I miss the sun

It's one of those "man the weather sure is affecting my mood" sort of weeks.
Studying is one of those slowly but surely ordeals right now.
I've figured out a trip to Northern Ireland. Go to Belfast for two days with roomie, one of those days go on a tour to Giants Causeway (real intent behind this whole trip) and Carrik-a-rede roap bridge and Derry. Planning on doing this the Monday after Saturday that I return from France. This will give me two days to pack and say goodbye to Galway before heading to Dublin.

Galway, I'd be much less sad to leave thee come Wednesday if you would brighten up a bit. Gah, living on the fourth floor you just hear the roar of the wind and see the whiteout sky. I want to see some blue and sun por favor.

Interesting side note: not once in Ireland have I heard thunder or seen lightning. It makes me wonder why. I'd have choice seats being this high up for a good light show if we were to ever get lightning. However, today I did get a lovely view of a rainbow, barely discernible through the whiteout, but I saw it! : )

If when I return home it's raining, which it had better not, it should at least be a good thunder and lightning summer storm.

Since I've been back in Ireland...

... I really haven't been up to much.

When I first got back I had to write two ten-page papers in three days, so that first weekend back was loads of fun. I did manage to get my paper for Cooperation and Conflict in the Management of Natural Resources done. I wrote about Wolf Management in Alaska; quite an interesting study. It was my paper for Social Stratification and Inequality that was more difficult. Originally I was going to write a critical analysis on a book about the caste system which was recommended to me by my professor and that I read before leaving for Spain. Problem: when I returned home I couldn't find any critical reception on this book. Last minute I changed the topic to looking at how social class influences the rate of eating disorders among women. I didn't finish it by Monday, the original due date, but when I found out it'd be ok to turn it in late I took my time (whoops) and turned it in on Friday. Monday night I studied for an exam the next day, yeah, like I said it was a crazy first few days, but it wound up ok b/c i think I did well on that Developmental Geography exam. Celebrated at Monroe's afterwards with some lovely traditional dancing. I even got Irene and her friend Betti to come and Betti and I wound up dancing that night!

The rest of that week was mostly spent on writing that damn paper on eating disorders and social class. Findings being inconclusive: some people say that social class did have a direct link, meaning it is more likely that higher social classes will exhibit eating disorders than lower classes, but others say race has more to deal with it and then others say other factors... kind of a weak argument but an interesting study.

Last week was sort of dull and sad. Last week I did a whole lot of NOTHING. Quite boring. I've managed to watch tons of NCIS online though; I love that show. I did catch some good weather and went on three walks to Salthill, a walk along the bay about a nine mile loop from my apartment there and back. Loved it!

I had several farewell events last week. On Tuesday I said goodbye to a bunch of girls at Monroe's, Wednesday I said goodbye to Chelsea C, Thursday I said goodbye to my friend Meghan, Friday was my last hangout night with Mandy in Ireland. I'm so glad Mandy goes to Truman b/c I would have been MUCH more upset had that been the last time for good. We had so much fun that night, I wish I had gone out with them all a lot more this semester but it was great craic all the same. Haha, I wound up sleeping over at her apartment, as did the other girls (well one was her roommate) but I'm the only one not from that residence complex and so we had to hop the fence in order to get in; really glad I did that sober b/c most of them didn't. Saturday I went with one of Mandy's good friends to the Farmer's Market and it was such a lovely day we spent about four hours just chillin in the sun down by the Spanish Arch along the bay. I even got a bit of sun on my cheeks :)

Last night, Tuesday, I went out with my friends Caitlyn, Chelsea C and Meg and had a great time and might wind up going out with them again today. Since I have my last two exams on Tuesday though I need to start studying: Globalization of Democracy and Environmental and Natural Resource Economics. Ugh, I've been a month now with no real studies and it's hard to get back into the swing of things, especially with me in this "I'm bored and sort of ready to go" mood.

