Granada

So to finish out my winter break I went to Granada with another Fulbrighter (Teresa) and a mutual friend we have who has lived in Madrid his whole life (Alvaro). We were there for 4 days and most just explored and walked around/did all of those touristy things. Also, quick shout out to Teresa and Alvaro for finding our Airbnb! We had rooftop access and had an amazing view of La Alhambra from said rooftop. Well done you two. I must say that the trip wasn't the most exciting trip in the world but it was really nice to spend time with Teresa and Alvaro and get to know them a little bit more. Also! We did run into another Fulbrighter (Danny) while we were exploring and we had dinner with him one night. Of course we went to La Alhambra, a palace from back when Spain was under Islamic rule. It is incredibly beautiful and the architecture was incredibly detailed. As you can imagine, many of the same themes seen in my Morocco trip reappeared here in la Alhambra. However what hurt the authentic feel for me was seeing all of the maintenance crews working while we walked around. Additionally, we were not allowed to enter certain parts of la Alhambra as they were fenced off.

Actually Granada really is a more controlled and Spanish version of Marrakesh. You see many of the same things like tea shops, the way some of the markets are organized, and even some of the food served, but the feel is totally different. Marrakesh felt authentic and the chaos was organic and I absolutely loved that aspect of the city. Granada is clearly a watered-down version of this and doesn't have the same feel, even though on paper it has a large Moroccan and Islamic influence. For example, there are maintenance trucks and fenced off areas in la Alhambra. Right there the visit has already become more controlled and restricted. For these reasons I think I was less enamored by the city and tourist attractions than my friends, but I should make clear that it is a beautiful city and is 100% worth the trip. Also I was exhausted from my trip to London and Paris and I just wanted to lay down. So that may also have played a part in my lack of undying love for the city.

As we left the city we were all pretty exhausted and ready to just sit and relax in our own homes. PLUS we were extremely cited to try this tea we bought in a tea shop in Granada. The tea was called Mil Flores and was 2-Die-4. There was this little tea shop right outside our Airbnb where you could buy a pastry and a little shop of tea for 1.50. We went there every chance we had, not because the pastries were amazing, but because we wanted the tea. I think they put crack in it....
Actually this trip to Granada and my trip to Morocco have inspired me to drink more tea and less coffee. At Oxy I drank a lot of coffee and when I would drink too much coffee (i.e. during Finals studying or just trying to survive in Raney's Biochemistry of Energy and Exercise class) I would gulp down an energy drink that contained 400 mg of caffeine ON TOP of whatever coffee I had that day. For those of you who don't know, that's a lot of caffeine and probably way too much caffeine. Even in Spain I drink a decent amount of coffee, about 1-2 espresso shots a day which is about 200-400 mg of caffeine a day. So I am trying to cut back and drink more tea.

The rest of my winter break was spent in my bed watching Netflix or going to the gym. Needless to say I was exhausted and I needed to rest up to prepare for the event that is Global Classrooms. After our winter break we only had 1 week before the real conferences took place and my students still needed more preparation. The life of a Fulbrighter am I right?

Until next time!

Teresa and Me doing weird things

All three of us with la Alhambra in the background

London and Paris

The past few winters my family and I have taken a vacation to a brand new city. This year my parents wanted to take advantage of the fact that I am living in Europe. So we all spent 5 days in London and 5 days in Paris to celebrate the holidays!

