Fall Happenings in Soho -

Here are a few shots from Fuerza Bruta - a show no pictures (or second-hand explanation) can do justice.

The one good thing that came from the San Gennaro (the 10-day event with 2 million visitors that happened on my front step), was the cool sign I got from a vendor. And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street!

Mud Run in the Bronx

A movie theater nearby. Expensive, but cool - the theaters are all in the underground level.

Did I Just See That? (2)

Midterms and other random hecticness associated with City life have kept me from being as regular as I had hoped with this. Here are a few of the many unbelievable things I've seen recently - 

• I witnessed the "Beat a Bubble-wrapped Boy with a Bat for a Buck" fundraiser "in full swing". An organization was holding this event in a campus building...I'm not sure how long it lasted before it was shut down
• A student being handcuffed up against the library wall
• A man walking down my street with a cat on his head
• A 4-car cop chase that led to the cop cars FLYING through a busy intersection (causing several near accidents), so finally the driver of one of the cop cars grabbed his megaphone and yells "GET OUT OF THE WAY." That's right, NYC police mean business.
• And a shrine outside the Apple store when Steve died - I thought the apples on the ground were an especially nice touch :)

Did I just see that? #1

I was asked to name the weirdest thing I've seen in New York so far, and I was torn...

1. There was the guy riding his bike with no handle bars carrying a big screen TV overhead. Seriously, how are you going to get yourself out of that position?
2. There's the bike that was locked to a stop sign with a big Kermit the frog sitting on the seat (note: I saw Kermit sitting on a fire hydrant later that night).
3. It could be the man I saw in Trader Joe's today who literally had every inch of skin tattooed some shade of blue or green. Not kidding, even his nose.

Because I see some pretty odd things on a pretty regular basis, I'm going to start posting regularly about some of the strange things I see on the streets of New York City. Please comment on favorites :)

RIO

Looking out over a favela in Rio

Rio was our final stop in Brazil, and it was very different from each of the first two stops.  As we drove into the city, we could see the favelas looming over the highways -- 20% of the population lives in the slums, and the favelas are integrated into the wealthiest parts of town. There is a big police pacification movement (UPP) going on to try to reduce the amount of drugs, gangs, and violence in Rio since the World Cup and Olympics will be bringing in so many tourists in the upcoming years.  We did a favela tour while we were there, and it reminded me a lot of the neighborhood I lived in in Nicaragua.  I think the best message from the favela experience was that the people who live there are POOR, but they're not in misery! The favelas are communities, people live there with their families, there are banks, schools, taxis...the people are just poor.

Our hotel was a block in from Copacabana beach, and we were just a couple miles down from Ipanema. Outside of class meetings, we had plenty of time to explore markets, hang out at the beach, and see the iconic touristy sights

We didn't do such a good job of abiding
by the "do not feed the animals" sign

...including THE Cristo,
and we took the cable car up to Sugarloaf Mountain.

Sugarloaf

Some of us also took the tram up to Santa Tereza and stopped for the traditional Saturday meal, feijoada (rice and beans and pork). On a scary note, about an hour after the four of us who went to Santa Tereza came back down on the tram, one of the cars on the track had its breaks go out.  When the car came to a sharp turn, it flipped over, killing 5 people and injuring at least another 35.  Scary.

Sunday, we went to Ipanema, just like the rest of the town.  It was amazing to see how EVERYONE was at the beach.  People were playing volleyball and futevolley (a combination of soccer and volleyball), running, biking, flying kites, laying on the beach, selling food, drinks, and hats....the beach is where life happens and people make friends in Rio.  It was a nice way to end our trip and relax for a bit before dodging the hurricane and making it back to NYC!

SALVADOR

Amazing.  Salvador is much more what I was expecting out of Brazil -- very cultural, great food, lots of beach! Our hotel is on top of a huge hill that overlooks the city and the ocean.  We have been doing more university visits here.  It feels like a very fast stop!

There is a much bigger African population here than in SP (80%!), and we had the chance to see a performance that combined traditional African dance, condomble (African religious ceremony), and capoiera (martial arts meets dance -- slaves used this to train to fight in an undercover way!)

...This was after an amazing group dinner of moqueca, a traditional Bahian dish...fish in a tomato and coconut milk-based sauce, served with grilled peppers and onions, over rice.

