Chiripones Trip!

Chiripones: noun
1. An amazing two day beach ultimate frisbee beach tournament in Punta Umbría, Spain organized by the Frisbillanas (team based in Sevilla). A weekend filled with friends, frisbee, and booze at Bar África.
2. A purposefully mispronounced version of chipirón (octopus), a result of a past incident when a foreigner mispronounced chipirón, and said chiripon; which gave the tournament it's name
3. The tournament even has it's own song.

What can I say about the weekend I went to Chiripones, nothing short of saying it was one of my favorite weekends abroad. Get ready for a blog post filled with "amazing, awesome, spectacular, etc" - as if those words are used sparingly in any post, haha.

At 4:30pm on Wednesday (12/5), I met up with a few of the frisbee players from Penultimanos. We went to the grocery store to buy supplies (sandwich meat, bread, snacks, chocolate, chips, etc). Then we took a bus to the airport so we could rent cars to drive to Faro, Portugal for the night. There were seven of us total: Hanna, Francesco, Fabian, Frie, Karl, Mercy and myself. When we arrived in Faro, we found our hostel and then went out to a fun club, (I believe it was called Primera Pisa). We took pictures all over the city, including a few on a nativity scene. The next morning we went to see a Portuguese guitar recital and walked around the city. We made our own Glühwein (German for mulled wine) seeing as three of my friends are German and it is a Christmastime drink. It was made with plenty of red wine, cinnamon sticks, cloves, vanilla, orange juice, oranges, tea, and sugar. We forgot a wine bottle opener so we had to put the bottle in a shoe and bang it against the wall to open it. Youtube said it work, but we were all very skeptical, but it worked! After, we went back to the same club as the earlier night, with two more Granadinos (people from Granada) who joined us in Faro, Davíd and Marie José. The next morning we went to the beach in Faro. It was a beautiful day, a bit chilly, but the sun was shining. We played around with a frisbee all afternoon and Hanna and I swam in the ocean!

The group on the beach!

Nativity scene pic.

Right before the police yelled at us

In our hostel, drinking glühwein and eating chocolate Santas!

Later that afternoon we drove to Punta Umbría for the tournament, and met up with all the other players at the tournament hotel. Each hotel was a little apartment, so we decided to make dinner together. Francesco directed us on how to cook authentic pasta carbonara (his grandmother's recipe). It was delicious!! That night the tournament hosted a party at Bar África, I met a ton of new people and reconnected with players I had met at past tournaments.

Eating our pasta carbonara

Bar África with Frie, Alberto, and Sebastian

Chiripones started on Saturday (12/8) and my team had four games that day. We were the Incas (the tournament was themed around native indian tribes). Playing ultimate on the beach in Spain was amazing, every game was so fun and the people had such good spirit. The weather was phenomenal and it was nice just sitting on the beach watching my friends play when I didn't have a game. I met a bunch of American students who were studying in Sevilla who were a lot of fun. People from all over Europe come to play in this tournament, there were people from England, Portugal, Germany and Italy that I met. Between Saturday and Sunday, my team played 6 games and won 3 of them. Regardless of score of the games, everyone was there to enjoy ultimate, the beach, and the people. I really loved being here and being a part of Chiripones.

My team! The Incas

My teammate Lily and I 

The Granada team

Ruthie, Desmond and me - new friends from the US

Week of 11/26 - 12/2

I was going to say that this week was an average week in Granada, but when is there ever an average week in Granada? Every week is unique and there are a million different things I could explore and do in the city. But to give you a run down of how this week might be seen as average for me:

Monday: Literature class from 8:45-10:30am and then Art History from 10:30- 12:15pm, on our way home we usually stop for tapas and a beer (which we did this particular Monday). Lunch at 2pm and then a siesta till about 4pm when I have to leave for my Politics class, 4:30- 6:15pm. After class we either stop for tapas again, or wander around the city. I go home around 8pm and eat dinner with my Señora around 9pm. Then after a shower, the UConn group meets up to go a chill bar and play pool.

