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Published: January 11th 2008
Zurich Airport
Do I look tired?? It is midnight. I am lying on a mattress in my good friend Conchis' flat in Zaragoza, Spain. I can't help but realize how much of an emotional roller coaster it is to travel the globe visiting long lost friends...
4:30 am December 29:
Fog is being punched through as a black BMW races through the frosty Alpine roads of Switzerland. The distant glow of light burns silently on the mountains and valleys like scattered stars. Sleepy eyes are blinking at the breath of the morning air. “Zurich is 45 more minutes away” Bernd says to me...
After spending two days meeting Bernd's friends as well as our mutual friend, and fellow exchange student, Stefan, Bernd and I were on our way to Spain. Before I go on, I need to elaborate on who we were seeing in Spain, not what. The Spanish girls of Raasay in Caledonian Court Scotland are some of the best people I have ever met in my life. I have not seen them since they threw me a surprise going away party on December 13th, 2006 .. the day I left Scotland. In my time there, the exchange students became more than friends,
Raasay
The Spanish girls of Raasay with me and Bernd!! we became an international family!..so, I couldn't wait to see my Spanish girls!!!!
The BMW pulled into Zurich long term parking around 5:15. Bernd and I were tired, but excited as we walked through the brisk air and into the airport. It was surprisingly busy. German, Spanish and English could be heard being spoken at any given point of Zurich International.
Over the summer I had two visitors from the exchange program. Bernd from Liechtenstein and Jet from China! Now I was making my rounds! It is a little bit harder for Jet and I to meet up with the others because 99% of the exchange students I met are in Europe ... Jet and I are the bookends of Europe in America and China. Of course, that isn't enough to stop either of us from meeting our friends!
The Swiss Alps were littered beneath me like a spilled bag of marshmallows. White mountaintops ascended towards the plane in a geological symphony that was being conducted by the distant sun as it flicked its light across the horizon. I swallowed a cool glass of coke before laying my head back on the coarse airplane headrest to take
a quick nap. The Mediterranean and Spain were racing at us.
Barcelona:
The plane arrived in Barcelona, Spain to cold rain coming from a sunless sky. I had to take a quick train from the airport to the train station before killing a few hours there and moving onto the next leg of the journey, a 2 hour train ride west to Zaragoza.
The train was hot. It was hard to breathe. I couldn't help but reminisce on the times spent with the international students in Glasgow. It helped to take my mind off of the smothering air.
Bernd and I arrived at the train station to Cristina and Ana waiting for us!! Everyone was smiling ear to ear in disbelief of the holiday meeting!! It was clearly time to party!!
We all piled into Conchi's car as she pulled up to the train station. Everyone exchanged questions .. answers .. and comments like we had seen each other in a year (ohhh wait .. we hadn't!). It made the car trip really short ... we arrived at Conchi's flat in the city center of Zaragoza.
When we arrived we drank some beer
Workin the streets
I gotta make a livin' and told some stories as the clock ticked by. We were waiting on one other of the Spanish girls, Espe!!! She was a bit late meeting us since she had to work ... and was more than ready for a beer with her friends!!
There is something you need to know about the “young” Spanish lifestyle. They don't eat dinner until around 10pm .. they don't go out to the clubs until about 1am ... and they don't come home until about 7am!!! Ohhhh ... and the most important thing is the afternoon “siesta”!! This is basically a nap that gets you ready for the long night of partying ahead... well ... I missed the siesta on this day... it was going to be a long party.
The welcoming party was hoppin' ... about 6 other Spanish girls showed up at the flat and the Spanish version of “Sing Song” was being played on the playstation. If you know me ... then you know that I don't Karaoke ... well .. imagine it in Spanish!!!
All the beer was finished in the flat ..It was time to go to the club...
12 hours later.....
With
Aljaferia
My crib in Spain a hangover and little sleep I pulled myself from a mattress tucked into the hallway of an apartment in Spain. I needed a shower ... some water ... some food .... and some more sleep..
2 hours later...
Time to get up ... for real this time..
I could smell lunch being cooked. Conchi was making some pasta and Spanish side dishes. This would be the introduction to the laid back lifestyle of the Spanish!! A party .. a late sleep .. some lunch .. and then get out into the open air.
After relaxing at the flat with Bernd and the girls they took us out for a walk of the city. It was a tour of Tapas bars!! Tapas are like small appetizers of various kinds. Spanish ham, different types of fish, chorizo, and many other things. The Tapas bars offer an array of things to choose from at the bar. You order a Tapas or two and a beer. Then sit back and relax with your friends eating your Tapas and drinking your beer. Then ... off to the next Tapas bar. It was awesome. Tapas are now one of my favorite things
Pilar
The cathedral of Spain!! You can walk the ancient streets and smell the Tapas on any given one. Just follow the best smell for the best tapas!!
The next day...
