Mike's Adventures Abroad

Back Home

2006-05-25T18:12:00.000-05:00

As usual, this update is about a week late, but I'm finally stateside again. I got in last tuesday and bummed around Iowa City for a few days. This week I'm training for my summer internship with General Mills in Minneapolis. I'm planning a trip home this weekend to attend my siblings' graduation. Afterwards, Erica and I are headed to Ames for Peter and Patricia's wedding. It should be a fun weekend.

Many thanks to everyone who read this blog and/or kept in touch while I was abroad and sorry for the long periods without updates. Like many of my plans, I didn't always have the time to keep up with it. But it's safe to say that I had a wonderful time, and I love to sit down and show photos/tell stories. So just ask me if you're interested. I think this will conclude my international blogging, but who knows, mikeincorporateamerica.net is still open. Has a nice ring, doesn't it?

Erica comes again!

2006-05-10T12:08:00.000-05:00

Here are the pictures from Erica's second visit to Spain. We spent a few days here in Cáceres and had a final party for all the americans. We then headed for a long weekend in San Sebastian, a popular vacation destination on the northern coast.

Semana Santa in Pictures and Words (Now with pictures!)

2006-04-21T15:21:00.000-05:00

I was incomunicado for a while because I was on a marvelous trip to England and France. If you'd like to know how it went you can check out the pictures or the recollections I wrote on the plane ride home. It's still a work in progress, but progress will be slow because I'm trying to get several term papers done before Erica comes for a second visit on sunday.

Insanity

2006-04-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

It's currently about 8:00 pm. I leave for spring break at 1:00 am and I still have about 2007 things yet to do. So naturally I'm updating my blog. I just wanted to let everyone out there know that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I went to a rock festival this weekend instead of writing my term paper and now I'm feeling the consequences. It'll get done one way or another. I'm trying to embrace the spanish attitude.

I'm planning to go to England to spend a couple of days in London and the weekend with my friend Katie, who lives and works in Canterbury. Afterwards I'll get to see Grenoble, the town where Erica lives, and we will spend a long weekend together in Paris.

When I come back I'll have 2 weeks of finals and then be done in Cáceres! I still can't believe how close I am to going home. Of course I'm looking forward to seeing my family, friends, and dogs. However, I will most definitely miss Cáceres and it will be sad to leave.

Now to all the crap I have to do...

Cordoba and Granada

2006-03-28T11:22:00.000-06:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the photos from the group trip to Córdoba and Granada. Both are cities in southern Spain with a strong moorish heritage. Fortunately for us, the conquering Christians decided not to destroy some of the moorish monuments so that future generations of tourists could enjoy them.

The two days were spent in Granada. There we saw the Royal Cathedral. Aside from being architecturally impressive, it houses the tomb of some of Spain's most important monarchs. In the evening we went out to dinner and to a flamenco show. On day 2, Sarah and I went for a hike up a mountain and the group as a whole went to the Alhambra. The Alhambra is a palace in the former capitol of the moorish empire and Spain's most visited monument.

In Cordoba we visited Madinat al-Zahra, a former moorish city that is still being excavated. We went back to the city to pass a few hours before our visit to Mezquita of Córdoba. The mosque was constructed while the city was still an Arab stronghold and converted into a cathedral when it was reconquered by the Christians(hence the crucifixes).

Cards of Post

2006-03-27T07:22:00.000-06:00

It sounds like people have recieved the postcards that I finally got around to sending recently. I wrote them over a month ago, but it took me a while to send them. Sorry, but you should know that that's how I roll by now. If you are an ISU friend who didn't get one, you will. I just need to go buy some more. If you are reading this and haven't recieved one, let me know. I probably just don't have your address. You can leave it in a comment, or email me.

This weekend I went with my friend, Álvaro, to his village. It struck me as similar to smalltown Iowa. There were a few bars, a convenience store, and a bunch of bored teenages. We hung out at what is lovingly referred to as "Moe's Bar" (an homage to los Simpson) and there I met the teenagers and local drunks. We sipped soft drinks, watched soccer, and played an ancient arcade game. When that got boring we went and walked through the dehsa, the extremaduran countryside. It was really pretty and probably my favorite part of the visit. I also got to meet Álvaro's extended family, which has lived in the village for a long time.

