Easter Cruise: Istanbul and Dubrovnik

  As long as I have been in Spain, I have been wanting to go to Istanbul. Much further east than most of the places I have traveled to, it always held some sort of mysterious feel to it. We went in a tour group from the cruise with a native guide. Thank goodness because I can't imagine if we had just tried to bumble around on our own (although we are quite capable explorers). The city is way larger, way busier than we could have handled. Even though real tourism season hadn't yet begun, the Istanbul was covered with tourists. Standing in mile-long lines, we hit the highlights of the Topkapı Palace, the Blue Mosque, and the Hagia Sofia. After a required short stop in a rug store (which were actually incredible), we haggled our way through the Grand Bazaar, walking out with way too many ceramic plates. We got a little carried away, but when I'm happily dipping my chips and dip during football season in my colorful ceramic bowls, I will think of this place. 

Inside the Blue Mosque

Outside the Mosque

Blue Mosque

Hagia Sofia

Inside the Hagia Sofia- built in the 500s!!!

Grand Bazaar

View of Istanbul from our (lucked-in) room balcony

   The most surprising stop of all the trip belongs to Dubrovnik. This city was incredibly beautiful. The historic part is small, but you can walk along the city walls and see amazing views of the coast and the red tile roofs of the town. Walking along the walls, I could not stop taking pictures. I would highly recommend this place to someone looking for a European trip a little off the beaten path. It's worth the visit.

Welcome to historic Dubrovnik!

 

Walking along the walls

 

Don't you want to be here??

More from the cruise: Bari and Ephesus

  After checking off the Correr Museum, the San Marcos Basilica, and the Doge's Palace, we made our way to the harbor to board the boat for the week. Sailing on the MSC Divina, we got on early so we could have time to explore all the floors of the boat. (One of my favorite things when cruising!) On another note, whenever my mom and I travel together, usually some really lucky thing happens. This time, we arrived and we informed that the regular room that we had booked was overbooked and they had moved us into a room with a balcony. A balcony!! Nice start to our sailing trip.
  Our first stop was in Bari, a small Italian city. There wasn't too much to see here; the main sight is the Church of Saint Nicholas (Santa!). The following day we were supposed to go to Olympia, Greece, but unfortunately, the water was too rough to tender in. We spent the day rocking and rolling on some pretty big waves, but hey, there is plenty to do to entertain yourself on these boats so we weren't bored. Ephesus, Turkey was the following city and we did get to disembark from the ship! We took a guided tour that included the trip to the ruins of Ancient Ephesus and the House of the Virgin Mary, where, according to the Catholic faith, she ascended into Heaven. (Here is a handy link from wikipedia if you want to read more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_the_Virgin_Mary) From there we went to the ruins and impressed by the remains of such a developed ancient city! Check out some pics...
 

Pool on the ship. Too bad it was too cold to use it.

Hanging with the original Santa Clause in Bari, Italy

Basilica of Saint Nicholas, Bari, Italy

Mary's house in Ephesus, Turkey

Adding a wish to the wall outside Mary's house

These must be really good quality fake watches. Not every place has them, you know.

City ruins of Ephesus

Nike. Can you believe this carving is thousands of years old?!

What once was a library

With all the carvings and details, these place must have been truly incredible. 

Easter break cruise!

Spring Break Cruise, embarkation city: Venice
   Last week was our Holy Week break from school. For all practical purposes, Euro Spring Break. For my week off, my mom met me in Venice and we went for a cruise in the Mediterranean. We hit the ground running like we always do- mapping out each day, consulting our travel bible (tour guide), walking our guts out, and just plain seeing everything. Traveling with the Dean girls is not for the faint of heart. Aside from all our preparation, Venice is one of the rare places on earth where you actually want to get lost. Each side street is so inviting. It's an explorer's heaven. We arrived to our hotel in Santa Elena, by the public water bus. Santa Elena is a little further out from the main drag, but a few stops on the water transport to San Marcos.
  To orient ourselves, we spent a nice hour drinking overpriced coffee in the San Marcos Square and reading up on all the sights. Already booming with tourists, this plaza serves as a primo people watching spot. Saving the museums and churches for the next day, we started hiking in the direction the Rialto Bridge. We didn't get too far because we discovered shopping. We were drawn into the stores, checking out all the Murano glass items- and we liked it all! Going from store to store comparing prices, we stocked up on Murano glass wine openers, stoppers, and flower vases. By the time we reached the Rialto Bridge, it was already dark. This was partly due to the shopping, and partly due to the fact that I could not manage how remember how to get there from San Marcos from this summer. We traced and retraced our steps over the same handful of streets before finding paper, hand-written signs pointing the way to the bridge. A nice gesture by some poor local tired of being asked the way.
   To conclude our first night of the grand adventure, we found some cute pasta restaurant to have our quintessential Italian meal. Day one, success.

