¡Granada con La Selección!

For those who read my blog, I am sorry for not posting soon enough. I admit that I have neglected writing because I was preoccupied with other things such as doing my homework, sleeping, reading a bit, and then watching Youtube videos. I know, I know... those aren't legit reasons but I will make it up to all of you right now. Shall we start? =)

As we all know, assuming that my readers are fútbol aficionados, the UEFA EURO 2012 will take place in Ukraine and Poland and, at the moment, the qualifying matches are being held. Boy, oh boy, did I not pick the right time and place to study abroad? You may call it luck, but last week one of the matches was held here in Granada and it was between Spain and Czech Republic. Well, let me tell you, the Spanish spirit was so alive here I felt like I am no longer a wannabe Spaniard but a true Spaniard already! The Spanish national team arrived here in Granada last Thursday, the 24th of March. A lot of the Granadinos went to the airport to greet their favorite fútbol stars since there wasn't any ticket required to enter. Unfortunately, I couldn't go meet my idols then but on that same day, my host dad Antonio surprised me with something I will never ever forget: a ticket for el entranamiento or the team's training. I was beyond happy when he gave me the ticket. He told me that it was because I looked so sad that I was not able to go to Morocco with the other IES students and I was also not able to buy a ticket for the match since it was close to being impossible. The day when the ticket booth opened to sell the match tickets, a horde of 20,000 people were already waiting in line. Some of the people slept and waited for 3 days just to be able to buy tickets. I had classes and was not able to do any of that. Anyway, with the ticket from Antonio, I was already happy and content. I went to the stadium, El Estadio de Los Cármenes, with my host dad's grandson Pedro and his friends. It was a 2 hour wait in line before the gates were opened. Once they opened, we ran inside and found ourselves the seats closest to the Spanish team. I could not believe my eyes! THE GODS OF THE REAL FÚTBOL WERE TEN FEET AWAY FROM ME!!! They were so close yet so far! Still, I had the chance to take awesome pictures of my favorite players. That day I had multiple arrhythmic contractions and a massive one when I saw my baby Sergio Busquets and Fernando Torres. To my excitement, I yelled out Fernando Torres' name and OMG he looked at me and smiled! I was able to take a picture of this wonderful moment and I bet you I will forever cherish this photo until my dying day. The training lasted for an hour and when it ended, my heart started to ache. But then again, to have the opportunity to see them in the flesh never occurred to me; it was only a dream.

The next day, 25th of March, was game day. I donned my Red jersey again and strutted my way to the Palacio de Congresos with my friend Paige. There was a lot of people clad in red and yellow to show there undying love for LA FURÍA ROJA. The game started at 10PM so before that there were live performances by local bands. Little did we know that those bands were giving free tickets to the game. So, my friend Paige and I devised a plan to try and grab free tickets: I thought about lifting her on my shoulders so her tall figure could be visible while she waives the 2 scarves I gave her. Well, she did a great job waiving but seeing that she was not wearing anything red, we did not win. It was a little disappointing but it was worth trying. We were shown on TV multiple times because Paige and I were obviously foreigners. Haha! She looked the most American and I looked, well, Asian with a rockin pelo rizado (curly hair). When the game started everyone screamed and their fiery spirit were blaring with so much pride. Paige and I joined in the fun and complained when the referee made stupid calls by swinging our arms like mad Spanish people. Haha! Gosh... I could go on forever describing my feelings here but I need to post pictures for everyone to see. I just want to say that it was probably best that I did not go to Morocco because being able to stay in Granada while the Spanish team was here was also an amazing and once in a lifetime experience.

Here are the pictures from el entranamiento and the game day:

The Spanish flag.

Xavi was the first one I saw. He's really short but he is the best midfielder in the world!

Fernando Torres came out and I died of happiness just seeing his back! Haha!

Don Vicente del Bosque: The coach of La Selección.

San Iker does glow like a saint! He's the best goalie in the world!!!

This is the picture I was talking about. I yelled out Nando's name and he and Cazorla looked my way... OMG ♥

Gerard Piqué: Shakira's new love. My... he's really tall and fast!

