Tim In Spain

Lost!!!

2007-05-02T04:45:00.000-07:00

No trip would be complete without a little unexpected detour.

The day started off normally at the Munich train station. We were looking for the cheapest way to get Prague. There were three options: a very pricey high speed eurotrain with no transfers, a pricey eurotrain with two transfers, or a cheap network of five trains with four connections. Naturally we chose the final option. Everything was going well on the first two trains, the rides were smooth, the views were amazing, and there were nice people to talk to. However this changed when we rolled up to station #3 and saw what we thought was a caboose.

We actually we laughing at the size of the train when the conductor came out of the tiny office and taped "Domaslice" our destination on the window of the train. It turned out this would be our train. It was gas powered and had gears. The train ride wasn't that bad, the country side was picturesque and the seats could have been a little more comfortable, but you can't be too particular. So when the train pulled into "Domaslice-Minor" we all got off at the station and waited....and waited.....and waited.

We checked the train map and schedule and there were no more trains out of this town until tommorow. Dreams of shady eastern European hostels flashed through my mind. We were officially lost in the Czech Republic. After talking in broken English to a German boy at the station (Germans are so cool) we figured out their was another station in the town. And so we set off through Domaslice in search of another train station.

I would love to say that the town of Domaslice was super shady with old communists and creepy people running around. It was not, while it definetly wasn't Venice or Munich it was a nice place. The only sketchy thing were these caged up gigantic German Shepards that went nuts when we walked by. We made it to the station where there was nobody there and waited and waited for the train.

The sun was going down and the train came and continued on the last city of our trip.

Finding Germany

2007-04-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

I'm German-Irish. I have German grandparents on both sides of my family. Now I am very privileged in the face that I have been to Ireland. So I figured I should make it to Germany. I didn't really know what to expect from Germany. Although I have family history there, I have to confess my concept of Germany was built on almost two decades of video games, Indiana Jones movies, and other assorted movies I would watch with my Dad or my Grandpa. In other words I connected Germany with Nazis. While this is a sad fact, it was the truth. However, my time in Germany quickly changed that.
Our day in Munich started off with a visit to the Glockenspiel. This was basically a huge tower with moving figures. I wish I could tell you more about it's cultural importance, but it wasn't that exciting. After that we moved on checked out some historical landmarks and headed off toward the Englischer Garten. It's the biggest park like it in Europe.

After receiving directions from a really nice and well spoken German guy we headed off towards the first of many beer gardens. Now beer gardens are not places where Budweiser and Sam Adams grow on vines like oranges, they are places of public gathering and drinking. The first one we hit up was the Chinese tower, it was just as it sounds a Chinese tower surrounded by a beer garden. Check it out behind Steve.

After that beer garden we hit up the beer garden next to the lake in the park. The beers at this garden were HUGE. They were one liter beers and took about an hour to drink. Check out this size of this beer.
The beer garden was a great time, here is a shot of me and Ruby.

Now after hitting up two beer gardens we decided we should experience some culture. We headed off to the Olympic Park in Munich. This was the site of the 1972 Olympics. The picture that starts this section is of the Olympic complex. This place was very peaceful, the grass was a vivid green and the lake was pristine. Having it be so serene seemed a little strange considering the violence that took place at these Olympics.

Here is another shot of the park.

And the park's cool architecture in the setting sun.

That night we hit up the Hobrauhaus am Platzl. This is a famous beer hall in Munich. It was a great way to end the trip. Here is us by the entrance sign.
That morning a man in the hostel asked if I was Tim Goessling. I replied yes and I asked how he knew me, he said from Belknap. It turned out this guy was Peter Schaefer one of my Sam's old friends from camp. We had a great talk about camp and life.
My time in Germany was amazing. I met so many amazing and friendly Germans. They were the nicest people I met during my travels. Even though I drank a lot of beer there, I felt that I experienced the kindness of German culture. I feel like I got in touch with my heritage. But the road of the trip kept winding on to the final destination: Prague

The Harder they Climb

2007-04-26T10:32:00.000-07:00

As a child my parents would read me the popular children's book The Polar Express at Christmas time. While I enjoyed the Christmas message, what I truly loved was the crazy pictures of the train climbing the huge mountains. I would look at those pictures and think "man, I really wanna be on a train that goes through gigantic mountains." Well, I made it. That was my train rides to and from Interlocken, Switzerland.

Interlocken is located in the Swiss Alps. It's mainly a ski town, but they are many other extreme activities there as well. These include sky diving, canyoning (bungie jumping into a canyon), and zorbing, something I think Uncle Ted would love. We arrived in the middle of the day and were greeted with this view of the mountain. We checked into our hostel and went off for a walk. That night was pretty tame, we basically hung out in the town and ate fondue. Now, I would love to say the fondue was incredible, but I can't lie to all of you. I thought it was pretty terrible, maybe I'm not cultured enough to handle European cheese, but I was not a fan. Here is me with the mix.

