Almost forgot

A bit of the tale that I missed from yesterday:

When I was in Spain 10 years ago, I (along with one of the families I was with) went up North to a place called Sanabria for the Holy Week. We stayed in a little town called Cernadilla, that was so small it only had one telephone for the ENTIRE TOWN.

This was my least favorite part of the trip. I didn't know this family as well as the main family I was staying with, so it was a little awkward. Also, I'm not into "roughing it" so I didn't really enjoy dirt roads and cold houses in the middle of nowhere. It was such a tiny backwater town that I thought I'd never see it again.

Well guess what. As I was on the train to Vigo, we passed through Sanabria, the very backwater area I thought I'd never see again. I was surprised that it even had a train station (granted, a teeny one). I tried to call my mother to tell her about it, but the area had so many mountains and trees and tunnels that we kept losing the connection. Maybe that's why that town only had one phone - the connection is probably so bad that that was all they could manage! :)

The Spain Chronicles - Days 6 and 7

So the good thing about this post is that I am typing it from a Spanish computer, só Í cáñ úsé áccéñts wíth wíld ábáñdón (hehehe). The bad thing is that I can´t connect to the Internet from the computer where I am storing my photos, so I can´t illustrate this along the way. :(

Yesterday was my last full day in Madrid. The library was not open, so I didn´t waste any time trying to go there. Instead, I went to El Rastro, a huge flea market in a dodgier part of town. (I can´t find a good link about it in English, I´m afraid...) Anyway, this market had everything new and used, handmade and mass-produced. I bought a pair of leather sandals for €15, which they even custom cut to fit my feet. I don´t know how comfortable they´ll be (I had to sit on a teeny stool in the middle of a crowded street to try them on), but I´ll wear them twice and tell people I got them in Spain and will feel good about it all. :)

After I saw enough of the market I wanted to go to church, so I headed back towards the Prado to go to mass at the San Jerónimo Church. It´s a famous and beautiful church where royalty was crowned and all that, but unfortunately I missed the last mass of the afternoon. There was another mass at 8 pm, but the Prado/San Jerónimo area is not that conveniently located via Metro, so I wasn´t sure if I would come back for it. (I did get to see the inside of the church, but I didn´t take photos. No one else was taking photos, and besides one of the church workers was watching...)

From there, I decided to look for a restaurant I wanted to try from my guidebooks: the Casa Alberto, which was housed in a spot where Cervantes once lived. I hiked there from the church (and it was a bit of a hike, in the heat, uphill) - only to find that it was closed, because it was Sunday. This happened to be near the nonexistent Cervantes Museum I mentioned in my last post, so I´m wondering if there´s some sort of connection there... ;)

The nearest Metro station, Anton Martín, was not too far from Lavapies, a famous gypsy/ethnic neighborhood, so I decided to walk there. It was the only time I feared for my life in broad daylight - the area was smelly, dirty, and über-sketchy. When I got to Lavapies I couldn´t see any of the famous landmarks (apparently they have a very cool cinema), nor did I see any gypsies. Also, no one offered me any hash, which was disappointing. ;) I didn´t feel safe enough to "explore" Lavapies (i.e. either get myself lost or ask for directions), so I hopped on the Metro and headed back to the hotel for a bit.

Around 7:30ish I decided to head back to Sol, where I was earlier in the week. The Plaza Mayor is my favorite place in Madrid, and Sol also has some very cool shops. It´s also not far from Ópera, where the Royal Palace is. I spent about 3 hours wandering around there one last time. It was really nice because the weather wasn´t ridiculously hot then, nor was it extremely crowded. It was a great way to end the week. After that, I headed back to the hotel to pack for Galicia.

Today I got to the library early to get some last-minute work done. I found some good stuff, but the reading room I was in was extemely warm, so it made me very sleepy. I stayed for about 2 hours then went back to the hotel to get ready to leave.

