Alternative Methods

These are from my Volume class-where we make jewelry out of everything except what you would expect. Including lettuce...project runway style!

First Semester

It's been a long time since I last wrote, but here's what I've been up to in the last couple months...

These are the pieces I made in my studio class. Nothing too impressive yet, but gotta start somewhere..

After months of sawing and filing my hand are getting nice and beat up. But through blisters, callouses, cuts, and burns I'm enjoying what I'm doing. That's all you can ask for, right??


Up next: design and create commercial a piece for valentines day and an then an artistic piece about extraterrestrials, hm...

A taste of Galicia

So, I've been here for almost a month now, and I'm finally starting to feel like Vigo is my home. I have a job teaching English, have made some friends and have my first jewelry class on Monday. So far I have really enjoyed the way of life in Galicia, and I am looking forward to everything that is to come!

Last weekend I was lucky enough to have a true introduction to Galician culture. A new friend took me ou to lunch where I had my first taste of pulpo a la gallega (Galician style octopus) and pimientos verdes (grilled green peppers). To my suprise the flavor of the octopus was pretty good, they make it with olive oil and ground red pepper. It has a nice little kick to it! The texture is a little strange, but all in all not too bad.


Then we went to the beach where we spent the day surfing (very poorly) with some of her friends on the northern coast of Portugal, then we came back to Vigo to have a late dinner at a traditional Galician tavern. The people here really know how to eat and drink well! Wine is so superfluos that they brought us four bottles and served it in bowls instead of glasses! We ate tortilla de patatas, calmares, more pimientos verdes, and some sort of sausage. Que rico!! Dinner was followed by traditional Galician music and dancing. The music is very similar to the Celtic style-with bagpipes! Everyone played along using pairs of shells for percussion. We ended the night with the traditional drink of Galicia-Liquor cafe. It tastes like Kahlua, but is supposed to be a lot stronger!

First post from Vigo!

What a wild week it has been! Starting last friday with the Hurricane warnings and having to make all new arrangements for getting to Spain. Mom and I eneded up driving into the hurricane to NJ to stay there without power for 3 days. Finally I was able to get a flight out Tuesday. I flew Newark to Lisbon, Lisbon to Porto, then took a bus to Vigo. I arrived Wednesday afternoon, ran over to my school to figure out what I had to do for my entrance exam on Thursday.

Everyone at my school it very friendly and helpful, but when it comes to getting real information about the course they are definitely lacking...I was under the impression that there was one test on Thursday at the school, based around art History. Turns out it's a two day test, in Santiago de Compostela, and includes history, math (physics and graphing), gallego (the official language of Galicia), and Spanish language. And, the directions were only in Gallego. I saw the test and just laughed because I figured there was no way I would pass. But, 6 hours later the test was over and it turns out that I passed (with the highest grade of the other 3 people that took it). I don't understand how that's possible, but at least I have a little more confidence for the last portion tomorrow, which actually is based on Art History and drawing.



Saturday was spent walking all corners of the city to look at apartments. I saw a total of 5 this week, and really didn't like any of them but one. I ended up selecting the apartment that overlooks the ocean and I have 2 boy roomates. I hadn't thought of living with boys, so we'll see how it goes!

After five days in Vigo I am finally starting to feel like this will be my new home. I'm sitting in my new apartment watching the sunset over the atlantic, which is beautiful. I moved my things into the apartment this morning, and then went to the beach this afternoon. Northern Spain is known for its beautiful white sand beaches, and I have to say I liked it better than the beaches in Southern Spain, where all of the beaches are pretty rocky. And, the beach is only about 10 minutes away on the bus.

 So, all in all it has been a week of lots of ups and downs. Half the time I'm so excited to see what the year will
bring, and the other half I think I'm
absolutely crazy and I should be back
in the States. But, I'm here, so check back to see where things take me! Ciao!

Goodbye Badajoz!!

I know it has been at least 2 months since I last wrote, so I'll just give a short overview of what I have been up to for the last couple months since Valle de Jerte and Galicia:

*Dad came to visit for Semana Santa. We started in Madrid, came to Badajoz then wandered around Portugal for a few days.

*Went to Mallorca with Maureen for the weekend at the end of May. That trip concluded April, which my crazy month of traveling.