That morning we headed off with some people from the Syracuse program and explored the city. We walked across a field (which was some farmer's) and some railroad tracks until we reached the western lake. We skipped stones and took in the blue water. Here is the posse.
After a decent lunch at Mr Burger (what do you think we ate) we headed off to explore a mine shaft. Well we didn't know if it was a mine shaft, but there were these tracks heading up a mountain. We decided to investigate. On the way over to the mine shaft I snapped this pic of the group, I like to call it an album cover.
Now, the three girls were not feeling the whole abandoned mine shaft thing so the four adventurers set off on their own. After going about halfway up the mountain we ran into a school group of Swiss children. One of the kids looked like Augustus Gloop, he was huge, eating a lollipop, sprawled out on a bench, and barking orders at kids.
We tried asking the kids for directions but they had no idea what we were saying. We asked them if we should follow the trail sign that said "harder clumb" and they starting shrieking "NO! NO!". So we stopped in the trail and returned to where the children were. It was then that things turned memorable. The kids quickly produced a British kid who spoke perfect English (of course every time he spoke English all the swiss kids laughed) and he told us which way to go. Here we are with the kids. The kid throwing up the peace sign is the translator and probably a future diplomat.

We continued to hike up the peak. While we were hiking we met two Americans studying in Germany. We swapped stories about studying abroad and hiked to the top together. At the top we met two girls who were also American, it turned out we knew a lot of mutual people. Here is the picture of the group.

After not finding the mineshaft, we all agreed to meet up later. We met up a French girl at a bar and one of the American's we met in the morning taught her how to play "bloody knuckles'.
I'm pretty sure she was shocked at the game American kids frequently play in High School.

Here a view of one of the lakes in the town and the alps behind. That morning we awoke and checked out of the Hostel and got on a train to Munich. The ride was full of amazing vistas equal to the Polar Express, and although there was not any free hot chocolate, I finally got to see those awesome mountain vistas.

Finishing Italy

2007-04-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since I saw the James Bond film Moonraker at some hotel during a Goessling family vacation, I have wanted to see Venice. In that film there was high speed gondolas and Italian knife throwing assassins who pursue Bond through the canals. While I didn't see the knife throwing madmen, I did get to see a great City. We arrived in the mid afternoon and dropped off our bags at the train station, we then proceeded to walk toward the Plaza San Marco. Of course we didn't know that Venice was labyrinth of canals, bridges and narrow streets. This lead us to get lost and consult the map many times.

We eventually made it to the Plaza. It was here that we received help ordering pizza from an Opera singer. Here's how the conversation went.

"Thanks for helping us order"
"No problem"
"Are you from Venice"
"Now, I'm from New York, but I work here"
"Oh what do you do here, like tourism stuff?"
"No, I work at the Opera"
"Oh cool, like organizing shows"
"Now, I'm a singer"
"Do you only work here?"
"No, I have worked (insert crazy locations from around the world)

I like to think we met a world famous Opera star, but who knows. Anyway we made it the plaza where we enjoyed our pizza (just to clarify, pizza in Italy is really really good). Then we started playing with the pigeons. Now it has been pointed out to be that pigeons carry diseases, if this is true I guess something like this was a bad idea.

Ruby got in on the action too.

We then walked back to the train station. At one point we had to take a water taxi across one of the canals. It was pretty sweet and we took a complimentary "We are in Venice on a boat in a Canal so check it out!" picture.

While in Italy we also made it Florence. Florence was pretty cool, we saw the statue of David, ate really good food, and ate even better Gellato. We spent the last night in Italy in Milan and woke up and headed off to Switzerland. Stay tuned.

We met Mabri in Rome

2007-04-12T12:21:00.001-07:00

THE PLAYERS
( Page, Ruby, Fitzy, Tim)

We met Mabri in Rome. Mabri worked at the Hostel we stayed in that ancient. He was from an country in some part of Western Africa. I feel bad I can not remember the specific name, but alas it is not important because he was the man. We first met him on the street while walking to our Hostel.

"You guy's looking for funny" he asked in his strange accent

"Yeah" we replied

"Come on let's go" he shot back

Now, you gotta understand that Mabri was dressed in a red tight Euro longsleeve shirt, puffy black vest, dark blue jeans, and huge Euro sunglasses (keep in mind this was a night). But he soon lead us to the Hostel, where he gave us all the Mabri handshake (high five into grip into pound explode). As soon as we paid he busted out a huge Rome map and drew us up a battle plan for the city. When that was done he gave us a bottle of wine and helped us track down a specific restaurant. Needless to say, he was the man. When we left the Hostel, he gave us all numerous Mabri Handshakes, or as I call them Mabrishakes (sounds like some Organic power drink). This is Rome in one day!

