This entry is not for the faint of heart. If the title grossed you out, I’d suggest not reading the details below. I debated whether or not to publish this little story, but we’ve all been there in some way or not. Anyway, the necessary ingredients for a disastrous eight hours in Andalusia are as follows:
1. Decide on the spur of the moment to drive to drive an hour and a half into the country.
2. Bring no maps whatsoever. Forget your cell phone and assume that there will be some place to buy camera film, as yours is full.
3. Trust dutifully in your abilities with the Spanish language, ignoring the fact that you only studied it for three semesters and that the Andalusian accent is not exactly the same thing as what you learned.
4. Have limited experience with European roundabouts, and none with big-city European roundabouts.
5. Drive a Fiat.
6. Decide to go into Seville (though unaware of this) on a national holiday weekend when all of Andalusia flocks to the very same place you’re going.
7. In the process of desperately fleeing Seville’s horrific traffic, drive to the resort towns that have, though for one day only, become literal ghost towns because everyone without wooden pegs for legs is in Seville (see #6).
8. Still shaking an hour after leaving the city because you just experienced the worst urban driving conditions in your 23 years of existence, jerk the sunglasses from your face as you walk into a rural Andalusian gas station, lose your grip on them, and accidentally fling them into the toilet. Cuss.
9. In the process of fervently looking for a place that’s not closed to buy a postcard from in said ghost towns, pay no attention to where you’re stepping.
10. After not watching where you’re stepping in said ghost town, take off your sandal and wipe sandal and vomit-saturated foot off on the sidewalk in front of you and on the corner of the building next to you. Realize after the fact that you are in front of the one shop in the city that’s open, and that the shopkeeper’s daughter just watched you desecrate her mother’s shop. Pretend not to hear and walk away as angry Andalusian mother screams at you passionately as she mops up the street.
Okay, so I’m in Portugal at the moment. I love Portugal. I’ll use my next entry to describe it after I get back. I’m only an hour’s drive from the Spanish border, and thought I’d brave a day in Seville, since it’s on the list of cities that I’ve always wanted to see. And to this day, I’ve never actually stepped foot in it, and saw the fabulously golden Moorish palaces that I’ve dreamed of touring for years just long enough to grumble that I’d been looking for a parking space for AN HOUR AND A HALF. That’s right. AN HOUR AND A HALF. Finally, fearing for my life because of the traffic (I would've traded it for a hundred Manhattans) and well aware that my nerves were shot for the rest of the day, I decided to drive back across rugged Andalusia to go to a couple of the beaches on the Spanish side of the border. Little did I know that the whole countryside had closed down. Sure, the whole place seemed straight out of a movie; the horses, white-washed towns, idyllic, limbless pine tress, sun-scorched fields. Maybe one day I’ll come back to it with better memories. I never did find that tourist shop, and didn’t get my postcard or film. All I have to show for my day in Spain is a gasoline receipt and a map of Spain and Portugal that I purchased using broken (!) Spanish at the gas station where I accidentally gave my favorite sun glasses a swirlie. I spent all of today in Portugal on the beach, as I should have done.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Friday, October 26, 2007
Pictures from Iceland.
Birthday on the beach, Vik, Iceland. The southernmost point of the country, with a volcanic black sand beach right next to the little town.
Lava fields with cinder cone in background, southwestern peninsula. This was on the way to the airport. Most of the country is actually really green, except there aren't really any trees.
Blue Lagoon, southwestern Iceland. Exfoliation hurts (and deserves dishonorable discharge). Those crafty Icelanders even put tubs of silica mud on the sides of the lagoon for guests' epidermal pleasure.
More Blue Lagoon.
And more Blue Lagoon.
Skogafoss, in southern Iceland. Supposedly there's a pot of Viking gold hidden behind the falls. Not that it would even come close to compensating for the exchange rate.
Driving the western fjords.
More fjords.
Rural church with fjord in background.
Rainbow, southwest-central Iceland. I saw more of them in three days than I have in the last ten years.
Volcanic crater, southwest-central Iceland.
Geysir, Iceland. The word "geyser" comes from this place. They erupted every five minutes.
Probably Iceland's most famous waterfall. Not that I can remember its name right now.
Another waterfall near Vik, Iceland. I wish I could figure out how to get these pictures to flip.
Free upgrade on the ride. I wish I knew how to drive a stick shift.
Iceland is Nice!
