Coffee

At the the time, I was more than ready to get out of Spain. I found the people to be largely inconsiderate, extremely nationalistic to the point of racism, and with an overwhelming since of entitlement. More than that, I didn't like the person I was becoming while living in Spain. I was almost always late, I stopped caring about my schoolwork, and was generally lazy.

However, now that I'm back in the craze that is my normal life, there is one major thing I miss: coffee. I miss the ease of ordering coffee - as there were virtually only 2 choices: cafe con leche or cortado (an espresso shot w/a dallop of steamed milk). I miss the automated coffee machines that were ubiquitous - I had coffee from a machine at the Alhambra! But more than anything else I miss taking time out of the day to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee. To-go doesn't really exist in Spain. Cortados are small, so you can gulp one down in a minute or two, but that's still a little bit of the day that you took just for yourself. To stop, smell the coffee, chat with friends, re-caffeinate, and then move on.

I don't know that I'd say Spain got many things right, but coffee is definitely one of them. Oh, and also colonizing a continent.

Woman vs. Shower

I've started praying to the shower gods. Well not so much praying as pleading. Things like "please let the water come out of the showerhead warm" or "ok now please don't change temperature!".

You see, showering is one of those daily activities that's not supposed to take thinking. I usually hop in at some ungodly hour of the day, lather, rinse, hop out. The most complex thinking is "floral or citrus shower wash?" or "do I need to shave today?". Unfortunately, my current shower situation doesn't allow such luxury. I've had to construct a complex formula of jiggle cold knob, wait 5 seconds, test water, repeat until water is neither polar nor scalding. Then of course I ask the shower gods not to change the temp. But sometimes the toilet upstairs flushes... or maybe someone's using the laundry machine. Wait, test, repeat.

Oh well, at least I turn out clean and fresh (and only slightly pink from the occasional burst of boiling hot water).

Texas Ice Storm 2007!!!!

Last Friday I moved back to Austin and into a new (much bigger!) apartment. My parents came up to help me get everything out of the storage unit, and I was getting excited about starting my last semester as an undergrad on Tuesday.

Then, the ice storm struck! Sunday night a winter storm rolled through, giving most of central Texas a small coating of ice and a chilly MLK Day. Monday: icy, but luckily alot of things were closed and people were off the roads because of the holiday. Austin doesn't have salt trucks, and most Texans have no clue what to do on icy roads. The weather didn't look like it was improving, and UT cancelled classes for Tuesday. Monday night was cold, again, then Tuesday it snowed! Kinda... here's photographic evidence:



This is roughly the view from my front door. Tiny amounts of snow! And it was falling! Pretty exciting for me at least.

Conditions didn't look like they were improving, and UT cancelled class for Wednesday as well. Although the 5 day weekend has been fun, I'm getting really antsy! I need to get out! So today I go inventory my car/the road to see about a trip to the grocery store (about 6 blocks) and I find: a car popsicle!



Luckily I don't have to drive anywhere until tomorrow morning, so I guess I'll deal with it then.

Keep warm everyone! And drive safely!
Maren

Going Home

Well, right now I'm sitting in the Barcelona Airport, staring the long process of going home, this time for good. My family and I left the house in Mallorca at 4am this morning, and I get in to the airport in Houston at 2:20pm tomorrow, after a day in the airport in Barcelona and a night in London.

It's hard to believe that a little over 4 months ago I put most of my life in a storage unit and the rest in 40 kilos of baggage and headed across the Atlantic. The semester has passed very quickly, but it also seems like a very long time ago that I moved out of my apartment in Austin. Alot has happened since then - I've traveled Spain and some of Europe, visited a Muslim country, and crossed the Atlantic 5 times.

I still haven't decided how I feel about leaving, but I do know that I'm looking forward to some good Mexican food!

Before I sign off, here's a sunset viewed from the house we stayed at in Mallorca. Amazing!



Love,
Maren

Best Christmas Present Ever!

Ok, so good news first: I got in to the MD/PhD program at UT Houston! Yay! It was one of the programs I really liked (ok, well I really liked all of them), but I really like Houston and the Medical Center there is nothing short of amazing. So I´m pretty excited.


Anyways, my parents, sister, Aunt Marna, Clint and I are all here in Barcelona for the Christmas holiday and last week Clint and I traveled across the north of Spain: Santiago de Compostela, La Coruña, "the end of the world", Santander, and Bilbao. But pictures and more on that later.

Have a great Christmas and New Year!!

