my dad wrote this account of our glorious bicycle adventure: Tom and Caitlin decided to try to bicycle from Cherry Hill to Corolla on the Outer Banks, NC. The goal was to meet family there to celebrate Nick and Sarah's 50th wedding anniversary. This is my attempt to update everyone. Our trip was completed on Friday August 17. We left Saturday August 11 from Cherry Hill and rode to Millville, NJ. We spent the night in Millville and toured Wheaton village. Saw the culmination of a 2 week long glass blowing project. That evening we took a bike ride (what were [View Full Entry]

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um...i'm in cherry hill. QUE?! i wish i had something deeply reflective and profound to say about my past 5 months in spain. too bad. [View Full Entry]

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seth and i took a quick 2 night trip to san sebastian and bilbao in pais vasco, on the north coast of spain. and oh what a lovely trip it was! san sebastian is a gorgeous beach town where there is always somewhere picturesque to stroll. pais vasco is known for its amazing pintxos, which are trays of sandwiches and snacks that line the bars. you go from bar to bar, grabbing a drink and a little sandwich at each of the glorious buffets. amazing. we visited the guggenheim museum in bilbao, which was certainly impressive. i also liked the enormous [View Full Entry]

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consuelo, bethany and i just got back from a delightful trip to porto, a city in the north of portugal! why didn't we go to lisbon? because the flights to porto were 1 cent each way. thanks ryan air! we traipsed around the city for a few days, dillying at churches, dallying at the stock exchange (which, surprisingly, has an impressive arabian room). we went to the art museum, sampled port wine and toured a wine cellar. we danced with middle aged portuguese people at a spicy cuban salsa concert at a restaurant. it involved thrusting your hips while yelling AZUCAR! [View Full Entry]

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my whole family came and visited for a week! we hung out in madrid and took trips to segovia and toledo. check out the pictures! GUEST BLOG! by nick quigley, brother "I just don't understand why the states can't be more like Spain. In spain there are... - No fat people. Literally less than one percent. They either banned them from the country or ate them... probably the former. But it's really attributed to their food. It´s not exactly healthy, but they sure eat less than we do. - Energy conservation. The hotel I'm staying at in Madrid has motion sensors [View Full Entry]

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glory glory hallelujah! aapta and i we were going to go north for the puente (wed, thurs, and friday off), but the forecast said rain. so instead, we went to the costa del sol, for the sol! valencia is spain's 3rd largest city, after madrid (woot!) and barcelona. it's on the beach. they had a giant river, but they diverted it for some reason. so now, their riverbed is a gorgeous, very well-designed park with trails and playgrounds and all sorts of unrestrained joy. the COOLEST thing in valencia by far is the ciutat de les artes i de les ciences. [View Full Entry]

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happy day of action of thanking! we had a lovely celebration at our program director's apartment. we actually had american food from some catering place, and it was quite delicious. muchas gracias to lauren for the photos! [View Full Entry]

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granada is a very beautiful city that is very 6 hours away by train. the train had some good music though, and i was fortunate enough to be able to watch x-men: the last stand in spanish. in granada i met up with my friend laura (from wesleyan) and her family. we did a serious amount of wandering, hit up the chapel at the cathedral, and grabbed some high quality doner kebap for dinner. doner kebap, for ye innocentes, is super popular, super cheap turkish food that involves shaving meat off a homogenous slab with an electric drill. then they put [View Full Entry]

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this weekend we took an adventure to andalucia! it was so marvelously sunny. andulucia used to be a crazy mix of moslems, jews, and christians. they got along really well because it was so damn hot that everyone just stayed inside and hence they didn't go out and argue with each other or kill each other. this is why people who live in moderate climates declare war a lot. but for real, they made the streets very very narrow so they would be protected from the sun. that means there are lots of curvy little alleys and dead ends. we got [View Full Entry]

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a few little vignettes of my life in madrid! there’s something in the air I’m walking to the train when a guy comes up and starts walking next to me. He is 30something, has bad teeth (of course), and is wearing a suit and carrying a clipboard. guy: excuse me, can I ask you a question? me: sure. guy: what perfume do you wear? me: i don’t wear perfume. guy: you don’t even use any creams? me: uhhh…no. <pause.> guy: well, you smell good. <pause.> me: uh, thanks. bye. guy: sorry for the question. I just wanted to tell you. me: [View Full Entry]

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