Forgive me for the cheesy title. I'm going to attempt to post up some pictures from my birthday trip to Iceland, which is the first real traveling that I've done since I've come here. The photos speak for themselves, but I've never raved about a place like this. My friend Colin and I flew to Reykjavik from London Heathrow (and Dublin before) for three nights via IcelandAir, which is one of the nicer airlines I've been on. We rented a car and drove to the southernmost point in the country the first morning we were there, and stopped and saw geysers, waterfalls, a glacier, lava fields and plenty of mountains. The second day we went to church at the national Lutheran church in Reykjavik (the service was in Icelandic), drove along the fjords of the western coast, and spent the evening walking around Reykjavik. The last day we went to the Blue Lagoon, a relatively famous hot springs area that the Icelanders turned into a spa.
All in all, the country is a life-sized version of Rohan from Lord of the Rings; treeless, wild, mountainous, sparse, full of horses and light-complected people. Gorgeous. It was also by far the most ridiculously expensive place I've ever been to, and it took me a week to develop the anatomy to check my back account online to see how much damage I did. Reykjavik is beautiful architecturally on its own, but the surrounding scenery just makes it beyond anything I could have imagined.
In other news, school is going well here. I'm enjoying my M.A. classes, although there's a lot more emphasis on music theory analysis and the conversion of four-hundred year-old scores into modern terms than what I anticipated. It's not exactly easy, but I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off like I did in college, partly because I don't have to worry about ROTC here. I have a better idea of what I want to do my thesis on (I'm not going to write the topic on the Internet, obviously), and I think if I can pull it off, it's a really good opportunity for publication; no one's ever worked on is before, and it's a bigger-picture version of what I worked on as an undergraduate, except this will concentrate on Ireland a few hundred years back. If I can pull it off. All in all, the Masters' program is everything I wanted it to be, and I even get to play my fiddle in the Irish Traditional Music Ensemble on Wednesdays.
I'm still trying to get used to the entire country shutting down between one and two in the afternoon, and I haven't exactly been thrilled (oh....the understatements we make) with the computer office at the university I'm at for the utterly, suicidally inefficient, mockingly student-unfriendly policies and Internet settings that enrage me on an almost hourly basis, but I'll let it rest. After all, the rest of the school here has bent over backwards to welcome me (particularly regarding the scholarship that sent me over here), and I've got loads of Christmas gifts to hand out to all the people who have helped me here in the last few weeks.
As for the next few weeks: as of these evening, I'm on my Fall break, which lasts until a week from Monday for me, since I don't have class on Mondays. I'm going to Portugal, the Algarve region specifically, on Thursday via a fairly good deal that I found. I'm also taking a bus to Cork, in the southwest of Ireland, tomorrow, for a couple of days. I'm coming back to the USA for Christmas for two weeks, since the next time after that I'll be back will be in the early part of August for law school, wherever that may be.
And to those of you're coming to visit me: come before it gets warm! You can easily find flights from East-coast cities for under $200 each way; Aer Lingus is your best bet right now. I'm largely waiting on family and friends to visit me so that I don't have to spend the money seeing things by myself and then more on seeing the same thing when visitors come. So book soon, if you're thinking about it.
That's all for this week. Enjoy the pictures, and I'll write again soon.
All in all, the country is a life-sized version of Rohan from Lord of the Rings; treeless, wild, mountainous, sparse, full of horses and light-complected people. Gorgeous. It was also by far the most ridiculously expensive place I've ever been to, and it took me a week to develop the anatomy to check my back account online to see how much damage I did. Reykjavik is beautiful architecturally on its own, but the surrounding scenery just makes it beyond anything I could have imagined.
In other news, school is going well here. I'm enjoying my M.A. classes, although there's a lot more emphasis on music theory analysis and the conversion of four-hundred year-old scores into modern terms than what I anticipated. It's not exactly easy, but I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off like I did in college, partly because I don't have to worry about ROTC here. I have a better idea of what I want to do my thesis on (I'm not going to write the topic on the Internet, obviously), and I think if I can pull it off, it's a really good opportunity for publication; no one's ever worked on is before, and it's a bigger-picture version of what I worked on as an undergraduate, except this will concentrate on Ireland a few hundred years back. If I can pull it off. All in all, the Masters' program is everything I wanted it to be, and I even get to play my fiddle in the Irish Traditional Music Ensemble on Wednesdays.
