| New Year Adventures |
[Jan. 5th, 2010|03:12 pm] |
Already the new year has brought many new things! Namely, Skype (I know, I know, I'm bloody late on this one), and the wonder that is tailors!
Yes, I've never been to a tailor before yesterday, but I had some pants--well, all of my pants, really--that were too damn long. Since they are dress pants, and since I am now sitting in an airport to fly halfway around the world to impress some people, I thought maybe I shouldn't trip over my own damn pants. So I took two pairs in to be shortened and lo and behold! It was easy! It was cheap! And now I have pants that fit! Holy cow! It is WONDERFUL! When I get back in town I am going to take ALL of my pants to them for alterations. Think of it! No more rolling up all my jeans! No more gappy-ass syndrome! This is truly wonderful.
Skype! It took all of 5 minutes to install and learn, and then Antoine and I are having our first video call! This was my first video call ever (from the study to the bedroom). And what do we do with it? Promptly grab the cat and shove his face up to the camera. Ah web cam. Actually it's pretty fun when someone walks around with the laptop. This was to prepare us for this trip to Spain, and other longer trips in the future. Then I called Mom and taught her to do it too, so now we're one big Skyping family, and I can see Oz on occasion. Awesomeness!
I am now waiting for stage one of a four stage journey. ABQ to Fort Worth, Fort Worth to London Heathrow, Heathrow to Madrid, and then taking a train from Madrid to Valencia (and then I guess walking to the hostel). This is somewhat easier than driving to Portland, training to Seattle, busing to Vancouver, flying to Toronto and then Madrid, training to Valencia and then training to that tiny town that dropped me off in an empty field by a gravel road in the middle of the night. Yes, this is much better than that, except I don't get to hang out with Jade :(
Whoops, we're boarding. Time to buy some red vines! |
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| Getting Ready for Spain! |
[Jan. 2nd, 2010|08:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  cold | ] |
I swear, Google Maps is the greatest invention EVAR for travelers like me. I now have a folder with walking routes plotted for the train station to hostel, hostel to each museum I need to get to, and I have plotted the location of the nearest Mercadona. Mmm Mercadona. Home of cheap groceries and tasty cheese.
I have very little spending money for this trip (actually, I haven't heard back from Compass at all and my Euros were supposed to be here Wednesday/Thursday at the latest, so I may have NO spending money), so I will be living off of tuna sandwiches, nutella, and 99 cent boxed Don Simon sangria. Actually, even if I had the money, I probably wouldn't eat out much. In my experience being a lone diner in Spain makes you a nuisance that all the waiter's resent, and frankly, when I am alone in a different country, I don't like to go out of my way to pay to have people be mean to me. And waiters in Spain can be very, very mean.
I have bought plane tickets and train tickets. Maps and lists and tried on interview clothes, and am preparing to pack. Basically I'm prepared for everything except what I'm actually going to say in my meetings (which aren't exactly set yet...I'm still waiting for confirmation of date and time). There's a lot that can go wrong on this trip, and there's a lot that could just...not happen, which would make it a considerable waste of money and leave me at a loss for how to proceed in this grad student business. I guess if it's a bust and nothing happens I will just try again in June. If it is a fiasco and these 2 to 3 museums hate me, I will try with different museums in June.
And that's that.
I am very nervous.
But I have super cute boots. I hope that helps. |
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