For Amber...and everyone else who is curious about us

Hello loyal readers! We are alive! We made it to the south of France last week and have been staying up in the mountains at ESCALAPON, the family estate of Alexis. Holy beautiful. Fresh mountain air, hot days and cool nights. The party for Cèsar went off without a hitch...baptism followed by lunch then a concert then games then dinner then another concert then dancing until 3 am. French people know how to party! We have been doing a whole lot of nothing and its been great. They took us to a huge lake, we got a paddle boat in the likeness of a swan...yesterday we rode bikes down the mountian at about 40mph then hiked down another mountain and swam in an ice cold but gorgeous river. The friends of Marielle and Alexis have been so kind, helping us with our french and just having a fun time. Its really hard to put into words what it is like here. The house is hundreds of years old and enormous...there is no internet up there either so which is why we have been so out of touch. We are in Nice now though, returning to Escalapon tomorrow. We have been to Cannes and Grasse and last night had dinner at the house of one of Alexis`s oldest friends who just happens to be the number one perfumer in the world. He is a nose. He creates scents for the likes of Chanel and various celebrities. He is also AWESOME. Describing this experience thus far is so difficult...in person it will be much easier...just know its like a dream. Or heaven. Oh and the `ol arm is doing much better...no real news there. We have had so much Rosè too! Yum! Looking forward to the beauty of Corsica. Miss you all.

After 4 hours in an Italian ER...

Yup. Remember those really great fountains we talked about in the previous post? You know, the ones we loved where you can step in, fill your water bottle and be on your way? Well slippery surface + flip flops = Nicki in a cast past her elbow. She stepped on a wet stair and went down HARD. There was a collective *gasp* among the gazillion people that witnessed because this was no ordinary fountain you see...it was the one right in front of the Spanish steps. With the help of several very kind strangers we got tissues, wet wipes, ice and pointed in the direction of the nearest ER. And after all the waiting, the x-rays, and the cast we walked out....for FREE. Socialized health care rules! I thought we were going to have to start a 'Nicki's Arm Fund' on here to get us back to the states :)
We were both pretty tramatized by the whole thing - good thing it happened at the end of the trip. I will be doing all the typing from here on out and carrying all the backpacks will be interesting. Not to mention poor Nicki trying to bathe and go to the bathroom. They are worried about one of the bones in her wrist and she can't have her wrist lower than her elbow. We have to go to another doctor in 5 days to have her checked again - if everything looks good she will only have to wear the cast for about 6 weeks, if not there might be surgery in the future.
We are still going to try and find a movie theater because she is quite the trooper. Now this all happened today - last night we witnessed a guy get a knife in the face. Butthat story will have to come at another time. Rome will never be the same.

When in Rome...

Howdy loyal readers! So we are in Rome...yeah, not gonna lie, kinda disappointed. Its big, dirty, the people are not very friendly...I don't know, maybe we're jaded at this point. Overstimulated. Some parts have been very cool but overall we are just kind of 'meh'. I thought it would be magical - more like full of graffiti. We did the Colosseum yesterday which was AWESOME. My favorite part for sure. We took tons of pictures, a video and did the audio tour so anything you want to know, just ask! We also walked around the Roman Forum - also very cool. AND SO OLD! :) I caught Nicki off guard with my joke...'Man, Rome ruined everything!' Heh, heh...get it? Roman ruins. Yeah...
We also went to the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, ate some great pizza and then passed out. Today we got up early and headed to Vattican City where we went to the museums, saw the Sistine Chapel and went in St. Peters. After all that fun we found a rather off-the-beaten path place for lunch and I had the best lasagna I've ever had IN MY LIFE. Oh don't worry, there are pictures. We wandered around some more, stuck our feet in a fountain and filled up our water bottles - oh, I haven't mentioned this yet. Ok, so everywhere around Rome there are fountains, spickets...anything that water can come out of and you can drink from them, fill your water bottles, take a bath whatever! And the water is fresh and cold and wonderful. It comes directly from aquaducts in the mountains. Nice!
So tomorrow we are going to try and hit up an English language bookstore and maybe even see a movie (cross your fingers for Batman). There are a few more sights to see and for sure more gelato to eat!
CIAO!

Adios, Espana!

