Z Train

'Salam Alaikum' from Spain!! Snake-charmers, acrobats, story-tellers, camels, musicians, and burqas; all fit perfectly into anyone's pre-conception of traditional Morocco...I know, I know...there's kind of this conflict in North Africa going on at the moment...But you have to realize that what you're probably seeing through your American television sets is not at all an accurate representation of the whole...In fact, Morocco remains just about the only Mediterranean North African country that isn't in complete disarray from political protests. Though there have been some recent peaceful demonstrations within the country in regards to justice, work and health coverage, things there remain (relatively) calm, as the king is highly respected. Morocco was colonized by the French in the early 20th century, so there is a significant use of French as a second language (outside of Arabic and B ... read more

Once again hello from Navarra, Spain. I'm sitting at the house alone, since the musician I'm staying with won't be back for about another week...so I figured I might blog about my last few days before I ended up here in Tajonar, a small community with in Navarra. After my time in Seville, I headed back to the airport to fly to Bilbao, one of the main cities of Basque country in the north. Once again, though the entire country alone is actually 300.000 kilometers smaller than Texas, traveling the equivalent distance of Dallas to Austin feels culturally like going from Dallas to LA or Miami...Basque Country (also known as Euskadi in Basque and País Vasco in Spanish) is, like Barcelona in Catalunya, really a country in its own. It boarders the northern coast of Spain ... read more

Hello family and friends! Before I go off on what I have been doing at the moment (we'll save that for another entry), allow me to go back a few days...ok maybe a week to my last few days in Barcelona which included my 22nd birthday. Barcelona is full of things to do and one week spent in the city really isn't enough time to see everything. I decided to travel up to the mountain on the north side of town. At the top of the mountain (which I found out upon arriving there) is an amusement park and the Tibidabo church, which you can take an elevator all the way to the top for an incredible view of Barcelona and the mountains surrounding it. To get there, the guide books tell you, you have to ... read more

Hello again everyone...and sorry for the late update (I know it drives my parents crazy not to hear from me). I suppose that my late reply reflects how busy I have been lately, but busy in a good way. Things have been great in Madrid and I have definitely made friends with the hostel goers who have been here since I have. It's kind of sad making friends here, only to see them go so quickly, however I suppose that's how things are with trips like this. Madrid has been nice, but the feel of the city is modern and quite frankly the only things to really do here are eat, drink, and look at paintings. So...I have heard so many incredible things about the neighboring city Toledo, which was the original capital of Spain until ... read more

I suppose I should give an introduction for the basis of (what is starting to seem like) a crazy trip I just started…It’s not every so often that you get to travel to a foreign country alone, but when you do I suppose one should take advantage of it. I planned this trip initially as sort of a random getaway and post-graduation expedition. However, it’s sort of turned into a part-time gig in which I’ll be performing with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, near Pamplona. David Thompson was very gracious to let me on as a substitute up there. So since I won’t be playing with the orchestra until February I’ve decided to get lost in the other cities within the country. First stop, Madrid…I arrived at the Madrid airport about two hours late, due to ... read more