I traveled to Vigo, in Galicia, by train from Chamartín in Madrid. It took about 7.5 hours, and it was one of the worst traveling experiences in my life. Don´t get me wrong - the view was amazing, with fields of sunflowers and trees and stuff (unfortunately I didn´t get any pics), but my car had four screaming kids in it who were loud the ENTIRE TIME. They were ridiculously spoiled and hyper and their parents/grandparents did almost nothing about it. I did, however, watch a bit of a good movie called "Mi mejor amigo" ("My best friend") which I will have to find and watch properly some day, because it was pretty cute.

I arrived in Galicia a bit before 10 pm. Enrique´s mother picked me up, and we walked back to their flat. Dear God, that was a workout - they don´t live far, but they live up a hill, and I had some weighty luggage with me. I was embarassed at how sweaty and hot I was by the end of it, but oh well. Enrique´s mom made me a nice dinner, we did my laundry, I took a shower and here I am now.

Enrique and Justin arrive tomorrow evening. I will probably just chill during the day until they arrive (mostly because my clothes are still drying), and then go with Enrique´s mom to pick them up at the airport.

We´ll be here until Saturday. I don´t know how much I´ll be able to update during this time, as the computer I am currently using is in the room where the boys will be sleeping. But I´ll do my best to keep you posted, hopefully with photos! I think there´s a lot planned for these next few days, including side trips to Santiago de Compostela and to Portugal, as well as to the beach.

Sorry for the lack of links too - am a bit tired and this Spanish keyboard is using up all my mental effort. Boas noites!

The Spain Chronicles – Day 5

Another short post due to even more confusion. I got up early yesterday with more intentions to get to the library...and it turns out that it was closed AGAIN. Perhaps it was because the holy day fell on a Friday and this would give them a long weekend. I can never figure out government agencies. I'll try to make up for it on Monday before I leave for Vigo.

So, now with about 4 extra hours on my hands, I decided to start what I was going to do for the rest of the day - a trip to the museums. If you keep walking down the street past the library, you hit all of the big museums - the Thyssen-Bornemisza (say that 5 times fast), the Prado, and the Reina Sofía. I wanted to see a fourth museum that was supposedly in the area, the Museo de Cervantes, but it wasn't where it said it would be on my map and I couldn't find it on any website! It worked out fine anyway because I was getting tired, and I didn't want to miss out on the Reina Sofía just to hunt down this nonexistent place on a somewhat dodgy end of the street.

I've done the Prado and the Reina Sofía before, but not the Thyssen. The Thyssen was the first one on the Paseo del Prado after the library (it was still a bit of a walk, but not too bad), so I went there first. I didn't find it as exciting as the other two, as it didn't really seem to have a mega-famous piece like Las Meninas or Guernica. It had a Joan Miró exhibit, which was kinda cool. I had my breakfast in the café there, where I remembered how museum cafés tend to be rather expensive - I paid €7 for a croissant and a glass of orange juice! (I should say, though, that the croissant had some kind of honey on top and was extremely good.)

After about 2 hours at the Thyssen, I made my way to the Prado next. The Prado is gigantic - they always say you can't see it all in one day. They do, however, give you a chart of some of their most famous masterpieces, so I made a point to see as many of those as possible. And now for my grad student rant of the day: apparently there is a "Paseo de Arte" where you pay one fee to go to all the museums in one day. I asked about it at the Thyssen, and the guy said I shouldn't get it because the student rate was cheaper at all three places. When I got to the Prado and showed my card, they told me the rate was only for students under 25! After I had an internal rant about that, I found out that teachers can get in for free. I *did* have my faculty card from my old uni, but it was in my hotel room, as I do not carry my entire wallet here when I walk around. ¡Qué lástima!

Anyway, I spent about 2 hours in the Prado as well. The Prado is home to the "old-school" kinds of paintings we learn about in Art History class. Perhaps its most famous piece is Las Meninas, by Velásquez:

Another painting that I saw (and knew about but forgot until just then) was a painting of Jesus, Mary and Joseph with a dog - I can't remember who painted it, but it was cool to see it because it's also hanging in giant mosaic form at my church at home. Anyway, after I made my way through quite a few rooms I decided it was time to move onward and upward. I headed over to the gift/coffee shop and gawked at the prices a bit, then decided to go to lunch.

