TravelStream™ news feed for member jakester21 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jakester21 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:45:54 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1244520000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1244520000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1244520000/tpod.html Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:45:54 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Madrid, Autonomous Region of Madrid, Spain

Last Words from Madrid: A Modest Farewell

Currently, I am sitting in Barajas Airport in Madrid anxiously awaiting my flight to London and eventually Boston. I left this morning from Maruja and family's apartment, parting ways somberly and tearless, at least on my part. As I try to do in occasions like this farewell, I try and think of all the wonderful things that transpired with the family: the laughs, the lessons, the life. Maruja could not hold back her tears as she fought her way in saying goodbye to me. I said, "Gracias por todo" (Thanks for everything) with a huge grin on my face and half-chocked up. Maruja told me "thank you for behaving so well and being such a good chico and some other mushy stuff. After a final somber look at the family, I got in the cab and headed for the airport, reminiscing in all the incredible experiences that I had in not only Madrid, but also other areas in Spain and Europe.

I realize I have not written in a couple weeks due to complacency. I skipped a couple events at least worth mentioning: a classy Mint Julep at Bar Cock (yes, that was the name and it wasn't a gay bar), Museo de Reino Sofia (twice; features modern art), visit to Aranjuez (old school town with a palace very similar to Palacio Real; also features strawberries but we couldn't find any that day), a fun night out at Pacha (great club), and a visit from Dad and Melissa to Madrid where we enjoy two fun-filled packed days of walking and touring the city with rigor.

At this point, I no longer care to implement detailed stories of my happenings here in Spain that leave me short of utilizing my ever-present wit and humor into this blog entry. Consequently, I am going to list the things I will miss most about Madrid that will be sure to bring about immense amounts of nostalgia.


1. Botellóning in the streets
2. Buying a Beer on the side of the street at 2 am from a small Chinese man or woman for 1 euro
3. Shotgunning beers in the street with no hesitation
4. Maruja's cooking
5. Pedro's ability to explain and expound upon the most rudimentary things
6. Tapas Bars
7. Beer and wine with lunch, dinner, and basically whenever
8. Speaking the Language
9. Euro Club Dance Music
10. The Look of Ira-the dog (ears back, mouth open, appearing as if she wanted to speak, and the 'mutated' mouth/teeth/gum combo that looks like she had been shocked after biting an electrical cord-oh wait, that actually happened)
11. Observing Public Affection on the Metro
12. The Metro System and all forms of efficient public transportation
13. The Pool in our living complex (that I did, in fact, go in once my last night, albeit prohibited. I am rebel without a cause [going platinum!] what can I say)
14. Maruja doing my laundry, cleaning my room, and making my bed every day
15. Sangria
16. Being called/Introducing myself as Jacobo
17. Having various nicknames created for me in lieu of my name, Jacobo (let's see if I can list them: Ják (pronounced like Hock), Cobo, Cobro, Jacobro, YaAk (elevated pitch in the middle), Jacobo Barachu, Cockobro, Cockobo...to be continued
18. The Maruja-isms:
a. Ya está (that's it)
b. Toma! (Take it, she commands with conviction and assertion)
c. Coge un bon-boncito (just have a little chocolate she says with slight innocence)
d. Ehh?? (Obviously means the same, but in Spanish, it's said with a greater frequency for 'What?' but she always says in such a high pitch as if she heard or understood nothing that you said)
e. Pues nada...(well, alright then)
f. Yogúr-the manner in which she said Yogurt literally cracked me up every time she said it following a meal. As such, it has easily become my favorite word in the Spanish language in terms of pronunciation)
g. Juaaagggnnnnggg-yes, she calls Jon, my roommate, as if she is an Asian Pop Singer singing about a failed relationship with a man named Juannnnnnn)
h. Madria mia...literally, every time something moderately upsetting, dramatic, excessive, alarming, exciting, every clip on the news...Madre Mia...)
i. Achych!
j. Echate más-Take more! No matter how much food we had, we always had to take more or else she'd give us the look like, "Are you crazy? How could you possibly not want to eat more of my food? It's delicious! Don't be ridiculous!")
19. Parque de El Buen Retiro-my favorite place in Madrid
20. Spanish women-their style, swagger, sass and sexiness
21. Working out to Spanish radio stations-Máxima FM!
22. Bizarro Hunting
23. Finding Jacobo bizzarros since everyone in Europe looks like me
24. Easy classes
25. The crisp cash of the Euro. Thinner, easier to fit in the wallet


Although you see I will miss many things about Madrid, I also feel perfectly comfortable leaving behind some things. Here's what I wont miss about Madrid:

1. Jamón. HAM.
2. Ira's barking at annoying hours and times whenever someone comes to the door or rings the doorbell
3. Expensive drink prices (especially in clubs)
4. Dog shit all over the place
5. Misplaced or excessive piercings on girls (most notably lower left facial area)
6. Euro Mullet - shaved head on top, dread locks in the back. Absolutely repulsive...kind of like this: http://www.mulletjunky.com/webimages/dreadedskullet.jpg


I can't really think of too many more at the moment, but that should do for now.

I am actually on my way to Chicago now, and I think I have developed a few last thoughts. Someone asked me how my abroad experience might have changed me. In essence, I guess you could say that it helped me develop a better perspective about life outside of the United States-the discrepancies in culture, family life, linguistic value, the socioeconomic strata, education, etc; However, it goes further than that. Although I only experienced 3 other countries for a brief period of time (Netherlands, Portugal, London), I can now further appreciate the nuances of this world, and the uniqueness that every culture and its people exude on a day-to-day basis.

At this juncture, I very satisfied with the level to which my Spanish has progressed. But I cannot stop here. I need to find a way to continue my skills this summer and onto my coursework next semester back at school. But in reality, I do not think I can stop learning Spanish until I am certified bilingual (perhaps via a fluency test). Consequently, I believe a return to Spain (or a new adventure to a country in South America) is absolutely essential. Thus, perhaps in a year or so, we will see The Return of Las Aventuras de Jacobo on the near horizon.

I want to thank all those who have kept up with the blog. Hopefully my writing has catered to most of you and you all took some enjoyment out of it as well. With that, I bid you farewell as I embark a new journey in Chicago for the summer of 2009.

Adios.
Jake


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1243336440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1243336440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1243336440/tpod.html Tue, 26 May 2009 12:11:06 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Ribadesella, Asturias, Spain

Note: I feel like my writing has become more elementary as the semester has gone. The only thing I guess I can say is Deal with it!...(I say this to call out Matt Furnas, a good friend of mine, but one who likes to call me out for things like that. He forgets I don't speak English as much anymore, nor do I write in the language as frequently).
.......

After only having a brief turnaround from my Sevilla trip, I came home, ate dinner, unpacked, repacked, and wrestled to sleep since I slept so much on the bus home from Sevilla. I was a bit hesitant to go on this trip because it appeared we would be on the bus for such a long time and actually in Asturias for only a few brief moments. I question, "why drive so far for such a short time in place where there was not much to do?". However, once I heard more about the itinerary I began to ease up a little bit.

We embarked from Madrid at 9 am on Friday morning wherein I fell asleep within 20 minutes on the bus ride. Our first stop was in a place called Laerma, a tiny town in Spain that seemed like it literally had a population of 45 with the youngest person probably being 33 years old. However, it served as quite placed for us to eat our packed lunches and make fun at this infinitesimal town with dandelions floating in the air and in our faces.

We continued on the bus ride (which happened to be a comfortable bus with plenty of space) and eventually arrived at town on the northern coast (but unfortunately I forget the name right now). Many of the houses in the town were built in the 19th and 20th centuries and featured an "Indian" style. We meandered a little bit through the center on our way to some cliffs that overlooked the Cantabrian Sea with some beautiful graffiti'd rocks that were actually done by some famous artist. We then ventured towards the center again to a significant church, but due my inability to listen to what Ramiro says and the plethora of historical facts I must hear, I forget the name, form, and function of the church. Jon tells me it had small windows and acted like a fortress during earlier centuries. No big deal if I let 1 church out the 349292 churches I have seen in Spain out of my grasp....in my opinion. After viewing this church, a couple of us went to a "Sidrería", which is a place where they sell cider...a famous product of the Asturias region. Fortunately, it only cost 2.40 euros a bottle so we got a few of them. They were not very alcoholic but there is a special way to pour the cider, which after a couple observations of the waitress, I began to master the art of pouring the "Sidra". (Picture to follow).