In London we were kind of on a time crunch because ALL museums are closed between the 24-26th. Since we were only there from the 22nd to the morning of the 27th, we only had a couple of days to see the museums that we wanted to see. We essentially did all of the touristy things in both cities. So here are a few pictures, but essentially what we did in London included: The Tower of London, Winston Church, Chelsea FC's stadium, Arsenal's football stadium, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Abbey Road, Tower Bridge, and A LOT OF WALKING. In Paris we did more touristy things, but a lot more crepe eating which was a huge plus. Of course we saw the Eiffel Tower (we did not go up the tower because the wait was about 4 hours. We ate crepes instead. Great decision.), we saw the Palace of Versailles (which my gosh took about 3 hours to get into because of the massive lines), we entered the Louvre (possibly the most overrated museum in the world, but I did feel awful for the other paintings in the room with the Mona Lisa. They get no love!), and we saw the Church of Notre Dame. Overall a fantastic trip! If I had to choose between the cities I would choose to live in Paris but be a tourist in London. Why? Glad you asked. Paris is a beautiful city and in my opinion is a city you where you can just sit in a cafe or walk around and people watch. I didn't get the same feel in London, but the museums are much more diverse in London. If you don't enjoy art/architecture museums crammed into a vacation (like moi) then Paris isn't the place to go for a short family trip. Go to London because you have a huge selection of museums ranging from art to architecture to 20th century history.

Next on my list is Granada! Not to be confused with Grenada which is an island in the Caribbean. (Shout out to Morgan Carnes for making sure I knew the difference.)

In the National Gallery in London; Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh

Gift Shop at Winston Churchill's War Room Museum

Speaks for itself

Big Ben!

Being interviewed by Joe inside Arsenal's Stadium

The pitch itself at Arsenal

Tower Bridge 

Chelsea's Pitch before they take on Watford

I can't remember what this was called...

Winged Victory at the Louvre (my favorite exhibit)

The Mona Lisa, she is kind of popular. I got much closer but this picture is more true to the environment

A Day in the Life of a Fulbrighter

I haven't really been posting lately so I figured I would let everyone know what I usually do when I am not traveling. What does a Fulbright English Language Assistant actually do?

Monday: I start class at 10:20, so I have to leave my piso (flat) at around 9:20 so I have enough time to grab a coffee para llevar (to go) at Cafelito (one of my favorite coffee places) on my way to the metro. First class of the day is English with 1st ESO D, which is the equivalent of 7th grade. However these students are not a part of the bilingual program (students in the BP take ALL classes in English vs. taking all classes in Spanish and having English once a day). At my school only A and B are a part of the bilingual program and they are supposed to be the best students. Usually I am there just helping with pronunciation and correcting their homework with them. Like many teachers at my school and in other schools, native English speakers are used for their accent. Although many teachers have a high level of English, they still speak English with a Spanish accent, which makes sense. So I am there to make sure the students are pronouncing words correctly.

Next up: break time! everyday from 11:10-11:40 the students and teachers have a recreo. Since Spaniards don't eat lunch until at least 2, they need a small snack in between breakfast and lunch. This is the time to do that. Most students bring a small bocadillo (a simple sandwich, usually with one or two ingredients) and play soccer or chat with friends. After the recreo, I have PE with 3rd ESO D. Again, not a part of the bilingual program and are the equivalent of freshmen in high school. Usually I lead the students through stretches and give them instructions after the teacher has given me the instructions. I actually think the PE teachers have incredibly high levels of English, but again I am used for my accent.

My next two hours are devoted to my Global Classrooms classes with 3rd ESO A and B. Usually we are in the computer lab doing research on our topic (increasing the role of women government). I spend a lot of time in the computer lab with my students because I believe many of them do not have the best access to internet at home. The village where my school is located seems to be of a low socioeconomic status or a "cow town" as one of my students put it. After these classes I go home! It takes me about another hour then I am home around 3:30. Soon after arrive home I go to the gym then I have a Spanish class for 90 minutes on Mondays and Wednesdays. Then on Tuesdays and Thursdays I usually have an intercambio (language exchange) where I can practice my conversational Spanish more.

This is essentially my schedule Monday-Thursday with slight day-to-day variations. On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I also help in biology classes, which again I am heavily used for my accent. Two of the three classes have teachers with an English level that is not very high, which they admitted to me on the first day. So when I am there they try to get me to talk as much as they can. The third biology class is taught by a woman who received her masters in biology in England, so she actually has a very high level of English and most days I am not needed there. 

