Thursday, June 30, 2011

Bored In Studio? Doodle Evvv Werrr!


Today we had our “Mid-Review” for studio. We pinned up our diagrammatic mylar and our city grid tracing mylar and had a little show and tell about our models. You know, I didn’t think there was enough information on the mylar to have a discussion about it, but we ended up talking about everyones’ project for a lot longer than expected. I just got back from studio and it’s 11:30pm. We definitely went overtime for this studio. But anyway, there were two fans running the whole time in the studio but it was still. so. hot. We were all sweating like pigs grazing in the sun. I’d say each project took at LEAST twenty minutes to discuss. Despite the long Review, I’d have to say that it was really interesting to listen to everyone’s ideas about their urban intervention into the city and the connection to the dunes. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you’re told to do so haha.

I was the last person to present the beginnings of my project. It was almost 11pm by the time I stood up to present next to Robert. By that time, everyone was sleeping or distracted or uninterested or tired or… all of the above. Oh! By the way, other than Alex and our GSI, Paloma, we had one other reviewer, Charles. I forgot his last name, but that’s besides the point haha. Alex apparently went to school with him back in the states, so they are pretty close. It was great having Charles at our Review.

Anyway, that is just about everything I can update you about today. Other than that, I have to pack for our adventure this weekend in Granada and Cordoba!

I’m so excited!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Sticky-Icky.


So today is Wednesday AKA the day of the best market in town - The Mercadillo - and despite our lack of sleep, Melissa and I actually woke up early! I'd like to thank the annoying alarm I set five times haha. But anyway, Melissa, Sherry, Yoshie, and I made it to the Mercadillo and browsed around for a bit before class at 10am. Melissa spotted some really pretty sandals and I saw some strawberry-patterned undergarments but we didn't end up buying them on the spot since we were feeling rushed to get to class... next time, though. Next time.

Anyway, the days are getting hotter and even more sticky. I feel like a brush that has been dipped in a tub of wax or honey and has been sitting out to dry. Does that even make sense?! Well, you get the idea haha. The studio has the worst ventilation, thus the stuffy and humid feeling we feel every minute we're working in there! But, it's okay. Today I had a lot of fun working with photo transfers! I printed a bunch of extra pictures to transfer into my sketchbook and some postcards and they look so legit! If I could, I would just sit and transfer photos all day. Tomorrow we're supposed to have our pinup for what we have so far on our mylar. We'll see how that goes!

A group of nine of us also just booked a hostel for this Saturday night in Cordoba! We were all huddled behind Molly's laptop in one of the rooms on the second floor trying to figure out how to best spend the weekend. From the looks of it, it's going to be another awesome adventure. I can't wait!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

The Tabacco Store That Saved The Day.


It was a hot and sticky day in studio today. The heat is really starting to get to us; Melissa and I woke up late again! Haha what the heck?! We rushed off to studio, but with no muffins for breakfast. It was hectic but we made it in time and immediately sat down to start working on our mylar and rhino models. Nothing too eventful happened today in studio except... we finally got the program and print-outs of our final project! Awesome. Now, time to come up with a building in three weeks. Ready? Set? GO!

Aside from studio, I've been trying to buy postcards so I can send them to my "homies" back home, but I either couldn't find a store that sold them or the store that did have them were closed! The siestas here really make it difficult to find what you need whenever you want. Haha oh the convenience of 24-hour service at home! So, it's been a journey trying to find ANY postcards but today, one store saved the day. Thanks to Molly, from studio, Sherry and I found and bought some postcards at a local Tobacco store a few blocks down from the Pension! Yeah! I'm excited to start sending some postcards! Hopefully the post office won't be closed... Post office, don't bring me down!

That's about it for today. Oh, but I should mention that this weekend is looking pretty epic so far! We'll be going to Granada, Cordoba, and (maybe) Sevilla! According to Google, we will be seeing beautiful sites that we will recognize from the Arch170 series... crazy, I know!

Monday, June 27, 2011

"SHOES. Lets Get Some Shoes!"



Today was a reeeaaally slow day. I felt so tired and fell asleep trying to make my Rhino model on my bed today... the heat really drains you! Melissa and I were either sitting or eating today haha. But, we did get an ice cream cone from the Pension before heading to studio, so that was sweet.

After studio, Melissa and I headed to the Mercado to pick up the usual: bread, nutella, and muffins. Once we finished eating on our balcony, we walked around town a bit where we met up with Albert, Edgar, and Cristian. It was funny because we met them in the shoe store that's right across the street from the Pension. They were going to buy some shoes but they ended up helping US buy shoes haha. We got such a great deal though, dude. Only 3,50 euros!!! Oh my goodness. Melissa and I bought some really cute slip ons... flats... whatever you call them! They are so Spanish looking, I love it. I got Maroon-colored ones while Melissa got some Navy Blue ones... hehe.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

"Hey, this picture's really cute. Oh, and this one, too. AND THIS ONE!"


Today was another very chill day.

Melissa and I wore our sun dresses today and had a mini photo shoot by some really beautiful flowers, palm trees, and the castle. All of the photos came out really well. After taking the "nice" pictures, we had a little fun and started taking advantage of how the wind was blowing my hair all over the place and took a bunch of silly pictures with my hair all crazy and blown up into the air haha! There's always room for a little bit of fun!

After our little photo shoot, we dressed down into our swimming suits and beach attire and headed to the beach. We dipped our feet in the water but spent the next hour tanning on the shore. Thirty minutes on our backs and thirty minutes on our bellies. I'm trying to even out my tan; I think it's working so far! My goal by the end of the summer is to look Native American haha. We'll see how that goes!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

This Is What Weekends Should Be Like.


Today was such a chill day. I loved it. Even though we didn't get much sleep after our crazy night in Alicante last night, Melissa and I still got up at a reasonable-ish time and caught the 2:50pm bus to Torrevieja. This time, we were ready to go swimming! I finally got the chance to put on my swimming suit.

Since most people were still sleeping when we left, it was just Melissa and I. As soon as we got there, we successfully found and bought a cheap pair of goggles: 1,50 euros each. That's right, baby haha. The straps were definitely not as durable as the more expensive goggles we saw... but, you know. We wanted to save some money.

After we got our goggles, we went swimming in the water and laid on those awesome benches by the water to get some sun. I got a little bit of a tan but not too much since the sun wasn't at it's strongest point during the early evening. Ha! The goggles we got were so dorky looking but it doesn't matter, as long as our eyes are covered, right?!

