Europe Flashback

So I was cleaning today and found the old notebook I brought with me everywhere in Europe.  Some notes I found:

- Porto, Portugal: "I think I'm having a physical reaction to how much I love this place. It's like the sunlight and language and waves (beauty?) are running through my nerves. I'll be back here. Probably for a summer or maybe to write a book."

-"Venice feels like two places competing for the same real estate - Venice of history buried under Venice of today, a money-making island luring in 60,000 tourists a day."

- "The setting sun, behind the Italian hills, rivals the rising sun of the English countryside. Both illuminate their respective fields and trees, but one looks like a storybook and one looks like a..."

- Venice: "When noon strikes, a bell tower in the distance begins to ring, long steady strikes. It is quickly lost by the great clanging of another, closer, bell tower. When the song of that one falls away, I notice the ringing of another tower, or two, echoing down the canal, a few second behind the rest of the choir.

The sun bores itself into my arms and ankles as I sit, legs outstretched, on the stone ground with my back against the base of a bridge. People carrying shopping bags or strollers scurry across the arched bridge behind me then down to my left. To my right, the sound of waves lapping in the canal are disturbed only by the occasional boat - locals chug by on power boats, tourists armed with cameras float by on gondolas adorned in red and gold, and Venician men on boats laden with boxes make the delivery rounds. I watch three men deliver a washing machine - off the boat, to the cart, then rolled away, as the boat continues under my bridge to deliver at least six more. The images of the shutters, windowsills, and arches of the brick and plaster, sand and sherbert buildings lining the canal reflect off the blue and silver water; I reach down but cannot touch it.

A white bird expertly sails down the canal, between the buildings. I am reminded that the bright slice of sky above the canal is the same sky above Chicago. A sandwich-eating couple sits near me; after they leave, a pidgeon bobbles around, looking for crumbs.

I decide to wander off for gelato." 


What brings you here? She asks.
I tell her about my traveling through London and Italy before settling, for a time, in Spain.
I see two emotions come to her eyes:
Joy for all the experiences she foresees in my future,
her years of wisdom knowing more than I, deeper than mine.
And recognition of a longing.
I know that she knows she wanted to do the same.
"Good for you," she says. "How good for you."
So it goes with every woman older than me
I've encountered, at cafes, on sidewalks, on trains.
Sometimes her eyes reveal a third element:
Memories from her past stirring up,
herself - on a similar voyage.
But most often there is not.
It's just the two.

Scenes of Europe

A train to the Cotswolds, northwest of London: 

 

Our amazing hotel view in Cinque Terre, Italy:

Plaza del Sol in Madrid on most days: 

Switzerland 1: 

Switzerland 2:

Marina :-) 

Train to Avila, Spain 

My favorite place: Porto, Portugal 

Train to Bilbao, Spain

 

Bilbao  in Basque Country, northern Spain  

Madrid during Christmas

Rambling: Hasta Luego, España

Well I had this post 90% done before I left Spain, but then the holidays happened and I avoided doing anything mildly productive.  Late is better than never, so here is my trip summed up in 24 bullet points:

Things I Will Miss About Spain
1) Meeting up with the girlies, especially for churrrrrros
2) My Spanish family :) And being silly with Chiquita
3) The 20-second commute to work (downstairs to upstairs)

4) Cheap travel - I bought a round-trip plane ticket for $48 total, and one of my fave hostels was $9. And you never go through customs!
5) Being in a constant state of awareness and learning in Spanish. (Current favorite word? Elfo. It means elf) 
6) Feeling like a superior expat or traveler when annoyed at American tourists 
8) 40 degrees is "freezing cold" 
9) The family's massage chair. I will buy one someday
10) Driving the SmartCar.  And just how cute it is. And surprisingly, round-abouts
7) Patatas bravas, fried eggplant by the housekeeper, the kaki fruit, and frozen ready-to-heat crepes
11) So. much. free. time.

Things I Am Looking Forward to in the US

Rambling: High Speed Trains

Alright this post is random but I just have to share.  A friend of mine who is currently living in Taiwan recently blogged about how awesome the high-speed trains are (you can drive 2+ hours or sit on a train for 25 minutes).  I had been thinking the same thoughts and wanting to write about it here, so decided just to share my response:

OMG I've fallen in love with high speed trains. Barcelona is about 400 miles from Madrid, so about 6 hours by car. OR you can take the train and be there in 2.5 hours. How awesome.

Since the distance from Chicago and NYC is about double, how cool would it be to get on a train in Chicago and be in NYC 5ish hours later, rather than driving 12+ hours. It would make business sooo much easier. And visiting people. We would just be so much more connected. I would do it all the time, unlike driving 12 straight hours, which I'm never going to do. But taking a train for 5 hours I would definitely do.