Usually on the weekend I spend time with other Fulbrighters, play pick-up soccer with some Spaniards, or do some life work while I cafe hop. Its really a relaxed life here in Spain. Very different lifestyle compared to college and incredibly different compared to my friends who are working 40-50 hours a week doing real human being things. 

But I am enjoying the break. I know sometimes I really miss being intellectually challenged, but I also know that I NEEDED a break from school and working all the time. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to LIVE in Madrid. Not just visit as a tourist, but to actually live here! I still can’t believe it sometimes. 

Anyways I am off to London and Paris to visit the Ayala Clan. One perk of being a Fulbrighter is the 3 week winter break (aka THE time to travel). 

Until next time, folks!

Spanish Breakfast and Moroccan Dinner

So a few weeks ago I took my very first trip to Africa! The destination? Marrakesh, Morocco. So not only was it my first trip to an African country but it was also my first trip to an Islamic State. Before going I truly did not know what to expect. To be honest before my two travel partners mentioned Marrakesh to me, I had never heard of it. However I could gather that it was going to be a totally new experience and because of that I was very excited. My goals for the trip? I wanted to ride a camel.

We arrived to Marrakesh on a Thursday night and after arriving to our Riad (Airbnb/hotel) in the Medina (the busiest neighborhood in Marrakesh where all the action happens), our host said offered us Moroccan mint tea. Although the concept is incredibly simple, this is by far the best tea I have never tried in my life. All it contains is sugar, green tea, and fresh Moroccan mint, but the Moroccan mint transforms beverage from a regular green tea to an addiction inducing experience. After that life changing cup of tea, I had Moroccan mint tea with almost every single meal while in Morocco. This tea is actually incredibly important to Moroccan culture. Its a sign of hospitality and Moroccans take great pride in the quality of their tea. There are entire books written about the history of the mint tea and its cultural significance. It actually inspired me to haggle for a beautiful tea kettle.

Speaking of haggling, this is another HUGE aspect of Moroccan culture. For those who do not know, it is essentially bargaining. If you have ever seen the television series "Pawn Stars," just imagine that and you have a good idea of what haggling entails. Thus, whenever you want to buy goods (excluding food items) you must haggle for it as there are no prices posted in stores. So if you want a scarf, skyrocket the price and pray you go for it. However no one is expected to pay that price. In fact, most shop owners thoroughly enjoy haggling and do not get offended when you slash and axe their initial offer. In the end, it is just a game. You have to figure out if they need the sale more than you need the item. Although at first I was hesitant to haggle, towards the end I reaaaallly enjoyed it and was looking for things to buy just so I could haggle. I was hesitant at first for a couple of reasons. Firstly, their "skyrocketed prices" were already much cheaper than anything in Europe, so you knew you were saving money already. Secondly, you are really arguing over the difference of a couple of dollars. One dollar/euro is approximately 10 Dirhams and the price of most items that you can haggle for range from 40-150 Dirhams. So if the starting price is 100 Dirhams and you haggle it down to 80 Dirhams, your bank account doesn't really notice the difference. Finally, the shop keepers usually need the money a lot more than you do. The Moroccans heavily rely on income from tourists to survive, so at first you feel very guilty about depriving them of a couple dollars that may make a huge difference in their lives. For these reasons, a lot of people don't like to haggle. If you are able to look past that and just participate in the cultural experience, it can become very enjoyable for you and them. My two haggling experiences? I bought a tea kettle for 80 Dirhams (starting price was 100) and a scarf for 90 (starting price was 160).

Quick note about the Moroccan economy. As their economy heavily relies on tourism, many people will literally do whatever they can to get you to eat at their restaurant or buy their goods. Thus if you go to Marrakesh, expect people to grab you, yell at you, and follow you, trying desperately to get your attention. Since they have tourists from all over Europe and the world, many of them know numerous languages. Thus, you'll hear people yelling at you in Spanish, French, Germany, Italian, English, or whatever language that will get your attention. Definitely not a calm vacation and definitely not meant for families. It is meant for people who don't mind a slightly uncontrolled and chaotic environment.

