first:Elena has moved to barcelona. She was only going to go for 2 weeks for a course, but by a turn of events has ended up moving there. It was very sudden. I knew she was thinking about moving in JUNE...but didnt think shed just not return after her 2 week course was over. it was shocking. and i was DEEPLY SADDENED. elena was my window into madrid. she was my anchor here. she adopted me off the street, my first day in spain. she helped me improve my spanish, she showed me all the cool places the "giris" (foreigners) dont go, she introduced me to all her friends. she was an enormous part of what Madrid ment to me. I think her decision to move was the best decision she could make profesionally, financially, even socially (she was having room mate issues), but selfishly, i wish she was here to be my best friend. There is a hole in my heart/life where elena used to be. i know she's not dead. but shes 2 hours away. and she used to only be 10 minutes away...although, i am very sad about her decision for SOME reason (that i cant explain, but am very grateful for regardles), i seem to have a very strong feeling of hope that its going to be fine, actually... its going to be great. and i'm not actually as sad as i thought i would have been. I guess, how quickly elena decided to move to barcelona, just made me realize how quickly EVERYTHING is happening in my life as of late. I mean, it was already 7 months ago that i met elena. and We were talking about being room mates next year yadda yadda...and suddenly, poof shes got to move to barcelona! and i just realized how quickly this year has gone by, and all the things that ive experienced, and all the people ive met, and some have come and gone and some have stayed longer, and the friends who visited me, and all the trips ive made, and its all been so wonderful, but its all still SO FLEETING. and NEXT YEAR is going to go by just as quick! good things come and go. and when they go, its ok, because there will be more good things to come.
and while the glass if half full, there ARE benefits of elena going to barcelona...
1) i have a place to stay in barcelona now :)
2) now i'm motivated to make even more new friends
3)and also to hang out with a bunch of people that elena introduced me to that pretty much only speak spanish which means, even MORE spanish practice for me! :)
as i mentioned, in a previous post, i'm absolutely thrilled about everything in life right now. I was a little stressed about having decided to stay in spain another year... but i couldnt be more confident in that decision now. i am absolutely sure it was the most brilliant deicsion ever. Every friend that has visited me from abroad has confirmed that. they re-reminded me how much fun i am having, how much i'm growing, and learning, experiencing, what an amazing opportunity and experience this is. and have also expressed serious desire to move here and join me :) i hope they do.
so thats how i feel now that april is coming to an end and all the crazyness is calming down and i have a moment to think and reflect on how i´m feeling. and i´m very happy about it...also because i have SO MUCH to look forward to. May will be a month of rest and frugality. june will be busy again, wrapping things up at school, figuring out housing for next year, and preparing for my summer of insanity: norway july 1-18, then my sister comes july 19-aug 10 and we will be traveling to paris, london, bournemouth, brussels, amsterdam, madrid and barcelona. THEN i go back to california. then i go to washington for a wedding! and hopefully can hit up oregon while im in the pacific north west. THEN I GO TO IRAN FOR 2 WEEKS FOR A COUSINS WEDDING! then back to california, then back to spain september 20th for one more round in europe!
second: so WHY has april been so busy? well, ashley came to visit, and I had a great time showing her around Madrid, but THEN we went to Italy as well!! Ashley and I met about a year and a half ago, and hit it off instantly. She made a persian joke the first night we met and the rest is history.
so she just finished teaching in korea for a year, traveled around SE Asia after that, then went to iran for a month for eid, and then came to spain then italy with me, and now shes back home in america.("bad nagzare!") She didnt renew for a second year in korea because she was planning on returning to america and finding a job related to her career, finance. but then she came and visited me and realized that teaching english in europe is way cooler and remembered how much she wanted to travel still, and how shitty the economy is back home, and changed her mind and is now looking for english teaching jobs in madrid! hopefully something will pull through and she will be here in the fall and we can be roommates (fingers crossed! that would be amazing)
so anyway, ashley and i met, and shortly after, she moved to korea. we kept in touch while she was abroad and then she came and visited me. We were with each other for an entire month, and i think we got mad at each other a grand total of once, and that lasted for 10 minutes.
