My head-achy, breaky heart

And so another week has come and gone. We had a really fun weekend (even exploring Chueca, the gay district, on Saturday night!), but since then, I believe I have left the house a total of two times. Why? Well, my body decided that this would be the perfect week to break down.

It started with the temperature control issues. I’m generally always warm (as a result of either a warm heart or a fiery soul – neither has yet been confirmed), but during this weekend there were points where my teeth actually hurt from shivering all night. Of course there was the other extreme as well – the “being so hot in just shorts and a t-shirt that, even with the glass door wide open letting 40 degree air into the room, you’re still sweating an amount normally reserved for strenuous physical activities such as climbing stairs at some of our metro stations (i.e. Cuatro Caminos)” stage. It’s hard to choose which one I liked better.

It was Sunday when the migraine hit. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a bad migraine, but they’re actually the worst. You can’t really do anything. Not moving hurts, moving hurts more, thinking hurts, not thinking is stupid, mindlessly surfing the interwebs in search of something moderately amusing hurts – basically Sunday consisted of drifting in and out of weird and incoherent dreams (about information cubes and subconscious games) interrupted by periods of staring out the window.

Monday, things took a turn for the better. I still had a bit of headache, but I made it to class (Coorcoorse was canceled so I only had one class). I even dressed in layers so as to be able to best cater to whatever temperature my body felt was appropriate. I tried to be productive when I got home because it was my intention to get a lot done this week, but without a good library and/or inspiration to do work, there ended up being a lot of other things being done instead. These things included: crossword puzzles, facebook usage, gchatting, etc. Luckily, while I was wasting my time away, Angeles was using hers productively – to figure out exactly what it was that was causing this “head pain” I was speaking of. She told me her theory over dinner:

A: “I know why your head hurts.”

Me: “You do? Why does it hurt?”

A: “Because you’re in love.”

Me: “…I’m sorry, what? I…what?” (If I spoke better Spanish, I would have asked how the two things correlated, but Angeles took the hint.)

A:   “Well, you went out dancing, you came back, and now you have a headache. Don’t you see?”

Me: “…No?” (My first theory was that she was making a deeper statement about the connections between love and pain, but I should’ve known – that’s not really her style.)

A: “I don’t know why you won’t tell me. Isn’t there someone you’re in love with?”

Me: “…No?” (Can’t you tell how good my Spanish has gotten?)

A: “Is he from here or from America?”

This goes on for another ten minutes – I eventually just accept because arguing with Angeles, especially when at a lingual disadvantage, is useless. (…I never knew love would feel like this?)

            Anyway, since I was feeling pretty well, I was able to go with Erin to go meet both Perry’s and Mike’s parents for churros. Now, if you are a loyal reader you should know by now that parents are my favorites. Two sets + a little brother = high expectations. Unsurprisingly, said expectations were exceeded. They were hilarious and we had a great time! (In retrospect though, I feel like we didn’t hear any embarrassing stories which is unfortunate.)

            We get home, happy, tired, and ready for a good night’s sleep. Then my body was like – just kidding, you thought you were better? You thought taking the mere recommended dose of Excedrin would be enough to take away my wrath? Basically I woke up the next morning dizzy and disoriented, feeling my way down the narrow hallway until I ran into Angeles. Erin was also sick, and after some confusion Angeles decided to call the doctor. I was confused but mostly wanted to sleep/not move so sort of let it happen. Apparently doctors make house calls in Spain? This one did.

My first (hopefully only?) experience with the Spanish medical system:

Dr.: “eaoigqwhgoqha” ß rapid Spanish

Me: “…what?”

Dr.: “What do you have?”

Me: Isn’t that your job? “Well, my head hurts and I’m dizzy.”

Dr.: “Do you need to vomit?”

Me: “No. My head hurts.”

Dr. to A: “I don’t think she understands.”

Me: “I understand. I don’t need to vomit.”

A: “Does you stomach hurt?” -hand motions- “Throw up?”

Me: “NO.” -hand motions- “HEAD.”

A: “She doesn’t understand. I think her stomach definitely hurts.”

Dr.: “I’m going to take your blood pressure. Oh, wow! That’s really low. She needs…milk with sugar!” Really? You don’t want to know why my blood pressure was dangerously low? And your cure is milk with sugar?

A: “We don’t have milk.”

Dr.: “YOU DON’T HAVE MILK?”

A: “I DON’T LIKE MILK.”

Dr.: “BUT SHE NEEDS MILK WITH SUGAR.”

A: “I. DON’T. LIKE. MILK.”

Dr.: “She needs…juice with sugar?”

Things I learned that day:

1. Angeles truly never loses an argument
2. Loud noises do not help migraines
3. Juice with sugar is DISGUSTING
4. Angeles takes “medical advice” way too seriously (she now thinks I’m incredibly weak and unable to do anything and has been force feeding me ever since – “the doctor said you need to eat this.”)

Surprisingly, the doctor’s strict only-sugar diet (in combination with my continued regimen of Excedrin) did the trick. I woke up feeling like a champ (or at least not like I was in last place) this morning – I didn’t go to class, but that was mostly because I wanted to make sure I’m at 100% for Ireland this weekend (I’m all about visiting my homelands), and partially because the classes I have today are not ones in which I’ve learned too many useful things.

