Do you ever wish when you are on vacation that it could last for only a few more days? How about another week? How about another possible two weeks? Welcome to my situation in Athens, even though it is not exactly an extended vacation by choice!
If you don't know by this point or have been living under a rock, the volcano in Iceland that erupted a few weeks ago is finally making its voice heard by spreading ash all over Europe. The ash has caused airports to be shut down all over Europe for days (and at this point, currently still shut down). And guess where I am? The day before we were supposed to leave to go back to England from Athens we saw that flights were being canceled left and right going back to the UK. This soon extended to all over Europe and we discovered that morning that our flight was canceled. The earliest we could book a return flight to England was on Thursday...NEXT Thursday.
We had already been here about 5 days and now we are all on day 7 of our extended time here. Alright alright I know all of you are thinking...WHAT? More days in Greece that sounds ideal! Well even though it may sound ideal to a certain extent, we will be missing class and it is more money to stay. Luckily we were able to stay in the same hostel we were staying in before and we know the area well enough. Food is relatively cheap which makes staying a bit more bearable. It is the uncertainty of the situation that makes it not as enjoyable as it could be, especially when there are many thoughts of being stuck here longer looming overhead.
If our flight on Thursday is canceled, we will have to look into either flights elsewhere to get closer to England or boats/trains. Traveling to England by ferries/boats/trains will take anywhere from 2-4 days, depending on how booked up things will be and I imagine they will be. Flights will be difficult because of what airports are available to us being in Greece and the airline we used, if there are any airports open. It is a tough call to make, especially since may of us are running out of funds and we are on our second to last week of classes. So although it may seem very ideal to be stuck in Greece, it is better than most places to get stuck, but it is still not ideal.
On a different note, I am here with 4 other fellow friends and classmates which make my time here more bearable. We have at least been able to find some hilarity in this situation. Last night we went out for McDonalds cause we were in need of some comfort food. We took the food to a nearby park and proceeded to eat and enjoy it. A Grecian elderly woman came up and started talking to us in Greek. Of course, none of us speak a word of Greek but apparently she thought I could understand her. What we could make out of the entire conversation is either that she thought we were Bulgarian or that there were Bulgarians stealing purses and asking for money. That just added to the fact that we are stuck here and gave us all a good laugh.
Today we decided to get out of the hostel for the day and go to the beach. It only costs 2 euros to get there and back, so it was something we all could afford. The beaches here aren't naturally sandy, but naturally rocky. There is some artificial sand that is pumped in, but when you go into the water it is all rocks. Four of us decided to go swimming in the Aegean today and despite it being a bit chilly, it was quite nice. I even ended up with some battlescars from the rocks!
The best part of our day though happened at dinner. We all decided to get some pizza to make for dinner since it is a cheap meal. Unfortunately, we never checked to make sure our hostel had an oven in their kitchen. We got back to the hostel to discover that there was no oven and no microwave. Soo we decided to make them over the stove in a pan and they ended up burning completely on the bottom and only slightly cooking on the top. A delicious meal indeed!
At this point, I am taking it one step at a time and trying to keep positive. I have freak outs a few times every day when I think about this situation and how long I might be here. I just know that other people have it worse off than me and I have to remember it when I am feeling low. I think after this whole ordeal I am done with traveling for a LONG time.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Spring in Spain Part Two: Schmiemann Invasion!
After spending a few wonderful and relaxing days with Matthew, we were joined by his family. It had been about 7 months or so since his family had seen him, so I was glad that I could share in the reunion.
(The Schmiemann family minus Mr. Schmiemann, who was there too)
We stayed at this resort on the outside of Malaga, only a taxi, bus and train ride away! On Palm Sunday we all decided to take the lovely almost two hour excursion into the city. Luckily for them, since it was Palm Sunday, there were many holy week processionals going on. Basically every where we walked we ran into one.
(Don't worry, these are not KKK members, but part of a Spanish religious fraternity)
After the processionals, Matthew took us to the Alcazaba, a centuries old Muslim palace built on top of Roman ruins. It was absolutely beautiful and you can see all over the city of Malaga.
After exploring Malaga for most of the day, we decided to get them churros, a Spanish favorite dessert. Churros are basically fried dough with a cup of chocolate that you dip them into. What can be better than that? This soon became a Schmiemann family favorite and was requested almost every day.
(Spanish-style churros)
On Tuesday morning I was supposed to leave Malaga to go back to Norwich, but after only two days with his family, I decided to stay a bit longer because of how much fun I was having. After changing my flight, I now was able to stay until Thursday afternoon and enjoy more time with this wonderful family.