After lounging around the beach, we had some ice cream and browsed the nearby booths where venders were selling a whole bunch of neat things. Melissa ended up buying a sick shell ring and I bought a beautifully beaded bracelet. We were happy with our finds! Later today, we browsed some booths here in Guardamar where similar things are sold. I bought a few things that caught my eye, including a magnet, scarf, keychain, and some sweet candy!

Lovely day.

Friday, June 24, 2011

"Burn Baby, Burn Burn! All Night Long . . ."


What a crazy day.

The day began around midnight when Melissa and I decided to follow the sounds of massive explosions – I mean explosives – outside the Pension. Christian had called us giving us a heads up about what was going on at the beach. Apparently, there was a huge party going on ON the beach. For what? I have no idea, but it seemed to be something related to the history of Guardamar or some kind of annual festival or ritual perhaps. But anyway, it was intense! I have never seen so many young people in Guardamar; they all seemed to come out at night and flock to the shores of the beach. Where have they all been hiding? We didn’t intend on staying very long; we just wanted to satisfy our curiosity.

Once we got down to the beach where an enormous bonfire was, we started looking for everyone else in studio. We eventually found that on the sand all huddled together dancing in a small circle they formed. There was a DJ, flashing lights, fireworks… everything! Everyone seemed to be having a great time haha. I eventually joined in the circle and started dancing to the one or two songs I really, really knew. It was a lot of fun!

Oh, by the way, since we arrived later than everyone else Melissa and I had take part in a ritual of going around the bonfire once, throwing sand into the fire three times, and “purifying ourselves” by walking through the water on the shore. We were told it was good luck. Awesome. One thing about these parties in Spain: People do whatever, and I mean WHATEVER, they want.

Anywho, we left at around 2am and got back to get some sleep at the Pension. We slept for however long we did and went to studio the next morning. Remember those really beautiful floats that were in Alicante? Well, they were burned today. That’s right. BURNED. Apparently, whenever these floats are made it is a tradition for them to be lit on fire and burned at midnight. Today was that day. It was a big deal and ended up becoming yet another city party. Since Alex knew that many of us were planning on going to Alicante for the celebration of burning the floats, he let us out a bit earlier than usual so we could have time to catch the bus to get there. We were able to catch the 8:05pm bus.

The rest of the night was history. A long history.

Just about everyone from studio went together, aside from a couple of people or so, so it was a good time. We arrived in Alicante a little after 9pm and tried to kill some time before midnight. Some of us ate or took pictures while others filled up on drinks. We walked around Alicante for a bit until we found one float where we were able to get a really good viewing spot for. We grabbed one of the best spots at around 11:15pm and stayed put until midnight, anxiously waiting to see the float burn. It was crazy because the firefighters that were present were spraying the adjacent buildings with water even before the float burning started; this was to make sure that the nearby buildings would not catch on fire. This was the last preparation before the float was burned.

The burning of the entire float took about fifteen minutes or so, maybe twenty. Either way, that beautiful float burned like nothing. The fire consumed the float in no time. There were pretty cool fireworks and a whole bunch of orange glowing ash flittering in the night sky and falling down upon us. It almost looked like fireflies. I held the camera up to my face and recorded most of the burning to shield the scorching heat from my eyes.

What happened soon after was completely unexpected but absolutely perfect. The people in the crowd started provoking the firefighters with the hoses yelling, “Agua! Agua! Agua!” and do you know what the firefighters did? No, they did not just raise the hose into the air and lightly sprinkle everyone. Oh no, they didn’t. They took the hose and directly sprayed water at the crowd with impressive pressure. Several times. At first we all ducked trying to cover our bags, at least I was. But after they continued to spray us, we gave up and stood there soaking wet at nearly 1am, defeated by the water hose. My shirt was so drenched it’s not even funny and my socks and shoes were as soggy as soggy cereal. It was so crazy, dude – but it was a great way to end the celebration.

Okay, so the rest of the night after that was quite crazy, let me tell you.

Minus this craziness (it was definitely an experience), the night ended amazingly. A group of us went to a dance club and ended up dancing until they played the last song at 5am. It was so much fun! Dancing with friends all night long has got to be one of the best things you can do haha. Oh, I should mention why we were in Alicante so late! Simple: We didn’t want to pay for a cab ride back to the Pension and there were so buses running late at night. So, we had to stay up all night until we could catch the 7:15am bus back to Guardamar.

We did it!

Once it neared 7am, we slowly walked to the bus station and passed out on the whole bus ride back to Guardamar. Everyone was so tired haha. It was great. It was as if I closed my eyes for one moment and we were already back in Guardamar. We definitely had a long night so we all finally went to bed around 8am.

Melissa and I slept for a few hours before getting up to start another beautiful day.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Clocking In For Studio


We are really getting into the studio groove now.

Melissa and I woke up at 10am and arrived fashionably late to studio today haha. We were really productive today, I'd say. As soon as we got there, we scanned portions of our mylar and continued on our elevation and section drawings of our models on our mylar. Once I plugged into my ipod and started drawing, the time seemed to fly by and before I knew it, it was 2pm and we were released for lunch and our little siesta. We worked again in studio from 5pm to almost 9pm. Oh! So, we had to build another model today; this time, it was supposed to be more of an iteration of the first, more refined, and connected to the way we drew our sections. I had a hard time figuring out how to build mine but I eventually came up with something. Just gotta keep going!

After class, Melissa and I caught another sunset at the castle. We ate the usual, bread and nutella, at the top of the castle and enjoyed one of Life's simplest but most beautiful pleasures. We made it just in time to see the sun drop from the sky to behind the mountains in the distance.

And here we are.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

"I Think I've Gotten Used To The Smell"


Today was a long work day in studio. From 10am to now, almost 3am, Melissa and I have accomplished a pretty decent amount of work today! Minus the siesta that occurred between 2pm and 5pm and involved us passing out on our beds, we've been working the whole time! We finished scanning our mylar, transferring the photos, and drawing new diagrams. We're almost done with tracing the city grid of Guardamar onto our other sheet of mylar!

Everything went smoothly for the most part. The most difficult thing was transferring the collages onto the mylar because we had to use acitone, which is extremely toxic to breathe in the fumes haha. Our little studio space doesn't get very much ventilation so the acitone definitely filled the space with a unique scent... the scary thing is that a lot of us got so used to the fumes that we couldn't smell the acitone anymore. Oh man. But anyway, tomorrow's going to be another work day so we'll be able to finish what we didn't today, tomorrow.

And it is most definitely getting hotter and more humid.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

"I'm Sweatin' Like A Pig!"