I'm still trying to get used to the entire country shutting down between one and two in the afternoon, and I haven't exactly been thrilled (oh....the understatements we make) with the computer office at the university I'm at for the utterly, suicidally inefficient, mockingly student-unfriendly policies and Internet settings that enrage me on an almost hourly basis, but I'll let it rest. After all, the rest of the school here has bent over backwards to welcome me (particularly regarding the scholarship that sent me over here), and I've got loads of Christmas gifts to hand out to all the people who have helped me here in the last few weeks.
As for the next few weeks: as of these evening, I'm on my Fall break, which lasts until a week from Monday for me, since I don't have class on Mondays. I'm going to Portugal, the Algarve region specifically, on Thursday via a fairly good deal that I found. I'm also taking a bus to Cork, in the southwest of Ireland, tomorrow, for a couple of days. I'm coming back to the USA for Christmas for two weeks, since the next time after that I'll be back will be in the early part of August for law school, wherever that may be.
And to those of you're coming to visit me: come before it gets warm! You can easily find flights from East-coast cities for under $200 each way; Aer Lingus is your best bet right now. I'm largely waiting on family and friends to visit me so that I don't have to spend the money seeing things by myself and then more on seeing the same thing when visitors come. So book soon, if you're thinking about it.
That's all for this week. Enjoy the pictures, and I'll write again soon.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Of Marathons, Mountains and Moguls
I just got back yesterday from four days in Dublin. The city's clean, old and gorgeous, and the Mitchell Scholarship perks--such as the 5-star hotel, private tours and the reception at the US Ambassador's house--were nice, too. I was dumb enough to run the Dublin Half-Marathon without having trained for it, but still finished in under two hours. Needless to say, the hiking trip in the Wicklow Mountains the next day was murder on my legs, as were the stairs in the hotel.
I heard somewhere that the US dollar is at an all-time low, or at least getting there. Perhaps the only worse place for an American to be financially right now is the UK. I'm definitely taking a hit, but the scholarship gives a fine stipend. I just need to get over the fact that I'll have to spend money regardless.
My dormitory is enormous compared to most American dorms, and it has its own bathroom. I was telling someone this at the Ambassador's reception for the Mitchells two nights ago, and he threw his head back, laughed, and then said, "That's good to know, considering that I built them." I have his business card.
The downside to living in the dorms here is that it costs about $8.50 to do a load of laundry. I would imagine this might be because of energy/water costs or to discourage the squandering of environmental resources.....blah. But as I wash most of my clothes in my bathroom sink now for free and dry them on my room heater, I can't help be nostalgic for the $1.00 total cost of laundry back at Vanderbilt.
My classes start Tuesday the 2nd. I might try to take a day tour of the Hill of Tara and the ancient archeology sites in this area before then. There's also the possibility of something called the Moo-a-thon in northwest Ireland, Co. Donegal, in which the runners (of the half-marathon) must dress up like cows in order to run the race, which is supposed to be really scenic. I'll have to find a pair of horns somewhere.
Anyway, I'm settling in okay, after managing to sweet-talk the airline out of charging me for 175 pounds worth of luggage and learning the idiosyncracies of the grocery system here, in which you bring your own grocery bags. I'm in a battle with my university to allow Skype on their Internet network, as I have to go to an Internet cafe to call home, and this effectively mitigates the reason (cheap calling) for using it in the first place. If it works out, expect a call from me.
I heard somewhere that the US dollar is at an all-time low, or at least getting there. Perhaps the only worse place for an American to be financially right now is the UK. I'm definitely taking a hit, but the scholarship gives a fine stipend. I just need to get over the fact that I'll have to spend money regardless.
My dormitory is enormous compared to most American dorms, and it has its own bathroom. I was telling someone this at the Ambassador's reception for the Mitchells two nights ago, and he threw his head back, laughed, and then said, "That's good to know, considering that I built them." I have his business card.
The downside to living in the dorms here is that it costs about $8.50 to do a load of laundry. I would imagine this might be because of energy/water costs or to discourage the squandering of environmental resources.....blah. But as I wash most of my clothes in my bathroom sink now for free and dry them on my room heater, I can't help be nostalgic for the $1.00 total cost of laundry back at Vanderbilt.
My classes start Tuesday the 2nd. I might try to take a day tour of the Hill of Tara and the ancient archeology sites in this area before then. There's also the possibility of something called the Moo-a-thon in northwest Ireland, Co. Donegal, in which the runners (of the half-marathon) must dress up like cows in order to run the race, which is supposed to be really scenic. I'll have to find a pair of horns somewhere.