Although Iniesta scored the winning goal during the World Cup last summer, he's still not my favorite player..

Busquets... my baby ♥

Now, this little bajito right here is one of my favorites from La Selección and from FC Barcelona. He scores and assists really well.

Carlos Marchena as central defense is also great although he didn't play on game day.

Fernando Llorente is also really tall and really strong. He doesn't dive as much as well that's why I like him.

Joking around.. you know? Una broma!
*(L-R) Iraola, Javi Martinez, Albiol, Iniesta, Torres, Xabi Alonso

stretching... and a smiling Xabi Alonso. =D

Pepe Reina

Pepe Reina close-up

Practice game

This kid in the picture is Pedro, my host dad's grandson. He's really cool and his hair is like Justin Bieber's hair. Awesome!


There was a parade with this long flag in the morning of the game day saying...

This was the big screen at Palacio de Congresos

Paige by the VIP booth.

And me waiving my Campeones Del Mundo bufanda (scarf)

There more pictures but you can just look at the albums on Facebook.

Welps... Sleep time now! I will update as soon as possible again. =)

Tranquila, Andréa... Por Favor, Tranquila...

I didn't really think I'd be stressing so much on midterms here in Spain. My exams went well but I still have another one tomorrow morning. It's my language exam and I am not so worried about it except that I didn't really get much sleep last night. In addition, I am a morning person so I woke up really early today. Bags are starting to form under my little eyes... Not pretty... Gosh, I feel so bipolar right now although I am not. Yesterday, I was exploding with so much happiness and everything I saw glowed in front of me but today. EH... not so much glowing. Not even seeing my favorite camarero could make me happy as it usually does. I wish I have my best friends here so I could spill my beans and not hesitate. There's still that hesitant and adjusting feeling where I can't tell my new friends here what's eating me...

Dear new friends, please don't take this personally. I am sure you miss your old buddies as well as I do and we all know that there are things you'd rather tell your best friends than the new friends you've just met. Please understand. It's nothing personal.

Anyway, in a couple of days, half of the students in our program are going to Marruecos (Morocco) and I must say I am a tad jealous. However, since my parents are worried about the current events in the Islamic world right now, I think I'll just spend the Marruecos days here in Granada studying and preparing for my projects. I think it's a blessing in disguise that I won't be able to go to Morocco because then I'd have more time to catch up and get ahead with my classes. I also should be saving up for Semana Santa (Holy Week) because I will be traveling a lot. I am going to Czech Republic, Italy, and Switzerland. AND THIS TIME I AM SURE I WON'T BE DENIED TO BOARD! =)

There will be postcards, for everyone who usually receive them, from each cities I'll be visiting; People, you know who you are. ♥♥♥

Well, it's time for me to go back home and rest so I could study for my last midterm tomorrow.


JST D307D - I miss you so much... Just to let you know...

Bye for now.

Té y Café ♥

*** I'd like to apologize for the tacos (curse words) on my last post. It was a frustrating event and I just had to release my anger. I am hoping for less frustrating events in the future and no more cursing like a sailor.***

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this post I am gonna talk about my recent paseos with my two new friends who also shares the same love I have for tea (té), coffee (café), and chocolate. =)

First off is my friend Paige Costello. Paige and I met during the bus ride at Madinat Al-Zahra in Córdoba. We just talked a bit that day but I decided that I should add her on Facebook to get to know her more and probably plan a little paseo. So, after planning what we should do for our first paseo, we decided to go to a tea shop located at the lower Albaycin called La Tettería Bañuelo (The Bathhouse Teashop). We went there on a rainy day but it did not stop us. Going inside the tea shop made me think that maybe it was a bad idea to go to a place as "shady" as that. There was just some weird vibe going on but we thought that we ought to give it a try. Why not, right? So, we sat and asked if they had a menu and we got this:

Don't you like how the edges look torn and old? After seeing this menu, I started to like the place little by little.