After a bus ride (duration in which I don't know because I was asleep), we arrived at our hotel (named Hotel Villa Rosario in an adorable town called Ribadesella. Our hotel was right on the beach looking out on the Cantabrian Sea. Although the weather was chilly, we did enjoy a nice walk on the beach following a day's activity. The sand was soft, the water cool, and the atmosphere made me feel like I was in Maine rather than...Spain. Nevertheless, our hotel's style seemed to be a mix of an Alpine Village (a la Helen, Georgia) and some some of Dutch architecture. Jon and I had a nice room, which included a Towel Warmer that we were actually unable to figure out how to use it.

That night we ventured to the center of our small town for a dinner at a place called "Llantares de Mar". This was just the meal I was looking forward to. Although the restaraunt specialized in seafood, they brought out many plates that cleansed my palate wonderfully. The meal started out with an assortment of ham per usual), one of which was Serrano Jam and the other "jamón de vaca (cow). After that, they served some delectable, juicy calamari which, thankfully, were not in the 'ring' form that I had seen so much here. They were crunchy and easier to eat. Fantastic! The next course was a mixed green salad with breast of duck sprinkled in, which I found to be the best duck I had in a long time. Prepared just the way I like it. For the main course, I asked for ternera (beef) that was covered in a creamy blue cheese sauce that borderlined the taste of a Gorgonzola. If you know me, I am semi-obsessed with eating steak with Gorgonzola cheese crumbles. Although my portion was about the size of a happy meal, it was still marvelous. For desert, we got tiramisu. I mean, how cool is that. You come to a tiny restaraunt in northern Spain and you get a healthy portin of tiramisu. I love it. I gobbled it up with great pleasure. We also got to share several bottles of red wine at dinner. Another reason why I love Europe.

After dinner, I was at least looking to see what there was in this town in terms of going out. We had heard there were bars around the area, but figured they had to be small and perhaps low-energy. However, my spirits were high, and I felt a good night ahead of me. We went to a bar not too far from the restaurant. There were probably 15 people in the bar, all sitting down, all slowly sipping on a drink. We all took the bar by storm, some of us enjoying Heinekens and other taking down some red wine. We began to get silly and start a dance party in the bar among the 12-15 members of our program to the American/Euro music that we all have grown to love. The 12-15 of us easily outdid every other person in that bar combined. It proved to be a silly night with a silly walk back to the hotel. Who knew that in such a small town we could actually end up having such a good time. That's how WashU in Spain rolls I guess.

The next day we woke up early and enjoy probably the best breakfast we had in Spain...granted we were at a pretty fancy hotel. We went out that day and made a few stops, one included a village practically in the middle of nowhere with a church commemorating some guy named Don Pelayo. I don't remember why it was important but it was awesome to see a church like that in such an isolated place.

The highlights of the day came later. We embarked to a tiny, tiny village called Asiegu: Population 102! Literally. This is village in the mountains where 2 brothers have started a little tourist destination that showcases their Sidra (cider) and Queso de Cabrales (their famous goat chese) business. They guided us on a tour guide through their village, which featured many goats just walking around doing their thing. They were everywhere. One of the brothers brought us through the whole process of how they are organized, how they make their cheese, how they brew their sidra, and the like. There's a lot of explain but I would rather get to the huge meal that came at the end of touring day.

Alas, the meal. We entered into what appeared to be like a barn. Instead, there were long wooden tables set up with a block of their special blue cheese, another cheese, some pieces of bread, hard-boiled eggs, honey, and pepper. From the ceiling, from 3 different spouts, poured down sidra at the click of the button. I want my garage to be like that someday...only with beer instead. After a schpeel by one of the brothers, finally the meal began to be served. The dishes came as follows:

1) Tortillas de Maiz (Puffy corn chips) in which you take the blue cheese, put on the chip, soak it with honey, and munch)
--- Sidenote: This blue cheese was the strongest blue cheese I have ever had by far. It was extreme. Extreme yet, delicious, but after a while I thought all my tastebuds had been burnt off by the cheese.
2) Tortilla con Bacalao (Codfish omelette in essence)
--- Sounds interesting, but even with a little blue cheese on it, it tasted delicious
3) Chorizo a la sidra (Sausage soaked in Cider)
4) Croquettas de jamón (fried dough filled with ham....a typical Spanish dish)
5) Bottomless glasses of Sidra
6) Nutty bread pudding??? ---not sure, but it was good.

Literally, I was just putting cheese and honey on everything and I thought it all tasted majestically. Following the feast, I entered a food coma where I literally could not move. However, the day was far from over. We got on the bus, napped, and then waited for a Funicular (apparently are what they are called), which is like a cable car that takes you up a mountain. We hopped on one of these and saw some amazing views on top of mountain where there was a tiny town/village: Population 10. I kid you not. Not sure how they are considered real towns, but they each had about 10 people in it with several tourists. Ironically, the town had about 4 bars. Didn't make too much sense to me. Neverthless, the views of jagged cliffs and cloud-filled skies were unbelievable. Some of us took a little hike up the other village and snapped some pictures. Solid day.

When we got back to the hotel, some of us took a walk along the beach, and eventually grabbed some pizza for take out. This place, Asturias, just made it seem like we were not in Spain. Rather, we felt like we were in some other land filled with an immense amount of vegetation and beauty. That night was low key; a couple beers and little wine and no major activities.

The next day was practically pointless. We went to a place called Altamira that is home to ancient caves from 16,500 years ago where significant cave drawings were discovered. However, I thought going here was silly because we were seeing a "neo-cave" or simply, a representation of the cave and the drawings rather than the real thing. I am sure the drawings in the real caves were great. But I could care less about fabrications in this case. After this, and lunch in a old, cute town we headed back 5 hours on a bus towards Madrid.

Immediately upon arrival, it was time to meet up with my dad and Melissa. Short turn-around once again.
See next blog entry for details......

JB
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Seville, Andalusia, Spain

So I realize it has been a long time since I have written a blog. Since Lisbon actually. For that, I am sorry.

Basic update about life in Madrid:

As of tonight, I have 2 weeks left. For the past few weeks, I have been finishing up classes and taking some exams. The 3 I took were not too difficult at all. 2 exams remain.

My camp friend Max Rubinson was in Madrid prior to embarking in his program in Salamanca where I hope to visit him. Doogan and I showed him around Madrid throughout the days, and had some good times at night for sure. We reminisced about our abroad stories and camp memories. The 3 of us also quoted more movies in a 4 day stretch than any 3 humans on earth have ever quoted. Fact. Throughout the weekend, it was the festival of San Isidro which essentially commemorates Madrid's patron saint, Isidro. Activities include a concert in Plaza Mayor and an area called Vistillas where lots of botellón [ing] occurs. It is an expression that signifies publicly drinking alcohol in big groups. Essentially, people get some beer, sangria, or other preferred drink and hang out, drink, chat, and mingle amongst thousands of people and a heavily concentrated set of streets. It's right by the Palacio Real. People remain in this area till about 3 or 4 am which is what we did. It truly proved to be a great time, and I think we showed Maxwell how we do it right in Madrid. He was impressed and safe to say we had a great time experiencing Madrid. And quoting boats and hoes....

After Max left, I planned my trip to Sevilla. I had been wanting to go there for quite some time but was unsure if I had sufficient time to make it happen. However, a quick booking of a hostel and a bus ticket made it happen. I had done all my traveling with my roommate Jon up until this point. For Sevilla, I would be traveling with just girls. 4 girls from my program. No wingman for me. I knew all four of the girls very well, so I figured I wouldn't have any problems. For the most part, it was problem-free, minus the fact that when "feminine conversations" arose, I simply chose not to participate.