            Continuing with my game plan of getting work done this week, I spent the rest of the day figuring out fun things to do in Ireland. Erin left for England a few hours ago –this weekend will be the longest we’ve been apart since August. (I think we’ll make it, but my hostel in Ireland offers free international calls so I might have to check up on her every once in awhile.) With the end of the entry I am officially out of excuses for not being productive, but there is an episode of Modern Family that’s just dying to be watched. What can I say? I like to work under a little pressure…just not when it’s on my head. 

Palaces, Partidos, Plays, Professors, Praying-the-internet-will-start-working-so-I-could-post-and-stop-adding-p-words-to-this-list

This week was the first in awhile where no one was coming to visit. We therefore spent it, rather than relaxing, by doing a whirlwind of activities. Tuesday, since we had no class, we decided to head over to El Escorial – a famous palace about an hour west(?) of Madrid. We asked Angeles to make us a bolsa and were even bold enough to ask for what we wanted, because we’re definitely on that level. Since the bolsa is her weakest department (right after tact) we have since continued to ask for the same bolsa every time we’ve needed one. She thinks we’re insane but I’d much rather a safe, delicious tortilla than a questionable ham and cream cheese combination (this is a thing that actually happened. Why would you ever combine those things?) Regardless, I had really wanted to see El Escorial because we learned about it briefly in our history class. (We read about it in the fictitious novel we were tested on. Just goes to show you that history’s open to interpretation?) Things I knew about El Escorial prior to going: Fernando VII (my least favorite member of Spanish royalty ever) was trying to oust his father, Carlos IV (a pretty okay guy) from the throne! His fatal flaw was corresponding with his buddies about it via letter (never put anything in writing!!!). It was in El Escorial where Carlos got wind of this and found the letters. Silly, Fernando! He went to jail for like, 5 minutes, before throwing the blame on someone else because he’s the worst like that. We also find out the big secret of a main character of the novel in El Escorial – not historically relevant in that she doesn’t actually exist, but might have come up on our test. (Spoiler: she has a secret kid who turns out to be the main characters luvahhhhhh – history is juicy.)

Granted, I didn’t know very much about the palace, but luckily I had Anne, Robyn, and Rick Steves to fill in all of the blanks. Things I now know: the palace was built by Phillip II and used during the Inquisition (when Spain peaked in 1492). It was supposed to be in the shape of a grill (as in thing-that-you-bbq-on), in order to pay homage to Saint Lorenzo. Why a grill? Saint Lorenzo was martyred on a grill. I feel like Rick Steves was joking when he said that Saint Lorenzo was such a badass so as to suggest he was ‘done’ on one side and needed to be flipped. I find this implausible because 1. a little unsaintly, no? shouldn’t he have been praying or something? 2. I think he had more important things to worry about than being sassy, i.e. burning alive. Who knows, though? I wasn’t there. It’s currently a monastery. Anyway, it was filled with all sorts of cool things. Highlights: family trees – you could detail just how much incest there truly was…those trees stayed nice and narrow!, art – you know, paintings and what not, gardens – SOCOLDANDWINDY, tombs of all of the Spanish kings from then until now – you could see Fernando VII’s 4 wives (he so would, dirtbag); also they just ran out of room so hopefully the current King is immortal? Finally, and most awesomely, the Basilica – we didn’t think it was going to be open but it was immense and beautiful without being over the top. You weren’t allowed to take pictures; keeping with my fave tradition, see some pictures below. 

You would think a trip to palace would be enough excitement for one week, but you would be wrong. The next night, we headed to the Real Madrid vs. Real Murcia game – my first fútbal game! Everyone brings food to these games which is cool and very different from American sports venues where everyone begrudgingly purchases overpriced fast food. We continued the tortilla trend, as we plan to for the rest of the semester. Real Madrid destroyed with a solid 5-1 win. We were sitting in one of the furthest rows back but the stadium is really well built in that it’s basically vertical, so we still had a pretty good view. (It was a view that was certainly worth my 12 euro.) It was neat to be able to see and hear the rest of the crowd. They were loud and obnoxious, just as we’d hoped. There was a lot of “¡puta!” shouting. My favorite cheer was “¡hasta final, gana Real!” mostly because it rhymed and I could figure out what they were saying (although who knows if those are actually the right words.) Overall, great fun! After the game we went to O’Neill’s for Lauren B’s birthday (and to start getting into the Irish spirit!) Very busy evening.

I thought the guy holding the scarf was a nice touch

Thursday was an eventful day as well. After history (where we were assigned another fictional novel to read which we will subsequently be tested on – no worries; I got it fo’ free on my nook!) and our Madrid class, we had signed up to go see a play as a cultural activity. After enjoying the last one so much, I was really excited. We tried to find a Montaditos place for dinner, but as a result of failing on either googlemaps or my part (kind of irrelevant whose fault it really was; it was hurt just as badly to be wrong myself or to be let down by a google product), we couldn’t find it and ended up at a Starbuck’s instead. I got a salad which was great in that it was a salad. I miss those. After splitting a slice of (delicious-but-not-quite-as-delicious-as-I-had-anticipated) chocolate cake with Eric (because a salad was way too healthy of a meal) we headed off in search of the theater. My directional senses (in conjunction with my map) proved to be more adept here, and we arrived without problems. The show might qualify as the worst show I’ve ever seen in my life and I truly don’t think it was because of the language barrier. It was melodramatic, interrupted by random dance scenes, had a main character who was basically a rapist, one who committed suicide, one who did drugs yet was the only one with any sensibility, two who were embarrassments to the female gender for being either 1. excessively needy or 2. willing degraded by a male because of “love” even though he clearly didn’t love her. I left it feeling both depressed and angry; I’m pretty glad DIM paid for the ticket. We later met up with a bunch of people at the Cave Bar to continue Lauren’s birthday celebration but didn’t stay all that long because we were not about to be paying for a taxi so had to catch the last metro home.