My guidebook recommended a little place called La Platería, which was on the way to the other museums. Unfortunately, it was the first time this week that I actually regretted what I ordered. I had a salmon tapa (would you call it a tapa in the singular?) which was good but expensive, and a cheese platter. It was too much for one person, and the cheese was very strong and left a heavy aftertaste. All in all, it was expensive and disappointing. But oh well. Onward and upward!

I *thought* that the Museo de Cervantes would not be far from there, but I couldn't find it. It's very possible that I didn't go far enough up the street - I was getting tired and hot at that point, and it was uphill. But even when I asked someone in a nearby shop, he hadn't heard of the place. So I made my way back down the hill towards the Reina Sofía.

I think the Reina Sofía is my favorite of the museums. It is home to more modern, abstract art that makes you think. (Not that old classics don't make you think, but modern art tends to make me wonder (a) what the painting is supposed to show and (b) how can someone be famous for painting squiggles on a canvas!) I also like this museum because the sculptures are integrated with the paintings, so you don't get bored just looking at paintings and then just looking at sculptures. It also has things like films and slide shows, which give you a nice break as well. The masterpiece of the Reina Sofía is one that is perhaps even more famous than Las Meninas - Picasso's Guernica:
It is quite amazing to view it in person. It is absolutely gigantic. It is also very much alarmed - if you walk too close, an alarm goes off (and it did several times while I was standing there!). I stuck around the Reina Sofía for about 2 hours, bringing me up to about 6:00, and decided to head home and crash for a bit.

Back at the hotel I took a short nap, then headed out again. I discovered a second Corte Inglés in the area - this one with women's clothes and a supermarket. I bought some breakfast and a small folding fan. You wouldn't believe it, but women actually do use fans here - they're not just for flamenco dancers!

For a while I seriously considered hopping back on the Metro to go to Sol for dinner. But my feet were hurting a bit, and I'm trying to conserve my energy a bit so I can enjoy myself when I get to Galicia later in the week. So I just did a very easy dinner from Burger King and brought it back to my room.

Today I'm heading to El Rastro, a famous Sunday flea market, and then to mass at the San Jerónimo Cathedral (which is, coincidentally, right next to the Prado). Not sure what I'll do after that - probably laundry to get ready for tomorrow, which is when I leave to go up north to Galicia.

By the way, I've been posting pics on the Flickr. Check 'em out! I haven't added yesterday's yet, but there won't be many as it is generally considered a bad idea to take photos in a museum. :)

For the feed readers

To those of you who are reading me on a feed reader, you may want to mosey back to my blog and re-read my last post. I realized that a key paragraph had been erased, so I had to rewrite it. It helps the whole first part make sense. Cheers!

Edit, 11:54 pm, 26 July 2008: I may have been wrong about the whole feed thing. Sometimes there is a slight delay between when I post and when it hits the feed reader, so my edit may have made it in already. Apologies if I confused you!

The Spain Chronicles – Day 4

Well, no one seemed to tell me that the 25^th of July is the Feast of St. James the Apostle (Santiago Apostol), the Patron Saint of Spain. This was problematic because I had intended on spending a good deal of time in the library today, and it (like many other things) was closed today. Whoops. By the end of this trip I will not have racked up many hours in the library, but I did make a good start and have found some good sources. I’ve also had a good time seeing and doing other things!

I started the day by taking the Metro to Ópera, and then wandering through the Plaza de Oriente towards the Royal Palace. I *know* I went to the Palace when I was here before, but I can't actually remember if we went inside. (I think that by that point in the week, everything was looking the same. Plus, when you're with a group of friends, who pays attention to the teacher?) It looked really familiar, so I'm guessing that we did go there. Perhaps it is because they often have separate entrances for tour groups, so I just don't remember going in the way I did.