Vatican Museum (complete with a 3.5 hour line with a massive Asian tour group trying to creep around us. Made it to the Chapel, where I did take a picture. Is that a sin?

Saint Peters still blows me away.

Coliseum. It has now become clear to me that every guide at there loves creating juicy stories to tell tour groups. Example
In this space, over 50 massive elephants engaged in a gruesome fight to the deal with over 100 Lions. The blood mixed with the sand to create a tempest of horror and wonder. They said that God himself cried as he heard the death cries of the animals below.

Pantheon. Or the Pantheon roof with light coming through.
Ruby and Kyle pondering how they rebuilt all this stuff for Gladiator.

Making wishes at the Trevi fountain. My form could have been better I suppose, but I got the coin in the water. This process of throwing coins in the water may have been a bad thing because my funds really dwindled over the course of the adventure.
And what night in Rome would be complete without a meal at Dino E Toni Hostaria. This place is is Italy. It's about 16 courses of the most amazing food. You don't pick the food they just bring it out, and bring it out, and bring it out. Unlimited wine. It's amazing. In this picture is "Tex" a dude from well, um, "Texas" we met in the Hostel.

So we woke up after the meal and said goodbye to Mabri and were done with Rome.
.

4 College Kids+Europe=Adventure

2007-04-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

SPRING BREAK 2007

While I cannot say I was fighting nazis, dodging booby traps, or finding arcs, my Spring Break was certainly an adventure, maybe not on a Indiana Jones level, but pretty high up there. So because it was so thrilling I am going to try to write each of the entries for countries/cities that I visited as an adventure (with no exaggeration). Enjoy.

A is for Asturias, B is for Bagpipes, and C is for Cold

2007-03-28T15:13:00.000-07:00

My horse was parched. How did I know this, I knew this because I could literally feel the horse drifting to over to park of the mountain stream where the ice had broken. It began to move and I got nervous, my teacher and guide Professor Montes had told me horses like to lie down when they drink. Feelings of being drenched in the mountains danced in my head. But my horse ended up getting a drink, and not lying down.

So there I was, deep in the Picos de Europa. Here's a quick geography lesson, the picos de Europa are the mountains in the North of Spain. They are located in the region called Asturias. It's north of Leon. You can see the region on the map.

Upon arriving in Asturias, we headed to a cider factory. This wasn't your warm apple cider with cinnamon sticks though. This was alcoholic cider, a specific type native to the region. In this factory they had Huge barrels that they kept the cider in. Check out these three regions of significance.

After the cider factory, we went to the Asturian coast. Let me tell you, it looked exactly like the Irish coast I have been fortunate enough to visit with my family. Check out this picture the coast.

That night, we went to a barn, literally a barn where we had dinner and drank cider. When people drink cider in Asturias they have a very specific way of pouring cider. Rather than explain this one, I will just let this picture explain it.

After some healthy rounds of cider, our teacher and his friend proceeded to bust out their bagpipes and start wailing on some classics (Amazing Grace, Scotland the Brave). Of course all this wailing made me want to get in on the action. Now I wish I could say I picked up the bagpipes and all those years of trumpet made me instantly able to play perfect, but I would be lying. I just filled them with air and couldn't get enough air to get em really going. Here I am trying to be the Boss of the Bagpipes.

The next day we woke up and proceeded to hike through snow on the ground and rain falling on our heads. While the views were pretty, by the end we all were drenched and pretty cold. However I did get some good pictures.

The next day we woke up early and drove really high in the mountains. We put on many layers. My layer break down was the following

T Shirt
Long Sleeve Shirt
Sweater
Sweatshirt
Fleece

We waited for a little bit by the side of the road deep in the mountains. Soon the locals came around the bend with about 15 horses. We proceeded to mount the horses. I had a medium size horse called Moro. He was a great horse that followed my instructions. We then rode our horses deep into the mountains.
Now, I said the word mountains up there in the last paragraph and I mean it. These mountains were super diesel. I constantly felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings or an Imax movie on the Himalayas, and for the people that get it (probably only Sam and Joe) I felt like I was in a picture that would be on the wall in Dr. Lebel's office. Check out this mountains.
At the end of the horse riding trip my horse and I broke free from the group (I am sad to report that Zach's horse was extremely slow and also had some serious fart problems). Now when I broke free I managed to kick my horse/crack the reins and also scream like a crazy deranged eight year old. This combination caused Moro to take off really fast down the mountain road. It was exhilarating in a way I can't even describe. This is our guide, our "Aragorn" who made the trail through the snow.