Tuesday: Grammar class from 10:30-12:30pm and then a Culture class from 12:30-2:30pm. Usually between the morning classes on Mon-Thurs I will buy a tostada con jamon y queso (pretty much like an open faced grilled cheese with ham; but delicious) at the cafe next door to the school called Potemkin. Our professors start our second class a little bit late because we always go get cafes and tostadas. After the culture class, I rush home in time for lunch with my Señora and her family. My Señora's name is Rosario and her daughter, her son-in-law, and two of her granddaughters come over for lunch everyday. After we clean up the table, everyone settles down for a siesta. After a nice nap, I usually leave the apartment and meet up with friends for tapas, shopping, or a relaxing afternoon in the park (although it's too cold for the park now). I have frisbee practice with the Penultimanos (the Granada frisbee team I play with) from 9:20-11pm. I ask my Señora for an early dinner, then head out to practice. Luckily for me, the fields are only a 10-15minute walk from my apartment. After practice, the team goes out for tapas, usually near Plaza Einstein.

Wednesdays and Thursdays are pretty much the same as Mon/Tues' in terms of classes and things I do, with the exception of frisbee practice.

On Friday (11/30) I went to a potluck dinner with the Penultimanos and brought one of my good UConn friends Brittany with me. Everyone was supposed to bring a dish from their home country. We made meatloaf and chocolate chip cookies! In Spain, baking at home is very rare; when my Señora saw me baking the cookies, she said she had never made them! All the food at the party was delicious - there were even hotdogs and apple pie from fellow Americans.

Penultimanos  at the Potluck dinner

The UConn group traveled to Cadiz on Saturday and Sunday. Cadiz is a beautiful beach town, and although we went in the winter it was still nice to hang out on the beach. We took a bus tour around the city and then I went out to dinner with some of my better UConn friends. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to explore Cadiz, but from what I experienced it is a great little town. The next day we stopped at Arcos de la Frontera on the way home and explored it for a bit.

Cadiz 

Cadiz sunset

Arcos de la Frontera

Me, Anna, Michelle and Brittany at Arcos de la Frontera

Paris!

I know I am a few weeks behind in my blogging, but I want to keep this chronologically organized. So you'll have to wait to hear about an amazing beach frisbee tournament I went to this weekend for a few more days/weeks.

On Thursday night (11/22), I flew to Paris! I was planning on taking a bus from the airport in Paris to meet my cousin, Christina, who I would be staying with. Christina, my cousin, is studying in Paris this semester, so we figured it would be a perfect weekend to visit especially over Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the bus driver require and a printed copy of the bus ticket, showing it to him on my ipod was not enough. I tried to call Christina from the Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris but I could not get my cellphone to work. I tried calling her from a pay phone as well, but had no success. So, I was stranded. Fortunately for me, I had a paper map and her address. I decided to venture into the metro.

As most of you may know, I'm a little directionally challenged. New York City's metro is huge challenge for me, so this Paris metro, with unfamiliar locations, and everything written in French, proved to be a huge disaster. Although I asked many people about which direction I should be heading in, most people were no help. Either they didn't know where I was going, or just pointed and then shrugged, which was not helpful. I ended up sticking with a group of young Brazilians who seemed to be going in a similar direction. After figuring out I needed to head towards the Arc de Triomphe, I could somewhat figure out things on my own. It was a little scary considering it was around midnight, but I made it to the Arc eventually. Luckily for me, Christina called me just as I left the metro and told me to just stay put at the Arc and she would come meet me. Although I was never in danger, finding the Arc was a few hours of extreme anxiety, frustration, and near panic. Christina took me to her Madame's house (her home-stay) and we spent the rest of the night catching up.

Unfortunately Christina had a few classes on Friday morning, so I headed to the Louvre on my own. Following Christina's explicit instructions, I found the Louvre with no problem. As I wandered around the outside of the Louvre and surrounding area, I devoured my first chocolate croissant! It was heavenly! The artwork inside the Louvre was amazing, and there was just a multitude of works. My biggest problem with the Louvre was it's size; I found that it was just too big and I soon felt exhausted. Thus began my hunt for the Mona Lisa. I have always imagined the famed Mona Lisa painting would be stunning and I would feel some sort of awe. My childhood and The Da Vinci Code might have created these unreachable expectations. The Mona Lisa was in it's own room, but the painting was tiny! I'm probably exaggerating now, but it seemed to be the size of a regular 8x11 piece of paper. There were also barriers between the viewers and the painting so you couldn't get too close either. All in all, a little disappointing, but the rest of the museum was awesome.