As I mentioned previously, I reeeaaally wanted to ride a camel while I was in Morocco. I achieved this goal within 24 hours of being in the country. Thankfully the host at our Riad also organized excursions to the Sahara Desert, as does every other human being in Morocco. After being in a van for 8 hours, meeting a wonderful Spanish family from Zaragoza and some Germany Erasmus (study abroad) students, we arrived in a village called Zagora. From Zagora our guides took us on camels through the Northern Sahara Desert where we camped for the night. On this trip we met a 20 year old man named Zachariah. A man who has never left his village 30,000 people knew a great deal about the world and of other languages. His English was impeccable so he could articulate complicated ideas about arranged marriage, religion, and Moroccan culture that many people can't articulate in their native tongue. As a Muslim, he knew the Koran by heart, was accepting of opposing beliefs (even though he believe them to false), and denounced Islamic extremists saying that they are ridiculous. He also joked that the extremists bomb people because they lack quality marijuana, something that is apparently very abundant and widely used in Morocco. It was wonderfully insightful to have a conversation with him and its a night I will never forget.

Zachariah during our night in the Sahara (Photo credit: Justin Chacko)

Just a regular night in the Sahara (Photo Credit: Justin Chacko)

Also, huge misconception: deserts can't get cold. Trust me, they can. In fact they can get absolutely freezing with wind. I learned that the hard way when I didn't bring a sweater and was freezing. Thankfully there were blankets.

Modern day explorers

On our way back from the Saharan adventure we stopped in an ancient village called Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou. This is a huge tourism stop as many movies and television shows have filmed here. For example Lawrence of Arabia, The Mummy, Gladiator, Game of Thrones, and the Jewel of the Nile have all filmed in this village. It's also a very cool place because the homes still use traditional materials such as clay, mud, rocks, and sticks to build and maintain their homes. However this quick stop was a classic Moroccan excursion move as the driver did not tell us that we would be stopping here. Nor did we have a choice when the tour guide asked for 3 euros a head for the tour. However was fun, super interesting, and well worth the money. Finally on this trip, the tour guide really tried to hit home that the village doesn't use modern materials when we crossed a "traditional" bridge. Until this day I was unaware that "plastic tarp wrapping sandbags" were an ancient material. I guess no one is perfect.

Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou

After our excursion in the Sahara, we spent the next two days exploring the historical sites of Marrakesh. We saw the Jardin Majorelle, which is a beautiful garden and museum that explores the history of Morocco, Ben Yousseff Madrasa, which was a Koran school, the Bahia Palace, the Koutoubia Mosque, and we explored the main square in the Medina. Overall the architecture was absolutely incredibly. The amount of detail put into the designs of the most seemingly pointless aspects of a building was incredibly. Doors, ceilings, fireplaces, windows, bathrooms, hallways, doorknobs, pillars, etc. Every design was unique and mind boggling. In one room you could find 4 finds and each door had a different design about and around it.


In conclusion, the Morocco trip was a huge success and it has definitely made me want to travel outside of Europe more. Before I thought I wanted to stay in Europe during my Fulbright travel years, but now I think I may venture out a little more. I don't think my mother will appreciate that.

Only time will tell.

Seriously... How do teachers do it?

It’s hard. Teaching is hard. Its such a different type of hard than studying physiology or biochemistry too. I can assure you, for me, teaching is much harder. With physiology and biochemistry, you can study more, you can find new study methods, and you can ask for help. However with teaching, the information isn’t nearly as complicated, but your "success" (however you choose to define a successful teacher) is heavily dependent upon your students. You can’t force them you care like you can force yourself to study. Even if give them all the information they need, give them the most basic homework assignments, or cram their lives with lectures you can’t force them to learn or care. The most you can do is try to make it as interesting as possible. Although seemingly simple, it becomes exponentially more difficult when you consider the fact that these students learn all of their subjects in their second language. 

