Gaudi's Sagrada Familia
The roof of one of Gaudi's houses
Katie and I in front of Buckingham Palace
Notting Hill/Portabello Market
A field near our research station in Sweden
A traditional barn in Oland
Katie and I on Midsummer in front of the tiny pole set up at the research station
The average Oland landscape
The average Oland sunset - beautiful!
Hello everyone!
So I didn't get to blog during my "transition phase" of this abroad experience, but I'm in Sweden now and about to begin research! I predict I may post a few more entries about Sweden and travels back to the US, but here's to wrapping up Spain!
My abroad experience in Spain was nothing short of incredible. I had an amazing time there - met fantastic people on my program and in my classes, got to know my host parents who are two funny, interesting, kind people who offered me a window into a different Spain (and Spanish cooking of course!). My internship was a great experience and I'm keeping in contact with some of the wonderful faculty I worked with - who knows, maybe I'll go back and work there in the future!
I wrapped up Spain with a fun visit from my parents, studying my butt off for finals, and a relaxing weekend in a beach town called Alicante to de-stress after my last exam. My parents came for a full week and it was so much fun! We checked out the Madrid scene - I had a great time showing them around the sites and eating yummy Spanish food. Then we headed up to the wine country (to the capital, Logrono) where we had yummy wine and cheese and celebrated indoors! It rained, my mom got the 24 hour flu, my dad had so much pain in his feet he could hardly walk - but we made the best of it! And that evening made it out to the popular streets where everyone goes for tapas. Then it was over to Barcelona! We did a great bike tour and saw a lot of the sites, enjoyed sangria and yummy sandwiches on the beach, and had a good laugh with the guide - and of course my mom flipping over her handle-bars. She managed to not see the curb right in front of her - but she was fine! Just the ego (and leg) was a little bruised. Our hotel was right next to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia (one of his most famous works, a huge cathedral). We saw some other Gaudi masterpieces and enjoyed yummy seafood and the market/street "La Rambla". Overall it was a great time - we all had a blast exploring and seeing beautiful new places.
I was sad to see them go, but had to jump right into studying! In Spain they give you about 2 weeks between class and finals (for all those who don't go to class all semester, so they can study ;) so I used my last week well and studied myself silly. Passed all my exams and jetted off to Alicante for my last weekend! I went with 2 girls from my flamenco class (one from Romania and the other from Panama). We met up with 3 others of their friends, a girl from China, another from the Dominican Republic, and the 3rd from Mexico!) I was the youngest there and the worst at speaking Spanish, but it was a blast. Good practice for my Spanish and lots of relaxation. I ended up finding a beach volleyball tournament and a partner! A short (but talented) player from Russia. We won 3 in a row! It was a lot of fun. We left Alicante after the weekend and I had 2 days back in Madrid to say all my goodbyes and pack up. It was pretty sad, but since I had so little time, and I was about to embark on ANOTHER journey, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I had a few good-bye dinners with friends, and after a tearful goodbye at 7am with my host mom I scooted my way to the airport. I had a lot of emotions going on - sad to be leaving, excited to see London, nervous to start research...all going on at the same time. But through the haze I made it on my flight and arrived in London not too much later!
I met up with my friend and fellow biology major Katie Hallett at Heathrow airport. And 2 hours of navigation later, we were unpacking at our hostel looking over Hyde park! The taxi ride was fun and different - my official first ride on the wrong side of the road. But we survived! Our hostel wasn't the nicest so we spent a lot of time outside exploring and on the internet at the Waffle House down the street - yay for nutella waffles and free wireless! YUM. We did a bus tour and saw TONS of London sites, including the London Bridge, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, etc etc etc. We also checked out St. Paul's Cathedral and the British Museum. We had a great time just seeing the sites and taking it easy. We spent a good couple of hours walking around Hyde Park and also met up with one of the girls I met in Madrid - she's from London and met us in Notting Hill! We had a DELICIOUS lunch (the only good meal we had in the 3 days we spent there) and chatted away the afternoon. Overall I really liked London. The weather wasn't too bad and I found everything to be pretty adorable. It was a lot "nicer" than Madrid - in the sense that there were more open spaces, nicer buildings, more parks etc, but I still would much rather live in Madrid than London. Just loved the vibe and people and food and life in Madrid.
