Cádiz...just what the doctor ordered

I went to the doctor last Thursday because my foot was still bothering me and showing no signs of real improvement. And Friday, we took a day trip to Cádiz, the oldest city in Spain, and also a beach city just an hour and a half away. And now, my foot seems to be getting a little better every day! It might also have something to do with anti-inflammatory meds the doc prescribed me.

learning (happily) that I have tendenitis, not a stress fracture

happy to get my prescription and to know that I'm allowed to exercise, as long as its nothing high impact

I hate the doctor. In fact, I avoid it at all costs. That's why it took me 2 weeks to make this trip. But let me just say that I am so glad I did. The experience was anything but painful: it was just a short walk away, and I was accompanied by MC who wanted to see what a Spanish doctor's office looked like, and Greg (our grad school intern from UNC, who I thought I would need to translate doctor language for me...turns out I did all the talking/listening and felt quite accomplished upon leaving); I waited for all of 5 minutes for Room 1 to be open, spent maybe 7 minutes in the doctor's office where he asked me various questions and then examined my foot and prescribed me my meds; and the pharmacist took all of 2 minutes to fill the prescription, hand it to me, and charge me 5 euros. And why do I hate modern medicine? It's actually helping. Plus, now I can say I've been to the doctor in Spain. Just getting the full living experience here. 

On the more fun side of the weekend, we spent all day Friday (some of us skipping class) in Cádiz. It started as a cold morning, but whenever someone said "I can't believe the weather is like this today, of all days!" someone would counter it with "hey, it's only 10:30, it's going to get hot just trust me." This banter continued for some hours: "hey, it's only 11:45," "hey, it's only 12:30," "hey it's only 1:15!"...but eventually the sun did break through the clouds and when it did it was hot. We even got in the water. And since its not tourist season for the beach yet we had the place almost to ourselves. A few people left around 3:30 for lunch, but I was here for one reason and one reason only: la playa. I lay in the sand, skipped rocks in the ocean, took a walk along the beach and climbed rocks when it was low tide, took a nap on my towel, at my bocadillo out in the sun, read magazines and chatted with Em and Chlo all afternoon. We didn't leave the beach until 7 when we had to catch the bus back to Sevilla. We did walk out on a long pier on our way back and saw locals jumping from the wall of the pier into the ocean. It looked like a blast, but I didn't want to be wet on the bus ride back...next time.

the difference between morning and afternoon

It couldn't have been a more perfect Friday, and maybe the best thing about it was the fact that it was a Friday. We still had the whole weekend ahead of us to look forward to. MC had class on Friday so she didn't come with us, but she went on Saturday so I had the day to myself which was kind of nice. I went to the park and did some people-watching [in particular, one boy who was screaming at ducks in the pond...literally running back and forth as the ducks scurried away from him, and his dad just sat back and laughed]. I also browsed around Nervion Mall to see if there was anything worth spending money on (I try to avoid shopping at all costs because its hard to justify spending 40 euro on skirt when that could potentially be a plane ticket to Barcelona or something). I did see a few things I liked but I decided to leave them be and return if I kept thinking about them (I did). 

I'm calling this my "Italy outfit": maxi skirt with a long slit, cropped tight tank, straw hat...all under 30 euro thank you very much

On Sunday we went to see the new Wizard of Oz movie in Spanish. I thought that I would certainly fall asleep since I normally can't even help it when its English, and with having to pay extra attention just to follow the story line, I thought it would be a lost cause. I was pleasantly surprised when I came out, only having snoozed for a few minutes, and having grasped about 90% of the story. It was rainy so it was a perfect day to sit inside, and the movies are pretty much the only public thing open on Sundays anyway. Now that I'm thinking about it, that's the first movie I've seen in theaters since The Grey, my sophomore year, if you don't count the Batman premier which I slept through right from the opening trailers. 

And since I can't do anything high impact, Insanity is out of the question, as is running. And until this week, I didn't think a gym would be possible (O2 wanted me to pay for March and April, the months I hadn't opted to keep the membership, in order to be a member for May, and they're ridiculously expensive already). So I've been doing a lot of research on my own about workouts you can do at home, in small spaces, that I can modify to not be too much impact on my feet. Some exercises I have found that seem to be pretty effective, still use interval training, and are easily modifiable for my needs, are those within the Tabata technique. You can pick the 4 exercises you want to use for your workout of the day, and you do each one 8 times for 20 seconds (at 120% effort), with 10 seconds of rest in between each set. After you finish one exercise, you rest for 60 seconds and then move on to the next exercise. A 20 minute workout in total. I downloaded the Tabata timer app and picked my 4 exercises on Sunday night (jackknife crunches, oblique crunches in high plank, burpees at low impact, and regular squats/hands behind head), and tried out this technique for the first time. And today I am sore! I love it. And I missed sweating, since I haven't done that in almost 3 weeks. And now I plan on incorporating some of this new stuff into my group fitness classes!

