I haven't posted in quite awhile, but I thought it'd be fun to throw together some pictures from the last couple months of 2011 as a little update.
Mom and Dad come to visit!
Dad, Mom, our friend Ruth, and me in Granada after seeing each other for the first time in months! It was such a happy moment and a wonderful beginning to a blissful week.
Dorothy, Ruth, Mom, Dad and me at lunch on our first full day in Granada. We sat outside and drank sangría and ate tapas and bocadillos at a Spanish pace before our afternoon siesta. My parents were basically full-on Spanish by day three.
I turned 21 while my parents were here! Nothing could have been more wonderful for my birthday than getting to be with them, my housemates, and my friends together to celebrate it. Everyone sang happy birthday in English, then Spanish, then we all sang this Japanese song they sing at Benihana because it's a birthday tradition to go there in my family. I normally would've been hesitant to do so, but thanks in part to my mom's strong lemon drops I had no problem teaching everyone how to sing and clap along. Banzai!
This is Mom, Dad, and me at el Parque Retiro in Madrid. This was the end of their trip. It was so hard to say bye to them after getting to spend time with them all week. I'm so happy that they came here and will be forever thankful that we got to share this experience.
Tyler, Alex and Carter showed us around Utrecht, where they went to school last semester. It couldn't have been a cooler place! There were bikes everywhere, it was colorful, there were pedestrianized shopping streets, and it was overall very different from Spain and from home.
"When I walk into a church, I always get this instant....."
"Feeling of guilt?" -Carter
"Whoa what's this flower on the back of this euro? Where's it from?"
"Oh it's Hawaii for SURE" -Carter
We passed by one Chinese buffet in Amsterdam, and Megan said "I think we should go to a place where you see Asian people eating inside so you know it's good," and instantly this place appeared. It was perfect
Amsterdam's Red Light District was a trip to see in real life! When we were walking through, Tyler and I walked past these blue-lit windows behind which are transgendered prostitutes. One of them saw us and called out "heyyyy, you want a little more?" and pulled up her skirt and proceeded to shake her junk at us through her underwear. We couldn't believe it! This guy walking behind us yelled "she's got a dick, that one!"
Huge swans in the Red Light District
Tyler, Carter, Megan and me out for our last night in Utrecht!
Italy
Pasta with meatsauce in Rome - a dream realized! I wish my parents and Kirsten, my favorite pasta buddies, could've been there to appreciate it with me. Every single meal we ate in Italy, whether it was from a hole in the wall pizza place or a restaurant, was good. It was so much fun trying to think of everything that's Italian and putting it on our list of things to try at each next meal. Pizza, calzones, spaghetti, meatsauce, carbonara, pesto, ravioli, canolis, tiramisu, gelato, repeat! Apparently, to try meatballs you'd have to venture further south than we did.
Walking around the Colosseum at night! This is one of my favorite pictures and one of my favorite sights from our trip.
I was most looking forward to seeing the Pantheon in Rome! I remember sitting in Campbell Hall in Art History last year learning about it, thinking "I'm going to go there someday."
There's the Pope performing his popely duties at St. Peter's Basilica, the largest cathedral in the world. The cathedral was spectacular. I think I'll have my gay wedding here someday. You're all invited.
"Do you think that when Michelangelo, right, was painting the Sixteenth Chapel, that he said, 'Hey, guys, you know, I did pretty good on the first 15 chapels,
but why don't you help me design this one?'"
"Okay, It's the Sistine Chapel, not the Sixteenth." -Brooke and Gary, The Breakup
but why don't you help me design this one?'"
"Okay, It's the Sistine Chapel, not the Sixteenth." -Brooke and Gary, The Breakup
Florence was beautiful and a lot smaller than Rome. Walking to the top of this mountain to watch the sunset was a highlight of our stay in Florence. Another highlight was going out with Lauren and Maddy in search of some nightlife, which lead us to an empty bar where we shared half a liter of red wine between the three of us. We're wild. We joke now about that quiet night in Florence being the wild night against which all others are compared. "I mean, we're not try'na get Florence crazy, but..."
Florence at dusk
Venice was such a unique place. The buildings and the gondolas on the channels were so picturesque, just like I'd imagined it. We wandered and wandered without ever having to stop and wait for cars to pass--one of the things that makes a city without streets so neat.
Venice by night
Lauren, Maddy and I decided to take a midnight train from Venice back to Rome to catch our flight the following morning instead of taking the expensive morning train. Thanks to some lagging and poor timing, we missed the train had to wait at the station in the freezing cold (literally, I believe it was about 0 degrees celsius) for the 3:11 am train. Everything was locked at the station, and the sweethearts at The Best Western wouldn't let us sit in their warm, empty lobby in the middle of the night. It's fine. When the train finally came and we found a heated cabin to sleep in, we were all excited and appreciative beyond words. The circumstances themselves were less than ideal, but a bit of misery among good friends wasn't all that bad. It was one of my favorite nights of the trip.
Back in Granada
A Christmas market in Granada
I'd been so anxious for them to turn the Christmas lights on in Granada,
and they finally did in early-mid December! It's funny to me that they put them up in November,
waited so long to turn them on, and then kept turning them on for about two weeks
into January.
Joey came and visited me for Christmas! December passed by like just another month, but it really felt like the Christmas season when he got here on Christmas Eve. Christmas wouldn't have been much without family, but it ended up being awesome. It was so great to catch up with Joey, pick up where we left off, and enjoy some good quality brother time. That's what this very different, very special Christmas was all about.
I never, ever, ever thought I'd see the day that my family didn't spend Christmas morning together around the tree in our livingroom. It's funny how things turn out! This Christmas was of course very different, but like I said, it was special in its own way. Thanks to Joey coming and thanks to Skype, it felt like we really were all together. We'll never forget the year we spent Christmas riding a bus through Spain, cooking our own chicken, and Skyping Mom, Dad and Dustin when their Christmas morning was our Christmas evening. After spending this Thanksgiving and Christmas away from home, I'll appreciate next year's holidays with my family that much more.
Joey and me walking around the Alhambra. It was enjoyable to show him the real points of interest around Granada, but even moreso to show him my apartment, where I go to school, and what life is like here. Now most of my family will know what I'm talking about when for the rest of my life I don't shut up about how much I loved my year in Granada.
For New Year's Eve, Felix, Sara, Lauren, Maddy, Tressa, and her boyfriend who was visiting came over to hang out before we headed down to a plaza nearby to eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight (one for good luck in each month of the coming year) and to watch fireworks. It was a really fun group and I'm glad we were all in town to ring in 2012 together!
