Zaragosa, Spain and Barcelona, Spain

Day Four: Zaragoza, Spain and Barcelona, Spain

I figure I will just make a stop at one of the major cities on the way to Barcelona...one of which is Zaragoza. I get in at 2 pm and have 5 hours to explore. At this point I have to carry around my giant backpack the whole time (ugh). At first glance Zaragoza is not much at least it didn’t look like it to me. Then I continued to walk around and gradually things became more interesting...I got to the historic district and saw a lot of really nice things. So after hours of walking I get back to the train station and I realize that I missed the train I was supposed to get and I am stuck with the express. The problem being with the normal train I would arrive in Barcelona at 9 am (i.e. I would not have to pay for a hostel) but with the express I arrived at 10 pm and was forced to sleep in the airport or get a hostel. I chose the latter. First I explore what I can of the city and am already very impressed. I get to the hostel get as comfortable as I can then crash. I got four days in Barcelona no need to rush.....


Days Five - Seven: Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona was a lot of fun. It is a huge city with a million things to do and a million places to go. And there are people here from every corner of the world it seems like. There are way too many museums to count, green areas, ports, beaches, and everything you could ever hope to do. The nightlife is equally as diverse with all options that you could want, with plenty of options for the immense number of tourists (hard-pressed to find an area with actual Barcelon-ians). Even the Spanish people are most likely tourists from another part of Spain.

Bilbao, Spain and Biarritz, France

Day Two: Biarritz, France and Bilbao, Spain

Well we went a little off of the original plan...but that's because things never work out as planned. SO there are only two buses daily to get to Biarritz...one that leaves at 9 am and the other which leaves at 2:30 pm. The original plan was to get up at 8 am and catch the 9 am...but as we got to sleep a little late the night before it just didn't work. So, instead there was more exploring of San Sebastian until we got ready to leave. The travel was really beautiful because it was right along the coast the whole time and you always had a view of the sea. When we got o Biarritz we were told that there were no buses leaving the next day (when we wanted to go to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim) and the only bus remaining left in 3 hours. So the 3 hours I spent in Biarritz, France was really nice....anything along the coast was just breathtaking o see. By the time we arrived in Biarritz it was about 10pm and we had no hostel (place to sleep). We spent the next 2 hours running around the city trying to find somewhere to sleep while it seemed to be getting colder by the minute. As we were doing this we are right in the middle of Carnival...a grand party all around Europe where everyone dresses up in costumes and parties all night. Despite the cold people were wearing every kind of costume from surfer to Buzz Lightyear. It was pretty interesting. By the time we found food and were inside its already 1:30. Maybe time to rest up for tomorrow....

Day Three: Bilbao continued...

This is one of my great days of culture. First thing first, I had to find another hostel for the night. Once that was done off to the Guggenheim which, truth be told, was not as impressive as I would have thought. Outside it is very elegant and looks huge but it seemed like there weren’t really that many exhibits (and add in the fact that the 3rd floor was closed for renovation. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it. there were a lot of interesting pieces but when I thought of the Guggenheim I thought it was more. After this we explored Bilbao...the thing abut Bilbao is it has personality but its not the kind of city you´ would show to your friends. Especially in comparison to Biarritz and San Sebastian it is kind of on the other side of the spectrum. Its rich in culture as there are tons of museums an places to eat but as for sight-seeing this is really not the place. We ended up going to another museum (because it was raining heavily and he only thing that was open) but were pleasantly surprised because it was pretty good. (Museum of Fine Arts). Next Paulo had to catch a bus back to Valencia (classes start now) and I went back to the hostel. AT this point I have figure that I have seen enough of Bilbao and start planning my next leg of the trip.

Nueva Aventura (New Adventure)

Ok, It has been a while since my last blog so here is a very quick recap. The holidays have passed here , I have spent the time with friends but of course missed my friends and family. During the holidays I also participated in a volunteer camp where I was able to meet a lot of really great people and got to help out as well. January was filled with administrative troubles, I was wrestling with problems with my visa and also had some exams and projects to submit (January here is the time for final exams and project submissions). At the end of it all although I had originally planned to stay here in Valencia for a complete year I will only be staying until the end of February. Of course there are good and bad parts to this new direction. I will be ecstatic to come back to my friends and family but at the same time I will definitely miss Spain and my friends here. Also there is the shame that up until now I have not traveled very much, and it is for that reason that I have decided to spend my last month here in Spain traveling so I can get to se more of this culturally rich country...and here I am....


