So, once again I've neglected this blog and I realized when I wrote a letter to someone back home.
Here is the letter:
Granada, November 5, 2009
Whats up?
Talk about being bombarded with questions... lol
I'm great enjoying all there is... the only downside is that I am currently sick from traveling, but being sick from traveling is a small price to pay.
Ive currently been to:
Granada, Spain
Madrid, Spain
Sevilla, Spain
Cordoba, Spain
Malaga, Spasin
Nerja, Spain, Costa Del Sol (Like the French Riviera)
Las Alpujarras, Spain (Mountains)
Tetuan, Morocco
Tangier, Morocco
Chef-Chaoen, Morocco
Atlas Mountains, Devils Horns, Morocco
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Venice, Italy
Lisboa, Portugal
Sintra, Portugal
Still to come:
Barcelona, Spain
Prague, Czech Republic
London, United Kingdom
Paris, France
Amsterdam, Holland
Places I might travel hopefully:
Istanbul, Turkey
Edinburgh, Scotland
Dublin, Ireland
and St. Petersburg, Russia
Ive learned a lot of things that I am actually surprised I didn't know. Its been a good learning experience. Traveling abroad is so amazing!
I was actually really homesick kinda in the beginning and truly hating both the Spaniards and Spain. Andalucia, the state that I'm in, is actually just like Latin America. Most of the people that left for the new world came from this region of Spain (because of the proximity to the ocean) they took with them their culture, language and architecture. So I was like: been there, done that.
Of course, I have been a little social butterfly, I've made friends from England, Holland, Australia, Spain, Portugal, and Italy... The Hostels (motels) are really something else, filled with students traveling. It's been an awesome meeting place for everything. I would really want to live in Belgium or Australia. Their governments PAY their students to travel and not go straight to college. They want them to be sure that they know what they want to do with their lives and to get experience. So for 2 years they sponsor them to leave their homes and TRAVEL THE WORLD. I was really jealous when I heard this.
[I] don't watch much TV here, but I occasionally watch some stuff with my sra., shes 65 and hilarious! The food that my sra. makes is great, I love the tortilla española (its a omelet with potatoes) and the paella. I also love the fact that with every drink you order you get tapas (an appetizer). However, most of the food in Spain is rather unseasoned. Thank god, Latin America didn't inherit that. The Spaniards arent really that open to other foods which is strange cause they are rather open to other cultures.
Hope this was enough...haha...
How's everything back home? Much has changed? Ready to graduate and come back to the city? How've you been? How's your family?
Hope all is well,
Ma as-salaamah,
Frank
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Córdova
A trip from Granada to Córdova takes 3 hrs to travel 202 km (126 miles: Distance from Chicago to Champaign. Mountains kill time and people!)
Bright and early, at the ass crack of dawn, I got up for the bus to go to Córdova. It was 7 O'Clock in the morning and the sun wasn't even out. I was kinda weirded out by this, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the sun didn't come out. Back home the sun comes out between 5 or 6 am. Another difference to check off to Spain. The joke is really the fact that it took me over a month to realize this, I get up past 8 and so does Spain so I didn't know.
It took me all of 20 minutes to get ready and left. Miguel Angel told us, that at 8 a.m. the bus would leave with or without us. So of course running on Latino Time I barely made it to the bus on time.
This trip took much longer than I thought. However, the weather kept changing every half hour. It went from Sunny (when the sun finally popped out) to Foggy, to a raining back to sunny.
When we finally got into Córdova, she got off and was given the tour of the Alcazar and the Jewish quarter. Then came lunch. The guide, Miguel Angel and Nerea gave us almost 2 hours of roaming time in the city.
The great thing that came out of these 2 hours: I SAW THE QUEEN!!! lol Damn that lady is loaded!
At 5pm everyone left to go back to Granada. 5 others and myself, decided to just take a train to Sevilla.
The city of Córdova is pretty much just a cultural treasure cove of history! There was so much of it everywhere and every society.
La Mezquita de Córdova was amazing and just simply wonderful! There are endless rows of Muslim arches.
...Now to be stupid! They kept on giving us the tour and of course I was being a dumbass, because of the corner of my eye what do I see? GOLD. So I was inching my way over to the spectacle that was sure to be TONS of gold. Sure enough when the tour-guide took us to the little museum of the cathedral there was a STATUE made purely out of gold. The guide told us that it was 300 lbs. of pure gold brought back from the NEW WORLD. Then I said, "Shit, It looks like I'm coming back tonight for my cut." After that room we were taken to the Cathedral part of the Mezquita (the church sits in the middle of the old Mezquita). There the guide told us to sit down on the beautiful handcrafted mahogany benches. She then proceeded to tell us about their origin. Since in Europe mahogany doesn't exist, it came from CUBA. Without any hesitation I said: "WHOA??! I'm taking this shit too..." and the whole group started laughing... Nerea just sighed and began to laughed... I guess I can't seem to control my rants.
I'm going to post some pictures of the Cathedral in a later post, so just watch out.
Peace (It's almost siesta time! lol)
Bright and early, at the ass crack of dawn, I got up for the bus to go to Córdova. It was 7 O'Clock in the morning and the sun wasn't even out. I was kinda weirded out by this, I couldn't for the life of me figure out why the sun didn't come out. Back home the sun comes out between 5 or 6 am. Another difference to check off to Spain. The joke is really the fact that it took me over a month to realize this, I get up past 8 and so does Spain so I didn't know.