That night, I convinced the owner of the super tiny hotel we stayed out to give me some nails and a hammer. Ruby and I found a stump and we proceeded to play Stump with the guys on the trip till the early morning. Now I have played some great Stump games (The Game at my Mom's birthday party in Maine sticks out) but this game was pretty perfect. The mountain river roared close by, our teacher was practicing bagpipes inside, the beer was cheap and spanish, and we got probably like 50 looks from locals who thought yankees were crazy. For those who don't know what STUMP is, check out this website for explanation.

The next morning we hiked deep into mountains, unfortunately there was snow on the pass and we could not travel through. It was OK, I got to practice my "Horn of Gondor" skills. I was much better at this then I was at Bagpipes. Check it out.

We then hiked back down and took the bus home to Madrid. One more time for the mountains!

Well, tommorow I head out for Spring Break. It's going to be an adventure. Here's the itinerary.

Rome
Florence
Venice
Milan
Interlocken
Munich
Prague

Hopefully I will come back with some good stories. Bye for now!

Las Fallas!

2007-03-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Brace yourself for Spanish Culture. Ready Lift Off! Yesterday (Monday) I went to Las Fallas in Valencia. It was the craziest thing I have seen in Spain yet. Let's just get right into with a brief explanation of it. So basically Valencia is on the coast of Spain. I took about a 5 hour bus ride to get there. Check it out on the map.
Las Fallas means "Burning." So the festival is focused on fire. So throughout the year the locals construct Fallas. They are massive structures celebrating or mocking various aspects of culture. Here is a Falla of a pirate.

So the festival goes for three days. There are lots of fireworks and on the last night, everything except the first place Fallas gets burned. This is the night I was there.If you want to know more about the event check this out: LEARN MORE. But lets move onto the goods.
So we got there and checked out the Fallas. We then ate some paella and walked the streets. These were not ordinary streets, these were streets full of kids to grandparents. And everyone was setting off fireworks. Big fireworks. As Ruby described it "it was like a war-zone." The first one we saw burn was at 10PM. They don't burn the big ones till later, but here is the first firework shot up to start the burning of the little Falla.
Then the Falla begins to burn. Here it goes

It's small so the fire is not that big. After the little Falla burned we chilled out and then moved to a square to watch a big one burn. Before we got there we all bought bandannas to wear over our faces so we didn't breathe the smoke. Here is the Falla.

And this is it burning behind us. Yes, that fire is what once was that amazing structure. Those bandannas were so clutch. The smoke is incredibly dense, I probably still have ash in my air. They also begin to put it out right after it goes up, so we were getting indirect water blasts from the firemen as well. After that we booked it to the super crowded town square to see the second place Falla burn. Here it is in it's pre flame glory. It was about 100 feet tall.
Before it burned, all the lights in the plaza went out and there was this huge fireworks display. It was so loud yet so exciting, and completely dwarfed every fireworks display I have seen before it. Sorry July 4th. Check out these fireworks.
Oh man after the fireworks, including a insanse Gran Finale, good old Neptune head just blew up and the whole thing went up in flames. Everyone was going nuts screaming and throwing firecrackers everywhere. It was a "blast!" I was really fire away but here is a picture of the Greek God meeting a very un-wet demise.
Stay tuned, I will try to post tomorrow aboutthe super exciting bullfight I went to on Sunday. Lots of posts coming. Stay tuned. Hasta Luego

Madre y Padre en Espana

2007-03-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

This past week, my parents came to visit. It was a great time and I'm pretty sure it was a big learning experience for them. This is Mom and Dad at dinner with my host family. It was a really good meal (much better than usual). I was in school during the week, but I now they had fun visiting museums and being tourists. It's a shame they don't have a blog so you can see everything they did when I was at school. It would be a true visit with my parents if we didn't go to the movies. We went to the movies and saw "The Last King of Scotland" which was full of ferocious performances but could have had a more focused story.
After the movie, the week continued. Highlights included going out to dinner with Diane at a really good Cuban restaurant and seeing a Flamenco show after, dinner with my friends, and the weekend in Granada. Here we are at the Alhambra.
While at the Alhambra we walked around and saw all sorts of great stuff. Check out my previous post on Granada for all the juicy information this awesome location has to offer. While there I saw some really cute kittens, now I'm not really a cat guy (Sport was the coolest pet ever), but these kittens were really cute.
After Granada we headed to the airport. But before we left we stayed over in a town to watch "El Clasico" which is the Real Madrid-Barcelona soccer game. This game was absolutely insane to watch. Check out the results here. Ronaldinho, who plays for Barca is amazing to watch, don't believe, check it out. Here we are watching the game.
Well, it was a great visit. My parents learned a lot about Spanish culture and a little bit of the language (Sabrosa means delicious). I'll try to post soon about life in Madrid. See ya.

