Luck of the Irish

Last weekend I was lucky enough to spend it in Ireland catching up with some great HC company and some sightseeing in both Dublin and Galway.  Having many friends with Irish descent, this trip was highly anticipated and I’m so glad I went.  The trip began with an overnight bus on Thursday night to Madrid (this is becoming a usual hah) to catch my flight to Dublin on Friday morning.  As we were approaching Dublin from the air, I immediately knew I was in Ireland as it appeared just as I had imagined: flat greens, farmland, and gray skies.  Once I landed in Dublin, I headed into the center of the city to meet Emma who is studying through HC’s program at Trinity College.  From there, we enjoyed a nice lunch and walked around St. Steven’s Green and the Grafton St. area.  Later on in the afternoon, I met up with a bunch of other HC friends who are studying in both Dublin and Galway to tour the Guinness Factory.  It was a really cool experience and actually very informative; at the very top of the museum, they have what’s called the Gravity Bar, where you can see a panoramic view of Dublin and grab a free pint of Guinness, nice deal if I’d say so!  Later on in the evening, we all made some dinner and went out to explore Dublin’s night-life.  

After a great day in Dublin, we all hopped on a bus headed to Galway to meet some more Holy Cross friends who are currently studying at the university there.  After a two-and-a-half hour bus ride, we arrived to Galway which is a quintessential western-Irish city right on the water.  Although I loved Dublin, I could truly appreciate Galway since it is a smaller city and less-cosmopolitan,more-Irish (sort of how I feel with Madrid to Coruña).  Immediately upon arrival, we made our way to the infamous farmer’s market where I bought a donut and bagel from the legendary donut/bagel carts; as most of you probably know, I love the food in Spain, however this kid needed a little taste of home, and that certainly hit the spot.  After visiting the farmer’s market, Brittany, Katie, Lauren and I took a walk around the city and they were nice enough to point out some of their favorite spots around town.  Later on in the evening, we decided to have a potluck dinner: Karinna and I were in charge of preparing a tortilla.  All struggles aside, the tortilla and everything else, came out really great.  As much as I love living with a host family and wouldn’t trade it for the world, cooking and eating together as a group truly made me think about Holy Cross and how I’m so excited for next year.  It also reminded me of Pamplona, which I can’t believe has already been seven months ago!  After dinner, we all headed out to the pubs and bars in town... when in Ireland. 

Unfortunately, I had to leave Galway at 5 in the morning (that same morning) to head back to Dublin to catch my flight to Spain.  Going into the trip, I didn’t realize how much of a headache my return to Coruña would be... it proved to be a lot worse!  By the way, two fun facts about my travels: 1) Ireland is one hour behind Spain, 2) both Ireland and Spain had changed the time back one hour at 2:00 that morning.  Here’s a timeline of my Sunday for your enjoyment. 

4:45 am- taxi to Galway bus station

5:00 am- bus from Galway to Dublin

8:00 am- arrival to Dublin airport

8:45 am- checked in, through security, at the gate

9:45 am- flight departs for Santander

1:00 pm- arrival to Santander

3:20 pm- bus departs heading to Coruña (with connection in Oviedo)

7:15 pm- arrival to Oviedo, ten minutes late... missed my connection bus

10:45 pm- bus departs for Coruña

3:30 am- arrival to Coruña

After two taxis, three buses, six hours of waiting, and eleven hours of actual travel, I made it home.  Needless to say, I probably had my best sleep that night.  Although it was the longest day of my life, Ireland was so worth it, and I’m already anxious to go back!

Lucky for me, the university’s spring break is this coming week, so my brother CT is flying out and we’ll be in Rome, Florence, Palma and Madrid together... can’t wait!

Buenos Días Chupito de Barajas!

St. Stephen's Green, Dublin.

Grafton Street, one of Dublin's main streets.

Trinity College.

Inside the Guinness Factory, so cool.

Enjoying the free pint of beer at the Gravity Bar!

High Street, Galway.

Spanish Arch, where Spain used to drop off all the wine...