Anyway, I'm settling in okay, after managing to sweet-talk the airline out of charging me for 175 pounds worth of luggage and learning the idiosyncracies of the grocery system here, in which you bring your own grocery bags. I'm in a battle with my university to allow Skype on their Internet network, as I have to go to an Internet cafe to call home, and this effectively mitigates the reason (cheap calling) for using it in the first place. If it works out, expect a call from me.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Some unpaid advertising....
I just thought that I'd post up here that Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com) is currently offering $199 airfare from New York to Dublin. That's cheaper than a lot of the flights within the USA, and would provide interested prospectives a relatively cheap way to visit me.
Also, I recently joined the Skype network (www.skype.com), which is a sort of Internet-based phone service for free. Once you create your account (provided that you have a microphone and speakers on your computer), you just log on at the same time as the person you want to talk with, and you talk (vocally) with him from anywhere in the world, without any charge. I'll avoid publishing my Skype address on the Internet, but please let me know if you get it, and we'll be able to talk.
Lastly, I'm beginning to swear by those as-seen-on-tv vacuum-pack bags. They freed up about 1/3 of my suitcase (but didn't make it any lighter). Sure, it probably wrinkles my clothes beyond recognition and makes me feel like I'm traveling to another planet, but at least I can fit my fiddle case in my luggage now.
Also, I recently joined the Skype network (www.skype.com), which is a sort of Internet-based phone service for free. Once you create your account (provided that you have a microphone and speakers on your computer), you just log on at the same time as the person you want to talk with, and you talk (vocally) with him from anywhere in the world, without any charge. I'll avoid publishing my Skype address on the Internet, but please let me know if you get it, and we'll be able to talk.
Lastly, I'm beginning to swear by those as-seen-on-tv vacuum-pack bags. They freed up about 1/3 of my suitcase (but didn't make it any lighter). Sure, it probably wrinkles my clothes beyond recognition and makes me feel like I'm traveling to another planet, but at least I can fit my fiddle case in my luggage now.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Will I bleed green?
If you are looking at this webpage, you've probably received my email directing you here. The purpose of this blog is to share with family and friends all the things I'm involved with during my year in Ireland without crowding their inboxes with obnoxiously long emails.
What you will find here are accounts of the more interesting tales that I will have experienced (I have an uncle who refers to me as "Forrest Gump" for a reason, after all), and nothing overly sentimental, gushy, pushy, political, pontificating or polarizing.
I leave Saturday, Sept. 15th for Dublin, Ireland, from which I will find the most inexpensive way possible to transfer to Maynooth, a little town in County Kildare, on the outskirts of the greater Dublin area. The next nine months, for the most part, will be at the gracious expense of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, and I will end my studies in June, 2008 with an M.A. in Music History from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. I plan to return to the USA sometime next summer, just in time to continue what seems to be my new status as a professional student, and enter law school somewhere. As of this past August 16th, I'm a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, and will enter active duty service after law school as a JAG lawyer.
But for now, I'm packing and bracing for the $50 or so that I'm going to drop for my bags being too heavy. I have visions of myself wearing seven or eight different layers onto the airplane in order to bring everything I need (how does one pack for a year, anyway?), but I don't even like taking off my flip-flops for the metal detectors.
Anyway, please check back every week or two for new posts, if you wish.
Until then.
What you will find here are accounts of the more interesting tales that I will have experienced (I have an uncle who refers to me as "Forrest Gump" for a reason, after all), and nothing overly sentimental, gushy, pushy, political, pontificating or polarizing.
I leave Saturday, Sept. 15th for Dublin, Ireland, from which I will find the most inexpensive way possible to transfer to Maynooth, a little town in County Kildare, on the outskirts of the greater Dublin area. The next nine months, for the most part, will be at the gracious expense of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship, and I will end my studies in June, 2008 with an M.A. in Music History from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth. I plan to return to the USA sometime next summer, just in time to continue what seems to be my new status as a professional student, and enter law school somewhere. As of this past August 16th, I'm a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army, and will enter active duty service after law school as a JAG lawyer.
But for now, I'm packing and bracing for the $50 or so that I'm going to drop for my bags being too heavy. I have visions of myself wearing seven or eight different layers onto the airplane in order to bring everything I need (how does one pack for a year, anyway?), but I don't even like taking off my flip-flops for the metal detectors.
Anyway, please check back every week or two for new posts, if you wish.
Until then.
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