Thanks goodness I'm headed to Spain and France soon. Not that I don't love Ireland, but I need something to do, I can't be this bored with nothing on my plate.

Plans for the day are to actually study, plan a trip to Northern Ireland for right after I return from France on the 23rd and read some of the book I checked out from the library, La casa de los espiritus by Isabel Allende (love her). But, studying wont start for at least another hour. That's right, I'm going to watch yet another episode of NCIS haha

Last stop in Spain was Madrid

Madrid was also kind of cold (I was missing the warmth of Sevilla and Cordoba) but not rainy.

In Madrid, we were hosted by one of Anna's friends from the first time she visited Spain when in high school: Maria. Maria met us at the metro and took us to her apartment. It was sort of awkward at first, but once we went out exploring Madrid a bit it was just grand. I really appreciated talking with Maria because she openly corrected my Spanish, something I really need. Oh how a semester without Spanish can bring ruin to my grammar and an increase in my Anglicisms.

We first went out to the modern art museum Maria Sofia. Ok, so I don't get modern art for anything, I mean anything, but I really wanted to see Picasso's Guernica. That's right, I went there solely for that exhibit. I don't get cubism or surrealism or any of it, but I do see how the distortions of cubism worked for Guernica. If anything we had fun trying to understand/figure out some of the art, or even just making up meanings behind it all. Later we met up with two of her friends and walked along the main drag, Gran Via, and towards the center of the city Plaza Sol and found point zero, the point from which all other places/cities are measured. In the States we use a state line, there, it's at point zero in the middle of the country.

The next day Anna and I went exploring on our own. With a couple of suggestions, a map and metro pass, we saw the Palace (HUGE!), walked to Plaza Mayor where we saw loads of street performers, including a fat spiderman and Native American, walked to our last lunch of tortilla espanola, and metroed it to Parque de Retiro.

Parque de Retiro was by far my favorite place. Not only because nearby we found another place selling chocolate like what we had in Barcelona (honestly, like drinking a melted bar of chocolate) but because of the whimsical statues that lined the first 'avenue' we walked along. Like the picture above, all of these statues were just fun and lighthearted, although not all were in color. The landscaping of the park was also beautiful and the part was huge. Had clouds not loomed in on us, I could've spent the rest of the day there. As it was we went for the metro station, but not before I bought The Cat in the Hat in Spanish for 1.50 from a vendor (yeah I was excited!). Anna and Maria joined me for the metro to the airport and the long wait to get my boarding pass. After waiting two hours to board, oh Ryanair, and a two/three hour flight, I arrived safely in Dublin. I found good convo with the guy who I sat next to on the plane. I guess I enjoyed speakingin Spanish so much that my brain turned off the English b/c when we landed and the steward started speaking with his Irish accent I freaked out for a second because I could not figure out what he was saying. But then the English kicked back on and I was ok again; sad to leave Spain but good. Took a 1-4 am bus back to Galway, walked home and crashed by 5.

Spain rocked my face off.

Granada (finally)

Sorry for how late I've been... two weeks, so sorry!

Anyways, Anna and I went to Granada for two days. Our hostel was sort of odd, more like a hotel, so no real friends made there. However, we did meet up with one of Anna's friends the second night we were there. But, back to the first day...

... we got there mid-afternoon and immediately looked for food (did I mention I gained weight in Spain, haha). There I had the BEST tortilla española, sooo good. Then we tried to find a laundry place for Anna. We got another lesson about the Spanish siesta and almost got caught in the clutches of a small store vendor's never ending conversation, but Anna maneuvered us out of there within 10 minutes, but not before hearing the same advice at least 20 times. Yes, the lady was 'worse' than Pepo in that sense (I love my Pepo and he at least doesn't repeat the same info in a single convo). Once free we went exploring and wound up heading up to the Alhambra to see if we could get in that day, we couldn't, but at least we got one DRY and SUNNY walk up there. We then explored the Albaicin, a labyrinth of a white-washed part of the old city. Anna found a tea shop where she ordered some rose tea and generously shared a cup with me; for not liking tea much I did enjoy that. Later while Anna siesad (yeah, I made an English past tense verb out of a Spanish word) I went exploring a bit and mailed off a postcard or two.

