Un Buen Retiro

It’s officially spring break here in Madrid which is wonderful! It’s been three months since we arrived, so it’s finally nice to be able to sleep late, get caught up, and just enjoy Madrid!

This past weekend was probably the best weekend of the year. The college and career group at Amistad Cristiana (see my previous blog post “Dios”) had a retreat out in the campos of Extremadura. The countryside was beautiful and the nearby mountains still had snow clinging to their peaks. Also, it was nice to get away from the noise, visual, and air pollution of the city.

Our trip was about 2.5 hours in a packed 2-door sedan. I was in back and I was pretty close to getting carsick, thanks be to God that I didn’t! Once we got to our little retreat center, we all unloaded and helped the people who were already there start to set everything up. I was kind of homesick; I miss going on retreats with all of my friends from back home: fraternity retreats, youth group retreats, ministry retreats, etc. I didn’t know many people… but that changed really quickly. Through the course of the 2 short days on our retiro, I managed to meet 35 amazing people from all over the world: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Netherlands, and all over Spain. It is incredible to see Christ’s love moving throughout people of all different races, ethnicities, politics, and economic backgrounds. We all became very good friends very quickly and we look forward to doing tons of stuff in the near future!

My favorite part of the retreat was our paseo, or walk/hike, through the small pueblo and to a riverside where we ate lunch. A bunch of the guys in the group got the great idea to go swimming- brrr it was cold! The spot on the river is a popular spot for the community swimming hole, but the locals who passed by thought we were crazy for swimming in what is essentially the snow melt from the mountains! Sooooo cold, but lots of fun!

The theme of the retreat was “…aprended de mi…” (“… learn from me”, Christ telling us to learn from Him) which is from Matthew 11:28-30. We learned a lot of about the idea of humility and what that truly means in our daily lives. I know I’m not the most humble person and God made it clear to me that when I judge and negatively criticize others, not only am I prideful in the way I treat them, but I am prideful in thinking that people deserve a degree of judgment in addition to God’s. Our sins (for we are all sinners), separate us from God and deserve His judgment, which is an eternity apart from Him. However, Christ came and died on a cross to give salvation, through grace and not by our own actions, to all who believe. Christ didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him, that we might be reunited with God (John 3:16-21, please check it out, it’s one of my favorite chapters in the Bible). I need to reflect His love for me by loving others, not by judging them. I, too, am a sinner who is saved by the same grace that he has offered to all!

In the end, it was a phenomenal retreat with a very applicable message to my life. It’s funny how I started out the weekend a little homesick, but now I wish I could spend 3 more months with all of my new friends at Amistad!

Problems in Paris

After 2 days in Amsterdam, we woke up bright and early again for a train back to Paris, where we planned to spend the rest of the day before our flight home the next morning. We had no problems checking out of the hotel and getting to the station, though it was reaaallllly hard for me to get out of bed. Linds came in and yelled "JUSTIN! WE HAVE TO GO NOW!" Scared the bejeebers out of me, but at least it got me up!

I half slept/half read a book on the train, it really didn't seem like that long of a ride (must have slept more than I thought!). We get to Paris Nord station and had to figure out how exactly we were going to get to our hotel. The hotel address said it was in Alfortville, so I figure, duh, we take a suburb train to Alfortville. We get on the train, which is much more train-like than metro-like. Everybody didn't believe me and we were all a bit worn out and cranky, so it wasn't a fun time. We get off in Alfortville and there's absolutely nothing around. No cars, no taxis, no signs, just a random neighborhood. We wander around with no map or phones (everyone's had either died or run out of money). I decide the best thing to do is go to the Hospital we see down the street, because surely they have a map or a phonebook or something. Two others in the group set out to find a taxi. In the end, we got a taxi and the driver had to call the Hotel to figure out where in the world it was.

We finally get to the hotel, which is even more in the middle of nowhere. Ends up, we got such a great deal because it's an extended-stay type place in the middle of a modern business park. As such, there aren't many business travelers on Sundays, so the place was empty. Seriously, everyone was so cranky, tired, and grouchy, plus scared and not able to speak French, we literally hung out in the hotel for the entire day. I wanted to meet up with a friend from back home who's in Paris, but I had no way of contacting him (or figuring out how in the world to meet him!), so it didn't work out. I ended up sleeping a lot and watching Fox News International (the only English channel).

