrocco. It's blue city and I actually mean that literally. All around us buildings and walls and taxis and doors, are all blue. I don't really know details but my understanding is that when Jews fled persecution from Spain they decided to incorporate blue in everything they did because it's a sign of protection. Though now the majority of chefchauoen is muslim, the blue theme has stayed. It's beautiful and calming and so much fun to just walk through as we did this morning.
A final thought: Congratulations to the parents, couple days ago those crazy people who raised me celebrated 29 years of marriage. Holy wow, and they still seems to like eachother more then any other pair of people I've ever met..
I might be able to blog again, maybe not. From here our trip picks up, just a couple days in a couple more cities in morocco, a night back in Madrid, then home. No telling if there'll be Internet close. Either way, I'll be back, soon onto your side of our spinning world:)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Saturday, August 20, 2011
A word of advice...
to all my girls who, like me, want to travel the world after high school: Bring a boy. Yes, its true, in general there nice to be around. I find they make girls less crazy and everyone seems to be more happy with a hot guy around but thats not why I`m telling you to do this.
A boy will make you feel safer. Don`t even think about going to the middle east without one. Egypt is especially out of the question. You could yell rape at a train station and not get a second glance. Its part of the culture. Men will stare at you like your a piece of meat, without even trying to hide it. And believe me being cute has nothing to do with it because it doesnt stop just cause your wearing sweats and a rain jacket and havent showered in three days. When we were in Luxor I didn´t even feel okay walking up the street from our flat to get water.
When my dad or even aidan were around it was a completely different story. Sure there were jokes. when I tried to send kari a letter, the hotel manager said he could send it but first, would I marry him? The same kind of thing happened at markets, shop owners wondering "how many cammels for your daughter?" But no one really tried anything beyond that.
Although its not necissary, bringing a boy on a trip to Europe will make you happier. Being an American girl on your own will attract cat calls and whistles. Thats what its like when I`m by myself shopping or just wandering here. But if anyone is with me, again all of that is nonexistent.
This is just something thats been on my mind because a couple days ago this really creepy old guy tried to feel me up on the Metro. You always tell yourself your gonna give him a sharp elbow to the ribs but in the moment you want to believe the way he just brushed your leg was an accident and when it keeps happening you just feel so paralyzed. Thank the lord for Aidan who was watching and loudly offered to switch spots before anything could happened.
A boy will make you feel safer. Don`t even think about going to the middle east without one. Egypt is especially out of the question. You could yell rape at a train station and not get a second glance. Its part of the culture. Men will stare at you like your a piece of meat, without even trying to hide it. And believe me being cute has nothing to do with it because it doesnt stop just cause your wearing sweats and a rain jacket and havent showered in three days. When we were in Luxor I didn´t even feel okay walking up the street from our flat to get water.
When my dad or even aidan were around it was a completely different story. Sure there were jokes. when I tried to send kari a letter, the hotel manager said he could send it but first, would I marry him? The same kind of thing happened at markets, shop owners wondering "how many cammels for your daughter?" But no one really tried anything beyond that.
Although its not necissary, bringing a boy on a trip to Europe will make you happier. Being an American girl on your own will attract cat calls and whistles. Thats what its like when I`m by myself shopping or just wandering here. But if anyone is with me, again all of that is nonexistent.
This is just something thats been on my mind because a couple days ago this really creepy old guy tried to feel me up on the Metro. You always tell yourself your gonna give him a sharp elbow to the ribs but in the moment you want to believe the way he just brushed your leg was an accident and when it keeps happening you just feel so paralyzed. Thank the lord for Aidan who was watching and loudly offered to switch spots before anything could happened.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Beautiful Barcelona
What a pretty place! For the past couple days life has consisted of the beach and sight seeing...and fruit. Theres a fruit stand across the street and I cant help but eat everything in it. Its helps for making friends too- offer a strawberry to the guy with the dreads and tats in the elevator and by the time your on ground floor you know his name, where hes from and if hes going to the soccer game tonight.
The sea is only a bus ride away and we cant help but visit everyday. The sun is hot, the sand is soft and the water is just cool enough to be comfortable. We rent towels, play in the sand, splash in the waves and fall asleep in the sun. It´s a topless beach and although I decided to forgo such an experience there are plenty who enjoy the... freedom. Its all fine, but it was funny to watch liam and walsh´s reactions as they discovered that there were bare breasts all around them... they´re faces are halariously especially when they think no one is looking at them.