Paige and I started talking about random things while waiting for our tea and chocolate cake. It was so nice to be able to talk and just unwind. I also had to tell her that she kind of reminds me of Luna Lovegood, which was so funny because she was actually Luna Lovegood- Spell Gone Bad last Halloween! Coolios! But what was much funnier was that she planned to be Cho Chang and not Luna. It's just that when she tried to dye her blonde hair, the color came off and scattered all over her face instead. Haha! So funny... Anyway, our order came soon after and, mind you, the aroma of our tea just made me feel so relaxed in addition to seeing the delectable tarta de chocolate. Yum!

Here comes the tarta!!!!

Paige's tea <3>

The view outside the tea shop... so beautiful!

The tarta wasn't enough so Paige and I decided to split a box of buñuelos. Haha!
It was really good! We didn't think donuts could melt in your mouth!

We bought friendship bracelets at the pop-up stores near the Teatro Isabel Catolica as the last touch to a wonderful paseo... =)

Up next are pictures from the paseo with my friend Cynthia...

Paseos are suppose to be walks around the city but we decided to just chill at the coffee shop across my house called Noche y Día (night and day). Here in this picture, Cynthia is eating her luscious crépe with oozing chocolate. Omnoms to the maximum! Before this, she also drank a cup full of chocolate. Not hot chocolate, but the thick chocolate meant for eating with churros... She loves her chocolate... so.. Haha!

I went to get my usual coffee... I wasn't really feeling so chocolatey that day...

although I thought maybe I'd give it another chance... xD
GOFRES!!! MAMA MÍA!!!

This is just a B/W shot... felt like playing with the camera.

This was taken from the park where I waited for Cynthia..

My feet looked pretty that day... Hahaha!

Alrighty, folks... I've got more updates to come but I'll cut this one short cause I have to do some work.

Till next time... =)

Experiences... ¡JODER! ¡VETE A LA MIERDA!

Experiences, whether good or bad, teaches us how to cope with certain things the next time it happens; I just hope what happened to me last night does not happen again. EVER AGAIN. Well, what happened to me last night? Read on chicos y chicas.

Yesterday, I was jumping up and down while packing my bag because I will be spending a weekend in London with my friend Alyssa. I've packed everything and was ready to roll. I left the apartment but I felt that something was missing: Ah, I left my plane tickets. GREAT. So, I headed back to the apartment to get my tickets. NO PASA NADA. After that I took a cab to the bus station because my flight is at another city named Málaga, which is a 2-hour ride. I arrived at Málaga and took another cab to the airport. Euros spent at that time already amounted to 20 just by taking cabs. Again, NO PASA NADA. I went to the airport to get a printed boarding pass but the person at the boarding gate told me that something was wrong. I had no idea what they were talking about because I had my passport, my Spanish visa, my green card, and my Illinois residence card. I also had other forms of documents that verified I am a legal student here in Spain. So, they called the immigration at London-Stansted to verify my entry to UK. Minutes passed... NOPE. Stansted Airport said I cannot fly to UK because I need a visa to enter their country. Well.... RYANAIR did not verify in their website that NON-AMERICAN CITIZENS, even LEGAL RESIDENTS, cannot enter without a visa. THIS SHIT IS NOT A "NO PASA NADA" THING!!! So, what happened to me? I had to go find the immigration, which was also the police here in Spain. Incompetent bastards do not speak in English at all. I apologize for my calling them incompetent bastards BUT they are. I speak Spanish. Yes. But some words when enraged just does not come out in Spanish. I was close to saying JODER (f*ck) but I was at the police station and I did not want things to get worse. However, there was nothing they could do for me. They could not even tell me how and where to get a UK visa! WTF? Seriously. Poor me had to take another cab, which was another 20 euros, by the way, to the Málaga bus station to get my poor little ass back to Granada. I arrive at Granada at 11pm and from there spent another 10 euros to get home by cab. FIFTY F*CKING EUROS JUST FOR CABS IN ADDITION TO THE PLANE TICKETS AND MY AGITATION FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO GO TO F*CKING LONDON. Oh, did I mention that I also had to pay 30 euros to get my money changed to Pounds? ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER! ¡JODER!!!!!