Nature's Classroom

2007-03-11T01:32:00.000-08:00

Greetings From The

SPANISH WILD

Last weekend I was a field trip with my Ecology of Spain class to the Alto Tajo National Park in Guadalajara. It was an amazing trip full of lots of adventure.

I got up at 8:30 on Friday morning and took the metro to the school where we boarded a bus. I mainly slept on the bus ride, we stopped in small town for breakfast. This town was tiny and no one there spoke English, this would be a sign of things to come. After a little for traveling we arrived in our tiny town. We packed up our packs and headed down the road.

We basically hiked along this pretty massive canyon. At the bottom of the canyon was the Alto Tajo river. Our teacher Professor Montes would stop at special areas and give us ecology lectures on the region. It was refreshing to be out in the wild and also to learn a little bit about the world literally all around us. Here is Montes giving a lecture.

Here's the deal on Professor Montes. He is an accomplished nature writer and photographer who has been teaching at Syracuse Madrid for over 15 years. He is in a 9 piece Celtic rock band that frequently tours Europe and the US. He loves rock music, hates the city, and kind of sounds like "Borat".

We then hiked down to a ledge where we had lunch and also to proceeded to "clean our arteries" as Montes says. If this is confusing, "clean your arteries" is what happens when your body gets submerged in a freezing cold river after jumping off a cliff. This is me...airborne... my form is pretty bad.
After the jump we all the guys on the trip swam up stream to this rock for a "American's are adventures who pose with our shirts off picture" on a rock. Check it out.

After that we went back to the town and kicked it with the locals, keep it mind there are only 12 people in this town. We played soccer, explored castle ruins, and practiced Spanish with our 12 year old guide Ernesto. This is a group shot on the castle ruins at sunset. From the left, Greg Alvarez from Lehigh, Chris D'Erico from CUse, Andres Trujillo from RIT, Clark Lampen from Lehigh, and Zach Rubinfeld and myself from Syracuse. That night we had an incredible dinner of vegetables, salmon, lots of bread, salad, wine, a sweet desert of apple tart.

We woke up early the next day to find that it was cloudy and cold which was bad because we were slated to go Kayaking in two hours. The weather did not stop us and before we knew it we were loading the kayaks.
I wish I could show you all pictures from our descent but the water was freezing and my camera wasn't water proof. We took the bus down to a power dam, did a basic review of technique and we were off. The kayaks had skirts so water wouldn't splash on your legs. The rapids were pretty tame, I would say they were class two at highest according to this scale. We kayaked for about 3 hours and three people tipped, one of them was Ruby, who is a pretty outdoors guy. After the kayaking we went back to the Hotel and slept for about 4 hours.

That night we went to one of Professor Montes's friends house for dinner and a party. This was not an ordinary house, it was built on top of an ancient cave. So inside the house is a door that leads deep into the cave system. It is here where the wine is stored, food was stored, and people of the region avoided bombings during the Spanish Civil War. While we were there we learned the local way to drink wine, which is to pour it out of a large jar with a spout. Here I am trying to get my technique down.

After dinner, the owner showed up and things got moving. He busted out his families traditional wine that we makes in the cave system. It was a blush and it was really good. It was here that we watched the lunar eclipse with the locals in the countryside. The night was capped off the by the owner of the house/caves presenting my buddy Clark and I with custom hats. Here we are.

The next morning we woke up and went for another hike. The destination was the left "tit" of the Viana. The left "tit" is one of two plateaus that rise from the landscape. When the Roman's where in Spain they named them tits. The hike was pretty steep at times, but the views were amazing. Here is a group shot at the top. The right "tit" is behind us.
After that hike we took the back to Madrid. I met my parents at their hotel and got ready for a week of fun with them. Stay tuned for pictures from their visit. I'll leave you with a picture of the valley area.

Paris, The City of Lights.

2007-02-26T11:46:00.000-08:00

This weekend Diane and I travelled to Paris for the weekend. Everyone told us it takes a least 2 hours to get to the airport so we left really early. However upon arriving at the airport in under 30 minutes we were baffled at all this 2 hour talk. However the airport in Paris was a different story, upon our arrival both our brains started working overdrive. We were reading and hearing things French, thinking in English, but instinctively speaking Spanish. The journey from the airport to the hotel was about 2 hours long and we were helped along the way by a friendly French man. We arrived at 11 PM and went to bed, we need our rest for the big days ahead. Here is the view from our hotel room.