Happy Summer Solstice!

Today was another extremely long day. Not only was the sun out for the most amount of time today than any other day in the year, but the class met in Alicante again this morning for another building tour. Afterwards, we were free to roam the city before meeting back at studio at 5pm. Melissa and I decided to stay to see the fireworks show on the main street. Or, should I say EXPLOSIVES. They were so loud, I can’t even begin to describe. Nonetheless, it was pretty epic.

The rest of the day consisted of a bus ride back to Guardamar, lunch at the Pension, and Studio.

It's HOT!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Pension! Pension! Pension!


We arrived back at the Pension in Guardamar Del Segura safe and sound. And we were craving Vicente's food from the Pension like NO OTHER. As soon as we got off the bus, we swiftly walked to the cafe and sat at the first open table we could find. We feasted like Kings and Queens today for lunch.

Oh how we missed the Pension's food!

Afterwards, we took the rest of today off to rest from the weekend and caught up with homework for studio. Quite honestly, that is all I had energy for today. Well, that and laundry. Yes! I did my laundry for the first time in Spain today. It went smoothly but the CATCH is that we don't have any dryers... so, as I type, my clothes are laying out and drying on our little balcony right now.

PS: When we arrived in Alicante, before heading to Guardamar, we got the chance to see some beautiful floats in the middle of the streets in Alicante... they're preparing for a festival that's coming up! Melissa was excited and took a bunch of pictures of the floats she could see.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

"What? That Only Took 5 Minutues?!"


Today was our last day in Portugal, but I think we spent it well. Since we visited the major attractions the day before, we spent today at one of the last places on the the Portuguese postcard: Belem Tower. This tower was pretty cool, it's absolutely gorgeous from the outside, but it took us 2 hours to walk to. We walked along the shore for four miles to get to this tower. It was a crazy treck. The sun beat down on us like it was burning on its last tank of gas and wanted to shine as bright as possible. I definitely tanned... burned... haha but it was worth it! It always is.

The tower is relatively small compared to everything we saw yesterday so we were in and out in no time. The most interesting thing that happened while we were touring the tower was that Melissa and I made three new friends. Three Greek guys got our attention and asked us where we were from; once we told them, we continued to make small talk. The craziest thing was that they asked if they could take a picture with us, haha! Imagine that. We did. Vise versa as well. And we went our separate ways. Melissa said it happened to her before when she studied abroad in Rome last year, but it was a whole new thing for me haha.

Anyway, we walked around for a bit afterwards, took some more pictures at a couple monuments and "accidentally" ran into those three guys again. It was a funny encounter. But we all just laughed as we continued to about our day. Since it took us two hours to walk to Belem tower, we decided it was best to take the train back to where we came from. We boarded the train and arrived at our destination in literally less than ten minutes. We couldn't believe how quickly the ride was and how long it took us to walk there ourselves. Man!

But any who, the day ended quite nicely as Melissa, Lu, Edgar, and I walked up an incredibly steep walkway to get to the top of a hill where we experienced the garden of Eduardo VII. It was so gorgeous as you could see the beautifully sculpted brush, monuments, and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance. On top of that, there was a EPIC Portuguese flag of EPIC proportion proudly waving at the top of this hill. It was the best way to end our time in Portugal.

The four of us soon walked back to one of the hostels to pick up our stuff and head off to the airport. We arrived promptly and boarded our flight to Madrid. As soon as we arrived back in Madrid, we strategically found a quieter and warmer spot in the airport for us to sleep for the night. Lu and Edgar took the chairs while Melissa and I laid shamelessly on the ground next to the wall. It was the only way I could fall asleep. And I did... eventually. For a little while. Regardless of the circumstances, I slept much better at the airport this time around. We're getting better at this. Hard-core travelers, we are.

I'll never forget this experience.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Eating Cookies, Bread, and Drinking Water . . . At the Castle


Today was day two in Portugal and let me tell you, it was an epic one. It looks like I knocked out early last night and slept like a rock in the lower bunk bed. Rest, well-taken. I felt much more rested and energized for the day. The day started off with a pretty good breakfast at the Hostel. I was so happy that breakfast was complementary; even if the orange juice was more watered down that usual—hey, I’ll take whatever food I can get. Euros don’t grow on trees, “homies.” Haha

Before Melissa, we saw a bunch of animals and produce.

Lu, Edgar, Angela, and I met Melissa back at the same fountain from yesterday at the main plaza. She was wearing a cute sundress. From there, we went to the train station and caught a thirty-minute ride to Sintra. I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again: I LOVE public transportation! You know, the public transportation systems here are really wonderful; the trains and buses are so clean and the rides are really smooth.

Anywho, once we arrived in Sintra and got off the train, we saw an epic castle wall in the distance as we looked up. It was also much cooler there and extremely windy in general. I only brought summer tank tops so I had to endure the brutal wind! But eventually I got used to it. We spent the whole day at a couple of the most famous points of interest: Parque e Palacio Pena and the Moorish Castle.

What an adventure.

There was a bus that drives people to the Palace but since they were charging four plus euros for the ride, we were like “Eff that!” and we decided to WALK. We could use the extra euros. Haha weren’t exactly sure what we were getting ourselves into but it turned out to be a really awesome adventure. We walked up a winding scenic path at least two or three miles UP until we saw a glimpse of the castle through the trees. Man, this castle… or should I say palace… was seriously a dream come true. It really felt like I was at Disneyland… on steroids. It was way too surreal. Ah, but anyway, you should have seen us, we took so many pictures even before we entered the castle haha. It was so EPIC! Once we got to the castle, we walked through arches and pathways, explored the inside a bit (since it’s a museum now), took pictures every two minutes and ate our cookies and bread on the patio of the palace. Just a typical day in paradise. The time seemed to fly by. We walked down another foresty path to the bottom before heading to Castelo Mouros (the Moorish Castle). Now, this place was… just too amazing for words! The wall of this castle really resembles the Great Wall of China! It was so… breath-taking. We walked up and down cobble-stone paths and steps, looked out of towers, and captured gorgeous, flawless scenery. We were so high up. You could see all of Lisbon from the top of the castle…

This day ended with us taking a 6:30pm train back to Lisbon, catching the Mega Picnic and a Tony Carreira concert in the main square, and eating off the 1 Euro menu at the Portuguese McDonald’s. Lovely Day.

Obligata = Thank you (in Portuguese)

Friday, June 17, 2011

Nearly 48 Hours of Walking: Mission Portugal Complete!


We are finally in Portugal!

