Category: Spain

Spain

2009 Travel Log

I just finished my last trip of the year. I just realized how much time this year I’ve spent sitting on some form of transportation, and there’s been a ton. Here’s every trip I’ve taken, ordered by transit method:

Air:
Denver-Philadelphia
Philadelphia-Madrid
Granada-Liverpool
Liverpool-Amsterdam
Amsterdam-Barcelona
Barcelona-Granada
Madrid-Dusseldorf
Dusseldorf-Prague
Prague-Frankfurt
Frankfurt-Madrid
Madrid-Dublin
Dublin-Chicago
Chicago-Denver
Denver-Cleveland
Cleveland-Harrisburg
Harrisburg-Cleveland
Cleveland-Denver

Bus:
Madrid-Toledo
Toledo-Granada
Granada-Sevilla
Sevilla-Córdoba-Granada
Granada-Rónda-Málaga
Málaga-Granada
Granada-Morocco-Granada (60+hours on the bus in a week)
Granada-La Taha, Alpujarras
Granada-Madrid
Prague-Terezín-Prague
Madrid-Granada
Valencia-Barcelona
Barcelona-Madrid

Ferry:
Spain-Morocco and back

Train:
Granada-Valencia

Metropolitan transit:
Madrid
Granada
Liverpool
Amsterdam
Prague
Valencia
Barcelona (way too many hours in the metro with 150 lbs+ of bags)
Dublin
Fort Collins
Denver

I definitely got around, but I’m looking forward to a more… Stationary 2010.

Spain

A NOTICE

I hereby declare the following things “played out” and thus disallowed from now forthwith:

  1. The “jumping-in-midair” photo pose
  2. Writing tweets about your breakfast
  3. Lisping the “c” in “Barcelona” or the “s” in “España”
  4. The Facebook status “(your name) is.”
  5. “Broseph”

That is all.

Photos

Study Abroad Slideshow

Remember when a family member would come home from some exotic location, strap you down to the sofa, and force you to endure a 2-hour unedited slideshow of their entire trip? Well it’s time to relive those memories all over again!

…except that you aren’t being held captive.

…and I chose about 100 photos from a few thousand.

I threw together the best of my photos  and videos across all 5+ months in Europe. I suggest clicking through the link below the embedded video to watch it in fullscreen HD on Vimeo (assuming Flash doesn’t puke all over your computer, which it does even on good systems.)

Study Abroad Granada 2009 from Zeke Weeks on Vimeo.

So there ya go! You can thank me later for embracing technology instead of holding you against your will.

Daily Life

Re-entry

Well, the adventure has come to a close.

I’m back in Fort Collins now, and am taking a few days to adjust and reflect. The biggest thing I’m feeling right now is the abundance of familiarity in everything around me, which is a good thing. The people, the things around me, but most importantly, the culture. I feel more comfortable with my surroundings. I spent five months outside of my comfort zone, with the most basic understanding of everything that was going on around me. Now, I’m appreciating the familiarity of many of the “little things” I didn’t have for the last semester.

At the same time, I really miss Andalusia. Granada is a beautiful little city, and it engenders a beautiful lifestyle. I miss my host family’s home cooking, the Fedérico García Lorca park, going about everything without a big rush (work to live, not live to work!), tinto de verano, and cute old people walking around town dressed to the nines. I miss the mix of beatufil and comical graffiti, and walking past several buildings that are half a milennium old without even thinking anything of it.

I’ve definitely come home, albeit a changed person. I look forward to going back to Spain as soon as possible, but at the same time I’m looking forward to resuming life back home with a better idea of who I am and what is truly important to me in life.

Spain

First day in Morocco

Today we spent 15 hours traveling by bus and ferry from Granada to Fez in Morocco. I found some free Wi-Fi in the lobby of our five-star hotel here, with which I am pecking out this quick update on my iPhone. Our hotel is beautiful, with the lobbies and cafeterias replicating the same styles I have already seen at the Alhambra.
While today’s post-travel itinerary is dominated by food (which is so far excellent and reminiscent of many dishes my mother has made) and sleep, we did find some time to go to a nearby supermarket in town. Simply put, this store was the Moroccan version of a Super Wal-Mart. For a crowd of Americans who speak no Arabic and a couple of words in French, it created much more culture shock than anything from Spain. (To be fair, I am certain that a non-Westerner would be equally, if not more so, bewildered upon entering a Wal-Mart for the first time.)
Tomorrow, we will be visiting the old city center of Fez, which happens to be the world’s largest pedestrian-only commercial center. After that, we will head to southern Morocco for two days and nights in the desert- 4×4’s, Camels, and sleeping in large tents. Finally, we’ll go to the smaller city of Meknés to rest up before the long trip back to Granada.
I don’t expect I’ll be able to post much more while in Morocco – perhaps once more tomorrow night. But I am taking tons of photos, and I look forward to sharing the rest soon!