We had a free weekend, so Saturday we went to the historic center to go to the huge Mercado Modelo, a market with all kinds of leather sandals, tshirts, artwork, jewelry, and on and on and on...

Sunday was beautiful.  So outside of a long run through town and a quick food break, most of us spent the whole day soaking up the sun from our rooftop pool.

One thing I've really enjoyed here is the language.  My Portuguese is pretty limited, but I know enough to get by for the few days we're in Brazil.  The only people here that speak any English are the hotel staff and the professors we meet with at universities...people have been really patient though, I think they mostly appreciate the effort of foreigners to speak their language (and to realize that it is NOT Spanish). The exposure has made me really excited to learn more when I get back...I'm thinking a Port. class this fall is a must!! Monday night,w e fly to Rio de Janeiro for our final days in Brazil...

Ate mais!

SAO PAULO

Sao Paulo felt like a strange combination of NYC meets South America.  It was very obvious that it is the big business and financial center of the country.  Our hotel was located just off of the big, trendy shopping district.  It was good to see this side of South America, because most of my Latin American experiences have been in poor, rural areas.

At the Japanese district in Sao Paulo - The second largest Japanese population in the world lives here!

We had several site visits for class, meeting with universities and public and private high schools.  The course is about race and higher education in Brazil.  Brazil imported over 10 times the number of African slaves that the US did, so 50% of the population is of African descent.  There is also HUGE income inequality in Brazil, and blacks are disproportionately affected.  Much of this problem relates to the structure of the education system.

Public high schools are free, but the education is of very low quality, and the schools have very limited resources.  Those families who are well-off pay huge amounts of money to send children to private high schools.  These are usually white students.  Attending a private high school and getting a good education leads these students to landing spots in *free,* highly-respected public universities.

There is much competition for admission to Brazil's state and federal universities.  Admission is based on an exam called a vestibular, created by each department within each university.  Public high school students are not well-prepared to perform on the exam, and since they come from poor families, they are unlikely to be able to afford test prep or tuition at a private university.

At the public high school we visited, only 20% of the students go on to college, whereas the private school we visited sent 98-100% of students to college.  To attack the problem, the government has toyed with affirmative action and quota policies to increase the number of public HS students or the number of black students in universities.  It's difficult to determine whether this is a problem based on race or socio-economic status. There's also much debate over the "fairness" of implementing steep quotas...Should the government stop or reduce funding a the university level to enhance public education at the high school level?

We have been studying the system, the outcomes of affirmative action and quota policies, and meeting with activist groups that help with exam prep, black representation, etc.

Outside of class visits, SP was a huge city to explore...lots of antique, craft, food, and jewelry markets, museums and parks, but my favorite part was visiting a neighborhood outside the city center.

Rubber Ducky High Heels from the Melissa Store....

Some of us ventured out to find an extended alley that was transformed into an amazing work of art.  The government was basically getting fed up with graffiti and vandalism, so they decided to pay artists to decorate (graffiti) the walls of this street.

Boca de Batman --- Graffiti

It was beautiful, the paintings were all so colorful and so different from one another. It was very off the beaten path, not mentioned in tourist books, so it was nice to see the residential side of SP.  That was more "real Brazil" to me than being in the hustle-bustle of the ritzy shopping district downtown.  The graffiti is redone every 4 months or so, so it is kind of cool to think about how unique my experience was from what anyone else has seen or will see in the future. Next up: Salvador!

Week one in the Big Apple

I wouldn't all myself a "New-Yorker," by any means, but I feel like I've learned to navigate well enough in the last week. I've kept a map on me at all times, just in case, but I've only looked at it once, on day one. I've been forcing myself to do something new and semi-intimidating each day...go to a new gym or a new grocery store, take a different street home, etc., and tomorrow's goal: go to a laundromat. Horrifying, right? I've just never had to do any of these things before, life was so simple in Iowa!

There are a lot of pros and cons about living here -
*I can pretty much find anything I want within a 10-minute walk from my house.
---->But everything here is pretty expensive! (The one thing that I've found to be cheaper here than in Iowa is shipping costs from online purchases.)
*I can walk virtually everywhere I need to go on a daily basis.
---->But it's not that enjoyable on rainy days.
*My street is generally pretty quiet.
---->Except for when street cleaners and garbage men come making all kinds of noise between the hours of 3 and 4am!
*The number of people here is a little overwhelming.
---->But getting off of main roads, like Broadway, helps a lot! It's also nice to know that I have my own room to come home to, or that I could reserve a private study room at the library on campus.
*People here have been surprisingly helpful and polite.
---->But not everyone falls into this category.

