The Beautiful Disaster

7 April 2009

Greece. Dogs, food, gorgeous Santorini, friendly people. Definitely one of my favorite countries.

So to start our trip, we almost missed our renfe train at Pg. de Gracia. We literally got there just in time, it was insane! Megan brought homemade snacks for us on the renfe, so we had a little picnic on the train, haha! There were a lot of people with accordions on the train for some reason. So we got to the airport on time and headed over to the Vueling terminal which is in a separate building form the rest of it. I seriously love Terminal C…San Miguel and KitKats are a great way to prepare for a night flight! When we got to the gate, they were already boarding and we re-realized that Spaniards do not understand the concept of a line. They just like to make a big blob and run at the goal at the same time. There was this crazy Greek woman boarding the plane and yelling at the ticket taker. She was so hilarious…she kept trying to rip her passport out of their hands and was going off about how she hated Spain, ahaha! Then when she was about to board the plane, the flight attendants jokingly told her this plane was actually going to Madrid instead of Athens and she totally flipped shit! Our flight was quite rowdy. There were people screaming during takeoff, people clapping after we were safely in the air or on the ground, people congregating and walking around the isles, someone walking around taking photos, and one sneaky farter. Amy got the privilege of sitting next to the insane Greek woman...crazy town was totally drunk!

Once in Athens, we had to catch a bus to the city center where we met Charlene. She’s from Michigan but currently studying in Bilbao and was also heading to Piraeus to catch a ferry to one of the islands. So we get to the port around 4:30 am and see all these HUGE ferries! No joke, they were like cruise ships!! So crazy! This woman came up to us and said that there were no ferries that day due to the strike. We didn’t know what to think since Carolyn’s had been canceled due to the strike, but she received and e-mail saying her ferry was being rearranged, but we hadn't. We decided to wait around and see what was up since there were people cleaning the ship and it was on. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to look for food. We obviously checked out the McDonald’s first, but they were closed even though all the lights were on and there was someone in there? Bizarre. So we wandered near the port and finally found a little place that was open! The guy was sooo nice! He asked where we were from and where we were going. Then he told us that if we didn’t have exactly what it cost, that was fine, haha! We all ordered some spanakopita which is a pastry thing with cheese and spinach in it. It totally hit the spot. We went back to the port to eat them to wait til the office opened at 6 to see what was really going on. While by the port, we encountered Scooter, Jezebel, and their motley crew! They are all dogs. No joke, Greece has the most stray dogs I have ever seen in my entire life. They wander in packs and when one barks out, you can hear them responding from far away just like in 101 Dalmatians! So when Scooter barked, a group of about 5 more showed up. Scooter was like our guard dog/pimp because he sat in front of his group of American harem and chased down all the cars that went by. I was legit worried he was going to get run over almost every time. Damn dog. When the office opened, the woman said our tickets were canceled even though our cards had been charged. She said she had never heard of the company we booked through, so I was freaking out thinking it was all a scam and that they just took our money. She told us of an internet café down by the port so we could get some phone numbers to call the company, but when we got there, the computers were all down and the place was filled with smelly homeless people…sick. So we wandered town asking if people knew of another one, and they said no. So we decided to go into a random hotel and ask if we could use their internet if we paid them. Initially they said come back in an hour, but as we were leaving, they told us we could just use it anyways and told us where to find it. They were also incredibly friendly! We asked how to say hello in Greek and they said it was something like “yasu,” but then he said not to say that to an older guy because it’s a flirty way to say hello, haha! He was a goofy little man! Such a funny hotel--half way up a staircase was a mini door that led to a laundry room. We found the internet and while they were trying to figure out how to get their e-mail to work, I called the Jude to see if I had gotten credit back for the canceled ferry. I think I confused her because I gave her my usual very brief “hey.” when she answered and she was all “who is this!?” When I told her it was me, I think it rocked her world a bit, haha! She very kindly investigated for me and we found out that it was still charged, boo. Sorry for making that such a brief call mom—calls to the US are money suckers! Another guy came and helped us with the internet and we eventually got the number for the place even though they don’t open til 9:00am. So we asked if we could get a room in their hotel and they let 6 of us cram in a room for a total of 70 euros. So we all took a nap, called and got the tickets sorted out, got gyros for lunch and then wandered down by the port. We ended up hanging out down there for a couple of hours before heading back. We got some beers at the internet café from the night before—much better during the daylight—and then headed back to meet Carolyn at the hotel and to get the ferry tickets that the woman personally delivered. She was a nice lady. We went and got some dinner, I had musaka or something like that, and then headed off to our ferry at around midnight! We grabbed some water from the guy who sold us the Spanakopita from earlier in the day and he gave us a discount, haha! He also let me push the button on the wall that made the awning go up, haha! We were on a different ferry than Charlene, so we said goodbye and headed on our way. That ship was so pimp! There was a cinema in there, restaurants, lounges, etc. We sat in the front of the boat in a café/lounge area where we could look out the windows. As promised, I found safety instructions and the lifeboats, haha! I watched Twilight to kill some time, but had to have it plugged in the whole time because my iPod is stupid and died on a full battery the second I started the movie. Sheesh. After that, I just laid on the floor and tried to sleep, haha!