It took me all of 20 minutes to get ready and left. Miguel Angel told us, that at 8 a.m. the bus would leave with or without us. So of course running on Latino Time I barely made it to the bus on time.
This trip took much longer than I thought. However, the weather kept changing every half hour. It went from Sunny (when the sun finally popped out) to Foggy, to a raining back to sunny.
When we finally got into Córdova, she got off and was given the tour of the Alcazar and the Jewish quarter. Then came lunch. The guide, Miguel Angel and Nerea gave us almost 2 hours of roaming time in the city.
The great thing that came out of these 2 hours: I SAW THE QUEEN!!! lol Damn that lady is loaded!
At 5pm everyone left to go back to Granada. 5 others and myself, decided to just take a train to Sevilla.
The city of Córdova is pretty much just a cultural treasure cove of history! There was so much of it everywhere and every society.
La Mezquita de Córdova was amazing and just simply wonderful! There are endless rows of Muslim arches.
...Now to be stupid! They kept on giving us the tour and of course I was being a dumbass, because of the corner of my eye what do I see? GOLD. So I was inching my way over to the spectacle that was sure to be TONS of gold. Sure enough when the tour-guide took us to the little museum of the cathedral there was a STATUE made purely out of gold. The guide told us that it was 300 lbs. of pure gold brought back from the NEW WORLD. Then I said, "Shit, It looks like I'm coming back tonight for my cut." After that room we were taken to the Cathedral part of the Mezquita (the church sits in the middle of the old Mezquita). There the guide told us to sit down on the beautiful handcrafted mahogany benches. She then proceeded to tell us about their origin. Since in Europe mahogany doesn't exist, it came from CUBA. Without any hesitation I said: "WHOA??! I'm taking this shit too..." and the whole group started laughing... Nerea just sighed and began to laughed... I guess I can't seem to control my rants.
I'm going to post some pictures of the Cathedral in a later post, so just watch out.
Peace (It's almost siesta time! lol)
The Battle with the ATM
ATMs don't like to be bothered at 7 O'Clock in the morning either. I had to stop by an ATM, I was low on cash for the trip to Córdova and Sevilla.
The first time I put in my card it rejected the card. "Fine I'll try again", I thought. Nope, REJECTED again. "Third time is the charm." You know what the ATM did: TRANSACTION FINISHED! STEP INSIDE FOR MORE ASSISTANCE! NO Money and a receipt for the transaction. Scared shitless, no money, and with time against me (the Bank was closed) I left to try and catch the bus that would most probably leave me. My trip to Córdova and Sevilla had started.
When talking about Euros, ATMs and wee hours in the morning you never want to piss off an ATM... just wait... cause you just have to remember Murphy's Law: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong; your best bet is not to tempt faith...
Good times on the road!
The first time I put in my card it rejected the card. "Fine I'll try again", I thought. Nope, REJECTED again. "Third time is the charm." You know what the ATM did: TRANSACTION FINISHED! STEP INSIDE FOR MORE ASSISTANCE! NO Money and a receipt for the transaction. Scared shitless, no money, and with time against me (the Bank was closed) I left to try and catch the bus that would most probably leave me. My trip to Córdova and Sevilla had started.
When talking about Euros, ATMs and wee hours in the morning you never want to piss off an ATM... just wait... cause you just have to remember Murphy's Law: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong; your best bet is not to tempt faith...
Good times on the road!
Just a Brief Hiatus
I'm back...
Sorry for the long hiatus but I was just making sure there was enough content available to be documented.
Trips:
Sevilla, Spain
Córdova, Spain
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Venice, Italy
In the past week (Italy trip) I took about 1,000 pictures. Something tells me I should have truly bought that external hdd before I left. So I'm gonna walk my happy ass to 'El Corte Ingles' later on today and see how much they are...hopefully I dont have to give up my first born child and a shitload of euros for an external. Let's see how that wonderful adventure goes!
Sorry for the long hiatus but I was just making sure there was enough content available to be documented.
Trips:
Sevilla, Spain
Córdova, Spain
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Venice, Italy
In the past week (Italy trip) I took about 1,000 pictures. Something tells me I should have truly bought that external hdd before I left. So I'm gonna walk my happy ass to 'El Corte Ingles' later on today and see how much they are...hopefully I dont have to give up my first born child and a shitload of euros for an external. Let's see how that wonderful adventure goes!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Thank God for Shawarmas!
So far three people have asked--"Have you had one yet?" I somehow ate this within hours of arriving in Granada. It's called a shawarma, its only 2.25 Euro, and its a godsend! This could possibly be the best drunken food too! I am currently craving one...
Disclaimer: The only downside to this is that you have to be careful where you buy it. Some places keep the same meet on the slab for 4 days and the less the meat the longer its been sitting out. This means that you colon might be siphoning through some rough waters... Thank the high heavens I haven't gotten a bad shawarma.
Monday, October 5, 2009
A Fresh Start
Im really excited for the month of October. It seems like new air has come through the city of Granada. Excited.
Fixating on what ROW-C-O has said: I will try not to be so negative and or be so bitter with Spain. I'm hear at least to escape from other things!!
On a good note Ive lost 5 kilos. About 11 pounds.
Hurah for Spain!
Fixating on what ROW-C-O has said: I will try not to be so negative and or be so bitter with Spain. I'm hear at least to escape from other things!!
On a good note Ive lost 5 kilos. About 11 pounds.
Hurah for Spain!
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