The following day we went to the Louvre art museum. It was awesome rolling up to the museum and seeing so many triangles. I never thought that any part in my life I would be taking so many pictures of Triangles, but they were really cool. Here's a good picture of one of the triangles. That's Diane walking toward you. We had a French lunch at the museum, which consisted of meat and lots of cheese. I had cheese and potatoes and I would say it was about 60% cheese and 40% potatoes. I even managed to sneak a picture of the Mona Lisa in, even though it was prohibited, technically I think it is legal because I took the picture in the camera allowed zone.

After the art museum we walked to the Champs y Elysees toward the Arc de Triumph. It was
a long walk but the arch was awesome. I didn't expect it to be so big. Here is Diane and I in front of the arch.

Mom and Dad, I did go up to the top, it was a great view. That night I bought dinner in a supermarket. A really nice French dude helped find French bread, cheese, wine and other goodies that French people like to have with their dinner.

The following day we went to Notre Dame. Now I don't want to be a Notre Dame hater, but I feel like some of the cathedrals in Spain are a little more impressive. I've been showing a lot of direct pictures of monuments, so here are the infamous Gargoyles on the cathedral.
After Notre Dame we went to the Pantheon. I was under the impression their was only one Pantheon, a.k.a the one in Italy, but I have to say the French Pantheon was pretty legit. It was really cool seeing the tombs of people like Voltaire and Rousseau even if I'm not entirely sure why they were so important in my history classes (hey I'm being honest). I also saw the largest Pendulum in the world there as well. Here is a picture I took of Diane at the Pantheon, it's one of my favorites of the trip.

That night we went to the Eiffel tower. I had heard the tower sparkled on the hour every night, so when the metro came out of the tunnel and the tower was right there flashing like the sparklers we used to have at New Years, it was quite a site. Diane and I went to the very top. It was wicked high, and I've been to the top of a lot of tall buildings (Empire State, Sears Tower, Prudential) but something about the Eiffel Tower just made it seem really tall. I have since looked at this picture and learned that it really wasn't that tall.
I think one of the reasons it seemed so tall was because you could feel it shaking in the wind. It was pretty freaky. The view from the top was amazing. On the way down I took this picture, depending on what you think it's me holding up the tower or me climbing it, I prefer the first option.

It was great trip, Paris was a really cool city. And finally here is the best thing I ate in Paris (and yes I did have creme brulee). It was chocolate crepe we had on the first day there. It stands as the best French food I've had to date, but I still have many years left to try some other stuff.

I have midterms this week, but I have a field trip to the North East of Spain this weekend for some climbing and kayaking so stay tuned!

Spanish Film

2007-02-19T12:10:00.000-08:00

With the Academy Awards rapidly approaching I figured I would do a bit on Spanish films that I have been studying in my class and the ones I have seen recently. Lets start with my class. It's called 2oth Century Spanish Cinema, it's taught in all my Spanish, and it's pretty hard. The first film we watched in class was Un Chien Andolou by Luis Bunuel. Click here to watch it on youtube. Be warned it's really really far out and contains a graphic scene at the start. Also if you do watch, watch with an open mind, because it's really really hard to understand. However if you think you get it leave a comment. Here's a poster for the film.
I have also gone to the movies with my class. We saw a movie called Miguel y William, which translates to Miguel and Will. If you were wondering the Miguel and William of the title, are Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare.

This movie was a romantic comedy that I think many of you will enjoy. It's about a friendship/rivalry Will and Miguel have over a girl. Of course the two of them end up inspiring each other for their stories (Othello and Don Quixote of course). What I liked the most about this is how they portray Shakespeare as the biggest ladies man ever. Over the course of the film he ends up having sex with almost every girl in the movie. This lead me and my friends to called him "Willy Shakes." It was a fresh take on the character who I always imagined chilling in a dark room in writing dark plays by candlelight. Here he is.
An interesting thing to note regarding this film is where the money came from to make it. In Spain the government finances most of the films. So when the movie started there were many logos for the various departments of culture that helped produce the film. This is interesting because since it's government money, there are rules regarding films. According to our professor there can be no films about ETA (Basque terrorists) or the train bombings of March 11.

Last night (Sunday) I went to see this movie. In America it's called Pan's Labyrinth. It's a pretty impressive movie from director Guillermo del Toro. I saw it all in Spanish (it's original language). A quick note here regarding language in films. According to our professor, Spain is the only country that requires foreign films to be dubbed. This practice started under Franco and it still in effect today. You can see films in their original language, but only at select theaters.

I'll go ahead and say I really loved this movie. I found it to be a fascinating story that succeeded on many many levels. It's a fantasy film about the power of imagination (like the recent Bridge to Terabithia), it's a horror film, and it's a historical drama. I would say that it ranks as the best movie I have seen in 2007, but that honor goes to the awesome Children of Men.