Friday was our trip to Toledo! It’s actually very sad because it was our last group trip. Toledo is a beautiful and old city which has an interesting history. Its three major attractions are a cathedral, a mosque, and a synagogue. It is the ultimate cultural mix. I thought it was interesting how the land was passed to from the Spanish to the Arabs and then back again – all without any fighting. See that? People can play nice sometimes! Toledo also is famous for its marzipan. I didn't realize I like marzipan but now I'm not sure how I'm going to go on without it. We also learned that it is known for its swords for some reason (I missed why but I’m sure Robyn will comment and tell me) but more people than I thought would have purchased some. I personally did not because knowing me, the way I would pack it would leave my clothes in shreds by the time I got back to the good old US of A.

Toledo, in all its glory

Mosque

Cathedral - where the made announcement in 5 languages every  5 min about how you can't take pictures

Synagogue

It was a relaxing weekend – the first in awhile where people weren’t visiting. I feel like we didn’t do very much but that could be a lie. We went shopping with Anne and Josh on Saturday where Erin successfully found an awesome leather jacket, and I made another H&M purchase since it makes sense that everything I buy in Spain comes from a store that we have at home, right? Oops. Sunday I went to the Rastro with Anne, Mike, and Perry where we bought some things & stuff. Erin and I watched the Social Network via the interwebs even though it’s still in theaters because we’re sneaky like that – it was awesome!

Yesterday after class, we met up with Erin’s friend Nada who is here to visit! We walked to the palace to see our building (and I guess the palace), and to a new part of Retiro to find the “crystal palace.” It was awesome! It’s the perfect time of year to go to parks like Retiro – the trees are all changing colors. It’s the perfect temperature to walk around with a coffee in your hand (or a different hot beverage for those of you who realize coffee is gross) and a friend by your side (or an ipod for those of you who have no friends…?). After stopping at Starbuck’s (where I tried their Christmas themed Toffeenut latte – delicious) we parted ways – Erin and I were meeting our program director, Eva, and a girl from our class, Sarah to go see Ojos de Julia, a scary Spanish movie. It was a ‘cultural event’ aka free and it was AWESOME! Eva was hilarious and I mostly understood what was going on. I don’t care if you speak Spanish; watch this trailer and be scared: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_ea8h27m64 It's actually not that scary of a clip, but I promise the movie was really good.

After having a rough night sleeping, (noises at 4AM = creeper mccreeperson coming to kill me?), we woke up to what should have been a mundane day of class. To our surprise however, just as we were walking out the door, the doorman (he’s awesome) comes running up to us to tell us that the circular (our metro line) isn’t running and that we need to take the bus! WHAT? We have only a vague idea of what line to take and no idea where to get off. ADVENTURE TIME! Luckily, Katherine happened to be on our bus and is a lot smarter than me (possibly Erin too, but it’s not my place to say…) and knew the stop we had to get off at. The bus took forever because 1. rush hour traffic, and 2. the circular wasn’t running so everyone was taking the bus. We were moving as fast as we could (aka slightly faster than a casual walking pace) and made it into our building. We were in front of the door, which was closed. This is a bad sign, as it means class has already started. We have seen our Spanish peers try to get in after class has started. Our teacher seems to be pretty nice, but has this death stare she whips out when mad which makes us think she’s a little bipolar. We had a conference outside the room to decide whether or not to knock…our Duke classmates later informed us that they could hear said conference. We decided to open the door (I was elected as the actual knob turner) and when I did so her eyes locked on mine. I saw the eyebrows begin to furrow and felt things were not going to end well. She put up her finger to do the requisite “no” wag, but I already knew it was a lost cause. I shut the door quickly, fearing the death stare had some sort of Medusa effect (you never know.) Defeated, we made our way to the library where I had a much more productive hour than I would have in class. Painting came and went (we’re learning about Surrealism which I’m very excited about!) and suddenly we were getting ready for Madrid class. This wasn’t just any Madrid class, though – this was a visit. It was sort of like our last walking tour of Madrid except we went to fewer places and stayed closer to Sol. We went to the Círculo de Bellas Artes which is AWESOME because you could go on the roof which offers amazing views of the city! I definitely want to go back during the day to snag a few shots (and I hear they have a mean white hot chocolate.)

Plaza Cibeles

A building that looks a lot more important than it actually is

The last time we went on a walking tour of Madrid, our teacher, Patricia (who is wonderful) wanted to have dinner with us, but we all hadn’t told our respective host families that we would be eating out so we had to decline. This time we planned in advance (thanks, Robyn!) and most of us made it out to dinner. Patricia picked a cheap and delicious restaurant (my fave combo!) where we ate fried eggplant (don’t knock it ‘til you try it), an asparagus omelet (again, it’s actually good), a vegetable medley, garlic chicken, and delicious desserts that were sort of flan-like and apparently pretty Spanish. After dinner, Erin and I went to meet up with Nada because she was leaving the following morning. We got home a little after midnight to find both Angeles and Emilio up and about. I promise if I had gotten home before midnight there is no way I would have been awake. They are entirely too cool for me.