Overall, it was pretty much a worthless day, but I guess it makes for an interesting life experience. If I could have planned life differently I probably would have stayed in Amsterdam and just flown home from there. Oh well. We live and we learn.

Next day, we flew back home and I tried to recuperate a bit before tutoring English that night.

Overall, minus the last day, this trip was great and I now have a respect for Paris and Amsterdam that I never thought I'd gain. I'm definitely looking in to learning Dutch this year (Rosetta Stone, anyone?) and moving to Amsterdam for next summer. We'll see what happens!

Amsterdam Day 2

The sunlight slowly faded in to our room and we could hear the traffic sounds below. My alarm went off at 8:30, but we all stayed in bed until one of the hotel staff knocked on our door with breakfast. Breakfast was quite the ordeal as we sat down at our little table with fresh coffee, orange juice, a fresh hard-boiled egg, gouda cheese, sliced ham, 3 different types of toast, butter and jam. We enjoyed waking up to one of the best breakfasts I've ever had on vacation!

My school's Model UN team was in the Hague (the other half of the Netherlands' capital) and I tried to meet up with a friend who's in it on this morning. However, we didn't realize how complicated meeting up in a foreign country that you've never been to before can be, especially without phone contact! Ends up, we both waited outside the Van Gogh Museum for the other one to arrive, probably for 90 minutes total, but we must have just missed each other! Oh well, maybe next time!

After waiting, my friend Chelsi and I just decided to go off an continue exploring the myriad of streets in the northwestern part of the city. Again, tons of great and unique stores to choose from, including one that has massive rolls of printed tablecloth vinyl where they can make anything you dream out of it. Very random. I ended up buying myself a great souvenir at a toy store. I've seen many different toy stores with varieties of hand-carved wooden animals. At this toy store I found a buck, which is one of my favorite animals, thanks to fraternity traditions. It was a little costly for a souvenir, but I know it's one that I will always enjoy having on my desk or bookshelf to look at!

Chelsi had to leave for Barcelona early in the afternoon so I walked her back to the hotel and ate another sandwich from the fresh groceries I bought the day before. We didn't have a fridge, but I left the meat and cheese on the windowsill and it was still freezing cold when I picked it up for a sandwich! After eating and saying goodbye to Chelsi, I decided my aching feet needed a nap. What better place for a nap than with the fading afternoon sun peeking through the curtains and the crisp breeze blowing in? Ahh, I miss Amsterdam!

In the evening we bought tickets for a comedy show called Boom Chicago that is, I guess, known as a place where SNL scouts look for new actors. The show was really hilarious, even the parts making fun of Americans. In fact, it made fun of ever country that sends tourists to Europe so it was really funny. It's the first real comedy show I've been to and it was a lot of fun. The audience was also asked to participate and our group got in a few funny topics, best one being when the comedian asked for a random line of conversation from the day and my friend blurts out, "The bikes are coming!"... it took forever for the comedian and her to figure out what she said, very hilarious.

After that, my friends and I wandered around the city a bit, I grabbed a Kebap sandwich (America needs these Kebap/b places that exist all over Madrid and the rest of Europe!!!) and went to bed, knowing we had another early train ride back to Paris the next day.

Amsterdam, Day 1

We wake up early in the morning, I'm talking, really early in the morning, circa 4:30 AM to get in a taxi at 5 and head to the train station. Our train left at 6:26 AM and we figured we should get there at least an hour early. After about 3 hours of sleep I stumble out of bed, but throw everything together really quick. Emily, Melisa and I are out of the room pretty fast and the man at the lobby gets the idea that we need a taxi. We get to the train station at 5:10 AM.


In case you are wondering, NO ONE is at the train station that early, I repeat NO ONE. It's freezing cold and while our train is on the board, not even the first train at 5:50 has its platform number listed. We huddle together, afraid of the random French sketchos (French seems to be a good language for people who want to be sketchy, just a personal opinion!) that happen to be wandering around the empty station, possibly homeless people trying to warm up a little around the weird, permanent space-heater things throughout the station. I wish we'd known the system for trains... it's nothing like the system for planes! Everyone arrives approximately 15 minutes before departure time; I could have had an extra hour of sleep!


