7 days, 7 kilos... who cares! it's ITALY!

it's been a while friends! sorry i've been lazy.

since i last blogged many things have happened. the weather has improved greatly: 73 and sunny today, 80 and sunny tomorrow! i'm enjoying laying myself in the forcefully grown grass of Somosaguas (as madrid is a desert...no real grass) with my friends and soaking up the sun like a once-dying plant, relieved for another chance to photosynthesize. i think without the sun i'd be extremely cranky.


i went to italy with seven of my friends the last week of march/first week of april. we started off in the fashion city of Milan, though as the italians showed us around we came to agree with them that in itself, the city isn't SUPER impressive. it still has a beauty that is unique to italy, and it has a fun atmosphere.. but...the reason it ended up being (possibly) my favourite because we spent the majority of the two days and two nights in that rich city with roberto's personality-rich friends and family. best food i've ever eated: made joyfully by Roberto's mother, and roberto's friends used what english they had to really show us a great time. though i lost five euros in poker, i got to drink a little too much amazing italian wine and laugh myself to death. it was marvelous.












then we headed to Venice, in which we only spent (not even) a day. it was beautiful, but Roberto informed me (and i later realized first hand) that the majority of the people that make up the city arent' even italians, they are tourists. ha.











the next city we enjoyed was Florence, which ended up being (in reality) my favourite. it's big enough to be a city, but small enough to not be New-Yorkish. the older part of the city is separated from the newer part by a smooth, cheerful river, over which the brick-lined bridges carry the beautiful italians. the art and the architecture and everything about the city is quite enchanting. the streets are charming, lined with beautiful lampposts and most likely with historical somethings. i could see myself living in Florence some day.












the last city we were privileged to visit was the ancient and most well known city: Rome! the ruins (i have to talk about the ruins!) were magnificent, taking my imagination back to a mystical time in a way that my textbooks never could. it's not an exaggeration when they say that every time you turn a corner there's another historically-relevant building or place. it was ridiculous.
we saw the Sistene Chapel/the vatican. i climbed to the top of a castle and looked out over the beautiful city, surrouned by small mountains, the pointy tops of the old churches poking up through the ancient buildings surrounding them. it was a phenomenal experience.










as always, spending time with my amazing friends was an experience that i will cherish forever. they are nothing short of incredible. easy-going, fun-loving, intelligent, this list could go on a while. i am very lucky to have them here. :)
Between the panzeroti and the people, the awe-inspiring sites from the tops of churches and the beautifully-historical everything-elses, i think i'm in love... see you soon italy!



















p.s. about London/general life in a couple days. ciao friends.

BOOM!

My parents were supposed to come visit me this week for Holy Week, but i received a call from my mother on thursday (i think) saying that my dad's old intestinal problem, that started with a teen car crash, resurfaced suddenly and my mom had to take him to the E.R.. Intestinal blockage/swelling=extreme pain. Anyhoo, the doctors weren't sure if they're have to do surgery, and they had to keep him in the hospital, so they didn't want him to travel. therefore, i went to Valencia with my best friends! my dad is all better, so i don't feel bad for enjoying my time with my friends. :)

Anyway, every year in Valencia they have a week of where they put fallas (stationary floats) all over the city, closing off the streets and placing the fallas directly in between the apartment building and stores. The floats have some sort of political meaning (my wiser roommate Dawn just informed me), but i have no idea what any of them mean. On top of that, the whole week people are lighting and throwing explosives (not real ones, just firecrackers), constantly, all day. it sounded like a war zone. it was crazy. And at night, there are even more people out on the street, and the youth throw the firecrackers in the crowds of people. great fun, dodging those things, let me tell you.

But a few days into it (this year it was yesterday, wednesday) they light all of the floats on fire! Can you imagine, building-sized things just up in flames, lighting up and heating up everything around them? Too bad some of them cost up to 500,000 euros to make. I wonder how many people we could feed with 500K instead of burning tons of colored plastic. Nevertheless, it was pretty neat. Right before they light the big ones on fire, they shoot off a ton of fireworks. (figures).
anyhoo, here are some pictures.

There's also a beach in Valencia. that was the most fun. :)

I say this a lot, but i love my friends.




Giant Paella. (That's not the man, it's the rice.)





beach, boat, spanish kids having a little fútbol fun.





friends chillin.





this is right below the terrace of the apartment of the friends we were staying with. if you look closely, the guys have little piles of explosives right by their feet, from which they continuously grab and light the little annoying things.





Falla and fireworks.





Falla being burned, everybody taking pictures. Kind of cool.





Right outside the terrace.





Boy. :)





Friends. :-D

Appreciation

I have come to love my facultad here at Madrid's lovely Universidad Complutense. Here are some cool things about the Political Science/Sociology Building: Out of all of the buildings on campus, my facultad (building) is the only one in which, despite the "Prohibido de Fumar" signs every 5 meters, the entire building is hazy with cigarette/hash smoke, as these students don't believe clean air is really that necessary; out of all the people at complutense, the students en my facultad are the ones with the most piercings, the weirdest (don't give a damn) clothes, the most dreadlocks, and the most mullets; my facultad is in the part of campus about a 20 minute bus-ride away from the main, large campus, and this is because during the Franco era the students in my facultad (along with a couple others on this far away campus) were the ones staging the protests against Franco. Therefore he moved them far away so they wouldn't be a bother.