Well, it is almost time to say goodbye to Spain. There have been some great times, and not so great times, but overall, I think we can say that we enjoyed the land of the bull, with its free-flowing sangria and tapas, its dry hot days and cool nights. Although, there is no doubt about it, we are ready to leave. We just finished cleaning up the apartment a bit, have a load of laundry going, and are ready to get packed up so we can catch our flight to Rome tomorrow evening.
In the past few days, we have gotten to experience a bit more of the local life here in Villaviciosa de Odon. We invited our neighbor Jose over for some cervezas the other night to thank him for giving us the passkey to his wireless network (SO GREAT!!).
And if you have been reading, you'll remember the Shannon story from London, how we just happened to bump into her in the west end, well we have a similar "small world" story here in Spain. So, our roommate Sandra met a group of Spanish students in a hostel in Krakow, Poland. As you do in hostels, she got to know them a little bit, but she never found out where they were studying. Flash forward 3 weeks, we are waiting for the bus to take us to the University and Sandra leans over to us and whispers, "That guy looks like a guy I met at a hostel in Poland." As you may may have guessed, it was the same guy! He is a Mexican student studying at the same school as we are. Weird. Sandra had no idea that he lived in Madrid, let alone was studying at the same school. We happened to be looking for a good Mexican restaurant and he told us that he would cook for us, and last night, he did. Well, his roommates did and it was pretty awesome - Guacamole, quesadillas, tequila, it was a good night. It was the perfect way to end our time here in Spain.
We are really looking forward to going to Rome tomorrow and we will be in Nice with Marielle and Alexis on Thursday night.
We hope everyone is having a great summer and we can't wait to be back home in about 3 weeks (you better get your party hats on!)

Some New Pics!

Two new albums - facebook hasn't been letting me upload so the new albums are on Picasa - very cool site. Enjoy and we will get some more up soon! Kisses!

Life is a (Spanish) Highway

So, last we left our couple, they were embarking on a journey through the Spanish Countryside with 2 companions (Sandra and Kristin, WooHoo!) on what was anticipated to be the "fly by the seat of our pants" weekend of the DePaul Madrid Program. And let me tell you, it was just that. After a visit to the offices of the European Parliament and the European Commission in Madrid, Kara met Sandra, Kristin, and I at the Atocha Renfe Railstation in Madrid. I don't know if anyone remembers that this was the location where on March 11, 2004, 200 people were killed by a terrorist attack. They now have a beautiful memorial which happened to be right next to the line of rent-a-car desks. We had reserved a car for the weekend because taking the train to Barcelona would have run us a pretty hefty €100 each (like $165 currently). And it was Kristin's birthday weekend and she wanted to do something fun, so she jumped on board and made it pretty cheap to split it 4 ways. So, we picked up our pretty rockin' Volkswagon Passat and hit the open road. Since I (Nicki) am the only one who knows how to drive stick, I was the designated driver for the weekend, although I had some trouble initially not stalling out every time I went from reverse to 1st gear. Oops.



First Stop: Valencia

We arrived in Valencia with no map, no hotel reservation, and really knowing nothing about the city other than its famed Oranges. We ran into a bit of traffic and after a bit of aimless driving, we found a parking garage and a hotel. We only planned to stay that evening and then head to Barcelona in the morning, so we went out to find some Paella and Sangria. Paella is a Spanish rice dish made with saffron, vegetables, and whatever kind of meat you choose. From what I gather, The rice and all the fixins are cooked for a long time over low heat in a big iron pan with handles which they bring right to the table and you pretty much just dish it out. We got chicken because all the seafood here comes with heads and tails on which is ok for me, but not so much for some other people (Kara). And Sangria pretty much speaks for itself. I can't even express the admiration and deep affection I have developed for this drink. YUM! The lady who checked us in to our hotel suggested a place a little off the beaten path and by the time we got there, there was an hour wait to sit outside (good sign). We opted to take a table inside and had a pretty fantastic meal - olives that they seemed to pick that day and jar themselves, amazing Paella, and even more amazing Sangria. It was a good night. The next morning, we got up early to see some sights and find some fresh squeezed orange juice. Also excellent. Valencia is a good place for consumption. About midday, we picked up the car and headed up the eastern coast of Spain to...