So Saturday is a long story. Basically we had separate travels to get to Stockholm and would meet up there. I almost missed my flight because I had to pay Ryan Air WAY too much money to ship my "extra luggage" (they have ridiculous luggage maximums). Katie DID miss her flight because Heathrow is horrible and confusing and it was just a huge bummer. Neither of us have cell phones either...SO, long story short, we did meet up at the Stockholm central station - about 3 hours later than planned, and thus did not get to see the 3 hours of Stockholm we were hoping to squeeze in. It turned out ok though. We ended up chowing on DELICIOUS kebabs before meeting up with our hosts (family friends of the professor we're working with) who had a huge dinner waiting for us! We found room in our stomachs for another full dinner of new potatoes, roasted chicken and probably the best salad I've ever had. THEN Virginia brought out home-made strawberry-rhubarb pie, the rhubarb from her garden, and home-made whip cream. I think I ate more that evening than any thanksgiving, EVER. It was ridiculous, but amazing. Heidi (the Whitman professor) met us there with her mom and 2 daughters and we all ate together and chatted, it was a good time. Katie and I slept soundly and jetted off to the bus station early the next morning! We bussed down from Stockholm to Kalmar, then over the bridge to Oland, and 7 hours later we were on the side of the road in the middle of pretty much nowhere, right next to the research station!
We arrived last Sunday so have been here over a week, and have just been loving it. We haven't started research yet although we have been prepping. The bees we're studying are specialist bees and the flowers they pollinate/feed from haven't bloomed yet. Summer started late this year. So we're waiting for the flowers, but today we saw one opening, so things are beginning! But in the mean time we have been doing a lot of exploring. We bussed back to Kalmar and checked out the old castle and cute downtown. We also did another excursion up to the north side of the island to a sandy beach (most "beaches" are pebbles/rocks, or just land going right up to the water. We've been enjoying swedish markets and food, and spending every second together! It's been great. We get along really well - which is good being that we're constantly doing the same thing! We sleep, eat, work out, shower, bike around, grocery shop, sing, ETC together. So hopefully it continues to be as great as it has been! ;)
Yasmeen is another Whitman student who's coming to do research on the 29th so that should be fun. She's been in New Zealand and finishes finals later, then will come here right away. I think Katie and I will begin running experiments within the next week. We're studying which factors/cues attract the bee to the flower. The cool thing is these bees hatch from their nest and go straight to their host flower - they know which one it is right away. So we're adding to past years research in trying to identify exactly what cues the bee is using. I'm already getting over my fear of insects! So that's good - not really allowed to squeal and freak out in front of a bunch of researchers, not cool ;)
We celebrated Midsummer last weekend - the Swedish celebration of summer. We went to the closest village and saw the locals dancing and singing around the may pole, and then after biking around, came back and had a big yummy Swedish meal with everyone at the station. We grilled sausages, and ate new potatoes with herring, and had other Swedish breads and such. It was very tasty - especially the incredible strawberries we had for dessert. After the meal we played a Swedish game in the yard - basically throwing a tennis ball and everyone else trying to get their ball closest to it. It was fun - I found out that Swedes who may seem quite laugh a LOT. Haha it was very fun.
So that's where things are at right now! I've been doing my volleyball summer work-out program which is 7 days a week, and it's been great having the wonderful weather and views for my runs, but I think everyone here thinks I'm crazy - jumping on the benches and lifting rocks. Crazy American ;)
I hope all is going well, and everyone is enjoying the summer!
Alex