On thursday all the americans and a couple of dutch girls went out for chinese food as a group. Everyone had a good time, but most people were travelling early the next morning so they went home right afterward. I was kind of disapointed because I was hoping to go out. As I walked home I ran into some of the exchange students from michigan. They graciously invited me to come out with them for the evening.

We went to their spanish friends' apartment to pass the early part of the evening. I had a good time just chatting and drinking with all the spanish kids. There were a couple guys singing an elaborate drinking song that involved balancing your cup on your head before downing your drink. After singing a couple of times I was suitably sloshed and switched my drink for a non-spiked coke so I didn't end up puking in the nice girls' apartment. Around one everybody went out to the street to find a bar. I walked around with them for a while, but we couldn't find a place that would let everyone in. After a while I got bored and went home, but thanks to the michigan kids I had a good evening and got to know some more spanish folk.

Erica comes to visit.

2006-03-20T16:07:00.000-06:00

It's been a long day so I'm going to keep this one short. In between classes I arranged spring break airfare(I'm so bad at planning these things) and in the evening we had a special bull fighting lesson with our grammar professor, Javier. Those pictures will probably come soon.

But for now less talk, more rock. Here are the photos from the time Erica and I spent together in Cáceres and Madrid. Enjoy!

Tiempo Perdido

2006-03-19T04:02:00.000-06:00

So, I stayed in Caceres this weekend with the intention of getting a lot of schoolwork done and trying to meet some people. So far it hasn't been a resounding success. On friday evening I went out with Jenny and Alvaro(my spanish friend). We ended up at a bar that was having a latin dance night. Fortunately, we bumped into a girl from Jenny's dance class so I had a partner for the evening. I was glad that the place was mostly empty because we need some space to try to re-learn the moves from their dance class. The only other people there really knew there stuff, too. Despite the torrential downpours of the evening we managed to have a pretty good time.

Yesterday I mostly sat around the house. I watched malcolm in the middle(funnier than i remembered) and los simpson and followed both pretty well. I also talked to Erica for a while and scoured the low-cost airlines for spring break flights. In the afternoon I laid down for a little cat-nap and ended up with a full blown 3 hour siesta. After getting up I fixed some dinner and wasted more time. A lot of people went on trips this weekend, and the ones who are here weren't answering their phones. So I decided to take advantage of the fact that I live twenty paces away from the movie theatre. I went to see Volver, the new picture by spanish director Pedro Almodóvar. It was a good movie and (even better) I was able to understand it pretty well. Maybe I'm learning something after all.

Lisbon

2006-03-17T07:25:00.000-06:00

Before I sign off for a bit, I figured I'd post the link to my Lisbon photos. It was the first trip that we organized on our own and a lot of fun. I think it was a typical college student budget kind of venture. We traveled by(surprisingly comfortable) bus and packed a lot of people into a small hostel room. It was cute little apartment-suite that suited us quite nicely. I went without a good idea of what to see in Lisbon, but Rohini had a fantastic guide book and was nice enough to let us follow her around all day. There was good weather during the day, but it rained both nights so we opted to drink wine in the room instead of going out.

The language barrier wasn't too bad. When they spoke slowly it was possible to understand the portugese. It seemed to me like a mixture of Spanish, French, and Gallego(a regional Spanish language). In addition, all the young people spoke english so we got around quite easily. The drug dealers on the street had a basic command of english as well and would always greet us with, "Business? Hash? Hashish?" It was an interesting trip.

Night of the Big Bottle

2006-03-17T06:54:00.000-06:00

It's been a rainy Friday here, so far. I went to my host-mom's music class this morning to deliver a presentation on rock and roll that I had prepared for a seminar at ISU. I spent most of the morning translating it and getting ready. I had expected a small class, but several other classes packed into the room to see my lecture. It was tough to talk in front of so many people in a foreign, but the fact that they were only 16 made it less intimidating. They were really friendly and talkative. Afterwards my host-mom said that I did a good job and they thought the way I pushed my hair around(a nervous habit that I'm sure you're familiar with) was pretty funny.