We got into the port of Santorini at about 5:30 am and found the hostel bus. Just to make things more complicated, our tire blew out on the way up the zig-zag mountain. Another van came from the hostel, our driver got in, AND THEY LEFT US! Some Chileans wanted to get the part started, jumped into the front seat, and turned the radio up all the way so we had some music to listen to as the sun rose over the Aegean Sea. A new van, possibly more rickety than the first, came and we finally got to our hostel which is about 20 feet from Perissa Beach which has black sand! Our room wasn’t ready, so me, Ames, and C-Mase had to split into 2 rooms for a bit. The hostel was like a mini resort! It had little kitchens, mini patios colored in blue and white, a swimming pool, and this really cool thing where if you requested a movie, they would play it and you could get it in all of the rooms! We all took showers and then headed out to find the bakery where I had the most delicious banana-chocolate croissant and strawberry juice! While wandering around by the hostel in search of the hostel, we met Punky Brewster, a little black dog (only later did we realize he was just a boy dog that peed like a girl and we had to change his name to Pepito). He followed us back to the beach where Ames and I walked in the Aegean! We found a cute little bar right on the beach and stopped for a beer. They had just opened a few days ago, and were still short on some supplies, haha! They gave us some free olives and told us we could use their beach lounge chairs whenever we wanted. They were so nice! Everyone kept coming up and talking to us and asking us how we liked Greece so far. It was really weird, we kept hearing the same Pink Floyd remake CD throughout Greece. It was a girl singing and it was super mellow. The originals are definitely better, but it was interesting to hear nonetheless! So at about 9:00 am, we headed back to the hostel to arrange our tour for the next day and decided to rent ATV’s for the current day so we could ride around and see the whole island! It was only about 7,50 each, so why not!? So this little Greek woman picked up to take us to the rental place where her husband showed us how to work them all. They were so cute and excited, haha! We rode all over Santorini that day—it was amazing. First stop was the Red Beach which was really cool looking. Then we went to the way southern tip of the island to check out the old lighthouse, Faros. The coast was so pretty! Granted it was a little scary riding so close to the cliff ledge, but the view was amazing. After the lighthouse, we tried to find a way up the big mountain to see the church, but we couldn’t figure it out! Instead, we stopped for a bathroom break on our way to Fira, the main town. We stopped for lunch in Fira and the waiter was in love with Sam, haha! It was so funny! When she walked it and said she was cold, he immediately offered up some free ouzo. The food was fabulous, I got something that was similar to a kebab, called souvlaki, which was delicious. Greece seriously has the best food—filled with cheese, meat, and potatoes! When we were paying he brought us all a free shot of ouzo and grenadine which was absolutely disgusting since I can’t stand the taste of black licorice. He gave Sam some free calendars on the way out and then gave us passes to bars and clubs, it was so hilarious! We shopped for some souvenirs, got some gelato, and then continued on our way to Oia at the northern tip of the island for “the world’s best sunset.” When we got there, mine and Carolyn’s ATV was extremely low on gas and we couldn’t find a gas station and were beginning to freak out a bit since we were in the middle of nowhere in the Santorini countryside. We decided to take the ATV’s down the path instead of walking down the 400 steps or however many. The town was so cute! Totally picturesque! We wandered around for a bit since were early, took a very very short nap by the sea and then looked for a better view. Unfortunately right as the pink/purple magic was about to happen, the sun dropped behind a wall of clouds. It’s okay though! We still got to see half of it! Panicking about gas, Carolyn and I bolted out of there in search of a station since we didn’t think it could hold out for the hour it takes to get back to the other side of the island. We finally found one, but it was closed. So I drove as fast as I could until we finally found one in Fira. Thank God! That thing had been blinking on empty for quite some time! They pumped our gas for us and we met up with the others and set off into the night! It was actually kind of scary driving when it was that dark! We did get to see some pretty sweet stars, but it was freezing and there were so many curves in the roads and it was hard to see. When we got back, we got our new room which was huge and actually had a loft with 2 more beds on it! We went for dinner at the Bar by the Sea where we found Pepito again! Apparently he hangs out there a lot, and Dmitri told us that he was only 3 months old. So precious! So he sat with us and we had a sex on the beach and gyros! Dmitri gave us all a free drink before we left which was quite yummy! When we returned, I had my first night’s sleep in many nights…it was awesome.

By 9:30 am, we were on our way again for our tour! The hostel dropped us off in Fira where we bought some breakfast at a supermarket and then headed down the winding path down the mountain. We soon realized that this was the path the donkeys took, and tried very hard not to slip and fall on the poo-filled stairs! Our tour boat was like a pirate ship! Our first destination was the volcano! We were able to walk around it and found the spot where the sulfur smelling steam was rising from the rocks! Let me tell you though, the walk up the volcano was barbaric! The sun beating down on you, no shade, hot black rocks…it was torturous. After exploring, we headed back to the boat so we could go to the hot springs on the next island over! I had imagined that hot springs meant docking, walking through the island a bit until we reached the hot springs where there would be bathrooms to change in. Wrong. They dropped anchor like over 100+ feet away from the hot springs and were like “jump now if you want to go to the hot springs!” So me, Ames, C-Mas, and Kel swam over. The water was so cold where they had dropped the anchor! So we swam as fast as we could and were so relieved and surprised to feel the water get gradually warmer as we got closer to the little inlet! It got pretty shallow and the bottom was covered with squishy, yellow seaweed. I usually don’t mind seaweed, but this stuff was particularly slimy! The water was so nice and warm over there and we met a Canadian and some Virginians from our boat. There were two guys who lived near the 2 girls from Virginia, but they had also happened to live in the Chicago suburbs a couple of years ago—it’s such a small world! We heard a horn blow, and decided to head back to the boat so they didn’t leave without us! I hated the swim back. Going back into the freezing cold area was not easy! Once we docked back at Santorini, we changed into real clothes and did a little more shopping! Amy and Carolyn bought me a really cute bag for my birthday and I bought a cool headband! The man with the donkeys kept following us since we kept dilly dallying, haha! We finally made it over to the donkeys and I was the first one up! I hopped on and with a yell, we were off. Good God, I felt so bad for this donkey. Within the first 5 minutes I wanted to get off of him and walk up. That poor guy, carting people up a mountain all day! Sometimes he would slow down almost to a stop and I kept worrying that he would just turn around and go back, but I think he was just waiting for the rest. I got ran into some bushes and into Megan’s ass’s ass…it was funny. They walked so close to the edge, it was such a crazy experience! I was glad when we reached the top for their sake, haha! We did a little more shopping and I got a really cute bracelet! We went up to this restaurant that looked out on the sea, sat down, opened the menu and then decided to leave. Too pricey! I guess it was all for the view! Oh well, we found a different restaurant in the same area we had lunch the day before. We all wished we still had our ATV’s. The people said you could have them for 3 days for the price of 1, which didn’t make sense to me and when I was about to say yes to that offer, someone had already said no. Stupid. During lunch, I realized that I was horribly burned. Crap. I always manage to do that! So I was all hot n’ cold for the rest of the trip…oh the joys of sunburn! While looking for bus stops, we stopped at a supermarket to get snacks for the boat ride the next day. The buses in Santorini are coach buses, which was kind of funny. I had seen them all over the city and wondered how there were so many tour buses already. Amy, Carolyn and I went to the bakery to get some snacks for the night and took a nap while watching The Wrestler. After an hour or so we got back up to go to dinner. The other 3 were somewhere unknown even though they said they would meet us there after they dropped stuff off. We had a table for 6 and when we told Dmitri we didn’t know where they were, he freaked out minorly because he thought we said “don’t know WHAT they are” and assumed we were talking about ghosts or monsters, haha! Silly guy. We played Circle of Death but with dice after the others showed up which was sooo fun! We changed the dumb ones to include dancing and sentence constructions..it was ridiculous! Pepito was there again and since I wanted so desperately to bring him home with me, I kept him on my lap for a while. That night we just passed out.