Other random sightings in NYC include:
*A man shaving his face in the side-view mirror of a parked truck on Broadway.
*A woman applying lipstick, using a store's display window as her mirror.
*People out walking 1 or 2 LARGE dogs. I mean, if you live in this part of town, your apartment REALLY can't be big enough to house two dogs AND yourself, right?
*SO* much Spanish! I love it.
*Clothing choices: every-other person is either wearing their shorts up to their ears or I can totally see booty hanging out the bottom. Can we please find a happy medium?
*Workers standing out in the streets on strike, yelling, whistling, waving around signs. Police quietly overlook, not stepping in, just ready in case anything gets out of hand.
*The weight room at Palladium (one of the NYU gyms) appears to scare away ALL females. I could use a little company in there.
*Parking lots look like this:

The first few days of class have been great, and I'm excited for Brazil *amanha*! (tomorrow)

NOLITA

I survived my first full day living in NYC. After getting my things organized, I went to go find a nearby Kmart...which was not at all at the address Google claimed it would be (I think I actually do know where it is now), ended up wandering up to Union Square, and picked up some groceries at the place across the street on my way back.

Going out to eat here is expensive, but so are groceries! I couldn't find a single-serving of yogurt for less than $1.15, and the lunch meat I normally get at home for $2.99 was $5.99. One thing that is kind of interesting though, is that all stores identify the price per pound on the shelf label, so that makes for easy comparison.

Then I went to Brooklyn in search of the nearest Target. Some of the subway lines were down for the weekend, so it took a little maneuvering and some map-reading skills (thankfully, I picked up a map in Union Square earlier). My main goals were to find a fan and a curtain. It was comforting to be in a Target where I knew exactly what I was going to find, but it was SO busy that it was a bit difficult to enjoy. Then I had to haul my purchases back onto the subway with me and back up the 5 flights of stairs to my apartment...After going up and down those stairs 4 times yesterday, I think my glutes may have already turned to solid steel.

Then, I went to check out the Whole Foods around the corner, which has a MUCH better selection than the market across the street, but it's also pretty pricey. I think my next grocery attempt will be Trader Joe's, but as of right now, Whole Foods wins.

After dinner, I met up with Vaske and got to see some of the sights in the Financial District. It was nice to have someone who has been here for 8 months to show me around and to discover some places that would be fun to go back to and hang out. I obviously don't have things completely figured out, but I feel like everywhere in Manhattan that I have been is pretty safe! ...Even my neighborhood where I live next to the ex-mafia joint!

This morning, our cheerful exterminator was banging on the door by 7am for his monthly visit ...So now my goals for the day include - getting my student ID card, checking out the rec center, and then catching up on some reading before I have class this evening. We'll see what else I stumble into...

i still love home.

Well, over a month late, I announce my return to the USA!!! The last month has been pretty full - spending a week at the lake in Minnesota, a week hiking (and sledding down mountains sitting on a rain jacket!) in Colorado, back to Minnesota for the Warrior Dash, and trying to pack for New York!

I move this Saturday and will have 6 days till I jet off to Brazil for the rest of the month. I am moving into an apartment in Nolita, where my room will be the size of my mom's closet, and my rent will be outrageous. I AM within a few blocks of campus though, so that will be super convenient and safer than having to deal with a commute out to the outskirts of Brooklyn. It will be a big change, but I'm sure once I get there it will be a fun, fast year.

A couple of fun facts:
NEW YORK
*I'll be living on Mulberry Street, but it's NOT the Mulberry Street from Dr. Seuss.
*I'm 2 doors down to the old Manhattan Mafia hangout, so I'm sure there will be dead bodies buried under my building.
BRAZIL
*There were 4.8 million slaves brought from Africa to Brazil, 10 times more than in the US!
*Earlier this summer, Peru put up a pretty much exact replica of Cristo el Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) statue in Rio = dramaaaa. ***ate logo***


Updates on life in NY and adventures in Brazil soon!

BARCELONA

Our overnight train to Barcelona went smoothly, and we (unintentionally) ended up at the same hostel I stayed in when I was in Barcelona two years ago.

Yesterday, we hit all the big sights...cathedral, monuments, sagrada familia, parc guell, the beach, and the illuminated fountains.

