Live from Derry City, Northern Ireland...

it's Saturday Night with your host Marisa! (and the crowd goes wild)



heh.

Bet you didn't expect an update on the road did ya?

Surprise surprise. :)



Just got back from the Frames show.

Oh man. I dare someone to find me a better live band. Really, I do. It was AMAZING. 2 straight hours of the best music, stories and craic. (I'm picking up the lingo here can you tell?)

Northern Ireland is grand. I would share more but I am absolutely wiped out so this will have to be all for now.


chow.

Luck o' the Irish

Northern Ireland trip this weekend. I leave tonight and get back on Tuesday morning.


I´m going to see the Frames, on their home turf (well sort of because they are from Dublin and I´m going to be in Northern Ireland...close enough)


I am so excited!


They were amazing when I saw them in Portland in October at the Aladdin and I'm expecting a great show on Saturday. This is going to be their first show in 2 months because they have been recording a new album (yessss!) in France and haven't had time to tour.


I am so excited. :)


In other news, I am stressed out beyond belief but it´s okay, nothing some fish & chips can't cure. Heh.

A letter.

Dear World,

Hey. You caught me on an off day to be honest. I´m okay, really. I mean classes are fine, the weekend was good, and nothing is wrong at home. I mean come on, tonight ¡Mira Quien Baila! is on-life can´t get much better than that! :)

Nah, it´s just that last night I got a little down and haven´t really recovered since. See, last night it hit me that I have only a few more weeks here, and I got kind of bummed about it.

I was talking to Feli about how time has just flown by and how, these next few weeks until I fly back are going to go by even faster because there is so much to do that will occupy my thoughts and time. I didn´t realize that it was coming up so quickly though. 6 weeks from today I will be on a plane somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean. That´s pretty hard to think about after living and adapting to a place for so long.

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Let´s be honest for a minute, I came here almost reluctantly.

I was miserable the first few weeks. I practically lived at the internet cafe trying desperately to try to keep in contact with "home", with all that I knew and was familiar with. True, there were circumstances that made it even harder for me to leave home than it would have been had things been just normal. It´s fair to say that I was pretty low my first couple weeks. Feli remembered it too and she said that she was glad that I have adapted so well since then.

I thought about all that I have seen and done since I got here on January 4th. More than that, I thought of how different I am than when I got here. The person who stepped off the plane in Granada isn´t the same person that will land at PDX. No, if that were the case, I would be disappointed because it is precisely these types of experiences that are supposed to push you and make you that proverbial "better, stronger person". It will be very interesting for me to see how my family and friends see me now.

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The other day I watched The Motorcycle Diaries. I had seen it before and loved it, it´s one of my favorite movies, but this time it seemed like it held more meaning for me.

In so many ways I am like the protagonist. Traveling, in a way, just to travel. Searching for insight on the world...meeting new people...and gaining perspective.

It seems to me more and more that life is a series of interactions with other people and places which consequently mold and shape us. What we see and experience influences our constant evolution in one direction or another, and the impact that my time in Europe has had on me is becoming more and more apparent to me. In so many ways I don´t recognize myself. I think differently, act differently, dress differently. Approach the world in a way that I didn´t before I came.

We are constantly changing, there is no doubt in my mind about that, but somehow this time away has sped up the metamorphosis of me.


It both scares and excites me.


I now know what I want and why I want it. I am not indecisive as I once was. I can pinpoint things that I like and don´t like, that are fun or boring, that I care about, that are a part of me.

It sounds so trivial, but when you take a step back and look at how many people are influenced primarily by outside sources and only very little by their inner self-knowledge, do you realize how much you want to keep what you know about yourself and let that guide your thoughts and decisions instead of letting others and society do it for you.


We´re always doing that proverbial "searching for ourselves" it seems, because we are always changing and therefore will never be able to "find ourselves". Because the very next second after we find it, part of us will have changed. Sort of like a theory a good friend of mine has that you can´t hold onto life. You can´t--he´s right--and it´s useless to try.


The movie...just makes sense to me. I have experienced so much and because of that, many views of mine have been challenged or formed in just a few months. In some ways I ask myself what I will think of Portland and my life back there now but am not too worried about my response. I haven´t been away that long I hope. :)

I don´t know. There was something there. Something that I had to share just to share. Perhaps no one understands.


But...perhaps someone does.


In the meantime, I don't want to think about Portland or my new apartment (yes, I have a new apartment!) or anything that has to do with not being here. I need to live this moment, this today.

