"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

Museo Tiflologico (Blind Museum)

This is a pretty special museum. It's designed for the blind and visually handicapped people with scale models of monuments from around the country and the world, pieces done by blind artists, and a room showing the history of instruments used to help the blind. Unlike other museums, everything can be touched.

Upon entering the museum, my friends made me close my eyes and lead me around the room to different exhibits. I'd have to guess what the monument was. It was pretty easy for me to recognize what I was touching because I had seen pictures or the actual monuments themselves. But I'd like to know how the blind form images in their minds. There was a blind man at the museum who was interested in talking to us Californians, but I didn't know how to phrase my questions. I'd like to come back before I leave Madrid.

She may or may not have broken the Taj Mahal...

La Alhambra

Toledo, the city we couldn't visit. Instead we looked at the city plan.

I like it when I can interact with art. Well this is Cristobal interacting with art. I was kind of wary of the moving spikes.

je t'aime paris

I think I should take advantage of this time to recap my adventures in Paris, France while my roommates are falling in love with Paris themselves this weekend.

The weather was quite bipolar, but we enjoyed ourselves very much. Unfortunately, it was pouring when we went to Versailles so we couldn't see the gardens without getting drenched. Also, we didn't make it to the top of the Notre Dame to chill with the gargoyles. Next time!
These photos are a compilation from various cameras (mostly Steph's).

The first night, we went to the Eiffel Tower and got caught at the top in a lightening storm.

View from the top of the tower

Approaching Sacre Coeur. The steps were too much for me to handle, but apparently this place has one of the best views of the city.

I need my cafe au lait in the morning to function.

I love the fact that I can see the Eiffel Tower from any point in the city.

Artistrocats

Jardin du Luxembourg. It was so beautiful and relaxing here. Steph and I sat here, people-watched, and ate our macarons :]

Little kids would race these boats around the pond with wooden sticks.

From the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Oh Javier..

After Javier and Jose left, Steph made me be the reader of maps. It was quite difficult with tiny little street signs on the sides of buildings. Also, everything is a lot closer than they seem on the map.

After eating ice cream, the rain stopped and we saw A DOUBLE RAINBOW.

Where Steph introduced me to David Sedaris.

When buildings are under renovation, they put up these poster boards so tourists can still see what they're supposed to be looking at. "a facade of the facade."

There was something about the city that intrigued me and captured my heart (cheesy, but whatever). I was quite nervous to come to Paris in the first place because of how the French hate Americans, but with the exception of 2 rude waiters, I had an amazing time here. People were nice and patient (they spoke English). The food was amazing. The atmosphere was lively. It was the opposite of everything people warned me.

I shall return. one day. after learning French.

Rue Cler

In Paris, we stayed in an apartment that belonged to a friend of Steph's family. Not only did that allowed us to save money on lodging (the lowest prices for hostels/hotels that I've seen in the summer are 25 euros a night per person), but the location was situated near famous neighborhoods and attractions. The Eiffel Tower was a 10 minute walk from the apartment.

The street is called: 

This cobblestoned street bustled with activity at all hour of the day.

We came to this bakery every morning for some chocolate croissants, baguettes, and other delicious pastries.

People can sit, eat, and drink for as long as they want. The waiters don't hustle you as they do in the States. A lot of people-watching goes on at these cafes.

Cafe du Marche and Tribeca are situated right next to each other, owned by the same person, and have similar food.

Bikes here don't have training wheels.

It was a very safe and cute neighborhood to stay in. I loved it here.

i miss them already...

These are my roommates :]

So Monday, July 25 is a holiday, thus we have a 4-day weekend. Three of the girls went to Paris. I wish I could go with them... But no worries, Heesun and I will wreak havoc upon Madrid at night!

something I need to do more of...

hace ruido

I'm quite stressed. So in our little handbook that the program gave us, it states that noise after 11PM is forbidden. The director told us all during orientation that people can just call the cops on us for being noisy without any warning. I don't know or understand what is considered an appropriate decibel at night. When you put 5 girls who love to laugh together in an apartment that echos like a tunnel, things tend to get loud.