Today was a pretty chill day of shopping and meandering through the narrow roads on the outskirts of La Rambla. This afternoon we are heading back to the train station to get back to Madrid to catch our flight home in the morning. It's been a crazy fast month of adventures!

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OVIEDO

After the plane and train incidents, we finally made it to Oviedo. Kimmie, a friend of the girl who stayed with Amparo this Spring, delivered the key to the piso...I had received the keys to Amparo's house in the mail earlier this summer, but after we got to Europe, Amparo locked herself out of the house and had to get the locks changed. So there was a little scramble for the keys, but we got them!! Yay :)

But then we got to the house and Amparo left a note for me, saying she was really sad she wasn't here to see us, she left towels out for us to use, she wrote out the key to the wireless, and, BTW, she also got the water shut off while she was away, so she left a bucket of water for us to wash with. I have no issues showering from a bucket, but we had been so so so excited to wash clothes, and there was no way we were going to last the next several days without a toilet
:(

So we found a cheap hotel within five minutes of Amparo's place. It ended up being great-we had the kitchen to use at amparo's and a place to leave our stuff, but we also had a (clean, but very simple) place to shower and sleep and a toilet to flush.

(I'm really easily amused...the hotel was called Etap Oviedo...and they labeled their tape....)

The first afternoon, I gave Andy the quick walking tour of town. It was kind of sad to see how some of the stores and cafes and bars had been revamped or replaced over the last couple years. At the same time, it was fun to walk the same route I took to school every day and to force myself to remember how to get to my favorite shops, the cathedral, the parks. We were pretty wiped from our all nighter, so we called it an early night.

The next morning, we got up and headed straight out for the trek up to Cristo. It was a beautiful hike up but a bit steeper than I had remembered (or had been able to warn Andy about, whoops...)

Later, we went out for paella and sidra, traditional Spanish food and drink, and we went to a movie. We opted for resacon 2 (the hangover two), because Andy had seen it in english shortly before we left, so it was about his best chance at being able to follow the story.

After a run at the Pista Filandesa, my favorite rec area in Oviedo, the next day was full of shopping...very successful shopping, picnicking, and playing card games. Then today we went to the market, walked around some different areas of town, and stopped for churros and chocolate at Valor. We are now waiting to hop our overnight train to Barcelona. We will have almost two full days in Barce, and then it will reLly be time to come home...

It would have been nice to have Amparo here, but it was still fun to come back and remember all the adventures I had with great friends a couple years ago. I'm not sure if it feels like it should be two years ago already, but so much has happened in the time since, that it sometimes feels like a decade has passed. Looking forward to coming back to Oviedo again sometime when Amparo is home!

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MILAN

Milan was a quick stop and our last day with the whole group. Our first night we went out to the Duomo area in search of food. Silly us, of course we weren't going to find a reasonably-priced restaurant within any close proximity to Gucci, Prada, Dior, etc., so we ended up getting in quite the tour of the shopping district before settling for a (wait for it, wait for it...) pasta restaurant to eat at.

We spent the next day walking through the main district, gawking at the prices at most of the stores, and finding a few good bargains (North Face Milan shirt, yes!)

Then the trouble started. We went to the train station to catch a bus to the airport. As we got on, I was feeling really uneasy, and I had a tough time relaxing the entire way there. When we arrived, we discovered that we were at the wrong airport. There was about 2 and a half hours until our flight and we were "an hour and a half - two hours" away from the correct airport!

I found a woman working for one of the bus companies, and the last bus of the day had already left for the the other airport, but she listened to our predicament, made a few calls, and by some stroke of luck, the driver turned around to come pick up the five of us. And he knew we were in a hurry, so he stepped on it. (The funny part was that our flight ended up getting delayed a half hour, so we really made it to the correct airport in PLENTY of time! Still a bit stressful though.)

Then, when we got to the airport in Madrid, we all had to split up. Andy and I had a great plan to take the metro to the train station right away before the metro shut down and wait there for a few hours till we could get the first train to Oviedo. Turns out, the train station was closed for the night by the tine we got there, so we ended up sitting outside playing card games until it re-opened at 5am. (Don't worry, mom and dad, it was only 3 1/2 hours and really, really not as sketch as it sounds!!)