I still have classes to attend, exams to take, certificates to obtain. I still have 42 glorious days in Spain and I intend to enjoy them and savor every moment. I won't have this again for a long time.



I am going to walk home now. Through the streets that for the past 4 months have watched me grow up. Past the old man with the bad eye that always stands on the corner of Matias and Santiago and watches people go by, rain or shine, and is always prepared with an umbrella. Past the cute dog that sleeps in front of the nearby bar. Past the panaderia where the owner, a cute little older woman, sits and chats with her friend amid the intoxicating smell of fresh bread. Past the people who are walking home, to the store, to the bars, to downtown. Past all those people who all have some story to tell, something to offer the world, to offer me, even if it´s not "that much" or "that obvious".


I´ll look at all of it and think to myself how different I would have been had I not come here and seen for myself.


Marisa

Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

I do. :0)


Heh. Well at least to the Santa Fe that´s near Granada. One of Chelsea´s professors keeps on telling her class that they should go and check out this tiny town. So following his advice, she, Diana, and I hopped on a bus to see what we could see there.

To be honest, there wasn´t a whole lot. We had really good luck, however, because they happened to be having this once a year Medieval Market that was really cool. What are the odds that we randomly stumbled into town this particular weekend? Suerte was on our side. :)



The sign that explains a bit about the town. Main highlights:

1. It´s where the Reyes Católicos signed the stipulations about Columbus´ trip to the New World
2. It´s where the Reyes Católicos had their base when they were trying to capture the Alhambra during the Reconquista and
3. Piononos, a small pastry/candy are traditional of the town



A poster advertising the Medieval Market



There are 4 doors to the heart of the city. Each faces a different cardinal direction and takes the name of the city that is in that direction. This one faces Granada and thus is called La Puerta de Granada



The place where the Reyes Católicos signed the papers for that infamous trip that changed the world...



The town square decorated medieval style for the market



This is one interesting way to get around...



Perfumed flowers



Mmm...fresh bread



Mmm...look at all those cakes!



Herbs used to cure different ailments



More herbs. It was a mini-jungle.



Tea anyone?



Hand-made baskets



A pretty rose near where we sat and had lunch (I just can´t resist including a couple of my so-called "artistic shots"!)



View of the street and all the people out and about



Traveling minstrels or Spanish guys in costume? You be the judge.



Thankfully the snake stayed right where he was...



Candies



So, here´s where the dried fruit has been hiding out...where was it when I got the nuts?



The cafe we stopped at to try piononos



Chelsea about to devour her pionono



This sign assured me that we were getting the real deal as far as piononos go describing them as "legitimate" and "original". With a description like that I find it hard to believe that we were jipped. Heh.

Semana Santa in Granada

Our plane from Stansted got in at about 11 in the morning on Saturday but despite that, Diana and I hit the streets at about 7pm to catch one of the last Semana Santa processions.

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A brief description of Semana Santa in Granada:

In the city of Granada, there are various hermandades ("brotherhoods") that organize their own procession for Holy Week. The processions start on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter) and continue through Easter Sunday. Each hermandad has their own figures (statues you could call them) of the Virgin and/or Jesus and they spend a lot of time working to make their floats that are dedicated to them as beautiful as possible. In a way, as I understand it, the processions are a sort of visual "reenactment" of the events of Holy Week...sort of but not quite. It´s hard to explain.

Anyway, the during the processions the floats are carried by costaleros (usually men and boys) and are accompanied by nazarenos (the people in the hooded robes) and women dressed in Spanish costumes that carry crosses and candles. There are various bands that play very melancholy music to set the tone and the pace of those walking in the procession.
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The play by play of our experience:


All around the city people placed purplish banners on their balconies. I didn´t find out why but there has to be a reason...



A view of Plaza Nueva from our front row spot on the street. I was surprised because the atmosphere wasn´t as somber as I had expected. I was later told by people who had gone to other processions that there were a few processions that were more contemplative but that it was "normal" to have vendors selling snacks and kids running around with balloons (Sponge Bob seemed to be a favorite). It reminded me a lot of a 4th of July parade...



The procession started out with a group of musicians...



They sure look enthused, eh? :)



Turns out the KKK stole the idea for their "costume" from the Spanish confraternities. Who knew?



Many of the participants walked in the procession with these huge candles. Some wore shoes but there were quite a few that only wore socks or went completely barefoot.



Women in typical Spanish costumes with the very Spanish peineta in their hair.



Each hermandad has different colors which are reflected in the color of the robes they wear.