Entrance to the Louvre

Outside the Louvre

The best photo I took - it's a little disappointing though, right? 

Christina and I met up and had baguettes for lunch. We then headed to another art museum, the Musée de l'Orangerie; it had impressionist art by several famous painters including: Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and others whom I can't remember. The first exhibit was a series of paintings by Monet called Water Lilies (Les Nymphéas). These murals goes around the entire perimeter of a room, which results in a sort of panoramic view of water lilies (supposedly Monet's garden). These murals show the lilies in all different lighting and styles. Albeit small, I definitely preferred this museum to the Louvre. The rest of the exhibits were amazing, but the Water Lilies stole the show for me.

Monet's Water Lilies 

Part of the Water Lilies collection

Part of the Water Lilies collection

After the Musée de l'Orangerie we wandered around a few of Christmas. There we indulged ourselves with some amazing waffles and nutella. I also got my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! We decided to walk home along the famous Champs-Élysées. This avenue boasts some seriously expensive and luxurious looking shops and restaurants, and also contains historical sites. After a much needed nap, we headed out for dinner (we deemed this our Thanksgiving dinner), and then to a bar, where I met some of Christina's friends.

I swear those aren't both for me!

First sighting of Eiffel Tower!

Avenue des Champs-Élysées

On Saturday, we decided to visit the Palace of Versailles. Although it proved quite difficult to get to, we eventually made it to the former home of King Louis XIV. Walking up through the gates and seeing the whole palace was amazing. We toured through personal chambers, sitting rooms, the Hall of Mirrors and the gardens - all lavishly decorated. It is truly unbelievable that someone ever lived there.

Walking up to the palace

The Hall of Mirrors

Christina and me in the gardens

After eating lunch at a nearby pub, we took the metro back into the city. Christina dropped me off at the Eiffel Tower and she headed home to study for an exam. I decided to climb up the tower to the two levels accessible by foot. The views from the first level were amazing especially as the sun was setting. I took a quick bathroom break, and by the time I came back the sun had set and the view was completely different! I climbed up to the next level and spent a while taking photos and taking in the views of the city. The tower itself was also visually stunning. I am afraid of heights so I was not too excited for the descent, which proved to be a little difficult for me. As long as I focused on the stairs and didn't look anywhere else I was okay. At one point I was a little out of breathe and mentally freaking out, when I started to see flashes everywhere. I thought my brain was panicking and spazzing out! After just a few seconds I realized it wasn't my brain, but that the tower was sparkling! (I found out later that the tower sparkles every hour after sunset.) I finished my descent and walked around the park enjoying myself. I finished up my Eiffel Tower visit standing across a little stream, eating a banana chocolate crepe watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle. This last moment, was probably one of my favorites during my Paris trip.

View as soon as reached the first level

Post-bathroom view

Sunset

Looking up the tower

Sparkling tower

Walking around the park

View from the park

On Sunday, we went for a walk in the Jardines de Luxembourg (Luxembourg Gardens). It was a huge park in the middle of the city. We kids play with boats in a small fountain and walked through the gardens. Although it was a little chilly, we enjoyed walking around. Then ate some delicious crepes for brunch, (egg, ham and cheese, and a banana chocolate) they were so good. Although it was a touristy cafe, we got to watch the crepes being made. Then we went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The cathedral was beautiful and the stained glass reminded me of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. On our way home, we walked along the Seine and on the love-lock bridge, where couples put locks on the fence to signify their love. Unfortunately by then it was time to start my journey back to Granada. 

Jardines de Luxembourg

Outside the Creperie

Delicious banana chocolate crepe!

Outside the Cathedral of Notre Dame 

Inside Notre Dame 

Beautiful stain-glass windows

Views of the Seine

Love-lock bridge

Christina and me on the love-lock bridge

Plaza de Toros in Granada

On Tuesday (11/20) I went to the Plaza de Toros (bullfighting ring) with my friend David. The Plaza de Toros is located on the outskirts of the city. It was the first ring I had been inside, and I even saw some guys practicing! They were using a cart on wheels that had horns attached as the bull, and one guy would wave the flag and the other would push the cart, imitating the bull's actions.

Entrance to the Plaza de Toros

View of the ring with the guys practicing

The makeshift bull