Day 1: San Sebastian, Spain (Feb 1, 2008)

San Sebastian is a very beautiful city in the north of Spain in what is known as Vasco Country. The cost of living here is actually the highest in all of Spain. For that reason this a place where people of upper class live. I left Valencia at 11:00 pm on Jan 30th and arrived here at 6:30 am in the morning. I am traveling with an Italian friend Paulo. When we got here the temperature was about 35 degrees (in comparison with 0 in Valencia) so we were cold. We came upon one location that was open so early and it was very good. Walking around the city we had to wait until about 9 until anything was open. During this time we spent a lot of time looking at the sea (Bay of Biscaye) which is really a sight to see. The waves are very strong here so all of those who like to surf this is the perfect place for you. After it didn't take long to find a really nice hostel which way a great relief because I did not have to carry my giant backpack anymore. After dropping off our things we did a walking tour of the beach (Shell Beach) ad got to see some great monuments, (Mount Orgull y Egeldo)two mountains which have a spectacular view of the entire city. Each view to me was breathtaking so as you can imagine I have a huge collection of pictures. The city has so much history and the architecture is very nice. After walking all day sight seeing we decided to eat and take a nap. A short nap turned into 4 hours and when we woke to the sound of music in the streets. Today is actually a very important festival day in San Sebastian where everyone dresses in costumes and there is music and dancing in the streets. Unfortunately soon after it started to rain which did not put a damper on the celebration but did make it so we didn't want to stay outside. The thing about this city is we found a hard time to come upon other young people...it is probably due to the high cost of living. We will probably go out again and see what we se, but we have to rest because tomorrow we go to France...

Accion de Gracias (Thanksgiving)

This year, I was lucky enough to have semi-traditional Thanksgiving celebration. I was invited by an Italian guy (Paolo) fined to his house where they had brought a turkey for Thanksgiving in honor of their American roommate. I volunteered to prepare th macaroni and cheese and banana pudding. When I arrived there was a full turkey with stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes salad and even sweet potatoes (or something like it). I was actually very good and especially considering most of the cooking was done by a guy who had never even seen a cooked turkey before and had no idea what stuffing was.

Mi Vida Sigue....(My Life Continues)

So since the last blog, I have continued my classes, gotten a bike, and started to feel more at home.

So as far as academics go the classes are not so challenging but for the fact that they are in Spanish. In the engineering classes obviously the language poses more of a problem because of the subject matter. But for the most part its coming along. Speaking of, learning a completely new language is not as easy as one would hope. I would like to think I have made some advances but as always its a very slow process.

I was very fortunate to get a surprisingly high quality bike by making a deal with my landlord. My landlord agreed to split the price of a bike with me, and I use it now and hen I leave he gets a bike to advertise along with his room for rent. In addition he took me to a store of a friend of his where I got a really good deal so I officially have a dependable mode of transport and I love it. I´m able to get just about anywhere (in fact I no longer use the metro system) and its also a constant source of exercise which is great.

Speaking of exercise for now I continue to work with the martial arts (Tae-kwon Do and Judo) 2 days a week each and so far so good. The crew team was supposed to start this week but we have had horrible rains.....

**The weather in the last couple of weeks has been pretty severe, it seems like its always raining and with a bike you can imagine how happy that makes me. But the are of Spain is not used to such high amounts of water already there have been many incidents of flooding, not to mention in many buildings roof leaks can be found**

So I am still waiting on that, however unfortunately I do not think that I will get the same benefit from this team. Th coach himself already told me that this schools team is nowhere near that of Georgia Tech (I was excited to hear that we are indeed internationally known!). But I figure practice is practice.

Unfortunately I do not have a whole lot to tell now...night-life is night-life, school is school and I have yet to do anything really exciting with my life . My next task therefore is to find an adventure worth taking and one that I can share here....Until then PLEASE let me know what is going on with you in your life. (Not everyone has a blog ;) ) and beleive me I am waiting to hear from you...Hasta Luego (Until Later)

Mi Vida Diaria (My Everyday Life).....hasta ahora (until now)

OK, so I have been in Valencia for almost two weeks at this point and I feel somewhat familiar with my surroundings. I do not have a whole lot to discuss since my last blog but to sum it up: I have changed roommates, I have started school and (more or less) selected my courses and have seen a little more of Valencia. (By the way for anyone who is interested I do have an address and it is available upon request)

The roommate thing: So Friday after he had gone to his university my roommate tells me that he's moving out. He said that the campus for his major was actually in Castellon ( a city about 2 hours north of Valencia) and that he had to leave immediately to find an apartment and such...fifteen minutes later he was gone...simple as that. So me and my remaining roommate, -Daniella : 27, German- were left with the task of finding another roommate. Well it turns out this was a relatively easy task. We decided to post an ad on Loquo (Spain's version of Craigslist) and within 2 hours we had enough interested people that we decided to remove the ad. Apparently. there are still a lot of people(mostly students) searching for housing. In total we had 7 people come look at the apartment on Saturday (they were all interested...it is a very nice apartment) but at the end we chose a 21 year old guy from France. Mostly because he cannot speak much English (so we have to speak in Spanish) , he close to my age and he seemed nice. So the next day (Sunday) he moved in and that was settled.

As for the classes well because I was not one hundred percent sure of what I was taking and for that reason it has been a little hectic. As of right now I am taking 2 engineering courses, philosophy, Spanish and a class called International Co-operation. It totals up to 22.5 UPV (Universidad Politecnica de Valencia) hours and only 12.8 Georgia Tech hours :( (yeah I get the short end of that stick). Though I really cannot complain because besides the fact that its in Spanish...its a relatively light load. [I realize those of you who are currently at Georgia Tech will laugh and mock me on how light a load it is and how much you are suffering because of your 3 lab courses ....and honestly I cannot argue with you]. But like I said I have just recently come to this conclusion that I am taking these classes and because I had one of the engineering classes confused with another, I have already missed 3 classes and am therefore quite behind already but hope that somehow I will be able to catch up. More to come on how this is going to work out. So far I have only actually been to one class and I could understand pretty clearly (though it was still boring--which is universal).