Graduate School

I just wanted to give an update for anyone who was unaware that I have been studying a Master in Political Analysis at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid this year. This in part explains the delay in blog posts as I haven't had as much time to write between teaching and studying. I am completing this degree in Spanish, which has been challenging to say the least. I know it's helped me improve the language and now I know how to say all sorts of interesting political terminology in Spanish (that rarely come to use in any social setting, awesome)!! It's a one year program, so the classes are 3 hours each. Last semester we had one day with two classes back to back. Yes, 6 hours of non-stop class. In a foreign language. I remember the first weeks of class leaving with a slightly dizzy sensation. When my classmates would ask me how I was doing, I could barely form any coherent thought in Spanish or in English. Definitely the hardest class for me was our election statistics class. Not of the mathematical mind, trying to understand how to do election formulas in Spanish was more like listening to a lecture in Chinese. At least that's what it sounded like to me sometimes. But that semester is behind us and now we are into the second half of the program. We will be wrapping up classes in May and I will be working on my thesis this summer to deliver this fall. Until then, I will try to do my best to keep updating the blog and studying to get that higher education :)

Qué blanca eres!

  One thing about living abroad is you never know what humorous (and/or surprising) thing you will hear each day. Sometimes I just don't know how to respond to the things people say to me. After being here a year and a half I still get surprised at the very direct way of speaking that Spaniards have. Americans never actually say what we mean. We word things very indirectly and are always careful not to offend anyone. It's part of our culture. I remember my first few days teaching at the school and everyone was so surprised how fair skinned and blond I was. "Qué blanca eres" they would tell me. "You're so white!" Obviously I stick out, and even back home I never considered myself tan, but what exactly do you say to someone you just met who proceeds to tell you that. I'm not offended, just caught off guard. "Um, gracias??" Maybe they meant it as a compliment, but more likely it was just a statement. Even now, I still get the occasional "blanca" observation from my coworkers- just because I live in sunny Spain did not change my DNA. Crazy, I know.
  Another interesting thing I've noticed is they won't shy away from mentioning your appearance: be it good or bad. If you're having a rough day, well, be careful. A common response might be, "Qué te pasa?" "What happened to you?" It always give me a chuckle because quite often I don't know what happened to me. I thought I was fine. Or they'll ask you if you've got a cold or something, "porque pareces malita". Pause. Then you inform them that you are not sick, but apparently you look it. Awesome. To be fair, the same goes for the days you decide to make yourself look semi- decent while running around all days with kids. "Qué guapa estás!!" At least it goes both ways. Also, luckily for me, I have dozens of fans among the first graders. The girls love my hair and therefore think I'm pretty everyday. Aww.
   Taboo discussion topics.... not so much taboo. Example one: a person's weight. Can you imagine entering your break room and someone telling you in front of the whole staff that you have gained/lost weight? Then without any discomfort at all, you proceed to inform all who will listen what diet you've started/ what bad habits you've fallen into and the exact amount added or lost (in kilos, or in our case, pounds). I have actually heard this several times in our lunchroom (thankfully not directed at me). Sometimes they will use that as an excuse to get you to eat something you have no intention of eating. "Here take one of these mayo, egg and tuna nasty sandwhiches, you're too thin." We have a breakfast break provided at the school with coffee, fruit, packaged pastries, toast, and aforementioned nasty sanwhiches (which people devour). As I cannot wait until 11:30 to eat breakfast, I eat cereal at home and then just have some coffee and fruit at the school breakfast time. So of course I get asked if I'm on a diet. And that I am thinner than last year (um, how closely are you people looking, I don't notice any obvious change...) and that I should eat a nasty sandwhich. Still passing on the sandwhiches though. Well, some days we are lucky and have some baked sweet or pastry. A delicious one is the "Torrija" that is a typical sweet around Easter. It's like bread pudding with lots of sugar and cinnamon. They are always a welcomed sight for me. The second I place one on my plate and a take a bite, someone will graciously remind me not to eat too many because "they will make you fat." To which I think, and not the tuna mayo sandwhiches?? (holding tongue)
   Politics: yes of course we talk about politics in the US, and things can get heated, but I've witnessed some political discussions at a whole new level. People will be shouting at each other, calling someone else's ideas complete stupidity and never mentioning  any pardoning phrase like "I can understand your point, but..." or "maybe you see it this way, but I don't." Nope. Just, you're wrong. That's that. But what occurs next is interesting as well. After berating each other over policies, they move on to some very light conversation like, "I like your new haircut. Where did you get it done?"    ??  I thought some friendships were on the very fringe, but nobody ever seems offended. It's like when I first started working and heard people shouting at each other during lunch. I thought everyone was angry at everyone all the time. (they aren't)
  A common one for expats is: "Wow you have such a strong American/British/whatever accent. How long have you been here??" This one is especially difficult to hear for someone who has spent some significant time abroad and made many efforts to improve the language. It's like making judgments on someone's language knowledge basely only on how they sound (which I suppose is the sad and inconvenient truth). But accents are not picked up immediately. Living 1.5 years in Spain (and the other 24 in the US) will not give you a native speaker's accent. Again in this situation, I have to hold my tongue because I want to blurt out: "Yes I do have an American accent. I'm American!" But I never do.
   Cheers!
 Imagine this, but more mayonnaise