Anyways, we get onto the train without problems and I even got to sit in at a table seat, where you share a central table with 4 people. It felt a little less claustrophobic which was nice. The train ride was absolutely beautiful. Trains are much quieter than airplanes and the scenery was amazing. We were headed east through France, Belgium and the Netherlands as the sun was rising over the green fields and misty valleys. Already I started to enjoy my visit in the Netherlands! After about 4 hours of train we arrived in the Centra(a)l Station in Amsterdam. Everything is hustle and bustle there as the train was packed. It seems like people in the Low Countries just have a different perspective on life, seems to me like people love using the train and for my first view of bicycles, there's a 3-story, bicycle-only, parking garage at the station! How cool!


At the airport we picked up a taxi to our hotel, Bema Hotel, which is located just across the park from the Rijkmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. I put a hyperlink to it because for 30 euros a night per person (which includes an amazing breakfast!) I would put it as one of my favorite hotels I've ever stayed in. You walk in the front door and up a long flight of steps to the main office/lobby/living room. The owner, I forget her name sadly, greeted us and welcomed us in. I was sure we would be turned away for being early, but we were perfectly fine. She laid out the rules (mostly just no smoking in rooms) and took our beverage orders for breakfast (coffee for me) and gave us the keys. Check out these pictures! What a beautiful and unique hotel! The beds were wonderful, too!


After laying our stuff down and resting for a minute, we left for the Anne Frank House Museum. I have wanted to see this museum ever since I read her published diary in 8th grade. The museum had a long line, but we waited, and the 8.50 euros to get in was well worth it. The house and adjacent offices of Mr. Frank and his partners still look almost exactly like they did when the house was raided during WWII. The house remains completely unfurnished, per the requests of Mr. Frank when designing the museum; the impact is incredible. Seeing the postcard and photograph-pasted walls of Anne Frank's tiny bedroom, looking at the worn kitchen counter, hearing the voice of Mr. Frank describe the emotions of reading his daughter's writings... all these experiences affected me significantly. I have always had an interest in human rights and international justice and this visit emphasized that to me even more.


The visit to the museum did not take very long and afterwards everyone was a bit hungry. I decided to separate from the group and I ventured off on my own to contemplate a little and explore the city. Let me just say that Amsterdam must be the most beautiful city in the world. The whole city revolves around semi-circle rings of canals and the tall townhouses that line them are all unique and colorful. Bicycles run all over the narrow streets and I especially like the "barrow-cycle" as I've named it, a bicycle with a small wheelbarrow-like box in front of the cyclist where they typically put their toddlers in for the ride! It's very cute! I couldn't stop taking photos of the canals, the houses, and the bikes.


I ended up wandering north, to a street called Haarlemer Dijk/Haarlemer Strait. This street is my favorite in the world as it's lined with scores of unique shops: bakers, butchers, print-makers, toy-stores (that sell absolutely no plastic junk, no barbies or mattel in sight!), antiques, porcelain, etc. Each store is independently owned and each one has a unique flavor. I could spend forever on this street and I definitely spent a good share of my budget on all sorts of neat things. This picture is of everything (minus the sandwiches I ate on the way home!) that I bought with about 50 euros: loaf of fresh bread (soooooo good!), fresh cheddar cheese, 2 fresh-meat sausages I couldn't pronounce (Gekooktewurst and Wijncervelaat), 2 absolutely amazing Italian sandwiches (gorgonzola and roast beef was one, the other had a chicken, pesto, and pepper filling), 10 hand-pressed (on old, wooden printing presses) postcards, a fair-trade gift for a friend, a Dutch greeting card for my family, and a box of handmade truffles. Wow. Could life get any better? I think not. After I was all done, I walked my tired little feet back to my hotel for a relaxing meal with my windows open and the cool, fresh, spring breeze blowing in gently.