Then, we had to hop a train to a different train station where we had to stand in line with a grumpy teller whose response to everyone in line was either that he didn't understand the language they were trying to speak (so I stepped in to do a little translating) or that he could neither help the customer, nor direct them to someone who could. Everyone was thinking it, but finally a guy in line started totally ripping on the guy about how horribly unhelpful he was being to everyone in line and how he couldn't believe his hard-earned money was going to help pay this guys wages, etc. It got a little nasty and there was a threat to call the police...but finally we were able to talk to someone else and get our tickets for Oviedo squared away.

But wait, the adventure continues...

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VENICE

Day one: we got off our overnight train and walked through a mile and a half of narrow, winding streets to the hostel. Nobody answered the door so Michelle and Andrea went to find a pay phone. Meanwhile, a woman came down from the apartment to bring down the trash, so I jumped at the opportunity to ask her about Casa Lagana. She only lived in the same apartment building as the guest house but offered to call the owners for us. Long story short, we really couldn't get in touch with the hostel owners but the woman we stumbled into gave us the keys to another guest apartment down the block. Weird. But quite lucky! We spent the day meandering around the narrow roads through town and window shopping [My favorite: a shop whose hours are "I OPEN SOMETIME"]. That night, we went back out and saw the water seeping up from under St. Mark's. It was really cool to see but pretty terrifying at the same time. On 100 nights per year, the square floods (when tides are high and the sea is rough), sometimes even so much that gondolas can paddle through! The water was only just peeking through the cracks of the big cement blocks, not even enough to touch my feet over the top of my sandals.

Day 2: The islands. We got a day-long ferry pass and visited Murano (saw a glass-blowing demonstration), Burano (walked around and took pictures of all the brightly painted houses), and Lido (went to the beach and found big pasta dishes and gelato for dinner...are you catching on to the kinds of food we've been eating in Italy?)!

Day 3: went to see the inside of St. Mark's (pretty, but rather overrated..maybe I've just seen too many cathedrals this trip?) found some delicious veggie pizza, went to the Rialto market for some souvineers, and headed for the train station to catch our ride to Milan.

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SORRENTO

Sorrento was an amazing, relaxing stop. The first several stops of our trip we were rushing from sight to sight, city to city, so the second half of the journey has been at a much more relaxing pace (even though we're only in Sorrento one night....there's something relaxing about hanging out at the beach rather than racing all over a huge city trying to see the big sights!) Our hostel was about a five minute walk from a BEAUTIFUL beach area and about 10 minutes from town. We spent most of our time laying out, eating pasta and gelato, trying the lemoncello, and enjoying the street performers and shops downtown.

ROME

Having spent a week in Rome two years ago, I wasn't heartbroken to get in at 11pm and have to catch a 1pm train the next day. It was, like Paris and Madrid and London, a weird kind of familiar. I had been there before, but things had obviously changed. It was also nice to get a change in temperature too...the whole time we were in the UK, Ireland, Germany, it was pretty chilly, often rainy. Now that we're in Italy, my one pair of jeans and my rain jacket can retire for a few days! YES!

After we got to our hostel, Andy and I went to Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps that night. The next morning we all went to see the colosseum, roman forum, the pantheon, etc. Then we hopped a train to Naples and from Naples to Sorrento.

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MUNICH

Germany is the first place I've ever been where I'm completely clueless on the language. Thankfully, nearly everyone speaks English. And for those who don't, I have been working on my gesturing skills.

Our first day here, we went to Mittenwald, a tiny mountain town about two hours away from Munich. We asked about it at our hostel, and the people at the desk had never heard of it, so we were a little hesitant, but it ended up being my favorite thing we did here. We hiked around in the mountains for a few hours, enjoying views of the Alps peeking through the fog. Our few hours of casual hiking made me excited for the annual Colorado this fall!

Yesterday, we did a walking tour of the city. It was a fun way to see some of the sights and learn about the history of the city...Like where Hitler gave his first public speech! We went out for a late lunch, hiked over 300 steps to the top of St. Paul's church to look out over the city, then we spent the rest of the evening hanging out in the downtown area.

Today, we got up early to catch a train (then a bus) to Dachau. The concentration camp just outside Munich was built for 6000 but held more than 30,000 when it was liberated in the mid 1940s. It was horrifying to learn about the torture people were put through, the medical experiments that prisoners were put through, and the living quarters...kind of a downer on such a beautiful, sunny day. We came back, got ice cream and post cards, and spent the rest of our afternoon relaxing in a park near our hostel. This afternoon we have to take a train to Memmingem to get to the airport for our flight to Rome. Hard to believe there's only one country left till Spain and only 5 days till our group separates!