It's directed by Alfonso Cuaron, a mexican filmaker and close friend of Guillermo Del Toro. In fact Cuaron was one of many producers on "Pan."
Anyway, I know many people are enjoying Pan's Labyrinth. If you like it I would highly recommend the "prequel" called The Devil's Backbone. It's by the same director and deals almost all of the same themes. If you liked Pan, you should watch it.

Stay tuned for more posts about my host family, Segovia, and Paris!

Getting Around

2007-02-12T11:57:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Madrid. That guy on the horse is Don Quixote, the hero of Miguel Cervantes classic book. This statue is in the Plaza Espana so I figured it would be a nice symbol of Madrid. My blog will now begin regular posts about the things going on in my life right now. I'll post later in the week on my family, but let's focus right now on my location. I'm living in an area close to the metro stop called Arguelles. Here is my location on a map. I live at the place where the Brown line starts on the left side. It's the "4" train.

And here is a picture of my metro stop.

Every time I use the Metro, I get on here. In the background there is that big building on the left. This is the Corte Ingles, which is basically the universe in a store. They have everything from treadmills to tarts on sale. The building is kind of shaped in a triangle, which is helpful because it points toward my house. On school days I take the Metro (it's about a 15 minute) ride to school. The stop for the school is Ruben Dario. I have to make one transfer but it seems like second nature now. Here is the Ruben Dario stop.

I get out there and walk down the street for about one minute and then I'm at the school. The school is a pretty sweet looking building. It's called the International Institute and you can check it out here.
This place is located directly across from the Police Station and they are always outside chilling, so Mom, Dad and relatives do not worry, it is a safe place to study. Syracuse is not the only school that has a study abroad program in the building. Boston University has one as well. Considering I could have gone to Boston University, maybe this place is my destiny.

I'll post about my host family in the coming days. Aidos.

Higher Learnings

2007-02-05T07:40:00.000-08:00

Now that I covered Swimming, Swinging bats at shells, and Soccer in Seville, I'm going to go back to History. The final city we visited was Salamanca and keeping with the "S" alliteration it was super sweet. Probably the coolest part of this city was the fact that it is home to the University of Salamanca. According to our teacher there are four key universities in Europe. Oxford, University of Paris, University of Salamanca, and University of Bolonia in Italy. Students at the University lived a good life. They were there for five years and their only test was at the end, but more on that later. The students had three favorite past times. They were:

1. "Hanging" out with prostitutes.
2. Gambling
3. Being in rock bands called "Tuna" (Kind of similar to Whitesnake I guess) Check out these Tuna's below.

Here is a picture of some of the Tuna's in action.

Now don't worry, college life here wasn't all sex, gambling, and being a rock star. Graduating from the school was not an easy task. This is how the graduation ceremony worked, after five years the student was supposed to be ready. The student was supposed to be well versed in over 100 subjects. The faculty would send this student to this little room where he would fast for 24 hours. No food, no water, just you and the stone walls thinking about if you spent a little too much time rocking out with your tuna group. Here is a picture of the old planetarium where people would study one of the 100 subjects.

After 24 hours the student would emerge and field two questions from the faculty. The questions would be about 2 of the 100 subjects they would know. But these were not just simple geography bee questions. Each response was supposed to be a "dissertation" so they were hard. If you failed this all the professors would scream at you and the students present would throw rocks at you as you fled through a door only used by the losers. Here is the library where people would study before getting locked away in the little room.

But if you passed the test, you were the BOSS! The whole city would celebrate you and then you would have this huge party all weekend. At the end of the party there was a bullfight and you would take the blood of the dead bulls and paint your name in blood on the walls. Why paint the your name in blood on the walls? CAUSE YOU'RE BOSS!

This concludes my summary of my traveling seminar. I'll now start posting about my life in Madrid. Stay tuned.

Swimming, Soccer, and Seville

2007-02-01T03:35:00.000-08:00

I'll take a break from the history lessons today. This is beach close to Seville, where I ended swimming in the Ocean. When I saw the itinerary for Azahar I noticed we would be stopping at a beach in Spain. Being from the Northeast the chance to swim in the Ocean in January is always enticing. I figured the water couldn't be that cold. I told my buddies Carlos, Manny, Darryn, and Oz that I was going to take a dip in the Ocean. So I got ready, here is a sequence of my dash into the other side of the Atlantic.
The water really wasn't that cold. I don't want to sound all macho, but it was actually pretty pleasant. I was expecting to get in and start screaming and run out all shivering, but I got in and I swam around a little bit. For people who know, it was about as cold as the water at Sand Beach in Maine in July.

