Spring 09 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Ok, I have to be honest -- I really don't like blogging. Most blogs I read are annoying, and have convinced me that no matter how good your thoughts sound in your head...they should probably stay there. TUP (tremendous upside potential) is an exception. And besides, I talk pretty regularly to all the people who read this blog without my prompting anyway. But I feel like a bad person if I don't write in here once in awhile, so here's a funny story that happened to me on the bus back from the airport after my trip to Granada.

So, a cab ride from the airport is really expensive. Fortunately, there is a city bus, and since I have a city citizens card, it costs me about 90 cents to get from the Palma airport to the center of Palma. When I got to the bus, it was jam packed with Germans with walking sticks and safari hats, and the bus driver was turning people away because there was no room. He let me on because I only had my backpack and a shopping bag with me (which ripped during the bus ride). So everyone was packed into the bus like sardines, standing room only, people practically sitting on each others' laps, and I am hanging on for dear life to a handle next to the bus driver, directly in front of the entrance door. (which kept opening and hitting me in the butt). I am also going to mention that it was around 80 degrees and invariably someone smells really bad on the bus. Anyway, we are about halfway to the center of Palma (it's a 20 minute bus-ride) . When city busses are full, it's normal protocol to stop at the bus-stops and only open the back-door to let people off , since you're not allowed to enter through the front. If someone gets off, they open the front door and let someone else on. If not, the front door stays closed. So we stop at the first bus-stop, the bus driver opens the back door, and nobody gets off. As he starts to pull away from the stop, this little old lady starts chasing the bus. She was probably 80 something years old. Naturally, the bus driver stops again, so as not to give said old lady a heart attack, and as she starts pounding the front door with her fist, he opens it up and she jumps on the bus and starts verbally berating him. More or less, her story was about how the other bus that came by was full too, and she had been waiting for 30 minutes, and since she was old - she should be able to get on the bus. The bus driver said ma'am, I'm really sorry but as you can see there is absolutely no room on the bus. It would be illegal for me to let you on. But she's on a crazy streak and grabs onto a pole and says she won't let go until she gets to Plaza España. As the bus driver continues to try to persuade her to get off, her husband ambles over and they both start yelling at the bus driver about lack of respect for the elderly. Then, of course, the lady points at me - says that I am young and could clearly be walking, and tells the bus driver that I should be made to get off so that she and her husband could board. The bus driver tries to reason with her, and says that even if I got off, both her and her husband could not board. By this time, they've spent 5 minutes arguing and I cannot express to you how hot it was on that bus. And I'm not a bad person, I give up my seat on the bus for old people all the time, but we were wayyyy too far away from our destination and I was carrying a ripped paper shopping bag in my arms and a giant backpack with 3 bottles of wine in it and there was no way in heaven or hell that I was walking. Anyway after more arguing and more toungue lashing from the old lady, the bus driver finally scared her off and we went on our way. but as we pulled away the old lady was shaking her fist at the bus and her little old husband was kicking up dust in the middle of the road. Priceless experiences here in spain...priceless.

Well, clearly I have not written in about a month, so this is going to be a long one - -sorry!

So we went to Sevilla ("we" being the CIEE group of about 10 people plus Antonia, our resident director) the weekend of March 6-8 and it was amazing. Sevilla is very stereotypical Spain with the giant bull-fighting ring, statues of matadors, huge plazas with fountains and vendors selling painted fans and scarves, etc. and of course it was about 80 degrees when we were there so that was GREAT. After having some relatively chilly weather in palma, it felt so good to walk around in a tank top all weekend and sit and have a 3 hour lunch in the sun. Also nice was coming home with tan lines! successful weekend! but anyway I will put up pictures of Sevilla soon (i just spent 2 hours editing red-eye and posting pictures of Brian's visit on facebook so I need a break from that...ugh.) The only major problem was that of course we were walking everywhere (normally not a big deal) but I happened to have sprained my foot when we were hiking the mountain trail in Soller the weekend before. And of course, because I am a procrastinator, I decided that I did not need to go to the doctor when this actually happened and instead tried to get brian to diagnose me over skype video chat while holding my foot up to the camera. needless to say that didn't work so well, and I ended up going to the free UIB doctor on wednesday, and she told me that I shouldn't walk much, take stairs, or run at all for 2 weeks and prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs. welllllll I didn't want to miss out on anything in Sevilla so I didn't actually take any of her advice (Except the drugs. those i took) and walked everywhere so I was pretty miserable at the end of the day and Emily practically had to carry me into the hotel a couple of times. (thanks Emily....) Of course it's better now, although last night, walking from the restaurant back to the hotel with Brian, I tripped and rammed my toes against a step, effectively spraining my toe, according to my in-house physical therapist.