my trusty new Tabata timer

And if this little entry weren't already random enough, here's another little going-on as of now: Miguel Angel is home a lot more often now (don't know the reason why), and when he's not painting various rooms in the house and smoking cigarettes up a storm, making the entire house ooze fumes like nobody's business, he's cooking in the kitchen for us. And it's good! I asked him if I could write down own of his recipes and he was overjoyed. Like mother like son, I guess. He jumped at the chance to share his story of how he combined a few recipes and some things he tried in restaurants to come up with his perfect garbanzo bean stew. It looks a lot like things we normally eat (I mean come on, how can it not look similar when they rotate among the same 6 ingredients, essentially), but it had a fresh new taste and I was so grateful for that. Only when I was trying to write the recipe, I not only had Miguel Angel yelling (because that's just the tone of his voice) in the most rapid Spanish slang anyone can imagine, I had Cristina yelling over him to correct him and tell me additional things to write down that he forgot. I guess this display of crazed yelling can be interpreted as a passion for sharing this aspect of their lives with me, something they truly do cherish and find satisfaction in. 

MC captured my initial reaction to Guiso de Miguel Angel and beat/onion salad

And finally, here's a video I made on my iphone during the Budapest/Prague trip, just for fun. I hope it works!

Por fin...Praga

I haven't had a chance to write about Prague all week long, even though I intended to right after writing about Budapest so that I wouldn't forget the juicy details, but this week has flown by. Monday/Tuesday were spent catching up on sleep and studying for the exams I had Wednesday, writing the papers that were due, preparing for an academic advising skype appointment, finishing (and still have yet to do so) my big philosophy paper and meeting with my professor one final time for it, and going to the doctor for my foot (more on that later). But now its Friday night and I have time to go back through my pictures from Prague and remember all that we did- and we did a lot in just two days.

Getting in was a cinch and not setting an alarm for the morning was a great call. We all woke up easily around 9:30 though, showered, ate leftover cold pizza, put on a much warmer set of clothes than what we'd been wearing the day before in Budapest, and set out to take on Prague. At 12 we had to meet a guy at a McDonald's so Julia could buy her Ellie Goulding ticket (it was pretty much as sketchy as it sounds), so we wandered around the area we had to be in- Wenceslas Square and a little market- until then. Only when we got to McDonald's he was nowhere in sight. After Julia approached a few Asian men (that's all she knew about him) and asked if they were selling concert tickets and they said no, we figured he was a no-show. Later she got an email saying he was sorry but he sold the ticket already. Bummer. But this made me realize something- I'm better at decision-making than I give myself credit for. And then I thought about the whole trip thus far, and realized I was so satisfied with the choices I had made, which times I had chosen to stick with the group and which times I had chosen to branch off, etc. etc. and that felt pretty good. I usually say that I am so indecisive and wish people would just choose for me, but so far I've made (what seems to me and by my own personal standards) all the right choices: not going to Vienna was a good call for me, I don't think I would have felt like I'd seen either place fully; finding the last-minute non-night train ticket to Prague, turns out spending money on a hostel was well worth the great night's rest (and the hostel turned out to be a private hotel room anyway!), and I tried to change my flight home originally to be able to go to his concert, but after seeing the hassle of getting the ticket I'm so glad I just stuck with my original plan. But Julia was such a good sport about it and didn't let it affect her mood the rest of the day, and from there we went to see Old Town Square. Right as we got into the center of the square, the clock struck 1:00 and the Astronomical Clock began its commotion (something we had not planned on or anticipated). It wasn't anything super fascinating, but it did remind me of the little singers in the village of Duloc in Shrek...the whole downtown actually reminds me of this. Prague, in my eyes, quickly became very fairy tale-esque. It has character and seems like there's tons going on, great night life and restaurants, and yet its quaint and so well-organized, like its not a real city but a set from a movie. Also the cleanest place I've been to thus far.

The famous astronomical clock

Old Town Square

Trdelnik's in the making

The first thing I did was buy a Trdelnik from a stand in the square; its a cinnamon pretzel/toffee coated-type treat in a spiral shape. I think I ate at least 3 over the course of the weekend. The first thing MC did was buy a chocolate crepe, and that became her obsession for the remainder of the trip. We definitely lived by the motto "You only Prague once"--maybe we relied a little too heavily on it...Anyway we tried going to see landmarks near by like Powder Gate and the Jewish Quarter, but once we couldn't take the mist and the cold any longer we gave up and went to find lunch where we could sit and get warm for a while. This brought us to Home Kitchen, a lunch place with a menu that alternates every day. We got the soups of the day (chicken soup which turned out to be liver, and minestrone, which turned out to be the perfect choice for the kind of day that it was), a mango/chickpea pasta, and bread/balsamic/goat cheese to share. All homemade and all delicious. You could talk to the chef across the counter as he cooked, and when I asked just out loud in the room, what's in this chickpea pasta that makes it so awesome, he shared with me the entire recipe. From here we just went back to the hostel and fell asleep, waiting for the Vienna group to meet up with us. The power nap was much needed, but I woke up feeling so disoriented, like I'd slept for a whole day. I'm not used to napping in general, but especially not when we're on a trip. I always try to fit as much as possible in a day, not wasting time at the hostel for any reason. But with the weather the way it was, and the excuse of needing to meet up with everyone, I let myself relax and just sleep- probably what I needed to do most of all anyway. That night some of the group got Burrito Loco for dinner (just a Mexican food stand on the way downtown...anything cheap and non-tapas calls to us), but Julia and I split Prague sausage and a macaroni/potato/cabbage dish in the market. And that night we all decided to do an organized pub crawl, just to take the pressure off of deciding what to do; that way it'd just be decided for us. Apparently absinthe is a big thing in Prague, because it was free, included in the price of the pub crawl, at every bar we went to. Why can't Prague be known for pina coladas or daquiris? That stuff is like mouthwash. 

