I should be in class right now. But the professor of my first class of the afternoon told me I could leave (for a reason I don't entirely understand he basically told me I would be wasting my time by staying). The professor of my second class never comes on Tuesdays (and never got around to hiring a substitute). The professor of my third class (which ends at 9:30 and is followed by a commute) has been showing up about half of the time lately. Suffice it to say I wasn't going to hang out for three hours to see if he felt like showing up today. So now I'm one Prado tutorial away from Christmas break! I'm pretty pumped.
I'll be home just over a week, which in retrospect isn't much time at all. The abbreviated Christmas in Chicago should be more than compensated for by my trip with Patrick. We are in London for five days and Glasgow for two. Then I'm off for Paris for four days and back to Madrid, where a whole pile of papers to write will be waiting for me. I don't know how I feel about all that nonsense being after Christmas break. I guess the real bad is that it means that my summer will be screwed up and I most likely won't be able to land a good job/internship.
It's been an interesting three months here so far. I've learned a lot of things, like that it's totally ok to smoke indoors in front of non-smoking signs, that European notebooks are full of graph paper, etc. I've also adjusted my expectations because I think that I thought I would come here and be able to leave speaking like a Spanish native. Certainly, my time here will improve my Spanish ability, but I'm pretty sure I will always harbor that pesky American accent. And because I am tall and non-Spanish looking, I would stand out a bit even if I did speak perfectly.
Apparently the two-day class week is about to end (I have class on Wednesdays!!) because of some silly policy that I certainly didn't sign onto in my agreement before coming here. My plan is to take my filology class on Thursdays and Fridays (assuming I don't drop the English major), get a tutor whose notes I can copy, and learn not to care when I have to miss to go somewhere more interesting.
I'm really excited for the spring people to come here! They come the week of my 21st birthday, which is on a Friday when I have an exam, so I expect to have wicked good times.
Updated list of places I want to go in Europe (and don't already have trips planned):
1) ITALY - I'm dying to go to Italy. Holy week in Rome and Florence and potentially other cities as well? Sounds divine.
2) BARCELONA - I'm sure I'll make it there at some point, possibly with my dad who apparently really wants to come back to Spain.
3) MOROCCO - I've decided that Morocco moves up on the list of places I really want to see. I feel like it would be a shame to be in a country that borders Africa and not take the opportunity. I've heard it really it is a whole different world.
4) PAÍS VASCO - I've heard great things about San Sebastian and of course there is the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I also really want to hear Euskera.
5) THE BEACH - Yay Mediterranean.
6) Germany - Berlin, probably. The German airports were lovely, but it would be nice to get outside them.
7) Switzerland - Interlaken is supposed to be amazing. So is the chocolate.
8) Bucharest - I think Romania would be cool.
9) Amsterdam - To be honest I'm not that interested in going but everyone says it is a must-see when in Europe.
10) Ireland - The ancestral homeland would obviously be higher on the list but I am confident that one day I will go there, possibly with my mother since she was so very against my going ever so briefly with Patrick.
Obviously there are lots of other places, but that seems like a realistic goal, right? Let me know if I'm missing something important.
Also, I think I quit my English classes today, but then Miky tried to reel me back in by saying, well, what if it were only one girl... I feel kind of bad, she was trying to make it sound like one girl is absolutely out of control and the other two are angels, which isn't exactly the case. But it is hell. Also my personality certainly doesn't help. Somehow I find myself dominated by a trio of nine-year-old girls. It is frustrating because every week I am optimistic and end up doing a horrible job. Even though the money bought me lunch for a week if I didn't go out, I decided it was just too much. I'll talk to Miky again in January and I guess if she asks me to give lessons to just the one girl I'll do it.
Feliz Navidad!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
If only Blagojevich would resign...
Unfortunately it seems extremely likely that Blagojevich will resign of his own accord. He keeps making statements about how he will be vindicated. And from the text of his recorded phone conversations, it is obvious that he either never thought he would get caught or legitimately didn't think he was doing anything wrong, somehow thinking he would have enough political capital to end up in the White House in 2016.
Certainly, he has not yet been convicted. But the case against him seems pretty strong. In any case, this scandal has affected his ability to govern (which was never great) and he cannot name Barack Obama's Senate successor.
There are three alternatives: the Illinois legislature schedules a special election; the Illinois legislature can impeach him, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn succeeds him and names a Senator; or the Illinois Supreme Court declares him "incapacitated."
