Dying/Crying/Blogging

Sunday, upon waking from a night of adventure and fun I came to the realization that I was deathly ill. Some would have had me convinced that I just had a hangover, but I knew that was not the case. I was convinced I had one of the following: Meningitis, Dengue Fever, The Bubonic Plague, or a combination of all three. I tried to ride it out with a barrage of natural medicine and such, but upon waking Monday morning at 7 AM, I knew something was off. I called a taxi and made a break for the nearest hospital. After a short wait, I saw a physician/nurse/something of the sort, and she notified me that I would need to get blood drawn and she said some other stuff in Spanish which I did not comprehend in my delirious state of fever/plague. Being in such a state, I completely forgot to bring my camera and photograph the whole ordeal which turned out to be the worst part of the whole experience, I guess I'll just have to plan on making another trip back to urgent care sometime soon.

Then this lady decided to take some blood, and I remebered that I'm deahtly afraid of needles, (it probably looked something like this, but my arm is not so ugly)

and while she was taking blood I told her I was dizzy, and next thing I know I woke up in a hospital bed after fainting with an IV in my Arm (again something like this, but not so feminine)

Then they threw me in a wheelchair and put some more fluid on the IV, and made me wait with a bunch of dying people in a room for my blood test results.(This was me, but I wasn't looking quite as fresh as this man.)

And finally after what seemed like an eternity, this nice doctor did some more quick tests, said a lot of things in Spanish, and told me I had an abscess or inflammation in my throat, which was making swallowing very painful, and told me I just needed to take a bunch of pills and drink fluids and rest. Then I left without having to pay a dime, and staggered home while picking up the meds on the way for a total of about 25 euro. Here is an acutal pic of all my meds, serious stuff indeed.

Then my roommate Irene decided to be my mom for the duration of my sickness and won't let me leave the confines of my bed. She makes me lemon and honey tea, chicken soup, Spanish hummus, fresh squeezed juices, and whatever I else I so demand.

Here are my roommates just in case anyone was wondering. Irene on the left who is my care taker, and her sister Arantza on the right, pictured in San Francisco.

I still think I had a a combination of Dengue/Meninigitus/Bubonic plague, but the good news is I'm still dying, but not at the rate I thought I was 2 days ago.

In other depressing news, my dog Sumi passed away 2 days ago at the ripe ago of 13, making it officially the worst day of my life in a long time. I cried to my friends/my mom/and my roommates. RIP Sumi.

Now that my life hit rock bottom, it can only get better, so I guess I have a lot to look forward to. XOXO

Blogging and "Studying"

My life has been so monotonous and routine lately that I assumed that it would only bore you. But then I thought, what is boring to me could be exhilarating to another.

Yesterday(Monday): I went to the library to "study" for 17 minutes and checked out a book, saw some friends and somehow got talked into drinking a bottle of Spanish fampagne(fake champagne) at 5:30 pm, proceeded to drink a couple greyhounds, and then being drunk at about 6:47 pm on a monday afternoon, we decided to just keep going. I looked something like this before the sunset.

Last Friday I had a dinner party at my place, but I was so busy being the chef/host that I forgot to take pictures of the event.

I made

Butternet Squash Gnocchi
Cauliflower Soup

and Zucchini Bread

Today I watched Obama's Inaugguration speech instead of going to class.

And then I went outside and got stared at for dressing like this because Spanish people only wear clothes that are black, gray, brown in the winter.

Soon after taking to the streets: it started hailing, I got cold and did jumping jacks(I'm still learning).

Then I got lost and found this alley(in my dreams).

Blogging for the new year

It has been so long since my last blog entry that I cannot be sure if I still have a fan base/if I ever had a fan base. But I'll recount my recent travels for anyone lucky enough to happen upon my blog while surfing the world wide web.

It was about the 20th of December at 12:03 pm when we(Aaron(yes, there were two of us), Jen, Natasha, Sonya, and I) boarded a bus from Granada headed towards Sevilla/e. we arrived 2 hours and 36 minutes later and proceeded to check into our hostel. It happened that all 5 of us were from California, and more that we were all UCSC students. We ended up spending 6 days in Sevilla during which we spent most of the time in our hostel as everything was closed on Christmas eve, Christmas, and the day after Christmas.

Here I'm pictured with the two non Spanish speakers of the group, Natasha and Sonya.

Trying to keep ourselves entertained by playing Columbus discovers America right in the very city where he set off some 500 odd years ago.

Before the jump(literally).

Jumping(again literally).

Trying to fit in by drinking fine wine with tapas on the balcony of our hostel.

White men can jump.

Some dining we enjoyed at one of the only "vegetarian" restaurants in Sevilla. Seafood and Chicken are not considered animals by the standards of many Spanish, and as a result "vegetarian" dished often include one or the other.

Stewed chicken with rice.

Potatoes with some mystery sauce.

Spinach and Garbanzo beans.

Seeing as 3 out of 5 of us were Jewish, we decided to have a secret Santa in order to passively spread christian values and beliefs upon our fellow travelers.


Then, Natasha had to fly home and Aaron had to go to Lisboa/n to meet his parents. Jen, Sonya, and I, in a fit a unrationalized taveler deportment decided to rent a car and make our way from Sevilla to Lisboa and then back to Granada. Jen and I didn't know how to drive stick, so it was left to Sonya to drive and me to conduct. Looking to be as economic as possible, we opted for the cheapest model.

Psyche!! I wish that was our car. here's the real deal. Fiat Panda.

From Sevilla, we drove to Tavirna, Portugal where we stayed for a night in a deserted 4 star hotel run by a slew of Russians for about 15 Euro each.

The castle ruins were about the only thing to see in the so called "Venice" of Portugal.

Then we drove through Faro and saw this wall.

After which we stayed for two nights in the deserted town of Évora.

Me, on the set of Harry Potter.

Old man taking a nap at the local hot spot cafe.

On the 29th, on our way to Lisboa, we stopped at the stone henge of Portugal.

This is the Album cover for the debut release of our band, Portuguese Panda.

Instead of hugging trees as we normally do back in Santa Cruz, we decided to hug a giant phallic rock.

Making our way into Lisboa, we drove across the Portuguese Golden Gate bridge.

Castle ruins in the city center overlooking the bay/city.

Some Pictures of Lisboa.

Botanical Gardens of Lisboa.
We met back up with Aaron in Lisboa after he tired of his parents, and spent our New Years there. On NYE: we drank free beer at our hostel, followed by a bottle of cheap wine, ate way too much food at an all you can eat Sushi restaurant while being stared at by the entire Japanese staff, watched the fire work show, walked along a highway for an hour, tried to go to a club until we were told the cover fee was 36 Euro each, watched some drunken fools try to sing along to Bob Marley songs, and didn't make any New Year's resolutions.

The menu of a restaurant in Sintra where their only cooking appliance was a microwave.

El Palacio de Pena or The Palace of Sorrow in Sintra.

It was raining/cold/wet/windy.

And then this hapenned

But I still managed to get some photos for my blog.

The end...