Yesterday we got up bright and early and made sure to make it to class on time. All of classes are starting to talk about finals. I am going home in less than a month. How is that possible? I’m excited to go home and see the fam (AND DECORATE FOR CHRISTMASSSSSS – my favorite activity of all time) but I cannot believe that I have less than a month left in España! I’m trying my best to slow time down, but it’s been a few years since physics so I’m missing some of the particulars of special relativity. (Come on, now – everyone loves a good physics joke!) In all seriousness though, it’s going to be hard to leave. Rather than focusing on how much has gone by though, I’m focusing on how much I have left. To look at what I did in just over a week, I could only imagine what I could do in four! 

Fiesta de los Padres

            You know how when you’re little your parents want to show you off to all of their friends and meet all of their friends’ kids, presumably because you’re all so darn adorable? Well, I’ve come to find that there comes an age (after the I-don’t-want-be-seen-with-you age) where the opposite becomes true. My aunt and mom (we missed you, Dad!) were visiting last week – I was eagerly awaiting their arrival because I of course missed them and wanted to see them, but also because I wanted to show them off to my friends!

            Things started off sort of shaky as a result of the “Easyjet incident” (see entry below for further details). I missed dinner reservations by an hour. My mom and aunt still got there though and enjoyed what I heard was a delicious and fancy Italian meal. I’m trying not to be bitter about it, but by now it should be clear how much I like delicious Italian food and how little I like waiting in airports unnecessarily. (It’s called Il Gusto if anyone should happen to want to take me there.)

Anyway, I was bummed that I didn’t get to see them that first night but we made plans to meet for lunch the next day. Erin, Anne, and I went from coorcooorse to Antón Martín and had a beautiful reunion / first meeting. Obviously, I selected my favorite lunch place to give them a truly delicious Spanish experience. That’s right – we went to Montaditos in Plaza Santa Ana. I might have talked up these 1 euro sandwiches a bit too much, but I think they enjoyed them nonetheless (especially the chocolate ones!) We had to part ways so that we could go to the Sorolla Museum for class. That museum was probably my favorite thus far; it’s in Sorolla’s actual house so it’s a lot less overwhelming. Basically, I’d like to live there.

After a run and Madrid class, we went home to prepare for what we hoped would be a hilarious evening. My mom and aunt were coming over for dinner! The fact that they speak solo un poco de español + the fact the Angeles and Emilio are insane + the fact the my aunt is a vegetarian (she eats chicken, so I told A&E that she really likes chicken and doesn’t like meat instead of going for  ‘vegetarian’ because that’s basically a curse word in our house) = hilarity, right? Amazingly, it actually turned out to be funnier than we had thought. First of all, the whole family turned out – we had Angeles, we had Emilio, we had her daughter Angeles, and her great nieces Eli and Arroja (spelling is questionable). Arroja is an English teacher so she was helpful with the translating. A&E got all dolled up. We gave a tour of the house and then obviously Angeles refused to let anyone but her daughter help. We tried – we walked into the kitchen and asked, leaving my aunt and mom alone for a minute or so. When we returned, Emilio is speaking rapid Spanish at my mother, who is nodding intently as though she understands. Does she know what he’s saying? Inquired Arroja. One look at my mom told me Not. At. All. (She was better than I thought she would be at understanding what we were talking about though! Go mom!)

Other highlights:

Emilio is telling us about American actors who he likes: There’s one actress…she’s an old movie star and a country singer too! Doris…something?

All of us: Doris Day? But she’s not a country singer.

Emilio: It’s not Doris Day…

All of us: Dolly Parton?

Emilio: Oh! I’ve got it – it’s Doris Day.

He then breaks out into a rendition of ¡Qué sera, sera!, which my mother of course joins in on. Check us out, crossing cultural boundaries one off-key note at a time.

This then got us onto the topic of Dolly Parton.

Arroja: She’s the one with the big chest?

Us: Yes.

Arroja: How do you say big-chested in the United States?

My mother: STACKED.

Emilio nods in agreement.

…Really, mom? Realllllly?

Of course Angeles brought up how we have no Spanish novios.

Angeles: “All of the other girls who have been here have had novios. Nicole and Erin are (spanish-word-we-don't-know) ”

Erin and I: “What does that mean?”

Arroja, Eli, and daughter-Angeles all cover their mouths in surprise, try to keep from laughing, and shake their heads.

I’m pretty sure I should be offended…

Obviously there was a TON of food. A. TON. We had tortilla, we had pasta salad, we had chicken, we had bread, we had wine, we had coffee, and we even had dessert! (Marzipan straight from Toledo – huesos de los santos, a typical delicacy for All Saint’s Day)

Mom: Tell her this food is delicious!

Angeles: How could she say it’s delicious? She hasn’t even tried it! Your mom and your aunt don’t eat very much, do they?

(This is after my mom has had three pieces of chicken)

I’m sure many more hilarious things occurred but I’m not at all sure what they were. Oh, A&E said we were the happiest girls they’ve had because we’re always laughing. Is it possible to not be laughing in this house?

Back row (l-r): Eli, Aunt Sue, Erin, Me
Front row (l-r): Arroja, ANGELES!!, Mom, EMILIO!!

