15 Hours

Until I get on the plane to come home. It's going to be a long trip, which I can honestly say I'm not really looking forward to. 24 hours in airplanes and airports is less than fun, but luckily Frankfurt is a big airport so there should be lots of places to sit and eat. Tonight I'll stay up until 3 and then get on the night bus to the airport. So far I'm pretty well packed - as best as I can. I don't quite feel ready though. Thank god it's going to be a nice day when I get off the plane though, and I'll get to see a bit of sun on the drive from the airport. Anyhow, just wanted to say hi and send my love before I get on the plane. Can't wait to see you all :)

<3

Waking Up With The Sun

I need to tell you that it is not natural to wake up before the sun. Therefore, I have decided I'm not going to do it. It doesn't make me more productive and I don't like it. Besides, waking up at 9am is okay if you don't go to sleep until 1am. It's Spanish hours.

So, I've been going to the library quite often to work but it's amazing how busy they are once the working hours are over. Even DURING the working hours there are tons of people there, but if you're not there as soon as it opens some days you can't get a desk, or a place to plug in the laptop. It's nuts! But I understand why - the libraries here are so great. They are all really new, nicely designed spaces with lots of different areas and things to rent. They are generally enjoyable places - except for the fact that they can be so crowded! No one hangs out at the library at home though, that's just not normal, but actually Calgary has a few nice libraries as well - not all, but some.

So not much to say today, other than a quick update. 5 more days til I start packing/cleaning/coming home! Where did this entire month go? I'm not really sure, but I have a feeling that I did not accomplish as much as I thought I was going to. Such is life. I still have 5 days to make up for it!

Hasta pronto!!!

<3

Festa Mejor Sant Antoni

Hi Everyone! What a week! It's the neighbourhood festival for my area this week and so there have been a lot of events going on around my house and a small carnival set up for the kids just two blocks over. Seems like another parade every day, but it's really nice to see how much community spirit there is! Also the weather has been really great, much warmer than last week (we also finally got our heat fixed, wahoo!) so I've been soaking up what little sun I have left before coming back. So here are some pictures of the weeks events for you to check out!Birthday Brunch at one of my favorite restaurants in the city Dostrece, everyone got up VERRRRRY early for me to come :)

My birthday present from Nima & his girlfriend Elena, I feel very French when I wear this :)
Los Diablos! A parade of kids running around in little devil and dragon costumes spinning fire and running around - how fun (and slightly dangerous!)
Luckily, all the parades for the barrio go straight through our street so I can watch from my balcony!
On Friday we went to part of the festival events which was some very traditional Spanish music brought from Latin immigrants in the 20/30's era and for 5E per person you got a ticket which gave you one of these bowls of snails, a cup of beer and a double shot of hot rum and spices! Not a bad deal - too bad I don't like snails! However I did eat FIVE just to prove a point (and win a cupcake). The texture is just too much, I can't get over it.
First day of the festival, right below our house they had a stage with singing, dancing, speaking and as you can see the GIANT people.
The final day of festivities - there is something going on down the road (I can hear it because I hear the neverending sounds of fireworks) but I'm not going because I have a lot of work to do to prepare for coming HOME! But this morning there was a huge road race and I woke up and was quite surprised to look out my window and see all these people!

Birthday Times

Well I'm another year older. It doesn't feel like it though, that's for sure. The number 24 seems so abstract and big when I think about it, and in my head there is no way I'm that old! But it was a nice day all in all, the rain held off and I had lunch with my friends, went out for dinner at one of the restaurants I like and yesterday Nima and Maricela came over with a cake that they made for me - so delicious! I didn't really need it though because my roomates bought me some delicous carrot cake that I ate at lunch - so yes, there was a lot of cake yesterday!

The temperatures have been dropping here, and it's not very warm outside at all, especially at night. However - it's definitely not -40! Only 11 days to go and I just hope that it can be at least 0 when I walk off the plane in Calgary!

I've been setting up a lot of different meetings and appointments to do with my thesis when I come home - one of them being a public workshop session at the library in Cochrane and a meeting with the mayor to begin with. So now it's just planning these events and getting myself prepared! You are all of course invited, and I will try my best not to bore you. The only unfortunate thing is that the only day available at the library was Valentines Day. Oh well, something is better than nothing!