The next day, after everyone was accounted for, the Vienna folks left for a walking tour, and so it was the quad (what we're calling ourselves now) again for the day. Today, the sun was shining, at 9:30 it was already significantly warmer than yesterday afternoon, and we were all in great spirits, excited to see the other half of Prague. But first- a necessary stop at the crepe stand for fuel. I got banana, chocolate, and cinnamon sugar, and although it was delectable it was so rich I couldn't finish it all. We sat in the center of Old Town Square, just smiling to be in Prague and enjoying the breakfast. Again, the four of us were in such good moods and that just bounced around between us, keeping the good moods going all day long. I was so glad to be there and to be there with them, with a full day ahead and not a cloud in the sky. 

We finally made it to the other side of the river- it seemed like we had gone back and forth on the same path from the hostel to the main square 50 times in the last day, but after I saw Charles Bridge I knew there would be much more to Prague than just what I had seen. A bridge is a bridge, right? How different can one be from another? Not to me. This one is not only beautiful to see from a distance (and you can see it from so many different viewpoints), it is beautiful to see the landscape around from on the bridge, and the construction of the bridge itself is beautiful. And the amount of life going on is infectious. Street players playing music, dancing, performing tricks, people selling food, artwork and  jewelry...I noticed that I couldn't stop smiling as my gaze turned from an acapella group singing Call Me Maybe, to a band of older men playing strangely grouped instruments like a banjo, a cello and some kind of bongo drum I'd never seen before, to vendors with beautiful bronze, hand-crafted earrings (I helped MC pick out a pair that jumped out to me, as her souvenir to take home). Coming in the opposite direction from us were various people eating the most enticing hot dog I'd ever seen, and I made it my mission to find where they bought it and make it my second breakfast. Right across the bridge was a little stand selling Prague and Wenceslas sausages of all different kinds, to be paired with stewed cabbage and onions and spicy mustard on a bun. I wouldn't even say I like meat all that much- I could go for chicken or fish and leave out all the steak/pork chops/ribs from my diet altogether- but I will say I do love a good hot dog. And this one was goo-ooo-ooood, as Grandaddy would say. 

Charles Bridge

The area across the bridge holds the same charm- quaint yet bustling. We saw the Lennon Wall, a huge, graffiti-painted wall that is a must-see in Prague. When Stephen was here a few weeks ago he left me a message on it for me to find when I got here. I couldn't end up finding it, but I know it was there somewhere, along with encouraging notes like "For here, all are one", Boston 2013", and "With will, one can do anything. Stay strong", along with lots of other encouraging messages in every language imaginable. It's really a cool place to go and sit for a minute, reading messages people have written to specific people that they might not ever read, or to read things someone might have just been thinking and didn't intend for anyone to read. 

My favorite part of the day came after this, though. Everyone was a little tired from all the walking, the consecutive early mornings, the late nights, and the week of travel in general, but there is a gorgeous hill (Petrin Hill, I recommend it to anyone that goes to Prague if you're there in the spring) that you can hike to the top of. At least in spring, the entire hill is covered with endless trees of white flowers, and because its a rather steep climb, you can immediately start seeing views of the city, the river, the bridges, the Prague castle, when you begin the climb. We stopped a few times on the way up to take breaks and take in what was around us, and if there were ever a time I wish I could wrap up a whole place into a box and keep it with me forever, it would be this time. I did the best I could to capture the contrast of the trees and all the nature and greenery around us with the beautiful city in the background but it was almost hopeless. We got to the top where we saw Prague's version of the Eiffel Tower (not anything to write home about, and we didn't pay to go up and see the highest view of the city) but there is a whole park at the top of the hill and I could have spent  the entire day up there if I had known. I would love to go back around the same time of year with a picnic and a blanket and have just napped up there all day. It's like a little oasis. The way down was even harder than the way up! It was so steep you almost had to run down the hill and slow yourself down when the ground evened out a bit, but it was so easy to pick up momentum you almost couldn't just walk down. 