Snack: Pretzel the size of my head. Delish.

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CORK

Cork. "Caaaaark" has been a nice change of pace. We had three whole nights at the
hostel, after having just one or two nights everywhere else, and it
doesn't have the big hustle-bustle of the big touristy cities, like
Paris or London.

Yesterday, we toured the Old English Market to find some breakfast
before hopping a bus to Blarney.

The castle and gardens were bigger than I was anticipating, and we spent all afternoon hiking, climbing
trees, picnicking, exploring, and taking tons of pics. We hiked to the
top of the castle to kiss the blarney stone, which was not at all as I
had expected- we had to lay down and hold on to two handrails as we
lunged our bodies out and down the side of the castle to reach the
stone for a smooch. A little nerve-racking, but definitely worth it!

The rest of the afternoon, we wandered around downtown shopping.

Today, we spent some more time downtown this morning, passed bt St.
Anne's cathedral, and headed for the street performers world
championships at Fitzgerald park. There were five arenas set up for
the performers to rotate around. It was a really fun, laid back way to
spend the afternoon, even though some of the street performers were not that special...

Then, we went to see Monica's friend sing at a Notre Dame glee club
concert at the university in Cork. Tomorrow morning, we catch a bus to
Dublin and fly from there to Munich for a few days...then Italia!

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LONDON

We woke up at 3:30 am in Edinburgh to catch our bus then flight to
London, so we started the day off tired. We had some trouble finding
our hostel...apparently street numbers don't always go in order [helpful], but
we figured it out without TOO much wandering! We all started at
Trafalger Square, then the rest of the afternoon was filled with art
galleries, parks, palaces, and shopping (along with glimpses of all
the iconic sights).

I also got to see the Rosetta Stone at the British
Museum -- right across the street from our hostel!

We met up with Mary Jo for dinner and walked around with her
for a bit afterwards. It was good to get some of the scoop from
someone who has been living in London for the last year!

Today, I saw St Paul's Cathedral, the tower of London and the tower
bridge. I hadn't seen any of these tourist attractions on my first trip here, so that made
the trip a little more exciting! The four of us got to our bus stop in
plenty of time, but Michelle had made a few other stops and had a tube pass,
so she was planning to meet us at the bus stop. (The rest of us decided to walk a half hour to get there, since tube passes are 4-6 pounds per trip...which is near $7-10!!) We had envisioned her
running late/not finding the bus stop, so we took lots of preventative
measures...we left her a note and her plane ticket in her bag, we taped
up directions on bus stops in the middle of London [should have taken a picture..], etc.

We were all loaded up on the bus when we saw a frantic and sweaty
Michelle at the end of the street, doing her best to sprint toward the
bus with her HUGE backpack over her shoulders. Luckily, the driver was
nice enough to wait for her and let her on the bus, so we all made it
to the airport safe and sound!

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EDINBURGH

I've been horribly rushed with all of my blog entries so far, so i hope to fill in some gaps in the upcoming weeks. Edinburgh was amazing and beautiful, and I kinda love Scotland. Andy, Monica, and I spent our entire first day just walking the streets and visiting all the shops, taking pictures of men in kilts (we're creepy, I know) and the beautiful buildings, and stopping for tea. We found a pub with live music after dinner and spent most of the evening there. Oh yeah, we also found an Adam Smith statue on our way home, so Michelle and I got to act out our inner Econ nerdly-ness :)

The next morning, we woke up to head to the castle. Monica, Michelle, and I found a little footpath up the side, so we got to use our rock climbing, scrambling skills to crawl up to the top of the castle. It was a lot of fun, and there were great views of the city from our little perch. Once we made our way back down, we went around the actual trail to enter the castle and see the armor, the crown jewels, etc. It's not every day you get to hang out in a castle!! We even happened to be there when the daily 1pm cannon shot was fired.

The day ended pretty early since we had to get up at 3:30am for our flight to London, so it has been a long, long day.

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AMSTERDAM

Well, we somehow made it to our hostel after a crazy day of travel. We wandered around town for a bit, and Amsterdam has a very different vibe than our first two stops. It was dark out till almost 10:30, which was a pleasant surprise.