Anyway, I went in and paid for the unguided visit – they give you one of those audio thingys instead. I liked this because I could spend as much or as little time in any room as I liked. It was also nice because I brought my student card, so I only had to pay about €3.50 instead of €11ish. It was another one of those places where if I could take photos, I’d probably use up the whole memory card!

After this, I headed up to the Plaza de España, a place I could have sworn that I had visited before but looked very unfamiliar this time. In the center of the park there is a huge Cervantes monument. Cervantes is seated in the middle, and in front of him are don Quijote on his horse and Sancho on his donkey. On either side are statues representing don Quijote’s “true love” – one of Aldonza Lorenzo, the peasant girl; and one of Dulcinea del Toboso, the way don Quijote imagines her to be (i.e. much classier than a peasant girl).

I thought about heading back to Ópera to eat something, but I was ready to get to the library, so I hopped on the Metro to Serrano and planned on eating at the library. When I got there, I was shocked to discover that the whole place was closed – I knew nothing about weird summer hours, so it was a big surprise. I decided to go eat lunch somewhere and try again later, as sometimes in Spain they tend to close during the lunch/siesta time. I ended up going to the Hard Rock Café – it is not far from the library, and I thought mixing things up with some American food would be a good change of pace. (As much as I love Spanish food, I don’t want to get tired of it before I leave!)

The Madrid Hard Rock is just as American as any of the other branches – guitars, loud music, very expensive American food. Even if you get the Spanish menu, the food names are all in English – I had the “California Chicken Club” or something like that. (Side note: why does putting avocado on something make it “California”?) I thought about buying a tshirt from the gift shop, but I found something I liked much better: a teddy bear dressed as a bullfighter, with the Hard Rock Madrid logo on the back. I named him Federico José.

After lunch I tried calling the library but got no answer, so I decided to return to the hotel. When I saw that my room had not been cleaned that day (they don’t clean on weekends or holidays), I wondered if it might be some kind of holiday – especially after I noticed that someone had commented on my last post about today being a holiday. And it was indeed, so that explained everything.

With some time to kill and no desire to stick around the hotel, I decided to take a long walk. I just walked up and down and around the local streets, bought some more snacky crap at a shop and browsed around the local Corte Inglés (which only had one floor open today for the holiday). By about 9:30 I was hungry for dinner, so I went to Cañas y Tapas, a very nice chain tapas place. I had croquettes with Serrano ham (which I didn’t like so much), patatas bravas and this very delicious toast with a garlic/olive oil sauce and shrimp. After that I moseyed back to the hotel, which is just around the corner.

So, not much today. I’ll make up for it tomorrow with library in the morning and a trip around the museums in the afternoon. ¡Hasta luego!



=================================
Bonus Shoe Blogging!

In the past I have mentioned how much I enjoy British magazines because they come with free stuff. It turns out that Spanish magazines are the same. Yesterday, when I was in Chueca, I bought a magazine for €4.50 that came with these fabulous purple sandals:I wore them today and they were surprisingly comfortable. Hurrah!

The Spain Chronicles – Day 3

Those of you who have known me for a while (i.e. pre-Oxford) have more than likely heard about my constant battle with directions. I have a terrible fear of getting lost, just as one might be afraid of heights or the dark or whatever. So whenever I find an easy way to get myself somewhere, I stick with it.

This has been the case here. I have been taking the Metro quite a lot because I just find it a lot easier than trying to navigate all the crazy streets. Madrid is not grid-shaped like New York or Washington, DC – the streets curve and turn and change names and all that. The streets are also not easily named. There are some streets that have simple names, like Calle Goya, but there are also many streets with long names like Calle del General Díaz Porlier. And this is in a neighborhood where all the streets are named after Generals or Princes, or Counts, so it's not like that one name stands out in a crowd! Also, you may have a lot of similarly named streets in an area – Calle de las Descalzas, Callejón de las Descalzas, Plaza de las Descalzas, etc. Since many monuments tend to be near Metro stops, I find them much easier to deal with. The Metro stops tend to be one or two words, so they’re easier to remember. They’re also easier to find than street names, which are often high up on a teeny little tile and not always on every corner. (Also, as it is unbearably hot out these days, the Metro cuts down on the amount of time I have to spend walking in the heat!) So while it may be a lazy cop-out, I feel like it maximizes the amount of time I actually get to spend at places.