7 am ferry in the rain…great. We took the rickety van down the mountain again and I was legit worried we were going to die. The roads were wet, there were no windshield wipers, he was going fast, and we were in the dark. That driver sure knows how to make tourists nervous! This ship was different from the first and they actually checked our tickets…boo!! This means that I was sitting a table similar to those in McDonald’s for 8 hours. Perfect. I had a bad headache and couldn’t sleep for the life of me. When we got into Piraeus, we found out that the metro stop to our hostel was inaccessible, so we had to do a metro+bus combo to get to our hostel. When we booked our hostel, we had originally booked in two groups in two different 4-person mixed dorms, but when we got there, they put us in our own 6-person dorm in the basement next to the non-functioning bar. We asked the guy at the front desk for a good restaurant and he pointed us in the right direction. Good advice. We went to Flocafé afterward and hung out for a bit. I went to use the bathroom and totally panicked since I thought I was locked in. I was seriously contemplating either yelling, waiting for someone to discover me, or trying to shimmy under the low door. Turns out I’m just half retarded and had to flip the lock to a certain position and then press a button! Sheesh! Since we were all dead tired, we came home, took showers, and went to bed!

The next day we went on a walking tour of Athens with Walter, a southern gentleman from South Carolina. He’s been living in Athens for 2 years after his wife said she would marry him if he promised they would live there. He looked kind of like Ugly Betty’s boyfriend Henry, haha! He said something about our hostels being in a shady area and related it to Amsterdam’s Red Light District! WHAT?! Great. Now that red light outside the door to our room makes sense, haha! Walter took us all around town. We got to see some of the oldest churches in the city, the old library, Roman quarters, the Acropolis, the Ancient Agora which holds the best preserved ancient Greek temple, Syntagma Square where we got to see the Parliament building and the guards, Panathianiko Stadium where the first modern day Olympics were held in 1896, and much more! During the tour, a snail was kicked, a thread makers protest was seen, and umbrellas were turned inside out! After the tour, Walter took us to his favorite restaurant where we ate some really good lamb. After some gelato, we did some shopping and I bought 2 scarves. The guy at the scarf place was so nice. He asked where I was from and when I said Chicago, he starting going on about how I must like the cold, haha! I told him that it just snowed there and he was so shocked! Such a funny old man. When I was on my way out, he told me to keep my purse in front of my when walking in crowds and told me to be safe and have a nice day! What a nice guy. We hung out at the Palmie to kill some time and Sam and Megan drank a half a glass of ouzo each—gross! I had a sangria with apples in it which was really tasty! Sam really wanted some Spanakopita after that, so we set out in search of her perfect snack! We found it after about ½ hour’s wandering and then headed back to the hostel where we played Asshole, Bullshit, and Egyptian Rat Screw until we had to go. There was this legit crazy man on the bus 1 row up and across the aisle from me. I was so terrified. Carolyn and I thought he had ODC coupled with other mental problems. I was so glad when we got to the airport and I got to get out of there!! The flight was delayed, but I was lucky enough to have a row all to myself. I tried to sleep over 2 seats and half succeeded. There was a lightning storm in Barca when we were arriving which was so cool to see! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen lightning and was so excited to see it forking across the sky! Amy and I took the airport bus home and got home about an hour before everyone else. I stayed up for about an hour before taking a 3 hour nap. Now it’s time to repack and get ready for Seville and Granada in about 12 hours!!

MORE PHOTOS
Athens
Santorini

Let's light things on FALLA!

7 March 2009

Unofficial in Barca! I think this year was the earliest I have started drinking on Unofficial. Last years totally sucked, so this was a breath of fresh air! Tedd invited us all over to his piso but told us he’s closing the doors at 10. If you’re not there by 10, then you’re not serious about Unofficial! So doors opened at 7am and closed at 10am. We got there around 9:45ish and brought a big bottle of cava with us. That was gone in about a half hour, so we did a beer and snack run so no one went hungry! The boys moved Tedd's dining room table out on to their patio that is probably bigger than our entire piso so we could play games, yay! Ames and I came back with snacks and 3 Estrella tall boys each! Yeaaah, I’m a light weight now. We had to go to a "mandatory" museum visit with Basilio to the Picasso museum and aside from the fact that I was tired and drunk and already not wanting to be there, I had already been there and knew it wasn’t that great, and I couldn’t hear a word B-Town was saying since he was talking so quietly! Oh well. I just went home and slept for a long time afterwards!

18 March 2009

For St. Patrick’s Day, we had green pancakes for lunch and then Kelly made corned beef stew and cabbage for dinner which was delicious! Guinness was also involved…of course.

