April 30, 2008
Today, not such a good day
So it's been a while since the last time I wrote something here. Well, at least I do not feel as bad since I have noticed that my friends, I'm not going to give any names here but they know, update their blogs even less. Anyway, I guess you might be wondering why the title of this post is so not optimistic. The thing is that today has been the breaking point for me. The whole academic year I have been trying to go abroad next fall by any means. So today was my last shot. After applying to the erasmus program through my university, on my own to the Swedish masters, and finally to the special edition of the erasmus program with all the left-overs, I've been told I ain't going nowhere. I somehow knew it from the beginning, but always thought there was at least a small chance. So even though I sensed it, it wasn't real yet and I had that little hope lasting. But today, today it has just slapped me in the face. The fact that next year, and probably more to come, I'm gonna be stuck in Pamplona is something I didn't fancy. Anyway, I guess the sooner I get used to the fact the better. I just need a slight change of mentality and a change on how I pictured my future too.
April 14, 2008
My Swedish dream vanishing
Hey guys! As most of you might know, in my desperation to get away from Pamplona once again I applied for a one-year master program in Sweden. I was gonna do a master and, with it, a project that would be the final project I need in order to graduate. Well, today I found out that I wasn't qualified for three out of the six masters I applied to. I know there's still a chance of getting into one of the other three, but I see it as very unluckily considering the reduced number of free spots. So one of my great plans for next year has fallen apart. As my Austrian friend Christoph would say: "it sucks".
However, I tend to think than when a window closes another one opens up, you just have to be ready and look for it. So this time that new window has the shape of an Erasmus program in Bruxelles. Some crazy (there's no other way to describe her/him) person rejected their spot in this program. So there was now a second round, meaning a new opportunity to fulfill my final project abroad, which I want so hard. I'm totally concern that the odds of me getting these leftovers are rare. But if you don't take the chance you will never win.
However, I tend to think than when a window closes another one opens up, you just have to be ready and look for it. So this time that new window has the shape of an Erasmus program in Bruxelles. Some crazy (there's no other way to describe her/him) person rejected their spot in this program. So there was now a second round, meaning a new opportunity to fulfill my final project abroad, which I want so hard. I'm totally concern that the odds of me getting these leftovers are rare. But if you don't take the chance you will never win.
April 08, 2008
Weekend in Madrid
After a long time saying I was gonna go to Madrid to visit Julen and Mauro I finally did it. I couldn't find a free weekend before. Either I had to work, to study, a basketball game or all of them at the same time. But this time I saw it clear. Everything was fitting perfectly. As you know I went to Switzerland during my Easter vacation (or Spring break if you're American) to visit some of my UVM friends and my flight was landing in Madrid on its way back. So I talked with both Julen and Mauro and they agreed on the dates. I hadn't seen them for over a year and was really excited.
I arrived at Madrid airport at around 8.30 in the morning and after saying goodbye to Eva I got in the subway to go to the city center where I was meeting Mauro. I wasn't gonna see Julen until late evening because he had to work all day. Yeah, you know, he has now become one of those businessmen without time for anything. But I have to admit he did a really big effort to get time to spend with me while I was there. Well, so Mauro, who also did a great job maintaining me entertained during the weekend, picked me up and took me to play a soccer game at his university. We had lunch in the university dinning hall and then walked the city. We went to almost every touristic spot in Madrid enjoying the really nice and warm weather. Before meeting Julen we crashed down in Mauro's place for a while since I was totally destroyed after the trip and all the walking. Julen couldn't go with us so Mauro and I went out on our own. The truth is that we had a great time first in Patatus, then in La Via Lactea and finally in Ocean (really weird but nice and cheap bar). In the last bar we went to we found a frisbee and we walked back home throwing it and inviting people to play with us. It was great fun!
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On Saturday Julen and I woke up really late and went directly to have lunch with Mauro in an indian restaurant in the neighborhood of Lavapies. After walking around for a while we headed back to Julen's place where we had dinner. That night we went out to Malsaña area again. It was a funny night too and we ended up in a place called Sala Sol or something like that. Next morning I thanked Julen and Mauro for their great hospitality and went to the bus station where I was meeting Juan before taking the bus back to Pamplona. Juan is a friend of mine who is also working in Madrid and who I hadn't seen for a long time. Apparently he is really busy but doing well.
Julen, Mauro, it was a great weekend. I really wanted to meet you and see how you were doing in such a big city. I checked that you got used to it perfectly. Thank you for everything and you know, I'm here in Pamplona so you can come visit whenever you feel like it.