Whew, I did a lot yesterday. I took the Metro to Sol, as there were quite a lot of things in that area I could see all at once. First, I went to the Chocolatería San Ginés, which is in a great little side street and is the most famous place in the city for churros y chocolate. OMG, they were amazing. When they sell them in the States they tend to be very sugary, but these were not – they didn’t need to be. I found them to be very reasonably priced – a huge plate of churros and a cup of chocolate was only about €3.50.

After that, I spent a few hours in the Plaza Mayor, looking in all the shops. I haven’t been buying a lot of souvenirs as I find them to be a bit gaudy, but I bought a lot of postcards and some small knickknacks (like a magnet shaped like the blonde girl from Las Meninas). There were a lot of street performers in this area – Elizabeth, you’d hate them, it’s all the “let’s pretend I’m a statue” types! ;) I also went to Puerta del Sol, which is not as pretty but has the famous Oso y Madroño statue. From there I tried to get into the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, but it was closed until 4 pm, so I decided to go to Chueca and come back. (A foreign couple, I guessed German, tried to get in as well. I ended up meeting them again later on the tour of the Monastery!)

Chueca is Madrid’s gay neighborhood, which was recommended to me by my gay friends. I didn’t find the neighborhood very exciting or particularly beautiful, to be honest, but I did have lunch at a very good restaurant called El Armario (“The Closet”) – also recommended to me. After lunch I headed back to Sol to see if I could get into the Monasterio.

The Monastery was extremely beautiful, covered with frescoes. We weren’t allowed to take photos – otherwise I would have filled up my memory card there alone! The only downfall there was that my feet were killing me by that point, so it was hard to walk around and enjoy it since there were no places to sit along the way.

After the Monastery I reeeaaaallly needed to get to the library, so I did just that. I spent about 2 hours searching for books to request over the next few days and making lists of things to look up when I get home. I wasn’t extremely productive, but it felt like a good start. After the library closed I went to a sushi place for dinner. I thought I'd walk back to my hotel for a change, but I ended up getting very lost (and it was getting dark too!), so I just backtracked and took the Metro.

Today I’m headed for the Palacio Real and then back to the library. That’s why they’re paying me to be here, so I feel like I should make some productive use out of my time. ;) Tomorrow I’ll hit the museums.

The Spain Chronicles – Day 2

Traveling by oneself (sp?) is a weird thing. On the plus side, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want. I know that one of the tough things about traveling in a group is that you spend a lot of time (a) debating what to do and (b) waiting for people, so you can avoid these things when you travel by yourself. The downside is that it can go a bit fast. You end up eating much faster than anticipated because there’s no one to talk to and you don’t have to wait for everyone’s dishes to arrive. Also, you spend a lot of time asking people to help you take pictures of yourself in front of monuments, drawing attention to the fact that you are traveling alone.

In any case, I had a good day yesterday. I got a late start, mostly because I slept terribly, and for breakfast I had some chocolate donuts I had bought the night before. I decided to go to the Retiro, since it is one of the closest things to where I am staying. On the way I stopped in some antique shops, including an antique bookshop that had a display of Don Quijote editions in the window. I asked how much the smallest one cost, and it was €1800. A bit out of my price range, I think…

The Retiro is a huge and beautiful park, so I spent about 2 ½ hours walking around there. I liked it because it was one of the places I went to when I was here 10 years ago, so it was fun seeing the things I saw then. My friend Chung suggested that I try to find places where I took photos back then, and take photos in the same spots. I did just that, which was cool. One of my favorite spots is the Palacio de Cristal, which happened to be lacking glass when I was there last time. Right before it is a lake and a little cave, which is cool.