Which brings me to the second order of business: I got a haircut! I tempted fate and went to the beauty school because a 5 euro haircut was too good to pass up. It was definitely time for one, too. My hair was down to my shoulders and Erica's friends mistook me for a girl in her pictures(it happens). She cut it pretty short, but did a good job I think. (picture to come) Sarah went to the same place though, and wasn't so lucky. I feel bad because she lost a lot more hair than she wanted to and now she has to go to a lot of effort to make it look nice. I think it looks okay, but when it comes to hair people are usually their own harshest critic.

Last night the students had a "macro botellon," which literally translates to "big bottle." It amounted to a bunch of people drinking in a parking lot out at the fairgrounds. After many changes of plans, Sarah, Rohini, and I went to check it out earlier in the evening. It was kind of crazy and interesting, but there were just three of us, we didn't know any of the people and we weren't particularly interested in getting drunk. Sarah and I called it an early night and Rohini went to hang out with some other Americans who were on their way out.

I'm going to try to study a little bit and maybe blog some more to pass the rainy afternoon. But first lunch and siesta...

LIfe in general

2006-03-14T14:12:00.000-06:00

I've got a big load of Portugal photos to post tomorrow, but I figured I'd write a quick update of my current situation. After a delightful week with Erica, being sick, and travelling almost every weekend for the last month I'm just pooped. I've also realized that I've seen a lot of nice places but haven't really established much of a life here in Cáceres, which makes me a little sad. So I'm going to hang out here for the next few weekends, do some homework and try to go out and meet some people.

I'm still really enjoying living in my home, spending time with my family and walking my husky every once in a while. There's some serious plumbing work going on in the lower floor of the flat(where I live) and in the entryway. When I came home from school today I was surprised to unlock the door and find a gaping chasm to greet me. Luckily, I was awake enough to avoid the danger. It really is impressive though, I should take some pictures.

School is okay. Classes aren't difficult, but it seems like we stopped doing things after the first month. I haven't really done any assignments or taken any exams, but I guess that's the spanish way. I'm told that in most university classes the students don't do anything for the semester and then study like crazy for the one exam they have to take. I'm not sure what I think of it. You'll have to ask me when I get back.

I'm also starting to plan my travels for spring break and the time after school ends. At the moment my plans include visiting England, France, Italy, Greece, and maybe Danmark or Belgium. We'll see how it turns out, and if any of you other little european travelers have suggestions I'd appreciate them.

I think that's about all for tonight. I did post some of Erica's photos the other day in case you're interested. She's still doing well in France, but a little frustrated with the strikes that are closing school every other day. I'm sure you've read about it.

G'night now.

Catching Up: Merida

2006-03-07T08:43:00.000-06:00

So it's been a while since I've posted anything. I got a nasty cold for a week, worked a lot at my internship, and spent a week with Erica while I've been away from the blogging world. I'm sure you understand. I've decided to take advantage of my amazing powers of photo-journalism and catch up the easy way; I'm posting my photos of the trips I've taken the last three weekends.

The first installment is our group trip to Mérida. It's the capitol of the province and a former roman metropolis. Now it's a major historical and tourist site because of the roman ruins. We visited the theatre, anfitheatre and museum of history. What really struck me was how the ruins were just interspersed throughout the city. There were restraunts and bars situated right next to all the historical sites.

Without further ado, I present the link to the photo gallery. Please excuse the spelling errors. I was think half in english and half in spanish when I captioned the photos.

Next installment: Lisbon.

Happy Valentines

2006-02-14T03:14:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of updates. I'm actually beginning to have responsibilities now(school, internship, etc.) but I'll try to keep up because apparently people are actually reading this. Also, I took a trip to Mérida last weekend, and I´m going to be visiting Lisbon this weekend. Expect a real update and pictures soon.

In lieu of a proper entry, I offer you this link:
Click me, sucka!

It made me chuckle when I turned on my computer and provides even further evidence that even god hates creed. By the way, Scott Stapp foundation, OMG ROFLOL!!!

Happy valentines day everybody. And special thanks to Eliza for the amazing trans-atlantic valentine. Te amo también.