The first option seems the most democratic. Frankly I don't entirely understand why there are special elections held to replace congressmen but governors have the power to replace senators, especially since senators' terms are six years long. Depending on the class of senator, it could be six years before the next election. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among others, has come out against this plan because he fears that the people of Illinois could be fed up with Democrats and elect a reform-minded Republican. As an Illinoisian, however, I don't know how likely that would be. The reason we re-elected Rod Blagojevich in 2006 (and why Barack Obama's 2004 victory was so overwhelming; remember Alan Keyes?) is that there is an utter lack of talent in the Illinois GOP. We always talk about the "Democratic machine" but I think there are enough politicians unconnected to this dirty network that we could find someone to fill the seat. The problem with this plan is whether it is actually possible to schedule special elections, as this action would override the governor's constitutional power. It is likely he would need to sign a bill, which is unlikely. I like to think that we could override such a veto (although he could do a pocket veto...). The other problem with this plan is that special elections are costly and Illinois is broke.
The second plan is the most constitutionally sound. Even though Quinn and Blagojevich were running mates in 2006, I don't think they are close. Quinn seems to be removed from the taint of Blagojevich. And even though impeachment proceedings could take a long time, they would probably be quicker than special elections. Once upon a time we had hoped that Blagojevich would appoint Obama's successor before the new class of senators was sworn in, giving our senator seniority. Until then, God bless Dick Durbin.
The third plan is very real. Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich incapacitated. This declaration would remove him from office temporarily and Quinn would appoint the successor. Blagojevich would also be relieved of his duties relating to state contracts and state funds. She filed this motion because it could potentially be quicker than impeachment (although the timing is bad all around because of the holidays). Once again, I am not a constitutional scholar, but this action is completely unprecedented. I'm not entirely sure what it would mean.
Until this monkey business is resolved (and it would probably be years before a Blagojevich trial would wrap up), I guess we should take pride in being the most corrupt state in the nation, over even Louisiana? It looks like Jesse Jackson Jr. was indeed Senate Candidate 5, although he denies being aware of the deal to fundraise. Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel also evidently had some kind of conversations with Blagojevich regarding the Senate seat, but it is still unclear what the nature of these conversations was. Illinois is a circus. I'll be back in the "Land of Lincoln" in five days.
Certainly, he has not yet been convicted. But the case against him seems pretty strong. In any case, this scandal has affected his ability to govern (which was never great) and he cannot name Barack Obama's Senate successor.
There are three alternatives: the Illinois legislature schedules a special election; the Illinois legislature can impeach him, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn succeeds him and names a Senator; or the Illinois Supreme Court declares him "incapacitated."
The first option seems the most democratic. Frankly I don't entirely understand why there are special elections held to replace congressmen but governors have the power to replace senators, especially since senators' terms are six years long. Depending on the class of senator, it could be six years before the next election. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, among others, has come out against this plan because he fears that the people of Illinois could be fed up with Democrats and elect a reform-minded Republican. As an Illinoisian, however, I don't know how likely that would be. The reason we re-elected Rod Blagojevich in 2006 (and why Barack Obama's 2004 victory was so overwhelming; remember Alan Keyes?) is that there is an utter lack of talent in the Illinois GOP. We always talk about the "Democratic machine" but I think there are enough politicians unconnected to this dirty network that we could find someone to fill the seat. The problem with this plan is whether it is actually possible to schedule special elections, as this action would override the governor's constitutional power. It is likely he would need to sign a bill, which is unlikely. I like to think that we could override such a veto (although he could do a pocket veto...). The other problem with this plan is that special elections are costly and Illinois is broke.
The second plan is the most constitutionally sound. Even though Quinn and Blagojevich were running mates in 2006, I don't think they are close. Quinn seems to be removed from the taint of Blagojevich. And even though impeachment proceedings could take a long time, they would probably be quicker than special elections. Once upon a time we had hoped that Blagojevich would appoint Obama's successor before the new class of senators was sworn in, giving our senator seniority. Until then, God bless Dick Durbin.
The third plan is very real. Attorney General Lisa Madigan has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich incapacitated. This declaration would remove him from office temporarily and Quinn would appoint the successor. Blagojevich would also be relieved of his duties relating to state contracts and state funds. She filed this motion because it could potentially be quicker than impeachment (although the timing is bad all around because of the holidays). Once again, I am not a constitutional scholar, but this action is completely unprecedented. I'm not entirely sure what it would mean.
Until this monkey business is resolved (and it would probably be years before a Blagojevich trial would wrap up), I guess we should take pride in being the most corrupt state in the nation, over even Louisiana? It looks like Jesse Jackson Jr. was indeed Senate Candidate 5, although he denies being aware of the deal to fundraise. Obama's White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel also evidently had some kind of conversations with Blagojevich regarding the Senate seat, but it is still unclear what the nature of these conversations was. Illinois is a circus. I'll be back in the "Land of Lincoln" in five days.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
And to think I was sad IL gets so little attention during the presidential primaries and general election
The. Plot. Thickens.