Next morning we woke before the sun (I haven't done that in a while) to get to the Alhambra to wait in line early. Joining at least a hundred other people a half hour before the tickets even went on sale, we waited as the sun rose. I got to see the sky as the sun rose behind the walls, and then see it quickly replaced by unending rain and cold. That's right, the visit I was terribly excited for was dampened, literally, by a cold and rainy day. Sans internet/weather channel, we were caught unawares and got soaked. We went in and all and the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the little of the gardens that we did see was beautiful, but it wasn't as lovely as a visit as I was hoping for. We spent only 2 hrs there, thanks Anna for staying even that long. I LOVED the architecture and the views but it was admittedly difficult to fully enjoy it while I was trying hard to stop shivering long enough to take a photo.

Returned quickly to hostel to dry off, sleep (sieta from 11-3) to wake to see a slightly sunny sky (screw you bad weather). That night we went out with Anna's friend. First stop, ironically enough, was an Irish pub. We stopped at a couple of others and finished off the night with delicious ice cream. Despite the rain and cold I did have fun in Granada, although I may have to return some sunny day to get a real feel for the Alhambra, or at least for more sangria and free tapas.

Ciao Sevilla and onto Cordoba

Since we only did one day in Cordoba we took an early bus out of Sevilla. After a long bus ride full of on and off napping and gazing off at the Spanish country side (there are these short trees, almost overgrown bushes, that stripe the country side and it bothered me so much not to know what type it was!) we arrived in Cordoba. The tourist offices at each bus station (minus Madrid) were so helpful in giving us maps and figuring out how to get to our hostel. This hostel in Cordoba, Senses and Colours Añil was so lovely it made up for the crappy one in Sevilla. The computer has placed Anna and I in separate rooms and the lady working the desk noticed and worked it so that we were together. In fact, we found up getting our own room, with our own bathroom! That's right, Anna and I each got our own bed, not bunk bed, with a shower and bathroom to ourselves. It was lovely!

The hostel was also very close to a bakery, dangerous to my waistline, tsks on you Spain, and not a far walk at all from the Mezquita.

Oh the Mezquita, I think I rose out of my body with excitement when we went there! Brief explanation: huge Mosque, after Catholic reconquest, the oh so loving Christians with a "take that!" mentality plopped a church right in the middle of the mosque. Me and my desires to go to the Middle East, fascination with other cultures, goal to learn Arabic and so on simply basked in the beauty of being in that inmense Mosque. The collision of religions was insane though. There were altars to different saints all around the perimeter of the mosque and the huge church in the center, yet Arabic style architecture, designs and writing all over the place as well. I thank Anna sincerely for letting me linger there as long as we did.

From there we roamed around the Judería, the old Jewish district, right next to the mosque. (Ok, so although I much prefer to learn about Latin America, as compared to Spain, I absolutely love the mix of cultures found in Southern Spain due to huge Jewish, Moorish and, of course, Catholic people). The Juderia just had that "quintessential" Andalusian feel to it. Best part was when we came upon the Sinagoga, although we couldn't get in that day, about three doors up and on the other side of the narrow street we ventured into this bar. Anna's mom told her that we had to try fino, a wine specialized in Southern Spain. We went into this bar, asked if they had any fino. The bartender looked at us a little confusedly and said yes. After informing us that the only difference between a small and large glass was 5 cents, we each ordered a large copa de fino (only 95 cents!). To our complete bemusement, he turned around to the huge barrel behind the bar and poured our drinks from the tap; fino must be their specialty, everyone in the bar had it! We found a seat and enjoyed our delicious 95 cent finos at 3 or 4 pm in the afternoon.