But it wasn’t all puppies and rainbows getting here. Remember last night? To make a long story short, Melissa, Lu, Angela, and Edgar’s flight got delayed a little bit so I ended up waiting a bit longer for them at the Madrid airport. But, there was a miscommunication with where we were going to meet and it ended up being 3 hours until we were reunited. I didn’t know I was in Terminal 4 while the others were in Terminal 1… so I ended up taking a bus to meet them at their Terminal. Who knew I was so far away from them?!

It was around 2am when I met them at Terminal 1. This is where we “slept” that night. That’s right, we freaking slept in the airport! Well, we did everything we could to get more comfortable in the airport chairs we were sitting in. I literally tried a handful of positions in that chair but I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep; so I even slept on the floor of the airport to be able to straighten out my back. The four hours we spent lounging around and passed out around the Terminal went by pretty quickly as we rushed to our gate at 6:30am. Once we got on the plane, we totally passed out. And an hour and forty-five minutes later, we arrived in Portugal.

We were already so tired, as you could imagine. Little did I know, once we arrived at our Hostel, we didn’t end up checking in right away and ended up walking the rest of the day. We met Melissa at the main plaza in downtown Lisbon since she was staying at a different Hostel. The next several hours we:

- Check out Castelo S. Jorge
- Ran into a beautiful peacock that was displaying itself outside a café
- Went inside yet another gorgeous church
- Checked out the amazing Arch (It’s on all the postcards)
- Bought some ham and bread from the local market
- Walked around the main streets trying to find a good spot to watch the sunset (it was so windy and cold here! We Left before the sun actually set in order to get back early enough and before it got dark)

Anyway, today was an amazing first day in Portugal. The only thing wrong is that I feel like my feet are going to fall off haha. Some of the things that I’ve learned about Portugal so far are that there are so many large statues in big plazas and the drivers are crazy! But nonetheless, it’s a beautiful place.

PS: Our hostel is really cute and decently sized. 2 bunk beds. 1 balcony. Unlimited comfort for travelers such as ourselves!

PPS: This has got to be the least I have ever packed going somewhere. All I got is a backpack on my back.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I’m Layering My Sunburns, Just Like the Ruins


It’s hard not to notice the brown, white, and red patches of color on my back and shoulders. Just like the ancient ruins, I’m beginning to layer a history of events on my skin. Now, whether that’s healthy or not, I don’t know (or maybe I just don’t want to answer to begin with) but I can tell you that I saw a ton of things today and walked my foot groove right into my converse shoes.

Today was another early day. We had to catch the 7:30am bus from Guardamar to Alicante and from there we took the metro around the city and got a tour of several different historic parts of the city. Forgive me for not remembering the exact names of all the places we stopped by. But anyway, a professor of architecture from the University of Alicante gave us a tour of Alicante. He was actually very cool. He did speak some English, which helped a lot.

Our first stop of the day was at La Illeta, which was the site of ancient ruins along with an INCREDIBLE surrounding of crystal clear blue and green water. It was so clear, you could see the reefs below the surface of the water. Some Lucky Duck was out in the middle of the ocean doing backstrokes across the water. It looked so peaceful. Seriously though, it would be the most perfect place to go snorkeling! Anywho, after our tour at this site was finished, we continued to walk.

Did I mention how hot it was? And how much my skin was sizzling?

The professor guided us to yet another ruin dating back from almost 1000 years ago… quite impossible, yes. But the sun was beating down on us so much that all we could think about was shade, food, and sitting in shade with food. Mind you, it was around 2pm at this time. We were starving! Haha. I’m really not kidding. Well, anywho before we were able to grab food, here are a few of the things that we did:

- We saw a crazy, crooked looking fish in the water
- We saw and walked through an old petroleum mine that was constructed through solid rock with hard hats on
- We went to an archeological museum
- We continued to walk in the sun

We eventually got a break and ate some kababs. I’m drooling again. That probably disintegrated in our stomachs in minutes.

After all this, we went our separate ways. While the rest of the class waited for a bus to go back to Guardamar, Melissa, Lu, Angela, Edgar and I left to try to find out way to Alicante Airport… because after flying to Madrid, we are headed for Portugal this weekend! Yes, Portugal! Lisbon, Portugal! Can you believe that? Anyway, due to the craziness of yesterday, I ended up on a different flight to Madrid and… I’m actually still here, waiting for my buddies. Yes, it’s almost midnight here in Madrid, but do you know what our plan is?

We’re going to sleep over night in the airport tonight.

Since our flight to Lisbon is a 7:10am tomorrow morning, we gotta do what we gotta do. It’s going to be a crazy adventure already haha! I haven’t been sleeping much lately anyway, so it should be alright.

Now, lets find a comfortable bench.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Studio Is Here.


Today was the longest day we've had for Studio so far. We spent a lot of time in our little "shed" doodling, drafting, coloring, tracing, and building our first conceptual model... this model we made had to depict our 2D diagrams of Sand Dunes and our reading of the site itself. Alex provided a bunch of random material for us to use and gave us 1 hour to complete this conceptual model. We all worked frantically to finish, trying to let the confusion of what was going on get to us haha. But, we did it. Working under pressure always works. Mine ended up looking like a fancy ball of cardboard. What do you think?

And after a frantic day of trying to settle my flight with Melissa, Lu, Edgar, and Angela to Portugal tomorrow... I am finally set. Tomorrow will be yet another big day!

For now, sleep.

23. Iced beverages aren't served here.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Long Bus Rides!


Today was a really long day. Longer than it should have been, but it’s alright. We made it, we made it. We spent most of the day in buses and trying to get ourselves from point A to point B locations haha. The day started off early, too. The class met at the bus station in Guardamar and caught the 7:45am bus. We spent the afternoon in Murcia, where we got a tour of the city hall building by the architect himself and stared in awe at the Cathedral that directly faced city hall on the opposite side. The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous; the outside itself is so stunning with so many details to keep all spectators in awe. Apparently, it took five hundred YEARS to build this Cathedral… yeah! That’s just too insane for me to even begin to fathom.

Anyway, that was our day for the most part. We only spent a couple hours in Murcia before we had to head back for Studio. By the way, did I mention that I’ve been starving for days? Haha. We almost didn’t make it back in time for lunch before the Pension closed, but Alex called Vicente to make sure they would keep the food warm for us.

We scarfed down everything in less than twenty minutes.

Monday, June 13, 2011

I'm So Starving!


My shorts are loosening around the waist, I almost skipped a non-existent dinner for an epic sunset, and our collages for Studio are looking like ink-blots on mylar. What an interesting day.