This is a lesson learned but I wish I could have avoided it. Of course, I am also at fault, but F*UCK that! I guess I will have a quiet weekend here in Granada and just focus on my projects that are not due anytime soon. I'll be out and about in a little bit to meet a friend of mine for coffee so I could rant more. Maybe I'll go see my favorite camarero too. Make my day better... Blah...


Lesson for the day: If you are not an American citizen and you have neither a blue passport nor a visa, you can go VETE A LA MIERDA! Make sure you have either one or more of the above mentioned or else there's no UK, IRELAND, and/or SCOTLAND for you.

I bid y'all a good day. I hope this does not happen to anyone else.

ADIOS.

Córdoba and Cádiz

Córdoba

It's amazing how almost every weekend I go on a trip either with my class or with friends. Last week we went to Madrid and just this Friday we had a day trip to Cordoba. I'm just gonna say that Córdoba was so much of an old town that it only impressed me when I saw La Mezquita and the cathedral. I don't know why I did not appreciate it as much as I did the other cities that we've been to such as Ronda. Ronda was gorgeous while Córdoba was just more of a historical day-trip city. However, I was amazed at how the mosque there had a church inside; Islam and Christianity in one place is something we don't see often. In addition, the mosque was well preserved although some of the pillars caved in a little because of the weight of the building. It was also cold and solemn inside the mosque; I felt very attached to the place at that moment. I wondered at how living at that point in time would have been for me... Anyway, I don't have too much to say about Córdoba so I'll just post some pictures here. A picture paints a thousand words, right?

This is Madinat Al-Zahra and it literally translates as the City of White. In Arabic, madinat or medina means city, al is the article "of," and zahra means pure or white. This city is a gift from Abd Al-Hakam to Jafar. Mind you, there's some interesting story behind these two "friends."

This is a typical pillar design. Some carved pillars had jewels and precious stones embedded inside the holes or gaps but before this site was excavated, many people have already robbed the places. Some of the walls had been stripped as well.

One of the most prominent designs at this historical site is the horseshoe arch with the red and white stripes.

The three horseshoe arch is a tool for us to determine when this place was built because this particular design did not get popularized until the caliphates here in Spain started. The Umayyad caliphates started in the 8th century until the tenth.

I believe this place used to be the army quarters...

This is the tower above the entrance to the cathedral in Córdoba. Inside this tower is a minaret. They placed the minaret inside so that when there's a calamity such as earthquakes, the people will be safe from falling objects.

You've probably read enough about horseshoe arches. Well, this is another example. Horseshoe arches are prominent architectural designs during the 10th century. These designs originated during the reign of the Umayyads.

Here is another picture with arches and pillars.

It's amazing that there's a church inside the mosque. Muslims and Christians did not always fight back in the 10th centuray and onwards. Sometimes they form alliances to conquer other Muslim or Christian groups.

This is the dome inside the quibla. You might not be able to see the amazing intricate design but believe me, it was more than beautiful.

My class didn't have to spend a whole day in Córdoba because we just had to see the architecture there. We arrived back in Granada at 9:00 pm. The next day we left early for the carnival in Cádiz.



Carnaval de Cádiz

I don't know what's wrong with me but I did not buy a costume for this carnaval. I just had an animal print hat and extremely oversized glasses, which made me look like a confused lone ranger. Anyway, I still had a blast with my friends that day/night. The ride to Cádiz took 4 hours each back and forth. We stopped once for 25 minutes and then continued our journey. My friend decided not to go, so for the whole time I sat with a German girl and made friends with her. She was cool and friendly so it's all good. Once we got to Cádiz my friends and I looked for a spot near the beach to eat our bocadillos (sandwiches). We found a really nice spot and stayed there for an hour. It was very relaxing because the sun was out, it was not too hot, and the sea breeze felt good to the skin. After eating, we bumped into our other friends by the church and decided to explore a little bit. We ended up going to the beach again and decided to stay for a couple of hours till sunset. I don't have any pictures of Cádiz because I did not bring my camera but once my friends upload their pictures, I will post some here. The carnaval started before 10 pm and we all had our bottles of tinto de verano and other kinds of drinks at hand. I wish I could tell you what transpired after but I seriously do not remember. All I know is that my roommate and I found our way to the bus station and waited there until they opened the buses. I did not know that while waiting for the buses to open, I butt dialed almost every contact on my phone. Lo siento amigos and amigas! Anyway, the carnaval at Cádiz was, of course, a fun experience but I don't think I will be doing it again. Getting back to Granada never felt so good.

