About two weeks ago I railed out of France at 200+ KM/Hour towards the Spanish border using my second much-discounted Eurail pass. Three hours later I was in Barcelona without an expectation in the world except that I would be rusty at Spanish (learning French seems to have shoved much of the Spanish out of my head). But the good news is that foreigners struggling at Spanish is not something new for Barcelonians (note: the natives speak Catalan; also note: the natives are buried under Americans and Australians, for the most part, so Spanish is refreshing to their ears after so [View Full Entry]

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Everybody in this country is named Javi (which is short for Xavier). And if you’re not named Javi, you could be Paco, which is short for Francisco. Then we have Chema, which stems from José María,…naturally. So just to clarify, here... if I were to have, say, a baby Spanish boy, I could name him Enrique Jesús Eduardo and just call him Carlos for kicks, no? On a totally unrelated topic, I hacked off all my hair. Huge change, and I love it. My self-proclaimed Spanish mother Asún (I’m almost positive her full name must be María. They’re totally unrelated so [View Full Entry]

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This is just one of the many quirks of Spanish cuisine that my parents discovered during their time visiting me. While the Spanish sure know how to cure their ham, they aren’t much for the extra stuff, like sauces. Mayonnaise, olive oil, and sometimes vinegar tend to be their favorites. Along with our varied culinary encounters, we had a fantastic time traveling around Spain doing things that I wouldn’t have otherwise experienced, since I am now decidedly set against ever trying to drive in this country, especially with little to no knowledge of how to drive a stick shift. But, [View Full Entry]

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I was pickpocketed last night whilst roaming the streets of San Sebastian. I have absolutely no money, a big thanks to the staff at beti anayak for feeding me and letting me stay free of charge. enrique and frankie and old mate boss lady, amazing people. ok, so when youhave no money, hot tip from mother bear, find a church becuase they will feed you and give you somewhere too stay. Thank god for christian charity! anyway, hot tip from me, keep your wallet in your front pocket and dont carry 200euros!!!! it was also quite annoying because i had my [View Full Entry]

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Returned home from our week's stay at The Galeon Playa Apartments at Costa Teguise. The apartments are in a quiet location, yet only a few minutes walk from the main area and only 500 yards from the nearest beach. We didn't eat at the apartments as we went self-catering, but we couldn't find fault at any of the restaurants we ate at apart from one (sorry, we forgot the name). However, the problem we experienced was when they brought a complimentary bread roll at the start of our meal. It turns out they are not complimentary at all, but in fact [View Full Entry]

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The journey from Lisboa to Cordoba was long… Remember there is no direct flight, train, or bus between the two cities…This I found out recently…There is nothing on it on the internet. The only way between the cities is thru Seville. Spanish bus ALSA from Lisboa to Seville and then you can catch the two hours bus ride (which runs a few times a day) or the one hour train ride (which runs every 30 mins). So I opted for the train ride, since I also have the Eurail Global Pass. In Spain unlike Northern Europe you have to reserve the [View Full Entry]

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Last week started out slow, bad luck wise. I was fiddling with my sunglasses because they were a little crooked, and I ended up snapping off the side. Whoops. I really liked those sunglasses, and they were actually the second pair of that kind that I had bought. Plus, I had avoided getting a new pair in sunny Madrid (though I had forgotten those in Sevilla) in an effort to be frugal. So much for that. This was Tuesday. **I was considering making a video blog about a "typical day," so I was talking into my camera all of Tuesday and [View Full Entry]

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Hola omigoes!!! ive been in san sebastian, spain for three days..it took 12 hours and three TGV´s later! Hot tip straight from Dylbo, book the TGV´s in France at least three days in advance becuase for some reason they seem to be really popular, specially on weekends, and they only have a few places for Eurail Pass holders. So i was stuck in Bern, the capital of Switzerland for two days..which wasnt too bad, i went to Einsteins house..yay! The warmer weather in Spain is great..some fun waves too be had..im moving on tomorrow..probably to France, also on the coast somewhere, [View Full Entry]

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I've just realised that even though we had internet in Seville I never actually managed to write about... Suburban Seville I had booked us a 5 bed apartment (3 bedrooms), which wasn't easy to do. We knew it was of in the centre but erent sure what type of area it would be. Turned out to be suburban Seville. Large blocks of apartments with no outdoor areas really apart from some concrete areas that were very unappealing. Some of the apartments had tiny decks, but most (ours included) had the deck space incorporated in the lounge area. It was hot so [View Full Entry]

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As I sit here listening to that powerful, vibrant and sensational Idlewild track, which I've used for the title to this entry, I realise that this song sums up my current situation in Córdoba- I'm 4 weeks in at university here, and they don't have an effing clue! I'm sitting here at my desk, and the site that greets me is one that suggests autumn is here. Leaves are falling, it's a bit cloudy, and the temperature has dropped significantly- to 24 degrees (and my flatmates are feeling cold) !! I've plugged in my speakers so the aforementioned song gives a [View Full Entry]

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