Tuesday morning I got to the bus station 10 minutes before departure. Having been very tired from the weekend, I knew I would maintain narcoleptic fashion on the bus. I slept 4 out 6 hours perhaps on the bus. Great success. 3 of us (Amanda, Olga, and I) got off the bus and took a cab to our hostel. The 2 other girls [Mimi and Farber] (who were taking a later bus) made the reservation. However, what we did know beforehand, or perhaps we were ill-informed, was that we needed our physical passports to check in to this hostel. The 3 of us did not have ours since we assumed traveling on a bus in Spain did not require a physical passport on hand. However, after a brief 15 minutes of frantic pacing, we found a hostel not too far away that didn't care if we had physical passports or not. Although it may have been slightly less quality of a place, the location of it was much better.

That afternoon Amanda, Olga, and I walked around trying to get our bearings of the city prior to the other girls getting in. We didn't really know what we wanted to see, but we meandered through some streets and found the city to be quite "charming" as the girls dubbed it. The city is completely walkable from end to end. Many of the streets are very narrow and often unmarked. Oh, I have yet to mention that it was about 90 plus degrees on this day; not really blistering sun, but just hot temperature that made me feel sticky all throughout the trip. I even heard it gets up to about 100 degrees easily in July. Either way, after a nice perusal through the streets, we grabbed a quick snack and even a nap prior to the other 2 girls arrival.

Once the girls got there, we got ready to go out to dinner and other night activities. We found a great tapas restaurant that was recommended by Mimi and Farber's friend who was studying in Sevilla. We shared some goat cheese with honey (I think) on a piece of bread which was delicious and then some chicken dish with some almond sauce which was absolutely delightful. These 2 tapas dishes for very cheap! We then proceeded to botellón for a little bit in Plaza de Francisco where people gathered, drank, and shmoozed before going out more.

Following the botellón, Alyssa (the girls' friend) guided us across the dirty, yet pleasant river the divides up Sevilla. It looked absolutely magnificent at night as some of the lit up buildings reflected wonderfully upon the water. One of them included the Torre del Oro (Golden Tower) which is a famous monument in Sevilla. It was a brisk walk prior to arrived at a bar that offered 50 cent tequila shots. We took a few, but it was bad quality tequila so we headed out (although I thought it tasted just fine). We headed to a place nearby the featured mostly American students studying in Sevilla. Nevertheless, the bar was fun and cheap as well, which was a large difference between Sevilla and Madrid. The bar was a little too American, yet we still managed to have a decent time. At about 1:45-2am we headed back to the hostel for a nice night of (warm and sweat-filled) sleep. No pasa nada....(no big deal).

The next day we slept till about 11 or so and got ready for the day. We had heard about a Free Guided Tour that some of the local hostels offer. We obviously couldn't pass it up. So, we grabbed a tostada around the corner for breakfast and convened at a plaza where an American guy in his 20's led us and some others on a 2-hour or so tour through Sevilla. We traversed the entire city passing many a church and several plazas. One of the absolute highlights was the famous Cathedral of Sevilla. This cathedral, as were instructed, is the 3rd largest cathedral in the world and the world's largest Gothic-style cathedral. It was huge, mangificent, and very gothic-esque. Around the corner of it also was the Giralda which was the tower that accompanies the cathedral. Pictures will display the splendor. We continued on our tour through the "Judería" area of town, which is where the Jews used to live. However, playing into the common theme of Jewish expulsion, the Jews had been expelled and Franco had taken away pretty much all signs that Jews had existed. Nevertheless, it was still a charming area with some cute restaurants and some narrow-winding streets. I at least took a picture of a "Judería" sign in order to document that region and its ethnoreligious sentinments still may reign.

We continued onward towards a less depressing sentiment of the tour towards The Gardens of Murillo and the University of Sevilla, which was a pleasant area to walk en route to Plaza de Espana, perhaps the best part of the tour. This magnifcient moorish monstrocity was built in 1929 as part of the Spanish-American Exhibition. Fun Fact of the Day (for all you nerds.....[Max]: Plaza de Espana was used as a setting for Naboo in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, though it was digitally modified. Pictures will once again show its glory. This concluded our tour, and I could definitely say I gained some useful and solid knowledge of Sevilla's history (not including the silly, aforementioned fact above).

Later on, we grabbed some food at a place that provided shitty service and half-way decent food. Gazapacho was included and while it was very delicious and refreshing, it was interesting to drink it out of a what appeared to essentially be a wine glass. Cute, right? I know. Following lunch, Alyssa had organized a picnic by the river with the WashU crew and the UNC kids she had been with all semester. The area wasn't the most attractive since the water looked murky and somewhat infested and the grass a little scattered with trash. However, we enjoyed each other's company I guess. It was definitely a nice time to mingle a little bit despite the 90 + degree heat and the stickness and sweatiness that pervaded my body. Enjoyable nontheless.

We went back to the hostal around 6:30 pm to nap and shower. I still felt very sticky. We got ourselves ready for dinner at another Tapas place. We shared some Gambas al Ajillo (shrimp boiled in olive oil and garlic), and then I shared some chicken with Pine nut and wine sauce. Delicious. After dinner, we made our way out to an outdoor bar area that had a Hyde Park Cafe in S. Tampa / Miami Beach type vibe going on. We met up with Alyssa's friends and grabbed some 1 euro beers there. It was a fine place but Olga, Amanda, and I didn't see the need to make it a rager for a night nor become belligerent in any way. We had a couple drinks, talked a little bit, and decided to make our way back to the hostal semi-early. 2 am.

The following morning I woke up early to get my bus time changed for 2:30 pm instead of 4. After doing so successfully, we ate some breakfast at the hostel, checked out, and made our way to the Real Alcazar, which is a moorish fortress along with an enormous area of lush gardens that give Sevilla some sort of tropical element right smack in the center of the city (albeit inside a fortress). All of it was beautiful and is much easier to gather with the pictures I will post. We grabbed a quick bite and made our way to the bus station and took off by 2:30 pm as planned. I slept the majority of the way of course. I arrived in Madrid, so happy to be back after all, even though it was only for a little while since I was to leave the next day for Asturias. After traveling with 4 girls for the weekend, it was nice to be in the presence and comfort of the family again... finally. The girls were fun though, and I was so glad I got to see a precious, beautiful city like Sevilla, and chalk up another area of Spain that I experienced. No idea what the tiny region of Asturias in Northwest Spain would bring....I am hoping for the best.
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Lisbon, Portugal

So I realize it has been a long time since I have written and I apologize. I got a little lazy the past week or so and there wasn't too much to write about it. However, I just returned from a trip to Lisbon, Portugal, a truly magnificent city. My friends and I set out on this journey in order to celebrate the birthday of my good friend Amanda Glanz. We were rolling deep: 8 of us from Madrid and 1 kid named Nolan in London, a good friend of mine from Wash U. And we were all staying in the same hostel, which was just exquisite. It was sort of elegant in an excellent location but with a fun atmosphere and an international crowd (that we didn't bother to mingle with).

After dropping our stuff off at the hostel, half of our group walked around for a little while in order to explore the city. Our first stop was the Elevator de Santa Justa. This historic elevator, build in 1902 inside a Gothic wrought-iron tower, once served as transportation to Barrio Alto, a central neighborhood, but now takes tourists (us) up 45 meters. Once we got up there, we enjoyed majestic views of the entire city, taking in the brisk air while pondering the appearance of white houses with reddish-orange rooftops that extended for miles. Conveniently, we could also see the water and some of the port city of Lisbon.

Upon descending in the elevator, the group and I traversed some more streets en route to the Castelo de Sao Jorge (St. George Castle). The castle, originally constructed during the 5th century by Visigoths, was later dominated by the Moors and finally by the royal family of Portugal. Today it stands as a series of stone walls with breathtaking views of Lisbon. After a strenuous 'hike' up some hills, we encountered some of these stone walls and magnificent views. The higher up we went, the prettier it got. We all took some pictures and enjoyed the crisp air amidst the 75 degree F weather. Finally, I was rocking some shorts and sandals and it felt extremely refreshing because, personally, I hate wearing Jeans all day in 60+ degree weather in Europe. I guess I hate how the Madrillenos are so fashion forward and wear jeans until it's certified summer time. But that's neither here nor there. The castle was awesome overall with a doubt. We descended this mountain and enjoyed a nice sit-down session at a rooftop bar for a brief period time. We returned to our hostel in order to great Nolan.