Can I get a what what?

2006-02-07T04:17:00.000-06:00

Thanks to everyone who has read/commented/emailed so far. It's really nice to hear from everyone and I most definitely have not forgot about all my friends and loved ones in the states. If you haven't talked to me at all, you should at least drop a comment. It's quite easy really. Just click on the little link at the bottom of this post that says "X comments."

Staying in touch with me just got easier, too. I'm now on skype, aim and facebook(i finally caved). Username for Skype and AIM is knifeblade2005. I'm going to try to make more computer calls because of my ineptitude at making long distance calls without spending boatloads of money. Also, I was really excited by my chance to have a voice/video chat with ISU friends this weekend.

Finally I'd like to give a big shout out to the spanish government. The new smoking laws have made my stay much more comfortable. Most bars/restraunts still permit smoking, which I can tolerate, but I'm really glad that 'espacios sin humo' are becoming more common.

School, Phones, Friends

2006-02-05T07:35:00.000-06:00

The first week of classes was pretty laid back. The syllabuses were a bit intimidating(we're studying Spanish literature and history from medieval to modern times) but the classes have been easy. For example, in literature we got a couple short stories to read and they weren't too difficult to understand. Then I came to class and discovered that we are going to go over them line by line. It's probably good though, because I have a tendency to skip over words I don't know and just get the general gist of things.

I was also looking forward to starting my internship this week, however things are progressing kind of slowly there. This first week I mostly spent my time trying to find and meet the people who(m?) I might be working with. So far I've met three people.

The first is a DBA at the college named Quique who also has a private business. He shot rapidfire spanish at me, but I think I understood pretty well and it sounds like a good job. I'd be doing some simple web programming and maybe some translation for his firm. I was happy to hear that he prefers not to use microsoft tech because it's 'less free.' I think we'll get along well.

The second opportunity is at a bilingual school. Another student with our program is working there as a teacher and observer in the classroom. The school wants to create a website, so on friday morning I took a rainy walk over there to sit down and talk a bit. Again, things progressed on spanish time. We just chatted a little bit and they said they would get back to me when they had a little more info. I met a teacher from the UK who was really a card though.

Finally I talked to the IT guy for the education department at the college. He was nice, but didn't seem interested in working with me, which is okay with me. I need some time to relax.

Speaking of technology I've really come to realize what a luddite I am. I'm finally carrying a cellphone and using SMS. Without it I would miss a lot of what's going on with the other kids. Hopefully I'll get some more spanish kids in my phonebook so I don't end up only "haning out with whiteys" as Sarah so eloquently puts it. I also had my first voice chat with my friends from Iowa State. It's definitely not cutting edge technology, but it blew me away that I could see and talk with my friends for free. A big thanks to Marcy, TJ and Nick for chatting with me. We'll have to do it again.

pictures?!?

2006-02-02T06:30:00.000-06:00

A frustrating day...

2006-02-02T05:51:00.000-06:00

I think herding cats is an apt(but trite?) analogy for trying to get all of us together to do anything. Some of the girls were planning a picnic of sorts after class yesterday. A couple people came to school with bags of food, so I figured it was still a go. I got done early so I headed downtown to run a few errands. I mailed some letters, picked up a book, and bought some lovely desserts to contribute(i should have taken a picture). Then I waited at the bus stop...and waited...and waited for a couple hours with various phone calls assuring me that everyone was on the next bus. A few people eventually showed up, but most of the food was gone. We did end up hanging out for a bit and then heading to the old section of town to wander.

Afterwards I went home to pretty up for the orchestra concert that we had planned to attend. My host mom and I went to get some tickets only to find out that it was an invitation only event. Normally situations like this are my fault, but the concert had been advertised all over town with posters and an ad in the paper. I don't get it.

Instead a couple of us went bar hopping for a bit. I finally got to try the infamous calimocho(wine + fanta or coke) which was actually quite good. Even more memorable were the olives we got in the second bar. I think they had oregano on them, and we attacked them more ravenously than our beverages. We went to a funny little cafe run by a husband and wife to finish off the night with a hamburger. We managed to salvage the evening quite nicely.