I feel very lucky to have a friend like Ashley (we almost went through all of college having never met), she loves cooking and eating, and is very good at it, she can speak farsi (yay secret language), she is HILARIOUS, responsible, smart, logical, driven, considerate, thoughtful, spontaneous, doesnt take herself to seriously, loves dancing and laughing, and we have the same style of traveling.
everyday after work i was so excited to come home and hang out, show her around (and actually explore new things in madrid i hadnt done before), cook together, and LAUGH OUR HEADS OFF doing even the most common, daily activities. we're both pretty spazy, and giggly, so its pretty funny to see us in action. whats weird, is, i´m spazier than her, so when shes around me she actually calms DOWN, and in the relationship, shes the older sister, even though in reality, im older than she is. I never felt like i needed alone time, or got sick of her being around, and im BIG on alone time! we just are have alot of similarities, and the differences seem to balance each other out well. i really hope she comes to spain next year!
our trip: Our trip started off in Alicante, Spain. a mediterranean beach town on the east coast. its small and a large part of it is pretty industrial. but the beach is pretty. when we were there, the weather was kind of cloudy and windy so we didnt get to enjoy the beach as much as we would have liked to. we arrived at 5 am by bus from madrid. [memorable quote: "what up alicanteee!?"-Ashley] it was a totally dead bus terminal and we walked towards the beach until we found a hostel. The weather there was very humid and had a lot of flora ive seen in hawaii. so that was cool. we got a hostel. and passed out for a few hours. then went out and explored the city. At night we had dinner in a typical spanish restaurant, and then went out and found a funny, slightly round dance buddy and danced until 4 am at Havana Cafe. if anyone is ever in alicante and doesnt know what to do. go there.
lesson learned in alicante: its kind of trashy, but you can definitely make your own fun there. also, unexpected dance partners are the best dance partners
The next day we went to italy! first stop was venice. we were couch surfing, so our first host was pietro. he was very nice, (he even picked us up from the airport!), and didnt like to say "no". we brought him a mini spanish cook book and also baked him an apple pie one night. he was also hosting 2 other really really...moronic american girls 20, and 22 years old, who were studying in salamanca, spain, and apparently had no real interest in learning anything about spain...or the world. or being good ambassadors of america, or polite, or thankful, or social. so they were interesting...and yes that's a euphemism for an assortment of adjectives that i wont bother listing now.
venice is small, and expensive, and very very touristy. BUT GORGEOUS! it looks JUST like in the movies (i later learned that all of italy is exactly like all the stereotypes you hear. I had my own stereotypical image of italy that i didnt actually expect to be accurate, and was surprised to find out that it was. for example, the accent, the fact that they ACTUALLY say "mama mia!" and "ciao bella!" the hand gestures, the mafia is very present, the food...it goes on and on, and its JUST like in the movies, which i admit, is the main media through which i know anything about italy) and everywhere you looked you wanted to take a hundred pictures of it. the gondolas were too expensive so unfortunately, i didnt get to ride one. but we did oggle the sexy gondola "drivers" :) [memorable quote: i'll gondola him while he gondola's me"-Ashley]
got lost in the tiny winding streets, visited san marco square and pooped my pants because i remembered studying it back in architecture school. back then and it seemed so far, and like such a celebrity, and i never thought i'd see it. and then there i was standing in the middle of it, spinning round and round trying to take it all in. it was stunning.
the lesson we learned in venice, staying with pietro and the 2 girls was:being american is really a double edged sword. also, saying "no" isnt bad, and doesnt mean youre mean, it just means you are communicating your true feelings effectively. and we appreciate that. and couch surfing is fun.
next stop was Florence! Ashley and I were both very excited for this, because we were traveling into the heart of the italian wine country, and who HASN'T dreamt of strolling around a village among the the tuscan hills, drinking wine, (and for some) eating cured meats, cheese, bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar? also, the really girly-me loves the movie "under the tuscan sun"... i used to watch it with my mom and sister {and sometimes dad :) } and was just very much looking forward to being in this place that i had always heard so much about, seen movies about, and fantasized going to!
We took a train from venice to florence. it was a beautiful ride, and Ashley and I had an entire little car to ourselves for about half the trip...then, at one stop, we saw a guy, who looked like he had been plucked straight out of oregon (wood-chopper style beard, aryan, plaid, giant back pack) walked into our car. he said something in italian, and we were like deer in the headlight "....uh....que?" luckily he spoke english (and spanish) we were admittedly, a little bummed we had a 3rd party invading OUR little 2-person party we were having in the train car...but figured we'd make the best of the situation and talk to him...about 1.5 hours later we were having coffee and catching a bus with Mattia in florence, the ex-university of florence philosphy major turned puppet master from Treviso. he was very cool, and we were very happy he came into our car. half an hour after that, we meto Lapo, his friend from university who Mattia was staying with for a couple days during his vacation...about 4 hours after that we were in a bar called joshua tree with mattia, lapo, matteo, Julio and some other italians i cant remember the names of...2 hours after that we were in a vinoteca (wine bar) where they sold wine out of a tap, with a group of about 7 or 8 italian boys, all mattia's friends reuniting after having graduated from university, drinking wine in the via (street) surrounded by ancient ruins and monuments...no big deal ;P
lesson learned: talk to people in close proximity to you, there might be a reason why your paths have crossed, and you never know what they can teach you
an hour after that we had to go and meet Altin, our host for that night.