We relaxed for a little while and got ready to grab some dinner and go out. We grabbed a few beers at the hostel bar, and made our way out to dinner in Barrio Alto not too longer after. Surprisingly, all 9 of us managed to get an outside table together at a decent restaurant. We each ordered some food as shared both red and 'green' wine, which is just like a very fruity white wine, more or less. I ordered the Pork, Portuguese style with home fries/ potatoes. I thought it was just delightful. Following dinner, we all began walking to some bars in Barrio Alto, sort of just winging it while walking through the incessantly crowded streets. As I now like to say, "it was asshole-to-bellybutton" all over the place. Nevertheless, we were enjoying ourselves, and hailed down some cabs to take us to the big club in Lisbon called Dock's Club. The club wasn't very crowded when we got there, but it got hopping after a while. Upstairs, they had a rooftop deck with a sort of trampoline-esque (ish) structure that proved to be fun for all those who went on it. I met some Spanish people as well who I, of course, tried to mingle with because I love speaking Spanish just for the hell of it. We stayed a little longer at the club, but it was definitely a pretty cool night. I would have to admit the language barrier overall was a little tough to cross. Portuguese is VERY different than Spanish. We could understand it if we read it, but listening and speaking was practically impossible. Thus, mingling with the locals who didn't speak any (or hardly any) English was too much of a challenge.

The next day we all woke up and cooked up our different game plans. One plan consisted of walking around the city some more while the other was the beach. I obviously chose the beach. We wanted to venture out to a town called "Cascais", which was a cute little beach town about 30 minutes away via train. Easier said than done for me of course. As the girls and I were buying tickets, I was a little behind in essence. The girls headed toward the train that was set to leave in the next 30 seconds. I didn't get my ticket in time, and the girls, perhaps selfishly, left me behind. However, I knew I was resourceful and independent and would just take the next train. I did so accordingly, but there was a little bit of a problem. Instead of getting off at said town "Cascais", I got off at a ridiculously similar sounding town of "Caxais", which was about 20 minutes prior to the other correct town. I mean, Come on!!!! Not realizing it at the time, I saw a beach and thought I would find the girls there. After trudging around frustrated for 30 minutes, I asked some one where I was and I was pissed I messed up. However, I persevered, found a train station, and made my way to the right place and found the girls shortly after I got there. I then enjoyed the beach for several hours, taking in the sun as I love to do as always. We hit up the small beach, which was right next to a longer one right down the street.

Later that evening, I met up with the other half of the crew where we embarked on a "Go-Kart" Audio guided GPS Tour for about an hour and a half. We essentially drove around in these little yellow dune buggy, 2 person vehicles checking out all the sites of the north end of Lisbon with an audio tour with a Portuguese woman's voice. We couldn't believe that this company simply let us take out these little demon cars into the semi-busy streets of the city. Regardless, it was an exhilarating experience, often getting lost many a time and having to push our car back and forth when we got stuck since the Reverse option literally didn't exist. After fooling around for an hour and half, often driving recklessly, we tried to find our way with the GPS they gave us. It was very difficult, and one point, we almost went on a highway but avoided that immediately. Finally, after about 20 or so minutes of confusion, we made it back to the start, having had an up-and-down (but mostly up) go kart experience.

We got back to the hostel and got ready to go out once again. We tried to coordinate dinner and Fado which is the famous music/narrative experience in Lisbon, but only some of us did that, not including me. We went to a dinner where an appetizer cost us more than 3 of our dinners last night, and the rest of the food wasn't that good either. After dinner, we walked around Barrio Alto some more and went into a few bars. It seemed all the same as the night before, perhaps with more people. After bar hopping around, most of us had already called it a night, and headed for the hostel. Fortunately, for Jon and I, we had a 4:00 pm flight and didn't have to wake up early. The next day we got up and looked for some Botanical Gardens, but came up empty. We sat in a small park and read and relaxed for a while till we headed back to the hostel and then towards the airport. We got back to Madrid around 7:00 pm, only to be greeted by the entire family, as it was Mother's Day in Spain. I had no idea it was this day, but Jon and I bought a card today (just one day after). Overall though, I thought Lisbon was a magnificent city, highlighted by an old school feel with deliciously warm weather and an invigorating nightlife area an and eclectic culture. Perhaps I will return one day. Albeit a big group, I think we all had fun celebrating Amanda's birthday. Pictures will tell.

I know stand with 4 weeks and 3 days left in my semester. My Lord has it flown. I will embrace every minute of the next 34 days or so to the fullest, there is no doubt about that. Just gotta keep on keepin' on.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1240267320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1240267320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1240267320/tpod.html Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:43:58 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Madrid, Spain

Following Spring Break, Madrid encountered some crappy weather, often consisting of cloudy skies and frequent rain. I was pretty much worthless on Sunday and Monday, but finally had some work to do for school. Thus, that kept me busy throughout the short week of classes. I had a presentation for Ramiro's class in which I had to report about Andalusia, Spain's southernmost region. I knew I had to make it unique so I did a video interview with Maruja since she is a native of the region. The interview lasted about 5 minutes and I incorporated into a powerpoint. The class loved it, as did Ramiro so that definitely bodes well for my grade on the project.

Thursday and Friday night started out as fun, but basically ended up not so fun since plans become skewed as a result of a few events not even worth mentioning.

The highlight of the weekend by far was Saturday evening in which Alex, a girl on the program, and I went out to a delicious tapas dinner at Lateral and then attended a flamenco show called 'Carmen', headlined by the incredible, dashing, and sculpted Sara Baras.

First, dinner:

After ordering a bottle of the house wine, Alex and I perused the menu of our favorite tapas place, pondering what would best cleanse our palates and satisfy our roaring appetites. After several minutes of pondering and questioning we went with the follow:

-Albóndigas (Delicious veal meatballs)
-Queso de cabra (Goat cheese spread over bread and red pepper and piece of lettuce)
-Croquetas de jamón (fried batter filled majestic ham - in essence)
-Patata rellena con jámon y huevo roto (Baked potato filled with jamón atop a fried egg waiting to mashed into the jamón creating an oozing ham-filled potato waiting to be annihilated...by me)

That was it. It was all fantastic, especially talking over a nice bottle of wine. It was perfect.

We began our walk to the Theatre for the flamenco show. Unfortunately, it was raining, but Alex brought her umbrella. I got retrieved the tickets from the box office earlier that day so that we could go in right away once we arrived. We were a little earlier so we grabbed another glass of red wine and sat on some cozy couches before entering our bird's eye view seats (more or less). The theatre seemed very elegant and sophisticated, thus enhancing the Über cultural experience that we were about to have.

We waited a couple minutes and on the stage they went. We initially heard a mix of sounds, ranging from clapping, a drum, classical guitars, and the pitter-patter of the flamenco dancers' shoes on the stage. However, not only is this performance a mix of song, dance, and guitar music, there is actually an entire plot line as well. However, in all honesty, the highlight of the show by far was Sara Baras. Even from 200 feet up and without wearing glasses, I could tell this 38-year-old dancing queen was incredibly sexy, freakishly chiseled, and pouring out her heart and soul into this performance that they call Flamenco. We watched her prance around the stage click-clacking away with her male accompaniments, eventually letting her down and even pouring some of her sweat on the members of audience seating in the first few rows. At times, this woman moved her feet so fast that it looked as if she had a Hover Board beneath her feet and was simply gliding across the stage a la Marty McFly in Back to the Future. However, this whole combination of intimate guitar sounds, back-and-forth clapping patterns, and extremely rapid dance movements and emotions created an aura that captivated me for the hour and 40 minute duration. I kept looking over at Alex, and just saying, "Wow, she is ridiculous," and continued my captivation. The performance ends with Sara, perhaps having 'died', but she there is there, clad in all black, smoking a cigarette like a complete badass. The whole crew does a bow, and then proceeds to do some customary 'freestyle flamenco' in which each dancer showcases their personal skills for the crowd as a last little treat. Simply magnificent, and yet I felt extremely cultured at the same time. We did it right!