I arrived at Madrid airport at around 8.30 in the morning and after saying goodbye to Eva I got in the subway to go to the city center where I was meeting Mauro. I wasn't gonna see Julen until late evening because he had to work all day. Yeah, you know, he has now become one of those businessmen without time for anything. But I have to admit he did a really big effort to get time to spend with me while I was there. Well, so Mauro, who also did a great job maintaining me entertained during the weekend, picked me up and took me to play a soccer game at his university. We had lunch in the university dinning hall and then walked the city. We went to almost every touristic spot in Madrid enjoying the really nice and warm weather. Before meeting Julen we crashed down in Mauro's place for a while since I was totally destroyed after the trip and all the walking. Julen couldn't go with us so Mauro and I went out on our own. The truth is that we had a great time first in Patatus, then in La Via Lactea and finally in Ocean (really weird but nice and cheap bar). In the last bar we went to we found a frisbee and we walked back home throwing it and inviting people to play with us. It was great fun!
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On Saturday Julen and I woke up really late and went directly to have lunch with Mauro in an indian restaurant in the neighborhood of Lavapies. After walking around for a while we headed back to Julen's place where we had dinner. That night we went out to Malsaña area again. It was a funny night too and we ended up in a place called Sala Sol or something like that. Next morning I thanked Julen and Mauro for their great hospitality and went to the bus station where I was meeting Juan before taking the bus back to Pamplona. Juan is a friend of mine who is also working in Madrid and who I hadn't seen for a long time. Apparently he is really busy but doing well.
Julen, Mauro, it was a great weekend. I really wanted to meet you and see how you were doing in such a big city. I checked that you got used to it perfectly. Thank you for everything and you know, I'm here in Pamplona so you can come visit whenever you feel like it.
April 01, 2008
Easter vacation with a Swiss taste
There we were, Eva and me, waiting for the slightly delayed flight to depart from Barajas Airport in Madrid. Both of us really excited about meeting some of our international friends from UVM. After a night in the bus in which I couldn't really sleep much I felt a little b
it tired. Nothing better to cure it than the fresh air of Switzerland. I must admit I was nervous in a way because I didn't know how comfortable things were gonna be. I mean, some of the guys I haven't talked with them for such a long time I wasn't sure we still shared that connection that made us good friends back in Vermont. But I was really glad to check that after the first couple of minutes, which are always of expectancy, it seemed like we had been together for the past months. There was no sign of that break in our relationships we had gone thru.
So after all this philosophical thinking I did as introduction I'm gonna go through what happened in the reunion. I'll try to make it short because I don't want to bore the few people who read my blog. Anyway, Eva and I arrived at Geneva on Sunday at around noon and decided to stay there till dinner. Since none of us knew the city we wanted to explore it for a while, so we went for a walk. Most of you might know that the main attraction of Geneva is the huge artificial geyser they have in the lake. Because it was windy, a guy told us they weren't gonna turn it on. It wasn't fair! we wanted to see it. So as if the people in charge of it had heard us they made it work and we could take some pictures with our faces showing all our excitement.
Anita and Adrian went to pick us up at Fribourg train station. Since it was already "Swiss dinner time", you know, about 6 or 7pm, Adrian invited us to have dinner at his place. He invited, but we had to do most of the cooking and the dishes, I don't know about you, but that's not what we call an invitation in Spain. hehe. Just kidding Adrian! According to our detailed program written by Anita next day plan was: "hanging out in Fribourg waiting for Torsten to arrive". So after meeting Cristoph we followed the program and did as it said. We visited Fribourg and killed some time here and there until Torsten arrived. This time Anita invited us to have some risotto at her place, delicious! And of course, we went out at night. Come on, how could we skip a "Crazy Monday"? the party day in Fribourg. It was actually really fun and I ended up sleeping and having some spaghettis at Adrian's, even though all my stuff was at Anita's. On Tuesday we went to visit Bern. I had already been there, but it was worth going a second time.