Like I said, pictures will be posted as soon as my friends upload them. I'll be updating this blog next week when I come back from London. Yup! I am gonna be in London for the weekend!


THAT WAS FAST! ALEX UPLOADED PICTURES! SO, AS PROMISED, HERE THEY ARE:

Alex dressed as a lamp, Dani was a hamper duck, and I was a confused lone ranger with a sunflower. BTW, we chilled at this beach and it was really pretty there! Awesome beach town!

"La Caballera"

Erika was dressed as a lamp too! Beside her is Alex, then me, Dani the duck, Margaret the Pirate, and Dianne was Snow White.

VALE! Hasta luego chicos y chicas! ♥

The First Weekend Trip Away from Granada....

As you have already read from my previous post, my friends and I went to Madrid for the weekend. We took the 12:30 AM bus to Madrid and arrived there at 5:30 in the morning. That bus ride was very exhausting. My friend Elizabeth and I sat at the very back of the bus; the worst travel decision (we've) ever made. It was shaky and I had no arm-rest where I could lean on so I can TRY to sleep. When we arrived at the Madrid Estacion Sur it was also a struggle to find where we can get a map. Everything was still closed and the bathrooms are packed. I guess you can say it's lesson learned and we'll plan better for our next trips but still.... it was horrible. There were 5 of us that all came to Madrid together but we booked separate hostels, so we ended up doing our own thing once we settled in. I was at the same hostel as my roommate Dani and our other friend Alex. It felt like we were little kids again because we had bunk beds; Dani on top and both Alex and I got bottoms. We had a little private bathroom with the most water-efficient shower faucets. We had to PRESS, take note, PRESS and not TURN, the faucet every 15 seconds for the water to keep coming out. It wasn't always warm water too. Oh, well... At least I got to shower everyday while there. Moving on... There were three other girls in our room and I'd like to call them "The Frenchies." They are sisters traveling together. The two younger ones visited their older sister who is currently studying in Salamanca. They decided to take the weekend off in Madrid like us. I hope they had a good time. I mean, my friends and I enjoyed Madrid but we were all glad to have chosen Granada over any city to spend one semester. Comparing Madrid and Granada might be injustice to the Madrileños, but this is my blog and I will say what I want: Granada is better than Madrid in every way I could think of. Let's make a list here, shall we? For one, Granada is much smaller and easier to navigate. In Granada you get a mix of the Spanish and Moroccan culture that you will never experience outside the Andalusian region. In addition, here in Granada TAPAS ARE FREE WITH THE DRINKS. Madrid is too expensive and I bet you wouldn't want to know how much I spent for a 3-day weekend there. Moreover, the weather here in Granada is beautiful. Madrid was sunny on the first day when we arrived and then became chilly for the last days... I am glad to be back in Granada. However, our trip to Madrid was not all that bad. We visited museums and walked around the center of Madrid and learned the history of the city in 3 hours. It was a super crash course but just the tiny tidbits of history made me think of Madrid in a different way. I used to think of Madrid as the archenemy of my favorite Spanish city, Barcelona. I won't start my fútbol rant right now because Madrid also deserves a spotlight even if it is only about the history. Well, let's get going and start with some pictures that I took:

The statue of the bear with the tree behind us is Madrid's symbol. You will see this plastered everywhere there is an empty space. Believe me, there's an interesting story behind this weird symbol, but I will spare you the looooooooooooooong rant. Just search it on Google.