 There are worse ways to die

Las Cruces de Mayo in Andalucía

At the beginning of May, Spain has a “Puente”, meaning bridge where the last or first days of the week are holidays for extended weekend travel. My roommate, Caitlin, our friend, Melissa and I decided to take a spin around the south of Spain in the hopes of finding good weather. Strangely enough, Madrid is still pretty chilly this time of year. Taking advantage of the train system, we mapped out our route through some of the major cities in Andalucía: Cordoba, Sevilla, Granada, and Malaga.  Unknownst to us, this was a very good week to travel in the southern region because of the cultural festival of “Las Cruces de Mayo”. The Red Crosses of May is exactly that; crosses of red flowers set up in the city squares with green and white tents serving beer and other beverages while playing what can only be assumed as traditional flamenco music. So basically, like so many other festivities it is an outdoor drinking party, aka  “Botellón” (but with long historical and cultural significance. I don't want to downplay these events. I just describe what I see...) It all feels very local, and plenty of people were out in Cordoba the first night we arrived, voting as to which cross was the best display (or maybe the best party). We spent the next day seeing the cathedral that was built on top of a Muslim mosque. The Christians built a Catholic cathedral right in the middle of the mosque, which they left standing, creating an interesting mix of cultures and religions inside. The walls are lined with row after row of red and white striped arches that are truly amazing. I will show you the pictures.

The Cordoba Mezquita

The Catholic part of the church inside the mosque

Cruces de Mayo in Cordoba

 Alcázar and Gardens, looks sort of like Eden, right?

From Cordoba, we continued on to Sevilla, the considered capital city of Andalucía. Sevilla has a very unique vibe, and it feels nothing at all like Madrid. The architecture and the vegetation are distinct. In Sevilla we could see the incredible gothic Cathedral (the 3^rd largest church in the world) where Christopher Columbus is buried. We took a paseo by the bullfighting ring that runs along the river, spent the afternoon in the mindblowing royal gardens, and then stumbled upon what we mutually agreed might be the most impressive building in Spain: the Plaza de Espana. To describe this set-up?? Well have you seen the second of the new Star Wars movie? Remember that scene where Natalie Portman and Anakin were battling strange alien creatures in an arena? That arena was filmed at Sevilla’s Plaza de Espana. A semi-circle of connected buildings surrounds a mini-river where people can rent paddle boats to cruise under little bridges. On the buildings are tile murals of every major city in Spain. Definitely a must-see in Spain. One night we went to a flamenco show in some underground theatre. Lots of stomping and wrist-flicking. We’re so cultural.

 

View of the Cathedral from inside the The Giralda, the bell tower where we climbed 34 ramps to the top.

Sevilla's Royal GardensPlaza de España

   Malaga was rainy and mostly a disappointment. Having no beach days, we tried to see what there was so see, which was not much. But hey, I’m always up for checking out new Spanish cities, so no biggie.

Only pics I could find of Malaga...

But the most fun we had this trip was our stay in Granada. Not only did this city surprise me (I’d been twice before), but we met some super fun locals. Granada is intriguing because of its Moorish feel. We stayed near this cool part of town that was full of spice markets and tea shops. Then of course there’s the Alhambra, the massive Islamic fortress and palace. I’m assuming most people are somewhat familiar with this so I won’t go into detail, but see for yourself from the pictures. One memorable night we went to a happening Cruz de Mayo gathering and met some funny characters. Being in Spain long enough, we knew to buy wine and sprite on the way there, to mix our own spritzers at the party. With one cup between us, we were ready. Not long after arriving, 3 university guys approached us in typical fashion; asking us the time or where we were from or something like that. We struck up a conversation with them that lasted several hours wherein they told us the rich history of Granada and taught us how to “properly” flamenco dance (Ha. Ha.) They were quite entertaining and showed us foreigners a good time. Half the night I found myself thinking, “is this really my life right now? How lucky are we to have these kinds of experiences”. And it’s the truth. By being here a year, we get to see the sides of the country most people don’t and that is exactly why I moved abroad in the first place. J

The Alhambra

Making botellón with our new friends at The Cruces de Mayo in Granada.