            The next day, we met after class and a run at Sol to take them to Plaza Mayor and Mercado San Miguel for lunch! It was delicious and something they hadn’t done yet! (They’d already been to Plaza Mayor – they were quite the tourists.) We got some sort of spinach and cheese thing which was deeeeeeeelicious…and then we obviously got fro-yo. From there, we took the metro to Retiro to show them the lake and enjoy a little tinto. After Retiro, Erin went home to do some “work” (psh, who does work?) and I took them to the templo to see the sunset. It was awesome! We planned to meet up for dinner at Casa Lucio for some tapas! It was less hilarious (any moment sans A&E is by default) but so delicious. We heard about Mom and Aunt Sue’s struggles with the metro (they didn’t realize not all of the doors automatically open), with the time change (not as in jet-lagged, as in, they had to call the front desk to see what time it was), and with their locker in their hotel room (apparently it was finicky.) For the most part though, they seemed to be getting along just fine. After dinner, I sent some texts (I recently learned how to mass text on my Spanish cell) and we got a group together to meet up for Churros! Everyone was eager to meet my relatives, and I as mentioned, I wanted them all to meet, too! Churros were delicious and since everyone spoke English, conversation flowed easily. After churros we went home, because we’re not always cool enough to go out on Wednesdays. (Okay, fine. We’re rarely cool enough to go out on Wednesdays.)

Thursday was sadly their last day here (they left early Friday morning!) so we tried to make the most of it. My mom and aunt had wanted to take Angeles and Emilio out to lunch as a thank you, so we planned to meet at Principe Pio at 2 to go to a place Angeles knew. I was sure if we were food-courting in the mall or what, but I figured the woman liked her food so she would know best. We left 5/10 minutes after we were supposed to be there (got my mom and aunt used to Spanish time) and meandered our way over to a bus stop. Angeles realized she forgot something and sent Emilio (really? Emilio who hardly leaves the couch to trek all the way back to the apartment?) to retrieve it. She didn’t worry about him and just got on the bus. We said we could wait for him but she refused, so off we went. We walked down the street from the mall and ended up eating at something restaurant the had a chicken as its symbol. I forget what it’s called. We were all looking at our menus, but then Angeles started ordering in rapid Spanish. Apparently she would be ordering for all of us. This did not surprise me. Emilio eventually found us and it turns out they had bought my mom and aunt scarves – are they not the most adorable people on the face of the planet? They are, indeed. Unfortunately for Aunt Sue, everything Angeles ordered was either fish or meat aka not valid for a vegetarian. Aunt Sue, being the polite person she is, was taking a little of everything and pushing it around her plate. Angeles noticed this and tried to get her to take more. When Aunt Sue refused she put a piece of squid on her fork and shoved it in her mouth. THIS WOMAN IS INSANE! As much as I felt terrible for my aunt, it was probably one of the most hilarious things I’ve ever seen. We also met Javi (their son), who I had spoken with on the phone at the beginning of the semester to help me with my internet connection. We broke for class and met up with them for dinner. We went to this Thai place called Siam right by Plaza de España. It was deeeeelicious. I love Thai food and I miss it dearly. Sadly, we had to say our goodbyes. It was wonderful to see them and I think they liked Spain! (How could you not?)

            We headed out to Joy after, which as always (aka the one other time I was there) was a joy. What was not a joy, however, was the 9:45AM makeup class we had for cooorcooorse. It was stupid and useless and actually the biggest waste of my time – I won’t waste your time anymore to tell you about it. After returning from class and registering for next semester (Oh, ACES how I missed you!) Erin’s parents arrived! (They were so close to meeting my mom and aunt. Sad.) Erin went to go hang out with them for awhile and we made tentative dinner plans. I tried to be productive. I did a little work, watched some TV on the internet, lurked around Facebook…it was pretty lonely. I decided to go for a long run by combining the two runs we normally do to pass the time; I decided not to bring my ipod so I could be aware of my surroundings (I did a moot court case in 7^th grade where the plaintiff’s son was killed or hurt or something while going for a run or walk or on a bike or something while listening to his walkman with his hood up. I was the leading defense lawyer, so I tried to claim that because he was listening to music and his hood was up, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, and so it wasn’t our fault the kid got hurt or whatever…I lost.) I got back just in time to plan when to meet up with Erin and the rents! After showering (I’m all about a good first impression), I headed over to Antón Martín to meet them. They were staying at an apartment right by there which is a very cool concept. I’ve never thought to rent an apartment for a vacation (I guess I don’t book most of my vacations…) but it was beautiful and well-situated! Greg and Blair (I hope we’re on a first name basis) are awesome! They definitely got me excited for meeting other parents. (Seriously. I want to meet everyone’s parents.) We enjoyed some Cava to celebrate their arrival in Madrid and family reunions! We went to dinner at this delicious restaurant which I unfortunately can’t remember the name of. We got a delicious Hake in a green sauce (Erin and I got the same thing because we’re embarrassing like that.) Everything was delicious and the waitress was so nice and helpful! We exchanged embarrassing stories about Erin (another reason I want to meet more parents) and had a really nice time! They “let us go” after dessert (brownie!) so we could go out, but we decided to go to bed instead. Delightful decision.