After lunch we explored the city. There were 2 main attractions of Zaragoza for the tourist. The first and most important thing was the Pilar Cathedral. It is ancient and sits in the middle of the city along the river. Domes and spires stretch high into the air against the Spanish sky. Many Spanish people visit this Cathedral for protection. During a war two bombs were dropped onto Pilar. Neither went off. They now hang as a monument on one of the walls of the church. If they would have gone off ... the church and the Pillar (Pilar in Spanish) would have been destroyed. Now they offer blessed ribbons of Pilar for protection. You can also kiss the “Pillar” which represents the Spanish virgin Pilar...which is one of the names for Maria ... the Virgin Mary. I saw many people kissing the pillar and offering a small donation. Of course I had to as well...
The second attraction was an ancient Muslim castle, Aljaferia. It is set in
the city center not far from Pilar. The castle dates back to the 11th century. It looks like something from a movie set. I do not really know much of the history of it because everything in the castle was in Spanish. So ... I just enjoyed the architecture.
That night was New Years Eve...
The first few days were training for the Spanish New Years Eve. The girls had bought a TON of food and were preparing a feast of Spanish dishes. There were 5 of us for dinner, but there was food for 10!! There were steaks, homemade tapas of smoked salmon, foie gras and seafood, a few different kinds salads ... and then .. something that scared me.. Goulas. This isn't to be confused with Goulash the German dish. Goulas (the spelling may be wrong) is a typical Spanish dish of little fish that look like little white worms. This surpassed most of the weird things that I ate in China!!! I was scared!! However, Cristina force fed me a fork full of the little white wormy fish things .... I had to sprint to the restroom .....
Luckily there were many bottles of
New Years Dinnnnnner
Yummmmm ... except for the Goulas ... Spanish wine ...and the girls had prepared a drink with lemon sorbet and champagne (AMAZING) I drank up to wash away the taste and texture that had invaded my mouth... Bleeaahhhh!!
Time ticked by as we all finished dinner and did the dishes. We drank down more wine and waited for the last few minutes of the year. The girls prepared the traditional New Years dish for the last few seconds of the year. It was 12 grapes .. you had to eat one during each of the last 12 seconds of the year. If you finish them it is good luck!!!
As the last few minutes of the year approached I recollected on what all had happened during the past year and what was to come during the next one. Exactly one year before I was in Edinburgh, Scotland spending New Years.... now I was in Spain... I wonder where I will be at next year???
We started to eat the grapes ... The national television show had a little pacman figure starting on the first grape (ALL of Spain does this at the same time). It wasn't a problem until about 7. Then a few
started to get backed up in my throat ... no problem, just add more champagne... At number 11 I started to panic again ... Then at number 12 I tossed in the last grape and washed it down just in time!!!! Hugs and kisses were given out, ribbons tossed, party hats donned, and more champagne opened!!! Happy New Year!!!
We stayed at the flat partying until about 1:15 ... it was now time to go out ...
One of the girls works at an awesome bar called Buddha Bar... so the girls hooked us up with tickets that were good to get into Buddha Bar and 3 other clubs. They included free drinks until 8am!!! (Am I in heaven???) The party started!!!!!!!!!!!!
We met up with the friends of the girls we were with at the first bar. We stayed there until about 4-5am before heading to Buddha Bar. Conchi was working!! As soon as we could push our way up to the bar she was preparing drinks for us!!! It was AMAZING!!
The next day...
It was another relaxing day of overcoming the first hangover of the new year!!!
The next day...
New Years
The 12 grapes!! All of the girls had to work .. except for Cris .. she now had a cold. Bernd and I spent the day walking the streets of Zaragoza on our own. With a limited vocabulary of Spanish between the two of us we were able to successfully navigate the town. We had more Tapas and took more pictures of the sites!!
Later the girls met up with us back at Conchi's flat. It was our last night in Zaragoza... so we had to do something a little special for the girls. They took such good care of us!
In our walk during that day Bernd and I found a nice restaurant to take the girls out to dinner. We had some typical dishes of different steaks and fish in a nice hole in the wall restaurant. As we ate we laughed and joked about the time spent in Spain ... and the time we had spent in Scotland. It seemed like a movie to me ... like the season finale of a tv show. The ending dinner was not an ending .. but a bridge to the next time we will all meet up again.... (Come to Cincinnati
The view
This is the view from Conchi's balcony !!!!!!!)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Barcelona: (yes again)
It was my final day in Spain. The train ride to Barcelona was similar to the one before ... stuffy and smothering. We arrived to Barcelona for a purpose other than getting back to the airport. Bernd and I toured EADA which is a Spanish University in Barcelona that we are both applying to for our Masters. (Donations accepted!!!). The University was great. We had a nice tour from Bibiana who I have been in contact with since I turned in my application. She also took us to meet the Director of Masters programs. These are the two people that I will be working with through the application process so it was great to be able to meet them. Now they have a face to put to my name!!! (Of course once in Barcelona I will have to make a name for my face!!!)
With a few hours left we explored a few sites of Barcelona. Sagrada De Familia was the most amazing (google it, I'm getting tired of typing...)
So ... back on a plane ... heading to Liechtenstein ....
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MOM
non-member comment
Hello
Great blog. I especially love the story about the bomb and the cathedral. It is just amazing. Good job girls on feeding Elliott little fishes and taking him out of his comfort zone. And a big thank you for hosting his visit to Spain in such a special way. I hope to meet you all in Kentucky some day. I have a funny feeling that next year we will add eating grapes at midnight at years end for good luck. :)