When were not at the beach we´ve been seeing everything we can designed by Gaudi, an incredible achitect that lived about a hundred years ago. Google `Sagrada Familia´ and you´ll see what I mean. It´s absolutely breathtaking and the detail is just goes on forever. It reminds me of those sand castles you build by dripping wet sand in a tower. Sagrada Familia is a church and it isnt even done yet, thats how extensive it is, its due to finish in 150 years!
Two days ago we biked to the edge of town to the park, and saw more Gaudi. Past the 80 column entrance with stairs and whoville like buildings is this beautiful bench shaped as a serpent and covered in mosaics. I know its stupid, but I was actually really excited for it cause it was in one of the Cheetah Girls movies. I watched too much tv as a kid...
Last night we saw a championship soccer game! Madrid v. Barcelona. Ofcourse we rooted for the home team and after a heart pounding game, they won. The fans are DIEHARD. screaming about absolutely everything and we joined in, even though we had no idea what they were saying.
Its about midnight here, and although all of Barcelona is awake, I´m going to bed. Recharge for what life brings tomorrow. Goodnight from my side of the spinning world:)
The sea is only a bus ride away and we cant help but visit everyday. The sun is hot, the sand is soft and the water is just cool enough to be comfortable. We rent towels, play in the sand, splash in the waves and fall asleep in the sun. It´s a topless beach and although I decided to forgo such an experience there are plenty who enjoy the... freedom. Its all fine, but it was funny to watch liam and walsh´s reactions as they discovered that there were bare breasts all around them... they´re faces are halariously especially when they think no one is looking at them.
When were not at the beach we´ve been seeing everything we can designed by Gaudi, an incredible achitect that lived about a hundred years ago. Google `Sagrada Familia´ and you´ll see what I mean. It´s absolutely breathtaking and the detail is just goes on forever. It reminds me of those sand castles you build by dripping wet sand in a tower. Sagrada Familia is a church and it isnt even done yet, thats how extensive it is, its due to finish in 150 years!
Two days ago we biked to the edge of town to the park, and saw more Gaudi. Past the 80 column entrance with stairs and whoville like buildings is this beautiful bench shaped as a serpent and covered in mosaics. I know its stupid, but I was actually really excited for it cause it was in one of the Cheetah Girls movies. I watched too much tv as a kid...
Last night we saw a championship soccer game! Madrid v. Barcelona. Ofcourse we rooted for the home team and after a heart pounding game, they won. The fans are DIEHARD. screaming about absolutely everything and we joined in, even though we had no idea what they were saying.
Its about midnight here, and although all of Barcelona is awake, I´m going to bed. Recharge for what life brings tomorrow. Goodnight from my side of the spinning world:)
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Ben.
When people ask about your trip they usually want either a colorful adjective ("amazing!") or a sentence, two max. They want you to know that they know that you went somewhere, or they´re just trying to be polite or sometimes, they really do want to know you had a good time. But time is a precious thing and in a world of facebook updates, texts messeges, and a myriad of other people that need talking to, their time cant be wasted with a lenthy speech on your vacation to Europe. I`m not complaining, its difficult to decribe to anyone what a trip was like and "incredible" makes it easier. I`m just pointing this out because it was the opposite of Ben.
Whenever I saw Ben, he wanted to know every detail of my latest travels. He would ask every question he could think of and become engrossed in whatever I was saying. He would remind me how lucky I was and I would always profusely agree. Then we`d laugh at a stupid story I was telling and after that we´d talk about all the places we wanted to go in the future, or mostly the places I wanted to go. Ben never made anything about himself.
The morning after Ben took his life last spring, I woke up with my eyes swollen shut from crying so much the day before. When I went upstairs it was twenty minutes before my mom found me crying into my coffee cup. We sat on the couch and watched the sun rise and talked about life and happiness and Ben.
It´s the hardest thing I´ve ever experienced to lose someone like that, but what hurts more is the idea that he was so trapped in life and in this dark place that he thought the only way to make the hurt go away was to end it all. I can`t understand it and I dont think I`ll ever get even remotely close. But I know that that idea is more painful then anything.
Life is beautiful, but you dont need Spain to realize that. Spain just reminds me of Ben because of the way I think I would describe it to him if I could.
Whenever I saw Ben, he wanted to know every detail of my latest travels. He would ask every question he could think of and become engrossed in whatever I was saying. He would remind me how lucky I was and I would always profusely agree. Then we`d laugh at a stupid story I was telling and after that we´d talk about all the places we wanted to go in the future, or mostly the places I wanted to go. Ben never made anything about himself.