            Saturday was a day filled with visitors! While Erin was off being a tourist with her parents, I met up with Taylor and Katie to see Duke kids who are studying in London who were here for the weekend! We went to Plaza Mayor for lunch, where shortly after ordering, someone was taken out on a stretcher. While that made us hesitant to try our meals, I found everything to be rather tasty. After taking them to fro-yo (DUH) we walked to the Palacio and I realized just how close to everything I really am. I should walk more. We made it to Plaza de España where Shwish was verbally assaulted by some man who wouldn’t leave her alone. (Welcome to Madrid!) “You’re so beautiful. Your eyes are like the sky. They’re like…roses in the sky. Do you have a boyfriend? Is he in Madrid? Then he doesn’t matter! Seriously, you’re so beautiful.” He would come back every 5 or so minutes. Oh, Spain! You and your many times gross, always aggressive men.

            I met Erin back en casa to prepare ourselves for another family dinner! After hearing stories about our previous experience at la casa de A&E with my family, Greg and Blair were pumped up for a good time. Obviously, A&E delivered. We again got Arroja and Eli because we’re lucky and even Josemari joined us. We got on the topic of football and things got heated. Arroja is a Barca fan and everyone else is Real Madrid. When she vocalized her opinion they joked that she had to leave the house. Apparently one Christmas a relative came with a Barca scarf and Emilio made him leave it outside the apartment before being allowed in. So dramatic. Angeles accosted Erin’s mom and was talking to her in Spanish of which she speaks very little – Erin had to swoop in and save her. Emilio was realizing the usefulness of knowing English: “I want to know what’s going on! Why is everybody laughing?” Just translations, Emilio. It’s all you. Angeles accused Erin’s dad of eating very little after he had gone through an impressive three full plates of food. What do we need to do to please you, Angeles? We had tortilla, an awesome salad that had avocado in it, a little salmon, our favorite pasta salad, wine, coffee, and dessert. They go all out for the parents. While Erin was dropping her parents off at the metro and Angeles was actively preventing me from helping to clean up, Arroja and Eli promised to take me and Erin out one day. CAN’T. WAIT.

            Conveniently we went to Karousel that night, because I’m all about going to places where I can walk to. We met up with more London people! Yay Hannah! Eli also told us about another room that exists in the discoteca which was an exciting find. We came home relatively early (right after the “show” started) and called it a night.

            Sunday morning I met up with Robyn and Katherine early in the morning to go to the Rastro! I’m working my way through getting gifts for the family, and this was definitely useful in doing so. Afterwards, we walked home because again, everything is closer than I think. I think got the chance to meet up with Hannah and Erin but only for ten minutes which is sad. I had to go because I was going to see a free MTV EMA (European music awards) concert by Retiro, so that was the opposite of sad. Erin and her padres went to go see the Real Madrid vs Atletico game (as Emilio pointed out several times at dinner the previous night: Real Madrid – from Madrid, Atletico Madrid – also from Madrid. There will be a lot of people there because they’re both from Madrid. There is a rivalry because they are both from Madrid. Thanks, Emilio!) I met up with a bunch of DIM kids and their London friends to see 30 Seconds to Mars (still couldn’t tell you anything about them), Katy Perry, and Linkin Park…oh, and guest appearance by Kanye. Not a big deal. (SUCH A BIG DEAL!) Unclear as to why Linkin Park was the headlining group since I didn’t think they’ve done anything since like 2004 but the Spaniards were super excited. I couldn’t really see anything and basically watched the show through the screen of John’s camera while he was taping, but I could hear and it was free, so whatever. After the 3^rd Linkin Park song we didn’t recognize (where was that one where the did a remix with Jay-Z?!), Robyn, Sydney, and I decided to go get something to eat. We went to a Thai place that Amanda and Lauren recommended which was awesome because we were literally the only ones there. I love Thai food. I’m not ashamed that I had it a mere two nights prior. I would do it again. Anyway, after Thai we walked to Sol (so much walking!) and to a new fro-yo place, also recommended by Amanda and Lauren. It was a self-serve where you pay by weight. Needless to say ours were all around 5 euros. So worth it. I will definitely be going back to Cherry Pop. After walking around Sol looking for the street that’s supposed to be filled with prostitutes (mostly for a project!), we headed home.

            Cooorcooorse was canceled Monday (beautiful), so we didn’t have to be in school until Painting. We met up with Erin’s parents for lunch at Mercado San Miguel. Erin and I got the same thing we got last time. Eventually we’ll expand our horizons but it’s hard to when they’re already so delicious. We then went a pastry shop by Sol! Over dessert we planned when to meet up for dinner (I live from meal to meal.) We went home to relax and try to be productive until dinner. We had no class on Tuesday and Kathleen’s 21^st birthday was on Tuesday, so she understandably wanted to go to Kapital. We considered over the course of the evening. We met up at Greg and Blair’s apartment to make a decision about dinner. Since we’re all about convenience we went to La Vaca Veronica that was literally steps away. It was adorable and delicious! I got pasta with pesto. I love carbs? We got melón for dessert because it’s delicious. It was the rents last night in Madrid, so after a lovely dinner and relaxing in the apartment, it was time to say our goodbyes. Erin’s dad actually walked us to Kapital which is awesome since again, I really did not realize how close everything is. (To Greg & Blair: Thank you again so much for everything!) We ended up not going into Kapital because I’m not looking to pay 15 euro when I was under the impression it cost zero euro. Uncool, Kapital. Un. Cool. Erin’s parents took off early the next morning, and a short 21 hours later were home, sweet home. (Wishing you lived on the east coast now, right?) Now it’s back to just Angeles and Emilio, but I think somehow we’ll be able to suffer through another month of their parenting.