Saturday me, ames, allie, kate, their friend Tyler from home, Ashley, and their friend Tracy went out for a night on the town! When ames and I went to meet them at the Rambla, we got bombarded by all of the Estrella guys and the people selling those stupid light up glasses and flowers. They literally swarmed at us! Apparently one offered me a free Estrella, but I didn’t hear him…I totally would have taken it! I’ve decided that when they come to ask me if I want a “sexy beer” I’m going to ask if its free and then totally shut them down when they say no, haha! So anyways, we all assemble and head over to Oveja. The WA girls chugged the rest of their Estrellas and set them on the side of the road with about 6 other cans. Then we go to go into Oveja and the guy says something about cans. I wasn’t up there and just assumed he told us to get in line because it was too crowded or something. So we stood there for a minute before he came over and I heard him say this time that they had to go throw their cans away. So we went back over there, decided that was bullshit since there was a whole pile there! Such injustice! So we just went to Grouchos instead. It was packed! This guy kept jumping in our pictures and kissing people, and then he came over and kept asking why all of us “beautiful girls” were sitting alone. We all tried to tell him that it was a girls night out but he just kept telling us to use him and his buddy “however you want.” Whoa buddy. Why don’t you just go sit back down? Victor gave us some free shots and then we got some more after Ashley kissed him like 4 times, haha! So about 11 shots later, we decided to head over to Plataforma. Kate and Tyler were sooooo drunk, it was hilarious! We had another beer before going in. Let me just say, they played the best music ever!

Unfortunately the guys were extreme creepers and very grabby. It’s okay though, I dealt with them. I shoved this one guy, semi violently, 5 times and he still did not get the picture. Good lord. We shut down both places that night. We were there when Grouchos closed and there when Plataforma closed. Got home at 7am and then slept for about 5 hours!

Today we were supposed to have 2 midterms, but when we got to the school, the metal bars were down. Hmm. So we went around front to see if those doors were open and then saw the mob of students and 10’s of police cars out front. Sweet! We found some of our classmates and discussed how it probably wasn’t a good idea for a large group of American students to be standing around in a soon to be riot, haha! So we waited til after 10 and then decided class was off. Yay! Ursula, one of our directors, ran into us and said that these tend not to be peaceful riots and that the first thing she saw this morning when she came to work was blood on the corner of the road. We found out that the students at the university bar had been throwing the metal café chairs at the police men earlier in the day. Apparently this whole thing started because the police were trying to kick out the students who were camping out in the UB using their police stick things. That would have been interesting to see. I remember a few months ago trying to get to the library but having to walk through their living room, sleeping areas and their makeshift kitchen. Elena told us that members of the Prado had to keep coming here because their kitchen was situated right under some of the Prado’s paintings that they had loaned out and that the kitchen fumes and stuff were wrecking the paintings. And since the UB cant rent out the main area for expositions now, they’ve been losing a lot of money. Good lord. So we hung around before Basilio’s class and saw mobs of students marching in from all areas yelling into megaphones, carrying signs, and stopping traffic! Some people who work for the media actually paid off a tourist bus to drive up to the riots so they could film and get good pictures from the top part! Mark, who is obviously extremely accident prone, walked right into the mob and will probably be on the Catalan news since he was standing and yelling right behind the main sign. Sheesh. We just got a call from Pilar saying classes are off for the rest of the day—YAY!! I love 2 day weeks!!!!!!!

26 March 2009

So I am FINALLY done with midterms. Boy, was that drawn out longer than necessary. I suppose they went alright. With the increasingly more beautiful weather, it has become incredibly hard to get to work. Such is life!