The morning after Ben took his life last spring, I woke up with my eyes swollen shut from crying so much the day before. When I went upstairs it was twenty minutes before my mom found me crying into my coffee cup. We sat on the couch and watched the sun rise and talked about life and happiness and Ben.
It´s the hardest thing I´ve ever experienced to lose someone like that, but what hurts more is the idea that he was so trapped in life and in this dark place that he thought the only way to make the hurt go away was to end it all. I can`t understand it and I dont think I`ll ever get even remotely close. But I know that that idea is more painful then anything.
Life is beautiful, but you dont need Spain to realize that. Spain just reminds me of Ben because of the way I think I would describe it to him if I could.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Coffee, Museums and Bull fights
Here´s what I love about Madrid: the way it makes you feel perfectly okay to move at a perfectly slow pace. Nothing here needs to be done quickly and so therefore everything we do takes twice as long as it has to.
Yesterday we spent the day at the Museum Prado. There we observed the works of fabulously renoun artists that struck me as only vaguely familiar and wandered through halls of great paintings that I did nort recognize. All the same it was fun, although my mom had a little bit too much enthusiaum for the place and was still full speed when everyone else was burned out. After the museum we headed to the park and then out to dinner. Between it all we milled around vendors and sat at cafes. I spent an excess of money and drank far too much coffee- no regrets!
Today our style of action was no different, we wandered to a market in the morning cold sodas and pastries always in hand. I bought silly trinkets (who says trinkets?) for my girls at home and liam got a pair of fake Ray Bans that he now refuses to wear because my dad has real ones and he thinks that would be tacky? whatever.
Tonight we headed to the bull fight. The consensus leaving was that we were all glad we went (except for my mom who bailed early) but were not sure if we would do it again... Its a little much, a little too gory.
Generally a bull fight goes as such: it begins with 6 matadors each taking turns to rile the bull up. They wave pink capes in his face getting close as they dare, then run away fast to take refuge behind the edge of the stadium. The show then progresses to men on horses with spears whom provoke the bull to charge and then they stab it repeatedly until hebacks away. There´s blood everywhere and it proceeds to spurt generously out of the bulls back for the duration of the fight. After the men on horses leave, 2 more bull fighters come out. They have shorter more decorative spears. They take turns running at the bull then throwing the spears. By the end of this act the bull has 6 or seven spears hanging from his back and is losing steam. The show ends with the final madador again provoking the bull, getting inches away then dodging it at the last second. Then finally he sticks a sword in the back of the bulls neck. If the bull still isnt dead, it is stabbed repeatedly with shorter daggers until it ceases movement. If it all isnt enough for you: they do it over again- 6 times! mmmm, seems alittle excessive. All the same we had a good time watching, eating candy, cheering, jeering and joking on the matadors in the pink suits.
So now this is good-bye to Madrid! It has been very good to us and no one is ready to leave. All the same, I`m exciting for the next chapter in Barcelona. Beaches for dayssss coming up on my side of our spinning world:)
Yesterday we spent the day at the Museum Prado. There we observed the works of fabulously renoun artists that struck me as only vaguely familiar and wandered through halls of great paintings that I did nort recognize. All the same it was fun, although my mom had a little bit too much enthusiaum for the place and was still full speed when everyone else was burned out. After the museum we headed to the park and then out to dinner. Between it all we milled around vendors and sat at cafes. I spent an excess of money and drank far too much coffee- no regrets!
Today our style of action was no different, we wandered to a market in the morning cold sodas and pastries always in hand. I bought silly trinkets (who says trinkets?) for my girls at home and liam got a pair of fake Ray Bans that he now refuses to wear because my dad has real ones and he thinks that would be tacky? whatever.
Tonight we headed to the bull fight. The consensus leaving was that we were all glad we went (except for my mom who bailed early) but were not sure if we would do it again... Its a little much, a little too gory.
Generally a bull fight goes as such: it begins with 6 matadors each taking turns to rile the bull up. They wave pink capes in his face getting close as they dare, then run away fast to take refuge behind the edge of the stadium. The show then progresses to men on horses with spears whom provoke the bull to charge and then they stab it repeatedly until hebacks away. There´s blood everywhere and it proceeds to spurt generously out of the bulls back for the duration of the fight. After the men on horses leave, 2 more bull fighters come out. They have shorter more decorative spears. They take turns running at the bull then throwing the spears. By the end of this act the bull has 6 or seven spears hanging from his back and is losing steam. The show ends with the final madador again provoking the bull, getting inches away then dodging it at the last second. Then finally he sticks a sword in the back of the bulls neck. If the bull still isnt dead, it is stabbed repeatedly with shorter daggers until it ceases movement. If it all isnt enough for you: they do it over again- 6 times! mmmm, seems alittle excessive. All the same we had a good time watching, eating candy, cheering, jeering and joking on the matadors in the pink suits.