Although the video doesn't hold a candle to a live performance, check it out to get a better idea of what it's all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CATYBh1OlI&feature=PlayList&p=D26E61F41F7F3049&index=8


The rest of the weekend finished out fine, although one thing does stick out in my mind following dinner on Sunday night. After enjoying some nice potato stew with delicious costillas (ribs) that fell right off the bone, Maruja looks at the calendar and realizes Jon and I embark on June 10th. However, little does she know that we actually leave on June 7th. Upon realizing this, she became a little nostalgic and saddened to know that we only had a month and half left. She began to tell Jon and I that we should just stay for at least another week or 10 days once the program finishes since that's what most kids do. However, Jon and I regretted to tell that we had jobs and responsibilities back in the states that we must attend to once our program ends. She began to tear up a little bit (and then a lot), and tell us that we have been such a great experience for her and cannot believe how the time has flown and that we only have such a short time left. Jon and I ourselves become a little sad but obviously held back our emotions, and I tried to change the subject as fast as possible. However, albeit an extremely emotional circumstance, it was gratifying to know that we've had such a great Spanish family experience and that Maruja loves us so much, as if we were her own sons. 7 weeks left Madrid...pretty ridiculous. I'll have to embrace it to the fullest as I do with everything.

Jacobo
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239915000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239915000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239915000/tpod.html Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:51:39 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain and Canary Islands

Jon and I woke up at 4:45 am to catch a cab and then a 7 am connecting flight to Ibiza. If none of you are familiar with the island, it's pretty much a Spanish party island off the Southeastern coast of Spain. Although our Spring Break isn't the 'season' for this sinful place, brining a crew of 10-15 Wash U kids bode well for bringing in some sort of debauchery regardless. (Note: Look for the Wild on E! episode if they still play that show anywhere). Needless to say, Jon and I arrived at the airport, unfortunately to some rainy weather.

We were the first two scheduled to make it our villa that we agreed to rent with 8 other dudes from Wash U. We weren't so sure we got this place and if it was going to be sketchy or not. When we arrived at the airport, we took a cab a Go-Kart place in San Antonio, a city outside of Ibiza City itself. After waiting a few minutes in the pouring ran, a small, white van that looked like a toy car to me at the time pulls up to us. Some guy Josh walks out and begins helping me put my bag into his lunch-box sized trunk. Amidst this fun, an ACTUAL truck rolls by, but in the process, splashes my entire body, head to toe, with rain water accrued over the past few hours on the curb of the street. Just another inauspicious start to a Jake Bernstein Adventure.

However, once we arrive at the villa, we knew it was legit. Although it was raining, we could tell we were getting our money's worth without question. We were a little bit from town, meaning a convenience store, but the wife of the owner gave us a ride down there. We grabbed some food and other things for the week. Since we got up early in the morning and it was raining, we decided to sleep the rest of the afternoon as we awaited our friend Jack's arrival. Once he arrived, we made a few drinks in celebrating of reuniting old friends and fraternity brothers as well. A Wash U friend of mine Danielle was also staying on the island, and she had some friends as well. We invited them over, and had a little 'food and drink' gathering that proved to be a fun first night in Ibiza, including a late-night, but invigorating dive in the pool and listening to TV music channel that featured the best song ever-each and every Euro club mix song.

The next day we woke up, and thankfully, the weather was beautiful. We sat out by the pool, taking in some sun, sharing some laughs and having a few drinks. I, of course, remained my arrogant self and did not put sunscreen on in order to maximize my tan-ness for the remaining semester. I would...

Later that evening, we showered and went to a Tex-Mex restaurant that was a little bit overpriced, but compensated due to the big beers and oversized sombreros...It's an oversized hat; it's funny (Celebrity Jeopardy-Burt Reynolds / Terd Ferguson). Once we got done with dinner and walked about 25 minutes back to our villa, all the rest of the guys from London had arrived and we decided to get a little rowdy before hitting up a club. We went to a club called Pachá, which is actually a chain of clubs in Spain. Luckily, perhaps because it was in the off-season, we did not have to pay a cover, which usually run from 30-60 euros (aka $50-$100). We proceeded to dance our faces off till late at night, raging to some European techno with an absurd amount of bass while semi-clothed dancers pranced around the stage. We walked out of the club around 4:30 am, only to still find a huge line packed with people ready to party until 10 am then ext morning most likely. Eventually, we all hitched cabs back to the villa. [Note: Jon and I are the only 2 guys out of 12 that speak Spanish so getting around EVERYWHERE was squarely on our shoulders]. Even so the guys from London were impressed, and I felt like my Spanish had greatly progressed (I am also a masterful poet based on that rhyme right there).

Friday, we all woke up around 1 pm since we had gone to bed severely late in the morning/night, whichever you want to call it. We made our way out towards the 'famous' beaches that we had read and heard so much about. Once arriving there on a semi-cloudy afternoon, we enjoyed the sand on a relatively small, but apparently famous beach where celebrities are usually crawling during summer season. Although it was unexpected, in the grand scheme of things, it was a pleasant beach and very relaxing. On our way back (which was about an hour process) we ran into a 2nd crew of Wash U girls who we knew were staying in Ibiza. We all hitched the same bus back to San Antonio in search for a supermarket, but soon realized that it was Good Friday and practically everything was closed. Nevertheless, we did find a place where we could buy supplies in preparation of celebrating my 2 friends' (Jack and Eric) 21st birthdays.

We all made it back to the villa, and began preparing for the evening of eventual debauchery for some us. We went to a club called Eden, but perhaps in good fortune, there were not many people there as some of our friends 'went over the top' in their pre-gaming. We actually left the club for a little while where I feverishly tried to hale down some cabs so we could make our way home. Eventually, we all made it there, except for the fact that I haled down a random Spanish girl to take us up the hill to our villa for a small fee. Let's put it this way: Eric needed a bed quickly. Either way, both recent 21-year-olds made it through the night alive.

The next day we leisurely rolled out of bed, not trying to do anything is the weather was gross outside, featuring a little bit of rain. To make it interesting, 3 of us (Nolan, Jeff, and myself) created "challenges" that resulted in liquid rewards throughout the day, which kept us busy to say the least. Later that evening, the Wash U crew of all girls came over and collectively, we all made our own batches of food, ranging from pizza to pasta to hamburgers on our charcoal grill outside. The weather cleared up a little, and some of us soaked up the magnificent, majestic, and magnanimous view outside of our villa. I, as I do on a weekly basis, remind myself that I am in some exotic or alternative place other than the United States (i.e. St. Louis, Palm Harbor, Maine, etc;), and it just makes me feel like I am experience life as best I can.

As the night went on, we continued our festivities at the villa and eventually wound up at a club called Es Paradis (It's Paradise). It was definitely one of the cooler clubs I had ever seen, yet semi-scarce of people only because it was the off-season. Of course, we still managed to have a great time, dancing our faces off and raging to heart-thumping techno mega-bass. We eventually all made it back to the villa, once again, some of us parting ways the next day. For Jon, Jack, and myself we realized we did Spring Break right. We went to an exotic, beach location with an awesome crew that absolutely rocked out for the few days that we inhabited the party capital of the world. I. Love. Abroad.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239017820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239017820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1239017820/tpod.html Mon, 06 Apr 2009 09:21:46 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Valencia, Spain

Upon getting out of class last Thursday at 1:00pm, Spring Break/Semana Santa had officially begun. While many other people on my program felt like embarking to countries of Eastern Europe, I felt that it was important to branch out to other cities/areas in Spain since that's where I was studying after all. It would be shameful for me not to experience as much as I could in a majestic country such as Spain.

Consequently, Eric, Jon, and I booked a little trip to Valencia, "the whimsical southeast corner of Spain that proudly boasts a little of everything." We hadn't nailed down any exact plans except for the hostel we booked called the Purple Nest Hostel. Thus, we were, in fact, taking on whimsical qualities in the so-called whimsical city. Our hostel was actually pretty decent. We slept in bunk beds with some other people in the room, 6 in total. But the hostel had a little bar and a common social room where all their guests could hang out. They even featured a Nintendo Wii.

After orienting ourselves to our hostel, we just decided to walk along this park area where a river used to run through it. Although the river is gone now, we enjoyed a casual stroll among the greenery and eventually crossed a small little playground that featured a fallen giant type of structure. We felt childish, so we went down a little slide, which you should be able to see from pictures.