Some of you may be wondering: Hey what about your social life...Well....I still have not explored the city as much as I should have....I am just now beginning to meet some new people. Hopefully in the next few weeks I'll meet more. Like I mentioned before I know a large German crowd but the problem is when they get together they mostly speak German and/or English all the time. At this point I only attempt to speak in Spanish. The only time I may use English is to try to explain the meaning of a word otherwise I carry my handy dictionary everywhere and try to struggle through conversation. My new roommate and I are about at the same level so its really good practice. I've also began to read books and newspapers and of course TV and movies are all in Spanish. Not to say that I don't do anything I still hang out with my German friends and my roommates sometimes and if nothing else I like to just walk around the city and attempt to explore by myself.

Another thing, I do not know if any of you are aware like I am but the dollar seems to drop in value almost everyday!! The euro is killing me...I think i may need o open a bank account here just to keep my sanity. I feel like I have stocks that are continuously going down!


Sports activities start next week and I am going to try to join he row team (though it only meets on the weekends so it is not nearly enough physical activity). So to supplement for right now I am taking up Judo and Tae Kwon Do as well which are offered through the school (but that is still only once a week each). Hopefully I can just find someway to row more often. One source of constant exercise is walking, I have to walk eveywhere....there is a metro but it stops running at 11 (so if you happen to be at a club then you have to walk or find a taxi). It is a 20 minute walk to school and yes I could ride the metro to school but I choose to save the money, besides its not that far...and every bit saved counts.

So like I said not a whole lot to report...I have a friend Jessica Carter who is currently in France and is planning a trip to Barcelona (so hopefully I can meet up with her)... My mom is trying to come for Thanksgiving so I need to look for a ticket for her (as well as a place for her to stay)...Learning a language is more difficult than one would hope but its slooowly progressing....
The next thing is I gotta do is buy a bike. With a method of transportation...who knows what adventures can unfold....

Tengo un apartamento (I have an apartment)

I am very proud to say that after hours of blood sweat and tears, a lot of headaches, and spending more money than I care to remember I finally have an APARTMENT!

Starting the day after my last entry on Tuesday I have been to Valencia (an hour trip one-way by train) 6...yes 6 .....days in a row. Everyday was another headache, miles of walking, spending money on the train to get to Valencia, and the local metro as well (thats where most of the money went) I searched with my roomate Martin from Germany.......

**As I said last time there are many Germans here...so as you can imagine I tend to hear a lot of German and English. I try to pretty much only talk in Spanish (I don't remember enough German anyway). There are also just a lot of foreigners in general....because of this program called Erasmus in Europe that allows students from different countries to go to other countries in the program. I think each country has a different stipend amount that is afforded to their students and each student is allowed to do it once in their college career. I have met people from Italy, France, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, and a few others I cant remember. I am not sure if Australia is part f this group or not, bu there are a handful of them as well.***

....and it seemed like we were the only ones worried about it. Now we both have apartments and everyone else is scrambling to find a place. I really like the apartment I found, it is located in an area called Palmaret. My roomates are Daniella (German, 26 years old, beginner level of Spanish) and Juan (Spanish, 18). They both seem very nice, now I bridge the gap between them because Juan speaks very little English.

The location is about 10 minutes from the university and about 15 min from "El Centro" (The center of the city) I live right next to the Metro (the bus and rail system), so it is easy travel. The neighborhood is quiet and there are not too many people .And I pay less than 300 a month, so not too bad.

And my language course....its going alright. Not to say that I haven't learned anything but if I could do it ll over (to me) it was not worth the cost. I have met some cool people and it is good that I was here early but I feel that if I had bought a book on Spanish grammar (my Achilles heel---English grammar too) and just arrived early and stayed at a hotel I would have been just as well. We take a final exam tomorrow to pass or fail but the exam for me is only a personal thing. I am in a level too low to apply to my degree(because of my great grammar skills) and since I pay for it myself my HOPE is unaffected.

Now that I have an apartment I can focus on other things. For instance, I have recently come to the conclusion that I am out of shape...so now it is time to find somewhere where I can row and a gym to go to to start exercising again. I have been able to go to the beach and it is really a very beautiful sight and all those surfers out there would love it because it has very nice waves (true I have been to the beach very few times and don't know a lot about waves but they seem nice).

I am going to admit I have no taken very many pictures at all so far...between searching for a room and class, I just have simply forgotten most times. I will try to remember in the future but now I still do not have much to show. Also I do not have internet in my room , I have to use the wireless at my university so oftentimes I forget my camera in my room. And since I do not want to walk the two blocks from my room to the school (I told you I was out of shape) I still have no pictures posted. So if none are posted very soon feel free to leave me a reminder.

The next important task: register at the school and, oh yeah ,I might want to find out what classes I am taking....(stay tuned)