After hostel time, siesta and dinner, we made our way to a flamenco show. A family owned operation: brothers on the guitar and 'drum' (more of a box-like thing used for percussion purposes... that drummer was oh so beautiful), father singing, others accompanying with vocals and palmas (clapping). The female dancer was out sick and so they had a male dancer perform; he was phenomenal. Although we missed a potential fan dance, we by no means felt deprived. It was an amazing show, I still don't know how they all coordinate so well, still can't quite hear the beats they each play at. with a pitcher of sangria and a Cheshire-cat-like grin on my face as I watched a most beautiful performance, we finished Cordoba in the best way

(by the way, all photos are from either right outside or within the Mezquita)

Easter Sunday in Sevilla

Woke in good company with the plan to go to the Cathedral with Anna and Brittney for mass. It didn't 'start' until 10, so we aimed for being there around 9, expecting it to be sort of like at home where mass fills up on Easter, especially it being the Cathedral in sevilla. Well, we needn't have been so worried. Mass didn't really start until 11. It was as though the priests were pregaming from 10-11. It was a lovely way to see the inside of the Cathedral without being charged as well as a good cultural experience: a pre-Vatican II like mass in Spanish. It made me really grateful for both mass at Redemptorist and the Newman Center (both very post Vatican II). No lie, this has been the most out of tune with my religious life I've ever been, not too fond of it, I'm hoping that that, along with many other aspects of my more structured US life will return when I go home... however I intend to start working on that (and those other parts that are off-balance) sooner, as in now.

After mass, we went to the cafe right under their apartment for lunch: empanaditas and a pastry for yummy dessert. I can't really recall the rest of the day, but I think we all just hung out for quite a while. Anna and I were unable to cancel our Sunday night hostel reservation. [Explanation: we'd made at least this one reservation beforehand. After finding our new friends, we thought about cancelling it. Website said that for Semana Santa they required a 7 day notice... so, we didn't think we could... once we got their though, and found it to be a shitty one (internet down, laundry out, cold water, found out we could've canceled it in only 24 hrs notice; worst hostel yet]. Well, we went ahead and took our siesta at the hostel before returning to our friends' for dinner. Wow, Marie made a delicious spinach, cream, garbanzo and potato dish and Hannah a veggie curry and rice dish, yum! We stood there til it got to being around 10 and then we went ahead and made our way back to the hostel. We stopped for our first (delicious) Spanish ice cream in the center.

Anna liked to do inventory regularly, just so that we could look at what was going on, and really appreciate it. I think that night was my favorite inventory. It went something along the lines of "Inventory: we are sitting on a park bench in Plaza Nueva in Sevilla, we are eating delicious ice cream on a beautiful Easter night (really, we need hazelnut flavored ice cream in the States!), we went to mass at the Cathedral on Easter, we had a delicious dinner, we saw everything we wanted to see in this city, we didn't have to sleep on a park bench once and we made five new friends!" Talk about being grateful!

Let's recap Sevilla, a week or so later

Flew into Sevilla from Barcelona on Friday April 10 without any concrete idea of where we were staying. We were hoping to be able to stay at the apartment of a friend of a friend. Problem: the friend of my friend was in the states and hadn't gotten in touch with her flatmates. Well, we had their address and their phone number. We arrived at their apartment around 11 pm. As if we weren't tired enough, we had no luck there. It was so disheartening because we were exhausted, the potential resting spot insight and within knocking distance, their lights on and all, yet no answer.

Out of desperation I called a girl I had met on the bus from the Sevilla airport to city center. On this bus I'd shared Anna's and my 'we don't know where we'll sleep tonight' story and this kind soul, Brittney, gave us her number and said that if we got into a real bind that she might be able to help us out. We wound up in a bind. When I called her I could tell she was pressed, they already had another guest staying and her flatmates were out and we'd only just met (!) but she said yes, God bless her. Anna and I got a taxi over to her apartment and I don't think I stopped saying thank you from the moment Brittney opened the door until she left us to sleep on their living room couch and floor.