Morrockin’ Out

Yes, I have two titles in a row which are puns about Africa. No, I’m not sorry about it. Yes, they were totally necessary. Yes, I understand if you’re jealous you’re not this clever. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s go to Africa!

            We took EasyJet over to Morocco – it lived up to its name. We had a quick and easy flight. (Spoiler Alert: not all EasyJet flights are easy.) We had signed up to for a guided weekend, because traveling as a group of girls alone in Morocco didn’t sound like the best idea. Ten of us from Duke went – there were about 45 people in the group all together. After exchanging some Euros for Dirhams (YES! The one time an exchange rate is working in our favor!) we all clamored onto the bus which would become our home for the weekend and headed out, under the careful guidance of Rasheed, to our first excursion. Rasheed was hilarious – he spoke English (“hello soul brothers and soul sisters!”), Spanish (although he didn’t say the same things in Spanish that he did in English), French, and Arabic (the two official languages of Morocco.) Our first point of interest was the caves of Hercules. These caves are beautiful – the entrance is thought to look like a map of Africa. 

Africa?

Apparently, they somehow relate to the Greek myth of Hercules. Hercules slept here before completing one of his 12 tasks – the one with the golden apples which according to Rasheed were actually oranges? It’s a little unclear, but believe me, this place is important.

            After the caves, we headed down to the beach for some awesome views of the Moroccan coast. 

 We then made our way over to a more walkable beach for some CAMEL RIDES. How exciting?! This was pretty much my goal of Africa – who knew we would accomplish it in the first day, let alone the first hour?! Camels are actually pretty gross animals and they’re really not very graceful. They’re a lot taller than they appear. You basically have to straddle them and then hold on for dear life. They get up by standing on their front legs first and then their back, leaving you hanging nearly vertically during the in-between. Erin and I enjoyed a romantic walk down the beach. (Well, it would have been romantic without the guides hurrying the camel, and the other camels in the caravan harassing Erin’s foot, and if camels were less gross, and…okay, so maybe ‘romantic’ wasn’t the right word.)  The dismount is hilariously petrifying. It was pretty much like a rollercoaster but a lot less controlled. I think the following picture pretty much sums up our camel experience: 

Clearly we had the situation under control.

            After the camel we found our way (or rather, sat while a bus found its way) to the northernmost point in Africa! (I didn’t know this at the time, but was looking at people’s facebook pictures from the trip which informed me…and people say facebook is good for nothing!) I had my first experience bargaining in this country – needless to say, I was successful. (I’m too stubborn and not sympathetic enough to not get things for the prices I want to pay.)

            We went to our hotel which was beautiful! It had a lot of tiling in the style of la Alhambra in Granada. During our free time (tiempo libre!) the Duke girls chose to explore the surrounding market and/or nap AKA not bond with any of the other people on the trip – this is a recurring theme. As Kathleen later put it “I already have 43 friends in Madrid – why do I need more?” Smart girl. The market was pretty cool but people are very aggressive, as is the case in most “lesser developed countries” (LDCs if you will.) We met up with the group for a “typical Moroccan dinner.” This consisted of: a delicious Moroccan soup which had vegetables and a cinnamon aftertaste, BREAD (we were reeeeally hungry), some beef skewers, cous-cous (super food!) with chicken and vegetables, some sort of honey pastry for dessert, and a sweet peppermint tea, which Jack Kerouac is rumored to have enjoyed a lot. (Not sure where I saw that but I definitely did somewhere or maybe I made it up – just kidding, I googled. I don’t lie.) Anywhoo, it was all delicious. Unsurprising.

            We headed back to the hotel and went to bed. (Another recurring theme of the trip – SLEEP.) We got up the next morning and after enjoying the hotel breakfast (love me a good free breakfast) we headed out on a walk tour of old Tangiers. We went to a point where we saw Gibraltar (although it was foggy so we didn’t see it very well), we saw the house of some famous American who had 7 husbands (“she was very friendly” as Rasheed explained), and even saw a snake charmer! I didn’t find him all that charming. He basically just took out the snake and held it out. The music really had very little to do with it. I did hold it though, after convincing the nice Arabic man that I had in fact given money to the man collecting. (I had not.) 

We then stopped into a store which sold rugs – they were beautiful and each had a story. They strategically had us sit in a circle then laid out one of every style rug that they had so that it was nearly impossible to escape after the presentation ended – I think their plan was for us to buy our way out?  Clever, Morocco. Clever. We then went to a spice store where they tried to tell us that Eucalyptus cures everything. I’ll have to check with the people who bought it to see if that’s the case. (I’m skeptical – someone who got it for hangovers did not make it to our make-up class this morning.) They also tried to sell us some strong aphrodisiacs to make your husband less lazy. “One drop and all night long – cha-cha-cha!” (Sales is all about the presentation, no?) 

Spain is just across the ocean...

            After exploring old Tangiers, we got on the bus for our first real excursion! We went to Assilah, a town not too far away. Our first mission was to get some lunch. I got a shrimp omelet? Sounded like a weird combination but I went for it anyway because I’m exotic like that. It was surprisingly good. We only spent a short time in the town itself – there was a cool pier type of thing which was pretty cool, and we shopped around another bazaar for a bit. It was fine but I was a little disappointed that we didn’t learn anything about the town. Yep – that’s right. I missed Nuria and Eva.