*Stayed in Badajoz almost all of May, and then my job ended on May 31st.

*Met Maureen in Madrid to start our trip to Romania and Hungary. My wallet was stolen on the metro in Madrid immediately, so I spent the evening canceling my credit cards and being stressed. Then had some interesting times figuring out Western Union in Bucharest, but then had a wonderful trip through Transylvania (Sinai, Brasov, Sighisoara, Sibiu, and the Transfargasan Road through the mountains) then worked our way to Budapest on a 16 hour overnight train.

*Back to Badajoz for a couple weeks, including a 3-day camp with 2nd of ESO, Birthday celebrations, enjoying the Feria de San Juan, and my Flamenco recital.

*Mom and Joc arrived and we packed up everything in Badajoz, spent a night in the Parador de Merida, and then headed to Copenhagen for a week. Then to Barcelona to meet Miss Sara Jenks, and now a few days in Badajoz before heading home tomorrow.

Wow, what a crazy few months.

It's strange now to be saying goodbye to Badajoz, but I know that it will always hold a special place in my heart, along with all of the wonderful memories I have of this year. I can't put into words how amazing this year has been, and how fortunate I feel to have had this opportunity. I want to thank everyone at IES Sierra la Calera. I really appreciate everyone's openness to me (and my less than perfect Spanish) and their willingness to help me with anything and everything that I needed. I learned so much about myself and about Spain, and I will always feel that I have a home in Badajoz.


Now onto another adventure...Galicia, here I come!

Trip to Valle de Jerte and Galicia

The month of April is crazy for me. I will be traveling for 20 our of 30 days. I already want camping for the first weekend in Valle de Jerte, which is known for it's cherry trees. Every year around this time (depending on when the trees bloom) there is a festival and celebration of the cherries. Everything in the towns within the valley is based on cherries. It was really nice to get out into the wilderness and hike in the area called ''La garganta de los infiernos'', or the throat of hell. It sounded menancing at first, but ended up being a great hike with some really nice views. I went with a group of Erasmus (the European version of Study Abroad) students: There were two French, two Italian, one Turkish, one Spanish, two Americans and one Canadian. Everywhere we went we were asked where we were from, for records and statistics of the tourists, and we always had to list six countries. It was quite the international group

Then, three days later I rented a car with my friend Morgan to go to Vigo, Santiago de Compostela and A Coruña. I am looking at a jewelry design school in Vigo, so I went to spend 3 days there to see if I liked the school. Morgan explored the city and showed me all of the most important parts when I finished school in the afternoon. The school was great, and everyone was super friendly, and helped me with everything I needed. Also, the accent there was so much clearer than in Badajoz! It was much easier to understand. 

After Vigo we went on our way to Santiago de Compostela, where they were celebrating the 800th anniversary of the Cathedral by "hugging" it. People were dressed up in traditional Gallego costumes and they organized people to surround the cathedral holding hands, to give it a hug. It was fun to see. Then, we took a quick trip up to A Coruña, another city on the northern coast of Spain. It was a nice city, but sadly the highlight for us was eating Subway... We were craving American food so badly that we were thrilled to find Subway and Foster's Hollywood Cafe. And we ate at both...

Felipe, Prince of Asturias

Felipe and Letizia getting out of the car

Today there was lots of excitement in Badajoz. Felipe, one of the Spanish princes came to Badajoz to participate in the Congresso Nacional de Jovenes Impresarios (National Congress for young buisnessmen). Lucky for me, my window overlooks the building where it was taking place. The road outside was completely blocked off with barriers, and there were crowds of people waiting to see the Prince arrive. When the motorcade arrived everyone began pushing to see and cheering. There was a group of school children watching, and they shoute 'Felipe, Felipe" as he arrived, and of course him and his wife greeted them, and everyone cheered. The woman next to me yelled, "Felipe, guapo!' His wife, Letizia, is also very popular. It was a very exciting thing for Badajoz.

I was also able to see the democracy of Spain in action. Some of the kids from the dorm brought out a Spanish Republican flag to protest the royal family. Immediately the police went over to them, confiscated the flag, and took their IDs. Nothing else happened, but they were really annoyed, and said to me, "now you know how democracy works in Spain".