we met him close by his work, he took us to a bar near by and we talked for about an hour. turns out he's albanian, and eastern european culture has a lot of similarities to middle eastern culture. the three of us bonded over being brown and the silly things that result from being bi-cultural. then he took us to a very nice vista point over looking florence, and then to his house, where SURPRISE, one of his room mate's brothers or friends was sleeping where we were supposed to sleep...altin got that sorted out while ashley and i were getting ready in the bathroom and laughing like hyenas from recalling the events of the day. then, RIGHT before we went to bed...altin asked a strange question... "whats the naughtiest thing you guys've ever done?" uh...this was going in an unexpected direction...
Shayan: ALTIN, I'M NOT GOING TO ANSWER THAT.
Altin: (laughing) why not?!
Shayan: because we just met you an hour ago.
Altin: ok then maybe tomorrow
Shayan: not tomorrow either.
we slept really well, but woke up knowing we didnt want to spend another night in Altin's house because of the inappropriate question from the night before. he was very kind and made us coffee and a small breakfast the next day, but also mentioned that if we could find somewhere else to sleep that night that would be good because his room mates brother was coming with his girlfriend, and someones friend with marriage problems was coming too and needed somewhere to crash, so there might not be enough room for everyone...we were more than fine with that. we figured we could stay somewhere with the guys we met from the night before. we set out for a day of tourism, left our bags at altins house, and met up with Mattia and Matteo (i know it sounds like a joke, but its not) they showed us around venice, ponte veccia, a good pizzeria (all we did the entire week was eat pasta, pizza, risoto, tiramisu, gelato, and coffee.), their favorite square, favorite Brunelleschi church...etc and then ashley and I went to tour the duomo, and climbed all the way up to the top and had a breath taking view of the entire city and finished the rest of our left over pizza atop the duomo, staring at the city, the river, terra cotta roofs, and the tuscan hills.
later that night we went with the boys out to a party and stayed out all night, then we had breakfast and they navigated the gps on mattias phone while matteo drove us back to altins house. Back at Altin's house, we packed our bags, and had to deal with a grumpy altin...his feelings were hurt that we didnt invite him out. also, he wanted to go swimming and no one wanted to go with him. We had plans to go wine tasting that evening on a little tour and invited him but he declined. we thanked altin, gave him his mini spanish cook book gift and left.
Lesson learned: being brown is a double edged sword. and also, being really friendly and nice because sometimes, people get too comfortable around you and then say things they probably shouldn't. which in turn, makes you uncomfortable...and then its all awkward from there.
so ashley and I headed to the center to try and find a hostel for later that night because the next day we were going to head to rome early in the morning. we spent about 2 hours looking for a hostel (we got a little distracted for a while with eating lunch) and were unsuccessful in finding anywhere that had a room or a decent price because it was easter break and everyone was on holiday. all the cheap places were taken and all that was left were really expensive places that we were not willing to pay for. suddenly it was 1/2 an hour before the tour and we had to go to the train station to drop our bags off at baggage check so we could go on the tour! we looked like hell, because we hadnt slept or changed or showered since the night before. so we ran to the train station, skillfully changed in front of the baggage check in window in 2 minutes without being obscene (couldnt use the bathrooms because they were too far and also cost a euro to use). checked in the bags and ran for the tour van and got a gelato on the way!
the tour was absolutely romantic, the second we drove beyond the city walls, we were in the middle of the rolling lush green hills of tuscany, we went to 2 little villages in the hills and to a pretty winery. the wine wasnt my favorite, but i had the most amazing olive oil and balsamic vinegar of my LIFE there. the olive oil had this amazing flavor i had never experienced before, it was neon green, and i wanted to chug the entire bottle. the balsamic vinegar was so rich, and so flavorful and aromatic. i felt like i was in heaven...