So, Melissa and I are basically… starving children. We’re running out of food in our room and we ate what we had and what we could find. This morning we ate nutella and bread, chocolate muffins, and oranges for breakfast on our little balcony. Ironically, after I teased us about potentially eating the same “snacks” for every meal… we ate just as poorly as we did for breakfast as we did for dinner. And do you know why the inevitable ended up happening?

Because we didn’t know that the Pension doesn’t serve dinner on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Can you believe that?! We were starving the whole day haha. Seriously. Anyway, other than our stomachs grumbling all day, we used the internet earlier in the day to do our research for Coastal Energy Systems before we went to studio. Studio was interesting today in that we started printing out our collages on the mylar we brought. They weren’t coming out the way last year’s class did, Alex says, so I think we’ll be going with the flow with this project. Hopefully everything works out. But if all else fails, I think I’m okay with the ink-blot “plots” on the mylar. It makes the class more enjoyable because we’re doing things I have never done in a studio class.

Once studio ended at 9pm (it was a long day today), Melissa and I rushed out with only food on our minds. But as we started walking, I pointed at the sky and said that “the sunset must look so epic right now!” I was so right. The gradient of blues and purples and pinks and oranges and yellows in the sky were too tempting for us to shrug off our shoulders.

We ran to the edge of the bus station just in time to catch the epic sunset. It was just breath-taking. I don’t know how else to describe it.

22. Everything is stored and sold in glass jars and bottles; In America, everything is stored in plastic.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

"Cartagena? Can I come, too?"


Today was another spontaneous but eventful day. It’s Sunday today and everything is closed here in Guardamar. They take their Siestas very seriously. So, Melissa decided that she wanted to go to Cartagena, which is a town about two hours south of Guardamar. Once Melissa started talking about it, six others wanted to tag along –including me. Our group included Melissa, Lu, Angela, Sherry, Yoshi, Edgar, and I. We weren’t sure how often the buses were coming at the bus station and we wanted to start the day early so we left the Pension at 8am. Unfortunately, we arrived at the bus station not knowing it was closed and ended up walking around in circles trying to figure out how to buy tickets and eventually eating some breakfast. We killed some time this way and were able to get on the 9:30am bus. We made it in time and paid our toll as well went on the bus.

It was an hour and forty-five minute ride to Cartagena so we passed out as soon as we sat down on the bus. It was a nice compensation for waking up at 7:30am.

Once we arrived there, we found a map and ended up checking out an ancient Roman Theatre, a beautiful port dock, and yes… another castle. Everything was so gorgeous, oh my goodness. Unfortunately, we had to pay 4 euros to enter the Theatre but it was worth the amazing presence of such incredible ruins… it was so surreal.

It was so hot and my shoulders continued to bake under the sun. But, I’m thankful that I’m able to get as much sun as I do now. It’s really been a while. Anyway, afterwards, we had some snacks and lunch on the dock nearby where we sat at the edge of the water. It’s so crazy to believe that just passed the ocean where I was looking was Africa. AFRICA! Incredible. Melissa and I had some of the bread and nutella that we packed beforehand from our room while Yoshi and Sherry had Burger King haha. Same American taste.

Our last stop was yet another castle, Castle Castillo. It took forever to find but again, it was worth it. We circled around and around and asked so many people if they knew were it was but nothing seemed to help us. But once we did find it and got to the top, we were so happy and soaked in the view for quite some time. I love how we were able to sit on top of the wall that surrounded the top of the castle. It was absolutely lovely. You could see everything from the ocean to the Roman Theatre, to the city nearby… ah! Breath-taking. We took some great pictures up there.

Love me them stunnah shades!

Our day ended soon after as we waiting in a shaded park for our bus to take us back to Guardamar at 6pm. It felt great to be in the shade for a bit. The ride back wasn’t too bad. Although we were absolutely starving, we seemed to manage.

This evening we licked every plate clean in the Pension for dinner. No shame. I’m sure it made Vicente very happy.

Saturday, June 11, 2011

"I just want to sit here forever."


Our professor is awesome. He has been taking us on so many amazing fieldtrips… today was one of those amazing days.

We started today by meeting at the bottom of the Pension around 11am, after Melissa and I did some epic shopping at the nearby market which took us about ten minutes and only cost us six euros. Sweet! Alex, our Professor, took separate groups at a time on a little tour because the car he rented can only hold about eight people. Luckily though, my group (Group 3) and Melissa got to be the first group to go along with Alex. He took us to several places including a salt mining camp, an old unfinished project by Toyo Ito, and Torrevieja.

Epic times with epic pictures to prove it.

First off, Toyo Ito’s structure was freaking sick! I can’t remember exactly, but I think Alex told us it was installed into the site a couple years ago but was never finished. I’m not even sure what the program of the structure was supposed to be but either way, it’s freaking awesome. The outside looks pretty questionable, not gonna lie haha, but the interior is amazing. It almost looks like a crousant (sp?) or a cacoon from the outside while the inside looks like a giant swirl of awesomeness, for lack of better words. Alex cautioned us about climbing inside of it but we went for it anyways, of course. It felt like we were hobbits as we ducked down and made our way through the “basement” area. We even dodged a bunch of shattered glass! But we made it. And it was so worth it.

Our last visit at Torrevieja has got to be one of my most favorite visits so far. It’s only twenty minutes away, too! Alex drove us around the main center of the town before dropping us off trusting that we could “find our way back” to Guardamar. Melissa, Cristian, and I decided to hang around and explore for a bit. We spent a lot of time in the SUN, holey moley. But I didn’t mind because Torrevieja has an absolutely amazing beach! AHHH my favorite, by far. The shoreline all along Torrevieja is relatively shallow with crystal clear waters… which makes for the amazing natural pools. They even have these incredible concrete benches that are placed RIGHT AT the edge of the shore; you could sit on the bench in the sun and be directly facing the Mediterranean Sea. We were all going nuts when we first saw these benches!

I think I may have a new favorite spot. Or I’ll just add it to my list…

We stayed at the shore for a good amount of time and truly soaked it all in. We took so many pictures. Every shot was guaranteed perfect with such beautiful scenery. After sitting at our “thrown” for quite some time, we ate delicious kababs (sp?) for lunch again and walked the shoreline for a while before we met up with Lu, Sherry, Yoshi, Jinah, and Angela. We met them at Valor, an amazing chocolate specialty shop where we ordered some rich chocolate drinks and horchata. SO GOOD.