We continued on our walk towards the City of Arts and Sciences (as it's basically termed) which features very modern and urban architectural buildings. It comprises Spain's largest museum as it is divided into four buildings making this area into a mini-city: L'Hemisféric (resembles an eye), L'Oceangráfic (the aquarium), Palace of Art (stage performances), and the Museum of Sciences of Prince Felipe. Although we saw all the structures from the outside, we thought the aquarium would be exhilarating since it's the biggest aquarium in Europe. We only had an hour and half till it closed so we made sure to book it, but still see everything.

Although there were many interesting creatures in the aquarium, I think the highlight of our time there was observing a group of about 8 seals and 2 sea lions. They are honestly hilarious and ridiculous sea mammals. The seals, while very graceful in the water, seem relatively disgruntled once they reach open air. They always have their heads pointing to the sky as if they literally cannot look down. I think the just enjoy sunbathing. Their flippers just seem so out of place really but they utilize them very well to scratch and adjust themselves. The sea lions were even better...absolutely hilarious. For about 10 minutes, Eric, Jon and I watched the sea beasts just mope around, show their teeth at other seals, and eventually take a little snooze with their head against a rock wall. Priceless. It got even better as the dominant sea lion simply pushed a seal back in the water when it got in its way. The action culminated in a Sea Lion #1 vs. Sea Lion #2 all-out brawl to see who was really the king of the Aquarium Rock. Funny stuff.

After the aquarium, we walked about another 2 or 3 miles back to our hostel. After walking a total of around 6 miles (a mild estimate), we nap it up for about an hour and a half. After a solid bunk bed slumber (something I had not done since 2005 at Coleman), we embarked for a "Wine and Food Fair" that was just about a 5-minute walk from our hostel. This was the deal of the century in our minds. For 10 euros, we received tickets in return for 5 glasses of wine and 5 tapas-sized food servings. At around 9 pm, this placed was PACKED! While we only had to wait around 0-30 seconds to get a glass of wine, we had to wait about 10-15 minutes just to get a small plate of food that consisted of little bits of meats from local carnicerias (meat shops). I guess the goal was to nurse a glass of wine while you waited in line (sweet rhyme). We also grabbed a delicious plate of cheeses that featured Manchego, Parmesan and Munster, I think. Since it closed at 10 and we had some left over tickets, we went back to the next night where I a plate of delicious paella, a nice red wine, and even a glass of delicious Red Vermouth. On this night, a Dutch girl staying in our hostel taught us some ridiculous, meaningless Dutch expressions like we had picked up in Granada as well.

Of course, all the food and wine was delicious, but the atmosphere was even better-full of Spaniards and some tourists just soaking up the cultural ambiance of Valencia and the culinary experience that it offered. Some genuine Spanish music played really making it feel like we were engraining ourselves in the culture, at least for the couple days that we were there. Jon claims that it was "the best 10 euros he spent in Europe."

Later that evening, we went back to our hostel to kick it for a little bit in the common room area. We met some American kids as well as a new Australian friend of ours named Mick (short of Michael). This guy was seriously living the life. After working 10 years for his company in New South Whales, Australia, he received a 13-week paid vacation. This dude was 30 years old. He had already traveled to South America and some places in Europe, but defined the whimsical. He didn't really have any set plans to where he was going; he was straight up winging it. He came out to dinner with us to a nice tapas place not too far away. We enjoyed some delicious spare ribs, croquetas and some other ball-shaped, cheese filled dish or something. It was nice just to compare cultures and life scenarios with this badass Australian dude. We got back to our hostel, only to find another opportunity to go on a Pub Crawl led by 2 young Irish/Scottish girls. I felt like a Pub Crawl veteran at this point after hitting one up in London and Madrid. We had an eclectic hostel crew of American, Dutch, and Australian natives. We hit up some cool bars and even dance clubs as well. At each place, we received a free drink, usually Agua de Valencia, which is Valencia's typical drink composed of orange juice, cava, and other various liquids and liquors usually rum of champagne. It was very tasty, but also very sugary. I also took down a "Chuck Norris Round House Kick to the Face" shot. Let's just say after shooting it, my face did feel like Chuck Norris had indeed stuck a boot in my face. But Walker, Texas Ranger had nothing on me. I shook it off immediately after. The night continued at the other places, but it was getting late and I did a little combo of a walk/cab home.

The next day we got up around noon-the beauty of being on Spring Break. No wake up times. Today was our beach day. We took the 15-minute bus ride to the beach area that seemed a little bit in the "hood," at least where we were. We hadn't eaten anything yet, and we wanted to get our fix of Paella Valenciana [paella originated in Valencia]. We sat down at a café on the beach and ordered a portion for each of us. While Maruja definitely puts up a fight with her version of paella, I think Valencia's version has her by a little bit. The shrimp was so fresh and much more edible than Maruja's. The steaming yellow rice had a little more of a crispier texture that enhanced the meal overall. I felt extremely cultured once again for indulging in the delicious Spanish tradition of Paella.

After having our scrumptious meal, we headed for the sand. While very different from say, Clearwater Beach, the sand was very smooth and had more of a beige color. It was obviously a little cooler in Valencia as well than perhaps Palm Harbor, FL. It was probably high 60's and felt like 70 or so. We chilled on the beach for about 2 hours or so, taking in the sun and doing some solid people watching.

One man in particular caught our attention quite a bit. Before we could even sit down, we see this man (we'll call him Banana Man) just strutting around the beach as if he owned every grain of sand.
PLAY SONG NOW (to enhance the experience)






However, perhaps he felt so confident due to his sun-tan that had he probably accrued over the past week by sitting in the sun for about 6 hours a day. Or, maybe it was the fact that he was strutting around in a man-thong, thus giving him the name Banana Man due to the popular and hilarious beach term Banana Hammock [if you don't get it, think a little harder]. This guy was getting himself out there, simply walking about 100 yards, stopping, looking around, and continuing to seek out more on-lookers. On the hand, it was absurd that this man was doing this while clad in his scarce clothing. However, it might have been more absurd that people couldn't take their eyes of this guy because it was just TOO funny because he was so serious in the way he went about his "business." I think he really should have had a theme song--"Da ya think I'm Sexy" by Rod Stewart would have been my choice.









As gross as it sounds, it might have been the highlight of our beach day. Cheers to Banana Man!

We got back later that day to the city center and went to a Smoothie place that was recommended in my beast of a guidebook. We each ordered a smoothie that absolutely hit the spot due to the refreshment that our smoothies gave to our palates. I also ordered an extremely rich, tasty banana, chocolate, caramel, and whip cream crepe. I didn't care if I was spoiling my appetite.

Later that evening, after getting back from the Whine/Food Fair again, we kicked it in our hostel for a good while, chatting it up with our friend Mick and some kid from Washington State. We eventually started playing Kings, a popular 'consumption' game among many American college students. It got so popular that we brought in 3 Canadians that were also hanging out in the hostel. They were actually really cool people with hilarious accents (specifically on words like 'about', 'well hey thurr', etc; it felt great to acquire an international experience in the hostel, meeting all sorts of different people, and sharing a little bit of American college flavor with them. I guess this hostel thing is pretty cool after all. I am definitely glad we did it. Solid, easy-going night overall.

The next day we woke up and checked out at 11. Once again, with no real plans, we just decided to walk around. We grabbed some breakfast that consisted of toast with ham or tomato spread. As we were sitting outside at this café and delving into people watching once again, we realized it was Palm Sunday in a rather Catholic area in Valencia. Turns out we were right next to a Romanesque Cathedral in the city center. We were lucky enough to see the Palm Sunday Procession as many people followed the Church clergy while carrying nice palms (a la a Lulav Branch-but not lemon/etrog, Zengel. Sorry).

We walked around the city some more, finding some cool places near the very center. After sitting in a park for an hour or so, it was time to head towards the bus station. We gained a legit appreciation for the city of Valencia and felt like we had done as much as we could in the short time we were there, and we did it all by ourselves. I am glad I expanded my knowledge of Spain, and can't wait for Ibiza, which will obviously be a different experience than appreciating Valencia, but I am pumped to see my friends from WashU and rage it up on the crazy party island.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238339160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238339160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238339160/tpod.html Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:08:08 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Madrid, Spain

The majority of the week wasn't too exciting as I told myself I was going to take it easy and try and save a little 'dinero' ($) for Spring Break. For the record, I think I was very successful.