This weekend we are continuing to celebrate my birthday with a brunch at Dostrece ( I love this restaurant/bar!) and if it's nice I'm hoping that maybe I can find some time to do a little day trip outside the city, and maybe do a bit of hiking or something.

So, other than all this I've just been living it up, still trying to learn spanish and working on the thesis :) So I'll see most of you really soon! Stay warm!

<3

Short days and cold weather!

I'm back! Happy to have my bed and in a slightly warmer climate! I got to see a lot more of Madrid this time around and found that I actually like it a lot better than I thought. I spent 2 days just walking and walking and walking and found some nice little neighbourhoods that are kind of like El Born or new Raval in Barcelona with nice little shops and trees on the streets. I saw lots of the monuments that I missed last time around and a great exhibit of Architectural Paintings from the Renaissance era. So here are some pictures to help me explain :)

The Christmas lights still hanging in Placa Mayor, although to me they really look like flying saucers! This square is very famous for its near perfect symmetry and dimensions.

Inside the Cathedral

Outside of the Cathedral
A view of the Royal Palace through the trees - it actually looks more beautiful in the distance, up close it just looks a bit plain, but there are nice gardens around it.
Templo de Debod - one of only 3 egyptian temples outside of Egypt that they sent to Madrid during a time when they feared a lot of flooding and the destruction of their monuments. It's tiny but very interesting and really close to Placa Espanya and the parliament buildings. Too bad it was closed and I couldn't go in!
El Escorial - These are the gardens outside the amazing monastery/hospital/museum/chapel which is considered the 8th wonder of the world. The building is phenomenal but it's such a shame that you aren't allowed to take photos inside! I snuck one which you'll see later but here's a link with some more info - so glad we made it here on such a beautiful day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Escorial
Another shot in the gardens which overlook perfect pastures with fluffly little trees and mountains in the background (small ones).
One of the entrances! The building is MASSIVE and still in use for hospital resesarch and the museum of it's architectural design and construction is really really great as well.
This is it! This is the only indoor picture I got, they have guards EVERYWHERE forbidding you to take photos - although it makes no sense to me why. There are tons of bodies of Spanish royalty lying inside this building and there are empty spaces waiting for more to come, although the Kings room is full.

Okay, see you in 3 weeks! The weather better shape up though or it might just be too difficult for me to get on the plane ;)

<3

I forgot!!!

I'm so sorry, I meant to upload New Years pictures some time ago and it's one of those things that I was sure I had done and then I realized I had forgotten. So! All in one big bang here are photos of New Years Eve (which I spent with Nuno, my roomate) and we stayed home and made pizza until the countdown when we went to Pl. Cataluna. There weren't any fireworks because I guess that's not a big thing here on New Years but there were A LOT of people and I got some nice pictures of the Christmas lights that were all around the city! I had every intention of going home and watching 2012, but fell asleep after 20 minutes haha! So here are those photos...

And Also! For this combo post, here are some photos of Dia de Reyes (Kings Day) which is the day that the 3 kings came and which is a huge celebration of Christmas (more important for the kids than Christmas Day because it is when they get most of their presents!) So there was a really fantastic parade that we caught and then I headed over to Nima's new house for a nice "family dinner" where we ate traditional cake for the day called Roscon, and they bake into the dough one bean and one figurine of a king. Whoever recieves the king has good luck for the year, whoever gets the bean has bad luck :( I didn't get either! So I guess I have a 50/50 chance ;) So here are some photos!

This is the Roscon cake!

My favorite in the parade!
This truck (one of many) literally LAUNCHES the candy into the massive crowds, some standing on ladders with umbrellas upside down to catch the candy! It's like Halloween mixed with Christmas mixed with Carnival!

So, that's all the old news! The new news? I'm in Madrid! Last minute, unplanned trip and so I'll be here until Tuesday night. It's cooler at night than Barcelona I think but the climate is so much more dry that I don't feel it like I do there. Also, the sales began again today! (oh dear!) So I'm resisting the urge to spend furiously - it's like a full month of boxing day, imagine! I came with Abel on Friday night to see a friend of his performing in a band here and a friend of mine is arriving tomorrow from Canada with her boyfriend so I will give them the warm welcome to Spain!

Love and miss everyone far away, see some of you in just 3 short weeks!

<3