Cool houses right on the water in Galway.

Wise Words from St. Theresa

Before going to bed, I stumbled upon something that my mom gave me before coming to Spain, the prayer of St. Theresa.  It reads:


May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.


Amen.

Mundanity in La Coruña

Hello blog friends.  I hate to use the word “uneventful” to describe my past week, however it’s been pretty normal, which I guess in itself is kinda cool.  The Holy Cross study abroad office (as well as the former students) told us that by this time in the year everything would start to fall into piece and that things would sort of become like second nature by now.  I never really thought about that until now, when all of a sudden I realized I wasn’t thinking about it... if that makes any sense.  For example, I was skyping with my good friend Emma last night who’s studying at Trinity in Dublin (see you in a two weeks!) and she asked me if it was weird that all my classes were taught in Spanish.  I simply replied, not really, and then I kind of stopped and thought about that for a second.  Having classes taught in Spanish is kind of like second nature now, which is a really cool feeling and keeps me motivated to continue learning and getting better.  Sometimes it’s the little things in life that keep ya going.

Speaking of the little things, good friend and number one blog fan Pati, sent me some questions that address mundane findings in my life; I probably take these for granted, so here’s a little bit of what everyday life is like here in Coruña.  I’ll start of with the first-third of the questions, and continue the other two-thirds in two other blog posts.  

Describe what you see walking to school?  Stores open?  What do they sell? Hours of operation?  Streets all cobblestone or pavement?  How old is average person you pass?

The university is the only place that I take the bus too in Coruña, seeing that it borders with the neighboring town.  Everything else is pretty much within walking distance since I live right in the center of the city.  Coruña is a decidedly cosmopolitan city, and there is a LOT of life on the streets; doesn’t matter if it’s the morning, afternoon, or even at night, there are usually a ton of people walking around.  Just like any other city, there are countless stores and offices that range from fashion, technology, markets/restaurants/bakeries/cafes, pharmacies, banks, bars... essentially, you name it, Coruña’s got it.  Generally speaking, the hours of operation for any type of store (except restaurants and the like) will usually be open from 9 in the morning to 9 at night, with the a two hour break in the middle of the day for comida.  Coruña has an interesting mix of an old to new city feel since there are streets of all cobblestone and of all pavement (the later being the most common).  For the most part, there are all sorts of ages walking around the streets.  It’s very typical to see people running errands, men/women in business suits, families/couples going for a walk.  One thing in particular that really surprised me upon my arrival was to see the amount of older people walking around and their ability to maintain their social lives; it is very common to see older people going for a walk, doing some errands, or sitting down at a cafe talking with friends.  I find this particular aspect to the culture very admirable, and very reflective of their out-of-the-house, way-of-life.

Art: Are there local galleries or street art?  Or do you have to see that in Madrid?

Coruña is certainly no Florence, however it is home to unique architecture and hole-in-the-wall local art galleries.  Las Galerias (pictured below) are the most famous architecture designs of the city and actually have a cool little history behind them.  The facades were designed to allow sunlight to warm up the house, while preventing the rain from entering.  These houses are considered a luxury since these windows overlook a beautiful dock and the front entrance overlooks the Plaza Mayor with Coruña’s impressive city hall.  Another important structure is the infamous Torre de Hercules, which is the oldest functioning Roman lighthouse in the world; the Torre (also pictured below) certainly finishes in second place of most significant Coruña architecture.  With regards to local art galleries, there are many interesting exhibits within small homes all around the city.  I actually got the chance to see one of them since my host dad’s art work was featured in one of the exhibitions last November.   

Pets: Do many people own them?  What kind of pets?

Todo el mundo (translation: everyone) seems to have a dog!  Coruñeses are certainly dog people, and they are always walking around the city with their favorite pups.  The Westie (West Highland White Terrier) seems to be the pick-of-the-litter, since at least half of the dogs are of this particular race.

Las Galerias de La Coruña!

La Torre de Hercules!

Dad, Mom and Jacklyne: En España!!