I wished that the program had put us all together in a dorm-like place, like Steph's Berkeley travel study program. They're all together and connected (albeit their internet connection sucks, so I've heard, and they also have a security guard). It's quite difficult to plan activities with other people in the program when we're all spread out around the city. It'd also be nice to know if I'm bothering people or not with my noise level.

In this creepy, dark, and echo-ey apartment building, I haven't seen any of my neighbors except for these guys who live on the floor below us. They told us to shush one night when Tina and I were talking while eating dinner in the kitchen. They need more laughter in their lives.

The landlady also likes to pop in at random times to check up on us. Apparently she has gotten some noise complaints about us from other tenants. When? How? What were we doing?
I don't want to be disrespectful and add to the stereotype of rude and loud Americans. I don't want to draw any attention to myself. I already stick out like a sore thumb, being of Asian descent and whatnot.

It's interesting that Spaniards go out until 4-5 in the morning, play tonsil-hockey on the metro and at the park, and yell at each other on the streets at night, but they're bothered by a bunch of girls giggling. Heck, the garbage truck comes every night at 2 AM on the dot. Where do I file a noise complaint for that?

The landlady also popped in unexpectedly while we were having a couple people from the program over to watch Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone. We're not allowed to have people over, even if they're in the program. It is quite inconvenient because there's really no place for us to just hang out (or have study groups). I guess it's understandable because they don't want to be liable for anything that happens.
Apparently, Armine was napping when the landlady came to install smoke detectors and she told Armine, "Tu no vives! (You don't live here!)" Uh.. yeah she does.

Spanish Gastronomy

To introduce us to Spanish Gastronomy (art and science of food), the program rented out this place called "La Solera," where the head chef gave us demonstrations and samples of the most typical Spanish foods: el gazpacho, la tortilla espanola, and jamon.

El gazpacho, a cold vegetable soup, was extremely easy to make. He blended together tomatoes, cucumbers, a clove of garlic, half a bottle of olive oil, and a handful of salt. I would've liked it a lot better if he hadn't put so much salt in... I was kind of wary to try this at first because it brought back memories of my aunt's juicer. She would take whole carrots, beets, celeries, apples, whatever vegetable she could find, and put them through the juicer. My cousins, brother, and I got tired of forcing ourselves to chug it every single day for a whole summer. 

Lesson #1: Spaniards love their olive oil.

Tortilla espanola. This is basically a potato omelette. 

Lesson #2: Spaniards love their potatoes. 

un bocadillo de tortilla espanola. it's a potato omelette in baguette. that's it. no vegetables or sauce. it's extremely dry. 

Lesson #3: Spaniards love their jamon. 

They hang these legs of cured ham in bars and stores for up to 6 months. 

Slicing ham is an art form, apparently. It should be thin enough to read a menu if you were to plop it on a menu. The legs of ham can grow mold, but the chef says it's ok, you can just cut it off. 

making some tapas with pulpo (octopus)

we were allowed to just chill after the demonstrations and eat all their food and drink all their non-alcoholic drinks for free!

Usually when you buy a drink, you get a tapa, which is a small snack. It's called a "tapa" because its purpose was once to cover the top of your cup so bugs don't drop in. Some tapas I've eaten are tortilla espanolas, bread with jamon on top, patatas bravas, and chicken wings. 

My roommates and I have been loading up on a lot of carbs. We've been trying to get a decent amount of fruits and veggies into our systems.

our favorite: chocolate con churros! The chocolate is a bit thicker than chocolate milk, which is ok with me because I can just drink it up after the churros are gone!

there's jamon flavored chips, but no hot cheetohs :[

Each region of Spain has their own specialities. I'm excited to travel to Galicia next week to eat. I'm a big fan of seafood!