Right after reaching the bottom of the hill, we made the trek over to the Prague castle and hiked back up a long path of curvy steps to reach the entrance. Only this isn't just a castle- it's like a whole otro mundo. Only adding to my perception of this city as like a Disney World/Epcot land, you buy tickets to either see a portion or all of the buildings within the castle walls, and you can go around at your own pace or follow the directions suggested to visit the various sites. We bought the short visit pass and wandered from cathedral to basilica, government building to preserved cottage homes, for over an hour. I could have easily spent much more time exploring but we had to think about getting back to the hostel to meet the others and make our arranged shuttle bus to the airport. But again, the whole castle is set up on a hill and holds views of the city that I never tire of looking at (or snapping pictures of...unfortunately my camera died in the middle so I couldn't take as many as I would have liked.) Golden Lane was especially interesting, however. It was a little museum-esque with its arranged rooms in each cottage, representing different aspects of life and society in the 1300-1500s. But we climbed to the top of one of the tower walls above the cottages and saw the military museum, which housed suits of armor and helmets of all shapes, sizes and designs, different weapons used over the centuries, and even some of the machines they used to torture their enemies. Although I wanted to stay at the top of Castle Hill longer, sitting on a bench and overlooking the city, time was ticking and I did see another Trdelnik stand on the main path up to the castle. Only at this one, you could ask for a layer of chocolate on the inside of the cinnamony-dough spiral. HEAVEN. We had just enough time to walk through the market one more time and buy some souvenirs/gifts, see the Dancing House building, and use the rest of our crowns at a grocery store to get snacks for the duration of our overnight flight. Oh and to get another Prague sausage while walking across the Charles Bridge, just because "You only Prague once." Yeesh. 

From inside the main cathedral

A view from inside a window of one of the government buildings

One of the plazas with the main cathedral

A view of the city

To say our day had only just begun might be an understatement. We ended up getting to the airport too early to check in, so we just had to sit on our stuff outside security and wait for our flight to pop up on the screen. This did give us time to eat the jar of Biscoff spread (Cookie Butter) that my Vienna friends bought for me when they saw it in a Viennese grocery story... eating an entire jar of cookie butter before going through airport security, flashbacks to Dublin...how has this scenario occurred twice in my study abroad experience?! I need cookie butter therapy. Once we got through security, and I still had 260 crowns left to my name, I decided to buy some "duty free" (and I only just learned that Duty Free means no tax, not that "hey, you're on a plane, you don't have any responsibilities/duties, you can do/eat/drink what you want!"...yeah) chocolate bars for a total of 258 crowns. Money well spent. More waiting at the gate. First flight went by quickly, and we were in Barcelona by 11 pm. Somehow we all had different flights back to Sevilla from Barcelona, but none of them left until 7 am. So what did we do? Found a cozy spot in Gate A, pushed two rows of chairs together to fashion into beds, and sprawled out for a long night in the airport. It was as long as it sounds. It didn't go by fast. It was not more comfortable than I expected. But it was just a night and now I can say I've spent the night in the airport (I guess I'll say that was on some kind of bucket list I have, just so I can check it off). I hadn't even thought about what this week would entail in school, but that was so far off my radar by the time my head hit my pillow Monday morning, back in Sevilla. And whatever it was going to mean for me work-wise, it would all be worth one of the greatest weeks I've ever spent!

My chocolate amor...I'll be back for you one day.

Budapest

Oh boy, where to even begin? So on Wednesday, I took a casual trip to Budapest, Hungary, and Prague, Czech Republic with 6 friends from UNC for our second week-long spring break, during which time I learned how to convert two foreign currencies stranger than Monopoly money, paid a visit to a Turkish bath, received a VIP couples massage, hiked two gorgeous mini mountains to see views of the Danube and Vltava Rivers, and found out what my max number of Prague sausages is for one day (it's about 2 1/2). But starting with the beginning of the trip...these are a few of my first views of Budapest, day 1:

Okay so not my very first views--after our super early flight through Barcelona, arriving in Budapest around 1 and getting a cab to the address of our hostel (where the driver said it would be just up and to the left), we proceeded to walk up and down Baross Utca, trying with all our might to understand Hungarian street names and navigate our way to Hipster Hostel. It was nowhere to be found. We finally did find it (exactly where the cab driver originally said, of course), tucked in between two restaurants in a very unassuming apartment complex with the tiny word "Hipster" beside a little buzzer for the third floor. So we got off to a rocky start, and from the beginning a few of my fears of traveling with such a large group seemed to be coming true as a few people wanted to find food, some wanted to walk around at their own pace, and other wanted to try to make it to a communism walking tour that started in 15 minutes. We elected to stick together, or at least try to, since it was only hour 1 of what could be a very long week otherwise, and booked it to the walking tour. Very informational, only it turned out to be a lot less walking and a lot more standing in one spot and learning how Hungary has been hit by every awful aspect of history imaginable. And I had no idea. After being conquered and reconquered by a number of tribes, the Ottoman Empire, the Hapsburg's, losing WWI, II, being oppressed by Stalin, and only getting out from under communism in 1992, the city has got some character, to say the least. I had never experienced anything like it, and this area of history has always gotten lost for me- whether its because the year ended before we could work our way up this far in history, or teachers wanted to avoid it altogether- so seeing it in such a real way made me glad I took the tour. But after 2 hours of info we decided to duck out and find food. Tim said the words "what I would give just to have some Chick-Fil-A right now" and as if by magic, we passed by a little place called "Csirkefalat," a fried chicken sandwich shop, and obviously the Hungarian answer to Tim's prayers.