A cloud of incense precedes the "float" that carries the statue of either the Virgin or Jesus.



The procession that we saw was Nuestra Señora de las Angustias...this was her float.



The costaleros carrying the float. These floats vary in weight, but be certain that they weight A LOT. There can be up to 40 men carrying one float (with nothing else supporting it). Just the look on their faces when they passed by was enough to convince me that it was heavy!



Another shot of the men carrying the float.

Destination: Salzburg, Oslo, and London

Each armed with a backpack and a camera, Diana and I took off for a week long trip that had us frolicking around the European continent. It was fabulous.



Never in my life have I packed this light for a trip. I surprised even myself. I might add that the plastic bag had food that we took along with us, so technically I only had my backpack. Impressive huh?



We had to spend the night twice in the Stansted airport (a combo of being far away from downtown London, early flights, and just being plain cheap). This is Diana the first night before we found out about the huge waiting area (with chairs!) the next morning. Live and learn. It was pretty funny to see all the people that crashed each night in that airport. Some had air mattresses, sleeping bags, and pillows. We, on the other hand, had an alarm clock...



Transportation for this trip was provided by non other than Europe´s budget airline, RyanAir. I was quite impressed with their cartoonish bright yellow and blue cabins and stampede-like boarding system. It´s an experience that everyone should have at least once in their life. But hey, it was inexpensive and they got us where we needed to go. The funny thing was that one of their lesser known slogans is "The ontime airline". 5 of our 6 flights were late. Heh.



What an awesome welcome



We had some fun buying bus tickets from a machine that gave instructions only in German.



Our fantastic hostel in Salzburg. Not only was it clean, secure, and all that good stuff but they served a killer breakfast and played the Sound of Music each night at 8 pm. Life was good.



Our room at the hostel. Just an idea for those who have never stayed at one. This particular room that we were in we shared with 6 other women. 2 girls from Korea, 2 from Australia (who were super cool and were traveling throughout Europe for a year), and each night we were there the other 2 changed. By staying in a hostel you not only save money but you meet some pretty cool cats.



The ceiling of the Salzburg cathedral



Cool stained glass door in the Cathedral



View of the city from the Hohensalzburg Fortress



Doorway in the fortress compound



We didn´t know it until we got on the plane leaving Granada, but Ashley was headed to Salzburg for break too. She was meeting up with some friends to ski the Alps (how cool is that?) but she hung out with us before they got in that evening.



After a night in the airport and barely any sleep, even this 15th century bed inside the fortress was looking mighty comfy...



On the other hand, this torture chair was not looking that appealing.



Some mammoth sized pretzels



The graveyard that inspired the cemetery in the Sound of Music

I think that these bread bunnies were one of the cutest things I saw on the trip



An "Easter egg tree"



Mirabell Gardens (again, think Sound of Music when the are singing the "Do a deer" song) with the Hohensalzburg Fortress in the background



The arches that they skip through in the Sound of Music (can you tell that this movie is big here?)



Mozart´s home/museum. Cool place to check out-way better than the museum that is at his birth home (see below).



A cool vegetarian restaurant we had lunch at one afternoon. Good food and inexpensive too!



A funny poster on the wall of the vegetarian restaurant. You´ve got to read the bottom part closely. It cracked me up.



A cool plaque in a graveyard



They had tons of take-away restaurants like this. Lots of seafood which really surprised me since there isn´t a whole lot of ocean nearby.



We had ice cream at this neat little shop and even though it was ice cream, it had a completely different texture. It was much creamier, like yogurt, but light, like sorbet. It was delish whatever it was. :)



This was Mozart´s birth home. The museum was slightly disappointing...it was a bit too "artistic" for me. But we did get to see a couple of his actual violins so that was cool.



How do you get up there?



Diana with traditional Austrian appelstrudel



Since it was Mozart´s 250th birthday anniversary at the beginning of this year, there were tons of these huge balls around the city decorated to celebrate music and the composer himself. This one was the coolest by far. :)



These bouquets, we found out, are typical for Palm Sunday. People buy them and take them with them to church to get them blessed and then they put them in their gardens and supposedly these bunches of at least 7 different plants bring good luck to the crops.

Couldn´t resist taking a pic of a restaurant called Weinerwald-it was too tempting and besides, we had lunch there one day. Chicken wraps with the sounds of Elvis in the background.

Yep. Elvis lives.



This is the house that they used to shoot the garden scenes in the Sound of Music



After...some problems...with our hostel in Oslo, we were incredibly lucky and got a room at an actual hotel. Hot water, soft beds, it was almost a dream.