In the evening, full from my fresh feast, my friend Chelsi and I decided to explore the "down-town" area of Amsterdam. No office buildings or towers of any type, just lots of beautiful architecture, especially in the Dam Square, which is the center of town. We grabbed a cup of coffee and did some tourist shopping- she was looking for a t-shirt for a friend. After wandering with no destination in mind we wound up in Amsterdam's "infamous" Red-Light District. To be honest, I was terrified of going to Amsterdam because of it's reputation for drugs and prostitution. In the end, I felt like the Red-Light District was thoroughly laughable. Indeed, the streetlights are red and the narrow canal is lined with walls of windows with scantily-clad women enticing you to come join them, but it reminded me of a trashy boardwalk on New Jersey. I felt totally safe (this area actually has the largest police presence in the city, go figure). It's funny because the true Amsterdam has nothing to do with this goofy, tourist-trap area!


In the end, we headed home, absolutely exhausted from a busy day in Amsterdam. I also officially concluded that I will be living here next summer between undergraduate and grad schools. I also started looking up programs for learning Dutch in the U.S. Everyone in Amsterdam speaks English, but I'm all about fitting in, especially since I think Dutch sounds really cool!

Paris, Day 2

So I get stuck in Madrid (instead of being in Barcelona right now), but y'all get lucky and get a double-helping of blogposts today. I (hopefully) won't be able to update until Monday night because our boarding house won't have internet. So enjoy.

...

Day 2: Our first real day in Paris began bright and early at around 8 AM. We were planning on meeting the rest of our group under the Eiffel Tower and decided that we would take the scenic route and walk there as opposed to just hopping on a metro. This would allow for some excellend photos as well. Our route took us straight down an amazingly beautiful street between Paris districts 8 and 1. We saw an old library, at least one old church, a gold-covered bridge, the River Seine, the Louvre gardens, an obelisk, and the Eiffel Tower from afar. It was a lot of fun.

Our only hope was to get breakfast along the way, we had crepes in mind. Sadly, after strolling and taking photos for an hour and a half, we didn't have time for crepes. Oops, my bad. I was starving so I bailed and bought a hot dog at a tourist stand underneath the Eiffel. Our friends who went to Paris last month told us to get the hotdogs, that they were awesome in Paris. I sacrificed my 5 euros, which really wasn't a bad deal in Paris, for a great foot-long baguette that was hollowed out and filled with a great tasting hot dog, tomato sauce, and onions. It was very good, one of the best hotdogs ever. I seem to be having good luck finding good hotdogs in Europe. I think Mr. Ikoniak would be jealous! Oh, and another thing: the gypsies at the Eiffel Tower are bold enough to present you a random sign in English, if you say no, they attempt to take your food out of your hands. Seriously, I'm hungry and I want my breakfast so bug off gypsy ladies! Plus, they don't do any good wearing the same style skirts and having long dark hair. They should diversify their attempts. But I digress.

Our whole group met up and we were originally going to go on a boat tour down the Seine, but it was pretty expensive and only an hour, so we figured we'd just walk it. In the end we figured we walked about 8 miles during the day and my feet were sore for at least 4 days afterwards. Anyways, during our extended adventures it was a positively beautiful day with complete sunshine so we all managed to get a nice tan and enjoyed the weather. First stop was a semi-circle of museums/plaza to the west of the Eiffel. From there we got great views of the Tower. we continued up to the Arc du Triomfe which sits in the middle of a massive, never-ending traffic circle. To get to the Arc you actually have to go under the road and pop out in the middle! The Arc was cool and is the location of France's version of the "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier". Not as cool as ours in Arlington, but hey, it works.

The Arc sits at the top of the longest street in the world, Champs Elysees. And walking down it, we realized how long it was! It's lined with all the major world brands: Cartier, Luis Vitton, Gucci, Mont Blanc, etc etc etc. Not good for college shopping, but still fun. Next quick stop was the Gran Palais du Artes (I may indeed have butchered the spelling on that). There was a Warhol exhibit that several in the group wanted to visit, but I wasn't in the mood to fork over the money. We kept going, passing by the gilded bridge and heading towards the Louvre. I was convinced that my life wouldn't be complete without a trip inside the Louvre. I love how the major museums of the world have no student discount. Maybe I'll just become a senior citizen and get their discount.... Anyways, the Louvre was incredible. Seeing the Mona Lisa was worth however much I ended up paying to get in that place. We also went through the Italian and Greek sculptures collection (saw Venus de Milo, famous sculpture, but she has no arms or head), saw the original foundation of the castle that sat where the Louvre now sits, saw the ancient Egypt collection, and saw the Code of Hamurabi which is a huge chunk of stone with ancient civil and criminal legal codes written on every available space.