After a rather stressful commotion of people adding their two cents about how to spend the rest of the afternoon, we made moves toward the train station to get all that figured out sooner than later. Thank goodness we did. Being the planner that I am, it put my mind to rest to know that I was going to end up in Prague after all. Chloe, Emily, and Eric chose last minute to squeeze Vienna into the middle of the trip, so it was only MC, Tim, Julia, and me leaving Friday at 3:30 for Prague (not a night train, such a good call). Now that that was all sorted out, I could begin to take in Budapest for all its beauty. The train station, for one, was designed by Gustav(?) Eiffel, designer of the Eiffel Tower. I leisurely strolled, now, through eclectic streets composed of Gothic-style architecture, modernist buildings, and contrasting communist-influenced  structures until I reached the parliament building. I also saw the river at sunset (the pictures above), and found a hummus bar and got the most delicious falafel to have ever graced my lips. I also saw my first 24/7 convenient store since being in Europe.

Now let's talk food. Hungarian food is like the world's best kept secret. Why are there no Hungarian restaurants in Chapel Hill?? I guarantee it would fit in perfectly on Franklin Street, and I know I'd be there at least twice a week. Chloe has a friend from Budapest who kindly showed us around some and took us to a place for dinner we never would have found on our own. It was right by the hostel but it didn't even have a sign out front, much less any type of English menu or English-speaking employees. Somehow we almost had the place to ourselves so the food came fast and it was all to die for. Julia and I started our trend at this restaurant of sharing almost all our meals. The same things looked good to us both so we'd each order one and split it- tonight was honey ginger turkey with pineapple and grilled veggies, split half way with an order of stroganoff (more like a pancake/crepe with cheese and sour cream on top in Hungary, AKA all-round deliciousness). Other foods included a spinach gnocchi and Gorgonzola-stuffed chicken, but Eric's perfectly-cooked duck took the cake. Needless to say we all joined the clean plate club. And the total bill was less than 60 bucks for 8 people. Unreal. After dinner we stopped into one of Budapest's well-known ruins bars, an old run-down apartment not fit for living any more, but now a fun, low-key beer garden hidden in the Jewish quarter of the city. I ordered some traditional Hungarian wine drink (which tasted a lot like a more syrupy version of Tinto de Verano to me) but we all enjoyed experiencing some local flavor and hearing the things Chloe's friend had to say. Thank goodness she was there, too, or else I would have been at a total loss for what to order. I'm honestly surprised people don't say Hungarian is one of the hardest languages to learn...did you know they actually create words as they go along in conversation? Our walking tour guide told us today they turn a subject, predicate, pronoun, all that business of a sentence into one word as they're speaking.
The next morning we found the Central Market Hall right by the Hipster and grabbed some pastries and fruit to go before trying another walking tour of all the main sights of Budapest. This one was awesome. Great tour guide who knew so much and didn't waste time on the things the group clearly wasn't interested in, and we saw the whole city, both sides of the river. I jokingly said under my breath, "maybe he'll show us a good lunch place and eat with us after the tour," and sure enough, when it ended he did offer to show us a not-so-touristy, not-so-expensive authentic Hungarian lunch place. After translating the menu and helping me decide what to get, I settled on a sauerkraut stew and mushroom soup to share with Julia's tomato lasagna. I'm telling you, this stuff is better than heaven on Christmas day. And what better way to top off lunch than a trip to Trip Adviser's number one recommended restaurant and ice cream shop. My flavors were white chocolate lavender and lemon basil, yes please.

Next stop: the House of Terror (Budapest's communism museum in the building of the old headquarter's of Hungary's Red Cross party). Things got real, really quickly. I actually didn't like the way the museum was set up; there was a long sheet of paper at the beginning of each room with small font, lots of words, that you had to read and then as you walked around the room, you couldn't figure out what artifacts meant what. But I could still pick up on the fact that Hungary is still very much affected by the communist regime and this museum doesn't sugarcoat anything. The bottom floor was filled with preserved cells they kept prisoners in. I had never seen anything like it. As important as it was to see, I was glad to move on to see a happier side of Budapest as it began to get dark. The group finally split up when some people wanted another sit-down meal (last night was good, but figuring out how to split a check of Hungarian currency where the ratio is 290HUK: 1US dollar, making the bill in the thousands [and I already struggle with math when its in manageable terms]...well that just wasn't for me.) I wanted to hike up Gellert Hill and see the city from above, and a Chloe, her friend, and Eric wanted to join me. I had no idea it was a legitimate hike, so I was so glad to have a local there to lead the way. It was pitch black and I would have most definitely gotten lost. But the view from the top, freedom statue that overlooks the city to my back, was breathtaking.

The four of us also stopped in a local bar that the university students normally go to and chatted about which language was the hardest to learn and other nerdy topics of that nature while we sipped on creative drinks with flavors like white chocolate raspberry and apple pie. After meeting back up with the rest of the group we went to Szimpla, another ruins bar (although this one is fake, its a huge bar/restaurant/lounge with the greatest vintage vibe). I know I'll make the place sound so tacky by describing the things I saw, but I'll try. Christmas lights wrapped around chicken wire and old wooden fence posts to act as a ceiling between two floors, leaving space for you to walk around the outside on the more sturdy flooring, up and down spiral staircases that will lead you to outside bars with fun drinks and a live band, a hookah lounge with lampshades of all shapes and sizes and random household items hanging above the bar, or an Amelie's-type hang-out spot with old living room chairs in some areas and old bathtubs-turned-love seats in others were all things you might encounter by meandering around. It was a great way to end the night with the 7 of us. 