After the dip we "americanized" the beach in Spain by getting a quick batting practice with a makeshift stick and shells.

After the day at the beach we all went to the disco where Carlos, Manny, Oz, and Darryn got me drinks to celebrate. This is us, I look pretty happy.
After the sweet day at the beach, I was pretty convinced that things couldn't get any better in Spain, but there was soccer games to see. I received word from there was to be a game in Seville so I headed off to the stadium with my friends Zach and Clark. Seville is one of top ranked teams in Spain so we were pumped. However, it soon became apparent we were not nearly pumped enough.

As you can see these guys were a little more pumped. They were the rival fans and were seated right behind us. They were cheering and singing the whole game, the only time they stopped is when a miny riot erupted in the stands (right behind us). It was nuts, cops in full riot gear were just going to town crushing skulls and tossing people down the bleachers people like Schilling throwing pitches at Fenway . After the riot stopped, the fans were surrounded by police and had to stay in a specific area. This did not stop the fans from chanting "Policia Asesina" which basically translates into Cops are Murderers.

Seville won the game 3-1. The soccer was so much better than the MLS in America. One thing I didn't like was during injury time, every time the opposing team touched the ball the entire stadium would start this high pitch whistle. It sounded as if the stadium were filled with banshees and it hurt my skull.

It was a great city. Tomorrow I'll post some Salamanca stuff and then begin the regular updates about life in Madrid.

Granada

2007-01-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

Granada was probably my favorite city I have visited so far. Here a pretty good picture of the city. This was the last Muslim city that fell during the Reconquest and it has loads of history. The first thing that we visited is the Alhambra. It is up there with Chichen Itza in Mexico and the Colosseum in Rome. It is so sweet that it is set to replace the Hanging Gardens of Babylon as a wonder of the modern world. Here is the Gate of Justice of the Alhambra.

You can see the arch I was talking about yesterday. The shells on the side were put there by the Christians because they are symbolic of Santiago. Above the door is a key, this is symbolic for the Muslim dynasty that built the Alhambra. I'll explain it a little later. Way up top is a statue of the Virgin Mary, obviously put there by the Christians.

This is super famous part of the Alhambra. The building straight ahead is home to the throne room of the Sultan. This room had lots of cool optical effects that mad the Sultan and his throne appear to be hovering. His shape would be reflected in the pool.

After a long visit at the Alhambra we relaxed with our teachers and Diane and I went exploring in the town. There are tons of stray dogs and cats in Spain. However unlike other countries I have visited they are well fed. This is a stray cat Diane found that was ready to drive away on this motorcycle.

That night we took a wild bus ride through the streets of Granada. It was like a Disney ride with last second turns, people jumping out the way (maybe not like a Disney ride), and sudden stops. We arrived at the Gypsy caves and saw a sick Flamenco show.

It was inside their house so they were inches away from us going nuts with the Flamenco skills. Neighbors and family members would come in and just rock out with the dancers and musicians.

Yeah, that is me dancing in the end. The picture isn't that good quality because my dance moves were amazing no one could stand still. Just kidding. Kind of. I'll post more manana.

Azahar

2007-01-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Tim's Blog in Spain. My Spanish Journey started over two weeks ago when my parents and I drove to the Airport in New York City. After a simple check in we waited around for Diane to come. While we waited we played travel scrabble together. Some British dude with a THICK accent and a small stutter explained to me that Madrid is freezing and that I will be cold the entire time. After the game we took some pictures and said goodbye.We landed in Madrid and after getting our bags we greeted by the site of the bombed parking garage the ETA terrorists had destroyed. It was pretty scary and a weird way to arrive. But fear not, everything was awesome after leaving the airport. Here is a picture of the garage.

After a long bus ride we arrived in our first location:Cordoba. We checked into our Hotel and learned about our two week traveling class or seminar. It was called Azahar. Azahar is the Arabic world for a certain type of white flower. The focus of the seminar would be the reconquest or when the Christians conquered Spain back from the Muslims. Cordoba was a pretty cool city. The big attraction there and the coolest thing we saw was the Great Mosque of Cordoba. It was this really old Mosque that was build there. This is the tower or minaret

When the Christians took the country back they left the Mosque standing but build this HUGE cathedral in the middle. It was kind of their way of saying, we could have torn this place down, but we'd rather build this huge cathedral in the middle. Check out this ancient Muslim arch.

I never knew this but the reason the arch is shaped like this is because it is the shape of a palm tree. Since Islam developed in the desert, the oasis was the only place of life. Palm trees grew there and hence became wicked important.

I will try to post tomorrow with more pictures from my two week pre-Madrid seminar