Just from the title alone, you know that my past week was super guay (guWHY), or the spanish coloquial word for cool.  This trip had been planned since October, and certainly part of my “most-anticipated-things” list.  I’ll never forget saying goodbye to my parents in Logan airport early January and them assuring me “don’t worry Nick, we’ll see you in 6 weeks.”  Now that they’re home, and it’s been an additional two weeks after the fact, I seriously cannot control the time, nor can I believe how fast it’s going!

Back to the trip!  The gang was set to arrive in Madrid on Friday the 17th, so to meet them the second they landed, I took an overnight bus from Coruña to Barajas (Madrid’s Airport).  Twenty minutes upon my arrival (7:15 am!) to the terminal, I met up with Jacklyne; ten minutes after that, Paloma, who had already picked up my parents at a different terminal, swung by our terminal to get us.  After a delicious breakfast and checking into the hotel, we truly started our jam packed site-seeing day.  The hotel was in an awesome location, therefore we were able to do all of Friday’s activities within a walking distance.  We saw Puerta del Sol, Plaza Mayor, stopped in a really cool food market, and had lunch in front of the Royal Palace.  Jack and I were feeling extra adventurous so we decided to hit up some of the clothing stores in the Puerta del Sol neighborhood.  After taking a quick nap, we met up with Paloma, Cris and Tia Cece at an excellent restaurant in their former neighborhood of Madrid to end a great first day of the viaje.  

On Saturday morning, we departed early in the morning for Toledo, a beautiful city an hour outside of the capital.  Ever since arriving to Spain, I had always wanted to get to know Toledo because I’ve heard so many great things; now I know why.  Toledo is not only an aesthetically breath-taking city, but it’s unique mix of Christian, Judaic, and Muslim features make it truly charming.  While in Toledo, we went for a walking tour of the city, stopped into it’s impressive Cathedral (filled with spectacular art), and had a great lunch.  Quick shout-out to my high school, Bishop Hendricken, whose choir sang for Sunday mass in the Cathedral... just my luck that I missed them!  After a long day in Toledo, upon arrival to Madrid we had dinner at the really cool market and called it a day so we could catch up on sleep.  Sunday was a very relaxing day since we knew we would be traveling again on Monday, however we still wanted to make the most of our time so we went to El Mueso Prado, one of my favorite aspects to Madrid.  We hired an hour-long tour guide (totally worth it) who really gave some good insight on all of the important Spanish Painters.  After our visit to El Prado, we had lunch with Paloma and took another stroll through the city.  

Monday finally rolled around, and I was really excited because that meant we were going to leave Madrid and head to Coruña!!  Although I love Madrid, I was very much looking forward to showing off my favorite Spanish city to my family.  After a quite long 5:30 hour car ride (with an hour stop in a b-e-a-utiful picturesque Spanish pueblo called VillaFranca del Bierzo) we finally made it to the rolling-hill seaside-green Galicia.  Immediately upon arrival, Dad, Mom and Jack checked into the hotel and we were off to explore the city with my host family.  This was another part to my “most-anticipated-things” list, my family to meet my host family!  Sitting down at dinner and watching everyone get to know each other was truly special and I could not have been more grateful.

On Tuesday morning, my host family wanted to take us around two cities: Santiago de Compostela (refer to a post about this place way back in October) and Noia (a typical Galician waterfront city).  Santiago de Compostela is probably my second favorite city to Coruña since its home to a world-renowned cathedral (remember El Camino de Santiago from October...) and since its rich in history in just about every single corner; the more I go there, the more I discover each time.  After walking through the cathedral and around the old part of the city, we stopped for lunch at a typical Galician restaurant that served authentic Galician gastronomy.  After lunch, we hopped in the car and drove a half hour to Noia which is an absolutely beautiful seaside city.  Lucky for us, Pablo, Isabel and Iago lived there for 10 years (before moving to Coruña) so they were able to show us around.  Quickly after arriving, we were also met by the very kind Carmen and Godo, the best friends of my host parents who still live in Noia.  I’ve been lucky enough to meet/spend time with them before, so it was also awesome to introduce them to Dad, Mom and Jack.