At first glance, I figured Blagojevich was just nabbed with the usual "pay-to-play" corruption of naming family, friends, and campaign donors to plush state jobs and contracts. I mean, that's wrong too, but it's become par for the course, as sad as that is.
How wrong I was.
I read the full text of the criminal complaint, which was fascinating and whetted my appetite for law school. Let me know if you want me to forward it to you.
Basically they allege that Blagojevich has been involved in corrupt dealings since 2001 when he was still a congressman with his sights on higher office. But the two major whammies are from 2008.
The first is that he tried to leverage state resources to get members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board fired for being critical of his crooked administration (even if it wasn't crooked it would still be terribly inefficient). The Tribune Co., parent company of my beloved childhood newspaper the Chicago Tribune, has just filed for bankruptcy. You may have heard that the newspaper industry is crumbling. To offset some debts, the Tribune Co. has put the Chicago Cubs (a profitable yet losing ballclub) for sale. Blagojevich tried to tell the Tribune Co. that he would help the sale of the Cubs with state funds if the offending members of the editorial board (considering it's a historically Republican-leaning newspaper who endorsed Obama because they are tired of the mess that is politics, probably the whole board...) were fired. Nothing could renew my love of legitimate journalism more. I would take out a subscription if I thought they would deliver to Spain. Much as I love the bloggers and the political commentators on cable, one day we will wake up and miss the legitimate watchdog role filled by newspapers.
The second horrifying allegation is that Blagojevich tried to sell the vacant Obama Senate seat to the highest bidder, whether that came in the form of a cabinet position, a profitable non-profit job for his wife, or cash up front with the promise of big-time campaign fundraising later. Obama's hands seem impeccably clean. I've joked before that Blagojevich might even appoint himself, but in the document he considers that numerous times. The big question on everyone's minds is who "Senate Candidate 5" is because that is the candidate who offers to give Blagojevich fundraising money. The two most likely candidates are Jesse Jackson Jr. and Emil Jones Jr. If the identity of Senate Candidate 5 is revealed their political career is effectively over. Jones is probably on the brink of retirement anyway, but if it is Jackson that would really put a wrench in the works.
What is strangest is that I really don't think Blagojevich saw this coming. Throughout the criminal complaint, he is leveraging power to continue his political career, aspiring for a presidential run in 2016. I'm glad he got caught.
This situation leaves the vacant Obama Senate seat in serious doubt. According to the New York Times's The Caucus blog, "According to the Illinois state constitution, Mr. Blagojevich would have to be deemed incapacitated — by death, conviction or impeachment, for example — for that power to shift to new hands. There is no clause stating that an indictment restricts his powers." And if I know Rod Blagojevich he is not going down without a fight. Let's impeach him, ASAP.
My dad has misgivings about the Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn for some unknown reason, although at least he said it's a different kind of misgiving than those we feel towards a certain slimy corrupt Blagojevich. CHANGE.
At first glance, I figured Blagojevich was just nabbed with the usual "pay-to-play" corruption of naming family, friends, and campaign donors to plush state jobs and contracts. I mean, that's wrong too, but it's become par for the course, as sad as that is.
How wrong I was.
I read the full text of the criminal complaint, which was fascinating and whetted my appetite for law school. Let me know if you want me to forward it to you.
Basically they allege that Blagojevich has been involved in corrupt dealings since 2001 when he was still a congressman with his sights on higher office. But the two major whammies are from 2008.
The first is that he tried to leverage state resources to get members of the Chicago Tribune editorial board fired for being critical of his crooked administration (even if it wasn't crooked it would still be terribly inefficient). The Tribune Co., parent company of my beloved childhood newspaper the Chicago Tribune, has just filed for bankruptcy. You may have heard that the newspaper industry is crumbling. To offset some debts, the Tribune Co. has put the Chicago Cubs (a profitable yet losing ballclub) for sale. Blagojevich tried to tell the Tribune Co. that he would help the sale of the Cubs with state funds if the offending members of the editorial board (considering it's a historically Republican-leaning newspaper who endorsed Obama because they are tired of the mess that is politics, probably the whole board...) were fired. Nothing could renew my love of legitimate journalism more. I would take out a subscription if I thought they would deliver to Spain. Much as I love the bloggers and the political commentators on cable, one day we will wake up and miss the legitimate watchdog role filled by newspapers.