Funny door sign at the hotel



I was so excited about the room I just had to take pics



Because we were on a budget and since restaurants (along with everything else in Oslo) were super expensive, we went to the store and stocked up, taking advantage of the mini-fridge. We ate 3 meals a day for 2 and a half days for under 20 bucks each.

Thrifty.



Ship inside the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. Very very cool and very very humongous.




Saddle from the era of the vikings. Ouch-it looks pretty uncomfortable to sit on...



Some Viking shoes. Although these were quite stylish, I´m going to stick with my Chuck Taylors. :)



Viking combs



Although the pic didn´t turn out at all (the lighting inside the museum wasn´t that great for taking pics), this is just to show the sheer size of these ships. Yep, that´s little old me in the bluish coat in the lower left hand corner.



Diana navigating (note the Austrian hat)



The main street in Oslo: Karl Johans Gate



Edvard Munch´s grave. (We visited his museum and it wasn´t incredibly impressive, especially since they´ve still not recovered The Scream)



Cool statue in the middle of the sidewalk



A definite highlight of Oslo-the Nobel Peace Museum. They had a great Robert Capa exhibit and tons of things to see and do.

I don´t think I´ll ever want to go back to Norway, I wasn´t a huge fan to be honest, but if you find yourself up in that part of the world you must check out the Viking Museum and the Nobel Peace Museum. Of the two nordic coutries that I have visited, I much preferred Sweden to Norway. When I was in Stockholm two years ago it was just a lot more welcoming than Oslo. Better vibe for sure and much more to see.

Welcome to London!



The London Eye and the London skyline



Westminster Abbey. We didn´t get a chance to go in because they had already closed for the day and the next day was Good Friday and there were services. Bummer.



A garden we walked through on the way to visit the Queen at Buckingham Palace.



A British squirrel riding a bike. Talented little guy.



Big Ben. You can´t get much more "London" than this.



The Tower Bridge-We even walked across it...rock on.



St. Paul´s Cathedral-We went to see it on Good Friday after we spent the morning at the Tower of London (the Crown Jewels are AMAZING!). Fortunately, we did get to go inside even though they were having a prayer service.

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So yes, that´s the basic jist of the trip. Even though I know I posted what seems like a lot of photos, they aren´t even 1/4 of what I took. Lets just say that my memory card was full when we got back to Granada. We had such an awesome time. :0)

Awesome, awesome, awesome...

That´s the only way to describe our trip.

We had a blast. It was so much fun and we saw and did so much. I will post pics when I get a chance, I promise. With only 5 weeks left though, things are kind of hectic, but I will post again soon so be excited. :)



I can´t believe that in exactly 7 weeks I´ll be flying home. So so crazy.

leavin´ on a jet plane...

okay so i´m leaving here in a couple minutes to catch the bus to the airport...i don´t think that i have ever packed so lightly...it´s very unlike me.

i am so excited.


okay, got to go.



this is going to be so cool...

:0)

Spring Break

It´s almost here!

Just two more exams and then tomorrow night at about 7 we´ll be on our way to the airport. Sweet. :0)

And what is our destination, you may ask? We´re going to risk coming back completely worn out and are headed to Austria (Salzburg), Norway (Oslo), and England (London, of course).


A brief overview of our trek across Europe:

Thursday PM: leave Granada for London to catch connecting flight to Salzburg Friday morning

Friday AM: flight to Salzburg

Friday PM, Saturday and Sunday: In Salzburg

Monday AM: fly to Oslo

Monday PM, Tuesday and Wednesday: In Oslo

Thursday AM: fly to London

Thursday PM and Friday: London

Saturday: at the crack of dawn, fly back to Granada for the last Semana Santa processions in the evening

Sunday: keel over from exhaustion, post pics from trip (in theory, I´m not promising anything though!), and go see a play (The Casa of Bernarda Alba)

Monday: return to reality and lament the fact that I´m no longer frolicking around Europe
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I´ll let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, feel free to send me lots of fan mail telling me how much you miss my posts. Heh. Suuuure. :0)

Ole!

So we went to a bullfight on Saturday and even though I´m anticipating getting some criticism by saying this I´m going to say it anyway:

I loved it.


The atmostphere, the colors, the fanfare, the whole thing was amazing.

