Yesterday my first two guest left the paradise of palm trees... Week well spent I would say! :) We managed to check all the shops in Elche (as another reason for coming here was a need for shopping and prices are a lot better here), admire the beautiful buildings and endless parks of palm trees, socialize with my Erasmus friends, enjoy the nightlife (...and sleeping till 3.30pm afterwards :D ), visit Alicante in order to see the Mediterranean sea and... visit Valencia... wow, that's a beautiful city! Unfortunately we were rather tired (because of lack of sleep and very fulfilling lunch in chinese restaurant), but still saw the beautiful white buildings, huge parks and old town. I think I still prefer Barcelona, but just because of Gaudi, cause Valencia is also a very, very beautiful city!
Besides that, in Elche there was a Medieval Festival which included a great, great market which lasted for 2 weeks and was full of delicious food and cute other things - way better than markets in Latvia!
One thing that my visitors were surprised about was the attention that I get here! :D I am not paying attention anymore to guys beeping in cars or calling Rubia! (Blonde!) on the street, but they felt distracted! :D That's what you get for being the only real blond in Southern country!
As you might imagine, we made lots of photos, I think around 1000, but for whatever reason my computer resisted accepting them, so I am waiting for photos from Riga.
Apart from that, we are working on our thesis topic and finally have a reasonable idea with reasonable methodology! :) and school is still easy, but I will have 3 exams in 2 weeks. and I have a short study week again, basically the weekend starts today, cause Thursday and Friday are free. and we were planning to explore Southern Spain by renting a car, but it seems that no one is old enough to do it...
Ok, I guess I have delayed my Thesis meeting enough. Hopefully my partner will some cool ideas by now!
Love,
Ilziii
trešdiena, 2007. gada 31. oktobris
otrdiena, 2007. gada 23. oktobris
Advertising kills!
No worries, no one has been killed, it is just a topic that I have chosen for my 2 page essay for one of the courses that I am taking. Luckily the teacher is from Ireland, so she was delighted when I offered to write in English - although my Spanish is improving every day, do not feel capable of writing something in Spanish, and even more, making sense...
Despite the grand plan, the weekend was spent quite calmly - at least for me. We did not go to party to Alicante on Thursday as it was a bit raining, but instead we had a small home party. On Friday was the year starting event in the university. We went there soon after waking up - around 1, discovered quite fool tables of snacks and drinks and lots of people! :) Afterwards, with Year 5 students we went to enjoy the Mexican food and Spanish drinks in some restaurant, which was very nice as we got to know lots of new people and try out different Mexican food, including the super chilly sauce, which tasted very good! Suprisingly enough the start of the university's party, which happened in one of the best night clubs in Elche, was at 5pm (usually Spanish people start thinking about going out at 1am...) and when we arrived at 6.30pm, there were actually very many people! Actually I like clubs in Spain, mostly because of the music which fits my taste better than in Riga - they mostly play top hits (without too much of bum'bum) and inbetween some local Latino songs! So after spending couple of hours in the club, we returned to the apartment to socialize and get some drinks or in other words to get ready for the second part of the night! That included visiting other clubs in Elche... so far I had been to 3, but there are a lot more (in comparison, in Ogre there are 2, while it is just a bit smaller than Elche). So together with newly met Spanish friends we checked out some 3 more night clubs, but in the end, around 5am, still went to Borroco!
So the next morning, which for me was around 3pm, I just felt tired and decided to sacrifice going to party to Alicante for a good night sleep!
I am actually getting used to the long weekends that I have here - usually it is 3 days, as Mondays are free, but for the last 3 weeks due to fiestas I have had at least 4 free days in a row and as there is nothing much to study in the university.... well, life rocks! 8)
Ok, back to advertising that kills...
Despite the grand plan, the weekend was spent quite calmly - at least for me. We did not go to party to Alicante on Thursday as it was a bit raining, but instead we had a small home party. On Friday was the year starting event in the university. We went there soon after waking up - around 1, discovered quite fool tables of snacks and drinks and lots of people! :) Afterwards, with Year 5 students we went to enjoy the Mexican food and Spanish drinks in some restaurant, which was very nice as we got to know lots of new people and try out different Mexican food, including the super chilly sauce, which tasted very good! Suprisingly enough the start of the university's party, which happened in one of the best night clubs in Elche, was at 5pm (usually Spanish people start thinking about going out at 1am...) and when we arrived at 6.30pm, there were actually very many people! Actually I like clubs in Spain, mostly because of the music which fits my taste better than in Riga - they mostly play top hits (without too much of bum'bum) and inbetween some local Latino songs! So after spending couple of hours in the club, we returned to the apartment to socialize and get some drinks or in other words to get ready for the second part of the night! That included visiting other clubs in Elche... so far I had been to 3, but there are a lot more (in comparison, in Ogre there are 2, while it is just a bit smaller than Elche). So together with newly met Spanish friends we checked out some 3 more night clubs, but in the end, around 5am, still went to Borroco!
So the next morning, which for me was around 3pm, I just felt tired and decided to sacrifice going to party to Alicante for a good night sleep!
I am actually getting used to the long weekends that I have here - usually it is 3 days, as Mondays are free, but for the last 3 weeks due to fiestas I have had at least 4 free days in a row and as there is nothing much to study in the university.... well, life rocks! 8)
Ok, back to advertising that kills...
ceturtdiena, 2007. gada 18. oktobris
News from my world!
This morning had to wake up at 7am...terrible :p and it got even worse when I discovered that outside it was raining heavily so for 1 moment a thought of skipping the lecture even passed my mind, but as I had a lecture in Financial Operations and we are supposed to have a test next week - could not afford it! However, most part of the lecture I was kind a sleeping, because all we did as a practice for the test was caclulating how much money would we get after a year/6 months/3 months/2 months and 3 days/1 day if we invested 10 000 EUR/15 000 EUR/1 000 000 EUR with simple/compounded interest rate - welcome to FE in Spain! :D
Apart from my studies, which really do not take much time, I have started to do some sports - SWIMMING! :) The pool is some 10min from home, 1 time costs only 3eur (or 1,5eur with abonoments) and you can swim for as much as you want - I Liiike it! ;)
Tomorrow we are having no lectures again as we will celebrate the beginning of the study year (a bit late, but better later than never ;). Not really sure what is gonna happen, but the party is definitely in the list!
Actually we (Erasmus) have an amazing weekend plan - Thursday (today) to Alicante as there are rumors than on Thursdays there are fiestas for Erasmus people and we want to socialize; Friday is University's fiesta and on Saturday we shall go to the usual party - Borocco! So sounds like another tough weekend! :D
Regarding the weather situation - not so good... It is raining every other day, but luckily is it still quite warm, around 22 degrees.
And on Wednesday my first guests shall visit me - wohooo! :)
Warmest greetings,
Ilziii
Apart from my studies, which really do not take much time, I have started to do some sports - SWIMMING! :) The pool is some 10min from home, 1 time costs only 3eur (or 1,5eur with abonoments) and you can swim for as much as you want - I Liiike it! ;)
Tomorrow we are having no lectures again as we will celebrate the beginning of the study year (a bit late, but better later than never ;). Not really sure what is gonna happen, but the party is definitely in the list!
Actually we (Erasmus) have an amazing weekend plan - Thursday (today) to Alicante as there are rumors than on Thursdays there are fiestas for Erasmus people and we want to socialize; Friday is University's fiesta and on Saturday we shall go to the usual party - Borocco! So sounds like another tough weekend! :D
Regarding the weather situation - not so good... It is raining every other day, but luckily is it still quite warm, around 22 degrees.
And on Wednesday my first guests shall visit me - wohooo! :)
Warmest greetings,
Ilziii
svētdiena, 2007. gada 14. oktobris
Tough life of Erasmus...
Woke up an hour ago... yesterday was another tough day for Erasmus people - as it was Saturday and the weather was nice, we were forced to go out and party... even the fact that due to the same reason (that it was Friday and the weather was nice...) we had slept only 4 hours during the previous night could not help... So now the question is - what is open on Sundays??? (as Monday is free for us and the weather is nice) :D
As I do not know how to get video here, just gonna put the link to our obsession: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hru3Kdn7Lfw
Other news - luckily the weather situation has improved here and it seems I am not gonna freeze, so no worries, Bubi! ;) At the moment it is smth like 23 degrees and sun shining bright!
And yeah, love being Erasmus! ;)
Kisses and hugs! :*
Yours,
Ilziii
As I do not know how to get video here, just gonna put the link to our obsession: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hru3Kdn7LfwOther news - luckily the weather situation has improved here and it seems I am not gonna freeze, so no worries, Bubi! ;) At the moment it is smth like 23 degrees and sun shining bright!
And yeah, love being Erasmus! ;)
Kisses and hugs! :*
Yours,
Ilziii
otrdiena, 2007. gada 9. oktobris
Barcelona 2
Yesterday returned from Barcelona - again! :) This time I went there to see my brother&co. After (very) very tiring bus ride which lasted for 8 (!!!) hours on Sunday's morning at 7am I reached Barcelona. Luckily they had seen the main attractions already, so we went up on the hill to enjoy the view and a ride in air tram down to the beach - b-e-a-utiful view on Barcelona from up! :) Later on swam in the sea, visited some restaurants (including one where we tried oysters - I liked ;), tried some sangrias, checked the view on the city from the tower of Sagrada Familia and my brother even went to a football game: Barcelona - Atletico de Madrid. Luckily Barcelona won! :) So after to great and tiring days it was time to enjoy the ride again, this time in train. The train system in Spain is really great - they are new and comfortable, passengers are given earphones for listening music or watching TV - this time they showed Madagascar. The only thing that really got on my nerves was the little monster (black, about 1,5 years old) who was sitting right in front of me and just could not stop screaming... for 6,5 hours!!!
Now developing plan for today - as the weather is cloudy, no beach today, so I should study Spanish but we shall see how that turns out! ;)
By the way, photos to be added when I get them from LV.
And another by the way, if anyone feels like making my day: ;)
Carrer Doctor Sapena 1
Elche 03204
Comunidad Valenciana
Spain
Now developing plan for today - as the weather is cloudy, no beach today, so I should study Spanish but we shall see how that turns out! ;)
By the way, photos to be added when I get them from LV.
And another by the way, if anyone feels like making my day: ;)
Carrer Doctor Sapena 1
Elche 03204
Comunidad Valenciana
Spain
piektdiena, 2007. gada 5. oktobris
Ok, about the trip...
So, it all started with me leaving Alicante on Wednesday evening/night and Kalvi arriving in Barcelona on Thursday morning - we were supposed to meet at the arrival zone of Barcelona's airport at 7.30am on Thursday... however, unfortunately we discovered that we are in different airports! :D Anyway, afterwards everything went well in Barcelona - we went to see Sagrada Familia and Park Guell, two of the most visited tourist attractions in Barcelona...
The next morning - flight to Casablanca! After arriving in the airport we had to fill in some paper with personal information, go through the passport check and we are in AFRICA! A bit of waiting for train, getting taxi to the hotel (5eur for approx. 5km seemed good price so we agreed) and let's go to explore the city! At first we wanted to find the tourist information but as we did not have the map we did not succeed but after getting the map TI was not necessary any more. The first impression - poor people, city stinks quite badly, people through trash wherever as there are no rubbish bins... well, not quite what we expected... We also went into the central market and wanted to buy some cheap Morocco fruits. Well, not cheap for tourists at all - for nectarines seller asks 2,2eur/kilo, so we buy just few to try out, tastes the same. When going back to the hotel, we notice some small bread shop with lots of different breads - very, very tasty... and arabic sweets as well... mmm.... :)
Our hotel room is quite nice - there is a bed, some shelves, TV, bathroom and cleaning lady comes every day.
The 2nd day we decided to spend near the ocean. On the way - Mosque Hassan II (2nd biggest in the world). Do not want to repeat myself, so check draugiem for photos. ;)
Afterwards we took a taxi to the beach - the taxi driver is quite nice, shows us some things on the way and suggests to go to private instead of public beach as it is safer and cooler. But we want to explore the public beach as well! Very few people, ocean quite calm but water very cold, a bit cloudy... ok, lets go to the private beach! Tahiti seems the best choice - not many people, pool, completely blue sky - NICE! :) later on the waves got bigger and the view - more beautiful!
The 3rd day was planned for shopping and the beach, but as we both were very red after the first day, we decided to go just with the shopping. The market is huge - very many people trying to sell everything, not so many people willing to buy something, so they have time to pay attention to everyone. We got to know 3 arabic men - somehow they made us to go to their shop... afterwards it is really hard to get out without buying anything... after selecting some things that we really could buy, the price comes... 700 MAD (65eur) - WoW! A bit too much! But as we had no idea how much we should pay for it, the bargaining was really hard... We managed to get the price down, but still felt like we had overpaid... but that was not it - then we had to go to the shop which was owned by the son of one of them... that is where the Arabic prince got his shirt! During the process of selecting we enjoyed some tea (actually I enjoyed cause Kalvi was scared that there might be some pills in the tea, but there wasn't :p). Again the same story with bargaining - this time from 600 to 200, while as I later found out the normal price is 100! Some more similar stories, but in the end we are really tired of (mean) Arabic people who just want to squeeze everything out of us, so we feel like going back to the developed world - Barcelonaaa... :) but before going back we tried some more of their traditional food in the hotel restaurant and it tasted wonderful! Afterwards we had some small guest in the room - spider/lizard/other insect which spoilt the impression about the hotel a bit, but Hey, it is Africa! ;)
Overall it was very interesting experience - seeing how people live on that side of the world...
The last 2 days of the trip where again in Barcelona, but I hope Kalvi will write more about it cause I am already tired! :p
peace,
ilziii...
The next morning - flight to Casablanca! After arriving in the airport we had to fill in some paper with personal information, go through the passport check and we are in AFRICA! A bit of waiting for train, getting taxi to the hotel (5eur for approx. 5km seemed good price so we agreed) and let's go to explore the city! At first we wanted to find the tourist information but as we did not have the map we did not succeed but after getting the map TI was not necessary any more. The first impression - poor people, city stinks quite badly, people through trash wherever as there are no rubbish bins... well, not quite what we expected... We also went into the central market and wanted to buy some cheap Morocco fruits. Well, not cheap for tourists at all - for nectarines seller asks 2,2eur/kilo, so we buy just few to try out, tastes the same. When going back to the hotel, we notice some small bread shop with lots of different breads - very, very tasty... and arabic sweets as well... mmm.... :)Our hotel room is quite nice - there is a bed, some shelves, TV, bathroom and cleaning lady comes every day.
The 2nd day we decided to spend near the ocean. On the way - Mosque Hassan II (2nd biggest in the world). Do not want to repeat myself, so check draugiem for photos. ;)
Afterwards we took a taxi to the beach - the taxi driver is quite nice, shows us some things on the way and suggests to go to private instead of public beach as it is safer and cooler. But we want to explore the public beach as well! Very few people, ocean quite calm but water very cold, a bit cloudy... ok, lets go to the private beach! Tahiti seems the best choice - not many people, pool, completely blue sky - NICE! :) later on the waves got bigger and the view - more beautiful!
The 3rd day was planned for shopping and the beach, but as we both were very red after the first day, we decided to go just with the shopping. The market is huge - very many people trying to sell everything, not so many people willing to buy something, so they have time to pay attention to everyone. We got to know 3 arabic men - somehow they made us to go to their shop... afterwards it is really hard to get out without buying anything... after selecting some things that we really could buy, the price comes... 700 MAD (65eur) - WoW! A bit too much! But as we had no idea how much we should pay for it, the bargaining was really hard... We managed to get the price down, but still felt like we had overpaid... but that was not it - then we had to go to the shop which was owned by the son of one of them... that is where the Arabic prince got his shirt! During the process of selecting we enjoyed some tea (actually I enjoyed cause Kalvi was scared that there might be some pills in the tea, but there wasn't :p). Again the same story with bargaining - this time from 600 to 200, while as I later found out the normal price is 100! Some more similar stories, but in the end we are really tired of (mean) Arabic people who just want to squeeze everything out of us, so we feel like going back to the developed world - Barcelonaaa... :) but before going back we tried some more of their traditional food in the hotel restaurant and it tasted wonderful! Afterwards we had some small guest in the room - spider/lizard/other insect which spoilt the impression about the hotel a bit, but Hey, it is Africa! ;)
Overall it was very interesting experience - seeing how people live on that side of the world...
The last 2 days of the trip where again in Barcelona, but I hope Kalvi will write more about it cause I am already tired! :p
peace,
ilziii...
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