The second horrifying allegation is that Blagojevich tried to sell the vacant Obama Senate seat to the highest bidder, whether that came in the form of a cabinet position, a profitable non-profit job for his wife, or cash up front with the promise of big-time campaign fundraising later. Obama's hands seem impeccably clean. I've joked before that Blagojevich might even appoint himself, but in the document he considers that numerous times. The big question on everyone's minds is who "Senate Candidate 5" is because that is the candidate who offers to give Blagojevich fundraising money. The two most likely candidates are Jesse Jackson Jr. and Emil Jones Jr. If the identity of Senate Candidate 5 is revealed their political career is effectively over. Jones is probably on the brink of retirement anyway, but if it is Jackson that would really put a wrench in the works.
What is strangest is that I really don't think Blagojevich saw this coming. Throughout the criminal complaint, he is leveraging power to continue his political career, aspiring for a presidential run in 2016. I'm glad he got caught.
This situation leaves the vacant Obama Senate seat in serious doubt. According to the New York Times's The Caucus blog, "According to the Illinois state constitution, Mr. Blagojevich would have to be deemed incapacitated — by death, conviction or impeachment, for example — for that power to shift to new hands. There is no clause stating that an indictment restricts his powers." And if I know Rod Blagojevich he is not going down without a fight. Let's impeach him, ASAP.
My dad has misgivings about the Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn for some unknown reason, although at least he said it's a different kind of misgiving than those we feel towards a certain slimy corrupt Blagojevich. CHANGE.
Time to be an Illinois constitutional scholar (Obama we need you!)
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Governor Rod Blagojevich has been taken into federal custody. Even if this is a false lead, it is only a matter of time, as he is under heavy investigation.
Yes, I voted for the clown. The alternative was Judy Baar Topinka. Moving on.
As President-elect Obama has vacated his U.S. Senate seat, which only the governor of Illinois can fill, the timing is particularly bad. I am sadly no Illinois constitutional expert, but I'm guessing that the Lieutenant Governor would be the acting Governor (Wikipedia: "Prior to the adoption of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor also served as the presiding officer of the state Senate. Losing this position made the Lt. Governor's job even less significant, and contributed to the "boredom" cited by Jim Thompson's first lieutenant governor, Dave O'Neal, on July 31, 1981, when he resigned the office.")
The Lieutenant Governor is Pat Quinn, Georgetown undergrad from Hinsdale. However, to complicate things, I found the following on his Wikipedia page: "With the election of Senator Barack Obama as President in 2008, Quinn is considered a possible candidate to be appointed to succeed Obama in the U.S. Senate." Obviously, Quinn would be a fool to head to the Senate when he could be governor and take credit for once and for all bringing reform to Springfield. No more crooks in the Governor's Mansion!
Although Blagojevich never did anything for Obama's campaign (asked, I'm sure to keep away), it looks pretty bad for the President-elect that his home state is in a shambles, especially as Obama is running much of his transition effort out of Chicago (home of Daley, yikes).
I'd like to see Lisa Madigan in the Obama seat. Her hands aren't completely clean of the mess, as she is the daughter of Speaker Mike Madigan who has been leading the legislative faction against Blagojevich, which is noble until it shuts down state business, which it has. However, she is one of the few Illinois politicians I look up to besides the President-elect and Senator Dick Durbin.
In short, Illinois politics are an absolute mess. More to come. To think I thought I would be bored after November 4...
Yes, I voted for the clown. The alternative was Judy Baar Topinka. Moving on.
As President-elect Obama has vacated his U.S. Senate seat, which only the governor of Illinois can fill, the timing is particularly bad. I am sadly no Illinois constitutional expert, but I'm guessing that the Lieutenant Governor would be the acting Governor (Wikipedia: "Prior to the adoption of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor also served as the presiding officer of the state Senate. Losing this position made the Lt. Governor's job even less significant, and contributed to the "boredom" cited by Jim Thompson's first lieutenant governor, Dave O'Neal, on July 31, 1981, when he resigned the office.")
The Lieutenant Governor is Pat Quinn, Georgetown undergrad from Hinsdale. However, to complicate things, I found the following on his Wikipedia page: "With the election of Senator Barack Obama as President in 2008, Quinn is considered a possible candidate to be appointed to succeed Obama in the U.S. Senate." Obviously, Quinn would be a fool to head to the Senate when he could be governor and take credit for once and for all bringing reform to Springfield. No more crooks in the Governor's Mansion!
Although Blagojevich never did anything for Obama's campaign (asked, I'm sure to keep away), it looks pretty bad for the President-elect that his home state is in a shambles, especially as Obama is running much of his transition effort out of Chicago (home of Daley, yikes).