Sorry if this post came off as whiny. I've really been having a teriffic time here and even just sitting and people-watching at a bus stop is still interesting to me. I'm going to try to put up a few photos in a sec.

Don´t be a stranger....

2006-01-27T10:35:00.000-06:00

Since the intent of this blog was to stay in touch with all my friends in the US, it might be a good idea to publish my details so you don´t have to communicate only in blog form.

My email address:
mronobespamrts (at) cs (dot) iaspleasetate (dot) edu
hopefully you know what to do...

My Address:
Michael Roberts
C/ Diego M^a Crehuet, 25 1 izqda
1002 Cáceres, Spain

My cell phone(I finally use one!):
Not having called myself from the US, I´m not exactly sure how to dial but I will tell you what I know.
Spain´s country code: 34
~~My city´s code: 927~~ - I don´t think this is necesary.
My number: 666791036

I think I know what to do now. Dial 110 33 666791036 to get in touch.

If you want to call me and need help, or want to plan a time, just send me an email. Knock yourselves out because all incoming calls are free, but don´t forget that we are +7 hours from you guys.

Finally, if you´d like a postcard and don´t think I have your address, just drop me a line and you´ll be put on the list... as soon as I remember to buy some, that is.

Also, if you are one of those KURE jerks(or an alumnus *cough*katie pfeiffer*cough*), who hasn´t had the time to post a comment on the blog that I´m so graciously working on, I´d appreciate it if you´d drop a line... suckas.

¿Como se dice ´run on senetence?´ :-)

kickin´it...

2006-01-26T14:34:00.000-06:00

Classes don´t begin until monday, so we´ve just been relaxing and getting to know the city. We met our families yesterday and mine is wonderful. So far I´ve met my mother, Mariluz, and my brother Andres. I´m told there are two other brothers that live elsewhere. Neither my mom nor my brother speak any english, but I´ve surprised myself with how well I´ve done so far. Strangely enough I have the most trouble when they are using words that are the same in english. Last night they had to lead me to the fridge for me to understand that they were offering me ´un yogurt´.

The coordinator of the program, Toñi, and the students assisting her have been really cool as well. They´re having the equivalent of final exams right now, but promise they´ll take us to the bars on saturday. We´re going for a bit to celebrate a birthday tonight.

We saw the campus as well today. The tour was helpful, but I´ve really been relishing the oportunity to walk around without a huge group of americans. Maybe someone can help me use the phones because so far I´ve wasted almost 5 euros in failed attempts to call erica.

well, time to go out.

Some pictures from the first day...

2006-01-24T07:03:00.000-06:00

The window of our room:

and inside:

De plane, boss, de plane:

The entrance to the prado:

First Day!

2006-01-24T06:28:00.000-06:00

The trip over was blissfully uneventful. The flight wasn't very full and I managed to claim an empty row of seats as a bed. Flying internationally makes me feel like a smalltown rube; I'm the only one impressed with taking off and I'm usually craning my neck to see everything going by outside. The airport in milan made me feel a little underdressed. I think the highlight was a solitary japanese traveler with pokemon luggage.

It was a little anticlimactic when we finally got to Madrid. Sarah and I just grabbed our baggage off the belt and walked out into the airport. Not even a passport stamp. We trekked up and down the millions of stairs in the metro with our luggage, and were pretty exhausted by the time we made it to the hostel. The two kids who lived there had some delightful toy cars that were repeatedly playing 5 seconds of some pop song. After a couple of hours I think a family member 'misplaced' the batteries because the noise finally stopped.

After a shower and dinner at the museo de jamón(literally, museum of ham) we both collapsed in our beds. It seemed like I was only able to sleep for two hour streches. In between I hung out in the lobby with some canadians and saw photos from their trip to egypt.

After coffee and a croissant in a smoky cafe we spent the morning at the prado. I tried in vain to recall the art history I had learned in high school, but the exhibits are impressive even if you don't understand the historical context. We wanted to head to the modern art museum, but we managed to come on the only day of the week that it's closed. Eh, maybe I can see the guernica another day.

should be packing right now....

2006-01-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

but instead I'm messing with this stupid blog. oops.