Stop 2: Barcelona



We thought the drive from Valencia to Barcelona would be gorgeous, but it was not that amazing, pretty much your standard highway. I am saying this from the perspective of the only person who was awake for the entire thing. In Barcelona, we had a map and a plan. Find somewhere to park the car and then find a hotel. You know the saying "the best laid plans..." well, yeah, 2 hours later we finally found a hotel that was in a decent location. It seems that this weekend was big Harley Davidson rally in Barcelona which jacked up the hotel prices and made our lives difficult. I didn't realize so many Eurofolk rode hogs. They do. And they look the same here as they do in Sturgis. All leathered and moustachioed. Hot. After we freshened up a bit, we hit the streets to find the famed La Rambla, a long stretch of pedestrian road with lots of little booths and street performers. We wandered around a bit and found another pretty amazing meal. As we were heading back to our hotel, we came across a small stage and a small crowd gathering around it. We figured we would stop and listen for a while and were pleasantly surprised to hear some English-language songs, more specifically country music. Yes folks, we listened to a country cover band in Barcelona playing such hits as "God Bless Texas" and "Sweet Home Alabama." It was pretty awesome. And through the "concert," little men were selling beers to the crowd for €1. Can't beat that. On the way home, we stumbled upon what appeared to be the Barcelona "Red Light District." It definitely wasn't on our map, was not nearly as touristic as Amsterdam's, and should be avoided if you ever travel to this area of the world. Another oops moment for us.



Barcelona day 2 was Kristin's birthday so we headed out pretty early to see what we could. We ended up just checking out this amazing Market off of La Rambla which had all kinds of vendors and fresh foods, fruits, veg, meats, fish, anything you could imagine and things you don't want to imagine. (Think: whole skinned rabbits, cow's heads, tongues and various other unidentifiable parts) We each had some pretty awesome fresh fruit juice. Then we hit the beach, which happened to be a semi-topless, not semi as in partially topless, but semi as in only some of the women were topless. Completely topless. Needless to say we were pretty shocked - but its just part of the culture. Moms and daughters, teens, children, old ladies - and no one was bothered. Americans need to lighten up - its just boobs. Anyway, we walked along the beach for a while (first time in the Mediterranean Sea!) and took it all in. On the way back to the hotel we checked out the Barcelona Cathedral - pretty spectacular gothic architecture. But even better was the band playing when we walked out and all these old Spainards doing some sort of traditional dance. It was really cool to watch! After freshening up at the hotel we set out to find a place for Kristin's birthday dinner - we settled on a little Italian place we found. Now, its going to be difficult to put this experience into words so bear with me...basically it was the worst meal ever. They were out of almost everything we tried to order and when the food did come, there was fur on my (kara) meat. Yes, you heard right, fur. Nope, not a stray chef's hair or some fuzz that landed in the bowl - the meat had not been cleaned properly and some cow's fur made it into my stew. Now most of you know that I am a big animal lover and don't eat a ton of meat - and after seeing what we saw at market that morning I was seriously considering cutting it out altogether - but since they were out of everything and my Spanish sucks I just pointed to something and hoped that it would be good. Nope, fur. If you want the rest of the hairy details (har, har) we will gladly provide them. What came next made me forget all about the disasterous meal...DRAG SHOW! Nicki happened to look across the street we were walking down and said "hey, that looks like a drag show". We were pretty tuckered after a long day but decided to check it out anyway - and man were we glad we did! It was unlike anything I've ever seen - theatrical, beautiful, funny...it was actually two (real) women and two drag queens. Amber, you would have died and gone to heaven! We thought of you the whole time! Its really hard to put into words what exactly we saw - so much more complex than American drag shows - here, just check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8HN0cjdCQw

It was totally free and the drinks were pretty cheap. I loved the place so much I bought a tank-top! We have lots of pictures and Kristin took a video of the "Its Raining Men" skit that had my jaw on the floor.

On the way home we stopped at La Sagrada Familia, the famous Gaudi Cathedral that was never finished and for the past 150 years has been in various stages of construction. It was pretty darn cool. The drive from Barcelona back to Madrid was BEAUTIFUL! Mountains, valleys, winding roads... we made it back safe and sound, returned the car and made our way back to the apartment. Barcelona is one of those cities I would love to go back to and recommend to all of you! Whew, this was a long one! Thank you for keeping up with us!

Spanish Roadtrip

Greetings from Barcelona! We are having an amazing time here - what a great city!! We are at a little internet cafe and don´t have a lot of time but just wanted to check in and let you know what we were up to. We have many stories of our adventures in a rental car, driving on the Spanish highways and of course all the cool things we have seen and done. And we are not through yet! All the details to come - stay tuned!

Finally some pictures!