The park has a number of places to eat, but all I had was a (€2!!!) Coke while I was there. I waited to eat lunch until about 2:30-3:00, when I left the park and found a nice café nearby. I had pasta with a salmon sauce and a tapa of jamón con pa amb tomaca, both very nice. I’ve been trying to make lunch the major meal of the day and just having a sandwich or whatever for dinner – it seems to work because I’m not usually extremely hungry later on. After lunch I made my way back to the hotel to chill for a bit, then decided to finally make my way to the Biblioteca Nacional.

I know the library is maybe a 20-minute walk from where I am, but dear God it was hot, so I just hopped on the Metro. It was still a short walk once I got off the Metro, so I didn’t feel horribly guilty. Along the way I saw the Plaza de Colón, which featured a gigantic Spanish flag. I found it interesting, because for some reason I don’t usually think of such giant displays of patriotism as something they do in Europe. The US is all about the flag, but I think they’re more subtle about it elsewhere.

The library was a little tough. Nobody told me that I needed (a) my passport and (b) proof of mailing address (a bill, etc.), so it was a bit of a process to register for a carnet de investigador (a library card for researchers that lets me look at old books and stuff). The embarrassing part of it was that when they were explaining the proof of mail, they kept saying the word factura (bill), which was a word I didn’t know, so I had to ask them to explain. I wasn’t making much of an impression as a researcher, I don’t think! Fortunately they accepted my driver’s license instead of my passport, and somehow granted me the carnet de investigador. I’m still not sure how it happened. Anyway, I spent a short while having a look around the place to see what was there, so I would know what to bring back the next day. After that I visited the library’s museum (which was a teeny bit boring but filled up some time) and the shop.

I was happy to discover that the Café Gijón was not too far from the library, so I decided to make it my next stop. The Café is famous for having been the hangout of many artist and writer types. It was another place I had been to when I came here 10 years ago, but at the time I didn’t know what a big deal it was. It seemed a bit stuffy to eat inside, so I ate out on their beautiful terrace – a (€3.90!!!) Coke, a water and a pincho de tortilla, which was amazing. After that I made my way back to the Metro rather slowly, stopping for ice cream and then for a peek in the shops along the way.

I was a bit tired when I got back to the hotel around 8, so I just cleaned up a bit and then went back out for a visit to the Corte Inglés. (I didn’t get a proper look around when I went the day before.) I spent about an hour and a half looking at toys and books. I know that sounds weird, but I liked it because it was cool to see which books were popular and how they translated into Spanish, plus I wanted to see if I could find a Spanish-speaking doll for my sister. (They had some, but they were either huge or for little babies.) I wasn’t hungry for dinner when I left, but I stopped and picked up a sandwich for later and some fruit for the next day.

I usually end the day at about 10 pm, mostly because I don’t feel like it’s the best idea to wander around alone in the dark. I don’t go to bed straight away – I call home, check email, shower, etc. and hit the sack at around midnight. I also use the time to look up the places I want to see the next day. Today I think I will visit the Puerta del Sol and the Plaza Mayor, and perhaps Chueca if I have time, before making another journey to the library.

The Spain Chronicles – Day 1

I am usually beyond horrible when it comes to keeping records of trips. When I went to Spain 10 years ago, our teacher made us keep a journal which would count for a grade. I didn't write most of mine until after the trip – I guess I wanted to enjoy the sights and take photos and talk to people (my friends, not random strangers) rather than be passive and write things down. But anyway, I think it will be less of an intimidating task if I tell you about it day by day rather than wait until the end.

So here's the deal. At the moment I'm in Madrid, where I will be doing some research at the Biblioteca Nacional and trying to get in some sightseeing. The last time I was in Madrid was 10 years ago, so it's interesting to be back after all that time. On Monday I'll take a train up to Vigo to meet up with my friends Enrique and Justin, where we'll stay until Saturday. This is the first time I've traveled by myself before, and it's been ok so far. Granted, I've been here less than a day, so I probably don't have much to base it on just yet!

