The Nadine Scene

My apartment is located along Playa Velilla, the eastern most end of Almunecar. There is a street that runs parallel to the water that I take to get into town every morning. Because of construction, the buses are not running regularly down the street, so the walk takes me about 25 minutes. It’s really hard to complain about a walk along the Mediterranean, but I am sure I will the first time it rains. In the meantime, I thought I would share some pictures of my walk to town. When I leave my building, the first thing I see is the beach. It’s really quite a beautiful beach. But close to the street, there’s this strange little area that at first, I thought was a playground. But as I began watching people, it appears to be a gym! On the beach! Check out all of these weird machines – doesn’t the one on the back right look like an elliptical? And the one to the back left appears to be some sort of ab machine. There are actually several of them all along the beach, all the way to town. I ha...

When I went to Asia, it was quite clear that I was a tourist. After all, I was often the tallest – and blondest – woman in the room. This was to be expected and I was prepared for it – mostly. I knew ahead of time that there was no way I was going to “blend in” and I was able to embrace my outsider status. I could handle that. In Europe, however, I was expecting to be a little less conspicuous; unless I started talking and my clearly American accent got in the way, I figured I could go about my business and no one would be any wiser to my foreign roots. But it turns out that the tell-tale sign of a foreigner is a little different in Europe and can be summed up in two words: running shoes. Apparently, Americans are the only people on the planet who wear running shoes to do anything besides run. And the minute you show up to an international airport in them, you start getting “the look.” Honestly, I think you’re better off with a fanny pack than running shoes in some of these countries. ...

While I was planning this trip, a lot of people asked me if I was sure that I made a good decision. After all, I choose this place based on a few pictures on the Internet and a couple of positive emails with the landlords. So did I ever have any doubts? Honestly, no, not until I was standing in the Malaga airport, feeling like a couple idiot for not being able to call my landlord (the one who turned out to be great – have I mentioned that? And no, you can’t rent the apartment next year because I may have to come back) because I couldn’t figure out how to use the European cell phone (you have to dial a + sign before you dial the rest of the number in order to call – and if you already knew that, do me the favor and don’t tell me) and wondering if I was over my head. After a frantic phone call to the US, my landlord was contacted, the bus schedule was determined, and Veronica was going to pick me up at the bus station. But still, I was starting to have my doubts… Luckily for me, all ...

Getting from Edinburgh to Glasgow turned out to be much easier than I anticipated; there is an hourly train that connects the two cities, and both stations were located a short walk from my respective hotels. Taking the advice of my cousin A’s friend M, I sat on the right hand side of the train and was treated to some lovely Scottish scenery. It’s amazing how gray the cities can seem, even in the bad weather, but the country side comes in shades of green Crayola hasn’t even imagined yet. It was really beautiful. After I arrived in Glasgow, I set about finding my hotel – the one that was only a few blocks from the station. It turns out the hotel was very close by, as evidenced by the fact that I walked past it 6 times before realizing that the fluorescent colored building was mine. I have no explanation, except that maybe I was blinded by the Starbucks on either side of the street (there were 3 in Glasgow proper and 1 in the airport)? I am happy to say that once I was finally in the ...

But I still had to pay my respects to the Queen, so off to Holyroode Palace I went. This is actually a working palace, the place where Her Majesty the Queen stays and conducts official business when she is in Scotland. It reminded me a lot of the tours of the Newport Mansions, and it wasn’t nearly as expansive as Edinburgh Castle, but it was pretty neat to hang out in the bedchamber of Mary, Queen of Scots. There’s even a plaque where her personal secretary was stabbed to death by her jealous husband. The gardens are also spectacular, with an amazing view of the nearby crag (which I decided to climb later that afternoon). I had to give equal time to the current Scottish government, so after the Palace it was off to Parliament (which is conveniently right across the street). Unfortunately, there were no debates that afternoon, but a Scottish police officer was kind enough to let me take his picture to show my students. Because of Scotland’s location so far north, it doesn’t get...

Please forgive the fact that things are going to be a bit out of order for the next few posts.  I'm trying to catch up on my Scotland travels! After finally getting a good night’s sleep, I was excited to get a start on sightseeing in Edinburgh. There was, however, one thing that I wasn’t expecting: the weather. It was cold and rainy, barely 50 degrees, when I started out on Wednesday morning. Now, I grew up in New England, so I can generally handle less than ideal weather. But there was one problem – I had packed for a summer in the south of Spain (read: 80-90 degree days), not a rainy Scotland spring. I headed off to find breakfast while I considered my predicament and ended up at – you guessed it – Starbucks (there are two in Edinburgh – on the same street). In my defense, it was cold, I really wanted a latte, and I didn’t know where else I could get soy milk. So one latte and some oatmeal later, I was ready to finally brave the day. Luckily for me, Scotland has more cashmere i...

I've made it to Spain! After a long and harrowing journey from Glasgow, Scotland (which included a 6 hour delay, 4 hours of having my seat on the plane kicked by drunk Scottish men, frantic phone calls to the US because I couldn't figure out how to use my European phone, and almost missing the last train to my city), I finally arrived in Almunecar (in the Granada province) in the middle of the night, tired, hungry, and thoroughly confused. Luckily, my wonderful landlord Veronica met me and after showing me the apartment, decided she couldn't send me to bed hungry. So she whisked me off to the other side of town, where we had a lovely late dinner with her French neighbor Willy. We had tomato and mozzarella salad, homemade hummus, and this lovely baked cod dish with potatoes and eggs. Honestly, it was like heaven, especially after airport food! So on Saturday, after sleeping for a solid 9 hours, I went out to hit the town. Here's a picture of my town map: I went to ...

I'm very excited to announce that my blog is finally going to be used for its original purpose; to talk about my travel escapades.  So if you've been sitting around wondering when the heck I was going to leave already, the wait is over.  I'm flying out tonight!  Now, there has been some excitement in my world lately, so it's not exactly on schedule.  I was supposed to fly out on Friday night, in order to spend a week traveling in London and Scotland, but my dad had to have emergency surgery last week.  He's fine, the recovery is going well, and now it's time for me to hit the tarmac. Unfortunately, this means no more London (yet).  But I'll be landing in Edinburgh tomorrow night and am looking forward to men in kilts, Nessie, and some cool castles.  Something tells me that I'll have a wonderful time, regardless of the missing time in London.  Luckily, I'm still trying to decide where to go in the beginning of August, when I'm still in Europe bu...