Since they are learning in their second language, teaching becomes even more complicated. Simply put, my students' English levels are not very high (my students are between the ages 12-15). Thus when you try to make jokes and make things interesting, they typically don't understand the jokes. This is especially true with witty and sly humor. Which, of course, is essentially all I have in my arsenal. Perfect...

So if you take the fact that the subject matter fails to interest the students and pile on the fact that they only understand 50% of what you say on a good day, what can you do? What I am left with is speaking at a glacier pace while only utilizing a basic vocabulary. Additionally, my teachers do not let me explain concepts in my own words very often. Normally I am limited to regurgitating textbook definitions. Which you can imagine is unbelievably mind numbing. 

Another interesting side note about bilingual programs in Madrid. The students are learning all of their subjects in English (i.e. Biology, chemistry, physics, P.E., history, social studies, etc.), use textbooks that lack a substantial amount of detail that is present in the Spanish textbooks. So the students in the bilingual actually learn less than their non-bilingual counterparts. This is actually a huge point of controversy and many people believe they shouldn't exist. Some who are against the program believe that if the students do not excel in their bilingual programs and do not learn English sufficiently, they will be left in a linguistic limbo where they do not gain enough knowledge of the subjects in either language. For this reason, some departments within a school and sometimes the entire school refuses to participate in the bilingual program.

In summary, I absolutely love Madrid. But I do not absolutely love teaching. I desperately miss being challenged intellectually (shout out to Raney’s biochemistry class and my senior comprehensive project) and its making me look forward to med school more and more. I have the option to stay in Madrid another year and continue being a teaching assistant, but I am not sure its worth putting off med school another year. Thankfully its not a something I need to decide immediately. In the meantime, I'll go to Retiro Park and watch a magic show. I'll never be too old to watch a magic show.

Cafe Hopping in Madrid

Bar hopping is such a popular activity with the youths these days. Although it has its merits, I embarked on a different type of hopping on my day off this week. Thanks to your wonderful Fulbright mentors (the two Fulbrighters who were granted a second year) I have a list of many popular cafes all over Madrid. After writing down all of the addresses, I decided to pay a few of them a visit and see what they have to offer. My adventure started at the cafe furtherest from my apartment. Therefore as the day goes on I will slowly but surely make my way back to my apartment. Trip planning at its finest. I’ll just go ahead and give myself a pat on the back. 

The Little Big Cafe

It did not take long to figure out why this is such popular spot to get your caffeine fix. For starters, it really is a little cafe and only seats 15-20 people. The seating is tight, but the atmosphere overall is very calm. The cafe is on a quieter street, so there isn’t a lot of noise from cars. The music they play is also very calming, so its a great place to kind of hide from the world. Although the physical location is small, menu is quite extensive for a cafe, hence the Little Big cafe. The breakfast menu has your Spanish usuals, nothing too crazy. However they also serve brunch from 11-14 on the weekends and the menu looks quite delectable. They’ve got your salmon eggs Benedict, your french toast, and your quinoa hamburger. I mean, no menu is complete without a quinoa burger, am I right? Additionally, if you’re not into the whole caffeine thing, they have smoothies  that really puts Jamba Juice to shame. Their system is simple. You pick 3 items and you can add yogurt, milk, or water. BAM. Quality smoothie. The item list isn’t the most extensive list on the planet, but they have the major players. I had a banana mango smoothie with spinach and yogurt. Yum! Finally, this cafe is supposed to have some of the best tarta de zanahoria (carrot cake) in all of Madrid. So believe me when I say that I will be back to try that! Overall, a great cozy cafe to escape to and do some light work or to simply enjoy a delicious coffee, meal, or smoothie. 