Over to the left you will see two new links! Spain Week 1 is mostly Futbol (soccer) stuff - Spain in the semi's then in the finals and also our night on the town (we got home at 5:30am!). There are also some of our roomies and the dishwasher ;)
Spain Week 2 is what happens when you buy a 5 LITER jug 'o wine. Dance party ensues. And it was only €3.99. Also Madrid Pride (Orgullo Gay) which we celebrated with our new gay-friendly friend Kristin. We heart her. I added captions for most of the photos for your knowledge and enjoyment. It was pretty cool to have the opportunity to celebrate Pride international style - the usual suspects were there - drag queens, dancing boys, far-to-loud music...however, since gay marriage is legal in Spain it was not as political - just everyone having a great time. Tonight Sandra is cooking up some Thai Curry, we are having new friend Kristin over and hopefully will finish off the remaining 2 liters :)
Much Love!

4th of July in Spain

Yesterday was weird for us. It was the 4th of July - Independance Day - fireworks, BBQ's, watermelon, corn on the cob and sparklers day. But where we are there is not an American flag to be found. Nicki and I had a nice day, we relaxed, hung out, watched some tennis, went to the pool and made a nice dinner...but for us it was just another day. I missed the hub-bub. I really did. So all of you out there I hope you had a lovely 4th and did all the good 'ol American things for us.
Oh, but we did eat almost a whole watermelon :)

Feeling a little homesick 2...

I, Nicki, am also feeling a bit of the homesick, but my list of things is mostly food and Lola, of course, and all of our friends. Kara wanted me to mention how much she misses Ranch dressing, so much so that she wanted me to let all of you know that she forgot it. I think as a defense mechanism, she has pushed it to the back of her mind, but we went to the grocery store today and the absence of salad dressings in general brought it back to her. She's truly suffering and deserves all of your pity. She also has developed a little bit of an eye infection that we are referring to as her "Spanish Stye." So, yes, we are having a grand ol' time in Madrid. So, mostly I miss Thai food, in case you were wondering, but lack of funds and variety in general has resulted in the need for a belt if you know what I mean - mostly bread, cheese, and wine. I am not complaining, wine at our local Mercadona costs us a whopping €1.65 A BOTTLE. That's right folks, I'm wasted. But even a 12 pack of beer will run you €3.36 whereas Coca-Cola is about €6. It's a frat-boy's dream. We actually had a really nice meal tonight with our roommates - we have a kind of commune thing going on with the food situation which is nice, everything is fair game for the most part, so we are learning to share. This is seeming to be a food-centric blog, so I'll explain a little bit of the Spanish food culture for those who are unfamiliar - First, Europeans don't really have a clue about coffee and I am sorry if I offend, but all those who think that French Roast or Italian Espresso is where it's at, you are WRONG. I would kill for a drip coffee from Intelligentsia or even Starbucks (It's that bad), but the best they can come up with is burnt espresso and hot milk, which is good compared to the instant stuff that saturates the rest of Europe. So, yeah, but breakfast is good - The Euro folk take their meals seriously - no shortcuts, very little cereal, mostly pastries and fruit. Lunch is seemingly nonexistent in Spanish Culture which I attribute to the fact that from about 10am to 10pm, it's SO FRICKIN HOT here, like 95+ degrees. They trick you with thier 33 degrees Celcius, but there were definitely some triple digits last week. So, around 8 or 9 the Spaniards partake in some Canas y Tapas, basically little drinks and little eats. And 10 or 11 is dinner time, I know, weird. But the food is pretty good if you know what you are ordering and even sometimes when you don't know what you are ordering. But for those of us accustomed to eating in the 6-7 time frame, there's not much for ya but tapas. So, we're adjusting and cooking at the apartment. They've even adjusted our class schedule to accomodate the late nights. So, that's all for now. I miss Pad Thai and Chipotle, but other than that, we are having a great time!!

Feeling a little homesick...

THINGS I MISS
by Kara

Amber and Jason
Jimmy Johns
Old Navy
LOLA
my bed
Chipotle Burrito Bol
the English language
The Cafe Bong
summer in Chicago
Intelligentsia coffee
LOLA
baseball (go Cubs!)
my bike
TV on DVD
regular internet access
all my other clothes
and...did I mention Lola?
:)

The waves of homesickness come and go - it is especially hard for me when the girls are in class - but I'm getting a lovely Spanish tan and my hair is blonder than its been in years! We have Madrid Pride this weekend which I am very much looking forward to - then the weekend after that we are going to take a roadtrip to Valencia (mmm, oranges) and Barcelona. Then when classes are over we are headed to Rome! And after that we finally meet up with Marielle, Alexis and Cesar in the South of France. I'm going to try and get the pictures from our first week up for y'all to see - mostly soccer stuff :)
Well the girls should be home soon - talk to ya later!
X0X0