This morning we got up early to visit the Anne Frank house, which is just down the street from our hostel. It was really cool to walk through the tiny hidden annex and up the steep stairs...in a humbling sort of way. (It was pouring rain when we left, so it helped to set the mood, I suppose). It's hard to imagine something like that happening right here where we are staying!

Next, we went to the Heineken Experience, which I thought might be another tour just like Coors in Golden or Guinness in Dublin, but I think this one takes the cake. There was a 4D ride that took us through the process of being bottled as a beer and a place to be come a certified Heineken draught master. Impressive, right? International certifications and whatnot...Anyway, it was fun, much more interactive than some of the others.

We spent this afternoon strolling around the city center, souvineer shopping, and then had to pass through the Red Light District, just for the sake of getting the real Amsterdam experience. There wasn't a whole lot happening on a Sunday afternoon, so it was probably a good time to not get TOO much of an eyeful. The city has an interesting mix of extreme conservatism and intense liberalism.

We are just hanging out at the hostel this evening, we have to catch an early bus to the airport tomorrow morning, and we will be off to Scotland!

Side note --> BIKES, BIKES EVERYWHERE!!!

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PARIS

We got from the airport...to the city...to our hotel around 9pm, so we were still able to make it to the Arc de Triomph and the Eiffel tower before 10:00, in time to see the tower sparkle. Monica, Andy, and I stopped to pick up chocolate and banana crepes to eat under the tower for the 11:00 twinkles. We had a long walk and weird metro encounter on our way back (including a free metro ride for 3 stops until it shut down for the night, shoot [!!]) so it ended up being a pretty late night.

The next day we went to Versaille. We tried going last time I was in Paris and had a major fail moment (got on the wrong train and ended up an hour outside of Paris...and then we decided we didn't care enough to try to find our way there), but we got right to it this time!! WOW, WOW, WOW-huge and amazing and beautiful! Though we did have to spend a lit of time waiting in line both to buy tickets and to enter the palace. The garden out back was crazy huge, but it was filled with Alice in Wonderland-like bushes and fountains and vendors selling fresh-squeezed OJ, yummm!

Next, we went to the Sacre Coure area and found some dinner [food here = EXPENSIVE!] before going to the church and watching the sunset from the highest point in Paris!

This morning we went to Notre Dame before swinging by the Lourve. Today things were pretty stressful with having ticket and transportation issues, including sprinting (with our backpacks on, so we probably weren't moving all THAT fast) to catch the train from Brussels to Amsterdam this afternoon and getting on the train about 5 seconds before the doors slammed closed and we shot off, but the good news is that we made it to the hostel, and so far, so good here in Amsterdam. Trip report to come!

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MADRID

Better late than never...we have been so busy that I haven't had much of a chance to get to Internet.

None of us slept on any of our 3 flights from Des Moines to Madrid, and we got in just before 8am, so it was a long, long morning before we could check-in at the hotel at 1pm. I think it really combat the jet lag early though.

We visited the Museo del Prado and then went back to take a much needed few hour nap. We ended up having our own awesome apartment just off of Gran Vía, which was a great spot, and we were able to pick up a few things at the nearby Corte Ingles to make our own pasta dinner..yum! That night we went to a Flamenco show--very different than the one I saw last time I was here but still cool.

One thing that was really challenging was the shift from Nicaragua Spanish back to Spain Spanish...the vocab and dialogue are slightly different, so it was still understandable, but it made me realize how long it has really been since I was in Spain last!!

The next morning, we went to the Plaza del Sol area and looked around the shops, saw all the protestors in the square (people are living in tents there to protest that the government isn't really doing anything to help fight the 21% unemployment rate in Spain. I was worried this might be a dangerous area that could blow at any minute, but it was actually really laid back..they just wanted the voice of the people to be heard! They were so settled in the square that they even had a make-shift library set up!), and saw the Puerta del Sol (very center [East-West] of Spain).

We also went to check out some of the palaces and gardens - an absolutely beautiful place for a picnic!

Then it was time to head back to the airport to catch our flight to Paris. Great to be back in Spain again, I'm excited to be coming back in another couple weeks!!