On Wednesday we got cheap day passes for transportation, which was a relief considering transport in Switzerland is extremely expensive. We used them to get to Luzern, beautiful city located in the shore of one of the numerous lakes in the country. And finally, on Thursday we went to visit Gruyere, the town were the world famous cheese is produced. We had a look into the factory (guided by our beloved and sexy, sooooo sexy cow) and then got to the typical village of Gruyere. But the best part of the day was still to come. Adrian drove us to a spa in the alps. It had everything, an outdoors warm pool, turkish baths, saunas, etc. And for students like us with our discount it was pretty cheap. After getting relaxed it was time for the most famous dish in Switzerland: Fondue. The cheese fondue we prepared at Adrian's place that day was jammy. It was really tasty and soooooooo good. Greatly complemented by the toasts we all did in our different languages. My flight left Geneva airport at 6.25am so we stayed up until three or so and then got the car. Thanks Adrian for the ride, it was very nice from you.
I got to Madrid at 8.25am and spent a great weekend with Julen and Mauro there, but that will be the topic of another post. I believe this one is already too long and maybe kind of boring to read. At this point you might not even laugh if I say: "chicken likes oil, everybody knows that" (don't worry if you don't get it, inside joke again). I just want to thank Anita and Adrian for making this reunion possible. We all had a great time and it was just awesome seeing and being with you again. I hope this is the beginning of lots of other reunions that will bring us together again from time to time forever. So the only question is: Where and When will be the next one?
it tired. Nothing better to cure it than the fresh air of Switzerland. I must admit I was nervous in a way because I didn't know how comfortable things were gonna be. I mean, some of the guys I haven't talked with them for such a long time I wasn't sure we still shared that connection that made us good friends back in Vermont. But I was really glad to check that after the first couple of minutes, which are always of expectancy, it seemed like we had been together for the past months. There was no sign of that break in our relationships we had gone thru.So after all this philosophical thinking I did as introduction I'm gonna go through what happened in the reunion. I'll try to make it short because I don't want to bore the few people who read my blog. Anyway, Eva and I arrived at Geneva on Sunday at around noon and decided to stay there till dinner. Since none of us knew the city we wanted to explore it for a while, so we went for a walk. Most of you might know that the main attraction of Geneva is the huge artificial geyser they have in the lake. Because it was windy, a guy told us they weren't gonna turn it on. It wasn't fair! we wanted to see it. So as if the people in charge of it had heard us they made it work and we could take some pictures with our faces showing all our excitement.
Anita and Adrian went to pick us up at Fribourg train station. Since it was already "Swiss dinner time", you know, about 6 or 7pm, Adrian invited us to have dinner at his place. He invited, but we had to do most of the cooking and the dishes, I don't know about you, but that's not what we call an invitation in Spain. hehe. Just kidding Adrian! According to our detailed program written by Anita next day plan was: "hanging out in Fribourg waiting for Torsten to arrive". So after meeting Cristoph we followed the program and did as it said. We visited Fribourg and killed some time here and there until Torsten arrived. This time Anita invited us to have some risotto at her place, delicious! And of course, we went out at night. Come on, how could we skip a "Crazy Monday"? the party day in Fribourg. It was actually really fun and I ended up sleeping and having some spaghettis at Adrian's, even though all my stuff was at Anita's. On Tuesday we went to visit Bern. I had already been there, but it was worth going a second time.
On Wednesday we got cheap day passes for transportation, which was a relief considering transport in Switzerland is extremely expensive. We used them to get to Luzern, beautiful city located in the shore of one of the numerous lakes in the country. And finally, on Thursday we went to visit Gruyere, the town were the world famous cheese is produced. We had a look into the factory (guided by our beloved and sexy, sooooo sexy cow) and then got to the typical village of Gruyere. But the best part of the day was still to come. Adrian drove us to a spa in the alps. It had everything, an outdoors warm pool, turkish baths, saunas, etc. And for students like us with our discount it was pretty cheap. After getting relaxed it was time for the most famous dish in Switzerland: Fondue. The cheese fondue we prepared at Adrian's place that day was jammy. It was really tasty and soooooooo good. Greatly complemented by the toasts we all did in our different languages. My flight left Geneva airport at 6.25am so we stayed up until three or so and then got the car. Thanks Adrian for the ride, it was very nice from you.
I got to Madrid at 8.25am and spent a great weekend with Julen and Mauro there, but that will be the topic of another post. I believe this one is already too long and maybe kind of boring to read. At this point you might not even laugh if I say: "chicken likes oil, everybody knows that" (don't worry if you don't get it, inside joke again). I just want to thank Anita and Adrian for making this reunion possible. We all had a great time and it was just awesome seeing and being with you again. I hope this is the beginning of lots of other reunions that will bring us together again from time to time forever. So the only question is: Where and When will be the next one?
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