Thousand Cups

Thousand Cups has immediately different feel from the Little Big Cafe. First of all, by day Thousand Cups is a cafe, but by night its a bar. Although it is located at the intersection of many busy streets, it is surprisingly quiet inside the cafe. It is much quieter than the LBC and much more spacious. My favorite part is that it has comfy chairs so you can sit back, relax, and sip on some coffee while you take advantage of one of their many breakfast deals. The menu isn’t as extensive as LBC, but the atmosphere is more conducive to doing some reading or finishing up some work (aka Spanish homework and in the future, med school personal statement 😁). Unfortunately Thousand Cups and LBC are both a little far from my apartment for daily excursions, but certainly worth the weekend trip. Thus far I prefer LBC as it is a much more personalized experience. Since there really aren’t a lot of people in the cafe at one time, you have more opportunities to just chat with the staff and strike up a conversation. 

Toma Cafe

Now this cafe really is a hole in the wall. I walked right past it even with assistance of Google Maps. Unlike the the previous two cafes, there isn’t much here besides coffee. Don’t get me wrong, the coffee is quite good. But if you want something a little more substantial, then X does not mark Toma Cafe. There are a few places to sit and click clack on a laptop, but for the most part the setup is more conducive to have a coffee with a friend or two. Also, unlike the other places there are many many languages spoken here. There seemed to be a flurry of English, Spanish, German, and a language from Asia that I could not identify. It’s hard to say why there are so many languages spoken in this one spot, especially English. It could just be because there are a lot of young American language assistants in Madrid and Toma Cafe is in a very youthful hip neighborhood where a lot of the Americans live. Who knows. Either way, I probably won’t venture back here soon. Great coffee, however it lacks the "chill, read a book in a comfy chair" atmosphere I desire. Oh well. 

I think this is really something I will miss when I go back to the U.S. I will really have to explore the world of non college and non Starbucks cafes when I return. I love the atmosphere and the ability to do work and people watch in a place that isn’t a library or an office. But who knows maybe my mind will change again when I am in med school. Vamos a ver. 

I finished off the day by just poking my head into a couple more cafes. After having a couple of pastries and a couple of coffees, I was no longer in the mood for more cafe style food. The cafes I quickly toured included la Bicicleta and Lolina, both in Madrid’s hipster neighborhood, Malasaña. I will go back at some point to actually experience them, as they seemed incredibly popular, but for now its nap time. 😴 

Living the Andorrable life

During our orientation in September, the Madrid Fulbrighters had the pleasure of meeting the Andorran Fulbrighters. Since we haven't seen them for a few weeks, my friend Justin and I decided to pay them a visit during our first 4 day weekend. In case you haven't heard of Andorra (which a lot of people haven't) it is a small country located in the Pyrenees between France and Spain. So as you can imagine, it is basically like living within Yosemite Valley, but in Europe. The main activities include hiking and shopping. So that is exactly what we did (minus the shopping).

After our 12 hours bus ride from Madrid to Barcelona to Andorra, we walked around Andorra la Vella, which is the capital of the country. To give you a sense of the capital's size, it takes 20-30 minutes to walk from one end of the city to the other and only has 22,000 people. Nevertheless the town is incredibly adorable (thus the Andorran Fulbrighters use the phrase Andorrable to describe everything). On Saturday we hiked for about 5-6 hours and actually hiked INTO FRANCE. The pile of rocks below is the border between Andorra and France. They don't seem to have the strictest border patrol...

As we walked into France, we scouted a good spot to have lunch and enjoy the view. Unfortunately we did not get a passport stamp, but we did meet some Germans who were hiking into Andorra from France. Before we met them, we thought the water was too cold to swim due to the fact that it was 50-60 degrees outside. However they had been hiking for a couple of days and desperately needed a shower, so they took a dip into Arctic waters to freshen up a bit.

On Sunday, we took another yet shorter hike. It was cool, but not nearly as cool as hiking into France.   After some cheese and chocolate fondue, many Andorrable moments, and a whooooole lot of walking, Justin and I returned to Madrid absolutely exhausted. Still, it was good to know that Europe isn't all big buildings and busy streets. There is still some natural beauty left in this history continent.