But anyway, after loving the 80 degree weather in Sevilla I was less than thrilled to come back to 60 degrees in Palma, but the weather has actually been amazing the past week and a half! We've had tons of sun, probably low 70's, and overall just really nice weather. I really want to go to las playas illetes because although it's not the best beach in Mallorca, apparently it's sort of enclosed so it's great during the winter in spring because you can lay out without dealing with the wind making you cold. so...I'm thinking that if it's nice again tomorrow I may take my books and go lay out/study. (and by the way....the comparisons of beaches the I have mentioned thus far in here are from my host family -- and they are SPOILED by beaches. So in reality, the beaches that they say aren't very good --- are amazing. literally absolutely gorgeous. I went to one of them that they said was not a very good beach the other day (the one by my house) and I thought i'd died and gone to heaven. they're all beautiful. ) Oh, and after we got back from Sevilla I turned another year older. Didn't do a lot for my birthday because A. everyone was toasted from trekking around Sevilla and B. Mondays are never good days to have birthdays. and especially for me, because on Mondays I have one class at 9am, and then nothing for the rest of the day - but my friends all have class all afternoon, so mondays are usually my "me time" days where I get homework done, relax, etc. It was funny though because it kind of reminded me of elementary school back home when I hated my birthday because there was always the march-madness snowstorm that cancelled school, and it never failed to be cancelled on my birthday so I always missed out on bringing treats to school, getting warm fuzzies, generally being the center of attention for a day, etc. Of course I got to skype chat with mom and dad and my grandparents and Brian, and mike sent me a funny video singing happy birthday, which made me kind of homesick - but it was so nice because my host family all got together and had a big birthday dinner for me (shrimp!!) and made my favorite pastry - apple tart - and gave me this gorgeous necklace from TOUS. It's silver with a pearl in the middle and is soooo pretty. And then Megan was amazing and got almost everyone together to go to Punt de Joc for a few drinks and Annie made me a chocolate cake with a honey glaze on top that basically made my life. So all in all, a pretty good night.