The day ended with us taking the bus back to Guardamar at around seven forty five. I love public transportation AND these buses here in Spain! They’re like charter buses… for everyone! They’re so comfortable.

Anyway, that was mostly it. I really love the pictures we took today. I just can’t get over how beautiful everything is.

Friday, June 10, 2011

“I'm going to call him, Castle Cat.”


Today, our professor took us on a bus to Alicante where we spent the day exploring the city. Melissa had a pedometer on her the whole time and according to the pedometer, we walked about 8 miles today. Sick! The cool thing is that I wasn’t as tired from walking today as I was back on our epic first day in Madrid. I’m finally getting back into shape! I’m also getting so TAN! I wore a tank top today so my shoulders, back, and neck got a lot of sun today. Lets see how dark I get by the time I get back home.

Anyway! Our professor took us to this epic castle in Alicante where we walked up and up and up until we reached the top, where the canons are kept and where there is THEE most beautiful view of the Mediterranean sea and the shoreline of Alicante. Yeah. A REAL castle! I really cannot put into words how in AWE I was looking out over the wall of the castle. The colors of the ocean were breath-taking… vibrant blues and greens and crystal clear water. Oh man, we took so many pictures. I mean, everywhere you turned, there was a Kodak moment. There’s one picture that I took with part of the castle, the ocean, and a few seagulls in the background… it reminded me so much of Prince Eric’s castle from The Little Mermaid. Absolutely stunning.

By the way, we ran across a tabby cat lounging in the sun at the castle. It was minding its business licking its paws… I walked up to the cat assuming he would run away immediately but the cat just continued to lay there. I moved closer. It still stayed right where it was. Definitely one of the most friendly cats I have met. His name is Castle Cat.

After taking a group picture, we were dismissed to spend the rest of our time as we please. As long as we took the evening bus back to Guardamar back on time, we could stay and explore Alicante. And that’s exactly what Melissa, Lu, Sherry, Yoshi, Edgar, Cristian, and I did. We didn’t know what we were looking for or what to expect, but we ended up seeing a lot of cool places and taking a bunch of pictures, as always. I must add, during our little journey, we tried some authentic Spanish ice cream that was oh so good. They had a variety of flavors to choose from but I ended up getting a mix of pistachio, watermelon, and nutella ice cream – yeah, baby! Lets just say it melted and disappeared before your eyes once it got in my hands.

Did I mention I’m getting darker?

We ended up staying in Alicante as long as we could and caught the 8pm bus ride back to Guardamar. It was a great day, to say the least. Once we got back, Melissa and I decided to try to catch the sunset at the castle in Guardamar. So, we went up to our room, grabbed some wheat bread and our tub of nutella, and walked up to the castle. We ate the rest of the bread as we smothered each slice with nutella and chit-chatted a bit. It was good times. Hehe.

We walked around town for a bit and ended the evening, once again, in the café of the Pension and a more “hip” café accessing the internet. After thinking about it for a long while Lu, Angela, Edgar, and I decided that we’re going to PORTUGAL next weekend, since it’s our first and last “long” weekend. Can you believe that? I need to play me some Portugal. The. Man. To get me in the mood… aye yei yei. I’m stoked!

19. Europeans “build up” while Americans build outward.
20. There are no water fountains in the airports in Spain.
21. Gyms and outdoor exercising is not a necessity or popular pastime, as it is in America.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

I Can Get Used To This.


Today, I felt like I went to “Disneylandia,” Spanish style. We met with the Professor and the GSI’s at the plaza at 10am and got on board a little blue and yellow train. Yeah! Haha it was cute… and brought so much attention to our whole group. The host gave us a tour and informative talk about the Guardamar castle, the ruins of the Phenetians and Islamic People from nearly 800 years ago, the sand dunes, and the statue of Guardamar’s adopted hero Francisco Mira. It was actually really informative and super interesting. The most fascinating thing about the ruins to me was the fact that the ruins were preserved so well because they were buried under the sand for such a long period of time. So amazing. Oh, and we also found out that our site for the final project will be the sand dunes… I think that’s pretty cool. It’s a nice change of scenery from a typical San Francisco plot.

Anyway, after our little fieldtrip – which also included a trip to the museum - we were released for Siesta – WooHoo! Except, Melissa and I were stuck working on our diagrams for studio but soon found out that we didn’t have to stress so much about them to begin with. AND, we missed out on lunch. Eso estava loco! We’re living off of bread and Nutella. Yup. Right now, we are working in the “studio” on our photo collages and diagrams, if we didn’t finish them… I’m hoping that we won’t have too much to work on over the weekend, seeing as tomorrow is Friday!

Get this. Our professor totally bought us icecream, ham, cheese, and a special Spanish drink… and it looks like this weekend will be filled with fieldtrips and diagramming food! I love this summer already!

Oh, and next weekend will quite possibly be our only long weekend of the summer… so we’re all trying to plan some kind of epic trip out to Paris, Rome, Portugal, or something crazy like that. We’ll see.

I just want to explore!

PS: I think I’m finally gaining my tan back. Skin, it’s been far too long since you’ve seen the sun. I think it’s time for some hardcore bonding time.

18. If you just “stand there” near or in a Spanish restaurant or café, you WILL be attacked with “special beverages” and wine galore. On the house.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Farmers' Markets Ain't Got Nothin' On The Mercadillo.


Mercadillo, a weekly farmers market in Guardamar, was held today and we got to check it out while we documented the surrounding streets for our first project for Arch 101. Within our assigned groups, we had to take a series of photographs every five minutes at four separate locations throughout the Mercadillo. I had a one and a half hour shift that took place at “Spot 3.”

While I was waiting around for the next five minutes to be up, one of the venders across from me walked over to me and started talking to me. He pointed to his stool and told me, in Spanish, to sit down. I said no thank you, and he… continued to talk to me. He was a much older man, probably in his 50s. Although I don’t know Spanish fluently, I could still understand bits of what he was saying. I told him “Yo quiero aprender espanol” and he continued talking to me. I wasn’t sure whether I should walk away or keep listening, but it started getting interesting when he started asking me more personal questions, like if I had a boyfriend and how long I was staying in Spain… BECAUSE, I told him otherwise and made up a whole new identity for myself haha. Traveling is great. You can be anyone you want to be to the new people you meet.

After our studio assignment at the Mercadillo, we had a lovely lunch back at the Pension where we ate Paella and some of the best chicken I have ever had. Once we finished eating, I took my computer out in the dining area and logged onto the internet because that’s the only place we can access stable internet.