Las Fallas! Soooo fun! We went for the last night of the festival which is the nit de foc, or night of fire! The bus took about 5 hours to get to Valencia, but to be fair, we did take a half hour break! We got to take the special highway that goes down the coast of Spain. It was so gorgeous! Pilar says you have to pay a lot to be able to drive on it…how nice of our program! So me, Ames, and Carolyn hung out all day which was soo fun! The fallas are so pretty and creative it made me sad to think that they burned them! But before we start, I feel a little background is necessary! The festival goes back to an old tradition of the city's carpenters, who before the Festivity of their patron Saint Joseph, burned in front of their workshops, on the streets and public squares, their useless things and other wooden utensils they used to hold the candles that gave them light during the winter season. Nowadays this tradition continues and they make giant papier mâché figures called ninots. Each day of Las Fallas (lasts for a week) begins at 8am with a wake-up call. Brass bands march down every road playing lively music along with people throwing large firecrackers in the street as they go. Then every day at 2pm is the Mascletà, a HUGE fireworks/firecrackers display. It was going on right as we arrived and i literally thought the city was being bombed. 120 kilos of gunpowder translates into a lot of noise! And I would hardly call them firecrackers either. They were TNT sticks that were about a half a foot long. Pilar advised us before we got off the bus to keep our mouths open whenever these went off because a lot of people’s eardrums perforate. Ummm, being already partially deaf, I would rather keep what little hearing I have left intact! So we went to the Plaça de l'Ajuntament where the main Mascletà was taking place only to be faced with thousands of people marching out of it. Holy crap. I have never seen so many people in my life. It kind of reminded me of the crowded little streets of Sitges during Carnaval except for the fact that these were huge avenues! And yes, I know what you’re thinking (if you weren’t, you will soon), Valencian DOES look a lot like Catalan! But don’t say that to someone from Valencia…they are not part of Catalunya and would take great offense! So we got to the huge plaza and saw the main Falla. How it goes is that they burn the little Fallas at 10:00ish, the big ones around the city at 12:00 and the main one in the plaza at 1:00. I’m glad Carolyn was with us. She had already been to Valencia twice and was able to give us a little tour! First we headed over to the huge cathedral that had the virgin behind it. During las Fallas, they cover her in a dress of flowers, which was really cool looking! Since Valencia is known for its paella, we had to get some! We got detained for about 10 minutes near a huge display of TNT explosions. Yes. I definitely see how keeping your mouth open helps. It felt like I was at a concert! I could feel the explosions all through my body! It was really cool though, because at the end, they had a string of them hung up and at the end of those it sent off some fireworks!! We hung around for a bit afterwards and watched their clean-up process. They had to walk around pushing a big table or something in front of them to set off any that hadn’t exploded while also using it as a shield. Ridiculous! We decided against going down that street just in case and found a cute little restaurant called la diabla where we got some delicious valencian paella! There was definitely chicken in it…not sure what the other meat was. I just hope it wasn’t rabbit =(. We saw a little girl walking down the street with her parents throwing big firecrackers on the ground while her parents just watched. Then she threw one at a tree…and her parents just clapped! Wow Spain. You are a country of pyro’s! After lunch we wandered back out by one of the castle posts that was supposedly used as a prison before? There was a really cool drum line playing in front of it so we stayed for a listen. These guys in front of me turned around and turned their camera at me, so I just waved? Then one of them came up and danced with me, bahahaha! Silly Spaniards! Then when I tried to film the drummers they waved at my camera…thanks guys. We decided to move on and went for a walk down the “rio” which is actually a big grassy stretch where the old river Turia used to flow! We saw some funny trees, stopped to watch some tightrope walkers (who stopped right when we sat down to watch them), had a photoshoot, peeled an orange, etc. At the end of the rio is the City of Arts and Science! All of the buildings are very modern and there is a Science Museum, a Planetarium, an IMAX cinema, an Aquarium and a soon to be Arts Museum! We got some popcicles and hung out while watching the Valencian youth drive around on a car/bike slightly resembling the Flintstone car! They were funny! After resting our feet and contemplating life, we decided to head back since it was getting dark! We came up the modern bridge instead of the one we came down earlier and were pleasantly surprised to run into a fire parade! It was like the fire run in Barca except that civilians weren’t allowed to join in =/. There were devils running around with fire, scary jester things, and carts spewing fire and shooting out fireworks! At the end of the parade, there was a fire dragon and lots of fireworks!! We decided to go to the little falla in the main plaza which was a good idea but also bad. We got there about a half hour from when it was supposed to be and were pretty close, but then they didn’t do it til an hour after they had promised, so we had to stand there for over an hour and a half, sheesh! There were a lots of people pushing to get closer and all I could think was “really!? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!” Sheesh, people! There was this poor little French boy who couldn’t see anything since he was a shorty amongst adults. His brothers asked if I would let them through and I just told them I don’t think there’s space but he could try! Fail. I think I actually elbowed him in the head at one point. Rough night for that kid. His brothers didn’t even hold him up so he could see everyone! I considered doing it, but didn’t want to come off as a creeper/child thief! So there were fireworks and then it got set off! Very cool! Afterwards, we ran to get some Pans—we got the Fallas menu which included a free bandana—and then headed over to our favorite falla to watch it go! Poor Cristobal Colón! Do not go gentle into that good night!!!! She roared. Fireworks, flames 7 stories high, intense heat…it was insane! This French or Italian guy came up to us and kept asking if we were going to watch the big falla burn. Yes. Then he kept waving and saying “come on!” Clearly inebriated. His friend came over to apologize/laugh at him. It was really funny because the drunk one kept trying to convince us it was 5 to 1:00 even though we all showed him it was only 12:30. Gotta love meeting randos! So on our way over, we crossed paths with some guys from earlier who were throwing huge sticks of dynamite down little roads and then running away. I’m seriously surprised no one was hurt—there were lots of people around! I was very glad when they turned off of our street! We tried to stay kind of far back from the big falla since everyone in Valencia would be there for that one and we only had an hour to make our way back to the autocar. Despite being far back, it was still awesome! Awesome fireworks, flame reaching above the apartments, people cheering—it was amazing!

28 March 2009

The other night the striking students led a parade of thousands down Diputació (my street). I knew something was going on because I could hear helicopters and sirens, but when I heard someone yelling on a loud phone, I knew they had to be close! Sure enough, I opened my windows to my patio an here come thousands of cheering Catalans with signs and stuff! I got flicked off for not being down there, but I would never join them! I have no sympathy for them at all! They had their chance to vote and change things, but they chose to sleep instead! Some people, however, were holding anti violence signs, which made more sense. I decided to play “War” by Edwin Starr loudly in my room while watching…those dumb students! They’re just bored and want to seem important! The Mosso’s followed along in their vans in case anything got out of hand.

I got my birthday package in the mail yesterday and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!! Allie, Amy, Liz and I made those carmel apple pancakes for lunch, made the funfetti cake, and then watched Twilight! It was a fun day!

So we got everything booked for Athens and Santorini, and I’m SO excited!!! We still haven’t figured out what we’re doing for the rest of Spring Break, but I’m sure it will be fabulous! Today its kind of dreary, but maybe that will be motivation to work…..or perfect sleeping conditions!!

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Crazy UB business

Valencia & Las Fallas

Birthday Stuff

Up Yer Kilt!

3 March 2009

3 months left, WHOAAAA!