By Wednesday we were all exhausted from all of the traveling and long days... it had to catch up to us somehow.  Therefore, we spent a very relaxing day in Coruña, going for some walks around the city, doing some shopping, some more eating (of course), all leading up to the last suppah, hosted by my host family in the apartment.  I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end the trip, as we feasted on great food and enjoyed a very culturally enriching conversation.  Dinner was sort of abruptly ended when we realized it was already half past mid-night; Americans doing it up big en España!  Dad, Mom and Jack left Coruña  on Thursday early afternoon after a quick bit to eat in the city's center.  The trip was everything that I had hoped for and I’m so glad that I was able to spend a week with them here in Spain; it’s something that I’ll never forget!

In blogger news, Más o Menos will shortly commence a three (maybe four) part blog series, and will even welcome in a brand-new blog-friend!  More updates to follow haha.  

In the meantime, I’ll be finalizing some travel plans with CT for our mini-Eurotrip to Rome, Florence, Palma and Madrid.  I’ve also got Dublin/Galway and Sevilla/Granada (thanks HC!) booked and ready to go!  All smiles for this kid.

Mom and I at KM 0 in Puerta del Sol, Madrid!

Mom, Dad and I in Plaza Mayor, Madrid.

The Royal Palace, Madrid.

Refer to my Madrid post in September...

Museo del Prado!

With Don Quixote himself in Toledo!

The streets of Toledo.

At the top of the Jesuit church in Toledo, great view but scaaaarry stairs.

Nice and snug, roadtrip to Coruña!

Pit stop in beautiful Villafranca del Bierzo to eat lunch.

Santiago de Compostela, Galicia.

 

The Families Meet!

Jacklyne and I in front of Coruña's city hall.

Tapa Negra, my favorite tapas bar in Coruña!

This Is Why I Love Being Abroad...

Since my only Monday class begins two weeks from today, I took advantage of the fact that I didn’t have school and explored two parts of Coruña, one that I barely knew and the other that I had never been to.  This morning, I took a walk with Claire to “la cuidad vieja” or “the old city.”  I truly believe that the old city is one of Coruña’s many hidden gems since every humble-corner has a chunk full of history: ranging from a church that is a starting point to the “English Way” of the Camino de Santiago, and even a church whose facade is unfinished (pictured below).  Another reason why I love the old city is because it looks like a typical European neighborhood.  I live and mostly hang around in the modern section of Coruña; even though I always feel like I’m in Spain and not the United States, whenever I take the mile-long stroll to the old city, I get that wow-I’m-really-in-Europe feeling.

After eating lunch with my incredible host family, Eva and I decided to take a bus and go to Marineda City, one of Coruña’s four shopping malls.  What sets apart this mall is the fact that it’s the largest in Spain, and the second largest in Europe!  Marineda City is home to a bunch of European and American (Hollister!) clothing stores, as well as a Cortes Inglés (which is like a Macy’s on steroids, since it’s eight stories high!), an Ikea, a movie theater, food court, bowling alley, mini-golf course, bumper cars, and a go-kart racing track... needless to say, I was basically in heaven, and will most definitely head back very very soon to get my bowling, golfing and go-karting on.

As great as today has been, there is one minor negative.  A couple of days ago, for some weird reason I decided to countdown how many days are left in my study abroad experience... 100.  Tomorrow commences the double digits.  Although I’m super bummed at the fact that I only have 100 more days here in Coruña, I truly am getting really excited to go home and be a Holy Cross senior (weird, don't want to talk about it) next year.  Here’s to 100 unforgettable days!

The Church of Santiago in "La Cuidad Vieja"... also the starting point to the "English Way" of the Camino de Santiago.

Notice that part of the facade isn't finished!!!

A random, but cool park in the old city.

My favorite building in Coruña: el ayuntamiento, or the city hall.

Marineda City!!!

American stores in Spain: Hollister... right when I entered, the kid greeted me "hey, what's up?" in a really good, scarily accurate American accent!