We went back to the hotel and were on our own for dinner. We got what was definitely my favorite meal – falafel and hummus and Baba ghanouj. After dinner it was time to go “out.” It didn’t seem very Moroccan, but we were down to try. The tour group took us to a bar where we were literally the only patrons. There was hookah, overpriced drinks, and plush pink walls? It was fun for awhile because there were some characters on the trip who definitely got their groove on. We were sort of over it after 2.5 hours. Our next stop was a club. We asked if they would take us back to the hotel. Not sorry about it. We designated ourselves “team fail” since it was only the Duke girls who wanted to go back. To be honest though, I think going back might have been less embarrassing than going to a club called “Club Snob.” Just…why?

After a restful night’s sleep, we got up for excursion number 2, this one to Chaouen. Impressive number of vowels in its name aside, Chaouen was really neat. I wish we could have spent more time there. The drive was excessively long and pretty scary. (We saw a truck flip off of the road in front of us – the guys in it were fine thankfully but it definitely put a damper on the morning.) The drive was almost worth it though for the views and the town itself. It’s known as the little blue town, mostly because nearly all of the buildings are various shades of blue. It’s nestled in the mountains of Morocco – in fact Chaouen might mean “look to the horns” (according to Wikipedia) which refers to the shape of the mountain peaks. It might also mean “look to the waterfalls” (according to our tour guide.) Both sort of applied though – I’d recommend looking at it all. We had time for a quick lunch and some shopping…you know, to change things up from yesterday. My aforementioned stubbornness prevented me from getting some cheap things because I wanted them for cheaper – it wasn’t even that; it was just that I didn’t want to lose. (Losing is one of my least favorite things to do.) 

We went back to the hotel and got some pizza for dinner because we had tried the typical Moroccan food (tagine, cous cous, delicious soup) so why not? We had been on a search for ice cream since arriving, and finally came upon somewhere. It was 1. delicious and 2. cost 5 dirham aka 50 cents. Taking 1 and 2 into consideration, I don’t even need to say that between 4 people we got 7 orders, do I?

Anyway, we made it back to the hotel and – you guessed it – went to bed! Loved it. I had been woken up by the sunrise prayers the first two nights, but I did not hear them this last night – proof that I slept hard because they were loud. I’m glad I heard them at some point though – it was something I had never before experienced and probably never will again. Such fervent and expressive belief in something is just so interesting.

Unfortunately they only offered one shuttle to the bus which got there 4 hours before our flight was scheduled to take off. This wouldn’t have been so bad if the airport wasn’t actually the smallest airport on the face of the planet. There were three “gates” aka three doors right next to each other labeled 1, 2, and 3 respectively. (They ended up changing our gate without telling us! We’re lucky we found it!) There were a total of two stores and one place that sold food – this place of course was out of sandwiches. We were fine though – it turned out there were 4 people from the trip (not Duke people – Erin and I were the only ones on this flight) also on our flight. They came over to talk to us – it was basically our first interactions with non-Duke people on this trip. We’re super social like that. We ended up having major bonding time though because the flight turned out to be delayed…for over four hours. Around 2 o’clock (our flight was to take off at 2:20) a line formed for the Barcelona plane taking off a few minutes later. I went to ask the person at the gate where our plane was – she directed my to the EasyJet employee who casually responded “Oh? That plane? That’s delayed for 2 hours.” And then he walked away. And for the next two hours there were actually no EasyJet employees that I could see in the entire airport. We had no information as to where the plane was nor what time it was actually getting in. Around 6 o’clock they started bringing in sandwiches and drinks. Obviously, as much as I love free things, this was a terrible, terrible sign. Employees sporadically would pop up – I hunted down every last one to ask for more information. They had none to offer. From other disgruntled patrons I gathered that this happens a lot with EasyJet – one person told me how they cancelled his flight and didn’t get him on another one for 3 days. My mom and aunt were visiting Madrid for the week – I could not spend 3 days in Morocco. We had dinner reservations which there was no way I was going to make. I tried to communicate this to my mom but my phones (both Spanish and American) stopped working. Just stopped. WHY? As far as I knew my mom and aunt would be waiting patiently for me at their hotel at the designated time and I’d be in Morocco for 3 more days unable to communicate. This was not cool. I went up to an employee and asked for help. (I hate asking for help.) He was pretty useless. He kept saying he’d help and then walk away for awhile. Eventually they started handing out our rights as passengers, another bad sign. On the sheet it said that under some particular circumstances I had the right to one phone call. I showed this to the employee with whom I was dealing and continued to beg for his help. He went into a back room and another employee who had been there the whole time said “Do you still need to make a call?” No; I’ve been standing here for the last hour because of the engaging conversation. “Buy a card and then you can use that phone right there.” “I’m not going to pay to use the phone. I could have done that an hour ago. What about the guy who was helping me?” “What other guy?” WHAT? This was really the turning point for me. I have the ability to become vocal when necessary. I ended up being first in line to be taken back across security to EasyJet’s company phone where I made a prison call to my mother. By prison call I mean “I only have one call – they’re….they’re telling me I have to go. Don’t forget about me! I’ll see you when I finally get the hell out of this place.”

Eventually, we did get the hell out of that place. Angeles was disappointed we didn’t bring home a Moroccan man (so predictable). Morocco was definitely interesting – I would have loved to have seen more. Although European Vibe didn’t offer us the most cultural experience, I was very thankful for our guide and transportation. I rode a camel, saw some mountains, and was in Africa. I’d say that qualifies as a Morockin’ Moroccan vacation, wouldn’t you?