That was about it today. It was pretty chill. Our professor, Alex, is extremely laid back… he doesn’t believe in deadlines, haha. But, we still have an assignment due tomorrow and that’s what I’m working on right now. It’s already 10pm! PORQUE! It feels more like 6pm or something. Yee.

Nos vemos manana! = We’ll see each other tomorrow!

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Show Me the Ropes!


Today, I realized just how dark I am going to be by the end of this program. We spent a lot of time outside today, which included making some observations about a local street, taking a little trip to the castle of Guardamar, and walking along the the shore of the beach. The castle of Guardamar that our professor took us to is absolutely gorgeous. I mean, it’s history and the view from its peak is. OH MAN. You can see all of Guardamar and the turquoise-blue ocean in the distance. It’s so beautiful. Lu, Melissa, and I plan to go back there to take some pictures up there together, preferably during sunset – or should I say, sunrise… Ah!

After our little talk up at the tower, we watched a tourist video about Guardamar de Segura in the informational store. It was… interesting, haha. I was just tired and unbelievably THIRSTY. I feel like I have been dehydrated ever since I arrived in Spain. There are no water fountains… anywhere! Anyway, before we collapsed a group of us headed to a small candy shop and found some water bottles and bought them… water never tasted so good. Our professor ended up taking us to the beach to check out the beach town and the homes built right up against the shore. That was really interesting. It’s so crazy how people actually LIVE there. The ocean literally comes right up to your front porch. Yeah, I know. The sun was scorching so much and we were all so hungry… bad combination. Luckily, we finished around 2pm and we were allowed to go on our “Siesta” and return to the studio “warehouse” (haha) at 5pm.

We ate lunch at the Pension and the plates kept COMING. Plate after plate after plate of food. Just like the night before… they are really generous when it comes to food. But, I have to remind myself that it’s the only meal we eat a day, really.

After lunch, a big group of us headed over to the Mecadillo – AKA the Safeway of Spain – to buy any necessary food we may need in our rooms. This may sound cliché but everything. is. so. different! The carts they use to cart their food around are small baskets with plastic handles that you pull like a small wagon! It makes America seen “supersized” if that makes sense… in any case, the carts are cute. Once we finished grocery shopping, guess what happened.

It started pouring.

Mind you, we had to carry several grocery bags and cases of water back to the Pension… we grabbed our bags and hurried back as fast as we could. I almost slipped on the sidewalk so many times because of my wet sandals. Yikes!
Other than the internet connection here being really slow or nonexistent, this is what happened today in a nutshell.

16. Eating ketchup with french fries is only an American thing.
17. All of the grocery stores in Spain use cute low level carts instead of the typical grocery carts that we use in the United States.

PS: Studio “officially” started today. It looks like our projects will be group projects.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Arriving in Guardamar.


I’ve never flown and traveled so much in such a short period of time in my entire life! This morning, Lu, Edgar, Jinah, and I packed our bags and left our hostels in Madrid. We called a taxi to pick us up and take us to the Barajas airport in order to catch our next flight to Alicante. We are so pro at traveling now, I feel like. Or, at least we’ve become quite good at reading and following signs in the right direction. Anyway, our flight to Alicante was a short one – only 45 minutes! – and I think we all passed out as soon as we sat down in our seats on our flight. I was listening to Simple Plan’s Jetlag for most of the way to Alicante, of course.


Once we got to the airport, the four of us decided to find something to eat at the airport. We found a small Deli next to Subway (Haha) and munched on some snacks… all the food and beverages were so expensive! Aye dios mio… but, we were so starving and thirsty. We ended up sitting around, letting Edgar teach us some Spanish here and there, for a good 4 hours until we met up with Melissa, Sherry, and Yoshi! It was awesome bumping into each other at the airport. By then, all of us were too tired to really talk haha. But, once 5:30PM approached, we went outside to try to find the bus station. We then met up with most of the rest of the class who were sitting on a bench by several parked buses. We’re almost complete!


We sat and sat and sat for a long while, until Professor Alex met up with us and escorted us onto our Tour bus. It was so exciting to finally see the bus and for all of us to cram into the large vehicle, Hehe. I was way too excited.


We eventually arrived at Guardamar de Segura, where we found our new home for the summer: Pension. It’s a small housing or apartment unit on an old Spanish town street, 1o minutes away from the beach. That’s right, 10 minutes! The professor gave us a small tour of the Pension, the “studio,” and where the beach was. We were all excited to be there haha. It was funny though, as soon as we arrived here, everyone and all the local people have been staring at us like, either raw meat or as if we’re aliens! In either case, we proudly walked passed many Spanish natives and strolled down several of the streets before all of us ate dinner together. Everyone ate together and together we ATE. We were fed so much food, we couldn’t believe how much food there was before us. From bread to ham to tuna salad to vegetable soup to pasta to chicken to fruits… we were stuffed. But feeling much better than we were before.


After eating, we walked to the beach and spent our time there before heading back to shower and sleep. Our rooms are so teeny tiny! It is truly minimalistic. Melissa will be my roommate this summer and it should be a lot of fun! She’s fast asleep now, since she just flew in from the USA today. I know, jetlag will always get the best of us.


Buenas noches ahora.


13. Metros: all stops cost only 1 Euros regardless of when you go.

14. Food and beverages are served in smaller servings, portions and containers.

15. Napkins are smaller, hard and crunchy.

I can just tell, it’s gonna be a HOT summer.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

"Es Fantastico!"


Today was [in a spanish accent] increible! It was both are first and last full day in Madrid and I don't think I would have wanted to spend it any other way. It was another long day, let me tell you. Edgar, Jinah, Lu, and I walked around Madrid for 12+ hours... my feet aren't too happy about this, but I sure am. It's impossible for me to describe, in detail, every aspect of today, but I will definitely try my best. 3:24AM or not, by golly, I'm going to try.

So, the day started with me almost sleeping in until 11AM, but I soon woke up and got ready as quickly as I could because I knew we were going to have a long day. Edgar and I met with Lu and Jinah outside of our hostels and walked to the nearest market to pick up some snacks to munch on during our adventure through Madrid. We decided to do this because it'd be a lot cheaper to have some snacks "to-go" than having to go to sit-down restaurants and cafes that charge you 12 euros a person, or something ridiculous like that. Anyway, we ended up buying some tangerines, bananas, bread, chocolate milk, and orange juice. This saved our stomachs for the rest of the day.

During our 12 hour walking fest filled with sightseeing, we visited and photographed so many amazing places in Madrid - at least, most of the tourist-y and historically famous buildings. Forgive me for my lack of spanish-speaking skills, it's really difficult for me to remember all the names of the places we went, but I took about 550 pictures today to make up for this.