Yes, it´s controversial and I can understand and respect people who think that it´s barbaric. I´m not going to try and convince anyone to like it or not-it´s not my place to do that. I also want to say that I´m not anti-animal rights or anything like that. I think that animals deserve respect and shouldn´t be tortured and so I´m hoping that after reading this people don´t think I´m some kind of sadistic, heartless animal hater. I´m not. My little disclaimer before I tell what I thought about it. :)

Before we went, I was thinking that I wasn´t going to like it, that it would be pretty gorey and just not my thing. It helped that in my culture class we learned about it and all the different aspects of it. The whys. Once you learn about something, it helps you not be afraid of it. For instance, they sell the meat after the bull is killed, so in a way, it´s just a glorified slaughter of an animal. And bull meat is very appreciated here-it´s quite expensive and the day after a fight people line up at the butcher shops that get the meat to buy some. Also, when the picador goes in to "weaken" the bull (the part that most people find to be the worst), he has been trained to hit a particular spot on the bulls´ neck that activates an adrenaline rush that helps counter the pain. He´s not just stabbing the bull randomly just to hurt it.

The fight we went to was actually for charity, so there were some slight differences from a regular fight. The main one was that there were 6 bullfighters. In a normal fight, there are 3 matadors and 6 bulls, but this time it was 6 matadors and 6 bulls. The second main difference was that since it was a festival, the matadors didn´t wear the traditional "traje de luces" and instead wore plainer outfits. I was kind of bummed about that but it was still cool though.


Granada´s Plaza de Toros (and the immense traffic jam in front as everyone was arriving)


A poster advertising the corrida we saw


My ticket


The bullring


The procession at the beginning when all the matadors and their "teams" present themselves to the officiator of the fight (the presidente)


We had the opportunity to see a rejoneador-you don´t get to see these at every fight. It´s a special type of bullfighting on horseback. Pretty impressive.


Preliminary phase of the fight when the strength of the bull is assesed.


The picador (he weakens the bull so that he doesn´t charge the fighter with as much strength)


A banderillero getting ready to put a banderilla (a hook with ribbon on it) in the bull. The banderillas make the bull charge straight and slow him down


Ole!


This matador was on his knees in front of a pretty sassy bull...gutsy.


When a bull isn´t up for the fight, they replace him, but first they have to get him out of the ring with the help of some cows


My new fave bullfighter, El Fandi. He´s from Granada and is one of the best fighters in Spain today. It doesn´t hurt that he´s pretty good looking too :)


You can barely see him but behind the yellow and red banner is the "Master of Ceremonies"-el presidente. He decides when to move to the next phase of the fight by signaling with white hankerchiefs.


At the end of the fight, the crowd shows how much they liked the fight by waving white handkerchiefs. (Since we didn´t have a handkerchief, we used paper towels. Heh.) This is also the way the audience "votes" for what trophies the matador gets. A good fight gets an ear, a really good fight gets both ears, and an utterly amazing fight gets the two ears and the tail. Only Fandi got the 2 ears and the tail. Then, as the matador is walking around the ring (taking his victory lap, if you will) he throws his prizes into the crowd. Slightly odd...what do you do with a bull´s ear?

Hike in the Sierra

Yesterday, Diana, Chelsea and I went on a hike in the Sierras with a final goal of studying up there. We took a picnic lunch and it turned out to be a great day for a hike. We did the math and figured that it was about 80 degrees. Perfect.


Before we headed up into the hills, we went and saw this little park called "Campo de los Martires" which was sort of near the Alhambra. This was one of the little patios.


Cool peacock in the same park


Saw this as we were heading up the hill-spring is here!


View of the city


Rolling hills and the snow covered mtns in the background...so picturesque :)


Apparently this is Granada´s cemetery. The thing is that the graves are not in the ground but more mausoleum style...


Finally! We made it to the top!


View from where we sat and studied

Springtime in Granada...

Okay, so maybe these pics don´t really show the spring side of things, but it´s just a little better idea of where I live.


Calle Molinos-I live right off this street (but in the other direction!) I walk this street every day to get to and from school. It´s my fave part of the day because along the way I pass by the bakeries and fruit shops and of course, the bar where Paco el perro hangs out. :)


Plaza Isabel la Católica-a city landmark


This is one of the streets that you can take to get to the center of the city from my house. I usually take it if I need to mail something because the post office is at the end.


If you´ve gotten something in the mail from me, chances are I walked up these steps to mail it!


The mailbox to the U.S. :0)


The estanco where I go to buy my stamps and phone cards. The owner and his fam are super nice and completely know who I am since I go in there often.


"Los Italianos" Ice Cream shop. It just recently opened for summer, so Chelsea and Diana and I had to go and check it out.