I'd like to see Lisa Madigan in the Obama seat. Her hands aren't completely clean of the mess, as she is the daughter of Speaker Mike Madigan who has been leading the legislative faction against Blagojevich, which is noble until it shuts down state business, which it has. However, she is one of the few Illinois politicians I look up to besides the President-elect and Senator Dick Durbin.
In short, Illinois politics are an absolute mess. More to come. To think I thought I would be bored after November 4...
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I'm thankful to be in Madrid for more than four consecutive days.
The Belvedere:
Maria Theresa:
Mozarthaus:
Hofburg:
Maria Theresa:Mozarthaus:
Hofburg:
For Thanksgiving, we had a group dinner in Botín, a relatively fancy restaurant in Madrid. My host mom Cristina went and we met with Miky, the housing director who has become a friend of Cristina, and head over together. When we arrived at the restaurant, there were three tables with pretty strict divides between them: one with Marquette students and Reunidas professors, one with Georgetown students, Georgetown mentores, and recent Georgetown grads, and a third with Georgetown staff, Georgetown host mothers, and Georgetown alums. I was kind of sad because I had heard a lot about Concha, Ryan’s host mom, and Teresa, Allison’s host mom, and wanted to say more than hello before being shepherded to the kids table.
The dinner was pretty good, although there were no mashed potatoes so I was sad because that is the favorite part of when my mom cooks for Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve (P.S. I have a list of what I need to eat while I am home). We got to meet Edmundo’s 15-year-old host sister. After dinner, we went to a nearby site for some sangria. I got home at 2 a.m. My taxi for the airport for my trip to Vienna was coming at 4:30.
When my alarm went off in the morning, I thought I was dying. I hope my host family didn’t come in my room this weekend because everything was strewn all over the place, including an empty container of boxed wine.
I got to the airport and tried to sleep across some seats. Unsuccessful.
On the plane I was freezing cold, so I put my coat over me like a blanket. Then I spilled orange juice on myself in a way that at the time looked a lot like vomit. I had to stop in Munich, but by the time I got to Vienna I was in a pretty good mood. I found the bus I had to take to the city right away. It was too good to be true. Right before dropping us off at the Sudbahnhof, the bus passed the Belvedere, the first stop on my tour. I was pumped.
I rushed off the bus in the direction of the Belvedere only to realize that I had left my lovely and helpful guidebook and map on the bus. I tried not to be too sad as I made my way to the Belvedere. The Belvedere is a former palace turned museum that houses Gustav Klimt’s master work, The Kiss. I got scammed because the painting is in a special exhibition, so I had to pay for that too. I also had to pay to check my bag, twice, since the special exhibition is in a separate building. I decided to just grab something to eat in the museum café. I ordered a sandwich, but the waitress told me that would take too long and suggested that I order a pastry instead. I am not sure how that is possible, since the sandwich was just cold cuts, tomato, and cucumber. Instead I had a lovely pastry and a coffee with whipped cream, as is the Viennese way. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m dying for having whole milk in my café con leche here in Madrid, let alone with whipped cream.
I asked how to walk from there to the Secession Building, since it had looked definitely walkable on my map, but the woman at the museum information desk told me to take the tram. I definitely rode without paying. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for when I got off at Opera, so I asked one of the ridiculously costumed men trying to sell me a ticket to a tourist concert. He told me that it was really far away, which was a lie, or maybe an honest mistake. Losing my guidebook and map really took the wind out of my sails. I am a very independent traveler and like to walk and do things on my own terms. I ended up buying a map in a tourist shop. The other customers were from Madrid and speaking in Spanish. It was great. I really did like that in Austria people talked to me in German (as opposed to in Spain where I feel like people can immediately tell that I am not Spanish and often just use English), but unfortunately, especially with the loss of my guidebook, my German vocabulary covered “yes,” “no,” “do you speak English,” and “thank you.” Infinitely bigger than my Czech vocabulary though.
Map in hand, I made my way to the Secession Building, home of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. It was cool to see but I was kind of underwhelmed. If only Mr. Page had been there to make me more fully appreciate it.
I then wandered to the MuseumsQuartier, where I went to the Leopold Museum, which also has a substantial Klimt collection. I left there at about 5 and was supposed to meet Kayleigh at MariaTheresien Platz, across the street at 6 so I debated going to the modern art museum for a bit. Instead, I followed the flashing lights and bumping music to a little seasonal bar where they were serving all kinds of warm drinks. I thought they were overcharging me by two euros, but that was actually the mug deposit. It’s a pretty good system.