So now this is good-bye to Madrid! It has been very good to us and no one is ready to leave. All the same, I`m exciting for the next chapter in Barcelona. Beaches for dayssss coming up on my side of our spinning world:)
Friday, August 12, 2011
Starting just right. Madrid, Spain.
Madrid is everything you imagine it to be. Streets covered in cobble stones, ancient buildings, cafes everywhere you look... There are pretty girls in summer dresses and Spainish boys with cigarettes eternally pinched between their fingers. The sidewalks are always filled with venders and theres always some magnificent thing close by.
In Madrid, when the city finally wipes sleep from its eyes, the the sun has already been awake for hours. As the day progresses, the city gets louder, the sun gets hotter and murmer in the streets becomes a dull roar which escalates until it is late at night and everyone seems to be up.
Sometimes I get this feeling right in the middle of my stomach. It comes when I´ve stayed up all night with my girls, just talking about absolutely everything. Or when my boyfriend kisses me goodnight. It comes when I give a gift to some one and they look at me, straight at me, and say thank you so much. Its this light inside that makes me so happy, and so thankful to be so blessed in this life.
Today we are all still in a jetlag fog. We sleep too much at the wrong times and then lie awake in the middle of the night. Aidan has provided to be an excellent roommate. We stay up together listening to Hoody Allen, Mac Miller and the Nomads (Aidan as the song Weed plays: ´I feel like I should have to wear a beanie to listen to this`). Its funny how we always have a new style of music to jam to when we take a trip. Maybe this time we were a little too heavy on the rap but, what can you do..
In the hours that we happened to be awake when we were suppose to be we wandered because we´re good at that. We went to the royal palace, ran through the rooms and joked on the cheesy audio tour. We stared at the fresco covering ceiling and gawked at the ornate walls and furniture. It reminded me of Versailles, ofcourse there was a little less gold and none of my classmates were around to help me ask the tour guide uncomfortable questions but there was still an essensce of true power that is not easily created. The rest of the day, and the day prior was spent roaming the streets and eating much too much gelato. We moseyed around squares and sat at cafes drinking coffee and fantas while my mother read us the history of the city from the lonely planet guidebook that we take absolutely everywhere.
Who knows what to come in the next couple days, were only in Madrid until Sunday, then its off to see Barcelona. Maybe well see some museums, we´ll definately go to a bull fight. Obviously we´ll be eating more ice cream.. well see. Right now im just excited to live life on this spinning world.
In Madrid, when the city finally wipes sleep from its eyes, the the sun has already been awake for hours. As the day progresses, the city gets louder, the sun gets hotter and murmer in the streets becomes a dull roar which escalates until it is late at night and everyone seems to be up.
Sometimes I get this feeling right in the middle of my stomach. It comes when I´ve stayed up all night with my girls, just talking about absolutely everything. Or when my boyfriend kisses me goodnight. It comes when I give a gift to some one and they look at me, straight at me, and say thank you so much. Its this light inside that makes me so happy, and so thankful to be so blessed in this life.
Today we are all still in a jetlag fog. We sleep too much at the wrong times and then lie awake in the middle of the night. Aidan has provided to be an excellent roommate. We stay up together listening to Hoody Allen, Mac Miller and the Nomads (Aidan as the song Weed plays: ´I feel like I should have to wear a beanie to listen to this`). Its funny how we always have a new style of music to jam to when we take a trip. Maybe this time we were a little too heavy on the rap but, what can you do..
In the hours that we happened to be awake when we were suppose to be we wandered because we´re good at that. We went to the royal palace, ran through the rooms and joked on the cheesy audio tour. We stared at the fresco covering ceiling and gawked at the ornate walls and furniture. It reminded me of Versailles, ofcourse there was a little less gold and none of my classmates were around to help me ask the tour guide uncomfortable questions but there was still an essensce of true power that is not easily created. The rest of the day, and the day prior was spent roaming the streets and eating much too much gelato. We moseyed around squares and sat at cafes drinking coffee and fantas while my mother read us the history of the city from the lonely planet guidebook that we take absolutely everywhere.
Who knows what to come in the next couple days, were only in Madrid until Sunday, then its off to see Barcelona. Maybe well see some museums, we´ll definately go to a bull fight. Obviously we´ll be eating more ice cream.. well see. Right now im just excited to live life on this spinning world.
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