I am proud to call myself an Anthropology student, thus a student in the Ciencias Politicas y Sociología building. :) we rock!

Climbing in the mountains was amazing. It was a beautiful day (as it is today and will continue to be... yay spring!) and Roberto and I were the only non-czechs in the bunch. but we did grab a beer in the pueblo at the bottom of the mountain, and beer lead to conversation which lead to politics and we had some great discussions about our respective countries (Italy, Czech Republic, U.S.). i feel like everyone here, at least that i've met, is really aware of what's going on not only in at their home but also really educated and stay up-to-date on the goings-on EVERYWHERE! it makes for great, opinionated, many-sided discussions.

my czech friends (in that same conversation) told us that the English head over to the Czech Republic on the weekends to binge drink (because the beer is a pint for 1 euro). they just get sloppy drunk and then go home on sunday. HA!... they don't think it's very funny.

my parents are coming to spain on sunday! booyah!

then the week after that i'm going to Italy!! Roberto's going to teach me how to drive his stick shift. :-D

Happy Trails

:)

a birthday present. this dog is almost as big as i am. we spoon every night. :)

and remember that post from before?? cassidy got me the soundtrack. of course she did. love love.

i picked two classes so far: cognitive anthropology and urban anthropology. here we go again...

72 degrees this sunday. mountains here i come! i can't wait to hang out with my nerdy czech friend, Honza, again! :-D

counting down the days until italy...

Mi Obsesión

My Current Obsession.
Cuba. and the people in it. This is from the Movie "Habana Blues". Check it out.

Lyrics and (rough) Translation:

Hoy, miro a través de ti, las calles de mi habana
Tu tristeza y tu dolor, reflejan sus fachadas,
Es tu alma y soledad, la voz, la voz de esta nación
Cansada
Solos tu y yo, en la ciudad dormida
Solos tu y yo, besando las heridas
Hay habana
Cada vez te olvidabas más de ti, para apoyar mis sueños
Pero sé que lastimé tu corazon, jugando con tus
Sentimientos
Fue la luz, esa que robé dejando a oscuras tus deseos, eh, eh
Solos tú y yo, en la ciudad dormida
Solos tú y yo, besando sus heridas
Habana
Y tengo que dejarte ir, poniendo el mar entre los dos
Pagando el precio de otros que viven de la
Contradicción
Otra familia que quedó marcada por la separación
Como luchar, con ese sol con la política y con dios



Today, I look through you, the streets of my Havana
Your sadness and your pain, reflected in its facades
It's your soul and your solitude, the voice, the voice of this tired nation

Alone you and I, in this sleeping city
Alone you and i, kissing it's wounds
Habana

Every time forgetting yourself to support my dreams
But I know I hurt your heart, Playing with your feelings
It was the light, that which I stole from you, leaving your dreams in darkness

Alone you and I, in this sleeping city
Alone you and i, kissing it's wounds

And i have to let you leave, putting the sea between the two of us
Paying the price of others that live in contradiction
Another family marked by separation
Like fighting, with that sun and that policy and with God.

Study Buddies

Last trabajos for this semester! these are my faithful study buddies who always keep me company: Señor Vela, Señora Coke Light, and Cavallino. Cavallino had a clever, but obscure Italian name (as it was given to me by my Italian friend when i was having a sore day), but it was obscure enough that after a week i've forgotten it.
soon to join my study buddies and i: Abuelito Café Europeano. Por Supuesto!

i think all this staying up late is making me delirious.


de-lir-i-ous |diˈli(ə)rēəs|
adjective
•in an acutely disturbed state of mind resulting from illness or intoxication and characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence of thought and speech.
• in a state of wild excitement or ecstasy : there was a great roar from the delirious crowd.
i prefer the feeling of the second definition, but you take what you can get. :)


give someone a hug today! hugs are glorious.

Pre-Lent Prep.

i learned something new about spanish culture. apparently in the few days before Lent, the spanish people go CRRAAZY because they won't be able to for forty days. so it appears to me, they have 5 days of continuous sinning in preparation for the holiness they have to endure during the Lent season. they host a number of ongoing parties and they dress up crazily (i met some spanish cowboys and indians last night. that was a trip) and they drink and the whole lot (granted, the first night is the most intense, but it really does last longer than that). i thought Mardi Gras was nuts, but they devote 5 days to mardi gras-type activity.

meanwhile, but not consequently, i've had an excruciating headache for the last few days, for which i've been unable to find a cause or a cure. blood vessels have actually burst in my left eye, so that it looks like my eyes are bleeding. then cassidy and i started talking about The Lost Boys (80s vampire movie) and just talking about it made me feel more like a bad-ace vampire with bloody eyes than a crazy woman having an unending stroke. Thanks cass.

Superbowl tonight! Go Giants! i'm exciting to explain american football to all my international friends tonight. we're hitting up an irish pub at midnight to go be some crazy american football fans for a couple hours. i love my friends. :)

happy sabbath erbody.