ashley and i fell asleep in the van on the way back and it was a good thing we managed to get some shut eye because:
when we returned to florence we couldnt find anywhere to stay (mattia had left florence to visit a friend about 2 hours away, we had already said bye to all the other boys and didnt feel like meeting up with them again)...so we decided to just spend the night being homeless...throughout the night we: spent our time in a stairwell, on the marble freezing floor of the train station, but were then woken up by a honk in the face from (actually, a really hot) security guard on a golf cart at 2 am telling us to leave because the train station was closed, so then we went to (low point) McDonalds for 2 hours until they were closing, so then we went back to the train station and slept outside of it along with the hobos and other travelers waiting for it to open. we mastered the art of body heat cultivation: one person sits on shayans back pack, while ashley's suitcase is positioned so it blocks any drafts or breezes. then the other person sleeps on the lap of who ever is sitting, and the one sitting folds over and rests her head on the body of the one sleeping on the lap. we woke up many times with limbs going numb from the contorted positions, or butts frozen and sore from the marble floors (some more experienced travelers had the foresight to have collected cardboard to sleep on, and some even traveled with blankets) and believe me when i say that as horrible as this ngiht sounds, we laughed the ENTIRE time, not one of us complained or whined or snapped because it was just one night and we knew it WOULD end and then it would eventually make a good story. finally, at 8 or 9 am we got the train to rome (3 hours) and slept the entire way.
lesson learned: always have a back up couch, or cardboard boxes, and travel blanket [maybe steal one from the airplane on the way over] AND LASTLY, always laugh. it makes things so much better.
Andrea showed us around rome a bit, he took us to his favorite part, Trastevere, a neighborhood across the tiber river(ee!tiber river!), he explained to us how he lived in rome for 20 years working as an artist and street vendor. He knew rome very well but had outgrown it. He identifies more with eastern culture, hence the macrobiotic diet, and finds the city to be toxic for him. he feels much more calm and happy and healthy and at peace in his country home with his cat and his garden. As we drove further and further out of rome Andreas demeanor and vibe started to change, about an hour into cooking dinner i looked at andrea and had to interrupt the conversation to point out how different he was now than he was when we met him in the city. he EVEN LOOKED different. its amazing, really, how much happier he was outside of the city. His response was just that he really did not like it in the city and only goes there to work at Un Punto Macrobiotico, the macrobiotic restaurant he works at. The food he made was delicious, it was local, it was whole, it was seasonal, organic, and made with love. he even gave us some macrobiotic desserts from the bakery at Un Punto macrobiotico. then we had 3 cups of cleansing tea, talked, he showed us his art, and then slept like BABIES. the next day we packed, gave him the vegetarian spanish cook book we brought for him, but were slightly embarrassed because we realized he probably couldnt use it since it wasnt macrobiotic... he took us to the train station and we took the train into the city for a few more hours of tourism until we had to take a night train back to venice.
On this day we ate, went to the trevi fountain, ate, saw the pantheon, ate, walked through trastevere again, ate, went to the vatican and took some inapropriate pictures because the pope was singing and it was being broadcasted on tv in front because it was easter and it was creepy, we skipped the sistine chapel (NEXT TIME DEFINITELY) and then were trying to go a specific neighborhood to eat when we got stuck in pope traffic (he was going from the vatican to the coliseum...pff), there were helicopters flying around, police cars zooming about, traffic police stopping and redirecting traffic...the entire area was completely stopped. we finally made it to the restaurant, ate, and made it back in time to the train station to catch our over night train. we shared the car with a russian lady who asked way too many questions and we "slept" for a few hours until we arrived in venice at 5 am.
lessons learned in rome: the macrobiotic diet is very powerful, and i totally beleive in it. i just dont have the will power to deprive myself of so many things. also, the pope is a diva.
we hung out in venice for one last meal and gelato and stroll along the ponte rialto and then headed back to the bus terminal where we realized that the bus that takes us to venice-treviso airport only comes every other leap year when theres a simultaneous bluemoon and solar eclipse. so we werent going to make it to our flight ontime. so we reluctantly took a cab. and luckily made it in time for our flight back to alicante. where we had about 5 hours to spend until our night bus. in alicante we ate some frozen yogurt and (low point:) subway. (in our defense, we got the veggie patty). we reminisced and laughed about our unbelievable week, and decided to head back to the train station where we saw a variety of men with boobs, homeless people, drunk people, and sleezy guys who insisted on speaking to us despite our exhaustion-and filthyness. and somehow in our sleepy oblivion we made it on the right bus and eventually on the right metro to my house.
Ashley left the next morning :(
AND THERE ENDS THE EPIC ODDESSEY (FOR NOW)
I still will randomly burst into laughter on the metro or walking somwhere when i randomely remember something from our trip. i cant emphasise more what a great trip it was.
most important lessons learned: always laugh, always be ready for a picnic, and be ready for things to not go as you planned but to turn out better than you could have imagined.
this blog post took forever, so ill illustrate it later, and write about Mallorca in a few days!
LOVE YOU ALL
SORRY THIS IS SO LONG
AND I MISS YOU
X
"the pope is a diva" ahahahhaaha omg sister you are so funny! i loved this post :)) made me smile. im glad you guys had such a great experience, and im also glad you were safe and didn't meet any major creepers
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