February 2008
36 posts
Hello from Morocco!
As you could imagine, I could write a book about the past six days. I will stick to the basics. We are safe, happy, not very clean, full of food, and living the dream. I watched a snake charmer work magic with two cobras today. I also held a monkey on my shoulder. I drank VERY fresh orange juice for 3 durham (40 cents). We’ve been the only non-Muslims on buses between cities. It is the first...
We leave for Morocco tomorrow.
At 9 in the morning. To celebrate, and speak with our unofficial travel agent, the three of us are meeting with our business professor, Nano, at one of his favorite bars (though I think he likes them all). Having been to Morocco a few times, he has helped us a lot planning our trip. We haven’t made any reservations, which was a decision we made today. No hostal reservations, train tickets,...
Morocco Itenerary
Friday 22nd
Depart for Tarifa via bus, 9am. Night in Tarifa, Spain.
Saturday 23rd
Depart for Tangier, Morocco via ferry, 9am. Depart for Chechaouene via bus or train. Night in Chechaouene.
Sunday 24th
Depart for Fez via bus or train. Night in Fez.
Monday 25th
Day and night in Fez.
Tuesday 26th
Morning train to Marrakech (Marrakech Express!). Night in Marrakech.
...
Contemporary Art Museum
On Tuesday, Rich, Justin and I went to the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemperaneo after school. It took us about an hour to walk there, and we got a bit lost, but I became more acquainted with Triana, the neighborhood on the west side (our side) of the river. The museum is actually an old ceramics factory, with huge kilns and stacks all over the place. The art itself was not very interesting—I...
Funny Story
Last year someone broke into our house in Berkeley (thats not the funny part), where Freddy, Josh and I were living for the year. Luckily the person only got into the laundry room, but they managed to steal a few of my shirts, a sweatshirt, some boxers and some of Josh’s clothes. We filed a police report for the heck of it, and the officers that came to our place figured it was probably a...
Study Abroad Africa
Or at least it feels like it. Our bathroom light is out and the hot water isn’t running. Nothing like a dark, cold shower!
Valentine's Day Symphony
On Valentine’s Day we went to the Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla. It was impressive—a full orchestra that performed pieces by Wagner, Liszt and Brahms. It was fun to wear nice clothes and mix with well-to-do Spaniards. I took some photos of the auditorium, El Teatro de Maestranza, which is only a few blocks from our residencia, right on the river. I’ve never seen a design...
New photos!
I’ve added new photos to my Picasa album. You can see them by clicking the link on the right side of the page. The new photos are in:
Doors of Europe
Real Orquesta Sinfonica de Sevilla
Sevilla 2/17
Sevilla in the Night
Toledo
Car Logos
Sans the cell.
Not having a cell phone while here in Europe has been a great feeling. Here is a short list of pros and cons that I have noticed while going without the mobile:
Pros
Being uncontactable—“off the grid”
$ave$ money
No embarrassing rings at inopportune times
Reduced occurrence of phantom vibrations
One less item to worry about getting pick-pocketed
No more bulges in my...
The Beard Brigade →
I found this great article on beards today in TIME. Its a strange coincidence that I decided to grow a beard, and then found this article that explains they are ‘in vogue’ now. After reading this, I think I will push back my next shave for a week or two, at least until after the Morocco trip. I feel so…hip. For those who are counting, my beard is 36 days old.
WatchA cool ad for the Metro in Madrid.
Yahoo in Talks With News Corp. to Fend Off... →
A match made in heaven! Messy Yahoo may join ugly Myspace to fend off cluttered Microsoft. Maybe they should all merge and hire better designers. Together, they might realize this is why all three are struggling. If they would just keep their designs simple!
Tomorrow I will be 7777 days old
Click here. Don’t ask me how I figured it out ONE DAY before my 7,777th day.
HotOrNot Apparently Very Hot, Acquired for $20... →
Congrats to our friend James, the founder, who was the keynote speaker at our meet-up last semester.
I met a Nobel Laureate today
Dr. Eric Maskin came to Sevilla today to give a lecture on game theory and “economic mechanisms.” He won The Prize last October in economics along with two other professors. I met my economics professor and a few classmates at the CEA building on the upper west side of the city at noon. When we arrived, the entire front half of the auditorium was reserved for the government officials...
Spanish test on Thursday
Since I decided to take the more challenging Spanish class I am going to have to do some studying for it. We are covering 3 tenses, interviews and a listening portion—yikes. The listening is the hardest part. The voices on the CD are very fast, and few of us in the class understand what they are saying. Luckily I have tomorrow off (finance prof cancelled class tomorrow) to study.
The charger is in!
Now I can start taking some pictures. Thanks Mom!
Back from Granada
We returned from Granada a few hours ago. I am exhausted, but the city was amazing. The Alhambra was incredible, where Roman, Christian and Muslim architecture collides. I am going to collect my thoughts, watch Sevilla play Barcelona, and then write a longer post about our stay.
Firsts
Today I did two things that I’ve never done before—I bench pressed at the gym (with Graham) and sent a message in a bottle (with Rich and Graham). We sent it down the Guadalvivir this afternoon with a note in it for the finders. Those two things are just about as different as they could possibly be.
Spain > France
At least in soccer tonight. The Spanish national team beat France 1-0 tonight. All 14 of us went to one of the local bars tonight to watch the game, and thankfully they won. I can’t wait to get a jersey.
“We should be on the hydrogen standard, then the markets would be really...”
– Farooq, quipping during our conversation about the demise of the gold standard
“I really kind of like the beard. You’re a EURO boy now!”
– Mom, in an email today. Thanks Mom! I feel pretty European.
European Money Management # 2
I take back what I said in my first post about managing money here in Spain (though I think it is applicable to the entire EU). It turns out Bank of America did charge me a fee to use my debit card at McDonald’s in Madrid. The fee is a percentage of the purchase, so it was rather small for my meal, but for larger purchases it would be a decent amount of money.
Instead, the best way to get...
Trip to Granada this weekend
On Friday, our program is taking us to Granada. Originally we were planning to ski, but it turns out we won’t have as much time there as we thought, so we are going to stick with what our program has planned for us. One thing we are going to do on our own is go to an Arab hammam, where we are going to get a bath and massage. Check it out. Since we are going as a group we get a good price,...
Super Bowl XLII
In an attempt to avert complete assimilation into Spanish culture, we are going to our favorite Irish pub in Seville tonight, Flaherty’s, to watch the Super Bowl. Flaherty’s is the pub where Rich, Farooq and I go for happy hour during the week (1 euro beers from 6-8). I’m indifferent towards both teams, though I think I will root for the Giants because they are the underdogs, and...