I then crossed over to MariaTheresien Platz. With even a cursory understanding of European history, you know that Maria Theresa populated basically all the royal houses of Europe. The plaza was full of booths selling crafts and the like as well as warm drinks and food. I got another gluhwein and settled in to wait for Kayleigh. Then another. It became 6 and still no sign of Kayleigh. I saw a group that looked like it could be from CIEE Prague. I approached them (probably would not have happened without the gluhwein…) and received an affirmative response. The professor was leading a night tour for an hour or so and decided not to wait for Kayleigh and her friends. I didn’t have a phone, so I opted to go with the group and hopefully meet up with Kayleigh later at the hostel.
The professor was charming and at the end bought us all a…gluhwein. I head out with the group in search of food. We tried to find somewhere with inexpensive wiener schnitzel unsuccessfully and just bought gelato. We took the Metro to another area but were still unable to find anywhere to eat. Some people in the group decided to see Quantum of Solace, but I decided to head to the hostel and try to find Kayleigh. Two girls decided to go with me to make sure I made it back ok, which was really nice but not necessary. I checked in and found Kayleigh’s stuff but not Kayleigh. I went to McDonalds and bought a hamburger for a euro and a beer from a street vendor for a euro. It was a pretty solid meal. I was sitting in the hallway outside the room in the hostel enjoying my beer when Kayleigh came back. We decided to take the party downstairs to the little hostel bar. We ended up sharing iPod earbuds and singing loudly and getting people checking in to stare at us big time. We also saw on CNN that a Walmart employee was trampled to death in New York, which registers much higher on the horror scale for me for some reason than the terror attacks in Mumbai.
My plans for Saturday were to see Mozart and Beethoven’s houses, enjoy a traditional café, and perhaps see a palace if time allowed.
We headed out to Mozart’s house. We weren’t sure about whether or not we should enter, but we figured it could be our only trip to Vienna so we might as well. The cost of admission covered the audioguide, which, as it turns out, was excessive. Mozart lived in an apartment on the first floor, but today the whole four-story building is a museum. I would have greatly preferred that the museum was smaller but had a more compact collection of artifacts and such. Maybe the audioguide would have fascinated me if I were Patrick ;)
From there we headed to Beethoven’s house. Maybe. From my guidebook I had written down three addresses for Beethoven and had looked all of them up on Google map. Two were far from the city center, so we went to the third address. Without the guidebook, I wasn’t able to check that there was actually some sort of attraction. You would think that there would be a plaque or something at the very least. Thus frustrated, Jax and I set out for MariaTheresien Platz, where we were supposed to meet Kayleigh and Emily at 1 p.m. For dinner, we found a nice little restaurant on a side street. I ordered wiener schnitzel, which as it turns out is just breaded pork. At least I can say that I’ve tried it.
Then we went to Christkindlmarkt, the biggest Christmas market in Vienna. Jax and I stopped in a café on the way back and had coffee and pastry, which was probably one of the highlights of the trip to Vienna.
The Vienna airport is weird. You check in, then are technically supposed to flash your boarding pass to get into an area full of shops and cafes, although the checker didn’t seem too concerned. Then you have to go through security right before accessing your gate or a few gates, which means that you can’t just get there well in advance of your flight and just chill, which is my airport habit.
Back in Madrid, I found out on Monday that my friend Allison has a rash that her doctor attributed to an allergic reaction to bedbug larvae. I have some very itchy bite-like things on my leg and a rash on my arms and a little on my neck. I am very concerned that it is from bedbugs but there is an excellent chance that it is psychosomatic. I don’t think there are actual physical bedbugs here with me in Madrid. If you get bitten you would know it. I have two types of intense itch relief lotions with me already (thanks, Mom), so hopefully those will do the trick.
Basically I am just kind of relieved to be back in Madrid for a while before home and the grand UK adventure with Patrick (don’t tell Mom about the possible bedbugs, she will cancel London!!!). I also need to start being a student again. Today I had a midterm in my Reunidas Spanish Painting in the Prado class. I didn’t study perhaps as much as I should have (I am no longer able to focus or study, it’s really bad). I also went to the library to get some books for my Hispano-American literature paper. I miss libraries, even gross university ones.
The dinner was pretty good, although there were no mashed potatoes so I was sad because that is the favorite part of when my mom cooks for Thanksgiving or Christmas Eve (P.S. I have a list of what I need to eat while I am home). We got to meet Edmundo’s 15-year-old host sister. After dinner, we went to a nearby site for some sangria. I got home at 2 a.m. My taxi for the airport for my trip to Vienna was coming at 4:30.