Now this white building here is Madrid's central post office. It might look too grand but that is because the architect that constructed this building dreamt of a wedding cake before he drew the blueprint of this building. However, this building won't be the post office for long. They are transferring the ayuntamiento here, I think. Well, it's just right cause a post office this grand is just a little over the top.

This is Plaza Mayor. This used to be the one of posh spots in Madrid where an apartment with 2 bedrooms costs 1.7 million Euros. Are you wondering why? Well, they cost that much because the apartment has a window facing this very plaza. That's how important this place was. Now, nobody wants to live here because of the noise that won't stop. The noise comes mostly from the tourists that stays here until dawn...

This was the archway from Madrid's "Beverly Hills." The street before this archway was where rich Madrileños used to live. The aristocrats, the first class citizens, and international delegates were housed here. If you did not belong to those classes, but you still were well off at that time, you would have been required to house a visiting aristocrat as part of your taxes. If you disobeyed them, then you would have to pay 85% the amount of how much you make a month. So, weighing options was a must then. Ah, Madrid...

This is Palacio Real. I'll make it short and just tell you that this whole place was burnt down from the outside but everything inside was saved. This building serves as a museum nowadays although the Spanish royal family still comes to visit here once in a while. Whenever the King of Spain comes to visit, a blue flag is hung on the roof of the Palace.

Guess what this is... I bet you can't. Hmm.. Well, this is the Cathedral Almudena and it is the grand cathedral here in Madrid. It looks nothing like a grand cathedral though. It's as plain as it could be and there's nothing so attractive about it when you look at the front. But like what they say, "There's a reason for everything." And the reason for this grand cathedral's front face looking like a dull tomato is because it is of close walking distance to the Palacio Real. The catholic church and the government building was built close to each other but the church had to give up to the palace. Since it is facing the palace, the church's front cannot look more beautiful and grand than the palace. If you look at the back of the cathedral, you'd say that there's more character to it than the front. In addition, just a food for thought, in Spain, specially in Madrid, if a guy calls you "Almudena" be sure to know that he thinks your behind is wonderfully gorgeous and that your face is butt ugly just like how the Cathedral Almudena is described.

This is the Reina Sofia museum. This museum houses paintings by Picasso and Salvador Dali. I've never imagined in my life that I'll be able to see and touch (yes, I touched the paintings...Ooops) a real Picasso at all. I saw the Guernica of which I took a picture from a distance because taking a picture of that painting was not allowed.

Guernica by Picasso

This is called "The Invisible Man" by Salvador Dali

Another Dali...

Portrait of Joella by Dali

Random pictures of well known people. Can you recognize at least one of them?


This is el Museo Nacional del Prado. This museum has over a thousand paintings and sculptures. They said that if you spend 30 seconds on each painting and sculpture, it will take you two days and a half to see all of it. Hmm.. I personally wouldn't want to do that...

Ah... The fountain of the goddess Cibiles. This is the fountain where the Real Madrid fans parade around whenever they win an important game. The tradition consists of the whole team on top of a double decker bus, stopping by the fountain, followed by the wrapping around of a Real Madrid scarf around Cibiles' neck, and a beso from the team captain. After that, everybody goes nuts. Too bad they did not have that chance after the first El Clasico this year because Real Madrid lost to FC Barcelona: 5 to nada. Hahaha! ¡VIVA BARÇELONA!

This is Calle de Alcala and it is the longest street in Madrid. In fact, it would take more than a day or almost two to walk this entire street because it stretches far across another city outside Madrid. This kind of reminds me of Irving Park back in Illinois...

I know what you're thinking... Why eat at McDonald's while in Spain? Hahah! We actually did American fastfood hopping in Madrid. The pictures after this will tell you.

Mmmmmmmm... Chicken strips.

The Domino's pizza here is soooo good compared to the ones we have in Chicago. Omnoms!

By the way, the churros con chocolate in Madrid is good!

This weekend we will be traveling again but with the class. On Friday we have a day trip to Córdoba and then on Saturday we are going to the carnival in Cádiz. Lots of fun ahead! I hope it takes away my homesickness... =)



Besos y abrazos... ♥