Tuesday we went to the town of Mijas, right outside of Malaga. This city was built into the mountain side, so we had a great view of Malaga and the Costa del Sol. The town, although very pretty, was very touristy, so that takes away from the beauty of the town. Once again we enjoyed some churros after a disappointing lunch. One of my favorite parts of our days in Spain though was actually coming back to the resort at night. Just like the Schells, the Schmiemanns love games, so we would spend the night playing card games and cracking jokes and doing some more eating. I couldn't think of a better way to end my days.
On Wednesday we went back to Malaga to have lunch with Matthew's host mother. Of course Matthew's real mother was eager to meet his host mother. Dora, Matthew's host mom, has always been so nice and gracious all the times I have stayed at her house, so she had nothing to worry about. Dora and her daughter Dori, made us all paella, a traditional Spanish dish that has rice, veggies, and oftentimes seafood or some kind of meat with an olive oil and saffron sauce. We had had paella the other night at a restaurant but Dora's paella was 10 times better than the restaurants. Dora only speaks Spanish so poor Matthew had to be the interpreter for all six of us the entire time. Her daughter Dori spoke a little bit of English so myself and Matthew's sisters, Kara and Hope, were successful in striking up a bit of a conversation. Overall though, everyone had a great time and despite the language barrier, we were all laughing.
That night we had to be back for a flamenco show at this excellent Italian restaurant that we had eaten at two nights before. Clearly it was that good or we would not be going back! The last time we were there I got the most delicious pumpkin ravioli, which sounds strange, but it was very good! After eating another great meal, we stayed to watch the flamenco show. I had never seen flamenco live, so it was incredible for me to watch since I love dancing. Flamenco is really only native to Andalusia (the region of Spain where Malaga is) but it is considered the dance of Spain. In Flamenco there are lots of heel stomps, clapping and castanets. At one part of it though, they decided to bring up members of the audience. Knowing how I usually get picked for these things and how much I love to dance, I was so hoping to get picked. But instead they pick Matthew to go up and dance. He won the crowd over though and I couldn't have been more proud (even though I wanted to be up there too!). Overall, it was a great day.
On my final day in Spain, Matthew planned for us all to go to Gibraltar. Even though it is technically a part of Spain, it is owned by the British and so is considered a British territory. The interesting part of Gibraltar is that you can see parts of Africa and all along the Costa del Sol in Spain. It is also a huge rock basically where there are more roads inside tunnels in the rock than outside. Matthew chose for us to do the Tunnel Tour instead of the shopping one, so I was excited. On the way to the WWII Tunnels, we took a bus up these windy, narrow pathways. What we came across though, surprised me. There are apes native to Gibraltar and there was a place where we stopped to go see them. They are wild and not on a game preserve and are the only wild monkeys that can be found in Europe. After seeing the apes, we arrived at the WWII Tunnels. During WWII Winston Churchill had the army construct a massive set of tunnels into the mountain for people to live, as well as for an army base. The incredible thing is that most soldiers would work in the caves 6 days a week and then get one day off to go out into the town. They would only get about 10 minutes or so to go out of the cave per day. The water supply was also limited, so showers only happened about twice a week. They did have running water, beds, and an entire kitchen run on electricity. After that, we had some time to eat and then had to go back on the bus.
(That's Africa in the background!!!)
(one of the many apes!)
(Matthew and his sister, Kara, in the tunnels)
(the town of Gibraltar)
We got back later than expected, so I had to say some quick good-byes before I had to leave for the airport. Since it takes a good hour and a half to get to the airport from the resort, Matthew and I were pushing it close. This was one of the first times I had to run to the airport to get there on time. Luckily all was well and I made my flight. But what an incredible time I had in Spain with Matthew and his family. I came back to rainy, cold weather in England, so I am definitely missing the sunshine of Malaga.
(The Schmiemann family minus Mr. Schmiemann, who was there too)We stayed at this resort on the outside of Malaga, only a taxi, bus and train ride away! On Palm Sunday we all decided to take the lovely almost two hour excursion into the city. Luckily for them, since it was Palm Sunday, there were many holy week processionals going on. Basically every where we walked we ran into one.
(Don't worry, these are not KKK members, but part of a Spanish religious fraternity)
After the processionals, Matthew took us to the Alcazaba, a centuries old Muslim palace built on top of Roman ruins. It was absolutely beautiful and you can see all over the city of Malaga.
After exploring Malaga for most of the day, we decided to get them churros, a Spanish favorite dessert. Churros are basically fried dough with a cup of chocolate that you dip them into. What can be better than that? This soon became a Schmiemann family favorite and was requested almost every day.
(Spanish-style churros)On Tuesday morning I was supposed to leave Malaga to go back to Norwich, but after only two days with his family, I decided to stay a bit longer because of how much fun I was having. After changing my flight, I now was able to stay until Thursday afternoon and enjoy more time with this wonderful family.