So Scotland—LOVED IT! Ames and I had to fly into Gatwick where we had a 4 hour layover until our flight to Edinburgh. We took a bus from the Edinburgh airport to the main part of the city and were immediately excited by the way the bus driver said “Edinburgh.” Love it! When I got off the bus I noticed that Edinburgh has a smell to it. It’s not a bad smell, I just couldn’t pinpoint it at all. So we ate some McD’s (we ended up eating there a lot since we were on a budget) and then went to find out hostel shuttle bus. The directions were retarded and told us to go across the North Bridge to get to Waterloo Place, which is where our bus was supposed to pick us up. So we go across the bridge and walk down a bit, but the street name changes and there are a bunch of rowdy, emo scots waiting for their emo concert on the sidewalk. We walked back and forth a couple of times before asking a woman where it was. She was super nice and told us how to get there. Turns out that go across the bridge means pass it and continue walking. Oh well! It’s a good thing the hostel had a shuttle, because that place was in the middle of nowhere! However, we did get to see a pretty Scottish loch! We check in, get keys to our room and linens and head to our room. We get in there and we first notice that there is stuff in Amy’s bed and after throwing my stuff down, we went to go open our lockers. My key didn’t work, and Amy’s was full. Something also hit me in my face and then Amy told me I had a spider on my face, AHHHHHHHH! There was also a rude drunk guy sleeping in there that we were not so keen on. So I grabbed my backpack and we went back down to the front desk. They gave us a new room which was much better, but since I had left my linens in the other room and didn’t want to be annoying, I just slept in my hostel liner (thanks for that one). On our first day, we grabbed some breakfast and then headed over for the free 3 hour walking tour of Edinburgh! So interesting! So we started off at a government building which looks like it’s only 5 floors but is actually 11! Since it was built on a hill, you can see all 11 floors on the other side. Then we walked across the way to the mercat cross, where anything from executions to public announcements would go down. To this day, they still announce the new monarch 3 days after the decision is made. Although, everyone knows who the monarch is the day it is decided, they still stick to old tradition and announce it 3 days later because that was how long the fastest horse could bring the news to Edinburgh. They also used to punish people by nailing their ear to the wooden door. From here, the criminals had two options: stay there for the day while getting stuff thrown at you and most likely peed on by drunken Scots, or rip your ear off the nail but forever wear the mark of a coward and therefore be unemployable. Yikes! Next was St. Giles’ Cathedral. The cathedral used to have its own kirkyard (graveyard) but since they wanted to build on that land, they tried to relocate most of the bodies. One body that for sure remains is that of John Knox, one of the Protestant Reformation leaders! He wanted his body to stay within a certain distance of the church, so he is now buried under parking spot number 23. The only thing which denotes his presence is a little gold square above the number 23. Weird. Further down along the Royal Mile (the Edinburgh Castle is at one end, and Holyrood Palace at the other), we saw a 16th century building where they recreate life from that time. We didn’t get to go in, but it sounded cool! On a half broken down building, we were able to see old fashioned burglar alarms! They called them trip steps because they were twice as tall as a normal step. This way, a burglar who comes in during the night would not be able to see it, he would trip, and the commotion he caused would wake the family up! I guess there’s still a trip step in the writing museum, and even though they’ve put caution signs all over the place and painted the step white, people still trip on it all the time! On the way up to Edinburgh Castle, we saw a guy dressed as William Wallace. I wanted to stop and take a picture with him, but there were too many people crowded around him. Oh well! Edinburgh Castle is really cool! Situated atop the plug of an extinct volcano, it also acts as the backdrop of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The castle had been taken over a few times by the English, but the Scots, who were outnumbered, were able to get it back! They used to burn witches in front of the castle as well. There were 3 ways to know whether someone was a with—they had a birthmark, a third nipple, or red hair. The last one really doesn’t make sense since Scotland has the highest percentage of gingers! Silly Scots! After torturing you (by salting, popping off your fingernails, etc) they would tie your hands to the bottom of your legs and throw them in a loch, river, etc. If you sunk, well then good for you for not being a witch—God will welcome you with open arms for being a good person. If you floated, it was because the Devil was holding you up! After that, if you still didn’t confess to being a witch, you were burned alive at the stake. What’s worse is that they made the families of the alleged witches buy the wood on which they would be burned! Talk about trying to save a buck! As we kept walking, we were shown the castle which inspired the 4 houses of Hogwarts! We were told the story of Burke and Hare, murderers who sold the bodies of their victims to the Edinburgh Medical College since times were rough and practice bodies earned you a lot of money. They robbed graves and killed about 17 people before they were caught. Apparently, they brought in a well known prostitute that someone had actually seen alive and well the night before. Way to go boys! We stopped for 5£ burger and beer (Belhaven) before moving on. At 1:00 pm every day, they fire off a canon, but since we were inside, we weren’t able to hear it =( We saw the slab of stone (the covenanter’s memorial) on which many people were hung. Near this memorial stand 2 pubs that existed back in the day when all these hangings happened—The Last Drop and Maggie Dickson’s Pub. The Last Drop was where the doomed received their last drop of alcohol before their last drop at the gallows. The other pub was named after Maggie herself, a married woman who left town and had an affair with an innkeeper’s son who impregnated her. Maggie came back to Edinburgh and told no one she was pregnant. After seven months of hiding what was really going on, Maggie gave birth and the child died. Someone found the dead baby and traced it back to Maggie (honestly, who loses that much weight overnight!?). Maggie had violated a law that said you had to tell at least one person that you were pregnant. She didn’t get in trouble for cheating on her husband, just for the fact that she concealed her pregnancy from everyone. For this, she was sentenced to death by hanging. The whole town showed up as usual and she was hung, pronounced dead, and taken away. The man driving the kart with her body heard some weird thumps in the back, stopped to check and see what was going on, and found a very confused and disoriented Maggie Dickson! The man panicked and brought her back to be hung again. Everyone cheered for what was to become a double feature! However, a young lawyer stopped them before they could act and told everyone they couldn’t hang her. It was double jeopardy! They couldn’t hang her twice for the same offense! Not only did she get to live, but she was no longer married to her husband (“til death do we part”) and was able to marry the innkeeper’s son! After opening her pub, she mocked anyone headed for the gallows saying “oh what are you so worried about!? Look at me! I’m doing just fine!!” What a cool lady! In order to get to the Greyfriars Kirkyard, we had to walk down Candlemaker Row…a very haunted street! The walls along the street are made of stones and held together by mortar. However, since they were too cheap to use sand, they used the ashes of the “witches.” Creepy!! While there are a lot of people buried at Greyfriars, there are waaay fewer gravestones than people. What they used to do was bury someone at 6 feet down, then 4 feet, and then 2 feet (kind of in a stack). Since Scotland is a very rainy country, families often saw their relatives face to face at the kirkyard. Yikes. Since grave robbing was such a huge issue, lots of graves were enclosed by mortsafes, or iron bars that surrounded your coffin so nobody could snatch your body (like Burke & Hare) or your possessions, because after death, it was believed that your body didn’t belong to you anymore! Weird! The actual ceremony of a wake began in Scotland (or somewhere in the UK). Many graves that were dug up back in the day actually had scratch marks all over the insides of them—they were burying people alive left and right. So in order to avoid this, someone would take the “graveyard shift” and stay with the body for a couple of days to make sure they didn’t wake up! Yuugh, those poor people. Being buried alive has to be one of my worst fears! We also got to see the prison many of the Covenanters were held in during their trials. They were outdoor prisons in the kirkyard and they nearly froze to death in the cold, windy and wet winters. To make matters worse, the infamous George MacKenzie was in charge of them. The inhumanity and relentlessness of his persecution of the Covenanters gained him the nickname of "Bloody Mackenzie,” as he was responsible for the deaths of about 18,000 covenanters. What an ass. Bloody Mackenzie’s tomb is also in Greyfriars Kirkyard, about 20 feet away from the outdoor prison. Before it was locked up, someone broke in to seek shelter, and from then on, it was linked with all sorts of paranormal activities. In 2006 alone, more than 500 attacks were reported in or around the tomb. Visitors reported being cut, bruised, bitten, scratched and most commonly blacking out. Some people complained later of bruises, scratches and gouge-marks on their bodies. According to Wiki, “An exorcist, Colin Grant, tagged along by journalist Claire Gardener,was brought in to perform an exorcism ceremony, but soon claimed that the forces were too overpowering, and feared that they could kill him. A few weeks later, he died of a heart attack.” Umm, keep me away! I’m afraid of ghosts in general, so why would I want to go near the restless spirit of a killer! I couldn’t help but sing the Ghostbusters theme song loudly in my head as I walked past. We later found the gravestones of John Gray and James Brown (nooo, not the singer!). John Gray was a police man who worked nights along with his very threatening dog Bobby, a Skye Terrier, hahha! After 2 years of being biffles, John died of TB and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Bobby, who lived on for 14 more years, spent the rest of his life sitting on John’s grave only leaving to get food or sleep somewhere warmer during the winter. When Bobby died, he wasn’t allowed to be buried next to John Gray because he was a dog and it was consecrated ground (don’t know how Mackenzie’s body is there then). Instead, he was buried just outside of the gates, not far from John’s grave. What a sweet dog! He is even said to be the inspiration for Lassie! Continuing our journey, we ran into The Elephant House, where JK Rowling sat and wrote the Harry Potter books! The view out the back window gave her lots of inspiration! We passed Deacon Brodie’s Tavern at the end of the tour. Deacon Brodie was a pillar of society by day and a burglar by night and is said to have influenced the story of the Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. We ended our tour down by the Princes Street Gardens (which used to be a loch) where our guide told us about the Stone of Destiny which is inside Edinburgh Castle. According to legend, as long as the stone was in Scotland, the Scots would be in power. When the English took over, they took the stone to Westminster Abbey and placed it under the ruling monarch’s chair. In 1950, a group of Scottish student broke in and tried to take the stone back to Edinburgh. After hours of slowly pulling it along on their jackets and accidentally breaking the stone, they got it into the back of their car. However, since it was soon realized the stone was missing the Scottish-English border was closed down so they could find the stone smugglers. The students buried it in Kent near a gypsy camp. They went back to Scotland and told a stonemason they had it but that it had broken in two. When he found out where they had buried it, they quickly went to recover it. The gypsies helped them out because they hated the English government as well. They eventually got it back and repaired, but since they didn’t want to get in trouble for stealing it, they had to keep it on the DL. So instead, they moved the stone around a lot between bars and houses. Students would stand by it and make speeches at bars and stuff, haha! After a while, they left it at a church in Scotland. The man who found it, fearing he would be accused of stealing it, called authorities and it was returned back to Westminster. Talk about a lot of effort for nothing! It was eventually returned to Scotland in 1996 after 700 years of being in English hands! To kill some time before meeting up with Amy’s teacher (who is teaching in Edinburgh for the year), we walked around the castle and went to Starbucks. Yes I had a latte because I’m trying to be a real person…kind of. When we were walking past St. Giles’ we were able to witness a Scottish wedding, complete with bagpipers, kilts, and gingers! We met up with Brigham and his daughter by the Walter Scott Memorial. However, as we were about to leave, a (hopefully) drunk Scot crossed over the rope, climbed up the monument and proceeded to get naked. Like, butt naked! It was hilaaaaarious! We walked around with them for a while and looked for a place to eat dinner later that night. They walked us down to Holyrood and showed us the old University. We met up with his wife for dinner at an Italian restaurant, which was so delicious! They are the most adorable little family ever! I can definitely see why Amy likes them all so much! After dinner, we parted ways so they could head home and Amy and I could go on our Ghost Tour. Unfortunately, since the last shuttle to our hostel is at 11, we had to leave early. We still got to hear about people committing suicide off the North Bridge and saw the suicide hotline number all over it…creepy. While were were there, we were able to see some of the disturbed graves of Old Calton Cemetary. There is another jail up there where they also hanged many people. We walked up Calton Hill, which is the legendary entrance to the Faerie World which was full of deadly mythical creatures. At the top is “Edinburgh’s Disgrace”—a partially constructed monument made to look like the Parthenon. We had to bail out then and headed back to get some shut eye.

