I’m about to end my third 12-day break in two months - in a span of 61 days, I have had just 7 days of class. Going back to Boston College in the fall is going to be rough.
A trip to Palma de Mallorca (an island near the coast of Barcelona) has been the highlight of my travels the past few weeks – with other trips to Tarragona, Cercedilla, Salamanca, Real de Manzanares and El Escorial. They are all small, beautiful, peaceful cities and towns, appreciated more for their natural beauty and street life than their man-made tourist attractions. The pictures below do most of the explaining.
Palma was both a relaxing and adventurous weekend. The highlight was taking tiny, stick-shift cars (for less than €10/day per person) up and down winding mountains roads and along sandy beaches and steep cliffs across most of the island (see pics). Of course, we also spent time laying in the sun, exploring the store-lined streets of the city, and constantly explaining to promoters that we didn’t speak German – Palma is a German tourist hotspot; we heard more German than any other language (including Catalan and Castilian) and nearly all signs were in German (or have a German translation).
Other recent activities:
-infiltrating the 15-M protests of “los indignados” and marching around the city
-day hikes in the mountains north of Madrid
-watching fuegos artificiales (‘fireworks’) in Retiro Park for the San Isidro Festival
-seeing my first bullfight in Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring
Fun facts:
-It just got HOT. After the first three months in the cold, then a month with over 23 days of rains, so far in May it has been HOT (near 90 and humid). With no A/C in my homestay apartment, I’m definitely feeling it. I’m dying wearing shorts and a t-shirt. Meanwhile my host mom laughs and says “Just wait” - I still see Spaniards walking around with jeans and sweatshirts..
-Just three weeks left in Madrid before a week vacation and then off to Tarragona, Spain to work over the summer. I’m trying to soak up as much as possible before I go.
-Y’all will be excited to hear that, for whatever reason, I’ve grown nearly two inches since leaving the States. Also, my beard is now blond.
Hope everyone enjoys their first few weeks of summer,
Carlito