After the Louvre we were exhausted, tired and hungry. Knowing that it was going to be cranky, I decided to walk back to the hotel and along the way I stopped to pick up some fresh fruit and other groceries to try to save some money and be healthy. I also picked up a fresh croque monssieur which is a really snazzy grilled cheese in my opinion. I ate my feast on my balcony and then took a nap with the breeze wafting through the windows.

After my nap I met up with friends to see the nighttime lightshow at the Eiffel Tower. We stopped to get another hotdog along the way and this one was even better: a 15-inch baguette with fresh sausage inside and broiled gruyere cheese on top. Not your average ball-game hotdog! The lightshow was pretty cool, looked like tons of paparazzi taking your picture from all over the tower. Random event: we happened to run into a BYX alum from Sam Houston State who was traveling on his spring break (he's a choir teacher outside Houston). Very small world, indeed.

It was a good night and I tried to come back early to get some shut eye before our early morning train to Amsterdam!

Paris!

Whew, sorry again that it takes me so long to get posts up, I hope I'm not annoying anyone. Plus, I was without internet for two weeks this month due to school trips and this trip...

Last weekend we had a five-day break due to a holiday on Thursday and Monday was just a day off. As such, I decided to join some friends on a whirlwind tour of Paris and Amsterdam, two cities that I'd never visited and that I honestly would say weren't on my top cities to visit. However, I figured I should go now with friends because I was unlikely to visit on my own.

I left for the Madrid airport immediately after school as my flight left at 3. I felt like I was in a hurry, but I managed to get to the gate really early because the check-in and security didn't have lines. I got on the plane and arrived in Paris at around 7PM. That's when the fun started. In France, very few people speak English and even fewer speak Spanish. Also, though French is technically a romantic language, like Spanish and Italian, it sounds NOTHING like Spanish or Italian! It's pretty much impossible to communicate. Hmm, should be fun.

So I take a train from the De Gaulle Airport (wow, 2 major int'l airports I'd never been to in one day!) to the main metro/train interchange at Gare Nord. The train wasn't bad, definitely not as nice as the system in Madrid, but I managed to get to Nord. However, getting OUT of Nord was another story. I couldn't figure out how to get out! I thought I found the metro entrance, but I couldn't find a place to buy a metro ticket! So I proceeded to wander around the place, not worried, just confused. I realized that the train ticket to get there would work to get me in to the metro (at least I think that's how it works?), so I proceeded to stick my ticket in the slot. It spit out, but the guy in front of me jammed the machine and my ticket went through unread. In a whirlwind of people cramming by, the man in front tells me "Come on!" and a guy with a season pass swipes/shoves us through as the two of us in front share a turnstile. I'm glad I got through, though I never want to be that close to a French guy again!

Emily and I wanted to stay at a hotel with our friends, but it was booked. We managed to snag a great room at the Hotel Camelia International by the Place de Clichy. It was really inexpensive but very cool. I made it to the hotel earlier than Emily (she missed her flight and followed it with a harrowing, 50 euro taxi ride. By the time she made it to the hotel she was quite flustered. After a quick bit of decompressing in our nice hotel, I invited her to go with me to eat dinner with my friend Dani, a girl I knew from school who later transferred but has spent the whole year studying in Paris. We took the metro (again, another fun experience, try buying a ticket in french!), but we made it to her stop and she met us there.

Dani lives in a student residence, which is kind of like a dorm open to students of all different universities. She lives there with several students from her program and they cook with each other. It was Dani's night to cook and she made a great-tasting, traditional lebanese dish. Afterwards, she took us out to her favorite bar with her friend Sharif who is from Paris. We tried a typical Parisian student beverage which is half beer and half peach juice. Interesting flavor, probably won't have it again!