Then basically after that, the whole next week was spent waiting for Brian to get here! I don't even remember anything I did besides trying to plan out all of the stuff we were going to do, which we didn't even end up doing half of it anyway. Oh, so I had found these great 24 euro round trip tickets to Alicante and we were thinking about going there for a little excursion, but we waited for like a day to think about it, and then when I checked back they were gone (duh...i was stupid to wait) but it was actually better this way, because we had more than enough stuff to do here on the island and it might have been a little stressful to do so much in just one week. So I was really happy that it ended up not working out the way I had been imagining it. Which brings me to Brian's visit. So basically the night before he got here I was about ready to jump out of my skin I was so excited, and I finally went to bed at like 8pm (yeah, literally) because I knew when I woke up the next morning I got to go pick him up at the airport, but then while I was laying in bed I don't know what happened, maybe too much time on the laptop or I don't know what, but my little headache that I had been having all day turned into this massive migarine so i finally ended up taking my heavy duty migraine drugs and passing out. haha. go figure. Anyway the next morning I got up really early, got ready , walked to Plaza de España and took the bus to the airport so I could be there about an hour before his flight was supposed to get in....and of course this one morning there happened to be fog ONLY around the ocean and the airport in Mallorca -- it was gorgeous and sunny at Plaza de España -- so Brian's flight from Madrid was delayed like an hour and a half, so I got to spend some quality time at the Palma airport reading trashy magazines about spanish celebrities who I have no idea who they even are and getting yelled at by the gift-shop employee for reading all the magazines without buying anything. oops. So after I got scolded, I went and just stared at the arrivals board until Brian's flight said "landed" next to it and then i ran to the baggage claim gate and waited another half an hour, and FINALLY brian poked his head out of the gate and said he was still waiting for his luggage, and that "oh - yeah, remember how you told me to exchange my money at the bank? and then I got mad at you for reminding me too many times? well...i forgot." OK so that's not exactly what he said, but that's more or less the story of what happened. Soooo after I collected Brian and all his baggage (no pun intended) we hopped on the bus for Plaza de España, and then walked to our hotel which was so great. Hotel Born was amazing and perfect and we loved our room and our window, and the breakfasts in the morning, and pretty much everything about that place. So after Brian took a nap, he gave me my birthday present (which I was not expecting because the fact that he came to Spain to visit me was like the next 10 birthdays and christmases combined) and the stuff I had asked him to bring me from home -- Smart Balance peanut butter, some hair stuff, trident tropical twist gum (I now have enough to last me til I go home! yay!) and he also surprised me with 3 cherry pie Larabars...so i was a happy camper. So then we went out and walked though Almudaina palace (Basically across the street) and walked on the beach to Maria's so that I could pack a bag for the week and then we walked back towards the hotel, stopped at TAST for some tapas and the waiter gave us free chocolate cake! (Oh, and Ann Andonian (sorry I have to specify your last name because I have a friend here whose name is also Anne) - this chocolate cake was amazing, it was warm and basically melted chocolate inside with raspberry drizzled on top and of course I got to eat it all because you know Brian doesn't eat chocolate ..although he did have a few bites . But anyway it was even better than that chocolate and raspberry cake we had at one-twenty-six in Iowa City). So anyway after that Brian was pretty much toast so we went back to Hotel Born and more or less passed out. So after that we just spent the rest of the week exploring Palma, which was really great for me because it's so easy to get into a routine here with school and what not, that I actually got to see a lot more of Palma and the island in general than I had gotten a chance to before. So we did all the normal stuff here in Palma, the cathedral, the palace, la lonja, a little bit of shopping - Brian really wanted a new jacket, and of course picking up a few things for his parents. and speaking of, i really hope that he gives them their stuff soooon because it is so cool. (ahem. brian.) and I think on wednesday (at this point the whole week is just a blur) we took a bus to Alcudia for the day, which is at the very northern part of the island and spent the day eating paella, drinking beer, and walking down this gorgeous beach and sitting on this really cool dock that went out about half a kilometer into the ocean. It was so cool being out there and looking down and the water was so blue and pretty with the mountains in the background. So anyway that was a fun trip, and i had never been up there before so I really had no idea where to go or what to do so it was walking around together not knowing what we were doing. then on Friday we went to Valldemossa , Deia and Cala Deia and oh my gosh those are the most beautiful places in the world. Valldemosa is sucha cute little town stuck right in the middle of the mountains, and then we took a bus from Valldemossa to Deia, and then walked from Deia to Cala Deia (the coast) and literally went to the land of postcards. After hiking down to the coast we were sitting on these giant rocks next to huge cliffs, in this little alcove where the waves came in kind of strong because the wind pushes them though a small opening in the coastline --- so amazing. I think that was the most beautiful place I have ever been. And of course the sun was shining and it was like 70 degrees. And then when we got home we decided to go out for a quick bite to eat because we were both totally beat, and we ended up going to this adorable little restaurant that we passed by every single night and checked the menu, and kept saying that we needed to go there - and so finally we did. And it was sooo great. It was this tiny little hole in the wall French/Mallorquin restaurant with great wine and amazing food. Perfect end to a perfect day. We spent Saturday sleeping in, going to our favorite little bakery for some pastries in the morning, going inside the Cathedral, bumming around, and then we went to Maria's for the big mid-day meals that we always have on weekends. It was so fun and I'm so glad that he got to meet the whole family and everyone's boyfriend/girlfriend and what not. Maria made this great meal and my two favorite desserts- a lemon tart and an apple tart, and overall it was just so much fun because Brian was trying to speak a little Spanish because hardly anyone speaks any English (although fortunately my host-sister works at Banca March and so she has to speak English for her job, so she is pretty good and could talk to Brian without translating through me...which was nice because sometimes sentiment really gets lost in translation). So after lunch, we walked around palma a little bit more, Brian finally settled on the jacket he wanted so we bought that, and then stopped in this other little store that has mallorcan specialty wines, olive oils, etc. to look at a few things, and then came back to the hotel and sort of relaxed, went for a run on the beach, and got ready to go out for dinner to this other place that Brian found in Frommer's called Cabellito de Mar ( the seahorse) that apparently amazing seafood, so we got all dressed up and went to go eat there and we were so lucky we got a table because we didn't have a reservation and they were really busy. So we sat down, and while I was trying to decide what to order, I was talking to the waiter and I told him that I didn't know the english translation of the fish on the menu, so he just went and brought us the fish to look at! (not that that helped, but it was cool...) so after we picked the fish we thought looked the best and chose how we wanted it cooked - we had two options, either packed in rock salt and baked and then they break the rock salt, clean the fish, and serve it to you, or the mallorcan style with white wine, mussels, clams, shrimp, and langostinos (basically a mini lobster), and we went with the second one. and it was soooo good. they bring the fish out and clean it right in front of you and dish you up, so it was great to watch and even better to eat. Even writing all this now it seems like the week went by so fast, I am lucky that we took so many pictures because we packed so much into only 8 days that it's almost impossible to recall all the details. I guess that's what my journal and camera are for . Then this morning, Brian's flight was at 8 so we got a cab from the hotel at around 6, got his luggage checked and what not, and then grabbed a quick breakfast at the airport and then he had to go...which sucked. probably more than the first time. Especially because then I had to go catch a bus by myself and I was like crying hauling my bags around, probably looking like I was lost because I always look like I'm lost, even when I know where I'm going (which, I admit, is rare). So after the bus I just walked back to Maria's from Plaza de España and looked at pictures, and passed out until 2pm when Maria woke me up for lunch and all she could do was talk about Brian and how polite he was (muy educado!). And so then she gave me strawberries to make me smile and I went back to bed and watched the new episode of Grey's Anatomy and have been doing homework ever since....because I did not go to class all week (and yes mom, i promise it was totally approved by all my professors !) and have tons of homework to catch up on today and tomorrow.

SO...sorry that this was the longest post ever! And I will try to write again sooner.