A few months ago I came up with this awesome idea that I would ride my bike around Spain. I like riding bikes. So I bought a bike. Then I bought a train ticket with a bike reservation. Then I bought a helmet and rode my bike around Madrid. Then I bought a patch kit […]
Tag: travel
A letter to my students…
Dear students, I wasn’t able to properly say goodbye to each one of you. Me habría dado tanta pena, saying goodbye to each and everyone one of you. Too much pena. But there are a few things I would like to say to you… Thank you for introducing me to David Bisbal, Paquito el Chocolatero, […]
Buen provecho, gente
Bueno provecho means bon appetit. (Funny how I translate something to English and it ends up in French.) But the phrase buen provecho cannot be explained so easily. But it’s much more than a phrase. It’s a cultural mindset. Saying buen provecho to someone when they are eating is the equivalent of saying bless you […]
Spanish culture: it all makes sense to me now
I had a bit of trouble adjusting to the Spanish schedule when I got here. Here theday starts around 9 or 10AM. Then people work until 2PM or so, when they take a break for lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day. After lunch people take a nap, the ever-popular siesta. Then around […]
Coffee and free wifi: La Fugitiva
In the heart of every liberal arts student is born a love for coffee shops. You can settle yourself in a comfy armchair and grab a cup of coffee big enough to last all afternoon. The sounds of coffee brewing, indiscernible conversations, and maybe some chill music are enough to keep you awake, but not […]
San Isidro: Madrid. The night. The party.
On Saturday morning the party began before I even got out of bed. I heard it in the street. The heat and the voices floated in through the balcony doors and made it all the way to my windowless cave of a room. As tired as I was the sounds from the street me habían […]
Rome: 7 things to do that don’t require waiting in line
I visited Rome for the first time in December 2011. It was also my first visit to a big-European-top-ten-tourist-must-see-before-you-die kind of city. (I know, I live in Madrid, but I wouldn’t put Madrid up there with London, Paris, and Rome in terms of tourism.) Prior to Rome I’d traveled in South and Central America, Spain, […]
The stages of trying (and failing) to make friends in a new city
I’m going to start off with a disclaimer: yes, I have friends in Madrid. I’m actually surprised how often people ask me if I have friends in Spain. (I guess it’s kind of a good intro question to life in another country…) But to me, friends are like food. Erm… I mean friends are as […]
Street art: Lavapiés
I live in Lavapiés. It’s a neighborhood on the south side of Madrid. Historically it has been a neighborhood of gypsies. More recently it has become neighborhood of immigrants and hipsters (funny how those things tend to go together). And it has some awesome street art. Here are some of my finds. Calle Embajadores. Glorieta […]
That one time I got kinda drunk, fell asleep, and woke up on the moon
Thursday night we had some friends over to the piso. We celebrated a birthday with some food and drink, as is customary. Eleven PM turned into four AM, as is also customary. And I realized it was time for me to get to the airport. So I finished off my glass of wine and I […]
Anne Foster 