Saturday morning we got up early, and after some breakfast, we caught a bus to Rossyln Chapel (yes, the one from the DaVinci Code). There are 2 famous pillars inside. One made by the master mason in charge of the stonework of the chapel and the other by his apprentice. The Apprentice Pillar clearly outshines that of his masters, which really peeved him since he had gone all the way to Rome to find inspiration for what he thought would be his second pillar. In a jealous rage, the master hit his apprentice in the head with a mallet and killed him. Their faces and that of the apprentice’s mom can be seen carved in the chapel. This chapel had the most carvings I have ever seen in my life! There are faces of the green men amongst the carved greenery with vines coming out of their mouths (which was supposed to symbolize birth and fertility). There were also carvings of corn and other plants indigenous to the Americas. This suggests that the Vikings had been to the Americas prior to Columbus considering the chapel was finished before 1492. There are also mysterious carvings on 213 protruding cubes that resemble the geometric patterns in the study of cymatics. By matching these up, one man composed a song using those notes in hopes that something would open up and reveal the Holy Grail. There is a crypt beneath the chapel which has been sealed off, creating many rumors that it contained (variously) the mummified head of Jesus Christ, the Holy Grail, the treasure of the Templars, or the original crown jewels of Scotland. At one point, the Holy Grail was also thought to be contained within the Apprentice Pillar. One man actually came in with an axe, intending to break the pillar open. Since then, they have x-rayed all of the pillars and found nothing inside them. There are symbols of the Templars all over the church. One of the stone slabs depicted the 7 virtues on one side and the 7 sins on the other. On the ceiling, there is a stone that looks kind of like an arrow. It points directly down into the middle of the church, possibly signifying where the Holy Grail is located. The man who worked there said that while standing under it, some people respond and feel something. I tried, but no dice. Back to Edinburgh we went because we had to get to London!