Kit Visits Coruña on Super Bowl Weekend

A blog post that I drafted, however neglected to publish... enjoy!!

If you assume that my weekend was stellar based off the title of the blog post, you’re right.  It was an awesome weekend here in Coruña, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.  For those of you who don’t know, Kit is a fellow Crusader (studying in Florence this year) and a very good friend of my fellow Coruñesas Claire, Maggie and Eva.  Although she only had two days in Coruña, we wanted to make the most of them, so naturally we made sure to check off our favorite Coruña activities: walking around the city/port/beach, tapa hopping (eating all day, everyday per the usual), and visiting/taking pictures at our favorite mosaic octopus (who we like to think of as Coruña’s mascot).  To elaborate on the tapas, tapa hopping is what I like to call going from bar-to-bar and eating a different tapa at each.  My friends and I have pretty much mapped out our favorite tapa bar’s and our best tapa at each place, so that way we are always changing scenery, and always eating the most delicious tapas... it’s a win/win in my book.  It was really really great to see Kit, and I’m so happy that she loved Coruña; she’s actually blogging about her own experience in Florence, and just wrote an entry on Coruña, so you should definitely check it out!

Two days went by too quickly, and it was really sad to see Kit go, however last night’s awesome Super Bowl Fiesta certainly lived up to its expectations.  Ever since the beginning of my study abroad experience, I was really bummed to know that I’d be missing out on some of my favorite American holidays/traditions; the Super Bowl was definitely high on my list.  Pablo, our housing director in Coruña, saved the day by inviting us over to his apartment to watch the game since he has American television channels.  He also prepared us some delicious bacon cheeseburgers and left out some chips and dips... it almost felt like we were back home in the States.  Although it was a lot of fun and we had some good laughs, unfortunately the Pats lost; third time’s the charm!!!

The pulpo!!!

One of my favorite corners in Coruña... my study abroad site ain't that bad ;)

A Perk of La Vida Coruñesa

Just figured I'd share one little perk of living in my favorite Spanish city: a cruise destination.  I used to see quite a few of them in the beginning of the year, and now I've seen two in the last week and a half; hopefully there will be more soon!  

On my way too/from the gym this afternoon, I passed by a Royal Carribean Cruise Line ship... as well as confused Brits, looking like typical tourists with maps and confused faces everywhere.  I actually ended up helping one couple who looked really perplexed; hey, we've all been down that road, I know that I certainly have this year!!

Cruise Ship and Los Cantones (one of Coruña's shoping centers).

Turning the Big 2-1 in Coruña!

Happy weekend from Coruña!! This week was certainly an interesting one since I took final exams, celebrated my birthday, went out with some friends from the university and was recorded live on Coruña’s radio... details to follow.  I can happily report that I did really well on both finals, and received great final grades for those two classes; this monday I’ll be taking another final and then two-Thursdays from now I’ll take my last exam.  

Now on to my birthday!  Celebrating my birthday, let alone my twenty-first was really great but a little difficult being away from home.  However with facebook/email and my awesome host family, I felt right at home.  The host fam bought me little deserts and even gave me a coin box, to start saving for my return, and a picture-frame so that way I could put a picture of all of us together.  Later on in the night, my friends and I went to two new bars in the city to celebrate and as always, we had a really good time.

On thursday night, I met up with some friends that I’ve made at the university.  It was really great getting to know them outside of the classroom and I truly hope we can go out another time.  Unfortunately early Friday morning Coruña suffered a pretty tragic event.  At around 5 am, a foreign exchange and one policeman were reported dead, and two other policemen were reported missing.  The city, and arguably the country, has certainly been effected by it seeing that it made national news and a conversation of the day in all Spanish homes and on the street.

At 11:30 on Friday morning, my housing director Pablo called me to see if I was interested in getting interviewed on the radio.  I agreed to go, and it actually turned out to be a really cool and rewarding experience.  The interview was hosted by my friend Katherine’s host mom, so it was a blast getting to know her through it.  In the interview, we talked about Friday morning’s tragic event and she asked me some questions about my experience thus far. 