Tuesday we went to the town of Mijas, right outside of Malaga. This city was built into the mountain side, so we had a great view of Malaga and the Costa del Sol. The town, although very pretty, was very touristy, so that takes away from the beauty of the town. Once again we enjoyed some churros after a disappointing lunch. One of my favorite parts of our days in Spain though was actually coming back to the resort at night. Just like the Schells, the Schmiemanns love games, so we would spend the night playing card games and cracking jokes and doing some more eating. I couldn't think of a better way to end my days.
On Wednesday we went back to Malaga to have lunch with Matthew's host mother. Of course Matthew's real mother was eager to meet his host mother. Dora, Matthew's host mom, has always been so nice and gracious all the times I have stayed at her house, so she had nothing to worry about. Dora and her daughter Dori, made us all paella, a traditional Spanish dish that has rice, veggies, and oftentimes seafood or some kind of meat with an olive oil and saffron sauce. We had had paella the other night at a restaurant but Dora's paella was 10 times better than the restaurants. Dora only speaks Spanish so poor Matthew had to be the interpreter for all six of us the entire time. Her daughter Dori spoke a little bit of English so myself and Matthew's sisters, Kara and Hope, were successful in striking up a bit of a conversation. Overall though, everyone had a great time and despite the language barrier, we were all laughing.
That night we had to be back for a flamenco show at this excellent Italian restaurant that we had eaten at two nights before. Clearly it was that good or we would not be going back! The last time we were there I got the most delicious pumpkin ravioli, which sounds strange, but it was very good! After eating another great meal, we stayed to watch the flamenco show. I had never seen flamenco live, so it was incredible for me to watch since I love dancing. Flamenco is really only native to Andalusia (the region of Spain where Malaga is) but it is considered the dance of Spain. In Flamenco there are lots of heel stomps, clapping and castanets. At one part of it though, they decided to bring up members of the audience. Knowing how I usually get picked for these things and how much I love to dance, I was so hoping to get picked. But instead they pick Matthew to go up and dance. He won the crowd over though and I couldn't have been more proud (even though I wanted to be up there too!). Overall, it was a great day.
On my final day in Spain, Matthew planned for us all to go to Gibraltar. Even though it is technically a part of Spain, it is owned by the British and so is considered a British territory. The interesting part of Gibraltar is that you can see parts of Africa and all along the Costa del Sol in Spain. It is also a huge rock basically where there are more roads inside tunnels in the rock than outside. Matthew chose for us to do the Tunnel Tour instead of the shopping one, so I was excited. On the way to the WWII Tunnels, we took a bus up these windy, narrow pathways. What we came across though, surprised me. There are apes native to Gibraltar and there was a place where we stopped to go see them. They are wild and not on a game preserve and are the only wild monkeys that can be found in Europe. After seeing the apes, we arrived at the WWII Tunnels. During WWII Winston Churchill had the army construct a massive set of tunnels into the mountain for people to live, as well as for an army base. The incredible thing is that most soldiers would work in the caves 6 days a week and then get one day off to go out into the town. They would only get about 10 minutes or so to go out of the cave per day. The water supply was also limited, so showers only happened about twice a week. They did have running water, beds, and an entire kitchen run on electricity. After that, we had some time to eat and then had to go back on the bus.
(That's Africa in the background!!!)
(one of the many apes!)
(Matthew and his sister, Kara, in the tunnels)
(the town of Gibraltar)We got back later than expected, so I had to say some quick good-byes before I had to leave for the airport. Since it takes a good hour and a half to get to the airport from the resort, Matthew and I were pushing it close. This was one of the first times I had to run to the airport to get there on time. Luckily all was well and I made my flight. But what an incredible time I had in Spain with Matthew and his family. I came back to rainy, cold weather in England, so I am definitely missing the sunshine of Malaga.
Spring in Spain Part One: Reunited at Last!
After almost 3 months of being away from my boyfriend, I finally got to fly to Spain to see him! I cannot even begin to express how excited and relieved I was to see him. Unfortunately for him, spring break didn't start until three days after I got there, so he still had to go to class and work.
Since I had already been to Malaga (where he lives) in November, I was perfectly fine with just relaxing, going to class with him, and oh yeah, going to the beach!! The first day there was the most beautiful and warm day of the entire time I was in Spain, so we went to the beach. We both went into the water and I almost dunked my head! Now I can officially say I went swimming in the Mediterranean Ocean!