Love,
Maren

MX vs ES - the answers!

Well the votes and in for the MX vs ES project - and the consensus is: free hugs for everyone, yay!!

But if you're just dieing to know how you did, here are the answers:

1. Spain - Granada
2. Mexico - Cozumel
3. Mexico - Monterrey
4. Spain - Mallorca
5. Spain - Sevilla
6. Mexico - Monterrey
7. Mexico - Monterrey
8. Mexico - Monterrey
9. Spain - Segovia Province
10. Spain - Segovia Province

Thanks for playing! I'm getting behind on my blogging, but coming soon: Berlin entry! And from Thursday-Sunday I'll be in Morocco, wish me luck!

Love,
Maren

Europe: Maybe not so progressive?

In one of my classes today the fact came up that Muslim women are not allowed to wear the "Muslim veil" or head covering in French schools and universities. The specific law, approved in 2004, forbids "ostensible" religions items in schools, but seems to be projected specifically at Muslim women.

Hearing this come so matter-of-factly out of my professor's mouth completely appalled me - how can this law be anything but a violation of free speech? I began to think about how unique our "norteamericano" values may actually be.

Once at home, I did a bit of research, and it turns out many European countries have enacted or are considering similar laws, including The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and most recently the UK.

Keep in mind that many (all?) of these countries allow topless or nude sunbathing, yet forbid in some manner the polar opposite - extreme conservatism in dress. What's wrong with wanting to cover oneself? Or even more so, what gives a government the right to say what it's people can or cannot wear?

Back on campus at UT there are quite a few girls who choose to cover their head, one of which was in my high school class. I can't imagine US legislation prohibiting this, nor do I see any reason why such legislation would exist.

I was never a very patriotic person, but living away from the US these few months has helped me see my country in a different light - some things bad, but definitely some things good too. I am glad to call the USA home.


Here's a link to a wikipedia article with some more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_dress_controversy_in_Europe


Thoughts? Do you see anti-head scarf legislation ever happening in the US? Would it infringe on free speech rights?

¿MX o ES?

In all of my travels around Spain it keeps striking me how much Spain looks like Mexico! Err, well I guess it would be how much Mexico looks like Spain, but you get the point. Anyhow, in the interest of showing more pretty picutres and involving my readership (all 3 of you! ; ) ) I have a little game for you!

¿MX o ES?

That is, where is each of the following photos taken, Mexico or Spain? Five of the photos were taken in Mexico, and there other five were taken in Spain.
The person who gets the most right gets... a hug! yay!

Ok, on to the pics:

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.


9.


10.

Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving, even though it doesn't feel like it here in Spain. I went to class, people went to work, and not many plan on having a big turkey for dinner.

Despite this, I'm still feeling thankful today - for clothes warm out of the dryer, for arriving at the bus stop at the same time my bus does, for the little things that make each day better.

Even more than I'm thankful for the little things, I'm thankful for the big things: family and friends, and espcially all the support I've always recieved over the years.

My biggest thanks of the year goes to my parents - for a loving and warm home growing up, constant support in all of my endeavors, and never doubting my abilities. I know not everyone has the fortune to grow up with these things, so Mom and Dad, I really appreciate it! I wouldn't be the person I am today without you.


Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and eat some turkey with cranberry sauce for me!


...and because no post is complete without pictures, I present:

Akward family picture! (we're in Leah's dorm)

Long Time no... Blog?

So, it's been a long time since I've updated, sorry folks!

I just got back from a week in Texas for MD/PhD interviews at UT Houston and Baylor, both of which I loved! So far, I really like every school I've interviewed at, which is fun. Now hopefully I'll only get into one so I don't have to pick! :D

In more application news, I've also been invited to interview at UT San Antonio and UTMB in Galveston. I'm interviewing in Galveston in January, and I couldn't really fit the UT San Antonio interview into my schedule, so I declined it. So I'm almost done! All that's left to do is wait...


Besides Texas, I've recently visited Granada, Spain - home of the Alhambra ("the red one" in arabic), a giant arabic castle/fortress. In addition to several buildings from various ages, the Alhambra also has beautiful gardens! It was a pretty neat place. I'm forever amazed by the wealth of history in this country.

I have two tests tomorrow that I should study for, but before I go, here's a couple pics:



At the Alhambra with the city of Granada in the background. The weather report said rain all weekend, but we lucked out with a gorgeous day!



The fortress part of the Alhambra


Until next time,
Maren