My flight was from Gatwick at 2:45 yesterday. I've never been to Gatwick before. It's a bit of a hike from Oxford – the bus took about as long as the flight (both about 2 hours). Anyway, Gatwick is fairly manageable IMHO. The flight was pretty full, mostly because of a group of Spanish students (they looked like very young high school kids) were there. The kid next to me was extremely hyper and seemed to have a crush on his teacher, who was sitting behind us. The flight wasn't bad – they gave us crappy sandwiches on the way, which the Spanish kids didn't like.

We arrived at Barajas at about 6:30. Dear God, it's HUGE. You walk for ages and ages and then take a train to get to your baggage. Customs was easy, but the baggage took a while, so it was about an hour from when I landed to when I finally worked my way out of there.

The Metro was easy. It seems like there are far fewer lines than in London, or perhaps that not all the lines go through all the stations so you don't have to choose between 75 trains at one place. One very cool part was when I got to hear the voice announce: Próxima Estación: Esperanza. I didn't realize it was a real place!

My hotel is called Apartamentos Goya 75, a dumpy little place in the Salamanca neighborhood. It has everything I need for not too much money, and it's not too far from the library. I didn't do too much once I got to the hotel, as I did not want to venture out late by myself. I went up and down the Calle Goya, which has a lot of shops, just to see what's nearby. I bought a load of snacky crap at a store called VIPs, then went up to the cafeteria at El Corte Inglés to have a bocadillo de jamón ibérico for dinner. I got back to the hotel around 10, when it was just starting to get dark, so it worked out nicely.

It's around 11 am now. I think I'll go to the Retiro today, then venture down to the library later on. I'll keep you posted!

The rain in Spain.....

.....is nonexistent, apparently, as there is a 0% chance of precipitation in Madrid all next week.

So yeah, I'm going to Spain. It's been exactly ten years since the last time I was there, and I suspect it has changed quite a bit. I'm going for about 10 days - 22 July to 2 August. I'll be in Madrid until the 28th, working at the Biblioteca Nacional. The great part is that my college is paying for this, as they have a graduate research expense fund dedicated especially to that. After that, I'm taking the train to Galicia to spend four days with my friends Enrique and Justin. The cool thing about that is that we'll be on the border of Portugal, so I'll get two countries for the price of one.

I'm terribly nervous about the first part because I've never traveled by myself before. (Getting to Oxford doesn't even count because I knew people when I got here.) Any advice for traveling on one's own and keeping entertained?

Also, does anyone want postcards from Spain? Hunt me down in any of the usual ways and I'll be happy to send you one.

Laterz!

Public Service Announcement

Dear Tourist and Student Groups Visiting Oxford:

Welcome. We're glad you're visiting our city.

While you may be enchanted by Oxford's charms, though, I'd like to remind you that just like your hometown back in America or France, people live and work here too. Harry Potter does not live here; students, businessmen and the occasional crazy person do.*

Keeping that in mind, I'd like to ask you a favo(u)r: get out of the way.

I know your teacher/tour guide asked you to stick together. I know you'd like to take pictures of the colleges where all these mythical books and films took place, but there are people who need to get places. You do not need to take up the entire sidewalk. Line up against a wall or something.

And when you decide to sit on the ground to eat your McDonald's (and honestly, why are you doing that if you're French?), please do not block the door of whatever building/store is nearby.** People need to get in and out and again, you're in the way. If your teacher/tour guide told you to wait in front of the Porter's Lodge of whatever college you're staying in, s/he didn't mean it quite so literally. You don't have to wedge yourself in the doorway - clear a path. And when you see your friends clearing a path, you should do the same. I shouldn't have to say "Excuse me" to five of you to get into a building.

Thanks for listening, and enjoy your stay.


*There is this crazy lady that I've seen twice now, walking around the Broad Street/Magdalen Street area singing weird songs in a high-pitched voice. I don't think she's homeless - just crazy.
**Why is it that the French kids go to McDonald's and then sit down in front of the Gap? Attention, garçons et filles: even though we speak the same language, we are not interchangeable countries. Have a pasty and go to Primark.