Early the next morning MC, Julia and I rode the antique metro (although the escalators operated dangerously fast) to the Szechenyi baths...

...also known as my very own paradise. We ordered tickets beforehand and got there right when it opened, so for the entire morning we lounged in the different baths of various temperatures (except the cold one, because apparently you have to have a swim cap to get in that pool? We learned quickly when many wrinkly Hungarian women frantically started pointing at their heads yelling weird things and then the lifeguard blew his whistle at us until we got out). What can I equate a Turkish bath to? Maybe something like the YMCA, in that there are definite regulars that come to soak in the baths on a daily basis (I am just imagining this, but the fact that there were two men playing a set of waterproof checkers that they had set up on the concrete beside the steps to one bath made it seem like that was their usual spot). Only these baths focus solely on relaxation and healing of the mind, none of that working out business. The only sweating you'll do is in the huge sauna, which I of course did. Following my long sauna I took a cold shower, a dip in the warm pool, a spin around the whirl pool, and relaxing sit against a hot spring coming from the side of one of the warmer pools, a lap around the hot pool with cold water shooting out of fountains along the edges, a hot shower, and then sun-bathed until my couple's massage with Julia at 11:45. Somehow an appointment was cancelled and we got ours at just the right time so it worked out that we were in the VIP room, ambient music and all. I haven't gotten many massages  but this was my first ever experience with a 250 lb Hungarian man using techniques like massaging the backs of your knees and rotating your ankles at the same time...but hey I can't complain. Best 15 euro I could think to spend, and why not when you're in a Turkish bathhouse? The water left a chalky, dry residue on your skin but once you showered it left you feeling incredibly smooth and rejuvenated...which came at a great time since I hadn't showered yet on the trip (too much info? oh well). We found Tim back at the hostel and looked for lunch on the way to the train station, as well as a grocery store to blow the rest of our forints. However, we sorely misjudged the distance to the train station on the map and ended up having to run to make it to the train on time. Luckily we made it, snacks in tow, onto the train (with no air conditioning) without a hitch and had the whole car to ourselves for the first long stretch towards Prague.

So that, in a nutshell, was Budapest! The second day we did so much and I feel like we really got a feel for what the place has to offer, and everyone got along so great (which is such a blessing when you have that big of a group), but the last day might have been my favorite. Maybe its because after the museum on Saturday I tried to take a HOT yoga class from a studio in the SAME building that our hostel was in, but the woman told me I had to register online and that I'd miss the class and I'd have to come back another day...well sorry lady you just lost my business. But at least I tried. And it attests to the fact that our hostel couldn't have been more perfectly chosen. It was essentially just an apartment for us; I think there were only 2 other guests in the whole place, and its next door to hot yoga. But on the third day I experienced the bath, something I might not ever do again, and got a lot closer with my 3 travel partners. We planned on sleeping on the train but ended up talking the entire time, and before we knew it 7 hours had passed and we had arrived in Prague. We easily found the hostel, which turned out to be more of a bumping night club on the first floor, hotel on the upper floors, and once we spotted the late-night pizza/kebob place across the street we knew what dinner would be. Half of a large veggie pizza later I was ready to call it a night, so we happily crashed in our private room with no intentions of setting early alarms in the morning.

The only picture I have of all 7 of us

Feria!

This has, hands down, been two of my most favorite and memorable days in Sevilla thus far. We have the entire week off of school to celebrate Feria de Abril, and, ask any of the kids at the school I volunteer with, this week is bigger than the whole Christmas season. Women wear extravagant dresses (a different one every day), men wear suits and ties or traditional caballero attire, people ride horses throughout the entire neighborhood of the fairgrounds, families set up their private casetas to dance, eat, and drink literally 24/7 for 7 days straight, there is an amusement park as decked out as the State Fair (minus the rednecks), and people come from all over Andalucia to party in the fairgrounds of Los Remedios. Its located in a lot that is empty 51 weeks out of the year, but starting at midnight Monday night with the big illumination of la portada, modeled this year after Plaza de Espana, the city of Sevilla truly comes alive. 

These are all photos I took when I went to see the illumination on opening night when the Feria festivities commenced. Eric and I got lost in the immense crowd standing in front of the portada, botelloning and waiting for the lights to go on and for them to be let into the fairgrounds. We were trying to meet up with Chloe and Emily beforehand but once we realized just how many people were in such a tightly-packed street, we turned to watch the portada and just enjoyed the light show. Once people began to bombard the main gates and we hung back, we were able to find C and E and their host sister. She had the connection to a friend with a private caseta and we were able to get in to dance some traditional Sevillana dancing with the locals (so much better than the crowded public tents). We ended up dancing until 4 am without even realizing it! Before taking a cab back we meandered around, admiring the scene that is Feria. The most noticeable thing about it all wasn't the 20,000 bulb lights strung over every street, nor was it the individualized casetas made to look like little houses to define each and every family/business that owned it, nor was it the gargantuan roller coaster fair rides that appeared out of nowhere in the course of a day...no the most fascinating thing to me about it all was how genuinely happy everyone was. I took a video of an elderly couple dancing the Sevillana, the look on their faces sheer bliss. At 4 am just as many 60 year-olds were out and about, laughing, gnashing on a bocadillo or churros y chocolate as the young adults in the crowd. The mood was contagious; when I woke up the next morning I was all smiles and couldn't wait to embrace the now summer day.