We started walking early in the day, just before noon. It's like the farther south we walked, the more grand everything got. Here is a list of the places we saw today, in chronological order:

- Estadio de Bernadeu
- Nuevos ministerios (the governmental office)
- Fountains, fountains everywhere!
- the National Library
- Palacio de Cibeles
- Plaza Granvia
- Plaza Callao
- Plaza Santo Domingo
- Plaza de Espana
- the Royal Palace of Madrid
- the Catedral de la Almudena
- Plaza de la villa
- Plaza Mayor (where Lu and I got jipped while taking photos)
- Plaza del Sol (Protesting center)
- Puerta del sol
- Museo del Prado (we got a free ticket for one of the exhibits)
- Parque de el Retiro (big gate, puerta de alcala, boating!)
- Monumento Alfonso XII (rowing boat and thunderstorm scene)
- Palacio de Velacquez
- Palacio de Cristal (those ducks were really cute)
- Atocha station
- Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

I know, we saw so many places. It's ridiculous! It a good way, of course. Other than snapping several shots of these places along the way, we had some pretty unforgettable moments. Lets highlight on some of these moments, shall we?

Plaza Mayor. This place is absolutely stunning! There was an archway that you had to enter before walking into the plaza; the transition from walking from the street, through the arch, and into this grand (in size and beauty) plaza left me in complete AWE. I believe the space was circular, and the buildings that surrounded the entry were so beautiful... aye! Red bricks, stones, raw everything... just breath-taking. Haha oh, so for the brief moment Lu and I got separated from Edgar and Jinah, we totally got jipped by some vender, or should I say "vender." We saw some cute cardboard stands where you can take a picture with your head on a artificial body - in this case, a fancy spanish dress - and decided to have some fun and take some pictures. As soon as Lu stepped up behind the stand to take a picture, this guy comes OUT OF NO WHERE and starts pulling Lu's hair back, putting a flower piece in her hair, and speaking spanish so fast, I could only interpret it as one long hum. We were kind of freaked out but didn't know what to do or say on the spot. Edgar, where'd you go?! But, to make a long story short, I ended up taking the same kind of photo as Lu but as soon as we stepped down and tried walking away, the man stared at us, rubbed his fingers together, and boldly told us we had to pay him. Street smarts, you kind of need this skill everywhere. It comes in handy everywhere and could help you get out of sticky situations... like this. Anyway, we found a couple euros in our purses and ran off to find Edgar and Jinah. Crazy times, ese. Oh yah, simone.

Parque de el Retiro. Oi dios mio, this is the largest public park I have yet to see in my entire life! This park is legit! It was such a happy place to be. On such a beautiful day as today, we were amongst crowds of people walking, talking with their family, friends, or lovers... there was so much going on in the park today, but what caught my attention were the BOATS. Right in front of the Monumento Alfonso XII, there is a relatively large lake area where people can rent a boat for 45 minutes and row around in the water. Once I saw those boats, I was hooked. We had to ride in the boats - and we did. Hehe. We were surprised to find out that it only costs 4, 50 euros for all of us to rent a boat for 45 minutes. Not too shabby. Anyway, we had a killer time. But it was also unexpected. Once all four of us sat down in the boat, we noticed that there were several large grey clouds in the sky. We heard there was a chance it was going to rain, but we didn't think too much of it - until we were about 10 minutes in with rowing our little boat - IT STARTED TO RAIN! It totally came out of nowhere. We frantically covered our belongings, shaded our heads with the one map we had in hand, and rowed as fast as we could back to the dock. We made it in time before it REALLY started to pour. And you know what? None of us had an umbrella. Yeah, that's right. And it was pouring like there was no tomorrow. We found some shelter near the dock and stayed there until the rain died down. It waited almost an hour, but that's okay. We took pictures to kill the time.

There were so many great moments today, but these were some of the most memorable. The cathedral, Catedral de la Almudena, we visited today was stunning... the interior was amazing. I just couldn't stop looking at the high ceilings, stain-glass windows, and detailed EVERYTHING. Just sitting in that Cathedral made me feel like believing there really is a higher being - that there is something greater and more to just this life. The exhibit we saw today in el Museo del Prado was pretty sweet, too. Although we couldn't take any pictures indoors, we were able to see artwork that is 500+ years old... epic.

Anyway, after all of of this and more (the only way I can account every single thing we did today is if I wrote a BOOK) we. were. hungry! So, we searched for food. It was already late at night, passed 9pm. But we were determined to find something to eat, since we didn't eat all day. After walking through shady alleys, passing a ton of Indian restaurants, and getting lost near the Atocha Station, we finally found a place that was open and sat down at a table. We ordered two dish-servings of Paella and this smaller dish with huevos, carne, and some papas fritas. Yum. It was pretty delicious, although the Paella was quite salty. (Yesterday's food was greasy, today's was salty - so whatever we eat tomorrow is bound to be spicy or sweet! Awesome.) Our waiter was Columbian and really nice. Edgar did all the talking, as always, haha. We had some great laughs about Edgar using ".... because I'm Mexican." as every answer to any and every question about him, passed around a 2-liter bottle of Coke, marked up our map, and discussed Mr. Palomar for tomorrow. By the time we finished eating, it was passed midnight. Yikes! I know, right?

We were lucky enough to find a metro station around the corner and went down to figure out what station we were at and how we were going to make it back to our hostel. We figured out how to use the metro pretty quickly and waited for our train. While we waited, we were hardcore tourists and took pictures of everything haha. After getting off at our last stop, we unnecessarily climbed three flights of stairs at a station that was closed - we were so tired! Haha thank the heavens the other station's esclater was working. OMG, but anyway. I love public transportation. The metro came and got us back near our hostel in no time at all. Once we got back on the street, we breathed in the fresh air and exhaled with deep satisfaction. Well, I did anyway haha.

We walked back to our hostels and had a few more laughs before we stumbled off to our rooms. My feet were hurting so bad. They still are, come to think of it... but I'm not going to complain! Because today was amazing and I will never forget it. Madrid, you were unforgettable today.

Pues... son las 4:46AM. Buenas noches!

PS: Tomorrow, we'll be flying to Alicante to officially start class - WooHoo! Also, Happy 30th Birthday to Sebastien of Simple Plan! Hehe.

PPS: Observations of today:

10. No one picks up their dog's doggy doo-doo.
11. Many people own small dogs rather than large dogs.
12. All cars have lights on the side.