After that, we took the metro home, glad to be able to get some rest before our action packed day in Paris. I am still thankful for Dani's hospitality and friendship! I don't know what we would have done without her, being as confused and tired as we were! I'm glad we got to meet up after 2 years of going to different schools!

Andalucia Part III, Finally

Alright, so Part III has finally arrived and we can get on with our lives. I've got a lot of ideas for new posts, but I wanted to wait until I finished Andalucia and got done with midterms (which went alright, I believe).

We wake up on our third day and have to get ready to head out. I woke up early to shower and get down to breakfast. A few more people skipped breakfast this day than yesterday, probably people stayed out pretty late the night before. After breakfast everyone had their stuff ready to go.

As soon as we stepped out of the hotel... downpour. We ran with all our bags as fast as we could to the bus. Though I wore a rainjacket, everyone was drenched. My windproof umbrella already broke (I will be calling the company about that one when I get home!), so yeah. I was wet.

After several hours in the bus (like 4...) we made it to our hotel in Granada. I decided to shower and sleep as it was pouring outside. Then we gathered in the lobby and proceeded to walk through the rain-soaked streets to the Almaiceria, which served as a marketplace for the city during the muslim times. It was a little open square with doors all along where vendors would gather under tents and those requiring more permanent building space would have shops all around. Then, on the second floor were more rooms for shopkeepers. Now, the space is used to centralize all the services for elderly people in the town, works pretty well.

Next stop: Capilla Real. at this ornate chapel, the Catholic Kings (Isabel and Fernando) are laid to rest and their daughter Juana "La Loca" and son-in-law Felipe II are interred. The chapel was chock full of decoration, strongly influenced by the power of the Kings. They definitely made it clear that their reign was a Catholic one, separation of church and state was a total joke for them. Alongside an altar beautifully decorated with 3-D representations of Christ's life were powerful symbols of the kingdom: the coat of arms, sculptures, and other references to the Spanish Empire (which had grown to include part of the New World at this point).

After the chapel visit, in time that would normally be dedicated to postcard-shopping, I raced to eat lunch. I darted in to Burger King, lame I know. But with the downpour outside and being cold, wet, and hungry, I wanted a meal that was familiar, warm, and cheap. One thing interesting to note about fast food here: I've been in a couple KFC's, Burger Kings and the like that have security guards. Makes me feel more unsafe... why do I need a security guard in a place like that?! But I digress.

Then I went back and read For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway. It's my novel for the semester (but I've since finished. I'm dying for another novel in English other than the Twilight series, which every girl in my program has. Anyone up for sending a package is welcome to send a new book!). I also wrote some postcards. Around 9 PM we had a great dinner at the hotel restaurant which definitely beat walking around in the rain. At night, we hung out in rooms and watched TV, played cards, etc.

Next morning, our last in Andalucia, we woke up and got packed again. We headed out to La Alhambra and the Jardines del Generalife. The alhambra originated as a muslim castle and palace. Some parts of the first construction of the palace are deteriorating, while the later expansions are in better condition. The palace was very beautiful and full of artwork and beautiful design. The muslims didn't believe in using representatives of people (or animals for that matter) in their artwork, so they used absolutely stunning geometric and flora-like patterns. There was a domed ceiling in one area that was completely constructed out of puzzled wood pieces in a dizzying geometric design with rings of stars to represent their levels of heaven. And the pieces are just inches long, each.

Later in the life of the Alhambra, long after the last muslim caliph, or emperor, was kicked out, Carlos V built a massive palace that is one gigantic square with a circle plaza in it. It was designed by Enlightenment architects, but I thought it was pretty boring. Also, I believe it was he who built the large jardines, or gardens, that surround the area. Since it wasn't spring and nothing was in bloom, the gardens were nice, but certainly not breathtaking. However, the castle-wall-like hedges made me think about how when I'm rich and famous my garden will have a sweet hedge maze.

Finally, we were on the bus and on our way home. Some people decided to stay and explore Southern Spain or Morrocco. I was physically tired and kind of tired of people and traveling, so I decided to go home. On the way home we experienced at least two full cycles of bright sunshine, downpouring rain, and blizzard condition snow. Spain's weather is crazy.

And that's it for Andalucia!