We had to take a train from Gatwick to King’s Cross. Man, I love trains. The lady told us trains started at 2:55 am and came every half hour, so we would be able to take the train back for our very early flight! Out hostel was in an old courthouse, so it was basically a maze. Full of half stairs going up, dead ends, and color coded floors! We were in a 12 person dorm and let me tell you, it reeked in there! It smelled like sleep, sweat (it was hot in there), and feet (there were shoes in the window). Ew. So we took showers quickly in a room with no ventilation, and headed out to meet up with the other girls. Since the tube is ungodly slow, we tried to find a bus. After about 15 minutes of not being able to find the bus, we eventually got it. Once we got there we met up with the girls, went to Cinnabon for dinner and then went to a pub! It was so weird—the pubs there close so early! It was 11pm when they called last call and literally within 15 minutes they were forcing people out. Kel and Megan were still finishing a drink, but the rest of us got thrown outside to the cold. The other guy working the door told us to come back in so we could stay warm. That other guy was a douche! Do you really think I’m going to buy another drink as you’re closing down? No! I just wanted to stay warm and wait with my friends! Thank goodness for that other man. So then we made plans for the next day and went our separate ways. Our smelly room was smelly and hot. I did not enjoy sleeping in there!

The next day, the woman at the front desk printed off directions for us on how to take a bus, and then proceeded to explain it for about 15 minutes. When we left we looked at the sheet and it said “take this bus one stop to King’s Cross and then take the tube.” Silly lady. So we took the tube, haha! I was so glad that I got to see the real changing of the guards! It was full of bagpipes, men in tall fuzzy hats, a band, and an ugly dog! The band played music from the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack—it was AWESOME! We met up with the others after the ceremony and went to get lunch at a cute little bar over by Trafalgar Square. I got homemade cottage pie? I don’t know, it had meat, mashed potatoes, and gravy all over it! After lunch, the other 3 went to the wax museum and Ames and I went to Wesminster Abbey, Big Ben, and the London Eye. We then walked down the river, saw the Globe remake, some kids doing dangerous bike stunts, a huge book sale. By the time we got to the Tower of London, it was too late to go in and it was about 15£ to get in. Rain check on that one! We met up with the rest at the Tower and headed over Tower Bridge in search of a Starbucks. We looked at the weird concert form the bridge again, saw some little dogs and decided to go down. We went to go pet the dogs and when a little boy asked to hold them, the guys said “no.” Booo, I wanted to play with them! So I sat on the concrete wall on the rivers edge and just took things in. I don’t know what the guys with the dogs were thinking, but they put both of the dogs on the ledge too. Thank god they were on leashes! I was still worried though considering they were both on phones and not really paying attention. The smaller and less furry of the two walked up to me and climbed on my lap. The poor little thing was all cold and shivering! Once they were off their phones, I was worried I was going to be yelled at, but its not like I grabbed them—it just climbed up! But they were nice. Asked where us 3 were from. Turns out the dogs were Chihuahuas and based on their accents I assumed the 2 guys were from some eastern European country. They were nice! They soon headed off and I decided to look for my favorite little pub from last time (the one with the Cider Reserve). I found it easily and we went in for a pint. The girl was not in a good mood that day. Poor girl. It was still nice though. Since it was getting late, we were just going to go home, but then we all went to King’s Cross (by our hostel) and tried to find Platform 9 ¾ . Just as we thought we would never find it, I saw it!!! Platform 9 ¾ in a little alcove! In addition to the sign, there was a trolley cart in the wall! No way! We took a bunch of pictures. Ames and I were trying to figure out if there was a way to put one person it and then have another person running them through. So I self-timered my camera and tried to climb into it so I would be in a surfing position. But just as I was about to stand up in it, a worker came out and I jumped down and just tried to act causal, but failed. We left quickly after. Ames and I decided not to sleep in our stinky room that night. We packed our bags and hung out in the Courthouse TV Room. We watched some movies (part of The Craft and part of Fried Green Tomatoes) and watched Russel Brand’s show (Russell Brand's Ponderland ) which is, by the way, ridiculous! So we left around 3:30 am to catch the train only to find out that the next train doesn’t come til 5:12 am. Umm, what?! Either that woman lied or we just have really bad luck. Amy and I freaked out for a while and even considered taking a very expensive taxi to Gatwick. We figured we’d rather pay for a taxi than miss our flight and have to buy a new one without the previous one being refunded. Luckily, our inaction payed off, as a 4:50 am train showed up. We got there, got through security (which was horrible by the way since they made me put all my liquids into another different bag), and got to the gate just in time. The woman ripping tickets was such a power hungry whore! She told everyone they could only have 1 bag with them, made people stuff their purses into their already bursting bags only to rip them out of their hands and tell them they cant bring it on and that it will be checked. A group of Spanish ladies gave her some mouth and messed around with her for a bit which reaaally pissed her off. It was hilarious! Once back in Barca, Amy and I took the shuttle which got us home about 45 minutes faster…aka, 45 more minutes of sleep before Tania’s class!

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