Saturday was the more action-packed / only substantive day of the week in my mind. We had an excursion for which we had to wake up at 7:45am, which obviously made me ecstatic...On this day, we would travel roughly an hour or so outside of Madrid for an interesting afternoon on a relatively cooler day. [The weather was down from about 65 to 45-50 ish (esque) on this day]

Stop #1: El Escorial

El Escorial is a historical residence of the Spanish king as well as a monastery, royal palace, museum and even a school located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

Background information:

El Escorial comprises two architectural complexes of great historical and cultural significance: El Real Monasterio de El Escorial itself and La Granjilla de La Fresneda, a royal hunting lodge and monastic retreat about five km away. These sites have a dual nature; that is to say, during the 16th and 17th centuries, they were places in which the temporal power of the Spanish monarchy and the ecclesiastical predominance of the Roman Catholic religion in Spain found a common architectural manifestation.[1] El Escorial was, at once, a monastery and a Spanish royal palace. Originally a property of the Hieronymite monks, it is now an Augustinian monastery. [Thank you Wikipedia]

Much of the site was pretty majestic at some points even with the babbling of Pepa, our excessive tour guide who continued to occasionally bore us with a surplus of information. One of the more intriguing (for lack of a better word) parts of the monastery was the fact that all the kings that had ruled in this palace are also buried in there as well. It was a little unnerving I guess you could say upon viewing just a room full of tombs that inhabited Spanish kings of the 16th and 17th centuries. But hey, this is a cultural experience, right? Of course.

After our lengthy visit to El Escorial, we hung out in plaza and enjoyed our packed lunches. At 1:00pm, we gladly put it into perspective that we had still 5 or 6 hours left on our excursion for 2 sites that were no more than 20 minutes away at most. Here we go...

Stop #2: Valle de los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen)

I had heard many things regarding this valley as it commemorates those who perished during the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939. This gigantic monument, originally conceived by Franciso Franco (the terrible Spanish dictator of 39 years who is often compared to a Mussolini or even a Hitler), is also the location of his own grave. This monument proves to be controversial to this day due to the fact that it is the largest nationalist or fascist monument in Europe let alone the world. According to Franco, he meant for it to be a "national act of atonement". However, as a surviving artifact of Franco's rule, the monument and its Catholic basilica remain controversial, especially due to the manner and circumstances of its construction (built by political prisoners).

It's just pretty ridiculous to see this monument still exists especially since there is a literal church inside where people can actually pray in order to honor the horrible, horrible man that Franco was. At the same time, here at this valley lay rest to the remains of 40,000 victims of the Spanish Civil War, while above the valley stands the tallest memorial cross in the world, rising to 450+ feet! Unbelievable. This site remains a huge debate among the Spanish people, the government, and even all those who endured the oppressing dictatorship under El Caudilllo, Franco. Regardless, I think it was important for us to see albeit relatively depressing at the same time.

Stop #3:

La Granja (Farm)-Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso

This palace, which also feautes normally lush gardens, is the site of the baroque palace set in gardens in the French manner and sculptural fountains, that was built for Philip V of Spain.

I use the word normally above since on a normal March 28, the weather would have been beautiful, providing a majestic viewing of the gardens and the palace. However, when we got off the bus, it was literally snowing [bullets] and felt like we just cranked up the DeLorean to 88 miles an hour and traveled back in time 2 months or so when it was snowing in Madrid. Thus, we rapidly fled the bus and trudged up a few hills while freezing pellets of snow smacked us in the face. (Okay, I exaggerate a little bit given the fact that I had a jacket on and I shared an umbrella with some one. Still though, it was cold and snowing hard and I felt like it would make a better story). Finally getting to the central viewing point of the palace's façade, we rapidly snapped some photos and headed back towards the bus. Freezing and upset that we didn't witness the Granja at its best, Ramiro and Pepa decided to 'treat' us to either some hot chocolate, tea, or coffee. (I am not sure if this was out of their pockets or Ramiro was simply swiping "the WashU card" in this little café. Whichever it was, we enjoyed our treat. I had the hot chocolate, which has more of a soupy consistency but very flavorful nonetheless. Finally, we made our way back on the bus where I enjoyed a nice hour nap (typical) on our way back to Madrid.

On this night, the Játivadores (a named I coined for the 6 of us that live on Calle de Játiva) were scheduled to go out with the girls' host mom Maria since 3 of us helped construct a dresser for her bedroom about 2 months ago. Our initial plan was to go to Seco Cinco (since her brother owns the bar), then another place, and finally culminate at a dance club called Morocco. However, things did not shake up exactly as they had planned. We got to Seco Cinco around 9:30. We met up with Maria and met her close friend Sancho, her cousin Benito, and her other twin brother Vitor and his wife. They were all very welcoming and I enjoyed talking to them for an extended period of time as we watched a soccer game at the bar. It was an excellent way for the practice my Spanish.

Jon and I had not eaten anything because we knew we could feast (for free) at our place. About 5 minutes after our arrival, all of the following food was presented to our own personal eating table:

- 1 tapas sized plate of Queso manchego
-2 plates of Spanish Tortilla
-1 huge serving of Patatas Bravas (potatoes with a semi-spicy tomato-ish sauce)
- 2 small plates of different types of ham-one like pepperoni and the other bologna-esque)
- 1 enormous plate of scrambled eggs, potatoes, and grilled jamón Serrano [This way my favorite)

As I like to say, comimos un montón de comida-translates roughly to "We ate a mountain of food. I was stuffed and on the verge of exploding! But, as I hope many of you know by this point, Seco Cinco features a beer tap literally on your table. Therefore, I was essentially provided bottomless beer for about 3 hours.

As I continued making friends with Maria's family, we began to discuss more plans for the evening since Maria was feeling nauseous for whatever reason. Consequently, we hitched rides with one of Maria's friends and brother to a bar not too far away from Pácifico (my metro stop). We went in this small "disco-pub" and chilled out for a little, showing some of them our American dance moves (including the fistpump-but not in doubt since I am trying to phase it out. After a while, feeling only slightly out of place, Sarah, Eric, Jon and I embarked on our way home, which was only about a 10-12 minute walk. Overall though, I felt like the night was more of an authentic Spanish experience since we hit up some small bars with only Spanish people and only obviously speaking their language. I definitely would like more of these experiences in the future.

Total Amount Spent Last night: 3 euros.

Not bad, eh?
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238029320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238029320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1238029320/tpod.html Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:23:36 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

So, upon waking up at 5am, Jon, Amanda and I made it to the airport by about 6:50am for a 8:20am take-off. I obviously slept the entire plane flight until we arrived at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. My friend Scott gave me extremely specific directions on how to get to his apartment. After taking a few different types of public transportation including the Metro and the Tram, which finally led me close to the guys' apartment. However, Scott gave me the wrong tram stop, only to which I found my other friend Abe coincidentally on the same tram as us. Luckily, we found him as we got off, and he pointed us in the right direction to their apartment.

Both Abe and Scott were more or less flabbergasted upon seeing the little surprise on my face. Prior to coming to A-dam, I had told them I wanted to have a mustache and they should do they same. They saw my 3-weeks-worth-of-a "snor" (Mustache in Dutch-pronounced like 'shnorr') and couldn't help but give a little laugh/chuckle. Keep it mind I was 100% aware that my little facial member looked hideous and heinous and was just a big joke. However, the word 'snor' did spawn some funny conversations/comments such as "Are you 'snor' about that?" and several other silly comments.

Jon, Scott and I walked around a little bit and checked out some sights. We literally spent 7 minutes or so in the Rikes Museum, which is a museum presenting the history and culture of the Netherlands primarily expressed through art. There wasn't too much to see since the museum was being renovated so we sped through the important stuff. After we got out of there, we grabbed a few slices of pizza, and then headed towards the Vincent Van Gogh Museum. As I really have become the artistic aficionado over the past couple months, I was eager to explore the differences between my knowledge of Picasso and Dali's style compared to Van Gogh. As it turns out, VVG wasn't so much the child prodigy that the other two were, and in the end, Vincent LITERALLY went insane and perished at a young age as a result. Nevertheless, we meandered through the 4-story museum, which culminated of our viewing of the famous Starry Night.