I know this is really off topic, but I just wanted to share with you this video that I stumbled upon facebook.  It’s truly powerful (it gave me the chills) and its certainly worth the 4 minutes.  The video is about a teenager named Ben Breedlove who passed away on Christmas evening; he had a very rare heart disease, however that did not stop him from doing what he loved: living life to the fullest and being a mentor for others.  I know that it’s about a month old in terms of mainstream news, but if you haven’t seen it, I really encourage you to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/user/TotalRandomness512?feature=watch

Elevator, Elevator

Happy Tuesday everyone... also a happy 21st birthday to my good friend Jim Cav!  I figured that I would share this piece of news with my followers: the elevator in my apartment building is out of commission for three weeks, starting today.  In other words, my host and I have to go down/climb up seven flights of stairs every time we leave/come back to the apartment building.  Although it’s quite aggravating, I guess I’ll be getting some nice leg workouts in; perhaps this could be the commencement of the wedding diet... it’s right around the corner Jack and Mike, just over 4 months from today!

With that being said, this reminds me of an interesting difference between Spain and the United States.  In Spain, everyone seems to live in what we as Americans call, the “downtown” of the major cities, whereas the majority of Americans live in the “suburbs”.  If you ever visit a Spanish city, you’ll find that there are apartments on top of every kind of space: business offices, banks, markets, retail stores, salons etc...  Although the majority lives in the “downtown” area of the cities, there are small towns, or the “suburbs” which have a pretty decent population size as well.  As far as my experience is concerned, it’s been really cool to live in Coruña since it’s decidedly cosmopolitan and one of Spain’s major cities thanks to its well known port.  Who would have thought that this western-Cranstoner evolved into quite the urbanite!

Finals Weeks: Coruña Edition

Another difference between the American and Spanish university system is the final evaluation period.  Unlike the traditional two-semester American university system, in which all students take their finals before Christmas break, Spanish students are evaluated from the middle of January to early February (depending on your major).  This Monday commences the finals weeks, something that I’m really not looking too forward to knowing that a big chunk of my grade is still undecided.  However, one of my professors just let me know that he is altering my exam, so I’m very thankful for that!  A big bummer is that I have my Political Sociology final on my birthday at 8:00 am, although I keep telling myself its better to have the exam on my birthday rather than the day after!

Aside from working on final projects and studying, I’ve been settling back into my routine and continue to enjoy my time here in Coruña.  I’m currently figuring out some travel plans for the next semester, so if you have any suggestions on where to go, definitely let me know!

New Year, New Blog

Alrighty, so I've failed miserably as a blogger.  Not even one post in December.  However, it’s a new year, so hopefully I’ll get my act together and start posting more often... I knew that you all were missing your biweekly dosage of más o menos!!

Thanks to a good family friend, Pati Paolella (pobrecita lost sleep over the renovation of más o menos), I’ve decided to take a new direction with the blog.  Instead of writing an overwhelming amount in a two-week period, I’ll be posting shorter entries every couple days.  

So to start, I guess I’ll rewind and give you a very brief description of my December.  In the beginning of the month, I went to Paris with 11 of my Holy Cross friends studying abroad in Spain.  The city is awesome, everything that I thought it would be and a little more, although I have to say that after my first semester travels, Madrid has been my favorite city.  Upon returning from Paris, I was left with ten days in Coruña.  After handing in a 25 page paper for my political science class (in Spanish!), I enjoyed pre-Christmas in the festive Coruña.  Two days before Christmas, I flew home for a two week vacation; it felt  truly incredible to be home with my family, and catch up with some friends, and although it was very difficult to return, now that I’m back in Coruña, I’m very happy to have the opportunity to enjoy five more months here!

Notre Dame in Paris.

Eating a french baguette... total tourist move.

From the Eiffel Tower!

The main Christmas tree in Coruña, mounted by cousin Paloma's company.

Coruña's Ayuntamiento (city hall) decorated for Christmas.