Next morning I was the first one up, and as I started preparing to make some oatmeal that I'd brought, two of the flatmates woke: Hannah and Jen. I greeted them with a "Hi, I'm Jillian, the girl Brittney met on the bus and let crash on your floor." Brittney had written them a letter explaining it all for when they got in that night. They were awesome and just found the entire situation highly amusing, no awkwardness at all, immediate new friends formed.

With only 2 days in Sevilla, Anna and I wanted to explore and asked them for their advice. Not only did we get advice, but Hannah took us out, showed us around, and worked as the best guide and new friend we could have ever asked for! Hannah took us to the center through neat backways, giving us a fun feel for Sevilla. It was a beautiful sunny day as we strolled through the beautiful streets, and as though she knew how badly I had to see the Giralda tower of which the Plaza's is a small imitation (yetnot half as impressive now that I've seen the real one). She took us to a lovely local eating place where we got cheap and delicious tapas that we would have never found alone. I had tortilla española (a potato and egg torte/omelet... delicious, I'm making it for you all when I come back) and a spinach,garbanzo and cod tapa. yes, they were that good that I remember them. Goodness I did so much eating in Spain. I think it is maybe a good idea I didn't study there, instead of coming back 5 or so pounds heavier, I would have come back 20 or so after 5 months there! Oh, and I would have come back a lush b/c I'm a fan of sangria and the wines, which are delicious and cheap there... so maybe Ireland was a better choice for my liver and waistline, haha.

So, with Hannah we saw the Cathedral, along with the Giralda, from outside of course, we didn't go indoors or up the tower, not paying to see the inside of a church, sorry. Some part of me just believe that the house of God should be open access, but that's just me. Anyways, we went to the Alcazar, a palace originally inhabited by the Moors, subsequent rulers have added their own touches. So, as classic Andalusian architecture shows, you get both the Islamic and Christian touches, a mudejar style. Basically I was obsessed. This was one of those places that I went to and it made me a little less upset about not visiting Morocco and made me really want to learn Arabic even more. The style is so ornate, yet not overly so, so light, open, I loved the gardens. It was basically a lovely afternoon!

So we explored the center quite a bit and had to come back for a siesta, or at least a descanso (rest). However, it wasn't long. Anna and I left later with the other flatmates, Marie, Jen, Nora and Brittney to go watch some of the procesiones (processions) for Semana Santa (Holy Week, which is done biggest and baddest, the good 'bad', in Sevilla). That there was amazing too. We went by the Cathedrals and stood on the fences to watch as the Pasos, or different altars, were paraded through the city. I still am amazed at how men can lift such huge and extremely heavy statues of gold or silver, with candles and flowers all over. People do a lot for religion. Semana Santa is a big deal in Sevilla. I heard that if it rains, people cry because they spend all year planning it and if it rains they can't do it because these pasos are really really old and delicate and can't be risked in such a way. But there were no worries, it was a beautiful day and it was highly impressive.

For dinner that night, Anna and I made our new friends dinner, gallo pinto Costa Rican style. Later, Brittney, Anna and I went out to catch a flamenco show, one of the few free ones. It was packed in that bar but it was lovely. There was one guitarist, one man singing and a female dancer. I can't quite comprehend flamenco. I can't hear the beat like they do, but they all know when to tap their feet or clap their hands and the dancer knows how to move to what. It is so fascinating and I'd love to learn, ahh! Oh, and on the way back, we stopped for chocolate and churros. Biggest bag of churros ever. Although I'm not a big fan of the fried dough, I thoroughly enjoyed sipping my chocolate and enjoying Anna and Brittney's company at 1 in the morning on a lovely pedestrian street in Sevilla.