When my alarm went off in the morning, I thought I was dying. I hope my host family didn’t come in my room this weekend because everything was strewn all over the place, including an empty container of boxed wine.
I got to the airport and tried to sleep across some seats. Unsuccessful.
On the plane I was freezing cold, so I put my coat over me like a blanket. Then I spilled orange juice on myself in a way that at the time looked a lot like vomit. I had to stop in Munich, but by the time I got to Vienna I was in a pretty good mood. I found the bus I had to take to the city right away. It was too good to be true. Right before dropping us off at the Sudbahnhof, the bus passed the Belvedere, the first stop on my tour. I was pumped.
I rushed off the bus in the direction of the Belvedere only to realize that I had left my lovely and helpful guidebook and map on the bus. I tried not to be too sad as I made my way to the Belvedere. The Belvedere is a former palace turned museum that houses Gustav Klimt’s master work, The Kiss. I got scammed because the painting is in a special exhibition, so I had to pay for that too. I also had to pay to check my bag, twice, since the special exhibition is in a separate building. I decided to just grab something to eat in the museum café. I ordered a sandwich, but the waitress told me that would take too long and suggested that I order a pastry instead. I am not sure how that is possible, since the sandwich was just cold cuts, tomato, and cucumber. Instead I had a lovely pastry and a coffee with whipped cream, as is the Viennese way. I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m dying for having whole milk in my café con leche here in Madrid, let alone with whipped cream.
I asked how to walk from there to the Secession Building, since it had looked definitely walkable on my map, but the woman at the museum information desk told me to take the tram. I definitely rode without paying. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for when I got off at Opera, so I asked one of the ridiculously costumed men trying to sell me a ticket to a tourist concert. He told me that it was really far away, which was a lie, or maybe an honest mistake. Losing my guidebook and map really took the wind out of my sails. I am a very independent traveler and like to walk and do things on my own terms. I ended up buying a map in a tourist shop. The other customers were from Madrid and speaking in Spanish. It was great. I really did like that in Austria people talked to me in German (as opposed to in Spain where I feel like people can immediately tell that I am not Spanish and often just use English), but unfortunately, especially with the loss of my guidebook, my German vocabulary covered “yes,” “no,” “do you speak English,” and “thank you.” Infinitely bigger than my Czech vocabulary though.
Map in hand, I made my way to the Secession Building, home of Klimt’s Beethoven Frieze. It was cool to see but I was kind of underwhelmed. If only Mr. Page had been there to make me more fully appreciate it.
I then wandered to the MuseumsQuartier, where I went to the Leopold Museum, which also has a substantial Klimt collection. I left there at about 5 and was supposed to meet Kayleigh at MariaTheresien Platz, across the street at 6 so I debated going to the modern art museum for a bit. Instead, I followed the flashing lights and bumping music to a little seasonal bar where they were serving all kinds of warm drinks. I thought they were overcharging me by two euros, but that was actually the mug deposit. It’s a pretty good system.
I then crossed over to MariaTheresien Platz. With even a cursory understanding of European history, you know that Maria Theresa populated basically all the royal houses of Europe. The plaza was full of booths selling crafts and the like as well as warm drinks and food. I got another gluhwein and settled in to wait for Kayleigh. Then another. It became 6 and still no sign of Kayleigh. I saw a group that looked like it could be from CIEE Prague. I approached them (probably would not have happened without the gluhwein…) and received an affirmative response. The professor was leading a night tour for an hour or so and decided not to wait for Kayleigh and her friends. I didn’t have a phone, so I opted to go with the group and hopefully meet up with Kayleigh later at the hostel.
The professor was charming and at the end bought us all a…gluhwein. I head out with the group in search of food. We tried to find somewhere with inexpensive wiener schnitzel unsuccessfully and just bought gelato. We took the Metro to another area but were still unable to find anywhere to eat. Some people in the group decided to see Quantum of Solace, but I decided to head to the hostel and try to find Kayleigh. Two girls decided to go with me to make sure I made it back ok, which was really nice but not necessary. I checked in and found Kayleigh’s stuff but not Kayleigh. I went to McDonalds and bought a hamburger for a euro and a beer from a street vendor for a euro. It was a pretty solid meal. I was sitting in the hallway outside the room in the hostel enjoying my beer when Kayleigh came back. We decided to take the party downstairs to the little hostel bar. We ended up sharing iPod earbuds and singing loudly and getting people checking in to stare at us big time. We also saw on CNN that a Walmart employee was trampled to death in New York, which registers much higher on the horror scale for me for some reason than the terror attacks in Mumbai.