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Marathon: Check. Next up: Europe

Yesterday, I ran the Madison marathon while Lisa Jepsen ran (and dominated) the half marathon. It was a very hilly course, and it rained the last 5 miles, but the temperature was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. My quads are quite angry with me today, but it's a small price to pay :)

Tomorrow, the European adventure begins. Andy, Michelle, Monica, Andrea and I fly into Madrid, then we will pass through Paris, Brussles, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, London, Cork, Munich, Rome, Sorrento, Venice, Milan. Then Andy and I will have a week in Spain, probably staying mostly in and around Oviedo (where I did my study abroad). Amparo, my Spanish host mom, sent the keys to her house, so I'm excited to go back "home," walk the streets of Oviedo, go to a movie in Spanish, hike Cristo...all the things I used to do. I'm sure the month will go fast...I'll post updates when I can!

I heart Iowa

My padre has brought it to my attention that I have yet to officially announce that I am back HOME in the USA. It was a great trip, but it's nice to get back to cooler weather (vs. 98 degrees and about 10,000,000,000 % humidity), hot showers, oatmeal for breakfast, a gym, and my fam...and puppies :)

We were actually able to accomplish a lot in two short weeks at the co-op. Here are just a few:
*Provided a small business seminar
*Shared market survey results and made recommendations
*Translated emails, presentations, phone conferences, and legal documents
(Side note: we translated a Skype call with a company in Texas that ended up placing a 700-piece order!!)
*Contacted potential buyers, distributors, and business partners
*Helped facilitate orders
*Created new designs for the line of baby clothes
*Photographed current clothing designs to create an online product catalog
*Attended a presentation to learn more about Info Co-Op in Nicaragua

Now I have a few days back home to unpack my things from Cedar Falls and organize my life before this weekend's marathon in Madison, Wisconsin (I'm sure my breakfast from the last two weeks will bite me in the butt on this one), and then we leave for Europe on Tuesday the 31. Hard to believe how fast summer is going already!! More in a week from Madrid!

Back in Managua

Yesterday was our last day at the co-op, and it was a busy, busy day! We got plenty of clothes as recuerdos. We translated a legal sales contract for a company in Germany [why we translated it into English, I have no idea..] and a meeting with a client in Texas via skype. High-pressure translations!!

Then we helped Leslie work on her order, picked up our bags from the house, and Doug drove us back to CEPAD. We went to get fruit smoothies, which was the first fruit we had (outside of a couple mangos, which, btw, were AWESOME) for the last two weeks! And found a sushi place a couple blocks away, which totally hit the spot! There was a group here singing traditional Nicaraguan songs, so we just chilled at CEPAD for the night.

This morning we went to Casa Ben Linder with Doug, there was a presentation about Info Co-op, an organization that regulates all cooperatives in Nicaragua. It was really cool to get some more perspective on the whole coop scene.

Then we stopped at La Escuelita in Mercado Oriental again to hang out with some of the kids for a bit. It was fun, and they all remembered us from the water park last Friday! When we had to leave, they all tried to pile out the door at once, and it ended up like a domino effect with all 50 kids piling out and falling in a giant pig pile.

We came back for lunch, and Louis I and Louis II came here with a couple groups from Jersey and Oregon, so we got to hang out and catch up with them for a few hours, which was awesome! This trip we have gotten to see so many friends from last year - Harold, Wendy, Gerald, Louis, and Louis! It's way cool to be able to go to another country and have friends to see and catch up with.

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Another 'Only in Nicaragua' Breakfast

Last week we told Tomassa that we ate a lot of spaghetti back home, so today for our final meal at her house, she made us a big batch of a cheesy/creamy pasta and breadsticks. Yep, for breakfast. With coffee!!! It was good, but I can say that's the only time I've ever had (and prob ever WILL have) spaghetti at 6am! It was a nice gesture! More later...

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Un Ratón... :(

This morning, Robyn and I woke up to find that a mouse had gotten into our bread bag, which we left in the stove SPECIFICALLY so that our food wouldn´t get eaten by mice. So, we had no bread for our PB sandwiches today. At least we still had a few granola bars, some almonds, and banana chips left!

We had a pretty busy afternoon today with translating emails for María, taking pictures of all the products they offer here (and, oh joy, I got to model some of the clothes because they were just using the sizes they could pull out and some of them happened to fit me).

And we helped out with English lessons :)

Also this afternoon, Marcio found a huuuge (by our standards) lizzard running around the co-op and caught it, so that provided some good entertainment.

We are leaving with Maria and Julia soon to go out for coffee or sommmmmething after work since this is our last full day here. We will be working a half-day tomorrow and heading back to Managua in the afternoon.