Friday evening through early Saturday morning: EDITED FOR CONTENT

Continue here:

After somewhat of a decent slumber on the air mattress, Scott blared some Hall & Oates "You make my dreams come true" as a standard wake-up song. Great choice! We made our way out of the apartment towards the Anne Frank House/Museum. The line seemed long so we proceeded to walk around and come back later. We searched a while for food until we found something close to Rembrandt's house. After grabbing a roll sandwich and tart White Beer, we entered into Rembrandt's house, the domicile of a famous Dutch artist. Overall, it was a pretty sizeable old house, containing old-fashioned rooms with some his (and others) famous paintings that created a very homey feeling within the abode.

Fun Fact #1: Rembrandt, along with other people of that generation in Holland, feared that if you slept lying down, then all the blood would rush too your head and you would die! As a result, they slept in box beds that allowed you to sit up halfway as you slept.

Fun Fact #2: Rembrandt had a majestic collection of artifacts, including weapons animal bones, animal skeletons, and other macho-esque (ish) goodies that composed an entire room of his house.

Fact Fact #3: Rembrandt was a much better etcher than painter. He also went bankrupt due to his spending habits and his inability to efficiently sell his art.

Fun Fact #4: The pop music duo Hall & Oates originally planned to call themselves "Dreamboat." (I randomly stumbled upon this while browsing for "Fun Facts" on the Internet, I swear. It's just a coincidence that I had just mentioned them as our wake-up song)

So, that was Rembrandt's house. Pretty cool dude if you ask me.

After that, we headed towards a huge Flea Market type place right around the corner that was very representative of El Rastro here in Madrid. Scott, Abe, and I are very fond of looking for "classic" attire and associated accessories. Although I didn't buy anything, we saw many interesting things such as bike locks, spray paint, a white Searsucker jacket, and the VHS tape Bernstein on Broadway. Scott and Abe bought "skinny ties", which I, upon 2nd glance, am extremely jealous that I did not purchase one at the time.



Investors? Possibly you!!!




After our market experience, we ventured towards the Anne Frank house once again and finally made it in this time a la the Butabi brothers in Night at the Roxbury. At first glance, the exhibit/house is much larger than I anticipated. Albeit Otto Frank's office as well, the Annex (not a la 763 Jacqueline Lane) contained 3 floors with a room or two on each. Within each room was a description of its form, function, and who lived in each. As you progressed through the annex, there was an excerpt of Anne's diary or video clip displaying some aspect or progression of Anne and her family's experience of hiding during WWII. It concluded with the mentioning of Anne's perishing in the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was truly a poignant moment for me. Nevertheless, I was glad to have experienced the building in which a charming, pensive young Jewish child endured her last years.

After the Anne Frank house, we ventured back to the guys' apartment and made some food. We downed a few Pilsners and headed to a bar around the corner where the guys knew a friend. The friend (whose extremely Dutch sounding name I forget) was a large man, great in stature, as are many of the Dutch men and women. In fact, the Dutch claim to be the tallest people in the world on average with man averaging 6'1 and women an astounding 5'7 on average. Due to the abundant amount of apparent 7-footers, the guys and I decided to call them by former NBA 7-footers, most notably The Dunkin' Dutchman of the mid-90's Indiana Pacers, RIK SMITS!

Anyway, as I was saying, we hit up this guys' bar for a while and then our way to Paradisa Club. When we got there, the crowd was a little sparse, but that didn't stop us from fistpumping our faces off. We enjoyed ourselves for a solid while, rocking out, some of us in skinny ties, some of us not. I felt extremely "euro" and tried to use my 'snor' as somewhat of a pickup line on obviously taller-than-me Dutch girls. I'd just about all of my 10-15 attempts at conversation were an immediate failure and/or turnoff. Even so, we managed to have a great time and left around 3 am. We returned to the guys' apartment, grabbed our bags, and finally got the airport around 6:15 am, still awake ready to pass out on the plane. Upon arriving to Maruja's, I actually shaved my 'snor' PRIOR to going to sleep so that I would wake up feeling a little cleaner and much less Eurotrashy. Mission Accomplished for 'snor'.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1237479960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1237479960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jakester21/1/1237479960/tpod.html Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:26:42 -0400 Las aventuras de Jacobo: Madrid 2009

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Madrid, Spain

After a fun-filled week and weekend, I was curious to see what this week would bring. Monday was pretty routine. Lots of class, solid workout, and return home by about 8:30 for La Cena. I can't recall what it was exactly, but it was delicious as usual. I hung out in the room for a couple hours, realizing that I spend entirely too much time on the internet on a daily basis. I decided to start a self-intervention. Less time on the Internet and hanging out in the room. Perhaps I will hang out with Maruja and Pedro a little more or pick a book more often. 3 days in it's not working that great yet, but time will tell.

Tuesday [St. Patrick's Day], however, did bring some activity outside of the apartment. I woke up around 11:30 and went to the Ernest Shackleton exhibit that is located in the Real Botanical Gardens somewhat near Parque del Retiro. The exhibit features majestic photography of a man named Frank Hurley who accompanied Antarctic Explorer Ernest Shackleton on his voyage to reach the South Pole circa 1915. I had read a book chronicling this expedition in one my classes, which obviously fueled my interest in checking out the pictures. Thus, knowing the story really allowed me to enjoy the pictures, which for 1915 or so were pretty darn good. After the exhibit, the 2 girls and I went to a Pasteleria called Mallorqa (bakery more or less) that also featured little sandwiches, delicious chocolate sweets, pinchas (small, bite-sized portions) of tortilla or a type of meat, and some other things. This is a very well known place so I felt "accomplished" that I hit it up. Across the street as well was a BAGEL place (with some other delicious treats as well). I have not had a bagel in a long time obviously and was curious about the Madrid version. They were a bit smaller, but still tasty and wholesome without question with cream cheese. Dios mio, do I sound Jewish. Albeit Tuesday night should have been filled with St. Paddy's day festivities, I didn't actually do very much since it's obviously not that big of a deal here. Nevertheless, I met my friend Pat's parents and we had a beer at Seco Cinco but that was about it.

On Wednesday, I played my 1st live game of basketball since I arrived in Spain. Fortunately, I got to play with some Spanish guys. At first, I played a kid named Pablo one-on-one. I started off hot getting out to a 6-2 lead. However, the 5 pieces of pizza or so I ate about 30 minutes prior to this game were not sitting pretty in my stomach. I also haven't played live ball in a while so I was getting a little tired as well. I powered through and ended up winning 15-13. After a brief rest, I then started playing 2-on-2 with Pablo and 2 other kids, but our different styles of play made it a challenge, especially due to the language barrier. The kid I played with was a righty whose jump shot released from the left side of his body. Gross. We played for a while, and I couldn't get my shot going whatsoever. I wanted my guy to pick and roll with me but he just wanted to hoist crappy jump shots. Whatever, we lost by about 2 and I had about had it for the day. Nevertheless, it was fun to play with some Spanish kids and get some Spanish bball lingo as well.

Wednesday Night was another 21st birthday for one of the members of our program. She decided to hit up a place called Mint, which was a pretty cool, relatively small "DiscoPub" in Chueca. For a Wednesday night, this place was pretty packed with a younger crowd (18-25 maybe) of Spaniards soaking up the night. We stayed there for a while; I had actually met up with 3 Miami of Ohio girls, one of which I met briefly when I was in Barcelona. They only stayed for a little bit but the WashU crew held it down pretty good for a while.

Thursday was a holiday here so I did not have class, thus I woke up late in the afternoon once again. Jon and I decided to hit up another random park called Parque del Caprichio. It was on the far outskirts of Madrid for sure. We got the metro and it seemed like the quietest place in Spain. No cars, hardly any people, nothing. We continued to walk into the park, which had some nice gardens, small ponds, and flowers. We relaxed there for about 2 hours or so, taking in some sun and recovering from the night before. It was a pretty enjoyable afternoon followed by an early diner since we were getting up early to go to Amsterdam the next day. However, I was so excited/non-tired that I only got a couple hours of sleep prior to our 7am flight for which we had to wake up at 5 am. Should be a fun trip...
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