My plans for Saturday were to see Mozart and Beethoven’s houses, enjoy a traditional café, and perhaps see a palace if time allowed.
We headed out to Mozart’s house. We weren’t sure about whether or not we should enter, but we figured it could be our only trip to Vienna so we might as well. The cost of admission covered the audioguide, which, as it turns out, was excessive. Mozart lived in an apartment on the first floor, but today the whole four-story building is a museum. I would have greatly preferred that the museum was smaller but had a more compact collection of artifacts and such. Maybe the audioguide would have fascinated me if I were Patrick ;)
From there we headed to Beethoven’s house. Maybe. From my guidebook I had written down three addresses for Beethoven and had looked all of them up on Google map. Two were far from the city center, so we went to the third address. Without the guidebook, I wasn’t able to check that there was actually some sort of attraction. You would think that there would be a plaque or something at the very least. Thus frustrated, Jax and I set out for MariaTheresien Platz, where we were supposed to meet Kayleigh and Emily at 1 p.m. For dinner, we found a nice little restaurant on a side street. I ordered wiener schnitzel, which as it turns out is just breaded pork. At least I can say that I’ve tried it.
Then we went to Christkindlmarkt, the biggest Christmas market in Vienna. Jax and I stopped in a café on the way back and had coffee and pastry, which was probably one of the highlights of the trip to Vienna.
The Vienna airport is weird. You check in, then are technically supposed to flash your boarding pass to get into an area full of shops and cafes, although the checker didn’t seem too concerned. Then you have to go through security right before accessing your gate or a few gates, which means that you can’t just get there well in advance of your flight and just chill, which is my airport habit.
Back in Madrid, I found out on Monday that my friend Allison has a rash that her doctor attributed to an allergic reaction to bedbug larvae. I have some very itchy bite-like things on my leg and a rash on my arms and a little on my neck. I am very concerned that it is from bedbugs but there is an excellent chance that it is psychosomatic. I don’t think there are actual physical bedbugs here with me in Madrid. If you get bitten you would know it. I have two types of intense itch relief lotions with me already (thanks, Mom), so hopefully those will do the trick.
Basically I am just kind of relieved to be back in Madrid for a while before home and the grand UK adventure with Patrick (don’t tell Mom about the possible bedbugs, she will cancel London!!!). I also need to start being a student again. Today I had a midterm in my Reunidas Spanish Painting in the Prado class. I didn’t study perhaps as much as I should have (I am no longer able to focus or study, it’s really bad). I also went to the library to get some books for my Hispano-American literature paper. I miss libraries, even gross university ones.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
It seemed like a nice hostel at the time!
For today, let's skip over Thanksgiving, Vienna, and the fact that I have an exam tomorrow but have completely lost all relevant study skills.
I might have bedbug bites.
Yesterday Allison, who I went to Lisbon with, told me that she went to the doctor to have a rash checked out and they told her it was from bedbugs.
Instantly, my arms started feeling itchy. I told myself that it was simply me being typical Colleen, psychosomatic. If I hadn't showed symptoms yet, I couldn't possibly be affected.
Wikipedia told me that symptoms from bedbugs show up within nine days. Day nine is tomorrow.
Then today I woke up with little red bites on my leg.
Mine isn't as extensive as Allison's, but I'm not sure what to do. I mean, could I have honestly worried so much about bedbugs that I made a strip of bites pop up on my leg overnight??
I don't know what to do. Bedbugs are treatable, but in typical Colleen fashion I just want to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away.
Today is Carlos's seventh birthday, so probably not the most opportune day to tell my host mom that I have potentially brought bedbugs into the house and that she should consider fumigation. But at the same time I don't want to wait too long...
I might have bedbug bites.
Yesterday Allison, who I went to Lisbon with, told me that she went to the doctor to have a rash checked out and they told her it was from bedbugs.
Instantly, my arms started feeling itchy. I told myself that it was simply me being typical Colleen, psychosomatic. If I hadn't showed symptoms yet, I couldn't possibly be affected.
Wikipedia told me that symptoms from bedbugs show up within nine days. Day nine is tomorrow.
Then today I woke up with little red bites on my leg.
Mine isn't as extensive as Allison's, but I'm not sure what to do. I mean, could I have honestly worried so much about bedbugs that I made a strip of bites pop up on my leg overnight??
I don't know what to do. Bedbugs are treatable, but in typical Colleen fashion I just want to ignore the problem and hope that it goes away.
Today is Carlos's seventh birthday, so probably not the most opportune day to tell my host mom that I have potentially brought bedbugs into the house and that she should consider fumigation. But at the same time I don't want to wait too long...
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