Captured: Quotes

So many recent photos + my obsession with quotes + glorious, glorious free time =

Captured: Avila & Toledo

Two more daytrips. I just love how from Madrid you can hop on a train or bus for an hourish and be in a totally different world with it's own history and culture. I can't say the same if you travel 60 minutes in any direction from Grand Rapids or Chicago...

Avila, just 25 min away on the train. The city walls - started in 1090, most rebuilt in the 12th century.

Captured: Inbox

Winning

Captured: El Escorial & Segovia

Two awesome cities just a bus or train ride from Madrid - perfect for daytrips.  I've discovered that I love just wandering around by myself, speaking only Spanish and avoiding areas crowded with tourists.  El Escorial:

Monastery.  I wish I could have taken photos inside.

Rambling: US Politics in Europe

I was surprised to see that Spaniards follow US politics as much as Americans do (I'd say as much as they follow futbol!).  I found that in London, Italy, and here, people are really interested in talking about US politics with me and are REALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE about it.  The presidential debates were all featured on the news, and I get the impression that US politics in general is highlighted even when an election isn't coming to a close.  A Londoner told me, "the way that the US is featured here, you'd think we're the 51st state.  In fact, some people call it that."  I can't say we follow much about the UK, besides Kate's fashion choices.  A Canadian in London informed ME of things I didn't know about US campaign funding, and I saw a Brit school an American on candidate policies.  This is a sharp contrast from our general awareness of other countries' politics - I wasn't even sure about the structure of Spain's government until I had been here a week.  I still can't remember the name of the Prime Minister of the UK.  Wah wah.  

Also interesting is that not only does Europe know what's up in the US, they pretty much all want Obama to win and think Romney is terrible.  According to this super interesting survey, Romney is favored by ONLY 9% IN 21 COUNTRIES (Obama's average is 50%).  A Brit told me, "I just CAN'T understand what could be going through Romney's head when he says those things." (in reference to women's issues and human rights).  This article makes the bold statement that "wariness of Romney is widespread," and my experience here has confirmed that - a Spaniard told me that much of the world fears that the US will start wars when we have a Republican president.   

 

It's been crazy to see the extent of America's influence abroad.  Someone here told me "I won't vote, but your vote will affect me."  It makes me value my vote that much more, and hope the US people choose a president that will not only have positive benefits for our own country, but for the world.

Captured: Flamenco

Flamenco in Málaga was everything I thought it would be - moving, talented, and passionate.  Thank goodness, because I would have been really disappointed if it ended up being some cheap sellout tourist-trap.  I had read before that flamenco is all about the duende; the word doesn't have an exact translation in English - 'soul' is close but doesn't quite encompass it. Wikipedia has a pretty good description.  Most flamenco dancers are not young, like in most other forms of dance, but are middle-aged, because it is thought that young girls do not yet have the experience and maturity needed to convey duende.  Lorca wrote, “The duende works on the body of the dancer as the wind works on sand.”

I found this description of flamenco online and love it:  There is a world of difference between American tap-dancing and Spanish Flamenco. The former is “singing in the rain,” “happy again.” Happy is too light for Spaniards. The Spanish light is so bright that it demands shadows. Tap is closer to flying. Flamenco closer to a body in its death throes or in the frenzied throes of passion. 

The place we went, Kelipe, was highly rated online as about as authentic as you can get.  There were only 3 performers, one of which was the same man who took our money, led us to our seats, and opened the show (I've read that the shows that feature lots of dancers 'is a style that has been developed as a spectacle for tourists').   It was held inside an ancient PALACE, with awesome original tilework.  All of the artists were excited and proud because it was their first weekend performing in their new venue.  With maybe 30 of us in the audience, it felt intimate.  Both dancers come from long family histories of flamenco performers, and everyone awwwed when the guitarist and female dancer told us at the end that not only have they been performing together for years, but they are married :-)

First, the guitar: 

Then the singing: 

 Then she danced:

Rambling: Settling in Madrid

Well, FINALLY I'm actually posting something.  Basically the past couple weeks have gone like this: something interesting/fun/insightful happens, I jot down a couple things in a draft post or notebook, I don't have time to finish it, something else interesting/fun/insightful happens, I jot down a couple things about that but don't finish it, repeat over and over, until finally I'm overwhelmed with how many things I want to capture but haven't finished.  I'll try to do a recap here without getting super long.