Tuesday I relaxed and rested my foot during the day, had a great lunch and wrote the recipe down in my little notebook (Cristina is always pleased about that and happy to indulge some great kitchen secrets upon request), packed for Budapest, went with MC (and the rest of the family, C and Miguelangel) to get her camera back FINALLY--it took C lying and saying she was her niece and that she demanded the camera be fixed before she got MC's parents (C's fake brother) involved--and then headed back to Feria to experience it during the daytime. Tuesday is the first actual day, when the women are allowed to start wearing their dresses, and I didn't want to miss that (see above picture). One temperature sign on the street said it was 35 degrees today...aka 95 degrees Fahrenheit (NO way, I would have been complaining way more) but even so, it was incredibly hot and I couldn't comprehend how all the women could manage to wear such heavy dresses with so many layers, tight long sleeves, no air whatsoever, and heels! And the guys in long pants and coats, my hat's off to them. I put on my most summery clothes and met up with Tucker and Julia to walk around the amusement park area. We got soft serve ice cream, coconut slices (yes they sell fresh coconut slices for 1 euro), and chocolate covered strawberries. After, we rode the Inverter. It was my first fair ride ever and even though I was cursing like a madman the entire time, it was the funnest thing I think I've done so far in Sevilla. It was so tall you could see all the way across Sevilla (from upside down/sideways/backwards/every other which way the ride jerked you) in a way I've never experienced before. Although I wish I could've taken my camera with me on the ride, its probably for the best it stayed on the ground. That thing was rickettttyyyyy. 

I had to get back for dinner after just the one ride, but being there for a couple hours gave me enough of a sense of what Feria is all about, and I'm so glad I got to be here for that. I walked back (against my will...all the Sevici bikes have gone MIA; my foot absolutely kills now)through Maria Luisa park and Plaza de Espana as the sun was setting and I felt like I had stepped back in time. Feria has been a tradition in Sevilla for who knows how long, and I can tell they are passionate about preserving it. Again, I was overcome by how jovial everyone seemed to be. The caballeros riding horses passed me in the street would tip their hat at me and wink, and then just mosey on their merry way. Families with little girls decked out head to toe in mini versions of the mother's Feria outfit waved and smiled at me and at everyone else they passed by on their way into the scene. Even the normally very scary police officers laughed and joked with passersby. 

I made it back home just in time for a delicious dinner of eggplant and cheese pasta, olive oil/garlic/cheese-stuffed artichokes, and my favorite bread that C only buys once in a blue moon. Ice cream cake for dessert. And we danced some Sevillana in the kitchen (obviously recording it all on MC's computer). Now that I'm in bed reflecting on the past couple days, I realize we have moved from winter straight to summer. It feels like I'm out of school, but since I don't have any internship or obligation to fulfill while I'm here in Spain, no jobs to search for, no rent to pay (kind of), its like I'm back in high school and having a summer where I can do nothing but have fun all day long and not feel a single pang of guilt about it. 

On Monday, after the Portugal gang had returned, we met up in the park since it was a pretty day; it wasn't only sunny with no clouds in the sky, it was HOT. Last week I wore layers and gloves to class and just a few days later I'm wearing a bathing suit, a tank top and shorts. We sat on towels, listened to the Of Monsters and Men CD, ate Chloe's chocolates that her friend sent her from the states (Reese's and Twix, the two greatest gifts study abroad kids could ask for), blew on dandelion flowers and made wishes, and tossed oranges from the trees back and forth like they were baseballs. 

So after a weekend in Sevilla, full of time to myself which was both refreshing and rejuvenating, followed by two days of sheer joy to be with friends and with the whole city of Sevilla, celebrating the warm weather and the rich culture that defines the whole place, I can safely say I love it here. I'm so looking forward to going to Budapest (in 3 hours) but I'll also be happy to spend the 3 weekends I don't have any trips planned here in this town that I'm learning has more and more to offer around every corner. 

Immersion 101

Until this weekend I've been saying that I'm truly being immersed in the Spanish culture, but now that I've spent a weekend at home, no Mary Carr to speak English with, almost all friends out of town in Portugal or Italy or wherever they might be off to, I think I've caught a glimpse at what really being immersed in this culture is like. For one, I completely feel like I live here. Everything has felt so natural about this weekend with Cristina, it really feels like I'm just living with a family member (one who is a bit nutty, of course, but you just have to take her freak-outs with a grain of salt). We even had a moment the other night when she asked if she could come in to my room since my door was half-way closed, and when I said of course she could (I thought she might have had a comment about me doing something wrong) she just wanted to give me a kiss good night and tell me that if I needed anything she would be sitting in the living room and I could get her for anything. It was truly sweet and it made me realize that, even though she's said it before that she enjoys having girls come live with her and its what keeps her young/happy, she really does thrive on being the mom figure...and then before she left she did mention that I leave my closet door open too often and I need to remember to shut it (?)...it wouldn't have been a proper visit if she hadn't offered some much-needed advice or recommendations for what to do/not to do. So I decided this weekend I wanted to let her be that mom figure full on. So this is what we've been up to:

On Sunday there was a festival in the park across from my school (el Mercado Romano, to be exact) that looked interesting to me so I asked if she wanted to go with me to check it out. She took the bus downtown and I biked (except all the Sevici stations were out of order so I had to walk, causing her to wait for me and get very confused/worked up), but once we were both there and all calmed down we meandered around the park, looking at the stands of food/artisan craft-work/"Roman" games and traditional clothing. I thought it might be a food market like I've come to love since being in Europe, but I should've known better. Almost all the types of food they sold were chorizo/cured ham/cheese. I could have called that. But there were also stands of dried fruit and caramelized nuts so Cristina bought me some and I bought some for myself to make a little trail mix snack. She also bought the tiniest sliver of Gruyere cheese you ever saw as "una tapita" for herself. We looked at the stands of women offering to tell you your futures and read you tara cards, the stands of Moroccan men selling herbal teas and herb mixtures that solved everything from indigestion to celulitis, the jewelry stands with all hand-made leather bracelets and bronze rings with stones the size of your fist, and even the wild bird stand where you could have your picture taken with a falcon, a hawk, or an owl. We even watched a few parades pass through the rows of stands, made up of men dressed as Roman soldiers, playing old instruments, and a woman dressed as a gypsy, dancing, leading the pack through the park.

My favorite sample of the day: Pesto cheese

The two of us; qué mona

For dinner, since we ate so many samples and candied nuts in the market, we just had a tortilla de patatas for dinner but I told her how I was going to use the recipes she had taught me and had me write down in my daily life when I got home and she was overjoyed. When I told her my family is big on cooking and that I would also share her recipes with them, she was beside herself. She even said, "I'm a celebrity." She then proceeded to make plans for us for Monday...

On Monday morning I went with her to the market where she buys all the fresh fruits/vegetables and meats/bread for our meals for the day. She goes to the market every single day, and only shops with the mindset of what to eat for the next two meals. So her groceries always fit in one bag and there's hardly ever leftovers (and hardly ever things to eat around the house when she's not home and I'm scavenging for snacks). I think it made her morning that I went with her, because along the way we stopped so many times for her to tell me something about a certain store, a certain plant she passes every day, a certain shop owner she knows really well...I could just tell she's proud of what's hers, and this is a big part of her life. She introduced me to all the vendors in the market that she knows and buys from every day, and the fruit man even gave me flowers to take home. 

Self timer pose with some of the flowers and some chorizo, what a combo

And after she started making lunch I went in to the kitchen and asked if I could watch as she made salmorejo, which, again, made her day. She showed me all the utensils she uses, exactly how much of everything to put in, and showed me step by step her process of the dish. She also explained the difference between salmorejo and gazpacho; they sounded almost identical to me, except for the fact that there's peppers in gazpacho, but Cristina told me gazpacho is strictly a summertime food. 

Everything (except my handicap of not being able to walk much/exercise at all) about this weekend has been so fulfilling. I feel at peace and at home where I am. I've been able to relax without worrying about school since we have this whole week off from class because of Feria. The weather has been awesome and I've gotten to lay out in the courtyard of our apartment complex every day when the sun reaches it from 2-5:30ish. I've caught up on every single show I've ever watched, and even started watching Girls on HBO...I sort of hate it but when there's nothing else to do I find myself watching episode after episode and somehow I'm already on season 2. The weekend has just been like a timeout from my already timeout of a semester, and I am welcoming it. For anyone who knows me, I set an alarm every single day, even when I don't have a place to be at any certain time (and that is quite unusual). But the past 3 days I've just woken up when my eyes open, and sometimes I even fall back asleep for another hour or so. I did take one bike excursion Sunday morning out around town, checking in my bike to renew the rental every 25 minutes or so, and I biked all through Triana, los Remedios, to the Feria fairgrounds and through Maria Luisa park for about 2 hours. But other than that I've been pretty sedentary all weekend, something very unlike me to be. At first I had thoughts of being bored, but I need to realize that its okay to not do anything. I don't have to be productive every second of the day, feeling like I'm accomplishing something. I don't even have to be filling my time up with any one thing. When I walked to the market with Cristina and she stopped to smell a rose, then stopped to read the specials menu of a restaurant she's probably passed a gazillion times, and then stopped at least 10 more times before even getting to the market, it occurred to me that these are the things that give her satisfaction. She doesn't have a lot going on, but that means she's got the time to notice the littlest things in her path. Quite literally, she is stopping to smell the roses. So while we were on this little adventure and I started thinking to myself, "come on already, let's just get there!" I tried to retrace my thoughts and just look with her at whatever she was noticing. I might not have finished all the work school-wise I have to do for the semester over the course of the weekend, and I might not have been able to stick to the Insanity calendar, but here's what I'm thinking: any day in Spain that I'm practicing Spanish, learning how to live a little more in a different culture, and able to sit outside to enjoy some sunshine is a day worth being proud of.