On one of the next days Matthew and I decided to take a long walk on the beach. We didn't realize how long of a walk we would actually take, but we ended up walking to the center of town, which is at least a 30+ minute bus ride! Along the walk we saw so much sea life that we were not expecting. We first came across these blue jelly fish that looked nothing like the jelly fish I have found in the Atlantic Ocean. Since we noticed that most of them were still moving we tried to save them, but they were sadly almost dead. We also found the biggest jelly fish I have ever seen in my life...it was at least 2-3 ft in diameter!
(weird blue jelly)
(2 foot jelly fish!)
Then we found some sort of fish that was barely alive which we tried to save. We managed to get it back into the ocean but it was belly up. And the last thing we found were barnacles. They were on boots, sticks, logs, anything they could attach to.
(a plethora of barnacles)
One of my favorite days with Matthew though was when we got to go behind-the-scenes for the Holy Week (or Semana Santa) in Spain. Basically Holy Week in Spain is filled with at least 7 or 8 processionals per day with these elaborate floats and music. These processionals are put on by the churches in the area and Spanish Fraternities (which are NOTHING like American-style fraternities). The traditional dress of the fraternity members is also startling because well, it is what the KKK modeled their costumes after. They are NOT affiliated with the KKK in the least. Matthew's one professor is part of one of these fraternities and so he allowed me to join the class in getting to see the floats up close. Of course, the entire tour was in Spanish, so my wonderful boyfriend had to translate it all for me. There is just nothing that can compare with these kind of events in America.
(Majority of the floats have a crying Mary) (this train was HUGE!!)
After we had the tour, we got to see one of the processionals going on. Since every thing is done really late in Spain (like eating dinner at 9 or 10 at night), the processional was at midnight! Can't imagine anyone having a parade in America at midnight without complaining.
Another favorite day of mine was the day that Matthew decided to take me to La Conception, the largest botanical gardens in Europe. This time we managed to get a tour in English and Spanish, so Matthew could take a break from translating. We saw so many different types of trees with a majority of the trees and plants that actually came from the Americas! I really wish I could remember more facts about the trees, but I completely forgot! It was just such a beautiful day out and being able to explore these huge gardens was so fun.
And the rest of my time in Spain will continue in Part Two with the arrival of Matthew's family!
Since I had already been to Malaga (where he lives) in November, I was perfectly fine with just relaxing, going to class with him, and oh yeah, going to the beach!! The first day there was the most beautiful and warm day of the entire time I was in Spain, so we went to the beach. We both went into the water and I almost dunked my head! Now I can officially say I went swimming in the Mediterranean Ocean!
On one of the next days Matthew and I decided to take a long walk on the beach. We didn't realize how long of a walk we would actually take, but we ended up walking to the center of town, which is at least a 30+ minute bus ride! Along the walk we saw so much sea life that we were not expecting. We first came across these blue jelly fish that looked nothing like the jelly fish I have found in the Atlantic Ocean. Since we noticed that most of them were still moving we tried to save them, but they were sadly almost dead. We also found the biggest jelly fish I have ever seen in my life...it was at least 2-3 ft in diameter!
(weird blue jelly)
(2 foot jelly fish!)Then we found some sort of fish that was barely alive which we tried to save. We managed to get it back into the ocean but it was belly up. And the last thing we found were barnacles. They were on boots, sticks, logs, anything they could attach to.
(a plethora of barnacles)
One of my favorite days with Matthew though was when we got to go behind-the-scenes for the Holy Week (or Semana Santa) in Spain. Basically Holy Week in Spain is filled with at least 7 or 8 processionals per day with these elaborate floats and music. These processionals are put on by the churches in the area and Spanish Fraternities (which are NOTHING like American-style fraternities). The traditional dress of the fraternity members is also startling because well, it is what the KKK modeled their costumes after. They are NOT affiliated with the KKK in the least. Matthew's one professor is part of one of these fraternities and so he allowed me to join the class in getting to see the floats up close. Of course, the entire tour was in Spanish, so my wonderful boyfriend had to translate it all for me. There is just nothing that can compare with these kind of events in America.
(Majority of the floats have a crying Mary) (this train was HUGE!!)
After we had the tour, we got to see one of the processionals going on. Since every thing is done really late in Spain (like eating dinner at 9 or 10 at night), the processional was at midnight! Can't imagine anyone having a parade in America at midnight without complaining.
Another favorite day of mine was the day that Matthew decided to take me to La Conception, the largest botanical gardens in Europe. This time we managed to get a tour in English and Spanish, so Matthew could take a break from translating. We saw so many different types of trees with a majority of the trees and plants that actually came from the Americas! I really wish I could remember more facts about the trees, but I completely forgot! It was just such a beautiful day out and being able to explore these huge gardens was so fun.
And the rest of my time in Spain will continue in Part Two with the arrival of Matthew's family!
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