Where to begin!  My family here is great. I'm lucky that I really have no complaints.  I've gotten together with some of the other au pairs a couple of times and it seems that I'm the only one with nothing to vent about.  My main responsibility is to take care of the 7 year old, who I'll call Chiquita, and help out a little with the 13 year old, who I'll call Chica (but is obviously much more independent).  For a glimpse at Chiquita's personality, see this short post.  Here is where I live:

The suburb where I live - Villavisiosa de Odon.  It's like Forest Hills except a little bigger and its history dates back to the year 939.

Rambling: A Weekend in Venice

FINALLY I have time to post the last of my pre-Spain travel pics.  Jeepers it only took forever.  After Molly and I parted in Cinque Terre, I headed to Venice by myself for the weekend.  It took four trains and a lot of lugging my suitcases up and down stairs (on one I accidentally ended up on the first-class car, then while trying to move got stuck in the part between cars because I couldn’t figure out how to open the door... turns out there was a button, as the conductor showed me. Wah wah, embarrassing).  Venice was just like everyone describes it – beautiful, but full of tourists.  It feels like it’s two places competing for the same real estate – historical Venice, with gondolas and art and Venetian masks, buried under the money-making hot spot of today, which lures in 17.5 MILLION tourists a year.  My favorite part of Venice was when I woke up early to watch the sun rise - the city (besides the delivery men, street sweepers, and early-bird locals) was sleeping so it was actually relaxing.  Pics: 

About 6am and the city is still sleeping :-)

Captured: Cinque Terre View

View from our hotel :-)  The best was listening to the waves while falling asleep.  Oh, world.

Rambling: A Week in Northern Italy

Ok, I know this post looks super long, but there were just too many pictures to choose from!  What a beautiful country.  I was ushered out of London by a plane full of chatty Italian teenagers, and my arrival to Italy was marked by their joyful clapping and cheering when we touched down – two things I haven’t seen in the past week (people being loud ??).  This set the tone for a week in Italy.  Since I had done my homework, I knew a train leaves from the Torino airport to the city center every half hour.  However, when I found the train terminal, it was completely deserted and actually eerie (which made me calmly freak out for about a minute).  A couple of conversations in English/Italian/Spanish later (I’m dubbing it Spanglishtalian) and I stepped off the bus, checked in to my hotel, and met my friend Molly!  She’s one of my best friends from high school and made all our plans - she’s currently on a 7 week trip (China, Vietnam, Italy, and Israel) after taking the BAR exam and before starting at her law firm.  Not only does she love all things Italian but studied in Florence for a semester in college and speaks the language well – helpful things for me!

We toured around the northern part of Italy over 5 days – Torino, Genova, and Cinque Terre (near La Spezia).  After the busy sightseeing of London it was nice to spend more time eating, sitting, sleeping, wandering through random churches, etc.  My first night we had the bessssst dinner – the cheese course and pasta was perfect, the setting outdoors in a local piazza was awesome, and our server made us a sampling of 3 desserts because we couldn’t decide!  We started talking to two girls our age next to us and I learned a lot about Italian life, mostly about how different the people, food, and dialect are from one area to the next (makes sense, since Italy used to be a bunch of separate city-states.  They don’t celebrate Independence Day, but Unification Day instead).  One girl even invited us to the bar she works at the next night, but we were leaving in the morning – my first invitation from a new friend abroad!!  

Piazza full of restaurants

Rambling: A Week in London

Well, after spending a week in London, the easiest way to summarize is that I could definitely live here.  I was too busy to write during the week so now, waiting at the insanely crowded airport at 5:30am, I’ll try to recap:

First pic on the new cam!  At the top of St. Paul's Cathedral, which is unbelievable.

 The craziest thing happened on the flight from Chicago – it turned out that the girl sitting next to me not only was going to the same hostel as I was, but invited me to join her in the cab she had arranged – for free!  She is a PhD student at Northwestern on her way to do research at the British Library archives so the university is paying for her trip, including her cabs (and mine!).  It seemed like the best luck I could have and instantly assured me that things always work out (for any readers of The Alchemist, I’d call it ‘beginners’ luck’).

Rambling: The Alchemist

Alright, how weird and coincidental is it that I just randomly started reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho today.  My heart already loves it.  Let's review the facts:

- I'm borrowing it from someone - I've skimmed through her bookshelf tons of times and just now noticed it today, even though it's been there the whole time.

- It's about someone deciding between comfort and taking risks for your dream - MY LIFE lately.

- The boy's dream also just happens to be travel.

- It is set in Spain, where I will go next month.

The story is simple and written in a lovely style, but the analogies to life and the wisdom of life are both subtle and powerful.  Below are some of the best quotes of the introduction and part one.  It's long, partly because it's beautiful and clearly true, and partly because I think I might want to look back on it in the future: