Semester at Sea

Orientation

2009-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Today we had our orientation of the school, our neighborhood (Pedregalejo), and downtown Malaga (el centro). Before all of this though we had to sit a placement test. After the placement test we got to meet all the students we arrived with. Basically, the way it works is a new batch of students leaves every second Monday. With only seven people our group was small in comparison to the groups that arrive when school lets out. Luckily I arrived with an awesome group of people and we all quickly became friends. Their was Camilla (Denmark), Rosanne (Belgium), Marlies (Holland), Zineb (Morocco), Denise (Hong Kong), and Stefan (Austria). All in all we were a pretty international group spanning four continents and seven countries.

After our test we took a walk around the school with Nico who was the activities coordinator for the school. It was actually pretty nice with a separate kitchen, computer lab, several different residences, and garden all within a walled compound about the size of a regular lot. It was pretty compact but very well planned out and everything was clean and modern. It's also really nice since the school is only a two minute walk away from my host family.

Now we were to leave and see the surrounding area as well as several shops, gyms, and restaurants that the school recommended. We left the school and walked into the little 'downtown' area of Pedragalejo which is basically a suburb of the city of Malaga (which is actually a surprisingly big city with a population of I believe around 500,000). It's weird since the whole city is cornered between the mountains (glorified hills) and the ocean so it's really thin but long as it winds it's way along the coast.

The actual center of our suburb was pretty nice with some restaurants, assorted shops, small businesses, gyms, and some bars. The best part though was down by the beach (four minute walk from the school) where we went to Namaste which was a really nice bar restaurant deal with really nice staff who were always friends with the EF students. We all had lunch and talked about our respective countries.

After finishing up we all headed to the bus stop which is conveniently located exactly between my host family and the school. From there we caught the N11 bus into downtown Malaga which takes about 20 minutes depending on the number of stops. Unfortunately all the buses here are on Spanish time so they show up whenever they want. The night buses are even worse and may or may not show up at all.

Downtown Malaga is a charming area which is heavily pedestrianized which is really nice. The whole area is composed of old style Spanish buildings with several highlights being the Plaza de la Constitucion, the Alcazaba (old Moorish fort), the one towered cathedral, and the Picasso museum. There's plenty of shops for no matter what you want, bars, restaurants, and of course clubs.

After our tour of all the highlights we headed back to the school where we were dismissed for the day so we all went to the beach and took in the sun (Malaga only gets about 20 days of rain per year).

No hablo Ingles... Shoot

2009-05-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up ridiculously early since I didn't know how long it was going to take me to get to Luton airport. I walked, took the train, took the bus, and finally ended up Luton... three hours early. So I had the pleasure of enjoying Luton airport for three hours with nothing to do since I accidentally left my book at the hostel (thankfully Naseem and Alice are looking after it – thanks!). I was also a little skeptical about the quality of my flight since I was flying with the crazy discounter airline Easyjet and I'd heard many bad things about them. Thankfully though the flight ended up being decent but you definitely got what you paid for. I did get to talk to a nice elderly British couple beside me though who were headed to their vacation house in Marbella.

Finally we landed in Malaga and I caught a taxi to my host family. There I was received by host mother, Raphaela, who unfortunately didn't hablo any Ingles whatsoever so I had to guess what was going on. After she showed me my room she gave me some keys and went back to her television. So with nothing better to do I decided that I would try and find a supermarket; unfortunately, I didn't realize it was Sunday and that all the supermarkets would be closed. This didn't really matter since I just ended up getting terribly lost.

After asking several people in my terribly broken Spanish I ended up finding my way home. When I finally got back I met my new house mates. I directly shared a room with Stefan, an Austrian guy who is going to the same school as me (EF Malaga) and is staying here for 2 months as well so that ended up really well. Felix is the other guy and he's a German who's going to Malaga Si which is another school close to our house. Also apparently there's a British girl named Priya coming but she's in Ronda right now.

We just pretty much spent the whole night talking. Thankfully their English is really good since my German sucks and all of our Spanish is pretty rusty.

Some culture

2009-05-09T13:35:00.000-07:00

I got lost in the British Museum. Then I got lost going home. It was a good day.

The finer points of London

2009-05-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

Since Alice had an interview Naseem and I decided to go take in some of the finer sights in London. We ended up at Harrods instead. For those who aren't yet educated to the joys of Harrods it's basically a massive department store with the most expensive designer stuff imaginable. We just drooled on everything for awhile while the sales clerks ignored us because they could tell we didn't actually have money. One exception though was when I convinced a Dior sales clerk that I was actually going to buy sunglasses, apparently I was so convincing Naseem thought I was serious. Because 185 pounds is definitely a steal for sunglasses.... I want them.

And back to London...

2009-05-06T13:29:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up ridiculously early to catch the bus from Ledbury back to London. I said all my goodbyes, got on the bus, sat down, passed out, drooled on myself, then woke up in London. Getting off the bus dragging all my luggage I promptly head off in the wrong direction in search of the tube station. Ten blocks later, realizing I was going the wrong direction, I turned around and went right back to the bus station and continued going in what I hoped was the right direction. Eventually I stopped and asked a policeman who promptly pointed me in the direction I'd just come from. I eventually found it; unfortunately, the tube station was massive and had a ridiculous amount of connecting trains.

I finally figured out how to get on the train and made it to my hostel with a sense of victory at having conquered the public transit system. The hostel I'm staying at is called Clinks and it's an old renovated courthouse where you sleep in the old jail cells and connect to the Internet in the actual court room. Having deposited my luggage I decided to go have a walk around Reagents Park while I waited to run into Naseem and Alice.

Finally I ran into Naseem and Alice and we (Naseem and I) decided that it was prime time to play some intense drinking games... Connect Four! So we went to the bar and played Connect Four and the loser had to buy the winner a drink (all cool people do this on Wednesday night). I destroyed Naseem but felt pity so bought her some drinks anyways.

The only two other people at the bar were two guys from Wisconsin. We all ended up going out later that night to another bar (with people actually in it) down the street called The Rocket. We sat down right beside an unfortunate British couple who we forced conversation upon. Behind us there was what appeared to be a hooker making out with some old brown guy. It was a little weird so we moved outside and had some intense philosophical and religious debates. We then returned to the hostel and I forced some French people to talk to us while Naseem devoured some Greek guy with her eyes (we probably traumatized them for life).

British Camp and Eastnor Estate

2009-05-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

British Camp is an old hill fort atop one of the tallest peaks in this corner of Britain and we decided to go on an epic hike up it. It turned out to be a very nice walk, some of it was even paved. Up top there was an amazing 360 degree view of the surrounding area and a definite lack of sheep.

On our way back from British Camp we decided to jump the fence into the Eastnor Estate where Eddie does a lot of work. We walked around the lake, traumatized the deer in the deer park, and took in the castle and it's grounds. It's a pretty amazing area since the castle was built in the 17th century so it was more a statement of wealth then for any practical castle like purposes. I want one.

A lad in his cave (and lots of sheep)

2009-05-03T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tirwedd Hanesyddol Cwm Elan. That's right, I went to Wales. We started off at Elan Valley where there's a huge series of late 19th century dams that provide all the water for the city of Birmingham. We followed the reservoirs far into the Welsh countryside. Turns out few people live out in this part of Wales (except for one guy who lived in a shack that was painted with 'A lad in his cave'). Instead of people they have sheep. Lots of sheep. More sheep then your mind can fathom. There's sheep everywhere.

After passing countless amounts of sheep we reached Devilsbridge. It's basically a tiny bridge spanning over a big waterfall with the steepest staircase imaginable. It's so steep they had to put little blockades alternating from each side of the staircase so that when you fall you'll hit one of these blockades instead of plummeting to your brutal death. You have to go down one side then up another. It's pretty fun if you're a sadist. The waterfall was really nice though and they had some killer hot chocolate at the end.

Our Welsh adventure over we returned home and had roast beef and Yorkshire puddings. My head exploded out of joy.

Weston's Cider, Sitara, and the Pink Pub

2009-05-02T14:46:00.000-07:00

Today I have consumed a ridiculous amount of alcohol, it's amazing. I started off my day by going to the Weston's Cider Distillery. We ambled around the grounds and mowed some paninis for awhile we waited for our tour. When it started we wandered around the grounds while learning about the process of producing cider. We visited the washing station, the presses, the filters, the bottling, and the best part, the sampling station. Turns out cider is a deliciously amazing thing. We got to try a whole range of ciders and perries (basically a pear cider). Turns out they've been making cider here in Herefordshire for over 125 years... that's crazy. God bless England and the 18 year old legal drinking age.

After leaving Westons, very happy and a couple bottles of cider richer, I had the pleasure to hang with the family for a good majority of the day.

Later when we were hungry we decided to head into Ledbury to grab a bite of Indian food. We ended up visiting a small, but very classy, restaurant in the middle of downtown Ledbury called Sitara. It was absolutely the most amazing Indian food I've ever had. I want more even though I'm so full it hurts. If I could eat that food every day I would be so ridiculously fat and I really wouldn't care. I love food, a lot.

After that we decide to go down the street to a traditional English pub to keep the good times (booze) rolling. I can't remember the name but I do remember it was painted pink. Apparently it was a big scandal that this particular pub had been painted pink since it was a listed building (heritage building in Canada). What had happened was someone had pulled up in the early morning, dressed as a painter, and just completely painted the outside of this pub completely pink. When the landlord woke up he discovered that his once white pub was now pink. This caused an uproar and made the news here in Ledbury since they take their pubs seriously.

The chained library

2009-05-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

Hereford is home to a great big church that inside has the oldest known map of the world according to Christian knowledge and perceptions of the world. I'm not sure how old it is exactly... but it's really old. Apparently it was discovered relatively recently and no one really knew what it was until a traveling academic discerned it's true value. When they found out how rare and valuable it was they quickly took it out of the rickety frame that it was displayed in and hid it away from the public. Eventually it was returned to the church in the middle of the night by the British secret services and now resides in a climate controlled room inside a monumental case of stone and glass inside the church's chained library (old libraries had chains attached to all the books since they were so valuable).

We had fish and chips with cider for dinner. Yes, it was epic.

Public transport is the bane of my existence

2009-04-30T11:01:00.000-07:00

After getting lost numerous times I finally figured my way to the bus station I was supposed to be at for my trip to Ledbury. Turns out the bus stopped to get more passengers at another bus station that was right by my hostel and if I'd just shown up there I wouldn't have had to spend three hours getting lost. The bus finally left and we got stuck in traffic, for a long time, it sucked.

Four hours later I was in Ledbury. Unfortunately I'm special and tried to get off at the wrong spot (a stop light) and the bus driver just looked at me like I broke into his house and ate all his food. Anyways, Ledbury is a really nice town with a mixture of old and really old houses that line crazy English streets that refuse to stay in a straight line for more then several meters. Along the main street there is a plethora of pubs, small shops, and restaurants.

When I finally got off the bus (at the right spot) I was met by Eddie and Judy who are my great grandmothers sister's offspring and husband (I think). I'm not sure if that helps – I know I'm still a little confused. We then drove out to their house which is on the outskirts of town in a great location that's right in the countryside but close to everything you could ever want.

Naseem's Icelandic love

2009-04-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

I'm in Iceland, it's intense. I just got off an overnight flight from Toronto to Keflavik and now I'm waiting for my flight to London. It's three in the morning or something equally as ridiculous. Everyone is so good looking and intensely Scandanavian whereas I just look like death and probably mell pretty raunch as well.

On our flight from Toronto to Keflavik we were getting ready to take off and the flight attendants were making the last rounds to make sure everyone was buckled in safely. The flight attendant, who Naseem later named Sven, came up to check on our row. Allison and I were fine and Naseem was eagerly awaiting her turn to prove that she too was capable of doing up her seat belt. Sven, or whatever his name was, turned to Naseem and asked if she had her seat belt on. She eagerly piped yes before lifting up her jacket to show him; unfortunately, she'd forgotten that earlier she'd gotten up to get something and not rebuckled so it turned out she was just really excited to show her crotch to the traumatized Icelandic flight attendant. To her credit she did have a belt around her waist so she was almost right. Almost.I'm in Iceland, it's intense. I just got off an overnight flight from Toronto to Keflavik and now I'm waiting for my flight to London. It's three in the morning or something equally as ridiculous. Everyone is so good looking and intensely Scandanavian whereas I just look like death and probably smell pretty raunch as well.

Meeting the parents

2009-04-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

Today I met up with Erin who had driven in from Lucknow for the day to come visit. We then were taught by Naseem how to pillage local malls of their trial size fragrances and skin care products. It was intense. After that we went to the Rainforest Cafe where a bunch of the waiters yelled at us. By this time it was unfortunately time for Erin to leave so we went and met her parents. Unfortunately her parents didn't think too highly of me. Erin was with me when we almost got expelled from my exchange program for breaking out after curfew and going out... and not coming back... then we got caught. Also, to make things worse, I wrote some very explicit things in her end of the program book.. which her parents read. It was a little awkward. Her father was not a fan of the Greg. On the plus side Erin still chooses (yes, that means willingly) to hang out with yours truly.

The photo is Naseem, Michelle, and Erin chilling like villains in the Fairmont Royal York.

Tim Deagan seduces Melissa

2009-04-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Today we (Melissa, Naseem, Michelle, and I) wandered around downtown Queen street area with the vague goal of getting to Kensington market. As we were all walking down the street we saw a big ass old house with an “Open” sign on it. For lack of anything better to do we went inside. Once we were in it was as if we'd just walked into some old persons home (except they were trying to sell us stuff). Eventually, after a sufficiently awkward length of time, an older lady came in to greet us. Apparently we were in Campbell House - the oldest original house in Toronto or something like that. When we told her we were from Vancouver she laughed at us and told us that her Campbell House was much older then anything we had in silly Vancouver, also if we wanted a tour it was 10 dollars. Since I'd had enough of the old ladies shenanigans I feigned getting a text message saying I was too meet someone in five minutes and; unfortunately, we were going to have to leave without an educational tour. The lady just glared at us. In revenge Naseem borrowed two post cards she plans never to pay for. After we asked her why she would do such a thing she just replied, “I'm Persian, it's in my blood.”

As we continued on our path to Kensington market we passed Much Music Canada. They had a little sign out front advertising for audience members. Long story short we ended up signing up and waiting in a ridiculous line. When we were finally let in we were coached on when we'd need to cheer and when we'd need to laugh etc. etc. it was very natural. The hosts for that day were Tim Deagen and Sarah Taylor. When they were warming up they were interacting with the crowd and Tim Deagen taught Naseem the secret to a perfect high five, took a picture with Melissa, and body checked Michelle (she wouldn't admit it but she secretly enjoyed it). I don't even know who these people are but Naseem assures me that Tim is a tool albeit it a good looking way (or so she thinks). Sarah just ignored us because we were clearly beneath her and unworthy of her attention. We didn't want to talk to her anyways.

Oh the TTC

2009-04-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

After spending the whole day wandering downtown Toronto and lurking Eaton's Centre and Yonge Street I decided to head over to Oakville to visit Melissa and Paulina (two of my friends from Mexico). Unfortunately, I'm special and missed my Go Train (transit in Toronto is actually the most ridiculous thing I've ever encountered). So I got to wait for an hour for the next one, spend forty minutes on the train, then bus for an hour – but it was so worth it. (During this time Naseem was busy getting lost on the transit on her way to York). I wish Toronto and Vancouver didn't have all those other things in between them. Then I could come visit more often, it would be amazing. We went to Jack Astor's and I payed in exact cash with no tip because I'm a horrible person.

Uh oh, crabs...

2009-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's our first night in Toronto and Naseem is already convinced she has crabs (from the bed, nothing dirty...). Great way to start our trip. We're staying at the Days Inn hotel in down town Toronto. Great location, not sure a great hotel. We must have made a great impression on Tenesha at the front desk because she offered to exchange our one queen size bed to two twin size beds, at no extra price. Then we discovered we were on the ghetto smokers floor – there was an ashtray in the washroom in case you wanted a smoke while in the shower. This is not exactly what I wanted to retire too after a full day of flying and waiting in the airport for two hours while Naseems flight was delayed.

When we had enough of our rank hotel room we decided to explore the downtown area and try our best not to get mugged. We wandered around for awhile, got some coffee, and passed some creepy hobos before returning to our hotel. We then went to sleep (Naseem slept with all her clothes on to avoid getting syphilis).