Emilio and Eva in Pamplona

It's been a while since Emilio and Eva came to visit but the truth is I forgot to write something on the blog and then I just didn't have enough time. You know, I start my finals next week and it would be great if I could pass them all because that would mean I'm over with exams for the rest of my life. Man, I can't wait!
Anyway, the thing is that Eva and I had talked about meeting someday with Emilio and Laura since they are both studying in Spain this year. Yeah, I already know, we are a disaster and even though they had been here for about seven months we hadn't had the chance to meet. We planned on meeting during the holiday of May the 1st because we were all free. But in these kind of situations you always have to count with the unexpected, being in this case that I had to work in Baluarte on Friday and Saturday. So I thought we weren't going to meet at all but on Thursday night I got a call from Eva saying they were coming to Pamplona on the next day. Of course I said there was no problem although there was a slight one, I still had to work. So at the end we managed and organized it pretty well I must admit. They got to know most of the city, I mean, Pamplona is quite small and in one morning you can cover most of the interesting parts of the city. And they also visited some of the towns and villages that surround Pamplona thanks to Miguel who took them on a couple of day-trips.
Things went really well and we even got the chance to go out at night both days. I couldn't be with them from the start of the night (stupid job) but would meet them as soon as possible, enjoying Pamplona's "great" nightlife. And as fast as they came they left on Sunday, leaving me here with an awesome feeling, the one you get when you see and talk with important people in your life you haven't seen in a long time.

2nd reunion of the year

It seems that this is working. I'm really glad to see that the relationships I made last year in Vermont are in great shape. It hasn't even been a year since we left that beautiful State and we have already organized two reunions. I think this is great news. It's incredibly difficult to gather all of us in one place in a given time, but it's relatively easier to meet people at different times and in different places as it's been proven here. I first met some of my European friends in Switzerland and now I'm going to meet some of my Central and South American friends in Mexico. And of course Adrian, who, like me, doesn't miss an opportunity like this and he is the only one who is gonna attend both reunions. So this Mexican reunion sounds great and seems like a great continuation of the previous one.
But there's still a lot of other friends I would like to meet. So even though I'm going to Mexico in July, I would absolutely be up for another European reunion during the summer. This is most probably my last summer as an student, meaning is the last one I'm going to have time for traveling since we all know that when you start working seriously summer is reduced to a month at most. So what do you think about august?

Ok guys, I need a reunion

That's the truth guys. I know all of us are really busy both with studies and work, including myself. But for this very same reason, I need a reunion. You (UVM gang) all know how I feel about you. I like to believe we have a friendship which neither time or distance can ever destroy. As I expressed in a previous post, no matter how long have we been without talking or seeing each other I know you are there and that you care, because I do too.
Anyway, the point of this post wasn't to get sentimental, it was more about expressing my desire for a new reunion like the one we had in Switzerland. I don't care where we do it, whether it is in Spain or in any other country. I take the opportunity to inform you that you are all invited to Pamplona whenever you want. Anita, Rachel, Emilio, Eva, Taylor and so can tell you if they enjoyed it or not, because they told me they did but I'm not sure if it was true or just to make me feel good. hehe. Just kidding!
Although I'll most probably go to Mexico in July to meet up with UVM internationals from the other side of the puddle, I'll really like to meet the european ones who didn't attend the easter reunion, who are a lot.
So tell me, what do you think guys? I think it'll be simply great to see you again.

P.S: I talked about UVM internationals all through the post, but I also include you americans, you know I love you and that I really wanna go back there soon.

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.

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.

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!



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.

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 bit 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?